The Washington herald., 1913-08-03

All this was known to his son Alexander.
who slept peacefully during his ia
thers assassination, after having left or
ders with his wife's waiting-woman to
wake him when all was over" and
who became known TO history as the
bitterest enemy of Napoleon !.
Before Paul succumbed to the blows
of his assassins he already had fallen
victim of a combination OF circum-
stances, the victim Of his origin, which
was more than three quarters German.
of his French education. Of his Russian
environments. and the inevitable clash
of discordant and Heterogeneous ele-
ments. The humanitarian ideas OF the
West were mingled in his mind with
Oriental brutalities; the Journalism OF
Prussia with the fantasy of the East;
civilization and barbarism jostled in
him. and all this not only entered into
the composition of his own personal
ity. but through him penetrated to his
people. Finally he was the victim OF
morbid tendencies resulting from such
an abnormal mind.
Catherine's son often has been COM
pared to the son of Maria Theresa, who
also inherit ed from an omnipotent and
great mother. He. too, initiated Fred
erick the Great, and unconsciously imi-
lated the French revolutionaries. But
Paurs work was much wider IN its
scope. and, for the most part has sur
yived its author, because it exagger-
ated certain traits in the heritage OF
the last representatives of the House
of Rurik and the first of the Roman
offs.
The reforms planned by Paul did not
all of them die with him. Among his
| murderers the idlers and the peculators
| of all ranks, no dubt. were the first to
| enjoy the fruits OF the "victory.' But
even the triumphant guard did not sue
ceed in recovering from its earlier down.
| fall, and along with the degrading cor
| poralism, which Paul carried to such
lengths, there were more praiseworshy
borrowings from the traditions OF Fred
| erick III, which have became a permanent
part of the military organization OF the
/ country.
| The dynastic law promulgated i'm
mediately after his accession and which
was to put an end TO the periodical
\ crises in the devalution of the supreme
power, though in his own case on the
point of proving how illusory 1t was,
| has stood the test of time and has give!
the political constitution a stability fol
| which credit is due to the reformer OF
1901, who, like most reformers, was de-
| cIare6 mad.
THE JEWS OF TODAY: BY Dr. Arthur hupph
| From the German. with an introduction by Dr.
Joserh Jacobs. New York-Henry Holt 4 20.
Just as theology is losing its hold or
the worlds attention, the interest in the
Jews has risen again to the same heights
as before. The modern Jew Is anomalous
enough to attract the attention OF a
world curious about anomalies. The
most modern of men with the most an
cient of faiths. skeptical yet loyal, ma
terialist and idealist in one, cosmopoli'
tan yet priding himself on his patriotism
lconspicuous among both capitalists and
socialists, expIoiter, and exploited. thu
Jew remains the Sphinx of the nations
Are the Jews of today the direct de-
Iscendents Of the Israelites Of old? viii
Judaism survive the assaults OF modern
criticism and skepticism? Is there 1
ispecific Jewish culture differing from ths
civilizations Of the nation among whom
lthey live? Is there a Jewish music, q
Jewish art? These are but samples oi
jquestions that have been raised in oul
own times about Jews, and still laci
definite answers.
! There is a certain scientific Interest
} about investigations into Jewish phe
nomena. Thus the purity Of the Jewist