ALABAMA CLAIMS. S3 



(EidgcnossiscLe) Bank establislied at Berne. On 

 receiving tlie rcf^pcctivc " Counter-Cases" of the two 

 Governments, wliicli in effect closed the proofs on 

 both sides, lie took a characteristic step in order to 

 be prepared for action in June. 



As you sail up the Lake of Thun toward Unter- 

 seen or Interlaken, you note on the left the precipi- 

 tous wooded mountain-side of Beatenberg. Here, 

 high up in a rural hamlet, hidden among the trees, 

 with the beautiful lakes of Thun and Brieuz at his 

 feet, and the magnificent spectacle of the Oberland, 

 terminating at the remoter Berner Alps, — in those 

 balmy Alpine days when spring is passing into sum- 

 mer, and all earth is a paradise of verdure and of ani- 

 mation, — here a\[r. Sta^mpili secluded himself from tlio 

 social distractions and cares of business at Berne, and 

 dedicated himself to the mastery of the '^Alabama 

 Claims." In such a blessed retreat even law-books 

 might lose their dullness, and diplomatic correspond- 

 ence, depositions, and legal pleadings be invested witli 

 the charmed reflection of the matchless scenery of 

 lakes, fields, hamlets, cities, mountains, and rivei^, 

 irlitterinc: in the sun, and restinc: in the horizon at 

 the snow-crowned heights of the Jungfrau. 



And so it seems to have been. For good St. Boa- 

 tus blessed the mountain labors of iSlr. Sta^mpfii, and 

 ho came to Geneva in due time with full abstracts 

 of evidence and elaborately written opinions on the 

 main questions at issue before the Tribunal, to the ap- 

 parent surprise of Sir Alexander Cockburn, who, con- 

 fidently relying on the rupture of the Arbitration, as 



