After the Union (the North) won the Civil War, the US government was understandably anxious to hold the UK accountable for what was widely perceived to be a very serious violation of the international law of war and peace. More surprising is the fact that the UK was willing, both to endorse a clear codification of the law applicable to the duties of a neutral power towards belligerents, and to submit the Alabama claims to binding international arbitration. The 1871 Treaty of Washington between the US and the UK did exactly this.