In that moment you understand why men were glad to give up their lives and their fortunes for the sake of their kings, and you would be glad to drop on your knee or perform some act of self-abasement to relieve your own feelings. If these are the sensations that attack men when ordinary-looking people in ordinary-looking costumes come into the apartment, how much greater must the effect be after the long theatrical preparation which the Sultan makes his visitors pass through before they reach the presence.
The writer we have quoted from thus sums up the character of the Sultan:
"He is audacious and a coward, a dreamer and a man of business, a miser and a prodigal, a loving father and a sanguinary monster. In one day he condemned a nation to be slaughtered, signed a decree about decorating some ladies, and speculated in stocks, all with the same peaceful and contented manner."
There is a report in South Africa that Dr. Jameson, the leader of the Transvaal Kid, will run for a seat in the Cape Town Assembly at the next election, and that the chances are that he will be elected by a large majority.
The Boers are likely to have more trouble with such a firebrand as that helping to direct the affairs of a neighboring state.
At the same time the news comes that Mr. Cecil Rhodes, the man who is accused of having planned the raid, is seriously ill in his home in Cape Town, and not expected to live.
The Government of Siam has looked into the matter of the assault on Vice-Consul Kellet, and has decided to express regret to our Government that the trouble occurred.
We told you about this affair last spring. Vice-Consul Kellet went into the interior of Siam to settle the estate of Mr. Cheek, an American who had died in Siam, and who had left directions that Mr. Kellet was to arrange his affairs for him.