13-1 TIIK TREATY OF WASHINGTON. 



the "Cliarire'' and the "Eeasons" can not Le accident- 

 al : it must have its cause in idiosA'ncrasies of mental 

 constitution. 



This vacillation or contradictoriness of opinion, 

 ■Nvhich strikes the News so much, pervades the " Rea- 



sons." 



Thus Sir Alexander admits want of due dilio-ence 

 in the matter of the Alabama, and yet stoutly denies 

 that the United States had any good cause of com- 

 jilaiut against Great Britain. He insists tliat Minis- 

 ters w^ere to officiate within the limits of municipal 

 law, and yet admits that such is not the law of na- 

 tions, the force of which he also recognizes. He de- 

 nies that the Ministers can lawfully exercise any pre- 

 rogative power in such matters, and yet justifies and 

 approves the exercise of it [although too late] in the 

 case of the Shenandoah. 



The Neivs also calls attention to Sir Alexander's 

 "disaffection to the conditions under which he dis- 

 charges his task, a task voluntarily accepted ^vith 

 full knowledge of those conditions." " He criticises 

 adversely the Treaty of Washington : . . , these criti- 

 cisms seem to us to be extra vires. A derived author- 

 ity ought surely to respect its source. . . . Other con- 

 siderations than those laid down for him have certain- 

 ly been present to the mind of Sir Alexander Cock- 

 burn," etc. 



There is manifest justness in this criticism. AVhat 

 business had Sir Alexander to indul2:e in continual 

 crimination of the Treaty of Washington, while act- 

 ing as Arbitrator under it, and possessing no pow- 



