The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1915-09-12

gently spread by his adversaries. and
especially by the many secret German
agents still remaining lin Russia. to
the effect that he had designs on the
throne. II was limited hat his wife,
the Grand Duchess Stania, daughter
of the King of Montenegro. was n
oma of Unsuitable ambition, who
was determined never TO rest until
she had secured places on the throne
for her husband as Emperor and
for herself as CZarina. Ii was added
that h boosted that the popularity.
the power and the prestige OF her
husband were UNNECESSARILY superior
to those OF the Car. And many other
utterances and designs OF he same
nature were attributed to her.
That there was the slightest foun-
dation for this malevolent gossip Is
out of the question. The Grand Duke
and Grand Duchess have no.children
for whose future they might have as
p%irations. They are devoted to n
another. all the more so perhaps be-
cause OF the unfortunate experiences
of the Grand Duchess with her first
husband, and OF the unhappy youth
and the humiliating difficulties OF the
Grand Duke. through the misconduct
OF his father and the virtual martyr
dom OF his mother.
Their life ts wholly free from os-
tentation and extavagance. They
care little or nothing for worldly
pleasures or for society. and when
the Grand Duke could find any leis-
ure from his absorbing military du-
ties in the past he has retired with
his wife to his country e for bear
hunting and for coursing wolves, In
that wonderful old Russian fashion
and with those wolfhounds for
which his kennels enjoy such inter-
that the Grand Duke has never har-
bored a disloyal thought with regard
10 the sovereign; that his one aim
has been TO protect MIN and hts
children. although he may sometimes
have differed with the Car about
matters Of policy and Of civil ad-
ministration
Indeed, there vas n thing which
he always resented, namely. the pres
ence at the Court OF Petrograd and
in the service OF the State of people
OF German birth and ancestry. In
this respect he is a an-Slav Of the
Pan-Slavs.
While the we'll wishers Of Russia
here in America will be inclined to hail
the success Of the Council of National
Defence in shelving the Grand Duke
as a token that Parliament has at
length acquired the upper hand at
Petrograd and that popular forms Of
government and liberalism have def
nitely supplanted autocracy and re-
! action in the form of conservatism. yet
their satisfaction will be tempered
with misgivings as to the wisdom Of
removing a Genera.issimo who has
shown himself to be so great a com
mander as this remarkable scion of
the house OF Romanof. These mis-
givings are all the graver by reason of
the fact that neither the present war
nor yet the conflict with Japan In
Manchuria ten years ago has brought
to the foreground any Muscopite Off
Ger qualified to take his place.
Moreover, no General not of imperial
rank can ever hope to enjoy quite the
same degree Of authority ve the
other Generals under his orders as
Grand Duke Nicholas. Some Of the
defeats sustained. by Kuropatkin
when he was Generalissimo, in Man
churia. a decade g were due to the
neglect of corps commanders to obey
his orders in the belief that they were
much more able than himself to carry
out a successful pan of campaign.
1t Is true that the Car has assumed
supreme command of the army and
of the navy in the place OF his cousin,
I the Grand Duke. But while this may
incite the rank and file, who reRard
him not only as their temporal
sovereign but as also the duly conse-
Grated supreme pontir OF their church,
to fresh deeds of valor and of en-
durance, 1t IL a fact that he has no
military experience and no knowledge
OF strategy. Indeed, he will as a COM
mander be entirely at the mercy of the
more or less irresponsible Generals Of
his encourage.
! Now. more than ever before. 10 q