St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1891-03-23
SERGIUS A SERPENT.
At Least That Is the Claim
Made by All Glasses OF
Englishmen.
He Is Alleged to Have CO.
creed His Wife to Change
Her Religion.
The Grand Duke Louis, Her
Father, Working Himself
Into a Frenzy.
Red Hot Times at Sligo--EIp.
Parnell May Yet Re-
sign.

LONDON, March 22.-Deep indigna-
tion is expressed among all classes of
Englishmen in regard to the reports
current as to the treatment of tue Grand
Duchess Elizabeth, granddaughter of
Queen Victoria, by her husband, the
Grand Duke Sergius, of Russia, brother
of the czar 1t is now we'll understood
that the cZar'S motive for appointing
his brother to be governor of Moscow
was not, as officially stated, to give him
mark of esteem, but to remove the
grand duchess from the foreign society
OF st. Petersburg, where her maltreat-
ment by her imperial family has already
caused an international scandal. The
has been subjected are not
mere gossip, but come from
high and trustworthy sources. and
nobody in England has any doubt of
their truth. The grand duke is said to
be really attached to his wife. but he
treats her on the same principle that
Russia treats conquered province or
state. Having annexed her by mar
riage, he has claimed that she must be-
abandonment Of the religion in which
she was born and educated. With
this end in view, coercion charac-
terized as brutal has been tried
upon her. When she desired
to attend English services she found no
carriage to take her. and the grand
duke on such occasions has shown
displeasure in ways that Russian or
Tartar, whether high or low, very well
understands. There is no allegation
openly made of
>~lz-sc Physical Violence,
bnt rumors even to that effect are cur
rent. The young princess, now but
twenty-seven years old, and only twenty
when she was married, appealed for a
divorce to her father, the Grand Duke
Louis of Hess, and, to her grandmother,
Queen Victoria. The queen, dreading
scandal, appears to have advised her to
comply with her husbands wishes as to
religion. Officially the queen was
simply stated to have sent her blessing
to her granddaughter, about to be con-
verted to the Russian church. The
Grand Duke Louis, however, took diff
ferent view of matters. He was indig-
nant and openly protested against his
daughter being coerced as to her relig
ious profession, and wanted to bring
her home. Then ensued correspond
ence between the father and the grand
mother, the former urging, the lat
ter deprecating interference; but before
anything could be done. the Russian
imperial family, apprehensive of the
disgrace that would attach to them
should the grand duchess leave her hus-
band, made the official announcement of
her conversion. and then speedily fol-
lowed the decree appointing Sergius
governor of Moscow and removing him
and hiswife to that interior Russian city,
from the glimpses of England and Ger
many that may occasionally be caught
at st. Petersburg. 1t is not at all GER
tain that the end is yet. The Grand
Duke Louis is thoroughly aroused. Il
is he who has through the Times and
other newspapers appealed from Queen
Victoria to the English people in behalf
of his daughter, and whatever the re-
suit may be, he has certainly succeeded
in exciting strong public sentiment.