43 



United States minister at London, lie liad an interview witli Lord Sal- 

 isbury, tUe British Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, and proposed 

 that the two governments should adopt a code of regulations for tlie 

 preservation of the seals in Bering Sea from destruction at improper 

 times and by improper means by the citizens of either country — such 

 agreement to be entirely irrespective of any questions of conflicting 

 jurisdiction in those waters. This proposal, Mr. Phelps reported, 

 was acquiesced in by Lord Salisbury, who suggested that the American 

 ]\Iinister obtain from his Government and submit a sketch of a system 

 of regulations that would be adequate for the purpose. U. S. Case, 

 Vol. 1, Ap^)., r/1. 



Under date of February 7, 1888, Mr. Bayard wrote to Mr. Flielps 

 disclosing, in some detail, the reasons why prompt action was necessary 

 in order to prevent the entire destruction of the fur seals frequenting 

 the islands of the United States in Bering Sea, as well as those found 

 on the islands belonging to Kussia. Eesponding to the suggestion 

 in respect to code of regulations, he said: 



"The only way of obviating the lamentable result above predicted 

 appears to be by the United States, Great Britian, and other interested 

 powers taking concerted action to ])revent their citizens or subjects 

 from killing fnr seals with firearms or other destructive weajions 

 north of 50 degrees of north latitude, and between IGO degrees of longi- 

 tude west and 170 degrees of longitnde east from Greenwich, during the 

 period intervening between April 15 and ISTovember 1. To prevent the 

 killing within a marine belt of 40 or 50 miles during that period would 

 be ineffectual as a preservative measure. This would clearly be so 

 during the approach of the seals to the islands. And after their arrival 

 there such a limit of protection would also be insufficient, since the 

 rapid progress of the seals through the water enables them to go great 

 distances from the islands in so short a time that it has been calculated 

 that an ordinary seal could go to the Aleutian Islands and back, in all 

 a distance of 300 or 400 miles, in less than two days." What would 

 take place unless steps were taken to preserve this race Mr. Bayard pro- 

 ceeded to show: "That the extermination of the fur seals must soon 

 take i)lace unless they are protected from destruction in Bering Sea 

 is shown by the fate of the animal in other parts of the world, in 

 the absence of concerted action among the nations interested for its pre- 

 servation. Formerly, many thousnnds of seals were obtained annnally 

 from the South Pacific Islands and from the coasts of Chile and South 



