During the Decembrist riots of 1825 the count, held hitherto in Moscow under arrest as suspect but not as insane, refused the oath of allegiance to tsar Nicholas I. From that point onwards cruel "cures" were applied, aimed at either making him relent or to drive him insane. A relative and one of his last trustees, N.A. Dmitriev-Mamonov, reports, that "for the first time he was treated harshly and cruelly, proof of which are the straight jackets and strappings which I found thirty years ago with which he was tied to his bed", whereas P. Kischeyev states, that "the treatment began by pouring cold water over his head which of course drove the count raving mad".