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Show RISE AND f ALL Of GENIUS .OF RUSSIAN CZARS j . j Pobiedonostseff, Aged Procurator of Holy I Synod, Teacher of Autocracy and Absolutism Absolu-tism and Enemy of Liberty. There was not rooTn" "tssia for liberty and Constant ine Petravitci 'J fiestseff. The czar promised the Kussians ijand .Pobiedonostseff, who had always denied that ine people were entitled' to liberty, effaced himself. For more than half a century Pobiedonastseff was the evil genius of the czars of Russia. He was the incarnation of absolutism. He believed in the autocracy of the czar. He did not believe in the rights of the. people to any form of self-government. He did not believe in free speech, or in a free press. He. was equally -opposed to freedom of conscience. con-science. He did not believe in educating the masses. He believed in the czar and the Orthodox church and in nothing else. As His Enemies See Him. Pobiedonostseffs enemies have declared that his ruthless fanaticism has broken up thousands of families, ruined countless men of the noblest character char-acter anel driven untold thousands into Siberian exile; ex-ile; that his long life has been devoted to working evil, unredeemetl by- one single act of charity or nobility; no-bility; that his hands are stained with the blood of massacred Je vi -knouted peasants -and bludeeoneel students. . Whether these chai'ges are true or false, or partly true and partly false, Pobiedonostseff is the most hated man in Kussia today. And yet his bitterest bit-terest enemies gladly testify to his sincerity and his absolute purity of character. Money has never soiled his hands. . His name has never been Connected Connect-ed with scandal, although his fierce denunciation of the immorality of even men high in Eussia's society stings like tho whip- of a scorpion and intensities the alreadv burning hatred "felt for him. It is admitted, too, without dispute that Pobiedonostseff Pobie-donostseff is totally without personal ambition. His enemies, who speak of him as bigoted", fanatical and cruel, admit that he, is actuated in all his policies pol-icies and plans by a devout and fervent ideal. Sin-glc-mindedness, simplicity, purity, intensity and a determination that is fanMirsil these are the elements ele-ments of PobiedonostsenaTnaraetfHv Fifty Years of Public Service. Pobiedonostseff was born in Moscow in 1827, and since 1840 he has, been a part of Russia's official of-ficial life, for in that year, after completing his education ed-ucation in the higher law school of Russia, he was appointed by Czar Nicholas I as an official of the .senate. From 1S59 until 18(35 he was professor of civil law at.the Moscow university, and during these years he was the tutor of the czar's son, Alexander. It was Pobiedonostseffs association "with the czar-' eviteh for nearly ten years that gave him such an .influence,' over the young man who afterwards be came Alexander III, and also with Alexander II. In 1808 he was created a senator, and in 1872 a. member of the imperial council. It was in these growing years of his career that Pobiedonostseff formulated his peculiar Russian principles of political economy and instilled them into the minds and hearts of Alexander II. Alexander Alex-ander III and Nicholas II. The basis of his- political po-litical creed was: "The czar alone rules, the church is omnipotent and the principle of the sovereignty of the people is the falsest of all doctrines." Tears Up a Constitution. Pobiedonostseff ruled Alexander II only intermittently. inter-mittently. It was Pobiedonostseff who led the . reactionary re-actionary opposition to Alexauder IPs naturally liberal tendencies. Only once did a' political energy triumph over Pobiedonostseff. In the closing years of the reign of Alexander II, Loris Melikoff formulated formu-lated a constitution and prevailed upon the czar to sign it. But Pobiedonostseff triumphed after all, for an assassin killed Alexander II and his' son, Alexaneler III the pupil of Pobiedonostseff mounted the throne. Alexander III tore up the constitution con-stitution his father had signed and inaugurated "the terror" in Russia. In those -awful years of j fierce warfare between absolutism . and nihilism ! years in which thousands of liberal Russians went j to the scaffold, to prison or to Siberia Pobicdon- ostseff was the power behind the throne. x . j The czar ruled Russia, but Pobiedonostseff ruled the czar. The czar made him procurator of the holy synod and thereafter Pobiedonostseff ruled the . Continued on Page 5. rf RISE AND FALL OF EVIL ! ', GENIUS OF RUSSIAAN CZARS j Continued from Page 1. j church as well as tho czar. His reign continued un- til Alexander III died and the present czar, Xich- , olas II, mounted the throne. From this period his influence, in state affairs grew. rapidly. He became a member of the council of the ministry of justice, a privy councilor, a senator, sen-ator, a secretary of state, a minister,' and finally j chief procurator of the holy synod. Since the death i of the Czar Liberator Alexander II he has been un- J questionably the most powerful man in Russia. He has been a voluminous writer on jurisprudence and politics, and his "Course of Civil Law" has a European Euro-pean reputation. Personally he is exceedingly in-r in-r : : ' . . ' teresting. a little frigid in his manner, but a brilliant bril-liant talker and a nor unpvnial vX. Xichohis II is a man of naturally liberal tendencies, ten-dencies, hut he has been held secure in a sfntit jacket of absolutism put upon him by the reactionary reaction-ary party tiiv grand duke-, the chief's of the bureaucracy bu-reaucracy ,f '.iioii! Pohiedoiiust-crt was the ruling rul-ing spirit. Xichohs II decreed the end of exile to. Siberia i'or political crime-. and IVIiedouo-t-etf nullified the decree by his influence out the bureaucratic bu-reaucratic chiefs, to whom the eu torreitirnt. ot the decree was intru-ted. Tin- czar decreed more privileges priv-ileges for tiie zenist v..-, ;iiid I'o'oiedono-t -eff's influence in-fluence prevented the decree from going into effect. Nicholas I a year ago pronii-ed the people v. id- r liberties, and the same day lie signed a uae. said to have hi en written by I'ohiedono-t -cff. !io ;irnr from a sick bed to go to the palace :lt niidnig'iit. nullifying everything he had promised. ' But all things come to an end. The l!ii"i;in people, aroused and terribly i:i earnest, enforced their demands for liberty, and. the v.ar. deserted b tho grand dukes, abandoned by Ids frightened bureaucratic bu-reaucratic chiefs, warned by the assas,inat ion of JJobrikoff. Von Plohve and Sergins. yielded. lb' promised the people a canst it utioual form ot government, gov-ernment, ami I'obiedonostseff. true to his principles to the last, gave up hi- eitiee of procurator of the holy synod. |
