PROPERTY IN THE ALASKAN SEAL HERD. 105 



on tlic islands upon the basis of their property interest. The concep- 

 tion of a property interest in the herd, as distinct from a particular title 

 to every seal composing the herd, is clear and intelligible; and a rec- 

 ognition of this would enable the United States to adopt any reasonable 

 measures for the protection of such interest. 



It is, of course, necessary to an actual appropriation of property 

 that the intent to appropriate should be evidenced by some act. This 

 requirement has been fully satisfied by the United States. Every act 

 by which that intent could be manifested has been performed. They 

 have, in every practicable form, exercised art, industry, and self-denial 

 in protecting the seals upon their soil and gathering the increase for 

 the purposes of commerce with the world, and they have in all prac- 

 ticable forms, by their laws, by executive proclamation, and the ex- 

 ercise of force upon the high seas, endeavored to prohibit all invasions 

 of their property interest. 



It is believed that of the three conditions hereinbefore mentioned as 

 requisite to assert a right of property in the seal herd, a compliance 

 with the only one which can be the subject of debate, namely, suscepti- 

 bility of appropriation, has now been fully established ; and we need no 

 longer delay the final conclusion that the United States, and they 

 alone, having such a control over the Alaskan seal herd as enables 

 them by the practice of art, industry, and self-denial to make the entire 

 product fully available for the wants of mankind without diminishing 

 the stock, and having asserted this control and exercised the requisite 

 art, industry, and self-denial in order to accomplish that great end, 

 have, under principles everywhere recognized, both in the law of nature 

 and in the concurring municipal jurisprudence of all civilized States, a 

 property interest in that herd. 



It is a satisfaction to the undersigned, and, as they conceive, no 

 unimportant feature of their argument, that in the foregoing discus- 

 sion no selfish pretension had been asserted by the United States, nor 

 one in the least degree hostile to Great Britain. The Government of 

 the United States neither asserts any principle, nor asks for any ad- 

 judication which is not for the common interest of the world as much 

 as for itself. The fundamental truth that this useful race of animals 

 is the property of mankind is not changed by the circumstance that 

 the custody and defense of it have fallen to the lot of the United 

 States. Their appearance as a litigant in this forum may be said, in a 

 very just sense, to be fortuitous. The real controversy is between 



