at he had no wish, at the
present stage of the discussion, to go into the merits of the question
presented; that, for his part, he thought it more prudent to abstain,
but that with reference to the remarks of his honorable friends from
France, he could not agree that they should set aside what occurred at
Rome; that the discussions at Rome were most valuable; they went
thoroughly into the whole question, and he apprehended that every
gentleman in the Conference was possessed of the records of what
occurred there.

He continued by saying that he thought that the Delegate from France,
Mr. LEFAIVRE, went a little beyond what was strictly right in saying
that we should shut our eyes to what occurred there; that, for his own
part, he was obliged to pay attention to what occurred there; that
some of the most eminent scientific men to be found in any country met
there and fully discussed the questions now before us, and that the
Delegates here present were now called upon to revise what occurred
there.

Mr. RUTHERFURD, Delegate of the United States, said that the Delegate
from France, Mr. LEFAIVRE, in his remarks, insisted that we should
first establish for what purpose the Delegates were here assembled;
that he wished to refer to the circulars sent out by the Government of
the United States, under which this Conference was called together. He
said that he could assert, without fear of contradiction, that in
those communications the President stated that it was believed to be a
foregone conclusion that a prime meridian was desirable; that that was
the basis on which the President acted in giving his invitation; that
how he came to that conclusion he does not state--whether or not the
proceedings at Rome had anything to do with it, but he thought that
they had a great influence on the mind of the President; that,
doubtless, his action was not determined solely by that, and,
therefore, that the Secretary of State first made a tentative
application to see whether a proposition for another Conference was
acceptable, and that he found all countries here represented answering
the circular in the affirmative; that they agreed with him that a
conference for this purpose was desirable.

He continued by saying that the Secretary of State then sent a second
invitation to the different nations to send Delegates, who were to
assemble here on the first of October, 1884, for the purpose of
establishing a prime meridian and a universal ti