suddenly cablegrams flashed to the government at washington , announcing that queen victoria , the emperor william , the czar nicholas , alphonso of spain , with his mother , maria christina ; the old emperor francis joseph and the empress elizabeth , of austria ; king oscar and queen sophia , of sweden and norway ; king humbert and queen margherita , of italy ; king george and queen olga , of greece ; abdul hamid , of turkey ; tsaitien , emperor of china ; mutsuhito , the japanese mikado , with his beautiful princess haruko ; the president of france , the president of switzerland , the first syndic of the little republic of andorra , perched on the crest of the pyrenees , and the heads of all the central and south american republics , were coming to washington to take part in the deliberations , which , it was felt , were to settle the fate of earth and mars .