It is a great pity that this letter found its way into print, for it is most unfriendly in its tone.
It accuses Great Britain of bad faith in her method of carrying out the terms of the Paris treaty. It declares that at the end of the first year the United States discovered that the provisions of the Paris treaty were not sufficient for the protection of the seals, and that this Government immediately asked England to call a conference and reconsider the matter.
Great Britain put off replying to this request for three years, and now, after all this delay, says that there is nothing to show that seal life is in danger.
Mr. Sherman, in his letter, complains that the English Prime Minister bases his refusal on the report of an English scientist named Prof. D'Arcy Thompson. This report Secretary Sherman declares to be so greatly at variance with the reports of Dr. David Starr Jordan and the many observations made by other distinguished naturalists, that he insists that it is not a reliable document, but merely written to suit the political situation.
The publication of this correspondence has called forth much angry comment from England.
The result of the affair has been exactly what the President predicted—the rousing of unnecessary bad feeling between the two countries.
We have had a slight disagreement with the Moorish Government.
The country of Morocco is situated on the northwest of Africa, and is bounded on the north by the Mediterranean Sea, and on the west by the Atlantic Ocean.
The Straits of Gibraltar lie between Morocco and Spain, and the Pillars of Hercules, about which you have probably heard, are the promontories of Europe and Africa which jut out into the Mediterranean Sea at the Straits, and are but eight miles apart.