I had a long and friendly talk with the President that evening at dinner, but he was not looking at all well.  I ventured to say to him he needed a rest.  By all means he should get away.  He said he had intended going off on a revenue cutter for a few days, but Judge Bradley of the Supreme Court had died and he must find a worthy successor.  I said there was one I could not recommend because we had fished together and were such intimate friends that we could not judge each other disinterestedly, but he might inquire about him—­Mr. Shiras, of Pittsburgh.  He did so and appointed him.  Mr. Shiras received the strong support of the best elements everywhere.  Neither my recommendation, nor that of any one else, would have weighed with President Harrison one particle in making the appointment if he had not found Mr. Shiras the very man he wanted.

In the Behring Sea dispute the President was incensed at Lord Salisbury’s repudiation of the stipulations for settling the question which had been agreed to.  The President had determined to reject the counter-proposition to submit it to arbitration.  Mr. Blaine was with the President in this and naturally indignant that his plan, which Salisbury had extolled through his Ambassador, had been discarded.  I found both of them in no compromising mood.  The President was much the more excited of the two, however.  Talking it over with Mr. Blaine alone, I explained to him that Salisbury was powerless.  Against Canada’s protest he could not force acceptance of the stipulations to which he had hastily agreed.  There was another element.  He had a dispute with Newfoundland on hand, which the latter was insisting must be settled to her advantage.  No Government in Britain could add Canadian dissatisfaction to that of Newfoundland.  Salisbury had done the best he could.  After a while Blaine was convinced of this and succeeded in bringing the President into line.

The Behring Sea troubles brought about some rather amusing situations.  One day Sir John Macdonald, Canadian Premier, and his party reached Washington and asked Mr. Blaine to arrange an interview with the President upon this subject.  Mr. Blaine 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.