1. The Hague Peace Conference. Whilst Germany for forty years made ready for war, Russia was still dreaming of peace when war broke out.
2. The Siberian Railway and numerous other railroads in Russia were constructed in his lifetime.
3. The founding of many schools. His aim was universal education for Russia.
4. When Austria threw at Russia the gauntlet of insult, not forty-eight hours elapsed before the Emperor accepted the challenge and declared war. No son could defend the honour of his mother more devotedly than the Emperor upheld the dignity of Russia, for at that time she was far from being ready, although she knew that Germany began her preparations in 1872, and had never slackened her efforts. The dream of the Hague Conference was as noble as it was, perhaps, quixotic.
5. The Emperor Nicholas declared himself the head of the Slavonic world.[efn_note]Prince Gotchakoff urged O.K. never to mention the word  “Slav,” as Europe did not like it. (Vide “The M.P. for Russia.”) But the Emperor was a traitor neither to his Allies nor to his orthodox Slavonic ideals.[/efn_note]
6. The Emperor declared his determination to restore the union of the three Polands. Prussia, of course, had no intention of granting independence to Poland, and Austria unceasingly persecuted the orthodox and Slavonic element. These two Powers, at all events, have proved their hatred of everything Slav.[efn_note]I remember a Slav, a Turkish subject, once saying in my presence: “Those of us who belong to Austria are no better off than those belonging to Turkey.”[/efn_note]
   But Russia expected to carry out her noble schemes, and was promised by the Allies the possession of St. Sofia, the dream of Russia since the ninth century, when it was started by the great Sviatoslav.
7. The abolition of alcohol, a measure which was not only a moral blessing to the country and the army, but which also increased the material wealth of countless families. And the military glory with which Russia covered herself during two years of struggle was gained entirely without the influence of alcohol.

OLGA NOVIKOFF.