[1825 A.D.]

choly that haunted Alexander in the later years of his reign, and which was painfully manifest in his countenance. But he had to undergo other sufferings.

He was not more than sixteen years of age when his grandmother, Catherine II, had married him to the amiable and beautiful princess Maria of Baden, then scarcely fifteen.' The match was better assorted than is usually the case in the highest conditions of life, but it was not a happy one. It might have been so if it had been delayed until the young couple were of more mature years, and had not the empress unwisely restricted their freedom after marriage, and spoiled her grandson as a husband by attempting to make him a good one in obedience to her orders. Moreover, the tie of offspring was wanting which might have drawn the parents' hearts together, for two daughters, born in the first two years of their union, died early. Alexander formed other attachments, one of which with the countess Narishkin, lasted eleven years, until it was dissolved by her inconstancy. She had borne him three children; only one was left, a girl as beautiful as her mother, who was now the sole joy of her father's sad heart. But the health of Sophia Narishkin was delicate, and he was compelled to part with her, that she might be removed to a milder climate. She returned too soon, and died on the eve of her marriage, in her eighteenth year. The news was communicated to Alexander one morning when he was reviewing his guard. "I receive the reward of my deeds," were the first words that escaped from his agonised heart.

Elizabeth, whose love had survived long years of neglect, had tears to shed for the daughter of her rival, and none sympathised more deeply than she with the suffering father. He began to see in her what his people had long seen, an angel of goodness and resignation; his affection for her revived, and he strove to wean her from the bitter recollections of the past by his constant and devoted attention. But long-continued sorrows had undermined Elizabeth's health, and her physicians ordered that she should be removed to her native air. She refused, however, to comply with this advice, declaring that the wife of the emperor of Russia should die nowhere else than in his dominions. It was then proposed to try the southern provinces of the empire, and Alexander selected for her residence the little town of Taganrog, on the sea of Azov, resolving himself to make all the arrangements for her reception in that remote and little frequented spot. A journey of 1800 versts, after the many other journeys he had already made since the opening of the year, was a fatigue too great for him to sustain without injury, suffering as he still was from erysipelas; but he was accustomed to listen to no advice on the subject of his movements, and two or three thousand versts were nothing in his estimation; besides, on this occasion, in the very fatigue of travelling he sought his repose: he would fulfil a duty which was to appease his conscience. He quitted St. Petersburg in the beginning of September, 1825, preceding the empress by several days. His principal travelling companions were Prince Volkhonski, one of the friends of his youth of whom we have already heard; his aide-de-camp general, Baron Diebitsch, a distinguished military man who had been made over to him by the king of Prussia; and his physician, Sir James Wylie, who had been about his person for thirty years, and was at the head of the army medical department.

The journey was prosperous, and was accomplished with Alexander's usual rapidity in twelve days, the travellers passing over 150 versts a day; but his mind was oppressed with gloomy forebodings, and these were strengthened by the sight of a comet; for though brought up by a philosophic grand

'She took the name of Elizabeth Alexievna,

[1825 A.D.]

mother, and by a free-thinking tutor, he was by no means exempt from superstition. "Ilia," he called out to his old and faithful coachmen, "have you seen the new star? Do you know that a comet always presages misfortune? But God's will be done!" A very favourable change having taken place in the empress's health in Taganrog, Alexander ventured to leave her early in October, for a short excursion through the Crimea. On the 26th of that month Dr. Robert Lee, family physician to Count Vorontzov was one of the emperor's guests at Alupka. He relates that at dinner Alexander repeatedly expressed how much he was pleased with Orianda, where he had been that day, and stated that it was his determination to have a palace built there as expeditiously as possible. "To my amazement," says Dr. Lee, "he said after a pause, 'When I give in my demission, I shall return and fix myself at Orianda, and wear the costume of the Taurida.' Not a word was uttered when this extraordinary resolution was annnounced, and I thought that I must have misunderstood the emperor; but this could not have been, for in a short time, when Count Vorontzov proposed that the large open flat space of ground to the westward of Orianda should be converted into pleasure-grounds for his majesty, he replied: 'I wish this to be purchased for General Diebitsch, as it is right that the chief of my état-major and I should be neighbours.'

He

During the latter part of his tour in the Crimea, Alexander had some threatenings of illness, but peremptorily refused all medical treatment. returned to Taganrog on the 17th of November, with evident symptoms of a severe attack of the bilious remittent fever of the Crimea. He persisted in rejecting medical aid until it was too late, and died on the 1st of December. For a long time the belief prevailed throughout Europe that he had been assassinated; but it is now established beyond question that his death was a natural one. The empress survived him but five months.

Alexander's last days were embittered by fresh disclosures brought to him by General Count de Witt, respecting the conspiracy by which, if the official report is to be believed, he was doomed to assassination. From that time he declared himself disgusted with life. Once when Sir James Wylie was pressing him to take some medicine, "My friend," said Alexander, "it is the state of my nerves to which you must attend; they are in frightful disorder." Alas!" rejoined the physician, "that happens more frequently to kings than to ordinary men. "Yes," said the emperor, with animation, "but with me in particular there are many special reasons, and at the present hour more so than ever." Some days afterwards, when his brain was almost delirious, the czar gazed intently on the doctor, his whole countenance manifesting intense fear. "Oh, my friend," he exclaimed, "what an act, what a horrible act! The monsters! the ungrateful monsters! I designed nothing but their happiness." e

"It is difficult to represent the condition of St. Petersburg during the last years of the reign of the emperor Alexander," writes a contemporary. "It was as though enveloped in a moral fog; Alexander's gloomy views, more sad than stern, were reflected in its inhabitants. Many people said: What does he want more? He stands at the zenith of power. Each one explained after his own fashion the inconsolable grief of the emperor. For a man who must live to all eternity, who was famed as the friend of liberty, and who had out of necessity become her oppressor, it was grievous to think that he must renounce the love of his contemporaries and the praise of posterity. Many other circumstances and some family ones also weighed on his soul. The last years of Alexander's life," writes in conclusion the eye-witness of these sorrowful days, "may be termed a prolonged eclipse."

H. W. VOL. XVII. 2M

"Jean of Alexander I

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$25. a truly great misfortune fell upon Russia: gns nad ceased to exist. When he vanished from ner side of his life came into view; the remainder

A contemporary who was at the same time a sing before you that beautiful spirit that was welS01; you see that glorious czar to whom Russia

14; you see the comforter of the people after last u see that gracious, benevolent man who was so amiable ***→、 and who, in the words of Speranski, will ever remain ere was much that was ideally beautiful in his soul, he esired good, and attained to it. There was indeed cause ty in view of the uncertainty of the future that awaited wing to the picturesque expression of a Russian writer exander, had, as it were, to enter a cold, uninviting pastunnel. This was a feeling that was shared by many

...y of the grief which fell upon all Russia, for the persons who The deceased monarch at his death a truly tragic moment Far from the capital and from all the members of the impeisolated town (Taganrog) of the Russian empire, at two > from the centre of government the terrible question arose: Row be emperor, to whom was the oath of allegiance to be taken, ... future would orders issue? Moreover, it was amidst the ramivast conspiracy and a universal fermentation that these questions eliseives.

aux, undivined even to the grave," as the poet justly called ad not revealed his royal will, and even in view of the inevitable Sot considered it necessary to refer by a single word or hint to the a was of such crucial interest to the welfare of Russia. On the ing the last days of his life Alexander had as though consciously earthly matters and died like a private individual who has closed s with the world. Therefore it is not surprising that he failed to e successor he had chosen; being satisfied with the dispositions he viously made in secret, he seemed to think: "After my death they any will and testament and will learn to whom Russia belongs." g the life of Alexander no one knew of the existence of the act naming ad duke Nicholas Pavlovitch heir to the throne except three state ies. Count Araktcheiev, Prince A. N. Galitzin, and the archbishop cow, Philaret. By a fatal concurrence of circumstances, not one of was present at the decease of the emperor at Taganrog. Of the three of confidence who were with Alexander, Adjutant-general Prince kok, Baron Diebitsch, and Tchernichev, not one was aware that the Mother's right to the succession of the throne had been transferred to coad. Adjutant-general Diebitsch afterwards said to Danilevski: "The cor, who had confided many secrets to me, never, however, told me a of this. Once we were together at the settlement, and he, directing Conversation to the grand duke Nicholas Pavlovitch, said, "You must

him." I concluded from these words only that, judging from the age The grand duke, he might be expected to outlive the emperor and the evich, in which case he would naturally be their successor."

ich were the limits of the knowledge that Diebitsch had at his disposal

[1825 A.D.]

in Taganrog as the question of the succession. Nor did Prince Volkonski know anything about the matter. Even the empress Elizabeth Alexievna was in the same ignorance regarding the rejection of the grand duke Constantine Pavlovitch.

"When the illness of Alexander at Taganrog no longer gave any hopes of recovery," relates Diebitsch, "Prince Volkonski advised me to ask the empress to whom, in case of the emperor's death, I as chief of his majesty's general staff must address myself, for my position was one of very great difficulty; I was left chief of the army at a time when instances of a conspiracy were being disclosed. I could not decide upon personally proposing such a question to the empress, fearing to distress her, besides which, although I enjoyed her favour, yet it was not to such a degree as Prince Volkonski, who was the friend of the imperial family; therefore I urgently requested him to take upon himself this explanation with the empress. He only consented under the condition that I should be present. We went together into the room where the emperor was lying unconscious, and Prince Volkonski, going up to Elizabeth Alexievna said to her that I, as chief of the staff, requested her to say to whom, in case of misfortune, I was to address myself? 'Is the emperor then so ill that there is no hope?' asked the empress. God alone can help and save the emperor: only the tranquillity and security of Russia demand that the traditional forms should be observed,' answered the prince Volkonski.

"Of course in case of an unhappy event the grand duke Constantine Pavlovitch must be referred to,' said the empress. The words plainly proved the empress' ignorance as to who was named heir to the throne. Prince Volkonski and I supposed that the late emperor Alexander had made a will, for he had an envelope with a paper in it always with him, which never left him. When we opened it after his death we found that it contained some written-out prayers."

Such being the position of affairs it only remained for Adjutant-general Diebitsch to inform the czarevitch Constantine Pavlovitch in Warsaw of the melancholy event, as the person who, according to the law of succession, had become emperor of all the Russias. It was then that Diebitsch wrote a letter to the empress Marie Feodorovna in which he said in conclusion: "I humbly await the commands of our new lawful sovereign, the emperor Constantine Pavlovitch." The act of the decease of the emperor Alexander was drawn up in Taganrog, annexed to the report of Baron Diebitsch, dated December 1st, 1825, and sent to the emperor Constantine.b

ALISON'S ESTIMATE OF ALEXANDER I

Majestic in figure, a benevolent expression of countenance, gave Alexander I that sway over the multitude which ever belongs to physical advantages in youthful princes; while the qualities of his understanding and the feelings of his heart secured the admiration of all whose talents fitted them to judge of the affairs of nations. Misunderstood by those who formed their opinion only from the ease and occasional levity of his manner, he was early formed to great determinations, and evinced in the most trying circumstances, during the French invasion and the congress of Vienna, a solidity of judgment equalled only by the strength of his resolution. He had formed, early in life, an intimacy with the Polish prince, Czartorinski, and another attachment, of a more tender nature, to a lady of the same nation; and in consequence he considered the Poles so dear to him, that many of the best informed patriots

(1825 A.D.] in that country hailed his accession to the throne as the first step towards the restoration of its nationality. A disposition naturally generous and philanthropic, moulded by precepts of Laharpe, had strongly imbued his mind with liberal principles, which shone forth in full and perhaps dangerous lustre when he was called on to act as the pacificator of the world after the fall of Paris. But subsequent experience convinced him of the extreme danger of prematurely transplanting the institutions of one country into another in a different stage of civilisation; and his later years were chiefly directed to objects of practical improvement, and the preparation of his subjects, by the extension of knowledge and the firmness of government, for those privileges which, if suddenly conferred, would have involved in equal ruin his empire and himself.g

SKRINE'S ESTIMATE OF ALEXANDER I

Of Alexander I it may be truly said that no monarch ever wielded unlimited power with a loftier resolve to promote the happiness of his people. And not theirs alone; for he sympathised with all the myriads doomed to suffering by false ideals and effete institutions. In him men saw the long-expected Messiah who was to give peace to a distracted world. But his nature had an alloy of feminine weakness, unfitting him to bear the reformer's cross. He was too sensitive of impressions derived from without; too easily led by counsellors who gained his confidence but were not always worthy of it. In youth he was swayed by noble infatuations and enamoured of the most diverse ideas in turn. But when he stood confronted with a crisis in his country's fortunes he rose superior to vacillation and kept a great design steadily in view. The will-power thus developed, and the resources at his command, made him for a brief period the leading figure in the civilised world. Despondency came with the inevitable reaction which followed the effort. He was drawn into the mazes of German illuminism, which lessened his capacity for persistent resolve. Its effect was heightened by his failure to pierce the dense phalanxes of ignorance around him, and by the unvarying ingratitude which requited his efforts for the public weal. Increasing physical weakness hastened the death of his generous illusions. An excessive devotion to duty exhausted his flagging powers and he became unequal to the task of governing all the Russias. As a dying tree is strangled by parasitical growths, so was Alexander in his decadence attacked by the enemies of human progress. When Metternich and Araktcheiev gained the mastery, all hope of domestic reform and consistent foreign policy disappeared. But despite the shadows which darkened his declining years, Alexander I of Russia will stand out in history as one of the few men born in the purple who rightly appraised the accident of birth and the externals of imperial rank; who held opinions far in advance of his age, and never wittingly abused his limitless powers; who displayed equal firmness in danger and magnanimity in the hour of triumph.