The Sun.
London, England, 1845-09-02 00:00:00

T I t.AST DA VS of the EMPEROR
AI,EXANDEIZ. By Rorpair LEE, M.D., F U.S.

Ulervfng extracts trail. a tru-.:noir of Alexaraler,
Emperor of Russia., just publisn• d by Dr. fa e, will be
real wt,ll deeza interest. C. ening from such a source
they are entitled to implicit credit, and meet pat an end
to all douts es to ;he cause of the ;ate Emperor's death.
D. Lee was placed in such a situation as to be able to
ascertain, not only from the reports of the physicians on
the spot, but from his own personal obwrvations, all the
real cireumqauces accompanying an event which caused
e great sensation thrt•ughout the political world. Addi-
tional weight aloe is given to his testimony by the rank
which he holds in his profession. Dr. Lev is well known
to the public for his medical skill ; the important dis-
coveries which he has made in that branch of anatomical
suience to wh;eh he has long devoted great research and
unwearied application, have given him an European
character, not likely ta be forfeited by any deviation
from the truth ; and the interest excited by the death
of that benevolent, wise, arid patriotic Prince, has long
cease 1 to exist, so that it would hardly be possible to
furnish evideace of a more satisfactory character.
Alexander, it is admitted, had become weary of political
lif • ; he had been harassed by apprehensions of con-
spiracies of various kinds, and doubtful in their charac-
ter, and resolved to end his days in a remote region of
Ys empire as a simple individual, leaving the cares of
royalty to his brother, the present Emperor; for Constan-
frren some mysterious cause, had been set aside.
o.le of the outbreaks which Alexander feared took place
at St. Petersburgh, soon after, his decease, and was
speedily put down by the energy and presence of mind of
Nicholas, but, from all authentic accounts, no plots were
formed against his life, and his death is to be attributed
entirely ta 'h • fever so prevalent in the Crimea, and to
l.is obstinacy in refusing to submit to those remedies
which, according to Dr. Lee's account, could hardly
have failed of success. The picture of this royal pro-
gress is a melancholy one. At several of the places
where the Emperor stopped, there was scarcely any ac-
commedation suited even to a common traveller, and oc-
ca,ionally he was left with hardly any attendant but his
valet. These circumstances give rise to suspicions, but
the leas accompanying his death are so manifest, and the
authorities on which they rest are so authentic, that no
stretch of rational credulity could attribute his death to
any but natural causes. On the xst mo, tem examina-
tion of his body, not the slightest symptoms of poson
were visible, but all the symptoms of the fatal ague
which had carried off so many of his subjects. With
these remarks we give the plain statement drawn up by
Dr. L' e, which is prefaced by some interesting details
or the fever abich prevailed in that part of the country,
aed of the occurrences which took place some day's pre-
vi us to the fatal attack of illness :

r 1 y

"Durin2; the month of September, 1825, the whole populat;on
of the Crimea between the mountains and the sea, all the in-
hahitat.ts of " this terrestrial paradise," were in a very sickly
eauiliTieti, and in the villages i;OPg the coast between Your-
Simitis. I saw and trcate.l more than a hundred cases
of i•itermittent remi.tent fever. Many who had been
sati.-ring for months had enlargement of the liver and spleen
with
.1-twit:ice nod dropsy. The weather, during the whole
time I ,-ein tined on the south coast of the Crimea, was delight-
ful, nmil none of those swlden and violent changes were ob-
served which so frequently occur in all the countries situated
5,4 she nooti,r4l snore of the Black Si a. There could be
doubt- that the fever which then prevailed on the coast
tan.i iit in.erior of the Crimea, was produced by noxious
c;tha'a7ions row the ear.h.

-;;eeer we i jog all the most interesting places in the Crimea,
I eniteerked on b sard Admiral Greig's yacht at Sevastopole,
en the 231 September, and returned to Odessa, with Count
F. P...F.,!,-,A, nn the I.t of October. C :tint Wororixow at the
eame ti no ,rt out for Taganrog, to meet the Emperor Alexan-
der, who hid arrived there with the Empress a short time be-
fare, with the interition of spending the winter on the shores
oi. the s•a of Azeff. Before reaching 01esse, Count Patten
seas !wiz el wall severe shivering, headache, and the other cha-
eaeseeistic symptoms of bilious remittent fever. The attack
was e,r mere violent awcl dangerous than in any of the eases
which Lad before fallen under my observation, and he narrowly
e„.e,,,,e mile i' life. ale. Rose, an English gentleman, who
had been to tee Crimea with us, was also attacked after our re-
turn es 0 leesa, and died, frem effusion into the brain. The
Latta!) of a considerable number of those who had been on the
south coast of the Crimea at the same time, suffered severely
for seine months after, and in a fee fever appeared in a severe
firm early the following siring. There was evidence to prose
that 31M0-t all of us had suffered from malaria.
• On the 14th October, 1525 (0.5.), at Odessa, I received
a letser emu Count Wororizow at Taganrog, informing me of
the Entaeror's determination to visit the Crimea, and request-
ing .ine to meet him at Bereslaw: on the Dnieper.
I accordingly left Odessa in the afternoon of the same
(ley, with General Bashmelsoff, Messrs. Marini and Artemieff.
We arrived at Nieolaef in the afternoon of the 15th, and re-
a,ei,„e a few hours with Admiral Great, who had just re-
turnee from lagaoroe. It was a clear, beaettlul night, the
road ea; excellent, and we reacheil Bereslaw, the following
inerning, at seven o'clock, where we remained during the day.
Tine is a !,rte town on the west bank of the Dnieper, which
dose not differ in appearance from the other towns in the south
of Russia. There were many shops or baetare in it, full of
every kind of merchandise. Great cumbers of waggons laden
with sell frees ;lie Crimea, were then passing through, and
later, arelies of troops marching to join the army on the Tuikish
fron: a r;. The country around was extremely fertile, but the
3,:,;:, Lae committed great hay ic the year before, the peasants
and landed proprietors being in a state of the greatest distress.
We lea Bsreslaw in the afternoon, for the isthmus of Perecop,
aril atter passing over an extensive plain of sand like the
I.laniles, nes!. the Pyrenees, we entered the Crimea, and spent
she night at the German colony of Nahitchvan. Here all was
order, cleanliness. and comfort, the poeulation rapidly increas-
ing, are! additional grants of land required. On quitting these
intelligent, happy people, the following morning, we were not
long in coming among the Nogay Tartars, were all was igno-
rance, poverty, and wrete,tiedneas. Light ant darkness, civi-
ilZl6oflaed barbarism, were here almost in contact. We re-
enelesil two days and a night at Sympheropole, where I had the
39.0.4 m-ion of giving professional aid to the daughter of Count
II ssuesichin, a male whiten will be preserved through all ages
in tee aneals of Russia.
" On the 2inh we left Sympheropole early in the morning,
and pissing rapidly over the steppe extendine, between the
town aril the mountains, crossed these in a caleche, by the
new road which had lately been made to connect the shore of
Crimea with the interior. Many of the soldiers employed in
completing this arduous work appeared sickly and depressed.
liewarris of a buttered out of five hundred had suffered from
fever doring the autumn, hut in none had the disease assumed
wj dangerous form. No less than a thousand soldiers had been
employed in this imp srtant work the year before, and compa-
ratively teas of them, it was reported, had suffered from
the (fleets of fever. The lace of the country had changed
fi11.,1 our wens.- visit to the Crewel. The woods along the
.Saleir and on ties Chat er-Dagh were stripped of their leaves,
thoaset on entering the valiey of Aluehta tne trees were still
gres..l• t. Front the Iseha.us of Perecop to Yoursouff, where we
arrived tie the 20th, preparations were being made for the
reeeptine of Cie Emperor ; the roads were being repaiied, and
all she ce•tages arid houses in the line were being cleaned and
whitewashed. The principal Tartar of the village of Your-
s':utl had been suffering severely from intermittent fever for
s-v. ran vests, but the fits were speedily arrested by the calo-
stiel and sulehate of quinine which I administered to him.
'leis latter iesaedy, which hail never before been employed in
the fevers if ;he Crinies, often stoeted their course so quickly.
tie :A stetie of the ignorant Tartars were disposed to attribute
'sew striking effete to sueernatural influence.
The aillowitte morning we set our for Aloupka. It was like
a susresier's day in Englenta the thermometer in the, shade
big 17 deg. it Reaumur (70 deg. Fahrenheit). The tops
of the mountains w ire, however, covered with dense clouds.
The road along the sea-shore to °charade from Yoursouff never
apeeared to me 3,, beautiful before, and I could not pass Nikita
;mid elasendra without halting to admire the glorious scenery.
The woods hats lost a part of their verdure, but there were still
mug; of the trees a, green as during the autumn. The wild
sine, telesth climbs to the tops of the highest trees, and the leaves
pit e hash were then of a deep red colour, formed a striking fea-
ture lvi the scene. The walnut and fie trees were still frets and
twee „et AI tupk a in the evening, we walked around the
gsrdees. the most rem intic in the Crimea, where preparations
were seeea wade fir planting forty lemon trees in the open air,
welsh hal neen imported the previous year from Italy, and
noes ef them, sviiich hid been exposed in the middle of the g,ar•
den to Cod intense fleet the preceding winter, was in a flaurish-
Eg state. • We returned to the Tartar house which was pre-
p rot tit- the Emperor. Boards had been placed around the
isnet of it, and whitewashed. The walls of the two chambers
rer las aleatety's accommodation, had been surrounded with a
store, white linen cloth, and a very neat bed prepared. There
t, ere taco chairs-, a tank, and a coech, and newly glazed win-
-4 ti•A4 had been pat in. Li that climate one could not have
tell-,ire:!-,ire:!a better habitation for a eight, though it was a common
Teaartar eirtage.
,‘ We returned to Yoursouff on the 23J, and on the following
day one cif the Emperor's couriers arrived, and arranged all
the apartments in the house for his Majesty and attendants.
o—a the seith the Emperor arrived at Sympheropole. He went
to the service ie the cathedral the following morning, and he
a rived at Yottr4nuff about four lockso'k in the afternoon,noo few
ac-
e ,mpanie.l by General Diebitch, Sir mes y a
atteedente Went he dismounted tom his horse in front of
the hoos,, at Yoursouff, Count VVerolizove, his aides-de-camp,
secretaries, and myself, were standing, in a line to receive him.
'• Though apparently active, and in the prime and vigour of
life, the Emperor stooped a little in walking, and seemed
rattier inclined to eorpuleney. He was dressed in a blue
military ennout, with epaulettes, and had nothing to dis-
tinguish him from any general officer. He shook Count
Woronsieg by the hand, and afterwards warmly saluted him,
first on one cheek, and then en the other. He after-
wards shook hands with us all, and then inquired of
me particularly about the health of the Count's children
at I:tala Cerkie, whom I had seen not long before.
sou
Ile then inquired if I had visited the
during the autumn, and if so, hoer coast of the Crimea
v
pnledased with it.
Looking up to the mountains above YonrstZtls and then
to the
calm sea, upon which the sun was shining,
claimed, ' Was there ever such likaiinifit sis lieirytY, ex-
replied that the euait of Italy between Genoa andenlaliC ! p I
anited the only scenery I had ever witnessed that coulde re-
eranpai al to it, a part of Italy which his 'Majesty stated he hadt
Stever visited.
e I set out from Yoursouff on the morning of the 26th of
Oct see-, before the Emperor, and rode along the coast to
Alotipke. It was a sultry day, and the scenery was rendered
still :nose interesting to me than on all former occasions in con.
eeterervie of tile 'Tartars having come from all parts of the
Crewe, tee,. the Emperor, un his way from Yoursouff to
A tetipaie le here ae arrived about four o'clock, I was informed
that a Tartsr fern de complained to his fsl jesty, at Orianda. of
her having been beaten and ill tteat,d by the superintetelent ;
other) the offeeder wag ordered to appear before his Majesty,
li e threw himself upon his knees and implored forgive•
req., Alerinder ordered him to be aricated, arid said,
4,031 VirtlP.,...Syt,!ritiy, that it was an eternal disgrace to
daaeaslaealeVlAaaak especially one in her situation,
o itl'afj. ainria, • *itei-eata)eae iiiteatelEy.ntleetreorrrniswleads
tgreatly
e h pleasedas is flit
Masa:fee 4.';''-
seiitetta-Vi_ es ffse and build a palace there. Before
•poiik 61\'4tOnl7hr441Ast: he , it d the vineyards at elertvan, and
;)'..„,17-4.' ..4,13440.igh0r, distributing liberally to the
(-
1-- inalii 4a.‘ri.;i:i. ,7. fi
ii. *Wa Vof7Rtii#:;;OVsieral Diehitch, Sir James Wylie, and
, • MA rA.t*At/thera, had the honour of dining with
re's es:gerar ,9 t, the last he was destined to enjoy.
Tee eeperrresasairMee him-elf chiefly to Count aVoronzow,
urea eras :e^' f':l nort •,) his Majesty, and the greater part of, he
conversation was carried on in Frencii aid English. Again
his alsjeety recurred to the beauties of Orianda, and thanked
the Gaunt for the acquisit:ou he bad that day made for him.