The most conspicuous act of Mr. Blaine's administration of the state
department was his invitation to the peace congress. The proposition was
to invite all the independent governments of North and South America to
meet in a peace congress at Washington on March 15, 1882. The
representatives of all the minor governments on this continent were to
agree, if possible, upon some comprehensive plan for averting war by
means of arbitration, and for resisting the intrigues of European
diplomacy. Invitations were sent on November 22, with the limitations
and restrictions originally designed. Mr. Frelinghuysen lost no time in
undermining this diplomatic congress, and the meeting never took place.

On the morning of Saturday, July 2, President Garfield was to start from
Washington by the morning limited express for New York, en route for New
England and a reunion with his old college mates at the Williams College
commencement. His secretary of state accompanied him to the train, and
has recorded the great, almost boyish, delight with which the President
anticipated his holiday. They entered the waiting-room at the station,
and a moment later Guiteau's revolver had done its work. The country
still vividly remembers the devotion with which the head of the Cabinet
watched at the President's bedside, and the calm dignity with which,
during those long weeks of suspense, he discharged the painful duties of
his position. On September 6 the President was removed from Washington
to Elberon, whither he was followed the same day by Mr. Blaine and the
rest of the Cabinet. The apparent improvement in the President's
condition warranted the belief that he would continue to gain, and Mr.
Blaine went for a short rest to his home in Augusta. He was on his way
back to Elberon when the fatal moment came, and reached there the next
morning. It is the universal testimony of the press and people that,
during the weary weeks which intervened between the President's injury