60 AMERICAN DIPLOMATIC QUESTIONS 



the United States in Bering Sea having been limited by de- 

 cision of the tribunal to the ordinary zone of territorial 

 waters, the seizure of these vessels outside of such territorial 

 waters stood acknowledged as illegal; the United States 

 could therefore no longer evade the liability for damages to 

 their owners. The only question left to decide was the 

 amount of compensation due. 



The following year (1894), the Secretary of State, Mr. 

 Gresham, signed an agreement with the Canadian authorities 

 to pay to them the lump sum of f 425,000 in satisfaction of 

 these claims, but Congress refused to appropriate the money, 

 notwithstanding the fact that the full British claim amounted 

 to about $850,000. 



During 1895-96 efforts were continued to fix the amount of 

 compensation due satisfactorily to both sides. A treaty 

 between Great Britian and the United States was finally 

 signed in February of the latter year, providing for the 

 appointment of a tribunal to adjudicate upon all these claims. 

 It was to be composed of two members, a Canadian and an 

 American, and, in case of disagreement, a third and neutral 

 member was to be called in as umpire. William L. Putnam 

 of Portland, Maine, Judge of the First Judicial Circuit of 

 the United States, was chosen by the President as commis- 

 sioner on the part of the United States, and George E. King, 

 a Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada, was likewise 

 selected at Ottawa. 



The commission met in Victoria, B. C., and later in San 

 Francisco, where testimony was received orally as in open 

 court. No umpire was found necessary, and in December, 

 1897, the commissioners submitted their joint report to their 

 respective governments, their award being final. The total 

 amount of damages to be paid by the United States to the 

 injured shipowners was placed at $473,151.26. In finding 

 this sum, the commissioners included not only the value 

 of the vessels, their outfits and the skins confiscated, but 

 also the value of the probable catch which would have been 

 made had not the vessels been prevented from continuing 

 their operations throughout the sealing season. Each vessel 



