324 ORAL ARGUMENT OF HON. EDWARD J. PHELPS. 



prove, and I cannot doubt approve, the conclusions you arrive at. It 

 will be a source of satisfaction to you that the still better appeal to the 

 ultimate judgment of civilised men will also follow and pass upon the 

 judgment of this Court. It is, Sir, with a confidence predicated upon 

 the justice of the American case, inspired by the high character of the 

 Tribunal these nations have been fortunate enough to bring togetlier, 

 and strengthened by the anxious solicitude every member of it lias 

 shown through this long and wearisome discussion to reach a right con- 

 clusion, — that the United States Government submits this case to your 

 consideration. 



The President. — Mr. Phelps, the diflBcult part has been thrown u])on 

 you to speak the concluding words in this very eloquent debate alter 

 your friends on either side had striven to make the task more arduous 

 for you. It has been discharged in such a manner as fully to deserve 

 our admiration, blending the deep science of the lawyer with literary 

 refinement and diplomatic dignity. We appreciated the delicate, even 

 when pressing touch with which you have gone over matters put before 

 us in manifold form. I beg I may be allowed to consider the laurel you 

 have won at this cosmopolitan bar as a fair addition to the wreath of 

 honors which you conquered on different fields both In the New and in 

 the Ancient World. 



Sir Charles Russell. — Mr. President, we have now so far as dis- 

 cussion is concerned arrived at an end of this anxious and protracted 

 proceeding. There is one word that I should like to be permitted to 

 say, a word that I am quite certain will receive full endorsement from 

 my learned friends. The word that I desire to say, Mr. President, is 

 for my colleagues and myself to express our deep gratitude for the 

 unvarying patience and courtesy with which we have been treated by 

 every Member of this Tribunal. I should like to be allowed to add 

 also how fully we recognize the manner in which your proceedings and 

 our labours have been assisted and rendered easy by the cooperation, 

 active and courteous, of the Secretaries and Assistant Secretaries of the 

 Commission itself. We ought also to recognise the courtesy which we 

 have received from the Secretaries of the individual members of the 

 Tribunal with whom we have necessarily been brought more or less in 

 contact. 



Mr. President, we shall all of us have for many years to come a most 

 grateful recollection of the courtesy and kindness we have rectMved. 



The President. — I thank you, Sir Charles, in our names for all of 

 us, and the other gentlemen, for your courteous words; and certainly, 

 as you say, the remembrance you will keep will be in the memories of 

 all of us as long as we are alive. 



Mr. Phelps. — I may be allowed I hope, Sir, for my associates and 

 myself, as well as for my Government, to exi)ress my cordial concur- 

 rence in what has been so well said by my learned friend, the Attorney 

 General of England, every word of it. 



I think the members of the Tribunal, other than yourself, Sir, may 

 be gratified if I venture to add one further word to what my learned 

 friend has said, and to express the sense that we all entertain, I am 

 sure, on their side of the table as well as ours, of the great ability, the 

 faultless courtesy, and the acute perception that has kept this discus- 

 sion within its proper boundaries, which has characterized your adminis- 

 tration. Sir, of the difficult ofiflce of President of this Tribunal. That 

 position was accorded to you, Sir, by your distinguished colleagues, 

 not merely on account of your personal fitness, a fitness which they 

 equally shared, but to a certain extent, uudoubtedly, in acknowledg- 



