Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 17.djvu/813

* SEALING. 735 SEALKOTE. nations, in which Russia should he invited to jniii. for the purpose of ri'stricting the season during; which seal* couhl be taken and prescrib- ins; a periotl which covered tlic lirceding time (luring which they could not be molested. Great Britain and Russia promised their concurreuc-e, but an unexpected obstacle occurred in the op- position of the Canadian (iovernmciit. whose sub- jects were jn'otitiiif; by the depree overcome, and the scheme had to be abandoned. The Govern- ment of the I'nited States was therefore com- pelled to assert its authority over the business of sealing or sutler the destruction of the seal herd. In August, ISSii. three British vessels were seized in the Boring Sea by a United States cruiser for taking seals in a part of the sea from 45 to 115 miles from land. The British Government protested an<l the captures were restored. A pro- longed diplomatic controversy with Great Britain now ensued, in the course of which the United States took the ground that the waters in which the seizures were made did not constitute a part of the open sea, but were within the jurisdiction of the United States. An attempt was made to show that Russia had treated the Bering Sea as marc cluusuin first to the fifty-fifth degree of north latitude and later to the fifty-first degree, and that whatever rights she possessed in this respect passed to the United States by the ces- sion of Alaska and the Aleutian Islands in 18G7. The question was at once raised whether the cession included all the waters east of the merid- ian mentioned as the boundary between the United States and Russia, or whether it referred only to the lands and islands within those limits together with the ordinary territorial waters. Secretary BoutwcU, in 1S7'2, took the view that the jurisdiction of the United States did not ex- tend beyond the ordinarj* three-mile limit. In 1880 this opinion was reversed by Secretary Manning, who announced that jurisdiction would be asserted over the entire Bering Sea east of the meridian mentioned. In 188!) ilr. Blaine became Secretary of State, and entered upon a long diplomatic controversy with the British Ambassador, Sir Julian Pauncefote, in regard to the matter. Other grounds than iiuirc rlausiiiii were now ptit forth in defense of the position of the United States. The stand was taken that the Canadian practice was contra bonos mores, a practice which involved a serious and perma- nent injury to the rights of the Government and people of the United States. It was further as- serted that the United States had a right of property in the seals by reason of its ownership of the coast on which they live and of the islands to which they regularly resort for the ptirpose of producing and rearing their young: that this property interest was claimed and exercised by Russia until ceded to the I'nited States, and that Great Britain had impliedly recognized it by abstaining from all interference therein tmtil about the year 1886. In view of this right the United States asserted the claim to protect on the high seas such property from wanton destruc- tion by individuals, and that it was. in a sense, the tnistee thereof for the benefit of mankind. In view of the pending negotiations for the settlement of the dispute by arlutration. a moiltis rirrndi was agreed to on ,Tune 15, 1801. By this the depredations were ordered to he discon- tinued for a period of one year. Finally an arbitration treaty was concluded February 29, 1892, providing for a reference of the (piestions in dispute to a conunission of seven persons, two appointed by the President of the United States, two appointed by the t^ueen of England, one by the King of Sweden, one l)y tlic President of the French Republic, and one by llie King of Italy. The arbitrators met in Paris in the spring of 1893, The I'nited States was represented by able <ounsel, inclndiiig lion. K.. I. Phelps. Hun. .'lames C. Carter, and .Mr. Frederick H. t'oudert. When the evidence was before the tribunal it was plain that the I'nited Stales had a very weak case with regard to the claim of exclu.sivc jurisdiction in the Bering Sea, and it was not strongly pressed by the counsel of the United States. The real question, therefore, and the one upon which the chief argument was directed, was the claim of the United States to the right of property in the seals and the right of protecting them beyond the three-mile limit. The tribunal decided that Russia never asserted or exercised any exclusive jurisdiction over the Bering Sea beyond the three-mile limit: that Great Britain" did not recognize any such claim: and that the United States had no right to the protection of or prop- erty in the seals fre<iuenting the islands of the United States in the Bering Sea when found otitsidc the three-mile limit. On the latter point, tlio American commissioners, Justice llarlau and Senator Morgan, dissented. The tribunal, however, prescribed a scries of regulations for preserving the seal herds which were to be binding upon and enforced by both nations. They limit pelagic sealing as to time, place, and man- ner by fixing a zone of sixty miles around the Pribilof Islands within which the seals are not to be molested at any time, and from May Isl to July 31st each year they arc not to be pursued anywhere in Bering Sea. Only licensed sail- ing vessels are permitted to engage in fur-sealing, and the use of firearms or explosives is inter- dicted. The regulations arc to remain in force until abolished by mutual agreement, but are to be examined every five years with a view to modification. Consult: i^now. Topics in American Diplomnrji (Boston, 1804); Phelps, in Harper's Monllilii Mdfin^ine, April, 1891. SEALING-WAX. A composition of hard resinous materials used for receiving and re- taining the im|iiessions of seals. Since the in- troduction of gummed envelopes its nuuiufaeture has been of much less importance tlian formerly. Common beeswax was first used as a sealing- wax, being mi.xed with earthy materials to give it consistency. Nevertheless, it was difficult to preserve it, as a very small amount of heat soft- ened it. The Venetians, however, brought the Indian sealing-wax to Europe, and the Spaniards received it from the Venetians, and made it a very important branch of their eoninierce. The great value of the Indian wax consisted in the fact that it was made only of shellac, colored with vcrmili(ui or sonic other pigment, and this has been found superior to all other materials. In addition to the shellac and coloring material, there is added to the wax a portion of Venice turpentine. See T.AC. SEAL ISLANDS. A group of islands off the coast iif Peru. See I.onos Isr,.Nns. SEAL'KOTE. A city of the Punjab, India. See Si.i.KOT.