The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1894-11-07

accomplished it's bloc ly purpose at the
very moment when relief for the peo-
pie had been devised and had received
the imperial sanction. The minister,
who had remained in the council room
whence the emp sror had departed on
his fatal errand, fell 10 the door when
the news of his chiefs assassination was
told him. Recovering hinself, he
gathered up The papers which recorded
the plans for a better era for Russia
and departed. HIS hopes for new and
happier life for II lssi .ns we're gone.
Tue dead EN- ,eror's first son, NIcho-
las, died in 1865. The emperor who
has just died became crown prince
upon the death of hi, brother. He had
not been educated to rule, but when he
became heir to the imperial power he
devoted himself to the matters aud
studies that pertain to Craftsmanship.
He is described at this time as a great
hulk of fellow, who could bend iron
bars over his kue -, force an oak door
with his m ,ssive shoulders and subdue
the widest horse under his ponderous
igure. He had the careful military
training given to all princes of the
royal family, but, outside of gy IN lstics
and military tactics, knew less than
most university students. These de-
fects in the edujition of a prince who
might some day become ruler were
remedied by devotion TO suitable studies
and attendance upon councils of state,
participating with the ministers in the
discussion OF political questions. A
giant 10 size, he was not giant in
courage. When he became emperor,
the murderous activity of the ninists
impelled him to seek retiremen. The
scheme of reform prepared by M 4likoff
aud approved by Alexander III. was
rejected and reactiooary ministry es.
tabIished. To stamp out nihiism was
the chief purpose of his government,
but nihiism seemrd to increase in au-
dacitv. The emperor found threaten
ing notes, signed by the executive com.
mittee of the nihilists, under his pillow,
dagger on his bed, skull and cross
bones on his library table, an announce
ment that he was about to die con-
cealed in his napkin. 81 uneasy laid
this head waiting for environing peris
to pass before it could be crowned, and
the GROWING was finally do1e amid
precautions that stretched ingenuity
and foresight d mi itary power TO
Their ut nest extent to pro ect this
royal target of nihllisic ver g ance.
This emperor, without skill as gen.
era or ability as a statesman, has
nevertheless been one of the colossal
figures of Europe. Hi, influence, how
ever, upon the affairs of the continent
arose not from what he had done but
a fear of what he might do. Reac-
tionary and tsci'urn, an ab.o ute mon
arch with all the mysterious power of
Russia behind him, he was the great
unknown quantity 10 all European cal.
culatiOns.
Alexander H. gave twenty million
serfs their liberty, guaranteeing them
the right 10 the products of their labor
and the ownership of the lands pertain
in5 to the communes in which they
lived. Misguided niniIism struck
down his benignant monarch when he
was about to give the people parlia-
m sntary pvernment. The deadly
DO NIB that arrested the good emperor's
h4art-beals stopped also the wheels of
Russian progress. OF this double
catastrophe, au editorial writer of The
New York Sun graph ;ally says:
There has seldom been a more memoir
able example of the irony of destiny than
the fact that the author OF decree giving
self-government TO Russia was barbarously
done to death, while the son who tore up
that charter has died Ia his armchair or his
bed. 1t is now matter OF history that the
liberal advisers OF Alexander II. pleaded
with the new car throughout the night Of
March 10, 1881 besought him to carry out
his fathers plans, and implored him to
publish the uksse which was already
printed, pointing out that nothing could so
poignantly endear his fathers memory to
the Russian heart, or condemn his murder.
ers to such undying execration. For an
hour it looked as If the good angel OF Alex
ander III. would triumph; he hearkened to
the counsel of the wise and asssnted to the
publication of the far-reaching charter on
the morrow; but during the night he yielded
to different advisers playing ON his natural
resentment, ordered the destruction of the
decree, aud entered on the course OF harsh
reaction, from which he was never to de.
part. For the man who missed this precious
opportunity of clarifying his fathers mem
DRY and exalting himself, the utmost tn At
can be said is that in his private life he set
an edifying example to his su jects-a
thing which few autocrats since Marcus
Aureliu, have done-and that, whether
voluntarily or Involuntary, he forbore im-