Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1872-02-28
FOREIGN.
Spectacular Thanksgiving in London:
Four Millions of LOokers-On.
THE ALABAMA CLAIMS.
The British Statement of the Case.
Those IncOnseq uentiaI Damages.

| NEW DIRK, Feb. 27.-The Tribune this
morning publishes an abstract of the Brit
ish case submitted to the arbitrator at &C.
neYa. In this statement, Her Msjesty's
government complains that ic has had to
reply to an argument [notl yet presented;
when that shall have been presented and
the claims of the United States shall be de-
fined precisely, Her Majesty's government
will exercise the right conferred on it by
article of the treaty to submit to the tri-
bunal an additional statement of facts, as
the case may exact. Until a comparison
of the cases presented by both parties shall
determine the points really in dispute be-
tween The two governments, it will refrain
from all discussion intended to sustain its
own position, and viii limit itself at present
to submitting to the judgment of the tri-
bunal the following considerations: =
As the ships, whatever may be the cir
cIunstances, were procured in British ports
for war purposes, and men employed as
belligerent cruisers against the United
States, while Great Britain herself remained
neutral, these events have been the cause of
displeasurs and regret 10 the Government
of her Britannia Majesty. This regret exists
despite the following facts, which it must
be conceded are important to arrive at a
just appreciation of the question:
The vessels were procured by cunning
and clandestine means which baflled the
vigilance of the Government officers. Not
one had the least armament. Some had
been constructed as ordinary merchant YES
sells, 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
purposes were themselves American citi-
zens which the United States Government
has always admitted. Such facts should Sc
riously affect in the mind of every imrar-
tial man the question relative to the respon-
sibilities Of a neutral government.
The United States Government processes
to have a right to pecuniary indemnity for
claims which it says resulted from the acts
of these vessels, that is to say, the warlike
operations carried on by means of these
ships or by the persons who had them in
their possession. 1t is evident that a pre-
tension ofthis nature is such that her Males
TVS Government, animated as it is with the
most amicable sentiments towards the
United States, could not, in virtue of the
respect it Owes.to its own rights and those Of
neutral nations in general, consent
to admit, since it believes that it is not
founded on justice.
1t deyolves on the United States to estab-
fish the propositions it has advanced, to
state clearly the international duty or du-
ties on which they are based, and to dem
onStrate the violation Of which it complains.
A charge against a sovereign government
Of having eyinced a culpable negligence to
exercise any of the powers of sovereignty,
Is an imputation which should be sustained
BY strong and solid reasons. A nation ought
not to be held responsible for delay or omis-
sion which may be due simply to accident,
aud not to want of foresight or reasonable
care.
Finally it does not suffice to demonstrate
that an act has been committed which the
government should have foreseen. What
must be advanced and proved is that the
government failed to exercise the same
amUslng "a CITo ssSulElIJ SI1ployS III us
internal affairs, and which it mag be reason
ably required to use in matters affecting
International interests and duties.
If the tribunal decides that Great Britain
has incurred any responsibility whatever
toward the United States the question viii
then arise as to what will be the just
measure and extent of that responsibility.
Her Msiesty's government abstains at
present from entering on this question, and
reserves for more advanced period OF the
discussion, all observations that it shall de-
termine to submit on this point in the name
of Great Britain.
If claims Of this kind were admitted
without reserve, a belligeTent could ask to
be Unidentified by a neutral for results
which Justly ought not to be laid tothe act
of the latter but should be placed on his
own incapacity and deficient iniative. Her
Maiestv's Government is obliged to point
cut that in regard to the ships which form
the object of the preceding statement, the
United States Government or its officers
evinced extraordinary hardness in employ
ing the naval forces az its command and
that if ordinary activity were exercises to
capture 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 it be founded on a
faithful and equitable Interpretation Of the
rights of man, and the principles which her
self and all other powers will not repent OF
recognizing and observing either as neu-
traIs or baIJiCnrants in time to come