Office of the Historian

Mr. Breckinridge to Mr. Olney.

Legation of the United States,
St. Petersburg, November 15, 1895. (Received Nov. 30.)
No. 168.]

Sir: I am in receipt of your telegram, communicating to me the reported seizure of seventeen sealers by Russian cruisers of the Sea of Okhotsk, and instructing me to wire briefly in regard to the matter, and to fully report attainable information, especially concerning the nationality of the vessels seized.

In accordance with this instruction, I at once called on Count Kapnitz, in charge of the Asiatic department of the foreign office, and learned from him that the Government had no information upon the subject. I left him a note calling for the information desired, and he promised to furnish me promptly with any information he might receive.

This morning I telegraphed you that there was no official news of the seizure of sealers, copy of which telegram is given upon the overleaf.

It maybe added that, so far as I have been able to learn, no information of any character has reached St. Petersburg upon this subject, except the report which had reached you and was communicated by me to the foreign office.

Count Kapnitz took occasion to say, with emphasis, that his Government would deal with great severity with seal poachers, and that they [Page 496] would be dealt with by Russian officials according to the Russian law. I replied that if he proved his case and justified his law I did not see how anyone could object; but that I hoped no citizen of the United States would be dealt with in an extreme spirit, or be convicted on suspicion or by stretch of law. He then remarked that the trouble was not with us, but with the British and Canadians. His manner and language were extremely polite, but they clearly indicated that his Government is irritated at occurrences in the sealing waters, and that it will deal vigorously and harshly with those it may suspect of poaching.

Count Kapnitz further told me that reports came by mail and not by wire from that region, and that they are sometimes four or five months in reaching St. Petersburg. * * *

Any further developments here will be promptly reported to you.

I have, etc.,

Clifton R. Breckinridge.