312 DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 



or sngu'ossted in tliis foiiiieotioii. The President does not object to the 

 nioditication of liis ]>roposal suggested in tlie lirst article suhnvitted by 

 yon, for he assnmes tliat tlie terms nsed, m Idle not as strong, perliajjs, 

 as those suggested by this Government, do I'ully connnit the Govern- 

 ment of Great Britain to prompt and energetic; measures in the repres- 

 sion of the killing of seals by the subjects and vessels of that nation. 

 The pro]iosal submitted by you on June 3 contained this clause: 

 " During the]ieriod above specified the United States Government shall 

 liave the right to kill 7,500 seals." Is'ow, his lordshij) adds a most extra- 

 ordinary, and not altogether clear, condition (1 quote), "■ to be taken on 

 the shores and islands as food skins, and not for tax or shipment." 



This new condition is entirely inadmissible and, in the opinion of the 

 President, inconsistent with the assent already given by Her Majesty's 

 Government to the proposition of the United States in that behaif. It 

 had been particularly explained in the correspondence that the lessees 

 of the privilege of taking seals ujion the islands assumed obligations to 

 supply tothenatives the food and otherthingsnecessary fortheir subsist- 

 ence and comfort, and that the taking of the limited number of seals was 

 not only to supply flesh to the natives, but, in some part, to recompense 

 the Company for furnishing other necessary articles of food, clothing, 

 and fuel. The President is surprised that it should now be suggested 

 that none of the skins should be removed from the island, and he can 

 not understand how British interests can be promoted by allowing them 

 to go to waste. 



The previous communications of Her Majesty's Government had, in 

 the opinion of the President, concluded this matter. 



As to the third clause of your pro]!Osition, I am directed to say that 

 the contention between the'United States and Great Ihitain has rela- 

 tion solely to the respective rights of the two Goveinnients in the waters 

 of Behring Sea outside of the'ordinary territorial limits, and the stipu- 

 lations for the cooperation of the two Governments duiing this season 

 have, of course, the same natural limitation. This is recognized in 

 Articles 1 and 2 of your i)roposal, for you will observe that the obliga- 

 tion assumed by Iltr JNIajesty's Government is to ])rohibit seal killing 

 in a certain part of Behring Sea, whereas the obligation assumed in the 

 second article by the Government of the United States is to prohibit 

 seal killing in the same ytart of Behring Sea and the shores and islands 

 thereof, the projierty of the United States. The killing, therefore, of 

 seals on the islands or within the territorial waters of the United States 

 falls only within the prohibition of this Government. His lordship will 

 also see that it is altogether beyond the power of the President to stii)u- 

 late that an offense committed in the undisputed territory of theUnited 

 States against its laws shall be triable only in tlie courts of another 

 nation. The extension of this clause to the territory and territorial 

 waters of the United States, therefore, involves an insu]>erable legal 

 difficulty on our jiart iind a concession Avhich no independent Govern- 

 ment could be exi)ected to make. The mutual police, which is to be 

 stipulated for, could not, in the nature of things. ai)ply to f he territorial 

 waters within the undis]>uted and exclusiv*' jurisdiction of either. 



To the fourth clause, which is in substance the sanu^ as the proposi- 

 tion made by this GovernnuMit, no objection is intei]><>sed. 



As to thelifth clause, I am directed to say that the President regards 

 the nroposition to appoint a Joint Commission to investigate and re])ort 

 as to what regulations or international agreements are necessary to 

 ]neservethe seal fisheries to be (me of the incidents of the agreement 

 for arbitration and to have no proper place here. This distinction seems 



