The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1894-11-03
A PAGE OF ROMANoFF HISTORY.

A PAGE OF ROMANOFF HISTORY.
The Emperor Alexander the Third died
in his bed of a disease that is not unusual,
surrounded by his fam lily, and after having
received the consultations of his church.
Such a tranquil passage from life to death
has not been the rule in the family to which
he belongs.
The first Romanoff, Michael, was elected
Emperor about the time the Pilgrim
Fathers landed on Plymouth Rock He
was succeeded by four generations of Ro-
maDoffs. who carried on wars and put
rebels to death. after the fashion of the
times, until Peter the Great came in 1859.
Russia, as we know it now, was con soli-
dated in his time and foreign innovations
introduced, 10 the disgust of the conserva-
tives Of his day; he closed his career
by causing the death of his son by
torture. and after securing as he sup
posed the peaceful accession of his success
sor, he left Russia a prey to anarchy.
After his death the most powerful person
in Russia was Prince Dolgorouk, an an
cestor of the lady with whom Alexander
the Seconds name was so often connected.
and likewise of the old mobiles who stood
Then came sour. bitter, implacable
Anna, who gave over the empire to the
German Biren; his power lasted through
out Anna's reign and through the first
years of VANS. lie was overthrow at
last, and Elizabeth. daughter of Peter
the Great, anticipated her successor Cath
crime in her whims, her eccentriclties and
her private life. Then came poor Peter.
hn ~ n h. oh Ii
betrayed his purpose 10 imprison his wife
Catherine, whereupon she rose against
him with twenty thousand men, had him
shut up in a fortress and finally muir
dered. GATHERINGS thirty years reign
was a prosperous era for Russia; OF the
sovereign's private character and of her
humanity the less said the better; but her
mind was cultivated and she held The reins
of empire with an iron hand. When a
pretender arose and gathered an army of
peasants around him Catherine flung
Souvaroff upon him, caught him, bro ught
him to Moscow in an iron cage and had
him executed before crowd of people.
She died suddenly. not without suspicious
of poison.
Her son Paul, whom she had proposed TO
disinherit and put out of the way, sue
ceeded her; be was a weak vacillatnE
creature and Russia lost little when he
was assassinated in bis bed. His place
was taken by his son Alexander ], the
man who described himself as "happy
accident" and of whom Napoleon said
that be was as false as a Byzantine Greek.
OF him we know good deal, in couse-
quence of the prominent part he took in
the Napoleonic wars. He was an amiable,
well-meaning, weak man, who was always,
through the irony of fate, in positions
which he was unable TO fill. He had not
the nerve 20 meet Napoleon face TO face
when the latter invaded Russia, and when
he was invested with the command of the
allied armies he showed such ignorance of
the military art that he was permitted to
retire to the rear when the French came
into view. Still be was a pleasant we'll
bred entlemap, who became vastly popu-
lar in Paris.
When he died, in 1926. he should have
been succeeded By his son, Constantine.
! bnt the younger son, Nicholas, a man of
! tremendous vigor and b0ldness, usurped
! the throne, summoned the PreObaji ns X
| Regiment to his support and grasped the
| scepter without struggle 1t was in the
| early part of his reign that the nlhilists
! first made their appearance. and The con-
! spiracy of the Red Cock was formed.
! Nicholas put down the rebels with re-
morseless resolution. Some he ordered 10
! death, more he sent TO Siberia, and by
! sheer terror he restored peace in Russia.
He died in his bed of broken heart, in
consequences of the disasters TO his arms in
the Crimea. His son, Alexander II, was
assassinated by a nihil!st bomb. The
murderers made no secret of their crime.
| Thev confessed cheerfully, eXultingly.
! Their trial was a mere torn, and it was
necessary TO suppress much of the testi-
mony in order to conceal the wide spread
of the conspiracy. Yet Alexander IL was
a liberal-minded monarch and the fast
friend of the United States. he freed 3d.
GOO 600 serfs, and our people have not for
gotten his attitude during the Civil War,
when he stood almost alone our friend
among the crowned heads and Govern
ments OF Europe.
Alexander III stepped on the throne in
fear and trembling. The life which closed
on Thursday was one endless agony OF
terror. When he was crowned his brother
in-law, the Prince of Wales. was one OF
the guests. The Englishman confessed
afterward that he had never spent more
wretched hour in his life than the hour
during which be stood by his brother-in.
laws side aud expected every minute to BIZ
blown into eternity. AT least il can bt
said of the dead Gar that he was a model
family man. and that he conscientiousll
, sought to govern his empire according t
his own light.
VERY POPULAR.
The Chico Chronicle. Record saws: