Frostburg mining journal. [volume] (Frostburg, Md.) 1871-1913, 1871-12-09
.srosiburg atlinins Wonrnal.
rRosTRuRG, DECEMBER 8, 1871.
The Grand Duke, Alexis.


public caprice, strangely enough run
apparently wild over the occasional
visits and temporary sojourns OF rep
resentative royalty on our shores
Unfortunately. royalty, Pc Sc, some
how never deigns to let its autocratlc
football be heard upon republican soil,
else our otherwise fcrcely indepent-
cat people aight exhaust their toady
is,i3 pNrciis,i';cs.
1t we're, however, a happy issue
Of a tendency at once amusing and
p.radoxical, and fclicitous ccssa-
ton of a conspicuous ahsurdity.-
4 people who, taking the text of she
great epitome Of the gospel of l'ber
ty, that "all men are free and equal,
emancipated four millions Of slaves,
and this amid the clangor of trnm,
pets, the rattle of musketry AMI tn"
thunder of artillery. should be the
Fast to indulge in this superl'nons'y
attentive mode of entertaining dis
tinguished foreigners, even though
the warm blood Of thu royal British
lion, or the colder, mayhap, pronder
ijfe.currents ofthe sutocr*tic Russian
hear, flow through their veins. &c
cident of birth takes precedent over
worth, and indiscriminate laudation
,ensues without reference to personal
merit. The same spirits who 50 rev.
crcntly uncover their heads. SO voclf-
trously hurrah in his presence. and
so graciously "dea1-hca!' this thor
uuyhly exotic cub over the railroads
of the country, would kick from the
platforms of the same train the ulr-
luckily free, home-born sovereign.
who dared intrude his presumptious
physiognomy in royal presence, in
spite of the homely axiom, known
from his youth up, that even "a cat
may look at king" They pay
tribute to a Caesar (thc word Gar is
the lineal descendant of the term
Cgsar) who cxacts it from people,
foolish enough to render it with such
unbounded ostentation. They take
care to show him altogether the most
favorable aspects and commanding
sheets of the country; he is dazzlcd
and bewi.dered by the blaze and
glitter of democratic magnificence
and republican heraldry he is
charmed with the Establishments, the
style, and the music of bathrooms,
ttickcts only fifty dollars where
youth and beauty exert their una
vailing charms to captivate the heart
of prospective king. Altogether.
there is quite enough to turn his
youthful head, and if, when he gets
home, he can tell "pa' connected
story of his pcrils, views and tri-
nmphs, he is better proof against
temptation and funkcyis.n than most
of his kind.
We have good and great country
lone we'll worth exhibiting 1t is
not, however, without some ugly
features. Fraud. corruption, and a
host of other vices, lurk and nestle
i'll the metropolis and capital of the
country F.; yet these are not shown
Tie Grand Duke. He is not intro
duced to TWEED. who, like the ugly,
mncouth clown in the play-"RoB:Rr
LANDRY"-when accused of belong.
ing to the royal party, during its al.
tclnating fortunes in the French Rev.
olution, piteously replied, "WeIl,
can't help it if I am an ali;stoc:2t ~
nor will it be explained to him how
ON the threshold Of conviction of in.
famous fraud, he is chosen to repre-
sent the people in an important lcgis
lative office. Many other dark linn
nings of the otherwise gorgeous pic.
turc will he yelled from his view
his travels be but one splendid pano
rama, unbroken by the dismal sub
limlties of invisible vice. Like the
flight of the fairy through the hazy
realms of shadow-land, his young
mind, if susceptible to soft influences
and charitable impulses, will not sec
through the marble, the brick and
mortar, of American palaces, to the
real sorrows, woes, evils and vices
which there abide, probably in great.
er measure, than in the rude dwell.
ings Of the Cossacks.
The result is, overwhelmed with
nhsequious attention, with the met,
faceablc tingcs of the beautcous pic.
tire still lingering in his memory, the
future Gar of all the Russias returns
to his home with an impression at
once one-sided and superficial. II
he is sensible, we may not expect to
learn even this much from the report
Of his observations.
We do not. by auv ma,na f,,}