SEIZURES OP 1889. 203 



been neoessary to prevent the taking- of tisli by tlie ns^e of dynamite in 

 many of tlie rivers and lakes of tlie United States. TLe same mode 

 of fishing could readily be adctpted witli elfeet on the more shallow 

 l)arts of the banks, but the destruction offish in proportion to the catch, 

 says a high authority, might be as great as ten thousand to one. 

 Would Her Majesty's Government think that so wicked an act could 

 not be prevented and its perpetrators punished simply because it had 

 been committed outside of the 3 mile line? 



Why are not the two cases paraller? The Canadian vessels are en- 

 gaged in the taking of fur seal in a manner that destroys the power 

 of reproduction and insures the extermination of the species. In exter- 

 minating the species an article useful to mankind is totally destroyed 

 in order that temporary and immoral gain may be acquired by a few 

 persons. By the employment of dynamite on the banks it is not prob- 

 able that the total destru(;tiou of fish could be accomplished, but a se- 

 rious diminution of a valuable food for man might assuredly result. 

 Does Her Majesty's Government seriously maintain that the law of na- 

 tions is powerless to prevent such violation of the common rights of 

 man? Are the supporters of justice in all nations to be declared in- 

 competent to prevent wrongs so odious and so destructive? 



In the judgment of this Government the law of the sea is not law- 

 lessness. Nor can the law of the sea and the liberty which it confers 

 and which it in^otects be x>erverted to justify acts which are inunoral 

 in themselves, which inevitably tend to results against the interests 

 and against the welfare of mankind. One step beyond that which Her 

 Majesty's Government has taken in this contention, and piracy finds 

 its justification. The President does not conceive it possible that 

 Her Majesty's Government could in fact be less indifferent to these evil 

 results than is the Government of the United States. But he hopes 

 that Her Majesty's Government will, after this frank expression of 

 view?,, more readily comprehend the position of the Government of the 

 United States touching this serious question. This Government has 

 been ready to concede much in order to adjust all differences of view, 

 an<l has, in the judgment of the President, already proposed a solu- 

 tion not only equitable but generous. Thus far Her Majesty's Govern- 

 ment has declined to accept the proposal of the United States. The 

 I'lesident now awaits with deep interest, not unmixed with solicitude, 

 any ])ropositiou for reasonable adjustment which Her IMajesty's Gov- 

 eiiiment may snbmit. The forcible resistance to whicli tliis Govern- 

 ment is constrained in the Behring Sea is, in the President's judgment, 

 demanded not only by the necessity of defending the traditional and 

 long-established rights of the United States, but also the rights of 

 good government and of good morals the world over. 



In this contention the Government of the United States has no oc- 

 casion and no desire to withdraw or modify the positions which it has 

 at any time maintained against the claims of the Imperial Government 

 of Russia. The United States will not withhold from any nation the 

 privileges whicli it demanded for itself when Alaska was part of the 

 llussian Empire. Kor is the Government of the United States disposed 

 to exercise in those possessions any less power or authority than it was 

 willing to concede to the Imperial Government of Eussia when its 

 sovereignty extended over them. The President is persuaded that all 

 friendly nations will concede to the United States the same rights and 

 privileges on the lands an<i in the waters of Alaska which the same 

 friendly nations always conceded totheEmiiire of Eussia. 

 I have, etc., 



James G. Blaine. 



