Question as to the "Three Rules."

But the principal ground of attack upon the treaty was the declaration it contained by the British commissioners, that the rules of neutrality which it set forth, not only for the regulation of the future conduct of the contracting parties, but also for the determination of Great Britain's liability for the Alabama claims, were not assented to by Her Majesty's Government as a statement of principles of international law in force at the time when the claims arose. On the 12th of June 1871 Earl Russell moved, in the House of Lords, that an address be presented to Her Majesty praying that she would be pleased "not to sanction or to ratify any convention for the settlement of the Alabama claims," by which Her Majesty would "approve of any conditions, terms, or rules by which the arbitrator or abitrators" would "be bound, other than the law of nations and the municipal law of the United Kingdom existing and in force at the period of the late civil war in the United States when the alleged depredations took place." He declared that to pay compensation for acts which were not against the law of nations at the time of their commission looked like "paying a sort of tribute in order to buy peace." He also criticised the provisions of the treaty relating to the fisheries, as well as the omission to provide for the adjustment of claims for the Fenian outrages.

On the other hand, Earl Granville declared that the three rules were completely covered by the then recent act amending the British neutrality laws. This act, he said, even went further than the rules; nor was there any country in the world that had a "greater interest" than Great Britain "in escaping such depredations as were committed by the Alabama." Earl Derby thought that the treaty was a poor one, but that it should be accepted as an accomplished fact. Earl de Grey considered that the government had "accomplished a signal benefit in binding the American government by rules" which were "just and reasonable in themselves, and from which, in case of future wars, no country on the face of the earth" was "likely to derive so much benefit as England herself." After further debate the motion of Earl Russell was put, and was negatived without a division. The Times, commenting on the debate, said that the conclusion which must be come to, after this full discussion, was that "the solid advantages" to be derived from the treaty greatly overbalanced its deficiencies.1

1 June 13, 1871.

On the 4th of August 1871 Sir C. Addersley moved in the House of Commons for the production of copies of any instructions given by Her Majesty's ministers to the commissioners at Washington during the negotiations. This motion was withdrawn after a debate in which the treaty was defended by Mr. Gladstone, Sir Stafford Northcote, and Sir Roundell Palmer. In regard to the three rules, Sir Roundell said that he did not think that they went beyond the liability imposed on Great Britain by her own municipal law.1

On the 11th of August Earl Granville anPersonnel of the Ar- nounced that the preparation of the British

bitration.

Case had been confided to the Lord Chancellor, who would be assisted by Lord Tenterden and Professor Bernard; that Sir Roundell Palmer had consented to act as counsel, and that Sir Alexander Cockburn had consented to act as British arbitrator. While Sir Roundell Palmer appeared alone as British counsel, Mr. Mountague Bernard and Mr. Cohen sat by his side at the counsels' table at Geneva, and "the hand of the latter was apparent in the estimates and exhibits presented to the tribunal to guide them in the determination of the damages awarded to the United States."3 Lord Tenterden was appointed as agent for Great Britain.1

The preparation of the American Case was intrusted to Mr. J. C. Bancroft Davis, who was selected for the post of agent of the United States. Mr. Charles Francis Adams was appointed American arbitrator.5 Mr. William M. Evarts, Mr. Caleb Cushing, and Mr. Morrison R. Waite, afterward Chief

1 The Times, August 5, 1871. Sir Roundell Palmer, whose opinion on the subject derived a double weight from his great abilities and his connection with the British Government during the civil war in the United States, said that the "substance of the obligation" imposed by the three rules, "as distinct from its foundation and origin," did not materially differ from that imposed by the municipal law of England as it was interpreted and understood by the government, and as the government actually and in good faith at the time undertook to execute it. (Hansard, CCVIII. 894.) In the course of his speech Sir Roundell Palmer made some criticisms on the Johnson-Clarendon convention, to which Mr. Johnson published a reply. (A Reply to a Recent Speech of Sir Roundell Palmer on the Washington Treaty and the Alabama Claims: Baltimore, 1871.) The Times, August 12, 1871; For. Rel. 1871, pp. 480, 484, 493, 494. 3 Cushing's Treaty of Washington, 96.

4 Earl Granville to General Schenck, November 16, 1871, MSS. Dept. of State.

5 For. Rel. 1871, p. 494.

Justice of the United States, acted as American counsel.' Mr. B. R. Curtis was also invited to act as counsel for the United States, but he was unable to accept.2 Counsel were instructed to secure, if possible, the award of a sum in gross.

According to the treaty there were to be, in Neutral Arbitrators. addition to the arbitrators of the United States and Great Britain, three neutral arbitrators,

of whom the King of Italy, the President of the Swiss Confederation, and the Emperor of Brazil were each to be requested to name one. The King of Italy named Count Frederic Sclopis, of Salerano, minister of state, "a member of an eminent Piedmontese family, a senator of Italy, a distinguished judge, a learned lawyer, a man of letters, whose name and reputation were European." Among his numerous writings on jurisprudence is the Storio della Legislazione Italiana, a voluminous work, in which the successive stages of the medieval and modern legislation of the various States of Italy are exhibited. In person Count Selopis "was tall beyond the ordinary height, noble, and commanding. In character he was firm, independent, upright, truthful. In manners he was a model for all gentlemen."4

The President of the Swiss Confederation named Mr. Jacques Staempfli, a German Swiss of the canton of Berne, an advocate, journalist, and statesman, a member of the council of state, a representative of Berne in the Diet, and three times President of the Swiss Confederation. "His theory of executive action was characteristic of the man, namely, 'When peril is certain, it is better to advance to meet it rather than timidly to await its approach.' In fine, preparation and decision" were "the distinctive traits of all the official acts of Mr. Staempfli."5

The Emperor of Brazil named Marcos Antonio d'Araujo, Baron d'Itajubá, who was in early life a member of the faculty of law of Olinda. Having been appointed consul-general of Brazil in the Hanse Towns, he successively held the offices of

For instructions to counsel, see Mr. Fish to Mr. Cushing, December 8, 1872, For. Rel. 1872, part 2, II. 414; instructions to agent, id. 414. Cushing's Treaty of Washington, 95.

3 For identic notes requesting the appointment of the neutral arbitrators, see For. Rel. 1871, pp. 450-452.

Mr. Fish and the Alabama Claims, 84; Cushing's Treaty of Washington, 79; Larousse, xiv. 409.

minister or envoy at Hanover, Copenhagen, and Berlin; and at the time of his appointment as arbitrator he was envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary of Brazil at Paris. During the progress of the arbitration he was invested by his Emperor with the title of Viscount.'

"This account of the personnel of the arbitration would be imperfect without the mention of the younger but estimable persons who constituted the staff of the formal representatives of the two governments, namely: on the part of the United States Mr. C. C. Beaman, as solicitor, and Messrs. Brooks Adams, John Davis, F. W. Hackett, W. F. Peddrick, and Edward T. Waite, as secretaries; and on the part of Great Britain, in the latter capacity or as translators, Messrs. Sanderson, Markheim, Villiers, Langley, and Hamilton." Mr. Beaman assisted Mr. Davis by arranging, under the latter's general direction, the evidence presented with the American case respecting the national and individual claims.3

Preliminaries.

2

On the 2d of December 1871 Mr. Davis arArrangement of the rived in Paris, where he found Lord Tenterden. On the 4th each of them, in his capacity as agent, addressed notes to the several arbitrators notifying them of the wish of his government that the conferences might begin on the 15th of December. On the 13th Mr. Davis and Lord Tenterden set out from Paris for Geneva in company with Mr. Adams and Sir Alexander Cockburn. On the way they discussed the organization of the tribunal and arranged the preliminaries.

1 Cushing's Treaty of Washington, 85. "He possessed," said Mr. Cushing, "courteous and attractive manners, intelligence disciplined by long experience of men and affairs, instinctive appreciation of principles and facts, and the ready expression of thought in apt language, but without the tendency to run into the path of debate or exposition which appeared in the acts of some of his collagues of the tribunal of arbitration.

"In comparing Mr. Staempfli, with his deep-brown complexion, his piercing dark eyes, his jet black hair, his quick but suppressed manner, and the Viscount of Itajubá, with his fair complexion and his air of gentleness and affability, one having no previous knowledge of their respective origins would certainly attribute that of the former to tropical and passionate America, and that of the latter to temperate and calm-blooded Europe."

Cushing's Treaty of Washington, 97.

3 Report of Mr. Davis, September 21, 1872, For. Rel. 1872, part 2, IV. 2; Mr. Davis to Mr. Fish, November 13, 1871, For. Rel. 1872, part 2, IV. 413. Mr. Beaman published in March, 1871, a volume entitled "The National and Private Alabama Claims and their Final and Amicable Settlement," in which he presented a basis of possible adjustment.

Opening of the
Arbitration.

On the afternoon of the 15th of December the proceedings of the arbitration were begun by the informal examination of the powers of the arbitrators, which were found to be in due form. The scene of the meeting was the Hotel de Ville, which the cantonal government of Geneva had placed at the disposal of the tribunal. In the hall of this building, known as the "Salle des Conférences," the meetings of the arbitrators were held and the great questions submitted to them decided.

Count Sclopis as
President.

After the examination of the arbitrators' full powers, Mr. Adams said that as neither he nor Sir Alexander Cockburn could preside, it had been thought advisable to invite the gentleman next in rank, in the order named in the treaty, to preside over the meetings of the tribunal. Sir Alexander Cockburn seconded the proposal, not only, as he said, for the reason given by Mr. Adams, but also because Count Sclopis was one of the most illustrious jurists of Europe. Count Sclopis then took the chair, and in returning his thanks he expressed the belief that "the meeting of the tribunal indicated of itself the impression of new direction on the public policy of nations the most advanced in civilization, and the commencement of an epoch in which the spirit of moderation and the sentiment of equity were beginning to prevail over the tendency of old routines of arbitrary violence or culpable indifference. He signified regret that the pacific object of the congress of Paris had not been seconded by events in Europe. He congratulated the world that the statesmen who directed the destinies of Great Britain and the United States, with rare firmness of conviction and devotion to the interests of humanity, resisting all temptations of vulgar ambition, had magnanimously and courageously traversed in peace the difficulties which had divided them both before and since the conclusion of the treaty. He quoted approvingly the opinion expressed by Mr. Gladstone, on the one hand, and by President Washington, on the other, in commendation of the policy of peace, of justice, and of honor in the conduct of nations. And he proclaimed in behalf of his colleagues, as well as of himself, the purpose of the tribunal, acting sometimes with the large perception of statesmen, sometimes with the scrutinizing eye of judges, and always with a profound sentiment of equity and with absolute impartiality, thus to discharge its high duty of pacification as well as of justice to the two governments."

1

'Cushing's Treaty of Washington, 77.