The sun., 1904-05-29

ST. PETERSBURG. May IA rather
! stout gentleman OF fve-and-forty, above
the middle height, Of genial mapners and
! comely appearance, who took n sleepii g
, car ticket from st. Petersburg to Nice
when the first Japanese thunderbolt dis
turbed Admiral Stark's birthday party
, at Port Arthur, knows more about the
map of southern Manchuria than any Of
the writers who are explaining its military
Significance in this campaig,; but he is
not just now sharing his information with
,, strangers. Even his friends, the members
of the Far Eastern committee Of the Russian
Government, TO whom he was private
adviser-in-chief during its eventful ante
bellum career, and more exalted person.
ages to whom his and-grabbrg projects
appealed as a manifestation Of the I'M
perial instinct, have not heard anything
from him.
But Paul Bezobrazofr, Yalu Timber
Company promoter and political free lance.
is still your 6 man, and resourceful one.
His brief interval of self-communng on
the shores Of the Mediterranean over.
he has joined his wife and children in
Switzerland and is breaking himself to
harness by personally directing the elec-
trical machinery plant at Zurich which
his money started some years ago. He
may again enter for the great Manchurian
Handicap. for he was the first Russian
among the expansion. lists to realize the
boundless wealth that will 60 to the winner
He had the gift Of enthusiasm and Of bring
irg others to share the splendor OF his
vision. The Emperor himself adventured
100000 rubles; the highest in his house,
hold were glad to get in anywhere on the
list, and all the court was delighted. while
the dream lasted, with the messer ger OF
this new Ell Dorado within Russia's reach.
Parl Bezobrazoff. if he failed signally to
take the meas re of the Japanese. has
very good working knowledge of the foibles
of his own corntrymen. His father, rich
landed proprietor in the Government
province of Tamboff, in eastern RI ssia, f,
belonged to the first rank OF territorial
maenates, whom the liberation Of the serfs
still left with ample means to start their
SONS on any career they chose. Parl started
as a cavalry officer of the Imperial Guard
in st. Petersburg some years after his
cousin--now Rear Admiral Peter Alexeivitch
Bezobrazoff. appointed to second Admiral
SkrydlofY in searching for a Russian feet
on the Pacific-entered the navy.
Russia had no war during Pauls mill
tary service, which was to him, as to most
of his brother officers, merely social
stat, 8 which he carried around with him
while having good time. Going to bed at
in the morning, as was the right thing to
do, was congenial enou gin to him. but 1t did
not g, it his temperament to remain there
till in the afternoon. By living moro OF
his waking hours than the others he ex-
har sted the stock of st. Petersburg amuse-
ments sooner, resigned his military COM
mission and returned TO the ancestral
estate at Tambofi retired Captain, better
eql ipped than most for the diplomacy of
handling men, and still young enough to
consider that all the possibilities Of mans
life were still in front Of him.
In those days he sat in the provincial
Z,mstvo, or local Government Council.
and explored fresh domains OF the Russian
mind. The aIvisability Of remembering
what were trumps had induced a certain
habit of accurate thinking for at least some
hours a day among his old st. Petersburg
companions.
BLt here in the zsmstvo. among the re-
mote provincials. it was all different. There
was a council, with right to hold long de-
bates and pass resolu tions, but not to en-
force them; and as an inevitable oorollary
there was an incorrigible indulgence in
grandiose, misty conceptions, while the
work at hand OF devising schemes for
mending the roads and voting the neces-
sary money. went neglected.
This characteristic, the most general
among RI, ssians. interested and did not
irritate the adventurous M. Bezobrazof.
It was to prove very serviceable later on.
His first step into the company promoting
BUSH ess was tax en- after he had had enough
of the Zen stvo OF Tambof. He went
further east to look over the possibilities