The Washington herald., 1913-01-11

| CCopyrght. 1873 by Court Gossip syndicate.l
| II was on the last day OF July, 1904.
that the Empress of Russia-the Hes
sian Princess Alix-after bearing four
daughters. presented her husband. Gar
Nicholas ii. with a son and heir. the
hope of the vast empire to all loyal
Imperialists. Though only eight years
OF age, the young grand duke and Car
ewitch has been burdened with so many
military dignities that their enumeration
| fills an entire page in the Almanac de
Gotha." He is among others the Het-
man. of all the Cossacks; honorary col
onei OF many regiments. and chief OF
military academies. &c.
The fact that the health OF the boy
prince is rather delicate. coupled with
| the speculation as to the gravity of the
injuries he sustained in recent accidents
on board the imperial yacht. the nature
OF which never has been disclosed. have
caused the interesting question to be dis
crssed in public. whether the Czarevitch
will live to be crowned Gar in the an
Gent Kremlin of Holy MOSCOW. a
great deal. indeed, may depend upon the
answer to this question. not only ior
Russia, but for all OF Europe. But
should the delicate little fellow not sur
ytye Il is quite an easy matter TO fore
tell the RomanOff succession.
Crown and sceptre of the dynasty then
will 20 to Grand Duke Xviii. who like
a number of others of that family, had
been exiIed in disgrace for making
mesalliance His "offense' consisted in
marrying the divorced wife OF Grand
Duke Ernst Ludwig OF Hesse. brother
of the CZarina, without asking perrnis-
sion of the head Of the House of Roman
on 1 E OF the Gar But all this has
been forgiven and forgotten this long
while, and unless all indications mis-
lead, the vladimir branch of the Ro-
manor dynasty is preparing and getting
in readiness for all emergencies.
But IL is true. the Vladimirs. one and
all. are unpopular, and since the Grand
Duke Michael Alexandovitch, following
his morganatic marriage with Nine. Won
fert. a former Miss Chermetsky, was
called upon 10 renounce his rights 70
the imperial succession for himself and
his issue IL is believed IN well posted
court circles at st. Petersburg that It IS
Grand Duke Dimitri Pavolovitch who Is
fated to ascend the throne.
Young Dimitri is but twenty-one years
Of age, a cousin to the Car, and en-
gagged to Emperor Nicholas eldest
daughter. Grand Duchess Olga, sur
named the whirlwind, because she is full
of mischief. not above playing pranks on
he- imperial father. and because she gen.
erally manages 10 bend him to her Will.
as witness her betrothal TO her young
relative. which the Gar at first had
'strickly forbidden" exiting her relative
to country garrison way South IN
Livadia.
For a Diplomatic achievement Of the
magnitude and as far-reaching as the
renewal of the triple alliance tdrei- |
bund) between Germany. Austria Hun |
gary, and Italy, to be perfected without
as much as a ripple OF excitement in |
the political world of the international |
press, is the more extraordinary and
unusual, as this bombshell has been ex- |
ploded against the triple entente eng |
land, Russia. and France) at a most I'M |
expected and critical period, when war
OF peace in the Balkans is in the bal
ance.
Rumors had been rife in European
capitals that Italy would cut loose from |
the leash of the war lord at Berlin: that |
Victor Emmanuel, persuaded by his
wife's father, the ruler OF Montenegro,
whose daughters were reared at the
Court OF the Gar, and one of whom is
to a Romanof, would make
common cause with Russia against his
arch enemy. Austria, in order to accom-
plish his long cherished desire to despoil
the Hapsburg dynasty OF its last strips
Of coast land and ports on the Adriatic.
No doubt Servia never would have
dropped her otherwise unexplainable de-
termined stand against Austria had not
the news of the renewal of the triple
alliance been sprung upon her King and
his advisers so suddenly, so unexpect-
edly With Italy against her, Austria
would indeed have had a critical prob
lem to face. But backed by a continued
ireibund agreement, servia knew that
The Jig was up .
Never before, since the days of its in
,eption by the Iron Chancellor. has the
lreibund welded the influence IL does
o-day. For, watched by the combined
lavies of the dreibund in the Adriatic
" Aegean Seas, neither England nor
Russia would dare to hold the Darde-
relies. In plain words. this means that
is safe: that England
annot still more bottle up Russia in the
cuxine, and that Russia cannot deprive
England Of the use of her short route
o India.
Thus having secured a. new lease OF
life, the dreibund will remain that which
I has been for more than a generations;
he peace controller, the peace guarantor
Il Europe. Considering the bitter <~--' !