New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1893-04-01
TEE BEHRfNG SEA CASES.

Great l}ritanS case before the Behflng sea
arbi,rators sets forth these propositions That
the Sea is an open sea. free TO all nations, and
no general right can be forbidden by the dec
laration DR. claim of any one nation: that n
nation mpairs its right by any period of non
use that Russia made no especial Claim OF ex-
elusive jurisdiction in Behring Sea until the
year 1921; that when it did make such
claim the United States and Great Britain re-
sisted it, and that Russia withdrew from her
contention; that from that time until the date
of the American purchase in 1867 Russia made
no attempt to interfere with the fishing opera
tons of foreign vessels, and that no such in
reference was attempted by the United States
after they had acquired Alaska until the in
dustry of pelagic sealing had grown to con-
siderable proportions and that in view OF these
facts the claim of the United States to extra
marine Jurisdiction for the protection of the
seal cannot be sustained.
This is not a strong statement OF the British
case. In the first place it is not true. In the
second place it does not touch the principal
contention this country advances. We have
reviewed in THE TRIBUNE many times what
we conceive to be the facts of history concern
ing RuSsa's early assertion of dominion. not
only in the waters Of Behrng Sea- but in those
of the Pacific Ocean, and have shown. what
we have no doubt the arbitrators will duly de-
clare. that the protests of Great Britain and
the United States in no way related to the
waters north of the Aleutian Islands. Little
was known of these waters at that time. The
coasts of the Alaskan Peninsula were wholly
untenanted except by Indians, and visited rare
y and only by Russian traders. There was
nothing to draw English or American ships
into Behring Sea. and they did not 60 there.
They did 90 to the Russian towns on the coast
of the mainland, south of Alaska. and when
the Russian ukase forbade further visits OF this
kind their Governments protested. These facts
are susceptible of the most complete proofs.
and we cannot doubt that they will be vind-
Gated by the decision Of the arbtlatOrs. IL
must be held that the dispute Of 1921 did not
relate to Behring Sea, that it had nothing to
do with the seal, and that the treaties obtained
from Russia by the United States and Great
Britain not only did not cover Behring Sea, but
expressly and plainly omitted to do so. 1t
must be admitted that Russia did assert do
mnion over Behring Sea; that this assertion
was at least tacitly conceded by the United
States and Great Britain that 50 long as
Russia held Alaska she regarded the Pribylof
seal herd as her peculiar and exclusive prop
erty; that she managed and defended it as
SUCH and as such sold it to us.
AS to the claim that, notwithstanding this,
the Sea is in fact an open sea, nobody denies
it. As to the claim that all nations have the
right to sail through and fish in it. nobody
denies it, Great Britain can win these con-
tentiOns, and still win nothing for the claim
of the United States is-and it is this which
constitutes their highest ground for the asser-
ton of an extra marine jurisdcton-that the
seal herd is not to be classed as fish, and does
not come within the purpose of the general
rule of free seas any more than do the Eng
ish pearl fisheries OIL the coast of Ceylon. The
seas are free for all nations to sail in because
there is plenty Of room on them and no nation
in any way subtraots from the natural right
of another nation, no matter how extensively
it may use the seas for sailing. The fish are
free because there is an incxhanstible supply
of them, and no nation can harm another ma
ton by taking as many as it pleases. These
are the reasons of the rule, but they do not
apply to the seal herd OF the Pribylof Islands.
The seal are few in number; they can be de-
stroyed free right to take them absolutely
insures their destruction; their life cannot be
protected with certainty if pelagc sealing is
allowed under any circumstances. 1t can be
preserved only by the regulation which is
natural, and which must take place on the
breeding islands. These islands are ours and
there at great expense we guard and protect
the herd For these reasons they ought to
r,xI .Olx -
them is the best right, and because pelagic
sealing is deadly, the privilege ought to be
ours TO extend our jurisdiction over the sea
wherever the herd travels for its protection.
Great Britain rests her case on technicaities
and false statements of history. We rest ours
on essential justice.