Note 76 — Appendixes to Part II (continued 2)

The inquiry formulated by the politico-military governor of Sulu, arising out of a resolution of the fishery board of the naval station relative to the order prohibiting foreign subjects from engaging in the pearl fisheries in the waters of the Sulu archipelago, did not call for a speedy resolution nor a close study, it being sufficient to bring the matter to the knowledge of your Excellency without entering deeply into the question involved, in order not to prejudice the resolution of the same, leaving to the supreme judgment of his Majesty’s Government the entire appreciation of its reach and consequences, as the only authority acquainted with the demands of our international relations and the influence thereon of a decision in regard to a matter of such recognized importance as is that of the interpretation to be given to Declaration I of the Sulu Protocol of May 11th of 1877, contained in Article IV of the Protocol between Spain, Germany, and Great Britain, signed in Madrid on March 7th, 1885:—hence the brevity of the data contained in the communications above referred to and even the forbearance of this office from expressing a concrete opinion (in any case, not called for) in regard to a question as vital as it is complex. But circumstances, which are always superior to every will and every calculation, now make prompt action necessary, and not only forbid any delay, but impose upon this General Government the duty of emitting an opinion which shall complement the data furnished by the office of the secretary of the same, which data were less extensive and explicit than they would certainly have been had not a respect for the free initiative of the Supreme Government acted as a restraining influence. The incident arising out of the presence in the city of Jolo of the British subject Mr. H. W. Dalton, from Sandakan, awaiting the arrival of a fleet of boats of light tonnage belonging to the English concern, The Pearling and Trading Co. Ltd.,76 of which he is the representative for the purpose of using the same in the mother-of-pearl shell fishery, which fact I communicated to your Excellency by cablegram on the 3rd of the current month, makes more urgent the sovereign decision in regard to the concrete point as to whether foreign subjects are allowed to engage in the pearl fishery in the archipelago of Sulu.