AMONG the advisers of the Czar of Russia for the last few years was Phillipi, a fortune-teller. His delineations of character and his knowledge of the secret history of the ladies and gentlemen were astonishing. The czar kept him about the palace all the time, consulting him daily and often several times a day. About the time of the beginning of the Japanese war he was in the habit of calling up the spirit of Alexander III., the present czar's father, to consult concerning the affairs of state and domestic policy. It is asserted that the advice of Alexander III., purporting to be given through Phillipi, had more to do with bringing on the war than anything else. At last Alexander III., through Phillipi, recommended the employment of various contractors. This created general suspicion of his accuracy; but the czar would not give him up until Colvarski—now one of the most noted detectives in Europe—looked up his record and found him to be a former French barber and women's hairdresser. He was then expelled from the palace, banished from St. Petersburg, and kept under surveillance until his death about a year ago.
Another impostor was a Hungarian medium, clairvoyant so-called, by the name of Ojke. He claimed to be able to call up the spirits of Peter the Great and Catherine II., who both gave reactionary advice to the czar and told him to hold on to the autocracy; but Ojke had a short career. He was found to be a notorious confidence man from Budapest, and the Hungarian detectives came up and took him away.
The last clairvoyant was a Frenchman named Papus. We noted lately that he had to retire on account of shattered nerves. He was a palmist and a fortune teller, and made quite a reputation among the "four hundred" of St. Petersburg. Last winter he predicted the incident which occurred when the czar was blessing the waters of the Neva River, and the charge of grapeshot was fired directly at his majesty. When his majesty heard that Papus had predicted the danger he was sent for and went to the czar's palace, "read his palm," and made favorable predictions. All the Russian czars have been superstitious, even Peter the Great. With whatever learning they possessed was mingled a semi-barbarous tradition a thousand years old. We have summarized these things from Curtis's letters from Russia, now running in various papers. To those who have kept pace with the situation they are nothing new, but are well stated by him.
Whosoever followeth mediums and clairvoyants "at his end shall be a fool."—Christian Advocate