The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1881-03-19
ASSASSINATION OF ALEXANDER III.

| That divinity which Is sald to hedge hb0u
a king was not adequate To save the emperor
OF Russia. After the failure of Six attempts
to compass his death by assassination, the sew
enth was crowned with terrible success on Sun
day last. N,tr0-glycerIne and giant powder
though energetic enough to blow up railroads
and palaces failed to harm the emperor; pis
coils aud carblnes had been discharged a: him
| in vain. It WAS lett for the terrible bomt
which Orslnl had invented for the destruction
of Louis Napoleon and which thenccforth oh
tanned sort of recognition AS the peculiar
weapon for the destruction of kIngcraft, tc
prove the successful implement for the emper
or's final taking off.
The assassins Of course were Nihl,sts, Sc
cIet association rainfying all parts OF Russia
an ofF.shot of French communism, but # any.
thing more constituencies, inscriptions and
bloodthrsty than its rcd-mouthed congener in
more civilized Europe
From an ordinary standpoint il is bard t.
understand why the car Alexander should
have been so perss,en,y and rclcutessly pur.
sued by the hand of the assassin. He was not
bad man AS kings go he was even better
than the average, and as the Car OF Russia
and a RomanoH he was probably the best OF
his line He assembled his throne IN the u idsl
of the Crimean war AZ the successor OF the
stern and relentless Nicholas. After the peace
which followed the fall of Sebastapol, the new
car busted himself IN relaxing the military
despotism of his father. He reduced the army,
placed the finances on sound basis and eman.
cipated the nation from the hard military ROD
inc which under his predecessor had permeat.
ed every department of administration. he
relaxed the censorship OF the press, abolished
espionage, encouraged industry, promoted
commercial enterprise, and granted general
amnesty to political offenders, But what,
more than all these, should have forever en-.
deared his name to the common people of Rus.
STA was the great event III his reign, the cman.
cipallon Of 90 100000 Of serfs. For ages these
serfs, of the same flesh and blood with the rul-
ing classes, had been the slaves Of the nobility
as completely as the negroes before the civil
war were the slaves of the southern planters.
and when we remember in what deep revcr.
encc the name of Lincoln Is held by the freed
men of this country 1t Is hard TO understand
why the liberated race of Russia, or those at
least who professed to be their peculiar friends
and champions, should hold their benefactor
IN such deadly hate. 1t is true, however that
that the Liberation of the Russian serfs under
the Alexadrean decr e was far from complete
1t only went far enough to give them "A taste
of liberty and to whet the appetite for its more
complete enjoyment
But the hatred of the Nihllist was not d-
rected against Alexander as Alexander his en-.
mity was not towards the individuals but TO-
wards kings He il at war with the divine
right" Of royaly and the system Of which II is
the parent. At the bottom T. thorough demo
crat, maintaining the inhereBcy of all power
IN the people and all the pretensions of royalty
and nobility 10 be usurpation, the better
the king the more dangerous and often.
sivc be is, because tending to give respectable
ity and strength to the system with which the
Nihilist is at war. 1t was not because he was
a bad ruler, but rather because he was q more
than an average good ruler, that Alexander
fell by the assassin's hand.