Granville to Robert C. Schenck, June 5, 1872

Earl Granville to General Schenck.

Sir: I have to state to you that with the view of obviating the difficulty connected with the meeting of the Arbitrators at Geneva on the 15th instant, and the presentation of the written or printed argument under the fifth Article of the Treaty on that day, Her Majesty’s Government are still ready either to agree in an application to the Arbitrators on the 15th to adjourn at once without the presentation of the argument of either Government, or to conclude a new arrangement with the treaty-making power of the United States for the enlargement of the time; or, instead of the amendments to the Treaty Article, which Her Majesty’s Government last proposed, they are willing to conclude it with the following additions: First, to insert after the paragraph, as altered by the Senate, the words “the remote or indirect losses mentioned in this agreement, being losses arising remotely or indirectly and not directly from acts of belligerents.” Secondly, to insert after this paragraph another paragraph: “Further, the stipulations of this Convention as to future conduct have no reference to acts of intentional ill-faith or willful violation of international duties.”

The objection to negotiating a proposition which involves the idea that either country may be guilty of intentional ill-faith or willful violation of its international duties might be met by such declaration as that proposed in the second of these additions being inserted in the Treaty Articles, or, if the United States should prefer it, by an interchange of notes approved by the Senate at the time of ratification.

I have the honor to be, sir, your most obedient, humble servant,