The evening leader., 1918-09-02

Austria taught the original prussian
bully aiesson or two over Silesia; Isa-
bella of Spain did wonders-but all
these women of destiny played
a stra aight, above-board game for their
respective countries. The nearest ap-
proach to the crooked consort of the
twentieth century is possibly .gAut-
|richienne," the ill-starred Marie An
toinette, but she called in Hapsburg
assistance solely, as she thought, for
the welfare of her adopted country,
France.
So we get no. help from history.
The Czarina's Dominating Power.
Can it be the latter-day feminist
movement that is responsible for the
present situation? 1t would be diff
cult indeed to trace a cause. Rather
has luck married in our time domi-
neering, forceful women to vacillat-
ing, weak kings, it needing but the
war to complete the story. This GER
tainly applies in the most glaring case
of all-that of the ex-empress of Rus
sia.
.'The czarina is worth an army to
the kaiser" declared an obscure Rus
sian officer one day in the lounge of
the Hotel Bristol, Warsaw That was
early in 1915, when such a remark
could only be made soto voce, when
we all went about the place talking
benevolently, nay, fervently, of the
empress's Red Cross devotion (and all
the rest of the usual sickening royal
adulation), knowing full well in our
hearts, even at that early stage, that
our heroine was a traitress.
. That is part of the king business.
You had to do it. What would have
been the fate of man stepping bold
ly into the restaurant of the Bristol
and solemnly branding the first lady
Of the land as German and trait
ress? Yet hundreds, thousands of
Germans, innocent compared with the
empress, were daily being banished as
German 'hearts" into the depth of
Siberia at its worst. Rather was this
the sort of rubbish cab I'd no ae ct
half dollar a word:
"The czarina is saint. IL un-
touched purity of purpose and pat cll'
constancy make her venerated and
adored"
(If you didn't write this you coIdn't
stay in Russia.)
This was the German woman who
went to Russia with a mandate twen-
ty-five years hefore-a mandate from
Bcrlin-and who did not hesitate, to-
ward The sunset Of her career as en-
press, to bring her young, unsullied
children into constant contact with the
most villainous rascal modern history
has produced, in order to further the
carrying out of that mandate.
Rasputin Enters Her Life.
One can picture Princess Alix as she
YVES put up for auction in the mart in
the early nineties. Wonderfully pret-
ty, in pale, sad way, delicate of skin,
charming eyes. Only too glad to leave
dull Hesse-Darmstadt and her NOR
ganatic stepmother who, as Mile. Kali
omine, used to be her bosom friend.
What offers? Queen Victoria was
very anxious that she should be
knocked down to England (thank God
she wasn'tD. But the young kaiser,
challenged strongly, won, and packed
his fair young agent off to st. Peters
burg. And this / imagine to have
been her mandate: prevent all dem
ocratic development in Russia. Foster
the German idea everywhere, so that
gradually Russia may become great,
big, nerveless offshoot of Germany.
The two countries, united, can defy
the world"
One can almost hear Bismarck
chime in: German masculinity needs
to be interbred with the feminine
Russian character" There you have
the true German speaking, the picture
of man inficting himself upon q
Continued on page two.)