450.  The Alabama Claims.—­During the Civil War vessels built in British shipyards, or refitted and supplied with coal at British ports, had preyed upon American commerce.  The most famous of these vessels was the Alabama.  The claims for losses caused by these vessels which the United States presented to Great Britain were therefore called the “Alabama Claims.”  There also were disputes with Great Britain over the fisheries and over the western end of the Oregon boundary.  In 1871 the United States and Great Britain made an arrangement called the Treaty of Washington.  By this treaty all these points of dispute were referred to arbitration.  The Oregon boundary was decided in favor of the United States, but the fishery dispute was decided in favor of Great Britain.  The “Alabama Claims” were settled by five arbitrators who sat at Geneva in Switzerland.  They decided that Great Britain had not used “due diligence” to prevent the abuse of her ports by the Confederates.  They condemned her to pay fifteen and one-half million dollars damages to the United States.

[Sidenote:  The Chicago fire, 1871.]

451.  The Chicago Fire, 1871.—­Early one morning in October, 1871, a Chicago woman went to the barn to milk her cow.  She carried a lighted kerosene lamp, for it was still dark.  The cow kicked over the lamp.  The barn was soon ablaze.  A furious gale carried the burning sparks from one house to another.  And so the fire went on spreading all that day and night and the next day.  Nearly two hundred million dollars’ worth of property was destroyed.  The homes of nearly one hundred thousand persons were burned down.  In a surprisingly short time the burnt district was rebuilt, and Chicago grew more rapidly than ever before.

[Sidenote:  Rings. Source-Book, 352-355.]

[Sidenote:  Bribery.]

452.  Corruption in Politics.—­New York City had no two hundred million dollar fire.  But a “ring” of city officers stole more than one hundred and fifty million dollars of the city’s money.  In other cities also there was great corruption.  Nor were the state governments free from bribery and thieving.  Many officers in the national government were believed to be mixed up in schemes to defraud the people.  The truth of the matter was that the Civil War had left behind it the habit of spending money freely.  A desire to grow suddenly rich possessed the people.  Men did not look closely to see where their money came from.

[Illustration:  CHICAGO IN 1832.]

[Sidenote:  Objections to Grant.]

[Sidenote:  Liberal Republicans.]

[Sidenote:  Horace Greeley.]

[Sidenote:  Grant reelected, 1872.]