Action between the Alabama and Kearsarge Complaint against the Owner of the yacht Deerhound The Florida and Georgia at Brest and Cherbourg BRITISH SUBJECTS IN UNITED STATES. American Government renews its Claims against England Correspondence between Lord Stanley and Mr. Seward. Proposed Reference declined by United States INTRODUCTION. THIS book is primarily intended as a contribution to the history of International Law. The struggle in which the American people were engaged between the years 1861 and 1865 was, from its magnitude, from the fact that it was partly maritime, and from the extensive intercourse which the United States maintain with Europe, singularly fertile in questions regarding the rights and duties of belligerent and neutral. I propose to give a succinct and connected account of these questions as they arose. Dry and uninteresting as they will probably appear to most men, such controversies have importance for all civilized communities, since there are few nations which can indulge the hope that they will not some day be plunged into war, and none that can expect to escape all contact with it. I desire, in the second place, to exhibit, by means of such a narrative, a general view of the conduct of the British Government in relation to the war. In this way alone can it be fairly judged. It is only by taking them in connection with one another, with the general history of the revolt, and with the course pursued by other neutral nations, that the acts of Great Britain can be seen as they were, and in their true magnitude and proportion. Nearly five years have now passed since the restoration of peace. Yet the Government, if not the people, of the United States continues to cherish towards Great Britain, and towards her alone, a lingering |
