and would avert the panic and confusion in the business
of the world, which would be brought about by the success
of the project.

I did not state to Mr. Balfour exactly what I thought the
contribution of England to this result ought to be. He, on
the other hand, did not tell me what he thought she would
do. I did not, of course, expect that England would establish
the free coinage of silver for her own domestic purposes.
But I thought it quite likely that she would declare her cordial
approval of the proposed arrangement between the other countries,
and would reopen her India mints to the free coinage of the
rupee, and maintain the silver standard for the Queen's three
hundred million subjects in Asia. This contribution, I thought,
if Great Britain went no farther, would give great support
to silver, and would ensure the success of the concerted attempt
of the other commercial nations to restore silver to its old
place.

Mr. Balfour expressed his assent to my proposal, and entered
heartily into the scheme. He said he would be very happy
indeed to make such a declaration. I suggested to him that
I had been authorized to say, by one or two gentlemen with
whom I had talked, that, if he were willing, a deputation
of the friends of Bimetallism would wait upon him, to whom
he could express his opinion and purpose. He said he thought
it would be better that he should write a letter to me, and
that if I would write to him stating what I had said orally,
he would answer it with such a statement as I desired. I
told him I was going to Paris in a few days, and that I would
write to him from Paris when I got there. The matter was
left in that way. The next day, or the next day but one,
a luncheon was given me at White's, the club famous for its
memories of Pitt and Canning and the old statesmen of that
time, and still the resort of many of the Conservative leaders
of to-day. There were present some fifteen or twenty gentlemen,
including several members of the Government. A gentleman
who had known of my interview with Mr. Balfour, and sat at
the table some distance from me, made some allusion to it
which was heard by most of the guests. I said that I did
not like to repeat what Mr. Balfour had said; that gentlemen
in his position preferred, if their opinions were to be made
public, to do it for themselves, rather than to have anybody
else do it for them. To this, one member of the Government--
I think it was Si