seizures. 



THE TRUE ISSUES. 11 



Emperor of Russia in the treaty by which the Mr. Blaine's 



1 J J statement of the 



Alaskan Territory was transferred to the United issues. 

 States. The weighty considerations growing 

 ont of the acquisition of that Territory, with all 

 the rights on land and sea inseparably connected 

 therewith, may be safely left out of view, while 

 the grounds are set forth upon which this Gov- 

 ernment rests its justification for the action com- 

 plained of by Her Majesty's Government." 1 



The grounds set forth were these: Justification of 



(1) The value of the sealeries and the absence 

 of any interference with them down to 1886. 



(2) That the taking of seals in the open water 

 rapidly leads to their extermination, because of 

 the indiscriminate slaughter of the animal, espe- 

 cially of the female ; with which slaughter Mr. 

 Blaine contrasts the careful methods pursued by 

 the United States Government in killing seals 

 upon the Islands. 



(3) That the right of defense by the United 

 States against such extermination is not confined 

 to the three-mile limit, and Mr. Blaine remarks 

 as follows: "Does Her Majesty's Government 

 seriously maintain that the law of nations is pow- 

 erless to prevent such violation of the common 

 rights of man ? Are the supporters of justice in 



1 Appendix to Case of the United States, Vol. I, p. 200. 



