49 



fhcm fo (Jvtcrmhw irJicfher the use fJitit hmttdeofiltcm hy another nntlon is 

 innocent. This is all that the United States claim of "dominion'' 

 over Bering Sea in respect to tlie protection and preservation of tlie 

 fnr-seals resortin.u' to those waters and the industry in the i)elts and 

 oil so long established on their islands, which have no valne for any 

 other industrial pnri)ose. 



This claim, when these waters are invaded by a destructive method 

 of hunting the seals, is a right of self preservation. That light is thus 

 stated by Sir Kobert Phillimore: 



OCX. The right of self preservation, by that defense which ])revents, 

 as well as that which re])els, attack, is the next intei iiati(»iial riglit 

 which ])resents itself for discussion, and wliich, it will be seen, may 

 under certain circumstances and to a certain extent modify the right 

 of territ(n-ial inviolabdity. 



(JCXI, The right of self-preservation is the lirst law of nations as it 

 is of individuals. A society which is not in a cnndition to repel aggres- 

 sion from without is wanting in its principal duty to the members of 

 which it is composed and to the chief end of its institution. 



All means which do not atfect the indei)eudence of other nations 

 are lawful for this end. No nation has a right to prescribe to another 

 what these means shall be, or to require any account of her conduct in 

 this res])ect. 



CCXII. The means by which a nation usually i)rovides for her safety 

 are: (1) By alliances with other States; (2) by maintaining a military 

 and naval force; and (o) by erecting fortifi{*ations and talcing measures 

 of the like kind within her own dominions. Her full liberty in this 

 respect (;an not as a general principle of international law be too boldly 

 announced or too tirndy maintained, though some modifu^ation of it 

 api)ears to flow from the equal and corresjjonding rights of other 

 nations, or at least to be required for the sake of the general welfare and 

 peace of the world. 



The United States have the right to treat the sudden and dangerous 

 increase of the number of vessels engaged and the nundjer of seals 

 taken in pelagic hunting as an im])ending thr<'at of the destructi(m of 

 the seal herd that habitually resorts to tlu'lr islands. These appre- 

 hensions are more directly excited, because they are actually justified 

 by the attack made on the seal herd, than those which are legarded 

 as a just (;ause of war in relation to ainniments by neighboring nations. 

 Of these Sir Kobert riiillimore says, on page 253: 



CCXIII. Armaments suddenly increased to an extraordinary amount 

 are calculated to alarm other nations whose liberty they appear, more 

 or less according to the circumstances of the case, to menace. 



In the seizure of shii)s within the eastern waters of Bering Sea the 



United States resisted, in the beginning, a raid upon her industry which 



suddenly threatened its destruction, and this resistance, which was 



timely and necessary, was made within her own dominion — a dx>min- 



11495 M 4 



