The Sun.
London, England, 1865-10-13 00:00:00

tugal, the neutral power was the United States ;
and although it was shown that privateers had been
equipped in American ports, and, under the com-
mand of American citizens, had captured or de-
stroyed both Spanish and Portuguese shipping, the
demands for compensation advanced by the Spanish
and Portuguese Governments were never acknow-
ledged by the Government of the United States. The
then Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs in Ame-
rica was John Quincy Adams, afterwards President,
and father of the present Minister at the English
Court, and in his reply to the note of reclamation
presented to the Portuguese Ambassador, after stat-
ing that his Government had done all in their power
to prevent vessels being fitted out in their ports to
be employed against a friendly State, disclaimed all
liability to indemnify individual foreigners for losses
by capture over which the United States had neither
control nor jurisdiction. " For such events," he
wrote, "no nation can in principle, nor does in
practice, hold itself responsible." To this precedent,
so appropriately cited by Earl Russell, the Ameri-
can Minister can find no better response than that
the wrong-doing of one party cannot be cited in
justification of a repetition of the act by the other.
We cannot assume, however, that the American Go-
vernment were wrong-doers in refusing the indem-
nity demanded by the Portuguese Government. So
long ago as October, 1863, the Government of the
United States declared their willingness to refer the
matter in dispute to arbitration, and the Foreign Se-
cretary has now, on the part of the English Govern-
ment, declined to adopt this course. The only ques-
tions which, as Earl Russell points out, could
arise for decision, would be whether the English
Government .acted with honesty and good faith ;
and secondly, whether they rightly interpreted
the powers conferred on them by the Fo-
reign Enlistment Act. Neither of these ques-
tions, however, could be submitted to an arbitrator,
as her Majesty's Government are the sole guardians
of their own honour, and must be presumed to
understand their own laws better than any foreign
Power. But the Government are willing to consent
to the appointment of a Commission to which
should be referred all claims arising during the late
war which the two-Powers shall agree to refer to
the Commissioners. This proposal is, however, as
Mr. Adams states in the despatch which concludes
the correspondence, similar to that which was made
by the Portuguese Government to the United
States in 1818, and rejected by the latter, and the
Minister almost insinuates that the British Govern-
ment have advanced a proposal which they know*
will be rejected. Pending the receipt of instruction
from his Government, Mr. Adams can, however,
give no definite answer to the suggestion of the
English Cabinet, and the net result of the corre-
spondence thus far is that the demand made by the
American Government for compensation for the
damage done by the Alabama and her sister cruisers
has been rejected ; that a reference to arbitration
has been refused ; and that a proposal made by the
English Government to refer certain matters, to be
agreed upon by both Powers, to a Commission, will
most probably be declined.