Chamber of Commerce insists on indemnity not only for actual loss
of ships and cargoes from the blockade, but also for damages on
account of detention. Much of this many-headed account, which I
introduce in order to open the case in its extent, will be opposed
by France, as fabulous, consequential, and remote. The practical
question will be, Can one nation do wrong to another without
paying for the damage, whatever it may be, direct or indirect,--
always provided it be susceptible of estimate? Here I content
myself with the remark, that, while in the settlement of
international differences there is no place for technicality,
there is always room for moderation.




GUARANTY OF DISMEMBERMENT.


Vast as may be the claim of indemnity, it opens no question so
calculated to touch the sensibilities of France as the claim of
guaranty already announced by Germany. On this head we are not
left to conjecture. From her first victory we have been assured
that Germany would claim Alsace and German Lorraine, with their
famous strongholds; and now we have the statement of Count
Bismarck, in a diplomatic circular, that he expects to remove the
German frontier further west,--meaning to the Vosges Mountains, if
not to the Moselle also,--and to convert the fortresses into what
he calls "defensive strongholds of Germany."[Footnote: Circular of
September 16,1870,--ubi supra, p. 49, Note 1.] Then, with larger
view, he declares, that, "in rendering it more difficult for