Evening journal., 1905-09-14
Prominent Part Which He
Played Has Just Been
Learned
He CONFERRED WITH ROOSEV III
IN WmIam woln smIth.


Washington. d. c., Sept. l3-From a
gentleman formerly wen known as a
I Washington newspaper correspondent
and who has just returned from
abroad. ! learn some details as to the
negotiations which led to the famous
peace conference at Portsmouth which
are Of great interest coming as they
do almost first handed and indicating
that Kaiser Wilhelm, played much
more Important part in the proceedings
than he Is generally credited with in
this country. Probably the full story
OF the efforts of the Emperor of Ger
many TO bring about the cessation of
hostilities between the warning nations
lwnl never be told; in this case at least,
he has apparently preferred TO act as
the operator of the limelight, the out
lines OF whose figure are butdmly dis
lcernahe while his guiding hand directs
1.-THE beam of light whose radiance
lbathes the person of the star per-
! former on the darkened stage.
At the same time there is no doubt
THAT ne exerted powerful influence
/ upon the situation ana there is reason
largely due to- his personal efforts My
Informant was i'm Berlin at the time
/ President Roosevelt sent his first COM
lmunication to- the Car and TO the
I Mikado, and as the details come from
a diplomat familiar With the affairs in
German and the United States. who is
in position 10 be well Informed and
who told my friend he had seen the
I lcowespondence, the authenticity of the
STORY is beyond question.
According TO the Information il APP
pears that the appeal of President
Roosevelt to the rulers of Japan and
Russia 70 bring 20 peaceful con-
! cluson the war which was a source OF
SO much regret and concern to the
entire world. WAS the direct result Of
representations made to him by the
Emperor Of Germany. No country was
more deeply interested 90 the war than
( Germany not even England whose
vigilance was accentuated by the pos
lsibhiiy that it might be drawn into
the affair willy-nilly. That the Ger
man Emperor had assurances from the
Car that tine good offices of President
Roosevelt would be accepted by him
lmay be accepted without question for
closely allied as are the rulers of Ger
many and Russia the Kaiser would not
have acted without sufficient reason.
Ascertaining therefore that overtures
toward peace would met with favor at
the hands Of The Car. he suggested
/ TO President Roosevelt that ne should
take the initiative. What was con-
tanned in the original message and how
much was left to be read between the
| lines my informant was unable to say.
but there is no doubt that President
Roosevelt understood the kaiser's posi-
/ ton which was that many good and
Sufficient reasons operated to prevent
him from enacting The role Of peace
/ m 1ker Primary among these reasons
was that his relationship 10 the Gar
they are first cousins-and the com
nercial Interests of his country in the
lfar East would necessarily make Japan
suspect a personal, selfish interest in
iany effort he might put forth toward
The ending of the war
{ The Car and Kaiser were bound
together by ties Of kinship, friendship
/ and the mutual interests Of their
countries; thus Japan would reason
and should the Emperor WILHELM offer
to mediate betweeh his cousin and the
[ Mikado the presumption i'm the Japa-
lnese mind that Russia was ready to
quit and that he was really interceding
in its behalf, would be inevitable on
the other hand President Roosevelt
lfor reasons innumerable and unneces-
sary to mention, could act in the capa-
city Of an Intermediary and the Kaiser
could assure him that the tender of his
go9d offices would be favorably re-
ceived by one of the two countries at
last
Perhaps confidential note to this
effect was sent by the Kaiser TO the
American Ambassador M Berlin; IN
any event. a noie passed and day or
two later Europe learned that the
President of the United States had
solicited the Car and Mikado TO listen
TO ihe voice Of civilization and TO adjust
their differences by employing the
peaceful arts Of diplomacy rather than
iby a continued conflict az arms. The
above story Of the inception Of the
peace conference may explain some
/ lines in the cable messages exchanged
between President Roosevelt and the
Kaiser which have hitherto been the
subject Of much speculation.
Another interesting story in this con-
lneciion is brought back by my friend
from Berlin. As is well known the
Car Of Russia is so well guarded by
those whose interest imperatively de-
mands that he should receive as little
Information as possible as TO the true
state Of affairs in his empire, that lit
tile reaches his ears or eyes uncensored.
! According 10 the story Emperor VIII
helm did not relish this state Of affairs
know the truth, he had a collection
made of clippings of newspapers pub
llished i'm Europe and America bearing
on The war and the internal affairs Of
the Russian Empire. Realizng that il
would lbe useless TO employ the custo-
lmary channels Of communication for
such a purpose he sent the clipping by
q personal messenger with a private
letter to The Car urging him to read
the clipping and learn what conditions
actually existed and what the world
was thinking and saying Of them.
AS the messenger came direct from
one ruler to another he succeeded in
ievading interception and the Car
learned from an unpreiudiced source
what was happening ana what was
thought of it. If the story is true The
laction Of the Kaiser undoubtedly re-
suited ip the Car receiving more in-
formation than ever before regarding
matters OF vital Importance TO himself
land his country.
In speaking OF the Kaiser 1t IS