Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1872-03-08
The British Case.

| -.a NC ITiOuHe InlS morning puUllSneS an
abstract Of the British case submitted to
the Arbitration at Geneva. In this state
ment Her Majesty's Government COM
plains that it has had to reply to an argu-
ment not vet presented. When that shall
have been presented, and the claims of
the United States shall be defined pre-
cisely, Her Majesty's Government Will eX-
ercise the right conferred on it by Article
4 of the treaty to submit to the Tribunal
an additional or more extended state of
facts, as the case may exact, until the
| comparison of cases presented by both
parties shall determine the points really
in dispute between the two Governments.
1t will refrain from all discussion intend
ed to sustain its own position, and will
limit itself at present to submitting to the
| Judgment of the Tribunal the following
considerations
As the ships, whatever may be the cir
cumstances, were procured in British
ports for war purposes, and were employ
ed as bellgerent cruisers against the
United States, while Great Britain her
self remained neutral, these events have
been the cause of displeasure and regret
to the Government of Her Britannia Maj
esty. The regrets exist despite the fol-
lowing facts which it must be conceded
|
ton of the question. The vessels were
procured by cunning and clandestine
means, which batfled the vigilance of the
Government officers. n ot one had the
| least armament. Some had been con-
structed as ordinary merchant vessels,
having nothing which would adapt them
| specially for war. In number they were
very small; and, finally, the persons who
| obtained possession and control of them,
| and employed them for belligerent pur-
poses, were themselves American citizens,
which the United States Government has
always admitted. Such facts should seri-
ously affect, in the mind of every Impair
| tial man, the question relative to the re-
| sponsibility of neutral government. The
! United States Government processes to
have the right to pecuniary indemnity for
claims which it says resulted from the
acts of these vessels; that is to say, war
like operations carried on by means of
these ships by persons who had them in
| their possession. 1t is evident that a pre-
tension of this nature is such that Her
Maiestys Government, animated as it is
with the most amicable sentiment toward
the United States, could not, in virtue of
the respect it owes to its own rights and
those of neutral nations in general, con
not founded on justice
1t devolyes on the United States to es-
tablish the propositions it has advanced,
to state clearly the international duty or
duties on which they are based, and to
demonstrate the violation of which it
complains. A charge against sovereign
government of having evinced culpable
negligence in the exercise of one of its
powers of sovereignty is an imputation
which should be sustained by strong and
solid reasons. A nation ought not to be
held responsible for a delay or omission
which may be due simply to accident, and
not to want of foresight or reasonable
care. Finally, it does not suffice to de-
monstrate that an act has been commit
ted which the government should have
foreseen. What must be advanced and
proved is, that the government failed to
exercise the same amount of care as it
usually employs in internal affairs, and
which it may be reasonably required to
use in matters affecting international in
terests and duties.
If the Tribunal decides that Great
Britain has incurred any responsibility
whatever toward the United States, the
question will then arise as to what will be
the just measure and extent of that re-
sponsibility. Her Maiestys Government
abstains at present from entering on this
question, and reserves for more ad-
vanced period of discussion all observa-
tions that it shall determine to submit on
this point in the name of Great Britain.
If claims of this kind were admitted
without reserve, a belligerent could ask to
be Unidentified by a neutral for results
which justly ought not to be laid to the
act of the latter, but should be placed
to his own incapacity and def
cient initiative. Her Majesty's Gov
ernment is obliged to point out that in
regard to ships which form the object
of the preceding statement, the United
States Government or its officers evinced
extraordinary tardiness in employing the
naval force at it's command, and that, if
ordinary activity were exercised TO cap
ture or intercept these vessels, the losses
of which the United States complain
to-day would have been in great part
averted.
Whether the decision of the Tribunal is
or is not favorable to her, Great Britain
is ready to yield to the decree. She has
only one wish, that it be just She raises
only one pretension, that 1t be founded
on a faithful and equitable Interpretation
of the rights of man, and on principles
which herself and all other powers will
not repent of recognizing and observing
either as neutrals or belligerents in time
to come.
FAILURES IN FARMINe.--As a general
thing, when ordinary industry and judg-
ment are exercised in the business of
farming, success, to greater or less ex-
tent, is certain. In other occupations,
success Is not alone dependent on these
qualities, but in spite of the greatest ef-
often occur. The. tickle goddess haunts
the merchant and the speculator but the
farmer, secure on his well-tilled fields, is
not afraid of her frowns, nor courts her
smile. Fortune for him has no favors to