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REVIEW OF REVIEWS. 



pursued. So signal a confirmation of 

 the trustworthiness of the communica- 

 tions made to me on that occasion was 

 aftorded by the subsequent events of his 

 reign that when it came to a close that 

 same statesman who had derided me for 

 my credulity told me in the handsomest 

 manner that he had been entirely wrong, 

 and that I had been absolutely right. 



THE ONLY MAN TO DISMISS THE TSAR. 

 I must confess that I look back to 

 that episode in my career with consider- 

 able satisfaction. There was no under- 

 taking expressed or implied that I 

 would support the policy of the Em- 

 peror. He asked nothing from me, and 

 I only asked from him the exact truth 

 in order that I might avoid misleading 

 my countrymen. He told me the exact 

 truth, and as a result, during all the 

 rest of his reign, I was able to speak 

 with absolute certainty where all the rest 

 of my colleagues were compelled to rely 

 upon inference and conjecture. 



The interview was for some reason 

 kept absolutely secret, and until the day 

 the Tsar died father never permitted 

 himself to state in print that he had 

 even so much as spoken to him. Curi- 

 ously enough the story of the visit was 

 first spoken about when the Kaiser 

 visited St. Petersburg. Alexander III. 

 was much amused at the termination of 

 the interview, and, in telling his German 

 visitors of father's unwitting breach of 

 Court etiquette, said that the English 

 journalist was the only man who had 

 ever dismissed him. 



HIS THREE AMBASSADORS. 

 Father found a very true and loyal 

 friend in the late Sir Robert Morier, and 

 the two spent much time together. 

 Father never again found a British Am- 

 bassador there so much in sympathy 

 with his ideals. Fortunately, though, 

 when he visited St. Petersburg in later 

 years, he met American Ambassadors 

 after his own heart. He always said 

 that he had a great advantage over most 

 Englishmen who travelled in Europe. 

 They had only one Ambassador ; he had 

 three in every capital — the British, the 

 American (whom he always regarded as 

 his own), and the Russian. It is an in- 

 teresting fact to recall that it was almost 

 always either the American or the Rus- 



sian Ambassadors who were most help- 

 ful to him. I think, perhaps, the British 

 were a little afraid of him. When I 

 toured Europe with him, it was Mr. 

 Tower, the American representative in 

 St. Petersburg, he relied on most. It was 

 the Russian Charge d' Affaires at Con- 

 stantinople, who took us without trouble 

 through the customs. It was the Russian 

 representative at the Vatican he found 

 most useful. In Vienna it was Baron 

 de Bildt, the Scandinavian [Minister, and 

 in Berlin Mr. White, the historian and 

 philosopher, who had charge of Ameri- 

 can interests, proved his best friend. 

 But everywhere it was the Times corres- 

 pondents who rejoiced to meet him, and 

 give him most information. It was 

 astonishing to find how many of them 

 had either been trained under him on 

 the Pall Mall Gazette, or had been 

 helped by him at different times during 

 their careers. But to get back to the in- 

 terview. 



A BREACH OF ETIQUETTE. 

 I shall never forget, said father, the 

 expression of mingled horror and amuse- 

 ment on Sir Robert's face when, on re- 

 turning from Gatschina to the British 

 Embassy, I told him how the interview 

 had terminated. " You don't mean to 

 say you dismissed the Emperor?" he ex- 

 claimed, "it's perfectly monstrous!" 

 " Well," I said, " I don't know about 

 that, but I knew the Empress had been 

 kept waiting for her lunch for half-an- 

 hour or more. As I had got through all 

 the questions I wished to put to the Tsar, 

 I got up, thanked him for his patience 

 and kindness, and said I would not de- 

 tain him any longer." " You did, did 

 you?" said Sir Robert. "Don't you 

 know that it is an unpardonable breach 

 of etiquette even to stir from your seat 

 until the sovereign gives you the signal 

 to rise?" " I know nothing about that," 

 I replied, " I only knew that when I saw 

 the Emperor smile as he got up, I had 

 been an idiot for my considerateness. If 

 I had only sat still he might have gone 

 on talking for another half-an-hour, and 

 one does not talk to an Emperor every 

 day." 



RESCUING TOLSTOY. 

 From St. Petersburg and the Tsar, 

 father went straight to Moscow and 

 Tolstoy, and stayed for some days with 



