748 



UNITED STATES. 



three neutral arbitrators were France, Italy, and 

 Sweden. The United States Government selected 

 as its representatives in the arbitration tribunal 

 Justice Harland, of the Supreme Court, and 

 Senator Morgan, of Alabama. The counsel for 

 the United States were Mr. Phelps, ex-Minister 

 to Great Britain ; James C. Carter, of New York ; 

 and Judge Henry Blodgett, of the United States 

 District Court. John Foster was appointed agent 

 to prepare the case and represent the United States 

 Government officially before the Arbitration 

 Board. The French Government selected Baron 

 Alphonse de Courcel to act as the French member 

 of the Arbitration Commission. The Italian mem- 

 ber was the Marchese Emilio Visconti-Venosta. 

 The arbitration treaty provided that each of the 

 parties to the controversy should deliver in dupli- 

 cate to each of the arbitrators and to the agent of 

 the opposite party an original presentation of its 

 case, accompanied by the documents, the official 

 correspondence, and other evidence and state- 

 ments, within a period not to exceed 4 months 

 from the date of the exchange of ratifications. 

 Each side has then 3 months in which to consider 

 and digest the original case and submit a counter 

 case, but either party may, on giving notice within 

 30 days, after receiving the case of the opposite 

 side, demand an additional period not to exceed 

 60 days, or 5 months m all, in which to gather 

 further evidence to be presented in its counter 

 case. After the presentation of the counter case 

 30 days are allowed for the submission of printed 

 arguments which may be supported before the 

 Commission of Arbitration by oral argument. 



While the seals were on their way to the breed- 

 ing grounds, a large number were taken by Ca- 

 nadian and American sealers probably as many 

 as 35,000 ; and many more were captured in 

 Bering Sea by the unusually large fleet of 

 sealing vessels that were sent out early from 

 British Columbia, and began their operations be- 

 fore the United States revenue and naval vessels 

 were on the ground. The British naval author- 

 ities co-operated with the American, and the 

 shooting of seals at sea, which is destructive to 

 the stock, because a large proportion of those 

 killed are gravid females, was effectually stopped 

 in Bering Sea, especially after the capture of the 

 tender of the Canadian sealing fleet with the 

 provisions for the season and several thousand 

 skins aboard, on June 22, by the revenue cutter 

 "Corwin." This vessel, the " Coquillon," was 

 seized for discharging cargo 3 miles off shore 

 at Tonki, in contravention of the United States 

 revenue laws. About 25 sealing vessels were also 

 captured in Alaskan waters for violating the 

 modus vivendi. 



A conference to discuss reciprocal commer- 

 cial arrangements with Canada took place, at 

 the suggestion of the Canadian Government 

 at Washington. Secretary Elaine acted for 

 the United States Government, and the British 

 Minister and three members of the Dominion 

 Government, who acted as commissioners of the 

 British Government, represented Canada. The 

 conference came to naught because the Canadian 

 Government was only prepared to offer the ad- 

 mission of natural products in exchange for the 

 concessions asked, being precluded from granting 

 favored rates to the United States as against the 

 mother country. The discussion was therefore 



terminated by Mr. Blaine. The conference re- 

 sulted, however, in signing a convention for the 

 survey of the Alaskan boundary and the waters 

 of Passamaquoddy Bay adjacent to Eastport, 

 Maine, and in an agreement for the protection 

 of fish life in the conterminous and neighboring 

 waters on the northern boundary of the United 

 States. A controversy with Canada regarding 

 discriminative tolls imposed on American vessels 

 in the Welland Canal was presented to Congress, 

 and an act was passed and signed by the Presi- 

 dent on July 26, 1892, empowering the Admin- 

 istration to apply retaliatory measures. It pro- 

 vided for the imposition of tolls in the St. Mary's 

 Falls, or Sault Ste. Marie, Canal on all Canadian 

 vessels or American vessels bound for Canadian 

 ports. The Canadian Government imposed a 

 toll of 20 cents a ton on all freight passing 

 through the Welland Canal in transit to places 

 in the United States, and a further toll on all 

 United States vessels and on passengers in 

 transit to ports of the United States. On grain 

 shipped to Montreal or ports farther east for 

 export, a rebate of 18 cents was allowed. This 

 discrimination was a violation of the Treaty of 

 Washington, concluded on May 8, 1871, and ac- 

 cordingly the President made use of the author- 

 ity granted by the act of Congress, and on Aug. 

 20 issued a proclamation ordering that from 

 Sept. 1, 1892, a toll of 20 cents a ton should be 

 collected on freight passing through the St. 

 Mary's Falls Canal in transit to any Canadian 

 port, whether carried in vessels of the United 

 States or of other nations. 



An extradition treaty with Germany, which 

 included embezzlement, obtaining money by 

 false pretenses, perjury, assaults upon females, 

 and mutiny and other crimes committed on the 

 high seas among the extraditable offenses, was 

 proposed by Minister Phelps in Berlin, and was 

 discussed, but was not concluded, chiefly because 

 the United States Government could not see its 

 way to undertaking the police and legal business 

 connected with the extradition of German fugi- 

 tives from justice. 



The Chinese Minister in Washington filed a 

 protest against the Chinese exclusion bill after it 

 was passed, making the following objections : 

 (1) It renewed the Scott act of 1888. (2) It de- 

 prived Chinese subjects of the right of bail in 

 habeas corpus cases. (3) It required the registra- 

 tion of Chinese laborers under conditions with 

 which it was impossible for them to comply, be- 

 cause a Chinaman who was in the United States 

 previous to the first exclusion act in 1882 would 

 have to produce white witnesses to prove that he 

 was in the country at that time. These features 

 of the bill were in violation of the treaty of 1880, 

 executed in Pekin at the request of the United 

 States Government, which guaranteed to Chinese 

 laborers in the United States the treatment 

 accorded to the subjects of the most favored 

 nations. 



A proposal to invite the governments of com- 

 mercial nations to an international conference 

 on bimetallism was approved by the Senate, and 

 the principal governments of Europe accepted 

 the invitation issued on April 21, 1892, to take 

 part, Great Britain and some others declaring 

 at the same time that they could not be bound 

 by any conclusions reached* by the Conference. 



