New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1877-07-19
THE CAR At THE Front.

THE CZ4R AT THE FRONT
The announcement that the Gar is to cross
the Danube, and that the Empress is to JOIN
him mt Tirnova, the ancient capital of Bulga-
ria. brings to mind one of the most romantic
incidents in the career of the Romanoifs.
During one of his campaigns against Charles
NIL the soldiers of Peter the Great captured
the town of Marienburg after short defense
by the garrison. Among the prisoners-of-war
WAS a Livonian peasant girl, II years OLD,
graceful rather than pretty She was weeping
bitterly. for the soldier whom she had married
only the day before, had persisted in the battle
This Young girl became the Empress OF Russia.
She could neither read nor write, but her tenn
per was so smooth that she could control the
| most ungOyernable of rulers, even III those
bursts of passion which made him almost a
mailman. She followed him to his camp, and
shared with him the dangers of war. When
his army was starving on the banks OF the Pruth
and disaster was staring him in the face, she
brought salvation to the camp by bribng the
Turkish commander with her jewels. Not long
alterward the Emperor went to Berlin accom-
| pauied by his peasant wife, and the ladies' OF
the Pr1lssian Court said that her clothes were
So bedecked with silver tinsel that she must
have bought them in a dOll-shop. She wore
few Jewels. but was decorated with portraits OF
saints and relics, which rade great clatter
| when she walked. a painted actress, plouS
but coarse" was the verdict of the Processes.
But the Car was not ashamed OF her. She
had saved his camp.
After Peter the Great, came those warrior
Queens, Anna and Catherine, who nearly drove
the Turks out of Europe They did not them
selves lead their armies, but their command
ers. Mnnch, Romanzof. Potemkin and SUI
NARROW felt the pressure of an iron-handed
mistress at st. Petersburg. The discipline
which Munnich enforced in the army was as
unreasonable and hard-hearted rs the caprice
of the Empress. When the hospitals were
full, he issued an order fOrbidding any SOL
dicr to be sick under penalty of being
buried alive; and when bis troops were
unwilling to storm town, he turned
his own batteries upon them and forced
them to advance. "You will take Ismail, cost
"wbat it may" were the orders which SUI
warrow received, and 10000 Turks persisted in
the siege and massacre before the dispatch
was sent to Cathlrine "MOther, lsmail Is at
"your feet" The determination Of the Semlr-
amis of the North was as lnyincible as the
courage of Suwarrow. The wives of Alex
ander and Nicholas were gentler souls.
Alexander barganed at 1llsit for the con-
quest of Constantinople, saying to Napoleon,
Il must have the key that unlockS the door of
"my house, Nicholas made two tremendous
efforts to wrest the key from Turkish hands.
When his armies invaded Bulgaria in 1928,
IL. L..
enthusiasm of his soldiers. Two fortresses
were captured during the first year of
the campaign, but the siege of Shumla
was disastrous failure and the troops with
drew to Winter quarters greatly disheartened.
Although the Emperor had purchased the sur
render of Varna, his presence hampered his
generals and did more harm than good. Set
ting sail for Odessa, he narrowly escaped ship
wreck on the Turkish coast, and during the
second year of the campaign he remained at
ST. Petersburg. IL was well for the Russian
arms that he stayed away for Debtsch never
would have reached AdrianOplo if he had
had an Emperor in his camp. Fooled by the
plague IN 1929, Nicholas was defeated by the
Allies in 1919, and died of broken heart
The CIimean War was forced upon the ma
ton by the unyieldng will of Nicholas. The
people had no heart in it it was their masters
business but the disgrace of defeat sank deep
into their souls. They began to question the
utility OF the Imperial system. After all their
sacrifices corner of their territory had been
loppcd off and their fleet had been driven from
the Black sea- Russian rOubles and Russian lives
had gone for nothing. The policy of repres-
sion had failed, and men asked one another in
muliied wiisprrs, " is there nothing better ~
At that fevcrish time when discomfort was
fostering in the mass of the population,
and army officers were prOcaming them
selves Liberals, Alexander had the courage and
wisdom to emancpate thirty million seris.
lie placed himself ut the head of n national
movement, and introduced popular reforms,
which ovcrshadow the glaring injustice of his
Polish policy. Political freedom and religious
tolerance are sIil unknown but the New Rus
sin of Alexander Is not the Old Russia OF
Nicholas and Catherine and Peter the Great.
IN crossing the Danube, and fastening To the
front at the critical moment OF the war, the
Car will go to his own place ut the head OF a
new rational movement.
When Alexander was heir to the throne, he
went from court TO court in quest of a wife.
| The Grand Duke Louis of Hesse Darmstadt