Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1883-07-28
Stories About the Car Nicholas.

" LII LOTTO WAOu 1uSul1CCUlOuS WCL0
raging all over Europe, q riot broke out
in St. Petersburg, owing to the unpop,t
larity Of a police officer. Nicholas
jumped into q one-horse sleigh, wa
driven to the scene of the disturbance
and, marching alone into the mob, or
dered that three ringleaders should sur.
render. His terrible presence at ono.
cowed the rioters. Three men stepper
out, went by his orders to the polio
office and were there logged. The GA
never showed mercy to mutineers, anr
no doubt the men knew quite well wha
punishment awaited them when the
gave themselves up. A few years be
fore this, in 1874, when Nicholas paid
visit to England, his grim looks mad
our Court uncomfortable. Lady Lyttle
ton, after saying in one Of her letter
how grand and handsome he was, adds
"The only fault in his face is that ht
has pale eyelashes, so that his enormous.
and very brilliant eyes have no shade
besides which they have that awfu
look impaired by occasional glimpse
of white above the eyebalI which
gives him an expression of savage
wildness. His face has an awkward
character of deep gravity, almost sad
ness, and a strange want of smiles" The
Cars military habits also caused aston.
lshment at Windsor. After wearing
civilian clothes for a couple of days he
begged the Queen to permit that he
should resume his uniform, for he found
the other clothes uncomfortable. He slept
on a feather sack stuffed with straw.
The first thing his Wallets did on being
shown his bedroom at Windsor Castle
was to 90 to the stables for clean truss
es, a proceeding which, as Baron Stock
mar remarked, 'was pronounced by our
Englishmen to be 'af~fectation; but af-
fectation or not, the Emperor adhered
to the practice through life" The
Cars soldierly tastes explain the quail
ity of his rule. As obedience is reck-
oned a virtue in a soldier, Nicholas was
resolved that it should be regarded as
such by his subjects; and he also had
in him a strong notion of the pdtria
potestas, calling himself father of his
people, and maintaining that his 'Ihil-
dren'' ought not to feel degraded by
any order he gave or any punishment
which he inflicted.
One night at a court ball q young
Prince Kortasow made a foolish remark
which the Gar overheard. "You'll
walk up and down the ballroom all
night when the guests have gone, and
cry out in a loud voice, 4 am a pup
py,'" said his Majesty, and the fright
ened young gentleman did as he was
hidden. Horace Vernet, the French
painter, who was at St. Petersburg
when this happened, saidthat the affair
'.sickened him. so that he declined an
invitation which had been given him to
live in one of the imperial palaces for
u year while he did some work for the
Emperor. The Frenchman and the
Russian ~autocrat were not likely to
agree upon human dignity sentiment
which the Gar never took into his cal
culations.
Nicholas disliked books and hated to
hear arguments in favor Of his system.
He said it was a natural system that
needed no argument in its favor. When
told of Guizot's maxim: s'The best gov
eminent is an intelligent despotism,'
he remarked shrewdly enough that
there was no real despotism, that is
mastery, without intelligence.-Lomdon
Times.