PROTECTION AND PROPERTY RIGHTS. 37 



first nineteen years of the sovereignty of the Rights arising 



out of ownership 



United States. It is yet to be determined whether of islands and 



^ habits of seals. 



the lawless intrusion of Canadian vessels in 1886 

 and subsequent years has changed the law and 

 equity of the case theretofore prevailing." 



The correspondence also shows that the habits . An , facts rela ; tf 



I ing t o property 



of the seals, all the details as to their life on the ^ d# full y dis " 



Pribilof Islands, the character of their annual 



migration, and all the facts necessary to support 



the claims of protection and of property set up 



by the United States, have been the subject of 



careful investigation and discussion between the 



two Governments. 1 



'Appendix to British Case, Vol. Ill, Part 1, pp. 424-453, and 

 House Ex. Doc, No. 450, 51st Cong., 1st Bess., pp. 15-51. At pp. 45 

 of Vol. Ill and 48 of the Ex. Doc. aforesaid, Dr. Dawson, one of 

 the British Bering Sea Commissioners, under date of March 5, 

 1890, discusses fully the facts upon which the property claim is 

 based. 



See also Debates House of Commons, Dominion of Canada, 1888, 

 Vol. XXVI, p. 976. In a speech made April 25, 1888, Mr. Baker, 

 M. P , quoted the following from the tenth census (1880) of the 

 United States: "The fur seals of Alaska collectively and indi- 

 vidually are the property of the general Government. * * * 

 Every fur seal playing in the waters of Bering Sea around about 

 the Pribilof Islands, no matter if found so doing 100 miles away 

 from the rookeries, belongs there, has been begotten and born 

 therein, and is the animal that the explicit shield of the law pro- 

 tects; no legal scepticism or quibble can cloud the whole truth of 

 any statement (sic)." Commenting on the foregoing, Mr. Baker 

 says -. "It would appear that the United States revenue cutters are 

 going on some absurd contention of this kind in their seizure of 

 British vessels in the Behring Sea." 



