189 



killing- the animals are or are not barbarous, or whether the prosecu- 

 tion of the business will or will not result in the speedy extermina- 

 tion of the race, or in the destruction of the fur seal industry maintained 

 by, or under the authority of, the United States on its islands; and 

 that any interference whatever by other nations with the exercise of this 

 right by British subjects is forbidden by the doctrine of the freedom 

 of the seas as recognized by international law. 



In respect to that branch of the general proposition advanced by the 

 United States which assumes that pelagic sealing, conducted according- 

 to the destructive methods and to the extent now practiced, involves the 

 speedy extermination of the race, and, consequently, the destruction 

 of the fur seal industry established on the Pribilof Islands, I do not 

 care to add anything to what has already been said by me; for it can 

 not be disputed, under the evidence, that such results will speedily 

 follow from unrestrained pelagic sealing. But is it not equally clear 

 that the subjects of Her Britannic. Majesty are not entitled, of rU/ht,, 

 under the law of nations, thus to exterminate a race of useful animals"? 

 Certainly no such right is recognized in the municipal law of any civ- 

 ilized country, much less in the law of nations which, all writers agree, 

 rests i)rimariiy upon those i)rinciples of natural justice and morality, and 

 those distinctions between right and wrong which, in the words of 

 Cicero, are "congenial to the feelings of uature, difl'used among all 

 men, uniform, eternal, commanding- us to our duty, prohibiting eveiy 

 violation of it — one eternal and immortal law, which can neither l>e 

 repealed nor derogated from, addressing itself to all nations and all 

 ages, deriving- its authority from the common Sovereign of the universe, 

 seeking no other lawgiver and interpreter, carrying home its sanctions 

 to every breast, by the inevitable punishment He inflicts on its trans- 

 gressors." 



There is fair room for discussion as to whether the annihilation of this 

 race of useful animals by individuals or associations of individuals, 

 while such animals are in the high, seas, can be legally prevented in 

 any other mode than by a treaty or convention that will control equally 

 the citizens or .subjects of all nations. But the mind instantly recoils 

 from the suggestion that such practices are in the exercise of a right 

 protected by the law of nations, and must be submitted to by the United 

 States, however injiuious they may be to its material interests. A 

 declaration by this Tribunal, in express words, or by the necessary effect 

 of its awardj that the destruction, from mere tcantonnessj of useful aui- 



