The Bourbon news., 1904-08-12
NICHOLAS l. OF RUSSIA.
"a Great Man Scared Out of Great
ness" by the Specter of the
French Revolution

In reviewing this first of my sojourns
in Russia, my thoughts naturally dwell
upon the two sovereigns-Nicholas l.
and Alexander ii. The first of these
was great man scared out of greatness
by the ever-recurring specter of the
French revolution, writes Andrew ID
White, in Russia in War Time" in Gen.
tury. There had been much to make
him stern and reactiOnary. He could not
but remember that two czars, his fa.
ther and grandfather had both beer
murdered in obedience to family neces-
sites. 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 pa
rade ground of ST. Petersburg with the
blood Of his best soldiers, which bad sent
many of the nobility to Siberia, and
which had obliged him to see the bodies
of several men who might have made
his reign illustrious dangling from the
fortress walls opposite the winter pail
ace. He had been obliged to grapple
with fearful insurrection at Poland.
caused partly by the brutality of his
satraps, but mainly by religious hatreds,
to suppress it with enormous carnage,
and to substitute cruel despotism for
the moderate constitutional liberty
which his brother had granted. He
had thus become the fanatical apostle
of reaction throughout Europe. and as
such was eyerywhere 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 Neapoli-
tan Bourbon copies of two of the
statues which adorned his Nevsky
briGge-statues representing restive
horses restrained by strong men; and
the Berlin populace, with unerring in
stinct, had given to one of these the
name of Progress Checked" and to the
other the name "Retfogression En-
couraged." To this day one sees every
where in the palaces of continental
rulers, whether great or petty, his col
umns Of Siberian porphyry, bowls Of
jasper or vases of malachite-signs of
his approval of reaction. But in JUS
tice to him. it shoLfs, be said that there
was one crime he dfi not commit
crime, indeed, which La did not dare
commit; he did not vio,a,e his oath to
maintain the liberties of finland. That
was reserved for the second Nichola.
now on the Russian 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 streets, he overawed all men
by his presence; whenever I saw him,
and never more cogently than during
that last drive of his just before his
death, there was forced 10 my lips the
thought: 'You are the most majestic
being ever created" Colossal in stat
ure, with face such as one firds on a
Greek coin. but overcast with shadow
of Muscovite melancholy, with bear
ing dignified. but with a manner not
unkind. he bore himself like a god.
And yet no man could be more simple or
affable, whether in his palace or In tbs
street. Those were the days when
Russian car could drive or walk alone
in every part of every cityin his empire.
He frequently took his exercises in walk
ing along the Neva quay and enjoyed
talking with any friends he met. espe-
cially with members of the diplomatic
corps.