ORAL ARGUMENT OF JAMES C. CARTER, ESQ. Ill 



British vessels and the iiuprisoument of their masters and cre^vs were not warranted 

 by the circumstances, and that they will be ready to aftbrd reasonable compensation 

 to those who have suifered in conseiinencc, and issue imuiediate instructions to their 

 naval officers which will prevent a recnrrence of these regrettable incidents. 



Mr. Bayard's first communication in relation to tliese seizures will be 

 found at page 168. He tlien had before liim tlie letter wliicli I have 

 just read of Lord Salisbury. He bad before him the grounds upon 

 which Lord Salisbury based his objection to these seizures; and he 

 was invited therefore to a discussion of these grounds and reasons. As 

 I have already remarked, Mr. Bayard thought proper to waive, or avoid, 

 that discussion for the then present at least, and to rely upcm concilia- 

 tory measures. The terms iu which he did this will be found in the let- 

 ter to which I now call your attention. As it is very short I will read 

 it, although I have read it once before. These are instructions from 

 him to the American Ministers abroad, the same letter being sent to the 

 Ministers of several powers. Great Britain included. 



Sir Charles Eussell. My friend has not observed the dates: that 

 is a montli earlier than the (late of the communication to Lord Salis- 

 bury. Lord Salisbury's letter is in August, and that is in September. 



Mr. Carter. I am much obliged to my learned friend; he is entirely 

 right. Let me withdraw the observation I have made that when Mr. 

 Bayard wrote that letter he had before him the letter of Lord Salisbury 

 which I have just read. He did not have it before him. He did have, 

 however, before him the protests against the seizures which had been 

 made to him by the British Minister in Washington. 



He did have those before him. There were several letters from the 

 British Minister and one of them, perhaps the first, was on the 27th of 

 September, 1886. The next one is of the same character. The next is 

 a communication from the Earl of Iddesleigh to Sir Lionel Sackville 

 West; but it was also communicated to Mr. Bayard. That is on the 

 30th of October, 1886. As I have said, there was considerable delay 

 on the part of Mr. Bayard in answering these documents of the British 

 Government— delay arising from the circumstance that the place from 

 which information was sought was so remote. Those observations will 

 be sufficient to enable the learned Arbitrators to understand the view 

 first taken iu reference to the matter by Mr. Bayard, which is coutaiued 

 in the letter of August 19th, 1887 : 



Mr. Bayard to Mr. Vignaud.^ 



No. 256.] Department of State, WasUngton, August 19, 1887. 



SiK : Recent occurrences have di'awn the attention of this Department to the neces- 

 sity of taking steps for the better protection of the fur-seal fisheries in Behriui;- Sea. 



Without raising any question as to the exceptional measures which the peculiar 

 character of the property in question might justify this Government in taking, and 

 without reference to any exceptional marine jurisdiction that might properly be 

 claimed for that end, it is deemed advisable— and I am instructed by the President 

 so to inform you — to attain the desired ends by international cooperation. 



It is well known that the unregulated and indiscriminate killiug of seals in many 

 parts of the world has driven them from place to place, and, by breaking up their 

 habitual resorts, has greatly reduced their uiimber. 



Under these circumstances, and in view of the common interest of all nations in 

 preventing the indiscriminate destruction and consequent extermination of an ani- 

 mal which contributes so importantly to the commercial wealth and general use of 

 mankind, you are hereby instructed to draw the attention of the Government to 

 which you are accredited to the subject, and to invite it to enter into such an 

 arrangement with the Government of the United States as will prevent the citizens 

 of either country from killing seal in Behring Sea at such times and places, and by 



1 Identic instructions were sent to the United States ministers to Germany, Great 

 Britain, Japan, Russia, and Sweden and Norway. 



