New-York tribune., 1876-05-06
THE ALABAMA CLAIMS.

\ correspondent puts WIN some Iorce tnis
morning point in reference to the Alabama
money which has been put before, yet has
hardly received the attention it deserves. The
surplus of that sum, he says, belongs to
"Grcat Britain, and by every consideration of
"honesty and fairness it should be returned to
cher" The amount of the payment was the
total of the separate accounts for damages for
which the arbitrators held Great Britain liable,
and the United States presented the claims aS
tho agent of the individual owners, and re-
ceived the money in trust for them. If now 1t
turns ont, closer examination by
court of our own creation, that some
of the claims were unfounded or exaggerated,
and that money consequently remains on
hand, it seems to follow rs a matter of course
that the undistributcd balance ought to be
returned to Great Britain. who was induced TO
pay it by our unntcntional misreprcscnta-
tions. In the case of West against the United
States. the Court of Commissioners of Ala
bama Claims sud: 81 Does not national cour-
"tesy and good faith require of us to suppose
"that Congress, in creating this court, never
"in;endcd we should distribute tins fund
"other than for the purposes for which Great
" Britain supposed she paying it For
" instance, suppose Congress had chosen TO
"kcep half the fund and convert 1t into the
"1rcasury of the nation, or had directed this
"cOurt to distribute it among those whose COM
"mcrcial interests had been injured by the ter
"ror and alarm caused by the Insurgent cruis-
GERS, or among those who had suffered loss
"by the depredations of rebel cruisers other
ethan the Alabama, Florida and Shenandoah.
In such cases would not Great Britain have
.'had cause to complain that she had been
"mi sled, overTeachcd, dcccvcdf Would our
"Govc1nmcnt have been acting in good faith
L" in making ch dispositions OF this fund y
The only error Of our correspondent j. ID. ID.
lies in the asslmption>that the damages caused
by the three cruisers are found to "have
"amonnted to less than half Of the fifteen
"millions of dollars received by u.s." An i'm
portant class of claims, admitted by Great
Britain, has not been passed upon by the
court at all, the Act of Congress withdrawing
it from consideration. 1t is well-setted rule
of law that an insurer who has paid the owner
as for "A total loss is entitled to be subrogated
TO all the rights of the assured. In the Act
constituting the Court of Alabama Claims,
however, Congress chose, under the lead OF
politician who exhibits satanic ingenuity in
getting his country into disgrace, to Ignore
this universally admitted principle, and
to nroylde that no insurer sh0uld receive any
thing unless he could show that the sum of
his losses on war risks during the whole
period of the Rebellion exceeded the pre-
miums. Not only was this fragrant violation
of the common rules of law and equity, but it
was opposed to the spirit of our agreement
with Great Britain. The full claims of the
insurance companies were included in tie
"b;l of particulars" furnished by the agent
of the United States at Geneva, and were con-
sdcrcd by the arbitrators in fixing the amount
of the indemnity. In fine, we have collected
the money on these claims, and we cannot re-
fuse to pay it over without rank dishonesty.
Our first duty, therefore, ia to amend tho
Act of 1874 by allowing the excluded insurers
to prove their claims. When they have been
disposed of, if there is anything lcft-as no
doubt there will be-honor requires that we
should return it to the British Government.