Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1889-01-26

i u
stood with pipe, smoking materials and fire, at
the back of the reception-room. and every five
| minutes he walked solemnly forward filed the
| pipe, blew the fre-stick into fame, the
viceroy opened one corner of his mouth, the
attendant inserted the stem and applied the
light to the bowl. the great man absorbed the
smoke and opened his mouth again. when the
| plpe-bearer withdrew he had come. This
| occurred a score times at least, and meyer q
| muscle did the viceroy move. except just to
| open the corner of his mouth wide enough to
admit the pipe-stem.
THE RECEPTIoN-RooM
is small parlor, well-furnished with modern
European furniture, except on one side where
an alcove, hung with scarlet silk, contains a
cushion and table adapted for sitting and
writing in the Chinese fashion. The Chung
Tang probably sits in this elevated post on
state occasions; on the present he reclined very
comfortably on a sofa. Three or four attend
ants did nothing. and did it well. simply listen
| ing to the conversation, while 1 saw in the
| background that another had opened window
an inch and was listening from outside. These
attendants are always present at official inter-
| views, extraordinary such a habit may seem
to US, and the natural result is that most of the
| foreign representatives have one at each
yamen in their pay, and that there few
secrets which money will not buy. After L left
the Chung Tang met facetious acquaintance
who inquired where l had been. Talk
| ing with the viceroy," l replied. "Oh,"
he said, IN get all you said to him for a
couple of dollars tomorrow" Naturally
offered it to him then and there at half price.
| There are two interesting pictures in this re-
ception-room. One repre- the fable of the
monkey the cat, and the chestnuts, and be-
| lleve the vlceroy pointed to this on a recent
occasion when he was approached on behalf of
British interests in Thibet. The other puzzled
me good deal. 1t hung Immediately over the
yiceroys own seat, and was very large, full
| length portrait in OIL representing tall man
with long gray beard in frock coat, and
| covered with decorations. Later learned that
| 1T was portrait of Herr Krupp, presented by
! himself. Its position suggests the reflection
| an undoubtedly true one-that the Chinese
will love that foreigner best who will best help
them to keep all foreigners away.
| THE INTERVIEW.
| As soon as we were seated, an attendant
brought tea and champagne and placed them
on little table beside each of us, and the in
terview began. Mr.. Lo transating so perfectly
and so promptly that it was though we were
both speaking the same language. My own
| idea. of course was that was about to inter-
view the viceroy. Nothing was further from
| his intention, which was clearly to interview
me. Question after question fell from his lips
| for one mortal hour, and as Mr.. Lo apparently
| did not translate the feeble attempts | made
| from time to time to stem the interrogatory
| torrent. was as helpless as a man in a dem
fists chair. l think the best thing can do is
to repeat the first part of the conversation YER
batim. not that the subject-matter is of the
/ slightest Importance, but because it throws
flood of light on the working of the viceroy's
mind. and exhibits such curious mixture of
| chldishness, astuteness and Chinese manners
After nearly an hou- of it began to feel that
must be with Alice in Wonderland. Here it
| Is, then, as nearly word for word as 1 can re-
| call it.
| FLOOD OF QUESTIONS.
| 'The viceroy hopes you in good health
and that you have had pleasant journey"
Reply taken for granted. Where have you
been?' and where are you going?" Easily
answered. Glow old are you?'' This after
ward learned, is an enquiry essential to polite
ness in China ought to have returned the
! compliment. What is the circulation of your
newspaper The largest in the world, was
the natural stereotyped reply, but the next
| question was a staggerer. What is your
| yearly income from writing for newspapers?"
remembered, fortunately, that our debating
| society at college had decided on one occasion
that it was sometimes justifable to devate
! from veracity, and replied accordingly, with
| the natural result that the next remark was,
Ills excellency says you must be very skill
fnl writer to earn so much money" / could
| not observe whether he also winked under his
/ goggles. You have made long journey
| have you no companion?" None whatever"
Are you not afraid of being stabbed?' I'm
| dangerous countries-not, of course, in China
| L
| viceroy says you must have been in very great
danger" mot to my knowledge" "The
world is full Of wicked people" His excellency
Is evidently well acquainted with it,"
| ''ARE YOU GOING TO TH1BEr?"
1 took this enquiry for a joke, as nobody
knows better than the chung tang that it is
almost as easy to go to the moon so replied
| in the same spirit, '.yes, and have specially
to beg from his excellency the favor of a safe
conduct and letter of recommendation to the
grand llama himself" But it was no joke at
all. Impossible" exclaimed the viceroy, sit
ting bolt upright so suddenly that the pipe
bearer narrowly escaped prodding him in the
| eye with the mouth-piece. Impossible! Ger
tainly not! cannot do anything of the kind.
| 1t would be most unwise in him to think of 60
! ing" did not dare to admit that had ven
tured to joke with the great man. SO 1 said,
Then if it is impossible for me to go, perhaps
his excellency will tell me what is the truth
about the recent troubles" 'The people of
Thibet are very foolish" was the reply, but
! have sent a commissioner to them, who is at
this moment comforting with the English, and
| there will be no more fighting" / tried to
| look like person who believes what he is told.
AS matter of fact, Ii Hung-chang has as much
power over the Thibetans as the sultan has
| over the mahdi, but Thibet is a very sensitive
spot with the Chinese authorities and thew
will probably do anything, even to declaring
| war, TO keep it out of the hands of the barbar-
| lanS.
| COREAN MATTERS
From this point conversation, or rather cross
examination, became very serious. "When
you were in Seoule did you see the Chinese
Resident Yuen?' II did mott did YOU see
Judge Denny?' Frequently" ''Why did you
not call upon Yuen?" Because nv time there
was very limited and knew could learn the
Chinese side of the dispute better here. And
| now that have the honor of conversing with
his excellency perhaps he will permit me to
ask him" Vain attempt! Did you see the
Russian minister there?" Frequently" and
the British consul?' Il was his guest" ''Were
you presented to the king?" Il was" .'What is
he going to do?' Il have little notion-prob-
ably nothing" what are the Russians going
to do?" Nothing" Have YOU any good
reasons for thinking so?" MANY" will YOU
please enumerate them?" ''Well, first, be-
cause they don't want Cereal doubt if thew
would take it as a gift" But is it not essen
tial to them that they should have port ON
| the Pacific from which their ships can issue in
winter" 'They can issue in winter from the
port they have already" 1.-THE yiceroy saws
he does not understand you" '.They have an
ice-breaking machine which can cut wav in or
out at any time" When this reply was trans
lated to him the great Chinaman half rose from
his sofa, drew both his hands from his sleeves
| wagged them at Mr.. Lo and grunted yocifer-
ously. Then he violently blew his nose in the
manner previously referred to-. ''Are YOU
| quite sure?" Quite
"Do you know what are the biggest guns the