New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1869-02-03

WARP the English commissioners may lVi
with reject tho umpire thus appointed, and
express their preference for ga friendly sove-
"reign :" and within six months the two Gov
ernmcnts shall agree upon q sovereign UNI
pire.
IHirdv: AS to the effects of the Commission,
it is provided that the decision Of majority Oh
the Commissioners, or Of the umpire when
they disagree shall be final and without APP
neal. "The Commissioners shall be bound TO
examine and decide upon every claim within
1.-TWO years from their first meeting" And
the fifth article provides that "the high con-
"tracting parties engage to consider the result
"of the proceedings Of this Commission as
"full and final settlement of every claim upon
"cither Government arising out of any transac-
"tion of date prior to the exchange OF the
notifications of the present Convention, and
"further engage that every such claim, whether
cor not the same has been presented to the
"notice of, made, preferred or laid before the
"said Commission, shall, from and after the
proceedings of the said Commission, be con-
"sidered and treated as finally settled ana
"barrcd and thenceforth inadmlsslDle.'
Whether this was intended to quiet all claims
which the Commission may fail 30 act upon,
or in regard to which the Governments fail to
agree upon a sovereign umpire, or the sover-
eign when appointed declines or fails to act, is
a question that it is hardly necessary at present
to discuss, however interesting 1t might become
were the general features of the treaty such as
to render its ratification probable.
The point which prominently presents itself
is this: Hero is a treaty negotiated, as 1t was
announced, for the adjustment OF the Alabama
claims, in regard to which Lord Stanley had
virtually conceded the liability OF England
declaring in the House of Commons his opinion
that the American claimants were very hkely
to get their money and Mr.. Mill had declared
that there were very few in that country VINO
were disposed to deny that they owed repatriation
to the United States, and that the question TO
be decided was, not if they owed anything, but
how much they owed u.s.
The Clarendon-Johnson protocol presents no
such acknowledgment, recognizes no such IN
debtedness. proposes no such settlement.
II presents. as an offset tOthc Alabama claims,
all the claims made and TO be made by British
subjects arising out of our civil war; and, by
the treaty, England admits no more liability for
our claims than we do for those of her sub
jects who, during that war, were our bitter
enemies
The American shipper whose ships were
burned by the Alabama may find his claim
barred under the proposed commission.
1st. BY the decision Of an umpire chosen by
lot. The liability of Great Britain for the
ravages of Mr.. Laird's pirates may be decided
by the toss Of a copper
2d BY the adverse decision of n friendly
"sovereign Louis Napoleon, for instance, or
possibly His Holiness tho Sovereign Pontiil--
although the King of Prussia is referred to by
the English Press as the probable referee.
3d. By disagreement between the two Gov
ernmonts in tho choice of a sovereign.
4th. BY the refusal or neglect of the soye-
reign when appointed to act in the matter.
Should the liability of England for the Ala
bama claims be thus decided in her favor, or
avoided altogether, the Commissioners will
have little to do but to hear and decide the
English claims aeninst the American Govern
ment, and award the amounts to be paid III
their satisfaction.
Should the Alabama claims, or some Of
them, be recognized, they are likely TO be
offset largely by the counter-cnims of English
subjects, if, the English are lucky in securing
their umpire by lot, or il, disappointed in this,
they reject the umpire and demand the decis-
ion of a friendly sovereign
Absolute and final power being given to the
umpire in his unlimited discretion, he may
ignore the great principle of international
neutrality oil which we rest the point OF En-
glands liability, and permit himself to he
swayed by that dislike and jealousy of the Re-
public which, with rare exceptions has marked
the course of the European Soyeregns, or by
n careless indifference to the matter, and a
readiness to adjust it with little trouble by
balancing the awards to either party.
Such are the terms of this charming treaty
which The Tines and The World are urging the
Senate to ratfy rs "a sweet boom TO the
American people. The Times pronounces it
"eminently favorable to the United States"
and declares, with unconscious irony toward
Mr.. Seward, that "every material point made
"by the Department Of State has been con-
"cedcd substantially in the form in which it
"was submitted.n The World assumes that
Great Britain, by asserting to the treaty,
recognizes her liability for the Alabama claims !;
but not word in the treaty justfes this
assumption, and The London Times which Is
as earnest for the treaty rs The World, ex
pressly declares, 1--WE deny the breach and the
obligation" s-..-
The NeW- York Times Of Saturday last follows
up declaration that " it is evidently at once
"Our duty and our interest to confirm the
"treaty," with an extraordinary proposition
that, if the Senate shall decline to confirm the
treaty, it should at once propose declaration
of war.
But America has waited and can afford to
wait until England, of her own accord, ac-
knowledges her liability for the degradation Of