Ultimately, however, through diplomatic interference, the matter was settled by the acceptance, on the part of the Viceroy, of the conditions insisted upon by the Porte.

In December the grand ceremony took place in Egypt of the opening of the Suez Canal, an enterprise, the successful execution of which was due to the unwearied energy and determination of M. de Lesseps. He had enormous difficulties to contend against, and triumphed over them all. Eminent engineers had prognosticated failure. It was for a long time believed that the levels of the Mediterranean and Red Sea were so different that it would be impossible to prevent an impetuous current flowing through the canal, or that the shifting sands along its sides would overwhelm the work, and the silt on the northern shore would choke up the mouth at Port Saïd. But the gigantic undertaking was steadily persevered in, and complete success, so far as engineering difficulties are concerned, has been the reward of M. de Lesseps. We can only hope that financially it will prosper, and become the channel through which will flow the commerce of the world between Europe and Asia.

CHAPTER V.

UNITED STATES.

Constitutional Amendment as regards the Right of Suffrage-Inauguration of President Grant-His Proclamation-New Cabinet -- Opening of the Forty-first Congress -Bill to secure payment in Gold of State Bonds-Modification of the Tenure of Office Act-Close of the Session-Convention for settling Claims between Great Britain and the United States-Its Rejection by the Senate-Recall of Mr. Reverdy Johnson and appointment of Mr. Motley as Minister to England-Interview between the Earl of Clarendon and Mr. Motley on the Question of the Claims-Despatch of Mr. Fish, the American Secretary of State, on the same Subject-"Observations" of the Earl of Clarendon on the Despatch-The Question of Slavery in the Civil War in the United States.

IN the month of February a Constitutional Amendment was passed by Congress which prohibited any distinction as regards the right of suffrage on account of either race, colour, nativity, property, education, or creed. This amendment had to be afterwards submitted to each of the State Legislatures for its approval and ratification.

The new President of the United States, General Grant, took the oath of office and was inaugurated at Washington on the 4th of March. He issued the following proclamation:

"Citizens,-Your suffrages have elected me to the office of President. I have taken the oath prescribed by the Constitution without mental reservation, and with the determination to do, to the best of my ability, all that is required of me. The responsibility of my

position I feel, but I accept it without fear; the office which has been conferred upon me was unsought. On leading questions I will express my views to Congress when I think it advisable. I will interpose my veto to defeat measures to which I am opposed; but all laws will be faithfully executed, whether they meet with my approval or not. I shall have a policy to recommend, but none to enforce against the will of the people. The laws are to govern all those approving as well as those opposing them. I know no method to secure the repeal of obnoxious laws so effectual as the stringent execution of them.

"Many questions will arise during the next four years, and it is desirable that they should be appreciated calmly and without prejudice, the greatest good of the greatest number being the object to be obtained. This requires security for the person, for property, and for religious and political opinions throughout the country. All laws to secure this end will receive my best efforts towards their enforcement.

"A great debt has been contracted in securing the Union, the payment of which and a return to a specie basis, as soon as it can be accomplished without detriment to the debtor class or to the country at large, must be provided. To protect the national honour every dollar of the Government indebtedness should be paid in gold, unless otherwise expressly stipulated at the time of being contracted. Let it be understood that there must be no repudiation of a single farthing of the public debt, and it will go far towards strengthening our credit, which ought to be the best in the world, and will ultimately enable us to replace the debt with bonds paying less interest than we now pay. To this should be added the faithful collection of the revenue, strict accountability to the Treasury for every dollar collected, and the greatest practicable retrenchment. Who doubts the feasibility of paying every dollar with more ease than we now pay for useless luxuries?

"Prostrate commerce must be rebuilt and industry encouraged. "The young men of this country have a peculiar interest in maintaining the national honour. A moment's reflection upon our future commanding influence among nations should inspire national pride. How the public debt is to be paid and how specie payment is to be resumed are not so important as that the plan should be adopted. The united determination to do is worth more than divided counsel on the method of doing. Legislation on this subject may not now be necessary, nor even advisable, but will be so when civil law is fully restored throughout the land and trade shall have resumed its wonted channels.

"It shall be my endeavour to execute the laws in good faith, to collect all the revenues assessed, and to have them properly disbursed.

"I will, to the best of my ability, appoint only officers who will carry out this design.

"Regarding foreign policy, I would deal with nations as

equitably as the law requires that individuals should deal with each other. I would protect law-abiding citizens, whether of native or foreign birth, whenever their rights are jeopardized and wherever the flag of our country floats. I would respect the rights of all nations and demand equal respect for our own. If others depart from this rule in dealing with us, we may be compelled to follow the precedent.

"The proper treatment of the Indians deserves careful consideration. I will favour any course tending to their civilization, Christianization, and ultimate citizenship.

"I hope for and desire the adoption of the Suffrage Amendment to the Constitution.

"In conclusion, I ask for patient forbearance one towards the other throughout the land, and a determined effort on the part of every citizen to share and cement our happy Union, and I ask for prayers to God on behalf of this happy consummation."

General Grant at first appointed as the members of his CabinetMr. Elihu B. Washburne, of Illinois, Secretary of State; Mr. Adolph E. Bowrie, Philadelphia, Secretary of the Navy; Mr. Alexander T. Stewart, New York, Secretary of the Treasury; Mr. Jacob D. Cox, Ohio, Secretary of the Interior; Mr. John A. J. Cresswell, Maryland, Postmaster-General; and Mr. George E. Hoar, Massachusetts, Attorney-General. General Schofield was retained as Secretary of War. But soon afterwards the following changes took place:-Mr. Elihu Washburne resigned, and Mr. Hamilton Fish was appointed Secretary of State. Mr. Boutwell, of Massachusetts, succeeded Mr. Stewart as Secretary of the Treasury, and General Rawlins was appointed Secretary of War in the place of General Schofield.

The forty-first Congress of the United States began its session on the 4th of March, but three States still remained unrepresented in both the Senate and the House of Representatives. These were Virginia, Mississippi, and Texas, which had not complied with the conditions of readmission into the Union.

A Bill was passed on the 15th of March to strengthen public credit, by pledging the payment in gold of the Five-Twenty State Bonds, about which there had been much discussion and some division of opinion. The Bill enacted "That in order to remove any doubt as to the purpose of the Government to discharge all just obligations to the public credit, and to settle conflicting questions and interpretation of laws by virtue of which such obligations have been contracted, it is hereby provided and declared that the faith of the United States is solemnly pledged to the payment in coin, or its equivalent, of all the interest-bearing obligations of the United States, except in cases where the law authorizing the issue of any such obligations has expressly provided that the same may be paid in lawful money or other currency than gold or silver; but none of such interest-bearing obligations not already due shall be redeemed or paid before maturity, unless at

such time United States' notes shall be convertible into coin at the option of the holder, or unless at such time bonds of the United States being at a lower rate of interest than the bonds to be redeemed can be sold at par in coin; and the United States shall also solemnly pledge its faith to make provision at the earliest practicable period for the redemption of United States' notes in coin."

Shortly afterwards the Senate, by a majority of 37 against 15 votes, passed a Bill for modifying the Tenure of Office Act which had been enacted by Congress during the presidency of Mr. Johnson, and which placed absolutely in the power of the Senate all the great offices of the Executive except that of President. The Bill as ultimately passed was a compromise, and provided that civil officers shall hold office for the terms for which they were appointed, "unless sooner removed by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, or by the appointment with the like advice and consent of a successor," excepting in cases thereafter provided. The exceptions gave the President power during the recess of the Senate to suspend any officer, except Judges of the Courts, until the end of the next session of the Senate, and to designate some suitable person to perform the duties of the suspended officer. The President, however, must within thirty days after the commencement of each session of the Senate, except for any office which, in his opinion, ought not to be filled, nominate persons to fill all vacancies in office which existed at the meeting of the Senate, whether temporarily filled or not, and also in the place of all officers suspended; and

"If the Senate during such session shall refuse to advise and consent to an appointment in the place of any suspended officer, and shall also refuse by vote to assent to his suspension, then, and not otherwise, such officer at the end of the session shall be entitled to assume the possession of the office from which he was suspended, and afterwards discharge its duties and receive its emoluments as though no such suspension had taken place."

The session of Congress closed on the 10th of April, on which day a resolution was passed by the House of Representatives by a majority of 98 against 25 votes, declaring its sympathy with the Cuban insurgents, and promising its support to the President whenever he shall think it right to recognize their independence.

A convention for settling all claims between the two countries, including what are called the "Alabama claims," was signed in London, on the 14th of January, by the Earl of Clarendon, Secretary for Foreign Affairs, on behalf of her Majesty, and Mr. Reverdy Johnson, the American Minister at the British Court, on behalf of the President. The following were its material provisions :

"ARTICLE I.

"The high contracting parties agree that all claims on the art of subjects of her Britannic Majesty upon the Govern

ment of the United States, and all claims on the part of citizens of the United States upon the Government of her Britannic Majesty, including the so-called 'Alabama' claims, which may have been presented to either Government for its interposition with the other since the 26th of July, 1853, the day of the exchange of the ratifications of the Convention concluded between Great Britain and the United States of America at London, on the 8th of February, 1853, and which yet remain unsettled; as well as any other such claims which may be presented within the time specified in Article III. of this Convention, whether or not arising out of the late civil war in the United States, shall be referred to four Commissioners, to be appointed in the following manner, that is to say, two Commissioners shall be named by her Britannic Majesty, and two by the President of the United States, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate. In case of the death, absence, or incapacity of any Commissioner, or in the event of any Commissioner omitting, or declining, or ceasing to act as such, her Britannic Majesty, or the President of the United States, as the case may be, shall forthwith name another person to act as Commissioner in the place or stead of the Commissioner originally named.

"The Commissioners so named shall meet at Washington at the earliest convenient period after they shall have been respectively named, and shall, before proceeding to any business, make and subscribe a solemn declaration that they will impartially and carefully examine and decide, to the best of their judgment and according to justice and equity, without fear, favour, or affection to their own country, upon all such claims as shall be laid before them on the part of the Governments of her Britannic Majesty and of the United States respectively; and such declaration shall be entered on the record of their proceedings.

"The Commissioners shall then, and before proceeding to any other business, name some person to act as an arbitrator or umpire, to whose final decision shall be referred any claim upon which they may not be able to come to a decision. If they should not be able to agree upon an arbitrator or umpire, the Commissioners on either side shall name a person as arbitrator or umpire; and in each and every case in which the Commissioners may not be able to come to a decision, the Commissioners shall determine by lot which of the two persons so named shall be the arbitrator or umpire in that particular case. The person or persons to be so chosen as arbitrator or umpire shall, before proceeding to act as such in any case, make and subscribe a solemn declaration, in a form similar to that made and subscribed by the Commissioners, which shall be entered on the record of their proceedings. In the event of the death, absence, or incapacity of such person or persons, or of his or their omitting, or declining, or ceasing to act as such arbitrator or umpire, another person shall be named, in the same manner as the person originally named, to act as arbitrator or umpire in his place and stead, and shall make and subscribe such declaration as aforesaid.