50 



ion established by prescription :is to the fur-seal industry, and which 

 also has for its support the priiici[)h's of the iiiteruatioiial law which 

 apply to the Britisli waters, above quoted, and to other seas that are 

 not entirely inclosed by the hind mentioned in the follow ing quotations 

 from Phillimore, vol. 1, p. 243: 



COV. With res])ect to seas entirely inclosed by the land, so as to 

 constitute a salt-water lake (maria clansa; mers feimees, encloses: Bin- 

 nenmeer, geschlossene inuereMeere), the general piesurn]>ti()n of law is 

 that they belong to the surrounding territory oi- territories in as full 

 and complete manner as a fresh-Avater lake. The Caspian and Black 

 seas naturally belong to this class. Upon the former sea Kussia had 

 by treaty with Persia, the exclusive right of navigation Avith shi[)S of 

 war, and by the treaty of the Dardanelles the Black Sea Avas practically 

 confined to Russian and Tuikish shi])S of war. But by the treaty of 

 Paris of 185(1 this sea is neutralized and open to the merchant ships of 

 all nations and closed to ships ot war of any State. 



CCVI, There is another class of inclosed seas to which the same 

 rules of law are applical)le — seas which are land loi'ked, though not 

 entirely surrounded by land. Of these, that great inlet wliich washes 

 the coast of Denmark, Sweden, Kussia, and Prussia, the Ostsee as the 

 (Ternums call it, the Baltic Sea according to its usual api)ellation, is 

 the principal. 



But the right of self [)reservation of the United States, in respect to 



the fur-seal industry, naturally and without reference to the actual 



])roperty in tlie animals, extends beyond her dominion. As to such 



riglits Phillimore says: 



CCXIV, We have hitherto considered what measures a nation is 

 entitled to take for the preservation of her safety within her own 

 dominions. It may happen that the same right may warrant her in 

 extending precautionary measures tvitliont these limits and even in 

 transgressing the borders of her neighbor's territory. For international 

 law consideis the right of self-preservation as prior and paramount 

 to that of territ(U'ial inviolability, and, where they conflict, justifies 

 the maintenance of the former at the expense of the latter right. 



If this right of self-preservation is ])rior and ])aramount to territo- 

 j'ial inviolability, it must lie superior to any right or easenuMitof tishiuf^ 

 and hunting-, and better entitled to the protection of international law. 

 The necessity for protecting' this right is now as manifest and indis- 

 putable beyond Bering Sea as within its limits. When a source of 

 revenue or a necessary instrumentality of government is attacked, or 

 seriously threatened, the occasion arises for the interposition of the 

 right of self defense. 



The eonliguration of Bering- Sea, its coasts and islands, is such as to 

 give it an exce])tiona! relation to the outside world. It is inclosed on 

 all sides by land and frozen waters, except through thei)asses of the 



