APPENDIX TO CASE OF GREAT BRITAIN. 785 
not sure which day M. de Giers was leaving St. Petersburgh, I did 
22 not know whether to go to the capital or to his country house. 
I accordingly telegraphed to Mr. Howard to at once address a 
note to the Foreign Office in the sense of your Lordship’s telegram, 
and arranged to meet M. de Giers at his country house on Sunday. By 
this means no time was lost, for as early as Thursday night) M. Shish- 
kine, the Under-Secretary for Foreign Affairs, had telegraphed the con- 
tents of Mr. Howard’s note to M. de Giers, who, when [ reached him on 
Sunday, had had the papers connected with the subject sent up to 
him, and was in a position to give a provisional reply. 
His Excellency’s statement was to the following effect. 
The question of seal-hunting in the Behring’s Sea had formed the 
subject of continuous negotiation between tie United States Govern- 
ment and his own for a very considerable time, and many proposals had 
been submitted to him by the United States Department, to none of 
which, however, had he been able to give his assent. So far as he could 
see, your Lordship’s proposal was very reasonable, and its principle— 
namely, to give the seal fisheries a year’s rest, in order to come to a 
definite arrangement as to the best means for preventing the destruc- 
tion of these valuable animals—was one with which he had the fullest 
sympathy. It was impossible, however, to give me au answer off-hand, 
because the matter lay not with the Minister for Foreign Affairs, but 
with that of the Domains. Now it so happened that quite lately the 
former Contract of the Government with the Alaska Company had 
terminated, and a new Contract with a Russian Company had been 
substituted for it. Whether M. Ostrowski, the Minister of the 
Domains, would be in a position to put this Contract in abeyance for 
the next twelve months, and whether, if he could, he would be able to 
do so without bringing the matter again before the Committee of Min- 
isters, which would require some time, his Excellency could not tell me 
till he received a reply from his colleague. He had written to him to 
urge expedition in the matter, and hoped to be able to give me a defi- 
nite answer by the middle of the week. 
On my return to St. Petersburgh I called upon M. Veshniakoff, the 
alter ego of the Minister of Domains, and urged on him the desirability 
of expedition. I found him well disposed towards the proposal, and I 
may therefore hope that a favourable answer will be given. 
On the receipt of your Lordship’s telegram of the 9th instant this 
morning, I addressed to M. de Giers a note embodying its contents, and 
called in the afternoon on M. Shishkine to urge that it should be imme- 
diately sent to the Ministry of Domains. He was not in a position to 
discuss the merits of this new departure. 
I have the honour to transmit herewith copies of Mr. Howard’s note 
of the 4th instant and of mine of to-day’s date. 
I have, We. 
(Signed) kh. B. D. Monier. 
[Inclosure 1 in No. 41.] 
Sir R. Morier to M. de Giers. 
St. PETERSBURGH, May 23 (June 4), 1891. 
M.1LE MINIsTRE: I have been instructed by Her Majesty’s Principal Secretary of 
State for Foreign Affairs to inform your Excellency that Her Majesty’s Government 
have agreed to a proposal of the United States Government to suspend seal-hunting 
in the waters and islands of the Behring’s Sea until the month of May next year. 
BS; PP y——_50 
