The Fielding Star. OROUA & KIWITEA COUNTIES GAZETTE. Published Daily. WEDNESDAY, OCT 30, 1894. THE CZAR.

Feilding Star, Volume XVI, Issue 107, 31 October 1894, Page 2

The Fielding Star. OROUA & KIWITEA COUNTIES GAZETTE. Published Daily. WEDNESDAY, OCT 30, 1894. THE CZAR.

" Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown." Our contemporary the Auckland Herald in an article on the subject of the illness of the Czar of Russia says: — Sorrow and affliction have fallen upon the Imperial House of Koman of Holeteiu, and the shadow of approaching death has spread over the Russian Empire. The life of the Czar " drawetb nigh unto the grave " ; the Empress who has long been a prey to melancholia, is seriously ill, and the Grand Duke George, their " well-beloved son," is stricken with consumption, and is apparently beyond the hope of recovery. The angel of death hovers over the Imperial Palace of Livadia, and to-day there is gatherod there, amidst all its magni ticeuce and splendour, as sorrowful a household as is to be found in all Russia. The Czar is slowly sinking and although while there is life there is hopo, the chances of his recovery are very faint indeed. It is significant of the momentous issues which are believed, rightly or wrongly, to hang upon the life of this one man, that all the continental Bourses are paralysed, andEuropeisuwaitiDg with something like dread and dismay foi the news from the sick chamber that will tell that all is over. No one, of courso, can predict with certainty what will happen in the event of the Czar's death The Czarewitch is a young man of untried capacity. But the tradition of Czardom and the policy of it do not depend largely upon the individual character of the occupant of the throne. The destinies of the great Empire are shaped and moulded by the Statesmen who surround the Emperor. "When the present Czar caino to the throne it was thought that a new era was about to dawn for Russia, for he had shown ; himself to be imbued with the spirit of reform. But the hopes that were raised have not been realised. Whether the fears that are now excited at the prospect of his son's accession will be justified by events time alone can show.