"Your excellency," he continued,
"there is a communication of some in
portance which I have to make to
you on behalf of the imperial Japanese
government. I do so, for reasons
which this communication makes ap
parent in the presence of his excel
lency, the British ambassador."
And he handed the minister the red
envelope.
The American minister took the en
velope and, bowing, withdrew. He
hesitated at the door, and seemed de
sirous of addressing Sir Arthur, but
the latter hurried past him to his
apartment and we left together a few
minutes i&ter, as the thunder of guns
announced the accession of Yoshi
hito, the new emperor of Japan.
How nearly a great war between
Japan and America, and another be
tween the two English-speaking na
tions, was frustrated, becomes clear
from the following letter, which I re
ceived from Sir Arthur in Shanghai:
"The American minister called on
me at ten o'clock the morning of the
day you left.
"'I never heard that the Japanese
were an absent-minded people, Sir Ar-
thur,' he said, laughingly, 'but this ii
too good to hold. Permit me to show*
you what Count Okuma handed to me
last night. I telephoned to ask if a
mistake had beeii made, but the count
had been taken ill and was bed, his
secretary told me.'
"And he pulled the red envelope out
of his pocket and handed meCount
Okuma's laundry list! Three pairs ot
silk pajamas, a dozen linen handker
chiefs, and numerous other Items
prove that the count's Spartan sim
plicity is more apparent than real. No
wonder that Okuma was taken ill af
ter the discovery.
