ORAL ARGUMENT OF SIR CHARLES RUSSELL, Q. C. M. P. 185 



'Now on the 3rd June 1891 at p. 305 this is the proposal which Her 

 Majesty's Government puts forwaid for a modus vivendi. 



The Goveniinent of Great Britain and of the United States shall prohibit, nntil 

 May, 1892, the killing of seals in Behring Sea or any islands thereof, and will, to 

 the best of their power and ability, insure that subjects and citizens of the two 

 nations 



and so on. 



And Mr. Wharton, on the following day replies in the letter which 

 is at page 30G, and which will be found to be very important in this 

 regard. He says : 



I am directed by the President to say, in reply to your note of the 3rd instant, con- 

 veying to the Government of the United States the resjionse of Her Majesty's Govern- 

 ment to the proposal of Mr. Blaine for a modus vivendi, relating to the seal fisheries 

 in Behring Sea during the present season 



First. In place of the first and second subdivisions of the agreement, as submitted 

 to you, the President suggests the following: 



(1) The Government of Great Britain shall prohibit, until May 1892, the killing of 

 seals in all that part of the Behring Sea lying east, eaHtwardly, or southeastwardly, 

 of the line 



that is the line of demarcation. 

 Then : 



(2) The Government of the United States shall prohibit, until May, 1892, the kill- 

 ing of seals in that part of Behring Sea above described 



and so on. 



He then proceeds, in the next paragraph, to say: 



These changes are stiggested in order that the modus may clearly have the same 

 territorial extent with the pending proposals for arbitration; 



You observe the words " these changes" — that is to say the limitation 

 to the eastern part. You will observe the counter proposal was gen- 

 eral — ^^all killing in Behring Sea". Says Mr. Wharton: We change 

 that to " the eastern part of Behring Sea". 



These changes are suggested in order that the modus may clearly have the same 

 territorial extent with the pending proposals for arbitration. 



Then, near the middle of the third paragraph of that letter, he says: 



The fourth claitse of the proposal of Her Majesty's Government, limiting the tak- 

 ing effect of the modus vivendi upon the assent of Russia, presents what seems to the 

 President an insuperable difficulty 



and so on 

 942 Then he says: 



He is surprised that this result did not suggest itself to Lord Salisbury, and does 

 not doubt that it will be apparent to him on a re-examination. 



Then comes this important passage: I respectfully ask attention to 

 this language: 



I am also directed to remind you that the contention between the United States 

 and Great Britain has been limited to that i)art of Behring Sea eastward of the line 

 of demarcation described in our convention with Russia 



and so on. 

 Then the final sentence in that paragraph is in these words: 



It was never supposed by any one representing the Government of the United 

 States in this correspondence or by the President, that an agreement for a modus 

 vivendi could be broader than the subject of contention stated m the correspondence 

 of the respective Governments. 



In other words, it is limited to the eastern part of Behring Sea, and 

 cannot go outside the eastern part of Behring Sea, and it never 



