326 ARGUMENT OF THE UNITED STATES. 



this proposition. Is it the intention on the part of the Govern- 

 ment of Great Britain to support that view? If so, some intima- 

 tion to that effect would have been extremely pertinent in this 

 Counter Case. 



And when that view comes to be supported, if at all, it is to be 

 hoped that those who advocate it will take into consideration and 

 give satisfactory explanations upon the following points: 



(a) What man of science, familiar with the races of animals and 

 the causes which tend to their destruction or their preservation, 

 entertains a like view 1 ? What man acquainted with the business 

 of practical husbandry and dealing for profit with a race of ani- 

 mals polygamous in its nature, thinks it wise to slaughter males 

 and females indiscriminately for tbe market, or rather, to make 

 their selections for slaughter consist in the proportion of 75 per 

 cent of females. 



(b) Is it likely that any better provision for the preservation of 

 the race of fur-seals can be suggested than that which assigns the 

 rewards of preservation to those who alone have the ability and 

 the disposition to exercise the best methods of preservation? 

 Is the method which has preserved in undiminished numbers for 

 one hundred years and upwards the herd of seals resorting to the 

 Commander Islands, a mistake, and is the same method which lias 

 beeu pursued for nearly the same period on the Pribilof Islands, 

 and with the same effect until the ravages made by pelagic sealing 

 were committed, also a mistake? And wherein is there any 

 essential difference between the methods pursued on the two groups 

 of islands? 



And, finally, were it even admitted that the United States Gov- 

 ernment mismanages its own business to the detriment of its own 

 interests, would that destroy its right of property in the business? 

 Or deprive it of the right of self-defense? Or justify a slaughter 

 by the poachers which would otherwise be unjustifiable? Or even 

 render it probable that such mismanagement would not be corrected 

 by experience? 

 It is worthy of remark, in conclusion, upon the subject of regulations, 

 so largely dealt with in the British Counter Case — 



1. That while it is now professed on the part of Great Britain that Her 

 Majesty's Government is willing that just regulations for the preserva- 

 tion of the fur-seal should be adopted, it is solely owing to the refusal 



