ALABA^IA CLAIMS. 15 



CHAPTER IL 

 ALABAMA CLAIMS. 



CONDUCT OF GREAT BRITAIN TOWARD THE UNITED STATES 

 DURING THE LATE CIVIL WAR. 



At tlie conclusion of the Civil War, intense feeling 

 of indignation against Great Britain pervaded the 

 minds of 'the Government and Congress of the United 

 States, and of the people of those of the States w^hich 

 had devoted themselves to maintainins; in arms the 

 integrity o^ the Union against the hostile efforts of 

 the Southern Confederation. 



We charged and we believed that Great Britain 

 and her Colonies had been the arsenal, the navy-yard, 

 and the treasury of the Confederates. 



We charged and we believed that Confederate 

 cruisers, which had depredated largely on our ship- 

 ping and maritime commerce, never could have taken 

 and never held the sea, but for the partiality and 

 gross negligence of the British Government. 



We charged and we believed that but for the pre- 

 mature recognition of the belligerence of the Confed- 

 erates by Great Britain, and the direct aid or sup- 

 plies which were subsecjuently furnished to them in 

 British ports, the insurrection in the Southern States 

 never would have assumed, or could not have retained, 



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