402 ORAL ARGUMENT OF FREDERICK R. COUDERT, ESQ. 



for tlie promise; so, if lie will liardoii me, I will read a brief extract 

 which puts the cap Tipoii it, — as you would say, Mr. President, "le 

 couroniiemeut de I'cdiiice". Mr. Tupper writes to the Sealers' Associa- 

 tion. I refer to a letter of the 13th of June at page 195, and also at 

 pages 90 and 91. Let me i>reface the reading of this brief extract with 

 the remark that it is doubly important uot only on the subject I am 

 reading now, but on the question of damages; and we cannot help 

 thinlving it is a little ungracious on the part of my friends on Ihe other 

 side to ask us to pay damages to them, after we have surrendered our 

 business to their sealers and they have laigely profited by the circum- 

 stance. It is evident tliat they must have made a large profit out of 

 tlie 7no(lns virendi, i)artly because tliey did not observe it and, there- 

 fore, it did not hurt them, and partly because we did not put any skins 

 on tlie market and they had the full control of it, and partly because 

 they intercepted the seals before they entered the Bering Sea which 

 had an appearance of legality; their business was very jirosperous, in 

 fact they never made sojnuch money as api)ears from the Case; and 

 when they ask us to pay damages in addition, we think it is rather an 

 ungracious denuiiid. 



Tiiat IS on the (juestion of damages; but, on the question of pelagic 

 sealing, the letter of Mr. Tapper is important. This letter is addressed 

 to the Sealers' Association. 



Geutlemen: Rovcrtin.a; to my letter to you of the 13tli June on the subjoct of your 

 cornniunipation of the 5th of tliat mouth, on behalf of the Sealers' Association of Vic- 

 toria, rcauiustiatiug against the ]irop()seil ?«o(?M8 trivendi iuBehring's Sea, I have now 

 the honour to inform you that Her Majesty's Government is of opinion that the total 

 cessation of sealing in Behring's Sea will greatly enhance the value of the produce 

 of the coast lishery, and does not autici])ate that British sealers will sutt'er to any 

 great extent by exclusion from Ik'hring's Sea. 



The opinion of Her Majesty's Government on this is, of course, of 

 very great value. It is not formed lightly or without information; and 

 when the Government expressed tlu^ opinion, which is reiterated by our 

 friend Mr. Tupper, that the cessation of sealing in Bering Sea would 

 greatly enhance the value of the coast fishery prodnce, the Government 

 Avas absolutely right; and the result has shown it, and the tables that 

 I have read demonstrate that Her Majesty's Government exercised a 

 great deal of foresight, just the foresight that we would expect, in the 

 I)rotection of the rights of British citizens. 



Now, we come to the testimony of the Victorian Sealers; and a depo- 

 sition of some 1^9 witnesses at Victoria was taken. 



Sir Chari.es Kussell. — You mentioned another page 105. 



Mr. CouDERT. — I said that that was the crown of the editlce; but, if 

 I have time, I will read anything you desire me to read. 



As I have said, we took the dei)ositions of about 29 witnesses at Vic- 

 toria; and nothing can better show the strong desire of the United 

 States to reacli all sources of knowledge, — they went to Victoria to get 

 information to be used against pelagic sealing, which certainly showed 

 a great deal of boldness. It is not to be i)resumed that any of them 

 Avere friendly to the United States. We, as I say, examined 29 of these 

 witnesses. How many were cross examined by our friends on the other 

 side, we do not know; but we do know that the cross-examination of 

 ten of these witnesses is produced in the case. Why the others were 

 not cross-examined, or why the cross-examination, if taken, was not 

 produced, we can only conjecture. 



The first of them is Peter Anderson, a boat-steerer. He had sailed in the last three 

 years on the Black Diamond, Ariel and Umbrina, all British schooners. He sa^s: 



