The precautions taken to ensure the safety of the Czar
were such as have rarely been witnessed in Western Europe. The train steamed out of Dunkirk between walls of soldiers, and on the way to Compiegne a soldier stood sentry on either side of the line at every twenty-five yards, the space un- guarded never exceeding twelve and a half yards. The line had been examined as it were with a microscope, and neither at Dunkirk nor Compiegne was•any person not officially known to be safe allowed within pistol-shot of the Czar. The streets and squares were emptied, and there was perforce silence, except for the official huzzas delivered by soldiers and employes. The historian of the future will recall the scene as a singular indication of the discontent which pervaded 2urope, yet he will be mistaken. It is not the people who are feared, or who are dangerous, but a half-lunatic sect, exceedingly minute in numbers, and probably not half so fanatical as the early followers of the Old Man of the Mountain who threatened Richard I. But then there was neither powder nor dynamite, and Richard was a man in armour physically the superior of any possible assassin.
Previous page
