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Theodore Roosevelt and His Times by Harold Jacobs Howland
page 125 of 204 (61%)
advances appear to have been made following a suggestion from
Japan that Roosevelt should attempt to secure peace. He used to
say, in discussing the matter, that, while it was not generally
known or even suspected, Japan was actually "bled white" by the
herculean efforts she had made. But Japan's position was the
stronger, and peace was more important for Russia than for her
antagonist. The Japanese were more clear-sighted than the selfish
Russian bureaucracy; and they realized that they had gained so
much already that there was nothing to be won by further
fighting.

When the public invitation to peace negotiations was extended,
the conference had already been arranged and the confidential
consent of both Governments needed only to be made formal. Russia
wished the meeting of plenipotentiaries to take place at Paris,
Japan preferred Chifu, in China. Neither liked the other's
suggestion, and Roosevelt's invitation to come to Washington,
with the privilege of adjourning to some place in New England if
the weather was too hot, was finally accepted. The formal meeting
between the plenipotentiaries took place at Oyster Bay on the 5th
of August on board the Presidential yacht, the Mayflower.
Roosevelt received his guests in the cabin and proposed a toast
in these words: "Gentlemen, I propose a toast to which there will
be no answer and which I ask you to drink in silence, standing. I
drink to the welfare and prosperity of the sovereigns and the
peoples of the two great nations whose representatives have met
one another on this ship. It is my earnest hope and prayer, in
the interest not only of these two great powers, but of all
civilized mankind, that a just and lasting peace may speedily be
concluded between them."
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