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After a useful and eventful life he died, as every one knows, at the summit of his ambitions while he was British Minister in Peking. Just as the I.G. was going into the chapel for the service, one of the Legation Secretaries drew him aside to communicate a most important piece of news.
Suddenly he remembered that he was now Secretary of Legation, and with the examples set by several of his illustrious predecessors, he was not long in concluding there could be no harm in taking to his heels, and letting the landlord's concern about his bill offset for the shabby table he set. Also, the general had promised to make him as good a soldier as he had been a critic!
Mamen had spent several years there, and for six weeks they had had as guests Messrs. A. M. Guptil and E. B. Price, of Peking. Mr. Guptil was representing the American Military Attache, and Mr. Price, Assistant Chinese Secretary of the American Legation, had come to Urga to establish communication with our consul at Irkutsk who had not been heard from for more than a month.
Steene-Billé, however, was of opinion that the application, if made at all, should be made through the American legation at Copenhagen; but he expressed at the same time a confident opinion that, owing to the condition and political relations of Denmark, the application would necessarily prove unavailing.
When he went to the porter's lodge to ask if that was the place where the office of the American legation was held, the woman who kept the lodge, and who was standing just outside the door at the time, instead of answering, went in to look at the clock. "Ah," said she, "you are just in time. I thought you were too late. Second story, right-hand door."
I remember that I was only mildly interested at this; everything was so bouleverse and curious that a little more could not matter. It was like in a dream. Tramping back, the Austrian sailors crowded into the French Legation and all round their lines and threw themselves down. One man was so drunk from lack of sleep that he tumbled on the ground and could not be made to move again.
The Mirza was carried off to prison before the Minister knew of the occurrence, but, on being informed, he promptly made a strong remonstrance against the violation of international privilege. The fullest satisfaction was at once given; the Chief of Police called and apologized, and the prisoner was released and sent to the Legation.
North of Shiraz you are in a distinctly foreign country. Our officials hail from the Foreign Office and belong to the legation of Teheran. You are no longer under British protection, you are in the dominions of the Shah. But so long as you are on the shores of the Gulf you are, so to speak, in India.
The result was that for ten minutes armed men of all nationalities poured into the British Legation, until every rifle-bearing effective was standing there, all jabbering in a mass, and not knowing what it was all about.
The result was that my beginning of real study in American history was made by a very close examination of the life and writings of Thomas Jefferson, including his letters, messages, and other papers, and of the diplomatic history revealed in the volumes of correspondence preserved in the Legation.
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