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464
“ALABAMA” ARBITRATION
  

of the Greenback party in 1882. The development of mining and manufacturing was accompanied by economic distress among the farming classes, which found expression in the Jeffersonian Democratic party, organized in 1892. The regular Democratic ticket was elected and the new party was then merged into the Populist party. In 1894 the Republicans united with the Populists, elected three congressional representatives, secured control of many of the counties, but failed to carry the state, and continued their opposition with less success in the next campaigns. Partisanship became intense, and charges of corruption of the ignorant negro electorate were made. Consequently after division on the subject among the Democrats themselves, as well as opposition of Republicans and Populists, a new constitution with restrictions on suffrage was adopted in 1901.

The following is a list of the territorial and state governors of Alabama:—

Governor of the Territory.
William Wyatt Bibb  1817–1819 
Governors of the State.
William Wyatt Bibb 1819–1820 Democrat.
Thomas Bibb[1] 1820–1821
Israel Pickens 1821–1825
John Murphy 1825–1829
Gabriel Moore 1829–1831
Samuel B. Moore 1831
John Gayle 1831–1835
Clement C. Clay 1835–1837
Hugh M‘Vay[2] 1837
Arthur P. Bagby 1837–1841
Benjamin Fitzpatrick[3]  1841–1845
Joshua L. Martin 1845–1847
Reuben Chapman 1847–1849
Henry W. Collier 1849–1853
John A. Winston 1853–1857
Andrew B. Moore 1857–1861
John Gill Shorter 1861–1863
Thomas H. Watts 1863–1865
Lewis E. Parsons 1865 Provisional
Governor.
Robert M. Patton 1865–1867  Republican. 
Wager Swayne 1867–1868 Military
Governor.
William H. Smith 1868–1870 Republican.
Robert B. Lindsay 1870–1872 Democrat.
David P. Lewis 1872–1874 Republican.
George S. Houston 1874–1878 Democrat.
Rufus W. Cobb 1878–1882
Edward A. O'Neal 1882–1886
Thomas Seay 1886–1890
Thomas G. Jones 1890–1894
William C. Oates 1894–1896
Joseph F. Johnston 1896–1900
William J. Samford 1900–1901
William D. Jelks 1901–1907
B. B. Comer 1907

Bibliography.—For an elaborate bibliography of Alabama (by Thomas M. Owen) see the Annual Report of the American Historical Association for 1897 (Washington, 1898).

Information regarding the resources, climate, population and industries of Alabama may be found in the reports of the United States Census, and in the publications of the United States Department of Agriculture, the United States Geological Survey, the Bulletins of the Alabama Agricultural Experiment Station (published at Auburn, from 1888), the Bulletins and Reports of the Alabama Geological Survey (published at Tuscaloosa and Montgomery), and in the following works:—B. F. Riley’s Alabama As It Is (Montgomery, 1893), and Saffold Berney’s Handbook of Alabama (2nd ed., Birmingham, 1892).

Information concerning the history of the state may be obtained in William G. Brown’s History of Alabama (New York, 1900); Newton W. Bates’s History and Civil Government of Alabama (Florence, Ala., 1892); Willis Brewer’s Alabama: Her History, Resources, War Record and Public Men (Montgomery, 1872); A. Davis Smith’s and T. A. Deland’s Northern Alabama, Historical and Biographical (Birmingham, 1888); Albert J . Pickett’s History of Alabama (5th ed., 2 vols., Birmingham, Ala., 1900), which contains a valuable compilation of the “Annals of Alabama from 1819 to 1900,” by Thomas M. Owen; and Walter L. Fleming’s Civil War and Reconstruction in Alabama (New York, 1905).

In addition, W. G. Clark’s History of Education in Alabama (Washington, 1889); W. E. Martin’s Internal Improvements in Alabama (Baltimore, 1902; Johns Hopkins University Studies, series 20, No. 4); and W. L. Martin’s Code of Alabama (2 vols., Atlanta, Ga., 1897) may be consulted.

Information concerning the aboriginal remains in the state may be found in two papers by Clarence B. Moore, “Certain Aboriginal Remains of the Tombigbee River” and “Certain Aboriginal Remains of the Alabama River,” published in the Journal of the Academy of Natural Sciences, series 2, vol. ii. (Philadelphia, 1900).

“ALABAMA” ARBITRATION.—This is one of those arbitrations on pecuniary claims, made by one state, on behalf of its subjects, against another state, which are referred to in the article Arbitration, International. The case is important, both from a historical and a juridical point of view, and affords a conspicuous example of the value of arbitration as a means of averting war. The facts are as follows:—

In 1861 the Southern States of North America seceded from the rest on the slavery question and set up a separate government under President Jefferson Davis. Hostilities began with the capture of Fort Sumter by the Confederates on the 13th of April 1861. On the 19th of April President Abraham Lincoln declared a blockade of the southern ports. On the 14th of May the British government issued a proclamation of neutrality, by which the Confederates were recognized as belligerents. This example was followed shortly afterwards by France and other nations. The blockade of the southern ports was not at first effective, and blockade-running soon became an active industry. The Confederates established agencies in England for the purchase of arms, which they despatched in ordinary merchant vessels to the Bahamas, whence they were transhipped into fast steamers especially constructed for the purpose.

In June 1862 the vessel, the “Alabama,” originally known as “No. 290,” was being built by Messrs. Laird at Birkenhead. She was then nearly completed and was obviously intended for a man-of-war. On the 23rd of June Mr C. F. Adams forwarded to Earl Russell a letter from the United States consul at Liverpool giving certain particulars as to her character. This letter was laid before the law officers, who advised that, if these particulars were correct, the vessel ought to be detained. On the 21st of July sworn evidence, which was supplemented on the 23rd of July, was obtained and laid before the commissioners of customs (who were the proper authorities to enforce the provisions of the Foreign Enlistment Act of 1819), but they declined to move. On the 23rd of July the same evidence was laid before the law officers, who advised that there was sufficient ground for detention. By some accident, which has never been satisfactorily explained, but was probably connected with the severe illness of Sir John Harding, the queen’s advocate, the papers were not returned till the 29th of July. Instructions were then issued to seize the vessel, but she had already sailed on the evening of the 28th. Although she remained for two days off the coast of Anglesey, there was no serious attempt at pursuit. She afterwards made her way to the Azores, where she received her armament, which was brought from Liverpool in two British ships. Captain Semmes there took command of her under a commission from the Confederate government. After a most destructive career she was sunk off Cherbourg by the “Kearsarge” on the 19th of June 1864.

On these facts the United States government alleged against Great Britain two grievances, or sets of grievances. The first was the recognition of the Southern States as belligerents and a general manifestation of unfriendliness in other ways. The second was in respect of breaches of neutrality in allowing the “Alabama,” the “Florida” (originally the “Oreto”, the “Shenandoah” and other Confederate vessels to be built and equipped on British territory. Correspondence ensued extending over several years. At length in February 1871 a commission was appointed to sit at Washington in order, if possible, to arrive at some common understanding as to the mode in which the

  1. William Wyatt Bibb died in 1820, and Thomas Bibb, then president of the state senate, filled the unexpired term of one year (1820).
  2. In 1837 Governor Clay was elected United States Senator, and Hugh M‘Vay, the president of the state senate, filled the unexpired term.
  3. Until 1845 the term of state officials was one year; from then until 1901 it was two years; since 1901 it has been four years.