ORAL ARGUMENT OF CHRISTOPHER ROBINSON, Q. C. 293 



aTicl I therefore desire, so far as it is within my j)ower, to present the 

 facts before this Tribunal, to endeavor to set it ri<>lit. It does seem 

 strange to one of us to tind the United States complaining of the con- 

 duct of England in consultino" and deferriuo- to the wishes of one of her 

 most important colonies: and certainly the existeiiceof their own great 

 country is not a very appropriate iHustration of the advisability of a 

 different course on the i)art of the Mother Country. If she had known 

 long ago what she knows now, and had been as well advised as now, 

 the circumstances might have been very different; and from wliatever 

 source such a reproa(;li might come, it does not seem to us to come very 

 appropriately from my learned friends. 



Now I wish to say a word as to the conduct of the Commissioners, 

 which has been also very severely commented upon in different places 

 by my learned friend. 



Senator Morgan, — I do not know whether it is stated any where in 

 the papers, IMr. Kobinson, but, if so, can you give us the date of the 

 tirst official act of Canada in claiming the right for her citizens of pelagic 

 hunting in Behring Sea? 



Mr. Kobinson. — From the beginning, in 1886. 



Senator Morgan. — I vranted to know the beginning. 



Mr. Kobinson. — The moment that the vessels were seized. 



Senator Morgan. — Not before that"? 



Mr. Kobinson. — No there was no object in asserting it till somebody 

 interfered with it. As you know, we had been fishing in Bcdiring Sea 

 for some years. If I recollect rightly the first vessel entered Behring 

 Sea to seal in 1884. 



Senator Morgan. — Tlie first Canadian vessel? 



Mr. Kobinson. — The first Canadian vessel. 



Senator Mokgan. — Can you inform me if the vessel went in under a 

 fishing license'? 



Mr. Kobinson. — No, I cannot. 



Senator Morgan. — You do not know what the clearance was? 



Mr. Kobinson. — No, but I should have thought not. 



Mr. TUPPER. — There was no license required. 



Senator Morgan. — But there is a clearance in every case that states 

 the destination of the ship. 



Mr. Kobinson. — Yes, I should suppose there would be. 



Lord Hannen. — Are vessels of that size required to make any such 

 declaration? I should doubt it. 



Mr. Kobinson. — I cannot say. 



Sir John Thompson. — They do not make any declaration, I thiidv. 



Mr. Tupper. — They clear for any place, and they would say "North 

 Pacific". 



Sir KiCHARD Webster. — Simply where they are going to sad for; 

 that is all. 



Senator Morgan. — But every ship that carries a national flag is 

 bound to have a destination when it leaves a j)ort. 



Mr. Kobinson. — I find in a memorandum that I have made that 

 pelagic sealing began in Washington Territory and British Columbia 

 in 1809. There were only four schooners, in 1878 to 1879, and the first 

 vessel that sealed in Behring Sea was the " Mary Evans" in 1881. That 

 is the first British vessel. The " San Diego" was there before, but she 

 was American. Those are the facts. 



Now, with regard the conduct of the Commissioners, as to which I 

 desire to say a few words, I wish to speak of that for this reason; those 

 Gentlemen have been subjected to very severe strictures, and I venture 



