Spanish War was Admiral George Dewey. On his return from Manila he was given the most magnificent reception ever accorded to any one in Washington. The unbounded manifestation of the country's gratitude and hero-worship was interpreted by some of his intimates into a desire to make him President. He was not carried away by this hallucination, but continues to wear modestly his great honors. He told the story of the victory of Manila Bay very interestingly and in no boastful spirit. To his friends he made no reservation of his views as to the presence of the German Navy in the harbor during the critical days after the battle and before he was reinforced by the army. He had no doubt of the friendly sympathy of the German commander for the Spaniards, and for some time he was in expectation that this sympathy would develop into hostile acts.

The presence of the Diplomatic Corps lends to the Capital an attractive political and social feature not possessed by any other of our great cities. It is composed usually of persons of education and high culture, and their presence is much appreciated in social circles. The creation of the grade of ambassadors for a time disturbed society, but it soon learned to adjust itself to the new rank. Official precedence is, of necessity, carefully studied in Washington, and while it yet presents some unsolved problems, so far as the Diplomatic Corps is concerned it has come to be pretty well understood and observed. Daniel Webster when Secretary of State was called to account for seating the Brazilian Minister, at an unofficial dinner at his residence, after the British Minister, who had arrived later in Washington. He defended himself on the ground that "the private hospitality of my own house may well be regulated by my own discretion." But to-day neither the Secretary of State nor any other person could act upon Mr. Webster's contention. Not even at private dinner-parties can official precedence be disregarded where diplomats are present.

In my diplomatic service abroad I had met many of the members of the Corps previous to their residence in Washington, and Mrs. Foster and I always sustained with them very pleasant relations, our house being a place of frequent resort for them. Of this body with none did I have longer or more friendly relations than with Sir Julian, afterwards Lord Pauncefote, the British Ambassador. His case was an exception to the British practice of making the Diplomatic Service a life career, for he did not enter that service until after middle life. His chosen profession was the law, and he had served in judicial positions in the colonial possessions of the Far East and the West Indies for a number of years before he was called to be permanent Under-Secretary of the Foreign Office. He was appointed Minister to the United States, the only diplomatic post he ever held, when he was about sixty years

of age.

He was a good type of a refined English gentleman. Impressive in manner, he indulged in no ostentation, and was very simple in his tastes and intercourse. He possessed few of the brilliant qualities of Lord Dufferin, and had none of the hectoring ways or versatile qualities of that earlier and even more celebrated British diplomat, Lord Stratford de Redcliffe. He made no speeches, did not permit himself to be interviewed by the press, and he was the author of no memorable dispatches. But he was methodical and attentive to business, a man of sound judgment, and he impressed every one who came in contact with him with his perfect sincerity and conscientiousness. With such traits he made himself so useful to his Government that when he reached the age of retirement in the Diplomatic Service of his country, by express command of Queen Victoria, he was continued at his post to the day of his death.

Towards the end of his career it was my good fortune to render him a little service for which he was very grateful. In 1898, just on the eve of the Spanish War, the European

Ambassadors in Washington waited in a body upon President McKinley at the White House and made a representation to him which they alleged was in the interest of peace. It was a proceeding unusual in our diplomatic practice, and created some resentment in the press of the country. Lord Pauncefote, as the Dean of the Diplomatic Corps, was the medium of communication with the President, when in fact his country was the only one of the Powers represented which sympathized with the attitude of the United States on the Spanish question.

Four years later it transpired that a second representation and ambassadorial visit to the White House had been proposed of a still more friendly leaning towards Spain, and the German Ambassador, Mr. Holleben, with the object of diverting public attention from the well-known friendliness of Germany to Spain in the war, gave it to be understood that Lord Pauncefote had suggested this second visit. It became a matter of animated discussion in the press, and Mr. Wayne MacVeagh, former Attorney-General and Ambassador to Italy, wrote a signed communication to the press on the subject, and in the concluding paragraph spoke in high terms of Lord Pauncefote. The next day I was interviewed by the same paper, in which I expressed dissent from some of Mr. MacVeagh's views, but used this language: "Mr. MacVeagh has spoken a timely word on the Pauncefote-Holleben incident. The British Ambassador is too well instructed in the proprieties of his position to break silence on the subject. It is for his Government to determine whether the situation calls for a statement of the part taken by him in the now celebrated conference of April, 1898. If its details are made public, I feel sure they will not change the high estimate in which Lord Pauncefote has ever been held by our people. And if the silence remains unbroken, his past conduct should be accepted as a guaranty that he has done nothing unfriendly to the United States. He is approaching the end of a highly