ORAL ARGUMENT OF SIR CHARLES RUSSELL, Q. C. M. P. 69 



The President. — The judgment of Judge Dawson was delivered 

 previously to the 3rd of February. 



Sir Charles Kussell. — Oh, long i^reviously. 



The President. — It was before the order of release was sent. 



Sir Charles Kussell. — Lord Salisbury had only got before him the 

 record of the proceedings in the Court, and the judgment of the Court 

 of Sitka. That was the only case he had to denl with, and he deals 

 with it in a way I shall have hereafter to refer to in anotlier connection 

 in considering the derivative title claimed under Enssia. But will not 

 the Tribunal be surprised to hear that that despatch of Lord Salis- 

 bury, written upon the lOth Sei)tember 1887, received no answer from 

 the representative of the United States, nntil the year 1890? 



If I am wrong in this, let me be corrected on the spur of the moment. 

 That despatch of Lord Salisbury deals with the only case that is sug- 

 g-ested — he has got before him the only thing npon which he can form 

 a judgment, namely t^ie record of the i)roeeedings at Sitka, and he pro- 

 ceeds, effectually I submit, to demolish that case. But, that I 

 802 may omit nothing, let me say that Mr. Bayard had done some- 

 thing meanAvhile; and Avhat was itf He had written on the lOth 

 August 1887 the letter which has been referred to more than once in 

 the course of the argument by learned friend, Mr. Carter. This letter 

 is not to be found in our appendix: it is not to be found, for the reason 

 that it was not in fact sent to us at all. It was a circular letter 

 addressed by Mr. Bayard to the representatives of the United States 

 iu the various capitals of the world. J^o direct communication of this 

 letter was made to Great Britain, but the communication was shewn or 

 the purport of it notitied to us by Mr. Phelps, the then Minister for the 

 United States in London, on the 11th of November 1887. 



I will now read that letter, which is in the first Volume of the 

 Appendix to the Case of the United States, page 168. I desire that 

 the Tribunal should have all the materials before them in order to 

 appreciate, in the order of events, the position taken up by the respec- 

 tive Governments. 



Sir: Recent occurrences have drawn the attention of this Department to the neces- 

 sity of taking steps for the better protection of fnr-seal fisheries in Behring Sea. 



Without raising any question as to the exceptional measures which the peculiar 

 character of the property in question 



That is the fur-seal fisheries 



might justify this Government in taking, and without reference to any exceptional 

 marine jurisdiction that might properly be cLaimed for that end, it is deemed advis- 

 able — and I am instructed by the President so to inform you — to attain the desired 

 ends by international co-operation. 



It is well known that the unregulated and indiscriminate killing of seals in many 

 parts of the world has driven them from place to place, and by Ijreaking np their 

 habitual resorts has greatlj^ reduced their number. Under these circumstances, and 

 in view of the common interest of all nations in preventing the indiscriminate 

 destruction and consequent extermination of an animal which contributes so impor- 

 tantly to the commercial wealth and general use of mankind, you are hereby 

 instructed to draw the attention of the Government to which you are accredited to 

 the subject, and to invite it to enter into such an arrangement. 



And so on. 



This was the departure point of the scheme which contemx)lated a 

 set of international rules not confined to the United States and to Great 

 Britain, but which should have the concurrence of all the other nations 

 which were, or might be, interested. But, again, am I not justified in 

 asking the Tribunal to note in passing here, that while there is a ten- 

 tative and indirect suggestion that there may be some other ground 

 ui)on which the Government of the United States may justify its action, 



