In fact, he became a staunch and strenuous advocate of the "divinity that doth hedge about a king." He had the audacity to declare that he had received his throne from the high and mighty Trinity and would not degrade himself by accepting titles from any prince on earth. During a long and prosperous reign he did much to increase the material greatness of the nation.
He became a pattern of industry and art, and, by liberal rewards, induced skillful artificers from abroad to flock to Moscow; he rebuilt and adorned the Kremlin, decorated it with all the splendors of which the art of his day was capable. He erected great buildings and palaces for the purposes of the Government and in war adopted the use of artillery, causing cannon to be made in great numbers.
He had mines opened and worked, and coined money of silver and copper in his own capital. He established diplomatic relations with foreign nations and first made Russia an European power, in the consideration of the other Courts.
His reign was one of pomp and show, Oriental forms and ceremonies marking the character of his court. There was no moral element, however, in all his grandeur and nothing was done to promote the elevation of the masses of the people. Though said to be guilty of personal cowardice at times, when his wife was not looking on, yet by the victories of his arms, he added twenty thousand square miles to the territory of Russia and over four millions of people to its population during a reign of forty-three years, which had surpassed in importance to his country that of any of his predecessors.
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From General Nelson A. Miles
Thrilling Stories of The Russian-Japanese War, 1904
