CONCURRENT REGULATIONS. 195 



difficulty growing out of the opposition of a great dependency of the 

 British Empire, would have insisted for a moment upon a continued in- 

 dulgence of the pursuit of pelagic scaling, had it appeared that such a 

 a course would have involved, iu the near future, the practical extermi- 

 nation of the fur-seals, lie surely would not have sacrificed the inter- 

 ests of the world and the very large special manufacturing interest of 

 Great Britain, in order to save for a few years a pursuit which was rap- 

 idly working the destruction, not only of the great interests above re- 

 ferred to, but also of itself. 



The failure of the negotiations referred to left the situation involved 

 not only with the existing dispute, but aggravated by the certainty 

 that fresh causes of irritation and contention would constantly arise; 

 and the proportions of the controversy continued to increase until the 

 peaceful relations of the two governments became most seriously 

 threatened. A renewal of negotiations ensued, which led to the ratifi- 

 cation of the Treaty under which the present Tribunal has been consti- 

 tuted. Whatever may have been the effect of the later negotiations 

 in separating the parties more widely upon the main questions of right 

 involved in the controversy, there is one point upon which, having been 

 substantially agreed at first, they were brought more and more 

 into unison, namely, the predominating necessity of preserving the 

 seals. The Seventh Article of the Treaty calls upon the Tribunal to 

 determine simply " what concurrent regulations outside the juris- 

 dictional limits of the respective governments are necessary to the 

 proper protection and preservation of the fur-seals." Fitness for the 

 accomplishment of that end is the only description in the Treaty of the 

 regulations which this Tribunal is to ascertain or devise. After the 

 article had assumed its present form in the negotiations, some effort 

 was made by Lord Salisbury to restrict its effect to confer upon the 

 Tribunal the full discretion which its terms import; but this was re- 

 sisted on the part of the United States, and the attempt was abandoned. l 



The foregoing brief review of the negotiations will serve to show that 

 the authority and discretion of the Arbitrators in respect of concurrent 

 regulations is wholly unrestricted, except by the single condition that 

 they are to be operative only outside of the municipal jurisdictions. 

 There is not only no language importing that some form or degree of 

 that pursuit is to be retained, but there is no implication even to that 



1 Diplomatic Correspondence, Case of the United States, Appendix, Vol. I, pp. 

 di>y to 345, inclusive. 



