The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1914-08-09


II We may believe Sir THOMAS
BARCLAY. who writes ThirtU Years.
inglo- French "Reminiscences 1s7s-19o6 |
,Houghton Mihin Company the .
friendly understanding. the entente
cordinlc between France and England .
whose importance in its later develop
menu Is now made manifest. was due
largely To his exertivns. The impress
sion Is due In part To his restricting .
himself TO matters which came within |
his own experience and to facts which. /
he asserts, were within his own knowl- |
edge. the tone is therefore unavoid- !
ably egotisiiCal. and as he passes over ,
hurriedly the share that other English |
men, such as King Edwai and the |
Marquis of Lansdowne. had in bringing
about the agreement, while expatiati
on his own activity, the reader is not /,
to blame II he draws the conclusion |
that the chief agent was Sir Thomas
BARCLAY. He will he reminded nevita-
bly, of La Fontaine's fable of the fly on
he ConCh.
The author was sent ny tho London
Times. when still a very young man.
fresh from n German university, to
join it,. staff in Paris. His newspaper
connection enabled him to meet or at
least 10 see every man of note in Paris
Mt the time. After few years he gave
up newspaper work and engaged, APP
parently, in the practice Of the law. He
was one Of the founders OF the British
Chamber OF Commerce in Paris. and in
the course of time engaged in various
academcal enterprises. such as the es-
adjustment Of the Franco Scottish So
cioty Of various national educational
int.rChangps. the promotion of peace
societies. the exchange of visits Of
bodies Of workngmen and so on. The
objects Of these ne explains at length:
at much greater length he sets forth
his own free trade principles and dem
onstratcs the fallaciois Of protective
tariffs in France. Germany and among
English politicians He is not very
careful about his dates: he does not
seem TO take much interest in the nota-
HE people he came across, beyond the
fact that he met them and that they
were polite or not 10 him. though he
does express some Judgments and tells
some stories: he rarely gives the au-
thority for the political secrets he di-
vulGcs, which are usually no secrets at
all and he INDUCES in involutions of
style which do not make it easy 10
read his rather heavy book
The first portrait the author draws
Ia naturally THAI Of the great Blowitz.
whom he thinks for some reason news
paper men have forgotten. He describes
his personal appearance and his meth
DDS of obtaining information; he tells
of his origin too which he seems to
despise The author tells Of a lunch
Blowitz gave TO Nubar Pasha where the
guest was ITO be drawn out; he would
not open his mouth. however, and Bio
WITT did all the talking. watching Nu
bars face. The next day the Times
had long article on Egyptian affairs
indicating Nubar as the source Of in
formation. Nuhar went to Bowitz's
room eXpostulating angrily. But"
said BlOwitz. the question Is whether
il is true or not true. Is II not true?"
Nubar admitted that II was and they
parted friends. Blowtz told the author
Il story OF Theirs. which Sir Thomas
says has not been published. He was
/ invited TO the Presidents house TO
dinner to projects. Theirs looked very
grave, said little and ate less. After
/ dinner Blowitz asked him II anything
was botherng him. THEIRS answered:
II was only thinking about my pre-
fects. | was watching them eat. To
he good project you must have a good
digestion. Some get as red as Holsters,
That Is not good for the republic"
And he went on celebrating his theme
! Barclay went 10 Dreux to see the rein
! terment of the Orleanisr princes who
had died in exile and saw all the lv-
ing members of the family there. II
remember being struck by the family
resemblance of the men to each other,
. n THAR al air
trousers short. Blowirz had put me up
to this. BY the bye he added, all the
( Orleanist prices wear their trousers
short; you will be able to pick them
out by that 'Why?' Oh just a fam
/ lily trait; perhaps because they are too
indolent to do anything more compli-
! Gated"
The author was intimate with Presi-
dent GrevyS family and friend of his
son-in-law, Daniel Wilson. That might
he taken for the reason for his passing
over the scandals in which he was In
! VOWED, If II were not for Sir Thomas's
habit Of leaving out regularly the things
the reader would like to know about the
people he mentions. He is content with
a brief opinion or "A personal descrip-
ton. OF Gambetta he thought highly:
he assures us that Gambetta was ex-
rremely anxious to be on good terms
with England and toward the end was
even not hostile to Germany He puts
so much stress on his kindly feelings
toward the English that the reader may
suspect thai that Is the reason for the
authors admiration of him. That APP
plies too to his high praise Of Hano-
, tauX and of De!casse, who favored his
schemes. and to his judgments on the
British Ambassadors In Paris. friendly
Eif they favored the entente, and de-