The British Case is a little meagre and bald, but
its points are good, and appear to have much more of solid law in them than the American Case. It insists, in the few general remarks it con- tains, that the United States' claim, if it can be established at all, must be established as a claim "of strict right," and "can be sup- ported only by clearly establishing that an international duty owed by Great Britain to the United States has been violated by Great Britain." It must be shown, too, that the failure of duty, or negligence, if any, was beyond any to which a Government is habitually liable in its own domestic concerns. No Government is bound to be more zealous for another Government than it would be for itself. If our Government used such kind of care on behalf of the United States as it usually uses on its own behalf, that is enough. The American indictment is certainly more of a speech than the English. The English defence is a dry, but substantial legal plea.
