Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1878-03-20
The Two GOrtsehakOE.

Ol the TWO famous men who
hive immnrtaliZed the title of Gortschakof is
lrtually the history of Russia for the las
seventy wears for 1t would be hard to name
any Promlnf MT eV1nt during that period with
when the one In his mill airy, or the other in
his civil, capacity, has not been in some way
connected. The elder of the two Peter Dimi-
trivitch, born in l7S9, entered the army as a
mere boy, just in time to receive his baptism
OF hre ''at the terrible battle of Eylau. VIII N
.5UOO Russians and 10000 French Law Strewn
over the great waste of snow between Preuis-
SiSch-Eylau and SerpalIen. A few months
later, he was present at the SaUguinary re-
pulse of NapOleOn'S attack on the intrenchei
emp OF HellSberg, where his uncle and name
sake, commanding the Russian right. bore tie
front OF the battle. After the peace of Tilsi
III lSUi, he was transferred to the army of the
north, and took part in the last battles of FIN
nlSh independence. Still unwearied of active
service, he exchanged into the army of the
Danube, and served on kutuZOff s staff during
me memorable siege of RuStchuk in 1911, when
$1,000 Turks, left unSheltered on a swampy
island, almost without food, and cannonaded
necessarily from both banks of the river, held
out suddenly till more than half their num-
The great crisis of 1872 recalled the Danube
army to nobler work. and Prince G ortSchakOff
reached the Beresina just in time to witness
all the horrors of that memorable passage
which compressed whole years of human
agony into one fatal night. At the close of the
war he obtained a high appointment in the
Caucasus, where his services in the suppress
sion of the AbhaSlan revolt of 1920 were re-
Warded by diamOnd-hilted sword from the
Car himself The Turkish war of ls2i-'2a
displayed on a wider field his administrative
faculty. which, few years LATER earned
MN the governor generalship of Western Sibe-
ria.
doubleday the nobleSt if not the most brilliant
of his life. The reform of the oppressive re-
crulting system, the facilities afforded to trade
and communication, the announcement of
colonization, the judiciouS transfer of the seat
OF government from remote ToboIsk to the
more central point OF OmSk, are all due to
him: and he was meditating further improve
mentS when the giving way of his health sent
him back to Moscow, to enjoy, as he hoped, a
peaceful old age among his friends. But there
was no peace for him. The outbreak of the
Crlmean war brought the gray haired veteran
OF % into the field again: and his services i'm
turkey and the Crimea are too We'll known
to need repetition. In 1855 he was made
member of the Imperial Council. and spent
the last years of his long and eventful life at
MOSCOW, where he died on the 4th of April,
The younger Prince alexander Mikbailo-
witch GOrtSchakOff), born ten years later than
his famous klnsman. devoted himself as zeal
0usy to the profession of diplomacy as the
latter to that of arms; but, unlike his prede-
ceSSOr, he rose by slow degrees to the com
handing position which his talents merited.
Inc earlier events of his career-his education
at the Academy OF TSarkOe- SelO. near St Pc
terSburg, his entrance into the diplomatic ser
vice at the age of three -and-twenty his first
mission TO England in 1924 as secretary to the
Russian embassy in London-are familiar TO
all. AT this time he acquired a knowledge of
English life and habits which was destined to
serve him well in after years; but his subse-
quent transfer to such second rate political
centers as Florence and Stuttgart shows how
inadequately his talents were then appreciated
oy ms superlors 1t was not till thirty years
after ms hrst entrance into public life that the
CI1mean war, which was the closing scene of
his great namesake's triumphS became the
foundation of his own. Count Nesselrode
whose keen eye had long since discerned the
talents of the future Chancellor, sent him TO
Vienna in 1854 with orders to Keep Austria
neutral at whatever cost" The difficult com
mission was admirably discharged. Again
and again did the pressure of Western Europe
from without, and excited Hungary from with
in, almost force the vacillating cabinet into
war; but Gortschakoffs skill triumphed over
all obstacles, and Russia was saved from her
greatest peril.
From that time forth the great statesman's
career was one continued triumph. In 1856 he
succeeded Count NesSelrOde as Minister of
Foreign Affairs; in 1862 he became Chancellor
OF the Empire; in the following year his firm
attitude toward the western powers on the
thanks of the Car himself In 1870 he sue
ceeded by happy mixture of audacity and
hnesSe, In regaining all that had been lost by
the Climean war; and he is still, at the age of
IS, the master+sprit of Russian diplomacy. In
person the Prince is of middle size and well
proportloned figure, with quiet, courteous
manner Iaads E. and remarkably smooth, well pre-
served face, whose only sign Of age lies in tbe
spectacles that hide bis large, expressive ewes.
Old as he is his industry is unflagging as ever
and, notwithstanding the periodical rumors OF
his retirement from public life: he bids fair to
outlast many of his younger colleagues.
A CURIOUS FEATURE OF ToUGHRNED
GLAss.-ln the Bohemia, Professor Ricard, of
Trchewan, tells the following tale: "A child's
drinking glass was bought one day at SaaZ. for
about seventy kreuZer, and for six months IT
sustained its character of unbreaka able glass
But about nine O'Clock one evening, in the
sixth month. it was used in drinking eau Sucre
and was then placed, with silver spoon i'm it,
upon large Oaken table. Suddenly | heard