170 THE TREATY OF WASHINGTON. 



Russell, witli wliicli he is credited by Mr. Adams. 

 May it not Lave been, must it not Lave been, Lord 

 Palmerstou ? Is Earl Russell solely responsible for 

 the deplorable errors of tLat Administration ? * 



* I repeat, in Great Britain issue is not to be made on the 

 pecuniary part of the Award, but on the construction of the 

 opinions expressed and the legal conclusions arrived at by the 

 Tribunal of Arbitration. 



The opinions of a^^ the Arbitrators in the case of the Alaha- 

 wia, including that of the British Arbitrator, are concurrent to 

 the eftect that, by reason of the mendacity of her builders, the 

 Lairds, co-operating with corruption, negligence, or stupidity 

 on the part of the Board of Customs, the British Government 

 was made responsible for the depredations committed by her 

 on the commerce of the United States. 



But the circumstances of the actual escape of tlie Alabama 

 reveal a singular imperfection in the administrative mechanism 

 of the British Government. 



On the 23d of July, 1862, the British Government was 

 aroused from its indifference in regard to the equipment of the 

 Alabama, by receiving from Mr. Adams, with some other 

 papers, an opinion of a Queen's Counselor, Mr., now Sir Robert, 

 Collier, to the effect that, if the Alabama were suffered to de- 

 part, the Board of Customs and the Government would incur 

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

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

 tened to hide himself under the rpbes of the "Law Officers of 

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

 vocate-General ; Sir William Atherton, the Attorney-General ; 

 and Sir Roundell Palmer, the Solicitor-General. 



But the oracles did not speak until the 29th of July, and 

 then advised detention ^ in consequence of which, on the morn- 

 «"y of i^^(it day, the Alabama, whose managers appear to have 

 had intimate knowledge of every step taken or not taken by 

 the Government, departed from Liverpool. 



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

 31st of July, imputed this misadventure to "the sudden devel- 



