The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1914-12-03

most is to spare Russian blood. There
fore | have striven, and will strive, to
obtain a real improvement of the posi-
ton OF the Christians by peaceful means.
In few days negotiations will COM
mence at Constantinople. My most ar
dent wish is that we may arrive at a
general agreement. Should this, how
ever, not be achieved, and should | see
that we cannot obtain guarantees nee
essary for carrying out what we intend
to demand from the porte, am firmly
determined to act Independently. | am
convinced that the whole of Russia will
respond to my summons, should | con-
slider it necessary and Russia's honor re-
quire it. Moscow will lead the van
by its example. May God help us to
carry out our sacred mission.
1t is needless TO state that the speech
was received with great enthusiasm
throughout Russia.
Following the winter of 1879 four at
tempts were made on the life of AleXan-
der II, on the part of the nihiists, who
wished to stamp out the imperial gov
eminent, with nothing to offer in substi-
tuition. A fifth attempt was successful.
1t was on Sunday, March l3, 1881. The
Emperor was returning in a sleigh from
a review, when two nitro-glycerine
bombs were thrown from among the
crowd. The first missile shattered the
sleigh, but the Gar alighted without in
Jury. The second wounded him so terri
Div that he exclaimed, HTo the palace,
to the palace to die. A new sleigh bore
his noble but mangled form over the
white snow of St. Petersburg, followed
bv a sorrow stricken multitude, and in
two hours he lay dead IN the Winter
Palace Alexander III was OF more
phlegmatic temperament. The duties
of the vast Empire were to him tedious
in the extreme. He was often seen
shoveling snow from the walks OF the
Winter Palace, and hand-whipsa wing
lumber from logs in the parks. The nj
hilists were ever scheming to take his
life, but he died down in his Summer
Palace in Livadia from broken physical
conditions. Nichols II, ''Nicky, the Lit
tie White Gar" came to the throne
a mere pale-faced youth, so frail physic-
ally that the wonder was how long he
could survive the strain of public duties
and the terrors of nihilism; but as was
Alexander II in his war in the seventies
with Turkey, so Nichols II is at the
front with the armies of Russia, in this
greatest world war of human history.
Nihilism seems to have been forgotten
in this deluge of blood. The Little Gar
goes constantly exposed in person. and
is acclaimed by citizens and soldiers with
highest enthusiasm. The Czarinna has
lust declared that when the present war
is fought out, it will eventuate in the
triumph of justice and not in the crush
ing of weaker powers.
Fundamental in Russian civil life is the
Village Commune, with titles of land
there vested, and with peasant elections,
subject to be sure to being overruled, if
they contravene certain organic princi-
pies. Graft is probably the worst thing
in Russian officialdom. So vast and
complex system fails too much of cog
nizance and correction at the fountain
head, however we'll meaning the man of
power-the Gar of all the Russias.
The great universal peace dream-the
poets and philosophers dream of the
ages the Christ ideal of man at his best
seems really to have found its first
great public move in Russia. Note:
''The Gar of Russia proposed the con-
ference that first met at the Hague in
May, 1899, with another assembly in
1907. A permanent Court of Arbitration,
with duly appointed delegates from all
nations, was established. The purpose
was to codify the laws of nations, estab-
lish rights of beligerents and aliens,
modify the horrors of war, and arbltrate
national questions. In 1910 Andrew Car
negie placed in the hands of trustees the
sum of $4,000, 900, the income of which
should be used to establish universal
peace. In 1898 the Gar of Russia invit-
ed the nations to a discussion of the
means of assuring peace for all peoples
of the world, and as a result the first
peace conference was held at the Hague
in 1899, twenty-six nations being repre-
sented." The new Palace of Peace, built
by the munifcence of Mr.. Carnegie, now
graces the Hague, within sound of the
Krupp guns that have crushed little Bel
GUM, at the rending of treaty inter-
national. that has stood since 1889. May
not the Czarinna's words about Justice
and the crushing of weak powers mean
something?
''Justice comes with feet of WOOL
(snowO but with hands of iron; and
when God lays them down, no man can
take them up" F. F. PHILLIPS.
Cambridge, Mass, Nov. 16, IA.
ArOOstOok Potatoes.l