COURT AND SOCIETY.

Evening Post, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 88, 13 April 1912, Page 10

COURT AND SOCIETY.

DIPLOMATIC REMINISCENCES. The author r>f "Intimacies of Court and Society" prefeis to remain anonymous/ but as wo are told that she in the widow ot an American diplomat and that her twenty years ol official wanderings include five European capitals, Canudy, and Washington, the proccess of identification should not be very difficult (cays the Argonaut). Sho tells us that her record is that of a woman who has gone up and down the world among hoi 1 friends, and who'now writes of her recollections of the men and women who are living out their lives as the rulers of nations. Unfortunately, sho leaves us still in duubt as to the extent to which a diplomat's wife shares in the political uecrots of her husband. In this respect the author is either discretion p'ei'6onified, or she has nothing to reveal She doea, indeed, tell lm that after her husband's first royal interview she asked him anxiously, "And what did the king: say?" and received the reply that his majesty^ had said several things, "but the principal one was that he had the finest baby boy ever born." But that can hardly bo called a disclosure. CHINESE AMBASSADOE. The author does not tell us the scene of her first State dinner except that it was at a Court in the far north of Europe, but it was marked by a repartee from the Chinese Ambassador that might have been foreseen : — "The I excitement had made me so tired tha'/, ; after we reached the palace and stood waiting for the king and queen to enter, ■ I said thoughtlessly to the Chinese Ambassador, who wae standing near, ' 'I would drop dead if I had to stand this way with my feet bound like those of the women of your country.' 1 re- ' member that he surveyed me with the calm, impenetrable gaze of the Oriental, glancing then at a group of women in I front' of us, whose tiny waists were quite out of proportion to their shoulders, as he said cjuietly, 'Do you think our custom of binding the feet more barbarous than yours of torturing the body with steel corsets tike that ?' " A GRAND DUCHESS. We have some good stories of,, the Grand Duchess Vladimir, who seems to be an exceptionally clever woman. It was she who first received Mme. Wittc, in spite of her birth, that wae both Jewish and lowly : — "At a dinner in St. Petersburg in honour of a visiting royal prince, the gentleman who sat next to the Grand Duchess Vladimu- was tactless enough to remark, holding his champagne glass up to the light, ' What is the matter with it, it doesn't sparkle? . The trouble was probably du,e to the chef having sent in an inferior wine, while charging his master for the bost — bufc the hostess, hearing it, Hushed with anger, whereupon the,' Grand Ducheee, , with inimitable tact, 'to save the situation, as well as coquetry, put her little finger into the glass and asked, ' Now have I made it ail right V Although a grandmother, and now a widow, sho is still beautiful, and one of the best shots in Europe, her gowns and jewels are celebrated, and the entertainments at her house are the most original and dashing of the season." We get some interesting lights upon the domestic side of the German court. The author tells us that her husband was once sent for by the Emperor to discuss some point of international law. As he was aoout to ascend the stairs ho was confronted by the Crown Prince riding jnadly^dowp the. .balustrade, but only to be caught at the toot by a servant and carried away into another room, where a very audible chastisement took place, j When the Emperor finally appeared with > flushed face he discoursed for an hour on tho subject of domestic discipline, and the point of international law was forgotten. j • CECIL RHODES.. "Cecil Rhodes, come years afterwards, waa telling us about his audience with tho Kaifi&r, remarkable because the visitor was allowed to. do most of the.talking. Rhodes had gone to Berlin to in-, epect some electrical works near the city, and the Emperor sent for him through the British Ambassador, who, however, made his demands for court drees so imperatively that Rhodes refused to go unless in his ' everyday '

clothes. 1 remember Mr. Rhodes saying that he was so annoyed at the Ambassador'fl ' flunkeyiem '—as ho called it — that he welit further than he ought to have- done, and purposely walked into the audience chamber with his slouch hat tucked unrlcr his arm, and sat down at once, which to be- before Iho Kaiser did. But,, naturally onough, this independence quite won Willia.ni ll. 's heart, and he entered into a long and intimate conversation about English affairs, finally demanding, 'Now, why is it that I am not popular in England?' The South African waj> enough of a diplomat to reply that Hi& Majesty had many frionds in England, but the question was persisted in, and then followed up with, ' What can I do to make myself popular?' 'Suppose* you just try doing nothing,' Rhodes had answered before he thought The Kaiser frowned ominously, his piercing eyeb upon his visitor; then h« felapp-ed him on the baqk and broke into laughter. Ho saw the joke." KING GEORGE AND QUEEN MARY. The author was in London when King | George opened his first Parliament, and she describes the occasion effectively :— "It was getting late, but at last there was a blast of trumpets, 'everyone was on the alert, the great doors wore thrown open, und a long procession began marching past us, and finally the King and Queen. They woro clasping hands and bowing right and left, as the men saluted and the women dropped low curtseys, the Queen stately and erect, her beautiful figure a worthy setting for the royal gems <;h<\ wore- tor the first time, her face somewhat shy und timid, and yet resolute and severe; the King ' ioher and visibly oppressed. They kept step together, but still the Queen appeared to take the lead I was reminded , of the first time I had seen them, years ago, when, as Prince and Princess of Wales, -they opened a new public building in one of the London suburbs and afterwards went into the manager's private room to sign the register. The Prince, diffident as usual, was staring 1 around him instead of writing his name, when I heard the Princess whisper, 'Buck up, George.* " AMERICAN AMBASSADRESSES. The author tells us of her impressions when she first realised the number of American women who had married into the foreign diplomatic service. She was inclined to draw auguries of an increasing American influence, but upon this point she was to be undeceived — "I was oxulling over what seemed to my vivid girlish imagination would be a veritable invasion in Europe of my country's ideas aud political prestige. But the old ambassador put his hand affectionately on my arm — he had known me since my babyhood days— and said, 'You are quite mistaken, my child. An American woman married to a Frenchman soon becomes a Frenchwoman, not only before the law, but in fact. And so with the one who marries a German, an Englishman, a Russian, an Italian, even more so than the women of Europe who marry outside their country. How much ol it is duo to- what I was about to call the American woman's fatal gift of assimilation, 1 can not say. But it is a subject I have, studied long and at first hand.' " EMPRESS OF- CHINA'S DRESS. Tho author's diplomatic experiences include an incident that was in public knowledge at the time, but that may well be related again :—: — "I remember one evening reception in Europe soon after the allied troops had returned from China, ' bringing with them, as everybody knows, many rare treasures stolen from the Imperial palaces. The reception was at the homtj of • a member of tho 'diplomatic/ corps, and a late arrival was' the Chinese AmI bassador, appearing for the first tim« I after the termination' of the war. A few moments after he had 'been wel- - coined,, and as he stood surrounded by a group of distinguished people, who were congratulating him upon the return of peace, an American woman, wan announced. "The Ambassador caught sight of her instantly, and hie agitation was pain« ful to see. For she wore the Coronation robes of the Empress. of China. They had been iooted_ from the palace through the connivance of an army officer, who had openly boasted of the splendid bargain ho had made for them. The woman was actually making her way up to the 4mbassador when he sank trembling into a chair, and a mem-

ber ot tho American £mbaesy staff niched up and led her in another direc,tloiu while the host told a footman in an audible voico to order tho lady's carriage. Slip luft tho house,' and we all thought it tho most disgraceful thing wo had over witnessed. , But in ispoaking about it in America, I was astoniebed to find many people lake tho woman's part." i ,