PliOPOSEL* INTI<:KNATI0NAL measures, 1887-'«8. 179 



jUr. Baijard to Mr. White. 



[Extract.] 



No. 819.] Departbient of State, 



Washington, April 18, 1888. 



Sir: I liave to actnoAvIedge your No. 720 of tlie 7tli instant, inclos- 

 ing copy of your tele^iiiam of the same date, in wliich you infoiined the 

 Dcpaituient tliat Lord SaKsbury, tlie Eussian embassador, and your- 

 self were to meet on Thursday, the 12th instant, to discuss the protec- 

 tion of seals, and that the Kussian Government desired to include in 

 the proposed arrangement that portion of Behring Sea in Avhich Com- 

 mander Islamls are situated, and also the Sea of Okhotsk. 



On the yth instant 1 sent you a telegram stating tliat this Govern- 

 ment did not object to the extension of the arrangeuient for the protec- 

 tion of the fur-seal fisheries to the whole of Behring Sea. 



Owing to an error in transmission of your telegram, Okhotsk Sea did 

 not appear to be included in the snggestion, but there is no objection 

 to sucli inclusion. 



I am J etc. 



T. F. Bayard. 



Mr. White to Mr. Bayard. 



No. 725.] Legation of the United States, 



London, April 20, 1888. (Beceived April 30.) 



Sir: Eeferring to your instructions Nos. G85, 782, and 810, to Mr. 

 Phelps's dispatches N0S.GI8 and (>9U, and to subsequent corresi)ondence, 

 I have the honor to accpiaint you that I called at the foreign ofidce on 

 the 10th instant for the jjurpctse of discussing with the JNfarquis of 

 Salisbury and M de Staal, the Bussian embassador, the details of the 

 proposed conventional arrangement for the protection of seals in Ber- 

 ing Sea. 



M. de Staal ex])ressed a desire, on behalf of his Government, to in- 

 clude in the area to l)e protected by the convention the Sea of Okhotsk, 

 or at least that portion of it in which Bobben Island is situated, there 

 being, he said, in that region large numbers of seals, whose destruction 

 is threatened in tlie same way as those in Beliriiig Sea. 



He also urged that measures be taken by the insertion of a chiuse in 

 the ])roposed convention or otiierwise, for prohibiting the importation, 

 by mercliant vessels, into the seal-protected area, for sale therein, of 

 alcoholic drinks, firearms, gunpoAvder, and dynamite. 



Lord Salisbury expressed no opinion with regard to the latter propo- 

 sal, but, with a view to meeting the Russian Government's wishes re- 

 specting the waters surrounding Bobben Island, he suggested that, be- 

 sides the whole of Beliring Sea, those portions of the Sea of Okhotsk 

 and of the Pacific Ocean north of north latitude 17° should be included 

 in the pro])osed arrangement. 



His lordship intimated furtliermore that the period proposed by the 

 United States for a close time, April 15 to November 1, might interfere 

 v>ith the trade longer than absolutely necessary for the jirotcction of 

 the seals, and lie sugg<'stcd October 1, instead of a mouth later, as the 

 termination of the period of seal xirotection. 



