Delaware gazette. [volume] (Delaware, Ohio) 1855-1886, 1869-01-29
Alabama Claims Settled Again.

We had hoped to have received an
official announcement of the terms Of
the basis Of settlement of the Alabama
claims, agreed upon by ReVerjy John
son and Lord Clarendon, before com
menting upon them But it now
seems that the Senate will take action
in the matter ofratifyiOg or rejecting
this Clarendon-J ohnsOn Convention
before the public are made acquainted
with its precise provisions. Tt is
certainly important that the Senate
should know the sense Of the country
concerning the new treaty, or rather
treaties, in order that they may not
commit thirty millions of people, as in
the Alaska purchase, to the obser-
vance of a treaty which twenty nine
millions and nine hundred thousand
disapprove and denounee. Enough
however has been made known by the
State Department to convince the
country that this lame conclusion of
iamentably prolonged negotiation
should be rejected with unhesitating
promptness and becoming indignation.
To 20 back to 1858 to rank up for
gotten claims against this country-to
sweep over a period of sixteen years,
and drag in accounts for damages suf-
fered or supposed to have been suffer
ed by British subjects in the United
States, Canada, or elsWhere, by reason
of army movements and Fenian raids,
and the acts of officers and agents of
the United States, would result in
making us debtor to Great Britain to
about double the amount that in point
of fact she is now indebted to us.
/ It will take something more than
( II L. @aN~ L.
/ ReYerdy johnson to erase from the
memories of loyal Americans the
/ damnable facts that member of the
British Parliament, while the two
countries were at peace, built a fast
sailing ship for the express purpose of
making war upon the commerce of the
United States, that this ship escaped to
sea by a transparent trick and through
the connivance of the collector of the
port of Liverpool and other officers of
/ the British Government that while
manned by British crew, and still
bearing the register Of British built
ship, it began its appointed work to
burn and destroy, aud that although
it was ahoat through the plainest
evasion of law, it was never detained
when il again came within the jur-
isdiction of English law, but in every
British port it entered, was aided and
cheered on in its work of destruction.
The work Of this British pirate con-
tinued month after month with the en-
tire approval of the British Govern
ment and nine -tenths OF the British
people, until almost every ship bear
ing the American flag was burned,
bonded, or driven from the sea. New
er since the battle of Bladensburg and
capture of Washington had the Yam
kee-hating British made war upon the
United States with so much satisfac-
tion and at the same time safety TO
themselves. As each American shiu
burned increased the value and the
freIghts of their own. not even a rebel
victory delighted the Bulls, as did the
news of the burning and sinking of a
I"Yankee ship" by Semmes. The bill
for the losses suffered by these infam-
Gus proceedings, if properly present
ed, would have long since been paid
! Now that very Extraordinary Envoy,
johnson, with his mouth full of the
sentimental mush of magnanimity,
asks that this piratical burning of all
our noblest ships, be classed among
the other differences" that have aris-
en- between the citizens and subjects
OF the two countries since 1853 |
Another provision in this so called
! convention, or johnson surrender,
is that in case the four commissioners
and the umpire chosen by them do
not agree, then the representatives of
| the British Empire and American Re
| public shall cast lots to settle the
questions in dispute! Our commerce
has been swept from the seas by a
p1'ofgssed neutral outrageously and
| palpably violating the plainest prin-
ciples of neutrality, and now we must
toss coppers to determine whether the
outrage upon our rights was right or
wrong A man destroys your proper
ty to the amount of fifty millions of
dollars and you agree to draw cuts
to see whether he shall pay you for it
or not IF Reverdy johnson had not
mhde egregious ass of himself SO
many times before, this last exhibition
might cause some surprise. From any
further specimens Of his stupidity,
Good Lord deliver U.s. Columbus
Te,1ss.g, NJ