432 APPENDIX TO CASE OF GREAT BRITAIN. 
“Whereas the law under which said proposal is issued was passed about twenty 
years since, and the circumstances and conditions existing in Alaska, and with ref- 
erence to the seal industry, have materially changed during that period; and 
“Whereas it has been charged upon the authority of a late Governor of Alaska 
that the Alaska Commercial Company, now occupying said islands under lease from 
the Government, has exercised its privileges oppressively and against the interests of 
both the natives and the Government; and 
‘Whereas said Company claims that it is the only person or organization which 
can successfully compete for the lease invited by the Secretary of the Treasury as 
aforesaid, and there is every reason to believe that under present legislation and 
conditions the lease proposed will be made to said Alaska Commercial Company 
substantially without competition. Therefore, 
“ Resolved,—That the Secretary of the Treasury be requested not to make a new lease 
of said islands until further action by Congress, or until the latest period made nec- 
essary by existing law, and that meanwhile he make full report to the Senate as to 
the manner in which the said Alaska Commercial Company has discharged its duties 
and obligations under the present lease, and also what additional legislation, if any, 
is necessary in order that the interests of the Government and those of the natives 
and citizens of Alaska may be more fully protected.” 
The Vice-President.—The Resolution will lie on the table and be printed. 
396 No. 272. 
Sir J. Pauncefote to the Marquis of Salisbury.—( Received by telegraph, 
January 23.) 
WASHINGTON, January 23, 1890. 
My Lorp: I have the honour to inclose herewith copy of a note 
which I have received from Mr. Blaine, containing the answer of the 
United States Government to the protest which Mr. Edwardes made 
by your Lordship’s directions on the 12th October last against the 
seizure of Canadian vessels made by the United States Revenue cut- 
ter “‘ Rush” in Behring’s Sea. 
I have, &e. 
(Signed) JULIAN PAUNCEFOTE, 
[Inclosure in No. 272.] 
Mr. Blaine to Sir J. Pauncefote. 
DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Washington, January 22, 1890. 
Sir: Several weeks have elapsed since I had the honour to receive through the 
hands of Mr. Edwardes copies of two despatches from Lord Salisbury,* complaining 
of the course of the United States Revenue cutter ‘‘ Rush” in intercepting Canadian 
vessels sailing under the British flag, and engaged in taking fur seals in the waters 
of the Behring’s Sea. ; 
Subjects which could not be postponed have engaged the attention of this Depart- 
ment, and have rendered it impossible to give a formal answer to Lord Salisbury 
until the present time. 
In the opinion of the President, the Canadian vessels, arrested and detained in the 
Behbring’s Sea, were engaged in a pursuit that is in itself contra bonos mores—a pur- 
suit which of necessity involves a serious and permanent injury to the rights of the 
Government and people of the United States. To establish this ground, it is not 
necessary to argue the question of the extent and nature of the sovereignty of this 
Government over the waters of the Behring’s Sea; it is not necessary to explain, cer- 
tainly not to define, the powers and privileges ceded by His Imperial Majesty the 
Emperor of Russia in the Treaty by which the Alaskan territory was transferred to 
the United States. The weighty considerations growing out of the acquisition of 
that territory, with all the rights on land and sea inseparably connected therewith, 
*See Nos. 228 and 229. 
