%517. Foreign Relations; the French in Mexico.%—The statement was made that with the exception of Russia the great powers of Europe sympathized with the South during the Civil War. Two of them, France and Great Britain, were openly hostile. The French Emperor allowed Confederate agents to contract for the construction of war vessels in French ports,[1] and sent an army into Mexico to overturn that republic and establish an empire. Mexico owed the subjects of Great Britain, France, and Spain large sums of money, and as she would not pay, these three powers in 1861 sent a combined army to hold her seaports till the debts were paid. But it soon became clear that Napoleon had designs against the republic, whereupon Great Britain and Spain withdrew. Napoleon, however, seeing that the United States was unable to interfere because of the Civil War, went on alone, destroyed the Mexican republic and made Maximilian (a brother of the Emperor of Austria) Emperor of Mexico. This was in open defiance of the Monroe Doctrine, and though the United States protested, Napoleon paid no attention till 1865. Then, the Civil War having ended, and Sheridan with 50,000 veteran troops having been sent to the Rio Grande, the French soldiers were withdrawn (1867), and the Mexican republican party captured Maximilian, shot him, and reëstablished the republic.
[Footnote 1: See Bullock's Secret Service of the Confederate States in
Europe.]
%518. The Alabama Claims; Geneva Award.%—The hostility of Great Britain was more serious than that of France. As we have seen, the cruisers (Alabama, Shenandoah, Florida) built in her shipyards went to sea and inflicted great injury on our commerce. Although she was well aware of this, she for a long time refused to make good the damage done. But wiser counsel in the end prevailed, and in 1871, by the treaty of Washington, all disputed questions were submitted to arbitration.
The Alabama claims, as they were called, were sent to a board of five arbitrators who met at Geneva (1872) and awarded the United States $15,500,000 to be distributed among our citizens whose ships and property had been destroyed by the cruisers.
%519. Other International Disputes; the Alaska Purchase.%—To the Emperor of Germany was submitted the question of the true water boundary between Washington Territory and British Columbia. He decided in favor of the United States (1872).
To a board of Fish Commissioners was referred the claim of Canada that the citizens of the United States derived more benefit from the fishing in Canadian waters than did the Canadians from using the coast waters of the United States. The award made to Great Britain was $5,500,000 $5,500,000 (1877).
In 1867, we purchased Alaska from Russia for $7,200,000.
SUMMARY
Financial History, 1868-1880
1. When the war ended, the national debt consisted of two parts: the bonded, and the unbonded or floating.