532 



OBITUARIES, FOREIGN. (MURAVIEFF XIETSCHE.) 



Muravieff, Count Michael Nikolaievich, a 

 Russian diplomatist, born April 19, 1845; died in 

 St. Petersburg, June 21, 1900. He was the son 

 of the Governor of Lithuania, and grandson of 

 Count Michael Muravietf who stamped out with 

 an iron heel the Polish insurrection of 18G3. He 

 studied for a short time in Heidelberg, and began 

 his diplomatic career without further preparation 

 in tin- Ministry of Foreign Affairs in St. Peters- 

 burg at the age of eighteen, soon afterward was 

 attached to the legation at Stuttgart, where he 

 won the good will of Queen Olga of Wiirtemberg, 

 who was a Russian princess, was transferred to 

 Berlin, thence to Stockholm, thence back to Ber- 

 lin as second secretary, and in 1877 in the same 

 capacity to The Hague. In the Russo-Turkish 

 War he took charge of an ambulance train that 

 was furnished to the Red Cross Society by the 

 Queen of Wiirtemberg. As soon as the war ended 

 he returned to the service, rising to be first 

 secretary at Paris, counselor of the Berlin em- 

 bassy, and minister to Denmark, where he was 

 brought into contact with members of the im- 

 perial family, and won the good opinion of the 

 Kmperor Nicholas II, who was so impressed with 

 his historical and diplomatic knowledge, judg- 

 ment, and tact that when Prince Lobanof died 

 and M. de Staal declined to take the post he was, 

 on Jan. 13, 1897, appointed Minister of Foreign 

 Affairs. Count Muravieff had the subtle art of 

 impressing the great persons with whom he had 

 to do with his ability as a diplomatist, and at 

 the same time pleasing them with his finesse and 

 social charm and the elegant superiority with 

 which he sank his professional ability out of 

 sight. His skill and knowledge in diplomacy was 

 not known except to those to whom he had 

 chosen to reveal himself until he became the 

 Czar's Minister of Foreign Affairs, and then it 

 was soon revealed to the whole world. Prince 

 Lobanof had made no forward move in China, 

 although he was preparing for a further assertion 

 of Russian influence when the Siberian Railroad 

 should be completed. Count Muravieff saw that 

 the intrusion of Germany into the Chinese prob- 

 lem and the impatience of England necessitated 

 prompt and dexterous action. The leasing of Port 

 Arthur and Talienwan and the extension of the 

 Siberian Railroad through Chinese territory to the 

 -'a and toward Pekin came as a surprise to Brit- 

 ish diplomacy, and no counter-move could be in- 

 vented. In the Cretan question he decided on an 

 independent course which did not impair the in- 

 fluence of Russia, and did leave her hands free 

 for all future contingencies. The arrangements 

 for the Peace Conference at The Hague, which 

 was an idea of the Czar's, were carried out with 

 such skill and completeness that Russia gained 

 in prestige and renown, turning the tables on the 

 power that has always posed as the champion 

 of freedom and progress, whereas if liberal sym- 

 pathies everywhere had not been so thoroughly 

 enlisted and other governments handled so gently 

 it might have placed Russia in a ridiculous posi- 

 tion. In the Chinese complications he preserved 

 with admirable skill the independent position of 

 Russia, and without breaking with the powers 

 still preserved the attitude of friend and protector 

 of China. In the Korean question also, and in 

 Persian affairs, he understood how to strengthen 

 materially the position and prestige of Russia 

 without causing danger to peace or even friction. 

 Count Muravieff died suddenly while working at 

 his desk. 



Murio-Celli, Adelina (Mme. Adelina Murio- 

 Celli d'Elpeux), a German singer, born in Breslau 

 in 1844; died in New York city, April 10, 1900. 



She was taken by her parents to Paris in her in- 

 fancy, and at the age of fifteen was graduated at 

 the Conservatoire. She was engaged by Arditi, 

 and under his management made many tours 

 through Europe. She became the principal singer 

 of the Italian opera company established in the 

 city of Mexico by Maximilian, on whose death 

 she went first to Havana, then to New York, where 

 she remained as a popular member of the opera at 

 the Academy of Music for several years. In 1870 

 she married M. Ravin d'Elpeux, French consul at 

 Chicago, and retired from the stage to devote. her- 

 self to musical instruction in that city. In 1880 

 she removed her school to New York. She wa> 

 also a composer of great ability, and her songs 

 have been favorites with Patti, Gerster, and 

 Parepa-Rosa. 



Nesville, Juliette (Juliette Lesle), a French 

 actress, born in Paris in 1870: died there, July 2ti. 

 1900. She took the second prize at the Paris Con- 

 servatoire for comic opera, and soon thereafter, in 

 January, 1890, made her first appearance as a page 

 in Sarah Bernhardt's production of Jeanne d'Aiv. 

 In February of the same year she joined the com- 

 pany of the Folies-Dramatiques and originated the 

 title role of Ma Mie Rosette with brilliant suc- 

 cess. She was soon afterward engaged to play 

 Miss Helyett in Brussels. She was seen then in 

 that part by Charles Wyndham. who at once en- 

 gaged her for the same part in the English adapta- 

 tion called Miss Decimo. After a popular run of 

 that piece she was engaged for the Gaiety Thea- 

 ter, London, and came to the United States as the 

 first singer of The Gaiety Girl, in w r hich she made 

 her first appearance as Mina at Daly's Theater. 

 New York, Sept. 18, 1894. She came again in 

 1897, and played Juliette Belleville in In Town at 

 the Knickerbocker Theater, Sept. 6. Her last ap- 

 pearance in London was as Suzette in The Elixir 

 of Life, produced at the Vaudeville, Sept. 9, 1899. 

 She then played an engagement at the Folies- 

 Dramatiques, Paris, and another in Brussels, and 

 was rehearsing for Mariage Princier at the Thea- 

 tre de la Renaissance, Paris, at the time of her 

 death. 



Nietsche, Friedrich Wilhelm, a German 

 philosopher, born in Rocken, near Lutzen. Oct. }'>. 

 1844; died in Weimar, Aug. 25, 1900. He was tin- 

 son of a country pastor, passed through the gym- 

 nasium at Schulpforte, studied philology at Bonn. 

 and under Ritschl at Leipsic, and on the recom- 

 mendation of his preceptor was called as professor 

 to the Paedagogium in Basle as soon as he obtained 

 his doctorate. A year later came the Franco 

 German War, to which he went as a nurse, since 

 as a Swiss professor he could not fight. He became 

 early acquainted with Schopenhauer, and formed 

 an intimacy with Richard Wagner, which he broke 

 off in 1870, the year of the first Bayreuth festival. 

 Till then he was a Teutonic enthusiast like Wag- 

 ner, afterward a European skeptic. Against the 

 Watrnerian tendencies he conceived an testhetu 

 and intellectual repugnance that was natural tr 

 his earnest and strong temperament, rendered 

 morbidly intense by a severe disease of the 

 and an irritation of the brain that were themselvt < 

 the effect of too severe application to work am. 

 earnest thought and introspection. About the 

 same time his infirmities made it necc :u v for him 

 to resign his professorship, and from that time 

 he became a restless wanderer, flitting throiijjli 

 Switzerland, the south of France, and northern 

 Italy, writing all the time book upon book, with 

 feverish impulse and hurried speed, in spite of ill- 

 ness, pain, and failing sight. This rushing mental 

 labor in connection with the excessive use of >e<l;i- 

 tives to induce sleep and allay pain brought on a i 



