Note 63 — LORD BEACONSFIELD. ON THE PRINCIPLES OF THE CONSERVATIVE PARTY; DELIVERED AT MANCHESTER, APRIL 3, 1872.

Note 63, p. 271.—The Washington Treaty of June 17, 1871, provided for referring five important questions in dispute to a Committee of Arbitration, consisting of one member appointed by the Queen of England, one by the President of the United States, one by the King of Italy, one by the President of the Swiss Confederation, and one by the Emperor of Brazil. The sixth article of the treaty provided that the Arbitrators should be guided in their decision of the “Alabama Claims” by “three rules” which were given in the article, and which virtually acknowledged the responsibility of England for allowing the “Alabama” to be fitted up in a British port, and allowing her to escape. The adoption of these “three rules” unquestionably gave the United States great advantage and made, it nearly certain that the case would be adjudicated in their favor. But the opposition in England steadily held that the “three rules” that were made the basis of the arbitration were not justified by the requirements of international law. This view has since been held by many prominent publicists, American as well as European. The rules are of at least questionable advantage, and have not been assented to by any other powers than England and the United States. The result of the arbitration, which was held at Geneva in 1871 and 1872, was to award “the sum of $15,500,000 in gold as the indemnity to be paid by Great Britain to the United States for the satisfaction of all claims referred to the consideration of the tribunal.” The treaty and the award are printed at length in Cushing’s “Treaty of Washington,” pp. 257–280. What made England willing to adopt the “three rules” for the sake of speedily reaching a final settlement, was the condition of affairs in Europe. In case England had become involved in war, her commerce would have been at the mercy of American privateers. But the treaty and the award were very unpopular in England. Mr. McCarthy (iv., 347) says: “What most of the English people saw was that England had been compelled, in homely phrase, to ‘knuckle down’ to America.” This unpopularity of the measure and the good use made of it by Lord Beaconsfield had not a little to do with bringing on the downfall of Gladstone’s government.