e replied that he would see the
President and inform Sir John the next morning.

"Of course," said Mr. Blaine, telling me the story in Washington just
after the incident occurred, "I knew very well that the President
could not meet Sir John and his friends officially, and when they
called I told them so." Sir John said that Canada was independent, "as
sovereign as the State of New York was in the Union." Mr. Blaine
replied he was afraid that if he ever obtained an interview as Premier
of Canada with the State authorities of New York he would soon hear
something on the subject from Washington; and so would the New York
State authorities.

It was because the President and Mr. Blaine were convinced that the
British Government at home could not fulfill the stipulations agreed
upon that they accepted Salisbury's proposal for arbitration,
believing he had done his best. That was a very sore disappointment to
Mr. Blaine. He had suggested that Britain and America should each
place two small vessels on Behring Sea with equal rights to board or
arrest fishing vessels under either flag--in fact, a joint police
force. To give Salisbury due credit, he cabled the British Ambassador,
Sir Julian Pauncefote, to congratulate Mr. Blaine upon this "brilliant
suggestion." It would have given equal rights to each and under either
or both flags for the first time in history--a just and brotherly
compact. Sir Julian had shown this cable to Mr. Blaine. I mention this
here to suggest that able and willing statesmen, anxious to cooeperate,
are sometimes unable to do so.

Mr. Blaine was indeed a great statesman, a man of wide views, sound
judgment, and always for peace. Upon war with Chili, upon the Force
Bill, and the Behring Sea question, he was calm, wise, and
peace-pursuing. Especially was he favorable to drawing closer and
closer to our own English-speaking race. For France he had gratitude
unbounded for the part she had played in our Revolutionary War, but
this did not cause him to lose his head.

One night at dinner in London Mr. Blaine was at close quarters for a
moment. The Clayton-Bulwer Treaty came up. A leading statesman present
said that the impression they had was that Mr. Blaine had always been
inimical to the Mother country. Mr. Blaine disclaimed this, and justly
so, as far as I knew his sentiments. His correspondence upon the
Clayton-Bulwer Treaty was instanced. Mr. Blaine replied:

"When I became Secretary of State and had