lV'8 DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 



time for tlic seal fisliery, for tlie purpose of i^reventiiig' tlie extirpa 

 tion of tlie species in that part of the world. Without in auy way ad- 

 mitting that consideratiojis (»f this order could justify the seizure of 

 vessels which were traiisgressiug no rule of iuteruatioual law, Her 

 Majesty's Govermneut were very ready to agree that the subject -was 

 one deserving of the gravest attention on the part of all the govern- 

 ments interested in those waters. 



The Eussian Government was disposed to join in the proposed nego- 

 tiations, but they were suspended for a time in consequence of objec- 

 tions raised by tlie Dominion of Canada and of doubts thrown on the 

 physical data on which any restrictive legivslation must have been based. 



iler Majesty's Government are fully sensible of the importance of 

 this question, and of the great value which will attach to an interna- 

 tional agreement in respect to it, and Her Majesty's representative will 

 be furnished with the requisite instructions in case the Secretary of 

 State should be willing to enter upon the discussion. 



You will read this dispatch and my dispatch l^o. 205, of this date, to 

 the Secretary of State, and, if he should desire it, you are authorized 

 to give him copies of them. 

 I am, etc., 



Salisbury. 



The Marqnis of BaJlsbury to ]\fr. Udicardcs. 



[Left at the Department of State by Mr. Eilwardes.] 



ForeiCtN Office, Ociahcr 2, J.'^Sf). 



Sir: In my dispatcli No. 176 of the 17th August last I furnished yon 

 witli copies of a corres])oiulence which had ])assed between this De])art 

 ment and the Colonial Oltice on the subject of the seizure of the Cana- 

 dian vessels Blade Diamond and Triumph in the Bering Sea by the 

 United States revenue-cutter Bush. 



I have now received and transmit herewith a copy of a dispatch from 

 the Governor-General of Canada to the Secretary of State for the Colo- 

 nies, Avhich incloses copies of the instructions given to the special olficer 

 placed on board the BlacJc J)lamondhy the officer commanding the B.ush^ 

 and of a hitter from the collector of customs at Victoria, together with 

 the sworn affidavits of the masters of the two Canadian vessels. 



It is apparent from these affidavits that the vessels were seized at a 

 disttince from land far in excess of the limit of maritime jurisdiction 

 which any nation can claim by iuteruatioual law. 



The cases are similar in this respect to those of the ships Caroline, 

 Omvard, and Thornton, which were seized by a vessel of the United 

 States outside territorial waters in the sununer of 1887. In a dispatch 

 to Sir L. West dated September 10, 1887, which was communicated to 

 Mr, Bayard, I drevf the attention of tlie Government of the United 

 States to the illegality of these proceedings, and expressed a hope that 

 due com])ensation would be awarded to the subjects of Her Majesty 

 who had suffered from them. I have not, since that time, received from 

 the Government of the United States any intinniticui of their intentions 

 in this respect, or any explanation of the grounds upon which this in- 

 terference with the JJritish sealers had been authorized. Mr. Bayard 

 did, indeed, comnumicate to us unofficially an assuiance that no further 

 seizures of this character should take place pending the discussion of 



