The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1894-11-26
RUSSIA'S NEW AUTOCRAT.
Young Gar Nicholas Ill. and the Man
ner of Man He Is.

and Progressive Ruler-The Men Who
| Have Most Influenced Him-Differ-
| ences With His Father.
| OF all the monarchs of Europe there is
no one just at the present moment who
is an object of greater discussion and
specu lation that Nicholas II. Only
twenty-six years of age, he has suddenly
become possessed of absolute and ire
sponsible power over an Empire compris-
| ing one.seventh of the land sufarce of the
| globe, with population of nearly $780,
| 600, 900, while he finds himself at the
head of an army of almost 1900, 900
men, blindly obedienJ to his will and
ready to follow his bidding, especially
if it be in the direction of aggression
and warfare. Controlling in this man
! ner the destinies not alone of his vast
| dominions, but those of all Europe in
| fact, since the maintenance of peace de-
ponds in great measure on his whlm
and caprice, every scrap OF information
that can shed light ON his senti-
ments, his character and his personality
| must necessarily prove of absorbing in
! test; all the more as so very little
either good, bad. or Indifferent is known
about him. Indeed. it is difficult to re-
| call any sovereign in modern times con-
corning whom such widespread ignorance
prevailed at the time of his accession.
"Tell me whom you frequent ana 1
| will tell you what you are, Is an old
adage which, if applied to the new Car.
| would show him to be man OF unusual
| breadth and liberality of view, says the
| New York Tribune. For the only MEM
Der of his family with whom the son
really on wb Intimate cont fefms' an IN
with whom he closely associates,
is the Grand Duke Constan-
tine Constanovlct, a tall. handsome,
fair-haired and blue-eye man OF about
thirty -four, who, under the initials OF
"K.R r." standing for Konstantine Rom
anoff, has published volume OF poems
tyranny and despotism are assailed and
liberty lauded. Constantine is by far
the most broad-minded and clever of all
the male members of the Imperial House
of Russia, and is President OF the st.
Petersburg Academy of Science. He IS
married to a beautiful Princess, and Is
one of the few Muscovite Grand Dukes
whose domestic happiness may be said
to be unclouded. He is infinitely more
of student than soldier, far more in
terested in problems of scientific, econ
omic and social character than in mill
tary matters, and was even charged by
his cousin, the late Emperor, with har-
boring opinions that were downright
socialist and revolutionary, for which
reason he was seldom seen in Court CIR
cles His intimacy with the new Gar
bodies well, therefore, Tor the latter's
reign, and for the Russian people. and 1t
may be taken for granted that Nicholas
will adopt a domestic policy entirely
different to that of his father, from
whom it is notorious that he differed on
many points, rota bly, in connection with
the persecution OF the jews
Another relative who likewise may be
said to exercise a considerable influence
on young Nicholas is his uncle, the
Crown Prince OF Denmark, man who,
stantinovich, is distinguished for lis
liberalism and up to-date ideas. contrast
ing SO strongly with old fashioned doc
trines concerning the divine right of
Kings entertained by his father and
mother, old King Christian and Queen
Louise. The Grown Prince used to make
special favorite and associate of his
young nephew during the annual stays
of the Imperial family in Russia at CO.
penbagen, and would frequently act as
an arbitrator in the questions that arose
between Alexander III. and his eldest
son, usually deciding in favor of the
lad, whose ideas were far more in sym
pathy with his own than the reactlonary
and autocrartic doctrines professed by
the late Emperor. There is no Prince
in Europe who is more genial, possessed
of a greater degree of broad common
sense, and who is more entirely free from
preiudices of every kind than this Crown
Prince of Denmark. Certainly the
Crown Prince exercises the influence over
his nephew with which he is credited in
Che court and official circles of Europe,
| am convinced that he can not turn out
to be anything else than very enllght-
ened and progressive ruler, such a one
indeed as has not been seen on the throne
of Russia since the days Of Peter the
Great.
A third person, this time not of inn
perial or Royal rank, who is known to
have exercised Il very important role In
forming the character OF the new Gar,
and who still retains much OF his old
time influence, is his former tutor, Gen.
Bogdanoitch. The latter, althougn
member of the orthodox Greek faith,
was of Hebrew descent, the founder OF
his family having been the Jewish Treas
urer of Queen Bona o. Poland. The
General is man of rare integrity, heart
and intellect, taking the broadcast possl-
BILE view of life, and of such lndepend-
ence of character that he educated his
|
political opinions Of the lads father,
his sole aim being to make him what
he considered useful, enlightened and
Broad-minded man. likely to turn to
the best advantage the marvellous op-
portunities now within his reach to bene
tit the human race, and especially is I'M
happy countrymen. Under the circum-
stances 1t is only natural that the per-
secution to which the Hebrew race has
been subjected throughout the late reign
should have met with the strongest
kind of d;sapprova> on the part of the
present Emperor. Talking one day with
Senator Polotzoff, the Secretary OF the
Council of the Empire. the An5i-Semitic
riots at Starodub, where the author ties
not only tolerated, ut even encouraged
| and to ok part in the curelties to which
this Jewish residents of the place were
subjected blythe population, cropped up
during the course of the conversation,
whereupon the then Czarewitch re-
marked in the hearing of several persons
that he bitterly regretted that the his
tory of his fathers reign should be
disfigured by such occurrences as
that Moreover when the chief rabbi of