Evening star., 1897-03-06

" oc1Siutn ne attSnQcU SUCH u TeCcptlOu
He was standing holding cup of
conee in his hand. waiting for 1t to cool.
when an attache of one OF the other lega-
tions wearing hushel of gold lace and a
peck of brass buttons seized the cup out OF
his hand and carried 1t away before Mr..
Tree knew what he was about. The man
took him for a waiter The other diplomats
upon such occasions are clad in uniforms
embroidered with gold lace. They wear
swords and medals. and many OF them
have silk belts and sashes. II an American
minister has been an officer OF the army ne
usually wears military uniform. and II
not he tries to get over the regulation in
some other way. James Buchanan compro-
missed on a black suit, a white vest and
black handled sword. Our first minister
to China. John Ward. adopted the costume
of a captain of the Georgia militia. He had
been elected captain OF a little company
known as the Chatham Artillery. and the
uniform which he had made for himself as
captain had brass buttons marked c. A.
When he was at the Chinese court one of
the almond-eyed silk-gowned noblemen
asked him what the letters c. A. stood for.
Mr.. Ward replied that they were made in
honor Of the friendship of China and
America, and that in order to give the
greater honor to China Its initial, c. had
been placed in front of that of Amer
lea. This seemer to delight the Chinaman.
Gen. Lew Wallace wore his military uni
form while he was minister to Turkey.
1t was his uniform that first attracted the
attention of the sultan. The first Friday
after Gen. Wallace arrived in CONSTANT
nople he went to the building opposite the
mosque to see his majesty as he went to
prayers. AS the sultan came out of the
mosque he looked over at the party of
foreigners about Gen. Wallace. and asked
who the fine-looking man in uniform might
be. He was told 1t was the new American
minister, and he thereupon raised his sal
low hand to his red fez cap and salu;ed
the general. Shortly after this when Gen.
Wallace was presented the sultan referred
to having seen him, and the two became
strong friends. Gen. Wallace spent much
time at the sultan's palace, and among the
ether mementos which he brought back
from Turkey is a very fine pencil sketch
of his majesty. which the general drew
while his majesty posed.
Knee Breeches for Ministers.
Why should Secretary Sherman rot in
augUrate a new costume for our ministers?
Mr.. Sherman once appeared before Napo-
leon III in knee breeches. He wore an
evening suit, knee pants, black silk stock
ings and pumps. and he says in his book
that 1t seemed very awkward at first until
he saw that all the other parties at the
reception were dressed as he was. Clifton
K Breckinrtdge, our present minister to St.
Petersburg. appeared at the court Of
the car with his shapely shins clad in silk
stockings. Now in these days of bicycle
suits there Is no reason why some such
dress might not be adopted "as the ordi-
nary dress of the American citizen" 1t was
so In the past. When John Adams was pre-
Sented to King George III he wore a coat
embroidered with lace, his fat calves we're
clad in silk stockings and his shoes were
ors'amented with silver buckles. Benjamin
Franklin at his presentation to the King
OF France wore plain suit OF black vel
vet, with black velvet knee breeches, white
silk Stockings and black shoes. He had
intended to wear a wig. but when 1t ar
it upon Franklin's big head. The man
worked and stretched and Franklin finally
told him that the wig was not large
enough, whereupon the French hairdresser
Monsieur, that is impossible. 1t is not the
wig which is too small; 1t is the mead
which is too large"
Some Queer Diplomatic Stories.
Most Of our American ministers 90 good
service. They labor under the greatest dis
advantages, and have to compete with men
who have spent their lives in the school of
diplomacy. They have no money, and
are under the shadow of probable removal
their appointment is such that it is not
strange that many inefficient men find their
way to the head of our foreign legations.
SO that every now and then one of them
does something which is disgrace to the
United States. 1 have heard of a number
of such instances. and the stories Of the
adventures and mistakes of American min
listers abroad. could they be collected, would
make book more ridiculous than Artemus
Wards travels. One of the diplomats whom
Cleveland sent to Italy lived. it is said. over
a dairy stable. and appeared at court in a
frayed collar and q soiled short. l was
told in Cairo how one Of our former consuls
general used to go to Ismail Pasha and
whine about the poor salary his government
gave him. He reminded the khedive that
his majesty was rich, and asked him for aid
out of the Egyptian treasury. The khedive
gave this consul general money again and
again. our government never knowing how
much It was being disgraced. 1t is no ex-
cuse for this man TO add that he was
usually drunk at the times he made such
requests.
have heard stories of the queer acts of
some of our South American ministers Of
the past. One Of them lived in Buenos
Ayres for years in a small room over the
shop which he had rented as our legation.
He gave no functions whatever. until at
last the outcry against his parsimony be-
came so great that he rented a skating
rink and sent out printed circulars asking
the distinguished people # the Argentine
Republic to come to an Ame rican entertain
ment. When the president. the diploma tic
corps and the rest of Buenos Ayres SWELL
dom arrived they found the American min
lister sitting on platform with the stars
tigers skin at his feet
About him were thIrty-eight women.
dressed in all colors of the rainbow. to
represent the thirty-eight states which our
country then had. The minister did not
rise to greet his guests. They wandered
about the room to the music Of brass
band and waited in vain for the dancing
to begin. There was nothing to eat and
nothing to drink, and the occasion passed
off as the social curiosity of the year. An
other South American minister took rooms
In an humble part of the capital at which
he was stationed. He got an Indian wo-
man to do his cooking for him and did his
marketing Himself. Shortly after he ar
rived he applied for a position for his
daughter as a teacher iE one Of the
schools but the superintendent of educa-
ton told him that public sentiment would
not approve of the employment OF the
daughter Of a man Of SO high a rank for
that purpose
Some other Shining Diplomats.
I could tell lot of queer stories about
some of our ministers to the far east. How.
for instance, one of Cleveland's ministers
to Japan ..sed to come in person to the
front door of his legation to answer the
bell. At such times he might possibly be
in his shirt sleeves and without a collar.
This man was the laughing stock of the
far east for a time, and his popularity at
the court of the mikado was not increased
by his letters, which were published In the
American papers. In one of these he wrote
that he was having high old time among