The Savannah morning news., 1904-08-20

about matters which il behooves them
ito know thoroughly and early. Thus,
shortly after the present war had be-
gun a number of dignitaries and Off
Gals gathered around Gen. Kuropatkin
one day and asked him how things
were going on. With a malicious
twinkle in his eve the War Minister
replied: Like yourselves, I know only
what is published. The war is Alex
ieffs business, not mine When three
ministers implored the Gar to evac-
uate Manchuria and safeguard the
peace of the world, he answered: Il
shall keep the peace and my own coun-
sci as WELL To one of the Grand
Dukes who, on the day before the rup-
ture with Japan, vaguely limited at the
possibility of war. the Emperor said:
Leave that to me. Japan will never
fight. My reign will be an era of peace
to the end.
"In his study he is generally busy
signing replies to addresses of loyalty,
or writing comments on the various
reports presented by ministers, gov
ernors and other officials. He is en-
couraged by his courtiers to believe
that all these replies and comments
are priceless; for even such trivial re-
marks as L am very glad. God grant
1t may be So are published in large
type in a newspaper, glazed over in
ed in the archives like the relics of
a saint. But the most interesting
are never published, and of these
there is a choice collection. Here is
one. report is the negotiations re-
speeding the warship Manchur was re-
Gently laid before him by Count
Lamsdorff. The tenor of IL was that
the Chinese authorities had summon
ed the Manchur to quit the neutral
harbors of Shanghai at the repeated
and urgent request of the Japanese
consul there. On the margin of that
report his majesty penned the MEM
orable words, The Japanese consul is
a sooundrel.'"
The Car is represented as being
subject to the baleful influence of the
Grand Dukes, of whom the writer
says:
They paint their plans in the hues
of his own dreams, present him with
motives which appeal to his prejudices
and always open their attack by
gross fiattery. They are consequently
more than a match for poor 'Nickle.'
as they call him; and their influence
over him is pernicious. Per-
haps the most influential of all is
the Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailo-
Witch, who has for a considerable time
been the alter ego of his majesty.
This grand ducal ring is the Russian
minister could withstand it for a
month. 1t is able to thwsrt his plans
in their primary stage, to discredit
them in the Cars eyes during the
discussion, or to have them Cancelled
after the Emperor has sanctioned
them. Obviously Russia has more
autocrats than one"
The indictment Is summed up in the
following passage:
yet, undoubtedly, the power of the
autocracy could be employed to fur
Their the cause OF humanity, enlighten-
ment, and justice, If such were the will
of him who Yields 1t. A single word
from the Car would cause a profound
change to come over the condition Of
his people. The responsibility for his
acts cannot be laid upon the shoulders
of his ministers. whose advice he re-,
trains from seeking I'm the most dan
gerous crises OF his reign. 1t was not
his ministers who prompted him to
break the promise he had given to
evacuate Manchuria; they entreated
him to keep II.
1T was not they who proposed that
he should curtail the power Of good
still left to such institutions as the
Council of the Empire. the Committee
of Ministers, and the governing Sem
ate. IL was not they who impelled him
to make the monarchy ridiculous by
Seeking WlSuOul III the eNOCdllOn OF
saints. 1t was not they who urged
him TO break up the Finnish nation
by a series of iniquitous measures
worthy of an Oriental despot of an
cient Babylon or Persia. on the con-
trary, they assured him in clear and
not always courtly phraseology that
justice and craftsmanship required him
TO stay his hand. II was not his Off
cial advisers who suggested that he
should despoil the Armenian Church Of
its property and endowments. while
leaving all other religious communities
in the possession OF theirs. and should
punish with bullets and cold steel the
Jealous members OF that church who
protested in the name OF their religion
and conscience. Almost all his minis
tiers united for once in warning him
that this was an act of wanton spolia-
ton. and in conjuring him TO abandon
or modify his scheme. But deaf to
their arguments, he insisted on having
his own wav."