Evening star., 1923-06-01
BY THE MARaUIsE DE FONTENoY

IL
When the great Talleyrand, during
the early days of the French revolution
at the close of the eighteenth century,
abandoned the cause of the old nobility
to which he belonged by birth and cut
himself adrift from his ties with the
church in which he held the rank of
Bishop Of Autun, to ally himself with
the terrorists and to their leaders, he
explained then and afterward that he
did so because he thought it was the
best way of serving the cause of France,
and that his love for his country
prompted him to make any sacrifice of
prejudice, tradition and of conscience.
A similar excuse is being put forward
by a considerable number of Muscovite
mobiles and former dignitaries of the
empire by way of explanation for their
acceptance of service under the soviet
government at Moscow.
1t is the plea which Prince Michael
Gortchakoff. grandson Of the celebrated
chancellor of Russia during the greater
part of the eighteenth century, has put
forward to account for his appearance
at the head of the soviet trade mission
at Rome in succession to NJ. Vorovsky,
who was killed the other day at Lau-
same while acting as Russian delegate
at the international conference still in
session there. Prince Gortchakoff, it
has now become known, has been serv-
ing for a considerable time past as the
principal lieutenant of the ill-fated
Vorovsky, keeping in the background,
and it is only the killing of his chief as
an act of vengeance that has brought
him into the limelight-
X X
The Gortchakoffs are among the most,
ancient families Of Russia, tracing back
their ancestry in an unbroken line to
st. Michael, Prince of Chernigow, who
in 1916 was put to death under circum-
stances of indescribable cruelty by the
Mongols; also to st. Vladimir. and to
Rurik, the first grand duke of Russia
and founder Of the Muscovite monarchy
in A. D. $40.
Their name figures on almost every
page OF Russian history, their lineage
being considered as vying in luster with
that of the imperial. house of Romanoff.
Andrew and Alexander Gortchakoff
played a leading part in the disasters
inflicted upon the first Napoleon on the
| occasion of his disastrous invasion Of
Russia. Peter imposed the treaty of
Adrianople upon the Turks nearly one
hundred years ago and lived to COM
mand the 9Th Army Corps in the
Crimea at the battles of Alma and
Inkerman. Michael was the hero of the
defense of Sebastopol, and Alexander
was the statesman and the chancellor
of Russia throughout the reigns of
Nicholas and of Alexander III. 1t was
he who made the remarkable announce
ment some sixty years ago that Russia
! proposed, for internal reasons, to keep
herself as free as possible from compn-
cations abroad and to avoid foreign en-
tanglements.' at the same time issuing
the historic phrase, La Russie ne boude
pas. Ellie Sc recueille" (Russia is not
sulking, she is merely refiecting). But
he found 1t quite impossible to adhere
| to this publicly proclaimed policy, which
presented just as many difficulties as
that of which the foes of the present
administration at Washington are Seek
| ing to impose upon the. President and
upon his government, and the following
twenty years was particularly fertile
| in foreign entanglements for Russia,
| from which she could not escape, and
which ultimately landed her in the
Balkan war Of 1S76-1877. Circumstances
| were too strong even for this most mas
terful and autocratic Of Russia's master
statesman.
ouI tHC piCStiSS dllu the IuSl6r OF
his name and of that of his cousins,
the other Princes of Gortchakoff
| enumerated above. have sadly waned
since his death. Indeed, it is no ex-
aggeration to assert that it has been
dragged into the mud. Thus the
younger son of the old chancellor,
who, through the influence of his
father, represented Russia for q time
in Switzerland and in Spain. conduct
ed himself in such a. fashion as to
incur the social ostracism of his Dip
lomatic colleagues and to render, his
But the one of the family most to