The Kansas City sun. (Kansas City, Mo.) 1908-1924, 1915-01-30

Nicholas Nlcholaievitch, were now the best In
Europe!
Meantime the Nicholas family life was not
free from the scandal which so often has made
the title grand duke" a reproach. He first mar
ried the middle-aged widow of a wealthy trader.
He did not bring her to court, but left her at
Moscow, where she would be safe from the
snghts her extraction might earn her in higher
company. She dieG and her husband, now a rich
man, only too quickly welded the Princess Anas-
tasia of Montenegro, with whom he had long
been in love. 1t was while she was the wife of
another man, the duke of Leuchtenberg, that
Nicholas Nicholaievitch wooed and won her. She
persuaded Car Nicholas to permit her divorce.
Anastasia is a large-framed, vigorous, ambi-
tious woman, devoted to the cause of the Slavs.
She is a frebrand and INSCRIPTIONS in methods
to further her husbands progress to the position
of natural leader of the Russian Slavs, 1t is
said her husband is altogethe- too intimate with
a certain lady of the imperial ballet, but this
does not seem to affect the relations between the
welded couple. She is always magnifcently
clad and is as regal in figure as her husband.
Throughout the Japanese wal the soldiers
hoped Grand Duke Nicholas would be .sde their
leader and he was again and again promised to
them. Many believed final disaster would have
been averted If the czar had conquered his jeal-
ousy of his popular cousin. After the wei, when
the throne was threatened by the revolut;onists,
the czar was forced to fall back on the man he
had sighted and the grand duke restored order
by stern means. He was in danger of assassina-
ton, and commanded admiration by constantly
going about the streets unattended.
Just what happened when the present war
broke out remains to be told. 1t will be an in
teresting story. 1t is known that the czar aspired
to follow the kaiser's example, take the field
with his soldiers, and "be his own field marshal"
What pressure was brought to bear to dissuad~
him from this purpose and to force his accept
ance of Grand Duke Nicholas is hard to say. But
there are rumors that the mobilization was well
along before the czar knew OF it.
1t is to be remembered there is a Julker party
in Russia as well as in Prussia. And this party
claims the grand duke as leader.
The present situation is this: The cabinet
council of the empire meets every day at Peter
hof. Its resolutions are outwardly submitted to
the czar for confirmation; but. as a matter of
fact, the cabinet simply Q. KS the orders of the
allpowerful commander in chief and the car
then also attaches his signature. In time of war
the cabinet does not dare defy the army head.
nor does the car.
II all this is concealed from the mass of the
Russian people, 1t is entirely clear to that astute
German, the czarina. Supposed to be a nervous
invalid, she has suddenly donned the garments of
the Sisters of Charity with her daughters and
entered the hospital wards. She is even present
at operations and has bound up the soldiers
wounds with her own hands. Anyone who knows
the almost religious attitude of the Russian peas
ant to the Little Father can realize the wild
enthusiasm aroused among those whom the car
ina thus visits.
Can the czarina be striving to win Lack for
her family the personal popularity the grand
duke is taking from her husband? 1t may be SO.