The record-union., 1897-04-30

by the British Government in 1854 and
1880 to act Jointly with the late Admit
raj Sir William Hewett in a special and
embassy to King John of
1t was a mission of great
personal risk, especially at that par
ticular juncture, and had it not been
Office, and so averse to everything con-
nected with Egypt that he would not
even hear it's name mentioned either
in Cabinet councils or in society, some
token of royal recognition would have
been conferred by the
Queen upon the English Admiral and
his, American colleague. Mason like
wise played a conspicuous role in all
those negotiations which led to the
transfer of Massowah and of other Red
Sea ports to Italy, Jointly by England
and by Egypt. 1t may be doubted If
there has ever been any one not an
English citizen or servant Of the Queen
who has been initiated to such an ex-
tent into the diplomatic and State Sc
crets of Great Britain as Colonel Ma
son.
COLONEL MASON'S HONESTY.
NEVER was lneTe more modest anu
unObtrusive man than this square
jawed, taciturn and yet genial-faced and
warm hearted American, whose servi-
ceS to the cause of geographical science
at the headquarters of the Nile entitle
him to prominent place among the At
rican explorers. Over and over again
was promotion to the rank of paSha
pressed upon him, not merely by khe-
dive Tewfik, but also by his successors,
the English authorities; Lord Cromer
first and foremost warmly recommended
him for the distinction. Yet he invari-
ably refused, alleging as an excuse that
he had no hankering for titular distinc-
ton, and that while his means were suf-
ficient to maintain him as a hey or Col
onel, they We're inadequate for a full
f1edged pasha or General. For Mason,
in spite of the unrivalled opportunities
which he had enjoyed in the Soudan as
in Lower Egypt for enriching himself,
had remained a poor man-no small
credit for a public official in a country
where the very air that one breathes is
tainted with gross dishonesty and cor
ruption. In one word Mason was an
American of whom his countrymen had
reason to be proud, and who, never at
any moment forgetting the country of
his birth and his citizenship thereof,
caused the name of the United States
to be honored and respected in countries
where it had up to that time been I'M
known.
Counterparts of Mason are to be found
figuring in the modern history of many
another foreign nation. Thus, the Chin
csc have the reputation of being the
most ungrateful people in the world, and
of being aVerse to recognizing anything
done in their behalf by a foreigner. Yet
although more than a quarter of a CEN
fury has elapsed since the death of
Arson Burlingame, his name remains
respected and even revered throughout
the vast Celestial Empire. Neither the
mandarins nor the people forget that it
was through his efforts in their behalf
that their country first obtained proper
treatment and consideration by Western
nations, and that to him belongs the
credit of having first established diplo-
matte intercourse between what is
known as the Middle Kingdom and the
civilized Powers of the world.
INGRATITUDE OF THE JAPANESE.
The japanese are far less grateful
for past favors than the Chinese, and
are, moreover, so firmly imbued with
the conviction that they are clever
enough to be able to dispense with for
eign advice even in matters relating to
foreign sciences, arts and manufac
lures, that they consign as far as posi-
HI Ill -
assisted them in emerging from their
former chrysalis stage into their pres
ent state of a gay and giddy butterfly.
That is why one hears so little nova
days of the American General Williams,
to whom the financial reorganization of
Japan is mainly due, and who succeeded
without pecuniary benefit for HIMSELF
in negotiating abroad a per cent loan
for the japanese Government at a
time when, owing to the prejudices
against the Land of the Rising Sun
and the disbelief in the permanency or
seriousness of it's Western innovations
10 or even II per cent. would not have
appeared to be a nexcesSive interest to
ask. Moreover, If the Japanese troops
showed themselves to such advantage
IN their last war with China it was
in part, at any rate. due TO the teach
ings and advice of another American
General Legendre, who was all-power-
full in Japanese military matters al
Toxic in the early seventies, and the
foreign adviser of General Saigo in his
victorious campaign against Formosa
in 1874.
OF an entirely different order, less re-
putable, but equally potent, if not more
so, was the role played in Holland and
in Paris by the famous Nine. Musard
an American woman, a native OF
Pennsylvania, who, up to year or two
before her death, was justly regarded
in Europe as the Egeria of old King
William of Holland 1t was due tc
her, and to her alone, that the war be-
tween France and Germany of 1870 did
not break out three years before it did
in connection with the Luxembourg con-
troversy. King William was in 1867
on the point of disposing of his grand
duchy Of Luxembourg to France
prompted thereto by his hatred OF
Prussia and his friendship for Napo-
leon III. Luxembourg was at the time
earrisoned by Prussian troops in ac-
SoIu6hCS Win d FORMER military con
vention. Had this sale of Luxembourg
to France been completed, war would
inevitably have ensued between France
and Prussia.
NINE. MUSARD'S INFLUENCE.
BY some means or another the disso-
Lutte and drunken Prince of Orange
then living at Paris. obtained an ink
| ling of what was going on Sober
enough TO realize the imprudence, from
| Dutch point of view, of what was
about to take place, and sufficiently
| sensible to perceive that it must in.
| eNlta hlN land Era nee ND p,-,,csia ~, 9