Sm :  Ou  the  5tli  instant  you  read  to  me  a  dispatch  from  Lord  Salis "
bury  dated  May  22,  and  by  his  instnictiou  you  left  with  me  a  copy.  Hi^
lordship  writes  in  answer  to  my  dispatch  of  the  22d  January  last.  At
that  time,  writing  to  yourself  toueliing  the  current  contention  between
the  Governments  of  the  United  States  and  Great  Britain  as  to  the  juris-
diction of  the  former  over  the  waters  of  the  Bering  Sea,  I  made  the  fol-
lowing statement:

The  Government  of  the  United  States  has  no  occasion  and  no  desire  to  withdraw  or
modify  the  positions  which  it  has  at  any  time  maintained  against  the  claims  of  the
Imperial  Governmeut  of  Russia.  Tlie  United  States  will  not  withhold  from  any  nation
the  ])rivilegcs  which  it  demanded  for  itself  when  Alaska  was  part  of  the  Russian
Empire.    Nor  is  the  Government  of  the  United  States  disposed  to  exercise  any  less

Sower  or  authority  than  it  wa«  willing  to  concede  to  the  Imperial  Govenmiont  of
Russia  when  its  sovereignty  extended  over  the  territ4>ry  in  question.  The  President
is  persuailed  that  all  friencUy  nations  will  concede  to  the  United  States  the  same  rights
and  privileges  on  the  lands  and  in  the  waters  of  Alaska  which  the  same  friendly
nations  always  conceded  to  the  Empire  of  Russia.
