Page:The National Geographic Magazine Vol 16 1905.djvu/364

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self a "god in the minds of his people." Autocracy had received a fresh sanction in their absolute and whole-hearted submission.

Suddenly the boy prince, Demetrius, the last heir of Ivan, died. With him the royal line of Rurik became extinct. There followed thirty years of lawlessness and anarchy, of disastrous civil and foreign war. At last, in 1613, a great assembly, made up from every rank and class in Russia, got together in Moscow. A national assembly, equally representative of a nation, neither Russia nor Europe had ever seen. This assembly, after long and fierce contention, chose Michael Romanoff as Tsar. Not a single condition did they impose upon that untried boy of seventeen thus unanimously elected ruler. When he appeared before them, upon their knees they shouted, "Promise that thou wilt graciously consent to rule over us." And so with autocratic power the dynasty of the Romanoffs was seated upon the Imperial Russian throne. There is no other royal house reigning in Europe today which in equal degree owes its elevation to the free voice of the people. There is no other reigning house that does not trace its origin back to some successful warrior and owe its earliest advancement to the sword. In every other country, on some bloody plain, a Hastings or a Marchfield, William the Conqueror, the Hapsburghs, the Hohenzollerns, have carved for themselves and their descendants a title to the crown. The father of Michael Romanoff was no brilliant soldier, only a faithful parish priest, who was renowned for piety and ability, and who because of his noble qualities attained high ecclesiastical distinction.

Upon the autocratic throne, thus broad-based upon the popular will, sovereign succeeded sovereign for more than a century. On each monarch devolved the duty of choosing his heir from among the male or female members of the Imperial family. Always that choice was accepted by the nation. Smallpox caused the sudden death of Peter II, in 1730, before he had expressed any preference as to his successor. There were then living four descendants of Michael Romanoff. Three of them were women—Anna Ivanovna, Catharine Ivanovna, Elizabeth Petrovna— and a male infant a few months old. Eight of the most powerful nobles banded themselves together in what they termed "The High Secret Council." They obtained control of the army and of every department of government and administration.

They then offered the crown to Anna Petrovna, subject to the following conditions: (1) The High Council should