Year: 1879

r the exception like a machine {
{ good material and well put togethe
: ,v'n c0httiiilg'e us Opeistioa ulfil
8 wears out, which in common pa
: lance. j. termed feeever. This maj
) ter may be condensed IL a nut-she
2 by the Injunction Fear God an
, keep Ills commandments, for TIM
2 is the whole duty Of man."


BRINGHURsT, SIR.
Ciarksvil'c, Sept, 1879.


THE MELANCHOLY CZAR.


HIS Coat of Mail and His "SpIen
did Prison OF State"-RussIa's
BureaucracIes.


Correspondence OF the New York World


PARIS, August 30.-I have com,


to the conclusion that Russia want


a new Peter the Great. / may have


taken this conclusion to st. Peters


burg with me. but at any rate


came away with it, as a result o
: the little saw and of the great dea


/ heard. The country is ready for q


new departure and as willing to bC


led as ever by its Cars, but il musi


be led in a new way. Alexander


now wants to lead i'm the old way


and hence all the troubles of this


part of his reign. Yet no man has


such an opportunity, for he still has


morally speaking, a kind of absolute
power. The great mass of the peO-


pie worship him as their priest and


father not less than as their lord. II


is touching, / am told, to see them


prOstrating themselves before him


in the streets, and even kissing the


ground on which he walks. This


only intensifies the awful solitude
! of his position-a solitude which


they say is driving him mad. He


meets no man on a footing of inti-


macy, not even in his sports. 1


have lately looked over hundreds of
sketches OF his daily life at court,
preserved in the albums of De Zichy,


who was for some time painter to
the imperial fifmily. Whatever the
Car may be dOing-hunting, dane
ing, dining or idling-it is always
under conditions which remind him
t at he has no true fellowship with
his kind. When he kills boar he
stands well ahead of his suite to
meet the monster, the rest being SO
disposed indeed as to help him in
case the boar should show himself
unduly forgetful of the distinctions
of etiquette.


The very Winter Palace which is
the Cars ordinary residence at St.
Petersburg is but a splendid prison
of state where six thousand titled
iailers stand between him and the
outer world. If had time should
like to describe that palace, at the
risk of travelling over ground al
ready covered by the guide books.
1t is a town within town. Its in
mates are a veritable population,
duly graded i'm the minutest subdi-
visions of official rank. The Gar,
to do him Justice, often breaks
bounds, and indeed up to a late
date he continued the habit of all
his predecessors of going out on foot
every day. But the recent attempt
on his life has changed all that and
made him more lonely than ever.
He has now fallen completely into
the hands of his advisers, and their
advice, i'm default of better, is that
he shall increase the distance be-
tween him and human nature. Be
fore that unlucky pistOl-shOt lac
went out afOOt to pay his regular
morning visit TO person in whom
he took particular interest and 10
TIVE or three laughing children who
were perhaps tine only subjects"
who could venture to treat him
with the familiarity for which his
heart must sometimes Yearn. He
was returning to the palace from
such Il visit when that madman,
with the method of Nihilism in his
madness, meeting him face to face
began to make him a target for ball
practice with a revolver. IL has
been a mystery to melt was mys-
terry to eVeryOne-how the Car
escaped with his life. The Nihilist
meant to kill him; he fired point
blank, and shot after shot. 1t was
given out that Alexander was not
once hit-no doubt TO make his
preservation appear something of
the nature of a miarcle. This was
only true in the sense that he was
hit more than once, although not
wounded. He wore shirt of very
fine strong chain mail under his
coat. 1t was made for him by Le-
blanc, of the Boulevard Magenta,
well-known Paris armorer, who
supplies the theatres for their mimic
wars, but who also knows how to
turn out work that would bear the
brunt of real one. Leblanc's first
imperial customer was the Emperor
Napoleon Ill, and it was probably
through the recommendation of
some friend of The Emperor that
Alexander, at the beginning Of the
present troubles, was led to apply
TO Leblanc for one of his patent
safety suits. The armorer's own
story is that a gentleman sought
him out and with some mystery
asked if he could make a coat Of
mail that would turn revolver
bullet. He was doubtful himself of
his own powers in this respect,
though he had already provided
Napoleon with an undershirt war
ranted to turn the edge Of knife.
But an experiment was made with
one of his best suits, and ii was
found that even Colts army re-
volyer made no impression on his
serried rings Of steel. This explains
the miracle of the Emperor's preser-
walton. Leblanc has other illustri-
Gus customers, among them Prince
Bismarck, and the confidential dis
trihutiOn of his business cards seems
to be q common courtesy among
the potentates of Europe. But the
wearing Of a coat of mail can hardly
be conducive to unallOyed cheerful
ness of disposition. The Emperor
has troubled look there is unrest
in the very fiXety OF his gaze. He
stares at you when he meets you in
the street as though he were wonder
ing with what weapon you were
going for him this time-the one
shooter, the siX-shOoter, the bomb
or the knife.


If bureaucracies could save, Rus
sia would be on the high road to
sweetness and life. She has very
perfect institutions Of this kind. |
Everything is tabulated IL nothing
is known. The system of political /
book keeping is probably the most |
perfect in the world. You cannot |
enter the country without proper
attestations from every Russian 1
official in the various towns on your I
route, and you cannot leave it with /
out direct permission from the au-