ORAL ARGUMENT OF SIR CHARLES RUSSELL, Q. C. M. P. 101 



without having the materials for this argument put at his disposition 

 from Washington, he was alHe to frame so exceedingly good a one. 

 But I hardly think he could, without authority from "head quarters", 

 if I must use that expression, have ventured to speak in the way he 

 has done of these contentions unless he was so authorised, for he con- 

 cludes with these Avords : 



Snch is our understandiTijx of the law, sncli is the record. Upon them the United 

 States aie prepared to abide the judomeuta of the Courts and the oi)inion of the 

 civilized world. 



l!^ow I wish to put this Tribunal in full possession of how this brief 



has been introduced into our Case: how it has beeu drawn to the 



attention of the United States Counsel, and how they have 



841 dealt, or rather lailed to deal, with it. In the first instance it is 



introduced into the original Case of Great Britain. You will 



find it, Mr. President, at page 127. 



The Counsel appearino- for the United States Government, to justify the seizure of 

 the "Anna Beck" and other vessels in 1889, filed a brief, from which the following 

 extracts are taken. 



Now in the margin you will see that we refer to the documents from 

 which that is originally taken, namely the Blue Book — that is to say, 

 the parliamentary Blue Book of Great Britain — and also to Appendix, 

 vol. Ill — the large volume from which I have been reading it this 

 morning. 



But I am now in a position to inform you that, we have actually in 

 this building, at this moment, the gentleman who forwarded that very 

 document to the "New York Herald". The "New York Herald", as I 

 have said, and as you know, is a ]>aper of some importance. It appears 

 to be published in the "New York Herald", with the statement that it 

 is understood to have been prepared in Washington — a statement never 

 denied; and the gentleman is prepared to state — he will be put on any 

 affirmation that the Court think desirable — that he received that as the 

 brief prepared at Washington from the gentleman who represented the 

 Government of the Queen watching the proceedings, who, in his turn, 

 stated that he had received it from the Counsel engaged in the case; and 

 therefore I think the chain of evidence is rather complete upon the point. 



Senator Morgan. — You mentioned a fact. Sir Charles, that I was 

 not aware of before. You speak of the Counsel representing the Gov- 

 ernment of the Queen in these cases. 



Sir Charles IIussell. — He was watching the proceedings. 



Senator Morgan. — In these cases? 



Sir Charles Eussell, — So I have been informed. 



Senator Morgan. — In Alaska? 



Sir Charles Russell. — So I have been informed. But the matter 

 does not stop there. I i)roceed to the next stage. I find this very docu- 

 ment referred to in another place. I must trouble the Tribunal to refer 

 for a moment to page 279 of vol. Ill of the Appendix to the British Case, 

 and you will see the document headed Appendix, No. 2: 



Extract from the Report of the Governor of Alaska for the Fiscal Year 1887. Pro- 

 tection of fur-seals: 



In connection with these seizures, from which it seems to me no other inference 

 can be drawn than that our Government is determined to assert and maintain the 

 right of exclusive jurisdiction over all that portion of Behring's Sea ceded to it by 

 Russia, I can only reiterate that part of my last Annual Report, in which I essayed, 

 rather feebly I fear, not only to show the necessity of such a policy to the preserva- 

 tion of the sea-fur industry, but the wrong its abandonment would inflict upon the 

 very considerable number of native people who wholly or in large part depend upon 

 it for a livelihood, and whom, it appears to me, it is the duty of the Government co 

 protect. 



