After Napoleon's fall Alexander appeared as "the liberator of nations," the champion of freedom. Suddenly his ideas changed; he fell under the influence of Arakcheef, "the born enemy of all new ideas and all thoughts of reform, the apostle of absolute power and passive obedience." Henceforth the Emperor stood forth as the champion of the divine right of kings; the "Holy Alliance," founded for the brotherhood of man, became an alliance against the liberty of man. With all his might he opposed the new constitutions of Spain, Portugal, and Naples; he allowed the Greek war of independence to fail; the Mussulmans massacred three metropolitans, eight bishops, and thirty thousand Greeks at Constantinople; the Patriarch was hanged in his sacred robes at the very door of his church; all Russia burned to take part in a holy war of revenge, but Alexander turned his head away and refused to raise his hand. The people saw in the sorrows which darkened their Emperor's latter days, the scourge of God to avenge the desertion of their brethren in the East. A fearful flood devastated St. Petersburg, his new state of Poland was boiling with insurrection, secret societies honey-combed the Empire, his military colonies caused fierce riots; he was about to abdicate when he learned of the plot to assassinate him; "Ah! the ungrateful monsters," he cried, "I meant nothing but their good." Far away on the shores of the Azof Sea he died, suddenly, mysteriously.
WATERLOO
It is not hard to judge his character. He was Alexander the Weak; by his position "he ruled for a dozen years the fate of the Continent," but he in turn was ruled now by an "inspired prophetess," now by the incarnation of old narrow Russia. At first he sowed the seed boldly; when it sprang up he was unwilling for the harvest to ripen. He set the cup of knowledge to the lips of his nation, and when they had tasted and would drink more he dashed it away. But in spite of the later acts of tyranny, the growing rigor of the censorship, the stifling of all free thought, and the summary treatment of liberal professors, the reign of Alexander was memorable; it was indeed "an epoch of magnificent blossom." New universities sprang up, old ones were revived; newspapers were founded and encouraged the new school of poets and writers; literary societies began to flourish; the great cities were better cared for, and were adorned with statues and cathedrals. By conquest and convention he added to his vast empire Finland and Bessarabia; Persia, as far as the ancient Araxes; Bieolstok, and the Kingdom of Poland.
How St. George Fought with the Dragon
(The Revoluton of 1848)
The Emperor's death raised a strange contest of rivalry between his two brothers. Each hastened to take the oath of allegiance to the other and each refused to mount the throne. Constantine, the elder, was the legal heir, but in order to marry a Polish lady he had put away his wife and secretly promised Alexander to give up his right of succession in favor of Nicholas. It was not until he sent a final and formal renunciation of his birthright that Nicholas yielded.
The secret societies took advantage of the crisis. The "Society of the North" was composed of soldiers who had brought back from the West the new ideas, and of young men with generous and impulsive hearts, who keenly felt the yoke of slavery. Many of its members were in government employ and kept informed of all that took place in the palace. When it was known that the senators were going to swear to Nicholas the leaders vowed that he should never wear the crown. The fatal morning came. The conspirators spread among the soldiers the rumor that Constantine was a prisoner at Warsaw and that Nicholas was about to usurp the throne. The Moscow regiments rallied around the statue of Peter the Great, crying, "Long live the Emperor Constantine!" Some one shouted "Hurrah for the constitution!" and the ignorant mob joined in the cry, supposing that to be the name of Constantine's wife.
PALACE OF PETROVSKI
When Nicholas learned that the Place of the Senate was full of armed conspirators, and that already blood had been shed, he went with some of the Finland Life-Guard to the great gate of the Winter Palace and calmly read to the crowd there assembled the announcement of his accession. It had great effect. The citizens began slowly to disperse.
Meanwhile many new companies of grenadiers and marines joined the rebels; the governor-general of the city who tried to bring them back to duty was shot down in cold blood; the Metropolitan who came out to them in robe and mitre narrowly escaped with his life. Nicholas gave them one more offer of mercy; then, just as the short winter's day was drawing to a close, he ordered the cannon to clear the square. In a few moments the rude barricades lay flat and the rebels were fleeing in every direction. Five hundred prisoners were taken. That night thirteen members of the Circle of the South "were also arrested, and a few days afterward "The United Slavs," who came to their rescue with several companies, were completely defeated as they were marching on Kief. The revolution was crushed. One hundred and twenty-one of the ringleaders, the elite of all that was civilized and truly noble in Russia," were tried and found guilty; five suffered on the scaffold. "I knew before hand," said their poet-leader, Rileef, that this enterprise would be my ruin, but I could no longer bear to see my country under the yoke of despotism. The seed which I have sown will spring up ere long and bring forth fruit."
Nicholas knew well that in the night no seed could bear fruit. This modern Joshua, who called himself the guardian of the moral order established by God, wished to stay the rising of the sun, and for thirty years his arms were held up by the censorship and the Secret Police. For thirty years the "Crowned Sergeant," the "Jailor of Russia," set his iron will against the growth of liberty, the spread of knowledge, the progress of the race. The universities were the hotbeds of revolution: they must be cut down and replaced by military schools. Philosophy was the mother of radicalism: the professors must teach only the Scriptures. Europe was the home of liberal ideas: the doors of the Empire were closed to travellers. It was declared that every writer was a bear and ought to be kept in chains: the press was therefore gagged; few books could come from abroad, all originality was quenched. It was indeed "a regime of silence, isolation, and ignorance." Corruption was rampant; Nicholas declared that he was the only honest man in Russia. It was impossible to get justice; two million eight hundred and fifty thousand lawsuits were waiting trial; the fifteen thousand folio pages of the Code were made so much waste-paper by the first statement that the Emperor was above all law. It was wittily said that the only article in the Russian constitution was the whip. "Life was very painful at this time," says Turgenief; "the young people of to-day have to go through no such experience."
THE RETREAT FROM MOSCOW
The first military exploit under the new Emperor was against Persia. The Shah declared war and sent his son to take Tiflis. Paskievitch, with only ten thousand men, defeated Abbas Mirza, who had forty-four thousand. He then crossed the Araxes, took Erivan by assault, entered Tauris, and began to march against the capital. The Shah, in alarm, ceded the province of Erivan as far as the Araxes and paid a tribute of twenty million rubles.
The Greek war of independence broke out. Nicholas united with England and France to bring about peace. The three allied squadrons destroyed the Turkish fleet in the harbor of Navarino. The French expelled the Turks from the Morea. The Russians, who had the grievances of the Greek Church to avenge, crossed the Danube and took Varna and Brailof. In Asia Paskievitch carried the ancient town of Kars. England and Austria became uneasy, but as Russia had the support of France Nicholas was free for further conquest. In the next campaign Paskievitch captured Erzerum, capital of Turkish Armenia. The Russians, under General Dibitch, crossed the Balkans and entered Adrianople. The Sultan was obliged to yield. Greece was declared independent; Russia took the islands of the Danube delta and several important districts in Asia and a tribute of twenty-four million dollars. Russian commerce was given free access to the Bosphorus and the Dardanelles. The enemy of liberty gave liberty to Greece; he was none the less shocked by the "July revolution" in Paris which caused the fall of Charles X., and by the Belgian and Italian revolutions which followed in quick succession. The young patriots of Poland were greatly excited by these momentous changes. The secret societies, the Templars and the Patriotic Club, resolved to act. Constantine in Warsaw was informed of the plot, but he affected to believe that it was merely an agitation among "lawyers without clients, physicians without patients, and young officers unwilling to hold lower positions."