38 PROTECTION AND PROPERTY RIGHTS. 



ci&imofprotec- The foregoing completely disproves the state- 



tion and owner- 



ship not new. ment at page 135 of the British Case that the 

 claim of protection and of ownership by the 

 United States in the fur-seals is new; and also 

 the statement at page 140 relating to the "ab- 

 sence of any indication as to the grounds upon 

 which the United States base so unprecedented 

 a claim." 

 Case of the The British Case refers at page 136 to the case 



Harriet. l f 



of the American schooner Harriet for the purpose 

 of showing that the United States have denied to 

 other nations a right of protection and property 

 in seals when on the high seas. A careful exami- 

 nation, however, of the facts will readily show 

 that they fail to bear in any way upon the point 

 to prove which they were cited. 



In 1831 one Vernet, who had been appointed 

 by the Republic of Buenos Ayres governor of the 

 Malvinas (Falkland) Islands, seized the Harriet, 

 charged with the taking of seals on those islands. 

 The American Charge* at Buenos Ayres protested 

 against the seizure, and a lengthy correspondence 

 ensued, all the material parts of which are given 

 in the Appendix hereto. 1 From this correspond- 

 ence it is apparent : 



First. That it was not the intention of either 

 Government to raise any question as to the juris- 



» Post p. 184-191. 



