ischarge of their duties.

The administration had appointed the Hon. J. C. Bancroft Davis, the
most accomplished diplomatist of the country, as the agent of the
United States, and the preparation of "the Case of the United States"
was placed in his hands.

The British Ministry discovered--or they fancied that there was
concealed in covert language--a claim for damages, known as
"consequential or indirect damages"--in other words, a claim to
compensation for the value of American shipping that had been driven
from the ocean and made worthless through fear of the cruisers that had
been fitted out in British ports.

This claim, in the extreme form in which it had been presented by Mr.
Sumner, had been relinquished by the Administration, and a present
reading of "the Case of the United States" may not justify the
construction that was put upon it by the British Ministry.

Nevertheless, the Administration received notice that Great Britain
would not be represented at the Geneva Conference.

The subject was considered by the President and Cabinet on three
consecutive days at called sessions. At the final meeting I handed
a memorandum to the President, which he passed to the Secretary of
State. The memorandum was not read to the Cabinet.

Mr. Adams, the Commissioner for the United States, had not then left
the country. By a despatch from the Secretary of State Mr. Adams
was asked to meet me at the Parker House in Boston, on the second day
after the day of the date of the despatch.

What occurred at the meeting may be best given through an extract from
the diary of Mr. Adams, which has been placed in my hands by Mr.
Charles Francis Adams, Jr., with the privilege of its full and free
use by me.

The first entry is under date of Saturday, April 20, 1872, and is in
these words: "Charles brought me a telegram from Governor Fish,
desiring me to meet Mr. Boutwell, who will be at the Parker House
at eleven o'clock on Monday." The second entry is under date of
"Monday, 22d of April."

"At eleven o'clock called on Mr. Boutwell, the Secretary of the
Treasury, at Parker's Hotel, according to agreement. Found him
alone in his minute bedroom. He soon opened his subject--handed over
to me a packet from Governor Fish, and said that it was the desire of
the Government, it I could find it consistent with what they
understood to be my views of the question of indirect damages, that I
would make such intimation of them to perso