It has been officially asserted that the Government do not
at present contemplate the submission of the Alabama claims to any commission or arbitration, the time proper for which, they say, Wottid have been; at-ail; long ago. What they lave,' hOtie'ver, decided upon, is to nominate aCommission to consider our own neutrality laws, and report upon the possibility of amending theta so as to bring them into more complete conformity With our inter- national obligations. It is, however, denied on the part of Sir Rcnindell Palmer that there are any international obligations restraining us from selling ships of war to belligerents. He maintains that this is perfectly consistent with international obligations, though not with our own / municipal law 'called the Foreign Enlistment Act, and that we cannot be liable to others for the ineffectiveness of an Act which we were under ne inter- national obligation to-pass at all. However, the Commission, we should hope, will not stick to the letter of international obligations, but consider 'the pdssibility of amending the law to as to make it conform better to international convenience and good feeling. It is in reality very much more important to us than to the United States, to discourage the building and commis- sioning of ships of .war in neutral ports during a time of war.
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