ARGUMENT OF GREAT BRITAIN. 65 



The Tribunal will be asked to find tliat the several heads 

 or items of damage claimed are corr6ct; saving all questions 

 of amount and liability. 



2. British Claim for Compensation. 



By Article V of the modus nivendi of 1892 it is expressly 



agreed that, if the result of the arbitration shall be to 



affirm the right of British sealers to take seals in Beh- 



ring Sea within the bounds claimed by the United States, 



under its purchase from Kussia, then compensation 



74 shall be made by the United States to Great Britain 

 (for the use of her subjects) for abstaining from the 



exercise of that right during the pendency of the arbitra- 

 tion, upon the basis of such regulated and limited catch or 

 catches as, in the opinion of the Arbitrators, might have 

 been taken without an undue diminution of the seal herds. 

 The Article further provides that the amount awarded shall 

 be just and equitable, and shall be promptly paid. 



Great Britain is entitled, under this Article, to the award 

 of a just and equitable sum by way of compensation, to be 

 ascertained by the Arbitrators on the above basis. 



3. United States Claim for Damages. 



In the event of its being decided that British sealers 

 have no right to take seals within the waters of Behring 

 Sea, it will be contended by Her Majesty's Government 

 that the basis upon which the amount of the United States 

 claims is assessed in the Case of the United States is 

 untenable. 



The whole of what is called in the United States Case ^°itefi states 

 "the claim of the Government," as distinguished from "the ''^^' ^' 

 claim of the lessees," is founded on the prohibition of seal- 

 ing on the islands imposed under the modus vivendi of 1891. 

 But no claim can be made in respect of the consequences 

 of fulfilling a contract voluntarily entered into, unless by 

 reason of some contract provision, such as is contained in 

 the modus vivendi of 1892, but not in that of 1891. Her aisl'voi. ifp^. m 

 Majesty's Government made it a condition of renewing the 

 modus vivendi in 1892, that "the Arbitrators should, in 

 the event of a decision adverse to the United States, assess 

 the damages which the prohibition of sealing" should have 

 caused. No such stipulation had been made by either 

 Government in 1891. 



4. United States Claim for Compensation. 



By Article V of the modus vivendi of 1892, if the result 

 of the arbitration should be to deny tlie right of British 

 sealers to take seals within the specified waters, then com- 

 pensation shall be made by Great Britain to the United 

 States (for itself, its citizens, and lessees) for the 



75 Agreement to limit the island catch to 7,500 a season, 

 ui)on the basis of the difference between this number 



and such larger catch as in the opinion of the Arbitrators 

 might have been taken without an undue diminution of 

 " the seal herds." 



B S, PT X 5 



