The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1826-01-14 00:00:00

SUCCESSION TO THE RUSSIAN THRONE.

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MANIFESTO OF TILE EMPEROR NICHOLAS I.

IMPERIAL CORIALSPONDENCK, he. he.

The Imperial Russian Field Yager, Ensign Wimmcy,
who arrived at Berlin on the 4th instant from St. Peters-
burgh, brought with him the following important in-

riTIMIBUROII,

•' Whereas his Imperial Highness the Grand Duke
Constantine having declared that he will resolutely adhere
to his former abdication of the Imperial Crown, the Grand
Puke Nicholas has, to-day, ascended the Throne of the
Russian Empire, and all the proper Authorities, and the
itifferent divisions of the Army, have taken the Oath of
Fidelity to his Imperial Majesty. In reference to this
important event, the following imperial Manifesto has
appeared

MANIFESTO.
" By the Grace of God, Nicholas 1., Emperor and
Autocrat of all the Ressias—
" In the grief of our heart, amidst the general pain
which oppresses us, our Imperial house, and our Beloved
Cauntry, we can only bend before the impenetrable de-
:revs of the Almighty, and we can only seek for strength
and consolation with him. It has pleased him to call
before him the Emperor Alexander I. of glorious memory,
and we all have lost a Father, a Ruler, who, during VS
I,ears, vas she happiness of Russia and of us.
" When, on the 27th November, the information of this
disastrous event reached us, we hastened, even in the tiro-
rnent of the moat acute grief, to fulfil a sacred duty, and,
listeuing only to the dictates of our hearts, we rendered
the Oath of Fidelity to our elder Brother, the Cesarowitch
4 irand Duke Constantine, as legitimate lleir to the Russian
Throne, in virtue of primogeniture.
" Scarcely had we discharged this sacred duty when
we were apprised by the Senate that there had been de-
poeited in their hands, on the 13th of October, DM, a
letter, with the seal of the deceased Emperor, and with the
superscription in the own hand writing of his Imperial
Majesty :—" To he preserved by the Senate until my
reedier commands; in case of my death, however, this
paeket is to he opened, in an Extraordinary Sitting, before
any other act is proceeded in:" that this tuost gracious
command had been complied with, and that the following
etxuments were contained in the packet:—
" 1. A letter of the Cesarowitch Grand Duke Constan-
tine, dated 14th January, Dal, addressed to his Majesty
the deceased Emperor, by virtue of which his Imperial
highness renounces the succession to the throne, belonging
to him by pritnoreeniture.
"V. A manifesto, dated Aug. 16, 1823, bearing the
autograph signature of his Imperial Majesty, whereby his
Majesty, after the ratification of the Deed of Abdication of
the Cesarowitch Grand Duke Constantine, establishes that
we, the next in age, are Heir to the Crown, according to
t!‘e fundamental laws of the Empire.
" We were further informed that documents of the same
tenor had been deposited with the Directing Senate, with
the Holy Synod, and in the Cathedral Church of the As-
cension at Moscow.
" These informations could not alter our resolution once
taken. We observed in these documents only a renuncia-
tion of his Imperial highness during the life of the Em-
peror, and confirmed by the consent of his Imperial Ma-
jesty; but we hail neither the wish, nor the right, to
consider this abdication, which when it took place was not
tazoclaimed publicly, and had not received the power of a
law, as irrevocable. We would manifest by this our
veneration of the first fundamental law of our country,
and of the unalterable order of succession, and faithful to
the oath we had taken, we insisted that the whole Empire
ehoald follow our example.
" Under these momentous circumstances it was not our
intention to dispute the validity of the Resolution pro-
trounced by his Imperial High:less, much less was it our
intention to bring ourselves in opposition to the will of the
deceased Emperor, our common father and benefactor,
which will always remain sacred to us. We endeavoured
aolely to protect the law, regulating the succession to the
throne froovevery infringement, to show the purity of our
sentiments, and not to leave our beloved country one single
tnoment in uncertainty respecting its legitimate Sovereign.
" This resolution, taken with a pure conscience, and be-
fore God the Almighty, was blessed and approved by her
Majesty the Empress Maria, our much beloved Mother.
• " Meanwhile, the mournful account of the decease of
his Majesty had reached Warsaw, direct from Taganrog,
on the with November, and consequently two days prior
to its being received here. Firm in his resolution, the Ce-
serowitch grand Duke Constantine confirmed the same on
tire fellowine clay, by two Acts, dated 26th November, and
commissioned to our beloved brother, the Grand Duke
blichael, to carry them to us. These Acts consisted in—
" 1. A letter to her Majesty the Empress our much he-
loved Mother, in which his Imperial Highness renews his
former resolution, supports it by the copy of a rescript of
the deceased Emperor, dated the 2,1 February, 1822, and
serving as an answer to the Act of Abdication, and finally
renounces solemnly all his claims to the throne, and recog-
nised the same as transferred to us and our successors, se-
cording to the appointments contained in the fundamental
law of the succession.
" 4. A letter directed to us, wherein his Imperial High.
new anew, declares his former resolution, gives us the title
ref Imperial 'Majesty, and reserves for himself only the
firmer one of Cesarowitch, and calls himself the most
faithful of our subjects.
" However decisive these acts were, and although they
proved to ocular demonstration that the Resointion of his
Imperial Highness was irrevocably fixed, yet our own
sentiments, and the situation of affairs, induced us so defer
the publication of the aforesaid Acts, until the will of his
bowled II ighness with reference to the oath taken by us
and the whole empire should be declared.
" Whereas we invitee now also received on the part of
his Imperial Highness this last declaration of his will, we
communicate the same to our subjects, accompanying it by
. the following docuint nts:—
" 1. The.le der of his Imperial Highness the tlesarowitch
Grand Duke Constantine to the deceased Einpetor Alex-
ander.
" 2. The answer of his Imperial Majesty.
" 3. The manifesto of the deceased Emperor, which
confirms the abdication of his Imperial Highness, and re-

cognises u 4 auccessor to the throne.
" 4. Tho letter of his Imperial Highness to her Ma-
jesty the Empress, our much beloved mother.
• 11. The letter of his Imperial Highness directed to us.
'• in conformity with all these documents, and with the
fundamental law of Or., Em',ire regarding the order of sac-
C.arsion, full of veneration for the impenetrable decrees of a
guiding Provitlence—we now ascend the throne of our an-
cestors, the tlit.me of the Empire of all the Rosales, as
yell as the thrones inseparable therefrom—tint of the
kingdom of Poland, and the Grand Duchy of Finland,
and command,
" I. That the oath of allegiance be rendered to us and
to the heir of our throne, his Imperial Highness thc Grand
'Duke Alexander, our much beloved son.
" I. That the period of our ascension to the throne be
caleulated from the 19th November: 1525.
" Finally, we call upon all onr faithful subjects to join
us in fervent prayers to the Almighty, that he will grant
Oa strength to hear the burden he has, in his Divine Pro-
Cadence, laid upou us, that he may preserve in us the firm
tesolation to live solely for our bdoved country, and to
tread in the footsteps of the Nlonsteh whom we now dc-
P" our reign he nothing but a continuation of his,
sad may we fulfil all the wishes for Russia's happiness,
which animated him, whose sacred memory shall preserve
lo us the endeavour and the'hope to merit the blessing of
Hearn, and the love of our people.
" Mae in our Imperial Residence, St. Petersborgh,,
Hith Deoemher, in the year of Salvation, IntS,
First of our Reign.
(Signed)

"NICHOLAS."

FIRST SUPPLEMENT.
LIITTSIL OW MIS ISITILSIAL HICHINTSS TOT CESSROWITCM
AAAAA DOME COMSTAITISZ TO THZ surssos ALES-
ANDZII ?HZ runs.
" Moat liluatriooa. &e. &C.—Encourage] by the ma-
a ifold proofs of diction of your Imperial Majesty to-
uts* oto, I "atom ow soon to claim them, and to