THE AMERICAN CIVIL WAR 243 



two appointed by each government, was in 

 trusted with the power to pass upon the claims 

 by majority vote. When no majority should 

 be obtainable an umpire should be selected, if 

 necessary by lot; or, upon the demand of two 

 commissioners, the umpire should be the head 

 of a foreign state, to be agreed upon by the two 

 governments. 



In this convention the British Government 

 yielded all that which it had hitherto held to be 

 impossible. Both its administration of its neu 

 trality laws, which Russell refused to regard as 

 arbitrable, and its recognition of Confederate 

 belligerency, which had been reserved by Stan 

 ley, were subject to the judgment of the arbiter 

 under the Johnson-Clarendon treaty; for in the 

 consideration of every claim the commissioners 

 and the umpire were directed to base their 

 decisions on the official correspondence of the 

 two governments, together with one oral argu 

 ment on each side and such papers as the gov 

 ernments should choose to submit. So far as 

 concerned the Alabama claims, these provisions 

 put before the tribunal every aspect of the long 

 controversy. 



There was, however, little hope, from the 

 outset, that the concessive attitude of Great 



