Kelly W.K. The History of Russia: from the Earliest Period to the Present Time. Volume 2
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A.D.
1815]
AFFAIRS
OF POLAND.
285
Holy
Alliance
(Sept.
16,
1815)
deeply
interested
him,
and
absorbed
his "whole
soul.
Alexander had
by
this time become the
disciple
of
the
celebrated
Madame
de
Krudener,
who
had
repaired
to
Paris,
in
1814,
for the
purpose
of
evangelising
the allied
sovereigns
there
assembled.
Among
them
all,
she found in the
emperor
of
Russia alone the
qualities requisite
to the
development
of a
mystic spirit
of
devotion,
namely, quick
sensibility,
and
a
lively imagination,
imperfectly
controlled
by
a weak
will
and
an unstable
judgment.
The
Holy
Alliance,
which
the
high
contracting parties
placed by
direct invocation
under
the
sanction
of
God
the
Father,
Son,
and
Holy
Ghost,
was
professedly
a
union
of
Christian
monarchs in the
pious
work of
directing
the
whole
course of
European
politics
in
strict
accordance
with
the
benign principles
and
precepts
of
Christianity.
Frederick the Great used to
say,
that Provi-
dence was
always
on the
side of the
strongest
battalions,
and
the
imperial
and
royal
members of the
Holy
Alliance
soon
showed that in
their
opinion Christianity
consisted
above
all
things
in
upholding
their own
arbitrary power.
Though
Alexander was
the author
of
that
coalition,
Metternicli
became
its
ruling spirit,
and the
visionary emperor
was
his
dupe
and
his
tool,
fast bound to the
stationary system
of
Austria,
even
whilst
with characteristic
inconsistency
he
was
sowing
the
seeds
of
death
in
Poland
by
his
dilettante
liberalism.
The
constitution
granted
to
Poland in
1815,
based the
government
on
a
tripartite
division of
power
;
the three
tea of
the
realm
being
the
king,
a
senate,
and a house
of
representatives
—
the two
latter
being
comprehended
under
the name
of a
diet. The
executive was
vested in the
king,
and
in
functionaries
by
him
appointed.
The
crown was
hereditary
;
it
was the
prerogative
of
the
king
to
declare
war,
convoke,
prorogue,
or
dissolve the
diet.
He was
empowered
to
appoinl
a
viceroy,
who,
unless
a member of
the
royal
family,
was
to
be
a
Pole. The
king
or
viceroy
Avas
assisted
by
a
council
of
state
and
five
responsible
miuisters,
their
several
departments being
instruction,
justice,
interior,
and
police,
war,
finance. These
five
ministers were
subordinate
to
the
president
of the
council.
Considering
the
exhaustion,
humiliation,
and
misery
to
which
Poland had been
reduced,
286
HISTOKY
OF
BTTSSIA.
[CH.
1XII.
sucli
a constitution,
was
apparently
a
great
boon,
for
it
guaranteed
civil,
political,
and
religious
freedom;
but
by
tbe
very
nature of
things
it
was
foredoomed to
destruction.
The first
Polish
diet
assembled
at
"Warsaw
on the 27th
of
March,
1818.
The
grand-duke
Constantine,
commander-in-
chief of the
Polish
army,
was elected a
deputy
by
the fau-
bourg
of
Praga,
and
during
the
session was
obliged
to renounce
his
privilege
as
a
senator,
because,
by
the
terms of the con-
stitution,
no
person
could sit
in both houses.
He was
elected
by
a
majority
of 103 votes to
6,
an evident
proof
that the
new
reign
had excited the liveliest
hopes.
The
emperor
ar-
rived at
Warsaw
on the
13th of March
;
he devoted
himself
laboriously
to the
examination
of
state
affairs,
and on
the
27th he
opened
the diet in
person
with
a
speech
in
the
Prench
language.
He
said,
"
The
organisation
which existed
in
vigorous
maturity
in
your
country permitted
the
instant
establishment of
what I
have
given
you, by putting
into
operation
the
principles
of those
liberal institutions
which
have
never
ceased to be the
object
of
my
solicitude,
and
whose
salutary
influence I
hope by
the aid
of
God
to dissemi-
nate
through
all the
countries which
He
has
confided
to
my
care.
Thus
you
have afforded me
the
means of
showing
my
country
what I had
long
since
prepared
for
her,
and what
she
shall obtain when the elements
of
a
work so
important
shall
have attained their
necessary development."
There is no reason
to
doubt that Alexander cherished
these
intentions
in his
own
sanguine
but
unpractical
way.
The
enfranchisement
of the serfs of
Esthonia,
undertaken in
1802
and
completed
in
1816,
and that of the serfs of
Courland in
1817,
exhibit the same
principles.
And when
in
1819
the
deputies
of the
Livonian
nobility
submitted
to the
approba-
tion of the
emperor
a
plan
to
pursue
the
same course
with
the
serfs
of
their
province,
the
following
was his
remarkable
reply
:
"
I am
delighted
to
see that the
nobility
of
Livonia
have
fulfilled
my
expectations.
Tou have
set
an
example
that
ought
to
be
imitated.
You have
acted
in
the
spirit
of
our
age,
and
have
felt that
liberal
principles
alone
can form
the basis of the
people's happiness."
"Such,"
says
Schnitzlcr,
"
was
constantly,
during
nearly
twenty
years,
the
language
of Alexander.
He
deeply
mourned
the entire
absence
of
all
guarantees
for
the
social
A.D.
1818-20]
ABOETIVE CONSTITUTIONAL
PEOJECTS. 287
well-being
of
the
empire.
His
regret
was
marked in
his
reply
to Madame de
Stael,
when
she
complimented
him on
the
happiness
of
his
people,
who,
without
a
constitution,
were blessed
with such a
sovereign
:
'
I am but
a
lucky
ac-
cident.'
"
After
1S15
he was no
longer
even
that.
A
year
had
hardly
elapsed
from the
time
when
Alexander
had
addressed
the words we have
quoted
to the
diet
at War-
saw,
ere the Poles
began
to
complain
that
the constitution
was not
observed
in its
essential
provisions
;
that their
vice-
roy
Zaionczek had
but
the semblance
of
authority,
whilst all
the real
power
was in
the hands of
the
grand-duke
Constan-
tine,
and of
INovosiltzof,
the
Russian
commissioner. The
bitterness
of
their
discontent
was
in
proportion
with the
ardour
of their
short-lived
joy.
Eussian
despotism
reverted
to
its
essential
conditions
;
the
liberty
of the
press
was sus-
pended;
and
in 1819
the national
army
was dissolved. On
the
other
hand,
the
spirit
of
opposition
became
so
strong
in
the
diet,
that
in
1820,
a
measure
relating
to
criminal
proce-
dure,
which was
pressed
forward with all the force of
govern-
ment
influence,
was
rejected by
a
majority
of 120
to
3.
Thenceforth there
was
nothing
but mutual distrust
between
Poland
and
Russia.
The
institutions which Alexander had
given
to
Poland
worked
no
happy
results,
and those which he
designed
for
Russia
would
have been
little
better. He failed even
to ac-
complish
the
good
which
he
might
have effected
without
organic
changes.
But he felt himself arrested
by
innumerable
difficulties.
He
often
wanted instruments
to
carry
out
his
will,
oi'tener
still the firmness to
support
them
against
court
cabals.
The
immense
distances
to
be
traversed,
which,
ac-
cording
to
Custine,
the
emperor
Nicholas
feels
to
be one
of
the
plagues
of his
empire,
presented
the
same
obstacle
to
Alexander.
Again,
his desire to
exercise
European
influence
distracted
his
attention from
his
proper
work
at
home,
and
the
empire
sank back into
its
old
routine.
Discouraged
at
last,
and
awakening
as he
grew
older from some
of
the
illu-
sions
of
his
youth,
he
gave way
to
indolence more
and more.
He
saw
himself
alone,
standing
opposed
to
an
immense
fes-
tering
corruption
;
in
despair
he
ceased to
struggle; against
it
;
and
in
the latter
portion
of
his
reign
he
grievously
neglected
the
care
of his
government.
288
HISTOET OF RUSSIA.
[CH.
LXIT.
The helm
thus
deserted
by
the
pilot passed
into the hands
of
general
Araktcheief,
a
shrewd,
active
man,
devoted
to
business,
perhaps
also
well-intentioned,
but a
Russian of the
old
school,
without the
necessary
enlightenment,
without
political probity
—
arbitrary,
imperious,
and enthralled
by
qualities
and notions inimical to
progress
;
governed,
more-
over,
by
unworthy
connexions
of
a
particular
kind. Under
the rule of
Araktcheief the
censorship
became more severe
than ever.
Foreign
books were
admitted with
difficulty,
and
were
subject
to
tyrannical
restrictions
;
many
professors
of
the
new
university
of
St.
Petersburg
were
subjected
to
a
despotic
and
galling inquisition
;
others were
required
most
rigidly
to base their
course
of
instructions
upon
a
programme
printed
and
issued
by
the
supreme
authority. Freemasonry
was
suppressed. Foreign
travellers were surrounded
with
troublesome
and vexatious
formalities.
Many
rigorous
regu-
lations,
which had
been
long
disused
and almost
forgotten,
were
revived. In
short,
Araktcheief exercised
with intole
rable
severity
a
power
which he
derived
from a
master who
carried
gentleness
to an
extreme of weakness
—
who loved
to
discuss
the
rights
of
humanity,
and
whose
heart
bled
for its
sufferings.
It
was
by
the
advice
of Araktcheief
that
military
colonies
were established
in
Russia,
in 1819. The
system
was not
new,
for
Austria
had
already adopted
it
on
some of
her fron-
tiers
;
but its
introduction
into
Russia
was
a
novelty
from
which
great
results were
expected,
and which
neighbouring
states
regarded
with
much uneasiness.
The
plan
was
to
quarter
the
soldiers
upon
the
crown-peasants,
build
military
villages according
to
a fixed
plan, apportion
a certain
quantity
of
field to
every
house,
and form a
statute-book, according
to
which
these new
colonies
should be
governed.
The
plan
at
once
received
the
approbation
of the czar.
It was
the
inten-
tion
of
Araktcheief,
by
means
of
these
colonies,
to
reduce
the
expense
entailed
by
the subsistence of
the
army,
and to
compel
the
soldier
to
contribute
to
his own
maintenance
by
cultivating
the soil
;
to
strengthen
the
ranks
by
a
reserve,
picked
from
among
the
crown-peasants,
equal
in
number
to
the
colony
of
soldiers
;
to
furnish the soldier
with
a
home,
in
which
his wife
and
children
might
continue
to
dwell
when
the
exigencies
of war called
him
away
;
and
to
increase
the
popu-
A.D.
1819]
TUE
MILITARY
COLONIES. 289
lation,
and with
it
the
cultivation of the
soil,
in a
land
where
hands
only
are
wanting
to
change
many
a
steppe
into a
garden,
many
a scattered
village
into a
thriving
town.
Russian colonies were
thus
established
in
the
govern-
ments
of
Novgorod,
Mohilef, Kharkof, Kiev,
Podolia,
and
Kherson
;
that is
to
say,
in
the
neighbourhood
of
Poland,
Austria,
and
Turkey.
Political and
military
considerations
had
combined
to
fix
the
choice of
localities
for
these
colonies.
In
consequence
of the vast
dimensions of the Russian
empire,
troops
raised
in
the north
and west can
only
reach
the
southern
provinces
after
long
intervals
;
and
if,
on
any
emer-
gency,
Kussia
should
wish
to
concentrate
a
large
part
of
her
forces in the
neighbourhood
of
the southern and western
frontiers,
such
a
concentration,
it
was
thought,
would be
greatly
facilitated
by
the
fact of
military
colonies,
with a
large
popidation, being
already
on
the
spot.
The
villages
destined for the
reception
of
military
colonies
were all to
be
inhabited
by
crown-peasants
;
these
people
were now
relieved
from
the
duties
they
had
been
accustomed to
pay
to the
go-
vernment,
in
consideration of
their
quartering
men
in their
houses. All
peasants
more
than
fifty
years
of
age
were
selected to be
so-called head
colonists,
or master-colonists.
Every
master-colonist
received
forty
acres of
land,
for
which
he had to
maintain a
soldier and his
family,
and to find
fodder
for a
horse,
if
a
corps
of
cavalry
happened
to
be
quartered
in
the
village.
The
soldier,
on
his
part,
was bound to
assist
the
colonist in the
cultivation
of his
field and the farm la-
bours
generally,
whenever his
military
duties did not
occupy
the
whole
day.
The
soldier,
who
in
this
way
became
domi-
ciliated in
the
family,
received
the
name
"
military peasant."
The
officers
had
the
power
of
choosing
the
soldiers
who were
to be
quartered
upon
the
master-colonists.
If the
colonist had
several
sons,
the
eldest
became his
adjunct
;
the
second
was
enrolled
among
the
reserve
;
the
third
might
become a mili-
tary peasant;
the
others
were
enrolled
as
colonists
or
pupils.
Thus,
in the new
arrangements,
two
entirely
different
ele-
ments
were
fused
together,
and
one
population
was,
so to
speak, engrafted upon
another.
The labour of
these
agricultural
soldiers is
of
course
de-
pendent
upon
the
will
of
the
officers,
for
they
can
only
attend
to
agricultural
work when
freed
from
military
duty.
The
TOL.
II. U
290
HISTORY OF
RUSSIA.
[CH.
LXII.
man himself
continues half
peasant,
half
soldier,
until he
has
served for
five-and-twenty
years,
if he
be a
Russian,
or
twenty years
if he
be a
Pole. At
the
expiration
of
this
time he
is
at
liberty
to
quit
the
service,
and his
place
is
filled
up
from the
reserve.
Beside the house of
each
master-
colonist stands
another
dwelling
constructed in
exactly
the
same
manner,
and
occupied
by
the
reserve-man,
who
may
be
regarded
as a
double of the soldier.
He
is selected
by
the
colonel
of the
regiment
from
among
the
peasants,
and is
generally
a
son or relation
of
the master-colonist.
The
reserve-man is
instructed
in
all
the
duties
appertaining
to
the
soldier's
profession,
and is
educated
in
every
particular,
so that he
may
be
an efficient substitute.
If
the
agricultural
soldier
dies,
or
falls in
battle,
his
reserve-man
immediately
takes his
place.
The colonist now takes the
place
of
the
reserve-man,
who in his
turn
is succeeded
by
the
pupil.
The
master-colonist,
peasant-soldier,
and
reserve-man,
may
all
choose
their
wives
at
pleasure,
and
they
are
encouraged
to
marry.
The
women,
on the other
hand,
are allowed
to
marry
within
the limits of their
colony,
but not
beyond
it. The
sons of the
master-colonists,
soldiers,
or
reserve-men,
be-
tween
the
ages
of thirteen
and
seventeen,
are called
"
Can-
tonists."
They
are
drilled like
soldiers,
and
occasionally
attend
schools. The children between the
ages
of
eight
and
thirteen visit the school of the
village
in which their
parents
dwell,
and are
exercised
in
the
use of arms on alternate
days.
Like
the
Cantonists,
they
wear
uniforms,
and are
looked
upon
as future
soldiers.
All male children are sent
to
school,
where,
by
the method
of
reciprocal
education,
they
are
taught
to
read, write,
and
cipher,
alternately
with
their
military
studies.
They
are
taught
to recite a kind of
catechism,
set-
ting
forth
the
duties of
the
soldier
;
they
learn the
use
of the
sabre
;
are
practised
in
riding,
and,
when
they
have
attained
the
age
of
seventeen
years,
are mustered in
the
head-quarters
of
the
regiment,
and divided into
corps,
those
who
distinguish
themselves
by
attention and
diligence being appointed
officers.
The several
component
parts
of
a
colony
are
as
follows :
1.
The
head
colonist
—
the
master of
the
house
and
pos-
sessor
of the
estate.
2.
His
assistant,
who
joins
him
in
the
cultivation
of
his
farm.
3. The
military
peasant,
who
like-
wise
takes
part
in
agricultural
labour. 4.
The
reserve-man,
A.D.
1819]
THE 1ILLITABT
COLONIES.
291
who
supplies
the
place
of the soldier in case of
need.
5.
The
Cantonist,
between
the
ages
of
thirteen and
seven-
teen.
6.
The
boys,
from
eight
to
thirteen
years
old. 7.
Male
children
under
the
age
of
eight years.
8.
The
female
popu-
lation.
9.
The
invalids.
The colonies
in
the south
of
Russia
comprise
380
villages
in the
provinces
of
Kherson, Kharkof,
and
Ekaterinoslaf.
The
crown
has here
30,000
peasants. Every village
contains
two
or three
squadrons,
according
to its size
;
thus
they
contain
altogether
80,000
men. These
military
districts,
as the
re-
gions
are
called
in which
the
colonies
occur,
are so
strictly
divided from
the
remaining
portions
of
the
provinces,
that
no man can enter
them without
a
special passport, granted
by
the
military
authorities. Their constitution is
entirely
military,
even the
postal
service
being
executed
by
soldiers.
At
every
station a subaltern
receives
the order for
post-
horses and
inspects
it
;
another
soldier
harnesses the
horses
;
a
third
greases
the wheels
;
and a fourth mounts
the
box
as
coachman.
As soon as
the
military
coat
appears
in
sight,
every peasant
on
the
high-road stops, plants
his hands
stiffly
against
his
sides,
and stands in a
military
attitude
of
"
atten-
tion."
The laws are administered in
the first instance
by
a
de-
tachment from
every squadron,
one
of
the officers
acting
as
president.
From
the
decision
of
this
tribunal
an
appeal
can
be
made to the
regimental
councd,
which
is
composed
of
the
colonel,
two
captains,
and
six
deputies
from
among
the
colonists.
The
judgments
of
this court
are laid before the
commandant-in-chief of
the
colonies,
against
whose
decision
neither soldiers
nor
colonists
may protest,
officers alone
having
the
privilege
of
appealing
to
the
emperor.
In the
head-quarters
of
every
regimenl
a
copy
of the code of laws
is
kept,
and
in
most
military
villages
churches are
to be
found,
where
a
priest,
who
belonged
to the church
before
the
village
was transformed
into a
military colony, performs
the
service.
The
success
of
the
military
colonies in Russia has
fallen
far short of
the
expectations
of their
founders.*
•
To
the
un-
*
On the
accession
of
Nicholas,
Araktcheicf suffered
the
fate
that
usually
attends
the
favourite
of
a
deceased
sovereign,
and
fill
into dis-
grace.
Wishing
to
recommend
himself
to the favourable
notice
of
the
u2
292
HISTORY
OF RUSSIA.
[CH.
LXII.
fortunate
crown
serfs
they
Lave
brought
an
intolerable
ag-
gravation
of their
wretchedness,
by making
them feel their
slavery
even
in
their
homes
and
their domestic
affections.
The
consequence
has been
seen
in
the madness of
their
revenge
on several
occasions
when
they
have
broken
out into rebel-
lion,
as for
instance
at
Novgorod,
in
1832.
"
Nothing,"
says
Dr.
Lee,*
"
could
be sold
without
the
knowledge
of
the officers
in
these
military
colonies.
It
is
said
that
when a
hen
lays
an
egg,
it is
necessary
to
make
an
entry
of the
fact in a
register
kept
for
this
and other
equally
important
purposes.
I was
told
that
when
a
priest
was
speaking
to
some
of
these
peasants
about
the
punishments
of
hell,
they
answered
they
dreaded
them
not,
because
a worse
hell
than
that
in which
they
were
doomed
to
pass
their
whole
lives
here,
could
not
possibly
exist."
t
new
emperor,
he
presented
to
him
a memorial
respecting
his own
crea-
tion
—
the
military
colonies.
He
had
drawn
it
up
for
Alexander,
and
if
we
may
helieve
the abstract
of it
inserted
in
the
"
Ephe'merides
Geographiques"
of
Weimar,
the
following
is
nearly
its
substance.
Contrary
to
every
expectation,
it
states,
seven-
eighths
of the
colonised
soldiers
fall
to the
charge
of
government
;
the
male
children of
one
dis-
trict
do
not
suffice to
complete
the
recruiting
of the
regiment ;
the
state
is
obliged
to sacrifice
the
whole of
the revenue
arising
from
its
lands,
and
the
peasants
are
everywhere
dissatisfied
with their new
po-
sition.
To extend
colonisation
to the
whole
army
would absorb four
thousand
million
rubles,
supposing
the
government
able
to devcte so
enormous
a sum
to
that
purpose.
*
"
The
Last
Days
of
Alexander,"
&c.
f
"
The
military
colonies
please
one
at first
sight
from
the
order and
cleanliness
everywhere
prevailing
in them
;
but
their
population
is said
to be
wretched
in
the
highest
degree.
When the
emperor
Alexander
was
here,
some
years
ago,
he
went
round
visiting every
house
;
and
on
every
table
he found
a dinner
prepared,
one
of the
principal
articles
of
which
consisted
of
a
young
pig
roasted.
The
prince
Volkhonski
sus-
pected
there was
some
trick,
and
cut off
the
tail of the
pig
and
put
it
in
his
pocket.
On
entering
the
next
house
the
pig
was
presented,
but
without
the
tail,
upon
which
prince
Volkhonski
said to
the
emperor,
'
I
think
this is an old
friend.'
The
emperor
demanded
his
meaning,
when
he
took out
the tail
from
his
pocket
and
applied
it to
the
part
from
which
it had
been
removed.
The
emperor
did not
relish
the
jest,
and
it
was
supposed
this
piece
of
pleasantry
led to
his
disgrace.
A more
effectual, though
bold
and
dangerous
method
of
exposing
to
the
emperor
the
deceptions
carried
on
throughout
the
military
colonies
under count
Araktcheief,
could
not
have been
adopted
than that
which
prince
Vol-
khonski
had
recourse
to on this
occasion. From
that
time count
Araktcheief
became
his
bitter
enemy."
—
Lee.
a.d.
1822]
Alexander's
renunciation
oe liberalism:.
293
Alexander's
religious
fervour
was
perfectly
exempt
from
sectarian
bigotry.
He not
merely
tolerated his
Christian
subjects
of
every
denomination,
but
cordially sympathised
with
them in their
religious
concerns
;
and
he
warmly
encou-
raged
the efforts
of
the
English
Bible
Society
in
his domi-
nions.
It
was,
then,
from
purely
political
motives
that in
1815
—
fifteen
years
after the
readmission
of
the
Jesuits
into
Eussia,
he excluded them
from
the two
capitals;
and in
1820
decreed
their
expulsion
from
the whole
empire.
The
pro-
perty
and revenues
of
the order
were
confiscated
for
the
benefit
of the Eoman
Catholic
churches
in
Eussia,
and
about
750 of its
members were
conveyed
across
the frontiers
at the
expense
of the
government.
We have
now touched
upon
all
that is
worthy
of
note
in
Alexander's
home
policy during
the last
ten
years
of
his
reign.
That
portion
of his life
was
spent
in
perpetual
motion
and
perpetual
agitation
to little or
no
good purpose,
whilst
his
proper
functions were
delegated
to count
Araktcheief,
whose
name was a word of
terror to
every
one in
Eussia.
Absorbed
by
affairs
foreign
to
the
interests
of his
empire,
Alexander was
consistent or
persevering
in
nothing
but
his
efforts
to
enforce the
dark,
stagnant policy
of
Austria,
which
had become
that
of
the
Holy
Alliance.
He was
present
at
the
congresses
of
Aix-la-Chapelle,
Troppau,
Laybach,
and
Verona,
and
zealously participated
in all
the
repressive
mea-
sures concerted there.
He
was
the soul of
the delibera-
tions
held
at
the
latter
place
in
1822,
and
whilst
he refused
aid to
the
Greeks in
their rebellion
against
their
"
legitimate
sovereign,"
the
sultan,
he was
all
but
inclined
to use con-
straint to his
ally,
France,
to
compel
her,
in
spite
of the
opposition
of
England,
to take
upon
herself the execution
of
the
violent measures
resolved on in
behalf
of
the execrable
Ferdinand
of
Spain.
A
speech
made
at this
congress
to
Chateaubriand,
the
French
plenipotentiary,
has been
praised
by
some
of the
emperor's
biographers
for
its "noble
senti-
ments."
To
us it seems
well
worthy
of record for its
uncon-
scious
sophistry
and
signal display
of
self-delusion.
"I am
xwy
happy,"
said
the
emperor
to
Chateaubriand,
"
that
you
came
l<>
Verona,
because
you may
now bear
witness
to
the truth. \Vould
you
have
believed,
as our
enemies
are
so fond of
asserting,
that
the
alliance is
only
a
word
intended
294
HISTOBY
OP
RUSSIA.
[CH.
LXIII.
to cover
ambition
? That
might
have
received
a
colour of
truth
under
the
old
order
of
things,
but
now all
private
inte-
rests
disappear
when the
civilisation
of
the
world
is im-
perilled.
Henceforward
there
can
be no
English,
French,
Russian,
Prussian,
or
Austrian
policy
;
there
can
only
be
a
general
policy,
involving
the
salvation
of
all,
admitted
in
common
by
kings
and
peoples.
It
is
for
me,
the
first
of
all,
to
declare
my
appreciation
of
the
principles
on
which I
founded
the
Holy
Alliance. An
opportunity
presents
itself;
it is the
Greek
insurrection.
Certainly
no event
appeared
more
adapted
to
my
personal
interests,
to
those of
my
subjects,
and to
the
feelings
and
prejudices
of
the
Eussians,
than
a
religious
war
against
Turkey
;
but
in the
troubles
of
the
Peloponnesus
I
saw
revolutionary
symptoms,
and
from that
moment I
held
aloof.
What
has
not
been done
to
dissolve
the
alliance
?
Attempts
have
been
made
by
turns
to
excite
my
cupidity,
or to
wound
my
self-love
;
I
nave
been
openly
outraged
;
the
world
understood
me
very
badly
if it
supposes
that
my
principles
could
be
shaken
by
vanities,
or
could
give
way
before
resentment.
]N
T
o,
no
;
I
will
never
separate
my-
self from
the
monarcbs with
whom I am
united. It
should
be
permitted
to
kings
to
form
public alliances,
to
protect
themselves
against
secret
associations.
"What
temptations
can be
offered
to
me
?
What
need
have I
to extend
my
empire?
Providence
has
not
placed
under
my
command
eight
hundred
thousand
soldiers
to
satisfy
my
ambition,
but
to
uphold
religion,
morality,
and
justice,
and to
conserve
those
principles
of
order
on
which
society
must
repose."
This
was
not
the
language
of
"noble
sentiment,"
but
of
an
intellect
narrowed
by
sinister
influences,
perverted
to the
views
of a
most
sordid
policy,
and
flattering
itself
on
its
own
debasement with
the maudlin
cant
of
philanthropy.
CHAPTEE
LXIII.
LAST
YEAES
AND
DEATH
OF ALEXANDER.
We
may
well
conceive
that it
was not
without
inward
pain
and
self-reproach
that
the
benevolent
Alexander
stifled
in his heart the
voice
that
rose
in
favour of the
Greeks,
and