say that his imperial poise, his kinglike dignity, in this
tremendous crisis in the affairs of his empire, was what
impressed me most.

Lewis Nixon, who has recently been in Russia constructing torpedo-boats,
and who talked with the Czar at Tsar-koye-Selo so short a time ago as last
December, says of him, according to the _Sun_:

His majesty, contrary to reports, was in perfect health, and
had not broken down at all under the strain of recent events
in Russia. There is not a gray hair in his head.

Asked by the reporter: "Did the Czar impress you as a man of great
strength of character?" Mr. Nixon replied:

Well, a man of his rank and power naturally creates a great
impression on one. The Czar is a man of remarkable
intelligence.

Andrew D. White's Somber Picture.

Not every one who has been brought into personal contact with the Czar
names him but to praise, however. In an article that appeared in the
_Century Magazine_ just after the beginning of the war with Japan, Andrew
D. White, who as minister to Russia during Harrison's administration saw
something of the Czar before he succeeded to the throne; says of him:

I was told by a person who had known him intimately from his
childhood that, though courteous, his main characteristic
was an absolute indifference to all persons and things about
him, and that he never showed any application to business or
a spark of ambition of any sort. This was confirmed by what
I afterward saw of him at court.

He seemed to stand about listlessly, speaking in a
good-natured way to this or that person when it was easier
than not to do so, but, on the whole, indifferent to all
that went on about him. After his ascension to the throne,
one of the ablest judges in Europe, who had every
opportunity to observe him closely, said to me:

"He knows nothing of his empire or of his people; he never
goes out of his house if he can help it."

Referring to the denationalization of Finland, in the same article Mr.
White says:

It is the saddest spectacle of our time. Former emperors,
however much they have wished to do so, have not dared break
their oaths to Finland, but the present weakling sovereign,
in his indifference, carelessness, and absolute unfitness to
rule, has allowed the dominant reactionary clique about him
to accomplish its own good pleasure.

Scathin