ORAL ARGUMENT OF HON. EDWARD J. PHELPS. 307 



that were written on tliis subject, from tlie first letter from the American 

 Minister stating- this agvcenient — the successive letters of the Ameri- 

 can charge stating it — the successive letters of Lord Salisbury and 

 Officials stating it again. Theie is the best, and the most, when he is 

 XJressed by Mr. Blaine with tlie recession of England from what was as 

 plain and comi)lete an agreement as ever was made between nations, 

 short of reduction to an absolute Treaty, that he can say, I leave it on 

 that; — not because it is the strongest evidence on our side of what that 

 agreement was — it is the strongest evidence on his. I pass on now, I 

 need not occupy your time or my own further upon that point. The 

 close time agreed on between the American Minister and Lord Salis- 

 bury was from tlie 15th of April to the 1st Novr, from the American 

 coast on the east to the Eussian Coast on tlie west, and all north of the 

 47th parallel of latitude. 



Did Lord Salisbury ever take that back"? Did he ever say to the 

 American Government: "I went too far; I am now advised, having 

 heard from Canada that it is unnecessary — that a similar area or a 

 shorter time would do*?" Yes, he did to this extent — he says to Mr. 

 White in one of the later interviews (when IMr. White was charge tem- 

 porarily): — "The 1st of November is later than is necessary, and I 

 should think the 1st October is late enough." That was the amendment 

 he j)roposed alter the time when communications had been received from 

 Canada — after the subject had been before not only the Foreign Office, 

 but the Colonial Office. That was the amendment he proposed to Mr. 

 Bayard — "You have made it on the whole a month too late;" to whi(;h. 

 Mr. Bayard responded in substance, "I do not think so, but let us call 

 it the lotli October." Call ittlien the 1st October, if you please, which 

 is Lord Salisbury's own suggestion, and tlien it is late enough as far as 

 Behring bea is concerned, indeed as far as all seas are coucerm d — the 

 difference is not worth talking about. 



I have said the 20 mile zone would be ineffectual. I mean inef- 

 fectual to patrol and to mark it out; but suppose it could be marked 

 out in such a manner as to be completely observed so that no seal ever 

 could be killed within 20 njiles of the island. 



What then *? What effect does it have on the sealing in Behring Sea? 

 W^hat j)roportion of the nursing females that are out from the shore 

 would be protected! A small portioii certainly, — I do not mean to say 

 that there are no seals within 20 miles, — a proportion so small that it 

 would be no good tow^ards preserving the race. If you do not limit the 

 slaughter of these mothers and their young more than that, do not be 

 at the trouble, and expose these Governments to the expense and diffi- 

 culty, of limif:ing it at all. "The game would cease to be worth the 

 candle." It is agreed on all hands, that the cows arrive between the 

 early June and the middle of July, and they remain on the Islands. 

 The young are born, and propagation takes place; and they go out in 

 search of food at times that are stated generally as, "a few weeks;" 

 "sometimes a few days." It cannot be made j)erfectly definite, but the 

 general concurrence of the testimony is that it is a few days to a few 

 weeks after they land. Their young are usually born immediately 

 upon landing; and different witnesses state dift'erent times. But it is, 

 of course, like all such facts, a general one that it is impossible to 

 bring to an exact point. Now where are these seals found when they 

 do go out? That enormous numbers of them are taken is shown. That 

 of those the greatest proportion are nursing mothers is shown. Now 

 where are they taken in the Beiiring Sea? That has not been quite 



