136 ORAL ARGUMENT OF JAMES C. CARTER, ESQ. 



Mr. Carter. Is there anytliiiii;' more tliat the learned Arbitrator 

 wished to ask"^ 



Mr. Justice Harlan. No. 



Mr. Carter. I re-sume, tlien. The British Mi iiister of Foreign Affairs 

 instructs the British Ambassador in St. Tetersburii-, wlu) is negotiating 

 the treaty, to carry out the object wliich Great Britain has in view, of 

 disphicing the assumption of Bnssian dominion in Bering Sea; but to 

 carry it out, if he can, by adopting the first two articles of the Ameri- 

 can treaty, thus avoiding any discussion with the Government of liussia 

 in respect to its pretension in tlie Ukase of 18_'l. That was done; and 

 there appears to have been no further discussion in reference to it. Now, 

 what is the consequence of that as a matter of interpretation'? The 

 British Government says, in substance: ''Whatever our intentions are 

 upon this point, we are satisfied to take the agreement which you have 

 made with the United States as a settlement. Whatever that agree- 

 ment is, we are satisfied to take it for ourselves. We have seen it, we 

 are satisfied with it, and we are satisfied to take it for ourselves". In 

 thus accepting the provisions of the American treaty, I respectfully 

 submit to this Tribunal that they must accept the interi>retation of the 

 American treaty with Russia, as it was understood by both powers, and 

 what that interjnetation was, I think J have already shown to this body. 



The President. Do you not think Mr. Canning understood it other- 

 wise than you have explained it to us; for Mr. Canning says that when 

 right of free navigation has been questioned, it must be asserted! I do 

 not remember the words exactly. He says that, though. 



Mr. Carter,. Yes; very explicitly. 



The President. He says: "H" you give us the text which maybe 

 given to the United States, we will be satisfied" ; and, he seems to imply, 

 that the right of IMitish ships to navigate freely in the Bering Sea and 

 across the Bering Straits is granted in the text of the American treaty. 



Mr. Carter. So he thought, undoubtedly. 



The President. I think he thought so. 



Mr. Carter. He thought so, and he told the British Minister in St. 

 Petersburg so; but he did not tell the liussian Go^'ernlnent that. 



The President. He made a mistake, in your opinion. 



Mr. Carter. 1 do not say he made a mistake. He made a mistake 

 in one thing. He may not have gained what he had i)rominently in 

 view. 



The President. He did not understand the American treaty, or did 

 not construe it as you construe it? 



Mr. Carter. He did not construe it as I construe it. I say he made 

 a mistake so far as he may have su})posrd that the American treaty 

 would gain the special object which he had in view. If he had supposed 

 tiiat the American treaty was subject to the interpretation which tiie 

 American and Russian Governments put upon it, it would not answer his 

 purpose; but not having communicated that to the Russian Govern- 

 ment, and a settlement having been proi)osed with the Russian Gov- 

 ernment by ado])iing the first two articles of the American treaty, with- 

 out making any interpretation of them, adopting them as they stood, I 

 submit that in adopting that agreement between the United States and 

 Rnssia, the interpretation of the United States and Russia was adopted 

 with it; and if I have succeeded in showing that according to the 

 interpretation of the United States and Russia the Pacific Ocean or 

 South Sea did not include tlie Bering Sea under the American Treaty, 

 it no more included it in the British treaty. 



