The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1900-01-07

leo was able to see the humorous side OF
| things. He treated the affair as a big fuss
for small cause. Here It may not be
out OF place to observe that II there had
been q collision between our soldiers and
the British navy. followed by bloody
| war, the British would have found poor
| consolation for the whipping which we
should have been obliged TO give them.
in the fact that the immediate occasion
for the disturbance was the untirneiy
death Of one Of the Hudson Bay Com
pany's pigs.
Xxx
HAMILTON FISH.
| THE Joint high commission Of 1871 was
! ] made up of I'VE commissioners and a
secretary on the part of the United
States. and an equal number Of commits
eioners and secretary on the British side.
Hon. Hamilton Fish, secretary of state In
| the cabinet Of President Grant, was chair
man of the American commissioners. He
was man OF unostentatious manners, but
of great capacity and commanding infiu-
ence. In writing of the personnel Of the
commission. Mr.. Bancroft Davis. the
American secretary of the commission,
speaks OF Mr.. Fish. and OF his influence in
the work Of the commission as follows:
From the beginning to the end he was
the rsHasdns ap Ssbaf IN ing
United States the plan for the settlepent
Of these long-standing and momentons DIFF
conduct OF the American side in the com
tentions at Geneva, and infused courage
into those who were beginning to wilt
in the face OF the British outcry against
the American cause"
Previous to the meeting Of the joint
high commission, Representatives of the
British government had proposed arbitra-
tion as a means of settling the dispute
a number of times, and in 1863 a conven-
ton was signed between our minister TO
England. Mr.. Reverdy johnson. and Lord
Clarendon, by which the question was to be
submitted to the president of the Swiss
republic. with authority to determine the
line intended by the treaty Of 1S4s. and. If
he should find that neither one of the
channels for which the parties respectively
contended answered the calls of the treaty,
that he should then determine upon some
line which. in his opinion. would furnish
an equitable solution of the difficulty and
be the nearest approximation that could
be made to an accurate construction OF
the words by which the line was described.
This convention was very skillfully draft
ed In the interest of the British, for while
they had no faith In the arguments which
they used to support their contention for
the adoption Of Rosario strait. they hoped
by persistence and vehemence to secure
a compromise and the adoption Of boun-
dairy which would leave San Juan island
on their side.
The Johnson-C Clarendon convention failed
10 become eHeCtlVe DeCHuse the senate OF
the United States would not sanction Il,
and the American members of the joint
high commission refused repeatedly to
agree to submit the question to arbitration
on similar terms. or any terms giving the
arbitrator the right to locate the boundary
through any intermediary channel between
Rosario strait and the Hero channel, In
sisting that II the two governments could
not come to an agreement, that the ques-
ton at issue should be decided one way or
the other by the arbitrator, and not COM
promised. and in the end they forced the
British commissioners to agree to a treaty
which required the arbitrator to decide
which of the two channels was the one
intended by the treaty.
SAMUEL NELSON.
Next to Mr. Fish upon the American
IN side was the venerable Samuel Nell
son, then the senior associate justice
of the supreme court of the United States.
For more than forty years preceding his
appointment as member of the COM
mission he had served his country in a
judicial office, having been for over fif-
teen years one of the Judges Of the state
OF New York. and afterward for more
than twenty-five years member Of the
supreme court of the United States. His
work as a member pf the joint high COM
mission closed an honorable career in the
performance of duties involving grave re-
sponsibilities.
GEN. ROBERT G. sCHENCK.
A MOTHER strong man on the Ameri-
~ can side of the commission was Gen.
Schenck, who had then recently been
appointed minister to England. He had
previously gained distinction as an able
officer in the Union army and had served
several terms as member of congress
from the state Of Ohio.
x *
EBENEZER LOCKWOOD HOAR.
A FOURTH American commissioner
n was Judge Ebenezer lockwood
Hoar, distinguished among the sons
Of Massachusetts as lawyer and jurist
of ability, and as attorney general In the
cabinet first selected by President Grant.
ks
GEORGE H. WILLIAMS.
r HE four members of the commission
last named have all many years ago
departed from the scenes of their
earthly labors. and only the venerable
George H. Williams, of the state of Ore
gon, remains of the five eminent Ameri-
cans who took part in adjusting by peace
full methods and according to the princi-
pies of right and truth, international dis
putes which otherwise must have furnish
ed pretexts for bloody and disastrous
war. He was chief justice Of Oregon ter
ritory in pioneer days, and as senator
from the state of Oregon during the
period just after the close of the civil
war, when the men charged with the re-
sponsibility of reconstructing the Union
were required to deal with perplexing diff ].
ficulties of the greatest magnitude, Judge
williams was recognized as the peer of
Sumner. Morton, Fessenden, Trumbull.
Chandler Wade and Sherman. President
Grant had faith in Judge Williams, and
besides selecting him as member Of the
joint high commission. he afterward made
him attorney general and named him for
the high Office Of chief Justice of the SUI
preme court, which he would have filled
with the highest credit to himself and
his country had not jealousy interviewed
to prevent the confirmation of the APP
pointment by the United States senate.
X x
EMPEROR WILLIAMS ADVISERS.