Evening star., 1923-08-12
BY THE MARaUIsE DE FoNTExOy.

Countess George Won Nuremberg.
who before her marriage was Prin-
cess Olga Yourievska. and her young
er sister. Catherine widow of Prince
Alexander Bariatinski. and whose sub
seQuent marriage to Prince Sergius
Obolinski has now been annulled since
which time she has resumed her maiden
name of Princess YourIevska, have OBJ
tained from the French court an in
junction restraining the publication
by NJ. Markoff If the correspondence of
the late Gar Alexander ii with their
mother and also of the greater port ion
of his diaries. The two princesses in
question are the daughters of the en-
peror who abolished serfdom in Russia,
and of his favorite, Princess Catherine
| Dolgorcuka, whom he married NOR
ganatically in 1880. Immediately on the
death of his consort, the Czarina Marie
! Alesandrowna, and only few months
before he was blown TO pieces at Petro-
grad by nihilist bombs. Al the time
Of the morGanatic marriage the two
princesses were. respectively. seven and
two years old. while their only brother.
the late Prince George. who died in
! 1918, was eight years of age. That is
| to say, they were all born out of we'd
lock and while their fathers imperial
consort, the Czarina Marie, was still
! living.
X X X
The two princesses have taken the
ground that II would be distressing to
the surviving members of the formerly
reigning house Of Russia If this private
correspondence and the personal dia-
| ries of Alexander II, which. assuredly,
he never intended for publication, were
| made public by NJ. Markoff, more espe-
cially as they contained a multitude of
family revelations and political dis
closures of nature to embarraSs the
French and other governments that were
| friendly TO the Muscovite Empire in
those nte-revolutionary days The
! French courts have now granted the in
| junction. taking into consideration the
| manner in which Barkoff acquired the
documents.
| 1t was known during the lifetime of
| Alexander ii that, like the late EN-
peror Frederick of Germany, he had
| been keeping a diary throughout the
over quarter of a century, and i'm
mediately on his death his son and sue
cessor, Alexander ILL., ordered Gen.
Count Adlerberg, who had been the
most trusted member of the household
| of his father, to bring to him all the
! latter's diaries. The general reported
| that he could not find any trace of them
and that he was unable to obtain any
| Princess Yourievska, who, being under
! orders to leave the country with her
children. never to return, was not in
clined to help. and professed complete
ignorance on the subject. The search
for her belongings, on her departure
before the funeral, failed to reveal either
the diaries or any collection of letters
| addressed to her by the dead emperor
| ana Count Adierberg seems to have
| ended by persuadlng Alexander III that
| the diaries had been deStroyed
x X
| Early in the present century the
Grand Duke Nicholas Michaelovitch,
\ the most literary member of the
reigning house of Russia, who was
| the president of the National Society
Of History of Russia wrote to the
late Princess Yourievska. He ask
ed her whether the diaries were in
her possession. and. if so, whether
! she would authorize him to prepare
| them for publication as well as any
| of the letters written to her by Alex
| ander ii which she might feel dis
posed to intrust to him for the pur-
pose. His request was indorsed by
the late Emperor Nicholas II, who of
| fered to remunerate the princess
very handsomely for whatever claims
| she might have to the copyright. But
| the princess, while not denying that
| some of the diaries were in her pos
session. refused to part either with
| them or with the collection of letters
| which had been addressed to her by
| Alexander ii during the nearly ten
years she was living with him as his
mistress, prior 10 the death of his
wife Incidentally, she revealed that
| she had deposited the documents. for
safety in the vaults of the Bank of
England.
Not long afterward it was like
wise ascertained that several Of