Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About The Oregon daily journal. (Portland, Or.) 1902-1972 | View Entire Issue (Sept. 3, 1905)
f - A' c : ; : : - - " U' . wv: A- fYi- " '"' ' : - ' - ' . 'v 'l.M .... . v ..... . - -: ' t i . . . ;: -A . . , ( 'if ) 5 --.Tv. vT " ' ; - , - . 'Y i '';:vMV " " " " - .if-K;.- tphlP h - Xsl HB great slow nee -. and stolid kin cvM throuah which be- ! m . n j- i n " ehsoe"5Jr carnage in the .person. of hef peace envoy, 6erc ' Jullevitch -.Wltte, president of the imperial council of: minsters, are the physical charscter latlcs of the two Introspective peoples from whom jisd?rtYeST-the,.Gernisi ' "and. the Slavs. ' ' . Tet there is not a less sentimental or srlf-censclous man in the whole Russian ' empire than this practical and brave ' statesman who has been sent to America ...to confront the envoys - of. victorious .'Japan; : 7. . '.-. ;"T''II-'-',": He is in enormous hulk of a man. ox ' like In strencth and deliberate move . ment. " The mere mass of him. the height and fteadth. the length and weight of bone. are Impressive. .. ' 1 Although be has the width across the forehead and the eyes and the brldge leus. ' fleshy,' -wtde-nostriled nose of the typical Slav, he has reddlah-blond hair and the heavy-lidded eyes o( the Otifman. .' lie is a man devoted to and controlled by facta. ....-.,,... ..-... v :: Me ftands for the decent, benign, prac- ttcai aide, of autocracy. ; - - The good, firm mouth,- high, benevo i lent- forehead and honesti . stratghtfor- ward, kindly eyes indicsto tha spirit In 1 which the greatest ot ail Kuasisn min 'sters seeks to work out the problems of j ,. ;. 'a. dPBpoutm. , -" Witu was bora M years ag In com parative poverty and obscurity at TttUs. . the old capital of Georgia and adminis trative - center of .the Caucasus.. His . father's Oermaa blood had. been tn the country before Peter the Great. His mother was ot noble origin. He grad uated from the -New Russian' University of Odessa. , . ; - . ' ' Wlite has fought his fight alone, as did Vladimir Monomach, the "stalwart alone standing" Duke of Moscow, whose nsmesake, a great cruiser, went down In the - Sea of Japan the other - day with her colors' flying and her orders to fight to the. last nailed to tn flght- . Ins tons. ' ' There Is not a single member of Presl---dent-Ro owe velfs-cabtnet-who- began life upon such a lowly rung of the ladder .as did M. da Wltte, the former chan . eellor, who is summoned from disgrace - to bear' the brunt of the peace negotia tions with . Japan. r -" " , . Wltte. though he had enjoyed a fairly . good education, found that for-want of Influence he could not . enter the civil service, which was his dream, as It is .enter the employ of a little private rail way In the province of Odessa, where Evidence of . From ths New York Herald.' . VT f ths fens snd swsmps ln T t ' tersected by old Indian trails - 'yeT on the Kankakee river comes - : - snother revelation V of - crime that hs been hidden nearly halt a cen tury, while all th principals are dead and gone and a scattered handful-remain who. were acquainted with -the fncta in the case. South Lake county,- Indiana, farmers have frightened -naughty children-with the tale of the .bogy man. In -the -old tecle inn, and its haunted precincts have .been shunned to this day, even by the Incredulous. Pleasure seekers who visit Grape Island take care never to stsy near, the Steele house, for at range stories are told of th shrieks snd yells thst pierce th air. It ie alleged that horsee-in passing -its walls would snort snd quiver. More than on talef-CTimatlsoldirzoi " iml.n.ntM tints that rt.it ha trails rrowlnr th Kankakee snd T.aTumet rlverC-TKeKolre-we1fenin? stopping place for belated traveler oh "the wsy toCnfcigSlohDeTofeTneiron rail crept Into that place and when bands of Indians roamed the prairies Rome of ths stories hsd become atmoa legendary, and the young people iaugnea "at them. ." . '' '' The Steele house, which wee a two story log structure, wss rased to-the ground last week, end In removing the eton cellar wall a subterranean cav was found containing five skeletons of - lult human beings. Th workmen draw -k from th sepulchre with horror .4 reported th matter to ths author!- wh began an investigation. I r Tile sVuIIs belonged to the female -. both ef mature years. A dent In rh sknll over the iemple showed now victims luid tiee slain. Th bones the hands were clenched, showing '- .- - - - - TII2 he bora it that career which has carried 1 him- so far. as a treiaht clerk., and In i aeeo u times m m. rm rriff inin. ji i nately long before his spirit was crashed and his Initiative dulled by the hopeless routine of his monotonous duties. He averted a grave dlsastet by presence, of mind in a crime. And he- was tm mediatory promoted' to be atatlonmaster. He had saved his company money - and safe guarded their credit with the traveling public, and.ao won for himself the best of credentials. Then the Russo-Turkish war came and the railways proved more Inadequate than they have, done In the great struggle with Japan, and of course there was not the excuse of transconti nental dlataaces to be overcome. Witte by this time had. risen to be the traffic manager of a large section of the private railway, and If began to be noticed that on thjs link things got through while on others they -did not. Commanders of army, corps at the front- got Into th habit of appending to Uielr ; requisi tions for' supplies the urgent request that they be sent -vie. Wltte' a road. His efficiency might have received no further attention but for a controversy in which the rising young railroad man became en gaged. Indeeo, It has been said of Wltte that every step lit advance be has made Is the result of a personal controversy foughfout nor-a-lu5eessfur finish." '"-' It chanced that during' the critical days before Plrvnn. .when. Oauian-rnrhs hmt fought the Russians to a standstill and apparently checkmated their march -upon the Bosphorus, two trains claimed, -the right of way over that vital section of the railway where Wltte was In control-one- train carried provisions and muni tions of war for - the front, where1 they were greatly needed, the other a certain magnificent but useless personsge, who was anxious to get as, near to the front as he could without endangering his precious- person. Witts never hesitated for a moment. He gave the pro via Ion trsin the right of way and (Sidetracked the train carrying the illustrious person age In a awampy siding-.. Infested by. mos quitoes, v" -' . , .. .(... ., Wltte'a official. head was immediately demanded -and -readily- given. The 'di rectors of the private, railway were thunderstruck at their subordinate's audacity and gave htm a curt dismissal, but Witts was not a man to be dis mayed or to lose courage In the face of highly placed enemies. He determined to carry the matter before the csar, and. wonderful to relate, he succeeded in doing so.; yrtnnMelv; for the roung jrnHrnart maw-i-tfte-Caar Atexnnder had been In the trenches before Plevna him self. He knew -that provisions were needed there and not gaudily uniformed Murd er m Haunted. House the violence of th death attending their owners. . .-. . .- When Lake county was sparsely set tled. In 1863. there earn to th Kanka kee valley John Steele, -a-powerfully- ouiit man or rorblddlng sipect. He seemed to-cere to associate with no one, and kept sloof from barn raisings and other festal occasions . that were the pleasure of the farmer and trap pers. He took np a claim on Grape Island.' which was a fordinf spot on n trail across th river, and .there : liullt log-house:,""". , This was 10 years -before there was a hut In this psrt of ths county save an old inn on ths, Calumet. Steele's wife and daughter cam In 18(6 te dwell with Mm and keep the hostelry, while Steele trapped sndTiunted, They visited little and acquired the reputation of being "bad 'neighbors.' , John Barrtngton depsrtedfroiq Momenc Illlnnla rwo. ber 14; 181, rifling a horae overland Into Indiana. His destination Was L'Hl- gold belted around his person. His nb- tecljraa tn hny bssve to the federal army in the southern nart of the state. Ule arrived th following morning at ne -levie novo, ana irom that night was never seen again. Ten days later his half-starved horse was found wan dering on th prairie. It was bridled snd saddled, but the saddl bags were empty. It Was Identified hv a tr.nn.e Lnamed Ralke as belonging to Barrlng- IVD, ..... The general opinion was thst ' Bar rtngton had been followed" by thieve from Cincinnati or. guerillas, who mur dered hint and secreted th body In th iwatnpe. , ... Steele-ljfea.nd naugtiler. disap peared in May, lt2. Th trapper cir culated the report that they were dis ss Us fled withth4l1rm-m Orap island, and Its lonely surroundings, snd hsd returned to England. la January, CnSCOM ' SUNDAY, ' JOURNAL, ' PORTLAND, SUNDAY- The Peace Enroys in Session. M. Witte and Baron Komura Face Each" Other personages." He summoned Wltte to his presence and at the end of tha audience handed him bis commission ss a high official In the railway ministry. Wltte is a rugged, many-oornered per sonality. He use not a supple tact nor does he command any of the arts' and graces which help to carry diplomats of the older heredltsry ' . school - over roygh places. His offenses against Rus sian conservatism have been many, but tha greatest and the mosV-nnpardonablo of these is one for' which ha should in no wis' bo held responsible. The anti German feeling which has grown so strong In Russia during the last gen eration would seem to have centered upon his devoted h,ead. - The Justifica tion is that Wltte' s father was a Dutch man .and a storekeeper of Tlflls, in Transcaucasia, where the boy Serge was born In ISO. the heir to 'no very brilliant prospects.- Superservlceablo friends have -traced the great states man' family tree back to ths Wtttes of Holland, who were distinguished In the wars and atatecraft of the lew countries in the days of Charles V and Philip II. but thla pedigree, whether spurious or authentic,- was of little use to Wltte in bis early dsya. He wss ths son of a man' v. ho was considered a German and wss undoubtedly storekeeper and not a rich one. - In spit of thee handicaps he became head of the-rail way department.' shortly afterward minister of ratlwaystoenln-.. man of the tariff commission, which tried to build a protective wall around the infant industries of the great agri cultural - empire; .then minister of finance, and last the highest rung of the ladder Imperial chancellor. From first to last, from porter to prim mint, istor. he never received a promotion be cause people liked htm, but simply be cause he mad himself indlspensabl and there waa no help for It; he had to be advanced, though a "German" and the eon of a shopkeeper, though a rough, plain-spoken and, to- be strictly truth ful, a somewhat uncouth man even for a member of the middle class In Rus- sis. .- He loves a locomotive, and when min ister of railwsys he traveled all over the empire" on an en sine with a simple caboos attached. When ha takes a half holiday he spends It, as likely as not, upon a locomotive cab. talking over railway matters with tb grlxsled -engineer and sharing his . black bread, cheese and vodka. When the great fin ancier ..went, to Paris and Interviewed the bankers thers they were shocked at 1 hla -clothes, which were ruety and 111 fashioned." Soon," however, the over powering genius of the man showed It self, and such matters as clothes and manners were forgotten. 53 ISSl.'a trador had stopped at Steele's house and was never seen again and set tlers became suspicious. They held meetings and discussed wsys of ap proaching Steele and dragging ths truth out of him..- ' . . . . " Steele's ' actions were watch fed . from that day on. Harley Johnson, one of his neighbors, an Inoffensive mdn, took courage in the growing numbers of set tlers, and ststed st a meeting of set tlers, who had formed a committee of vigilante,- that-en -the night John Bar rlngton arrived at the Steele hostelry he .waa passing st midnight snd saw two persons coming down the stairway, outside of th house, carrying a heavy bundle between them. He also heard moans, but in his ter ror supposed they came, from a deef probably killed by these men. " John ston's story aroused the men to fury. They Went it nteela'e hnnaa snd n manded admission. They heard the bolt- tTngot doefd." Bht ., battered doWn the playing solltsits with a deck of gressy . His coolnas disarmed tb leaders of th mob. but on bolder then the rest demanded wkat had become of his wife snd daughter snd threatened him if he did not tell. Steel laughed and told them to go ahead. The men searched th house, snd finally slipped a noose sround Steele's neck, dragged him to sn oak and strung him up several times to get htm to confess. With his tongus hanging out - of his' mouth,' Steel laughed aril" waa undaunted.' The vigi lantes, nonplussed, relessed Steele after part of tha band had given the premises a search and found nothing incrlmlnat- 4ngt -The 'west fy Steele disappeared: It wss evidence enough of his gujlt, ,but the farmers JieoVjto--interest. lv-the -ega snd dropped It- . . Steele's property was sold years after tinder mortgage forecloeur. Thirty Some of ( Witts' schemes have V sa vored of state socialism, and h . has never shrunk from - exposing" tb cor ruption of , the bureaucratic .' . system whenever he was Justified in eo doing. His work-, on the greet' committee ap pointed In 102 to Investigate the agri cultural and ' Industrial ' depression ., of Russa was denounced as revolutionary by his enemies, but it-was notWlttel ie not a i evolutionist . Itlwae antPrev olutlonary. In the sense that ' Wltte wished to rob the "reds" of their Just grounds for complaint. It is probably his opinion that If a social -cstaclysnv power ' tha revolutionaries would make as great a mess of it as did the mutineers-of the Black sea on. the blood stained decks of the battleship Potem kin. Indeed, while. the former chan cellor has liberal leanings and vwlshes to have the people of Rusla. enjoy soms measure of self-government, after they have been educated up to th responsi bilities of their new position." h Is the greatest enemy of th - revolutionary movement In that he shows by his life and his achievements that the bureau emtio system under -an autocrat is not entirely .rotten. , : ,. ' . . . Komura Ban, Baron Komura.. Is tha mental and physical antithesis of 14. Wftte. A little -slip of a man In the baron weighing- not a hundred pounds, ken-that he Is condemned to. whispered conver sations. He has all the leaders ot the Imperial Japanese, diet under.- the spell of his intellect, and there can . be no reasonable doubt as to the fate of any treaty ne mar nee lit to negotiate when it la presented to the legislative body for ratification. : ::.-. ; ' Baron Komura, at least In' his own land, never had an -enemy or stumblinw block to overcome. Every "one spoke well of him, but until 11 years sgo, when his really astonishing career be gan, his life was a failure, and1 an in significant failure at that. - Of th 19 young- Japanese who had been sent to America, to finish . their education in It? he was certainly the least promi nent In th government service, to which upon their return to their -native land they were all attached, ta'the. race for honors and promotion In ' which these government students entered under such favorable aunpiesa he had lagged far behind, and When the year ISM opened; so memorable for the fsr east in gen eral and for Japan In particular, Mr. Komura, not very young any longer, was simply chief translator to the for eign .mo, lit was hardly, considered In the diplomatic service at all, and most certainly waa not regarded as a -man who - would attain : high office indeed. years ef ter Steele left ' Indiana1 news came of hie being killed at -Carson City. Nevada. H la - house at - Grap - island remained untenanted. -Belated farmere grew to shun It as a place of- crime. Nothing more was ever heard of Steele' wife and daughter, and th tale waa almost forgotten 'save as - It was told sround camp fires and to- visitors to Grap Island. , J . ..- With the bones were found the frag ments, of an old coat, In the Inside pocket of which was' an envelope.-.- On this the word , "Bar-ngton. blurred and earth-stained, ie strongly visible, and adds a' link of th strongest kind of circumstantial evidence, : ' Cittsens believe that the ' mystef of the death of Barrington hss been -solved by the rasing of-the houserr--.--,-'- :'" ' SlfOOAOO a Tea for Saad. "Cheap as dirt'!. must cease to be a synonym' for things that are nearly or utterly lacking in value. In face of the array of- facts presented by the1 "sand lndustry"ln Chicago. Sandv dirt and gravel , ie a commodity of considerable Importance In the market. It la chosp, truly, because Chlcaco is fortunate Jn having the sand dunes of Indiana and southern Wlscunsln within sasy atrtk-1 .Ina-tUslnnrft, hut It Is not an rheep ihat ons msy longer with senss uss dirt aa a aynonjrm-fox.axtrame.xbaapneaa, . ' The total expenditure for the commod ity in Chicago alone each year Is over $1,000,000. and the .bringing of It to the city . necessitates the employment of hundreds of 'men. especially laid railway tracks, and even' plants where entire hills and "manufactured" into ' sand, gravel and crushed stons. , - , - Last year.10.MO cars of fine building ssnd were hauled into the city and used from the Indiana banks st- ths southern extremity of Lake Michigan. Twice as mkny cars' were brought from ths hills pfIlllnols and from Wisconsin, loaded with rough "torpedo sand" -and gravel. Concrete construction work claims the TgTeatlhass of" this sfufT'Tiul an enorH mous amount of common dirt and black soil 1 used annually In" filling yards, etc. All told, not fsr from 80.000 cars ef "dirt" ar needed to supply a city of Chicago's BlaSt" - ;' ' ' IICpNINO, SZPTZIZZZZ 3.' Acro "the-Center- o .the Table. . the highest in the land open to achieve ment, ' which ' he reached seven ' years later. In 101.' when he became minister of foreign - affairs.. - .';'' ir :- There is a letter In existence penned about this time which Baron Komura has recently -read . with mnch . amusement.- It clearly shows ths poor pros pect of promotion which he had, -even in Th. utu written . to an American classmate of the -Harvard days- who had kept lip his Interest in' the young students from ths Island Empire,' then an exotlo state and not, as today, an overshadowing world power1. .The letter Is ssld to have con tained textually the following prophecy: -Dear little Komura la still with us. We have forced him up to the 'position of chief translator In the foreign office; and in that post he will probably remain to the end of his days, though he would much ' prefer to be simply assistant translator, as he was-for man years. Perhaps there is nothing- in. him, as you say lor America, Certainly there la no ambition.". -,"'- - (?. . Toung , Komura'a -. failure to . advance and the repeated disappointments which he gave his friends in the first 24 years of his official life are not difficult to explain to , thoss who understand -the methodical ways of the - Japanese and f4neir-want-of eharitjr- for" personal idio- syncraaiesj -From the day the young Japsueae- atudent.' 'ynn' tlietfUovern ment stipends, .; were sent Xo America, the professional career of each one of them was mapped c Out In advance. In this way young Komura was booked to be a Judge, and with--this end, in view he graduated from 'th Harvard law school In 1874,' and then continued hla legal atudles in the office of Mr. Daven port, one attorney-general of the stale of New York, and again under Peshine Smith of Rochester, New York, who was for, some .time legal adviser to ths Jap anese government.' After' this hs at tended lectures at several European uni versities and early In th '80s returned to Jspan and began to pay off his In debtedness, to the paternal government which had sent him abroad. . ' Ho wss Immediately entered . In the ministry of Justice and many golden, op portunities presented. ' Hs wss a Judge In. three months, and -In those dsys a Japansse Judge who. knew anything but Shinto rites and mediaeval fairy, tales wss a rare bird. He would have risen quickly, but Komura did not like to sit on ths bench and he resigned, a most unparalleled proceeding, which was thought to-have ruined him, and It did put him back In the race for rank 20 years, quite a fraction of a man's life. He waa- almost. If not quite, without fortune when this eccentric behavior r f IT were possible for a man's Jlfs to be mad secure . fey human agency, no ruler who hss ever lived could hsvs smiled so. confidently in ths face of danger as Nicholas. Csar of Russls, who Is guarded by an elab orate -network of .defenses wmcn stretches from London to Buenos Ayres. - His palacea are guarded by regiments of soldiers, strong and resolute enougn to keep a small army at bay, and an inner circle of picked troops Is drawn around the apartments be Is occupy- J In: in court vards and corridors ami by chamber doors these grim,, wstcnini sentinels are stationed night -and -aay, ready at any moment to challenge and shoot, or -to shoot without a challenge. But this Is only the outwsrd and visi ble Sign of the gigantic and -complex machinery by which th life of , one man is shielded.. .--i- The real work of protection Is done by an army of secret police, the most per- fectly organnteqTHrmdTwhose sole rvs lento every plot against their august mas ter' life. This egewoy - stretches -Itv-j tentacles over half a world; it has sgents in London, Psris snd Berlin, In New York snd Chicago, In Buenos Ayres, and even In Patereon, New Jersey. It hss US hundreds of -.-spies scattered throughout 'Russia, of both sexes and in every rank In life, from count to crossing sweeper, and all so effectually concealed that the vary lady a man takes Into dinner or the men who sells one a paper in the streets rosy be ons of them. "-. ' i ' '"'"., , Every householder even le enlisted into ths service; for he muet, .Hinder heavy penalties, report the arrival or departure ot.every.gue fLnr. lodsert snd 1 letters and telegrams ar ransacked for evidences oft plotting. W won the csar I travels by rail all trafflo I suspended; 4 Tlie ' Pro tec t ion : o f tlie : Czar , and every yard of his jdttrney Is under lynx-eyed . supervision; while between hi capital and hla favorite palace of . .. . .. - -'.-",: IZZZ. I- .11 I II. I ' .I.. . , -I. left: him .wUhout-offlc-e and without sal ary.' and . his . friends . got him. transla tion .work- to do for, the foreign .office, not with the idea that, they were open ings to him-another 'caieer.vbut alnlply thai : it - might help him pay i.hja 'ex penses. -,'(,'"' "'-'i -For II years He did" this drudge work without complaint And. without any Jutpe of preferment- Then ' he tasAme ' chief translator, not through advancement 'or ih recognition of hi merit; but-simply from the fact that on by one his seniors passed away. Then suddenly his chance came Ilka a bolt out of the blue' sky, and Dame Fortune, who had 'been so shrew ish, smiled for once upon tb unsuccsss-! fot man-of 40. ' Th war with China, was coming. Minister - Otort. "i who. repre sented Japan In both the Chinee and Korean - capitals, . wss in feeble health. Th negotiations which were leading- up t the conflict were . very- exacting, and th secretary of the Japanese legation then in Peking as not regarded -as very efficient. Suddenly, a cable came to the Tokio Talmas ho, or foreign Oflloe, whore rumor baa it that at this moment Marquis , Ito; and Mr. .Mutsu .were closeted. '' ". - v ' y T . - . - ' It wss a plea of 111 health front Minis ter OtorL la Peking, and an appear for another j secrets ryj)f legstlook jlTlme was pressing, '.the stesjnerfqxuCJhloa. left" ktlO herCm6rning' snd there was no ' on available, or at least no one who was willing- to- so on such short notice. Then t some one, , who It ' was is long since forgotten, said, "Why not Komura?" and than fats paused for areply. . Fortunately for Japsn and for Komura. there was ' no adverse criti cism, and on th following day th translator started . to -his . post.- which did not -promts much,' certainly, but in the event gave the greatest diplomat that Japan has . ever produced the op portunity to "find himself" and to show his official superiors, wnet was m nun. When he reached Peking Komura' si opportunity brightened, end a . great many young men .who hung around ths Tokio foreign office and had scorned It two weeks before' would hsve lHted the refusal of his trssfer. Now Minister Otori wss not' only 111. -but it suited. Japanese diplomacy at this, moment to withdraw Its- minister from the Chinese capital, snd,' preliminary tn wsr, ' have currant affairs in the hands of a man of less rank..' ...... ' - . i '.- - -tyhen It became apparent ' that this msn so unexpectedly shot . Into . some prominence wss Komura,. the transla tor, there were some misgivings mani fested In Tokio. r Buf after sll a child could do all that was expected of him, Tsarkoe Selo he travel on a line sacred to bis august self. When he takes his drives' abroad,) he is usually surrounded by sn escort of Cossacks, each ready - to draw1 or fire at th least suggestion .of tlanger.Vwhlle' behind htm alts' a Cossack, with. one hand upon ths butt of his rsvolver and th other on the hUt of his sword.. On the occasions when he ventures without escorts, and lo all : appearanee unpro tected, there re invisible eyes every, I where watching snd guarding his safety. wnne as a further protection he drives or rides so swiftly thst neither bomb nor bullet could , well touch -him. He never sttends a theatre until hla se cret pollc hsvs first certified that no susploious - person hss gained admit tance, nor takes a Journey of shy kind until every yard-of it Jiae been mad es secure as - human " watohfulness - can make- It. j : " : Ae;Jfthas ' minute . and .multiplied precautions were not anf flclent, . It I eatft -w gTWJd -snmorttyrinsrne lsdfleii represented by a deputy and double, who personates his emperor snd funs all ths risk, while the csar makee the Journey unrecognised by a different route. The present cssr hss not, however yet sdopted a safety., expedient invented for hie father, the lat emperor. This took th form of a wsx figure make in exa:t Imitation -of Alexander,' and supplied with- mechanism which enabled It to move from aids to side, band th head, snd salut with absolutely life-like real ism. J ' V, - This dummy, it m said. frequently took 1 1 he place of Alexander In hie daily drives; snd on ' ons occasion received a bulletin Its breast designed for the csar by tb would b aeeaeeln, olov-4 lerr. in spit or -this wound ths jmlji ehsnicsl csar ponttnned lo smile and aa. riut ..with contemptuous Indifference. , As Reuter . correspondent reported. "So .fsr from evincing the ellghtSst alarm, the csar continued to salute the '-..:.'-:...-; and It would not b lons-the- plan was hat warr should com In a week. All1 Komura had to do then was to keep his . mouth' shut, 'receive his passports when , they came an4 turn th archives of the -legation over to Mr. Deoby, the Ameri can minister.- This was 'the 'plan .when Otori ff China, but for once Japaneae. plans-iweTsot7cameorSuir7'r T r China awoke to ber danger, and dip- . lomatlcally Europ intervened the war . -booked for the next, week did not come for five months, and- then, as msny , think, Jspsn had to wantonly- provoke -it , by sinking a Chinese transport crowded with soldiers before declara tion of war had been made. - But that ; -ts snother story.-.-.- f-s'f-V .......;-'.'; ' The-- last . weeks of Xomura'i ' ordeal In - Peking were 1 rendered -more trying " by ' th unsatlsf sctory " working "of th "' cables, which -were- not,r It- is -said, re- r f rectory to the influence; of .the Chines -tael. To none did the young diplomatist ' secure a . reply. . He had to do- as best ' he could; How- well Mhe did do may be Imagined from, the reception (.which, .--waa. accorded him .at th foreign, office, .. where Marquis Ito snd Mr. .Mutsu, his proud .discoverers, assured . bint pub licly that during- hla stay -in the Chinese ' - When Korea was ths-polnt of Sanger he waa sent to Seoul;-when Peking. fell into th hands of the allies he- returned to the seen, of his first success. Th only incident la- his career; which has . been criticised la th fact that he signed ths peace . protocol of 1 101 which hss proved so unsatisfactory to all . con cerned perhaps hs regarded the proto col as a formality which no one would Observe If He did to his others add ths . prophetic gift. Human' nature In . Jepan la not on all fours with ours, but there ar some striking traits which w have In common, . - ii In 1802 . Baron Komura ' returned 1 to the foreign office, which h had left eight years before, as a transistor, and became minister of foreign' affairs. ' In ' this capacity hs negotiated the Anglo-,' Japanese alliance, without - which the war with' Russls would have been an: Impossibility. -He is married and happy ' In his home life, and ' children, - but:: Baroness Komura 4for In 101 ths mln- . Istsr of foreign, affaire waa raised te : the peerage) is rarely seen in society.' , Unlik tb Marchioness Oyama and th other Americanised - leaders of -Tokio society, she rarely leaves 'Jier home. . Baron Komnra has the old Japanese Idea about woman's place,' and so, happily, haa tha bsroness. . - ; y.. crowd on either-side, smllfng as ever; nor waa hla drive In any way Curtailed." It was naturally assumed that the as sassin's aim bad failed,: and 'when th ' news of-th csar's miraculous deliver- " ance had gone abroad a -vast crowd" flocked to the Winter palace and cheered vociferously until the emperor appeared on the balcony and repeatedly bowed f his thanks. Thus, one at least, Alexander-owed 'hm life to hla complacent I and uncomplaining waxen double. - But even In the heart of hla most vlg- llantly' guarded palace' the autocratNuf all the Russia l never safe,- as the v following story show. ' One night when Alexander III was sitting at work- In ' his study at the Winter palac th em press fancied sh heard a -slight noiae In-the room With wonderful presence of mind she asked hr huaband to leave -hie papers for a few momenta .and go with her to the nursery to eee the chit- -drn.V As they left the study, the csar- . ina locked"-the door and gave thekey fleer : of the guard, who, on entering . and searching the iJiii with Me menT" found that som on had in ths mean- . time escsped through one, of the win dows, . ....... i : - .. '"' ' ; , . Oat ef Jaeaaosv ' r. ; ', - Joe But, . my dear fellow, Is your. Income enough to Juetly your marry ing! '-..' :. . '" Fred I'm afraid not . ; t . joe Then what reason have yon tor . taking ao serious a atepr Fred I havs no reasons; I'm in love. - ';. ((. xnrg Ordsxs. Lad v. to hushhnd) My dear, did you . remember to order a ton of coal todayr- - Hnsnno - jea - I d r And my shoes! -" - Husband Yea, and (peering nut ot the ' window) thee la a cart, backing up- t the door now. Tint It a too dark, to ae whether it has the coal of the shoea. f 1 ; I
