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Alexander III of Russia

Charles Lowe
NBRIDGE HELLS

ALDERMAN LIBRARY
UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA
CHARLOTTESVILLE , VIRGINIA
 BY THE SAME AUTHOR

In One Volume, crown 8vo, price 6s.

PRINCE BISMARCK

An Historical Biography
By CHARLES LOWE, M.A.
A New and Revised Edition
With Two Portraits

LONDON: WILLIAM HEINEMANN

ALEXANDER III

OF RUSSIA
ALEXANDER 111.
ALEXANDER HI

OF KUSSLA

CHARLES IONT,
A L

VILLIAM HEIN M
ALEXANDER III

OF RUSSIA

BY

CHARLES LOWE, M.A.

AUTHOR OF
66 PRINCE BISMARCK : AN HISTORICAL
BIOGRAPHY," ETC.

LONDON
WILLIAM HEINEMANN

1895
[All rights reserved]
DK

240

19
 CONTENTS

CHAPTER I
PREDECESSORS
The Romanoffs - Holstein-Gottorps - Paul, the Madman-
Alexander I.-Tale of a sucking-pig-Nicholas I.—Instances
of his despotism Alexander II . — Character - sketch -
-
" Sasha " the " Military Tailor "-The " Tsar Emancipator"
-Cycle of autocratic reforms Pp. 1-13

CHAPTER II
HEIR APPARENT
Death of the Tsarevitch Nicholas- Alexander heir-apparent-
His first Rescript-" My son , my heir "-Youthful Charac-
teristics-Marriage- Marie Feodorovna-A Teutophobe-
-" Thank God for Woronzoff ! " -In opposition-Franco-
German war- -Visit to England -Anglo-Russian Press amen-
ities- Marie Alexandrowna-Alexander II . in London- The
Eastern Question-A Panslavist champion-Russo-Turkish
War-Army of the Lom-Character as a commander-
Courageous or cowardly ?-The foe of falsehood and cor-
ruption-Under arrest-The eve of action . Pp. 14-42

CHAPTER III
CIRCUMSTANCES OF HIS ACCESSION
March 13 , 1881 -The Anitchkoff Palace-An Equerry's message
-Assassination of Alexander II. -Alexander III.'s Mani-
festo-Accession formalities- Imperial funeral -English
viii CONTENTS

sympathy-Nihilist ultimatum-National slip between cup

and lip-Loris-Melikoff's Constitution-A tap- room Parlia-
ment-Reform or Reaction ?-Despotism by Divine right—
The choice of Hercules-Alexander · Pp. 43-64

CHAPTER IV
THE LORD'S ANOINTED
Autocrat of All the Russias-Moscow - Triumphal entry-Oath
to Imperial Standard- Proclamation Urbi et Orbi—Ambas-
sadors of the Press-Church of the Assumption-Coronation
Ceremony - Second burning of Moscow - The Kazan
Cathedral · · Pp. 65-76

CHAPTER V
THE TSAR PEACE-KEEPER
Foreign Policy Circular- Imperial meeting at Dantzig - Its
results-Skobeleff the Teutophobe- M. de Giers - His
meetings with Bismarck-Mr. Gladstone and the Tsar-
Russo-German rapprochement -— The Three Emperors at
Skierniwiece-The Tsar and Francis Joseph- Germany's
" Hecuba " -Fresh Russo - German misunderstanding-The
Tsar in Berlin-His interview with Bismarck-The Forged
Despatches-Friends once more-Bismarck on the Tsar-
" Printer's Ink " --The Kaiser in St. Petersburg- The Tsar
in Berlin—“ Hurrah for the Russian Army ! ” —Results of
the meeting-Russia's " One Friend " -The " Key of your
House " -The Kaiser at Narva-The Tsar at Kiel-" Long
live the German Navy ! ". Vive la Marine Française ! ".
Beauty and the Beast-Franco-Russian relations- A Peters .
bourg ! à Petersbourg ! -The French at Cronstadt- " For
the sake of our dear France "-
"—" You must marry me "-The
Russians at Toulon- Gold versus Gloire-" Souvenirs de
Sebastopol "-Customs-War-" La France, c'est l'Ennemi ! ” -
Russia in Central Asia--Skobeleff's prophecy- English
" Mervousness "" again-"Beati possidentes ! " -The Penj .
deh Incident- Si vis pacem, para bellum—John Bull puts on
his Boots-Arms or Arbitration ?-The Russo-Afghan
 CONTENTS ix

Frontier-Central Asian and Siberian Railways- The Black

Sea Fleet- Masterful Declaration of the Tsar- Batoum
versus Bulgaria . • Pp. 77-131

CHAPTER VI
THE TWO ALEXANDERS
The two cousins- Prince Alexander of Battenberg-A glimpse
of him at Bucharest-Prince of Bulgaria Elect ---- Explosion
at the Winter Palace-The Tsar says, " Do your best ! " —
Muscovite art of managing men—A Russian Satrapy—The
Prince and his Nessus-shirt-" Good, as long as it lasts ".
Pour décourager les autres-Fat on the Russian fire-Kaulbars
and Soboleff- Tactics of the Duumvirs-" Cowardly King
Milan "-" Power into Russian hands " -Prince Alexander
at Moscow- Turning of the Russian tide-The two deputa-
tions " Not at home ! " -" Aut Cæsar, aut nullus ! " -M .
Jonin bullies the Battenberger-The Prince takes the trick
-"Je suis heureux et tranquillisé ! " —" Swine, rascals, per-
jured rabble ! "-" The Tsar is not Russia " -Military quar-
rels-The Prince dances with Madame Jonin—The Prince in
England and Austria-His confidences to Herr von Huhn
-The Tsar cannot stand liars-A thunderbolt from Russia
-The Servians rush to arms-But have to reel back on
their pig-styes and their Russian patrons- The two Bul-
garias Climax and anti- climax- La Russie boude - Cons-
piracies to "remove " the Prince-" Beware of the Struma
regiment ! " - The Prinzenraub- " Here may you see a
traitor ! "-Muscovite " stouthrief and hamesucken " -An
exchange of telegrams- " Farewell to Bulgaria ! " — The
Prince's Seven Years' War-Worried to death-A thunder-
loud " No ! " Pp. 132-177

CHAPTER VII
THE TSAR PANSLAVIST
The" Father of Lies " -Shuffling of the pack-Domestic policy-
Ignatieff's circular-The Tsar bad at figures- His sovereign
responsibility " One King, one Faith, one Law " —" Rus-
X CONTENTS

sia for the Russians "-Character of Finland and the Finns

-The hall-mark of Muscovy- Violation of Finnish rights
-The Baltic Provinces--A bear's skin on the Teutonic bird
-German " a foreign language " -Vladimir at Dorpat-
Anti-German edicts- Panslavism in Poland-High-handed
measures- The Tsar "" the best cosmopolite " -Ignorance
the pillar of Autocracy -The Tsar as Press Censor- His
second sceptre a blacking-brush-The demoralisation of
Russia-Famine, fetters and finance-" C'est à prendre, ou
à laisser ! "-The Russian army--Duelling decree-Another
ukase Pp. 178-202

CHAPTER VIII
THE TSAR PERSECUTOR
A new King over Egypt-M. Pobedónostseff- Are the Jews
Revolutionists ?--Anti-Semitic riots - Ignatieff's circular-
The Tsar Jew-baiter-Race or religion ?- The Russian
Ghetto- The " May Laws " -Prince Metchersky on mi-
crobes Mr. Gladstone and the conscience of England ---
Guildhall meeting and Memorial-Returned by the Tsar un-
opened The Russian Herod- The Tsar Persecutor- Polish
Catholics-Baltic Province Lutherans- Barclay de Tolly-
The Stundists-History and progress of the sect- Their
principles and character-An archiepiscopal anathema-
Anti-Stundist alliance between Church and State-" Gentle
pressure " - A modern Torquemada - Mr. Swinburne's
counter-anathema Pp. 203-234

CHAPTER IX
A REIGN OF TERROR
Assassination and executions-A Terrorist ultimatum- What the
Nihilists want-A chat with " Stepniak "-Party of the
"'People's Will " -And of the " People's Rights " -Spiritual
and material means-De propagandâ fide -Congress of Lipetsk
-Nihilist organisation-Mass trial of Terrorists- Suchanoff
executed- General Strelikoff shot-A basketful of eggs-
Coronation of the Tsar-Tactics of the Terrorists at Moscow
 CONTENTS xi

-" Nor I either "-Nihilism in the Army- Murder of

Colonel Sudeikin - Colonel Aschenbrenner and Baron
Stromberg-Vera Filipoff, a tempting Terrorist-Arrests and
assassinations- Plots against the Emperor-A life of fear
and precaution-Anecdotes- The Grand Morskaia plot, and
the Executive Committee-Another mass trial-" Education
to be abolished ! " -The Borki catastrophe—“ Oh, papa,
they'll come and murder us all ! "-A bomb factory at
Zürich-" A paper bullet of the brain " -Madame Tzebri-
kova's letter- Its consequences to her-Sophie Günsberg-
General Seliverskoff shot at Paris-A French Exhibition at
Moscow-Dynamite one of its exhibits-Proof against bribes
-The Moujik Tsar-Shaken nerves-A Ministry of per-
sonal protection-The greatest Terrorist of all-A revolting
manifesto . • Pp. 235-272

CHAPTER X
ILLNESS AND DEATH
" Weep, Russia ! "-A Sore Saint- Monseigneur of Kharkoff
versus Professor Zacharin- Origin and Course of Illness—
Belovishaya- Spala- Story of a Duck-Professor Leyden-
Livadia, the Russian Cannes- Father Ivan, the " Wonder-
Worker "-Corfu- Princess Alix of Hesse- Diary of Disease
-An Angel on Earth- Death- Last Hours- Nature of
Malady-A Funeral-Drama in Five Acts-Yalta- Sebastopol
-Moscow-St. Petersburg- Processional Pageant- Scene
in the Fortress Church-A Prayer by the dead-" The Tsar
is dead! Long live the Tsar ! " Pp. 273-303

CHAPTER XI
CHARACTERISTICS
A " Psychological Enigma " —A Compound Monarch- Not a
Military One- The " Peace-keeper " of Europe- Examina-
tion of his Claim to the Title-A Treaty- breaker if a
Peace-keeper -European Peace and Russian War-A Second
Ivan the Terrible-A " Moujik Tsar "-The " Tsar Pri-
soner "-Truth-lover and Truth-teller-His real Feelings
xii CONTENTS

towards France-The Great Mistake of his Reign-The

Dumb Ruler of a Voiceless People-Model Husband and
Father Family Life - Denmark an Asylum — " Uncle
Sasha " -Contemporary , not of Queen Victoria, but of Queen
Isabel-The " Two Alexanders " -Opinions of Lords Rose-
bery and Salisbury - M. Leroy- Beaulieu - Mr. Harold
Frederic-Professor Geffcken-The Times-A Personal as
well as a Political Autocrat- Lady Randolph Churchill
-His daily Habits described by Mr. " Lanin " —General
Richter, the " Sandalphon of the Empire " -Great Physical
Strength- Fondness for Animals-" Sullen, Taciturn , Curt "
-Intellectual Tastes-Domestic Habits-De mortuis nil
nisi bonum—Canon Wilberforce-" Resistance to Tyranny
is Obedience to God " Pp. 304-336

CHAPTER XII
NICHOLAS II
"What is Nicholas II . ? " -His Teachers-A Panslavist Tutor
-General Danilovitch and his Method - Not much of a
Soldier-Youthful Characteristics-His Tastes and Reading
Nothing but good to say of Him "-" Good all Round "
--A " Globe-trotter " —Visit to India-In Japan- Narrow
Escape at Ossu- His Saviour describes the Incident-" I
admired Nicky's Pluck " -At Vladivostock-The Trans-
Siberian Railway-The Great Famine-Anecdote by " An
Englishman "" - The Princesses of Hesse-Darmstadt -
"Every one to Heaven in his own way ! "-Betrothal- The
Royal Wedding at Coburg-Second Visit to England-
Sketch of in the House of Commons-Accession Manifesto
-What will he do ?—The Finns— The Jews—Dr. Geffcken
on the New Tsar-His Foreign Policy- The Kaiser and
the Tsar Nicholas II. less anti-German than his Father-
Two Thousand Telegrams from France-The Emperor and
the President-" Grovelling before the Tsar " -England and
Russia-Marriage-" Nonsense about me " -See- saw System
of Russian Government-A Tsar-Emancipator of his sub-
jects ' souls ? Pp. 337-370
 ALEXANDER III

CHAPTER I

PREDECESSORS

The Romanoffs--Holstein-Gottorps-Paul, the Madman-

Alexander I.- Tale of a sucking-pig- Nicholas I.-
Instances of his despotism- Alexander II . - Character-
sketch-" Sasha " the " Military Tailor "-The " Tsar
Emancipator "-Cycle of autocratic reforms.

ALEXANDER ALEXANDROVITCH ROMANOFF, the third

of his name who ruled All the Russias, was born at
St. Petersburg on March 10 (O.S. February 26),
1845. He was the second son of Alexander II . ,
who will be known in history as the " Emancipator
of the Serfs," and Princess Maria of Hesse- Darm-
stadt. For more than a century the Russian Tsars
had come to Germany for their wives, so that the
dynasty of the Romanoffs had now little or no
Russian blood left in it, as the poet Pushkin used
to exemplify by the ingenious process of adding
tumbler after tumbler of water to a glass of wine
till the mixture at last retained no taste of the
original juice of the grape . It was a curious cir-
A
2 ALEXANDER III

cumstance that the founder of the dynasty, which was

henceforth to rule by divine right alone in Russia,
should have been elevated to the Imperial throne by
an elective assembly of the various estates. But I
do not intend to ask the company of my readers into
the mediaval mists of Muscovite history.
Peter the Great was the last of the pure Russian
Tsars, who thenceforth became merged by marriage
into the Holstein-Gottorps to such an extent that
German blood at last usurped that of the Romanoffs
as much as it also replaced that of the Stuarts with
us in England. When Prince Peter Dolgoruki,
acting as secretary to the Russian Embassy
in Paris, was summoned home by the Emperor
Nicholas, in consequence of something he had
written, he replied by offering to send his photo-
graph instead, and by begging his Majesty to
remember that his (Dolgoruki's) ancestors " were
Grand Dukes of Moscow, when those of his Majesty
were not even Dukes of Holstein -Gottorp. "
It will be well to remember the fact of this pre-
dominance of the German element in the race of
the modern Romanoffs when we come to consider
the marked antipathy of some of their number, the
subject of the present sketch included , to the
country of their origin . For the American naval
lieutenant was not entirely right when he said , at
the taking of the Taku forts, that blood was always
thicker than water. It is a curious circumstance,
this tendency of modern nations to fall under the
sway of alien races and dynasties , as witness the
Guelph - Saxe -Coburgs in England, the Danes in
 PREDECESSORS 3

Greece, the Italian Napoleons and Gambettas in

France, the French Bernadottes in Norway- Sweden ,
the Hapsburgs in Mexico, the English in India, the
Battenbergs in Bulgaria, and the Holstein-Gottorps
in Russia.
The subjoined genealogical table shows the descent
of Alexander III . as far as from Catherine II ., of

CATHERINE II.
Paul.
T
Alexander I. Nicholas I.

Alexander II. Constantine. Nicholas. Michael.

Nicholas. Alexander III. Vladimir. Alexis. Marie Sergius . Paul.

(Duchess of
Edinburgh).

Nicholas. George. Xenia. Michael. Olga.

notorious memory, and further back we need not

go. As a man must naturally inherit some of the
qualities of his ancestors, it may be well to say just
a few words about the immediate predecessors of
Alexander III.
Paul , the son of Catherine II . (though it is not
quite so certain that her legitimate husband was
his father), was a wildly insane despot. He
knouted his subjects into the observance of his
slightest caprices. Once asked by a foreign visitor
4 ALEXANDER III

who were the most important men in Russia, he

replied that there were none save those he hap-
pened to be speaking to, and that their importance
lasted only just as long as his conversation with
them . Unlike his mother, he was incapable of
literature ; but he once wrote a paragraph for
his own official gazette in which he proposed that
quarrels between States should in future be settled
by personal encounters between their Sovereigns,
each combatant to be attended by his Premier in
the character of second. He then caused the
paragraph to be copied into a Hamburg print, with
the remark that " this was apparently some notion
of that madman, Paul." Among other mad things ,
he conceived the idea of helping Napoleon to expel
the English from India. His hatred of the modern
spirit was so great that he enjoined the players to
use the word " permission " instead of " liberty" on
their bills, and forbade the Academy of Science to
use the word " revolution " when speaking of the
courses of the heavenly bodies . Eventually he
succumbed to a révolution du palais. Some of his
courtiers thought him much too mad even for a
Russian despot, and forced him to abdicate-
strangling him to death in the process.
His son and successor, Alexander I. (who had
been privy to the conspiracy for dethroning his
father, but guiltless of his murder), was of a gentle
and affectionate disposition, mildly mannered, and
sympathetic -weirdly made up of strength and
softness, of " manly qualities and feminine weak-
ness," as was written of him by Metternich.
 PREDECESSORS 5

Madame de Staël once told him that his character

in itself was " a charter and constitution for his
subjects." Like Frederick the Great, he had been
educated by a French tutor ( La Harpe), by whom
his mind had been imbued with very liberal, almost
republican, ideas. He was honestly concerned for
the welfare of his subjects ; but, while intent on the
work of domestic reform, he kept a steady eye on
the external aggrandisement of his Empire. With
this latter object he entered into a compact with
Napoleon for the pursuit of a common career of
conquest, but ultimately he fell out with the Satanic
Corsican- as robbers generally do- over the distri-
bution of their spoil, and then banded himself with
Prussia and other foes of the French. " Napoleon,"
says an inscription on the battlefield of Borodino,
" entered Moscow, 1812 ; Alexander entered Paris,
1814."
In the latter year he came over to London, and
was immensely fêted, as he well deserved to be ;
and public curiosity was strongly excited by the
Cossacks, mounted on their small white horses with
their long spears grounded, keeping guard at the door
of Lawrence, the painter, while he took the portrait
of their Hetman, Platoff. The Senate at St. Peters-
burg voted his political canonisation, and begged him
to accept the title " Blessed ." " I have always endea-
voured," replied Alexander I., " to set the nation
an example of simplicity and moderation. I could
not accept the title you offer me without departing
from my principles. " It was then proposed to erect
a monument to him. " It is for posterity," he said,
6 ALEXANDER III

"to honour my memory in that way if it deems me

worthy of it." His solicitude for the weal of his
subjects was warm and genuine, though his good
intentions were frequently thwarted by the apathy,
the falsehood, and the corruption of his officials.
One story will serve to show what he and all the
Tsars of Russia have ever had to contend with in
this respect .
On paying a visit to one of the military colonies,
Alexander resolved to inspect every house, so as
to satisfy himself as to the condition of the
establishment. On every table he found a com-
missariat dinner prepared, one of the staple articles
of which was a sucking- pig. At last, one of his
Majesty's attendants , Prince Volkhonski, suspecting
some trick, slily cut off the pig's tail and slipped it
into his pocket . On entering the next house, there
again was a roast pig on the table- but this time
without a tail ! " I think," said the Prince, "that
we have an old friend here." On being questioned
as to his meaning, he produced the missing tail, and
fitted it to the place from which it had been sliced .
Disheartened and disgusted by innumerable frauds
of this kind, Alexander I. abandoned the helm in
despair to his Minister, Araktcheief, and the Empire
returned to its old routine . He died in 1825, and
was succeeded by his second younger brother,
Nicholas ; for the real heir to the crown, Constan-
tine, was such a startling copy, in mind and person,
of his mad father, Paul, that he had to be passed
over and allowed to indulge his brutal and eccentric
passions in the innocuous obscurity of private life.
 PREDECESSORS 7

Now came the reign of Nicholas, who, forming a

singular contrast to his predecessor on the throne,
was a despot of the most ancient and approved
type . Tall, well- built, handsome, imperious, and
impressive, he might have sat to a painter as the
incarnation of human pride and autocratic will.
Having managed to insert the thin end of the
wedge in the reign of Alexander, the friends of
freedom in Russia thought they could not have a
better opportunity than the present change of
sceptre, with all its uncertainties, for widening the
rift. But they soon found out that Nicholas was
not a man to be trifled with in this respect. For
the echoes of the cannon that had saluted his
accession had barely died away when the streets of
St. Petersburg were again reverberating with the
roar of guns, which the new Emperor had turned
with terrible effect upon the revolutionists of his
capital. Great numbers were killed, and their
bodies thrust into the Neva through holes cut in
the ice ; while hundreds of the other conspirators
were at once packed off to Siberia. Many of these
victims of the insurrection had not the faintest
notion what they wanted. Some of them had
cried : " Long live Constantine ! The Constitution
for ever ! " and then inquired : " But who is this
Constituzia ? Is she the wife of the Emperor ? "
" Let there be no mind in Russia-I, Nicholas
the Tsar, so will it "-such was the ukase practically
ascribed to him by a foreign noble. His whole
administration was well illustrated by an incident
connected with the construction of the railway
8 ALEXANDER III

between St. Petersburg and Moscow . The engi-

neers had wrangled and jangled so long over the
precise direction which this line should take, that at
last the Emperor grew utterly sick of the discussion .
" Give me a ruler," said his Majesty ; and with that
he sharply drew a straight line between his two
capitals, adding, " Let that be the route." And to
this day it is the route, with the result that con-
siderable towns and centres of commerce, which it
ought to be the function of a railway to connect,
are left en l'air, so to speak, at several miles' distance
on either side of the line. Once, as head of the
Russian Church, he was requested by the Holy
Synod, in a long memorandum, to declare whether
or not the existence of purgatory was an Orthodox
doctrine. " No purgatory, " was all he wrote on
the margin of the memorial. During his reign
which lasted about thirty years, he engaged in four
campaigns that of 1828-29 against Turkey ; that
of 1831 for the suppression of the Poles, who had
writhed under and risen against his iron rule ; that
of 1848-49, in which he joined hands with his
fellow-despot at Vienna in order to quench the
flames of Hungarian liberty and independence,
which had been kindled by Kossuth ; and that of
the Crimea, of which the failure broke his proud
and sensitive heart. Yet on his death-bed-
and this seems to be an authenticated fact- he
exhorted his son and successor to liberate the
serfs.
This son was Alexander II ., who was just as un-
like his father Nicholas, as the latter had been unlike
 PREDECESSORS 9

his brother Alexander I. On the other hand, the

two first Alexanders , uncle and nephew, had a good
deal in common, both being humane, cultured, up-
right, and indulgent, comparatively speaking , towards
their subjects . The first half-dozen years of Alex-
ander II.'s reign formed a period less of reform than
of relief ; and it was not till 1861 that he managed
to act on the advice of his father by issuing what
was called " the law for the amelioration of the
peasantry," or, in other words, for the emancipation
of the serfs . "Of a kind-hearted, humane dispo-
sition," wrote Sir Donald Mackenzie Wallace of him,
" sincerely desirous of maintaining the national
honour, but singularly free from military ambition,
and imbued with no fanatical belief in the drill-
sergeant system of government, Alexander II. was
by no means insensible to the spirit of the time.
He was well aware of the existing abuses, many of
which had been partially concealed from his father,
and he had seen how fruitless had been the attempts
to eradicate them by a mere repressive system of
administration. As heir-apparent, he had taken no
part in public affairs, and was consequently in no
way bound by antecedents. He had, however, none
of the sentimental enthusiasm for liberal institutions
which had characterised his uncle, Alexander I. On
the contrary, he had inherited from his father a
strong dislike to sentimentalism and rhetoric of all
kinds. This dislike, joined to a goodly portion of
sober common sense and a consciousness of enor-
mous responsibility, prevented him from being carried
away by the prevailing excitement . With all that
 ALEXANDER III

was generous and humane in the movement he

thoroughly sympathised, and he allowed the popular
ideas and aspirations to find free utterance ; but he
did not at once commit himself to any definite policy,
and carefully refrained from all exaggerated expres-
sions of reforming zeal."
"Though possessing," said a writer in the Times,
" neither the transcendent genius and Herculean
energy of Peter the Great, nor the wonderful intel-
ligence and far-sighted political wisdom of Cathe-
rine II. , he did , perhaps, as much as either of these
great Sovereigns towards raising his country to the
level of West European civilisation. His early life
gave little indication of his subsequent activity, and ,
up till the moment of his accession, no one ever
imagined that he would one day play the part of a
great reformer .” " My son Sasha is an old woman
(baba)," said his very father Nicholas of him.
" There will be nothing great done in his time." At
first, too, that began to be the opinion of " Sasha's "
own subjects, who could see nothing in their new
Sovereign but the making of a " military tailor ".
the nickname applied to him from his passion for
altering the uniforms of his troops. " I suppose
you fancy we have little freedom of speech," said a
liberal-minded Russian to M. Leroy- Beaulieu.
"Well, one day a student of one of the great Crown
colleges, in talking over with his comrades the
reforms of Alexander II . , declared that the Emperor
was nothing but a tailor, meaning to insinuate that
he was too fond of altering military uniforms.
These words came to the ears of the police, who
 PREDECESSORS

carried them to the Sovereign. The imprudent

youth was summoned by Imperial order to the
palace. His parents already saw him on the road
to Siberia. And what punishment do you think
was inflicted on him ? The Emperor ordered him .
to be presented with a complete uniform ! "
But it was not long before the " military tailor
bloomed out into the " Emancipator of the Serfs."
One evening he came into his wife's salon, very
much excited, and, showing a paper which he held
in his hand, remarked in a tone of vehemence,
quite at variance with his usual demeanour, " Here
is a description of the inhuman treatment a pro-
prietress has been inflicting on her domestic serfs.
I shall never sleep calmly till I have put a stop to
all that ! " Involving as it did the reconstruction ,
so to speak, of the whole of Russian society, the
emancipation of the serfs was not a thing that
could be done with a mere " sic volo, sic jubeo " on
the part of the Emperor. The main point at issue
was whether the serfs should become agricultural
labourers dependent economically and administra-
tively on the landlords, or should be transformed
into a class of independent communal proprietors.
The Emperor favoured the latter proposal , and the
Russian peasantry acquired privileges such as are
enjoyed by no others of their class in Europe .
Besides this great and sweeping change, which
gained for Alexander II . the title of " Tsar
Emancipator," his Majesty also appointed and per-
sonally presided over a variety of Commissions for
the elaboration of other reforms, which included a
12 ALEXANDER III

judicial organisation on the French model ; a new

penal code, and a greatly simplified system of civil
and criminal procedure ; a system of local self-
government, in which each district and province had
its elective assembly, possessing a restricted right of
taxation ; a new rural and municipal police under
the direction of the Minister of the Interior ; and
new municipal institutions, more in accordance with
modern notions of civic equality.
" The reign of Nicholas," says M. Leroy- Beaulieu
in his deep and elaborate work on " The Empire of
the Tsars," " had shown that, with all its omni-
potence, autocracy was not strong enough to keep
Russia from rolling down the incline on which
Peter the Great had started her. The Crimean
War made patent to all eyes, together with the
feebleness of the stationary system, the necessity
for Russia of placing herself, socially, if not as
yet politically, on a level with the West, if only
to be in a condition to stand her own against it .
Under Alexander II . the gates were thrown open,
and the reform came at last that was to reconcile
Russia to herself as well as with Europe. This
time it was not a white-washing or a patching-up
of the façade- stucco, or mere outer-casing ; it was
an upheaving and a remodelling of the very founda-
tions of society ; it was the whole people, not one
class, that was called to liberty and civilisation.
Until the emancipation of the serfs, the work of
Peter I., having left out the bulk of the nation,
lacked a basis ; the emancipation gave it one. ·
The reign of Alexander II . may be considered as
 PREDECESSORS 13

the closing of a long historical cycle-the cycle of

autocratic reforms."
The Emperor Paul had been little better than a
madman. Alexander I. was little better than a
dreamer. In Nicholas " the old Muscovite Tsars
appeared to revive, rejuvenated and polished up
after the modern fashion . ” Alexander II . was
a benevolent if cautious reformer, and his son,
Alexander III . -what was he ? The following
pages will attempt to show.
 CHAPTER II

HEIR APPARENT

Death ofthe Tsarevitch Nicholas-Alexander heir-apparent-

His first rescript-" My son, my heir "--Youthful charac-
teristics-Marriage-Marie Feodorovna-A Teutophobe
-" Thank God for Woronzoff ! " -In opposition- Franco-
German war- -Visit to England -Anglo - Russian Press
amenities Marie Alexandrowna - Alexander II . in
London- The Eastern Question -A Panslavist champion
-Russo-Turkish War- Army of the Lom-Character as
a commander- Courageous or cowardly ?-The foe of
falsehood and corruption- Under arrest-The eve of
action.

As the second son of his father, the Grand Duke

Alexander received the training of a soldier more
than of a Sovereign. His elder brother, Nicholas,
a fine, tall, amiable Prince, was Tsarevitch, and a
very promising heir- apparent he was . But he died
at Nice in April 1865 just about the time of Presi-
dent Lincoln's assassination , and then his brother,
Alexander, became heir to the throne . The disease
-cerebro-spinal meningitis- which carried off the
Grand Duke Nicholas had been lurking in his system
for several years. It had been aggravated by a
fall from his horse, but it was said to have origi-
 HEIR APPARENT 15

nated in the overstrain of a wrestling match to

which the Tsarevitch had challenged his cousin,
Prince Nicholas of Leuchtenberg. " A post- mortem
examination," wrote the Lancet, " showed that a
tubercular tendency exists in the constitution of a
Royal family likely to exercise a most important
influence on the history of Europe and the
world." *
The Tsar himself had hurried to Nice with
several members of his family (the Empress was
there already), and it is said that the special train
which carried the Imperial party from the French
frontier to the shore of the Mediterranean was
driven by a Polish exile ! Among others who had
hastened to Nice on the illness of the Tsarevitch
taking so serious a turn were the Queen , and Crown
Prince, and Princess Dagmar of Denmark, who had
been affianced to the Grand Duke Nicholas. With
his bride-elect the dying Prince had an interview
immediately on her arrival, and confided her to the
love and care of his brother Alexander, whom he
described as a much better man than himself. His
obsequies were celebrated at Nice with great cere-

* " It is a melancholy circumstance," wrote the Vienna

correspondent ofthe Standard on the day after Alexander III.
died at Livadia ( November 1 , 1894) , “ that, at the moment
when the Tsar was breathing his last, another member of
the Imperial House, the Grand Duke Alexis Michaelovitch,
accompanied by his brother, Sergius Michaelovitch, was on
his way to Vienna, en route for San Remo, suffering from
tuberculosis." At the same time the Tsar's second son,
George, was believed to be dying of consumption .
16 ALEXANDER III

mony, after which his remains were taken by sea

to St. Petersburg in a Russian man-of-war, and
deposited with gorgeous funeral pomp in the
Fortress Church of Saints Peter and Paul, which
forms the mausoleum of the Romanoffs . The
house at Nice where he had died was bought by
the Emperor and turned into a Russian chapel.
Three months later the new Tsarevitch attained
his majority, and took the oath to his father, amid
a scene of great ceremony, in the chapel of the
Winter Palace. On this occasion he issued his
first rescript, addressed to the Governor- General of
St. Petersburg, and it is worth quotation for the
character of the sentiments therein expressed :
"In taking the most important step of my life, and vowing
devotion to my father, and in his person to all Russia, my
first thought was to mark this day by an act of charity. I
herewith transmit to you the sum of 6000 roubles, requesting
you to distribute the same among the poorest inhabitants
of the country. I shall be happy if it serve to dry but a few
tears, or to provide bread for a few needy families ; and God
will listen to the prayers they will offer up in common with
me for the long life of our Emperor- Lord, and for the pros-
perity ofthe country."
It was popularly rumoured that the Emperor
meant to pass over Alexander and vest the succes-
sion in his third son, Vladimir, a much more gifted
Prince ; and we have already seen how this was
done in the case of Nicholas I., who superseded his
elder brother, Constantine, the son and fac- simile of
the crazy Emperor, Paul. But the rumour was at
once disposed of by the manifesto in which the
Tsar called upon all his subjects to take the oath
 HEIR-APPARENT 17

of allegiance to the new Tsarevitch, Alexander, as

well as by the words which he addressed to a
deputation of Polish nobles, who had come to
condole with him on the death of his eldest son .
" Here stands my son Alexander, my heir," said his
Majesty, after reading the nobles a very sharp
lecture on the political sins of their misguided
countrymen, whom he solemnly counselled to have
done with their dreams of recovering their lost
independence. " He bears the name of the Emperor
who formerly established the kingdom of Poland.
I hope he will know how to govern his inheritance
worthily, and that he will not endure that which I
myself have not tolerated ."
" Brought up hitherto as a dashing officer of the
Guards," as was written of him by a Baltic Province
man " without any political education, with but a
scanty knowledge of languages for a man in his
position, and with a disposition more given to self-
indulgence than to work, the new heir-apparent
found that time was above all things necessary to
adapt himself to the altered state of things ."* He
was but a poor linguist compared with his father,
who had learnt in his youth to write English,
French, and German with perfect fluency and
correctness. His quick ear had even caught up
peculiarities of dialect, and in after-life he some-
times surprised Scotsmen by addressing them
in the language and accent of an " auld nurse,"

* Aus der Petersburger Gesellschaft. (" Distinguished

Persons in Russian Society." )
B
18 ALEXANDER III

to whom he had been much attached in his child-

hood.
" Alexander Alexandrovitch," wrote a keen, in-
*
cisive critic, who had ample opportunities of judg-
ing his character, " not having become heir-apparent
to the throne before his twenty-first year, was not
brought up to the calling of monarch any more
than he was trained to the profession of surgery.
The role for which Nature, grace, and education .
had fitted him could be equally well played by any
one of a million 6 supers on the world's stage,
and his consciousness of his shortcomings, before
his coronation , was as keen as that of the inebriated
Irishman who declared himself sober enough to
know that he was not sober. His elder brother's
death, which the nation viewed as the finger of
cruel fate, he regarded with awe as that of a
paternal providence shaping his destiny ; and bow-
ing before the inscrutable decree which thus marked
him out as the Pope of a vast Empire and the auto-
crat of a national church, he wisely left the puzzling
question of ways and means to be worked out by
Omnipotence, who alone could grapple with the
insoluble problem ."
The following story was told of him before he
became heir- apparent. Shortly after he had been
appointed tutor to the two Grand Dukes (Nicholas
and Alexander), M. Pobedonostseff (who was after-

* Mr. E. B. Lanin (a pseudonymous and, according to

some, a compound personality) in a most able and interesting
article on " The Tsar Alexander III.," in the Contemporary
Review for January 1893.
 HEIR-APPARENT 19

wards to become Procurator of the Holy Synod

and trusted counsellor of Alexander III . ) penned a
letter to his friend Admiral Shastakoff, in which
he described the occupations and progress of his
imperial pupils. "After having descanted in en-
thusiastic terms on the marvellous talents of the
elder brother, the Russian Fénelon struck a minor
key in his allusions to Alexander, regretting that
' our darling dove ' had been so badly misused by
Nature, who sent him into the world with the
shabbiest of intellectual outfits. Whether the story
be true or false , the personal appreciation that
underlies it is acquiesced in by all the preceptors of
the Grand Duke, who was considered, as was David
Hume by his mother, to be ' a fine , good - natured
creatur', but uncommon wake-minded. '
". . . In the midst of congenial surroundings ,
and with such mental and moral equipment,
Alexander Alexandrovitch was trained to the pro-
fession of arms . The story of his youth is that of
most Grand Dukes of that day and this, and is con-
tained in a wearisome record of reviews, races,
routs, balls, and those freaks of fashionable folly
which modern modesty is wont to describe by the
euphemism of sowing wild oats. The Grand Duke
never posed as a saint, and possessed little claim
to the aureole ; but the effects of temperament are
sometimes similar to the fruits of virtue, and, dull
and phlegmatic as he was, with the ' melancholy
juices redundant all over,' his propensities never
assumed the form of passions, and his sins never
acquired the peculiar deep shade connoted by the
20 ALEXANDER III

epithet Oriental . . . . The massive build, the

slow tempo, the enormous strength, the upward
scowl which does duty as a glance, the side gait ,
awkward bearing, and bovine butting of the head ,
suggested ' bullock ' as a term of endearment which
his father first conferred upon him in his childhood,
and his people altered to ' bull ' after his accession
to the throne."
" Contemporary history the Grand Duke studied
in the most Liberal text-book of the day-the once
famous Golos newspaper. Its proprietor found in
him a willing and powerful protector against the
Censor-General , Grigorieff, who, desirous to pro-
mote the success of its rival (the Novoe Vremya),
frequently superseded it for weeks and months on
the flimsiest of pretexts. To my own knowledge ,
arbitrary sentences of this kind were several times
reversed , or mitigated , owing to the personal inter-
cession of the heir-apparent , who professed to
relish the plain speaking of that journal . Indeed ,
his utterances on some of the burning questions of
the day were of the frank and sweeping kind which
would , at the present moment , endanger the liberty
of an ordinary citizen ; and his political leanings
were generally assumed to be Liberal enough to
clash with the system of government pursued by
his father's advisers - General Timasheff and Count
Tolstoi. This belief was sufficiently probable,
seeing that he drew his facts from the chronicle,
and his commentaries from the leaders , of the
Golos."
Until the time of his marriage, the Grand Duke
 HEIR-APPARENT 21

Alexander Alexandrovitch paid little, if any, atten-

tion to politics . It was not until his wife impressed
upon him the necessity of preparing for the lofty
duties which one day awaited him, that he occupied
himself with books. Her influence over him was
most beneficially exercised, and whatever in the
way of literature, history, and economical science
he acquired, was learned in association with her, if
not absolutely under her guidance. An historical
work of considerable importance is known to have
been written expressly for his instruction and
edification. This was, in the first instance, a
narrative of the relations between Russia and the
different European Powers, from the peace of 1815
until the Crimean War. But it was afterwards
extended so as to include the history of Russian
diplomacy from the end of the Crimean War until
the denunciation , in 1871 , of the most important
clause in the Treaty of Paris-the one which
forbade Russia to keep war- ships in the Black Sea.
The work, still further developed, was published
not many years ago by the Russian Foreign Office,
under the title of " Etude Diplomatique sur la
Guerre de Crimée." Its author is understood to
have been Baron Jomini. *
On November 9, 1866, the Tsarevitch was
married to the Princess Dagmar of Denmark,
sister of the Princess of Wales, who had previously
been baptised into the Orthodox Church under the

My authority for the information conveyed in this

paragraph was a writer in the Standard (November 2, 1894).
22 ALEXANDER III

name of Marie Feodorovna. * She had been betrothed

to the Tsarevitch Nicholas, who, on his death-bed,
as we have seen, had entrusted her to the love and
care of his brother Alexander. The union was one
of duty as well as affection , and furnished a
precedent for the marriage of our own Duke of
York in precisely similar circumstances . The
wedding fêtes at St. Petersburg were of the most
gorgeous kind, and were graced , among other illus-
trious guests, by the presence of the Prince of
Wales, who afterwards spent a month in travelling
over the Russian Empire, where he was everywhere
treated with the greatest distinction and hospitality.
The union into which the Tsarevitch had now
entered was destined to prove one of the happiest
of its kind, for, whatever may have been his failings
in other respects, he ever, at least , set a shining
example to the rest of his family in the singleness
of his affections and the absolute purity of his
domestic life. His consort, on her part, proved as
good an Empress as she was a wife, as witness the
following sketch of her character from the pen of
" Comte Paul Vasili," in his " Société de Saint
Pétersbourg. "
She was no political woman, and had not the
slightest desire to appear such. Concerning the
affairs of State and Government, there was ever
complete silence between her and the Emperor ;

* Of this union the issue was five children- Nicholas,

born May 18, 1868 ; George, born May 9, 1871 ; Xenia, born
April 18, 1875 ; Michael, born December 5, 1878 ; and Olga,
born June 13 , 1882.
 HEIR-APPARENT 23

intriguing, at a Court where intrigue has ever played

a formidable part, was as far from her as prying
into political affairs, and she enjoyed life with the
love of a girl at fifteen for dress and dancing and
all things amusing. " The Empress exercised the
same fascination on one and all who approached her.
Adore her, as an exceptionally graceful creature,
and do not look to her for grave intellectual facul-
ties. Say to yourself that she has realised all that
could be expected of her ; that, with marvellous
intuition, feeling that she had not the necessary
resources to play a great part, she had abstained
from prying into anything outside her circle. Marie
Feodorovna has correctly judged herself and acted
accordingly, and it is for this reason that no one
can reproach her with the machinations of certain.
Sovereigns . She never descends to the intrigues
of the ante-chamber, and is content to be the angel
of her home, the protectress of numerous benevolent
establishments in which she is interested in her
capacity as a compassionate woman . She visits
these establishments, delights her protégés by her
presence, and produces wherever she appears the
effect of a sunbeam in the dark sky."
The year of his marriage was otherwise an
eventful one for the Tsarevitch, for it marked the
first of the long series of attempts to take the life
of his father, and he was profoundly moved by this
revelation of the active forces of revolution . He
himself had lived through an excited and exciting
time. He had been a witness of the crises of
1860-61 , the first " students' disturbances ," the
24 ALEXANDER III

emancipation of the serfs, the peasant rising, the

hostile demonstration of the nobility, the " May
fires " of 1862 , the Polish revolution and its bloody
repression ; but he had viewed all these things with
the comparative insouciance of a young Prince who
had no thought of ever succeeding to his father
and was content to view life from the easy, careless
standpoint of an officer in the Guards. But the
prospect that was opened up to him by the death
of his brother completely changed the spirit of his
dream , and forced him to make a serious effort to
understand the political tendency of the time. In
making this effort he fell into the hands of the
malcontents , who, as always happens , tried to
ingratiate themselves with the heir to the throne,
and " to perplex and entangle his straightforward
nature in the meshes of their interminable intrigues . "
As the Prince of Wales was generally in opposition
in the time of our own Georges, so the heir of
Alexander II . gradually drifted into an attitude of
something very like oppugnancy to his Imperial
father.
Identifying himself with some of the chief
currents of his time as the easiest road to popu-
larity , the Tsarevitch , for one thing, allowed
himself to be drawn into the anti-German move-
ment, which was then a noble passion " with the
party opposed to the reigning Tsar, Alexander II . ,
who was still, as he ever remained, under the
influence of the German traditions dating from the
time of the brotherhood-in-arms between Russia
and Prussia at the beginning of the century. It
 HEIR-APPARENT 25

was believed, and not without reason, that these

anti-German feelings of the Tsarevitch found at
once their chief source of sympathy and encourage-
ment in the breast of his Danish spouse , of whom ,
quite naturally enough, it could scarcely have been
expected that she should love the nation which had
deprived her father of his Schleswig-Holstein
sceptre, and slaughtered her gallant countrymen at
the redoubts of Düppel . And what the Germans
had done with the Elbe Duchies they might equally
seek to do with the Baltic Provinces.
A story was told of his Teutophobia, which, even
if not true, was at least most expressive of his well-
known sentiments on this subject. Soon after
assuming command of the famous Preobrajenski
regiment, the list of its officers was one day read
out in his hearing for some purpose or other, and
his countenance was observed to fall, and fall, and
further fall as the reader gradually approached the
end of the alphabet without reciting a single genuine
Russian name ; all were German. At last the letter
" W " was reached, and " Woronzoff " was sung out.
" Thank God for Woronzoff ! " exclaimed the Tsare-
vitch, with a sigh of relief, and a look which seemed
to convey his determination of thenceforth sup-
porting a policy of Russia for the Russians.
For these and other reasons, therefore, the Tsare-
vitch at first became an ardent adherent of the
national party, and a great admirer of its mouth-
piece, Katkoff, the Moscow editor. With the view
also of testifying his concern for the public weal he
placed himself at the head of the committee which
26 ALEXANDER III

was formed during the winter of 1867-68 for

relieving the famine distress in the north of the
Empire ; while at the same time he did his best to
make the Minister of the Interior the scapegoat of
all the evils which had thus overtaken the country.
But, like the Crown Prince of Prussia, afterwards
Emperor Frederick, who placed himself in opposition
to the reactionary policy of his father during the
famous " Conflict Time," and was virtually banished
from Court for some time in consequence, the Tsare-
vitch also incurred the displeasure of his Imperial
sire, and, what was even more unfortunate , of Count
Schouvaloff, chief of the " Third Section ," or secret
police. Some correspondence between the Tsarevitch
and his political partisans had fallen into the hands of
the " Third Section , " and the heir to the throne made
a bitter complaint to his father about this police
interference with the private affairs of members of
the Imperial family. But the incident was closed
by Count Schouvaloff declaring that he could only
do his duty as supreme guardian of the monarch's
safety, and the authority of his Government, if his
powers of control extended to all His Majesty's
subjects without distinction of persons .
For some time now the person of the Tsarevitch
receded into the background, and it was only on the
outbreak of the Franco - German War that he again
stepped forward to play a party rôle. At the head
of the whole youth of Russia he made no secret of
his strong sympathy with the cause of the French,
which, indeed, became a shibboleth with the Slavo-
philes . This national partisanship of his was all
 HEIR-APPARENT 27

the more striking as his father's heart was known

to be wholly on the side of the Germans in their
tremendous struggle . For did Alexander II. , on
hearing of Sedan, not give a grand banquet at
Moscow to celebrate the event, and subsequently
send the Cross of St. George to Moltke, the van-
quisher of the French ? But when the war ended
with the Commune, the Tsarevitch was said to have
exclaimed, with a sigh : " C'est là que mènent ces
idées ? "—" It is to this, then, is it, that all these
ideas lead ? "—and to have taken temporary fare-
well of some of his youthful French dreams .
The French war had aroused Russia, as most
other countries, to the necessity of reorganising her
army, and into this question the Tsarevitch threw
himself with his wonted ardour. The War Minister,
General Milutin, was for doing the work of military
reform gradually ; but that would not satisfy the heir
to the throne, who, in order to evince his patriotic
solicitude , ordered, at his own private cost, several
thousand rifles and a number of field -guns, so as
thus to expedite the work of re- armament. The
incident caused a great sensation at the time-the
more so, as the friends of the Tsarevitch had
sought to engage an English expert at a very high
salary to superintend the work of making rifles.
A memorable and important incident in the life
of the Tsarevitch was his visit to England in June
1873 , with his wife and two boys. For it enabled
him to see and better understand the people who
were now fast becoming the neighbours of Russia
in Central Asia ; and even on the very day of his
 28 ALEXANDER III

arrival in London an official report announced,

under the heading, " On the way to Khiva," that
" the enemy, numbering 3600 Turcomans, Khirgiz ,
and Khan's troops, had been defeated without any
loss on the Russian side " (not even of the tradi-
tional three Cossacks ! ) " by General von Kauf-
mann ."
This visit of the Tsarevitch was coincident with
that of the Shah of Persia , in whose honour such
fêtes and national demonstrations were organised as
had not been seen in England since the days of the
allied monarchs before and after Waterloo ; and, on
the very day of the grand military review at Wind-
sor, the Times quoted a long article from the St.
Petersburg Mir, as a specimen of the bitterly anti-
British tone which was then pervading all the
Russian Press, on account of our very natural
solicitude about the march of events in Central
Asia. This was one of its sentences :

" In a word, proud Albion is doing all she can to astonish

the Shah by the pomp and luxury of his reception-and all
this only in order to outdo Russia, and to efface from his
mind the pleasing reminiscence he took with him from St.
Petersburg. From the naïve language of the English papers
it is clear that, in all the festivities in honour of the Shah ,
England is showing her spite against Russia rather than her
friendship for Persia," &c.

To which the Times replied :

" Such acrimonious rant as the comments of the Mir, it has

seldom been our lot to read. . . . Yet we fear it only
exaggerates and does not misrepresent a national feeling.
The article may be taken as evidence that there is a
portion of the public in St. Petersburg which likes to hear
 HEIR-APPARENT 29

England spoken of as ' Bloody Albion,' which enjoys such

delicate figures of speech as ' the hidden growl of the
perfidious and cruel tiger,' and is able to tolerate as a true
version of history the description of the Sepoy Mutiny as of
the general rebellion, excited by English policy and sustained
by English gold, to supply an opportunity for the ' plunder
of the Indian Princes .' . . . Our Russian friends must not
suppose that we are always thinking about them. Our
Queen, her Ministers, and those who are set in authority
among us, including the Lord Mayor, the Lessee of the
Opera, the Directors of the Albert Hall and the Crystal
Palace, have not the slightest desire to make a demonstration
against the Russian Government or any other. In fact,
their Imperial Highnesses the Tsarevitch and the Tsarevna
have borne a chief part in all these ceremonials. Is it to be
supposed that they, too, have been aiding the moral conquest
of the British tiger ? "

It was during the exchange of these journalistic

amenities that the Heir of All the Russias paid his
first visit to England, where he remained for the
greater part of a month, he and his consort, as the
guests of the Prince and Princess of Wales at
Marlborough House. Had the Court of Persia not
transferred itself to London, the Tsarevitch and
Tsarevna would have been the chief attractions of
the London season ; but, as it was, they figured at
all the splendid pageants given in honour of the
Shah, and lent additional lustre to the great social
gatherings which marked that eventful summer.
At Spithead, the Tsarevitch had an exceptional
opportunity of being impressed with the naval
power of England, while at Windsor, Aldershot,
and Woolwich, he was equally present at reviews
and sham-fights, which enabled him to judge of the
30 ALEXANDER III

quality of our little army. When the Guards in

magnificent array went past at the Grand Review
in Windsor Park, the Tsarevna, turning to her
sister, the Princess of Wales, " straightened her
hand in illustration of the level ranks " ; while the
Shah motioned to the Duke of Cambridge and the
Queen " with an animated gesture of admiration,"
which was shared by the Tsarevitch, when by
there swept the 93rd Highlanders, who had formed.
the "thin red line " at Balaclava.
In the intervals left him by the balls, operas,
banquets, and other social functions which made
the season of 1873 one of the most brilliant on
record, the Tsarevitch sought to complete his know-
ledge of English life and institutions by a display of
energy which could not even have been surpassed
by an eager American tourist . Everything that was
characteristic of our national life, he made a point
of seeing. Prisons, picture -galleries, hospitals,
banks, race-courses , polo- grounds, the Tower, the
docks, the Post- office, and all the other sights of
London were in turn the objects of his intelligent
curiosity, and he even spent an afternoon in the
Court of the Lord Chief Justice, listening to the
trial of the Tichborne case.
He saw something of the country, too. For he
went to Hull for a couple of days to inspect a new
yacht, the " Tsarevna," which had been devised for
him by Sir E. T. Reed, of whom he was the guest ;
and he bestowed on some ironclads that were being
built in the Humber a degree of attention such as only
his ancestor, Peter the Great , was wont to pay to our
 HEIR-APPARENT 31

ships of war at Deptford. Before leaving England ,

after a pleasant and instructive stay of about four
weeks, the Tsarevitch dined with the Duke of Edin-
burgh and the Elder Brethren of Trinity House ,
when his health was drunk with the utmost enthu-
siasm . Speaking in French, his Imperial Highness
thanked the Prince of Wales for the cordial manner
in which he had been received in England, adding,
" and I trust that our cordial and affectionate rela-
tions may continue to the end of our lives. I trust
also that the same affectionate cordiality with which
I have been received by my brother-in-law may
be extended to me by the English nation ."
cannot be doubted that this visit of the Russian
heir-apparent to the Court of the Empress of India,
of whom he had also been the honoured guest for a
couple of days at Windsor Castle, had a beneficent
effect that was destined to make itself felt on the
future relations of the two countries .
The Tsarevitch had referred to the Prince of
Wales as his " brother-in-law " ; and now the
title was to become applicable in a double sense .
For by this time it was known , though not yet
officially announced, that a marriage was being
arranged between the only daughter of the Russian
Emperor and the second son of Queen Victoria.
"The son of him with whom we strove for power-
Whose will is lord thro' all his world domain-
Who made the serf a man, and burst his chain-
Has given our Prince his own imperial flower,
Alexandrowna."

"No private family in this country are more

32 ALEXANDER III

attached to each other than the Imperial family of

Russia," said the Prime Minister, when asking the
House of Commons for the usual marriage grant.
" It is for her happiness, but the light of my life.
has gone out," sadly remarked the Emperor, after
the gorgeous marriage ceremony in the Winter
Palace, on the 23rd of January of the following year
( 1874) .
A few months later the Tsar Liberator came
to England (as Alexander I. and Nicholas had
done before him ) on a visit to his dearly beloved
daughter ; and at a luncheon which was offered
him at the Guildhall, his Majesty, speaking with
much emotion, trusted " that, with the blessing of
Divine Providence, the affectionate home she finds
in your country will strengthen the friendly rela-
tions now established between Russia and Great
Britain for the mutual advantage of their prosperity
and peace." I think it was Lord Granville who
said that, even if such dynastic alliances were
powerless to prevent war, they could, at least, help
to preserve peace ; and, indeed , such had been the
impression produced by the union of the Duke of
Edinburgh with the only daughter of the Tsar, that
several towns in England hastened to return to the
Government the Russian guns captured at Sebas-
topol, which had been sent to them as trophies of
the Crimean war, as wishing it to be understood that
they no longer felt anything but good-will towards
their former foe. But these millennial acts were pre-
mature. For at this very time the Eastern horizon
ofEurope was beginning to be darkened by gathering
 HEIR-APPARENT 33

storm-clouds, which , gradually overspreading the

Balkan skies, ended in a war that had the effect of
making England send her threatening ironclads up
through the Dardanelles, so as to prevent the
Russians from seizing on the city of the Sultans,
which Napoleon had well described as the " capital
of the world."
When these black clouds began to gather over
the Balkan peninsula, it was only in keeping with
the antecedents of the Tsarevitch that he should
have hastened to identify himself with the Pan-
slavonic party of action- that is to say, of war.
"Any one," said a writer in the Times, " who ven-
tured to counsel prudence , pointing to the danger of
grave European complications, and to the sacrifices
which even a war in Turkey alone would inevitably
entail, was held up to public scorn as a pusillani-
mous, unworthy son of the Fatherland, who did not
know the inexhaustible resources of the country
and the unbounded patriotic devotion of the people.
The popular feeling naturally found its way to the
Emperor through the various unofficial channels.
Every morning his Majesty read the fierce diatribes
of the Press, and afterwards heard them re-echoed
in fainter, more respectful tones by those with
whom he conversed , especially in the vicinity of the
Empress and the Tsarevitch. "
On two occasions already , Alexander II. , though
not a military monarch like his father Nicholas,
had braced himself up to the prospect of war-
once in 1863 , when he was firmly determined to
resist all interference of the Powers in the settle-
C
34 ALEXANDER III

ment of the Polish question ; and again in 1870-71 ,

when he resolved at all hazards to free Russia from
the hampering Black Sea clauses of the Treaty of
Paris. But in 1876-77, the Tsar himself was
much less bellicose than the party of extreme
Panslavists, which claimed the Tsarevitch as one of
its leading members . On the two former occasions,
the Emperor himself had headed the national move-
ment ; in the present case, he was hurried along
by it, and, in spite of all his autocratic power, he
found it impossible to stem the current of the
popular tide, which was setting, deep and strong,
for a war with the " unspeakable " Turks . The
Tsarevitch thrilled with the triumph of his own
convictions when, standing by the side of his father
in the St. George's Hall of the Kremlin at Moscow,
he heard his Majesty at last declare : " My most
ardent wish is to arrive at a general agreement.
Should this not be achieved, and should I see that
we cannot obtain such guarantees as are necessary
for carrying out what we have a right to demand
of the Porte, I am firmly resolved to act indepen-
dently, and am convinced that in this case the
whole of Russia will respond to my summons,
should I consider it necessary, and should the
honour of Russia require it."
Immediately after the passage of the Danube by
the Russian troops, the 12th and 13th Corps were
detached under the Tsarevitch to take up position
along the line of the Lom, in order to secure the
left of the army advancing across the Balkans from
molestation by Mehemet Ali (a Magdeburg German
 HEIR-APPARENT 35

by birth), who , with about 50,000 troops, was hold-

ing the Quadrilateral of Turkish fortresses-
Rustchuk, Shumla, Varna, and Silistria. The
army of the Tsarevitch- numbering about 40,000
infantry, 500 cavalry, and 200 guns- was scattered
over a length of more than fifty miles behind the
White Lom , and its duties were of a strictly
defensive kind.
"The achievements of the Tsarevitch's detach-
ment," wrote Lieutenant Greene, U.S.A., the most
accurate if most colourless historian of the war,
"have been somewhat obscured by the more bloody
engagements around Plevna, and the subsequent
brilliant advance over the Balkans . But it must
not be forgotten that throughout the campaign it
fulfilled to the letter, and without drawing reinforce-
ments from the other parts of the army, the task
which was assigned to it, viz. , to assure the safety
of the left flank of the army, and to weaken the
Quadrilateral of Turkish fortresses."
Whatever may have been thought of the general-
ship of the Tsarevitch on the line of the Lom , he
could at least boast that the Turks were never able
to break through this lengthy line. Several times ,
indeed, he had to fall back before his Turkish foes
-notably at Karahassankoi , Popkoi, Opaka, and
Kaceljevo-engagements which were always claimed
as great victories by the Ottomans ; but it was a
curious kind of victory which ultimately ended in
the transfer of Mehemet Ali from his command,
" because he had refused to break his neck against
a stone wall," as he said to an English corre-
 R
ANDE
36 ALEX III

spondent at Varna. " Of the generalship on the

Russian side (Tsarevitch )," wrote the same corre-
spondent, " it is unnecessary to speak, for it is a
matter of universal comment and criticism , and I
need only refer to the descriptions of the different
movements which I have sent from time to time,
and let every one judge for himself." The truth is
that the Tsarevitch , who had indulged in " un-
accountable movements and wild manœuvres ," did
not exhibit anything like inborn genius for the art
of war- far from it ; though he now showed him-
self, to the surprise of many of his friends , to be
un homme sérieux, who could command esteem, if
not, perhaps , love. It was certainly much less
owing to his own brilliant generalship than to the
strategical blunders of the Turks that he had kept
intact the line of the Lom.
But if the Tsarevitch did not display anything
like military genius at the head of the army of the
Lom, did he at least exhibit the ordinary courage of
the soldier ? In a brilliant article on the character
of Alexander III . , Mr. " Lanin " said : " Marvellous
personal courage is not a striking characteristic
of the dynasty of the Romanoffs as it was of the
English Tudors . . . . . The Tsar has been fre-
quently accused of cowardice, an indictment to
which, it must be admitted, many undeniable facts
lend a strong colouring of probability." He further
spoke " of the Emperor's aversion to ride on horse-
back, and of his dread of a horse even when the
animal is harnessed to a vehicle. " Commenting on
these statements, Mr. Archibald Forbes, in an article
 HEIR-APPARENT 37

on the " Military Courage of Royalty," wrote as

follows :

" In 1877, Alexander III. did not know what nerves

meant. He was then a man of strong, if slow mental force,
stolid, peremptory, reactionary, the possessor of a dull but
firm resolution. He had a strong though clumsy seat on
horseback, and was no infrequent rider. He had two ruling
dislikes : one was war, and the other was officers of German
extraction. The latter he got rid of ; the former he regarded
as a necessary evil of the hour. He longed for its ending,
but while it lasted he did his sturdy and loyal best to wage it
to the advantage of the Russian arms ; and in this he suc-
ceeded, strenuously tulfilling the particular duty which was
laid upon him , that ofprotecting the Russian left flank from the
Danube to the foot-hills ofthe Balkans. He had good troops ;
the subordinate commands were fairly well filled, and his head-
quarters staff was efficient. General Dochtouroff, its sous-
chef, was certainly the ablest staff-officer in the Russian army.
But Alexander was no puppet of his staff ; he understood his
business as the Commander of the Army ofthe Lom, performed
his functions in a firm, quiet fashion, and withal was the trusty
and successful warden of the eastern marches.
"His force never amounted to 50,000 men, and his enemy
was in considerably greater strength. He had successes, and
he sustained reverses, but he was equal to either fortune-
always resolute in his steadfast, dogged manner, and never
whining for reinforcements when things went against him ,
but doing his best with the means to his hand. They used to
speak of him in the principal headquarters as the only com-
mander who never gave them any bother. So highly was he
thought of there, that when, after the unsuccessful attempt on
Plevna in the September of that war, the Guard- Corps was
arriving from Russia, and there was the temporary intention

Contemporary Review for February 1893. Mr. " Lanin's"

article had appeared in the January number of the same
magazine.
 R
ANDE
38 ALEX III

to use it with our troops in an immediate offensive move-

ment across the Balkans, he was named to take the command
of the enterprise. But this intention having been presently
departed from, and the reinforcements being ordered instead
to the Plevna section of the theatre of war, the Tsarevitch
retained his command on the left flank, and thus, in mid-
December, had the opportunity of inflicting a severe defeat
on Suleiman Pasha, just as in September he had worsted
Mehemet Ali in the battle of Arkova. . . . He never was a
gracious, far less a lovable man. He was a brave man
fifteen years ago."

But whatever the degree of personal courage

displayed by the Tsarevitch during the Turkish
campaign, it had a great effect upon him all the
same . For he returned home with a thorough
horror and hatred of war and all its ways . He
had got his baptism of fire, and he had no desire
for total immersion . To the detestation of war
which the Tsarevitch carried back with him from
the Danube to the Neva may be ascribed that
unfailing devotion to peace which characterised
him during his reign as Tsar. It is true, he had
not been able to make very much impression on the
Turks. But Russia had still more terrible enemies
than the Turks, in the shape of the corruption and
peculation which were considered patriotic virtues
by all the higher commanders in her army. Into
the malpractices of these high- placed bloodsuckers,
some of them members of the Imperial family itself,
who had done more, perhaps, than the Remingtons
of the Turks to impede the tide of Russian vic-
tory, a Commission , presided over by the Tsarevitch
himself, was appointed to inquire after the war ;
 HEIR-APPARENT 39

and the result of this inquiry was so disgraceful to

its chief objects, that for a long time afterwards the
heir to the throne would not even speak to his
uncle, the Grand Duke Nicholas, who had been the
virtual commander of all the Russian armies in the
field . The disclosures now made sickened the very
heart of the future Emperor, and he registered a
vow that, if ever he came to the throne, he would
do his best to prove a Hercules in the work of
cleansing the Augean stables of the Empire from
the pollution and corruption everywhere prevailing.
But he was not more enraged at the administra-
tive rogueries which had been revealed by the war
than disappointed and disgusted with its political
results as embodied in the Treaty of Berlin , and his
anti-German feelings now became intensified . With
the signature of the Treaty of Berlin , the slumber-
ing fires of Nihilism again leapt up into a threaten-
ing flame, and within the next two years several
daring attempts were made to take the life of the
Emperor. Among the Nihilists arrested were
noblemen and ladies of good family. No circle was
free from suspicion, and even some members of the
Imperial family itself were the objects of police
surveillance. The Emperor himself was at this
time on anything but cordial terms with his heir,
who had constituted himself, strange to say, the
champion of reform. On the anniversary of his
father's accession ( March 2 , 1879), the Tsarevitch
headed a deputation to congratulate his Majesty, and
said : " We fervently wish and confidently hope that
your Majesty, as ruler, may continue to carry out
40 ALEXANDER III

those wise resolutions which you have hitherto

adopted." To which the Emperor coldly and
pointedly replied :
" My endeavour is that my heir shall find the Empire at
the height of its prosperity and power, both internally and
externally. We have, however, great tasks yet before us.
Those immediately to be attended to are a reduction of
expenses, a regulation of the currency, a further reconstruc-
tion of the army, the imperfections of whose administration
have been recently laid bare, and improvement of the sanitary
state of the country. There are other tasks to be seen after,
but they must wait till the existing passions are appeased.
If I do not live to see the time, my heir must undertake the
improvement."
It was added that the Tsarevitch retired in
silence, and some little time after it was rumoured
that he had been asked by his father to consider
himself under arrest . * In any case, there were
grave political differences between the two , and
these were presently accentuated by the scandal to
which the double marriage of Alexander II . had
given rise, and which wounded the strictly moral
heir to the throne in his tenderest feelings. The

* The following was the account of this incident, which

met with no official contradiction : " After a conversation of
three quarters of an hour on March 4, the Tsarevitch left
his father's palace in a highly excited state. The Tsar
immediately summoned the Council of Ministers, and in-
formed them that for the safety of the State it was necessary
that his son should be kept in custody, and charged him
with being in connivance with the most dangerous foes of
Russia. Finally, Count Adlerberg was sent to the Tsarevitch
to inform him that he must not leave his palace, and must
consider himself a prisoner."
 HEIR-APPARENT 41

haste with which the recently widowed Tsar

espoused Princess Dolgorouki, who had borne
him several children during the lifetime of his
lawful consort, wounded the filial piety and morti-
fied the self- love of the Tsarevitch, It was,
according to Count Dmitry Tolstoy, gall and worm-
wood to him to be compelled to sit, with his own
spouse, at the family table in Livadia, below
Princess Yuriefski-the title conferred by the Tsar
upon Princess Dolgorouki when he secretly married
her, a short time before his death .
""
Experiences of so staggering a nature," said a
writer on this period, * " might have disturbed the
balance of the strongest and most resolute character.
But such a character the second son of Alexander II.
had never been, and could not have been under the
given circumstances. Naturally severe and simple
minded, the Tsarevitch, from his twentieth year,
had stood under the weight of a task whose magni-
tude was above his powers and his education . He
was torn hither and thither by impressions of the
most contradictory kind . He was deceived in
everything which he had accepted as fixed and
authoritative. He was excluded from all participa-
tion in the business which should form the work of
his life, and , from the nature of his position, he
was prevented from sharing with trusted friends
the burden imposed upon him. The consequence

* " Russia under Alexander III. and in the Preceding

Period." By H. von Samson- Himmelstierna. Translated
from the German by J. Morrison, M.A.
42 ALEXANDER III

of all this was that he lost confidence in himself

and in his powers. His grandfather had tried one
system, his father the opposite, and both were
baffled both had found out that the instrument of
war had failed at the critical moment, just as the
painfully elaborated civil order had done , and that
a desertion had followed the failure, making the
professions of the most loyal people on earth appear
a mockery and a lie. Where should belief in the
future and confidence in one's self be found , in the
midst of a chaos which seemed incomparably worse
than anything which had ever been experienced in
the so-called ' pagan ' lands of the West ? "
But now the time was fast approaching when
the Tsarevitch was to be relieved from the irksome
rôle of a purely passive observer of events , and to
be invested with the power of giving effect to those
ideas of reform of which he had hitherto, as we
have seen, been the ardent advocate .
 CHAPTER III

CIRCUMSTANCES OF HIS ACCESSION

March 13, 1881 -The Anitchkoff Palace-An equerry's mes-

sage-Assassination of Alexander II.-Alexander III.'s
manifesto - Accession formalities - Imperial funeral -
—
English sympathy- Nihilist ultimatum - National slip
between cup and lip-Loris- Melikoffs Constitution- A
tap-room Parliament-Reform or Reaction ?-Despotism
by divine right- The choice of Hercules-Alexander.

ON Sunday, March 13 , 1881 , the Tsarevitch was

sitting at lunch with his family in the Anitchkoff
Palace on the Nevski Prospect, to which he had
just returned from the Michael Riding School, where
his father had been holding a review of the Marine
Corps, when he was suddenly startled by a loud
explosion that filled him with a strange foreboding.
In a flash of retrospection he remembered how
several attempts had already been made by the
Nihilists to take his father's life-by pistol, bombs,
poison-how the Imperial train had been nearly
blown up near Moscow, and how an explosion at
the Winter Palace the previous winter had all but
attained its aim . Nay, on this very morning, the
Tsarevitch and Count Loris- Melikoff, alarmed by
44 ALEXANDER III

certain threats and information which reached them ,

had earnestly entreated the Emperor not to expose
his person by going to the parade ; yet his Majesty
had insisted on doing so, with an escort of but
half a dozen Cossacks , saying, " Only Providence
can protect me, and when He no longer sees fit to
do so, these Cossacks cannot possibly help. " It
had always been the Tsar's custom after such
Sunday inspections to drive to the Anitchkoff
Palace to lunch with his heir and see his grand-
children, of whom he was very fond ; but for some
reason or other he did not do so to-day, and the
Tsarevitch had returned home alone, leaving his
father to pay some visits on his way back to the
Winter Palace.
In a flash of retrospection , I say, the Tsarevitch
remembered all this, and he had barely recovered
from the shock of the explosion referred to when he
was startled by another, and a louder one. In a
few minutes more an Equerry of the Emperor came
galloping furiously into the courtyard of the Palace ,
to anticipate whom both the Tsarevitch and his
wite rushed downstairs, but it was some time before
the messenger could speak. At last he stammered
out : " He is frightfully wounded," and then hur-
riedly explained that, as the Tsar was driving home,
he had been made the target of two petards, one of
which had mutilated him in the most terrible
manner, beyond all hope of recovery. Jumping
into a sleigh, the agonised heir-apparent and his
wife drove off at full speed to the Winter Palace ,
where they were the first to arrive after the Grand
 CIRCUMSTANCES OF HIS ACCESSION 45

Duke Michael, and then they learned the awful

truth.
While driving along the road between the wall
of the Summer Garden and the Catherine Canal, a
bomb had been hurled under the Imperial carriage,
throwing down the two horses of the escort, tearing
off the back of the carriage, wounding one of the
Cossacks and a baker's boy, and doing other
damage, but leaving the Tsar himself unhurt. The
coachman was for driving off home, having received
private instructions from the Emperor's family to
waive all ceremony when deeming his master to
be in danger ; but his Majesty pulled the cord so
hard that his driver at last stopped, and then the
Tsar got out to inquire after the wounded . An
officer ran towards him and asked whether he was
hurt. The Tsar replied calmly : " No, thank God,
I am untouched. Don't disturb yourself. Let us
see after the wounded ." The Emperor ordered that
all attention should be given to the injured, and
especially to the Cossack who had been seriously
hurt. Then, turning round, he beheld the assassin
a few paces from him, surrounded by a gathering
crowd of people. A soldier of the Preobrajenski
Regiment of the Guard held him fast by the arms.
He had a revolver in one hand, and a dagger in the
other. The Emperor approached the assassin with
the utmost calmness , and ordered him to be removed.
Then his Majesty turned to go home, but he had
only gone a few steps when a young man threw
another bomb at his feet. A tremendous explosion
followed, which was heard all over the city. When
 ER
AND
EX
46 AL III

the smoke cleared away, the Emperor was seen

lying on the ground in a pool of blood . Many
other wounded persons were lying near him . The
assassin himself fell to the ground, and he was
instantly surrounded by a furious crowd, from
which the police had great difficulty in protecting
him. The Emperor, who was quite unconscious,
was placed on the sleigh of the Chief of Police,
who took him in his arms, resting the head,
which was covered with blood, on his breast.
The Emperor's helmet had been carried away
by the explosion , and it was found that he was
suffering from the most frightful wounds . One leg
was shattered right up to the top of the thigh, and
the other was severed at the knee. The abdomen
was torn open, and the face was dreadfully dis-
figured. The right hand, which had been gloved,
was much lacerated, his Majesty's wedding-ring
being broken and the pieces driven into the flesh .
On being asked by his brother, the Grand Duke
Michael, who was driving behind him at the time
of the explosion, whether he would like to be taken
to the nearest house, the Emperor could only
murmur, " Quick home, carry to Palace, there
die " ; and while being carried home he repeatedly
complained of the cold, and asked whether his heir-
apparent was alive . One of the doctors, who had
been through the Crimean and Turkish wars, said
he had never seen such awful wounds.
Arrived at the Palace, the mangled Emperor was
laid on a couch in his study, and then it became
apparent that he had only a short while to live.
 CIRCUMSTANCES OF HIS ACCESSION 47

He must have bled to death sooner but for the

cauterising effect of the explosion and the extreme
cold ; still, the snow outside and the staircase ofthe
Palace were dyed with blood . The Grand Duke
Constantine moved in and out of the room unable to
bear the heartrending spectacle, and all the others.
were distracted with grief. Instruments were
fetched for the purpose of amputating the legs, which
were only held on to the body by ligaments of flesh.
It is doubtful whether the poor Emperor ever
recovered consciousness after being laid on his
couch . But at one time he seemed to have done so,
and then the Holy Sacrament was administered .
At about half-past three (the explosion had occurred
after two) the murdered monarch breathed his last
as the Archpriest was reciting the prayers for those
in extremis, while all present knelt, the spectacle
being described as more than heartrending. A post-
mortem examination proved that the heart and veins
had been almost wholly drained of blood , though
otherwise all the internal organs were found to be
in a normal state.
The sinking of the imperial standard half-mast
high had announced to the vast crowds, which had
been quick to stream to the Winter Palace from all
parts of the city, that the Tsar Emancipator had
succumbed to the frightful wounds inflicted upon
him by a Nihilist assassin, and the soldiers, in par-
ticular, by whom the Emperor was greatly beloved,
were furious. " I myself," said the correspondent
of an English paper, "" saw men and women some
time after searching for relics , and rubbing their
 R
ANDE
48 ALEX III

handkerchiefs in the blood-stained snow, some falling

on their knees at the scene of the occurrence ,
weeping, crying, and crossing themselves ." More
than twenty persons had been killed and wounded
by the two bombs, which were found to have been
filled with a preparation of nitro-glycerine that tore
the flesh and clothes into mere shreds. All the
windows in the neighbourhood had also been
smashed by the force of the explosion.
The chief assassin had been captured, and he
turned out to be one Nicolai Vanoff Russakoff,
a dark, thick - set, short-necked, repulsive-looking
man, nineteen years of age, hailing from Tikhovin,
in the province of Novgorod. He had received his
elementary education in two towns of his native
province, whence, in 1879, he had come to the
Institute of Mines in St. Petersburg, of which he
was a member at the moment of his crime.
From information yielded by this assassin the
police, though meeting with a desperate resistance,
made some important captures the following day ;
and then, too, it was discovered that the Nihilists.
had undermined a thoroughfare called Little Garden
Street, leading to the Nevski Prospect, so as to
blow up the Tsar had he taken this way home
instead of the Catherine Canal route . Humanly
speaking, on that Sunday, the 13th of March, his
Majesty was a doomed man- so firm and compre-
hensive had been the resolution of his foes. The
choice of two deaths had been given him-death by
hand-grenades or by underground explosion , and
chance had caused him to select the former. And
 CIRCUMSTANCES OF HIS ACCESSION 49

even on the banks of the Catherine Canal his

murderers had taken the greatest precautions against
his escape, several of them being posted along the
road with a pre-arranged code of signalling and of
action, so as to make sure of their imperial quarry
should one or even two of their bombs miss their
mark. In all history there is no mention of a
more deliberately planned and desperately executed
murder of a crowned head.
On the evening of the murder a Council of
State was held at the Anitchkoff Palace by the new
Tsar, Alexander III., who hastened to issue the
following proclamation-the work, as afterwards
appeared, of his old tutor, M. Pobedonóstseff, now
Procurator of the Holy Synod , just as the mani-
festoes of the Emperor Frederick of Germany had
been similarly drafted for him by Dr. Geffcken :

"We by the grace of God, Alexander III . , Emperor and

Autocrat of All the Russias, Tsar of Poland, Grand Duke of
Finland, &c., hereby make known to all our faithful subjects
that it has pleased the Almighty, in His inscrutable will, to
visit Russia with heavy blows of fate, and to call her bene-
factor, the Emperor Alexander II ., to Himself. He fell by
the hands of impious murderers, who had repeatedly sought
his gracious life, and made their attempts because they saw
in him the protector of Russia, the foundation of her great-
ness, and the promoter of the welfare of the Russian people.
Let us bow to the unfathomable will of Divine Providence,
and offer up to the Almighty our prayers for the repose of
the pure soul of our beloved father.
"We ascend the throne, which we inherit from our fore-
fathers, the throne of the Russian Empire, the Tsardom of
Poland, and the Grand Dukedom of Finland, inseparably
connected with it. We assume the heavy burden which
D
50 ALEXANDER III

God has imposed upon us with firm reliance upon His

almighty help. May He bless our work to the welfare of
our beloved fatherland, and may He guide our strength for
the happiness of all our faithful subjects. In repeating
before Almighty God the sacred vow made by our father, to
devote, according to the testament of our forefathers, the
whole of our life to care for the welfare, power, and honour
of Russia, we call upon all our faithful subjects to unite
before the altar of the Almighty their prayers with ours, and
command them to swear fidelity to us and to our successor,
his Imperial Highness the Hereditary Grand Duke Nicolai
Alexandrovitch. Given at St. Petersburg in the year of our
Lord 1881 , and the first year of our reign."

It was thought necessary to follow up this pro-

clamation by a special ukase calling separately upon
the peasants to join their allegiance with that of all
other faithful subjects to the new Tsar and his
heirs . In this document the loyal peasantry were
reminded of the Government decree abolishing serf-
dom on February 19, 1861 , and constituting them
free owners and cultivators of the soil.
Next morning, after the issue of his proclama-
tion, the new Emperor received the allegiance of the
officers of the Guards, Court dignitaries, and officials
in the Winter Palace . On the open space in front
of the Palace large crowds watched the numerous
officers and officials going to the ceremony. The
large company assembled about noon in the various
halls of the Palace through which Alexander III.
had to pass on his way to the chapel. Coming
from the private apartments of his late father,
where the remains of the latter were lying, his
Majesty advanced, accompanied by the Empress, who
wore a white satin robe with a broad crown of
 CIRCUMSTANCES OF HIS ACCESSION 51

diamonds, and the rest of his family. In passing

through the Hall of St. George, his Majesty, address-
ing the officers there assembled, said, with deep
emotion : " I know how much my father appreciated
your fidelity and devotion. I count upon your
fidelity to myself, and when I am no more, to my
son, the Tsarevitch, Nicolai Alexandrovitch ." These
words were greeted with tremendous applause, amid
which the procession moved on to the chapel. The
form of oath was then gone through by kissing the
Bible and Cross, after which the new Tsar left to
return to the Anitchkoff Palace, the crowds again
cheering loudly as he passed . Throughout the day
a large number of Cossacks kept patrolling the
streets with lances couched.
For the next fortnight all St. Petersburg, one
may say all Russia, was nothing but a solemn,
sorrow- stricken mortuary chamber. After lying in
state for a week at the Winter Palace the remains
of the murdered Tsar were removed with most im-
pressive pomp to the Fortress Church, the funeral
car being followed by all his sons, brothers , and
nephews on foot, accompanied by a crowd of foreign
princes. On Sunday, March 27, just fourteen days
after the murder, the corpse, which had been gazed
at by thousands upon thousands during the time of
its lying in state, was finally placed beside that of
his Majesty's late consort, in the presence of all the
imperial family-the Duke and Duchess of Edin-
burg, the Prince of Wales, the Crown Princes of
Germany and Denmark- and a multitude of high
dignitaries of State, all forming, in the circum-
 NDER
52 ALEXA III

stances, such a scene of funereal pomp and moving,

mysterious interest as the century had never yet
beheld. Before leaving St. Petersburg the Prince of
Wales, on behalf of his royal mother, ceremoniously
invested the new Tsar with the Order of the Garter,
recalling how it had been worn by his Majesty's
illustrious father and grandfather before him.
England, for the rest, had been foremost with her
expression of pity and indignation at the murder of
Alexander II ., and in the House of Commons Mr.
Gladstone, in moving an address of sympathy to
the Queen and the daughter of the assassinated
Tsar, quoted, as appropriate to the occasion, the
lines of Pope :
"Let tyrants govern with an iron rod,
Oppress, destroy, and be the scourge of God ;
Since he, who like a father held his rein,
So soon forgot, so just and mild in vain," &c.
What the character of the murdered Tsar had
been was known to all ; but now public interest
began to be concentrated on the policy of his suc-
cessor. What would he do ? How would he rule
his subjects ? With the reforming sceptre of his
father, or with a reactionary rod ? He was known
to have constituted himself the champion of certain
Liberal reforms when heir to the crown . Now that
it was on his head, would he remain true to the
promise of his heir-apparency, or discard his old
companions, as our own King Hal had done when
he came to the throne ? While as yet the corpse
of his father was lying in state, the Russian Press
openly advocated the granting of a Constitution, not
 CIRCUMSTANCES OF HIS ACCESSION 53

in timid and ambiguous language as hitherto, but in

plain, bold, and unequivocal terms. But more than
this had reached the new Emperor's eye. For even
before his murdered sire was entombed, the Execu-
tive Committee of the Nihilists had found means of
transmitting to him an ultimatum, of which the
following is the substance :-

"Yes, your Majesty, do not be deceived by the words of

flatterers and parasites . From such a position there are
only two outlets-either the inevitable revolution, which
cannot be obviated by capital punishments ; or voluntary
compliance with the will of the people on the part of the
Government. . . . Be sure, sire, that as soon as the supreme
power ceases to act arbitrarily, and only thinks of yielding to
the injunctions of conscience and recognising the rights of
the people, you can safely dismiss the spies that do your
Government harm, disband your personal escort, and burn
your scaffolds. Then, also, would the Executive Committee
of its own accord give over its activity, and disperse the
forces gathered round it, to devote itself to the national
welfare and progress. We forget that you are the repre-
sentative of mere force, which has so often worked the nation
woe, and we turn to you with the hope that feelings of per-
sonal bitterness in you will not quench the recognition of
your duties and the desire of truth. The exasperation on our
side is just as great. You have lost a father ; but we have
lost, not only fathers, but also brothers, wives, children,
friends, and property. But we are ready to repress every
personal feeling when the weal of Russia is at stake, and we
expect the same of you.
" We impose no conditions-those which are necessary to
substitute peaceful labour for revolutionary agitation were
created by history, not by us. We do not impose those con-
ditions, we merely call them to mind, and, in our opinion,
they are two : ( 1 ) A general amnesty of all previous political
offenders, for they were no criminals, but mere executors of
54 ALEXANDER III

a hard civic duty ; (2 ) the convocation of representatives of

all the Russian people for a revision and reform of the private
laws of the State, according to the will of the nation. We
think it necessary, however, to remind you that the sanction-
ing of the supreme power by the popular will can only be
rendered valid by thoroughly free elections in the following
manner . . . . and the Government, therefore, to grant as
follows : full liberty of the Press, full freedom of speech,
full right of public meeting, and full freedom of election
programme.
" These are the only means of restoring Russia to the
paths of peaceful progress. We, therefore, solemnly declare,
in the face of the Fatherland and the whole world, that our
party will submit in all respects to the decisions of the
National Assembly, if it be convoked under observance of
the above conditions ; and, further, that we shall never be
guilty of any act of violence against the measures of a
Government created by this popular Parliament. So, there-
fore, your Majesty has to decide. You have two ways before
you ; it is for you to choose which you will take."

It is not too much to say that this ultimatum

proved the feather which finally determined the
Emperor's mind, hitherto trembling between the
scales of reform and reaction, in favour of the
latter. Already guilty of a crime , the Nihilists
had now committed a blunder. They had not read
the character of the new Tsar with acuteness
enough to perceive that he was a monarch whose
mantle of autocracy might be wheedled off by the
heat of the sun when it could not be wrenched away
by a roaring, threatening wind. And yet, had they
but held their peace, had they but allowed their
pen to lie awhile, how different might have been
the result ! Little did the Nihilists and the nation
just at this time know what a marvellous slip they
 CIRCUMSTANCES OF HIS ACCESSION 55

had made between the cup and the lip. For, a few
hours before Alexander II. had been set upon by
his Nihilist assassins, he had actually signed a
decree conferring upon his people something like the
beginnings of a parliamentary representation. It
was actually in type when he drew his last breath,
but at the last moment it was withheld .
This unpublished ukase had a very curious and a
very dramatic history, and there can now be no
doubt as to the main facts which M. Leroy- Beaulieu,
from whom we mainly borrow their recital, received
" from a sure source, principally from one who
was a Minister." Count Loris- Melikoff was in
power at the time, and he and several of his
colleagues felt the necessity of at last doing
something to give the nation a voice. It was not
very easy to make the Emperor (Alexander II. )
himself accept the idea, but at last he gave way on
its being shown to him that the proposed National
Assembly would leave his autocratic power intact.
For it would merely be a consultative, not a
legislative, body, to begin with . It would be
composed of delegates from the provincial and
municipal assemblies, much in the same way as the
first United Diet, or baby Parliament, granted by
Frederick William IV. of Prussia in 1847 , and
its sole function meanwhile would be to study
and advise upon the projects of laws submitted
to it.*

* When applied to for his opinion in the matter, the

German Emperor had, on the whole, advised his imperial
 DER
56 ALEXAN III

" Gentlemen," said the Emperor, at a sitting of

the Council , " what they propose to us is the
Assembly of Notables of Louis XVI . We must
not forget what followed . Still, if you think it for
the country's good, I will not oppose it. "
The thing was discussed at a council attended by
several ofthe Grand Dukes, including the Tsarevitch,
and after a long debate it was adopted in principle.
Then a commission met at the Palace of the heir
to the throne (whom Loris-Melikoff had sounded and
won over beforehand) to elaborate the details of the
measure . Thus the matter was settled and
embodied in a kind of charter. But a strange kind
of fatality hung over it. " Inclined by nature to
procrastination , absorbed at the time by the
autumnal joys of his recent morganatic marriage,
Alexander II . put off for several weeks, till after
Lent and the holidays , the promulgation of the act
on which depended the future ofthe Empire and his
own existence. He forgot that nobody commands
the morrow. "
At last, on the day after the discovery of a new
Nihilist plot, on Sunday morning, March 13,
just before leaving to attend the parade, from
which he was to be brought back a mangled mass
of flesh and bones, he actually sent to the Minister

nephew of Russia to grant his subjects a Constitution , but

with the following safeguards : " No universal suffrage ; a
Parliament of two Chambers, without power to overthrow
Cabinets ; triennial budgets ; no substitution of a civil list for
Crown-land revenues ; freedom of worship, but not un-
limited freedom of the Press and of education."
 CIRCUMSTANCES OF HIS ACCESSION 57

of the Interior an order for announcing the important

reform in which he intended to surprise and beatify
his subjects. " I have just signed a paper," said
the Tsar to his new consort, Princess Yuriefski, a
few minutes before leaving the Winter Palace,
"which I hope will produce a good impression upon
Russia, and show that I am ready to give her all
that it is possible to give." And then he added,
crossing himself, as was his wont on solemn occa-
sions, " To-morrow it will be published ; I have
given the order."
Alexander II. drove forth and met his doom , and
the promised charter remained a dead letter. In
the confusion which followed the assassination,
Loris - Melikoff went to the new Tsar, told him of
the order which his father had given that morning,
and asked if it should still be carried out. " Change
nothing in what my father ordered," replied
Alexander III .; " this shall be his bequest to his
people." " Oh, that he had persisted in this reso-
lution," exclaims M. Leroy- Beaulieu, " and respected
his predecessor's last will ! By accepting this
legacy, moist with the blood of the martyred Tsar,
he would have escaped many perplexities and many
dangers . Had he acted without delay, in the name
of the assassinated Emperor, the new Sovereign
would have met public opinion half-way, without
seeming to yield to force and riot ; he would at
once have glorified his father's memory and restored
the prestige of the Crown. Just imagine what
would have been the feeling of the country and the
confusion of the conspirators had Russia and Europe
 R
ANDE
58 ALEX III

heard in the same breath of the Tsar's violent death

and of the convocation by that cold and lifeless
hand of a representative assembly ! The modest
posthumous charter would have received from these
dramatic associations a sort of consecration .
" On that evening ( March 13 ) the opportunity
which had slipped from the hand of Alexander II.
was still in the grasp of Alexander III . It was
one of those critical moments when on the fleeting
hour hangs the whole future of the beginning
reign. The point escaped him. Yielding to the
impulse given by certain counsellors, the imperial
pupil of Pobedonóstseff went back on his first
inspiration. The Minister of the Interior received
a countermanding order in the middle of the night .
The project did not appear in the Official Messenger
on Monday. The new measure, they assured the
young Sovereign, had not been sufficiently matured .
Before taking such a step all consequences should
be weighed . A few days later an extraordinary
council, to which were invited several of the sur-
vivors from Nicholas's time and several declared
apologists of the status quo, went over the whole
matter in presence of the Emperor. This time
stagnation had the day. The convocation of a
National Congress was declared imprudent or
premature. The question was adjourned — i.e.,
indefinitely, I believe. Eye-witnesses have assured
me that, at the end of the sitting, the Emperor was
seized with a sort of faintness , as though, while
taking this decision , he had a foreboding of what it
portended. "
 CIRCUMSTANCES OF HIS ACCESSION 59

It was but a poor substitute for the National

Assembly (with consultative powers) which the new
Tsar had at first been willing to grant as a legacy from
his father, that, in the autumn after his accession ,
he convoked a commission of thirty-two persons ,
mostly members of zemstvos and municipal councils,
to consider the question of tap-rooms and that of
peasant emigration . Among those delegates who
bore the title " experts," there were marshals of the
nobility and presidents of provincial assemblies ,
to whom was joined one peasant, a simple canton
elder. But at the same time this commission was
a distinct advance on anything of the kind that had
ever been seen before, in that it did not include
any element of tchinovnism, and that its discussions
were conducted without the supervision of any
government official. Again , its debates were not
kept secret, but freely reported in the Press , which
was thus for weeks deluged with dissertations on
the use and abuse of vodka, the native equivalent of
whisky. This was the most that ever came of the
promised Constitution . Nevertheless , it marked a
very slight advance towards popular representation ,
and it satisfied many . On the part of the Tsar, the
tap-room congress was an experiment ; on the part
of his subjects, a source of amusement. Parliamen-
tarism in Russia had begun with a fiasco, and ended
with a farce .
The history of this transition of Alexander III.
from a constitutional to an autocratic frame of mind is
otherwise related in an interesting account of Loris-
Melikoff's constitution, of which the substance was
60 ALEXANDER III

first given to English readers in the Daily Chronicle

(January 15 , 1884). *
This history claims to have .
been compiled from the papers of the deceased
Loris-Melikoff himself- who died in Paris after
virtually becoming an exile from the country which
he had vainly sought to benefit with a parliamentary
voice, at least, if not a vote-and bears internal
evidence of being pretty correct, at least as to its
facts. According to this authority, Alexander III . ,
a few days after the murder of his father, convened
and presided over a special meeting of all the
Ministers and other high dignitaries of the State .
At that meeting Count Loris- Melikoff read the draft
of a manifesto written by him in the name of the
new Tsar, which was only a modification of the one
adopted by his father. The new Tsar was already
acquainted with it, and had written on its margin,
" Very well done." The voting resulted in eight
" Ayes " (Loris- Melikoff, the Grand- Duke Vladimir ,
the Count Valoúeff, Nabókoff, Sólsky, Milutin,
Saboúroff, Abazà) and five " Noes " (the Count
Strogonoff, Pobedonóstseff, Makoff, Prince Liven,
and Póssiët) . The Tsar himself seemed to be
greatly pleased with the result, a joy which he
several times manifested in the course of the after-
noon, exclaiming, among other things : " I feel as
if a mountain had been taken off my shoulders."
Loris - Melikoff, to whom the Grand Duke

* " Konstitoutsïya Grafa Loris - Melikova." (" The Russian

Constitution," projected by Count Loris- Melikov. ) (London :
The Russian Free Press Fund .)
 CIRCUMSTANCES OF HIS ACCESSION 61

Vladimir communicated all this, came to the con-

clusion that his battle was won, and remained in
St. Petersburg without taking any further steps to
strengthen his position, while the representatives
of the reactionary party, and in the first place
M. Pobedonóstseff (Procurator of the Holy Synod
and late tutor to Alexander III . ) exerted themselves
in Gatchina, where the new Tsar resided , to divert
him from the adopted plan, and induce him to
make up his mind for a reactionary step. On
May 9, 1881 , Alexander III. , without acquainting
Loris-Melikoff, ordered quite a different manifesto
from the one adopted by him some forty days ago
to be promulgated . On sending it to the Grand
Duke Vladimir, he wrote-

" I send you, dear Vladimir, the project of the manifesto,

approved by me, and I desire to have it promulgated on my
arrival in the capital. I am doing it after long consideration.
The Ministers are talking about some measures they are
going to take which would render a manifesto unnecessary.
But I cannot get out of them any decisive step, while, on
the other hand, a certain fermentation in the people's minds
is going on, and they expect something unusual and extra-
ordinaryto occur. Therefore, I applied to K. P. Pobedonóstseff.
I entrusted him with drawing up the project of a manifesto in
which it should be clearly set forth what direction I want to
give to State affairs, and that I will never suffer autocracy to
be limited, as I believe autocracy to be necessary and useful
to Russia. The manifesto seems to be very well done. It
was fully approved by the Count Strogonoff, who also
believes such an act to be quite seasonable. To -day I have
read the manifesto to A. V. Adlerberg, who fully approved
of it. Well, so be it, God helping."

The manifesto, referred to by the Tsar in the above

62 ALEXANDER III

letter to his eldest and ablest brother, was issued on

the 21st of May, after passing in review on the Champ
de Mars of his capital about 50,000 of his finest
troops, so as thus to emphasise the connection
between his political power and military strength .
It began by recalling to the Tsar's faithful subjects
the martyrdom of his illustrious sire, who emanci-
pated the serfs and instituted courts of justice and
local government, and exhorted the prayers of
Russia on his present Majesty's assumption of the
sacred duties of autocracy. It then proceeded :

" In the midst of our great affliction, the voice of God

commands us to discharge courageously the affairs ofgovern-
ment, trusting in God's providence, with faith in the strength
and justice of the autocratic power, which we have been
called to support and preserve for the people's good from all
impairment and injury. Therefore, let courage animate the
troubled and terror-stricken hearts of our faithful subjects,
of all lovers of the Fatherland, devoted from generation to
generation to the hereditary imperial power. Under its
shield, and in unbroken alliance with it, our land has more
than once lived through great troubles, and has grown in
strength and glory. Consecrating ourselves to our high
service, we call upon all our loyal subjects to serve us and
the State in truth and justice to the rooting out of the horrible
seditions that dishonour the land of Russia, the strengthen-
ing of faith and morality, the good education of the young,
the extermination of injustice and plunder, and to the intro-
duction of order and justice in the operation of these insti-
tution presented to Russia by her benefactor, our beloved
father."

So thus, then, Hercules had made his choice.

Alexander III . had made his bed, and now he
would have to lie upon it. " The lightning ," wrote
 CIRCUMSTANCES OF HIS ACCESSION 63

Mr. " Lanin," in the article before referred to,

"which killed his comrade in the streets of the
little German town, changed the wordly- minded
Luther into a pious monk ; and the blood-curdling
scenes by the Catherine Canal, which culminated in
the tragic death of his father, produced a somewhat
similar effect upon the mystically inclined Grand
Duke, Alexander Alexandrovitch. His frame of
mind when he ascended the throne can scarcely be
conceived. He was as bewildered and helpless as
a man suddenly aroused from a profound slumber
by a murderous onslaught of robbers. His advisers
could offer him no help. They hopelessly contra-
dicted each other and themselves . The one asked
for a Constitution , another advocated the status quo ;
his own brother pleaded for a speedy return to the
iron rule of his grandfather Nicholas . The air
was saturated with treason ; the very palace was
believed to harbour an imperial protector of assassins.
The Emperor found himself face to face with an
awful invisible power of darkness, with no one to
stand between him and it, or to stretch out a
helping hand. To crown all, he had no motive
power within himself, no stimulus to action , no
goal, and no ideal. Not one of his advisers rose to
the level of the occasion ; not one had faith in
himself, much less in his methods .
" It was under these conditions that his old
teacher, M. Pobedonóstseff, who had been freely
inveighing against the Ministers as a band of
' idiots and fools,' on being called to the imperial
presence, came prepared with a complete system of
64 ALEXANDER III

policy, a soothing religion, an inspiriting faith, and a

glorious ideal . He played to perfection the part of
Samuel to the Russian monarch. He proclaimed
that everything had taken place in accordance with
the inscrutable will of God, who had chosen the
Tsar as his anointed servant to lead his favourite
people out of the wilderness of sin and misery.
The halcyon days of Nicholas's reign were to be
brought back under infinitely more favourable con-
ditions, religion was to be reinstated in her place,
and the Lord was to be ruler in the land. In a
word, God was God, and the Tsar was His prophet ."
 CHAPTER IV

THE LORD'S ANOINTED

Autocrat of all the Russias- Moscow-Triumphal entry-

Oath to Imperial Standard -Proclamation Urbi et Orbi-
Ambassadors of the Press-Church of the Assumption—
Coronation ceremony- Second burning of Moscow- The
Kazan Cathedral.

ALEXANDER III . succeeded to the throne in March

1881 , but it was not till more than two years later
that His Majesty was crowned with unparalleled
pomp ; and on that occasion I had the honour to
be the sole representative of the English Press who
was admitted to the Church of the Assumption at
Moscow to witness and describe for the Times the
coronation ceremony.
In no circumstances could the " Autocrat of All
the Russias," as he is officially styled , afford to dis-
pense with a ceremony intended to bring home to
the minds of his subjects in the most vivid manner
the Heaven-appointed nature of his high functions
and inheritance ; and the unusual length of the
interval that was allowed to elapse between his
accession and his coronation was only due to grief
at the loss of his father, as well as to nervousness
E
66 ALEXANDER III

about the possibility of a similar fate for himself,

should he expose his person too much. But in time
the days of his mourning and moping passed away,
and May 26, 1883 , was fixed for his solemn coro-
nation in the Cathedral Church of the Assumption,
within the walls of the Kremlin, or Palatine Hill,
so to speak, of the city of Moscow.
Every country has its coronation city, which does
not invariably correspond with its present capital,
as witness, for example, Drontheim, in Norway ;
Rheims, in France ; Scone, in Scotland ; and
Königsberg, in Prussia. In the case of Russia
this city is Moscow, the ancient cradle and seat of
the Tsars. But where is Moscow ? In Europe
or in Asia ? All the maps certainly assign it to
Europe ; but a walk through the streets of this
ancient and enchanting city, this head-centre and
stronghold of Panslavism, makes the visitor doubt
whether he has not already crossed the Asiatic line.
For Moscow carries the imagination far to the East,
with its orientally-garbed inhabitants, its green and
golden minarets and domes , its whitewashed stones,
its emerald roofs, its embattled walls, its myriad
temples, and its thousand towers .
This was the city into which Alexander III.,
coming from St. Petersburg, made his triumphal
entry a few days before the date of his coronation ,
and rarely or never, perhaps , in all history, had a
more gorgeous open-air pageant been seen . The
Field of the Cloth of Gold was nothing to it ; and
it was only rivalled, though not perhaps outshone,
by Queen Victoria's jubilee procession to West-
 THE LORD'S ANOINTED 67

minster Abbey, with a crowd of monarchs, princes ,

and other magnates in her train .
The great White Tsar's retinue, too, was made
up of all the rulers and governments of the civilised
world, in the person of their special ambassadors,
who were sent at very great expense to honour the
coronation, the English mission alone , with all its
housings and entertainments, costing as much as
£6000. The fêtes themselves, and all the incidents
of imperial hospitality, must have occasioned the
Tsar himself an outlay of several million roubles, or
as much as would have sufficed to clothe his army
or save his people from famine.
But even more sumptuous and magnificent than
the embassies of the Old and New worlds which
figured in the triumphal entry of the great White
Tsar were the deputies from the Asiatic tribes and
peoples subject to his sway- Kalmucks, Khirghiz ,
Khivans , and the denizens of the Kizil Kum and
the Kara Kum , dwellers on the banks of the
Jaxartes and the Oxus, roaming warriors from
the far Siberian steppes and the great Mongolian
rivers-on they rode, in all the gorgeous variety
of their picturesque costumes, before the mighty
monarch whose sway extended from the amber-
yielding shores of the Baltic to the ice - bound
Straits of Behring.
On passed the procession amid a never- ceasing
roar of cheers from the immense multitudes which
lined the route, the booming of guns, and the
deafening clangour of all the city bells- a most
dazzling and kaleidoscopic cavalcade , relieved at
68 ALEXANDER III

intervals by the gorgeous state coaches of the

Empress and the other ladies of the imperial family
and Court, each drawn by beautiful and richly
caparisoned cream-coloured steeds ; and in the
centre of all the mighty Tsar himself, tall, yet not
terrible, in shining panoply of war on a prancing
battle charger, but meek and lowly-looking in his
simple dark-green uniform and sheepskin cap , on a
snow-white palfrey-the picture of Spenser's " very
perfect, gentle knight, " with a pleased and gracious
smile on this , the proudest and most memorable
day of his life.
The next day was devoted to the consecration of
the imperial standard, prior to the Tsar swearing
military allegiance thereto, in the trophy-room of the
Kremlin Palace. The ceremony, which was attended
by a brilliant throng of his Majesty's relations and
guests, was performed by the metropolitan of Mos-
cow, assisted by half a dozen of the higher clergy
arrayed in all their sumptuous robes of office, which
made them look more like men of gold than men of
clay. A gorgeous piece of variegated embroidery,
the imperial standard , stood behind a reading-desk,
in front of which was a reading-table supporting a
golden vessel filled with consecrated water, a cross
of gold, a gilt-bound folio Bible flanked by burning
tapers. Terribly in earnest, the Bishop's voice rang
through the vaulted hall like a spirit-stirring trum-
pet, and when it lingered with deeply venerating
emphasis on the name " Alexander Alexandrovitch,"
it could only be compared to the modulated roar of
a lion. After the consecration, the imperial family
 THE LORD'S ANOINTED 69

filed before the altar, kissing the cross and the

hands of the priest who bore it.
This was a private ceremony, but on the follow-
ing morning the outer court of the Kremlin drew all
the populace of Moscow to witness the solemn pro-
clamation by cuirassier-escorted heralds and pursui-
vants, gorgeously arrayed in cavalier hats of crimson
with variegated plumes, satin mantles of gold,
slashed hose, doeskin riding boots, and gilded spurs,
living pictures of English Charles I. and Rupert of
the Rhine-the solemn proclamation, urbi et orbi,
of the forthcoming coronation, " to the end that on
this auspicious day all the faithful subjects of his
Majesty may send up to the King of Kings their
most fervent prayers, and implore the Almighty One
to extend the favour of His blessing to the reign of
his Majesty, to the maintenance of peace and tran-
quility, to the very great glory of His holy name,
and to the unchanging weal of the Empire." And
what scrambling there was among the struggling
throng to secure one of the beautifully printed
vellum copies of this proclamation which the
golden- mantled pursuivants flung fluttering among
the crowd.
Outside the embattled walls of the Kremlin,
richly hung with the coloured escutcheons of all
the provinces of Russia, the proclamation ceremony
was once more gone through ; and away again for
the purpose of repeating the dazzling pageant at
some of the chief barriers, gates, and public places,
moved the shining company of gigantic cuirassiers
with their eagle-crested helms and dancing lance-
70 ALEXANDER III

pennons, looking for all the world like a departing

train of crusading knights .
But what were all these preliminary pomps and
pageants compared with the actual coronation cere-
mony itself in the Cathedral of the Assumption !
The church is so small that it could only contain all
that was representative in Moscow narrowed down
to irreducible dimensions , including only one mem-
ber of the Press of each country . Crowds of
journalists had streamed to Moscow from every
quarter of the globe, but the Anglo-Saxon world
was only enabled to witness the actual crowning of
the Tsar through the eyes of two observers, the
correspondent of a New York newspaper and the
present writer, who represented the leading journal
of London. For Alexander III., though not as a
rule particularly partial to the Press, had on this
occasion frankly recognised its utility and power,
and accorded its ambassadors place and precedence
before his throne, beside the special envoys of
mightiest monarchs.
Coated with gold and silver and precious stones
-one emerald alone, in an image of the Virgin,
being valued at £ 10,000 - rich in costly shrines,
sanctified by the bones and ashes of the venerated
dead, containing numerous Christian relics of awe-
inspiring origin, rendered sacred by religious tradi-
tion, and endeared to the national heart by some of
the most prominent incidents in Russian history,
the Cathedral of the Assumption was well calculated
to be the scene of the august ceremony by which,
in the name of the King of Kings, Alexander of
 THE LORD'S ANOINTED 71

Russia with his Danish consort, Marie Feodorovna,

received formal ratification of his claim to be sole
and absolute ruler of more than 100,000,000 of his
fellow-men.
The air was balmy with the breath of approach-
ing summer, and his Majesty the sun, who had
sulkily veiled his face almost ever since the Emperor
made his triumphal entry into his ancient capital,
now burst through the clouds , deluging the gilded
walls, the frescoes, pillars, and the storied nave
with a glorious flood of light. Glorious light, and
glorious sound from the magnificent voices of the
choristers, who take the place of organs in the
Greek Church. But the chanting of their hymns
was almost drowned by the billow-like murmurs of
the vast crowds outside, for the courtyards of the
Kremlin presented one surging sea of human beings
who had come to catch a glimpse, if possible, of the
new-crowned Tsar. And they had hours to wait,
for the ceremony was long and elaborate.
How gorgeously picturesque looked the group of
the imperial family and their illustrious guests as
they stood ranked up near the throne-for no one
may sit in the Greek Church. There, among
others, stood the Duke of Edinburgh, the Tsar's
brother-in-law ; the tall and soldierly figure of
Prince Albrecht, of Prussia, looking every inch
of him a fighting son of the Hohenzollerns ; the
aristocratic-looking Duke of Aosta ; the picturesque
Highlander Prince of Montenegro, and the bearded
Prince Alexander of Bulgaria, with a decided touch
of the old Teutonic knight about him ; there, also,
72 ALEXANDER III

Lord Wolseley, the recent capturer of Tel-el- Kebir ;

and not very far off, the handsome General Skobeleff,
the hero of the Plevna and the Shipka Pass, the
conqueror of Khiva.
The Empress was arrayed in a sweeping robe of
silver, so heavy as to fatigue her, while the Emperor
wore the dark-green and gold-embroidered uniform
of a general, with riding boots, and the chain of St.
Andrew, the patron- saint alike of Scotland and of
Russia, sparkled on his breast . Slightly bald, but
taller by a good head than any of his great officers
of State around him, was Alexander III. , while his
shoulders were broad, his chest deep, his limbs
long, and he looked as if he could with ease bear
heavy armour- altogether a most uncommon and
impressive figure.
Scene the first of that solemn spectacle may be
said to have been completed when their Imperial
Majesties took their stand in front of the altar to
await the approach of the servants of the Almighty.
The blaze of gold and silver, the richness of the
various uniforms, the sparkling of the gems, the
clouds of floating incense, the assembled beauty,
valour, rank, and station of all Russia and of all
the chief States and countries of the world, all this
made the scene at once most impressive and memor-
able. At the invitation of the Metropolitan of
Novgorod, the Emperor recited the Orthodox Creed
in a clear, firm voice, though not of that depth and
sonorousness which one would have expected to
come from so deep and broad a chest.
Assisted by his two brothers, the Grand Dukes
 THE LORD'S ANOINTED 73

Vladimir and Alexis, as well as by the Metropolitans

of Kief and Novgorod , the Tsar now donned the
gorgeous imperial mantle that was presented to him
on two sumptuous cushions. Cloth of gold was
the stuff of this majestic robe, with a border of
ermine, and, after being arrayed in it, the imperial
wearer bowed his head before one of the prelates,
who crossed his hands in mystic rite upon his
Majesty's head and uttered a fervent prayer.
From the hand of Monseigneur of Novgorod the
Emperor now received his crown, which he himself
—mark that !—placed upon his own head. Then,
taking the sceptre in his right hand and the globe
of empire in the left, he seated himself on his
throne. It was a most impressive moment ; the
gazing assembly was hushed, and even the severe
representatives of unostentatious republics could not
but feel the sublime significance of the scene.
Invested with all the symbolism of his mighty
power, there now sat the accredited master of so
many millions of his fellow- creatures, and never
was Solomon in all his glory more gorgeously
arrayed . Of dazzling majesty was his crown of
gold, enriched with pearls and diamonds, and sur-
mounted by a very large ruby-a crown of flashing,
sparkling light, worthy to be worn by the ruler
whose dominions are spanned by half the circuit of
the sun ; and rarely has the sun lent its rays to such
a gem as sparkled in the sceptre of Alexander III .
The companion of the great Koh- i - Noor brilliant,
now in the possession of Queen Victoria , this
priceless jewel found its way, after strange vicissi-
74 ALEXAN III
DER

tudes, from the eye of a golden idol at Delhi into

the sceptre of the Tsars.
After occupying his throne for a few seconds,
the Emperor took off his crown, and touched with
it the forehead of his consort, who knelt before him
on a crimson velvet cushion ; after which he placed
upon her head her own crown , topped by a large
and lovely sapphire. Then the Empress was
arrayed in her own gorgeous mantle and with the
collar of St. Andrew, which completed the investi-
ture of both their Majesties.
Meanwhile, the cannon and the bells without
had been mingling their accents of announcement
and felicitation, and the tedious hours wore on with
their hymn- chantings, their performance of high
mass, their prayers, and their anointing of their
Majesties with the consecrated oil.
At last, arrayed in all their imperial pomp, their
Majesties emerged from the cathedral by a door
different from that by which they had entered, and
passing along under a gorgeous canopy to another
Church, Alexander III. showed himself to a mighty
concourse of his acclaiming subjects as their crowned
and consecrated ruler, Emperor and Autocrat of All
the Russias by inheritance, by divine right, and
by heavenly unction.* The solemn strains of the
national anthem, the joyful pealing of the bells, the

* Alexander III.'s full title, as now proclaimed, was :

Emperor and Autocrat of All the Russias, of Moscow, of
Kieff, of Vladimir, of Novgorod ; Czar of Kazan, of Astrakan ,
of Poland, of Siberia, of Kherson -Taurida, of Grousi ; Go-
soudar of Pskoff ; Grand Duke of Smolensk, of Lithuania,
 THE LORD'S ANOINTED 75

thunder of the swiftly served cannon, the surging

sea of spectators, and the loud and continued
cheers, all produced a scene that can never be for-
gotten by those who witnessed it.
And again at night the city went almost mad
with monarchical joy. Moscow burned again for
the second time-burned as it had never done since
the days of the first Napoleon ; blazed with illu-
minations which made it look more like a city of
variegated fire than a city of stone, and which
could only have been described by a pen dipped in
rainbow hues.
And then, what pen could have given an adequate
notion of the fêtes and functions which followed ?
The sumptuous banquets in the halls of the Kremlin,
the brilliant balls, the gala performances at the
opera, one of the largest in Europe ; the ambassa-
dorial entertainments, the military spectacles, and,
last of all, the vast popular fête on the plain of
Petrovsky, where hundreds of thousands of the

of Volhynia, of Podolia, and of Finland ; Prince of Esthonia,

of Livonia, of Courland ; of Semigalia, of the Samoyedes, of
Bielostok, of Corelia, of Foer, of Ingor, of Perm, of Viatka,
of Bulgaria, and of other countries ; Master and Grand
Duke of the Lower Countries in Novgorod, of Tchernigoff,
of Riazan, of Polotsk, of Rotstoff, of Jaroslaff, of Bielosersk,
of Oudork, of Obdorsk, of Kondisk, of Vitelsk, of Mstilaff,
and of all the countries of the North ; Master Absolute of
Iversk, of Kastalnisk, of Kabardinsk, and of the territory of
Armenia ; Sovereign of Mountain Princes of Tcherkask ;
Master of Turkestan, Heir Presumptive of Norway, and
Duke of Sleswick Holstein, of Stormarne, of Dithmarse, and
of Oldenburg.
76 ALEXANDER III

Tsar's poorest subjects were treated to panem et

circenses-food, drink and frolic- on a scale that
would probably have astonished the indulgent
masters of imperial Rome.
But I think the prettiest and most touching scene
of all was the last , when, after a long period of
so much revelry and excitement, their imperial
Majesties returned to St. Petersburg, and at once
repaired to the Kazan Cathedral to offer thanks to
the Almighty for all the mercies accorded them in
Moscow-to the Kazan Cathedral, of which the
entrance was guarded, not by crowds of soldiery,
but by a white-robed and silver-throated throng of
schoolchildren.
From the Kazan Cathedral their Majesties drove
to the island-fortress Church of Saints Peter and
Paul to worship before the tomb of Alexander II.,
where burns perpetual taper-fire, and thence by
water to Peterhof, their favourite suburban retreat,
on the breezy shore of the Gulf of Finland, with
enough to think about for many years to come.
 CHAPTER V

THE TSAR PEACE-KEEPER

Foreign Policy Circular- Imperial meeting at Dantzig- Its

results- Skobeleff the Teutophobe - M. de Giers- His
meetings with Bismarck—Mr. Gladstone and the Tsar-
Russo-German rapprochement- The Three Emperors at
Skierniwiece -The Tsar and Francis Joseph- Germany's
" Hecuba "-Fresh Russo- German misunderstanding-
The Tsar in Berlin- His interview with Bismarck-The
Forged Despatches - Friends once more-Bismarckonthe
Tsar-" Printer's ink "-The Kaiser in St. Petersburg-
The Tsar in Berlin—“ Hurrah for the Russian Army ! ”—
Results of the meeting-Russia's " one Friend " -The
"Key of your House "-The Kaiser at Narva- The Tsar
at Kiel-" Long live the German Navy ! "-Vive la
Marine Française ! "-Beauty and the Beast-Franco-
Russian relations-À Petersbourg ! à Petersbourg !—
The French at Cronstadt-" For the sake of our dear
France ”—“ You must marry me "-The Russians at
Toulon- Gold versus Gloire—“ Souvenirs de Sebastopol "
-Customs-War-" La France, c'est l'Ennemi ! "-Russia
in Central Asia-Skobeleffs prophecy-English " Mer-
vousness "" again-"Beati Possidentes ! "—The Penj-deh
incident-Si vis pacem, para bellum - John Bull puts
on his Boots- Arms or Arbitration ?-The Russo-Afghan
Frontier-Central Asia and Siberian Railways - The
Black Sea Fleet- Masterful declaration of the Tsar-
Batoum versus Bulgaria.
78 ALEXANDER III

THREE days after the murder of Alexander II ., M.

de Giers, on behalf of the new Emperor, addressed
the following circular to all the representatives of
Russia abroad :

" His Majesty the Emperor, on ascending the throne of his

ancestors, assumes as an inheritance the traditions conse-
crated by time, by the acts of his ancestors, and by the
sacrifices and toil of generations —all of which has built up
Russia in the past. In completely taking upon himself this
inheritance, his Majesty makes it a sacred duty to deliver it
inviolate to his successors . Like all other States, Russia, in
constituting herself, had to sustain a struggle in which her
strength and her national spirit became developed.
" Russia has now attained her full development, and feelings
of jealousy or discontent are equally foreign to her. It only
remains for Russia to secure her position, to protect herself
from without, and to develop her forces, her wealth, and the
well-being of her people. This is the aim which our august
monarch has set before himself, with the firm resolve to
pursue it without intermission. The Emperor will first give
his attention to the internal development of the State, a
question closely connected with the progress of civilisation,
and with the social and economic questions which form the
subject of special study on the part of all governments.
"The foreign policy of the Emperor will be entirely pacific,
Russia will remain faithful to her friends, she will unchange-
ably preserve the sentiments consecrated by tradition, and
will, at the same time, reciprocate the friendliness of all
States by a similar attitude, while maintaining the position
to which she is entitled among the Powers, and assuring the
maintenance of the political equilibrium. In accordance
with her interests, Russia will not deviate from her mission,
in common with other governments, to protect the general
peace based upon respect for right and treaties. Above all,
Russia has to care for herself, and only the duty of protecting
her honour or security may divert her attention from the
work of internal development . Our august monarch will
 THE TSAR PEACE-KEEPER 79

endeavour to strengthen the power and advance the welfare

of Russia, and secure her prosperity without detriment to
others. These are the principles by which the foreign policy
of the Emperor will invariably be guided."

" The foreign policy of the Emperor will be

entirely pacific " -consistent, of course, with the
honour and the interests of Russia. Such, in brief,
was the new Tsar's international programme. How
did he proceed to carry it out ?
In the first place, by hastening to make his peace
with Germany, for which purpose he sought and
obtained an interview with his grand-uncle, the old
German Emperor William, at Dantzig, in the
autumn of 1881 , the year of his accession . This
was now the second surprising somersault which
Alexander III. had cut since coming to the throne.
As Tsarevitch he had allowed himself to be used
by the Liberals, and posed as the champion of
reform . But no sooner had he felt the weight of
the Imperial crown upon his brow than he declared
his " unshaken faith in the strength and justice of
the autocratic power . . . . which we have been
called to support and preserve for the people's good
from all impairment and injury." Again, as Tsare-
vitch, he was known to be bitterly anti- German,
and now, to the intense surprise of the Panslavists ,
who had been looking forward to his reign as to
the seventh heaven of their hopes, he was suddenly
seen rushing into the arms of the German Emperor
-verily, a man of contradictions from first to last.
But the fact was that Russia had already found
in Germany a willing ally in the combating of their
80 ALEXANDER III

common foes-anarchy and revolution. By refus-

ing to extradite Hartmann , the author of the
attempt to blow up the train of Alexander II . near
Moscow, France had alienated the sympathies of
Russia, causing the latter Power to draw closer to
Germany ; and when at last Alexander II. fell a
victim to those who had already made five different
attempts to take his life, Prince Bismarck, by com-
mand of the Emperor, immediately took steps for
combining the European Powers in common action
against political crimes and international anarchy.
One by one the other Powers had fallen away and
left Germany and Russia to concert their own
measures, which ultimately (January, 1885) found
expression in the signature of a new and more
vigorous Extradition Agreement. But I may now
remark that it was this community of action
between the two Empires- isolated, as they were,
on this subject from the rest of Europe- which
acted as a salve to the wounds inflicted on Russia
at the Congress of Berlin, and paved the way for
the new Emperor's visit to Dantzig in September
1881. " Socialism and Anarchy, which he always
identified, constituted," as was well said of him ,
"the bugbear of his life. His burning desire to
root out ' this cancer of modern society,' as he
often termed it, drew him . nearer to Prince
Bismarck than any Western notions about the
balance of power."
With the German Emperor at Dantzig were the
Crown Prince and Prince Bismarck ; while the Tsar
was attended, among others, by M. de Giers, the
 THE TSAR PEACE-KEEPER 81

successor-designate of Prince Gortchakoff, who had

now virtually resigned the management of affairs .
If ever any poor mortal inherited a crown of thorns ,
it was surely Alexander III .; and there is reason
to believe that, apart from the wish to make his
peace with Germany, and thus dispose at least of
one of his troubles , his Majesty more especially
desired to take the advice of one of the wisest
statesmen of the age on the domestic ills that might
well have perturbed a more perspicacious and reso-
lute soul than his.
That, at least, the conversation at the Dantzig
meeting turned less on international relations than
on European anarchy would appear from the follow-
ing telegram , addressed by the Austrian Ambassador
at St. Petersburg, Count Kalnoky, to Baron Hay-
merlé, his chief at Vienna :-

" M. de Giers, whom I have just seen, is greatly pleased

with the mutual impressions produced by the Dantzig inter-
view. The Emperor Alexander has returned with an in-
creased feeling of tranquillity and inner contentment. In
particular, the wisdom and unexpected moderation of Prince
Bismarck's language have made a good impression , no less
on the Tsar than on M. de Giers, and convinced them that
in no direction has he anything but peaceful intentions.
There being in reality no disquieting question of foreign
policy to be dealt with, the conversation mainly turned on
the means of combating the revolutionary danger, and here
also Prince Bismarck recommended great caution and
moderation in the matter of international measures. M. de
Giers said the most important aspect of the Dantzig meeting
was this, that the Tsar had thus openly and unequivocally
signified to all Russia his will to pursue a conservative and
pacific policy."
F
82 ALEXANDE III
R

That such, indeed, was the Tsar's firm will could

no longer be doubted when next year he at last
formally relieved Prince Gortchakoff from his cares
of office, and also accepted the resignation of Count
Ignatieff who was the life and the hope of the anti-
German war- party. Great was the jubilation in
Germany at the removal of these two statesmen
from the council-chamber of the Tsar, but not
greater than the joy which greeted the imperial
frown incurred by General Skobeleff on account of
his anti-German speeches. With the laurels of
Geok-Tepé still fresh upon his heroic brow, the
great " White General " of the great " White Tsar"
had, like another Peter the Hermit bearing a fiery
cross, swept across Europe, preaching death and
destruction to the hated Germans .

"We are not masters in our own house," he cried ; " the
foreigner is everywhere and everything in Russia, and from
his baneful influence we can only be delivered by the sword.
And shall I tell you the name of the intriguing intruder ?—it
is the German. I repeat it, and entreat you never to forget
it-the German is the enemy. A struggle is inevitable be-
tween the Teuton and the Slav ; it cannot be long deferred.
It will be long , sanguinary, and terrible, but I hold the faith
that it will terminate in favour ofthe Slav."

Launched as they were at Paris, by such a man as

one of the Tsar's greatest warriors, these fulmina-
tions could not fail to excite uneasiness in Berlin ;
but this uncasiness was quickly dispelled when the
Russian Ambassador disavowed all connection of
his Government with the tirades of Skobeleff ; when
the official Gazette of St. Petersburg likewise not
 THE TSAR PEACE - KEEPER 83

only published a disclaimer, * but also an order for-

bidding the future delivery of all political speeches
by military persons ; and when Skobeleff himself
was ordered to return home at once and rejoin his
Corps -which he dutifully did, and died next year,
Prince Gortchakoff following him to the tomb a
twelvemonth later.
M. de Giers had taken the Prince's place- his
place, but not his position ; his task, but not his
title. For Alexander III. determined, like his
grandfather, to be his own Chancellor, and thus
save his Empire from the dangers to which his
father's clever and ambitious Foreign Minister had
frequently exposed it. Prince Gortchakoff, with his
tendency to intrigue and initiative, had been an
anomaly in an autocracy like Russia. All the new
Tsar wanted was a chef-de- bureau, a silent and
discreet man who would content himself with doing
and saying what he was told, a passive penman , an
unquestioning instrument of his imperious master's
will- and such a man his Majesty found ready to
hand in M. de Giers , a Swede or Finn by origin,
though some averred him to be of German-Jewish

* In a note in the official Gazette it was declared " that

private utterances by persons having no authority from their
Government to make them can naturally have no influence
upon the general course of our foreign policy, nor can they
affect our good relations with neighbouring States, which are
based not only upon ties of friendship existing between
crowned heads and their clear perception of the interests of
their people, but also upon the strict and mutual observance
of existing treaties."
84 ALEXANDER III

extraction- Giers (so reasoned the philologers)

being but the Finnish form of " Hirsch. " It was
one of the many inconsistencies of Alexander III. ,
the uncompromising champion of " Russia for the
Russians," that he should have chosen a Dr. Hirsch
(the name is German- Jewish) as his medical adviser,
and a Herr von Giers as his ministerial assistant
in the field of foreign affairs.
" By never anticipating the wishes of the Tsar,"
wrote one who knew him well, " and by always
confining himself to the practical questions of the
moment and their solution , Giers makes it possible
for the Emperor to feel that he himself is the real
leader of Russia's policy. Von Giers, who is of a
retiring and taciturn nature, has never yet disclosed
his views to anybody on the Slav or Eastern ques-
tion ; nor has it ever leaked out whether he has
embraced the cause of France, or of the Powers of
Central Europe ; whether he strives after a perma-
nent or a provisional condition of peace, or what he
thinks of the future of Russia and Europe "-truly a
man of maddening mystery for foreign diplomatists
to deal with . " He seems to have been so moulded
by nature as to feel little desire to form definite
opinions of his own ; hence it may be easier for him
simply to act as the docile executor of his
monarch's orders, in which capacity he is ably
assisted by the highly gifted Sinovieff, a colleague
of Ignatieff" the " Father of Lies."
The hearts of the Germans jumped with joy on
their seeing that the Teutophile successor of the
Teutophobe Prince Gortchakoff had not been long
 THE TSAR PEACE- KEEPER 85

in office before he hastened to visit the lord of

Varzin (November 1882) . It was well understood
that M. de Giers on this occasion carried with him a
pretty luxuriant olive-branch , one twig of which he
left at Varzin, another at Berlin, where he saw the
Emperor, and another at Vienna, by way of which
he returned home to Russia from Rome. And this
pilgrimage of peace was repeated in the following
year (November 1883) , when M. de Giers was
again found with the German Chancellor at Fried-
richsruh-a year that had otherwise been rich in
tokens of reconciliation between the two Empires.
It is true that no slight sensation was caused in
Germany when the Tsar's most peaceful assurances,
on the occasion of his coronation at Moscow (in
May 1883 ) , were followed by his casual meeting at
Copenhagen (September) with the English states-
man who was perhaps more of a bugbear to the
apprehensive Germans than ever Prince Gortchakoff
had been. Indeed, the sudden appearance of Mr.
Gladstone at the side of the Tsar in Copenhagen-
the greatest democrat and the greatest despot of the
time-filled the German Press with something like
the panic once inspired by the ghost of Hamlet's
father in the castle sentinels at Elsinore. The
public writers of Berlin at once clutched up their
partisans ; but, the English apparition being so
majestical, Bismarck would not have them offer it
the show of violence . " Fear not," the Chancellor
was reported to have said : " Gladstone is a man
of cool blood and sound understanding, and I
am convinced that he has exhibited both these
86 ALEXANDER III

qualities even in the highly dangerous atmosphere

of Hamlet."*
It was said (and with an appearance of truth)
that the Tsar, on his way home from Copenhagen ,
wished again to meet the German Emperor at some
Baltic port, but that Bismarck prevented the realisa-
tion of this plan so as thus to deprive Russia of
the credit accruing from the semblance of perfect
amity with Germany, while the distribution of her
army on the western frontier was still far from
reassuring to the General Staff at Berlin . But if
this was still a source of disquietude to the German
Government, it was soon thereafter removed by the
gradual retirement of the threatening masses of
Russian cavalry more towards the interior, as well
as by the altered tone of the Moscow Press, which
now declared that " a war between Russia
and Germany would be the most absurd of all
absurdities."
It was about this time, too , that M. de Giers
made his second pilgrimage of peace to Berlin and
Friedrichsruh (November 1883) ; and when, shortly

* The Tsar was at Copenhagen when Mr. Gladstone and

Lord Tennyson reached that port on a voyage of pleasure.
He showed a touching courtesy towards both the illustrious
Englishmen. There is a pretty story of the artifices he used
to induce Lord Tennyson to read one of his poems. It is
worth mentioning that during Mr. Gladstone's blindness,
after the operation for cataract, one of the most sympathetic
inquirers was the Tsar. His message considerably moved
Mr. Gladstone. who caused his thanks to be conveyed to the
Emperor.
 THE TSAR PEACE-KEEPER 87

afterwards, a Russian squadron , by special command

of the Tsar, repaired to Genoa to salute the
German ironclads that were to convey the Crown
Prince to Spain ; when Prince Orloff, a persona
gratissima to Prince Bismarck, was transferred from
the Russian Embassy at Paris to Berlin ; and when ,
above all things, a Russian gold-loan was brought
out at Berlin under the direct auspices of the
Prussian Government- and subscribed for more
than ten times over (April 1884) -there could no
longer be any doubt that Russia had at last honestly
resolved to walk with her immediate neighbours in
the paths of peace.
This conviction was only strengthened next year
(September 1884), when Europe was presented with
the spectacle of the three Emperors , who were accom-
panied by their respective Chancellors, again em-
bracing in effusive friendship at the little Polish
town of Skiernievice.
Hitherto the newspaper Press had never found
much favour with autocrats, but now representatives
of the leading journals of Europe were encouraged
to dwell within the precincts of the park at Castle
Skiernievice , and to acquaint the world with all but
the secret conversations of this fraternal meeting ;
to telegraph how their Majesties were photographed
in one group, and their Chancellors in another ; to
record how the Emperors William and Francis
Joseph, in Russian uniforms , led splendid battalions
that bore their name past their devoted friend the
Tsar ; to tell how, when their Majesties went out to
slaughter partridges, their Ministers met in serious
88 ALEXANDER III

confabulation ; how lofty decorations and compli-

ments were exchanged ; how flattering toasts crowned
the banquet, and how even the Tsar drank to the
personal health of Bismarck ; how the little theatre
looked gorgeous with its parterre of Emperors ; with
what nice gradation of esteem the Tsar distinguished
the German and the Austrian Chancellors ; and how
the former was honoured with the life-size portraits
of the Emperors Alexander and Francis Joseph, as
souvenirs of the golden days of Skiernievice- of
which the general result was summed up by one of the
three Emperors themselves when he said that " for a
further period there was now a fair prospect of peace,
of undisturbed labour, and of augmented general
prosperity. " But there was no question among the
three Emperors of their recurring to the old Drei-
Kaiser-Bund. This had now been effectually re-
placed by the Triple Alliance ; still, it was always
something that the three most powerful military
rulers in Europe should thus have met to embrace
and avouch their love of peace while discussing the
best means of coping with the common danger—
social revolution.
The following year (August 1885 ) Alexander III.
paid Francis Joseph a visit at Kremsier, in Moravia,
where the Archbishop of Olmütz, Cardinal von
Fürstenberg, had a spacious summer- palace, which
he lent for the purpose of the imperial meeting.
Both Emperors were accompanied by their respective
consorts, their ministers , their heirs-apparent, and by
other members of their families. It was a gay time
of banquets , theatrical performances , shooting parties,
 THE TSAR PEACE-KEEPER 89

and political conferences. Old Kaiser Wilhelm

telegraphed to his brother Sovereigns to assure
them that he was with them in spirit ; while they,
on their part, flashed to Berlin a common message of
fraternal greeting. At Kremsier the chief topic of
conversation had been Bulgarian affairs, which were
now in a very tangled and dangerous condition ;
and there can be little doubt that the Tsar returned
home with the assurance from Francis Joseph that
Russia was quite entitled to pursue a freehand
policy in the Balkans within the limits of the
predominating influence accorded her there by the
Treaty of Berlin.
Bismarck himself had repeatedly sent assurances
of the same kind to St. Petersburg, saying, in
effect, that the Tsar might do whatever he liked in
Bulgaria, as far as Germany was concerned. But
the German public were not aware of this, or had
forgotten all about the Congress of Berlin, where
Bismarck claimed to have acted, in spite of the
recriminations of the Russian Press, as the " fourth
plenipotentiary of the Tsar." The German public,
I say, had forgotten all this ; so that when at last
the Prinzenraub was perpetrated at Sofia (of which
more anon) , and the German Government failed to
do so much as lift its little finger on behalf of the
" German Prince " who had been so barbarously
treated in Bulgaria at the hands of Russian
agents, the whole nation burst out , so to speak,
into a storm of pity and indignation , denouncing
Bismarck, in effect, as the passive coadjutor of the
rancorous Ruler of All the Russias. But Bismarck
90 ALEXANDER III

laughed to scorn such an idea, saying that he ought

to have been arraigned for high treason had he
complied with the counsel of such soft-hearted fools.
All the blubbering and sentimental declamation of
the German Press at that time forcibly reminded
him of the player in " Hamlet, " who shed real tears
for the fate of Hecuba.

" For what is Bulgaria to us ? It is a matter of perfect

ndifference to us who rules in Bulgaria, or what becomes of
it altogether. I repeat that, and I also repeat everything
which I formerly conveyed by my much-abused and hack-
neyed phrase about the bones of a Pomeranian grenadier---
namely, that for us the whole Eastern Question is not a
question of war. On its account we shall let no one throw
a rope round our necks in order to embroil us with Russia.
Our friendship with Russia is much more important to us
than that of Bulgaria and that of all Bulgaria's friends whom
we have among us here."

What Bismarck declared to his countrymen in

open Parliament, he had also previously conveyed
to the Tsar (of this there can be no doubt) through
the lips of the German ambassador in St. Peters-
burg, so that the impression thus produced upon
the mind of his Majesty was just as clear and
comforting as it could possibly be. This impression
was further deepened when Germany, in deference
to the views of the Russian Government, abstained
from recognising Prince Ferdinand, the " Coburger,"
who had been chosen by the Bulgarian Chamber to
succeed the " Battenberger." Not for all the world
would Germany do anything to incur the dis-
pleasure of Russia in a matter which did not closely
 THE TSAR PEACE-KEEPER 91

concern her, and yet the statesmen of Berlin began

to feel that they were gradually losing ground in the
estimation of the powers that be at St. Petersburg.
Once more the Russian Press , the semi -official
portion in particular, broke out into the bitterest
diatribes against Germany, declaiming against her
perfidy and duplicity ; and M. Katkoff, who died
shortly afterwards at Moscow, burst forth into a
swan-song of vehement vituperation . About this
time, also, M. Deroulède , the French apostle of
revenge, rushed away to Russia to preach death
and destruction to the hated Teuton, the common
foe of the Republic and the Empire, and was
welcomed as if he had been a political Messiah .
So far the displeasure of the Russians had
vented itself in words. But now these were fol-
lowed by acts in the shape of a series of stringent
anti-German measures -a prohibitive raising of the
iron duties, a more rigorous Russification of the
Baltic Provinces, imperial edicts aimed at alien
holders of real property, and, worse than all,
another threatening concentration of the Russian
army towards the Western frontier. What, in the
name of wonder or of reason , was the meaning of it
all ? Why these ugly frowns on the brow of the
Tsar ? Bismarck was destined soon to know- and
from the lips of his offended Majesty himself.
The Tsar and his family, as usual, had spent the
autumn (of 1887 ) in Denmark, and a variety of
causes had rendered it necessary for him to return
home through Germany. In these circumstances ,
the laws of courtesy made it imperative on him to
92 ALEXANDER III

take Berlin on his way, however averse he might

otherwise have been from claiming hospitable
attentions there at a time when there was so much
bad blood between the two nations ; in addition to
which, he could not very well have abstained from
paying what was as much a call of condolence as of
courtesy, seeing that the German Crown Prince had
but lately been pronounced to be suffering from an
incurable disease .
Accordingly, as I have written elsewhere, the
Tsar and his consort came to Berlin from Copen-
hagen to visit the old and failing Emperor, by whom
their Russian Majesties were received with all due
pomp and honour, the festivities including a grand
banquet in the Schloss . But previous to that
banquet, on the day of his arrival, the Tsar had
granted a long audience at the Russian Embassy to
the German Chancellor, which was one of the most
sensational incidents of modern times. It was clear
from the Tsar's manner that he was suffering from
irritation and displeasure of some kind, and his
visitor made bold to inquire the reason thereof.
His Russian Majesty, with perfect frankness and
courage, at once referred to Bulgaria, and to the
double part which Germany had been playing in
the politics of the Principality, running with the
hare, in fact, and hunting with the hounds. Bis-
marck protested that the policy of the Empire
towards the Bulgarian question had been consistent
throughout and free from guile, and that his
Majesty must have been grossly misinformed if he
thought otherwise. The Tsar replied that his
 THE TSAR PEACE- KEEPER 93

sources of information were precise and absolute-

correspondence, in fact, which had come to his
knowledge between Prince Ferdinand of Bulgaria
and the Countess of Flanders, as well as between
Prince Ferdinand and Prince Reuss, German
Ambassador at Vienna, proving conclusively that
the German Government, false to its official decla-
rations, was secretly encouraging the new Prince of
Bulgaria with hopes of support . Was that not
enough to provoke the anger of any confiding Tsar ?
Bismarck was stupefied, and could only avow again
with all the emphasis of truth that the Emperor
had been cruelly imposed upon . " But there are the
documents ! " argued his Majesty, in a tone which
seemed to admit of no more discussion. " The
documents may be there," replied the Chancellor,
"but I solemnly declare them to be a bold and
impudent forgery, committed for the purpose of
sowing distrust and enmity between two friendly
nations ." It was now the Tsar's turn to feel
thunderstruck ; but Bismarck had little difficulty
in proving to his Majesty that he had, indeed , been
made the credulous victim of a vile conspiracy, and
that there was not one single word of truth in the
charges of duplicity against German policy in which
he had thus been craftily led to believe.
The threatening storm-clouds which had of late
been gathering round the relations of Russia and
Germany at once dispersed, and that same night,
at the State banquet in the Schloss , the Tsar made
a point of raising his glass and drinking a renewed
lease of confidence in the much maligned and
94 ALEXANDER III

misrepresented German Chancellor, as well as in

the latter's continued claim to the title of " honest
broker." A few weeks later the forged despatches
were officially given to the world, and, though the
name of their nefarious author was mercifully with-
held, it was declared that they emanated from the
camp of the Orleanists (to whom the Prince of
Bulgaria, by his mother, was nearly allied) , who
thus hoped, by setting two Empires by the ears, to
precipitate a European conflict which might enable
them to make one last desperate push for their
fading heritage.
Since the early days of the Franco-German War,
when Bismarck struck a heavy blow at the French
Government by the publication of the Emperor
Napoleon's proposals for a partition of Belgium, no
more sensational incident had occurred in the field
of European politics than this startling disclosure
that an attempt had been made to embroil Russia
and Germany by forged documents misrepresenting
the policy of the latter Power ; and what rendered
the conspiracy all the more dangerous was that it
was contemporaneous with an odious attempt on the
part of a small Court clique in Berlin itself to
inspire the Tsar with the erroneous belief that, in
his foreign policy, the Chancellor was not acting in
complete harmony with the views of his own
imperial master.
In view of all these astonishing things it was
little wonder that Russia had again begun to mass
threatening numbers of troops on her Western
frontier, and that the European situation grew so
 THE TSAR PEACE-KEEPER 95

strained and alarming that it could only be relieved

by the publication, in February 1888, ofthe text of
the Austro-German Treaty of Defensive Alliance-
to which Italy was also known to be party, though
this was no news to Russia, who had been officially
informed of the fact in the friendliest manner when
the Treaty was first concluded in 1879. Speaking
a week or two later in the Reichstag, in support of
a new Army Bill, Bismarck said :

"The Emperor Alexander III . has the courage of his con-

victions, and if he contemplated unfriendly relations with
Germany he is the first who would say so, and let it be
understood. Every one can repose confidence in him who
has had the honour of coming in contact with him. . . . We
shall have no disputes with Russia unless we go to Bulgaria
to seek them.
"We live in the same friendly relationship with Russia as
under the late Emperor, and this relationship will not be
disturbed on our side. What interest have we in seeking
disputes with Russia ? I challenge any one to show me any.
Mere braggadocio cannot possibly cause us to seek a quarrel
with a neighbour who does not attack us. German Govern-
ments and German political views are not susceptible to
such a barbaric instinct. For our part, I repeat, we shall
not disturb the peace with Russia ; and I do not believe that
we shall be attacked by Russia. Nor do I believe that
Russia seeks alliances for the purpose of attacking us in
association with others, or that advantage would be taken of
the difficulties which we might have elsewhere in order that
we might be attacked with ease."

A little later still, when it was pointed out to

him that, in spite of the pacific assurances of the
Tsar himself, the Russian Press still continued its
bitter attacks on Germany, Bismarck said :
 DER III
96 ALEXAN

"As for the Russian Press, he was not of the opinion that
it meant more than it did in France. In both cases the
Press, for him , was only printer's ink on paper, to which he
attached no importance. Behind every article in the Press
there was only an individual, who wielded the pen in order
to launch an article into the world. The pen which in an
independent Russian paper wrote an anti-German article
had no one behind it other than he who held it in his hand.
In general, any protector of a Russian newspaper was a
superior State official, but both were as light as a feather in
comparison with the authority of the Emperor. In Russia a
paper had not the same influence on public opinion as in
France, and in contrast to the voices of the Russian Press he
had the testimony ofthe Emperor Alexander himself, having
lately had the honour of being received in audience by his
Majesty the Tsar. He had convinced himself that the
Emperor of Russia cherished no bellicose designs against
Germany. He heeded not the Russian Press, but he placed
absolute belief and confidence in the words of the Emperor
Alexander. On both being placed in the scales before him,
the Russian Press, with its hatred of Germany, would mount
up like a feather, and the word of the Tsar would make the
balance kick the beam."

About a month later the old Emperor William

died, enjoining his grandson, with his latest breath,
to be ever considerate towards Russia ; nor had
William II. been long upon the throne (the wreaths
upon his father's tomb had scarcely time to
wither) before he rushed away to St. Petersburg
(July 1888) to make his first " duty call." His
German Majesty was, of course, received with
magnificent hospitality by the Russian Court, and
no pains were spared to gratify his well-known pas-
sion for show parades. So much is certain. What
was not so certain was the kind of personal im-
 THE TSAR PEACE-KEEPER 97

pression which the youthful and impulsive Kaiser

left behind him ; but there were rumours, at least,
that this might have been a little more favourable.
It is, indeed, impossible to conceive that the two
Emperors should ever have fallen into a state of
mutual admiration. Their characters were much
too diverse for that. But they had at least two
things in common- devotion to peace and the doc-
trine of divine right, and this double bond was quite
sufficient to give them the semblance of being united
by the ties of personal attachment. " His first
favourable estimate of the present German Emperor,"
wrote a close and acute observer of the Tsar, "" was
recorded after that monarch's discourse on the
divine right of kings."
Next year (October 1889) Alexander III. re-
turned the visit of William II. by going to Berlin,
where no little surprise was felt that he had de-
ferred the payment of this debt of courtesy so long.
And even now the Tsar had not come straight to
Berlin from Russia, but merely taken it on his way
home from Denmark, where, as usual, he had been
spending the autumn, " out of prison." The late-
ness of his call was all the more marked as the
Sovereigns of Italy and Austria, who had been
visited by the new German Emperor after his re-
turn from Russia in the previous year, had hastened
to return the compliment before the Tsar. In con-
sequence of this and other considerations , the
popular reception of the Tsar in Berlin was of a
very cool kind- all the more so by contrast with
the enthusiatic demonstrations which had made the
G
 ER
X AND
98 ALE III

arrival of King Humbert and the Emperor Francis

Joseph resemble triumphal entries. But these
two Sovereigns were the solid " allies " of the
German Emperor, whereas Alexander III. was but
his sentimental " friend." Those " allies " had been
the guests of his German Majesty, and were
quartered at the Schloss ; whereas the Tsar, follow-
ing the example of his grandfather and father, pre-
ferred to lodge at his own Embassy, on Russian
soil, so to speak, thus maintaining the high and
stiff reserve which made the Western nations feel
that they were being kept at their distance.
I was a witness of most of the ceremonies and
banquets connected with this Imperial meeting, and
I thought that I had never seen anything more arti-
ficial and constrained . The Tsar seemed to suffer
throughout from a suppressed feeling of boredom ;
while the Emperor, on his part, was never free from
an appearance of gêne. At the grand State banquet
in the White Saloon of the Schloss, of which I was
a spectator, there was practically no conversation
between the two Sovereigns. The difference between
their two characters was never better displayed than
when the time came for the usual interchange of
toasts. The Kaiser was all enthusiasm and hospi-
table zeal. " I drink," said he in German , "to the
health of my honoured friend and guest, His Majesty
the Emperor of Russia, and to the continuance of
the friendship which has existed between our Houses
for more than a century, and which I am resolved
to cultivate as a legacy derived from my ancestors . "
The Emperor concluded with a few Russian words
 THE TSAR PEACE- KEEPER 99

in compliment to his guest, and led off with a hearty

"Hoch !" which was thrice repeated by the company,
while the band played the Russian anthem. After
touching glasses with their German Majesties, the
Tsar turned to the Emperor and , speaking in a
rather low voice, in French, replied :

"Je remercie votre Majesté de vos bonnesparoles, etjepar-

tage entièrement les sentiments que vous venez dexprimer.
A la santé de sa Majesté l'Empereur et Roi! ”

Saying which the Tsar raised high his glass, and,

turning to the brilliant company, led off the cheering
with one abrupt " Hurrah ! " which rang out sharp
as a musket- shot- an exclamation which, though not
quite so familiar to German as to English ears, is
said to be of Slavonic origin, so that it was thus
peculiarly appropriate on the lips of the Tsar.
But, sharp and almost electrifying as was his
utterance of this exclamation, it produced less effect
perhaps than did the extreme brevity of his speech
and its entire lack of anything bearing the faintest
resemblance to a political hue. The toast of the
German Emperor contained allusions which found
no direct echo in the reply of the Tsar, and those
who listened to this passage of sentiment between
the two monarchs must have felt that it formed a
striking contrast to the speeches which were made
in the same place when the rulers of Italy and Aus-
tria were respectively the guests of the Emperor
William .
After the banquet the Court went to theOpera,
where the most brilliant house I remember to have
100 ALEXANDER III

ever seen there for a long time had assembled by

special invitation in honour of the Emperor's august
visitor. In one box sat the representatives of all
the Great Powers, while even Prince Bismarck
showed himself a thing he had not done within
the memory of the younger generation. The
Court occupied the grand central box, the Tsar
again sitting between their German Majesties. The
appearance of the house did not certainly come up
to that presented by the same theatre on the occa-
sion of the Shah's summer visit to it, but it was a
brilliant and memorable scene all the same.
Another notable incident of this meeting was a
sumptuous luncheon that was offered to the Tsar
by the officers of his " Own," or Kaiser Alexander
Regiment of the Guards. After an inspection and
march past of the regiment, its richly decorated
mess-room became brilliant with a festive gathering
of all the military magnates of this military capital,
with the two Emperors in their midst. After the
band had discoursed a selection of music associated
with Russia, in which Glinka's " Life for the Tsar "
held a prominent place, the colonel of the regiment
proposed the health of the Tsar in most ardent and
devoted terms, after which his Majesty- speaking
in Russian this time, which the Emperor William
appeared to understand-called for a bumper in
honour of his German entertainer. Then the
Emperor William clinked his glass (as signalising
his desire for silence), and in words of fiery and
captivating enthusiasm thus toasted the Russian
army :
 THE TSAR PEACE-KEEPER ΙΟΙ

"At a festival like this, concerning as it does a regiment

which can look back on a long and glorious history, and
which, at the same time, enjoys the honour of seeing its
Imperial Chief in its midst, recollection naturally plays a
great part. It is this recollection which carries me back to
the time when my deceased grandfather, as yet a young
officer, received the Cross of St. George for valour displayed
before the foe, and by his deportment in the bullet rain
acquired the chiefship of the Kaluga Regiment. That is
an incident which I recall in order to drink to the glorious
common traditions and memories of the Russian and the
Prussian armies. I drink to the memory of those who, in
heroic defence of their Fatherland, fell at Borodino, and who,
in union with us, bled in victorious battle at Arcis-sur-Aube
and Brienne. I drink to the brave defenders of Sebastopol
and to the valiant combatants of Plevna. Gentlemen, I call
upon you to drain your glasses with me to the health of our
comrades of the Russian army. Hurrah ! hurrah ! hurrah ! "

But nothing could move the stolid chief of the

regiment to a corresponding reply, which simply
took the form of a cold and curt " To the health
of my brave Grenadier Regiment." When the
imperial chief of this regiment left the barracks,
"there disappeared also the only single person who
was noticeable as a spectator of all this military stir
on the roofs of adjacent houses - namely, a police-
man in uniform "-a reference to the extraordinary
precautions which had been taken by the police in
connection with the Tsar's visit . Of this visit, the
general opinion in Germany, as expressed by one
of its leading organs, was that it had " rendered
more cordial the mutual sentiments of regard enter-
tained by the two monarchs , but that it had
changed nothing in the political relations of the
102 ALEXANDER III

two countries." On the other hand, the Novoe

Vremya, voicing the sentiment of St. Petersburg,
said

" The time when Alexander I. sentimentally swore before

the tomb of Frederick II ., Russia's bitterest foe, to support
various Prussian schemes having nothing in common with
the real interests of the Russian State has passed away never
to return. So also has passed away for ever the time when
we permitted Denmark, the guardian of the Baltic, to be
dismembered, and the European equilibrium to be disturbed
by the defeat of France and Austria, receiving in return for
our generosity nothing but a platonic right to keep a few
ironclads in the Black Sea."

Before leaving Berlin, the Tsar was again closeted

for more than an hour with Bismarck, to whom he
finally said : " Prince, I have every confidence in
you, but do you yourself think that you are likely to
remain in office ? " To which the Chancellor replied
that he would retain his position until his death ;
and on this the Tsar went home assured and happy,
comparatively speaking . For, shortly before coming
to Berlin, had he not toasted the Prince of Monte-
negro- whose daughter, Princess Militza, had been
married to the Grand Duke Peter- as " Russia's
only true and sincere friend " ? Nevertheless , he
had left Berlin with the conviction that he could
also now rely on Bismarck, the " honest broker,"
the man who claimed to have acted at the Berlin
Congress as the " fourth plenipotentiary of Russia. "
But what was the Tsar's disappointment and sur-
prise, in the following spring, on finding that the
young Emperor had suddenly " dropped his pilot,"
 THE TSAR PEACE-KEEPER 103

dismissed his Iron Chancellor, who had given his

Russian Majesty such comforting assurances when
in Berlin ?
It is not too much to say that, of all who deplored
Bismarck's retirement from office, none regretted
this more sincerely than Alexander III .; and the
Prince himself afterwards confessed that the bitterest
thing of all which he had to bear in connection
with his dismissal was that it had belied his words
to the Tsar, and made him look so foolish in the
eyes of his Majesty. It was this, perhaps, more
than anything else, which roused his resentment
against his young master, his " neue Herr," and
made his recriminations take the form of an
endeavour to sow distrust between him and the
Emperor of Russia.
After taking leave of his Russian visitor at
Berlin, in October 1889 , the Emperor William had
rushed to Athens to see his sister married, and
then to Constantinople to see the Sultan ; and
Bismarck, after his dismissal, made no secret of the
fact that his Majesty had done this against his
advice, as being a visit that would be likely to
excite suspicion in St. Petersburg . Moreover, he
indulged in remarks to newspaper interviewers tend-
ing to show that he was the best friend Russia had
ever had, and that Count Caprivi, his successor, was
doing all he could, in conjunction with his thought-
less master, to worsen the good relations which had
always subsisted between the two countries . He
even held out to Russia a kind of encouragement
to take Constantinople as the " key of your house. "
104 ALEXANDER III

To the correspondent of the Novoe Vremya (and

his words must have been read by the Tsar) the
ex-Chancellor said :

" Ifthe German Press lately declared war against you, and
injured Russia, and even my own organs joined in the cam-
paign, it took place against my will. I have always been
against war with Russia. If any one thinks that fighting with
Russia would not be terrible, he is very much mistaken. If
Russia were to invade Germany it would be different. The
severe winter, and the great distances in Russia, would be
terrible weapons against an attacking force. Finally, what
do we want from Russia, or she from us ? We should
receive no milliards from you, nor you from us. It would be
a crime of Germany to endeavour to extend her frontiers
beyond Memel, for the Baltic provinces without Poland
would be of no value, and the annexation of Poland, with its
nine millions of Catholic Poles, would raise the number of
Catholics in Germany to one-half the population, and would
be a misfortune for Germany, just as the acquisition of East
Prussia would be unprofitable to Russia. A war with Russia
is, therefore, almost impossible."

It was doubtless to correct the impression which

must have been made upon his Russian Majesty's
mind by these and other remarks of the ex-Chan-
cellor all tending to sow distrust between the
Courts of Berlin and St. Petersburg- that the
Emperor William, in August 1890, paid a second
visit to Russia. On taking leave of his German
entertainer at Berlin in the previous October, the
Tsar, with the customary parlance of parting friends ,
had expressed the hope that the Kaiser would
favour him with another visit next year, and the
Kaiser took him at his word.
With his new Chancellor, among others, in his
 THE TSAR PEACE- KEEPER 105

train, his Majesty set sail for Reval, where he was

met by the Grand Duke Vladimir and conducted to
Narva to witness the sham-fighting which had been
planned for his delectation on an unusually grand
scale . The Kaiser in person even led a cavalry
charge, which was, of course, no less brilliant
than successful. It was at Narva, as I need not
remind my readers , that Charles XII . of Sweden
achieved such a crushing victory over the half-
disciplined hordes of Peter the Great ; and it was
also at Narva where William II. of Prussia equally
hoped to conquer the hearts of the modern Mus-
covites. So, at least, Bismarck remarked of this
visit. "The Emperor," he said , " fancied that he
would be able to ' manage ' the Russians, politically
speaking, by means of his own great personal
amiability. Even, however, when in St. Peters-
burg, there had reached his Majesty's ears from the
entourage of the Tsar remarks about himself which
left no doubt that his visit had been unproductive
of any political result "-with other bitter criticisms.
on the policy of the " new course," all intended to
show the Tsar that the real man to have cultivated
friendly relations with Russia was himself, and not
Count Caprivi or the Kaiser either.
This second visit of the German Emperor to
Russia was only returned about two years later
(June 1892 ), when the Tsar dropped anchor at
Kiel on his way from Copenhagen, where he had
been attending the golden wedding of his Danish
parents-in-law . That the German Emperor was
content to receive this return visit at Kiel , whither
106 ALEXANDER III

he had to make a day's journey for the purpose,

instead of remaining in Berlin, was considered by
many of his Chauvinistic subjects to be a strange
derogation of his dignity ; and they scrupled not to
indulge in most unsavoury comparisons between
Mahomet and the mountain , arguing that the German
Kaiser was the mountain, which ought on no
account to move in order to meet the convenience
and caprice of the Russian prophet.
The Tsar did not stay the night, but left again
after attending a grand banquet in his honour in the
ancient Schloss of Kiel, which, curiously enough,
might be considered as the cradle of his race,
seeing that it had been the birthplace of Karl Fried-
rich, Duke of Holstein- Gottorp, whose son ascended
the Russian throne as Peter III ., and who was
thus the founder of the present line of Romanoffs.
But Alexander III . was the first of this line who
had ever broken bread under the roof-tree of this
seat of his German ancestor. At dinner, the German
Emperor rose and said : " I drink to the health of
the Russian Emperor whom I have now enrolled,
with his high permission , as Admiral à la suite of
my navy ! " To which the Tsar replied : " I am
delighted with this distinction, as well as with the
reception accorded to me here, and I drink to the
health of my dear friend and cousin. Long live
the German Emperor and the German navy !" The
same night the " Pole Star " steamed away out
again into the Baltic amid a tremendous outburst of
jubilant music, cannonading, and fireworks from the
German warships and batteries in the Kieler Bucht.
 THE TSAR PEACE-KEEPER 107

It seems to me that one of the smartest things the

German Emperor ever did was, in present circum-
stances, to send away home the Autocrat of All the
Russias in the character of an Admiral of the
German Fleet- a delicious bit of courteous irony.
""
Long live the German navy ! " the Tsar had
cried. But there was now another navy which
Alexander III . had toasted in still more ostentatious
(I will not say enthusiastic) terms, and that was the
Fleet of the French Republic, which had caused
such a tremendous fuss to be made about itself at
Cronstadt in the previous year. And that was,
doubtless , the real reason why the Tsar, for common
decency's sake, had not in that year ( 1891 ) returned
the Emperor's second visit of 1889. For how can
any man turn all at once from a table flowing with
French champagne to a festive board foaming with
German beer ?
Of all the shams and insanities in which the
century has abounded, none was ever more gro-
tesque and ridiculous than this episode of the so-
called Franco- Russian Alliance -this unnatural and
impossible union between Beauty and the Beast,
between Democracy and Despotism . Any friend-
ship that ever existed between France and Russia
had been of the most flimsy and artificial kind .
Alexander I. and Napoleon had formed an alliance
for the purpose of common conquest, but this was
soon converted into the inevitable blood -feud which
ultimately disrupts all gangs of robbers. With the
English the French fought shoulder to shoulder
against Russia in the Crimean War, and in 1863
108 ALEXANDER III

they attempted to intervene in the affairs of Poland

until scared away with an emphatic " Hands off ! "
from Alexander II. In 1866, Napoleon would
have been much more imperious with his demands
on Prussia had he not been aware that this latter
Power enjoyed the sympathy of Russia ; and even
M. Flourens, * " speaking dispassionately," had to
admit that "the attitude maintained by Russia
throughout the war of 1870-71 rendered possible
the crushing triumph of the German Army," by
.
restraining Austria from indulging her desire to rise
and rush to the assistance of the French .
On the other hand, France affected to believe
that it was solely due to the " magnanimous inter-
vention " of Alexander II . on her behalf that she
was saved from attack and dismemberment by
Germany in 1875 -the year of the famous " war-
scare " produced by the Krieg in Sicht article of the
Berlin Post, as supplemented by a Paris letter to
the Times. Now, subsequent revelations of diplo-
matic documents conclusively proved that this war-
scare was nothing but the product of interested and
unscrupulous alarmists ; that the German Emperor
and his responsible Ministers never entertained the
least design of falling upon France ; that the French
allowed themselves to become the victims of one of
the most extraordinary hallucinations recorded in all
history ; and that Alexander II . did not, and could
not, save them from assault and battery, for the very

"The Relations between France and Russia since 1871 ,"

in the New Review for August 1889.
 THE TSAR PEACE -KEEPER 109

simple and sufficient reason that Germany did not

meditate then, as she has never in one single
instance done since the great war, a wanton attack
on her Western neighbours. Nevertheless, halluci-
nations, like lies, continue to live and act as motive-
powers in history ; and now there was introduced
into French international politics an extravagant
feeling of gratitude towards Russia, founded on
absolute ignorance or misconstruction of facts, and
fed by a feeling of implacable hostility to France's
hereditary foes -England and Germany ; or, perhaps ,
it would be more correct to say that it is France
who is the hereditary and implacable foe of those
two Powers .
This spurious sense of undeserved gratitude
became all the more intense when France realised
that her hopes of revenge on Germany had been
utterly baulked by the conclusion of the Triple
Alliance, which check-mated her on every side, and
that Bismarck's policy of isolating her from the
rest of Europe had succeeded to perfection . But
Bismarck had done more than isolate France. He
had also helped to prevent the recurrence of France
to a monarchical régime-one of his most masterly
and far-sighted strokes of policy-as arguing that
a Republic was the form of government best calcu-
lated to make the French stew in their own juice,
and, above all hings , render them “ bündnissunfähig,"
or incapable of forming alliances with any of the
monarchical Powers. Events proved Bismarck to
have been absolutely right in his forecast, though
that his calculations were not belied was certainly
 IIO ALEXANDER III

not for want of excessively hard trying on the part

of France.
In 1889 the Tsar had plaintively confessed that
Russia had " only one true and sincere friend "
among the nations-the Prince of little Montenegro ;
and the sad avowal seems to have touched the sen-
sitive hearts of the French. For straightway, with
one accord, they rose up (forgetful of the maxim,
beneficia non obtruduntur) and hurled themselves,
so to speak, at the head of the Tsar. The friend-
lessness from which Russia was suffering was , at
least, a failing which they could remedy, if the Tsar
would only let them. Surely Russia, they argued,
was not more friendless than France. For Russia
had at least one friend ; but who and where was
the friend of France ? It was as clear as day that
the French and the Russians were born to be allies.
Brothers in isolation and calamity, they must be
friends . Here was the German Emperor already
currying favour with his mother's people, swopping
islands with them in token of his amity, as bride
and bridegroom exchange wedding rings, becoming
an Admiral of the English Fleet, and expending all
his powers of honest admiration on the magnificence
of the British navy as the supreme arbiter of the
seas. Were they, the French, to sit still with
folded hands, and behold all this without making a
bid for the favour of Russia, with the view of re-
establishing the balance of power which had lately
been so much deranged to their common detriment ?
"Allons, enfants de la patrie ! " and presently the
Boulevards, which had erstwhile (in the mad July
 THE TSAR PEACE -KEEPER III

days of 1870) resounded with furious cries of " à

Berlin ! à Berlin ! " now equally began to ring with
exultant shouts of " à Pétersbourg ! à Pétersbourg !"
Towards the close of the reign of Alexander II. ,
France had deeply wounded the Russian Govern-
ment by refusing to extradite Hartmann, the
Nihilist, who had been concerned in the attempt
to blow up the Imperial train at Moscow. But the
times were now vastly changed ; and France, at
the wish of Alexander III . , would have hastened to
render up a hundred thousand Hartmanns without
asking any questions. France had no more Hart-
manns to offer, but she had money-which opens a
road into the most reluctant hearts ; so that when
the Russian Government failed to raise a loan in
Berlin, and appealed to Paris, its request was at
once responded to with the offer of a three per cent.
gold-loan of four hundred million roubles ! Was
that not an act of sincere and unmistakable friend-
ship on the part of France for friendless Russia ?
" Go to," now cried the patriots of Paris, "let us at
once despatch an imposing fleet into Russian waters
to show the Tsar what a magnificent and ' alliance-
capable ' people we are, and thus cement the union
between the two countries which has now been
initiated by this golden bridge ."
Accordingly, in the autumn of 1891 , Admiral
Gervais duly appeared in the Gulf of Cronstadt at
the head of a gallant squadron of Gallic ironclads ;
and just about the time when the German Emperor
was being acclaimed by enthusiastic crowds on his
State passage from Buckingham Palace to the
112 ALEXANDER III

Guildhall, the Gulf of Finland formed the scene of

such festive sound and confraternal show as it had
never yet beheld . A Russian squadron , accom-
panied by hundreds of private steamers, all gaily
dressed, and crowded with subjects of the Tsar
shouting " Vive la France !" came out to meet
and greet the French flotilla, and the waters of
Cronstadt were wrapt in the smoke of saluting
guns.
For more than a week Admiral Gervais and his
officers were fêted and petted to more than their
hearts' content. One day the Tsar, surrounded by
all the Grand Dukes and Duchesses of his family,
reviewed the French fleet, went on board its flag-
ship, the " Marengo ," and then entertained the
commanding officers of both squadrons on board his
own yacht, the " Derjava, " when he toasted the
President of the French Republic ; while , at a sub-
sequent banquet at the Naval Club in Cronstadt,
Admiral Gervais said : " Since yesterday I seem to
have been living in an enchanted world, so con-
vincing are the proofs of sympathy which meet us
on all hands- and all for the sake of our dear
France." In his seaside palace, at Peterhof, the
Tsar gave another grand banquet , when he again
drank the health of M. Carnot, and stood up with
the rest of the company while the " Marseillaise "
was being played . At a dinner given him and his
officers by the Artillery Corps of St. Petersburg,
Admiral Gervais toasted the Russian army, which he
" hoped, and was sure, would reap new laurels
should God ever again call it to defend its
 THE TSAR PEACE - KEEPER 113

fatherland." Each of the French vessels received

from the city of St. Petersburg the present of a silver
goblet, as " a souvenir of this rapprochement between
the two great nations." After being nearly killed
with kindness at St. Petersburg, Admiral Gervais
and his officers repaired to Moscow, where similar
ovations awaited them. Here General Tchernaieff,
in toasting the Frenchmen, said that, "taught by
misfortune, France was now collecting her strength,
and that, strong in her unity and in the friendship
of Russia, she might now look to the future with a
calm confidence." To crown all, the Tsar and M.
Carnot exchanged telegrams . Said the Emperor
to the President :

"The presence of the splendid French squadron now at

anchor off Cronstadt is a new proof of the deep sympathies
which unite France with Russia. It gives me pleasure to
convey to you my lively satisfaction, and to thank you for the
real pleasure I feel in thus receiving the visit of your gallant
sailors."

To which M. Carnot replied :

"I am deeply touched by the sentiments which your

Majesty has been graciously pleased to express with regard
to our squadron. Our gallant sailors will not forget the re-
ception of which they have been the object. I thank your
Majesty for that reception. I am happy to recognise in it an
eloquent proof of the deep sympathies uniting France and
Russia."

After the exchange of these identic notes there

only remained the signature of a formal treaty of
alliance between the two countries ; and, sure
enough, the tongue of rumour would presently have
H
114 ALEXANDER III

it that Admiral Gervais had steamed away home

with the duplicate of such an instrument in his
pocket. But this was the purest fiction that was
ever launched into an ill-informed and credulous
world. The treaty relations between France and
Russia remained precisely what they were before
the Cronstadt visit-and for the simple reason that,
in the eyes of the Tsar, Republican France was
still in a deplorable state of what Bismarck called
" bündnissunfähigkeit " — a total unfitness for
international marriage . The truth is that
Alexander III ., however fond he might be of
Frenchmen personally , distrusted and even detested
them as a nation given over to democratic rule, and
containing so many dangerous elements of irreligion
and anarchy . From an alliance with such a
people, thought the Tsar, no good could possibly
come.
A creditor had come to pay him a visit, and been
treated with exquisite courtesy and kindness - that
was all. The isolation of France was just as great
as ever. Dr. Geffcken pretty well expressed the
truth on the subject when he wrote as follows, and
I know that his views were shared by the Foreign
Office in Berlin.

" Alexander III. was never in favour of the French

alliance, and the visit of Admiral Gervais to Cronstadt , which
he could not very well refuse, was painful to him, and he was
glad when it was over. On the other hand, he assured the
German Emperor, on his visit to Kiel (in the following year),
that he would never give marching orders to a single soldier
in order that France might re-conquer Alsace- Lorraine . His
Ambassador at Paris had strict orders to keep the Toulon and
 THE TSAR PEACE- KEEPER 115

Paris festivities within certain bounds. Briefly, he treated

the French advances, in the words of a witty English
diplomatist, like a man who carelessly suffers the caresses of
a girl throwing herself at his neck, but who, at the same
time, does not want to have anything to do with her."

Russia did not withdraw her cheek ; but France

did all the kissing . Europe, in fact, was treated
to the spectacle of the French maiden with the
Phrygian cap teaching the ladies of the Boulevards
a lesson in the art of solicitation . It was not so
much, "Will you marry me ? " as " You must
marry me !" But the Tsar would none of it. The
Russian Joseph was proof to the enticements of the
Gallic Mrs. Potiphar , although it suited the purposes
of the French patriots to insinuate, nay , to assert ,
that her charms had proved victorious over the
object of her passion .
The same comedy, though on a more colossal
scale, was witnessed a couple of years later ( 1893) ,
when a Russian squadron, under Admiral Avellan ,
as in courtesy bound , came to Toulon to return the
visit of Admiral Gervais-came to Toulon and
landed its officers and men to be feted and lionised,
both there and at Paris , in a manner which caused
many to fear that the French had, at least, taken
absolute leave of their senses. Perched upon the
head of the Bear, the Eagle screamed and flapped
its wings at such a rate that the poor bewildered
brute scarcely knew where it was, so that at last
it began to feel like Bottom when addressed by
Quince : " Bless thee, Bottom ! bless thee ! thou
art translated ! "
116 ALEXANDER III

The incidents of that insane time are of too

recent occurrence to require minute recall. Te
Deums were chanted in the churches on the arrival
of the Russians ; they were fêted by the great
heads of State, from the President downwards ;
the provincial municipalities sent delegates ; the
people everywhere turned out in enormous, cheering,
weeping, worshipping crowds to acclaim their
Russian guests , their very deliverers, upon whom
gifts of all kinds kept pouring in- Paris alone
showering upon them presents valued at £ 100,000,
while the whole nation abandoned itself to un-
paralleled transports of joy. French officers carried
their Russian comrades shoulder high, and French
ladies pressed forward with hysterical emotion to
offer their sweet lips to the rough exotic sailors ,
redolent of garlic and vodka. Not with a deeper
sense of relief had the ever-dwindling and ever
more despairing garrison of Lucknow hailed the
final coming of Sir Colin and his kilted men than
France now seemed to experience at the sight of
Admiral Avellan and his gallant blue-jackets . And
when the two forces , the relieving and the relieved,
had long enough mingled their tears of joy, the
following exchange of compliments took place
between their respective chiefs (one of them with
the tongue slightly in his cheek)—
The Emperor to the President :

"At the moment when the Russian fleet is leaving France,

it is my ardent wish to express to you how I am touched by,
and grateful for, the chivalrous and splendid reception which
my sailors have everywhere experienced on French soil. The
 THE TSAR PEACE- KEEPER 117

expressions of warm sympathy which have been manifested

once again with so much eloquence will add a fresh link to
those which unite the two countries, and will, I trust, con-
tribute to strengthen the general peace, which is the object of
our most constant efforts and desires."

The President to the Tsar :

(k The telegram, for which I thank your Majesty, reached

me when on the point of leaving Toulon to return to Paris.
"The magnificent fleet on which I had the great satisfaction
of saluting the Russian pennant in French waters, the cordial
and spontaneous reception which your brave sailors have
everywhere received in France, prove gloriously once again
the sincere sympathies which unite our two countries. They
show at the same time a deep faith in the beneficent influence
which may weld together two great nations devoted to the
cause of peace."

It was no wonder that, on a calm survey of all

the circumstances connected with this international
fraternisation at Cronstadt and Toulon, Count
*
Tolstoi was moved to pour out upon it all the
phials of his scathing satire, describing the whole
thing as a farce and a fraud from beginning to end.
And the Count was not very far wrong. On the
part of France, it was a farce-all this protestation
of love for Russia ; while, on the part of Russia, it
was a fraud. What the French wanted was gloire ;
what the Russians aimed at was gold- and the

* His reflections on the subject, embodied in a work

entitled " Patriotism and Christianity," were first presented
to English readers in the pages of the Daily Chronicle of
July 7, 9, and 10, 1894.
118 ALEXANDER III

attainment of the latter end was pretty well the

only solid outcome of the comedy. As a German
*
officer wrote : " As regards the rapprochement with
France, it is not Russia but France who will have
to pay the piper. Neither nation has any solid
bond of union- except, perhaps , hatred of Germany.
On the other hand, Russia needs gold, much gold.
The Tsar gained the goodwill of France in order to
dip his hands in her well-filled coffers . Russia, on
her side, will take good care not to venture too
much for France . The Tsar's policy will remain
unchanged : cautious, reserved, he will ever keep
exclusively before his eyes the well-being of his
own land ."
It is more than strange that a people so highly
gifted as the French, so clear- sighted and so acute
as reasoners , should at the same time be so
prone to become the victims of the grossest
self-deception and illusion . When Alexander III.
lay down to die, they began to weep and wail
as for the light and lode-star of their national
life which were about to be eclipsed . The Tsar
was France's dearest friend, her warmest admirer,
her noblest champion, her loyalest ally, her
Heaven knows all what . Just consider what had
not his Majesty done to bring about a closer union
between the two nations . Had he not, among
other things, caused to be rendered into French the
" Souvenirs de Sebastopol, " collected and edited
by his Imperial self from the original manuscripts

* Neue Militärische Blätter for March 1892.

 THE TSAR PEACE -KEEPER 119

preserved in the Historical Museum in the Crimea ? *

And was it not the aim of the Emperor, in under-
taking this task : first, to provide an imperishable
record of the " glory " of the contending parties in
the war, in which, as General Saussier put it,
"there were neither victors nor vanquished " ; and,
second, to cement a political alliance with the
French, " the only men capable of disputing victory
with the Russians ! " " It may be added, " said the
French translator, "that two armies which love.
each other, admire each other, and fight together,
are henceforth invincible."
With a malicious pleasure the French had
watched the progress of the Zollkrieg, or " Customs
War," which had broken out between Germany and
Russia during the course of this year, and threat-
ened to end in a conflict of a more terrible kind.
But what was their surprise, their secret mortifica-
tion, to find that the Tsar seemed to set still higher
store by his friendship with Germany than by his
" alliance " with France, as evidenced by his per-
sonal intervention to put an end to the destructive
war of tariffs ? Very much more of a " written
alliance " was now concluded between the two
Empires than existed between France and Russia ;
for not one single scrap of treaty paper had been
the outcome of all the Toulon and Paris inanities.

*"Souvenirs de Sébastopol," recueillis et rédigés, par

S.M.I. Alexandre III ., Empereur de Russie--traduction de
M. Nicolas Notovitch-d'après les originaux conservés au
Musée Historique de Sebastopol." Paris : Ollendorff, 1894.
120 ALEXANDER III

Nevertheless , had all these demonstrations not

served the cause of European peace by showing
that " two armies which loved each other, admired
each other, and had fought against each other,
would henceforth , if combined , prove invincible ? "
From the French point of view no one, of course,
could doubt that all these demonstrations were
directed much more even against England than
Germany, as a kind of warning of what she might
possibly have to expect in the way of a coalition
against her in certain eventualities. " Man schlägt
den Sack und meint den Esel," as the Germans say
-" He thumps away at the sack, but what he
really aims at is the donkey's ribs ." For England
had by this time taken the place of Germany as the
main object of French hatred and resentment .
Effectually blocked and barred on every side by the
bulwark of the Triple Alliance , France had become
condemned to absolute and hopeless inaction in
Europe, and there was no possible outlet for her
energies, her restlessness, and her ambition as a
" grand nation " marching at the head of civilisation
"the first nation of the universe ," in fact - except
a policy of spite and contradiction to " perfidious
Albion " wherever their paths ran parallel or crossed
beyond the seas. What France had ever been to
patient and pacific Germany before her final unifi-
cation domineering, insolent, quarrelsome, and
interfering she had now become to England in
connection with our task of empire-building. For
several years back Anglophobia has been the domin-
ant note of French statesmanship. On the part
 THE TSAR PEACE-KEEPER 121

of France, Cronstadt and Toulon were demonstra-

tions against England much more than against
Germany. " La France, c'est l'ennemi! " There is
no use blinking the fact, however much it may be
ignored by the short-sighted advocates of a peace-
at-any- price and impossible understanding with our
jealous and obstructive neighbours.
In comparison with Russia, at least, this is cer-
tainly true. For during the reign of Alexander III .
we never had half so much trouble with Russia
as with France . Several times during this short
period we were on the apparent brink of war with
France, but only once with Russia . This was in
1885 , when the question of the Afghan frontier had
become acute by the Russian annexation of Merv.
Ever since the wings of Russian ambition in the
East of Europe had been so cruelly clipped by the
Congress of Berlin, her statesmen had schemed to
obviate the recurrence of such a diplomatic disaster
as that which resulted from the war of 1877 . To
this disaster, it is but just to say, England had con-
tributed more, perhaps, than any of the other Powers.
For at Constantinople she had at last put her naval
foot down with an imperious " Thus far and no
farther ! " or rather, " Not so far as this ! ", and at
Berlin she had also helped to curtail the luxuriance
of Prince Gortchakoff's San-Stefano laurels in a
most woeful manner.
Nothing, therefore, was more natural than that
Russia should take steps to create some means of
countervailing England in the event of her attempt-
ing a similar policy of obstruction in the future—
122 ALEXANDER III

and the creation of this means was possible in

Central Asia. The nearer Russia got to our Indian
frontier, the greater the preventive pressure she
could bring to bear upon us in Europe. If
threatened with an invasion of India, England
could not afford to obstruct the policy of Russia
in the Balkans . The Russians never dreamt of
conquering India, knowing this to be beyond their
utmost powers . But an invasion of India would be
a very different thing, by way of a diversion.
Calcutta would be a line of attack on Constanti-
nople ; the Ganges a mere channel to obtain a
footing on the Golden Horn. As Skobeleff wrote
in 1881-

" To my mind the whole Central Asian Question is as clear

as daylight. If it does not enable us in a comparatively
short time to take seriously in hand the Eastern Question -in
other words, to dominate the Bosphorus-the hide is not worth
the tanning. Sooner or later Russian statesmen will have to
recognise the fact that Russia must rule the Bosphorus. . .
Without a serious demonstration in the direction of India, in
all probability on the side of Candahar, a war for the Balkan
peninsula is not to be thought of. It is indispensable to
maintain in Central Asia, at the gates of the corresponding
theatre of war, a powerful body of troops fully equipped and
seriously mobilised."

It was, then, in pursuance of this far-sighted

policy that the Russians, after the Congress of
Berlin, began to push their Central Asian frontier
ever nearer the borders of Afghanistan, till at last
Englishmen were one fine morning startled with
the news that Merv (which the Russians repeatedly
avowed, in the most solemn manner, they did not
 THE TSAR PEACE -KEEPER 123

mean to take) had at last been occupied by them in

the spring of 1884. And then the English were
seized with another violent fit of that "mervousness "
from which they had intermittently suffered for years
back-a fit for which the political doctors, as well
on the Thames as on the Neva, could only pre-
scribe a dose of Delimitation Commission.
It was natural that, in such circumstances, the
Tsar should have been suspected, and indeed
roundly accused, of perfidy ; but as Mr. Curzon
justly remarks , in his otherwise somewhat long-
winded and big-worded book about " Russia and
Central Asia," " it is scarcely possible to over-
estimate the degree in which the extension of
Russian dominion , particularly in Central Asia, has
been due to the rash personal ambition of indi-
viduals acting in rash independence of orders from
home." And again, "the Russian Government
has often been as surprised at its own successes as
rival States have been alarmed, and there is reason
to believe that the Kushk episode in 1885 , far from
being, as was supposed in England, part of a
deep-laid design, was an impromptu on the part of
Komaroff and Alikhanoff that burst with as much
novelty upon the Foreign Office of St. Petersburg
as it did upon that of Whitehall." At the same
time it must not be forgotten that it had ever been
the policy of the Tsars to ratify and reward these
irresponsible acts of their over-zealous agents, when
successful, with swords of honour, and to disavow
and even punish them if it suited them to do so.
The Delimitation Commissions (Sir Peter Lumsden
124 ALEXANDER III

as chief of the English one) finally repaired to

the debateable ground in Central Asia, and now
there arose the burning question- was Penj - deh
within or without the Afghan frontier ? The
English, supported by the Afghans, who were in
possession of the place, emphatically said " Yes ;" the
Russians just as doggedly said " No " ; so that
meanwhile it was agreed , pending the settlement of
the dispute, that the Russian and the Afghan forces
should remain " as they were." But one day the
Russians, under General Komaroff, arguing that they
had been provoked thereto by the Afghans, delivered
a violent assault upon the latter in Penj - deh, driving
them headlong out of the position, with a loss of
500 men, besides all their camps and stores , and
mingling pæans of victory with the exultant shout
of the unscrupulous land-grabber : Beati possidentes !
On hearing of this scandalous breach of agree-
ment, all England burst out into flames of revengeful
wrath, and even the millennially minded Mr. Glad-
stone, who was then in power, hastened to address
the Commons : " The House will not be surprised
when I say, speaking with measured words in cir-
cumstances of great gravity, that to us, upon the
statements I have recited, this attack bears the
appearance of an unprovoked aggression." The
Times insisted on justice being done to the national
honour, while even the Daily News said that " war
could only now be avoided by prompt disavowal on
the part of Russia of the action of her commanders ,"
&c. At the same time the spirit of the Jingoes
rose to a most unparalleled pitch, and the National
 THE TSAR PEACE-KEEPER 125

Anthem was again replaced for the time being by

the immortal ballad of the great Macdermot, which
declared that-

" We've got the ships, we've got the men, we've got
the money too."

The ships- many of them, at least- were forth-

coming in the shape of fast cruisers, selected from
the finest vessels of the merchant service, which
were chartered by the Government and armed with
one or two heavy guns to harass the " enemy's "
trade ; while the reserves were called out , and troops
who had been despatched to Egypt for operations
in the Soudan were stopped at Suakim or elsewhere
on the main road from India. Our arsenals began
to work night and day in the preparation of arms
and ammunition ; and, to crown all, Mr. Gladstone
ultimately called for, and got, a credit of eleven
millions sterling, whereof " six and a half would be
devoted to "-he did not mention our quarrel with
Russia, but the people knew what he meant and
lauded his meaning to the echo. Si vis pacem ,
para bellum.
It can well be imagined that a fine flutter had
meanwhile been caused in St. Petersburg by the
news of all these bellicose preparations, this stern
and resolute appearance of at last putting on his
boots by the long-suffering John Bull, whom it took
such a deal of provocation to rouse out of his pacific
torpor ; and Europe began to gather in its amphi-
theatre, as ' twere, to watch the course of the conflict,
long deferred but now at last come, which Bismarck
126 ALEXANDER III

had once said could only resemble a combat between

an elephant and a whale. But what was the dis-
appointment of the Jingoes, and of those who had
been looking forward with an eager interest to the
spectacle of this amphibious duel, when Lord Gran-
ville announced at the Academy Dinner (May 2), in
the presence of the Russian Ambassador, his firm
belief that the peace of Europe would , after all, not
have to be disturbed. His lordship had spoken on
the strength of a telegram just received from St.
Petersburg. For on this very same day a Council
of State, presided over by the Tsar himself, had been
held at Gatchina, when it was decided to accept, in
some form or other, the principle of arbitration which
had been suggested by the British Cabinet as the best
channel of escape from war- horrid war. There was
reason to believe that this conciliatory spirit of the
Tsar had been to a great extent brought about by
the representations of the Berlin Court, acting at the
instance of the Queen, who was residing in Germany
during the crisis.
As a matter of fact, the arbitration proposed never
came to anything, though the King of Denmark was
spoken of as the judge ; and meanwhile the Tsar
hastened to present General Komaroff, the captor
of Penj -deh (which remained for the present in the
hands of the Russians) , with a golden sword studded
with diamonds, " in recognition of the excellent
measures taken by him as commander of the troops
of the Murghab division, of the equal foresight and
decision exhibited by him in the action against the
Afghans, and of the courage and valour he had
 THE TSAR PEACE- KEEPER 127

shown in the affair at Dash Kepri " —which was a

pregnant enough reply to the original demand of
the English for the virtual trial of Komaroff.
Komaroff remained cock of the walk, and had the
satisfaction of seeing the recall of honest Sir Peter
Lumsden, who had given the strongest evidence
against him all along. It was felt by the Govern-
ment that the delimitation work would proceed
better, after all that had happened, if entrusted to
others ; and, to make a long story short, this work
was completed next year, or rather in 1887 , by the
final marking out of the Russo-Afghan frontier
between the Hari Rud and the Amu Darya.
Russia had now got as near to India as it was
possible for her to get without annexing the " buffer
State," Afghanistan ; and, if for nothing else, the
reign of Alexander III . will always be memorable
for the accomplishment of this great and long-
desired result . Besides, by the employment of
other methods, the Tsar did more, perhaps, than
any of his predecessors to revolutionise the relations
between England and Russia in Central Asia ; and
the opening of the railway line from the Caspian to
Samarkand, with branches to other strategic points
on the landward route to India, will rank as one of
the most important and abiding monuments of the
reign of Alexander III.; though even this vast
undertaking will be dwarfed by the completion of
the great Siberian Railway, begun in 1886 at
Samara, and intended to connect by rail St. Peters-
burg and Vladivostock, a distance of 6666 miles.
For the rest, let me quote the words of Alexander III
128 ALEXANDER III

to Colonel Grambcheffsky before he set out on one

of his Central Asian journeys of exploration :

" The Tsar, before giving me permission to go, distinctly

impressed upon me-and these are almost the identical words
of his Imperial Majesty ' to avoid anything that would give
England the least ground of complaint, otherwise I will not
let you go. I do not wish for more territory. My late father
has left me quite sufficient. All I wish is to keep what I
have and to develop its resources.' " *

In the matter of Penj-deh, which was ultimately

assigned to the Russians, the Tsar had shown himself
pacific , if firm . But, in the following year, he com-
mitted himself to a line of action which was firm
without being over-pacific. Having prepared the way
for countervailing in Central Asia the antagonism
of England in Europe, he now began to shake him-
self free from those trammels which had been
imposed upon him by this oppugnancy at the
Congress of Berlin.
During the spring of 1886 there was an Imperial
progress in the southern districts of Russia. The
Tsar was received with the usual manifestations of
official enthusiasm, accompanied by arrests of
Nihilists, and on arriving at Sebastopol he issued
(May 19) a proclamation to the Black Sea fleet,
which caused no little stir in the European capitals.
Alluding to the reconstruction of the fleet , as
evinced by the launching of several new war- vessels ,

* Colonel Grambcheffsky was here speaking to the St.

Petersburg correspondent of the Daily Chronicle, who gave
an account of his interview in the Asiatic Quarterly Review
for November 1891.
 THE TSAR PEACE-KEEPER 129

the Tsar said that, though he had done his utmost

"to promote the pacific development of the Russian
people," circumstances might compel him " to defend
by force of arms the dignity of the Empire. You will,
with me, uphold it with devotion, and you will show
the same firmness as that of which your fathers
gave proof, in response to my grandfather's appeal,
in a manner which gained the admiration of all their
contemporaries. I call upon you in turn to watch
over those waters which have witnessed in past
time Russian heroism, and to your care I confidently
commit the honour and security of Russia."
On arriving at Moscow ( May 25) , his Majesty
reviewed the troops, and then received the Mayor
at the head of the municipal authorities, who, in
his address, remarked that the Tsar had now
"restored life to the Black Sea," thereby strengthen-
ing the belief and hope of Moscow that " the Cross
of Christ would yet shine on Saint Sofia."
Presently the meaning of all this became alarm-
ingly clear, when, towards the end of June, the Tsar
solemnly declared that it was his intention to ter-
minate the arrangement embodied in Article 59 of
the Treaty of Berlin, constituting Batoum a free
port. This declaration strikingly resembled that
made by Russia during the Franco- German war in
regard to the Black Sea articles of the Treaty of
Paris ; and Lord Rosebery, in two " vigorous des-
patches," protested against this new disregard of
treaties on the strength of the protocol of the
Black Sea Conference of 1871 , recognising that
" it is an essential principle of the law of nations that
I
130 ALEXANDER III

no Power can liberate itself from the engagements

of a treaty, or modify the stipulations thereof, unless
with the consent of the contracting Powers by means
of an amicable arrangement ."
None of the other Powers, however, made bold
to back up England in her protest against the
conduct of the Tsar's Government, while M. de
Giers repelled, " with all the strength of his con-
victions ," the charge that Russia had violated the
faith of treaties, and adhered to the opinion " that
the spontaneous declaration of the intention of the
Emperor to make Batoum a free port did not con-
stitute an obligation, and that consequently the
modification of that intention , which circumstances
require, could not be considered as a departure
from engagements which did not exist ." The
despatch concluded with a hint that the Berlin
Treaty had already been violated in the case of
Bulgaria (union of Eastern Roumelia with it, for
example), in spite of the efforts of the Russian
Government to maintain it , and an assurance " that
the Imperial Cabinet are still anxious to contribute
to the consolidation of the general peace, in the hope
that the Powers which have fixed and guaranteed
its bases will themselves respect them ."
So this, then, was the end of Batoum, which
Russia-who had solemnly agreed to regard it as
a free port was now at liberty to convert into a
war-harbour- another link in the chain of her
military preparedness stretching from Penj -deh
to the Bosphorus, a chain which she had further
sought to lengthen, but meanwhile without success,
 THE TSAR PEACE-KEEPER 131

by repeatedly seeking to obtain free passage for her

ships-of-war through the Turkish Straits . It is not
to be doubted that the attitude of England with
respect to Bulgaria had irritated Alexander III.,
and caused him to retaliate by thus repudiating the
Batoum clause of the Treaty of Berlin . He had
kept the peace with other Powers, but it was
England who now kept the peace with him. He
was, however, as near as possible breaking that
European peace by his conduct towards his Batten-
berg cousin of Bulgaria ; though the story of the
Tsar's relations to Prince Alexander forms a tragedy
which deserves a chapter all to itself.
 CHAPTER VI

THE TWO ALEXANDERS

The two cousins- Prince Alexander of Battenberg-A

glimpse of him at Bucharest- Prince of Bulgaria Elect―
Explosion at the Winter Palace-The Tsar says, " Do
your best ! "-Muscovite art of managing men-A Russian
Satrapy-The Prince and his Nessus-shirt-" Good as
long as it lasts "-Pour décourager les autres- Fat on the
Russian fire-Kaulbars and Soboleff- Tactics of the
Duumvirs-" Cowardly King Milan "-" Power into
Russian hands "-Prince Alexander at Moscow- Turning
of the Russian tide-The two Deputations- " Not at
home ! "-" Aut Cæsar, aut nullus ! ”—M. Jonin bullies
the Battenberger-The Prince takes the trick-"Je suis
heureux et tranquillisé ! ” —“ Swine, rascals, perjured
rabble ! "—" The Tsar is not Russia "-Military quarrels
-The Prince dances with Madame Jonin - The Prince
in England and Austria-His confidences to Herr von
Huhn-The Tsar cannot stand Liars-A thunderbolt
from Russia-The Servians rush to arms— -But have to
reel back on their pig-styes and their Russian patrons-
The two Bulgarias-Climax and anti-climax- La Russie
boude-Conspiracies to " remove " the Prince-" Beware
of the Struma regiment ! "-The Prinzenraub—" Here
may you see a traitor ! "-Muscovite " stouthrief and
hamesucken "-An exchange of telegrams—“ Farewell
to Bulgaria ! "- The Prince's Seven Years' War —
Worried to death-A thunder- loud " No ! "
 THE TWO ALEXANDERS 133

ALEXANDER III . of Russia, and Alexander, first ruler

of the Bulgaria created by the Russo -Turkish war
and the Treaty of Berlin , were full cousins . The
mother of the former-a Princess of Hesse-Darm-
stadt- and the father of the latter had been brother
and sister. The Prince's mother had been a Countess
von Hauke, daughter of a Polish ex-Minister of War
(some said there was a strain of Jewish blood in
the family), who was raised to the rank of Princess
on her morganatic marriage with Prince Alexander
of Hesse. The Tsar was the senior of his Batten-
berg cousin by twelve years, the latter having been
born in 1857- He received a careful education at
Darmstadt , at Schnepfenthal near Gotha, and after-
wards at the Military Academy in Dresden, where
he remained until he was ripe for a commission
in a regiment of Hessian dragoons . Subsequently
he received the grade of an officer on the super-
numerary list of a Russian cavalry regiment, and
when the Russo-Turkish war broke out he was
provided with staff employment at the headquarters
of his imperial uncle. He was then in his twentieth
year, full of military ardour and the spirit of action.
He was present at the siege of Plevna, and after-
wards crossed the Balkans with General Gourko .
Take the following glimpse that is afforded us
of the Prince at this time by Count Pfeil, in his
"Experiences of a Prussian Officer in the Russian
Service ":-

" In the hotel (at Bucharest) I made the acquaintance of

Prince Alexander of Battenberg, afterwards Prince of Bul-
garia, who was having some stomachic complaint attended
134 ALEXANDER III

to. He had only just returned from the seat of war

(September), and expressed his great dissatisfaction with
the leading of the Russian troops, especially of the cavalry ;
for, although there were sixteen cavalry regiments on the
road from Plevna to Lovcha, the Turks were able to send
many hundred waggons full of provisions to the besieged
city along this very road. I drove with Prince Battenberg to
Herr von Alvensleben's, at that time German Consul in
Bucharest, where we dined. It was mentioned there that
the Russians would gladly make the Prince the future Prince
of Bulgaria ; but the young Prince strenuously opposed the
idea, and declared that he would never accept the position.
When subsequent events falsified those words, I remarked
to myself that the young man, who then appeared so inno-
cent, possessed, at any rate, so much aptitude for diplomacy
that he knew how to employ language in order to conceal
his thoughts."

But it was only after the war, when the sword of

the soldier gave place to the pen of the diplomatist ,
that the young Battenberg Prince began to be
publicly heard of. The sword of the Tsar,
supplemented by a European Board of Green Cloth
at Berlin, had carved a Bulgarian State out of the
decrepit body of the Turkish Empire, and this State
required a Prince to rule over it. After all the
immense. sacrifices in men and money made by the
Tsar in the creation of this Bulgarian State it
naturally fell to him to suggest the name of its
first ruler, and his choice fell on his German
nephew, Prince Alexander . of Battenberg, who by
this time had exchanged into the Prussian army and
was serving at Potsdam as a Lieutenant in the
Gardes du Corps.
When the news of his election by the Bulgarian
 THE TWO ALEXANDERS 135

Assembly at Tirnova (April 29 , 1879 ) reached the

Prince, he was helping to celebrate the birthday of
his imperial uncle at a dinner given by the Russian
Ambassador in Berlin. But it was only after an
internal struggle that he declared his readiness to
proceed to Livadia, and accept the proffered crown.
" Pleasant reminiscence " (schöne Erinnerung) for-
sooth ! " even if you don't remain there long ." As
a matter of fact, these much-quoted words were
addressed by Bismarck, not to Prince Alexander at
all, but to Prince Charles of Hohenzollern when
offered the crown of Roumania ; and, in any case,
they would have been singularly misapplied, as it
afterwards turned out, had they been used by the
Chancellor to Prince Alexander as an encourage-
ment for him to proceed to Sofia.
Arrived at Livadia, he there explained that he had
not yet received his father's consent to accept the
Bulgarian throne, on account of the absurdly free
Constitution which had been given the Bulgarians.
But the Tsar urgently begged his nephew not to cast
a slur upon the name of Russia by refusing,
speaking to him in a warm, paternal manner, saying
that he loved him as his own son, and that he would
aid him in every difficulty to which the working of
the Constitution might give rise . Thereupon the
Prince yielded, declaring, as the Tsar embraced
him, that he would ever strive to justify the con-
fidence which his Majesty had reposed in him.
The next meeting between the two was marked
by an incident of a most extraordinary kind. It
was the winter (January) of 1880, when Prince
136 ALEXANDER III

Alexander, after having become formally installed

at Sofia, had journeyed to St. Petersburg to be
present at the celebration of the Emperor's
jubilee of rule, the twenty-fifth anniversary of his
accession to the throne. The Bulgarian Prince
was received like a son by his imperial uncle.
On Sunday evening, February 17, the Prince's
father was expected to arrive from Darmstadt, and
in order to include him in the family dinner- circle,
the meal, of which the usual hour was half-past six,
had been postponed till seven. Accompanied by
his son, Prince Alexander of Hesse was just in the
act of ascending the grand staircase, at the top of
which stood his imperial brother- in-law to wel-
come him, when he was startled by a roar like
thunder, followed by sudden darkness , and a
shower of stones, lime, and wooden splinters .
The Tsar knew very well what this meant, but
he thanked God that the late arrival of his German
brother-in-law had caused him to be on the grand
staircase instead of, as usual, in the dining-room at
the time of the explosion . This dining-room was
just over the guard- room on the ground- floor, which
at this time contained about sixty soldiers of the
Finland Regiment ; while underneath this guard-
room was a vaulted basement, where carpenters and
other workmen had been having free access of late
for the purpose of repairs. It was here where the
dynamite had been laid and fired at the moment
when the Imperial family was assumed to be
already at the table above, according to wont.
The explosion killed and wounded a great many of
 THE TWO ALEXANDERS 137

the soldiers in the guard-room , and split asunder the

floor of the imperial dining -room, besides totally
wrecking the Prince of Bulgaria's bedchamber.
The Tsar had caused an elaborate Constitution to
be granted to the Bulgarians, but had, nevertheless ,
continued to refuse one to his own subjects ; and
this , then, was the protest of the Nihilists against
this strange act of political inconsistency.
The Russians, it was argued, were not yet ripe
for a Constitution , and after the excitement and
confusion caused by the Nihilist explosion in the
Winter Palace had subsided , Prince Alexander took
occasion to point out that his own subjects were
just as immature in this respect as the Russians .
In fact, the Tirnova Constitution , he said, was a
decided hindrance to his rule, and, indeed, unless it
underwent great changes , he knew not what would
come of it all. The Tsar called a council of his
wise men, when the War Minister, General Milútin ,
argued that the constitution had not yet been long
enough on its trial, and that the Prince would
meanwhile do well to try and govern with the help
of the Liberals . This plan met with the approval
of the Tsar, who congratulated the Prince on
having displayed so much firmness and patience,
saying, " If you act with moderation, and, should
it be necessary, energetically exercise your lawful
powers, you will succeed in winning esteem and
affection for yourself. I rely on your personal
qualities. The art of managing men is a thing that
may be acquired, and you will gain experience in
it day by day."
138 ALEXANDER III

How the Russians themselves exercised this art

of managing men in Bulgaria may be inferred from
the following anecdote. Among the crowd of
Muscovites who surrounded the Prince at Sofia,
intriguing against him because he was a German,
and determined that he should be a mere puppet
in their hands , was one well-meaning person,
Davidoff, the diplomatic agent. Now this Davidoff
was a truth-speaking man , and sent veracious
reports of things to St. Petersburg ; whereas
Parenzoff, the Bulgarian Minister of War appointed
by the Tsar, was a pupil , no less in theory than in
practice, of General Ignatieff, the celebrated " Father
of Lies." Parenzoff had taken very good care that
the reports of Davidoff to the Tsar should never
reach their destination ; but his heart sank within
him , and even his knees began to knock together,
on discovering that Davidoff was to accompany
Prince Alexander to St. Petersburg on the occasion
already referred to, and that he was actually going
to take with him the drafts of his reports to the
Emperor and the Foreign Office , who might thus,
after all, be put into possession of the truth . But
Parenzoff was equal to the occasion : *
"When the Prince," wrote Pastor Koch, his court chaplain ,
" left his room at five o'clock on the morning of his departure,
to repair to the carriage that was in waiting for him, the
Minister of War (Parenzoff) , who appeared in full dress,

" Prince Alexander of Battenberg : Reminiscences of

his Reign in Bulgaria, from Authentic Sources ." By A. Koch,
Court-Chaplain to his Royal Highness. ( London : Whittaker,
1887.)
 THE TWO ALEXANDERS 139

announced that four horses were still wanting at every (post)

station, and therefore the luggage would have to be sent on
after him. I was standing near the Prince, and I still see
the little man, who, with his heron's feather on the kalpak,
just reached up to the Prince's nose, making this unpleasant
announcement with a military salute ; I still see the dark
shadows that crossed the Prince's face at the news. The
Prince, however, issued an order that each of the three
carriages was to have three horses put to instead of four, in
order that the luggage-cart should be sent on at once. This
order was not executed, the luggage was not despatched for
some hours later, and so Davidoff's trunk (containing all the
drafts ofhis veracious reports) was lost. Parenzoff afterwards
gave himself all possible trouble to discover the trunk ; he
6
sent off an officer attaché to the War Office for special
missions ; ' but this gentleman naturally found nothing, as he
himself best knew where it was."

On the representations of the Prince, the Tsar

replaced Parenzoff by an honest Finlander, General
Ernroth , as Bulgarian Minister of War, and for
some time after things went on a little better.
Acting on Milútin's advice, the Prince had made
an honest trial to rule with the aid of the Liberals,
but the result was most disheartening , and again he
appealed to the Tsar by letter, setting forth the un-
satisfactory nature of his position . Thereupon M.
de Giers sent fresh instructions to his diplomatic
agent at Sofia, according to which the Prince was
to be left absolutely free to take his own course.
But again the Prince had to complain of the tactics.
of the diplomatic intriguer ; and once more the
Tsar, yielding to the appeal of his half-distracted
nephew, sent to Sofia a more straightforward and
congenial representative. Alexander II . , it must
140 ALEXANDER III

be allowed, behaved towards the Prince with the

utmost fairness, but he was served by agents who
were far more Russian than their Imperial master
himself, and aimed at nothing short of converting
the Principality into a mere satrapy of the Empire,
a stepping-stone to Constantinople. At the end of
1880 the Prince said :

" I have borne everything, and am ready to bear still

further, but I do not see how I am to comply with Russia's
demands and wishes in the face of the anti-Russian current
in my nation and the army, especially as, in addition to this,
a Russian party of underground intriguers is hidden behind
the opposition that I encounter, which pursues the sole aim
of making my position untenable by raising strife betwixt
Russia and myself."

The spring of 1881 came, and with it the assassi-

nation of the Tsar Liberator (of Bulgaria as well as
of the serfs), and Prince Alexander hurried to St.
Petersburg to attend the obsequies of his murdered
uncle. It was known that the new Tsar was anti-
German in his feelings , and it was feared that the
Prince's position would now become infinitely
worse. Yet his first conversation with his cousin,
Alexander III., certainly re-assured the Prince to
some extent. His Majesty promised to maintain.
all the obligations which his deceased father had
undertaken towards him (the Prince), to be ready
to support him in the same manner as the late Tsar
had done . More than this , he expressed himself
against the Bulgarian Constitution on principle ,
though there was yet no question of altering or
abrogating it.
 THE TWO ALEXANDERS 141

But within two months of this time this Consti-

tution had gone by the board. The Prince had
found it to be a mere Nessus-shirt, and, on
mature reflection, he pulled it off and threw it
away, saying in his proclamation to his people :
" I have determined to convene the Grand National
Assembly, the highest exponent of the people's will, in order
to replace my crown and the destiny of Bulgaria in its hands.
In the event of the Assembly approving the conditions, to be
more accurately indicated later, which I consider indispens-
able for the government, and the want of which is the
fundamental evil of our present state, then, and only then,
can I continue to wear the crown of Bulgaria and discharge
my heavy responsibilities in the sight of God and posterity.
Should it not do so, I am prepared to renounce the throne
with regret certainly, but with the consciousness that I have
fulfilled my duty to the end."

The Prince had taken the bull by the horns , but

now he had to explain himself to the bear. "In
the event of your Majesty not approving my pro-
ceedings," he wrote to his Imperial cousin , " a
word will suffice to determine me to leave the
country ;" while at the same time he caused an
inventory of his goods and chattels to be made,
with a view to depart. The Liberals began to
stir up the people against the Prince, and his
dethronement was openly discussed . But presently
there came a telegram from St. Petersburg, which
the Russian agent, Hitrovo, caused to be placarded
about. " The Tsar's Government," it ran, " wishes
that the Bulgarian people should remain indissolubly
united with their Prince, and withstand all the
lures of the traitors who are working against him."
142 ALEXANDER III

Cela va bien pourvu que cela dure- i.e. , very good

as long as it lasts.
Prince Alexander's journey throughout his realm
now proved a triumphal procession , and the horses
were taken out of his carriage in Rustchuk and
other towns. The Opposition appealed for help
to " the most liberal men in Europe," to Gladstone
and Gambetta, the latter of whom had just reached
the summit of power. On the other hand, Zankoff,
a rank and pestilent intriguer, wrote to the Tsar's
agent : " We will accept neither the honey nor the
sting from Russia ." By an overwhelming majority
the elections invested the Prince with the absolute
power which he had demanded, and the hall of
parliamentary session was changed into a ban-
queting and ball room, in which both Prince and
people danced the national choro.
But in the midst of all this saltatorial jubilation
it was an ominous circumstance that honest General
Ernroth, Minister of War, left Bulgaria because he
had found it impossible to get on with his diplomatic
colleague, M. Hitrovo- mark the name ! It was
mainly on Ernroth's advice that the Prince had
quashed the preposterous constitution which ham-
pered his every act, and now he looked as if he
had suddenly been left in the lurch. All the same ,
the courageous and much -enduring Prince kept on
his course amid such a welter of heart-breaking
intrigues and make-shift ministries as was never
heard of.
So far the Russian party had been riding rough-
 THE TWO ALEXANDERS 143

shod over him. But now, at last, he determined to

put his foot down and make an example pour
décourager les autres. At Shumla there was a
cavalry regiment officered by Russians, against
whom very grave charges of peculation and mis-
management had reached the Prince's ears . He
therefore summoned it to Sofia for inspection, and
soon convinced himself of the truth of the accusa-
tions that had been brought against its officers .
For the moment he said nothing. But presently
there came pouring into Sofia delegates from the
Shumla villages adjacent to the cavalry camp, with
complaints that their farmsteads had been harried
night after night by the men of the regiment in
question, and that all their hay and oats had been
stolen.
Then the Prince called the non-commissioned
officers out of the ranks and asked them if this
was true. They denied not that it was true, but
pleaded that they had merely acted in compliance
with the will of their majors. The majors in turn
threw the blame on their colonel, who was treasurer
of the regiment, and had paid them out no forage
coin for a considerable time. Now, conduct of this
kind, though deemed a military virtue in Russia,
was held to be a heinous offence in Bulgaria, and so
the Prince at once cashiered the delinquent officers
of the Shumla horse regiment without fear or favour.
At the same time he dismissed the Russian chief of
the Engineers for peculation, and also sent about
their business Kryloff, his War Minister, and Popoff,
144 ALEXANDER III

his assistant, for intriguing against his person and

authority. In place of Kryloff he appointed General
Lesovoy, notwithstanding the vehement protest of
Hitrovo (diplomatic agent) that such an appoint-
ment rested with the Tsar.
The fat was now on the fire in the military
world of Russia , which viewed all these degrada-
tions and dismissals at Sofia as a studied insult to
the army of the Tsar. But still the Emperor
himself made a show of standing loyally by the
Prince. The latter hurried off to St. Petersburg to
lay his hard case before his Imperial cousin, and
found him leading the life of a terror- haunted
prisoner at Peterhof. The Prince requested the
recall of Hitrovo and the decoration of Lesovoy, in
order that " his authority should be upheld , and
that it should clearly be shown he was right in his
appointment of Lesovoy." The Tsar granted both
requests. In order to put a stop to all further
intriguing on the part of the Russian officers in
Bulgaria, the Prince further requested his cousin to
give his consent to a general order, in which it was
stated that he would look upon every misdeed or
mutiny against the Prince as an offence against
himself. Again the Tsar agreed to this, and the
Prince wrote out the order in his Majesty's room .
But a few months later the order was repudiated,
and Lesovoy, who had read it out to the officers,
was dismissed . Finally, the Prince begged the
Tsar to let him have General Kaulbars, of whom he
had been led to entertain a favourable opinion, as
his Minister of War ; and Kaulbars, in turn, was
 THE TWO ALEXANDERS 145

commissioned to look out for a colleague of the

Interior. This colleague he found in General
Soboleff, " the husband of a lady friend " of his,
and declared that he would either go with him or
not at all to Bulgaria.
So far the Tsar had certainly not shown any-
thing like his father's attachment to the Prince, yet
he had given a benevolent support to the latter's
plans. But now his attitude to the ruler of the
Bulgarians began to change rapidly for the worse
under the influence of Hitrovo, who had returned
from Sofia, and of Messrs . Kaulbars and Soboleff,
who had gone thither. Essentially a truth- loving
and truth-telling man himself, no one was ever
made the victim of so many lies and misrepre-
sentations as Alexander III. About this time the
Panslavist movement began to be very strong in
Russia, and Soboleff was its fiery Teutophobe
apostle. Another of these propagandists was
General Obrutscheff, Chief of the General Staff,
who was incensed against Prince Alexander for his
cashiering of Russian officers in Bulgaria. Bul-
garia he looked upon as the glacis of fortified
Russia, and Generals Kaulbars and Soboleff as the
pioneers charged with the task of clearing this glacis
of all obstructions .
This worthy couple were not long in throwing
off the mask, and in openly stirring up the Bul-
garians into opposition to their lawful Prince. In
their insidious reports to St. Petersburg they aimed
at showing how pernicious for Russia was the
Prince's line of conduct ; how his professions of
K
146 ALEXANDER III

attachment to that great country were pure hypocrisy ;

how he misused the name of the Tsar and the
Russian people in order to turn the hearts of the
Bulgarians against their liberators from the Turkish
.
yoke ; how discontent and Nihilism in Russia must
steadily increase with the loss of Bulgaria ; and,
above all things, how insulting it was to powerful
Russia to have one after another of its agents at
Sofia dismissed as useless and dangerous .
To Soboleff, the stupidest of the two, fell the
task of undermining the Prince's authority over his
subjects, while Kaulbars, on the other hand , set
himself to take the army out of the Prince's hands
so as to be able to use it against him, if need be.
The Prince himself had honestly believed that he
was acting in the interest of Russia when develop-
ing Bulgaria's own resources and civilisation to the
utmost, and promoting the welfare of its army. " But
that," says Pastor Koch, " was a misconception .
Alexander II . was dead, and the new Russia wanted
no developed Bulgaria. It wanted a weak one, in
order to be able to control it more easily. It
wanted no federation with the West, to which the
Prince's efforts were directed . Bulgaria was to be
isolated by a Chinese wall, and content itself with
the crumbs of culture that fell from Holy Moscow's
meagrely furnished table ."
As to the minds and methods of the two Generals
let one anecdote suffice . The Prince had visited
his neighbour King Milan, and by all the laws of
courtesy was entitled to a return call . This was
made at Rustchuk, in October 1882, but Soboleff
 THE TWO ALEXANDERS 147

went about proclaiming that the meeting was a gross

blunder, and that " Milan was coming as the am-
bassador of Austria." The Prince had requested
both Generals to attend the interview, and with some
unwilling looks they did so. Kaulbars, however,
who was naturally arrayed in all his showiest war
paint, took care to fasten on his breast his Servian
order (Commander's Cross of the Takova) below all
his other decorations , in token of his "thorough
contempt " for this " short-sighted and cowardly
King Milan ." As a matter of fact, this contempt
was afterwards to be more than justified by events
still in the womb of time ; but such a manifestation of
scorn was clearly out of place on such an occasion
as this, and Prince Alexander commanded Kaulbars
either to fasten his Servian decoration above the
others or to keep away from table. When the
" cowardly " Milan proceeded to distribute orders.
among the Prince's suite, the two Russian Generals
were the first to beg the Prince to obtain for them
a Gold Cross.
These Generals openly began to agitate against
the Prince, his Ministry was divided against itself,
while the Chamber was continually declaring that
Bulgaria should be for the Bulgarians . The Prince's
position was the most difficult that could be ima-
gined . He had to treat Russia with considera-
tion, and at the same time be the champion of his
country's truest interests . He lived in a continual
chaos of contradictions. Nothing that he did was
right in the eyes of the Russians ; nothing that
they did commanded his approval. The sacrifices
148 ALEXANDER III

of amour propre and principle were always on his

side. It was not enough that he should seek to
prove considerate and complaisant to Russia. What
was wanted of him was complete submission to
her will in all things ; and how thoroughly Messrs.
Soboleff and Kaulbars had done their work may be
judged from the fact that the former General was
able to write in the spring of 1883 : " The crisis
of March 13 had the most decisive influence on
the position of Bulgaria . The power passed into
Russian hands."
Bulgarian affairs-just think !-were in charge
of the Asiatic Department of the Foreign Office at
St. Petersburg, and thus the Bulgarians learned that
they must expect treatment like the Khivans or
the Turcomans of Merv ! Two things had helped
to seal the Prince's doom at St. Petersburg .
of these was his arrest and deportation of the Metro-
politan of Sofia in strict conformity with the law
of the State, which was construed on the Neva by
M. Pobedónostseff and others as a gross outrage on
the Orthodox Church, of which the Tsar was the
blind champion. But, worse than all, the Prince
had ordered his delegate, at the so-called Quadruple
Conference in Vienna relative to the International
Orient Railway, to sign the treaty which Soboleff
protested against as being more favourable to Aus-
tria than to Russia ; and this was the beginning of
the end.
Soon after this Prince Alexander went to Moscow
to attend the coronation of the Tsar, and then it was
that he was made to feel that he had deeply offended
 THE TWO ALEXANDERS 149

the Autocrat of All the Russias. In 1879 I had

the honour of a chat with the Prince at Potsdam
just before he left for Livadia, and I thought I
had never seen a finer-looking man, frank, fresh,
unassuming, yet princely. The next time I saw
him was in the grand state ball-room of the Kremlin
at Moscow, on the occasion of his cousin's corona-
tion ( 1883 ), and even in that large and brilliant
assemblage of the great White Tsar, the Prince of
Bulgaria stood out among his fellow-guests like
Saul among the people-his countenance , with its
dark and almost Oriental cast, having more affinity
with the warlike visages of the picturesque Turanian
chiefs from the Kizil Kum and the Kara Kum than
with that of flaxen-haired soldiers of the type of
Skobeleff. But by this time a shade of deep
seriousness had clothed the features of the hand-
some Bulgarian Prince ; for the iron of his destiny
had already begun to penetrate his soul, and he was
now conscious of being the object of his Imperial
cousin's deep dislike and distrust .
This displeasure was not long in manifesting
itself. The Bulgarian Chamber had sent from its
midst a deputation to Moscow to congratulate the
Tsar and present him, as a national offering, with
a model, in pure gold, of the cottage which had been
tenanted by his Majesty, when Tsarevitch, during
the Russo-Turkish campaign. But now the
Prince who had not come straight from Sofia but
from Darmstadt-found to his great surprise that a
second deputation was in waiting for admission to
the presence of the Tsar. This was one which had,
150 ALEXANDER III

in the meanwhile, been sharked up by the scheming

Soboleff himself, and brought to Moscow as repre-
sentatives of the " down-trodden Bulgarian people.'
Naturally enough the Prince would not recognise
this factitious corporation of his corrupted country-
men. But what was his surprise, not to say
his indignation, when the Tsar signified his desire.
to receive the " down- trodden " delegates at the
same time as the golden bearers of the " national
offering " ; and accordingly the two rival depu-
tations tramped together into the Imperial presence
under the eyes of the dumfoundered Prince.
This was the doing of the crafty Soboleff, and it
was supplemented by the action of Kaulbars who
had remained behind to pull the strings at Sofia.
While the deputation of the " down- trodden " was
gaping about in Moscow, and feasting on the crumbs
that fell from the Emperor's table, Kaulbars kept
flooding the Tsar with a stream of congratulatory
telegrams and addresses, all tending to show how the
loyal Bulgarian people- for so Soboleff termed the
Opposition - had on their knees, before the Russian
Consulate at Sofia, implored blessings on his
Russian Majesty ; how indescribable rejoicing
reigned throughout the Principality ; and how
universal was the hope that the Tsar would restore
Bulgaria to the position of a constitutional State.
Another circumstance, trivial in itself, tended to
estrange the Tsar from his cousin. His Majesty
drove to see Prince Alexander at his residence in
the Kremlin, and found him, really and truly, " not
at home." But of course there were some, Soboleff
 THE TWO ALEXANDERS 151

among the number, who strove to give the incident

a more serious interpretation ; and the mind of the
Tsar, like all such minds, was a ready soil for
suspicion. Per contra, when the coronation festi-
vities were over, Prince Alexander received no
invitation to accompany the Tsar to St. Petersburg,
though Prince Waldemar of Denmark, by way of
pointed contrast, was asked to do so. When first
the Prince, during the early days of his stay in
Moscow, had sounded his cousin as to replacing
Messrs . Kaulbars and Soboleff with honest General
Ernroth, the Tsar had seemed to acquiesce in the
proposal. But now he doubted the propriety of
doing so, and soon after the Prince returned to
Sofia he received a rather cold letter from the Tsar
saying that, instead of Ernroth, he would send
Councillor of State Jonin to study and report upon
the situation.
Meanwhile the Prince, on returning home, had
hastened to annul or reverse all the arbitrary acts
which had been done by the Russian party in his
absence, and- what was more to summon the
Chamber for the 4th of September. Yet that this
energetic campaign against the over-zealous and
intriguing minions of the Tsar at Sofia did not
imply any hostility on the part of the Prince to
Russia herself may be gathered from what he said
at this time to Pastor Koch : " Should a Russo-
German war break out " (and it looked very much
like it just then), " I should place myself, without
hesitation, though against my will, on the side of
Russia. I regard that as my duty in any circum-
152 ALEXANDER III

stances. As Prince of Bulgaria I must overlook

Russia's hatred to my person, and must only con-
sider what my people owes to Russia. "
But even this was not enough for the Tsar. Aut
Cæsar, aut nullus was clearly what he wanted to be
in Bulgaria, and M. Jonin was to be the mouth-
piece of his imperious will . Said the Prince to the
Pastor :

"I awaited Jonin's arrival with a full confidence in the

Tsar's word that his ambassador was coming on a friendly
errand. He arrived yesterday, and has handed me a fresh
communication, in which I am told that Jonin is com-
missioned to inform the Tsar as to the situation, and d'user
sil y a lieu, d'efforts pour aplanir les difficultés, and I am
requested to give him a kindly support in the execution of a
commission which is as difficult as it is delicate. But that
was not all. Jonin explained that, in addition to this, he
was commissioned by the Tsar to make a communication to
me by word of mouth. I at once answered, ' I am at your
service,' and took him into my study. There he began to
point out to me, in an imperious and disrespectful tone, that
the Tsar was much displeased with my proceedings after my
return from Moscow, and that he looked upon the summon-
ing of the Chamber for September 4 as an act of open
hostility against Russia, and a direct insult to his person :
for he knew only too well that the Chamber was only sum-
moned to provoke ill-feeling towards Russia, therefore the
Tsar requested and ordered me to dissolve the Chamber, to
keep the Generals ( Soboleff and Kaulbars) for at least two
years longer, to separate myself from the clique with which
I terrorised over the land, and to replace my absolute
powers in the hands of the country. ' For' these are
Jonin's very words- ' the Tsar gave you absolute powers,
and he now takes them back from you because you have
made a bad use of them ' (un mauvais et méchant emploi).
Jonin made insolent and impertinent answers to all my
 THE TWO ALEXANDERS 153

objections, and when I reprimanded him for all this un-

seemly behaviour, he remarked, ' As Herr Jonin, I ask
your pardon for the expressions I have used ; but as his
Majesty's envoy I am forced to repeat them , for I have
received orders from the Tsar to use this language.'
" This, then, is my recompense for my obedience towards
Russia for four years ! On all occasions I have defended
and protected the interests of Russia in Bulgaria with bound-
less devotion, nor have I hesitated in a thousand instances to
suffer myself, in order to do what was pleasing to Russia.
I have had enough of it now. It is impossible for me to
embark in warfare with the Tsar of Russia ; I will resign.
I request you to go to Darmstadt and acquaint my parents
with events here and explain to them the position, and tell
them I have made up my mind to resign."

But, after all , he did not do so ; and , meanwhile ,

M. Jonin made a " stormy demand " for another
audience, saying that he had received orders from
the Tsar to be "plus énergique " in his dealings
with the Prince in the event of his not giving an
answer. The Prince did answer, but not in a
compliant sense, and then he was threatened with
deposition if he did not accept the following
conditions :

1. The Generals (Soboleff and Kaulbars) to remain at

their posts for a further period of two years.
2. The Chamber to be dissolved.
3. The Prince to accept unconditionally all measures that
the Generals may propose.
4. To relinquish his absolute powers.
5. To separate himself definitely from the clique that
surrounds him.
6. To accept a fresh Constitution.

The poor Prince knew not what to do . Some

 154 ALEXANDER III

of his native counsellors urged him to hold out,

while others advised him to give in. He appealed
to the diplomatic agents of the Powers, and either
got no answer at all, or an equivocal one. The
Austrian, with a shrug of the shoulders , spoke of
the " legitimate influence of Russia. " The English-
man said he could very well understand that the
Prince should feel no inclination to prolong his stay
in Bulgaria. The German had a diplomatic illness
and could not be consulted at all, for was not
Bulgaria " Hecuba " to his master ? While the
only member of the whole corps who ventured to
give Prince Alexander positive advice was the
Frenchman . This splendidly courageous Gaul
counselled the Prince to end the whole business
by laying the Russian Generals by the heels and
packing them across the frontier.
As a matter of fact, what the Prince did do , after
another insulting interview with Jonin- who, true
to his imperial master's behests, comported himself
with " more energy " than ever-was to issue a
manifesto promising a new Constitution , to be sub-
mitted for approval to a Grand National Assembly.
This manifesto had been extorted from him by the
Russians, much in the same way as her abdication
was from Mary Queen of Scots , and he only signed
it under protest, as he telegraphed to the Tsar,
who was then romping with his children on the
lawns of Denmark . "Je suis heureux et tranquillisé,"
wired back his Majesty to the Prince, who was now
in a very opposite frame of mind and body. "I
came here a strong and healthy man," he said to
 THE TWO ALEXANDERS 155.

his sympathising chaplain , " and now I am wearied

out and broken down by all the excitement I have
had to pass through." But he was not altogether
without his sources of consolation . The army was
still with him. Hearing at this time that Kaulbars
had been essaying to stir up a revolt among the
troops, he determined to go to the camp ; and, on
seeing the approach of their deeply-wronged Prince,
they broke from their ranks, in spite of their officers ,
and ran towards him with loud cheers. On his
leaving the camp, the soldiers surrounded his
horse and accompanied him in vast numbers to
the palace .
The Chamber met, and Kaulbars and Soboleff
attended to reap the triumph of the intrigues with
which they had meanwhile been plying the Liberals.
But what was their astonishment and rage when
the committee entrusted with the task of drawing
up a loyal address to the throne begged the Prince
to restore the Constitution of Tirnova, and , at the
same time, specify the alterations in it which he
would like to have made. There was a dead silence,
and all eyes were turned on the Generals, who were
fidgeting in their seats , white and speechless with
anger. But when, to complete their discomfiture,
Zankoff (whom they thought they had got " on
toast ") rose and expressed his approval of the
address, they both sprang up and vanished from
the hall-Kaulbars, even without his cap, exclaim-
ing, " Swine ! rascals ! perjured rabble ! " accom-
panied by shouts of triumph from the Chamber.
After this the obnoxious Generals found it impos-
156 ALEXANDER III

sible to remain at their posts, and the mayor of

Sofia, who owed his position to Soboleff, sped
the parting guests at a dinner debited to the Russian
Consulate, which entered the item as " cost of
illumination on the occasion of the festivities given
on the Tsar's birthday ! " " My honourable lord,
we will most humbly take our leave of you," said
Soboleff and Kaulbars to Prince Alexander on
quitting Sofia . " You cannot, sirs," returned the
Prince, as in Hamlet, " take anything that I will
more willingly part withal."
About this time the Tsar was said to have written
a letter to the Princess of Wales , in which occurred
the phrase : Les Bulgares ne veulent plus de lui,
"the Bulgarians do not want to have anything
more to do with him." But now when the Prince
had outwitted Russia by restoring the constitution
of Tirnova, he was never more popular with his
subjects. The Tsar was in a towering rage, and
his agent, Jonin, cast about to take his revenge.
Meanwhile, the tables had been turned on him, and
he could no longer bully and insult the Prince as
he had done on first arriving. The Prince simply
listened to what he had to say, and then dismissed
him. But sometimes Jonin would flare up.
He had heard that the Prince meant to appoint
General Lesovoy, the oldest Russian officer in the
Bulgarian Army, War Minister pro tem.: as he had
done twice already, and hastened to declare that,
in the name of the Tsar, he forbade the General to
accept the position. " Reasons , reasons ? " asked
the Prince in effect, and received for answer that
 THE TWO ALEXANDERS 157

" the Emperor would never leave the army in the

hands of a man who listens to you more than to
us ." On the Prince remarking that he must
construe these words as a personal insult, Jonin,
rejoined : " Go on, it is in my power to bring about
a quarrel, and ," with a laugh, " it is certainly not
we who are afraid of it." " God is my witness,"
replied the Prince, " that I certainly do not want to
provoke a quarrel, but if Russia means to do so, I
do not fear the consequences either."
It seemed that Russia certainly meant to do so.
In any case M. Jonin went about boasting that he
" meant to take his revenge," and this he pre-
pared to do by telegraphing and writing the grossest
lies to St. Petersburg . " The Tsar is not Russia ! "
Jonin had insolently replied to the saying of some
one that the Prince had always been on the best of
terms with the Tsar up to the coming of Kaulbars
and Soboleff, and there was much truth in the
remark. But the Tsar was himself and Russia too
in the matter of the military quarrel which now
broke out between him and the Prince . In order
to put an end to the insufferable interference of
the Russian officers with the affairs of the army,
the Chamber had resolved to sever its command
from the Ministry of War, and to restrict the
activity of the latter to mere questions of adminis-
tration. The chief command of the forces was to
be held by the Prince alone, who was to appoint a
General Staff to assist him, while the War Minister
must be a Bulgarian , and all foreign officers serving
in Bulgaria should take the oath of fidelity to the
158 ALEXANDER III

Prince. For these innovations there was both con-

stitutional law and reason ; but the news of them
threw the Tsar into a towering rage, and he at once
telegraphed to his cousin commanding him to allow
no change in the status quo of the army till the arrival
of the aide-de- camp whom he would despatch to
inquire into the matter.
The Prince promised to do this , but meanwhile
sent off to the Tsar an elaborate justification of the
contemplated changes . But what was his surprise
when his own aide- de-camp, Lieutenant Polzikoff,
was commanded to report himself at once in St.
Petersburg on pain of being treated as a deserter.
The Prince was beside himself.

" I cannot," he said, " pocket this direct personal insult of

having my aide-de- camp recalled without first hearing what
I have to say on the subject. ....
. . . I am bound to vindicate
my adjutant's honour as well as my own- my adjutant's,
for what would respectable Russian society think of me if I
quietly put up with such a provocation ; my own, for if I am
to fall I prefer to fall fighting. I am quite convinced that
my resolve will involve a breach with Russia, but I must
run the risk. The Tsar requested me, eight days ago, to
maintain intact the status quo of the army until the arrival
of his aide-de -camp ; and now he himself violates this status
quo in so marked a manner. I have therefore telegraphed
to him, ' On account of the proceedings against my adjutant,
I consider myself released from the engagement, taken with
your Majesty, to maintain intact the status quo of the
army.' "

At the same time a Ministerial Council resolved :

I. That the Russian members of the Prince's suite
should be discharged ; 2. That the Bulgarian officers
 THE TWO ALEXANDERS 159

serving in Russia should be recalled ; and, 3. That

the acting War Minister (a Russian) should be dis-
missed. It was no wonder that the Prince was .
terribly agitated during these days . " If such
attacks become frequent," he said, " I shall
certainly collapse . My nervous system is strained
to the last degree. " The Prince's open telegram
to the Tsar was said to have roused the wrath of
his Majesty to an extraordinary pitch, and Prince
Waldemar of Denmark was already spoken of as
the new candidate for the Bulgarian Throne. But
ultimately his reason got the better of his wrath, and
he sent Colonel Nikolai Kaulbars, a brother of the
redoubtable General of this name, to conclude a
military convention with Bulgaria ; and, after much
wrangling and wriggling, a kind of modus vivendi in
this respect was established .
Meanwhile the course of domestic events , with
their coalition and Karaveloff Ministries, their native
cabals and Russian intrigues, was preparing a
fine kettle of fish for the distracted ruler of the
Bulgarians . The Tsar was deriving all his
information about the march of things in Sofia
from Kaulbars the Second, who was a very fine
person indeed to make objective and impartial
reports to his master. " The world," said
Kaulbars , " is for me a huge sausage. What does
not concern me is of no account to me. I am a
most decided egotist ." Nevertheless, during his
stay in Bulgaria, he was the means of rather im-
proving than otherwise the relations between
Prince and Tsar, and Sofia was treated to the
160 ALEXANDER III

astonishing spectacle of the Prince attending a

ball given by M. Jonin, and even dancing and
chatting gaily with Madam. The Prince himself also
gave entertainments, and invited his subjects to meet
and confer with their Russian benefactors. One
night at a Court ball a deputy felt so much at home
that he took off his shoes and wandered about the
palace-halls of his Sovereign in his stocking- soles
until a friend suggested to him that he was not in
a mosque which will give an idea of the kind of
people whom Prince Alexander had been called
upon to rule over.
In the autumn of 1885 the Prince came over to
England to attend the wedding of his brother,
Prince Henry, to one of the daughters of Queen
Victoria, and on his way home he went to Vienna.
For he was sick and tired of all these brabbles and
bickerings with the Russians, and was willing to
make any sacrifice almost, consistent with his self-
respect, and his duty to his subjects, to become
reconciled to his Imperial cousin. Bismarck had
found means of hinting to him that he should
regard himself as the " vicegerent of Russia, " to
which the Prince had returned that he had always
been ready to listen to the advice of his Muscovite
patrons, and would even now do everything con-
sonant with their interests, provided it did not
injure those of his own subjects . He, therefore,
recognised the wisdom of drawing nearer to Russia,
and so in Vienna he begged Count Kalnoky to pave
the way for a reconciliation . The Austrian Emperor
invited him to the manoeuvres at Pilsen , after which
 THE TWO ALEXANDERS 161

-the ground being meanwhile smoothed - - he

repaired to Franzensbad where M. de Giers was
taking the waters . This diplomatist promised that
he would do all he could to promote the wished -for
redintegratio amoris, but presently there happened
something which widened the breach between the
two cousins to an irreparable extent.
On leaving Franzensbad , Prince Alexander went
to reside at Varna, and here there presently came
to him two secret emissaries from Philippopolis , the
capital of Eastern Roumelia , with the announce-
ment that the revolution which had long been in
secret preparation throughout that Turkish province
was now on the point of breaking out- its object
being " personal union " with Bulgaria. What
was the Prince to do in view of this prospect ?
For had he not, when in Franzensbad , given M. de
Giers the most explicit assurances that he would do
nothing to promote the union of the two Bulgarias ?
The Prince himself said to his confidant, Herr von
Huhn, correspondent of the Cologne Gazette :

Amongst other things he (M. de Giers) told me that the

policy of Russia and the Northern Powers at the moment
was based on maintaining the existing state of things in the
East, and that, therefore, every movement tending to further
the unification of Bulgaria and Eastern Roumelia would be
opposed in the most energetic manner. I was able to assure
M. de Giers, honestly and conscientiously, that, although I
was naturally aware how universally this unification was
desired by the people, yet I did not believe that the move-
ment was at all likely to break out within a measurable
space of time. . . . At Varna, to my inexpressible surprise, I
received notice of the plan, only three days before the revolt
L
162 ALEXANDER III

broke out, and I lost no time in despatching a confidential

envoy to Philippopolis to dissuade the people most urgently
from their intentions. I sent word to the conspirators that
at this moment, immediately after my interview with Giers,
there could, less than at any other time, be no question of
bringing about the union-in short, I used every argument
to dissuade them from the rash step. However, it came
about differently, for, before my messenger had reached
Philippopolis, I received a telegram which informed me of
the revolt, and of the arrest of Gavril Pasha, and calling
upon me to assume the government, and to place myself at
the head of the movement.
"What was I to do ? For two hours I thought it over ;
then my resolve was taken. He who is called upon to
exercise political functions of a higher kind, no less than
the general in the field, is often forced to make up his
mind rapidly. I said to myself that, if I refused, there would
be nothing left for me but to renounce my crown and to
leave the country immediately, for it was inconceivable
that I could remain Prince of Bulgaria after a refusal ; I
should, therefore, have fallen, and not precisely with much
glory. On the other hand , I could not disguise from myself
that I should also run a serious risk of losing my crown in
case I accepted, and that, in fact, the prospects on both
sides were decidedly unfavourable. However, it was of
paramount importance that I should come to some decision
immediately, and, in accepting, I was in great part influenced
by the following considerations. I knew my country, and
knew that there was the greatest possible danger of the
movement degenerating in the most awful manner. Not-
withstanding all my exertions, the hatred of nationalities is
not yet stifled, and I foresaw that, in addition to the revolt,
there would be a civil war between Bulgarians and Mahome-
dans. I alone was in a position to keep the movement within
peaceful bounds, and to prevent it from leading to excesses.
Without me anarchy would be rampant ; with me peace and
order were assured . That is why I accepted."
But the Tsar was by no means satisfied with
 THE TWO ALEXANDERS 163

these reasons, which had been adduced to show how

groundless were the accusations urged in Russia
against the Prince of being deceitful and unreliable,
and declared that he had been intentionally duped
by Prince Alexander ; that, in fact, the latter had
told him a deliberate lie. " The fact is," said one
of his Majesty's eulogists , or at least apologists
(Mr. Stead), " that the Emperor regards such con-
duct as Prince Alexander's as men in society regard
cheating at cards, as a kind of sin against the Holy
Ghost, which, once committed, can never be for-
given or atoned for, either in this world or in that
which is to come."
But if the Tsar was deliberately duped by any
one, it was more by his own agents than by Prince
Alexander. His Majesty professed to be very
much taken aback by the East Roumelian revolu-
tion . But what was the fact ? Why, that his
Consul- General and military attaché were both
present at the decisive sitting of the Secret Com-
mittee when the day was fixed for the outbreak of
the revolution, and that they repeatedly assured
the Prince that they had sent report after report
on the subject to St. Petersburg. The truth is
that the revolution was condemned by the Tsar
because it did not have the effect of removing the
Prince, for it was his person, much more than his
principality, that formed the object of Russian solici-
tude. It was in this respect that the Tsar was so
grievously disappointed . Far from removing the
Prince, the revolution only had the effect of carry-
ing him on, as on the crest of a mountain-high wave
164 ALEXANDER III

of popularity, to a seat on an enlarged throne based

on the reverence and affection of the united Bul-
garian people.
The Tsar was not long in revealing his deep
displeasure, and sent word that all Russian officers
should at once retire from the Bulgarian army.
The Chamber telegraphed to his Majesty begging
him to rescind the order, but he was inexorable ;
and this order he by-and-by supplemented by a
decree erasing the name of " Prince Alexander of
Bulgaria, Russian General and honorary Colonel of
the 13th Rifle Battalion, from the lists of the
Russian army." This thunderbolt fell on the very
eve of the Servian invasion of Bulgaria, when its
author doubtless calculated that it would have the
effect of degrading Prince Alexander in the eyes of
his people, and thus paralysing his military power
But its effect was just the very " opposite of this .
Instead of moving the Bulgarians to contempt, it
only aroused their indignation. " Rather Turkish
than Russian ! " they began to exclaim after this
incredible display of Imperial spite, which, as after-
wards appeared, had been indulged in against the
advice of the Tsar's Ministers, especially of M. de
Giers.
Prince Alexander himself remained perfectly
calm under the blow, nor would he listen
proposals of retaliation in any form. Some urged
him to issue a manifesto ; others, to order the
discontinuance of the prayers for the Tsar which
were offered up every Sunday in all Bulgarian
churches ; while others, again, counselled him to
 THE TWO ALEXANDERS 165

return all his Russian decorations. But the Prince

would not hearken to such counsellors. Remember-
ing the very kind and fatherly way in which he
had always been treated by Alexander II., he felt
this rancorous treatment by his son most keenly,
and, if he allowed the insult to pass without a reply,
this was because he placed the interest of his adopted
country higher than his personal feelings, and did
not wish to give the Tsar any pretext for an armed
intervention. It was, however, a source of great
satisfaction to him that both the Emperors of
Germany and Austria declined a proposal on the
part of the Tsar to erase the Prince's name in a
similar manner from their army lists , and, above all
things, that the Bulgarians stood firmly by him in
the hour of his insults and their country's danger.
King Milan had seized upon the union of the two
Bulgarias- which seemed to him to threaten the
balance of power in the Balkans-as a pretext for
declaring war on Prince Alexander's unified people.
But there were other old grudges to pay off, and
even the Prince himself admitted (in a letter to his
father) that his subjects had been very bad neigh-
bours indeed to the Servians. Still there can be
little doubt that King Milan, in thus rushing to
arms, also looked upon himself as the informal
executioner of the will of the Tsar-for he was
ever an obsequious and knee - crooking knave- and
already looked forward to the time when the Saint
George's Cross would be sent him from St. Peters-
burg for putting an end, violent and complete, to the
pestilent and deceitful Prince of Bulgaria.
166 ALEXANDER III

But the " best laid schemes of mice and men "3
never went worse " agley " than they did in the case
of this wanton assault by the Servians on the national
existence of their neighbours. The Russians, of
course, would only have been too delighted to see
the new Bulgarian army, with the Prince at its head,
rolled into irretrievable wreck and ruin by this
paltry nation of uniformed pig -drivers. But the
wreck and ruin, to the bitter disappointment of the
Muscovites, were just all the other way about . For
on the fields of Slivnitza and Pirot , Prince Alex-
ander, in the most brilliant and heroic manner,
cemented the union of his people with the blood of
their jealous and meddling Slavonic brethren across
the Servian border, and sent them packing back to
their pig-styes and their Russian patrons . Then
Austria came forward with an imperious " Thus far
and no further ! " to the conquering Bulgarians and
their Prince, robbing them of the fruits of their
victories, and earning the everlasting gratitude of
the delighted Tsar, to whom it had been the
bitterest of all pills that his hated cousin had thus
crowned himself with glory without the assistance
of the Russian officers who had been recalled.
" Money the Servians have none, " said a leading
statesman of Bulgaria, " consequently they will not
be able to give us any. But pigs are to be found
in plenty, and it would only be just if they were to
hand us over at least two millions of these national
animals as a war indemnity." But the victors got
no such compensation for the sacrifices they had made
-nothing but the recognition by the Porte and the
 THE TWO ALEXANDERS 167

Powers of the personal union of the two Bulgarias ;

though even now the Tsar could not refrain from
showing his bitter animus towards his cousin by
insisting that Prince Alexander's name should be
erased from the Treaty and replaced by that of the
" Prince of Bulgaria," who would henceforth be
" Governor- General," as for the Sultan , of Eastern
Roumelia. On December 26 ( 1885) Prince Alex-
ander made his triumphal entry into Sofia at the
head of his victorious troops, frantically cheered by
his exultant subjects and overwhelmed with laurel-
wreaths and flowers.
This was the climax, and now for the anti-climax.
While as yet the three days' battle at Slivnitza was
in progress, Zankoff, a Bulgarian intriguer of the
rankest kind, had entered into negotiations with the
Russian Consul of Sofia for the " removal " of the
obnoxious Prince, who so manfully declined to be
the mere tool of Russia . Repeated attempts had
already been made to effect this " removal." Messrs .
Soboleff and Kaulbars had done their best to do so,
but in vain. One night these " duumvirs " had
entered the Palace and requested to be taken to the
Prince. But the officer on duty (Lieutenant
Marinoff, who afterwards fell at Slivnitza) liked
not the look of it and refused to comply, in spite
of explicit orders from his immediate chief, the
War Minister. On their attempting to force their
way he made a stout and successful resistance,
and reported the incident to the Prince. The
neighbourhood of the Palace was then hurriedly
examined, and what was found ? Several carriages
168 ALEXANDER III

ready horsed, and a printed proclamation which

set forth how the good people of Bulgaria, tired of
the Prince's misrule, had made him a prisoner and
transported him across the frontier ; while a pro-
visional Government had been established under
Generals Soboleff and Kaulbars !
Later on, a similar and equally unsuccessful
attempt was made to capture the Prince near
Burgas. But the Russians are a dogged people,
and, when once they have set their hearts on a
thing, it is by no means easy to move them from
their purpose . In war they never fly, preferring,
if they cannot force their way like lions, to be
slaughtered like oxen. And did not M. Stambuloff
afterwards say of Alexander III . (with what taste
and discretion I will not stop to inquire) that he
was "the prototype of a Russian moujik- upright,
Orthodox, of no resources , stubborn as an ox , a
blockhead who would never change ? " He had
set his heart on the annihilation of his noble cousin,
and destroyed he would have to be. That was
what his agents at Sofia knew full well. But it is
not necessary to assume that the Tsar sent explicit
instructions to these agents to dispose of the hated
Prince . For-

"It is the curse of kings to be attended

By slaves that take their humours for a warrant
To break within the bloody house oflife,
And on the winking of authority
To understand a law, to know the meaning
Of dangerous majesty, when perchance it frowns
More upon humour than advised respect."
 THE TWO ALEXANDERS 169

But if the Tsar did not, in set terms, convey to

his slaves and partisans at Sofia the clear expres-
sion of his will, it is at least certain that he must
have been aware what these obsequious agents of
his were scheming to accomplish . If he did not
expressly order the " removal " of Prince Alexander,
then never were the name and authority of any
master more grossly abused . But, then, had M.
Jonin not boasted that " the Tsar was not Russia " ?
There were two Bulgarian officers, Dimitrieff and
Bendereff, who thought they had not been suffi-
ciently rewarded for their services in the war with
Servia ; and in the hearts of these two malcontents
the Russian military attaché found the seed-ground
he was searching for. This attaché, Sacharoff by
name, represented to these two officers that he had
been commissioned by the Tsar to induce them to
expel the Prince, offering them certain inducements
to comply, and these representations were backed
up by money supplied from the Russian Consulate.
Afterwards a Russian ambassador, Nelidoff, was
reported on good authority to have said that the
removal of Prince Alexander had been very cheap,
as it had only cost 300,000 francs !
Whether any of this cash went into the pockets
of the Prince's own Ministers is not so clear ; but it
is certain, at least, that the question of deposing
the Prince, in compliance with the known wishes of
the Tsar, had occupied the attention of the Cabinet .
It is a mournful thought, as Pastor Koch remarks,
that not one of these Ministers had the courage to
tell the Prince frankly how matters stood. The
170 ALEXANDER III

Prince himself had written to his sister shortly

before :

"As things are at present, it is difficult to see how, led by

Russia, the struggle to expel me will end. Ninety-nine per
cent. ofthe Bulgarians are for me ; but whether the remaining
one per cent. will, thanks to foreign help, be successful,
depends on events over which I have no control. ... . . . Before
autumn my throne will resemble a mine charged with dyna-
mite. Be that as it may, I will in any case fall fighting, and
should the Bulgarians, after all, prefer foreign rule to an honest-
minded Prince, that is their affair. I shall be spared the
trouble of shedding a tear for them . ... .. There will be many
bullets flying, perhaps even one from behind-who knows ? "

" Beware of the Struma regiment ! It will sur-

prise you to-night in bed, and put you to death "—
such was the warning that reached Prince Alexander
on August 20. But he heeded not the warning,
holding it, as Richard did, to be " a thing devised
by the enemy," and went to bed as usual. In a
few more hours he was a half- clad prisoner in the
hands of an insulting, half-drunken mob of Bulgarian
officers and men, who had forced him to sign his
abdication, and hurried him off like a condemned
criminal to execution, or, at least, to exile. At
the same time, Bogdanoff, the Russian Consul,
harangued a crowd of kneeling peasants and
gipsies from the balcony of his house, declaring
" that the Tsar would willingly again vouchsafe
his protection to Bulgaria, which he had always
loved, and loved still, but only the true, old Bulgarian
people, and he would certainly now send them a
new and better Prince."
It does not fall within my scope to detail all the
 THE TWO ALEXANDERS 171

revolting brutalities of this nineteenth century

Prinzenraub, which recalled the days of Kunz
von Kaufungen. The kidnappers had at first
thought of murdering their victim, and once Prince
Alexander shuddered on seeing his captors halt in
a forest, through which they were hurrying him
towards the Danube, and look about as if for some
fitting place of execution. But their courage failed
them to do this dastardly deed , and on again they
hustled him towards the Danube, down the river,
ever nearer to Russia as to the country where his
person, his head, thought the barbarous con-
spirators, would most be valued. At last the party
reached Reni, and the Prince learned that he could
not be received there, as there were no instructions
of any kind from St. Petersburg." The fact is, that
by this time such a storm of moral indignation (the
electric wires took care of that) had swept across
Europe, blowing in even through the bars of the
Tsar's own palace-prison , that his Majesty began
to feel uneasy and irresolute. The Prince could
not land at Reni , and therefore he had to remain on
board his steamer.

" Next morning," he said , " a Lieut.- Colonel of Police

came and showed me a telegram from Obrutscheff ( Chief ofthe
General Staff), which stated that the authorities at Reni were
to receive the Prince of Battenberg, and conduct him safely
by the shortest route to the frontier ; that the police authori-
ties should be responsible for the safety of the Prince, as his
life was in danger in Russia. At my request, the officer
telegraphed to St. Petersburg to know whether I should be
allowed to travel viâ Galatz, and cross over on to Roumanian
soil. This would have been the shortest way ; but the answer
172 ALEXANDER III

was that the Prince was only to travel by Voloczyska or

Varschau. About ten o'clock I set foot on Russian soil ...
unfortunately I was not yet free ; two mounted police stood
before the house door, and three sentries were posted in the
yard, at night a captain of the mounted police slept before
my door, &c. &c. Our train left. In the adjoining com-
partment sat a Prefect of Police and three gendarmes.
Wherever we stopped, two gendarmes invariably stood at
the doors on either side. . . . At last I arrived at the Austrian
frontier, and was greeted with enthusiasm."

The public heart of Europe glowed with indig-

nation at the unspeakable indignities and insults
of which the Prince was made the object in his
criminal-like passage through the south-west corner
of the Tsar's dominious indignities which
could not have been worse had the Prince been
put into a cage and underwrit : " Here may you
see a traitor ! " Nowhere had this indignation
blazed up more fiercely than in Bulgaria itself, of
which the people hastened to show that they must
not be identified with ninety of their treacherous
officers, and nearly a fourth part of their army-
that army which Prince Alexander had led to such
glorious victory. At Lemberg, where the Prince
entered Austrian territory, the heart of Europe had
gone out to him in the frantic cheering with which
he was received by the sympathetic multitudes of
that city ; and on hearing that his own subjects were
begging, praying, clamouring for his return, he
allowed himself to be persuaded, against his better
judgment, to go back.
At all the stopping-places in Galicia, Bukowina,
and Roumania, he was overwhelmed with ovations.
 THE TWO ALEXANDERS 173

At Bucharest he was greeted by the Prime Minister

in the name of the King, for the Hohenzollerns
are not men to be afraid of Romanoff frowns . The
Roumanians had stormed the Gravitza redoubt at
Plevna for the Russians , and now in turn their own
hearts had been stormed by the sufferings of the
Prince to which conquered Plevna was subject.
The Danube was wrapped in fluttering flags and
the smoke of saluting cannon , while its banks were
lined with gazing, weeping, acclaiming crowds. On
the landing-stage at Rustchuk stood the Bishop , the
chief authorities, the consuls-even the Russian
one-all in gala dress, to welcome back the Prince
who had been so barbarously made the victim of
Muscovite " stouthrief and hamesucken." Stam-
buloff, Bulgaria's " strong man " that was to be,
greeted the returning Prince with burning words of
loyalty, saying that the whole country from the
Danube to the Black Sea was ringing with the cry:
" We must, we must, we must see our Prince once
more ! " "The people," he added, " are with you ;
they love you, they are ready to die for you."
Then the officers standing by shouldered high the
Prince, and bore up into his Palace, where he issued
a proclamation, and penned the following telegram
to the Tsar :
66
Sire,-Having resumed the government of my country, I
venture to express my thanks to your Majesty for the
attitude ofyour representative at Rustchuk. He has shown
the Bulgarian people, by his official presence at the reception
accorded to me, that the Imperial Government cannot
approve the revolutionary act directed against my person.
"At the same time, I must ask your Majesty's permission
174 ALEXANDER III

to express my sincere thanks for the despatch of General

Dolgoruki to Bulgaria. In resuming legal power in my own
hands, my first act is to express to your Majesty my firm
intention of making all necessary sacrifices to further the
generous intentions of your Majesty to deliver Bulgaria from
the serious crisis through which she is at present passing .
I beg your Majesty to authorise General Dolgoruki to com-
municate directly and as soon as possible with myself. I
shall be happy to offer your Majesty a definite pledge of the
unalterable devotion with which I am animated towards
your august person. Monarchical principles compel me
to re-establish law and order in Bulgaria and Roumelia.
Russia having bestowed my crown upon me, it is into the
hands of her Sovereign that I am ready to resign it.
(6 ALEXANDER."

Meanwhile the Prince undertook a triumphal

progress through the country, and at Philippopolis
(where the revolution, which was the head and
front of his offending, had broken out) he received
the following answer from his Imperial cousin :

" I have received your Highness's telegram. I cannot

approve your return to Bulgaria in view of the disastrous
consequences which it may entail upon the country, already
so severely tried. It will not be advisable to despatch
Dolgoruki ; I shall refrain from doing so during the unhappy
condition to which Bulgaria is reduced as long as you remain
there.
"Your Highness will understand what devolves upon you.
I reserve judgment on the course that I am bidden to take
by the honoured memory of my Father, the interest of
Russia, and the tranquillity of the East.
"ALEXANDER."

What added to the unbearable bitterness of this

reply was that it had been made public, as the
Prince found on returning to Sofia, before he him-
 THE TWO ALEXANDERS 175

self had received it, and then his courage utterly

collapsed. As the poor Prince was " Hecuba " to
Bismarck, so he was also meat and drink to the
personal rancour of the Tsar. Down upon his
very knees, figuratively speaking, went the Prince
to his Imperial cousin on being prevailed upon to
return to Bulgaria ; but his astonishingly submis-
sive telegram- his pater peccavi, so to speak-at
once drew down upon him an answer which had
the same effect upon him as the vicious blow of a
steel gauntlet would upon the lips of a contrite
suppliant. And now this knocked the very heart
out of the long- enduring Prince ; for he threw down
his crown and fled from the ungrateful land which
his heroism had done so much to benefit.
By many the Prince's submissive telegram to the
Tsar was deemed to be quite unworthy of his past.
But it must be remembered that at this time his
nervous constitution had been shattered by the
worries and excitements through which he had just
passed ; that the presence of the Russian consul at
Rustchuk had betrayed him into the belief (as it
was, perhaps, intended to do) that there was still a
possibility of reconciliation ; and that he was willing
to make almost any sacrifice of his amour propre
in order to appease the offended Tsar.
Prince Alexander's Seven Years' War with the
foes of Bulgaria over, he now began a conflict,
which was to last just as long, with his own
memories and his own heart. But the spirit of
romance still clung to him in all he did. Disap-
pointed-but was he disappointed ? will be asked
176 ALEXANDER III

by some who knew more of the secrets of the time

than could be gathered from newspaper gossip- in
his hopes of gaining the hand of one of the
Emperor Frederick's daughters , the Prince went
and married beneath him, burying himself from
association with the bitter past. One of the con-
solations which shed their cheering influence on his
blasted life was the hope that, as a General in the
Austrian army, he might one day yet be in a posi-
tion to cross swords with the unspeakable authors
of all his woe. But this hope, too, was doomed to
disappointment, and he died, the spirit of tragic
romance still attending him, on the very anniversary
of the glorious day which had been the culminating
point of his strangely chequered and pathetic
career.
The deep personal hatred which the Tsar had
felt towards his Battenberg cousin in life did
not abate even with the latter's death at Gratz
(November 1893 ), where he held a Brigade com-
mand in the Austrian army. The widow of Count
Hartenau, the name the Prince had adopted on
marrying an actress, received telegrams of condo-
lence from all the chief Sovereigns of Europe,
including Queen Victoria and the Emperors of
Austria and Germany, who likewise sent special
representatives to the funeral . But in the midst of
all these signs of sorrow and sympathy the Autocrat
of All the Russias remained as cold and silent as
the grave into which his heroic but unfortunate
cousin was presently lowered- a victim to Imperial
persecution and spite. For it cannot be doubted
 THE TWO ALEXANDERS 177

that the seeds of the illness to which Prince Alex-

ander ultimately succumbed were sown at Sofia,
where he had been worried to death-"todt-geärgert,"
the Germans call it by the intrigues and attacks
of his Russian foes.
One thing more. The union of the two Bulgarias
had caused the Tsar to turn away the light of his
countenance, completely and for ever, from his
princely cousin , whom he accused of having delibe-
rately deceived him, of having, in fact, told him a
wilful lie. If he did so, it was a grievous fault,
and grievously did Alexander answer for it. But if
there was deceitfulness on one side, was there not
also gross and scandalous breach of promise on
the other ? For did Prince Alexander not declare
to his people that he had only resolved to resign
his crown after receiving assurances from the
Government of the Emperor of Russia that the
independence and privileges of our State would
remain uninfringed, and that no one would inter-
meddle in the internal affairs of the country " ?
Whether the Tsar was true to this solemn promise,
on the strength of which his cousin resigned his
crown, is a question which the subsequent history
of Bulgaria can only answer with a trumpet-tongued,
a thunder -loud " No ! " And for the rest, the simple
chronicle of the facts recorded in this chapter must
carry with it its own commentary on the character
of Alexander III. , as revealed in his relations to
his Battenberg cousin.

M
 CHAPTER VII

THE TSAR PANSLAVIST

The " Father of Lies " -Shuffling of the pack- Domestic

policy, Ignatieff's circular-The Tsar bad at figures-
His sovereign responsibility-" One King, one Faith,
one Law"-" Russia for the Russians "-Character of
Finland and the Finns -The hall-mark of Muscovy-
Violation of Finnish rights-The Baltic Provinces-A
bear's skin on the Teutonic bird-German " a foreign
language "-Vladimir at Dorpat-Anti-German edicts-
Panslavism in Poland- High-handed measures - The
Tsar "the best cosmopolite "-Ignorance the pillar of
Autocracy-The Tsar as Press Censor- His second
sceptre a blacking-brush-The demoralisation of Russia
-Famine, fetters and finance—“ C'est à prendre, ou
à laisser ! "- The Russian army-Duelling decree-
Another ukase.

WE saw that, on his coming to the throne,

Alexander III.'s first act was to withhold from his
subjects the quasi-constitution which his father, on
the advice of his Minister of the Interior, Count
Loris Melikoff, had at last resolved to confer upon
his subjects . Enraged and disgusted at the spirit
of reaction which animated the new Tsar, Loris-
Melikoff at once left Russia, and never returned .
His place was taken by General Ignatieff, who had
 THE TSAR PANSLAVIST 179

become known as the " Father of Lies ." " Don't

go to St. Petersburg," he said to me at Moscow
during the coronation time, " for there they will
tell you nothing but lies ! "-a piece of advice
which made me think of Tourgenieff's remark in
his " Virgin Soil. " " It is a well-known, if not quite
intelligible fact," says that writer, who ought to know ,
" that Russians lie more than any nation in the
world. But, on the other hand, there is nothing
they esteem so much as truth , nothing for which
they have so much sympathy."
Well, the " Father of Lies " now became
Minister of the Interior (though he only remained
so for about a year). But, per contra, some of
the principal sires of sin were hunted from their
posts . Chief among these were the new Tsar's
uncles, Grand- Dukes Nicholas and Constantine.
The former had completely done for himself in the
eyes of his nephew by his peculations while acting
as Commander- in-Chief of the Balkan armies
during the Turkish war, and now he hastened to
resign all his offices and go abroad " for the good
of his health," which had suddenly lapsed into a
very serious state. His brother Constantine, who
stood at the head of the Navy, was similarly re-
lieved of his command and replaced by the Grand
Duke Alexis , second brother of the Tsar ; while
Constantine junior had actually been under arrest on
suspicion of being mixed up in the Nihilist plot
which ended in the murder of the Tsar Emancipa-
tor. Otherwise, the Ministerial pack was shuffled
by the new Emperor in a manner which thrilled
180 ALEXANDER III

with joy the hearts of M. Katkoff, the powerful

Moscow editor, and other " Old Russians " who
began to prostrate themselves before the rising sun
of Panslavism , long prayed for but come at last . *
They looked to St. Petersburg for a sign, and
this was presently forthcoming in the shape of the
circular which Ignatieff, on taking office, hastened
to address to all the provincial governors, explain-
ing the principles set forth in the Imperial
manifesto , and announcing the views of the
Government on the internal condition of the
country. It referred to the dark sides of the
present state of society, such as the irreligious
education of youth, the inactivity of the authorities,
the indifference of the holders of many public
offices to the general welfare, and their avaricious
management of the property of the State ; and then
proceeded :
" Herein is to be found the explanation of the painful
fact that the various reforms introduced by the last Govern-
ment did not yield the full benefit which the deceased
Emperor had a right to expect. None but an autocrat,

* The Ministry of War was given to General Vannovsky,

Foreign Affairs to M. Giers, and Finance to M. Bunge, who
gave place to M. Vishnigradsky. Count Woronzoff- Dashkoff
was appointed General Aide-de- Camp, while M. Pobedóno-
stseff retained the chair of Procurator of the Holy Synod.
In the Palace itself a clean sweep was made of three-fourths
of the Aides-de- Camp, Adjutants, and other decorative per-
sonages, and strict orders were given to put an end to the
reckless expenditure which had marked the closing years of
Alexander II.'s life.
 THE TSAR PANSLAVIST 181

strong in the attachment and unbounded love of a great

people, even with the enlightened co-operation of the best
sons of the Fatherland, can successfully remove the great
evils from which Russia is suffering.
"The first task to be accomplished is the extirpation of
the spirit of rebellion , which society must counteract of its
own initiative. The persecution of the Jews in Southern
Russia shows how people, otherwise devoted to the Throne,
yield to the influence of evil-disposed persons, and unsus-
pectingly serve their rebellious plans.
" The second task is to strengthen faith and morals.
The Government will take especial care to introduce order
and justice into the institutions created by the late Emperor.
If there be cordial co-operation between society and the
Government, the present difficulties will soon disappear.
" The nobility, who always listen to the voice of truth and
honour, will indubitably contribute to that result. They and
all other classes must have the certainty that all their rights
will remain untouched.
"The peasantry may be sure that the Government will
not only maintain all the rights accorded them, but also take
care to relieve the people as much as possible of the burdens
of taxation and improve their material condition.
" At the same time the Government will, without delay,
take measures to establish a system for securing the partici-
pation of the local authorities in the execution of the
Emperor's plans.”

Those were the words of Count Ignatieff, but

they were the thoughts of the Tsar, who was really
his own Minister in most things, except, perhaps,
finance, the mysteries and methods of which he
never could fully comprehend . Once, soon after his
accession, it was reported to him that the paper-
rouble was going down in value. "What is that to
me ?" he replied, " I am not gambling on the Stock
Exchange." After the retirement of Count Loris
182 ALEXANDER III

Melikoff, the Minister of Finance, M. Bunge, also

expressed a wish to resign . " You forget," said
the Tsar, " that in an unlimited monarchy Ministers.
are appointed and dismissed ; they do not resign
whenever it pleases them." The Council of Ministers
might consult on any measure they pleased ; but
the only way of carrying it was to submit it person-
ally to the Emperor, who never attended a Council,
but received his Ministers separately. In other
words, the Russian Ministers were little more than
Under- Secretaries, the real Minister being the Auto-
crat ; so that he thus assumed direct responsibility
for every act of policy devised for the good of his
subjects.
It is well to remember this, because it is fre-
quently urged by the apologists of despotism that
the absolute ruler of a hundred millions of his fellow-
men cannot reasonably be made accountable for all
the wrongs that are perpetrated in his name. But
this is logic of a most incoherent and unsatisfactory
kind. For there is no reason why, if wrongs are
committed , the truth about them should not at least
reach the ears ofthe ruler, to the end that they may
be punished and redressed ; and if a ruler does not
make sure of this, by one means or other, he must
be prepared to hear that the principles of human
justice make no difference in a case of this kind
between the sins of omission and of commission,
and that ignorance is no excuse. If an absolute
ruler claims credit for all the right that is done
within his dominions, he must also accept re-
sponsibility for all the unremedied wrong. What ?
 THE TSAR PANSLAVIST 183

Would the Autocrat of All the Russias belie the

belief about himself that is so firmly rooted in the
hearts of his own Moujiks ? For what says even
" Stepniak " on this subject ? "The people repose
implicit confidence in the Tsar's wisdom and justice.
He is absolute master of the life and property of
every man within his dominions, and no exception
may be taken to his orders . The occasional blun-
ders made by the Tsar, however heavy they may be,
must be borne with patience, as they can only be
temporary ; the Tsar will redress the evil as soon
as he is better informed on the matter."
The Tsar's circular to the provincial governors,
through the pen of Count Ignatieff, touching the con-
dition of his subjects, was not altogether free from
ambiguity. What did it really mean ? In what direc-
tion would the Emperor's domestic policy move ?
It was known that he was by far the most ardent
champion in all Russia of the three Slavophil
principles of Autocracy, Eastern Orthodoxy, and
Nationality- " one king, one faith, one law "-and it
soon became apparent that he had set his heart on
carrying all these principles into practice in the most
energetic and uncompromising form.
He had three alternatives before him either to
maintain the status quo ; or to move in the same
direction as Austria- i.e. , towards decentralisa-
tion ; or, finally, to endeavour to nationalise the
Empire at the expense of the subject races and in
favour ofthe most important -the "Great Russians."
He chose the third of these, and his watchword
became " Russia for the Russians." Whoever
184 ALEXANDER III

stood in the way of the fulfilment of this design ,

whether Jew, German, or Swedish Finlander, must
go to the wall. To carry out this policy, however,
time was required, for, should war break out, and an
enemy gain foot on Russian soil, a revolution might
possibly ensue , and this would not only endanger
the process of union, but might even imperil the
cohesion of the State. It was therefore essential
to the new Tsar's policy that there should be peace,
SO as to afford leisure for the innovations which
he contemplated at home ; and if Alexander III.
gained so much credit for keeping the peace of
Russia abroad, it was only at the cost of the civil
strife into which he now prepared to plunge a large
portion of his own people.
Lack of space debars me from describing in detail
the carrying out of this Panslavist policy- this
deliberate attempt to root out of the Empire proper
every non-Russian element, and at the same time
reduce the homogeneous nation thus produced to a
more absolute state of subjection to the will of one
man than it had almost ever known before. I can
only quote several typical instances of the way in
which these principles of Alexander III. were
applied in the purely political domain , reserving for
a separate chapter the subject of his more atrocious
persecutions in the overlapping fields of race and
religion.
Let us begin with the Finns, formerly the subjects
of Sweden, who finally became annexed to Russia
in 1809. Alexander I. solemnly swore for himself,
and his successors, to preserve intact and respect the
 THE TSAR PANSLAVIST 185

ancient constitution of the country, which included

a very large measure of autonomy, a free Press, and
other privileges. Alexander II . , on the whole,
respected all these liberties, the consequence being
that he had no more devoted subjects throughout
his vast domains than the Finns . They were his
best subjects , and his best soldiers . What the
Scottish men-at-arms were to Louis XI. , the Finnish
fighting men were to Alexander II . It was a
guard of the Finland regiment which stood between
his Majesty and death on the occasion of the
Nihilist explosion at the Winter Palace. While
St. Petersburg and the other big towns were
swarming with conspirators, Finland remained
perfectly quiet and loyal. Amongst the many
thousands who joined the revolutionary movement,
there was no Finn save those who had been
educated in Russia and thoroughly Russianised.
"When," says " Stepniak," " the revolutionary pro-
paganda in the army was initiated, it was enough
for those conducting it to hear that a certain officer
was a born Finn to give up as hopeless the task
of converting him to their principles ."
Now, one would have thought that the loyalty of
such a people was a thing worth cultivating by
Alexander III. But his Majesty himself did not
appear to be altogether of this mind . For he had
not long been seated on the throne before he
began to tamper with and curtail the ancient and
chartered privileges of his Finnish people . The

* Article on Finland in Free Russia for September, 1890.

186 ALEXANDER III

flower of their loyalty, he thought, would emit a

more charming scent, and exhibit a brighter bloom ,
if sprinkled daily with the watering-pan of Russian
autocracy. It was nothing to him that his pre-
decessors on the throne had sworn to respect the
autonomous freedom of the Finns, which had
gradually converted them into one of the most
prosperous, well- educated, and contented nationalities
in all Europe. All these qualities did not bear the
national hall- mark of ancient Muscovy, and that was
quite enough for the new Tsar.
He loved the Finns and was sorry for them , but
they must come into the general fold all the same.
The contrast between them and the dark Empire of
which they formed so bright a fringe was too great,
too dangerous, and they must assume the hue of the
general eclipse. For one thing, their free Press must
take its orders from the censor at St. Petersburg,
and dance to the tune of his dictatorial caprice .
Their Post Office must resign itself to violation of
the secrecy of private correspondence. Russian
must be used as the medium of teaching in the
Finnish colleges, and other galling innovations
accepted.
" The Finnish Penal Code," wrote an acute
observer,* " drawn up at the Tsar's own desire,
and deliberately sanctioned by him, was suddenly
revoked, in consequence of a denunciation published
in the Moskovskia Vedomosti, and a new Code slowly
elaborated, in which Finland's absolute dependence

St. Petersburg Correspondent of the Daily Telegraph.

 THE TSAR PANSLAVIST 187

on the arbitrary will of the Tsar was affirmed with a

frequency and emphasis which bordered on cynicism ,
and could serve no truly statesmanlike purpose .
The Finnish postal system, far superior to the
Russian, was completely remodelled ; Finnish stamps
were abolished ; a new Russian archiepiscopal See
was founded in Helsingfors ; many of the privileges
of the Parliament, including that of legislative ini-
tiative, were rescinded, although they had been
solemnly sanctioned by the Tsar himself in special
ukases shortly after his accession ; liberty of the
Press in the Principality was curtailed ; autonomy
in matters pertaining to the Customs duties was
abolished, and the Finnish nation were treated as
rebels on the morrow of an unsuccessful rising.
" The part which Alexander III . personally
took in this reconquest of Finland is extremely
characteristic of the vast difference between the
ruler and the man, and illustrative of the impossi-
bility of deducing from the personal character of
the latter the motives or, probably, the actions of
the former. Alexander III, loved the Finns ; he
passed some of the most pleasant weeks of the
summer every year cruising in Finnish waters, lis-
tening to the songs of Finnish musical societies.
He was really and truly almost as much attached
to the people as to his own. And yet he himself
gave the first impulse to the movement which, had
he been spared a few years longer, would have sub-
merged the last relics of Finnish autonomy. And
this he did in obedience to what he honestly
believed to be his sacred duty as Tsar, and in
188 ALEXANDER III

spite of the opposite tendency of his own personal

leanings."
In view of all this, was it astonishing that the
most loyal of his subjects should have gradually
come to harden their hearts against him ? At first,
the Finns tried to win over Alexander III . by their
devoted attentions during his annual trips to their
beautiful country . 66 Now," says " Stepniak,"
99.66
" we
hear of a very different state of things , all the people
running away wherever he appeared . No bouquets,
no loyal speeches, nothing but cold isolation."
While behaving thus to the Finns, whom he loved ,
it was scarcely to be expected that Alexander III.
should have shown much consideration towards the
Teutons, whom he positively loathed.
Of these Teutons he had a very large number in
his Baltic Provinces-Esthonia, Livonia, and Cour-
land- a race which had supplied his Empire with
its very best soldiers and administrators, its Richters,
its Adlerbergs, and its Todlebens. The Baltic
Provinces, so to speak, had hitherto been the goose
which laid most of Russia's golden eggs ; and if
Alexander III. did not altogether aim at killing this
goose, he at least cast about to supplant the native
feathers of the productive bird with the shaggy
hide of a bear. If Germany cast covetous eyes
on the Baltic Provinces, the Tsar would at least
deprive Germany of one of the motives for her terri-
torial cupidity by stripping them of their Teutonic
character. At the same time if these provinces
underwent a radical process of Russification, they
 THE TSAR PANSLAVIST 189

would surely have all the less craving for assimila-

tion to the old Teutonic Fatherland.
Accordingly the Panslavist mill was set going,
and very soon astonishing results had to be recorded
in spite of the vehement protests of the German
inhabitants of the provinces in question. Their
" nolumus episcopari " was addressed to deaf ears .
The Tsar simply refused to receive from the nobility
of Courland a humble petition against all this abolition
of their traditional privileges, with the remark that
"the historic rights of the province must yield to the
necessities of the Russian State." In the following
year the Russifying process had made such ravages
on the ancient rights and customs of the inhabitants
that something very like an openly rebellious spirit
began to manifest itself amongst them. And then
the Tsar commanded all the heads of authorities, the
Lutheran clergy, the professors , and the nobility to
assemble at Dorpat, where they would hear what he
had to say to them.
This message was conveyed by his brother, the
Grand Duke Vladimir, who was sent specially into
the provinces to proclaim the Imperial will-which
was to the effect that there must still be a closer
connection between Russia Proper and her Baltic
Marches, if for no other reason than the good of
these Marches themselves, which formed the object
of most affectionate solicitude with the Ruler of
All the Russias. It was decreed that German was
henceforth to be treated as a "foreign language,"
and Russian was to replace it. " German was at
first restricted, then abolished in all educational
190 ALEXANDER III

establishments ; the schools 'were limited in number,

and Russian was made obligatory in all ; the
University was utterly metamorphosed, and the
centre of Baltic culture and learning changed its
historic name from Dorpat to Yosrievo. Here, as
in his struggle with Liberalism and Sectarianism,
the Tsar was eminently successful, and the Baltic
provinces soon differed nowise from the Govern-
ments of Kazan or Ufa."
To complete this policy of Russification it was
necessary to prevent the incoming of fresh Teutonic
elements to supply the place of those which had
been assimilated by the Panslavists ; and how could
this be better done than by making it next to
impossible for foreigners to settle in Russia ?
Accordingly a ukase was issued prohibiting all
foreigners from inheriting, acquiring, or in any
other way possessing real property in the Western
provinces of the Empire outside the ports and
cities. The measure, of course, was chiefly aimed
at the Germans, whose success as merchants and
and manufacturers in Poland and elsewhere had
excited the jealousy and hatred of the Russians. In
consequence of this decree many German factories
were closed, and the persons employed in them
returned to Germany, as the only means of acquiring
a right to possess property in Russia was to accept
Russian nationality.
These violent anti-German edicts naturally made
a very bad impression at Berlin. But Bismarck
was all the less able to address remonstrances on
the subject to St. Petersburg, as the Tsar, in
 THE TSAR PANSLAVIST 191

reality, had only been taking a leaf out of his own

book in respect to Prussian Poland , which the Iron
Chancellor was also Germanising in the most
thoroughgoing and masterful manner ; and what
was sauce for the goose was also sauce for the
gander. The Government at Berlin had expelled
all Russian Poles from Prussian Poland, and also
voted an immense sum of money to buy up Polish
estates and parcel them out among German peasant-
farmers . But while there was no injustice in one
case, there was little but injustice in the other.
Thus the nationalising mill was kept grinding
vigorously on both sides of the frontier, though it
certainly made the loudest clatter on the Russian
side ; and Poland , in turn , had to go through the
same Panslavising process as Finland and the
Baltic Provinces. In 1863, when the Polish insur-
rection was at its height, General Mouravieff, known
as the " icy-hearted Muscovite " and the " hang-
man," had issued a decree forbidding the transfer
of landed property, whether by purchase, mortgage
or lease, to any person of Polish extraction. After
the suppression of the rebellion this decree practi-
cally fell into desuetude, though it was never can-
celled, and numerous estates which had changed
hands were in the possession of Poles. Alexander
III. not only revived this decree, but declared all
transfers of property made to Poles since it was
first issued to be null and void, thereby reducing
many families to beggary. The ukase was applied
to an area as large almost as that of England. At
the same time, also, the Polish language was replaced
192 ALEXANDER III

by Russian for all official purposes , and the Pan-

slavists at last began to chant their pæans of victory.
Verily, the European Empire of Alexander III .
seemed to have been completely Russified . Muscovy
had, to all appearance, been made one. But the bond
of union between the various races which had thus
been dragged and dragooned into the national fold was
a common feeling of unspeakable hatred towards
the unscrupulous Government of the Tsar Panslavist .
The Panslavist policy of which I have thus
roughly and rapidly sketched the outstanding
features may otherwise be generally characterised
in the words of a writer well qualified to speak on
such a subject : *
" Naturally a man of conservative instincts, and
driven partly by circumstances, partly by irrespon-
sibility into illiberal and reactionary extremes,
Alexander III. has for some time devoted himself
to stamping out of Russia all non-Russian elements
and setting up an image, before which all must fall
down and worship, of a Russia, single, homo-
geneous, exclusive, self-sufficing, self-contained.
Foreign names , foreign tongues, a foreign faith, par-
ticularly if the former are Teuton and the other
is Lutheran, are vexed, or prohibited, or assailed.
Foreign competition in any quarter, commercial or
otherwise, is crushed by heavy deadweights hung
round its neck. Foreign concessions are as flatly
refused as they were once eagerly conceded .

* The Hon. Mr. George Curzon in his work on 66 Russia in

Central Asia."
 THE TSAR PANSLAVIST 193

" The Government even declined to allow any

but Russian money to be invested in Russian
undertakings. Foreign managers and foreign work-
men are under a bureaucratic ban. German details
are expunged from the national uniform ; the German
language is forbidden in the schools of the Baltic
provinces ; German fashions are proscribed at
Court. ' The stranger that is within thy gates ' is
the bugbear and the bête noire of Muscovite states-
manship. There is no cosmopolitanism in the
governing system of the Tsar. What Russians call
patriotism, what foreigners call rank selfishness
is the keynote of the régime. ' Russia for the
Russians ' has been adopted as the motto, not of a
radical faction, but of an irresponsible autocracy, and
is preached, not by wild demagogues, but by an all-
powerful despot."
When Tennyson met the Tsar at Copenhagen
(see p. 86), and was urged by his Majesty to recite
to him one of his own poems, he should have
selected the one which lays it down that—

“ That man's the best cosmopolite

Who loves his native country best."

Otherwise, as to the domestic policy of Alex-

ander III ., I can only refer to its salient features
and results. The general object of this policy was
to strengthen his autocratic power ; and as the main
pillar of despotism is ever ignorance, so it seemed
to be one of the chief objects of the Tsar Panslavist
to withhold from his subjects all illumination of
their minds. " Education ," wrote an authority from
N
194 ALEXANDER III

whom I have already quoted, " was restricted to a

degree that decimated the universities, reduced the
number of schools, sent thousands of young Russians
abroad, and left tens of thousands in a pitiable state
of ignorance and superstition. Higher education
in particular was declared to be the exclusive birth-
right of the higher class ; peasants, hucksters,
burghers were debarred from entering the univer-
sities or the gymnasia ; and even the lower orders
were gradually compelled to content themselves with
the scant instruction promised, but not always given ,
by the parish schools,' which laid greater stress
upon psalm- singing than upon reading, writing, and
arithmetic."
But an object of even greater hatred than the
parish school " with Alexander III . was the Press,
which he gagged and persecuted with a bitterness
which recalled the time of his grandfather Nicholas.
One of the most important officials of his Empire
was the Press Censor, who had power to extin-
guish an obnoxious organ of popular enlighten-
ment as completely as if it were a penny candle.
When a ship is out at sea, thought Alexander III .
with his grandfather, does it behove the passen-
gers to advise the captain or criticise the action
of the crew ? Certainly not ; and the Tsar
Panslavist deemed to be no less ridiculous than
dangerous the tendering of journalistic advice from
subject to Sovereign . In the time of Nicholas , as a
poet sang, " there was silence in all languages
from the Ural to the Pruth," and any little sound
which might have succeeded to this awful silence
 THE TSAR PANSLAVIST 195

in the reign of his grandson was mostly of a

hollow and meaningless kind. The nation was
virtually dumb, for it had no sort of parliamentary
representation, and no Press worth the name.
After the sceptre of Alexander III., the most
characteristic symbol of his despotic power was the
blacking-brush with which he daubed out in the
most vigilant and assiduous manner every article
in a foreign journal that might convey a new idea
to, or kindle a gleam of intelligence in, the minds
of his subjects . This bondage of the Russian
Press was one of the main obstacles to the prac-
tical carrying out of reforms and the utility of the
zemstvos (local assemblies) and municipal councils
constituting the new self-government, as it was also
one of the reasons why government officials , and
even the Tsar himself, were often so ill-informed
about what was going on in the interior of the
Empire. His Majesty had one unfailing means of
knowing what was really happening within his
dominions, and that was the unmuzzling of the
Press ; but he chose to keep it gagged, and thus
deprived himself of one of the best possible checks
on his subordinates. He had apparently not the
intelligence to perceive that, in thus muzzling the
Press, he was only multiplying the secret societies ,
and that all that he took from it only went to enrich
the underground propaganda which made his life a
constant terror and a gilded misery. Surely, if he
had been the brave man which some of his eulogists
made him out to be, he would at least have repeated
the prayer of the Homeric hero who, having to fight
196 ALEXANDER III

the gods, asked but one favour of them— not to

remain invisible. When a man has to fight, not
with gods, but with devils, as in the case of Alex-
ander III. , surely the necessity for such a prayer
becomes more urgent than ever.
And what were the consequences of all this
obscurantist and enslaving policy ? Let us take
the testimony of a man, or " compound man," who
has lived long enough in Russia to command serious
*
attention, at least, if not implicit belief :
" The Government, which is obviously acting with the
utmost deliberation, is resolved to reduce the people to a con-
dition of abject unreasoning slavishness, which will permit
them to be dealt with like cattle. If the nation were as ready
to dispose of its soul, or the remnant of its soul, at the beck
of its hundred thousand Tsarlets, the ideal of the Russian
Government might be considered realised. But between
them and this goal stand a few millions of strong- minded ,
God-fearing men, known as Raskolniks, on whose victory or
defeat depends the future of the Russian Empire. The
complete success of this selfish policy is writ large in all
departments of public life. .... . . The governors of the pro-
vinces and other lieutenants of the Tsar are fully abreast of
the times, and seem to take a keen pleasure in showing by
their life and example what a vast amount of licence is com-
patible with loyalty. . . . . Officials of higher and of the
highest political rank are distinguished by the same moral
atmosphere which they carry about with them from the
schoolroom to their graves. They acknowledge no law but
their own caprices and emotions.
"No epoch or country has ever yet offered such a dis-
graceful spectacle of systematic demoralisation. Shocking

"The Demoralisation of Russia," by Mr. E. B. Lanin, in

Fortnightly Review for October, 1891 .
 THE TSAR PANSLAVIST 197

instances of the deliberate drowning of intellect and con-

science in brutish debauch and intoxication for political pur-
poses have been known to occur on a small scale : the killing
of the soul, lest the body should continue inconveniently
active. It was in former times part and parcel of the policy
of powerful governments and unscrupulous regents. Cathe-
rine de Medici was the most celebrated of its patrons, and
Louis XVII. the most illustrious of its victims. But Russia
is the only country in which it has been tried on a vast scale
with a corpus vile of over one hundred million human
beings."
Here is another touch from the same graphic
hand as to the result of the terrible famine which
devastated a great part of Russia (a tract of land about
3000 miles long, and from 500 to 1000 miles broad)
during the years 1890-91 , and proved one of the
most galling thorns in the crown of the Emperor,
though it must be owned that he and other members
of his family made great personal sacrifices to relieve
the unspeakable distress of his hunger-stricken
subjects : *
Most of these wandering advertisements of squalor are
suffering from dysentery, scurvy, and other diseases. Their
eyelids are swollen to monstrous dimensions ; their faces
pinched and withered, and their whole persons shrivelled
from the likeness of aught human into horrible ghosts and
shadows. Sometimes one meets them stalking silently
through deserted villages consisting of the tenantless ruins
of burned houses ; at other times they drift into hamlets
where, instead of almsgivers, they meet their own lean
images, still ghastlier shadows of themselves, and then they
slink away to a hiding -place which is often their last earthly
lodging."

* Fortnightly Review for November, 1891 .

198 ALEXANDER III

But as if all this were not enough to knock the

hearts out of any poor people and make them sub-
missive enough to their rulers, listen further :
"The Russian authorities are even now carefully consider-
ing the advisability of keeping down the pride of the
peasants by treating them as an inferior class, and address-
ing them officially as thou and thee instead of the more
respectful you ; and another measure is likewise under con-
sideration, compelling all peasants to uncover their heads in
the presence of tshinovniks, nobles and priests, on the road-
side as well as within doors, and condemning those who
refuse to comply to be soundly flogged."

Apropos of the famine which drove about twenty

millions of the Tsar Panslavist's peasant subjects to
the doors of death, let me quote an incident which
may be accepted as very characteristic of the way
in which things are done under a despotism like
that of Russia. M. Dournovo, who succeeded .
Count Dmitri Tolstoi as Minister of the Interior,
summoned to St. Petersburg the Governors of all
the famine-stricken provinces to act as a kind of
representative assembly in the discussion of the
means of relief. The Governors came, each with
his memorandum . As a matter of course, they saw
the Minister before their reports were shown to the
Tsar. The memoranda were examined , and found
too gloomy to be presented to his Majesty. They
were modified to suit the Minister's taste, and the
famine was represented as being almost over at the
very time when it was entering upon its severest
phase.
To what extent the ways of despotism were
responsible for this awful famine may be an open
 THE TSAR PANSLAVIST 199

question. But there can , at least, be no doubt that

these ways must be held accountable for the prison-
system, of which a graphic description inflamed
Mr. Swinburne to such a pitch of poetical anathema
against the Third Alexander. Under his reign his
subjects may be said to have suffered from three
main sources of comprehensive evil-famine, fetters,
and finance. It is true that Alexander III . abolished
the obnoxious poll-tax on the peasantry , which they
had borne so impatiently since the time of Peter
the Great. But what he took from one shoulder he
shifted on to the other. Figures , I am aware, have
been adduced to show that Russian finance has been
showing signs of steady progress in recent years.
But such figures are taken from Russian budgets,
which are subject to no kind of control , and might
be the work of a financial prestidigitateur for all that
the outside world can tell. Of a Russian budget
its framers can only say to Europe, as Bismarck
once said to M. Thiers about the Evacuation Treaty,
" C'est à prendre, ou à laisser ! "
Whatever the doctored showing of Russian
budgets, it will scarcely be denied that from the year
of his accession the Imperial revenue went on increa-
sing at an incredible rate, " utterly disproportioned
to the paying powers of the poverty- stricken popu-
lation . . . . The peasants are still continually flogged
to make them pay up their exorbitant taxes ; their
live stock, furniture, fowls, and huts are sold by
auction, and thousands are yearly turned adrift to
beg or steal. This is the Achilles' heel of the
system of government inaugurated by an honest ,
 200 ALEXANDER III

veracious, patriotic, and humane ruler, who certainly

never realised the sacrifices he was making of all
that was nearest and dearest to his heart, in order
to train an army and build a navy ."
On this subject I cannot refrain from quoting the
following testimony : t

"Alexander III. is reported to have said to General Van-

noffsky, when appointing him to the post of War Minister :
'War is perhaps a necessary evil, and it certainly is a terrible
one. But when it ends, as ours has done, in a Treaty of
Berlin, it is a national calamity. I trust I shall never have
to go to war in my life, but, if I do, I mean to enjoy the

* But the reign of Alexander III. was not without its

redeeming qualities in the field of national finance. Beginning
with the Crown lands and appendages, the Emperor made
sweeping changes, and deprived himself of eighteen million.
roubles of his own Civil List. This sum he allotted to the
relief ofthe most distressed villages in the neighbourhood of
his lands. In 1888, as the revenues of the Domains con-
tinued to increase rapidly under improved management, he
1
made over a third of them to colonists brought in from
provinces where the population was growing to excess. In
this manner over three million acres were parcelled out. In
1883 his Majesty founded the so- called Peasants' Banks,
which advanced money to enable the agricultural poor to pay
off the debt incurred towards their former lords at the time
of the abolition of serfdom. The peasantry thus became
debtors to these State banks instead of to the nobility, and
in Russia the State is a very easy-going creditor, wiping off
yearly millions of arrears, which it knows it will never
encash. The Peasants' Banks were followed by the Nobility
Banks, founded to save the old landed nobility from the
clutches of the usurers.
+ St. Petersburg correspondent of the Daily Telegraph,
November 2, 1894. A
 THE TSAR PANSLAVIST 201

fruits of our triumphs. And I want you to assist me.'

General Vannoffsky has assisted him, with results of which
Western statesmen would seem to have not the faintest
notion. The Russian army was always celebrated for its raw
material- soldiers who combined the enterprise of adven-
turers and the enthusiasm of martyrs with the endurance of
cast-iron automata. The next war, whenever it breaks out,
will obtain for it the reputation of one of the best-trained and
best-disciplined armies in Europe, or the world, after the
Germans. Western peoples hear periodically of the annual
Russian manœuvres . They never read anything of the
countless exercises, sham fights, marches of 1000 miles, and
other movements in which the troops are engaged from
year's end to year's end. They know nothing about the
severe examinations which a Russian has now to pass before
he can receive an officer's epaulettes.
"When Alexander III . came to the throne there was in exist-
ence a lithographed tariff of the prices of each examination,
one of which I possessed. Only one professor at the Academy
accepted no bribes, and his subject was of secondary import-
ance. To-day, knowledge is the sole passport to the officers'
mess ; and industry and patience in everyday work the only
road to promotion. The Tsar's own brother Vladimir, his
cousins, and other relations live exactly the same laborious
lives in the Guards as their brother officers. A system of
fortresses has been constructed on the west and south-west
of Russia which will play an important, possibly a decisive,
part in the coming war. Universal conscription, which was
introduced by his father in March 1874, has been developed and
perfected by Alexander III .; old and untrustworthy officers
have been gently dropped from the service ; merit has been
promoted over the head of influence and aristocracy ; and
the Russian army of 1894, which is by far the largest in
numbers of any in Europe, is as superior to the Russian army
of 1879 as the latter was to that which was defeated by the
allies in the Crimean War. The same thing holds good of
the navy, which has ever been the Tsar's own particular
hobby."
202 ALEXANDER III

It may be added that, a few months before his

death, Alexander III . formally re- established duelling
in his army, which was only in keeping with the
rest of his domestic policy. But about the same
time he also issued another ukase, according to
which all official appointments were thenceforth to
be controlled by a special committee in the name of
the Tsar himself. By some, this new departure
was interpreted to mean that the Emperor had at
last resolved to put a stop to the personal wrongs
and scandals arising from the corruption of his
subordinates ; while others could only discern in
the new decree a deep distrust of his Majesty's
own ministers and provincial governors in the
carrying out of his autocratic, Orthodox, and Pan-
slavist policy .
But it is now high time for me to show how
this policy was carried out in another field , in which
religious persecution was joined to Panslavistic
rage.
 CHAPTER VIII

THE TSAR PERSECUTOR

A new King over Egypt- M . Pobedónostseff—Are the Jews

Revolutionists ?-Anti-Semitic riots- Ignatieff's circular
-The Tsar Jew-baiter- Race or religion ?--The Russian
Ghetto - The " May Laws " - Prince Metchersky on
microbes Mr. Gladstone and the conscience of England
-Guildhall meeting and Memorial -Returned by the
Tsar unopened- The Russian Herod-The Tsar Perse-
cutor-Polish Catholics -Baltic Province Lutherans-
Barclay de Tolly- The Stundists- History and progress
of the sect―Their principles and character-An archi-
episcopal anathema - Anti- Stundist alliance between
Church and State-" Gentle pressure "-A modern Tor-
quemada-Mr. Swinburne's counter-anathema.

"Now there arose a king over Egypt who knew

not Joseph ; and he said to his people, Behold , the
people of the children of Israel are too many and
too mighty for us ; come , let us deal wisely with
them, lest they multiply, and it come to pass that,
when there falleth out any war, they also join
themselves unto our enemy ." That was also
what Alexander III . , who knew his people, really said
to them on coming to the throne. Of the
descendants of Joseph, whom the new King of
Egypt knew not, the new Tsar had about five
millions within his Empire, and in his Majesty's
204 ALEXANDER III

opinion that was far too many Hebrew subjects by

a long way. The politico-theological trinity of the
Tsar's worship, as we have already seen, was
autocracy, orthodoxy, national homogeneity - one
man rule, one religion, one race. His ideal of
Empire was to rule over a people one, Russianised ,
compact— of the same religion , and also, if possible,
of the same race-like the man who, having sud-
denly inherited a large library, and desiring to
establish uniformity in the appearance of his book-
shelves, sent for the village carpenter to saw off
the ends of all such volumes as marred the
general symmetry of the rows.
Of these rows in the ethnological collection of
Alexander III . , the Semitic sections, he thought,
were much the most ragged and irregular, and to
the sawing-off process the new Tsar and his
Ministers now strenuously addressed themselves.
Or rather, he sent for his village carpenter in the
person of M. Pobedónostseff, Procurator of the
Holy Synod, and keeper of the Imperial conscience
—a man who had obtained over his quondam pupil,
Alexander III., an ascendancy similar to that
exercised by Torquemada over Ferdinand and
Isabella, or by Père La Chaise over Louis XIV.
And what sort of a man, then, was this Muscovite
Torquemada ? Let me again cite the testimony of
the eloquent and omniscient Mr. " Lanin," who had
every opportunity of judging :

* Article on M. Pobedónostseff in Contemporary Review

for April 1893.
 THE TSAR PERSECUTOR 205

" In person, M. Pobedónostseff can hardly be called im-

posing or prepossessing ; and one's first feeling is disappoint-
ment that the omnipotent statesman, whose name is whis-
pered with mysterious awe, should be as plain, prosaic, and
uninteresting as Dominie Sampson. Thin , dry, somewhat
pinched features, cast in the Byzantine mould ; cold, sharp
eyes rendered colder still by the spectacles that shield them,
and whose glance is as frigid ' as the cheerless ray of the
winter's sun ; a jerky, emphatic mode of delivery, and a
fidgety demeanour betoken the political algebraist, the lay
ascetic whose sharp points and angles have not yet been
rounded off by contact with the every-day world.
" His vision is clear, because circumscribed within the limits
of one idea where everything is plain, flat, and sterile as the
steppe. Hence we seek in vain for breadth of sympathy, to
say nothing of that volcanic energy of passion without which
there is no genuine greatness- nay, no fulness of human
nature. His sole possession in life is a doctrine which,
whatever else it may effect, is powerless to neutralise the
touch of icy coldness that runs through all he says and does.
It is only fair to remember, however, that it is a doctrine which
twice, in his hands, has saved the mightiest empire of
modern times from the change which some call ' ruin.' ”

Such was the man who began to act as the

village carpenter to the Tsar in the work of sawing
his ethnological and theological collections into a
semblance of rectilinear form. There were some
of the Gentile races in the Empire who required
the application of this docking process quite as
much as the Jews ; but the Jews were the first to
be seriously taken in hand, as being of more ancient
race and faith than any of their fellow- subjects—
seniores, priores.
Alexander III. had not been many weeks upon
the throne before anti- Semitic riots of the most
206 ALEXANDER III

serious kind broke out in various parts of his

dominions. What had been the proximate cause of
these outbreaks ? Was it fury with the Jews, on
account of their supposed connection with the crime
which had just deprived the people of their Tsar
Emancipator ? Mr. Harold Frederic, who spent a
few weeks in Russia, maintains that " the Jew does
not lend himself to the notion of conspiracy—and
that in every country he has been the patient, long-
suffering, even servile non -resistant, never the
rebel." On the other hand , M. Leroy- Beaulieu , who
passed many years of his life in the Empire of the
Tsars, and knows it better than almost any
foreigner, takes quite the contrary view, and asserts
that a very large proportion of those concerned in
the Nihilist movement were men and women of
Hebrew race. †
Be that as it may, it is at least certain that the

"The New Exodus-A Study of Israel in Russia." By

Harold Frederic. London : William Heinemann. 1892 .
+ At p. 196, vol. i., of M. Leroy-Beaulieu's work on
Russia, I read : " Among the conspirators many, and not
unfrequently the most enterprising, are of Jewish extraction.
This gave occasion to certain Russian papers, happy to find
an alien scapegoat, to assert that all the trouble came from
abroad and from the Jews. This should not be taken
seriously. Nihilism is a genuinely Russian thing, although
there are numbers of Nihilists outside of Russia. As to the
Israelites, it might be said that there exists a kind of Jewish
Nihilism which naturally amalgamates with the Slavic
Nihilism. The inferior situation created for the numerous
Jews of Russia by laws or custom , has, moreover, much to do
with their readiness to take part in plots."
 THE TSAR PERSECUTOR 207

Jews were believed, both by Alexander III . and the

bulk of his subjects , to have been largely concerned
in the conspiracy which resulted in the murder of his
father ; and it was to a great extent this conviction
(well or ill founded) that acted as a spark to the
combustible piles of popular feeling against the Jews
which were already lying heaped up, so to speak,
all over the Empire. Within six weeks of the crime
of March 13 , says Mr. Frederic, " the Jewish quar-
ter of Elisabethgrad was sacked and burned, and
the reign of terror inaugurated which was to destroy
thousands of homes, reduce 100,000 Jews to
poverty, and stain the history of the century with
incredible records of rapine and savagery .
Very soon after came the terrible fires and looting
at Kief, where 2000 Jews had the roofs burned
over their heads."
Hereupon General Ignatieff, Minister of the
Interior, acting by express orders of his Imperial
master, issued a circular to all the provincial
governors, in which he pointed out that within
the last twenty years the Jews had not only been
monopolising trade and commerce, but had also, by
lease and purchase, been gradually acquiring a con-
siderable portion of the land , in doing which they
did not so much aim at increasing the productive
power of the country as of exploiting its Slavonic
inhabitants, especially of the poorer class. It was
this, he explained, that had caused the late riots ;
but " while repressing these acts of violence, the
Government at the same time recognised the need
of equally rigorous measures for remedying the
208 ALEXANDER III

abnormal relations existing between the Jews and

the native population, and for protecting the people
from that injurious activity of the Jews which,
according to local reports, was the real cause of the
agitation." At the same time the Tsar appointed a
Commission, with several Jews in it, to inquire into
the question and suggest its solution.
Meanwhile, the rioting and raiding against the
Jews continued in other parts of the Empire to an
incredible extent, and multitudes of their race began
to fly from an Empire which had become something
like a fiery furnace of persecution . It was said
(but who shall control these figures ?) that, between
April 1881 and June 1882 , " no fewer than 225,000
Jewish families-comprising over a million souls, and
representing a loss to the Empire of £22,000,0000—
fled from Russia." At Easter, 1882 , the town of
Balta, in Podolia , was the scene of another anti-
Semitic outbreak, resulting in the destruction of
976 houses, the death of eight persons, and the
wounding of 211 , with robbery and destruction of
property amounting to nearly two million roubles.
When asked why they thus indulged their hatred of
the Jews, the rioters replied : " They say that our
little father, the Tsar, wishes it " ; or, " If the Tsar
did not wish us to murder the Jews, he would have
long since issued a ukase to that effect." Through-
out all Europe public indignation was roused to
fever heat by all those persecutions and barbarities,
but nowhere more so than in England , where both
Press and platform rang with wrathful protests
against all these unheard-of goings-on in Russia,
 THE TSAR PERSECUTOR 209

But the only answer vouchsafed from St. Peters-

burg to these public appeals to the justice and
humanity of the Tsar, these Exeter Hall and
Mansion House resolutions and memorials, was, in
effect : " Mind your own business, ye self-conceited,
hypocritical, and ignorant islanders, and let us do
the same." Said the Novoe Vremya, voicing the
sentiments of Panslavist Russia :

"The concern of England, which has beggared the popu-

lation of India and Egypt, which has poisoned the people of
China with opium, which destroyed, like dangerous insects,
the natives of Australia, and which, under pretext of abolish-
ing the slave trade, is now exterminating in most wholesale
fashion the numerous races of Africa-the concern of a
people who do those things is certainly astonishing."

I said that, in writing thus, the Novoe Vremya

but voiced the sentiments of Panslavist Russia ; for
there is a consensus of opinion among all competent
authorities that , in proceeding as he did against the
Jews, Alexander III. , for once in his life at least,
constituted himself the exponent and executor of
the national will-whatever the value of that was
as a reason for and ratification of his acts. " In
the cruel measures adopted against the Jews," said
the Times writer of his obituary notice, " the Tsar
unquestionably had the sympathy of the great
majority of his subjects . " Again, " there is little
doubt," wrote Mr. Stead, " that if the anti-Jewish
laws were to be submitted to a plebiscite , they
would be approved by the enormous majority of the
Russian people . "
" Alexander III .," wrote a very able and well-
210 ALEXANDER III

informed observer,* " is an anti- Semite of the most

uncompromising type, and the origin of his dislike
to the modern Hebrews is to be sought for partly
in the prejudice instilled into his mind by his
earliest teachers, and partly by the calumnies
circulated about the Jews in connection with the
vast frauds perpetrated in the commissariat depart-
ment during the late war by the very men who,
although at that time in his confidence, were after-
wards transported to Siberia for appropriating the
money that should have gone to supply the un-
fortunate soldiers with boots and biscuits. The
latest utterance of the Tsar on the Jewish question
was delivered at the beginning of the present year
( 1894), when reading a report on the results of the
famous exodus scheme, which should have trans-
ferred his Hebrew subjects to South America : ' It
is useless to convert them to Christianity ; it is
dangerous to turn them loose among my subjects,
and it is hopeless to ship them beyond the seas.
They are evidently destined to remain the heaviest
999
cross which the Russian people has to bear.'
In the first few years of his reign, at any rate,
the Tsar made immense efforts to relieve his people
from the burden of what he deemed to be so awful
a cross . If we inquire into his motives, we are
forced to the conclusion that the question of religion
held but a very subordinate place among their
number. It was not nearly so much a question.

* The St. Petersburg correspondent of the Daily Tele-

graph, in an obituary notice of Alexander III .
 THE TSAR PERSECUTOR 211

of religion as of race. As the Jew-baiters say at

Vienna and Berlin :

"Was die Juden glauben—das ist einerlei ;

In der Rasse steckt die Schweinerei."

An English publicist only expanded this coarse

distich when he wrote : *

“ The main object pursued by the governing classes in

repressing the Jew in Russia is sheer self-defence. Russians
hold that the bright Jewish intellect, if allowed free play,
would contaminate the whole Empire within a short space of
time. It has been calculated that if the repressive laws of
Russia were repealed, and the Jews allowed access to any
and every post in the service of the Empire, eight years would
not pass before every post worth having outside the army
and navy would be filled by an official of the Hebrew faith.
I believe the statement to be little if at all exaggerated. The
average Jew towers above the average Russian . Intellectual
jealousy and fear of supersession supply the effective force
to anti- Semitic prejudices in Russia. In point of fact, religious
antipathy has little part in the measures directed against
Russians of the Hebrew faith."

Rightly or wrongly, Alexander III. , with the vast

majority of his subjects , " regarded the Jews as
social parasites, demoralising every community into
which they penetrated- a species of human vermin
whom every Government should seek to extirpate
for the general good ." Their usurious habits , it
was argued, made them the bane of the Russian

* Mr. Arnold White in the Contemporary Review for May

1892, written as the result of eight months' residence in
Russia.
212 ALEXANDER III

peasantry ; they refused to amalgamate with the

Slavs ; they made bad soldiers ; they shirked
manual and agricultural labour ; they exploited
vice ; they cheated, if they could, in trade ; they
banded themselves with the Nihilists , and , indeed ,
formed the brain-power of that revolutionary party ;
they evaded the laws which had been made from
time to time to regulate their existence in Russia ;
and, above all things, they had overleaped the limits
of the vast " Ghetto," or " Pale of Settlement "—
fifteen provinces in the south-west, covering an
area nearly eight times the size of England and
Wales in which they had been assigned a home—
and submerged the rest of the Empire like a burst
reservoir.
Was a ruler who cared for the welfare of his
dear Slavonic subjects to continue tolerating all
this ? " No, by Heaven ! " cried Alexander III . , in
effect, and his resolution was embodied in the famous
" May Laws " of 1882 , which were issued " as a tem-
porary measure, and until a general revision has been
made in a proper manner of the laws concerning the
Jews ." One of these " provisional " edicts forbade
the Jews " henceforth to settle outside the towns
and townlets of the Pale, the only exception admitted
being in those Jewish colonies that have existed
before , and whose inhabitants are agriculturists."
A second edict suspended all the Jewish mortgages
and leases on landed property, and also their powers
of attorney for managing estates ; while a third
forbad them to carry on business on Sundays and
Christian holidays .
 THE TSAR PERSECUTOR 213

Such were the Russian " May Laws ." As some

one said of them, " it was as if all the Jews of
Russia were to be violently crowded in and piled
on top of each other, like grasshoppers in a ditch.
Here they were to be miserably crushed together
until the fruitless struggle for life should have done
its work." To M. Pobedónostseff was attributed
the saying, that of these Jews " a third would be
converted, a third would emigrate, while the rest
would die of hunger." "When microbes have to
be destroyed," said Prince Metchersky, " we do not
pause to inquire how microbes like the process ; "
and this, too, was practically the view of the Tsar
and his Ministers , especially the Procurator of the
Holy Synod, who was animated with a most un-
bending spirit of Jew- abhorring rigour. A Com-
mission of Inquiry, presided over by Count Pahlen,
recommended a policy of leniency, and one of its
members, Prince Demidoff San- Donato, even advo-
cated the complete emancipation of God's chosen
people. But M. Pobedónostseff, the keeper of the
Tsar's conscience, revolted at the very idea, and,
with the consent of his Majesty, gave the persecut-
ing screw another succession of truculent twists,
which had the effect of filling all the Empire with
pitiful havoc and howls of pain.
From 1883 to 1890, the exterminating crusade
was conducted in a spasmodic manner, with alter-
nations of mildness and severity ; but in this latter
year M. Pobedónostseff gave the loose to all his
yelling pack, and Europe was horror-struck at the
reports of savagery, pillage, expulsion, and pitiless
214 ALEXANDER III

persecution which reached it from Holy Russia.

Writing to the Jewish Chronicle, Mr. Gladstone said
that he had " read with pain and horror the various
statements respecting the sufferings of the Jews in
Russia, and that the thing to do, if the facts could
be established, was to ' rouse the conscience of
Russia and Europe in regard to them. "
His words caught on, and a meeting of all that
was illustrious and humane in the public life of
England was convoked at the Guildhall (December
10, 1890) . Dukes , bishops, peers, and professors
crowded the hall. The Earl of Meath, who
" declined to assume that his Imperial Majesty the
Tsar had cognisance of the sufferings to which
his Jewish subjects were exposed ," moved (and his
motion was adopted by acclamation) :

" That a suitable memorial be presented to the Emperor

ofAll the Russias, respectfully praying his Majesty to repeal
all the exceptional and restrictive laws and disabilities which
afflicted his Jewish subjects, and begging his Majesty to confer
upon them equal rights with those enjoyed by the rest of his
Majesty's subjects ; and that the said memorial should be
signed by the Right Honourable the Lord Mayor in the
name of the citizens of London, and be transmitted by his
Lordship to his Majesty."

Accordingly, a memorial to this effect was drawn

up, and I will quote its essential passage as show-
ing, better than could any words of mine, the
nature of the persecution which had so " roused
the conscience " of England :

" Five millions of your Majesty's subjects groan beneath

the yoke of exceptional and restrictive laws . . . . These
 THE TSAR PERSECUTOR 215

laws, built up in bygone times, when intolerance was the

rule in almost every State, have been intensified by later
ordinances, and weigh a grievous burden on the Hebrew
subjects of your Majesty, raising a barrier between them and
their Christian fellow-subjects, making them a pariah caste
degraded and despised as of an accursed race. Pent up in
narrow bounds within your Majesty's wide Empire, and even
within those bounds forced to reside chiefly in towns that
reek and overflow with every form of poverty and wretched-
ness ; forbidden all free movements ; hedged in every enter-
prise by restrictive laws ; forbidden tenure of land, or all
concern in land, their means of livelihood have become so
cramped as to render life for them well- nigh impossible.
Nor are they cramped alone in space and action ; the higher
education is denied them, &c."

How to transmit this memorial to the Tsar was

now the question which occupied the minds of its
framers. At first it was thought that the letter had
best be taken over by a special deputation , and
several courageous gentlemen even volunteered to
undertake the risky task. At last, however, it was
resolved to convey the missive to the British
ambassador in St. Petersburg, with a polite request
to deliver it to the Tsar. But Sir Robert Morier,
deeming himself to be the agent of the English
Queen and Government, and not of Guildhall
Committees , politely declined to be impressed as a
letter-carrier in such a delicate matter, and re-
turned the memorial to its sender. Then the Lord
Mayor dropped the memorial into the post-office,
and in due time it thus reached its destination . But
the Tsar, disdaining even to open such a communica-
tion , handed it to M. de Giers, who sent it to the
Russian ambassador in London , who passed it on to
216 ALEXANDER III

the Marquis of Salisbury, who gave it to Sir Philip

Currie, who returned it to the Lord Mayor (Sir
Joseph Savory), who sat down with a most rueful
countenance to read the following note :-

"MY LORD,-The Russian Ambassador has requested

the Marquis of Salisbury to cause to be returned to your
Lordship the letter which you addressed to his Majesty the
Emperor of Russia on the 24th ult., with the memorial which
accompanied it, respecting the position of the Jews in
Russia, and I am accordingly directed by his Lordship to
transmit to you those papers herewith. I am, my Lord,
your most obedient servant,-P. W. CURRIE."

When the Tsar, as Tsarevitch, was in London

(1873 ) he had taken in to supper the Lady Mayoress
at the grand ball given at the Guildhall in honour
of the Shah . He had shown the Lady Mayoress
in then, and now, in effect, he had shown the
Lord Mayor out. Nor was the public feeling
one of unmitigated surprise that he had done so.
For there were many who argued that, as every
Englishman claimed to be king in his own castle, so
there was also no reason why the Tsar should not
equally be allowed the right of managing his own
affairs in his own way, and even of pulling down his
Empire about his subjects' ears if he chose to do so.
But the truth is that the sense of humanity
which moved the Guildhall meeting had completely
overmastered its sense of tact. To address a
memorial of this kind to so mighty a monarch as
the Ruler of All the Russias, on the calm
assumption that he was ignorant of what was pass-
ing within his own dominions, was nothing less
 THE TSAR PERSECUTOR 217

than a studied insult which no scrupulously chosen

form of respectful address could possibly conceal,
and to which a self-respecting Sovereign could
return but one reply. On the other hand it was
pointed out that as Russia, on a former occasion,
had accorded her thanks to the Duke of West-
minster when he raised his voice in favour of the
oppressed Bulgarians, there was no consistent
reason why his present appeal for pity on behalf of
the persecuted Jews of Russia should have met
with such a pitiless snub.
Far from being deterred by the expression of
public opinion all over Europe, especially in
England, the Tsar only seemed to harden his heart
all the more against his Hebrew subjects, who now
became the victims of a harsher persecution than
ever. Harsh, indeed, is but a weak word to
characterise the new measures that now entangled
the poor Jews of Russia in a barbarous and ever-
tightening network of extermination , which it would
take volumes to detail. Two Commissioners of the
United States Government were sent to Europe
to inquire into the causes of the ever-increasing
immigration of foreigners totally devoid of re-
sources, and their report, in which they embodied
the results of their painstaking journey across
Poland and Russia, stated that " in this account will
be found a convincing history of the terrible con-
ditions which heretofore have been but partially
described and largely disbelieved, because of their
incredible character."
I have not the space to harrow the feelings of
218 ALEXANDER III

my readers with descriptions of the dreadful

miseries which resulted from the expulsion from
Russia of all foreign Jews ; of the hunting of all
Russian Hebrews, like herds of escaped cattle , back
into the pen of the " Pale," where death or
desertion of their country stared them in the face ;
"1
of incidents like the terrible passover " purification
of Holy Moscow under the Grand Duke Sergius,
brother of the Tsar ; and of other heartrending bar-
barities connected with the anti-Semitic crusade of
M. Pobedónostseff and his Imperial master. In a
*
work of this limit I can only deal in generalities ,*
but I think I have now said more than enough to
show that if Alexander III . ever becomes known
to history by any particular title, like his father, who
became the " Tsar Emancipator," that title is likely
to be the " Tsar Persecutor. "
But his claim to this cognomen is founded on a
very much broader and more substantial basis than
his persecution of the Jews . To all intents and
purposes that was a racial persecution ; but it was
Alexander III.'s religious intolerance that formed
the most conspicuous and unlovely feature in his
character. The Jews he hated, but the Gentiles he
positively loathed ; and as Gentiles , or " pagans,"
he accounted all those of his subjects who lived and
worshipped without the pale of the Orthodox

* If my readers want details, they must refer to such books

as Mr. Harold Frederic's " New Exodus "-a work of rare
graphic power-or " The Russian Jews," by Professor Errera,
ofthe University of Brussels.
 THE TSAR PERSECUTOR 219

Church. To recover all these lost sheep and force

them back into the pale of this Church - which , to
the Western mind, seemed to be the embodiment of
the most debased and spurious form of Christianity
-was his consuming passion ; and in the pursuit
of this passion he played some of the most fantastic.
tricks which have ever been performed before the
face of high heaven .
I have no space to deal with his manipulation of
the Roman Catholics in Poland , though, indeed , he
was, perhaps, less of a heretic-hunter in this than in
other parts of his Empire ; and the diplomatic rela-
tions which he finally established with the Vatican
showed that he was almost willing to regard the
Greek and Romish Churches as estranged sisters
not wholly beyond the hope of reconciliation . But
wherever the followers of Dr. Martin Luther, the
heroic monk of Wittenberg, had pitched their Puri-
tanic tents and this they had done extensively in
the Baltic Provinces with their Teutonic population
-there it was that the proselytising fury of Alex-
ander III . poured itself out like the breath of a fiery
furnace.
Let me quote one typical instance of his intolerant
zeal, of which the victim was Prince Barclay de
Tolly, the son of the man who had driven the French
invaders from Russia. True to the faith of his
Scottish ancestors who derived their origin from
Tolly in the shire of Aberdeen, and had done great
things in their time for the Russian Empire, from
the time of Peter the Great downwards- this noble-
man had clung to the simple faith of John Knox ;
220 ALEXANDER III

and when he married a lady of the Orthodox faith,

he had done so on the understanding that any issue
of the marriage should belong to the Lutheran
faith.
" A private enemy of the young Prince informed
the Emperor that he had had his first child chris-
tened in the Lutheran Church, notwithstanding the
express terms of the law which declares that, if
either parent be Orthodox, all the children must
likewise be members ofthe State Church . The Tsar
asked Prince Barclay whether that accusation was
true. The nobleman replied in the affirmative, and
explained his conduct by appealing to the privilege
accorded to all the aristocracy of the Baltic Provinces
by Alexander II., to bring up their children in their
own Church, irrespective of the religion of the
mother. The Tsar angrily said that he withdrew
this privilege on the spot, and that in future the law
that held good in Russia must be enforced in the
provinces of the Baltic.
" Soon afterwards Prince Barclay had another
child, and he baptised her in like manner in the
Lutheran Church, on the ground that he would not
have espoused a Russian had he not been convinced
that he could bring up his children in the faith of
his fathers . Thereupon the Emperor himself, with-
out consulting his adviser, issued an order publicly
dismissing Prince Barclay from the Guards and the
army. Soon after this the persecution went on
apace. Pastors were suspended, fined, imprisoned,
banished, for advising the members of their flock to
remain steadfast in the Lutheran faith ; hints were
 THE TSAR PERSECUTOR 221

thrown out that land would be lavishly distributed to

all peasants who should spontaneously embrace the
religion of the Tsar . But the misguided men who
yielded to the temptation discovered the trap that
had been cunningly set for them , and, endeavouring
to undo their mistake, were punished as apostates
*
or blasphemers."
In 1888 , in reply to the representations of the
Evangelical Alliance concerning the persecution of
the Protestants in the Baltic Provinces, M. Pobe-
dónostseff, acting with his Imperial master's express
approval, had the effrontery to write :
"The Russian Government is convinced that nowhere in
Europe do all religions enjoy such liberty as in Russia. This
truth is unfortunately not admitted in Europe. Why ?
Solely because in Europe religious liberty is confounded with
an unrestricted right of proselytism. The Western religions
in Russia have always been actuated by a mixture of spiritual
and secular motives. Catholicism was impregnated with
Polonism ; Protestantism, as represented by the Livonian
Knights, was equally animated by secular motives. The
time for a peaceful co-operation of the Christianity of the
East with that of the West has unfortunately not yet arrived,
for the Western religions are in Russia still not free from
worldly objects, and even from attacks on the integrity of the
Empire. Russia cannot allow them to tempt her Orthodox
sons to depart from their allegiance, and she therefore con-
tinues to protect them by her laws."

How this protection was extended to the Orthodox

* I am here quoting from an obituary notice of Alex-

ander III., contributed to the Daily Telegraph by the able
and well-informed correspondent of that journal at St. Peters-
burg.
222 ALEXANDER III

sons of Russia was well shown in her treatment of

the Stundists. But who and what are they ?
Briefly put, they are what the early Puritans and
the Methodists were to England, and the Cove-
nanters to Scotland - the salt and leaven of true
religious life in Russia. Their name is derived
from a German word, Stunde, meaning " hour "-
either because their religious services lasted just so
long, or because the German settlers in the South
of Russia, from whom they took their form of
worship, called the times of their praise and prayer
Stunden, or hours, irrespective of their length, just
as in Germany a school-lesson, which generally
lasts an hour, is still called a Stunde.
It was in the neighbourhood of Kherson , where
our own great philanthropist, John Howard, fell a
victim to the plague, that the Stundist movement
took its rise about five-and-thirty years ago. In
the reign of Catherine great numbers of German
peasants had been induced to settle in Southern
Russia, and, with the conservatism of their race,
they had adhered through many generations to the
faith and habits of their simple, pious forefathers. *
These Swabian peasants were destined to do as
much for the social and religious life of Russia as

* For the facts here set forth I have been mainly indebted
to a most admirable article on the subject by Mr. E. B.
"Lanin," in the Contemporary Review for January 1892 ; as
well as to an equally excellent work, " The Stundists - the
Story of a Great Religious Revolt, with Introduction by
John Brown, D.D. , Ex- Chairman of the Congregational
Union."
 THE TSAR PERSECUTOR 223

the revoked Edict -of- Nantes victims of Louis XIV.

did for the arts and manufactures of the countries
where they found a new home.
" In a general way," says Mr. " Lanin," " one
may describe the state of the Russian peasantry,
when Stundism appeared to regenerate it, as that of
brutes rather than men ; of chattels sold or pledged
to pay a debt, or lost and won over a game of cards.
The unfortunate people lay, to use Carlyle's forcible
expression, ' in a soak of horrors, sunk like steep-
ing flax under the widespread, fœtid hell-waters
• addicted to crimes unknown to heathen
nations , and unheard of among peoples ignorant of
God.' Their spiritual guides, gross, grovelling,
greedy, were, if possible, in a still less enviable
condition than the people . ' The ranks of the
clergy,' declared the Fathers of the Ecumenical
Council at Moscow, are filled with clodhoppers,
unfit to graze cattle, much less to feed flocks of
human souls .' . . . . Some of the degraded serfs
were driven by stress of hunger to seek work on
the farms of certain German colonists settled in the
Government of Kherson since the reign of the
Empress Catherine-simple, God -fearing Teutons,
faithful to the language, traditions, and modes of
thought of the Fatherland— and it was while living
here as labourers, substituting coffee for vodka,
hard work for wasteful idleness, and thrift for
improvidence, that these bewitched beasts grew
gradually to the fact that they, too , were men like
their masters, and, issuing from their subterranean
caverns, discovered heaven and earth, God and the
224 ALEXANDER III

devil-above the primal duties shining aloft like

stars, and below the charities that soothe, and heal,
and bless ."
What may be called the founder of the sect in
Russia was a poor peasant, Onishenko by name, a
native of Osnova, near the port of Nicolaieff. He
had been in the employ of various German farmers,
and was one of the most devoted of those who
attended the German Stunden, making a special
study of the New Testament, pure and simple.
1858 he declared himself converted , and was
admitted to membership with the German brethren.
Returning home, he at once began to evangelise his.
fellow-villagers . His preaching caught on, and
the seed which had thus been sown soon began to
shoot up abundantly and spread to other districts .
In a surprisingly short time the peasants all over
the Kherson country had heard the Gospel preached ,
and the new religious movement began to take
something like organised shape. Wherever they
went and they travelled far and near-the propa-
gandists were received with open arms and open
hearts. The emancipation of the serfs, in 1861 ,
gave a wonderful impetus to the movement. For
previously the peasants had been confined to their
communes and villages , and it was only with the
utmost difficulty that the preachers could move from
place to place as sowers of the new spiritual seed .
But now the edict of the Tsar Emancipator removed
this local restriction , and enabled the liberated serfs,
who wandered forth in search of work, to scatter
their knowledge of the true kingdom of God as they
 THE TSAR PERSECUTOR 22

went along. Thus it will be seen that Alexander

did more than liberate the serfs ; for this setting
free of their bodies also carried with it the emanci-
pation of their souls .
Masses of people crowded to the meeting-houses.
They sang and prayed, and read the Gospels, and
multiplied exceedingly. The police were nonplussed,
the priests were aghast . It was a tide the force of
which they could not stem, the depth of which they
could not fathom. "We must worship God in
spirit," said the new sectaries, " and the spirit being
free, our worship should likewise be free from
the fetters of ceremonies and forms. My Saviour
is my only priest." They were the Russian
counterpart of the followers of John Wesley and
of Fox the Quaker. " O God, enlighten me !
make me a changed man ! " Onishenko had prayed.
"I besought Him," he said , " with tears and sobs,
when all at once it seemed as if some one tore the
clothes from off my back, whereupon a marvellous
sense of freedom, a feeling of intense joy, came
over me, and I knew God thenceforth."
Old and young, the Stundists set themselves to
learn to read and write, and so it soon came to
pass that in a land otherwise sunk in brutish
ignorance and superstition "the tiller chanted
scraps of Gospel as he walked after his plough,
the weaver sang chapters of it to the noisy accom-
paniment of the shuttle, and the traveller beguiled
the tedium of his journey with the thrilling stories
of the ' Book.' " The whole monstrous fabric
of Russian Orthodoxy, with its debasing image-
P
226 ALEXANDER III

worship and sacerdotalism, was put away. "Cere-

monies are mummeries," said the Stundist leaders .
"The service of God means our living for others
and dying to ourselves. God is love, and what
He asks of us is love for each other who are His
images, and not temples, and wax-lights, and icons,
and myrrh."
It was computed that by 1870 the Stundist
movement had been joined by about 70,000
peasants, spread over the ten provinces between the
Austrian frontier and the Volga ; and in the next
ten years the new creed had made extraordinary
progress, numbering as it did about 300,000 mem-
bers. It had received a decided impetus from the
introduction of a rival sect of Baptists-the work
also of German missionaries. And what sort of
men and women had the new belief produced ?
Let me quote some impartial evidence on the
subject. Said the Police Superintendent of
Tarashtshansky :

" The Stundists are distinguished from the rest of the

population by their uniform high standard of morality ; and
in the villages in which they reside crime has practically
disappeared. Owing to their sobriety, their economical con-
dition is incomparably better than that of the Orthodox
population, while no comparison at all need be made
between their respective intellectual levels, seeing that
almost all Stundists can read and write. Their family life
is in all respects exemplary, and their relations with each
other are, in the broadest and best sense of the word,
Christian."

This testimony may be supplemented by a writer

who had little sympathy with their religious views :
 THE TSAR PERSECUTOR 227
66
Bickerings and wranglings among the Stundists are
rare, as are all manifestations of authority and power. All
the members of the family are possessed of equal rights,
the husband being in nowise privileged in respect to the
wife, nor the parents in respect to their offspring. Parental
authority, instead of assuming any of those repulsive forms
deemed indispensable for the right bringing up of children,
gives way to gentle persuasion , right direction, and, above
all, to the powerful example of a truly Christian life ."

Take the following testimony from several

Orthodox Russian journals :-

"The lofty morality of the Stundists is truly marvellous.

... Force and violence are foreign to their character ;
guile and double-dealing banished from their lives ; and
such is their natural kind-heartedness that the insults and
injustice which they suffer, instead of kindling their anger,
evoke their compassion. . . . They set such store by
honest labour, that they eschew every kind of pleasure, even
the most innocent of all-viz., the squandering of their time
away in idleness . . . . The Stundists are a most industrious
body of men ; they do not steal, neither do they drink nor
swear ; and in the ups and downs of life they bear them-
selves like genuine Christians. Crime amongst them is
almost unheard of ; one of their cherished virtues consists
in feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, caring for the
sick, sheltering the wanderer ; in a word, in helping in every
feasible way their necessitous neighbours. . . . An upright,
sober, compassionate people."

On the other hand, the spirit that began to

animate the high-placed members of the Russian
hierarchy against these simple, fervid folk may be
judged from the following verses taken from a
leaflet circulated among the faithful, and believed
to be the composition of no less a personage than
228 ALEXANDER III

the Archbishop of Kief himself, by whose authority

it was issued :-

66 Boom , ye Church thunde ,

rs
Flash forth ye curses of the Councils !
Crush with eternal anathemas
The outcast race of Stundists !

"The Stundist strikes at our dogmas,

Scoffs at our traditions,
Loathes our holy icons,
The heretic, the damned Stundist.

" Our fanes and holy temples

That shine throughout the land,
Like stars in the blue firmament,
Are shunned by the damned Stundist.

66 Cruel and dark as a demon,

He shuns all faithful Christians,
And crawls into darkest corners-
God's foe, the damned Stundist.

" The thoughtless and harmless , who near

The den of this malignant beast,
Are befouled with blasphemies and slanders,
And cajoled by the damned Stundist."

Such, then, was the spirit which animated the

Russian Church against the new sectaries , and
which the Church, in turn, managed to infuse into
the Government . The clergy soon came to see that,
unaided, they were powerless against the growing
strength of the Stundists, and, at an episcopal
conference held at Kief, it was determined to peti-
tion the secular powers to help in suppressing a
movement dangerous alike to Church and State.
 THE TSAR PERSECUTOR 229

The latter, it must be owned, was at first a little

slow to act ; but at last, in 1878, the two powers
combined their forces, and the persecution began.
The infected districts were raided by the police, who
closed meeting-houses, confiscated Bibles and hymn-
books , " interned " the leaders in their villages,
deprived them of their passports, cast them into
prison . For four years this went on, though with-
out any marked effect on the movement, for when
the Stundists could no longer meet for worship in
their cottages, they took to the solitude of the steppe,
and there held their secret, sentinel-guarded con-
venticles, like the Covenanters of old. "We must
sorrowfully confess ," wrote a rural dean in 1881 ,
" that, notwithstanding the earnest attempts made
by the Church to wean these schismatics from their
errors, notwithstanding admonition and prayerful
entreaty, notwithstanding the gentle and paternal pres-
sure of the wordly powers, they continue in their
stiff-necked course, and evince no desire to be
reconciled to us."
" Gentle pressure was good . But this was
written in the year of the accession of Alexander III .,
and from this time forth the Stundists were to
know what persecution really meant. " My prede-
cessors knouted the Stundists with whips , " said the
newly-consecrated Bishop Sergius , " but I will beat
them with scorpions ." With M. Pobedónostseff at
his side, the new Tsar determined to do all he
could to root out the accursed sect. The local
commissaries of police a rough, ignorant , and
tyrannical class - were empowered to levy arbitrary
230 ALEXANDER III

fines on peasants who continued to attend Stundist

meetings after a warning not to do so, and to dis-
train if the fines were not paid. " Misery and ruin
were thus brought to hundreds of happy homes. All
through the winters of 1882 and 1883 it was quite
a common thing to see in the villages auctions of
the effects of Stundists-their bedding, clothes , and
sticks of furniture being sold to liquidate these
scandalous fines . We have before us a list of the
Stundists fined and imprisoned in the one village of
Nerubalsk. During the space of eighteen months ,
twelve families here were fined the incredible sum
of two thousand six hundred roubles, equivalent in
our currency to £ 260 . One man, more than usually
obstinate in his views, was fined altogether over
seven hundred roubles."
But the clergy were not yet satisfied, nor the
Emperor either. " It is a national evil, this Stund-
ism," wrote a minister of religion to the Kief Eccle-
siastical Consistory in 1883 ; " it is destructive of
our best and holiest institution ; it aims its shafts
at the State as well as at the Church ; it seeks to
bring about anarchy and Nihilism, and it is therefore
the paramount duty of provincial governors to leave
no stone unturned in their efforts to purify our
beloved fatherland from the stain of these danger-
ous disturbers of society." The bishops took pre-
cisely this view, and petitioned the Holy Synod to
move provincial governors to more drastic measures,
and especially to use for this purpose the dreaded
"
power vested in them of " administrative process,"
which empowered the governors of provinces to
 THE TSAR PERSECUTOR 231

transport to Siberia or the Caucasus any trouble-

some or suspected persons, but against whom the
evidence was not sufficiently strong to allow of their
trial by jury.
Armed with these awful powers, the authorities
now began to strike at the leaders of the Stundist
movement, thinking thereby to destroy the body by
cutting off the head. Soon there was hardly a
gaol all over the South of Russia that did not con-
tain martyrs to the new faith, and seldom was there
a wretched gang of prisoners on the way to Siberia
or Transcaucasia that lacked a Stundist preacher.
Awful deserts, like Gerusi, Terter, Yevlach, and
other places, were selected as the domicile of the
Stundist leaders . They were all sent to their des-
tination per étape-walking with ordinary criminals
in chains, with shaven heads, and clad in the ordi-
nary prison garb. Pushed and hustled , they were
thrust at with bayonets if they remonstrated , and
one hapless wretch had his head caved in. But
here we should require to call in the aid of all Mr.
Kennan's prison horrors in Russia to paint in ade-
quate hues the pains and penalties inflicted on these
heroic sufferers for conscience' sake. But hear the
anonymous author of The Stundists :

" Religious intolerance is just as rampant in Russia to-day

as it was in England during the reigns of the Tudors, and it
is only prevented from going to the extremes of personal
torture and the public stake by the dread of Western
opinion.... The fabric of Russian power is an autocracy
based on ignorance and superstition ; and, therefore, it is the
interest of self-preservation that has always prompted the
Tsar's government to crush anything that would bring
232 ALEXANDER III

enlightenment in its train. Thousands of Stundists and

Baptists, of Molokans and Dukhobortsi, are banished to the
remotest corners of the vast Empire, and imprisoned and
tortured in a variety of ways, only a degree less inhuman
than the scourgings and rackings of the Middle Ages. The
nations of the West do not seem to be alive to this. They
do not seem to realise hat they have at their gates a Power
more intolerant of religious liberty than was Spain in her
worst days, and persecutors as unscrupulous and narrow-
minded as Alva and Torquemada. How can they know it ?
Russia works in secret ; her methods are underground, and
her victims are voiceless. There is no Press in Russia
worthy the name to report and denounce each case of perse-
cution as it occurs. The trials of heretics are conducted
with closed doors, the public being carefully excluded.
Russians themselves do not know a tenth of what is being
done."

Under the pitiless rule of the " Tsar Persecutor "

and his Torquemada a Stundist became an outlaw ;
his children were no longer his own ; he was ex-
cluded from all village life and activity ; his pass-
port bore a mark of infamy ; he durst not employ
an Orthodox servant, nor was he permitted to
serve an Orthodox master. Even when dead , the
vengeance of the Church followed him ; for his body
had to be cast into the grave, away from the con-
secrated earth that held the bones of his fathers.
The "trials " of some of these poor, persecuted
men carry us back to the times of Judge Jeffreys
and his Bloody Circuit. " Ah, you are a Stundist,
are you ? " shouted Admiral Zelenoi, the Governor
of Odessa, to whom a stone-mason applied for
leave to go to a neighbouring town, which the
loss of his passport debarred him from doing.
 THE TSAR PERSECUTOR 233

" You are a Stundist , are you ? You rascal !

How dare you leave the Orthodox Church , you
scoundrel ? I'll pack you off to Siberia , you son of
a— " " As God wills ," the stone -mason
answered simply. " As God wills, is it, you
ruffian ! You presumed to leave the Orthodox
Church, did you ? Well , by I'll make it
hot enough for you outside the Church, you'll find .
Leave my presence this moment ; begone ! son of
a 19

Boycotted, banished, imprisoned, fined, bank-

rupted, condemned to loss of civil rights , and torn
from the bosoms of their families, these poor
martyrs to their religious beliefs could not have
been more barbarously treated if they had been con-
spirators of the most dangerous kind, criminals of
the deepest die, instead of being " the most honest,
sober, and moral peasants in the Empire ." Of their
brutal treatment on the road to the terrible deserts
of their exile some of the Stundist preachers have
given accounts quite as horrible as those prison-
pictures which moved Mr. Swinburne, in his famous
ode to Russia, to exclaim :
" God or man, be swift ; hope sickens with delay !
Smite and send him howling down his father's way-
* * * * *
Down the way of Tsars, awhile in vain deferred,
Bid the Second Alexander light the Third.
How for shame shall men rebuke them ? how may we
Blame, whose fathers died, and slew, to leave us free ?

* “ Russia : an Ode." By A. C. Swinburne, written after

reading an account of " Russian Prisons," in the Fortnightly
Review for July 1890.
234 ALEXANDER III

We, though all the world cry out upon them, know,
Were our strife as theirs, we could not strike but so."

" As the rule of Alexander II . ," says Mr. " Lanin,"

"was the mildest and most liberal, so that of his
son and successor is by far the most despotic expe-
rienced by the Russian people since the days of Ivan
the Terrible. Especially during the last five or six
years, all the legal formalities and other frail barriers
that stood between sectarians and ruin have been
completely swept away, and flogging, fining,
imprisonment, and life-long torture in the Siberian
mines can be, and frequently are , meted out,
without let or hindrance, or judicial delay, to men
and women whom practical Englishmen or
Americans would be disposed to regard as good
citizens and benefactors to the community."
Now, was it in the least surprising, in view of
all this terrible tyranny and persecution- which
must be taken as typical of much more of the same
kind directed against other races and religions in
the Russian Empire- that the hearts of many of
the subjects of Alexander III . should have been
filled with the deepest hatred of the despotism
under which all these dreadful things were possible,
and that they should, in consequence, have joined the
ranks of those who had sworn to devote their
souls and bodies to the work of making Russia a
freer and a happier land ?
We have seen how Alexander III . persecuted
millions of his subjects. Let us now see how
many of those subjects in turn persecuted him.
 CHAPTER IX

A REIGN OF TERROR

Assassination and executions - A terrorist ultimatum —

What the Nihilists want-A chat with " Stepniak"-Party
of the " People's Will " —And of the " People's Rights "—
Spiritual and material means -De propagandâ fide—
Congress of Lipètsk- Nihilist organisation- Mass trial
of terrorists Suchanoff executed - General Strelnikoff
shot-A basketful of eggs - Coronation of the Tsar-
Tactics of the Terrorists at Moscow-" Nor I either "-
Nihilism in the army-Murder of Colonel Sudeikin-
Colonel Aschenbrenner and Baron Stromberg-Vera
Filipoff, a tempting Terrorist-Arrests and assassinations
-Plots against the Emperor-A life of fear and pre-
caution -Anecdotes -The Grand Morskaia plot, and the
Executive Committee-Another mass trial-" Education
to be abolished ! "-The Borki catastrophe-“ Oh, papa,
they'll come and murder us all ! "-A bomb factory at
Zürich-" A paper bullet of the brain "-Madam Tzebri-
kova's letter - lts consequences to her - Sophie Güns-
berg-General Seliverskoff shot at Paris - A French
Exhibition at Moscow- Dynamite one of its exhibits-
Proof against bribes-The Moujik Tsar- Shaken nerves
-A Ministry of personal protection - The greatest
Terrorist of all-A revolting manifesto.

We have already seen (p. 53) how Alexander III.

had not been many days on the throne before there
reached him a document in the nature of an
236 ALEXANDER III

ultimatum from the Executive Committee of the

Nihilists, and how in all probability it was this
document which at last determined him to
withhold from the nation the semi-constitutional
privileges which had been decreed by his father on
the very day of his death. The new Tsar was
bent on showing that he would not be terrorised.
He might yield to persuasion , but not to threats-
the less so as the sight of his poor father's mangled
body had filled his heart with such a glowing
resentment against the party which had produced
the assassins of his sire that his mind, for the
time being, was almost bereft of its reasoning
powers.
The Nihilists had made six separate attempts to
take the life of Alexander II . , and at last they had
succeeded. But they had to pay dearly for their
success . Five of their number, including a woman
(Sophie Perofsky) , who had been implicated in the
regicide of March 13 , were summarily tried and
executed (April 15 ) in a very shocking manner.
The Government forbore carrying out the capital
sentence on another of the conspirators , Jessé
Helfmann, as she was with child, and com-
muted her punishment into penal servitude for
life . A few days after this execution , the Nihilists
contrived to communicate the following to the
Tsar :
" On April 15, between 9 and 10 A.M. , on the Semeonoff
Square, St. Petersburg, the following Socialists received the
martyr's crown " (names of the five conspirators given).
"Imperial senators sat in judgment over the martyrs, while
the Tsar, Alexander III . dictated the sentence and also
 A REIGN OF TERROR 237

confirmed it. In this way the new imperialism has cha-

racterised itself; the first act of the autocratic will of
Alexander III. was the command to hang a woman. He
sprinkled his throne with the blood of the champions of
popular rights before even the time of his coronation
had come. As for us, we avouch, in presence of the whole
people, by the fresh grave of our dear companions, that
we will continue the war of national liberation. . . . While
postponing to a near future its estimate of the general policy
of Alexander III., the Executive Committee hereby inti-
mates that a policy of reaction, according to the tradition
of Alexander II., will inevitably lead to consequences of
far graver import for the Government than those of
March 13 ...

"Know'st thou a murderer ? " asked Richard III.

of his page, as if he had been inquiring for a
barber. " I know a ruined gentleman , " quoth the
page, " whose humble means match not his haughty
tastes " ; and of such stuff- but stay ; let us hear
how Prince Peter Dolgoruki once defined the
Russian party of revolution. " Nihilists," said the
Prince, " are of two kinds-those who have nothing
in their heads, and those who have nothing in their
pockets ." Touching their purses, I know and
care not ; but feeling curious, for the purposes of
this simple narrative, as to the contents of their
heads, I set myself to find out what the Nihilists.
really want. I applied to " Stepniak " for informa-
tion on the point , and got for answer :-

"(1) A permanent Representative Assembly, exercising

supreme control and direction in all general questions of
State.
(2) Provincial autonomy on an ample basis, assured by the
election of all public functionaries.
238 ALEXANDER III

(3) Independence of the village commune ( Mir), with

economic and administrative unity.
(4) The nationalisation of land.
(5) A series of measures tending to transfer the possession
offactories to the workers therein.
(6) Absolute freedom of conscience, speech, Press, public
meeting, association, and election.
(7) Extension of the suffrage to all citizens who have
reached their majority, without distinction of class or
fortune ; and
(8) The substitution of a territorial militia for a standing
army."

These , added " Stepniak ," were the demands

that had been formulated by the party of the
Narodnaia Volia, or " People's Will."
" Rather a large order," I remarked, " Monsieur
Stepniak, n'est ce pas, to come down with all of a
sudden upon the Autocrat of All the Russias ? And
do the Nihilists expect that such sweeping changes
will be granted them all at once ? "
""
" Perhaps not all in a lump," replied the author
of " Underground Russia " ; " but that is their
creed, and if the Liberals in the Empire would only
organise a better and more forcible expression of
their views, there is no saying but that , under a
new régime, much might be achieved. I do not
mean an outbreak of violence of a revolutionary
kind, but a broad and all- permeating movement
among the educated classes in the Empire, which
ought to be irresistible. Popular discontent is deep
and strong, and growing ever more so, and if the
present Tsarevitch (Nicholas Alexandrovitch) came
to the throne, he might perhaps see the wisdom of
 A REIGN OF TERROR 239

doing something to diminish the peck of troubles

which always weighed upon his father, and made
his life a burden . Things may grow better under a
new ruler, I think they will ; but they cannot very
well be worse. At any rate, it will be wiser of the
party of revolution, or call it reform, to utilise the
popular discontent at present prevailing as a means
of pressure, than to have recourse to acts of
violence."
" You have formulated to me the demands of the
People's Will " party. But has not another rival,
or co-ordinate party, recently sprung up, calling
itself that of " Popular Rights " (Narodnoe Pravo),
and known in England as the " Friends of Political
Freedom ? "
" To be sure there has a party which, as I
gather from its recent manifesto, is based on the
belief that autocracy, after receiving its most vivid
expression and impersonation in the reign of
Alexander III ., has with irrefutable clearness proved
its impotence to create such an order of things as
shall secure the country the fullest and most regular
development of all her spiritual and material forces ."
" Très bien, Monsieur Stepniak. But how, then,
does this party propose to confer upon the nation
the political blessings which have been denied it
by autocracy ? "
Well, to quote again from the manifesto ,
' as there is not, and cannot be, a hope that
the Government will willingly enter upon the path.
indicated, there is but one course remaining to
the people to oppose the force of organised public
240 ALEXANDER III

opinion to the inertness of the Government and the

narrow dynastic interests of the autocracy.' The
party of Popular Rights ' has in view the creation
of this force."
" And what are its demands as compared with
those of the ' People's Will ' Party ? "
"There is its manifesto, which declares the
guarantees of popular right to be-

" Representative government on the basis of universal

suffrage.
Freedom of religious belief.
Independence of the courts of justice.
Freedom of the Press.
Freedom of meeting and association.
333
Inviolability of the individual and his rights as a man."

" Ah, mais c'est bien beau, tout ça ! "

" Thus understanding popular rights,' the
manifesto goes on to say, ' the party sets itself the
task of uniting all the oppositional elements of the
country, and of organising an active force which
should, with all the spiritual and material means
at its disposal, attain the overthrow of autocracy
and secure to everyone the rights of a citizen and
man.'
From all this conversation I had gathered that it
was now the intention of the various parties of
revolution in Russia to rely more upon " spiritual "
than " material " force as a means de propagandâ
fide. But if this was the attitude of the Nihilists,
Socialists-call them what you will -at the end of
the reign of Alexander III ., it was at least un-
deniable that, in order to attain their ends, they
 A REIGN OF TERROR 241

had made his reign of thirteen years a Reign of

Terror ― a despotism tempered with repeated
attempts at assassination . The famous " Executive
Committee " of the Nihilists had been formed in
1877, when a number of enthusiastic young men
(about fifteen) met at Lípètsk, in the Government
of Tambof, and decided to organise an attempt on
the Emperor's life, at the same time resolving " to
discard revolver and dagger as obsolete and un-
certain weapons, and trust to dynamite and bombs ."
This " Congress of Lípètsk ," as it was ambitiously
called, had the effect of splitting the party of revo-
lution into two factions -one, the " terrorists," who
advocated the " suppression " of rulers ; and the
" moderates," who were for plain propaganda and
opposed to murder.
The former set to work, and by their repeated
outrages soon justified their title. " Bewildered ,"
says M. Leroy- Beaulieu, " by the audacity and the
gigantic scale of the outrages committed almost
simultaneously from end to end of the Empire,
public opinion, in the general scare, pictured the
terrorists as an immense army, disposing of a
costly plant, and operating with perfect ensemble
on all points of the Empire. But this was a mistake .
The twenty attempts perpetrated from 1878 to 1882
-the mines in the two capitals, in Odessa, in
Alexandrofsk-the explosions at the Moscow rail-
way station and in the Winter Palace- the assassi-
nation of the chief of police and the governor-
were the deeds of a handful of men.
" As early as 1880, one of the ministers of
242 ALEXANDER III

Alexander II . explained how this conviction had

been arrived at. As soon as a certain number of
conspirators had been arrested, it was noticed that
a man implicated in one affair was always implicated
in others also. Like supers at a play, the weird
actors of the revolutionary drama indefatigably
cumulated their parts, passing and repassing from
one end to the other of the vast stage comprised
between the Black and Baltic seas, continually
changing their names, their disguises, their tasks ;
the same man was here a miner handling the
pick-axe, there a type- setter or a journalist, so that
they appeared to be everywhere at once, and, by
this seeming ubiquitousness, increased their party's
influence tenfold. The hand of Jeliábof and that
of Sophie Peròfsky, for instance, are shown in all
the unsuccessful attempts in the south and in the
Moscow explosions, as well as in the final cata-
strophe in St. Petersburg (March 1881 ) ."
These Nihilists , in fact, would seem to have often
played the pluralist rôle of the sucking- pig referred
to in my character-sketch of Alexander I. (p. 6) .
But none the less were they a terror to all in
authority with the doings and edicts of their
Executive Committee, " the sight of whose seal
made people tremble from end to end of the
Empire." Into the secret organisation of the
terrorists it is not here necessary to inquire . I
must content myself with recording some of the
chief manifestations of their activity which made
the reign of Alexander III . a reign of terror, and
so worked upon his nervous system as to generate
 A REIGN OF TERROR 243

the illness which ultimately brought him to the

grave.
In the spring of the year ( 1882 ) succeeding that
of his accession , twenty-two persons were tried for
complicity in the murder of the late Tsar, for the
assassination of General Mezentzeff in 1878, and
for the robbery of two and a half million roubles
from the Kherson bank in 1879. One of the
accused, an ex- officer of the navy, named Suchanoff,
declared that the social conditions of life in Russia
were such as to drive any sensitive and enlightened
man into the ranks of the revolutionists, and drew
such a moving picture of the circumstances which
had led him to join the Nihilists that even his
judges were affected. But in spite of being bril-
liantly defended by the counsel who had appeared
for Vera Sassulitch, the " Charlotte Corday " of
Russia (who had come a long way from the country
to shoot General Trepoff, Chief of Police, for
beating a prisoner with rods), ten of the accused
were found guilty and sentenced to the gallows-tree,
the rest being let off with various terms of penal
servitude . Suchanoffhimself was shot at Cronstadt.
Soon after this the police effected the capture of
one Kobozeff, who was believed to be the head of
the dreaded Executive Committee ; but, nothing
daunted by these reverses, the terrorists continued
to strike one of their chief victims about this time
being General Strelnikoff, Public Prosecutor at
Kief, who was openly assassinated while sitting on
the boulevard at Odessa, on the very day (March 30)
on which the Tsar had signed Suchanoff's death-
244 ALEXANDER III

warrant . His murderers were at once arrested ,

tried by court-martial , and hanged three days later,
one of them declaring on the scaffold that the
General had been killed for opposing the propaga-
tion of Nihilist doctrines among the working- men of
Odessa.
A few weeks later eighty workmen were arrested
in Moscow, a mine, it was said, having been
discovered in the Kremlin , where preparations were
already being made for the Tsar's coronation in the
following year. At the same time the Prefect of
Police received a basketful of eggs , several of which
were found to be charged with dynamite, while an
anonymous note said : " We have plenty more for
the Tsar's coronation." A mine was also discovered
on the Nicolai Railway. In June , forty Nihilists
were arrested in St. Petersburg, a large quantity of
dynamite, with a plan of the Kremlin , being found
in their possession , while a secret printing-press
was discovered at the Ministry of Marine with
thousands of copies of a seditious proclamation.
But the coronation of the Tsar, in May of the
following year ( 1883 ) , passed off without any sign
from the terrorists , who had agreed to hold their
hands in the hope that the ceremony might be
signalised by some act of Imperial grace- some
concession to the popular demands which the Tsar
had so sternly refused at his accession , and which
even now he would not grant. * The surprise

* The manifesto issued by the Emperor on this occasion

had no political importance whatever, being only a long list
 A REIGN OF TERROR 245

expressed in many quarters at the peaceful nature of

the coronation was in no wise shared by the Nihilists
themselves. To them it was well known that no
attempt would be made on that occasion , although,
to divert the attention of the police from their real
movements, they circulated rumours which greatly
alarmed, not merely the Russian Court, but
many of its distinguished guests. As a matter of

of the remission of taxes, fines, and punishments. These

remissions related to the poll- tax and emancipation tax, and
to arrears of the peasants' salt, and spirit taxes, and the
repayment of sums overdrawn for expenses during the late
Turkish war. Criminals condemned, without deprivation of
civil rights, had one-third of their terms remitted . Exiles to
Siberia for life had their sentences commuted to 20 years'
penal servitude, at the discretion of the governor of the
province concerned. The application of the manifesto to
the cases of State criminals or political refugees was left in
the hands of the Minister of the Interior. Those still lying
under sentence for the Polish troubles in 1863 were to be
free from all further penal consequences ; but confiscated
property was not to be restored.
Another disappointment and disenchantment now awaited
the Nihilists. The secret societies had inscribed their flags
with the words "Land and Liberty " (Zemlià i Vòlia) ; and, in
order to keep alive popular illusion and cupidity, the mischief-
makers from time to time started rumours as to a new dis-
tribution of land among the peasantry, especially about the
time of the Tsar's coronation ( 1883) . But at a banquet
then given at Moscow to the elders of the rural communes, his
Majesty took occasion to say : " Give no heed to the absurd
rumours which are circulated concerning a redistribution of
lands and a free extension of the lands belonging to you.
These rumours are the work of our enemies. All property
-yours as well as other people's-must be inviolable."
246 ALEXANDER III

fact, the Nihilist party came to the conclusion that

an attempt against the person of the Tsar during the
coronation would damage their interests in any case.
They had many good arguments to justify their
unexpected neutrality. They urged that the revo-
lutionary movement in Russia embraced many per-
sons of moderate views, whose opinions must be
taken into account, for, although rarely producing
men of action, they often supplied large sums of
money for the purposes of agitation . These mode-
rate partisans looked forward to the coronation as a
fitting occasion for the granting of a Constitution ,
while the extreme faction hoped for some measure
of mercy towards the Nihilists in Siberia and in
prison. To have hindered such concessions by an
untimely blow would have alienated many sym-
pathies ; whereas, as matters then stood, whatever
reaction of feeling might take place would be in
favour of, rather than against, the Nihilists .
It was also calculated that the people who came
to the coronation would not be in the right frame of
mind, or belong to a class likely to approve of a
revolutionary blow. The Nihilists, who were
always seeking to win the people over to their
cause, would not have increased their popularity by
disturbing a popular fête. The multitude, intoxi-
cated by the free distribution of beer and spirits,
might, on the contrary, have been led to massacre
every one of known or suspected Liberal tendencies ;
and although the power of the autocracy would have
lost much of its prestige, the revolutionary party
would have been blamed by many of its best
 A REIGN OF TERROR 247

friends. On the other hand, the coronation offered

an excellent opportunity for the Nihilist party to
develop its strength. The whole force of the
Government and its most intelligent spies were
concentrated at Moscow, and the Nihilists profited
by this auspicious occasion to spread their doc-
trines and to enrol supporters at St. Petersburg
and other large centres . When the cat is away, the
mouse doth play.
In this work they were amply successful. The
strength of the party, at St. Petersburg especially ,
greatly increased during the preparations for the
coronation. The Nihilist agents, free from the
presence of the spies who knew them best, propa-
gated their doctrines unchecked, and riots were the
result. Nor did the Nihilists think that their
abstention during the coronation would be taken as
a proof of their weakness . Their past was there to
speak for them, and the most recent as well as pre-
vious arrests showed how they counted partisans in
every class of society, among those who were nearest,
as well as among those who were farthest removed
from, the person of the Tsar.
At the same time , as I myself had reason to
know, there were at the coronation officials and
others, secretly at the orders of the Nihilist party,
near enough to the Emperor to have struck a fatal
blow if the dread word of command had been given.
Indeed, it was to be feared that some over-zealous
partisan would, on his own responsibility, and in
defiance of orders to the contrary, throw a small
dynamite hand-grenade, or otherwise seek to take
248 ALEXANDER III

the life of the Tsar. Fortunately, however, the

discipline of the party was not broken, although to
some the temptation to do so must have been great.
Apart from these hidden friends of Nihilism , a few
well-known conspirators also contrived to be pre-
sent at the coronation , in spite of all the efforts of
the police to discover and capture them. There
was no special reason to induce them to be in Mos-
cow at such a time ; but the Russian Nihilist is
particularly foolhardy, and never seems so happy as
when defying fate and the police.
A few years later I made the acquaintance in
London of a well-known Russian refugee, who had
been connected with the Executive Committee, and
the conversation turned on the Tsar's coronation.
I remarked that I had never seen a more magnifi-
cent pageant . " Nor I either," said my Nihilist
friend , who then explained , to my great surprise,
that he had also been in the thick of it all .
The coronation period formed but a delusive lull
in the fierce warfare between the terrorists and the
Tsar. It had been preceded in April by another
mass trial at St. Petersburg, which showed that the
Nihilist organisation could boast of members in the
higher ranks of the army, and that its operations
were conducted with great ability and daring.
Five officers of a Mingrelian regiment had been
cashiered on account of their connection with the
revolutionary movement ; and, at the trial referred
to, it was proved that one of the accused was in
possession of several treasonable letters, written to
him by a Nihilist at the time that the latter was a close
 A REIGN OF TERROR 249

prisoner in the island-fortress of Saints Peter and

Paul-letters which could not possibly have been
penned and sent out without the direct help of the
gaol officials . At this trial, too, it came out in
evidence that, apart from having organised a Red
Cross Committee for helping imprisoned members
of the confederacy, the Nihilists had also established
a kind of factory for the forging of foreign passports,
the seals and stamps of the facsimiles produced in
court having been imitated so closely that they
could barely be distinguished from those issued by
the various European Governments.
Towards the end of this year the Tsar was
thrown into a state of extreme consternation by the
audacious murder of Colonel Soudeikin , chief of
the secret police , a man who was hated by the
Nihilists as their most active and dangerous foe.
As head of the " Secret Anti-Nihilist Society," or
" Society for Active Resistance to the Nihilists ,"
founded in 1882, he had done good service in dis-
covering some of the chief haunts of the terrorists,
and tracking down their leaders. He was, therefore,
condemned to die, his appointed executioner being
one Degaieff, who was employed as a decoy duck
to lure Nihilists to his house, where they might be
watched by the police. It was in this house that
he treacherously shot Colonel Soudeikin and his
nephew while drinking tea, which is the beer of
Russia. About the same time the Nihilists issued
a manifesto contrasting the peaceful life led by the
Tsar during his visits to Denmark, with the incessant
anxieties of which he was the victim while immured
250 ALEXANDER III

in his palace- prison at Gatchina, and declaring that

he would never enjoy peace in his own country
until he had granted a Constitution to his long-
suffering people.
The following year ( 1884) was also rendered
memorable by another mass trial of Nihilists at St.
Petersburg (October), which, while letting in more
light on their aims and methods, filled the soul of
the Tsar with dread and darkness. For it showed
him, above all things, that his very army, at once
the emanation and the mainstay of his absolute
power, was gradually falling a prey to the propa-
gandists of revolution and the practitioners of terror.
Among the fourteen Nihilists now put upon their
"9
trial for " high treason were six officers, one of
them a Lieut.-Colonel Aschenbrenner, and another
a naval man, Baron Stromberg. The former had 1
banded the officers of his regiment into a revolu-
tionary group, and bound them over to the payment
of regular money contributions for the promotion of
its aims .
But by far the most interesting figure among this
group of revolutionaries was a lady, the wife of
a physician, Vera Filipoff by name, who had been
arrested in the previous year by Colonel Soudeikin,
before he was murdered , while on her way from
the south of the Empire in order to take part in a
plot for assassinating its head in the same way as
Sophie Peròfsky had participated in the plot to
" remove " Alexander II . The tactics of this Vera
Filipoff had been of a singularly bold and original
kind. Her sphere of action was the army, of
 A REIGN OF TERROR 251

which she sought to gain over the officers by offering

to surrender her beautiful person to their will in
return for a written undertaking on their part to
restrain their men from firing on the people in
the event of a rising . Such a document made every
officer who succumbed to the temptation of her
charms- and the number was a large one-the
unconditional instrument of her self- sacrificing pur-
pose. Eight of the accused , including Madam
Filipoff herself, were condemned to die, and six to
imprisonment , though the Tsar only signed the
death-warrants of Baron Stromberg and Lieutenant
Rogatscheff, commuting the sentences of the others.
into penal servitude for life.
About this time the police made a great capture
in the person of one Lopatin , who had eluded their
search for nearly sixteen long years. In his lodg-
ing was found a quantity of dynamite and some
documents, which enabled the police to make
numerous arrests , both in the capital and the
provinces. In Odessa (to quote only one of the
Nihilist incidents which otherwise marked the
course of this terroristic year), Marie Kalyushny,
the daughter of a reputable merchant, shot at a
gendarmerie Colonel Ketansky, but missed her aim,
and was drafted off to penal servitude for twenty
years .
The year 1885 was a quieter one, on the whole,
in the Nihilist camp, though the police again
succeeded in unearthing and frustrating several
plots against the life of the Tsar. When searching
a private house at Kharkoff, where a secret printing-
252 ALEXANDER III

press , weapons, and dynamite were discovered, a

police inspector was shot dead by a student named
Lissionski, who was thereupon tried and hanged
for the crime. But worse than all, Warsaw had
been discovered to be the seat of a most serious
conspiracy, headed by a justice of the peace called
Bardoffski ; and about two hundred persons , mostly
belonging to the working class, were arrested.
Four of the ringleaders were hanged, and others
sent to penal servitude or deported. In September
another plot against the Emperor was discovered—
the third within three months. Again, in October,
several officers of various corps and grades were
convicted of affiliation to the terrorists- army pro-
paganda being greatly facilitated by the abuses of
the military administration , by the spirit prevailing
in special schools, by the smallness of the officers'
pay, as well as by the inferior social standing
enjoyed by the line as compared with the Guards.
In the following year ( 1886) the Tsar was a
good deal on the wing, travelling to Sebastopol ,
where he issued his stirring appeal to the Black
Sea Fleet, as a prelude to his repudiation of the
Berlin Treaty clause referring to Batoum (see
p. 129) ; and Europe was now presented with the
curious spectacle of a monarch who thus dared to
brave the displeasure, and even the active hostility,
of the foreign Powers, hurrying from end to end of
his Empire through what was virtually a lane of
troops to protect him from the bombs, and mines,
and other machinations of his own subjects . Every
bridge, every culvert, every level-crossing of the
 A REIGN OF TERROR 253

railway lines by which he journeyed was guarded by

well-tried sentries , and the whole route patrolled by
soldiers within sight of each other. The Imperial
train itself was always divided into several sections,
so as to make it impossible for the public to guess
which portion carried the person of the Tsar him-
self ; and his Majesty's destination was never
known until he had reached it. Such was the
mode of travelling enjoined by fear upon the
sovereign who had hoped to build his throne on
the hearts and affections of his subjects.
And then, how did he live - at Gatchina, for
example ? Let the following description show :-
" The park surrounding the Castle is admirably
planted. Nature, however, has greatly assisted the
gardeners in their work. The park, which is sur-
rounded by a strong wall, contains two small lakes.
and a rivulet. The forest adjoining the park is
also enclosed . These enclosures have been con-
structed within the last five years at enormous cost.
The surveillance in the Castle and around the park
is extremely strict. The roads leading to Gatchina
are constantly patrolled, and no individual is per-
mitted to pass without exhibiting his papers . The
railway station, although used exclusively by the
Court, is also strictly watched . Persons who are
not in the service of the Court cannot enter a train
or alight at the Gatchina station.
" Round the wall of the park is stationed a chain
of sentries placed at distances of twenty-five metres,
who are changed every hour, in order that the
surveillance may be vigorously applied . Entry into
254 ALEXANDER III

the park and Castle is not permitted, even to the

servants or to the employés of the Imperial Cabinet,
without the presentation of a special card, the
colour of which is changed every week. Besides
this, all persons residing in the Castle, whatever
their rank and station may be, are forbidden to
lock their doors either by day or night. General
Richter, General Inspector of the Imperial residences ,
and General Tsherevin, Chief of the Police, are
entitled to make investigations in the apartments of
the castle whenever they think proper. Gatchina
is surrounded by a positive entrenched camp, and
one would hardly believe, in passing by it on the
railway, that a whole army was there simply to
protect the life of one man , the ruler of 240,000,000
of people."
Of the precautions of every kind which it was
thought necessary to take in the Emperor's own
home, some idea may be formed from the fact that
a scientific man of some eminence was specially
employed to search for wires or other indications
of electric batteries in the apartments , corridors,
and outlying buildings of the Imperial Palace .
Once, so it was said, at Livadia, the Tsar picked
up in his palace a beautifully painted Easter egg.
On opening it he found a small silver dagger, two
ivory-carved death's heads, and a slip of paper,
on which, with the customary Easter salutation,
" Christ is risen," were the words, " We also shall
rise again."
Here is another story , ben trovato, si non è vero :
" The Tsar, while lately turning over an album of
 A REIGN OF TERROR 255

family photographs, found in it the signed photo-

graph of a Nihilist who was executed for having
been an accomplice in the assassination of his
Majesty's father. How the photograph came to be
in the album could not be found out, although all
the servants were subjected to a strict examination ."
On March 13, 1887, the anniversary of his
father's murder, the Emperor and his Court, as
usual, attended the commemoration service in the
fortress-church of Saints Peter and Paul ; and on
returning to the station to take train for Gatchina,
his Majesty was informed by the Chief of the Police
that he had just had another most miraculous escape
from assassination. The police had arrested in
the Grand Morskaia thoroughfare six young men,
who had posted themselves there to take off the
Emperor on his way back from church. Three of
these student-youths carried bombs made to look
like books . The largest of them was found to
contain five pounds of dynamite, and 251 small
leaden cubes filled with strychnine, the slightest
injury from any one of which would have caused
immediate death. It can well be imagined how the
Tsar felt on receiving this communication, but
meanwhile, if we are to believe one of his Majesty's
admirers and eulogists, he said nothing to those
about him . " He went down to Gatchina with
his wife and children, laughing and talking in the
carriage as if nothing had happened. Not until
the children had left for the Palace, and the Emperor
and his wife were driving alone through the Park,
did he break the news to the Empress. She, poor
256 ALEXANDER III

thing, of less iron nerve than her husband, broke down

Small wonder that a woman, to 1
utterly and wept.
whom thus suddenly has been revealed the charged
mine over which she has so lightly passed,
shuddered with horror. Not so her husband.
'I am ready,' he said simply ; ' I will do my duty
at any cost.' "
Shortly after the Tsar received a letter from the
Executive Committee informing him that it had
decreed his death, and that fifty persons had been
entrusted with the execution of this sentence ;
while he was equally bombarded by manifestoes
from the moderate sections of the revolutionary
party demanding a Constitution . The trial of
those who had been arrested in connection with the
plot of March 13 -fifteen in number, including
three women and nine University students , mostly
Poles and Cossacks- began, with closed doors, on
April 27, and lasted till May 10. According to
the Crown Prosecutor, these persons had formed
a plot to kill the Tsar in the previous autumn,
though their purpose was deferred. They were all
condemned to death, but only five were strung up,
the rest being sent to the mines. A few weeks
later another batch of twenty-one terrorists were
tried and condemned ; while in November of the
same year eighteen officers were put upon their
trial for having taken part in the Nihilist propa-
ganda and sent to the mines in Siberia, though.
the Tsar subsequently commuted these sentences
into degradation to the ranks.
These Nihilist trials had the usual effect of
 A REIGN OF TERROR 257

increasing the stringency of the measures already

taken to prevent the spread of Liberal ideas . The
"Women's Higher Educational Institute " at St.
Petersburg was closed, and several Professors of
the Universities of Moscow and Kharkoff respec-
tively were dismissed on a charge of liberal ten-
dencies. But this was not all. On learning that
several of those implicated in the plot of March 13
were teachers and students who did not belong to
the class of nobles, the Tsar wrote upon the report,
with his own hand, the words, " Education to be
abolished ! " On the strength of this peremptory
demand, it was then decreed (June 18) that the
" children of dependents," including servants of all
kinds , were to be forbidden admission to the middle
and higher schools . As the term " dependents "
was a very elastic one, it practically empowered
each official to exclude from the schools nearly all
the children of his district . The result was to
withdraw from the lower classes all opportunity of
improving their position, and thus augment the
elements of popular discontent from which the
Nihilists drew the main elements of their militant
power. Mrs. Partington's mop was nothing to all
this.
In the following year Europe again shuddered
on hearing that the special train in which the Im-
perial family were returning home from the south of
Russia had been completely wrecked in a deep
cutting near a place called Borki, while rushing
along at a speed of about sixty-four versts an hour.
Of all who were travelling by the train twenty-one
R
258 ALEXANDER III

were killed and thirty-seven injured . The Tsar

himself had a most miraculous escape, his saloon
carriage being terribly wrecked ; while the Empress
also was only saved by little more than a hair's-
breadth. The Tsar's first thought, of course, was
that this terrific smash-up had been the work of the
Nihilists ; but further inquiry seemed to support
the theory that the accident was simply due to the
rottenness of the sleepers, which had given way and
sent the train off the rails. Even the woodwork of
this permanent way was no exception to the
general condition of rottenness in the State of
Russia-" a nation rotten before it was ripe "-
as Cobbett said . On arriving at Moscow their
Majesties drove to the cathedral and remained for
some time in silent prayer before the image of the
Virgin, and now a handsome memorial church
stands near the spot where the Ruler of All the
Russias was so miraculously preserved. " May
Providence," he said, in a manifesto on his return
home, " who protected our life, consecrated to the
welfare of our beloved fatherland, give us strength
to fulfil faithfully to the end all those great duties
which, by His will, have been laid upon us ! "
By some it was positively asserted that the
wrecking of the Imperial train was no accident, but
the result of a well-planned plot, and that even its
author also fell a victim to his own devilish design.
This may or not have been, for in Russia it is next
to impossible to get at the truth of such things ;
but, in any case, the effect which the horrible cata-
strophe produced upon the mind and nerves of
 A REIGN OF TERROR 259

Alexander III. was just as great as if he had known

it to be work of the Nihilists . For even though the
sleepers were proved to be rotten, it could not be
disproved that they had not been tampered with,
and doubt in such cases is no less terrible than
certainty. At any rate, " from the shock which
his nervous system then received the Tsar never
thoroughly recovered. It is the taproot of most
of the ailments from which he has suffered ever
since. An eye-witness of that blood- curdling
scene assured me that it was enough to deprive
an ordinary man of his reason. His carriage
was blown to shreds, his faithful servants lay
dead or dying, his loving wife stood trembling like
an aspen-leaf amid corpses and blood-stained
fragments ; and, when he looked around for his
children, dreading the terrible possibilities as much
as the torturing uncertainty, his little daughter, her
bright eyes filled with tears, threw her hands about
his neck , and exclaimed, amid sobs : ' Oh, papa
dear ! now they'll come and murder us all ! ' "
" After this the Emperor grew more moody and
reserved than ever before. He lost his confidence
in the ability of the most trusted and the devotion
of the most intelligent of his Ministers . He
avoided even more systematically than before all
public ceremonies and amusements. The officers
grumbled that he was so seldom to be seen at a
review ; the aristocracy were dissatisfied that he
should avail himself of every slight pretext to stop
the annual balls at the Palace, and that, when they
were given, supper was always served at half-past
260 ALEXANDER III

twelve A.M. , and the apartments deserted before

two. From this time forward the Emperor began
to show a strong dislike to mount a horse, and his
nervousness was painfully manifest to all his
attendants . When he appeared at the annual
feasts of the Horse Guards and Cavalier Guards,
the public was selected with the utmost care, none
being admitted except with a card of invitation
signed by the Commander of the Regiment ; and
even among this exclusive set a number of private
detectives were judiciously scattered throughout the
manège."
In his book about Russia, M. Leroy-Beaulieu had
written : " If there is one sure thing, it is that
Russian terrorism never had a Mazzini at its head,
leisurely conceiving abroad deeds to be executed by
blindly obedient agents at home. The political
trials have shown that all the great conspiracies
were planned on the spot by men who had never
breathed the air of the West . Instead of being
the starting-point and the cradle of conspiracy,
Switzerland and England are its refuge, and often
its grave." But presently Switzerland turned out
to be more the cradle than the grave of Nihilism.
For in March, 1889, the explosion of a bomb at
Zürich, which killed one of the Russian students
who were experimenting with it, led to the discovery
that the terrorists had established here something

* I am here quoting from a most admirably written and

well-informed article on Alexander III ., contributed to the
Daily Telegraph of October 16, 1894, by its St. Petersburg
correspondent.
 A REIGN OF TERROR 261

like a factory of murderous explosives , many of

which had undoubtedly found their way into the
Russian Empire ; and it was even believed that
some of the bombs were meant to be used against
the Tsar on the occasion of his visit to Berlin that
autumn. In any case, numerous arrests were
now again made at St. Petersburg, Moscow, Odessa,
Kharkoff, and Kief, in connection with the discoveries
made at Zürich, and traces were found of another
clear conspiracy to " remove " the Emperor. Much
valuable information was at this time given to the
police by a Nihilist leader named Tikhomiroff, who
had come to see the error of his ways , and ratted to
the side against which he had hitherto waged inces-
sant and implacable war.
Hitherto the party of reform, of revolution, in
Russia had sought to achieve its aims by dynamite
bombs and revolver bullets . But now there stepped
out of the ranks one who resolved to see what
effect could be produced upon the mind, if not the
body, of the Tsar by a " paper bullet of the brain."
This was Madame Tzebrikova , a lady in her fifty-
fourth year, who had devoted all her life to writing,
and was especially versed in English and American
literature. Suddenly the suffering state of her
country seized hold upon her heart, and she resolved
to do a bold thing and a great. In spite of the
law, the custom, which made such an action penal
in the highest degree, she would appeal directly to
the Tsar, and impeach him of tyranny, injustice,
and misrule, before a jury of the whole civilised
world.
262 ALEXANDER III

Accordingly she hastened to repair to Paris,

where the printing of her thoughts could be accom-
plished , and drew up the following letter, of which
she sent the manuscript direct to the Emperor , and
printed copies to all the Russian newspapers, as
well as to the leading journals of England and
Europe-a letter of which I cannot do better than
quote the material parts, as constituting at once
the best description and bitterest indictment of the
state of Russia under Alexander III . which any one
has ever penned :-

"YOUR MAJESTY,
66
The laws of my country forbid free speech. All that
is honest in Russia is forced to look on at the arbitrary
despotism of the officials, the persecution of thought, the
moral and physical ruin of the rising generation , the slavery
of the oppressed and plundered people—and to be silent.
Liberty is one of the positive needs of society, and, sooner or
later, but inevitably, the time will come when the citizens,
grown out of tutelage and weary of patience, will speak aloud
the daring language of maturity, and authority will be forced
to submit. In the life of individuals also comes a moment
when the grievous shame of being made, by enforced silence,
unwilling accomplices in evil and falsehood, drives them to
risk all that is dear to them, and say to him in whose hands
is the power, one word from whom could destroy so much
wrong and shame in our fatherland : " Take care what you
do, and what, knowingly or not knowingly, you let be done.'
" The Russian Emperors see and hear only what they are
allowed to see and hear by the officials who stand between
them and the masses. The fearful death of Alexander II.
cast an ominous gloom over your succession to the throne,
and your advisers have persuaded you that his death resulted
from the free ideas fostered by the best part of his reign.
"Our terrorists were created, not by the reforms of the
 A REIGN OF TERROR 263

last reign, but by the insufficiency of those reforms. Your

advisers scare you from a progressive policy, and prompt
you with a policy in the spirit of Nicholas I. , simply because
the former is dangerous to the absolute power of ministers
and officials, who find secrecy and despotism to their
advantage.
" The publicity of justice has been reduced almost to
a cypher. Now, in future, crimes of officials are to be tried
in secret. The last security which those of your subjects
who are not State servants had against the injustice ofthe
authorities is taken from them.
" The result of our censorship is that the young seize
eagerly, upon not only what is true in our foreign and
' underground ' Press, but upon all the nonsense in it. If free
speech is persecuted, that means that the authorities are
afraid of truth. . . . The experience, both of former reigns
and of your own, should have taught your Majesty that
persecution, as internal policy, does not attain its ends.
Persecution is the best way to stamp out among the people
love for the Tsar. It is already dying out.
"In educated and official society the adoration of the Tsar
has died out ; its last days were at the beginning of the
Crimean war. A large proportion of the official body con-
sists of men who themselves do not believe in the lastingness
of the present system. After the 1st ( 13th) of March 1881
the panic-stricken provincial officials imagined that there
was a revolution in St. Petersburg, and that the terrorists
had founded a constituent assembly. The generality of
officers and officials care only to make their career. They
themselves see plainly what they are doing, but their motto
is : It will last our time and our children's, and after us the
deluge.'
" But such a motto is unfit to guide the supreme power,
which is responsible, not only for the present, but for the
future of the land. Intentional evil cannot be its aim, but an
autocratic monarch is inevitably responsible for every atom
of wrong done in his name.
" The whole system is driving into the ranks of malcon-
264 ALEXANDER III

tents, into revolutionary propaganda, even those to whom

blood and violence are hateful. For one incautious word-
for a few pages of ' underground ' literature (often taken up
out of mere curiosity), a lad—a child-is a political offender.
There have been political prisoners, children of fifteen-even
of fourteen years old- in solitary confinement. The Govern-
ment that rules over one hundred millions is afraid even of
children. The broken-down, embittered young generation
turns to revolution. Blood is horrible to me on which ever
side it is shed , but when bloodshed on one side is rewarded
with a decoration, and on the other side with a gallows rope,
it is easy to understand which bloodshed will have for the
young the charm of heroism.
66 Besides the punishments by sentence of a court, we have
' administrative ' sentences, by means of which the Govern-
ment disposes of its enemies when there is not evidence
enough to try them. But what is this if not arbitrary law-
lessness ?
66 Political prisoners are the defenceless victims of arbitrary
despotism that reaches downright brutality. But no measures
of coercion and terror, from ' administrative ' exile to the
gallows, attain their end.
66
And, after all, what is the use of all this oppression and
persecution ? Why should free speech be suppressed and
public justice abolished ? Is it for the sake of the peaceful
development of Russia ? Or is it for the sake of autocracy—
that is, really for the advantage of the officials ? Your
Majesty's self is proved powerless to struggle against abuses,
even ifthe court for the judging of Ministers should really
be instituted. You are inevitably powerless, because all the
Imperial measures are founded upon the same slavery and
enforced silence of society.
" Freedom of speech, personal security, freedom of meet-
ings, full publicity of justice, education easy of access for
all talents, suppression of administrative despotism , the con-
voking of a National Assembly for which all classes can
choose their delegates—in these alone is our salvation.
" The measure of patience is overflowing, the future is
 A REIGN OF TERROR 265

terrible. If a general revolution, which could overturn the

throne, is as yet remote, still district mutinies, such as the
Pugachoff riots, are more than possible. The people will
grow familiar with blood. Honest citizens await with horror
the miseries which this system of all-powerful administration
must, sooner or later, inevitably bring, and they are silent ;
but their children and grandchildren will not be silent.
" You are an autocratic Tsar, limited by laws which you
yourself make and alter at your will, more limited by officials
whom you yourself appoint and who disobey your laws.
One word from you can cause throughout Russia a revolution
which will leave a bright trace in history. If, instead, you
choose to leave a dark trace, you will not hear the curses of
posterity ; but your children will hear them, and you are
leaving them a terrible heritage.
"You, your Majesty, are one of the most powerful
monarchs in the world ; I am a working unit in the hundred
millions whose fate you hold in your hands ; but none the
less, I, in my conscience, fully recognise my moral right
and duty as a Russian woman to say what I have said.
" MARYA TZEBRIKOVA."

What effect did this letter produce on the mind

of Alexander III. ? After reading it through, the
Tsar was said to have exclaimed : " That is all very
well ; but what on earth does all this matter to
her ? "! As Madame Tzebrikova was not in his
service, he could not understand why she interfered
in a matter which did not concern her personally.
On returning to Russia, which she at once did
after getting her letter written and printed, Madame
Tzebrikova was at once arrested, and sentenced to
two years' " internment " at Yarensk, a small town
of Vologda, in the North. In the eyes of the
authorities her letter was a grave personal affront
to the Tsar, lèse-majesté and more, and the cus-
266 ALEXANDER III

tomary way of dealing with persons guilty of that

crime in Russia is to lock them up in a mad-
house, where they soon go mad in earnest.
To do this, however, with Madame Tzebrikova
would have been impossible ; her letter had attracted
too much attention , and made too much noise
throughout all Europe for that. At the same time,
custom demanded that she should be punished
somehow, and deportation to a remote corner of the
Empire was the form chosen . Her whole conduct
had shown that her letter was intended to appeal to
public opinion in Russia more than to the Emperor,
and in that sense her epistle will doubtless prove an
epoch-marking event in the page of Russian history.
" It was an act of high civil courage," as a writer
in Free Russia said of it-" a grand example for
those persons who share her views but remain
silent, sanctifying by this silence the very things of
which they disapprove."
In this same year ( 1890) St. Petersburg was
again the scene of the trial of a batch of terrorists,
which ended (November 12) in a sentence of hang-
ing being passed on a woman , Sophie Günsberg,
and three of her male accomplices. Another lady
implicated in this plot were one Olga Ivanofsky,
nearly related to a high-placed official, and several
artillery officers . The Emperor commuted the
sentence on Sophie Günsberg in consideration of
her sex . All these conspirators were proved to
have entertained relations with the bomb manu-
facturers at Zürich, as well as with the Nihilist
colony in Paris.
 A REIGN OF TERROR 267

Some members of this latter colony had planned

another attempt on the Emperor's life, and were
preparing to leave for Russia to carry out their
nefarious purpose when they were surprised and
seized by the police. Several bombs were in their
possession. The Paris tribunal, before which they
were at once hailed, sentenced them to three years'
imprisonment . A few months later, General Seli-
verskoff, formerly director of the St. Petersburg
police, who had come to Paris to watch the move-
ments of the Nihilists, was murdered in the most
cunning and audacious manner by a Russian Pole
named Padlevski, who, with the help of his French
sympathisers, managed to " plod away o' the hoof,
seek shelter, pack. " The Nihilists were determined
to show the Tsar that the arm of their organisation
was a very long one, and they had done so.
Of course, when the terrible famine afflicted
Russia in 1891 , the Nihilists were ready with a
manifesto, in which they described this calamity
as the inevitable consequence of the system of
government, against which the only remedy was the
convocation of a national assembly. A recrudes-
cence of the revolutionar y agitation was the con-
sequence of the famine . In seven towns secret
printing presses and numerous copies of proclama-
tions-addressed to the " persecuted and oppressed
nation "—were found by the police ; no fewer than
240 persons belonging to the conspiracy- including
fourteen officials , four schoolmasters, and six
officers were arrested at Moscow ; while sixty
more arrests were made at St. Petersburg among
268 ALEXANDER III

the higher classes of society. But perhaps the

greatest find of the year was four large boxes of
dynamite which had been discovered in the Customs
department of the French Exhibition at Moscow,
and which were meant for use on the occasion of the
Tsar's visit. As a consequence, the very greatest
precautions were taken to secure the safety of the
Emperor's person when, with his consort, he went
to visit the Exhibition in compliment to his ardent
political wooers, the French.*
The general distress of the country, combined
with the harsh, repressive measures taken by the
Government against all races and religions, other
than the pure ones of ancient and holy Russia, gave
a great stimulus to the revolutionary movement
throughout the year 1892, though this was mean-
while manifested more by the propagandist agency
of the secret word than the open deed. St. Peters-
burg was again flooded with revolutionary leaflets,
and the usual arrests were made ; but though a
reward of a hundred thousand roubles had been
offered for such information as would lead to the

* A good story was told in connection with the Tsar's

visit to the art section of this French Exhibition. By chance
somebody placed in the ante-room of the salon where the
Exhibition was to take place, the statue of a nude woman.
The Marshal of the Court, who preceded the Tsar, frightened
by the presence of that nudity, and fearing that it would shock
the modesty of his Majesty or that of the ladies who accom-
panied him, got hold of a curtain and threw it over the statue.
"Leave it alone," said the Emperor, who had seen every-
thing ; " I know that the costume she wears is one which
the French most admire."
 A REIGN OF TERROR 269

discovery of the printing office of the Narodnaia

Volia, or " People's Will, " the terrorists in the
secret remained as proof against the temptation
as the followers of Prince Charlie after a price of
£ 30,000 had been put upon his head. " The
people," said one of the revolutionary leaflets, " do
not understand that all their grievances come from
the close bonds between the Tsar and the nobility.
Our Tsar is the Tsar of the nobility ; he is not the
Tsar of the moujiks ."
But it was not only the terrorists who talked and
wrote like this. For see what even M. Leroy-
Beaulieu says : " The one and only basis on which
social and political order rests in Russia is the
people's trust in the Sovereign . But indestructible as
this faith of the moujik appears to this day, it were
unwise to place entire reliance on it. In the cities,
especially the capitals, the audacity of the conspira-
tors, the seeming impotence of the Government, the
shrinking attitude of the Tsar, well - nigh invisible in
the mazes of his half-desert palace-all these things,
prior to the coronation of Alexander III . , appeared
to have somewhat shaken the prestige that ages
have woven round autocracy. ' Russia has no Tsar
any more, ' men of the lower classes said in St.
Petersburg in the spring of 1882."
What had been the effect of all this reign of
terror on the nerves and character of Alexander III . ?
" The Tsar," wrote Mr. ' Lanin,' " has been frequently
accused of cowardice -an indictment to which, it
must be admitted, many undeniable facts lend a
strong colouring of probability. Thus it has been
270 ALEXANDER III

alleged in support of the charge that he seldom

drives about the city alone, and when not escorted
by a body of Cossacks is usually accompanied by
her Majesty the Empress . His profound seclusion
at Gatchina, where for a considerable period he
hid himself even from the bulk of his own officers,
likewise created a most unfavourable impression,
which is by no means yet removed . Again, the
sight of the armies that guard the railway lines
along which he happens to be travelling, the elabo-
rate system of espionage, and the immoral practice
of employing agents provocateurs, who sometimes
organise the crime which they discover, have con-
tributed to impart consistency to a charge which his
creditable career as an officer should have amply
sufficed to refute. ·
"Any man who saw, as he did, his own father
mutilated and bleeding to death ; who himself, more
than once, narrowly escaped a similar fate ; whose
train and carriage were blown to shreds ; whose
wife stood trembling in the desolate steppe among
fragments and corpses ; and whose bright little
daughter threw her hands round his neck, and
exclaimed with sobs : ' Oh, papa, now they'll come
and murder us all '-a man who has had such
experiences as these may surely be acquitted of
cowardice, even if his nerves be no longer of
iron . ... Whatever his views about fatalism in
the abstract, he entertains not the slightest doubt
that the hairs of his head are numbered ."
Yet one of his last acts in his terribly wearing
and unequal conflict with the secret apostles of
 A REIGN OF TERROR 271

terror, was the creation of what might be called

a special ministry for his personal protection. In
June 1894, General Tcherevin, who, as chief of
the political police , had been repeatedly aimed at
by the foes of an uncompromising despotism, was
appointed General-in -Waiting, a special office revived
on this occasion for the purpose of guarding the
personal safety of his Majesty. In constant attend-
ance on the Tsar, he was practically invested with
dictatorial powers in any town which his Majesty
might be visiting or passing through. Not only
could he change at will the head police-masters, but,
if he chose, he could even interfere in the adminis-
tration of the Government departments. " Now,"
said a writer in Free Russia, " what must we think
of a monarch who prefers to take such precautions,
side by side with reactionary measures, rather than
meet the just claims of his subjects for liberty ? "
But meanwhile the greatest Terrorist of all struck
aside the protecting shield which General Tcherevin
had thrown around the person of his apprehensive
Sovereign, and laid the sorely-tried Ruler of All the
Russias on that bed of physical suffering from
which he was destined never to rise again . Yet,
even when Alexander III . was lying on this bed of
death, he continued to be the object of the bitterest
opposition and invective on the part ofthe men who
had vainly sought to take his life ; and though the
following proclamation - plastered with bomb,
revolver, and dagger, in some blood -red substance ,
and signed on behalf of the terrorists- which was
dated from Switzerland while the Tsar was already in
272 ALEXANDER III

the arms of Death- although, I say, this proclamation

must revolt the hearts of all right-minded people,
nevertheless I feel that I should be doing historical
injustice to this impartial record of the Russian
Reign of Terror by forbearing to quote it, if for
nothing else, as a melancholy proof of the fiendish
passions which may inflame the breasts of desperate
and disrupted men :
"TO OUR BROTHERS, THE OPPRESSED IN RUSSIA.
"The tyrant Alexander III., the autocrat Tsar and Hang-
man, the assassin of Michaeleff, Russakoff, Kibaltchik,
Jeliaboff, Sophie Perovsky, Jessé Helfmann, and many
others, the purveyor of the Siberian galleys, the persecutor
of the Jews, is on the point of expiating his crimes.
"He is dying of a mysterious illness. Well-merited punish-
ment ! The venal science of his Zacharins, his Hirsches, and
his Popoffs can do nothing to prolong a life which has been
devoted to violence and oppression.
"At length the monster is going to disappear. Hurrah !
" The day has passed when a man ought to be able, by right
of birth, to dispose of the liberty and the lives of a hundred
millions of other men.
"Let his son, the Tsarevitch, as well as his ambitious rivals,
the Grand Dukes Vladimir and Michael- who are ready to
assassinate, in accordance with the traditions of the Romanoff
family, to get possession of a bloody heritage- let them all
thoroughly understand that every hour, and at every step,
they will find themselves face to face with the inflexible will
of the Revolutionists.
"Letus leave to the hypocritical Liberals the task of covering
with flowers the horrid corpse of the scoundrel who is leaving
this world after having too long dishonoured it. So long as
the Russian slaves do not possess the land, so long as an
infernal autocracy, served by a rapacious and shameless
feudality, makes Russia a disgrace to the civilised world, we
shall always applaud any blow of destiny-or provoke it.
" LONG LIVE LIBERTY AND REVOLUTION ! "
 CHAPTER X

ILLNESS AND DEATH

" Weep, Russia ! "—A sore saint - Monseigneur of Kharkoff

versus Professor Zacharin-Origin and course of illness-
Belovishaya - Spala- Story of a duck- Professor Leyden
-Livadia, the Russian Cannes- Father Ivan, the
"Wonder-Worker " -Corfu -Princess Alix of Hesse-
Diary of disease-An angel on earth- Death - Last
hours Nature of malady - A funeral-drama in five
acts -Yalta Sebastopol - Moscow- St. Petersburg—
Processional pageant - Scene in the fortress-church —
A prayer by the dead- " The Tsar is dead ! Long live
the Tsar ! "

" WEEP, RUSSIA ! " was the title of a fly- sheet

threnody issued by a St. Petersburg journal, and
eagerly bought up by the sorrowing crowds in the
streets on the evening of Thursday, Nov. 1 , 1894.
For at about six o'clock on that evening there had
reached the capital from Livadia, on the Crimean
shore of the Black Sea, the following telegram :
" The Emperor Alexander III . passed to his rest
with God at a quarter-past two o'clock this afternoon,
peacefully and quietly." The mighty Colossus of
the North, of whom some one had beautifully said, in
illustration of the vast breadth of his dominions,
that his head was pillowed on snow, while his fee
lay swathed in flowers-this Colossus of the North
S
274 ALEXANDER III

had passed away, leaving his eldest son, Nicholas

Alexandrovitch, to reign in his stead.
All this had been comparatively sudden. The
Emperor Frederick had lingered for nearly a year
after the first diagnosis of his fatal illness. But the
Emperor Alexander only remained the object of
public solicitude for about a month . It was Oct. 1,
1894, when his state was first known to be really
serious, and by November I he was a corpse. The
best medical science procurable in Europe had been
summoned to his bedside, in addition to the most
successful " wonder-worker " in all Russia, in the
person of Father Ivan of Cronstadt ; but neither
science nor religion could arrest the course of
his Majesty's malady, which ultimately carried him
off on All Saints' Day, of all days in the year. For
like David I. of Scotland , Alexander III . of Russia
had been a " sore saint," if not for the Crown, at
least for many of his subjects .
"Dead the great Tsar,-his hands upon his breast,
His face unruffled 'mid a world's alarms,
And all his hopes and yearnings laid to rest,
And all his prowess, all his latent harms ;
For nevermore, when trumpets call to arms,
Shall this man send his legions east or west.
* * * ** *
Solemn the scene-and tender and sublime
That last leave-taking, when the requiem bells
Rang out, on All Saints' Day, the dolorous chime
That spoke ofanguish mixed with fond farewells ;
And far and near, in towns and citadels,
The tocsin tolling like the wail of Time." *

* Ode to " The Dead Tsar," by Mr. Eric Mackay, in the

Daily Chronicle, Nov. 2, 1894.
 ILLNESS AND DEATH 275

For some considerable time prior to the Emperor

being struck down, it had been noticed that a curious
kind of stagnation had overtaken the course of
Russian affairs. The foreign policy of the Empire
seemed to have lapsed into a strangely passive state,
and it almost looked as ifthe ship of State were being
allowed to drift along with wind and tide. At any
rate, the course of that ship no longer appeared to
indicate the grasp of a firm and energetic hand on
the helm ; and then when it became known that the
master of the Imperial vessel was really ill, it was
seen that these previous impressions had been justi-
fied by fact.
When the Emperor himself began to feel the
presence of the shadow of the hand of Death we
shall probably never know. But it is probable that
the course of his fatal malady began towards the
end of 1889 , when he fell a victim to the influenza ;
and, on the other hand, the door to this disease was
probably opened by the terrible shock to his nervous
system which he had experienced at the railway
accident of Borki in the previous year. Five years
after this frightful catastrophe (May, 1893) , the
Imperial family, while again on its way home from
the Crimea, stopped at Borki to offer up a thanks-
giving prayer in the church which had meanwhile
been erected there ; to commemorate their miraculous
escape ; and on this occasion the Emperor was
received by the Archbishop of Kharkoff, who thus
addressed him : " The Emperors and Rulers round
about thee are growing perplexed, the nations
distrustful, and the whole world excited ; but thy
276 ALEXANDER III

hand which guides the helm of the Empire trembleth

not."
It is greatly to be feared that, in thus addressing
the Emperor, the Archbishop of Kharkoff did not
really know what he was talking about, and that
his Majesty himself must have felt the bitter
mockery of Monseigneur's words ; for by this time
the Tsar must have been aware that his once
powerful constitution had become a prey to the
seeds of disease. But it was not till some time later
that these seeds began to spring up. For the
second time his Majesty fell a victim to influenza,
and then Professor Zacharin of Moscow had to be
summoned to St. Petersburg. And now let this
*
eminent specialist himself take up the tale :
" The attack of influenza in January ( 1894) un-
doubtedly weakened the Emperor, but his health
was already far from good. He had been severely
weakened by an extraordinary bleeding from the
nose, in the previous August, after which all the
autumn he suffered from fever and bronchitis. The
influenza in January was only the third step in the
progress of the disease. I say nothing of the
constant and excessive labours, accompanied by loss
of sleep, which had gradually undermined the
health of the Tsar. I was first called in January,

* I am here quoting from a letter which was addressed by

Professor Zacharin to the Moscow Gazette after the Tsar's
death, and which gave the fullest account of the progress of
his Majesty's illness. The letter was intended as a reply to
numerous articles and more rumours implying blame upon
the Moscow Professor for his treatment of the case.
 ILLNESS AND DEATH 277

and the daily chemical and microscopical examina-

tions I made showed for a few days an insignificant
quantity of albumen , a customary symptom of acute
fevers ; but there were no other signs of nephritis.
Before my departure the albumen disappeared, not
to reappear for more than a week. The action of
the heart was normal."
Dr. Zacharin was then sent to the Caucasus, to
attend the Grand Duke George, and on June 2 he
returned to report upon the state of the young
Prince personally to the Tsar, who permitted himself
to be examined, with the following result :-" I
found the appetite good and the digestion quite in
order after a supper of sour milk and prostokvasha
rusks . There was some oppression of the chest ;
the lungs were sound, the action of the heart satis-
factory. There was a slight cough, proceeding from
a catarrh of the glottis, usually present with
smokers . The Tsar was thinner, but not more than
was desirable. He slept well , his head was clear,
and his whole appearance that of a healthy man ."
Dr. Zacharin went again to Peterhof in August,
when he found certain signs of nephritis , the left
ventricle of the heart enlarged, a weak, frequent
pulse, sleeplessness, nausea, and urea, owing to the
imperfect action of the kidneys. " From these
symptoms a diagnosis was formed, in which subse-
quently Professor Leyden agreed ; and it was fully
confirmed by the post-mortem examination, which
also proved the comparatively short duration of the
disease. In a report presented to the Tsar by
myself and Dr. Hirsch, we stated that the disease of
278 ALEXANDER III

the kidneys and the subsequent weakening of the

heart constituted a mortal disease."
"The contributing causes were overwork, the
Tsar's habit of being out in all weathers, and espe-
cially the exceeding cold and damp of last summer .
Another cause was the damp and cold of the ground
floor of the Imperial apartments at Alexandria,
near Peterhof ; the bedroom there, in particular,
was intensely cold, and in the highest degree damp.
The Tsar could not bear heat, and always sought a
cool place . It was only in August that I first saw
these rooms, and I induced the Tsar to change them
for a better room on the second floor, but by that
time he had occupied the damp room nearly three
months-namely, from the end of May to August 18."
After this, "the first time that he appeared in
public every one who knew him was struck with the
change in his appearance, and a whisper went round,
'He is very ill still.' At the launch of the ' Sissoy
Veliky ' he looked worse ; in fact, it was patent to all
observers that something much graver than a mere
convalescence accounted for the shrunken giant form
and the colourless drawn face. The summer trip to
Belovishaya Pushta seemed to have a beneficial
effect, and, amongst the grand old forests he loved
so dearly, the Emperor, for a week or two, regained
some of his health and spirit. The amelioration
brought about by the change soon wore off, however,
and before leaving for Spala, his Majesty was quickly
"*
running down again. "

* St. Petersburg Correspondent of the Daily Telegraph.

 ILLNESS AND DEATH 279

To account for the rapidity of this running- down

process several pathetic stories were told about the
Emperor having set at naught the advice of his
physicians in order to gratify the overmastering
impulses of his own parental affection. But from
the fact that the incident referred to does not
seem to have been alluded to as a causa contri-
buens in any of the medical reports, as well as
""
from the circumstance that a "" duck --- ominous
bird !—is made to figure in the more elaborate
of the tales in question , I feel that I shall be
robbing them neither of personal interest nor of
historical dignity by relegating them to the sub-
ordinate position of a footnote to this narrative. *

* According to a Vienna paper which claimed to have

derived its information from a trustworthy source, the Tsar,
on reaching Spala, pressingly desired that his son George
should be sent for, and, though the Empress begged him with
tears not to risk his son's life by the long journey, the Tsar
insisted, and the Grand Duke George arrived in Spala. The
first interview between the father and son there was touching
in the extreme. It was during the first night of their sleep-
ing under one roof that the following incident occurred : “ The
Empress, as usual, remained near her husband's bedside till
after midnight, and when she retired for a few hours' rest the
Tsar rose, dressed very slightly, and ordered his valet to
conduct him to the bedroom of Prince George, which was
situated some distance from his own chamber through a cold
passage. The Prince was fast asleep, and the Tsar remained
several minutes to watch him in his sleep. Thereupon he
returned to his room, having caught a chill, which made his
own condition worse."
This was improved upon by Mr. T. W. Stead, who, in his
Review ofReviews for November 1894, offered the following
version of the story :
280 ALEXANDER III

In any case , at Spala his Majesty grew rapidly

worse, and then it was decided to call in the

" It is not generally known that the fatal chill which car-
ried him off was due to his paternal tenderness . When at
Spala the Tsar and his son, the Grand Duke George, whose
delicate constitution has always been a source of anxiety to
his parents, went out shooting in the woods. The boy shot
and dropped a duck. The bird fell in what seemed, to the
lad's inexperienced eye, a grassy glade, but on approaching
the bird he found to his horror that he had ' walked into a
treacherous marsh. He began to sink with great rapidity,
and before his cries of alarm brought his father to the spot
he had sunk up to his neck in the bog. The Tsar rushed to
his rescue, and succeeded in extricating his son from the bog
by putting forth his immense strength, but not until he had
been thoroughly saturated by the moisture. They hastened
home. The young Grand Duke showed signs of fever, while
his father was conscious of a chill. The palace of Spala is
an extensive building, and it so happened that the Grand
Duke's rooms were at the end of one wing, while the Tsar's
bedchamber was in the centre. At night the Tsar wished
to get up and visit his boy. The Tsarina strongly opposed
this desire, declaring that his health was of quite as much
importance as that of his son's, and, considering the chill
which he had received, it would be dangerous for him to get
out of bed. The Tsar, who always shrank from opposing the
will of the Empress, pretended to go to sleep. His wife,
satisfied that he was slumbering peacefully, went to her own
room. No sooner was the coast clear than the Tsar got up
and traversed the long draughty corridors of the palace in
dressing-gown and slippers until he reached his son's apart-
ments. After remaining there for a short time he returned,
with the result that the chill which he had received in ex-
tricating his boy from the bog settled upon his vital organs,
and from that day is dated the acute stage of the malady
which ultimately carried him off."
 ILLNESS AND DEATH 281

celebrated specialist , Professor Leyden of Berlin,

who fortunately happened to be at Warsaw, not far
off, attending on General Gourko, the hero of the
Balkans . Professor Leyden at once made his diag-
nosis , and to Dr. Zacharin of Moscow was entrusted
the painfully delicate task of communicating the truth
to his Imperial patient. " Your Majesty's malady ,"
he was reported on credible authority to have said,
"is incurable . With care and attention your
valuable life may be prolonged for some months , but
it is useless to conceal the fact that no remedies will
avail beyond a certain period. " After this, the
Emperor went to an adjoining room, where his wife
and family were assembled . " Zacharin," he said,
" has just told me there is no hope, " and he seemed
terribly affected by the intelligence.
For weeks past rumour had been busy with the
condition of the Tsar's health, and now the truth
became publicly known by the issue of the
following official statement : " Since the severe
attack of influenza, from which the Tsar recovered
in January last, his Majesty's health has not been.
fully restored. This summer, disease of the kidneys,
nephritis, supervened, and this renders it necessary
for his Majesty during the cold season to stay in a
warm climate, in order that a cure may be better
effected. Acting, therefore, upon the advice of
Professors Zacharin and Leyden, the Tsar will make
a temporary stay at Livadia."
""
Livadia," wrote some one who evidently knew it
well, " stands on the eastern undercliff of the Crimea,
a romantic strip of coast scenery into which our officers
282 ALEXANDER III

used now and then to make pleasant excursions

towards the close of the famous siege. Even at that
date there were fine country-houses in the neigh-
bourhood, notably that of the Woronzoffs at Alupka ;
but Yalta, now a Muscovite rival to Cannes, was as
yet a mere squalid collection of Tartar huts, and
Alexander II. , then heir-apparent to a stalwart,
vigorous father, did not dream of the palatial villa in
which some curious episodes of his erratic life were
enacted. The domain of Livadia lies west of Yalta,
within a short drive, the road thither winding between
the steepish hill of Aï Petri on the right and the sea
on the left, much as does the Corniche as you approach
Turbia. Vineyards, olive-groves, plantations of fig-
trees and pomegranates, and gardens bright with
oleanders, roses, and flowers of all kinds, fringe the way.
" Alexander III . does not occupy the palace of
his father, which is, however, kept furnished exactly
as it was in that Sovereign's lifetime. He has built
himself a rather more modest dwelling- place not far
distant, in the great park stretching from the thickly
wooded mountains to the seashore . Around the
two-storied structure gardens are laid out in English
fashion, with trim walks and carpet-pattern beds,
plenty of Maréchal Niel roses for the Tsarina's
special delight, and fragments of classical stonework
imported or found on the spot . Further afield may
be seen well- stocked orchards, and vines which are
said to yield strong and generous wine. The in-
ternal arrangements rather suggest comfort than
splendour, the rooms being of moderate size and
furnished very simply, but with admirable taste."
 ILLNESS AND DEATH 283

This, then, was the sunny southern retreat, the

Russian Cannes-lying " right in the lap of the
Black Sea, whose blackness hereabout is blue "-
to which Alexander III . was sent to die. As the
Crimea had broken the heart of his grandfather, so
it was also destined to be the door of his own
descent into the tomb. But the official bulletin
which announced the impending removal of the
Tsar from Spala to Livadia had not yet revealed
the full gravity of his case . This only became
apparent on its being announced that the Tsarevitch
had now abandoned all idea of proceeding to
Darmstadt on a visit to Princess Alix, his bride-
elect, for which a special train had been in readi-
ness a week and more, and that he would accom-
pany his father to the South. At Spala the
Emperor had been unable to get any sleep for
several consecutive nights , in spite of the narcotics
administered to him, but he bore the long journey
to the Crimea wonderfully well, and even inspected
a guard of honour at Sebastopol. After a good
night's rest he took a couple of hours' drive with the
Empress among the lovely scenery of his southern
home, and it began to look as if God had listened
to the fervent prayers for the Tsar's recovery which
had been offered up by order in all the Russian
churches .
But suddenly it was announced that Professor
Leyden, who had meanwhile returned to Berlin, had
received an urgent summons to repair to Livadia,
along with all the members of the Imperial family.
A similar message was also addressed to Father
284 ALEXANDER III

Ivan of Cronstadt, an "" upper priest " who was

positively known to be a model of his class, and
who was popularly believed to have inherited from
the Divine Master whom he served some of those
superhuman powers whose manifestation formed the
basis and justification of the Christian creed.

" The ' miracle-worker,' Father | Ivan," wrote the Russian

correspondent of a German journal, " enjoys the highest
authority among all Orthodox Russians. Many successes,
and especially cures, are ascribed to the power of his prayers,
and Orthodox Russians confidently apply to him in moments
of dire distress. I myself have seen a Russian of respect-
able position, whose wife and child were ill in Odessa, send-
ing a telegram to Ivan begging him to pray for their recovery.
They both actually recovered, and the lady emphatically
declares that she owes her life and that of her child solely
to 'the Holy Man ' in Cronstadt. Innumerable stories are
told of him he predicts everything ; nothing is hidden
from him. He devotes all the presents made to him to the
poor, and his wife had, in consequence, to apply for help to
the Tsar, who ordered a pension of three thousand roubles
a year to be paid to her, and told her to let her husband do
as he pleased. Wealthy people in all parts of the Russian
Empire summon him when they are ill, and he is reported
to be oftener travelling than at home. He is in the forties,
and his aspect is that of an ascetic. Russians of the ordinary
stamp, and this stamp is found in exceedingly high quarters,
revere him as a living saint."

On October 12 the Emperor and Empress visited

Massandra, where they remained an hour and a
half, driving through Yalta on their return ; but
four days later, Professor Leyden having meanwhile
arrived, a bulletin declared that " the disease of
the kidneys showed no improvement, and that his
 ILLNESS AND DEATH 285

Majesty's strength had diminished ." At the same

time, the physicians added an expression of their
hope " that the climate of the south coast would
have a beneficial effect on the health of the Tsar."
This latter sentence was inferred to imply that the
plan of sending him to the island of Corfu had at
last been abandoned owing to the already too
advanced state of his disease . At Corfu the King
of Greece had placed at his Imperial Majesty's dis-
posal his charmingly situated residence of Monrepos,
and already his Majesty's Master of the Household ,
together with a bevy of French upholsterers and
other workmen, had gone thither to prepare the
château for the Emperor's winter sojourn . " But
what is he," as the first gravedigger says in Hamlet,
"that builds stronger than either the mason, the
shipwright, or the carpenter ? ”
In the meantime, while babbling rumour was
busy with all kinds of fantastical reports - about
the appointment of a Regency among other things,
an institution unknown to Russian history- the
dying Tsar himself continued struggling manfully
with his disease. "Tell me the whole truth," he
was reported to have said to Professor Leyden.
" How long have I to live ? " " That is in God's
hand ," the Professor replied ; " but with this disease
I have seen cases of marvellous cures." " Can I still
live a fortnight ? " And when the doctor said, " Yes,
certainly," he begged them to send to Darmstadt
for Princess Alix , the bride elect of his son and
successor.
Travelling as fast as ever she could, Princess
286 ALEXANDER III

Alix arrived at Livadia on October 22 , and was

received with great military and other honours.
" The meeting of the Tsar with the Princess Alix ,
whom he had for a long time been craving to see,
strongly excited the patient, in spite of the joy it
caused him. The physicians had feared this, but
the night passed favourably." Such was the state-
ment in an official account of the course of the
Tsar's illness , from which I may also quote the
following :

"The disquieting symptoms which had manifested them-

selves at Spala became less marked in the early days of the
sojourn at Livadia, so that the Emperor was able to attend
Divine service, standing up the while, and to drive out.
" Then the symptoms of weakness reappeared, with the
falling off of appetite and sleep, the weakening of the heart's
action, the increase of albumen, and swelling of the ex-
tremities. On the 19th October there was a return of
appetite ; and on the 20th the necessary sleep was obtained
which produced a noticeable increase of strength and reduced
the albumen.
"On the same day there arrived with the Queen of Greece
the Proto- Presbyter Ivan of Cronstadt, who offered up
prayers. The Emperor received the Sacrament, which
greatly assisted in tranquillising his mind.
(6 Sunday, October 21.- The Emperor felt strong enough
this morning to partake of the highest spiritual consolation
which he had long and earnestly desired . He called Father
Ivan, and expressed a heartfelt wish to take the Holy
Sacrament. That day, after dinner, the Sacrament was
administered, to the unspeakable comfort and peace of the
Tsar. That and the following days were a time of strong
though pleasing emotions.
" On Monday ( 22nd) the Emperor called for Father Ivan of
Cronstadt, who prayed with him. The same evening the
Princess Alix arrived. ....
 ILLNESS AND DEATH 287

"The Tsar, despite his illness, does not neglect State

business. At the urgent instance of his physicians, his
Majesty has handed over current affairs and reports requir-
ing examination to the Heir Apparent, but he decides in
the most important cases and signs State papers."

The Empress was almost beside herself with grief,

but up to the last minute she nursed her husband
with the most devoted care. She took no rest.
Day and night she was beside her consort, holding
his hand in hers, keeping back her tears with all
her strength, and softly whispering words of hope.
" I have even before my death got to know an
angel," the Tsar said, pressing her hand to his lips .
For a day or two the bulletins grew a little more
favourable, so much so that Corfu again began to
be spoken of. But the Tsar himself now knew
that his end was near, and expressed a desire to
die on Russian soil . During the short improve-
ment in his condition his doctors urgently advised
him not to leave his bed in the mornings, even if
he had slept well. Nevertheless Professor Zacharin
found him up one morning, and, on asking whether
another doctor had counselled this, received the very
characteristic answer, " No, no ! doctor ; but it
was done in obedience to the Tsar's own com-
mand."
Autocrat to the very last. The anniversary of
Borki (October 29) had been solemnised by
another taking of the Sacrament, and the Tsar had
replied to a telegram of congratulation from the
troops of the Moscow district. But it was the
last telegram he ever was to send. For now his
288 ALEXANDER III

state grew rapidly worse, his breathing was hard,

he began to spit blood, he could no longer sleep or
eat, and finally, about two o'clock on Thursday
afternoon, November 1 , 1894, Alexander III . passed
away peacefully, not in his bed , but in his armchair,
like Frederick the Great. * He was fully conscious to
the end. Various versions of this end were given,
but I will content myself with quoting the following
official account which was published the day after :
" The death of the Emperor was that of an upright man,
just as his life, which was inspired by faith, love, and humility,
was a life of uprightness.
66 For some days before his end, his Majesty felt that
death was approaching, and prepared himself for it as a true
Christian, without, however, relaxing his solicitude for the
affairs of the State. On two occasions, on the 21st and on
the 29th, the Emperor received the Holy Sacrament.
“ After passing an entirely sleepless night, his Majesty said
to the Empress on the morning of the 1st inst., ' I feel the
end approaching. Be calm ; I am quite calm.'
66
All the members of his family having assembled round
him, the Tsar sent for his confessor, and received the Holy
Communion with great fervour, sitting in his armchair and
repeating aloud the customary prayers. During the whole
time the Emperor did not lose consciousness for a single
moment.
"After morning prayer his Majesty sent for the priest
Ivan Szergijeff, and prayed with him . Half-an- hour later he
again asked for the priest, who engaged in prayer with the
Tsar and administered the last sacraments, remaining with
him till he passed away.

On hearing that the Emperor was nearing his end, the

Prince and Princess of Wales started off from London,
travelling day and night to reach Livadia, but the news of
his Majesty's death met them before their arrival at Vienna.
 ILLNESS AND DEATH 289

"At two o'clock the Emperor's pulse became more rapid,

and his eyes appeared to brighten . A quarter of an hour
later, however, he closed his eyes, leaned back his head, and
commended his soul to God, leaving as a legacy to his
people the blessings of peace and the bright example of a
noble life."

When all was over the deceased's children and

relatives approached the bedside in turn to take a
last farewell, the Court officials and members of the
suite being afterwards also admitted. The flag
over the palace was hoisted at half-mast, and a
salute was fired from the vessels lying in the bay.
Shortly after four o'clock the ceremony of taking
the oath of allegiance to the Emperor Nicholas
the Second took place in the square in front of
the Palace Chapel. The first to take the oath were
the assembled Grand Dukes, and after them fol-
lowed in order the high Court functionaries, the
military officers, and the civil officials.
A post-mortem examination proved that that the
disease from which the Emperor had suffered was
chronic interstitial nephritis, accompanied by pro-
gressive cardiac affection and by hæmorrhagic
infarction in the left lung with inflammation.
Death had been more immediately due to paralysis
of the heart, consequent upon a degeneration of
the muscles , and hypertrophy of the heart and
interstitial nephritis (granular atrophy of the
kidneys ).
As it had taken Alexander III. about a month to
die, so his obsequies lasted very nearly as long-
obsequies which took the form of a grand spectacular
T
290 ALEXA III
NDER

funeral- drama in five acts, with a variety of in-

terludes . Of the deceased Emperor it was said
that he had aimed, not so much at being a great
Sovereign, as at being the Sovereign of a great
people ; but if the greatness of a monarch might be
inferred from the magnificence of his funeral, then
certainly the Tsar Peacekeeper may well take rank
as one of the greatest rulers who ever swayed a
sceptre or sheathed a sword. It was one of the
strangest ironies and contradictions of his reign
that a Sovereign who had such a hatred of pomp
and show in his life, should , at his death, have been
made the central, if silent, figure in an altogether
unparalleled pageant of the tomb ; and as I devoted
a whole chapter to the description of how Alexander
III . was crowned , so the laws of historical consist-
ency compel me to make more than a passing
reference to the manner in which he may be said to
have been canonised , and which, as I have said,
took the form of a grand spectacular funeral-drama
in five main acts.
In this drama, the scene of Act First was the
modest Byzantine church standing on the cypress-
clad slopes of Livadia, to which, on the fifth day
after his death, the gorgeously- coffined body of
Alexander III . was Cossack-borne, by torch and
moonlight, to undergo its first lying- in-state-
shoulder-borne by stalwart Terek Cossacks, with a
procession of white- robed clergy headed by the
Bishops of Taurida and Simferopol , a military escort
and a foot-following of family mourners-the young
Emperor leading his widowed mother, who was
 ILLNESS AND DEATH 291

deeply veiled, the Grand Dukes Sergius and Vladi-

mir, the Queen of the Hellenes, Princess Alix (the
Tsarina-Elect) , the Prince and Princess of Wales,
the Duchess of Saxe-Coburg- Gotha and her children ,
the high officials of the Court and military officers.
What with the hymn-chanting of the schoolchildren ,
the tolling of the bells, the solemn strains of the
rifle band playing " How great and glorious is God
in Zion," the flashing of the torches on helmet and
bayonet, the bursting out of the moon through a
heavy bank of cloud, " causing the dark mass of the
Livadia wood-clad hills to stand out boldly in the
background "-nothing could have been more weirdly
and solemnly impressive than all this funeral scene
by the Black Sea shore. The dead Tsar was
attired in the uniform of the Preobrajenski regiment
of the Guard- the oldest in the army-over which
was partially drawn the Imperial mantle of State.
On the lid of the coffin were laid the Imperial
crown and the deceased Emperor's sword— that
sword which he had wielded in the Russo-Turkish
war and retained in its scabbard ever afterwards .
Thus arrayed in all the symbolic glory of death ,
the body of the Emperor lay exposed for two days,
the object at once of religious ministration and
public reverence.
Act Second in the funeral-drama : the ceremo-
nious transport of the body from the church of
Livadia to the deck of the cruiser which was to
convey the Imperial remains round to Sebastopol,
thence to enter on their solemn procession of about
thirteen hundred miles across the entire breadth of
292 ALEXANDER III

the Empire to St. Petersburg. It was curiously

symbolic of the Russian " Drang nach Süden," of
the instinct of all dwellers among snow to move
away in search of the sun, that both the eldest
sons of Alexander II . had died in the South . The
Tsarevitch Nicholas had expired at Nice, and been
taken home by sea, while the first hearse of his
brother, who similarly breathed his last at the
Russian Cannes, was also a ship of war.
All the way from the jetty at Yalta to the church
of Livadia, a distance of about three miles, the
soldier-lined roadway had been watered and strewn
with cypress branches and laurel leaves. The air
was mild as midsummer, the sky cloudless, the sea
without a ripple, and all nature smiling with beauty.
Stalwart Cossacks had borne the Imperial coffin to
the church, and from the church to the cruiser
Pamiat Merkuria it was now fitly carried shoulder
high by sixteen gigantic man-o'-war's men , the
family mourners, as before, following on foot, and
the picturesque procession including several batta-
lions of infantry, two squadrons of mounted Tartar
riflemen and a field battery, a bare-headed detach-
ment of Yalta merchants , bands of white-robed
schoolchildren singing plaintively
and crossing
themselves as they walked, a bevy of hospital
nurses, a group of taper-bearing clergy headed by
the Bishop of Simferopol carrying a sacred picture
of the Madonna, and, most pathetic of all, the
deceased Emperor's favourite charger, without trap-
pings of any kind. It took nearly two hours for
this slow-moving procession, winding along through
 ILLNESS AND DEATH 293

dell and cypress-grove to the solemn accompani-

ment of muffled bells and the booming of minute-
guns from the war-vessels, to reach the shore ; and
then amid farewell salvoes of musketry and the
thunder of artillery salutes which had never had
any charm for the Emperor in life, the stately vessel,
followed by the eager gaze of the onlookers, steamed
away, with the dead monarch and his mourning
relatives on board- away past the warships now
weighing anchor in the bay and on to the famous
sea-stronghold of which the calamitous siege had
broken the heart of the deceased Sovereign's grand-
sire.
"The evening shadows," wrote one correspondent
from Sebastopol, " were adding to the gloom per-
vading this city when the Russian flotilla escorting
the cruiser Pamiat Merkuria, conveying the mortal
remains of the late Tsar, entered the harbour. The
voyage from Yalta had been made at half-speed . The
cruiser in which the Tsar's corpse found a tempo-
rary resting-place made her own course, no vessels
following or preceding her, but on either side of her
were six battleships of the Black Sea Fleet, steaming
in line and with an unusually long distance between
each ship. The cortège was worthy of a Cæsar.
As the fleet entered the harbour the great guns
boomed out the signal of grief. The fleet
responded, and during the whole evening the
cannons' testimony to the dead ruler continued at
stated intervals. "
After a series of interludes at Simferopol , Paulo-
grad, Borki (the scene of the terrible railway
294 ALEXANDER III

disaster of 1888) , Kharkoff, and other places along

the soldier-lined railway route, where the Imperial
train stopped that requiem masses might be said for
the soul of the departed, the curtain again rose on
the Third Act of the funeral drama at Moscow, into
which, but eleven short years before , Alexander III .
had made his triumphal entry in order to be crowned
-with the symbol of earthly power and glory then,
and now with the still more gorgeous diadem of
death . But I have no space to describe the appear-
ance presented by Moscow on this the occasion of
the Tsar's second grand triumphal entry into the
ancient Mother City of his Empire , or to dwell on
the sombre magnificence of the ceremonious pro-
cession which conducted the remains of the Emperor
from the railway station to the Archangel Cathedral
in the Kremlin, there to lie in splendidly sepulchral
state for a day, and be gazed at by a deep, con-
tinuous stream of his subjects.
" It is difficult," wrote a correspondent, * " to do
justice to the impressiveness of the scene from the
moment of the arrival of the train until the deposit
of the coffin on its bier in the Cathedral. The
absolute silence of the thousands who lined the
roads and windows, and crowded the roofs was
broken only by the sound of the bells and the
minute guns . The grey, still cold of the Russian
winter gave a spectral aspect to the snow- covered
houses, which were draped with black, and displayed
fluttering black and white flags, through which
*
Of the Standard.
 ILLNESS AND DEATH 295

passed the stately mourners, representing every

class and every age of this colossal Empire, from
the Emperor to the village Mayor, from tottering
old age to the freshest youth. All combined to
form a picture which will be ineffaceable from the
memories of those who witnessed it ."
But still more impressive was the scene inside
the Archangel Cathedral, where, to quote the words
*
of another graphic eye-witness, " the beautiful
coffin was deposited reverently in front of a gor-
geous catafalque all glittering in gold, the pall being
so disposed as to show the head. Then the
elaborate Service for the Dead was chanted anti-
phonally by Metropolitan and clergy . The scene
was resplendent . The silver- gilt ikons vied with
the silver and gold panelling of the walls in reflect-
ing the light of countless tapers burning within the
sacrarium, by the picture-screen , and around the
catafalque. Anything more solemn than the office.
it was impossible to imagine. Many of those
present were unable to restrain their emotion .
Tears were seen rolling down the cheeks of noble
ladies . Sobs broke on the ear almost rhythmically
with the cadences of the sacred music . Evidently
the late Tsar was deeply esteemed and beloved by
those within his circle." Nor were some of the
heart-rejoicing incidents of an Irish wake entirely
absent from this touching scene of Imperial sorrow,
seeing that, by order of the new Tsar, five- and-
twenty thousand poor people were twice treated to

* The Special Correspondent of the Daily Chronicle.

 296 ALEXANDER III

a free dinner at some score of the monasteries of

Moscow, thus giving them substantial reason to
reflect that it is an ill wind which blows good to
no one.
The same reflection must have also occurred
repeatedly to fifty thousand similarly treated poor
people at St. Petersburg to which the scene now
changes (Act Fourth of the funeral drama), showing
us a long processional line of route of several miles
from the Nicholas Railway Station down the Nevski
Prospect and across the ice- encumbered Neva to
the island-fortress church of Saints Peter and Paul, *
which forms the mausoleum of the Romanoffs- a
line of route lugubrious with the hangings of under-
takers' woe and dismal with slush and mud, and a
drizzle falling from a sullen, leaden-hued sky. On a
scale hitherto unequalled, the procession - - which
took about two hours to pass any particular point-
consisted of thirteen sections , subdivided into one
hundred and fifty-six distinct groups .
Of all these groups, perhaps, the one which
created most interest was "the gay and imposing
figure of a mounted man- at - arms in golden armour
and showy plumes with drawn sword, his horse
being richly harnessed and led by two gaudily clad

* All the Sovereigns of Russia since the building of St.

Petersburg lie buried in this Cathedral, with the exception of
Peter II . , who died and was buried at Moscow. The bodies
are deposited in vaults under the floor, the marble tombs
above only marking the sites of the graves. The Cathedral
on ordinary occasions lacks all special grandeur or richness
of decoration ,
 ILLNESS AND DEATH 297

grooms, and then a second knight on foot in jet-

black armour, carrying his crape - pointed sword
reversed, figures which were supposed to symbolise
the sentiment expressed in the saying, Le Roi est
mort; vive le Roi ! " The sight of the Imperial
hearse itself was declared by another observer to
be no less theatrical, " The small dimensions of
the vehicle and the over-abundance of cheap gilding
and of gold hangings, under which it almost dis-
appeared, with the four aides-de-camp sitting at the
corners, involuntarily recalled one of the chariots in
which the fairies are drawn in a Drury Lane panto-
mime." But in spite of these and other scenic
imperfections, the procession, with its rich represen-
tative variety, was one of the most impressive things
of the kind which had ever been witnessed in the
pile-built capital of the Great Peter. " The de-
meanour of the people was eminently respectful—
nay, even reverent, " wrote the discriminating cor-
respondent from whom I have already quoted,*
" but there were not such external marks of devo-
tion as impressed me at Moscow . "
Most of the devotion was reserved for the fortress-
church, to which the Imperial corpse had thus been
borne with such unparalleled processional pomp, and
of which the interior, according to the same autho-
rity, had simply been transfigured :—
" The porch was hung with black and silver and gold.
From the middle roof of the nave suspended by a golden
cord was a superb tent formed of cloth of silver, internally

* Ofthe Daily Chronicle.

298 ALEXANDER III

resembling ermine, the traditional royal fur being bordered

with gold bullion fringe. The circular top was emblazoned
with shields bearing for device the double-headed Russian
eagle. Thin curtains fell in lovely curves, caught up by four
great pillars ofthe nave, whence they descended to the ground
in a sheen of silver.
" Gold curtains covered the huge daïs occupying the whole
floor-space of the middle of the nave. It was approached
on each side by cherry velvet steps. The estrade of the daïs
was laid with crimson cloth, which reflected a pale pink glow
on the ermined curtains. Approached by three steps from
the daïs was the bier, covered with cherry velvet emblazoned
with the arms of the Romanoffs and of the Empire. At the
corners ofthe estrade were exquisitely modelled white and gold
candelabra, draped with crape, nine feet high. The interior
was a-blaze with wax tapers, what with the golden candelabra
at the four corners of the daïs and the silver candelabra, four
feet high, which were dispersed over the church, chiefly near
the Sanctuary, and Peter the Great's pendant candelabra
illumining the upper part of the interior. Weird was the
effect of the pale daylight struggling through the aisle
windows and the windows of the west front, which were
draped darkly with crimson velvet. The emblazoned cur-
tains and the Ikonostas-all the glory of gold and colour not
specially prepared, not even touched for the occasion,
revealed latent glories and became doubly resplendent under
the light of a thousand tapers.
" The ensemble at the moment ofthe commencement of the
service of prayer was indescribably superb. The ladies in
deep mourning kneeling near the bier ; the deep intoning of
the Metropolitan, and the wailing responses of the priests
and the choir ; the glitter of the silver and the glow of gold ;
the occasional sobs ; the innumerable waxlights ; the hand
of the dead just resting on the edge of the coffin ; the rapt
attention of the illustrious congregation-all combined to
furnish a composition never surpassed in electric vitality
united with sorrowful charm."
" As the strains of the glorious anthem, ' Rest
 ILLNESS AND DEATH 299

with the Blessed ,' rang out as only a Russian choir

could render them," said another writer, " all fell
upon their knees, and many sobbed aloud. Then
came the closing scene, The living representatives
of earth's power and glory gathered together to
honour the mighty dead, slowly, one by one,
mounted the catafalque and kissed the strong, still
hand which no longer held the olive-branch. With
this token of respect to the dead, the members of
the Imperial family left the building "-but only to
return to it several times a day during the interval
before the final entombment and go through the
same painfully pathetic scenes of religious service
and leave-taking .
Historians may afterwards differ as to the char-
acter and acts of Alexander III . But I feel quite
sure that, to some at least of the foreign Princes
who attended his obsequies, the most memorable
feature of his reign will be the long and elaborate
Masses for the soul of the deceased Sovereign at
which etiquette compelled them so frequently to
assist.
His Majesty had died on the 1st of November,
but it was the 19th of this month before the fortress-
church became the scene of the Fifth and final Act in
the funeral drama- a scene which utterly beggared
all that had gone before in its indescribable magni-
ficence and moving power. Certainly, Death had
never sat upon a more gorgeous throne, or been more
gloriously arrayed, than it now was in that trans-
figured mausoleum of the Autocrats of All the
Russias . The scene has already been described,
300 ALEXANDER III

but it now seemed to have assumed quite a different

aspect from the piles of wreaths, * of Nature's richest
flowers and richest metals, lying around, as well as
from the brilliant assemblage of mourners repre-
senting all the rank and station of Russia and
Europe which stood around the Imperial bier.†

* Five thousand wreaths had been sent from France alone ;

while the special mission had taken with it to St. Peters-
burg, for distribution among the populace, ten thousand
bunches of artificial flowers tied with crape and tricolour,
and ticketed with portraits of the late President Carnot and
the deceased Tsar-bearing the legend " United in senti-
ments and death. " During the last two days of the lying
in State four French officers had formed part of the Guard
of Honour in the church. The Queen's wreath was of
natural lilies and violets, and bore the dedication : " To my
well-beloved and never-to-be -forgotten brother." " The
French wreaths," said the correspondent of the Daily
Chronicle, "were the most numerous, and the English the
most simple." Just so.
+ The following Sovereigns and Princes were present at the
funeral :-The King of Denmark, the King and Queen of
Greece, the King of Servia, the Grand Duke of Hesse, the
Duchess of Saxe- Coburg Gotha, the Grand Duchess of
Mecklenburg, Prince Nicholas of Montenegro, Prince and
Princess Henry of Prussia, the Archduke Charles Louis, the
Prince and Princess of Baden, Prince Ludwig of Bavaria,
Prince Valdemar of Denmark, the Prince and Princess of
Wales, the Duke of York, Prince George of Greece, the
Prince of Naples, the Hereditary Grand Duke of Luxemburg,
the Hereditary Prince of Oldenburg, Prince Ferdinand of
Roumania, Prince Frederick Augustus of Saxony, Prince
Eugene of Sweden , the brother of the King of Siam, Duke
Albert and the Duchess Vera of Würtemberg. Great
Britain was reprented by Lord Carrington ( Lord Chamber-
 ILLNESS AND DEATH 301

" The Requiem was commenced with a magnifi-

cent chant, at whose opening notes all the congre-
tion fell on their knees and noiselessly lighted their
tapers by passing one swiftly from hand to hand.
When all rose from their knees, the Cathedral was ,
for the first time, lighted through its whole extent ,
with an effect which baffles description . A thou-
sand glimmering candles were reflected in the silver
wreaths, the majestic brocade of the canopy, and the
star- spangled breasts of the uniforms, producing a
scene of such splendour as is seldom witnessed."
While lighted tapers were being distributed to all
present, the Metropolitan laid upon the forehead
of the deceased Emperor a rich band of silk bearing
the traditional sacred emblems of the Russian Church,
and then placed in his hands a document setting forth
the customary indulgences. This done, the chief
mourners advanced one by one to the coffin and paid
their last reverences to the remains of Alexander III .,
the young Tsar passing first, then the Empress,
the other members of the Imperial family, and the
Kings and Princes in the order of precedence in
which they had entered the Church, each kissing
the face and hands of the dead Monarch. This
moving scene took place amid the most solemn •
silence. Many of those who witnessed it were
overcome with emotion.

lain) and Major-General Ellis, Equerry to the Prince of

Wales, while France sent a special military mission, under
General Boisdeffre, including Admiral Gervais of Cronstadt
fame.
302 ALEXANDER III

The Tsar having deposited on the coffin his

father's Imperial mantle, it was carried to the
altar by eight Generals, and the lid having been
fastened down, the remains were solemnly borne to
the tomb by the Tsar and his immediate relatives .
When the coffin had been deposited by the side of
the open grave, the chief mourners fell upon their
knees in front of the tomb, and while the fortress
artillery thundered forth a Royal salute, the Burial
Service was begun by the Metropolitan , its chief
feature being the following address as from the lips.
of the departed Tsar :-

" Me lying voiceless and deprived of breath beholding,

bewail ye, O brethren and friends, O kinsfolk and acquaint-
ances, for yesterday I spake with you, and suddenly on me
came the dread hour of death. But come ye all that love me
and kiss me with the final kiss, for never shall I go with you
again, or further converse hold with you. For I depart unto
the Judge where no respect of persons is, where slave and
lord together stand, the King and warrior, rich and poor
in equal worthiness, for each according to his deeds is
glorified or shamed. But I beg all and entreat all
unceasingly to pray Christ- God for me, that for my sins I be
not bidden unto the place of torments, but that He may
appoint my lot where is the light of life."

As the reciting of this went on, the living Tsar

and his mother, with the other chief mourners , were
completely overwhelmed by their emotions ; and as
soon as the Metropolitan had uttered the last words
of the Burial Service, with its thrice-repeated :
" May thy memory endure for ever, O our brother,
who art worthy to be blest, and to be had in
remembrance ! " the Palace Grenadiers and the
 ILLNESS AND DEATH 303

Sergeant-Majors representing the various regiments

of which Alexander III . was the chief, finally
lowered the coffin into its vault, while the thunder
of cannon, the crash of musketry, the acclaiming
shouts of the soldiery as they greeted their new
Emperor, the rolling away of the carriages through
the vast multitudes outside , and the bursting out of
the bands into lively tunes as the troops marched
away back to their barracks -all proclaimed , urbi et
orbi, with a sense of relief like that produced by the
knocking at the door in Macbeth, that Alexander III.
had at last been laid to his everlasting rest. To
parody the closing couplet of the Iliad :-

Such honours Russia to her ruler paid,

And peaceful slept the " Tsar Peace-keeper's " shade.
 CHAPTER XI

CHARACTERISTICS

A " psychological enigma "-A compound monarch— Not a

military one-The " Peace- keeper " of Europe-Ex-
amination of his claim to the title - A treaty-breaker
if a peace-keeper-European peace and Russian war
-A second Ivan the Terrible -A " Moujik Tsar "-The
"Tsar prisoner "-Truth-lover and truth-teller- His
real feelings towards France-The great mistake of his
reign-The dumb ruler of a voiceless people- Model
husband and father-Family life -Denmark an asylum
-" Uncle Sasha "-Contemporary, not of Queen Vic-
toria, but of Queen Isabel- The " Two Alexanders
Opinions of Lords Rosebery and Salisbury- M . Leroy-
Beaulieu- Mr. Harold Frederic- Professor Geffcken-
The Times-A personal as well as a political autocrat―
Lady Randolph Churchill- His daily habits described
by Mr. " Lanin "-General Richter, the " Sandalphon of
the Empire "-Great physical strength-Fondness for
animals " Sullen, Taciturn, Curt " -Intellectual tastes
-Domestic habits-De mortuis nil nisi bonum - Canon
Wilberforce " Resistance to tyranny is obedience to
God."

Ir will be impossible to form a true estimate of the

character of Alexander III. until facts and documents
and motives, which are still a sealed book, are given
to the world, and in Russia they wait long before
revealing the contents of their State archives. The
 CHARACTERISTICS 305

personality of the late Tsar, in spite of his simplicity

in some things, was a most perplexing one. Some
one aptly described him as a " psychological enigma."
He was a large but by no means a luminous figure
on the canvas of his time, and it was hard to say
which of his ancestors he most resembled . Perhaps
it would be near the truth to say that he was a kind
of " Frankenstein monster," compounded of fragments
of the characters of some of his predecessors on the
throne of the Romanoffs . In his prime he enjoyed
the physical strength of the Great Peter without
Peter's tremendous energy ; and his physical courage
was never of the highest. There were some traits
in his mental composition which reminded one of
his great-grandfather Paul, who was deposed and
strangled as a kind of dangerous lunatic ; nor was
he altogether without a taint of that dreamy idealism
which distinguished his grand-uncle , Alexander I. ,
of whom Madame de Staël said that his " character
was a constitution to his subjects ." Again, he had
much in common with his grandfather, the despotic
and reactionary Nicholas ; while, on the other hand,
his tendencies at one time betrayed the benevolent
and reforming spirit of his father, the " Tsar
Emancipator."
It may be said with perfect truth that Nature
never intended the late Emperor to be the absolute
and irresponsible ruler of one hundred millions of his
fellow- beings.But by the death of his elder brother,
Nicholas, he had greatness suddenly thrust upon him.
He was trained for the career, not of a Sovereign,
but of a soldier, and yet it never appeared that Nature
U
 ALEXANDER III
306
even intended him to be a soldier . He had the bulk
and look of a dour, heavy dragoon, and that was
all. In this respect he resembled the late Emperor
Frederick of Germany, who looked the most martial
figure of his age , but in reality had neither taste nor
capacity for the career of arms, and was content to
let his Chief of the Staff win all the battles for which
he got the credit. Like Frederick III., whom he
also resembled in his tragic fate , Alexander III. had
a positive distaste for soldiering, and was not in the
least infected by that mania for marching-past, that
defilirium tremens, as it has wittily been called,
which possesses the heart of his fellow- sovereign at
Berlin.
But doubtless this disinclination of the Tsar to
make a show at the head of his troops was as much
due to the dread of appearing in public as to lack of
passion for military pomp. The master of the largest
army in Europe , Alexander III . was nevertheless
not a military monarch like his grandfather Nicholas .
From the campaign against Turkey , in which he had
been the nominal commander of the Army of the
Lom , and achieved successes that were more due
to the blunders of his opponents than to his own
brilliancy as a strategist , he returned home with a
holy hatred of war and all its ways. Besides , his
own experience in the field may have honestly con-
vinced him that he had no great talent for war, and
that another campaign , with himself as necessary
Commander -in- Chief, might only result in proving
his unfitness for the post . His reign of thirteen
years was passed without a war, and he was justly
 CHARACTERISTICS 307

called the " Peace-keeper " of Europe. But this

title he gained less, perhaps , from his innate love of
peace than from his acquired horror of war.
Nor must it ever be forgotten that this magnifi-
cent title had been still more justly applied to the
old Emperor William and his Bismarck before
Alexander's accession to the throne ; and that the
real " Peace-keeper " of Europe was the Triple
Alliance, which must have convinced the Russian
Emperor of the utter hopelessness of carrying to
success any schemes of adventure or aggression
which he might have cherished .
" This master of many legions never waged a
war," as was finely said of him by Lord Rosebery.
It is true he never waged a war with any European
nation, though the course of Russian conquest in
Central Asia showed that the Russian sword, even
in his day, was never continuously in its scabbard.
But, at the same time, it must be said that
Alexander III.'s policy in Bulgaria was at one time
perilously near provoking a European war ; and if
his masterful and illegal repudiation of the Batoum
clause of the Treaty of Berlin did not end in hosti-
lities, that was due-as none knew better than Lord
Rosebery himself-more to the forbearance of the
other Powers than to the Russian love of peace.
If Alexander III. never broke the public peace, he
at least broke a public treaty, and that was the
next thing to it.
His Majesty was a mass of apparent contradic-
tions. He was much belauded for keeping the peace
so long, for the issues of peace and war lay in the
 DER
308 ALEXAN III

hollow of his hand, though not more so than in that

of the German Emperor or the Government of the
French Republic. But surely that was a very
peculiar love of peace which, while sparing Europe
the calamity of an awful war, nevertheless plunged
his own Empire into domestic struggles of the most
internecine kind. This was a form of war which
involved no risk to his own military reputation, but
yet it was war of the most savage and relentless , if
one-sided kind all the same, a war of positive exter-
mination against obnoxious races and religions . It
was also a war prompted by ignorance and stupidity,
seeing that the Stundists, or Methodists , formed the
salt and social leaven of the great mass of Alex-
ander's brutalised and degraded subjects, the true
apostles of the Kingdom of God in an Empire groan-
ing under all the odious devilries of a mediaval
despotism. Alexander III . was frequently credited
with great kindliness of heart, and yet he lent his
countenance to cruelties which placed him on the
level of a Philip and a Torquemada.
From beginning to end his reign was one painful
tragedy of racial and religious persecutions, which can
scarcely be paralleled out of the cruellest page of all
history. It is of no use telling us that Alexander III.
was a sincere and honest man , and that all his
actions sprang from the most exalted patriotism, the
purest piety. The same apology might be tendered
on behalf of Nero, or Nana Sahib, or the Bloody
Mary. Piety is no doubt a fine thing in itself, and
so is patriotism ; yet, if these abstract virtues are
not prompted to express themselves in concrete
 CHARACTERISTICS 309

form by the spirit of tolerance and enlightenment, it

is possible for them to become vices of the most
odious kind. But the intellectual and moral atmo-
sphere always breathed by Alexander III . was more
that of the time of Ivan the Terrible than of the
latter half of the nineteenth century ; nor do the
annals of this century contain any more shameful
and distressing pages than the record of the late
Tsar's persecution of the Jews and the Noncon-
formists in his Empire (Stundists and Lutherans) ,
as well as of all the non-Slavonic elements amongst
his subjects - Finns, Poles, and Teutons. His
Panslavism was the Procrustes-bed on which he
forced all his people, without exception , to lie,
heedless of their prayers, their protests, and their
howls of pain.
And then, as for civic freedom under Alex-
ander III . , where was it ? What, I ask, did he do
to inspire his subjects with a sense of their human
dignity ? What, indeed, in the field of domestic
policy, did he do which was not calculated to
demoralise, degrade, and debase the millions of
human beings subject to his stupid, his obscurantist,
and his reactionary sway ? Alexander III. would
have needed to be a hundred times at least the man
he was to sway with anything like success the
sceptre which had been placed in his hands by a
cruel and capricious fate. With all his virtues
as a man, he was no more capable of ruling, as it
should have been ruled, his colossal Empire than
one of his own average moujiks, or peasants. He
claimed, and had his claim allowed, to be the
310 ALEXANDER III

" Moujik Tsar. " On his head sat one of the most
magnificent of crowns ; but his brows were not
encircled with the still more dazzling aureole of
bright intelligence , enlightenment, and lofty aims.
If he becomes known to history by any special
title at all, it will not be so much the " Tsar Peace-
keeper " as the " Tsar Persecutor," or perhaps even
the " Tsar Prisoner." For he ever lived in a state
of real or imaginary siege, and his palaces were
prisons . His journeys were hurried , furtive ; and
when he had occasion to travel from St. Petersburg
to Moscow, or from Moscow to the Crimea, he simply
passed through a lane of guardian troops. When
he went to his coronation it was like passing to his
execution. The Nihilists murdered his father with
bombs, and they also made his own life so great a
misery to him as to precipitate his end. There can be
no doubt about it . The secret apostles of revolution ,
the underground advocates of reform , were as directly
responsible for the death of Alexander III . as of
Alexander II. His was a reign of terror, and terror
of the kind that kills. Never at the best endowed
with physical courage of the highest kind, his nerves
proved quite unequal to the double strain of coping
with his secret foes and at the same time of carrying
on the colossal business of his one-man rule. He
attempted an impossible task , and he broke his back
with the effort.
Fear had a deep hold of his nature, side by side
with a capacity for courage ; just as strange irreso-
lution marked many of the acts of the monarch who
looked the incarnation of human will. Doubtless he
 CHARACTERISTICS 311

was a truth -loving and truth-telling man, and yet he

frequently allowed himself to be made the tool of the
lying and the dishonest. The circumstances con-
nected with the Prinzenraub form a case in point.
And what can be thought of the intelligence and
perspicacity of the man who was imposed upon by
the famous forged dispatches relating to Bulgaria ?
Count Herbert Bismarck made no secret of his
opinion that Alexander III . was endowed with no
more than the mind of one of his own moujiks, a
" Mujik- verstand," and M. Stambuloff endorsed the
judgment in a manner more emphatic than discreet.
With an intellectual outfit scarcely equal to the
task of ruling a hundred of his fellow-men , Alexander
had been saddled with the responsibility of ruling a
hundred millions of them. No one ever doubted his
perfect honesty and his determination to govern well
according to his lights, but the worst of him was that
he let himself be guided by the counsel of men who,
his superiors in mind, were inferior to him in the
qualities of the heart. The exigencies of political
expediency sometimes gave his words and actions
the semblance of personal insincerity. This was the
case, for instance, with the relations of France and
Russia. The French persuaded themselves that
they had a true friend and warm admirer in Alex-
ander III., while, as a matter of fact, there was no
one who entertained a deeper horror of Republican
France, as being the hotbed of anarchy, irreligion ,
and all other modern abominations . The idea of
entering into a formal alliance, a political mariage
de convenance, with such a godless , reckless, and
312 ALEXANDER III

revolutionary people was never seriously entertained

for a moment by the autocratic and Orthodox Tsar
of All the Russias .
The great mistake of his reign, the missing of the
tide which, taken at the flood, would have helped
him on to happiness, was the withholding of the
quasi-parliamentary privileges which his father had
actually decreed on the very day of his death At
first also he was for confirming this bequest, but
reactionary counsels gained the upper hand over him ,
and he refused to grant concessions which might
seem to have been wrung from him by the threats of
the terrorists. It was his one great chance, and he
missed it . Certainly he did much to cleanse the
Augean stable of his Empire from its foul adminis-
trative abuses ; but, on the whole, the tendency of
his reign was more in the direction of reaction than
of reform . He gave his people no voice to express
their grievances, their hopes, their aspirations . The
nation continued dumb, and its mouthpiece was
seldom anything but mute himself. Yet, even
though he kept the mouth of his people muzzled ,
he would have stirred their enthusiasm had he but
spoken out with the freedom and fervour which
characterise the frequent utterances of his fellow-
monarch in Germany ; for those who are led, and
even those who are driven, love to hear from time to
time the voice of their leader or their driver.
Whatever his failings as an autocrat, his domestic
life was at once an exception and an example to all
the other members of his family. A devoted husband
and a doting father, he would have made a model
 CHARACTERISTICS 313

subject. But, in making him a Sovereign, capricious

Fate imposed on him a burden which he found it quite
impossible to bear, and he succumbed to the effort,
just as his deceased brother Nicholas, who would
in all probability have proved a better Emperor, ulti-
mately fell a victim to the physical strain or wrench
which had been imparted to his constitution in a
playful wrestling match with his cousin.
I have said that the late Tsar was a devoted
husband, and scandal never once breathed on his
conjugal relations, as it had done on those of his
father. His domestic life was as simple as it was
pure ; and he caused his children to be trained and
educated with a severe absence of all softening
luxury. About eleven years ago I chanced to be
in St. Petersburg, and had the privilege of being
conducted all over the Anitchkoff Palace, which was
then the town residence of their Majesties. I was
much struck by the quiet simplicity of everything.
The schoolroom was severity itself, a parish school-
room, indeed , more than an Imperial one. The walls,
I remember, where not hung with maps, were pasted
over with pictures of the chief battles in the Russo-
Turkish War, taken from The Illustrated London
News and other illustrated English papers . The
aide-de-camp who acted as my guide spoke in the
most touching terms about the tender relations
existing between their Majesties , and above all things
of the Tsar's fond devotion to his children. No
matter how late he might return home, he always
made a point of coming to the cots of his little ones to
kiss them in their sleep and cross himself over them .
 314 ALEXANDER III

Perhaps the reign of Alexander III. cannot be

better characterised than by saying that the happiest
hours of his life were those which he spent out of
his own dominions. As Denmark had given him a
wife, so it also afforded him an asylum ; and the
lawns of Fredensborg were much dearer to him than
the terraces of Peterhof, the woods of Zarskoë Selo,
or the embowered walks of Gatchina- Fredens-
borg, with its château fronted by a statue to the
Goddess of Peace, and the Tsar's study there em-
blazoned with the motto, "Fortissima consilia tutis-
sima." It would have been his boldest, and perhaps
also his safest , policy to show himself to his subjects ;
but he dreaded those over whom he domineered, and
loved to exchange the perils of rule for the pleasure
of romping on the sequestered lawns of Denmark
with the numerous children of his royal relatives ,
who only knew and adored him as " Uncle Sasha."
At the close of one of these annual visits to Denmark
he was saying good-bye to his favourite nieces, the
daughters of the Prince and Princess of Wales.
" Good-bye, my dears," he said as he kissed them,
"you are going back to your happy English home,
and I to my Russian prison." Alexander III . loved
Denmark for the same reason and to the same extent
as France was loved by Mary Queen of Scots , whose
portrait hung over his writing-table at Fredensborg,
opposite to that of Catherine II.
But I must seek to illustrate my subject from as
many points of view as possible, and focus upon
it the light of other judgments. Says M. Leroy-
Beaulieu, in the preface to the American edition
 CHARACTERISTICS 315

of his great work on " The Empire of the Tsars

""
and the Russians -a work which is forbidden in
Russia :-" The Tsar Alexander Alexandrovitch ,
crowned in the Kremlin of Moscow, is not so much
the contemporary of Queen Victoria as of Queen
Isabel of Castile. The uprightness of his inten-
tions , the loftiness of his character, are beyond
all doubt , but neither he nor his people live in
the same intellectual atmosphere with ourselves.
He can, with a good conscience, sign ukàses that
our conscience condemns . If, at the distance of
four centuries, the Russian Tsar takes against his
Jewish subjects measures which recall the edicts
issued in 1492 by los Reyes Católicos, it is because
Orthodox Russia is not unlike Catholic Spain of the
fifteenth century . For the last two centuries
his country's history has been that of a pendulum
drawn alternately towards two opposite poles . It
oscillates between European imitation and Muscovite
tradition.
"Just now the attraction of Moscow and the
Russian pole prevails, as it did at one time under
Nicholas. The current is no longer, as under
Catherine, Alexander I., and Alexander II., set
towards Europe. Alexander III . prides himself in
being, first and foremost, a national ruler. He is
the Orthodox Tsar of popular tradition- Russian ,
and nothing if not Russian. He seeks for no glory
save that of embodying in himself his people. To
him the Russian Tsar is Russia incarnate. With
whatever feelings we may regard certain of his acts,
it is impossible to deny the dignity of his personal
316 ALEXANDER III

character. Never, perhaps, has Russia had a ruler

more profoundly imbued with his duties, more
earnestly thoughtful for the welfare of his people .
His qualities as a Sovereign , his virtues as a man,
are his own ; his government methods are not.
They are the outcome of the soil, of the autocratic
system of which he is the representative, and which
he deems it his mission to maintain in its integrity.
This man, invested with the omnipotence which
breeds the Neros and the Caligulas of the world, is
an upright, honourable man. He is brave , simple,
modest ; he is calm and patient. He has shown a
quality most rare with those possessed of absolute
power-self-control."
Once in particular he lost this self-control, and
that was when he made up his mind, at all costs
and hazards, to get his cousin, Prince Alexander of
Battenberg, removed from the Bulgarian throne.
In an age rich in sensations, none was ever more
engrossing than the drama, the tragedy of " The Two
Alexanders," Mediæval still in most things , the
Russia of Alexander III . never showed itself more
startlingly so than in the methods it employed to
compass its will with respect to the ruler who,
while ready to show his patrons every mark of
gratitude and consideration, most emphatically
refused to become their tool. The Emperor's
implacable rage and spite were due to the fact that
he had been grossly deceived . And so he had.
But the deceit was much more on the side of his
own servants than on that of the Prince, whom they
wished to dragoon into being a mere unquestioning
 CHARACTERISTICS 317

instrument of their imperious master, and rage

almost bereft him of his reason. Alexander III.
kept the peace for thirteen years ; but he was as
near as possible causing it to be broken then . He
kept the peace, no matter what his motives-
whether physical fear of war, humanity, irresolution,
helplessness , dread of having himself to take the
field-it is quite impossible to say. Motives are
generally mixed. But he did keep the peace of
Europe during all his melancholy reign, and that
must always be placed to his credit as a set-off
against the cruel and stupid persecutions of which
he allowed so many of his own subjects to be made
the victims .*
Some one wittily remarked of Alexander III . that
his merits might be summed up by saying that he
kept two things-the Seventh Commandment and
the peace of Europe. On the latter subject let us
take the testimony of the British Premier, Lord
Rosebery : t
" There is not a thoughtful mind in Europe at this moment
which is not turned to the sick-bed at Livadia. We have had
in times past subjects of difference, but I am certain of this
that there is no one who knows what has passed in Europe
for the last twelve years who does not feel the immeasurable
debt of obligation under which we lie to the Emperor of
Russia. Gentlemen, it is not my concern to-night to say one
word as to the relations of the Emperor and his own Empire.

* So far, most of this character-sketch was contributed by

the writer to the Illustrated London News, the proprietors of
which he thanks for permission to reproduce it.
+ Speaking at the Cutlers' Feast in Sheffield while the
Tsar was dying.
 318 ALEXANDER III

But we have a right to concern ourselves with the Emperor

as he appears to foreign countries, and we have in him a
monarch the watchword of whose reign and character have
been the worship of peace. I do not say that he will rank,
or does rank, among the Cæsars and Napoleons of history-
the great conquerors of whom history, perhaps, makes too
much account.
" But if ' peace hath her victories no less renowned than
war,' the Emperor of Pussia will reign in history with a title
not less undisputed than the titles of Cæsar and of Napoleon.
It is something for a Sovereign of unbounded power to have
introduced—not to have introduced altogether, perhaps, but
to have made more respected in the realms of diplomacy—an
absolutely conscientious devotion to truth. I have not the
honour of the Sovereign's acquaintance, but all who have
unite to say that the one sin' he never forgives is that of
personal deceit and untruthfulness ; and, on the other hand,
he has by his influence done that which few men in his
position have been able to do-to guarantee in his own
person and by his own character that inestimable blessing,
the peace of Europe. It is now some twenty-four years ago
since we had a great European war, and it is not too much to
say that if peace has not been broken in more than one
instance during late years it is due as much to the character
and influence of the Emperor of Russia as to any other cause
you may mention."

The Marquis of Salisbury's tribute was no less

flattering :

" His reign has not been a long one, and during, I think I
may say, the greater part of it, I was in a position to appre-
ciate the working of his character and the motives of his
acts ; and beginning, as I confess I did, with some doubt of
the attitude that he would assume, the force of facts and of
constant experience strongly convinced me, long before my
official connection with foreign affairs had terminated , that
Europe owed to him a debt which it was difficult to express
for the peace which his self-restraint and his high Christian
 CHARACTERISTICS 319

character had secured to us. On more than one occasion a

man of lower motives might have yielded to a temporary
irritation and irritation in an autocrat is a terrible thing-
and but for his self- restraint Europe might have been plunged
into war. He has left behind him a character for which all
nations are bound to be grateful, and which future rulers in
all lands, whether monarchical or popular, will do well to
study and to follow."

So much, then, for the character of the Emperor

in the field of foreign policy. And now- for my
witness-box must be open to all kinds of honest and
independent testimony- let me supplement this by
again quoting M. Leroy- Beaulieu with regard to his
Majesty's merits as an administrator :

"The Emperor Alexander III ., on ascending the throne,

set before himself, as his first task, the eradication of the
abuses of which neither his father nor his grandfather had
been able to cleanse the soil of the Empire. Could the
success of such an undertaking be prejudged from the loyalty
of one man's intentions and the uprightness of his character
no Sovereign ever was better equipped for his work. At all,
times the sworn enemy of abuses and of corrupt men—pro-
foundly honest himself, and unable to tolerate dishonesty
around him, impervious to the feminine blandishments to
which his father so easily succumbed, combining, unlike the
latter, the virtues of the private man with the Sovereign's
noble aspirations, incapable of any weakness or low com-
promise with conscience for the benefit of favourites of either
sex, scrupulously thrifty in the use of the public wealth, and
filled with the sense of the sacredness of his mission ,
Alexander III. appears to be, personally, better qualified than
any ofhis predecessors to deliver the State from the hideous
canker that gnaws at its vitals ; but what can one man do,
however resolute and austere, in a State of over 12,000,000
square miles ?
" Such an Empire does not come under the class of
320 ALEXANDER III

those domains where the master's eye can see everything

and reach everywhere. Whatever his energy , the Sovereign
is doomed to impotency ; after a few efforts, usually
made with a novice's ardour and ingenuity, the most
hopeful almost fatally ends by getting discouraged, tired,
and by giving in to the evil which it is not in his power to
prevent. For a Sovereign , indeed, can govern -especially
as regards administration- only through the eyes and by
the hands of others, and it is precisely the central administra-
tion, the Court, and the higher circles of bureaucracy which
are most interested ' in maintaining the old practices and
abuses. If we are to believe public rumour, peculation and
prevarication, stock gambling and unclean dabblings, have
already quietly resumed their course around the pure and
honest Alexander, unbeknown to him ."

On the other hand , take the following remarks on

the same aspect of the Emperor's character by
another acute critic . " Alexander III.," says Mr.
Harold Frederic (in his " New Exodus "), " is a
man of rather limited mental endowments and
acquirements, who does not easily see more than
one thing at a time, and who gets to see that
. . He has no idea of system and no
slowly. • ...
executive talent. He would not be selected to
manage the affairs of a village if he were an ordinary
citizen . It is the very irony of fate that he has
been made responsible for the management of a
half a million villages . He has an abiding sense
of the sacredness of this responsibility, and he
toils assiduously over the task as it is given him
to comprehend it. Save for brief periods of
holiday-making with his family, he works till two
or three in the morning, examining papers, reading
 CHARACTERISTICS 321

suggestions , and signing papers. No man in the

Empire is busier than he.
"The misery of it is that all this irksome labour
is of no use whatever. So far as the real govern-
ment of Russia is concerned, he might as well be
employed in wheeling bricks from one end of the yard
to the other, and then back again . Even when one
tries to realise what ' Russian government ' is like—
with its vast bureaucracy essaying the stupendous
task of maintaining an absolute personal supervision
over every individual human unit in a mass of a
hundred millions, and that through the least capable
and most uniformly corrupt agents to be found in
the world- the mind cannot grasp the utter hope-
lessness of it all . The ablest man ever born of
woman could do next to nothing with it ; at least
until he had cleared the ground by slaying some
scores of thousands of officials. Alexander III .
simply struggles on at one little corner of the
towering pyramid of routine business which his
Ministers pile up before him. Compared with him,
Sisyphus was a gentleman of leisure."
Professor Geffcken, who knew the Emperor
Frederick so well, thus also hit off certain phases in
the character of the equally unfortunate Alexander :

" Personally, the Emperor is said to be kind-hearted,

though at the same time hot-tempered, while a strange vein
of timidity pervades his character. He does not like new
faces, and prefers to communicate with his Ministers and
Generals by writing rather than by word of mouth, because
he does not like discussions for which he is not prepared.
He is, of course, obliged to receive hundreds of persons , but
X
322 ALEXANDER III

avoids long conversations if he feels unable to cope in

argument with his interlocutors.
" His personal commerce with those in whom he has con-
fidence is therefore very limited, and he dislikes intercourse
with eminent men because he fears the influence they may
exercise upon him, being very desirous of appearing inde-
pendent. For instance, he has discarded Count Adlerberg,
a real man of business, who always accompanied Alexander
II. on his travels , and when he goes abroad he is surrounded
only by those who have no opinions of their own. Yet the
Emperor is very accessible to the advice of fanatics like
Pobedónostseff, because their resolute convictions impose
upon him, and because, above all, he fears foreign influence. "

" Some acute physiognomists, " said a writer in

the Times, " imagined they could perceive in his
features traces of his descent from Paul I., and
some of the people who knew him best believed
they could detect in him, especially in his later
years, symptoms of the impatient waywardness and
dislike of even the most respectful suggestions
which characterised that eccentric and unfortunate
monarch. Certainly he had not much in common
with his liberal-minded , kind-hearted , well-inten-
tioned father, Alexander II . , and still less with his
refined, philosophic, sentimental, chivalrous, yet
cunning grand- uncle, Alexander I. , who coveted the
title of ' the first gentleman of Europe. ' With high
culture, exquisite refinement, polished manners, and
studied elegance, he had no sympathy, and never
affected to have any. Indeed, he rather gloried in the
idea of being of the same rough texture as the great
majority of his subjects ; and, if he knew that he
was sometimes disrespectfully called behind his back
 CHARACTERISTICS 323

' the Peasant Tsar ' (Muzhitski Tsar), he probably

regarded the epithet as a compliment.
" His straightforward, abrupt manner, savouring
sometimes of gruffness, and his direct, unadorned
method of expressing himself, harmonised well with
his rough-hewn, immobile features and somewhat
sluggish movements. The impression which he
generally made in conversation was that of a good,
honest, moderately intelligent, strong-willed man,
who might perhaps listen to explanations or
objections, but who would certainly stand no
nonsense, whether from subordinates or from any
one else. It was as a man rather than as an
Emperor that his amiable qualities became apparent.
All the world knows in a general way that he was
the incarnation of all the domestic virtues ; but
only those who had the privilege of observing him
in the unrestrained intimacy of the family circle,
especially when he had an opportunity of romping
with children, or amusing himself with his four-
footed pets, could fully realise what a simple, kindly,
affectionate nature was concealed behind the by no
means sympathetic exterior which was presented to
the world at large."
As in politics, so in personal respects, Alexander
II. was an autocrat, especially towards his family.
His father always kept open house for his relations.
Every Grand Duke and Duchess could always come
to him uninvited . Soon after his accession to the
throne his successor restricted this liberty to his
own children. Even his brothers did not go unin-
vited to dine with him. New family statutes were
324 ALEXANDER III

drawn up, according to which the degree of relation-

ship to the Tsar became of the greatest importance.
Only the children and grandchildren of a Tsar were
allowed to bear the title of Grand Duke and Imperial
Highness . Those who came after these were only
princes of the blood-royal and " Highness ." The
appanage was also dependent on the degree of
relationship to the Tsar.
The Grand Duke Vladimir was formerly wont,
during his military tours of inspection, to be accom-
panied by the Grand Duchess Marie, his wife, whose
beauty and kind- heartedness made her very popular.
Alexander III . soon heard of this . Fearing that
a member of the family might thus gain too much
influence in the country, he ordered the Grand
Duke Vladimir to make his tours of inspection for
the future without his wife. He also feared that
his relations, and especially the above-named Grand
Duchess, might have an influence over the troops.
He therefore gave orders that members of the Im-
perial family were to greet by word of mouth only
troops to which they were specially attached. If
they did so to others, the men were not to answer.
All authorities agree in describing the late Tsar
as man of extremely simple habits and tastes.
Lady Randolph Churchill, writing in 1889, shortly
after her visit to Russia, mentioned, in her descrip-
tion of the Palace of Gatchina, " a hall worthy of
an old English country-house, full of comfortable
writing-tables, games, and toys ; I even spied a
swing. In this hall their Majesties often dine, even
when they have guests, and after dinner the table is
 CHARACTERISTICS 325

removed and they pass the remainder of the evening

there . The Emperor and the Empress elect to live
with the greatest simplicity in the smallest of rooms,
which are rather at variance with the Emperor's
towering frame and majestic bearing. His Majesty's
manner is as simple as his tastes , and , if rather shy,
impresses one with a conviction of his honesty and
earnestness." " There are," she goes on, " some
curious customs at the Russian Court which do not
harmonise with the idea of a despotic and autocratic
Sovereign . To see the Tsar standing, while supper
is going on, talking perhaps to a young officer who
remains seated all the time, is startling. But tra-
dition is everything in this country, and as it was
the habit of Peter the Great to dislike ceremony of
any kind, it is religiously kept. The etiquette of
the Russian Court is much less rigid in some respects
than in England or Germany."
The truth of this will appear from the following
account of how the Tsar spent his day, from the pen
of Mr. " Lanin " :

"The Tsar's daily habits of life are those of a Pope rather

than of a secular monarch, his relaxations those of a prisoner
rather than of a potentate. When residing at Gatchina he
generally rises at 7 A.M. , whereas few noblemen in the capital
leave their beds much before midday ; and I am personally
acquainted with two who rise with the regularity of clock-
work at three o'clock every day. He then takes a quiet stroll
in the uninteresting, well-watched palace park, returns to
early breakfast, and engages in severe manual labour as a
preparation for the official work of the day. The latter con-
sists mainly in the reading and signing of enormous piles of

Contemporary Review for January 1893.

326 ALEXANDER III

edicts, ukases, laws, and reports, all of which he conscien-

tiously endeavours to understand . Upon the margins of
these documents he writes his decision or his impressions
with a frankness and abandon which laughs prudence and
propriety to scorn . He writes down the thoughts suggested
by what he reads just as they occur, employing the picturesque
phraseology in which they embody themselves. And the
former are not always very correct nor the latter very refined.
' They are a set of hogs ' is a phrase that recurs more fre-
quently than most. 'What a beast he is ! ' is another (ekaya
skotina). The account of a fire, of a failure of the crops, of
a famine, or of some other calamity, is almost invariably
commented upon in the one stereotyped word, ' discouraging '
(neyooteshitelno).*
"Lunch is always served at one o'clock, and consists ofthree
courses, including soup, in the preparation of which Russian
cookery is far ahead of that of the rest of Europe. After
lunch the Emperor takes his recreation in the park, walking
or working, conversing with the members of his family or
with General Richter, General Tcherevin, or one of his
adjutants. He generally reads the newspapers at this time
of the day- viz., the Grashdanin and the Moscow Gazette
(the Novoe Vremya, which is presented to him each day on
special paper, he rarely honours with a glance), and listens
to the reading of the summary of the previous day's news,
which consists of extracts from the Russian and foreign
papers selected by officials and copied out in a caligraphic
hand on the finest paper in the Empire. Beside these précis,
one of foreign the other of home news, he takes a keen
delight in hearing the gossip and scandal of the fashionable
world of the capital.

* Once the introduction of lifts was recommended by the

Council of the Empire. A small minority was against it
because it was alleged that foreigners were at the back of
the undertaking . The Tsar did not confirm the Bill, and
remarked on the margin : " I am astonished that a majority
could be found to sell Russia."
 CHARACTERISTICS 327

Recreation over, the Emperor gives audience to those

Ministers whose reports are due on that day, discusses the
matters laid before him, and reads over the edicts drawn up
for his signature, signing them or putting them aside for
future consideration. At 8 P.M. , dinner, consisting of four
courses, is served en famille. After dinner the Tsar takes
tea in the private apartments of the Empress, where he
invariably appears in a check blouse and leather belt, which
would impart a rude shock to the notions of Court etiquette
prevalent in most European countries."

Mention is made in the above extract of General

Richter, and I cannot refrain from supplementing
it by quoting the following description of this func-
tionary from the graphic pen of Mr. Stead :

"The Emperor's letter-bag is almost the only means by

which the mass of his subjects can make known to the man
who is their natural and appointed Tribune their grievances
or their complaints. The department of the Imperial Chan-
cery which attends to this Tribunitial side of the Emperor's
daily work is presided over by General de Richter, one ofthe
best men in Russia. General Richter is from the Baltic
provinces, a Lutheran, and a sincerely pious and devoted
Christian. He commanded in Sebastopol during the Russo-
Turkish war as a general in the artillery. Few men whom I
met in Russia impressed me more favourably. An honester
and more straightforward man never breathed, or one more
full of all the better and nobler aspirations of humanity.
He has an office under him which is concerned with answer-
ing petitions and attending to applicants for the Imperial
intervention. To him the Emperor refers the 106 petitions
per day which arrive on an average every twenty-four hours,
and to him come, in long queue, the petitioners who seek to
bring their troubles before the Emperor. He is, as it were,
the Tsar's secretary, and no better man could be found for
the place. A high-minded man of stern integrity, his selection
for the responsible post which he occupies in the Imperial
328 ALEXANDER III

entourage, and the confidence which the Emperor places in

him are an indication that Alexander III . is a better judge of
men than some of his critics are disposed to admit.
" That portfolio of General Richter,' said a dashing young
officer whom I met on my way to Gatchina, ' should be
made of waterproof, for it is watered with tears of the sup-
pliants of a whole nation.' General Richter is the Sandal-
phon of the Empire. He listens to the sounds that ascend
from below :

" From the spirits on earth that adore,

From the souls that entreat and implore
In the fervour and passion of prayer,
From the hearts that are broken with losses,
And weary with dragging of crosses
Too heavy for mortals to bear."

He is the doorkeeper of the Earthly Providence whom men

call the Tsar. He has to read the petitions, to receive the
petitioners, to be the ear and the voice of the Emperor. It is
heart-breaking work ; for, after all, the extent to which a
Sovereign, even when he is an autocrat, can intervene between
mortals and adverse fortune is very limited ; and yet, as
Titus said, no man should approach the person of Cæsar and
go away unsatisfied."

Alexander III. was the first Emperor after the

two Romanoffs- Feodor and John Alexeiwitch- to
wear a beard. He took a great delight in manual
labour, which , in his case, was a physical necessity
no less than a favourite pastime. He unhesitatingly
put his hand to any kind of work that had to be
done, but his usual occupation was to fell huge trees,
saw them into planks , plane them, and generally
prepare them for the cabinet-maker. He was also
fond of shovelling away snow. Like some members
of the Orloff family, including the one who, in 1856 ,
 CHARACTERISTICS 329

signed the Treaty of Paris, he had wrists of iron, or,

rather, of steel, and he could roll up a silver plate
like a scroll of paper. He could tear asunder a
pack of cards , or a horseshoe, or even, it was said,
a rouble piece ( not the paper, but the silver kind) .
Like Mr. Gladstone, he cut down trees, he practised
gymnastics, mowed the grass in his garden, shovelled
snow, and chopped wood. He would also some-
times help the workmen who were occupied in the
palace, especially the joiners and upholsterers . He
laid the greatest store on having his rooms com-
fortably and suitably furnished, and he was very
fond of arranging the pictures on his walls and
hanging them differently.
" The Tsar's physique," wrote a correspondent,
" is exceptionally powerful. The feats of physical
strength with which he was wont to amuse himself
in his youth would make the fortune of any of his
subjects. He has twisted and broken thick iron
pokers and bars with his hands, has bent pewter
tankards into bouquet-holders, has burst open doors,
raised heavy burdens, and accomplished enough to
justify his claim to the title of the ' Russian Samson ." "
" In person," says Mr. " Lanin," "the Tsar is tall
and powerful, strong and muscular ; in his younger
days he was able to bend a bar of iron across his
knees, or to burst in a strong door with his shoulder.
He possesses one of those heavy, unwieldy figures
whose awkward movements, resulting largely from
morbid self-consciousness and consequent shyness ,
no calisthenics could subdue to the easy bearing
which characterises the ordinary man of the world .
330 ALEXANDER III

His manner is cold, constrained, abrupt, and so

suggestive of churlishness as often to deprive spon-
taneous favours of the honey of friendship for the
sake of which they are accorded ."
Like most large-hearted men, he was devotedly
fond of animals. He would tramp for miles through
forest and marsh, with his favourite setters , Spot
and Juno, for sole companions, and the Imperial
kennels and stables were models of order and pro-
priety. The stables at Gatchina were, indeed,
inferior in magnificence and comfort only to the
Palace itself ; and, though not himself given much
to riding, the Emperor did all in his power to
encourage horse-breeding and horsemanship, espe-
cially among his officers . He invariably presided
at the annual race- meeting at Krasnoë Selo, and all
the prizes offered at it were given by the Imperial
family. He was even a regular visitor to the circus,
and , though he did not restrain a smile when a
performer came to grief, never failed to acknowledge
with a kindly bow the salute of the crestfallen rider
on leaving the ring. He will also be greatly missed
at the French Theatre, where the Imperial box was
seldom empty on Saturday nights. Oh these occa-
sions the whole company played to the Emperor, and
the actor or actress who won his applause was happy
and envied for weeks . One performer, who ap-
peared in a secondary rôle, tells with honest pride
how he once succeeded , small as his part was, in
provoking the Imperial mirth . " I may not be a
great artist," he is wont to say, " but when I came
 CHARACTERISTICS 331

on the Tsar laughed till he cried. That is quite

enough for me." *
Outside the narrow circle of his family the Tsar
was never very communicative or cordial. " His
distrustful look, which has often been confounded
with a scowl ; the knitting of his brows, which sig-
nifies active thought quite as much as dissatisfaction
or anger ; his sullen taciturnity, curt, blunt replies,
and brusque movement when finishing a conversa-
tion, have contributed more than aught else to raise
an impassable barrier between himself and his
subjects. I entered into his Majesty's presence
with feelings very different from those connoted by
the words fear and trembling,' said a friend of
mine-a journalist who once went to thank the
Tsar for a decoration bestowed upon him , as he
fancied, for his literary and historical researches,
but in reality for a very different reason . ' I felt
grateful to him with a gratitude which I cannot
express in words . Affection , loyalty, sympathy,
devotion vied with each other for the mastery in
my soul. I would have thrown myself down a
precipice at his nod . But the moment I beheld
him a cold blast of icy wind froze my very soul.
I thanked him for his kind recognition of my
journal , which had done its best to turn a search-
light upon the sombre past ; but before I could
finish the sentence he said : ' Aye , and on the
present, too ; and I would have you understand
•

* From a character-sketch in Standard.

332 ALEXANDER III

that I will stand no more of this ! ' He then

turned upon his heel, and I was left alone with
my thoughts, which were somewhat different from
those I had on entering the apartment." "
"The Tsar's intellectual occupations," says Mr.
" Lanin," " are not nearly so fatiguing as his physical
labours, and his reading is less varied and exten-
sive than that of many of the ladies who frequent
his Court. Besides the two newspapers already
named and two historical reviews, he confines his
reading to Russian, French, and English novels.
Among the novelists of his own country he prefers
Count Tolstoi, little though he relishes him as a
preacher. Music has a soothing effect upon him ,
as it had upon Saul, but , like Kant, he displays a
particular fondness for loud music. He himself
plays the trombone with as much success as any
specialist in his military band, and occasionally
organises quartettes at the palace, in which he
takes an active part with his favourite instrument.
His love for the fine arts is moderately developed,
and is excelled by the correct taste which he has
uniformly displayed in all the purchases of pictures
he has ever effected at home or abroad. For
science the Tsar has no appreciative organ . Rus-
sian history, where it merges into romance—the
Russian history painted by Repin and dramatised
by Count A. Tolstoi- possesses powerful attractions
for a monarch the dream of whose life it is to
resuscitate the spirit, if not the outward form , of

* St. Petersburg Correspondent of the Daily Telegraph.

 CHARACTERISTICS 333

the forgotten past." According to another authority,

the Emperor's favourite authors were Pierre Loti ,
George Meredith, Stevenson, Oscar Wilde, and
Wilhelm Hauff. Wilde and Meredith may both be
doubted,
Partly in consequence of his isolated position,
and partly on account of his natural inclination,
which made family life attractive to him , the Tsar
did not mix much with his people, and few came to
him. * Many a Grand Duke and Grand Duchess did
not see him for months, as he neither gave nor
accepted invitations. But in spite of this he knew
quite well what was going on in the world. His
Ambassadors abroad sent extremely exact and
detailed reports, not only about political events, but
also about life at the respective Courts and in
society. General Tcherevin brought the Tsar all
the town gossip, and he listened with the greatest
interest to his piquant anecdotes. His Majesty did
not read the newspapers himself; he generally had
the Imperial Review read to him in the afternoon by
the aide-de-camp du jour, and also a collection of
cuttings from Russian and foreign journals, copies
of which were laid before him in place of the
originals, this being according to old-established
custom . The clerks of a special office had to make
these copies.

* For the evidence as to the character and habits of Alex-

ander III. given in this and the following two paragraphs, I
am indebted to a personal sketch of his Majesty furnished
by a " Russian writer " to a German journal (the Strass-
burger Post) quoted in the Daily News.
334 ALEXANDER III

When not with his family he was taciturn , and

as he always felt uncomfortable , was rather awkward.
He never understood how to hold a reception , and
it was just as difficult for him to say a few simple
friendly words to any one whom he wanted to praise.
He understood much better how to show his dis-
pleasure, and many a Minister and General knew from
experience that the Tsar was thoroughly master ofthe
Russian language , especially of its coarse and strong
expressions. He was always kind and considerate
to his domestics . He did not like changing ; and
sometimes, improbable as it may seem, quietly
allowed a servant to answer him improperly, and
even rudely, rather than send him away and be
forced to have another.
As years advanced, the Tsar's increasing love of
ease, nutritious food, with very little bodily exercise,
the suspicion and fears of attempts on his life, anxiety
about the Tsarina's health, who of late years had
been a victim of nervous attacks, and the condition
of his second son- who was suffering from con-
sumption- all this in time undermined the otherwise
strong and robust health of this Herculean monarch.
He became more silent and unapproachable than
ever. His nervous excitement showed itself on
every trivial occasion. This was especially seen in
the dislike he took to riding , and the manner in which
he avoided taking part in military ceremonies. The
officers grumbled in private that the Tsar had with- I

drawn himself from them and their sphere of

activity ; the aristocracy became dissatisfied that the 1
number of Court festivities was continually decreas-
 CHARACTERISTICS 335

ing. Everywhere it was believed that the reason

for all this was the increasing ill-humour of the
monarch, and nobody had any idea that a malignant
disease was gnawing at the apparently robust man
in the prime of life.
De mortuis nil nisi bonum is a maxim that was
never better observed than on the occasion of
Alexander III.'s death ; and to such an extent was
indiscriminate eulogy of his character carried in
some quarters , where good sense might have been
expected to guide the expression of sentiment, that
the first magistrate of the city of London , for
example, lauded as " illustrious and enlightened " the
very monarch whose lack of enlightenment had
formed the subject of the famous Guildhall memorial
of only four years before (see p. 214) . It was the
pulpit, more perhaps than the Press this time, which
held evenly the scales of critical truth . Preaching
in Westminster Abbey, Canon Wilberforce said :
" It is impossible to think of that lonely, incar-
cerated life which has just ended, without the deepest
compassion. Never could death, the last earthly
"
gift of God, tired nature's sweet restorer,' have
been more welcome to weary mortal than to him—
the man in the iron mask, bound hand and foot by
the exigencies of an autocracy which it was death in
life to maintain , and to him, disobedience to the
divine will to modify or abandon. Imagination can
conjure up no sadder picture than that of the mighty
ruler of millions pressing his face against the win-
dow-panes of the Anitchkoff Palace , wistfully gazing
upon the careless throng below, in speechless,
336 ALEXANDER III

guarded solitude . And now death has set him free,

and our earnest prayers are offered for the consola-
tion of those who loved him well, in the bitterness
of their bereavement .
" It would, however, be irrational and unjust to
withhold at the same time the expression of our
compassion for the thousands who have groaned and
suffered under the system of which he was the un-
willing embodiment, which he solemnly believed it
was his sacred duty to maintain. Naturally of a
kindly, affectionate disposition, transparently truthful,
a lover of peace, rectitude, and order, it was his doom,
as the inheritor of a throne based on irresponsible
dominion, to crush by banishment and persecution
that quenchless instinct of civil and religious liberty
which, when guided, changes for the better the face
of the world, and when trodden under foot rallies
under the motto, ' Resistance to tyranny is obedience
to God .'"
 CHAPTER XII

NICHOLAS II

"What is Nicholas II.?"-His teachers-A Panslavist

tutor-General Danilovitch and his method - Not much
of a soldier- Youthful characteristics - His tastes and
reading " Nothing but good to say of him "— " Good
all round "-A "Globe-trotter "-Visit to India- In
Japan- Narrow escape at Ossu - His saviour describes
the incident-" I admired ' Nicky's pluck "-At Vladi-
vostock - The Trans- Siberian Railway - - The great
famine-Anecdote by " An Englishman " -The Prin-
cesses of Hesse- Darmstadt-" Every one to heaven in
his own way " - Betrothal - The royal wedding at
Coburg - Second visit to England- Sketch of in the
House of Commons -Accession manifesto - What will
he do ? The Finns -The Jews-Dr. Geffcken on the
new Tsar- His foreign policy-The Kaiser and the
Tsar Nicholas II. -Less anti-German than his father
-Two thousand telegrams from France-The Emperor
and the President-" Grovelling before the Tsar "-
"1
England and Russia- Marriage-" Nonsense about me
-See-saw system of Russian Government - - A Tsar-
emancipator of his subjects' souls ?

WHEN Alexander III. breathed his last, by far the

most interesting personality in all Europe, in all the
world, was his eldest son , on whom the mantle of
his father's mighty Empire, with the "terrible respon-
Y
338 ALEXANDER III

sibilities of that awful crown, " had suddenly fallen. *

"What is Nicholas II . ?" asked a French statesman ,
M. Clemenceau . " Nobody knows , possibly not even
himself. "
The world meanwhile only knew who he was—
the eldest son of his father, born 6/18 May 1868,
and consequently now only in his twenty- sixth
year-a very green age surely at which to be en-
trusted with the weal or woe of so many millions
of his fellow-creatures. Of his childhood little or
nothing is known except that, like his brother
George, he betrayed a certain delicacy of constitu-
tion, which sometimes caused no slight anxiety to
his parents . Alexander III . was a giant ; while his
successor well, the physical contrast between father
and son was so great that they positively did not
seem to be of the same race . Though Nicholas II .
gradually outgrew the more marked symptoms of
his earlier weakness, he remained pallid , frail , and
of nervous disposition. He never showed the

Speaking at the Lord Mayor's banquet in the Guildhall,

Lord Rosebery said : " I think we may only now express the
pious hope that that young head on whom has fallen the
terrible responsibilities of that awful crown-a crown that
involves so much of the destinies and the happiness of the
human race—may not prove unequal to that burden. I think
he must find some consolation in the universal tribute of
regret, and even sorrow, with which his father's death has
been received. And in that fact I think that we also, who try
to look forward to the future of the human race, may find
something to rejoice in too, because, after all, while it is a
tribute to the Emperor, it was quite as much a tribute to
peace."
 NICHOLAS II 339

exuberant vitality of youth , and an explanation of

his extreme shyness and reserve was possibly to be
found in constitutional peculiarities . M. Flameng,
a French artist, who had been employed by the late
Tsar in painting the portraits of the family, informed
a correspondent in Paris that he often had long con-
versations with the Tsarevitch, and was " much
impressed with his cleverness and good sense."
The young Prince, he said, is naturally shy, " but
when he becomes animated he is quite another man."
M. Flameng believed that the Tsarevitch " would
yet surprise many persons who had no great idea of
his mental qualities."
It is worth noting and remembering that the
preceptors of the future Emperor included such a
fiery and uncompromising Panslavist as M. Katkoff,
the famous Moscow editor. My authority for this
statement is a trustworthy German writer, who, in
referring to the violent attacks that were made upon
Ignatieff by the Moscow journalist in connection
with the former's anti-Jewish policy, said : " Katkoff,
who had hitherto borne the title of Councillor of
State, was elevated to the rank of Privy Councillor,
and undertook the education and mental develop-
ment of the fourteen - year - old Crown - Prince,
Nicholas Alexandrovitch , a position, of course,
which brought him into very close connection with
the Court." Possibly M. Katkoff had been sent
for to ground the Tsarevitch in one or more special

* Professor Wilhelm Müller of Tübingen, in his Politische

Geschichte der Gegenwart, for '82.
340 ALEXANDER III

subjects . But his education as a whole was con-

ducted by General Danilovitch, and of the nature
of this general education the following interesting
(and I have no doubt accurate) account was given
by the St. Petersburg Correspondent of the Köl-
nische Zeitung (Cologne Gazette) :—
" The scientific training of the young Prince was
superintended by his governor and tutor, General
Danilovitch, a man keenly alive to a sense of duty,
highly educated, and with a habit of looking at all
things in a very gentlemanly manner, although of
a somewhat dry temperament. He brought up his
pupil free from prejudices of any kind , which was
greatly to his credit, since this early education had
to be carried out at a time when the hatred of
Germany and Germans was at its height in Russia.
The scientific education was excellent, but not after
the fashion of a German gymnasium.
" At the wish of the Tsar more attention was
given to modern sciences than to classical work,
Dead languages were not taught at all, and ancient
history only up to a certain point ; whilst, on the
other hand, the records of recent centuries , espe-
cially so far as they bore upon Russia, were care-
fully read. At the same time, a good deal of
Muscovite history and much that pertained to the
rise of his own family was kept back from the
Prince. The necessary amount of mathematics and
a very thorough knowledge of geography was in-
stilled into him, and particular attention was given
to the language and literature of his own country
as well as of Germany, France, and England. All
 NICHOLAS II 341

these languages the Tsarevitch speaks and writes

fluently. He was also thoroughly instructed in
constitutional history, law, the administration of
the country, finance, and political and social
economy. The best masters were selected, and
care was taken that their instruction should not be
warped by political views.
" He entered the army at eighteen, and was
little more than a child as regards his way of
looking upon life at that time. He abhorred the
homage of Court and official life , and was only
happy when he could frolic in an innocent fashion.
with his younger fellow - officers, the elder ones,
especially his tutor-for whom he has always
entertained the greatest esteem- being out of the
way . In this manner his character became
more independent. He became a good officer, and,
although anything but a passionate soldier, he is
able to recognise mistakes and to appreciate
efficiency. He is devoted to duty, and does every-
thing that he undertakes thoroughly.
" In many ways he resembles his father, but is,
in scientific knowledge, in advance of him, and has
this advantage over Alexander III. , that from his
earliest years he has been brought up as Heir
Apparent, whereas the latter was twenty years of
age before he came into that position . He has
also, like his father, a certain shyness, which, in his
case also, has been mistaken for haughtiness. At
home he was brought up in the most loving manner,
like all the other children of the Imperial family ;
but a sense of the dignity of the Tsar's position was
342 ALEXANDER III

more deeply impressed upon him than upon his

brothers . To him the Tsar was higher than the
father.
" One day, for example, the Tsarevitch, when a
lieutenant, returned to Peterhof very tired after a
long day's exercise with the troops, withdrew to his
room, took off his uniform and boots, and lay down
on his bed to rest. As he was on the point of
sleeping, the Tsar entered his room. Afterwards ,
when telling the story to his friends, he remarked :
' You can imagine my terror when I saw the Tsar
before me and I had no boots on ,'
" The Tsarevitch still sees everything through
his father's eyes, and from him he has learnt to
look down upon all other countries and nations
without exception. In this respect the Tsarevitch
is noted for the harmless jokes he makes, especially
about Germans . Germans, he thinks , are So
utterly incapable, in society, of accommodating
themselves to the manners and customs of the
country they are residing in ; they are stiff, have a
high opinion of themselves, and ostentatiously dis-
play their astonishment abroad , especially in Russia,
at all that seems grand to them. The young
Tsarevitch did not fail to notice this German weak-
ness, and just because he sometimes made fun of
it, it was rumoured that he hated Germany. But
this is not at all the case. Germans are just as
indifferent to him as Frenchmen, Englishmen, or
any other foreigners.
" He has never yet displayed an opinion contrary
to that of his father, and it may be pretty positively
 NICHOLAS II 343

affirmed that he will tread in his footsteps when he

comes to the throne. But one must reckon with
one factor- namely, the Tsarevitch is very easily
influenced , and there is a fear lest his younger
counsellors, whom he will have to select later on,
should not be inspired with such pacific intentions
as the majority of the well-proved counsellors of
Alexander III., in whom, though unconsciously, the
traditional feeling for Germany still slumbers."
" Russians here," wrote the Paris correspondent
of the Daily News, " who know the Tsarevitch, say
that he is affable and amiable, and in all respects the
Tsarina's son. She is likely to retain, when he
comes to the throne, the influence that she has been
in the habit of exercising. Like her, the coming
Emperor is extremely fond of music and dancing,
and has a lively disposition. Anything amuses him .
One of his jokes as a youth was that if he had ever
to join the Kings in exile he would be courted for
his musical talents and tenor voice. He does not
care for sculpture or painting, but neither did
Nicholas I. or Alexander II . The Tsarevitch has
a nervous twitch in the eyes, which otherwise are
fine. So had Paul I., whom in this one respect, and
his small stature, he resembles."
And again : " I have been given some personal
impressions of Nicholas II . by a French author who
was presented to him during a tour in Russia. The
Tsarevitch regretted that he had not been able to go
to Paris in the summer of 1889. He spoke of many
French composers, and of their esprit. He thought
Gounod the Racine of the musical world. The con-
344 ALEXANDER III

versation then turned on literature. His Imperial

Highness owned himself a great reader of French
novels. He thought M. Zola overdid description ,
and spoke of M. Daudet as exquisite. Travels were
touched upon .
Some objects picked up in Cochin-
China and Tonkin were shown. There was a very
beautiful box in gold, of Indian workmanship . This
brought the Tsarevitch to talk of India, and the
influence of England in the world . His visitor was
surprised to hear him speak with marked sympathy
of that influence. The genius of Russia, of Eng-
land, of France, of Germany, ran in such different
directions that he did not see why they should clash .
Each , it seemed to him, had a different work to do.
'You believe, then ,' said the visitor, ' that there is a
power above the world which sets each nation its
appointed task ? ' "' Certainly,' said the Tsarevitch ;

' and, for the great sake of peace, it would be a

blessing were statesmen well imbued with this
idea.'"
The above may be supplemented by what was
said to a journalist at Livadia by an Englishman ,
who " was for years in constant communication with
the new Tsar and knows him thoroughly " :
" He was taught an immense variety of subjects,
and showed great aptitude in them all. English
and French he speaks and writes with ease ,
and he is also a good German scholar, while he
is thoroughly conversant with the literature of all
three countries . In mathematics , history , geography,

* Special Correspondent of the Pall Mall Gazette.

 NICHOLAS II 345

law, political economy, and chemistry he is espe-

cially proficient,
In addition to all the other branches of his educa-
tion he has had a capital military training in all
branches of the service.
" He completed his general studies under English
and French tutors, while each special science was
taught by the best available St. Petersburg pro-
fessor.
" As a child he was thoroughly conscientious,
and went to his lessons unbidden . He has a
wonderfully receptive mind, an excellent memory,
sound judgment, and great common sense. From
his earliest childhood he has been remarkable for
his truthfulness in the smallest matters. He has
never made a resolution in haste, but, when he has
made a resolution, he has never swerved from it.
The Prince had unbounded confidence in and
respect for his father. . .
His mother has great influence with the present
Tsar, in whose education she took the keenest
interest. Nicholas, though he knows how to com-
mand respect, is gentle with those around him.
Physically he may be described as ' good all round ,'
delighting in shooting, riding, and rowing. •
" I have nothing but good to say of him, and I
am convinced he will cut a great figure in history.
Europe can look upon him with the greatest con-
fidence, trusting every word he utters."
Mr. Heath, of St. Petersburg, his English tutor,
told Mr. Stead the following anecdote : The boys
had been reading with him " The Lady of the
346 ALEXANDER III

Lake ," and Nicholas was much delighted with the

description of the popularity of Scotland's James V.
The stanza is the twenty-first of the fifth canto,
which begins :-

"The castle gates were open flung,

The quivering drawbridge rock'd and rung,
As slowly down the steep descent
Fair Scotland's king and nobles went,
While all along the crowded way
Was jubilee and loud huzza,
And ever James was bending low
To his white jenet's saddle-bow.
Gravely he greets each city sire,
Notes each pageant's quaint attire,
Gives to the dancers thanks aloud,
And smiles and nods upon the crowd,
Who rend the heaven with their acclaims ,
Long live the Commons ' King, King James. "

" That," said the boy, flushing with pride, " that
is what I should like to be."
A St. Petersburg friend of my own said to me :
" As a boy he (the Tsarevitch) was rather sickly,
but of late years he has enjoyed the best of health,
is an eager rider and shot , and devoted to all kinds.
of athletic sports. By no means without natural
abilities , he is a diligent student, and has amassed
a very considerable stock of knowledge . His views
were greatly enlarged by his grand tour of the
world, which had a most favourable effect on his
general development, inspiring him with self-con-
fidence and imbuing him with notions about men
and things that seem much too liberal to many
Old Russians. At the same time he has a very
 NICHOLAS II 347

amiable disposition ; in social intercourse he does

not show the least trace of side,' and among his
comrades he is immensely popular."
The "" grand tour " above referred to was under-
taken by the Tsarevitch Nicholas in 1890-91 , and
extended round the world-a form of education
which his father before him had never enjoyed.
Alexander III . had limited his travels to the Courts
of Europe, whereas his Heir Apparent, up to date
in all things pertaining to the illumination of his
mind, joined the ever-increasing ranks of the
" globe-trotters." In the course of his tour he
visited India. He landed at Bombay in December,
1890, and spent several weeks in the country. At
Calcutta he was entertained with befitting honour,
and was reported to have made a distinctly favour-
able impression upon those whom he met. Leaving
India, he travelled through Japan, his companion
being Prince George of Greece.
In Japan the Tsarevitch was very near falling a
victim to the rage of a fanatic. The Princes reached
Kioto on May 9, 1891 , and a few days later they
made an excursion to the classic Lake Biwa. After
seeing the lake they paid a short visit to the Prefect
of Shiga at Ossu, and then prepared to see the out-
skirts of the town in a " jinrikisha ." The streets
of Ossu were well lined with police, and as the
Princes were being drawn along, one of the officers
drew his sabre and aimed a violent blow at the
Tsarevitch's neck. Fortunately, however, the
danger was averted by the presence of mind of
Prince George of Greece, who partly warded off the
 DER
348 ALEXAN III

blow with his cane, and at once threw himself on

the would-be murderer. With the aid of the
" jinrikisha " runners and the police, the assailant of
the Tsarevitch was finally secured. The incident
was described by Prince George in a letter to his
father, the King of the Hellenes, as follows :

"We passed through a narrow street, decorated with flags

and filled with crowds of people on both sides of the thorough-
fare. I was looking towards the left when I suddenly heard
something like a shriek in front of me, and saw a policeman
hitting Nicky (the Tsarevitch) a blow on the head with his
sword, which he held with both hands. Nicky jumped out of
the cart, and the man ran after him, Nicky with the blood
streaming down his face. When I saw this, I too jumped
out, with my stick in my hand, and ran after the man, who
was about fifteen paces in front of me. Nicky ran into a
shop, but came out again immediately, which enabled the
man to overtake him ; but I thank God that I was there the
same moment, and while the policeman still had the sword
high in the air I gave him a blow straight on the head, a
blow so hard that he has probably never experienced a
similar one before. He now turned against me, but fainted
and fell to the ground ; then two of our jinrikisha-pullers
appeared on the scene ; one got hold of his legs, while the
other took the sword and gave him a wound in the back of the
head. It was God who placed me there at that moment, and
who gave me the strength to deal that blow, for had I been
a little later the policeman had perhaps cut off Nicky's head,
and had the blow missed the assailant's head he would have
cut off mine."

Though he had two large wounds above the ear,

which happily failed to penetrate the skull , and had
lost much blood , he did not faint or lose his self-
command. " I must say that I admired Nicky's
pluck," wrote his companion . " Nicky stood it
 NICHOLAS II 349

splendidly." His head was hastily bandaged, and

the party was escorted by soldiers to the railway
station and returned to Kioto. He soon recovered
from the superficial scalp-wounds, and was well
enough the next day to receive a visit from the
Mikado, who travelled over two hundred miles to
visit the wounded Prince, and convey to him per-
sonally the expression of his regret at the outrage.
When the news first reached Europe it was feared
that the Tsarevitch might have been made the object
of a Nihilist attack, and much relief was felt when
it was found that this had not been the case, but
that the outrage had simply been prompted by
sectarian fanaticism at some supposed breach of
religious etiquette on the part of an alien.
Nevertheless, the incident had the effect of making
the Tsarevitch shorten his stay in Japan and hurry
on to Vladivostock, where what should he find await-
ing him but a letter from his father appointing him
Chief of the East Siberian Jäger, in honour of his
return to Russian soil, and further marking the happy
occasion by commuting the punishment of some
Siberian exiles. At Urussi he performed a memor-
able act by turning the first sod of that end of the
great Trans-Siberian Railway, a scheme in which he
had always been most warmly interested, and indeed .
had acted as President of the Committee appointed
to report upon the project. *

* One remarkable characteristic of the active life of Alex-

ander III. was his love of great engineering enterprises. In
his vast undeveloped empire Alexander III . found ample
350 ALEXANDER III

On another occasion the Tsarevitch was promi-

nently engaged in a work of great public importance.
This was during the terrible famine of 1890-91 ,
when several millions of the Russian people were
suffering from the horrors of hunger in their acutest
form . The Grand Duke Nicholas was then at the
head of the Help Committee, and in that position
he displayed the utmost activity. It was generally
believed, moreover, that a sum of 50,000 roubles,
sent anonymously to Count Tolstoi for the purpose
of establishing free kitchens in some of the most
famished districts, came from the Tsarevitch's
private purse. His active connection with the
Trans-Siberian Railway and Famine Committees
had given him much insight into public business
-insight which was supplemented by his regular
attendance for some time at Councils of State.
Travelling overland by way of Tobolsk and Moscow,

scope for the newest developments of scientific daring and

practical mechanics. The great Siberian Railway was one of
his favourite schemes . Since the Tsarevitch opened he
eastern end of the route the work on the various sections of
the 6000 miles or so of line has progressed with regularity
and economy. A journey can now be made direct from St.
Petersburg to Omsk, and it is stated that on this section of
200 miles no less than 3,000,000 roubles have been saved on
the estimate by economies in alignment and construction.
Many other great works of the kind might be mentioned as
typical of the reign of Alexander III ., notably the drainage
of the Pinsk Marshes, a huge swamp, bigger than Scotland,
in South-Western Russia ; and the re-irrigation of the some-
time fertile plains north of the Murghab River, which were
declared an appanage of the Crown for this purpose.
 NICHOLAS II 351

the Tsarevitch rejoined his parents about the

middle of August 1891 , bringing home with him a
knowledge of the Empire over which he was des-
tined to rule such as was not even possessed by
his father.
In connection with this tour of the world, the
following testimony deserves to be quoted . Writing
to the Times from Pau, " An Englishman " said :-
"When, some years ago, the Tsarevitch, now the Tsar
Nicholas II ., was on a visit of some days' duration to a
certain port in the East, a friend of mine had the honour of
several conversations with him. In the course of these,
mention having been made of the great popularity in England
of his aunt, her Royal Highness the Princess of Wales, the
young Prince at once claimed for his mother, the Tsarina, a
similar popularity in Russia, while altogether his expressions
respecting her, especially as being used to a stranger, were
indicative of a very strong affection. After the stiffness of
first introduction had worn off, his manner to my friend and
his family was all that is charming, and when he had taken
what he had intended as his final leave, he left behind him
an impression of amiability of character decidedly above the
average. This impression was much confirmed by what
followed. The Prince went away on an expedition, it being
arranged that on his return the following day the Russian
warships would take their departure for the next port. But
during his absence my friend was taken seriously ill, and on
hearing of this the Tsarevitch at once put off the departure
of the sqadron for some hours and came ashore incognito to
pay him a visit . Sitting for a considerable time beside the
sick man's sofa he displayed a tenderness of manner and a
genuineness of concern which my friend is not likely to forget.
My friend thought he perceived in the young Prince indica-
tions of other qualities which, to the ruler of a great Empire,
are of more value than amiability ; but as there occurred no
opportunity for the confirmation of this judgment, I confine
myself to what was sufficiently proved."
352 ALEXANDER III

Having thus seen the world, it now behoved the

Grand Duke Nicholas to find a wife, and this he
ultimately did at the Court of Darmstadt, which had
already furnished consorts to his grandfather, Alex-
ander II. , as well as to his uncle, the Grand Duke
Sergius. The latter, in 1884, had married Princess
Elizabeth, second daughter of Queen Victoria's Hes-
sian son-in-law ; while the third daughter, Irene, had
become the wife of her cousin, the sailor- Prince Henry
of Prussia. Only one daughter was left, Princess
Alix, and for several years her name had been con-
nected in a matrimonial sense with the heir to the
Russian throne. Long before the Tsarevitch had
set out upon his travels, Princess Alix had accom-
panied her father to St. Petersburg on a visit to her
sister, the Grand Duchess Sergius, and rumour had
anticipated her engagement for years before it
became an accomplished fact.
Of course the opera- singer, or even danseuse, who
generally intervenes to provoke a desperate and long-
enduring conflict in the hearts of princes between
real affection for the lowly objects of their love and
respectful attachment to a high- born but uncongenial
beauty, with whom union would at best be a marriage
of convenience such a theatrical siren, I say,
failed not (in the imagination of the cackling quid-
nuncs) to appear upon the scene at St. Petersburg.
On one side there was the bewitching siren who
acted as a bar to the hoped-for union of hands,
while on the other religious scruples were supposed
to have for a long time stood in the way of the
expected engagement- as if, forsooth, they did not
 NICHOLAS II 353

believe at Darmstadt, as at Berlin, in the words of

the Great Frederick, that "Jedermann kann nach
seiner Façon selig werden," and that Dr. Pobedónostseff
could open the door of heaven just as well as Dr.
Martin Luther.
But all this tittle-tattle was put an end to by the
final engagement of the Tsarevitch to Princess Alix
-a fact in itself which proved that the Princess had
previously consented to adopt the Orthodox faith,
though certain relaxations of form were afterwards
made in her favour. A law had long existed in
Russia by which the Emperor and the Heir Apparent
could only marry a Princess professing the Orthodox
religion ; and its application was extended under
Alexander III . ( 1886) to the Heir Presumptive and
the Heir Presumptive's eldest son-a fact which ac-
counted for the importance attached to the conversion
of the Princess Alix before her marriage .
The engagement was officially made known at
Coburg on the occasion of the marriage of the
Grand Duke of Hesse to his cousin , the Princess
Melita of Edinburgh , which the Tsarevitch came to
attend, and to prove the truth of the maxim that one
wedding generally produces another. It was the
German Emperor who, with a beaming face, first let
out the secret to an English officer in Coburg, and
his Majesty looked as happy at the event as if he
had suddenly succeeded in adding another party to
the Triple Alliance . In the previous year the Tsare-
vitch had been his guest for about a week at Pots-
dam, where he was made the object of all imaginable
honour, and there were indeed pretty sure signs of
Z
354 ALEXANDER III

more natural affinity between the Kaiser and the

son than between the Kaiser and the father. At
any rate, the engagement of the Tsarevitch was
everywhere (except, of course, in France) hailed with
the utmost satisfaction as an additional bond of
union between Germany and Russia on one hand,
and between Russia and England on the other.
After spending some time at Darmstadt with
his bride-elect, the Tsarevitch paid a visit to his
English relatives, and was the guest of the Prince
and Princess of Wales. In the previous year
he had also come over to attend the wedding of
his cousin, the Duke of York, as well as to thank
the Queen personally for the reception which had
everywhere been accorded him in India. On the
occasion of his engagement-visit to our Court he
spent his time in seeing as much as possible of our
national life in all its phases , and was treated, among
other things , to a review at Aldershot. He even
spent an evening in the gallery of the House of
Commons (a thing, I think, which his father had
ominously omitted to do when in London at the
same time as the Shah in 1873 ) ; and it is to be
hoped that nothing was said or done on this occa-
sion by our " fierce democracy " of a kind calculated
to inspire the heir to the greatest despotism in the
world with a justifiable hatred and distrust of parlia-
mentary institutions.
I cannot do better than here present my readers
-by way of some bright additional rays to the
scattered light which I am trying to focus on the
personality of Nicholas II. - with the following little
 NICHOLAS II 355

character-sketch from one of the deftest and most

incisive of our descriptive pens, that of Mr. T. P.
O'Connor, M.P.:

" I saw the Tsarevitch during his trip to this country.

One day he paid a visit to the Peers' Gallery of the House of
Commons. I was immediately struck-as everybody was-
with his extraordinary resemblance to the Duke of York. It
is curious how persistent some family strains are. The little
royalty of Denmark has created more replicas of the original
type than any other living Royal House. And thus when you
see the children of one Danish princess, you see the very
picture of the children of the other princess-though the
fathers be of two such different types in every respect as the
Prince of Wales and Alexander III . The type appears to
me more persistent, however, than vigorous. The Tsarevitch
certainly did not give the impression of either mental or
physical vigour. It was hard to realise that this slim, not
very tall, and decidedly delicate-looking stripling was the son
of the giant who could twist tin plates in the hollow of one of
his brawny hands.
" There was something singular, and even a little sinister
and foreboding, in the manner in which the Tsarevitch entered
the gallery. He was accompanied , of course, by a small
group of gentlemen-in-waiting ; they remained a little behind,
giving him the opportunity to advance forward to the seat
over the clock in front which is reserved for Royalties. He
seemed shy, uncertain, indecisive, looked back as if to get a
hint; and altogether went to his place with much awkward-
ness and shame-facedness. There was something suggestive
of the lonely and perilous elevation to which he will so soon
attain in this little scene-of all its solitude, desertion, and
uncertainty in the midst of the millions of adoring subjects
and thousands of servile courtiers."

Such was the young Prince who, nevertheless,

by his personal qualities, succeeded in inspiring the
Queen with a feeling of "sincere affection and regard,"
 DER
356 ALEXAN III

as the Court Circular informed us on his accession

to the throne. But Nicholas II . must not be solely
judged by the words of others, which have, so far,
been the only sources of enlightenment as to his
character at our command. Let us now examine
him in the light of his own utterances and his own
acts-first of all, of the proclamation by which he
announced his accession to the throne— a docu-
ment, in all probability, which was penned for his
Majesty by the Procurator of the Holy Synod, whom
we all know :

"We hereby proclaim to all our faithful subjects that God,

in His inscrutable providence, has seen fit to assign a limit
to the precious life of our dearly beloved Imperial father.
His grievous suffering yielding neither to medical skill nor
to the beneficent climate of the Crimea, he died at Livadia
on the 20th of October ( O.S.) , surrounded by his family, and
in the arms of the Tsarina and of ourselves.
" Our grief is not to be expressed in words, but that griet
every Russian heart will understand. And we believe that
there is no spot throughout the vast Russian Empire in which
hot tears will not flow for the Emperor, thus prematurely
called away, who has parted from that country which he loved
with all the power of his Russian soul, and in the welfare of
which, sparing neither health nor life, he centred all his
thoughts.
" But, also, far beyond the borders of Russia the memory
of the Tsar, who was the incarnation of unswerving loyalty
and of peace, which during his reign was not once broken,
will not cease to be respected.
" The will ofthe Most High be done ! May our unshaken
faith in the wisdom of Providence give us strength ! May
we be consoled by the consciousness that our sorrow is the
sorrow of the whole of our beloved people, and may our
people not forget that the strength and stability of Holy
 NICHOLAS II 357

Russia lie in her unity with us, and in her unbounded devotion
to us.
"We, however, in this sad but solemn hour, when ascending
the ancestral throne of the Russian Empire and of the Tsar-
dom of Poland, and the Grand Duchy of Finland, indissolubly
connected with it, remember the legacy left to us by our de-
parted father, and, inspired by it, we, in the presence of the
Most High, record the solemn vow always to make our sole
aim the peaceful development of the power and glory of our
beloved Russia and the happiness of all our faithful subjects.
May the Almighty, who has chosen us for this high calling,
vouchsafe us His aid, while we offer before the throne of the
Almighty Ruler our heartfelt prayers for the unstained soul
of the departed .
"We command our subjects to take the oath of allegiance
to ourselves and to our successor, the Grand Duke George
Alexandrovitch, who will bear the title of Crown Prince and
Tsarevitch, until it please God to bless our approaching
union with the Princess Alix of Hesse - Darmstadt with the
birth of a son.

" Given at Livadia this 20th day of October 1894.

" NICHOLAS . "

At St. Petersburg, we were told , this document

was received " with an open delight probably un-
paralleled in the history of Russian official declara-
tions." " Its tone ," said another authority there,
" is softer and less autocratic than that of the pro-
clamations issued by the late Alexander III. There
is a strong inclination to believe that it may perhaps
indicate a milder and somewhat less autocratic
reign." Deep satisfaction was felt at the remark that
his first aim would be the "peaceful progress of the
nation," which was placed before "the strength and
glory of the Empire."
 DER
358 ALEXAN III

Still the proclamation abounded in carefully-

worded generalities, and afforded no precise clue
to the policy that would be followed by the new
Emperor in the various fields of his sovereign
activity. Very unlike his father in person, would
Nicholas II . resemble him in his policy ? We all
know what that policy was -peace abroad, with
autocratic reaction, Panslavism, and persecution at
home. Now, what said the new Tsar in reply to
the message of homage sent him by the Senate ?
" Assured of the feelings of devotion which the
Senate has expressed to me, I do not doubt that I
shall have its co-operation in the service of my
dear country, in the path marked out by my ever-
lamented father."
Again, how did his Majesty's answer to the Holy
Synod run ?
"I heartily thank you for the sentiments and
sympathy expressed to me at a moment of my deep
sorrow. Inspired by ardent love for my departed
father, I shall , following his example, devote all my
strength to the service of my dear country and of
the Orthodox Church."
Do these two assurances increase or diminish
the hopes of the Jews, the Stundists, the Poles,
the Finlanders, the exiles in Siberia, and the dumb
masses of the suffering Russian people ?
As for the Finlanders, their hopes of the future
were decidedly raised by the new Emperor's special
proclamation to them in which he solemnly pro-
mised to " maintain all their privileges and Con-
stitutions strictly unimpaired both in effect and
 NICHOLAS II 359

value.' His father, on succeeding to the throne,

made the same vow, but broke it repeatedly in
pursuance of his Panslavist-Procrustean policy. In
this respect, at least, Nicholas II . will surely not
follow in his father's footsteps . If, indeed, this
Finnish manifesto carries with it the sense of its
words, it may be taken perhaps, as a sign that the
domestic policy of the new reign will in general be
a little more liberal, to begin with, than that of the
late Tsar.
And then the Jews, poor, persecuted race ! What
said the Vienna correspondent of a London journal ?
" In one respect, however, I am able to confirm
the estimate generally formed of the young Emperor.
I spoke not long ago with a Russian, who was a
member of a deputation to the Tsarevitch which
petitioned him to intervene on behalf of the Russian
Jews. The reply the present Emperor then made
was, textually, as follows : ' I despise and con-
demn the expulsion of your countrymen, but my
hands are tied ."
Now that his hands are free, we shall see what
use his Majesty will make of them.

* The following was the text of this proclamation :-

"C
Having by the dispensation of God come into the here-
ditary possession of the Grand Duchy of Finland, we desire
to confirm the religion and fundamental laws of the country,
as well as the rights and privileges which every class and
inhabitant, both high and low, have hitherto enjoyed in the
aforesaid Grand Duchy, according to the Constitution ofthe
country, promising to maintain all these privileges and
Constitutions strictly unimpaired, both in effect and value."
360 ALEXANDER III

་ ་ Of the Tsarevitch I formed a very high

opinion," said the Rev. Dr. Talmage of Brooklyn, *
for every little bit of such evidence is valuable .
" Many people now are wondering what will happen
should he come to the throne—whether he will act
in a belligerent or in a peaceful spirit . I can testify
that his sentiments are the sentiments of his father.
He is a most loveable young man, thoroughly
cultured, and with a mind broadened by travel.
Neither Russian nor European need fear anything
from him in the way of antagonisms or asperities ."
And what says Dr. Geffcken, the friend, the
indiscreet friend and diary- divulger, of the Emperor
Frederick ? " The Tsarewitch is a noble, generous
character, opposed to every kind of persecution , and
especially to religious fanaticism . He has already
prevented a great deal of mischief, and has softened
down many a strong measure. He is a decided
opponent of Pobedónostseff, and the latter would
probably be among the first to disappear under a
new régime. .. Whether the next Tsar will be
sufficiently energetic to carry out his strong oppo-
sition to the present bureaucratic régime, and to
introduce such reforms as are possible in Russia,
remains to be seen. But in his efforts towards that
end he will have a valuable assistant in his uncle,
Grand Duke Vladimir. The rest of the Imperial
family do not count . Outwardly there will be few

* Dr. Talmage saw a good deal of the Imperial family

while at St. Petersburg in connection with the distribution of
some American charity to the famine-stricken in Russia.
 NICHOLAS II 361

changes . If the Tsar was a lover of peace, who

only pushed onward where he knew that England
would not dare to act (in Asia, for instance), the
Tsarevitch is still more opposed to war."
Turning now to other nations, what will be the
attitude of Nicholas II . to Germany, to France, to
England, to Bulgaria, and other countries ?* His
father was known to be at heart rather anti-
German. What will the new Emperor be ? Will
he be as devoted to Kaiser William as the latter

* The following was the foreign policy circular issued by

M. de Giers at the beginning of the new reign to the Russian
representatives abroad :-
" Our illustrious Sovereign, on assuming the supreme
power conferred upon him by the inscrutable decrees of
Providence, has firmly resolved to take upon himself in all
its details the exalted task which his beloved father of
imperishable memory had undertaken. His Majesty will
devote all his strength to the development of the internal
welfare of Russia, and will in no way deviate from the com-
pletely pacific, loyal, and firm policy which, to so great a
degree, has contributed to the general pacification. Russia
will remain faithful to her traditions, and endeavour to main-
tain friendly relations with all Powers, recognising as
hitherto, in respect for right and lawful order, the best
guarantee for the safety of States.
" At the opening of that glorious rule, which now belongs
to history, the objects of the Ruler consisted simply in the
ideal of a strong and happy Russia, having proper regard
for her own good , without at the same time injuring any one.
To-day, at the beginning of a new reign, we avow the same
principles with equal sincerity, and implore the Lord's
blessing, so that these principles may be carried out without
modification for many years, and may be invariably pro-
ductive of good."
362 ALEXANDER III

declared himself to be to him ? For on hearing of

the death of Alexander III . , what must the German
Emperor do but deliver at a military banquet in
Stettin the following harangue : *

" The news of a far-reaching and grave event has just come
to our ears. His Majesty the Tsar is dead. Nicholas II .
has ascended the throne of his fathers-one of the most
arduous heritages, I suppose, on which a Sovereign can
enter. We who are here assembled, and who have just
glanced back on our traditions, remember also the relations
that united us of old with the Russian Imperial House. We
combine our sympathy with the new Emperor who has just
mounted the throne, with the wish that Heaven may grant
him strength to bear the heavy burden he has just assumed.
Long live the Emperor Nicholas II. Hurrah ! ”
Does Nicholas II . reciprocate the ardent friend-
ship thus expressed for him by William II. ? Let
us hear Dr. Geffcken again :
"Alexander III. was not always a friend of Germany. At
the time when the then German Crown Prince ( Frederick
III . ) went to St. Petersburg to the funeral of Alexander II. ,
and said something about the friendly relations of the two
countries, the Tsar remarked , “ Mais il y a pourtant le plan
de Bismarck," who, he considered, was anxious to annex the
Baltic Provinces. And even after the Crown Prince had
convinced him of the utter futility of the idea, he remained
suspicious while the anti- German elements in Russia fostered
the feeling.

" At the same time the Emperor hastened to appoint

Nicholas II . Chief of the Alexander Regiment of the Guard .
and to decree fourteen days' mourning throughout the army,
"which will thus testify that it shares the deep sorrow felt,"
for my true friend, the most sincere protector of European
peace, and ever remember with gratitude the goodwill always
manifested towards my army by the departed Emperor."
 NICHOLAS II 363

"The Tsarevitch goes further. He is distinctly friendly to

Germany, and is warmly attached to the Emperor William.
The French have nothing to hope from him, and the Triple
Alliance has nothing to fear. Hence, it is only the home-
politics in Russia which will undergo a great change under
a new ruler, and if the future Tsar has the strength to carry
these changes through, they will be for the welfare of the
great Empire, and will lead to the pacification of the discon-
tented elements in Russia."

" The French have nothing to hope from him ."

This may be the conviction of Dr. Geffcken,
but it certainly is not the belief of the French
themselves. For the breath had not been long out
of the body of " the noble and magnanimous
monarch," who had " saved them from mutilation ,"
from isolation, and from a thousand other ills, than
with one accord they again rose and hurled them-
selves at the head of his successor.
Within a few days of the death of Alexander
III . more than two thousand telegrams of sympathy,
of devotion, of hope, of homage, of the Lord knows
all what, had been flashed from France to Livadia.
To some extent Nicholas II. was to blame for this,
for on the day after his father's death he telegraphed
to M. Casimir- Perrier :

" I am grieved to inform you of the cruel loss which I and

Russia have just sustained in the person of my father,
Alexander III. , who died yesterday.
"I am certain of the active share which will be taken by
the entire French nation in our mourning."

To which the French President replied :

" By announcing to methe cruel loss which you have just

364 ALEXANDER III

experienced, your Majesty enlists the participation of France

in the national mourning in Russia.
" The two great peoples remember Alexander III ., who, a
year ago to-day, sent a telegram to President Carnot, which
drew still closer the bonds between the two countries. I am
confident that I am speaking in the name of France when I
assure you of the feelings of respect and grief which inspire
all hearts. I am anxious also to repeat to your Majesty and
to the Imperial family the assurance that I share in the grief
which afflicts you."

But that was only the prologue to the omen

coming on. For now the tale was taken up by the
French Premier, M. Dupuy and M. de Giers, the
French Minister of Foreign Affairs and the French
Ambassador at St. Petersburg. But the finest
flower in the whole French bouquet thrown at the
new Tsar came from General Mercier, Minister of
War :

"SIRE, The entire French army lays at the feet ofyour

Majesty and of your august mother the assurance of its
profound grief, and expresses the unanimous and lasting
sorrow occasioned by the recollection of your glorious father.
We weep with our comrades of the Russian, Army. The
memory of their revered chief, who has been so cruelly
called away, will ever live in our hearts."

In view of all this, was it surprising that the

Press of Vienna should have bitterly commented on
what it termed " the prostration of France at the
feet of the new Emperor," and that the expression
once used by Prince Bismarck about " grovelling
before the Tsar " (Das Wettkriechen) was to be found
in nearly every Vienna leader, in one case being
employed as the title of the article ? "The French
 NICHOLAS II 365
can
people," remarked a London newspaper, * "
hardly be wrong in interpreting the (new Tsar's)
telegram in consonance with their own dearest
wishes . The alliance of Russia and France will
be precisely what it was during the late reign .
Indeed, the Emperor Nicholas would be conspicu-
ously wanting in the most ordinary statecraft if he
dreamed of changing anything in an arrangement of
such enormous value to Russia. For what have
time and experience shown to be the nature of the
Franco- Russian friendship ? They have shown
that Russia can count on all the benefits of French
sympathy, French credit, and, in case of necessity,
French military and naval assistance , without

* The Standard. Said M. Clémenceau in the Justice;

"With Alexander III . a guarantee for peace has disappeared.
This genial giant, by interposing his massive bulk, checked
all adventurous undertakings, all reckless designs calculated
to bring about dangerous complications. The German
Emperor now passes from the second rank to the first, as it
cannot be expected that the youthful Nicholas II. can address
the Emperor William in tones of authority."
An inspired writer in the Temps said : " There is every
indication that he will steadily pursue the path laid down by
Alexander III. By persevering in that path, he will be sure to
reap, together with the legitimate pride of having done his
duty, the gratitude of his subjects, the respect of Europe, and
that proud position of arbiter of peace which his father so
ably occupied. We may add that, by following that course,
he may rely on the affectionate gratitude of the French
people, who are earnestly desirous to continue to pay the son
the homage they readily paid to the father, and to contribute,
with Nicholas II., firmly to establish the balance of power
initiated with Alexander III."
366 ALEXANDER III

pledging itself to give anything in return but

pleasant words and Imperial smiles."
As for Russia's relations to England under the
new Tsar, it is not to be doubted that they will go
on improving, and when he came to the throne
these relations had never been better. Said Lord
Rosebery at the Guildhall banquet ( Nov. 9, 1894) :
" Ever since this Government has been in power our
relations with Russia have been more cordial that I can ever
remember them to have been. We have as nearly as
possible, I hope and believe, terminated that long-standing
difficulty with regard to the limitation of our spheres in
Central Asia, which removes in Asia, I hope, almost the last
dangerous question that arose between us."

On the occasion of the marriage of the Duke of

Edinburgh to the Grand Duchess Marie, Lord Gran-
ville said that, though such dynastic alliances might
be powerless to prevent war, they nevertheless helped
to preserve peace, and it is pretty certain that Eng-
lish Court influence will now be much stronger at
St. Petersburg than ever it was before. Nicholas II.
seems to be sincerely devoted to his English relatives,
especially to his cousin, our heir-presumptive ; while
his mother is said to have an unbounded influence
over him, and that influence can only be for good.
Of his father it was said that, if questioned by any
of the Princesses in Denmark as to his excursion
plans for the morrow, he would reply, not altogether
in jest, " I never let women know what I am going
to do." Alexander III. never discussed affairs of
State with his wife. But it may safely be assumed,
from all that is known of him, that his son will not
 NICHOLAS II 367

prove quite so unimpressionable to feminine influence,

especially to that of his consort , the graces of whose
person would seem to be set off by a considerable
share of those mental endowments which made her
English mother an ornament to her sex.
On the day after his father's death Nicholas II .
was formally betrothed to Princess Alix after she
had embraced the Greek faith ; * and a week after
Alexander III. had been finally laid to his rest,
" the funeral baked meats did coldly furnish forth
the marriage tables " of his son and successor.
For it was held that, in such cases, reasons of State
must override etiquette and appearances, and that

* Said his Majesty in a manifesto :

"The bride of our choice has to-day been anointed with
the holy chrism and has accepted our Orthodox faith under
the name of Alexandra, to the great comfort of ourselves and
all Russia.
"After the painful trial imposed upon us by the inscrutable
will of God, we believe, together with our people, that the
soul of our well -beloved father from its celestial abode has
sent down a blessing upon the choice of his heart and of our
own for consenting to share in a faithful and loving spirit
our incessant solicitude for the welfare and prosperity of our
Fatherland.
"All our loyal subjects join with us in imploring God's
blessing upon our destiny and that of the people confided to
our care.
"In announcing this much-wished-for event to all our
faithful subjects we command that henceforth our august
betrothed Princess Alix be called by the name and title of
her Imperial Highness the Orthodox Grand Duchess Alex-
andra Feodorovna. -Given at Livadia, November 2.
" NICHOLAS ."
368 ALEXANDER III

the period of mourning woe should be interrupted

by a brief term of wedding mirth .
It said much for the strength of will and lofty
principle of the Princess Alix that she had objected
to comply with the rule exacted of all converts to
the Orthodox creed which compels them to abjure
and curse the faith of their fathers. On the other
hand, that the new Emperor should have waived the
observance of this rigorous rule betrayed a spirit of
compromise and toleration which augurs well for the
religious policy of his reign. " I cannot understand,"
he was said to have remarked to his ex-tutor, " how
the people of the capital allow themselves to talk such
nonsense and form such opinions about me. They
will soon find out how wrong they have been ." The
people of the capital made the same discovery when
Alexander III . came to the throne. As Tsarevitch
he had been Liberal ; as Emperor he was reac
tionary. Let us trust, for the sake of Russia, that
it will just be the other way about with his suc-
cessor ; and the chances, on the whole, are that it
will be so.
For there is a fairly well-founded hope that
Nicholas II. will continue what might be called the
rule of Government in Russia by the same kind of
alternation, or see-saw, as we witness in our own
House of Commons, Tories succeeding Liberals,
and Liberais Tories. In Russia this custom has
already acquired something like the force of a
natural law since the time of the madly despotic
Emperor Paul . His son Alexander I. proved a
mild and sentimental Sovereign, enamoured of
 NICHOLAS II 369

reform ; while the next Emperor, Nicholas I. , again

caused the pendulum of one-man power to swing,
or rather bump, back to its extreme angle of oscil-
lation. It was now the turn of Alexander II. , the
" Tsar Emancipator," to resume the cycle of liberal
reforms, thus preparing the way for his reactionary
son, and we all know in which direction he made
the political pendulum to fly. It only now remains
for his successor, Nicholas II., to observe this
apparent law of Russian government, and there is a
fair hope, I repeat, that he will see the wisdom of
doing so.
On the other hand, if Nicholas II . continues to
tread in the domestic tracks of his father, he will
be laying up for himself a still more insufferable
crown of thorns than that which galled his father to
the grave . For some time , no doubt, he will be
distracted between the promptings of filial piety
and the dictates of a policy of statesmanlike expedi-
ency ; but, in the long run, the wisdom of more
enlightened counsellors than ever were listened to
by his father must surely prevail with the new
Autocrat of All the Russias . He brings with him
to the throne the progressive ideas of the younger
generation, and he has seen more of the world than
ever his father did. Much will depend on the
counsellors who manage to catch his ear.
The character of Nicholas II . does not seem to
be cast in a strong mould ; but this very weakness
of his may become a source of happiness to his
subjects in the hands of those who can influence
him most ; and among the number of those, his
2 A
370 ALEXANDER III

mother and his wife will doubtless hold a foremost

place. A ruler who allows himself to be swayed by
good women cannot prove a bad one. Nicholas I.
used to say of " Sasha," his son and successor,
that " he was an old woman," and that nothing
great would ever be done in his time. But this
little old woman turned out to be the liberator of
the serfs. Let us hope that, as Alexander II . set
free the bodies of the serfs, so Nicholas II . will
ultimately see the wisdom of emancipating the souls
of all his subjects, who are still in a most abject
state of civil and religious slavery, no less degrad-
ing to its victims than dangerous in the highest
degree to the throne of which this servitude is made
the pedestal.

FINIS

Printed by BALLANTYNE HANSON & CO

London and Edinburgh
 JUST PUBLISHED.

THE STORY OF A THRONE

(CATHERINE II. OF RUSSIA)
TRANSLATED FROM THE FRENCH OF
K. WALISZEWSKI
In Two Volumes. Price 28s.
* This Work forms a Sequel to " The Romance of an Empress,"
*
by the same Author. (See next page.)

The Times. " M. Waliszewski has followed up his interesting and

learned work on Catherine II. of Russia, entitled The
Romance of an Empress ' by another, entitled ' The Story
of a Throne. The personality and character of Catherine
II. formed the subject of M. Waliszewski's earlier mono-
graph. The present volumes are devoted to the character-
istics of her Court and Throne. Catherine, however, is
still the central figure. . . . . Readers of M. Waliszewski's
former work will not need to be told that the picture he
draws is a vivid one full of intimate touches and accurate
detail. . . . . The whole story is strange and in many
respects singularly fascinating. "
Daily Chronicle.-" These two volumes are as good reading as
any novel which the publishing season has yet produced,
and higher and heartier praise we cannot give them . They
will be read with especial interest at the present time, when
all eyes are directed towards the Court of Nicholas II.,
which, with all its peculiarities and imperfections, shows
such an immense advance in most respects on that of
Catherine II."
The Scotsman.- " M. Waliszewski's ' Story of a Throne ' is sequel
and complement to the same brilliant writer's • Romance of
an Empress. ' . . . M. Waliszewski passes in review the
statesmen Catherine called to her counsel : the warriors
who fought her battles : the intellectual circle of philo-
sophers, scholars, poets, artists, that she gathered about
her to add to the glory of her Court and Reign : the
confidential agents she employed : the adventurers who
pushed themselves to the front. The mob of her favourites
and lovers naturally occupy a prominent place in this, as
in the author's previous work. "
The Glasgow Herald. " The whole book is intensely interesting. "

LONDON : WILLIAM HEINEMANN

 SECOND EDITION.

THE ROMANCE OF AN EMPRESS

(CATHERINE II. OF RUSSIA)

TRANSLATED FROM THE FRENCH OF

K. WALISZEWSKI

In One Volume, 8vo, with Portrait, 7s. 6d.

The Times. " This book is based on the confessions of the

Empress herself ; it gives striking pictures of the condition
of the contemporary Russia which she did so much to
mould as well as to expand. Few stories in history
are more romantic than that of Catherine II. of Russia,
with its mysterious incidents and thrilling episodes ; few
characters present more curious problems. "
Spectator. " A singularly vivid picture of the Empress. The
atmosphere of her Court, too, has been rendered with great
success. "
Guardian.- " M . Waliszewski has produced a book which
deserves very high praise."
Bookman-" A fascinating character for psychological study,
and M. Waliszewski has made the most of his opportunities
in this entertaining yet becomingly serious book.
Observer. " M. Waliszewski's bright and eminently readable
biography of one of the most striking figures in modern
European history. "
Westminster Gazette.-" A marvellous picture of the Russian
Court of those days. M. Waliszewski's life of
Catherine is incomparably the best that has appeared, and
has been very well translated. "
Morning Post.-" One of the best accounts of the famous
Empress that have yet appeared. "
The World. " The historical and political portions of the book
are full of interest, and important to such readers as desire
to understand the growth and mechanism of the vast empire
which has witnessed so many tragedies of the base and
sordid kind. "

LONDON : WILLIAM HEINEMANN.

Telegraphic Address,
Sunlocks, London.
21 BEDFORD Street, W.C.
November 1894

A LIST OF

MR WILLIAM HEINEMANN'S

PUBLICATIONS

AND

FORTHCOMING WORKS

The Books mentioned in this List can

be obtained to order by any Book
seller ifnot in stock, or willbe sent
bythe Publisher postfree on receipt
ofthepublishedprice.
 Index of Autbors.
PAGE PAGE PAGE
Alexander · 20 Gray (Maxwell) 8 17 Ogilvie · 23
Anstey • 14 Griffiths · 24 Oliphant 14
Arbuthnot · 15 Hall . Quida 17
Atherton • 21 22
Hanus • II Palacio-Valdés 10
Baddeley . 15, 22 Harland · 22 Pearce 18
Balestier 8, 18, 22 Harris 17 Pendered 8, 13
Barrett 17, 21 Hauptmann 7 Pennell 14
Battershall · 17 Heine
.
12, 13 Phelps 21
Behrs 13 Heinemann 7 Philips 22
Bendall 22 Henderson 22 Pinero 7, 23
Björnson 9, 19 Heussey · 13
Bowen II Holdsworth • 9 Raimond 9
· 16
.
Boyesen • 13 Howard 6 Rawnsley .
Briscoe . 22 Hughes II Rembrandt 3
Brown 16 Hungerford 13 , 20 Renan · 15
Brown and Griffiths . 24 Hyne 18 Richter · 15
Buchanan . 15, 21, 22, 23 Riddell 21
Burnand • 7 Ibsen 23 Rives 21
Butler . II Ingersoll · 16 Roberts (A. von) 10
Irving 23 Roberts 16
Caine (Hall) 16, 17, 20, 21 Robinson(C.. G. D.) 8
Caine (R.). 22 Jæger 13
20 Saintsbury • 6
Cambridge Keary · 4 Salaman (J. S.) 15
Chester 14 Keeling · 17 Salaman (M. C. ) · 14
Clarke 18 Kennedy 21 Sarcey · 13
Coleridge 5 Kimball 24 Scidmore 16
Colmore 21 Kipling 18 Scudamore
Colomb 15
15 Knight 14 Serao 19
Compayré TI Kraszewski 19 Sergeant 8, 20
Coppée 22 Kroeker 7 Steel . 8, 17
Couperus 19 Stevenson . 17
Cowen 18 Lanza 21 Street 8
Crackanthorpe . 22 Lawson 4
Davidson Le Caron . · 15 Tadema
42553

Dawson 22 Lee (Vernon) 18 Tallentyre · 14

Leland 10 Tasma • · 20
De Goncourt 6 Terry
De Joinville 5 Leroy-Beaulieu 5
De Quincey Lie 19 Thompson . 16
13 Linton 8 Thurston 24
Dixon
Dowson 17 Locke 17 Tolstoy 13, 15, 19, 23
Lowe 13 15 Tree . 23
Eeden 6 Lowry • 21 Turgenev 9
Ellwanger . 14 Lynch 20 Valera
Ely 10
15 Maartens 21 Vazoff 19
Farrar 15 Macnab 17 Wagner 6
Fitch II Maeterlinck
..

Forbes Malot 23 Waliszewski 5, 10

15 8 Ward 21
Fothergill . 20 Masson · 5 Warden • 22
Franzos 19 Maude • 15 Waugh · 6
Frederic 15, 20, 21 Maupassant 19 Weitemeyer 16
Furtwängler 4 Maurice 15 West 11
Merriman 14 Whistler 4, 14
Garner 15 Michel 3 White
Garnett 4 Mitford 20 21
Gaulot 10 Whitman 16
Monk • 9 Williams
Gilchrist 18 Moore • 17 15
Gontcharoff Wood 14. 18
19 Murray 15
Gore 24 Zangwill 18
Gosse 7, 14, 18, 23 Nordau 6 Zola 6, 22
Grand 17 Norris 8, 18 Z Z. 8
 MR. WILLIAM HEINEMANN'S LIST. 3

Forthcoming Works.

REMBRANDT :
SEVENTEEN OF HIS MASTERPIECES
FROM THE COLLECTION OF HIS PICTURES IN THE
CASSEL GALLERY.
Reproduced in Photogravure by the Berlin Photographic Company.
WITH AN ESSAY
BY FREDERICK WEDMORE.
In large portfolio 27 inches x 20 inches.
The Collection of Rembrandts in the Cassel Gallery enjoys the distinction
of consisting of a group of unsurpassed masterpieces, and of the twenty-one
Pictures now in the Museum, seventeen have been selected for reproduction ;
these willbe printed on the finest Japanese paper.
The first twenty- five impressions of each plate are numbered and signed,
and of these onlyfourteen arefor sale in England at the net price ofTwenty
Guineas the set. The price of the impressions after the first twenty-five is
Twelve Guineas net, per set.

REMBRANDT :
HIS LIFE, HIS WORK, AND HIS TIME .
BY
EMILE MICHEL ,
MEMBER OF THE INSTITUTE OF FRANCH.
TRANSLATED BY
FLORENCE SIMMONDS.
EDITED AND PREFACED BY
FREDERICK WEDMORE.
A re-issue in Monthly Parts, price 2s. 6d. net, per Part.
•.* A few copies of the FIRST EDITION are still on sale, price £2 25.
net; also of the EDITION DE LUXE (printed on Japanese vellum
with India proof duplicates of the photogravures), price £ 12 125.
net.
The TIMES.-" This very sumptuous and beautiful book has
long been expected by all students of Rembrandt, for M. Émile
Michel, the chief French authority on the Dutch School of Paint-
ing, has been known to be engaged upon it for many years.
Merely to look through the reproductions in M. Michel's book is
enough to explain the passionate eagerness with which modern
collectors carry on their search after Rembrandt's drawings, and
the great prices which are paid for them."
 MR. WILLIAM HEINEMANN'S LIST

Forthcoming Works -continued.

MASTERPIECES OF GREEK SCULPTURE .

BY ADOLF FURTWÄNGLER.
Authorised Translation. Edited by E. SELLers.
In One Volume, 4to.
With about 20 full-page and 200 text Illustrations.

A CATALOGUE OF THE ACCADEMIA DELLE

BELLE ARTI AT VENICE .
With Biographical Notices of the Painters and Reproductions
of some of their Works.
EDITED BY E. M. KEARY.
Crown 8vo, cloth, 2s. 6d. net ; paper, 2s. net.

A CATALOGUE OF THE MUSEO DEL PRADO

AT MADRID.
EDITED BY E. LAWSON.
In One Volume, crown 8vo. Illustrated.

SONGS ON STONE .
BY J. MCNEILL WHISTLER.
A Series of lithographic drawings in colour by Mr. WHISTLER, will
appear from time to time in parts, under the above title.
Each containing Four Plates.
The first issue of 200 copies will be sold at Two Guineas net, per part,
by Subscription for the Series only.
There will also be issued 50 copies on Japanesepaper, signed by the
artist, each Five Guineas net.

LIFE OF HEINRICH HEINE.

BY RICHARD GARNETT, LL.D.
With Portrait.
Crown 8vo (uniform with the translation of Heine's Works).
 MR. WILLIAM HEINEMANN'S LIST. 5

Forthcoming Works-continued.

LETTERS OF SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE .

EDITED BY ERNEST HARTLEY COLERIDGE.
With Portraits and Illustrations.
In Two Volumes, demy 8vo.

EDMOND AND JULES DE GONCOURT.

Letters and Leaves from their Journals.
Selected and Edited.
In Two Volumes, 8vo. With 8 Portraits, 325.

MEMOIRS
(VIEUX SOUVENIRS)
OF THE PRINCE DE JOINVILLE.
Translated from the French by Lady MARY LOYD.
With 78 Illustrations from drawings by the Author.
In One Volume, demy 8vo, 15s. net.

NAPOLEON AND THE FAIR SEX .

(NAPOLEON ET LES FEMMES).
From the French of FRÉDÉRIC Masson.
In One Volume, demy 8vo. With Ten Portraits, 155. net.

THE STORY OF A THRONE .

CATHERINE II. OF RUSSIA.
From the French of K. WALIZEWSKI, Author of " The Romance
of an Empress. "
With a Portrait. In Two Volumes, demy 8vo, 28s.

STRAY MEMORIES.
BY ELLEN TERRY.
In One Volume, 4to. Illustrated.
A2
6 MR. WILLIAM HEINEMANN'S LIST.

Forthcoming Works —continued.

CORRECTED IMPRESSIONS.
By GEORGE SAINTSBURY. In One Volume. Crown 8vo.

ISRAEL AMONG THE NATIONS.

By ANATOLE Leroy-Beaulieu. Translated from the French. With an Intro-
duction by JOSEPH JACOBS. In One Volume. 8vo.

MANNERS, CUSTOMS, AND OBSERVANCES :

THEIR ORIGIN AND SIGNIFICATION .
By LEOPOLD WAGNER. In One Volume. Crown 8vo, 6s.
DEGENERATION .
An Examination of the Laws and Results of 19th Century Civilisation. By
MAX NORDAU. Translated from the German. Demy 8vo.

ALFRED , LORD TENNYSON.

A Study of His Life and Work. By ARTHUR WAUGH, B.A. Oxon. With
Twenty Illustrations from Photographs specially taken for this Work,
Five Portraits, and Facsimile of Tennyson's MS. Fourth Edition .
Crown 8vo, cloth, gilt edges, or uncut, 6s.

Books for Christmas.

A BATTLE AND A BOY.

By BLANCHE WILLIS HOWARD. With Thirty-nine Illustrations by A. MAC-
NIELL-BARBOUR. Crown 8vo, cloth gilt, 6s.

THE ATTACK ON THE MILL.

By EMILE ZOLA. With Twenty-one Illustrations, and Five exquisitely printed
Coloured Plates, from original drawings by E. COURBOIN. In One
Volume. 4to.

LITTLE JOHANNES .
By F. VAN EEDEN. Translated from the Dutch by CLARA BELL. With an
Introduction by ANDREW LANG. In One Volume. 16mo. Also a
limited Edition on Large Paper.
 MR. WILLIAM HEINEMANN'S LIST.

Forthcoming Works-continued.

IN RUSSET AND SILVER.

POEMS. By EDMUND GOSSE . Author of " Gossip in a Library," &c. In
One Volume. Crown 8vo, buckram, gilt top, 6s.

A CENTURY OF GERMAN LYRICS .

Translated from the German by K. F. KROEKER. In One Volume, fcap . 8vo,
3s. 6d.

THE PLAYS OF GERHART HAUPTMANN .

HANNELE : A DREAM-POEM. Translated by WILLIAM ARcher.
Small 4to, with Portrait, 55.
To be followed by
LONELY FOLK and THE WEAVERS.

THE PLAYS OF F. C. BURNAND.

niform with Mr. PINERO'S Plays.

THE PLAYS OF ARTHUR W. PINERO.

With Introductory Notes by MALCOLM C. SALAMAN.

VOL. X. THE WEAKER SEX.

VOL. XI. LORDS AND COMMONS.
and
VOL. XII. THE SQUIRE.
Completing the First Series.
Also

THE SECOND MRS. TANQUERAY.

By ARTHUR W. Pinero.
8 MR. WILLIAM HEINEMANN'S LIST.

Forthcoming Works—continued.

Fiction.
IN THREE VOLUMES.
IN HASTE AND AT LEISURE.
By Mrs. LYNN LINTON, Author of " Joshua Davidson," &c.
IN TWO VOLUMES
HER OWN FOLK.
(en famille.)
By HECTOR MALOT, Author of " No Relations." Translated by Lady MARY
LOYD. Crown 8vo, cloth. 125.
A DRAMA IN DUTCH.
By Z. Z. Crown 8vo, cloth. 125.
IN ONE VOLUME.
A VICTIM OF GOOD LUCK.
By W. E. NORRIS, Author of " Matrimony," &c. Crown 8vo, cloth. 6s.

THE POTTER'S THUMB .

By F. A. STEEL, Author of " From the Five Rivers," &c. A New Edition.
Crown Evo, cloth. 6s.
BENEFITS FORGOT.
By WOLCOTT BALESTIER. A New Edition . Crown 8vo, cloth. 6s.

A PASTORAL PLAYED OUT.

By M. L. PENDERED. Crown 8vo, cloth. 65.
EPISODES.
By G. STREET, Author of " The Autobiography of a Boy." Crown 8vo, cloth.
35. 6d.

THE SURRENDER OF MARGARET BELLARMINE.

By ADELINE SERGEANT, Author of " The Story of a Penitent Soul." Crown
8vo, cloth. 35. 6d.
CHIMÆRA,
By F. MABEL ROBINSON. Author of " Mr. Butler's Ward," &c.
 MR. WILLIAM HEINEMANN'S LIST. ༡

UNIFORM EDITION OF
THE NOVELS OF BJÖRNSTJERNE BJÖRNSON .
Edited by EDMUND GOSSE.
Fcap. 8vo, cloth, 3s. net each volume.
SYNNÖVE SOLBAKKEN .
With Introductory Essay and a Biblography by EDMUND GOSSE,
and a Portrait of the Author.
To befollowed by
ARNE. THE BRIDAL MARCH.
A HAPPY BOY. MAGNHILD.
THE FISHER MAIDEN. CAPTAIN MANSANA.
AND OTHER SHORT STORIES AND NOVELETTES,

UNIFORM EDITION OF
THE NOVELS OF IVAN TURGENEV.
Translated by CONSTANCE GARNETT.
Fcap. 8vo, cloth, price 3s. net, each volume.
Vol. I. RUDIN.
With a Portrait of the Author and an Introduction by STEPNIAK.
Vol. II. A HOUSE OF GENTLEFOLK.
To befollowed by
" III. ON THE EVE.
29 IV. FATHERS AND CHILDREN.
V. SMOKE.
» VI., VII. VIRGIN SOIL. (Two Volumes.)

The Pioneer Series.

12mo, cloth, 3s. net ; or, paper covers, 2s. 6d. net.
JOANNA TRAILL, SPINSTER. BY ANNIE E. HOLDS-
WORTH.
GEORGE MANDEVILLE'S HUSBAND. By C. E.
RAIMOND.
THE WINGS OF ICARUS . By LAURENCE ALMA
TADEMA.
THE GREEN CARNATION. By R. S. HICHENS.
AN ALTAR OF EARTH . By THYMOL MONK.
Other Volumes tofollow
10 MR. WILLIAM HEINEMANN'S LIST.

Recent Publications.

MY PARIS NOTE - BOOK . By the Author of " An English-

man in Paris." In One Volume, demy 8vo. Price 145.
Contemporary France, with the never-failing interest of the period since 1855,
is mirrored in the pages of this book with the intimate and at the same time
universal knowledge only possible to a man of the world, whose acquaintance
with human nature is aided by his skill in noting the salient features both of
circumstances and of men.
The anecdotes related are not mere tales of small importance, but are
indicative of a keen literary appreciativeness of their bearing on characters or
movements.

MEMOIRS . By CHARLES GODFREY LELAND (HANS BREIT-

MANN). Second Edition. In One Volume , 8vo. With Portrait. Price
7s. 6d.
The Times. From first to last a very entertaining book, full of good stories,
strange adventures, curious experiences, and not inconsiderable achievements,
instinct with the strong personality of the writer, and not unpleasantly tinged
with the egotism that belongs to a strong personality."

THE ROMANCE OF AN EMPRESS . Catherine II. of

Russia. By K. WALISZEWSKI. Translated from the French. Second
Edition. In One Volume, 8vo. With Portrait. Price 7s. 6d.
The Times.-" This book is based on the confessions of the Empress her-
self; it gives striking pictures of the condition of the contemporary Russia
which she did so much to mould as well as to expand. ... Few stories in
history are more romantic than that of Catherine II. of Russia, with its
mysterious incidents and thrilling episodes ; few characters present more curious
problems."

A FRIEND OF THE QUEEN . Marie Antoinette and

Count Fersen. By PAUL GAULOT. Translated from the French by
Mrs. CASHEL HOEY. In Two Volumes, 8vo. With Two Portraits.
Price 245 .
The Times.-" M. Gaulot's work tells, with new and authentic details, the
romantic story of Count Fersen's devotion to Marie Antoinette, of his share in
the celebrated Flight to Varennes and in many other well-known episodes of
the unhappy Queen's life."
 MR. WILLIAM HEINEMANN'S LIST. II

The Great Educators.

A Series ofVolumes by Eminent Writers, presenting in their
entirety "A Biographical History ofEducation."
The Times.-" A Series of Monographs on ' The Great Educators ' should
prove of service to all who concern themselves with the history, theory, and
practice ofeducation."
The Speaker.-" There is a promising sourd about the title of Mr. Heine-
mann's new series, ' The Great Educators.' It should help to allay the hunger
and thirst for knowledge and culture of the vast multitude of young men and
maidens which our educational system turns out yearly, provided at least with
an appetite for instruction."
Each subject will form a complete volume, crown 8vo, 5s.
Now ready.
ARISTOTLE, and the Ancient Educational Ideals. By
THOMAS DAVIDSON, M.A. , LL.D.
The Times.-"A very readable sketch of a very interesting subject."
LOYOLA, and the Educational System of the Jesuits. By
Rev. THOMAS HUGHES, S.J.
Saturday Review.- " Full of valuable information. . . . . If a school-
master would learn how the education of the young can be carried on so as to
confer real dignity on those engaged in it, we recommend him to read Mr.
Hughes' book."
ALCUIN, and the Rise of the Christian Schools. By
Professor ANDREW F. WEST, Ph.D.
FROEBEL, and Education by Self- Activity. By H. Court-
HOPE BOWEN, M.A.
ABELARD , and the Origin and Early History of Uni-
versities. By JULES GABRIEL COMPAYRÉ, Professor in the Faculty of
Toulouse.
In preparation.
HERBERT AND THE HERBERTIANS. By Prof. De
GARMO.
ROUSSEAU ; and, Education according to Nature. By
PAUL H. HANUS.
HORACE MANN, and Public Education in the United
States. By NICHOLAS MURRAY BUTLER, Ph.D.
THOMAS and MATTHEW ARNOLD , and their In-
fluence on Education. By J. G. FITCH, LL.D., Her Majesty's
Inspector of Schools.
PESTALOZZI : or, the Friend and Student of Children.
4
12 MR. WILLIAM HEINEMANN'S LIST.

THE PROSE WORKS

OF

HEINRICH HEINE.

TRANSLATED BY
CHARLES GODFREY LELAND, M.A. , F.R.L.S.
(HANS BREITMANN ).
In Eight Volumes.
The Library Edition, in crown 8vo, cloth, at 5s. per volume. Each volume of
this edition is sold separately. The Cabinet Edition, in special binding,
boxed, price £2 10s. the set. The Large Paper Edition, limited to roo
Numbered Copies, price 155. per volume net, will only be supplied to
subscribers for the Complete Work.
I. FLORENTINE NIGHTS , SCIINABELEWOPSKI,
THE RABBI OF BACHARACH, and SHAKE-
SPEARE'S MAIDENS AND WOMEN.
II., III. PICTURES OF TRAVEL. 1823-1828. In Two
Volumes.
IV. THE SALON. Letters on Art, Music, Popular Life,
and Politics.
V., VI . GERMANY. In Two Volumes.
VII., VIII. FRENCH AFFAIRS. Letters from Paris 1832,
and Lutetia. In Two Vols,
Times.-"We can recommend no better medium for making acquaintance
at first hand with the German Aristophanes ' than the works of Heinrich
Heine, translated by Charles Godfrey Leland. Mr. Leland manages pretty
successfully to preserve the easy grace of the original. "
Saturday Review.-" Verily Heinrich Heine and not Jean Paul is der
Einzige among Germans : and great is the venture of translating him which
Mr. Leland has so boldly undertaken, and in which he has for the most part
quitted himself so well."
PallMall Gazette.-" It is a brilliant performance, both for the quality of
the translation of each page and the sustained effort of rendering so many of
them. There is really hardly any need to learn German now to appreciate
Heine's prose. English literature of this country does not contain much prose
more striking, more entertaining, and more thought provoking than these now
placed before English readers."..4
Daily Telegraph.- " Mr. Leland has done his translation in able and scho-
larly fashion."
To be followed by
THE POETIC WORKS OF HEINRICH HEINE.
 MR. WILLIAM HEINEMANN'S LIST. 13

VILLIERS DE L'ISLE ADAM : His Life and Works.

From the French of VicOMTE ROBERT DU PONTAVICE DE HEUSSEY.
By Lady MARY LOYD. With Portrait and Facsimile. Crown 8vo, cloth,
10s. 6d.

RECOLLECTIONS OF MIDDLE LIFE. By FRANCISQUE

SARCEY. Translated by E. L. CAREY. In One Volume, 8vo. With
Portrait. IOS. 6d.
PRINCE BISMARCK. An Historical Biography. By
CHARLES LOWE, M.A. With Portraits. Crown 8vo, 6s.

THE FAMILY LIFE OF HEINRICH HEINE. Illus-

trated by one hundred and twenty-two hitherto unpublished letters ad-
dressed by him to different members of his family. Edited by his nephew,
Baron LUDWIG VON EMBDEN, and translated by CHARLES GODFREY
LELAND. In One Volume, 8vo, with 4 Portraits. 12s. 6d.

RECOLLECTIONS OF COUNT LEO TOLSTOY.

Together with a Letter to the Women of France on the " Kreutze
Sonata." By C. A. BEHRS. Translated from the Russian by C. E.
TURNER, English Lecturer in the University of St. Petersburg. In One
Volume, 8vo. With Portrait. 10s. 6d.

THE LIFE of Henrik IBSEN. By HENRIK Jæger .

Translated by CLARA BELL. With the Verse done into English from the
Norwegian Original by EDMUND GOSSE. Crown 8vo, cloth, 6s.

A COMMENTARY ON THE WORKS OF HENRIK

IBSEN. By HJALMAR HJORTH BOYESEN, Author of " Goethe and
Schiller," " Essays on German Literature, " &c. Crown 8vo, cloth,
75. 6d. net.

DE QUINCey memorIALS. Being Letters and other

Records here first Published, with Communications from COLERIDGE, The
WORDSWORTHS, HANNAH MORE, PROFESSORWILSON, and others. Edited
with Introduction, Notes, and Narrative, by ALEXANDER H. JAPP, LL.D.,
F.R.S.E. In two volumes, demy 8vo, cloth, with Portraits, 30s. net.

THE POSTHUMOUS WORKS OF THOMAS DE

QUINCEY. Edited with Introduction and Notes from the Author's
Original MSS. , by ALEXANDER H. JAPP, LL.D, F.R.S. E. , & c. Crown
8vo, cloth, 6s. each.
I. SUSPIRIA DE PROFUNDIS. With other Essays.
II. CONVERSATION AND COLERIDGE. With other
Essays.
14 MR. WILLIAM HEINEMANN'S LIST.

MR. PUNCH'S POCKET IBSEN. A Collection of some

of the Master's best known Dramas, condensed, revised, and slightly re-
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