ORAL ARGUMENT OF FREDERICK R. COUDERT, ESQ. 311 



1 beg that the Tribunal will notice this — that any reasonable curtail- 

 ment — any curtailment that is not purely nominal might as well be 

 from the first day of the year until the last. In that, 1 entirely agree 

 with the Commissioner. Abstinence is easier than moderation, D"^ 

 Johnson said, as far as drink was concerned; and abstinence is easier 

 than moderation when it comes to this pelagic slaughter which holds 

 out a glittering reward for the time being without reference to the fatal 

 consequences in the future. 



It is a well-kuown fact that seals do not begin to enter the Beliring's Sea until the 

 middle or end of May; they have practically all left those waters by the cud of 

 October. The establishment of the proposed close season, therefore, prohibits the 

 taking of seals during the whole year. Even in that case, if it were proposed to 

 make this close season o]>crative for all on the Islands of St. Paul and St. George as 

 well as in the waters oi' the Behriug's Sea, it could at least be said that the close 

 time would bear equally on all. 



Sir Charles Eussell. — He says; — "Even in that case if it were 

 proposed to make this close season operative for all" — he means oiJera- 

 tive on land as well as on the sea. 



Mr. COUDERT. — It is: 



Even in that case, if it were proposed to make this close season operative for all 

 on the Islands of St. Paul and St. George as well as in the waters of theBehringSea, 

 it could at least be said that the close time would bear equally on all. 



But the United States Government propose to allow seals to be killed by their 

 own citizens on the rookeries, the only places where they haul out in Alaska, during 

 June, July, September, and October, four of the months of the proposed close sea- 

 son. The result would be that while all others would be preventetl from killing a 

 seal in Beliriug Sea, the United States would possess a complete monopoly and the 

 effect would be to render infinitely more valuable and maintain in perpetuity the 

 seal fisheries of the North Pacific for the sole benefit of the United States. 



Here, again, is this reproach of a monopoly, and here, and through- 

 out this letter, and throughout most of the arguments in this case, the 

 one great distinction is lost sight of which cannot be kept too closely in 

 mind by the Tribunal — that no scheme has been suggested — that no 

 scheme can be suggested by hunmn ingenuity so far as failure in the 

 past allows us to say so now, which will permit discrimination, while 

 the advantage that the United States jiossesses and which she alone 

 possesses so far as this industry in raising seals is concerned, is that she 

 may ducriminate. I know that it is stated by our friends — it is stated 

 throughout the case — that females are sometimes killed. My brother 

 Carter went into this subject with great elaboration yesterday, and 

 therefore I need say nothing uj»on that point. The question is 

 whether any comparison is to be made between the killing of seals on 

 land where discrimination is made, and the promiscuous slaughter that 

 necessarily accompanies pelagic sealing. 



Who ever heard of a raiser of sheep allowing his men to rush wildly 

 in the Hock with gaft's and spears and shot guns and rifles "? Discrimi- 

 nation is the rule. The only historical instance I know of is one I am 

 sure familiar to the President of the Tribunal, where a certain gentle- 

 man attacked a flock of sheep mounted upon his horse, clad in armour, 

 armed with his good sword, and smote them right and left. But then 

 he was a lunatic, as you remember — at least, he said so himself before 

 he died and he repented of these things, and said that whereas he had 

 been out of his mind, then, as he was approaching the portals of death, 

 he was sane again. That is the only instance which my researches 

 have permitted me to find which can be of any use to the Counsel on the 

 other side on this question. 



It is to be noted that the area proposed by Mr. Bayard to be effected by the close 

 season virtually covers the whole portion of the Behring's Sea in which the exclu- 



