Kelly W.K. The History of Russia: from the Earliest Period to the Present Time. Volume 2
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A.D.
1825]
INSURRECTION IN
ST.
PETERSBURG.
315
his
men
for
his
master's
service
has
never
been
forgotten
by
him.*
The
governor
of
St.
Petersburg,
the
brave
Miloradovitch,
who had
succeeded in
detaching
some of
the
insurgents,
and
confining
them
in
the
citadel,
was
bold
enough
to
approach,
relying
on
the
former
attachment
of the
soldiers.
"
Traitor
!"
cried
the
conspirators,
"
thou art
not here
behind
the
scenes
of a
theatre
"
(he
was
a
great
admirer of
actresses).
"
What
hast
thou
done
with
our
comrades
?"
Obolenski
stabbed
the
general's
horse
with
his
bayonet,
and
Kakhofski
mortally
wounded
with
a
pistol-shot
the
Murat
of
Eussia,
as
Segur
calls the
veteran,
who had
passed
unscathed
through
fifty-
six
battles
with
foreign
enemies.
Kakhofski,
who was
greatly
excited,
and
was
bent
upon
killing
the
emperor,
thought
himself
resolute
enough
for
the
project
;
but
having
mortally
wounded
Miloradovitch,
and
shot dead
colonel
Sturler,
his
heart
gave
way.
"
Yet
another
life
upon my
conscience
!"
he
exclaimed,
and
immediately
threw
away
his
weapon.
The
archbishops
of
St.
Petersburg
and of
Kief,
who had
been
sent
by
the
emperor,
advanced
towards the
insurgents
with
great
pomp,
bearing
the
cross. It
may
here be
re-
marked
how
very
little
the
Kussian,
with
all
his
external
devotion,
is
really
impressed
with
the
objects
of his
worship
in
circumstances
of a
grave
nature
;
what
little
attention he
pays
to
the
priests,
whose
lives are
certainly
anything
but
edifying.
The
prelates
were
received
by
the
soldiers with
hootings,
and
their
voices
were
drowned in the
rolling
of the
drums.
This
was
what
was
expected
and
desired.
Having
G-od
upon
his
side,
the
emperor
ordered
the
horse-guards
and
the
chevalier
guards
to
charge.
The
insurgents
made a
brave
but
hopeless
resistance.
None of
them
showed
any
signs
of
wavering
;
night
was
drawing
near,
and
it
was
found
neces-
sary
to
make
an
end of
the
affair
with
the
artillery.
The
grand-duke
Michael,
tearing
that
the
soldiers
might
feel
some
compunction
at
firing
upon
their
poor
countrymen,
_
*
The
present
count
Orlof is
not,
as
commonly supposed,
the
son of
either
of
Catharine's
two
celebrated
Urlofs,
Gregory
or
Alexis,
but
of
the fourth
brother,
Feodur,
through
whom
alone
the
family
name has
been
continued.
316 HISTOET OF ETTSSIA.
[CH.
1XIV.
was the first to
set
the
example.
Fired from
but
little
dis-
tance,
the
grape-shot
did
fearful
execution,
tearing
and scat-
tering
limbs about in all
directions. Ten
successive
volleys
were
fired,
and
then all
the
insurgents
who remained
dis-
persed
themselves,
pursued by
the
cavalry,
a
detachment
of
which cut off their retreat. No one knows
the
number
that
perished.
Holes
were
made
in
the thick
ice,
which
then
covered
the
Neva,
and into
them were
thrown the
corpses
of
the
victims.
"Well
might
Nicholas
exclaim,
as
he
rejoined
the
empress
on
the
evening
of
that
woeful
day,
"
What
a
be-
ginning
of a
reign!"
The
conspirators
of
the
south
did
not share a better
fate.
One of the
Bestujefs,
and the
brothers
Muravief,
who
were
all brave and
enthusiastic,
were not
dismayed by
the
apathy
which characterised the
majority
of their associates.
They
addressed
themselves
to the
soldiers,
and ordered a
priest
to
read to
them,
from
the
pulpit,
a
republican
catechism
ar-
ranged by
Bestujef,
and
composed
of texts drawn
from
the
Bible.
They
were
told that all men were
equal,
and
that
slavery
was
a
crime
against
Heaven
;
but these maxims
pro-
duced little effect
upon
them
;
they
were
only
excited
by
the
name of Constantine.* The
partisans
of
Nicholas,
who were
the more
numerous,
having
on their side
the
imperial
artillery,
soon overcame them
;
but
these
valiant
chiefs
either
killed
themselves
on the
spot,
or
sought
their death in
the
fight.
Bestujef
and Muravief were not taken before
they
were
dangerously
wounded.
Pestel,
who was
seized at
Moscow,
displayed
no
emotion.
Being
warned of his
danger by
a
friend,
he
uttered
but
these
words,
"
Only
save
my
liussian Code."
This
book,
which
had been buried in the
earth,
was found
and
delivered
over to
the
commissioners
of
inquiry,
who
endeavoured,
in
their
proceedings,
to render
it
ridiculous.
It
is,
however,
*
Sergius
Muravief called
upon
a
company
of
grenadiers
to shout
•with
him,
"
The
Republic
for
ever!"
They
ransacked
their
brains
in
vain
to
get
at the
meaning
of
that unheard-of
cry.
At
last an old
grenadier,
leaning
on
his
musket,
ventured to come
to
an
explanation
with
his colonel.
"
We will
shout
'
A
Republic
for
ever
!' if it so
please
your
grace ;"
said he
;
"but
who after all is
to
be
czar?"
"There is
none
in a
republic."
"
Oh,
in
that
case,
your
grace,
it will not do for
Russia
!" The whole
company
was of the same
opinion.
X.D.
1825]
INSTJIUiECTIOlS"
IS
ST. PETEItSBUEG-.
317
certain,
that
the authors
of
the Code
of
Nicholas
have
been
obliged
to
adopt
several
of Pestel's
views,
and
assuredly
the
political
part
of his
book contains
several
wise
and
humane
ideas, viz.,
the moderate
relaxation
of
the horrid
iron band
which
crushes
Eussia,
in
substituting
for
it a
natural
and
mild
government
analogous
to
the
American
confederation,
the
reparation
of a
crying
injustice,
fatal to
the
Eussian
empire, by
the
integral
re-establishment
of
Poland
;
and
the
according
of
vast
privileges
to the
Jews,
which
would
have
been
a means
of
healing
some
of
the
wounds of
Poland,
by
enabling
it to found
a
province
in
the East.
Here
then were
Pestel,
Eyleief,
the valiant
and
amiable
Alexander
Bestujef,
the
intrepid
Muravief,
the
genius,
the
virtue,
the
courage,
the
very
heart
of
Russia,
all thrown
into
the
dungeons
of St.
Petersburg.
Pushkin,
the
great
national
poet,
and
one of
the
conspirators,
was
alone
wanting.
Eesiding
at
some distance
from
the
capital,
he was on
his
way
thither to
fight
and die
with
the
rest,
when,
in the
midst of his
journey,
he
met a
hare
;
Ids coachman
stopped.
This is considered
a
bad
omen
by every
Eussian
;
but
Pushkin
still went on. He
next
met an
old
woman.
Here there
was
a fresh
stoppage
;
the coachman
refused
to
proceed.
At
length
coming upon
a
priest,
the worst
sign
of
all,
his
coachman
left
his
seat,
and
throwing
himself
upon
his
knees,
revealed
to his
master his
superstitious
terror.
The
poet
returned,
and
was
saved
for
the
time,
but was reserved
for
greater
misfortunes,
and a
more
tragic
end.
The terrible
manifesto
published
by
the
emperor
the
day
following,
was said
to be written
by
the friend
of
the old
empress,
the
historian
of the
Ivans,
the
patriarch
of
the school
of
terror
—
Karamzin.
A
minute
inquiry
was instituted at
St.
Petersburg,
the
grand-duke
Michael
was
one of
the
commissioners,
and Ni-
cholas
himself
took
part
in the examinations.
Vast numbers
wen-
arrested
on the
slightest
suspicion;
their
papers
were
diligently
examined,
and if no
overt acts could be
found
against
them,
words,
which
might
have been
spoken
ten
years
before,
were
laid hold
of,
though
perhaps
scarcely
re-
membered
either
by
those who
were
accused
of them,
or
those
who
professed
to have
heard
them. Even
supposing
that
calumny
had
not induced
some of the
impeached
to
31S
HISTORY OF EUSSIA.
[CH.
LXTV.
make false
declarations,
fear
may
have led them to
charge
others,
in
order to
extenuate
their
own faults
;
words
were
wrested from their true
acceptation
;
comments made
upon
them,
and,
considering
the serious nature
of
the
facts,
re-
course
was had to
extraordinary
measures;
persuasion
was
employed
in some
instances,
and
in
others intimidation.
Several of the
unfortunate victims
were loaded with chains
;
some
were made to
confess inaccurate
facts,
others to
sign
pure
fictions
;
and both
times
and
events were
confounded.
"
Pear,"
says
a Russian
proverb,
"
has
large eyes
;"
and
the
commission of
inquiry
converted facts of small
import-
ance into
a monstrous
affair,
while
it
at the same
time
en-
deavoured to ruin
the
conspirators
in the
public
opinion.
It
attacked their
personal
dignity,
called
their
courage
in
ques-
tion,
loaded them with
the
grossest
epithets,
ridiculed
their
political
views as
vulgar
philanthropy
or scoundrel
schemes
;
and
sure
of not
being
belied,
it attributed to
many
of
them the
most
miserable
recantations. No
doubt,
a
number,
especially
of
the
military
conspirators,
Russians of
the
old
school,
accus-
tomed from their
infancy
to
deify
the
emperor,
returned
sin-
cerely
to
their
former
idolatry,
and
considered
the events
of
the
14th
December as
a
judgment
of God
;
but with
regard
to
the
greater
number,
may
we
not
reasonably suppose,
that
such
partial
judges
only sought, by
these
accusations,
to
bring
dishonour
on their names ?
What makes
this
still more
probable
is,
that
the
inquiry,
so
laboriously
carried
on,
con-
tains facts which
are
acknowledged
false
by
all
parties
—
false
dates,
for
example.
It
takes
for
granted,
that
at
the
very
formation
of these
associations,
in
1817,
at the
time
when
Alexander was still
beloved
by
his
people,
and consulted
by
the
conspirators
themselves,
they
contemplated
regicide
as
the
first
inevitable
step
towards the
realisation
of
their
plans.
A
cursory
examination of
the act of
accusation
will
show
at
a
glance
the
contradictions and nonsense
with
which it
abounded,
and
the total
absence
of
all
proof.
Defence was
out
of the
question;
the
conspirators
were
impeached by
prejudiced
accusers,
sentenced
by
servile
judges,
and were
without
the
benefit
of
counsel. For
instance,
Jakushkin
had
offered to
assassinate
the
emperor
with
his own
hand.
—
When
?
—
In
1817 !
But
he
yielded
to the
arguments
of
A.D.
1825]
INSUERECTION
IN ST. PETEBSBUEG.
319
Von-Yiesen
and
Sergius
Muravief.
At a
meeting,
held
at
Kief
in
1823,
a
motion to exterminate
the
imperial
family
could
not
be
carried;
according
to
the act
of indictment
itself,
Sergius
Muravief
declared
that he
would
not
consent
to
regicide. Bestujef-Bumini
maintained
the same
opinion
in
a letter
to
Juschinski.
As
for the letter
which he was
accused of
having
addressed to
the Secret
Society
of
Poland,
and in which
he was
said
to have demanded
the
death
of
Constantine,
it was
never
despatched.
It was said
that it
was intended
to seize
the
person
of the czar
at Bobruisk
;
who can
prove
that
the means were
wanting
and
not the
will ?
Jukof
exclaimed,
that if the
lot fell
on
him
to assassi-
nate
the
emperor,
he
would kill himself. Nikita
Muravief
desired
only
the
propaganda
:
and declared the
plan
of exter-
minating
the
imperial family
to be barbarous
and
impracti-
cable.
Matthew
Muravief,
in a
letter
of the 3rd of
November,
1824,
to his
brother
Sergius,
demonstrated the
impossibility
of
any
revolutionary
convulsion.
Yakobovitch,
it
was
said,
wished
to
revenge
himself on Alexander
and to
kill him
;
but
he denied
the
accusation,
and
the commission ascertained
that
the
other
members
of
the
society
endeavoured to
hinder
the
execution
of
this
menace,
which
was
nothing
more
than
bravado. With
respect
to the assassination of
Nicholas,
the
commission
itself ascribed
to
Takobovitch
the
following
words
:
"
I will not undertake
it
;
I have
an honest
heart,
and
cannot
become an
assassin in cold blood."
Bestujef having,
as
it
was
said,
expressed
an
opinion
that
they
could
penetrate
into
the
palace,
Batinkof
exclaimed,
"
God forbid!"
If
we
may
give
credit to
the
report
of the
commission,
Kakhofski
imputed
to
Ryleief
the intention to
murder
Constantine,
but
Bestujef
and
Steinheil denied
this
charge.
"
What
had
your emperor
done to
you
?"
said
Nicholas
to one of
the
conspirators,
when he
did them the
honour to
examine
them
himself.
"
We
had
not an
emperor,"
was
the
reply
;
"
we
have
had
two
;
one
was
your
brother,
and
the
other Araktcheief
;"
and
as he
continued in this
strain,
the
grand-duke
Michael,
who was
present,
exclaimed,
"
That man
should have
his
mouth
stopped
with
a
bayonet."
"
You
asked
just
now,"
said
the
prisoner,
"
why
we
wanted
a
constitution;
it
was that such
things
might-
not
be said."
320
HISTOBT OF
EUSSIA.
[CH.
LXIT.
To Michael
Bestujef
Nicholas
said,
"
I
might pardon
you
;
and
if
I
felt sure of
possessing
henceforth
in
you
a
faithful
subject,
I
would do so."
"
Why,
sire,"
repiied
Bestujef,
"
that is
precisely
what
we
complain
of,
—
that
the
emperor
can
do
anything,
and
that he
is bound
by
no
law. In the
name
of
•
G-od,
allow
justice
to have
free
course,
and let the
fate
of
your subjects
no
longer
depend
on
your
caprice,
or
your
momentary
impressions."
Count
Tchernitchef
was
among
the
prisoners.
"
Is it
pos-
sible,"
said
the
emperor,
addressing
him,
"
that
you
should
rest under a
stain of
the
deepest
guilt
and
infamy
!
you
who
belong
to one of the best
families
in
my
empire
? I
hope
not. Disavow
the
principles
you
have
professed
;
tell
me
you
repent
the
mad acts
you
have
committed,
and
I will
grant
you
a
pardon."
Tchernitchef
refused.
"
I have acted ac-
cording
to
my
conscience,"
was
his sole
reply.
"We
may
believe
the
report
of
the commission
of
inquiry
when,
and
only
when,
it
says anything
at all
favourable
to
the
accused.
Now
this is what
it
says
of
the
regulations
of the
principal
secret
society,
that of the
Public
Good
:
"
The
principal
provisions
of
the Code
du
Bien
Public,
the
division
of
subjects,
the
most remarkable
ideas,
and even to
the
very
style,
show
an imitation
and
in
great
part
a
trans-
lation
from the German.
The
authors
declare,
in the name
of the founders
of
the
association,
that the
good
of the
country
is
their sole
object
—
that
this
object
can have
nothing
contrary
to
the views
of
government
;
that
government
stood
in
need of
the
concurrence
of
individuals
;
that the
society
which
they
organised
would
be
to it an
auxiliary
for
effecting
good
;
and
that without
concealing
their
intentions
from
citizens
worthy
of
participating
in
them,
they
would
pursue
their labours
in
secret,
solely
to avoid
the
misrepresentations,
of
hatred
and
malevolence.
The members
were
divided into
four sections or branches.
Each member
was
to
inscribe
him-
self in one of
these
sections,
without,
however,
refusing
to
take
any part
in
the
labours of
the others.
The
first section
had
for its
object
philanthropy,
or the
advancement
of
public
and
private
benevolence.
Its
duty
was
to
watch
over all
charitable
institutions,
and
to
point
out
to
the directors
of
such
establishments,
and also to
government
itself,
the abuses
which
might
creep
in,
and
the
means
for
remedying
them. The
A.D.
1825]
INSURRECTION
IN
ST. PETERSBURG.
321
object
of the second
section
was
intellectual and
moral educa-
tion,
the extension
of
enlightenment,
the
foundation
of
schools,
especially
on
the Lancasterian
system,
and
generally
a
useful
co-operation
for the
instruction
of
youth, by
virtuous
examples,
by
discourses
and
writings analogous
to
such
views,
as also
to the
ends of
society.
To the members
of this
second
section
the
superintendence
of all schools
was confided.
They
were
to
inspire youth
with
the love of
everything
national,
and
to
oppose
as much as
possible
the notion of
educating
them
abroad and all
foreign
influence.
The third section
was re-
quired
to
give
especial
attention
to the
proceedings
of
the
tribunals. Its
members
engaged
not
to
decline
any judicial
functions
which
might
be offered
to them
by
the choice
of the
nobility
or
by
the
government
;
to fulfil
such
functions
with
zeal
and
precision
;
to observe
carefully
the
progress
of affairs
of this
nature
;
to
encourage upright employes,
even
by
granting
them
pecuniary
aid
;
to
strengthen
in
good prin-
ciples
those
who
might betray
any
weakness
;
to
enlighten
those
who were
deficient
in
information
;
to
denounce
pre-
varicating
functionaries,
and
to
apprise
government
of
their
conduct.
Finally,
the members
of the fourth
section
were to
devote
themselves to the
study
of
political
economy
;
to at-
tempt
the
discovery
and
the
definition of
the
immovable
prin-
ciples
of
national wealth
;
to contribute
to the
development
of all
branches of
industry
;
to
strengthen
public
credit
;
and
oppose
monopolies."
After
more than
five months'
investigation,
the commis-
sion
of
inquiry
completed
its labours.
The
emperor
ap-
pointed
a
supreme
tribunal,
composed
of the council
of
the
empire,
the
synod
and the
senate,
to
decide
on
the
fate
of
the
accused.
To
these three
public
bodies
several
military
and
civil officers
of
high
rank were added.
This tribunal
decided
that,
according
to
law,
all the
prisoners,
one
hundred and
twenty
in
number,
deserved
death
;
but
it
appealed
to the
imperial
clemency,
and
classed
the criminals
under eleven
heads,
making
an
exception
of
five
of
them,
whom
it set
apart,
on account of the
enormity
of
their crime.
These
were
Pestel,
Ryleief,
Sergius
Muravief,
Bestujef-Rumini,
and
Kakhofski,
who were
condemned
to
be
quartered.
Thirty-
one
individuals
of the first
category
were
sentenced
to
be
beheaded
;
those of the
second to
incur
political
death
;
those
VOL.
II.
Y
322
HISTORY OF
RUSSIA.
[CH.
LXIV.
of
the third to
undergo
hard
labour
for
life
;
those of the
fourth
to serve as
private
soldiers,
retaining
the
rights
of
nobility,
&c. &c.
The
emperor
granted
a commutation of these
punishments.
The five
individuals condemned
to be
quartered
were sen-
tenced
to be
hanged
:
thus an
indignity
was
put upon
them
even
in
the kind
of death which
they
were to suffer.
Those
of the first
category
were condemned
to
hard labour for
life
in Siberia
;
and
the
punishment
of
the remainder was miti-
gated
in
proportion
;
but
all were
doomed to the most
dread-
ful exile
and
slavery.
On the 13th
(25th)
July
the execution
took
place
on
the
glacis
of the
citadel.
The
condemned
were
compelled
to
look
on for a whole hour while the
preparations
were
going
on
for
their
execution
;
and their less
wretched
companions
were forced to march
round the
gibbets
;
their swords
were
broken over
their
heads,
and their
epaulettes
and
military
decorations thrown
into the
fire. The
ropes
to
which
Ryleief,
Muravief,
and
Bestujef-Eumini
were
suspended
unhappily
broke,
and these men were
led
to death
a second
time.*
Orders
were
given
to erect
gibbets
instead
of crosses
on
the
graves
of
the officers killed
at Ustinofka.
On the
following
day
the
square
in front
of
the senate-
house,
where
the revolt
had
taken
place,
was
purified by
a
religious
and
expiatory
ceremony.
The
emperor
sent one
of
his
aide-de-camps
to
the
widow of
Ryleief
to
assure her of
his
protection
;
but the noble
woman
replied,
"
The
only
favour
I ask
of the
emperor
is to have
me
shot like
my
husband;"
for
she still
believed
that to have been
the form
of his
punish-
ment.
Nicholas
presented
50,000
rubles
to
Pestel's
father,
and to
his brother
he
gave
the
epaulettes
of
an
aide-de-camp
in his
service,
which
gave
rise to
the
saying,
that
he
wore
the
rope
with which
his brother had
been
hanged.
Rostoftsof
s
fortune was
made;
and
Sherwood,
the
informer,
received
50,000
rubles,
a
house, and
the
title of
Faithful,
which,
how-
ever,
did not
save
him
from
being
subsequently
expelled
from
his
regiment
for
misconduct.
A manifesto
of
his
majesty
of the 13th
(25th)
of
July
in-
*
"In
this cursed
country,"
said
Muravief, "they
don't even
know
how to
hang
a
man !"
"
Decidedly nothing
succeeds
with
me,
not even
death,"
were the
last words of
Ryleief.
A.D.
1825]
INSUEKECTION IN
ST.
PETEESBTJEG. 323
formed
the
world that
he had seen
with
pleasure
"
the nearest
relations
denounce and
give
up
to
justice
the wretches who
were
suspected
of
being
accomplices."
Eussian
servility-
could
descend
even
to that
depth
of
infamy
;
but
noble
ex-
amples
were
not
wanting.
The
princesses
Trubetskoi and Ser-
gius
Volkhonski,
and Mesdames
Alexander
Muravief,
Nicetas
Muravief,
and
Naryshkin,
voluntarily
shared
their
husbands'
exile,
well
knowing
to what
a life
of
squalid
hardship
and
wretchedness
they
doomed
themselves,
and that their unborn
children
would
be
slaves.
So
joyfully
did these
noble
women
sacrifice
themselves,
that
a
foreigner
heard
one
of them utter
this
strange
threat to her
daughter
:
"
Sophia,
if
you
are not
good, you
shall
not
go
to
Siberia!"
Nicholas
graciously
allowed
these heroic wives to
go
to
that
land of
horrors,
and
has
let them remain there
to
this
day.
The soldiers
who
had taken
part
in the
insurrection
were
sent
to
Georgia,
and
in
the war
which
broke
out
soon
after-
wards,
they
were
employed
in the
first line
against
the Per-
sians.
The
regiments
which
had
remained
loyal
received
rewards
:
to
one
of them was
given
the
uniform of
Alexander;
to
others,
his initials
;
and to
the
Don
Cossacks,
his sword.
Fortunately, says
Golovin,
we
need not
go
fir to
look for a
criticism on
all these
proceedings.
Facts,
analogous
to
those
we have
related,
had
just
taken
place
in a
neighbouring
coun-
try,
tributary
to
Russia,
but
enjoying
a
more
enlightened
administration.
They
had results
which
unanswerably
con-
demned the
arbitrary
proceedings
of
despotism,
and
proved,
incontestibly,
the
superiority
of a constitutional
government.
The
inquiry,
instituted
at St.
Petersburg,
showed
that
there
were
in Poland secret societies
which had even
been
con-
nected
with
the
Southern
Society.
The attention
of
the
government
was
naturally
turned to
them,
and an
investiga-
tion was
ordered to be made
at
AVarsaw.
It was
ascertained,
in
fact,
that
ever
since
1821,
there had existed
in
Poland
the
National
Patriotic
Society;
and
that,
in
the
following
year,
Mazelsky
had
organised
the
Society
of
the
Templars,
on
the
model of
that
of Scotland.
Uminski,
Jablonowski,
Soltyk,
Krzynanowski,
were
members
of
these
societies,
the
principal
object
of
which
was
the restoration
of Poland.
The
c<
nnuiis-
sion of
inquiry
classed
the accused
under
five
categories,
and
the
senate was
charged
to
decide
on their fate.
It
appointed
y2
324<
HISTORY
OE
RUSSIA.
[CH.
LXV.
advocates
as
counsel
for
the
prisoners
;
the
proceedings
were
public,
and
lasted
a mouth
;
after
which
the
supreme
court
ordered
a
new
act of
accusation,
which,
with the
exception
of one
dissentient
voice,
that
of
geueral
count
Krazynski,
unanimously
set
aside
the
charge
of
high
treason,
acquitted
the
greater
part
of
the
accused,
and
condemned the
others
to
some
months'
imprisonment.
The
emperor
ordered
the
judges
to
be
reprimanded,
a
thing
before
unheard
of;
and he
consoled himself
by
confining
the
accused in the
dungeons
of
St.
Petersburg
:
this was a violation
of the
constitution,
and
was
one of the
grievances
subsequently alleged
in
defence of
the
Polish
revolution.
In
the dismal
annals of
Eussia there is no darker
day
than
the
25th
of
December,
1825. Prom that
day
until'
now,
nearly
thirty years,
Nicholas has rioted in
the lust of
power
to
the
bane
of
half the
world
;
but at
last the
prophetic
lines
of the
poet
and
martyr
Eyleief
seem on
the eve of fulfilment :
"
What our
dreams
presented
to us as a
decree
of
Heaven,
was not
yet
resolved
on
high.
Patience
! Let
us wait
a little
longer,
till
the
colossus
has
filled
up
the
measure of our
wrongs
; till,
in his
haste
to
grow strong,
he has weakened
himself,
endeavouring
to
grasp
half the
world. Let
us allow
that
proud
heart to
display
its
vanity
in the
sun. Patience !
The
wrath of
Heaven will
yet
crush him
to dust. In
history,
God is
retribution
:
he
will take
care that
the seed
of
sin shall
bear
its fruit."
CHAPTEE LXV.
PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS
OE
NICHOLAS
—
THE CORONA-
TION
—
WAR
WITH
PERSIA
—
TREATY
OE TURKMANTCHAI
—
AFFAIRS OF
GREECE,
Nicholas
Paulovitch
was
born
in
1796,
the
year
his
grandmother
died.
Coming
into
the world
too
late
to be
subjected
to
Catharine's
martinet
system
of
training,
the
na-
tural
force
of
his
character remained
unbroken.
In
this
respect
he
is
strongly
contrasted
with
his elder
brother,
Alexander,
to whom in all
other
moral endowments
he
is