Kelly W.K. The History of Russia: from the Earliest Period to the Present Time. Volume 2
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A.D.
1825]
INTEBEEGNUH. 305
of a sealed
document which Alexander had
deposited
with
the
council,
and
on
which
was
written in
his own
hand,
"
To
be
kept
by
the council
of
the
empire
until I
order
otherwise. In
the event of
my
death,
this
packet
to be
opened
at an
extraordinary
sitting
before
proceeding
to
any
other
business."
The
president
of the
council,
prince
Peter
Vassilievitch
Lapukin,
broke
the
seal,
and
found
enclosed
a
manifesto,
signed by
Alexander,
and dated at
Tzarskoeselo
the 16th
(28th)
of
August,
1823,
together
with two
other
deeds,
dated
eighteen
months earlier.
One of
these
was
a
letter from Constantine
to the
emperor
Alexander,
dated
St.
Petersburg,
the 14th
(26th)
of
January,
1822,
and con-
taining
the
following
remarkable
passage
:
"
Conscious
that I do
not
possess
either the
genius,
the
talents,
or
the
strength necessary
to
fit
me for the
dignity
of
sovereign,
to which
my
birth woidd
give
me a
right,
I
entreat
your imperial majesty
to
transfer that
right
to him,
to whom it
belongs
after
me,
and thus ensure
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
engage-
ment which I
spontaneously
and
solemnly
contracted
on
the
occasion
of
my
divorce
from
my
first
wife.
All the circum-
stances 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."
The
second
enclosure was a
letter from
Alexander,
in
answer to that
of Constantine
—
a
simple acceptance
of his
resignation.
The manifesto
above mentioned was
in sub-
stance
as
follows :
"I.
The
spontaneous
act
by
which our
younger
brother,
the
czarevitch
and
grand-duke
Constantine,
renounces his
right
to the throne of all
the
Russias, is,
and
remains,
fixed
and
irrevocable. The said act
of
renunciation will be
pre-
served
in
the
great
cathedral of
the
Assumption
at
Moscow,
and in the
three
administrations of our
empire,
the
holy
Bynod,
the
council of
the
empire,
and the
directing
senate,
in
order
to ensure
its
safety
and
publicity.
"II.
In
consequence
of
this
arrangement,
and in con-
formity
with
the strict tenor of the
act of
succession
to
the
throne,
wo
acknowledge
our
second
brother,
the
grand-duke
jS'icholas,
as
our
heir."
VOL.
II.
x
306
HISTORY OF
KUSSIA.
[CH.
LXIY.
It
appears
certain,
we
repeat,
that
Nicholas
was aware of
all
these
particulars
when he
proclaimed
his
brother as em-
peror.
The
council
waited
upon
him,
and
prepared
to
pay
him
homage,
according
to the
words of
the
manifesto
;
but
he would
not
allow it
to
proceed.
"
I
am
not
emperor,"
he
said,
"
and
wish
not to
become
so to
the
detriment of
my
elder
brother. If
the
grand-duke
Constantine
maintains his
renunciation,
if
he
persists
in
making
this
sacrifice of his
rights,
in that
case,
and
in that
only,
I
will
exercise
mine
by
accepting
the
throne."
The
council,
on other
occasions
so
timidly acquiescent,
would
not
yield
now;
but
urged
the
great
danger
to which
his refusal
might subject
the
country
;
for
in an
autocratic
state it
may
be
truly
said
that an
inter-
regnum
is a
revolution.
The
grand-duke,
nevertheless,
re-
mained
immovable,
alleging
that the
renunciation not
having
been
proclaimed
during
the
preceding reign,
was
invalid,
that Constantine
was
consequently emperor,
and
that it
might
not
please
him
now
to
give
his
sanction to an
act
which,
without
it,
was
null and
void. His
decision
must,
therefore,
be
awaited,
aud all
must be
done in the
mean time
as if
the
resignation
had
never
been made.
Sdenced,
but
not
satisfied/the
members of the
council
replied
to Nicholas
:
"
Tou are
our
emperor
—
we
owe
you
absolute obedience
;
if
you
order us to
recognise
the
grand-duke
Constantine as
our
legitimate
sovereign,
it
only
remains for
us to
conform
to
your
commands."
Accordingly,
the oath was
immediately
enforced in
Constantine's
name,
though
at that
moment
the
death of
Alexander had
hardly
been
made known
to the
public.
So
great
was
the haste
employed,
that
the
usual
proclamation
of
such an
event was
dispensed
with.
"What were the
motives that
prompted
Nicholas
to
pursue
this
very
extraordinary
course
?
His
own
explanation
of
them
is
unsatisfactory.
"
We had
not,"
he
declared
in the
manifesto,
on his
accession,
"
the wish
or the
right
to con-
sider
as
irrevocable
a
renunciation
which,
although
made,
was
never
proclaimed
or
passed
into
a law. We
wished
to
show
our
respect
for
the
fundamental
regulations
of
our
country
respecting
the
order of
succession
to
the
throne.
.
.
. . Our
object
was
to
guard
against
any infringe-
ment of that law
which
establishes
the
order
of
succession,
to
manifest
the
loyalty
of
our
intentions,
and
to
save
our
A.D.
1825]
INTEBKEGNUM. 307
beloved
country
from
even
a
moment''s
uncertainty
as to the
person
of
her
legitimate
sovereign.
(!)
This
determination,
taken
in the
purity
of our conscience
before
God,
who sees
into
the inmost recesses of
the
heart,
was blessed
by
our
beloved
mother,
the
empress
Marie." Others
have asserted
that
Nicholas
was
mainly
influenced
by
his
knowledge
of
the
fact
that he
was
not
popular
at that
date,
either with
the
public
or the
army,
whose
affections
he had
alienated
by
his
severity
and his
petty
vexations
;
that he
imagined
Con-
stantine
would
repent
of
having rejected
one
of the first
crowns
in the world
;
and that in
the event
of a
conflict,
it
would
not
be to himself that the
preference
would
be accorded.
He
foresaw, too,
it is
said,
that
his
inexperience
would
further
diminish his
chance of
success.
Aware as
he doubt-
less
was of the
plot
to which
Alexander
had been in
danger
of
falling
the first
victim,
Nicholas,
it has
been
surmised,
durst
not assume
his
rights,
with
the risk of
finding
at so
critical a moment an
enemy
in his own
brother.
We
must
pause
a moment
to
explain
the manner in
which
Constantino's renunciation
of his
hereditary
rights
had been
brought
about. Like his
elder
brother,
he
had,
in
obedience
to
his
grandmother's
commands,
contracted
a
marriage
too
early
in
life.
The bride
to
whom he
was
united,
in
the
year
1796,
was
the
princess
Julienne
of Saxe
Coburg,
sister of
Leopold
I.,
the
present king
of
the
Belgians.
No children
were born from the
marriage,
which was
by
no means
a
happy
one,
and the
young
pair separated
by
mutual consent
at
the
expiration
of four
years.
Twenty years
afterwards,
Constan-
tino
became
acquainted
with
Jane
Grudzinska,
daughter
of a
Polish
count,
a
young
lady
gifted
with
rich endowments
of
mind
and
heart,
under whose
influence
he
became
a most re-
markable
example
of
romantic
attachment. Of all
Paul's
sons,
Constantine was
the
only
one that
resembled
him,
either
in
features
or in
character. He even
surpassed
his father
in
ugliness.
As
to his
character,
"
he
is the
worthy
son of
his
father,"
wrote
Masson,
towards
the
close of the last
century;
"
he
exhibits
the same
eccentricities,
the same
passions,
the
same turbulence
;
he will
never
have his information
or
his
general
ability,
but be
promises
fair
to
equal,
nay,
even
to
surpass
him
one
day
in
tbe
art
of
setting
automatons
in
motion."
Eccentric,
impetuous,
passionate,
even
brutal,
Con-
x2
308
HISTORY
OF RUSSIA.
[CH.
LXIV.
stantine,
nevertheless,
hid
some
of
the
qualities
of a
nohle
heart
under
a
repulsive
exterior.
Coarseness
and
harshness
of
speech
are not
infallible
proofs
of want of
feeling
;
temper
or
affectation
is
frequently
the source from
which
they
flow.*
He
always
manifested
great
respect
for
the
memory
of his
unfortunate
father
;
and towards
his mother
he
exhibited
affection,
deference,
and
submission. He
adored
his brother
Alexander.
That he
was
not without
humanity
was
seen in
his
treatment
of
the
sick
and wounded
of the
French
army
who
fell
into
the
power
of the Russians
in
1812.
Officers
and
privates
were
alike
the
objects
of his
lively
solicitude
;
he visited
them
in the
hospitals,
sent
them
relief,
administered
words
of
consolation,
and conferred
appointments
in
his
palace
of
Thelna,
on
the Gulf
of
Finland,
upon
several
whom
te
chose
from
amongst
them.
But
if Constantine
had
good qualities,
he
took
care
that
few
should
suspect
their existence. Women
disliked
him,
and
men
approached
him
only
with
fear
and
trembling
;
and
yet
he
won
the love of
Jane
Grudzinska,
and
returned
it with
chivalric
devotion.
The laws
of the
Greek church
are
in
general
rigid
with
regard
to
divorce,
and it
is
very
unusual
to
permit
a
second
marriage
of
either
party
duriug
the
life of
the other
;
but
in
ecclesiastical
matters,
as in all
others,
the
will of
the
autocrat
allows
of
no
opposition.
An
imperial
ukase,
dated 1st
April,
1820,
declared
the
grand-duke's
first
marriage
dissolved,
and
himself
in a
position
to contract
a second.
On
the
5th of
June
he
solemnly,
though
as it is
called
with
the
left
hand,
married
Jane
Grudzinska,
on whom
the
emperor
conferred
the
title
of
princess
of
Lowicz.
The
children
of
this
marriage,
had there
been
any,
would
not
have been
born
grand-dukes
of
Russia,
nor
would
they
have
been entitled
to ascend
the throne.
It
is
probable
that
Constantine
gave
his elder
brother
an
undertaking
that he
would abide
by
the
existing
law
in that
respect,
and
that he
alludes
to that
undertaking
in
his
act of
renunciation
of
1822,
when
he
speaks
of
adding
a
neiv
guarantee
and
a new
force
to
the
engagement
which he
spontaneously
and
solemnly
contracted
*
«
The
act
of
ferocity
imputed by
Custine
to
the
czarevitch
(t.
iii.
p.
212)
is
evidently
borrowed from a
distant
age.
Such
an act
could
not
have
been done
in
our
days
even
in
Poland."
—
Schnitzkr.
A.D.
1825]
INTEBltEGNUM.
309
on
the occasion
of
his
divorce
from
his
first
wife.
"Want
of
capacity
to
govern,
the
reason
alleged
by
Constantine for re-
nouncing
the
throne,
was
certainly
not
his
real
motive
;
nor
was
it
to this that
Alexander
replied
when
he wrote :
"
I
find
in
your
letter
nothing
to
surprise
me
;
it
furnishes
only
a
new
proof
of
your
sincere
attachment to
the
state,
and of
your
solicitude for
its
undisturbed
repose."
The
key
to this
political
mystery
is
to be
found in
the
facts,
that
the
princess
Lowicz was in the
first
place
a
Pole
;
and,
secondly,
notwith-
standing
her
marriage,
she
was still
a
catholic,
whilst
the wife
of
the
czar could not
legally
profess
any
but
the
true ortho-
dox
faith.
Placed,
though
subordinately,
beside
the
throne,
the wife
of
Constantine,
had
she
chosen
to
accept
such
a
position,
must still
have wounded
the
prejudices
of
a sensitive
people,
and in a
manner
outraged
an
article
of
their
faith.
She
must
either
have
lived at
court
in
entire
obscurity
and obli-
vion,
or
appeariug
at
all,
must
have
taken
rank after the
grand-
duchesses.
This
inferiority
could
not but wound the
pride
of her
husband,
whose
susceptibility
would
be
quick-
ened
by
his
strong
affection.
Was it
to be
supposed
that
he
would
long
endure it
?
Again,
her
position,
mortifying
though
it
would
have
been,
would
have
placed
a Pole
and
a
subject
above all
the women
of
Eussia
not of the
imperial
family,
among
the
most
illustrious
princesses
of
the blood
of Eurik
or
Grhedemir.
Would
the
Muscovite
pride
have
suffered this
?
Would
even
her
virtues
have
obliterated from
Russian
recollection the
memory
of
Marina
Mniszech
?
Jane
Grudzinska was a
woman
of
spirit
and
of
cultivated
mind,
attached
to
her
country
and
her
religion.
It
was to be
ap-
prehended
that
she
would
claim
further
privileges
for
Poland,
whilst
the
Russians
held
that
the
vassal
kingdom
already
en-
joyed
too
many,
and
were
exceedingly
jealous
because
it
pos-
sessed some
rights
not
extended
to
themselves.
Another
embarrassment
was
found
in
the
fact,
that
though
incompe-
tent to sit
on the
throne
of
Eurik and
of
Vladimir
Mono-
machus,
she was
not
excluded
from
that of
the
Piasts. Her
blood was
as
good
as
that of
many
former
queens
of
her
nation;
private
gentlemen
had
been
seen
sometimes
to
ascend that
elective
throne
;
and
when
raised to that eleva-
tion,
the
king
ceased not
to
he
primus
inter
pares.
The
two
310
HISTOET
OP
EUSSIA.
[CH.
LXI
/.
crowns had
indeed
been declared indissoluble on
the
head
of
the
princes
of
the
house
of
Holstein-Eomanof
;
but
the
sovereign,
without
violating
the laws
of
Russia,
might
use
the
latitude
accorded to him in the vassal
kingdom
in
the
choice
of
his
queen,
and
thus
gratify
his
private
affection
or
his
desire of
popularity.
It
would
appear
that Alexander
and his mother
were
swayed
by
these
grave
considerations when
they
obtained
from
Constantine
more
than
could be exacted
by
the
existing
law. It is
not
improbable
that he
was
little inclined
to
ascend the
throne.
He,
who
bore so
very
striking
a resem-
blance to his
father,
could not
forget
the
bloody
catastrophe
which had
terminated his
days.
More
than
this,
under the
influence of
love,
he,
like
the
happy,
troubled himself but
little with
thoughts
of the
future.
His
strong
attachment
to Poland
caused
him to
regard
it
as
his
adopted
country
;
since his
Polish
marriage
his ties to Eussia
had been weak-
ened
;
and it
was
easy
for him to renounce
the
land
of his
birth,
provided
only
that Poland remained
to
him. Under
these
circumstances,
and with
these
feelings,
he
did all that
was
required
of
him,
and did it with a
good grace.*
The
news
of Alexander's death was received
at
Warsaw
thirty-six
hours earlier
than at St.
Petersburg.
Constantine
immediately
wrote,
and
despatched by
the
hands of
his
younger
brother, Michael,
a formal confirmation
of the
act
of
1822.
Even
this was not
enough
for Nicholas
;
and Michael
was
requested
to
return
to
Warsaw,
inform Constantine that
the oath of
allegiance
had been taken
to
him,
and
obtain
from
him a
declaration of
his will under such circumstances.
Meanwhile,
no
proclamation
was
made in St.
Petersburg.
The
grand-duke
Michael
did
not
pursue
his
journey
further than
to
Dorpat,
in
Livonia.
There he met
the confidential
mes-
*
Schnitzler,
"
Secret
History,"
&c,
vol. i.
p.
178.
—
Far from ever
regretting
the act
by
which
he
sacrificed the throne
of
Eussia
for
love,
it
is stated on
authority,
that,
shortly
before
his sudden
death,
Constantine
entertained
the
idea of
carrying
his
devotion
still
further, retiring
into
private
life
as
soon
as
he should
have
completed
his
forty
years'
ser-
vice,
and
fixing
his
residence
at
Frankfort-on-the-Maine.
The
prin-
cess
Lowicz
died at St.
Petersburg
on
the
29th
of
November,
1830,
a
few.
months
after her
husband.
The woman
who could
soften,
and
almost transform a
character
so
ferocious
and
imperious
as that of
Constantine,
must
have
been
herself
truly
amiable.
A..D,
1825]
INSURRECTION
IN
ST. PETERSBURG.
311
senger
of
Constantine,
and
having
learned
from
his
lips
that
the
resolution
of
the
czarevitch
was
unchangeable,
he
turned
back,
and arrived
just
in
time to act
his
part
in the
momentous
drama
of which
the
capital
now became
the
theatre.
On
the
24th of
December
the
grand-
duke
Nicholas
at
last
consented
to
accept
the crown.
The
interregnum
had
lasted
three
weeks,
and
that was
a
long
time
under
the
critical
circumstances
in which
Eussia
was
then
placed.
Despatches
from
Taganrog
had
by
this time
made
known
to
the
government
the
machinations
discovered
in the
south,
and
the order
given
by general
Diebitsch,
on
his
own
respon-
sibility,
to arrest
colonel
Pestel,
the soul
of
the
plot
in
the
army,
with several
other
conspirators.
It
was
thought
probable
that
an
insurrection
would
break
out in
Little
Eussia
;
but
in the
capital
itself
no
immediate
danger
was
apprehended
until
on
the
night
of
the
25th the
emperor
received
a
letter
from sub-lieutenant
Eostoftsof,
informing
him
that
the
plot
was
ripe,
and the
guards
had
been
for two
days
wavering.
In
consequence
of
this
information,
it was
resolved
not
to
sum-
mon the
guards
to
assemble
publicly
on
the
26th
;
but
that
the
oatli should be
administered
early
in
the
morning
in
the
barracks
of each
regiment.
Government
did
not
wait even
till
the
manifesto
could
be
published.
This
precipitation
was
both
impolitic
and
culpable
;
for
the
surprise
by
which
many
well-intentioned
but
ignorant
men
were
thus
overtaken,
and
the
seeming
recklessness
with
which
one
oath
newly
admi-
nistered
was
thrown
aside
to
make
way
for
another,
could
not
but
produce
an amount
of
uncertainty
and
confusion
favourable
to
the
designs
of the
conspirators.
A more
pru-
dent
step
was
that of
changing
the
palace
guard
during
the
night.
The
life
grenadiers,
against
whom
heavy
suspicions
existed,
were
withdrawn,
and
their
places
taken
by
a
detach-
ment
of
the Finnish
regiment
and the
sappers
of
the
guard.
The
palace
resembled
a
citadel,
and
the
precautions
taken
were
not
superfluous,
for
the
danger
was
greater
than it had
been
supposed.
The
conspirators
were
apprised
that
they
had
been denounced
by
Eostoftsof,
and
they
unanimously
echoed
the
cry
of one
among
them,
"
Our
scabbards
are
broken;
we
can
no
longer
hide
our sabres."
It
is
true
that
they
were
not
ready
for
act
ion
at
the moment
;
but
the
lact
of
the
throne
being
vacant,
and the
prolonged
uncertainty
as
to
312
HISTOEY OF
RUSSIA.
[CH.
LXIV.
the
person
of
the
sovereign,
seemed to offer them
an
oppor-
tunity
too
promising
to be
neglected.
They
did not number
in their
ranks
many
men
of
large
fortune;
for the Eussians
are
nice
calculators,
and the rich were
little
disposed
to enter
into a
plot
of
doubtful
success,
which,
failing,
might
ruin
them,
or,
successful,
might
cause
a revolution with
regard
to
property
;
but
many younger
members
of
powerful
families
were
implicated,
and
persons
of
standing
had
promised
their
support, though
as
yet they
had taken no
leading
part
in the
plot.
Many
officers,
some
of whom were of
high
rank
and
name,
had
also
promised
their concurrence.
These officers
were
thickly
scattered
in the
regiments
of the
imperial
guard,
and
above
all in
the
marine force
depending
on
it;
they
were
found also
in
the
grenadiers
in the
regiment
of
Moscow,
and
in that of
Ismailof,
of which the
grand-duke
Nicholas had
been
colonel.
The
revolt once
openly
begun,
who could
say
how
far it
might
extend
?
The
short
interval
previous
to the time of action
was
spent
by
several
officers
in
urging
the
soldiers not
to
perjure
them-
selves
by
taking
an
oath
annulling
that which
they
had sworn
to
Constantine.
One is
touched
with
pity
at
the
thought
of
the
uncertainty,
and the
complete
moral
darkness
in
which
the
conscientious
soul of the
Eussian soldier
was
left
by
his
chiefs.
Some
of
them,
partisans
of
Nicholas,
did not
deign
to make him
acquainted
with the
change
of situation
;
others,
the
conspirators,
not
being
able
to
make
him understand
then'
ideas
of
liberty,
misled
him
with the belief
that
Con-
stantine,
to
whom
he had
just
sworn
fidelity,
was
the true
czar
—
and
that
he was on his march
to
punish
those
who
should
go
over
to
Nicholas.
Pilled
with fears
and
scruples,
the
poor
fellows
for the most
part
remained
inert and im-
movable. Some
few of
them,
upon hearing
the
discharges
of
musketry,
and
learning
that their comrades w
r
ere
being
mas-
sacred,
were drawn
by
mere
generous
sympathy
to
stand
by
them. The
conspirators
only
succeeded
in
drawing
over to
them
the
regiment
of
Moscow,
the
corps
of
marine
guards,
and
half the
battalion of
the
grenadier
guards,
in
all
about
three thousand
men.
This
small force
marched to
the immense
square,
or
rather
plain,
of
St.
Isaac,
and
posted
themselves
behind
the
statue
of
Peter the
Great.
There were a
great
number of
conspi-
A.D,
1825]
INSUEEECTION
IN
ST. PETEESBUEG.
313
rators,
not
of the
military,
but
yet
armed to
the
teeth,
besides
a
numerous
concourse of
spectators
and
a dense
body
of
people,
and
yet they
looked as if lost in the
vast snow-
covered
space.
All
anxiously
looked
forward
for the
arrival
of
the two
military
leaders
of the
insurrection,
Trubetskoi
and
Bulatof,
but neither of them
appeared.
Bulatof re-
mained
the
whole
day
in the immediate escort of the
em-
peror
and
near
his
person
;
either because he was still
unde-
cided,
or,
as
he
afterwards
boasted,
because he
remained
there
for the
purpose
of
killing
him,
the
moment
that
he
should
betray
the least
symptom
of weakness. As for
Trubetskoi,
he abandoned
all,
both
the
command of the
insurrection,
and
the
care
of his
papers,
which
afterwards caused
the
destruc-
tion
of so
many
lives,
and
fled,
first to
the house of
his
mother-in-law,
then to that of the
Austrian
ambassador,
and
finally
to
the
emperor
himself
surrounded
by
his staff
—
just
as
a
frightened
hare seeks
to hide itself in the midst
of
the
hounds.
Ryleief,
the civil head of the
insurrection,
displayed
much
greater
firmness than the
military
chiefs. He came
upon
the
square,
and
sought
them in vain
;
the
diminished
number
of
the
insurgents
left little to
hope
for. Some advised
him
to
improvise
an
army, by attaching
to the insurrection
the
masses of the lower orders who had
assembled there
;
and
this
he
might
have done
merely
by delivering
over to
them
the
brandy
stores.
Having
forced
these,
the
mujiks
would have im-
mediately proceeded
to
a
general
pillage,
and to a massacre of
the
police,
who
so
horribly
flog
them,
and to
whom
they
bear
so
deadly
a hatred. The
mujiks
(populace)
number
in the
capital
75,000 men,
cither
unmarried or
whose wives are left
in
the
provinces.*
Habitually
under the
rod
of the
police,
and
subjected
to a
discipline
unknown
to
the rest of
the
peo-
ple,
they
brood
in
silence over
their
wrongs,
which
in
some
hour
of
popular
frenzy
may
tempt
them
to
terrific
ven-
geance.
"
When the
wretched
Russians
break
their
chains,"
says
Schiller,
"
it will
not
be
before
the
freemen,
but before
the
slave,
that
the
community
must
tremble."
A
riot
on
the
part
of
the
mujiks
would
have
produced
a
considerable
diversion
in favour
of the
conspirators,
as
Nicholas
would
*
At
St.
Petersburg
the
women form
only
two-sevenths of
the entire
population
:
an
alarming
fact.
314 HISTORY OF
EUSSIA.
[CH.
LXIY.
have
been
compelled
to detach a
party
of his
troops
to
act
against
the
former.
Byleief,
however,
refused to
employ
this
dreadful
means.
From that moment it
was
easy
to
foresee
the
event.
The
insurrection,
hemmed
in
before the
palace
of
the
senate,
at the
extremity
of an
immense
square,
must
infallibly
be
swept
away
by grape
shot,
and
sabred
by
the
cavalry.
Byleief
left the
square
;
he
sought
no
place
of
safety,
but
returned to his
house,
and
calmly
awaited
death.
The
emperor, says
an
eye-witness, pale
and
haggard,
never-
theless
displayed
much
courage.
He advanced into the
plain,
at the head of his
horse-guards,
and
came
upon
the
detach-
ments which were
proceeding
to
join
the
insurgents.
"
Good
day,
my
children !" said
he,
according
to the custom of
the
czars. "Hurrah! Constantine !" was their
only
answer.
It
seems
undisputed
that he
appeared
quite
resolved,
and
was
not in
the least
disconcerted.
What
he said has
never
been
positively
known. Two
versions
have been
put
forward,
one
by
M.
Schnitzler,
who was
present
at the time
;
the
other
by
M.
de
Custine,
to
whom
the
emperor
himself
related
the
affair.
The most truthful
of
the
two seems to
be,
that
he
cried
with a loud
voice,
"
To
the
right
wheel
—
march !"
and
that the
soldiers
mechanically obeyed.
The
day,
very
short in
December,
was
passing away,
and
the
insurgents
waited
in
vain for
the
arrival of their colonels.
Their number
gradually
diminished.
Part of the
Moscow
regiment
repented,
and left them
;
but those
that
remained
were still firm. Instead of
being
alarmed at the
artillery,
which had
followed
the
emperor,
and which was
about
to
thunder
upon
them,
they rejected every
word of
conciliation,
crying,
"
Long
live
Constantine
!
the constitution for ever !"
This last
word,
instead
of
encouraging
their
partisans,
as
they
expected,
threw the
soldiers into
uncertainty.
"
What
is
this Constitutzia ?
Is it
the wife of the
emperor
?"
they
asked.
Nicholas,
on
his
side,
had
13,000
troops
to
oppose
the
small
body
of
the
insurgents.
The
first
officer
who led
his
troops
into
St.
Isaac's-square
to
support
the
imperial
cause
was
colone.l
(now count)
Alexis
Orlof,
whose
brother,
general
Michael
Orlof,
was
slightly implicated
in the
conspi-
racy
of
the south.
The
speed
with
which
Orlof
brought up