Mr. Johnson to Mr. Seward
Sir: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your cipher cable dispatch of the 27th of November, which reached me on the 29th at about 12 noon.
I had an interview with Lord Stanley early on the following morning, and found he had received one in substance the same from Mr. Thornton.
In regard to most of the amendments suggested by you, he had no objection. Two of them, indeed, we had already formally agreed to. One of them substituting Washington for London as the place of meeting of the commission, and the other, incidental to that, giving to the British minister at Washington and our Secretary of State, instead of the United States minister here and the foreign secretary of this government, the authority to appoint the secretary.
His lordship expressed, however, no willingness to change the mode of appointing the arbitrator who is to decide the question of the liability of this government for the Alabama claims. He did not, however, lead me to believe that his objection to the change might not be yielded. His view is, and was from the first, that the questions involved in these demands were of such a nature that it would be better for the two governments not only for the present, but for the future, that they should be decided by some friendly government. He thinks that in the contingency that the commissioners should not unanimously agree, the judgment of such an arbitrator would be more satisfactory to the two [Page 390] countries and would have more influence in settling the principle upon which the demands depend than the decision of an individual arbitrator, however eminent he might be. I confess that these considerations had much weight with me, and led me to agree to the provision which you desire to have modified. And as there was nothing in your instructions, or in the convention of the 8th of February, 1853, which I was told was to be the “model” of one I might sign, in any way inconsistent with such a provision, there was nothing to restrain me from exercising my own judgment. The present government, as you doubtless already know, have tendered their resignations, and are now only holding office until their successors shall be appointed. Who these will all probably be is not yet made public. But it is understood that Mr. Gladstone will be the premier and Earl Clarendon the foreign secretary. My negotiations must be suspended until he is in office. I shall lose no time when that happens to renew them with him, and I hope to be able to reach a satisfactory result. Whether this will be done by obtaining the change as to the appointment of the arbitrator to decide the Alabama claims exactly in the manner you propose, or in some substantially similar manner, I do not certainly know. But I believe I shall be able to succeed by one of the two modes. I have every reason to think (indeed I know from several conversations with him before the resignation of the late ministry) that Lord Clarendon entertains a sincere friendship for our government, and desires earnestly that every controversy between the two countries shall be speedily and amicably adjusted.
I have the honor to remain, with high regard, your obedient servant,
Hon. William H. Seward, Secretary of State, Washington, D. C.