The Beaufort tribune and Port Royal commercial. [volume] (Beaufort, S.C.) 1877-1879, 1877-06-21
HISTORY OF RUSSIA.
Rulers for the Past One Thousand fears---
An Interesting Review.

An Interesting Review.
Frances A. Shaw has written brief
history of Russia, which has been pub
lished with two excellent maps by J. r.
Osaood & CO. The history gives sue
cinct account of the successive rulers
from the time when Rurik, the noted
Varangian chief, was called to Novgorod
to suppress internal dissension and pro-
tect the place from foreign invasion. He
acted his part well, and Novgorod found
that, like the horse in the fable, who
asked the help of man, it had taken
master upon it's back when it begged for
an ally. Rurik laid the foundation for
the empire. and after fifteen years of
fighting and ruling with strong hand,
left his infant son, Igor, to succeed him
in S79, with Oleg for regent, and the
regent seems to have been faithful to his
Young master. This Igor married n
beautiful peasant girl without disclosing
his rank, afterward made her his queen,
and at his death she became regent. She
renounced Paganism and was baptised at
Constantinople, the Greek emperor and
empress acting as her sponsors, and the
imposing solemnity was followed by a
grand entertainment, the table at which
Olga and her sponsors sat being solid
gold. But she made very little headway
in introducing Christianity into Russia.
Fourteen sovereigns followed, and at
varying intervals till the throne became
vacant in 1912, when Michael Romanoff,
a youth of sixteen, was chosen car. His
family had long been famous for its pub
lie services and patriotism, and he was
said to have been q descendant of Rurik
on the female side. He was the founder
of the present reigning family, and dur
ing his fortunate reign of thirty-two years
the country began to emerge into con-
dition of comparative order and civiliza-
tion. His son Alexis reigned thirty-one
years, and did more than any Of his
predecessors to make Russia European
instead of an Asiatic nation. His son
Feodore died after q brief reign Of SIX
years, and was succeeded by Peter, who
achieved the title of "the Great" And
in many respects he was one of the most
remarkable rulers of his age, and under
his energetic administration Russia made
q long stride toward internal unity and
civilization. His reign covered the
period between 1859 and 1725, and was
followed by his queen, Catharine, who
kept the throne two years, dying sud-
denly from the effects of dissipation in
her thirty.ninth year. Her career was
remarkable. In one of Peters campaigns
against Charles XII. Livonian peasant
girl, seventeen years old, came to one,of
! l.. 81 I, L,
loss of her husband in a melee, to whom
she was married only the day before.
She was graceful in person, pleasing in
manner, with remarkable sense and
sweetness Of temper, ard prisoner.
Peter made her his mistress and then
married her, and ever after acknowledged
heE as his wife. She joined the Greek
church and changed her name from
Marpha to Catharine. Her devotion to
him was boundless, and she alone could
soothe the mad frenzies of passion to
which he was subject. She went with
him everywhere, advised him, protected
him, encouraged him, and after the terri
BILE defeat in the battle of Pruth, when
he was in despair, she saved him and his
army and empire by her genius and
heroism. But after his death she was
treated with contempt by the nobility,
and deserted by friends. She lost the
virtues that had ennobled her, and sank
into dissipation. She was presently fol-
lowed by Peter H., with whom the male
line of the Romanoff family became eX-
tinct. Anna, daughter of half brother
of Peter the Great, reigned from l130 to
174O with conspicuous ability. She was
followed by Elizabeth, the daughter of
Peter the Great and Catharine, mar
row-minded, superstitious woman, who
ruled twenty years. She was followed
by Peter Ill, whose head was crammed
with German notions, and whose face
was pitted with smallpox. He got tired
of his queen after the manner of English
Henry the Eighth but in this case the
aversion was mutual, and she, being the
ADLER and more unscrupulous of the two,
anticipated his intended divorce by get
ting him deposed and finally taken off
by poison. Once fairly on the throne,
she filed it, and for thirty-two years
showed what coarse, strong-minded,
ambitious, unscrupulous woman could
do. She earned from Voltaire the title
of "the Semiramis of the North" and
others, with more justice perhaps, have
called her "the Louis XIV. of Russia. !"
She certainly raised the Russian court
to high degree of splendor, extended
the boundaries of the empire, increased
it's influence in Europe and marked her
career with a series of inexcusable crimes.
Catharine was followed by her son
Paul, whom she always hated, and whom
she did not intend should reign; but she
died too suddenly to designate another
successor. He was eccentric in mind,
ga madman in brain and Finn in fea-
ture," ignorant of the machinery of the
government and a stranger to the people
he was called to rule His reign was a
failure, and he was strangled by con-
spirators in its fifth year. In 1901 Alex
ander, his son, who inherited his moth
er's beauty and grace of person, and
who had been carefully educated in
Germany, ascended the throne. He was
then twenty -four, and Immediately dis
PLAYED the hand of reformer and the
mind of statesman. The circumstances
of his reign made it impossible for him
to carry out his plans for internal i'm
provements. With Europe in arms, he
was forced to fight, and was defeated in
the battle of Austerlitz. But the con-
quering genius of Napoleon dazzled
him, and, yielding to the infatuatlon, he