, 1889-05-02
THE HEHRISG SEA QUESTION.

: :TrI-uI, although 1t Is III strict &C
cord with law of congress which
makes it tho duty of the president of
the United States to issue a notice
each returning season excluding all
vessels from killing seals in Behr.
ing sea and prohibiting foreign yes
sels from fishing there will meet with
stormy objections from all the mari
time nations, as the claim that the
United States has exclusive jurlSdlc-
tion Is not sustained by either law or
logic. Last year a similar proclama-
ton was issued by President Cieve-
land, and while our own vessels kept
clear Of those waters, the Canadian
vessels went there without let or bin
drance, and from present indications
the same farce is to be repeated this
year. The Montreal Herald, IN a re
cent number sums up the whole case
in the following unanswerable re-
marks which we fully endorse. The
Herald says:
1T is true that Russia claimed
exclusive jurisdiction over Behr-
ring Sea, but this contention was
successfully combatted by the Ameri-
can government in 1922, and in April,
1924, when q convention was signed
between Russia and the United
States. in which the former aban-
doned her pretensions to restrict
navigation in Behring Sea, so far as
American citizens were concerned.
La the following year similar con
vention was signed between Great
Britain and Russia, in which the lat
ter abandoned her pretensions to ex-
elusive sovereignty SO far as con-
cerned British subjects These
treaties have never been abrogated
These facts make five points quite
clear: Ql That Great Britain never
assented to Russia's claim of eIclus.
i've jurisdictioni (2) that both Eng
land and the United States success.
fully combatted Russia's pretensions
which the latter abandoned by
treaty; 81 that Russia could not con-
vey to the United Stated what she
herself did not possess-exclusive
jurisdiction over Behring Sea; a.
that, consequently the claim of the
United States to such exclusive juris-
diction is wholly uutenable, cannot
be conceded by Great Britain and
cannot be maintained by the former
81 that the United States can only
claim Jurisdiction a marine league
from shore.
The pretensions which are put for
ward by the United States to do
minion over Behring Sea are in di.
rect contradiction of American ju-
dicial and congressional deliveFances
as far back as 1894, when an act of
congress ''recos nized the limitation
of marine league for general terri
torial jurisdiction, by authorizing the
district courts to take cognizance of
all captures made within a marine
league of the American shore" "
This had special reference to the
claim of Russia. Kent's commen-
taries and WhartOn's Law Digest
strenuously maintain the same view.
And the late secretary of state,
Seward, in 1862, in his diplomatic
correspondence, emphasized the prin-
ciple in the following terms: There
are two principles bearing on the
subject which are universally ad-
mitted, ~ that the sea is open to all
nations, and (2) that there is por-
tion of the seas adjacent to every na-
ton over which the sovereignty of
that nation extends to the exclusion
of every other political authority"
This is an emphatic reputation of
the claims now put forward by the
United States, and it is highly inn
probable that even Mr. Blaine will
seriously attempt to maintain pre-
tensions which were repudiated, and
successfully combatted, by the
United States and Great Britain in
1924 and 1925"
The Bey of Algiers claimed juris-
dictiOn over the whole Of the Med
iterranean Sea. and exaeted tribute
from the commerce of the world till
the American and English naval yes
sells Knocked his piratical proas into
matehwood and brought the king of
the pirates to his senses. The United
States in its claims to exclusive juris-
diction over Behring Sea ID emulat-
ing the Algerian pirate. The claim
is not for the benefit of the American
people, not for the protection and
encouragement Of our fishermen,
but wholly, practically, and en-
tirely for the benefit OF the Alaska
Commercial Company, who having
obtained lease Of the two insignifi-
cant islands of st. Paul and St.
George in Behring Sea, have set up
a claim to the whole OF that sea, to
the whole of Alaska, and the whole
of the North Pacific ocean. The
charter of that company expires
next year and should not be re-
newed. but the whole of our
northern waters shonld be thrown
open to our fishermen, and
a bounty paid by the government
for killing seals, sea lions and other
fish destroying animals, and the fish
should be preserved bv law to serve
as food for our people and the hu-
man race. The seals must be de-
stroyed and our fishermen encour-
aged.