314 DirLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 



force iniine(liat(Oy. Tlie value of such au agreeiuout to tlic United 

 States is daily lesseuiuji-, and tlie President therefore feels tliathemust 

 ask that the n(\iiotiatious be brought to a speedy determination. 

 I have, etc., 



William F. Wharton. 



Sir Julian Favnccfoie to AFr. ^YJlarton. 



British Legation, 



Wdshingion^ June 10^ 1891. 



Sir: I have the honor to aelcnowledge the receipt of your note of 

 June 9, delivered this day, in rejily to my note of tlie 8th, in which I 

 transmitted for the cousideration of youi' (.lovernuu'ut the dralt of a 

 proposed agreement for a onodns vin-iKli during' the present fur-seal 

 lishery season in I>eh) ing Sea, Avith certain modifications and additions 

 suggested therein by the ]Mar(]uis of Salisbury. 



I have telegraphed t\ie substance of your note under rejdy to his 

 loi'dship, and 1 hope to be able to communicate to you his observations 

 thereon in the course of to-morrow or the followingday. In the mean- 

 while, with reference to the complaint that new conditions should have 

 been suggested at this stage by Lord Salisbury, I wpuld beg leave to 

 point out that all his lordship's suggestions are obviously dictated by 

 a desire to render the modus vivoKli more effective and. to do all that 

 is jiossible in the common interest for the protection and the preservatifm 

 of the seal species during the present season. 



In my humble opinion, therefore, it is to be regretted that those 

 suggestions should not have commended themselves to t\w favorable 

 considerati(ni of the President. Tlius the ol)ject of the ])roposed inser- 

 tion in article 2 of the words " food skins, and not for tax and shipment," 

 Avhich you quidity iis '^extraordinary," was not to prevent the exj^ort 

 and sah^ of the 7,500 seal skins, of which the ]n'oceeds are intended to 

 cover the cost of food, clothing, fuel, and other necessaries for the 

 natives. Its sole object was to stop the injurious practice of driving 

 ami redriving the herds to the killing grounds for selection, which is 

 resorted to in the case of seals killed "for tax and shipment," and is 

 stated by experts to be the main cause of the depletion of male seal life 

 on the islands. 



I would refer you on this point to the repcn^t of Special Treasury 

 Agent 0. J. Gofi; laid before Congress (Ex. Doc. No. 41»), pp. 4 and 21); 

 also to the report of Assistant Treasury Agent Joseph Murray, at page 

 <S; and that of Assistant Treasury Agent A. W. Lavender, at page 9, 

 of the same Congressional paper. 



As regards Lord Salisbury's proposals of a Joint Commission, it is by 

 no means a new one. It has long been called tor by public o])iuion in 

 both countries. It was inserted among Lord Salisbury's last proi)osals 

 for the Arbitration agreement in the expectation that the latter docu- 

 ment would be signed contem])oraneously with the agreement for a 

 modus Vivendi. But as your Government is not prepared to bring the 

 Arbitration negotiation to a conclusion without further consideration, 

 and as it isof the highest importance that the Joint ('ommission should 

 be appointed at once, in order to enter upon its functions during the 

 ]>ves(M!t fishery season, Lord Salisbury has had no alternative but to 

 urge the insertion of the article providing for a Joint Conunission in the 



