SUMMARY OF THE EVIDENCE. 229 



been the intention, in procuring evidence, to follow, as closely as the 

 circustances permitted, the principles and methods obtaining in both 

 countries in litigation between private parties, and although it was not 

 possible to produce each witness before a magistrate and tender him 

 for cross-examination, in every instance the name, the residence, and 

 the profession or business of the witness has been given, and in every 

 instance the witness has sworn to the truth of his deposition. This 

 method of performing their functions maybe favorably contrasted with 

 the course which the Commissioners of Great Britain thought it incum- 

 bent upon or permissible for them to pursue. In very few instances 

 have they seen fit to give the name of their informant or to place it in 

 the power of the United States to test the reliability of the source from 

 which they had derived their knowledge, real or supposed. But they 

 have presented a great mass of statements of their own, evidently based 

 in a great measure upon conjecture, much of it directly traceable to 

 manifest partiality, and marked, to a singular degree, by the exhibition 

 of prejudice against the one party and bias in favor of the other. The 

 extent to which this has been carried must, in the eyes of all impartial 

 persons, deprive it of all value as evidence. 



How far counsel for the United States are justified in making this 

 sweeping criticism upon the work of the British Commissioners will 

 appear hereafter, when detailed attention is given to the result of their 

 labors. The adoption of such a course is the more to be regretted as 

 it was evidently the purpose and object of the British Government that 

 an entirely different investigation should be carried out by its agents j 

 nor had that Government hesitated to express its earnest desire that 

 the actual facts should be given and that the investigation should be 

 carried on with a strict impartiality. It is certain that the Commissioners 

 were warned in clear language that "great care should be taken to sift 

 the evidence that was brought before them." (See instructions to the 

 British Commissioners, page 1 of their Report). 



In attempting to lay before this distinguished Tribunal the facts that 

 may enlighten its judgment, the counsel for the United States propose 

 to show what facts are established, substantially without controversy, 

 and wherein their contention in case of difference is sustained by un- 

 mistakable preponderance of proof. For the purpose of facilitating 

 the labors of this body, they propose to treat every topic of special im- 

 portance separately and to produce the evidence which has a bearing 

 upon the discussion of its merits. 



