284 ORAL ARGUMENT OF HON, EDWARD J. PHELPS. 



of tlio sliod'linrr and renewal of the longer hair, they are of less value) show that 

 there is no natural basis for a close season geiier.illy applicable. Tlius, should any 

 close season be advocated, its length aiirl the time of year during which it shall 

 occur can only be determined as a matter of convenience and be of the nature of a 

 compromise between the various interests involved. 



I only read that to show the ]iosition of this gentleman. 



I do not blame him for his oi)inions — he is entitled to his opinions 

 and is entitled to advocate them. I shonld as soon think of taking" 

 issne with my learned friends because they have delivered able argu- 

 ments in su])port of their side of the case. i>ut if the proposal was to 

 create a Tribunal in the place of the gentlemen I am addressing to 

 determine this case, I should very seriously' object to having my three 

 learned friends who, under other circumstances, would be most compe- 

 tent and appropriate to fill such a place, a])pointed as Members of the 

 Tribunal ; and I need not say they would not for a single momeht accept 

 such a ]H)sition, if it was tendered to them. 



The dii'ficulty is that this Commission, as yon will see all the way 

 through, is quasi judicial. It is to some extent the same as your own, 

 and there is the same objection to i)iitting tlie man who has formed 

 strong and inveterate ox)ini()ns and views, and expressed them and 

 become the champion of that side quite as much as either of my learned 

 friends who are here in the capacity of Counsel during their argument — 

 on a Commission designed to be a Joint Commission to prescribe these 

 Kegulations, and to ascertain, not what is necessary for the interest of 

 the sealers, not what is for the interest of pelagic sealing, but what is 

 necessary to preserve the seals; — the objection to ])utting such men on 

 this Commission is very great, and the result is what might be naturally 

 anticipated. I never doubted for one moment that if gentlemen who 

 were selected as I believe the United States Commissioners to have 

 been, who had never expressed opinions that I know of, and who had 

 no interest and no feeling, had, on the other side been met by two gen- 

 tlemen who had sat down as the Members of this Tribunal sat down, 

 to enquire, in view of all the evidence what is to be done, a scheme 

 would have been propounded which, whether satisfiictory to both sides 

 or not, would have been adopted by the Governments. I never doubted 

 another thing, though you will only take this as my suggestion — that 

 this was what Lord Salisbury desired, finding himself between two 

 fires; — in the first place confronted by the facts pressed upon him by 

 the United States, Avhicth he could not controvert, and pressed by the 

 industry — and a very important one, of Great Britain, and on the 

 other hand met by the determined opposition of Canada, — he took this 

 ground — a perfectly fair ground on the face of it, and perfectly sincere — 

 that he would agree to anything necessary to preserve the seals, and 

 that what was necessary should be reported by the Commissioners. 



Now what have we here on this hearing! This whole case, from 

 beginning to end, now happily so near, has been a struggle on the part 

 of niy learned friends for the protection of the business of pelagic 

 sealitjg; and if their recommendations were adopted, after the Tribunal 

 shoidd have decided that the United States have no right to protect 

 itself, they would proceed to establish regulations that would not aftbrd 

 the slightest protection. 



What are the claims of my learned friends on the other side. They 

 say: "Limit these regulations to Behring Sea". Do you claim that 

 would preserve the seal? No, we agree it would not. It is plain it 

 would not. That cannot be desiicd. Why, then, limit them to Behring 

 Sea? Upon some technical construction of the plain language of this 

 Treaty, derived from the antecedent corres])ondence, something that 



