The Hawaiian gazette., 1869-06-30
MIR. Sumner ON the Alabama
Treaty.
prom the Illustrated London New. Of May 81

final adjustment of what pass under the gen.
eral designation of the ''Alabama claims, y
was refused the sanction of the Senate Of the
United States, has been known to the British
public for some time. The reasons assigned
for its rejection, were matter of conjecture
only; but, so far as our observation has ex-
tended, the fact, viewed as it was, by all
political parties in this country, with disap-
pointment and regret, did not evoke any
great amount of acrimonious comment. For
the most part, the English Press dealt with
the subject tenderly, and with forbearance
Allowance was made for the especial domes-
tic circumstances of the American people !;
for the extreme unpopularity, up to its very
close, of President Johnson's Government !;
for the unwillingness of the more jealous
Republicans to suffer an Administration,
which had SO persistently thwarted their de-
signs, to terminate its career by an act of
foreign policy which might possibly shed lus-
tire upon name which they held in con-
tempt; and for the recoil of popular feeling
In the United States, caused by the off hand
manner in which Mr.. Reverdy johnson had,
over and over again, condoned what his fel-
low-countrymen regarded as grave offences,
committed by the Government and people of
the United Kingdom, against international
amity and kindliness, during the civil war
Taking all these things into account, there
was, we think, general disposition TO inter-
pret the rejection OF the Clarendon Johnson
treaty by the Senate at Washington, in mod
crate and dispassionate spirit, and the an
nouncement of the event, through the tele-
graph cable, was received "more in sorrow
than in anger"
1t was fortunate thing, perhaps, that the
report of the speech of the Hon. Charles
Sumner, the Chairman of the Committee of
the Senate for Foreign Affairs, did not ae-
f.0m ha nanf of ha farf Az,
interval of about fortnight, between the
one and the other, has done something, We
do not doubt, toward bunting the sensibility
of the public mind, on this side of the Attain
tic, in respect of the treatment of the Con-
vention. adopted by the Senate on the other
side. Mr.. Sumner has essayed to justify the
Senate's decision by an elaborate Indictment
against England, which, for its extravagance,
might have produced very mischieyous re-
suits, and has put forward claims for dam
ages, so enormous in amount, as to lead to
the reasonable presumption that he does not
desire any settlement whatever. In language,
it is true, the speech is calm and dignified;
in tone, argumentative; in arrangement of
its topics, lucid and logical; and its effect
upon the American people will probably be
all the more deplorable, because, unquestion-
ably, the ground of complaint against US,
upon which be rests both his reproaches and
imaginary But Mr.. Sumner has erected,
upon narrow base, towering superstruc-
ture of culpabiity, which the slightest touch
of common sense will instantly oyerturn;
and the charges he labors to fasten upon us,
closely resemble, in their contradictory and
unqualified character, those with which we
have been made familiar of late In petitions
sent up to the Court of Common Pleas,
ascribiDg the return of successful candidates
20 parlf TO t,,Nf att cof4 4hat-
elections.
The proclamation of Queen Victoria, de-
claring neutrality between the Northern and
Southern States, and recognizing the rights
or belligerancy in the latter, constitutes, ac-
cording to Mr.. Sumner, the original sin of
England. 1t was this that gave rise and force
to all her subsequent delinquencies. "Un-
friendly" he saws, "in the precipitancy with
which it was launched, this concession "-of
belligerant rights-"wa more unfriendly in
substance. 1t was the first stage in the dep
relations on our commerce. Had it not
been made, no rebel ship could have been
built in England Every step in her building
would have been piracy. Nor could any mu-
nitions of war have been furnished. The di-
rect consequence of this concession was, to
place the rebels on an equality with ourselves,
in all British markets, whether ships or mu-
nitions of war" This recognition of the
SOulcucfdCl, pObecscliS
was an offence on our part, aggravated, Mr..
Sumner says, by two circumstances. First,
by the needless haste with which the procla-
nation was issued by the British Govern
ment. "The United States Minister" he
said, "had been announced; he was daily
expected" The Cabinet of st. James knew
of his coming; but on the day of his arri-
val in England, he found the thing DONE
Again, the concession had been made to
oIo h1l -, tbe .,f 49,
rism, occupied In hideous attempt to per-
petuate and extend new empire, with slavery
as its cornerstone, and We took them by the
hand and so, "with the official protection
and the God-speed of anti-slavery England,
they commenced their accursed work"
"And now," he proceeds, ''the day of reck
oning has come, but with little apparent
sense of what is due, on the part of Eng
landn Thereupon, he attempts to estimate
the losses sustained by America, as the result
of this too prompt declaration of neutrality
between the Northern and Southern Repub-
lies. The individual losses, inflicted by tine
Alabama and other cruisers, which escaped |
from our shores, he computes at about |
e3, ,000, 900 sterling. He adds to this, the |
damage done to the American carrying trade |
by the transference of American shipping to
British owners, with view to save it from |
the depreciation of these piratical cruisers. |
The loss, which was borne by American ship |
owners, he calculates TO have amounted to |
e22, ,OO0,O 900. But he does not rest here He |
assumes that the civil war was protracted to |
at least twice the duration through which it |
otherwise would have maintained itself, In |
of the same concession of bel |
ligerant rights to the Southern Confederacy, |
and that England is responsible to America |
for the additional damage she was thereby |
compelled to incur. "The rebellion" he |
says, twas suppressed at cost OF more than |
four thousand million dollars, q considerable |
portion of which, has already been paid, |
leaving twenty-five hundred millions as a |
national debt to burden the people" The |
grand total, therefore, which Mr.. Sumner |
conceives to be due from the Government of |
her Britannia Majesty to that of the Ameri- |
can Republic, amounts to little more than |
half of our present National Debt.
Now it is obvious, at the first blush, that, in |
order to sustain an overwhelming conclusion, |
such as this, the groundwork upon which 1t |
rests, should be solid, indisputable, and i'm |
Mr.. Sumner takes for granted, the |
very point in dispute between us-yiz., the |
right of her Majesty, in Council, |
to issue, at the time she die, her proclamation |
of neutrality. 1t has been established, be- |
yond all doubt, that this document did not |
see the light until after the proclamation of |
the President of the United States, which |
declared blockade OF the Southern ports, |
and which would have had no legal force |
but for the existence, at that moment, of a |
state of war. England did but follow the |
example set her by America, in recognizing |
the facts as they then stood; and in doing so, |
England really supposed that she was doing |
what the Government of the United States |
would approve. As events turned out, it |
became manifest that delay of few days |
would have been prudent and graceful; but |
no one can pretend that it could have ex-
tended over more than few days. Besides, |
Mr.. Sumner forgets to mention that France |
issued the same proclamation, nsufdfis Dsis-