The Washington times., 1901-09-13
FOREIGN TOPICS.

FCNEIGW IOP/CS.
The father of the British House of
Lords is Earl Nelson, who is in his sew
enty ninth year. He is far from being
the Oldest peer-Lord Norton, for instance,
is his senior by nine years-but he has
enjoyed his title for longer period than
any other member of the gilded chamber.
He succeeded his father. the second Earl
Nelson, sixtysix years ago-that is to
| say two years before Queen Victoria
| came to the throne. He lives on his Ira
| faiSar House estate. near Salisbury. an
| estate which a grateful country bought
and presented to the shaker of the Baltic
and tho Nile. The great admiral, how
ever, died childless, and the present earl
| is 4 grandson of sister of the hero OF
| Trafalgar, whose pension he still enjoys.
| With the addition of the new Retzivan.
the Russian feet will consist of % first
class battleships. yielding to none in the
world in excellence and perfection. though
three or four of tine Japanese battleships
have certain qualities of superior weight;
one second-class battleship, 16 coast de-
| fence ships and 22 cruisers of the first
class fully armCred. Twenty three
battleships and % cruisers therefore, may
stand the backbone of Russia's naval
complement of coast defence ships, sec
ond and third class cruisers, gunboats,
ftorpedo boats. torpedo destroyers, trans
ports, auxiliaries and all that pertain to
them. if'
The Russian heavy guns are second to
none. and the batteries of six-inch and
and seven-inch iquiek firing guns leave
nothing to wish for. The secondary
sinall-arm batteries are likewise per-
| fectly equipped. The Russian warships
| in hn
| in the world.
| This fleet was designed in the first in
stance for purposes of defence. And for
| defence it is practically invincible. The
| very defects of Russia's naval position
| now become its qualities; the restriction
of naval activity to two points-the Bal
| tic and the Black Seals altogether in
| Russas favor. She could hold either or
| both against considerably greater num-
| bers and weight of ships. and would have
the almost invincible forts of Sebastapol
! and CronStadt as base, to which the
| fleet, If menaced, could retire. and where
| it would be quite secure under cover of
| the enormous guns of the forts.
The proposed meeting between the
Kaiser and the Car at Dantzig, the MI
1 remberg of the North" had its counter
part in an event twenty years ago at the
same place, when on September 9. 1881,
| Alexander III had an Interview with the
old German Emperor. The Gear peace
| maker had not been many months on
| the throne-and not yet crowned at Mos
| cow-before he sought and obtained a
meeting with his granduncle of Germany
| in the waters of Dantzig The Car was
| accompanied by M de Giers. successor
designate to Prince Gortchakoff, while the
companions of the Kaiser included the
| Crown Prince and Prince Bismarck. The
! conversation between the two monarchS
| turned less on international relations than
| on international anarchy-the great ques-
| tion of the time-and Emperor Alexander,
| according to the report of the Austrian
Ambassador at St Petersburg, returned
| home with an increased feeling of tran
Quility and inner contentment.
Probably the most extraordinary picture
ever exhibited has just been placed on
view at the National Portrait Gallery in
| London.
| Standing in front of this painting and
looking at 1t in the ordinary way you see
a grotesquely distorted face with a huge
| nose and bulbous forehead, that reminds
you OF a gargoyle or a nightmare. 1t is
as though you were looking at the refec-
ton of face in particularly ingenious
distorting mirror.
A second glance at the picture shows
you that round the oval which surrounds
| the face is a beautifully painted land
scspe. The eye rests on this for a mo-
| rnent and then comes back fascinated to
the centre of the picture and you wonder
what 1t can be meant for.
Then, fixed to one side of the picture
| frame you see a board with a hole in the
centre of it. You walk round and look
through the hole; and behold, the face
that was SO hideous appears now that of
handsome boy, and unmeaning marks
!
now appear as letters which tell you the
| face is that of King Edward VI at the age
The portrait is painted on the principle
! of those elongated letters which only be-
come readable when you hold the page
| edgeways on a level with the eye.
! Strange as this picture is. its history is
still stranger. The authorities at the Ma
tional Portrait Gallery, who acquired it
| only a few weeks ago, have been looking
| up it's history and they say there is no
| doubt it is a genuine contemporary por-
trait OF young King Edward vi painted
| In the year 1916.
IL has been ascribed to Marc Willems,
| a Flemish painter. but at the National
| Portrait Gallery they think that 1t was
most likely painted by Guillim Streetes. an
| artist of the English Court who fourished
about that time.
The earliest references to the picture
are found in the papers of some OF Queen
| Elizabeth's courtiers, who say that in
their time 1t had cylindrical mirror fixed
to II and you could only see the true por-
trait on looking into this mirror.
The mirror was apparently lost early
in the seventeenth century.
The last historic record of the painting
that has yet been found Is in the list Of
the effects of King Charles l, when that
monarch's goods were sold up. Then this
picture was sold for $40. and after that
all trace of 1t was lost until about thirty
years ago when it was discovered in
private collection
Russia is taking steps to open up En-
glist markets to Russian beef. and to
larger quantities of eggs, butter. and
dairy produce than she now sends With
this object commission, representing
the different classes of Russian agricul-
ture, Will go to England on September
rs, and stay till october Il. The visitors
will inspect the large markets of London.
visit the establishments of Sir Walter
Gnbey, Lord Rothschild, and others, and
conditions and requirements of the En-
glish trade. Incidentally. they will spend
four or five days at the Glasgow exhibit
tion. The scheme is semi-official 1t is
Initiated by Prince Sherbatof, the Prest-
dent of the Russian Imperial Agriculture
Society," a private body, and the Russian
Government is paying travelling expenses.
The royal commission that has been
taking evidence regarding the advisability
of federation between New Zealand and
the Commonwealth of Australia reports