The daily morning journal and courier., 1895-03-06
HE WAS IN A FAMOUS CLASS
4 HIGH TRIBUTE IS PAID TO THE
 HON. BEEN ALEXANDER.

guages.
 Athens, Feb. 12, 1895.
 To the Editor of the JOURNAL AND CoURrER'
 Many of the graduates of Yale are undoubtedly anxious to know how much of diplomatist is MT. Eben Alexander. MT. Alexander was in the famous class of '73, which has sent out into the world such celebrates as Professors Haugh-
 ton, Tarbell and Beebe; such legal luminaries as the Honorables Platt, Me- Cook and Davenport, and such everlast- ing good fellows as Collins, Merritt and Boyes. Tn his class, MT. Alexander held his own with the best of them. He was among the very best scholars; the very
 best writers, and he captured every prize and honor he desired. But all this can be found out from Yale catalogues. For such information journey to Athens is quite unnecessary, if not sup erfluous. The question is did President Cleveland make mistake from the point of view of pure diplomacy in pass ing over a great Harvard professor and in selecting a comparatively unknown professor from a comparatively un- known college. Did he, or did he not, in the appointment, show forth that profound knowledge of human nature, that apprehension of, and regard for the desires and the wants for the na- ton; that conscientious, patriotic and sacrificial grasp of the situation which still endear him to the democracy of Connecticut, and especially to the dem ocracy of New Haven? That's the ques- ton. That MT. Alexander is a very young looking man for a '73 man is immaterial That he has large round, dark hazel eyes, and thick croppy hair of about the same color; that he has large, strong head; that he has wise, learned and determined, yet benign, look, and that he is calm and gentle in speech. are matters which do not interest the Yale public. They want to know how he stands as a diplomatic. They don't care how he puts his hands in his pockets, nor how he takes them out. What is it to them that he has an extraordinary end to his nose at which yon can't help looking, and then wondering whether he can wag it, as Freddy Coates used to wag his ears; or that he wears his college badge as conspicuously as if he had just been in- itiated? All these are personal matters. They may be of interest hundred years from now; but the present ques- tion is of diplomacy, and not of the many facts which make him and his home so attractive and so charming It would be delightful to draw perfect 1y faithful picture of the young lady of the family, and to speculate how the wonderful American combination of beauty, grace, sprightliness, reserve, and dignity, has been produced; and to contemplate how it rules supreme when it is exhibited and becomes known. But this is a serious letter. Diplomacy is a serious business. The lives and fortunes of millions of fellow citizens may depend, and often have depended, upon diplomacy. Bad French diplomacy brought on the the war with Prussia and has put France back at least two centuries. Good Bismarckian diplomacy has made Germany what she is to-day. Good English diplomacy has given Queen Victoria the upper hand in Egypt Good American diplomacy might have landed Queen Lulio Kalula Glow in the Dickens do you spell her name ? with her fat sides and her fair domains plumply in Cleveland's lap. So to the question and let no trifies further distract But who is to answer the question? Where is a reliable American expert in diplomates to be found? And when found, how do you propose getting | from him satisfactory and conclusive | fni Tc oc in American diplomate? Has any one American been in the business long | enough to be more than an ameteur? | Is there such thing as American di- l plomacy? Is any one American diplo- | mate so much more ignorant of the du- 1 ties, the conventionalities, and the op | portunities of his position than any oth- CT American diplomatic that any com parison can be drawn between them? Or, are there any duties, conventionali- ties and opportunities presented, requir- ed and offered by the position which any American gentleman can't perform, meet, and grasp, to his own satisfaction and to the satisfaction of his president and his party? One might go on ask ing these preliminary questions all night and to the whole world at large W1JnOuC eVOKlng a SATISFACTORY answer to any one of them. You might as well ask a graduate elected to represent his fellow graduates on the corporation of Yale college is performing his repre- sentative duty in a manner satisfac- tory to those he is supposed to be rep resenting.
 Let it suffice that MT. Alexander is spoken of in the highest terms by his fellow diplomates; and, so far as an outsider ignorant of, and inexperienced in, diplomacy can judge, he fills his position most admirably and is one of the very best appointees of the Cleve- land administration. If civil service re- form could be applied to the United States diplomatic and consular depart ments, these departments would soon 1 equal in efficiency and brilliancy those , of other nations. So let us return to , things Greek. There are forty profess f sors in the Athens university, no two { of whom speak modern Greek in pre- eisely the same way, and each one of ' whom ayers that his Greek is the only i pure and genuine article f There are now three separate and dis . tinct modern Greek languages: the Ian