A HAPLESS WIFE.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 303, 1 February 1910, Page 2

A HAPLESS WIFE.

The news received from St. Peters- j burg that the Czarina is standing 011 the ' brink of the grave has caused no surprise to those who know the conditions under which her Majesty lias lived ever since her marriage. There is no more pitiful tragedy in the history of any royal house, than the story of the unhappy Empress, who has for years been dying of terror (writes the London correspondent of a contemporary). The Empress' of Russia is the youngest daughter of the Grand Duc-hess Alice of Hesse, and after her mother's death she was cared for by Queen Victoria. She was so happy and bright as a child that her mother called her '"Sunny." Married at twenty-two, the rigorous etiquette of the Russian Court changed the entire course of her life. She missed i the freedom and Simplicity of Balmoral [ and Darmstdt, and the atmosphere of I suspicion and distrust which pervaded jeven the innermost circles of Russian I Court life did much to embitter her. She has been a devoted wife and mother, but even her domestic life brought her sorrow. For years the Czar longed for a son, but the Czar's family of daughters increased, and the Czarina grew more and more melancholy. At last, when the hopes of the Czar were realised and the Czarevitch Alexis was born, [the Empress' joy was followed by even more -profound dejection, for attempts were made to kidnap the child, and the precautions taken to protect the Imperial family from anarchical attacks had to be redoubled. The Czarinas life was one long nightmare. She was constantly oppressed by the fear that something might happen to her little son. Even the most trusted servants of the Imperial entourage came under her suspicion, and during the first three years of the infant Czarevitch's life she could hardly be persuaded to abandon custody of her son's person for an hour. All the f- od given him was prepared under her own supervision, and the child partook of nothing until his mother had first tasted it. After the assassination of the Grand Duke Sergius at Moscow, her Majesty could not sleep without the aid of opiates, for a week, and after the funeral of the Grand Duke Alexis, to attend which she took a long railway journey, she collapsed, and for a time it was feared her reason had gone. The recent visit of the Russian royal family to Italy reduced the Czarina to the verge of imbecility, so great was her terror of bomb outrages by the way. From the effects of that journey, with its constant menace, the Czarina has never recovered, and apparently the only release from the reign of terror beneath which she lias lived must cc-.ie through hopeless imbecility or death. The very beggar in the street can afford to jpity the hapless wife of "the Little Father."