"NO. 48.-CHESTER RIVER.

"We, the undersigned, Commissioners under the Reciprocity Treaty between the United States and Great Britain, concluded and signed at Washington on the 5th day of June, 1854, having examined the Chester River, in the State of Maryland, United States, do hereby agree and decide that a line bearing N. 88 E. Magnetic, drawn from Love Pt. on Kent Island to the Northwestern point of East Neck Island on the opposite shore as shown on Plan 50, Record Book No. 2, shall mark the mouth or outer limit of the said river, and that all the waters within or to the southward and eastward of said line shall be reserved and excluded from the common right of fishing therein, under the 1st and 2d articles of the treaty aforesaid.

"Dated at the city of Washington, United States, this thirteenth day of February, A. D. 1866.

"E. L. HAMLIN, U. S. Commissioner.
"JOSEPH HOWE, H. M. Commissioner.

"NO. 49.-SEVERN RIVER.

"We, the undersigned, Commissioners under the Reciprocity Treaty between the United States and Great Britain, concluded and signed at Washington on the 5th day of June, 1851, having examined the Severn River in the State of Maryland, United States, do hereby agree and decide that a line bearing N. 7° W. Magnetic, drawn from Tally's Pt. on the south side of entrance, to Greensberry Pt. on the opposite shore, as shown on Plan 51, Record Book No. 2, shall mark the mouth or outer limit of the said river, and that all the waters within or to the westward of said line shall be reserved and excluded from the common right of fishing therein under the 1st and 2d articles of the treaty aforesaid.

"Dated at the City of Washington, United States, this thirteenth day of February, A. D. 1866.

"E. L. HAMLIN, U. S. Commissioner.
"JOSEPH HOWE, H. M. Commissioner.

"NO. 50.-CHOPTANK RIVER.

"We, the undersigned, Commissioners under the Reciprocity Treaty between the United States and Great Britain, concluded and signed at Washington on the 5th day of June A. D. 1854, having examined the Choptank River, in the State of Maryland, United States, do hereby agree and decide that a line bearing N. 70-E. Magnetic, drawn from Castle Haven Pt. on the south side of entrance, to Chloras Point on the opposite shore, as shown on Plan 52, Record Book No. 2, shall mark the mouth or outer limit of the said river, and that all the waters within or to the southward of said line shall be reserved and excluded from the common right of fishing therein, under the 1st and 2d articles of the treaty aforesaid. "Dated at the city of Washington, United States, this thirteenth day of February, A. D. 1866.

"E. L. HAMLIN, U. S. Commissioner.
"JOSEPH HOWE, H. M. Commissioner.

"NO. 51.-PATUXENT RIVER.

"We, the undersigned, Commissioners under the Reciprocity Treaty between the United States and Great Britain, concluded and signed at Washington on the 5th day of June, A. D. 1854, having examined the Patuxent River in the State of Maryland, United States, do hereby agree and decide that a line bearing N. 59° 15′ W. Magnetic, drawn from the northern extremity of Hog Island on the south side of the entrance, to Drum Point on the opposite shore, as shown on Plan 53, Record Book No. 2, shall mark the mouth or outer limit of said river, and that all the waters within or to the westward of said line shall be reserved and excluded from the common right of fishing therein, under the 1st and 2d articles of the treaty aforesaid.

"Dated at the city of Washington, United States, this thirteenth day of February, A. D. 1866.

"E. L. HAMLIN, U. S. Commissioner. "JOSEPH HOWE, H. M. Commissioner.

"NO. 52.-NANTICOKE RIVER.

"We, the undersigned Commissioners, under the Reciprocity Treaty between the United States and Great Britain, concluded and signed at Washington on the 5th day of June, A. D. 1851, having examined the Nanticoke River in the State of Maryland, United States, do hereby agree and decide that a line bearing S. 86° 20′ E. Magnetic, drawn from Clay Island Light House on the western side of entrance, to the opposite shore, as shown on Plan 54, Record Book No. 2, shall mark the mouth or outer limit of said river, and that all the waters within or to the northward of said line shall be reserved and excluded from the common right of fishing therein, under the 1st and 2d articles of the treaty aforesaid. “Dated at the city of Washington, United States, this thirteenth day of February, A. D. 1866.

"E. L. HAMLIN, U. S. Commissioner. "JOSEPH HOWE, H. M. Commissioner.

NO. 53.-POCOMOKE RIVER.

"We, the undersigned, Commissioners under the Reciprocity Treaty between the United States and Great Britain, concluded and signed at Washington on the 5th day of June, A. D. 1854, having examined the Pocomoke River in the State of Maryland, United States, do hereby agree and decide that a line bearing S. 29° 15' E. Magnetic, drawn from the point of marsh on the north side of entrance, to the point on the opposite shore, as shown on Plan 55, Record Book No. 2, shall mark the mouth or outer limit of said river and that all the waters within or to the eastward of said line shall be reserved and excluded from the common right of fishing therein, under the 1st and 2d articles of the treaty aforesaid. "Dated at the city of Washington, United States, this thirteenth day of February, A. D. 1866.

"E. L. HAMLIN, U. S. Commissioner. "JOSEPH HOWE, H. M. Commissioner.

"NO. 54.-DELAWARE RIVER.

"We, the undersigned, Commissioners under the Reciprocity Treaty between the United States and Great Britain, concluded and signed at

Washington on the 5th day of June A. D. 1854, having examined the Pelaware River, separating the State of New Jersey from the State of Delaware, United States, do hereby agree and decide that a line bearing N. 68° 30 E. Magnetic, drawn from Goose Point on the western shore, to Ben Davis Pt. on the opposite shore, as shown on Plan 56, Record Book No. 2, shall mark the mouth or outer limit of said river, and that all the waters within or to the northward of said line shall be reserved and excluded from the common right of fishing therein, under the 1st and 2d articles of the treaty aforesaid.

"Dated at the city of Washington, United States, this thirteenth day of February, A. D. 1866.

"E. L. HAMLIN, U. S. Commissioner. "JOSEPH HOWE, H. M. Commissioner.

"NO. 55.-RIVER EXPLOITS.

"We, the undersigned, Commissioners under the Reciprocity Treaty between the United States and Great Britain, concluded and signed at Washington on the 5th day of June, A. D. 1854, having examined the River Exploits on the northern coast of the Island of Newfoundland, do hereby agree and decide that a line bearing S. 58° 45' E. Magnetic, drawn from the Rocky Islet on the west bank, to Burnt Arm Pt. on the opposite shore, as shown on plan 57, Record Book No. 2, shall mark the mouth or outer limit of said river, and that all the waters within or to the southward of said line shall be reserved and excluded from the common right of fishing therein, under the 1st and 2d articles of the treaty aforesaid. "Dated at the city of Washington, United States, this thirteenth day of February, A. D. 1866.

"E. L. HAMLIN, U. S. Commissioner. "JOSEPH HOWE, H. M. Commissioner.

"NO. 56.-RIVERS GAMBO AND TERRA NUEVA.

"We, the undersigned, Commissioners under the Reciprocity Treaty between the United States and Great Britain, concluded and signed at Washington, on the 5th day of June, A. D. 1854, having examined the Gambo River, flowing into Freshwater Bay and the Terra Nueva River falling into the middle arm of Bloody Bay, on the eastern coast of the Island of Newfoundland, do hereby agree and decide that the following described lines, as shown on Plan 58, Record Book No. 2, shall mark the mouths or outer limits of said rivers, and that all the waters within or to the westward and southward of said lines shall be reserved and excluded from the common right of fishing therein under the 1st and 24 articles of the treaty aforesaid.

"Gambo River.-A line bearing S. 14° W. Magnetic, drawn from the North Shore to a point on the opposite bank, as shown on plan 58, Record Book No. 2.

"Terra Nueva River.-A line bearing S. 58° 30′ E. Magnetic, drawn from the extremity of the long point on the western shore, to a point on the opposite bank, as shown on Plan 58, Record Book No. 2.

"Dated at the city of Washington, United States, this thirteenth day of February, A. D. 1866.

"E. L. HAMLIN, U. S. Commissioner.
"JOSEPH HOWE, H. M. Commissioner,”

CHAPTER XIV.

Civil War.

THE GENEVA ARBITRATION.

At no time since the year 1814 had the reSituation at Close of lations between the United States and Great Britain worn so menacing an aspect as that which they assumed after the close of the civil war in the United States. At various times during the intervening period of half a century controversies had arisen and had been the occasion of sharp contention, but they did not have their origin in a deep and pent-up feeling of national injury such as that which the conviction that the British Government had failed to perform its neutral duties during the civil war produced in the mass of the people of the United States. Nor did the claims growing out of the civil war constitute the only subject of dispute between the two governments. The controversy as to the San Juan water boundary, which was in train of settlement before the war began, was now revived. Moreover, on the 17th of March 1865, before the war had yet been concluded, notice was given to the British Government, pursuant to a joint resolution of Congress, of the intention of the United States to consider the treaty of June 5, 1854, in relation to reciprocity and the fisheries, as terminated, in accordance with its provisions, at the expiration of twelve months from the date of the notification. The termination of this treaty brought the two governments face to face with old controversies, which had themselves at times seemed to threaten hostilities; and, as if further to complicate the situation, there came the outbreak of Fenianism, dragging with it the vexed question of expatriation, which had formed a subject of contention in the disputes that led up to the war of 1812. But of all the subjects in controversy the most difficult was that which related to Great Britain's conduct as a neutral, a subject that embraced not only

1 Dip. Cor. 1868, part 1, pp. 93, 259; 15 Stats. at L. 566.

the question of the rightfulness of her recognition of the Confederate States as a belligerent, but also the question of her liability for the depredations on American commerce, which gave rise to the claims generically known as the Alabama claims.

During the existence of the civil war the Earl Russell's Rejec- United States had the good fortune to be reption of Arbitration. resented at London by a minister who, besides inheriting the name, possessed much of the ability and more than the tact and self-control of our first diplomatic representative at the Court of St. James. From the moment of his assumption of his office, Charles Francis Adams had, with ability and persistent firmness, sought to impress upon the British Government the views held by the United States as to that government's failure to perform its neutral duties. In a note to Earl Russell of October 23, 1863, Mr. Adams, referring to the differences then developed, said: "I am directed to say there is no fair and equitable form of conventional arbitrament or reference to which they (the United States) will not be willing to submit.”1 Almost two years later, after the close of the the war, Earl Russell, when replying to a statement by Mr. Adams of the grievances of the United States, recalled this remark and said:

"It appears to Her Majesty's Government that there are but two questions by which the claim of compensation could be tested; the one is, Have the British Government acted with due diligence, or, in other words, in good faith and honesty, in the maintenance of the neutrality they proclaimed? The other is, Have the law officers of the Crown properly understood the foreign enlistment act, when they declined, in June 1862 to advise the detention and seizure of the Alabama, and on other occasions when they were asked to detain other ships, building or fitting in British ports?

"It appears to Her Majesty's Government that neither of these questions could be put to a foreign government with any regard to the dignity and character of the British Crown and the British nation. Her Majesty's Government are the sole guardians of their own honor. They can not admit that they have acted with bad faith in maintaining the neutrality they professed. The law officers of the Crown must be held to be better interpreters of a British statute than any foreign gov ernment can be presumed to be. Her Majesty's Government must therefore decline either to make reparation and compen sation for the captures made by the Alabama, or to refer the