No. 44.
General Schenck to Mr. Fish.
Lord Granville a few minutes since brought to me in person the following draught of an article which, if the Government of the United States think fit to adopt, will be accepted by Her Majesty’s Government. I made no comment on it, but said I would telegraph it to you immediately:
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 in 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 the 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 Her Britannic Majesty has also declared that the principle involved in the second of the contentions, hereinbefore set forth, will guide their conduct in future; and
Whereas the President of the United States, while adhering to his contention that the said claims were included in the Treaty, adopts for the future the principle contained in the second of the said contentions, so far as to declare that it will hereafter guide the conduct of the Government of the United States, and the two countries are therefore agreed in this respect:
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, in respect of indirect losses as aforesaid, before the Tribunal of Arbitration, at Geneva.