52 Nineteenth Century Peace Congresses
but she was also strong, far-seeing, statesmanlike. Paul was
a madman with imperial power. One can guess something
of the contents of those five years when we know that until
recently all mention of his acts and of his tragic death has
been under the ban of the most absolute censorship in Russia.
If one finds disorder in the Russia of to-day, it does not
necessarily prove that there is too much democracy now, but
rather perhaps that in other days there has been too little.
And every day of anarchy among a people breaking their
bonds and struggling into light can be matched by years of
tyranny and sore oppression under kings whose title went
straight back to God himself. We cannot judge aright these
bitter days unless we remember also the burden and the woe
of those long and very bitter years. And one may hope still
that out of the ashes and the bloodshed of this wicked war
there may yet arise a Russia with a new glory blazing in her
kindled soul.
Paul was determined that his son should not gain any
popularity at his expense, and with mad cunning he made
the boy, who was only twenty, chief of police in St. Peters-
burg. In this capacity Alexander was compelled to sign
orders of banishment and death for people whom he knew
to be innocent, “that all may see that you and I breathe with
the same spirit,” as Paul said to his son. Paul reduced the
required service of the peasants to three days a week, and
when they refused to be grateful and insisted on revolting,
he had them executed and buried outside the cemetery walls
with an epitaph over their graves: “Here lie criminals be-
fore the Lord, the Czar, and the landowners, justly pun-
ished according to God’s law.” Citizens were punished for
wearing round hats and top-boots which came from France.
Thousands were executed for failing to kneel when the
imperial carriage passed. In his last escapade Paul fell