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incurred any liability to the United States, the question will then arise what should be deemed the just measure and extent of that liability. Her Britannic Majesty's government abstains at present from entering into that question, and will reserve such observations as may be fitly offered in relation to it on the part of Great Britain to a later stage of the proceedings. Here it is sufficient to remark that a claim on the part of a belligerent to be indemnified at the expense of a neutral for losses inflicted or occasioned by any of the ordinary operations of war, on the plea that those operations were assisted or facilitated by negli gence on the part of the neutral government, is one which involves grave considerations and requires to be weighed with the utmost care. Losses of which such negligence is the direct and proximate cause, (and it is in respect of such only that compensation could justly be awarded,) are commonly not easy to separate from those springing from other causes. Success in warlike operations is generally due not only to the force possessed, but to the skill and courage exerted by the successful combatant. If claims of this nature were to be freely admitted, a belligerent might demand to be indemnified by the neutral against consequences fairly attributable, in part or altogether, not to the fault of the latter but to his own want of capacity and enterprise. Her Majesty's government has been compelled to point out that in respect of the vessels to which the foregoing statement relates there was, on the part of the Government of the United States or its officers, an extraordinary remissness in using the naval forces at their disposal, and that if ordinary activity had been exerted in the endeavor to intercept and capture these vessels, the losses of which the United States now complain would probably have been in great measure averted. It cannot be consistent with any reasonable view of international obligations that a belligerent state, alleging itself to be aggrieved by some imputed negligence of a neutral government, should on that account claim indemnity from the neutral for losses in the course of warlike operations which it has not actively and diligently exerted itself to prevent or arrest.

It was the constant aim of Her Britannic Majesty's government throughout the war to observe with fidelity and exactness the obligations, and to maintain unimpaired the rights, which the law and prac tice of nations have assigned to neutral powers. In upholding those rights all the nations of the world are interested; and it was the duty of Great Britain, as a maritime power of the first order, brought by circumstances into closer contact with the war than any other state, to resist on the one hand any encroachment on them, and to abstain on the other from any attempt to extend them beyond the just and expedient limits traced out by international law. Her Majesty's government has given the best proof of its sincerity in these respects, as well as its earnest desire to promote the pacific and amicable settlement of international differences, by proposing and agreeing to refer to the judg ment of impartial arbitrators the question whether, in the matters complained of by the United States, it has failed to discharge any

international duty. In deciding on the questions submitted to [168] it, the tribunal will be called upon to apply to them principles

and considerations of wide application, not confined to maritime neutrality, nor to the acts and conduct of maritime nations alone. Great Britain is prepared to accept the award, whether favorable or unfavorable to her. She desires only that it shall be just. She claims only that it shall be founded on a true and equitable interpretation of the law of nations, and on principles which she herself and all other powers may be satisfied, whether as neutral or as belligerent, to acknowledge and abide by in time to come.

THE COUNTER CASE

OF

THE UNITED STATES

PRESENTED TO THE

TRIBUNAL OF ARBITRATION.

AT GENEVA,

UNDER THE PROVISIONS OF THE TREATY OF WASHINGTON, WITH AN APPENDIX CONTAINING ADDITIONAL DOCUMENTS, CORRESPONDENCE, AND EVIDENCE.

APRIL 15, 1871.

NOTE.

The figures in brackets in the text indicate the pages of the edition which was laid before the tribunal of arbitration at Geneva; the* indicates the word with which each page commences.

LIST OF PAPERS ACCOMPANYING THE COUNTER CASE OF THE UNITED STATES.

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Same to Dr. Robinson.

Same to Governor Claiborne.

Same to Mr. Robinson

Same to Mr. Conner

Same to district attorneys, (circular)

President's proclamation

Same to governors of Louisiana and Mississippi Territory, and to Mr. Feb. 14, 1814
Robinson.

Sept. 3, 1812

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447

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Mr. Brent to district attorneys, (circular)

Mr. Brent to governors of Tennessee, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Missouri Sept. 9, 1815
Territories, (circular.)

Sept. 1, 1815

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Mr. Dick to Mr. Monroe

Sept. 13, 1815

Mar. 1, 1816

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Sept. 12, 1816

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Sept. 12, 1816

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