TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Press, Volume XLIX, Issue 14839, 3 December 1913, Page 8

TOPICS OF THE DAY.

The late Mr W. T. A Stead was once asked Great whom lie considered to be Journalist the most brilliant living journalist, "present company excepted." "A little man," he replied, "who hides his light under a bushel and shune the publio gaze as tho plague, but is the honoured friend of sovereigns and statesmen.. I take off my hat to Dr. Dillon." This anecdoto is related by Mr William Latley, who devotes an article in "Everyman" to an outline of the life of the "Daily Telegraph's" famous special correspondent whose name so frequently appears in our cable new*. Dr. Dillon is, in addition to a born diplomatist, a linguist of extraordinary versatility, and ie probably unique in having written leading articles in English, French, German, and Russian papers, with equal ease. Hβ knows well all tho living European languages, and all the known dead one?, with a. possible exception or two. One of his coups, at the age of 26, was the confounding, in a biting critique, of a number of learned Russian professors who had published a history of Sanskrit and Zend. His exploits as a journalist are legion. His vivid portrayal of the Armenian atrocities of 1895 thrilled everyone. Disguised as a Cossack he penetrated Armenia, and saw for himself the fearful work of the SultanHere he was hourly in danger of losing his life. One of bis sensational coupj was an interview with a condemned Kurdish chief from whom, by means of copious bribes to the man's guards, he succeeded in drawing a detailed account of his atrocities. In the Cretan insurrection preceding the GrecoTurkish war, he went under the disguise of a fighting Greek monk. At a meeting of the Italian and Austrian

admirals the pseudo-monk had to act as interpreter. Th© two admirals, fearing that the interpreter -was s little too interested in the proceedings of tho conference, indulged in a fow "asides" in German, and were vastly astonished to find their views faithfully reproduced in due course in tho English Press. Dr. Dillon reported tho Dreyfus trial single-handed, turning out his five or six columns daily, and all in brilliant etylo. For many years his place of residence was St. Petersburg, and there were few secrets of Russian political life of which he did not have an inkling. Hβ was a confidant of the great Russian statesman, M. Witte, who, it is said, often turned to him for advico during the negotiations at Portsmouth, U.S.A. It was with the journalist's own fountain pen that the Treaty of Peace between Russia and Japan in 1903 and tho recent Treaty of Bucharest were signed. He played an important part in the Balkan crisis of 1910, when he was the friend and confidant of Count Aehronthal, tho Austrian Minister, and of M. Isvolsky, the Czar's Minister for Foreign Affairs, and was also on the scene during the revolution m Portugal the same year. His brilliant accounts of tho recent war in the Balkans, and his reports of the abortive conference in London, are still fresh in, the memory of the public.

It is an easy transition Secret from Dr. Dillon to that History, brilliant Australian jour-

nalist Mr Martin Donohoe, who is now on a holiday visit to his native land. One of Mr Donohoe's "scoops" was the sending of the first detailed account of the Portuguese revolution that lost King Manuel his throne, and his experiences in Lisbon were one of the subjects touched on in the inevitable interview when, the correspondent reached Melbourne the other day. His version of the immediate, causes of the revolution, (excluding, of course, the dissatisfaction with the Monarchy) make amusing and eurprising reading. When he arrived in Lisbon, he found the Chief of Police incapable of taking the movement seriously, and the Republicans energetic and confident. Th© Republican headquarters were opposite the office of tho Chief of Police, but even a bold rign, "Republican Party," before his eyes daily, had no effect on that official. When the correspondent was given a list of the Republican Ministry-to-be, ho began to take the movement se"notisly. The revolution came a week before its time, and to most people Mr -Donohoo's explanation of this will bo news. There was a woman in the case. A leading doctor at a large Lisbon hospital had taken a fancy to the wife of a. leading citizen, and, the affection being reciprocated, the pair had the husband put into an asylum, the doctor certifying to his insanity. But the husband escaped, fled to Paris, and, returning to Lisbon, shot the doctor. Now it happened that the husband was a loading Monarchist and tho doctor a leading Republican, and the news of the murder was taken by the Republicans as a signal to rise. Every Republican rushed to arms to avenge the murder, and in a few hours the revolution was in full swing. The first day ended in favour of the Monarchists, but thanks to an. official in Cook's tourist service the Republicans rallied and eventually won. Some people will find it difficult to credit Mr Donohoe's statement that a Cook's guide ran the revolution. According to his etory Cook's man asked for two days off to see the thing through (though he did not tell his employers what tho leave was for), and apparently two days was sufficient. It would be interesting to know what this enterprising guide is doing now. If the Republio has not rewarded him, perhaps he has turned his king-unmaking to good service in the employ of Cook's.

Perhaps it was because "Beaten" Charle-s Schwar was a ,by a foreigner, and consequently Head." unused to the ways of colo-

nial "confidence men," that he was so easily relieved of his money in Melbourne recently. But even allowing for this, the story is an astonishing revelation of blind trust in strangers, and on this account, and because there is a possibility that it may serve as a warning, it is worth giving. Schwar, & young German farm labourer, according to his story, as told in the "Argus," went to Melbourne at the end of October and was quickly- taken in hand by an affable stranger as he was looking into a shop window. The stranger suggested the usual drink, and at the hotel Schwar met a third man, and the talk turned to racing matters. These very sociable city men, towards whom Schwar's lonely heart warmed, displayed what to Schwar was a dazzling knowledge of horses engaged in certain events. One of them told Schwar of an absolute certainty; apparently there never liad boen such & certainty before. Schwar was co impressed that he gave the expert £20 to be handed over to a bookmaker. When Schwar next saw his friends they told him that the horse had been beaten by half a. head. The young German took his loss philosophically, and when the three met a third time, he was induced to part with another £20, "to chase the £20 he had lost." But this second certainty proved no more certain than the first, and his friends were obliged to break the news that his fancy had lost by a head. The two men were vehement in their denunciation of the trickery that must have been employed to stop the triumph of superior form. A week later the same tactics were employed; this time thoy had "a sure thing that absolutely could not be beaten." This time persuasion was not so easy, but in the end a third £20 was handed over to them for transmission to the bookmaker. Once more the backed horse lost by a head. Schwar now became suspicious, and asked embarrassing questions, which his friends countered by advising him to go to Sydney, where they would meet him and find him work. He went, but they did not. Having returned to Melbourne, Schwar met one of them, and had an inspiration. Pretending to be ready to invest more money with him, he arranged to meet him at a certain place, and went there with detectives, who made an arrest. It is not often that the men who make a profession of plucking pigeons get a bird so easy to catch and handle as this one.