ANECDOTAL PHOTOGRAPHS.

Lyttelton Times, Volume LVII, Issue 6510, 7 January 1882, Page 3

ANECDOTAL PHOTOGRAPHS.

Genbbal Ignatieff, (Truth.) The Turks called him the "Father of Lies" when he ruled over them in Constantinople. To estimate the fall value of the compliment, one must remember that Ottoman functionaries yield to none under the sun in their appreciation of the varied uses to which language may be applied, whether to promise more than you intend to perform, or to threaten that which you never mean to execute ; whether to screen the guilty or to malign the just. Dulce et decorum est pro patrid mentiri is the version of the Codex Musooviticus, and General Ignatieff has merited the praise of the purest patriotism. No Bussian has played more skilfully with words for the benefit of his country—or rather of his Imperial masters, seeing that Buisia herself gains nothing, and to many seems to lose, by each successive acquisition of territory or influence to the Czar. The name of Ignatieff began to be heard of in 1825, when Paul, father of Nicholas, showed his wit by declaring himself on the wincing side in the midst of a revolutionary crisis, and before the rest of the world knew that it was the winning side. Everyone remembers the troubles at the accession of Nicholas. Al though the Emperor's elder brother Constantino had resigned his rights in the former's favour, he was rather sorry he had done so, and some of his friends, with a few unhappy Liberals, attempted to contest the new sovereign's title. Naturally everything depended on the troops in St. Petersburg, It was then that Captain Ignatieff, having rapidly, but carefully, examined the situation, made his company take the oath of allegiance to Nicholas. It was the first company sworn, but the whole army of the capital hastened to follow suit. A subordinate officer ha! acted with energy, and the cause was won. Nicholas was never accused of ingratitude, and Paul Ignatieff became the man whom he delighted to honour.

Nicholas Paulovitch, born in 1832, received his baptismal name from the Czar, who stood godfather, and took a serious view of his duties towards the child. Little Nicholas waß put into the Corpe of Pages, and received an excellent education and lots of pocketmoney. On leaving school he passed so brilliant an examination as to win the distinction of having his name inscribed on the marble " Tablet of Honour." Being now seventeen, he was appointed to a cornetcy in the Hussars of the Guard; but obtained permission to be detached for a course of special study at the Military Academy. This lasted two years, and ended in a Bussian equivalent for Senior Wranglership, with inscription on another marble table. The Admirable Crichton wbb forthwith gazetted a Captain of Cavalry and placed on the General Staff. A smart-looking lad, he was as fond of pleasure as of work, but had his own notions of pleasure, which were not crapulous. He loved tea, scandal, and the society of ladies, whether young or old, ugly or pretty. Following the advice of Sheridan (the elder), he made love to every woman he mot; to some, because it amused him, to others, that they might be of usa to him. A prudent youth, he made what serious persons called his folives subservient to his interests; and he has been credited with an adventure very similar to that which laid the foundation of Marlborough's fortune. Ignatieff, however, needed no payment for agility in jumping out oi windows, Niohqlas being always generous. " If you want money," his majesty would Bay, " come to me. Only don't get into debt." Indeed, his majesty would not have hesitated to punish his godson, had he disobeyed his peremptory command. There is a story that the Czar imprisoned another young favourite, who was going wrong, for three months in a fortress, allowing him nothing but bread and water the while, and that the correction proved of inestimable service to the youth. There would have been nothing extraordinary, to the Bussian mind of thirty years ago, in the Father of his People acting thus. Ignatieff required no Buoh proof of his Sovereign's affection; but the time came when his luck seemed to have deserted him, though it was soon to return. The war with Turkey broke out and deepened into a war witL the Western Power*. Yet he was not ordered southward. While Todleben, a shop keeper's son, covered himself with glory, and roße, in twelve months, from captain's to major-general's rank, Ignatieff, the well-con-nected, was condemned to bore himself wellnigh to death in the Baltic provinces and in Finland. Possibly the Bussian Government perceived that the young officer's tongue would be more useful than his sword. Hostilities over, he was named Military Attaohe* in London. The new Emperor continued the kindness of the last. On giving him his appointment, Alexander graciously said, " You know, Nicholas Paulovitch, you must not leavo us yet. I wish you to stay for my coronation." On the solemn day, Aug. 26, (Sept. 7), 1856, the Emperor further presented him with a Colonel's commission, nod sent him on his way rejoicing. He had risen nearly as high has Todleben after all, having seen no severer fighting than a third- | rate bombardment. And he was but twenty- ' four, while Todleben was thirty-eight years of age. The remainder of his career has been ! crowded with various employments, each of i whioh has added a deooration to his ooat. He I is now a full General and a Count, the latter I dignity being derived from his father, who obtained a hereditary title in 1877. The same year Ignatieff senior bocame President of the Committee of Ministers, a body not to be confounded with a Cabicet. The President is an exalted personage, with nothing to comElain of in respeot of pay and allowances ; ut he and his colleagues are consulted by the Osar whenever it is the Czar's good pleasure—and no oftener. Thero is no such thing as a Cabinet of St. Petersburg, though there is an Imperial smoking-room, where business of State is none the less efficiently, Because informally, transacted. One secret of Ignatieff's success in life is not difficult to discover. He has made the most of every business confided to him. For instance, while Military Attache* in London, he might have contented himself with a regular series of official reports on the English army, and the tolerably easy task of rendering himself agreeable to English sooiety. Buisia had no idea of fighting again for many

a day, and in the ordinary coarse of things, I{4ii<uieffi reports would have attracted as , little attention as the celebrated despatch** : of Colonel Stoffel, which seemed so wearisome to the French Minister of War that that light-hearted personage ended by not reading them at all. Ignatieff drew up a lively paper on England's military position in India, in which tho dryness of figures was : agreeably relieved with fancies, , And native cheek, I Where tacts were;weak, added largely to his reputation. There was 1 none of the pessimism which repelled in poor ! Stoffel and caused his documents to be I hastily consigned to pigeon-holes. Ignatieff flattered the Czar with the prospect, if not of invading India, yet of giving England plenty of trouble in that quarter. Hr took /m»r, too, that Majesty itself should bo-'' :■•■■'< >•■'>. hiu performance ; and g't a ! ■■■-.<■ ".vj.-t to induce the most indolent of >■ --i "• 1,-ruse it. Alexander read, admirer ••!•'' sent for Igna ieff from Londoi <■> w .- „■,» to j talk over plant of conquest. j Among the more importar' <f f?r>a?iefPa ! other appointments have bee-- l>u> riii-*ioj*to Pekin (in 1860) and to Oor.fiimlmople. In the Celestial capital ha acted as a kind of arbitrator between the Chinese authorities and the chiefs of the Anglo-French expedition; and persuaded poor Hiene-Fung's Government to surrender over 100,000 square miles of territory—i.e., considerably more than the area of Great' Britain—to Russia. Wh7 the Czar should wish to take their land, the Mandarins could not exactly make out; but they knew all about paper roubles, and liked them well enough, in spite of the lose on the exchange. Ho did the Turks. Ignatieff, named Minister in 1864 and Ambassador in 1867, trusted as much to the plain method of gift* for a valuable consideration as to the artifice of rhetoric; and there he had a distinct advantage over his euccetaive rivals, Sir Henry Bulwer, Lord Lyons, Sir Henry Elliot, and Lord Salisbury. These gentlemen could only draw from an extremely limited secret-serviee fund, or from their own pockets (as English Ambassadors have done before now), with the additional risk of being disavowed if found out IgnattefPs master could always find money to oorrupt a Turk, or encourage a ballet-dancer in welldoing. As to Ignatieff himself, he holds that " all is fair in dealings with women, Orientals, or Rnelwhmen."