REPORT OF SPECIAL AGENT HENRY. 245 



REPORT OF SPECIAL AGENT HENRY. 



Orders. 



Department of State, 



Washington, October 1, 1892. 

 A. J. Henry, Esquire, 



San Francisco: 

 Sir : You are hereby appointed a special agent of the Department 

 of State for the purpose of making an investigation at 

 Victoria, B. C., and elsewhere, to obtain such testi- A Pi ,0 " ltn,ent - 

 mony as is possible, and to report upon matters connected with the 

 claims presented by the British Government before the Tribunal of 

 Arbitration to convene at Paris. 



You will receive more specific instructions from W. H. Williams, 

 esquire, special agent of the Treasury Department in San Francisco, 

 and under whose direction you will act in the matters entrusted to you. 

 I am, sir, your obedient servant, 



John W. Foster. 



Report. 



San Francisco, Cal., November 19th, 1892. 

 To the honorable the Secretary of State : 



Sir : I have the honor to report that iu accordance with my letter of 

 appointment as special agent of the State Department, I reported to 

 Major W. H. Williams, special Treasury agent, and from him received 

 the following verbal instructions : To proceed at once 

 to Victoria, British Columbia, and to obtain such tes- 

 timony as I was able, in the Bering Sea controversy in relation to the 

 cost of sealing vessels, their outfits, and so forth, and all other mat- 

 ters appertaining to the question at issue before the Tribunal of Arbi- 

 tration to be hereafter convened in Paris. 



Pursuant to such instructions, I proceeded directly to Victoria, Brit- 

 ish Columbia, leaving San Francisco on the 10th of October, 1892, and 

 arriving at Victoria on the 13th. I at once took steps to find out the 

 disposition of the sealers towards the United States 

 iu the Bering Sea controversy. As a result of my in- , Public sentiment 



,• ,. t n -. ,-, , S t x- bitter against United 



vestigations I found that public sentiment was very states. 



bitter against our Government, that the citizens of the 



city of Victoria were in sympathy with the sealers and that they were 



very cautious what they said in relation to sealing. 



The Sealers Association of Victoria has among its members some 

 prominent citizens of the city and has a great deal of 

 influence, and the residents seem to be afraid to incur wl ^tte™tLttmo ny ain 

 the displeasure of the association. I at once saw that 

 it would be utterly impossible to obtain written testimony in Victoria 

 contrary to the interests of those engaged in the sealing business, be- 

 cause any person giving such testimony would be boycotted by those 

 in sympathy with the sealers and probably ruined financially. 



A few days after my arrival I formed the acquaintance of several 

 owners and masters, as well as many of the crew and 

 hunters of sealing vessels, aud owing to the fact that ti ^ urces of iufonna - 

 they supposed, from my inquiries, that I desired to 

 engage in sealing the coming season, they talked freely with me as to 



