contentions "were advanced with an aggressiveness of tone and
attorneylike smartness, more appropriate to the wranglings of a
quarter-sessions court than to pleadings before a grave
international tribunal." The American counsel were instructed to
insist not, indeed, on indemnity for the cost of two years of
war, but on compensation because of the transfer of our commerce
to the British merchant marine, by virtue of the clause of the
treaty which read "acts committed by the several vessels which
have given rise to the claims generally known as the 'Alabama
Claims.'" British public opinion considered this contention an
act of bad faith. Excitement in England rose to a high pitch and
the Gladstone Ministry proposed to withdraw from the arbitration.

That the tribunal of arbitration did not end in utter failure was
due to the wisdom and courage of Adams. At his suggestion the
five arbitrators announced on June 19, 1872, that they would not
consider claims for indirect damages, because such claims did
"not constitute, upon the principles of international law
applicable to such cases, good foundation for an award of
compensation, or computations of damages between nations." These
claims dismissed, the arbitrators entered into an examination of
the direct American claims and on September 14, 1872, decided
upon an award of fifteen and a half million dollars to the United
States. The Treaty of Washington and the Geneva Tribunal
constituted the longest step thus far taken by any two nations
toward the settlement of their disputes by judicial process.



CHAPTER III. Alaska And Its Problems