Show A VERY POPULAR CHINAMAN the opinion prevails that the appointment of wu ting fang to be councilor to the foreign office will secure to his country sagacity knowl edge and adroitness not only but also a profound sense of justice in dealing with other nations here he strove to keep china and the united states close friends in his new position he may it be trusted to labor for the peace of the r T orld it all were like mr wu no de denind den ind nd could arise in any quarter for laws fo for r the f elusion of chinese no other chinaman ever F was so popular in this country as Is wu ting fang the fame was perhaps more nearly world wide of LI U hung chang m who ho gave wu his first office which became the stepping stone in the foreign and home service of the chinese empire born near canton about 60 years ago after training in the local schools wu went to england in 1874 where he studied law and was admitted as a barrister on bis his return to china he took high rank as a lawyer while he was zealous in promoting modern enterprises and was the leader in building the first railroad in that vast domain his career received a marked impulse from a visit to the united states in 1877 five ears later he became viceroy of the province of chihli when in 1897 he came to washington as minister from china he at once won uon favor as a diplomat his commission was addressed not only to the united states but to spain mexico and peru as well while he was wel corned coined at all the embassies in washington beyond any other of their mem bers he was at home in all classes of society his manners are elegant and he lie Is a first class mixer at public banquets his style of oratory wins applause while he drops the formality of his colleagues from other lands and Is not too proud to respond to calls from mens men s church clubs for or familiar talks he Is skilled in the learning of tho orient and holds his own with western scholars as the de gree of LL D from the university of pennsylvania bears witness he uses the english language with grace and force without loss of dignity he hub bles with joyous humor and is quick and skillful in repartee A vegetarian in practice he argues that such a diet brings happiness and insures long life his service as minister in washington lasted tor for about seven years with a brief interval and in 1900 he distinguished himself in a peace mission to tg japan his official receptions it if less formal than those of other chief em balsies were quite as elaborate and more largely attended when he was recalled on an the change of government in pekin regret was tore more general in washington than a gap in any other embassy would have caused I 1 F DIPLOMAT OF THE VATICAN no man perhaps occupies a more prominent place in the international limelight today than the cardinal secretary of state of the holy see his eminence rafael merry del val whose diplomatic dispute with spain has engaged world wide interest A the cardinal Is a londoner by birth and the blood of celt briton and spaniard flows through his veins his father who was secretary of the spanish embassy in london when the cardinal was born Is descended from an irish family which emigrated to spain at the end of the century while afie his grandmother on the mothers side was a miss willcox daughter of 0 a former member of the british parliament cardinal merry del val was educated in eng land belgium and italy and won degrees in philosophy theology and canon law whilo a young man he became a of the late pope leo XIII and was sent by him on several important missions he was one of the representatives to the holy see at the jubilee of queen victoria and at the funeral of emperor william of germany and also depre dented the vatican at the jubilee of emperor francis joseph of austria and at the coronation of the late king edward of england in 1892 be was ap pointed camerieri Camer leri lerl participants which Is an office not unlike that occupied by the lords in waiting wafting to a king and which entailed his taking up his residence within the vatican itself previous to this he was appointed by the queen hegent regent of spain as religious instructor to her daughters and he prepared the present king alfonso tor for his confirmation his ills most important mission was mas that to canada in 1897 in connection with the burning question of the manitoba schools a mission which was mas most successfully accomplished shortly after the death of pope leo XIII the present pontiff appointed him secretary of state and he has had to deal with grave situations since in france germany spain and portugal he ile Is a linguist speaking english spanish italian french and german fluently and Is an indefatigable worker he was created a cardinal in 1893 AUTHOR HONORED BY KING when at marlborough house the other day king george V invested thomas hardy with the order of merit the act was mas not perfunctory or inspired bj b political influence it was a sincere tribute of admiration from a reader to a favorite author for the king holds hardy a works in high esteem and Is said to be familiar with them all there is no indication at the present moment that the reign of george V will be remembered especially tor for its contribution to literature as were mere the reigns of elizabeth and anne or as was the reign of victoria the great men of the vie vic torian era have all passed away and now pow that t they ey are gone a lower sky line gives prominence A to some names that under earlier conditions though highly rated by limited constituencies would not have been seen afar were an edu bated reader asked today to name the leading english nove novelist lift his choice would be likely to tall fall upon hardy who began to be known to the general reader in the early seventies and who Is still writing though on different differ eit lines from those of his earlier work worl he was born in 1840 and after a fair amount of schooling including private tuition in I 1 alln and french and evenings at kings college was articled to an ecclesiastical architect at the age of sixteen he ile was prizeman of the royal InAl institute tute of british architects in 1863 but at that date had bad begun writing verse his first novel was published in in 1872 appeared under the greenwood tree the next year A pair of blue eyes and far from the madding crowd in 1874 two bears ears after his marriage to emma niece of gifford hardy has had other experience of life than that obtained as a student of church architecture and as a writer for years he served in the bial capacity capaci tj ot of justice of the peace tor for dorset F VIRGINIAS NEW SENATOR claude A swanson former governor of mr ginia has been named by governor mann to sue aeed the late senator daniel virginia a able representative in the upper branch of the na lional legislature the term expires next march there was mas practically no opposition to the selection of mr swanson he was serving as a member of congress when he was drafted by the virginia democrats a few years ago to run tor for governor he ile will be a candidate tor for the full term to succeed himself both mr and mrs swanson are social leaders in richmond and vt A ashington mr swanson was born march 31 21 1862 in swansonville Swan sonville pittsylvania Pitt sylvania county va and he has had a varied career from college he went to work as clerk in a danville grocery later law and five ears after graduation was elected to congress from the fifth virginia district he lie was mas elected governor of virglnia Virgl ria in 1905 by a larger majority iry ny governor go vernoi has received since the civil war mar AM jt |