The Sun. (New York, NY) 1898-09-11 [p ]. · -mm" "... i.' n. ' n-'" " M mom mew moomm. Orant...

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' n - '" " M - "mm" "... i.' n. - mom mew moomm. Orant IHifl'a Ilery rint Inet ailment. Id four volume, each of whloh comprises lomi thro hundred pages, Mr. John Bamr ban published jrofesr-o- a IHtmt. by the Bight Rob. Sir MouwthtuaUT E. Obawt Durr. The author In. of eouree, the n English Liberal who has been In public life for nearly Port? years a a member of the House of Com- mons, or aa the oeoupaut of Ministerial posts, He has long or aa an Indian admlnlatrator. had. also, a apeclal claim to distinction, due to the fact that, almoat from the time when he graduated at Oxford, he has devoted himself to the acquisition of modern European languages and of a thorough knowledge of the politic and publlo man of tha countries tn which they are spoken. In the pursuit of hie purpose he haa been a great traveller, and he probably haa wider circle of Interesting acquaintance than any other contemporary Englishman. A L Man of so extensive an experience could not help seeing and hearing many things the rec- ord of which ought not to perish. Fortunately for hla readers, he determined In the year 1847 to keep a diary, and began to do so on his Ighteenth birthday, making an entry In It. longer or shorter, forevery day that passed over htm. It was not. however, till he had con- tinued this practice for something over a smarter of a century that It ocourred to him to read through what he had written. Having done so. he came to the conclusion that the record he possessed would not be intelligible toothers, and. accordingly, ho extracted from It all that ho thought would be likely to pleaae persons whose tastes are similar to his own. and threw It Into n readable shape. It Is this digested diary, covering the years from 1851 to 187.'. both Inclusive, which fills the first two of the four volumes now published, and It la these to which we shnll at present direct atten- tion. They begin with the first day of the half century, when the writer had just left Haldol. after taking his B. A. degree, and was ap- proaching twenty-two- . This diary Is. In no aense. an autohlogniphy.whloh accounts for the fact that very little Is said In It about the House of Commons.although fifteen of the years Included In theso two volumes were passed In. that assembly. The author hns, for the most, part, omitted references to his publlo life for eevern reasons: first, becauso he hns had fre- quent opportunities of stating his views upon public matters, in Parliament and out of It. and has printed a number of books: secondly, be- cause he has wished to make theao pages as light aa possible: and. lastly, because he was anxious to leave behind him one of the most good-nature- d books of its kind ever printed, and was naturally apprehensive that for a poli- tician to write truthfully of the political strug- gles in which he has been engaged without paying to some of the combatants the "'tribute of undlssemblcd horror" would be a hopeless undertaking. To relcgnto to the background nearly all the more serious part of life and to Ignore every disagreeable person and thing encountered would be, no doubt, an Indcfensl- - ble proceeding if tho author were writing his memoirs. But this, as we hae said, is not the Use. It is not a memoir, hut a diary of aunlquo kind, whloh we havo before us. Tho flint ontry In this diary that strikes us Is an ler the date of July. 1852, when the author apen u few days with Mountstuart Elphln- stone who. also, had been a great traveller, and en joyed n singularly wide acquaintance among distinguished men. They talked of epitaphs, i end Mr. Elphlns'one spoke with extreme ad- mit ution of Trlvubjlo's: "Johannes Trlvulzlu-- . qui nunquam qulevlt. hlo quiesclt taee." An.oug others oited was an old Scotch one: 111 to Mb fren. wnur to bin ia. True to bl Marker in weal anil in woe. The word Mocker, here used, means feudal lord. Something being said about shining in conversation. Elphlnstone put Luttrell's talk above that of'nll whom lie had known. Talley-rand'- ho nld. was very rich In anecdote, but by no moans witty. Of Sydney Smith he spoke with very great regard, treating his wit as merely the Dower of his wisdom. Elphlnstone repented the motto of the Earls Marlschal given by thou: to Ma rischal College. Aberdeen: 't'liey aj. guhat'say theyf Lat them say. With which motto circumstances. In after years, were to make our author familiar, for he was to become Lord Hector of the University of Aberdeen. The motto being mentioned later to Henry Smith, late Savilian Professor of Oeom try at Oxford, the latter anid: "Ahllsee what that means. It Is the acclunt of a young man's life nt, the university. In his first year he believes all that his professor tells them. His answer to all objections Is-- say. In his second year doubts begin to arise. He asks What say they? In his third year ho has lost all oonfldence. and says .rt them talk as thru will." We note, in passing, that Abraham Hay-war- d did not share Elphitistone's high opinion of Luttrell's conversation. He thought Sydney Smith's talk much superior. Luttrell's art. Hayward said, consisted chiefly in the neat- ness of the allusiona to passing events which he threw in from time to time. In February. 185:1, our author spent a week at Newnham Paddox. where there was a large and very pleasant house party. Including. among others, Charles Elngsley, whom he then met for the first time. Elngsley talked. It seems, much about Carlyle. and recounted, on the great man's own authority, the following edifying tale: The most dyspeptlo of philoso- phers had been terribly bored by the persist- ant optimism of his friend Emerson. "I thought," he said. " that I would try to cure him. so I took htm to some of the lowest parts of London and showed him all that was going on there. This done I turned to him. saying: 'And. noo. man. d'ye believe In the deevll noo ?' "Oh. no.' he replied, 'all these people seem to me only parts of the great machine, and. on the whole, I think they are doing their work vary satisfactorily.' Then." continued the age, "I took hlmdoun to the Hoose o' Com- mons, where they put us under the gallery. There I showed him ae chlel getting up after wither and leeing and leeing. Then I turned to him and said: 'And. noo, man. d'ye believe In tha deevll noo ?' He made me, however, Just the same answer as before, and I then gave him up tn despair I" It was In July. 1862. that our anthor was in- troduced to Carlyle. Arthur Buasell took him to 5 Cheyno row. There they found Arch- deacon Venables with four or Ave other men and one lady. Mrs. Carlyle being at Folkestone. They were received, it seems, in the front room en the ground floor, very poorly famished, the ehlet feature boing a long bookcase full of books, but without ornament of any kind, dusty and grimy looking. Our author found Carlyle taller than he expected, but otherwise like his pictures, except that he wore a beard. The philosopher said that he had not been to the Exhibition and had "no intention of going, expecting no interest but the sol- emn and tragic, one of going amongst all these thousands of people, wondering at the waste of enthusiasm and labor and unable to guess what was the good of it all." He had been, he said, to the Dog Show, having met the Bishop of Oxford (Wllber-(orc- and ridden with him: " For the Orel one hundred yards the Bishop had talked of the JSssays and Uroinrs judgment; had said that there would be an appeal, and that these gen- tlemen would have to leave their livings; then he told me he was going to the Bog Show, and I thought I should never have euoh an oppor- tunity again, so I went with him, and we stayed some two hours. He Is a delightful compan- ion, a most active, ardent creature. I know nobody who would have succeeded better in Whatever he was set to do." Carlyle proceeded to speak of the Essays and Jtevlews case, and said It was sad to see a great institution like the Church of England, to whloh he had never bolonged. and to which ho had many objec- tions, but which ho. nevertheless, thought tho best thing of the kiud In the world, falling to pieces in this manner and going the way of all the earth. He had little good to say either of the Scotch Presbyterian or the Boman Catho-U- s Church, as mpruevntad by Uie Boman Court - at that time. Tha conversation turned, after a time, to Thiers, of whom Carlyle spoke with much contempt, and said that he had been one of thoae who had most contributed to making the French think that they had only. In spite of the cause, however bad. to put a eei- - tain numberof thousand scoundrels together and. at their head, the most detestable child of Beelzebub whom they could find, and march them over Europe to prevail everywhere, a theory whloh wont to the root of all his Ideas about things. He said that, shortly before tho roup d'rtat of Dec. 2, 1H51, he had lamented that thore was not a strong Angel of the Lord, with a great sword reaching from one end of Franco to the other, to sweep It across and to say to the endless talking Peace. He had been much atruok. we are told, with Prlnee Na- poleon, who had visited him many years be- fore, and who. at the time, was running about seeing all kinds of useful things, courts of jus- tice and what not, and by no means occupying himself, as he had been said to do, with friv- olous matters. Some three weeks later our author went again to see Carlyle. In the course of the evening the conversation turned on the civil war In the United States. " There they are." said Carlyle. " cutting eaoh other's throats because one-ha- lf of them prefer hiring their servants for life and the other by the hour." II. While the Crimean war was going on. our author spent some time In Berlin. His friend and ciceront. Major von Orlioh. took him one day to soe Alexander von Humboldt, who had a great deal to say about India. The conver- sation happened to glanoe on Whewell's Plu- rality of Wurhis. Humboldt said that he held the book very oheap, laughing at the idea that all the stars were made for our amusement, and putting the argument thus: "The stars are. assuredly, uninhabited by Intellectual beings because. If Intellectual, they must be Mndlirh, and tho bVlosung, so often repeated, would be unbrqurm." Ho spoke very highly of Max Mailer, and said it was an honor to Eng- land that she afforded a career to such men. As regarded the Crimean war, Humboldt's sympathies were on the side of the Western powers. Not so those of Banke, with whom our author had one day a long and some- what lively talk. Banke said that Germany hod nothing to fear from Bussla more from England : and that. If the English succeeded In the Crimes, all they would do would be to destroy an infant civilization. " Ah ! We love you," he said. " and feel with you far more than with Bussla, but we cannot agroo in all things. There are some differences between our Interests." Later he added : " To me the chief Interest of England Is that shs is Old England." Major von Orllch. our author's host In Berlin, was at this period very Intimate with the Prince of Prussia (later the Emperor William I.I. who. thanks to the ascehdancyof the Pietist party at court, had been force dinto the position of the head of the Liberal party In Prussia. He told Orlioh, it appears, that the last time the Emperor Nicholas I. was in Ber- lin he had said to him: "You are a Liberal: your Ideas will ruin the monarchy." The Prince replied: "Do you really think that yon. by your exclusive system, have kept these Ideas out of Bussla?" Nicholas answered : "Not to the extent I would wish : yet to a certain ex- tent ; but that is not now the question. I speak of you." The Czar kept coming back and back to the snbjeot, and the Prince got very angry, saying at last: " We will talk no mora of that That is another affair altogether." 8hortly after the conversation, the Prince went out, and, meeting one of the Emperor's confidants, told him what had passed, and said: " Tell me now, as a man of honor do you think he has succeeded?" " So far from that being the case." replied the person addressed. " I don't think my life or the life or any one of his Intimates is worth ton days' purchase after he closes his eyes. I do not see the future, (lod knows what may happen ; but It looks very blaok ahead." On April 22. 1855. our author went to hear the Rev. F. D. Maurice preaoh at Lincoln's Inn. ' He supposes, he says, that he must have heard him, first and last, some thirty or forty times, but never carried away one clear idea, or even the impression that the preacher had more than the faintest conception of what he himself meant. Aubrey de Vere Is pronounced quite right in saying that listening to Maurloe was like eating pea soup with a fork, and Jowett's answer seems to have been not less to the purpose when our author asked him what a sermon which Maurice had just preached before the University of Oxford was about, and he replied: "Weill All that I could make out was that y was yesterday, and this world the same as the next." John Stuart Mill, who had known him early tn life, said, about the same time, to the writer of this diary: "Frederick Maurloe has philosophical powers of the highest order, but he spoils them all by torturing everything Into the Thlrtv- - nl no Articles." The fact that he should have ex- erted a distinctly stimulating and liberalizing influence over many more or less remarkable people must be deemed sufficiently strange: but the author reminds ns that " he was a noble fellow, with Immense power of sym- pathy and an ardent, passionate nature, which often led him to right conclusions In spite of hia hopelessly confused reasoning. To listen to him was to drink spiritual champagne. Having been elected at Brooks's In February. 185)1. our author looked over the old betting book at that club. Here and there he found a curious entry. For Instance on March 11, 1770. Mr. Charles Fox gave a dinner to Lord Bollngbroke on the understanding that he was to receive a thousand guineas from the other when the national debt amounted to 171,000,-00- 0. In 1788 Fox gave Mr. Shirley ten guineas on the understanding that he was to receive Ave hundred whenever Turkey In Europe belonged to a European power or powers. The wager, of course. Is still unsettled. In February. 1858. our author was elected at the Cosmopolitan Club, whloh met then, and meets now, In Charles street, Berkeley Square, in a huge room which was once need aa Watts's studio, and on the walls of whloh there is an enormous picture by him from Theodore and Uonoria. In whloh there are many female figures. Some one asked Lord Houghton what this repre- sented. " Oh," he replied. " you have heard of Watts's Hymns. These are Watts's Hers." At this club, one day, the writer of this diary had a conversation with Thackeray about a French Invasion, apropos of the fiery French Colonels, with regard to whom there was a good deal of talk In 1858. Thackeray said, alluding to his recent candidature for a seat In Parliament at Oxford: " The chief reaaon why I wished to be In Parliament was that I might stand' up once a year and tell my countrymen what will hap- pen when the Freno Invade us." The Impedi- ment to Thaokeray's political aspirations was that he was almost tongue-tie- d when he tried to speak sxtemporarlly In public. III. In the pages allotted to 1861 and 1862 we oome upon a number of anecdotes. Mr. Straohey, a young diplomatist, told the author a good saying of the Quean of the Netherlands about an Austrian attache-- : "II a Voir d'un coiffeur et I'aplomb d'un dentists." Acoordiug to Abraham Hayward. nobody ever had so muoh aplomb as Nassau William Senior. On one oc- casion, when Tom Moore was singing at the poet was annoyed by the scratching of the pen with which Senior was writing, and stopped. "Pray go on." said Senior; "you don't interrupt me." At the Thrings' one day in 1862, our author met Sir O. Rose, tha great punster, the same who. on turning round and seeing some one Imitating his gait, said: "You have the stalk without the rose;" and who, on belLg asked the Latin for a hearse, said: "Mors omnibus." This recalls the rebuke adminis- tered by a French lady In a crowded Paris om- nibus to a priest who mads a great ado because there was no seat for him. "M. leCurd," she said. " in omnibus cantos." Meeting Bui wur Lyttou one evening at tho Athenieuui. our author heard the novelist say to Hayward. who had remarked that no man wrote so above himself asStauhope: "No man writes above himself, but most men are very unequal. Campbell, the poet, for instance, always struck ma as very tiresome till, one Bight, whan he mat ma j at the door of this club and asked me to go home and sup. I had only just dined, and at flint refused, but. seeing that he was hurt. I l agreed to go. We were tete-a-tet- and from ' 10 to half past 1 he poured out a stream of con- versation of the most surpassingly brilliant kind." It seems that. In a book given to Bui- - werby Louis Napoleon In 1837. the novelist had Jotted down a prediction that the giver would one day be great in France, baaing his j forecast on Louis Napoleon's devotion to one Idea, and his skill in masking that devotion. In June, 1862. at Prof. Owen's cottage in Rlobanond Park, our author met Dickens. " I had never seen." he writes, " Dickens before. and thought his look singularly unpreposaess- - Ing. The first unfavorable Impression, how- ever, very soon wore off. and I did not deteot anything In his conversation that at all an- - swered to his appearance He talked to me as we walked around the garden about Oore House and Count d'Orsay. of whom he spoke with great regard ; of Holland House and a wonderful squabble whloh he had witnessed between Allen. Luttrell. Rogers and Lady Holland, all In bad humor, and all contradict- ing each other. He said that he. too. had seen muoh of Louis Napoleon In those days, but had never perceived anything remarkable in him. except ones, when he gave rather a olaver description of being had up at Bow street." In February. 1870. the writer of this diary dined with a Mr. Pender, and, after the ladles were gone, he found him- self sitting next to Dickens, whom he had not seen .since his return from his second visit to Amerioa. The two fell Into conversation about thlscountry. and the novelist told a very curious story. He said that, shortly before leaving Washington, he fell In with Senator Sumnsr. who asked If there was any one whom he would like to see that he had not as yet a chance to meet Dlokens replied: "Yes, I have always had a great idea of Mr. Stanton : I should like to meet Mr. Stanton." " Well." answered Mr. Sumner, "there Is nothing easier. I will ask him to dine. Wo will have nobody but our- selves, and you can have a good talk." A few days afterward, accordingly. Dickens met Stan- ton at Sumner's, and they spent a long evening together. At last about midnight. Stanton turned to Sumnor and said : " I should like to tell Dickens that story about the Pres- ident" "By all means," replied the other. "At least the hour you have chosen Is a highly appropriate one." Stanton then turned to Dlokens and said that, at the time when the circumstances occurred which he was going to relate, he was Seoretary of War. and. of course, had a great deal to do. One day In April. 1805, a Cabinet council was called for 2 o'olock In the afternoon. But he was overwhelmed with work and did not get there till twenty minutes after the appointed hour. Just as he opened the door he heard the President say : " But this Is not business, gentlemen. Here is Mr. Stan- ton." After the oounoil was over Stanton walked away with the Attorney-Gener- and said to him: "Well, If all councils were like this the war would soon be at an end. The Presi- dent Instead of sitting on half a dozen differ- ent chairs and telling Improper stories, has ap- plied himself to business, and we've got through a great deal of work." " Yes," said the Atto- rney-General, "but you were late. You don't know what happened." "No." I an- swered. "What did happen?" "All the rest of us." rejoined he. "were pretty punctual, and when we came in we found the President sit- ting with his head on his hand and looking very unlike himself. At length he lifted his head and. looking around at us. be said: 'Gentle- men. In a few hours we shall receive some very strange intelligence.' Very much surprised. I said to him : ' Sir. you have got some very bad news.' ' No,' he answered. ' I have got no news, but in a few hours we shall receive some very strange intelligence.' Still more astonished I said: ' May we ask. sir, what leads you to sup- pose we shall receive this Intelligence?' He replied: 'I've had a dream. I had It the night before Bull Run. I had It on some other occasion' (which Dickens had for- gotten). ' and I bad it last night.' This was stranger than ever. and I said: 'May we ask. sir. the nature of your dream? He replied. ' I'm ' alone I'm In a boat and I'm out on the bosom of a great rushing river, and I drift, and I drift and I drift' At this moment came your knock at the door. The President said, 'But this Is not business, gentlemen. Here Is Mr. Stan- ton.' " Fire hours afterward Lincoln was as- sassinated. This story is told somewhat dif- ferently In Former's Life of Dickens, but our author believes his version to be the correct one, because three days afterward he told It to Prince Christian at the Dean of Westminster's, and Stanley said: " Dickens told me that eame story, and I watched you most Intently to see whether you would vary It In any particular: but It Is preolsoly the story that he told me." IT. Under date of March ID. 1863, we And a story related by Edward Bunbury. the scholar and numismatist. It had been originally told by Wilkes to Jekyll. and by Jekyll to him. Wilkes dreamt. It seems, that he was dead, and that he had been carried over to the other side of the Styx. Waiting about on the bank he saw another new arrival, who turned out to be no other than his old enemy, the monstrous liber- tine. Lord Sandwich. They fell into amicable conversation under these novel circumstances, till at length they began to feel hungry. Lord Sandwich sold that there was a hotel hard by kept by an old servant of his. Thither they wont, and the man prepared for thorn an ex- tremely recherche' dinner. In tho course of it. however. Lord Sandwich began to swear the champagne was not iced, whereupon the innkooper. who was attending in person upon his guests, shook his head very sadly and said : " No Ice here ; no ice here I" Just at t lint moment little blue flames came quivering up through tho table, and Wilkes awoke. Two or three days afterward, dining at Lord Russell's, our author heard the host say of Boebuck that he was one of the most disappointing of speakers, beginning generally so very well and then falling off. The criticism Is confirmed by the writer of this diary, who sometimes found Boebuck perfectly admirable forafew minutes. but never heard him make a speech which was good throughout. Apropos of the same English champion of the Southern Confederacy, our author asks who Is responsible for putting the characteristic attitudes of the South and North toward the blaok man In tho following epigram-mattowa- y: The South said to tho negro, "Be slave, and God bless you!" The North said to the negro, "Be freo, and God damn you!" Breakfasting with Layard about tho same time, our author met Julian Fane, who told a story about Motley, then (lHft'll American Minister at Vienna and a most furious Northerner, although before the war he sold to Layard. " If our sisters of the South want to leave us lot them part in peace." Motloy had beoome. It appears, so excited that he had quite withdrawn from society, being unable to listen with toleration to any opinions hostile to his own. This had gone on for some time, whon his friends ar- ranged a little dinner at whloh the greatest care was to be taken to keep the conversation quite away from all Irritating subjects. Not a word was aald about the war. and everything was going ou delightfully, when an unlucky Busslan, leaning across tha table, said s " Mr. Motley, I understand that you have given a great deal of attention to the history of tho sixteenth oentury; I have done so, too, and should like to know whether you agree with me in one opinion at whloh I have arrived. I think the Duke of Alva was one of the greatest and best statesmen who ever lived." Motley completely lost his temper, and the well-lai- d plan was overthrown. In May of the same year Dr. Eallsoh. the Jewish commentator, breakfasted with our diarist, and gave him afterward a good deal of very curious Information about the existing state of learning among the Jews. He said that his own father knew the Old Testamout In He- brew from end to end at 7 years old. and hu mentioned the case of a man who could allow a pin to be put through any twelve pages of the Talmud and tell through what words it passed. Dining in the same twelvemonth at a friend's bouse our author heard from an English Jesuit, Father Strickland, a remark whloh to him BaBBBaflaVaTaTJsafat seemed memorable: "I have observed through- out, life that a man may do an Immense deal of good If he do. .a not eare who gets the credit of It." While staying In Paris In November, 1863. our author met Prince Czartoryskl. who said, speaking of Poland, that the Insurrection then going on would end, If no Intervention took place. In the destruc- - tlon of tho upper class of Poles, but that In j twenty years there would be new wealth and new leaders. During the same visit to the i French capital Charpentler. the publisher, de- scribed to him the misery of France before 1815, when women of the better class went about with clouted dresses and apartments wore to be had for almost nothing. In his childhood, Charpentler said, he had aeen the Emperor walking up and down under the peri- style of the Tulleries " with an eye like an eagle, or Ilka melting metal." About tho same time the n journalist Scherer dined with our diarist and spoke much of the divorce of Intellect and social position which was then so strange a feature In French society and re- mains so to this day. T. Again. In Paris. In January. 1864, our author called on Mme. Cornu. a lady mentioned In Benan's "Feultloa Deiaohdes." He asked Mme. Cornu, whom he knew to be singularly Wall Informed, to what she attributed the Mexican war. She replied: "First to tho ro- - mnntlo fanoy of the Emperor: sooondly. to the Emperor's desire to establish a counterpoise to the United States; thirdly, to the delusive representations made by Mexican exiles." The visitor then inquired why so few French- men of merit had joined the Imperial Govern- ment She said that the Emperor did not take tha right course after the coup d'etat. He ought to have drowned all the people who had assisted him In it: that Is. he should have given them money and sent them away. Ho had not done so. and ever alnoe they had kept him In a clrclo of Iron, letting him soe no one but their own set and ha was always com- plaining of the want of capable men. He was, she said, "despotlo In principle but not In practice. Essentially rereur and melancholy, he dreams In the Tulleries of the fresh trees of Switzerland. He Is by no means false, but essentiellement pilot. Hence, suoh transac- tions as the session of Savoy and Nice." Dining, subsequently, with Mloh-el- our author talked long with Talno. who. as examiner for St Cyr. was then making a throe months' circuit In the provinces every year. He spoke much of Mme. Borary, whloh, he said, waa a perfect photograph of the con- dition of the French provinces, about which he thought as badly as possible. He said that the country population called all the Ideas by which tho Intellectual men of the capital live "Phrases des avooats de ParU." They oared only to make 5 per oent out of their land and to dine well. If any one made the pattf only a possibility In- stead of a certainty he waa. In their eyes, a monster. It was about this date that Mme. Cornu repented a saying of the Empress Eu- genie about Benan's book. "The Llfeof Christ:" "It will not hurt those who believe In Jesus, and to others it will do good." The Em- press's judgment was confirmed by a story then going about Paris of an old General, Vol talrean In opinion, to whom some of his family read the " Vie de Jesus" on his deathbed. After getting pretty well Into the book he said: " Knjtn il rtait Diru," sont for the priest, and died reconciled to the Church. This reminds our author of an anecdote told by Byron in his let- ters about a sermon by Blenklnsop in proof of Christianity whloh transformed a very ortho- dox friend of his Into a perfeot atheist. In February. 1864. we find the record of a dinner In London with Charles Buxton. He mentioned that In the published conversation between the Emperor Nicholas and Sir Hamil- ton Seymour, there were two suppressed pas- sages. Nicholas said that "the Sultan was like a bear just about to burst, and that there was no good putting musk to his nostrils." And again, "you may speak of the throne In England as being safe, but I. you know, sit upon a volcano." According to Lord Heytes-bur- the same Czar rallied him when he was Minister at the court of St Petersburg about tho opposition of the English Tories to the Be- -' form bill. " If I were Elng of England." said Nicholas, "I would give my assent to that bill without the least hesitation." On March 8 of the same year took place the vote In Convocation at Oxford on Jowett's salary as professor of Greek, whloh the ortho- dox party succeeded In keeping at 140 a year to punish him for his heresies. It was on this or a similar occasion that some one of Jowett's friends sold: " I think we have a fair chance of winning about Jowett's salary, because tho country clergy came up in such numbers the other day to vote against the Improvement of the ourrleulum that they will hardly be at the expense of coming up again so soon." "Trust them for that." replied an- other. "They'll think that education Is a bad thing, but that justice Is a worse, and they'll oome In scores." Not long afterward our author met at dinner Frederick Elliott and Grote. They talked about public men specu- lating on their information. Frederlok Elliott said: "Well, in all the years I have passed In the Colonial Office. I think I only once pos- sessed a piece of Information which I might, If I had so pleased, have turned to money. I was with my chief one day In 1856. when a cabinet box came tn. which he opened, and, glanc- ing at the contents, said to himself, "Seobaoh. Peace.' Bo that I knew forty-eig- ht hours before the rest of the world that the Russian war was at an end." Grote, who. It will be remembered, was a banker, said that, on tho Stock Exohange, true information might often be as mischievous to its possessor as false, and quoted the case of favour, who lost money by speculating on the perfectly correct Information that war had Leon decided upon by Franoe In 1840. Grote's statoment was mentioned afterward by the diarist to Kinglake, who said that on the occa- sion referred to, Cavour had lost money be- cause his Information was not correct and then repeated an anecdote Illustrating how the French Government, in 1840. halted between two opinions. At that time Sir Henry Bulwer was representing England In Paris. After a long conversation with Thiers, when the dis- pute about the Eastern question was at its height, be said: "Well, am I to report that you saiil that, in such and suoh an eventual- ity, you would go to war?" "No. no. don't say that," answered Thiers, "say you read it in my countenance." Dining st. Mr. Seeley's in July. 1884. our au- thor had some Interesting talk with Bright and Mozzini. The former said that as a youth he had not received much education. and had been too idle to do much for himself since, adding that ho envied Gladstone his enormous In- formation. Ho said his own practice, was not to write his speeches throughout, but to make very copious notes, which, however, ho often did not follow. Oobdcn's practice was not to write at all. but to talk his speeches over be- forehand. Bright remarked that ho had read some of Burke and admired it. but thought hu must have been a very dull speaker, lie had much to any about America, contemplated with great equanimity tho "Improving the South- ern chivalry oil the face of the earth," thought there would be no danger from the army after tho civil war was finished, dilated on the diff- iculties concerning Canada, and dwelt on the enormous amount of the United States ship- ping on the great lakes, which, as he pointed out. exceeded oven then in tonnage tha mer- cantile marine of France. VI. In the record of a visit to Paris In September, 1864, our author notes that be found Benan In a pleasant little house at Sevres, busy over his Second volume, afterward published aa "Let Aptores." Renan had been much atruok with the "Acts of the Apostles," which he thought underrated. The part which the writer, whether Luke or another, described ss an eyewitness, appeared to him " d'un netteU. et d'un fermeU remarquablt." He believed that Timothy had been "pour broueoup" In the com position. It will be remembered that Renan. In his "Life of St. Paul." after pointing out how the Influ- ence of that Apostle had faded from the coup-trie- s In which he labored, and how the enduring fabric of Christianity had grown up under quite other Influences, ends bis book with the words: "Mankind, you are sometimes right and certain of your judgments are just." On an- other occasion Renan told our author that he took the strange story of Babism recounted in " Its Aputres from Gobiiieau. but not with- out getting It continued moat amply by Inde- pendent testimony, among others by a Gov- ernor he wet at Ooustautiuoplo, under whose orders many of the sentences had been carried out. About tho same period our outlier also hail a long talk in Paris with the distinguished journalist. Pirvost I arndol, ultimately French Minister to the United States. The latter gave an nccount of Sainte-Boiivo'- a recent visit to the Emperor Napoleon lit., to announce his (Provost Paradol s) election as a member f the Academic Franchise. In making the an- nouncement Hnlnte-lietiv- e old : " Your Majesty will, of course, understand that has no political meaning. If t had it would not bo I who announced It to you " "Ah," sold the Em- peror. " but how has M. Provost Paradol earned this high honor Han ho produced any great works?" "No." was the reply. " but ho has produced a great many small onos. No one now produces gnat work" In r ranee at least ve men of letter dp not." On another occa- sion our author told Provost Paradol thafwn In England cannot forgive the lYInco do Joln-vlll- e for his foolish hostility to us." " Ah," ho replied, "you will find a little of thatnt tho bottom of everv French heart." Our author answered: "But you will not find the corre- sponding feeling at the bottom of overy Eng- lish one" Whereupon the Frenchman re- joined : " Ah, monsieur, rous n'rte pas Irs dernier rninnt ?" Whon in Paris, during the early sixties, our author frequented the anion of Mme de t. On one occasion ho was introduced there to M. d'Yzarn Freyssmct. tho author of " l'rntr'et Uiisr." a little hook then n good deal talked about. Imt v, hlch seems never to hnve become widely known. Some of the sav- ings in the volume nre quoted In this diary, and may be thus translated: "There Isa quar-tero- f an hour In the evening when an elegant, woman prefers a gown evon to her lover," ' In proportion ns wo advance In life the color which we cad grny Is substituted for all other tints." " Wo die every day a little." "Tocor-tal- n persons we oxhibii only our faults, to others only our good iiunlltles" "Therenre certain glances that render the soul visible." Among the Germans, of whom our author saw a good deal, both on tho Conti- nent and when they visited London, was George von Bunsen. The latter once re- lated that Prof, llrniidis travelled many yenrs ago In England with the great scholnr Becker (author of "Charlcles' and "Gallua"), who knew English much better than lit mule. did. but would never speak it. When, however. Brnndls made a mistake, Becker groaned. It was of Booker that Niobuhr used the phrase which was later sooftcn repeated about Moltke: "Becker Is silent In seven languages." Gorvl-nu- s was also noted for taciturnity: Bunsen Kiivo an amusing description of his walks with Weber. Not a word would pass between tho twain until they pnrted. when Gorvinus would soy, "So geht's. Weber." and Weber would "Bo geht's, Gervlnus." Dining once with Bunsen to moot Sybol. tho historian, our au- thor heard thorn discuss the definition of the word junker, which, they said, was Imperfectly, or rather orronoously. translated by either squire or noble. They considered that tho Idea of dependence on court favor and place, as well ns that of poverty, formed part of ft. A ssylng of Bismarck's was quoted to the effect that the Party ol Progress wns perfectly right, but that ho was a .jtmtrr. and consequently practiced "tunker-politik.- " VII. The author of this diary seems to have been, for the most part, unlucky in his experience of Americans. Being at Florence tn December, 1806. ho tolls us that " Wo found ourselves, for our sins, at an hotel (the Nuova York) which was full of very unattractive Americans. One. apparently a clergyman, said, pointing to the boiled fowl. 'What d'yo call that here?' Some one answered: ' The Italian for a fowl Is polio.' He rejoined: 'In Amerioa we call them chickens. When I got to France they called them poulels. When I got to Germany they called them faule (sic). When I got among the Arabs I didn't know what to call them. I tried poulets that wouldn't do. I tried faule that wouldn't do. Then (crowing aloud like a cock) I did so they understood that.' " On the other hond. when In Rome, a month later, the diarist records that "Mr. Coolldge, an Ameri- can. Introduced by Circourt, came to see me. He had been in Rome forty-si- x years ago, and had visited India at some prehlstorlo period I think when Mountstuart Elphlnstone waa Governor of Bombay. His object In being Introduced to me was to make the acquaintance of Odo Russell, to whom I sent him. Being extremely struck with tho amount of his infor- mation, I afterward asked Odo Bussell, who was for some time at Washington, whether one mot many such people in the United States. 'Lots.' he replied: a statement which I find it hard to reconcile with the fact that one meets so very few Americans in Europe who could bo named in the same breath, but which Is. I have no doubt, capable of reconcilement." Under date of July. 1807. we find an incident interesting to numismatists. It appears that, at the Council of the Asiatio Society, our au- thor had the opportunity of seeing the great gold coin of Eucratldes. which weighs as much o wenty sovereigns. This very remarkable pi ce was brought from Bokhara by n Jew who, ou ii s first arrival In Paris, knowing that the West was rich and fond of curious objects, de- manded a million of francs for It. Noone being , willing to go into the transaction at that figure, he come to London and entered into negotia- tions with the British Museum. The people there were charmed with It, and. presently, began to discuss the question of price. " What." said the Jew, "Is the Intrinsic value of the coin?" "So much." they replied. "When wns it struck?" he then asked. "About such nnd such a year." was the answer. "Well." rejoined ! the Jew. " I will he satisfied with Interest at Ave per cont. from that date." After a good denl of bargaining, it was ultimately bought by Feuer-- I dant for$5.5tMl. and it passed to tho Imperial . Library for 9."i.K(H. A day or two afterward the author, with Sir Henry Rawlinson and I others, went as a deputation from tho Asiatio Society to present an address to the Sultan at Buckingham Palace. Tho Sultan could not speak any Western language, but. with him. was Fuad Pasha, who knew French well. It was Fuad. we are told, who, some years prevl-- 1 ously. had said to Lord Palmerston when the latter expressed the opinion that nothing would go right In Turkey till they got rid of jiolvgamv. Ah! milora. nous ferons comme eoiui. nous presenlerons I'une et nous cacherons les autre." In the autumn of 1871 our author travelled In Italy with Henry Smith, who. as we have said, was Suvilian Professor of Geometry at Oxford. The latter seems to have been ado-lichtf- companion. He repeated one day an epigram by Mansel, then Dean of St. Paul. There had been. It appears, some years before, a project in Oxford of requiring two essays to be composed for t ho degree of Doctor of Divin- ity. Mansel wrote: Tour degree of D. D. yon propoaa to convey When an A. double 8. writes A. double S. A. It was Smith who, on another occasion, re- lated the story of an American doctor who. called in to prescribe for a child, the nature of whose complaint was not clear to him. said: "I'll givo the little cuss a powder: then It'll have a tit. and I'm a dob at fits." When Miss , tho lady doctor, married, an arrange- ment was made. or talked of, that another lady. a Miss .Morgan, should live at the top of the house and take her friend's night praotice. Henry Smith said ft was "a morganatic ar- rangement." It was Henry Smith, also, who tola our author the story of an American who, having wearied his friends by continually boast- ing oflielngtaken forLoulsNapoloon.as.ln our day, many an American professes to bo taken for the Prince of Wales, waa pulled up by one of them saying. "My dear fellow, that's noth- ing. As I was walking along the street the other day. a man whom I had never seen In my life slappod me on the shoulder nnd said: 'God Almighty. Is that youl' " Nextto Henry Smith s. perhaps the best things In this liook are attrib- uted to Hayward. With two of these we must bring our extracts from this charming diarv to a close Dining at the Athnnonim with Hay- ward In 187!!. our author heard him repeat Mine, de Noollles's saving about theComtedo C'linmbord's obstinate refusal to accept the throneof Franccunlesshecould hrlng hack the white flaa: " llressemhlea Yirginiein 'Paul atui Virginia J aui r noyait plut'A que laitsrr tomhrr a oliemise.' Havward'sown puzzled reply to Mme. Apponiyl when she asked him In 1 07. " What on earth Is the compound householder about which Mr. Gladstone Is perpetually talk- ing?" also deserves a high place among lion mots: " Madame." he replied. " e'est le mari de la ftmme incomprise." M. W. H. A Mew Book About Slam. Of Slam and the Siamese mueh haa been writ- ten In reoent years, but the latest fullest and most trustworthy account of that country Is that which has just been published by the Bcrlbners. undor tho title of Fire Years in Slam (1801-1806- ). by H. Wabinoton Smith, former- ly Director of the Siamesu Department of Mines. Throughout tne two volumes In which the author's observations aro comprised, we observe a happy absence of vituperation on the one hand and of adulation on the other. In Mr. Smyth's opinion the Siamese deserve neither round abuse nor extravagant praise. In spite of the aspersions which have been showered upon them by some travellers, he tes- tifies that ths people of the country did not by any means appear to htm inveterate thieves or Incessant Kara. As a matter of fact, he found them grateful for kindness, ready to share their last mouthful without expectation of reward, and quick to justify the trust re- posed In them. Throughout his term of ser- vice tho Bangkok Government behaved to him in a maimer at ouce dlgnlllnil ami generous. In money matters he experienced no trouble, and he Imputes thu complaints thut have been heard from others to their own luck of firm- ness. Upon the whole he looks back with pleasure upon the treatment which lie received during hla sojourn in the country. Mr. Smyth, of course, does not pretend to a complete understanding of the Bla- mes. The light and ajjtade of the Asialio WMMHMMH value of the book before us consists In ".; position of the Internal nnd extei nnl' 1'nn.c. ?" o sound reform In Slam, nnd In Its of the tnsk which the King and '"X-mse- l l os set operate with him have and hnve. to a certain extent, neconplslied.' tok. namely, of ocraftlng the clvdlzat on of modern F.uropc upon that of a conservative people (,f tho Far East. I. Before outlining the proofs of recent progress In Slam, tho author, while not nttempttng a detailed historical revlelr. Indicates the state of things which required the application of drastic remedies. Descendants of a hardy race, of whom tho Shans form the elder branch. the Sinnic-- e came down from the north Into Slam, split In two the pooplothen In possession of the Menam Valley, and so gave rlso to the two nations that now border upon them, the Cambo- dians on the cast and tho Pcgunns on the west. now tho Siamese gloved tVom capital to capital ever toward the southern plains, from Hawan-kolo- k to Pltsunnlok. to Ayuthln. and Anally to Bangkok, their present metropolis; how they fought their enemies the Tegoans. the Bur- mese and the Cnmbodlans; how they cajoled their cousins, the I,ao. and their sea visitors, the Malays all this belongs to ancient history, although. In some monsjre to tho present also, for it has left Its mark. Among the results of the continual warfare was the Incessant Inter- change of prlsonore, of provinces ami of Ideas: eventually these Indo-Chine- peoples all ac- quired the same mothods of protecting thorn-selv- against their rivals nnd thu same notions of diplomacy. Not oneof the nations mentioned has been able to retain Its Independence except the Siamese: I'egu. Burma. Annam. Cambodia nnd the Maluys hnvodiBapiHiaredas powers they would not regenerate themselves, III every Instance It was through their adhesion to the traditional duplicity, which they regarded as diplomacy, that their downtall oame. Slam alone, owing to her central position among her oid rivals, and because sho realized botimost.no necessity ot adopting now methods of Intcrnn-tlon- dealings, hns so far escaped. W hnt sup- ports her y is the heller of Englishmen that Bhe earnestly In tends to do for herself what the other States of the peninsula failed to do. and what consequently, had to be done for them. To appreciate tho extent of her earnestness, it is needful to consldor the ob- struction which is offered to her reformers. To align herself with the present Slam must effect a revolution as corapleto as any ever ac- complished In the West. For the untntthful-ness- . the intrigue and the dishonesty in which sho has been iiurtiircu. she must substitute the straightforwardness whloh is foreign to the Asiatic nations. Mr. Smyth says that only those who have lived for years In Slam. and. by the nature of their employment have been brought in constant contact with the in- habitants, can comprehend how blindly tradi- tion is reveroncod among the people. Tradi- tion Is as sacred as the Ring's person ; like tho King's acts. It Is never questioned. However incongruous or unjust, anything which can be referred to tho magic word famnten, "custom," Is without further ado Invested with a sanctity which commands respect and even reverence. Where this one word can be invoked, dishonesty and corruption are condoned. It was not to be expected that the Slamose. brought up among immemorial traditions, should te able thoroughly to grasp the mean- ing of the new phenomenon called Western civ- ilization which has been suddenly thrust upon them. They are not to be blamed If. like too many of their advisers and crltlos. they con- tuse clvllizat. on with the adoption of electric lights, crested note paper and photographs, the superllcialities of modern life. The tar more difficult adoption ot new principles and a now morality is possible to no nation in a day. To be permanent suoh things must come by slow growth and by persistent struggle. Japan, it is true, has performed what would have killed a feebler nation. No people In the tropics can possess the Japanese sturdlness ana vitality ; In Slam, the work must, of neces- sity, be gradual. Wo may Illustrate what we mean by a glance nt the former fiscal adminis- tration. In the old days, the outlying provinces of Sioin were governed by vassal chiefs, who, as long as they paid designated tributes to the King ae faeto, might rule or misrule, as they wished, i heir sons succeeded so long as they made themselves agreeable to the over-lor- In fact, the governing was done by contract : the sovereign practically said: "If you look after the province and pay me. I will keep your family in power until a stronger rival comes along." Throughout Indo-Cblna- 's his- tory, no ruler of a province had ever re- ceived a salary: it was tho recognized right cf the Governor to moke what he could, and tor his subordinates to do the snme, each accord- ing to Ills position and Ingenuity. The com- mon people would have done likewise had they found themselves In a similar position. For it was tamnien, the custom. No one disputed the legitimacy of the method, provided It was em- ployed with moderation, it DMng tho only one open to an official by which to make his living. The result was that, under the majority of pro- vincial Governors, eaoh bent on securing a competence for his largo family, any man who had made a little money waa liable to be brought to court on some fantaatlo charge and nave his goods confiscated, while the highest bidder always got a favorable deci- sion from the Judge. n. After many hard knocks, especially from Cambodia, and also from the Burmese as late as 1767. Slam, rising again and again and turning the tables on her foes, had Anally aoqulred suzerain rights over almost all the Lao States ' and over the Malay Peninsula down to Kedah on the west side and to Treng-gan- u on the east j and these territories shs ruled on the old lines prescribed by her own Immemorial usages and by the praotice of the nations about her. The present King it was who first reoognlzed the duty of provincial Governors to govern not for themselves, but for their subjects. The en- forcement of this conception of duty, entirely new to Indo-Ohln- a, In the toeth of the passive but stubborn resistance offered by the ma- jority of the nobles, has constituted the endless struggle ot the present reign. To carry out the King's determination salaried Commis sioners have been appointed, one by one, to the chief outlying provinces, until, within the last tew years, tne Chaos, or feudal lords, of all tho great districts on the Mekong. or In the West or in the Malay Peninsula, have found themselves suddenly divested of half their power by the unostentatious gentleman who arrives with the King's orders from Bangkok, who reports to headquarters, and without whom no administrative action can be taken. The great difficulty has lain, ns might have been expected. In getting the right men for tho now functions, and in many cases the Commissioners have proved little better than the Chaos whoso dig- nities and duties they usurp. The Innate shortcomings of the Siamese character are chargeable with the slow advance tho King has been able to make, and with the number of European officials that hsve been appointed to the various departments of the civil service, to the fallings of many of whom have been due serious complications. At leatt. however, the new Commissioners were directly responsible to Bangkok, and could be recalled and oensured, if necessary, with more fnclllty than could the old feudal lords. On the whole, the ovll being taken with the good, tho commissioner system Is pronounced by Mr. Smyth a distinct gain to the population, ana the majority of the agents whom he saw at their iiosts were doing good work for tho country, nnd evincing an excellent spirit. Here we should note what the author has to tell us concerning the moral qualities of the Siamese, which aro more noticeable among the common taiople than among the generaibody of officials. Tho common people havo a quiet goodness pe- culiarly their own. It seems, nevertheless, that they aro good by accident, and only as long us, by accident, thero is no reason to bo otherwise To do u thing becuuse it is rluht Is beyond them. To ubstain. indeed, from a thing because it will injuro their good name or Involve serious consequences Is. possibly, within. the isiwer of u few; tho question of right or wrong, however, docs hot enter into their calculations. Undoubtedly, these failings are shured by Hourly all Asiati to u greater or less cxtont. On the other hand, the qualities which constitute tho peculiar charm of Eastern races are not few. Tested bv tic standard of everyday life, the Siamese, with his cheerfulness am! friendliness his hos- pitality und gentleness, his nutienee under in. ib ami bis winning simplicity, eon hold his head high In comparison with many Asiatic races, and with not a few specimens of Euro, peiiiiH. It Is when he joins the ranks of official- dom that the snares close in nlout him. and If then his tail hi gms it is n,,t so much from wickedness as from weakness. In Hiam the education of the people has been carried on imnienioriully. as In Burinari, by tho monks in the wots, or Buddhist monasteries which are scattered all over the country. Boys urn sent by their parents at 8 or 11 years of age to give their services to some particular monk, a friend or relative of the fumilv. In return tor such services a lad Is taught the A, II. t, I ho rules of Buddha, and such religious principles as he may pick up. At 14 or IB he will either leavti the wat or dawdle on Ptiyiiig football In the afternoon und pud- dling the ubhut's ciinoe. If of u religious tin n of mind, he may don the yellow rolio of tho novice and renounce the world in favor of u more abstruse study of the Scrip- tures Whether this educution is adequate '"' the needs ol II iusj.es of people Is i, matter which U much debated m biuigkok J here IB, of course little doubt thai it miglt ht cosily Unproved. Thcaetuul result lsllnitevery mini and boy In slam eon. though often only with much labor;. read and write his own noiiiu and wake out a. bit of a letter on paper He haa no books to read, but ho knows a few things iv!.i,i'?Im'y?rn,ui' ""t do:he has learned the formulas ail the jungle tries, and, aLmmKLmmmmgmmfmmmmMimmMmmMvmsMssssMWim If he Uvea nenr the capital, he has heard ot a country lHynnd the sea whence come violent and angry men With white fsoesw ho srealw,,ys Inn hnrn'sntlsa ' Uoildani.' It has been of Into 'H decided at Bangkok to supplement the teach- - H ing of the wnts by menus of organized schools . H o' a norc advanced character, and seveinl fW. schoolmasters have been Imiorted from Eng- - MM Intel. The Instruction of the hlng's sons hns nfaV t u Intrusted to private tutors. Oxford gVaW itindua'i -- while n school fit uiiis or high WStff birth was first nut undera ladv graduate of Cambridge and lins since been carried on ef llciently bv a indy graduate of London Unlver- - El sllv lor w nut of any native educatlonnl Inst - V tutlon of n high grade, a number of the King's relation., nnd oi the nobility have bocn sei an- nually to England. Fmuco or Ienmars ro learn European languages or to study subjects. It Is Mr. Smvth's opinion tint only Where the students havo been ofexeep-tioii- nl ability nnd chntacterem the experiment, judged by atur resii.ts. he deeme I successful. The average Hlnines lioy does not repay the expense Incidental to his education In Europe. Too often, when he returns to the Fast, the rupture with tho associations of school or home life In Europe Is so sad len nnd complete thsi their influence Is nearly obliterated. In Mher cases, where the young men have profited toy their opportunities nnd seemed likely to .e ..I real use to their country, they have been fre- quently shelved by the jenlousv and Intriguing of enemies and condemned to retire to a life ol i Inactivity and uselessness. mSk. III. By reading In connection the second and the twenty-thir- d ohaptors of this book, a clear Idea Wm can be gained of the progress accomplished or contemplated by Siamese legislation from 1803 down to the close of 18i)7. In the year Aral named the Elng created. In addition to the old Council of State, a Council of Ministers, twelve In number. moetly headsof departments. This oounoil was composed of his own younger Of half brothers, and a few of the higher noble. The more Important departments thea constituted were the Foreign Offlo. the M Army, the Navy, Public Works. Agriculture. k Justice, Education and Finance The Internal KaA' administration waa then carried on by two mfH separate departments, one for the north and tji one for the south, but these have since been fl consolidated In a single Department ot the Interior, the head of which Is Prince Damrong. VJ The Foreign Office had been for many years jB mannged by an able and pleasant brother ot AW the King. Prince Denawongse. In 1802, how W ever, arrangements, for which the credit waa principally due to Prince Damrong. were made to secure an experienced adviser from Europe, and soon after the services of M. Bolln Jaos quemyns. a Belgian international lawyer ot note, were transferred from Egypt whore he wns employed under Lord Cromer, to Slam. This was a groat blow to the natlvo Ideas ot diplomacy, for with such an advisor, what- ever mistakes might be committed, no prevari- cations would be iKissible. and European no- tions of strict adherence to all promises would prevail. Of the army nnd navy, the latter Is, by ' far. the smarter organization. As regards both services, it is pronounced a matter of ot that owing partly to thu inherent lazinese of the people, but largely, also, to the way In which tne conscription is conducted, aa well as to the wretched pay and to the manner In which the services are generally carried on. the Ta-ha- n. or man employed In either the army or navy. Is universally looked down upon. The girls will not speak to him and the common people avoid him. He feels himself to be an out-oas- t, with the result that when he gets the chance, he behaves as such, and, generally, goes to the bad. The original military Instinct of the Siamese seems to have been extin- guished, and men will face anything rather than the prospect of serving In the army, or, for that matter. In the navy. No effort seems to have been made to create an esprit de cortis. soldiers are tacitly permitted to assume She character of trained bands of coolies, to do ' sj ' whitewashing, or to figure In processions. Of course, under such circumstances, all the re- peating rifles, officers and drill books north of the equator will not produoe lighting men. In M the army, which consists of a number ot skele- ton formations with long names, European in- struction has been practically abolished, ox- - J cept in the case of one overworked Danish officer, who. personally, perfonns all the drill-lu- g that Is done. There are three regiments ot cavalry who straddle a dozen broken-dow- mangy, Australian horses and twoscore little Siamese pontes; there are two artillery regi- ments with some seven-poun- d field guns and eight Infantry regiments, of which four regi- ments of the Tine are credited on paper with two battalions eaoh. The navy, al- though It has had to fight against the same popular aversion and against the role of a picnicking institution commonly assigned to it has, owing to the energy of an- other Dane, Commodore de Bichollou, acquired an efficiency far beyond anything else In Slam. In spite of old, ant-eate- n hulls, worn-o- ut ma- chinery and bad material, the Commodore and . his Danish offloers have created a force which " H ' our author considers reallycrcaitahle. A bat- talion of marines on the march can actually keep J their distances, and the training ship whloh S Y takes the youngsters away In the Gulf of Slam for some months every year Is the cleanest and smartest thing of which the Government can boast. Even In tho navy, however, the evil (I practices of Siamese officialdom sometimes crop up, and every time the Commodore returns I from a tour of Inspection he has to settle many ettaesof complaint by the seamen of unjust treat- - I mentonthe part of the natlvo offloers. Themeu. for the naval service are taken moetly from the Peguans, a strong, handsome race, who live mostly r, and to the northwest of Bang- - I k ok, in separate communities. Both naval and I military services suffer from the lack ot Euro- - I J peon officers. The native subaltern can never be made to understand that he can be dignified without being arrogant that discipline can be secured without cruelty, and that respect for liu his officers Is the flrst and the m. 1 second object of military training. Even M such European officers as aro employed are WMW seldom thoroughly trusted, and consequently AsW do not have a free hand. Owing to their H own want of wisdom In the past In the se- lection of Europeans, the Siamese have had some unpleasant disillusions, and the result la that they uow suspect every ono they employ. J Th.e suspicion has led to a system by whloh Wi' almost every European In the service either ml llnds himself watched and hampered by some Ml native to whom Is given almost equal powers. WsW or else, while receiving nls salary, he Is left severely a, one and allowed to do nothing. The enforced Idleness or discontent thus caused has brought about the resignation of many good man. IV. 1 The Public Works Department hts tbua far concerned Itself ohleAy with making or improv- ing roads or bridges about Bangkok. Under It comes the Boyal Hallway Bureau, whloh baa been an expensive luxury. After eight years' I work it has huilt only nlnoty miles of track. Hi The Post and Telegraph Bureau also falls un- - IfI der tha control of the Publlo Works, and the manogement of the Post Office by two Gor- - WtVT mans is tormod a model of efficiency. The few f existing telegraph lines, on the other hand. f owing to a want of oare and the absence of I oempetent operatives, are useless for half tha I year. Tho Departmentof Agriculture and Oom- - II meroe la little more than a land ta office. Un- - IB der It however. Is the Survey Bureau, the ad- mirable work of which Is due to one man. Mr. McCarthy, formerly of tho Indian civil service, wus appointed Director-Gener- some years mm ago, and. with the aid of Siamese assistants tru.nod by himself, lias not only connected the Wf, It angulation of Slam with that of the Indian Survey but has brought It down through the Lao States to Lower Slam. Hu Is credited by U our author with tho finest piece of soiontlfle M work thut bus been done or Is likely to be done In the country. Under the Ministry 1 of Agriculture is ulso placed the Depart- ment of Mines, of which Mr. Smyth wns. " for some time, tho Director. The work with which ho was intrusted was the regulation of milling a II airs. Including the drafting of a code men ot milling rules ami the beginning of u goo log- - mM icul survey. As regards the Ministry of Jus- - U tlee. our author is inclined to think that the less said the better, so tar us the observutlone aw made by him prior to IHiwj uro concerned. '1 he courts were ut that time beautifully im- partial In the sense that they imprisoned the complainant, the defendant und all tho wit- nesses they could get. together with the mothers and wives of those they could not ar- rest, without distinction. It left thopi in H tool to settle their differences in the eourso of years, and such an did not die ot cholera, dysentery or storvu- - lion might, if they wcie unusually lucky and had means of bribery, be let out in ten yea- - ? time by tha clemency of tho Judges. Naturally, under such ciieumstnnees, people felt a dislike to lii, .ling themselves and their relatives im- - prisoned foi ten years or forlife. owing to their m having been vvitnnssesof u theft ; consequently. V whon ii crime, wns committed, thoy would sZsT turn their backs and refuse to sea or belli an Innocent mini. In 1HIH1. uow-eve- r. three judicial commission wort, the flr.sl of which was to dispose or unfinished casus still pending, the second, of coses not before tried ut all. aud the third of eases all the documents or which had been lost or destroyed. These commis- sions performed tholr work and cleared the docket, In the some year the criminal oode was revised A new system of civil procedure was iniio ineil. and a iiivv law of evidence was W named. Moreover, the polloa foroeof the aiii aw tul has been completely reorganized and tho policing of the country districts has heet great! luipii.ved by tho new village rcgn a- - tlolis On the whole. ,t g Mr Smyth's conviction that, alt hougli. even m the recent punt, there, have been shortcoming enough ntlo,liel und administration of Hiam. yet thu Kiunies' MM have made such i sidemble advanues. hi iaV liuve displayed ... remarkable abilities in iniinv . ' dlr. ctlons. thut they may reasonably look for- ward to tho inaliiteiiauci of independence und toa respected place among oommeroial a- - i J I lllsMsfilfllnilll lillHsftll --Jfafl

Transcript of The Sun. (New York, NY) 1898-09-11 [p ]. · -mm" "... i.' n. ' n-'" " M mom mew moomm. Orant...

Page 1: The Sun. (New York, NY) 1898-09-11 [p ]. · -mm" "... i.' n. ' n-'" " M mom mew moomm. Orant IHifl'a Ilery rintInet ailment. Id four volume, each of whloh comprises lomi thro hundred

' n - '" " M- "mm" "... i.' n. -

mom mew moomm.

Orant IHifl'a Ilery rint Inet ailment.Id four volume, each of whloh comprises

lomi thro hundred pages, Mr. John Bamrban published jrofesr-o- a IHtmt. by the BightRob. Sir MouwthtuaUT E. Obawt Durr. Theauthor In. of eouree, the n EnglishLiberal who has been In public life for nearlyPort? years a a member of the House of Com-

mons, or aa the oeoupaut of Ministerial posts,He has longor aa an Indian admlnlatrator.

had. also, a apeclal claim to distinction, due tothe fact that, almoat from the time when hegraduated at Oxford, he has devoted himself tothe acquisition of modern European languagesand of a thorough knowledge of the politicand publlo man of tha countries tn which theyare spoken. In the pursuit of hie purpose hehaa been a great traveller, and he probably haa

wider circle of Interesting acquaintancethan any other contemporary Englishman. A

L Man of so extensive an experience could nothelp seeing and hearing many things the rec-

ord of which ought not to perish. Fortunatelyfor hla readers, he determined In the year 1847

to keep a diary, and began to do so on hisIghteenth birthday, making an entry In It.

longer or shorter, forevery day that passed overhtm. It was not. however, till he had con-

tinued this practice for something over asmarter of a century that It ocourred to him toread through what he had written. Havingdone so. he came to the conclusion that therecord he possessed would not be intelligibletoothers, and. accordingly, ho extracted fromIt all that ho thought would be likely to pleaaepersons whose tastes are similar to his own.and threw It Into n readable shape. It Is thisdigested diary, covering the years from 1851to 187.'. both Inclusive, which fills the first twoof the four volumes now published, and It lathese to which we shnll at present direct atten-

tion. They begin with the first day of the halfcentury, when the writer had just left Haldol.after taking his B. A. degree, and was ap-

proaching twenty-two- . This diary Is. In noaense. an autohlogniphy.whloh accounts for thefact that very little Is said In It about theHouse of Commons.although fifteen of the yearsIncluded In theso two volumes were passed In.that assembly. The author hns, for the most,part, omitted references to his publlo life foreevern reasons: first, becauso he hns had fre-

quent opportunities of stating his views uponpublic matters, in Parliament and out of It. andhas printed a number of books: secondly, be-

cause he has wished to make theao pages aslight aa possible: and. lastly, because he wasanxious to leave behind him one of the mostgood-nature- d books of its kind ever printed,and was naturally apprehensive that for a poli-

tician to write truthfully of the political strug-gles in which he has been engaged withoutpaying to some of the combatants the "'tributeof undlssemblcd horror" would be a hopelessundertaking. To relcgnto to the backgroundnearly all the more serious part of life and toIgnore every disagreeable person and thingencountered would be, no doubt, an Indcfensl- -

ble proceeding if tho author were writing hismemoirs. But this, as we hae said, is not theUse. It is not a memoir, hut a diary of aunlquokind, whloh we havo before us.

Tho flint ontry In this diary that strikes us Isan ler the date of July. 1852, when the authorapen u few days with Mountstuart Elphln-stone who. also, had been a great traveller, anden joyed n singularly wide acquaintance amongdistinguished men. They talked of epitaphs, i

end Mr. Elphlns'one spoke with extreme ad-

mit ution of Trlvubjlo's: "Johannes Trlvulzlu-- .qui nunquam qulevlt. hlo quiesclt taee."An.oug others oited was an old Scotch one:

111 to Mb fren. wnur to bin ia.True to bl Marker in weal anil in woe.

The word Mocker, here used, means feudallord. Something being said about shining inconversation. Elphlnstone put Luttrell's talkabove that of'nll whom lie had known. Talley-rand'-

ho nld. was very rich In anecdote, butby no moans witty. Of Sydney Smith he spokewith very great regard, treating his wit asmerely the Dower of his wisdom. Elphlnstonerepented the motto of the Earls Marlschalgiven by thou: to Ma rischal College. Aberdeen:

't'liey aj.guhat'say theyfLat them say.

With which motto circumstances. In afteryears, were to make our author familiar, for hewas to become Lord Hector of the University ofAberdeen. The motto being mentioned laterto Henry Smith, late Savilian Professor ofOeom try at Oxford, the latter anid: "Ahllseewhat that means. It Is the acclunt of a youngman's life nt, the university. In his first yearhe believes all that his professor tells them. Hisanswer to all objections Is-- say. In hissecond year doubts begin to arise. He asksWhat say they? In his third year ho has lostall oonfldence. and says .rt them talk as thruwill." We note, in passing, that Abraham Hay-war- d

did not share Elphitistone's high opinionof Luttrell's conversation. He thought SydneySmith's talk much superior. Luttrell's art.Hayward said, consisted chiefly in the neat-ness of the allusiona to passing events whichhe threw in from time to time.

In February. 185:1, our author spent a weekat Newnham Paddox. where there was a largeand very pleasant house party. Including.among others, Charles Elngsley, whom hethen met for the first time. Elngsley talked. Itseems, much about Carlyle. and recounted, onthe great man's own authority, the followingedifying tale: The most dyspeptlo of philoso-phers had been terribly bored by the persist-ant optimism of his friend Emerson. "Ithought," he said. " that I would try to curehim. so I took htm to some of the lowest partsof London and showed him all that was goingon there. This done I turned to him. saying:'And. noo. man. d'ye believe In the deevll noo ?'

"Oh. no.' he replied, 'all these people seem tome only parts of the great machine, and. onthe whole, I think they are doing their workvary satisfactorily.' Then." continued theage, "I took hlmdoun to the Hoose o' Com-

mons, where they put us under the gallery.There I showed him ae chlel getting up afterwither and leeing and leeing. Then I turnedto him and said: 'And. noo, man. d'ye believeIn tha deevll noo ?' He made me, however, Justthe same answer as before, and I then gavehim up tn despair I"

It was In July. 1862. that our anthor was in-

troduced to Carlyle. Arthur Buasell took himto 5 Cheyno row. There they found Arch-

deacon Venables with four or Ave other menand one lady. Mrs. Carlyle being at Folkestone.They were received, it seems, in the front roomen the ground floor, very poorly famished, theehlet feature boing a long bookcase full ofbooks, but without ornament of any kind,dusty and grimy looking. Our author foundCarlyle taller than he expected, but otherwiselike his pictures, except that he wore a beard.The philosopher said that he had not been tothe Exhibition and had "no intention ofgoing, expecting no interest but the sol-

emn and tragic, one of going amongst allthese thousands of people, wondering atthe waste of enthusiasm and labor andunable to guess what was the good ofit all." He had been, he said, to the Dog Show,having met the Bishop of Oxford (Wllber-(orc-

and ridden with him: " For the Orel onehundred yards the Bishop had talked of theJSssays and Uroinrs judgment; had said thatthere would be an appeal, and that these gen-

tlemen would have to leave their livings; thenhe told me he was going to the Bog Show, andI thought I should never have euoh an oppor-tunity again, so I went with him, and we stayedsome two hours. He Is a delightful compan-ion, a most active, ardent creature. I knownobody who would have succeeded better inWhatever he was set to do." Carlyle proceededto speak of the Essays and Jtevlews case, andsaid It was sad to see a great institution likethe Church of England, to whloh he had neverbolonged. and to which ho had many objec-tions, but which ho. nevertheless, thought thobest thing of the kiud In the world, falling topieces in this manner and going the way of allthe earth. He had little good to say either ofthe Scotch Presbyterian or the Boman Catho-U- s

Church, as mpruevntad by Uie Boman Court

-

at that time. Tha conversation turned, after atime, to Thiers, of whom Carlyle spoke withmuch contempt, and said that he had been oneof thoae who had most contributed to makingthe French think that they had only. Inspite of the cause, however bad. to put a eei- -

tain numberof thousand scoundrels togetherand. at their head, the most detestable childof Beelzebub whom they could find, and marchthem over Europe to prevail everywhere, atheory whloh wont to the root of all his Ideasabout things. He said that, shortly before thoroup d'rtat of Dec. 2, 1H51, he had lamentedthat thore was not a strong Angel of the Lord,with a great sword reaching from one end ofFranco to the other, to sweep It across and tosay to the endless talking Peace. He hadbeen much atruok. we are told, with Prlnee Na-

poleon, who had visited him many years be-

fore, and who. at the time, was running aboutseeing all kinds of useful things, courts of jus-

tice and what not, and by no means occupyinghimself, as he had been said to do, with friv-

olous matters. Some three weeks later ourauthor went again to see Carlyle. In the courseof the evening the conversation turned on thecivil war In the United States. " There theyare." said Carlyle. " cutting eaoh other's throatsbecause one-ha- lf of them prefer hiring theirservants for life and the other by the hour."

II.While the Crimean war was going on. our

author spent some time In Berlin. His friendand ciceront. Major von Orlioh. took him oneday to soe Alexander von Humboldt, who hada great deal to say about India. The conver-sation happened to glanoe on Whewell's Plu-

rality of Wurhis. Humboldt said that he heldthe book very oheap, laughing at the idea thatall the stars were made for our amusement,and putting the argument thus: "The starsare. assuredly, uninhabited by Intellectualbeings because. If Intellectual, they must beMndlirh, and tho bVlosung, so often repeated,would be unbrqurm." Ho spoke very highly ofMax Mailer, and said it was an honor to Eng-

land that she afforded a career to such men.As regarded the Crimean war, Humboldt'ssympathies were on the side of the Westernpowers. Not so those of Banke, with whomour author had one day a long and some-what lively talk. Banke said that Germanyhod nothing to fear from Bussla morefrom England : and that. If the Englishsucceeded In the Crimes, all they would dowould be to destroy an infant civilization." Ah ! We love you," he said. " and feel withyou far more than with Bussla, but we cannotagroo in all things. There are some differencesbetween our Interests." Later he added : " Tome the chief Interest of England Is that shs isOld England." Major von Orllch. our author'shost In Berlin, was at this period very Intimatewith the Prince of Prussia (later the EmperorWilliam I.I. who. thanks to the ascehdancyofthe Pietist party at court, had been force dintothe position of the head of the Liberal party InPrussia. He told Orlioh, it appears, that thelast time the Emperor Nicholas I. was in Ber-

lin he had said to him: "You are a Liberal:your Ideas will ruin the monarchy." ThePrince replied: "Do you really think thatyon. by your exclusive system, have kept theseIdeas out of Bussla?" Nicholas answered : "Notto the extent I would wish : yet to a certain ex-

tent ; but that is not now the question. I speakof you." The Czar kept coming back and backto the snbjeot, and the Prince got very angry,saying at last: " We will talk no mora of thatThat is another affair altogether." 8hortlyafter the conversation, the Prince went out,and, meeting one of the Emperor's confidants,told him what had passed, and said: " Tell menow, as a man of honor do you think he hassucceeded?" " So far from that being the case."replied the person addressed. " I don't thinkmy life or the life or any one of his Intimatesis worth ton days' purchase after he closes hiseyes. I do not see the future, (lod knowswhat may happen ; but It looks very blaokahead."

On April 22. 1855. our author went to hearthe Rev. F. D. Maurice preaoh at Lincoln's Inn.

' He supposes, he says, that he must have heardhim, first and last, some thirty or forty times,but never carried away one clear idea, or eventhe impression that the preacher had morethan the faintest conception of what he himselfmeant. Aubrey de Vere Is pronounced quiteright in saying that listening to Maurloe waslike eating pea soup with a fork, and Jowett'sanswer seems to have been not less to thepurpose when our author asked him what asermon which Maurice had just preachedbefore the University of Oxford was about,and he replied: "Weill All that I could makeout was that y was yesterday, and thisworld the same as the next." John StuartMill, who had known him early tn life, said,about the same time, to the writer of thisdiary: "Frederick Maurloe has philosophicalpowers of the highest order, but he spoils themall by torturing everything Into the Thlrtv- -nl no Articles." The fact that he should have ex-

erted a distinctly stimulating and liberalizinginfluence over many more or less remarkablepeople must be deemed sufficiently strange:but the author reminds ns that " he was anoble fellow, with Immense power of sym-pathy and an ardent, passionate nature, whichoften led him to right conclusions In spite ofhia hopelessly confused reasoning. To listento him was to drink spiritual champagne.

Having been elected at Brooks's In February.185)1. our author looked over the old bettingbook at that club. Here and there he founda curious entry. For Instance on March 11,1770. Mr. Charles Fox gave a dinner to LordBollngbroke on the understanding that he wasto receive a thousand guineas from the otherwhen the national debt amounted to 171,000,-00- 0.

In 1788 Fox gave Mr. Shirley tenguineas on the understanding that he wasto receive Ave hundred whenever TurkeyIn Europe belonged to a European poweror powers. The wager, of course. Is stillunsettled. In February. 1858. our authorwas elected at the Cosmopolitan Club,whloh met then, and meets now, In Charlesstreet, Berkeley Square, in a huge roomwhich was once need aa Watts's studio, andon the walls of whloh there is an enormouspicture by him from Theodore and Uonoria. Inwhloh there are many female figures. Someone asked Lord Houghton what this repre-sented. " Oh," he replied. " you have heard ofWatts's Hymns. These are Watts's Hers." Atthis club, one day, the writer of this diary hada conversation with Thackeray about a FrenchInvasion, apropos of the fiery French Colonels,with regard to whom there was a good deal oftalk In 1858. Thackeray said, alluding to hisrecent candidature for a seat In Parliament atOxford: " The chief reaaon why I wished to beIn Parliament was that I might stand' up oncea year and tell my countrymen what will hap-pen when the Freno Invade us." The Impedi-ment to Thaokeray's political aspirations wasthat he was almost tongue-tie- d when he triedto speak sxtemporarlly In public.

III.In the pages allotted to 1861 and 1862 we

oome upon a number of anecdotes. Mr.Straohey, a young diplomatist, told the authora good saying of the Quean of the Netherlandsabout an Austrian attache-- : "II a Voir d'uncoiffeur et I'aplomb d'un dentists." Acoordiug toAbraham Hayward. nobody ever had so muohaplomb as Nassau William Senior. On one oc-

casion, when Tom Moore was singing atthe poet was annoyed by the scratching

of the pen with which Senior was writing, andstopped. "Pray go on." said Senior; "youdon't interrupt me." At the Thrings' one dayin 1862, our author met Sir O. Rose, tha greatpunster, the same who. on turning round andseeing some one Imitating his gait, said: "Youhave the stalk without the rose;" and who, onbelLg asked the Latin for a hearse, said: "Morsomnibus." This recalls the rebuke adminis-tered by a French lady In a crowded Paris om-

nibus to a priest who mads a great ado becausethere was no seat for him. "M. leCurd," she said." in omnibus cantos." Meeting Bui wur Lyttouone evening at tho Athenieuui. our authorheard the novelist say to Hayward. who hadremarked that no man wrote so above himselfasStauhope: "No man writes above himself,but most men are very unequal. Campbell,the poet, for instance, always struck ma as

very tiresome till, one Bight, whan he mat ma j

at the door of this club and asked me to gohome and sup. I had only just dined, and atflint refused, but. seeing that he was hurt. I l

agreed to go. We were tete-a-tet- and from '

10 to half past 1 he poured out a stream of con-

versation of the most surpassingly brilliantkind." It seems that. In a book given to Bui- -

werby Louis Napoleon In 1837. the novelisthad Jotted down a prediction that the giverwould one day be great in France, baaing his j

forecast on Louis Napoleon's devotion to oneIdea, and his skill in masking that devotion.

In June, 1862. at Prof. Owen's cottage inRlobanond Park, our author met Dickens. " Ihad never seen." he writes, " Dickens before.and thought his look singularly unpreposaess- -

Ing. The first unfavorable Impression, how-

ever, very soon wore off. and I did not deteotanything In his conversation that at all an- -swered to his appearance He talked to me aswe walked around the garden about OoreHouse and Count d'Orsay. of whom he spokewith great regard ; of Holland House and awonderful squabble whloh he had witnessedbetween Allen. Luttrell. Rogers and LadyHolland, all In bad humor, and all contradict-ing each other. He said that he. too. had seenmuoh of Louis Napoleon In those days, but hadnever perceived anything remarkable in him.except ones, when he gave rather a olaverdescription of being had up at Bow street."In February. 1870. the writer of thisdiary dined with a Mr. Pender, and,after the ladles were gone, he found him-

self sitting next to Dickens, whom he had notseen .since his return from his second visit toAmerioa. The two fell Into conversation aboutthlscountry. and the novelist told a very curiousstory. He said that, shortly before leavingWashington, he fell In with Senator Sumnsr.who asked If there was any one whom he wouldlike to see that he had not as yet a chance tomeet Dlokens replied: "Yes, I have alwayshad a great idea of Mr. Stanton : I should liketo meet Mr. Stanton." " Well." answered Mr.Sumner, "there Is nothing easier. I will askhim to dine. Wo will have nobody but our-

selves, and you can have a good talk." A fewdays afterward, accordingly. Dickens met Stan-ton at Sumner's, and they spent a longevening together. At last about midnight.Stanton turned to Sumnor and said : " I shouldlike to tell Dickens that story about the Pres-ident" "By all means," replied the other."At least the hour you have chosen Is ahighly appropriate one." Stanton then turnedto Dlokens and said that, at the time when thecircumstances occurred which he was going torelate, he was Seoretary of War. and. of course,had a great deal to do. One day In April. 1805,a Cabinet council was called for 2 o'olock Inthe afternoon. But he was overwhelmed withwork and did not get there till twenty minutesafter the appointed hour. Just as he openedthe door he heard the President say : " But thisIs not business, gentlemen. Here is Mr. Stan-ton." After the oounoil was over Stantonwalked away with the Attorney-Gener- andsaid to him: "Well, If all councils were like thisthe war would soon be at an end. The Presi-dent Instead of sitting on half a dozen differ-ent chairs and telling Improper stories, has ap-plied himself to business, and we've got througha great deal of work." " Yes," said the Atto-

rney-General, "but you were late. Youdon't know what happened." "No." I an-swered. "What did happen?" "All the restof us." rejoined he. "were pretty punctual, andwhen we came in we found the President sit-ting with his head on his hand and lookingvery unlike himself. At length he lifted his headand. looking around at us. be said: 'Gentle-men. In a few hours we shall receive some verystrange intelligence.' Very much surprised. Isaid to him : ' Sir. you have got some very badnews.' ' No,' he answered. ' I have got no news,but in a few hours we shall receive some verystrange intelligence.' Still more astonished Isaid: ' May we ask. sir, what leads you to sup-

pose we shall receive this Intelligence?' Hereplied: 'I've had a dream. I had It thenight before Bull Run. I had It on someother occasion' (which Dickens had for-gotten). ' and I bad it last night.' This wasstranger than ever. and I said: 'May we ask.sir. the nature of your dream? He replied. ' I'm

' alone I'm In a boat and I'm out on the bosomof a great rushing river, and I drift, and I driftand I drift' At this moment came your knockat the door. The President said, 'But this Isnot business, gentlemen. Here Is Mr. Stan-ton.' " Fire hours afterward Lincoln was as-sassinated. This story is told somewhat dif-ferently In Former's Life of Dickens, but ourauthor believes his version to be the correctone, because three days afterward he told It toPrince Christian at the Dean of Westminster's,and Stanley said: " Dickens told me that eamestory, and I watched you most Intently to seewhether you would vary It In any particular:but It Is preolsoly the story that he told me."

IT.Under date of March ID. 1863, we And a

story related by Edward Bunbury. the scholarand numismatist. It had been originally toldby Wilkes to Jekyll. and by Jekyll to him.Wilkes dreamt. It seems, that he was dead, andthat he had been carried over to the other sideof the Styx. Waiting about on the bank he sawanother new arrival, who turned out to be noother than his old enemy, the monstrous liber-tine. Lord Sandwich. They fell into amicableconversation under these novel circumstances,till at length they began to feel hungry. LordSandwich sold that there was a hotel hard bykept by an old servant of his. Thither theywont, and the man prepared for thorn an ex-

tremely recherche' dinner. In tho course of it.however. Lord Sandwich began to swear

the champagne was not iced, whereuponthe innkooper. who was attending in personupon his guests, shook his head very sadly andsaid : " No Ice here ; no ice here I" Just at t lintmoment little blue flames came quivering upthrough tho table, and Wilkes awoke. Two orthree days afterward, dining at Lord Russell's,our author heard the host say of Boebuckthat he was one of the most disappointing ofspeakers, beginning generally so very well andthen falling off. The criticism Is confirmed bythe writer of this diary, who sometimes foundBoebuck perfectly admirable forafew minutes.but never heard him make a speech which wasgood throughout. Apropos of the same Englishchampion of the Southern Confederacy, ourauthor asks who Is responsible for putting thecharacteristic attitudes of the South and Northtoward the blaok man In tho following epigram-mattowa- y:

The South said to tho negro, "Beslave, and God bless you!" The North said tothe negro, "Be freo, and God damn you!"Breakfasting with Layard about tho same time,our author met Julian Fane, who told a storyabout Motley, then (lHft'll American Minister atVienna and a most furious Northerner, althoughbefore the war he sold to Layard. " If oursisters of the South want to leave us lot thempart in peace." Motloy had beoome. It appears,so excited that he had quite withdrawn fromsociety, being unable to listen with tolerationto any opinions hostile to his own. This hadgone on for some time, whon his friends ar-ranged a little dinner at whloh the greatestcare was to be taken to keep the conversationquite away from all Irritating subjects. Not aword was aald about the war. and everythingwas going ou delightfully, when an unluckyBusslan, leaning across tha table, said s " Mr.Motley, I understand that you have given agreat deal of attention to the history of thosixteenth oentury; I have done so, too, andshould like to know whether you agree withme in one opinion at whloh I have arrived. Ithink the Duke of Alva was one of the greatestand best statesmen who ever lived." Motleycompletely lost his temper, and the well-lai- d

plan was overthrown.In May of the same year Dr. Eallsoh. the

Jewish commentator, breakfasted with ourdiarist, and gave him afterward a good deal ofvery curious Information about the existingstate of learning among the Jews. He said thathis own father knew the Old Testamout In He-

brew from end to end at 7 years old. and humentioned the case of a man who could allow apin to be put through any twelve pages of theTalmud and tell through what words it passed.Dining in the same twelvemonth at a friend'sbouse our author heard from an English Jesuit,Father Strickland, a remark whloh to him

BaBBBaflaVaTaTJsafat

seemed memorable: "I have observed through-out, life that a man may do an Immensedeal of good If he do. .a not eare who getsthe credit of It." While staying In ParisIn November, 1863. our author met PrinceCzartoryskl. who said, speaking of Poland,that the Insurrection then going on would end,If no Intervention took place. In the destruc- -

tlon of tho upper class of Poles, but that In j

twenty years there would be new wealth andnew leaders. During the same visit to the i

French capital Charpentler. the publisher, de-

scribed to him the misery of France before1815, when women of the better class wentabout with clouted dresses and apartmentswore to be had for almost nothing. In hischildhood, Charpentler said, he had aeen theEmperor walking up and down under the peri-style of the Tulleries " with an eye like aneagle, or Ilka melting metal." About tho sametime the n journalist Scherer dinedwith our diarist and spoke much of the divorceof Intellect and social position which was thenso strange a feature In French society and re-

mains so to this day.

T.Again. In Paris. In January. 1864, our author

called on Mme. Cornu. a lady mentioned InBenan's "Feultloa Deiaohdes." He askedMme. Cornu, whom he knew to be singularlyWall Informed, to what she attributed theMexican war. She replied: "First to tho ro- -

mnntlo fanoy of the Emperor: sooondly. to theEmperor's desire to establish a counterpoise tothe United States; thirdly, to the delusiverepresentations made by Mexican exiles."The visitor then inquired why so few French-men of merit had joined the Imperial Govern-ment She said that the Emperor did not taketha right course after the coup d'etat. Heought to have drowned all the people who hadassisted him In it: that Is. he should havegiven them money and sent them away. Hohad not done so. and ever alnoe they had kepthim In a clrclo of Iron, letting him soe no onebut their own set and ha was always com-plaining of the want of capable men. He was,she said, "despotlo In principle but not Inpractice. Essentially rereur and melancholy,he dreams In the Tulleries of the fresh trees ofSwitzerland. He Is by no means false, butessentiellement pilot. Hence, suoh transac-tions as the session of Savoy andNice." Dining, subsequently, with Mloh-el-

our author talked long with Talno. who.as examiner for St Cyr. was then making athroe months' circuit In the provinces everyyear. He spoke much of Mme. Borary, whloh,he said, waa a perfect photograph of the con-dition of the French provinces, about which hethought as badly as possible. He said that thecountry population called all the Ideas by whichtho Intellectual men of the capital live "Phrasesdes avooats de ParU." They oared only to make5 per oent out of their land and to dine well.If any one made the pattf only a possibility In-

stead of a certainty he waa. In their eyes, amonster. It was about this date that Mme.Cornu repented a saying of the Empress Eu-genie about Benan's book. "The Llfeof Christ:""It will not hurt those who believe In Jesus,and to others it will do good." The Em-press's judgment was confirmed by a storythen going about Paris of an old General, Voltalrean In opinion, to whom some of his familyread the " Vie de Jesus" on his deathbed. Aftergetting pretty well Into the book he said:" Knjtn il rtait Diru," sont for the priest, and diedreconciled to the Church. This reminds ourauthor of an anecdote told by Byron in his let-

ters about a sermon by Blenklnsop in proof ofChristianity whloh transformed a very ortho-dox friend of his Into a perfeot atheist.

In February. 1864. we find the record of adinner In London with Charles Buxton. Hementioned that In the published conversationbetween the Emperor Nicholas and Sir Hamil-ton Seymour, there were two suppressed pas-sages. Nicholas said that "the Sultan waslike a bear just about to burst, and that therewas no good putting musk to his nostrils."And again, "you may speak of the throne InEngland as being safe, but I. you know, situpon a volcano." According to Lord Heytes-bur-

the same Czar rallied him when he wasMinister at the court of St Petersburg abouttho opposition of the English Tories to the Be- -'

form bill. " If I were Elng of England." saidNicholas, "I would give my assent to that billwithout the least hesitation." On March 8of the same year took place the vote InConvocation at Oxford on Jowett's salaryas professor of Greek, whloh the ortho-dox party succeeded In keeping at 140a year to punish him for his heresies. It wason this or a similar occasion that some one ofJowett's friends sold: " I think we have a fairchance of winning about Jowett'ssalary, because tho country clergy came up insuch numbers the other day to vote against theImprovement of the ourrleulum that they willhardly be at the expense of coming up again sosoon." "Trust them for that." replied an-

other. "They'll think that education Is a badthing, but that justice Is a worse, and they'lloome In scores." Not long afterward ourauthor met at dinner Frederick Elliott andGrote. They talked about public men specu-

lating on their information. Frederlok Elliottsaid: "Well, in all the years I have passed Inthe Colonial Office. I think I only once pos-

sessed a piece of Information which I might, IfI had so pleased, have turned to money. I waswith my chief one day In 1856. when a cabinetbox came tn. which he opened, and, glanc-ing at the contents, said to himself,"Seobaoh. Peace.' Bo that I knew forty-eig- ht

hours before the rest of theworld that the Russian war was at an end."Grote, who. It will be remembered, was abanker, said that, on tho Stock Exohange, trueinformation might often be as mischievous toits possessor as false, and quoted the case offavour, who lost money by speculating on theperfectly correct Information that war hadLeon decided upon by Franoe In 1840. Grote'sstatoment was mentioned afterward by thediarist to Kinglake, who said that on the occa-

sion referred to, Cavour had lost money be-

cause his Information was not correct andthen repeated an anecdote Illustrating how theFrench Government, in 1840. halted betweentwo opinions. At that time Sir Henry Bulwerwas representing England In Paris. After along conversation with Thiers, when the dis-pute about the Eastern question was at itsheight, be said: "Well, am I to report thatyou saiil that, in such and suoh an eventual-ity, you would go to war?" "No. no. don'tsay that," answered Thiers, "say you read itin my countenance."

Dining st. Mr. Seeley's in July. 1884. our au-thor had some Interesting talk with Bright andMozzini. The former said that as a youth hehad not received much education. and had beentoo idle to do much for himself since, addingthat ho envied Gladstone his enormous In-

formation. Ho said his own practice, was notto write his speeches throughout, but to makevery copious notes, which, however, ho oftendid not follow. Oobdcn's practice was not towrite at all. but to talk his speeches over be-

forehand. Bright remarked that ho had readsome of Burke and admired it. but thought humust have been a very dull speaker, lie hadmuch to any about America, contemplated withgreat equanimity tho "Improving the South-ern chivalry oil the face of the earth," thoughtthere would be no danger from the army aftertho civil war was finished, dilated on the diff-iculties concerning Canada, and dwelt on theenormous amount of the United States ship-ping on the great lakes, which, as he pointedout. exceeded oven then in tonnage tha mer-cantile marine of France.

VI.In the record of a visit to Paris In September,

1864, our author notes that be found Benan Ina pleasant little house at Sevres, busy over hisSecond volume, afterward published aa "LetAptores." Renan had been much atruok withthe "Acts of the Apostles," which he thoughtunderrated. The part which the writer, whetherLuke or another, described ss an eyewitness,appeared to him " d'un netteU. et d'un fermeUremarquablt." He believed that Timothy hadbeen "pour broueoup" In the com position. Itwill be remembered that Renan. In his "Lifeof St. Paul." after pointing out how the Influ-

ence of that Apostle had faded from the coup-trie- s

In which he labored, and how the enduringfabric of Christianity had grown up under quiteother Influences, ends bis book with the words:"Mankind, you are sometimes right andcertain of your judgments are just." On an-

other occasion Renan told our author that hetook the strange story of Babism recounted in" Its Aputres from Gobiiieau. but not with-out getting It continued moat amply by Inde-pendent testimony, among others by a Gov-ernor he wet at Ooustautiuoplo, under whose

orders many of the sentences had been carriedout. About tho same period our outlier alsohail a long talk in Paris with the distinguishedjournalist. Pirvost I arndol, ultimately FrenchMinister to the United States. The latter gavean nccount of Sainte-Boiivo'- a recent visit tothe Emperor Napoleon lit., to announce his(Provost Paradol s) election as a member fthe Academic Franchise. In making the an-nouncement Hnlnte-lietiv- e old : " Your Majestywill, of course, understand that hasno political meaning. If t had it would not bo Iwho announced It to you " "Ah," sold the Em-peror. " but how has M. Provost Paradol earnedthis high honor Han ho produced any greatworks?" "No." was the reply. " but ho hasproduced a great many small onos. No onenow produces gnat work" In r ranee at leastve men of letter dp not." On another occa-sion our author told Provost Paradol thafwnIn England cannot forgive the lYInco do Joln-vlll- e

for his foolish hostility to us." " Ah," horeplied, "you will find a little of thatnt thobottom of everv French heart." Our authoranswered: "But you will not find the corre-sponding feeling at the bottom of overy Eng-lish one" Whereupon the Frenchman re-joined : " Ah, monsieur, rous n'rte pas Irsdernier rninnt ?"

Whon in Paris, during the early sixties, ourauthor frequented the anion of Mme de t.

On one occasion ho was introducedthere to M. d'Yzarn Freyssmct. tho author of" l'rntr'et Uiisr." a little hook then n gooddeal talked about. Imt v, hlch seems never tohnve become widely known. Some of the sav-ings in the volume nre quoted In this diary,and may be thus translated: "There Isa quar-tero- f

an hour In the evening when an elegant,woman prefers a gown evon to her lover," ' Inproportion ns wo advance In life the colorwhich we cad grny Is substituted for all othertints." " Wo die every day a little." "Tocor-tal- n

persons we oxhibii only our faults, toothers only our good iiunlltles" "Therenrecertain glances that render the soul visible."

Among the Germans, of whom our authorsaw a good deal, both on tho Conti-nent and when they visited London, wasGeorge von Bunsen. The latter once re-lated that Prof, llrniidis travelled many yenrsago In England with the great scholnr Becker(author of "Charlcles' and "Gallua"), whoknew English much better than lit mule. did.but would never speak it. When, however.Brnndls made a mistake, Becker groaned. Itwas of Booker that Niobuhr used the phrasewhich was later sooftcn repeated about Moltke:"Becker Is silent In seven languages." Gorvl-nu- s

was also noted for taciturnity: BunsenKiivo an amusing description of his walks withWeber. Not a word would pass between thotwain until they pnrted. when Gorvinus wouldsoy, "So geht's. Weber." and Weber would

"Bo geht's, Gervlnus." Dining once withBunsen to moot Sybol. tho historian, our au-

thor heard thorn discuss the definition of theword junker, which, they said, was Imperfectly,or rather orronoously. translated by eithersquire or noble. They considered that tho Ideaof dependence on court favor and place, as wellns that of poverty, formed part of ft. A ssylngof Bismarck's was quoted to the effect that theParty ol Progress wns perfectly right, but thatho was a .jtmtrr. and consequently practiced"tunker-politik.- "

VII.The author of this diary seems to have been,

for the most part, unlucky in his experience ofAmericans. Being at Florence tn December,1806. ho tolls us that " Wo found ourselves, forour sins, at an hotel (the Nuova York) whichwas full of very unattractive Americans. One.apparently a clergyman, said, pointing to theboiled fowl. 'What d'yo call that here?'Some one answered: ' The Italian for a fowl Ispolio.' He rejoined: 'In Amerioa we call themchickens. When I got to France they calledthem poulels. When I got to Germany theycalled them faule (sic). When I got amongthe Arabs I didn't know what to call them.I tried poulets that wouldn't do. I tried faule

that wouldn't do. Then (crowing aloud like acock) I did so they understood that.' " On theother hond. when In Rome, a month later, thediarist records that "Mr. Coolldge, an Ameri-can. Introduced by Circourt, came to see me.He had been in Rome forty-si- x years ago, andhad visited India at some prehlstorlo periodI think when Mountstuart Elphlnstone waaGovernor of Bombay. His object In beingIntroduced to me was to make the acquaintanceof Odo Russell, to whom I sent him. Beingextremely struck with tho amount of his infor-mation, I afterward asked Odo Bussell, whowas for some time at Washington, whetherone mot many such people in the United States.'Lots.' he replied: a statement which I findit hard to reconcile with the fact that onemeets so very few Americans in Europe whocould bo named in the same breath, but whichIs. I have no doubt, capable of reconcilement."

Under date of July. 1807. we find an incidentinteresting to numismatists. It appears that,at the Council of the Asiatio Society, our au-thor had the opportunity of seeing the greatgold coin of Eucratldes. which weighs as mucho wenty sovereigns. This very remarkablepi ce was brought from Bokhara by n Jew who,ou ii s first arrival In Paris, knowing that theWest was rich and fond of curious objects, de-manded a million of francs for It. Noone being

, willing to go into the transaction at that figure,he come to London and entered into negotia-tions with the British Museum. The peoplethere were charmed with It, and. presently,began to discuss the question of price. " What."said the Jew, "Is the Intrinsic value of thecoin?" "So much." they replied. "When wnsit struck?" he then asked. "About such nndsuch a year." was the answer. "Well." rejoined

! the Jew. " I will he satisfied with Interest at Aveper cont. from that date." After a good denl ofbargaining, it was ultimately bought by Feuer-- Idant for$5.5tMl. and it passed to tho Imperial

. Library for 9."i.K(H. A day or two afterwardthe author, with Sir Henry Rawlinson and

I others, went as a deputation from tho AsiatioSociety to present an address to the Sultan atBuckingham Palace. Tho Sultan could notspeak any Western language, but. with him.was Fuad Pasha, who knew French well. Itwas Fuad. we are told, who, some years prevl-- 1

ously. had said to Lord Palmerston when thelatter expressed the opinion that nothingwould go right In Turkey till they got rid ofjiolvgamv. Ah! milora. nous ferons commeeoiui. nous presenlerons I'une et nous cacheronsles autre."

In the autumn of 1871 our author travelledIn Italy with Henry Smith, who. as we havesaid, was Suvilian Professor of Geometry atOxford. The latter seems to have been ado-lichtf-

companion. He repeated one day anepigram by Mansel, then Dean of St. Paul.There had been. It appears, some years before,a project in Oxford of requiring two essays tobe composed for t ho degree of Doctor of Divin-ity. Mansel wrote:

Tour degree of D. D. yon propoaa to conveyWhen an A. double 8. writes A. double S. A.

It was Smith who, on another occasion, re-lated the story of an American doctor who.called in to prescribe for a child, the nature ofwhose complaint was not clear to him. said:"I'll givo the little cuss a powder: then It'llhave a tit. and I'm a dob at fits." When Miss

, tho lady doctor, married, an arrange-ment was made. or talked of, that another lady.a Miss .Morgan, should live at the top of thehouse and take her friend's night praotice.Henry Smith said ft was "a morganatic ar-rangement." It was Henry Smith, also, whotola our author the story of an American who,having wearied his friends by continually boast-ing oflielngtaken forLoulsNapoloon.as.ln ourday, many an American professes to bo takenfor the Prince of Wales, waa pulled up by oneof them saying. "My dear fellow, that's noth-ing. As I was walking along the street theother day. a man whom I had never seen In mylife slappod me on the shoulder nnd said: 'GodAlmighty. Is that youl' " Nextto Henry Smith s.perhaps the best things In this liook are attrib-uted to Hayward. With two of these we mustbring our extracts from this charming diarv toa close Dining at the Athnnonim with Hay-ward In 187!!. our author heard him repeatMine, de Noollles's saving about theComtedoC'linmbord's obstinate refusal to accept thethroneof Franccunlesshecould hrlng hack thewhite flaa: " llressemhlea Yirginiein 'Paul atuiVirginia J aui r noyait plut'A que laitsrr tomhrra oliemise.' Havward'sown puzzled reply to

Mme. Apponiyl when she asked him In 1 07." What on earth Is the compound householderabout which Mr. Gladstone Is perpetually talk-ing?" also deserves a high place among lionmots: " Madame." he replied. " e'est le mari dela ftmme incomprise." M. W. H.

A Mew Book About Slam.Of Slam and the Siamese mueh haa been writ-

ten In reoent years, but the latest fullest andmost trustworthy account of that country Isthat which has just been published by theBcrlbners. undor tho title of Fire Years in Slam(1801-1806- ). by H. Wabinoton Smith, former-ly Director of the Siamesu Department ofMines. Throughout tne two volumes In whichthe author's observations aro comprised, weobserve a happy absence of vituperation on theone hand and of adulation on the other. InMr. Smyth's opinion the Siamese deserveneither round abuse nor extravagant praise.In spite of the aspersions which have beenshowered upon them by some travellers, he tes-tifies that ths people of the country did not byany means appear to htm inveterate thievesor Incessant Kara. As a matter of fact, hefound them grateful for kindness, ready toshare their last mouthful without expectationof reward, and quick to justify the trust re-

posed In them. Throughout his term of ser-vice tho Bangkok Government behaved to himin a maimer at ouce dlgnlllnil ami generous.In money matters he experienced no trouble,and he Imputes thu complaints thut have beenheard from others to their own luck of firm-ness. Upon the whole he looks back withpleasure upon the treatment which lie receivedduring hla sojourn in the country. Mr.Smyth, of course, does not pretend toa complete understanding of the Bla-mes. The light and ajjtade of the Asialio

WMMHMMH

value of the book before us consists In ".;position of the Internal nnd extei nnl'1'nn.c. ?"o sound reform In Slam, nnd In Its

of the tnsk which the King and '"X-mse-l l ossetoperate with him have

and hnve. to a certain extent, neconplslied.'tok. namely, of ocraftlng the clvdlzat on

of modern F.uropc upon that of a conservativepeople (,f tho Far East.

I.Before outlining the proofs of recent progress

In Slam, tho author, while not nttempttng a

detailed historical revlelr. Indicates the stateof things which required the application of

drastic remedies. Descendants of a hardy race,

of whom tho Shans form the elder branch.the Sinnic-- e came down from the north IntoSlam, split In two the pooplothen In possessionof the Menam Valley, and so gave rlso to the twonations that now border upon them, the Cambo-

dians on the cast and tho Pcgunns on the west.now tho Siamese gloved tVom capital to capitalever toward the southern plains, from Hawan-kolo- k

to Pltsunnlok. to Ayuthln. and Anally to

Bangkok, their present metropolis; how theyfought their enemies the Tegoans. the Bur-

mese and the Cnmbodlans; how they cajoledtheir cousins, the I,ao. and their sea visitors,the Malays all this belongs to ancient history,although. In some monsjre to tho present also,for it has left Its mark. Among the results of

the continual warfare was the Incessant Inter-change of prlsonore, of provinces ami of Ideas:eventually these Indo-Chine- peoples all ac-

quired the same mothods of protecting thorn-selv-

against their rivals nnd thu same notionsof diplomacy. Not oneof the nations mentionedhas been able to retain Its Independence exceptthe Siamese: I'egu. Burma. Annam. Cambodiannd the Maluys hnvodiBapiHiaredas powers

they would not regenerate themselves,III every Instance It was through their adhesionto the traditional duplicity, which they regardedas diplomacy, that their downtall oame. Slamalone, owing to her central position among heroid rivals, and because sho realized botimost.nonecessity ot adopting now methods of Intcrnn-tlon-

dealings, hns so far escaped. W hnt sup-ports her y is the heller of Englishmenthat Bhe earnestly In tends to do for herself whatthe other States of the peninsula failed to do.and what consequently, had to be done forthem. To appreciate tho extent of herearnestness, it is needful to consldor the ob-struction which is offered to her reformers.To align herself with the present Slam musteffect a revolution as corapleto as any ever ac-

complished In the West. For the untntthful-ness- .the intrigue and the dishonesty in which

sho has been iiurtiircu. she must substitutethe straightforwardness whloh is foreign tothe Asiatic nations. Mr. Smyth says that onlythose who have lived for years In Slam. and.by the nature of their employment havebeen brought in constant contact with the in-

habitants, can comprehend how blindly tradi-tion is reveroncod among the people. Tradi-tion Is as sacred as the Ring's person ; like thoKing's acts. It Is never questioned. Howeverincongruous or unjust, anything which can bereferred to tho magic word famnten, "custom,"Is without further ado Invested with a sanctitywhich commands respect and even reverence.Where this one word can be invoked, dishonestyand corruption are condoned.

It was not to be expected that the Slamose.brought up among immemorial traditions,should te able thoroughly to grasp the mean-ing of the new phenomenon called Western civ-ilization which has been suddenly thrust uponthem. They are not to be blamed If. like toomany of their advisers and crltlos. they con-tuse clvllizat. on with the adoption of electriclights, crested note paper and photographs,the superllcialities of modern life. The tarmore difficult adoption ot new principles and anow morality is possible to no nation in a day.To be permanent suoh things must come byslow growth and by persistent struggle. Japan,it is true, has performed what would havekilled a feebler nation. No people In thetropics can possess the Japanese sturdlnessana vitality ; In Slam, the work must, of neces-sity, be gradual. Wo may Illustrate what wemean by a glance nt the former fiscal adminis-tration. In the old days, the outlying provincesof Sioin were governed by vassal chiefs, who,as long as they paid designated tributes to theKing ae faeto, might rule or misrule, as theywished, i heir sons succeeded so long as theymade themselves agreeable to the over-lor-

In fact, the governing was done by contract :

the sovereign practically said: "If you lookafter the province and pay me. I will keepyour family in power until a stronger rivalcomes along." Throughout Indo-Cblna- 's his-tory, no ruler of a province had ever re-ceived a salary: it was tho recognized rightcf the Governor to moke what he could, and torhis subordinates to do the snme, each accord-ing to Ills position and Ingenuity. The com-mon people would have done likewise had theyfound themselves In a similar position. For itwas tamnien, the custom. No one disputed thelegitimacy of the method, provided It was em-ployed with moderation, it DMng tho only oneopen to an official by which to make his living.The result was that, under the majority of pro-vincial Governors, eaoh bent on securing acompetence for his largo family, any man whohad made a little money waa liable to bebrought to court on some fantaatlo chargeand nave his goods confiscated, while thehighest bidder always got a favorable deci-sion from the Judge.

n.After many hard knocks, especially from

Cambodia, and also from the Burmese as late as1767. Slam, rising again and again and turningthe tables on her foes, had Anally aoqulredsuzerain rights over almost all the Lao States

' and over the Malay Peninsula down to Kedahon the west side and to Treng-gan- u on the east

j and these territories shs ruled on the old linesprescribed by her own Immemorial usages andby the praotice of the nations about her. Thepresent King it was who first reoognlzed theduty of provincial Governors to govern not forthemselves, but for their subjects. The en-

forcement of this conception of duty, entirelynew to Indo-Ohln- a, In the toeth of the passivebut stubborn resistance offered by the ma-jority of the nobles, has constituted the endlessstruggle ot the present reign. To carry outthe King's determination salaried Commissioners have been appointed, one by one, tothe chief outlying provinces, until, within thelast tew years, tne Chaos, or feudallords, of all tho great districts on the Mekong.or In the West or in the Malay Peninsula, havefound themselves suddenly divested of halftheir power by the unostentatious gentlemanwho arrives with the King's orders fromBangkok, who reports to headquarters, andwithout whom no administrative action canbe taken. The great difficulty has lain, nsmight have been expected. In getting theright men for tho now functions, andin many cases the Commissioners haveproved little better than the Chaos whoso dig-nities and duties they usurp. The Innateshortcomings of the Siamese character arechargeable with the slow advance thoKing has been able to make, and with thenumber of European officials that hsve beenappointed to the various departments of thecivil service, to the fallings of many of whomhave been due serious complications. At leatt.however, the new Commissioners were directlyresponsible to Bangkok, and could be recalledand oensured, if necessary, with morefnclllty than could the old feudal lords.On the whole, the ovll being taken withthe good, tho commissioner system Ispronounced by Mr. Smyth a distinct gainto the population, ana the majority ofthe agents whom he saw at their iiostswere doing good work for tho country, nndevincing an excellent spirit. Here we shouldnote what the author has to tell us concerningthe moral qualities of the Siamese, which aromore noticeable among the common taioplethan among the generaibody of officials. Thocommon people havo a quiet goodness pe-culiarly their own. It seems, nevertheless,that they aro good by accident, and only aslong us, by accident, thero is no reason to bootherwise To do u thing becuuse it is rluht Isbeyond them. To ubstain. indeed, from athing because it will injuro their good name orInvolve serious consequences Is. possibly,within. the isiwer of u few; tho questionof right or wrong, however, docs hotenter into their calculations. Undoubtedly,these failings are shured by Hourly all Asiatito u greater or less cxtont. On the other hand,the qualities which constitute tho peculiarcharm of Eastern races are not few. Testedbv tic standard of everyday life, the Siamese,with his cheerfulness am! friendliness his hos-pitality und gentleness, his nutienee underin. ib ami bis winning simplicity, eon hold hishead high In comparison with many Asiaticraces, and with not a few specimens of Euro,peiiiiH. It Is when he joins the ranks of official-dom that the snares close in nlout him. and Ifthen his tail hi gms it is n,,t so much fromwickedness as from weakness.

In Hiam the education of the people has beencarried on imnienioriully. as In Burinari, by thomonks in the wots, or Buddhist monasterieswhich are scattered all over the country. Boysurn sent by their parents at 8 or 11 years ofage to give their services to some particularmonk, a friend or relative of the fumilv. Inreturn tor such services a lad Is taught the A,II. t, I ho rules of Buddha, and such religiousprinciples as he may pick up. At 14 or IBhe will either leavti the wat or dawdle onPtiyiiig football In the afternoon und pud-dling the ubhut's ciinoe. If of u religious tin nof mind, he may don the yellow rolio of thonovice and renounce the world in favorof u more abstruse study of the Scrip-tures Whether this educution is adequate'"' the needs ol II iusj.es of people Is i,matter which U much debated m biuigkokJ here IB, of course little doubt thai it miglt htcosily Unproved. Thcaetuul result lsllniteverymini and boy In slam eon. though often onlywith much labor;. read and write his own noiiiuand wake out a. bit of a letter on paper He haano books to read, but ho knows a few things

iv!.i,i'?Im'y?rn,ui' ""t do:he has learnedthe formulas ail the jungle tries, and,

aLmmKLmmmmgmmfmmmmMimmMmmMvmsMssssMWim

If he Uvea nenr the capital, he has heard ot acountry lHynnd the sea whence come violentand angry men With white fsoesw ho srealw,,ysInn hnrn'sntlsa ' Uoildani.' It has been of Into 'Hdecided at Bangkok to supplement the teach- - Hing of the wnts by menus of organized schools . Ho' a norc advanced character, and seveinl fW.schoolmasters have been Imiorted from Eng- - MMIntel. The Instruction of the hlng's sons hns nfaVt u Intrusted to private tutors. Oxford gVaWitindua'i -- while n school fit uiiis or high WStffbirth was first nut undera ladv graduate ofCambridge and lins since been carried on efllciently bv a indy graduate of London Unlver- - Elsllv lor w nut of any native educatlonnl Inst - Vtutlon of n high grade, a number of the King'srelation., nnd oi the nobility have bocn sei an-nually to England. Fmuco or Ienmars rolearn European languages or to study

subjects. It Is Mr. Smvth's opinion tintonly Where the students havo been ofexeep-tioii- nl

ability nnd chntacterem the experiment,judged by atur resii.ts. he deeme I successful.The average Hlnines lioy does not repay theexpense Incidental to his education In Europe.Too often, when he returns to the Fast, therupture with tho associations of school or homelife In Europe Is so sad len nnd complete thsitheir influence Is nearly obliterated. In Mhercases, where the young men have profited toytheir opportunities nnd seemed likely to .e ..Ireal use to their country, they have been fre-quently shelved by the jenlousv and Intriguingof enemies and condemned to retire to a life ol i

Inactivity and uselessness. mSk.

III.By reading In connection the second and the

twenty-thir- d ohaptors of this book, a clear Idea Wmcan be gained of the progress accomplished orcontemplated by Siamese legislation from 1803down to the close of 18i)7. In the year Aralnamed the Elng created. In addition to the oldCouncil of State, a Council of Ministers, twelveIn number. moetly headsof departments. Thisoounoil was composed of his own younger Of

half brothers, and a few of the higher noble.The more Important departments theaconstituted were the Foreign Offlo. the MArmy, the Navy, Public Works. Agriculture. k

Justice, Education and Finance The Internal KaA'administration waa then carried on by two mfHseparate departments, one for the north and tjione for the south, but these have since been flconsolidated In a single Department ot theInterior, the head of which Is Prince Damrong. VJThe Foreign Office had been for many years jBmannged by an able and pleasant brother ot AW

the King. Prince Denawongse. In 1802, how Wever, arrangements, for which the credit waaprincipally due to Prince Damrong. were madeto secure an experienced adviser from Europe,and soon after the services of M. Bolln Jaosquemyns. a Belgian international lawyer otnote, were transferred from Egypt whore hewns employed under Lord Cromer, to Slam.This was a groat blow to the natlvo Ideas otdiplomacy, for with such an advisor, what-ever mistakes might be committed, no prevari-cations would be iKissible. and European no-tions of strict adherence to all promises wouldprevail. Of the army nnd navy, the latter Is, by 'far. the smarter organization. As regardsboth services, it is pronounced a matter of ot

that owing partly to thu inherent lazineseof the people, but largely, also, to the way Inwhich tne conscription is conducted, aa well asto the wretched pay and to the manner In whichthe services are generally carried on. the Ta-ha- n.

or man employed In either the army ornavy. Is universally looked down upon. The girlswill not speak to him and the common peopleavoid him. He feels himself to be an out-oas- t,

with the result that when he gets thechance, he behaves as such, and, generally,goes to the bad. The original military Instinctof the Siamese seems to have been extin-guished, and men will face anything ratherthan the prospect of serving In the army, or,for that matter. In the navy. No effort seemsto have been made to create an esprit de cortis.

soldiers are tacitly permitted to assumeShecharacter of trained bands of coolies, to do ' sj 'whitewashing, or to figure In processions. Ofcourse, under such circumstances, all the re-peating rifles, officers and drill books north ofthe equator will not produoe lighting men. In Mthe army, which consists of a number ot skele-ton formations with long names, European in-

struction has been practically abolished, ox- - Jcept in the case of one overworked Danishofficer, who. personally, perfonns all the drill-lu- g

that Is done. There are three regimentsot cavalry who straddle a dozen broken-dow-

mangy, Australian horses and twoscore littleSiamese pontes; there are two artillery regi-ments with some seven-poun- d field guns andeight Infantry regiments, of which four regi-ments of the Tine are credited on paperwith two battalions eaoh. The navy, al-though It has had to fight against the samepopular aversion and against the role ofa picnicking institution commonly assignedto it has, owing to the energy of an-other Dane, Commodore de Bichollou, acquiredan efficiency far beyond anything else In Slam.In spite of old, ant-eate- n hulls, worn-o- ut ma-chinery and bad material, the Commodore and .his Danish offloers have created a force which "

H 'our author considers reallycrcaitahle. A bat-talion of marines on the march can actually keep Jtheir distances, and the training ship whloh S Ytakes the youngsters away In the Gulf of Slamfor some months every year Is the cleanest andsmartest thing of which the Government canboast. Even In tho navy, however, the evil (Ipractices of Siamese officialdom sometimescrop up, and every time the Commodore returns Ifrom a tour of Inspection he has to settle manyettaesof complaint by the seamen of unjust treat- - Imentonthe part of the natlvo offloers. Themeu.for the naval service are taken moetly from thePeguans, a strong, handsome race, who livemostly r, and to the northwest of Bang-- Ik ok, in separate communities. Both naval and Imilitary services suffer from the lack ot Euro- - I J

peon officers. The native subaltern can neverbe made to understand that he can be dignifiedwithout being arrogant that discipline can besecured without cruelty, and that respect for liuhis officers Is the flrst and the m. 1

second object of military training. Even Msuch European officers as aro employed are WMWseldom thoroughly trusted, and consequently AsWdo not have a free hand. Owing to their Hown want of wisdom In the past In the se-lection of Europeans, the Siamese have hadsome unpleasant disillusions, and the result lathat they uow suspect every ono they employ. JTh.e suspicion has led to a system by whloh Wi'almost every European In the service either mlllnds himself watched and hampered by some Mlnative to whom Is given almost equal powers. WsW

or else, while receiving nls salary, he Is leftseverely a, one and allowed to do nothing. Theenforced Idleness or discontent thus caused hasbrought about the resignation of many goodman.

IV. 1The Public Works Department hts tbua far

concerned Itself ohleAy with making or improv-ing roads or bridges about Bangkok. Under Itcomes the Boyal Hallway Bureau, whloh baabeen an expensive luxury. After eight years' I

work it has huilt only nlnoty miles of track. HiThe Post and Telegraph Bureau also falls un- - IfIder tha control of the Publlo Works, and themanogement of the Post Office by two Gor- - WtVTmans is tormod a model of efficiency. The few fexisting telegraph lines, on the other hand. fowing to a want of oare and the absence of Ioempetent operatives, are useless for half tha Iyear. Tho Departmentof Agriculture and Oom- - IImeroe la little more than a land ta office. Un- - IBder It however. Is the Survey Bureau, the ad-mirable work of which Is due to one man. Mr.McCarthy, formerly of tho Indian civil service,wus appointed Director-Gener- some years mmago, and. with the aid of Siamese assistantstru.nod by himself, lias not only connected the Wf,It angulation of Slam with that of the IndianSurvey but has brought It down through theLao States to Lower Slam. Hu Is credited by Uour author with tho finest piece of soiontlfle Mwork thut bus been done or Is likely to bedone In the country. Under the Ministry 1of Agriculture is ulso placed the Depart-ment of Mines, of which Mr. Smyth wns. "for some time, tho Director. The work withwhich ho was intrusted was the regulation ofmilling a II airs. Including the drafting of a code menot milling rules ami the beginning of u goo log- - mMicul survey. As regards the Ministry of Jus- - Utlee. our author is inclined to think that theless said the better, so tar us the observutlone awmade by him prior to IHiwj uro concerned.'1 he courts were ut that time beautifully im-partial In the sense that they imprisoned thecomplainant, the defendant und all tho wit-nesses they could get. together with themothers and wives of those they could not ar-rest, without distinction. It left thopi in Htool to settle their differences in theeourso of years, and such an did notdie ot cholera, dysentery or storvu- -lion might, if they wcie unusually lucky andhad means of bribery, be let out in ten yea- - ?time by tha clemency of tho Judges. Naturally,under such ciieumstnnees, people felt a disliketo lii, .ling themselves and their relatives im- -prisoned foi ten years or forlife. owing to their mhaving been vvitnnssesof u theft ; consequently. Vwhon ii crime, wns committed, thoy would sZsTturn their backs and refuse to seaor belli an Innocent mini. In 1HIH1. uow-eve- r.

three judicial commission wort,the flr.sl of which was to disposeor unfinished casus still pending, the second,of coses not before tried ut all. aud thethird of eases all the documents or which

had been lost or destroyed. These commis-sions performed tholr work and cleared thedocket, In the some year the criminal oodewas revised A new system of civil procedurewas iniio ineil. and a iiivv law of evidence was Wnamed. Moreover, the polloa foroeof the aiii awtul has been completely reorganized and thopolicing of the country districts has heetgreat! luipii.ved by tho new village rcgn a- -

tlolisOn the whole. ,t g Mr Smyth's convictionthat, alt hougli. even m the recent punt, there,

have been shortcoming enough ntlo,lielund administration of Hiam. yet thu Kiunies' MMhave made such i sidemble advanues. hi iaVliuve displayed ... remarkable abilities in iniinv . '

dlr. ctlons. thut they may reasonably look for-ward to tho inaliiteiiauci of independence undtoa respected place among oommeroial a- -

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