Knoxville weekly chronicle. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1870-1875, 1872-02-14
BROTHER JONATHAN VS.. JOHN BULL.
The Alabama Claims Controversy. T.
THE POINTS IN pisrrrr.

We give below the text of the Washing
ton Treaty providing for the settlement Of
the Alabame claims; the reason the Eng
fish press is so belligerent, and the amount
OF our claims. Or readers will from this
summary have the issues now creating so
much uReasiness on the two continents:
WHAT THE TREATY SAYS.
The following are the portions of the
treaty which relate to points in dispute:
IVhsreds Differences have arisen be-
tween thu Government of the United
States and the Government of Her Britain
ME Majesty, and still exist, growing out
of the acts committed by the several ves-
sells which have given rise to the claims
generally known as the "dLpbdRld claims"
and
Whereas, Her Britannia Majesty has
authorized her High Commission and
PlenipoteDtiaries to express, in a friendly
spirit, the regret felt by Her Majesty's
Government for the escape, under what
ever circumstances, of the -4bbdn1d and
other vessels from British ports, and the
depradations committed by those vessels.
Now, in order to remove and adjust all
complaints and claims on the part OF the
United States, and to provide for the
speedy settlement of such claims which
are not admitted by Her Brittanic NIajes-
ty's Government, the high contracting
parties agree that all the said claims grOjc-
ing out Of acts committed 6y the aforesaid
,eSsels, and generally knot01l as the Ala
6GDld claims shall be referred to Tri-
bunal Arbitration, to be composed of five
arbitratOrs "% ~ "WhO shall pro-
coed impartially and carefully TO examine,
and decide all questions that shall be laid
before them on the part of then respective
Governments
The well informed Washington cores
L..
date of February 18th gives the following !:
REASONS FOR THE EXCITEMENT
The angry manner i'm which the English
press are discussing the claims Of the
United States before the Geneva Con-
ference naturally attracts much attention
here. The case of the United States has
been fully presented in England, and is
therefore much better understood there
than in this country. The circulation
of the volume known rs The Case
of the United States has naturally been
very limited in this country, and hence
people are at a loss to understand why tho
English newspapers are getting into such a
frenzy over it. This is explained on two
grounds. In the first place, the British
press has very thoroughly reviewed the
case as presented by the Government, and
they found it to be such an appalling in
dctment that it must inevitably carry
judgment against them in the eases of AT
least six or seven out of the ten cruisers
for whose operations direct damages are
claimed. The result being so inevitable,
it naturally begets fear that the claims
for indirect losses, such as the loss
in the transfer of the merchant ma.
,rine to the British flag, the enhanced
payments reinsurance, and the prolongation
OF the war, may also receive favorable con-
3ideratOn at the hands of the I tribunal. In
the second place, Parliament IL about 10
1lal N IL n -
sire to evoke from individually in that body
such an expression of sentiment as will
possibly have moral effect on the Tri-
bunal. Further than this neither Parlia-
ment nor Press can go. The Tribunal
cannot order the withdrawal of any claims
that have bean presented, no matter who
may request it. They pass judically upon
them, and either allow or reject them, SC
the dispatch of to-day which represents the
London Times as declaringtthat the -Ameri-
ran easel must be reformed before arbi-
tration can be concluded is nonsense. The
Tribunal may rule out at the very outset
the claims for indirect losses, but they can
no more order the case of the United states
TO be withdrawn for amendment, at the
demand of Great Britain, than they car
refuse to hear the case at all. The only
thing Great Britain can do is TO break NJ
the Conference by withdrawing her repre-
sentative altogether. But il is almost alb
surd to suppose that the British Govern
ment would do anything of that character
in any event, get the dispatch from Lon
don, quoting the Times, is accepted here
as meaning that if il means anything
Great Britain having already accepted the
jurisdiction of the Conference, and having
submitted her plea, it is question, even
she should go to the extreme of withdraw
al, whether the Conference could not still
conclude the consideration of the case ant
give judgment according to the evidence
AMOUNT or OUR CLAIMS.
The following table gives the number
and value of our-vessels destroyed by thu
privateers:
Privateer No Of Vessels LosseS
Alabama .....................,. 80 S. 81, 80
400 on