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



Sir Charles Russell. — It became law oti the 3rd Marcli, 1869. 



The next sectiou, 1900, was passed on the 1st July, 1870. I might 

 indeed, if I wislied to divert from the line which I am u])on, and if 

 1 were to follow the broad and generous lines of my friend Mr. Car- 

 ter's argument, have i)ointed out that this attempt to prohibit access 

 of other persons, and so shut out this island from the commerce of the 

 world, would hai'dly be in accordance with my friend's broad and gener- 

 ous conception of the duties and rights of nations; but 1 do not dwell 

 on that topic. 



Xow sectiou 1960 provides: 



It shall be unlawful to kill any fur-seal upon the islands of St. Paul and 

 818 St. George, or in the Avaters adjacent thereto, except during the months 

 of June, July, September and October in eacli year; and it shall be unlawful 

 to kill such seals at any time by the use of fire arms, or bj' other means tending to 

 drive the seals away from those islands, but the natives of the islands shall have the 

 privilege of killing such young seals as may be necessary for their own food and 

 clothing during otlier months, and also such old seals as may be required for their 

 own clothing, and for tlie manufacture of boats for their own use; aud the killing 

 in such cases sliall be limited and coutrolled by such regulations as may be pre- 

 scribed by the Secretary of the Treasury. 



Well, so far as this deals with the killing of seals ui^on the islands, 

 again, of course, it is perfectly competent to bind the whole world. 

 Of course you cannot kill seals on the land unless you are on tiie land 

 or very close to it on the territorial waters; and therefore it is within 

 the competence of the United States, by the use of the words in that 

 section "or in the waters adjacent thereto", construed as a Judge or a 

 lawyer would construe them, still to mean (unless there was something 

 in the context Avhich showed a different meaning was intended), the 

 marginal belt of three nules; the principle of course being, Ttrrw 

 dominium Jinitur uhi finitur armorum vis. 



Section 1961, passed in the year 1870, j^rovides: 



It shall be unlawful to kill any female seal, or any seal less than one year old, at 

 any season of the year except as above provided: and it shall also be unlawful to 

 kill any seals in the waters adjacent to islands of St. Paul aud St. George, or on the 

 beaches, clitFs, or rocks where they haul up from the sea to remain ; aud every per- 

 son who violates the provisions of this or the preceding section shall be punished 

 for each offence — 



And so on. 



I make as to that the same comment which 1 made with regard to 

 the previous section. 



Sectiou 1962, which was also passed in 1870, is in these terms: 



For the period of 20 years from the first July, one thousand eight hundred and 

 seventy, the number of the fur-seals which may be killed for their skins upon the 

 island of St. Paul is limited to seventy-live thousand per annum; and tlie number 

 of fur-seals which may be killed for tlieir skins upon the island of St. George is lim- 

 ited to twenty-five thousand per annum. 



But the Secretary of the Treasury may limit the number. There is 

 no objection to that; it is quite within the competence of the Legisla- 

 ture. 



Section 1963 was also passed in the year 1870; and this becomes a 

 little important: 



When the lease heretofore made by the Secretary of the Treasury to the Alaska 

 Commercial Company of the riglit to engage in taking fur-seals on the islands of 

 St. Paul aud St. George pursuant to the act of the 1st July 1889— 



I do not know what that Act is. I think we have not got it— how- 

 ever it is not important. 

 General Foster.— It is the Act autlioyising the lease, 



