418 MISCELLANEOUS. 



REPORT OF SPEECH MADE BY ONE OF THE BRITISH BERING 

 SEA COMMISSIONERS.* 



SIR GEORGE BADEN-POWELL AND THE BEHRING SEA QUESTION. 



Speaking- last night at a meeting of his constituents in the Kirkdale 

 Division of Liverpool, Sir George Baden-Powell gave an account of 

 his mission to the Behring Sea. He said that Lord Salisbury told him 

 it was a very difficult, complex, and delicate question; that, above all 

 things, he wanted to avoid war with the United States, but that at the 

 same time he wanted to be strong, to show no fear in his policy, but to 

 show that he was not going to yield one jot or tittle of British rights. 

 [Loud cheers.] But Lord Salisbury had an additional purpose in sen 1- 

 ing him there. Three or four years ago the Americans seized some 

 British vessels, imprisoned the captains and crews, and fined them for 

 taking fur-seals out of the high seas. This country, of course, 

 promptly denied that these vessels were acting illegally, and last sum- 

 mer and autumn, by their work in the Behring Sea, he thought they 

 had finally brought that awkward dispute, which might have resulted 

 in war, to arbitration, and it was his conviction that this country 

 would win in that arbitration. [Cheers.] 



He spent three months in the Behring Sea investigating the full 

 facts. When he arrived there he found three British men-of-war and 

 seven American Government ships, the latter with instructions to seize 

 the British sealers if they attempted to seal; but the British Commis- 

 sioners were able, without any breach of the peace, to make satisfac- 

 tory arrangements which enabled the British sailors thereto take home 

 what seals they had got. [Cheers.] He had some difficulty in getting 

 at the full facts of seal life on the American islands., but he managed 

 to become good friends with the Americans, and parted with them 

 affectionately after finding out all the facts. He discovered that no 

 one knew where the seals went to after leaving these American islands, 

 and he accordingly arranged that the three men-of-war placed at his 

 service and the transport steamer which carried himself should explore 

 all these seas. He thought they acquired, as a result of that explora- 

 tion, all the facts as to the migration of the seals — facts never before 

 known. To do this they had to go through a great deal of rough work ; 

 the weather was cold and there was usually fog, except when there was 

 a gale, but somehow or other he found his body thoroughly suited to 

 these elements, perhaps more so than to the House of Commons. 

 [Laughter.] 



Lord Salisbury had been good enough to say more than once that 

 what was done in the Behring Sea greatly exceeded his expectations and 

 those of her Majesty's Government. [Cheers.] The investigations 

 they had made were important, but the friendliness they had estab- 

 lished with the Americans and the Eussians had yet to bear fruit, and 

 Lord Salisbury was now very anxious that he should go back at once 

 to Washington, there to consort with officials of the American Govern- 

 ment, and to come to a joint agreement with them in view of the ap- 

 proaching arbitration. He was to leave on Saturday next, but he 

 hoped to go back after two or three weeks' work in Washington, and 

 to be able to report that the negotiations were as successful as the 

 investigations. He was happy to say that both sides had not only 



* Extract from the London Times of January 6, 1892. 



