ARGUMENT OF SAMUEL J. ELDER. 1513 



Referring to the statutes themselves, pp. 1126 and 1127 of this 

 same volume, section 4131 of the revised statutes says : 



" Vessels registered pursuant to law and no others, except such as 

 shall be duly qualified according to law for carrying on the coasting 

 or fishing trade, shall be deemed vessels of the United States, and 

 entitled to the benefits and privileges appertaining to such vessels; 

 but no such vessel shall enjoy such benefits and privileges longer than 

 it shall continue to be wholly owned by a citizen or citizens of the 

 United States or a corporation created under the laws of any of the 

 States thereof, and be commanded by a citizen of the United States. 

 And all the officers of vessels of the United States who shall have 

 charge of a watch, including pilots, shall in all cases be citizens of 

 the United States. The word ' officers ' shall include the chief engi- 

 neer and each assistant engineer," 



And so on. 



" And after the first day of January, eighteen hundred and ninety- 

 seven, no person shall be qualified to hold a license as a commander or 

 watch officer of a merchant vessel of the United States who is not a 

 native born citizen, or whose naturalization as a citizen shall not have 

 been fully completed." 



Then section 4132 : 



" Vessels built within the United States, and belonging wholly to 

 citizens thereof, and vessels which may be captured in war by citizens 

 of the United States, and lawfully condemned as prize, or which 

 may be adjudged to be forfeited for a breach of the laws of the United 

 States, being wholly owned by citizens, and no others, may be 

 registered " 



And so on. 



JUDGE GRAY: Is it with reference to those laws imposing citizen- 

 ship upon all the officers of a registered American vessel that 

 915 the claim is made that a duly authorised or registered vessel 

 for fishing has the right to exercise that liberty without inquiry 

 as to the nationality of the fishermen or crews, and if so, what would 

 be the case if those laws were repealed to-morrow as they could be ? 



MR. ELDER : That was a suggestion that I endeavoured to say some- 

 thing about the other day. 



I take it that the form of authorization by the United States is a 

 matter of importance to Great Britain. It is a matter into which 

 Great Britain has a right of inquiry, and the way in which that 

 authorization has been given in the past is what I am now calling 

 attention to. If the United States should change that law and issue 

 its registry to foreign-owned vessels, or to vessels, we will say, with- 

 out American inhabitants, or to a foreign-owned vessel principally, 

 it would then certainly be a question for Great Britain to consider 

 whether the authorization which the United States was giving was 

 satisfactory. But the point I am making is that the right vesting 

 in the United States, the authorization must come from it, and must 



