ALABAMA CLAIMS.

UNIVERSITY 79

CAI

Graian Alps, and of the Gallic territory on NIA.

shores of Lake Leman, and at length to the possession of extensive Italian territories, denominated Piedmont by relation to the Alps and the Apennines, the nucleus of the present Kingdom of Italy.

It needs to conceive and picture to the mind's eye the Alpine cradle of this adventurous and martial, but cultivated race of Italianized Savoisian princes, nobles, and people, the fertile, but ravaged valleys of the Rhone, the Arve, the Albarine, the Arc, and the two Doras; the castellated heights of L'Ecluse, Montmélian, and La Brunnetta; the vine-clad hill-sides and the lofty cols dominated by the giant peaks of Mont Blanc and Monte Rosa; the sepulchral monuments of Haute-Combe and of Brou, and the rich plains along the Italian foot of the Alps,-in order to comprehend the growth to greatness of sovereigns such as Vittorio Emanuele, supported by such generals as Menabrea and Cialdini, and statesmen and magistrates such as Azeglio, Balbo, Sclopis, and especially Cavour.

Like his compatriot, the Marquis d'Azeglio, Count Sclopis is eminent as an author. Of his published writings, some are in French, such as "Marie Louise Gabrielle de Savoie" and "Cardinal Morone." But his most important works are in Italian; and above all, the learned "Storia della Legislazione Italiana," the last edition of which, in five volumes, is a most interesting and instructive exhibition of the successive stages of the mediaval and modern legislation of all the different States of Italy.

Such was the eminent personage who presided over

and conducted the deliberations of the Tribunal, and who represented and spoke for it on ceremonial occasions: a man of large stature and dignified presence; of the high breeding of rank, but without pretensiveness; cordial and kindly in social intercourse; the impersonation, as it were, of the intellect and the culture of Continental Europe.

MR. STEMPFLI.

Sitting by the right hand of Count Sclopis, as next to him in precedence, not by reason of age,—for he was the youngest member of the Tribunal,-but as representing the local Government, Switzerland, was Mr. James [or, in German, Jacob] Stampfli: a genuine representative of democratic institutions,-sprung from the people, the son of his own works,-clearheaded, strong-minded, firm-hearted, somewhat positive, not prone to talk except when talk was of the essence of things, and then briefly and to the point,— in a word, a man of the very stuff out of which to make Presidents of Federal Republics.

Mr. Stampfli is a German Swiss of the Canton of Berne, who has risen from the humblest to the highest condition in his country by mere force of intellect and indomitable will. Born in 1820, admitted to the Bar in 1843, he came forward at once as an advocate, and as a journalist of radical opinions, and speedily attained distinction. In 1846 we find him a conspicuous member of the Council of State, directing the finances, and laboring to organize a central military force. In 1847 he represented the Canton of Berne

in the Diet, and was active in asserting the rights of the Federation against the seceding States of the Sonderbund. He served in that war as Treasurer and Paymaster-General of the Army. Displaced for a while, he resumed the practice of his profession as advocate, but soon returned to power, in 1851, as President of the National Council, where he continued to be distinguished as a close reasoner and incisive speaker, full of intelligence and of resources, supported by great energy of character. In 1856, he was elected President of the Confederation, and again in 1859, and the third time in 1862: these repeated but interrupted re-elections illustrating the Swiss Constitution, according to which the President is elected for one year only, and can not be re-elected for the next succeeding year, but is otherwise re-eligible without limitation. Events of great importance to Switzerland occurred in the years of the administration of Mr. Stampfli; among others, the séparation of Neuchâtel from Prussia, the war in Italy, and the annexion of Savoy to France. His theory of executive action was characteristic of the man, namely, "When peril is certain, it is better to advance to meet it, rather than timidly to await its approach." In fine, preparation and decision are the distinctive traits of all the official acts of Mr. Stampfli.

There is one peculiarity in the political character of Mr. Stampfli, which belongs to him, indeed, as a Swiss, namely, definiteness and affirmativeness in the matter of international neutrality and morality. Switzerland no longer permits capitulations of for

F

eign enlistment: they are expressly forbidden by the Federal Constitution. Her laws punish as a crime all violation by individuals of the international rights of foreign Powers. Her neutrality is active, not passive, preventive, as well as punitive. She has no maritime relations, it is true; but, in dealing with unlawful equipments or expeditions by land, she observes rules of neutrality which are applicable, in theory and practice, equally to equipments or expeditions for naval warfare. Our own temporary act of 1838, which comprehends vehicles [on land] and vessels [on water] in the same clause of criminality, affords complete answer to those Englishmen who have superficially assumed that because Switzerland is not a maritime Power, she [or a statesman of hers] could not competently judge the case of the Alabama or the Florida. Diligence to execute the law,―vigilance to prevent its violation,-is the same in Switzerland as in Italy or Brazil, in Great Britain or the United States. And the position of Switzerland, which requires of her the spontaneous execution of her neutrality laws, had evident effect on the mind of Mr. Stampfli to produce those conclusions of his against Great Britain, which, as we shall see in the sequel, were so grossly misapprehended and so angrily resented by Sir Alexander Cockburn.

At the time when the Swiss Government invited Mr. Stampfli to act as Arbitrator for Switzerland under the Treaty of Washington, he had full occupation in public or private affairs as a member of the National Council and as President of the Federal

On

(Eidgenossische) Bank established at Berne. receiving the respective "Counter-Cases" of the two Governments, which in effect closed the proofs on both sides, he took a characteristic step in order to be prepared for action in June.

As you sail up the Lake of Thun toward Unterseen or Interlaken, you note on the left the precipitous wooded mountain-side of Beatenberg. Here, high up in a rural hamlet, hidden among the trees, with the beautiful lakes of Thun and Brienz at his feet, and the magnificent spectacle of the Oberland, terminating at the remoter Berner Alps,-in those balmy Alpine days when spring is passing into summer, and all earth is a paradise of verdure and of animation,―here Mr. Stampfli secluded himself from the social distractions and cares of business at Berne, and dedicated himself to the mastery of the "Alabama Claims." In such a blessed retreat even law-books might lose their dullness, and diplomatic correspondence, depositions, and legal pleadings be invested with the charmed reflection of the matchless scenery of lakes, fields, hamlets, cities, mountains, and rivers, glittering in the sun, and resting in the horizon at the snow-crowned heights of the Jungfrau.

And so it seems to have been. For good St. Beatus blessed the mountain labors of Mr. Stampfli, and he came to Geneva in due time with full abstracts of evidence and elaborately written opinions on the main questions at issue before the Tribunal, to the apparent surprise of Sir Alexander Cockburn, who, confidently relying on the rupture of the Arbitration, as