Evening star., 1902-08-16

Copyright, 1898 by r. Wilhelm, New York;
the hour of coffee and cgars-that was
when the real business of the nation was
done, sometimes in neat, artful speeches,
reported in full in the papers, and read by
everybody; sometimes in comfort ble un-
official, informal talk with the men who
govern England in fact, while the king
governs in name
Those are the private talks in which the
prejudices, ambitions and friendships OF the
nations are weighed and measured-in
which 1t is determined what is the least
that one Will accept and the most that the
other will give-in which are shaped the
international policies that are afterward
the subject of formal, dignified negotiations
to predetermined end.
Fancy an insignificant-looking, shy, nerv-
ous awkward man representing a great ma
tion at of these behind the-scenes
spreads. He might know all there was to
know about international law and such
matters, but in these intimate confabs the
personal impression counts for so much that
it sometimes overweighs everything else.
That is where Joseph Hodges Choate comes
out strong. You can't lose him. either in a
crowd or in group of statesmen. He
may be inwardly nervous-in fact | suspect
he was pretty uncomfort BILE when he first
came over here-but he wears all the out
ward and visible signs of easy satisfaction.
When he rises, with a benign smile to re-
spond to the toast the chairman has given,
everybody settles back comfortably, shar-
ing the ambassadors confidence that his
forthcoming speech is going to be a rattling
good one. The only other man in England
who creates quite the same impression is
Lord Rosebery.
Delicate 1nsinuations.
Opinions differ, Of course about Mr..
Choates success in the formal side of d.
plomacy, but he has done something more
than make a personal hit with his after
dinner addresses 1 have heard a dozen or
af then, in
missed from one of them a note that at
first rather startled placid John Bull. In
one form or another his excellency always
contrives to say deftly and inSnua tngly
what. if put bluntly. would be something
like this:
Brother Bull you are In most respects a
good fellow, but you have shown a little
tendency to be superior In times past. The
occasion for it has gone by, if 1t ever exist
ed. and you will kindly take notice that
Brother Jonathan isn't playing the role of
younger brother"
The ambassador has kept up such a
steady pounding on that note, and CONNER
ctal events have given him such strong
backing, that the effect has become notice.
able. Brother Bull has been getting the
idea firmly fixed in his head.
The American ambassador lives at No 1
Carlton House Terrace. just back of the
Prince of Wales Marlborough House, in
the great mansion bought by l.. T. Letter
for his daughter. wife of the vceroy of
Indian, where she is the first lady among
three times as many people as there are in
the United States. The CurzonS rented the
place at big price to John Hay when he
represented the American government here.
and Mr.. Choate, after three or four weeks
of house hunting, concluded that he
couldn't do better than step into his chiefs
shoes, so to speak. The old yellow Georgian
houses. of which No. 1 stands at the upper
end, are not gorgeous as seen from the
outside, but they have stateliness and
n ,;t,,xr ~, h H..
ly suited for ambassadorial residences The
German embassy does occupy one of them
but the difference is that Germany paws
the rent, ana the G:;S:Gscdcr's home ana
his Offices are in the same building where
as the American ambassador pays the house
rent out of his own pocket, devoting the
larger part Of his salary to the purpose
The curve of the terrace makes it impos-
sible to get good photograph of the front
of the house, but from St James Park /.
the rear you get an impressive view of this
famous row of residences. where Mr.. Glad
stone once lived. and where Mrs John W.
Mackay and william Waldorf Astor have
their town houses now. Gilbert Parker,
who married money" as they say, and
has made a lot more out of his novels, also
lives in this select territory All coed Amer
leans in London swarm from adjacent PaH
Mali into Carlton House Terra ce on each
4th of July to climb the fine curving stair
way at No. 1, hear their names called out
by the liveried footman, shake the hand
OF his excelency at the head of the stairs 1
bow low to Mrs. Choate and then squeeze
on through the crowd that fills the long
succession of lofty rooms, back to the tenn
porary buffet, where portly walters deal
out good things to eat and drink.
Mr. Choate's Dingy oalce.
1t is only short walk around by West
minister Abbey to No. 121 Victoria stree.,
where the United States government has its |
little pied-a-terre. and a dingy, grimy.
stuffy. dark. depressing place it is. too 1t |
Is wonder that the ambassador and the |
half dozen members of his staff do not |
suffer perpetual,y from the blues No other
dlptOmat of amhaSsadQrial rank In I.ondon L