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riglits of the people and build up others; would create monopolies for 

 some towns, to the great disadvantage of others; would build up some 

 railroads and cripple others — are so clearly within the power of this 

 tribunal to protect and preserve the fur-seals as the determination of 

 a close season in the Pacific Ocean, or of the prohibition of all pelagic 

 sealing would be. 



The British Government, through its attorney- general, can give 

 authenticity to any plan we may adopt for carrying out the purposes 

 of the treaty, so as to bind that Government at least, and although the 

 regulations thus presented to the tribunal may involve an award by 

 the tribunal that would be ultra vires, if they should be adopted, the 

 award would have the valid and binding consent of Great Britain. 

 The United States cannot be thus pledged to any consent decree and 

 must accept what we award without question, except that the tribunal 

 must act within its just powers under the treaty. 



The regulations thus authentically proposed by Great Britain, being 

 entirely inconsistent with its contention that the powers of this tribu- 

 nal are confined to the area of Bering Sea, it is justly to be considered 

 that the objection to the exercise of a more extended field of jurisdic- 

 tion is waived, or abandoned, by that Government. 



The examination and decision of the questions of the right of property 

 in the fur-seals in, or habitually resorting to, Bering Sea, and the right 

 to protect them claimed by the United States necessarily extends the 

 jurisdiction of this tribunal on that question to the North Pacific 

 Ocean. 



In every important feature the case is an entirety, and all its parts 

 must be construed in pari materia. It is beyond my comprehension 

 that the jurisdiction of the tribunal should require us to make an 

 investigation into a great variety of facts and the laws governing the 

 rights of the United States as to property and protection in the Pacific 

 Ocean, and tliat, when the protection of its rights is reached, the 

 jurisdiction of the tribunal should suddenly cease. 



Yet, if the objection of Great Britain is still urged, it is apparently 

 the only method of avoiding a very embarrassing condition, that the 

 Tribunal of Arbitration should present to both Governments the pres- 

 ent attitude of the question and ask them, by a formal agreement, to 

 remove the difficulty. 



Mr. Justice Harlan and myself have stated to the tribunal our con- 

 viction that the United States would regard the decision of the tri- 



