170 Tin- TUKATY OF WASHINGTON, 



Kusst'l], witli wliicli lie is credited Ly 'Mv. Adams, 

 ^[jiy it not linve l>een, must it not liuve been, Lord 

 Palmerston 1 Is Karl Russell solely rcsponi;ible for 

 tlie deplorable errors of that Administration 1 * 



* I repeat, in (Ircat ]>ritain issue is not to be made on the 

 |icc\uiiary part ot' tlie Award, but on tlie construction of the 

 opinions cxjircsscd and tiic legal conclusions arrived at by the 

 Tribunal of Arbitration. 



Tlie opinions ol\(ll the Arbitrators in the case ot' the -lA/i'-'a- 

 »»(^, includiuLj that of the IJritish Arbitrator, are concurrent to 

 the ellcct that, by re.'.son of the mendacity of her builders, the 

 Lairds, co-o))cratini:; with corruption, negligence, or stupidity 

 on the jiart of the Uoard of Customs, the British Government 

 Avas made responsible for the doprodationa committed by licr 

 on the commerce of the United .States. 



13ut the circumstances of the actual escape of th.e Alabama 

 reveal a singular im])erfection in the administrative mechanism 

 of the Ibiti^h (lovernnicnt. 



On the 23d of July, 1802, the British Government -was 

 aroused from its indilVerenee in regard to the equipment of tho 

 Alabama, by receiving iVom Mr. Adains, with some other 

 jiajters, an opinion of a (^"'^'(^•I's Counselor, ]\Ir., now Sir Ilobcrt, 

 Cullier, to the ellVct that, if the Alabama were sutVered to de- 

 part, the Board of Cu.stoms and the Government would incur 

 "heavy responsibility." The case had become urgent. The 

 Alabama might sail at any moment. Lord John JJussell has- 

 tened to hiile himself under tho robes of the "Law OniccrS of 

 the Crown," — that is to say, Sir John Harding, the Queen's Ad- 

 vocate-General ; Sir "William Athciton, the Attorney-General; 

 and Sir Uoundell I'abner, the Solicitor-General. 



]bit the oracles did not speak until the 20lh of July, and 

 then advised ddcntio.i ^ in consequence of which, on tlie morn- 

 iiKj of that (la>/, i\\Q Alabama, whose managers ap])ear to have 

 had intimate knowledge of every step taken or not taken by 

 the Government, departed from Liverpool. 



Lord John KusscU, in a conference with Mr. Adams on the 

 31st of July, imputed this misadventure to "tho sudden dcvcl- 



