THE AMERICAN CIVIL WAR 241 



as speedily as possible, even if it cost consider 

 able money. 



Under the influence of these conditions the 

 Derby cabinet, which came to power in June, 

 1866, proposed a renewal of the discussion as 

 to arbitration. Lord Stanley, the foreign sec 

 retary, avowed a willingness to submit to an 

 arbiter the question whether the British Gov 

 ernment was so far responsible for the depreda 

 tions of the Alabama as to be bound to pay the 

 claims of those whose property was destroyed 

 by the cruiser. He declined absolutely, how 

 ever, to include in submission to the arbiter 

 the question as to whether the recognition of 

 the Confederacy as a belligerent on May 13, 

 1861, was justifiable. As Seward was tenacious 

 on this point and insisted that the conduct 

 of Great Britain as a whole should go into 

 the determination of her responsibility for the 

 cruisers, arbitration failed again to be adopted 

 as the way out of the difficulties. 



To the anxiety of the British cabinet to 

 reach a settlement was added in 1867 a growing 

 eagerness on the part of Secretary Seward to 

 make such a settlement the capstone of his 

 long public service, now approaching its end. 

 Stimulated by these forces, diplomacy overcame 



