THE FUR-SEALS AND THE BERING SEA AWARD 33 



The eighth article of the treaty left the question of liabilities 

 for injuries alleged to have been sustained by the citizens of 

 either country in connection with the arrests and condemna- 

 tion of the English sealing vessels to be determined by the 

 arbitrators upon the submission to them of all the facts. 



Agreeably to the terms of the ninth article of the treaty, 

 by which " Each government shall appoint two commissioners 

 to investigate conjointly with the commissioners of the other 

 government all the facts relating to seal life in Bering Sea, 

 and the measures necessary for its proper protection and pres- 

 ervation," Sir George Baden-Powell, Member of Parliament, 

 and Dr. Dawson were retained by Great Britain, as were Dr. 

 Merriam and Professor Mendenhall by the United States, to 

 act as such commissioners. With full instructions to investigate 

 thoroughly the conditions of seal life and to ascertain what 

 permanent measures were necessary for the preservation of 

 the fur-seal species in the North Pacific Ocean, the joint com- 

 mission proceeded to Bering Sea and set to work gath- 

 ering material for the use of their respective governments in 

 the arbitration trial to be held in Paris. It is not a little '] 

 remarkable that side by side four scientists prosecuting the j 

 same line of inquiry, considering together the same evidence, f 

 and reading together the same incontrovertible facts, should \ 

 have arrived at such widely different conclusions. The] 

 impartial observer must yield to the suspicion" that the con- 

 clusions of the commissioners were colored by a desire to fur- 

 ther the interests of their countries, and that their scientific 

 investigation had not been wholly free from a trace of diplo- 

 macy. The American commissioners found overwhelming 

 evidence to establish in their minds beyond all questions of 

 doubt the fact that the seal herd had greatly diminished in 

 size, and that such condition had been chiefly brought about 

 by the destructive practice of pelagic sealing; They conse- 

 quently recommended its entire suppression. Subsequent 

 history has proved the correctness of these conclusions, and 

 it is to be regretted that the case in Paris was complicated by 

 the radically differing report of the British commissioners. 

 They, on the other hand, somewhat begrudgingly admitted a 



