just been sent to Congress, and wound up with the query "whether Mr.
Cleveland's policy is temporary only, and whether he will, as soon as he
secures another term of four years in the presidency, suspend it for one
of friendship and free trade."

[Illustration: Portrait.]
Lord L. S. Sackville-West.

The Minister replied:

"Sir:--I am in receipt of your letter of the 4th inst., and beg to say
that I fully appreciate the difficulty in which you find yourself in
casting your vote. You are probably aware that any political party which
openly favored the mother country at the present moment would lose
popularity, and that the party in power is fully aware of the fact. The
party, however, is, I believe, still desirous of maintaining friendly
relations with Great Britain and still desirous of settling questions
with Canada which have been, unfortunately, reopened since the
retraction of the treaty by the Republican majority in the Senate and by
the President's message to which you allude. All allowances must
therefore be made for the political situation as regards the
Presidential election thus created. It is, however, impossible to
predict the course which President Cleveland may pursue in the matter of
retaliation should he be elected; but there is every reason to believe
that, while upholding the position he has taken, he will manifest a
spirit of conciliation in dealing with the question involved in his
message. I enclose an article from the New York 'Times' of August 22d,
and remain, yours faithfully,
"L. S. SACKVILLE-WEST."

This correspondence, published on October 24th, took instant and
universal effect. The President at first inclined to ignore the
incident, but soon yielded to the urgency of his managers, and, to keep
"the Irish vote" from slipping away, asked for the minister's recall.
Great Britain refusing this, the minister's passports were delivered
him. The act was vain and worse. Without availing to parry the enemy's
thrust, it incurred not only the resentment of the English Government,
but the disapproval of the Administration's soberest friends at home.

Influences with which practical politicians were familiar had their
bearing upon the outcome. In New York State, where occurred the worst
tug of war, Governor Hill and his friends, while boasting their
democracy, were widely believed to connive at the trading of Democratic
votes for Harrison in return