rom Earl Russell, who declined on the part of
the British Government either to make reparation or compensation, or
permit a reference to any foreign State friendly to both parties.

In the autumn succeeding the close of the war, Mr. Seward notified
the British Government that no further effort would be made for
arbitration, and in the following August (1866) he transmitted a list
of individual claims based upon the destruction caused by the
_Alabama_. Lord Stanley (the present Earl of Derby) had succeeded
Earl Russell in the Foreign Office, and declined to recognize the
claims of this Government in as decisive a tone as that employed by
Earl Russell. Of opposite parties, Earl Russell and Lord Stanley
were supposed to represent the aggregate, if not indeed the unanimous,
public opinion of England; so that the refusal to accede to the demands
of the United States was popularly accepted as conclusive. Mr. Adams
retired from his mission, in which his services to the country had
been zealous and useful, without effecting the negotiations which he
had urged upon the attention of the British Government. He took his
formal leave in May, 1868, and was succeeded the following month by
Mr. Reverdy Johnson.

The new Minister carried with him the respect and confidence of his
fellow-citizens. Appointed directly after the Impeachment trial of
President Johnson, he was among the few statesmen of the Democratic
party who could have secured the ready confirmation of the Senate for
a mission which demanded in its incumbent a talent for diplomacy and
a thorough knowledge of International law. The only objection
seriously maintained at the time against Mr. Johnson's appointment, was
the fact that he was in his seventy-third year, and might not therefore
be equal to the exacting duties which his mission involved.

Before Mr. Johnson could open his negotiation, the British Ministry
was changed,--Mr. Disraeli giving way to Mr. Gladstone as Premier, and
Lord Stanley being succeeded by Lord Clarendon as Minister of Foreign
Affairs. With the latter Mr. Johnson very promptly agreed upon a
treaty, which reached the United States in the month of February, 1869.
It purported to be a settlement of the questions in dispute between the
two countries. There was great curiosity to learn its provisions.
Much was hoped from it, because it was known to have been approved by
Mr. Seward at the various stages of the negotiation,--a constant and
conf