The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1881-05-14 00:00:00

THE EMPEROR OF RUSSIA.

The Times of Wednesday published a letter from their
correspondent in Paris, in which he says
"Letters which have lately been reaching me from
Russia are the more interesting inasmuch as that
country seems long likely to be enshrouded in mystery.
So inveterate is the feeling ®f distrust there that it is
rare to find a man able to say what is happening who
Is willing to do so. Hence outsiders are always apt to
lean to one extreme or the other in their judgment of
Russian events. I have consequently selected from
these letters one emanating from a man both well in-
formed and enlightened, whose remarks will be read
with interest."—(We give the following extract from
the letter alluded to) :
"It is a great mistake to suppose that the fears for
the new Emperor's safety are exaggerated. It would
be more .correct to say they were inexplicable, if
account were not taken of the influence he undergoes.
It is, indeed, strange to see a man of thirty-seven,
of robust frame and Herculean strength, ,a prey
to terror, for the Emperor has extraordinary
physical strength, and I remember seeing him
bend a horselihoe with his finger; yet such is the
case, owing to the influence upon him—he is an
excellent husband—of the Empress's nervousness.
His departure for Gatchina was a veritable flight.
The day when he was to start four Imperial trains
were ostentatiously ready at four different stations
in St. Petersburg with all the officials and military
attendants, and while the four trains were waiting,
the Emperor fled in a train, without atteadance,
which had been waiting at a siding. Withouneliev-
ing all the exaggerated accounts given, it is pretty
certain that the Emperor is almost invisible at Gat-
china ; ,t4at he seldom sees his Ministers, and the
aides-de-camp, who formerly - had free access to the
Czar's person, have received a circular intimating to
them that they are.only to appear twice a week and
on special orders. The population of St. Petersburg
were greatly impressed at the Emperor's absence from
the 40th day's Mass for his father, the presence of a
son on that occasion being more obligatory in Russia
than attendance even at the funeral. The Empress was
likewise absent. On Easter Sunday, when from time
immemorial every Russian could see and even kiss the
Emperor, iiobody could catch sight of him, which
stupefied all Russia. Do not believe the stories of the
late Emperor having signed a Constitution the very
day of his death. What he had signed was the
appointment of a commission to consider whether
provincial institutions might not be widened and when
you hear of a Constitution pay no heed to it. It will
not and cannot be given. There is in Russia such a
variety of races, from the German Poles and old Rus-
sians to savages, that it would be impossible, nay,
insensate, to give them what is called elsewhere a
Constitution. How can you give a Constitution to a
country where there are still whole provinces which
L'Phe writer then proceeds
have not a Zemstvo ? " . . . •
to describe the various phases of political parties in
Russia ; and also alludes to the ill-treatment the Jews
in the district of Elizabethgrad have received from
the peasants.]