COUNTER-CASE OF GREAT BRITAIN. 97 



OBJECT OF THE ASSERTION THAT THE SEAL IS DOMESTIC. 



The peculiar claim embodied in the above quotations from 

 the United States Case is evidently put forward with the 

 object of avoiding- the consequences resulting from the fact 

 that the seal is an animal ferm natiirce, and as a step essen- 

 tial toward the claim of "property" in seals; and from this 

 point of view it requires examination, notwithstanding its 

 extraordinary nature. It is to be observed that, in other united states 

 connections and for another purpose in the Case of the^g'^g^'^'Pi'-^^" '^'^'^ 

 United States, it is admitted that fur-seals are animals" 

 ferw naturce. 



BASIS OF THE ASSERTION. 



The whole argument advanced in the Case of the United ^„^°",jp'"^''Jj,^^°* 



States as to the domestic character of the fur-seal, with the 



allegations upon which it is based (given in detail in the 



Appendix of the Case), resolve themselves into the 



112 statement, given in more or less varying forms, that 



the animals are "readily controlled by man while on united states 

 the land." '''''''''■'''■ 



The only sense in which the assertion that the seals are Britiaii com- 

 readily controlled while on land by man, is that referred to porTpar^si.^^' 

 by the British Commissioners, who write: 



While lesortiug to or remaining on the land, the far-seal is practi- 

 cally defenceless. 



And elsewhere: 



Active and graceful as a fish in the water, the fur-seal is at the best Ibid, para. 704. 

 clumsy and awkward in its movements on land. 



THE SEAL CONTROLLABLE ON LAND BECAUSE DEFENCE- 

 LESS THERE. 



The ease with which it is possible to drive bodies of seals 

 on laud, which is the i)rin('ii)al argument used to show the'ir 

 " domestic" character, therefore depends in reality upon the 

 unfitness of the animal for progression by land, and the 

 consequent impossibility of its escape from the drivers by 

 flight." 



WHOLLY UNCONTROLLABLE ELSEWHERE. 



The fur-seal endeavours, and for the greater part of the 

 year with success, to avoid mankiiul. JMan is unable to 

 iierd it, provide it with food, or i^rotect it from its many 

 natural enemies. But the fur-seal, while on shore, cannot 

 find freedom and safety by flight or by resistance. It is 

 thus because the fur-seal is incapable on shore of speedy 

 or prolonged locomotion or exertion, that it can be, and is, 

 brought temporarily under the control of man. But it is 

 to be noted that it is absolutely uncontrolled and uucon- 

 trollable by man when it chooses to proceed to sea, as it 

 invariably does for the greater part of the year. 



B s, PT VIII 7 



