PROPERTY IN THE ALASKAN SEAL HERD/ 107 



that property anywhere upon the seas where it and they have the right 

 to <jo is a proposition scarcely open to question. The rights of a nation 

 of all descriptions upon the high seas are uniformly protected by the 

 direct exercise of the powers of the nation. There is no other way of pro- 

 tecting them. Thee is no general sovereign or tribunal over nations 

 before which an alleged trespassing nation can be summoned for judg- 

 ment. But the nature and extent of this self-protection will be fully 

 discussed under the next head of this argument, devoted to that aspect 

 of the property question particularly presented by the sealing industry 

 maintained by the United States upon the Pribilof Islands. If they 

 have the right to protect that industry against invasion by acts com- 

 mitted upon the high seas, they have, a fortiori, the same right to 

 protect their property on that element. 



James C. Carter. 



