alexis, son and heir of tsar nicholas ii and tsaritsa alexandra feodorovna, was born july 30th (russian style), 1904. when he was about an hour old, he was made honorary commander of six regiments of the russian army.
when he was twelve days old he was taken to the royal chapel at peterhof in a gilded coach drawn by eight horses and christened. the name he bears, interpreted, means “bringer of peace.” yet at this time the tsaritsa said: “we are bound to hand over to our son an autocracy such as we ourselves received.”
here is one of the curious phases of her character. born of an english mother, reared in germany where at least the idea of a constitutional monarchy is accepted, she yet opposes the least step toward reform and progress in russia, if it interferes with or threatens autocracy. she acquiesces in the naming of her son “bringer of peace” at a time when nearly the whole nation is aspiring to freedom and almost ready to rise up in general revolution to fight for a constitution! it would seem that in this as in so many other things she learned to conform with the will of the tsar, who{205} is her sole liege. the tsar, two years later, said in private conversation to a friend of mine: “i believe russia can go for twenty years more without a constitution.”
as the tsar speaks, so thinks the tsaritsa. whether this is one of the tragedies of her life, or whether it is her supreme sacrifice, one cannot judge. the fact remains, that every thought, every particle of her own ego has been put aside that she may be more completely the wife of her husband.
the little alexis was started in life with a goodly array of godfathers and godmothers. among the former were the king of england, the king of denmark, the emperor of germany, and various grand dukes, uncles of the tsar. during the baptismal service the baby tsarevitch, when he was being anointed, raised a tiny pink hand and extended his fingers as if he were pronouncing a benediction or bestowing a blessing. and all the people present accepted this as a good omen of future blessings to come from the heir to the throne.
the training of a young tsar does not conform with american ideas of training a child, for very largely the tsarevitch is encouraged to do everything he is inclined to do on the theory that the instincts and impulses of an autocrat must be right.
during the summer of 1907 i was in finland when the royal family were cruising along the picturesque finnish coast in the royal yacht standart, and i gathered various stories of alexis from{206} sailors and officers of the ship. on this cruise alexis was the emperor’s adjutant, and by way of training, this three-year-old was placed in command of the squadron, that is to say, the royal yacht and the accompanying pilot boat, gunboats and other vessels that make up a royal fleet when the imperial family goes for a summer outing.
one night in august when the air was still and warm, alexis had difficulty in falling asleep. suddenly he sat up in his little bed and announced that he desired the ship’s band to come and play for him. the officer on duty explained that the hour was late and the band had retired, whereupon alexis grew furious and commanded that the band be aroused and brought to him immediately, which was done. the tsar on this occasion was inordinately pleased and exclaimed: “that’s the way to bring up an autocrat!”
on another occasion alexis ordered all the finnish pilots on the various ships to be brought before him. as the astonished and wondering finns appeared on the deck of the standart the baby commander shouted: “zdorovo rebyata!” (health children!) the finns, not understanding russian, were much bewildered and frightened, and alexis, became exceedingly annoyed at their not understanding. so the finns were hurriedly taught to respond: “zdravie zhelayem vashe imperatorskoye vysochestvo”—(“we wish you health, your imperial highness.”)
the sailor who acts as orderly to the tsare{207}vitch on the standart is called stefan. he is of huge physique and is in attendance on the autocrat-in-process day and night. up to the present time, alexis has shown a greater fondness for this man than for anyone else. he insists upon his “big stefan” taking part in nearly all of his games and it is quite clear that he considers stefan as second only to his father in all the vast empire. morning and night, little alexis in his prayers remembers stefan but even stefan has not been able to break his young charge of a certain military tendency which shows itself at the end of each of his prayers in a loud “hurrah” instead of an “amen.” alexis is perfectly logical in this, for he says that the soldiers on parade always cry “hurrah” when his father appears or when he ceases speaking and, consequently, it is right that his heavenly father should be greeted in the same way.
early in the year 1909, the emperor of china despatched a special embassy, headed by one of the princes of the royal family in china, to st. petersburg for the express purpose of conveying to the tsarevitch alexis a collection of wonderful chinese toys. the embassy also brought with it two wonderfully trained dwarf elephants. this embassy was sent in acknowledgment of a similar embassy which the emperor of russia had sent to china some time before conveying to the boy-emperor of 400,000,000 of people, a toy railroad said to have cost more than fifty thou{208}sand dollars and many elaborate and ingenious toys of russian design. this toy railroad was similar to one that president fallières of france had presented to the tsarevitch on the occasion of his visit to the russian imperial family. this gift had pleased the tsarevitch hugely and he immediately nicknamed the french president, “the train-man.” the tsarevitch, like the royal children of spain, has frequently been maligned in the press of europe and reported as being defective mentally. these stories, of course, are all nonsense, for, like the spanish princes, he is a sturdy, wholesome boy in every respect and takes the keenest interest not only in all the wonderful toys that are sent him by kings, emperors and eastern potentates but also in childish sports and games.
that alexis has a mind of his own and a pretty keen one at that is illustrated in a story that the tsar himself has repeated. it appears that one day, the emperor was engaged with a council of ministers when the little alexis suddenly burst into the cabinet room. surprised at seeing his father surrounded by so large a group of dignitaries, he stopped and looked at them for a moment, then quietly said: “good morning, brothers.” the emperor proceeded to point out to the tsarevitch that it was not adequately respectful for so small a boy to address elderly gentlemen as “brothers.” alexis appeared a little embarrassed and with an obvious desire to correct his mistake, he said, “very well; good morning, boys.{209}”
probably no heir in europe is being trained with greater care than young alexis, for, unless something unforeseen occurs, he will one day be the ruler over 150,000,000 of people and, according to the will and wish of his father, he will perpetuate the traditions of the tsars of old and rule the vast kingdom with all the rigid severity which has characterised the autocratic tsars of russia.
