Joint high commission.
The government of the
United States, in behalf of its citizens, claimed from
Great Britain damages inflicted on the American shipping interests by the depredations of the
Alabama (q. v.) and other Anglo-Confederate cruisers.
To effect a peaceful solution of the difficulty,
Reverdy Johnson (q. v.), of
Maryland, was sent to
England, in 1868, to negotiate a treaty for that purpose.
His mission was not satisfactory.
The treaty which he negotiated was almost universally condemned by his countrymen, and was rejected by the Senate.
His successor,
John Lo-
[
187]
Throp
Motley (q. v.), appointed minister at the British Court, was charged with the same mission, but failed in that particular, and was recalled in 1870.
The matter was finally settled by arbitration.
Much correspondence succeeded the efforts to settle by treaty.
Finally, in January, 1871, the
British minister at
Washington,
Sir Edward Thornton, in a letter to
Secretary Fish, proposed, under instructions from his government, a Joint High Commission, to be appointed by the two governments, respectively, to settle disputes of every kind between the
United States and
Great Britain, and so establish a permanent friendship between the two nations.
Mr. Fish proposed that the commission should embrace in its inquiries the matter of the “
Alabama Claims,” so that nothing should remain to disturb amicable relations.
The suggestion was approved, and each government appointed commissioners.
The President appointed, for the
United States,
Hamilton Fish,
Secretary of State;
Samuel Nelson,
associate-justice of the United States Supreme Court;
Robert C. Schenck, minister to
England;
Ebenezer Rockwood Hoar, late United States Attorney-General; and
George H. Williams,
United States Senator from
Oregon. Queen Victoria appointed
George Frederick Samuel,
Earl de Gray and
Earl of
Ripon;
Sir Stratford Henry Northcote;
Sir Edward Thornton, her minister at
Washington;
Sir Alexander McDonald, of the privy council of
Canada, and attorney-general of that province; and
Montague Bernard,
Professor of International Law in Oxford University.
The commissioners first met in
Washington, Feb. 27, 1871. Lord Tenterden, secretary of the British commission, and
J. C. Bancroft Davis,
assistant Secretary of State of the
United States, were chosen clerks of the Joint High Commission.
The commissioners of the
United States were instructed to consider: (1) the fisheries; (2) the navigation of the
St. Lawrence River; (3) reciprocal trade between the
United States and the Dominion of
Canada; (4) the
Northwest water boundary and the island of
San Juan; (5) the claims of the
United States against
Great Britain for compensation for injuries committed by Confederate cruisers; (6) claims of British subjects against the
United States for losses and injuries arising out of acts committed during the
Civil War. A treaty was agreed to, and was signed May 8, 1871, which provided for the settlement, by arbitration, by a mixed commission, of all claims on both sides for injuries by either government to the citizens of the other, during the
Civil War, and for the permanent settlement of all questions in dispute between the two nations (see
Washington, treaty of). Arbitrators were appointed, who, at
Geneva, Switzerland, formed what was known as the Tribunal of Arbitration, and reached a decision in which both parties acquiesced.
See
arbitration, tribunal of.
