The Behring Sea question has ended happily. The United States
had agreed to arbitration when Lord Salisbury, to protect the Canadian sealers, asked that during the time occu- pied by the suit, the Sea, with the exception of the Prybeloff Islands, should be left open. The President took umbrage at this as a claim to property in the seals pending decision of the suit, and refused rather roughly, threatening in a Message to the Senate to defend the seals by military force. Lord Salis- bury thereupon telegraphed an offer that if the decision went against Great Britain, the sealers should be liable in damages ; but this also was rejected, the President declaring that he would not exchange the right to the seals for a right to bring a quantity of law-suits. Lord Salisbury, however, explained that there was no necessity for the law-suits, as he had never objected to the arbitrators deciding on the amount of damage done during the interregnum, as part of the general "re- ference." This was accepted by Mr. Harrison as perfectly satisfactory, and on Tuesday the Treaty was ratified by a unani- mous vote of the Senate. The modification in Lord Salisbury's offer, or rather the explanation of his original offer, does not seem sufficient to account for the sudden change in the Washington tone ; and it is difficult to doubt that Mr. Harrison, who is a candidate for re-election, had been warned by his agents that on this occasion menaces to Great Britain had not attracted the electors. They, in fact, cared nothing about the seals, and thought that as long as the proposal to arbitrate had been accepted, honour and interest had been alike satisfied. As nobody ever heard of an arbitration which resulted in favour of Great Britain, the American electors are clearly right.
