REMINISCENCES OF THE TSAR.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1307, 9 December 1911, Page 10

REMINISCENCES OF THE TSAR.

Count Semen Eodionoff, who was for two years one of the bodyguard of Tsar Nicholas 11, givos an interesting aocount in tho "Monthly Magazine Section" of his Royal master. Tho Tsar, it soenis, works very hard. Ho rises at 6evcn o'clock in tho morning and goes to bed at midnight. "After breakfast ho receives his private mail, and follows much tho . same programme that I have described'in. my account of my first day at tho Palace. Ho goes through tho newspapers or the newspaper clippings submitted by tho Chamberlain, and always ' roads 'lovoo Yrcinia' and 'Trnvitelstvcnny Ycstnik,' Russian dailies published or subventioued b.v tho Government; 'Figaro,' the 'London Times,' tho 'Now York Tribuno,' and 'Dio. Berliner Localanzeigcr.' At ono o'clock p.m. lunch is served." The rest of (ho day, according to tho Count, is spent in receiving delegates aud attending functions. Occasionally, howover, tho Tsar would unburden himself to the Count and nsk him about his impressions of England, which the Count knew. "When I travel abroad," tho Tsar is'.represented as saying,,"l am not able to see much of real life," and he pressed tho Count to give him his opinion of London and Berlin:— \

"For myself," said the Tsar, "I must confess that 1 do not care for London, Paris appeals to mo as the most fascinating city in Iho world, although I havq bran told that New York, if ono can. stand its hypocritical puritauism, is ono of the most interesting cities, German life impresses me as being too formal and too mechanical; while the English pcoplo are prosaic and 100 devoted to sports. Wo Russians aro at least frank with our virtues nnd our vices. We don't make ft fuss about the private affairs of tlie individual. There is substance and roniauce in tho Russian life."

The Tsar himself (according to tho Count) wanted to travel incognito in America while he was Tsarovitch, but his father would not allow it. According to the Count, the Tsar takes a deep, interest in social questions, but ho is_ s determined enemy of Socialism, to which, it sooms, ho traces most of the troubles of his country.

During tho latter part of October tho wholesale prico of home-grown bacon in England dromx*! ss. to Ss. per cwt. I hat is duo'" said the manager of a largo nrm of wholesale and retail provision merchants, "to the fact that the long drought has mado fodder extremely scarce. As a result the pig keepers have not been able to afford to keep their pigs, and a orgo number of animals have been slaughtered recently. This has roused a glut of bacon on tho market, and prices have, gouo down." [