129 



was done, not because Mr. Bayard had receded from the attitude he 

 held, as was contended by the British counsel in oral argument, but for 

 the reason that a negotiation was pending for the settlement of all the 

 controversy, and he did not think that it would promote good will be- 

 tween the nations to push the claims of the United States by the exercise 

 of force while it was negotiating with Great Britain about the validity 

 of those claims. After such example of considerate action on the part 

 of the United States, it is not doing justice to either party to claim that 

 the other was treating with it in a spirit of generosity or of forbearance. 



Does anyone doubt that the United States acted, in all this con- 

 troversy, upon a firm belief in the justice of its claims in every 

 particular ? If those claims were just, or made in that firm belief, it was 

 a matter of as much concern to Great Britain as it was to the United 

 States, both in the view of justice and as to the preservation of the 

 peace, that they should be fairly considered and settled. 



Great Britain has never, until the scheme of her regulations were 

 presented to this Tribunal, asserted that the United States had not a 

 special and peculiar interest in the fur-seals frequenting Bering Sea. 

 In the diplomatic correspondence that Government conceded such a 

 peculiar interest in the United States, but has at last got its consent 

 to dwarf the concession to an area that would conform only to the inter- 

 ests of the Canadian sealers. 



It was these men who compelled Great Britain to interpose for their 

 protection, and when that Government found that their practices were 

 destroying a great and valuable element of commerce, they demanded 

 an investigation of the necessity for restraining pelagic hunting by a 

 joint commission, and this is the initial point of this Arbitration. 



Having touched on the general questions or subjects now presented 

 for our consideration, and leaving to Mr. Justice Harlan the task he 

 has chosen of making a closer examination of the evidence bearing on 

 these questions, I will take up the plans or schemes of regulations, so 

 far laid before the Tribunal, and endeavor to state my understanding 

 of what they are and what will be the results if any of them are 

 adopted. 



The further remarks of Senator Morgan on this topic related to the 

 comparative merits of the several schemes or projects of regulations 

 presented to the Tribunal, and are not here given. 



11495 M 9 



O 



