APPENDIX TO CASE OF GREAT BRITAIN. 311 
APPENDIX NO. 6. 
Report of the Cruize of the Revenue Marine Steamer “ Corwin” in the year 1885. 
[Ex. Doc. No. 153, 49th Congress, 1st Session, p. 15.] 
On our arrival at Ounalaska on the 15th, the steamer ‘‘ Dora” was in port, and three 
days later the schooner ‘‘ Mattie Turner” arrived. The ‘‘Turner” reported having 
seen, three weeks previous, a schooner between the seal islands and Ounalaska, and 
thought she might still be cruizing in that vicinity for the purpose of killing seals. 
APPENDIX No. 7. 
“New York Herald,” June 7, 1889, 
Mr. BLAINE’s f EMBARRASSMENTS.”—The “ Tribane” admits that the ‘‘ Herald” is 
right when it assumes that the State Department will be embarrassed by the action 
of the previous Administration in dealing with the Behring’s Sea question. 
That is to say, Secretary Blaine, if he undertakes to negotiate with England on the 
theory that Behring’s Sea betwéen the Straits and the “Aleutian Islands is a land- 
locked or closed sea, will be confronted with recent confessions by Mr. Bayard that 
it is an open sea, and that ils fisheries are to be regulated by international action of 
the leading Maritime Powers. 
Very true. It is less than two years since Secretary Bayard invited a number of 
foreign Powers iuto some arrangement with the United States for the protec- 
281 tion of the Behring’s seal fisheries. ‘That was a distinct admission on the part 
of this Government, and a specific announcement to the Powers addressed that 
the United States did not claim exclusive jurisdiction over the waters, nor assume 
any exclusive right to regulate the fisheries. And in keeping with this view was the 
action of the Government in orderi ing the release of the Canadian sealers seized by 
our eruizers. Of course all this will promptly and with reason be cited against 
Secretary Blaine if he now abandons the position and undertakes to maintain the 
contrary. 
But this is not all that will be cited against the Secretary to his ‘‘ embarrassment.” 
He will be confronted by the fact that the United States more than sixty years ago 
emphatically denied the claim of Russia to exclusive jurisdiction, and never con- 
ceded that claim while Russia owned Alaska. He will be confronted by the fact 
that this Government asserted a similar principle in the case of the Black Sea and 
that of the Baltic. He will further be confronted by the geographical fact that 
Behring’s Sea is an open sea, and by the universal principle of international law 
that an open sea cannot be owned or controlled by one nation without the consent of 
other nations. Lastly, Mr. Blaine will be ‘‘embarrassed” by the fact that he is the 
first Secretary of State to advance the claim that Behring’s Sea is a closed sea, sub- 
ject to the control of the United States. 
But, says our contemporary, President Harrison’s recent Proclamation, which is 
based on the Act of Congress of the 2nd March, 1889, “embodies the claim to exclu- 
sive jurisdiction.” Well, suppose it does. That cannot help Mr. Blaine much in 
his controversy with England. A claim asserted by Congress or the President, or 
both, has no more inter national force than a claim asserted. by the State Depar tment. 
But does the Act of Congress of the 2nd March, on which the President’s Procla- 
mation rests, assert the right of control over Behring’ sxsea? It asserts the right of 
control over ‘all the dominion of the United States in the waters of Behring’s Sea,’ 
Now the extent of the dominion of the United States in those waters is the very 
point in issue. The previous Act passed in 1868, immediately after the purchase, 
applied to ‘“‘the watersof Alaska.” If the Amendatory Act of 1889 was intended to 
assert a larger domain than that of 1868, to declare in favour of exclusive jurisdic- 
tion, will not Mr. Blaine be also confronted with the argument that this claim was 
not asserted by Congress till this year? 
However, we hope that Mr. Blaine will be able to overcome his many ‘‘embarrass- 
ments” in the controversy, and to satisfy England and the other Powers interested 
that his claim is well grounded. Behring’s Sea is a great body of water, and its 
fisheries are very valuable. If we can secure control of it with foreign consent, so 
ae the better for us. But it looks as if Mr. Blaine had a big undertaking on his 
ands. 
“New York Herald,” May 29, 1889. 
THE BEHRING’S SEA QUESTION.—So it seems Secretary Blaine has decided that 
Behring’s Sea is a mare clausum, or closed sea, over which the United States bas exclu- 
