COURT LIFE IN RUSSIA:

International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Jul 7, 1887

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 13, No. 26.

COURT LIFE IN RUSSIA:

A RUSSIAN officer, familiar with the subject, draws in Life (London) a lurid picture of the inner life of the Russian Court. Despite the unceasing vigilance of the police, to which the Czar certainly owed his life the other day, no such thing as ordinary tranquility or comfort is known in the imperial household. No one is trusted, for the Nihilists have their adherents everywhere, even in the royal kitchen; no food can be eaten that is not previously tested; no room can be occupied, even for an hour at a time, without special precaution being taken against attack by explosives or otherwise. It is never known in what bedroom the Czar will sleep. Frequently, after being an hour in one bedroom he changes to another, and he generally sleeps in a part of the palace, an attic, or even a cellar, where he is least likely to be looked for.

It might be thought that the emperor's driving in the open street was a proof of his courage, but this is not so. The danger there is no greater than it is in his study, guarded though he be in-doors as well as out-of-doors by triple rows of bayonets. Nihilism is, in fact, a specter that haunts the emperor night and day. That life should be worth living at such a price is hardly conceivable to the ordinary mind. That the Czar should, in such circumstances, be able to take an intelligent view of either foreign or domestic politics is out of the question.—Interior.