Show C i CUR MINISTERS OVER THE OCEAN Men Who Wcre Not OverAwed by Foreign Courts AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE SOME Off THE OKIGIVAI WAYS IT 3ZAXIFESTS ITSELF Peculiar People From the Land of the Fee and the Home of the Brave With Whom Tilted Force For-ce Have Had to Meet and Do Hr ttle The American Eagle Qnd the British Lon BY AN OLD DIPLOMATIST Copyright 1S95 by S S McClure Limited Lim-ited Ie I has been my experience during a public career of many years to be attached at-tached to or Ir some way associated with many of the principal consulates and legations of the United States allover over the world and now when age has Incapacitated me fr further usefulness I fulness it is my greatest enjoyment to i cal the strong character and vigorous vigor-ous patriotism of many men with whom I have served and to reflect u with amusement upon the odd antics of our envoys I yield to a request for some Anecdotes of the American Minister Min-ister Abroad T without malice or intent to offend Some of the gentlemen and some of the incidents to which I refer may be recognized and if so I hope they will do me the justice of acceptIng accept-Ing the assurances of my most distinguished distin-guished consideration 4 A Minister Who Would Shake Hands During the first Cleveland administration adminis-tration a naturalized citizen of the United States was sent as minister to the court of the country in which he was born and spent his boyhood as a peasant He was a man of eminent respectability re-spectability and learning but had more brains than manners and culti vateda contempt for refinement and the custom of polite society When he was presenting his letters of credence to the king of the nation to which he was accredited he boldly stepped up to his majesty and offered to shake hands in the American fashion The king who Is as gentle and good a sovereign a ever sat upon a throne and Is famous for his democratic ji > n ners and broad views was taken completely com-pletely aback by this assurance but not wishing to offend the American minister good naturedly responded to the advance Then the court was overcome over-come with astonishment when the minister min-ister offered his hand to the queen but she followed thE example of her husband and graciously extended her royal hand But the end was not yet The minister instead of making his bow and passing along as he was expected ex-pected to do and In accordance with the etiquette governing such occasions Insisted upon stopoing for a little conversation con-versation with the royal family and this i about what he said at least this ID what he says that he saidfor he tells the story with great gusto to his democratic and socialistic friends at home lour majesties said he I was bim in this country a a peasant almost within sight of this palace and your majesties were even then on the throne I i went to America a an emigrant emi-grant lad and when I was still very young made a vow that I would sometime some-time shake handr with a king I have more than carriel out my vow I have shaken hands with the queen also That will be good news to tell my peasant mother But your majesties have not suffered any disgrace I also king in own country and ara a kng my count ad with that the United States minister pp > 3ed onT on-T was a great sensation at court and the prime minister was inclined to ask for the recall of the offender as he believed he had intended to insult in-sult the king and Queen but the latter k vas not of that opinion They argued that no ins It was intended but simply sim-ply a little display of bra adocia and selfgratification from a man who had no sense of propriety and no knowledge of the etiquette of a court And i turned out to be so The minister was devoted to the interests of his native country and several times afterwards tiad the opportunity to show how much 4i te he respected its venerable sovereigns He is the author of one of the most appnjpriate tributes that was ever paiti to their character Declined to Do a Rome Does During the first administration of President Cleveland our minister to Italy was a gentleman from Ohio who was very learned and very eccentric He showed his contempt for appearances appear-ances by renting apartments over a j dairy stable for his residence and by wearing his old clothes for seven days wern in the week One of his most striking characteristics was a violent prejudice preju-dice against the Catholic church A venctrable American baker in Rome who had been in the habit of giving dinner on Thanksgiving day once invited in-vited mon other guests a cardinal who was famous for his interest in and affection for the American residents resi-dents of Home He had lived in the United States long enough to become thoroughly Americanized and There was no man more popular or more beloved be-loved in the American colony than he I so happened that he was detained fiat evening and did not arrive until the dinner was half over When he entered the room everyone as usual arose to give him a cordial greeting ard all the Catholics present knelt to kiss his ring The American minister who sat at the right of the host arcse from his chair with great dignity and looked upon the demonstrations with manifest contempt Then a his host returned t his seat at the table the p cter made a dignified bow and re rl id = You must excuse me sir I cannot permit myself to sit at a table with aPish a-Pish priest Goodnight Then to the astonishment of every one present he offered his arm ito his wife and left the room When < this gentleman arrived In Home he wore a most shocking hat a Trellwon and discolored felt affair with several holes in the crown where the folds came On the day appointed for hfia to present his credentials to King Hubert at the Quirinal the x clerks at tha legation were very much agitated over his appearance He had put on the regulation evening dress but his shint front was much soiled his collar was badly wiltM by the heat and the plain blac ribbon which he u ed for a necktie was frayed fray-ed around the edges But none of these defects w3 s apparent as the condition of his hat Yet the secretary f of legation who was a true diplomat ist eueceeded in correctIng that defect de-fect < wfthout giving any offense although al-though it cost him a few dollars While they wre on their way to te palace he tola the coachman to stop one of the principal oi at a hat store on rincpal 0 streets As they pulled up there the minister asked r What are you stopping here for To get a new bat returned her 7 he-r secretary My old one is looking very badly 3 I dont know tout I ought to get a nevy hat too remarked the minister Dthinkyou bad better replied theo the-o f rtr We will go in and get a pair of them J Together they alighted from the carriage ° car-riage and when they returned from r tooto tvbreperfectly polished1 I the bop lot rie1 ty oUshed u t silk tiles which created astonishment I when they returned to the legation 1 Shocked the Native Proprieties i A former minister to one of the South American republics ihorrified tee te-e populatlonby finding his tre popu3ionlby fding hs son employment in a machine shop connected con-nected with the government railroad The young nian was a mechanic by trade had worked dn the repair shops of a railroad where he came from and neltheihe nor his g father recognized any good reason why he should not Parsue an honest occupation in his new home I he had duly given i out that it was a fad he was following for amusement and not for pay there would have been no disgrace attached to his industry but the people had their ideas of what a gentleman should not do and could not reconcile them with the overhauls the grim hands and the dinner pail of the young American This little incident caused a great sensation at the capital where the gentleman lived and ladies and gentlemen old and young used to go to the railway shops to see the son of the American minister at work with other ordinary mechanics This same minister had a daughter who had been highly educated and was a graduate of a school for the training of teachers in one of the northwestern states After she had been In the new country for four or five months and had mastered the language her farther applied to the minister of public instruction who asa as-a member of the cabinet to give era er-a position 3 teacher in one of the public schools The latter suggested as politely as he could that i was not custom in that country for young ladies in official society to work for wages that most of the teachers were nuns or young women without social position and that his excellencys daughter might not like the company nor the noteriety that such an occupation occu-pation would give her The father replied re-plied that his daughter had been educated with the expectation and for the purpose of earning her own living liv-ing that she dId not court social honors and that she believed young women who were honorably employed were a great deal more entitled to the respect of their friends and the public than those who spent their time in indolence in-dolence or in the enjoyment of the frivolities of life The minister of public instruction was not prepared t meet that sort of argument and escaped further discussion dis-cussion by promising to see what could be done But the father was not to be put off In that way He soon addressed a formal application to the minister for a position for his daughter daugh-ter enclosing a testimonial from her instructor in Spanish certifying to her competency and copies of her diploma of graduation from the Normal school and her teachers certificate brought from the United States The minister of education brought the matter to the attention of the caJbinet and after consultation the minister of foreign affairs was instructed in-structed to advise the American envoy that it was not deemed expedient to grant his request He thereupon entered into a somewhat lengthy correspondence cor-respondence with the minister of foreign affairs which by the way is all spread upon the records of the legation le-gation with the evident purpose of convincing him of the dignity of labor and the right of every man and woman to earn their own bread without with-out forfeiting the respect and esteem of their friends and neighbors I believe although I am not certain that the young lady afterwards obtained ob-tained a position In the schools of the adjoining republic and proved to be a successful and popular teacher Upheld the Constitution at All Hours Another man who once held an honorable hon-orable position in our diplomatic service ser-vice was a very eccentric character from a western state who had the greatest admiration for the constitution constitu-tion of the United States and could repeat re-peat almost the whole df i from memory mem-ory He once hired a hall at the capital cap-ital where he was living and invited the prominent officials and leading statesmen of the country to listen to an address upon th merits of that venerated instrument Whenever hemet he-met a man of any Importance on the street In the shops on a railway train or a tramway at dinner parties or other social gatherings or anywhere else he selected the constitution as the topic of conversation and endeavored to convince everyone who would listen to him of the superiority of our form of government over that of any other nation He was a man of fluent speech and prodigious memory as well as patriotism but of no pride in his personal per-sonal appearance His garments were usually of the readymade variety and selected without regard to a fit His trousers were generally too short and his sleeves were usually too long That he wore white stockings and low shoes was only too apparent but his habitual lack of a shirt collar was concealed by a long beard He generally gen-erally carried a potbellied umbrella which he never opened but grasped firmly in his hand whenever he discussed dis-cussed the constitution and with it made the most violent srestures A young man from the United States I who brought letters of introduction to him and made the legation his headquarters I head-quarters took the liberty to send home I a very graphic description of the old gentlemans peculiarities which he illustrated il-lustrated with sketches that those who I knew him recognized as true to life The parents of this youth thought the communication so bright and interesting In-teresting that they gave i to the editor ed-itor of a newspaper and it appeared in print illustrations and all Of course some one sent a copy to the minister In fact he received several and recognizing recog-nizing the authorship immediately issued is-sued a bull of excommunication against the offending youth He also went so far 3 to have a circular printed which was mailed to all of the Americans in town advising them of the assault that had been committed apon the dignity of the representative of their government and forbidding them to harbor or associate with such an impertinent rascal But most of the American colony did not look upon the publication as seri ously as he did and instead of suffer suter ing ostracism the author found himself him-self quite a lon The newspapers were passed around from house to house with great amusement and the article was copied into two or three of the local lo-cal papers much to the dismay of the American minister A few days after the publication of the circular of ostracism os-tracism a beautiful woman from New Jersey who was the recognized leader of the American colony and whose husband was a wealthy merchant at the capital invited the Impertinent young American to a dinner party given in honor of an English lord then visiting the country Hearing of this fact the minister called at her house the next morning to enter his protest I and remonstrances which were so severe se-vere that when the husband came home for his luncheon he found his wife in tears Learning the cause of her distress he seized a revolver and started for the United States legation While on the way he met aji inlluential American gentleman whom he asked to accompany him as a witness of what might ocar for he announced his deteimlnrtiDn so compel l the minister minis-ter to apologise i on his knoo t 1 to shoot him through the heart The friend apprehending a tragedy accompanied companied the indignant husband on his way but succeeded in persuading him not to demand the apology in person per-son but in writing so that a record might be made Accepting this suggestion thq two gentlemen went to the club Instead where 3 proper demand was written and the friend started with it to the legation He described to the minister he furions indignation of the husband hus-band and advised him that if he did not make a prompt apology I would probably cost him his life The minister minis-ter asked a little time to think the matter over and discretion being the Deter part of valor took the first train for a neighboring seaside resort o conceal himself in3 hotel until he i Y c r could decide what to do After a few days reflection he telegraphed for the nearest United States consul and sent I him to the capital with a carefully framed apology which the Infuriated husband accepted and published not only in the newspapers but on large illuminated sheets which were pOlt don capital d-on all the dead walls and fences of the |