Hawke's Bay Times. Nullius addictus jurare in verba magistri. MONDAY, AUGUST 16, 1869.

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume 14, Issue 709, 16 August 1869, Page 2

Hawke's Bay Times. Nullius addictus jurare in verba magistri. MONDAY, AUGUST 16, 1869.

AMERICAN CLAIMS ON GREAT BRITAIN. The principal item of news from home by the recent mail is the virtual withdrawal of the absurd claims for compensation made by Mr Sumner on behalf of America against Great Britain for the course of action she took in relation to the Southern States during the late rebellion. In a treaty, drawn up with the assent of the United States Consul, the British authorities had agreed to submit certain claims to arbitration, but this proposal was indignantly rejected by our cousins, and in a speech which was said to embody the feelings of the American people, Mr Sumner declared that it was not what the States wanted, and demand ed that England, in addition to making an abject apology, should pay a bill for damages, one item alone of which isjialfthecostof the American war! The indignation with which this claim was received by *he British nation took America by surprise, and she seems now only anxious to show that nothing serious was meant—-

that, in fact, Mr Sumner's speech was little more than " bounce," and the newly-appointed Consul comes over with instructions not to move in the matter, but await the action of the British Government, As the British Government is not very likely to again open the question, it is quite possible that we have heard the last of American claims for compensation.