Each assented to my proposal in principle.

There was difficulty in getting them to agree on a common meeting place; but each finally abandoned its original contention in the matter, and the representatives of the two nations finally met at Portsmouth, in New Hampshire.

I previously received the two delegations at Oyster Bay on the U.S.S.Mayflower, which, together with another naval vessel, I put at their disposal, on behalf of the United States Government, to take them from Oyster Bay to Portsmouth.
As is customary--but both unwise and undesirable--in such cases, each side advanced claims which the other could not grant.

The chief difficulty came because of Japan's demand for a money indemnity.

I felt that it would be better for Russia to pay some indemnity than to go on with the war, for there was little chance, in my judgment, of the war turning out favorably for Russia, and the revolutionary movement already under way bade fair to overthrow the negotiations entirely.