The San Francisco call., 1897-03-28


acter, seek what they look upon as wider
field abroad. And thus it happens that
in almost every capital and nearly every
court of the civilized and uncivilized
world there ara to be found American
men and women playing role of suf-
ficient importance to necessitate the
reckoning with their individuality and
their influence. Sometimes the latter
is exercised for good, while in few
instances its effects have been of a
contrary character, but in either case
it has been sufficiently powerful to
require it to be taken into account.
1t would occupy too much space and
time to describe the means by which this
influence is achieved and maintained. A
good deal, if not most, of it may be briefly
ascribed to the fact that to the reputation
for honesty and frank dealing which the
Engl sh-speaking races throughout the
universe enjoy among other nationalities
the Americans unite keenness and quick
ness of intellect, species of mental smart
ness If l may be permitted to use the ex-
preston, which pertains far more to the
countrymen of Machiavelli and to the
Orientals than to the Anglo-Saxo1s.
DOSS0SS
of raising themselves above the common
place and for making their ind ividu-
ality felt in foreign countries, has been
been brought home to my mind dur
ing the past week by the death at WASH
ington of that gallant soldier, Colonel Alexan-
der Macomb Mason, q trusted and loyal ad-
wiser and friend of three Egyptian Khedives
in succession. A grandson of that General
Macomb who died as commander-in-ch1ef of
the United States army, Mason took part as
a naval officer in the Civil War, and after Its
termination saw active service in Chile and
Cuba before making his way to Cairo. where,
along with number of other American
officers, he was employed by Khedive Ismail
to reorganize the Egyptian army and navy.
1t was while thus engaged that he was
brought into contact with General Gordon,
and that he should have succeeded in winning
the friendship, the confidence and the re-
gard OF such man as this most &C.
centric but brilliant and heroic English
officer, speaks volumes In favor of Mason.
What specially endeared him to Gordon was
his singular modesty, his discretion, and
above ali his ability TO hold his tongue.
Mason was one of the most quiet and un-
assuming men that it has ever been my fate to
encounter, and it was not until had known
him several months-being in almost daily
intercourse with him-that l learned through
others of his splendid record in the Soudan,
where he made the first survey of Lake Albert
Nyanza and where he co-operated with Cor
don in the organization of that once so pros
porous equatorial empire OF the Khedive.
Gordon was one of the most difficult men to
get along with, and there were days when he
was SO excitable and irritable as to be abso-
lutely unfit for human intercourse No
one realized this better than he did
himself, and being very fond of Mason
and unwilling to quarrel with him, he made
an arrangement which was as characteristic of
the one man as it was OF the other. 1t was
agreed that whenever Gordon felt his its of
irritability and evaporation coming on he
should hang out of his window or above his
door, huge battie-ax which he picked up in
the Soudan, and that whenever this danger
signal should be hung out Mason should give
him wide berth. The agreement worked
splendidly. Mason never betook himself to
Gordon's residence without looking up for the
battle-ax, and If the latter was in sight moth
ing in the world, not even the most pressing
official business could induce him to intrude
upon the privacy of his chief. Mason had the
singular faculty of inspiring in everybody
with whom he was brought into contact the
same degree of confidence that he enjoyed on
the part of Gordon. There is no place in the
world where there is such an amount of in
trigue as at Cairo, where everybody is more or
less engaged in the praiseworthy task OF trip
ping up his neighbor and his friend Animosi-
ties rage there with an intensity born of the
heat of the nelgh hboring desert, and generally
speaking he man who endeavors to steer
middle course and 10 avoid committing him.
self either on the one side or the other ends
by incurr ng the suspicion and the i'll will OF
both. Mason, however, was an exception to
this rule. EVERYBODY liked him and every
body trusted him, and thus it happened
that although he had been loyal to
Ismail he stood equally high in favor with
his son and successor, Tewfk, and that in
spite of his having played prominent part in
the incidents that occurred prior to England's
occupation OF Egypt, he was requested by the
British Government in 1885 to act Jointly
with the late Admiral Sir william Hewett in
a special embassy to King John of Abyssinia.
1t was mission of great personal risk, es-
pecial.y at that particular juncture. and had
it not been for the fact of Mr.. Gladstone being
in office and SO averse to every
thing connected with Egypt that he
would not hear its very name mentioned
either IN Cabinet councils or in society--it hav-
ing the same effect upon him as red flag
upon bull-some token of royal recognition
would have undoubtedly been conferred by the
Queen upon the English admiral and his Egyp-
to-American colleague. Mason, I may add, like.
negotiations which led to the transfer of
Massowah and of other Red Sea ports to Italy
jointly by England and by Egypt and doubt
if there has ever been any one not an English
citizen or servant of the Queen who has
been initiated to such an extent in the diplo-
matte and state secrets of Great Britain as
Colonel Mason.
Never was more modest and unobtrusive
man than this square-jawed, taciturn and yet
genial-faced and warm-hearted American,
whose services to the cause of geographical
science at the headwaters of the Nile entitle
him to prominent place among the African
explorers. Over and over again was promo
ton to the rank of Pasha pressed upon him,
not merely by Khediye Tewfk, but also by his
successor, the English authorities. Lord Gro
mer first and foremost, warmly recommended
him for the distinction. Yet he invariably re-
fused, alleging as an excuse that he had no
hankering for titular distinction, and that
while his means were sufficient to maintain
him as Bey or colonel, they were inadequate
for full-fedged Pasha or general For Mason,
must explain, in spite of the unrivaled op-
portunities which he lad enjoyed in the
Soudan, as in Lower Egypt for enriching him
self, had remained poor man-no small
credit for public official in country where
the very air that one breathes Is tainted with
the most gross dishonesty and corruption,
where principles are conspicuous only for
their absence and integrit ty is erided. In one
word, Mason was an American of whom every
one of his countrymen had reason to be
proud, and who, never at any moment forget
ting the country OF his birth and his citizen
ship thereof, caused the name OF the United
States to be honored and respected in coun-
| tries where it had, up to that time, been un-