THE NORTHEAST COAST FISHERIES 515 



Maximilian and his French army from the Western continent. 

 The United States Government realized the blunder too late, 

 and in the attempt to free itself from the mistake of its com- 

 missioners, it fell into even greater difficulties. The acting 

 Secretary of State, Mr. J. C. Bancroft Davis, proposed to 

 the British Government the names of a number of foreign 

 ministers in Washington whose knowledge of the English 

 language qualified any one of them to act as the third com- 

 missioner in question. The name of Mr. Delfosse, the Belgian 

 Minister, had been purposely omitted from the list, for the 

 reason that the intimate political relations between England 

 and Belgium (strengthened by the ties of close kinship in 

 their royal families) seemed to disqualify any Belgian from 

 acting in such a diplomatic capacity. Lord de Grey, one of 

 the British commissioners who had signed the treaty of 

 Washington, had given it as his opinion that Belgium and 

 Portugal need not be considered in this connection, for their 

 treaty arrangements with England " might be supposed to 

 incapacitate " their representatives from acting upon such a 

 commission. A desire became evident on the part of the 

 British Minister in Washington to delay the choice of a third 

 arbitrator until the end of the stipulated period, when the 

 selection would fall into Austrian hands. Finding that 

 the United States entertained objections to Mr. Delfosse, the 

 English Government accordingly offered him as their choice, 

 no doubt anticipating a lengthy discussion which would waste 

 time. Upon further request to name some other person for 

 neutral member of the board, the British premier suggested 

 that the American and British Ministers at The Hague 

 should select jointly some Dutch subject, but the recently 

 appointed American Minister to that capital felt his inability, 

 through a lack of acquaintance with the people, to make an 

 intelligent choice ; so that scheme was abandoned. Mr. 

 Thornton, the British Minister in Washington, wrote that 

 circumstances seemed to point either to the selection of 

 Mr. Delfosse or to the alternative provided for in the treaty. 

 The three months' allotted time was about to expire, and 

 there appeared to be no escape from an appointment by the 



