The Washington times., 1901-07-11
FOREIGN TOPICS.


All the men of the royal family of Eng
land are Freemasons, and several of them
have held high rank in that order The
late Queen was a friendly patron of the
craft. and during her last jubilee gave a
special audience to representatives of the
Masonic order, at which Lord Amherst
addressed her as the daughter of a
Freemason. the mother of Freemasons
and the patron and benefactress of our
order. For twenty-seven years King
/ Edward was most worshipful grand mas
ter of the Ancient. Free and Accepted
Masons of England aad when, upon his
accession to the throne, he was Obliged
to reiinquish that honor. he assumed the
title of protector of English Free
masons,f and his brother, the Duke of
| Connaught, was elected grand master in
his stead. The duke accepted. and in his
letter pledged himself TO use his best
! energies and abilities in promoting its
/ interests.
King Edward became a Mason in 1868.
| and curiously enough was initiated at
Stockholm by the King of Sweden. Seven
/ years later he was elected grand master
/ of England, position which George ~
| once held. The ceremony of his installa-
I ton took place at Albert Hall with great
/ formality and magnifcence. and the beau
| tiful throne in which George ~ had been
! installed was used on that occasion. The
J King has presided at many notable
events, and has invariably encouraged the
use of the Masonic ritual in laying corner
/ stones and other public functions.
The manner in which Australia has re-
! ceived the New Zealand postmaster gen.
| erals proposal for an intercoloniaI cable
| illustrates the difference in thought be-
| tween the States and the improbability
| that there will be any federation of New
! Zealand for some time to come. The cable
| companies tariff to Australia is exorbi-
| tant and the postmaster general informed
| them that if they would not lower their
! charges the Government would itself con-
/ struct cable to Australia Immediately
! the leading papers of Australia espoused
/ the cable companies cause and def1ed New
Zealand to carry out it's idea. arguing
/ that the companies had a right to charge
as much as they pleased and that State
| interference was bad thing. New Zea-
! land, however, is likely to carry out it's
idea of a Government cable If the COM
panies do not come to terms.
Accidents from falling electric wires
have become so frequent in Paris of late
that the prefecture of police has taken
the matter in hand, declaring that nine
out of every ten of these cases would not
result in death if the police were not ig-
norant of the proper method of treating
persons burned or paralyzed by electric
ity. Accordingly a long document on the
subject has been addressed to every po-
| lice station in the capital. Hereafter each
policeman must carry one of these circu-
lars in his pocket. and upon the walls of
every pharmacy one of them must be
| tackled. The directions given are most
explicit. They read: II. Place the individ-
ual his back at some distance from
I 2 Tf1a -
and turn his head slightly to one side
2 Open the jaws. forcing them IL they are
closed. 3. Seize the tongue with the right
| hand. between the thumb and the index
finger with a handkerchief or piece of
linen. T. Pull the tongue vigorously from
/; the mouth twenty or tEirty times a min
ute; do not fear to do this with consd-
cradle force. the jaws remaining wide
open the while. 5 Keep up this move
ment for an hour if necessary. These
measures. of course, are designed to re
vive respiration. and are to be followed
by servere pounding Of the thoraX with
the policemans fist and also by whiri-
Ing the arms of the stricken person to
and fro above his head. In a review or
these rather strenuous proceedings, the
'Cri de Paris suggests that hereafter it
would be we'll for the citizens of Paris
to take more than usual care in the neigh
bcrhood of live wires.
Sir Claude Macdonald the British Min
lister at Pekin, has been accorded the
grateful thanks of his nation in language
such as is rarely read in Blue Books. Sir
Claude has not been one of the heroes of
the pOpulace He is a young man in
diplomacy. In a few years he has risen
from the position of soldier in Egypt to
the duty of protecting British interests in
one of the greatest countries in the world,
and he went to this post an untried man.
straight from the obscurity of West
Africa. He rose rapidly in Africa, where
he held important posts 1t fell to his lot
to try some of the followers of Arab
Pasha, and the story is told that in the
military court one day nearly all the
prisoners pleaded for leniency on the
ground that they had taken part in the
revolt under compulsion. One man. how
ever, refused to plead for leniency; he
was proud and not ashamed of his work.
He declared his hate of England and his
readiness to hight again. Sir Claude was
a magistrate. but he was a soldier. too.
and he rose from his seat and shook the
honest rebels hand.
The Western world hears very little of
the distant and somewhat secret Court
of the Mikado. Yet it is interesting in
more than one respect, for the poetical
charm of its traditions is giving place
gradually before the advent of the spirit
of the times. The Mikado Mutsuhito is
regarded as one Of the cleverest and at
the same time most modest ruler record
ed in japanese history. When he over
threw the "Shogun'' in 1858 and restored
his own dynasty, he won at once the ad-
miration and sympathy of his people by
abolishing a despotic form of govern
ment in favor of a milder form. In his
own country he is known as 'kOtei." but
he is generally referred to abroad as the
''MikadO." or The Honorable Gate" The
Mikado is of comparatively large stature,
and his very majestic bearing is increased
by the generals uniform which he usual
ly wears. in his daily walks he never
passes beyond the limits of the imperial
gardens, except on the occasion of the
opening of Parliament and at rare inter-
walls for the purpose of attending military
sors the Alikado is very frequently to be
he passes through the streets the Japa-
case in former days either to disappear
from the line of route or to turn their
backs toward their ruler. 1t is curious To
learn that this attitude betoKened a form
of the highest respect. Nowadays the
people learn that the Mikado is approach
ing only from the shouts of the police:
THE Mikado; beware!'
Last week produced a large crop of lese
majeste in Berlin. Two boys, aged four
teen and sixteen. respectively were sent
to Jail for a month for upsetting a plaster
bust of the Kaiser in a public garden