APPENDIX. 385 



representing three Neutral Powers. The terms of procedure of the 

 Arbitration were signed i8th December, 1891, and at the moment of 

 going to press the Arbitration is sub judice. 



The question in dispute arises out of the seal fisheries in the 

 Behring Seas, and of the claim of the United States that Behring Sea 

 and Behrings Strait separating the two continents of Asia and 

 America, are a mare dausum (a closed sea.) This claim has ever 

 been contested by Canada and Great Britain, and it is to the great 

 credit of the respective Governments that they have mutually agreed 

 to an Arbitral Reference of this international controversy. 



GREAT BRITAIN AND FRANCE. 



On the nth March, 1891, an agreement was signed at London, 

 on the one part for England, by the Marquis of Salisbury, and on. 

 the other part for France, by M. Waddington, for a reference of the 

 Lobster Fishery Question, to a Commission of Arbitration, con- 

 sisting of seven members, three jurisconsults chosen by common 

 consent, and two delegates from England and France. 



ARBITRATION REFUSED. 



It is satisfactory co observe that the only instance in which Arbi- 

 tration was refused, during the past few years, was when Great 

 Britain, through H.M. Minister for Foreign Affairs, Lord Granville, 

 proposed to the Government of Portugal, to refer to Arbitration the 

 claim made by the latter, relative to the collision between the 

 British steamer City of Mecca, and the Portuguese steamer Insulano.- 



In a despatch, dated 15th May, 1883, the Portuguese Government 

 refused tjie proposal of Arbitration submitted by the British Govern- 

 ment, on the ground " that it would constitute a violation of the 

 prerogatives of national sovereignty." 



AMICABLE REFERENCE, , 

 between two States, without the direct interference of a Neutral, 

 is where both Governments approach the subject of dispute with a 

 sincere desire to preserve peace, by doing full justice to each other, 

 and the following are the instances under this procedure : — 



GREAT BRITAIN AND UNITED STATES. 



In 1794, after the Treaty of Peace of 1783 between England and 

 the United States of America had been in force eleven years, 

 differences arose in reference to the river St. Croix, which by that 



