Arizona republican., 1899-04-20

the very catch-phraSeS Of Jean Jaquss
 Rosseau and of RobespierIe.
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 The most extraordinary stories are
 becoming current in London concern
 ing the eccentricities of Miss Alice de
 Rothschild, sister of the late Baron
 Ferdinand, and chief iegatee under his
 will. In fact, they are numerous
 enough to furnish the novelist, Rider Haggard, with material for a new yer sion of his story of She To begin with, she absolutely refuses to brook contradiction of any kind whatsoever
 and a number of the agents and em- l ployeS of Baron Ferdinand, who had been in his service for a quarter of a century, have been dismissed at mo- ment's notice. merely because they ventured to offer in the most deferen- tial manner objections to directions that she has given them. Just now she is in the south of France, and the other day summoned her lawyers and several of the men of business of her late brother When they reached Nice after their thirty-six hours journey they were kept waiting for three days, and finally informed by their capric- | ious mistress that she had changed her mind and did net wish to see them
 Mir. Charles Norton Eliot. who has been appointed by the British govern ment it's representative on the joint high commission for the settlement of | the Samoan question, and who is the i first secretary cf the English embassy | at Washington, is proE9Ibly the only i diplomat in the United States who | combines a profound knowledge of Sanskrit with a mastery of the Finnish language, besides being able to con- verse fluently in Russian Turkish, Syriac, Arabic, and about half a dozen other modern languages. In fact, he has even published Finnish grammar, which shows that he must be possess ed by an almost denoniacal craze for knowledge, since the widest flight of imagination cannot conceive of any diplomatic controversy between Eng land and Russia on the subject Of the Finnish language would be useful. While at Oxford he carried everything before him in the shape of prizes and honors, and, although a member of Balliol. was offered, without examina- tion, $2,000 year fellowship of Trin- ity college, which he still retains. He only entered the foreign office on the nomination of Lord Rosebery fourteen years ago. His rise, therefore, has been an extraordinarily rapid one since he is now cn the threshold of appoint ment to the. rank of minister plenipo- tentiary. and of transformation from "Mr" Eliot into "Sir Charles He d. ready has the Order of the Bath, well earned by the numerous special mis- sions upon which he has been engaged. and which have carried him not only all over Turkey in Europe and in Asia. but likewise from one end of Siberia to the oJber in the very depth of win ter. He has also spent some time in Morocco as charge d'affaires. and dur ing his stay at Constantincple and his frequent missions to Sofia, Belgrade and Bucharest has probably acquired more intimate knowledge of the in- tricacies of Balkan politics than any other English diplomat since the days of the late Sir William White
 
 Time is responsible fer many changes. am led to make this re- mark by the letters which reach me from Egypt, and which go to show that it is Mme Van der Does de Willie bois. the wife of the Dutch minister plenipotentiary who. as doyenne of the diplomatic ocrps since the. death of Lady Crcmer, takes tire le3ding part in all social and court functions. her position, owing to the seclusion of the princesses of the reigDing family in the harem, being practically that of the first lady in the land. Yet, mixed as society is in the Egyptian capital, where almost every resident (save those who belong to the English army of occupation) has stormy past. it looked askance upon the wife of the Dutch envoy at the time of his first ap- pointment, nea1ly fifteen years ago. A very sensational divorce suit had pre- ceded her marriage ito her present hus- band, who is a son of the former min ister of foreign affairs of Holland. In fact, he was sent there by way of dis grace and punishment, and she, be- cause the Egyptian court was about the os:ly one where she would have been received at the time, owing to the noise and talk created by her escapade. Yet today she is, to all intents and pur- poses, the queen of the brilliant and gay society of Cairo, and the arbitress who decides who is to be received, and who is unworthy of acceptance.
 As stated above, Cairo is queer place. and 1 can likewise recall the case of Belgian diplomat who spent many years at Washington, and who subse- l quently was transferred to Cairo as | d. picnatic agent in consequence of a l very sensational duel which he had in | Europe with New Yorker, the hus- band of a lady whom he, the Belgian | had acmired in this country | in a rather indiscreet fashion. The | story goes that the diplomat, finding | the position here untenable, fled to Eu- rope without notifying the lady, be- taking himself to Paris. The lady, casting all prudence tc' the winds, and to the dismay Of the diplomat. fol- lowed by the boat sailing eight days later, and she had no, sooner reached Paris and i.,joined the Belgian, declar- ing that, she could not bear to live without him. than they received cable message to the effect that the husband had sailed with view Of de- satisfaction. In the duel which fOllOMEd unnn his arrival he re-