SEIZURES OF 1886 AND 1887. 155 



States and Eiissia in 1SG7, by wliicli Alaska was ceded to tbe United 

 States, and AYliieli inclndes a stretch of sea extending in its widest part 

 some 600 or 700 miles easterly [westerly?] from the mainland of Alaska. 



In support of this claim, those authorities are alleged to have inter- 

 fered with the peaceful and lawful occupation of Canadian citizens on 

 the high seas, to have taken possession of their ships, to have subjected 

 their property to forfeiture, and to have visited upon their persons the 

 indignity of imprisonment. 



Such proceedings, if correctly reported, would appear to have been in 

 violation of the admitted principles of international law. 



I request that you will, on the receipt of this dispatch, seek an inter- 

 view with Mr, Bayard, and make him acquainted with the nature of the 

 information with which Her Majesty's Government have been furnished 

 respecting this matter, and state to him that they do not doubt that, 

 if on inquiry it should prove to be correct, the Government of the 

 United States will, with their well-known sense of justice, at once admit 

 the illegality of the proceedings resorted to against the British vessels 

 and the British subjects above mentioned, and will cause reasonable 

 reparation to be made for the wrongs to which they have been subjected 

 and for the losses which they have sustained. 



Should Mr. Bayard desire it, you are authorized to leave with him a 

 copy of this dispatch. 

 1 am, etc., 



Iddesleigh. 



3Ir. Bayard to Sir L. S. Sachville West. 



Department of State, 



Washington, iS^ovemher 12, 1886. 



Sir: The delay in my repl}^ to your letters of September 27 and Oc- 

 tober 21, asking tor the intV)rmation in my possession concerning the 

 seizure by the United States revenue cutter Corwin, in the Behriug 

 Sea, of British vessels, for an alleged violation of the laws of the United 

 States in relation to the Alaskan seal fisheries, has been caused by my 

 waiting to receive from the Treasury Department the information you 

 desired. I tender the fact in apology for the delay and as the reason 

 for my silence, and, repeating what I said verbally to you in our con- 

 versation this morning, I am still awaiting full and authentic reports of 

 the judicial trial and judgment in the cases of the seizures referred to. 



My application to my colleague, the Attorney-General, to pro(;ure an 

 authentic report of these proceedings was promptly made, and the de- 

 lay in furnishing the report doubtless has arisen from the remoteness 

 of the x>lace of trial. 



So soon as I am enabled I will convey to you the facts as ascertained 

 in the trial and the rulings of law as applied by the court. 



I take leave also to acknowledge your communication of the 21st of 

 October, informing me that you had been instructed by the Earl of 

 Iddesleigh, Her Majesty's principal secretary of state for foreign af- 

 fairs, to protest against the seizure of the vessels above referred to, and 

 to reserve all rights of compensation. 



All of which shall receive respectful consideration. 

 I have, etc., 



T. F. Bayard. 



