234 THE AMERICAN CIVIL WAR 



erate cruisers. The existence of this feeling and 

 the bitterness with which it was resented in 

 England give a clue to some of the most seri 

 ous complications of ensuing years. 



While war was flagrant, claims based on acts 

 of the Alabama were presented by Secretary 

 Seward, and rejected by Earl Russell, with 

 monotonous frequency. A rather peevish re 

 quest of Russell that the annoying procedure 

 be abandoned was followed by some curtail 

 ment of the arguments that accompanied the 

 claims, but not of the lists of losses. In 1865, 

 when the Confederacy was in ruins and the last 

 cruiser had abandoned her career of destruc 

 tion, the two governments girded themselves 

 for the diplomatic contest that was now pos 

 sible without the distractions of hostilities. 

 The complete case for the United States com 

 bined the Queen s proclamation of neutrality 

 with the government s derelictions of duty in 

 respect to the cruisers as a comprehensive man 

 ifestation of partiality to the Confederacy, and 

 a wrong to the American nation. The procla 

 mation of neutrality, Adams argued, was pre 

 mature and unfriendly. In recognizing the 

 insurgents as belligerents on the ocean before 

 they had a single vessel afloat, her Majesty s 



