32 ORAL ARGUMENT OF JAMES C. CARTER, ESQ. 



molested except when found within the 3-mile limit, auu that we are not informed 

 v>^lietLer any orders which have been already issued in this connection are or are not 

 still iu force. 



That is in refereuce to allot^^e^ topic, the request of Great Britain 

 that instructions should be issued by the United States Government to 

 its cruisers in the Bering Sea not to interfere with British vessels. 



He passes from that: 



I need scarcely point out that the close time for seals, referred to in your telegram, 

 is created under a Statute of the United States, which is not obligatory except upon 

 the subjects of that Power. The proposal contained in the inclosure to your Confi- 

 dential despatch of the 8th March, 18yS, for the adoption of a similar close season by 

 British fishermen is at ]n-escut receiviui;- the careful consideration of my C4overument. 

 Such a close time could ol)viou,sly not be inijioscd uiion our lisheriuen without notice 

 or Vxithout a fuller discussion th:in it has yet undergone. You are aware that, during 

 the close time enforced by the United States Statute, the seals, although protected 

 from slaughter by the use of nrearius, may be killed in great numbers on their breed- 

 ing grounds by the persons who enjoy the monopoly of the trade under Concessions 

 from the United States Government. The rest of the year these animals are, accord- 

 ing to Mr. Bayard's statement iu his despatch of the 7th of February, 1888, ''supposed 

 to spend in the open sea south of the Aleutian Islands," wliere they are proliably 

 widely scattered and dil'ficult to find. It would appear to follow that, if concurrent 

 regulaticnis based upon the Americani Law were to be adojited by Great Britain and 

 the United States, the })rivileges enjoyed by the citizens of tlie latter Power would 

 be little if at all curtailed, while British tishermen would lind themselves com))letely 

 excluded from the rights which until lately they have enjoyed without question or 

 molestation. 



In making this observation, I do not desire to intimate that my Government would 

 be averse to entering into a reasonable agi-eenujut for protec1:ing the fur-bearing 

 aniuKils of the Pacific coast from extermination, but jnerely that a one-sided restric- 

 tion such as that wliicli ai)peared to be suggcoted in your telegram could not be 

 suddenly and arbitrarily enforced by my Government upon the fishermen of this 

 country. 



I have, etc., Lansdowne. 



It will now be perceived, let me repeat, that the negotiation entered 

 into between the United States and Great Britain, with every prospect 

 at first of a favorable termination, had been arrested iu consequence of 

 protest having been received from the Canadian Government. I do 

 not complain of that, or suggest its impropriety; I am merely stating 

 the fact that it was arrested at that i)oint and in consequence of that 

 j)rotest. 



The business continued in a condition of suspense in consequence of 

 that for a very considerable time; although, if I rightly remember, the 

 United States on more than one occasion during the interim rather 

 pressed the British Government to give a decided answer; but the next 

 we hear of it — which is to the point I am engaged upon — is contained in 

 Mr. Phelps' letter to Mr. Bayard of Septeniber 12th, 1888. Mr. rheli)s 

 had returned from his absence in the United States and again taken 

 charge of the American embassy in London, and his communication is 

 as follows to Mr. Bayard: 



Mr. I'll dps to Mr. Jniiiard. 



N". 825.] Legation of the United States, 



London, Svptcmher Wth, 1S88. (Received September 22.) 



Sill: Referring to the subject of the Alaskan seal iishcries, and to the previous cor- 

 respondence on the subject between the Department and this legation, I have now 

 the honor to acquaint you with the purport of a conversation which I held with Lord 

 Salisbury iu regard to it on the 13th August. 



Illness, which has incapacitated me from business during most of the interval, has 

 prevented my laying it before you earlier. 



One of the objects of tlie interview I then sought with his lordship was to urge 

 the completion of the convention between the United States, Great Britain, and 

 EuaBia, which under your iustvuctious hy,d previously been the subject of discussiou 



