270 ORAL ARGUMENT OF HON. EDWARD J. PHELPS. 



told the truth probably — it would uot be respectful to assume of any 

 man Avith the title of Judge that he would say anythiui;; else — that 

 Mr. Elliott h;id been connected with the old Coini)any. There was a 

 violent competition at Washington about the renewal of the lease, and 

 the new Coini)aiiyg'ot it from the old, and IMr. T^lliott's side was defeated, 

 and then immediately after — that is to say, within two or three months, 

 he nuide his api)earance on the Islands. 



Then what took place? For the first time he makes the discovery 

 that the virility of the herd was being destroyed by the business of 

 overdriving. He does not say it took place before 1890 ;' he had not 

 been there for many years, and his Keport shows, that when he was 

 there last, he could not speak in too high terms of the manner in which 

 the driving was carried on; but he sei/es on this condition of thing in 

 1890, and makes it the basis of a violent attack. 



Senator MoRGrAN. — Does his name appear in the Act of Ai)propriatiou 

 that authorized him to go out there? 



Mr. Phelps. — I do not know, Sir, General Foster says that it was 

 an Act authorizing the appointment of an Agent. He was not partic- 

 nlarly named. You would know better as to what the usual usage with 

 regard to a thing of that sort is tlian I should. 



Mr. Justice Harlan. — He was appointed by the Secretary of the 

 Treasury. 



Sir Charles Eussell. — Yes ; he was not named. 



Mr. Phelps. — Well, this discovery of Mr. Elliott was an attack on 

 the adnjinistration of the new Company that had got in. 



You see what it is; a violent rhetorical attack upon the business that 

 the Company was carrying on. It is due to Mr. Elliott to say, in treat- 

 ing- him fairly, that the method of driving that he saw tliere in 1890 

 was objectionable, as I have already admitted, and to that extent that 

 the Treasury Agent had to put a stop to it. But if that is all he had 

 said, he would have said only what we say now; but he starts the 

 theory of its effect upon the virility of the herd. Now I answer Sena- 

 tor Morgan's question, if he will excuse me for having ))ostponed it 

 until I could make it intelligibly. There is not another witness that 1 

 knoAv of, and I say that subject to correction, that ever pretended to 

 have made any such discovery. In order to give apparent currency to 

 it, Mr. Elliott cites this passage from the Ilussian writer Veuiaminot, 

 at page 203 of his Report; and this is the way his translation reads. 



Nearly all the old men think and assert that tbe seals which are spared every year, 

 i. e., these which liave not l»een killed for several years, are trnly of little use ibr 

 breeding, lying about as if they were outLUsts or disfraiiehised. 



What was the true translation ? We have an ofifi<iial translation here, 

 if anyone desires to see it, by the Fren(;h Foreign Oftice. 



Sir Charles Russell. — Is the original here'' 



Mr. Phelps. — Yes, certified by the French Foreign OfiQce. This is 

 the correct translation. 



Nearly all the old travellers think and assert that sparing the seals for some years, 

 i. e. not killing them for some years, does uot contribute in the least to their increase 

 and only amounts to losing them forever. 



Veniaminof makes no reference wiiatever to driving, and does not 

 say one word about any supposed effects of driving upon the repro- 

 ductive powers of the seal. 



Sir Charles Russell. — Have you the original, — the text of 

 Veniaminof? 



Mr. Justice Harlan. — Is it in Russian or French? 



Mr. Phelps. — Russian, I believe. 



