Alabama Claims

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Painting of the CSS Alabama, the Confederate raider built in Britain. CSSAlabama.jpg
Painting of the CSS Alabama, the Confederate raider built in Britain.

The Alabama Claims were a series of demands for damages sought by the government of the United States from the United Kingdom in 1869, for the attacks upon Union merchant ships by Confederate Navy commerce raiders built in British shipyards during the American Civil War. The claims focused chiefly on the most famous of these raiders, the CSS Alabama, which took more than sixty prizes before she was sunk off the French coast in 1864.

Contents

After international arbitration endorsed the American position in 1872, Britain settled the matter by paying the United States $15.5 million, ending the dispute and leading to a treaty that restored friendly relations between Britain and the United States. That international arbitration established a precedent, and the case aroused interest in codifying public international law. The case too resulted in the warming of relations between Britain and the US, which had begun the 1800s as rivals, and ended the century, as something of partners.

British political involvement

The British Prime Minister Lord Palmerston and Foreign Secretary Lord John Russell failed to stop the Alabama from putting to sea from the shipyards of John Laird Sons and Company in Birkenhead. The United States Legation in London had explicitly opposed this, and the American Minister to Britain, Charles Francis Adams, charged that the ship was bound for the Confederacy, where it would be used against the United States.

Though both the Prime Minister and Foreign Secretary were thought to favor the Confederacy at the time of Alabama's construction, British public opinion was divided on the issue, and MPs such as Richard Cobden campaigned against it. The subsequent departure of the Alabama proved to be publicly embarrassing, and Palmerston and Russell were later forced to admit that the ship should not have been allowed to depart. The Government had requested advice from the Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales, Sir Alexander Cockburn, who ruled that her release did not violate Britain's neutrality, because she was not outfitted with guns at the time that she left British ports. [1]

In the next year, Britain detained two ironclad warships constructed in Birkenhead and destined for the Confederacy. As a result of the uproar over the Alabama, Palmerston instructed the British Admiralty to tender an offer for the purchase of the ships. They had been bought by a go-between, Monsieur Bravay of Paris (who had ordered their construction as an intermediary for Confederate principals).

John Bull (Great Britain) is dwarfed by a gigantic inflated American "Alabama Claim" cartoon in Punch--or the London Charivari 22 Jan 1872. A still bigger claimant-- 1872 PUNCH.jpg
John Bull (Great Britain) is dwarfed by a gigantic inflated American "Alabama Claim" cartoon in Punch--or the London Charivari 22 Jan 1872.

The claims

In what were called the Alabama Claims, in 1869 the United States claimed direct and collateral damage against Great Britain. In the particular case of the Alabama, the United States claimed that Britain had violated neutrality by allowing five warships to be constructed, especially the Alabama, knowing that it would eventually enter into naval service with the Confederacy.

Other particulars included the following: In the summer of 1862, the British-built steam warship Oreto was delivered to Nassau in the Bahamas with the secret understanding that it would be later transferred to the Confederate States Navy. Upon transfer, it was commissioned CSS Florida. British Royal Navy Admiral George Willes Watson (1827–1897) aided the transfer, and Watson's actions were reviewed by the tribunal. [2]

Other warships included the CSS Shenandoah (built at Alexander Stephen and Sons in Glasgow), CSS Lark (built at John Laird and Sons, like the Alabama), and CSS Tallahassee (built at J & W Dudgeon in London).

Senator Charles Sumner of Massachusetts, the chairman of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee, also demanded that "indirect damages" be included, specifically the British blockade runners. [3] British blockade runners played a pivotal role in sustaining the war effort of the Confederacy, smuggling through the Union blockade thousands of tons of gunpowder, half a million rifles, and several hundred cannons to the Confederacy. [4] Such acts may have lengthened the Civil War by two years and cost 400,000 more lives of soldiers and civilians on both sides. [5] [6]

Payment

Sumner originally asked for $2 billion in damages, or alternatively, the ceding of Canada to the U.S. When American Secretary of State William H. Seward negotiated the Alaska Purchase in 1867, he intended it as the first step in a comprehensive plan to gain control of the entire northwest Pacific Coast. Seward was a firm believer in "Manifest Destiny", primarily for its commercial advantages to the United States. Seward expected the West Coast Province of British Columbia to seek annexation to the United States and thought Britain might accept this in exchange for the Alabama claims. Soon other U.S. politicians endorsed annexation, with the goal of annexing British Columbia, the central Canadian Red River Colony (later Manitoba), and eastern Nova Scotia, in exchange for dropping the damage claims.

The idea reached a peak in the spring and summer of 1870, with American expansionists, Canadian separatists, and British anti-imperialists seemingly combining forces. The plan was dropped for several reasons: London continued to stall, American commercial and financial groups pressed Washington for a quick settlement of the dispute in cash, Canada offered to have British Columbia enter the Canadian Confederation on very generous terms, which bolstered nationalist sentiment in British Columbia that already favored fealty to the British Empire, Congress became preoccupied with Reconstruction, and most Americans showed little interest in territorial expansion after the long years, expenses and losses of the Civil War. [7] [8]

Treaty of Washington

In 1871, Hamilton Fish, President Ulysses S. Grant's Secretary of State, worked out an agreement with British representative Sir John Rose to create a commission in Washington comprising six members from the British Empire and six members from the United States. Its assignment was to resolve the Alabama claims, refinancing, and other international disputes between Canada and the United States by treaty. [9] On March 8, 1871, the Treaty of Washington was signed at the State Department and the U.S. Senate ratified the treaty on May 24, 1871. [10] In accord with the treaty, an international arbitration tribunal met in Geneva. The treaty had provisions regarding the settlement process for the Alabama Claims but did not include "indirect damages", settled disputed Atlantic fisheries and the San Juan Boundary (concerning the Oregon boundary line). Britain and the United States became perpetual allies after the treaty, with Britain having expressed regret over the Alabama damages. [11]

The tribunal

Commemorative plate and model of the CSS Alabama in the Salle de l'Alabama of the Geneva town hall. Salle Alabama Hotel de Ville de Geneve 2015-06 --2.jpg
Commemorative plate and model of the CSS Alabama in the Salle de l'Alabama of the Geneva town hall.

The tribunal was composed of representatives:

Negotiations had taken place in Suitland, Maryland, at the estate of businessman Samuel Taylor Suit. The tribunal session was held in a reception room of the Town Hall in Geneva, Switzerland. This has been named salle de l'Alabama.

The final award of $15,500,000 formed part of the Treaty of Washington and was paid out by Great Britain in 1872. This was balanced against damages of $1,929,819 paid by the United States to Great Britain for illegal Union blockade practices and ceded fishing privileges. [13]

Legacy

This established the principle of international arbitration and launched a movement to codify public international law with hopes for finding peaceful solutions to international disputes. The arbitration of the Alabama claims was a precursor to the Hague Convention, [14] the League of Nations, the World Court, and the United Nations. [15] The Alabama Claims inspired international jurist Gustave Moynier to pursue legal arrangements to enforce international treaties in the 1870s. [16] The Soviet Union carefully studied the Alabama claims when assessing whether it could claim damages in response to Allied intervention in the Russian Civil War. [17]

According to Vladimir Nabokov, the core incident has a legacy in literary reference, being used as a plot device in Anna Karenina , by Leo Tolstoy. In one early passage, Stiva Oblonsky has a dream that may show his having read of the Alabama Claims through the Kölnische Zeitung. [18] And in the Jules Verne novel Around the World in Eighty Days Inspector Fix warns Phileas Fogg that the riot they encounter in San Francisco may be connected to the claim. [19]

See also

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hamilton Fish</span> American politician (1808–1893)

Hamilton Fish was an American politician and statesman who served as the 16th governor of New York from 1849 to 1850, a United States senator from New York from 1851 to 1857, and the 26th U.S. secretary of state from 1869 to 1877. Fish was the most trusted advisor to President Ulysses S. Grant and recognized as the pillar of Grant's presidency. He is considered one of the nation's most effective U.S. secretaries of state by scholars, known for his judiciousness and efforts towards reform and diplomatic moderation. He settled the controversial Alabama Claims with the United Kingdom, developing the concept of international arbitration and avoided war with Spain over Cuban independence by coolly handling the volatile Virginius incident. He also organized a peace conference and treaty between South American countries and Spain. In 1875, Fish negotiated a reciprocal trade treaty for sugar production with the Kingdom of Hawai'i, initiating the process which ended in the 1893 overthrow of the House of Kalākaua and statehood. Fish worked with James Milton Turner to settle the Liberia-Grebo War in 1876.

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CSS <i>Alabama</i> Confederate States Navy ship

CSS Alabama was a screw sloop-of-war built in 1862 for the Confederate States Navy. The vessel was built in Birkenhead on the River Mersey opposite Liverpool, England, by John Laird Sons and Company. Launched as Enrica, she was fitted out as a cruiser and commissioned as CSS Alabama on August 24, 1862. Under Captain Raphael Semmes, Alabama served as a successful commerce raider, attacking, capturing, and burning Union merchant and naval ships in the North Atlantic, as well as intercepting American grain ships bound for Europe. The Alabama continued its wrath through the West Indies and further into the East Indies, destroying over seven ships before returning to Europe. On June 11, 1864, the Alabama arrived at Cherbourg, France, where she was overhauled. Shortly after, a Union sloop-of-war, USS Kearsarge, arrived; and on June 19, the Battle of Cherbourg commenced outside the port of Cherbourg, France, whereby the Kearsarge sank the Alabama in approximately one hour after the Alabama's opening shot.

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James Dunwoody Bulloch was the Confederacy's chief foreign agent in Great Britain during the American Civil War. Based in Liverpool, he operated blockade runners and commerce raiders that provided the Confederacy with its only source of hard currency. Bulloch arranged for the purchase by British merchants of Confederate cotton, as well as the dispatch of armaments and other war supplies to the South. He also oversaw the construction and purchase of several ships designed at ruining Northern shipping during the Civil War, including CSS Florida, CSS Alabama, CSS Stonewall, and CSS Shenandoah. Due to him being a Confederate secret agent, Bulloch was not included in the general amnesty that came after the Civil War and therefore decided to stay in Liverpool, becoming the director of the Liverpool Nautical College and the Orphan Boys Asylum.

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The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland remained officially neutral throughout the American Civil War (1861–1865). It legally recognized the belligerent status of the Confederate States of America (CSA) but never recognized it as a nation and neither signed a treaty with it nor ever exchanged ambassadors. Over 90 percent of Confederate trade with Britain ended, causing a severe shortage of cotton by 1862. Private British blockade runners sent munitions and luxuries to Confederate ports in return for cotton and tobacco. In Manchester, the massive reduction of available American cotton caused an economic disaster referred to as the Lancashire Cotton Famine. Despite the high unemployment, some Manchester cotton workers refused out of principle to process any cotton from America, leading to direct praise from President Lincoln, whose statue in Manchester bears a plaque which quotes his appreciation for the textile workers in "helping abolish slavery". Top British officials debated offering to mediate in the first 18 months, which the Confederacy wanted but the United States strongly rejected.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Blockade runners of the American Civil War</span> Seagoing steam ships

During the American Civil War, blockade runners were used to get supplies through the Union blockade of the Confederate States of America that extended some 3,500 miles (5,600 km) along the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico coastlines and the lower Mississippi River. The Confederacy had little industrial capability and could not indigenously produce the quantity of arms and other supplies needed to fight against the Union. To meet this need, numerous blockade runners were constructed in the British Isles and were used to import the guns, ordnance and other supplies that the Confederacy desperately needed, in exchange for cotton that the British textile industry needed greatly. To penetrate the blockade, these relatively lightweight shallow draft ships, mostly built in British shipyards and specially designed for speed, but not suited for transporting large quantities of cotton, had to cruise undetected, usually at night, through the Union blockade. The typical blockade runners were privately owned vessels often operating with a letter of marque issued by the Confederate government. If spotted, the blockade runners would attempt to outmaneuver or simply outrun any Union Navy warships on blockade patrol, often successfully.

The diplomacy of the American Civil War involved the relations of the United States and the Confederate States of America with the major world powers during the American Civil War of 1861–1865. The United States prevented other powers from recognizing the Confederacy, which counted heavily on Britain and France to enter the war on its side to maintain their supply of cotton and to weaken a growing opponent. Every nation was officially neutral throughout the war, and none formally recognized the Confederacy.

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References

  1. ↑ Hansard. The Foreign Enlistment Act- Question, March 27, 1863. https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1863/mar/27/united-states-the-foreign-enlistment-act
  2. ↑ Kenneth M.. Startup, "'This Small Act of Courtesy:' Admiral Sir George Willes Watson, Trouble, Trials, and Turmoil in Bahama Waters," Journal of the Bahamas Historical Society, October 2009, Vol. 31, pp. 57–62.
  3. ↑ John W. Dwinelle (1870). American Opinions on the "Alabama," and other political questions. pp. 37–39.
  4. ↑ Gallien, Max; Weigand, Florian (December 21, 2021). The Routledge Handbook of Smuggling. Taylor & Francis. p. 321. ISBN   9-7810-0050-8772.
  5. ↑ David Keys (June 24, 2014). "Historians reveal secrets of UK gun-running which lengthened the American civil war by two years". The Independent .
  6. ↑ Paul Hendren (April 1933). "The Confederate Blockade Runners". United States Naval Institute.
  7. ↑ Doris W. Dashew, "The Story of an Illusion: The Plan to Trade Alabama Claims for Canada," Civil War History, December 1969, Vol. 15 Issue 4, pp. 332–348
  8. ↑ David E. Shi, "Seward's Attempt to Annex British Columbia, 1865–1869", Pacific Historical Review, May 1978, Vol. 47 Issue 2, pp. 217–238.
  9. ↑ Smith, Jean Edward (2001). Grant. New York: Simon & Schuster Paperbacks. ISBN   0-684-84927-5. pp. 510, 511.
  10. ↑ Smith (2001), 512–514.
  11. ↑ Smith (2001), 512–515.
  12. ↑ "EVARTS, William Maxwell - Biographical Information". bioguide.congress.gov.
  13. ↑ Thomas A. Bailey, A Diplomatic History of the American People, NY (1958), 6th ed., pp. 388–389.
  14. ↑ Brent, Richard (2021). "The Alabama Claims Tribunal: The British Perspective". The International History Review. 44: 21–58. doi:10.1080/07075332.2021.1898439. ISSN   0707-5332. S2CID   233610373.
  15. ↑ Cook (1975)
  16. ↑ Dromi, Shai M. (2020). Above the fray: The Red Cross and the making of the humanitarian NGO sector. Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Press. p. 172. ISBN   9780226680101.
  17. ↑ K (1922). "Russia after Genoa and the Hague". Foreign Affairs. 1 (1): 139. doi:10.2307/20028203. JSTOR   20028203.
  18. ↑ Nabokov, Vladimir (1981). Lectures on Russian Literature. Harcourt Brace Jovanovich. p. 132. ISBN   0151495998.
  19. ↑ Verne, Jules (1872). Around the World in Eighty Days.[ page needed ]

Bibliography

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