One hundred years ago
The Czar has been suffering from a severe attack of influenza, aggravated by slight pneumonia. On Sunday night, after he had been imprudently sitting in a window, the symptoms became so severe and the temperature so high that the physicians grew alarmed, and issued a bulletin after midnight. The Emperor, however, who is just forty-eight, has a vigorous constitution, and has lived a temperate life, and within forty-eight hours the severity of the fever abated, the furious cough disappeared on Wednesday, and by Thursday morning he was pronounced out of danger. The Russian papers do not comment on his illness, but it was felt on every Exchange in Europe, his life being known to be one solid guarantee for peace. The suc- cession to the Throne is now assured, the Cesarewitch Nicholas being twenty- six years of age; but he is reported not to possess his father's tenacious will, and has of course, as yet, little experi- ence in affairs. The heir to a despotic throne lives almost always in a kind of seclusion, deepened, it is said, in this case by a difference of temperament, the Cesarewitch inclining towards a more liberal regime. For the present, however, his character need not be stud- ied, as the Czar is recovering fast, and will speedily recommence the severe labour of his position, which entails on him the necessity of giving every week hundreds of final orders. He can, of course, countersign those suggested by his Ministers, but Alexander III. regards himself as a ruler appointed by the Most High, and bound to exercise his terrible prerogative himself.
The Spectator 3 February 1894
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