Character Sketch of the Czar.

Oamaru Mail, Volume XIX, Issue 6089, 1 November 1894, Page 4

Character Sketch of the Czar.

From a somewhat rhapsodical character sketch of Alexander 111., written by Mr W. T. Stead, a pronounced Russophile, for the Review of Reviews, we make the following selections, which will be read •with interest at the present time : TE£H PEAC'E-KEEE'EE of E TROPE. The Czar is not Peter the Great, and however much we might wish him to be Peter Redivivus, if it were put to the vote of the masses of his subjects, there would he an overwhelming majority in favor of his being as he is. In that sense the Czar is a democratic sovereign. The one idea of his subjects is that if anything goes wrong, it is because the Czar has too little power, not because he has too much. In one respect the world has good reason to rejoice that the power of Alexander 111. is absolute. The one organised force in .Russia is the army. The Russian officers constitute an educated, disciplined body of men, whose professional training and whose natural instincts lead tlipm to desire war. The Russian army will not have its magazine ritles before 1594, and till then, even the Russian lire-eater probably would prefer to postpone war. But after the new rifle is in the hands of every private ; then, " To Berlin, co "Vienna, or to Constantinople !" So say the Russian Jingoes, and it is easy to see that if the Czar were weak or warlike, Russia would be a menace to the peace of Europe. Fortunately, however, neither General ObrutschetT, nor General Tannoffsky, nor General Gourko counts for anything excepting so far as they are supported by the Czar. Alexander ITT., although a million of men would march at his bidding, is obstinately, resolutely, fanatically peaceful. Not until his successor sits on the Russian throne, will Europe know how much it owes to that strong, silent man who, for the last ten years, has earned for himself the blessing of the peace-maker. HIS VUi:lTfON\ The Emperor has a horror of war. lie commanded, as Czarewitch, the army of the Lom in the Bulgarian cimmijii. and he saw enough of the realities of campaigning to recoil with hi< whole soul from the thought of war. The kindly human affections of a good per <lk frnnille. which are so strong in him, intensify the repugnance with which he contemplates any and every disturbance of the peace. It is his ambition, one of his Ministers remarked to me, not to be a great sovereign of a great people, whose reign was unstained by a single war. He is not for peace at any price, but for peace at almost, any price compatible with national honor ami (lie defence of the interests of Russia, ivhicli have been committed to his care. Since he came to j the throne, his voice, his influence, his '

authority have constantly been devoted to prevent war. He is the natural ally, alike by constitution and by conviction, of any Power that honestly seeks to maintain the Peace. . . . Alexander HI. is his own Foreign Minister. When I remarked to M. de Giers that his policy had inspired even the English with confidence in the honesty and sincerity of his desire for peace and good relations, he hastened to interrupt me in order to declare that in everything he had done he only represented the Emperor. Hence the immense importance which attaches to the personality of the Czar. As long as he reigns it will be his convictions, his ideas, which will influence the course of Russian foreign policy; and it is with him that we have to do. THE CZAR AT HOME. In the Russian Windsor, at Gatschina, by the seaside at Peterhof, or in the Danish home at Copenhagen, the Emperor delights for a time to forget the cares of State in the society of his wife and children. He is perfectly idolised by his family, and all those who serve him in any way are overflowing in praise of his kindly, unassuming disposition. A devoted husband, whom not even his worst enemies have ever accused of a single fault against his wife, he is a most affectionate father, the companion and friends of his boys. Few more pleasant scenes were described to me during my stay in Russia than that of the Czar of All the Russias officiating as master of the children's revels in the happy family party that assembled last autumn at Copenhagen, superintending all their names and participating in all the boyish sport. There was no romp so great as he. There were the English children, and the Greeks, and his own ; and a royal time they seem to have had of it. To these Princes aud Princesses His Imperial Majesty was merely " Uncle Sasha," aud it was " Uncle Sasha ! Uncle Sasha !" all over the place. Sometimes he would stand up in the midst of the merry throng and challenge the youngsters to pull him clown. One after another, and then altogether, the bevy of Princes and Princesses, grandchildren of the King of Denmark, would wrestle with the Czar and try to throw him over. But although the struggle lasted until the whole party streamed with perspiration, and the gardens rang with merry laughter, the Emperor never was thrown. The Greek Princes are as sons of Anak, but the Czar is as Hercules for strength I aud muscle, aud " Uncle Sasha " always stood his ground. HIS IKO>" NERVE. The Emperor is a strong man, who takes short views. He sees what he believes to be his duty from day to day, I and he does it honestly to the best of his ability, in the spirit of the maxim " sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof," and in the faith that strength sufficient for the day will be given him from on Hi«h. It is a different feeling from that which prompted Metternich's saying, "Apres moi le deluge," for the Emperor feels that he and his are in the hands of God, who alone sees the end from the beginning, and will find tools to carry on his' work when the day comes for that work to be done. That deep, sileut, but abiding conviction has grown much upon the Emperor of late years. In his youth when he never expected to ascend the throne, for which his.elder brother, to whom he was passionately attached, was carefully trained and educated, while his own education was comparatively neglected, he was full of high and buoyant spirits, headstrong, and vehement. But since his brother's death, and the shadows of the great responsibilities which overhang the throne darkened over him, he has become more and more deeply impressed with a sense of the invisible and eternal world into which at any moment he may be hurled. The Emperor was summoned to the throne by a charge of dynamite, and he also lives and reiirns in the constant shadow of the fate which overtook his beloved father. People do not speak about it, but the shadow is there, and the Emperor knows it, but he goes about his daily work cheerful and unperturbed. When in ISS7 the Nihilist attempt of March 13 came within a hairbreadth of success, the Emperor displayed the most absolute self-command. The whole Imperial family were to have been blown up on their way to the fortress of St. Peter and Paul when they went to the service j in commemoration of the death of AlexSander 11. It was at the station that the j Emperor was informed that he had just escaped by the skin of his teeth from a I catastrophe similar to that which had destroyed his father. He went down to Gatschina with his wife and children, laughing and talking in the carriage as if nothing had happened. Not until the children had left for the Palace, and the Emperor and his wife were driving alone through the park, did he break the news to the Empress. She, poor thing, of less iron nerve than her husband, broke down utterly and wept. Small wonder that a woman to whom thus suddenly has been revealed the charged mine over which she had so lately passed, shuddered with horror. Not so her husband. "I am ready," he said simply, "I will do my duty at any cost." THE IMPEKIAL LOAD. The Emperor does not seem bowed down or crushed beneath the Imperial load, the full weight of which neither he nor anyone can adequately realise. He stands erect and joyous; cheerful without bravado, with the simple open face of a man who has preserved amid all the affairs of State the heart of a little child. Those who know him well, say that he is totally free from that worrying fretfulness, that' wearing anxiety which is incompatible with sincere faith in the providence of God. Not by his own will or of his own choice was he called to this perilous post, from which he can only be relieved by death. Until he is relieved, he will hold it, often painfully conscious of his own shortcomings, but nevertheless doing his duty as best he can, according to his lights, and leaving the rest to God As for Nihilist plots' and foreign intrigues, and all the endless coil of Imperial business. it is all in the day's work, which he discharges, so far as he can see it is his to do. with the composure of a philosopher and the serenity of a Christian. HIS I'KKSOXAL HABITS. The Emperor is eminently a healthy man. He is the smut iii corporc situc. "He has a good head," 1 remarked to an Ambassador in St. Petersburg. " And what is of even more importance," was the reply, "he has got a good stomach." He is not nervous, and does not get into fidgets. All his habits are regular. In the morning he reads his letters and meets his Ministers—M. de Giers on Tuesday, the Minister of the Interior on Thursday, M. Wischnogradsky on Friday. At one he lunches with his wife and children. Then at four or halfpast, after transacting other business, he goes out for a stroll in the woods with his boys. Sometimes he fells trees, but, unlike Mr Gladstone, he equally enjoys sawill" them into lengths. In winter time he helps in clearing away snow from the icehills. In the evening he dines. No one in all Russia leads a simpler, healthier, more natural life. He is a level-headed, conscientious, sure-footed sovereign, conscious of such responsibilities as he has realised, and only afraid of doing that which seems to him to be wrong. For the good relations of England and Russia, and for the peace of the world, it is simply of inestimable importance that a monarch so steady and self-possessed should be directing the policy of Russia.