New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1874-05-09
THE ALABAMA TREATY IN ENGLAND.

THE ALABAMA TREATY IN ENGLAND
One might suppose that the Alabama Treaty
would be a subject possessed OF more vitality
ON this side of the Atlantic than on the other.
Congress has not yet decided how the fund
derived from the Geneva Arbitration IA to be
distributed Those who lost money and goods
through the dcprcdatiOns OF the English corsair
arc naturally anxious to touch their long
withheld property and it would not have been
surprising if their interest had been sufficient
to keep the matter prominently before the
nublic. But the truth is that the Arbitration
and its results have ceased to occupy the
general attention here to such an extent
that the hardness OF Congress III u's-
tributing the millions derived from IL is
scarcely criticised except by interested in
diyiduals References to 1t were numerous
enough for little while in after dinner
speeches, but they long since grew stale, ana
therefore improper. reasonable success,
like that we attained at Washington ana
! Geneva, never appears remarkably exciting or
dramatic to the successful party. But 1t mas
never ceased to be a living topic in England.
Ii does duty in all elections; it affords the
most admirable weapon for batting Minis
fer. The question still retains sensitiveness
enough TO become positively inflammatory
under the judicious irritation of Conscrva-
tive orator. This is, perhaps, not so unnatural
"a it would at first appear. In any contest IL
is probable that the beaten party remembers
his bruises longer than the victor. He talks
more about the affair, dwells upon his condl-
ton at the time, alludes to defects in his
training and handling, and insists that IL 1t
had not been for incxcusablc errors on the
part of his seconds. and a positive malice III
| circumstances, he must certainly have won.
II il certain at all events that this Alabama
aucstion continues sufficiently alive to furnish
an interesting, if not anxious haf-hOur, from
time to time to successive English govern
| ments. II is a matter which Earl Russell bears
| constantly upon his mind, and which he is
| now too old to throw OFF. There is no reason to
hope he will ever recover from this event which
| SO clearly placed him in the wrong throughout
that long duel of interviews and dispatches
| carried OH for years between himself and Mr.
Adams. Ii doubtless adds something to his
| conscientious evaporation that his Old adj
| ycrsary sat as one of the Judges of the High
| Court at Geneva which rendered verdict
| against England. Earl Percy sees my
| "fall,n and that makes the fall still harder.
| The veteran diplOmatst hastens to renew, on
the accession of the government of Mr.. Dis
| rae, the questions with which he used to
harass that of his friend Mr. Gladstone while
| it lasted. His question this week was merely
to give him an opportunity to say that the
| British people felt that the honor OF England
had been touched in the Washington Treaty
negotiations, the national character lowered,
| and the national interests placed in jeopardy.
| Having said this, he withdrew his motion
| calling for papers III relation to the Oregon
Boundary Arbitration and the Fenian raids,
| udciously stating that he did not aDprehend
| "a repetition of these causes of quarrel.
A question addressed to the Government in
| the House of Commons by Sir Henry Wolff
had a more significant result than the barren
thunder which Earl Russell discharged in the
upper house. He asked what the Government
had done in relation to the agreement entered
into in the Sixth Article of the Treaty of
Washington. This Article, it will be remem-
bered, established the famous three rules by
which tho responsibility of Great Britain in
the Alabama case was to be ascertained. 1t
also provides that "The high contracting
| powers agree to observe these rules rs be-
tween themselves in future, and to bring
them to the knowledge Of other maritime
"powers, and invite them to accede to them"
| The Hon. Robert Bourke, Under Secretary of
| State for Foreign Affairs, speaking in behalf
of the Government, said that it had
not considered itself obliged to take
any steps to carry this clause into
| execution. This seems rather lame and i'm
potent conclusion of matter which was only
| little while ago regarded as Of great i'm
portance But it is by no means impossible
that it may end in just this way. The Gov
| ernment Of Mr.. Disraeli, who was strongly
| opposed to the Treaty, may not consider itself
| bound to carry its provisions into effect,
unless at the instance and request of the
| United States; and there are many in
fuences at work upon the Administration
at Washington, which will be equally
| powerful with any of its SUCCESSORS,
| to prevent any especially energetic action to
incorporate the three rules into the written
international law of the world. 1t would,
| however, be singular result of the long ne
| gotiatiOns if their only consequence was the
payment by England of the Fifteen Millions
and the establishment of the De Haro Chan
mel as our boundary line. If it should be So,
much eloquence and much champagne will
| have been poured out in vain.