UNIT K I) STATKS. 



747 



in Arizona, 15.283 in California, 10,887 in Wash- 

 inu'i"ii, 8,892 in Wisconsin, 7,5)52 in North Da- 

 kota, and smaller numbers in Michigan, Okla- 

 homa, Oregon. Utah, Idaho, and elsewhere. 



Kon'iirn Relations. Reciprocity treaties 

 under the tariff act of Oct. 1, 1890, known as the 

 McKinley law, were concluded with the majority 

 of I lie count rirs of North and South America and 

 of the commercial powers of Europe under sepa- 

 r.-i'f arrangements with each of them. The treaty 

 with Brazil was the first, having been proclaimed 

 on Feb. 5, 1891. A treaty with Spain for Cuba 

 and Porto Rico was proclaimed on July 81, and 

 one with Santo Domingo on Aug. 1, 1891. The 

 treaty with Salvador was proclaimed on Dec. 31, 



1891. The treaty with Germany, proclaimed on 

 l-Vli. 1, 18!)2, provides that American wheat and 

 rye shall pay a duty of 3.50 marks per 100 kilo- 

 grams, and maize 1.00 marks. A treaty with 

 Great Britain for British Guiana, Trinidad, To- 

 liii^. Barbadoes. and the Leeward and Windward 

 Islands, excepting Grenada, was proclaimed on 

 Feb. 1, 1891. A treaty with Nicaragua was pro- 

 claimed on March 12, 1891, one with Honduras 

 on April 12, and one with Guatemala on May 18. 

 One with Austria-Hungary, in which American 

 products are subjected to the favorable terms con- 

 tained in the treaty between Austria and Ger- 

 many, was proclaimed on May 26. On March 15 

 the existing reciprocity treaty with Hayti was sus- 

 pended, no arrangement under the McKinley law 

 having been concluded. 



An extradition treaty between France and the 

 United States was signed at Paris on March 26, 



1892. The difficulty with Chili regarding the 

 killing and wounding of American sailors by 

 rioters in Valparaiso was settled by the with- 

 drawal of Minister Matta's offensive note, accom- 

 panied with an apology for the riots, on Jan. 25, 

 1892, and the subsequent tender and payment by 

 the Chilian Government of $75,000 as an indem- 

 nity to the families of the sailors of the Baltimore 

 who were killed, and to those who were wounded. 

 A convention was signed for the submission to 

 arbitration of the mutual claims of Chilian and 

 United States citizens, many of which have been 

 pending for years and have hitherto been the 

 subject of unfruitful diplomatic correspondence. 

 On April 12, 1892, the United States Government 

 paid over to the Government of Italy $25,000, 

 which was accepted as an indemnity to be dis- 

 tributed among the families of Italian subjects 

 who were lynched in New Orleans, thus closing 

 the affair. 



The Senate, altering its previous decision, au- 

 thorized the President to ratify the general act of 

 the Brussels Anti-Slavery Conference, and on 

 Feb. 2, 1892, the United States Minister at Brus- 

 sels handed the ratification to the Belgian Min- 

 ister of Foreign Affairs. The protocol reproduces 

 the resolution passed by the Senate, to the effect 

 that the United States intend to remain neutral 

 as regards territorial questions in Africa which 

 may require international adjustment. To this 

 proposition all the signatory powers have as- 

 sented. 



^ A treaty providing for the submission to arbitra- 

 tion of the dispute between the United States 

 and Great Britain with regard to the killing "f 

 seals in the Bering Sea was concluded on Feb. 

 29, 1892. The treaty was ratified by the Suinte 



without opposition on March 29, accompanied by 

 an agreement prohibiting pelagic sealing [M-nding 

 the arbitration. In November, 181' 1. Mr. Blaine 

 had consented that the matters in dispute should 

 be referred to a tribunal of 7 membt-rs, one of 

 whom would represent Canada, one Great Britain, 

 and two the United States, while the remaining 

 members should be selected from other nations. 

 A convention renewing the modus rirendi was 

 agreed to after some correspondence. By it the 

 Government of Great Britain agreed to prohibit, 

 so long as the arbitration was pending, all killing 

 of seals in that part of Bering Sea which lies 

 eastward of the line of demarcation laid down in the 

 Russian treaty of cession, and to use its best efforts 

 to insure the observance of the prohibition by 

 British subjects and vessels. The United States 

 Government agreed on its part to prohibit sealing, 

 beyond the killing of 7,500 seals to provide means 

 for the subsistence of the natives, and to use its 

 best efforts to insure the observance of the prohi- 

 bition by citizens and vessels of the United States. 

 Every vessel offending against the prohibition by 

 hunting seals in Bering Sea coulcl be seized and 

 detained by the naval officers of either contract- 

 ing power, but should be handed over as soon as 

 practicable totheauthoritiesof the nation to which 

 they respectively belong, who alone should have 

 jurisdiction to try and punish them. The British 

 Government Commissioners should be permitted 

 to visit and remain on the seal islands at any time 

 for the purpose of collecting evidence to present to 

 the arbitration tribunal. If the result o* the arbi- 

 tration should affirm the right of British sealers 

 to take seals in Bering Sea within the bounds 

 claimed by the United States, then compensation 

 should be made by the United States for the loss 

 to British subjects incurred by abstaining from 

 the exercise of the right pending the arbitration, 

 calculated on the basis 'of such regulated catch as 

 in the opinion of the arbitrators might be taken 

 without diminution of the seal herds. If, on the 

 other hand, the result of the arbitration should be 

 to deny the right of British sealers to take seals in 

 these waters, then the British Government should 

 pay compensation to the United States on the 

 basis of the difference between 7,500 seals and 

 such catch as the arbitrators judge might have 

 been taken without undue diminution of the 

 herds. The convention runs till Oct. 31, 1898, 

 and may be denounced by either party after that 

 date on two months' notice being given. It was 

 signed by Secretary Blaine and Sir Julian Paunce- 

 fote at Washington on April 18, 1892, and was 

 confirmed by the Senate on the following day. 

 Under the instructions issued by Secretary Tracy 

 on May 1, any vessel found sealing in Bering 

 Sea was to be seized without previous warning, 

 and the presence of a vessel in Bering Sea with 

 a sealing outfit was sufficient warrant for her 

 seizure. All persons on board a captured vessel 

 were to be sent as prisoners with the vessel to 

 suffer the penalty provided bv law. The Amer- 

 ican law imposed a penalty of 6 months' impris- 

 onment and a fine of $1,000, and the British law 

 a fine of $500 and imprisonment at hard labor 

 not to exceed (5 months, on all persons killing or 

 abetting the killing of fur seals in Bering Sea. 



The ratifications of the treaty of arbitration 

 were exchanged in the beginning of September. 

 The powers which were asked to appoint the 



