RUSSIA. 



765 



The marriage of the only daughter of the 



Emperor, th < .rn..! duchess Marie Alexan- 

 dra mi, liorn October 17, 185:t, with Alfred, 

 Duko of Kdinlmr^li, second son of Queen Vic- 

 I Britain, took place on January 

 'S74. There were two marriage cere- 

 monies, one in conformity with the custom of 

 astern Church, and one of the Anglican. 

 Tin- Russian ceremony, which is very long, oc- 

 cupied about two hours; when it was over, 

 the pair passed from the Russian church to 

 tin- Alexander Hall, close by, where the short- 

 er ceremony was performed by Dean Stanley, 

 assisted by the Kev. Arthur 8. Thompson, the 

 ivMilunt clergyman, who was formerly a pupil 

 of the dean at Oxford. The two ceremonies 

 took place under one roof, and the interval 

 between them was but short. The marriage 

 ceremonies were followed at four o'clock by a 

 groat wedding banquet. The celebration of 

 the marriage was attended by the Prince and 

 Princess of Wales, Prince Arthur of Great 

 Britain, and the crown-prince and the crown- 

 princess of the German Empire. Enthusiastic 

 demonstrations in honor of the marriage took 

 place in all parts of the empire. In most of 

 the governments the nobility gave valuable 

 wedding-presents ; in many of the large towns 

 the municipal corporations did the same; and 

 large sums had been collected for the purpose 

 of endowing educational and charitable in- 

 stitutes, to bear the name of the Duke or the 

 Duchess of Edinburgh. Before the duke re- 

 turned with his bride to England, St. Peters- 

 burg was visited, on February 18th, by the 

 Emperor of Austria. At the festivities which 

 were given in his honor, the Emperor as well 

 as the Czar bore public testimony to the friend- 

 ly relations now existing between these two 

 Governments as well as with Germany and 

 Great Britain. The same assurance was re- 

 peatedly given during the visits which the 

 Czar in May, June, and July, made to Germany 

 and England. He started for his journey on 

 May 1st, going first to Stuttgart, where he 

 was present at the maariage of his niece, the 

 Grand-duchess Vera ; thence he proceeded to 

 England, and lastly to Ems, where he took the 

 waters with the German Emperor. His return 

 to Russia took place early in July. 



Owing to the good understanding established 

 between the courts of St. Petersburg and 

 Vienna, the Russian Government gave orders 

 for the discontinuance of the fortification 

 works in progress at Dubno and Ossovieco, 

 begun some time ago with much display and 

 expense. The reason officially stated was finan- 

 cial considerations, but the true reason was 

 sought for abroad in the better understanding 

 established between the two courts. The new 

 fort iti cations are situated near the Austrian 

 frontier. 



The intimate relations between the Govern- 

 ments of Russia and Germany remained undis- 

 turbed, although many papers of both coun- 

 tries tried, on two different occasions, to spread 



a belief in a serious disagreement having taken 

 place. When the reports about negotiation* 

 between Germany nnd Denmark, coiifcrniijg 

 (recession of Schlcxwig to Denmark and 

 the entrance of the entire Danish kii 

 into the German Empire was under discussion, 

 the (iolai of St. Petersburg, and many oth- r 

 Russian papers, had article* strongly advocat- 

 ing the continuance of Danish in<lcp<-iideu<-.'. 

 long," an article of the Golos nays, "as 

 tin etitrance to the Baltic is in the hands of 

 I >> umark, it is practically a free and open sea. 

 Should Germany command the Sound, the Bal- 

 tic would virtually become German property. 

 Such an important change Europe does not 

 wish, and will not allow. German statesmen 

 ought to know that even the raising of this 

 question is dangerous to the peace of Europe." 

 German papers, on the other hand, which were 

 unfriendly to the policy pursued by Prince 

 Bismarck, attributed a grave significance to 

 the refusal of the Russian Government to rec- 

 ognize the Government of the Spanish Repub- 

 lic, when most of the European Governments 

 followed Germany in this question, and to a 

 personal letter addressed by the Czar to Don 

 Carlos. The Governments of both Germany 

 and Russia officially denied, however, that the 

 friendly relations existing between them had 

 in the least been affected. 



In Asiatic politics the rival interests of Rus- 

 sia and England are too antagonistic to be per- 

 manently affected by the new tie of relation- 

 ship connecting the sovereign families. Though 

 no unpleasant complications of any kind arose 

 during the year, it was not doubted that each 

 power, at more than one point, endeavored to 

 counteract the influence of the other. (See 

 AFGHANISTAN, and KASIIGAB.) At the close 

 of the year it was feared that the warlike 

 preparations made by China for the reconquest 

 of Kashgar might lead to difficulties between 

 China and Russia. 



An invitation was issued from Russia to the 

 other powers of Europe to send delegates to an 

 International Conference, which was to consult 

 on the best means to mitigate the horrors of 

 war. The invitation was generally accepted, 

 though with considerable reluctance by Eng- 

 land, and the conference was held in August, 

 at Brussels (see BELGIUM). 



The emigration of Tartars from the Crimea, 

 which has been going on for some years, still 

 continued in 1874, and the efforts made by the 

 authorities to prevent it proved quite fruitless. 

 The emigrants decided beforehand where they 

 were to embark, and they then proceeded in 

 such numbers, by small boats, to the Turkish 

 ships, which lay waiting for them, that the 

 Russian coast-guardsmen could do nothing 

 against them. It would be easy to put an end 

 to the exodup with a single Russian cruiser ; 

 but the Government did not seem disposed to 

 adopt this course, and it was inferred that the 

 Government did not care about retaining a 

 population which, on account of its religion, 



