294 APPENDIX TO COUNTER-CASE OF GREAT BRITAIN. 



respect to those points upon which they have failed to agree. But 

 this adv^antage the United States Government prefers to submit to, 

 though quite aware of its importance, rather than that the Arbitration 

 should be put in peril. 



I hav^e felt it necessary to enter at some length upon an exposition 

 of the views of my Government upon this question, because of its 

 great gravity and of the serious consequences which might result from 

 a failure of the two Governments to agree respecting it, and because 

 of the earnest desire of my Government to reach a mutually satisfac- 

 tory settlement. I deem it proper, however, to add, in conclusion, that 

 the Government of the United States has entire confidence in its 

 ability to maintain its position in the controversy submitted to the 

 Tribunal of Arbitration ; but to this end it must be afforded the benefit 

 of those substantial safeguards against the introduction of error which 

 the judicial systems of all nations so carefully secure, and which were 

 designed to be secured by the provisions of the Treaty. In the 

 absence of such safeguards no party to a judicial proceeding can be 

 confident of the protection of his rights; indeed, a trial of a question 

 of right, when one party has no opportunity of meeting and answering 

 the allegations and evidence of the other, does not deserve the name 

 of a judicial proceeding. 



I have, &c. 



(Signed) John W. Foster. 



No. 2. 



The Earl of Rosebery to Mr. Herbert, 



Foreign Office, October 13, 1S92. 



Sir: I have received your despatch of the 28th ultimo, inclosing a 

 copy of the note addressed to you by the United States Secretary of 

 State on the 27th September last respecting the Behring Sea Ai'bitra- 

 tion. 



Its contents, the general purport of which you had previously con- 

 veyed to me by telegraph, have received the attentive consideration of 

 Her Majesty's Government, and it appears to them to be necessary to 

 examine its various contentions in some detail. 



Mr. Foster states : 



1. That the President "has observed with surprise and extreme 

 regret that the British Case contains no evidence whatever touching 

 the principal facts in dispute, upon which the Tribunal of Arbitration 

 must in any event largely, and in one event entirely, depend. No x^roof 

 is presented upon the question submitted by the Treaty concerning the 

 right of property or property interest asserted by the United States in 

 the seals inhabiting Pribyloff Islands in Behring Sea, or upon the ques- 

 tion, also submitted to the Tribunal of Arbitration, concerning the con- 

 current Eegulations which might be necessary in a certain contingency 

 specified in the Treaty." 



2. Mr. Foster goes on to affirm that the Treaty provides for the sub- 

 mission of evidence only through the Cases and Counter-Cases therein 

 mentioned, and he infers that the view taken by the British Agent 

 must be "that he may incorporate such proof and evidence in the 



