46 ORAL ARGUMENT OF JAMES C. CARTER, ESQ. 



Russia in the protectiou of tbeii' rookeries and in the ]>revention of any violation of 

 the laws applicable thereto. I have the honor to inclose a draft of a preliminary 

 convention wliich I have prepared, providing for the appointment of a mixed com- 

 mission who are to report on certain specified questions within two years. 



The draft embodies the temporary regulations al)ove described together, with 

 other clauses which ap])ear to me necessary to give ])roper effect to them. 



Although I believe that it would be sufficient during the "migration periods" to 

 prevent all sealing within a specified distance from the i)asses of the Aleutian Islands 

 I have out of a deference to your views and to the wishes of the Russian Minister, 

 adopted the fishery line described in Article V, and which was suggested by you at 

 the OTitset of our negotiation. Tlie ilraft, of course, contemplates the conclusion of 

 a further convention after t'nU examination of the report of the mixed commission. 

 It ;ilso makes provision for the ultimate settlement by arbitration of any differences 

 which the report of the commission may still fail to adjust, whereby the important 

 element of finality is secured, and in order to give to the proposed arrangement the 

 widest international basis, the draft provides that the other powers shall be invited 

 to accede to it. 



The above proposals arc, of course, submitted ad referendum, and it only now 

 remains for me to commend them to your favorable consideration and to that of the 

 Russian Minister. They have been framed by me in a spirit of justice and concilia- 

 tion, and with the must earnest desire to terminate the controversy in a manner 

 honorable to all i)arties and worthy of the three great nations concerned. 

 I have, etc., 



Julian Pauncefote. 



(For inclosures see House Ex. Doc. No. 450, pp. 54-60.) 



That letter, the learned Arbitrators will perceive, brings forward a 

 somewliat new aspect of the matter. It is designed to lead to a renewal 

 of the negotiations. It proceeds iijion the ex])re8sed belief that the 

 great object of all parties shonld be the preservation of the seals for 

 the benefit of nninkind, and that any particniar interest should not be 

 allowed to stand in the way of the accomplishment of that prime end. 



He then suggests that i)ending the negotiations some provisional 

 arrangements should be entered into for the purpose of protecting, in 

 the meanwhile, the seals from the destructive pursuit. He suggests — 

 and it was the first time that any such suggestion Avas made to the 

 American Government by the British Government, — that there were 

 great differences of opinion as to the facts, and consequently great dif- 

 ferences of opinion as to the extent of the protection which was neces- 

 sary. These differences of opinion as to the facts — which, I say, were 

 thus intimated for the first time — were based in part upon evidence 

 which had been submitted by Sir Julian Pauncefote to Mr. Blaine iu 

 the shape of quite a series of documents on the 9th of March preced- 

 ing. I read now a letter from Sir Julian Pauncefote to Mr. Blaine 

 which is contained in Executive Document, House of Bepresenta fives, 

 51st Cong., First Session, No. 450. The letter is found ou page 20 of 

 that document, and is as follows : 



Sh- Julian Fauncefote to Mr. Blaine, 



• [Extract.] 



British Legation, Washington, D. C, March 9, 1S90. 

 Dear Mr. Blaine: I have the pleasure to seud you herewith the memorandum 

 prepared by Mr. Tupper on the seal fishery ciuestion, to which he has appended a note 

 by Mr. Dawson, an eminent Canadian official. 



Believe me, etc., Julian Pauncefote. 



That letter is very likely somewhere in the correspondence contained 

 in the British Appendices, but I do not happen to find it. 



Mr. Foster. The memorandum accompanying the letter is found iu 

 the British Appendix, No. 3, p. 430. 



Mr. Carter. The memorandum is found in the British Case at the 

 place stated by Gen. Foster, and the documents themselves thus fur- 

 nished are all contained in the third volume of the Appendix to the 

 British Case, p. 430^ and it is necessary also to say, U. S. No, 2, 1890, 



