MODUii VIVENDI OF 1891 AND ARBITRATION. 299 



Mr. Blaine to Sir Julian Paunccfote. 



Department of State, 



Washington.^ May -J, ISOl. 



Sir: During" the iiioiith of March last, a few days after the adjourii- 

 iiient of Congress, acting under the instructions of the President, I 

 ])roposed to .you that a. modus vivcudi be agreed upon touching the seal 

 iisheries, pending the result of arbitration of the question at issue be- 

 tween the two Governments. The President's tirst ])roi)Osal, which I 

 submitted to you, was that no Canadian sealer should be allowed to 

 come within a certain luimber of miles of the Pribilof Islands. 



It was, however, the conclusion of the President, after reading Lord 

 Salisbury's dispatch of February 21, that this modus vicendi might pos- 

 sibly provoke conflict in theBehring Sea, and, to avoid that result, he 

 instructed me to propose that sealing, both on land and sea, should be 

 suspended by both nations during the progress of arbitration, or dur- 

 ing the season of 1891. On both occasions it was a conversational 

 exchange of views, the first in my office at the State Department, the 

 second at my residence. 



The President was so desirous of a prompt response from Lord Salis- 

 bary to his second proposition that I ventured to suggest that you re- 

 quest an answer by cable, if practicable. Especially was the President 

 anxious to receive an answer (which he trusted would be favorable) be- 

 fore he set out on his tour to the Pacific States. He left Washington 

 on the night of April 13 without having heard a word from your Gov- 

 ernment. It was then a full month after he had instructed me to open 

 negotiations on the question, and the only probable infeience was that 

 Lord Salisbury would not agree to his ]n^oposal. 



The silence of Lord Salisbury implied, as seemed not improbable, that 

 he would not restrain the Canadian sealers from entering Behring Sea, 

 and, as all intelligence from British Columbia showed that the sealers 

 were getting ready to sail in large numbers, the President found that 

 lie could not with justi(;e prevent the lessees from taking seals on the 

 Pribilof Islands. The President therefore instructed the Secretary of 

 the Treasury, who has official charge of the subject, to issue to the 

 lessees the ])rivilege of killing on the Pribilof Islands the coming sea- 

 son the maximum number of 60,000 seals, subject, hoAvever, to the abso- 

 lute discretion and control of an agent appointed by the Secretary of the 

 Treasury to limit the killing to as small a number as the condition of 

 the herd might, in his opinion, demand. 



On the 22d of April, eight days after the President had left Wash- 

 ington, you notified me, when I was absent from tlie capital, that Lord 

 Salisbury was ready to agree that all sealing should be suspended 

 pending the result of arbitration. On the 2od of April I telegraphed 

 Lord Salisbury's proposition to the President. He replied, April 25, 

 expressing great satisfaction with Lord Salisbury's message, but in- 

 structing me to inform you that " some seals must be killed by the 

 natives lor food;" that "the lessees are bound, under their lease from 

 the Government, to feed and care for the natives, making it necessary 

 to send a ship to the Pribilof Islands each season at their expense;" 

 and that, for this service — a very expensive one — the " lessees vshould 

 find their compensation in taking a moderate number of seals under the 

 lease." The President expressed his belief that this allowance would 

 be readily agreed to by Lord Salisbury, because the necessity is abso- 

 lute. 



You will remember that when I communicated this proposition from 



