The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-12-26
BEHRING SEA DAMAGES.
JUSTICE PUTNAM RETIEHS THE
YORK OF COMMISSION.

WORK OF THE COMMISSION.
SEINE OF the Cases Not Vet Aareed UPou-An
Utnplre viii Probably Bo Asked TO PIX tho
Ameunt OF the Awnrdi In some OF Tnese Cases'
BosroN. Dec. 25.-The announcement OF the
awards In tho BchrinR Sea arbitration brings
into prominence the Hon. Judge Putnam, the
member of tho commission representing the
United States, who is also q Judge OF the United
States Circuit Court in the New England district.
Judge Putnam Is quite willing to discuss the
work OF tho commission in all save the question
of award, which. no says, should only be given
out by the Governments of the countries inter
estod.
Tho events which led UP to the appointment
Of the commission upon which l had the honor
to serve rs the representative OF this country"
he said TO THE Sun correspondent, although
at tho time freely discussed and commented
upon, are to-day very little understood, and are
only revived now that tho commission has re-
ported. But in order to arrive Mt an under
standing OF the Bchring Sea controversy 1t 10
necessary to review many OF the facts that have
already been published. and which have occu.
pied the attention OF both Governments, United
States and Great Britain, for many years. Tho
whole matter hinges upon the determi.
nation Of the United States Government to
put an end to pelagic OF deep sea sealing In
the Behring Soa. Prior to 1874 there was no
pelagic sealing. But between this and 1886 the
practice became very common and this method
Of sealing became we'll established. The United
States Government made an attempt to stop
the practice and seized three British schooners.
nil Of which were scaling more than thirty miles
from our shores. Tho Captains OF the vessels
seized made a vigorous protest, asserting that
under the law of nations the United States had
M mora iurialiCfipp Outaido If tho fhrpo.nilo
limit than did any other country. But their pro-
tests were made light OF and the next year seven
more British vessels were seized. This called
forth vigorous protest from Great Britain, and
after some time tho vessels were released. In
the year 1889. while Mr.. Blaine was Secre.
tarv of State. seizures were again made. and
eight or nine more British vessels were taken
under his orders. Again did England protest,
and this time in no uncertain language, 80 chi
phatically. in fact. that further seizures were
not attempted. AS n compromise Mr.. Blaine
persuaded the British Government to agree to
refer the question of pelaEic sealing to what was
known as the Paris Court OF Arbitration. After
considerable time this court divided against
this country. reafirminR the law Of nations and
declaring that the United States had no moro
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 Govern.
ment on account Of the seizures. The claims
aggregated 1866, 600 and were presented to
President Cleveland for settlement. Io ad-
vised settlement and asked Congress for $425,-
600. the amount agreed upon by him as just.
But the claims were deemed exorbitant by mem.
bers of both political parties, and they refused
to Appropriate the sum asked for. After consid.
cradle discussion n compromise was effected by
the Hon i nQtirn inn Nf the Canadian SnnFRnR
Court and myself. The consent OF England to the
appointment OF the commission was only OBJ
tained af'er q largo amount of diplomatic cor
rospondence by both cou tries. 1t was finally
agreed that the decision of the commission was
ment between the two Commissioners. when the
matter was to BIO referred to an umpire salts
factory to both, whose decision would also DO
bel. ITh ;D f H,s,o sltsinfs q the h S SE%%iss,pn ,sss
number. were submitted. A radical change was
made in these hearings from the course usually
pursued by arbitration commissious' deposit
lions. The. testimony was taken verbally. and
cross.questioning was indulged in by the coun:
the seized vessels were examined and q large
amount Of testimony taken. Tho sessions Of
N No sH%@'i Dsesm Sc .n and 991sSS lsst and 'h ali .Se
pro91s were carefully examined and classified.
and September SCI Sanf { Of the Present s Year. The tinted
SIss ! we're sD represented presents n BY Which ths Hon on Den Dsiro M
AAAA - AH VI 80 As 70
son.in:law Of the Hon; John ". Foster. who had
failed. The British Government was repre-
sented By I. Peters. Premier Of PRINCE ElMard
Upper. and 4. V. Bodweil. The case was ar
Rued at length by all Of these men, and about
two months VS. consumed in hearing them.
with this mass OF testimony confronting us,
my colleague and myself came to Boston to
further consider the matter; The fact of our
being occupied on such AN important matter
was not 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 between
this country and Great Britain had upon it, and
then make up our minds rs to what was a just
claim for damages resulting from the action Of
our State Department. Although at the time
President Cleveland examined the claims they
amounted to over S464, 900, when presented to w
they aggregated consider. bly, over a million. We
were confronted, too. with the difficulty TINT in
many of the awards Americans, either as part
owners or as memhers OF the crews of the ves-
sells, claimed part of the indemnity. We have
arrived ut an agreement in almost every case.
and In tho few cases that we failed 10 agree
upon we shall probably advise the appointment
of an umpire. 1t Is quite probable that. within
six months at the outside. the awards will hay
been settled and the money paid to the Lritish
Government