24 ARGUMENT OF GREAT BRITAIN. 



over the liigli sea on either side is claimed. Such 



25 definition of a boundary lino is the only one possible 

 where the cession is of many islands and rocks, many 



of which are not named or surveyed, and some of which 

 are even perhaps unknown. 



The cession was of all territories within the boundary- 

 line, and the Treaty so expressed it. 



An example of the use of water boundary-lines for this 

 purpose is furnished by the United Kino-dom Statute defin- 

 ing the limits of New Zealand, which plainly refers only to 

 CaYe^*''223^^*^*'^ territories and islands within those limits. Yet the United 

 ase.p. . states, for consistency, assert, contrary to the fact, that 

 Great Britain thereby claims as within the Colony all the 

 high sea within those limits. 



The United States contention has been shown to depend 

 on an erroneous construction of the Treaty of 1867. 



The decisions of the United States Courts condemning 

 British vessels for a supposed breach of the United States 

 sealing laws adopt a similar construction, and are therefore 

 not to be supported. 



Three examijles of such decisions, with the judgments, 

 are set out in the United States Appendix : 



Case of the " Thornton,''^ 1886. 



DECISIONS OF UNITED STATES COURTS CITED IN UNITED 



STATES CASE. 



* 



caY"' Appendix! I^awsou, J., held that "all the waters within the bound- 

 voi. i. p. 114. ' ary set forth in this treaty .... are to be considered 

 as comprised within the waters of Alaska." 



The " Thornton," a British vessel, was seized when fish- 

 ing 70 miles south-east of St. George Island, the nearest 

 land, and was condemned. 



Case of the '■'■Dolphin'''' and other ships, 1887. 



Ibid., p. 115. Dawson, J., held that Russia had claimed jurisdiction 

 over Behring Sea, and that Great Britain had acquiesced 

 in that claim; that the United States had purchased the 

 sea east of the boundary-line, and that the action of the 

 United States was " a legitimate exercise of the powers of 

 sovereignty under the law of nations, with which no nation 

 can lawfully interfere." 



The " Dolphin '- and other ships, British vessels, were 

 seized when fishing beyond the 3-mile limit in Behring Sea, 

 and were condemned. 



26 Case of the ''James G. Swan,^' 1892. 



Hnited States Haudford, J., held tluit liussia had asserted authority 

 vou, ^^21!**^'^' over Behring Sea by assuming to transfer to the United 

 States certain territory and dominion with definite bound- 

 aries, including a large part of Behring Sea, and that the 

 United States, hy the ratification of the Treaty of Cession, 

 acquired a claim of right to exercise authority and sover- 

 eignty therein. 



