Pobedonostsev and Alexander III

Pobedonostsev and Alexander IIIReviewed work(s):Source: The Slavonic and East European Review, Vol. 7, No. 19 (Jun., 1928), pp. 30-54Published by: the Modern Humanities Research Association and University College London, School ofSlavonic and East European StudiesStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4202238 .Accessed: 03/08/2012 06:50

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POBEDONOSTSEV AND ALEXANDER III.

A BIOGRAPHY of K. P. Pobedonostsev, scholarly or popular, does not yet exist. He outlived his day of power, disappeared from the scene amid the Revolution of I905 and died two years later, almost forgotten. Historical interest in his career had not yet been awakened when the War of I9I4 and the Revolution of I9I7 confronted Russia with new and more important problems.

After the Revolution of I9I7 it became, of course, much easier to make a study of the life and work of this pillar of the old order. Nevertheless, no real interest in the personality of Pobedonostsev was aroused, since he himself, together with the entire historical period which he represented, had been over- shadowed by the titanic upheaval in Russia. Yet Pobedonostsev unquestionably deserves a complete and circumstantial story of his life, in a word, one of those biographies of which we find so many classical models in English historical literature. He deserves it in spite of all the narrowness of thought which formed one of his characteristic traits as a statesman; perhaps even precisely because of this narrowness of outlook, since it did not prevent him from becoming the inspirer and director of the policy of the Russian Government throughout the reign of Alexander III. and the first few years of that of Nicholas II.

Pobedonostsev was the incarnation of the Russian reaction at the close of the igth century, and this reaction played quite an important part in the history of Russia, producing some very significant effects. It will perhaps not be too much of a para- dox to say that Pobedonostsev merits a scholarly biography also from the standpoint of the Russian Revolution, because he more than any other reactionary statesman of the second half of the igth century, contributed, even though involuntarily, to the success of the Russian Revolution in the 20th century.

It would seem that the thought of his future biography had also occupied Pobedonostsev himself in his lifetime. He care- fully collected all kinds of manuscript material from which his future biographers might be able to glean information about his

30

POBEDONOSTSEV AND ALEXANDER III. 3I

work and ideals in the form in which these things appeared to his own mind. Even if the documents and correspondence with his friends which he collected cannot answer all the questions one would ask regarding his life and work, they nevertheless give a great deal of material and will make it possible to put the breath of life into the dry bones of the official documents to which his future biographer will undoubtedly resort.

One of these collections of material brought together by Pobedonostsev himself and deposited by him in the government manuscript archives is his correspondence with Anna Fedorovna Aksakov and her younger sister, Catherine Fedorovna Tyutchev, which is still waiting to be published. More properly this collection might be designated as Pobedonostsev's correspondence with Catherine Tyutchev, since not more than forty out of a total of about 550 letters forming the collection belong to his correspondence with Anna.'

What was it that induced Pobedonostsev to maintain this lively correspondence with the daughters of the poet Tyutchev ? With Anna he became acquainted during the early sixties at Court, where she acted as governess to the daughter of Alex- ander II., while he had been called to lecture to the first Crown Prince, the Grand Duke Nicholas Alexandrovich. Somewhat later, he was introduced by Anna to her sister, Catherine, who always lived in Moscow. After i865, when Anna married Ivan Aksakov, her correspondence with Pobedonostsev gradually sub- sided and her sister took her place as his steady correspondent. At the same time, however, his cordial relations with his earlier correspondent did not cease. With her husband, Ivan Aksakov, Pobedonostsev had been very friendly long before, having been his fellow student at the School of Jurisprudence. His relations with Aksakov became cool much later, when the church policy of the Procurator-General of the Holy Synod alienated from him the sincere and impulsive publisher of the Rus. But during the sixties and seventies, while corresponding with Catherine, Pobedonostsev was able to maintain contact with her husband through her. In his letters to Catherine we find frequent instruc- tions and counsels which she was to transmit to Aksakov, particularly after misunderstandings had arisen between the fiery Moscow Slavophil and the ill-disposed authorities at St. Peters- burg. From this we may assume that Pobedonostsev, through

1 Six letters from Catherine Tyutchev to Pobedonostsev, dated I865, have been published in Vol. 6 of the Russian Archive for I905.

32 THE SLAVONIC REVIEW.

the medium of Catherine Aksakov, corresponded with the Mos- cow group of Slavophils, of whom he considered himself one and with whom Catherine associated. This assumption, however, may be justified only for the first few years of this correspondence. Later on, about the middle of the seventieF, it is undoubtedly Catherine herself who becomes the principal figure in this correspondence. Well educated, naturally intelligent, lively and interested in all things, Catherine, after losing in I876 her friend, I. F. Samarin, to whom she had for many years been bound by ties of a most intimate spiritual kinship, transferred, as it were, part of this friendship to Pobedonostsev. To him she felt herself drawn not only by the Slavophil sympathies which she shared with him, but likewise by what appeared to be their common outlook upon religion and the Church.

For his own part, Pobedonostsev came to see in this sensi- tive, responsive and highly gifted woman a confidante, who to him personified his beloved native city of Moscow and to whom he might safely confide his impressions and observations of the Court and Government circles at St. Petersburg-" this accursed place," as he frequently refers to the capital of the empire. " Only for us, dear Catherine Fedorovna, don't tell anyone," reads a superscription in his letter of 27 April, i88i, where he tells of his last determined combat with Loris-Melikov, Milyutin and Abaza, just before the proclamation of the Manifesto of 29 April.'

As we become acquainted with Catherine Fedorovna through her letters, the idea that she should have become the confidential correspondent of Pobedonostsev will be quite natural and intelligible. Their correspondence grew more lively from year to year until terminated by the almost sudden death of Catherine on ii March, i882. Far too many intimate thoughts and confidential views had been communicated in the letters of Pobedo- nostsev to this lady, and it is therefore easy enough to see why he should have asked her sister, Anna, to return to him the letters he had written to Catherine. " I have just received from Galakhan the package of letters, and I hasten to inform you of it, dear Anna Fedorovna, and to thank you for your

1 This was the critical point in Pobedonostsev's capture of the political leadership. Alexander III. on mounting the throne after his father's assassination, was urged by his Ministers to issue the last act of his father, which was a plan to invite elected members from the Zemstva and other bodies to collaborate with the Government in the drafting of further reforms, but Pobedonostsev was able to shelve this invitation and to secure the issue of a proclamation magnifying the autocracy. ED.

POBEDONOSTSEV AND ALEXANDER III. 33

trouble. I am looking at this package and once more a sharp pain stirs in my heart." 1 This is all we read in the last brief letter from Pobedonostsev to Anna, dated 4 April, I882, which concludes the entire collection.

The fundamental feature which distinguishes this correspondence is its confidential nature and -the clear and unrestrained formulation which Pobedonostsev himself gives to his views upon a great variety of problems of the political and social life of Russia at the most serious moments of his career. It is this which prompted him to preserve his correspondence with the Tyutchev sisters for the benefit of future biographers and scholars interested in his activities. For this, we can only feel grateful.

Pobedonostsev's correspondence with the Tyutchev sisters is, of course, not an exhaustive source of biographical material on Pobedonostsev. Still, the future biographer will find in this material a great deal which will help to illuminate both the isolated moments and continuous processes constituting his life. Not a little will be found in this material to throw light upon his views and judgments. Placing this correspondence along- side of other, already published sources dealing with Pobedo- nostsev, but especially with the seventeen letters written by him to Alexander III. in March, April and May, i88i, and published by Professor Picheta in the fourth volume of Krasny Arkhiv, and with the abundant, although miscellaneous, material recently published by the Rumyantsev Museum and entitled by Pobedo- nostsev himself Novum Regnum,2 we are already able to inter- pret various phases in the life and work of this distinguished statesman. Such is the purpose of the present brief essay.

In Pobedonostsev's correspondence with the Tyutchev sisters between I863 and i88i not a few references may be met as to the relations between him and the Grand Duke Alexander, the future Emperor. By arranging these references systematically, it should be possible to trace that extremely interesting process by which a modest little official of the Senate, professor of Moscow University and author of a classical course in Russian constitutional law, remote from Court circles, was gradually transformed into something like a " vice-emperor " and for many years acted as the powerful and irresponsible director of the domestic policies of the Russian Empire.

1 Letter 552. 2 K. P. Pobedonostsev i Ego Korrespondenty, Pism2 i Zapiski, Vol. I,

ATovurn Regnum, Moscow, 1923.

D


Pobedonostsev first became acquainted with the future Emperor Alexander III. in i86i, when he was appointed to instruct the Crown Prince, Nicholas, and his brothers, Alexander and Vladimir, in jurisprudence, that is to say, to give them lectures on legal subjects. Up to I865, however, Grand Duke Alexander did not particularly interest him; he was over- shadowed by the personality of his elder brother, who undoubtedly was far more mentally alert and capable. To the Grand Duke Nicholas, whom Pobedonostsev in I863 accompanied on his journey through Russia, he was very firmly attached. Whether this attachment came of sincere devotion of the Professor to his youthful pupil, or perhaps was more of a seeming nature, calculated as a means of achieving personal ambitions and assur- ing his influence upon the heir to the throne, we have not yet enough material to say definitely. However, already in the first letters to Anna Tyutchev we find Pobedonostsev making some very sympathetic remarks about the Grand Duke Nicholas. Thus, in one of the letters he says:-

" I also love my Grand Duke and I feel touched by everything related to him. There are chords in him which might give sound, and a bud that might blossom out . . . may God only grant him health; but we hear that he does not feel quite well abroad." 1

His early death on I2 April, I865, gave Pobedonostsev occasion to express his deep sorrow and grief at the loss:

" Oh, what a grief, Anna Fedorovna! What a bitter and terrible grief ! What a sorrow ! Such darkness has fallen upon me! The whole of Easter week I was in agony, from one telegram to another, and still hope persisted. But to-day the dreadful news has carried away everything, destroyed everything -our beloved Tsarevich is no more, and it is as if I saw him alive before me every minute.

" Whom and what I am mourning, I am unable to tell. Is it his young life, his vanished strength and happiness just blos- soming out, or my beloved, dear fatherland-I cannot separate the one from the other . . . Everybody is grief-stricken, everybody has been hushed and crushed by the dreadful news, but we who knew him feel most strongly what the loss of our Tsarevich means to all of us . . . I trust, I feel with all my soul, . . . that this hour is a decisive hour for the destinies of Russia. In him was our hope, and in each one of us who knew him this hope rose the more strongly the darker the horizon became;

1 I7, I4 December, I864, A. F.


the stronger the dark powers were pressing, the sadder the circumstances of our future appeared to be. In him was our hope -we saw in him a counteraction, we sought in him the opposite pole. . . . And this hope God has taken from us. What is to become of us ? May His sacred will be done." 1

" Le roi est mort, vive le roi ! " runs the old French saying. Pobedonostsev, however, did not immediately accept the change.- The transition from the worship of the light that had failed to the worship of the rising sun was to him a painful experience. Here is what he writes to Anna Fedorovna in April and May, I865:-

" And after the service, when they unexpectedly, brought the manifesto and prayed for long life for the new heir to the throne, I was choking with tears. I still cannot hear another name mentioned in his vacant place." 2

"I am glad at everything you write about Alexander Alex- androvich, but I own that I am glad only in a half-hearted way To me, it is still he, still the late departed, who seems to be the heir, and the other I am still unable to understand and cannot imagine him." 3

With the new Crown Prince Pobedonostsev occupied the same position which he had held with the former. He continued to give him lectures on jurisprudence and accompanied Alexander on his traditional journey through Russia, such as every heir to the throne was expected to undertake.

"In June, God willing, we shall arrive at Moscow, and then I think I shall have to start again, bracing myself for the ordeal, upon the old, sad road to accompany the new heir." 4

It was only in I867 that Pobedonostsev began to speak well of the new Crown Prince. He seems to be getting accustomed to him and is evidently beginning to discover in the young man certain qualities which he had apparently failed to notice previously.

" Alexander Alexandrovich has changed a great deal since his marriage-for the better, in my opinion; he has become more steady, cheerful, alert, independent. When he feels himself at ease, you know what a kind, clear expression there is in his eyes. It seems that, if his mother could only look freely into his eyes at such a moment, she would love him." 5

"My lessons continue. Practically every morning I go either

1 20, I2 April, I865, A. F. Also 21, 24 April and 22, i May. 2 2I, 24 April, i865, to A. F. 3 22, i May, I865, to A. F. " 29, 2I April, I866, to A. F. 5 35, 2 February, I867, A. F.


to the Anichkov or to the Winter Palace, to Vladimir. I con- fess that these lessons tire me a great deal, they tire me by the indefiniteness of the conditions of 'my work. But I feel that the work must be done so long as they let me stay. In general, I- am satisfied with my relations with the young men: both apparently have confidence in me and I love them both. You will not believe how much Alexander Alexandrovich has managed to do since he has become independent. Comparing him with what he used to be when he was still unmarried, I can hardly recognise him. He has become more serene, independent, and his heart is really upright and honest-one can feel attached to him. He has a Russian heart. His relations with his wife, it seems, are of the friendliest, and, so far as I have been able to observe, they love each other. A pity that there is not about them, but especially about her, a person in whom they could trust and who could bring people to them and help them to receive people and get acquainted with them." I

The last few words are quite characteristic: the young couple need some one in whom they could trust and who would act as intermediary between them and the outside world; in other words, a constant guide in their private as well as their public life. It may be said without fear of contradiction that Pobedonostsev had himself in view for such a position, and later events showed that his efforts in this direction were crowned with complete success. His patronising attitude toward the Crown Prince and his consort, which was already so clear in I867, is also plainly shown in one of his letters to Anna Fedorovna in i868, where he says

"On Mondays and Saturdays I am with the Tsarevna. She is very kind and simple by nature; but, my God, they live like children in a desert, like sheep roaming without a shepherd, and sometimes it hurts one's heart to look at them. I read and speak Russian to her; unfortunately, this exercise in Russian takes place only when I go to her for one hour and, directly after me, Yanyshev. No matter how I urge and beg them, they cannot find the time and the persons for constant, uninterrupted practice; you know to what extent they are the slaves of habit, rules, prescribed hours, and into what indolence and inactivity they thus fall. But they are always waiting for encouragement from those higher up, while the parents say nothing, keep on grumbling and-do nothing themselves, according to the fatal law of Court life." 2

36, 2I MAarch, I867, A. F. 2 50, I2 December, i868, A. F.


Toward the end of the sixties, Pobedonostsev's attitude toward the future Emperor may be described as benevolent and sympathetic, yet at the same time patronising and partly pity- ing, very much like the way in which a grown-up person would treat little children. This state of mind is well brought out in a letter from him to Alexander on the occasion of the funeral of Metropolitan Philaret in I867. He writes:

" I am now going to Moscow with Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich. Forgive me, Your Highness, if, unsolicited, I venture to address to you a most urgent request. For God's sake, if there is any possibility at all, come to Moscow to the funeral of Metropolitan Philaret. The present moment is very important to the nation. All the people look upon the Metro- politan's funeral as a national affair. They wait and long for the coming of the Emperor to Moscow. His Majesty cannot come-the people will ask why. The best answer to this question, the best satisfaction of the national desire, would be the presence of Your Highness. That would prove to everybody the completeness of the interest taken by the Imperial family in the loss to the nation and the state, and it would make the heart of the people beat still stronger with love for the sovereign and yourself. I think, as all loyal servants of the sovereign think, that at such historical moments, if the people are anxious to see the sovereign himself in their midst and the sovereign cannot come, it will be well for the heir to the throne to appear in the place of his parent." 1

Claiming an exclusive monopoly in the interpretation of the popular will, Pobedonostsev explains his duties to the Crown Prince, who is only on the threshold of his career, and he does it with authority, insistently, just like a mentor, as he considered himself to be and in a certain sense actually was.

Not less characteristic is the answer to this letter from the callow, timid young man, whom his august father simply for- bids to go to Moscow. Alexander writes:

" To tell the truth, I myself had already meant to go to Moscow. . . . But here is what happened at the Winter Palace. First I saw Mother . . . I even read your letter to Mother (I hope you will not object). She fully approved of my wish and found it quite natural that I should go to Moscow. To the Emperor I did not show your letter and I did not even mention that you had written to me, but simply asked for myself. . . . But the Emperor absolutely refused, saying Vladimir was quite

1 Novum Regnum, 987.


sufficient and that he thought it altogether unnecessary for me to go too. Then he added [the question] why I had not spoken of it before, so as to go together with Vladimir. I replied that I did not know anything about brother's going, but that I could still reach Moscow in time for the funeral if I left here to-night. But nothing helped, neither my own pleading nor Mother's, who told him it would be so good if I could go to Moscow. The Emperor again said that Vladimir was sufficient and that it was quite superfluous for me to go. In this way it all came to nothing. I am writing to you, dearest K. P., so that you may see how it all happened and that you should not think that I myself was opposed to it. I only want one thing-that you should not convict me of indifference at a moment so important to Russia. I, for my own part, have done all I could, but you know very well that good intentions seldom succeed and so my own wish had the same fate." 1

For the end of the sixties and the beginning of the seventies we have only very little material that enables us to form an estimate of the relations between Pobedonostsev and the Crown Prince, as understood by Pobedonostsev himself. Letters and notes from him still preserved out of those years partly fill this gap and help us to trace his increasing influence. Up to I874, when he was appointed a member of the Council of State, Pobedonostsev had been only a Senator and, up to the end of the sixties, a mere professor giving lectures to the Crown Prince. He had not been " attached" to the suite of the Crown Prince, in other words, he did not hold any official rank. Still, all confidential orders of Grand Duke Alexander were carried out by Pobedonostsev and he edited all his important papers and letters. We will here quote several instances to illustrate this point:

" I ask you very much to answer this telegram for me and to return it to me. Allow me in such cases to send you tele- grams direct for replies. I should be very glad to see you, for we have not met for such a long time. Come over some time after the funeral of Helena Pavlovna, for lunch at one o'clock." 2

Here we are able to see the external aspect of the relation- ship between Alexander III. and Pobedonostsev: a simple, unofficial visit in the intimate surroundings of the home. Then, again:

" I am sending you a letter which I received from V. P. 1 Novum Regnum, 988. 2 NoVum Regnum, 995, I3 January, I873.


Meshchersky, which I ask you to read through, but tell no one about it. I am sending you this letter because I am in a great quandary as to what to do, and would like very much to have your opinion, for which reason I ask you very much to drop in to-morrow, after the Council meeting, or on Tuesday. For many reasons I am not anxious to fulfil this request of Meshchersky, but I do not want to decide anything without speaking to you and learning your view of this matter." 1

What was it that drew Alexander and Pobedonostsev so close together ? What was at the bottom of Pobedonostsev's influence? The material now at our disposal makes it possible for us to give at least a partial answer to these questions. In the first place, it was due to the authority of the professor, the teacher, which shows so impressively in the letter from Pobedo- nostsev to Alexander on Philaret's funeral. But the authority of scholarship is not enough to account for genuine attachment and confidence, even in the case of so immature a character as that of Alexander in the sixties. Yet in the letter quoted above Alexander shows a great deal of attachment and confidence. It seems that the confidence which so increased Pobedonostsev's authority and became the basis of his lasting influence on Alex- ander grew up for more than one reason. Firstly, we must remember that Pobedonostsev was a great churchman: I say " churchman " because I think the problem of the nature of Pobedonostsev's feelings on religion should be the object of an independent inquiry. Alexander inherited from his mother a strong religious sentiment which, apparently, is a characteristic of women of the House of Hesse and anyhow proved to be deeper than with his father and grandfather. This was one ground for attachment. In Alexander's confidential notes one often finds a note of ecclesiasticism that must have sounded sweet to Pobedo- nostsev and which differs so markedly from the attitude of Alexander II. and Nicholas I. Thus we read:

" I thank you very much, dear K. P., for the letter you sent me. I never looked on this newspaper article otherwise than as a detestable lie, and I respect Mother Superior Maria too much to let it change my opinion of her." 2 Again we read: " I am sending you, dear K. P., the promised icon of the Holy Virgin of Chernigov for the priest whom you mentioned the last time

1 Novum Regnum, 996 (without date, but evidently I873). 2 Novum Regnum, 1002, i6 March, I874. Abbess Maria Davydov,

the Mother Superior of the Women's Convent of Kostroma, with whom Pobedonostsev maintained constant relations.


you were at Tsarskoe Selo. I think this icon is a faithful copy of the one at Chernigov." I Lastly: " I am sending you, dear K. P., various images and chalice-covers which I ask you very much to send on to Archimandrite Nicholas, for distribution among the churches in Japan. Pardon me for turning to you, but I don't know his address." 2

-Pobedonostsev has with some justification been regarded as closely allied with the Slavophils. While differing in many respects from the orthodox representatives of this tendency, he shared a good many of their ideas with them and considered himself as one of them. Of all the Russian Emperors of the igth century, Alexander III. was the only one who was genuinely Russian at heart and, unlike his father, he regarded the Slavo- phils with sympathy. Precisely how these sentiments had found their way to his heart, could be discovered only by a close study of his personality. At any rate, even if his preference for Rus- sian modes of life was not instilled in him by Pobedonostsev, the fact remains that this was a second group of ideas and ideals which drew the two men closer together and tended to strengthen the influence of Pobedonostsev. Both through him and, in all probability, through Anna Tyutchev, who had once been so close to the Court, Alexander was able to get into contact with the Moscow Slavophils and felt greatly interested in them, in spite of the fact, or perhaps even because of the fact, that the Slavo- phils at that time found no favour in the ruling circles. In March, I867, Pobedonostsev wrote to Anna Fedorovna:-

" A. A. wrote to you some days ago; you have probably received that letter. He wanted to ask you to send him Samarin's letters from Riga. The articles about the Germans in Moscow interested him very much. You may imagine into what a rage our Germans are falling here because of these articles." 3

A year later we find the following interesting passage in a letter from Pobedonostsev to Anna Fedorovna:

" It is rarely that I see the Tsarevich. It is strange to think what a burden awaits this young couple, who are still living without worries. One would like to do good to them, but you know better than many ot-hers how hard it is to do good in this circle. I am doing my duty so far as I can, but even this modest endeavour of mine has long ago made me a suspicious character

1 Novum Regnum, ioo6, 26 May, I924. 2 Novum Regnum, io8i. Archimandrite Nicholas Kasatkin, later

Archbishop of the Orthodox Church in Japan. 3 36, 2 March, I867, A. F.

POBEDONOSTSEV AND ALEXANDER III. 4I

in the eyes of the mighty of this world. I don't know just since when, but it is almost from the time that A. A. wrote you that letter which has been read on its way to you that a vague, but unmerited, suspicion rests upon me. I have no doubt that the Emperor regards me suspiciously, with some hidden thought, and I know for a certainty that Count Shuvalov does not favour me, even though we have never spoken and he scarcely knows me by sight. I find myself among those who are to be obstructed and whose way is to be barred by every means." 1

The letters of the Crown Prince were subjected to secret scrutiny and Pobedonostsev himself was practically a political suspect, for abetting the intercourse between the Tsarevich and the Slavophils, and with a certain Aksakov, whose newspaper, Moskva, had just been suspended for criticising the policy of the Government in the western provinces. Nevertheless, Alex- ander's contact with the Slavophils through Pobedonostsev continued. This is shown by the following note from Alexander, dated I3 December, i868, i.e., about two months after the letter from Pobedonostsev mentioned above:-

" Dear K. P.-I ask you very much to send this letter to Anna Fedorovna. I intend to send no more letters by mail. Excuse me for my request." 2

These relations continued later on, as will be seen from the following references during i875 and I876:

"I have not yet managed to finish Samarin's memorandum, -and shall send it over in a few days." 3

" A very foolish and sad story, the one with Aksakov's speech in Moscow; it was all done thoughtlessly and excitedly. Please, when you write to Anna Fedorovna, or to Aksakov himself, thank her for sending her husband's speech and memorandum. I am afraid to answer myself, so that there should not be some unpleasantness again." 4

Before the Russo-Turkish War, when Petersburg Court circles were growing enthusiastic about the Balkan Slavs, Pobedonostsev arranged for lectures to be delivered for the Empress by V. I. Lamansky, and the Tsarevich was the most welcome listener.

" To-day I was summoned to Tsarskoe Selo," Pobedonostsev wrote to Catherine Fedorovna on 25 May, I876, " to attend the

1 46, 20 October, i868. The Riga letters were delivered, as may be seen from an undated note by Alexander (Novum Regnum, 98I).

2 Novum Regnum, 989. 3 Novum Regnum, ioii (6 April, I875). 4 Novum Regnum, ioi6 (I6 March, I877). The text of Aksakov's

speech at the Slav Committee on 6 March, I897, was confiscated by the police.


first lecture of V. I. Lamansky on the Slavs, the Slav problem the Slavs' future. . . . To my great sorrow, the Tsarevich did not come, and Lamansky, who had reckoned chiefly on him, felt dismayed. By the way, it was not through laziness that he failed to come, but because the lecture had been arranged all of a sudden and he was holding a reception at the same hour." 1

When Adolf Dobrianski, the Ugro-Russian leader, visited Russia in I875 and established relations with the Slavophils and with some official organisations, such as the Slav Committees at Moscow and St. Petersburg, Pobedonostsev, who patronised Dobrianski, arranged for a meeting between him and Alexander. The Crown Prince received him without any fear of the usual charges of Russian Panslavism, which were to be expected from the Austro-Hungarian Government. " I shall receive Dobrianski to-morrow with pleasure," wrote Alexander on I3 March, I875. " Send him over to-morrow at twelve o'clock." In December of the same year he writes again: " I thank you very much, dear K. P., for sending me the card [photographic?] of old Dobrianski, which I am very glad to have." 2

Any kind of a " conspiracy" draws people close together. A certain amount of " conspirativeness " in the relations between Alexander III. and Pobedonostsev could be observed as early as the sixties, in connection with the funeral of Metropolitan Philaret, but more particularly in the relations with Aksakov, as a result of which both Alexander and Pobedonostsev found themselves regarded with suspicion by the chief of the Gen- darmery, Count Shuvalov, and by the " Third Section."

There was yet another field in which the conversations and ideas, if not acts, of the two necessarily had to be of a confidential and conspirative nature. This was their attitude toward Alex- ander II. and his government. Alexander II. made a very un- satisfactory father and teacher. Sharp conflicts arising from jealousy of his authority, which was very characteristic of so weak a man and ruler as Alexander II., had occurred previously between Alexander II. and his first heir, the Grand Duke Nicholas. An idler, regarded by his family as none too capable, the new Crown Prince generally heard from his father only scoldings and peremptory demands for obedience. The episode of Philaret's funeral may, again, be quoted as evidence of this attitude. At the same time the Tsarevich's Russian and Slavophil sympathies, developing under the influence of Pobedonostsev, awakened in

1 29, 25 May, 1876, C. F. 2 Novum Regnum, 101O and I012.


him a critical attitude toward his father's government, especially as regards certain problems of foreign policy and the course to be followed in the borderlands of the Empire, such as the Baltic Provinces and the policy of Potapov in the north-western territories.

Lastly-and this was perhaps the most important matter- the opposition to Alexander II. which began in the sixties was developing further within his own family on the ground of family scandals. In I864 began the intimacy between Alexander II. and Princess E. M. Dolgorukov, subsequently known as Princess Yurievsky, an alliance which proved firm and lasting and very soon ceased to be a secret, and thus placed the Empress in a very painful and difficult position. The Imperial family, but especially the Crown Prince, who was by nature so straight- forward, sided unconditionally with the mother, and the feeling against the father was intensified. Pobedonostsev, who always showed his liking for both Crown Princes, had very little for Alexander II. Already in the Grand Duke Nicholas he had seen a " hope"; in him he was looking for " the opposite pole"; and when the Grand Duke died he set to work, giving a political training to his still immature and somewhat unpolished brother, Alexander.

Pobedonostsev did not like Alexander II. because of his political weakness, his un-Russian policy, his lack of religious feeling and his personal immorality. In his intimate correspondence with the Tyutchev sisters, he never made any secret of his hostility to the Emperor and his Government. Thus, writing to Anna Fedorovna on I4 December, I864, he says

"You will not believe how disgusted we are here with the reforms, how we have lost faith in them, how much we would like to stop at something stable, so as to know at last which wheel is really turning and where each worker stands. . . . Really, sometimes a man feels as if he were living among children who imagine they are grown up; judge for yourself how hard this is. And how often does one in this whole bazaar of projects, in this noise of cheap and shallow ecstasies, recall the words of the Psalmist: ' The idols of the heathen are but silver and gold, the work of men's hands. They have eyes, but they see not; they have ears, but they hear not. Feet have they, but they walk not; they have mouths, but they speak not. Like unto them are all that trust in them and worship them.' In this mart of idols, who is there to rise up and to come in his strength


and shatter the idol and proclaim the true God ? Every idol has its priests who defend it, together with themselves." 1

At the gravest moment in the Russo-Turkish War, in Sep- tember, I877, Pobedonostsev wrote to Catherine Tyutchev: " And on whom can one rely? From whom is a decision to be expected ? The Emperor has evidently sunk into a state of passivity; will he resolve to go against his own self, take a broom in his hands, sweep out the older men and take in new ones. Throughout his life he seems to have been naturally afraid of able men, avoided them, looked for nonentities, because he found it easier to feel at ease with nonentities." 2

In the same month, Aksakov having been reprimanded by the Emperor for his violent speech at the Slav Committee, Pobedonostsev remarked:

"That the reprimand has come from there does not surprise me, because from there comes everything that is being suggested from here. . . . There is no hope that some powerful spring will rise and force him to move, to make an effort against his own self, an attempt at some independent, decisive thought. . . . And this is the force by which we are moved, this the point on which one has to ground one's lever and seek support." 3

Alexander II.'s return from the War after the capture of Plevna gives occasion for these remarks

"We seem to have found rest at some point. At what ? My God! The Emperor has left the army after showering rewards on asses and worthless people, and he has left behind him an ass to command it and hold its fate and the destiny of Russia in his hands. . . . The theatres are crowded and are ringing with ovations in honour of the Emperor. A good man -he shows he has a heart, but how bitter it is at such moments not to find in him what is most wanted-a conscious, firm determined will." 4

Pobedonostsev's attitude toward Alexander II. does not change even at the height of the revolutionary movement of I879-80, when he writes:

" Of the master himself it is no use talking: He is a lament- able and unfortunate man and there is no going back for him. God has afflicted him: He has no strength to rise and control his own movements, even though he imagines that he is alive and active and powerful. It is obvious that his will has gone: He does not,want to listen, does not want to see, does not want

1 I 7. 2 I87. I92. 4 20I, 15 December, I877.

POBEDONTOSTSEV AND ALEXANDER III. 45

to act. His desire is only for senseless things, at the will of the flesh.""

Similar thoughts were expressed by Pobedonostsev on the occasion of the twenty-fifth anniversary of Alexander's reign:

"But this 25th anniversary is fatal, and the man himself is fatal-l'homme du destin-for unfortunate Russia. God help him! God will judge whether he is guilty or not.' But in his hands the authority entrusted to him by God has been frittered away in disgrace, and his reign, perhaps even without his fault, has been a reign of falsehood and Mammon, and not of truth." 2

The mention of the " flesh" quoted above, and the reference to Mammon must be taken as hints at Alexander's mesalliance with Princess Dolgorukov. Pobedonostsev gives vent to his in- dignation at the Emperor's marrying this woman within two months of the death of the Empress and while steps were being taken to establish the status of the newly titled Princess Yurievsky on a legal basis. Let us -recall here that Pobedonostsev, being on intimate terms with the Crown Prince, was also close to the Empress Maria Alexandrovna, especially during the latter years of her life. " The air is alive with gossip of all kinds. Every one is interested in the newly created illegitimate status which they are, striving to make legitimate. . . . The creator of this situation seems to have lost even the; ability to realise all its moral falsehood and outrageousness. To him, it probably seems easy to bring together in the same nest both his legitimate and illegitimate families." 3 Then, again:

"This fatal reign is dragging us, dragging us in a fatal fall down to some abyss. May God forgive this man! He did not know what he was doing, and now he knows even less. Now one can distinguish nothi-ng in him except Sardanapalus." 4

The ground for Pobedonostsev's conspirative relations with Alexander III.-based on their criticism of the policy of the Emperor-was prepared as far back as the sixties. It is con- ceivable that Pobedonostsev, who despised Alexander II. for his weakness and lack of will-power, was seeking to counterbalance these shortcomings of the reigning Emperor by strengthening the will-power of the Crown Prince, pointing out to him what he conceived to be the weak spots in the rule of his father. Signs which show plainly that Pobedonostsev and the Crown

1 The Russian expression is obscure, and this translation is the nearest possible.-TRANSLATOR. 305, 29 January, I879.

2 5, 25 February, i88o. 3 38I, 22 November, i88o. 392, January, i88i.


Prince met on common ground in their criticism of the existing order may be found in some of the letters written by Alex- ander III. to his confidant. There are even hints that both are in agreement on the Emperor's family affairs, despite the fact that considerations of etiquette and the intimate nature of the subject made the discussion somewhat difficult for a man holding no official connection with the Court and the Imperial family, such as Pobedonostsev.

In I869, when the recently appointed Governor-General of Vilna, Adjutant-General Potapov, insisted upon the removal of the Governor of Vilna, Rear-Admiral Shestakov, and the Super- intendent of the Vilna School District, P. N. Batyushkov, who were more nationalistic than Potapov, the Tsarevich wrote to Pobedonostsev: " After the removal of Shestakov and Bat- yushkov from Vilna, nothing surprises me any longer. This is a time when nobody can be certain that he is not going to be driven from his post the next day." 1 Close contact with his father seemed a heavy burden to Alexander III. In the autumn of I873 he writes from Livadia:

" Thank you, dear K. P., for the book you have sent me. Here I have more time to spare; but this freedom, as you are aware, is worse than restraint to me. The only thing that is good here is the morning, because it is absolutely free till half- past twelve; after that, we gather for breakfast and then begins the regular nonsensical life of Livadia." 2

Still more characteristic for its vague hints at disagreements on politics and family affairs is a letter written by the Crown Prince from Livadia on 23 October, I876, that is, almost on the eve of the Turkish War. Staying at Livadia, together with the Empress, the heir to the throne and the latter's family, there was also Princess Dolgorukov.

"Thank you, dearest K. P., for your letters; the last I received this morning. I am very grateful to you for them, and the thing that gave me pleasure is that I agree on many points with your view as to current events. Before I received your letter, I discussed a number of things with the Empress and it tormented me all the time that the Emperor is not now in Peters- burg but so far away near the frontier, two steps from the Turkish border.

" Yes, there were painful moments of indecision, uncertainty, and one simply was in despair. A more abnormal situation than

1 Novum Regnum, 994, 29 December, I869. 2 Novum Regmum, 999, i8 October, I876.


the present cannot exist. All the Ministers are at Petersburg and know nothing, and here everything turns on two Ministers -Gorchakov and Milyutin. The Chancellor has grown old and is incapable of acting with determination, while Milyutin, of course, would like to avoid war, because he feels that several things will then break out openly. . . . The Emperor himself believes that we can do nothing without war, and he would resolve upon war and would like to see things settled as soon as possible, but the question is how to get to this, since diplomacy has so confused everything that no war can be declared on Turkey without some weighty reason.

" How is this winter going to pass ? What will it bring us ? How much time has been lost in vain-that is the sad thing. I fully share your opinion that it is time for the Government to take all the Slav benevolent committees and the whole of this popular movement into its own hands; for otherwise God only knows what is going to come out of it and how it may end.

" I can imagine what excitement there must be at St. Peters- burg and generally all over Russia because nothing is known and everything is so indefinite, when even here, whence all orders and decisions emanate, there are days when no one under- stands or knows anything. . . . As to Crimea I have really nothing to write. You are aware that I do not particularly like it, and especially this year. . . . Excuse me, K. P., for this rambling letter, but it will serve to reflect my rambling thoughts because of all these events, worries, uncertainties, and this everlasting suspense." 1

It seems to us that these remarks warrant the conclusion that the mutual relations of Pobedonostsev and Alexander III. at the beginning of the Russo-Turkish War had reached a quite well-defined stage. To Pobedonostsev, Alexander was now no longer the child he had been before, even though he still continued to remain his pupil. Hereafter, however, it was not to be jurisprudence that Pobedonostsev was to teach him, but practical affairs and problems of his future statesmanship, and the teacher saw in the pupil that cherished " hope" which he had lost with the death of the elder brother. On the other hand, to Alexander, Pobedonostsev was not only a teacher and counsellor, but also a confidant to whom he freely confided all his political thoughts and whom he went so far as to initiate even into the troubles of his family. Relations built up on such a basis were not changed by the outbreak of the war, when

1 Novum Regnum, ioi6.


Alexander, in the summer of I877, went to the front. As here- tofore, Pobedonostsev remained his trusted friend to whom he kept on writing very frankly from the theatre of war: his adviser on perplexing problems and his informant on everything that was being said and done at St. Petersburg. On 24 September, I877, Pobedonostsev wrote to Catherine Tyutchev:

"I am writing to the Tsarevich frankly about everything and I am telling him everything, even though it is painful to burden his heart with my own bitterness. He writes: 'What is to become of us only God knows, and in Him is all our faith. There is one thing that I can say-we are not discouraged and have not lost heart.' It is said that he is exceedingly popular with his own army. But what use can he make of all that I am writing to him ? Even if he should say something, it is obvious that they would not listen to him, but merely feel more irritated with him." 1

Several days later Pobedonostsev again writes about Alex- ander: "At present my chief concern is for the Tsarevich and his army in Bulgaria. What will the Lord now help him to accomplish against Suleiman Pasha? " 2

General Headquarters, that is, the Grand Duke Nicholas Nicholayevich and his entourage, who were hostile toward the Tsarevich, constantly furnish Pobedonostsev with fuel for hostile comments. His personal view of the Commander-in-Chief we know already. A broad hint as to General Headquarters is clearly discernible in the letter of 24 September from Pobedo- nostsev to Tyutcheva, just quoted. In the same letter occurs another passage showing quite clearly his opinion of General Headquarters, upon which at that particular moment the lot of the Tsarevich to some extent depended

"Incredible stories are being told here about Vladimir Alexandrovich, that he is behaving heaven knows how, that he is dissipating, that he has been seen intoxicated, that he was lost for several days and then discovered at Bucarest, and so on.3 There is not a word of truth in these tales, the Tsarevna told me . . . adding that all such stories were probably con- cocted at General Headquarters. Here you have family unity and harmony! And upon this unity the fate of Russia now depends. And, worst of all, it seems there is nothing outside of such

I87, 24 September, i877. 2 I89, 30 September, I877. 3 Grand Duke Vladimir at this time commanded the I2th Army

Corps, which formed part of the Rustchuk Army under the command of the Tsarevich.


'unity' on which it is possible to give it a firm foundation. These are the people and the basis on which the glory of Russia depends! "1

How unalterably favourable Alexander's attitude toward Pobedonostsev remained, may be seen from his two letters dated, respectively, 8 September, I877, from his bivouac at the village of Dolgi Monastyr in Bulgaria, and 3I October, from the village of Brestovets:

"Excuse me, dear K. P., that I have failed for so long to answer your letter, but I received it at the most busy time for my troops, when I was staying no more than two to three days in one place." Giving details of the military situation, Alex- ander continues: " What is going on and being said at Peters- burg? We often think now of our dear country. We did not suppose the war would drag on like this, and the start was so successful for us, everything went so well and promised an early and brilliant end, but suddenly came that unfortunate Plevna. This nightmare of a war !

" You can imagine our despair when the Emperor announced that he would remain here; no pleading, no arguing could change the Emperor's decision. I am now positively unable to imagine what the Emperor is going to do if the war drags on till the winter and perhaps even till next spring. Will he really not return to Russia ?

" I know positively nothing about the Emperor's intentions and generally what is going on at his headquarters, because they don't tell me anything, except for army orders which concern us. Please write to me sometimes, for I really don't know a thing as to what is happening in our own country. No one writes to me from Russia, except my wife and, sometimes, the Empress; but, of course, they cannot know and hear things as you do." 2

In the second letter we have a very interesting response on Alexander's side to news received from Pobedonostsev, who had expressed himself against the idea of starting political trials during the war. Of course, it is scarcely possible to suspect him of feeling sympathy for the revolutionaries, and the fact is that his was a different motive, namely, that political trials disturbed what seemed to be on the surface a state of domestic tranquillity,

I 187, 24 September, I877. 2 Novum Regnum, IOI7. Thus far, only these two letters have been

published, their originals being in the collection of the Rumyantsev Museum.

E


which was so necessary for the successful prosecution of the war. This view was fully shared by Alexander, who wrote back: " WNhat you write about the political trial which unfortunately has already started at Petersburg is simply outrageous! And one must be an ass like Pahlen to start all this mess now." 1

At the end of this letter his accumulated bitterness against General Headquarters makes Alexander regretful that the Emperor was preparing to return to Russia, the very thing which he himself had so eagerly desired less than two months before.

"Yes, it will not be cheerful remaining here if the Emperor returns to Russia. . . . Up to now, everything has been kept together only thanks to the presence of the Emperor in the army, for otherwise our Commander-in-Chief with his lovely staff would have got things mixed up in such a way that we should have suffered even more. . . . It is time, and high time, to change the Commander-in-Chief, for, if not, we shall again find ourselves in a bad scrape." 2

The question as to precisely who it was that influenced him in this criticism of the conduct of hostilities at the front by General Headquarters is not important. The only thing important to bear in mind is that both correspondents were entirely unanimous on this question.

The Tsarevich's return to Petersburg in February, I878, was a source of great joy to Pobedonostsev. He was delighted to see his pupil once more in an arena where he was destined in due time to play the leading part, and he was also hopeful that the harsh experiences of the war might have given him that knowledge of life which he lacked before.

" The Tsarevich has arrived at last," wrote Pobedonostsev, "which makes me very glad. The last period which he spent with the army was a sharp trial for him. They say he went about black as night, and I was afraid he might get too bitter at heart. But, thank God, on the way back he soon recovered his cheerfulness. I went to meet him at Gatchina and had the consolation of seeing the cheery, bright happiness of the young couple seeing each other again after nine months of separation. Since that time I have seen him only once at his home, at the table which has at last got back its master. He is as cheerful as before, but has returned, I hope, with a large stock of experience not cheaply bought. I am glad that he spent the last

1 Novum Regnum, ioi8; this refers to the famous trial of the I93 for revolutionary propaganda. 2 Novum Regnum, ioi8.


month and a half with Totleben and that he has derived from his conversations with him a great deal that will be useful to him." 1

Turning now to the final period of Pobedonostsev's relations with Alexander III. before he became Emperor, we must note a fact of which the consequences were to prove exceedingly important. In the spring of I878 it was suggested in Moscow business circles that the Russian Navy should be strengthened by the addition of swift cruisers to be acquired by public voluntary contributions. This is how the organisation, later known as the Russian Volunteer Fleet, came into existence.

The Tsarevich became the patron of this enterprise, and Pobedonostsev was made Chairman of the General Executive Board of the Company. Of itself, this business had nothing in common with politics, but it was important in so far as it enabled Pobedonostsev for the first time to occupy an official post with the future Emperor, apart from his lectures on jurisprudence; in other words, it made him Alexander's official collaborator in a business requiring the making of regular reports, the issuing of orders and the selection of workers. In addition to their exchange of intimate correspondence, an atmosphere of business, was now created which brought Alexander and Pobedonostsev closer together and made the latter to all intents and purposes a partner of the future Emperor. This constant collaboration appears plainly from the numerous and mostly very brief notes from Alexander to Pobedonostsev written during those years. To Pobedonostsev, to direct the creation of the Volunteer Fleet was a new and unknown field of activity; but, excellent jurist, accomplished bureaucrat, and personally honest man that he was, he was able to discharge his duties with marked success.

It was not easy for him, however, to start this unaccustomed work. " This business has drawn me aside," he wrote to Catherine Tyutchev on 30 May, I878, " and I have no faith in it, but it has to be done willy-nilly. Had it been confined to one simple task, such as fitting out the ships, it would not have weighed heavily on me. But at Moscow they have recklessly tied up the whole business in such a knot that I even don't know how to begin to unravel it. . . . It is planned to carry it on . . . under the high auspices of the Tsarevich. Grant God that I may be mistaken, but I am beginning to think that, besides naive persons and idiots, there are also other people participating in this scheme who are secretly inspired by their

1 207, I9 February, I878.


own interest. In these circumstances it is unthinkable to let the Tsarevich's name be retained there, but at Moscow they insist emphatically on it; but I am making it my business to get him out of this affair; perhaps I shall succeed." 1 He failed to accomplish his object, and the future Emperor became the organiser of the Volunteer Fleet. Pobedonostsev's complaints about how it had forced him off his accustomed routine and sphere of activity may thus be easily understood.

" A year ago," he writes, " when the business of the Volunteer Fleet suddenly fell on my shoulders, I could not foresee what would happen. *But now I see that this business has diverted me into an altogether different set of habits, activities, and rela- tionships. I have even stopped reading books-I am now reading people instead: an entirely different kind of literature." 2

" Close contact with the Tsarevich has imposed on me a mass of affairs and duties which I did not know before. It is easy for an outsider to say-Why, then, undertake such a business ? But there are situations in which it is impossible to remain silent, and when one must speak, write, convince, counsel and oppose. When one feels a vital force about one, this work is not difficult and not exciting; but when there is none, it wears one's heart out, but it cannot be abandoned." 3

The years of Pobedonostsev's work as Chairman of the Volun- teer Fleet saw at the same time an increase in the revolutionary movement and an intensified campaign against it by the government. In May, i88o, when Pobedonostsev joined the government as Procurator-General of the Holy Synod, he abstained for the time being from taking any direct part in this political struggle. His frequent letters to Tyutcheva during I879 and i88o are filled with caustic and venomous criticism of the measures adopted by Loris-Melikov, and he seems worried about the personal safety of the Crown Prince. All this, together with frequent communica- tions dealing with the affairs of the Volunteer Fleet, forms a very conspicuous part of the correspondence.

" Nothing firm, determined, complete, can be heard here, and that is terrible. I am going round all day in alarm, and I go to bed and get up again with a worried and anxious mind. I am also worried about the Tsarevich-he is left here alone now as the supreme target at which some evil design is undoubtedly being aimed. There may come one fatal moment-but it is terrible to think of it." 4

1 220, 30 May, I878. 2 270, 8 May, i879. 3 3I0, 3I January, i88o. 4 266, I4 April, I879.


" With the Anichkov Palace I have constant communication, for the most part on paper; almost every day I am writing for him facts, reports, descriptions, sometimes also appeals and requests. To-morrow I must go for half a day to Gatchina, where I have spent a whole day once already. And here I have already been three weeks trying to get the Tsarevich to go there. To- morrow, he promised, he will go there with me for a critical affair which has been an important item in my worries-the testing of a submarine boat which we have built." 1

" When Milyutin left, I went to discuss extremely urgent matters with the Tsarevich (regarding the Volunteer Fleet) and I sat an hour with him. Lately he has become more free in his conversation and judgments. Sometimes I sit with him without experiencing the unpleasant feeling that, the sooner you go, the better your host will feel for getting rid of you. God, if his mind would only become clearer and his will stronger ! 2

In reply to this letter Catherine Tyutchev prophecies to him the part he would play under the new Emperor: " I am glad at what you write about the Tsarevich. May God grant him clear thought and a firm will. And if this comes about, you will not have been without a share in this good work, to which you have been devoting yourself for so many years." 3

" Since the dreadful event of 5 February," Pobedonostsev continues, " I have not yet been at the Winter Palace: I have no heart to go there, it is bitter. And what can one hear from Countess Bludov ? I was only to-day at the Anichkov. The worry about them, too, won't go out of my mind." 4

" I am seeing the Tsarevich. The latest events could not help making an impression on him. Lately he has been talking more readily and freely; his views on the affair are straight- forward. Still, they do not realise the actual situation. They still look on things as if everything was being done by command, by magic, and, most important of all, they do not look into their own hearts and do not make an effort. My God! How is he going to govern ? He has not even seen how men of strength and wisdom govern. The reign of his father which he sees is devoid of wisdom, strength, and will." 5

Throughout the many years during which relations between Pobedonostsev and Alexander were being strengthened and the influence of the former upon the latter kept growing, we find only

306, 7 January, i88o. 2 3I0, 2 February, i88o. 33II, 5 February, i88o. 43I4, 12 February, i88o. 5 3I5, 25 February, i88o.


one hint at anything like a cooling off in their mutual relations. This was in I879, and it is not clear precisely what had caused it; but in the manner in which this moment has been described by Pobedonostsev himself there seems to lurk something like resent- ment at an offence carelessly and involuntarily committed against him either by the crown prince or those near him.

" The owners of the Anichkov Palace are now in Denmark and, of course, are living in careless bliss. Lately, my relations with them have somehow been broken. It even seems to me that A. A. has become somewhat aloof. Apparently no reason for this existed, but I feel a cooling off, a growing indifference. You know, of course, that this is a common thing in Court circles, and personally I am not a bit worried about it. I have known for a long time that ' Trust not in princes ' is right. These waters are safe within their shores, but above them the sun is playing and clouds are fleeting, shadows alternating with sunlight. Every prince is like a man (of whom the Epistle of St. James speaks) looking at himself in a mirror. He looks at himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what he is like." 1

This, however, was merely a passin,g phenomenon which vanished without leaving a trace. When the death of Alexander II. brought his son to the throne, the firm connection existing between the new Emperor and the man who had so long been his confidant, political guardian and trainer, and, during the last three years, also his collaborator in business matters, proved to be stronger than ever. As soon as Alexander III. ascended the throne there appeared at the back of it the slim, slight figure with horn-rimmed spectacles that had long ago prepared to play the part of a Russian " vice-emperor " in the reign of a monarch whom he had politically brought up.

1 280, 27 August, I879.

Pobedonostsev and Alexander III

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