Page:The Presidents of the United States, 1789-1914, v. III.djvu/125

 ULYSSES SIMPSON GRANT 97 upon a foreigner. At Pekin, Prince Kung re quested him to act as sole arbitrator in the settle ment of the dispute between that country and Japan concerning the Loo Choo islands. His plans prevented him from entering upon the duties of arbitrator, but he studied the questions involved and gave his advice on the subject, and the matters in dispute were afterward settled without war. On June 21 he reached Nagasaki, where he was re ceived by the imperial officials and became the guest of the mikado. The attention shown him while in Japan exceeded in some of its features that which he had received in any of the other countries included in his tour. The entertainments prepared in his honor were memorable in the history of that empire. He sailed from Yokohama, September 3, and reached San Francisco on the 20th. He had not visited the Pacific coast since he had served there as a lieu tenant of infantry. Preparations had been made for a reception that should surpass any ever accorded to a public man in that part of the coun try, and the demonstration in the harbor of San Francisco on his arrival formed a pageant equal to anything of the kind seen in modern times. On his journey east he was tendered banquets and pub lic receptions, and greeted with every manifesta tion of welcome in the different cities at which he stopped. Early in 1880 he travelled through some