publications otherwise marked by servile feelings towards the Court. We
all know at what a supernaturally early age the purple-born are
appointed to high titular positions in the State Administration or in
the army. In Russia, where the "right divine of kings to govern wrong"
is pushed to its most logical or illogical consequences, this royal
custom flourishes to excess. At the mature age of eight, Alexander was
appointed Chancellor of the University of Finland. His brother
Constantine was nominated in early youth High Admiral of the Fleet. One
day, Constantine, between whom and his elder brother there was little
love lost, had Alexander arrested because he had come on board ship
without special authorization. Something of the sentiment of Franz Moor,
in Schiller's _Robbers_, seems to have animated Constantine in his
youth. He was often heard to utter a malediction against the law of
heredity. He declared that, being born when his father (Nicholas) was
already on the throne, he (Constantine) had a better right of succession
than Alexander, who had been born when Nicholas was only a Grand Duke.
He further said that, after the death of Nicholas, he would contend
against Alexander with the object of partitioning the Empire.

These may seem trifling occurrences--mere freaks of childhood. They
would certainly be so regarded in countries where the nation practically
possesses self-government and the Crown is mainly an ornamental cipher,
or where the sovereign privilege is at least largely circumscribed by
the parliamentary power. It is different in an Empire like Russia, with
its murderous dynastic antecedents. There, the personal character of the
princely personages is of the utmost importance; for a youthful freak or
hideous trick may point to a coming horrible event. In olden times,
previous to the Tatar dominion, Russia passed through the so-called
Appanage Period of Separate Principalities, when the Empire was actually
partitioned. The feuds which then tore the various branches of the Rurik
family greatly facilitated the Mongol conquest that weighed upon the
country for centuries. With the condition of Russia such as it was until
lately, and still is for that matter, a bold attempt on the part of a
Prince second in birth could not be said to be beyond the range of
possibility. Even now we hear of a deep estrangement between the ruling
Autocrat and the Czarewitch, reaching even to such an extent that for a
moment there was