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1872, US/UK Arb., Alabama Claims- US counter-argument (Fr.)
Contre-mémoire présenté par le gouvernement de sa majesté britannique au tribunal d’arbitrage, constitute en vertu de l’article du traité conclu à
Washington, le 8 Mai, 1871, entre sa majesté britannique et le états unis de l’amérique: n.a., vi+173p, n.p., n.d. (The contre-memoire was formally
presented to the tribunal on 15 Apr. 1872. A TOC starts on p. iii. Lacks index. All in French. The “Alabama Claims” were maritime grievances of the
United States against Great Britain that accumulated during and after the American Civil War. The phrase became shorthand for many claims by the U.S.
against the British government for depredations against Union shipping worldwide by the Confederate Navy with British assistance. The flagship grievance
was the consent by the British Government to the release of the Alabama, a ship built in England, to the Confederate Navy. That one ship wreaked havoc
on U.S commerce; capturing, burning or sinking 68 U.S. merchant ships in 22 months. However, while the Alabama gave its name to the cause, other ships
of British origin were involved. For example, the CSS Shanandoah was built in Liverpool and transferred to the Confederacy in Madeira with the
connivance of the Royal Navy. It went on to circumnavigate the globe. On the way six Union merchantmen were burnt or sunk in the Indian Ocean. Later, over 20
ships of the Union whaling fleet, based from the neutral Kingdom of Hawaii, were destroyed in the Bering Sea. The U.S. claimed direct and
collateral damages for these composite wrongs under a pioneering application of nascent international law. The country was angry and emotions were raw.
Predictably Congress fulminated at “perfidious Albion.” Senator Charles Sumner’s Senate Foreign Relations Committee called for an indemnity of $2 billion
{ca. $32.3 billion in today’s money} and/or the cession of all of Canada. On another front, in 1867 William Seward was negotiating the purchase of Alaska
from Russia. The Secretary of State clearly hoped that this would be followed by the annexation of British Columbia; thinking that the British
Government might accede to that action in exchange for the settlement of the “Alabama Claims.” The fervor against the British peaked in early 1870, with
American expansionists, British anti-imperialists, and Canadian separatists gleefully combining forces. However, enthusiasm soon drooped for several
reasons. While London shrewdly stalled, Congress became preoccupied with Reconstruction, and war-weary Americans lost interest in territorial
expansion. Meanwhile, the U.S. commercial sector lobbied for a quick cash settlement, and Canadian nationalists in British Columbia pushed for self-government
within the Empire.. By 1871, with calmer heads prevailing, President Grant's Secretary of State Hamilton Fish worked out a “grand bargain” with the
British representative Sir John Rose. This stunning achievement resolved, in one treaty, not only the Alabama claims, but also the refinancing of war
debts, and the settlement of all outstanding territorial disputes over Canada between Great Britain and the United States. The Treaty of Washington,
signed on 8 March 1871, and ratified by the Senate on 24 May 1871, created an international arbitration tribunal, giving it the power to adjudicate
the “Alabama Claims.” The tribunal, which first met in Geneva for a short planning session on 15-16 Dec. 1871, had members from: Brazil, Marcos Antonio
de Arújo; Great Britain, Sir Alexander Cockburn; Italy, Federico Sclopis; Switzerland, Jakob Stäphfli; and, for the United States, Charles Francis
Adams; the latter having served as the American Minister to London during the war. The tribunal’s formal sessions took place between 15 June and 29
August, 1872, in a reception room of the Town Hall in Geneva; thereafter named salle de l'Alabama. The final award to the U.S. on 14 Sept. 1872 of
$15,500,000 in gold (ca. $283.3-million in 2012 dollars) was paid out that same year; with Great Britain moreover expressing “regret” for the Alabama and
Florida actions. Besides resolving the “Alabama Claims,” the Treaty of Washington settled disputed Atlantic fisheries and the San Juan Boundary; i.e.,
the boundary line for the Territory of Oregon, then including present-day Washington State, and therefore the modern northwest boundary between the
U.S. and Canada. With all major irritants between them thus amicably resolved, Britain, the U.S., and fledgling Canada from thence became permanent
allies. The settlement by arbitration of the “Alabama Claims” gave major validation to international arbitration as a substitute for war, and launched a
movement to codify public international law to foster peaceful solutions to inter-nation disputes. It thus served as a precursor to the Hague
Conventions, the League of Nations, and the Permanent Court of International Justice.)
Title:   Contre-mémoire présenté par le gouvernement de Sa Majesté Britannique au Tribunal d'arbitrage : constitué en vertu de l'article 1er du traité conclu à Washington, le 8 mai, 1871, entre Sa Majesté britannique et les États Unis de l'Amérique.
OCLC Number:   880964601
Available Volumes
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Tome 1YesNo