NEWS OF THE WEEK.
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IT appears to be understood that though the United States have not as yet presented any but the direct damages resulting to their people from the escape of the Alabama and her sister cruisers, they hold in reserve the right, in -case an " amicable settlement" is not agreed to, to claim for the indirect losses caused to the Government by the prolongation of the war, and to the Commercial Marine by its compulsory transfer to neutral flags. We do not quite under- stand what the "amicable settlement" means,—we suppose any settlement made under the treaty. The treaty certainly does not -appear anywhere to contemplate any sort of claim except for the individual losses inflicted by the escaped vessels, and we were told expressly, before it was signed, that the American Government had waived the pretence to their vague general claims in con- sideration of the treaty. The wording of the treaty does not, we see, expressly exclude such demands ; but it certainly does not include them, and appears to contemplate only the claims to be made for the individual damages inflicted by any cruiser which escaped from British ports in consequence of any British neglect. As for the further and larger claim now said to be held in reserve by the United States' Commissioners, it is simply preposterous ; and it seems to us strange taste and bad policy to be making diplomatic flourishes with it, by way of an attempt to frighten us into further concessions. Neither party has, we suppose, any idea of disputing the awards of the arbiters.
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