ANECDOTES OF GREAT MEN.

Otago Witness, Issue 1847, 15 April 1887, Page 31

ANECDOTES OF GREAT MEN.

DISEAELI AND BISMAECK. Count 'Vitzthum, who was Saxon envoy in St. Petersburg and London during the time that'Herr yon Beust conducted the policy--of -Saxony, has published some more of his , diplomatic reminiscences. They include the following interesting recollection of the year 1862 : — " Among the princely personages who visited the International Exhibition in London was the Grand Dnke of SaxeWeimar. The Kussian Envoy, Baron Brunnow, gave a great dinnerin his honour, and I was present. Among the guests was the Prussian Minister in Paris, Hen 1 yon Bis-marck-Schonhausen, who after dinner had a long conversation with Disraeli. The leader of the Opposition gave nic the foUowring,account of this conversation: — ' I shall

shortly be- compelled,' ithe .states-:' man spoke - nearly 1 -irf ' these J ' terms—* to" undertake the Presidency of the* Prussian Government. My -first care will '"be to reorganise the army, with or without the help of the Diet. The King has with right imposed this task upon himself, but' with his present counsellors he canripr discharge it. With the army placed "in a position* to enforce respect, I shall seize j upon "'the first pretext for declaring war against Austria, breaking up the. German Federation, subjecting the minor- States, and of .giving Germany national unity under Prussia's guidance. I have come here in order, to tell Queen's Ministers this.' Disraeli's commentary on* this programme, since carriedout step by step, was (says Count Vitzthum) : 4 Take care of that man ; he means what he says,'." GENERAL GRANT'S LITTLE JOKE. Miss Hulda Bond, of Brooklyn, is an autograph collector of more than ordinary pertinacity. The manner in which she secured General Grant's is interesting. The General was at the time sick with the disease that resulted in his death ; but, nothing daunted, Miss Bond called at his residence, sent in her card, and obtained an interview- with the' General's wife. Miss Bond impressed Mrs Grant so favourabiy that when she brought cut her album and said : "Do you think the General would add his name to rhy collection?" the latter replied that she would see, and went up stairs. On returning, Mrs Grant said : •• I told the General of your pleasant call, and he took the album, and, glancing over it, read the few, lines written by a little boy five years old, as follows :—: — " ' And me, too, wish in your album to appear, , And do excuse ray funny letters, cousin dear ; For I'm only five years old, and in skirts as yet, But when I'm six, my first pants I am to get, And then I'll be a big man, I sure, , And write as nice as I see Grover Cleveland's signature. U. S. Bond. 1 "And; after reading them he called for a pen and wrote after the boys signature: 'And'U. S. Grant.' The situation was so humorous," added Mrs Grant, that the General burst into laughter for the first time in weeks." AN ANECDOTE OF LOUIS NAPOLEOK. I was lately told by a Southern gentleman, I writes a correspondent of the Philadelphia ! Telegraph, a very enrious story, going to prove how thoroughly duped and deceived was Napoleon 111 at the close of his reign, and how gigantic were the frauds and peculations then being carried on by the Imperial oflitials. This gentleman's father had been on intimate terms with Louis Napoleon when he resided in the United States, and the future Emperor had often been his guest on his plantation in Louisiana. My friend was travelling in Europe in the year 1869, and arriving in Paris, and wishing to be presented- to the Emperor, whom he well remembered as having, when a boy, seen at his ! father's house, ,he wrote to one of the Imperial chamberlains, setting forth his desireand also the facts of the case. The Emperor, whose - kindly feeling for the friends of his adversity was well-known, at once granted him a private interview. The -French sovereign and the American citizen conversed long and pleasantly, and when the latter rose to take leave Napoleon asked him as to his next point of destination. "lamon my way to England, sire," was the reply. " Then," said the Emperor, " I wish ycu would go to the establishment of Messrs M. the great gunmakers, and ask them, how the order sent them from our War Office for 250,000 guns is progressing. They ought to be nearly completed by this time." The American undertook the commission, and called as requested at the office of the firm. The clerk to whom he first addressed his question simply laughed in his face. " You must be out of your senses," he said. " Such an order has never been given, and the guns do not exist." My countryman became indignant, and insisted upon seeing one of the members of the firm. Mr M. the senior partner, was summoned, but could only confirm the statement of the clerk. " I assure you, sir," he said, courteously, " that we have never received "an order of any kind from the French Government for so much as a single gun." Yet those guns had been paid for, though unordered and nonexistent. A striking proof was this incident of the peculations that took place during the later years of the Empire. My friend forwarded a statement of the facts to Napoleon 111, but doubtless all precautions had been taken to prevent any such information from reaching the deluded sovereign, whose bright days were then fast drawing to a close. INFERIORITY OF THE SONS OF CELEBRATED MEN. The inferiority of the sons of celebrated men has often been remarked, and the comparative obscurity of the sons of Alexander, Cicero, Napoleon, Sheridan, Burke, and other leaders of their times, certainly' argues little for the theory of hereditary genius. But it would seem that the degree of talent was much influenced by the mother ; for it is a curious fact that where the" mother has been remarkable for intelligence, the son has seldom failed of the posseasion of ability,' even where the father was undistinguished. liOok at Lord Bacon ; his mother was daughter .to Sir Anthony Cook; she was. skilled in many languages, and translated and wrote many books which displayed learning, acuteness, and taste. Hume the historian mentions his mother, daughter of Sir D. Falconer, President of the College of Justice, as a woman of " singular merit," and who, although in the prime of life, devoted herself to-his education. Mrs Frances Sheridan, the mother of our I great play-writer, was a woman of considerable abilities. It was witing a pamphlet in j his defence that first introduced her to Mr ' Sheridan, afterwards her husband. ' She also wrote a novel that was very highly spoken of by Johnson. • Schiller's mother was an amiable woman ; she had a strong relish for ! the beauties of nature, and was passionately fond of music and poety. Schiller. was her favourite child. Goethe thus speaks of his parents : " I inherited from my father a certain sort of eloquence, calculated to enforce nay doctrines to' my auditors ; frpid my mother I derived the f aculty of - representing-

all that the imagination can conceive' wiih' ' energy and vivacity." . •" /!- ' v1"v 1 " Sir Walter Scott's mother was a woman df ; accomplishment." She had a good taste for,-' - and wrote poetry, which appeared, in print ' in 1789. Napoleon's father was a man of, no ' peculiar mind, bu his ■ mother was distin- , guished for her understanding. [ '. / ■ The moral to be drawn from all this,*if; men desire to have clever sons, they should" marry clever women 1111 11; 1 -but -it is an expen- 1;^1 ;^ ment that we do not altogether recommend. *: If they desire to lead" quiet' lives they had' perhaps better leave marriage alone, _