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[ALABAMA CLAIMS]: JAMES ARCHIBALD WHARNCLIFFE (1805 - 1881) Solicitor-General under Lord Palmerst...

Currency:USD Category:Everything Else / Other Start Price:NA Estimated At:200.00 - 300.00 USD
[ALABAMA CLAIMS]: JAMES ARCHIBALD WHARNCLIFFE (1805 - 1881) Solicitor-General under Lord Palmerst...
[ALABAMA CLAIMS]: JAMES ARCHIBALD WHARNCLIFFE (1805 - 1881) Solicitor-General under Lord Palmerston. A.L.S. 4pp. 8vo., Wharncliffe House, June 7, 1872, to Col. Cleveland, in part: "...I return herewith your article upon the Alabama Claims which certainly puts them from a different point of view...in the same light as we have always treated them in this Country...as utterly unfounded, and preposterous. But whereas we decried our liability simply, and affirmed that such demands were unprecedented, you have been able to go much further & prove from authentic documents that the U.S. Govt. was itself almost the sole party to blame for the continuance of the war, owing to the lax manner in which trading was allowed to take place between the Northern forces & contractors, and the Southern people generally...". The Alabama, commanded by Raphael Semmes and launched from Liverpool at the request of U.S. Minister Charles F. Adams, was the terror of American vessels during the Civil War. It was supposed to be held from sailing but escaped on the pretense of a trail trip. The debate over claims from this incident continued for years until Sept. 18, 1872, when a tribunal decided that Great Britain had failed in her duties as a neutral country, and the U.S. was awarded $15,500,000 in gold in damages. Wharncliffe obviously disagreed with this decision, despite the fact that the arbitrators' settlement proved him wrong. An interesting look into the Claims just three months before their settlement, in very good condition. $200-300