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GREGORY RASPUTIN, the "Mack Monk of Russia," who camo
- to wield a powerful influence over the Imperial Court, was
dirty, uncouth peasant, the victim of circumstances rather
than the molder of history. In this story is told how ho was
pushed Into tho most important position in Russia a Minister
without portfolio, but with power to sway tho Czar and the
Court; a "monk" without order but casting a spell over tho
people that defied the Holy Synod itself.
INTRODUCTION
rpiIIS expose, based on facts which have come to my knowledge,
'though probably far from being complete, aims at depicting tho
recent stato of things in Russia, and thus to explain how tho great
changes which havo taken place in my country have been rendorod
possible. A lot of exaggerated talcs have been put into circulation
concerning tho Empress Alexandra, tho part she has played in the
perturbations that have shaken Russia from ono end to nnother
and the extraordinary lnfluenco which, thanks to her nnd to her
efforts in his behalf, the sinister porsonago called Rasputin camo to
acquire over public affairs in tho vast empiro reigned over by
Nicholas II for twenty-two years. A good many of these tales rcposo
on nothing but imagination, but nevertheless it is unfortunately too
true that it is to the conduct of tho Empress, and to tho part sho
attempted to play in the politics of the world, that tho Romanoffs
owe the loss of their throne.
Alexandra Feodorowna has been the evil genius of tho dynasty
whoso head sho married. Without her it is probable that most of
the disasters that have overtaken tho Russian armies would not have
happened, and it is certain that tho crown which had been worn by
Peter tho Great and by Catherine II would not havo been disgraced.
I Sho was totally unfit for the position to which chance had raised her,
and she never was able to understand the character or the needs of
the people over which she ruled.
Monstrously selfish, she never looked beyond matters; purely
personal to her or to her son. whom she idolized in an absurd man
ner. She, who had been reared in principles of true liberalism, who
had had in her grandmother, tho lato Queen Victoria, n perfect
example of a constitutional sovereign, became from the very first
day of her arrival in Russia tho enemy of every progress, of every
attempt to civilize the nation which owned her for its Empress. She
gavo .her confidence to the most ferocious reactionaries tho country
possessed. She tried, and in a certain degreo succeeded, in inspiring
in her husband the disdain of his people and the determination to
uphold an autocratic system of government that ought to havo been
overturned and replaced by an enlightened one. Haughty by ature
and by temperament, she hod an unlimited confidence in her own
abilities, and especially after she had becomo the mother of the son
sho had longed for during so many years, she came to believe that
everything sho wished or wanted to do had to bo dono and that her
subjects were but her slaves. She had a strong will and much
imperiousnes8 in her character, and understood admirably the weak
points in her husband, who became but a puppet in her hands.
She herself was but a plaything in the game of a few
unscrupulous adventurers who used her for the furtherance of
their own ambitious, money-grubbing schemes, and who, but for
the unexpected events that led to the overthrow of the house
of Romanoff, would in time have betrayed Russia into sullying
her fair fame as well as her reputation in history.
Rasputin, about whom so much has been said, was but an inci
dent in tho course of a whole series of facts, all of them more or less
disgraceful, and none of which had a single extenuating circumstance
to put forward as an excuse for their perpetration.
He himself was far from being the remarkable individual
he has been represented by some people, and had he been left
alone it is likely that even if one- had heard about him it would
not have been for any length of time.
Alexandra Despised the Tsar
Thoso who hated him mostly did so because they had not been
able to obtain from him what they had wanted, and they applied
themselves to'paint him as much more dangerous than ho really was.
They did not know that ho was but the mouthpiece of other people
far cleverer and far more unscrupulous even than himself, who hid
themselves behind him and who moved him as they would have done
pawns in a game of chess according to their personal aims and
wants. These people it was who nearly brought Russia to the verge
of absolute ruin, and they would never have been able to rise to tho
power which they wielded had not tho Empress lent herself to their
schemes. Her absolute belief in the merits of the wandering
preacher, thanks to his undoubted magnetic influence, contrived to
get hold of her mind and to persuade her that so long ns he was at
her side nothing evil could befall her or her family.
It is not generally known outside of Russia that Alexandra
Feodorowna despised her husband, and that sho mado no secret of
the fact. Sho considered him as a weak individual, unable to givo
himself an account of what was going on around him, who had to bo
guided and never left to himself. Her flatterers, of whom she had
many at a time, had persuaded her that she possessed all the genius
and moat of the qualities of Catherine II, and that sho ought to
follow the example of the latter by rallying around her a sufficient
number of friends to effect a palace revolution which would trans
form her into the reigning sovereign of that Russia which she did
not know and whose character she was unable to understand. Love
for Nicholas II she had never had, nor esteem for him, and from tho
very first moment of her marriage sho had affected to treat him as
a negligiblo quantity. But influence over him she had taken good
care to acquire. She had jealously kept away from him all the
people from whom he could havo heard the truth or who could havo
signaled to him the dangers which his dynasty was running by the
furtherance of a policy which had becomo loathsome to the country
and on account of which the war with Germany had taken such an
unexpected and dangerous course.
The Empress, like all stupid people, and her stupidity has not
been denied, even by her best friends, believed that one could, rule a
nation by terror. She, therefore, always Interposed herself whenever
Nicholas II was induced to adopt a more liberal system of government
and urged him to subduo by forco aspirations it would have been far
better for him to havo encouraged. She had listened to all the repre
sentatives of that detestable old bureaucratic system which gave to
the police the sole right to dispose of people's lives and which relied
on Siberia and tho knout to keep in order an aggrieved country eager
to be admitted to the circle of civilized European nations.
Without her and without her absurd fears, it is likely that the
Vlrst Duma would not havo been dissolved. Without her entreaties,
it Is probable that the troops composing tho garrison at St. Peters
burg would nop have been commanded to fire at tho peaceful popu
lation of the capital on that January day when, headed by the priest
Gapone, It had repaired to the Winter Palace to lay its wrongs before
tte Tzar, whom it still worshipped at that time. She. was at the
bettom of every tyrannical action which took placo during the reign
o Nicholas II. And lately she was tho movjng spirit in tho cam
paign, engineered by the friends .of Rasputin, to conclude a sepa
rate peace with Germany.
In the long intrigue which came to an end by the publication of
the Manifesto of Pskow, Rasputin undoubtedly played a considerable
pmtt, but all unconsciously. Thoso who used him, together with his
iaftwaqce, were very careful not to initiate him into their different
But tbey paid aim, they fed him,-they gave him cham
PiClH A twites
W WmmWMmM 1m
RASPUTIN AND THE EMPRESS OF RUSSIA
pagne to drink and pretty women to make love to in order to induce
him to represent them to the Empress as being the only men capable
of saving Russia, about which she did not care, and her crown,
to which sho was so attached. With Rasputin she never discussed
politics, nor did the Emperor; But with his friends she talked over
every political subject of importance to the welfare of the nation,
and being convinced that they were tho men best capable of uphold
ing he? interests, she forced them upon her husband and compelled
him to follow the advico which they gave. She could not bear con
tradiction, and she loved flattery. She was convinced that no one
was more clover than herself, and she wished to impose her views
everywhere and upon every occasion.
Few sovereigns have been hated as sho has been. In every class
of society her name was mentioned with execration, and following
the introduction of Rasputin into her household this aversion which
she inspired grew to a phenomenal extent. Sho was openly accused
of degrading the position which sho held and the crown which she
wore. In every town and village of the empire her conduct came to
be discussed and her person to be cursed. She was held responsible
for all tho mistakes that were made, for all the blunders which were
committed, for all the omissions which had been performed. And
when the plot against Rasputin came to bo engineered it was as
much directed against tho person of Alexandra Feodorowna as
against that of her favorite, and it was sho whom ono aimed to
strike through him.
The Empress After Rasputin's Death
Had she shown some common sense after the murder of a man
whom sho well knew was considered the most dangerous enemy of
tho Romanoff dynasty things might havo taken a different course.
Though every one was agreed as to the necessity of a change in the
system of government of Russia, though a revolution was considered
inevitable, yet no one wished it to happen at the moment when it did,
and all political parties were agreed as to the necessity of 'postponing
it until after the. war. But the exasperation of the Empress against
those who had removed her favorite led her to trust even more in
those whom he had introduced and recommended to her attention.
She threw herself with a renewed vigor into their schemes, urging
her husband to dishonor himself, together with his signature, by
turning traitor to his allies and to his promises. She wanted him
to conclude a peace with Germany that would have allowed her a
free hand in her desires to punish all the, people who Had conspired
against her and against the man upon whom she had lookod as a
saviour and a saint. Onco this fact was recognized the revolution
became inevitable. .It is to tho credit of Russia that it took place
with tho dignity that has marked its development and success.
This, in broad lines, is the summary of the causes that have
brought' about the fall of the .Romanoff dynasty, and, they must
never bo lost Bight of when one is trying to describe it. It is; how-
ever, far too early to judge the Russian revolution in its effects
becauaefor one thing, it is far from being at an end, and may yet
rpiIE foil of the House of the Romanoffs is the most drtmaL
crcnt in European ntsiory since muis .vi was gnlllotiiJ
Behind the veil of events stood this sinister Personage-.;
Rasputin working In his quiet way for the ends desire
Russia's enemy bureaucrats. From the time this peasant-mnZ
left his home in Siberia until he was murdered he, was a tontZ
disturbing factor In the Empire's political and civil, as wti(
religious, life.
take quite an unexpected turn. For another, the events connected
with it are still too fresh7 to Ce considered from an objective point
of view. I have, therefore, refrained from expressing an opinion In
this narrative. My aim has been to presont to my readers a descrip
tion of the personality of Rasputin, together with thu part, such ns
I know it, that ho has played in the development of Russian history
during the last five years or so, and afterward to describe tho course
of the revolution and the reasons that have led to its explosion in
such an unexpected manner.
CHAPTER I
A Court Favorite
TXTE LIVE in strange times, when strange things happen which at
' ' first sjght seem unintelligible and the reason for which we fall to
grasp. Even in Russia, where Rasputin had become the most talkod
of person in tho wholo empire, few people fully realized what he" was
and what had been the part which he had played In Russia's modern ,
history. Yet during tho last ten years his name had became a
familior one In the palaces of tho great nobles whoso names were
written down in the Golden Book of the aristocracy of tho country,
as well as in tho hut3 of the poorest peasants in the land. At a
time when incredulity was attacking the heart and the intelligence
of tho Russian nation tho appoaranco of this semivagrant and semi
monk of one of the most persecuted sects in the empire was almost
as great an event as was that of Cagliostro during tho years beforo
the fall of the old French monarchy. '
There was, however, a great difference between the two per
sonages. One was a couttjer and a refined man of tho world, while
the other was only an uncouth peasant, with a crude cunning which
mado him discover soon 'in what direction his bread could be but
tered and what advantages ho might reap out of the extraordinary
positions to which events, together with the ambitions of a few, had
carried him. He was a perfoct impersonation of tho kind of indi
vidual known In the annabVof Russian history as I'Wromienschtchlk,"
literally "the Man of tho Day,"1 an appellation which since the times
of Peter the Great had clung to all the different favorites of Russian
sovereigns. There was one difference, however, and this a most
essential ono. He had never been the favorite of the present Tzar,
who perhaps did not feef as sorry as might have been expected by
his sudden disappearance from the sqene of the world.
I shall say a thing' which perhaps will surprise my readers
Personally, Rasputin was never the omnipotent man he wajs believed
to be, and more than once most of the things which were attributed
to him were -not at all hjs own work. But he liked the public to
think that ho had a finger in every pie that was being baked. And
he contrived to imbuo 'Russian society at large with such a profound
conviction that he could do absolutely everything he chose in regard
to the placing or displacing 6f poople In high places, obtaining
money grants and. government contracts for hla varlpus J'proteges,"
that Very often-the persons, from whom certain things depended
fcnslnned to errant them to thoso who asked In tho hnmn t r
out of sheer fright of finding this terrible being in their way. jS
feared to refuse compliance with any request preferred to thS
cither by himself or by ono who could recommend himself on S
strength of his good offices on thejr behalf. But Itnsputin .
tool of a man far more clever than himself, Count Wltte. It J!
partly duo to the lattcr's influence and directions that lie tried loij
himself up In affairs of state and to give advice to people whom U
thought to be In need of It. Ho was an Illiterate brute, but h fcJ
all the instincts of a domineering mind' which circumstances and tiy
station of life in which he had been born had prevented from dtl. '
Ing. He had also something else an undoubted magnetic W
which allowed him to add nuto-suggestion to all his words hJ
which mado even unbelieving people succumb sometimes toii,
hypnotic practices which he most undoubtedly exercised io .a cot
siderablo extent during the last years of his adventurous cxistes
Rasputin Universally Attacked
Amidst the discontent which, it would be Idle to deny, Jud
existed in the Russian empiro during the period which immedUfcl.
preceded the great war the personality of Rasputin had played t
great part in giving to certain people the opportunity to exploit la
almost constant presenco at the side of the sovereign as a meani U
foment public opinion against the Emperor and to throw ditcreft
upon him by representing him aa being entirely under the inflows
of the cunning peasant who, by a strange freak of destiny, had nj,
denly becomo far more powerful than the strongest ministers the.
Belves. Tho press bolonging to tho opposition parties had got ink
the habit of attacking him and calling his attendance on the imperial ',
court an open scandal, whicii ougnt in tno interest 01 the dynattj
to bo put nn end to by every means available.
In the Duma his name had been mentioned more than onco, tnl
always wjth contempt. Every kind of reproach had been hurled ,
him, and others had not been spared. Ho had become at last a Ian.
tastic kind of creaturo, more exploited thnn anything, more destroy,
able thnn destructive, one whoso real "rolo" will never be knorni,t
its "full extont, who might in other countries than Russia and it
another time havo becomo the founder of some religious order ot
secret association. His actions when examined In detail do nitdlfftt
very much from those of the fanatics which in" Paris Tinder the n!n
of Louis XV were called the "Convulsionnaires," and who gavi vtif
to all kind of excesses under tho pretext that these wore acceptabji
to God by reason of the personality of the people whd inspired
them. In civilized, intelligent, well-educated Europe such an appu,.
tlon would have been Impossible, but in Russia, that land of mysUriti
nnd of deep faiths, where there still exist religious sects given lotvll
kinds of excesses and to attacks of pious madias, (for tt ch
hardly be called by any other name), ho acquired within a,relatively
short tlmo the affections of a whole lot of people. Th?ywer
inclined to see in him a prophet whose prayers were capable of
winning for them the Dhine Paradise for which their hungry cosh
were longing. There was nothing at all phenomenal about it. It
was even in a certain sense quito a natural manifestation o. this
large Russian nature, which is capable of so many good or td
v.c.nn nnd which has decnlv incrustcd at the bottom of its heart
KAgaavu ..- w .
a tendency to seek the supernatural In default of the religious con
victlons which, thanks to circumstances, it has como to lose.
The American public is perhaps not generally aware of tie
character of certain religious sects in Russia, which is considered
l- ...... l,.., nf nlimlnvv wifh ihn Trir nfr. it Kpad. and when
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neonlo. think there is no room left for any other rejigibn yian tai ;
1 ' . . ,...,... , T tSl... 1LI .... Jl ..f
official ono to acveiop usmi. in reumy, iiiiiiga uri: vcij ui-u-,
and to this day, outside of the recognized nonconformists, vrno
have theirwn bishops and prjests, and whoso faith is rogn!:ed
and acknowledged by the State, there aro any number of Sects, Mci
more superstitious and each more poworful than the other in regard
to tho influence which they exercise over their adherents. Theee,
though not numerous by nny means, yet arc actuated by sud
fanaticism that thoy become apt at certain moments td tecomt sub
jects of considerable embarrassment to the authorities. Some an
inspired by tho conviction that the only means to escape froin til
--clutches of the devil consists in suicide or in the murder of other
people. ' . ..
The Two Principal "Heresies"
For instance, the Baby Killers, or utetoouousy, as uisy
called, think it a duty to send to Heavon the souls of new-born
infants, which they destroy as soon as they see the light of theiday,
thinking thus to render themselves agreeable to the Almlgnty by ,
snatching children away from the power of tho cvjl one. Anottifr
sect, which, goes by the name of Stranglers, fully believes that i
door's pf Heaven are. only opened before those who have died
violent death, and whenever a relative or friend Is dangerously lu -
they proceed to smother him under the weight of many pillows M
as to hasten the end. The Philipowtsy preach salvation througi j
suicide, and the voluntary death of several people in common ii
considered by them ns a most meritorious action. Sometimes whoM
villages decldo to unite themselves In ono Immense holocauSt.MW i
barricade themselves in a house, which is afterward set on fire.
An incident that occurred during tho reign of Alexander Ufa f
remembered to this day in Russia. A peasant called Khodkine p
suaded twenty people to retire together with him into a grotto
hidden in the vast forests of the government of Perm, where
compelled them to die of hunger. Two women having contriv'!
escape, the fanatics, fearing that they might be denounced, WllM
themselves with the first weapons which fell under their hand.
TJ. V.: trn -flinf ttinir TnitrVlt find VlPmCo1 VCB COmDOllcd t
renounce their sinister design, and thus fall again into the clutciM I
of that Satan for fear of whom they had made up their minaa
encounter an awful death. Even as late as the end of the I
i -... . . fnMntij.:..M Al.u u mAf itith iipr nnd tnero.ui
, nf nn,l rpntnr nf RiiRnln. Tn IflRS. under tho reign V w 1
father of the preient Tzar, a peasant in the government of K'?
1I-,1 TVV Kilrnt Mmanlf rlnoth , anHnir fire tO hiS ClOttM, 3
which he had previously soaked in paraffin, and expired under w I
most awful torments, singing hymns of praise to, tho Lord.
Among all these heresies there are two which have attract J
more than the others the attention of the authorities, thanks to W A
secret rites and to their immoral tendencies. They aro the bK,PrJ'
or Voluntary Eunuchs, about which it is useless to say anrtoilf
here, and tho Khlysty, or Flagellants, which to this day has a eon
stdernble number of adepts and to which Rasputin undoubtedly W-1
iqngea, mi which, h iaci, no openiy owou uuouinu". - - -
which calls Itself "Men of God," has the strangest rites wnien nu-"
ImrnilniitUn Mn Jnvpnt Arvni-dfno tn lf nrpfftntjf. a human CreW
should tryo raise Its soul toward tho Divinity with theieIp1:
sexual excesses'of all kinds. During their assemblies they indulK
a muu w nM u.wn.m u.,u oiuum uto ivywi .....v.. . - -
nothing so much ao the rounds of the Dancing Dervishes in tne u
Thoy dance and dance until their strength falls them, when tw
drop to the floor in a kind of trance or ecstasy, during which, ecu
l.nsllt, nnAiinfntilA for tliftlr npflnno tbmr mairlnf thflt tnOy "V
Christ and the Virgin Mary among them. They then threw them
selves into the embrace of the supposed divinities.
CONTINUED IN MONDAY'S
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