208 A SAGA OF THE SEAS 
lowed the subjects very closely by making a reference only to a 
list growing out of the acts of particular vessels, and in so doing 
shut out a large number of claims which the Americans had pre- 
viously insisted upon, but which the commissioners had prevented 
from being raised before the arbitrators.’ All this points unmis- 
takably to the definite and limited character of the claims which, 
in the judgment of the English negotiators, were alone to be sub- 
mitted to arbitration. 
It seems to me that Judge Williams, in the speech he made at 
the banquet I had the honor to give to the British High Commis- 
sioners in New York, expressed sentiments which can only be sim- 
ilarly construed. ‘Many persons,’ he said, ‘no doubt, will be dis- 
satisfied with their [the Joint High Commissioners’] labors; but 
to deal with questions so complicated, involving so many con- 
flicting interests, so as to please everybody, is a plain impossibility; 
but in view of the irritation which the course of Great Britain 
produced in this country during our late rebellion, and in view of 
the one-sided and generally exaggerated statements of our case 
made to the people, the American Commissioners consider them- 
selves quite fortunate that what they have done has met with so 
much public favor in all parts of the country and among men of 
all political parties.’ 
The true friend of America, the Duke of Argyll, speaking in 
the Upper House, was equally emphatic. “The great boon we have 
secured by this treaty,’ he said, ‘is this: that for the future the 
law of nations, as between the two greatest maritime states in the 
world, is settled in regard to this matter, and that.for this great 
boon we have literally sacrificed nothing except the admission 
that we are willing to apply to the case of the Alabama and that 
of other vessels those rules, I do not say of international law, but 
of international comity, which we have ourselves over and over 
again admitted.’ It is impossible that the duke would have ex- 
pressed himself in language so hopeful and so contented if behind 
‘the case of the Alabama and that of other vessels’ he had seen 
looming up the colossal demands which were originally embodied 
in Senator Sumner’s memorable oration. 
The views thus put forward sank deep into the public mind, 
and the treaty was accepted and ratified by popular opinion on 
this basis. General Schenck, several months after the delivery of 
the above speeches, in addressing a Lord Mayor’s banquet at the 
Guildhall, bade the English ministry and Lord Ripon ‘congratu- 
