24 



limits will have to be considered under clause 6 of the Arbitration 

 Agreement* [Art. 7 of the Treaty] in the event of a decision being given 

 by the Arbitrators against the claim of exclusive jurisdiction put for- 

 ward on behalf of the United States. The Eeport is to be presented in 

 tlie first instance to the two Governments for their consideration, and 

 is subsequently to be laid by those Governments before the Arbitra- 

 tors to assist them in determining- the more restricted question as to 

 what, if any, Kegulations are essential for the protection of the fur- 

 hearing seals outside the territorial jurisdiction of the two countries." 

 British Comm. Report, p. Vii. 



And the report of these commissioners, presented to the British 

 Government June 21, 1892, recites that they were appointed to inquire 

 "into the conditions of seal life and the precautions necessary for pre- 

 venting the extermination of the fur seal species in Bering- Sea and 

 other parts of the North Pacific OceanP In the same report will be 

 found "a general view of the conclusions at which we [the British Com- 

 missioners] have arrived as to the condition of seal life in the North 

 Pacific Ocean, and as to the measures necessary for the preservation of 

 the fur seal industry.'''' It may be stated, in addition, that the Ameri- 

 can Commisshmers, Profs. Mendenhall and Merriam, were appointed 

 by the President "to proceed to the Pribilof Islands and to make cer- 

 tain investigations of the facts relative to seal life, with a view to ascer- 

 tain what permanent measures are necessarj^ for the preservation of 

 the fur seal in Bering Sea and the North Pacific Ocean." U. 8. Case, 

 311. 



It thus appears from the diplomatic correspondence before us and 

 by the action of the two Governments — 



1. That each Government, from the beginning to the end of the 

 negotiations resulting in the treaty, expressed not only an earnest 

 desire that the fur seals be protected against extermination, but their 

 willingness to adopt such measures as were necessary to prevent the 

 destruction of these animals by its citizeris or subjects, and that their 

 action should be concurrent; 



2. That the British Government, in the early jieriod of these negotia- 

 tions, agreed, provisionally and as a basis of negotiations, that a closed 

 time be established, from April 1 to November 1, during which the 

 slaughter of all seals be forbidden '■'■in the sea hetwcen America and 

 Russia north of the forty-seventh degree of latitude; " , 



* This agreement was signed December 18, 1801. The treaty was not signed until 

 February 29, 1892. 



