The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1914-03-22

account Of Nicholas I. must b q mat
ter of tradition only. the reader migh
woh that he had gone back q reieI
or two further. at least to Alexander I.
Napoleons Alexander. one Of the prln
cipal authors and instigators of tn,
Holy Alliance" SO blasphemousl,
called, against which Canning boas tex
that he had called a new world int
existence to redress the balance Of tn,
old. But Nicholas I. will do very wei
as the type Of the absolutist who car
be tempered" only by assassinat ion
Nicholas played the part sincerely ant
ably. To begin with, no looked IL. In
fact the Romanoffs have almost uni.
formly. until the time Of the presen,
Emperor, been big and personable men
When the Grand Duke Aieris. who
lately died in Paris. was in this country
forty-odd years ago. a. q Russian naval
ohicer, he was almost sure to overtop
any one Of his hosts Of the American
committees Of reception. Car Nicho-
las !. not only looked his part but he
believed in 1t as mono Of his successorS
can be said to have done. He felt him.
self tho Autocfat OF all the Russias.
Also, he was . man. One cannot quite
rOo MY VhO Va uto oOCSCD8Otb
forth As he did. alone and unarmed. In
the presence Of an angry mob Of milf
tary mutineers and commanding them
to kneel and obey his orders. That the
crowd obsyed him was . natural result
Of his bravery and his presence"
II was not he who had reason most
to regret tho event Of the Crimean
war. In which. without an ally. Russia
"a 81 "a
Il OF" during the memorable siege Of
Sebastopol. He entirely believed In his
trade Of king" and naturally held as
. cor0llary that the practitioner Of It
In order to bo recognised ~ such had
to be born to II. He would never fully
recognise Louis Philippe as the Lords
anointed. He would never. evon BY
calling Louis Napoleon Sir, my
brother" according to the formulary.
admit him As a "clubbable" monarch.
Quite to the same purport Is the story
given hero Of Prince Orion. brought UP
in the straitcst sect Of autocracy. but
sent a. Russian Ambassador to Paris un-
der Alexander H.. whose Czarina part!c-
uiarly requested him to report to her the
manners and customs. and particularly
the costumes OF the Empress Eugene.
He brusquely declined to pay any at
tention TO the ways Of crowned ad-
and went so far as to add:
You. Madame. ought to he the last
to interest yourself In such people"
on the other hand, Nicholas sent troops
to help Austria put down the revolt
Of the Magyars In Hungary. the Haps-
burgs being clearly entitled to recog-
milton as royalties. Being respectfully
warned by candid friend that his
action would probably encounter in
gratitude. as 1t so clearly did in the
time Of the Crimean war. he made the
highly Characteristic answer: Il have
sent no troops to help Austria. have
sent them to help a brother sovereign"
But perhaps the most "autocrat!c" OBJ
servation here attributed to him Is that
which he IL reported to have made
on his deathbed to his son and heir
afterward Alexander H.. tho emanci-
pator Of the serfs, but already a Car
evitch noticeable for his manifestation
Of liberal tendencies: Remember
that II you show yourself too great a
Liberal. you will only create difficult
ties for yourself. and you will not die
In your bed as I am doing: you will
fall under an assassin's knife" Com
Ing in such prophetic words. in q book
Ut irresponsible anec,iOtage like this.
one naturally suspects the prophecy to
have heen ruude affar Tho avent