28 THE TREATY OF WASHINGTON. 
earliest moment possible, signs became visible of 
the singular want of discretion and good sense of 
the “enfant terrible,” ostentatiously protocoled “ Lord 
Chief Justice of England,” whom the British Govern- 
ment had placed on the Tribunal. 
The vernacular tongue of Count Sclopis was Ital- 
ian; that of the Baron d’Itajubé, Portuguese; and 
that of Mr. Stempfli, German. Count Sclopis spoke 
and read English, and Mr. Steempfli read it. All the 
Arbitrators, however, were well acquainted with 
French; and it was in this language that they com- 
municated with one another, whether in social inter- 
course or in the discussions of the Tribunal. Thus, 
we had before us a Tribunal, the members of which 
did not either of them make use of his own language 
in their common business; but met, all of them, on 
the neutral ground of the common diplomatic lan- 
guage of Europe. 
In this connection it was that the United States 
enjoyed their first advantage. Our Government did 
not need to wait until the organization of the Tribu- 
nal to know in what language its proceedings would 
be conducted ; and, in prevision of this fact, it ordered 
the American “Case” to be translated from the En- 
glish into French, so as to be presented simultaneous- 
ly in both languages at the meeting of the Tribu- 
nal: the exigency for which was not anticipated, 
or, if anticipated, was not provided for, by the Brit- 
ish Government. 
The American “Case” and documents are contain- 
ed in eight volumes octavo, which consist in all of 
