192 DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 



The coiiveiition whicli Japan will seek to make on tbe same snbiect 

 will, as you have indicated, have to he shaped in some respects so as 

 to meet "the Avishes of Japan in regard to the protection of her inter- 

 ests in the sea otter. What this Government deems necessary for the 

 preservation of the seals in Behring Sea is entirely to prohibit tlie 

 slanghter of them with firearms, nets; and other destructive imple- 

 ments, at a distance from the coasts. The Department would be glad 

 to learn the views of the Japanese Government concerning the meas- 

 ures necessary for the i)rotectiou of its interests in tlie otter, and to be 

 furnished with information respecting theii- territorial and pecuniary 

 extent. 



I am, etc., 



T. r. Bayard. 



RTJSSI^. 



Mr. Wurts to Mr. Bayard. 



No. 139.] Legation of the United States, 



St. Petersburg^ Septemhcr 3, 1887. (Eeceived September 17.) 

 Sir: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your instruction 

 Ko. 99, of the 19th of last month, relating to the measures to be taken 

 for' the better protection of the seal fisheries in Behring Sea, and to 

 inform you that, in obedience to it, I have comnniuicated the invita- 

 tion of the Government of the United States to that of Russia to enter 

 into such an arrangement as will put a check to the indiscriniiinite 

 destruction, by the citizens of either country, of the seals in those 

 waters. 



I am, etc., 



' George W. Wurts. 



Mr. Lothrop to Mr. Bayard. 



isfo. 151.] Legation of the United States, 



St. Petershurg, Becemher 8, 1887. (Received December 27.) 



Sir: I have the honor to transmit herewith the translation of a note 

 from the Foreign Office, received at the legation yesterday, on the propo- 

 sition of the United States for an international agreement touching the 

 cai)ture of seals in Behring Sea. The earnestness felt here in the mat- 

 ter is plainly indicated by the language of the note, which s])eaks of 

 unrestrained seal-hunting as a thing which not only threatens the well- 

 being btit even the existence of the people of the extreme northeast 

 coast. 



This language represents a view which I have heard here in conver- 

 sation, of course not officially, and which is substantially as follows: 



The seal fishery on our Behring coasts is the oidy resource our pco])le 

 there have; it furnishes them all the necessaries of life; without it they 

 l)erisli. Now, intermitional hiw concedes to every people exclusive Jui is- 

 diction over a zone along its coasts suflicient for its protection; and the 



