Alexander II_ The Last Great Tsar - Edvard Radzinsky [91]
Yes, he was running away—running away from everything: her hysteria, fat Rodzianko, the Duma’s fury. From the demands of his mother, his relatives, his friends, and his country.
“Long the weary slave, I conceived a flight.”
Rodzianko described in his memoirs how one time Nicholas, having heard his report, walked over to the window.
“Why is it like this, Mikhail Vladimirovich? I was in the woods today—it’s quiet there and you forget everything—all these squabbles … the human bustle. I felt so good deep down. It’s closer to nature there … closer to God.”
Once in his diary Nicholas wrote, “Dangled my foot in a stream.” A tired, lonely man, childlike, splashing his foot in the water.
She was right: his profound loneliness.
Now he wanted to run away from everyone to his loneliness. So he ran to the woods, taking long walks down an empty road.
He explained to her that he would be away for a short time and would be back by March 1, so he was not even taking Baby with him. But she felt a horror at his trip. The empire had exactly ten days to live.
She: “Feb. 22nd 1917.… Such deep sadness and alarm at letting you leave without dear Baby—such terrible times for us now!—and even harder apart, I can’t stroke you so tired & worried. God truly has sent you a terrible & heavy cross.… Our dear Friend in another world prays for you, too now even closer to us, but I would so love to hear His consoling & heartening voice.… Lovy, be firm, because the Russians need you to be—at every turn you show love & kindness—now let them feel your fist, as they themselves ask. So many of late have told, that we need the knout. Its strange, but that is the Slav nature.… They must learn to fear you, love is not enough. Tho’ a child adores his father, he must fear his anger. I embrace you tight and hug your tired head. Oh the lonely nights to come—no Sunny or Sunshine with you. Feel my arms hold you, my lips press tenderly to yours. Eternally together, always inseparable.”
Russia was the fist and the knout. These were all very old ideas. Here is the monologue of a Russian monarchist quoted by French Ambassador Maurice Paléologue:
“The tsars founded Russia, and the harshest and cruelest were the best. Without Ivan the Terrible, without Peter the Great, without Nicholas I, there would be no Russia. The Russian people are the most submissive of all when they are sternly mastered, but they are incapable of ruling themselves. No sooner is the bridle loosened than they lapse into anarchy; they need a master, an unlimited master; they walk a straight path only when they feel an iron fist over their head.… The knout, we owe it to the Tatars, and it is the best thing they left us.”
He (telegram): “Feel again firm, but very lonely. Thank you and Baby for telegrams. Am terribly sad. Kiss you all tenderly.”
She: “Feb. 23rd.… Well now, Olga & Alexei both have measles & Olga’s face is all covered with rash. Baby suffers more in the mouth—a bad cough and sore eyes. They lie in the dark.… We are all in summer skirts & white robes, and when we receive somebody (not afraid) we put on dresses. If the others are not to avoid this, I hope they get it quickly. That way is more fun for them & does not last so long.”
Alexei had caught the measles from a little cadet who had been excused from school especially to play with the heir. Many there had already had the measles, but the empress did not know that. Now, in her white robe, the empress was rushing among her sick and soon to be sick children and Anya. The measles cut her off from the not very distant capital. She now received reports through the valet Volkov. The fall of the empire began with this illness.
He: “Headquarters. 23 February, 1917.… The day was sunny and cold and I was met by the usual public with Alexeyev [the chief of staff] at the head.… We had a good talk together for about half an hour. After that