The Sun.
London, England, 1854-07-10 00:00:00

LONDON, MONDAY EVENING, JULY 10, 1854.

No, 19,278.1

PUBLICATIONS.

ESTABLISHED 1837.
BRITANNIA LIFE ASSURANCE COM-
Empowered bySpecial Act of Parliament, 4 Vie., Cap. 9.

THE MAIL STEAM-SHIP for AUSTRALIA,
August 4, 1854.—The magnificent screw steam•ship "CAL-
CUTTA," 1,800 tons, Captain J. GOODALL, another of the fine fleet
belonging to the General Screw Steam Shipping Company, will be
despatched with her Majesty's Malls for Adelaide, Port-Philip, and
Sydney, on the 4th August next. This floe vessel has maintained
her high reputation for rapid stifling anti punctuality, and is a sister
chip to the " Argo." which has made the quickest vuyage to and from
Australia up to this time. The Calcutta has been employed carrying
the Mails to and from England and Calcutta, and from her superior
sailing and steaming qualities, it may be fairly assumed that she will
make the run in 60 days. Rates of Passage from 30 to 100 guineas.
She will be followed, on the 4th of October, by the Minus, of 2,500
tors. Full particulars as to Freight and Passage Money at the Com-
pany's Officer, t 7 Cannon-street, City.

NEW STORY BY THE AUTHOR OF MARGARET MAITLAND.
Now ready at all the Libraries, in 3 vols.,
AGDALEN HEPBURN;
By the author of " Margaret Maitland," &c.
"An admirably conceived and well executed tale."—John Bull.
" We think this one of the most brilliant and successful efforts that
the author has yet achieved."—Messenger.
Hurst and Blackett, Publishers, successors to Henry Colburn, 13,
Great Mariborough•street,

BRITANNIA MUTUAL LIFE ASSOCIATION,
Empowered by Her Majesty's Royal Letters Patent.
COLONEL ROBERT ALEXANDER, Blackheath-park, Chairman.
Every description of Life Assurance business transacted, with or
without Participation in Profits.
E. R. FOSTER, Resident Director.
ANDREW FRANCIS, Secretary.
1, Princes-street, Bank, London.

THE LANCET.—No. I. of a .New Volume
was published on Saturday last, July Bth.—Subscription for
the voltuna, trnstamped, 155., Stamped, 17s. 4d.—Orders received by
all Booksellers and Newsvendors.
London : Published at the Lancet Office, 423, Strand.

TiATIONAL LOAN FUND LIFE ASSUR-
ANCE SOCIETY, No. 26, Coruhill, London.
Established in 1838.
DIRECTORS.
A. Campbell Barclay, Esq. I John Moss, Esq.
Charles Bennett, Esq. Thomas Nicoll, Esq.
Hugh Croft, Esq. E. S. Symes, M D.
John Elliotson, Ar.D., F.R.S. J. Leander Starr, Esq.
Thos. Colley Grattan, Esq. Clement Tabor, Esq.
Joseph Thompson, Esq.
MANAGING DIRECTORS.
J. Leander Starr, Esq. (General). I Chas. Bennett, Esq. (Financial).

MR. MEOHI'S DRESSING BAGS, of an
entirely novel construction, as Exhibited and Sold at the
Crystal Palace, combine all the advantages of an ordinary desk and
dressing case, with numerous ether conveniences for apparel, and
are varied in cost to suit the economic, the utilitarian, or the luxuri-
ous ; either for ladles or gentlemen.
4, Leadcnhall-street, June 20.

ROYAL POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTION.
PAntott—H.R.H. PRINCE ALBERT.
Mr. PEPPER begs to announce that the CONVERSAZIONE
inaugurating the New Management will take place on THURSDAY
evening, the 13th Inst., at 9 o'clock. JOHN WALTER, Es 3., M.P.,
will kindly deliver the Opening Address ; and, in addition to various•
Novelties, Mons. DUBOSCQ will come specially from Paris to
exhibit his BEAUTIFUL EXPERIMENTS in OPTICS with the
Electric Light.

AUDITORS.
Professor Wheatstone, F.R.S., and Professor John Radford Young.

MEDICAL EXAMINERS.
J. Elliotson, M.D., F.R.S., 37, Conduit-street.
E. S. Symes, M.D., 33, Davies-street, Berkeley-square.
ACTUARY.
W. S. B. Woolhouse, Esq , F.R.A.S., F.S.S.,
ASSISTANT ACTUARY.
Barker Woolhouse, Esq.
BANKERS. •
Messrs. Glyn, Mills, and Co., 56, Lombard-street.
SOLICITOR.
C. Ewens, Esq., 61, Moorgate-street.
Total number of Policies granted from December, 1852, to
December, 1853-1,194.
Under the following heads are briefly enumerated the leading
principles of this Society : -
OBJECTS OF THE SOCIETY.
1. A Life Assurance may be effected either by One Payment, or
by an Annual Premium.
2. Policies may be effected WITH or without the privilege of
withdrawing one-half of the Annual Payments. If with-
out this privilege, the rates are lower.
3. A Life Assurance may be effected on the life of another, on
Joint Lives or Survivorships.
• 4. Annuities, Immediate, Deferred, or Contingent, will be
granted ; also Endowments for Children.
5. Naval and Military Men, not in active foreign service, as-
sure I without extra charge, and allowed to go abroad with-
out forfeiture of Policy, on payment of an extra Premium,
according to climate.
In the event of the Assured (when on the Withdrawal System)
not requiring to continue the Policy, on its surrender. one-half the
annual payments will be returned by way of purchase Of his interest
therein. By this means, apprehension of great pecuniary loss and
doubt as to -the intrinsic transferable value 'of each Policy is re-
moved, its cash value being fixed and determined beforehand by the
Society at one-half the annual premiums paid thereon : a vast class
of society will thereby be admitted; and every individual, while
steadily pursuing one object—a provision for his family at death—
will have, by the plan of this Society, a door open to his savings,
which will never be closed against his wants or his use.
Prospectuses, Report of last Annual Meeting, Forms of Proposals
for Assurance, and every description of necessary Blank Forms, with
Tables of Rates, and full information on all points, furnished, on ap-
plication at 26, Cornhill, or at any of the Company's Agencies.

(From. the lkorning Post.)

ROYAL POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTION.
309, Regent•street.

Under the Patronage of H.R.H. PRINCE ALBERT.
AN ENTIRE CHANGE in the MAN4GEMENT of this Institu-
tion having taken place, the Resident Director, Mr. J. H. Pepper,
begs leave to inform the public that the Exhibition will be CLOSED
from the 7th inst., until MONDAY, the 17th, when it will RE-OPEN
with very material Alterations and Improvements in a'l its depart-
ments.
Models of Machinery and Works of Art for Exhibition may be
sent in any day, between Eleven and Five o'clock.
July, 1854.

LAURENT'S CASINO, ARGYLE Rooms,
(Lessee, Cass. C. LAURENT, Onslow-house, Fulham-road),
The above Rooms are now OPEN FOR THE SEASON.
and will continue open every evening, with LAURENT'S
CELEBRATED BAND. Constantinople Quadrille, Sultan Polka,
Fair Star Waltz, and Overland Mail Galop, by D'Albert; also, by H.
Laurent , the following Waltzes - La belle Francais°, Leonora, Villi-
kins and his Dinah, Admission, Is. Doors open at half-past 8.
Dancing to commence at 9 o'clock, and terminate at half-past 11.

CREMORNE. --Admission, One Shilling.—
This Day the Programme will present the Most Popular
Entertainment of the Season, consisting of a Grand Concert by
Bosisio's admired Band. Vocal Performers, Mr. Debrenoer, Miss
Storace, and the matchless Sam Cowell. The French and American
Circus Company will exhibit their intrepid performances. Princi-
pal Equestrians, Madlle Melillo, Mons. Verdier, Mons. Klair, the
American Wonder, find the Great Little Wheale. Magnificent Ballet
of the BRIDAL MORN, by Milano —Marriott's Working Bees—De-
sarias's Dogs and Monkeys—Professor Taylor and the Double sighted
Youth—Battle of Trafalgar—Terrific Rope Ascent—Dancing on the
Illuminated Platform. A Magnificent Display of Pyrotechnics, by
Mortram. Doors open at 3 o'clock. Conveyance from all parts
of the Metropolis direct to Cremorne.

A.D. 1720.
R
OYAL EXCHANGE ASSURANCE
CORPORATION,
(Established by Charter of his Majesty George the First),
For SEA, FIRE, LIFE, and ANNUITIES.
OFFICES—ROYAL EXCHANGE, LONDON.
BRANCH OFFICE-29, PALL-MALL.
Octavius Wigram, Esq., Governor.
The Hon. .T. T. Leslie Melville, Sub-Governor.
George Pearkes Barclay, • Esq., Deputy-Governor.

THE BEST HATS in EUROPE.—
JOHN BOWLER and SON having had several complaints
from their customers (both town and country) that a party who
is known to deal with them has been advertising The Best Hats
in London, 13s.—they are compelled, to save their Trade, to adopt
this method of informing the public and the trade in general, that
the Hats, Jno. Perring of Cecil House, Strand, and 251, Regent-
street, advertised as The Rest Hats in London, 135., are only
their Fourth Quality of Goods ; and at the same time to announce
that Hats of their manufacture are sold only at present in London,
west of Temple-bar, by Mr. John Hall, Regent-circus, Oxford-
Ftreet ; Mr. W. S. Young, 344, Oxford-street; and B. J. Hutson,
99, Regent-street.

DIRECTORS.
Henry Bainbridge, Esq. Charles John Manning, Esq.
Edmond S. P. Calvert, Esq. Henry Nelson, Esq.
John Garrett Cattley, Esq. Edward Howley Palmer, Esq.
Alexander Colvin, Esq. Sir John Henry Pelly, Bart.
Edward Maxwell Daniell, Esq. Abraham George Roberts, Esq.
William Davidson, Esq. Charles Robinson, Esq.
Riversdale Wm. Grenfell, Esq. Thomas Smith, Esq.
Robert ilanbury, j an., Esq. William Soltau, Esq.
Robert Amadeus Heath, Esq. Joseph Somes, Esq.
William•Tetlow Hibbert, Esq. Thomas Tooke, Esq.
Lancelot Holland, Esq. William Wallace, Esq.
Sir John Wm. Lubbock, Bart. Charles Baring Young, Esq.
MEDICAL REFEREE—SamueI Solly, Esq., F.R.S.
Notice.—The usual fifteen days allowed for payment of Fire Pre-
miums falling due at Midsummer will expire on the 9th of July.
FIRE an.l LIFE ASSURANCES may be effected with this Cor-
poration on advantageous terms.
The Assured are exempt fi•om the liabilities of partnership, and
payment of their claims is guaranteed by a large invested capital-
stock.
In the Life Department, assurances are granted with participation
in profits, or, at lower rremiums, without such participation.
The Reversionary BONUS on Participating Life Policies has
averaged 2 per Cent. per annum on the sum assured, or 46 per cent .
on the Premiums paid.
Any sam not exceeling 10,0001. may be assured en one Life
The Corporation bears the cost of Policy Stamps and Medical Fees,
and requires no entrance-money. The Assured are subject to no
expense but the Premium. No extra charge is made for service in the
militia.
LOANS are granted ou Life Policies to their full values.
This Corporation affords all the advantages of modern practice,
with the stability of an office safely constituted under Royal Charter
and Special Acts of Parliament, and tested by the experience of
nearly a century and a half. There is but one older life office In
existence.

IP ARMING STOCK.
The Corporation having determined on a reduction of " One Shil-
ling per Cent." in the rate of Premium for the Insurance of Farm-
ing Stock and Utensils in England and Wales, the Company's agents
have been fully instructed upon the subject, and are authorised to
accept Insurances on that class of property accordingly.
ROYAL EXCHANGE, LONDON.
JOHN A. HIGUAiI, Actuary and Secretary.

THE CZAR'S BIBTUDAY.

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and the same union can alone convert that appear-
ance into reality. With Austria and Germany
on our side we may hope to bring the war to a satis-
factory termination in less time than has been com-
monly supposed, especially if the accounts we re-
ceive of the growing sufferings and disaffection
within the Russian empire can be relied on. • But
without the co-operation of Austria the occupation
of Wallachia and Moldavia to the frontiers at Tran-
sylvania and Gallicia might devolve upon the allied
armies—a circumstance which must protract the
war, and would be productive of infinite em-
barrassment to all parties. The occupation of the
Principalities by Austria is, we are satisfied, the
safest and most convenient course, for, while it
will restore those provinces to their legal adminis-
tration and preserve them from invasion, it leaves
the Anglo-French armies at liberty to prosecute an
enterprise more worthy of their arms, and to ob-
tain by the destruction of Sebastopol the first grand
condition for the restoration of peace. That peace
is to be sought for by the success of our arms,
not by any negotiations that can now be attempted
in Europe.

The long-deferred answer of the Czar to the Nor-
thern Courts has at length been delivered by Prince
Gortschakoff to the Emperor Francis Joseph. The
following, we have good reason to believe, are the
plain facts with respect to this important commu-
nication, divested of the errors and mis-statements
with which the subject has been crowded :—The
Russian Envoy arrived at Vienna on Thursday the
6th, at which date the Emperor was absent from
the city. The answer was forwarded on the follow-
ing day to his Imperial Majesty, but previously to
its despatch a copy appears to have been shown by
Count Buol Schauenstein to the British Minister ;
and from Lord Westmoreland we do not doubt that
such an outline of its contents as the telegraph is
capable of supplying will have been forwarded to
our Foreign-office. From that source alone must
we look for a trustworthy version of the conditions
and proposals of which fore-shadowings, so various
and so contradictory, have been made public. Por-
tions and instalments of the truth no doubt are con-
tained in the accounts circulated through the leading
channels of public intelligence; but they must be re-
ceived, to say the least, with much caution. The
point of the greatest importance, however, lies not in
the mere terms of the answer, but in its result and
effect. On the return of the Emperor Francis
Joseph to Vienna, Prince Gortschakoff was ad-
mitted to a special audience, after which, a courier
was despatched direct to St. Petersburg, the Prince
remaining at the Austrian Court. The obvious in-
ference from these facts is, that some fresh commu-
nication is now pending between the Courts of
Vienna and St. Petersburg, thus lengthening out
by another link the chain of negotiation which it
was supposed that the promised ultimatum would
have snapped. Such a fact will, no doubt, be
viewed in this country with the deep interest—nay,
with the anxiety, 'A' hich is warranted by the position.
of Austria, and by the conflicting and weighty in-
fluences between which she is placed. In Vienna,
we learn that the effect on public opinion of the
immediate sequel of Prince Gortschakoff's interview
with the Emperor was a rise in the funds, under
the impression, no doubt, that, in lieu of decisive
action being commenced, negotiations may be re-
sumed, with a chance of patching up once more
the alliance so rudely shaken between the Northern
Courts and that of St. Petersburg. Both in Ger-
many and in England it is probable that a some-
what higher importance will be given to the hesita-
tion of the Austrian Emperor than the matter de-
serves. It is impossible to be surprised that the
desperate tenacity with which the Czar clings to his
last hope of breaking up an irresistible combination,
and defying a fatal sentence, should have met with
such a shadow of success as consists in a slight re-
prieve. But it does not follow that Austria should
be blinded to her own interests or warped from her
good faith because, in accordance with her course of
policy throughout, she has determined on exhaust-
ing every stage of the dispute diplomatically before
taking it up with an armed hand. Much may have
been represented by the Ow-, through his envoy,
which may have induced the young Emperor to
ask for further explanation or to make additional
statements, but nothing short of an absolute
surrender of Russian pretensions can effect the
paramount considerations which the Cabinet of
Vienna has repeatedlY ..aainitted—a;§ binding it to
pursue the same objects as the Western Powers.
From those objects Austrian statesmen have given
every earnest that they will not swerve or turn
aside. Ultimately, they must not only aim at the
same end, but adopt the same means with the allies.
That they are not eager to step at once from discus-
sion to war we believe may be accounted for on
more grounds than one. The Austrian army, so
rapidly levied on the eastern frontier, is far from
being in a state for immediate action. The same
may be said of our own forces, which still await
their complement of cavalry and artillery at Varna.
An additional step in a negotiation may be disap-
pointing or useless, but so long as it does not divert
the course of a declared and recognised policy,
it will not Change the catastrophe, or have any
effect more serious than a negative one. Afar greater
danger would bo the mistake of taking the field in-
sufficiently prepared. One fact with regard to the
proposals of the Czar we hold to be decisive of
their inevitable fate, and of their effect on the Go-
vernments of the Allied Powers. The Emperor
Nicholas, in answer to the demand of Austria, that
his armies should quit the Ottoman tefritory, con-
sents to do so on the evacution of Turkey by the
forces of the Allied Powers ; but insists on holding
Isis military position by a continued occupation of
Moldavia. To such a condition there is but one
answer possible to the Western Powers. Their
army will no doubt leave-its present post, and quit
the Turkish soil at no very distant date ; but it
will be for the sake of changing the scene to a point
where a heavier blow will be struck than Russia,
shaken as she is, has yet had to encounter.

A ROYAL "FESTIVAL" IN ST. PETERSBURG,

The birthday of the Czar is just over ; and surety it
must have been the most anxious and dismal of his birth-
days—grave as the vicissitudes of his life have been.
He was born on the 6th of July (new style), 179 G, and
already, while only 58, he is worn, broken—older in
constitution and appearance than most men who have
lived ten or fifteen years longer. His most eager ene-
mies cannot look on such a spectacle as the decline of
this man and his fortunes without a sort of grief in the
midst of their satisfaction and thanksgiving—grief that
powers so considerable, and a morale that once had
much that was fine in it, should have carried a man into
a mission no higher than one of warning, after he and
many others had believed it would he one of retrieval
and amelioration.
There is no need to say that he was unhappy in his
descent. The grandson of Catherine and the son of
Paul claims our pity at the outset. The mischief was,
however, simply constitutional, for he was too young at
the death of both to suffer by their example. He was
four months old when the Empress died ; and under five
years when his wretched father came to his- untimely
end. He was, therefore, exempt from the horrible im-
putation which rested on his elder brothers—that they
knew what was doing on the night of Paul's murder,
and consented to it as the only means of saving their
own liberty and even life. Alexander was then four-
and-twenty ; but the child Nicholas, then a spirited and
clever boy of four-and-a-half, was one of the last who
received a loving word and kiss from his doomed father.
OA that fatal evening, Paul was in one of his amiable
moods ; and he wont to the Empress—that ingenuous
German girl who found the greatness which had at first
astonished her a miserable change from the freer and
more modest life in her father's castle. Her husband
went to her drawing-room that evening ; spoke affec-
tionately to her, and took the baby into his arms,
and played with the little Nicholas. His mother did
the best she could for the boy, in the way of education.
General Laudor, superintended it ; Adelung taught
him languages, and Councillor Stork instructed him in
political economy—to no great purpose, judging by the
results. He was more inclined to military studies than
any other ; and was almost as fond of fortification as
Uncle Toby himself. He was fond of music to
a o ; and
united the two tastes by composing military
d
ue
Though his constitutional industry manifesti?ss itd'srelfroin
the pursuit of such studies as he liked,he ! fn
e educational process, ignorant—really ignorant or
to the
what it became—not only a Prince, but a gentletnan
know : and not a few of the wisest men in Epe at-
tribute; his fatal errors and misfortunes to hiso cause,

above all others.
During his youth be was extremely unpopular. His
irascibility was so great that no one cared to approach
him unnecessarily. His manners were excessively rude;
and the contrast was daily pointed out, by those who
dared speak to each other between bun and the affable
Alexander. When he was 20 he came to England, after
the peace. He was then a tall youth, said at the time
to be a stern likeness of his brother the Czar. On his
return he explored his own country, and lived for some
time in each of the chief provincial cities. It was then
that he became interested in the condition of the lower
orders of the people ; and it is probably at that time that
he conceived the idea of emancipating the serfs, after an
interval of ameliorated condition. This was his bro-
ther's aim ; and there are some enlightened Russians
who believe that Alexander died broken-hearted on ac-
count of the " ingratitude" with which his efforts for

"~~

[PRICE SD.

his people's welfare were repaid. The words " ingrati-
tude ' and "repayment" are commonly used on such
occasions ; but in this case, we imagine, the hostility
was on the part of one class on account of the indulgence

shown to another. It did not, and it never will suit the
nobles (in their own judgment) to have their serfs eman-
cipated ; and a somewhat recent instance of the calami-
ties which may ensue on giving anything like hope of
freedom and progress to any of the Czar's largest class of
subjects, seems to explain one of the marked changes in
the character or Nicholas: Seeing, as he did, that every
_ _

hope held out by Alexander led Co violence among the
serf population— that when once assured that they were
regarded and pitied, they began to cut their masters to
pieces, or flay them alive—he gave up the idea of re-
generating the policy of the empire ; and his course as
Emperor shows that it suits him better to make himself

a type of Russian empire, and the fulfiller of the law of
his predecessors than the mediator of Alexander, in trying
to make something very fine out of a mixture of the milk
and honey of the Gospel with the gall and brimstone of Mus-
covite nomination. Alexander had, however, something
more to trouble him than the failure of his benevolent
schemes. In the year 1817, when Nicholas was marry-
ing the Prussian princess who is now nursing him in his
premature old age, a secret society was formed in
Russia which left not an hour's peace to Alexander for
the rest of his life. For nine years he lived in the
knowledge that a great conspiracy existed, the object of
which was to form a federal union of Sclavonic re-
publics, extending from the North Sea to the Adriatic—
that object of course including the deposition of the
Romanoff family. No means, either of fraud or
.force
were of any use in putting down this conspiracy; and
for nine years did Alexander walk about with this fear-
ful ghost at his heels, never knowing when the moment
would come for him to feel its -grasp. This society in-
tended to reform the political condition of Russia alto-
gether, and to reinstate Poland. The conspiracy was a
direct consequence of the war ; and it is astonishing
that Nicholas, who must know this very well, has not
deferred to the last possible moment the sending his
armies forth in European warfare. He knows very well
that the first secret society, the Alliance of the Sons of
the Fatherland, was conceived of and formed by young
officers who had picked up ideas of a better government
than the Russian in foreign countries, and yet he
offered to send his forces into Hungary on behalf of
Austria, and finds that the same thing happens again ;
that the officers and even the common soldiers have re-
turned without some notions in their heads which make
his intervention in Hungary more a loss to him than a
gain.
The military men who returned home after the peace
inoculated the young nobility, and the disaffection
spread through the whole class. It is an old story. The
despotic monarch and unenfranchised people are one
party, and the aristocracy another, and the two are in
constant antagonism in all despositions. It is the na-
tural operation of this necessity which explains every
Russian problem, past and present, and will explain
every future one, as long as despotism exists there. The
singularity and fatality of the Russian case lies in the
extreme depression, brutalisation, and helplessness of the
popular class. This peculiarity seems to point to a
most disastrous issue ; and nothing, in all the wayward
conduct of the present Czar so justifies the suspicion of his
insanity as his precipitating so unnecessarily the catas-
trophe which sooner or later must come. It must be
remembered, however, that he is ignorant. He has no
philosophical insight into the principles of interpretation
of history, and he little suspects how the students and
philosophers of his day can read his horoscope, and tell
his future, or that of his family and empire, as confi-
dently as if they were prophets. By his best qualities
his courage, his energy, and devotion to a present pur-
pose—he crushed the hostile enterprise at the time,
and now, nearly thirty years after, he is doing his utmost
in his ignorance to revive it. One secret society after
another was discovered, in Alexander's time, but, under
the appearance of suppression, each merged in the great
one which could not be traced. It spread south and
north, comprehending nearly the whole class of nobles—
some of whom were democratic republicans, while others
limited their demands to reform, and the deposition of
the reigning family. It is a well known fact, that not
one distinguished family of nobles in the whole empire
was unconnected with the conspiracy. The Czar's com-
mittee of inquiry ascertained this, and with it the other
all-important fact that the immense majority were the
oligarchists, and the men who desired change without
any desire to help in inducing it ; men who eschewed
the doctrinal part of the affair, while ready to avail
themselves practically of the issue. In other words, the
majority were found to be manageable by means of self-
interest ; and nothing could be more skilful for the mo-
ment than the young Czar's management of them.
The first step of the conspirators was to create confu-
sion as to the succession. Alexander's will decreed that
Nicholas should succeed him, and Constantine's repudi-
ation of the crown was sealed up with the will. So the
conspirators declared for Constantine. But the habit of
Russian perfidy is too strong for such dangerous occa-
, sions ; and while the conspirators were snaking progress
in St. Petersburg, and gaining over the soldiers in bat-
talions, their chief and dictator was taking the oaths to
Nicholas. It was not safe to inflict much punishment.
Only five men were executed, and no more than 121
sent to Siberia. Tho wisest of the five declared to the
last that nothing but a total renovation of the empire,
and the adoption of a free constitution, could save
Russia from violent dismemberment. When Poland
arose, five years after this execution, the Poles cele-
brated the death of the Russian martyrs, carrying five
coffins through the streets of Warsaw, inscribed with
their names. Perhaps this may be done again, in the
same streets, when that prophesied dismemberment of
Russia is accomplished.

Though that revolution did not take place, another
did, far less expected. Nicholas became apparently a
totally altered man. The strength of his will has never
shown itself more marvellously than in the restraint
which he instantly put upon his temper and manners,
and maintained for a long course of years. Those who
happen to have watched the insane know that the most
fearful of their peculiarities, in many cases, is the in-
stantaneous transition from the brutal to the human
state. You catch their eye, and are horrified at its expres-
sion of ferocity and cruelty ; and, before you can with-
draw your gaze, it is gone, and all is bland and gra-
cious. Thus was it with Nicholas, from the moment
when his foot touched the step of the throne. Stern,
but no longer irascible,--distant, but never ill-mannered,
the brute part of him, known to be so largely inherited
from his ancestors, seemed to have been cast out. There
were always many who knew that it was not so ; and of
late, it is understood, his self-control has given way, and
his temper and manners are like those of his youth.
What his government of his dominions has been, there
is no need to describe. The more hopeless he became
of doing effectual good at home, the more he has inclined
tol4the policy of Peter and Catherine. He is aware that
the nobles regard the existing system as doomed, and
only expect or desire it to last their time. He is aware
that the host of slaves who worship him are no power in
his hand, but a mere burden. A man might as well be
king in a wide wilderness peopled by sheep and wolves
as in Russia ; and no one knows this better than Nicho-
las. He is aware that he cannot reckon on the honesty
of any one functionary of his whole empire. He has in-
vited and pensioned savans and men of letters, and insti-
tuted schools, and toiled harder than his own slaves,
and he perceives that society grows no better, but rather
worse. So he has recuurse to schemes of territorial
extension ; and there the same evils follow :—his ships
are rotten ; his cannon balls are turned into wooden
bowls ; his quinine is found to be oak bark ; and while
he is paying enormous bread bills, his soldiers are
perishing under a bran and straw diet.
Of his fanaticism one does not know what to say. His
Empress turned Greek in a day to marry him ; and this
no doubt seemed to him all right and natural. But
when he wanted his daughter Olga to marry the Arch-
duke Stephen, he offered that she should turn Romish
in a day—should embrace the faith of those nuns of
Minsk who were so very displeasing to his orthodoxy.
It is probably in his case the mixture of fanaticism and
laxity which is so disgusting in the history of all churches
at any time dominant, and involved with the stantteiler
In his family, he is no less unhappy than e
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(two hhnapispean savage ofif,
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the Moscow party) strives all in his power to supplant
his elder brother (who is a much milder and more esti-
mable man) in the succession to the throne. The Czar
has till now repressed thleftirnthne feud ; but it has, like his
muchreign
of
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the wreck of all his idols. They are of clay, and it is
his own iron will that has shivered them all. Instead of
achieving territorial extension, he has apparently brought
on the hour of forcible dismemberment of his empire.
Instead of court gaiety, his childish vanity has created
only the mirth which breaks the heart and undermines
the life. Instead of securing family peace by the com-
pressive power of his will, he has made his sons the
slave:4, instead of himself the lord, of their passions.
Hated by his nobles ; liked only by those who can give
him no aid, and receive no good from him ; drawn in by
his own passions to sacrifice them in hecatombs, while
they fix their eyes on him as their only hope; tricked by
his servants all over the empire ; disappointed in his
army and its officers ; afraid to leave his capital, because
it would be laid waste as soon as his back was turned ;
cursed in all directions for the debts of his nobles, the
bankruptcy of trade, and the hunger of his people ; con-
scious of the reprobation of England and France, whose
reprobation could be no indifferent matter to Lucifer
himself; finding himself out in his count about Austria,
and about everybody but his despised brothers of Prussia
and (as an afterthought) Naples ; and actually humbled
before the `Turk ; what a position for a man whose
birth-day once seemed to be an event in the calendar of