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* The following is Dr. Clarke's account of Taganrog:

"The number of inhabitants does not

He therefore decreed that the the Sea of Azof. He stopped at sittings at the opening and close of Taganrog, a town situate upon the Diet, and those in which the royal sanction of projects of law was declared, should be public as in time past; but that in the elections of committees, and in every discussion and debate in the two Chambers, they should always form themselves into a special committee. This regulation was declared to form an inseparable part of the

charter.

The Diet met at Warsaw on the 13th of May, and was closed on the 13th of June. Alexander was highly satisfied with their diligence and docility. The speech with which he opened, and that with which he terminated their session, show for what purposes they were convened, and how they were engaged [see Public Documents, pp. 93*, 95*].

Alexander, during the present year, spent much of his time in traversing the various provinces of his dominions. Towards the end of Autumn he visited the Crimea. His health had been for some time declining: but, in consequence of his activity in moving from place to place, and partly also by reason of the little communication of the districts, in which he then was, with the rest of Europe, the failure of his constitution was little known, and the reports concerning it did not attract much notice in Europe. On the 10th of November he quitted the port of Sebastopol, after having minutely inspected it, and every thing connected with the fleet in the Black Sea. On his way to Bachtchiserai, he found himself slightly affected with a pain in his head, which he attributed to having caught cold. On his return, nevertheless, he made a party on horseback to travel along the shore of

exceed 5,000. The water, as in the Don, is very unwholesome when the winds carry off the salt water; but when a current sets in from the sea, it is more salutary. The foundation of a town, intended for the metropolis of the empire, in a place liable to insuperable disadvan

tages, was not one of the wisest plans of
Peter the Great. The water here is so
shallow, that no haven could possibly
have been constructed, unless by form-
ing canals at an expense beyond all cal-
culation. The ships now performing
quarantine lie off at the distance of ten
miles; and all vessels drawing from
eight to ten feet water cannot approach
nearer to the town than fifteen versts.
Taganrog formerly contained 70,000 in-
habitants; but, in consequence of a ca-
pitulation made with the Turks, the
original city was entirely rased. Its
revival may be referred to the establish-
tahivan. At present all the best houses
ment of the Armenian colony at Nakh-

are in its suburbs. The citadel contains
a miserable village, full of ruins, exhi-
biting, at the same time, traces of con-
siderable works now abandoned. The
inhabitants entertain hopes that the
emperor will visit and inspect the place,
and that it will then become a town of
the first importance in the empire.
There is not any situation in the south
of Russia more favourable for commerce,
were it not for the want of water. Ships
from the Black Sea find here, in readi-
ness for embarkation, all the produce of
Siberia, with the caviare, and other
commodities of Astracan; whereas at
for lading after their arrival. But it is
Cherson and Odessa they have to wait
only during three months in the year
that commerce can be carried on at
Taganrog. In winter the sea is frozen,
so that the sledges pass upon the ice to
Azof. During the short season of their
commerce, the rent of a single ware-
house upon the shore is estimated at 400
roubles. As soon as the first ships make
their appearance from the Black Sea,
the waggons from the interior begin to
arrive. The vessels undergo a quaran-
tine, during all which time the caravans
continue to increase; and before the end

his pillow. After he breathed his last, she washed the countenance and the hands, of him whom she had loved so well: she closed his eyes, crossed his hands on his bosom; and then fainted.*

the cliff of a very lofty.proinontory, of his illness. She seldom quitted commanding an extensive prospect of that Sea, and of all the European coast, to the mouths of the Don. On his arrival there, he felt himself too unwell to proceed, and he wrote to the empress mother that he was indisposed, but that he had nothing to fear from his illness, and would take care of himself. His wife, the empress Elizabeth, was along with him. He had feverish symptoms, and was affected in the leg by a species of erysipelas.

Suddenly, the erysipelas in a great measure disappeared, and the fever all at once assumed a dangerous character. The emperor then exclaimed, "I shall share the fate of my sister, who died of an erysipelas driven in." The doctors, however, were of opinion, that this symptom was but subordinate, and that the disease of the emperor was a gastric bilious fever, of the same character as that which often ravages those countries. On the 18th, he appeared to be somewhat better, but soon relapsed. He became delirious on the 27th ; and though the medical means which were used, produced a marked improvement on the 28th and 29th, the change was but of short duration, and death rapidly approached. He expired on the 1st of December. His last moments were quite serene.

Some hours before dying, he caused the blinds of his window to be opened, and exclaimed, while he looked on the cloudless sky of the Crimea, "What a lovely day!"

The empress Elizabeth had been with her husband during the whole

of the quarantine, not less than 6,000 waggons occupy all the plains below the town. Of this number, 3,000 arrive annually from the Ukraine."

Thus died in the 48th year of his age, a sovereign, who must ever rank, both for private and public virtues, among the best of princes. Endowed with many ac

*The two following letters were written by the empress Elizabeth to the empress mother; the one during the emperor's illness, the other after his death.

"Taganrog, Nov. 18 (N. S.), 1825. "Dear Mother, I was not in a state to write to you by the courier of yesterday. To-day, a thousand and a thousand thanks to the Supreme Being, there is decidedly a very great improvement in the health of the emperor of that angel of benevolence in the midst of his sufferings. For whom should God manifest his infinite merey if not for him? Oh! my God, what moments of affliction have Ì passed; and you, dear mother, I can picture to myself your uneasiness. You receive the bulletins. You have, therefore, seen to what a state we were yesterday reduced, and still more last night; but Wylie (an English physician) to-day, says himself, that the state of our dear patient is satisfactory. He is exceedingly weak. Dear mother, I confess to you that I am not myself, and that I can say no more. Pray with us with fifty millions of men, of our well-beloved patient. that God may deign to complete the cure

"ELIZABETH."

"November 19, (0. S.)

"Our angel is gone to heaven, and Ilinger still on earth. Who would have thought that I, in my weak state of health, could ever have survived him? Do not you abandon me, mother, for I am absolutely alone in this world of care.

"Our dear deceased has resumed his

air of benevolence; his smile proves to me that he is happy, and that he gazes on brighter objects than exist here below. My only consolation under this irreparable loss is, that I shall not survive him; I hope to be soon re-united to him,

"ELIZABETII.”

complishments which would have distinguished an individual in common life, and blessed with great equanimity of temper, he was beloved in social intercourse. To his mother he was a most obedient and affectionate son; and though the loose morality of the Russian court seduced him into some connections not quite consistent with his conjugal duties, the empress possessed much of his confidence, and was always treated with kindness and respect. In his attention to business he was indefatigable: he was honestly and assiduously zealous for the improvement of his people; though often placed in the most trying situations, he always conducted himself with prudence, firmness, and moderation. He was intrusted with power more vast in its extent, and more uncontrolled in its nature, than has fallen to the lot of any other man in modern times: and yet there never was any one, by whom power was less abused.

The news of the death of Alexander produced a general inquietude throughout Europe; for it was an event which put in hazard the internal tranquillity of his vast empire, and might altogether change the course of its foreign policy. This inquietude was at first increased by some absurd rumours, which imputed his death to violent means, and by the opinions which were entertained concerning the character of his expected successor, Constantine.

In Russia itself, the death of an emperor, at once so loved and so revered, was followed by great anxiety.

It was not till the 7th of December, that reports of Alexander's indisposition began to be spread abroad in St. Petersburg. On the 9th, notice was given,

that prayers for his recovery would be put up in all the churches. In the church of the convent of Alexander Nevsky, the principal nobility, ministers, generals, officers of the guards, and a great crowd of people, assembled. Suddenly, before divine service was ended, major - general Niedhart, chief of the staff of the Guards, entered the church; and going up to general Wanow, commander of the guards, communicated to him the sad event. It was immediately made known to all present: and the church was filled with lamentation. This intelligence had been sent from the palace, where, at the very moment when prayers were in the act of being offered up in the church in presence of the imperial family, an express had arrived from Taganrog. The governor-general had communicated the fatal news to the grand duke Nicholas. He, having announced it to the empress mother, called together the guard of the palace, and took before them the oath of allegiance to the emperor Constantine the 1st. The guard took the same oath immediately afterwards; all the commanders of corps, together with the general staff, likewise took the oath and signed it, and then proceeded to receive the oath of the troops of the garrison. All this time Constantine was at Warsaw.

It had been long believed that Constantine, at or shortly after the time of his marriage with a Polish lady, named Grudzinsky, of no very elevated rank, had renounced his right of succession to the imperial dignity. The senate now announced to Nicholas, that the late emperor had deposited with them, in October 1823, a sealed packet, which they were directed,

by the superscription, to open in case of his death, before they proceeded to any other act. This command they had obeyed; and they had found that the packet contained a letter of Constantine, dated the 14th of January, 1822, renouncing the succession, and a manifesto of Alexander, dated the 16th of August, 1823, ratifying Constantine's deed of renunciation, and declaring Nicholas heir to the crown. It further appeared, that documents of the same tenor had been deposited with the directing senate, with the holy synod, and in the cathedral church of the Ascension at Moscow. Nicholas, however, refused to act upon these instruments: and the directing senate, after having taken in general assembly the oath of fidelity to Constantine, issued orders that the event should immediately be made known every where by printed ukases; that there should be sent to all the authorities, military and civil, the form of the oath which they were to take, as faithful subjects of his imperial majesty; that they should forthwith cause the oath to be administered to all the male subjects of his majesty, with the exception of the peasants of the Crown, and of the seignorial domains, and the serfs; and that they should send to the senate the proces verbaux of this taking of the oath, with the signatures of the individuals appended, by whom it had been taken.

In the mean time, the news of Alexander's decease had reached Warsaw on the 7th of December, two days before the event was made known in St. Petersburgh. Constantine, however, continued to live as a private individual; and, far from assuming any of the titles or emblems of royalty, despatched,

on the following day, his brother, the grand duke Michael, to the capital with two letters, addressed the one to the empress mother, the other to Nicholas, in both of which he adhered to his abdication, and refused to mount the throne. After he received formal intelligence that the oath of fidelity had been taken to him, he still persisted solemnly in his purpose; and refused to accept the official documents, which were transmitted to him as emperor. * Nicholas then

*The following is a letter from Constantine to the minister of justice, prince Lobanow Rostowsky.

section of the procurators-general of the "The counsellor of the college of the directing senate has remitted to me a despatch for your highness with this address-To his Imperial Majesty Constantine Paulowitsch,' a very submissive report of the minister of justice.'

"As I do not think myself entitled to accept it, because, according to this direction, it is not sent to me, I send it back to your highness by the same officer. By my letter of the 3rd (15th) of December to his excellency the president of the senate, the privy counsellor of the first class, prince Labouchin, your royal highness must have been exactly informed of the reasons which do not permit me to accept the imperial dignity. I have, in consequence, only to repeat to you in a few words, that, according to the oath taken by all the subjects on the accession of his majesty the emperor Alexander, of glorious memory, in which, among other things, it is expressly said that every subject is faithfully to serve and to obey in all things, not only his majesty the emperor Alexander Faulowitsch, but also

the successor to the throne of his imperial majesty who should be designated; and as it appears from the documents opened in the council of state, which are entirely conformable to those deposited with the directing senate, that by the supreme will of his late majesty, the graud duke Nicholas has been designated senate, as conservator of the will of his as successor to the throne, the directing late majesty the emperor Alexander Paulowitsch, of glorious memory, ought to

consented to mount the throne; and by a manifesto, dated the 24th of December, announced his own accession, and communicated to the empire the instruments under which his right to the throne arose. These were, the letter from Constantine to the late emperor, expressive of his desire to abdicate the right of succession, stating that he "does not lay claim to the spirit, the abilities, or the strength, which would be required to exercise the high dignity" attaching eventually to his right of primogeniture, and declaring himself satisfied with private life-Alexander's answer, accepting the renunciation manifesto by Alexander, in conformity to the preceding arrangement, settling the crown on Nicholas and the letters dated the 26th of November, (o. s.) from Constantine to Nicholas and the empress mother, referring to his former abdication, and confirming it. At the same time, the new emperor transmitted to Constantine a rescript announcing his accession; to which that prince immediately returned an answer, displaying the affection of a brother and the duty of a subject.

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Though the manifesto was dated on the 24th of December, it was not till the 25th of December, that Nicholas read, in the senate, the formal renunciation of the crown by his brother, and declared that he accepted the throne. He was immediatly proclaimed emperor of Russia. On the 26th, the manifesto of Nicholas the First was published: and on the morning of that day, all the regiments of the guards were to take the oath of alaccession to the ancient throne of our beloved Russia. The supreme law of Russia, the sacred law, which the stability of the existing order of things renders a blessing of heaven, is the will of the sovereign whom Providence gives us.

By executing this will, your imperial majesty has executed that of the King of kings, who so evidently inspires the monarchs of the earth in affairs of such high importance.

The decrees of God are accomplished. If I have in any thing co-operated in their accomplishment, I have only done my duty; the duty of a faithful subject, of a devoted brother, in short, of a Russian, who is proud of the happiness of obeying God and his sovereign.

The Almighty, who protects the destinies of Russia and the majesty of the throne, who lavishes his benediction on the people whom he finds faithful to his laws-the Almighty, in his mercy, will be your guide, Sire, and will guide you by his light.

If my most ardent efforts can contribute to lighten the burden which God has imposed on you, I hasten to lay at the foot of your throne the homage of my unlimited devotedness, of my fidelity, of my submission, and of my zeal in executing the will of your imperial majesty.

I implore the Most High, that his holy and inscrutable providence may watch over the precious health of your majesty,

that he may prolong your days, and that your glory, Sire, the glory of your crown, may be transmitted from generation to generation.

CONSTANTINE.

I am, Sire, your imperial majesty's most faithful subject. (Signed) Warsaw, Dec. 20, 1825, (Jan. 1, 1826.) [M]

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