290 ORAL ARGUMENT OF CHRISTOPHER ROBINSON, Q. C. 



Now I venture to say, in the first place, that Canada did simply what 

 it was her duty to do; and, in the second place, that for what she did 

 is entitled, not to the strictures of the United States, but to their thanks. 

 What Canada did, and what they complain of, as you will see by refer- 

 ence to the pages I have just given the reference to — 177 to 170 — is that 

 she i)reveiited the arrangement for that close time being consummated. 

 Mr, i'helps says at page 177: 



It will be seen from the fom'spoiidence between the governments of Great Britain 

 and the United States, printed in the Appendix to the Case of the United States, that 

 a convention between the two conntries was virtually agreed upon as early as 1887, 

 "vvith the full concurrence of Russia, under which pcdagic sealing in Beliring Sea 

 would have been ])rohibited between A]iril 15 and October 1 or November 1 in each 

 year, and that the consummation of this agreement was only prevented by the 

 refusal of the Canadian (Jovernment to assent to it. The propriety and uecessitj' of 

 such a repression was not doubted, either by the United States, Great Britain, or 

 Russia. This convention, if comjik'ted, would liave fallen far short both of tlie just 

 right and the necessity of the United States in respect of the protection of the seals, 

 as is now made apparent, 



and so on. And then they speak of the conduct of Russia, which we 

 have been speaking of just now, and they say 



Instead of taking its defence into its own hands, the Government of the United 

 States has refrained from tlie exercise of that right, has submitted itself to the judg- 

 ment of this Tribunal, and has agreed to abide the result. Its controversy is only 

 nominally with Great Britain, whose sentiment and whose interest concur in this 

 matter with those of the United States. It is really with a province of Great Britain, 

 not amenable to her control, with which the United States Government has no 

 diplomatic relations, and can not deal independently. 



And so on. 



Now let us see for a moment what was the proposition that was made, 

 and what were the circumstances at the time. The seizures had taken 

 place; and Great Britain had protested against them, and had set out 

 the grounds on which she conceived those seizures to be illegal. You 

 will find Lord Salisbury's despatch in the third volume of the British 

 Appendix at page 88. Tlie trial, as you will remember, had taken ])lace 

 sometime in the autumn of 1887. The brief is to be found at page 112; 

 and Mv. Bayard on the 7th February, 1888, had written a letter suggest- 

 ing this close time from the 15th April to the ]st October or November. 



On the 17th February, 1888, Mr. Phelps had submitted that letter of 

 Mr. Bayard to Lord Salisbury, and the misunderstanding arose between 

 these two gentlemen as to the question whether Lord Salisbury had 

 really definitely assented to such a close time or not. Now what was 

 the close time that was suggested ? You remember that the controversy 

 had been as to the right of Great Britain to take seals in Beliring Sea. 

 We had been disputing about this matter, and, substantially, the propo- 

 sition was this: "You have been taking seals in Behring Sea; you 

 assert that you have an equal right there with us; we assert that your 

 action there is illegal; let us settle it all amicably by ])roviding that you 

 shall never go into Behring Sea while there are any seals there to be 

 taken ". Now I venture to think, as the learned Attorney General said, 

 this is not a propositicm which either Mr. Bayard or Mr. Phelps, if they 

 had known the facts of seal life, would have advanced, because practi- 

 cally it was a suggestion to give up everything Great Britain had been 

 contending for from the beginning. As we all know now, to say that 

 no vessel shall enter Behring Sea and that there shall be a close time 

 for seals between the 15th April and the 1st October is practically to say 

 that there shall be no sealing there at all. because there is no other 

 time except between those dates when you can take seals there. 



