BERING SEA TRIBUNAL OF ARBITRATION. 



from the natural increase during the natural 

 terra of the mother's life ; whereas, if fourteen 

 out of every fifteen young males are killed the 

 product will not be diminished, for every bull 

 serves as many as fifteen cows under the natural 

 conditions of the herd, and can serve twenty or 

 thirty. The annual slaughter on the hauling- 

 grounds is conducted in such a way that the 

 other seals are not frightened in the least. 



Under the supervision and control of the 

 United States Government the herd increased 

 rapidly up to 1885, when it represented a capital 

 value of about $30,000,000. It was a source of 

 revenue to the Government, which collected a 

 royalty of about $10 on each raw skin, amount- 

 ing to over $1,000,000 a year, and a duty on im- 

 ported dressed skins amounting to about $375,- 

 000 annually. The lessee company which farmed 

 the business of obtaining and selling the skins 

 made a large profit ; and the manufacturers of 

 London who dressed the skins and traders and 

 retailers in various cities got their share ; and 

 the natives of the Pribylov Islands, the fur- . 

 dressers of London, and working furriers in the 

 United States, France, England, and other coun- 

 tries were dependent on the industry for their 

 livelihood. It was not till 1886 that this prop- 

 erty and the industry depending upon it were 

 seriously menaced. In that year a considerable 

 fleet of vessels was fitted out in Victoria, British 

 Columbia, by Canadian and American owners, 

 to take seals on their return to the seal islands 

 and in the adjacent waters where they sought 

 their food outside of the three-mile limit. The 

 field of this enterprise, as Mr. Blaine pointed 

 out in a letter to Sir Julian Pauncefote, was " a 

 sea which lies far beyond the line of trade, whose 

 silent waters were never cloven by a commercial 

 prow, whose uninhabited shores have no port of 

 entry and could never be approached on a lawful 

 errand under any other flag than that of the 

 United States." The principle of self-preserva- 

 tion impelled the Government of the United 

 States in that and subsequent years to check the 

 invasion of " this peaceful and secluded field of 

 labor, whose benefits were so equitably shared 

 by the native Aleuts of the Pribylov Islands, by 

 the United States, and by England," and to 

 deny the right of Canadian vessels "to enter 

 and by their ruthless course to destroy the fisher- 

 ies, and with them to destroy also the resulting 

 industries, which are so valuable." The meas- 

 ures taken to police Bering Sea, intermitted as 

 they were in compliance with diplomatic pro- 

 tests and in the hope of securing an interna- 

 tional arrangement of the dispute, did not pre- 

 vent the serious depletion of the herd. The 

 poachers improved their methods of destruction, 

 fitted out steam vessels for the purpose, and in- 

 creased their fleet until there were 49 vessels 

 engaged in the work in 1892, and 67 were fitted 

 out for the season of 1893. The number of seals 

 killed by poachers reached 28.000 in 1891, and 

 the depredations already committed had reduced 

 the number allowed to be killed on the islands 

 under the lease from 100,000 in 1886 soon to 

 60,000, and in 1890 to 21,000. The reason why 

 pelagic sealing was so destructive was because 

 the majority of the seals killed were females, 

 and of those shot in the water only 1 in 5 or 6 

 was recovered. 



The Bering Sea Arbitration Tribunal met in 

 Paris on March 23. In accordance with prece- 

 dents, Baron de Courcel was chosen president, 

 and after organizing the court adjourned to 

 examine the printed cases submitted by the 

 United States and Great Britain, reassembling 

 on April 4 to listen to the spoken arguments in 

 their support. The agent representing the 

 United States before the tribunal was ex-Secre- 

 tary of State John W. Foster ; the British agent 

 was C. H. Tupper, Canadian Minister of Marine. 

 The legal counsel for the United States Govern- 

 ment were E. J. Phelps, ex-minister to England, 

 Henry W. Blodgett, Frederic R. Coudert, and 

 Robert Lansing. The counsel representing the 

 British Government were Sir Charles Russell, 

 Attorney-General, ex-Attorney-General Sir Rich- 

 ard Webster, the Hon. W. H. Cross, and C. Rob- 

 inson, of the Canadian bar. 



The arguments by which Secretaries Blaine 

 and Bayard in the diplomatic controversy, and 

 afterward the United States counsel before the 

 Tribunal of Arbitration, supported the claim of 

 the United States to prevent the destruction of 

 the seals when they gather in the early summer 

 in a vast body and return through the passes of 

 the Aleutian Islands to their home, and while 

 they leave the islands to hunt for food in the cir- 

 cumjacent waters, were of three kinds, based on 

 territorial jurisdiction in Bering Sea, a right of 

 private property in the seals, and the common 

 interest of mankind in the preservation of the 

 species and the prevention of its inhuman de- 

 struction for the temporary gain of sordid spec- 

 ulators. The United States claimed by virtue of 

 the Russian cession exclusive maritime jurisdic- 

 tion in their half of Bering Sea, based not on 

 the old doctrine of mare clausum, but on a pre- 

 scriptive right claimed and exercised by Russia 

 with the acquiescence of Great Britain and 

 other powers. In 1799 the Russian Czar had 

 issued an ukase asserting exclusive dominion in 

 Bering Sea, and on Sept. 4, 1821, Alexander I 

 issued another, claiming for Russian subjects 

 the exclusive right to pursue commerce, whal- 

 ing, and fishing, or any other industry, " on all 

 islands, posts, and gulfs, including the whole of 

 the northwest coast of America, beginning from 

 Bering strait to 51 of north latitude; also from 

 the Aleutian Islands to the eastern coast of Sibe- 

 ria, as well as along the Kurile Islands from Ber- 

 ing strait to the south cape of the island of Urup, 

 or to 45 50' of north latitude." The foreign 

 vessels were forbidden not only to land on the 

 coasts and islands belonging to Russia but to 

 approach them within less than 100 Italian 

 miles, the transgressing vessel being subject to 

 confiscation together with its whole cargo. Rus- 

 sia based its claim to sovereignty over Bering Sea 

 and the part of the Pacific Ocean lying between 

 its possessions on both shores on the ground of 

 mare clausum. Both John Quincy Adams, then 

 Secretary of State in Washington, and Mr. 

 Canning, British Minister of Foreign Affairs, 

 protested against the Russian pretensions. The 

 outcome of the controversy was a treaty signed 

 on April 17, 1824, between Russia and the 

 United States and a similar treaty concluded 

 with England on Feb. 28, 1825. In the Ameri- 

 can treaty Russia agreed that American citizens 

 should not be restrained from fishing, navigat- 



