The daily morning journal and courier., 1897-10-08

shah of Persia and to be absolutely the richest sovereign of Asia. His wives, or which he has over three hundred
 were all left at home. Siam has Eng fish India on one side and French Ton
 quin on the other As the king is the
 tool of England and has always been l hostile to France, there was some ques- | tion about his visiting Paris. Finally 1t was decided to invite him, but no very large sum of money was appropri-
 ated for his entertainment. President | Faure received him on his arrival and
 has paid him official attention, but he
 does not go about with him as he would
 with a friendly sovereign. This duty IS | assigned to the various ministers who 1 attend in turn. The only western lan- | Suage the king speaks is English, an-
 other disagreeable circumstance for his l republican host. Yesterday he visited l Versailles and was delighted with Ge-
 rome's painting of the reception of a si-
 amese embassy by Napoleon III. Eve | rybody who has visited Versailles must
 remember it. It is a large picture and
 a capital example of Geromes careful
 drawing and harmonious coloring. To | the right are the emperor and empress, surrounded by the dignitaries of the | court. The Siamese on all fourS are | approac ching in true Oriental style.
 The brilliancy of their costumes and
 the contrast offered by the more sober
 western dress gave Gerome every op-
 portunity for the display of his marvel
 ous skill. Every face is a, portrait.
 The king recognized or pretended to
 recognize some of the Siamese, who by
 this time must be rather aged, for the
 picture was painted at least thirty years ago. Gerome himself, who must be nearly eighty, is in the picture and has the appearance of a young man.
 Gerome had been invited to meet the
 King and the two chatted delightfully."-
 about the. picture in English, which Ge-
 rome learned when boy. Now the
 king will have his own portrait painted by Gerome. But how is the thing to be done? The kings religion prohibits him from sitting to any artist, and Ge- rome will not promise a likeness with
 out sitting. The king will probably command some one of his attendants to sit for him. No one will know the I difference, for the whole crowd look as
 much alike as so many peas. That the
 king recognized any of his family in Gerome's picture is very doubtful To- night he is to see Don Juan at the l Grand Opera, and tomorrow he starts for England, where undoubtedly he will be more important show than he has
 been here. Whenever and wherever
 English colonists come into contact
 with other colonists there is sure to be
 trouble, unless the other colonists
 meelSly admit English superiority and
 humbly kowtow. The English are per
 fectly satisfied that their own civiliza-
 ton is the only civilization for civili-
 zing the heather and cannot under
 stand how any one can differ from
 them on this particular point. They
 are also equally satisfied that dry goods
 of English manufacture are the only
 dry goods heather should be allowed to
 purchase. For the upholding of this
 latter point they are at all times will
 ling and ready to fight.
 The so-called civilization of so-called
 heather was the underlying topic of
 interest of the Congress of Orientalists
 which has just terminated its meetings
 by a grand banquet at the Continental
 Hotel. To convert a heather, a Turk,
 a Jew or any other human being who
 doesn't believe the same things you do, you must catch your heathen, define him, interest him, convince him that he is wrong; that you are right, and then show him how to cease being himself
 and how to become you. Can it be done? Has it ever been done on such a scale as to prove that it's occasional successes are not mere accidents? The
 Oriental congress in great variety of
 ways and in a great many langua ges
 said most emphatically not only that
 the thing cannot and has not been done but that it ought not to be at-
 tempted. Benign looking men with
 pure eyes and kind voices wrapped in !, flowing robes of spotless white ex- plained why and how the religion of !, Buddha is better for India than the re-
 ligion of Jesus Christ; that the Indian mind could not grasp Christian subtle
 ties, but that it was perfectly in accord
 with the abstraction of BuddIa. Every section of the congress was most high ly interesting. The trouble was that
 all sections met at the same time and that you could only attend one section
 at time. If you could have divided | yourself into half dozen parts and put a listening part into each section, you might have been comparatively happy The Egyptian section was presided over | by Naville. Naville reminds one a lit- 7 tie of old Abe except that he is decided 1 ly handsome. He must be six feet four ; He is rather spare has large features. a superb nose and an expression of most sweet and catholic Denevolence He l looks as if he were wise enough and ; learned enough to help everybody. and as if he would be delighted to do SO | He would make a typical college presi- dent and ought to occupy some such , position. The papers he read were de lightfully clear and as convincing as anything relating to Egypt can be. Ir [ one of them he introduced new inter- | { pretation Of the famous Israel clause | on the stele discovered last year by ) Flinders Petrie at Thebes. He thinks that it refers to the time when the chit dren of Israel, having left Egypt, were supposed by the Egyptians to have en- , tirely disappeared and to have nc [ longer root, brancn, existence Er-
 mann, the German Psychologist, had 8 great deal to say, especially indifferent
 from everybody, and said all in Ger man. Maspero, after opening the sec ton, took but little part in it's proceed