12 . ORAL ARGUMENT OF JAMES 0. CARTER, ESQ. 



determine tlie course it wonkl be best to ])ursne in referonee to those 

 finestions — to consider tlie exigency with which it was thus confronted. 

 What was itf Here had been an industry carried on by llussia, before 

 the acquisition by the United States, for three fourtlis of a century. It 

 had been continued by tlie United States for twenty years, and contin- 

 ued with all the benetits to the United States and to the world which 

 I have mentioned. It was threatened by this practice, which was rap- 

 idly extendiiifi- itself, of pelagic sealing. What icas pelagic sealing — 

 for that was the thing which at first arrested the attention of the 

 United States Government — what uas pelagic sealing, and what were 

 its obvious and its necessary consequences'? 



I must say a word or two upon that point, although it will subse- 

 quently form a subject of more extended discussi(m; but right upon 

 its face, pelagic sealing appeared to be, as it uiuhtubtedly was, simply 

 a rapid method of destroying the race of seals. 



Senator Morgan. Before you proceed to argue that, I would like to 

 ask a question about the sealers in Bering Sea. 



Mr. Carter. Certainly. 



Senator Morgan. I find a table in this Appendix to the Case of the 

 United States, which states that the "City of San J)ieg<)", a schooner, 

 was seized by the American Government on July 17th, and it was an 

 American shij). 



Mr. Carter. Yes. 



Senator Morgan. And then the Thornton, the Carolina, and the 

 Onward were seized sul)sequently, on August first and second, and 

 they were British. Is that the proper statement as you understand if? 



Mr. Carter. I so understand it. The first seizures that were made 

 were both American and Jjiitish. 



Senator Morgan. The first seizure that was made, according to this 

 table — and that is the reason I call your attention to it — was an Ameri- 

 can shi]), on July 17th, and then the next seizure was August 1st of 

 British vessels. 



Mr. Carter. Doubtless that is correct. I have not carried in my 

 mind the fact that the first seizure made was of an American vessel. It 

 would ai)pear to be so by the statement which was read by the learned 

 arbitrator. 



I have said that pelagic sealing seemed to be simply destruction. It 

 was destruction because it was not regulated. It was destruction 

 because it proceeded in defiance of the obvious and well known laws 

 which govern tlie protection and preservation of the race of seals. If 

 it continued it seemed to the United States that it would as surely 

 result in the destruction of the seals as the indiscriminate slaughter 

 of them on the islands of the southern ocean had resulted in the 

 destruction of the herds in that quarter of the globe. They could not 

 imagine that that could be right. They could not imagine that it was 

 right or proper for any nation, or any men anywhere upon the globe, 

 on the sea or on the land, to sweep out of existence one of the bounties 

 of Providence. They could not imagine that, when there was an 

 industry established and in full operation and which had been in opera- 

 tion for nearly a century, by which the whole benefit of this race of 

 animals was secured, and permanently secured to man, without any 

 peril to the stock, any man or any nation could rightfully, on the sea, 

 or anywhere else, come in and by an indiscriminate and destructive 

 pursuit of the animal take away that benefit fi)rever from mankind. So 

 it seemed to them, and so, therefore, they had no hesitation in giving 

 the instructions which resulted in the seizure of these vessels; and 

 those seizures resulted in the demand which I have just read. 



