ing to justice and equity, all matters submitted to them, and shall forthwith proceed, under such rules and regulations as they may prescribe, to the investigation of the claims which shall be presented to them by the Government of the United States, and shall examine and decide upon them in such order and manner as they may think proper, but upon such evidence or information only as shall be furnished by or on behalf of the Governments of the United States and of Great Britain respectively. They shall be bound to hear on each separate claim, if required, one person on behalf of each Government, as counsel or agent. A majority of the Assessors in each case shall be sufficient for a decision. The decision of the Assessors shall be given upon each claim in writing, and shall be signed by them respectively and dated. Every claim shall be presented to the Assessors within six months from the day of their first meeting, but they may, for good cause shown, extend the time for the presentation of any claim to a further period, not exceeding three months. The Assessors shall report to each Government, at or before the expiration of one year from the date of their first meeting, the amount of claims decided by them up to the date of such report; if further claims then remain undecided, they shall make a further report at or before the expiration of two years from the date of such first meeting; and in case any claims remain undetermined at that time, they shall make a final report within a further period of six months. The report or reports shall be made in duplicate, and one copy thereof shall be delivered to the Secretary of State of the United States, and one copy thereof to the Representative of Her Britannic Majesty at Washington. All sums of money which may be awarded under this Article shall be payable at Washington, in coin, within twelve months after the delivery of each report. The Board of Assessors may employ such clerks as they shall think necessary. The expenses of the Board of Assessors shall be borne equally by the two Governments, and paid from time to time, as may be found expedient, on the production of accounts certified by the Board. The remuneration of the Assessors shall also be paid by the two Governments in equal moieties in a similar manner. ARTICLE XI. The High Contracting Parties engage to consider the result of the proceedings of the Tribunal of Arbitration and of the Board of Assessors, should such Board be appointed, as a full, perfect, and final settlement of all the claims herein before referred to; and further engage that every such claim, whether the same may or may not have been presented to the notice of, made, preferred, or laid before, the Tribunal or Board, shall, from and after the conclusion of the proceedings of the Tribunal or Board, be considered and treated as finally settled, barred, and thenceforth inadmissible. The present treaty shall be duly ratified by the President of the United States of America, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate thereof, and by Her Britannic Majesty, and the ratifications shall S. Ex. 21————————10 be exchanged either at Washington or at London within six months from the date hereof, or earlier if possible. In faith whereof, we, the respective Plenipotentiaries, have signed this Treaty and have hereunto affixed our seals. Done in duplicate at Washington the eighth day of May, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and seventy-one. [L. S.] L. S. L. S. L. S. L. S. L. S. L. S. L. S. [L. S. L. S. HAMILTON FISH. ROBT. C. SCHENCK. SAMUEL NELSON. EBENEZER ROCKWOOD HOAR. GEO. H. WILLIAMS. DE GREY & RIPON. STAFFORD H. NORTHCOTE. JOHN A. MACDONALD. MOUNTAGUE BERNARD. And whereas the said Treaty has been duly ratified on both parts and the respective ratifications of the same were exchanged in the city of London, on the seventeenth day of June, 1871, by Robert C. Schenck, Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary of the United States, and Earl Granvill, Her Majesty's Principal Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, on the part of their respective Governments: Now, therefore, be it known that I, ULYSSES S. GRANT, President of the United States of America, have caused the said Treaty to be made public, to the end that the same, and every clause and article thereof, may be observed and fulfilled with good faith by the United States and the citizens thereof. In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed. Done at the city of Washington this fourth day of July, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and seventy-one and of [SEAL.] the Independence of the United States the ninety-sixth. U. S. GRANT. By the President: HAMILTON FISH, DECISION AND AWARD MADE BY THE TRIBUNAL OF ARBITRATION CONSTITUTED BY VIRTUE OF THE FIRST ARTICLE OF THE TREATY CONCLUDED AT WASHINGTON THE 8TH OF MAY, 1871, BETWEEN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA AND HER MAJESTY THE QUEEN OF THE UNITED KINGDOM OF GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. The United States of America and Her Britannic Majesty having agreed by Article I of the treaty concluded and signed at Washington the 8th of May, 1871, to refer all the claims "generically known as the Alabama claims" to a tribunal of arbitration to be composed of five arbitrators named: One by the President of the United States, One by Her Britannic Majesty, One by His Majesty the King of Italy, One by the President of the Swiss Confederation, One by His Majesty the Emperor of Brazil; And the President of the United States, Her Britannic Majesty, His Majesty the King of Italy, the President of the Swiss Confederation, and His Majesty the Emperor of Brazil having respectively named their arbitrators, to wit: The President of the United States, Charles Francis Adams, esquire; Her Britannic Majesty, Sir Alexander James Edmund Cockburn, baronet, a member of Her Majesty's privy council, lord chief justice of England; His Majesty, the King of Italy, His Excellency Count Frederick Sclopis, of Salerano, a knight of the Order of the Annunciato, minister of state, senator of the Kingdom of Italy; The President of the Swiss Confederation, M. James Stämpfli; His Majesty the Emperor of Brazil, His Excellency Marcos Antonio d'Aranjó, Viscount d'Itajaubá, a grandee of the Empire of Brazil, member of the council of H. M. the Emperor of Brazil, and his Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary in France. And the five arbitrators above named having assembled at Geneva (in Switzerland) in one of the chambers of the Hôtel de Ville on the 15th of December, 1871, in conformity with the terms of the second article of the treaty of Washington of the 8th of May of that year, and having proceeded to the inspection and verification of their respective powers, which were found duly authenticated, the Tribunal of Arbitration was declared duly organized. The agents named by each of the High Contracting Parties, by virtue of the same Article II, to wit: For the United States of America, John C. Bancroft Davis, esquire; And for Her Brittannic Majesty, Charles Stuart Aubrey, Lord Tenderden, peer of the United Kingdom, companion of the most honorable Order of the Bath, assistant under secretary of state for foreign affairs ; Whose powers were found likewise duly authenticated, then delivered to each of the arbitrators the printed case prepared by each of the two parties, accompanied by the documents, the official correspondence, and other evidence on which each relied, in conformity with the terms of the third article of the said treaty. In virtue of the decision made by the tribunal at its first session, the counter-case and additional documents, correspondence, and evidence referred to in Article IV of the said treaty were delivered by the respective agents of the two parties to the secretary of the tribunal on the 15th of April, 1872, at the chamber of conference, at the Hôtel de Ville of Geneva. The tribunal, in accordance with the vote of adjournment passed at their second session, held on the 16th of December, 1871, re-assembled at Geneva on the 15th of June, 1872; and the agent of each of the parties duly delivered to each of the arbitrators, and to the agent of the other party, the printed arguments referred to in Article V of the said treaty. The tribunal having since fully taken into their consideration the treaty, and also the cases, counter-cases, documents, evidence, and arguments, and likewise all other communications made to them by the two parties during the progress of their sittings, and having impartially and carefully examined the same, has arrived at the decision embodied in the present award. Whereas, having regard to the sixth and seventh articles of the said treaty, the arbitrators are bound under the terms of the said sixth article, "in deciding the matters submitted to them, to be governed by the three rules therein specified, and by such principles of international law not inconsistent therewith, as the arbitrators shall determine to have been applicable to the case;" And whereas the "due diligence" referred to in the first and third of the said rules ought to be exercised by neutral governments in exact propor. tion to the risks to which either of the belligerents may be exposed from a failure to fulfill the obligations of neutrality on their part; And whereas the circumstances out of which the facts constituting the subject-matter of the present controversy arose were of a nature to call for the exercise on the part of Her Britannic Majesty's government of all possible solicitude for the observance of the rights and the duties involved in the proclamation of neutrality issued by Her Majesty on the 13th day of May, 1861; And whereas the effects of a violation of neutrality committed by means of the construction, equipment, and armament of a vessel are not done away with by any commission which the government of the belligerent power, benefited by the violation of neutrality, may afterward have granted to that vessel, and the ultimate step by which the offense is completed, cannot be admissible as a ground for the absolution of the offender, nor can the consummation of his fraud become the means of establishing his innocence; And whereas the privilege of exterritoriality accorded to vessels of war has been admitted into the law of nations, not as an absolute right, but solely as a proceeding founded on the principle of courtesy and mu tual deference between different nations, and therefore can never be appealed to for the protection of acts done in violation of neutrality; And whereas the absence of a previous notice cannot be regarded as a failure in any consideration required by the law of nations, in those cases in which a vessel carries with it its own condemnation ; And whereas, in order to impart to any supplies of coal a character inconsistent with the second rule, prohibiting the use of neutral ports or waters, as a base of naval operations for a belligerent, it is necessary that the said supplies should be connected with special circumstances of time, of persons, or of place, which may combine to give them such character; And whereas, with respect to the vessel called the Alabama, it clearly results from all the facts relative to the construction of the ship at first designated by the number "290" in the port of Liverpool, and its equipment and armament in the vicinity of Terceira through the agency of the vessels called the Agrippina and the Bahama, dispatched from Great Britain to that end, that the British government failed to use due diligence in the performance of its neutral obligations; and especially that it omitted, notwithstanding the warnings and official representations made by the diplomatic agents of the United States during the construction of the said number "290," to take in due time any effective measures of prevention, and that those orders which it did give at last, for the detention of the vessel, were issued so late that their execution was not practicable; And whereas, after the escape of that vessel, the measures taken for its pursuit and arrest were so imperfect as to lead to no result, and therefore cannot be considered sufficient to release Great Britain from the responsibility already incurred; And whereas, in spite of the violations of the neutrality of Great Britain committed by the "290," this same vessel, later known as the confederate cruiser Alabama, was on several occasions freely admitted to the ports of colonies of Great Britain, instead of being proceeded against as it ought to have been in any and every port within British urisdiction in which it might have been found; And whereas the government of Her Britannic Majesty cannot justify itself for a failure in due diligence on the plea of insufficiency of the legal means of action which it possessed: Four of the arbitrators, for the reasons above assigned, and the fifth, for reasons separately assigned by him, Are of opinion That Great Britain has in this case failed, by omission, to fulfill the duties prescribed in the first and the third of the rules established by the sixth article of the treaty of Washington. And whereas, with respect to the vessel called the Florida, it results from all the facts relative to the construction of the Oreto in the port of Liverpool, and to its issue therefrom, which facts failed to induce the authorities of Great Britain to resort to measures adequate to prevent the violation of the neutrality of that nation, notwithstanding the warnings and repeated representations of the agents of the United States, that Her Majesty's government has failed to use due diligence to fulfill the duties of neutrality; And whereas it likewise results from all the facts relative to the stay of the Oreto at Nassau, to her issue from that port, to her enlistment of men, to her supplies, and to her armament, with the co-operation of the British vessel Prince Alfred, at Green Cay, that there was negligence on the part of the British colonial authorities; And whereas notwithstanding the violation of the neutrality of Great Britain committed by the Oreto, this same vessel, later known as the confederate cruiser Florida, was nevertheless on several occasions freely admitted into the ports of British colonies; And whereas the judicial acquittal of the Oreto at Nassau cannot relieve Great Britain from the responsibility incurred by her under the principles of international law; nor can the fact of the entry of the Florida into the confederate port of Mobile, and of its stay there during four months, extinguish the responsibility previously to that time incurred by Great Britain: For these reasons, The tribunal, by a majority of four voices to one, is of opinion That Great Britain has in this case failed, by omission, to fulfill the duties prescribed in the first, in the second, and in the third of the rules established by Article VI of the treaty of Washington. And whereas, with respect to the vessel called the Shenandoah, it results from all the facts relative to the departure from London of the merchant vessel the Sea King, and to the transformation of that ship into a confederate cruiser under the name of the Shenandoah, near the island of Madeira, that the government of Her Britannic Majesty is not chargeable with any failure, down to that date, in the use of due diligence to fulfill the duties of neutrality; But whereas it results from all the facts connected with the stay of the Shenandoah at Melbourne, and especially with the augmentation which the British government itself admits to have been clandestinely effected of her force, by the enlistment of men within that port, that there was negligence on the part of the authorities at that place : For these reasons, The tribunal is unanimously of opinion That Great Britain has not failed, by any act or omission, 66 to fulfill any of the duties prescribed by the three rules of Article VI in the treaty of Washington, or by the principles of international law not in |