Unsteady and Self-Complacent.
Unsteady, half-hearted, self-complacent and fickle, he changes his favorites with his fitful moods, allowing a band of casual, obscure, and dangerous men to usurp the functions of his responsible ministers, whose recommendations are ignored, whose warnings are disregarded, and whose measures for the defense of the state are not only baffled but resented as symptoms of disobedience.
The other anonymous article appeared in the National Review, of London, last May. The author of it says:
The leader of the nation during this terrible crisis is a sickly youth of arrested development and morbid will, whose inability to govern might pass unnoticed if he would but allow any man of intellect or will-power to grapple with the warring elements. This, however, he refuses to permit, while allotting to obscure soldiers and seaman, tricksters and money-grabbers, a share of the supreme power, to the detriment of the nation.
The mental and moral impotency of this well-intentioned marplot, who cannot be said to have had even experience, unless ten years of uniform failure could impart it, is one of the commonplaces of conversation in town and country. Even the rough and ready drosky drivers say of him that he has been thrust among rulers like a pestle among spoons.
Yet apprised of his impotence by the "boudoir council," he wishes to will, and he takes the volition for the deed. No occurrence, no event makes a lasting impression on his mind. Abroad, our armies may be scattered, our ships sunk, our credit ruined; he is serene in spite of all. At home the whole framework of society may be going to pieces; Nicholas sits still and fondly annotates state papers, a very Narcissus of the inkpot.
Only a short time before this article appeared the Times had published an interview, obtained by its Paris correspondent with "a prominent European diplomat just arrived from St. Petersburg," who described the Czar as "a little, commonplace, family man, never happier than when playing with his children in their nursery, and quite unequal to the task of government."
The diplomat added that the autocrat of all the Russias was so afraid of the present Count Witte (who was then plain monsieur) that he trembled when the minister came into his presence.
In endeavoring to arrive at a conclusion as to the real character of the Czar from the mass of conflicting evidence cited, it is essential to consider the relation of the witnesses to the subject of our inquiry, in order to ascertain if their testimony is likely to be prejudiced, consciously or otherwise, for or against him.