No. 75.
General Schenck to Mr. Fish.
At 2.45 this morning Lord Granville sends me the following, dated 30th:
[Earl Granville to General Schenck.
Sir: I am unable to admit the accuracy of the description which Mr. Fish has-given in the telegraphic message which you have communicated to me to-day of the course which Her Majesty’s Government has pursued, or of the objects which they have had in view. I can only attribute such a misunderstanding to the imperfection unavoidably [Page 541] attendant on negotiations by telegraph, which makes it difficult for either party clearly to understand the views and arguments of the other. This circumstance seems to strengthen the reason for the suggestion which I made in favor of an adjournment of the meeting of the Tribunal of Arbitration at Geneva. Her Majesty’s Government have stated their objections to the words proposed by the Senate. I have already informed you that they did not pretend that the words suggested by themselves were incapable of improvement, and they have resolved to make a suggestion which they trust will meet the views of both Governments. I proceed therefore to put you in possession of a draught Article, of which I inclose a copy, and which, if adopted by the Government of the United States, Her Majesty’s Government would be prepared to accept:
“Whereas the Government of Her Britannic Majesty has contended in the recent correspondence with the Government of the United States as follows, namely, that such indirect claims as those for the national losses stated in the Case presented on the part of the Government of the United States to the Tribunal of Arbitration at Geneva, to have been sustained by the loss in the transfer of the American commercial marine to the British flag the enhanced payments of insurance, the prolongation of the war, and the addition of a large sum to the cost of war and the suppression of the rebellion—firstly, were not included in fact in the Treaty of Washington; and further and secondly, should not be admitted in principle as growing out of the acts committed by particular vessels alleged to have been enabled to commit depredations upon the shipping of a belligerent by reason of such a want of due diligence in the performance of neutral obligations as that which is imputed by the United States to Great Britain; and whereas the Government of the United States has contended that the said claims were included in the Treaty; and whereas both Governments adopt for the future the principle that claims against neutrals for remote and indirect losses should not be admitted as resulting from the act of belligerents which such belligerents may have been enabled to commit by reason of a want of due diligence on the part of a neutral in the performance of neutral obligations so far as to declare that this principle will hereafter guide the conduct of both Governments in their relations with each other: now, therefore, in consideration thereof, the President of the United States, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate thereof, consents that he will make no claim on the part of the United States before the Tribunal of Arbitration at Geneva, in respect of the several classes of indirect losses hereinbefore enumerated.”