Vernon County censor. [volume] (Viroqua, Wis.) 1865-1955, 1904-08-17
NICHOLAS /. OF RUSSIA.
Great alan Scared Out of Greatness by
specter of French Revolution.

Great Bian Scared Out of Greatness by
specter of French Revolution.
In reviewing this first of my So
journs in Russia, my thoughts natur-
ally dwell upon the two soyereigns-
Nicholas l. and Alexander III. The
first of these was a great man scared
out of greatness by the ever-recurring
specter of the French Revolution.
There has been much to make him Il
stern reacticnary. He could not but
remember that two Cars, his father
and grandfather. had both Nbeen MUIR
dered in obedience TO family necessi-
ties. At his proclamation as emperor
he had been welcomed by revolt
which had forced him
To wade through slaughter to
throne
revolt which had deluged the great
parade ground of ST. Petersburg with
had sent many of the nobility to ST.
IBERIA, and which had obliged him to
see the bodies of several men who
might have made his reign iiiustrious
dangling from the fortress W rs oppo-
site the winter palace. He l. been
obliged to grapple with a fearful in
surrection in Poland, caused partly by
the brutality of his satfaps, but mainly
by religious hatreds, to suppress it
with enormous carnage, and to substi-
tute cruel despotism for the moder-
ate constitutional liberty which his
brother had granted. He had thus be-
come the fanatieal apostle of reaction
throughout Europe, and as such was
everywhere the implacable enemy of
any evolution of liberty. The despots
of Europe adored him. AS symbols of
his ideals he had given to the King of
Prussia and to the Neapolitan Bourbon
copies of two of the statues which
adorned his Neysky bridge-statues
representing FESTIVE horses restrained
by strong men; and the Berlin popu-
lace, with unerring instinct had given
to one of these the name of Progress
Checked and to the her the name
"Retrogression Encouraged To this
day one sees everywhere in the palaces
of continental rulers, whether great or
petty. his columns of Siberian porphy-
nv. bowls of jasper or vases of mala-
chite-signs OF his approval of reac-
ton. But, in justice TO him. it should
be said that there was one crime he
did not commit--a crime, indeed, which
he did not dare commit; he did not VIC
late his oath to maintain the liberties
OF Finland. That was reserved for
the second Nicholas. now on the Rus
sian throne
Whether at the great assemblages of
the winter palace. or at the reviews.
or simply driving in his sledge, or walk
ing in the street. he overawed all men
by his presence: whenever | saw him,
and never more cogently than during
that last drive of his just before his
death. there was forced to my lips the
thought, You are the most majestic
being ever created" Colossal in stat
ure, with face such as one finds on
a Greek coin, but overcast with shad-
ow of Muscovite melancholy, with a
bearing 1ignified. but with a manner
not unkind he bore himself like god.
And vet no man could be more simple
or affable whether in his palace or in
the street. Those We're the days when
Russian Gar could drive or walk
alone in every part of every city in his
empire He frequently took his exer-
and enjoyed talking with any friends
he met, especially with members of the
diplomatic corps.-Century.