OPINION DELIVERED BEFORE THE TRIBUNAL OF ARBITRATION 

 BY SENATOR MORGAN, JULY 22, 1893, AS TO THE PROPER TIME 

 FOR THE CONSIDERATION OF THE HISTORICAL QUESTIONS 

 SUBMITTED TO THE TRIBUNAL. 



July 20, 1893, Mr. Morgan submitted the folio wiug answers to points 

 1, 2, 3, and 4, of Article VI of the treaty, for the consideration of the 

 tribunal: 



1. From the time that Eussia first discovered and occupied Behring 

 Sea and the coasts and islands thereof until she ceded a portion thereof 

 to the United States she claimed the seal fisheries in Behring Sea, 

 and exercised exclusively tlie right to the usufruct and to own the prod- 

 uct of such seal fisheries, and to protect the same against being inter- 

 fered with in those waters by the people of any other country; and also 

 the exclusive jurisdiction that was found necessary for those purposes; 

 and also the exclusive jurisdiction to regulate the hunting of fur- 

 seals in those waters and to grant the right of hunting them to her 

 own subjects. 



2. The attitude of Russia toward tlie fur-seal fisheries in Behring 

 Sea, as described above, being known to Great Britain, she acquiesced 

 in the same without objection. 



3. The rights of Russia, as above stated, remained unaffected by 

 the treaty of 1825 between Russia and Great Britain, and were held 

 and exclusively exercised by Russia after tho date of said treaty as 

 they were before said date. The phrase "Pacific Ocean," as used in 

 said treaty, did include the body of water now known as Behring Sea. 



4. All the rights of Russia, as described in point 4 of Article VI of 

 the treaty of February 29, 1892, passed unimpaired by the treaty of 

 March 30, 18G7, between Russia and the United States. 



The following statements submitted to the tribunal by Lord Hannen 

 and by Baron Courcel, respectively, while coinciding in the same find- 

 ings as to the conclusions drawn from the facts of history, differ as to 

 the facts upon which their respective conclusions are rested. 



STATEMENT BY LORD HANNEN, SUBMITTED JULY 21, AS ANSWERS TO 

 QUESTIONS CONTAINED IN ARTICLE VI OF THE TREATY. 



To question 1. — Russia never exercised exclusive jurisdiction in 

 Behring Sea, outside the ordinary 3-mile limit. In 1821 she asserted 

 exclusive jurisdiction over a part of Behring Sea, viz: For 100 miles 

 along its coasts, by imperial ukase. But she witlidrew tlie assertion 

 of jurisdiction expressed in the ukase, on tho demand of Great 

 Britain and the United States, and never afterwards asserted or exer- 

 cised such jurisdiction. 



25 



