The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1914-06-17
GENEVA TRIBUNAL SAVED ENGLAND
 AND UNITED STATES FROM CONFLICT

| Monday next will mark the forty second anniversary of the opening Of the Geneva Tribunal one of the most important assembIages in the history of mankind, since it established the principle of arbitration in place of war in the settlement of differences Isbetween nations In this case it avert ed a terrible conflict between Great ! Britain and the United States, and the era of good feeling between John Bull and Uncle Sam may be said to date from that tribunal
 The Geneva Tribunal, opened in the Swiss city on June 16, 1872, was con vened for the purpose of settling the Alabama claims, which had brought England and the States to the verge of war. These claims made by the United States against the London government were for damages done to shipping during the Civil war, and which were inflicted chiefly by the .'A1abama,'' an armed vessel of the Confederacy which had been fitted out in a British port and permitted to sail in violation of existing international law. The Confederate cruiser. manned by an English crew, and under the command of Capt. Raphael Semmes, of Maryland, did great damage to Unitetd States mercantile shipping Within two yearse the Alabama de- stroyedt sixty five vessels, and caused
 
 It will be just half a century next Friday since Nemesis overlook the Alabama She had put into Cher bourg, France. for repairs, and there she was intercepted by the Federal corvette Kearsarge, under command Of Captain Winslow. After a severe battle lasting an hour the Alabana was sunk. Capt. Semmes and a mum Der of the crew were saved by a pri- vate British yacht owned by. John Lancaster. The semi-centenary of this great naval battle will be ob- served next Friday in France, when the graves of the sailors who were killed will be decorated with flags and flowers by Americans resident of France. The neglected resting places of a. number of American tars who were buried in Cherbourg have just been discovered, and they will be properly marked and cared for.
 Although the Alabama was destroy ed, she left behind her Q. trail of wreckage out of which emerged tre- had no sooner ended it's civil strife than the Washington government be-, gan pressing England for a settlement of the Alabama claims It was al- legged that the Alabama was virtual ly British pr1vateer, and that the course of the British government in permitting her to leave on her mis- sion showed connivance and sympathy with the Confederacy.
 The lingo press of both the Tni- ted States and England could see no settlement but a third war between Britain and her former colonies. There was profound conviction among the people of the Northern states that England and Canada had favored the Confederacy. This feel ing led to the a-brogation of tha re- ciprocity treaty between the States and Canada, the tacit encouragement by the United States of the Fenian ln- valsion of Canada, the pressing Of the Alabama claims to the point of armed conflict. and the final triumph of peace and arbitration at Washington and Geneva Indirectly, too, this an lmosty of the United States for Eng land hastened the confederation move ment in British America, and the Dominion of Canada was organized in 1887 largely as a war measure. The people of the various provinces be- Heved they would be better able to cope with the United States if they presented a. united front to the en- emy, and the c1ashing interests of the different provinces were forgot ten in facing what was thought to be a common peril.
 While millions in both countries were clamoring for war, the states men of Washington and London were carrying. on negotiations looking to a