The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-08-17

Copyright. 1913, by Frank c. Carpenter
Washington, D. c.
I SPENT an evening this week with
man who for more than half
century has been moldins the af-
fairs of nations-a man who has formed
not only an integral part Of our do
nestle and diplomatic history, but who
has had much to do with making the his
tory of others of the great world powers
Born in Indiana. during tile presidency
of Andrew Jackson. he graduated at the
state university there when Franklin
Pierce was still in the White House. He
carried on his law studies at Harvard
during the first years of James Buchan-
ans administration, and, with the sin
gle exception of Andrew Johnson, he has
held important commissions signed by
every President since then from Abraham
Lincoln down to and including William
Howard Taft of blessed memory. [ re-
fer to John W. Foster. soldier ambas-
sador, Secretary of State, international
lawyer, statesman and author, who now
at II has an eye as bright and mind as
keen as when he began the practice of
law at Evansville Ind, more than SO
years ago.
General Foster graduated from college
at the age of 10. He began to practice law
at 2l and he was not yet % when, with
out solicitation, he was made major in
the United States army. That was in
1861. He commanded regiment during
the war, being made lieutenant colonel
and colonel. and was mustered out at its
close at the head of a division of cav
airy as brigadier general.
Mr.. Fosters diplomatic career began
before he was 40. General Grant then
made him our minister to Mexico, and
from that time to this he has been more
or less connected with our diplomatic his
tory. He has represented the United
States as minister or ambassador in Rus
sia and Spain, and he has been q. special
envoy to make treaties with such coun-
tries as Great Britain Russia. Germany
and Brazil. As an international lawyer
during the intervals of his diplomatic
services he has acted as the counselor
Of Mexico China and other nations, and
he was invited by the Emperor of China
10 aid in bringing about the treaty of
peace with Japan at the close of its great
war with that country. In those nego-
tiations he saved China an immense loss
of territory and the actual payment of
more than $4,000, 900.
AS an author General Foster has added
much to the valuable history of our coun-
try. His Century of American Diplo-
Macy" published in 1900, is a standard
text book in our colleges: his other diplo-
matte works can be found in every IL
brary. and his Diplomatic Memoirs"
printed in 1909. are intensely interesting
and have had a large sale.
To interview a man like this makes
one feel as Aladdin must have felt when
he first rubbed the old lamp in the cave
and saw the vast quantities of gold and
jewels about him. He did not know what
10 take first. General Foster has done
sc much. been so much. and seen so much
that it is hard to know what questions
to ask or what lines of his life to touch
] have settled this question in favor of
China, and that because of the manu-
script of a diary of Ii Hung Chang which
General Foster has been examining with
the purpose of writing an Introduction
thereto. for the Houghton Miffln COM
pany. Tt is not generally known that this
diary is in existence. 1t consists of mem
oranda and notes collected from the
archives Of the high offices which Ii
Hung Chang held during the 7S years of
his life. It begins with his early man
hood end runs from then on until his
death in 1901, giving most interesting pic
lures of what has been going on behind
the scenes in the China of the past 80 or
GO years
Said General Foster "The diary was
not written from day to day, but only
as matters of interest and Importance
sprang up. Some parts of it came from
the private papers in the possession Of
ii Hung Chang's family. Other parts were
found in the records which he left in
the archives of the yamens at shanghai
11entsin and Canton. Many of the notes
OF