The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-07-24
EMPERoRs TO CONFER
NICHOLAS IS NOW EN ROUTE TO
 JOIN WILLIAM.
st. PeteruburE Court and Diplomatic Circles Discencerted by Action of Csar, Whose ReasOns
 They Cannot Fath0m.

St. Petersburg, July 23.--(Midnight.) On the eve of peace conference and with a audiences already disconcert- ing to diplomatic and court circles. the Emperor left Peteriiof today on board the imperial yacht Polar Star for a conference with Emperor William, who Is cruising on the Hohenzollern in Fin nish waters.
 The first interview of the sovereigns was expected to take place this evening off the Finnish port of BjorKo. st the mouth of the gulf of Finland, near Helsingfors. This will be followed by another interview tomorrow, efter which Emperor Nicholas will return to St. Petersburg and Emperor William will continue his cruise.
 The Emperor Is accompanied by his brother, the Grand Duke Michael Alex androvitch, and considerable suite, in- cluding Count Benckendorff. marshal of the court; Count Heydeu. Chief of the Imperial Chnncellory; Admiral '3iriloff Minister of Marine. Captain Won Els sen who commanded the battleship Se- vastopol during the siege of Port Ar Ethnr: Captain Chagin. who commanded tlsc Aimax, the only cruiser of Admiral Rejegtvensky's fleet to reach vladivo- stok after the battle of the Sea of Ja- pan; Captain Hintze. naval attache oi the German embassy, and also a party of courtiers and the Emperor's escort of sailors and marines. with a guard commanded by Admiral Neeloff.
 It is noticeable that there Is no re- port of the Russian Foreign Ofhct among the Emperors entourage nor is the Ge rman Ambassador on board oi the Polar Star. This gives color to a re- port that the meeting was arranged between the two Emperors directly without recourse to the usual diplo- matfc channels. Emperor William sug- h.. k-IA k from Hern Sweden. The idea the report says. meets the Emperor'f favor, but the final arrangements were only completed yesterday and some members of the imperial family were hastily commanded to accompany His Majesty.
 Many diplomatists were taken com pletely by surprise by the news Of to- ! days rumors of the meeting which were current since Friday. having met with the fattest denials in official quarters and the German Ambassador having stated that he knew nothing of any such plan being on foot. Elm peror Williams action was instantly ! connected with the Moroccan question and admiration for his political astute- ness in realizing his opportunities was expressed on all hands.
 Like the last netting between Elm peror Nicholas and Emperor William al a hunting seat in Russian Poland | where the European and Eastern situa- tions were discussed between the strokes of a game of billiards and Rus sia was assured that she need have no anxiety regarding her western frontier while engaged with the Japa- nese, the conferences in the cabin of the Hohenzollern and the Polar Star will be entirely informal and probably without secretaries or other witnesses unless perhaps Grand Duke Michael Alexandrovitch should be a participant
 There Is no set program of subjects for discussion. aside from a general consideration of the factors in the pre- sent situation affecting the two em- hires. but 1t can be stated that coming meeting of the Russo-Japanese pleni- potentiaries will occupy a place In the foreground.
 The action of Emperor William in seeking a conference at this moment is generally interpreted as an assurance of his moral support of Russia in the coming pour parlers at Washington and Portsmouth. and to show that German participation in the recent Japanese loan was not a mark of the alienation of German sympathies from Russia. Emperor William, whose keen interest in the lessons of the Russo-Japanese war is well known, has also taken ad- vantage of the occasion to discuss the details with eye witnesses, and the nresence of the naval officers who dis tinxuished themselves in the Far East Is due to his special request.