100 ORAL ARGUMENT OF HON. EDWARD J. PHELPS. 



left out, and I may have to recur to that again to-morrow. I will only 

 point out now what the character of this Legislation is. 



This region in the open sea is embraced in the area lying between the parallels of 

 67° and 75° north latitude and the meridians of 5° east and 17° west longitude from 

 Greenwich. These fisheries were made the subject of legislative regulation, appli- 

 cable to their own subjects, by the Governments of Great Britain, Sweden and Nor- 

 way, Russia, Germany, and Hollaud, by a series of statutes passed by these several 

 con'ntries during the years 1875, 1876, 1877, and 1878. The 3rd of April is estab- 

 lished as the earliest date each year on which the seals could be legally captured, 

 and penalties are fixed for a violation of the prohibition. 



That shows the protection it has been found necessary by those 

 Governments to extend over a portion of the sea, so very large that no 

 one Government could undertake to assume it, because the water 

 washed ecjually the shores of others; and for Great Britain to have 

 said, "We will protect the seals clear across the north, up to the 

 coast of Norway", would be asserting to itself a right that ISTorway at 

 least might as well assert. The same with Holland; the same with 

 Eussia; the same with Belgium ; the same with Germany. The conse- 

 quence is that those Nations, wisely enough, entered iuto an Agreement 

 by which they should all pass Statutes; but when they have all passed 

 Statutes, how far have they reached an American, for instance? 



America has adopted no such Statute; France has adopted no such 

 Statute as far as I know. 



Suppose an American or a French vessel sails up into these Seas and 

 says "We will capture these seals, in a close time even, although it 

 amounts to an extermination ; we care nothing for your Statutes. Half a 

 dozen nations can no more adopt a Statute that shall reach our citizens 

 than one nation can"; and that is quite true. The Statutes derive no 

 force, as against any other nation, by the participation of various coun- 

 tries in passing them, excepting only that each country which adopts 

 such a Statute excludes its citizens by agreement from particii)ating in 

 the Fisheries. But suppose, I repeat, an American vessel is titted out 

 and starts for these Jan Mayen Fisheries in defiance of all this, on the 

 high seas, is there any power of defense, or must all these nations 

 stand back? If somebody from Nantucket in Massachusetts thinks 

 proper to fit out a poaching expedition to go and destroy those seals in 

 the breeding time, — is there any redress? Would that be permitted? 

 What would be the usage and custom of nations in regard to this? 



Senator Morgan. — I may say the point I was trying to settle in my 

 own mind was, I did not know how it was; whether either of these nations 

 that entered into this Convention had any piece of land or piece of terri- 

 tory within the area of latitude and longitude which had been covered 

 by the Convention upon which these seals were in the habit of resort- 

 ing and have made a home, or was it simply the open sea? 



Mr. Phelps. — There is no such place to my knowledge. It is the 

 open sea that they cover. Where these seals have their rookeries, that 

 is to say if they have rookeries, I do not know, and I am not aware of 

 any evidence in the case that discloses it. 



Senator Morgan. — It is the floating ice, I understand. 



Sir Charles IvUSSELL. — Yes; in the North Atlantic, if not exclu- 

 sively, at all events chiefly, — apparently on the floating ice. 



Mr. Phelps. — I assumed so, because the area comprised by this lati- 

 tude and longitude is only Ocean, and as far as I am aware embraces no 

 land at all. 



Senator Morgan. — It was an exercise of jurisdiction by Convention 

 over a part of the sea where there was no laud at all? 



