for. The discovery of gold in the Klondike, and the rush thither
of thousands of fortune-seekers, revived the old question of the
Alaskan Boundary; for it mattered a great deal whether some of
the gold-fields were Alaskan--that is, American-or Canadian.
Accordingly, a joint High Commission was appointed towards the
end of McKinley's first administration to consider the claims and
complaints of the two countries. The Canadians, however, instead
of settling each point on its own merits, persisted in bringing
in a list of twelve grievances which varied greatly in
importance, and this method favored trading one claim against
another. The result was that the Commission, failing to agree,
disbanded. Nevertheless, the irritation continued, and Roosevelt,
having become President, and being a person who was
constitutionally opposed to shilly-shally, suggested to the State
Department that a new Commission be appointed under conditions
which would make a decision certain. He even went farther, he
took precautions to assure a verdict in favor of the United
States. He appointed three Commissioners--Senators Lodge, Root,
and Turner; the Canadians appointed two, Sir A. L. Jette and A.
B. Aylesworth; the English representative was Alverstone, the
Lord Chief Justice.

The President gave to Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, of the
Supreme Court, who was going abroad for the summer, a letter
which he was "indiscreetly" to show Mr. Chamberlain, Mr. Balfour,
and two or three other prominent Englishmen. In this letter he
wrote:

'The claims of the Canadians for access to deep water along any
part of the Alaskan Coast is just exactly as indefensible as if