Gallipolis journal. [volume] (Gallipolis, Ohio) 1837-1919, 1854-05-04
Volume XIX.
THE ACCESSION OF THE EMPE-
- ROR NICHOLAS.

vi bllO va vi AIOl, Illc SOushSAh -
tremity of his dominions, fifteen hun
dred miles from his northern capital
He had outliYed his reputation by ter
years. Had he died Immediately after
the overthrow of Napoleon, the world
might have doubted whether the Rus
sian Gar was not the second great man
of his century. He had come success
fully out of that desperate contest
which, commencing with the terrible
disaster of Austerlitz, had been closed
by the triumphant occupation of Paris.
OF the confederacy which overthrew
Napoleon he had been the soul and cen
tire. His conduct, after the victory had
been won-toward France, if not to-
ward his great personal opponent
shown a magnanimity worthy of the
constancy with which the struggle had
been waged. Alexander should have
died In 1915. Had he died before 1890
history would have spoken of him as a
monarch imbued with liberal ideas,
compelled to rule despotically over a
barbarous people, but hating the despo-
tism whose powers he welded, and anx-
ious to replace it by liberal institutions.
To the Polish Diet he formally an
nounced that it was his purpose 10 ex-
tend constitutional government to all
the countries under his dominion; de-
claring that liberal institutions were
perfectly allied to order, and the best
security for the happiness of nations.
This was in 1918. Two years later,
when the greatrevolutionary movements
In Southern Europe seemed on the point
Of overthrowing despotism in Spain and
Italy, Alexander threw himself unreser-
vedly into the arms of Absolutism. The
"Holy Alliance, psOf which he had been
the founder and main supporter, desert
ing its original purpose as a philan-
thropical and religious league among
Christian governments, became a sy-
nonym for desPotism. The sovereigns
of Russia, Austria, and Prussia, as
sembled in Congress at Laybach, de-
termined that Italy should again be con-
signed to the power of the tyrants whose
yoke had been shaken off, and formal
ly announced the principle that all
ameliorations made in the condition of
the people were, and should be merely
the grace of the soVereigns. England
and France took no part in this meas
ure. The league of Absolutism was
formed, and the Russian Gar was at its
head; a position which he has ever since
held. A vast conspiracy was soon
formed among the younger and more
enthusiastic of the officers of his army,
carried on by means of secret societies,
the object of which was to overthrow
despotism in Russia, and in its place to
establish a constitutional government.
Some imperfect knowledge of this con-
spiracy was gained by the Gar, and his
last days were embittered by it, though
he little dreamed of its extent, and how
close the outbreak was at hand.
Alexander died childless, at the age
of forty y-eight. None of his legitimate
children had survived infancy. A de-
votee to religion, he had ever been an
unfaithful husband; but the death of
the last of the offspring of his illicit in
trlgues took place few months before
his own, so that no one survived to en-
barrass the regular succession to the
throne. By the ancient laws of the en-
plre the Gar had the power of selecting
his own successor, his right of choice
not even being confined to the Imperial
family. These laws had been formally
annulled by Paul L, and the right of
succession had been definitely fixed in
the Imperial male line, in the order of
their birth. The undoubted successor
to the throne, as all men believed, was
the Emperor's next brother, the Grand
Duke Constantine-so named by his
grandmother, the great Catharinc, who
hoped that he would one day be ruler of
Censtantinople, extending his sway over
the dominions of the first Christian En-
peror, hose name he bore. 1'
Constantine was one of those strange
characters who sometimes arise to puzzle
philosophers and historians. Unlike all
his brothers, who were remarkable for
their stately and commanding presence,
he had the Tartar visage of his father.
His features were those of genuine
Calmuek. His forehead was low and
mean; his nose, scarcely more elevated
than that of an orang-outang, termi-
mated In broad fiat nostrils; long white
eyebrows. always in motion, almost con-
cealing his light blue eyes, ,contrasted
oddly with his uncouth red face, deeply
Scared by the smallpox. In disposi-
ton and manners he was perfect saw
age. polished but not civilized. In his
frequent and ungoyernable paroxysms
OF rage, his savage nature burst out
without restraint. Woe to the man
Whothen encountered him. His eccen-
tricities and excesses leave it doubtful
whether he had not inherited the insani-
tylof his ancestor. In his youth he was
a great fayorite with his grandmother;
the famous Catharine, whom he amused
by his petulance and oddities. AS he
grew up, fendness for the details of
military discipline became his absorbing
passion The slightest defect in equip
ment-Ta button missing, mustache
longer than the regulation standard, a
breastplste or bell, i'll polished or care
lessly put on-eould not escape his quick
eye, andBas sure to call down severe
awS