The true Democrat., 1855-04-17
Murders in the Royal Family of Russia.


 Murders in the Royal Family of Russia.
 We extract the following interesting account of murders in the royal family of Russia, from the Philadelphia Ledger:
 The first surmise, on the announcement of the death of the Czar, was that he had fallen victim to some conspiracy. There would seem, however, to be no grounds for this suspicon.- Yet the almost universal suspicion of murder was not extraordinary, when 1t is considered how many of the royal line of Russia have died violent deaths. What with the dissensions among the imperial family, and what with the conspiracies on the part of the nobility to re- move an obnoxious Czar, no dynasty of civil ized princes has ever suffered so much from the steel and cord, since the days of the Roman Caesars. Taleyrand's famous definition of the character of the Russian government, that it was |" a despotism tempered by assassination" was true as 1t was witty, or rather, was witty because of its truth. During tho early period of Czarsm, nearly every Emperor destroyed some rival or was himself destroyed. Even in the last century, the murderof Russian prince almost universally attended or preceded the &C., cesson of a new monarch to the throne. The bloody drama was opened by father killing
 
 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 new mea- sures introduced by the Czar, favorng the old Boyar party, which adhered to the ancient usages and customs of his country. For this Peter resolved to disnherit him. Alexis know ing what this meant, fled abroad, but being dis covered, was dragged back to Russia, compelled to renounce the succession, tried by secret jud- ges, and barbarously put to death.
 The next great tragedy which occurred in the Romanoff family, was the murder of Peter the Third, by direction of his wife, who immedi- atelv ascended the thorne as Catharine the Se- cond. This woman, celebrated no less for her profigate life than for her political genius, was the grandmother of Nicholas. Her instrument in the assassination of her husband was Prince Alexis Orlof, one of her paramous, man of gigantic stature, who subsequently, unblushing- ly paraded himself through Europe, and was viewed with terror and curiosity everywhere as the person who, when the Emperor resisted, had throttled the unhappy Prince with his own hand. A brother of this monster went to Italy, where Princess of the Romanoff line resided whom Catharine feared in consequence of her DeGCer ClUlo to tnp GnrOue, aud udVlIlS luVel5leQ the poor girl into mock marriage, trapped her on board of Russian frigate, and carried her prisoner to Cronstadt. The miserable victim of this atrocious perfdy was drowned in her cellsubsequently by an inundation of the Neva.
 The parrcide to which we allude was the murder of Paul the First, father of Nicholas, with the knowledge if not the connivance of Alexander, the predecessor of the late Czar.- Paul was set upon at night, in his chamber, and assassinated after protracted struggle, in which he fought with desparate resolution, thoug gh un- armed and in his shirt. At the period of this bloody tragedy, Nicholas was an infant. But his elder brother Alexander was young man, and was, it is generally believed, aware of what was about to occur. Remorse for the act is said to have embttered the closing days of AL cxander It asserted by some historians that It is certain that he died suddenly, when on a tour to the Crimea; and as he had become quite unpopular with large party in his domnions, it is not impossible that he was poisoned In all these cases of assassination, 1t was at first given out that the Czar died of appopleXy, nor did the truth appear until the lapse of years had rendered harmless the publication of the facts. In despotism like Russia when a Prince is to be deposed, there is generally no course left but to take his life. He cannot sate- ly be asked to abdicate, for he would be a bold man who could thus "bell the cat;" and while he lives. even after abdcation, there is always danger of revolution in his favor. Hence Tal- leyrand's remarks.