ALABAMA CLAIMS. . 143 



cldcssus. .Si I'linc on Tanlrc do ccs coiulitions vient a inanqiicr, 

 c'cst an Tribunal d'y siippicer en intcrprOtant ct ajiplicpiant k-s 

 trois ]U'glcs do 8on inicux et en toutc conscience." 



At tlio time Avlien Sir Alexander sent to press Lis 

 misrepre.seiit.'ition of the opinions of j\[r. St;eni})tli, lie 

 had in liis hanijs the anthcntic statement thereof 

 as printed at Geneva. There is no excuse, therefore, 

 for this malicious and dishonorahle endeavor of the 

 British Arbitrator to preju<lice the character of the 

 Swiss Arbitrator in Great Britain. 



TSevertheless, iSlv. Stiempfli, according to Sir Alex- 

 ander, having cut adrift from all positive law, adopts 

 instead " speculative notions," or " some /iitiddre per- 

 ception of right and ^vrong;■' and such ideas Sir Al- 

 exander re})udiates: or, as the London Tele(jrapli has 

 it, "the Chief Justice, armed ^vith sarcasm as well as 

 loi^ic, runs full tilt asiainst that docti'ine:" to Avit, the 

 doctrine, still in the words of the Tth'jrapli, " that the 

 duties which nations owe to each other nuist be de- 

 termined by the light of intuitive principles of jus- 

 tice." The Telegraph goes on, with trutli and reason, 

 to say that, after all, ]\Ir. St;empfli is right, if he insists 

 that *'the rules of fair dealing, which we term inter- 

 national law, are not law /// tJie same sense as the i)os- 

 itive edicts of the common law; for the essence of 

 such edicts' is that they come from a lawgiver in the 

 form of a parliament or a sovereign: the rules of in- 

 ternational justice are simply the code which ex])eri- 

 encc and the judgment of able men have shown to be 

 fair or expedient, but every civilized country feels 

 them to be not less binding on that account." With- 



