J i - 



COJTGRr>S. 1 SITED STATKs. 



nally ; It it becaoM we had public claims M 

 well". Uo we not know thut this treaty nearly 

 failed becauae there were pnblio clain.- 

 braced in those words 1 WlMB we oaine to 

 present oar cae to tin- Geneva tribunal, we 

 claimed not simply the claims <( private citi- 

 zens, Inn immense public claims known under 

 llu> general designation of ' the indirect 

 claim*;' and we know that Grout Hrituin re- 

 fused to proceed one step. What were those 

 indirect claims? They were the cost to this 

 Government of the prolongation of the war, 

 and various other matters. The prolongation 

 of the war was the main onethe indirect 

 losses. The enhanced rate of insurance M 

 over the country was another. We presented 

 those claims ; we put them in our case. Great 

 Britain said : ' I will not move one step until 

 you withdraw them; I never submitted any 

 snob thing as that ; I will not, therefore, agree 

 to go before this tribunal, I will not submit to 

 any five arbitrators on the face of this earth,' 

 and no other Government, they said, that had 

 any power or self-respect, would submit a 

 question under which they might be mulcted 

 in thousands of millions dollars damages. 



' We got out of that. How we got out of 

 it. it is not necessary to say particularly. We 

 got out of it, however, first, by our Govern- 

 ment writing to Mr. Schenok: 'We do not 

 mean any thing by that; we do not ask any 

 money for that at all ; we have stuck it in 

 there, but we do not ask any money for it ; so 

 just get out of it the best way you can. 

 Well, -ir. they met, and finally the tribunal 

 d-vided that, whether they had jurisdiction of 

 it or not, it was not a thing that came within the 

 scope of the tribunal, either of the three rules 

 laid down or the principles of internntion:il 

 law ; and therefore they would exclude it any- 

 how ; and thereupon both parties had got ex- 

 actly what they wanted. Both parties got out 

 of the scrape, out of the snarl in which they 

 were, and then the tribunal proceeded. 



Hut there were still left some public claims 

 of which the tribunal could take cognizance, 

 which both parties agreed were proper for the 

 /.anre of the tribunal claims not of j>ri- 

 vte citizens, but claim* that the Government 

 alone could represent. What were they! One 

 of the first of them was the enhanced rates of 

 in- 1 ranee caused bv the existence and dopre- 

 IH of these rumors. Great Britain did not 

 d.-ny that that might be considered by the tri- 

 bunal. Another was the cost of pursuing cniis- 

 n tad Mptgring them. That was another thing 

 Great Britain did not deny might he coimid- 

 ered by the tribunal ; and" tin* tribunal did 

 consider both those things. They were public 

 claims. Not one of those ekitns'for in< -reused 

 insurance had been presented to Great Britain. 

 Tby were not, therefore, the claims of private 

 citizen*. That was a matter that concerned a 

 ract multitude of citizens, every!)..,! 



rameroe, and conld only !> represented 

 by the Government. Of coarse no individual 



had any right to indemnification for the 

 of pursuing and capturing tin t'oiii. . 

 cruisers. That was, therefore, a national thin;; 

 also. They were then presented; thc\ 

 argued; and the tribunal solemnly decided 

 against the allowance of any thing on account 

 of either of them. That is the reason why 

 the language of this treaty is 'the claims ge- 

 nerically known as the Alabama claims.' in 

 of being, as in the other treaties, ' the claims of 

 citizens of the United States.' 



"But, sir, the treaty does recognize that ;he 

 citizens of the United States had claims on 

 Great Britain. Let us see if the treat;. 

 not recognize that." 



Mr. Schurz: "There were some individual 

 claims for insurance presented." 



Mr. Thunnan : " There may have been some 

 few, but they were not many." 



Mr. Edmunds: "If the Senator will pardon 

 me, there were four hundred and fifty-five <li>- 

 tinct claims presented." 



Mr. Thurmitn: "I had overlooked that. It 

 may be so; hut it does not matter. There 

 were still the public claims. There was the 

 cost of pursuing and endeavoring to capture 

 these Confederate cruisers. That was a public 

 claim, and upon that the tribunal rendered a 

 solemn award. In the award itself you will 

 find it. 



" Now, Mr. President, the tribunal did pro- 

 ceed, pursuant to that article of the t;. 

 and took up each vessel and decided in : 

 once to it, and decided that Great Britain hod 

 been guilty of an omission to perform her du- 

 ties as a neutral in respect to the Alabama, in 

 respect to the Florida, and in respect to tho 

 Shenandoah from tho time the bhenandoidi 

 left Melbourne, the date of which is fixed, and 

 in regard to certain small vessels that wero 

 tenders to those cruisers, or to some of them ; 

 and decided that in respect to all the other 

 vessels Great Britain did not fail in her duties 

 as a neutral, and therefore was under no obli- 

 gation to make any payment or reparation 

 whatsoever; and decided in regard to the 

 public claims of the United Slates, those 

 which are distinct from individual claims, that 

 Great Britain was not liable to the United 

 States, and therefore was not bound to make 

 nny indemnity. 



" You see from this that the tribunal had 

 decided against us on every point except cer- 

 tain individual claims; that is in respect to 

 certain vessels; and in respect to their 

 the only necessity or propriety of naming tho 

 Teasels was owing to other provisions in tin- 

 treaty as to the dis'ribution of the fund. Tho 

 claims, then, that were allowed by the trilci- 

 nnl, upon which it, hosed its award, were 

 wholly and entirely individual claims claim-! 

 of citizens of tho United States who had suf- 

 fered loss from these Confederate crui 



'What did the tribunal then do? Ilavinp 

 determined that in respect to three vessels and 

 their tenders Great Britain was liable, the tri- 



