1G2 DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 



I shall at once endeavor to supply myself Avitli the iuformation nec- 

 essary to enable me to reply to yt)u more fully. 



Tbe cases of seizure referred to in my note of February 3, 1SS7, had 

 occurred duriiij>' the previous August, and ui)on the basis of the infor- 

 mation then obtained 1 wrote you as follows: 



111 tliis cojiiiection I take, the occasion to iutonn you tliat, without conclusion at 

 this time of any qnestions wliich may be found to be involved in these cases of seizul•(^, 

 orders have been issued by the Presideut's direction for the discontiunance of all 

 peudiuj^ ]iroceedins;s, the discharge of the vessels referred to, and the release of all 

 persons under arrest in connection therewith. 



Having no reason to anticipate any other seizure, nothing was said 

 in rehition to the ])ossibi]ity of such an (sccurrence, nor do 1 lliid in our 

 corres])oudcnce on the subject any grounds for such an undcistanding 

 as you inform me had been assiwncd to exist by Her Uritaunic Majesty's 

 Government. 



A short time since, when you called upon me aiul personiilly obtained 

 copies of the record of the Judicial proceedings iu the three cases of 

 seizure in August last in Behring Sea, nothing was said in relation to 

 other cases. Whether the circumstances attendant upon tlie cases 

 which you now rej)ort to me are the same as those which induced the 

 Executive to direct the releases referred to, remains hereafter to be 

 ascertained, and tliis with as little delay as the circumstances will 

 permit. 



1 have, etc., 



T. E. Bayard. 



Marqim of Scdishury to iSir L. 8. 8(tclville West. 



[Left ill. tliu Dt'iiartmeut ol' Statu by Sir L. S. SacUvillo AVust, Scptwuber 23, 1887.] 



Eo REIGN Office, September 10, 1887. 



Sir: By a dispatch of the .'Unh October last (No. 214) the late Earl 

 of Tddesleigli instructed you to call the attention of the TTnitcd States 

 Secretary of State to the circumstances of the sei/.ure iu Bchring's Sea, 

 by tlie American cruiser Conrin, of some British (Canadian vessels; and 

 his lordshii) directed you to state to Mr. Secretary Bayard that Her 

 Majesty's Government felt sure that if the ]U'oceedings which were re- 

 ported to have taken plas-e in the United States distiict court were cor- 

 rectly described the Ihiited States Govcriiment would admit their ille- 

 gality, and would cause reasonable rei>aration to be made to the l^ritisli 

 subjects for the wrongs to which they had been subjected and for the 

 losses which they had sustained. 



By a previous dispatch of the 9th September, you had been desired 

 to ask to be furnished with any particulars which the United States 

 Government might possess relative to the seizures iu question; and 

 on the loth October you were instructed to enter a i)rotest on behalf 

 of Her Majesty's Government, and reserve for cojisideration hereafter 

 all rights to compensiition. 



Nearly four nu)ntlis having elapsed without any delinite infu-mation 

 being furnished by the United States (Jovernment as to the grounds of 

 the s(>izures, my ])reilecessor insti'ucled you, on the 8th oi" rJune [-lan- 

 uaryfl last, to exi)ress to I\lr. Bayard the concern of Her Majesty's 

 Government at the delay, ami to urge the immediate attention of tlie 



