288 ORAL ARGUMENT OF CHRISTOPHER ROBINSON, Q. C. 



I have had the honour to receive the notes -which your Excellency was so good as 

 to address to the Imperial Ministry, dated the 17th (29th) November, and the 4th 

 (16th) and 9th (21st) December 1892, relative to the seizure in Behriug Sea of Cana- 

 dian schooners and fishing boats by Russian cruisers. 



A special Commission having been appointed by Imperial Decree to examine into 

 the circumstances under which those seizures were made, the Imperial Ministry did 

 not fail to lay before it the depositions (affidavits) of the captains and crews of the 

 schooners concerned which accompanied the above-mentioned notes. 



In reply to these commuuicatious I make it my duty, M. I'Ambassadeur, to transmit 

 to you tlie two reports inclosed. 



Your Excellency will observe from the perusal of the first of these documents that 

 it deals with the assertions of the Canadian crews as to the privations alleged to 

 have been inflicted upon them at Petropavlovsk. In the opinion of the Imperial 

 Government the Commission has fully elucidated this matter. Nevertheless, if the 

 interested parties consider it necessary, they have the power to avail themselves of 

 the regular course provided by law in order to present their claims either to the 

 superior naval authorities or to the proper Tribunal. 



Then follow two paragraphs about the treatment of the captain and 

 crew that are not material : 



The second of the accompanying reports contains a detailed examination of the 

 circumstances which accompanied the seizure of the schooners and their boats. In 

 considering the legality of the captures effected by the Commanders of the Russian 

 cruisers and by the District Governor of the Commander Islands, the Commission 

 was guided by a principle the justice and equity of which cannot be disputed. It 

 recognized as lawful seizures of all vessels whose boats were seen or captured in our 

 territorial waters. It cannot, indeed, be, denied, that the boats constitute, jurid- 

 ically, an appendage of the schooner to which they belong. Consequently their 

 seizure in territorial waters renders the capture of the vessels, of which they in some 

 respects form part, perfectly legal. 



If it were otherwise, a schooner could with impunity pursue seals on the coasts 

 by sending her boats there, and thus infringe the inviolability of territorial waters, 

 although herself remaining outside the said waters. Taking this view of the mat- 

 ter, the Commission recognized the legality of the seizure of the schooner "Marie", 

 "Rosie Olsen", "Carmolite"' and "Vancouver lielle" but was unable to do so in the 

 case of the seizure of the schooners "Willie McGowan" and "Ariel". There can, 

 however, be no question as to the serious nature of tlie indications which induce the 

 Commanders of our cruizers to institute a search on board these last-named vessels. 



The " Willie McGowan", took flight as soon as she had sighted the Russian cruiser, 

 and she refused to heave to at the summons of the "Zabiaca". 



Though the Commander of the Russian cruizer did not, see the boats of the 

 "Willie McGowan" engaged in the illegal pursuit of seals in our territorial waters, 

 he had been informed of it by the inliabitants of the coast. The search revealed 

 the presence on board of implements used for sealing on the coast, as well as of 

 seventy-six skins, of which sixty-nine had been taken from female animals, who 

 must therefore have been killed close to the shore; 90 per cent of the skins found 

 on board the "Ariel" had probably also been taken from nursing females, and 

 belonged to seals caught in Russian territorial waters. 



The importance of this evidence was fully recognized by the Commission. It was 

 not considered, however, as amounting to jjositive proof such as would justify the 

 seizure of the schooners, owing to the absence of an essential condition: their l)oat8 

 had not been sighted in actual pursuit of seals in Russian waters. 



In bringing what precedes to your knowledge, M. I'Ambassadeur, I consider it my 

 duty to inform you that, in view of the findings of the Commission as described 

 above, the Imperial Government would not reliise to proceed to an assessment of 

 the indemnity to be paid to the owners of the schooners "Willie McGowan" and 

 "Ariel". 



I need not trouble the Court by reading the other papers which are 

 before the Tribunal. They are the detailed ])articnlars goiug into each 

 ship, and all the papers are at my learned friends disposal. 



The President. — But we do not admit that the papers are before 

 the Court, because they are not here. 



8ir EiCHARD Webster. — I understood they were before you, Mr. 

 President, or I would not have begun to read it. I was not aware they 

 had not been handed in and I apologize. 



Lord IlANNEN. — It was quite right not to hand them in till it was 

 decided they were admissible. 



