I am prepared now, as I have been heretofore, to sign the articles of agreement without any reservation whatever, and for that purpose I shall be glad to have you call at the State Department on Wednesday the 16th instant, at 11 o'clock a. m. I have, etc., JAMES G. BLAINE. Sir Julian Pauncefote to Mr. Blaine. BRITISH LEGATION, Washington, December 15, 1891. SIR: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your note of yesterday's date in reply to mine of the 11th instant, respecting the signature of the seven articles of the proposed Behring Sea Arbitration agreement therein referred to. I will transmit a copy of that reply to the Marquis of Salisbury by to-day's mail, but I beg to state that, pending his lordship's further instructions, it is not in my power to proceed to the signature of the articles in questions as proposed at the close of your note. I have, etc., JULIAN PAUNCEFOTE. Sir Julian Pauncefote to Mr. Blaine. BRITISH LEGATION, Washington, December 17, 1891. SIR: I have the honor to inform you that I conveyed to the Marquis of Salisbury by telegram the substance of your note of the 14th instant respecting the sixth article of the proposed Behring Sea Arbitration agreement, and that I have received a reply from his lordship in the following sense: Lord Salisbury is afraid that, owing to the difficulties incident to telegraphic communications, he has been imperfectly understood by the President. He consented, at the President's request, to defer for the present all further discussion as to what course the two Governments should follow in the event of the regulations prescribed by the Arbitrators being evaded by a change of flag. It was necessary that in doing so he should guard himself against the supposition that by such consent he had narrowed the rights of the contending parties or of the Arbitrators under the agreement. But in the communication which was embodied in my note of the 11th instant, his lordship made no reservation, as the President seems to think, nor was any such word used. A reservation would not be vald unless assented to by the other side, and no such assent was asked for. Lord Salisbury entirely agrees with the President in his objection to any point being submitted to the Arbitrators which is not embraced in the agreement; and, in conclusion, his lordship authorizes me to sign the articles of the Arbitration agreement, as proposed at the close of your note under reply, whenever you may be willing to do so. I have, etc., JULIAN PAUNCEFOTE. Sir Julian Pauncefote to Mr. Blaine. BRITISH LEGATION, Washington, D. C., December 30, 1891. DEAR MR. BLAINE: On the 22d instant I telegraphed, as you desired, to Lord Salisbury, your suggestions that the number of Arbitrators on the Behring Sea tribunal should be reduced from seven to five by limiting the representation of our respective Governments to one each, in view of the agreement that there should be three foreign Arbitrators besides those appointed by Great Britain and the United States. Last night I received his lordship's reply, which is to the effect that, looking at the importance and variety of the questions involved and to all the circumstances, Her Majesty's Government, after mature consid eration, are not prepared to consent to being represented on the tribunal by less than two Arbitrators. Lord Salisbury hopes therefore that you will be ready to proceed in accordance with the arrangement at which we arrive on the 16th ultimo, namely, that the tribunal shall consist of seven Arbitrators, of whom our respective Governments shall appoint two each, and the other three shall be appointed by foreign Governments to be selected for that purpose. All seven Arbitrators to be jurists of repute and the three foreign ones to understand the English language. I remain yours very truly, JULIAN PAUNCEFOTE. Sir Julian Pauncefote to Mr. Blaine. BRITISH LEGATION, Washington, January 16, 1892. DEAR Mr. BLAINE: I have just received a telegram to the effect that Sir G. Baden-Powell leaves Liverpool this day by the Etruria for New York, whence he will proceed to Ottawa for a few days, and then come to Washington with Dr. Dawson. They hope to be here on the 29th instant. Believe me, yours, very truly. JULIAN PAUNCEFOTE. Sir Julian Pauncefote to Mr. Blaine. BRITISH LEGATION, Washington, January 21, 1892. SIR: I have the honor to inform you that immediately after my interview with you on the 15th instant in regard to the countries who are to name the Arbitrators in the Behring Sea controversy, I telegraphed to the Marquis of Salisbury that you did not insist upon the knowledge of English by the Arbitrators as a condition, but merely as a desirable qualification. I have now received a telegram from his lordship stating that Her Majesty's Government accept your proposal that the Arbitrators shall be chosen by France, Italy, and Sweden. I have, etc., JULIAN PAUNCEFOTE. Sir Julian Pauncefote to Mr. Blaine, BRITISH LEGATION, Washington, January 30, 1892. SIR: All the details of the Behring Sea Arbitration having now been finally settled by the understanding arrived at as to the Governments who shall be invited to select the three foreign Arbitrators, I have the honor to request you to be good enough to inform me whether you are prepared to proceed at once to the preparation and signature of the formal Arbitration convention and of the Joint Commission agreement, in accordance with the text of the articles to be inserted therein which was signed by us on the 18th December last. I have, etc., JULIAN PAUNCEFOTE. Mr. Blaine to Sir Julian Pauncefote. DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Washington, February 4, 1892. SIR: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your note of the 30th ultimo, in which you refer to the settlement which has been reached in completion of the details of the Behring Sea Arbitration, and inquire whether I am prepared to proceed at once to the preparation and signature of the formal Arbitration convention and of the Joint Commission agreement, in accordance with the text of the articles to be inserted therein which was signed by us on the 18th December last. In reply I have the pleasure to hand you a copy of the text of the Arbitration convention, including the text of the Joint Commission agreement, as agreed upon in conferences held since the 30th ultimo, and I am instructed by the President to say that I hold myself in readiness to meet you forthwith, in order that we may at once proceed to the signature of said convention. I have, etc., JAMES G. BLAINE. Mr. Blaine to Sir Julian Pauncefote. DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Washington, February 4, 1892. SIR: I have the honor to inform you that the President has this day appointed and commissioned Thomas Corwin Mendenhall and Clinton Hart Merriam to act as Commissioners on the part of the Government of the United States, in accordance with the agreement which I signed with you on December 18, 1891, to investigate and report conjointly with Commissioners to be appointed by the British Government, upon the facts having relation to the preservation of seal life in Behring Sea, and the measures necessary for its protection and preservation, with a view to the submission of their conclusions to the Board of Arbitrators whose constitution has already been agreed upon by us. Until the convention for arbitration shall have been signed the Commissioners will not be expected to agree upon or formulate any report, but after I shall be officially advised by you of the appointment of Commissioners on the part of the British Government, the Commissioners on the part of the United States will hold themselves ready to confer informally with their British colleagues at such time as may suit their convenience. I have, etc., JAMES G. BLAINE. Sir Julian Pauncefote to Mr. Blaine. BRITISH LEGATION, Washington, February 6, 1892. SIR: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your note dated February 4 (but only delivered yesterday evening), in which you inform me that the President has appointed Mr. Mendenhall and Mr. Merriam Commissioners on the part of the Government of the United States on the Joint Commission therein referred to. Sir George Baden-Powell and Professor Dawson, whom I had the honor to present to you on the 1st instant, have been duly appointed Commissioners on the part of Her Majesty's Government, and, as I have already stated to you verbally, they are furnished with their credentials in due form. On the 13th ultimo, at your request, I communicated to the Marquis of Salisbury, by telegraph, your desire that the British Commissioners should proceed at once to Washington. Accordingly Sir George BadenPowell left England for that purpose by the first steamer, and arrived here with Dr. Dawson on the 1st of the month. They have been waiting ever since to be placed in communication with the United States Commissioners, and I trust that arrangements will be made for the meeting of the Commission on Monday next for the purpose indicated in the last paragraph of your note under reply, although the British Commissioners came prepared not for an informal conference, but to proceed officially to business. I have, etc., JULIAN PAUNCEFOTE. Mr. Blaine to Sir Julian Pauncefote. DEPARTMENT OF STATE, SIR: I am in receipt of your note of this date, in which you give me the official notification of the appointment of Sir George Baden-Powell and Professor Dawson as Commissioners on the part of the British Government on the Joint Commission created in view of the proposed fur-seal Arbitration. In acknowledging your note, I deem it important to direct your attention to the fact that the Government of the United States, in nominat ing the Commissioners on its part, selected gentlemen who were espe cially fitted by their scientific attainments, and who were in nowise disqualified for an impartial investigation and determination of the questions to be submitted to them by a public declaration of opinion previous or subsequent to their selection. It is to be regretted that a similar course does not seem to have been adopted by the British Government. It appears from a document which you transmitted to me, under date of March 9, 1890 (inclosure 4), that one of the gentlemen selected by your Government to act as a Commissioner on its part has fully committed himself in advance on all the questions which are to be submitted to him for investigation and decision. I am further informed that the other gentleman named in your note had previous to his selection made public his views on the subject, and that very recently he has announced in an address to his Parliamentary constituents that the result of the investigation of this Commission and of the proposed Arbitration would be in favor of his Government. I trust, however, that these circumstances will not impair the candid and impartial investigation and determination which was the object. had in view in the creation of the Commission, and that the result of its labors may greatly promote an equitable and mutually satisfactory adjustment of the questions at issue. The Commissioners on the part of the United States have been instructed to put themselves in communication with the British Commissioners, to tender them an apartment at the Department of State for the joint conference, and, if it shall suit their convenience, to agree with them upon an hour for their first conference on Monday next, the 8th instant. It is proper to add that when I indicated to you on the 13th ultiino that the British Commissioner, then in London, might come at once to Washington, I supposed we should before this date have signed the Arbitration convention, and thus have enabled the Commissioners to proceed officially to a discharge of their duties. But as it became necessary to await the approval of the draft of that instrument, which you have forwarded to London, I have interposed no objection to preliminary conferences of the Commissioners, anticipating the signature of the convention within a very brief period. I have, etc.,, JAMES G. BLAINE. Sir Julian Pauncefote to Mr. Blaine. BRITISH LEGATION, Washington, February 8, 1892. SIR: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your note of the 6th instant, in which you observe upon the selection made by our respective Governments of the members of the Joint Commission which is about to sit at Washington for the purpose of investigating and reporting upon the facts having relation to seal life in Behring Sea with a view to the proposed Arbitration. The second paragraph of your note contains the following passage: I deem it important to direct your attention to the fact that the Government of the United States, in nominating the Commissioners on its part, selected gentlemen who were especially fitted by their scientific attainments and who were in nowise disqualified for an impartial investigation or determination of the questions to be submitted to them, by a public declaration of opinion previous or subsequent to their selection. It is to be regretted that a similar course does not seem to have been adopted by the British Government. While I have much pleasure in congratulating your Government on having secured on their side the services of two such distinguished gentlemen as Prof. Mendenhall and Dr. Merriam, I must express my surprise and regret that you should have thought fit to refer in terms of disparagement to the choice made by Her Majesty's Government. The British Commissioners, Sir George Baden-Powell and Dr. Daw |