He was also a member of the Anglo-American Joint High Commission of 1898, to adjust the differences between the United States and Canada. The commission had reached no conclusion upon its indefinite adjournment in February, 1899, occasioned by the death of Lord Herschel and Mr. Dingley, members of the commission. He was also appointed by President Roosevelt agent of the United States before the Alaskan Boundary Tribunal in 1903, which settled the disputed question of the boundary in favor of the United States. He has held commissions from every president from Lincoln to Roosevelt, except Johnson.
Mr. Foster was married September 1, 1859, to Mary Parke McFerson, daughter of Alexander and Eliza J. McFerson of Ohio, and their two children (daughters) married and settled in Watertown, New York. He was brought up in the Presbyterian faith and through all his adult life has been connected with that church as a member and for forty years as a ruling elder.
He found his recreation during his residence in Washington in fishing and in playing golf. He received the honorary' degree of LL.D. from Princeton university and from Wabash college in 1895, and from Yale university in 1896. He was Storrs lecturer on municipal law at Yale. He contributed to the August "Century" (1896), a sketch of Li Hung Chang for whom he entertained a profound respect and whom he ranked as one of the greatest men of his age. He has also written magazine articles on President Diaz of Mexico, Marquis Ito of Japan and on various diplomatic subjects. He is the author of a biography of " Matthew Watson Foster" (1896); "A Century of American Diplomacy; being a brief review of the Foreign Relations of the United States 1776-1876" (1900); "American Diplomacy in the Orient" (1903) and "Arbitration and the Hague Court" (1904).
Mr. Foster's work in the field of diplomacy stands unequaled in the annals of American history. John Quincy Adams' official diplomatic service possibly extended over a greater number of years, but did not approach in variety that performed by Mr. Foster, although some of the identical questions, notably the Bering Sea controversy, came before both diplomats. Mr. Foster in his latter years made diplomacy a profession; but his diplomatic position in the United States government service came to him unsought, and in most instances without his knowledge until announced to the world.
