The Empire County argus., 1855-05-05

ROYAL MURDERS IN RUSSIA. The first surmise
on the announcement of the death of the Gar
Was that he had fallen victim to some conspiracy
There would seem, however, to be no grounds for
the suspicion. Yet the almost universal suspicion
OF murder was not extraordinary when it is con-
sdered how many of the royal line of Russia have
died forcble deaths. What with the dissensions
among the imperial family and what with the con-
sp:acies on the part of the nobility to remove an
obnoxious Gar, dynasty of civilized princes has
ever suffered SO much from steel and cord, since
the days of the Roman Caesars Taileyrand's fa-
nous definition of the character of the Russian
Government that it was a despotism tempered by
assassination, was as true it was witty or rath-
er, witty because of its truth. During the
earlier period of Czarism, nearly every emperor
| destroyed some rival, or was himself destroyed
Even in the last century, the murder of a Russian
prince almost universally attnnded or preceded the
accession of new monarch to the throne The
bloody drama was opened by father killing his
own son, and closed by consenting to the
murder of his father.
! The incident to which we first allude, was the
secret execution of Alexis, only son of Peter the
Great by order of his father, A. D. 1719 The
Prince was hostile to the measures introduced
by the Gar, favoring the old Boyar party, which
adhered to the ancient usages and customs of his
country For this Peter resolved to disinherit him.
Alexis, knowing what this meant, fled abroad, but
being discovered, dragged back to Russia,
compelled to renounce the succession, tried by Sc
cret judges, and barbarously put to death. The
next great tragedy which occurred in the Romanoff
family, was the murder of Peter the Third, by di-
rection of his wife, who Immediately ascended the
throne as Catherine the Second. This woman, no
less celebrated for her profgate life than for her
political genius, was the grandmother of Nicholas.
Her instrument in the assassination of her husband
was Prince Alexis Orlotf one of her paramours, a
man of gigantic stature, who subsequently unbush-
ipr rIv raded hiuSo1f tbrourb Enropo nd wos
viewed with terror and curiosity every where, as
the person who, when the emperor resisted, had
throttled the unhappy prince with his own hand.
brother of this monster went to Italy, where a
princess of the Romanoff line resided, whom Cath
crime feared in consequence of her better title to
the throne and having inveigled the poor girl into
mock marriage, trapped her on board of Rus
sian fIgate, and carried her q prisoner to Cron-
stadt. The miserable victim of this atrocous per-
fdy was subsequently drowned in her cell, by an
inundaton of the Neva.
The parricde to which we allude was the mur-
der of Paul the First father of Nicholas with the
knowledge, if not the connivance, of Alexander,
the predecessor of the late Gar. Paul was set
upon at night in his chamber, and assassinated af-
ter protracted struggle, in which he fought with
desperate resolution though unarmed and in his
shirt. At the period of this bloody tragedy, Mich
oas infant. But his elder brother, Alex
ander, young man, and was, it is generally
believed, aware of what was about to occur. Re-
morse for the act said to have embttered the
closing days of Alexander. 1t is asserted by some
historians that even this prince fell victim to a
violent death. 1t is certain that he died suddenly
when tour in the Crimea; and as he had be-
come quite unpopular with large party in his do
minions, it is not impossible that he was poisoned
In all these of assassination, it was at first
given out that the Gar died of apoplexy, nor did
the truth appear until lapse of years had render
ed harmless the publication of the facts. In des
potism like Russia, when prince is to be deposed
there is course left but to take his life He can
not safely be asked to abdicate, for he would be
bold man who could thus bell the cat > and while
he lives, after abdcation, there is always dan
ger of revolution in his favor. Hence Talleyrands S
remark