The Baltimore Sun from Baltimore, Maryland • 119

NOVEMBER 11, 1928 13 The Fall of the Russian Empire SINISTER TALE IS RECORDED IN EVENTS LEADING TO ITS DISSOLUTION by DOROTHY SHEFFEY BALDWIN .1 STORY has recorded on its many- younger brother vowed vengeance upon the despotism which had sentenced his relative to death. History has registered the terrible fulfillment of this vow in letters of blood beside the name of Vladimir Ulianov whom the world knows as Nikolai Lenin. Revolutionary conspiracy and governmental repression spoke like answering guns across the somber years of the reign of Alexander III. Into this frame of despotism and assassination stepped in 1894 the precisely passive figure of Nicholas II. He was dominated, so history reveals, by the Tzarina, Pobyedonos-tsev, his father reactionary Minister, and a certain imperial correspondent, who addressed him as "Dearest Nicky," and signed himself "Your aff-ate friend, Willy." Small wonder that the last hope of a peaceful liberation was lost forever from the eyes of the Russian people! No more dreadful influence was at work in imperial circles than that of Rasputin.

His sinister shadow first falls across the page of Russian history on November 1, 1904. On this day the Tzar met the man who was to help pull away the last tottering support of the throne. The strange black-bearded peasant, Gregory Novihh, whom his fellow-villagers called Rasputin for his immorality and depravity, would seem 'at first glance scarcely a figure destined to walk with kings. But there was power in this man a power that rested principally in his personal magnet This magnetic quality, so great that it amounted to hypnotism, won for him appalling influence over the Tzarina, and hence over the Tzar. of destruction.

The somber days of 1914 saw Russia mobilizing. The Grand Duke Nicholas, commander-in-chief of the Russian armies, proved himself worthy of his post. But he was not to hold it long. Rasputin, by some whim, requested the commander to permit him to come to the front and bless the troops. The grand duke boldly replied: "Do come, so that I may hang you." His frankness cost him his command.

Finally a group of noblemen resolved to rid the country summarily of Rasputin and even, it is now stated, of the Empress as well. The murder of the former was successfully carried out. This action did not end The Tzarina, enraged by the murder of her favorite, listened neither to protests nor petitions. When it was too late she realized that she must give way. But red revolution was abroad.

The Romanov autocracy, based on the hoary foundations of centuries, was tumbling about the Romanov ears like an ill-built house of cards. Abdication was the only refuge. with the fall of the empire the old noble names, glit tering with pomp and circumstance, crashed to destruction. New names, new faces, bright with the more sinister glow of revolution, crowded the unfolding page of Russian history. Rodzianko, Milyukov, Kerensky and a number of others became at once leaders of the wavering and hesitant Duma and of the uprising.

But a strange word flashed of a sudden upon the startled ears of these milder revolutionaries. A Soviet quickly organized, demanded and obtained a place to hold their assembly. A wild group they were some hot with recent bloodshed and mob violence on the streets of the capital, others still pale with the- deathly pallor of the prison from which they had been released by their comrades. The timid Duma, frightened by the determined appearance of these ferocious workmen and soldiers, was forced to grant them a share in power, lest they take all. Thus was the provisional government formed, having in its ranks representatives' from both sides.

Prince Lvov, was Premier; Milyukov, Minister of Foreign Affairs, and Kerensky, Minister of Justice. Already the famous Order Number 1 had been sent from the Fetrograd Soviet to the Russian armies everywhere. Surely this ble chaos and confusion that followed. Everywhere the spirit of revolution was abroad, tearing down the old established order of things, slaughtering and burning in a riot of avenging bloodshed that is not surprising when one remembers Ivan the Terrible. Germany, says Father Walsh, made it possible for the exiled arch-revolutionist, Nikolai Lenin, to return to Russia.

Lenin immediately struck with all his force at "the piratical, imperialistic war." Unrest grew. Kerensky became Minister of War, and went to the front to restore the demoralized armies. After one successful battle came a terrible defeat. It was the end of the Russian armies. A few minutes past midnight on the night of July 16 the royal family was awakened by Jurovsky, the commander of the guard, and directed to dress.

They were then led out into the courtyard, down a flight of steps and into a cellar. Jurovsky informed them that an attack upon the town was imminent, and they naively accepted this explanation. Jurovsky and his men crowded into the room. The leader addressed the Tzar. Nicholas, not comprehending, inquired, "What do you mean?" "This is what I mean," the executioner is said to have answered, and gave him the contents of his revolver full in the face.

The carnage had begun. Shot after shot was fired into the dazed and helpless victims. The little room ran with blood and echoed with cries. But it was soon over. The bodies were loaded into a truck that waited outside.

Silence settled down upon the little room, a silence broken only by the swishing of a mop wielded by a sleepy soldier. the next day the inhabitants of a neighboring village saw the light of a great conflagration blazing in the sky. The reflection seemed to come from the center of the adjoining forest. When at last the glow died away and the timid villagers ventured to creep near they found the charred remains of a fire and among them rich jewels, priceless ornaments, and last and most grisly of all, the mute stare of human bones. These pitiful remnants, packed in a trunk, were removed to Mongolia by an American consul and thence were lost in obscurity.

So passed the glittering Romanovs to an the Tzarevitch Alexis, heir to the Russian throne, was afflicted from birth with the mysterious incurable disease called haemophilia by the; doctors who could not relieve it. This disease affects the blood and blood vessels in such a way that the slightest bruise results in a violent hemorrhage. When the boy was in colored scroll no more vivid and sinister tale than the events leading up to and comprising the Russian revolution. Shot through with the red flares of battle, murder and sudden death, this amazing arabesque of primitive human emotions already has stirred the blood of the civilized world. But so great has been the confusion and clamor connected with the overthrow of Russian imperialism that a clear account, of the history of this devastating movement would seem almost too much to hope for as yet.

Father Walsh, in his fascinating and enlightening volume, The Fall of The Rttssian Empire, traces the growth of rebellion from its first feeble roots in the foundation of the Romanov dynasty to its full and terrible flower under the fostering care of Nikolai Lenin. m- out of a dark mingling of Mongol cruelty and Slavic fierceness emerged at last the Muscovite Tzars. Ivan the, Terrible, Peter the Great, Catherine II, "the crowned madman of Europe" these rulers, with their history of ruthless barbarism and secret torments craftily devised in the Fortress pf St, Peter and St. Paul, have polluted their country with deep and ever-widening stream of could only be dammed at last with an opposing flood. i In all the records of the Russian court, 1 blazing with jewels and alight with power as it was, one name alone stands out as a champion of the people that of Alexander This' mild and liberal Tzar doubtless would have done great things for the freedom of his people had his life not been cut short by assassinationthat universal answer of the terrorists to the tyranny of the Romanovs, He it was who, on March 3, 1861, announced by the Great Manifesto the emancipation of the serfs! This action, hailed with delight by enslaved Russia, did not in the last analysis bring the 'hoped-for liberty.

Bowed beneath overwhelming taxes arid suffering from the unequal distribution of land, the peasant population gradually drifted back into a state closely approximating the serfdom from which they had been released. embittered by this disappointment the terrorists resorted to murder; the (Government answered with Siberia. Six times the: life of Alexander was threatened; six times he escaped. At last' one afternoon in March, 1881, the Tzar signed, the! long-hoped-for Constitu- tion for the people. of Russia.

Leaving the precious document in a drawer of his writing tabie, be went out for a drive. But the lutionists. were prepared. At the Ekaterin-skaya. along the route taken by the royal sleigh, were stationed four bomb.throwr ers.

The first bomb hurled struck some of the Cossacks attendant on the Emperor. 'u Alexander, his sleigh and, In spite of the protests of his driver, hurried back on foot to stoop over his wounded Cossack, whose life-blood slowly was 'turning the-snow into a. horrid crimson slush. As he bent over. bleeding, bodies in a generous outburst of compassion, an attendant inquired, anxiously, "Are you hurt, sire?" "No, thank God," Replied the Tzar.

"Too soon to thank God yet;" shouted Grinevitsky, hurling his re-. serve bomb, which struck its mark and both the Emperor and Grinevitsky "to pieces. A few hours later the Constitution, which was to have meant so much to the Russian people and which bore the signature of the dead Tzar, was torn to fragments by an adviser of the new ruler. "Le roi est mort; vive le'roil" The terrorists had by their own act sacrificed their fondest hopes of liberty. Alexander III followed the best autocratic traditions of Peter the Great.

He, like his predecessor, was the target for would-be regicides. After one unsuccessful attempt upon his life, an obscure conspirator named Alexander Ulianov was executed. This man's fllE FALL OF THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE 3 Edmund Walsh, S. Ph. Little, Brown 1928.

357 pages. LEAVING CHURCH, WOODCUT BY CARLO DA VASTO the painful throes of an attack Rasputin alone could bring him relief and healing. Alexandra, passionately devoted to her son, felt that she owed everything to a man capable of such a miracle, It was not extraordinary that taking every advantage of his opportunities, began to exercise an influence political as well as personal. When Rasputin spoke all obeyed, hate as they would. Now came war, the last player in the drama was the maddest document ever presented to the troops of a fighting nation Among many extraordinary commands the following was perhaps the strangest: All arms rifles, machine gnus, armored cars, etc.

ure to be at the disposal and under the control of company and battalion committees and should never be handed over to the officers even should they claim them. This appalling order swept away all military discipline and paved the way for the inevita-. unknown and desolate grave. Recently the Dowager Empress Marie died an exile from her adopted country, believing wilh pathetic obstinacy that her son, Nicholas, still lived and would return to build again the century-old glory of the name. But within a huge tomb beneath the massive walls of the Kremlin sleeps today the.

last Nicholas, the man of peasant birth, who lived, to pay with blood the bloody vow he made so long ago. A strange turn of Fortune's whvel, surely!.