Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1913-01-10
Prince Had Weak Mind.

frlnce Had weak Mind.
The prince to whom this sixteen-year-
old fraulein was welded was heir to the
throne of Russia. He ALSO was heir to a
mean and contentious disposition and a
weak mind. To these pleasing hertages
the smallpox had added repuls;ve APP
pearance. and his own filthy and degrad-
ed habits made him wholly lOathsome.
Worthless as a man lie was futile as a
monarch. In day of endless war he
looked upon the amy as a mere play
Thing. and would have the cannon roar
Tor his entertainment when his slender
intellect could not comprehend the plan
of a battle.
Naturally in this marriage there was
no pretense of affection. Each of the
parties went his or her way. and each
found CONSIDERS. In the most drunken
and dissolute court of Europe the arch
duchess was only too speedily initiated
INTO the manners and morals of the mo-
lnent. Her liaisons were open and no.
tOrfOus. and when after ten years of
marriage her first child. son, was born
its illesitimacy was never doubted until
with Years he showed so Enthusiastically
the vicious traits of Peter that his pa
ternity was no longer questioned.
Living in this court of nisrule. this riot
of sensualism and debauchery. Catherine
began while still princess to manifest
that singular dual character that made
her life series of contrasts. In her
memoirs she said that on leaving home
for ST. Petersburg she had determined
to do everything and believe-or pretend
TO believe-everything necessary to in
grat!ate herself with the Russian people
and fit her for the crown. To this de-
termination she rigidly adhered. Further
more. she strove to develop and disci-
pline hers mind, reading Plutarch, Taci-
tus. Montaigne, Voltaire and other books
which might open vistas of Importance
to future ruler She trod devious
path in those days. Wife as she was to
the heir apparent. false step might
have led her to the dungeon beneath the
Neva's tides. the lonely convent amid
perpetual SHOWS or the scaffold itself.
But with consummate tact she guarded
her steps, making friends and gaining in
maturity and political sagacity as the
years rolled by. until even her husband
came to recognize her ability and to con-
suit her to such affairs of state as
he considered in the intervals between
called her, or Mime. Quick Wit Never
theless. he both hated and dreaded her,
and never more so than January j, 1852,
when the Empress Elizabeth died and he
and his wife became Emperor and En-
press of Russia.
Joint Rule Was Brief.
The joint rule of the two sovereigns
was brief enough. though Peter began
his reign by some laudable measures, such
as freeing state prisoners. recalling exiles
from Siberia and attempting to recover
for the use of the people the vast ex-
panses of rich land held by the Greek
Church. But his personal habits laid him
wide open to the assaults of his enemies.
NJ. Bretteuil. the French minister, wrote
of him at this time: The life of the
emperor is most shameful. He passes
his nights smoking and drinking beer,
and does not relax these two exercises
until ) or O'Clock in the morning, and
nearly always dead drunk" His loving
wife. who gave him quite as much affec-
ton as he gave her. had been for years
building up a personal party of her own
about the court and in the army to over
throw him when he should come to the
throne. This was made the more easy
by his contempt for all things Russian
and admiration for the Germans. Fred
erick the Great was his idol and a wal
which Russia was successfully prosecut-
ing against that monarch was promptly
stopped by Peter on his accession. His
ideals. such as he had were German. and
his chosen companions Hosteiners. II
is curious that the German Catherine be-
came more Russian than the Russians
and thereby won their alteration, while
Peter, descendant of Peter the Great
scorned his country and aped the Ger
mans.
Emperor Died of Collie"
1t was in April that Peter and Cath
crime ascended the throne In July. the
emperor being away from the capital
with body of his Holsteiners, the en-
press fired the fuse she had so long pre-
Jared. In two hours the army, the court
and the civil officials had declared foi
her. Peter at first thought. with drunken
nippancy. TO laugh the matter off, but
learning that the empress with 2oO0t
men, was marching his retreat al
Oranienbaum he aDdicated. The sole con
dition that he exacted was that he should
be allowed To end his days in his beloved
Holstein. Foolish and fatuous Peter
For this refuge he started, indeed, will
a guard of honor composed of Catherine:
trusted servitors. but at a little towr
called ROpsha he died suddenly of collie
"a bodily arrangement the SYMPTOMS o
which closely resemble those OF certain
poisons. II is fair to say that had no
fate thus kindly rid Catherine of Petel
she would have been herself the one Il
CO. for after his death il was learned
that he preparing to immune her fo
life i'm one of those dungeons I'm which
life sentence seldom endures man,
months
Kept Troops on the Move.
The material achievements of Cath
crimes long reign are perhaps best sum
med up in her phrase: Il came to Rus