172 THE TUEATV OF WASHINGTON. 



lie ofliccrs, Avliose negligence or fraud lias reflected so 

 seriously on the British Goverumeat, may have been 



\vortliv accusation" of l»is against llic American Counsel, he liad 

 before him a statement on tlie s\ihject, jiresentcd to tlic Tribu- 

 nal of Arbitration by Sir IJoundell Talmer, as follows: 



" Sir John 1 larding was ill from the latter part of June, 1802, 

 and did not, after that lime, attend to Government business. 

 It was not, however, known, until some weeks afterward, that 

 lie was unlikely to recover; nor did the disorder undergo, till 

 the end of July, such a development as to make the Government 

 aware tliat tlic case was one of ]icrmanent mental alienation. 



"Altliough, when a Law Otlicer was ill, he would not be 

 troubled w itli ordinary business, it was quite consistent with 

 jirobability and expei'iencc that, in a case of more than usual 

 importance, it would be desired, if jiossible, to obtain the ben- 

 ctit of his opinion. X'ndcr such circumstances, the papers 

 would naturally be sent to his juivatc liouse; and, if this was 

 done, an.l if he was unabU- to attend to them, some delay would 

 necessarily take i)lace before the imi)0ssibility of his attending 

 to them was known. 



"Lord Kussell told ^Ir. Adams [July 31, 18021 that some 

 delay had, in fact, occurred with respect to the Alabama in 

 conse<picnce of Sir John Harding's illness. lie could not have 

 made the statement, if the fact were not really so; because, 

 whatever the fact was, it must have been, at the time, known 

 to him. Tiic very circ\imstance that Sir J. Harding had not 

 already advised upon the case in its earlier stage might be a 

 reason Avhy X should be wished to oi)tain liis oi)inion. 



•'Sir ...Harding and his wife are both [some years sincel 

 dead; so are Sir W. Atherton [the then Attorney-General] and 

 his wife; no information, therefore, as to the circumstances 

 which may have caused delay, with respect to ihc delivery at 

 their private house, or the transmission and consideration of 

 any papers on this subject, can now be obtained from them. 



"The then Solicitor-General was Sir II. Palmer, who is able 

 to state positively that tlic first time liC saw or heard of the 

 papers sent to the Law Ollicers [/. c, all three Law Olliccrs] on 



