144 ORAL ARGUMENT OF HON. EDWARD J. PHELPS. 



home of tlie seals. It was observed by navigators and by those who 

 had given some attention to it that there must be somewhere in that 

 region of the world a breeding ground wliencethe seals came; and you 

 will remember from the correspondence that has been read, that it is in 

 consequence of that idea that the voyage was undertaken, which 

 resulted in the discovery of the Pribilof Islands. Then it will be borne 

 in mind that from that time, or soon after, before or about the beginning 

 of the present century the business of taking the seals was i)ursued by 

 Eussia through the Eussian American Company, which was first char- 

 tered in 1799 with very large powers, excluding foreigners, excluding 

 all Eussian subjects except the grantees or lessees, whatever you choose 

 to call them, of the Eussian Government. It was x>ursued not intelli- 

 gently, because the subject was then unstudied; but still it was i)ur- 

 sued, and we shall see in another connection with what results, from the 

 time of the original discovery down to about the year 1847, when the 

 present method by designation and killing only the young males was 

 entered upon. 



The Ukase of 1821 was the very first occasion on which any ques- 

 tion arose, either by any attempt by private individuals to go there and 

 participate in this business, or by any assertion on the part of any nation 

 of any right in Behring Sea. Down to the Ukase of 1821 the possession 

 of Eussia had been absolutely unbroken; a jiossession under a claim of 

 exclusive right, a possession enforced by its laws, its Government, its 

 authority; a possession with which nobody in the world undertook to 

 interfere. 



The case is therefore very plain till you come down to the Ukase of 

 1821, because there is no conflicting evidence. Then the Ukase of 1821 

 was put forth, which was ill-advised in its phraseology, beyo'nd (lues- 

 tion. The Emperor was made to assert what he did not mean to assert, 

 and it is beyond question that the document in its legal and actual 

 effect, when it was applied to the region to which it had reference, did 

 have an effect by its terms much beyond what it was either the neces- 

 sity of Eussia or its intention to assert. That brought out a remon- 

 strance from both countries, and that remonstrance resulted in a nego- 

 tiation in which the subject gradually grew less and less clear, as is 

 very apt to be the case in diplomatic correspondence. What seems to 

 us, in the light in which we look back upon this, as a very simple 

 proj)osition, gradually became more and more obscure as these formal 

 letters passed between the parties; but, at last, we have an exit out of 

 all this, because the parties ultimately came together; they came to a 

 conclusion that was satisfactory to the three parties, and has remained 

 undisturbed ever since, without any question that we hear of between 

 either of these three nations down to the time when pelagic sealing was 

 begun by the Canadians. The settlement of the matter that is tbuud 

 in those Treaties was, therefore, not only satisfactory then, but it has 

 remained satisfactory ever since, till it is brought into consideration in 

 this present connection. 



I need not detain you by referring to those passages which have 

 already been read, illustrating what I have said about the claims of 

 Eussia. You will remember the terras of the Ukase of 1799, under 

 which the Eussian American Company was chartered. Perhaps a few 

 words will illustrate better what I say, and recall to your minds what I 

 mean. The first, second, third, fourth and tenth Articles in the Char- 

 ter of 1799, which will be found in the first volume of the American 

 Appendix, pages 14 and 15, are those to which I refer; and it will be 

 seen by reading them that the right asserted by Eussia then, in the origin 



