CONCURRENT REGULATIONS. 197 



and ingenuity to devise other regulations which human society has 

 never as yet been able to conceive, which will effectually counteract the 

 destructive tendency of pursuit by men excited and inflamed by the 

 greed for gain, that regulation must certainly be deemed necessary. 



We might well dismiss the subject of regulations at this point, as 

 needing no farther elucidation, and should do so except for the circum- 

 stance that it may possibly be considered that there is still a doubt 

 concerning the extent and degree of the destructive tendency of a 

 method of indiscriminate slaughter such as pelagic sealing is. That it 

 operates directly to diminish the birth rate by sacrificing females in- 

 stead of males, that it sacrifices large numbers which are never recov- 

 ered, and that this is unnecessary, because there is a mode of selective 

 slaughter which involves neither of these forms of waste, is undeniable; 

 and, inasmuch as it is conceded by the Joint Report of the Commissioners 

 of both Governments that under this method of capture the seals are 

 diminishing with cumulative rapidity, there seems to be wanting no ele- 

 ment requisite to justify the conclusion that this absolute prohibition is 

 necessary. But it may still be contended that this mode of slaughter 

 may, without absolute prohibition, be so restricted as to be compatible 

 with the preservation of the race. This position is assumed in the Iie- 

 port of the Commissioners of Great Britain, but no proofs are adduced 

 or reasons offered by them, to make good their assumption. 



The first point, therefore, which should engage our attention is 

 whether any allowance of pelagic sealing, however restricted in place 

 or time, is compatible with the permanent existence of the seal herd. 

 By the terms "any allowance," we do not mean the least measure of 

 formal permission, such, for instance, as would allow the pursuit to be 

 carried on during the months of December and January only, when the 

 seas are so rough, and the seals found with such difficulty that there 

 is no temptation to engage in the enterprise, but such permission as 

 would afford some chance of success, and tempt undertakings that would 

 result in the capture of considerable numbers of seals. Any license 

 more restricted than this would be wholly unimportant as a license, and 

 not worth discussion. It would amount for all substantial purposes to 

 absolute prohibition, and should be viewed as such. 



The question to which a clear auswer should first be given is, "What 

 causes a diminution of the herd?" It might at first be hastily supposed 

 that any killing of seals would work pro tanto a decrease of the nor- 

 mal numbers; but a moment's rejection will show that this is not neces- 



