The Fearless Czarina.

Hokitika Guardian, 6 February 1922, Page 4

The Fearless Czarina.

INNER STORY OF A SAD LIFE.

BOOK ‘FROM THE GRAVE?

* ‘'‘Thirteen Years at the Russian Court” is a book of extraordinary human interest and of the first histdrical importance/ It is the only au- j thentic and intimate account- of the . Russian Sovereigns from one who j ‘shared their family life in greatness , und in captivity, and is the. solitary , Survivor of the party imprisoned with j them at Tobolsk. \ ,j The author, M. Pierre GUliard, was j ‘French tutor to the Czarevitch, and was reported in the earlier accounts of the murder of the Imperial family to have perished with theni at Ekaterinburg. It was no fault of his that he was" not with them at the last; the Bolsheviks parted him from them a few weeks before the final tragedy, ,and thus he has come back as from the grave to defend their memory and to vindicate the Empress from cruel wrong.

In September 1920, after staying three years in Siberia-, I was able to return to Europe. My mind was still full of the poignant drama with which T had been closely associated, but I was also still deeply impressed by the wonderful serenity and flaming faith of those who had been its victims. To rehabilitate the moral character of the Russian Sovereigns was a duty—a duty called for bv honesty and justice, i ENGLISH IN HER WAYS.

The Empress was never in sympathy with the Germans, and the foul stories about her relations with Rasputin were rejected even by Kerensky’s commission, which .soug-ht in every possible way to blacken her character. The French Ambassador in Petrograd thus described her: Her. education, upbringing, her intellectual and moral outlook were entirely English. She was English in appearance and bearing, in a certain eleiment of reserve and Puritanism, in the intractable and militant austerity of her conscience, and lastly in many ‘of her personal habits. When the proposal for her marriage to the Czar arrived “she showed signs ,of hesitation.” Her first visit to Petrograd was behind the coffin of Alexander 111., and the Russians said, “she brings misfortune.” Nor did she win the affection of her subjects: -She. never succeeded in being! nieiely. amiable. The fact is that the Czaiina was nothing if not sincere. Every word from her lips was the true expression of her real feelings. She adopted a habit of distant reserve, which was taken for haughtiness and con-

tempt. Her one consolation was in her child, the Czarevitch.

It was discovered that he had hne,niophi]ia (bleeding which could not he shopped from the slightest injury). ’From that moment the mother’s life was simply one dreadful agony. From her childhood she had heard it spoken of as a dreadful and mysterious thing against which men were powerless. And now her only son, the child she loved morel than anything else on earth, was affected. When the mother realised that no human aid could save, her last hope wag in God, It was then that Rasputin, a simple Siberian peasant, was brought to her, and he said: “Believe in the power .of my prayers; believe in my help and your son will live.” ; TRADED ON HTR DESPATR. ’ Thai, and nothing else, was the secret, of the influence of this being, who “displayed a blend of mysticism and ■erotomania” and traded on the Empress's despair. For she knew her son had inherited his complaint from her.

Tho outbreak of war fell on the Imperial Family like the tolling of a funeral bell:

1 The Czar appeared (at supper with ■his famiy) and told them that war 1 was declared, in » voice which betrayed his agitation, notwithstanding all his efforts. On learning the news the Czarina began to weep, and the grand duchesses like-wise dissolved into tears on seeing their mother’s distress. The Czarina already divined that she would he tho victim of the wai. She told M. Gilliard: I have never liked the Emperor William, if only because he is not sincere. He is vain and has always played the comedian. He was always reproaching me with doing nothing for Germany. He will, never forgive me this war. Whatever has b a PP ene .d to the Germany of my childhood? Prussia has meant Germany’s ruin.

As for the Czar,, seen at close quarters.

He was shy,, and retiring by nature. He belonged to the category of human beings who are always hesitating because they are too diffident and are ever slow to impose their will on others because .they are too gentle and sensitive. He had little faith in himself and iniagined that he was one of the unlucky ones. ' A TRAGIC OMEN.

, Rasputin’s murder came on the Empress, like a thunderbolt: Her agonised features betray,ed how terribly she \vas suffering. Her idol had ...been shattered., He, who alone could saye her son had been slain. Now that he had gone, any misfortune any catastrophe,, wa S( possible. , She w?s absent from the Czar .at the , revolution and his abdication: The Czarina's despair almost defied imagination, but her great .courage did not desert her. Her face wafp terrible to spe, but w;ith. a strength of will which, ,>vas almost , super human,, she forced herself to come fjo the rooms as, usual. She reached the extreme limit of human resistance in thjs last trial, in which originated that wonderful and radiant serenity which was to sustain her and her family to the day of their death. It was a tragic omen that in her room h"ng a tapestry presented by the French Government, showing Marie Antoinette and her children, a parallel to her own, cage, which ipust have been constantly in, her mind. ,The period of imprisonment began. The were insulted by Kerensky, who “arrived in one of the Czar’s private , cars,,, driven by a chauffeur from the-, imperial .garage,” and .at-1

tempted to separate her 1 from her family, and from her sick child. Always in this growing martyrdom, the Czar and his wife showed, perfect calm; no word of complaint rose from them, though they must have remembered Charles I.’s s ad reflection, “the prisons of Princes are not far from thengraves.” They were removed to a new prison in Tobolsk, where their chief pleasure was in evening tea-pai-ties. • Gen. Tatischef (one of the Czar s aides-de-camp), with a frankness justified by the circumstances, expressed his surprise, at finding how intimate and affectionate was the family, life of the Czar and' Czarina and their children. The Czar smiling at the Czarina, said, “You hear what Tatischef says?” Then, with his usual good humour tinged with a touch of ironj, he added:. “You have been m y i aide-de-camp, Tatischef, and had ever I so many opportunities of observing .us. If you know so little about us, how can .you .expect us to blarnb the | jnewspapers for what they say alfout us?” ... ■ . • 1 7 german executioners. When it wa9 believed that the German Qpvernmept was demanding their I surrender to Germany unharmed, the Empress’s wprds were: “After what they have dcute to the Czar, I mould rather die in Russia than be saved by the Germans.” This scornful repudiation was probably the true cause of the Ekaterinburg' murders. The Russian Sovereigns were slaughtered because, they were faithful to the Allies. When the order of the Bolsheviks for their, removal to Ekaterinburg was given, the author quotes from

his diary this passage: 1 Jlie Czar and Czarina are calm and collected. It is apparent that they are prepared for any sacrifice, even of 'their lives, if : God in His inscrutable 'wisdom should require it for the country’s welfare. They have never shown 'greater kindness or solicitude. At the last farewell those about them I '.broke into tears,- The author saw them no more. Some weeks later he visited the room where they had met their death, of which he gives . full and authentic particulars: •' The appearance of the room was sinister beyond expression. The only light filtered through a barred window at the height of a man’s head. The-walls showed numerous traces of bullets and bayonet scars. To the last they were brave: They had kept that wonderful faith which at Tobolsk had been the admiration of their entourage and which had given them such strength, such serenity in sufforing. They were already almost entirely detached from this world. The Czarina and grand, duchesses could often he heard singing religious airs; which affected their guards in spite of themselves. Of their exeoutionera seven were Germans. But to the victims there was no bitterness in death; it came as a release from agony and humiliation, and in that release they were not divided. The supreme tragedy is relieved by their calm and heroism, ‘against which violence and passion can avail nothing and which triumphs unto death.”