78 CASE OF GREAT BRITAIN. 



like llio fabled mermaid — " desinit in piscem mulier formosa superne,^' 

 iteuds, accordiDg to him, as does the Alaska argument itself, in nothing 

 hut a fish at last. But the resources of the Atlantic are now, he says, 

 exhausted. The Falkland Islands are now only a resting place in our 



maritime career, and American liberty can no longer live except 

 102 by giving to its founders a wider range upon a vaster sea. 



Think of it, he exclaims — I do not quote his precise language — 

 what a burning shame is it not to us that we have not a spot of earth 

 in all that watery domain, on which to retit a mast or sail, or dry a 

 net or fish? — forgetting, all the while, that we have the range of those 

 seas without the leave of anybody ; that the privilege ot landing any- 

 where was just as readily attainable, if wanted, as that of hunting on 

 the territory by the British; and, above all, that according to the 

 otficial Report of Captain Hov/ard, no fishing bank has been discovered 

 within the Russian latitudes. 



It is therefore established — 



That Russia's rights "as to Jurisdiction and as to the 

 seal fisheries in Behring Sea," referred to in Point 4 of Arti- 

 cle YI of the Treaty of 1892, were such only as were hers 

 according" to international law, by reason of her right to the 

 possession of the shores of Behring Sea and the islands 

 therein. 



That the Treaty of Cession does not purport either 

 expressly or by implication to convey any dominion in the 

 waters of Behring Sea, other than in the territorial Avaters 

 which would pass according to international law and 

 the practice of nations as appurtenant to any territory 

 conveyed. 



That no dominion in the waters of Behring Sea other 

 than in territorial waters thereof did, in fact, pass to the 

 United States by the Treaty of 1807. 



103 CHAPTER VI. 



Head (F). — The Action of the United states and Eiossia 

 from 1867 to 1886. 



When, in consequence of the cession of Alaska as a 



whole, the Russians relinquished their sovei-eignty over 



the Pribiloff (or " Seal ") Islands in 1807, sealers at once 



landed on the breeding resorts of the fur seal on these 



increasedigiajKi^, Thosc Avho camc from the New England States 



Boais!® ^^ ^ found themselves confronted by competitors from theSand- 



B^K)rf*'p*^25^T wi'^'li Islands. They proceeded to slaughter seals u])0u the 



R., Ex.' Doe. No! breeding grounds in the manner which had usually been 



Imi^sess' pp°87' practiced by sealers on grounds where no Regulations were 



88. Ibid.', p." 7o; ill force. 



Jn the year 1808, at least 240,000 seals are reported to 

 have been taken, and 87,000 in the following year. In view 

 of this wliolesale destruction ot seals, the United States 

 Government decided, in the exercise of their uiuloubted 

 right of territorial sovereignty, to lease these seal rooker- 

 ies, and to re-establish by means of the necessary legisla- 

 tion, the lapsed Russian Regulations which had restricted 

 the killing of the fur seal. 



