APPENDIX TO CASE OF GREAT BRITAIN. 45 
28 [Inclosure in No. 21.] 
Sir L. West to Mr. Bayard. 
WASHINGTON, December 7, 1886. 
Srr: Referring to your note of the 12th ultimo on the subject of the seizure of 
British vessels in the Behring’s Sea, and promising to convey to me as soon as possi- 
ble the facts as ascertained in the trial and the rulings of law as applied by the 
Court, I have the honour to state that vessels are now as usual equipping in British 
Columbia for fishinginthatsea. The Canadian Government, therefore, in the absence 
of information, are desirous of ascertaining whether such vessels fishing in the open 
seas and beyond the territorial waters of Alaska would be exposed to seizure, and 
Her Majesty’s Government at the same time would be glad if some assurance could 
be given that, pending the settlement of the question, no such seizures of British 
vessels will se made in Behring’s Sea. 
T have, &c. 
(Signed) L. S. SACKVILLE WEST. 
No. 22. 
Colonial Office to Foreign Office.—( Received January 5.) 
DOWNING STREET, January 4, 1887. 
Sir: With reference to previous correspondence respecting tiie seiz- 
ure by the United States Revenue-steamer ‘‘Corwin” of certain Cana- 
dian schooners engaged in the seal fishery in Behring’s Sea, I am 
directed by Mr. Secretary Stanhope to transmit to you, for such further 
action in the matter as Hite Earl of Iddesleigh may ‘think proper, a copy 
of a despatch from the Governor-General of Canada, inclosing copy of 
an approved Report of his Privy Council, explaining the views of the 
Dominion Government in the matter. 
Mr. Stanhope would be glad to receive a copy of any communication 
which Lord Iddesleigh may address to the United States Government 
in consequence of this further representation from the Government of 
Canada on the subject. 
lam, We. 
(Signed) JOHN BRAMSTON. 
[Inclosure 1 in No. 22.] 
The Marquis of Lansdowne to Mr. Stanhope. 
GOVERNMENT Housgn, Orrawa, November 27, 1886. 
Sir: I have the honour to inclose herewith copy of an approved Report of my 
Privy Council dealing with the recent seizure of the Canadian schooners ‘ Caro- 
line,” ‘‘Onward,” and ‘‘ Thor nton” by the United States Revenue steamer ‘‘ Corwin” 
while fishing for seals in Bebri ing’s Sea. 
The statements contained in the Report are sufficient to establish that the claim 
now put forward on the part of the United States to the sole right of taking fur- 
bearing animals within the limits laid down in the Ist Article of the Treaty of 1867 
is inconsistent with the rights secured to Great Britain under the Convention of 1825, 
and is in substance the same as that which, when advanced by the Russian Govern- 
ment on different occasions prior to the cession of Alaska by Russia to the United 
States, was either strenuously resisted or treated with ridicule and contempt by the 
Government of the latter Power. 
It is impossible to believe that, when by the Convention of 1825 it was agreed 
that the subjects of Great Britain, as one of the Contracting Parties, should not be 
“troubled or molested in any part of the ocean commonly called the Pacific Ocean, 
either in navigating the same or in fishing therein,” any reservation was intended 
with regard to that part of the Pacific Ocean known as Behring’s Sea. The whole 
course of the negotiations by which this Convention and that hetween Russia and 
