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1872, US/UK Arb., Alabama Claims, a. Tribunal Sessions (Fr.)
Pièces relatives aux deliberations du tribunal d’arbitrage à Genève; Primière partie, procès-verbaux des séances, &c.: n.a., vii+321p, London,
Harrison & Sons, n.d. (The tribunal sessions extended from 15 April to 29 August,1872. A TOC starts on p. iii. Lacks index. All in French. The reference to
Part One in the title relates to a Part Two published by the same publisher at the same time. However, since the subject matter and paginations of the
two items are quite different, to provide for clarity online, LLMC offers that piece as a separate title: LLMC No. 10157. 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:   Pièces relatives aux délibérations du Tribunal d'Arbitrage à Genève.
OCLC Number:   881478703
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