The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1875-04-25

and to teach them better, he put a
good many of them to death by
torture, and deprived many others
of their estates. His alarm was
very real, however, for he was q
phenomenon of abject cowardice.
Lie therefore fled to fortified place
in the midst of q dense forest,
where he remained month, writ
ing letters to tho people, telling
them that he had abdicated and
left them to thoir fate, rs u punish
ment for their disloyalty and their
crimes. Singularly enough, his
flight terrified the people. He had
taught them that he was their god
as God was his, and his flight to
AleXandrovsky seemed to them
q Withdrawal of the protection of
Providence itself. Business was
suspended. The courts ceased to
sit. The people were in an agony
of terror. A large deputation Of
boyards and priests journeyed to
Alcxandrovsky, and besoug ght the
sovereign to return and resume his
holy functions as the head of the
church, that the souls of 80 many
millions might not perish. Exact
ing OF clergy and mobiles, al almis-
sion of his absolute right to do as
he pleased, and promis that they
would i'll no way Interfere with or
resist authority, he returned to
Moscow. Here lie surrounded
himself with body-guard of des-
perldoes 1000 strong ut first, and
afterwards increased to G,OOO.
whose duty it was to discover the
Cars enemies and sweep them
from the face OF tho earth. AS
emblems of these their functions,
each member of the guard carried
at his saddle-5ow u dogs head and
n broom. AS the punishment of
the Cars enemies included the
confiscation of their property, q
large part Of which was given to
the guards themselves, these were
always singularly successful in
discovering the disaffection of
wealthy mobiles, discovering it
oftcntimes before the mobiles them
selves were aware Of their own
treasonable sentiments.
Feeling unsafe still, Ivan built
for himself new palace outside
the walls of the Krcmlin, making
it nm impregnable castle. Then
finding That even this did not lull
his shaken nerves to rest, he pro-
ceeded to put danger afar of. by
dispossessing the $4,000 rich no.
bles whose estates lay nearest the
palace, and giving their property
to his personal followers, so that
the head which wore the crown
might lie easy in the conviction
that there were no possible enemies
near on the other side of the i'm
pregnable walls which shut him III.
But even then lie could not sleep
easily. and SO he repaired again to
his forest stronghold Mt Alcxan-
drovsky, where he surrounded HIM
sell with guards and ramparts.
Here he converted the palace into
a monastery, made himself abbot
and his rascally followers monks.
He vigorously enforced monastic
observances, of the sevcrest sort,
and no doubt became a saint. in
his own estimation. He spent
most of his time at prayers, allow
ing himself no recreation except IL
daily sight Of the torture OF the
prisoners who were confined in the
dungeons of the fortress. His
guards were allowed n rather larger
share OF amuscmcnts, and they
wandered from street to street
during the day, furnishing with
their hotchets such disloyal people
rs they encountered. They were
moderate in their indulgences,
however, in imitation of their sove-
reign, doubtless, and it is recorded
to their credit that, at this time,
they rarely ever killed more than
twenty people in one day, while
sometimes the number was as low
rs FIVE.
But O quiet life Of this kind
could not always content the Gear.
Naturally, he grew tired of indi-
vidual killings, and begun to long
| for some more exoifino snorf