The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1894-10-27

Threatened, of Exemplary Family
Life, He Has Been Represented as a
Drunken Coward-Character of the
Young Man Who Succeeds Him.
Russia is the oldest and truest friend of
America in Europe. When the American
colonies were struggling for rec gnition the
Russian Empress was early to extend as
surance of sympathy. And later, when
the Civil War broke out, when the nations
of Europe that should have been our friends
were only too anxious to see us break up
and disappear from he family of great ma
lions, Russia fastened to extend us assur-
ance of her most earnest sympathy. She
did not stop here. In the darkest hour of
the war when Confederates hopes were
highest, strong fleet of Russian war YES
sells quietly appeared on our Atlantic coast
and in our harbo1s. The soldiers and sailors
of the United States, whose instincts for
recognizing friends were sharpened by dan
ger, have never forgotten the naval support
which the friendship of Russia gave. To
this day, in whatever ports of the world
they may meet. the sailors of Russia and
the United States always affiliate.
The Car Alexander III whose stormy
reign closes in the prime of life, belongs to
a family connected with the greatest lines
of ancestry in Northern Europe and the
East, and its origin is lost in the labyrinth
of antiquity. Russian history properly be-
gins with Rurik of Sweden. who settled at
Noygorod in s62, and conquered Russia, and
the Romanoffs claim him as an ancestor.
But they are also descended from the EN-
peror Constantine. Monomachus, and the
Paleologi, from Xingis Khan, from the
earliest Princes of Novgorod, and from the
last of the Anglo-Saxon Kings.
Alexander Ill is the son of Alexander IL
who was blown up by dynamite bomb in
1881. The brothers and sisters of Alexander
Ill are Nicholas. who died in 1855, Vladimir,
Alexis, and Maria. who married the Duke
of Edinburg.
Alexander was the second son. He was
born March 10, 1915. The death of his
brother Nicholas left him Czarowitz, heir
apparent to the throne of the Russian EN-
pire. In 1866 he married the Danish Prin-
cess Dagmaret, sister of the Princess of
Wales. Their first child, Nicholas Alexan-
drovich, VINO will be Gar of all the Russias,
was born May IL, 1868. When the Nihilists
killed Alexander II. in 1881 SO severely was
the Russian monarchy shaken that no at
tempt was made to celebrate the coronation
of the new Emperor until two years later.
But in 1888 Alexander Ill. was crowned
with most splendid ceremonies. There were
fetes for days and days through all Russia.
The White Father has not passed the
thirteen ysars of his reign in peace and
quietude. His days were Il Dubbed by the
different attempts made to eface him
from the world of the living. Notwith-
standing all the care that was taken to
prevent even the slightest mishap the
ear came more than once very near meet
ing his doom. The most serious attempt
TO kill him was made in the beginning OF
April, 1887. He was fired at in the park at
Gatschina by an o4cer. put escaped unin-
jured, although the pistol was disc harged at
close quarters. The would-be assassin was
arrested.
Personally his Majesty was always I'M
affected by fear, SO that the terror:sts
never attained their object-that of fright
ening him into accession to their demands
by attempts on his life. He was on his
point almost fatalist He said if it were
the will of divine Providence that he should
fall the victim Of bullet ora bomb in the
hand of one of his own subjects, he must
submit; but so long as he lived he would
continue TO devote his life and work to
what he termed the maintenance of the
dignity of Russia. The Czarina, on the
other hand, was always anxious for her
husbands safety. March ID, following the
attempted assassination three persons were
arrested in tho streets of st. Petersburg
with explosive machines in their possess
sion. and from them the authorities OBJ
tanned disclosures respecting the rami6ca-
lions of the conspiracy. Some of these men
were confined III the Schlusselnurg Fortress,
while others We're placed in the citadel of
st. Petersburg. On this occasion TWO
women-one the wife of General, the
other of a doctor, who were compromised
to some extent in the murder of the pre-
ceeding Car in 188l-were parties to the
plot, but they refused to give any informa-
tion to the police. Traces, however, of
this conspiracy were discovered at Charkoff,