J. 



SPEECHES OF COUNSEL INCLUDING THE FINAL ARGU- 

 MENTS. 



I. 



At the fifth Conference held on the 31st of July, 1877, on the conclusion 

 of the reading of the " Case of Her Majesty's Government "; the ''Answer 

 of the United States "; and the " Reply of Her Majesty's Government," 



Mr. THOMSON said : This, your excellency and your honors, is the 

 "Case of Great Britain"; the "Answer of the United States" to this 

 Case, and the reply. The issues are plain, and are not, I apprehend, to 

 be misunderstood. I think I may not be presumptuous in saying on the 

 part of Her Majesty's Government, that we feel these issues are trusted 

 for adjudication and decision to able and impartial hands ; and if it shall 

 happen, as I hope it may, that the result of your deliberations in this 

 Case may be the basis upon which future and more lasting negotiations 

 may be entered into, and so a source of continued national and local 

 irritation be entirely removed, then I think I may fairly say to your 

 excellency and your honors, that you will have acquired no unenviable 

 and no unimportant place in the history of your times ; and I am quite 

 satisfied that you will have earned by your labors the lasting gratitude 

 of two great peoples. 



II. 



At the twenty-fifth conference held on the 28th day of August, 1877, 

 Mr. TRESCOT, on behalf of the Government of the United States, made 

 the following applicaton : 



Mr. President and gentlemen of the Commission : As the time is now 

 approaching when the evidence in support of the British Case will be 

 closed, and we will be requested to open the testimony in behalf of the 

 United States, we would ask leave to make a slight change in the order 

 of our proceeding as it has been at present arranged. 



According to the present arrangement, it will be our duty to open 

 our case in advance of the testimony by laying before you the general 

 scheme of our argument and indicating the points upon which evidence 

 will be submitted in its support. 



The character of the testimony which has been now submitted in sup- 

 port of the British Case, and the tenor of that which we will offer (as 

 may be inferred from the evidence of the two witnesses whom we were 

 allowed to examine out of order) have impressed us with the conviction 

 that a practical discussion of the real issues will be more certainly se- 

 cured, and the time and patience of the Commission will be more wisely 

 96 F 



