Morning journal and courier., 1881-03-15
THE UNFORTUNATE CHAR.

The REPRESENTATION or the CZar ended, 1n @ peculiarly melancholy manner. 8 career which has been one of the saddest in the history of
 the worlds rulers. Alexander II. began his reign at 8 critical moment for Russia. Mich olas had left the country engaged in war against England, France, Turkey and sar- Alexander ended the war as soon as he could, and then commenced the great reforms which show his disposition to do his best for his people. He began with emancipating the nation from the military routine which per- meated every branch of the administration
 He reorganized the army, dissolved the greater part of the military colonies, freed public instruction from military discipline, and, instead of placing discharged officers as tutors and professors at the head of educa- tional establishments, appointed men fitted
 by special studies for these positions. The censorship of the press was considerably re- faxed and limited, and for the first time gen. eral publicity was introduced into Russia
 He prohibited espionage, and instituted measures against official corruption, allowing it to be ferreted out and exposed He ad-
 y of the public service, superseding those whose only merit was long routine. He gave a new impulse to industry and trade, at the same time that he sought to develop the na- tional commercial marine and to induce native merchants to extend their relations with foreign countries. He annulled the i'm. pedlments which prevented Russians from visiting foreign lands granted general amnesty for political offenders, Poles and Russians, recalling the exiles from Siberia, and allowing fugitives to return, and inaug- urated that vast system of internal communi- cation which is to cover his entire empire with nets of railroads. His greatest meas ure of reform, however, was the emancipa- tion of the serfs. He silenced the opposition of the serf-owners by intimating to them that if there was to be revolution it had bet of society. Their emancipation was decreed March 3, 1861, and carried out within the following two years.
 But a reaction came. The emancipation of the serfs pleased nobody. The nobles complained that the question had been taken out of their hands, and that after being trap ped into making voluntary sacrifice of their rights they had been pushed aside. The peasantry were disappointed. Sentimental considerations had no weight with them they could not understand why they were still to pay dues for the communal land they had always regarded their own. In 1866 the Poles rebelled. In the same year a stu dent fired on the Czar, which was the first murderous attempt on Czar known in Rus sian history. The Nihilists were active. In August, 1867, another attempt was made on the life of the Czar. A third and even more dangerous attempt was made in his own pal ace, by half lf-severing the chain of the ele- vator in which he was wont to ascend. Even the pardon and subsequent death of Herzen Gs69-7O) availed nothing to quench the flame that he had kindled. In 1871, Sergi Net chaief, an ex-professor of Moscow, headed an extensive though unsuccessful conspiracy; and in the ensuing year five great universi- ties, of St. Petersburg, Moscow. Kieff, Dorpat, and Kazan, planned 8 simultaneous outbreak, which failed only through lack of concerted action. All these and other troubles preyed on the health of the Czar, and had their effect on his naturally mild and placable tenn per. His empire was almost bankrupt, and he found himself, after all his efforts in the interest of his people, hated aud plotted against by large section of them. We do not need to recapitulate the various attacks on his life and peace during the last few years. They have been numerous and terri fying and it is not to be wondered at that he has been subject to profound melancholy and has been haunted by fears of sudden death and by the dread of assassination.
 The Nihilists have killed the man who has done more for the people for whom they profess to work than any other Russian ruler It is not improbable, and is earnestly to be hoped, that they have also killed Nihil-