The Washington herald., 1913-08-26
tcop,rieht. 1913. By A. D. J.eohson.l

The tragic figure of the son Of the
Great Catherine Of Russia is an enigma
tic one in history. Mad rulers have
been common. But was Paul really in
sane? The events Of the nearly four
years of his reign unanimously were
regarded as the disasterOus result OF the
uncontrolled caprice Of a demented au-
tocrat But all this is now contested,
and there has been a reversal OF the
opinions both OF PauTs character and
intellect, even OF the value OF his work.
Strange to say that in the eyes OF his
recent Russian biographers Car Paul
was not only not a Iunatic. he has become
almost a great man. They incline TO
think that he had genius. His short
reign far from having been mistor-
tune for the subjects, was a period OF
beneficent activity and development,
which, had it not been cut short by
his death. might have been the begin
ming OF unexampled prosperity and great
ness.
All this gives a new aspect TO the
problem 1t Is plausible supposition,
but not an ascertained fact, that his
reputed father. Peter III. really was
the author Of his existence. Hence the
theory of congenial mental instability Is
not a sound basis for this argument he
was opposed TO the ideas OF his mother'
and he spent all of twenty years attack
ing a policy and a government which
with all its faults gave Russia a power
and prestigc which she has not since
recovered. Paul plotted and prepared 10
overthrow the system, and when ne
came TO the throne, he endeavored 10
carry out his design. He even joined
hands with the hero OF the Eighteenth
Brumaire and took hand with him IN
the destruction of the old order OF things
in Europe and in the partition OF the
world.
To what does all this point. II not TO
the close relationship with the mob OF
unbalanced contemporaries who suffered
from the political hysteria Of the time!
He may have been neither Holstein
nor a Romanoff. but he certainly was
true child OF the revolution which he
affected to detest and to combat He
was neither insane in the pathological
sense nor even weak-minded. But he was
capable of madness and folly, because
lie was touched by a kind of collective
frenzy that turned stronger heaos u 1h
his.
At the hand Of the aforesaid how far
have these currents penetrated and infiu-
enced the Russia OF that time? In the
person OF Paul /, and in the character
Of his government, they were cornbined
with elements of stability, OIL dlsordeF'
Of conservatism. or revolution. The COM
pllcated psychology of the Gar and the
dramatic incidents OF his career, which led
up TO the final tragedy. no doubt. make
him a figure # great interest But the
trials suffered during his reign by the
vast country, which he sought 10 mold
as he thought it,. are more interesting
still Revelations which might modify
our ideas about Paul himself on the
events of his time, were not to be ex-
pected; for GATHERINGS son. with his
passion for publicity, lived too much in
the broad daylight TO conceal any essen
tial even about his most intimate con
Germs.
The night Of Paurs murder Is one Of
the darkest, IL not the darkest page in
the history of the Romanofrs- He was
literally kicked out and strangled TO
death by the leaders of a conspiracy
who dragged the defenceless man out
of bed. All this was known to his son,
and heir, Alexander, who slept peace
fully during his fathers assassination,
after having left orders with his wife,
waiting-woman, to wake him when all
was over" and who became known to
history as the bitterest enemy Of Ma
poleon l.