The daily gazette., 1877-07-20
The Czar at the Front.


press js to join him at Tirnova, the
ancient capital OF Bulgaria, brings to
mind one Of the most romantic Incl
dents in the career Of the Romanoffs.
During one of bis campaigns against
Charles XII. the soldiers of Peter the
Great captured the own of Marienburg
after short defense by the garrison.
Among the prisonP s-of-war was a
Livonian peasant girl, II years old,
graceful rather tbaH pretty. She was
weeping bitterly. for the soldier, whom
she had married only the day before
had perished in the battle. This Young
girl became the Empress of Russia.
She could neither read Dor write, but
her temper was 80 smooth that she
could control the most uDgovernsble
OF rulers, even in those burst o. pas
sion which made him almost a mad
man. She followed him TO bis camp,
and shared with him the danger of war.
When his army Yves starving on the
banks of The Pruth and disaster was
staring him in the face, she brought
salvation to the camp by bribing The
Turkish commander with her Jewels.
Not long afterward the Emperor went
to Berlin accompanied by his peasant
wife, and the ladies of the Prussian
Court said that her clothes were so
bedecked with silver tensel that she
must have bought them in doll-shop.
She wore few jewels, but was decora
ted with portraits of saints and relics,
which made great clatter when she
walked. "a painted actress, pious
but coarse" was the verdict of the
princesses. But the Gear was not asham
ed of her. She had saved his camp.
After Peter the Great, came those
warrior Queens, Anna and Catherine,
who nearly drove the Turks 3Out of
Europe. They did not themselves lead
their armies, but their commanders.
Munich, Romanzoff, Potemkin and
Suwarrow, felt the pressure of an
liron-handed mistress at st. Petersburg
The discipline which Munich enforced
in the army was as unreasonable and
hard-hearted as the capiice OF the
Empress. When the hospitals were
full, he issued on order forbidding any
soldier to be sick under penalty of
being buried alive ;and when his troops
were unwilling to storm town, he
turned to his own batteries upon them
and forced Them to advance. "You
will take Isma,, coast what it may"
were the ordeis which Suwarrow re-
ceived, and 10000 Turks perished in
the siege and massacre before the dis
patch was sent To Catharine, "Mother
Is1nall is at 'your feet" The determi-
nation of the Semiramis of the North
was as invincible as the courage of Su-
warrow. The wives of Alexander and
Nicholas were gentler souls.
Alexander bsrsAined at TiIsit for the con-
quest OF ConstanLnople, saying 20 Napoleon
IL must have the key that uplocks the door
OF "my house." Nicholas made two ire
mendous efforts to wrest he key from Turk
ish hands. When his armies invaded Bull
Garia in 1928, he went TO the front and
strove to arouse the enthusiasm OF his sol
diers. Two fortresses were captured during
the first year OF the campaign, but the siege
of Snumla was a disastrous failure, and the
troops withdrew to Winter quarters greatly
disheartened. Although the Emperor had
purchased the surrender of Varna, his pres
ence hampered his generals and did more
harm than good. Setting sail for Odessa,
he narrowly escaped shipwreck on the
Turkish coast, ard during the second year
OF the campaign he renamed at st. Peters,
burg. 1t was well tor the Russian arms
that he stayed away, for Diebitsch never
would have reached Adrianople ii he had
had an emperor In his camp. Foiled by
the plague in 1929, Nicholas was defeated
by lhe Allies IN 100, and died OF broken
heart.
The Crimean War was forced upon the
nation by the uuyielding will OF Nicholas.
The people had no heart in 1t it was their
masters business but the disgrace of de-
feat sank deep into their souls. They began
| to question the utility OF the Imperial sys-
tem Alter all their sacrifices a corner OF
ther territory had been Topped off and their
fleet had been driven from the Black Sea.
Russian roubles and Russian lives had gone
ior nothing. The policy of repression had
failed, and men asked one another in mnf-
fed whispers, sis their nothing better ?"
At that ieverish time, when dlscontsnt was
| fostering in the mass OF the population, and
army officers were proclaiming themselves
| Liberals, Alexander had the courage and
wisdom 20 emancpate thirty Inlllions serts.
He placed himself at the head of a national
movement, and introduced popular reforms,
| which overshadow the glaring Injustice OF
his Polish policy. Political freedom aud
religious tolerance are still unknown, but
the New Russia OF Alexander Is not the Old
Russia CT Nicholas and Catherine and Peter
the Great. In crossing the Danube, and
also Fastening to the front at The
critical moment OF the war, the Czr will