i la ae sll 
APPENDIX TO CASE OF GREAT BRITAIN. 547 
I therefore venture to suggest that I may be authorized to address 
at once to Mr, Blaine an official note, replying to the President’s inquiry, 
in the sense of your Lordship’s telegram of the 12th instant, viz., that 
the issue of a Proclamation as proposed by the President involves dif- 
ficulties of a Constitutional nature, and Her Majesty’s Government 
could only consent to issue it as part of a general settlement, and on the 
three conditions named below: 
1. That the question of the legal right of the United States Govern- 
ment to interfere with British sealing-vessels in Behring’s Sea be sub- 
initted to arbitration. 
2. That, pending the result of the arbitration, the United States 
Government cease all interference with British sealers outside of terri- 
torial waters. 
495 3. That, if the result of the arbitration be adverse to the 
United States Government, British subjects be compensated, not 
only for past interference, but also for all losses ensuing from their 
compliance with the Proclamation. 
No. 372. 
Colonial Office to Foreign Office.—( Received June 26.) 
[Extract.] 
DOWNING STREET, June 25, 1890. 
With reference to previous correspondence, 1 am directed by Lord 
Knutsford to transmit to you, to be laid before the Marquis of Salis- 
bury, a copy of a despatch from the Governor-General of Canada, for- 
warding an approved Minute of his Privy Council recommending that 
xn assurance should be sought from the United States that no attempt 
will be made to interfere with British vessels in Behring’s Sea during 
the present season. 
{Inclosure 1 in No. 372. 
Lord Stanley of Preston to Lord Knutsford. 
Tne CIrraDEL, Quebec, June 12, 1890. 
5 v ’ , 
My Lorp: With reference to previous correspondence on the subject of the seizures 
of Canadian sealing-vessels in Behring’s Sea, I have the honour to forward herewith 
a copy of an approved Minute of the Privy Council, embodying a Report of the 
Minister of Marine and Fisheries. 
The Minister forcibly presents the grievance sustained by Canadian subjects in the 
course pursued by the United States authorities in regard to this matter, and, in view 
of the fact that another sealing season has opened without any intimation of a with- 
drawal, on the part of the United States, of their extraordinary claim to jurisdiction 
over the waters of the open sea, he recommends that an assurance be sought from 
the United State: Government by Her Majesty’s Government that the claim to 
jurisdiction beyond the 3-mile limit will be no longer insisted on. 
Ihave, &¢, 
(Signed) STANLEY OF PRESTON. 
