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Rh Black of Pennsylvania, for vice president John Russell of Michigan. The election, which took place on Nov. 5, resulted in the choice of Grant and Wilson, who each received 286 electoral votes. Greeley having died prior to the choice of president by the electors, the 66 votes of the opposition were given to various persons. Grant and Wilson received a majority of the popular vote in all the states except Georgia, Kentucky, Maryland, Missouri, Tennessee, and Texas, which voted for Greeley and Brown, and Louisiana, where the result was in dispute, two returns being made, one in favor of either party, both claimed to be legal and correct. No electoral votes were counted from Louisiana, nor from Arkansas (owing to certain irregularities), those states together being entitled to 14 votes. The popular vote, excluding Louisiana, which cast about 125,000 votes, was 6,337,662, of which 3,525,469 were for Grant, 2,777,096 for Greeley, 29,489 for O'Conor, and 5,608 for Black. The inauguration took place on March 4, 1873, and the cabinet was constituted as follows, the only change being in the secretary of the treasury: Hamilton Fish, secretary of state; William M. Richardson of Massachusetts, of the treasury; William W. Belknap, of war; George M. Robeson, of the navy; Columbus Delano, of the interior; George H. Williams, attorney general; and John A. J. Oreswell, postmaster general. In 1874 Mr. Richardson was succeeded by Benjamin H. Bristow of Kentucky, and Mr. Oreswell by Marshall Jewell of Connecticut; in 1875 Mr. Delano was succeeded by Zachariah Chandler of Michigan and Mr. Williams by Edwards Pierrepont of New York; and in 1876 Mr. Belknap was succeeded by Alphonso Taft of Ohio. In 1869 the Central and Union Pacific railroads were completed, opening a highway between the Atlantic and Pacific coasts. One of the most prominent events of Grant's administration is the settlement of outstanding disputes with Great Britain, of which the principal related to the charge that the British government had failed in its duties as a neutral in allowing the construction and fitting out of confederate cruisers in British ports. The claims for damages on this account are known as the “Alabama claims.” After protracted correspondence it was agreed to appoint a joint high commission to negotiate a treaty. The commissioners on the part of the United States were Hamilton Fish, secretary of state; Samuel Nelson, associate justice of the supreme court; Robert O. Schenck, then minister to England; E. R. Hoar, late attorney general; and George H. Williams, then United States senator. Those on the part of Great Britain were Earl de Grey (now marquis of Ripon), Baron Grantham, Sir Stafford Henry Northcote, Sir Edward Thornton, Sir John Alexander Macdonald, and Montague Bernard. The commissioners assembled in Washington, Feb. 27, 1871, and on May 8 signed the treaty of Washington, the ratifications of which were exchanged at London on June 17. The treaty provided for the settlement of the Alabama claims by a tribunal of arbitration to meet at Geneva, Switzerland, and to be composed of five arbitrators, appointed one each by the president, the queen, the king of Italy, the president of the Swiss confederation, and the emperor of Brazil. Other claims of American citizens against the British government and of British subjects against the United States arising out of acts committed between April 13, 1861, and April 9, 1865, were to be referred to three commissioners, appointed, one by the president, one by the queen, and one by the two jointly, to meet in Washington. The conflicting claims of the two nations, growing out of the treaty of June 15, 1846, to San Juan and other islands between Washington territory and Vancouver island, were referred to the arbitration of the emperor of Germany. The treaty also contained certain stipulations respecting the navigation of rivers, lakes, and canals adjacent to the United States and Canada, and respecting the transit of goods through those countries, and provisions respecting the coast fisheries. (See, vol. vii., p. 231.) Three commissioners, to sit at Halifax, Nova Scotia, and to be appointed, one by the president, one by the queen, and one by the two jointly, were provided for the determination of the claim of Great Britain to compensation for the rights of fishery granted by her. The Geneva tribunal was composed of the following arbitrators: Charles Francis Adams, appointed by the United States; Sir Alexander J. E. Cockburn, by Great Britain; Count Paolo Federigo Sclopis de Salerano, by Italy; Jakob Staempfli, by Switzerland; and Marcos Antonio d'Araujo, baron (afterward viscount) d'Itajubá, by Brazil. The tribunal convened on Dec. 15, 1871, the United States being represented by J. C. Bancroft Davis as agent, and Caleb Cushing, William M. Evarts, and Morrison R. Waite as counsel. On Sept. 14, 1872, a decision was rendered that Great Britain had failed in her duties as a neutral in the cases of the Alabama, Florida, Shenandoah, and their tenders, and awarded to the United States the sum of $15,500,000 in gold. This sum was promptly paid by Great Britain, and a commission, appointed under an act of congress, is now (1876) in session in Washington determining the rights of individual claimants. The San Juan question was decided in favor of the United States by the German emperor on Oct. 21, 1872. (See .) (See “Papers relating to the Treaty of Washington,” published by the department of state, 5 vols., 1872.) The Washington commission was composed of James S. Frazer, appointed by the United States; Russell Gurney, by Great Britain; and Count Corti, Italian minister at Washington, by the two jointly. It assembled Sept. 26, 1871, and adjourned Sept. 25, 1873, after making an award against the United States of $1,929,819. The Halifax commission has