New-York tribune., 1869-05-26
q pRLRRLEG AND PRABLES.0

International law is not just the thing to
bubble about, and Englishmen are quibbling
in very unworthy way. Every Rebel cruiser
which left British ports did so in violation OF
the municipal law Of England. 1t was the duty
of the English Government TO see to it that at
least its own laws were respected If it was
powerlcss to enforce obedience to those laws,
and after due effort had failed, parties national
injured by its incapacity have undoubtedly
right to seek compensation from England IN the
shape Of money damages or official apology,
and to elect which of the two they will choose.
1t is so notOriously untrue that England did all
in her power as a Government to detaln the
Rebel cruisers that we do not think the matter
worth discussing. There is not government
of respectable force and importance in Europe
which would not have made these acts of
British subjects a reason for indignation or for
war. England herself has gone to war twenty
times upon far less prOvOcatiOn. Her own his
tory, her own laws, her own admissions, all are
against her, and yet sho gravely pleads the
Canadian claims, part of which she has per-
mtted 20 remain in allegiance for thirty years,
and for none Of which has she ever made for
nal demand, rs sort of set-off This is
merely trihing with international obligations!
She might as well set up her expenses in
CURED in her endeavor to reduce to subsection
her thirteen American Colonies in 1776.
On the Sth of December, 1864, Mr.. j. Hume
Burley, the Representative of Her MajestY's
Government at Washington, in letter to Mr..
Seward, protested against the treatment of the
Alabama rs pirate, "however those who orig
inally fitted her out may have been guilty OF
"vioating " tie municipal law of England.'
Mr.. j. Hume Burley did not see fit to main
tain this view by any argumentatiOn-he put
it forth as an original principle emanating
from his own mighty mind and he seemed to
think that the State Department must admit
il at once. To this note we cannot find that
Mr.. Seward ever made any reply, but the gist
Of it is the cautious admission that the Ala
bama was fitted out in violation of the muni-
cipal law of England. But so were all the
other British cruisers. The same principle
applies to all, and morally, at least to ali the
blockade-runners
A droll passage in Earl Russelrs letter to Lord
Lyons of November 26 1864, speaks of the
"difliculties which beset, under any state of
"the law, the task Of preventing undue aid
"being given by individuals among the Queens
subjects to one or other of the belligerents."
Very little the belligerents of the Union ever
got of this kind of aid from British subjects
but we quote the passage for the purpose of
pointing out an admission of weakness again
made by Great Britain. This was her course
throughout the war. She was always pleading
her difficulties. She was always obliged to do
things which she ought not to have done and
equally compelled to leave undone those things
which she ought to have done. We lived in a
rainy season of Quibbles and explanations but
the result was none the Hess the almost
complete annihation of American commerce.
English excuses were very pretty and continued
to be so but who is to pay for our ships 7
"The private individuals who burned them,n
says Mr. Forster. But doesn't Mr.. Forster see
that upon such loose principles governments
could not 20 on for dayf 1t is now stated
that Mr.. Motley took out "no special iDstruc-
tiOns." We do not see that any were needed.
Wo can afford to wait with such excellent cards
in our hands The precedent which England
seeks TO establish, IL she intends TO abide by
them, will make war too costly luxury for her
to indulge in. If she discharges our honest
claims upon her treasury, she will then be in o
position TO go to war if she refuses to pay
them, she cannot go to war without being dam
aged by her own system of law, and her own
indomitable obstinacy. Yes; we can want
There are various ways Of waging war, and
some of them are eminently pacific.
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There Is a sect of believers in Russia who