Burlington free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1827-1865, 1855-04-06
IcoRREsroynKScE or THE FREE PRESS |
Letters from England.
no. XIII
The Death Of Nicholas


LONDON, March ., 1855.
The death Of the Emperor Nicholas of Rus
sia, occurring at such a momentous crisis.
seems more like the sudden transition of a
tale, than an actual event in human life. At
first it was difficult to believe the fact. Its
announcement was first made in Parliament
by Lord Clarendon, and was received with an
Indifference which nothing but incredulity
can explain. Even after the fact became GER
tain, the alleged occasion appeared quite
inadequate to the startling nature Of tile oc-
currencc. Dark whispers Of foul plots, of
treason and assassination, were easier to be
credited, than the announcement that man
OF whom only yesterday it might have been
said that he made the earth to tremble and
did shake kingdoms" that one of such phv
steal prc-eminence that his people tremblod
when they looked at him and almost wor-
shipped him as demigod, should so suddenly
have fallen above all that Russian En-.
peror should, though suddenly, yet 50 quiet
~, so entirely in the course of nature, have
breathed his last in his own palace, sur
rounded by his family and attended by minis
tiers of rcligion-thls seemed indeed mere
dible. But it was true. In the midst Of his
ambitious schemes, in all the pride, the mad.
ness Of his power. just after he had deter.
mined to concentrate all the strength of his
vast dominions upon the project which he and
his ancestors had long Rugged to their hearts
OF making the City of Constantine the Capt.
tai OF Russia, he is smitten, and Yields. The
moral is a terrible one. No language seems
adequate to its expression, but that fearful
figure of ISAIAH, which represents the dead
moving out Of their graves to meet the fallen
king At his coming, and insulting him with
the taunt " Art thou also become weak as
we :" Think you that no other despot read,
this moral What thoughts, suppose you,
filled the mind Of Louis Napoleon us in moody
silence and with troubled brow he paced his
Chamber in Paris last Sunday
Nicholas was the fifteenth sovereign of the
House Of Romanoh. He was born of the
Emperor Paul and Maria Princess of Wur-
tcmbcrS in 1896, and by the exclusion Of an
elder brother succeeded to the throne in
1925. His reign was inauguratcd in scenes
of opposition and revolt To his frmness
and courage in quellins tho instruction of
the Imperial Guards shortly after his aces
sion, he owed half Of the strange personal in.
huenco which has since kept millions in awe
of him 1t is related that while he was
ua,p tI,a bal antl G,
stepped from the ranks to shoot him, and
four times skunk back irresolute from his
majestic presence. As the result of war
with Persia provoked by the Shah Mira,
extensive territories on the Caucasus and on
the Southwestern shore of the Caspian wire
added by Nicholas to the domain of Russia.
In 1928 AMI the following year he wrested
large provinces from Turkey By hisapparent
moderation in n subsequent treaty with the
Sultan, by his energy in developing the in
ternal resources Of his country, by the wis.
dom with which he managed his foreign re-
lations, and by the over mastering weight Of
his personal character, Nicholas gained ifnot
the admiration, certainly the respect of
Europe,ls one of its foremost sovereisns, How
later years have revealed his dark ambition,
his imperious and tyrannical will, his pas
sons, and his cruelty, every reader knows.
The Romanof family have been noted for
the terrible Violence VI their passions, a kind
of Inherent maa ~ to which many of them
have owed their death. How much truth
thcIc may I've IN tine assertion that the events
of The last lew months had quickened to a
fatal excitement this hereditary tendency in
the Organization ol Nicholas, it is impossible
now to know with certainty. distinguished
English physician, acquainted with the
Cars temperament, had predicted to Lord