The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-04-11

and His Friendship for Gordon
How Nine. Mustard Postponed n
War.
From the New York Tribune.
In almost every capital and at nearly
every court of the civilized and uncivilized
world there are to be found American
men and women playing a role of suffi-
cient Importance TO make necessary a
reckoning with their individuality and
their influence. Sometimes the latter is
exercised for good, while in a few in
stances its effects have been of a cun-
trary character; but in either case it has
been sufficiently powerful to require IL 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 II not most
of it, may be briefly ascribed to the fact
that to the reputation for honesty and
flank dealing which the English-speaking
races throughout the universe enjoy
among other nationalites the Americans
unite a keenness and quickness of intel
Iect, a species of mental smartuess, If
the expression may be used. which per-
tains far more to the countrymen of
MachiaveIn and to the Orientals than to
the Anglo-Saxon.
The talent which Americans possess for
raising themselves above the common
place and for making their individuality
felt in foreign countries has been brought
home during the last week by the death
at Washington of that gallant soldier Col.
Alexander Macomb Mason, a trusted and
loyal adviser and friend of three Egyptian
khedives in succession. A grandson Of
that Gen. Macomb who died as general
sn-chief of the United States army, Mason
took part as a naval officer in the civil
war and after its termination saw active
service in Chill and in Cuba before making
mis- way to cairo, where, along with
number of other American officers, he was
employed by Khedive Ismail TO reorgan-
ize the Egyptian army and navy. 1t was
while thus engaged that he was brought
into contact with Gen. Chinese Gordon,
and that he should have succeeded in
winning the friendship, the confidence and
the regard of such a man as this most
eccentric 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 all. his ability 10 hold his
tongue. Mason was a most quiet and I'M
assuming person; men have known him
several months and been in almost daily
intercourse with him, and then have learn
ed only through others of his splendid re-
cord in the Soudan, where he made the
first survey of Albert Nyanza, and where
he co-operated with Gordon in the organi-
cation of that once so prosperous equato-
rial empire of the hhedive. 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 I'M
willing TO quarrel with him, he made an
arrangement which was as characteristic
of the one man as il was of the other. 1t
was agreed that whenever Gordon felt his
fits of irrtability and evaporation COM
ing on he should hang out of his window
or above his door a huge battle-ax which
he had picked up in the Soudan, and that
whenever this danger signal should be
put out Mason should give him wide
bsrth.
The agreement worked splendidly. Ma
son never betook himself to Gordon's res
idence without looking up for the battle
ak, and if the latter were in sight moth
ing in the world, not even the most press
ing official business. could induce him to
intrude upon the privacy of his chief. Ma
son 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 intrigue as at Cairo.
But although Mason had been loyal TO Is
mail, he stood equally high in favor with
his son and successor, Tewfk, and, in
spite of his having played a prominent
part in the incidents that occurred before
England's occupation of Egypt, he was re-
quested by the British government in 1884
and 1885 TO act jointly with the late Adj
miral Sir William Hewett in a special and
confidential embassy TO King John Of
Abyssinia. It was mission of great per-
sonal risk, especially at that particular
juncture, and had IL not been for the fact
of Mr.. Gladstone being in office. and so
averse to everything connected with Egypt
that he would not even hear its name men,
toned either in cabinet councils or In So
ciety; some token of royal recognition
would have undoubtedly 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.
IT 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 extent into the diplomatic and
state secrets of Great Britain as Col Ma
son.
Never was there a more modest and un-
obtrusive man than this square-jawed,
taciturn and yet genial-faced and warm
hearted American, whose services TO the
cause of geographical science at the head
waters of the Nile enttle him to a prom
inent place among the African explorers.
over and over again was promotion to
the rank of pasha pressed upon him, not
merely by Khedive Tewtik, but also by
his successors, the English authorities
Lord Cromer first and foremost warmly
recommended him for the distinction. Yet
he invariably refused, alleging as an eX-
cuse that he had no hankering for titu-
lar distinction, and that while his means
were sufficient to maintain him as a hey
or colonel, they were inadequate for a
full-hedged pasha or general. For Mason,
in spite of the unriyaled 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 corruption. In one
word, Mason was an American of whom
his countrymen had reason to be proud.
and who, never az any moment forgetting