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

THE GAR'S BIRTHDAY.

A ROYAL "FESTIVAL" IN ST. PETERSBURG.
The birthday of the Czar is just over ; and surely 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), 1796, and
already, while only 58, he is worn, broken—older in
constitution and appearance than most men who have
lived ten or fificien 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
power 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 bo 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 codntitutional, 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.
On that fatal evening, Paul was in one of his amiable
moods ; and he went 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. Ho was fond of music too ;
_and
united the two tastes by composing military marches.
Though -
Though his constitutional industry manifested itself in
the pursuit of such studies as he liked, he issued from
the educational process, ignoraut really nt of
igntoler anian t
what it became—not only a Prince, but a
.n lur
gea o
know ; and not a few of the wisest men
t 1; ope at-
tribute his fatal .errors and misfortunes to his cause,
above all others.
During his youth he 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 betweenhim and the affable
Alexander. When he was he tame 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 be explored his own country, and lived for some
the serfs
time in,each of the chief provincial cities. It was then
eamtheleioidraetaed of
condition, emancipating
This
was
that he became interested in the condition of the lower
orders of the people ; and it is probably at that time that
' after an
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
interval of oivfd

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-
' turai 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,making 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. The 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 feroeity 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
toilthe 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 be 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 Le has recourse 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 ono does not know what to say. His
Empress turned Greek in a day to marry Lim ; 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
.staette.
In his family, he is no less unhappy than in
with hmertreh-
lations. His faithful wife, who has born.emuch
from him, partly because there was no helping
eini 1;1' s
miens, and partly because he carried en
wear.,is ion to
her through all his vagaries, has
fatigues
of
the
eg out for
many a dreary year under thheo
imposes on all his faimeilyof
empty amusement which
gisesithidow Princesso .f
One favourite daughter islileandd.
tAhneoytohuern
the Dec de Leuehtenberto ,
Royal of NVurtemberg.
toThne two eldest sons are always
quarrelling—as is likelyhappenho as is universally
understood, the younger (w
sis a Muscovite savage of
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 their feud ; but it has, like his
other misfortunes, become too much for him and the
scandal is fully avowed. If the reign of Nicholas should
come to a violent end with his life, his. may not
b e the
only royal blood shed on the occasion.
Thus has the proud man, the imperor of all the
Russias, passed his fifty-eighth birth-day, sitting among
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, be 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
slaves, 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 Franco, whose
reprobation could be no indifferent matter to Locife r
I 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 ITurk ; what a position for a man whose
birth-dayonce seemed to be an event in the calendar of

Mr. Swabey's employers acted here scrupulously upon
the maxim of "taking care of the pence, and letting the
pounds take care of themselves." The pounds, however,
did not take care of themselves, but it is certain that
some one relieved them of the trouble. The monies re-
ceived on account of the Crown Fund were not subject
to the orders of the Court of Admiralty, or brought
before that court at all. If anything could tempt the
person who had charge of them to malversation, it would
surely be an arrangement of this nature. The com-
mittee report that in the latter part of 1851 the cash-
book and bank pass-book were, for some unexplained
reason, withdrawn by Mr. Swabev from the use of the
office. Tile ledger, therefore, beilic, the only book on
which the committee could rely was examined, and from
this it appeared that a balance was due to Mr. Swabey of
1,1321. Os. 11d. There was, however, a large amount
of Exchequer bills unaccounted for, and the committee
on investigating this omission report that Mr. Swabey
is inbebted in the value of 25,0001. of such bills on one
account, and 1,7001. on another. They conclude their
researches into the state of the Crown Fund with the
following words :

"The iron box at the Bank of England appropriated
for the safe keeping of these bills was, when opened by
Mr. Rothery, the present registrar, on the 11th of No-
vember, 1553, in the presence of two of the Bank clerks,
and of Mr. Swabey's solicitor (Mr, Stevenson), found to
be empty." A fine specimen this of a " Civil Service"
strong box.

The- negligence visible in the want of due superinten-
dence of the Crown Fund is seen also in the administra-
tion of the Suitors' Fund. In respect of this Mr.
Swabey is indebted according to the committee in the
sum of 29,516/. 13s. Other items having relation to .
this fund add something more than 4,000/. to these
bilities. Tho Fee Fund (the only one for which secu-
rity was taken) shows a deficiency of 322/. 18s. 2d. No
account of monies received with respect to this fund was
kept or even opened at the Bank ofEngland. .The cash
was kept by the registrar at a private banker's. As a
specimen of the -free and easy manner in which the civil
service is conducted, the way in which the Commis-
sioners assert that this deficiency arose is very
instructive.
In December, 1843 (they say), Mr. Swabey borrowed
from Mr. Wilkinson (the third class clerk in the office)
1,500 t, Early in 1844, and at a variety of times during
that year and 1845, Mr. Wilkinson retained for his own
use by way of part payment of principal and interest on
the above sum, certain monies paid into the registry by
the proctors on account of fees, in the expectation as he
states that Mr. Swabey would account to the fee fund for
the amount so retained.
Sometimes the whole amount paid in by a proctor was
retained ' • at other times a portion only; but in both cases
the proctor remained a debtor, according to, the ledger, for
the amount of the sum retained.
"On the whole, the sums retained amoulted to 394/.
19.

"About the end of 1845 Mr. Swabey, who is stated to
have had his attention drawn by Mr. Wilkinson to the
practice, and who is stated not only to have disapproved
of it, but to have enjoined its discontinuance, withdrew
the cash-book from Mr. Wilkinson's keeping, who there
upon ceased to receive the fees.
" From time to time afterwards down to 1853 Mr. Wil-
kinson, finding the money was not being; replaCed by Mr.
Swabey, made some small payments into 'the Fee Fund,
amounting in all to 711. 13s. 10d., leavingiLnet deficiency
of 3221.18 a. 2d."

The committee report that the total amount of the
deficiency in Mr. Swabey's accounts appears to be :

In Money -035,328 16 6
Exchequer Bills
Stock, Three per Cent. Consols 1,576 1 3
Stock, Three-and•a-Half per Cents
Reduced 2,842 8 9
and the amount of dividends on such stock from July,
1843, and interest upon Exchequer Bills for varying
periods, amounting to a considerable sum.
In the course of the report the committee state that
as to the liabilities of their lordships of the Treasury to
make good (out of the taxes) to different parties the
amounts of the defalcation on the Crown fund and
Suitors' fund, it is impracticable to form any precise
judgment. On the best information that they were able
to obtain, they think it unlikely that their lordships will
be called upon for any payment of importance beyond
the 19,0001. already paid.
With a Civil Service so admirably managed" as ours,
from the above specimen, appears to be, one wonders
that we have not a double income tax long ago, without
the assistance of the Russians. The picture that we get
in the above details of one only of the Government offices
shows a laxity of superintendence that would scarcely be
credited in a Government whose Ministers are respon-
sible to Parliament. But the House of Commons hav-
ing got the particulars of this huge robbery---the tax-
payerse of England should insist upon an answer to th
to
question—" What steps are the Government, abouttake on the subject ?" Is " Mr." Swabey in custody
Daily News.