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 THE 
 
 LAST DAYS OF ALEXANDER, 
 
 AND THE 
 
 FIRST DAYS OF NICHOLAS, 
 
 (EMPERORS OE RUSSIA.) 
 
 By EOBEET LEE, M.D., F.R.S., 
 
 FELLOW OF THE ROYAL COLLEGE OF PHYSICIANS, LONDON. 
 
 
 SECOND EDITION. 
 
 - ■*•- " 
 
 LONDON : 
 RICHARD BBNTLEY, NEW BURLINGTON STREET. 
 
 1854. 
 
PRINTED BY HARRISON AND SONS, 
 i ONUON GAZETTE OFEICE. ST. BTABTTN'S LANB 
 
PRESERVATION 
 V I | Copy ADDED 
 
 ORIGINAL TO BE 
 RETAINED 
 
 ADVERTISEMENT 
 
 TO 
 
 'V 
 
 THE SECOND EDITION. 
 
 The first edition of this Diary being exhausted, 
 and a second being called for, I avail myself of 
 this opportunity to make a few remarks. 
 
 There are now sixty millions of slaves in the 
 Russian Empire, speaking the same language, 
 professing the same religion, having the same 
 flesh, blood, and intellect as their masters, who 
 yet enjoy no civil privileges, and from whom a 
 knowledge of the sacred Scriptures is rigidly 
 excluded. In what manner this dark stain upon 
 humanity will be removed no one can foretel, but 
 it is impossible to believe that it is destined to 
 endure much longer. A Bible in the Russian 
 language placed in the hands of every prisoner of 
 war might contribute something to this great 
 work. 
 
 From the Emperor, priests, and nobles, there 
 is no hope of any improvement in the condition 
 
 «2 
 
IV ADVERTISEMENT. 
 
 of the slaves, but there are events now taking- 
 place which seem to indicate and justify a hope 
 that a great internal revolution is impending, and 
 that "the day of redemption" to the Russian 
 slave " draweth nigh." As there is nothing of 
 any real value in the institutions of Russia which 
 could be swept away, there will be little to 
 deplore in any revolution which may occur in 
 that Empire. 
 
 ROBERT LEE, M.D. 
 
 5th June, 1854. 
 
ADVERTISEMENT. 
 
 The following pages contain the substance of a 
 Journal which I kept during a residence of two 
 years in Russia. The original MSS. are still in 
 my possession. A few pages of the first portion, 
 "The Last Days of the Emperor Alexander/' 
 were published in the " Athenaeum" nine years 
 ago. 
 
 ROBERT LEE, M.D. 
 
PART I. 
 
 THE LAST PATS 
 
 
 OF 
 
 THE EMPEKOR ALEXANDER. 
 

 THE LAST DATS 
 
 OP 
 
 THE EMPEEOE ALEXANDER 
 
 On the 5th of November, 1824, I arrived 
 at Cologne, on my way from London to Odessa, 
 to join the family of Count Woronzow, in the 
 capacity of physician to his Excellency. The 
 weather had been very tempestuous during the 
 whole journey from England; and torrents of rain 
 had fallen. The Rhine had overflowed its banks 
 to a greater extent than had ever before been 
 1 remembered. From the cathedral and spire of 
 the town-house the inundation presented a 
 striking and melancholy spectacle. The whole 
 level country was covered with water; and the 
 river with the wrecks it was floating away. 
 The following day, many miles before reaching 
 
 B 
 
THE LAST DAYS OF 
 
 Andernach, the road was inundated by the Rhine, 
 and it was necessary to embark in a boat and be 
 towed up the stream by a number of men on the 
 shore. The rope by which it was dragged against 
 the rapid current frequently became entangled 
 among the chimneys of houses and tops of trees, 
 when suddenly getting loose, the boat ran great 
 risk of being upset, to the extreme danger of the 
 passengers. The night had begun to set in long 
 before this dangerous voyage was completed, and 
 the river was becoming more and more rapid, 
 rushing against our boat with increasing violence. 
 The darkness had increased so much that every 
 object around us had become indistinct and our 
 situation truly perilous; when, the full moon 
 unexpectedly rising above the mountains of the 
 Rhine, our apprehensions of danger were re- 
 moved and our feelings of anxiety lost in ad- 
 miration of the magnificence of the scenery 
 around us. 
 
 Having reached Coblentz about midnight, I 
 crossed the river with difficulty the following 
 afternoon to Ehrenbreitstein ; from whence my 
 journey was continued to Frankfort without in- 
 terruption. I saw from a hill between Limburg 
 and Wiesbaden, to a distance as far as the eye 
 could reach, the Rhine and the Maine, like two 
 arms of the sea covering the whole of the flat 
 
THE EMPEROE ALEXANDER. 3 
 
 country; and it was estimated that no less than 
 50,000 persons were ruined by this extensive 
 inundation. Passing through Wurtzburg and 
 Nuremberg, I reached Patisbon on the loth of 
 November. The wind blew and the rain fell 
 without ceasing during the whole of my journey 
 from Frankfort. The Danube had risen as much 
 above its ordinary level as the Rhine, and was 
 rushing with its characteristic impetuosity, fear- 
 fully increased at this time, through all the fifteen 
 arches of the old bridge of Patisbon. It ap- 
 peared to me surprising that this structure, which 
 had been built seven hundred years before, should 
 be able to withstand the force of such a mighty 
 torrent. 
 
 A frightful and disastrous inundation also took 
 place at this time at St. Petersburgh, of which 
 the following description has been furnished me 
 by a medical friend, then residing at St. Peters- 
 burgh : — 
 
 " The autumnal equinoctial gales most gene- 
 rally prevail at St. Petersburg from the south- 
 west, by which the waters of the Gulf of Finland 
 and Neva are much increased. So it was in 
 1824; and for some weeks the wind continued 
 from nearly the same quarter. The night of the 
 18th of November was very stormy; and at day- 
 light of the 19th it blew a hurricane from 
 
 B 2 
 
4 THE LAST DAYS OF 
 
 WSW, by which the stream of the river — 
 the upper part at least — was reversed, and the 
 waters, running higher than ever remembered, 
 soon caused the lower parts of the city and neigh- 
 bourhood of the embouchure to be inundated. 
 At nine o'clock in the morning I attempted to 
 cross the Voskresenskoy Bridge of boats, on my 
 way to the General Naval Hospital, on the 
 Wyborside, but was unable owing to the great 
 elevation. I then paid some professional visits ; 
 and at eleven called on Prince Narishkin, who 
 had already given orders to remove the furniture 
 from his lower apartments, the water then being 
 above the level of the Fontanka Canal, opposite 
 to his residence. From this time the rise was 
 rapid; and at half-past eleven, when I returned 
 to my house, in the Great Millione, the water 
 was gushing upwards through the gratings of the 
 sewers, filling the streets and court-yards with 
 which every house is provided. A servant took 
 me on his back from the droshky, my horses at 
 that time being above their knees, and conveyed 
 me to the landing of the staircase. The wind 
 now blew in awful gusts; and the noise of the 
 tempest with the cries of the people in the streets 
 was terrific. It was not long ere boats were 
 seen in the streets, with vast quantities of fire- 
 wood and other articles floating about. As there 
 
THE EMPEROR ALEXANDER. 5 
 
 was an ascent to my coach-house and stables, 
 the water there attained but to four feet in depth; 
 in most, however, it was necessary to get both 
 horses and cows up to the landing-places of the 
 stairs in order to save them, though the loss of 
 animals was great. Now and then a horse was 
 seen swimming across from one pavement to 
 another, the deepest part of the streets of 
 St. Petersburo'h being; in the centre. The num- 
 ber of rats drowned on this occasion was incon- 
 ceivable; and of dogs and cats not a few. The 
 crisis seemed to be from one to three in the after- 
 noon, at which hour the wind having veered 
 round a couple of points to the northward, the 
 waters began to abate; and by four o'clock the 
 tops of the iron-posts, three feet in height, by the 
 sides of the pavement, made their appearance. 
 The reflux of the water was tremendous, causing 
 much damage, and carrying off fire-wood, boards, 
 lumber, and all sorts of rubbish, with various 
 articles of furniture. From the commencement 
 of the inundation the report of the signal cannon, 
 fired first at the Galleyhaven, at the entrance of 
 the river, then at the Admiralty dockyard, and 
 lastly at the fortress, was continued at intervals 
 as a warning to the inhabitants, and added not a 
 little to the horror of the scene. At five o'clock 
 
6 THE LAST DAYS OF 
 
 persons were seen on the pavements carrying 
 lanterns, and the rattling of equipages was heard 
 an hour afterwards. The depth of water in the 
 different parts of the city varied from four to nine 
 and ten feet; but along the border of the Gulf of 
 Finland, and especially in the low suburb of the 
 Galley haven before alluded to, the depth was from 
 fourteen to eighteen feet, and many of the small 
 wooden houses built on piles were carried away, 
 inmates and all. A few Avere floated up the 
 Neva, rocking about with poor creatures clinging 
 on the roof. Some of these perished; others 
 were taken off, at a great risk, by boats from the 
 Admiralty yard, which had been ordered out by 
 the express command of His Imperial Majesty, 
 who stood during the greatest part of the day on 
 the balcony of the Winter Palace, giving the 
 necessary orders. The government ironworks, 
 near the shore of the gulf, and two miles distant, 
 were almost annihilated, and the loss of life was 
 great. This establishment was afterwards re- 
 moved to the left and elevated bank of the Neva, 
 five versts above the city. Vessels of various 
 kinds, boats, timber, &c. floated over the parapets 
 of the quays on the banks of the Neva and canals, 
 into the streets and squares, and were for the 
 most part afterwards broken up for fuel. As the 
 
THE EMPEROR ALEXANDER. 7 
 
 lower part of most houses in St. Petersburgh is 
 occupied by shopkeepers and artizans of various 
 descriptions, so these unfortunate people sus- 
 tained much loss, and until their dwellings were 
 considered to be sufficiently dried by means of 
 stoves, found refuge and maintenance with their 
 neighbours in the upper apartments. A German 
 shoemaker with his family lived below me, and in 
 this way became my guests for the space of eight 
 days. The wind continued providentially to get 
 round to the north during the night of the 1 9th, 
 and a smart frost taking place on the following 
 morning, rendered the roads and streets extremely 
 slippery, but doing much good by the dryness it 
 produced. On the 20th, the Emperor Alexander, 
 ever benevolent and humane, visited those parts 
 of the city and suburbs most afflicted by this 
 catastrophe; and in person bestowed alms and con- 
 solation to the sufferers, for the most part of the 
 lower classes, and in every way afforded such , 
 relief, both then and afterwards, as won for him 
 the still greater love and admiration of his people 
 and of the foreign residents in St. Petersburffh. 
 To assist the Emperor's benevolent views, a sub- 
 scription was entered into, and the British resi- 
 dents came forward, as usual, with their wonted 
 liberality. As nothing official was published as 
 to the actual loss of lives on this melancholy occa- 
 
8 THE LAST DAYS OF 
 
 sion, it is impossible to state otherwise than by 
 report. The authorities were shy on this subject; 
 but from what information I could obtain, twelve 
 or fifteen hundred persons must have perished. 
 Owing to the damp and unwholesome state of the 
 lower parts of the houses and cellars, the mor- 
 tality during the subsequent winter was nearly 
 doubled, from typhus chiefly, as also from affec- 
 tions of the lungs ; and many dated their rheu- 
 matic pains and various other maladies to the 
 sufferings they then underwent." 
 
 The effects of this calamity were still visible 
 more than a year after, when I visited St. Peters- 
 burgh, subsequent to the death of the Emperor 
 Alexander. The red painted lines on the houses 
 still remained to mark the height to which the 
 waters had risen. In the inundation of 1752, the 
 waters of the Neva rose eleven feet ; and in that 
 of 1777, the most extensive and destructive that 
 had ever before occurred, they rose fourteen feet 
 above the ordinary level of the river. 
 
 The Danube and the surrounding country were 
 covered by a dense fog during my journey from 
 Ratisbon to Vienna, where I arrived on the 21st 
 of November, 1824, and set out for the Russian 
 frontier on the 29th. The same evening I reached 
 Briinn, the capital of Moravia, where I remained 
 till the 2nd of December, the anniversary of the 
 
THE EMPEROR ALEXANDER. 9 
 
 battle of Austerlitz, which was fought near this 
 town, nineteen years before. Here I met an 
 Austrian cavalry officer, on his way from Italy to 
 Gallicia, who was in the battle and gave a vivid 
 description of it. He said it commenced between 
 eight and nine o'clock in the morning, and was 
 nearly over by mid-day, and that in the very short 
 space of four hours 40,000 men were either killed, 
 wounded, or made prisoners. It was the first 
 battle in which the Emperor Alexander had been 
 present ; and from an eminence near the field he 
 saw a great part of his army destroyed and the 
 remainder retreating in confusion upon Austerlitz, 
 pursued by the enemy. His troops fought, I was 
 assured, with the most determined bravery, and 
 that the victory which the French gained was due 
 entirely to the transcendent military genius of 
 Napoleon. In the Castle of Spielberg, above the 
 town of Brunn, Count Gonfalonieri and other 
 T\obles of Lombardy were at that time state^ 
 prisoners ; and I was told that they were fettered 
 with irons and immured in dungeons. I went to 
 the gates of the castle, but the sentinels would not 
 permit me to approach them. Having then 
 recently visited Italy, I was interested in their 
 fate. 
 
 I continued my route through Poland by Cra- 
 cow and Lemberg to Brody, and there entering 
 
10 THE LAST DAYS OF 
 
 Russia, traversed the Ukraine to Odessa, where 
 I arrived on the 8th of January, 1825. The 
 roads were beyond all description miserable, the 
 mud being half frozen. The people in the towns 
 and villages in the most deplorable state of igno- 
 rance, filth, and misery. The winter soon set in 
 with great severity ; the Black Sea on that coast 
 was frozen and the communication with Constan- 
 tinople and the Mediterranean entirely cut off. 
 At the end of January a great quantity of snow 
 fell and lay, both on the land and sea, till the 
 commencement of April, when the ice floated 
 away to the south, and vegetation began to appear 
 on the steppe. Odessa, which had no existence 
 half a century before this period, now contained 
 upwards of 36,000 inhabitants, and carried on an 
 extensive commerce with Turkey and the coun- 
 tries in the south of Europe. In the streets of 
 the town were seen Greeks, Jews, Russians, 
 Poles, Germans, French, Americans, and English, 
 in the costumes of their respective nations. The 
 Governor-General, Count Woronzow, was sur- 
 rounded with military and civil officers, who had 
 either distinguished themselves in the public ser- 
 vice, or were eminent for their rank and talents. 
 The dreary and monotonous winter months of 
 Scythia passed quickly and agreeably away in the 
 society of those who had served in the Persian, 
 
THE EMPEROR ALEXANDER. 11 
 
 Turkish, and French wars ; and who had wit- 
 nessed both the burning of Moscow and the cap- 
 ture of Paris. Society at Odessa seemed as free 
 and unrestrained as in London ; and there was 
 nothing apparent to a stranger from which it 
 could at this time be suspected, that a conspiracy 
 existed to destroy the Emperor Alexander and 
 subvert the government of the country. At a 
 public ball, however, a circumstance occurred to 
 me one night, which arrested my attention and 
 excited a suspicion that the affairs of the country 
 were not in so quiet a state as the surface indi- 
 cated. After conversing for a time with Count 
 de Witt, Prince Serge Volhonsky whispered in 
 my ear, " Take care what you say, he is the 
 Emperor's spy," which afterwards was actually 
 proved to be the case. 
 
 I was informed, that at this time an army of 
 100,000 men was stationed along the Pruth, com- 
 manded by General Sebanieff, to whom I was* 
 introduced. On Saturday, the 7th March, 1825, 
 in conversing with the Baron Brunow on the 
 present state of Turkey and the probable conse- 
 quences of the war between the Greeks and 
 Turks, he said a plan had been suggested to him 
 by Monsr. Stourdza, which he thought original and 
 entitled to attention. The Baron Brunow stated 
 it to be as follows: (i Considering now the affairs of 
 
12 THE LAST DAYS OF 
 
 Turkey, and as it is a matter of consequence to 
 know what is to become of it, and to prevent all 
 the difficulties which can arise out of that concern, 
 Monsr. Stourdza proposes a plan which he thinks 
 will combine every interest. That plan is, that 
 the provinces which compose now what is called 
 European Turkey, should be divided into three 
 partSi The first composed of the Principalities 
 of Moldavia, Wallachia, and all those countries 
 which surround the Danube, called formerly Bul- 
 garia. The second part composed of those coun- 
 tries near the frontiers of Austria, Servia, Dal- 
 matia, and Bosnia. The third part composed of 
 the Morea, those countries which formed Greece 
 Proper, and all its islands. These three parts 
 should be quite independent States and put under 
 their own governments ; governments nearly the 
 same as now. These are merely under the pro- 
 tection of Turkey now, and have constitutions of 
 their own; Moldavia and Wallachia being governed 
 by the Hospodars, and Servia by the Princes of 
 Servia. These three parts to be maintained 
 should be placed under the protection of the 
 three great powers of Europe, viz., the first under 
 the protection of Russia, the second under Austria, 
 and the third under England ; but all of them 
 being under the common guarantee of all those 
 countries, that all should be interested in main- 
 
THE EMPEROR ALEXANDER. 13 
 
 taining the independence of each. Now a parti- 
 cular importance is attached to Constantinople, as 
 it is an intermedium of much of the commerce of 
 Europe, of the Mediterranean, and Black Sea. 
 All the Powers are equally interested in the in- 
 dependence of that important commercial place ; 
 and it is proposed that it should be constituted a 
 free city, or port fibre, similar to the political 
 existence which has been granted to Cracovie 
 according to the treaty of Vienna; like Hamburgh, 
 Frankfort, and other free cities. Constantinople, 
 considered as the centre of the Ecclesiastical 
 power of the Greek Church, must be quite inde- 
 pendent. Every one knows that Turkey cannot 
 exist much longer ; and that it would be better to 
 prevent all the evils which must arise by such an 
 arrangement, than to abandon it to the ambition 
 of any power, or to make it the cause of a general 
 disturbance in Europe. This is nothing similar 
 to the division of Poland, because it would not be 
 a material division, but a moral one. The protec- 
 tion given to these countries has no other end but 
 that of maintaining and supporting their indi- 
 vidual liberty, and their political independence. 
 By this general agreement that large part of 
 Europe would enjoy the liberties the people are 
 entitled to, without giving any jealousy to the 
 
14 THE LAST DAYS OF 
 
 neighbouring powers; and without giving any 
 additional strength to Russia, Austria, and Eng- 
 land, the balance of the European powers will 
 be preserved. The Mahometans may remain; but 
 they must not murder Christians and spread the 
 plague over the world." 
 
 This is copied verbatim from my diary (1825), 
 and also the following observation : 
 
 " At present I do not believe, from the different 
 conversations I have had with Russians here, that 
 their ambition is directed so much to India as 
 to Turkey. Their attention for the present is 
 rivetted upon Turkey, and they consider England 
 as the only power exerting an overwhelming influ- 
 ence against their schemes ; and when they can 
 find occasion with safety to themselves, I have 
 no doubt we shall find them our most bitter ene- 
 mies. That the attention of the Russian Govern- 
 ment is also directed to the East is proved by the 
 fact of their now having a number of surveyors 
 employed in preparing maps of all the countries 
 between the Caspian and Aral seas, and also the 
 course of the Oxus. 
 
 During the summer I visited Kief, and the 
 greater part of the country extending between 
 the Dnieper and the Dniester, which was at that 
 time suffering from the ravages of locusts. On 
 
THE EMPEROR ALEXANDER. 15 
 
 the 8th July, 1825, 1 rode with Baron Franc five 
 versts from Biala Cerkiew to see the locusts. We 
 found upwards of 300 peasants engaged in de- 
 stroying them. They had dug a ditch across the 
 steppe three miles long, and about two feet in 
 depth. There were millions of these insects upon 
 the ground ; they were said to move with pecu- 
 liar vivacity with the south wind and when the 
 sun was shining, and to travel only during the 
 day. The boys and girls were stationed along the 
 opposite margin to prevent the locusts from crawl- 
 ing up and passing to the other side. In this trench 
 there were deep holes dug, into which the locusts 
 were swept ; and slaves were raising them from 
 these with wooden spades into sacks held by 
 others. So many of these measures were required 
 daily from each band of slaves upon the steppes ; 
 and from the dull, sluggish, and inert manner in 
 which they were occupied, it did not appear to 
 me that they had a very heavy task to perform. 
 On the 10th July I visited them again; and 
 though vast numbers had been destroyed, myriads 
 remained. Upwards of 400 peasants were now 
 at work. A more wretched, ill-clothed, misera- 
 ble race, I never saw ; lodging in holes in the 
 ground, worse covered than our common vagrants 
 and beggars, and men were behind them with 
 whips which I saw used. I rode back in a 
 
16 THE LAST DAYS OF 
 
 state of melancholy, hoping and praying fervently 
 that the following prediction of the poet might 
 soon be fulfilled : — 
 
 " Where barb'rous hordes on Scythian mountains roam 
 Truth, mercy, freedom, yet shall find a home ; 
 Where'er degraded nature bleeds and pines, 
 From Guinea's coast to Sibir's dreary mines, 
 Truth shall pervade th' unfathom'd darkness there, 
 And light the dreadful features of despair." 
 
 The locusts appeared in the Crimea in 1819, 
 and had continued in it until 1823, — that year the 
 crops were completely devoured by them. From 
 thence they spread westward as far as Bessarabia, 
 and to the north upwards of 300 miles from the 
 sea; and in the autumn of 1824, their eggs had 
 had been deposited in the earth, not only in these 
 fertile provinces, but throughout the whole tract 
 of country extending eastward from the Dnieper 
 beyond the Don, to the Caucasus. I had seen 
 their ova durino* the winter dus; out of the 
 earth, when they presented the appearance of 
 clusters of small yellow sacs or bags. In the 
 month of May the young ones began to issue from 
 the ground in myriads, at which time they did 
 not exceed the fifth of an inch in length, and 
 could only crawl along the surface. In a few 
 weeks they had greatly enlarged; and could leap 
 considerable distances, like grasshoppers. By the 
 
-J> 
 
 TIIE EMPEROR ALEXANDER. 17 
 
 end of June they were able to fly a short way ; 
 and before the end of July they mounted high 
 into the air and took long flights. At first they 
 were of a blackish hue and their heads were dis- 
 proportionately large, but afterwards they became 
 of a clear brown colour, with w T ings of grey or 
 rosy red. In some places they covered the ground 
 completely and were in a state of rest, but in 
 others they were going slowly hefore the breeze, 
 and resembled at a distance a sheet of gently 
 flowing water. Around Novomirgorod, in tra- 
 velling from Biala Cerkiew, near Kief, to Odessa, 
 the road was deeply covered with them, and they 
 rose as our carriages approached, with a peculiar 
 rattling noise, and in such numbers that they 
 filled the air like flakes of snow in a storm They 
 swarmed in the streets of Odessa, in the vine- 
 yards, and on the surrounding steppe, at the 
 beginning of August, and masses of the dead 
 bodies of those drowned in the sea, covered the 
 shore. There were everywhere twT> distinct 
 varieties of these insects ; one about three inches, 
 and the other half of that length. The first kind 
 was observed to bear a much greater proportion 
 to the other near the sea, than at a remote dis- 
 tance. There was a third variety of a green colour, 
 but it was extremely rare, and in some places 
 wholly wanting. In the neighbourhood of Odessa, 
 
 C 
 
18 THE LAST DAYS OF 
 
 on the steppe, I observed vast numbers of a pecu- 
 liar species of Sphex, or Ichneumon fly, employed 
 in killing and burying the locusts. The fly in- 
 sidiously sprung upon the locust, applying its long 
 and powerful legs around the body, so that the 
 victim could not expand its wings and escape. 
 When exhausted with fruitless efforts to fly, the 
 sphex applied the strong nippers with which its 
 mouth is furnished, around the neck of the locust, 
 and thrusting the dart with which it is also pro- 
 vided, between the head and body, in a few seconds 
 deprived the locust of life. This dart I found to 
 consist of two sharp spears, with a small tube 
 between them, but whether connected or not with 
 a poisonous sac was not ascertained. The fly 
 remained for some time attached to the body of 
 the locust after it was dead, probably for the pur- 
 pose of depositing its ova within it. The sphex 
 afterwards dragged the locust into a small grave 
 it had previously dug in the ground for its recep- 
 tion, and covered it carefully with earth. The 
 ultimate extinction of the locusts here obviously 
 would be effected by this means, if none other 
 were provided by nature for the purpose. The 
 locusts, I was informed some years after, had en- 
 tirely disappeared from these extensive steppes. 
 
 On the 11th of August, 1825, his Excellency 
 Count Woronzow and his suite embarked at Odessa 
 
THE EMPEROR ALEXANDER. 19 
 
 on board Admiral Greig's yacht, and sailed for the 
 Crimea. The Counts F. Pahlen, Olizar, Potoski, 
 and the Baron de Brunow (afterwards Russian 
 minister in England) were among the number. The 
 following evening; we saw the land near KoslofF. 
 At two o'clock on the morning of Sunday the 16th, 
 we were off Sevastopol, in the midst of the Black 
 Sea fleet, consisting of eight ships of the line and 
 three large frigates. We went on board the Ad- 
 miral's ship, and after examining every part, heard 
 divine service performed in the chapel, where all 
 the sailors who could be spared were present. 
 After this a sham fight took place between the 
 three frigates and the yacht. Admiral Greig then 
 formed his own ship and seven others of the line 
 into close order of battle, with all their sails ex- 
 panded, and many tremendous broadsides were 
 fired. We afterwards dined with the Admiral, 
 Vice-Aclmiral, and Captains of the fleet. We 
 parted from Admiral Greig at sunset and made 
 all sail for Yoursouff, on the south coast. The 
 breeze was favourable, but towards morning it 
 gradually died away, the vessel being about ten 
 miles from the point called Criu Metopon, where 
 the temple of Diana is supposed to have stood in 
 the days of Iphigenia. During the 1 7th the wea- 
 ther was beautiful, there was not a breath of air, 
 and the sea was like a placid lake. The following 
 
 C 2 
 
20 THE LAST DAYS OF 
 
 day, when opposite Jalta, the scene suddenly- 
 changed, by the occurrence of a violent gale from 
 the east, which drove the vessel back and com- 
 pelled us to take refuge in a bay near Balaclava. 
 We passed the night at a village called Laspi, 
 belonging to General Poitiers, all the inhabitants 
 of which were suffering from fever and in a 
 wretched condition. On the 19th, taking Tartar 
 horses, we rode through the valley of [Baidar and 
 crossed the Ayla mountains, by the passage of 
 Foros, to the south coast; along which we passed 
 eastward by Simeis, Aloupka, Musghor, Derekuy, 
 Nikta, Masandra, and Orianda, to Yoursouff, the 
 seat of Count Woronzow. There are probably no 
 scenes in Europe which surpass in magnificence 
 and beauty those around Aloupka, Massandra, 
 and Orianda. (C If there exist on earth a spot 
 which may be described as a terrestrial paradise," 
 says Dr. Clarke, " it is that which intervenes 
 between Kutchukoy and Sudac, on the south 
 coast of the Crimea. Protected by encircling 
 alps from every cold and blighting wind, and only 
 open to those breezes which are wafted across the 
 sea from the south, the inhabitants enjoy every 
 advantage of climate and situation. From the 
 mountains continual streams of crystal water pour 
 down upon the gardens, in which many species of 
 fruit known in the rest of Europe, and many that 
 
THE EMPEROR ALEXANDER. 21 
 
 are not, attain the highest perfection. Neither 
 unwholesome exhalations, nor chilling winds, nor 
 venomous insects, nor hostile neighbours, infest 
 their blissful territory." 
 
 During the month of September, 1825, the 
 whole population of the Crimea between the moun- 
 tains and the sea, all the inhabitants of " this ter- 
 restrial paradise," were in a very sickly condition ; 
 and in the villages along the coast between Your- 
 souff and Simeis, I saw and treated more than a 
 hundred cases of intermittent and remittent fever. 
 Many who had been suffering for months had en- 
 largement of the liver and spleen, with jaundice 
 and dropsy. The weather, during the whole time 
 I remained on the south coast of the Crimea, was 
 delightful; and none of those sudden and violent 
 changes were observed which so frequently occur 
 in all the countries situated along the northern 
 shore of the Black Sea. There could be little 
 doubt that the fever which then prevailed on the 
 coast and in the interior of the Crimea, was pro- 
 duced by noxious exhalations from the earth. 
 
 After visiting all the most interesting places in 
 the Crimea, I embarked on board Admiral Grei°;'s 
 yacht at Sevastopol on the 23rd September, 
 and returned to Odessa, with Count F. Pahlen, 
 on the 1st of October. Count Woronzow at the 
 same time set out for Taganrog, to meet the 
 
22 THE LAST DAYS OF 
 
 Emperor Alexander, who had arrived there with 
 the Empress a short time before, with the inten- 
 tion of spending the winter on the shores of the 
 sea of Azoff. Before reaching Odessa, Count 
 Pahlen was seized with severe shivering, head- 
 ache, and the other characteristic symptoms of 
 bilious remittent fever. The attack was far more 
 violent and dangerous than in any of the cases 
 which had before fallen under my observation; and 
 he narrowly escaped with his life. Mr. Rose, an 
 English gentleman, who had been in the Crimea 
 with us, was also attacked after our return to 
 Odessa, and died from effusion into the brain. 
 The health of a considerable number of those 
 who had been on the south coast of the Crimea at 
 the same time, suffered severely for some months 
 after; and in a few fever appeared in a severe form 
 early the following spring. There was evidence to 
 prove that almost all of us had suffered from malaria. 
 On the 14th of October, 1825 (o.s.) at Odessa, 
 I received a letter from Count Woronzow at Ta- 
 ganrog, informing me of the Emperor's deter- 
 mination to visit the Crimea, and requesting me 
 to meet him at Bereslaw, on the Dnieper. I 
 accordingly left Odessa in the afternoon of the 
 same day, with General Bashmakoff, Messrs. 
 Marini and Artemieff. We arrived at Nicolaef in 
 the afternoon of the 15th, and remained a few 
 
THE EMPEROR ALEXANDER. 23 
 
 hours with Admiral Greig, who had just returned 
 from Taganrog. It was a clear, beautiful night, 
 the road was excellent, and we reached Bereslaw 
 the following morning, at seven o'clock, where we 
 remained during the day. This is a large town 
 on the west bank of the Dnieper, which does not 
 differ in appearance from the other towns in the 
 south of Russia. There were many shops or 
 bazaars in it, full of every kind of merchandize. 
 Great numbers of wagons laden with salt from 
 the Crimea, were then passing through ; and large 
 bodies of troops marching to join the army on 
 the Turkish frontiers. The country around was 
 extremely fertile, but the locusts had committed 
 great havoc the year before; the peasants and 
 landed proprietors being in a state of the greatest 
 distress. We left Bereslaw in the afternoon, for 
 the isthmus of Perecop, and after passing over an 
 an extensive plain of sand like the Llandes near 
 the Pyrenees, we entered the Crimea and spent 
 the night at the German colony of Nahitchwan. 
 Here all was order, cleanliness, and comfort; the 
 population rapidly increasing, and additional 
 grants of land required. On quitting these intel- 
 ligent, happy people, the following morning, we 
 were not long in coming among the Nogay Tartars, 
 where all was ignorance, poverty, and wretched- 
 ness. Light and darkness, civilization and bar- 
 
24 THE LAST DAYS OF 
 
 barism, were here almost in contact. We remained 
 two nights and a day at Simpheropol, where 
 I had the satisfaction of giving professional aid 
 to the daughter of Count Rostopschin, a name 
 which will be preserved through all ages in the 
 annals of Russia. 
 
 On the 20th we left Simpheropol early in the 
 morning, and passing rapidly over the steppe ex- 
 tending between the town and the mountains, 
 crossed these in a caleche, by the new road which 
 had lately been made to connect the shore of the 
 Crimea with the interior. Many of the soldiers 
 employed in completing this arduous work ap- 
 peared sickly and depressed. Upwards of one 
 hundred out of five hundred had suffered from 
 fever during the autumn ; but in none had the 
 disease assumed a dangerous form. No less than 
 a thousand soldiers had been employed in this 
 important work the year before, and compara- 
 tively few of them, it was reported, had suffered 
 from the effects of fever. The face of the country 
 had changed since our former visit to the Crimea. 
 The woods along the Salgir and on the Chatyr- 
 Dagh, were stripped of their leaves, though on 
 entering the valley of Alushta the trees were still 
 green. From the Isthmus of Perecop to Your- 
 soufF, where we arrived on the 20th, preparations 
 were being made for the reception of the Emperor- 
 
THE EMPEROR ALEXANDER. 25 
 
 the roads were being repaired; and all the cottages 
 and houses in the line were being cleaned and 
 whitewashed. The principal Tartar of the village 
 of YoursoufF had been suffering severely from in- 
 termittent fever for several weeks, but the fits were 
 speedily arrested by the calomel and sulphate of 
 quinine which I administered to him. This latter 
 remedy, which had never before been employed 
 in the fevers of the Crimea, often stopped their 
 course so quickly, that some of the ignorant Tar- 
 tars were disposed to attribute the striking effects 
 to supernatural influence. 
 
 The following morning we set out for Aloupka. 
 It was like a summer's day in England, the ther- 
 mometer in the shade being 17° of Reaumur. 
 The tops of the mountains were, however, covered 
 with dense clouds. The road along the sea-shore 
 to Oriancla from Yoursouff never appeared to me 
 so beautiful before; and I could not pass Nikita 
 and Masandra, without halting to admire the 
 glorious scenery. The woods had lost a part of 
 their verdure, but there were still many of the 
 trees as sreen as durins; the autumn. The wild 
 vine, which climbs to the tops of the highest 
 trees, and the leaves of which were then of a 
 deep red colour, formed a striking feature in the 
 scene. The walnut and fig-trees were still fresh 
 and green. At Aloupka, in the evening, we 
 
26 THE LAST DAYS OF 
 
 walked around the gardens, the most romantic in 
 the Crimea, where preparations were being made 
 for planting forty lemon-trees in the open air, 
 which had been imported the previous year from 
 Italy; and one of them, which had been exposed 
 in the middle of the garden to the intense frost 
 of the preceding winter, was in a flourishing state. 
 We returned to the Tartar house which was pre- 
 pared for the Emperor. Boards had been placed 
 around the front of it, and whitewashed. The 
 walls of the two chambers for His Majesty's ac- 
 commodation, had been surrounded with a coarse 
 white linen cloth, and a very neat bed prepared. 
 There were two chairs, a table, and a couch; and 
 newly glazed windows had been put in. In that 
 climate one could not have desired a better habi- 
 tation for a night, though it was a common Tartar 
 cottage. 
 
 We returned to Yoursouff on the 23rd, and on 
 the following day one of the Emperor's couriers 
 arrived, and arranged all the apartments in the 
 house for His Majesty and attendants. On the 
 25th, the Emperor arrived at Simpheropol. He 
 went to the service in the cathedral the fol- 
 lowing morning, and he arrived at Yoursouff 
 about four o'clock in the afternoon, accompanied 
 by General Diebitch, Sir James Wylie, and a 
 few attendants. When he dismounted from his 
 
THE EMPEROR ALEXANDER. 27 
 
 horse in front of the house at Yoursouff, Count 
 Woronzovv, 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 rather inclined to corpu- 
 lency. He was dressed in a blue military surtout, 
 with epaulettes, and had nothing to distinguish 
 him from any general officer. He shook Count 
 Woronzow by the hand, and afterwards warmly 
 saluted him, first on one cheek and then on the 
 other. He afterwards shook hands with us all, 
 and then inquired of me particularly about the 
 health of the Count's children at Biala Cerkiew, 
 whom I had seen not long before. He then in- 
 quired if I had visited the south coast of the 
 Crimea during the autumn, and if so, how I was 
 pleased with it. Looking up to the mountains 
 above Yoursouff, and then to the calm sea, 
 upon which the sun was shining, His Majesty 
 exclaimed, " Was there ever such magnificent 
 scenery ! " I replied, that the coast of Italy, be- 
 between Genoa and Nice, presented the only 
 scenery I had ever witnessed that could be com- 
 pared to it — a part of Italy which His Majesty 
 stated he had never visited. 
 
 I set out from Yoursouff on the morning of the 
 26th of October, before the Emperor, and rode 
 
28 THE LAST DAYS OF 
 
 along the coast to Aloupka. It was a sultry day, 
 and the scenery was rendered still more interest- 
 ing to me than on all former occasions, in conse- 
 quence of the Tartars having come from all parts 
 of the Crimea to see the Emperor, on his way 
 from Yoursouff to Aloupka, where he arrived 
 about four o'clock. I was informed that a Tartar 
 female complained to His Majesty, at Orianda, of 
 her having been beaten and ill-treated by the 
 superintendent; when the offender was ordered 
 to appear before His Majesty, he threw himself 
 upon his knees and implored forgiveness. Alex- 
 ander ordered him to be arrested, and said, with 
 great severity, that it was an eternal disgrace to 
 injure any female, more especially one in her situ- 
 ation, she being pregnant. The Emperor was 
 greatly pleased with Orianda ; and immediately 
 determined to purchase the estate from Count 
 Kisseloff and build a palace there. Before com- 
 ing to Aloupka, he visited the vineyards at Mar- 
 tyan, and the Princess Galitzin at Musghor, 
 distributing liberally to the poor in his way. 
 
 Count Woronzow, General Diebitch, Sir James 
 Wylie, and myself, with one or two others, had 
 the honour of dining with the Emperor on this 
 occasion, the last day he was destined to enjoy. 
 The Emperor addressed himself chiefly to Count 
 Woronzow, who was seated next to His Majesty, 
 
THE EMPEROR ALEXANDER. 29 
 
 and the greater part of the conversation was 
 carried on in French and English. Again his 
 Majesty recurred to the beauties of Orianda, and 
 thanked the Count for the acquisition he had 
 that day made for him. He expressed the strong 
 displeasure he felt at the cruel treatment the poor 
 Tartar woman had received from the superin- 
 tendent, and ordered that he should be severely 
 punished. The death of Mr. Fondane, the gover- 
 nor of Kertche, from consumption, had occurred 
 not long before, and when this was mentioned 
 the Emperor said, he thought it would be possible 
 to combine the offices of the governors of Kertche 
 and Theodosia, as the government of Taganrog 
 was much more extensive than the two combined. 
 Count Woronzow observed, that there would be 
 a difficulty in effecting this, because a great 
 jealousy existed between the inhabitants of the 
 two towns, which would be increased by the 
 change. The Emperor, on the contrary, thought » 
 it might be the means of reconciling them to each 
 other. The Count said that the people of Theo- 
 dosia would never be reconciled to it : that they 
 would consider themselves placed in a situa- 
 tion inferior to that of Kertche, and that, in his 
 opinion, it was not advisable. The Emperor still 
 urged the practicability of the measure, which he 
 said he had fully considered; and the Count 
 
30 THE LAST BAYS OF 
 
 acquiesced in His Majesty's decision, by admit- 
 ting that no great harm could result from the 
 experiment. The Emperor then made many in- 
 quiries respecting the wealth and respectability of 
 the merchants of Theodosia, to which such answers 
 were given as appeared entirely satisfactory. 
 
 There were oysters at dinner, and a small worm 
 was adhering to the shell of one presented to His 
 Majesty. This was shown to Sir James Wylie, 
 who said it was quite common and harmless ; and 
 he reminded the Emperor of a circumstance which 
 had occurred to them at the Congress of Yerona. 
 A person at Venice had then sent to the Emperor 
 to intreat that he would abstain from the use of 
 oysters, as there was a poisonous marine worm or 
 insect in them. This led the conversation to the 
 insects of the Crimea and Ukraine, of which I 
 had made a considerable collection, and the Em- 
 peror inquired of me if there were scorpions, 
 scolopendras, and tarantulas in the Crimea. I 
 said scorpions of large size were not uncommon ; 
 and that at Musghor, during our former visit, we 
 found a scorpion of great strength in the apart- 
 ment where we passed the night, but that it was 
 harmless. Scolopendras of great length I had 
 often seen around Odessa, but not in the Crimea ; 
 nor tarantulas, although, as I had been informed, 
 they were not very rare. I heard of no instance 
 
THE EMPEROR ALEXANDER. 31 
 
 during the autumn in which they had inflicted 
 any injury by their bites or stings. He said, he 
 supposed they were the same as in Italy, and 
 then alluded to the dance for the cure of the bite 
 of the tarantula. Sir James Wylie reminded 
 His Majesty of the scorpion which was found in 
 his bed at Verona, and of the prescription which 
 he had then written for the cure of the bite of the 
 carbonari. 
 
 Then followed a long discussion on homoe- 
 opathy, and the peculiar views of Hahnemann, 
 which were at that time greatly in vogue, not 
 only in Germany, but in Russia. Sir James 
 seemed rather more favourable to these views 
 than I considered justified by the evidence upon 
 which they were founded. He said he believed 
 Hahnemann, with his extremely minute doses of 
 medicines, cured as many patients as regular 
 physicians did by their great ones, because he at 
 the same time enjoined a rigorous diet. Count 
 Woronzow inquired if Sir James would trust to 
 Hahnemann's method of treatment in cases of 
 inflammation of the brain or bowels, or in the 
 fevers of the Crimea. Would the hundredth or 
 the thousandth part of a grain of sulphate of 
 quinine, he asked, stop the fits of one of these 
 fevers ? He appealed to me to support the truth 
 of what he said, and I had no hesitation in affirm- 
 
32 THE LAST DAYS OF 
 
 ing that large doses of quinine often almost 
 instantaneously arrested these fevers, when small 
 doses proved ineffectual. 
 
 Again the Emperor expressed how much he 
 was pleased with Orianda, and stated that it was 
 his determination to have a palace built there as 
 expeditiously as possible. To my amazement he 
 said, after a pause, " When I give in my demis- 
 sion, I will return and fix myself at Orianda, and 
 wear the costume of the Taurida." Not a word 
 was uttered when this extraordinary resolution 
 was announced, and I thought that I must have 
 misunderstood the Emperor, but this could not 
 be, for iri a short time, when Count Woron- 
 zow proposed that the large open flat space of 
 ground to the westward of Orianda should be 
 converted into pleasure grounds for His Majesty, 
 he replied: "I wish this to be purchased for 
 General Diebitch, as it is right that the chief of 
 my etat-major and I should be neighbours." 
 During dinner there was also some conversation 
 respecting the chapel which was about to be built 
 at Masandra, and the Emperor inquired whether 
 or not it was to be a Greek chapel. A petition 
 had been presented for a Lutheran place of 
 worship to be established at Nikita, and likewise 
 that at Simpheropol the old Greek church 
 should be converted into a Lutheran chapel, 
 
THE EMPEROR ALEXANDER. 33 
 
 after the cathedral was finished. The Emperor 
 said he was ignorant of the law upon this point, 
 but that the Bishop would inform him whether 
 it was contrary to law to permit a Greek church, 
 when not required for the national religion, to be 
 converted into a Lutheran chapel. If it was 
 not, it ought to be granted, he said ; and I have 
 no doubt that the Emperor's visit to the Monas- 
 tery of St. George on the following day had 
 some reference to this subject. General Diebitch 
 enquired if there were many Lutherans in the 
 Crimea, and particularly at Simpheropol ; to 
 which Count Woronzow replied, that if they had 
 been numerous they would ere this have had a 
 chapel of their own. A petition had also been 
 presented by some Roman Catholics at Karasu- 
 bazar for a piece of ground to build a Catholic 
 chapel. The Emperor expressed his anxiety that 
 all these petitions should receive due attention 
 and be granted to the fullest possible extent. 
 It appeared, from what was stated on this occa- 
 sion, that the administration of the empire was 
 conducted by Alexander on the true principles of 
 religious toleration. 
 
 His Majesty made a frugal repast, and drank 
 little wine. When champagne was presented, 
 Count Woronzow said, " Sire, may we be per- 
 mitted to drink to the health of Her Majesty the 
 
 D 
 
34 THE LAST DATS OF 
 
 Empress ?" He replied " Most certainly ;" and 
 all immediately rising, did honour to the toast, 
 On retiring, His Majesty returned thanks to 
 Count Woronzow for the excellent entertainment 
 he had provided; and, addressing himself to us all, 
 said with kindness and condescension, (( Your 
 presence on this occasion has afforded me the 
 greatest satisfaction." He then walked out and 
 mounted the steps to the flat roof of the house, 
 around which a number of Tartars were col- 
 lected. He looked at the groups through his eye- 
 glass, and observed, " What handsome Oriental 
 countenances ! What a fine race of men ! One of 
 the most striking peculiarities of the Crimea 
 would be lost, if the Tartars were expelled: I 
 hope they will be encouraged to continue here," 
 An Effendi was introduced to His Majesty to 
 present a petition, which he did by bending down 
 and raising his hands to his head, without re- 
 moving his turban from it. 
 
 The Emperor retired to rest early in the even- 
 ing. In the middle of the night a courier arrived, 
 upon which he arose and transacted business- 
 General Diebitch, who slept in a house close to 
 that in which I was, was twice summoned in the 
 night to wait upon His Majesty. I was after- 
 wards informed that the despatches brought by 
 the courier were of the highest public impor- 
 
THE EMPEROR ALEXANDER. 35 
 
 tance; in fact, that they fully revealed to His 
 Majesty the existence of a dangerous and exten- 
 sive conspiracy, of which he had not been pre- 
 viously fully aware. 
 
 On the morning of the 27th, after breakfast, 
 the Emperor sent a message to say that he 
 desired me to accompany him round the lower 
 garden. After some conversation respecting 
 the illness of the Empress and the proposal that 
 I should visit Her Majesty professionally at 
 Taganrog, he again called my attention to the 
 magnificence of the scenery around us, and ex- 
 pressed the pleasure he had derived from this 
 visit to the Crimea, and the hope he entertained 
 that at no very remote period its shores would be 
 full of rich vineyards, and contain many flourish- 
 ing villages and towns. I hinted, in the most 
 delicate manner I could, that the frequent occur- 
 rence of violent fevers to those who visited the 
 Crimea and to its constant inhabitants, was the 
 only circumstance which appeared to me likely to 
 prevent His Majesty's anticipations being com- 
 pletely realized. He expressed a strong wish 
 that I should remain in Russia, permanently 
 attached to Count Woronzow, the value of whose 
 public services he appeared justly to appreciate. 
 
 At mid-day the Emperor and his attendants 
 were on horseback, and, after shaking hands with 
 
 D 2 
 
36 THE LAST DAYS OF 
 
 and taking an affectionate leave of all, he set 
 out for Sevastopol. In a few days I returned 
 with Count Woronzow to Odessa, by Perecop, 
 Bereslaw, and Nicolaef, where we remained till 
 the 22nd of November, 1825. 
 
 At eight o'clock on Sunday morning, the 22nd 
 of November, Count Woronzow expressed a 
 wish to see me in his library. On going there, 
 the Count stated that he had received bad news 
 from Taganrog — that the Emperor was dan- 
 gerously ill; and that I must set out with him, in 
 two hours, to render my assistance with the other 
 physicians. It appeared, from a letter of the 7th 
 instant that the Emperor had been attacked with 
 symptoms of slight catarrh soon after leaving the 
 Crimea, and that at Oriekoft these had assumed 
 the decided form of remittent fever; that it had 
 increased in severity; and that His Majesty 
 refused to take any medicine. Another letter, 
 of the 14th, stated that he was much worse ; 
 indeed in great danger : and that still he refused 
 to submit to any medical treatment. A third 
 letter, dated Thursday, the 19th, had also been 
 received, from which it appeared that the malady 
 had been daily growing worse, and that al- 
 most all hope of his recovery was past. 
 
 The Count was much afflicted when he communi- 
 cated this intelligence ; and expressed his fear that 
 
THE EMPEROR ALEXANDER. 37 
 
 we should find all over before we reached Taganrog. 
 We started from Odessa at mid-day ; and when 
 our carriage was going slowly over the deep 
 sands by the sea-shore, the Count said that un- 
 pleasant occurrences seldom came alone ; that a 
 letter had arrived that morning from London, 
 informing; him of an accident which had endangered 
 the life of his father ; also that William Findley, 
 who had been his father's coachman for upwards 
 of thirty years, had been thrown from his box, 
 and killed on the spot. " I knew William 
 Findley well," he added, bursting into tears; 
 "and feel how much my father must have suf- 
 fered on the occasion." 
 
 We continued our journey to Nicolaef, where 
 we arrived at midnight. The Count retired to rest 
 for two hours, but I did not; being anxious to learn 
 from Admiral Greig what consequences would be 
 likely to result in the event of the Emperor's death, 
 and the accession of his brother Constantine to 
 the throne. We were, of course unacquainted with 
 the fact that in 1822 the Grand Duke Constantine 
 had voluntarily waived his title to the succession, 
 and that the next in the line after him should take 
 his place. Admiral Greig requested me to write 
 to him immediately after my arrival at Taganrog, 
 which I did; and communicated all the informa- 
 
38 THE LAST DAYS OF 
 
 tion I could obtain respecting His Imperial 
 Majesty's illness and death. 
 
 We reached Cherson at seven o^clock in the 
 morning. There had been a hard frost during 
 the night. The town was evidently in a state of 
 decay; and many of the houses were roofless. 
 During the previous winter the forage in the 
 Crimea and country extending along the northern 
 coast of the Black Sea was exhausted before the 
 spring ; and the crops having been destroyed by 
 the locusts and a drought, the people had actually 
 been compelled in some places to employ the 
 straw thatching of their cottages to feed their 
 cattle. I had previously been informed that the 
 commerce of the place was ruined ; that the rise 
 of Odessa had in fact been the fall of Cherson. 
 The Dnieper is here as broad as the Danube 
 above Vienna, or the Rhone near the Mediter- 
 ranean. At a short distance from the sate of the 
 town we saw an obelisk, which had been erected 
 by the Emperor Alexander to the memory of 
 John Howard, who died of fever, near Cherson, 
 on the 20th of January, 1790, and was buried in 
 the open steppe, at a short distance from the 
 town. It was his request that a sun-dial should 
 be erected over his srave: and Admiral Greicr 
 informed me that this wish had recently been 
 
THE EMPEROR ALEXANDER. 39 
 
 complied with ; and through the Admiral's exer- 
 tions chiefly, as I learned from others. There is 
 another Englishman buried by him. 
 
 We arrived at Bereslaw at two o'clock in the 
 afternoon of the 23rd and crossed the Dnieper 
 on a raft, the floating bridge having been removed. 
 In the morning of the 24th, we reached OriekofF, 
 which is on the hio;h road between Taganrog and 
 Warsaw, where the Grand Duke Constantine then 
 was. The postmaster of this place stated that no 
 account had been received of the Emperor's 
 death ; but he must have wished to conceal the 
 fact, for at the next post station we were at once 
 informed that the news of his decease had been 
 received two days before. 
 
 On Wednesday, the 25th, at seven in the morn- 
 ing, we arrived at Marienpole, a small town on 
 the Sea of Azoff, inhabited by Greeks, who had 
 emigrated from the Crimea forty years before. 
 We remained an hour at the residence of a mili- 
 tary officer of rank, who gave me a general 
 account of the Emperor's illness. He informed 
 me that bilious fevers were very common in 
 autumn along the whole northern coast of the sea 
 of Azoff. From Marienpole to Taganrog the 
 country presented a most dreary aspect, and the 
 post-houses and horses were truly wretched. We 
 crossed a small river, and, entering Taganrog at 
 eight o'clock in the evening, were immediately 
 
40 THE LAST DAYS OF 
 
 conducted by the governor of the town to the 
 house of one of the most respectable merchants. 
 Here we learned that His Majesty died on the 
 19th of November; and that he had been in- 
 sensible, and deprived of the power of swallowing 
 two days before his decease. 
 
 On Thursday, the 26th of November, I went 
 to see His Imperial Majesty lying in state in the 
 house where he had lived and died. I did not see 
 the face of the Emperor, but I was informed that 
 it was already completely changed and had be- 
 come quite black. The coffin was placed upon 
 a slightly-elevated platform, and covered by 
 a canopy. The room was hung with black; 
 and the coffin covered with a cloth of gold. 
 There were numerous large wax lights burn- 
 ing in the apartment, and each individual present 
 held a lighted slender wax-taper. A priest was 
 standing at the head of the coffin reading the 
 Evangelists; and I was told that this was carried 
 on day and night. On each side of the body a 
 sentinel was placed with a drawn sword. In the 
 ante-room were a number of priests putting 
 on their robes and preparing for the service or 
 mass, which was celebrated twice every day. 
 There were no symptoms of melancholy in this 
 crowded room, and some young military officers 
 even displayed a degree of levity altogether un- 
 suitable to the solemnity of the scene. The 
 
THE EMPEROR ALEXANDER. 41 
 
 Empress, I was informed, remained constantly in 
 an apartment, the door of which opened into that 
 wLere the body of the Emperor was lying, and 
 where the service was performed. Guards were 
 stationed around the house, at the door, as also 
 on the stairs, and in the ante-room. 
 
 On the evening of Friday, the 27th of Novem- 
 ber, I proceeded, at the request of Count Woron- 
 zow, to the residence of Sir James Wylie, for 
 many years physician to the person of His Im- 
 perial Majesty, for the purpose of obtaining an 
 account of the Emperor's illness, and the treat- 
 ment which would have been pursued, had not 
 His Majesty strenuously refused all medical assist- 
 ance. Sir James read to me the whole of the 
 reports of His Majesty's case, written down by 
 him from day to day, and which contained the 
 fullest and most satisfactory explanation of all 
 the attendant circumstances. These reports were 
 also signed by the other physicians, who coincided 
 in the views entertained by Sir James respecting 
 the nature and proposed treatment of the disease. 
 As these reports were about to be forwarded to 
 St. Petersburo;h for the satisfaction of the Govern- 
 ment, I could not procure a perfect copy, but the 
 following are the most important facts they con- 
 tained, and were noted down by me in short-hand 
 as I heard them. Dr. Reinhold, surgeon to the 
 
42 THE LAST DAYS OF 
 
 Empress, who had remained with the Emperor 
 during the night of the 12 th of November, came 
 in when Sir James Wylie was thus occupied, and 
 declared to me in the most unequivocal manner, 
 that he was entirely of the same opinion with the 
 other physicians respecting the nature of the 
 disease, and of the means that would have been 
 employed. 
 
 The weather suddenly changed on the day the 
 Emperor left Aloupka, the 27th of October. A 
 thick mass of clouds covered the mountains in the 
 afternoon, the east wind was cold, and a shower 
 of rain fell. The previous day had been intensely 
 hot on the coast, and at the time the Emperor 
 was riding from Your^ouff to Aloupka. His 
 Majesty was accustomed to travel in an open 
 caleche with a light military cloak, trusting solely 
 to the vigour of his constitution against the sud- 
 den changes of the atmosphere. After quitting 
 Aloupka, he went to that part of the road where 
 the ascent of the Merdveen commences, and 
 hesitated for some time whether to proceed by 
 this difficult pass, over the mountains, which are 
 between three and four thousand feet high, into 
 the valley of Baidar, or by that of Foros. Aftc 
 a little delay he decided for the former, and arrived 
 at Baidar fatigued, perspiring and unusually irrit- 
 able on account of the unruliness of his horse. 
 
THE EMPEROR ALEXANDER. 43 
 
 At Baidar, a caleche awaited him, but no refresh- 
 ment was prepared — his maitre d'hotel having 
 gone on to Sevastopol. From Baidar he pro- 
 ceeded to Balaclava, and reviewed Colonel Ravi- 
 lotti's regiment of Greek guards. The Emperor 
 again entered his caleche, and drove to that part 
 where the road turns off to the monastery of St. 
 George. Here he mounted a horse and rode to 
 the monastery alone, a distance of at least ten 
 versts. Sir James had gone forward before him 
 to Sevastopol ; but the Emperor did not arrive 
 there until it was quite dark, having remained 
 upwards of two hours at the monastery, where 
 was a bishop and several priests. He entered 
 Sevastopol by torchlight;- and before going to the 
 house prepared, went to the church, and afterwards 
 reviewed some troops drawn up in a line along 
 the street through which he passed. His Ma- 
 jesty dined alone, and it was said scarcely tasted 
 anything. The following day, at twelve o'clock, 
 he examined the barracks, hospital, and forts, 
 and then set out for Bacheserai. On the 
 journey he was observed to be asleep in the 
 carriage. At Bacheserai the Emperor also dined 
 alone, and the following morning he informed Sir 
 James Wylie that he had suffered from an attack 
 of bilious diarrhoea in the night, but that he was 
 then perfectly well. Thus, he said, will all my 
 
44 THE LAST DAYS OP 
 
 complaints pass away without the help of medi- 
 cine. Sir James did not state to me the circum- 
 stances which led the Emperor to believe that 
 medical treatment was of no avail in arresting 
 the progress of disease, and to determine him not 
 to have recourse to its aid. There could be no 
 doubt that the Emperor had some peculiar views 
 about the doctrine of predestination, but whether 
 his scepticism respecting the efficacy of medi- 
 cine originated in these opinions, I could not 
 ascertain. 
 
 His Majesty that day went to Chufut Kali, and 
 returned in the afternoon to Bacheserai to meet 
 the Tartar chiefs. Next day he went to KoslofF, 
 and on arriving there Sir James observed that they 
 had passed some marshes which emitted a most 
 disagreeable odour. The following night he slept 
 near Perecop, and on the next between the Isth- 
 mus and OriekofF. At this place he was observed 
 by his valet-de-chambre to be ill; but His Majesty 
 did not inform Sir James of the circumstance, and 
 the latter saw nothing unusual in the appearance 
 of the Emperor the next morning during their 
 visit to an hospital close by this village. But the 
 valet afterwards stated that His Majesty had been 
 very ill in the night, and enquired if Sir James 
 did not observe how pale he was. In the carriage 
 with General Diebitch on the road to Marienpol, 
 
THE EMPEROR ALEXANDER. 45 
 
 the Emperor was attacked with violent shiverings, 
 and on arriving there, had a strong and distinct 
 paroxysm of fever. A warm bed was prepared 
 for him, and he took some hot punch. As the 
 place they were in was of a wretched description, 
 Sir James recommended him to push forward to 
 Taganrog on the following day, and there to take 
 the proper remedies. They reached Taganrog on 
 the 5th of November, O.S. On the two following 
 days, the Emperor suffered severely from derange- 
 ment of the liver and digestive organs, and expe- 
 rienced severe paroxysms of fever. It was evi- 
 dent that he was severely attacked with the 
 bilious remittent fever of the Crimea ; but at 
 this time there was no headache or any other 
 symptom of the brain being affected. Four grains 
 of calomel were given and some purgative medi- 
 cine, with great but temporary relief of the 
 febrile symptoms, yet His Majesty would not 
 consent to a repetition of these remedies, or to 
 the adoption of any other means. On the 8th, 
 the fever continued with undiminished violence, 
 and as the Emperor positively refused to avail 
 himself of the aid of medicine, Sir James re- 
 quested that Dr. Stofregen, physician to the 
 Empress, should be called into consultation. 
 His head had now become burning hot, and a 
 marked change was perceptible in His Majesty's 
 
46 THE LAST DAYS OF 
 
 countenance. When Dr. Stofregen was intro- 
 duced, he said, u I am distressed to see your 
 Majesty suffering in this manner." (e Say no- 
 thing of my indisposition," replied the Emperor, 
 Ci but tell me how the Empress is." After being 
 satisfied on this point, His Majesty told Dr. 
 Stofregen that Sir James Wylie considered him 
 in a dangerous state, but he added, Ci I feel that 
 I am not seriously ill, and that I shall recover 
 without the employment of medical aid." 
 
 It was the opinion of the physicians, that the 
 Emperor should have been bled at this time, and 
 that calomel and cathartics should have been freely 
 administered ; and this opinion they gave to the 
 Emperor in a decided manner, but he would not 
 consent to the employment of any remedies. The 
 paroxysms of fever recurred, but there were 
 occasional remissions when the pulse came down 
 to the natural state ; once to 7 1 and repeatedly 
 to 90, but it was at all times during the progress 
 of the disease extremely small and feeble. 
 
 On the 13th of the month, and tenth day of 
 the disease, it was again proposed to take blood 
 from the Emperor, but he would not submit. On 
 the morning of the 14th, Sir James and the other 
 medical attendants again urged him to the same 
 purport, but he refused, even to the application 
 of leeches to the head. He rejected this proposal 
 
THE EMPEROR ALEXANDER. 47 
 
 with the greatest impatience and obstinacy. The 
 Empress on her knees implored him to consent, 
 but he would not. " At first," he said, " I had 
 only an intermittent fever, and now it has been 
 converted into a continued fever, and I will trust 
 rather to my constitution than to the means re- 
 commended." As it was now obvious that his 
 life was in imminent danger, and that he was 
 becoming worse and worse, Sir James proposed, 
 late in the evening, that a priest should be brought 
 to him. Sir James was again desired by the 
 Empress to endeavour to convince His Majesty 
 that his life was in the greatest danger, and that 
 as he would not submit to medical treatment, he 
 should think seriously, so long as he retained 
 consciousness, of employing spiritual aid. On 
 the morning of the loth, at five o'clock, he was 
 confessed by the priest ; and he requested that in 
 this religious act he should be confessed as a 
 simple individual. When this was finished, the 
 priest strongly urged His Majesty to employ 
 medical aid, saying that, unless he did so, he 
 would not fulfil the whole of his Christian duty. 
 Between nine and ten o'clock he consented, for 
 the first time, to the application of leeches to the 
 temples. The brain had now become affected, 
 and he was occasionally delirious, and uttered 
 incoherent expressions. For thirty hours before 
 
48 THE LAST DATS OF 
 
 his death, the Empress hardly quitted his bed-side. 
 The scene was most affecting when the Emperor, 
 on the 19th, expired. The Empress had been 
 kneeling by his bed-side, with her eyes fixed 
 upon him, as he gradually became weaker and 
 weaker, until all signs of life were gone. Then, 
 rising, she closed his eyes, and with a handkerchief 
 bound up his head, to support the lower jaw. 
 After this, she folded his arms over his breast, 
 kissed his hand, and then knelt down by the side 
 of the dead body for half an hour in prayer to 
 God. Throughout the whole of His Majesty's 
 illness, she manifested the strongest attach- 
 ment to her husband; and at his death was 
 inconsolable. 
 
 On the post-mortem examination of the body 
 being made, the appearances observed were such 
 as are most frequently met with in those dying 
 from bilious remittent fever, with internal con- 
 gestion. Two ounces of serous fluid were found 
 in the ventricles of the brain ; and all the veins 
 and arteries were gorged with blood. There was 
 an old adhesion between the dura and pia mater 
 at the back part, but of no great extent. The 
 heart and lungs were sound, but too vascular. 
 The liver was turgid with blood, and of a much 
 darker colour than natural. The spleen was en- 
 larged, and softened in texture. 
 
THE EMPEROR ALEXANDER. 49 
 
 The prevalence of fever in the Crimea during 
 the autumn, the sudden change of the weather 
 when the Emperor left the coast, the usual symp- 
 toms appearing in the course of a few days after 
 quitting Perecop, as I had before observed in 
 others, with the subsequent history of the disease, 
 and the appearances after death, rendered it cer- 
 tain that the Emperor Alexander was cut off by 
 the bilious remittent fever of the Crimea. 
 
 During the six weeks I remained at Taganrog 
 after the Emperor's death, I never heard that any 
 one entertained a doubt, or expressed a suspicion, 
 that His Majesty's death was attributable to any 
 other than a natural cause. The physicians who 
 had the care of His Majesty were accused by 
 some, without the slightest ground, of mis- 
 managing the case ; and I heard the question 
 repeatedly put, " Why did they not compel His 
 Majesty to submit to their plan of treatment?" 
 or, in other words, as Sir James Wylie expressed 
 it, why did they not commit the crime of lese- 
 Majeste? — a proceeding which no circumstances 
 could ever justify. 
 
 I enjoyed the best opportunities in the Crimea 
 of observing the devoted attachment of Sir James 
 Wylie to the Emperor Alexander, whom he had 
 accompanied in all his campaigns ; and I conscien- 
 tiously believe, that on this trying occasion Sir 
 
 E 
 
50 THE LAST DAYS OF 
 
 James Wylie discharged his arduous professional 
 duty in a manner worthy of his high reputation. 
 Taganrog, 26th November, o.s. 1825. — This 
 town contains eight or nine thousand inhabitants, 
 and has rather an agreeable appearance. The 
 streets are wide and clean : the trottoirs high, and 
 paved with hard stones brought from the sea-shore : 
 lamps at considerable distances. There is one 
 long broad street, and others going off from this 
 at right angles. There are many good houses; 
 though I am assured few persons possessed 
 of much wealth are settled here. The town 
 covers a large space of ground, like Odessa and 
 all the towns and villages in Russia. Each house 
 has a courtyard, around which there are a 
 number of small houses for the lowest class of 
 people. This court usually presents a scene of 
 filth and confusion which baffles all description ; 
 it is only surpassed by some of the trackteers in 
 Poland. Here are seen standing a number of old 
 droshkies, caleches, carts, and barrels upon wheels 
 for bringing water, all up to the axletrees in 
 mud, and exposed to the general influence of this 
 rude climate. Before the Emperor came here I 
 was informed that the town was as dirty and 
 neglected as any town in Russia. A law was then 
 passed by the Town Council, imposing a tax of 
 thirty kopecks upon each cart which goes with 
 
THE EMPEROR ALEXANDER. 51 
 
 corn or any kind of commodity to the port, or in 
 lieu of this the cart must return loaded with 
 stones from the sea-shore for the streets. This 
 law has had the effect of rendering the streets 
 very good — much superior to those of Odessa. 
 The variety of different nations here is still 
 greater than at Odessa; but the season is too cold 
 for them to come out into the streets to be seen. 
 All the ladies are in mourning. The Sea of 
 Azoff is not navigable after the beginning of 
 October: two years ago all the vessels were frozen 
 up in this month. The taxes upon foreign mer- 
 chandize are bitterly complained of, amounting at 
 least to four per cent, upon the capital. Many of 
 the houses are built of brick, but the greater part 
 of wood. There are three handsome churches ; 
 one called St. Alexander Newski, where the 
 body of the Emperor will lie in state after it is 
 removed from the house in which he died, until 
 such time as the preparations are completed for 
 transporting it to St. Petersburgh, which will 
 not be for three or four weeks. The commerce 
 here is considerable ; yet all the merchants com- 
 plain that they are ruined. Two hundred ships 
 entered the port this year. There is a theatre for 
 the Russians and Poles, and one for the Greeks 
 also, both miserable : a new theatre was to have 
 been built, but it will be given up now. The 
 
 E 2 
 
52 THE LAST DAYS OF 
 
 town stands on a promontory, from which the 
 mountains of the Caucasus are visible. To the 
 east is a fine bay ; and about sixty versts distant 
 is the mouth of the Don. The sea is so shallow 
 that vessels are obliged to lie off at a distance 
 of several versts. At the extremity of this point 
 of land on which the town stands is a harbour 
 of considerable extent, but it is nearly choked 
 up and it is doubtful whether or not it can be 
 cleared. Admiral Greig was desired by the late 
 Emperor to examine it and to decide whether 
 it could not be opened by means of the steam- 
 engine. It is formed of a great wall of earth. 
 Between the present town and the harbour are 
 immense mounds of earth, the remains of an 
 extensive fortification, built by Peter the Great, 
 which must have been a laborious and expensive 
 work, and are now in absolute ruin. 
 
 The following meteorological observations were 
 taken at the Taganrog Gymnasium in the years 
 1817, 1818, 1819, 1820, 1821, 1822, 1823, and 1824. 
 
 1817. — The greatest height of the barometer 
 7th September, was 30° 38"; the lowest depres- 
 sion was 29 English inches, 14th December at 
 10 p.m. ; therefore the greatest difference be- 
 tween the greatest height and lowest depression 
 the medium is 29*71'. The greatest heat was 
 26° R., on the 18th July at 2 p.m. The greatest 
 
THE EMPEROR ALEXANDER. 53 
 
 cold was 18° 5' R., on the 22nd December at 
 midnight. During this year there were 82 days 
 during which the mercury remained below 
 zero, R. ; and 283 days during which it was above 
 zero. There were 25 windy and stormy days 
 (62 windy); 199 common weather, during which 
 blew light and gentle breezes and during which 
 72 days quite calm; 69 clear days; half-clouds 
 and half-sunshine 124 ; quite cloudy 140, during 
 which 32 were foggy. Rain fell during 100 days 
 in the year; snow during 16 days. The last 
 snow the 6th March: the first 23rd October. 
 Thunder and lightning 19 times in the year. 
 The sea frozen over the 22nd December, and the 
 first ship arrived the 19th March. 
 
 1818. — Barometer greatest height was 30*46' ; 
 lowest 28*92'; medium 29*69 / . Greatest heat 
 27° R., 12th August 3 p.m. ; greatest cold 20|° R., 
 February 5, which continued all that day : dif- 
 ference 47J° between the greatest heat and cold 
 range of the thermometer. 78 days mercury 
 below zero. Stormy and very windy days 57 ; 
 common windy days 54; and 198 days with 
 light breezes, 56 of which calm. 87 clear days; 
 140 half cloudy and clear; 138 quite cloudy; 
 22 foggy ; 51 rainy days; 22 snow fell. 19 times 
 thunder-storms. Sea covered with ice 31st Oc- 
 tober, and the first ship arrived the 7 th March. 
 
54 THE LAST DATS OF 
 
 1819. — Barometer greatest range 30° 99'; 
 lowest 29° 11'; medium 30° 5'. Greatest heat 
 28° R., 1st August mid-day ; greatest cold 19° R., 
 13th February at midnight: difference 47°. 
 101 days mercury below the freezing-point. 
 First frost 5th October; last frost 13th March. 
 Stormy 68 and very windy ; common windy 66 ; 
 160 common, of which 71 quite calm; 88 sun- 
 shine; 158 half cloudy and clear; 119 cloudy; 
 34 of these foggy. Rain fell during 46 days; 
 snow durinsr 16. Last snow 28th March; the 
 first 25th October. 15 thunder-storms. The 
 first ship arrived 11th April. Vegetation com- 
 menced 20th April. 
 
 1820. — Barometer greatest height 30° 82'; 
 lowest 29° ; medium 29° 91'. Greatest heat 26°, 
 14th July 9 a.m.; greatest cold 20|° R., the 
 26th January 10 P.M. ; range of thermometer 36^°. 
 90 days mercury below zero. First frost 24th 
 October (1819); last frost 21st March (1820). 
 33 days very stormy and windy; 50 windy; 
 232 common dull light wind; 50 calm; 74 clear; 
 185 mixed ; 100 cloudy, of which 27 foggy. 
 53 days rain fell; 19 snow fell. Last snow 
 18th March; first 17th November. 15 thunder- 
 storms. Sea covered with ice 26th November. 
 The first ship 7th April. Vegetation began 
 16th April. 
 
THE EMPEROR ALEXANDER. 55 
 
 1821.— Barometer 30° 57'; lowest 29° 18'; 
 medium 29° 87'. Greatest heat 27° E., the 25th 
 June 8 a.m, ; greatest cold 15 1°, 23rd February 
 7 a.m. Range of thermometer 42^°. 70 days 
 below zero. First frost 30th September, 1820; 
 the last 8th March. 29 days very stormy and 
 windy; 48 windy; 228 common, of which 61 were 
 calm ; 73 clear ; 225 mixed ; 67 quite cloudy, of 
 which 22 foggy; 50 rain fell; 10 snow fell. Last 
 snow 3rd March; first 31st October. 15 thunder- 
 storms. Sea covered with ice 1st November. 
 First ship first days of April. Vegetation 8th 
 April. 
 
 1822. — Barometer 33° 38' height ; lowest 
 29° 10' ; medium 29° 74'. Greatest heat 25° R., 
 the 22nd June at 2 p.m. ; greatest cold 21J-° R., 
 31st December midnight. Range of thermometer 
 46^°. 83 days below the freezing point, not the 
 whole days but some part of the twenty-four 
 hours; 37 stormy and very windy; 90 windy; 
 102 common, of which 50 calm; 21 clear; 
 266 mixed; 80 very cloudy, of which 18 foggy; 
 48 rain fell ; 13 snow and metel. Last snow 
 26th March; first 2nd November. 13 thunder- 
 storms. Sea frozen 1st November. First ships 
 12th April. 
 
 1823.— Barometer 30° 33'; lowest 29° 21' ; 
 medium 29° 77'. Greatest heat 28° R., the 
 
56 THE LAST DAYS OF 
 
 1st August mid-day ; greatest cold 19^°, January 
 1st at 8 a.m. Range of thermometer 47 J°. 104 
 days mercury below zero. Last frost, spring 1823, 
 in April; first frost 12th October, 1822. 6 days 
 stormy and very windy; 82 windy; 199 ordinary, 
 78 of these calm; 51 clear; 203 mixed; 14 quite 
 cloudy, of which 23 foggy; 11 rain fell; 6 snow. 
 The last snow 5th March; first the 13th October. 
 7 thunder-storms. First ships 2nd April. 
 
 1824. — Barometer greatest height 30° 18' 
 lowest 29°; medium 29° 99'. Greatest heat, 25th I 
 July, was 28^° R. ; greatest cold, 12th February, 
 10J° R. Range 39°. 57 days thermometer 
 below zero. Last frost, 13th March; first the 
 13th of October. 23 days storm and very windy; 
 104 windy; 223 ordinary; 26 calm; 37 clear; 
 243 mixed; 86 cloudy, of which 13 foggy; 
 37 days rain fell; 13 snow. The last snow 
 13th March; the first the 8th December. 12 
 thunder-storms. Sea frozen over. First ship 
 2nd April. Apricots bloomed 2nd April. 
 
 From these observations at Taganrog, a correct 
 general opinion may be formed of the climate 
 of all the Russian provinces along the northern 
 shores of the Black Sea and the Sea of AzofF, 
 taking into account the effects of latitude and 
 longitude, extending between the Danube and the 
 Don, the ancient Scythia of Herodotus. 
 
THE EMPEROR ALEXANDER. 57 
 
 At Biala Cerkiew, near Kief, on the west side 
 of the Dnieper, 545 versts north from Odessa, I 
 made the following observations: 1825, March 
 21st, deep snow and hard frost, 10° R. ; 22nd, 
 13° R.; 23rd, 10° R. ; 24th, 10°; 25th, 10° R. ; 
 27th, 3°, snow disappearing; 28th, frost, storms 
 of snow; 31st, thaw. 1st April, 1825, severe 
 frost in the night; 2nd, fall of snow 7°; 3rd, 
 freezing all the day ; 5th, snow ; 7th, thaw ; 8th, 
 rain ; 9th, frost and snow ; 20th, slight frost, 
 clear fine day; 11th, frost in the night, beautiful 
 clear weather, 10° R ; spring, ice floating down 
 the river Ross; 12th, snow almost gone; 13th, 
 spring, 12° heat R. ; vegetation commencing. 
 All sign of winter gone except a few patches of 
 snow on the steppes ; 14th, a sudden change in 
 the night. In the morning a cold north wind 
 with snow. The thermometer fell at 10 a.m. to 
 the freezing point. Yesterday afternoon it was 
 at 14° R. heat. This is the most sudden change 
 of atmospheric temperature I have ever witnessed. 
 17th, 8° R., wind and rain; 18th, frost in the 
 night; 19th, 1°, frosty fine day; 20th, 1^° R; 
 21st, ground covered with snow; 22nd, snow 
 gone ; 23rd, 3° R. ; 24th, frost ; 26th, rain and 
 wind ; 27th, a beautiful day, warm, vegetation 
 advancing rapidly; 4th, summer, 17° R. ; 9th, 
 17° R. ; 13th, rain ; 16th, rain and cold weather; 
 
58 . THE LAST DAYS OP 
 
 21st, cold winds and rainy weather; 22nd, 1° of 
 heat only this morning at 8 o'clock; 23rd, cold 
 wind ; 25th, 19° R. ; 27th, 28° R. during the day, 
 8° in the night ; 28th ? went from the town-resi- 
 dence at Biala Cerkiew to Alexandria, about four 
 versts distant. The gardens most beautiful ; 29th, 
 a fete on the green, the Cossac dance. June 2nd, 
 thermometer at zero in the night. A great fall 
 of bail at Berdichief, not very far distant ; 7th, 
 warm weather, gnats and mosquitoes in the night, 
 serpents in the pavilions ; 9th, 21° R., SE.W., 
 heat not oppressive, slight thunder-storm ; 1 5th, 
 23° R. ; at 11 o'clock fell in half an hour 7°, 
 slight thunder-storm ; 16th, 6° R., a difference 
 nearly of 38° of Fahr. in 24 hours; 18th, cold 
 rainy day. On the 14th July, 1826, thermometer 
 21° R., thunder-storms; 15th, oppressive heat, 
 severe thunder, 21° R. ; 26th July, violent thun- 
 der storm which cooled the air, 22° R. In the 
 evening a high wind, thermometer 14° in the 
 night. August 2nd, high wind, thermometer in 
 the morning 13° R. ; 4th, thermometer 12°. 
 September 10th, this morning thermometer fell to 
 3J° R. Last night there was a great fall of rain 
 with a strong NE.W. Every thing now bears 
 the appearance of an early winter ; 15th, ground 
 covered with hoar-frost. 
 
 27th November, Taganrog. Mr. Hare informed 
 
THE EMPEROR ALEXANDER. 59 
 
 me that the Emperor, while there, rose early, and 
 that he slept upon a straw paliasse, with a small 
 hard pillow of leather ; that he breakfasted upon 
 green tea and a small bit of bread. He then 
 walked out and noticed all who came in his way. 
 He was frequently up to the knees in mud. The 
 Emperor took a great pleasure in superintending 
 the workmen who were employed in making the 
 public garden, which he had ordered to be formed 
 here. He dined at 2 p.m. and did not appear 
 again on foot, but sometimes afterwards with the 
 Empress in a droshky. All his attaches were 
 unwilling to come to this place, but His Majesty, 
 during a former visit, had taken a fancy to the 
 town, and he seemed to feel a kind of gratification 
 when the weather was fine, or anything else 
 occurred to justify the choice he had made. At 
 the public ball given, he danced with several of 
 the ladies, and remained at least an hour and a 
 half looking at the dances. He was fond of the 
 Polonaise and Scotch dances, and requested that 
 they should be exhibited before him. 
 
 2nd Dec. — I dined with Mr. Hare, one of the 
 most respectable merchants at Taganrog, where I 
 met Mr. Gray, an Englishman, who had been the 
 Emperor's gardener at St. Petersburgh for up- 
 wards of thirty years. In conversation he frankly 
 admitted that he had an unfavourable opinion of 
 
60 THE LAST DAYS OF 
 
 the Russian Government and people. He said 
 the nobles had no patriotism ; that when any pub- 
 lic effort was required, they never came forward 
 and subscribed, because they had no confidence in 
 their country. This he said might perhaps arise 
 from their knowing the Government so much 
 better than foreigners. When any proposal was 
 made to them to improve the country, their 
 answer was, " Why does the Government not do 
 it?" I told Mr. Gray that, at Odessa, Kief and 
 every other town which I had visited, most un- 
 favourable reports had been given to me of the 
 corrupt state of the Government in every depart- 
 ment in the army, navy, courts of justice, cus- 
 toms and police. Extortion, peculation, and great 
 injustice of every description, especially in all 
 that related to the slaves, were represented as 
 prevailing to a frightful extent throughout the 
 vast dominions of the Emperor Alexander ; and 
 that all attempts to arrest this torrent of wicked- 
 ness was utterly unavailing. I inquired of Mr. 
 Gray whether or not these representations were 
 correct, and if so, how the nobility could have 
 any confidence in the stability of such a system ? 
 He described the country between Moscow and 
 Taganrog as the finest possible for gardens and 
 agriculture, but nothing, he said, was done ; the 
 people were lazy, indolent, and poor ; they never 
 

 THE EMPEROR ALEXANDER. 61 
 
 ploughed the lands properly; they merely scratched 
 the surface, and in consequence the corn and 
 plants could not strike their roots to any depth and 
 often perished for want of moisture. The peasants 
 or slaves had no proper implements to work with, 
 no iron spades, nothing but large heavy and 
 clumsy wooden shovels. He added, " They have 
 no motives whatever for exertion." I inquired 
 how men who were bought and sold like brutes 
 for labour, kept in complete ignorance of their 
 obligations to their Creator and their fellow-men, 
 deprived of that liberty which every human 
 being has as his birth-right — and of which, as a 
 free and responsible agent, he cannot be deprived 
 without a violation of the laws of nature and the 
 principles of Christianity — and destitute of the 
 ordinary comforts of life, — could have any motives 
 for exertion. 
 
 10th, Thursday. At 11 o'clock this forenoon I 
 went to a wooden church where all the public 
 authorities were assembled to swear allegiance to 
 the Emperor Constantine. This was done by an 
 ukaze from St. Petersburgh. The body of the 
 church was filled with people of the lowest order, 
 and mougiks, who shewed no enthusiasm on the 
 occasion. The Archbishop, accompanied by a 
 number of priests, walked out through the doors 
 of the sacristy. The ukaze from the Council or 
 
62 THE LAST DAYS OF 
 
 Senate was then read, commanding the oath to be 
 administered. The Evangelists were brought out 
 and placed on a low stool, and over this the cross. 
 All the priests first approached it, making the 
 sign of the cross upon their breasts, then kissed 
 the Evangelists and the cross. The employes 
 were all sworn ; the soldiers took the oath out- 
 side the church. I inquired if the Emperor took 
 any oath to the people on coming to the throne, 
 or if there was any species of compact between 
 him and his people ; and was informed that His 
 Majesty would be required to take no oath ; and 
 that his will would be uncontrolled and above all 
 law. As Grand Duke Constantine, he had been 
 represented to me as a detestable tyrant, as vio- 
 lent and capricious in the highest degree. I 
 could not procure a copy of the oath which was 
 sworn on this occasion, but the following is a copy 
 of the oath which the Emperor Alexander had com- 
 manded all the Professors at Kreminietz to take 
 in the previous month of April. This document 
 was given to me in the Crimea by a gentleman, 
 not a native of Russia, who had resigned his office 
 rather than comply with a requisition which none 
 but the most abject and degraded slave could have 
 submitted to. It is as follows : " Moi Soussigne* 
 je promets et je jure a l'Etre Supreme devant son 
 Saint Evangile et devant la Saint Croix signe de 
 
THE EMPEROR ALEXANDER. 63 
 
 notre redemption, d'etre et de ne cesser d'etre 
 fidele a Sa Majeste Imperiale Alexandre Paulo- 
 wiez, Autocrat de toutes les Hussies, mon vrai, 
 naturel et tres-gracieux Souverain, ainsi qu'au 
 successeur qui sera designe au trone de Sa Majeste 
 de toutes les Kussies : de les servir fidelement et 
 avec zele de leur etre toujours soumis en toute ; 
 de verser pour eux jusqu'a la derniere goutte de 
 mon sang : d' observer et de defendre, dans le sens 
 le plus etendu, de tout mon pouvoir et de toutes 
 mes forces, les prerogatives et les attributs repor- 
 tants et qui peuvent reporter de l'autorite supreme 
 de Sa Majeste Imperiale; de me preter, dans toutes 
 les circonstances, autant que cela depende de moi, 
 a tout ce qui pourra avoir rapport tant au service 
 de Sa Majeste Imperiale qu'au bien-etre de l'etat: 
 d'avoir non-seulement a temps tout ce qui pourrait 
 etre prejudiciable aux inte'rets de Sa Majeste 
 Imperiale, mais encore de tacher de prevenir tout 
 ce qui pourrait leur etre contraire, de garder fidele- 
 ment les secrets qui me seront confies, de remplir 
 strictement et selon ma conscience les fonctions 
 qui me sont commises : de me conformer en tout, 
 tant a l'instruction generale qu'a ce qui est pro- 
 mulgue separement : de merae qu'aux reglemens 
 et ukases publies au nom de Sa Majeste Imperiale 
 par autorite superieure : de n' avoir ejamais en vue 
 ni mon propre interet, ni l'amitie, ni la parente, de 
 
64 THE LAST DAYS OF 
 
 ne rien faire insidieusement de contraire a mes 
 devoirs et a mes fonctions, de me conduire tou- 
 jours en tout comme le doit un sujet fidele de Sa 
 Majeste Imperiale. Et comme je dois comparaitre 
 un jour devant le redoutable tribunal de Dieu pour 
 lui rendre compte, si je prevarique, je lui livre 
 mon corps et mon ame. En foi de mon serment, 
 je baise l'Evangile et la croix de notre Sauveur. 
 Ainsi soit il. — Kreminietz, le 12 Avril, 1825." 
 
 11th December, 1825, Friday. This morning 
 at nine o'clock the body of the Emperor Alex- 
 ander was conveyed from the house in which 
 he resided to the church called St. Alexander 
 Newsky, which has been fitted up for its recep- 
 tion. The streets were lined with troops. At 
 half past nine the procession set out. A small party 
 of gendarmes commanded by the Master of Police, 
 under his direction, led the way. Then followed 
 the valets, cook, and others, employed about His 
 Majesty. Next, the persons employed about the 
 quarantine and others of the town. Then came a 
 number of priests with flags, torches, and crosses, 
 usually carried in funeral processions. Then came a 
 band of singers. After these a number of generals 
 bearing the orders, crosses, &c, of His Majesty. 
 The car was drawn by six horses covered with 
 black cloth. The coffin was exposed at the head. 
 The feet covered with the same yellow gold cloth 
 
THE EMPEROR ALEXANDER. 65 
 
 which I noticed in the chamber in his house. Over 
 the coffin was a canopy with yellow silk. Attached 
 to the car were a number of cords, which were 
 held by some of the most distinguished officers of 
 His Majesty. After these followed a body of 
 Cossacks with their pikes reversed. The day was 
 bitterly cold, and the effect was not great. The 
 Empress's coach followed the hearse, also another 
 coach and droshky. Guns were fired at short 
 intervals from the time the procession set 
 out. 
 
 12th. I went to the church of St. Alexander 
 Newsky this morning where the Emperor's body 
 was lying in state. There was a platform in the 
 middle of the church covered with black, to which 
 the ascent was by several steps. On this was a 
 small elevation covered with red. Over this was 
 placed the coffin surmounted by the canopy. 
 There were two Cossacks with drawn swords at 
 each door of the church. A number of slaves or 
 peasants were looking in but not permitted to 
 enter. All the priests were preparing to cele- 
 brate the service in cloaks. Four guards paced 
 around the coffin. A priest in black at the head 
 read the Gospels. At the feet, on cushions raised 
 on stools covered with red velvet, were the 
 different orders of His Majesty. This was all 
 that remained of the mighty Sovereign who had 
 
66 THE LAST DAYS OF 
 
 reigned over forty millions of slaves, and whose 
 empire had extended from China to the Baltic 
 Sea, and from the confines of Persia and Turkey 
 to the Arctic Ocean. 
 
 24th, Thursday. — At last the doubt which has 
 prevailed during the last three weeks respecting 
 the successor to the throne has been dissipated. 
 This morning letters and a printed document, by 
 the order of the new Emperor, Nicholas I, have 
 arrived from St. Petersburgh. It appears that 
 in 1822, Constantine wrote a letter to the late 
 Emperor, stating his desire to waive his title to 
 the succession in case of the Emperor's decease, 
 and requesting that the next in the line after him 
 should take his place. This letter was laid before 
 the Empress-mother, and the Emperor Alexander 
 acceded to the request. The letter of Constan- 
 tine and the act of Alexander, declaring Nicholas 
 his successor, were enclosed in a sealed packet, 
 and delivered some time ago into the hands of the 
 council of the Empire, to be opened by them in 
 case of his decease. It was to be the first act of 
 the Council after Alexander's death. When this 
 was done, the Grand Duke Nicholas and the 
 Council, wishing to give Constantine an oppor- 
 tunity of revoking this agreement, caused all 
 the troops and authorities in St. Petersburgh to 
 swear allegiance to him, and sent off a messen- 
 
THE EMPEROR ALEXANDER. 67 
 
 ger to Warsaw to invite Constantine to Peters- 
 burgh. An answer was immediately sent from 
 Warsaw, declaring that his purpose to live in 
 retirement continued unchanged; and in the 
 printed paper of the day the manifesto of the new 
 Emperor calling on all his subjects to take the 
 oath of allegiance to him is published. It also 
 appears, from the printed paper, that a regiment 
 of guards at Petersburgh refused to take the 
 oath and broke out into an open revolt. The 
 Emperor Nicholas went to them, and reasoned 
 with them calmly in the midst of the tumult ; 
 but all his arguments proving ineffectual, force 
 was obliged to be had recourse to, to bring them 
 into subordination. Nicholas remained among 
 them several hours, in the utmost danger of being 
 murdered; and the Count Milaradowitch was shot 
 dead by a person not in a military uniform. 
 There were seven officers belonging to good 
 families engaged in this seditious movement; and 
 it is also stated that other persons not belonging 
 to the army urged on the soldiers to this despe- 
 rate act. The number of lives lost I have not 
 heard; but it must have been considerable, as the 
 sedition was not quelled until several pieces of 
 artillery were brought to play upon them, Tb 
 were chiefly young men who were engar • ^ 
 
 this affair ; but that an extensive consr; -. 
 
 el ve. anii 
 
68 THE LAST DAYS OF 
 
 formed to prevent the accession of the present 
 Emperor there cannot, I think, be a doubt, from 
 persons not in military uniform taking part in 
 the proceedings and urging forward the soldiers. 
 This is an ominous commencement of the reign 
 of Nicholas ; and will not be forgotten, though it 
 should be equally prosperous as that of his pre- 
 decessor and of still longer duration. To-night 
 the body of the late Emperor is to be packed in 
 the coffin and the lid screwed down. Sir James 
 Wylie and the Empress are to be present. I am 
 told the removal to-morrow does not take place 
 on account of the severe cold. General Frederiks, 
 brother of the Commandant of this town, was 
 wounded at St. Petersburgh. It is probable that 
 a true report of these proceedings will never be 
 obtained from any individual in this country ; 
 the versions of the affair being already as nume- 
 rous as the individuals engaged in it. It is 
 
 CD C5 
 
 likely some of the persons attached to the 
 English Embassy were present and saw all that 
 passed ; and if this were so, a clear and full 
 statement may perhaps in two months be obtained 
 from that quarter. 
 
 26 th, Saturday. — There was an intention to 
 tuoclaim a Constitution at Petersburgh on the 
 the t. Thirty officers are said to be implicated 
 swear alx^pngpiracy. All who were with the 
 
THE EMPEROR ALEXANDER. 69 
 
 Emperor that day are created Aides -de -Camp, 
 and Generals-en-Chef. We return to Odessa 
 on Tuesday, when the removal of the body to 
 St. Petersburgh will positively take place. Yes- 
 terday was a festival, but there was little appear- 
 ance of gaiety, and less drunkenness than usual 
 on such an occasion. The whole of these pro- 
 ceedings will exert a pernicious influence on the 
 character of this reign. The Emperor Nicholas 
 will either be a tyrant or a coward. 
 
 During the time we remained at Taganrog, I 
 resided in the same apartments with Baron Bruno w, 
 and was on very friendly terms with him. One 
 day he related to me the following anecdote in 
 his most playful manner : u An English noble- 
 man and the celebrated M. de Montesquieu 
 once met at Venice, and were comparing the 
 English and French nations. M. Montesquieu 
 maintained, that the French were much more 
 intelligent and acute than the English. The 
 Englishman did not contradict him, although he 
 did not give his assent entirely, being prevented 
 by politeness from contradicting him. Every 
 night M. de Montesquieu committed to paper what 
 had passed during the day. On the following 
 morning after this conversation, an Italian en- 
 tered the apartments of the Marquis, and said, 
 1 You keep a journal of what you observe, and 
 
70 THE LAST DAYS OF 
 
 it is disliked extremely by the Government. I 
 advise you to burn your Journal immediately, 
 otherwise you will run the risk of being thrown 
 into prison. He immediately cast his Journal 
 into the fire and it was consumed/ The same 
 evening the English nobleman waited upon him, 
 and M. de Montesquieu related the circumstance, 
 and expressed himself very uneasy at the thought 
 of being subjected to imprisonment. The English- 
 man observed, ( Now you see the difference be- 
 tween the English and French : had this happened 
 to an Englishman he would have considered the 
 probability of this, or at least have endeavoured to 
 avoid it ; he would certainly not have thrown his 
 Journal into the fire as you have done. I sent 
 the Italian to see how you would act on this 
 occasion, for the purpose of shewing you the 
 difference between the two nations.'" 
 
 In spite of this kind and delicate hint my 
 Journal or Diary was continued, and it has not 
 yet been cast into the fire and consumed. I 
 shall close this account of the last days of the 
 Emperor Alexander with an extract from this 
 Journal, dated the 13th December, 1825, before 
 the news arrived at Taganrog of a conspiracy and 
 revolt at St. Petersburgh : — 
 
 The Journal which I have kept since quitting 
 London has proved a source of the greatest 
 
THE EMPEROR ALEXANDER. 71 
 
 pleasure and improvement to me : it has accus- 
 tomed me to observe with greater care and has 
 been the means of enlarging the boundaries of 
 my knowledge, by inspiring me with an increased 
 desire for information on all subjects connected 
 with the laws, institutions, and manners of the 
 people of this country. It has been a sort of 
 task-duty to me, as has been observed, without 
 the discharge of which I do not feel that the 
 business of the day is performed. JS r o friendly 
 eye may ever peruse its details, and I may not 
 live to enjoy in the security and peace of my 
 native country the satisfaction which a reference 
 to it might afford. The events now passing 
 before me interest not only Russia and all 
 Europe, but they will ultimately produce an 
 effect upon the general condition of the human 
 race. The first symptoms of the bursting forth of 
 forty millions of men to liberty and equal laws 
 is a phenomenon sufficient to arrest the attention 
 and rouse the warmest feelings of the heart. 
 In the present situation in which I am placed, 
 and cut off from the society which I love and from 
 the professional occupations which have formed 
 the greatest pleasure and charm of my past life, 
 the exercise of committing my thoughts and all 
 that I witness around me to paper is attended with 
 a very excellent effect. It seems to act as a 
 
72 THE LAST DAYS OF 
 
 sedative when agitated by feeling, or overcome by 
 despondency, and I never lay down my pen but 
 I rise stronger in virtuous resolution, more ardent 
 in hope, more satisfied with the lot that Provi- 
 dence has assigned me in life. "A thousand vague 
 fears, wild expectations, and undigested schemes 
 hurry through one's thoughts in seasons of doubt 
 and danger ; but by arresting them as they flit 
 across the mind and throwing them on paper, and 
 thus by the mechanical act compelling oneself 
 to consider them with scrupulous and minute 
 attention, one may perhaps escape becoming the 
 dupe of one's own excited imagination, just as a 
 young horse is cured of the vice of starting by 
 being made to stand still and look for some time 
 without interruption at the cause of its terror." 
 In Russia, it is true, I have met with little to 
 admire or imitate, and learned nothing which 
 can benefit my own country in any respect. 
 Many centuries must elapse before the people of 
 this empire can rise to a condition to be put in 
 comparison with the people who form the nations 
 of the west of Europe. Here at present know- 
 ledge and a desire for useful information are met 
 with in a few individuals only ; I might say in 
 none without exaggeration, except those who 
 have been educated in foreign countries, or filled 
 official situations far from Russia. Court favour, 
 
THE EMPEROR ALEXANDER. 73 
 
 honours, rank, crosses, and other similar baubles 
 are the objects of ambition with the highest and 
 the lowest with few exceptions; while public 
 virtue, usefulness, and the desire of improving 
 and benefiting the mass of the slaves is looked 
 for in vain. The greater number of the nobility, 
 or slave-holders, being excluded from those mental 
 occupations suited to their rank, which they would 
 find in other countries, betake themselves for the 
 most part to gambling and low sensuality. The 
 condition of the slaves is afflicting in the highest 
 degree to every man possessed of any spark of 
 human feeling or any sense of justice ; and it is 
 impossible without sorrow to witness the wretched 
 condition in which they are almost universally 
 doomed to spend their lives. The extent of this 
 slavery is also to be taken into account, and the 
 utter degradation of the human intellect in so 
 large a mass of our species. 
 
 The following observations were written after 
 my arrival at Taganrog with Count, now Prince 
 Woronzow, when the general expression of grief 
 and affliction for the Emperor Alexander had 
 begun to subside. The people here, and indeed 
 all over the empire, were much attached to their 
 sovereign, on account of his personal good qualities 
 and amiable and conciliating manners. Affability 
 and benevolence he certainly possessed in an emi- 
 
74 THE LAST DAYS OF 
 
 nent degree, and had he not been a great monarch 
 he would have been beloved and respected by all 
 who knew him. But I have met with none here 
 who have endeavoured to form an estimate of his 
 public and political life. I have asked, what has 
 he done for the internal improvement of the 
 country ? but no one has fixed upon any object of 
 importance which will serve to commemorate his 
 reign. Of his conduct in regard to Greece, 
 Italy, and Spain, there can be but one opinion ; 
 and, in respect to Russia, few will hesitate to 
 express their conviction, that his blind attach- 
 ment to the army, and his dread and hatred of all 
 free institutions in the country, have been two 
 of the greatest errors which a sovereign could 
 have committed. The former passion led to the 
 ruin of the commerce of the country and finances 
 of the empire ; and the latter to the proscription 
 of every species of public instruction, and an 
 obstinate opposition to the introduction of all 
 useful knowledge. The state of the universities 
 is truly wretched; every man of talent being 
 either driven out or forced to quit them, owing to 
 the restrictions to which they have been subjected. 
 Had one thousandth part of the sums which he 
 expended on the army and navy been devoted to 
 the institution of public schools, to the gene- 
 ral welfare of the people, and to the instruc- 
 
THE EMPEROR ALEXANDER. 75 
 
 tion and emancipation of the slaves, civilization 
 might have been far advanced ; and the danger 
 which must ever exist to a country where so 
 large a proportion of the people are in a state of 
 slavery, greatly diminished, if not completely 
 removed. But everything like freedom was 
 banished from the country, and all was sacrificed 
 to this great army. If, instead of wasting the 
 last ten years in exercising his unwieldy host, in 
 planting military colonies, and in crushing the 
 rising liberties of Germany and the south of 
 Europe, he had directed his mind to the improve- 
 ment of the laws and civil institutions of the 
 country, and to the amelioration of the forty 
 millions of slaves in his empire, what a magni- 
 ficent and imperishable monument would he not 
 have raised to his fame all over the world. As 
 things are, he will not cease to be viewed in all 
 succeeding ages, by political philosophers, as a 
 scourge to his country, and as one who utterly 
 failed in fulfilling the high destinies which Provi- 
 dence at the commencement of his reign appeared 
 to have marked out for him. 
 
 By firmly resisting the invaders of his coun- 
 try, by marching his army into Germany after 
 their retreat, and by his conciliatory manners 
 keeping the Sovereigns on the Continent in a 
 state of union till the power of their adversary 
 
76 THE LAST DAYS OF . 
 
 was destroyed, there can be no doubt that he 
 rendered the greatest services to the nations of 
 Europe. But in so far, and no farther, are they 
 indebted to him. The fate of this vast empire no 
 one can certainly foretell ; but that changes await 
 it, and at no distant period, who can doubt ? The 
 army is rotten at the core. Many of the officers 
 detest the present system of government, and 
 desire a representative and constitutional govern- 
 ment, and long to see the slaves educated and 
 gradually emancipated. The soldiers cannot feel 
 any attachment to the government which has 
 dragged them from their homes and doomed them 
 to a life of the severest hardship. Slight circum- 
 stances might effect the most important changes 
 in the whole structure of society in Russia, and 
 it is hardly possible that good should not spring 
 from any change. All power being vested in the 
 army, the changes will begin first in that quarter, 
 and will propagate themselves into all the ranks of 
 the empire. Again, I say, that no one regrets the 
 Emperor Alexander as a public loss, and I feel 
 certain that out of Russia few tears will be shed 
 on this occasion, except by those wretched despots 
 whom he has assisted by upholding them in their 
 unlimited and unlawful power. Even at Tagan- 
 rog, where his body now lies, where his Empress 
 is still present in a state of deep mourning for his 
 
THE EMPEROR ALEXANDER. 77 
 
 loss, and where all the trappings of woe are exhi- 
 bited, the tears of the people have already ceased to 
 flow, and the thoughts of all are directed with the 
 deepest anxiety to the line of conduct which his 
 successor, Constantine, will follow. The Emperor 
 Alexander undoubtedly gained the affection of 
 those immediately around his person, because he 
 was most attentive to their feelings and wants, 
 and by them he is no doubt sincerely regretted ; 
 but of his tender mercies to the people at large 
 I can see no evidence. Where were his sympa- 
 thies at the Congresses of Troppau, Laybach, and 
 Verona, for the people, whose national indepen- 
 dence he violated ? How did his compassion shew 
 itself when inflicting so much misery on those 
 whom he had torn from their families to fill up the 
 ranks of his useless and almost countless legions ? 
 What regard to the feelings of those crown slaves 
 whom he had planted in his military colonies ? — 
 Verily the Emperor Alexander had much to ac- 
 count for, before the tribunal of Him " who seeth 
 and judgeth not as man seeth and judgeth." 
 
 THE END OF PART I. 
 
PART II. 
 
 THE FIRST DAYS 
 
 OP 
 
 THE EMPEEOK NICHOLAS. 
 
THE FIRST DAYS 
 
 OF 
 
 THE EMPEEOE NICHOLAS. 
 
 On the 10th January, 1826, the clay after the 
 funeral procession had set out for Petersburgh, 
 I left Taganrog with Count Woronzow to return 
 to Odessa. The thermometer during the greater 
 part of this dismal journey was about 16° below 
 the freezing point of Fahrenheit, and a wind, 
 sometimes like a hurricane, was blowing from the 
 vast plains between us and Siberia. While at 
 Taganrog I had frequently seen the bodies of 
 those who had perished from the cold on the 
 steppe in the night brought into the town in the 
 morning, and had been permitted to subject them 
 to anatomical examination, to ascertain the effects 
 
 G 
 
82 THE FIRST DAYS OF 
 
 of the intense cold upon the heart and the other 
 internal viscera. 
 
 In our journey from Odessa to Taganrog, as 
 we travelled along the steppe, I had read to the 
 Count Woronzow, being alone in the carriage 
 with him several hours in the day, portions of 
 English reviews and journals, voyages of disco- 
 very, and travels into Africa which had then been 
 recently published. We reached Nicolaef in safety, 
 where as usual we met with a cordial reception 
 from Admiral Greig. A short time before this 
 a ship of 80 guns had been launched, and one 
 of 110 guns, which was to be named the Derbent 
 was upon the stocks. At Odessa the universal 
 feeling prevailed that the nation had been saved 
 by the decision and courage of the Emperor 
 Nicholas at Petersburgh on the 14th December. 
 I was however deeply afflicted on learning, that 
 some of those from whom I had received the 
 greatest kindness and attention in Russia, and 
 for whose character I entertained respect, were 
 among the conspirators ; that they had been ar- 
 rested, conveyed to Petersburgh, and were im- 
 mured in the dungeons of the fortress on a charge 
 of high treason. General Michael Orloff, whose 
 services in the French war were well-known, was 
 one of these. 
 
THE EMPEROR NICHOLAS. 83 
 
 In the month of June, 1825, I had ac- 
 companied his brother-in-law, Col. Alexander 
 Rajewsky, to Kief, and had spent three days 
 most happily in the society of General OrloiF. 
 His wife was generally admitted to be one of the 
 most accomplished and virtuous women in Russia, 
 and in all his domestic relations he appeared 
 most happy. General OrloiF did not conceal 
 from me his dissatisfaction with the condition of 
 the slaves and the corrupt state of the Govern- 
 ment, but he did not give vent to any expression 
 from which it was possible to infer that he was 
 involved in any enterprise to destroy the Imperial 
 Family and subvert by violence the existing order 
 of affairs. He was deeply engaged in the study 
 of political economy, chemistry, and other sciences, 
 in which it was understood he had made great 
 progress. With General OrloiF and Colonel 
 Rajewsky I saw all the churches, chapels, altars, 
 shrines, and the catacombs at Kief, dug out of 
 the rock, in which were contained the bodies 
 of more than a hundred bishops, saints, and 
 historians. The recollection of his noble and 
 generous countenance and his kindness on that 
 occasion have never been effaced. 
 
 Count Olizar, a Polish nobleman, who had 
 accompanied Count "Woronzow to the Crimea, 
 
 G 2 
 
84 THE FIRST DAYS OF 
 
 and remained with us all the time we were on 
 the South Coast, was another prisoner at Peters- 
 burgh. He was in very delicate health; he had 
 been singularly unfortunate in his family, and 
 was labouring under the deepest melancholy, 
 and in despair respecting his unhappy country. 
 " On the 25th of September, 1825, at Yoursouff, 
 at dinner, I sat next the Count Olizar. He said 
 sadly : ' How miserable it is to be a Pole with any 
 head and any feeling:' and taking out a small 
 pocket-book, he shewed me a scrap of paper on 
 which were written the two following lines from 
 The Pleasures of Hope: — 
 
 ' Hope for a season bade the world farewell, 
 And Freedom shrieked when Kosciusko fell.' : 
 
 Count Olizar and the Colonels Alexander and 
 Nicholas Eajewsky were soon liberated; but 
 Prince Serge Volhonsky, who had married ano- 
 ther daughter of General Rajewsky, the sister of 
 Madame OrlofT, and not less distinguished for her 
 virtues and accomplishments, in a few months after 
 had his sword broken over his head, was stripped 
 of his rank and honours, reduced to the condition 
 of a common slave, and banished into the wilds 
 of Siberia, where he has remained, if living, ever 
 since. I had been introduced, the previous winter, 
 
THE EMPEROR NICHOLAS. 85 
 
 to Prince Yolhonsky at Biala Cerkiew, the resi- 
 dence of the Countess Branicka, the mother of 
 the Countess Woronzow, and at Odessa had pro- 
 fessionally attended his family and become 
 well acquainted with him. He was a most 
 affectionate father and devoted husband; but I 
 knew at the time that he was not in favour with 
 the Emperor Alexander and had incurred by 
 some frivolous act the deadly hatred of Count 
 Araktcheieff. I had before this been informed that 
 the following laughable circumstance, which had 
 taken place four years before, during a visit of 
 the Emperor to the military colonies, of which 
 Count Araktcheieff was the founder, was the cause 
 openly assigned for Prince Volhonsky's disgrace. 
 
 The following is the account of this affair, 
 copied verbatim from my Journal : — 
 
 The military colonies please one at first sight 
 from the order and cleanliness everywhere pre- 
 vailing in them ; but their population is said to 
 be wretched in the highest degree. When the 
 Emperor Alexander was here, some years ago, he 
 went round visiting every house ; and on every 
 table he found a dinner prepared, one of the prin- 
 cipal articles of which consisted of a young pig 
 roasted. The Prince Volhonsky suspected there 
 was some trick, and cut off the tail of the pig and 
 
86 THE FIRST DAYS OF 
 
 put it in his pocket. On entering the next house 
 the pig was presented, but without the tail, upon 
 which Prince Volhonsky said to the Emperor, 
 " I think this is an old friend." The Emperor 
 demanded his meaning, when he took out the 
 tail from his pocket and applied it to the part 
 from which it had been removed. The Emperor 
 did not relish the jest, and it was supposed this 
 piece of pleasantry led to his disgrace. A more 
 effectual, though bold and dangerous, method of 
 exposing to the Emperor the deceptions carried 
 on throughout the military colonies under Count 
 Araktcheieff could not have been adopted than 
 that which Prince Yolhonsky had recourse to on 
 this occasion. From that time Count Araktcheieff 
 became his bitter enemy. 
 
 Nothing can be sold without the knowledge 
 of the officers in these military colonies. It is 
 said that when a hen lays an egg 9 it is neces- 
 sary to make an entry of the fact in a register, 
 kept for this and other equally important pur- 
 poses. I was told, that when a priest was speak- 
 ing to some of these peasants about the punish- 
 ments of hell, they answered they dreaded them 
 not, because a worse hell than that in which thev 
 were doomed to pass their whole lives here could 
 not possibly exist. 
 
 
 
THE EMPEROR NICHOLAS. 87 
 
 When I was in the Crimea, during the autumn 
 of 1825, I heard of the murder of Araktcheieff's 
 mistress, a woman of the most cruel and tyran- 
 nical disposition. A favourite female slave, 
 having given her some offence, was ordered to be 
 whipped in a barbarous manner; her brother, 
 incensed at the outrage, vowed vengeance against 
 the offender, and in a few days stabbed her to 
 the heart.* 
 
 * See Schnitzler's Secret History of the Court of Rmsia. 
 In the account of the life of Araktcheieff, recently published, it 
 is stated that the Count " had a mistress who ruled him, as he 
 did the Emperor. She was the wife of a sailor, a woman of 
 haughty and imperious character, avaricious, and hated for her 
 cruelty. Yet she was courted, and her interest was solicited : 
 the head of the police paid her the most marked attention, and 
 even men of the first families did not blush to memorialize her, 
 and to flatter her pride and avarice by presents. Naturally 
 cruel, she exercised her authority over the serfs who waited 
 upon her with the utmost barbarity. The assassin, whom rage 
 had impelled to strike the blow, was not the only culprit. In 
 order to perform the deed he required accomplices, and had 
 found them among his comrades, who all hated their tyrannical 
 mistress. The accused were twenty-one in number ; and that 
 circumstance brought the case under the jurisdiction of the 
 Senate. To withdraw them from the higher tribunal, the Count 
 had them tried on the spot of their guilt in lots of seven each. 
 In contempt of existing laws, many were broken on the wheel, 
 and all condemned. Alexander in the meanwhile had taken 
 his journey to Taganrog, and Araktcheieff remained at his post. 
 He was not yet consoled for the loss he had sustained, when he 
 was overwhelmed with the news of the death of his beloved 
 master. The act of grace before mentioned could not fail to be 
 
88 THE FIRST DAYS OF 
 
 The death of Alexander and the events which 
 followed rendered it necessary for Count Woron- 
 zow to go to St. Petersburgh, and to postpone 
 till the month of November his visit to England. 
 We left Odessa on the 15th of March, 1826, O.S., 
 and reached the capital on the 11th April. We 
 proceeded through the governments of Cherson, 
 Podolia, Kief, Czernigow, Mohilew, Witepsk, 
 Pskow, and Petersburgh, from the Black Sea to 
 the Baltic, at a time when the roads were almost 
 impassable. During this journey, I continued to 
 record in my Diary or Journal the observations 
 which I made, and from which the following 
 extracts are taken. 
 
 announced on the accession of the new monarch. It would have 
 saved the unfortunate beings upon whom General Araktcheieff's 
 vengeance had fallen, from the dreadful punishment of the 
 knout. Banishment to Siberia was not, he thought, sufficient 
 punishment ; so he hastened the preparations for enforcing the 
 sentence, which was carried out with all rigour on the very eve 
 of the publication of the amnesty." 
 
 I can bear my testimony to the truth of the following state- 
 ments by the same writer : — " So recently as 1825 every one 
 trembled in the presence of AraktcheieiF; his name was in every 
 mouth ; every act of severity and oppression which overshadowed 
 the last ten years of the life of Alexander — a monarch in his 
 own impulses noble and generous — was laid at his door." 
 
 Photius the monk had obtained the same influence over 
 Araktcheieff which he had acquired over the Emperor. " Alex- 
 ander learning the deplorable condition to which his favourite 
 had been reduced by the loss of his mistress/' observes the same 
 
THE EMPEROR NICHOLAS. 89 
 
 16. Tiraspol. — I visited the military hospital, 
 and, at the request of Count Woronzow, paid a 
 visit to General Sebanieff, who had been suffering 
 from biliary calculi, but was recovering. Bender, 
 where Charles XII. had taken refuge after the 
 battle of Pultowa, I could see with difficulty 
 from a height near Tiraspol. During the day we 
 proceeded along the Dneister. We passed a 
 large Armenian village in a very flourishing state. 
 In the evening late we arrived at Count Nessel- 
 rode's, twenty-four miles from Balta. He had 
 established here great flocks of merinos. I saw 
 several of these ; one was valued at a thousand 
 
 author, " applied to the monk for assistance to rouse him from 
 his dejected state. He addressed to him a letter, saying he 
 had learned that Araktcheieff was a prey to despair : that he 
 (Photius) alone could prevent the fatal consequences to be 
 apprehended from it — he, whose words full of holy unction, and 
 whose unblemished life had recalled so many stray sheep to the 
 fold. He conjured him from the depths of his heart to exert 
 his powers : and continued — ' Summon him to your side; speak 
 to him in the name of religion ; strengthen his faith ; entreat 
 him to take care of himself for the sake of his country, to which 
 he is of such consequence : — you will preserve to her a peerless 
 servant, and to me a faithful friend, to whom I am sincerely 
 attached.' The man of God complied with the wishes of the 
 monarch ; he invited the favourite to come to him ; Araktcheieff 
 went, and remained some weeks in the holy retreat, performed 
 penance, and regained calmness. But his thirst for vengeance 
 did not yield to the influence of religion, the first law of which 
 enjoins forgiveness of injuries." 
 
90 THE FIRST DATS OF 
 
 roubles, another could not be purchased for any 
 money. It is a small kind of sheep, the wool 
 consisting of fine threads or fibres like silk. Few- 
 trees ; ground in this tract uneven. 
 
 18. — Passed Balta, a large town full of Jews. 
 From this the country assumes a rich appearance, 
 and no country can surpass Podolia in fertility of 
 soil and luxuriance of the woods. We dined at 
 the General Goudewitch's, who has a large estate 
 between Balta and Tulcyn. He is the son of the 
 General Count Goude witch, who commanded the 
 unfortunate Russian expedition against Persia in 
 the time of Paul. Podolia belonged to Poland ; 
 and Paul gave this estate with all the peasants to 
 his father. The house was large and comfortable, 
 though built of wood, and well furnished, and the 
 domestics all well clothed. 
 
 19. — Arrived at Tulcyn, the former grandeur 
 of which has been described by Tweddel in one 
 of his letters, and by Mr. James in his Travels in 
 Russia in 1806. At present the palace, which 
 is falling rapidly into ruins, belongs to Count 
 Micheslaus Potocki, who is represented to be an 
 avaricious man, and hard to the slaves. In one 
 of the wings of the palace was lodged General 
 KisselefF, who had married the eldest daughter of 
 the Count Potocki, and who is settled here as 
 
THE EMPEROR NICHOLAS. 91 
 
 chief of the staff of General Wittgenstein. The 
 whole establishment of General Kisseleff appeared 
 miserable. In front of the palace were rank 
 weeds and grass growing, the garden neglected; 
 slavery in its most dire forms existing all around. 
 
 21st. — Slept this night at Count Jaroslaus 
 Potocki's. The house small, but extremely com- 
 fortable. The Count is the half brother of the 
 other Potocki's, and is represented to be a man of 
 good taste. Pie has collected a great number of 
 works of art in Italy and France. It is said, 
 however, that his fine taste has led to the loss of 
 12,000 slaves, and that 3,000 only remain. 
 
 22nd. Ouman. — Went in the morning to see 
 the gardens of Sophiephka — with their cascades, 
 grottoes, granite stairs, subterranean passages. 
 The father of the present family of Potocki had 
 200,000 peasants. His annual revenue was up- 
 wards of 3,000,000 roubles. His estate has been 
 divided into sixteen parts. Each son obtained 
 about 15,000 peasants, and each daughter 5000. 
 M. Lewchin, private secretary to Count Woron- 
 zow, and afterwards governor of Odessa, here 
 informed me that the slaves cannot give evidence 
 in a court of law against or for their masters. A 
 slave, he said 5 will always speak in favour of his 
 master, as he will naturally fear his vengeance. 
 
92 THE FIRST DAYS OF 
 
 I could not learn whether a slave could give evi- 
 dence in any case in a court of law against or for 
 a free man. In the time of the old Count Potocki, 
 the slaves were treated very mildly ; at present, 
 they are squeezed in the most unmerciful manner 
 — the number of days when they must labour 
 being doubled ; great discontent everywhere. 
 
 23rd. — We left Ouman and reached Stavistcka, 
 a village belonging to the Countess Branicka — 
 a beautiful situation. The colonel of the regiment 
 of dragoons stationed here was arrested, and has 
 died in the fortress at Petersburgh. It was said 
 that he had a determination of blood to the head, 
 and the chagrin produced by his arrest brought 
 on a fatal attack of apoplexy. The brother- 
 in-law of Prince Serge Volhonsky and General 
 Orloff, Nicolas Rajewsky, was lieutenant- colonel 
 of the regiment; and on the 11th of June, 1825, 
 I had gone from Biala Cerkiew to Stavischa with 
 his brother, Colonel A. Rajewski to see a review 
 of this regiment of dragoons. 
 
 The following is the account given of this visit 
 in my Journal: — 
 
 This morning before daylight I left this place 
 with Colonel A. Rajewski, in his caleche, to visit his 
 brother, and to see the review of his regiment of 
 cavalry. The morning was cool and pleasant; there 
 
THE EMPEROR NICHOLAS. 93 
 
 were frequent and vivid flashes of lightning from 
 a mass of black clouds in the east. The moon 
 in the wane was shining brightly, and there had 
 been a shower to refresh the parched fields. The 
 niofhtino;ales were sincrino; in great numbers in 
 the woods and gardens of Alexandria. We 
 passed through the village of Biala Cerkiew, and 
 in no long time came fairly upon the steppe and 
 drove rapidly along. In several places we passed 
 a large number of the wagons of the country 
 drawn up in squares, and the drivers around a 
 fire in the centre, and the oxen grazing around. 
 This is exactly the manner of the Tartars. These 
 men go from this to Odessa, and still greater dis- 
 tances, and fare in the same manner during the 
 journey. There were a few houses upon the road 
 for the entertainment of passengers, although this 
 was a by-road. On the steppe for many miles no 
 houses were to be met with. The peasants sleep 
 all the night in the fields without any shelter, and 
 do not return to their villages for a considerable 
 period — for some weeks. We arrived at six o'clock 
 in the morning at Stavische. We found the Lieut- 
 Colonel asleep. It is a village; the houses of 
 wood and mud ; the population chiefly consisting 
 of Jews and peasants of the Countess. In the 
 middle of it there was a handsome catholic church 
 
94 THE FIRST DAYS OF 
 
 of stone ; the Greek church was a miserable wood 
 hut. Colonel Rajewsky was lodged in the house 
 of a Jew ; his apartments very humble ; yet I was 
 astonished to find a great collection of all the best 
 modern books, on history, politics, and chemistry, 
 and translations of the best English works into 
 French. In this remote place, and in the midst 
 of rude unlettered soldiery, this young officer, for 
 he is only twenty-three, retains all his natural ar- 
 dour for study, and has lost none of his natural good 
 humour. I was happy to have an opportunity of 
 seeing how a million of my fellow creatures pass 
 their time. He was speedily dressed, and we had 
 an excellent breakfast of tea, coffee, and eggs, &c, 
 under the projecting roof of the house in the open 
 air. All these houses have this, with a long 
 bench constructed of hard earth and stones under- 
 neath ; and on these the whole family is seated in 
 the evenings. These poor peasants must take the 
 same interest in one another that more civilized 
 persons do ; indeed their attachments are said to 
 be much stronger, and I was astonished to find 
 that with slavery and all its evils they are just as 
 much attached to their native soil as I am. A 
 process has lately been going on here between 
 the peasants and the Countess. They were once 
 free men, when this country was a part of the 
 
THE EMPEROR NICHOLAS. 95 
 
 kingdom of Poland ; but it appears they had lost 
 their personal liberty before the lands were 
 granted to the Countess, and they have no chance 
 of regaining it. In this distant village, in the 
 centre of the Ukraine, there are even in the 
 hearts of these peasants aspirations after liberty. 
 They have some men of superior talents, who 
 even here take the lead, and who know well what 
 their natural rights are. After breakfast Colonel 
 A. E-ajewsky went to sleep, and his brother and 
 I went to see the military hospital and the camp, 
 which is pitched on the highest point of a beauti- 
 ful ridge, two versts from the village. The tents 
 were all pitched, and the horses collected in 
 squares formed by ropes, with their heads tied to 
 them. The regiment is 1000 strong. There 
 were seven squadrons, the horses of each in a sepa- 
 rate square, and the tents of the men belonging 
 to each squadron pitched close to the squares in 
 which the horses were contained. There were 
 six men in each tent. It reminded me very much 
 of St. BoswelPs Fair, on the Scottish border; 
 the horses were tied up exactly in the same 
 manner. The sick soldiers all lodged in one 
 house : those who were able all rose when we 
 entered, as at Odessa. There were 35 sick out 
 of 1000 men, and none of them appeared to be 
 
96 THE FIEST DAYS OF 
 
 severely ill ; a considerable number of intermit- 
 tent fevers, cases of scrofula, typhus; several 
 accidents ; one of pneumonia, several of whitlow. 
 The beds consisted of a coverlet and sheet and 
 strong hempen bags filled with straw, a most 
 uncomfortable thing for a really sick person. 
 When the regiment changes its position, these 
 bags are emptied, and the beds are not difficult to 
 be transported, the wood being light. Upon the 
 whole, there was far less filth than I expected to 
 find. This camp is only pitched for a few days, 
 on account of the review. The officers' tents are 
 large and double, and quite sufficient to keep off 
 the rain. In war, these tents are not carried 
 with the army. Officers and men bivouac in the 
 open air without any shelter. In the severest 
 weather this is the case, and it is astonishing how 
 little injury is done by exposure to the cold. At 
 two o'clock the Colonel of the regiment and four 
 officers dined with us. The dinner was excellent 
 in every respect, and I received, as an English- 
 men, every attention and respect. The best 
 French wines in abundance. At seven we went 
 to drink coffee at the Colonel's ; the house beau- 
 tifully situated. A fine view of the lake and 
 woods on its shore. Several squadrons of horse 
 came down to drink in the lake. The riders un- 
 
THE EMPEROR NICHOLAS. 97 
 
 dressed, mounted, and made the horses swim to 
 a considerable distance from the shore. It was a 
 lively sight, the naked soldiers and the horses 
 swimming in the lake. There must have been at 
 least 400 in this situation. We again returned 
 to the camp, where the tents were completed. 
 There was a large military band of trumpeters. 
 The tent for the church was being erected. 
 
 12th. — Went to the camp. The inspection 
 commenced at 8 and lasted till 11 — the sun 
 fiercely hot. With a General of Division I had 
 some conversation, but he did not appear to be 
 a well-informed man, though very civil. He had 
 served with a regiment of light cavalry in various 
 parts of the Continent. He said that the English 
 cavalry were the finest in Europe ; that the army 
 was so small and the country so rich that we 
 could afford to keep our troops better than any 
 other nation. He said that in Russia they wanted 
 machines for their soldiers, not men too enlight- 
 ened. During this visit not a word escaped from 
 the lips of any individual which could have led 
 me to expect what took place before the close of 
 the year, or to anticipate the fate of the colonel 
 of this regiment, who appeared to be a most 
 amiable and kind-hearted man. 
 
 26th March, O.S., 1826. Biala Cerkiew. — I 
 
 H 
 
98 THE FIRST DAYS OF 
 
 found Colonel N". Rajewsky on arriving here ; he 
 appeared dejected, as well he might. He informed 
 me that Russia was saved entirely by the forti- 
 tude of the Emperor Nicholas. Had he not been 
 firm and determined, and the opposite party weak 
 and undetermined, the fate of the family must 
 have been decided on the 14th December. He 
 went out alone and addressed his troops, who 
 were not disposed to recognize him. He caused 
 with difficulty the cannon to be brought to be 
 fired upon the multitude, and it was not until 
 night began to approach that it was done, and 
 the mob dispersed. The whole designs of the 
 secret society are known, said Colonel N. Ra- 
 jewsky to the Government. It consisted of 200. 
 Their intention was to destroy the whole Im- 
 perial Family, to separate Poland from Russia, 
 and to give Courland and the other German pro- 
 vinces to Prussia, Finland to Sweden, and to 
 establish a confederated republic similar to that 
 of the United States of North America ; all titles 
 to be abolished ; the land to be divided into two 
 equal parts, one half to be given to the slaves, 
 the other to be worked by them for the Govern- 
 ment. This was conceived to bear a resemblance 
 to the form of government now existing in the 
 United States. It is difficult to place any con- 
 
THE EMPEROR NICHOLAS. 99 
 
 fidence in the statements which you receive on 
 this subject. Colonel Rajewsky did not profess 
 to know anything of the designs of the state 
 prisoners beyond what he had heard by rumour 
 at St. Petersburg, from which he had just re- 
 turned, after a short confinement in the fortress. 
 He remarked that St. Petersburgh was now a very 
 interesting place, as you heard every evening 
 what had occurred, what discoveries had been 
 made in the designs of the conspirators by the 
 Commission in the course of the day. 
 
 30th March. — The following account of the 
 conspirators was communicated to me by one 
 personally acquainted with them, but who was 
 very hostile to them, and who was probably 
 ignorant of their views. 
 
 The greater a man's natural talents are 'iA 
 Russia the lower does he sink. There is an utter 
 debasement of character from the miserable des- 
 potism which pervades all classes. MouraviefF, 
 who went to Khiva, established no friendly rela- 
 tions with the Khan. He was imprisoned forty 
 days, and was with difficulty allowed to proceed 
 onward to the capital, where he remained only 
 two days. He saw nothing of the country, and 
 could not give any account of its appearance, 
 productions, or natural history, from his own 
 
 H2 
 
100 THE FIRST DAYS OF 
 
 observations. He is a fool, but his cousins, who 
 were men of merit, are all in the conspiracy. 
 The second brother, who did not kill himself, as 
 was reported, but was destroyed by the grape- 
 shot, was a villain. He said, on quitting St. 
 Petersburgh, I should not be sorry to see my 
 father's head on the top of a pike in case of a 
 revolution. There were four colonels who would 
 have risen at the same time. Colonel Mouravieff 
 wrote to them from Vasselkoff that it was time 
 to rise. Artaman Mouravieff received this note 
 from his cousin Mouravieff at Vasselkoff, but he 
 did not forward it to the other colonels of artil- 
 lery. Artaman Mouravieff, who wanted to kill 
 the Emperor, is a bad man. He burnt the paper, 
 so that the colonels of the artillery came and fired 
 upon Mouravieff, though they were in the conspi- 
 racy. All three who fired upon Mouravieff are 
 now taken and in the fortress. Mouravieff is a 
 man of character, and now, though he knows he 
 will be shot, behaves like a man of honour. He 
 was led by a fool. The property of the nobility 
 would have been destroyed, but not divided, 
 because at first all the civilized part of the nation 
 would have been murdered, and for that reason 
 all this project is horrible in the extreme. Pestel 
 is a man remarkably vain, and easily flattered. 
 
THE EMPEROR NICHOLAS. I0l" 
 
 He imagines himself another Buonaparte. The 
 public welfare he had certainly not in view ; 
 and it is very doubtful if any of the others had, 
 although many of them bear excellent characters, 
 according to their friends. 
 
 By another individual, who was well acquainted 
 with Mouravieff, he was represented as one of the 
 most respectable of the individuals engaged in this 
 affair ; morally correct in his private conduct, fond 
 of useful knowledge, a good brother and a kind and 
 sincere friend, but possessed of a small portion of 
 common sense. Pestel, he said, had few of these 
 qualities, though much superior to all the others 
 in talents, and particularly in acquiring influence 
 over those around him. There were no means 
 which he had not recourse to for this purpose, 
 and particularly a species of flattery, so seductive 
 that few could resist its influence. Four years 
 before this a great dinner was given to the Em- 
 peror Alexander at Tulcyn, after a review. An 
 officer demanded of another sitting by him, who 
 was the individual who had the greatest influence 
 here? He replied, the Emperor. No, said the 
 other, it is that little man whom you see there, 
 pointing to Pestel. In the constitution of Pestel, 
 he proposed at one sweep to set all the peasants 
 of the empire free: no preparatory steps were 
 
102 THE FIRST DAYS OF 
 
 considered necessary, and he seems to have en- 
 tirely disregarded the dreadful consequences of 
 such a measure. He never, indeed, had the 
 public welfare in view. The order for the arrest 
 of Pestel, it is said, was made out before the 
 death of Alexander. Mayborodka's denunciation, 
 there is no doubt, reached the Emperor the even- 
 ing we were at Aloupka. All the circumstances 
 prove this. 
 
 6-1 8th April, Tuesday. — During the last three 
 days we have been passing through the most 
 dreary forests. 
 
 Tchernigow. — Around this town the cottages 
 are numerous, and the ground well cultivated. 
 
 Mohilew. — Here we crossed the Dnieper, now 
 reduced to a paltry stream. All the low grounds 
 inundated. This is the head quarters of what is 
 called the Great Army, commanded by General 
 Sacken. Count Woronzow went to the town 
 with him, while we remained at a miserable 
 Jewish trachteer's. The town is paved with 
 granite, and presents a respectable appearance. It 
 is built on the banks of the Dnieper, which are here 
 very lofty. The corps of Davoust and the Poles 
 advanced into Russia by this town, and followed 
 the great road to Orcha and Smolensko. Little 
 opposition was made to their advance, but during 
 
THE EMPEROR NICFIOLAS. 103 
 
 the retreat they were dreadfully harassed by the 
 Cossacks and light Russian troops. From this 
 almost all the way to Petersburgh the road runs 
 through an alley of birch trees. 
 
 Orcha. — The road most infamous; the weather 
 dreadfully inclement. The most wretched miser- 
 able town possible. Through this Napoleon 
 passed on his retreat. At the inn, we met two 
 elderly gentlemen, one of whom was Mareschal 
 of the Noblesse of the Government of Yekatrine- 
 eslaflf, nervous, reduced in health and spirits, as I 
 was informed by those who knew him. He had 
 been arrested and forwarded, like many other 
 innocent persons, to St. Petersburgh. It appears 
 that the prisoners, the persons actually culpable, 
 have introduced the names of individuals who 
 had nothing to do with the conspiracy, and a 
 great number of quiet individuals have in conse- 
 quence been dreadfully harassed. Most horrible 
 roads from Orcha to the town where we slept, 
 two stages from Witepsk. The postilion who 
 drove us said, our horses are ruined bv the num- 
 ber of officers we are obliged to transport to St. 
 Petersburgh. We crossed several rivers in this 
 route. To-day we begin to approach the streams 
 which take a course westward and run into the 
 Baltic. We crossed the Dwina, a large navigable 
 stream, before we reached Tchernigow. 
 
104 THE FIRST DAYS OF 
 
 Witepsk, a large town, with a greater appear- 
 ance of civilization than in any since we left 
 Odessa. 
 
 11th, Monday. — Passed Gatchina and Tsar- 
 koezeloe, and reached St. Petersburgh a little after 
 mid-day. I was struck with astonishment at the 
 grandeur of the quays, palaces, public buildings, 
 and the bridges of granite over the canals, these 
 lined with granite. Streets paved, the greatest 
 cleanliness, and crowds of persons moving about 
 in every direction ; all the bustle and activity of 
 u great capital. I could not help contrasting this 
 with the miserable villages and people I had left 
 behind in White Russia. After dinner I went 
 with Colonel A. Rajewsky to take a sail on the 
 Neva. He told me that 250 persons were impli- 
 cated in the conspiracy. The Prince Volhonsky, he 
 said, is lost for ever. But for the courage of the 
 Emperor this plot must have infallibly succeeded ; 
 and but for the want of direction on the part of 
 those who revolted — they were completely with- 
 out a man of head for directing them — otherwise 
 confusion must have overspread the Empire on 
 the 14th. We sailed along the quays of granite, 
 built about eighty years before, and which ap- 
 peared still very little injured. We sailed under 
 the Bridge of St. Isaac to the Bourse, and from 
 the point on which it stands saw at one view the 
 
THE EMPEROR NICHOLAS. 105 
 
 fortress with all the buildings above it, and on 
 the right the line of palaces and houses upon the 
 quay. The sun was just setting, and its rays 
 were beautifully reflected from the broad stream 
 of the Neva, and from the windows of the palaces 
 upon its shore. The lines of Lord Byron came 
 to my recollection — 
 
 w I stood in Yenice on the Bridge of Sighs, 
 A palace and a prison on each hand ; 
 I saw from out the wave her structures rise, 
 As from the stroke of the enchanter's wand." 
 
 13th April, o.s., 1826. — Admiral Greig came 
 into my apartments, in the house of Count 
 Woronzow, and sat with me nearly an hour. He 
 said, after inquiring about the health of the chil- 
 dren, that it would be a good thing if the Count's 
 son could be sent to England to be educated, 
 and particularly to Edinburgh, for the Scotch 
 with all their prejudices, and he could laugh at 
 them most heartily like others, were a more 
 thinking people than those of any other nation ; 
 and that nothing could exceed the presumption 
 and ignorance of many of the young men edu- 
 cated at the English Universities. The Admiral 
 said much that was favourable of the Count's 
 father ; of his personal influence with the English 
 
106 THE FIRST DAYS OF 
 
 Ministry; of his having served his country in the 
 highest manner possible; that he returned to 
 Russia at the beginning of the last reign with the 
 intention of settling here, but that he found the 
 Emperor so surrounded, and the nation so cor- 
 rupt, that he saw no means of being useful, and 
 retired to England : in consequence of which he 
 is represented as a disaffected person. The Ad- 
 miral said that he had remained here to see what 
 the reception of the Count would be, and if he 
 was likely to be in the confidence of the present 
 Emperor. The Admiral said that the Count was 
 the only man in the country who could presume to 
 speak the truth to the Emperor, and that if he 
 was ill received it would be the worst sign for 
 Russia, and all might despair. The ministers no 
 doubt disliked the Count. The Admiral had 
 always thought that at the death of Alexander 
 mischief would occur to Russia, and that had 
 Constantine ascended the throne general confu- 
 sion and bloodshed would have been the conse- 
 quence. He said the quays were all made by 
 contract, and badly executed, and that in fifty 
 years a great part will have given way. Each 
 year the rock on which Peter the Great stands 
 sinks a little into the marsh. The Emperor 
 Alexander proposed to construct a quay on the 
 
THE E3IPER0R NICHOLAS. 107 
 
 opposite side of the Neva. I was informed by 
 another party, that the expenses at St. Peters- 
 burgh were much the same as at Paris ; that the 
 capital is the very gulf of Russia, in which all 
 its riches are swallowed up. Count K. has a 
 revenue of 600,000 roubles, but he spends only 
 200,000, and he is a rare instance of economy. 
 He lives half as a Russian and half as a foreigner. 
 He has Russian slaves who serve in his house; 
 he pays them as free people, that they may be 
 always well clothed. There are perhaps eight or 
 ten families that do the same at St. Petersburgh, 
 but generally the Russians do as I had seen done 
 in the south of Russia. The servants imme- 
 diately about your persons, and those behind 
 your carriage, are, perhaps, clean ; all the rest — 
 is filth and beggary. Go no deeper. 
 
 14th April, o.S. — This morning, Dr. John 
 Prout, physician to Admiral Greig, called upon 
 me at mid-day, and I went with him to view the 
 different parts of the city. We proceeded to the 
 Place St. Isaac. The Church of St. Isaac, it 
 appears, has been built, rebuilt, and changed re- 
 peatedly during the Jast three or four reigns. It 
 was built by Catherine of marble, but was left 
 unfinished when she died. Paul finished it with 
 bricks, and these still remain on the upper part 
 
108 THE FIRST DAYS OF 
 
 of the building. Nash compared the reign of 
 Catherine to marble and that of her son to brick. 
 Alexander has made great changes upon it, and 
 there are at present in the Place St. Isaac granite 
 columns of an immense size, at least seven feet in 
 diameter, intended for the gates. The fore legs 
 of the horse of Peter the Great are pawing the 
 north wind. The rock on which he stands has 
 not been left in a rude state, but cut into an arti- 
 ficial form. It has been broken into two pieces. 
 On the west is the Senate House ; on the east, 
 the Admiralty; on the north, the Neva. Along 
 the south side of the Neva, the quays of granite 
 extend for several versts. Here is the English 
 quay, the Palace of the Emperor, the Hermitage, 
 the Marble Palace, the house of Admiral Rebas, 
 with a hanging garden. On the north side of the 
 Neva is the Great Island, on which is situated the 
 Bourse, connected with the south side bv a bridge 
 of boats, 430 paces in length. Opposite the Bourse 
 is the Fortress and Church which contains the 
 remains of the Imperial Family. 
 
 There are 250 persons implicated in the plot, for 
 granting liberty to the slaves, obtaining a consti- 
 tutional government to Russia, and destroying the 
 Imperial Family, here immured and doomed to 
 certain destruction. Death or exile for life await 
 
THE EMPEROR NICHOLAS. 109 
 
 them ! This evening I went with Colonel A. Ra- 
 jewsky to visit his sister the Princess Volhonsky, 
 who is overwhelmed with grief. She knows not the 
 fate that awaits her husband. I am astonished at 
 the insensibility of those around me. To-day at 
 dinner were present the Count Woronzow, Counts 
 Pahlen and Olezar, Admiral Greig and Colonel 
 Kajewsky. When Count Olezar was in the 
 fortress, he said, a serjeant was sent to shave 
 those who were least implicated in this unfortu- 
 nate affair. The Count wished to be excused, 
 and said be did not require to make his toilet, 
 and that he would rather be left alone, and not 
 have his face handled in the manner this serjeant 
 did. The serjeant replied, when we are flogged, 
 they do not ask us whether we would prefer the 
 right or the left side. 
 
 15th, o.s. — The Duke of Wellington said, that 
 if St. Petersburgh was the finest city in Europe, 
 it was certainly the dullest. I begin to be of the 
 same opinion, having already seen the exterior 
 of all the great edifices. The affairs of Govern- 
 ment are surrounded by darkness. Magnificence 
 is mixed up with so much poverty and meanness, 
 that it seems very imperfectly to conceal the slavery 
 and misery which prevail everywhere. To-day I 
 went with Dr. Prout to the Kasan Church, to wit- 
 
110 THE FIRST DAYS OF 
 
 ness the ceremony of Washing the Disciples' Feet. 
 There was a great ragged crowd ; few persons of 
 rank or respectability. There was a sort of scaf- 
 fold erected in the middle of the church, on which 
 the Metropolitan and the clergy were placed. 
 High Mass was repeated at the great altar, and 
 after this the Bishop took off his robes. A great 
 basin of water was brought upon the scaffold, and 
 he proceded to imitate the example of Christ. 
 There was nothing imposing in the ceremony ; it 
 was, on the contrary, an absurd piece of folly. 
 In this church is the tomb of KoutousofF, and a 
 great many banners. After this, we walked to 
 the Catholic Church where Prince Poniatowsky 
 and Moreau are buried. The latter has a very 
 small tablet on the wall erected to his memory, 
 stating that he was born at Morlaix, and that he 
 died in 1813 at Liitzen. There was nothing rich 
 or grand in this Catholic Church; on the contrary, 
 poor, and few paying their devotions. The house 
 of Count Woronzow large and elegant, and the 
 entertainments sumptuous in the highest degree : 
 Count Stanislaus Potocki, Prince Galitzen, and 
 other distinguished Russian noblemen, present to- 
 day at dinner. The Duke of Devonshire is ap- 
 pointed Ambassador from England during the 
 Coronation, and Marmont, Duke of Ragusa, from 
 
.,--' 
 
 THE EMPEROR NICHOLAS. Ill 
 
 France ; and it is expected that they will soon 
 arrive. Troops are already setting out for Moscow. 
 The ceremony will not take place till the end of 
 June. It is not believed that the ancient Russian 
 dresses will be worn at the Coronation by any of 
 those who perform the different services about the 
 Emperor. Large masses of ice floating down the 
 Neva. The Baltic is not yet open. The bridge 
 of boats over the Neva has been replaced. 
 
 It is not possible clearly to discover what line 
 of conduct the Emperor is about to pursue. It 
 does not yet appear who has obtained an influence 
 over him. Count AraktchiefT has certainly been 
 repeatedly admitted into his private society, his 
 secret society, and has dined with him at Tsarkoe 
 zeloe, which does not augur well. 
 
 17th. — To-night is a great ceremony in the 
 Russian church, the Resurrection of our Saviour. 
 Numbers of people dead drunk in the streets. I 
 w T ent with Dr. Prout, a little before midnight, 
 to the Church of Kasan, which was crowded with 
 people, each holding a lighted candle in the hand. 
 The painting of our Saviour was removed behind 
 the altar ; and soon after the priests, with crosses 
 and banners, left the church in search of Christ. 
 They formed a procession outside the church, and 
 soon returned ; then they went round its interior, 
 
112 THE FIRST DAYS OF 
 
 exclaiming " Christ is risen !" The whole as- 
 sembly then seemed to be seized with a religious 
 frenzy, and began crossing themselves with great 
 rapidity. At the moment when the resurrection 
 was said to have taken place, guns were fired 
 from the fortress, Great numbers of people 
 came into the church, carrying bread to be 
 blessed by the priests. The streets were illumi- 
 nated, and crowds of people were passing along. 
 On returning home the sky was red from the 
 reflection of a house on fire, and the engines were 
 hurrying along to the spot. I returned home at 
 three o'clock in the morning. It was stated, that 
 on the tables of most of the inhabitants of St. 
 Petersburgh the morning after this ceremony the 
 paschal lamb is placed, which has been blessed by 
 the priest, and that the head is cut off. 
 
 18th. — I went to the English Chapel, and in 
 the middle of the service was suddenly seized 
 with a severe attack of the Crimean fever, from 
 which I did not recover completely for some 
 months. In the intervals of the paroxysms I 
 continued my observations on St. Petersburgh. 
 
 28th. — I went to see the house of M. Narishkin, 
 Grand Veneur, the husband of the Polish lady to 
 whom Alexander was so long attached, and for 
 whom he had deserted the Empress, and literally 
 
THE EMPEROR NICHOLAS. 113 
 
 broken her heart. The house had been fitted up 
 with the greatest taste. I noticed a most beau- 
 tiful picture of St. John, by Domenichino, and 
 a great number of other pictures of no value. 
 
 Mr. Landers, brother-in-law of the English 
 Consul-General at Odessa, has arrived from Lon- 
 don. He thinks it extremely probable that there 
 will be war between Turkey and Russia. Cer- 
 tain it is that the Duke of Wellington gained 
 nothing like an assurance that war would not 
 take place ; and soon after the Russian Govern- 
 ment sent off what they call their ultimatum to 
 the Turkish Government. The Turks will shut 
 up the Bosphorus to all vessels in case of war. 
 Mr. Landers, who had long resided in Odessa, 
 observed that all the people here talk of the 
 projiriete of St. Petersburgh. It is the masque- 
 rade part only which is clean : the courts and 
 lanes of the city are more filthy than it is possible 
 for an Englishman to conceive. There is not a 
 tolerable hotel in St. Petersburgh : they are dirty, 
 poor, beggarly, and excessively expensive. The only 
 possible means of living is to get into furnished 
 lodgings. I enquired why there were not hotels 
 kept by Germans and French. His reply was : 
 the Russians are so dirty, that if good furniture 
 were placed in the apartments it would soon be 
 
 I 
 
114 THE FIRST DAYS OF 
 
 completely ruined by them, so degraded are their 
 habits. 
 
 29th. — Beautiful spring weather; vegetation 
 advancing rapidly. I went with Dr. Prout and 
 Mr. Landers to the church in the fortress. The 
 spire is slender and gilded. The tombs of all the 
 Emperors from Peter I. are placed here. They 
 are extremely simple ; covered with a rich cloth 
 of gold, and over this a common cloth. The 
 Emperor Alexander is placed by the side of his 
 father. In this church is a great collection of 
 trophies, Turkish, Persian, Polish, and Swedish. 
 Near the door of the sacristy are some ivory 
 images carved by Peter the Great. The fortress, 
 like everything in Russia, presents a miserable, 
 dilapidated appearance. Vast numbers perished 
 in the construction of it. From this we went to 
 the house of Peter the Great, the first house 
 which was .built at St. Petersburgh. It is a small 
 cottage, consisting of two apartments and a small 
 closet between; the whole in & state of great 
 preservation. In the corner of one of the apart- 
 ments is an image of our Saviour, before which 
 lamps are kept constantly burning. This is the 
 image which Peter carried about with him where 
 ever he went. The cottage is inclosed in a larger 
 one which protects it from the weather com- 
 
THE EMPEROR NICHOLAS. 115 
 
 pletely, and around it is a small garden, very 
 neatly laid out. The trees and grass are in a state 
 of fine verdure. The boat made by him is also 
 here. 
 
 It was a singular fact, mentioned to me by 
 Admiral Greig, that the commission appointed 
 by the late Emperor to devise some means for 
 preventing the effects of future inundations, have 
 looked at the papers of Peter on the subject, and 
 that they have been able to devise nothing which 
 does not appear to have entered into his consi- 
 deration. No plan has yet been formed, nor does 
 it appear that any can be suggested, except the 
 formation of a great wall or dyke, similar to the 
 dykes in Holland, which would completely de- 
 stroy the appearance of the quays. From the 
 house of Peter the Great I went to the Arsenal, 
 where I saw them boring brass cannon : the whole 
 of them beautifully formed. The machine was 
 constructed by Baird and Clarke of the Lugar 
 Iron Works. The cannon was turned round, not 
 the instrument for boring the cannon ; the whole 
 driven by a powerful steam engine, also erected 
 by Mr. Baird. There is here a great collection 
 of guns for flying or horse artillery. Prodigious 
 numbers of banners taken in war with the diffe- 
 rent nations which they have conquered. A great 
 variety of guns, cannon, plans of towns, Wiborg, 
 
 12 
 
116 THE FIRST DAYS OF 
 
 Ochtchakow, &c. The uniform of General Milo- 
 radowich ; a pistol-shot had pierced the blue rib- 
 bon which he wore, and entered his side near the J 
 heart. I was told that he had never been 
 wounded in all the numerous battles in which he 
 had been engaged. All the orders of the late 
 Emperor — the car in which his body was con- 
 veyed from Kasan to the fortress — the horse 
 stuffed which Catherine used to ride. I was told 
 that stone of the bladder was a frequent disease 
 here, and that there were surgeons who operated 
 with great success in these cases. I did not see 
 any of these operations performed. 
 
 Mr. Landers read a letter from a relative at 
 Ouman, giving an account of an extraordinary 
 transaction which had just occurred to a large 
 proprietor. A soldier came about the first of 
 this month into the court-yard with a great 
 number of peasants armed with bludgeons, and 
 
 arrested Mr. H , and committed acts of 
 
 great violence. An officer passing came and 
 demanded of the soldier by what right he did so. 
 He threw the officer also into irons. It appeared 
 that this soldier had deserted, and raised the pea- 
 sants, who in this quarter of the country are 
 everywhere ripe for revolt. Troops have been 
 sent into all the villages to preserve order, and 
 are quartered there. This spirit pervades the 
 
THE EMPEROR NICHOLAS. 117 
 
 peasants in the south of Russia extensively. 
 Several pavoskys were brought into the court- 
 yard, and all believed that Mr. H had been 
 
 arrested by an order from St. Petersburgh. The 
 proprietors in this part of the country had for 
 some time before been gradually increasing the 
 days of labour. 
 
 1st May. — A revolt has taken place among the 
 peasants at Luga. A report of this has been 
 sent to the Emperor, and troops have been 
 dispatched. It appears that a spirit of great 
 disaffection exists among the peasants all over 
 the empire, and a great many of the proprietors 
 are so afraid of this that they dare not go, as 
 usual, to spend the summer in the country. A 
 general idea pervades the whole country, pro- 
 pagated by revolutionary characters, that about 
 the 1st of May the peasants were to be set free. 
 In the afternoon went by water to Catherinehoff; 
 the weather cold as during December in England. 
 A great crowd of people on foot and in carriages 
 and droshkies. A more striking picture of 
 splendid misery I had never witnessed: a great 
 mixture of magnificence and meanness. Some 
 of the carriage-horses had harness of ropes, hay 
 under the coachmen, wretched filthy drivers and 
 servants behind. There were only a few carriages 
 which could have appeared in Hyde Park without 
 
118 THE FIRST DAYS OF 
 
 being remarked as excessively dirty and mean. 
 Great bands of gendarmes. Little or no gaiety 
 among the people on foot. At Elagen, where 
 I went a month after, things were very dif- 
 ferent; I there saw many equipages of great 
 splendour. In the evening Mr. Landers ex- 
 pressed his belief that the Turks will evacuate 
 the two Principalities of Moldavia and "VYallachia, 
 to take away all ground of war with Russia. It 
 appears the Russians have demanded the ratifica- 
 tion of the treaty of Boucarest in the most insolent 
 manner, and want, he thinks, merely an excuse to 
 go to war, not knowing what to do with their 
 army, and wishing to get rid of a part of them. 
 The probability of the war is greatly increased 
 by what I have heard to-day from Admiral Greig 
 and from Sir James Wylie, who has received 
 orders to hold himself in readiness for the war. 
 After the news came that the Turks had acceded 
 to the demand of Russia, I saw manifest disap- 
 pointment in the visage of Sir J. Wylie. 
 
 3rd May.— I visited the Marine Hospital with 
 Dr. Leighton and Dr. Gibbs, and found the 
 whole in very good order. Attached to this 
 hospital is an excellent theatre for surgical opera- 
 tions, which has been raised with a great deal of 
 trouble by Dr. Leighton. Dr. Gibbs, formerly a 
 pupil at St. George's Hospital, amputated above 
 
 
THE EMPEROR NICHOLAS. 119 
 
 the knee for a diseased tibia in a dexterous man- 
 ner. It was a general day of inspection, and all 
 the surgeons connected with the hospital were in 
 their uniforms, and all followed Dr. Leigh ton 
 uncovered — the highest military order preserved. 
 A more wretched set of men, about twelve in 
 number I had rarely seen than these. I expe- 
 rienced the greatest civility from Dr. Leighton 
 and Dr. Gibbs, and was pleased to find that 
 their views on most medical and surgical sub- 
 jects corresponded with those entertained by the 
 most scientific medical practitioners in London. 
 Dr. Leighton told me that he often found the 
 greatest difficulty in getting the German prac- 
 titioners settled here to do anything rational, and 
 that he was often compelled to quit patients 
 altogether after long, absurd, and fatiguing dis- 
 cussions. With Dr. Salaman I visited the wards 
 under his care, and saw a large number, at least 
 100 patients, with purulent ophthalmy, many of 
 them with complete disorganization of the eyes, 
 and a large number with a granular state of the 
 inside of the palpeliae. He is accustomed to cut 
 this off with scissors and to apply nitrate of silver 
 and vinum opii. Leeches are not allowed in any 
 of these cases. When he gets the disease in a 
 recent state he bleeds freely. He applies cold 
 water to the head, not to the eye. Afterwards 
 
120 THE FIRST DAYS OF 
 
 he uses astringent lotions, vinnm opii, and when a 
 granular state exists, applies the nitrate of silver 
 or removes the part by excision with curved 
 scissors. The constitution of all the patients I 
 saw appeared to be scrofulous in the highest 
 degree, and I learned that they were badly 
 nourished, dirty, and lodged in apartments where 
 the air is foul. Purulent ophthalmia is not believed 
 to be contagious here, and in a great public insti- 
 tution for the sons of soldiers there is no separa- 
 tion of the healthy from the diseased. 
 
 At the house of one of the wealthiest English 
 merchants I met this evening at dinner Mrs. 
 
 P , a friend of the late Emperor and the 
 
 chosen friend of the Empress Elizabeth. She 
 informed me that the Empress had quitted 
 Taganrog;, and had travelled 200 versts the first 
 day without fatigue ; that the physicians had been 
 deceived • respecting her disease ; that her feet 
 have begun to swell, and that water in the chest 
 is now dreaded. Several of her family have died 
 of water in the chest. Her Majesty was to 
 arrive to-day at Kalouga. The climate of St. 
 Petersburgh, the miserable state of Poland, and 
 the justice of impressing seamen in England were 
 some of the topics discussed. After dinner I had 
 a long conversation with a countryman on the 
 state of Russia, where he had long resided. 
 
THE EMPEROR NICHOLAS. 121 
 
 He was of the same opinion, as all with whom I 
 had spoken, as to the utter profligacy of the 
 Government and the hopelessness of any im- 
 provement taking place. He said the Emperor 
 had no doubt learned many truths which had 
 never reached the ear of his brother ; yet it was 
 doubtful what good would arise from this as he 
 was not surrounded and aided by intelligent 
 active men. He stated that there were at least 
 4000 English in Petersburgh, and that the com- 
 merce, instead of declining, had increased con- 
 siderably since 1814. He told me that the 
 manufactures of Moscow had attained great 
 perfection, and that he thought, from the life of 
 idleness which the peasants were obliged to lead 
 the greater part of the winter, that manufactures 
 might be introduced with great effect in Russia, 
 and that they had a supply of the raw materials 
 in perfection. Catherinehoff, he said, was almost 
 entirely destroyed by the inundation of 1824, 
 and General Miloradowich had it restored for the 
 purpose of diverting idle people, a kind of re- 
 source or lounge that idle people must have in 
 summer. The sum required for the repairs was 
 120,000 roubles. It is a miserable marsh. I 
 told him that I had seen little gaiety there — 
 nothing of those gaudy dresses and costumes 
 which some authors had described. 
 
122 THE FIRST DAYS OF 
 
 4th May, o.s. — I went to the Hermitage, with 
 Count Pahlen, Dr. Prout, and Mr. Landers, and 
 saw all the paintings, 1300 in number, of Raphael, 
 Titian, Salvator Rosa, Guido, Leonardo da 
 Vinci, Murillo, Rembrandt, Rubens, and others. 
 In this palace is the library of Voltaire, arranged 
 as at Ferney, consisting of 6,760 volumes. There 
 is also a library of history, containing 100,000 
 volumes ; and another said to have been collected 
 by Catherine for her valets to prevent idleness. 
 There are here three statues by Canova — Cupid 
 and Psyche, the Danseuse, and Hebe with the 
 cup ; and several large vases of malachite and 
 Siberian jaspar. I was introduced to Mr. Dawe, 
 an English artist, and saw his gallery of the 
 Russian Generals distinguished in the last war. 
 He received from the Government 1000 roubles 
 for each portrait. 
 
 It appears that the trial of the state prisoners 
 in the fortress has terminated, and that all the 
 evidence, their confessions, and mutual accusa- 
 tions will be laid before a number of judges, who 
 will weigh the whole and determine what degree 
 of guilt attaches to each. The names of those who 
 conducted this important preliminary part of the 
 trial were kept secret. The prisoners are to be 
 divided into four classes. All who have been con- 
 nected with secret societies are held to have been 
 
THE EMPEROR NICHOLAS. 123 
 
 guilty of high treason, but a great many of those 
 who did not contemplate the murder of the late 
 Emperor will be confined some time in the for- 
 tress as a sufficient punishment for their crime. 
 Others will be shot or hanged immediately, and 
 others sent into Siberia. Mr. Landers remarked 
 that he should be greatly deceived if Nicholas 
 did not turn out a great Tartar, and much more 
 severe in his character than Alexander. I heard 
 further reports of the dissatisfied state of the 
 peasantry, and that they were almost universally 
 ripe for revolt. 
 
 5th May, O.S.- — To-day I visited the Lunatic 
 Asylum. Most of the individuals mad, raved 
 about the Imperial Family, military colonies, 
 governors, vice-governors of towns, adjutants, 
 and soldiers. Some were upon their knees making 
 the sign of the cross, and this occupation they 
 followed all the day long. Each bed consisted of 
 a sort of wooden bench, and close to each was a 
 leather cord, like a piece of coach harness, which 
 was fixed around their les;s in cases of violence. 
 It was said that no violence was ever used to 
 these patients, and that a plan of medical treat- 
 ment was pursued. A young physician walked 
 around the wards set apart for the ordinary cases 
 of disease, of which there were upwards of three 
 hundred. He was a follower of Hahnneman, 
 
124 THE FIRST DAYS OF 
 
 and ignorant of pathology in the highest degree, 
 calling every disease consumption which affected 
 the lungs. He described a set of cases, which he 
 called morbi agonici, in which individuals were 
 brought without any hopes of living, and when 
 he was accustomed to throw buckets of cold 
 water over their heads, by which means he said 
 he had saved the lives of several. A common 
 case of epilepsy he called opisthotonos ; a simple 
 uncomplicated case of mania he termed inflamma- 
 tion of the brain, though the eyes were not red 
 and no febrile symptoms were present. I saw 
 several cases of scurvy. The gums were actually 
 in a fungating state, there was a peculiar paleness 
 of the countenance, and there were blotches on 
 the legs. The Government gives 100,000 roubles 
 per annum for the support of this hospital, and 
 each patient on entering pays 10 roubles. Most 
 of the patients are slaves, and this sum is paid by 
 their masters. 
 
 Marshal Marmont arrived on the 1st May, 
 and entered by Catharinehoff during the pro- 
 cession. It is said he imagined that all the 
 people there assembled had come out to meet 
 him. I do not suppose there is more truth in 
 this than in the ill-natured report that the Duke 
 of Wellington was badlv received at Petersburgh, 
 and lost a great sum of money at play. 
 
THE EMPEROR NICHOLAS. 125 
 
 6th, o.s. — A fine warm day. I went to the 
 Artillery Hospital to see the patients, under the 
 care of Dr. Steen, a countryman. The wards 
 were in excellent order. The term ei cardio- 
 palmus," invented to denote palpitation of the 
 heart by Sir J. Wylie, was applied to all the 
 various diseases of the heart and great blood- 
 vessels, which I was told were extremely common 
 in the officers and soldiers of the Russian army. 
 A vast number were classed under the head of 
 chronic catarrh. It appears that among these 
 soldiers there is a great desire for knowledge, 
 and that they often teach one another. One 
 soldier had a Psalter, which had been given to 
 him by the Bible Society here, which he was 
 reading. On the blank leaf before the title-page 
 
 there was written as follows : " On day I 
 
 took the oath of allegiance to the Emperor 
 Constantine Paulo wich." It was not said that 
 he had taken it to the present Emperor. This 
 man belonged to the regiment of Paul, which is 
 said to be one of the most orderly in the whole 
 service. Yesterday was the day on which the 
 question of peace or war with the Turks was to 
 be decided. If war, M. Minziaky was to have 
 left Constantinople yesterday. 
 
 7th. — Went to see the clinical wards of 
 
126 THE FIRST DAYS OP 
 
 Dr. Salaman and the lecture -rooms and ana- 
 tomical preparations of the Academy of Medi- 
 cine. The chief preparations were those of 
 Mr. Cruickshanks and Liebeekiin. Those made 
 by the latter were beautiful and certainly very 
 minute. The vessels of most of the different 
 organs were placed under small magnifying 
 glasses. 
 
 9th, o.s. — News was received last night of 
 the death of the Empress Elizabeth at Bielew, in 
 the government of Orel. What strange events 
 have taken place since I entered Russia ! Pre- 
 parations are making for the coronation of the 
 New Emperor. The prisoners in the fortress 
 are to suffer before this, and now the death of 
 another member of the Imperial family will arrest 
 all these proceedings. To-morrow there was to 
 have been a grand review of all the troops in 
 Petersburg-h before Marshal Marmont. This also 
 has been put off. Lord Strangford observed to 
 Mr. Landers to-day that in conceding as they 
 had done the Turks had acted very wisely and 
 had been well councilled. When the Russians 
 sent their Ultimatum they declared that it had no- 
 thing to do with the Greek cause, and that in that 
 cause they meant not in any manner to interfere. 
 Lord Strangford observed in so doing they had 
 
THE EMPEROR NICHOLAS. 127 
 
 thrown away their birthright for a mess of 
 pottage. 
 
 10th May, o.s. — Beautiful weather. Went at 
 six to dine with one of the wealthiest English 
 merchants. Some remarks being made on sec- 
 tarians and the Bible Society, the Rev. Mr. Law, 
 a relation of Lord Ellenborough, said that though 
 unconnected with the latter institution, he could 
 not deny that it had done much good, and that 
 the New Testament had been accurately trans- 
 lated into the Russian language. This is the 
 only part of the Bible he said which has been 
 translated with the Psalter and published, and 
 Mr. Cattley said that the Russians were ex- 
 ceedingly fond of reading the Scriptures; and 
 from what I had observed in the Artillery Bar- 
 racks I had no doubt of the fact. Mr. Law 
 further stated that, though the translation of 
 the Old Testament had been prepared as far as 
 the Book of Ruth for publication, and though the 
 translation was faithful in the highest degree, yet 
 the Metropolitan would not allow of its publica- 
 tion, though permission had been asked and 
 repeated frequently during the last eighteen 
 months. It is now believed that there is an 
 intention to suppress the Bible Society entirely. 
 It is said this measure has originated in the fears 
 which the Government entertain of proselytes 
 
128 THE FIRST DAYS OF 
 
 being made from the Greek Church. So much 
 for the liberality of the Government of this 
 country in religion.* 
 
 13th, o.s. — Yesterday visited Count StrogonofF's 
 palace. It is large, but badly arranged. There 
 is a large collection of Siberian minerals ; a 
 gallery painted at Rome of one of Raphael's 
 on canvas; several fine pictures, by Vandyke, 
 Rubens, and others ; vases of malachite and rock 
 crystal. The library, the only really comfortable 
 room in the house. From this I went to visit the 
 Academy of Arts. The building is considered 
 one of the most classical in Petersburgh, the 
 work of a Siberian. There is a great collection 
 of busts, casts, &c, for the use of the students. 
 Models of most of the temples at Rome in cork. 
 Models of other modern buildings. There is a 
 room in wdiich all the portraits of the President 
 are suspended. Here there is a portrait of 
 Alexander by Gerard. 
 
 14th, O.S. — Lady Strangford died early this 
 morning. She was enceinte when she left London, 
 and suffered most dreadfully from sea-sickness 
 during the whole voyage to Petersburgh: she 
 never afterwards enjoyed good health. Subse- 
 
 * Soon after this the Bible Society was suppressed, Prince 
 Galitzin, the President, dismissed, and all the foreign mis- 
 sionaries ordered to leave the country. This was a bad omen. 
 
THE EMPEROR NICHOLAS. 129 
 
 quent to her confinement she went out occa- 
 sionally into society, but was not well. Lord 
 Strangford said that his lady became ill because 
 she forgot the difference between the climate of 
 Petersburgh and Constantinople. 
 
 15th, o.s. — Beautiful summer weather. Short 
 nights. Most of the people here again in mourn- 
 ing. The carriages covered with black cloth. 
 I called on Sir James Wylie ; he had just re- 
 ceived a letter from Dr. Stofregen, giving an 
 account of his feelings at the time of the Em- 
 press's decease, and of the post mortem appear- 
 ances. These were as follows: — Pretty extensive 
 adhesion between the pleura pulmonalis and 
 costalis on both sides of the chest, and between 
 the pericardium and the diaphragm. The sub- 
 stance of the lungs perfectly sound. The left 
 auricle and ventricle nearly of the natural size, 
 but the walls of the latter somewhat thicker than 
 usual. The valves at the mouth of the aorta 
 cartilaginous, the right ventricle six times the 
 natural size and the walls thin as writing-paper. 
 The valves at the mouth of the pulmonary artery 
 are stated to have been ossified. The condition 
 of the pulmonary artery and of the right auricle 
 not stated, and nothing said respecting the aorta. 
 The abdominal viscera sound. Also the contents 
 of the skull perfectly sound. Sir J. Wylie before 
 
130 THE FIKST DAYS OF 
 
 reading the letter said I will tell you what my 
 opinion is respecting the actual state of the 
 organs, and if you please you may write it down, 
 which I did in short-hand as usual. Adhesions 
 between the pleura ; no hydrotherax; induration 
 and obstruction in the lungs ; enlargement of 
 the aorta and right ventricle. I consider the 
 enlargement of the right ventricle as produced by 
 the obstruction to the circulation in the lungs 
 from induration of their substance. Adhesion of 
 the pericardium, hydrothorax, or hydropericar- 
 ditis cannot have taken place, because there was 
 no room for it, from the adhesions and from the 
 actual state of the inflammation which formally 
 existed. 
 
 16th, O.S. — A continuance of fine summer 
 weather. Went to the English chapel, where 
 the chaplain of the ambassador preached a funeral 
 sermon for the late Lady Strangford. 
 
 17th. — A duel was on the point of taking place 
 between Admiral Greig and the Minister of 
 Marine. A Commission has been sitting upon 
 the state of the fleet at Cronstadt, and the 
 Minister of Marine, Admiral Miiller, made some 
 reflections on Admiral Greig which he could not 
 endure. He sent a challenge which was ac- 
 cepted, and the Minister of Marine procured as 
 his second the Governor of Petersburgh, General 
 
THE EMPEROR NICHOLAS. 131 
 
 Koutousoff. Count Woronzow was Admiral 
 Greig's second. The Minister of Marine however 
 did not come to the field. He sent the challenge 
 to the Emperor, who it is said made no obser- 
 vations upon it. General Koutousoff made his 
 appearance on the ground to state that the 
 Minister of Marine did not choose to fight. The 
 Admiral, Count Woronzow, and Dr. Prout were 
 all upon the field ready for action. How the 
 affair has been settled I know not. It appears 
 that the Emperor sent General Diebitch to Count 
 Woronzow to propose some arrangement, but 
 the Count was highly incensed, and used the 
 expression that there were certain things ivliick the 
 Imperial power even could not settle: an expression 
 which I thought reflected on him the hio-hest 
 honour. 
 
 24th, o.S. — Lord Strangford returns to Eng- 
 land. Count F. Pahlen, who has filled several 
 important diplomatic situations out of Russia, and 
 who is intimately acquainted with the English 
 constitution and laws, has accepted the office of 
 Governor of Odessa, and is to act as Governor- 
 General in the absence of Count Woronzow. This 
 morning I visited the Foundling Hospital. There 
 were upwards of five hundred children here, most 
 of whom were under the age of twelve months. 
 The wards were large, airy, and clean. By each 
 
 K 2 
 
132 THE FIRST DAYS OF 
 
 bed was a little cradle suspended, in which the 
 children were placed. Each child had a nurse ; 
 a collection of such horribly ugly women I had 
 never before seen. They were true Russians 
 and Fins. The mortality was stated to us to be 
 20 in 100 of all those admitted. In the hospital 
 there were about fifty sick, but few with any 
 serious malady. Sixteen were brought to the 
 house this morning and deposited with the Swiss, 
 and no questions whatever were asked respecting 
 them. When they are vaccinated and weaned 
 they are sent out to be brought up in the homes 
 of the peasants. Twelve thousand are now in 
 this situation. Most of the children I saw had 
 some eruptive complaint, the effects of disorder of 
 the stomach. Each nurse is paid one rouble per 
 day during her residence in the hospital and 
 receives her food. The whole expense of this 
 institution was said to be one million of roubles 
 annually. When reared the children are placed 
 out in different professions. It is said that the 
 girls turn out ill. A physician who had charge of 
 part of the hospital had been reared in the insti- 
 tution. I was informed by a surgeon that the 
 greater part of the children brought up in this 
 manner are much afflicted with the worst forms of 
 scrofula. Germans and native Russians occupy 
 most of the medical offices in all the hospitals. 
 
THE EMPEROR NICHOLAS. 133 
 
 25th, o.S. — I saw the subclavian artery tied 
 this clay successfully by Dr. Arendt, for axil- 
 lary aneurism. I was informed that most of the 
 great arteries of the body (the carotid, sub- 
 clavian, external iliac, and femoral) had been 
 tied successfully at Petersburgh by different 
 surgeons, English, German, and Russian. No 
 attempt had been made to tie the internal iliac. 
 
 This day Count Woronzow was created a 
 member of the Council of the Empire, and 
 M. Longuenoff, one of his secretaries, an upright 
 man, Vice-Governor of the Crimea. A Com- 
 mission has been appointed by the Emperor for 
 the formation of a new code of laws for the 
 Empire, and a report is commanded to be pre- 
 sented in two years. It does not appear that any 
 attempt is about to be made by the Emperor to 
 reform the civil administration of the country, the 
 demoralizing influence of which cannot fail to 
 continue in Russia while the Government does 
 not earnestly take up the business. Count Wo- 
 ronzow and every other enlightened and honest 
 man must in time become disgusted with what 
 they are compelled to witness without being able 
 to afford any remedy.* 
 
 * M. Speransky's new code of laws has been promulgated 
 more than twenty-five years, but the condition of the slaves has 
 not been improved, and all the employes of the Government 
 are represented, if possible, more venal and corrupt, and are 
 
134 THE FIRST DAYS OF 
 
 26th. — On the English quay, to the amuse- 
 ment of all the world here, five English sailors 
 were seen on a droshky, driving backward and 
 forward, and playing every kind of absurd prank. 
 
 29th. — This morning, at 9 a.m., with Dr. Prout, 
 who had a letter of introduction from Admiral 
 Greig to the Admiral of the Baltic Fleet, I went 
 on board the steam-boat at Mr. Baird's to go and 
 see Cronstadt. There were Russians, Germans, 
 English, French, and Poles on board. We were 
 struck with the vast extent of the moles of 
 granite at Cronstadt. On the beach were at 
 least six great ships of war which had been 
 carried there by the inundation : one of 100 guns. 
 Some of them they had begun to break up as 
 utterly useless; others they had succeeded in 
 getting into the water. A great part of the 
 moles at Cronstadt is of wood, the remainder of 
 granite, all resting upon piles ; the fortifications 
 towards the sea extremely strong. Opposite 
 Cronstadt is another fortress of great strength 
 called Cronslat. All ships of any size must pass 
 between these before reaching Petersburgh. It 
 appears that if the ships had been properly 
 secured none of them would have been lost 
 during the inundation. In the harbour for mer- 
 
 characterised now as they were in 1825, as the greatest brigands 
 and canaille in the Empire. 
 
THE EMPEROR NICHOLAS. 135 
 
 chant ships no accidents happened, because they 
 were better secured. It is said, that at no period 
 within the recollection of persons here were there 
 so few ships at Cronstadt as at this time, not 
 only of English but of the ships of all other 
 nations. The harbour at this season is usually 
 crowded ; at present there is a great part quite 
 empty. We immediately went to see Commodore 
 Candler, an Englishman who has been in the 
 service of Russia many years. He is advanced 
 in life, and his constitution completely broken up. 
 It appears there is to-day a great inspection of 
 the fleet before it sails in a few days, and that 
 the Emperor is about to pay it a visit. Admiral 
 Crown who commands the fleet was a lieutenant 
 in the English navy. He was sent out by Count 
 Woronzow's father, and had the command of 
 a small vessel. With this he used to infest the 
 coasts of Sweden, running into their harbours 
 and doing much mischief to them, so that they 
 sent out a frigate to take him. He fought the 
 frigate, and took her. He was immediately 
 appointed captain of the frigate, and with this he 
 took a 74-gun ship sent out against him. He is 
 now Commander-in-Chief of the Russian squa- 
 dron. We soon took leave of Commodore 
 Candler, and went into a boat to get out to the 
 fleet. All the admirals were engaged in the 
 
136 THE FIRST DAYS OF 
 
 inspection, so that Dr. Prout could not present 
 his letter of introduction. We rowed round the 
 " Gloucester," which had brought the Duke of 
 Devonshire from England. At the time all the 
 Russian admirals and a great body of officers 
 were on board the u Gloucester." When the 
 Russian officers left her a salute of nine «;uns was 
 fired, the echoes of which along the shore were 
 very striking and produced a sound like the 
 rattling of thunder. The " Gloucester " had a 
 round stern, and on this account she has been 
 spoken against by all the people here, but she 
 had the appearance from a distance of much 
 greater compactness and strength than the Rus- 
 sian vessels which were at anchor in a line 
 opposite to her. In returning to Petersburgh by 
 the steam-boat I met the Rev. Dr. Paterson, 
 who, as a missionary, had traversed the Crimea 
 and Caucasus as far as Tiflis. Dr. Paterson 
 informed me of a new means which the Emperor 
 has taken to discover the abuses which prevail in 
 the different public offices. Two weeks ago a 
 poor man presented a petition to one of the 
 secretaries of General Dakin, with the view that 
 it should be presented to the Emperor. The 
 man returned after a time and enquired if it had 
 been presented, when the secretary told him that 
 nothing could be done unless he would advance 
 
THE EMPEROR NICHOLAS. 137 
 
 2000 roubles. The poor man said that he had not 
 2000 copecks, but that he would try to obtain it. 
 He contrived by some means to get a petition 
 presented directly into the hands of the Emperor, 
 stating his case and the corruption of the secre- 
 tary. The business was put into the hands of 
 the Count Kutousoff. Two thousand roubles 
 were given to the poor man, who presented them 
 to the secretary. The numbers of the notes 
 were marked, and immediately after the man 
 had announced to Count Kutousoff that they 
 were accepted, he sent a guard to arrest the 
 secretary. At first he denied it, but on being 
 told that the Governor knew even the number of 
 the notes he had received, he confessed, or rather 
 the money was found upon his person. The 
 Emperor ordered a trial, to be finished in three 
 days. He was convicted, sentenced to be de- 
 graded, rendered incapable of ever holding any 
 public office, and sent to Siberia ; all except 
 the latter part of the sentence he suffered. 
 Dr. Paterson told me that the Emperor had 
 organized a secret police for the purpose of 
 collecting information respecting these abuses and 
 of everything that is said respecting himself and 
 the Government, an account of which is to be 
 presented to him without the names of the 
 individuals whose opinions are related. A very 
 
138 THE FIRST DAYS OF 
 
 excellent man is said to be at the head of this 
 new species of police or inquisition. 
 
 14th, o.s. — The funeral of the Empress 
 Elizabeth took place this day. It had been 
 rumoured that anonymous letters had been sent to 
 the Emperor to inform him of another plot and to 
 warn him to take care of himself on this day. 
 This was probably the cause of His Majesty, 
 with his Etat-Major, proceeding on horseback at 
 a rapid rate, saluting each company of troops as 
 he passed, before the funeral commenced. This 
 consisted of a great number of the different 
 tradespeople in black with small flags; lancers; 
 a great number of girls belonging to the different 
 schools patronized by Her late Majesty ; a long 
 procession of priests ; a state carriage with eight 
 grey horses ; and a man in armour. The car was 
 the same as that used for the Emperor. It was 
 followed by the Emperor and Empress, generals 
 and officers. Then a long line of cavalry and 
 horse artillery. There was no music to enable 
 them to march or impress their minds. The 
 whole moved forward at a rapid rate, without 
 much order or solemnity. Minute guns were 
 fired from the fortress. The Summer Gardens, 
 the houses looking to the Champ de Mars, the 
 vessels moored along the quays, near the bridge 
 which crosses to the fortress, were crowded with 
 
THE EMPEROR NICHOLAS. 139 
 
 people. I returned home and prepared for my 
 departure from St. Petersburgh the following 
 morning. 
 
 loth June, 1826, O.S.— I left St. Petersburgh, 
 for Moscow at 2 p.m. A cold north wind, with 
 clouds of dust. Count Woronzow will set out a 
 few days after, and go direct to Biala Cerkiew, 
 and from thence to Akerman, where a congress of 
 Turkish and Russian Plenipotentiaries is to be held. 
 I proceeded to Moscow with General and Madame 
 Narishkin and Mr. Artemieff. We reached Tsar- 
 koe-zeloe at 8 o'clock. The palace consisted of one 
 great front and two wings, and presented a most 
 imposing appearance, very far superior to any thing 
 at St. Petersburgh. The north part, which had 
 been burnt down on the evening when Captain 
 Cochrane Johnstone was passing here to proceed 
 to Siberia on foot, had been rebuilt. The pillars, 
 columns, and pilasters of the chapel, were almost 
 entirely covered with gold, and the paintings 
 were of great beauty. This is the part which 
 had been burnt down. The amber chamber was 
 not burnt. I was not much struck with its ap- 
 pearance. A great number of pieces had disap- 
 peared from the walls. The floors of many of the 
 rooms were beautifully inlaid with different kinds 
 of wood, particularly cedar and nutwood. Many 
 of the doors were of beech. Few or no good 
 
140 THE FIRST DAYS OF 
 
 pictures. The apartments of the Emperor Alex- 
 ander were in the same state precisely as when he 
 set out for Taganrog. There was a great deal of 
 simplicity in their arrangement. On a table in 
 each apartment were materials for writing, and a 
 small spy-glass. In his bed-room were his boots, 
 fixed by a hook to his sofa ; his two swords, hat, 
 and two pairs of gloves, at the side of a mirror. 
 There was a small table near the side of his bed, 
 on which stood his dressing-case in leather. In a 
 small cabinet adjoining this was his library. 
 Among the books were several on the French 
 Revolution and the Art of War, Sir Walter 
 Scott's Novels and Lalla Rookh. There were 
 several portraits on the walls ; one I believed of 
 Madame Narishkin. The colonnade of Mr. 
 Cameron is a work of great beauty. Around 
 it was placed a great variety of statues ; but I 
 had not time to examine them. The walks were 
 in the highest order, and there were clumps of 
 trees precisely like those in our English parks. 
 There was an English farm close to the palace, 
 where was a dairy, merinos, &c. 
 
 From this we passed by Novgorod, Torzok, 
 and Tver, to Moscow, where we arrived on the 
 20th. The chaussee from Petersburgh to Nov- 
 gorod was excellent. Twelve thousand soldiers 
 were employed in constructing the new road 
 
THE EMPEROR NICHOLAS. 141 
 
 between the capital and Moscow. As a great part 
 of the country was a marsh, it was necessary to 
 raise a high earthen mound, on which the granite 
 broken according to Macadam's plan might rest. 
 Until we reached the Volga at Tver, on both 
 sides of the road the country had the appearance 
 of an impenetrable forest. Along the road sides 
 were some large villages and some cultivated 
 grounds, but generally the forests were quite un- 
 broken. We met large herds of oxen from the 
 south on the road to Petersburgh, the drivers of 
 which were the greatest savages I had ever seen. 
 Of Novgorod I saw merely its general aspect, as 
 I passed through it quickly. The old ditch and 
 wall still remained, and many of the ancient 
 churches. The state of the agriculture was 
 wretched till we reached Torzok — the earth was 
 merely scraped. The plough was drawn by one 
 horse, a sort of miserable pony. Manure was 
 spread upon the ground in grass by women, and 
 then the plough set to work, but after all the 
 greater part of the manure remained uncovered. 
 The ground was generally poor and sandy. Be- 
 fore reaching Torzok we passed the Valdi Moun- 
 tains, which are of no great height. Here was 
 some pretty scenery. Along the road from 
 St. Petersburgh to Moscow were villages esta- 
 blished which belonged to the Crown. Their 
 
142 THE FIRST DAYS OF 
 
 inhabitants were called Yemsheiks, and possessed 
 a species of freedom which other peasants did not 
 enjoy; but I did not learn precisely in what 
 respects they differed. They maintain the horses 
 for the post. At each post station were at least 
 1000 horses. I was struck with the multitude 
 of the bearded savages who collected around our 
 carriages on our arrival, and who appeared by 
 their words and gestures to be disputing. I 
 afterwards understood that they were disputing 
 about who should proceed with us. In one case 
 I saw them determine this matter by drawing 
 lots. There was a boldness and force in these 
 men unlike anything I had before seen in Russia. 
 The houses had all gable ends to the road, and 
 were built entirely of wood. The projecting 
 gable ends of the roofs were generally carved; 
 the windows, generally three in number, also 
 carved. Under these projecting roofs they sit or 
 lie during the heat of the day, and many of them 
 sleep during the night in their clothes and shoobs. 
 I had seen at least a dozen, all lying heads and 
 tails, with their clothes on in this situation — 
 presenting in the morning early a disgusting 
 spectacle. Many of the men, however, formed 
 exceptions, being clean, intelligent, and in all 
 respects civilized ; the appearance of the females 
 improved as we approached Moscow. Torzok 
 
THE EMPEROK NICHOLAS. 143 
 
 was a wealthy city. It was famous for its manu- 
 factures of leather of various colours for boots, 
 shoes, pillows, cushions, beds, which were dis- 
 tributed over all Russia. Tver was a large 
 populous city on the Volga, where there was an 
 extensive commerce. 
 
 21st. Moscow, Monday, o.s. — All the day I 
 was obliged to remain at home, being weakened 
 bv the Crimean fever to a great degree. In the 
 evening, however, I went to the Kremlin, which 
 is but a short distance from Count Woronzow's 
 house. I was not prepared for the grand scene 
 to be witnessed from it. The whole city, with 
 its numberless palaces and churches, was ex- 
 tended out from the Avails of this ancient resi- 
 dence of the Tzars. Scarcely any marks were 
 left of the conflagration during the French in- 
 vasion. The house of Count Woronzow belonged 
 to the Princess Daskhoff, and was left to him by 
 her. This was also burnt, but has been com- 
 pletely rebuilt, though not furnished. 
 
 22nd. Tuesday. — A T o return of fever. Mr. 
 Backmeetoff, brother-in-law of Prince Trou- 
 betzkoi, called upon me, and shewed great kind- 
 ness. Prince GortschakofF, whose family I had 
 attended at Odessa, was also here. He informed 
 me that the public entrance of the Emperor into 
 Moscow will take place on the 22nd July, four 
 
144 THE FIRST DAYS OF 
 
 weeks hence ; the Coronation on the 6th of 
 August, and the great public fetes on the loth 
 of August. This delay of the public fetes is 
 said to be owing to a fast which falls at this time. 
 At 6 o'clock I went with General Narishkin to 
 see the preparations making for the Coronation 
 at the Kremlin. We saw the hall of the palace 
 where the banquet is held after the Coronation. 
 It is an ancient low hall, of a gothic appearance, 
 with a large pillar in the centre to support the 
 roof. There was a throne erected in one of the 
 corners ; the curtain suspended from the top of it 
 was of purple velvet lined with ermine ; the throne 
 covered with scarlet, not much raised above the 
 level of the floor; walls covered with crimson 
 velvet. The hall is not capable of containing more 
 than 250 or 300. This hall is a part of the palace 
 occupied by the Imperial Family when at Moscow. 
 After this we traversed several suites of apart- 
 ments, all fitted up within the last thirteen years. 
 We saw the room occupied by Napoleon on the 
 south-west angle, from the windows of which 
 one of the finest views of this strange city can be 
 obtained, and from which he beheld the progress 
 of the conflagration. There was no trace of him 
 to be perceived. Close to this is the building 
 anciently set apart for the women, in a true style 
 of eastern architecture. The distance from the 
 
THE EMPEROR NICHOLAS. 145 
 
 palace, from which the procession will set out, 
 to the cathedral, is only a few paces. The 
 cathedral is very ancient ; the doors covered with 
 paintings ; the walls of the interior completely 
 covered with them also ; many of them so decayed 
 as scarcely to be visible. It is not a large church. 
 The testament of the late Emperor was preserved 
 in the sacristy of the cathedral, and was shut up 
 in a pyramid, a box of gold and platina, about 
 one foot in height, under a glass case. On the 
 top of this was painted a human eye. The key 
 was in the possession of the Governor-General of 
 Moscow. In the centre of one of the domes of 
 a church in the Kremlin, I think the Archange- 
 lisk, the face of our Saviour is so painted that, 
 place yourself as you will, he appears to look 
 down upon you. It is a large dark visage. In 
 this church of the Archangelisk are the tombs of 
 all the ancient Tzars, down to Peter the Great. 
 They are ranged, like those at St. Peter sburgh, 
 side by side, and are covered with scarlet cloth, 
 all in a state of dilapidation and decay. Great 
 preparations were here being made for the Em- 
 peror ; and numbers of people employed in clean- 
 ing the pictures of the saints. In the cathedral are 
 various relics ; one esteemed of great value is one 
 of the nails which fixed our Saviour to the Cross ; 
 another is a little bit of the Virgin's shirt. These 
 
146 THE FIRST DAYS OF 
 
 churches were exceedingly rich, but were robbed 
 of all their gold and silver by the French ; the 
 greater part I suspect, however, had previously 
 been removed by the Russians. Around some of 
 the pictures are emeralds, and other precious 
 stones, said to be of great value. From the 
 Tower of Ivan I had a magnificent view of the 
 city. The great Bell is near to this tower, about 
 25 feet sunk into the earth. You must descend 
 by a ladder to see it. It is covered with wood 
 deals, and the rain enters freely ; yet there does 
 not appear much rust upon it. 
 
 23rd. Wednesday. — At 8 this morning I went 
 to the Hospital of Count SheremetofF to deliver 
 my letter of introduction to Dr. Keir from Ad- 
 miral Greig. I found him in the hospital, which 
 was in such a state of disorder, from repairs going 
 on, that I could not see it completely. I visited 
 however, one ward, which was large, clean, and 
 well ventilated. The beds were of iron ; each 
 had two mattresses, and they were covered with 
 white sheeting. One of the mattresses of straw, 
 the other of horse hair, above this a sheet ; above 
 the patient another sheet and coverlet, all clean 
 and in the best order. It is more an alms house 
 than an hospital. There are about 66 beds, how- 
 ever, for the reception of patients from the town, 
 under the charge of Dr. Keir. He had come 
 
THE EMPEROR NICHOLAS. 147 
 
 into Russia in 1803, to be physician to the uncle of 
 the Count the Chancellor, and remained with him 
 until his death. He said that the Count Michel 
 Woronzow was one of the most interesting young 
 men he had ever known. In 1812, Dr. Keir was 
 most anxious to establish himself in England; 
 but he found it impossible, so great were the 
 numbers of well-informed medical men in every 
 town, and he was consequently obliged to return 
 to Russia, where he married. Though in excellent 
 practice, and physician to this hospital, he told me 
 that were he able, he would not remain twelve 
 hours in Russia. To an Englishman, he said, 
 the practice in this country is the most disagree- 
 able thing possible. In the nobility, you have 
 generally to deal with mere spoiled children ; 
 persons full of absurd prejudices, and very desti- 
 tute of information. Of the lower classes he said, 
 the physician should constantly be accompanied 
 with the knout, otherwise his orders will receive 
 no attention. They have no education, they 
 have no good example shewn them by their 
 parents, or by any other; and in consequence 
 almost all, without exception, are barbarous in 
 their manners, and only to be commanded by the 
 knout. I found Dr. Keir rather a little, thin, 
 delicate man, above forty-five, and not in the best 
 health. He has a house in the rear of the hospital. 
 
 l2 
 
148 THE FIRST DAYS OF 
 
 He is Professor of Medicine in the Academy. He 
 observed it was a singular fact, that formerly 
 (twelve years ago) intermittent fevers were exceed- 
 ingly common here, but since that time they had 
 become actually rare. He allowed that a great 
 deal of draining and cleaning had lately taken 
 place in the town ; the consequence, I imagine, 
 of the conflagration : one of the effects also of the 
 burning of London in 1666. Other physicians 
 in Moscow had observed the same circumstance. 
 With regard to agues, he said, he found them inti- 
 mately connected with atmospheric changes, and 
 one of the first things he thought of was restor- 
 ing the secretion of the skin by the warm bath 
 and other means. The liver and spleen often 
 became diseased, if these fevers are allowed to run 
 on unchecked, and he recommended strongly half 
 a drachm of cinchona every two hours in water ; 
 some port wine, a light diet, and calomel and 
 rhubarb to be occasionally administered. Dr. 
 Keir was two years Dr. James Hamilton's clerk 
 in the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh, 1799 and 
 1800, and graduated there. 
 
 In the drive which I took to SheremetofF's 
 Hospital this morning, I had a good view of the 
 town. The ground on which it stands is unequal, 
 gently rising and falling. On all sides you see 
 the spires and domes of churches, and immense 
 
THE EMPEROR NICHOLAS. 149 
 
 houses, white or green with gardens — at this 
 season presenting the richest and most luxuriant 
 appearance. Crowds of well-dressed people were 
 proceeding to the churches to join the proces- 
 sions, this being a holyday. In some of the 
 streets I saw wretched houses and people, but in 
 general they bore an appearance of comfort. In 
 the Nikitka, where I live, are several of the 
 houses of the old nobility — Dolgorouky, Mackoff, 
 &c. The Palace of PashkofF presents from the 
 Kremlin a most beautiful appearance. I visited 
 the great riding- school at the gate of the Kremlin. 
 At the base of the brick wall which surrounds 
 the Kremlin on the north side, are the Imperial 
 Gardens, where were numbers of people walking 
 and reposing on the benches. The Kremlin is, I 
 suppose, more than two versts in circumference. 
 It is entirely surrounded by a wall of brick, 
 with little turrets at the top. It encloses a 
 great variety of churches, the Palace of Justice, 
 the Arsenal, the Imperial Palace, and Public 
 Offices of various descriptions. 
 
 The little river Moskwa is almost close to the 
 wall on the south side, the road only intervening. 
 It is a small sluggish stream. General Narishkin 
 told me, that he was sent to the French Army as a 
 parlementaire, and was taken prisoner about six 
 versts from Moscow. One of the French officers 
 
150 THE FIRST DAYS OF 
 
 told him that orders had been given to blow up 
 the Kremlin, and that the report of a cannon 
 would be the signal for the explosions. A very 
 short time afterwards the report of a cannon was 
 heard, and it was succeeded afterwards by three 
 tremendous explosions. The Arsenal, which was 
 blown up by one of these, is now being rebuilt. 
 In this country the people are forced into artifi- 
 cial classes, which do not exist in other countries, 
 and those endless varieties so useful to the well- 
 being of society and so ornamental to it, are pre- 
 vented altogether from being formed. But while 
 the state of vassalage exists, it is impossible that 
 this country can ever become civilized in the true 
 sense of the word. Education never can be 
 extended to the serfs by their present proprietors, 
 and if it were, they would ere long shake off the 
 yoke. Even if the Emperor would permit this, 
 there is not a sufficient degree of principle and 
 good sense among the nobility to adopt and fol- 
 low any general measure for the education of the 
 mass of the people, which is absolutely necessary 
 to any lasting improvement. 
 
 I observed to General Narishkin, that there 
 must have been a combination of the nobles, mer- 
 chants, and others, to set fire to the city. He 
 said he had seen a letter from the intendant of a 
 nobleman to Count Kestopschin, expressing his 
 
THE EMPEROR NICHOLAS. 151 
 
 regret that the house of his master would not 
 burn, though he had done all that was possible to 
 set it on fire. It is very extraordinary that this 
 transaction should still remain secret, seeing that 
 it must have been entrusted to so many for its 
 execution, and that its success warranted in some 
 measure the exposure of all its details. The 
 Russians never come within sight of a church 
 without taking off their hats and making the sign 
 of the cross. The postilion before mounting the 
 coach-box does the same, and this is also done 
 after meals. In the Kremlin I saw some persons 
 before some pictures, placing their heads on the 
 ground, then rising and crossing themselves with 
 a fervour which was quite astonishing ; they went 
 on doing so until exhausted by fatigue. 
 
 24th. Thursday. — Still very weak from fever. 
 In the evening I drove to the public gardens, 
 called the Three Mountains, a short way out of 
 Moscow. You descend a small hill to reach the 
 garden. It was crowded with persons of every 
 description. The Mougiks were drinking and 
 gambling on a plain before the garden, and were 
 as noisy as they usually are on such occasions. 
 In the gardens, the people consisted chiefly of the 
 middling classes, all well dressed; most of the 
 young women painted, with large diamond ear- 
 rings; pink dresses were the most common. Young 
 
152 THE FIRST DAYS OP 
 
 ladies of good complexion, and apparently in 
 good health, had all their teeth black. I ima- 
 gined at first that it must have been done on 
 purpose. It is said to be the effect of the lead 
 and other metals in the paint they use. This 
 explanation was not satisfactory. In the gardens 
 there are lakes and islands formed artificially. 
 Along the sides of these were seated many a 
 happy group, eating ice, and fruit, and the other 
 delicacies of the season. I drove from this ear- 
 den to the Kremlin, where they were performing 
 vespers in two of the churches, and tolling the 
 great bell in the tower of Ivan. In one of the 
 churches the music was superior to any I had 
 heard in Russia. The view of the city in the 
 calm setting sun was truly enchanting. 
 
 25th. o.s. — Recovering slowly from fever. A 
 very valuable copy of Hippocrates sent to me by 
 Colonel NorrofF as a present. Dr. Keir called 
 upon me ; he said he did not know of any case 
 where an artery had been tied for aneurism at 
 Moscow except one — a case of popliteal aneurism 
 where the superficial femoral artery was tied 
 with one ligature : it succeeded perfectly. Aneu- 
 rism is rare here ; at least he has seen few cases 
 of it. The carotid, subclavian, external iliac, 
 have never been tied, to his knowledge, at 
 Moscow. He complained of the severity of the 
 
THE EMPEROR NICHOLAS. 153 
 
 winters, and of the injury to the constitution 
 produced by several hours' exposure to the 
 intense cold. M. BachmeetofF stated that Russia 
 was never in a worse condition; trade almost 
 annihilated, and no money to be obtained for any 
 kind of produce. The peasantry generally highly 
 discontented, and almost ripe for revolt. The free 
 peasants, those of the Crown, are in the worst con- 
 dition. Their idea of freedom is, that they are to 
 be exempted from paying all duties to the Crown ! 
 In the evening I went to the Diebitchi Monas- 
 tery, in the environs of Moscow. It is sur- 
 rounded bv a wall with turrets like the Kremlin. 
 At each angle is a round tower, and square 
 towers at short distances on the wall. A hand- 
 some church stands in the centre, with gilded 
 domes, precisely similar to many of those in tho 
 Kremlin. Around this church are many graves, 
 and tombstones with inscriptions. On the right 
 hand of the gate where you enter is the house 
 where the sister of Peter the Great, Sophia, was 
 shut up. This is a convent for ladies, but I saw 
 none ; and within . the walls there were, besides 
 the churches, only a few wretched low buildings. 
 We drove a short distance farther, when we 
 reached the river Moskwa. Crossing it, we 
 ascended a hill on the opposite bank, from which 
 we had a line view of Moscow, the Dievitchi and 
 
154 THE FIRST DAYS OF 
 
 Donskoi monasteries, an old palace among the 
 trees, near the river, on a height, and a great 
 deal of the country around Moscow. The sun 
 was going down. All the bells of the Kremlin 
 and of the different churches were ringing, this 
 being the birth-day of the Emperor Nicholas. 
 
 26th. Saturday. — Considerably recovered from 
 fever. The public entrance of the Emperor will 
 certainly take place on the 22nd July. As I 
 have seen all the preparations for the Coronation, 
 and heard a description of the various parts of the 
 ceremony, I feel no disappointment in not witness- 
 ing it. Having seen the Coronation of George 
 the Fourth, my imagination will supply readily 
 what I have not seen here. This day I visited 
 the building in the Kremlin where all the crowns 
 of Russia, dresses, &c, of the former Tzars are 
 kept ; the crowns of Poland, Georgia, Kazan, 
 Archangel, Lithuania, are ranged under glass 
 covers around the room. A great quantity 
 of gold and silver plate is here also displayed on 
 shelves, and in glass cases are the various orna- 
 ments worn by the Emperors. The thrones are 
 also disposed in the same apartment, and contain 
 a large quantity of precious stones, superb 
 turquoises ; coronation chairs from Peter I ; 
 Museum of Antiquities ; Imperial globe ; the 
 sceptre and ancient ornaments of the Tzars. 
 
THE EMPEROR NICHOLAS. 155 
 
 30th. — Quitted Moscow, and took the Kalouga 
 road to return to the south of Russia. This 
 journey occupied eight days and seven nights, 
 but the fever did not return ; on the contrary, I 
 gained strength rapidly as I advanced to the 
 south through the governments of Kalouga, Orel, 
 Tchernigow, and Kief, to Biala Cerkiew. In all 
 this line of road, 980 versts, I did not see one 
 prosperous town or village, nothing like wealth 
 or industry ; but, on the contrary, starvation and 
 rags in the midst of plenty ; the tracteers and 
 post horses wretched in the highest degree. 
 Everywhere, as far as the eye could reach, these 
 vast plains were covered with the richest crops 
 of rye, and other grain, ready for the sickle. 
 
 14th July. Biala Cerkiew, near Kief, on the 
 Dnieper. — I have heard nothing respecting the 
 conspirators at St. Petersburgh ; but it is more 
 than probable that their doom will be sealed 
 before the Coronation. It is not impossible that, 
 for the sake of acquiring popularity, a pardon 
 may be granted even to the most culpable — none 
 of them having actually raised their hands against 
 their sovereign. The Emperor having become 
 popular from the manner in which he conducted 
 himself on the 14th of December, may have 
 acquired a taste for it, and will possibly, as an 
 act of signal mercy, pardon most if not all the 
 
156 THE FIRST DAYS OF 
 
 individuals implicated. There is no doubt, if I 
 may credit what has been stated to me on the 
 best authority, that his Majesty is one of the most 
 false characters that exists, and that he has a very 
 unforgiving disposition. It is only the popularity 
 he has acquired at his accession which has given 
 him the disposition to that generous line of con- 
 duct which it is said he is pursuing. It is not 
 natural to him, and it is feared that it will not 
 continue during the whole of his reign. At pre- 
 sent, the conspiracy appears to have had some 
 effect upon him ; but if once its influence should 
 be lost, and his love of popularity pass away, his 
 reign will be one of severity and persecution. The 
 want of a free communication by water in Russia 
 must retard its advancement. In such a vast 
 empire there are only the rivers Neva, Vol^a, 
 and Dwina, which afford a free communication 
 with the interioc The Dniester, Dnieper, Don, 
 and Bug, are not navigable to any great extent. 
 One thing wanting to Russia is a simple good 
 code of laws, and the honest administration of 
 justice. Another is the liberation of the slaves, 
 publicity of trials in courts of law, and freedom 
 of the press. As things are, it is perfectly clear 
 that ages must elapse before any great improve- 
 ment take place upon the people of this country. 
 26th. — News arrived the day before yesterday, 
 
THE EMPEROR NICHOLAS. 157 
 
 from St. Petersburgh, that sentence has been 
 pronounced and executed upon the individuals 
 implicated in the late conspiracy. On the morn- 
 ing of the 13th, Pestel, Mouravieff, Ryleieflf, 
 Kakhofsky, and Bestoucheff Roumine, were 
 hanged on a gibbet, on the rampart of the for- 
 tress, in a public manner. They all died with 
 courage. On the same day, 120 of the prisoners 
 were degraded by having their swords broken 
 over their heads by the public executioner, and 
 sent off to Siberia, where they are condemned to 
 hard labour, some for their lives and others for 
 twenty years — to perpetual exile. It is supposed 
 that this part of the sentence, forced labour, will 
 be remitted after the Coronation. The Emperor, 
 it is said, did not specify the punishment to be 
 inflicted, but left this to the commissioners, who 
 ordered that those who have been hanged should 
 be quartered. The Emperor commuted this 
 horrible sentence into hanging, which is a new 
 mode of inflicting death in Russia, and considered 
 most degrading. They were, it is said, con- 
 demned to hang upon the gallows the greater 
 part of the day, but their bodies were soon taken 
 down after they were dead. There was no 
 tumult nor disorder. It is reported that Pestel, 
 in the hope of escaping, had become denunciator, 
 and revealed the whole proceedings of himself 
 
158 THE FIRST DAYS OF 
 
 and his accomplices, and that Mouravieff and all 
 the others did the same. Pestel, it is further said, 
 affected asreat admiration for the character of the 
 present Emperor. On account of his revelations, it 
 is said, truly or falsely, that the guilt of all the others 
 was clearly brought to light, and that he became 
 the object of the hatred and contempt of all. 
 
 28th. — It is rumoured that the ropes by which 
 Ryleieff and Mouravieff were suspended broke : 
 the former was in a state of insensibility, but the 
 latter remained conscious, and fell upon his feet. 
 He supposed, it is said, that the rope was made 
 weak on purpose to save him, and, in the hope of 
 preserving his life, he shouted God save the 
 Emperor and Russia ! 
 
 5th August, o.s. — The fi^ht between the rein- 
 ment of Tchernigow and the other troops took 
 place about ten versts from this place, Biala 
 Cerkiew. Many of those who were made pri- 
 soners were brought into this village, and have 
 been here ever since. A commission was ap- 
 pointed to try them, and 60 have been sentenced 
 to be flogged. The punishment took place this 
 morning, in a field close by this village, between 
 9 and 10 o'clock. 1,000 soldiers were drawn up 
 in line, each with a small wand of the shoot of a 
 nut tree, and the prisoners were passed along this 
 line and received a switch from each soldier. I 
 
THE E3IPEK0R NICHOLAS. 159 
 
 did not arrive until the punishment had been 
 inflicted, but I saw about 20 of those who had 
 undergone the sentence. They looked pale, but 
 all seemed gay, and some laughing aloud. They 
 were in a small square, formed by soldiers with 
 guns and bayonets, but all were standing, and 
 all marched off the ground without assistance. 
 Carts with straw were waiting to carry [away 
 those who mi^ht have been disabled. The surgeon 
 of the regiment told me that it was not meant to 
 be a severe punishment, as they had been seduced 
 from their duty by their officers. A great number 
 of Jews, men and women, were close to the scene 
 of action, many of whom, indeed all, shewed 
 their sympathy for the sufferers. The prisoners 
 for the last four months have been stationed in 
 the houses of the Jews, each with a soldier to 
 guard him. A gibbet is to be erected at Vassil- 
 koff, and all the officers of the regiment who took 
 part in the revolt are to have their swords broken 
 over their heads underneath it, and afterwards to 
 be sent to Siberia for life. The names of those 
 officers who belonged to the regiment and who 
 have already received their sentences at Peters- 
 burgh, will be hung up upon this gibbet. 
 
 A French translation of the report of the 
 Commission of Inquiry of St. Petersburgh, on 
 the conspiracy and revolt of 1825, dated 30th May, 
 
160 THE FIRST DAYS OF 
 
 1826, was printed, and a copy presented to me 
 by a military officer who had been some time a 
 prisoner in the fortress. This official document 
 was signed by TatishchefF, Minister of War ; 
 Michael, Master of the Ordnance; Prince Galitzin, 
 Privy Councillor ; Golenistcheff Kutousoff, Mili- 
 tary Governor of St. Petersburgh ; TchernychefF, 
 General ; Benkendorff, General ; Levacheff, 
 Aides -de -Camp Generaux ; and countersigned 
 Bloudoff, Councillor of State. In this report it 
 is stated, that u almost invariably its conclusions 
 have been based on the confessions of the detected 
 themselves, or on documents written by their 
 hand, regarding the depositions of their accom- 
 plices, and all other testimonies, as subsidiary 
 means of conviction, or as simple indications of 
 the course to be pursued in the examinations and 
 ulterior inquiries." From this report it appeared 
 "that in the year 1816 some young men returned 
 from abroad after the campaigns of 3 813, 1814, 
 and 1815, and acquainted with the political 
 tendency of several secret societies then existing 
 in Germany, conceived the idea of establishing 
 similar associations in Russia." In February, 
 1817, the first secret society was formed under 
 the title of u Union de Salut, or des Vraies et 
 Fideles Enfans de la Patrie" The leading mem- 
 bers were Alexander and Nikita Mouravieff, 
 
THE EMPEROR NICHOLAS. 161 
 
 Prince Troubetzkey and Pestel, by whom the 
 rules were drawn up. Four of the prisoners 
 during: the trial declared that '* from the outset 
 the object of this society was a change in the 
 existing institutions of the Empire." Prince 
 Troubetzkey affirmed, " that the principal sub- 
 ject of discussion when they met was the means 
 for working out the good of the country ; for 
 co-operating towards the accomplishment of 
 every useful design, if not by active exertion, at 
 least by a strong expression of approval; for 
 contributing to the repression of all abuses, by 
 publishing every censurable act committed by 
 employes undeserving of the national confidence ; 
 but principally for increasing the strength of their 
 society by the acquisition of new members, whose 
 talents and moral qualities should be proved by 
 previous information, and who should even undergo 
 some trial." 
 
 At this very time General Michael OrlofF was 
 occupied, in conjunction with Count Mamonoff 
 and the Councillor of State Nicholas TorquenofF, 
 in founding a society " the sole object of which 
 should be to put an end to the exactions and 
 other abuses which had crept into the internal 
 administration of the empire, an intention which 
 he proposed to submit for the approbation of His 
 Imperial Majesty." "However his plans were 
 
 M 
 
162 THE FIRST DAYS OF 
 
 ineffective, and the association of which he had 
 conceived the idea was never formed." 
 
 The first part of the regulations of the Union 
 du Bien Public was discovered by the Commis- 
 sion, and contained in the Report, and is as 
 follows : " The principal provisions of the Code 
 du Bien Public, the division of subjects, the most 
 remarkable ideas, and even to the very style, 
 show an imitation and in great part a transla- 
 tion from the German. The authors declare, in 
 the name of the founders of the association, that 
 the good of the country is their sole object — 
 that this object can have nothing contrary to the 
 views of Government ; that Government stood in 
 need of the concurrence of individuals ; that the 
 society which they organized would be to it an 
 auxiliary for effecting good ; and that without 
 concealing their intentions from citizens worthy 
 of participating in them, they would pursue their 
 labours in secret; solely to avoid the misrepre 
 sentations of hatred and malevolence. The mem- 
 bers were divided into four sections or branches. 
 Each member was to inscribe himself in one of 
 these sections, without, however, refusing to take 
 any part in the labours of the others. The first 
 section had for its object philanthropy 9 or the 
 advancement of public and private benevolence. 
 Its duty was to watch over all charitable institu- 
 
THE EMPEROR NICHOLAS. 163 
 
 tions, and to point out to the directors of such 
 establishments, and also to Government itself, the 
 abuses which might creep in, and the means for 
 remedying them. The object of the second section 
 was intellectual and moral education, the exten- 
 sion of enlightenment, the foundation of schools 
 especially on the Lancasterian system, and gene- 
 rally a useful co-operation for the instruction of 
 youth, by virtuous examples, by discourses and 
 writings analogous to such views, as also to the 
 ends of society. To the members of this second 
 section the superintendence of all schools was 
 confided. They were to inspire youth with the 
 love of everything national, and to oppose as 
 much as possible the notion of educating them 
 abroad and all foreign influence. The third 
 section was required to give especial attention to 
 the proceedings of the tribunals. Its members 
 engaged no t to decline anv judicial functions 
 which might be offered to them by the choice of 
 the nobility or by the Government ; to fulfil such 
 functions with zeal and precision ; to observe 
 carefully the progress of affairs of this nature; 
 to encourage upright employes, even by granting 
 them pecuniary aid ; to strengthen in good prin- 
 ciples those who might betray any weakness ; to 
 enlighten those who were deficient in information; 
 
 m 2 
 
164 THE FIRST DAYS OF 
 
 to denounce prevaricating functionaries, and to 
 apprise Government of their conduct. Finally, 
 the members of the fourth section were to devote 
 themselves to the study of political economy; to 
 attempt the discovery and the definition of the 
 immovable principles of national wealth ; to con- ; 
 tribute to the development of all branches of 
 industry ; to strengthen public credit ; and oppose 
 monopolies." 
 
 In 1819 General OrlofF, who had joined the 
 Union du Bien Public, u sent in a written declara- 
 tion to the effect, that he would no longer belong 
 to the society, and firmly persisted in this deter- 
 mination notwithstanding the remonstrances and 
 entreaties of his colleagues, yet subsequent to the 
 trial in 1826 he was dismissed from the service, 
 although it is not stated that he had any further 
 connection with secret societies. At length, in 
 the last days of February 1821, it was agreed at 
 a general meeting that the Union should be 
 dissolved; and TorquenofF, in his capacity of 
 president, announced in the name of all the depu- 
 ties assembled that the society was completely 
 and unavoidably dissolved, " both on account 
 of the difference of opinion shewn among the 
 members, and in order not to rouse the suspicions 
 of Government." Other societies were formed, 
 
THE EMPEROR NICHOLAS. 165 
 
 the object of all which it is stated in the Report 
 was to " overthrow the existing order of things n 
 by " the employment of an armed force."* 
 
 7th. — A Russian nobleman, who considers 
   himself possessed of first-rate talents, predicted 
 the ruin of Great Britain from steam-boats. He 
 said Buonaparte would have succeeded in his 
 invasion of England had steam-boats been in use 
 at that time. I observed that the French had no 
 -coals upon the coast, and were prodigiously behind 
 us in all respects in the construction of steam- 
 enoines. He replied, that a man with Buona- 
 parte's resources could have brought coals from any 
 distance, and would soon have become superior 
 to us in the construction of steam-vessels. I re- 
 plied that he had all the resources of France at 
 his command, yet he could never equip a fleet 
 
 * On my return to England, January 1827, I presented a 
 copy of this Report of the Commission of St Petersburgh to the 
 editor of the posthumous Travels (by my lamented friend James 
 Webster, Esq.) through the Crimea, Turkey, and Egypt, and an 
 English translation of this document was appended to-the second 
 volume of that work, published in 1830. It has been justly ob- 
 served by a recent writer that this document was nothing but an 
 indictment drawn up after a hasty inquiry earried on in secret, 
 and had in itself no virtue of proof belonging to it. Doubtless 
 a few of the individuals implicated in this conspiracy were 
 animated with true patriotism, but if the report be not entirely 
 false it is impossible to deny that the greater number of the 
 accused were treaeherous to one another, and guilty of perjury 
 and treason to an amount of which it would be difficult to find 
 a parallel in the history of any other European nation, 
 
 \ 
 
166 THE FIRST DAYS OF 
 
 which had the least chance of subduing the fleets 
 of Great Britain, even when Spain and Holland 
 were joined to his navy. 
 
 9th. — Engaged in reading Karamsin's History 
 of Russia, which presents a picture of superstition, 
 treachery, and murder, such as cannot be equalled 
 perhaps in the annals of any other country. 
 
 12th. — There can be no doubt, if general report 
 is to be credited, that the nobility of this country 
 are every year becoming more poor and depressed. 
 In Russia there are at least forty millions of 
 slaves. It is not supposed that the conspirators 
 used any means to mislead the peasantry — they 
 are sufficiently ripe for rebellion, and require no 
 efforts of that kind. They are held in subjection 
 by the army alone, many of the regiments being 
 quartered throughout the country at convenient 
 distances from the great villages, into which the 
 slaves are congregated and kept unarmed. In a 
 regiment of lancers at Moscow there has very 
 lately been a serious disturbance, and the colonel 
 was almost assassinated. This arose from the 
 Grand Duke Michael ordering this regiment to 
 be drilled every day. I have been told that the 
 Emperor and the Grand Duke Michael are not 
 enlightened men. They have no knowledge of 
 the actual state of the country, and it is believed 
 that the Emperor will not have the good sense to 
 
THE EMPEROR NICHOLAS. 167 
 
 call around him independent men — men of in- 
 tegrity. He is too jealous of his power to entrust 
 any part of it to others. The cause of liberty is 
 lost for a great period in this country, by the 
 wretched conduct of the individuals who com- 
 posed these secret societies, and by the unprin- 
 cipled character of their proposals. Many were 
 men actuated by the worst principles of French 
 politics and morality, and they did not possess any 
 of the courage in the time of danger which the 
 French showed at the Revolution. KhahofFsky it 
 is said wept like a child when condemned to death, 
 and lamented the fate of his poor parents. Pestel 
 behaved with courage, but became a denunciator, 
 and told all that had passed between him and his 
 associates, though sworn to secrecy by the laws of 
 the society to which they belonged. Indeed 
 Russia could have gained nothing by such men. 
 A state of fearful anarchy would have been all 
 that could have followed for a time, but out of 
 this the slaves might have come with their chains 
 broken from their necks. If the country remain 
 long at peace, the population will increase and 
 wealth will accumulate, and a middle class perhaps 
 will slowly rise into existence. That for ages they 
 will ever approach in civilization the other people 
 of Europe is however extremely doubtful. It is 
 impossible now to predict the fate of this country 
 
168 THE FIRST DAYS OF 
 
 more than it was at Taganrog last year. The 
 death of the Emperor Nicholas might throw all 
 into confusion. The foreign influence of Russia 
 must have been considerably diminished by late 
 events, and she will not again for a time play 
 the same part in Europe that she formerly did. 
 In Asia it is probable she will still further ex- 
 tend her conquests, especially in Persia, where 
 General YermolofF, on the frontier, has been 
 extremely busy, if reports are true, in provoking 
 war, and now Russian troops in large bodies are 
 proceeding to the Caucasus. The greater part of 
 the higher classes — I mean the proprietors of land 
 and slaves — are utterly disqualified by their igno- 
 rance, gross prejudices, and superstition, from 
 introducing a better order of things into the 
 country. There are few of them who know even 
 the first principles of politics, political economy, 
 or ethics ; and some of them will attempt to draw 
 a comparison between the Government during the 
 Roman republic and the constitutional Govern- 
 ment of Great Britain, and even prefer the former. 
 I have enquired wherever I have gone whether 
 any proprietors actually resided upon their estates, 
 and devoted their time to the improvement and 
 happiness of the slaves, but have heard scarcely 
 of one. I have asked an individual who knows 
 this country well to point out to me the pro- 
 
THE EMPEROR NICHOLAS. 169 
 
 prietors whom he considered exceptions to the 
 above description. The only individuals on whom 
 lie fixed were Count Woronzow, who has not 
 yet been able to reside upon his estates, and 
 Col. Poniatowsky, and a few foreigners settled in 
 the country. He was forced to admit that the 
 improvement of the condition of the slaves entered 
 into the consideration of very few. There is not 
 a school at this place except among the Jews : none 
 of the peasants can either read or write, except tlie 
 intendants. At four years of age I was told the 
 education of the children of the Jews commences, 
 and in all the towns and villages the education of 
 their children is conducted upon a regular system, 
 and rabbins or schoolmasters are supported by 
 a society established for that express purpose. 
 Every Jew is at least able to read the Old 
 Testament ; but forty millions of Christians in 
 Russia, who have been baptised, are unable 
 to read the Scriptures either of the Old or New 
 Testament, and have no bibles if they could read ! 
 On my arrival at Biala Cerkiew from St. Peters- 
 burgh, 11th July, I received the following letter 
 from an English o-entleman who had been tra- 
 veiling in Denmark, Sweden, and Russia, for 
 the purpose of acquiring knowledge and seeing 
 
 Europe. He is the nephew of Lady , is about 
 
 to enter the Church, and has a rectory awaiting 
 
170 THE FIRST DAYS OF 
 
 him in Gloucestershire. He came to Taganrog 
 when I was there, but I first became acquainted 
 with him at Admiral Greig's, at Nicolaef, and 
 afterwards saw him at Odessa. 
 
 " Vienna, June 11th. 
 " Mr dear Sir, — When we parted at Odessa 
 I said I would write you a line from Vienna, 
 and though the time is somewhat long ago I 
 should be sorry not to fulfil my word. Myself, 
 my courier, and the Count's fish arrived at 
 Berdicheff without accident, though the weather 
 was so cold that both my wine and my beef were 
 reduced to ice. I stopped two or three days 
 at several towns in Poland, in order to see the 
 manners of the country, and more particularly of 
 the Jews, their music, their marriages, the cir- 
 cumcision, or, as my courier comically called it, 
 ' o sichristen die Jews.' I got through the rascals 
 at RadzirillofF for sixteen roubles, which I was 
 told afterwards was less than most people managed 
 it for. At Olmutz I fell in with Prince Fer- 
 dinand of Austria, on his way back from Russia, 
 after various upsets, as people usually meet with 
 in Russia, which not even his royalty could pro- 
 tect him from — I say this on the authority of his 
 cook and courier, not having the honour of His 
 Highness's acquaintance. I staid at Vienna for 
 six weeks, and after being well entertained for 
 
THE EMPEROR NICHOLAS. 1 
 
 *7 1 
 
 that time, set out for that miserable country, Hun- 
 gary ; a country with every production of nature, 
 wines, grain, cattle, metals, &c, but without 
 any earthly means of turning them to advantage. 
 Austria discourages them, and their other neigh- 
 bours, the Russians and Turks, are of little use to 
 them : they are just stuck between the frying-pan 
 and the fire. I am now returned to Vienna ; 
 and to-morrow start for the Tyrol, and then to 
 Munich. When I left Odessa you intended to 
 visit the Empress at Taganrog. I have since 
 heard that she is dead. Of course the Russian 
 doctors say that you poisoned her. At all events 
 get away as fast as you can to some country 
 where good intentions and labours are better 
 rewarded. 
 
 " And believe me, yours sincerely, 
 
 a 
 
 "P.S. If you should send me a line direct to 
 Vienna, where I return at the end of August. I 
 wish to know two things which I forgot to inquire 
 when I was in the Crimea ; whether it was owing 
 to the stupidity of the Tartar or Russian Govern- 
 ment that they have no boats ; and whether there 
 is any difference between the religion of the 
 Tartar Jews and the other Jews. I suppose 
 certainly not ; but some one asserted to me the 
 other day that there was. Tell me any news you 
 

 172 THE FIRST DAYS OF 
 
 know from St. Petersburgh or Moscow. What 
 is to become of all the state prisoners?" 
 
 The following was my reply : 
 
 Biala Cerkiew, 1st August, O.S., 1826, 
 
 Dear Sir, — On arriving here from Peters- 
 • burgh, about three weeks ago, it gave me great 
 pleasure to receive your letter of the 11th June, 
 and to be assured that your own health and that 
 of your courier, had not suffered by the cold and 
 fatigue of the long journey from Odessa to 
 Vienna. I am sorry that my information respec- 
 ting the black Jews is so imperfect, but such 
 as it is I shall state to you. Their Bible is the 
 same as that of the common Jews, but the Ka- 
 raites reject entirely the Talmuds, and they have 
 different forms of prayer. At what period they 
 separated from the common mass of Israelites is 
 not clearly ascertained, but it must have been 
 many centuries ago. In consequence of their 
 long residence among the Tartars, they have 
 contracted many of the habits of Eastern nations, 
 and particularly that of making their women live 
 in a state of seclusion. A work I understand has 
 been published on this sect in Russia, a copy of 
 which a friend promised to send to me from 
 Odessa, but it has not yet arrived. I shall endea- 
 vour to procure it when I go there two weeks hence, 
 and if there is any interesting information in it, I 
 
>7*y 
 
 THE EMPEROR NICHOLAS. 17 
 
 shall not fail to take extracts of it, and transmit 
 them to you. The town which they occupy in the 
 Crimea was a Genoese fortress, and when these 
 were driven from it by the Tartars they ceded 
 the town to these Jews, whom they found very 
 useful in managing their commerce. When in 
 the Crimea, I had expressed to Count Woron- 
 zow my astonishment that the Tartars on the 
 coast should not betake themselves to fishing, as 
 a means of supplying what nature had denied to 
 them, a supply of animal food. The Government, 
 I understood, had neither encouraged nor pre- 
 vented them from establishing fisheries, but it 
 was said that the quarantine laws, which forbid 
 all boats going more than a verst from the land, 
 without a police officer or guard on board, had a 
 bad effect in checking them. I recollect an obser- 
 vation made one day at dinner by some one 
 bearing on this point. It was, " We have been 
 compelled to violate the quarantine laws, in order 
 to have a supply of fish for our table to-day." 
 These laws might prevent the establishment of 
 great fisheries certainly, yet I think we are to 
 attribute much to the natural apathy of the 
 Tartar, and his dislike for maritime affairs. The 
 Greeks at Balaclava and Kerche, have great 
 fisheries, though equally under the influence of 
 these laws, by which they supply not only their 
 
174 THE FJEST DAYS OF 
 
 own families, but the interior of the country. In 
 the first volume of Dr. Clarke's Travels there are 
 some observations worthy of attention respecting 
 the Karaites. He found some very ancient MSS. 
 of the Bible at Kchufut Kali, which he says had 
 been brought from the East. I have just been in- 
 formed that all these MSS. are written by Polish 
 Jews, but I do not know if this is a fact, as I 
 suppose all these Bibles and books are printed 
 and not written (I bought a MSS. copy of the 
 Koran in the Crimea, and was told a printed 
 copy did not exist). I have some little doubt also 
 as to their Bible being the same as that of the 
 others, but I have no means at present of 
 resolving this doubt.* 
 
 * 26 August.— I went into a Jewish Synagogue here, to wit. 
 ness the performance of the rite of circumcision, and found the 
 house crowded with Jews. Each had a small box upon his fore- 
 head, containing the Ten Commandments, and this was attached 
 to his left wrist by a leathern cord, as I once saw in the case of a 
 Turk travelling from Lyons to Marseilles. In reading the prayer, 
 the head was covered usually with a thin cloth with broad black 
 stripes. This they called a Talus. Their Bible began as ours 
 with the five books of Moses, and ended with Ezekiel. The 
 minor prophets were not admitted into their canonical books. 
 The child was brought in upon a pillow bent on each side, and 
 fixed in this like a cradle. There were three priests who took 
 part in the ceremony; the eldest, a venerable-looking man, with 
 a long white beard, sat down on a chair, and took the child on 
 his knees ; a second rabbin applied a bandage round the thighs. 
 The operation was performed with a short razor, which was 
 put into his hand by the third priest, after all the relations of 
 the child had touched its handle. The priest then took the 
 
 
THE EMPEROR NICHOLAS. 175 
 
 In consequence of some disinclination on the 
 part of Her Imperial Majesty's physician, my 
 visit to Taganrog did not take place as I expected 
 when I saw you; but was deferred until Her 
 Majesty should have arrived at Kalonga, where 
 she was to have resided, and where I was to have 
 o-one in returning; to the South. Her death at 
 Bieleff deranged the whole scheme, and saved 
 me from the blame I shoidd probably have incur- 
 red from the generous and enlightened individuals 
 around her, for at least hastening her dissolution. 
 It was disease of the heart, but its nature was 
 unknown till after her death. I left Odessa 
 about the end of March, and proceeded after 
 a short halt at this place, which is about eighty 
 
 razor in Jais right hand, and after other means had been 
 employed, made the necessary incision. The third priest im- 
 mediately applied his mouth to the wound, and sucked the 
 blood for a short time, and then dashed all over the parts a 
 large handful of finely powdered oak bark. The child was then 
 covered as before with the clothes, and was removed to the 
 side of a huge ark or chest, with curtains before it, before which 
 the priest recited some prayers, and then gave the name to the 
 child, putting some liquid to its forehead. It was stated that 
 the Karaite Jews admit only the' five Books of Moses. All the 
 others they entirely reject. This was the whole of the ceremony. 
 I was told that if a child dies before the eighth day, it is considered 
 as a great calamity. In the church-yard before placing it in the 
 grave, the operation is done, but with a piece of glass. Circum- 
 cision is always performed among the Jews on the eighth day, 
 whereas with Mahommedans it is often not done till a later 
 period, fourteen or even sixteen years. The mother and female 
 relatives were in an apartment adjoining during the ceremony. 
 
176 THE FIRST DAYS OF 
 
 versts S.W. of Kief, with the Count to St. Peters- 
 burgh. The snow was in the act of dissolving, so 
 that we had the most formidable journey I have 
 yet made in this detestable country. We pro- 
 ceeded by Kief to Petersburgh, through the 
 Western Governments. I saw nothing which 
 deserved observation. Misere, trois fois misere, but 
 above all, this was apparent in the provinces which 
 once appertained to free and independent Poland. 
 At St. Petersburgh I spent my time agreeably and 
 usefully in visiting the hospitals, churches, palaces 
 and institutions of all sorts. I arrived there when 
 the fine weather began, and nothing could exceed 
 the richness of the vegetation, which all at once 
 succeeded to the severity of the long winter. In 
 the public papers you will see what has been the 
 fate of the individuals implicated in the late 
 conspiracy: five hanged — 120 degraded and sent 
 for life to work in the mines of Siberia, the rest 
 to remain a certain time in the fortress, or to be 
 sent into remote garrisons for years. It is pos- 
 sible that the punishment may be mitigated after 
 the coronation. The murderers of the Emperor's 
 father were treated more mercifully than these 
 unfortunate men, a few of whom undoubtedly 
 had the welfare of their country honestly at 
 heart. Upon the whole, St. Petersburgh has not 
 left any very favourable impression on my mind. 
 
THE EMPEROR NICHOLAS. 177 
 
 It was dull in the highest degree: this was no 
 doubt partly owing to the peculiar circumstances 
 of the times, there being few families who were 
 not more or less interested in the proceed- 
 ings of the commission which was then sit- 
 ting. I was much more pleased with Moscow, 
 which I visited on my way to this place. The 
 view of the city from the tower of Ivan Veliki, 
 is one which it is impossible ever to forget, and 
 I can imagine now that I hear the sound of all 
 the bells of Moscow, as I heard them on a 
 beautiful calm summer evening of a holyday, 
 from the heights near the Dievitchi Monastery. 
 My opinion of this country is not changed ; on 
 the contrary, it is gradually becoming more and 
 more unfavourable, and you may be assured 
 that I will not fail to follow your kind advice 
 as soon as I possibly can. Indeed, there is no 
 doubt now that the Count Woronzow will 
 proceed to England about the beginning of 
 October, if the affairs of Turkey are satisfactorily 
 arranged at Akerman with the Turkish Com- 
 missioners by that time, and it is extremely 
 probable that we shall be at Vienna before the 
 end of October, and in England soon after. Is 
 there no hope of our meeting you in crossing 
 Germany? If there is not, I hope to have the 
 pleasure of seeing you on your arrival in London 
 
 N 
 
178 THE FIRST DAYS OF 
 
 after you have finished your travels, when you 
 shall have bid adieu to this vagabond life, and 
 entered upon the noblest duty of which we are 
 capable in this world, that of consoling and 
 instructing the poor and afflicted. If you should 
 not be likely to fall in with us on our journey to 
 England, I should be happy to hear from you 
 before you quit Vienna, and to learn some 
 particulars of your excursion to the Tyrol and 
 Bavaria. I have been obliged to remain here 
 some time, in consequence of my professional 
 services being required for the children of the 
 Count, his eldest son being indisposed. I expect 
 to be able to set out for Odessa in two weeks 
 to join His Excellency, who is now at Akerman 
 as one of the Russian Plenipotentiaries. 
 
 I am, yours, &c. 
 
 14th August. — A. war has actually broken out 
 between Eussia and Persia. The dispute arose 
 about the frontier line. The Persians commenced 
 the war by passing this line, and attacking a 
 Russian regiment and seizing all the bao-o-acre. 
 Colonel Nicholas Rajewsky [now General Ra- 
 jewsky] sets out immediately for the Caucasus, 
 having obtained permission from the Emperor to 
 go thither. General Yermoloff is looked up to 
 by all the military men of Russia, and is con- 
 
THE EMPEROR NICHOLAS. 179 
 
 sidered one of their best generals. 24,000 soldiers 
 have been sent to the Caucasus. 
 
 18th.— The war against Persia is more serious 
 than was supposed. The Persian army of 60,000 
 men has entered the Russian provinces nearErivan, 
 with the view of separating the provinces to the 
 eastward, formerly conquered from Persia, from 
 connexion with the Russians, and exciting the 
 inhabitants to take part against the Russians. 
 The troops are already marching towards the 
 Caucasus, and it is expected that there will be a 
 smart stru^le, though there is no fear of the 
 result beinsr favourable to Russia, and of its 
 ending in the extension of this already over ex- 
 tended empire. All believe that General Yer- 
 moloff, by his irritating conduct during the last 
 ten years, has excited this war, that he might 
 have an opportunity of displaying his great 
 military talents. These are represented to be of 
 the first order. He and Count Woronzow are 
 considered the greatest military geniuses of this 
 country. There were some English officers at 
 one time to discipline the Persians, but they have 
 all quitted the country. The Shah, who is repre- 
 sented to be a most avaricious man, would not 
 keep his engagements with them. The termina- 
 tion of the conferences at Akerman has taken 
 place. The demands of the Russian Government 
 
 N2 
 
180 THE FIRST DAYS OF 
 
 are not known, but the Turks have received until 
 the 25th September to consider them. They 
 have been forwarded to Constantinople. Should 
 the Turks refuse to comply with these demands, 
 war will be the consequence after all, and this 
 appears by no means improbable, though it is more 
 likely when the time has expired that the terms 
 will be accepted, and peace preserved. There 
 can be no doubt that in Russia a love of military 
 glory is the prevailing passion of the great majo- 
 rity of the nobility. It is possible, therefore, 
 that she may make still greater conquests, but 
 nothing ever will be consolidated by the Russians. 
 Such a band of unprincipled men would speedily 
 disorganize the best established institutions. 
 
 6th Sept. — The Russian Government professes 
 to be ignorant of the true cause of the war with 
 Persia, and unable to tell whether it has been 
 commenced by the order of the Schah or not, or 
 whether it is not merely an irruption of some 
 bodies of brigands. Prince MenschikofT was most 
 kindly treated by the Prince Royal of Persia. 
 Satisfaction has been demanded for this insult of 
 the Shah ; and, if this be not granted, hostilities 
 will be immediately commenced against Persia. 
 
 12th. Sunday. — Last evening I was introduced 
 to Colonel Grabe, a military officer of reputation, 
 a native of Courland; tall, handsome, of a com- 
 manding appearance, but with soft and polished 
 
THE EMPEROR NICHOLAS. 181 
 
 manners, and a voice so agreeable, with so great 
 a fluency of expression, that, had he been in a 
 free country, it was my conviction that he would 
 have been distinguished for his eloquence. He 
 was attached some years ago to the Embassy at 
 Munich, entered the army afterwards, and dis- 
 tinguished himself greatly in the war of 1812. 
 He was esteemed very highly by the late Em- 
 peror, but, from some dispute with a Russian 
 general, an intrigue was formed against him, and 
 he was some time in a state of exile at Yaroslaff. 
 Known to oe a man of high talent, and denounced 
 by some of the conspirators, he was arrested and 
 conveyed to the fortress at St. Petersburgh. He 
 was examined by the Emperor, and declaring 
 upon his honour that he did not belong to the 
 plot, his sword was immediately restored to him. 
 It appeared, however, that he was subsequently 
 denounced by some person as having belonged to 
 the first secret society formed in Russia in 1817, 
 and he was again arrested and examined. He at 
 once acknowledged that this w r as the case, but 
 renewed the assertion, that he had nothing what- 
 ever to do with the Pestel plot. For concealing 
 the fact that he had belonged to the first society, 
 he w r as sent to a fortress to undergo two months' 
 imprisonment. These proceedings produced such 
 an effect upon his wife, then enceinte, that a 
 

 182 THE FIRST DAYS OF 
 
 dangerous accident soon occurred, and I saw her 
 professionally in a hopeless condition. Here, I 
 have witnessed, in different families, the dreadful 
 evils resulting from political revolutionary schemes 
 to private families and individuals. 
 
 9th October, Odessa. — Our departure for Eng- 
 land is fixed for Thursday next. News of a 
 considerable victory over the Persians, near 
 Hanja, and the prospect of their complete route. 
 They behaved in the most cowardly manner. It 
 is clear that the present opportunity is a most 
 favourable one to seize upon the whole country 
 north of the Araxes, and that it will not be let slip 
 by the Russians. Thus this already overgrown 
 and unwieldy mass will be still further extended 
 towards the East, and may give an impulse to the 
 acquisition of still more important conquests in that 
 direction. It is probably for the good of mankind 
 that this should take place, and that the Mahom- 
 medan governments, Avhich hitherto have always 
 been purely despotic, and which never have ad- 
 mitted of even a moderate degree of civilization, 
 should give place to a Christian government, 
 which in its turn, with the advancement of know- 
 ledge, will be compelled to rid itself of the gross 
 ignorance, superstition, and tyranny, which now 
 envelop the Russian Government. The Turkish 
 Commissioners arrived here from Akerman to- 
 
THE EMPEROR NICHOLAS. 183 
 
 night. To-morrow they dine with Count Woron- 
 zow, and a ball is to be given to them in the evening. 
 Three Englishmen have also arrived here, General 
 "Whitehead, Mr. Grosvenor and Sir Charles Mallet. 
 At dinner I met M. Castiglione of Milan, who has 
 passed many years in Egypt, and who quits this 
 to-morrow for Constantinople ; from thence he 
 proceeds to Alexandria and then to Sennaar. He 
 related much that was interesting respecting 
 Egypt, its antiquities, religion, police, and the 
 improvements introduced by the present Pasha 
 under the influence of M. Drovett and the forty 
 French officers employed in the service of the 
 Pasha. 
 
 11th. — This morning I was informed by Count 
 Woronzow, that Ibrahim and Hadgi EfFendi, the 
 Turkish Commissioners, wished to consult me 
 professionally respecting some complaints to 
 which they are subject. The eldest, Hadgi, aged 
 66 or more, immediately on my entering the 
 apartment' stretched out his arm that I might 
 feel his pulse. I did so, and found it 78, upon 
 which I told him he had no febrile disease. He 
 was suffering from dyspepsia, the consequence of 
 the abuse of opium, coffee, and tobacco, and wine, 
 &c. in private, if the report of the dragoman was 
 to be believed. He admitted that he drank ten 
 cups of coffee every day. When abstinence was 
 
184 THE FIRST DAYS OF 
 
 recommended of every kind, the other plenipoten- 
 tiary laughed aloud, and said it was impossible 
 Hadgi could comply with my advice. He enquired 
 if I had studied anatomy, and when he found I 
 had, and that I considered it to be the basis of 
 all medical science, and that I never allowed an 
 opportunity to pass without making post-mortem 
 examinations to discover the seat and nature of 
 disease, Hadgi said it was very good practice 
 indeed. He enquired if I took notes of my cases. 
 I answered, that I took notes of all my cases, 
 and of all passing events in Russia. We then 
 adjourned to breakfast, the two plenipotentiaries, 
 the two dragomans, and myself. The breakfast 
 consisted of chicken, soup, eggs, and meat. They 
 all drank English porter in considerable quanti- 
 ties. After breakfast we all rose from table. A 
 servant came and kneeled down, and presented to 
 each ambassador a basin and decanter of water, 
 and a towel, with which they washed their hands. 
 When the operation was finished, the second 
 plenipotentiary, Ibrahim, took me by the hand 
 and led me into the sitting apartment, where a 
 consultation was held respecting his own health. 
 After this they went to the port, and embarked 
 on board a steam-boat belomnns: to Admiral 
 Greig, under a salute from a frigate in the roads 
 and another small vessel. This was the first 
 
THE EMPEROR NICHOLAS. 185 
 
 occasion on which their Excellencies had ever 
 been on board a steam vessel. They continued 
 sailing about for an hour, and then returned. 
 Ibrahim begged the dragoman to inform me, that 
 he knew that the steam engine was invented by 
 an Englishman, and that his name was Watt. 
 In the evening they went to the opera, when La 
 Cenerentola was played. They smoked in the 
 middle of the opera, and seemed highly pleased. 
 A Turkish translation of the opera had been pre- 
 pared for them, which they held in their hands 
 during the performance. 
 
 The next morning I again visited their Excel- 
 lencies, and had the honour of breakfasting with 
 them. In the evening a ball was given by the 
 Countess Woronzow on the occasion. They did 
 not seem to enjoy it so much as they did the 
 opera. Between the windows of the chief saloon 
 was placed by the Russian Plenipotentiary a 
 painting of Turkish trophies, surmounted by a 
 crescent, in the middle of which, in Arabic, from 
 the Koran, were the words — Peace is always more 
 advantageous than war I* The ball was followed 
 
 * On the 5th of April, 1826, a note was presented by M. de 
 Minziaky at Constantinople to the Ottoman Government, com- 
 plaining that the treaties between Russia and Turkey were 
 violated by the Turks. These complaints referred especially to 
 Moldavia and Wallachia, and Servia. The Turkish Government 
 was accused, in an angry tone, as having violated the promises 
 
186 THE FIRST DAYS OF 
 
 by a supper, and the whole went off in the best 
 possible manner. After midnight the Honour- 
 able Mr. Grosvenor and Sir Charles Mallett 
 arrived, and the former, a tall handsome young 
 man in a hussar dress, soon joined in the dance. 
 He was much admired by all the ladies. It ap- 
 pears that war is eagerly desired by the mass of 
 the people here, and particularly by the Greeks; 
 and in consequence of the pacific termination of 
 the conferences of Akerman, Count Woronzow is 
 become unpopular. The Countess Edlin, sister 
 of M. Stourdza, I was told, would not come to 
 the ball, because it was given to the Turks. 
 
 made through Lord Strangford. M. Minziaky threatened to 
 leave Constantinople in six weeks, and that war would imme- 
 diately follow, unless Turkish Plenipotentiaries were sent to 
 negotiate with Russian Commissioners in some town on the 
 frontiers of Russia. Akerman was fixed upon for these confe- 
 rences, and Count Woronzow and M. Ribeaupierre were the 
 Russian Plenipotentiaries, and Baron Brunow was their secre- 
 tary. The convention betweeen Russia and the Ottoman Porte, 
 explanatory of the Treaty of Bucharest, was signed at Akerman, 
 the 25th September (7th October), 1826. The questions dis- 
 cussed Avere — 1, the restoration of certain Asiatic fortresses on 
 the Black Sea ; 2, the free navigation of that sea by the Russian 
 flag ; 3, the repayment to Russia of losses sustained by her 
 subjects from the Barbary Corsairs, amounting, it was said, to a 
 million sterling ; 4, the internal government of Moldavia and 
 Wallachia. Turkey yielded to all the demands made upon her, 
 however injurious to her interests. In 1828, Persia being crushed, 
 Russia thought the text from the Koran might be conveniently 
 altered into, " War is always more advantageous than peace," 
 and war with Turkey followed accordingly. 
 
THE EMPEROR NICHOLAS. 187 
 
 17th. — I leave Odessa, for the last time, with 
 regret, having experienced invariably the greatest 
 kindness from all with whom I have become 
 acquainted, or with whom I have had any com- 
 munication, professionally or otherwise. 
 
 18th. Nicolaef. — We remained here to dinner, 
 and set out at nine at night, in the midst of a 
 heavy rain and pitchy darkness. I learned that 
 there were at this time fifteen sail of the line in 
 the Black Sea, a large number of frigates, all 
 manned and ready for active service. "With such 
 a fleet and army, and while the Ottoman Empire 
 continues in such a state of decline, it is clear 
 that the slightest collision between it and Russia 
 might soon lead to its entire overthrow, and to 
 the subversion of the present order of things in 
 Europe. With the command of the Black Sea, 
 Russia can always maintain an immense in- 
 fluence over Persia ; any number of troops 
 being with facility, in eight or ten days, trans- 
 ported from the Crimea to the Caucasus. Many 
 young Russian officers now express an earnest 
 desire for the complete conquest of Persia; and 
 it is obvious that this would not be accompanied 
 with much difficulty. 
 
 2nd November. Biala Cerkiew. — To-morrow 
 morning, at 6 A.M., we set out for England. The 
 roads, in consequence of the rain, sleet, and snow 
 
188 THE FIRST DAYS OF 
 
 that had fallen, were almost impassable from the 
 depth of the mud. The following day this was 
 converted by the frost into a solid mass. We 
 reached BerdichiefF, 160 versts from Biala Cer- 
 kiew, late in the evening, without any other 
 accident than the breaking of one of the springs 
 of our caleche. 
 
 At Squira, 21£ versts from Biala Cerkiew, we 
 found a regiment of hussars. The face of the 
 country, peasants, and roads to BerdichiefF and 
 RadzivillofF, continued the same as in the govern- 
 ment of Kief. The land in general is naturally 
 rich in an extraordinary degree in all parts : I was 
 told everywhere capable of yielding eight or ten 
 for one. BerdichiefF is a large town, where the 
 population, consisting chiefly of Jews, appear 
 more active and in better circumstances than in 
 many towns in the south of Russia. From thence 
 to Zytomir is two posts, where we spent the 
 second night. This is a district town, but much 
 inferior in size to BerdichiefF, though paved, and 
 containing many respectable houses. I was in- 
 formed here that every male Jew pays annually 
 10 roubles to the Russian Government. Every 
 man who has a house, besides this poll tax, must 
 pay taxes for mending roads, and other im- 
 posts, to the amount of 25 roubles a year. Be- 
 sides, every house is valued, and for this value a 
 
THE EMrEROR NICHOLAS. 189 
 
 Certain per-centage is required. Russians pay 
 the same as the Jews. Where recruits are 
 taken, the Jews then pay a certain sum for this ; 
 the sum is 3 roubles each Jew. In this town the 
 poll tax is paid in the following manner : — A rich 
 Jew furnishes all the meat, &e., at a certain price, 
 fixed at the beginning of each year, and all the 
 Jews are obliged to buy from him ; and he for 
 this privilege pays the poll tax for each individual 
 to the Government. Thus the poor, who are not 
 in a condition to pay, have the tax discharged by 
 their richer brethren. Such was the account I 
 received. In the cabins of the peasants in this 
 country, and in the Ukraine, there is little or no 
 furniture ; no chairs : but instead, there is a 
 bench of wood round the walls of the house. On 
 the stove there is a smooth place on which they 
 sleep during the winter ; and from this to the 
 opposite wall a platform is formed of deals, on 
 which the family generally pass the night. No 
 bed-clothes; no sheets nor pillows. Some of the 
 rich have pillows, but no sheets ; they lie upon 
 and cover themselves with their shoobs, which 
 are made of sheep-skins. The houses generally 
 are well heated. On the Steppe they burn 
 borean, or common weed. ; where there are no 
 weeds nor wood, they burn straw, or cakes of 
 cow's dung. In regard to their habits and food; 
 
190 THE FIRST DAYS OF 
 
 they all rise early, and all wash their hands and 
 faces, and then turn to their pictures or images 
 and say their prayers in a low voice. They all 
 sleep with their clothes on ; all change their 
 shirts once a week; and in Russia Proper the 
 bath is common. The diet of the peasants of the 
 Ukraine is good. The breakfast consists of salted 
 cucumber, and anything which has remained over 
 from the day before ; if there is nothing, bread 
 and cucumber compose the breakfast, and in sum- 
 mer it consists of fruit. The dinner is composed of 
 millet made into gruel, into which is put during 
 their fasts hemp oil. On other days pieces of 
 the fat of bacon are mixed in it, and it is then 
 considered an excellent dish. Rye bread is used 
 in great quantities; during some holy days wheaten 
 bread. Previous to a fast, great exertions are 
 made to buy a pig to make a luxurious meal 
 before the time of privation commences. The 
 same effort is made when the fist is concluded. 
 Dried fish from the Don is much used, and great 
 quantities are obtained from the rivers and lakes 
 of the country. Potatoes are cultivated by some 
 of the peasants of the Ukraine, but they are con- 
 fined to their gardens ; and during all the diffe- 
 rent journeys that 1 have made in the south of 
 Russia, I have never seen the potatoe cultivated 
 in the field. In fact, this plant does not form an 
 
THE EMPEROR NICHOLAS.' 19 i 
 
 article of food. The turnip is nearly unknown 
 in all parts of the Russian Empire. Artificial 
 grasses are equally rare. 
 
 5th. — In the evening we reached Novocjrad 
 Wolinsky, in Volhynia, a district Polish town, 
 but one of the most miserable I ever visited. 
 We travelled during the whole of the night and 
 following day, and arrived at Doubno on the 
 evening of the 6th, where all dined, and set 
 forward to RadzivilofF, near the Austrian fron- 
 tier, which we reached at one o'clock in the 
 morning. I was informed that Doubno was once 
 a flourishing town. The Government contracts 
 were once held here, and the circumstance, if 
 truly stated, which led to their removal to Kief, 
 is worthy of notice. This town belongs to the 
 Prince Lubomirsky, who derived a great revenue 
 from the contracts. The Emperor Paul knowing 
 this, wished to purchase the estate ; but the 
 Prince refused to sell it, stating as a reason that 
 he derived a great revenue from his possessions. 
 Paul said, if you do not sell it, I will cut off this 
 revenue from you, and immediately ordered the 
 contracts to be held at Kief, a Government town. 
 Doubno is now in a state of misery, of which it 
 is difficult to form an idea : a wretchedly poor 
 population ; the houses being generally half 
 unroofed. 
 
192 THE FIRST DAYS OF 
 
 7 — 19. Austria. — We left Brody at 6 a.m. — 
 We had no sooner quitted this town than we 
 entered upon an excellent chaussee of moderate 
 breadth, Macadamized, and equal in all respects 
 to many of the best roads in England ; such a 
 road as I had not seen in any part of the Russian 
 empire which I had traversed. Nothing could be 
 more striking than the change we immediately 
 perceived on entering the Austrian territory. 
 The villages along the road-side bore an aspect 
 of prosperity and cleanliness, which did not exist 
 even in the most flourishing towns and villages of 
 Volhynia, Podolia, and the Ukraine. The agri- 
 culture appeared to be far superior to anything 
 seen in Russia, the fields being carefully ploughed, 
 and in many parts manure applied as in the best 
 agricultural districts of England. The people 
 had an appearance of comparative ease and con- 
 tentment. As we passed along the road we met 
 numbers of large wagons, drawn by eight or more 
 horses, carrying merchandise of different sorts 
 from Vienna to Brody ; and one of the circum- 
 stances marking the difference between even these 
 two most despotic governments of Europe, was 
 the sudden, almost total, disappearance of military 
 uniforms, of guns and bayonets. The peasants 
 of Galiicia are still attached to the soil, and may 
 be transferred along with it from one proprietor 
 
THE EMPEROR NICHOLAS. 193 
 
 to another; but these sales are regulated by the 
 extent of the land, and not by the number of 
 human [immortal] souls existing upon the estates. 
 In Russia, the value of an estate is estimated ac- 
 cording to the number of peasants belonging to 
 the land ; and accordingly the Russian nobility 
 talk of the value of souls, not of their acres of 
 ground, as in all other Christian countries. 
 Combien d? times f is the common question when 
 inquiring as to the value of an estate. The 
 Austrian Government does everything which is 
 possible to protect the peasants from all injurious 
 or unjust treatment on the part of their lords. 
 Nothing can be more certain than the fact, that 
 the Austrian part of Poland has made rapid pro- 
 gress in improvement since the partition, while 
 the Russian part has been stationary, if it has not 
 actually retrograded, and become more poor and 
 debased since that event. 
 
 We reached Lemberff late in the evening. We 
 found the Count Araktcheieff in the same hotel, 
 but he had retired to rest before our arrival) at least 
 he pretended to be in bed, and the Count Woronzow 
 and he did not see each other.* 
 
 * Count Araktcheieff, the Grand Vizier, "the peerless servant," 
 or evil genius of the Emperor Alexander, had left St. Peters- 
 burgh in June, having obtained leave to travel from Nicholas, 
 with a gratuity of 50,000 roubles. In March, 1827, it is stated 
 
 O 
 
194 THE FIRST DAYS OF 
 
 We set out after supper from Lemberg, and 
 travelled all the night and following day, and the 
 evening of the 8th slept at Jaroslaw, two posts 
 from Lancut. 
 
 9th. Lancut. — This is a handsome chateau 
 belonging to Count A. Potocki. The proprietor 
 is said to have a decided taste for English man- 
 ners, agriculture, &c. The park and gardens 
 were all laid out in the English style, but the 
 weather being very cold, and the ground partially 
 covered with snow, I did not see them. The 
 chateau was of a quadrangular form, with a square 
 in the centre, like Holyrood-house. There were 
 many pictures, but few of much value. The ladies 
 were all indisposed, so that at dinner no female 
 appeared except the governess of the children. 
 There were several Polish Counts present, and a 
 number of gentlemen whose rank and names I 
 did not know. A custom prevailed here which I 
 had nowhere observed in the whole course of my 
 
 by a recent German writer, that a revision of the horrible pro- 
 ceedings, which took place at Grousino, connected with the 
 murder of Araktcheieff 's mistress, was ordered by Nicholas. " On 
 crossing the French frontier Araktcheieff' s insolence drew upon 
 him a reprimand from one of the employes of the Custom 
 House, and caused Charles X to refuse him an audience. In a 
 few months he returned to Russia, and resigned himself to his 
 fate, not without causing it to be understood that he possessed 
 the means of avenging his disgrace, by publishing the letters 
 which he had received from Alexander. 
 
THE EMPEROR NICHOLAS. 195 
 
 travels, and formed no part of English manners. 
 At the foot of the table wine only was allowed 
 to circulate of the most common quality, and 
 when dinner was over, glasses with water for the 
 fingers, &c., were brought to those at the top of 
 the table, while all who had the misfortune to be 
 at the opposite extremity were obliged to quit the 
 table with unwashed hands. 
 
 10th. — At dinner there was the same distinc- 
 tion of persons and wines. I learned from a 
 Polish Count that the taxes were paid to the 
 Government according to the value of the estates, 
 or the rent actually received by the landlord. 
 He said it was agreed by all that the imposts were 
 most oppressive. A proprietor with a revenue of 
 400 ducats a year is compelled to pay at least 
 250 for taxes. The officers of the Government 
 were all Germans. No Poles were employed 
 in official situations, and all the Polish regiments 
 were sent to Hungary, Italy, Bohemia, and other 
 distant provinces, while their place was supplied 
 by German troops. The Polish nobility, I was 
 informed, were not forced to serve in the army 
 unless they chose. The German language was 
 employed in all the legal proceedings, and even 
 in common conversation it was rapidly supplant- 
 ing the Polish, and he thought would before long 
 extinguish it altogether. 
 
 O 2 
 
196 THE FIRST DAYS OF 
 
 The climate of Gallicia he represented to be 
 almost the same as that of the Ukraine, extremely 
 cold in winter and hot in summer. The produc- 
 tions of the soil nearly the same. The wheat pro- 
 duced in Gallicia was chiefly transported, he 
 said, by the Vistula to Dantzic ; large navigable 
 branches of this river intersecting the whole 
 country. The peasants, he said, were greatly 
 addicted to drunkenness, as in the Ukraine, and 
 not much better educated. Schools had formerly 
 been established for their instruction, but during 
 the last few years they had been wholly sup- 
 pressed, as I told him they had been in Russia. 
 The Austrian Government, he said further, had 
 taken most effectual means to prevent all unjust 
 and tyrannical treatment of the peasants by their 
 masters. The whip was here unknown as a 
 stimulus to labour. If a peasant was guilty of bad 
 conduct, the master could not punish him himself. 
 The culprit must be taken before an officer of the 
 Government, whose duty it was to judge of the 
 nature of the offence, and to award the punish- 
 ment. I did not learn whether any systematic 
 plan had been adopted for the emancipation of the 
 slaves by the Austrian Government. In one vil- 
 lage between Lemberg; and Lancut we had found 
 a regiment which had been stationed eleven years. 
 In Russia changes were much more frequent, to 
 
THE EMPEROR NICHOLAS. 197 
 
 prevent the soldiers from becoming too intimately 
 acquainted with the peasants. 
 
 11th. — At dinner a princess inquired seriously 
 whether the water of the Black Sea was actually 
 of a blacker colour than the water of all other 
 seas, and if it was possible to get to Odessa by 
 sea except through the straits of Constantinople, 
 and if Odessa was the name of a Greek town. 
 Enquiries were also made about the fishes taken 
 out of the Black Sea, and about the truth of the 
 report fully credited by the Cossacks of the Don, 
 that there is a race of horses of peculiar excellence, 
 which take their origin from the Black Sea. A 
 distinguished Cossack general at Taganrog, I told 
 the princess, had certainly assured Baron Brunow 
 that there could be no doubt of this, that there 
 were horses in the Black Sea, for a gentleman 
 worthy of all credit had assured him of the fact, 
 which he fully believed. 
 
 We reached Vienna on the 21st. Respecting 
 the country between Lancut and Vienna, I made 
 few observations. At Bieltzy, a large town on 
 the frontiers of Gallicia and Silesia, there were 
 extensive manufactures of cloth, and every sign 
 of an active thriving population. The German 
 language, dress, &c, prevailed at this town, and 
 it was here we lost sight, at the same time, of 
 the Polish Jew and slave. The women of the 
 
198 THE FIRST DAYS OF 
 
 lower classes all wore red stockings, with petti- 
 coats hardly reaching the knees. The men had 
 large round hats with broad brims, blue jackets, 
 with rows of metal buttons. Booths or stalls of 
 wood were arranged in the market-place for a 
 fair to be held here. In the great square was 
 the public market, and it was crowded during 
 the day with buyers and sellers of all descrip- 
 tions. At Techen, another considerable Silesian 
 town, we arrived on the day of a great fair. 
 Hats, clothes, pictures, books, &c, were exposed 
 for sale, and the people, men and women, from 
 the country, were engaged in buying them. The 
 women wore red stockings, short petticoats with 
 a border, and a jacket of leather of a buff colour, 
 with the wool remaining on the inside, and ap- 
 plied to their bodies. These jackets were trussed 
 up behind, so as to form a great projection like 
 a basket across the back. Over this was thrown 
 a great white coarse linen sheet, which covered 
 also the head, and was brought under the chin. 
 They were healthy, cheerful, and apparently in 
 easy circumstances, but few of them were good- 
 looking, and almost all of them of a small stature. 
 We proceeded by the ordinary route of Olmlitz 
 and Brunn to Vienna. Most of the Silesian 
 towns were entirely built in the form of regular 
 quadrangles, and had arcades similar to those in 
 
THE EMPEROR NICHOLAS. 199 
 
 Italy, under which the different wares were ex- 
 posed for sale. In passing through Olmiitz, a 
 place very strongly fortified, I went to see the 
 theatre. The play on the evening before our 
 arrival was Kin^ Lear. In the saloon I saw 
 several English prints ; one of Lavinia and her 
 mother, from Thomson's Seasons. Another of 
 Auld Robin Gray and Jenny, with the following 
 lines underneath : — 
 
 " The summer it was smiling, all nature round was gay, 
 When Jenny was attending on auld Robin Gray, 
 For he was sick at heart, and had no friend beside 
 But only me, poor Jenny, who newly was his bride. 
 Jenny ! I shall die, he said, as sure as I have breath, 
 Then see my poor old bones, I pray, laid into the earth." 
 
 Nothing could surpass in beauty the country 
 from Briinn to Vienna, particularly from Nicols- 
 bourg. There was a broad valley skirted to 
 the north and south by picturesque ranges of , 
 low mountains covered with vines. The valley 
 itself was chiefly occupied with corn. The country 
 was populous. At the distance of every two or 
 three miles on the slopes and in this valley, were 
 large wealthy villages, each with a church and 
 spire. The crowds of heavy laden wagons con- 
 tinued all the way to Vienna. Everywhere from 
 Bielitz to Vienna, and on almost every bridge 
 was a statue of one or more of the apostles, or 
 
200 THE FIRST DAYS OF 
 
 some sturdy Roman Catholic priest. Everything 
 gave proof that I was in a Catholic and bigoted 
 country, not excepting the swarms of beggars 
 who are usually found in countries similarly 
 situated. The approach to Vienna from Moravia 
 presented nothing striking. 
 
 22 — 4th Dec. Vienna, Hotel of the Empress 
 of Austria. — This morning I visited the manufac- 
 tory of porcelain. It presented nothing equal to 
 the porcelain made at Paris; indeed it did not 
 appear in a high state of perfection. There were 
 several mirrors exhibited, each of which was valued 
 at 1000 florins en argent. From this I went to 
 the gallery of Prince Lichtenstein, where there 
 were 1 7 pictures by Guido, 1 3 by Salvator Rosa, 
 6 great paintings by Rubens of the Roman consul 
 Decius, and paintings by him altogether amount- 
 ing to 36 ; 34 by Van Dyke, 2 by Raphael, 
 Michael Angelo 2, Rembrandt 7, Titian 4, Andrea 
 del Sarto and Paul Veronese 5. The length of 
 the great saloon was 78 feet, the breadth 66, and 
 the height was represented to be equal to the 
 length. The paintings on the ceiling above the 
 cornices represented the labours of Hercules, 
 those on the ceiling Olympus. These were exe- 
 cuted by Pozzo, an Italian painter, and the saloon 
 itself by Martinelli of Bologna. The propor- 
 tions were beautiful. The staircase was of great 
 
THE EMPEROR NICHOLAS. 201 
 
 breadth, and was formed of marble from the 
 mountains near Saltzbourg. Each step, at least 
 twelve feet or more in length, was composed of a 
 single block of marble. The balustrade, which 
 was also of marble, was massive. 
 
 I then proceeded to the arsenal. Here was 
 collected a great variety of ancient and modern 
 arms. The whole had been arranged by Prince 
 Lichtenstein. The coats of mail worn by all 
 the kings of Austria, Bohemia, and Hungary ; 
 guns, sabres, pistols, trophies taken from the 
 Turks, Swedes, Spaniards, and French. The 
 bonnet of Godfrey of Boulogne, the coat and 
 dress of Prince Eugene, and the chamois coat of 
 Gustavus Adolphus were seen. In one of the 
 halls was the Austrian Eagle, of great size, 
 formed of the blades of sabres ; in another, the 
 arms of Bohemia. Around the courtyard of the 
 building was a vast collection of cannon, mortars,, 
 &c, taken from different nations. On the wall 
 was suspended an iron chain which the Turks 
 placed across the Danube to intercept the naviga- 
 tion, and which was used for the same purpose 
 by Bonaparte without success. The Archduke 
 Charles had heavy barges constructed, which he 
 caused to be floated down the river, and which 
 broke it in pieces. In viewing this assemblage 
 of weapons for the destruction of human beings, 
 
202 THE FIRST DAYS OF 
 
 I could not help thinking of my countrymen 
 Howard and Jenner, and their philanthropic 
 labours. 
 
 In the evening I accompanied Count Woron- 
 zow to dinner at M. Tatischeff's, the Russian 
 Ambassador. There were present Prince Metter- 
 nich, Sir H. Wellesley, and others attached to 
 the Russian, Austrian, and English Courts. I 
 was introduced to Prince Metternich as an Eng- 
 lish physician, and was delighted with his affa- 
 bility and politeness. After dinner he came up 
 to me, and said, " I will obtain for you admission 
 into the Josephine Academy, and I hope you 
 will dine with me to-morrow." I accepted the 
 invitation. During dinner he did not talk much. 
 He stated the fact that many of the words in the 
 different European languages were derived from 
 the Persian, and gave some examples where this 
 was the case in regard to the German. Numbers 
 of people came in after dinner, none of whom I 
 knew.* 
 
 * At Vienna, on my way to St. Petersburg, I left with the 
 porter of the English Embassy a letter of introduction to Lady 
 Georgiana Wellesley, wife of the English Ambassador, for a friend 
 in England. On this occasion I was invited to dinner, but being 
 on the point of setting out for Russia I could not accept of the 
 invitation, and sent a written excuse. On my return from Russia 
 in 1826, through Vienna, two years after, meeting her ladyship 
 at dinner at the Russian Ambassador's, she expressed her as- 
 
THE EMPEROR NICHOLAS. 203 
 
 5th. Friday. — I visited this morning the Impe- 
 rial Library. There were 800 volumes of prints, 
 13,000 volumes of manuscripts. A part of the 
 library had belonged to Prince Eugene. The 
 paintings on the ceilings were the work of Daniel 
 Gran. The sciences and arts were represented, 
 and Mount Olympus on the highest part. This 
 was 92 feet in height, and 246 in length. The 
 plan of the library was given by Fisher of Erlach. 
 In a room adjoining the library were preserved 
 the different manuscripts. Upon a plate of cop- 
 per was an edict published at Rome 186 years 
 before Christ, by which the celebration of the 
 rites of Bacchus were prohibited except in private 
 families. Here also we saw the poem of Tassds 
 Jerusalemme Conquestata in his own handwriting. 
 There was a manuscript about the beginning of 
 the eighth century in the Lombard characters, 
 relating to a grant of land in the neighbour- 
 hood of Ravenna, which was first decyphered by 
 
 tonishment that I was not the Dr. Lee who had accepted her 
 invitation in 1824, and had actually personated me at the Am- 
 bassador's table. Her ladyship thought, on that occasion, that 
 there was some most unaccountable mistake, as the impostor was 
 wholly ignorant of the friend who had given me the letter of 
 introduction to her ladyship. My letter, declining the invita- 
 tion, was left at my hotel, and I have never ceased to believe 
 that this was the work of the police, my passport being signed 
 by Mr. Canning, at that time most obnoxious to the Austrian 
 and Russian courts. 
 
204 THE FIRST DAYS OF 
 
 Mabillon. It was on a piece of papyrus, and was 
 the only MS. existing in this character. 
 
 After the library we visited Prince Ester- 
 hazy' s Gallery ; in which collection were two 
 paintings by Salvator Rosa, two by Titian, a 
 large and very beautiful picture by Rembrandt 
 representing Christ before the judgment seat of 
 Pilate ; several by Cuyp ; a few by Vandyke ; 
 gome by Rubens; and several by Murillo and 
 Velasquez. 
 
 At 5 I went to dine with the Prince Metter- 
 nich. His house adjoining the Palace was richly 
 furnished. There were present the English, 
 French, and Russian Ambassadors, the Count 
 and Countess Woronzow, Lady Georgiana Welles- 
 ley, and a number of other persons of distinction, 
 about twenty in all. The liveries of the servants 
 extremely rich. We were seated around a large 
 circular table ; I was placed on the left hand of 
 Count Caraman, the French Ambassador. His 
 Excellency made numerous enquiries respecting 
 the Crimea and Odessa. He was acquainted, he 
 said, through his intimate friend the Duke de 
 Richelieu, with the corrupt condition of the civil 
 administration of Russia, and expressed strongly 
 his opinion that it was impossible that any improve- 
 ment could take place in it while the Government 
 did not take up the business. He agreed that 
 
THE EMPEROR NICHOLAS. 205 
 
 there was a spirit of a bad nature in the Russian 
 army, a malaise which led every officer to think of 
 conquest and plunder, no matter whether the 
 cause was just or not. Slavery the Count charac- 
 terized in a proper manner, and said the peasants 
 of Russia were endowed with many good quali- 
 ties, but that what was termed the nobility was 
 a corrupted mass. The conspirators he charac- 
 terized as des miserables laches, and as destitute not 
 only of principle, but of the smallest courage. 
 M. de Caraman said that the Duke de Richelieu 
 was affected in the deepest manner when he con- 
 sidered the demoralizing effect of the present 
 system in Russia, and remarked that he had no 
 doubt Count Woronzow would in time become 
 equally disgusted with the corrupt practices which 
 he was compelled to witness, as Governor-General, 
 without being; able to redress them. He agreed 
 that religion had a great influence on the lower 
 classes in Russia in keeping them in subordina- 
 tion, but that the higher classes were completely 
 emancipated from its control, and from the influ- 
 ence in general of common morality. The gentle- 
 man on my left spoke much about the locusts, 
 and of the great prosperity which Odessa would 
 soon enjoy, if it were in fact a free port. The 
 French Ambassador spoke of the Emperor 
 Alexander, and inquired about the circumstances 
 
206 THE FIRST DAYS OF 
 
 accompanying his death. He told me that he 
 was at Verona with His Majesty, and had walked 
 about for hours with him alone in the country 
 around. His Majesty, the Count informed me, 
 was then afflicted with an unaccountable gloom 
 and melancholy, and believed that he was destined 
 to be miserable and unfortunate. He conceived 
 that this feeling, with the horrible attack medi- 
 tated on his life, reduced him to a state of 
 utter despair, and rendered him anxious not to 
 live, and induced him to refuse all help. Sir 
 James Wylie had informed me in the Crimea 
 that so great was the Emperor's dread of assassi- 
 nation by the Carbonari at Verona, that he durst 
 not venture out into the streets until they had 
 been inspected by guards sent out for that pur- 
 pose, and that this dread even prevented his 
 Majesty from going to Rome, which he had a 
 great desire to visit. 
 
 After dinner Prince Metternich showed to the 
 company assembled, the print which had just 
 then appeared in which Napoleon is represented 
 taking leave of his friends, at Fontainbleau. The 
 Prince read the names of the different indivi- 
 duals forming the group around Napoleon, and 
 criticized the whole severely. He said it was 
 a bad specimen of art, and that the portraits did 
 not resemble the individuals meant to be repre- 
 
THE EMPEROR NICHOLAS. 207 
 
 sented. In a few minutes the Prince went out 
 of the drawing-rooms, and brought me the order 
 to see the Josephine Academy, and presented it 
 in the most affable manner. He began to say that 
 the institution had been remodelled and much 
 improved. Count Woronzow directed the con- 
 versation to the subject of plague, and the Prince 
 asked my opinion of its being contagious or not. 
 I answered that I thought there could be no 
 doubt of the fact of its being contagious, and that 
 almost all the most respectable and enlightened 
 physicians of England were of the same opinion. 
 He asked the reason why plague did not exist in 
 Persia. I stated that the Turks were not only 
 fatalists, which the Persians were not, but that 
 the climate of Persia was too hot for the conta- 
 gion to exist, and this led to an account of some 
 diseases, such as typhus, where the contagion is 
 extinguished by heat. The Prince then spoke 
 of the fever that was prevailing at the time 
 in Holland, and asked what it was. I said it was 
 probably the bilious remittent fever, the same as 
 the fever in the Crimea, of which the Emperor 
 Alexander had died, or the Walcheren fever, and 
 not contagious. Respecting cholera and yellow 
 fever the Prince also made some enquiries, and 
 when I stated the evidence cautiously against 
 their being contagious, he seemed pleased. He 
 
208 THE EMPEROR NICHOLAS. 
 
 then recommended me before quitting Vienna, 
 to see the Veterinary College. The Prince then 
 recurred once more to the subject of the plague, 
 and said that a similar dispute had arisen among 
 physicians here as in England, and that he had 
 decided the question, by stating that he was not 
 capable of determining whether it was contagious 
 or not, but that if Austria abolished her quaran- 
 tine laws, she would be put in a state of quaran- 
 tine by all the other countries of Europe, and 
 this led him to decide that no change should 
 take place. In the dining-room when the enter- 
 tainment was nearly over, an organ began to 
 play some beautiful airs. Prince Metternich 
 appeared much thinner in the countenance and 
 person, than he has usually been represented in 
 prints. His manner was calm and dignified, his 
 voice soft and clear. 
 
 On the 7th of December, 1826, I set out for 
 England, and arrived in London on the 6th of 
 January, lb27. 
 
 THE END OF THE DIARY. 
 
209 
 
 Conclusion. 
 
 It does not appear from the reports of those 
 who have visited Russia since the year 1826, 
 that any attempt has been made to improve the 
 wretched condition of the slaves throughout the 
 Russian Empire, nor to correct the abuses which 
 then prevailed in every department of the Go- 
 vernment. Since the suppression of the Bible 
 Society, which was carried into effect while I 
 was in St. Petersburgh, knowledge at every 
 entrance has been excluded from the people. 
 It is said that astronomy has been encouraged 
 at Dorpat, and mineralogy at Moscow by two 
 kisses imprinted upon the cheeks of an eminent 
 English geologist. 
 
 The consumption of human life during the reign 
 of the Emperor Nicholas has been enormous. 
 He has carried on war with the Circassians 
 uninterruptedly for twenty-eight years, at an 
 annual cost of 20,000 lives on the Russian side 
 alone, making a grand total of nearly 600,000 
 Russians who have perished in attempting to 
 subdue the independence of Circassia. 
 
 p 
 
210 CONCLUSION. 
 
 In the two campaigns against Persia, as in the 
 Hungarian campaign and the two Polish cam- 
 paigns of 1831-32, there are not sufficient data 
 to enable me to form a correct estimate of the 
 Russian loss, which was however in the Persian 
 and Polish wars enormous. 
 
 In the two campaigns against Turkey of 
 1828-29, 300,000 fell, of whom, however, 50,000 
 perished by the plague. 
 
 The loss of the Russians, in various ways, since 
 the entry of the Danubian Principalities is under- 
 stated at 30,000. * 
 
 In these calculations it should be borne in mind 
 that no estimate is attempted to be made of the 
 sacrifice of human life on the side of those who 
 fought for their liberties against the aggressions 
 of Russia. If this calculation were attempted, 
 it is probable that the result would prove that 
 neither Julius Caesar, nor Alexander, nor even 
 Tamerlane, has been a greater scourge to the 
 human race than the present Emperor Nicholas. 
 
 Savile How, April 22, 1854. 
 
 
 
 Harrison and Sons, X 
 
 Printed by Harrison and Sons, London Gazette Oftire, St. Martin's Lane. 
 
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