rUBLIC DOCUMENTS. 



649 



ARTICLE 1. Whereas differences have arisen be- 

 tween the Government of the United States and the 

 Government of her Britannic Majesty, and still exist, 

 growing out of the acts committed by the several 

 vessels which have given rise to the claims generally 

 known as the Alabama Claims ; and whereas her 

 Britannic Majesty has authorized her High Commis- 

 sioners and Plenipotentiaries to express in a friendly 

 spirit the regret felt by her Majesty's Government 

 for the escape, under whatever circumstances, of the 

 Alabama and other vessels from British ports, and 

 for the depredations committed by those vessels ; 

 now, in order to remove and adjust all complaints 

 and claims on the part of the United States, and to 

 provide for the speedy settlement of such claims 

 which are not admitted by her Britannic Majesty's 

 Government, the high contracting parties agree that 

 all the said claims growing out of acts committed by 

 the aforesaid vessels, and generally known as the 

 Alabama Claims, shall be referred to a Tribunal of 

 Arbitration, to be composed of five arbitrators, to 

 be appointed in the following manner, that is to 

 say : One shall be named by the President of the 

 United States, one shall be named by her Britannic 

 Majesty, his Majesty the King of Italy shall be re- 

 quested to name one, the President of the Swiss 

 Confederation shall be requested to name one, and 

 his Majesty the Emperor of Brazil shall be requested 

 to name one. In case of death, absence, or incapacity 

 to serve, of either of the said arbitrators, or in the 

 event of either of the said arbitrators omitting, or 

 declining, or ceasing to act as such, the President of 

 the United States, or her Britannic Majesty, or his 

 Majesty the King of Italy, or the President of the 

 Swiss Confederation, or his Majesty the Emperor of 

 Brazil, as the case may be, may forthwith name an- 

 other person to act as arbitrator in the place and 

 stead of the arbitrator originally named by such 

 head of State ; and in the event of refusal or omis- 

 sion, for two months after the receipt of the request, 

 from either of the high contracting parties, of his 

 Majesty the King of Italy, or the President of the 

 Swiss Confederation, or his Majesty the Emperor of 

 Brazil, to name an arbitrator, either to fill the original 

 appointment or in place of one who may have died, 

 be absent, or incapacitated, or who may omit, de- 

 cline, or from any cause cease to act as such arbitrator, 

 his Majesty the King of Sweden and Norway shall 

 be requested to name one or more persons, as the 

 case may be, to act as such arbitrator or arbitrators. 



ART. 2. The arbitrators shall meet at Geneva, in 

 Switzerland, at the earliest day convenient after they 

 shall have been named, and shall proceed impartially 

 and carefully to examine and decide all questions 

 that shall be laid before them on the part of the 

 Governments of the United States and her Britannic 

 Majesty respectively. All questions considered by 

 the tribunal, including the final award, shall be de- 

 cided by a majority of all the arbitrators. Each of 

 all of the high contracting parties shall also name one 

 person to attend the tribunal as its agent to represent 

 it generally in all matters connected with the arbi- 

 tration. 



ART. 3. The written or printed case of each of the 

 two parties, accompanied by the documents, the 

 official correspondence, and other evidence on which 

 each relies, shall be delivered in duplicate to each of 

 the arbitrators, and to the agent of the other party, 

 as soon as may be after the organization of the tri- 

 bunal, but within a period not exceeding six months 

 from the date of the exchange of the ratification of 

 this treaty. 



ART. 4. Within four months after the delivery on 

 both sides of the written or printed case, either party 

 may, in like manner, deliver in duplicate to each of 

 the said arbitrators, and to the agent of the other 

 party, a counter-case, and additional documents, cor- 

 respondence, and evidence, in reply to the other 

 Earty. The arbitrators may, however, extend the 

 me for delivering such counter-case, documents, 



correspondence, and evidence, when, in their judg- 

 ment, it becomes necessary, in consequence of the 

 distance of the place from which the evidence to be 

 presented is to be procured. If, in the case submit- 

 ted, any report or document in the exclusive posses- 

 sion ot_any party be omitted, such party shall be 

 bound, if the other party thinks proper to apply for 

 it, to furnish that party with a copy thereof, and either 

 party may call upon the other, through the arbitrators, 

 to produce the originals or certified copies of any pa- 

 pers adduced as evidence, giving in each instance 

 such reasonable notice as the arbitrators may require. 



ART. 5. It shall be the duty of the agent of each 

 party, within two months after the expiration of the 

 tune limited for the delivery of the counter-case on 

 both sides, to deliver in duplicate to each of the said 

 arbitrators, and to the agent of the other party, a 

 written or printed argument, showing the points and 

 referring to the evidence^pon which ^his Govern- 

 ment relies ; and the arbitrators may, if they desire 

 further elucidation with regard to any point, require 

 a written or printed statement or argument, or oral 

 argument by counsel upon it. But in such case the 

 other party shall be entitled to reply, either orally or 

 in writing, as the case may be. 



ART. 6. In deciding the matters submitted to the 

 arbitrators, they shall be governed by the following 

 three rules to be taken as applicable to the case, and 

 by such principles of international law, not inconsist- 

 ent therewith, as the arbitrators shall determine to 

 have been applicable to the case. 



KULES. A neutral Government is bound, first, to 

 use due diligence to prevent the fitting out, arming, 

 or equipping, within its jurisdiction, of any vessel 

 which it has reasonable ground to believe is intended 

 to cruise or to carry on war against a power with 

 which it is at peace, and also to use like diligence to 

 prevent the departure from its jurisdiction of any 

 vessel intended to cruise or carry on war as above, 

 such vessel having been specially adapted, in whole 

 or in part, within such jurisdiction, to warlike use; 

 secondly, not to permit or suffer either belligerent to 

 make use of its ports or waters as the base of naval 

 operations against the other, or for the purpose of 

 the renewal or augmentation of military supplies or 

 arms, or the recruitment of men ; thirdly, to exercise 

 due diligence in its own ports and waters, and, as to 

 all persons within its jurisdiction, to prevent any 

 violation of the foregoing obligations and duties. 



Her Britannic Majesty has commanded her High 

 Commissioners and' Plenipotentiaries to declare that 

 her Majesty's Government cannot assent to the fore- 

 going rules, as a statement of principles of inter- 

 national law which were in force at the time when 

 the claims mentioned in Article 1 arose, but that 

 her Britannic Majesty's Government, in order to 

 evince its desire of strengthening the friendly rela- 

 tions between the two countries and of making satis- 

 factory provision for the future, agrees that, in de- 

 ciding the questions between the two countries aris- 

 ing out of those claims, the arbitrators should assume 

 that her Majesty's Government had undertaken to 

 act upon the principles set forth in these rules, and 

 the high contracting parties agree to observe these 

 rules between themselves in future, and to bring 

 them to the knowledge of other maritime powers, and 

 to invite them to accede to them. 



ART. 7. The decision of the tribunal shall, if pos- 

 sible, he made within three months from the close 

 of the argument on both sides. It shall be made in 

 writing, and dated, and shall be signed by the arbi- 

 trators'who may assent to it. The said tribunal shall 

 first determine "as to each vessel separately, whether 

 Great Britain, has by any act or omission,failed to fulfil 

 any of the duties set forth in the foregoing three 

 rules, or recognized by the principles of international 

 law, not inconsistent with such rules, and shall cer- 

 tify such fact as to each of the said vessels. In case 

 the tribunal find that Great Britain has failed to 

 fulfil any duty or duties as aforesaid, it may, if it 



