The Sun.
London, England, 1866-11-15 00:00:00

England's Action on the Al-tbaraa Claims.

1 The Press of both England and America have
returned to the discussion of the claims of the
United States against Great Britain for the depre-
dations of the Confederate cruisers. We are happy
in having led the way in reopening this discussion
in a spirit of conciliation, and, we believe, not a
moment too soon. England will have taken a step
in the right direction by anticipating the action of
America. Those who wish to complicate the rela-
tions will by this move have the ground on which
they mainly relied cut from under them. We re-
gret the position which some of the American news-
papers appear inclined to take up on this subject.
Elsewhere we give an article from the Watchnzan
and Reflector, a Boston religious journal of high
standing, but which in the instance before us
scarcely argues in keeping with its Christian tone.
" It is a grave question whether we ought to take
" any step towards the protection of British corn-
" merce from the fate of war when it comes. Such
" a measure as this is not to our taste ; she has
I " taken her stand—let her hold it." These are
nottrue Christian principles, and the Watchman and
Reflector
will not contradict us when we maintain
that it
of c
it is on broad
Governments
ristprinciples
Christiand
sbetuhlat the
policy
be
grounded. We freely confess that England made a
mistake in giving a more general sympathy to the
South than to the North in the great struggle be-
tween Slavery and Freedom. We allow that the
case of the Alabama admits of no justification.
But it is also true that America as a whole sym-
pathised with Russia against England iu the
struggle of the Western Powers to curb the
domineering aggrandisement of the Muscovite ruler
—that America sent forth cruisers against Portu-
guese commerce, and refused that nation redress_
that when invited to join as one of the great mari-
time Powers at the Congress at Paris, to suppress
privateering, she declined to give the International
Law the sanction of her authority. The nations
da roewnnoaw all
code aotf pleaawc
se ,
wahni
cdh n
will
wi l l ips
rtoht ee
ctti mc
oemtmo
elracye
against such wanton acts of spoliation as tahnadttshuaft-
fered by Portugal in the war with Brazil,
suffered by the United States in the War of the
Rebellion. If America is to treasure up a wrong
done herself, and to establish it as a precedent to
retaliate on other nations, wrong will beget wrong,
till International Law becomes a dead letter. It
matters not what the object of England is, whether
she sees in the future a grievous injury to herself,
if such precedents as that of the Alabama are to
be made a rule. The question for America is,
she has sustained a grievous injury, the nation
which has been made the means of inflicting this
injury, is, we hope and believe, prepared to make
reparation—is America to refuse this reparation,
having herself been instrumental in establishing
the rule under which she suffered, because she has
hopes of redressing these wrongs by inflicting on
thestraotaentseamrtion at whose hands she suffered them a still
g
eins-)iouljth%
Union It is. incumbent on the people and
of
truth. to
T considerhe the
Civil
l,questionar o n
its broadest basis
in-
flicted on England a terrible injury. It was
commenced on the part of the South with a settled
conviction that the destruction of England's manu-
factures would be so great that she could not main-