ANNOUNCEMENT OF THE DECISION.

On Saturday, the 14th of September, the Tribunal assembled at the hour of adjournment,-half-past twelve o'clock. The Hall of Conference was crowded at this hour with the Arbitrators and the gentlemen attached to the Arbitration, the ladies of their respect ive families, the members of the Cantonal Govern. ment, representatives of the Press of Switzerland, the United States, and Great Britain, and gentlemen and ladies among the most estimable of the private cit izens of Geneva. The day was beautiful; the scene imposing and impressive. But the British Arbitrator, Sir Alexander Cockburn, remained unaccountably ab sent, while curiosity grew into impatience, and impatience into apprehension, until long after the prescribed hour of meeting, when the British Arbitrator finally made his appearance.

The official action of the Conference commenced with the accustomed formalities.

The President then presented the Act of Decision of the Tribunal, and directed the Secretary to read it in English, which was done: after which duplicate originals of the Act were signed by Mr. Adams, Count Frederic Sclopis, Mr. Stampfli, and Viscount of Itajubá; and a copy of the Decision, thus signed, was delivered to each of the Agents of the two Governments respectively.

Another original was subscribed in like manner, to be placed, together with the archives of the Tribunal, among the archives of the Council of State of the Canton of Genera.

Sir Alexander Cockburn, as one of the Arbitrators, declining to assent to the Decision, presented a statement of his "Reasons," which, without reading, the Tribunal ordered to be received and recorded.

Thereupon, in an appropriate address, Count Sclopis declared the labors of the Arbitrators to be finished, and the Tribunal dissolved.

The discourse of Count Sclopis was immediately followed by salvos of artillery, discharged from the neighboring site of La Treille by order of the Cantonal Government, with display of the flags of Geneva and of Switzerland between those of the United States and of Great Britain.

It is impossible that any one of the persons present on that occasion should ever lose the impression of the moral grandeur of the scene, where the actual rendition of arbitral judgment on the claims of the United States against Great Britain bore witness to the generous magnanimity of two of the greatest nations of the world in resorting to peaceful reason as the arbiter of grave national differences, in the place of indulging in baneful resentments or the vulgar ambition of war. This emotion was visible on almost every countenance, and was manifested by the exchange of amicable salutations appropriate to the separation of so many persons, who, month after month, had been seated side by side as members of the Tribunal, or as Agents and Counsel of the two Governments; for even the adverse Agents and Coun sel had contended with courteous weapons, and had not, on either side, departed, intentionally or con

sciously, from the respect due to themselves to one another, and to their respective Governments.

CONDUCT OF THE BRITISH ARBITRATOR.

To the universal expression of mutual courtesy and reciprocal good-will there was but one exception, and that exception too conspicuous to pass without notice.

The instant that Count Sclopis closed, and before the sound of his last words had died on the car, Sir Alexander Cockburn snatched up his hat, and, with out participating in the exchange of leave-takings around him, without a word or sign of courteous recognition for any of his colleagues, rushed to the door and disappeared, in the manner of a criminal escaping from the dock, rather than of a judge separating, and that forever, from his colleagues of the Bench. It was one of those acts of discourtesy which shock so much when they occur that we feel relieved by the disap pearance of the perpetrator.

SIR ALEXANDER COCKBURN'S REASONS FOR DISSENT.

The British Arbitrator, who, so frequently in the course of the Conferences, acted as a party agent rather than a judge, had been occupying himself in the preparation of a long Argument on the side of Great Britain, in which he throws off the mask, and professelly speaks as the representative of the Brit ish Government. He withheld this Argument from the knowledge of the Tribunal at the proper time for its presentation as the "Reasons" of an Arbitrator. At the last moment,-without its being read to the

Tribunal, or printed for the information of Agents and Counsel, as a resolution of the Tribunal, adopted on his own motion, required,—he presents this Argu ment as his "Reasons. . . for dissenting from the Decision of the Tribunal of Arbitration." The title of the document is a false pretense, as we shall con clusively show in due time: the act was a dishonor. able imposition on the Tribunal, and on both Gov. ernments, Great Britain as much as the United States.

In point of fact, the document filed by Sir Alexander was in large part of such a character that, if it had been offered for filing at any proper time, and with opportunity to persons concerned to become ac quainted with its contents, it must [as declared by the Secretary of State of the United States in his dis patch to the American Agent of October 22, 1872] have been the plain duty of the American Agent to object to its reception, and of the Tribunal to re fuse it, as calculated and designed to weaken the just authority of the Arbitrators, as insulting to the United States in the tenor of much of its contents, and as injurious to Great Britain by its tendency to raise up obstacles to the acceptance of the Award, and to pro duce alienation between the two Governments.

The document consisted, in part, of the opinions of Sir Alexander Cockburn on the several vessels, copies of which he ought to have delivered in print to the Agent and Counsel of the United States, in conformity with his own resolution, but which he failed to do, thus depriving the American Government of adI

vantages in this relation to which it was entitled, and which the British Government in fact enjoyed by reason of the more loyal conduct of the other Ar bitrators.

He discusses these vessels with great prolixity, so as to fill 180 pages folio letter-press, while the corre spondent opinions of all the other Arbitrators united occupy only 66 pages, the difference being occasioned partly by the number of letters and other papers in terjected into his opinions, and partly by the diffuseness and looseness of his style and habit of thought, as compared with theirs.

The residue of Sir Alexander's document, consisting of 116 pages, is devoted partly to the discussion of the special questions, in all which he is inordinately prolix, and partly to a general outpouring of all the bile which had been accumulating on his stom ach during the progress of the Arbitration.

SIR ALEXANDER COCKBURN'S "REASONS."

Let me dispose once for all of these "Reasons" and their author, in order to arrive at subjects of more importance and interest. The matter of the document, and the consideration it has received in England, require that it should be examined and judged from an American stand-point.

Apart from the unjudicial violence and extrava gance of these "Reasons," it is remarkable how inconsistent, how self-contradicting, how destitute of logical continuity of thought, how false as reasoning, as well as irrelevant, is most of the matter.