Bed Pages form Tsardom.

Evening Post, Volume LXXI, Issue 47, 24 February 1906, Page 10

Bed Pages form Tsardom.

V.-TIIB WAYS 01? KUZABETH. You may think from tlio portraits writers have drawn of her that Elizabeth wns a beauty. They rhapsodise over her hnid and slumbrous oyes, her flno brow find full lips. Thoy cum up hor chnracter ns "oiw who loved pleasure." Tho portraits painted by contemporary artists aro scarcely as flnttorlng. They show a broad-fneed woman with sloopy eyoa amt a haitl mouth. On ono thing artist and writer flgreo. It Is tho face of niv indo. lent, luxurious woman. A vow of Elizabeth's is recorded. She would liavo nobody killed during her roign. An admirable- resolve that some What embarrassed public executioners. For these worthy men trod on tho thinnest of ico in tho performance, of their duties. Their tflsk to wield tho knout—with. 6ut fatal consequenco s to tear out tongues— without endangering lifoi to break human bodies nnd iprosei'YiO 0 flicker of life. Elizabeth was Peter's daughter. She had vowed nob to kill | but tlio raok, the grille, and tli6 strappado wore requisitioned contiguously. There is a story of a fair lady, Natalia, who dressed ,n pink, Pink was tho shado that best suited KliKttbeth. In con«Gq\ienco there went forth a ukase that no othor lady of tho Oourb should «pc the Tsarina, Natalia appeared in pink, and Ellaabcth boxed lror oars. Woree, she imspaoted hor of treason, and hor relatives wore seized, whipped, gouged, and racked that Elizabeth s worst suspicions should find support. * No svloh confirmation was forthcoming, but this did not prevent tlio \mfortunftte Natalia mounting tho scaffold — a few weeks before tho birth of her child— nor tho knouting that followed^ Poor beautiful Natalia smuggled as tlio executioner roughly tore her dress from her Bhouldere. She sank shrieking on tho scaffold as tho cruel thong fell upon hor whito skin. Afterwards thoy jnsroed her tonguo through with a rod. hot iron, — Eliuubeth was Fetor's own daughter, for she loved tho theatrical. Oslermann, tho fat Regent's Chancel, lor, had darned her hatred, «nd there were others, They were tried and sentenced to bo broken on the wheel. Here is the scone s Oounb o«termaun was led forward betweon «v file of soldiorsw An 'old man, bent and with grey hair falling on his shoulders. In tho bleak air of that January morning ho stood bareheaded, listening and nodding, his head as oath fresh accusation was wad out— and there were five sheets of such. He was sentenced to be brokoii on tho whoel, and tho crowd wondered since there wa» no wheel visible, In its stead was a largo block and a formidable nxe, and to this ho was led, the executioner, acting under Elizabeth's direct instructions, making tho preparation for despatch as slowly M possible lio fumbled at tho buttons of tho old t man's shirt t lio turned down t)ie oollar, then turned it up ngain j arranged and rearranged the tumbled hair. "Kneel." ■ The old man kndb and laid iiia neck on the block, and tho executioner played with tho axe. Then, as tho aged Chancellor waited, for tho blow that was to send him into eternity, an official stopped forward and announced that God and i'Hob 'Majesty gave him his life, ' ' , The whole soono had been designed and | arranged by Catherine. Ostormann raised himself painfully, buttoned his shirb, and said to the executioner i "Give me my wig and hat." As with Ostormann, so with the rest—* tho same farce, tho same- slow, awkward preparation for death, tho same reprieve. Thus Elizabeth earned the tltlo of *'tho , Clement." Peter the Oronfc had established „tho tight of Tours' to nominate tlielr suooes* sors, and it became necessary to nominate her heir, Her honrt being in the grave of a dead Qennan prince, blio ohojso his ttenhew, a Prussian, princclct with a tasto tor strong • drink , and 1 an aversion ffrom cold water. T© bin) oamo notioe of tlio Tsarina's choice, and ho hurried to St, Petersburg, a orooked boy with a receding forehead and 'fishy eyes, shuffling and grinning uncoinfprtably as tho nobles kissed his dirty hand and did him homage, A curious boy, this Potor. Stable lnd« were his boon companions, brandy was liU favourite drink, nnd playing with londen 1 soldiers hl« best«loved anuwoment, H« wore a micoosslon of uniforms mod* oiled on thoso of tho German Army, for which lid hnd a passionate admiration, In thoso uniforms he was wont to review Ma army of toy soldiers, very seriously and very consoientlonsly. Frankly, ho was hrtlf «n Imbecile. At a Very tender ago his tneto for strong drink had been remarked upon— ho had othor tastes which aro only hinted at, For him a bride wns chosen. Wolcsipwiski calls her Finchon, which, hp thinks, may havo been German for Sophia, for she, too, wns tho dnughlor of a prince shining dimly in n. cheap and obscure Gorman Court. Her molhor took her to St. Petersburg, and her mother, who was a foolish, meddling women, with nn inclination for potty intrigue, nlmost sacrificed lirr uaughtor'N prospects by boing uncomplimentary to Elianbelh. Fincbcn^embrncctl the Orthodox fnith wllb eliporful nlnnrlly, nnA^ took on tho nnmo of Cnthorlno Afterwards hor biographer christened her ' "Cnlherine the Great," and this unknown princess from Germany was destined to achieve, tho distinction of being the most TfemnrkMdo womnn in the whole liUtwy of Russia. Ruwsia, did not produco her, but it fostered her. Receptive, impressionable, Imitative, Cniberine beennto RusMinh tn thought niid ftct. Thin littlo lady from Qermmiy, who plnycd as a otilid with tho towtis-chilnren of her rmtlvo toAvti, who Ml her pood-iinturrd father benring under her nvm a xtodpy and ponderous treatise on liUlhernnism, and in her oars bin pious pxhortntionß io keep to tho paths of Protestantism— this finmo obedient, quiot child prompt^ m» torcd tho Orcok Church, promptly disro gnrded hor rarly training, became Russian in opirlt, habit, <wd dlsßolute prnc* tloo. v Onlyb.v our own fine code of domestic mornlity do wo pronmtnpo Cathprlne dissolute i judged by tho standard Hint wai applied at tho time, slip wns no worse and no belter thnn her high-placed contemporaries. She married Peter. Peter spfint tho hmioymoon confiding to her tho story of his lovo nffnlrs, invokinc her nsnistnnoo to secure the suoppow of tii« pursuits. • Tt {nijvy have been that it wns «t this period Catherine begnn Micournging the atlontlons of lw?r admirers. Tt M'fts a few ypats afterwards ihnt Eltaabetli became nlnrmcd nt the nonwrlvftl of hfrlts to th« threite, nnd gave a semi-official sanction to the attentions of ono lover, Soltykoff. T.nt<>r a ohild was born, tho OrnMrt Dttko Pntil, m«l \un whisked away by tlio Empress, who was anxious that tho heir should ho brought up under hor cyo. Cuthorino did not soo th« ohild for many months. Bko did not too Soltykoff K?aln for many

years, for ho was sent on n spcoial mission to tho Com Is of liuropo to timiounco with solemn pomp the birth of lii« son, Ono hundred thousand rubles ( was Catherine's reward for him.- It is interesting to learn that l'oter, in a furious rago at receiving nothin?,, claimed and rocoived a similar sum, With the birth of Paul begins Iho story of Onthorlno nnd her lovers. It is a sloryi which throws nn Illumln* nting light, not only upon the etnto of Russian society, but upon tho condition of tho common people. -^Jlidttnr- Wulla'CO, in tho Daily Mail.