The sun., 1895-03-01
rHH BEHRrya SEA DAMAoEs.
wky the House or Representatives Refussa
90 Etand bx Mr oreshnn.'s HnrEnIn.

Orent Britain to pay $4,000 In settlement o.
all claims for damages under the award OF tn,
Paris Tribunal brings up the question as tS
what will be done next.
The erb,tsrs found, as a matter Of fact. that
eiehtesn.ships sailing under the British flag had
beer seized or warned out of BehrinG Sea by
American cruisers. The British Minister filed
claims amounting to about s43D,0O0, afterward
increased to s542, 10O.20. and Mr. Gresham un-
| dertook TO negotiate on the subject, the result
| being that an exchange OF diplomatic notes on
Aug. 81, 1894. fixed upon $i25,000 as the
amount TO DO paid.
but when the subject came before tho House,
| II appeared that s2s3 900. or moro than half Of
| the amount claimed, was strictly for ex-
pccted catches OF the vessels that had been
| warned away. II this sum should be deducted.
the balance would be under s259,0O0 on the
| outside claim OF Great Britain, whereas, as has
been seen. Mr.. Gresham agreed to pay s49o, 900.
| The Geneva award. which settled the
| Alabama claims, declared that whereas
prospective damages cannot properly be
made subject of compensation, inasmuch
as they depend In their nature upon
future and uncertain contingencies. tho tri-
bunnl Is unanimously OF opinion that there Is
no ground for awarding to the United States
any sum by way OF indemnity under this head"
In that famous case. the prospective damages
turned simply OH the fact that they were hy-
pothetical or contingent. II 10 true that dis
tnction has been traced In the two cases. In
the earlier, the act OF Great Britain was one OF
negligence. In allowing armed cruisers to escape
from her ports. while in the Bchring Soa case
our cruisers deliberately seized ships engaged
In business since decided TO be Legitimate.
But the opponents Of the present settlement in.
sisted that this difference in the two cases was
not vital.
A moro striking point, however, was as to
the ownership of these vessels. 1t was urged
that American owners ought not to receive
damages. having violated the laws of their own
country, and standing on an entirely different
footing from Canadians. And yetit is said that
no fewer than 10 of the 1S ships on which claims
are filed were really owned wholly or in part by
Americans. For example. II wealthy American
citizon named Boscowitz Went into partnership
acquainted with the pealihg business. lent him
the money for his half OF their vessels and
m sh Rate of .rrss res
became insolvent. and Boscowitz closed down
on him ~ with the mortgsEes; but as he did not
Behring Sea being against our laws. Warrens
brothcr-in.law, a British subject named Cooper,
to Victoria and bought in all the vessels at u
sheriffs sale for 81. ANA forthwith executed
Cooper, who, according to his own testimony,
did not even pay the dollar, but told Warren 10
L. ns the sr. Ae
and asks $226,OOO. or nearly half the entire
Chains lie demands S3s, l4a,57 as owner Of the
$40, ,a0l. 80 as owner Of the Dolphin, and Sis
955 IL as owner Of the sayward;
whether Boscowltz held a mortgage for the full
whether It was 81 or 81 ooo eoS" and 0 that ap he
claimed no interest whatever in the vessels and
seoe the seF es
fectly frank, declaring that he did not know how
many vessels he purchased: ~. =. signed lot OF
know what signed exactly. They were both
there. and they told me it was matter of form"
proper person for the receipt OF damages for tho
violation of our laws. when the whole transac-
ly If not wholly, to an American citizen, II paid.
Again, printed papers In this same case ullege |
Ina sa4 ,sis. and the two % claims for or tho he Path
citizen NAMED Beshtei, residing in san Fran.
pears as owner on the official list. Still another
case is that of the Black Diamond where the |
man named Frank is the real party in Interest.
The Alfred Adams. which has two claims. one |
these relations OF Frank and Gutman-the latter
OF whom, by the way; is dead.their partner:
Warren. already referred to, and the amount in
volyed exceeding $500
Putting all these sums IN together. as presented
part Of the official document. of the Paris
award: It appears that about sa6o. 600 out Of tho
citizens; and since Mr.. Gresham only reduced
the original claim about one-ftth. they would
original claims. One OF the declarations Of the
Paris award was that 1t was open to the United
for damages in regard to these vessels to raise the
question as to the Lalue of the said vessels or
their contents: or either Of them. and the, ques-
a mi cd In tha
schedule TO the British case, or any of them,
we were si wholly or n I part the actual property OF
noted that the tribunal itself had not taken
those questions into consideration.
OF the vessels and large proportion OF the
claims are owned wholly or in part" by Amer
since pelagio sealing outside tile three-miie
limit was declared TO be lawful. our citizens
seizures as much as British subjects, and that
therefore there Is no practical objection to their
applying for such relmburscment under par
tial or nominal British ownership. But the |
American theory is that our laws against pelagic
sealing were sound. and were necessary FOR the
preservation OF the Goyernmcnt's own property
from destruction and the threatened extermina-
ton of seal life, that 1t should not now reward
its citizens for resorting to subterfuges to break
Leaving this part OF the subject. it is said
legged losses. Mr.. j. W. Foster. our attorney In
the matter, declares that some of the ships are
d%Wn % at Tsss ThTs the Care
$4,000; the Thornton. with an actually recorded
Custom House tonnage of 2036 tons and a real
value of S2,25s, is put down at Ts tons and
10000; the Onward, with a real value OF 81 .4OS,
at $4,000; the w. p. Sayward. with an actually
registered tonnage OF 50.70 and a real value Of
81, ,6iS, at l35la tons and $4,000. This last Is
tho vessel, by the way, on which an extrsorti-
nary claim of damages for Sll8.000 is made.
Again. the Grace has a registered tonnage OF
1887 and real value OF S5,o6s, while the tom
mage claimed is 1S2 and the value $4,000 A
like value Is claimed for the Dolphin, with
- tons, while her actually registered tonnage
Is so. 10 tons and her real value 81. IA. The
Ada,s value is also more than doubled in the
worth $4,000. under the British exaggerated
claim, and another worth $4,000. each demand
seals. Still another, worth $4,000 claims $24,-
700; fourth. $4,000; fifth, $4,000, and SO
on,
Mr.. John W. Foster, the. American agent. has
put on record that out of 1890. III claimed orig
inally by Great Britain, he found only $Sl,sis
stand ing on u basis of right or legal claim. As
has been said, about 100000 has heon since
added TO tho claim, but the ratio on that would
legal up TO about 100000. That forms a very
small fraction OF the S425,00O conceded by Mr..
Gresham.