12 ORAL ARGUMENT OF SIR CHARLES RUSSELL, Q. 0. M. P. 



, it to somethiiiii- like wliat we conceive to be its iust 

 subject to m.iu- and true proportions. My learned Iriends Lave spoken 

 by'unit'Jd'stTtes! ^^ ^^^^ fur-seal industry, and of the supply of fur-seal 

 skins for tlie benetit of mankind, as ii', were that supply 

 to cease, civilization would receive a rude shock. I have only to say that 

 fur-seal skins are not necessary to civilization, or to the happiness of 

 mankind in this world or the next; that so far as the Euro])eau uses of 

 seal skins are concerned, I believe I am right in saying that it is aluxury 

 or a benetit that mankind, at all events in this part of the world, has 

 only enjoyed for less than 40 years, 1 think I am right in saying that it 

 was a distinguished naturalist, Mr. Frank Buckland, who about the 

 year 1856 discovered a method by which the longer and coarser protec- 

 tive hairs, which forined part of the pelage of the fur-seal, could be 

 removed without injury, so as to disclose the closer and softer and more 

 luxurious fur which forms the rest of the pelage — that it was only 

 then that it came into use to any considerable extent in Europe at all. 

 Civilization Avent on before the advent of the fur-seal: civilisa- 

 734 tion will go on if it should turn out, and we should be sorry if 

 it so happened if it could be avoided, that the seal sjiecies should 

 cease to exist. 



I want to point out that although my learned i'riends have been 

 entering into elaborate calculations as to the cost of Alaska to them, 

 and as to the value of Alaska to them being dependent 

 an importa"r"ic^ **i^ its fur-scal tishcries, when Mr. Sumner, a well known, 

 tor inpuichasoof and I uccd uot Say distinguished United States Statesman 

 Alaska. ^^ ^^^^^ dnj, was recommendiug and justifying to the legis- 



lative body in the United States the purchase of Alaska, the references 

 to the fur-seal were of the very faintest descrii)lion. 



He points to the fact (it is to be found in the tirst volume of the 

 Appendix of the British Case, at page 79) that various animals were 

 to be found in the Alaska region. He refers to the sea-otters, river 

 beavers, land otters, black foxes, black-bellied foxes, red foxes, polar 

 foxes, lynxes, wolverines, sables, swani}) otters, wolves, bears, musk- 

 rats, seals — tliose are hair seals, as you will see in a moment — and 

 so on. And lower down he refers to fur-seals, land-otters, sea-otters, 

 walrus teeth and so on, and descants with great ability and clearness 

 upon these various matters, but saying comparatively little about the 

 fur-seal. 



He then refers, on page 82, to what he considers the real value, 

 namely, the Jisheries in Behring Sea — the fisheries, that is to say, 

 strictly so called. He says : 



1 come now to the Fisheries, the last head of this enquiry and uot inferior to any- 

 other in importance; perhaps the most important of all. What even are sea otter 

 skins — 



Those were, the President will remember at that time, much more 

 valuable than any other skins. 



by the side of that product of the sea incalculable in amount, which contributes 

 to the sustenance of the human family. 



In very eloquent language he then descants on the great variety of 

 fish in these regions — the halibut, salmon, cod, and the rest. I should 

 not feel justi lied in troubling the Tribunal to read this at any length. 



Senator Morgan. — Sir Charles, did Mr. Sumner insist that they 

 could sell, and the United States could buy those iisheries? 



Sir Charles Russell. — No, I do not think he does. He was a 

 much too reputable statesman for any wild proposition of that kind. 



