Kelly W.K. The History of Russia: from the Earliest Period to the Present Time. Volume 2
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A.D.
1814]
INVASION OF
FRANCE.
275
zenberg
and
Bliicher,
but
their
caution
foiled
him,
and
at
length
he found
himself
compelled
to
retreat,
lest he
should
be
cut
off from
the
Rhine,
for Bliicher had crossed the
Elbe,
joined
Bernadotte,
and
approached
the head of the main
army
under
Schwartzenberg.
Moreover,
the Bavarian
army
under
Wrede declared
against
the
French on the
8th
of
October,
aud was sent to the Main to cut off their retreat.
Marching
to
Leipsic,
the
emperor
there encountered the
allies on the 16th of
October,
and
fought
an indecisive
action,
which,
however,
was in his case
equivalent
to
a defeat. He
strove to
negotiate
a
separate
peace
with the
emperor
of
Austria,
as he had before
done with
regard
to the
emperor
of
Russia,
but no answer
was returned to
his
proposals.
After
some
partial
engagements
on
the
17th,
the main battle
was renewed on the
18th
;
it
raged
with
prodigious
violence
ail
day,
and ended in
the
defeat of
Napoleon
;
Leipsic
was
stormed on the
following
day,
and the French
emperor
nar-
rowly escaped
being
taken
prisoner.
He
had
lost
60,000
men
in the four
days'
battle
;
with
the
remainder of his
troops
he
made
a
hasty
and
disorderly
retreat,
and after
losing many
more
in
his
disastrous
flight,
he crossed the
Rhine on the 20th
of
October with
70,000
men. The
gar-
risons he
had
left
behind
gradually
surrendered,
and
by
November
all
Germany,
as far
as
the
Rhine,
was freed from
the
presence
of the
French.
In the
following
month the
allies
simultaneously
invaded
France in
three
directions :
—
Bulow from
Holland,
Bliicher
from
Coblentz,
and
tSchwartzenberg,
witli
the
allied
sove-
reigns, by
Switzerland and
the
Jui-a^
whilst
Wellington
also
was
advancing
from
the
Pyrenees,
at the
head of
the
army
which
had liberated
the
Peninsula. In
twenty-five
days
after their
passage
of
the
Rhine the
allied
armies
had
suc-
ceeded,
almost
without
firing
a
shot,
in
wresting
a
third of
France
from the
grasp
of
Napoleon.
Their
united
forces,
stretched
diagonally
across
France in a line
three
hundred
miles
long,
from
the
limit
ilts
of Flanders
to
the
banks
of the
Rhone.
On
the other
hand,
the
French
emperor, though
his
force
was little
more
than a
third
of that
which
was
at
the
command of
the
allies,
had the
advantage
of an
incom-
parably
more
concentrated
position,
his
troops
being
all
atationed within
the
limits of
a
narrow
triangle,
of which
t2
276 HISTORY OF RUSSIA.
[CH.
LXI.
Paris, Eaon,
and
Troyes
formed
the
angles.
Besides
this,
there was
no
perfect
unanimity
among
his
enemies.
Austria,
leaning
on the matrimonial
alliance,
was reluctant
to
push
matters
to
extremities,
if
it
could
possibly
be avoided
;
Eussia
and Prussia were
resolute
to
overthrow
Napoleon's
dynasty
;
whilst
the councils of
England,
which in this
diversity
held
the
balance,
were as
yet
divided as
to the
final
issue.
There
was a
prospect,
therefore,
that
the want of
concert between
the allies
would
afford
profitable
opportunities
to the
military
genius
of
the
Prench
emperor.
On the 29th of
January, Napoleon
made an
unexpected
attack
on
Bliicher's
corps
at
Brienne,
in which
the
Prussian
marshal
narrowly
escaped
,being
made
prisoner.
But not
being
pursued
with suificient
vigour,
and
having procured
reinforcements,
Blucher
had his
revenge
at Ea
Bothiere,
where he
attacked
Napoleon
with
superior
forces
and routed
him. Still
Schwartzenberg
delayed
his advance and divided
his
troops,
whilst
Blucher,
pushing
rapidly
forward
on
Paris,
was
again
unexpectedly
attacked
by
the main
body
of
the
Erench
army,
and
all
his
corps,
as
they
severally
advanced,
were defeated with
terrible
loss,
between
the 10th
and
14th
of
February.
On
the
17th,
Napoleon
routed
the advanced
guard
of the main
army
at
Nangis,
and
again
on the 18th
he
inflicted
a
heavy
defeat on
them at Montereau.
Auge-
reau,
meanwhile,
with an
army
levied in the south of
Prance,
had
driven
the Austrians
under Bubna into
Switzerland,
and
had
posted
himself
at
Geneva,
in the rear of the
allies,
who
became so alarmed as to
resolve on
a
general
retreat,
and
propose
an
armistice.
Negotiations
for
peace
had been
in
progress
for several weeks at
Chatillon,
and the
allies
were
now
more
than
ever desirous that the terms
they
offered
should be
accepted.
But
so confident was
Napoleon
in the
returning
good
fortune of his
arms,
that he would
not
even
consent to a
suspension
of hostilities while the
conferences
for
an
armistice were
going
on. As for the
conference
at
Chatillon,
he used
it
only
as a means
to
gain
time,
fully
resolved not
to
purchase
peace by
the
reduction
of
his
empire
within
the
ancient
limits
of the
Prench
monarchy.
Blucher
became
furious
on
being
informed
of
the inten-
tion to
retreat,
and with
the
approval
of
the
emperor
Alex-
ander,
he resolved to
separate
from the main
army,
and
push
JL..D.
1814]
INVASION
OF FItANCE.
277
on
for
Paris.
Being
reinforced on the Marne
by
Winzinge-
rode
and
Billow,
he encountered
Napoleon
at
Craone
on
the
7th
of
March. The battle was one
of the most
obstinately-
contested
of the whole
revolutionary
war
;
the loss on
both
sides
was
enormous,
but neither could
claim
a
victory.
Two
days
afterwards
the
emperor
was
defeated
at Laon
;
but
Bliicher's
army
was reduced to
inactivity by
fatigue
and
want of food.
Napoleon
now
turned
upon
the
grand
army,
which he
encountered
at Arcis-sur-Aube
;
but after an
indecisive
action,
he
deliberately
retreated,
not towards
Paris,
but
in
the direction
of the Rhine. His
plan
was to
occupy
the
fortresses in
the rear of the
allies,
form
a
junction
with
Augereau,
who
was then
defending
Lyons,
and,
witli the
aid
of a
general rising
of
the
peasantry
in Alsace
and
Lorraine,
surround and cut off the
invaders,
or,
at
least,
compel
them
to retreat to the Rhine. But this
plan
being
made known
to the allies
by
an
intercepted
letter
from
Napoleon
to the
empress, they
frustrated
it
by
at
once
marching
with
flying
banners
upon
Paris,
leaving
behind
only
10,000
men,
under
Win/.ingerode,
to amuse
Napoleon,
and
mask their move-
ment.
After
repulsing
Mortier
and
Marmont,
and
capturing
the
forces
under
Pactliod
and
Amey,
the allies defiled
within
sight
of Paris
on the
29th. On the
30th
they
met
with a
spirited
resistance on the
heights
of
Belleville
and Mont-
martre
;
but the
city,
in order
to
escape
bombardment,
capitulated
during
the
night
;
and on the
31st,
the
sovereigns
of
Russia
and
Prussia
made a
peaceful
entry.
The
emperor
of
Austria
had remained at
Lyons.
A
special
declaration
of the
emperor
Alexander,
published
immediately
after
this
entry
into
the
capital,
confirmed
the
pacific
assurances
already
made
in
the
proclamation
of the
generalissimo
of
the allied
troops
;
but
with
this
addition,
that the
confederated
sovereigns
would no
longer
treat with
Napoleon,
or
with
any
member
of
his
family. They
had all
along
declared that
they
were come to make
war,
not
on
France,
but on the
emperor,
and
they
were
unanimous
in
saying
that the
wishes of
Prance should be consulted
in
the
very
first
place,
as
regarded
the choice of anew
government.
Now the wishes
of
the
wealthy
classes,
which
were
assumed
to
be those
of the
nation,
were
strongly
expressed
in favour
278
HISTORY
OF
RUSSIA.
[CH.
LXI.
of
the
Bourbons,
and
the
Bourbons
accordingly
were
be-
stowed
upon
them. The
restoration
and
maintenance
of
legitimate monarchy,
which
afterwards
became the
leading
principle
of the
so-called
Holy
Alliance,
had
up
to
this
time
formed
no
part
of the
designs
of the
confederates
;
this
was a
policy
instituted at a
later
date,
and its author
was
prince
Metternich. M.
de
Vitrolles,
an
agent
of the
count
d'Artois,
had
an interview
at
Troyes
with
the
emperor
Alexander,
and
found him
possessed
with
a
strong
repugnance
to the
Bourbons.
"
The
re-establishment
of
that
dynasty,"
he
.said,
"would
open
the
door
to
terrible acts of
vengeance.
And
then,
what
voices
are
raised in
France for the Bourbons
?
Are
a
few
emigrants,
who come and
Avhisper
in
our
ears that
their
country
is
royalist,
to be
deemed
representatives
of
public
opinion
?" M.
de Vitrolles
ably
combated
Alexander's
objections,
and
observed,
"
Believe
me, sire,
you
would
not
have
lost
so
many
soldiers in this
country,
had
you
made
the
question
of
occupation
a French
question."
—
"The
very
thing
I have
myself
said a hundred
times,"
was
Alexander's
animated
reply.
The
interview lasted three hours
;
and
when it
was
ended,
Alexander had
been
gained
over
to the
cause
of
Louis
XVIII.
Alexander's
gracious
demeanour exalted to enthusiasm
the
favourable
impression
he had made
upon
the
French
by
his
moderation
in
victory.
There was
grace
and
dignity
in
the
words he
addressed to the
Parisians
:
"
If
I arrive
late,
accuse
only
French
valour." This was
certainly
the
brightest
epoch
in
his
reign.
From the moment he had entered
upon
the
war for the
liberation of
Europe,
after
having successfully
defended his
own
territory,
Alexander
seemed
to feel
his
course
clear,
and
no
hesitation,
no
indirectness,
interfered
with
his actions. He saw his
end,
and determined
to
reach
it
at
any price.
In order
to avoid
jealousies
and
rivalries,
lie
yielded
to
another
the
supreme
command,
which
he had
coveted for
himself;
but
he
was
ever
found
in
the
foremost
ranks. At
Dresden,
at
Leipsic,
everywhere
it was
so. When
Schwartzenberg
hesitated
to
march
upon
Paris,
Alexander
himself undertook
to
convince him that
the
measure
was
practicable,
and his
opinion
prevailed.
He
had
no
interest
in
reducing
the
French to
a
political
nullity,
for the
power
of Austria and that of
the
nation which
governed
the seas
A.D.
1814]
CONCKBESS
OB
VJUBSNA.
279
and
possessed
India
could
not be allowed
to remain
without
a
counterpoise.
•
Trance
owes
it to Alexander
that after
that
mortal
struggle
she
was not
more
deeply
prostrated.
His
cultivated
intellect
carried
great
weight
in the councils
of
the
allies,
and often
imposed
silence
upon paltry
fears and
trifling
objections.
The
Jacobins,
who terrified
other
nations,
did
not arouse his fears.
In
Paris,
he
made choice
of men
of
all
parties
to counsel
and inform
him,
and
received
with
favour
and
gratitude
his old
friend,
general
La
Harpe.
He
preferred
Pozzo
di
Borgo
to be
his
ambassador
at the court
of
the
Tuileries,
a
step
which
caused
some
jealousy.
Prom
Prance
Alexander
went to
London,
where
the
allied
sovereigns
were assembled
as
guests
of
the
prince
regent,
and
embarked
at
Dover on
the 27th
of June
to return
to the
continent.
His first care
was to
reorganise
and
augment
his
army,
and
he
exerted himself
so
well,
that
it is said
he
could,
in the
following
year,
have
brought
into
the
field
300,000
men and
2000
pieces
of cannon.
The
truth
of
this
rtion, however,
was never tested.
His
senate decreed
to him the
title
of
Blessed,
and
sent
three
of
its
members,
Kurakin,
Tormassof,
and
Soltykof,
to
prevail
on him
to
accept
this
political
canonisation.
He
replied
to
the
deputies:
"I have
always
endeavoured
to
set
the
nation an
example
of
simplicity
and
moderation.
I
could not
accept
the title
you
offer
me without
departing
from
my
principles."
And when
it was
proposed
to
erect a
monument
in his
honour,
he
said,
"
It is
for
posterity
to
our
my
memory
in
that
way,
if
it deems
me
worthy
of
it."
The
congress
of Vienna
was
opened
on the
30th
of
May,
the
purpose
of
redistributing
the
dependencies
wrested
i
the
empire
of Prance. The close union
which
had sub-
1
between
the
.sovereigns
under
the
pressure
of a common
danger
was
near
being
destroyed
when
they
came
to divide
spoil.
The
long
of
Saxony
was the
only
German
poten-
wlio had not
forsaken
the cause
of
Napoleon.
Prussia
red
to absorb
the whole
of
his
dominions,
and
this
claim,
supported
by
Russia,
was
opposed
by
Austria,
France,
and
England.
Alexander
on
his own
part
insisted on
retaining
the
grand
duchy
of
Warsaw,
and
re-establishing
it
as
a
con-
stitutional
kingdom
of
Poland.
England
looked
with
dis-
pleasure
on
the
aggrandisement
of
Russia
in
that
direction;
2S0 HISTORY OF
RUSSIA.
[CH.
LXI
she
was afraid lest
the
czar
should take
the lion's
share,
and
in
contempt
of the
treaties
which
had
stipulated
the
tripar-
tite division
of
the
Polish
provinces,
should seize
upon
the
whole
for himself. This
gave
rise to an animated
correspond-
ence between
the
emperor
Alexander and lord
Castlereagh,
then
the
plenipotentiary
of Great
Britain,
at the
congress
of
Vienna. In that
correspondence
we first
meet with
this
de-
claration of lord
Castlereagh,
a
cry
of
alarm,
as it
were,
uttered
as
early
as 1814 in
the
ears of
Europe
:
—
"
The
conquest
of
Poland was
effected
principally
to
bring
the
Russian nation
into closer communication with
the
rest
of
Europe,
and to
open
a vast field and a
higher
and
more
striking
theatre
for
the exercise of her
strength
and
talents,
and for the
satisfac-
tion of her
pride,
her
passions,
and her
interests."
This idea
is
afterwards
more
fully developed
in a memo-
randum
(dated
October
12th,
1814)
addressed to
the cabinet
of
St.
Petersburg,
and
especially
in the
following
passage
:
"
The
reflections to which this
measure
gives
rise,
must
necessarily
have
inspired
the
utmost
alarm,
filled
the
courts
of Austria and
Prussia with the
greatest
consternation,
and
spread
general
terror
among
all the states
of
Europe.
The
forced
union
of a
country
so
important
and
populous
as the
duchy
of
Warsaw,
which contains more
than
4,000,000
of
inhabitants,
to
the
empire
of
Eussia,
so
recently
aggrandised
by
the
conquest
of
Finland,
her
acquisitions
in
Moldavia,
and her late addition on
the
side of
Prussia
;
her
progressive
march from the Niemen
towards the
centre of
Germany
;
her
occupation
of all the fortresses of the
duchy,
which
exposes
the
capitals
of Austria and
Prussia to her
attacks,
without
leaving
them
any
line
of
defence on
the
frontier;
the invitation
given
to the Poles to
rally
round the standards
of
the
emperor
of
Eussia for the
regeneration
of their
king-
dom
;
the new
hopes
and
encouragements
given,
and the
new
scenes
opened
to the
activity
and
intrigues
of this un-
stable and
turbulent
people
;
the
prospect
of
witnessing
a
revival
of those tumultuous
discussions
in which
the
Poles
have so
long
involved
their
own
country
and
their
neigh-
bours
;
the fear
which this
measure
inspires,
as the
cause of
a new
and
approaching
war
;
the
loss
of
every
reasonable
hope
of
enjoying
present
peace
and
tranquillity
;
all
these
considerations,
and
many
others,
now
present
themselves
A."D.
1814]
EE-ESTABLISHAIEJST
OS A KIKGDOM
OF
POLAND.
281
to
general
attention,
and
justify
the
alarm conceived
by
the
ichole
of Europe."
England
was therefore
unwilling
that
Austria
and
Prussia
should
be excluded
from
the
partition,
and that
Eussia
should
obtain
at once
Cracow
and
Thorn
;
she
pleaded
the
cause
of these
two
powers
very
warmly.
"
How
can
it
be
supposed,"
continued
her
principal
representative
at
the
congress
of
Vienna,
"
that
in
stipulating
the dissolution
of
the
duchy
of
Warsaw,
they
could
have consented
to
the
far more
dangerous
reconstitution
of a
kingdom
of
Poland
dependent
on
the
crown
of
Eussia
;
an
arrangement
ten times
more
menacing
and
alarming
for
their
respective
stales?
Even
though
the terms
of
the
treaty
were
as
ambiguous
as
they
are clear
and
conclusive,
nobody
could
interpret
them
so
as to
imply
that
the
two
powers
that
entered
into
an
engagement
for
the deliverance
of
Europe,
were induced to embrace
this
noble cause
ly signing
their
own
ruin,
and
exposing
themselves,
in
a
military point
of
view,
to the attack of
a
powerful
neighbour."
Alexander,
under
the influence
of
prince
Czartoryski's
ideas,
and more
disposed,
perhaps,
from
his
craving
for
the
applause
of
Europe,
to
play
the
part
of constitutional
king
of
Poland,
than
that of autocrat
of
Eussia,
represented
the
necessity
of
restoring
a
country
to
the
Poles,
and
of
remedying
the
sad
fate
which
the threefold
partition
had
inflicted on
them.
But the
British
negotiator
showed
him-
self to
be
little
affected
by
the czar's
political
sensibility
;
he
remained inflexible
upon
the
point
in
dispute,
and
the
re-
monstrances
which
he
returns arc not
without
a
certain
tinge
of
irony.
"
If a
moral
necessity,"
says
he,
"
require
that
the situation
of
the
Poles
be
ameliorated
by
so decisive
a
change
as the
re-establishment
of
their
monarchy
would
be,
then,
let
this
measure
be
executed
on
the broad
and
liberal
principle
of
rendering
them
really independent
as
a
nation,
instead
of
making
of
the
two-thirds
of
their
country
a formidable
mili-
fcary
weapon
in
the hands of a
single
power.
So liberal
a
measure
would
be
applauded
by
all
Europe
;
Austria
and
Prussia,
far
from
opposing
it,
would
acquiesce
in
it
with
pleasure.
This
would
be,
it is
true,
a
sacrifice on
the
part
of
Eussia,
according
to the usual
calculation
of
states
;
but
282
HISTORY OF
RUSSIA.
[cil.
LXI.
unless
your
imperial
majesty
be
disposed
to
make
these
sacrifices to
your
moral
duty
at
the
expense
of
your
empire,
you
have
no
moral
right
to
make
such
experiments
to
the
detriment
of
your
allies and
your neighbours."
The
emperor
took
the trouble
to
reply
in
person
to
the
memorandum
;
he did
so,
on
the
30th of
"October,
with
mo-
deration,
endeavouring
to
extenuate
the
importance
of
the
territories
obtained or
claimed,
but also
complaining
of
the
bitter
terms
which
had been
used
towards
him,
and
without
dissembling
that he
should
have
expected
more
justice
on
the
part
of
his
allies,
in
return for
his
efforts
and
tlie
great
resources
devoted
by
him to
the war
which
had
emancipated
Europe
;
an
emancipation
of
which he attributes
a
large
share to
himself.
"It is
not
doubtful,"
says
he,
"that
on
the
issue
of
the
present
struggle
depends
the
future
destiny
of
the states
of
Europe,
and
the
object
of all
my
endeavours
and sacrifices
has
been to
see the
members of our
alliance
recover or
acquire
an
extent of
territory
likely
to maintain the
general
equilibrium.
Therefore,
I
do not see
how,
with such
princi-
ples,
the
present
congress
could become a
centre
of
intrigues
and
animosity,
a
theatre
of
unjust
efforts
to
acquire
more
power.
I
refrain
from
turning
this
phrase against
any
one
of
my
allies,
how
extraordinary
soever it
may
have
appeared
to me to
find it in
your
letter. It is
for
the
world
that
has
witnessed
the
principles
of
my
conduct,
from the
passage
of
the
Vistula
to that of the
Seine,
to
judge
whether the desire
of
acquiring
a
population
of one million of
souls
more,
or
of
arrogating any
preponderance
to
myself,
was
capable
of
directing
any
one of
my
acts.
"
The
purity
of
my
intentions
renders
me
strong.
If I
persist
in
the
order of
things
that I
would wish to establish
in
Poland,
it
is
because I am
intimately
convinced
in
my
conscience that it would
be an
act
more useful to
the
general
good
than to
my
own
private
interest.
"
As
to
the care of
my
own
subjects,"*
adds
he,
with
*
Lord
Castlereagh
had
insinuated
that the
experiment
which
Alex-
ander meditated
relatively
to
Poland,
might perhaps
excite in
Ins own
states a
political
ferment.
Chateaubriand
entertained
similar
views,
re-
marking
that
"
the
decline
of
the
one
country
or the
other must be the
inevitable
consequence."
A.D.
1815]
REPUBLIC
OF
CBACOW.
283
dignity,
"
and to
my
duties towards
them,
it
is
for
me
to
know
them
;
and
nothing
but the
uprightness
of
your
intentions
could
have
made
me
revert
to the
impression
which
the
reading
of
this
paragraph
in
your
letter
had
produced
upon
me."
The
emperor
endeavours
afterwards
to
tranquillise
lord
Castlereagh's
fears,
by
representing
the
danger
as
merely
imaginary.
He allows with
a
good grace
that in case
of
any
undue ambition on
the
part
of
Eussia,
everybody
would be
against
her.
"
Since
this
system,"
he
replies,
"
is,
as the
memorandum
affirms,
contrary
to that of
Austria,
Prussia,
France,
and the
English
ministry,
the
slightest
attempt
would reunite all these
powers,
which
Turkey
would
eagerly
ioin, against
Eussia
alone,
and
abandoned."
Lord
Castle-
•
1 1*1*
reagh,
however,
would not
give
up
the
point
;
but
replied
m
another
memorandum.
This,
therefore,
was the
aspect
which the
question
of
the
union of
Poland with Eussia
presented
as
early
as
1811
;
it
was seen
to
be
fraught
with
real
danger
to
Europe.
Whilst
the
conquerors
were
parcelling
out
Europe
with-
out
the least
regard
to the
rights
or
interests
of the
nations
they
disposed
ol,
and whilst
they
Avere
wrangling
over
their
selfish
work,
they
were startled
into sudden
concord
by
the
news that
Napoleon
had
escaped
from
Elba,
and
landed
in
Prance.
Had this event
happened
a
few
months
later,
he
would
not,
perhaps,
have had to
fight against
a
confederacy,
for
already
Austria, Erance,
and
England
were
united
by
a
secret
convention
against
Eussia
and Prussia.
But
all dis-
putes
were
now
hastily adjusted,
and
among
the rest
that re-
lating
to Cracow and
Poland. Eussia
had laid
claim
to
Cracow as
an
appurtenance
of the
duchy
of
"Warsaw,
while
Austria had
asserted
her
right
to it
as one
of
which
she
had
been
despoiled
by
the
peace
of
Scbonbrunn.
Finally,
it was
agreed
by
the
treaty
of Vienna
(May
13,
1815),
that
that
city,
with the
territory
which
had been
assigned
it,
should
form
an
independent
and neutral
republic,
under the
protec-
tion of Austria.
Prussia,
and
Russia. Besides
the
city
of
Cracow,
a district
containing
8000
or 9000
inhabitants
was
dismembered
from the
duchy
of
Warsaw,
and was
conferred
on Prussia
under the
title
of
the
grand duchy
of Posnania.
The
remainder
was united
to the
empire
of
Russia
as
a
distinct
state,
under
the
name
of
the
kingdom
of Poland,
284
HISTOET OF RUSSIA.
[CH.
LXII.
having
its own constitution and
a
separate
administration.
It contained 2000 German
square
miles,
with a
population
of
2,500,000.
The
Russians,
who were to have formed the
army
of
the
Middle
Rhine,
were
unahle,
though
making
forced
marches,
to
arrive in
time to
take
part
in
the
brief
campaign
which
ter-
minated
Napoleon's
reign
of the
Hundred
Days.
CHAPTER
LXII.
FAILURE OF ALEXANDER' S
EXPERIMENT
IN
POLAND
—
HIS
CONSTITUTIONAL
PROJECTS
FOR
RUSSIA
—
THE VIZIERSHIP
OF COUNT ARAKTCKEIEF
THE
MILITARY COLONIES
—
EX-
PULSION of the
Jesuits—Alexander's
renunciation
OF LIBERALISM AFTER
1815.
The
re-establishment
of Poland
was rather an embarrass-
ment and a
source
of
weakness to
Russia
than an
advantage.
The Russians
being
entirely
devoid
of
those liberties which
the
privileged
class
of
Poland
enjoyed
under
the
protection
of
the
czar,
jealousy
was
the
natural and
necessary
result. The
conquerors,
the true and native children
of
the
autocrat,
saw
themselves less
favoured
than
the
conquered
nation.
It is
true that the absence
of
political
liberty
was no real misfor-
tune to
the masses
in
Russia,
for in
the
state
of
things
then
existing,
.one class
only
would
have
monopolised
them. It
was rather
that
general
state
of
things
which
itself
called
for
reform.
The
aristocracy
was
little
eager
to
second
the
sovereign
in
granting
rights
and
immunities to
those
below
themselves,
emancipating
the
serfs,
and
creating
a
class of
free
cultivators of
the soil.
But
the
aristocracy
had
its own
claims
:
it
desired
an
upright
and
paternal
administration,
justice
which should
be
freely
and
equally
administered
to
all,
and
which
should
know
no
respect
of
persons.
The re-esta-
blishment
of
peace
and
the
return
of
the
czar
to his
domi-
nions,
seemed to
promise
the
Russians
the
gratification
of
their
hopes.
The
general
expectation
was
deceived.
The
monarch's
person
was indeed at
home,
but
his
attention and
his
thoughts
were
fixed on
Europe.
The conclusion
of
the