EIGHT TO PROTECT INTERESTS AND INDUSTRY. 169 



other islands " in that part of the ocean adjacent to the departments 

 of Maldonado and Rocha" is secured to contractors, who pay to the 

 Government a license fee and duty. (Acts of July 23, 1857, and June 

 28, 1858, Caraira, vol. I, pp. 440 and 448, Digest of Laws. Appendix 

 to the Case of the United States, Vol. I, p. 448.) 



By the law of Russia, the whole business of the pursuit of seals in 

 the White Sea and Caspian Sea, both as to time and manner, is regu- 

 lated, and all killing of the seals except in pursuance of such regula- 

 tions is prohibited. (Code of Russian Laws Covering Rural Industries, 

 vol. xn, part ii. Appendix to the Case of the United States, Vol. I, 

 p. 445.) 



The firm and resolute recent action of the Russian Government in 

 prohibiting in the open sea, near the Commander Islands, the same 

 depredations upon the seal herd that are complained of by the United 

 States in the present case, and in capturing the Canadian vessels en- 

 gaged in it, is well known and will be universally approved. That 

 Great Britain, strong and fearless to defend her rights in every quarter 

 of the globe, will send a fleet into those waters to mount guard over 

 the extermination of the Russian seals by the slaughter of pregnant 

 and nursing females, is not to be reasonably expected. The world will 

 see no war between Great Britain and Russia on that score. 



The "hovering acts" of the British Parliament and of the American 

 Congress have already been mentioned. These hovering acts were 

 enacted in England in 1730 and in the United States in 1799, and pro- 

 hibited the transhipment of goods at sea within 4 leagues or 12 miles 

 of the coast. Fiue and forfeiture were the prescribed penalties. 



The English act prohibited any foreign vessel having on board tea 

 or spirits from "hovering" within 2 leagues or 6 miles of the coast. 



The American act authorized the officers of revenue cutters to board, 

 search, examine, and remain on board of all incoming vessels, domestic 

 or foreign, when within 4 leagues or 12 miles of the coast. (9 Geo. II, 

 ch. 35; U. S. Rev. Stat, sees. 2700, 2807, 2808; Case of the United 

 States, App., Vol. I, p. 493.) 



The French legislation, wdiich is in effect similar to the English and 

 American hovering acts, has also been before alluded to. 1 



The British act in reference to vessels clearing from infected ports 

 has also been referred to, which required all vessels coming from plague- 



1 For the substance of these acts, as stated by M. Creep, 6ee Appendix, infra, 

 page 189. 



