Union County courier. [volume] (Elk Point, Union County, D.T. [S.D.]) 187?-1913, 1884-11-12
IMPERIAL MONSTER.

k@&s~s& IN AAG - y &8tSt
Facts Aboat : 0rest Rslsr Who Was HALF
Hog and Hall Tiger.
MI. Eugone Schuyler. equally we'll
known q diplomatist and scholar, has
recently added to his literary record
by the publication Of about . thousand
pages devoted to Peter the Great. Il
II TO be presumed there VA large
and loud demand TO provoke such :
liberal supply; though when. twelve
years since. the 2O0th anniversary Of
the famous Gear VA celebrated in
Russia, the government ascertained. by
special inquiry. that since his death
more than . thousand distinct works
some Of them in several volumes-had
been written concerning him aud his
deeds In other languages than the Rus
sian. II these are re-enforced by
similar works in his own language, it
would seem that Peter had been sufi-
GENTLY biographical without the gen.
erous contribut' on Of Mr.. Schuyler.
But this feature Of the case il foreign
to our purpose; nor have we any inten-
ton of discussing the political achieve
ments which are supposed to authorize
the much-abused title Of "Great."
Giving Peter full credit for all that has
been claimed in his behalf a. an organ
izer and ruler, though much might be
subtracted without serious detriment to
historical truth, let us see, il We can.
what manner OF man was he whose
name and fame have gone trumpet
tongued tho wide world over. Let us
look at him, 30 to speak, in his undress
uniform; ~ he appeared to those who
saw most Of him and knew him best in
all his various moods-in Ill the phases
OF q character that has never been
duplicated, and, we may hope, never
will be. II, after thus looking, the
reader il not more than ever convinced
that sfact ii stranger than Action,S
then he il proof against the strongest
evidence on this point to be found In
ancient or modern annals.
voltaire, in his philosophical Die
tionary," says that Peter was shalt
hero and half tiger" Half hog and
half tiger would be nearer the truth.
Macauley declares that ito the end
Of his life he lived in his palace
like . hog in q sty, and. when he was
entertained by other s~overeigns,
failed to leave on their tapestried walls
and velvet state beds. unequivocal proof
that q savage had been there" He
was naturally swinish in his tastes and
habits, and displayed his swinishness
regardless of circumstances or conse-
quences. When William III. visited
him in London, tho air of the room
was SO foul that q window had to be
opened before the English King could
enter. The nastiness OF himself and
suite almost ruined Eyelyn's villa at
Deptford, where the imperial party
we're lodged, and the owner applied for
and received compensation from Parlia-
ment. Twenty years later the pretty
little "Monbijou" palace in Berlin suf-
fered in the same way from the same
party. The sprightly Margarine of
Baireuth says that "the dissolution of
Jerusalem was everywhere in it, and it
was SO ruined as almost to need rebuild
ing" Every one has heard Of the inn
portant part played by the zane in the
domestic economy of Frederic Willism
I, OF Prussia, but the eccentric mon
arch was nothing in comparison to his
Russian brother in the Gaming line.
Peter, when the fit was on him, liter
ally caned everybody-from his cook to
his counselor, from the meanest peasant
to the highest noble-sparing neither
9 nor sex. He would get up from
the table and fog the host who wal
unlucky enough to entertain him. He
wouldsstand at the door of the Senate
house and fog each Senator that
went in. Lefort was an intimate and
trusted friend, yet OF slight provoca'
49, H. r~o~ L-nnIr~l I~u-r orI 1prSkol1v
kicked by Lis imperial guest. But oil
this fogging was in the way Of recrea-
ton. When Peter meant business,
it was q more serious matter. lncredi
BILE as it may SEEM, it is nevertheless
we'll authenticated, that one of his owl
sisters-.it is said more than one-re
ceived q hundred strokes of the whiI
on her bare back in the presence of thu
whole court. In Ills, Alexis, his only
son who outlived infancy, was, for som
offense OF no great seriousness, severa
times tortured in the presence of thu
diabolical father, and q few hours late
died-either from the effects Of tn
torture OF by assassination. For sym
pathizing with Alexis, the Princes
Golitsyn, was publicly whipped b.
soldiers. For the same season. tn
| brother of his first wife, Eudoxia-
whom he had thrown into prison-wa
tortured, and then broken alive OF tn
wheel. An alleged lover of Eudoxi
: was tortured in Peters presence almos
daily for six weeks-by the knout, b
. burning Goals and by red hot irons, b
being tied down to . plank full Of shar]
. spikes, and finally impaled. NothinI
: ever told of Nero is more horribly gre
|. tesque than this:
. "Miss Hamilton wa q fair but frai
maid Of honor to Catherine. After
!. casual intimacy with Peter, she bt
: slowed her tenderness elsewhere with
9 out interference on his part; but wheI
TO extricate herself from resulting en-
: barrassments, she took to ~infanticid,
= he brought her to trial. Condemned I
decapitation, she mounted the scaffol
in o dress OF white satin, trimmed wit
! bows of black ribbon, looking NOR
lovely than ever. But not alone. Pete
. appeared at her side, and strsining he
. to his breast. lamented that the divin
law forbade him to spare her. A mi
= .ment after the beautiful head role
from the block ct his feet, and, liftin
il by the ear, he imprinted q last XII
q upon the quivering lips"
The Prussian ambassador. Prin'
asserts in his official dispatches thi
during the memorable suppression
the Streltsi revolt Peter gavea banque
sent for . score of rebels, and evel
time he drained . glass struck of