PRUSSIA AND RUSSIA.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 6, Issue 281, 1 June 1917, Page 4 (Supplement)

PRUSSIA AND RUSSIA.

THE FORTUNES OF THE ROMANOFFS. FATEFUL IDEAS OF MARCH.

Almost from the beginning of the Muscovite Tsardom the issue of Prussomaniaj has been a disturbing factor in the empire. It has been tho continuing cause of revolutions, intrigue, abdications, assassinations, and the perpetuation of factions with in the empire that in the present day have brought about the fall of the greatest absolufsm in history, says a writer in the New York Herald. Largely to the resentment of the Russians at the Prussian influence two Tsars—Peter 111. and his son, Paul I.—owe their deaths by anamination. To the extent, that Prussian ism in Russia was largely responsible lor the intrenchment of autocracy, Alexander 11. also forfeited his l'fe to that malign influence, for ho fell a victim to Nihilism, which itself was born by a protest against autocracy.

rpHE history of the Tsars is a long -* word of stormy and intriguing* hvithm .the unjperial oourtf probably without parallel in the history of any other dynasty. It is replete with abdications and removals of Emperors by violent deaths, but the finst tremendous struggle of Russian sentiment against the Prussian influence, culminating in the present revolution, may be said to have begun with the death in June, 17(J2, of Peter 111., the husband of Catherine 11. The Ides of March thereafter were days to l>e well remembered by the Romanoff's, self-a-sserted sueeos-ors to the lino of Byzantine Caesars, for i& was on March 23, 1801, that Paul 1. died by the hands oi assassins, am i March 13, 1881, that Alexander 11., after four attempts on his life, finally fell a victim to a Nihilist's bomb. Tho present revolution is tho latest example of tin' fateful March days 'n the fortunes of the Romanoffs.

Smco IGOo, when Dimitri was assassinated in Moscow, four other Tsars have fallen victims to assassins. They were Peter 111., in June, 1702, Ivan VI., in 17GI; Paul L, March 23, 1801, and Alexander 11., March 13, 1881.

Paul 1., unloved child of a most discordant union, and nimself born to a heritage of woe which found a fitting end m a violent death, was the first of the rulers in the last century to fall victim of an assasin. Paul's ill-fated father, Peter 11., had been slam thirtyfive years before by order of his wife, who even before the murder had had herself proclaimed Empress Catherine 11. This brilliant woman, in order to seat herself more firmly on the throne, also had ordered the assaswsinat'on of the idiot Grand Duke Ivan, whom Peter had declared his heir and who as Ivan VI. constituted a menace! to the Empresss pretentions. Even before bis ascent to the Russian throne, Paul's life had !>een embittered and filled with dark forebodings of the f.ito that would overtake linn. He brooded over his mother's crimes to gain the throne which was his rightful heritage; ho brooded out the hate which both his father and his mother had ever expresed and shown toward him—for his father had asserted that lie was no son of his, but of either Alexis or Gregor Orloff, and his mother hated him because he was in truth Peter's son.

PAUL'S DOOM SEALED. All the gloom, bate and forebodings in Paul's nature were fostered and developed by his education, wh'ch was entrusted by his mother to her oSvn creatures, who sedulou.-ly conducted it to keep him as much as possible in ignorance of tho-c t'lnngs which might lie useful to him a.s a ruler. Flouted, deceived and lied about by the spies and insulting courtiers of Ills mother all about him, Paul's morose nature liecame accentuated, and in tho dislike tins engendered lor him in the minds of tho nobles it sealed his doom. In the murders of Paul and his father, almost forty years l>efore, there were many points of similarity. The same malign friends of his mother—the Orloffs—who had put his father out of the way were the leaders in tiie attack on Paul. These men had d'nod with Peter on the very day that they sent bun into eternity and fc.ty years later lliev dined with his son on the day that they had marked for Irs death. Peter was strangled with a napkin, Paul with the sash of an officer.

Peter's death was publi -ly proclaimed by bis regic-'ile Queen to be due to a hemorrhoidal colic, Paul's, by his weak and terror stricken son, to apoplexy. In neither ca-e were tiie Russian people fooled. It was by the direct order of Peter's wife that be was put out of tho way between her and his coveted throne. It was Paul's eldest son and hen-, the Grand Duke Alexander, who in the belief that bis father designed supplanting him with his younger brother for the. succession, signed the order for the arrest and abdication ot his sire, whi'h in the bands of the conspirators, became the Tsar's death warrant.

Paul's unpopularity with the nobles tinted from his acces.sion to the throne. It spread from the aristocracy down to the cit'zens and peasantry, and even r.ffi-i ted the clergy, the Tsar's stauivhcst allies under ordinary circumstances. Beginning with the noble- in ]>ersonal (bsbke and contempt, it became more firmly rooted throughout the Empire in indignation at the Emperor's futile and trivial efforts ai reform.

Uiit. a ■serious objection to Paul on the pan of tiie army was his Pru--so-ma-niii, which he inherited from his father, and Ids selfish and vacillating for< urn policy, by winch the national interests were made dependent on the personal wii'uis and prejudices, ol the sovereign. Uy this course lie made enemies of all the great foreign Power-, and at home estranged his generals and statesmen, who saw in his foolish policies complete isolat'on and 10-ri of prestige t,:r the Russia that under Ca-ther-inu's virile rule had become a great Kuropoan Tower. It wan his in^ter.'r on a Prussian alliance to make war on Knglaml that precipitated his a-sa-.-s ull! Kill. K11.!.F.1> IN" CARNIVAL TIMK. The .\la-n:.li/.a. the Rus-an carnival, was a time ol wild exe.-.ses for the pipula 'e and a most opportune ton ■ for tlie coiispiraLois, firmed with ihe (irand Duke's ennsent to the arre-t and ahdidt'oii of the F.:-ar. m> plot away his life and crown. On the n'trlit before tic a *sa-si nation (Jem ral Talizin, ch'ef of f.lio Imperial (liiards. cave n pirtv to which the bra\ >st :>n<\ most resolut(fentlenien amomr the Tar''- known ene'niii s were inviti d. Late in the evil in..', when the wire bad -ircolatcl IV."-

| v ; ,nd th- Lie st. were well end ' its mil:,, m e. Count P.dn-n. (iovernov 0- neral ol Si Pi li •■'-htire, ' th < ~,!„■. and addre. ,d them calloer ,„1 ,l.,ni to end the int. '• l-d.le "• 11 < 1 • - I ], n m the emir re on- 'd bv t be I'.-t < ,!,..,., ,i,s;n and tM-aiin-. "ild I' > - - wide. •.,,,-eed rebelli. n cud di-al i-f".etbin , m ,,M" all rinks of the rcon'c <]v. > ' i h', unsgovi rn:i e:i:. II- linr:ui;ri:v li d

the offwt he contemplated, and lus half-drunken aud'tors, with shouts and flourishing of swords, daggers and even chairs, demanded to l>e led bo the palace, where they swore to k'll the fool wit had disgraced the throne of the Tsars.

Paul's Winter palaco wm the Palace of St. Michael, which ho had built. Here he isolated himself in his apartments with only his most faithful servant. Count Rostopchin, and an ugly old cook who prepared his meals in a kitchen adjoining his bedroom. His wife win banished from his apartments and the doors leading from her suite to ii\s lryl be.'ii walled up. When Count Palilon left the conspirators he hastened with a detachment of cavalry and guarded one side of tJie palace. J'alizm, with ;: regiment of grenadiers, joined liim,aud together they surrounded the palace. Then the conspirators crosod the ditch on the ice and at the gates easily overpowered and disarmed ;•, battalion of soldiers who were, not in the secret and who offered a resistance, which however, did not go as far as th? liring ol a single shot. IX THE TSAR'S BEDROOM. From the gates of the palace, up windng stairways, the half-drunken and frenz'ed mob was led by Colonel Marin, commandant of the palace, up to the very doors of the Emperor's bedroom, 'lho guard was asleep on the threshold, and lie narrowly escaped witJ» his life when he essayed resistance. Escaping, ho ran down the stairs and summoned the guaj-d to arm. Rapidly from ail part of the palace they rus>liod to the door of the Tsar's room and demanded to lie taken there to his defence. But the traitorous Marin interfered and sternly called out the order to present arms. With a discipline that was second nature and transcended their fears for. their master's life, the sold'ers obeyed. In such a position no Russian soldier dared to st:r or speak. Thus Marin gave the conspirators time to seek out the Tsar and make it possible to do away with him without other interference than what the hapless monarch mi»ht offer.

lii the Tsar's bedroom the mob surged hi'h'nd I'rinco Ziibow and General Bonnuigscn, who advanced with naked swords.

"Siro," said Benning.sen to the halfawakened autocrat, who btared at the intruders with speechless surprise, "you sire my prisoner/' Then ;iS the Emperor remained silent, ho continued: "It is a question of lifo or death ior you. V'eld to c'rcunistances and hjjii this nlitlieation."

Tlio Tsar took advantage at this moment, of momentary confusion caused b\ thci jostling ami crowding of other ci aspirators eager to push forward and witness events, and sprang from the hod to a screen behind tlio stove.

Bonningsen again called on him to yield to the inevitable and to sign tlio act, U'lling lnu that h's life was at sake. I'aul, in seeking he refuge of tin* screen, had „t unruled and fallen to tlio floor. At almost the same moment there was a commotion at the door, and Ucnningson turned to see whether the newcomers were friends or foes. The Kmperor, at bay, seizin! the opportunity and'ran to a table ujkiii which lay several loaded pistols. As hi' reached for the weapons one of the conspirators struck It's hand with his sword, almost severing it. Knragod with pa.'n and with the courage of desperation, the Tsar rushed blindly upon Irs enemies, but was overborne by them and garrotted \\ ill the -ilken sa-sh of one 7. bo wore the Inipi rial livery. lUSsjIA'S K.UAXCIPATOR. I'hghly years alter the assassination 11 Paul 1., in the same month of the y.ar and lacking only » little more than n week ot the s:i d iv, Alexander 11.. Russia's ureat emancipator and cue of be:- most humane rulers, died by the hand of a N'ih'Kst. It i K one of the iTiiellest of the ironies of fate that the fir-t of the auto-rats of all the who had paved the way for some modicum of popular liberies in Riivaa shoild have bei n marked for death by t'lo of that society which boasts lilterty as its most cherished object. In the nearly MO years of the reign of N'i-holas 1.. Alexander's father. Russia bad h'e:i in th.'epasp of an autocracy so rigid and iron as almot to bo incoinprehen- ble in the nineteenth centurv.

.Veh'■!.■••. patterned his system of rrnmeiit on a model half European, hull" Asiatic, combining; with the absolute power i-.f an Oriental ruler a Miperbly drilled biireaoraey. knowing p.<i law but the Tsar's will.' He used the secret poll v, which reported directly to him; the terrors of a lifelong exile in Siberia, and secny pllll i 1 to death to keep tho people ill subjection, and to dscounijie tiiei,- assimilation of harmful ideas of reforms or constitutional government. N. w>pipes, universities, travel abroad, nr in fact, anything which might briny; his subject- in dangerous contact with mere liberal and modern ideas of so<|lv and governmenti (prevailing in oilier part., of Kuropo were anced by (lie Tsar, who repressed them u'th scvorit'es which on! van autocrat ran emplov. With all h s despotism, -which his nobles allowed to Iriii through fear, Nicholas wph a man of superior intelligence and of urea* v. ill. While Ru-.-ia. feared him, Kuropo d'd n ,t withho'd from !mn the iv-pcct due to -o potent a monarch. The disasters of trie Crimean war, undertaken in the he'/ht of Irs p iwer, haMened hi- death ;tnd ji.i--«nI on in his -on. |c-s naturally euqippod tli.m Nicholas, the heavy burdens whi--?1 had :•■ 'cumulated bee".use nt t!ie inglorious • ml . f hi- father's reign, li developed upon A!e\)ii,def to accept i!:- inevitable .-Mid lend ih • Crimean War. lie found a eujantic -\-t in of craft in the arniv and Mi other departments at the head i I which luiv high r.fncials who bad i lli< \cd the conlid. 11 •;• <f h j :, f:U In r. Al \ ii'der, by tempo: anient lib 'ral minded and v e'l intent ion< d, w illiir.Jv \ ic'dc 1 ' . t re ■ . noral clamour for relorai. and 'n cranlmu ere.:! •'• !|. ,-do'O. ;;.!<! U.e-e |lbcr. I law,' |,e .d-n, d the ih .itli warrant o r the auto -rat i< rule

which his father had fastened upon his empire.

The emancipation of millions of serfs from their bondage and placing them directly under Government authority was the crowning 2ct of a liberal policy which included the opening of the Universities, the rcscind'ng of the harsh laws aga'Ust the Press, the relaxation of the Government censorship of all publications, tho reduction to a reasonable rate for passport and an amnesty to Siberian exiles.

Tho dispersal of the. grafters in tho army and bureaus cf tho Government and the euiancipat'on of the serfs were acts no: calculated 10 delight the nobles while at tho same tune they were not comprehensive enough to satisfy the liberal party of tho Empire. The independence and unrest of tho peoplo was added to by tho increase of travel and the founding of hundreds of newspapers, periodicals and magazines which, while tiiey were presented by the ecnsorsh'p from openly criticising the Government and tho act* of its offi-ials, found a way to keep their readers posted on events in tho Empire and to expo-o the fraud, and abuses in official life

INFLUENCED FROM OUTSIDE. Wii.it tiio newspapers published in Uussia dared not openly print, however, revclut'onary journals pubisbod outside tlie Bin pi iv by Ktrssians in exile did not fear boldh to proclaim. Despite tne ng:d efforts ol the censorship and the ever present secret police these inflammatory journals were smuggled into the Empire and widely circulated. The rati cat and revolutionary do-trines which they disseminated had inic.-h to do with tho creation of a state of leeli:ig wh To Alexander's assassination became fori doomed.

Tiir first Xih'list attempt on the Tsar's 1 'to was in 1866 by Karaskow, but the trial proved t:iat it was not an organised plot but merely tho reside of the would-be assassin's hatred of authority. Twelve years later an attempt was made !>y Vera Sassoulitch to kill the Minister ef Police, General TrepofF. The >< mig woman was acquitted by a jury, and tliV very general sympathy for the accused enraged the Tsar and caused a reaction in his liberal tendencies.

Tho measures of repres>'on that he now promulgated in the attempt to stamp out radicalism and curb the (.rowth of a dangerous independence liad come too kite, however, after tho people had had a brief taste of popular liltertie-s. Moreover, the autoeraey of tea; - which tin- strung and relentless Nicholas ii.id impo. Ed on his subjects d'ed with his death, and Alexander, in re humane and less mentally endowed, lacked his father's stern and dominant personality. Where his faih;-r had commanded, lie was on the defensive, and public muttering-, and cLinpla'nt. at his role multiplied.

Alexander's second escape from death by aii a-ssassin occurred April 14. In!*. He was seated in an open carnage mi the mi ruing of that day in I rout of the palace ol his Secretary of State, when Alexander Sokoloff, a

••liikl teacher, approached, unnoticod liy the Tsar's escort and fired tour shots pom blank at the Tsar. All of them missed the sovereign, and tlvo asKissm wu.. quickly overpowered, but not before ho h;d tiny) a fifth shot, which wounded one of tlic attendants. Sokoloff had cnncoalod under his armpit-, by moans of wax, two po'son pellets, one of winch he succeeded in swallowing. An antidote was administered immodiiiU'ly by h : n captors, and iho lived to bo iried'and put'to death. His trial did not mi '<vil in uncovering any conspirators with him Hi tlio plot. A th'rd attempt on Alexander's life was made on the occasion of his return bv rail I loin Livadiii to St. in !)(voniiHT. l7S!t. The groaU-st pre- ( uiti, u- bad been t;ikon against such an attempt. The ra'lroad tracks were K u-irded mi either side by <old"ors>, and detectives scoured the country for miles ■ n both -ides along the route. Troops [iiiai-dod every station and crossing, ami the Kinporor travelled in an armoured ear. H.- had reached Moscow in safety wlnn. ton minutes; alter his arrival, a mine -barged with dynam'to exploded under the ra'ls near tfie station. Although the explosion threw -even or eiizht < ars off the nils, no one was hurt. The mine had lecu -ot to explode ath>> seiond tram parsed. th> conspirator- -up',K s'n- the Kni]>eror would '>" on t'v trr'n. The , hanv in t.'ie ord-r of t'.ie tram . -.nod him.

Two innoths later, a' the Emperor put--red h's dining room in the Winter Piila- i at St. Petor-hiirg al seven o' , [,. '. m tie ecvniii'i. there was r. dynnn,ii •' ..xp'iwion mid :■ the hill of the Imp; r al Guards.