AN EXTRAORDINARY RUSSIAN.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVI, Issue 80, 27 August 1914, Page 7

AN EXTRAORDINARY RUSSIAN.

c THE REAL POWER BEHIND THE THRONE. London, July 15. "Tie darkest hours of reaction in Russia nearly always bring the 'adventurer' into high places. But never has •uch a remarkable, upstart appeared as he who now stands beside the throne, of the Czar —Gregori Rasputin," says the London Chronicle's St. Petersburg , correspondent of the "lay monk mystic, intimate of the Guar and debauchee,' who has just been Htabbed by a woman while visiting his native village. He had just returned to St. Petersburg after an absence which most people hoped meant disgrace. And Ministers and notables made haste to call upon him, for he was recognised as .a supreme power at the Russian Court. A PEASANT'S SON. Rasputin is the son of a fairly wealthy peasant of Tobolsk. As a boy—3o or 40 years ago —he received little or no education; until he was 30 he led an uneventful life; then he began to exhibit signs of religious fervor and went on pilgrimage from convent to convene Here he attained some learning and a sort of reputation for piety, becoming one of the best known lay monks. In 1900, in Kasan, a powerful ecclesiastic gave him a letter of introduction to the well-known mystic, Bishop Theofan, in St. Petersburg. The Bishop and Rasputin were, soon great friends, ami the handsome, picturesque peasant 'became known to many powerful men in the capital. Soon lie had his own apartments in the Religious Academy, and in the highest society he was a popular ghostly adviser. He seems to have some hypnotic power, and, though he is yet imperfectly educated, his gift of repartee and salon-like conversation enable him to keep his circle of admirers in the very highest families. Latterly' he has abandoned the simple life for luxury; he dresses elegantly and lives in a large house in the Mayfair of the capital, where his waiting-rooms are crowded with all sorts and conditions of people—from beggar-women to society dames, from generals to moujiks. Meanwhile Bishop Theofan's friendliness had turned to envy and enmity; but Rasputin was able t" irh'c his new foe evidence of his new i "\vrr. Theofan got an order for lln oputin's exile to Siberia; the latter, on appeal to the Czar, was recalled, and swiftly his vengeance fell on the Bishop, who was dis- 1 missed to Poltowa in such haste that ' he had no time to bid farewell to his dying father. A similar encounter with the powerful Bishop Hermogen also ended in Rasputin's favor. Thenceforth Rasputin's po\ter and authority grew rapidly. Though his mode of life and his assumption of authority (he was not even ordained until last month) became a positive scandal, he held high favor in Couit circles, and had enormous influence with the Empress, and even with the Czar himself. Ministers did his bidding, and even Duma interpellations had no efThere was one great revulsion against Rasputin's dominance in the highest circles. and he was sent away from fet. jPetersburg. Before going he warned the Empress that something untoward would happen; and when the Czar's hen fell seriously ill, the Czarina, in dismay, recalled this modern Richelieu. , Still his power grew, and it is no exaggeration to say that Rasputin u> The Power behind the Russian throne to-day. No question of importance is decided by the CzaT or his Ministers without Rasputin's counsel. COURT SUBMISSIVE—'CHURCH MILITANT. At Yalta, in the Crimea, the southern scat of the Court, Rasputin has a magnificently furnished villa. Hi. nas ■brought one of his two daughters to St. Petersburg —he was married ear y m life but his wife has never left her native village-and she is now staying at a college 'hitherto roscived lor tlu daughters of aristocrats. This young ladv is now the chief companion of the Czar's daughters. -Rasputin is "lidt address his Majesty yith "thee" and "thou," a freedom not cun i triet.