St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1893-01-22
PUMPED BY A KING.
Gen. SickIes Tells Why He Now
Reads Presidents Annual Mes

Reads Presidents Annual Mes
sages.
A group of New York Democrats,
| says the World, who were specializing
on how it feels to be the president
| elect, finally got to discussing the man-
ner in which Mr.. Cleveland passed
! his day last Wednesday. Prominent
among the politicians was Cell
Daairl e. SickieS, eX-SherIff OF
! New York county and congressman
! elect. He stood at the desk of the
| Fifth Avenue hotel. smoking short
| cigar, red button in his coat lapel. his
string neck scarf of dotted purple hang
| ing across his shirt bosom. midway be-
tween big pearl stud and diamond
| collar button. As he rested easily on
! his crutches, the veteran emphasized his
| talk with graceful waves of his hand,
| closely gloyed.
lit IS safe to say. that Mr.. Cleveland
| spends much OF his time thinking OF
what he snail say in his inaugural adj
dress, said the general. Such state
of mind is in the nature OF things. On
this particular day he undoubtedly gave
an hour or two to a first peruSal OF
President harrisOn's valedlctOry printed
in this mornings newspapers. Pos
sIbIv it will be the only DeruSal, for Nh
Harrison and his messages are ancient
history now. But undoubtedly Mr.
Cleveland read it, TO read the preSi-
dents messages is part OF the duty OF
every good American. | usually select
the newspaper which prints IL in the
largest type, clip the message and pre-
serve 1t fer pIOuS reading OH the follow.
ing Sunday. 1t is dangerous to do
otherwise.
tsfHhHrn was finn yUhnT | didn't road
the presidents messages, and l was
sadly frightened because of it on one
occasion. was az Il court ball in HOl-
land one night when the queen sum
mOned me to an audience by her cha M
berlain. 1t was Thirty years ago, and L
was d young secretary of iegatl OH at
London, travelling and enjoying myself
on furlOugh. | anticipated some en-
joyment in my interview with the
| queen because knew she was gifted
woman, not beautiful, but very accom-
plished and quite politician On the
occasion of my presentation at court L
had noticed that she spoke to those be-
fore her and around her. to each in his
| own language. French, German, Italian
Spanish, Polish and Russian.
The queen greeted me in English,
and. instead of talking on some con-
which is usually chosen because every
one is we'll informed upon it, she began
at once to discuss the last message OF
the president of the United States. She
had read it and read ii carefully, and it
interested her. | had not read it at
ALL
The general waved his gloved hand
with an apol0getic air and was silent so
long that his cigar went out. He lighted.
it from a box of fuSeeS he carries. His
auditors were much Interested.
What did you do?' came the inquiry
from two or three.
Il departed from court etiquette
which demands a simple yes and no.
while the royal parsonage talks" re-
sumed the general. In fact. | had no
peal to me for ideas and Impressions of
certain portions OF the message which
had especially attracted her attention.
| violated every rule of the palace Ell
quette, which requires that royalty, and
royalty alone. shall change the tonic of
conversation. ana tried to switch her
off. Yes, gentlemen, | tried to switch
her off. f"
go on, general" said Tammany
Hall man encouragingly. Gen. SickIes
resumed:
"When she spoke of the enormous
amount of public lands in our country.
| talked about the homestead laws.
When she commented upOn the flourish
ing condition OF the treasury, l tried to
discuss the financial policy of the
United States and of the continental
countries. The queen seemed much in
terested in the presidents recommends
tons OH the Indian question, and when
bn aSI- cd mo of
l most favored, | launched out into a
general discussion Of Indians. | tried
to lead her TO talk about PocahOntas
and Capt. John Smith. about TecumSeh
and the Seminole, and at last she
seemed to lose thought of the message
and appeared to greatly enjoy my de-
scription of an Indian battle and the
life of the red man IN the far West. She
| kept me there for more than half an
hour. and the cOurtiers were all wild 10
know what we were talking about. The
! Hague isn't a big city like Paris, you
know, and there's very little TO gossip
about. None of them could hear what
we were saying. Our conversation was
car ried on in polite undertOne. and
when the queen talks to any one that
way all the courtierS Withdraw and
! form a circle as far away as the rear OF
the hotel office there. another grace
| full wave of the handD
Even the chamberlain has to go away
! and remain at distance until the queen
! beckOnS to him. At last the queen gave
! the signal, which was my notice to give
way for some one else. and | made my
| bow end escaped through the circle of
| cOurtlerS, very much relieved and de-
! termined never to miss reading another
| presidents message. | was walking
| about on the edge of the room looking
| for young lady to whom was engaged
to dance when the kings chamberlain
| addressed me and SAID that his majesty
! desired my presence.
The king and the queen were not on
| speaking terms then and had not been
| Tor two years. The king was as much
puzzled by my long interview with the
| queen as the rest of the court was, and
! because of the strained relations be-
! tween them he was somewhat suSpl-
ciOuS and very anxious to learn the Dur-
port OF the conversation between his
| queen and myself. With the king was
/ a Dutch admiral. an elderly man. who
| was equally myStItied with his majesty
as to my long audience with the queen.
The king was great, Ted-faced.
cOarse-lOOking man. nearly SIX feet
tall. lie looked to me like Washing
| ton market butcher, but decked out III
! his royal robes he seemed very regal
/ parsonage indeed to his subjects. He
| talked to me OH various subjects, but |
/ could see that he was anxious to learn
/ the subject OF my interview with the
| queen.
Il had never been pumped by king
before. and 1T rather amused me. /
talked very freely with his majesty, but
| carefully refrained from any reference
! to the presidents message. The king
detained me forty minutes, ten minutes
longer than the queen, and this surpris-
ing treatment OF an unknown young
American set the gossips wild. The
matter was discussed among the court
ierS and at tine clubs for several days,
anu ali sorts of mysterious missions
were aScrlbed 10 me. Mr.. Belmont
was our minister TO the Meth
| eriands then. His lovely wife
died just few days ago. Mr.. Belmont
! heard all this gossip and it amused him
frraafiv had raid him fire trtl4 SfDrV