56 APPENDIX TO CASE OF GREAT BRITAIN. 
No. 25. 
Sir L. West to Her Majesty's Secretary of State, Foreign Office.—( Received 
January 26.) 
WASHINGTON, January 13, 1887. 
My Lorp: With reference to my despatch of the 7th instant, I have 
the honour to inelose to your Lordship herewith copy of a note which 
I have received from the Secretary of State in answer to my communi- 
cation expressing the concern of Her Majesty’s Government at receiv- 
ing no reply to their representations respecting the seizure of British 
vessels in Behring’s Sea. 
I have, &c. (Signed) L. S. SACKVILLE WEST. 
89 [Inclosure in No. 25.] 
Mr. Bayard to Sir L. West. 
DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Washington, January 12, 1887. 
Sir: Your note of the 9th instant was received by me on the next day, and I regret 
exceedingly that, although my efforts have been diligently made to procure from 
Alaska the authenticated copies of the judicial proceedings in the cases of the British 
vessels ‘‘ Carolina,” ‘‘ Onward,” and ‘‘ Thornton,” to which you refer, I should not 
have been able to obtain them in time to have made the urgent and renewed appli- 
cation of the Earl of Iddesleigh superfluous. j 
The pressing nature of your note constrains me to inform you that on the 27th 
September last, when I received my first intimation from you that any question was 
possible as to the validity of the judicial proceedings referred to, I lost no time in 
requesting my colleague the Attorney-General, in whose Department the cases were, 
to procure for me such authentic information as would enable me to make full 
response to your application. 
From week to week I have been awaiting the arrival of the papers, and to-day, at 
my request, the Attorney-General has telegraphed to Portland, in Oregon, the near- 
est telegraph station to Sitka, in Alaska, in order to expedite the furnishing of the 
desired papers. 
You will understand that my wish to meet the questions involved in the instruc- 
tions you have received from your Government is averred, and that the delay has 
been enforced by the absence of requisite information as to the facts. 
The distance of the vessels from any land, or the circumstances attendant upon 
their seizure, are unknown to me, save by the statements in your last note, and it is 
essential that such facts should be devoid of all uncertainty. 
Of whatever information may be in the possession of Her Majesty’s Government I 
have, of course, no knowledge or means of knowledge, but this Department of the 
Government of the United States has not yet been placed in possession of that 
accurate information which would justify its decision in a question which you are 
certainly warranted in considering to be of grave importance. 
I shall diligently endeavor to procure the best evidence possible of the matters 
inquired of, and will make due response thereupon when the opportunity of decision 
is afforded to me. 
You require no assurance that no avoidance of our international obligations need 
be apprehended. 
I have, &c. 5; (Signed) T. F. Bayarb. 
No. 26. 
The Marquis of Salisbury to Sir L. West. 
FOREIGN OFFICE, January 27, 1887. 
Sir: With reference to your despatch of the 13th instant, I have to 
request you to make a point of inquiring from time to time whether the 
United States Government have received the expected information with 
regard to the seizures of British vessels engaged in seal-fishing in Beh- 
rings’s Sea. 
lam, &e. (Signed) SALISBURY. 
