The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1872-06-17
The Geneva Court OF Arbitration-The
Singular Position OF the British Gov

The Geneva Court OF Arbitration-The
Singular Position OF the British Gov
crnmcnt.
The special cable dispatches from our cor
respondent at Geneva published in the HER
AID to-day continue the important history of
the proceedings of the Court of Arbitration
under the Treaty of Washington, and will be
found extremely graphic and interesting The
scene in the hall of the Hotel de Vile, in
which the tribunal assembled on Saturday
last, is described in such manner as to bring
it as wildly before the eyes of our readers rs
if the arbitrators were actually sitting in one
of the fine rooms in the new Court House, 80
Tammany. The judges of the Court, we are
told, were arranged in a semicircle, the desk OF
the President, Count Sclopis the representative
of Italy, being placed in the middle. AT his
left sat the Brazilian representative, Baron
d. Itajuba, and beyond the latter the Lord Chief
Justice of England, Sir Alexander Cockburn.
At his right were seated the Swiss
member of the Court, Jacob Staempf
and our own, Charles Francis Adams
On one side of square table, in front of the
semcircle, sat Lord Tenterden, with, the Brit
sh counsel behind him, and on the other side
Bancroft Davis, with the American counsel at
his back. The sketches Of the personal
appearance Of these gentlemen, already given
in our special dispatches, renders it easy to
picture the Court in the minds eye; and when
we add the ''several octave volumes of the
American case and argument piled up in front
of Bancroft Davis, and the small, lawyer-like
bundle of papers lying under the hand Of
Lord Tenterden, we have the whole scene
before us. The doings Of the arbitrators and
others yesterday have been closely observed by
the watchful eyes Of the HERALD correspond
ents, and hence we discover that the British
agents went to church in the morning, while
the Americans remained at their hotel, prob
ably paying their devotions to their cigars,
and that in the afternoon, tempted by the
beautiful weather, they all threw Alabama
claims, indirect damages, postponements and
arguments aside, and enjoyed the splendid
drives around the city,
Our special report asserts positively that the
English argument was not presented to the
Court on Saturday, thus setting at rest the ru-
NOR from London yesterday that the argument
on both sides had been formally presented and
the requirements of the treaty thus complied
with on the part of England The American
argument alone was laid before the Court &C
companied by mass Of printed matter, which
was probably evidence in support of our case,
and the fact was duly entered on the records
of the tribunal. When the papers had thus
been formally placed in possession of the
judges the American agent declared himself
ready to proceed. The English agent, instead
of presenting the argument of his government,
asked for an adjournment in order that Her
Majesty's government might have further
opportunity to endeavor to reconcile their
differences with the United States on one
main point at issue, but without fixing
any definite date to which he desired
the Court to adjourn. A press report
from London puts the position of Lord Ten
terden more distinctly, asserting that he de-
manded an adjournment until the question of
indirect claims was settled with the United
States. Our own account goes on to state that
the Americans replied to Lord Tenterdens ap-
plication by urging that request for adjourn
ment without previous presentation to the
Court of the final papers being contrary to the
course of procedure required by the treaty and
creating situation not contemplated in their
instructions, obliged them to refer the subject
to their government by means of the cable,
and they therefore asked that no decision be
made by the Court until they had received a
reply to their dispatches This statement some
what changes the aspect Of the case, as
presented by yesterdays report, in which it
was alleged that Lord Tenterden had sud-
denly found himself compelled to seek new
instructions from the English government on
a point that had Unexpectedly arisen, although
it is still asserted that the British agent is also
in expectation Of special dispatches from Lon
don to-day. The conclusion is drawn from
these facts that Lord Granville and Secretary
Fish have decided to retain control of the case
as now before the Geneva Court and not to
entrust any final step or decision in the hands
of their several agents and counsel-a piece of
diplomatic faulty that is greatly to
be deplored. Neither of those Min
listers has been particularly happy in
his treatment OF the treaty question, and on
the part of America at least the situation is
so plain and the policy SO clear that the able
counsel engaged on our side at Geneva
should be prepared to act promptly and deci-
sively on any point that could possibly arise
before the Court.
The question involved in the English de-
mand for an adjournment of the Court and an
extension Of the time stipulated in the treaty
for the fling of the arguments is, at least, one
upon which it would seem that neither the
Court nor the American representatives
should need any further enlightenment. The
intent of the treaty in fixing positively the
time for the presentation of the original cases.