The Wiener Tagblatt, an influential Austrian journal, has found an
extraordinary reason for praising the demeanour of the Czar. He actually allowed Madame Faure and Madame Brisson, who are not even hoffahg, to dine at the same table with himself and the Czarina. Such a concession to Republican principles would, the journalist continues, be absolutely impossible in Vienna, where, though a low-born man might be admitted to the Emperor's table, his wife never could be. The fact is correct, and was once the occasion of a curious scene at the Hofbnrg when the Emperor had to exert his personal authority to obtain partners for his Premier's daughter ; but our contemporary surely mistakes the feeling of the Czar. In his mind, as in that of every true autocrat, there is no rank except that derived from his favour. His notice, in fact, as Nicholas I. once openly said, of itself confers rank. The well-born in Russia have social advantages, as everywhere else, but Peter the Great's ablest Minister was a cook or Ruttier, and the tradition has never been forgotten. In Russia, as in every Oriental country without exception, all careers are as open as in the United States.
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