,
themselves of high rank and distinguished name, to realize, on being
reverently ushered into the kingly presence, that he is face to face with
a mere human like himself--nay, that in nine cases out of ten he is the
superior of the royal personage in all that constitutes real worth.

It may be remembered that the arrogant Samuel Johnson, in the presence of
George III, his inferior in everything that was not superficial, was
properly subdued; and that, according to Boswell, the incident of his
visit to royalty was one that he "loved to relate with all its
circumstances when requested by his friends."

Human vanity also may be considered as a factor in the value of the
testimony of him who comes forth from the seats of the mighty to relate
his experiences. Does he not speak ill of the great one who has given him
an audience, the listener's inference is that the visitor has found
something in the manner of his treatment to resent; whereas he who sounds
the monarch's praises is put down as having met with a cordial reception.
None of these generalizations necessarily apply to the gentlemen whose
views concerning Nicholas II have been quoted, however.

William T. Stead's Opportunities.

At fifty-five years of age, and in spite of many bitter experiences, Mr.
Stead is still a man of many enthusiasms. He has always had the courage of
his convictions, and has known what it is to suffer for them. He has
probably never, in the course of a long and honorable journalistic
career, sought the popular side of a controversy; indeed, during the Boer
war he was one of a mere handful of Englishmen to stand out against the
entire nation.

As he himself shows, he has had abundant opportunity to form an opinion of
Nicholas, and sufficient experience of men to make that opinion valuable.
It may be recalled, however, that after spending an hour or two with
Richard Croker during a voyage across the Atlantic, when that eminent
politician was at the height of his power, Mr. Stead described the boss of
Tammany Hall as a benefactor of his countrymen.

No one would think of accusing Mr. Stead of wilful misstatement, but it
may be mentioned that, while Mr. Stead informs us that the interview
quoted from is the fourth he has had with the Russian sovereign, it is
probable that if he had ventured to publish anything detrimental about him
in any one of them that one would have been the last. And access to a
reigning monarch is a valuable asset t