of priority of discovery, the best claim to them
belonged to Great Britain. But England al-
ready possessed an enormous territory, amount-
ing to four million square miles, of which scarce
a tenth was capable of cultivation, and her gov-
ernment was indifferent to the settlement of
Russians on the coast of the Pacific. The con-
sequence was that they were allowed quietly
to take possession, and on the (1(3) 28th
1821 ' September the Czar issued a ukase de-
fining the limits of the Russian territory
in America, which embraced twice as much as
the whole realm of France. The ukase also
confined to Russian subjects the right of fish-
ing along the coast from Behring Straits to the
southern cape of the island of Oui-off, and for-
bade all foreign vessels to fish within a hun-
dred miles of the coast, under pain of confisca-
tion of their cargo. These assumed rights have
not hitherto been called in question, but as the
Anglo-Saxons in America are as aspiring as the
Muscovites, and growing even more rapidlj', it
1 Ukase, is not likely that this will long con-
Sept. 28, tinue ; and it is not impossible that
1821 ; Ann. ^jjg ^^^^ great races which appear to
304 305- divide the world are destined to be
Biog. Univ. first brought into collision on the
Ivi. 189. shores of the Pacific.'
The increasing jealousy of the Czar at liberal
go. opinions, and the secret societies by
Suppres- which it was attempted to propagate
sionoffree- them in his dominions, was evinced
masons' . .i i i
and other ^^ "^^ same year by a decree sup-
secret so- pressing the order of Freemasons
cieiies throughout the whole of his domin-
ions. In spite, however, of every
Oct. 15.
monde civilise est en peril. II ne peut plus y avoir de
Politique Aiiglaise, FrauQaise, Pru.ssicinic, Auiriohiciiiie.
II n'y a plus qu' une politique gonorale qui doit, pour Ic
salut dc tous, etre adrnise en cominun par les peuplcs ct
les rois. C'est a moi de me moiitrer le premier convaincu
dcs principes, sur lesquels j'ai Ibnde rAlliance. Une oc-
casion s'est presentee, le soulevtinent de la Grece. Rien
eans doute ne paraissait etre plu° duns mes intcrcts, dans
ceux de man peuple, dans I'opinion de mon pays qu' une
guerre rcljxieu.se contrc la Turcjuie; mais j'ai cru remar-
tionnaire , dcs lors je me suis abstenu. yue n'a-t-on fait
pour rompre I'Alliaiice .' '^n a chcrchc tour a tour a me
donncr d«s provocations ; on a blesser mon amour-propre ;
on m'a outrage ouvertcment. On me coniiaissait bien
mal, si Ton a cru que mcs principes nc tcnaicnt qu' a des
vanites, ou pouvaient cedcr a des resscntiments. Non, je
ne me separerai jamais dcsmonarqucs auxcjuclsje mo sum
uni. II doit etre permis aux Kois, d'uvoir des alliances
publiques, pour se deTcndre contre les societos secretes.
Qu| cst-ce qui pourrait me tenter? Qu' ai-je besoin d'ac-
croilre mon empire ? La Providence n'a pas mis a mes
ordres huit cent mille soldals, pour satisfaire mon ambi-
tion ; mais pour proteger la religion, la tnorale, la justice ;
et pour faire regncr ces principes d'ordre, sur lesquels re-
pose la soclelc humaine."— Ciiatealbbiand, Vungres
de Virone, i. 221 , 222.
precaution that could be taken, the secret so-
cieties continued and multiplied ; and it was
ere long ascertained that they embraced not
only many of the first nobles in the country,
but, what was far more dangerous, several of
the officers high in the armj', and even in the
imperial guard. Obscure intimations of the
existence of a vast conspiracy were frequently
sent to the government, but not in so distinct
a form as to enable them to act upon it
until 1823, when a ukase was issued, j^^"^
denouncing, under the severest penal-
ties, all secret societies, especially in Poland ;
and a number of leaders of the " Patriotic So-
ciety," in particular Jukasinsky, Dobrogoyski,
Machynicki, and several others, chiefly Poles,
were arrested, and sent to Siberia. It was
hoped at the time that the danger was thus
removed, but it proved just the reverse. The
seizure of these chiefs only served to warn the
others of the necessity of the most rigorous se-
crecy, and gave additional proof, as it seemed to
them, of the necessity for a forcible reformation
in the state. The secret societies rapidly spread,
especially among the highest in rank, the first
in patriotic spirit, and the most generous in feel-
ing, both in the civil and militarj' service ; a
melancholy state of things, when those who
should be the guardians of order are leagued
together for its overthrow, but the natural re-
sult of a state of society such as then existed
in Russia, where the power of the sovereign,
entirely despotic, was rested on the blind sub-
mission of the vast majority of the i Ann. Hist
nation, and a longing for liberal in- vi. 381,383-
stitutions and the enjoyment of free- P'°n'aQ "'^'
dom existed only in a very limited schnitzler
cii'cle of the most highly-educated iiist.Int.de
classes, but was felt there in the ut- 'a Russie,
most intensity.' j. 90, 91.
The desponding feelings of the Czar, occa-
sioned by the discovery that his ef- 9i_
forts for the amelioration of his coun- General
try were only met by secret societies 'ailurc of
banded together for his destruction, ror'.s'pmi-
was much aggravated by the failure anthropic
of some of liis most favorite philan- projects,
tliropic projects. In many of the provinces
in which the j)oasants had received from the
sovereign or their lords the perilous gift of
freedom, they had sufi'ered severely from the
change. Tiie newly enfranchised peasants, in
many places, regretted the servitude which had
secured to them an asylum in sickness or old
age. In the province of Witepsk, where the
change liad been carried to a gi'cat extent,
they refused to pay the capitation-ta.\ impo.?od
on them in lieu of their bondage, alleging
that they liad not the means of doing go ; and
besieged the empress-dowager, who was known
to adhere to old ideas, with the loudest com
plaints on the "fatal gift" which tliey had re-
ceived. So serious did the disorders become
among the new freemen, that they were only
appeased by the quartering of a largo military
force on the disturbed districts. Russia suffer-
ed even more than the other countries of Eu-
rope, in tills and the preceding j-ear, from the
dejircciation of prices, wliich fell with unmiti-
gated severity on the holders of the immense
stores of its rude produce. Banks, iiy order
of the emperor, were established in many
2tVl
HISTORY OF EUROPE.
[Ckai-. VIIT.
places to roliovo the distresses of the siir-
chiirged proprietors, but they did not meet
• . II . with ireiieral success ; and the ad-
> Ann. ilist. ^ 1 . • 1 t
vi. 310,301 , vanees meant to stiiiiuhite mdustry,
Tejsoborski, were too often ajiplied only to iVed
li. 373. luxury or minister to depravity.'
The external transactions of Russia in regard
^„ to tiie Ooiiirress of Verona, the Greek
Pn-iidiViI revolution, and the Turkish Avai', will
Howl ai St. be recounted nioi-e suitably in the
I'ricrs- chapters which relate to those im-
^^°' portant subjects, liut there are a
few internal events in Russia which deserve
notice before the melancholy period when Alex-
ander jiaid the common debt of mortality. The
first of these was the dreadful inundation at
St retersburg, in November, 1824. The em-
peror had just returned from a visit to Orenburg,
and the south-eastern provinces of his empire,
to his jialace at Tzarskocelo near St. Petersburg,
when a terrible liurrieane arose, which, sweep-
. . g ing overthewholeoftheBaltic, strewed
its shores with wrecks, and inflicted the
most frightful devastation on all the harbors
with which it is studded. But the catastrophe
at the capital was so frightful, that for some
hours it was menaced with entire de-
li-r '^IHst^ struction, and all but accomplished a
hit', i. 85 ; remarkable propthecy, made to Peter
Ann. Ilist. the Great when he commenced its con-
jli: ^*^''' struction,thatit woidd one day perish
under the waves of the Baltic.'*
To imderstand how this happened, it is neces-
sary to obtain a clear idea of the
Descrip- local circumstances and situation of
tion of the St. Petersburg. When Peter selected
situation of the islands at the mouth of the river
burj'^"^'^^" ^^'^'^' "wl^'cli, descending from the
vast expanse of the Lake Ladoga,
empties itself in a mighty stream into the Bal-
tic, for the site of his future capital, he was
influenced entirely by the suitableness of its
situation for a great harbor, of which he
severely felt the want, as Archangel, on the
frozen shores of the "White Sea, was the only-
port at that period 'in his dominions. Carried
away by this object, which, no doubt, was a
very important one, he entirely overlooked
the probable unhealthiness of the situation,
where a metropolis rested like Venice on
marshy islands, the highest part of which was
only elevated a few feet above the branches of
the river with which they were surrounded ;
the extreme cold which must ensue in winter
I An. Hist froiTi the close proximity of enormous
vii. 366 ; ice-fields,^ and the probability of its
Schnitzler, being exposed to the greatest danger
'â– â– from a sudden rising of the waters
of the river owing to a high wind of long con-
tinuance blowing in the waters of the Baltic,
* A curious incident, hiffhly characteristic of Peter, oc-
curred at lliis time. " When the foundation of his new
capital was commencing on the desolate islands of the
Neva, which are now covered by the fortress of Cronstadt
and the superb palaces of St. Petersburg, Peter observed,
by accident, a tree marked at a considerable height from
the ground. He called a peasant of Finland, who was
worliing near, and asked him ' what the mark was for ''
'It is the highest level,' replied the peasant, 'which the
water reached in the inundation of 1680.' 'You lie!'
cried the Czar in a fury ; ' what you say is impossible ;'
and seizing a hatchet, fie with his own hands cut down
the tree, hoi)ing thereby to extinguish alike all memory of
the former flood, and guard against the recurrence of a
similar calamity."— Sch.sitzleb, i. 65, 66.
and back those whicli usually flow from the
Lake Ladoga. It was this which had pic-
viouslv occurred on more than one occasion,
and which now llircalened the capital with
destruction.
Regardless of these dangers, and of the en-
ormous consumptiiin of liuinan life
which took place during the building continued
of the city, fi'om the unhealthiness of
the situation, which is said to have amounted
to a hundred tlidiisand persons, the Czar drove
on the work with the impetuosity which foimcd
so loading a feature in his character, and at
length the basis of a great city was laid amidst
the watery waste. On the spongy soil and low
swamps, which had previously encumbered the
course of the Neva, the modern eap>ital arose.
Vast blocks of granite, brought from the adja-
cent plains of Finland, where they are strewed
in huge masses over the surface, faced the
quays; palaces were erected, of more fragile
materials, on the surface, within the isles; and
the Perspective Newski is perhaps now the most
imposing street in Europe, from the beauty of
its edifices and the magnitude of its dimensions.
The splendid facade of the Admiralty, the
Winter Palace of the emperor, the noble Cathe-
dral of St. Isaac — the statue of Peter the Great,
resting on a single block of granite of 1800
tons weight — the noble pillar of Alexander,
formed of a single stone of the same material,
the largest in the world, combined in a single
square, now overpower the imagination of the
beholder by their magnificence, and the im-
pression they convey of the power of the sove-
reign by whose energy these marvels have been
made to spring up amidst the watery wilder-
ness. But the original danger, arising from
the lowness of the situation, and its liability to
inundations, still continues. Great as it is, the
power of the Czar is not so great as that of the
Baltic waves. From the main channel, where
the Keva majestically flows through superb
quays of granite, surmounted by piles of pal-
aces, branch oft", as from the great canal at
Venice, numerous smaller streams, forming by
their intersection so many isles, some covered
with streets, and forming the most populous
quarters; others adorned by beautiful villas
and public gardens, the recreation of the citi-
zens during their brief but brilliant summer.
But these canals open so many entrances for
the floods of the Neva or waves of the Baltic
to penetrate into every part of the citj*. Kone
of it is elevated in its foundations more than a
few feet above the ordinary level of
the water, and the spectator shudders ,.268 '
to think that the rise of the flood, 269; '
even in a small degree, may threaten ? ^'J,"'cJj'c'L'
the entire city with destruction.' • > - •
This was what in efi'ect happened at this
time. On several former occasions 95
the river had been much swollen: Great inun-
once, immediately before the birth dation of
of the present emperor, it was ten j,y,.„
feet above its ordinary level. But Nov. 19,
this was as nothing compared to the 1^24.
terrible inundation which now presaged his
death. All the 19th of November the wind
blew from the soutli west with terrific violence,
and brought the Baltic waves in such a pro-
digious mass to the mouth of the Neva that ita
1824.]
HISTORY OF EUROPE.
265
waters were made to regorge, and soon the
quays were overflowed, and the lower parts of
the city began to be submerged. This at first,
however, excited very little attention, as such
floods were not uncommon in the end of
iiutumn ; but the alarm soon spread, and ter-
i-or was depicted in every visage, when it
rapidly ascended and spread over the whole
town. By half past ten the water in the Per-
spective ^'ewski was ten feet deep ; in the high-
est parts of the city it was five. The Neva had
risen four fathoms above its ordinary level, and,
worse still, it was continuing to rise. The
whole inhabitants crowded to the upper stories
of the houses. Despair now seized on every
heart; the reality of the danger came Iwme to
every mind ; the awful scenes of the Deluge
were realized in the very centre of modei-n
civilization. At Cronstadt a ship of the line
was lifted up from a dry dock, and floated over
the adjacent houses into the great square. At
eight in the morning the cannon of alarm began
to be discharged. The terrible warning, re-
peated every minute, so unusual amidst the
ordinary stillness of the capital, proved the
terror which was felt by government, and aug-
mented the general consternation. Ships torn
up from their anchors; boats filled with trem-
bling fugitives ; stacks of corn borne on the sur-
face of the waves from a great distance ; cattle
buffeting with the torrent, intermingled with
corpses of persons drowned, or at their last
gasp, imploring aid; and immense quantities
of furniture, and movables of every description,
were floated on to the most intricate and se-
cluded parts of the city. The waters continued
to rise till four in the afternoon, and every one
imagined that all who could not save them-
selves in boats would be drowned. The rush
was dreadful, accordingly, into every vessel
that could be seized on, and numbers perished
in striving to get on board. At five in the
evening the wind fell, and the water sunk as
rapidly as it had risen, and by the next morning
the Neva had returned to its former channel.
The total loss occasioned by the wind and the
inundation was estimated at 100,000,000 rubles
. ■(£4,000,000); five hundred persons
ler i 86^' pei'ished in the waves, and twice tiiat
87 '; Ann. number, sick or infirm, were drowned
Hist. vii. in their houses. Such had been the
cfaz'eite^c ^'io'<^"ce of the wind and flood, tliat
St. Peters- when the waters subsided they were
burg, Nov. found to liave floated from their place
?!!'>?'' cannons weighing two tons and a
^^^'^- half.'
At the sight of this terrible calamity, wliich
gg for a time 8ecme
NoblecliJir- t''^ utmost human efforts, tlie Czar in
iiy of the despair stretched forth his hands to
Vl\?T',\ Heaven, and ini])Iorcd that its anger
anil nobles. • i ^ /• 1 1 ' ■• • , '^ ,
might lall uj)on his own lu^ad, and
spare hi.s peoj)ie. He did not, however, neg-
lect all human means of mitigating the cahim-
ity. Throwing himself into a bark, li'j visited
in person th
tributed the troops in the way most likely to
be serviceable, and exposed himself to death
repeatedly in order to save liis people. All
would liiive been unavailing, however, and the
city totally destroyed, if the wind liad not
mercifully abated, and the waters of tlic iS'eva
found their usual vent into tlic Baltic. Mu-
nificent subscriptions followed the calamity ;
the emperor headed the list with fifty thou-
sand pounds. The most solid houses were im-
pregnated with salt, and in a manner ruined ;
and a severe frost which set in immediately
after, before the water had left the houses,
augmented the general suffering by filling them
with large blocks of ice. Even the most solid
granite was exfoliated, and crumbled away be-
fore spring, from the eftects of the frost on the
humid structures. The people regarded this
calamity as a judgment of Heaven for not
having assisted their Christian brethren during
their recent and frightful persecutions from
the Turks — the emperor as a pun- , sclinitzler
ishment for sins of which he was j. so, gi ;
more immediately concerned in his Ann. Hist,
domestic relations.' vii.386, 388.
The year 1824 was marked by a ukase or-
dering a levy of two in five hundred
males over the whole empire — a internal
measure which brought 120,000 men measures
to the imperial standards. As this °''j*^^'*',
measure was adopted during the con- J^ent^of the
test in Greece, and when all thought boundaries
was turned toward the liberation of oi Russian
its inhabitants from the Ottoman ^III'^Tt''
yoke, it Avas obeyed with alacrity, °'
and even enthusiasm. The persons drawn took
their departure as for a holy war, amidbt the
shouts of their relations and neighbors ; and
from them, in great part, were formed the re-
doubtable bands which in a few years carried
the Russian eagles to Varna, Erivan, and Adri-
anople. A dangerous revolt in the same year
broke out in the province of Novgorod, owing
to the peasants having been misled into the
belief that the emperor had given them their
freedom, and that it was withheld by their
lords, which was only crushed by a great dis-
play of military force and considerable blood-
shed. It was the more alarming, from its
being ascertained that the conspiracy had its
roots in the military colonies recently estab-
lished in the southern provinces. The finan-
cial measures adopted in 1820 and 1822, for
withdrawing a large part of the assignats from
circulation, were continued with vigor and suc-
cess — a circumstance which, of course, made a
progressive rise in the value of money, and fall
in that of produce, and added much to tlie
general distress felt among the class of pro-
ducers. Already the ruble was worth 50 per
cent, more than it had been a few years before.
A treaty was signed on the 27lh A])iil between
Russia an(^ the I'nited States, which settled
the respective limits of their vast possessions
in North America: the line of demarcation was
fixed at 64" north latitude; all to the north
was Russian, all to the soutli American ; and
the reciprocal right was secured to the iidiab-
itaiifs of both countries, of fishing a .Sclinjt/.ler
on each oth(;r's coasts, navigating Hist. int. i.
the i'acitic, and disendiarking on 'J- ; 'I'rniiy,
places not occiipi('
pose only of trade with the inhab- Hist! vii.
itants, or 8U)(plies for themselves.^ S^^y, 044.
When, in 1703, the Empress Catherine deem-
ed it time to select a spouse for her grandson,
Alexander, she cast her eyes on the family of
the Grand Duke of Baden, wlio at that time had
IIISTUUV OF EUllOTE.
[CllAR VIII.
98.
The Ein-
iirfss of
Kussiii :
hiT tiirlll,
parriil.isii',
iiiurria):c,
and cliar-
Bcler.
Onobcr 9,
17U3.
llirt'o dnui;htcrs, giftcil with nil the virtiie niul
i;rnco9, and iiuioli «.it' tlio beauty of
ilii'ir SOX. Tliey iiH iimdo splt-ndiJ
nlliiineos. Tiie cKlost bei-uiiio (.^110011
of Swollen ; the youngest, (^iieen of
Biivaria; the seeoml, Knipross of Uiis-
sia. Married vu lUh Oclober, 17'.>:5,
to the young Alexander, then only
sixteen years of age, vhen she was
fifteen, she took, aecording to .the
Kussian custom, the name of Elizabeth Alex-
ejiona instead of her own, whieh was Louise-
Marie-Auguste, under which she had been
baptized. The pair, though too young for the
serious duties of their station, charmed every
eye by the beauty of their figures, and the
aifabiiity of their manners. But the union,
however ushered ia by splendid prognostica-
tions, proved unfortunate: it shared the fate of
nearly all in every rank which are formed by
jiarental authority, before the disposition has
declared itself, the constitution strengthened,
or the tastes formed. The }"oung empress was
gifted with all the virtues and many of the
graces of her sex. Her countenance, though
not regular, was lightened by a sweet expres-
sion ; her hair, which she wore in locks over
her shoulders, beautiful: her figure was ele-
gant, and her motions so graceful that she
seemed to realize the visions of the poet, which
made the goddess reveal herself by her step.*
In disposition she was in the highest degree
amiable and exemplar}-, self-denying, generous,
and affectionate. But with all these charms
and virtues she wanted the one thing needful
for a man of a thoughtful and superior turn of
mind: she was not a companion. !She had little
conversation, few ideas, and none of that elasti-
1 Schnitzler c'ty of mind which is necessary for
i. 96, 97 ; the charm of conversational inter-
Lagarde, course. Hence even the earliest years
bouvcnirs „., . . j i- r
of their marriage were productive 01
nolastingties; they seldom met, save
in public ; and the death of their two
(;ongrls"de *^"V children, both of whom were
Verone, i. daughters, deprived them of the en-
207. during bond of parental love.'
Ko one need be told that conjugal fidelity is
of all others the virtue most difficult to prac-
tice on the throne, and that it is never so much
60 as to sovereigns of the most energetic and
powerful minds. Ardent in one thing, they are
not less so in another: of few, from Julius C'a?sar
to Henry IV., can it be said that they are, like
Charles XII.,
" Unconquered lords of pleasure and of pain."
Alexander was not a sensualist, and he had
99. not the passion for meretricmus va-
Amours of riety, which so often in high rank
the Czar, j^^g disgraced the most illustrious
characters. But his mind was ardent, his heart
tender, and he had the highest enjoyment in
the confidential epanchementa which, rarely felt
by any save with those of the opposite sex,
can never be so but with them — by sovereigns
whose elevation keeps all of their own at a
distance. Before many years of his married
life had passed, Alexander had 3ielded to these
dispositions; and the knowledge of his infidel-
ities completed the estrangement of the illus-
* "Et vera incessu patuit Dea " — Virgil.
du Congres
de Verone,
i. £&3 ; Cha-
trious couple. ''Cut of these infidelities arose,"
says il. de Chateaubriand, "a fidelity which
continued eleven years." Alexander, howevei',
sull'ered in his turn by a righteous retribution
the pangs of jealousy. The object of his attach-
ment (a married I'olish lady of rank) had all
the beauty, fasciiuition, and conversational tal.
eut which have rendered her countrywomen
so celebrated over Europe, and to which even
the intellectual breast of Kapolcon did hom-
age ; but she had also the spirit of coquetry
and thirst for admiration which has so often
turned the passions they have awakened into
a consuming fire. Unfaithful to duty, she had
proved equally so to love : the influence of the
emperor was, after a long constancy, super-
seded by a new attachment ; and the liaison
between them was already broken, when a do-
mestic calamitj' overwhelmed him with afilic-
tioii. Meanwhile the empress, who had left
Kussia, and sought solace in foreign traveling,