PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference :-
PEPLLC.O. 885
اشناس
13 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO
24,712.
No. 198.
(CANADA.)
LAW OFFICERS to FOREIGN OFFICE.
Royal Courts of Justice,
December 19, 1890.
(Secret.) MY LORD,
We were honoured with your Lordship's commands, signified in Sir P. Currie's letter of the 17th instant, stating that he was directed by your Lordship to transmit to us the papers noted in the accompanying list, relative to the case of the British vessel W. P. Sayward," seized by the United States Authorities in 1887, when engaged in seal fishing in Behring's Sea.
That a Report was furnished by us on the 5th instant* on the memorandum, dated 29th October last, by Mr. Calderon Carlisle, the legal adviser of Her Majesty's Legation at Washington, as to the course which should, in his opinion, be pursued for bringing the question of law involved in the Behring Sea controversy before the Supreme Court of the United States.
That the views of the Canadian Government in regard to Mr. C. Carlisle's opinion would be found in a letter from the Colonial Office, dated the 8th instant.
That on the 10th instant a telegram was addressed to Her Majesty's Minister at Washington, embodying the views of Her Majesty's Government in the terms recommended by us after our conference on the previous day with Mr. Davidson, Legal Assistant to the Foreign Office, and Mr. Bramaton, Legal Assistant Under Secretary of the Colonial Office, as to the procedure to be adopted at this stage of the proceedings.
That a further despatch had now been received from Sir J. Pauncefóté, in which he stated that Mr. Carlisle strongly deprecated the proposed application to the Supreme Court of the United States to advance the appeal of the owners of the "W. P. Sayward" against the decision of the District Court of Alaska, and giving, in some detail, reasons which neither your Lordship nor ourselves have hitherto had the opportunity of considering.
That Mr. C. Carlisle urged that the United States Attorney-General, acting under instructions from his Government, would probably resort to every expedient to prevent the question of jurisdiction coming before the Supreme Court for decision, and that he anticipated that for that purpose the Attorney-General might oppose the motion, on the ground that the question at issue was about to be referred to arbitration, or was otherwise in course of arrangement, as stated in the President's recent Message, and that therefore no necessity existed to advance the appeal from a public point
of view.
That, in that event, he apprehended the probability of an unseemly discussion in Court as to the diplomatic situation of the case.
That Mr. Carlisle, moreover, pointed out that the United States Attorney-General might utterly defeat the object of the motion by consenting to a reversal of the decree of the District Court "on the ground that the evidence of the killing of seals in Bebring Sea was admitted by his Government to be insufficient," a point which might also be taken by the Supreme Court itself, in order to escape from the embarrassment of having to give a decision opposed to the contentions of the United States Government on a matter of national importance.
That, in his view, no such risks would attend the course which he had strongly recommended, namely, the immediate abandonment of the appeal and an application for a writ of prohibition as the surest mode of securing a decision on the point in dispute between the two Governments.
That Sir P. Currie was to request that we would take the papers transmitted with his letter into our consideration, and that we would at our earliest possible convenience favour your Lordship with our opinion whether the considerations put forward in Sir J. Pauncefote's last despatch modified, and if so, to what extent, the opinions previously given by us on the question on which the instructions to Sir J. Pauncefote of the 10th
• No. 196.
A 61207.-85. 25-1/91.
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
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Reference :-
BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC. COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH~NOT TO.