THE SUNDAY MANIA AT THE PEACE CONFERENCE.
EVEN the peace conference had to have a touch of the Sunday mania, and of course it was not for the promotion of peace and amity that it was introduced, or that it served. At the suggestion of the Russians (it was claimed by the Japanese), one or two sessions of the conference were to have been held on Sunday, August 13; but in an interview on the previous day M. Witte concluded a petulant statement, attempting to put the Japanese in a bad light with the press and public respecting the secrecy of the conference proceedings, with the declaration that there would be no morning session the next day, because, "being a Christian," he proposed to attend church on Sunday. The Japanese view of this utterance was that it tended to put them in the position of being pagans, and might not have a good effect upon their popularity in this country, and after consulting over the matter, they sent word to M. Witte that, having other business to transact, they wished no sitting in the conference until Monday, and the plans were changed accordingly. In connection with this action one of the Japanese spokesmen said: "It was the Christians who proposed the holding of a Sunday conference. The suggestion did not come from our side. Now we have prevented the holding of a Sunday conference." On Sunday morning M. Witte and his colleague and eight others of the Russian mission attended the service at Christ Episcopal Church, and it is said that the Japanese, after consultation, sent their junior envoy, Mr. Takahira, and Commander Takashita, of their mission, to church in the evening. In taking the course he did in the matter, M. Witte, according to the New York Evening Post, "fell in with the desire of the governor of New Hampshire and the Third Assistant Secretary of State for a strict observance of the Sabbath," and scored again in his perspicacious angling for American favor by contrasting his own religion with that of the heathen Japanese. "It certainly goes to show that this world-moving meeting at Portsmouth has its humorous side," remarked the Post.