CHAPTER XXVIII

TOUR AROUND THE WORLD

SYRIA AND EGYPT

It had long been a cherished plan of Mrs. Foster and myself to make a journey around the world, and the conclusion of my labors before the Bering Sea Arbitration Tribunal seemed to offer the fitting opportunity. When I became Secretary of State in 1892, I gave up all my professional engagements and withdrew from the practice of law in Washington. Hence there were no business obligations requiring my early return to the United States. We were already well on our way, at Paris, for a circuit of the globe, and we determined upon the journey.

In order that we might not make it alone, I invited a lifelong friend from Indiana and his two daughters to accompany us. The young ladies, whom we had known from childhood, were just out of college, accomplished, attractive, and quick to see everything beautiful and interesting in life. During the months of our travel, in sunshine and storm, in enjoyment and weariness, among friends and strangers, we proved a congenial company, and made the most out of the countries through which we passed.

Our traveling companions joined us in Paris, which city we left on October 4, 1893, and for the sake of our companions, who had not been in Italy, we tarried a few days among the familiar but always interesting scenes of Nice, Rome, and Naples. We sailed from Brindisi for Alexandria on October 15. It had been our intention to go first to Athens and Constantinople, but a quarantine had only recently been established in those parts on account of the existence of cases of cholera in Italy, which changed our itinerary. I had once

before been foiled in my efforts to reach those ancient cities. After my residence in Spain, I left Paris in 1885 and made the long journey down to Brindisi, to be informed on my arrival that quarantine had been established in Greece that very day.

We spent only one day in Alexandria, as our connection was close for the steamer which was to take us to Jaffa and the Holy Land, but it was sufficient for a hasty view of the city. We found in port the United States cruiser Baltimore, and were very courteously received on board by the captain and other officers. This vessel had a special interest for me, as it was the crew of the Baltimore which were so cruelly attacked in the streets of Valparaiso, Chili, in 1891, and which caused such strained relations with the Government of that country as for a time to threaten a hostile termination. I was an active participant in the negotiations which brought about a peaceful settlement, and as Secretary of State I received from the Chilian Government seventy-five thousand dollars as an indemnity to the members of the crew who suffered from that attack.

I kept no diary of our journey from which I can draw for this narrative, but Mrs. Foster, who is a "ready writer," sent letters home to our daughters with great regularity, and as these have been preserved I shall take the liberty of quoting from them freely, as giving the freshest recollection of our experiences. From Beirut, Syria, she wrote, November 6, as follows:

MY DEAREST E―: I have sent you letters from Jaffa and Jerusalem, giving you an account of our novel and very interesting experience at those places and in our excursions to Jericho, the Jordan, the Dead Sea, Bethlehem, and other places in the neighborhood of Jerusalem. We came away from the Holy Land feeling how much more interesting and real those places of which we have heard from childhood will

be to us hereafter. We have had pointed out to us the scene of almost every event in Jewish Biblical history in that region, some of which are genuine and many fictitious, but we shall read our Bibles with new interest since having seen so many of these localities.

Coming back to Jaffa to take the steamer, we had the same sights as on landing. I thought I had seen narrow and dirty streets in Mexico and Spain, but these exceeded all I ever saw. And those crowded with donkeys and camels, Turks, Nubians, Greeks, Arabs, Jews, Abyssinians, negroes, all mingling together; women with thin-veiled faces peering at us; children all around, under and over the donkeys and camels - I never saw such a medley. Fortunately the sea was calm, and we got aboard our steamer without the fright I had on landing.

The night's sail brought us to this place, and as we were taking our coffee in the morning visitors were announced, and we went on deck to find the United States Consul's boat, flying the American flag, with the Vice-Consul (the Consul being absent) and Doctors Jessup and Eddy, of the Presbyterian mission, to welcome and escort us ashore. The few days we spent in Beirut were fully occupied in visiting the places of interest, examining the mission work, and the new Protestant college recently opened, built with money furnished by New York Christians.

We attended the mission services on Sunday, first the exercises in Arabic for the natives and at a later hour in English. A meeting of the students was held at the college, addressed by your father. They are of various nationalities and sects, and they are not required to attend, but more than three hundred of them crowded the chapel, and seemed interested. Your father's address was translated into Arabic as delivered. The exercises were interspersed with singing of hymns in Arabic to American tunes. The college promises to be very useful and successful. The buildings are beautifully

situated on a promontory overlooking the harbor and the

sea.

CAIRO, EGYPT, November 12.

I wrote you from Damascus of our most interesting excursion across the Lebanon and Anti-Lebanon mountain ranges to the ruins of Baalbec and to Damascus, the oldest city of the world. On our return to Beirut we visited the houses of two bankers - they were called the Vanderbilts of Beirut. In the first we were received by the gentleman of the house, who gave us lemonade on entering, then showed us through the lower rooms, and afterwards we were served with sweets (preserved ginger, dates, etc.) on an elegant gold service. Then we were taken through the rooms on the second floor, furnished in magnificent style. As we came down and took our leave we were served with Turkish coffee in lovely cups. (Coffee is offered us everywhere, even in the shops — fortunately the cups are tiny.) We made our adieux and thanks for his hospitality, and went across the street to another equally fine house, a real palace, where the lady (a Christian) received us, dressed in the very latest Parisian style, and we went through exactly the same experience, only we had raspberry vinegar instead of lemonade. These houses are all furnished from Paris in the most luxurious style. It was quite unexpected to see them in this distant quarter of the world. But Beirut is a flourishing and well-built city in modern style.

The evening before we left, our party were invited to the house of Dr. Jessup to meet the American colony; about thirty were present, mostly from the college and the mission. Refreshments were served and Dr. Jessup made a little speech, saying how much they had enjoyed our visit, and your father replied, thanking them all for their exceeding kindness and hospitality; Dr. Eddy offered a prayer for our safe journeying; and we sang "My Country, 't is of Thee." The next evening a number of our friends accompanied us on

board the ship, and after dark we sailed away. Our friends had provided us with "red-fire" matches, and as we steamed along the promontory in front of the college the answering signals from our friends on shore were seen far out at sea. This was our good-bye to Beirut and the kind friends we had found there. We can hardly expect to see the like elsewhere on our journeyings.

The next day we lay off Jaffa, but did not go ashore, as the weather was hot. The following morning we reached Port Said, where we took the small boat through the Suez Canal as far as Ismailia, and thence came to Cairo by rail.

During my visit to Palestine and Syria I gave special attention to the political and governmental conditions, and I reached the conclusion that, of all the countries I visited on this journey, with the exception of Korea the government of the Turkish Empire was the most corrupt, inefficient, and wretched. Since the establishment of Japanese administration in Korea, I hardly think that country should be excepted. The stories I heard in Syria respecting extortion in the collection of taxes were almost incredible. Bribery of the judiciary and of officials generally was unblushingly practiced. My visit was made in 1893, but I infer from my more recent experience that the evil still exists and prevails even at Constantinople. What effect the constitutional movement will have on this condition remains to be seen. When, at the Hague Peace Conference in 1907, a permanent arbitral court was being discussed, and it was proposed that Turkey should be allowed a member on the tribunal, diplomats who had resided at the Turkish Capital stated to me that no Christian Power could hazard the arbitration of its cause which would depend upon the decision of a Turkish judge, to whom corruption was so familiar.

In the region visited by me enterprise was discouraged; in many parts lawlessness was unrestrained; except in the few