APPENDIX TO CASE OF GREAT BRITAIN. 67 
‘The pretended cause is, and it is so asserted, that they have violated section 
1956 of the Revised Statutes of the United States, which forbids the killing of fur- 
seals or iur-bearing animals ‘within’ the waters of Alaska Territory, ignoring the 
fact whether or not they were actually engaged in the killing of seals on the high 
seas or had made preparations so to do outside of the waters of Alaska Territory. 
On mere suspicion, they and their property have been remorselessly seized in the 
name of the United States by officials who have been engaged for the past many 
months in sounding the praises of the Alaska Commercial Company throughout tlie 
land, and adding to their usurpations by vilifying their victims. 
‘“The time seems to have come when the great interests involved in the free and 
legitimate shipping ventures of the merchant marine of the nation demand 
50 that official inquiry be made into the arbitrary conduct of Government officials 
in Behring’s Sea, in connection with the usurpation of a Company at whose 
instance these arbitrary acts are committed. 
“This Company, one of the most stupendous organizations that ever existed in this 
country, and the peer of the East India and Hudson Bay Companies, was incorporated 
many years ago under the laws of the State of California as the Alaska Commercial 
Company. 
GRABBING THE OCEAN. 
“Tt has taken possession of and assumed sovereign power over the most valuable 
fisheries of the whole United States, namely, the Alaska fisheries in Behring’s Sea, 
and without shadow of right or authority, except a lease from the United States, 
dated the 3rd August, 1870, permitting it to kill 100,000 seals annually upon two 
small islands in Behring’s Sea, at a rent of 55,000 dollars per annum, &c., has taken 
possession and control, not only of the Territory, but also of a vast sea 3,000 miles 
long by 2,700 miles wide, has made itself the Suzerain of the Government, and 
impressed into its service the officers and agents of the Government to maintaip 
its possession and control of this immense territory and sea. 
“ Alexander the Great was not a robber, although he absorbed kingdoms, and the 
Alaska Commercial Company is not a “ pirate,” although it has absorbed Alaska and 
an ocean. 
“Tt has established exclusive trading posts at all the available stations in that 
immense territory, on the coast, along the rivers, and upon the islands of Behring’s 
Sea. It exercises absolute dominion over the natives, and holds them in a state of 
practical bondage. It has exterminated the seals on certain islands to prevent them 
from falling into the hands of other traders. Its agents have, in violation of law, 
defaced the silver coin of the United States with a stamp for purposes of trade, and 
refuse to accept any other when tendered by the natives for the purchase of the 
necessaries of life. It has extended its dominion into Russian territory to the restric- 
tion and detriment of trade upon the whole of Rehring’s Sea north of latitude 53°, 
and by an extension of jurisdiction, unknown to modern law, has procured the seiz- 
ure of vessels fishing in Russian waters, upon the assumption of encroachment upon 
its privileges granted by the United States under the lease to fish on the Islands of 
St. Paul and St. George in Alaska. 
“CRIMES AGAINST THE NATION. 
“‘Tt has designedly violated the conditions of its lease by the failure to take oil 
from the carcasses of the seals killed, to the damage and loss to the Government of 
hundreds of thousands of dollars, by throwing away millions of carcasses of seals 
without extracting the oil, the lease having been obtained upon an agreement to 
pay the Government ‘55 cents per gallon for oil obtained from said seals’ killed by 
it on the leased islands. Its agents use the United States Revenue cutters as a means 
of transportation, for private benefit; consult with and influence their officers, to 
the detriment of American vessels in the waters of Behring’s Sea; it aids and abets 
the Indians of Ounalaska to kill by shooting from the shore, contrary to law, young 
seals and cows; obtains the skins and sells the salted carcasses back to the Indians; 
it refuses to aid American vessels in distress, by refusing to sell them provisions; it 
has for its paid agents officers or employés of the Government whose duty to the 
Government is overshadowed by the instructions of and for the benefit of the Com- 
pany; it sells to the natives at high prices large quantities of condemned and worth- 
less tobacco in violation of the internal revenue laws; it employs and pays attor- 
neys tu prosecute Government cases where American citizens are falsely and unjustly 
accused of crime, and, in order to maintain its supremacy over Alaska and the whole 
of Behring’s Sea, it now seeks, by infamous prosecutions, to prevent American citi- 
zens from even traversing and fishing upon the high seas, under the absurd pretence 
that the waters of the whole of Behring’s Sea are adjacent to the Islands of St. Paul 
and St. George, and claims to be molested and disturbed in their lease of said islands 
By, fishing-vessels hundreds of miles away and beyond the boundaries of the United 
States. 
