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Show Secretary Foster's Book EX-SECRETARY OF STATE John W. Foster Fos-ter has written his memories of service and diplomacy under nine presidents. He notes with pride that he has been honored with a commission by every president from Lincoln to Roosevelt, with the exception of Johnson. His sketches cover half the world from China to Mexico, Mex-ico, and contain personal memories of men as widely diverse as Alexander II, Diaz, Li Hung Chang, Alfonso XII, Grant, Ito and Roosevelt. He gives Secretary Hay the credit of stopping the partition of China and the Insistence on the withdrawal of the allied forces in 1900. Secretary Secre-tary Hay told General Foster that when he proposed pro-posed to Mr. McKinley the plan for the autonomy of China, which was afterwards effected, the president pres-ident replied: "I don't know about that. May we not want a slice of it if it is divided?" But Hay persisted and insisted and carried his point. He says it was Hay who first proposed to release re-lease China from the American share of the enormous enor-mous indemnity exacted at the point of the bayonet. bay-onet. H did not live to consummate that proposal, pro-posal, but x oster says when the Chinese minister, after his death, called President Roosevelt s attention at-tention to it, the president assured him It should be carried out. "For," said he, "I know it was near to John Hay's heart." He says: "Upon McKinley's shoulders alone rests the responsibility and the credit, according to the point of view, of our Philippine adventure." He says: "Secretary Hay told me that he cabled the president from London before sailing to enter on his duties as secretary of state, not to hold any part of the Philippines except what was necessary nec-essary for a naval station, and that such would have been the action of the peace commissioners at Paris, but for the president's express instructions." instruc-tions." He tells the part which two women played in American history and how their intervention resulted re-sulted in the humiliation of two of its famous figures. He thinks the greatest political mistake Grant ever made was in consenting to become a candidate for a third term. He says Grant was opposed to it, and ascribes to Mrs. Grant's Influence In-fluence his final and reluctant consent. The other victim was Blaine. He did not want to become a candidate against Harrison in 1892, and only a few days before the convention met he told Foster sincerely that he would not accept a nomination because of his failing health. And .v "Sfwed that it was Mrs. Blaine that overruled H s$(pfftrled him to his disastrous defeat." M We can well believe that, because considering M the nature of Blaine's death, we suspect that' at M that time he knew a fatal disease was upon him M and that he must soon, if he lived, lose the bril- M Mancy and the magnetism which had been his M charm all his life. M He declares that the execution of Sophie Prof- J sky for particpation in the assassination of Alex- M ander II was an imitation of what the United H States did with Mrs. Surratt. He says: "When H it was first proposed to execute the woman, pro- fl tests came in from all parts of Russia and peti- H tlons to commute her sentence." Finally M. D. H Giers came to General Foster and asked for the H details of the execution of Mrs. Surratt, for com- H plicity in the Lincoln assassination, and as to the H practice in the United States concerning the hang- B ing of women. What he learned apparently de- H cided the government.; , H After the execution of Profsky, Baron Jonlnl H of the foreign office told General Foster that the H government "had followed the example of the H United States in the case of Mrs. Surratt." He ',H adds: "I did not fail to tell both him and M. D. H Giers that a large part of the people of our coun- H try condemned that execution." H He says the present czarina is very unpopular " H with the Russians, in these words: "She is the H granddaughter of Queen Victoria of England, has H had a strict moral training and has not readily H taken to the freer life of St. Petersburg. Her ac- 1 H tion in causing the state balls to be changed from .H Sunday night, her abhorance of cigarette smoking H for the court ladies, and other of her views re- H specting social affairs, have given her the reputa- H tion of prudishness. She is called 'the foreigner,' M and the fact is cited that only English is spoken H in the imperial family, in contrast with the exclu- H sive use of Russian in the family of Alexander H H He was with Li Hung Chang when a Japanese H fanatic attempted to kill that statesman during H the peace negotiations at Shimonoseki, following JM the Chino-Japanese war. While his life was still H hanging In the balance, ho and General Foster had H a conversation, of which the general gives this H report: H "He did not seem concerned about his life or H worried about the pain he was suffering. What H weighed upon his mind was that he, the greatest H man in the greatest empire of the world, had H been shot down on the public streets of a foreign H city by a miserable wretch, a common assassin, a H man of no rank or standing. 'I am disgraced,' he M said. 'I am neither protected nor respected in H this land. I ought to have remained at home. I H have lost face with my people.' And he seemed H little reconciled when I insisted that the wound H which he had received in the face must ever be H regarded as a mark of honor, an insignia, a sign H of the great and perilous service he had rendered H his emperor." H Here is a story of Count Witte. "An amusing H Incident occurred during our interview. In the M midst of our conversation the telephone bell on , M his desk sounded and he asked me to excuse him M to answer the call. A" brief conversation in Rus- ' sian took place in the instrument and ho hung up H the receiver with an impatient jerk and remarked 1H to me, 'It is a girl,' and resumed the discussion H as if nothing had occurred. In a few minutes !S the cannon from all points of the fortress were M H M booming with the news of another addition to H the imperial family." M The book is full of good stories beside the im- M portant historical matters which it contains. It M Is something like General Schurz's reminiscences. H One of his stories exhibits Blaine in a frolicsome H mood. M One evening in 1872, Foster was a guest at din- H ner in the home of Mr. Blaine, then speaker of WM the house. George M. Robeson, the secretary of M the navy, prided himself on being a great connois- H seur of wine and his favorite was Madeira. Mr. m Blaine told bis wife she must be sure to serve M that wine, and when she replied there was not a Hj bottle in the house, he replied: "Well, send to M the grocer and get some, as we must have it." B That evening at dinner the speaker saw Robe- - son in the act of testing the aroma of the Madeira, IH and said: "Robeson, I hope jou will like that Madeira. It has. a history." And then he proceeded pro-ceeded to invent a story of how it belonged to a Ll choice vintage and had been around the world in Hp a sailing vessel to temper its quality, had been T brought to Washington by a European diplomat; H had been bought at the sale of his effects when M he left this country, by a retired commodore of B the navy, and lay in his cellar for years; and how m he, Blaine, had received a few bottles from tho m commodore and they were now drinking the last 1 of those bottles. 1 Robeson, the great connoisseur, listened with m marked attention, said he knew from its delicate H aroma and delicate taste it must have a histo'ry, B and proceeded to praise it in extravagant terms. H Blaine never afterward lost an opportunity to tell 1 the story on Robeson when the latter was pres- H Another story is how one day Lowell asked M Mrs. Foster if there was any famous Englishman B she wished to meet. She said she would rather M meet Tennyson than any other person in Eng- H "You are a great admirer of Tennyson?" an- H swered Lowell. "Well, you take my advice. I t doubtless could arrange a meeting for you, but H I would advise against it, as your ideal of him H might be dispelled if you meet him. Of late he H has grown careless in his dress, and cross. He H has been much annoyed by Americans and other H strangers coming to see him, and he Is not al- H ways polite. He is gruff and surly. We might H strike him in fine humor, but more likely not, H and you will always regret the interview. So, H remember him as ou have him in your imagina- B Ex-President Roosevelt has been accused of be- H ing vindictive and relentless in his political quar- H rels. Mr. Foster tells a story of him that puts H him In a somewhat different light. That fine old S confederate, Senator Morgan, had secured from , President Cleveland the appointment as post- ' master at Selma, Alabama, his old town, for the H impoverished widow of an old army comrade. H flV When the Republicans cai into power the spoilers made a strong effort to snatch it from her. They were fooled, but every four years it became more difficult to keep her and, finally, the postmaster general decided to yield to the politicians. politi-cians. At this time Morgan was daily and vehemently assailing Roosevelt in his policies in the senate. General Foster one evening at the White House told Roosevelt the story. "Does the senator want the woman re-appolnted?" asked the president. Foster replied that he was quite anxious about it. "It shall be done at once," said the president. "Send me a note in the morning to remind me of it." General Foster is a most distinguished man, perhaps all around the ablest representative the United States ever sent to foreign countries. His book should be splendid reading for the whole American people. |