The Sun.
London, England, 1855-03-06 00:00:00

THE LATE MIIPEROR ITZCHOLA Q.

(From Gali plane.? M (Men ga 14. )
After a short introduction relative to the birth,
marriage, and family of tht Czar, the Con,stitv,
tioimel proceeds as follows :
" The youth of the Emperor Nicholas, whose educa.
tion was directed by the widow of Paul I. was devoted
to the most varied studies. General Lamsdorf instructed
him in the military art, Councillor Adelung inspired him.
with a taste fur literature, and Professor Storck taught
; him political economy. From his earliest youth, he was
passionately fond of music, and even composed several
military marches ; and he affected a great love for
the arts, and did so with an ostentation which indi-
cated more. of political . calculation than true sym-
pathy for artists. He was especially devoted to the
theatre, which, during his whole reign, he encouraged
with, at times, excessive prodigality.- 'ln acting thins ,
he, however, gratified his pencllan gess than his pride..
He wished to set himself up as a Louis XIV. not only
for Russia, but for the whole of Europe, and 'particn
larly for France. There, as everywhere else, he played
a part dictated by his vanity. And, in fact, one of the
distinctive traits of the character of the Emperor Ni-
cholas-was that habit, which he had contracted at an
early age, and which developed itself in an excessive
manner when he ascended the throne of the Czars, to
appear always like an actor on the stage before the
public, whose attention and favour be wishes to attract
and obtain ; his abruptness and his familiarities. were
not natural ; everything in his conduct was calcu-
lated for the effect which he wished to produce; and
even in the slightest details of his character of sovereign, it might be perceiver! that he was acting a part. Like-
.
wie, if he accomplished useful reforms in Russian laws
and a'lministration, he also suppressed liberty of thought
too violently for him to be considered as a true friend
of the arts and literature. A sanguinary drama in.
augurated his reign. On the very day fixed for ithe
army taking the path, Nicholas found himself in face
of a revolted regiment, seconded by a popular move.
ment, and his first triumph was gained over his people
and his army. From that time he governed his
vast States with a despotism which frequently de-
genK-ated into tyranny, and he ruled over men's minds
less by the prestige of his authority than by the terror of
his police. The reign of the Emperor Nicholas was for
a long time a series of prosperities and victories, and
everything smiled on the pride as on the ambition of the
son:of Paul I.' . •
The Constitutionge2 here enumerates the most promi-
nent of these advantages, showing how the late Emperor
successively obtained a large increase of territory from ,
Persia' and -from 'Turkey .- how the treaty`of Unkiar.
Skelessi, in 1833, enabled him.. to, _ I.c :ion para.
mount over the Black Sea; and how his protect*.
rate of Moldavia and Wallachia, obtained. the year
after, opened to him the road to Constantinople,
at any moment that he might choose to direct
his armies towards th© Turkish capital. The
Constitationnel, after arguing that the immense influence
which the Czar had thus obtained in Turkey seemed to
promise him an easy conquest of Constantinople—the
golden prize which the descendants of Peter the Great
always kept steadily in view—continues thus :

" Inclined by nature to despotiTniTjeidouf; to excess-
of his power, whiph he did not share with any, minister
or any favourite in the government of his emince ; of a
lofty stature and imposing figure which coinmaia.:led re-
spect ; Emperor and Pontiff at the same time fak- hie
people, who bowed before his will as before the wit,' of
God, be held an immense ascendancy over foreign eabi.-
nets, after the revolutions of 1830 and of 1848. These two
revolutions made him the living personification of that
principle of authority in the whole of Europe. Thai
situation pleased his mind, which was but too muchk
disposed to vanity, and too much inclined to domina-
tion. He had so accustomed himself to it that by per-
forming the part of the Providence of monarchies, he atr
length felt like an actor who, from the long repetition off
a character, actually identifies himself with the per,
sonage whom he represent-. It is that whichf in, these)
latter times, caused the misfortunes of the ffuipenoir
Nicholas. After baying been for many long yettrethe)
counsellor religiously listened to abroad by all tbei
monarchies, as he was at home' the director of every,
mind, be could not comprehend that the state of things
had changed, from the accession of a Napoleon to the'
throne, and to the re-establishment of the Empire in
France. He still thought himself the sole arbiter of the
destinies of Europe. He no more supposed the possibi—
lity of any defection on the part of his allies than of
revolt amongst his own subjects. He rashly entered on
a course where he no longer met with anything but
unlooked-for obstacles, and where at every step he met
with impediments whieh be never suspected. The suc-
cessive and multiplied checks given to his policy in
the east must have produced a very strong impres,
sion on the mind of Nicholas I. After a long reign
of prosperity, it is difficult to support with impu-
nity two years of reverses, which are the fatal conse-
quences of two years of faults; and it is not without
pain that in the decline of his career, he beheld vanishing
away with the reputation of intelligence and reason
which he hid justly acquired during the whole course of
a happy existence the supreme influence which he had
accustomed himself to exercise over the general affairs of
the world. The son of Paul I. lived too long for his
glory, fir he has died, deprived of the rank which he had
acquired in the opinion of Europe ; he expired in the
midst of.- the ruin of all his hopes, bequeathing to his
successor a state of things in which it is as difficnit to
conclude peace as to carry on war, and which can only
be uuravelled to the detriment (5f the prestige of the Czars
and of the power of the Russians:;"