282 ORAL ARGUiMENT OP HON. EDWARD J. PHELPS. 



writing, was this: — "We Lope to carry the couventioii into efifect. It 

 will take time, but we hope to do it." Then I jioiiited out further, 

 aud you will excuse me for alludiuii' to this, as a fouiulatioii of what I 

 am going to say without reading again in sui)port of it, that from that 

 time forward in all the negotiations under President Harrison's Adniin- 

 istradon, when Mr. Blaine was Secretary of State, the language of the 

 British Government was uniforndy " We are ready to do anything that 

 is necessary for the preservation of the fur-seal. We deny your right 

 to protect yourself. We think that infringes on our rights, but wlieu 

 you come to a Convention for the preservation of the seal, we will do 

 anything that is necessary," 



I pointed out further, that with the exception of a very guarded pas- 

 sage in one letter in which Lord Salisbury suggested, in regard to the 

 statement of these points by Mr. Blaine, that there might be two sides 

 to the question, that there was evidence on the other side, and that it 

 was not agreed to by Canada, — some verj^ guarded statement that did 

 not commit him or his Government, — with that exception he never chal- 

 lenged anything that Mr. Bayard said in that communication sent to the 

 British Government outlining the Convention that was ne(;essary, and 

 which was, as I have before informed you, reprinted and spread abroad, 

 in which all these assertions that we make now as to the character and 

 consequence of pelagic sealing were set forth. He never undertook to 

 defend it, or to deny its consequences or results, except only in the one 

 guarded passage that I formerly read. So that the record of the Brit- 

 ish Government is ])erfectly clear up to the time of this hearing, and 

 the record is perfectly clear now, because what has been said here is no 

 part of the diplomatic record of the country or the Foreign Ofllce. Up 

 to the commencement of this hearing. Great Britain, in every word that 

 was said, has been at one with us on the subject of the ])reservation of 

 this race, and is the author of this Commission by whicli the nuMisures 

 necessary for the jjreservation of the fur-seal were to be ascertained; 

 and in one i)assage as you will remember, the language used was, " witli- 

 out reference to the interests of anybody." 1 sliould say further, that 

 when they sent out these Commissioners, my learned friends have relied 

 as an evidence of the good faith of their Government in respect to the 

 "object in view, upon these instructions to the Commissioners. 



The main object of your inquiry will be to ascertain, ''What international arrange- 

 ments, if any, are necessary between Great Britain and the United .States, and Russia 

 or any other Power, for the purpose of jireserving the fur-seal race in Behring Seii 

 from extermination?" 



As to the appointment of that Commission, let me refer, as I have 

 but very little to read on this branch of the case, 1 hoj^e, from corre- 

 spoTidence, to Mr. Blaine's letter of February Kitli, 1892. 



It is in the first American Appendix, page 348, to Sir Julian Paunce- 

 fote, after the Commissioners had been appointed on both sides. 



Sir, I am in receipt of your note of this date, in which you giv^e mo the official 

 notification of the appointment of Sir George Baden-Powell and Professor Dawson, 

 as Commissioners on the part of the British Government on the joint Commission 

 created in view of the proposed fur-seal Arbitration. 



In acknowledging your note I deem it important to direct your attention to the 

 fact that the goxernment of the United States, in nominating the Commissioners on 

 its part, selected gentlemen who were especially fitted by their scientific attainments, 

 aud who were in nowise disqualified for an impartial investigation and determina- 

 tion of the questions to be submitted to them by a public declaration of opinion 

 previous or subsequent to their selection. It is to be regretted that a similar course 

 does not seem to have been adojjted by the Britisli Governnu^it. It appears from a 

 document which you transmitted to me, under date of March 9, 1890 (inclosure 1), 

 that one of the gentlemen selected by your government to act as Commissioners on 



