AS MINISTER TO GERMANY -1879 -1881 539 



ties perfectly, and, as his business permitted it, had de- 

 cided to reside a year abroad in order that he might take 

 the furniture of his apartment back to America free of 

 duty. This apartment, a large and beautiful suite of 

 rooms, he had already rented, had furnished it very fully, 

 and then, for the few days intervening before his marriage, 

 had put it under care of his married sister. But, alas ! this 

 sister 's husband was a bankrupt, and hardly had she taken 

 charge of the apartment when the furniture was seized by 

 her husband's creditors, seals placed upon its doors by 

 the authorities, "and," said the man, in his distress, "un- 

 less you do something it will take two years to reach the 

 case on the calendar ; meantime I must pay the rent of the 

 apartment and lose the entire use of it as well as of the 

 furniture." "But," said I, "what can be done?" He 

 answered, "My lawyer says that if you will ask it as a 

 favor from the judge, he will grant an order bringing the 

 case up immediately." To this I naturally replied that 

 I could hardly interfere with a judge in any case before 

 him; but his answer was pithy. Said he, "You are the 

 American minister, and if you are not here to get Ameri- 

 cans out of scrapes, I should like to know what you are 

 here for." This was unanswerable, and in the afternoon 

 I drove in state to the judge, left an official card upon him, 

 and then wrote, stating the case carefully, and saying that, 

 while I could not think of interfering in any case before 

 him, still, that as this matter appeared to me one of especial 

 hardship, if it could be reached at once the ends of justice 

 would undoubtedly be furthered thereby. That my ap- 

 plication was successful was shown by the fact that the 

 man thus rescued never returned to thank his benefactor. 

 A more important part of a minister's duty is in connec- 

 tion with the commercial relations between the two na- 

 tions. Each country was attempting, by means of its 

 tariffs, to get all the advantage possible, and there resulted 

 various German regulations bearing heavily on some 

 American products. This started questions which had to 

 be met with especial care, requiring many interviews with 



