dispute arbitrated, for the very good reason that, as he said,
"although our claim is as clear as the sun in heaven, we know
enough of arbitration to foresee the fatal tendency of all
arbitrators to compromise." Roosevelt believed that the "claim of
the Canadians for access to deep water along any part of the
Alaskan coast is just exactly as indefensible as if they should
now claim the island of Nantucket." He was willing, however, to
refer the question unconfused by other issues to a second Joint
Commission of six. The commission was duly constituted. There was
no odd neutral member of this body, as in an arbitration, but
merely three representatives from each side. Of the British
representatives two were Canadians and the third was the Lord
Chief Justice of England, Lord Alverstone.

But before the Commission met, the President took pains to have
conveyed to the British Cabinet, in an informal but
diplomatically correct way, his views and his intentions in the
event of a disagreement. "I wish to make one last effort," he
said, "to bring about an agreement through the Commission which
will enable the people of both countries to say that the result
represents the feeling of the representatives of both countries.
But if there is a disagreement, I wish it distinctly understood,
not only that there will be no arbitration of the matter, but
that in my message to Congress I shall take a position which will
prevent any possibility of arbitration hereafter." If this should
seem to any one too vigorous flourishing of the "big stick," let
him remember that it was all done through confidential diplomatic
channels, and that the judgment of the Lord Chief Justice of
England, when the final decision was made, fully upheld
Roosevelt's position.