486 



The RiiviEW of Reviews. 



W. T. Stead in Oilskins at Hayling Island. 



Last winter Mr. Stead and ( met frequently ini 

 Constantinople while he was endeavouring " to get 

 up steam " for the war against the war which he was 

 then planning. And the ease with which his faith 

 moved mountains of difficulties astonished me. One 

 night he came to my hotel, his face radiant with jo}-. 

 " just fancy ! " he exclaimed. " I have carried my 

 point. Not only has the Sultan consented to head 

 the movement and subscribe a handsome sum toward 

 the expenses of the Delegation, but I am to have the 

 Shcikh-ul-Islam solemnly proclaiming a holy war 

 against the war in the Jlosque of St. Sophia. Won't 

 it be glorious ? " I ventured to point out that the 

 Sheikh-ul-Islam was perhaps unsophisticated, and 

 might make a false step which would damage the cause 

 in lieu of helping it. " Don"t ask him to appear in 

 the Mosque." I said. " nor to employ any of the formula 

 customary in promulgating a holy war. Be content with 

 the substance." He thought the matter over that night 

 and ne.xt da\-, and finally agreed that that part of the 

 programme could with advantage be dispensed with. 



Our last meeting took place on the 3rd of Januar}- 

 lliis year. He, my secretary and I lunched together at 

 the Ilolborn Restaurant. During lunch he told me 

 thrilling story of an apparition of Catherine the Great 

 and the sudden appearance of a talisman from Polanti 

 which brought ill-luck to everyone who possessed it. 

 " I have it now," he went on, " and I am curious to 

 sec whether any mischief will befall me, and if so wliat 

 shape it will take. Isn't it thrilling ? " Before lunch 

 was over it was a question of my keeping the talisman 

 (which I never saw) for a time to test its fatal potem \ . 

 r.ut 1 declined. That was the last I .saw of W. T. Slt.i.l. 



Nearly three months later, on the 21st of March, h- 

 penned his last letter to me. He wrote about tin- 

 recall of R. M. Tsharykoff, the Russian Ambassadtu 

 irom Constantinople, and the .speech which M 

 Sazonoff was expected soon to make, but which \v;i 

 not delivered until Friday. 36th .^pril. Dealing wiil 

 his own plans, he used the following prophetic word-- : 

 '■ 1 may be going to America on the Toth of .\pril 

 I have been meditating a run across to St. Petersburg 

 more than once this last month, hut jate seems to linvf 

 decided in favour of America." 



Fate ! Fate decided that W. T. Stead should : 

 as he had lived, one of the foremost champions of ih- 

 forces that build up, arrayed against the element- ! 

 destruction, and should conquer death bv death it-. 1 

 His end, like his life, was grandiose, heroic, lli 

 tidings, at once mournful and soul-stirring, whin 

 flashed across the wires, evoked a heartfelt respmiM 

 from one end of Russia to the other. Members of all 

 parties, of all classes, of all creeds and nationalities, 

 commemorated Stead with gratitude and pride, " Tlu 

 prince of European journalists," one publicist i alK 

 iiim ; " the soul of social reform " is the term ap|)lic.| 

 to him liy another, and " the genuine friend of Russi;^ 

 liy all. In the remotest towns his name is famili.. 

 In parts of Finland it is a household word. It uii 

 live in the world's hist()r\-. 



