THE FUR-SEALS AND THE BERING SEA AWARD 25 



conduct in the Behring Sea which she had carefully avoided 

 ever since the discovery of that sea? By what reasoning did 

 Her Majesty's Government conclude that an act may be com- 

 mitted with impunity against the rights of the United States 

 which had never been attempted against the same rights when 

 held by the Russian Empire ? " To justify further the Ameri- 

 can assertion of right in this case to seize foreign vessels, when 

 outside the three-mile limit and engaged in the pernicious prac- 

 tice of pelagic sealing, he called Lord Salisbury's attention to 

 parallel cases where England asserted the same privileges. 

 " It is doubtful whether Her Majesty's Government would 

 abide by this rule if the attempt were made to interfere with 

 the pearl fisheries of Ceylon, which extend more than twenty 

 miles from the shore line, and have been enjoyed by England 

 without molestation ever since their acquisition. . . . Nor is 

 it creditable that modes of fishing on the Grand Banks, alto- 

 gether practicable but highly destructive, would be justified 

 or even permitted by Great Britain on the plea that the 

 vicious acts were committed more than three miles from 

 shore." No laws of the sea or land, however supported by 

 the approval of nations, should be used to protect acts in 

 themselves vicious or harmful to the world's best interest. To 

 quote again: ."In the judgment of this government the law 

 of the sea is not lawlessness. Nor can the law of the sea and 

 the liberty which it confers and which it protects, be per- 

 verted to justify acts which are immoral in themselves, which 

 inevitably tend to results against the interests and against 

 the welfare of mankind. One step beyond that which Her 

 Majesty's Government has taken in this contention, and piracy 

 finds its justification." 



In reply to Mr. Elaine's argument, Lord Salisbury, in be- 

 half of England's position, stoutly maintained that in times 

 of peace no nation was privileged to seize and search upon 

 the high seas the private vessel of a friendly nation, save 

 upon the suspicion of piracy, or in pursuance of some special 

 agreement. Continuing : " But Her Majesty's Government 

 must question whether this pursuit can of itself be regarded 

 as contra bonos mores, unless and until, for special reasons, it 



