554 IN THE DIPLOMATIC SERVICE-V 



This restored their good humor, and I left them smil 

 ingly pondering over this nugget of Western wisdom. 



Interesting to me was the contrast between my two col 

 leagues from the extreme Orient. Then and since at Ber 

 lin I have known the Japanese Minister Aoki. Like all 

 other Japanese diplomatic representatives I have met, 

 whether there or elsewhere, he was an exceedingly accom 

 plished man: at the first dinner given me after my ar 

 rival in Berlin he made an admirable speech in German, 

 and could have spoken just as fluently and accurately in 

 French or English. 



On the other hand, Li Fong Pao, the Chinese represen 

 tative, was a mandarin who steadily wore his Chinese cos 

 tume, pigtail and all, and who, though jolly, could speak 

 only through an interpreter who was almost as difficult to 

 understand as the minister himself. 



Thus far it seems the general rule that whereas the 

 Japanese, like civilized nations in general, train men 

 carefully for foreign service in international law, mod 

 ern languages, history, and the like, the Chinese, like our 

 selves, do little, if anything, of the kind. But I may add 

 that recently there have been some symptoms of change 

 on their part. One of the most admirable speeches dur 

 ing the Peace Conference at The Hague was made by a 

 young and very attractive Chinese attache. It was in 

 idiomatic French ; nothing could be more admirable either 

 as regarded matter or manner; and many of the older 

 members of the conference came afterward to congratulate 

 him upon it. The ability shown by the Chinese Minister 

 Wu at Washington would also seem to indicate that China 

 has learned something as to the best way of maintaining 

 her interests abroad. 



This suggests another incident. In the year 1880 the 

 newspapers informed us that the wife of the Chinese min 

 ister at Berlin had just sailed from China to join her 

 husband. The matter seemed to arouse general interest, 

 and telegrams announced her arrival at Suez, then at 

 Marseilles, then at Cologne, and finally at Berlin. On 



