Perhaps in the beginning a misunderstanding of this position caused the Mexican delegates to be looked upon with distrust by some of their colleagues, who feared that they might be disposed to interfere in the South American questions, or be too partial to the United States; but the impartial and friendly conduct of those delegates in regard to the sister-Republics of South America ought to have satisfied them that Mexico, far from having any feeling against, or design upon, any South American nation, or any wish to interfere in their policies, had, on the contrary, the most sincere wishes for the preservation of their peace and the promotion of their common welfare.

The Argentine delegates seemed to be under the impression that the Mexican delegates had formed a compact with their Chilian colleagues to act together in the Conference. Such impression, if it ever existed, was entirely unfounded. There was no compact, understanding, or agreement of any kind whatsoever, expressed or implied, between the Mexican and the Chilian delegates to act together, in all or in any question before the Conference, and much less in antagonism to any of the other States, and when their votes happened to be in accord, it was due only to similarity of views or instructions from their respective Governments, and never to any compact among them.

Preliminary Meeting of the Conference.-The President of the United States fixed the 2d of October, 1889, as the date for the meeting of the Conference. Two days previous to this date, the delegates, excepting those of Ecuador, Paraguay, and Hayti, who had not arrived, assembled in Washington, and held a preliminary meeting to agree upon their organization. The first question which was presented to them was the election of a president.

Election of Mr. Blaine as President.—It is an act of courtesy, sanctioned by the example of diplomatic congresses and conferences which have met hitherto, that a representative of the inviting Government, on whose territory the conference meets, shall be elected President; and therefore all the delegates agreed that the President should be a member of the United States delegation. The Latin-American delegates were not in accord as to the gentleman whom they desired to elect President; some thought that Mr. Henderson, being the Chairman of the United States delegation, ought to be chosen; others were disposed to vote for Mr. Trescot, because he had had great experience in diplomatic affairs, and was supposed to be better fitted for the position. Mr. Blaine was suggested for President by Mr. Curtis because of the supposed antagonism between Mr. Henderson and Mr. Trescot. This suggestion was originally made to Mr. Blaine, who was pleased with the prospect of participating in the Conference. He sent Mr. Curtis to President Harrison to submit the proposition and the reasons. President Harrison approved, and requested Mr. Bliss and Mr. Davis to

express his wish to the United States delegates and to the Conference if necessary. A technical objection at once presented itself-whether a functionary of this Government who was not a member of the Conference, not being a delegate, could be made President; but this objection, which was only one of form, was happily solved, since the Secretary of State represented his country in a truer sense than the ten United States delegates together. Hence if the election was to be made with the purpose of fulfilling a duty of courtesy towards the inviting Government, that duty could be most satisfactorily performed by choosing the Secretary of State, even though he were not a delegate. On the other hand, the high position of this functionary made his election as President an act befitting the dignity of the Conference. Although several delegates objected at first to his election, all were satisfied with the foregoing explanation, excepting the Argentine representatives, who stated that they could not vote for him because he was not a member of the Conference. To avoid casting a negative vote, they decided not to be present at the first meeting of the Conference, when the President was elected; but both of them attended the official banquet which Mr. Blaine gave on that day to the delegates. The judgment of the Argentine delegates was certainly entitled to great weight, but it is not likely that they alone were right in this matter; and if this incident involved a question of the dignity and independence of the delegates, it is not probable that only the delegates of one among the fourteen States represented in the Conference would have entertained such an opinion. If this objection had been a valid one, those presenting it would not have attended the subsequent meetings of the Conference, as they were presided over by a gentleman who, in their opinion, was not qualified to be its President.

I think that the Argentine delegates were misled by a memorandum prepared under Mr. Trescot's direction by Mr. Warner P. Sutton, who was at the time Chief Clerk of the Conference, mentioning all the precedents of the European diplomatic conferences which unanimously establish the practice to be that the Secretary of State of the inviting Government, being a member of the Conference, should be elected President.

This memorandum was intended for the exclusive use of Secretary Blaine and the American delegates, but by some means knowledge of its contents reached Señor Quintana, and as Mr. Blaine was not a member of the United States delegation, Señor Quintana naturally thought that Mr. Blaine was not eligible for President. Señor Quintana afterwards made a very handsome explanation and apology to Mr. Blaine, and the Sutton memorandum was frequently the subject of jest between them. There was another important memorandum to the effect that this Conference was the first one ever held in the United States,

and ought to be held under such conditions as would justify the making of precedents, and not follow exactly those hitherto made in Europe.

Subsequent events, and especially those which occurred during the last meetings of the Conference, showed clearly how wise was the election of Mr. Blaine, because he was invested with full powers to negotiate with the Latin-American delegates-powers which were really. broader than those of the United States delegation-and because, on the other hand, possessing exquisite tact and a strong desire to prevent the failure of a high purpose in an assembly of which he was the originator, he went farther in order to come to an agreement with the Latin-American delegates than in all probability the United States delegation would have deemed themselves authorized to go.

Question of Precedence.-The question of the precedence of the nations represented in the Conference was next brought up. Some thought that the alphabetical order should be adopted, and others that this matter should be decided by lot. The latter view prevailed, and in the third meeting of the Conference all the nations represented were placed in ballot, and thus the precedence given to their delegates was decided.

Formal Opening of the Conference.-After the preliminary meetings in which the Conference elected its President, it was formally organized on October 2, 1889. Mr. Blaine delivered on that occasion a very remarkable address which was one of his happiest compositions, and then he took the delegates to the White House to present them to President Harrison. In the evening he gave a banquet to the delegates which was attended by them all, and early the next morning the delegates left Washington for New York and West Point on their excursion through the principal cities of the United States.

The Excursion of the Delegates.-The Conference, immediately after its formal opening, adjourned to enter upon the railway excursion which lasted from October 3 to November 13, 1889. That excursion covered more than nine thousand miles of travel, and included visits to all of the large cities east of the Missouri and north of the Ohio River. It was suggested by Mr. William E. Curtis, whose connection with the Conference will presently appear, and heartily favored by President Harrison and Secretary Blaine, and it had several objects in view: First, to give the delegates an opportunity to become acquainted with each other, and to establish friendly personal relations among themselves before entering upon the serious business of the Conference; second, to impress them with the magnitude, the wealth, the prosperity, and the commercial advantages of the United States; third, to soften, and if possible to remove the prejudices and distrust that have been alluded to, by hospitality and social intercourse; and, finally, to awaken among

the people of the United States an interest in the proceedings of the Conference and an appreciation of its importance.

However, after the excursion took place, I thought it did not produce the results expected, as many of the delegates knew this country well, and those who did not, could hardly form an adequate idea of it in such a rapid trip. Some of those who took an active part in the proceedings of the Conference, among them the Argentine delegates, did not join it, but about three-fourths of the delegates and almost all the attachés made the entire journey, it being the particular desire of Mr. Blaine that all the young men should go, because, as he said, they would learn more than the older men and would make better use of their information. The only delegate who did not accompany the excursion at all was Señor Saenz Peña, who excused himself because his wife and child were absolute strangers in Washington, unable to speak the language, and dissatisfied with hotel life, and he felt that he must remain and get them settled in a private dwelling as soon as possible. Señor Quintana accompanied the excursion only a few days; he joined the delegates at Chicago, but left the next day and was not present at the banquet given there to the delegates, and where he had been invited to speak; he excused his return by saying that he had been unexpectedly appointed a delegate, and felt that he should make use of the interval to prepare himself for his labors.

I only accompanied the excursion to West Point and then returned to Washington. When the delegates reached Chicago I went there, at the special request of Mr. Blaine, and accompanied the excursion to Council Bluffs and Omaha, returning from there to Washington. When the excursion reached Pittsburg, I, with most of the delegates who had not joined it, went to that place and we all came together to Philadelphia, Wilmington, and Baltimore.

If any favorable result grew out of the excursion, it was most likely among the inhabitants of the cities visited by the delegates, on account of the good impression which may have been produced by personal intercourse with them, although this was, of course, very slight. This, too, may have dispelled some wrong views that had been entertained. Those who most enjoyed the excursion were the young men, attachés of delegations and others who joined it.

On the return of the delegates after their excursion, just mentioned, the organization of the Conference was perfected by approving the rules of the same, electing Vice-Presidents, committees, etc., on which subjects I shall presently speak.

Election of Vice-Presidents.—If Mr. Blaine had been a man of fewer engagements than fall to the lot of a Secretary of State, and able to attend all the meetings of the Conference and remain as long as they lasted, his election would very likely have proved satisfactory during the

remaining sessions of the Conference; but, this not being the case, it was soon found that the change of the presiding officer every day created many difficulties, because there was no uniformity in the decisions of the chair; and this caused delay and inconvenience in the workings of the Conference. For this reason, Señor Alfonso, a Chilian delegate, reported on behalf of the Committee of Rules on December 4, 1889, a resolution to the effect that two Vice-Presidents should be elected, who should be called to the chair by turns in the absence of the President, the chair to be filled in their absence by the other delegates in regular order adopted by the Conference. That resolution was

approved on the following day.

The United States delegates, viewing the election of Mr. Blaine as an act of deference and courtesy to themselves, decided to reciprocate it by offering their support in carrying out any plan the Latin-American delegates might suggest for the appointment of one or more VicePresidents. With the best intention of pleasing their colleagues, and following the parliamentary practices which prevail in this country, the United States delegates made a suggestion, which did not find favor, to the effect that, there being three different sections of America represented in the Conference, a Vice-President should be elected for each of them to wit, one from the delegates of Central America, two from the delegates of South America (one representing the eastern side, or the nations bordering on the Atlantic, and the other the western side, or the nations bordering on the Pacific), and a fourth to represent the Latin portion of North America.

Although I do not believe that any of the delegates desired to be elected Vice-President on personal grounds, the matter was regarded with a great deal of interest by all of them, on account of the political bearing which it might have on the relations between their respective countries. The above suggestion was not accepted, owing to the difficulty of coming to an agreement about the appointment of one or more Vice-Presidents; and it was first decided that none should be elected, but that in the absence of the President his place should be filled by each delegate in turn as designated by lot. Later, however, it was decided to elect two Vice-Presidents.

The jealousies prevailing in some of the South American Republics, to which I have already alluded, increased by the ill feeling caused by the war which had taken place a few years before between Chili on one side and Bolivia and Peru on the other, had created such a condition of things that it was very difficult for the South American delegates to agree upon a Vice-President of the Conference, and that threatened to be a bone of contention between them. Señor Lafayette Rodriguez Pereira, a Brazilian delegate and a man of very clear judgment and great experience, who out of regard for the personal feelings of the