"Secondly. Not to permit or suffer either belligerent to make use of its ports or waters as the base of naval operations against the other, or for the purpose of the renewal or augmentation of military supplies or arms, or the recruitment of

men.

"Thirdly. To exercise due diligence in its own ports or waters, and as to all persons within its jurisdiction, to prevent any violation of the foregoing obligations and duties.

"It being a condition of this undertaking that these obligations should in future be held to be binding internationally between the two countries."

When the foregoing rules were adopted, it was also settled that the arbitrator should be governed by such principles of international law, not inconsistent therewith, as he should determine to have been applicable to the case.

At the conferences on the 6th, 8th, 9th, 10th, and 12th of April the joint high commission discussed the form of the submission, the manner of the award, and the mode of selecting the arbitrators. The British commissioners, in response to the inquiry of their American colleagues, stated that they were authorized to express, in a friendly spirit, the regret felt by Her Majesty's Government for the escape, under whatever circumstances, of the Alabama and other vessels from British ports, and for the depredations committed by those vessels. The American commissioners accepted this expression of regret as very satisfactory to them and as a token of kindness, and said that they felt sure it would be so received by the government and people of the United States.

Subsequent Confer

In the conference on the 13th of April Articles I. to XI. of the treaty, relating to the Alabama claims, were agreed to.1 After its agreement as to the arbitration of the Alabama claims, the joint high commission was occupied with the other questions referred to it till the 3d of May.2 On the 4th of May the commissioners met and directed the entry in the protocol of that day of a

ences.

1 Statement entered in protocol of May 4, 1871. (For. Rel. 1873, Part 3, pp. 397-398.)

2 It is needless to say that the labors of the commission were attended with the usual social accessories. Lang, in his Life, Letters, and Diaries of Sir Stafford Northcote (II. 12), says: "In an enterprise like that of the British commissioners political and social functions are so blended that it is difficult to keep their descriptions distinct. Dinner parties, dances, receptions, and a queer kind of fox hunt, with pienies and expeditions in the beautiful Virginia country, alternated with serious business and grave discussion."

summary prepared by the protocolists of all the proceedings of the commission. On the 6th of May the commissioners again assembled.

"Lord de Grey said that, as the joint high commission would not meet again except for the purpose of signing the treaty, he desired, on behalf of himself and his colleagues, to express their high appreciation of the manner in which Mr. Fish and his American colleagues had, on their side, conducted the negotiations. It had been most gratifying to the British commissioners to be associated with colleagues who were animated with the same sincere desire as themselves to bring about a settlement, equally honorable and just to both countries, of the various questions of which it had been their duty to treat, and the British commissioners would always retain a grateful recollection of the fair and friendly spirit which the American commissioners had displayed.

"Mr. Fish, in behalf of the American commissioners, said that they were gratefully sensible of the friendly words expressed by Lord de Grey, and of the kind spirit which had prompted them. From the date of the first conference the American commissioners had been impressed by the earnestness of desire manifested by the British commissioners to reach a settlement worthy of the two powers who had committed to this joint high commission the treatment of various questions of peculiar interest, complexity, and delicacy. His colleagues and he could never cease to appreciate the generous spirit and the open and friendly manner in which the British commissioners had met and discussed the several questions that had led to the conclusion of a treaty which it was hoped would receive the approval of the people of both countries, and would prove the foundation of a cordial and friendly understanding between them for all time to come.

"Mr. Fish further said that he was sure that every member of the joint high commission would desire to record his appreciation of the ability, the zeal, and the unceasing labor which the joint protocolists had exhibited in the discharge of their arduous and responsible duties, and that he knew that he only gave expression to the feelings of the commissioners in saying that Lord Tenterden and Mr. Bancroft Davis were entitled to, and were requested to accept, the thanks of the joint high commission for their valuable services and the great assistance 5627-35

which they had rendered with unvarying obligingness to the commission.

"Lord de Grey replied, on behalf of the British commissioners, that he and his colleagues most cordially concurred in the proposal made by Mr. Fish that the thanks of the joint high commission should be tendered to Mr. Bancroft Davis and Lord Tenterden for their valuable services as joint protocolists. The British commissioners were also fully as sensible as their American colleagues of the great advantage which the commission had derived from the assistance which those gentlemen had given them in the conduct of the important negotiations in which they had been engaged.

"Monday, the 8th of May, was appointed for the signature of the treaty."

Signature of the
Treaty.

On that day the commissioners met, according to appointment. "We had a bright, sunny day," says Mr. Davis, "for the signature of the treaty. The room was decorated with flowers. All the young men from the British commission were present, and nearly or quite all the clerks from the Department. McCarthy put on the seals in wax, and then the signatures were affixed at a little table in the corner of the big room.3 I tossed up with Tenterden for the order of signing, and he won. The last signature was affixed at twelve minutes past eleven. Senators Morton, Hamlin, Patterson, and Frelinghuysen arrived while we were signing."

1 Protocol of May 6, 1871.

2MS. Journal.

» In Sir Stafford Northcote's Life, Letters, and Diaries (II. 17), it is stated that the clerk who affixed the seals was "awkward and nervous, and Tenterden did not help to put him at his ease by dropping quantities of burning sealing wax on his fingers. The poor man was so much excited that he burst into tears at the conclusion of the affair." His grief was, however, at least in a measure assuaged by the action of the commissioners in making him a present of money for the purchase of a memento. McCarthy, the person referred to, was still in the Department when I entered it, in 1885, and he remained there till his death, about 1892. He was an Irishman, small in stature, and deformed from an affection of the spine; and he was somewhat fond of usquebaugh. But he was a faithful and valuable clerk, and, among other services that he performed, he brought order out of the chaos of "pub. docs." which had through a long course of years accumulated in the Department of State.

Provisions as to "Alabama" Claims.

The treaty thus concluded, after more than two months of formal negotiation, was comprehensive in its character. It consisted of a preamble and forty-three articles. The preamble and the articles relating to the Alabama claims were as follows:

"The United States of America and Her Britannic Majesty, being desirous to provide for an amicable settlement of all causes of difference between the two countries, have for that purpose appointed their respective Plenipotentiaries, that is to say: The President of the United States, has appointed on the part of the United States as Commissioners in a Joint High Commission and Plenipotentiaries, Hamilton Fish, Secretary of State; Robert Cumming Schenck, Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to Great Britain; Samuel Nelson, an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States; Ebenezer Rockwood Hoar, of Massachusetts; and George Henry Williams, of Oregon; and Her Britannic Majesty on her part has appointed as her High Commissioners and Plenipotentiaries, the Right Honourable George Frederick Samuel, Earl de Grey and Earl of Ripon, Viscount Goderich, Baron Grantham, a Baronet, a Peer of the United Kingdom, Lord President of Her Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council, Knight of the Most Noble Order of the Garter, etc, etc.; the Right Honourable Sir Stafford Henry Northcote, Baronet, one of Her Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council, a Member of Parliament, a Companion of the Most Honourable Order of the Bath, etc., etc.; Sir Edward Thornton, Knight Commander of the Most Honourable Order of the Bath, Her Majesty's Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to the United States of America; Sir John Alexander Macdonald, Knight Commander of the Most Honourable Order of the Bath, a Member of Her Majesty's Privy Council for Canada, and Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Her Majesty's Dominion of Canada; and Mountague Bernard, Esquire, Chichele Professor of International Law in the University of Oxford.

"And the said Plenipotentiaries, after having exchanged their full powers, which were found to be in due and proper form, have agreed to and concluded the following articles:

"ARTICLE I.

"Whereas differences have arisen between the Government of the United States and the Government of Her Britannic Majesty, and still exist, growing out of the acts committed by the several vessels which have given rise to the claims generically known as the 'Alabama Claims: '

"And whereas Her Britannic Majesty has authorized Her High Commissioners and Plenipotentiaries to express, in a

friendly spirit, the regret felt by Her Majesty's Government for the escape, under whatever circumstances, of the Alabama and other vessels from British ports, and for the depredations committed by those vessels:

"Now, in order to remove and adjust all complaints and claims on the part of the United States, and to provide for the speedy settlement of such claims, which are not admitted by Her Britannic Majesty's Government, the High Contracting Parties agree that all the said claims, growing out of the acts committed by the aforesaid vessels and generically known as the 'Alabama Claims,' shall be referred to a Tribunal of Arbitration to be composed of five Arbitrators, to be appointed in the following manner, that is to say: one shall be named by the President of the United States; one shall be named by Her Britannic Majesty; His Majesty the King of Italy shall be requested to name one; the President of the Swiss Confederation shall be requested to name one; and His Majesty the Emperor of Brazil shall be requested to name one.

"In case of the death, absence or incapacity to serve of any or either of the said Arbitrators, or, in the event of either of the said Arbitrators omitting or declining or ceasing to act as such, the President of the United States, or Her Britannic Majesty, or His Majesty the King of Italy, or the President of the Swiss Confederation, or His Majesty the Emperor of Brazil, as the case may be, may forth with name another person to act as Arbitrator in the place and stead of the Arbitrator originally named by such Head of a State.

"And in the event of the refusal or omission for two months after receipt of the request from either of the High Contracting Parties of His Majesty the King of Italy, or the President of the Swiss Confederation, or His Majesty the Emperor of Brazil, to name an Arbitrator either to fill the original appointment or in the place of one who may have died, be absent, or incapacitated, or who may omit, decline, or from any cause cease to act as such Arbitrator, His Majesty the King of Sweden and Norway shall be requested to name one or more persons, as the case may be, to act as such Arbitrator or Arbitrators.

"ARTICLE II.

"The Arbitrators shall meet at Geneva, in Switzerland, at the earliest convenient day after they shall have been named, and shall proceed impartially and carefully to examine and decide all questions that shall be laid before them on the part of the Governments of the United States and Her Britannic Majesty respectively. All questions considered by the Tribunal, including the final award, shall be decided by a majority of all the Arbitrators.

"Each of the High Contracting Parties shall also name one person to attend the Tribunal as its agent to represent it generally in all matters connected with the arbitration.