In the course of a great struggle against a foreign enemy, who has been endeavoring for three years to enslave our country, it has pleased God to send Russia a further bitter trial. Internal troubles have threatened to compromise the progress of the war. The destinies of Russia, the honor of her heroic army, the happiness of her people, and the whole future of our beloved country demand that at all costs victory shall be won. The enemy is making his last efforts, and the moment is near when our gallant troops, in concert with their glorious Allies, will finally overthrow him.
In these days of crisis we have considered that our nation needs the closest union of all its forces for the attainment of victory. In agreement with the Imperial Duma, we have recognized that for the good of our land we should abdicate the throne of the Russian state and lay down the supreme power.
Not wishing to separate ourselves from our beloved son, we bequeath our heritage to our brother, the Grand Duke Michael Alexandrovitch, with our blessing upon the future of the Russian throne. We bequeath it to him with the charge to govern in full unison with the national representatives who may sit in the legislature, and to take his inviolable oath to them in the name of our well-beloved country.
We call upon all faithful sons of our land to fulfil this sacred and patriotic duty in obeying their Emperor at this painful moment of national trial, and to aid him, together with the representatives of the nation, to lead the Russian people in the way of prosperity and glory.
May God help Russia.
So ended the reign of Nicholas the Second, Czar of all the Russias. The news of the Czar’s abdication spread over the world with great rapidity, and was received by the Allies with mixed feelings. The Czar had been scrupulously loyal to the alliance. He was a man of high personal character, and his sympathies on the whole, liberal; but he was a weak man in a position in which even a strong man might have failed. He was easily influenced, especially by his wife. Warned again and again of the danger before him, he constantly promised improvement, only to fail in keeping his promises. He deeply loved his wife, and yielded continually to her unwise advice.
The Empress Alexandra Feodorovna is but another instance of a devoted queen who dethroned her consort. She believed in Divine Right and looked with suspicion upon popular leaders. Her one object in life was to hand on the Russian crown to her son, with no atom of its power diminished. She surrounded herself and her husband with scoundrels and charlatans.
© Underwood and Underwood, N. Y.
THE WOMEN’S “BATTALION OF DEATH” IN NATIONAL DANCE