The New York herald., 1877-10-01
General Grant ON tho Alabama
Claims.

Our Glasgow correspondent presents this
eminent citizen in two characters. either of
which would have seemed odd at the time
he sailed from his native land. The first
half hour of each morning he spends in
prayer, and he delivered at the Glasgow
dinner long speech-the longest and best
he ever made. 1t is the nature of this self
contained man to hide his light under
bushel until some necessity arises for un-
covering it. Nobody suspected that the
modest Galena tanner carried under his felt
hat the best military head in America;
nobody dreamed that the victorious general
who had kept himself aloof from politics
with more than West Point reserve would
rise at once to easy mastery Of the states
men in his Cabinet and of the veteran party
leaders in Congress least Of oil did any
body suppose that this stern soldier was as
gifted in prayer as Stonewall Jackson or
Oliver Cromwell, or that man who, during
the eight years of his Presidency, was as
taciturn as William the Silent, would, at this
late day, develop faculty for making apt
speeches on festive or complimentary occa-
sions Of which the most practised after-din-
ner orator need not be ashamed. His morn
ing prayers in Scotland are a fresh surprise,
but he has been making admirable speeches
of response ever since his arrival in Eng
land.
We ore sorry that the reporters at the
Glasgow dinner were not permitted to take
notes and give General Grants longest and
best speech verbatim. Our correspond
ent sketches its outlines, and even this
brief summary proves that it was happily
prepared speech, for the greater part of it
was in immediate reply to remarks Of Mr..
Anderson, member Of Parliament from Glas-
gov, in which it was said that the United
States got the better Of Great Britain in the
Alabama claims negotiation and the hope
was expressed that this country would re-
turn the surplus eight millions OF the
Geneva award which have not been dis
tributed General Grant in reply explained
the negotiations, showed that his govern
ment had neither sought nor obtained
any unfair advantage, and set forth
tuc IciSOuS Why OonSAcoo AoA nos yCl
distributed the whole award. Congress
had thought it just to pay the absolute
losses before admitting the claims of insur-
ance companies which were partially COM
pensated by premiums. There was not
money enough to pay for all the American
property destroyed, and justice required
that the claims of uninsured owners should
first be met. General Grant expressed the
opinion that the residue Of the award will
be equitably distributed among those whose
claims were postponed until cases Of
greater hardship were fully compensated.
For every American ship destroyed the
United States were entitled to damages. The
fact that a ship was insured by an American
company could not relieve Great Britain
from her liability for the property destroyed.
The American ownership was incontestable;
the loss was loss of American property;
who were the particular American owners
entitled to the indemnity is a purely Ameri-
can question with which England has moth
ing to do. 1t was just for her to pay, be-
cause the property belonged to Americans;
to what particular Americans it belonged is
no concern of hers.