MODUS yiVKNDI OF 1891 AND ARBITRATION. 333 



Mr. Whayton to Sir Julian Pauneefote. 



Department op State, 



Washington, October 10, 1891. 



Sir: It is a source of regret tliat an answer lias been so long delayed 

 to your note of August 20 last, relating to the communication of the 

 British Behriug Sea Commissiouers as to the alleged killing of seals on 

 the seal islands in excess of the number fixed by the agreement of 

 June 15 last. Tin's delay has been occasioned by the necessity of 

 receiving from tlie United States agent in charge of the islands a full 

 report on the subject. 



The agent reports that he reached the islands on the 10th day of 

 June, 1891; that from the 1st of January to the 1st of May, 1891, no 

 seals were killed on the islands; and that from May 1 to June 10, the 

 date of the agent's a^rrival, there were killed by the natives for food 

 1,651 seals. On the morning of June 11 the agent gave peiKiission to 

 the lessees to commence killing under the contract with the Govern- 

 ment of tlie United States, and he states that from the 11th to the 15th 

 of June 2,920 seals were killed; and that from June 15 to July 2, the 

 date of the arrival of the steamer Gorivin bringing the proclamation 

 of the President of the United States containing the notice and text 

 of the modus vivendi, there were killed 4,471 seals. From July 2 to 

 August 10 there were killed for the use of the natives as food 1,796 

 seals, and, on leaving the islands, the agent gave instructions to limit 

 the number to be killed by the natives for food uii to May 1, 1892, to 

 1,233. 



The instructions of the Secretary of the Treasury to the agent, re- 

 ceived by the steamer Cortvin, were that if in any way his previous in- 

 structions were inconsistent Avith the President's proclamation and the 

 agreement embraced in it he should be governed by the latter. The 

 agent reports that, after careful consideration of the text of the agree- 

 ment, he decided tliat the seals killed since June 15, the date when that 

 instrument was signed, should be deducted from the 7,500 named in 

 article 2, thus leaving 3,029 seals to be taken "for the subsistence and 

 care of the natives" from July 2, 1891, to May 1, 1892. He says that, 

 in his desire to carry out with absolute correctness the modus vivendi, 

 he consulted the two United States Commissioners (Messrs. Mendenhall 

 and Merriam), the commanders of the United States vessels Mohican, 

 Theiis, and Gorwin, the United States special agent, and the special 

 ins])ector, and that they all concuiTed in his interpretation of paragraj)h 

 2 of the agreement, that seals killed prior to June 15 did not form part 

 of the 7,500 named in the modus vivendi. He further says that in his 

 first meeting with the British Commissioners, Sir George Baden-Powell 

 and Dr. G. M. Dawson, July 28, he submitted the same question to 

 them. Their reply was that it was the understanding of the British 

 Government that only 7,500 seals should be taken during the season; 

 but, on examining the text of the agreement, they admitted that the 

 agent's interpretation of it was correct. This statement as to the views 

 of the British Commissioners is confirmed by the report of Professor 

 Mendenhall. 



The agent claims that his action is not only strictly in accord with 

 the language of the agreement, but with the true intent and spirit of 

 the same, as he understood that intent and spirit in the light of all the 

 facts in his possession. He understood that the object of the agree- 

 ment in allowing 7,500 seals to be killed was "for the subsistence and 

 care of the natives." The 1,651 seals killed by the natives for food 



