In the battle of Jena, which took place on the 14th of October, the Prussian army was nearly annihilated, leaving in a few hours more than forty thousand men in killed, wounded and prisoners. In less than a month the conquest of entire Prussia was achieved, and Napoleon was pursuing Frederic William, who, with the wreck of the Prussian army was hastening to take refuge in the bosom of the Russian hosts which were approaching. December had now come with its icy blasts, and Napoleon, leading his victorious troops to the banks of the Vistula, more than a thousand miles from France, established them in winter quarters, waiting until spring for the renewal of the campaign.

Alexander, terrified by the destruction of his Prussian allies, halted his troops upon the other side of the Vistula, and from his vast realms collected recruits. For a few weeks the storms of winter secured a tacit armistice.

In February, 1807, Alexander assumed the offensive and endeavored to surprise Napoleon in his encampment. But Napoleon was on the alert. A series of terrific battles ensued, in which the French were invariably the victors. The retreating Russians, hotly pursued, at last rallied on the field of Eylau. Napoleon had already driven them two hundred and forty miles from his encampment on the Vistula.

"It was the 7th of February, 1807. The night was dark and intensely cold as the Russians, exhausted by the retreat of the day, took their positions for the desperate battle of the morrow. There was a gentle swell of land extending two or three miles, which skirted a vast, bleak, unsheltered plain, over which the wintry gale drifted the snow. Upon this ridge the Russians in double lines formed themselves in battle array. Five hundred pieces of cannon were ranged in battery, to hurl destruction into the bosoms of their foes. They then threw themselves upon the icy ground for their frigid bivouac. A fierce storm had already risen, which spread over the sleeping host its mantle of snow."

Napoleon came also upon the field, in the darkness of the night and of the storm, and placed his army in position for the battle which the dawn would usher in. Two hundred pieces of artillery were planted to reply to the Russian batteries. There were eighty thousand Russians on the ridge, sixty thousand Frenchmen on the plain, and separated by a distance of less than half a cannon shot. The sentinels of either army could almost touch each other with their muskets.

The morning had not yet dawned when the cannonade commenced. The earth shook beneath its roar. A storm of snow at the same time swept over the plain blinding and smothering assailants and assailed. The smoke of the battle blended with the storm had spread over the contending hosts a sulphurous canopy black as midnight. Even the flash of the guns could hardly be discerned through the gloom. All the day long, and until ten o'clock at night, the battle raged with undiminished fury. One half of the Russian army was now destroyed, and the remainder, unable longer to endure the conflict, sullenly retreated. Napoleon remained master of the field, which exhibited such a scene of misery as had never before met even his eye. When congratulated upon his victory by one of his officers he replied sadly,

"To a father who loses his children, victory has no charms. When the heart speaks, glory itself is an illusion."



CHAPTER XXX.

REIGN OF ALEXANDER I.

From 1807 to 1825.

The Field of Eylau.—Letter to the King of Prussia.—Renewal of the War—Discomfiture of the Allies.—Battle of Friedland.—The Raft at Tilsit.—Intimacy of the Emperors.—Alexander's Designs upon Turkey.—Alliance between France and Russia.—Object of the Continental System.—Perplexities of Alexander.—Driven by the Nobles to War.—Results of the Russian Campaign.—Napoleon Vanquished.—Last Days of Alexander.—His Sickness and Death.

From the field of Eylau, the Russians and Prussians retreated to the Niemen. Napoleon remained some days upon the field to nurse the wounded, and, anxious for peace, wrote to the King of Prussia in the following terms:

"I desire to put a period to the misfortunes of your family, and to organize, as speedily as possible, the Prussian monarchy. I desire peace with Russia, and, provided that the cabinet of St. Petersburg has no designs upon the Turkish empire, I see no difficulty in obtaining it. I have no hesitation in sending a minister to Memil to take part in a congress of France, England, Sweden, Russia, Prussia and Turkey. But as such a congress may last many years, which would not suit the present condition of Prussia, your majesty will, I am persuaded, be of the opinion that I have taken the simplest method, and one which is most likely to secure the prosperity of your subjects. At all events I entreat your majesty to believe in my sincere desire to reestablish amicable relations with so friendly a power as Prussia, and that I wish to do the same with Russia and England."

These advances were haughtily rejected by both Prussia and Russia; and Napoleon returned to the Vistula to wait until the opening of spring, when the question was again to be referred to the arbitrament of battle. Both parties made vigorous preparations for the strife. Alexander succeeded in gathering around him one hundred and forty thousand soldiers. But Napoleon had assembled one hundred and sixty thousand whom he could rapidly concentrate upon any point between the Vistula and the Niemen.

In June the storm of war commenced with an assault by the allies. Field after field was red with blood as the hosts of France drove their vanquished foes before them. On the 10th of June, Alexander, with Frederic William riding by his side, had concentrated ninety thousand men upon the plains of Friedland, on the banks of the Aller. Here the Russians were compelled to make a final stand and await a decisive conflict. As Napoleon rode upon a height and surveyed his foes, caught in an elbow of the river, he said energetically, "We have not a moment to lose. One does not twice catch an enemy in such a trap." He immediately communicated to his aides his plan of attack. Grasping the arm of Ney, he pointed to the dense masses of the Russians clustered before the town of Friedland, and said,

"Yonder is the goal. March to it without looking about you. Break into that thick mass whatever it costs. Enter Friedland; take the bridges and give yourself no concern about what may happen on your right, your left or your rear. The army and I shall be there to attend to that."

The whole French line now simultaneously advanced. It was one of the most sublime and awful of the spectacles of war. For a few hours there was the gleam and the roar of war's most terrific tempest and the Russian army was destroyed. A frightful spectacle of ruin was exhibited. The shattered bands rushed in dismay into the stream, where thousands were swept away by the current, while a storm of bullets from the French batteries swept the river, and the water ran red with blood. It was in vain for Alexander to make any further assaults. In ten days Napoleon had taken one hundred and twenty pieces of cannon, and had killed, wounded or taken prisoners, sixty thousand Russians.

Alexander now implored peace. It was all that Napoleon desired. The Niemen alone now separated the victorious French and the routed Russians. A raft was moored in the middle of the stream upon which a tent was erected with magnificent decorations, and here the two young emperors met to arrange the terms of peace. Alexander, like Francis of Austria, endeavored to throw the blame of the war upon England. Almost his first words to Napoleon were,

"I hate the English as much as you do. I am ready to second you in all your enterprises against them."

"In that case," Napoleon replied, "every thing will be easily arranged and peace is already made."

The interview lasted two hours, and Alexander was fascinated by the genius of Napoleon. "Never," he afterwards said, "did I love any man as I loved that man." Alexander was then but thirty years of age, and apparently he became inspired with an enthusiastic admiration of Napoleon which had never been surpassed. At the close of the interview, he crossed to the French side of the river, and took up his residence with Napoleon at Tilsit. Every day they rode side by side, dined together, and passed almost every hour in confiding conversation. It was Napoleon's great object to withdraw Alexander from the English alliance. In these long interviews the fate of Turkey was a continual topic of conversation. Alexander was ready to make almost any concession if Napoleon would consent that Russia should take Constantinople. But Napoleon was irreconcilably opposed to this. It was investing Russia with too formidable power. He was willing that the emperor should take the provinces on the Danube, but could not consent that he should pass the Balkan and annex the proud city of Constantine to his realms.

One day when the two emperors were closeted together with the map of Europe spread out before them, Napoleon placed his finger upon Constantinople, and was overheard by Meneval to say, with great earnestness, "Constantinople! never! It is the empire of the world."

"All the Emperor Alexander's thoughts," said Napoleon at St. Helena, "are directed to the conquest of Turkey. We have had many discussions about it. At first I was pleased with his proposals, because I thought it would enlighten the world to drive these brutes out of Egypt. But when I reflected upon its consequences and saw what a tremendous weight of power it would give to Russia, on account of the number of Greeks in the Turkish dominions who would naturally join the Russians, I refused to consent to it, especially as Alexander wanted to get Constantinople, which I would not allow, as it would destroy the equilibrium of power in Europe."

For three weeks the emperors remained together at Tilsit, and then they separated devoted friends. Turkey had for some time been disposed to regard France as its protector against the encroachments of Russia, and was disposed to enter into friendly alliance. By the treaty of Tilsit, Russia consented to make peace with Turkey, and also to exert all her influence to promote peace between France and England. The efforts of Alexander not being successful in this respect, he broke off his connection with Great Britain, and became still more intimately allied with France. The British ambassador, Lord Gower, was informed that his presence was no longer desired at St. Petersburg. The second bombardment of Copenhagen, and the seizure of the Danish fleet gave occasion for Alexander to declare war against England. The war, however, which ensued between the two countries, amounted chiefly to a cessation of trade. England, protected by her fleet, was invulnerable; and Napoleon and Alexander both agreed that the only possible way of compelling England to assent to peace, was to shut her out from commerce with the rest of Europe. This was the origin of the famous continental system, by which it was endeavored to force the belligerent islanders to peace by cutting off their trade.

Alexander called upon Sweden to unite in this confederacy against England. The Swedes declined. Alexander overran the whole of Finland with his troops, and in 1809 it was permanently annexed to the Russian empire. Just before this event, in September, 1808, Napoleon and Alexander held another interview at Erfurth. The loss of British commerce was almost as great a calamity to Russia as to England, and the Russian people murmured loudly. England wished to arrest the progress of democratic ideas in France by restoring the rejected Bourbons to the throne. In these views the nobles of Russia sympathized cordially, and they were exasperated that Alexander should allow personal friendship for Napoleon to interfere with the commerce of their country, and with the maintenance of aristocratic privilege in Europe. The Russian nobles had nothing to gain by the establishment of free institutions in France, and the discontent with the measures of Alexander became so general and so loudly expressed that he began to waver.

The only hope of Napoleon was in combining Europe in a league which should starve England into peace. He watched the vacillating spirit of Alexander with alarm, and arranged the interview at Erfurth that he might strengthen him in his friendly purposes. Alexander was by the most solemn pledges bound to be faithful to this alliance. He had attacked Napoleon and had been conquered; and the southern provinces of Russia were at the mercy of the conqueror. Under these circumstances the treaty of Tilsit was made, in which Alexander, in consideration of benefits received, agreed to cooeperate with Napoleon in that continental system which seemed vital to the safety of France. Napoleon was well aware of the immense pressure which was brought to bear upon the mind of the Russian tzar to induce him to swerve from his agreement. Hence the conference at Erfurth. During the deliberations at Erfurth it appears that Alexander consented that Napoleon should place the crown of Spain upon the brow of his brother Joseph, in consideration of Napoleon consenting that Russia should take possession of the two Turkish provinces of Moldavia and Wallachia. And again the most strenuous efforts were made by the united emperors to induce inflexible England to sheathe the sword. All the nations on the continent were at peace. England alone was prosecuting the war. But the English aristocracy felt that they could not remain firm in their possessions while principles of democratic freedom were dominant in France. The fundamental principle of the government of the empire was honor to merit, not to birth. The two emperors wrote as follows to the King of England, imploring peace:

"Sire—The present situation of Europe has brought us together at Erfurth. Our first wish is to fulfill the desire of all nations, and, by a speedy pacification with your majesty to take the most effectual means of relieving the sufferings of Europe. The long and bloody war which has convulsed the continent is at an end, and can not be renewed. Many changes have taken place in Europe; many governments have been destroyed. The cause is to be found in the uneasiness and the sufferings occasioned by the stagnation of maritime commerce. Greater changes still may take place, and all will be unfavorable to the politics of England. Peace, therefore, is at the same time the common cause of the nations of the continent and of Great Britain. We unite in requesting your majesty to lend an ear to the voice of humanity, to suppress that of the passions, to reconcile contending interests, and to secure the welfare of Europe and of the generations over which Providence has placed us."

The only notice taken of this letter was in a communication to the ministers of France and Russia, in which it was stated that the "English ministers could not reply to the two sovereigns, since one of them was not recognized by England." A new coalition was soon formed, and Austria commenced another march upon France, which led to the campaign of Wagram, in which Austria was humbled as never before. Austria was now compelled, in conjunction with France and Russia, and most of the other European powers, to take part in the continental blockade. Alexander, shackled by his nobles, had not been able to render Napoleon the assistance he had promised in this war. Loud murmurs and threats of assassination were rising around him, and instead of rigorously enforcing the exclusion of English goods, he allowed them to be smuggled into the country. This was ruinous to Napoleon's system. Remonstrances and recriminations ensued. At length English goods were freely introduced, provided they entered under American colors. Napoleon, to put a stop to this smuggling, which the local authorities pretended they could not prevent, seized several of the principal ports of northern Germany, and incorporated the possessions of the Duke of Oldenburg, a near relative of Alexander, with France.[30]

[Footnote 30: Colonel Napier, in his "Peninsular War," very justly observes, "The real principle of Napoleon's government, and secret of his popularity, made him the people's monarch, not the sovereign of the aristocracy. Hence Mr. Pitt called him 'the child and the champion of democracy,' a truth as evident as that Mr. Pitt and his successors 'were the children and the champions of aristocracy.' Hence also the privileged classes of Europe consistently turned their natural and implacable hatred of the French Revolution to his person; for they saw that in him innovation had found a protector; that he alone, having given preeminence to a system so hateful to them, was really what he called himself, The State. The treaty of Tilsit, therefore, although it placed Napoleon in a commanding situation with regard to the potentates of Europe, unmasked the real nature of the war, and brought him and England, the respective champions of Equality and Privilege, into more direct contact. Peace could not be between them while they were both strong, and all that the French emperor had hitherto gained only enabled him to choose his field of battle."]

These measures increased the alienation between France and Austria. In the mean time Alexander was waging war with Turkey, and was pushing his conquests rapidly on towards the city of Constantine. These encroachments France contemplated with alarm. By the peace of Bucharest, signed May 28th, 1812, the whole of Bessarabia was annexed to Russia, and the limits of the empire were extended from the Dnieper to the Pruth. The Russian nobles were all eager to join the European aristocracy in a war against democratic France, and it was now evident that soon a collision must take place between the cabinet of the Tuileries and that of St. Petersburg. It was almost impossible for Alexander to resist the pressure which urged him to open his ports to the English. The closing of those ports was Napoleon's only hope of compelling England to sheathe the sword. Hence war became a fatality.

Russia, in anticipation of a rupture, began to arm, and ordered a levy of four men out of every hundred. In preparation for war she made peace with Persia and Turkey, and entered into an alliance with Sweden. England was highly gratified by this change, and was soon on most friendly terms with the Russian cabinet. A treaty was speedily formed by England, with both Russia and Sweden, by which these latter powers agreed to open their ports for free commercial relations with England, and they entered into an alliance offensive and defensive with that power. As England was still in arms against France, this was virtually a declaration of war. This violation also of the treaty of Tilsit was the utter ruin of Napoleon's plans. To compel Russia to return to the continental system, Napoleon prepared for that Russian campaign which is one of the most awful tragedies of history. The world is so full of the narratives of that sublime drama, that the story need not be repeated here. It is just to say that Napoleon exhausted all the arts of diplomacy to accomplish his purpose before he put his armies in motion.

The Emperor Alexander followed the French in their retreat from Moscow, and with all the powers of Europe allied, crossed the Rhine, and on the 31st of March, 1814, at the head of an allied army of half a million of men entered Paris a conqueror. His sympathies were warmly enlisted in behalf of his fallen friend Napoleon. In the negotiations which ensued he exerted himself strongly in his favor. It was only by assuming the most energetic attitude against England, Austria and Prussia, that he succeeded in obtaining for Napoleon the sovereignty of Elba. Alexander was very magnanimous, but his voice was lost in the clamor of the sovereigns who surrounded him.

Napoleon retired to Elba. The Bourbons reascended the throne of France. Alexander, with the King of Prussia, visited England, where he was received with great distinction. Returning to Russia he devoted himself to the welfare of his kingdom in the vain attempt to reconcile popular progress with political despotism. Alexander was evidently saddened by the fate of Napoleon, and on his return to St. Petersburg persistently refused to accept the public rejoicings which were proffered him.

Napoleon escaped from Elba, where the influence of Alexander had placed him, and again was on the throne of France. Alexander hesitated whether again to march against him. He yielded, however, to the solicitations of his associated sovereigns, and at the head of an army of one hundred and sixty thousand men, was again on the march for Paris. He was apprehensive that the dismemberment of the French empire, which was contemplated, might render Austria and Prussia too powerful for the repose of Europe. Upon the second capitulation of Paris, after the battle of Waterloo, Alexander insisted that France should at least retain the limits she had in 1790. Upon this basis the new treaty was concluded.

It is an interesting fact that the celebrated Juliana, Baroness of Krudoner, was mainly instrumental in the organization of the Holy Alliance, which was at this time formed. She had wealth, wit and beauty, and had been supremely devoted to pleasure, shining among the most brilliant ornaments of St. Petersburg, Paris and Vienna. Weary of a life of gayety, she seems to have turned to religion and to have become a devout and earnest Christian. Her enthusiasm was roused with the idea of putting a stop to war, and of truly Christianizing Europe. She hastened to Paris, when the allied sovereigns were there, and obtained an interview with the Russian tzar. Alexander was by nature of a devotional turn of mind, and the terrific scenes through which he had passed had given him a meditative and pensive spirit. He listened eagerly to the suggestions of Madame Krudoner, and, aided by her, sketched as follows the plan of the Holy Alliance:

"In the name of the sacred and invisible Trinity, their majesties, the Emperor of Austria, the King of Prussia, and the Emperor of Russia, considering the momentous events which have occured in Europe during the last three years, and especially the blessing which it has pleased Providence to confer on those States which trust in him, and being fully convinced of the necessity of taking, as the rule of life, in all their affairs, the sublime truths which the holy religion of our Saviour teaches us,

"Declare solemnly that the present act has no other object than to proclaim to the whole world their unalterable resolution to take, as their only guide, both in the internal administration of their respective States, and in their political relations with other governments, those principles of justice, Christian charity and peace, which, far from being exclusively applicable to private individuals, should have an immediate influence upon the counsels of princes, and should regulate all their measures, as being the only means of consolidating human institutions and remedying their imperfections. Consequently their majesties have agreed upon the following resolutions:

"Article I. In conformity with the declaration of the holy Scriptures, which command all men to regard each other as brothers, the three contracting monarchs will remain united to each other by the ties of sincere and indissoluble fraternity. Regarding themselves as private individuals, they will render each other, at all times, and in all places, aid and assistance; and considering themselves, in respect to their people and armies, as fathers of families, they will rule in the same spirit of fraternity, that religion, peace and justice may be protected.

"Article II. Also the only obligation of rigor, whether it be between these governments or their subjects, shall consist in rendering each other all sorts of service, and of testifying towards each other that unalterable benevolence and that mutual affection which shall lead them to guard one another as members of one and the same Christian family. The three allied princes, regarding themselves as delegated by Providence to govern three branches of this family, Austria, Prussia and Russia, recognize that the Christian world, of which they and their people compose a part, can have, in reality, no other sovereign than him to whom belongs all power, because in him alone are the treasures of love, of science and of infinite wisdom—that is to say, God, our divine Saviour, the word of the Most High, the word of life. Consequently their majesties recommend to their people, with the greatest solicitude, and as the only means of enjoying that peace which springs from a good conscience, and which alone is durable, to strengthen themselves daily more and more in the exercise of those duties taught to the human family by the divine Saviour.

"Article III. All the powers who believe that they ought solemnly to profess the principles which have dictated this act, and who recognize how important it is for the welfare of nations, too long agitated, that these truths should hereafter exercise over the destinies of the human family that influence which they ought to exert, shall be received, with the same ardor and affection, into this Holy Alliance. Done at Paris, in the year of our Lord, 1814, September 25, and signed, Francis, Frederic William and Alexander."

Such was the bond of the Holy Alliance. It was drawn up in the hand-writing of Alexander. Subsequently it was signed by the Kings of England and France, and by nearly all the sovereigns of Europe. The pope declined signing, as it was not consistent with his dignity to be a member of a confederacy of which he was not the head. These principles, apparently so true and salutary, became vitiated by the underlying of principles which gave them all their force. The alliance became in reality a conspiracy of the crowned heads of Europe against the liberties of their subjects; and thus despotism sat enthroned. The liberal spirit, which was then breaking out all over the continent of Europe, was thus, for a time, effectually crushed. It can hardly be supposed that Alexander intended the Holy Alliance to accomplish the work which it subsequently performed.

Alexander, on his return to Russia, devoted himself energetically to the government of his vast realms, taking long and fatiguing journeys, and manifesting much interest in the elevation of the serfs to freedom. The latter years of Alexander were clouded with sorrow. He was not on good terms with his wife, and the death of all his children rendered his home desolate. His health failed and some deep grief seemed ever to prey upon his spirits. It is supposed that the melancholy fate of Napoleon, dying in a hut at St. Helena, and of whom he had said, "Never did I love a man as I have loved that man!" weighed heavily upon him. He was constantly haunted by fears of a rising of the oppressed people, and to repel that danger was becoming continually more despotic.

In the year 1825, Alexander, sick, anxious and melancholy, took a long journey, with his wife, to Tanganroy, a small town upon the Sea of Azof, fifteen hundred miles from St. Petersburg. He had for some time looked forward with dread to his appearance before the bar of God. A sense of sin oppressed him, and he had long sought relief with prayers and tears. His despondency led him to many forebodings that he should not live to return from this journey.

The morning before he left St. Petersburg, at the early hour of four o'clock, he visited the monastery where the remains of his children were entombed, and at their grave spent some time in prayer. Wrapped in his cloak, in unbroken silence he listened to the "chant for the dead," and then commenced his journey. No peasant whom he met on the way had a heavier heart than throbbed in the bosom of the sovereign. For hours he sat in the carriage with the empress, with whom in grief he had become reconciled, and hardly a word was uttered. At length they arrived upon the shores of Azof. The emperor took a rapid tour through these provinces, visiting among other places Sevastopol, which he had long been fortifying. He was so much struck with the magnificence of this place that he remarked, "Should I ever resign the reins of government, I should wish to retire to this city, that I might here terminate my career!"

Returning to his wife at Tanganroy, he was seized with a fever, probably caused by care and toil. The disease was so rapid in its progress as to lead many to suppose that he was falling a victim to poison. On the approach of death, perceiving that he was dying, he requested that he might be raised upon his pillow, that he might once more behold the light of the sun. He simply remarked, "How beautiful is the day!" and fell back upon his pillow to die. The empress was weeping by his side. He took her hand, pressed it tenderly as if bidding her an eternal adieu, and died. It was the 1st of December, 1825.

The empress Elizabeth in this sad hour forgot all her wrongs; for the emperor had by no means been to her a faithful husband. She wrote to her friends, "Our angel is in heaven; and, as for me, I still linger on earth: but I hope soon to be reunited with him in the skies!"

The cry immediately resounded through Europe that Alexander had fallen by poison. As the emperor had no children living, the crown, by hereditary descent, passed to his next brother, Constantine. Alexander had long been conscious that Constantine did not possess suitable qualifications to govern, and Constantine himself, frivolous and pleasure-loving, was not at all emulous of imperial power. When a mere boy he had been married to a German princess, but fifteen years of age. They endured each other through the angry strifes of four years and then separated. Constantine became enamored of the daughter of a Polish count, and sought a divorce. Alexander consented to this arrangement on condition that Constantine would resign all right to the throne. The terms were gladly accepted, and Constantine signed the following renunciation, which was kept secret until the occasion should arise for it to be promulgated.

"Conscious that I do not possess the genius, the talents or the strength necessary to fit me for the dignity of a sovereign, to which my birth would give me a right, I entreat your imperial majesty to transfer that right to him to whom it belongs after me, and thus assure for ever the stability of the empire. As to myself, I shall add, by this renunciation, a new guarantee and a new force to the engagements which I spontaneously and solemnly contracted on the occasion of my divorce from my first wife. All the circumstances in which I find myself strengthen my determination to adhere to this resolution, which will prove to the empire and to the whole world the sincerity of my sentiments."

Another document had also been prepared which declared Alexander's second brother, Nicholas, heir to the empire. Napoleon, at St. Helena, speaking of the King of Prussia and of Alexander, said,

"Frederic William, as a private character, is an honorable, good and worthy man, but in his political capacity he is naturally disposed to yield to necessity. He is always commanded by whoever has power on his side, and is about to strike.

"As to the Emperor of Russia, he is a man infinitely superior to Frederic William or Francis. He possesses wit, grace, information, and is fascinating, but he is not to be trusted. He is devoid of candor, a true Greek of the Lower Empire. At the same time he is not without ideology, real or assumed; after all it may only be a smattering, derived from his education and his preceptor. Would you believe what I had to discuss with him? He maintained that inheritance was an abuse in monarchy, and I had to spend more than an hour, and employ all my eloquence and logic in proving to him that this right constituted the peace and happiness of the people. It may be too that he was mystifying, for he is cunning, false, adroit and hypocritical. I repeat it, he is a Greek of the Lower Empire.

"If I die here he will be my real heir in Europe. I alone was able to stop him with his deluge of Tartars. The crisis is great, and will have lasting effects upon the continent of Europe, especially upon Constantinople. He was solicitous with me for the possession of it. I have had much coaxing upon this subject, but I constantly turned a deaf ear to it. The Turkish empire, shattered as it appeared, would constantly have remained a point of separation between us. It was the marsh which prevented my right from being turned.

"As to Greece it is another matter. Greece awaits a liberator. There will be a brilliant crown of glory. He will inscribe his name for ever with those of Homer, Plato and Epaminondas. I perhaps was not far from it. When, during my campaign in Italy, I arrived on the shores of the Adriatic, I wrote to the Directory, that I had before my eyes the kingdom of Alexander. Still later I entered into engagements with Ali Pacha; and when Corfu was taken, they must have found there ammunition, and a complete equipment for an army of forty or fifty thousand men. I had caused maps to be made of Macedonia, Servia, Albania. Greece, the Peloponnesus at least, must be the lot of the European power which shall possess Egypt. It should be ours; and then an independent kingdom in the north, Constantinople, with its provinces, to serve as a barrier to the power of Russia, as they have pretended to do with respect to France, by creating the kingdom of Belgium."



CHAPTER XXXI.

NICHOLAS.

From 1825 to 1855.

Abdication of Constantine.—Accession of Nicholas.—Insurrection Quelled.—Nicholas and the Conspirator.—Anecdote.—The Palace of Peterhoff.—The Winter Palace.—Presentation at Court.—Magnitude of Russia.—Description of the Hellespont and the Dardanelles.—The Turkish Invasion.—Aims of Russia.—Views of England and France.—Wars of Nicholas.—The Polish Insurrection.—War of the Crimea.—Jealousies of the Leading Nations.—Encroachments.—Death of Nicholas.—Accession of Alexander II.

Constantine was at Warsaw when the news arrived of the death of his brother. The mother of Alexander was still living. Even Nicholas either affected not to know, or did not know, that his wild, eccentric brother Constantine had renounced the throne in his favor, for he immediately, upon the news of the death of Alexander, summoned the imperial guard into the palace chapel, and, with them, took the oath of allegiance to his older brother, the Grand Duke Constantine. On his return, his mother, who is represented as being quite frantic in her inconsolable grief, exclaimed,

"Nicholas, what have you done? Do you not know that there is a document which names you presumptive heir?"

"If there be one," Nicholas replied, "I do not know it, neither does any one else. But this we all know, that our legitimate sovereign, after Alexander, is my brother Constantine. We have therefore done our duty, come what may."

Nicholas was persistent in his resolution not to take the crown until he received from his brother a confirmation of his renunciation of the throne. Three weeks elapsed before this intelligence arrived. It then came full and decisive, and Nicholas no longer hesitated, though the interval had revealed to him that fearful dangers were impending. He was informed by several of his generals that a wide-spread conspiracy extended throughout the army in favor of a constitutional government. Many of the officers and soldiers, in their wars against Napoleon and in their invasion of France, had become acquainted with those principles of popular liberty which were diffused throughout France, and which it was the object of the allies to crush. Upon their return to Russia, the utter despotism of the tzar seemed more than ever hateful to them. Several conspiracies had been organized for his assassination, and now the plan was formed to assassinate the whole imperial family, and introduce a republic.

Nicholas was seriously alarmed by the danger which threatened, though he was fully conscious that his only safety was to be found in courage and energy. He accordingly made preparation for the administration of the oath of allegiance to the army. "I shall soon," said he, "be an emperor or a corpse." On the morning when the oath was to be administered, and when it was evident that the insurrection would break out, he said, "If I am emperor only for an hour, I will show that I am worthy of it."

The morning of the 25th of December dawned upon St. Petersburg in tumult. Bands of soldiers were parading the streets shouting, "Constantine for ever." The insurrection had assumed the most formidable aspect, for many who were not republicans, were led to believe that Nicholas was attempting to usurp the crown which, of right, belonged to Constantine. Two generals, who had attempted to quell the movement, had already been massacred, and vast mobs, led by the well-armed regiments, were, from all quarters of the city, pressing toward the imperial palace. Nicholas, who was then twenty-nine years of age, met the crisis with the energy of Napoleon. Placing himself at the head of a small body of faithful guards, he rode to encounter his rebellious subjects in the stern strife of war. Instead of meeting a mob of unarmed men, he found marshaled against him the best disciplined troops in his army.

A terrible conflict ensued, in which blood flowed in torrents. The emperor, heading his own troops, exposed himself, equally with them, to all perils. As soon as it was evident that he would be compelled to fire upon his subjects, he sent word to his wife of the cruel necessity. She was in the palace, surrounded by the most distinguished ladies of the court, tremblingly awaiting the issue. When the thunder of the artillery commenced in the streets, she threw herself upon her knees, and, weeping bitterly, continued in prayer until she was informed that the revolt was crushed, and that her husband was safe. The number slain is not known. That it might be concealed, the bodies were immediately thrust through holes cut in the ice of the Neva.

Though the friends of liberty can not but regret that free principles have obtained so slender a foothold in Russia, it is manifest that this attempt could lead only to anarchy. The masses of the nobles were thoroughly corrupt, and the masses of the people ignorant and debased. The Russian word for constitution, constitutsya, has a feminine termination. Many of the people, it is reported, who were shouting, "Constantine and the constitution for ever," thought that the constitution was the wife of Constantine. It must be admitted that such ignorance presents but a poor qualification for republican institutions.

At the close of this bloody day, one of the leading conspirators, a general of high position in the army was led a captive into the presence of Nicholas. The heroic republican met, without quailing, the proud eye of his sovereign.

"Your father," said Nicholas sternly, "was a faithful servant, but he has left behind him a degenerate son. For such an enterprise as yours large resources were requisite. On what did you rely?"

"Sire," replied the prisoner, "matters of this kind can not be spoken of before witnesses."

Nicholas led the conspirator into a private apartment, and for a long time conversed with him alone. Here the tzar had opened before him, in the clearest manner, the intolerable burdens of the people, the oppression of the nobles, the impotency of the laws, the venality of the judges, the corruption which pervaded all departments of the government, legislative, executive and judiciary. The noble conspirator, whose mind was illumined with those views of human rights which, from the French Revolution, were radiating throughout Europe, revealed all the corruptions of the State in the earnest and honest language of a man who was making a dying declaration. Nicholas listened to truths such as seldom reach the ears of a monarch; and these truths probably produced a powerful impression upon him in his subsequent career.

Many of the conspirators, in accordance with the barbaric code of Russia, were punished with awful severity. Some were whipped to death. Some were mutilated and exiled to Siberia, and many perished on the scaffold. Fifteen officers of high rank were placed together beneath the gibbet, with ropes around their necks. As the drop fell, the rope of one broke, and he fell to the ground. Bruised and half stunned he rose upon his knees, and looking sadly around exclaimed,

"Truly nothing ever succeeds with me, not even death."

Another rope was procured, and this unhappy man, whose words indicated an entire life of disappointment and woe, was launched into the world of spirits.

We have before spoken of the palace of Peterhoff, a few miles from St. Petersburg, on the southern shores of the bay of Cronstadt. It is now the St. Cloud of Russia, the favorite rural retreat of the Russian tzars. This palace, which has been the slow growth of ages, consists of a pile of buildings of every conceivable order of architecture. It is furnished with all the appliances of luxury which Europe or Asia can produce. The pleasure grounds, in their artistic embellishments, are perhaps unsurpassed by any others in the world. Fountains, groves, lawns, lakes, cascades and statues, bewilder and delight the spectator.

There is an annual fete on this ground in July, which assembles all the elite of Russian society. The spacious gardens are by night illuminated with almost inconceivable splendor. The whole forest blazes with innumerable torches, and every leaf, twig and drop of spray twinkles with colored lights. Here is that famous artificial tree which has so often been described. It is so constructed with root, trunk and branch, leaf and bud as to deceive the most practiced eye. Its shade, with an inviting seat placed beneath it, lures the loiterer, through these Eden groves, to approach and rest. The moment he takes his seat he presses a spring which converts the tree into a shower bath, and from every twig jets of water in a cloud of spray, envelops the astonished stranger.

The Winter Palace at St. Petersburg is also a palace of unsurpassed splendor. More than a thousand persons habitually dwell beneath the imperial roof. No saloons more sumptuous in architecture and adornment are probably to be found in the world; neither are the exactions of court etiquette anywhere more punctiliously observed. In entering this palace a massive gateway ushers one into a hall of magnificent dimensions, so embellished with shrubs and flowers, multiplied by mirrors, that the guest is deceived into the belief that he is sauntering through the walks of a spacious flower garden. A flight of marble stairs conducts to an apartment of princely splendor, called the hall of the Marshals. Passing through this hall, one enters a suite of rooms, apparently interminable, all of extraordinary grandeur and sumptuousness, which are merely antechambers to the grand audience saloon.

In this grand saloon the emperor holds his court. Presentation day exhibits one of the most brilliant spectacles of earthly splendor and luxury. When the hour of presentation arrives some massive folding doors are thrown open, revealing the imperial chapel thronged with those who are to take part in the ceremony. First, there enters from the chapel a crowd of army officers, often a thousand in number, in their most brilliant uniform, the vanguard of the escort of the tzar. They quietly pass through the vast apartment and disappear amidst the recesses of the palace. Still the almost interminable throng, glittering in gala dresses, press on. At length the grand master of ceremonies makes his appearance announcing the approach of the emperor and empress.

The royal pair immediately enter, and bow to the representatives of other courts who may be present, and receive those who are honored with a presentation. No one is permitted to speak to their majesties but in reply to questions which they may ask. The Emperor Nicholas was very stately and reserved in his manners, and said but little. The empress, more affable, would present her ungloved hand to her guest, who would receive it and press it with fervor to his lips.

The Emperor Nicholas, during his reign, was supposed to have some ninety millions of the human family subject to his sway. With a standing army of a million of men, two hundred thousand of whom were cavalry, he possessed power unequaled by that of any other single kingdom on the globe. In the recent struggle at Sevastopol all the energies of England, France and Turkey were expended against Russia alone, and yet it was long doubtful whose banners would be victorious.

It is estimated that the territory of Russia now comprises one seventh of the habitable globe, extending from the Baltic Sea across the whole breadth of Europe and of Asia to Behring's Straits, and from the eternal ices of the north pole, almost down to the sunny shores of the Mediterranean. As the previous narrative has shown, for many ages this gigantic power has been steadily advancing towards Constantinople. The Russian flag now girdles the Euxine Sea, and notwithstanding the recent check at Sevastopol, Russia is pressing on with resistless strides towards the possession of the Hellespont. A brief sketch of the geography of those realms will give one a more vivid idea of the nature of that conflict, which now, under the title of the eastern or Turkish question, engrosses the attention of Europe.

The strait which connects the Mediterranean Sea with the Sea of Marmora was originally called the Hellespont, from the fabulous legend of a young lady, named Helle, falling into it in attempting to escape from a cruel mother-in-law. At the mouth of the Hellespont there are four strong Turkish forts, two on the European and two on the Asiatic side. These forts are called the Dardanelles, and hence, from them, the straits frequently receive the name of the Dardanelles. This strait is thirty-three miles long, occasionally expanding in width to five miles, and again being crowded by the approaching hills into a narrow channel less than half a mile in breadth. Through the serpentine navigation of these straits, with fortresses frowning upon every headland, one ascends to the Sea of Marmora, a vast inland body of water one hundred and eighty miles in length and sixty miles in breadth. Crossing this sea to the northern shore, you enter the beautiful straits of the Bosporus. Just at the point where the Bosporus enters the Sea of Marmora, upon the western shore of the straits, sits enthroned upon the hills, in peerless beauty, the imperial city of Constantine with its majestic domes, arrowy minarets and palaces of snow-white marble glittering like a fairy vision beneath the light of an oriental sun.

The straits of the Bosporus, which connect the Sea of Marmora with the Black Sea, are but fifteen miles long and of an average width of but about one fourth of a mile. In natural scenery and artistic embellishments this is probably the most beautiful reach of water upon the globe. It is the uncontradicted testimony of all tourists that the scenery of the Bosporus, in its highly-cultivated shores, its graceful sweep of hills and mountain ranges, in its gorgeous architecture, its atmospheric brilliance and in its vast accumulations of the costumes and customs of all Europe and Asia, presents a scene which can nowhere else be paralleled.

On the Asiatic shore, opposite Constantinople, lies Scutari, a beautiful city embowered in the foliage of the cyprus. An arm of the strait reaches around the northern portion of Constantinople, and furnishes for the city one of the finest harbors in the world. This bay, deep and broad, is called the Golden Horn. Until within a few years, no embassador of Christian powers was allowed to contaminate the Moslem city by taking up his residence in it. The little suburb of Pera, on the opposite side of the Golden Horn, was assigned to these embassadors, and the Turk, on this account, denominated it The swine's quarter.

Passing through the Bosporus fifteen miles, there expands before you the Euxine, or Black Sea. This inland ocean, with but one narrow outlet, receives into its bosom the Danube, the Dniester, the Dnieper, the Don and the Cuban. These streams, rolling through unmeasured leagues of Russian territory, open them to the commerce of the world. This brief sketch reveals the infinite importance of the Dardanelles and the Bosporus to Russia. This great empire, "leaning against the north pole," touches the Baltic Sea only far away amidst the ices of the North. St. Petersburg, during a large portion of the year, is blockaded by ice. Ninety millions of people are thus excluded from all the benefits of foreign commerce for a large portion of the year unless they can open a gateway to distant shores through the Bosporus and the Dardanelles.

America, with thousands of miles of Atlantic coast, manifests the greatest uneasiness in having the island of Cuba in the hands of a foreign power, lest, in case of war, her commerce in the Gulf should be embarrassed. But the Dardanelles are, in reality, the only gateway for the commerce of nearly all Russia. All her great navigable rivers, without exception, flow into the Black Sea, and thence through the Bosporus, the Marmora and the Hellespont, into the Mediterranean. And yet Russia, with her ninety millions of population—three times that of the United States—can not send a boat load of corn into the Mediterranean without bowing her flag to all the Turkish forts which frown along her pathway. And in case of war with Turkey her commerce is entirely cut off. Russia is evidently unembarrassed with any very troublesome scruples of conscience in reference to reclaiming those beautiful realms, once the home of the Christian, which the Turk has so ruthlessly and bloodily invaded. In assailing the Turk, the Russian feels that he is fighting for his religion.

The tzar indignantly inquires, "What title deed can the Turk show to the city of Constantine?" None but the dripping cimeter. The annals of war can tell no sadder tale of woe than the rush of the barbaric Turk into Christian Greece. He came, a merciless robber with gory hands, plundering and burning. Fathers and mothers were butchered. Christian maidens, shrieking with terror, were dragged to the Moslem harems. Christian boys were compelled to adopt the Mohammedan faith, and then, crowded into the army, were compelled to fight the Mohammedan battles. For centuries the Christians, thus trampled beneath the heel of oppression, have suffered every conceivable indignity from their cruel oppressors. Earnestly have they appealed to their Christian brethren of Russia for protection.

It is so essential to the advancing civilization of Russia that she should possess a maritime port which may give her access to commerce, that it is not easy for us to withhold our sympathies from her in her endeavor to open a gateway to and from her vast territories through the Dardanelles. When France, England and Turkey combined to batter down Sevastopol and burn the Russian fleet, that Russia might still be barred up in her northern wilds by Turkish forts, there was an instinct in the American heart which caused the sympathies of this country to flow in favor of Russia, notwithstanding all the eloquent pleadings of the French and English press.

The cabinet of St. James regards these encroachments of Russia with great apprehension. The view England takes of the subject may be seen in the following extracts from the Quarterly Review:

"The possession of the Dardanelles would give to Russia the means of creating and organizing an almost unlimited marine. It would enable her to prepare in the Black Sea an armament of any extent, without its being possible for any power in Europe to interrupt her proceedings, or even to watch or discover her designs. Our naval officers, of the highest authority, have declared that an effective blockade of the Dardanelles can not be maintained throughout the year. Even supposing we could maintain permanently in those seas a fleet capable of encountering that of Russia, it is obvious that, in the event of a war, it would be in the power of Russia to throw the whole weight of her disposable forces on any point in the Mediterranean, without any probability of our being able to prevent it, and that the power of thus issuing forth with an overwhelming force, at any moment, would enable her to command the Mediterranean Sea for a limited time whenever it might please her so to do. Her whole southern empire would be defended by a single impregnable fortress. The road to India would then be open to her, with all Asia at her back. The finest materials in the world for an army destined to serve in the East would be at her disposal. Our power to overawe her in Europe would be gone, and by even a demonstration against India she could augment our national expenditure by many millions annually, and render the government of that country difficult beyond all calculation."

Such is the view which England takes of this subject. The statesmen of England and France contemplate with alarm the rapid growth of Russia, and yet know not how to arrest its progress. They see the Russian tzars, year after year, annexing new nations to their territory, and about all they can do is to remonstrate. All agree that the only effectual measure to check the growth of Russia is to prevent her from taking possession of the Dardanelles. To accomplish this, England and France are endeavoring to bind together the crumbling and discordant elements of Ottoman power, to infuse the vigor of youth into the veins of an old man dying of debauchery and age. But the crescent is inevitably on the wane. The doom of the Moslem is sealed.

There are four great nations now advancing with marvelous strides in the appropriation of this globe to themselves. Russia has already taken possession of one seventh of the world's territory, and she needs now but to annex Turkey in Europe and Turkey in Asia to complete her share. France is spreading her influence throughout southern Europe, and, with a firm grasp, is seizing the provinces of northern Africa. England claims half of the islands of the ocean, boasts that the sun never sets upon her dominions, and has professed that the ocean is her private property. Her armies, invincible, sweep the remotest plains of Asia, removing and setting down landmarks at her pleasure. Her advances are so gigantic that the annexation of a few thousand leagues, at any time, hardly attracts attention. America is looking with a wistful eye upon the whole of North and South America, the islands of the Caribbean Sea and the groups of the Pacific.[31]

[Footnote 31: The jealousy of the leading nations in regard to their mutual encroachments is amusingly illustrated in an interview between Senator Douglas and Sir Henry Bulwer in reference to the Clayton-Bulwer treaty. An article was inserted in this treaty by the English government, binding both England and America not to colonize, annex or exercise any dominion over any portion of Central America. Sir Henry argued that the pledge was fair and just since it was reciprocal, England asking no more than she was ready herself to grant.

"To test your principle," said Senator Douglas, "I would propose an amendment of simply two words. Let the article read, 'Neither England nor the United States will ever colonize any part of Central America or Asia.'"

The British minister exclaimed, in surprise, "But you have no colonies in Asia."

"True," replied the United States Senator, "neither have you any colonies in Central America."

"But," rejoined Sir Henry, "you can never establish your government there, in Asia."

"No," Mr. Douglas replied, "neither do we intend that you shall plant your government here, in Central America."]

Immediately after the accession of Nicholas to the throne, war broke out with Persia. It was of short duration. The Persian monarch, utterly discomfited, was compelled to cede to Russia large provinces in the Caucasus, and extensive territory on the south-western shore of the Caspian, and to pay all the expenses of the war. Immediately after this, on the 7th of May, 1828, war was declared against Turkey. The Russian army, one hundred and sixty thousand strong, flushed with victory, crossed the Pruth and took possession of the entire left bank of the Danube, for some hundreds of miles from its mouth, with all its fertile fields and populous cities. They then crossed the river, and overran the whole region of Bulgaria. The storms of winter, however, compelled a retreat, which the Russians effected after most terrific conflicts, and, recrossing the Danube, they established themselves in winter quarters on its left banks, having lost in the campaign one half of their number. The Turks took possession of the right bank, and remained, during the winter, in face of their foes. In the spring of 1829 the Russians, having obtained a reinforcement of seventy thousand men, opened the campaign anew upon the land, while a fleet of forty-two vessels, carrying fifteen hundred guns, cooeperated on the Black Sea.

Through fields of blood, where the Turks, with the energies of despair, contested every step, the victorious Russians advanced nearly three hundred miles. They entered the defiles of the Balkan mountains, and forced the passage. Concentrating their strength at the base of the southern declivities, the path was open before them to Constantinople. Pushing rapidly forward, they entered Adrianople in triumph. They were now within one hundred and fifty miles of Constantinople. The consternation in the Turkish capital was indescribable, and all Europe was looking for the issue with wonder. The advance guard of the Russian army was already within eighty miles of the imperial city when the sultan, Mahmoud IV., implored peace, and assented to the terms his victor extorted.

By this treaty, called the treaty of Adrianople, Turkey paid Russia twenty-nine millions of dollars to defray the expenses of the war, opened the Dardanelles to the free navigation of all Russian merchant ships, and engaged not to maintain any fortified posts on the north of the Danube.

In July, 1830, the Poles rose in a general insurrection, endeavoring to shake off the Russian yoke. With hurricane fury the armies of Nicholas swept the ill-fated territory, and Poland fell to rise no more. The vengeance of the tzar was awful. For some time the roads to Siberia were thronged with noble men driven into exile.

In the year 1833, Constantinople was imperiled by the armies of Mohammed Ali, the energetic pacha of Egypt. The sultan implored aid of Russia. Nicholas sent an army and a fleet, and drove Mohammed Ali back to Egypt. As compensation for this essential aid, the sultan entered into a treaty, by which both powers were bound to afford succor in case either was attacked, and Turkey also agreed to close the Dardanelles against any power with whom Russia might be at war.

The revolution in Paris of 1848, which expelled Louis Philippe from the throne, excited the hopes of the republican party all over Europe. The Hungarians rose, under Kossuth, in the endeavor to shake off the Austrian yoke. Francis Joseph appealed to Russia for aid. Nicholas dispatched two hundred thousand men to crush the Hungarians, and they were crushed. Nicholas asked no remuneration for these services. He felt amply repaid in having arrested the progress of constitutional liberty in Europe.

Various circumstances, each one trivial in itself, conspired to lead Nicholas in 1853 to make a new and menacing demonstration of power in the direction of Constantinople. An army was marshaled on the frontiers, and a large fleet assembled at Odessa and Sevastopol. England and France were alarmed, and a French fleet of observation entered the waters of Greece, while the English fleet at Malta strengthened itself for any emergence. The prominent question professedly at issue between Russia and Turkey was the protection which should be extended to members of the Greek church residing within the Turkish domains. The sultan, strengthened by the secret support of France and England, refused to accede to the terms which Russia demanded, and the armies of Nicholas were put on the march for Constantinople. England and France dispatched their fleets for the protection of Turkey. In the campaign of Sevastopol, with which our readers are all familiar, Russia received a check which will, for a few years, retard her advances.

During the progress of the campaign of Sevastopol, the emperor Nicholas, in February, 1855, was suddenly seized with the influenza. The disease made rapid progress. He could not sleep at night, and an incessant cough racked his frame. On the 22d, notwithstanding the intense severity of the weather, he insisted upon reviewing some troops who were about to set out for the seat of war.

"Sire," said one of his physicians, "there is not a surgeon in the army who would permit a common soldier to leave the hospital in the state in which you are, for he would be sure that his patient would reenter it still worse."

"'Tis well, gentlemen," said the emperor, "you have done your duty, and I shall do mine."

Then wrapping his cloak about him, he entered his sledge. It was a bleak winter's day. Pale, languid and coughing incessantly, he rode along the lines of his troops. He returned in a profuse perspiration, and was soon seized with a relapse, which was aggravated by the disastrous tidings he was receiving from Sevastopol. He rapidly failed, and the empress, anxious as to the result, suggested that he should receive the sacrament of the Lord's Supper.

"No!" the emperor replied. "I can not approach so solemn a mystery undressed and in bed. It will be better when I can do it in a suitable manner."

The empress, endeavoring to conceal her tears, commenced the repetition of the Lord's prayer, in a low tone of voice. As she uttered the words "Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven," he fervently added, "For ever, for ever, for ever." Observing that his wife was in tears he inquired, "Why do you weep? Am I in danger?" She, afraid to utter the truth, said, "No." He added, "You are greatly agitated and fatigued. You must retire and take some rest."

A few hours after three o'clock in the morning, Dr. Mandt entered. "Tell me candidly," said the emperor, "what my disease is. You know I have always forewarned you to inform me in time if I fell seriously ill, in order that I might not neglect the duties of a Christian."

"I can not conceal from your majesty," the physician replied, "that the disease is becoming serious. The right lung is attacked."

"Do you mean to say that it is threatened with paralysis?" enquired the emperor. The doctor replied, "If the disease do not yield to our efforts, such may indeed be the result; but we do not yet observe it, and we still have some hope of seeing you restored."

"Ah," said the emperor, "I now comprehend my state and know what I have to do." Dismissing his physician he summoned his eldest son, Alexander, who was to succeed him upon the throne; calmly informed him that he deemed his condition hopeless and that the hour of death was approaching. "Say nothing," he continued, "to your mother which may alarm her fears; but send immediately for my confessor."

The archpriest Bajanof soon entered, and commenced the prayers which precede confession. The prayers being finished, the emperor crossed himself and said, "Lord Jesus, receive me into thy bosom." He then partook of the sacrament of the Lord's Supper with the empress and his son Alexander. The remaining members of the imperial family were then summoned into the chamber. He announced with firmness his approaching end, and gave to each his particular blessing. The empress, overwhelmed with anguish, cried out, "Oh, God! can I not die with him?"

"You must live for our children," said the emperor; and then turning to his son Alexander, he added, "You know that all my anxiety, all my efforts had for their object the good of Russia. My desire was to labor until I could leave you the empire thoroughly organized, protected from all danger from without, and completely tranquil and happy. But you see at what a time and under what circumstances I die. Such, however, seems to be the will of God. Your burden will be heavy."

Alexander, weeping, replied, "If I am destined to lose you, I have the certainty that in heaven you will pray to God for Russia and for us all. And you will ask His aid that I may be able to sustain the burden which He will have imposed upon me."

"Yes," the emperor replied, "I have always prayed for Russia and for you all. There also will I pray for you." Then speaking to the whole assembled group, he added, "Remain always, as hitherto, closely united in family love."

Several of the important officers of the State were then introduced. The emperor thanked them for their faithful services and tried devotion, and recommended them to his son as worthy of all trust, gave them his benediction and bade them farewell. At his request his domestic servants were then brought into the room. To one, who was especially devoted to the empress, he said,

"I fear that I have not sufficiently thanked you for the care which you took of the empress when she was last ill. Be to her for the future what you have been in my life-time, and salute my beautiful Peterhoff, the first time you go there with her."

These interviews being closed, he addressed his son and Count d'Adelberg respecting his obsequies. He selected the room in which his remains were to be laid out, and the spot for his tomb in the cathedral of the Apostles Peter and Paul. "Let my funeral," said he, "be conducted with the least possible expense or display, as all the resources of the empire are now needed for the prosecution of the war." While conversing, news came that dispatches had arrived from Sevastopol. The emperor deeming that he had already abdicated, declined perusing them, saying, "I have nothing more to do with earth." Alexander sat for several hours at the bed side, receiving the last directions of his father.

On the 2d of March the emperor remained upon his bed, unable to articulate a word, and with difficulty drawing each breath. At noon he revived a little and requested his son, in his name, to thank the garrison at Sevastopol for their heroism. He then sent a message to the King of Prussia, whose sister he had married. "Say to Frederic that I trust he will remain the same friend of Russia he has ever been, and that he will never forget the dying words of our father."

The agony of death was now upon him, and he was speechless. His confessor repeated the prayers for the dying. At twenty minutes past twelve he expired, holding, till the last moment, the hand of the empress and of his son Alexander.

Alexander II., who now occupies the throne, was born the 29th of April, 1818. He is a young man of noble character and very thoroughly educated. At the age of sixteen, according to the laws of the empire, he was declared to be of age and took the oath of allegiance to the throne. From that time he lived by his father's side in the cabinet and in the court. His fare was frugal, his bed hard, and his duties arduous in the extreme. In April, 1841, he married the princess Maria, daughter of the Grand Duke of Darmstadt. She is reported to be a lady of many accomplishments and of the most sincere and unaffected piety. He is himself a man of deep religious feeling, and many who know him, esteem him to be a sincere and spiritual Christian. What character the temptations of the throne may develop, time only can determine. He is now struggling, against the opposition of the nobles, to emancipate the boors from the slavery of serfdom, being ambitious of elevating all his subjects to the highest manhood. The temporal welfare of perhaps ninety millions of men is placed in the hands of this one monarch. An indiscreet act may plunge all Russia into the horrors of a civil war, or kindle flames of strife through Europe which no power but that of God can quench. The eyes of Europe are fixed upon him, and the friends of the Redeemer, the world over, watch his movements with solicitude and with prayer.



INDEX.



A.

Adachef, (Alexis) appointed minister of justice, 223.

Adrianople, Treaty of, 513.

Akhmet, Defiant reply of, to Ivan, 178.

Alains, character and life of the, 19.

Alexander succeeds Yaroslaf over Novgorod, 127. ordered to attend Bati, 127. appointed King of Southern Russia, 128. his reply to the Pope, 128. conciliates Berki, 128.

Alexander (Nevsky) puts down a rebellion headed by his son, 129. death of, 129. Yaroslaf of Tiver succeeds, 130.

Alexander (son of Michel) ascends the throne, 141. outlawed by Usbeck, 142. flight and death of, 142.

Alexander I., grief of, on the assassination of Paul, 471. re-establishes friendly relations with England, 473. regulations of, 474. message of, to Napoleon, 477. defeat of, at Austerlitz, 479 his interview with the embassador of Napoleon, 480. defeat at Eylau, 484. implores peace, 487. his admiration for Napoleon, 487. forced to turn against Napoleon, 492. magnanimity towards Napoleon, 493. death of, 497.

Alexander II. succeeds Nicholas on the throne, 517. character of, 518.

Alexis succeeds Romanow, 291. marriage of, 292. his concessions to the mob, 294. his conquests in Poland, 295. good works of, 296. death of, 299.

Alexis (son of Peter the Great) bad character of, 343. marriage of, 344. letters from, to his father, 351. flight of, 352. disinherited by his father, 354. plots against the crown, 355. condemned to death, 358. death of, 359.

America, discovery of, by the Normans, 23

Amiens, treaty of, 476.

Anastasia, death of, 255.

Andre (of Souzdal) usurps the Russian throne, 88. moderation of, 92. submission of, 95. homage of Russia to, 95. assassination of, 96. sword of, 96. abolishes appanages, 111.

Andre (of Gorodetz) dethrones his brother Dmitri, 133. succeeds Dmitri as sovereign, 134. death of, 135.

Anne (of Constantinople) forced to marry Vladimir, 55. Christian influence of, over her husband, 57. death of, 58.

Anne (of England) letter of, to Peter the Great. 342.

Anne (Duchess of Courland) offered the throne, 366. energy of, 367. death of, 368.

Anecdote of the preservation of the Greek libraries, 19. of the love of Igor, 32. of the Tartar's theology, 127. of Vassili and the Greek physician, 201. of Peter the Great, 311. of Peter the Great, 320. of Peter III., 385.

Appanages abolished by Andre, 111.

Ascolod and Dir, enterprise and conquests of, 29. conversion of, 29. assassination of, 31.

Astrachan added to Russia, 244.

Athens taken by the Goths, 19.

Attila the king of the Huns, conquests of, 21.

Avars, conquests of the, 22.

Aristocracy, gradual rise of an, 25.

B.

Bajazet II., letter of Ivan to, 186. reply of, 188.

Baptism of the Russian nation in a day, 56. in Lithuania, 155.

Barbarians, punishment of the, 87.

Bathori (Stephen) elected King of Poland, 262.

Bati given the command of the Tartar horde, 119. depopulates Rezdan, 119. captures Moscow, 120. takes and burns Vladimir, 122. disastrous course of, 123. plunders Kief, 124. possessions of, 125. orders Yaroslaf to appear before him, 125. summons Alexander, 127. death of, 128. Berki succeeds, 128.

Bayadour, chief of the Mogols, 113.

Beards ordered to be removed, 327.

Belsky (Ivan) elected regent of Russia, 209. reforms of, 209. assassination of, 212.

Bielo (Ozero Sineous) establishes his court at, 27.

Bielski (Bogdan) his attempt to grasp the throne, 270. his exile, 271.

"Black Death," ravages of the, 144.

Bohemia, aid from, to Ysiaslaf, 80.

Bokhara burned by the Tartars, 116.

Boleslas, (King of Poland) assists Sviatopolk to defeat Yaroslaf, 59. seizes the sister of Yaroslaf as his concubine, 59. attempt to poison, 59. forced to fly from Kief, 59.

Boleslas II. (of Poland) reception of Ysiaslaf by, 63. robs Ysiaslaf and expels him, 63. refunds the treasure, 65.

Bosporus, the Greeks plant their colonies along the shore of the, 17.

Bulgaria conquered by Sviatoslaf, 46. the capital conveyed from Kief to, 48. conquered by Georges, 72. condition of, 100; expedition against, 101.

C.

Caucasus, the eagles of the Russians planted on the, 18.

Catharine I., first appearance of, 333. public marriage of, with Peter, 345. crowned empress, 361. assumes the government, 364. death of, 365.

Catharine II., early life of, 380. autobiography of, 381. seizes the throne, 392. manifesto of, on the death of Peter III., 403. her labors and reforms, 404. administration of, 405. urged by her ministers to marry, 407. numerous titles of, 409.

Catharine II., attempt to assassinate, 410. inoculation of, 413. entertainments of, 415. her schemes with Henry, Prince of Prussia, 417. conquers the Turks, 418. correspondence of, 422. peace with Turkey effected by, 425. personal appearance of, 426. conspiracy against, 427. interview of, with Joseph II., 437. her education of her children, 439. erection of the statue to Peter the Great by, 439. seizes the Crimea, 441. secures peace with Turkey, 444. toleration of, 445. her journey to the Crimea, 448. makes war on Poland. 451. death of, 452. character of, 453.

Chanceller (Captain) voyage of, 245.

Charles XII. (of Sweden) ascends the throne, 328. conquers the Russians, 329. drives Augustus from Poland, 335. wounded, 338. utter defeat of, 339. escape of, from Turkey, 346. death of, 360.

Chemyaka, see Dmitri.

Cherson, church built at, in commemoration of the baptism of Vladimir, 55.

Children, the female allowed to be killed, 24.

China, irruption of the Tartars into, 115.

Christians, persecution of the, by the Tartars, 136.

Christianity, its entrance into Russia, 29. diffusion of, into Souzdal, 83. attempts of Andre to extend, 96.

Chronology of Russia: Rurik, Sineous and Truvor jointly rule over Russia, 27. Rurik succeeds Sineous and Truvor, 28. Ascolod and Dir reign over a portion of Russia, 29. Oleg succeeds Ascolod and Dir, 31. Igor succeeds Oleg, 38. Olga succeeds Oleg, 42. Sviatoslaf succeeds Olga, 45. Yaropolk succeeds Olga, 50. Vladimir succeeds Yaropolk, 52. Sviatopolk succeeds Vladimir, 59. Yaroslaf succeeds Sviatopolk, 60. Vseslaf succeeds Yaroslaf, 62. Ysiaslaf succeeds Vseslaf, 63. Vsevolod succeeds Ysiaslaf, 66. Sviatopolk succeeds Vsevolod, 69. Monomaque succeeds Sviatopolk, 71. Mstislaf succeeds Monomaque, 75. Vladimirovitch succeeds Mstislaf, 77. Vsevolod succeeds Vladimirovitch, 77. Igor succeeds Vsevolod, 78. Ysiaslaf succeeds Igor, 78. Rostislaf succeeds Ysiaslaf, 81. Georges succeeds Rostislaf, 81. Davidovitch succeeds Georges, 82. Rostislaf succeeds Davidovitch, 83. Georgievitch succeeds Rostislaf, 84. Mstislaf Ysiaslavitch succeeds Georgievitch, 86. Andre succeeds Mstislaf, 89. Michel succeeds Andre, 97. Vsevolod succeeds Michel, 100. Georges succeeds Vsevolod, 104. Octai succeeds Georges, 125. Bati succeeds Octai, 127. Dmitri of Moscow secures the throne, 146. Tamerlane succeeds Dmitri, 155. Ivan III. throws off the Mogol power, 172. Vassili succeeds Ivan III., 191. Helene (as regent) succeeds Vassili, 205. Schouisky (as regent) succeeds Helene, 208. Ivan Belsky (as regent) succeeds Schouisky, 209. Ivan IV. seizes his throne, 214. Feodor succeeds Ivan IV., 270. Boris succeeds Feodor, 275. Feodor II. succeeds Boris, 279. Dmitri succeeds Feodor II., 280. Zuski succeeds Dmitri, 283. Michel Feodor Romanow elected king, 287. Alexis succeeds Romanow, 291. Feodor succeeds Alexis, 299. Sophia (as regent) succeeds Feodor, 303. Peter I. succeeds Sophia, 310. Catharine succeeds Peter I., 364. Peter II. succeeds Catharine, 365. Anne succeeds Peter II., 367. Ivan V. succeeds Anne, 368. Elizabeth succeeds Ivan V., 369. Peter III. succeeds Elizabeth, 387. Catharine II. succeeds Peter III, 403. Paul I. succeeds Catharine II., 454. Alexander succeeds Paul I., 471. Nicholas succeeds Alexander I., 502. Alexander II. succeeds Nicholas, 517. During the Tartar reign, only the Tartar conqueror is usually given.

Church built at Cherson, 55. built on the site of the idol of Peroune, 56.

Civilization, the Russians indebted to the Greeks for their, 168.

Commerce of Russia, 113. between England and Russia, 247. increase of, 249.

Constantine (prince of Yaroslavle) claims the throne, 104. turns Kostroma, 104. ascends the imperial throne, 108. effeminacy of, 108. death of, 109.

Constantine resigns his right to the throne, 498.

Constantinople, the city of, 168.

"Court Favorite" office of the, 430.

Crimea, taken possession of by Vladimir, 54.

Crusaders driven from the imperial city, 103.

Cyrille (bishop of Novgorod) effects a treaty between Novgorod and the Tartars, 131.

D.

Dacia, the countries forming the province of, 19. conquered and divided by Trajan, 19.

Daniel (of Gallicia) attempts of, to emancipate Russia, 126. crowned emperor, 126.

Daniel (prince of Moscow) declares independence, 134.

Davidovitch (of Tchernigof) invited to seize the throne of Russia, 82. driven from the throne by Rostislaf, 83. flight of, to Moscow, 83.

Danielovitch (Jean) appointed Grand Prince by the Tartars, 142. reign and death of, 143.

Diana, temple of, burned at Ephesus, 19.

Diderot, Visit of, to Catharine, and her correspondence with him, 423.

Dimsdale (Dr. Thomas) introduces inoculation, 411.

Discoveries during the reign of Ivan, 190.

Dnieper, baptism of the nation in the, 56. plunder of the commerce on the, 86.

Dimitri ascends the throne, 133. drives Andre from Novgorod, 133. disasters and death of, 134.

Dimitri (son of Michel) assassinates Georges, 140. execution of, 141.

Dmitri (of Souzdal) accession of, to the throne, 146. deposed, 146.

Dmitri (of Moscow) crowned sovereign, 146. conquers the Tartars, 147. wounded, 152. death of, 156.

Dmitri Chemyaka assumes the government, 166; death of, 166.

Dmitri (prince, son of Ivan IV.) assassination of, 274. Griska claims to be, 278. see Griska.

Dmitry declines the throne, 131.

Drevliens, debasement of the tribe of, 25. revolt of the, against Igor, 38. their punishment and enthusiasm of, for Olga, 42.

Droutsk burned by Yaropolk, 73.

E.

Eastern Question, the cause of the present war of the, 507.

Ecclesiastical Council called to rectify evils in the church, 132.

Elizabeth (daughter of Peter the Great) conspiracy of, 368. seizes the throne, 369. victories of, over Frederic of Prussia, 375. death of, 377. character of, 378.

Embassador of Andre insulted, 92. the first from Russia, 248.

Emigration of Russians to the mouth of the Volga, 97.

Emperors, see Russia and Chronology.

England, influence of, in Europe, 244. amicable arrangement of Russia with, 249. friendship between Russia and, 248.

Entertainment, description of a royal, 415.

Etiquette, laws of, as to young ladies, 203.

Eylau, battle of, 483.

F.

Famine in Russia, 105.

Feodor (son of Ivan IV.) ascends the throne, 270. his incapacity, 273. death of, 274.

Feodor (son of Alexis) ascends throne, 299. makes peace with Poland, 300. marriage of, 301. death of, 302.

Feudal System, implanting of the, 28.

G.

Genghis Khan, pretended divine authority of, 115. irruption into China, 115. burns Bokhara, 116. recalls his troops from Russia, 118. death of, 118. nominates Octai as his successor, 118. See Temoutchin.

George (son of Andre) sent embassador to Novgorod, 92. returns to Moscow, 94.

Georges (son of Monomaque) expedition of, to Bulgaria, 72.

Georges (of Moscow) assists Sviatoslaf, 79. enters Kief in triumph, 80. drives Rostislaf from the throne, 81. death of, 81.

Georges I. (brother of Vsevolod) ascends the Russian throne, 104. burns Rostof, 104. defeated by Mstislaf, 106. surrenders himself to Mstislaf, and exiled, 108. disappears from history, 108.

Georges II. ascends throne of Russia, 109. attacks Ochel, 109. founds Nijni Novgorod, 110. death of, 122.

Georges III (of Moscow) obtains assistance from the Tartars, 136. defeated by Michel, 137. secures the throne, 140. assassination of, 140.

Georgievitch (of Souzdal) Davidovitch seeks aid from, 83. his system of government, 84.

Ghirei (Devlet) character of, 251.

Gleb (prince of Minsk) takes Sloutsk, 73. capture and death of, 73.

Gleb left in possession of Kief; flight of, 89.

Gordon (General) entrusted with the royal troops, 317.

Gostomysle raises an embassy to visit the Normans, 27.

Goths, devastation of the, 19. empire of the, 20. suicide of Hermanric, king of the, 20.

Greece, overrun by the Avars, 22. invaded by Monomaque, 72.

Greek Church, declared to be the best, 53.

Greeks, colonies of the, on the Bosporus, 17. coalesce with the Bulgarians and expel Sviatoslaf, 48.

Gregory VII., see Pope.

Griska assumes to be prince Dmitri, and invades Russia, 278. crowned emperor, 280. perplexities of, 281. marriage of, by proxy, 281. death of, 283. Polish adventurer claims to be, 284. hung at Moscow, 286.

Gudenow (Boris) his supremacy over Feodor, 271. assassinates Dmitri, 274. his subterfuge to obtain the throne, 275. crowned emperor, 276.

Gustavus III., interview of Catharine with, 443.

Gyda, wife of Monomaque, 75.

H.

Helene appointed regent of Ivan IV., 204. despotic atrocities of, 204. death of, 207.

Hellespont, origin of the name, 507.

Henry IV. (of Germany) solicited to aid Ysiaslaf, 63.

Henry (prince of Prussia) visits Catharine, 414. schemes of, with Catharine, 417.

Hereditary Descent the cause of war, 112.

Hermanric, suicide of king, 20.

Hermitage, description of the, 416.

Herodotus, his account of the interior of Russia, 17.

Holy Alliance, formation of the, 493.

Hungary, aid from, sent to Ysiaslaf, 80. alliance of, with Russia, 183. revolt of, against Austria, 513.

Huns, Russia devastated by the, 20. revolting appearance of the, 20.

Huns, Attila, king of the, 21. disappearance of the, 21.

I.

Idols, the Greek and Sclavonian, 26. destruction of the, in Russia, 55.

Igor, assumes the government of Russia under the guardianship of Oleg, 30. fears to claim his crown, 32. his love and marriage, 33. assumes the government of Russia, 38. attack on Constantinople, 39. his defeat by the Greeks, 39. second attack on Constantinople, 40. concludes treaty with the Greeks, 40. death of, 41.

Igor II. receives throne of Russia, 78. made prisoner, 78. enters a convent, 78. assassination of, 79.

Ilmen, army on the shores of the lake of, 80.

Impostor, see Griska.

Inventions during the reign of Ivan III., 190.

Ivan III. ascends the throne, 168. early marriage of, 168. captures Kezan, 170. affianced to Sophia of Greece, 174. marriage of, 175. his reforms, 176. letter of Vassian to, 179. proposals for the marriage of his daughter, 185. letter of, to Sultan Bajazet II., 186. letter of the Sultan to, 188. death of the wife of, 189. marriage of the son of, 189. death of, 189. discoveries and inventions during the reign of, 190.

Ivan IV. acknowledged as tzar, 204. asserts claim to the throne, 213. coronation of, 214. marriage of, 216. change in the character of, 221. his address to the people, 223. defeat of, by the Tartars, 226. capture of Kezan by, 235. enthusiastic reception of, 237. serious illness of, 240. rebuke of, to Sweden, 252. attaches Livonia, to Russia, 253. death of the wife of, 255. matrimonial projects with Poland, 255. abdication of, 256. petitioned to resume the throne, 257. good will of England to, 259. flight of, 261. strives to be umpire in Poland, 263. defiant demands of Poland on, 264. unpopularity of, 266. death of his son, depression at, 267. death of, 268. his sons, 270.

Ivan V. succeeds to the throne, 368. deposed by Elizabeth. 368. imprisonment and sufferings of, 370. assassination of, 371.

Ivan (brother of Peter I.) seclusion and death of, 310.

Ivanovitch (Jean, of Moscow) reign and death of, 146.

J.

Jacob (General) deserts the Russians and defends Azov, 315. captured and hung, 315.

Jean, base flattery of, to Machmet, 162.

Jean Danielovitch, see Danielovitch.

Jena, battle of, 482.

Jews, attempt of Andre to convert the, 96.

Joseph II. (of Germany) eccentricity of, 437. visit to St. Petersburg, 438.

K.

Kavgadi, taken possession of by Michel, 137.

Kezan, captured by Ivan III., 170. siege of, 229. capture of, 235. insurrection in, 240.

Khan see Genghis.

Khozars, the, conquered by Sviatoslaf, 46.

Kief, beauty of the city of, 28. the Norman adventurers Ascolod and Dir remain there, 29. taken by Oleg, 31. the capital of Russia transferred from, to Bulgaria, 48. captured by Vladimir, 52. decoration of, by Yaroslaf, 61. punishment of, by Ysiaslaf, 63. destruction of the citizens of, 66. government offered to Monomaque, 70. festival in honor of the new reign, 71. the inhabitants of, invite Vladimirovitch to ascend the throne of, 76. triumphal entrance of Georges into, 80. Roman appointed prince of, 92. plundered by the Tartars, 124.

Kolomna, emigration from Moscow to, 163.

Kostroma, burned by Constantine, 104.

Kothian (prince of Polovtsi) retreats to Hungary, 123.

Koulikof, battle of, 149.

Kouria (chief of the Petchenegues) defeats Sviatoslaf and makes a drinking cup of his skull, 49.

L.

Ladislaus elected emperor, 286. his election declared void, 287.

Laharpe, efforts of, for the education of Alexander, 473.

Leczinsky (Stanislaus) placed on the Polish throne, 335.

Leon (of Constantine) imbecility of, 35.

Library, foundation of the royal, of St. Petersburg, 345.

Lippenow (Zachary) puts the Polish garrison to death, 287.

London, Peter the Great's visit to, 322.

London Postman, extract from the, 322.

M.

Macedon, see Philip of.

Machmet, flattery of Jean to, 162.

Mahomet II., wars with Genghis Khan, 116. death of, 116.

Marcow (Russian embassador) ordered to leave France, 476.

Maria (wife of Vsevolod III.) character of, 102.

Marriage, singular customs in, 289.

Martyrs, Ivan and Theodore, the first Christians, 53.

Menzikoff, sketch of the life of, 336. banished by Frederic II., 366. death of, 366.

Michael III. (of Constantinople), 29.

Michel (of Tchernigof, son of Monomaque) offered the throne of Russia, 97. his reign and death, 98.

Michel (of Tver) succeeds Andre on the throne of Russia, 136. presents himself before the Tartar horde, 138. execution of, 140.

Missionaries sent through Russia to teach Christianity, 56.

Mogols, character of the, 113. civilization of the, 143.

Moldavia, the inhabitants of, 83.

Monarchy, recapitulation of the Russian, 110; see Chronology.

Monomaque offered the Russian crown, 70. he declines it, 71. goes to the rescue of Kief, 71. his expeditions to extend the empire, 72. sons of, 72. conquers the invaders from the Caspian Sea, 72. expedition against Greece, 72. "golden bonnet" of, 73. death of, 73. parting letter of, to his children, 74. wife of, 75.

Moroson, ambitious schemes of, 291. marriage of, 292.

Moscow, first historical mention of, 79. supremacy of, 83. capture of, 89. burned, 98. captured by Bati, 120. flight of Georges II. from, 121. becomes the capital, 142. burned by the Tartars, 154. appearance of, in 1520, 202. destroyed by fire, 218. grand fete at, 239. destroyed by the Tartars, 261. burned by the Poles, 287.

Mstislaf (son of Monomaque) his expeditions and victories, 72. succeeds his father, 75. death of, 76.

Mstislaf Ysiaslavitch, succeeds Rostislaf over Russia, 86. proclamation of, 87. flight of, from Kief, 89. return to Kief, 89. death of, 90.

Mstislaf (son of Andre) ambition of, 90. summoned Novgorod to surrender, 91. defeat of, 91.

Mstislaf (prince of Galitch) appears in public, 105. aids Constantine, 105. defeats Georges, 106. beaten by the Tartars, 117.

Munich (General) advice of, to Peter, 395. appearance of, before Catharine, 401.

N.

Napoleon, victories of, 465. returns Russian prisoners, 467.

Napoleon, remarks of, on Paul I., 472. reply of, to Alexander, 478. victorious at Austerlitz, 479. letter of, to king of Prussia, 485. exiled to Elba, 493. signs the "Holy Alliance," 496.

Nepeia, the first Russian embassador, 248. his reception in London, 248.

Nestor, record of, of the Christians in Constantinople, 41.

Nicholas, takes oath of allegiance to Constantine, 501. ascends the throne, 502. puts down the rebellion, 503. power of, 506. assists Turks against Egypt, 513. crushes Hungarian revolt, 513. defeated at Sevastopol, 514. death of, 517.

Nijni Novgorod, Georges II. founds the city of, 110.

Noble, requisite for becoming a, 25.

Normans, at first called Scandinavians, 23. early power and discoveries of, 23. superior civilization of the, 26.

Notre Dame, burial of Ysiaslaf in, 66.

Novgorod, Rurik establishes his court at, 27. annexed by Georgievitch, 84. successful defense of, 91. Rurik appointed prince of, 92. George sent to, to adjust the difficulties in, 92.

O.

Octai succeeds Genghis Khan, 118. letter of, to the king of France, 127

Oleg, the guardian of Igor, 30. assassinates Ascolod and Dir, 31. dominion of, 31. attempts a march upon Constantinople, 33. the expedition, 35. his treaty with the Greeks, 36. death of, 37. his popularity and labors for Russia, 38. (son of Sviatoslaf) receives the government of the Drevliens, 48. defeated by Yaropolk, 49. death of, 50. bones of, disinterred and baptised, 61.

Olga (wife of Igor) assumes the regency, 42. she punishes the Drevliens, 42. conversion of, to Christianity, 43. baptised by the name of Helen, 44. death of, 46.

Orlof (count) haughty behavior of, 407.

Ottoman Porte, manifesto of the, 442.

P.

Paganism in Russia demolished at a blow, 56.

Paul I. (son of Catharine) marriage of, 421. death of his wife, 432. visit of, to Frederick, 433. marriage of, 436. travels of, 438. ignorance of, 454. extravagance of, 455. reestablishment of ancient etiquette, 456. a horse court-martialed by, 457. reason for his caprices, 458. fury of, on learning his defeat, 465. letter of, to Napoleon, 467. surrounding influences of, 468. conspiracy against, 469. assassination of, 470.

Pekin burned by the Tartars, 115.

Pereaslavle, the territory of, given to Vsevolod, 61.

Peregeslavetz, reconquered, and made the capital by Sviatoslaf, 48.

Periaslavle, battle of the city of, 80.

Peroune, one of the gods of the Russians, 41. the idol of, destroyed, 55.

Petchenegues, Igor purchases peace with the, 39. Sviatoslaf defeated by the, 49.

Peter I. (the Great) marriage of, 309. attempted assassination of, 309. his return to Moscow, 310. indications of greatness, 311. his passion for the ocean, 312. settles Chinese difficulties, 314. captures Azof, 315. resolves to travel incognito, 316. his attack on La Fort, 317. his residence at Zaandam, 318 his recognition, 319. anecdotes of, 320. his thirst for knowledge, 321. visit to London, 322. return to Moscow, 325. his reforms in the church, 326. change of the calendar, 327. troubles of, with Sweden, 328. coolness on hearing of the defeat of his army, 329. founds St. Petersburg, 332. captures Marienburg, 333. meets Catharine and privately marries her, 333. defeats Charles XII., 339. demands of, on Queen Anne, 341. reply of Anne to, 342. captures Livonia, 342. desperate condition of, 343. public marriage of, 345. journeys of, 346. residence in Paris, 349. letters of, to Alexis, 351. arraigns his son for high treason, 356. effects a peace with Sweden, 360. causes coronation of Catharine, 361. death of, 362. inscription on the tomb of, 368. statue erected to, 440.

Peter II., regency of, 365. death of, 366.

Peter III., succeeds Elizabeth, 377. early life of, and acquaintance with Catharine, 380. determines to repudiate Catharine, 390. alarm of, on the escape of Catharine, 395. abject humiliation of, 398. abdication of, 399. assassination of, 402.

Peterhoff, the palace of, 504.

Philip (of Macedon) conquers the Scythians, 18.

Plague, devastations of the, 419.

Poland, aid from, to Ysiaslaf, 80. Stephen Bathori elected king, 261. demands of, on Russia, 264. conquests of, 255. conquests of Alexis in, 295. death of the king of, 298. John Sobieski chosen king of, 298. Stanislaus Leczinsky placed on the throne of, 335. degeneration of, 414. sliced by Russia, Austria and Prussia, 420. rebellion in, 513.

Poles, rise of the, 513.

Polotsk, captured by Vlademer, 52.

Polovtsi, the nation of, 123.

Pope (Gregory VII.) promises to assist Ysiaslaf, 64. letter of, to Ysiaslaf, 64. letter of, to the king of Poland, 65.

Pope (Innocent III.) his letter to the Russian clergy, 102.

Poppel (Nicholas) visit of, to Russia, 184. solicits the daughter of Ivan for Albert of Baden, 184.

Porphyrogenete, the emperor of Constantinople, 43.

Pugatshef, conspiracy of, 427. execution of, 429.

Pultowa, battle of, 339. festival, 346.

R.

Religion of the Sclavonians, 26.

Republicanism, first indication of, 131.

Rogneda, refusal of, to marry Vlademer, 51. forced to marry Vlademer, 52.

Roman (prince of Smolensk) appointed prince of Novgorod, 92.

Romanow (Michael Feodor) elected emperor, 287. marriage of, 290. prosperous reign, and death, 291.

Rome purchases peace of the Sarmatians, 18.

Romish Church, its dominion over the Greek church, 102

Rostislaf succeeds to the throne of Russia, 18. driven from the throne by Georges, 82. expels Davidovitch from the throne, 83. death of, 86.

Rostof burned by Georges, 104.

Rovgolod (governor of Polotsk) his daughter demanded by Vlademer, 51. death of, 52.

Rurik, Sineous, and Truvor, consent to govern Scandinavia, 27. unites the territories of his brothers to his own, 28. death of, 30. his crown descends to Igor, his son, 30.

Rurik (brother of Andre) appointed prince of Novgorod, 92.

Russia, history of, 17. after disappearance of the Huns, 21. earliest reliable information of, 23. sudden rise of, from the Sclavonians, 26. derivation of the name of, 27. confusion of, in consequence of the death of Sviatoslaf, 49. united under Yaropolk, 50. years of pence under Vlademer, 57. division of the empire of, 57. calamity to, by the death of Yaroslaf, 62. death penalty abolished in, 66. misery and suffering in, 66. Vsevolod succeeds Ysiaslaf in the government of, 66. Sviatopolk assumes crown of, 59. abandoned to destruction, 69. Monomaque offered crown of, 70. invaded by the Caspian hordes, 72. Mstislaf becomes emperor of, 75. famine and pestilence in, 76. throne of, seized by Viatcheslaf, 77. throne of, seized by Vsevolod, 77. throne of, demised to Igor, 78. varied fortunes of, 81. Rostislaf succeeds Ysiaslaf in the government of, 81. Georges secures the throne of, 82. Mstislaf Ysiaslavitch succeeds Rostislaf as emperor of, 86. union of the princes of, 87. old feuds in, revived, 88. fall of the capital of, 89. Andre succeeds Mstislaf Ysiaslavitch as emperor of, 89. Andre becomes monarch of, 95. Michel offered the throne of, 97. Michel's reign over, 98. accession of Vsevelod III., 98. Georges ascends the throne of, 104. famine in, 105. Constantine ascends throne of, 108. Georges II. ascends throne of, 109. recapitulation of the establishment of the monarchy of, 110. subdivision of, 111. Yaroslaf, prince of Kief, ascends the throne of, 123. in the power of Bati, 125. annihilated as a kingdom, 126. Dmitri ascends the throne of, 133. Andre ascends the throne of, 133. ceases to be a monarchy, 135. evils to, resulting from the death of Andre, 136. Michel succeeds Andre, 136. Georges of Moscow succeeds Michel, 140. Alexander succeeds Georges, 141. Jean Danielovitch succeeds Alexander, 142. Simeon succeeds Danielovitch, 143. accession of Ivanovitch, 146. accession of Dmitri of Souzdal, 146. accession of Dmitri of Moscow, 146. again brought under Tartar rule, 155. Vassali ascends the throne of, 156. Vassali Vassalievitch ascends the throne of, 162. Ivan III. ascends the throne of, 168. rise of, in estimation of Europe, 172. invaded by the Mogols, 177. alliance of, with Hungary, 183. Vassili ascends the throne of, 191. splendor of the court of, 199. invaded by Sigismond, 205. Helene assumes the regency of, 204. Vassali Schouisky succeeds Helene in, 208. Ivan Schouisky succeeds Vassali, 208. Ivan Belsky chosen regent of, 209. Ivan IV. ascends the throne of, 214. news of the discovery of, arrives in England, 246. commerce with England, 247. the first embassador from, 248. Livonia attached to, 253. peril of, 265. Feodor ascends the throne of, 270. Boris Gudenow crowned, 276. Griska crowned king of, 280. Zuski elected emperor of, 283. Ladislaus elected king of, 285. Romanow elected emperor of, 287. Alexis succeeds Romanow, 291. Feodor succeeds Alexis, 299. Sophia, as regent for Ivan, succeeds Feodor, 303. Peter succeeds Sophia, 310. Catharine I. succeeds Peter I., 364. Peter II. succeeds Catharine I., 365. Anne succeeds Peter II., 367. Ivan V. succeeds Anne, 368. Elizabeth succeeds Ivan V., 369. Peter III. succeeds Elizabeth, 377. Catharine II., accession of, 403. desolation of, by the Plague, 419. vast wealth of the court of, 420. judicial divisions of, 431. difficulties between Turkey and, 438. Paul I. succeeds Catharine II., 454 Alexander succeeds Paul I., 471. absence of bookstores in, 475. treaty between France and, 476. Nicholas succeeds Alexander I., 502. extent of the territory of, 506. Alexander II. succeeds Nicholas, 517.