296 ORAL ARGUMENT OP CHRISTOPHER ROBINSON, Q. C. 



How ilops that operate upon tlie. fonfidence T^liicli tliis '!'i ilmiial onolit to plare on 

 their com'lnsioiis? It iseutirely dostriK tivc, — tlial is the yimplc matter of it, — exce])t 

 as to a very limited extent. Where these gent] enien speak and testily as to tacts 

 which they say felJ nnder their personal observation, of coin se they are to be treated 

 as witnesses of those fa<ts of the most nnimpeaeliable cLaraeter,'but, nevertlicless, 

 Avitnesses acting under a strong bias. "Where, on the other hand, they proceed to 

 give ns their opinions as to what tJie facts are, their opinions are to be discarded 

 altogether as being the opinions not of impartial but of partial observers, which are 

 like the opinions of Counsel, and dilfer in no respects from them. 



At page 595, Mr. Condert speaks in mucli the same way. He says 

 tbey seem to assume tliat: 



There was a rivalry between the Canadian sealers on the one side and the United 

 States on the other; ;nid that it Avas their ])atiiotic duty to su])]iort ]Hdagic sealing 

 whatever miglit be tlie results to the seals. jNly friend Mr. Carter has already 

 alluded to this, and 8i)oken upon it, and, in answer to a question from the learned 

 President, has stated that he attaches no importance whatever to statements in the 

 report. 



In another sense I attach a great deal of importance to the statements in therejiort 

 whenever they may be construed as admissions. 1 say it now, and I say it fraukly, 

 I consider these gentlemen as hostile witnesses; 1 am at liberty to dispute their 

 statements whenever thej" are against the side which I am advocating, — of course 

 not statements of what they have seen themselves, for I accept their assurances 

 without hesitation; but whenever they testify against me I have a right to dispute 

 it; and whenever they testify in my favour I have a right to accept it as an admis- 

 sion; and when I am able to produce an admission from the British Commissioners 

 that squarely, flatly, emphatically covers a certain point, I shall consider my func- 

 tion fulfilled as to that, and assume that my friends on the other side are satisfied 

 with that kind of evidence. And this derives an additional force from the fact that 

 it is a part of the case. These gentlemen have received the very hi;;!! honour (and 

 their zeal, if nothing else, entitled them to it) of having their report incorporated 

 into their Country's Case, and treated as part of it. 



At another page of that learned gentleman's argument, page G38, 

 he mates use of perhaps as strong an observation as could Avell he 

 used, in its result and effect, when he says: 



They are our seals. That is conceded in this way: the British Commissioners 

 themselves say (and, as I have said, the value of a concession from them is enor- 

 mous, I conceive it to he more valuable than one from my learned friend, Sir Charles 

 Eussell). 



In other words, these gentlemen were absolutely blinded by preju- 

 dice, and incapable of performing their duty or of understanding wliat 

 tlieir duty was. 



Now, let us turn to page 229 of the printed Argument, which is, if 

 possible, even stronger. Tlielieport is spoken of in these terms: 



But they have presented a great mass of statements of their own, evidently based 

 in a great measure upon conjecture, much of it directly traceable to luanifest ]>ar- 

 tiality, and marked, to a singular degree, by the exhibition of prejudice against the 

 one party and bias in favor of the other. The extent to which this has been carried 

 must, in the eyes of all impartial persons, deprive it of all value as evidence. 



Now, at some place, they speak of their own Commissioners by 

 contrast. 



Mr. Carter. — I tliink that is on page 75. 



Mr. lioBiNSON. — Yes; I am mucli obliged. It is on page 75. They 

 speak of their own Commissioners, and contrast the view which they 

 took of their duty with the view the British Commissioners took. It 

 says: 



They are not, indeed, to be presumed to be less interested in behalf of their own 

 nation than their associates on the side of Great Britain. 



Mr. Carter. — You should begin a little earlier if you want the 

 whole of it. 



Mr. Robinson. — I will begin where you like. 



