The San Francisco call., 1898-02-07
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 The most important contribution to contemporary diplomatic history In English within fifty years is An Eng l1shman in Paris" It's intelligent au- thor appears regularly in the 1llustrat- ed News in a column under the cap tion, "Anecdotal Europe" He recently voiced his opinion of the German Elm peror in manner that makes gladden. ing reading. Throwing to the winds the English criticisms of the young monarch, he writes in respectful vein of the love of, and the capability for, work which the Kaiser displays, and or his kindness as father and husband. That is writing with reason and with out bias. Those who cavil at monarchs (and we all do that on occasion) are rarely built of such stern stuff as Is this l young German. At an age when few appreciate what mind is, he was compelled to face situation that made even Bismarck the Great" feel un- easy. and, despite the kaleidoscopic changes in what foreign correspondents call "the European situation" the first sign of quail has not been seen in him. | That the continued peace of Europe Is greatly due to his level head (the English William the Sudden to the contrary notwithstanding is true, and the courage of the writer of "Anecdotal Europe" in speaking truthfully of this crowned head when "all the world and his wife" were employed abusing Will helm is additional verification of sim cerity as critic that is highly valued py those who are able to take an in- tellfgent interest in foreign affairs. The Chronicles strategic expert has given the Chronicle-reading public a trlf1e more of his condensed igno- rance" This Is from his gifted pen": Gle Is talking of making Pearl River Harbor impregnable.) "The problem of torpedo defense is very simple one" By my troth 1t is! In two words, it is no defense. What these people who write about submarine mines and torpedoes know about them could, with out inconvenience to the animal, be stored in the brain of frog A tor pedo explodes only when it's nose Cor business end, so that the reader may comprehenO Is brought into violent contact with some other object. A tor pedo will not explode when the impact is slight. From this it Is apparent that the dreamers who talk in their sleep of the possibility of sending a fleet of ships "to the bottom" by anchored tor pedoes at the entrance ofa harbor know nothing whatever of marine warfare. The idea of an attacking fleet steam nj hor rh at f1,1J ic oh; merical to degree.
 Were 800 torpedoes stretched across the bar of this harbor 1t is within the range of possibility that one ship out of a hostile fleet of a dozen attempt ing entrance might be injured-and possibly sunk. but even that is un- likely. Torpedces do not float right side up with care" no matter how placed and no matter how ballasted, and until we find a method of ruling the waves we shall be unable to make them To talk of firing these engines of destruction by electricity from the shore is absurd, too. Any one having the slightest knowledge of triangulation is aware that no particular hundred square feet of sea space can be accu- rately charted from position a mile away, no matter whether in sight of land or out. A torpedo exploded a hundred feet from it's object if in the water is not a matter for very serious alarm on the part of the object. A torpedo fired from vessel at a vessel is, of course, a very different matter. If discharged with intelligence it will usually mean destruction.
 All this is reminiscent of a somewhat amusing incident. A party of astrono- mers were going to Southern Africa to observe, I think, an opposition of Mars AS is not unusual, time began to hang a trifle heavily after a week or two of endless seascape, and wits were searching for anything that might re- lieve the monotony. The position of the ship at noon on each day was con- spicuously placarded, but the com mander Qike the Chronicles mariner) had not learned that no greater ac- curacy than a quarter of mile-on one side or the other of the truth can be assured by solar or stellar ob- servations at sea, a never .erring time keeper being thrown into the bargain Nevertheless the captain, with an en- ergy that might have been expended on more useful cause, worked out" to a few square feet each day what he supposed to be an accurate statement of where he twas at." The abilities he supposed he had as a navigator, too, were given audible utterance with frequency. One day one of the party, on humor bent, looking at the placard. said. Captain, may I ask you what that means?"
 With no small show of asperity came the reply: Tt Is the position my ship was in at apparent noon on this day"
 "Yes, understand that" was the re- tort courteous, "but will you kindly tell me as to what part of the ship 1t re- fers? Is 1t the funnel?"
 Who Is there that has sworn there is nothing new under the sun? Listen to this from The Examiner: "The pos session of Hawaii would require some thing of a navy in order to keep open the communications in case of war; but on the other hand. Hawaii would