72 ORAL ARGUMENT OF HON. EDWARD J. PHELPS. 



Of some others who state that there are some skins that are undis- 

 tingiiishable every one mentions as existing' some one or more of the 

 differences stated by tlie witnesses who testify on the side of the United 

 States. 



No witness in tlie case states tliat he ever bought or sohl or heard of 

 there being bought or sold a skin from the Commander Ishinds for a 

 skin from the Pribyloff Islands, or of any question ever arising among 

 the trade or elsewhere as to which islands a skin belonged to. Nor 

 does any witness deny the great and uniform difference in the prices as 

 above stated. 



Nor is any naturalist called on the part of Great Britain to contra- 

 dict the strong and clear evidence given by the American Commission- 

 ers and other scientists, as well as by practical sealers, showing the 

 difference that exists between these two species, apparent to all who 

 are acquainted with them either scientifically or practically.) 



Mr. Phelps continued : I shall refer briefly to another question which 

 has been made by the British Commissioners but which has not been 

 observed upon by my learned friends on the other side, and therefore I 

 think I have the right to infer that they do not depend upon it and that 

 they agree with me in thinking there is nothing in it. But it has not 

 been specifically withdrawn, the evidence is there, and it may be useful 

 and may throw light on some other things briefly to consider it. The 

 British Commissioners suggest in their Report another theory that is 

 new to the world, — one of the numerous discoveries they have been able 

 to make in this case; and that is that the seals have a kind of winter 

 habitat, as they call it, over on the Columbian coast opposite to the 

 British Possessions. Now, what is the imijortance of that suggestion ? 

 If it were true, what is the use of it? It is another proof of the jn-es- 

 sure they felt themselves under of escaping the overwhelming facts 

 that attach those seals to the Pribilof Islands and tlie American ter- 

 ritory. That is all there is of this theory. It is that the home of the 

 seals on the Pribilof Islands may be to some extent balanced, or offset, 

 by showing that they are on the British coast in winter. For that 

 theory, which is nothing but a theory and a conjecture, there is not 

 one word of foundation. When you begin with the beginning, with 

 its genesis, in this Re])ort and read what they have to say in sup})ort 

 of it, and theu contrast it with the evidence in the case, it perishes so 

 utterly that I am not surprised that my learned friends do not con- 

 ceive there is anything in it, and, therefore, I can deal with it very 

 briefly. 



(Mr. Phelps proceeded to review the statements on this subject in the 

 British Commissioners' Rej)ort, and to point out — 



1. That this theory also is original with those gentlemen, finding no 

 warrant in any facts or belief that had ever been known before, 



2. That in the fullest extent to which it is attempted to be stated, the 

 facts would be of no consequence, because it is not j)retended tliat any 

 seal was ever known to go ashore or to reproduce in British Columbia 

 or anywhere else except ujion the islands. 



3. That no evidence or proof of any sort is cited in support of it 

 except the reports of vague statements which are not given, and whose 

 authors ii) most instances are not named, not amounting to the dignity 

 of hearsay, because what is said is not stated, nor by whom nor to 

 whom; that the princi])al source of them is a witness who is shown 

 by his own testimony and by various evidence in the case to be utterly 

 ignorant on the subject of seal life, and to have advanced and main- 

 tained with equal positiveness several other theories in respect to it 



