INTRODUCTION. 13 
social sentiments, incidental circumstances, all invited 
both nations to cordial reunion. 
In the face of many difficulties, the Commissioners, 
on the 8th of May, 1871, completed a treaty, which 
received the prompt approval of their respective 
Governments; which has passed unscathed through 
the severest ordeal of a temporary misunderstanding 
between the two Governments respecting the con- 
struction of some of its provisions; which has already 
attained the dignity of a monumental_act in.the esti- 
mation of mankind; and which is destined to occupy. 
hereafter a lofty place | in the history of the diplomacy 
and the international jurisprudence of Europe and 
America. 
Coming now to the analysis of this treaty, we find 
that Articles Ito XI. inclusive make provisions for 
the settlement by arbitration of the i injuries alleged 
to have been suffered by the United States. in conse: 
quence of the fitting.out, arming, or equipping, in the 
ports of Great Britain, of Confederate cruisers. to 
make war on the United States. 
Articles XII. to X VIL. inclusive make provision to 
‘settle, by means of a mixed Commission, all claims on 
either side for injuries by either Government to the cit- 
izens of the other during the late Civil War, other than 
claims growing out of the acts of Confederate cruisers 
disposed of by the previous articles of the Treaty. 
Articles XVIII. to XXV. inclusive contain provi- 
sions for the permanent regulation of the coast fish- 
eries on the Atlantic shores of the United States and 
of the British Provinces of Quebec, Nova Scotia, and 
