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the welfare of the state, would
follow his example.
The council followed his
highness into the church and at
his request took the oath before
him; they were then introduced
by him into the presence of the
empress mother, who was
pleased to inform them that the
act and its content were known
to her, and were made with her
maternal consent, but that she
also was enthusiastic over her
son’s conduct. Confirming all his
actions she requested the
council by their united Nicholas I
endeavours to preserve the
(1796-1855)
tranquillity of the empire.
In accordance with the
measures taken, by three o’clock in the afternoon the troops as well
as all grades of officials in the government service had taken the
oath confirming the accession to the throne of the emperor
Constantine. During the whole time tranquillity and order were
preserved. It is easy to imagine the astonishment and vexation of the
czarevitch when, instead of receiving the expected commands of the
new emperor, he was informed that all Russia had taken the oath of
allegiance to him as lawful sovereign, and that the will of the late
emperor had not been fulfilled.
Meanwhile early in the morning of December 15th the grand duke
Michael Pavlovitch arrived in St. Petersburg with letters from the
czarevitch. To the amazement of the court and the inhabitants, the
grand duke did not follow the general example of swearing fidelity to
the emperor Constantine. He did not conceal his regret at what had
taken place in St. Petersburg, nor the apprehension with which the
necessity of a new oath filled him. He dwelt on the difficulty of
explaining to the public why the place of the elder brother to whom
allegiance had already been sworn should suddenly be taken by the
younger. The grand duke Nicholas in answer to his brother repeated
what he had already said, that he could not have acted otherwise in
such a position as that in which he was placed by his ignorance of
the sacred acts of the late emperor, and that neither his conscience
nor his reason reproached him. “Everything, however,” added he,
“might yet be amended and take a more favourable turn if the
czarevitch himself were to come to St. Petersburg; his obstinacy in
remaining at Warsaw may occasion disasters, the possibility of which
I do not deny, but of which in all probability I shall myself be the first
victim.”
After long deliberation the grand duke Nicholas decided to write a
fresh persuasive letter to the emperor Constantine, in which he
asked him to decide finally what his fate was to be; and in conclusion
he wrote, “In God’s name, come.” The empress Marie Feodorovna
added her persuasions to those of her son, and not satisfied with
these measures it was decided a few days later to despatch the
grand duke Michael to Warsaw to convince the czarevitch of the
necessity of his presence in St. Petersburg.
An answer from the czarevitch to the grand duke Nicholas’ letter
dated the 14th of December was brought to St. Petersburg by
Lazarev, aid-de-camp to Nicholas: “Your aide-de-camp, dear
Nicholas, on his arrival here, confided your letter to me with all
exactitude. I read it with the deepest grief and sorrow. My decision is
unalterable and consecrated by my late benefactor the emperor and
sovereign. Your invitation to come quickly cannot be accepted by
me, and I must tell you that I shall remove myself yet further away, if
all is not arranged in accordance with the will of our late emperor.
Your faithful and sincere friend and brother for life.” But even this
letter did not decide the matter; the return of Belussov from Warsaw
with the answer to the grand duke Nicholas’ letter of December 15th
had yet to be awaited.
A new complication remained to be added to all these difficulties.
On December 24th there came to St. Petersburg and presented
himself to the grand duke Nicholas, Colonel Baron Fredericks of the
Izmailovski Life Guards, who had fulfilled the functions of
commandant in Taganrog. He brought to the grand duke a packet
from Baron Diebitsch addressed to his imperial majesty, to be given
into his own hands. To the question as to whether he knew of the
contents of the packet, Fredericks replied in the negative, but added
that as the place of residence of the emperor was unknown in
Taganrog, exactly the same paper had been sent also to Warsaw.
Nothing therefore remained for Nicholas to do but to open the
mysterious packet and “at the first rapid glance over its contents,”
writes Baron Korv, “an inexpressible horror took possession of him.”
It was on reading the report contained in this packet that the grand
duke first learned of the existence of secret societies formed with the
object of destroying to the very roots the tranquillity of the empire.
The existence of these societies had been carefully hidden from him
by the late emperor Alexander.
Almost immediately thereafter the courier Belussov returned from
Warsaw with the czarevitch’s decisive answer, which put an end to
the interregnum. Nicholas Pavlovitch was emperor. At nine o’clock in
the evening the emperor sent the following postscript to Adjutant-
general Diebitsch:

The decisive courier has returned; by the morning of the day after to-morrow I
shall be emperor or else dead. I sacrifice myself for my brother; happy if as a
subject I fulfil his will. But how will it be with Russia? What about the army?
General Tolle is here and I shall send him to Mohilev to bear the news to Count
Saken. I am looking out for a trustworthy person for the same commission to
Tultchin and to Ermolov. In a word, I hope to be worthy of my calling, not in fear
and mistrustfulness, but in the hope that even as I fulfil my duty so will others fulfil
their duty to me. But if anywhere anything is brewing and you hear of it, I authorise
you to go at once where your presence is necessary. I rely entirely upon you and
give you leave beforehand to take all the measures you deem necessary. The day
after to-morrow if I am alive I will send you, I do not know by whom, information as
to how matters have passed off; on your part do not leave me without news of how
everything is going on around you, especially with Ermolov. I again repeat that
here until now everything is incomprehensibly quiet, but calm often precedes a
storm. Enough of this, God’s will be done! In me there must only be seen the vicar
and executor of the late emperor’s will and therefore I am ready for everything. I
shall ever be your sincere well wisher,
Nicholas.

THE ACCESSION OF NICHOLAS

 The czarevitch’s decisive answer was brought by Belussov, not
through Riga, but by the Brest-Lithuani road; and therefore the grand
duke Michael Pavlovitch was still in ignorance of the events at
Nennal. The emperor Nicholas immediately sent an express after
him commanding him to hasten to St. Petersburg. The return of the
grand duke to the capital where his presence was of urgent
necessity was thus by chance delayed.
Nicholas had now to occupy himself with the composition of his
manifesto; the inexplicable had to be explained and it presented a
task of no little difficulty: Karamzin and Speranski were set to work
upon it. The emperor Nicholas signed the manifesto on the 25th of
December, but dated it the 24th, as the day on which the question of
his accession had been definitely settled by the czarevitch. It was
proposed to keep the manifesto secret until the arrival of the grand
duke Michael, but it was decided that the troops should take the oath
of allegiance on the 26th of December; meanwhile notifications were
sent to the members of the council of state, calling upon them to
assemble on Sunday, December 25th, at eight in the evening, for a
general secret meeting.
When the council of state had assembled at the hour designated,
Prince Sopukhin announced that the grand duke Michael would be
present at the sitting. The hours passed in anxious expectation;
midnight approached and the expected arrival of the grand duke did
not take place. Then Nicholas decided to be present at the sitting
alone. Taking the place of the president, Nicholas himself began to
read the manifesto announcing his acceptance of the imperial dignity
in consequence of the persisted rejection of it by the czarevitch
Constantine Pavlovitch. Then the emperor ordered that the
czarevitch’s rescript, addressed to Prince Sopukhin, president of the
council, should be read. The 26th of December, 1825, had come.
Commands had been issued that on that day all persons having
access to the court should assemble at the Winter Palace for a Te
Deum; eleven o’clock was the hour first named, but this was
afterwards changed to two. Circumstances arose, however, which
postponed the Te Deum to a still later hour. The members of the
secret society decided to take advantage of the end of the
interregnum and the approach of the new oath of allegiance in order
to incite the troops to rebellion and to overthrow the existing order of
things in Russia. The secrecy in which the negotiations with Russia
had been enveloped had given occasion for various rumours and
suppositions, and for the spread of false reports which occasioned
alarm in society and especially in the barracks: all this favoured the
undertakings and designs of the conspirators.
The only issue from the position that had been created by
Nicholas in a moment of chivalrous enthusiasm “undoubtedly noble,
but perhaps not entirely wise,” would have been the arrival of the
grand duke Constantine in the capital with the object of publicly and
solemnly proclaiming his renunciation of the throne. But the
czarevitch flatly refused to employ this means of extricating his
brother from the difficult position in which he placed himself;
Constantine considered that it was not for him to suffer from the
consequences of an imprudence which was not his, and the danger
of which might have been averted if matters had not been hurried on,
and if he had been previously applied to for advice and instructions.
Thus led into error, some of the lower ranks of the guards’ regiments
refused to take the oath of allegiance to Nicholas Pavlovitch, and
assembled at the Pelrovski square, before the senate buildings,
appearing as though they were the defenders of the lawful rights of
the czarevitch Constantine to the throne.
Meanwhile distinguished persons of both sexes began to drive up
to the Winter Palace. Amidst the general stir and movement going on
in the palace, there sat isolated and immoveable three magnates,
“like three monuments,” writes Karamzin: Prince Lopukhin, Count
Araktcheiev, and Prince A. B. Kurakin. At the time when the military
men had already gone out on the square, Count Araktcheiev, as
might have been expected, preferred to remain in the palace. “It was
pitiful to look at him,” writes V. R. Martchenko in his Mémoires.
The rioters were stubborn for a long time and would not yield to
exhortation; Count Miloradovitch fell mortally wounded. It began to
grow dusk. Then the emperor Nicholas, at last convinced of the
impossibility of pacifying the rioters without bloodshed, gave orders
with a breaking heart for the artillery to fire. A few grape-shot
decided the fate of the day; the rioters were dispersed, and
tranquillity at once reigned in the capital.
The Te Deum announced could take place only at half past six.
The troops bivouacked round the palace. “Dear, dear Constantine,”
wrote the emperor the same evening to the czarevitch, “your will is
fulfilled: I am emperor, but at what price, my God!—at the price of the
blood of my subjects.” Arrests were made during that night and
investigations pursued to discover the leaders of the revolt. And thus
in the troubles of the 26th of December, the 1st of December, 1825,
was terribly recalled. “The day was one of misfortune for Russia,”
writes Prince Viasenski, “and the epoch which it signalised in such a
bloody manner was an awful judgment for deeds, opinions, and
ideas, rooted in the past and governing the present.” According to
the words of Karamzin, on that day Russia was saved from a
calamity “which, if it had not destroyed her, would certainly have torn
her to pieces.” “If I am emperor even for an hour, I will show that I
was worthy of it”; thus spoke Nicholas on the morning of December
26th to the commanders of the guard regiments assembled at the
Winter Palace; and on that awful day he triumphantly justified his first
and impressive words.

TRIAL OF THE CONSPIRATORS (1826 A.D.)

The emperor Nicholas gave all possible

[1826 a.d.] publicity to the proceedings against the secret
societies, the Southern, Northern, the United
Slavonians, and the Polish; then the whole matter was transferred to
the supreme criminal court, which had to pronounce sentence on the
principal participators in the conspiracy. Of the accused, Rileeks,
Muraviev-Alostob, Bestuzhev-Riumin, Pesteb, and Kakhovski were
condemned to death, and the remaining members of the secret
societies brought before the court were exiled to Siberia or other
places of incarceration.
No one had expected such a termination to the affair. During the
whole of Alexander’s reign there had not been one case of capital
punishment, and it was looked upon as entirely abolished. “It is
impossible to describe in words the horror and despair which have
taken possession of all,” writes a contemporary and eye witness of
the events of 1826 in Moscow. This frame of mind was reflected in
the coronation ceremonies. The emperor Nicholas appeared
extremely gloomy; the future seemed more sad and fuller of anxiety
than ever; all was in sharp contrast to the enthusiasm and hopes that
had accompanied the coronation of Alexander in 1801.

THE CORONATION OF NICHOLAS (1826 A.D.)

Immediately after the termination of the trial of the Dekabrists, the

court proceeded to Moscow for the approaching coronation, which
took place on the 3rd of September. Previously the emperor was
rejoiced at the unexpected arrival of the grand duke Constantine
Pavlovitch. According to Benkendorf “the czarevitch’s appearance
was a brilliant public testimony of his submission to the new emperor
and of his conscientious renunciation of the throne; it was at the
same time a precious pledge of the harmony which bound together
all the members of the reigning family, a harmony conducive to the
peace of the empire. The public was delighted and the corps
diplomatique completely astounded. The people expressed their
satisfaction to the czarevitch by unanimous acclamations, whilst the
dignitaries of the state surrounded him with marks of respectful
veneration.”
The day of the coronation was signalised by an important reform in
the administration of the court; the ministry of the imperial court was
created, and confided to Prince P. M. Volkonski. Thus the old and
tried companion of the emperor Alexander I again occupied the post
of a trusty dignitary by the side of his successor. Prince Volkonski
remained minister of the court until his decease, which took place in
1852. Amongst the favours and the mitigations of punishments which
were granted on the 3rd of September, the state criminals who had
lately been condemned were not forgotten; by special ukases the
sentences of all those sent to the galleys, to penal settlements, and
hard labour were mitigated. Those who had been sent to the
Siberian, Orenburg, and Caucasian garrisons, both with and without
deprivation of the rights of nobility, were enrolled in the regiments of
the Caucasian corps.
During the emperor’s stay in Moscow, the poet Pushkin, who had
been banished to the village of Mikhailovski, was recalled. From that
moment he regained his lost liberty, besides which the emperor
Nicholas said to him: “In future you are to send me all you write—
henceforth I will be your censor.”

CHANGES IN INTERNAL ADMINISTRATION

On the 18th of October, 1826, the emperor Nicholas returned to

St. Petersburg; although his accession to the throne did not
constitute the opening of a new era for Russia, yet certain changes
were made in the system of administration which had prevailed
during the last decade of the reign of Alexander I. After Count
Araktcheiev had been relieved of the management of the general
affairs of the state, it was to be foreseen that he would not remain
long at the head of the direction of the military settlements. And thus
it turned out. In the spring of 1826 Count Araktcheiev, on account of
illness, was given leave to go abroad. In the report presented by him
on this occasion to the emperor he announced to him economies of
more than 32,000,000 rubles made on the military settlements, and
concluded his epistle by observing, “Those impartial judges—
posterity and the future—will pronounce a just sentence on all
things.”
On the return of Count Araktcheiev in the autumn from his travels
abroad he did not again take up his duties. In accordance with a
ukase which then followed, the staff office of the military settlements
was united to the general staff of his imperial majesty, under the
jurisdiction of its adjutant-general Baron Diebitsch. At the same time
the Novgorod military settlement passed under the entire direction of
General Prince Schahovski, who was nominated commander of the
grenadier corps; the Kherson and Iekaterinoslav settlements were
put under the supervision of their chief, Count Vitt (who was also
commander of a separate corps), while the settlements in the
villages of the Ukraine and Mohilev governments remained under the
jurisdiction of their former chiefs, who bore the rank of commanders
of divisions. Count Araktcheiev, when he had finally bidden adieu to
his administrative career, settled on his Georgian estates, where he
died in 1834.
Having delivered Russia from the administrative guardianship of
Count Araktcheiev, the emperor Nicholas, in addition, delivered
Russian instruction from the influence of Michael Leontievitch
Magnitzki. On the 18th of May, 1826, a ukase was issued in which it
was stated that “the curator of the University of Kazan and of its
educational district, the actual councillor of state Magnitzki, is by our
command relieved of his functions and of his position as member of
the administration of schools.” But the matter was not limited to this
ukase. Magnitzki continued to live in Kazan and in accordance with
his character he continued to intrigue as usual and indirectly to
influence the university he had left. General Jeltukhin, who had been
commissioned to make a detailed revision of the Kazan University,
brought this fact to the emperor’s knowledge. Nicholas’ reply was
rapid and decisive; a courier was sent with orders to the governor to
arrest Magnitzki and send him to Revel under the surveillance of the
commandant. Magnitzki lived there six years, having given his
promise not to absent himself.
An equally sad fate overtook the champion and imitator of
Magnitzki, Dmitri Pavlovitch Runitch, who had filled the office of
curator of the St. Petersburg educational district. By a ukase of the
7th of July, 1826, Runitch was deprived of his functions and of the
position of member of the chief administration of schools, for his
incompetence in the matter of the direction of the St. Petersburg
educational district. The requital experienced by Runitch for his
educational labours was a terrible one; he languished beneath the
consequences for sixteen years and died in 1860 in the conviction
that he had formerly saved Russia, and was suffering for the good
work he had accomplished in the University of St. Petersburg.

Reforms in the Administration of Justice

 The lamentable condition of the administration of justice in Russia
was one of the first subjects to which the careful attention of the
emperor Nicholas was directed. In a speech pronounced by the
sovereign many years later, in 1833, before the council of state,
Nicholas Pavlovitch thus expressed himself:
“From my very accession to the throne I was obliged to turn my
attention to various administrative matters, of which I had scarcely
any notion. The chief subject that occupied me was naturally
legislation. Even from my early youth I had constantly heard of our
deficiencies in this respect, of chicanery, of extortion, of the
insufficiency of the existing laws or of their admixture through the
extraordinary number of ukases which were not infrequently in
contradiction to one another. This incited me from the very first days
of my reign to examine into the state of the commission appointed
for the constitution of the laws. To my regret, the information
presented to me proved to me that its labours had remained almost
fruitless. It was not difficult to discover the cause of this: the deficient
results proceeded chiefly from the fact that the commission always
directed its attention to the formation of new laws, when in reality the
old ones should have been established on a firm foundation. This
inspired me above all with a desire to establish a definite aim
towards which the government must direct its actions in the matter of
legislation; from the methods proposed to me I selected one in entire
opposition to the former methods of reform. Instead of drawing up
new laws, I commanded that first those which already existed should
be collected and set in order, whilst I took the matter itself, on
account of its great importance, under my own immediate direction
and closed the previous commission.”
With this object was formed and opened on the 6th of May, 1826,
the “second section of his imperial majesty’s own chancery.” M. A.
Balongianski was appointed chief of the second section, but in reality
the work itself was confided to Speranski. The emperor’s choice
rested on the latter, out of necessity, as he did not find anyone more
capable around him. When Balongianski was appointed chief of the
second section, the emperor, in conversing with his former tutor, said
to him, speaking of Speranski: “See that he does not play any
pranks, as in 1810.” Nevertheless, in
proportion to Speranski’s successful
accomplishment of the work confided
to him, the emperor Nicholas’
prejudices against him gradually
softened and finally gave way to
sincere favour and full confidence. All
the accusations and calumnies
directed against Speranski were, in
accordance with the emperor’s own
expression, “scattered like dust.”
Thus the emperor Nicholas in his
almost involuntary choice was
favoured by a peculiarly fortunate
chance and could hardly have found a
person better fitted for the
accomplishment of the work he had
planned. The results of Speranski’s
fresh efforts, under completely
different circumstances from those
against which he had formerly
contended, were the “complete
Married Woman of Valdai
collection of laws,” and a systematic
code.
Even before the termination of the trial of the Dekabrists, the
emperor Nicholas took another important measure, which left an
imprint on all the succeeding years of his reign and is directly
connected with the events of the 26th of December. On the 15th of
July, 1826, a supreme edict was issued in the name of the minister
of the interior Lanskoi, by which the private chancery of that ministry
was abolished and transformed into the third section of his imperial
majesty’s own chancery. In fulfilment of this ukase, it was prescribed
that the governors of provinces, in matters which entered within the
sphere of the former division, should no longer present their reports
to the ministry of the interior, but should submit them directly to his
majesty.
 Some days before, on the
emperor Nicholas’ birthday, the
6th of July, a supreme order
appeared naming the chief of
the first cuirassier division,
Adjutant-general Benkendorf,
chief of the gendarmerie and
commandant of the emperor’s
headquarters; to him was
confided the direction of the third
section. Adjutant-general
Benkendorf explains in his
memoirs in the following manner
the reasons for establishing the
institution confided to his
direction: “The emperor Nicholas
aimed at the extirpation of the
abuses that had crept into many
branches of the administration,
and was convinced by the
sudden discovery of the
conspiracy which had stained
the first moments of the new
A Woman (Sailor) of the Nogai Tribe reign with blood, of the necessity
of a universal and more diligent
surveillance. The emperor chose
me to organise a higher police, which should protect the oppressed
and guard the nation against conspiracies and conspirators. Never
having thought of preparing myself for this sort of service, I had
hardly the most superficial understanding of it; but the noble and
beneficent motives which inspired the sovereign in his creation of
this institution and the desire to be of use to him, forbade me to
evade the duty to which his high confidence had called me. I set to
work without delay and God helped me to fulfil my new duties to the
satisfaction of the emperor and without setting general opinion
against me. I succeeded in showing favours to many, in discovering
many conspiracies, and averting much evil.” With the creation of the
new third section, the committee of the 13th of January, 1807,
established by the emperor Alexander, became superfluous; and on
the 29th of January a ukase was issued closing it.
The disturbances of the year 1825 did not pass without leaving
traces on the peasant population; a momentary confusion ensued,
freedom was talked of, and disorders arose in some provinces—a
phenomenon often seen in previous times. The movement amongst
the peasants incited the emperor Nicholas to publish, on the 24th of
May, 1826, a manifesto in which it was declared that all “talk of
exempting the villagers in the state settlements from paying taxes
and of freeing landowner’s peasants and menials from subjection to
their landowners are false rumours, imagined and spread by evil
intentioned persons out of mere cupidity with the object of enriching
themselves through these rumours at the expense of the peasants,
by taking advantage of their simplicity.” It was further said in the
manifesto that all classes throughout the empire must absolutely
submit to the authorities placed over them, and that disturbers of the
public tranquillity would be prosecuted and punished in accordance
with the full severity of the laws. It was commanded that the
manifesto should be read in all the churches and at the markets and
fairs during a space of six months; the governors of provinces were
sternly admonished to be watchful in anticipating disorders.
If, however, the emperor Nicholas was forced by circumstances to
promulgate this punitive manifesto, he also issued two rescripts in
the name of the minister of the interior, enjoining upon the nobility
behaviour towards their peasants, which should be in accordance
with the laws of Christianity, thus clearly expressing his desire to
protect the peasant against the arbitrariness and tyranny of the
landowners. “In all cases,” wrote the emperor: “I find it, and shall
ever find it, better to prevent evil, than to pursue it by punishment
when it has already arisen.”
Finally the solicitude of the emperor Nicholas for the peasant
classes manifested itself by yet another action. On the 18th of
December, 1826, a special secret committee was formed to which
was confided the inspection of the entire state organisation and
administration, with the order to represent the conclusions it arrived
at as to the changes deemed necessary; the labours of the
committee were to be directed also to the consideration of the
peasant question. Besides this the emperor did not leave without
attention what had been said by the Dekabrists, during the time of
their examination before a committee of inquiry, in regard to the
internal conditions of the state in the reign of Alexander I. The
emperor ordered a separate memorandum of these opinions to be
drawn up for him and often perused this curious document, from
which he extracted much that was pertinent.b

WAR WITH PERSIA (1826-1828 A.D.)

The shah of Persia thought he saw in the

[1826-1828 a.d.] change of rulers and the troubles by which it
was accompanied circumstances favourable to
the recovery of the provinces ceded to Russia by the Treaty of
Gulistan. In August, 1826, he ordered his troops to move forward.
The solemnity of his coronation, which was then being celebrated
and whose splendour was enhanced by the presence of the
czarevitch, did not prevent Nicholas from promptly organising the
defence of the empire. A few weeks afterwards General Paskevitch
defeated the Persians at Ielisavetpol, and in the following year,
transferring the theatre of war to the enemy’s territory, he seized the
celebrated convent of Etchmiadzine, the seat of the Armenian
patriarch, and Erivan, one of the great towns of Armenia; he
moreover penetrated as far as Tauris, capital of the Azerbaijan and
residence of the prince royal, Abbas Mirza. Then the shah asked for
peace. It was signed at Turkmantchaï, the 22nd of February, 1828,
and advanced Russia as far as the line of the Araxes, by giving up to
her the provinces of Erivan and Nakhitchevan.

WAR WITH TURKEY (1828-1829 A.D.)

This treaty was concluded, to the great regret of Persia, when the
war with Turkey broke out. This war had been threatening for years;
for, deeply affected by the violences to which the Greeks in the
Ottoman Empire had been exposed ever since the hetaerist
insurrection of 1821, and by the martyrdom which the Greek
patriarch had been made to suffer, Alexander left the sword in its
sheath only out of deference to the members of the Holy Alliance.
His successor was thoroughly determined no longer to subordinate
the direction of his cabinet’s policy to the interested views of these
princes and to their fears, though it is true that the latter were well
founded. The Divan, by signing the Treaty of Akerman (October 6th,
1826), had momentarily averted the storm which was ready to burst;
but still more irritating disputes had afterwards arisen. The
conclusion of the Treaty of London of the 6th of July, 1827, in virtue
of which France, England, and Russia gave existence to a Christian
kingdom of Greece placed under their common protection, was
shortly followed by the naval battle of Navarino, fought on the 20th of
October of the same year by the combined fleets of the three
powers, against Ibrahim Pasha, commander-in-chief of the Egyptian
forces in the Morea; and in this memorable conflict, expected by no
one, but a subject of joy to some whilst judged untoward by others,
the whole of the navy which the Porte still had at its disposal was
destroyed. Very soon Mahmud II, yielding to the national desire, let it
be understood that he had never had any intention of lending himself
to the execution of a treaty in virtue of which Moldavia, Wallachia,
and Servia were almost as much the czar’s vassals as his own. This
was the beginning of a rupture, and Nicholas answered it by a
declaration of war, which appeared June 4th, 1828, when his army
had already crossed the Pruth.
The campaign of 1828, which accomplished nothing more than the
taking of Braila and Varna, did not give a high idea of the strength of
Russia; and when the emperor made up his mind to take part in it in
person, his presence wrought no change in the feebleness of the
results. But it was not the same with the campaign which followed.
Not only did the Russians again pass the Danube, but after having
beaten the grand vizir, Reschid Pasha, at Koulevtcha, on the 11th of
June, Diebitsch marched them across the Balkans for the first time, a
feat which won him the name of Sabalkanski, and proceeded straight
to Adrianople, where he was scarcely more than two hundred
kilometres (about 125 miles) from the Ottoman capital. At the same
time Paskevitch took Erzerum in Asia, and the two generals would
doubtless have joined hands in Constantinople but for the efforts of
diplomacy and the fear of a general conflagration. For Russia was
already too powerful; she had been allowed more than was
compatible with the policy of the system of balance, no doubt from
the fear of incurring a grave responsibility by troubling the peace of
Europe. But a prospect like that of the occupation by Russia of
Constantinople and the Straits silenced this fear.
Austria was ready to send her troops to the
[1829 a.d.] help of the Turks, and the English also seemed
likely to declare for the vanquished. It was
therefore necessary to come to a halt. Russia reflected that, after all,
“the sultan was the least costly governor-general she could have at
Constantinople,” and lent an ear to moderate conditions of peace.
Nevertheless, if the Treaty of Adrianople, signed September 14th,
1829, delivered nothing to her in Europe save the mouths of the
Danube, in itself a very important point, it enlarged her territories in
Asia by a part of the pashalik of Akhalzikh, with the fortress of that
name, besides abandoning to her those of Anapa and Pothi on the
Black Sea; it considerably strengthened Muscovite influence in the
principalities, and still further weakened Turkey, not only morally but
also materially by the great pecuniary sacrifices to which she had to
subscribe. That power, once so formidable, was henceforth at the
mercy of her northern neighbour, the principal instrument of her
decay.

THE POLISH INSURRECTION (1830-1831 A.D.)

But Russia was in her turn rudely shaken by

[1830 a.d.] the insurrection in Poland, always her mortal
enemy after she had ceased to be her rival.c
It was in Moscow that the emperor Nicholas received news of the
further progress of the Belgian revolution, in consequence of which
the king of the Netherlands found himself obliged to ask for the
assistance of his allies by virtue of the existing treaties. The emperor
at once despatched orders to Count Tchernishev, Field-marshal
Saken, and the czarevitch to place the army on a war footing. The
czarevitch was not pleased at the martial turn given to the diplomatic
negotiations; still more dissatisfied was the Polish Society of that
time, which sympathised with the revolution of July; neither was the
army in sympathy with the approaching campaign, which would bring
it into armed collision with France in the name of the principles of the
Holy Alliance. Although tranquillity apparently reigned in Warsaw, yet
the secret societies continued to carry on their destructive work with
success.
Various ominous signs of the
approaching catastrophe were
not, however, wanting; but the
czarevitch continued to lull
himself with impossible hopes
that all was peaceful and
tranquil and would remain so. As
to the European powers allied to
Russia, they did not enter into
the matter with such decided
zeal. In the present case it was
the Russian autocrat alone who
was ready with entire
disinterestedness to take up the
defence of the infringed lawful
order. The other powers found it
Count Diebitsch-Sabalkanski
incomparably more expedient to
have recourse to the co- (1785-1831)
operation of diplomatic
remedies; the result was that,
instead of an armed intervention, a general European conference for
the settlement of the Belgian question by peaceful means took place
in London.
Count Diebitsch was still in Berlin awaiting the termination of the
negotiations confided to him, when they were suddenly broken off by
an event upon which the field-marshal had not in the least calculated
at the given moment. On the 3rd of December, 1830, Diebitsch
received from the Prussian minister, Count Berastorf, news of the
revolution which had taken place in Warsaw on the 29th of
November: the Polish army, forming a prepared coalition, had taken
up arms against Russia. There remained but one thing for Diebitsch
to do and that was to hasten to St. Petersburg as quickly as
possible. Meanwhile in St. Petersburg the emperor Nicholas had
received only the report of the czarevitch concerning the rising of the
troops and of inhabitants of Warsaw on the evening of the 7th of
December, 1830.
On the next day a parade of the Preobrajenski regiment was
appointed to take place, and as usual the emperor came to the riding
school. At first everything proceeded in the usual manner; there were
even no traces of inward agitation manifest upon the handsome face
with its regular, classic profile, which preserved its habitual
expression of majestic nobility. At the termination of the parade the
emperor rode into the middle of the riding school, called the officers
around him, and personally communicated to them the intelligence of
the Warsaw rebellion: “I have already made arrangements that the
troops designated by me should move on Warsaw, and if necessary
you too shall go, to punish the traitors and re-establish order and the
offended honour of Russia. I know that under every circumstance I
can rely upon you,” said the emperor. A unanimous outburst of
indignation momentarily seized upon all present and then
enthusiastic cries resounded: “Lead us against the rebels: we will
revenge the offended honour of Russia.” They kissed the emperor’s
hands and feet and the hem of his garment with shouts and cheers.
The outburst of indignation was so violent that Nicholas considered it
necessary to moderate it, and with the majesty that was natural to
him he reminded the officers surrounding him that not all the Poles
had broken their oath; that the ringleaders of the insurrection must
be punished, but that vengeance must not be taken on the people:
that the repentant must be pardoned and hatred not allowed.
From the subsequent reports of the grand duke the emperor
learned that the czarevitch had permitted the portion of the Polish
army that remained with him to return to Warsaw; in exchange for
this the deputies who came to the czarevitch promised him and the
Russian detachment a free passage to the frontiers of the empire. It
was decided that a sufficient number of troops should be
concentrated in the Polish frontier to allow of decisive measures
being taken against the insurgents. Count Diebitsch was appointed
commander-in-chief of the acting army, whilst the office of chief of
the staff was filled by Count Tolle.
When the czarevitch reached the Russian frontier he wrote as
follows to the emperor Nicholas: “And now the work of sixteen years
is completely destroyed by a set of ensign-bearers, young officers,
and students. I will not further enlarge on the matter, but duty
commands me to bear witness to you that the landed proprietors, the
rural population, and in general all holders of property of any kind are
up in despair over this. The officers and generals as well as the
soldiers are unable to keep from joining the general movement,
being carried away by the young people and ensign-bearers who led
everyone astray. In a word, the position of affairs is extremely bad,
and I really do not know what will come of it. All my measures of
surveillance have led to nothing, in spite of the fact that everything
was beginning to be discovered. Here are we Russians at the
frontier, but great God in what a condition!—almost barefoot, for we
all came out as if at the sound of an alarm, in the hopes of returning
to barracks, whilst instead awful marches have had to be made. The
officers have been deprived of everything and have almost nothing
with which to clothe themselves. I am broken hearted; at the age of
fifty-one and a half years I never thought to finish my career in this
lamentable manner after thirty-five and a half years of service. I pray
to God that the army to which I have devoted sixteen years of my life
may be brought to reason, and return to the path of duty and honour,
acknowledging its previous errors, before coercive measures have to
be taken. But this is too much to expect from the age in which we
live, and I greatly doubt the realisation of my desires.”
Any agreement with Poland became daily more impossible and
both sides prepared for war. On the 17th of December the emperor
Nicholas’ proclamation to the Polish army and nation was issued,
and on the 24th a manifesto was published offering means of
reconciliation to all those who returned to their duty. Meanwhile
General Chlopicki was installed as dictator in Warsaw, but he was
unable to save Poland from a rupture with Russia. Two deputies
were sent to St. Petersburg to enter into negotiations with the
emperor Nicholas; they were the minister of finance, Prince Lubetzki
and a member of the diet, Count Ezerski. But neither could these
negotiations avert the bloody events of the year 1831. “It is hard to
foresee the future,” wrote the emperor to the czarevitch; “but
weighing the relative probabilities of success, it is difficult to suppose
that the new year will show itself more distressing for us than the
year 1830; God grant that I may not be mistaken. I should like to see
you peacefully settled in your Belvedere and order re-established
throughout; but how much there yet remains to be accomplished
before we are in a condition to attain to this! Which of the two must
perish—for it appears inevitable that one must perish, Russia or
Poland? Decide for yourself. I have exhausted all possible means in
order to avert such a calamity—all means compatible with honour
and my conscience—but they are exhausted. What remains for me
to do?”
Soon the diet assembled in Warsaw took a
[1831 a.d.] decision which completed the rupture between
Poland and Russia. On the 25th of January,
1831, the diet declared the Romanov dynasty to be deprived of the
throne of Poland. The Poles themselves thus unbound the hands of
the emperor, and the duel between Russia and Poland became
inevitable. The emperor replied to the challenge by a manifesto in
accordance with which the Russian troops crossed the Polish
frontier, and on the 25th of February a decisive battle took place
before Prague at Grokhov, by which the Polish army was obliged to
retreat to Warsaw with a loss of twelve thousand men.
But Count Diebitsch did not recognise the possibility of taking
advantage of the victory gained, and which would have been
inevitably completed by the occupation of the Polish capital; and
Sabalkanski was not fated to become prince of Warsaw. The Polish
troops retreated unhindered across the only bridge to Warsaw; the
new Polish commander-in-chief Skrjinetzski set out to reorganise the
army, the rising spread even to the Russian governments, and the