158 ORAL ARGUMENT OF HON. EDWARD J. PHELPS. 



smaller, the words are omitted which he gives in the previous map. The 

 other map in which it is not given a separate name, is one published by 

 Carej^ & Son, Philadelphia 18L'3; the map is map 3 in the atlas, and the 

 subject is not given, though the eastern i)art of Behring Sea is shown 

 and it has not a separate name. 



Why is only one of those maps cited? We have not the other maps, 

 and they are not in the case, and I cannot answer the question. I infer 

 that if map No. 2 and map No. 4 had been produced, you would have 

 found just what you did in Lucas' Atlas; that in the other maps the 

 sei)arate Avords, "The Behring Sea", are given. AVith that exception, 

 those are all the American maps. Then, what is it that you are asked 

 by my learned friends to find? It is that, in giving a definition to the 

 words " commonly called the Pacific Ocean", you are to accept a defini- 

 tion which is o])posed by 10 out of 11 maps in Eussia and by 8 out of 

 10 mai)s in the United States with the exi)lanation that I have given, 

 which show that the omissions in those three maps, one in Eussia and 

 2 in America, are totally inconsequential. 



Let us go a little further. I need not say that France at that day 

 was largely the headquarters of the best geographical science, and the 

 best scientific knowledge in the world; and it was so prominent in 

 diplomacy, that the French language became the language of diplo- 

 macy, and remains so to the present day, notwithstanding the vast 

 increase in the region over which the English language is spoken. 

 France contained geographers so celebrated that their names are known 

 to everybody — the names of Brue, Lapie and Malte-Brun even men of 

 such small geographical attainments as I have are familiar with, and 

 it is not to be supposed that educated persons. Diplomatists and Gov- 

 ernments were ignorant of the great contributions that had been made 

 by France to the Science of the Geography of the World. There are 15 

 French maps made between 1818 and 1823, and all give the sei)arate 

 names of "Mer de Behring" and "Bassin du ]S'ord"to this Sea. Then, 

 to bring it within their definition that the Pacific Ocean does include 

 Behring Sea, you wipe out at once the results of the work of these men, 

 who were then the greatest geographers in the world beyond doubt. 

 Whether they are so now, may be another question ; but those names 

 were then superior to any others, and France was taking the lead among 

 nations on the subject of diplomacy. 



Now, let us go to the English Maps, not because England was engaged 

 in the negotiations that I am now dealing with; but because we in 

 America, deriving our literature and language from the mother-country, 

 are, of course, supposed to be, and it is fairly to be inferred that we were, 

 acquainted at that day with the English maps and with other English 

 literature and science; and, while perhaps in the estimation of the 

 world they were not as high at that time as those of France, still they 

 were of a very respectable character, — more so, even in the estimation 

 of the world than those of America, which were not as widely known. 



When I speak of the maps that are referred to on both sides, the Tri- 

 bunal will, of course, understand that I mean maps published between 

 1818 and 1823. I shall refer briefly at last to those maps that would 

 not come within that definition ; and when I say so many are cited on 

 one side and so many are cited on the other, I mean so many published 

 between those dates are cited on one side and the other. When you 

 go to the British maps there is more diversity. A great many are 

 cited, some that are of authority, and some that are less so. There are 

 five charts, single sheet charts, and general maps; and by the term 

 "general" I mean a map that assumes to give both the laud and water 



