APPINDIX TO CASE OF GREAT BRITAIN. 97 
against its laws shall be triable only in the Courts of another nation. The exten- 
sion of this clause to the territory and territorial waters of the United States, there- 
fore, involves an insuperable legal difficulty on our part, and a concession which no 
independent Government could “be expected to make. The mutual police which 1s 
to be stipulated for could not in the nature of things apply to the territorial waters 
within the undisputed and exclusive jurisdiction of either. 
To the fourth clause, which is in substance the same as the proposition made by 
this Government, no objection is interposed. 
As to the fifth clause, I am directed to say that the President regards the proposi- 
tion to appoint a Joint Commission to investigate and report as to what Regulations 
or International Agreements are necessary to preserve the seal fisheries to be one of 
the incidents of the Agreement for Arbitration, and to have no proper place here. 
This distinction seems to have been recognized by his Lordship, and his proposal of 
such a Commission was made part of the separate note discussing the terms of arbi- 
tration presented by you on the 3rd June, and has never until now appeared in 
33 the correspondence relating to a modus vivendi. The President thinks the 
fourth clause, which has been accepted, makes ample present provision, but 
will give a full consideratiou to the suggestion of a Joint Commission in connection 
with the negotiation for arbitration. 
To the sixth and last clause, the President directs me to say that so far as he is 
aware no vessel bearing the Russian flag has at any time intruded into the waters 
described in the proposed Agreement. He is entirely in sympathy with the expressed 
desire of Lord Salisbury to secure such limitations as to the hunting of seals in the 
whole of Behring’s Sea as will preserve to mankind this valuable industry, but he 
does not think that an agreement to unite in any joint note to Russia should be inter- 
posed here and at this time. Moreover, Lord Salisbury will perceive that, in the 
present state of the American law, if Russia should ask for reciprocal action by this 
Government west of the Treaty line, the President would be confronted with the 
same difficulty that prevented him from extending the Agreement with Her Majesty’s 
Government to the whole of Behring’s Sea. 
As the President understands, the adhesion of the two Governments has been given 
in this correspondence to the following propositions: 
“For the purpose of avoiding irritating differences, and with a view to promote 
friendly settlement of the questions pending between the two Governments touching 
their respective rights in Behriny’s Sea, and for the preservation of the seal species, 
the following Agreement is made without prejudice to the rights or claims of either 
party: 
“Article 1. Her Majesty’s Government will prohibit until May next seal-killing in 
that part of Behring’s Sea lying eastward of the line of demarcation described in 
Article Lof the Treaty of 1867 bet ween the United States and Russia, and will promptly 
use its best efforts to insure the observance of this Deion by British subjects and 
vessels. 
“Art. 2. The United States Government will prohibit ‘seal- killing for the same 
period in the same part of Behring’s Sea, and on the shores and islands thereof the 
property of the United States (in excess of 7,500 to be taken on the islands tor the 
subsistence and care of the natives), and will promptly use its best efforts to insure 
the observation of this prohibition by United States citizens and vessels. 
“Art. 3. Every vessel or person offending against this prohibition in the said waters 
of Behring’s Sea, outside of the ordinary territorial limits of the United States, may 
be seized and detained by the naval or other duly commissioned officers of either of 
the High Contracting Parties; but they shall be handed over as soon as practicable 
to the ‘authorities of the nation to which they respectively belong, who shall alone 
have jurisdiction to try the offence and impose the penalties for the same. The 
witnesses and proofs necessary to establish the offence shall also be sent with them. 
“Art. 4. In order to facilitate such proper inquiries as Her Majesty’s Government 
may desire to make with a view to the presentation of the Case of that Government 
before Arbitrators, and in expectation that an agreement for arbitration may be 
arrived at, it is agreed that suitable persons designated by Great Britain will be 
permitted at any time, upon application, to visit or to remain upon the seal islands 
during the present sealing season for that purpose.” 
The President directs me to inform you that the Government of the United States 
is ready to conclude this Agreement if it can be put into force immediately. The 
value of such an Agreement to the United States is daily lessening, and the President 
therefore feels that he must ask that the negotiations be brought to a speedy deter- 
mination. 
I have, &c, 
(Signed) W. F. WHARTON. 
