The Portland daily press., 1897-12-28
BEHRiNG SEA DAMAGES.
Justice Putnam Reviews the Work Of the
Com mission.
New York Sum-

| New York Sum-
| Boston, Dec. 25-The announcement
OF the awards in the Behring Sea arbitra-
tion brings into prominence the Hon.
Judge Putnam, the member of the COM
mission representing the United States,
who Is also Judge of the United States,
Circuit Court in the New England dis
| trict. Judge Putnam is quite willing to
discuss the work of the commission in all
save The question of award, which, he
says, should only be given out by the
Governments of the countries interested.
The events which, led up to the ap-
po1ntment of the commission upon which
l had the honor to serve as the represent
tatiye Of this country" he said to The
sun Correspondent, although at the
time freely discussed and commented
upon, are today very little understood
and are only revived now that the COM
mission has reported. But in order to ar
rive at an understanding of the Behring
sea controversy 1t is necessary to review
many of the facts that have already been
published, and which have occupied the
attention.of both Governments, United
States andsGreat Britain, for many years.
Ihe4whole- matter hinges upon the deter
mination of the United States Govern
ment to put an end to pelagic or deep sea
sealing in the Behring Sea. Prior TO. 1874
there was no pelagic sealing. But be-
tween this and 1856 the practice became
very common and this method of sealing
became well established. The United
States Government made an attempt to
stop the practice and seized three British
schooners, all of which were sealing more
than thirty miles from our shores. The
Captains of the vessels seized made Wig
orous protest, asserting that under the
law OF nations the United States had no
more jurisdiction outside of the three
mile limit than did any cher country.
But their protests were made light of
and the next year seven more British yes
sells We're seized. This called forth vigor-
Gus protest from Great Britain, and after
some time the vessels were released. In
the year 1889, while Blaine was Secretary
OF State, seizures were again made, and
eight or nine more British vessels were
taken under his orders. Again did Eng
land protest. AS compromise Mr.. Blaine
persuaded the British Government to agree
to refer the question of pelagic sealing to
what was known as the Paris Court of
Arbitration. After considerable time
this court divided against this country,
reafhrmlng the law of nations and declar-
Ing that the United States had no more
rights outside of the three mile limit than
any other. country.
This decision opened the way for the |
filing of large claims for damages against |
this Government on account of the seiz- |
ures. The claims aggregated S465, 900 ard |
where presented to President Cleveland |
for settlement. He advised settlement |
and asked Congress for 1925, O0O the |
amount agreed upon by him as just. |
After considerable discussion a COM
promise was effected by the appointment |
of the commission made up Of the Hon.
Justice King of tho Canadian Supreme
Court and myself. 1t was finally agreed |
that the decision of the commission was
to be final, except in the event of disa-
greement between the two Commissioners
when the matter was to be referred to an
umpire satisfactory to both, to be appoint
ed by the President of the Swiss Repub-
lie, whose decision would also be final.
The first sittings of the commission |
were held in Victoria, B. c., in Noyem- |
Der, 1886. Here gthe proofs of all the
claims, twenty-six in number, were sub
mitted. radical change was made in |
these hearings from the course usually |
pursued by arbitration commissions de-
positions. The testimony was taken YER
bally, and ss-questioning was in
dulged in by the counsel on both sides. |
The Captains and crews, of the seized YES
sells were examined and a large amount
of testimony taken. The sessions of the
a a MI 1oc< TOD
November, December, and January, and |
all thesproofss were carefully examined and
classified.
The case was argued at Halifax in
August and Septem Der of the present
year. The United States were represent
ed by the Hon. Don M. Dickinson and
Charles B. Warren of Detroit and Robert
d. Lansing of Watertown, N. Y, son-in-
law of the Hon. John W. Foster, who
had before attempted arbitration in the
case and failed. The British Government
was represented by f. Peters, Premier of
Prince Edward Island; f. L. Bo!quee.
Q. G.; Sir Charles HILBERT Upper, and
E. V. Bodwell. The case was argued at
lengthiby all of these men, and about,two
months was consumed in hearing them.
with this mass of testimony confront
ing us my colleague and myself came to
Boston to further consider the matter.
The fact of our being occupied on such
I'LL Important matter WAS nov generally
known, which fact greatly aided us in
arriving at a decision. We have had
to wade through every case step by STEP
and to consider what bearing treaties be
tween this country and Great Brit ain had
upon it, and then make up our minds as
to what was the just claim for damages
from the action of our State De-
partment. Although at the time Presi-
dent Cleveland examined the claims they
amounted to over S436. 900, when present.
ed to us they aggregated o. million and
half. We were confronted, too, with the
difficulty that in many of the awards
Americans, either as part owners or as
mem bers of the crews of the vessels,
claimed part of the indemnity. 1t is quite
that, within six months at the
outside, the awards will have been settled
and the money paid to the British Gov
The archbishop of Canterbury, DR.. Tenn
pie, has announced authoritatively that
here was no foundation for the pub
lshed rumor of his intention to resign.