proceed upon vague and tyrannical maxims concerning the motives and tendency of acts. On the contrary, the government manifested a strong determination to avoid the conjuring up of imaginary plots and dangers, and to deal only with what was substantial and certain, and a humane anxiety to lessen rather than to exaggerate, the number of the guilty; to separate their varying degrees of criminality from each other, and point out every circumstance of moral palliation, the irresolution of the leaders themselves, the weakness of their dupes, even their subsequent répentance and remorse. The report was the candid charge of a judge, not the partial statement of a public accuser. Hence, too, the government was able to give the utmost publicity not merely to the general results of the inquiry, for whose truth and justice their own assertion was to be the only guarantee, but all its details and evidence, from which every man could pass judgment for himself upon the government and its opponents. Nicholas acted as if he wished to convince, not to revenge: and his proceedings thus gained the confidence of the nation, the most essential of all results to the useful prosecution of political crimes. How different was this deliberate and discriminating inquiry, from the despotic and sanguinary measures, the precipitate punishments, the general proscriptions, the unrelenting love of penal vengeance, by which Ferdinand of Spain was making his kingdom recede from the comforts and securities of social life? The very publicity which the Russian government gave to the inquiry, the discrimination with which it apportioned punishment among the criminals, and the

lenity with which the emperor interfered to soften down the rigour of the law, proved that they were confident in the hold which they had upon such public opinion as existed. Nicholas found himself sufficiently secure to be able to be merciful; Ferdinand felt his power to be so feeble and tottering, that he could not even afford to be just.

The interests of so many families of rank and respectability were involved in the result of this inquiry, that St. Petersburg, during its continuance, wore no air of gaiety. The Emperor had denied himself every kind of diversion, and public shew even the birth-day of the empress had not been observed with the customary ceremonies, and the coronation of their majesties had been postponed. But justice and mercy having equally done their duty, the coronation took place at Moscow, on the 3rd of September, with all the pomp which the rites of the Greek church could bestow, and amid all the magnificence which the congregated representatives of all the crowned heads of Europe could display. The most striking occurrence was the unexpected presence of the grand-duke Constantine, who gave a very satisfactory confirmation or the good faith with which he acquiesced in his exclusion from the throne, by repairing voluntarily to Moscow, and bearing a principal share in the ceremony of placing upon the head of his younger brother, the imperial crown, which, by right of birth, ought to have glittered on his own brow. Animperial manifesto immediately followed, by which, in the event of the emperor's death, leaving a minor son, the grand duke Michael was declared regent till the majority of the heir; or if the empress should be left

a few cases into hard labour for twenty years with a similar degradation, and exile for life to Siberia, after these twenty-years shouldhave expired. Pestel and his accomplices were executed on the 26th of July; and, on the same day, in front of their gibbet, the ceremony of degradation was performed on the prisoners of whose sentence that punishment formed a part, except the naval officers, who were sent to Cronstadt, to be degraded on board a man of war. The fate of the officers condemned for life to labour in the mines, or drag out existence in Siberia, was scarcely to be envied in comparison with the lot of those who suffered on the scaffold. Any man may nerve himself to meet the mere extinction of life, and every man does it at last, whether he meet it on his couch, or on the scaffold; but protracted death, the lingering torture of hopeless banishment, the privation of all that can render life itself acceptable, permission to breathe, when every moment brings with it the wish to die, is an accumulation of misery at which the heart sickens. Yet this was the destiny to which many staff and superior officers of Russia were doomed, had not the well-judged policy of the emperor intervened. After a careful inquiry into the extent to which they had approved, or actively forwarded, the treasonable views of the conspirators with whom they were involved, he ordered them to be discharged from any sentence pro nounced by criminal courts, and to be liable only to correctional punishments. The same merciful disposition, not more humane than wise, was manifested in the punishment of the conspirators implicated in the insurrection excited by Muravier at Kiev. Baron

Soloviev, and two lieutenants, being condemned to death, their sentence was commuted into hard labour; one officer was sent to Siberia, and four were degraded to serve as common soldiers in distant garrisons. As those of Muraviev's band, who had fallen in the conflict with the troops who dispersed them, were beyond the reach of the executioner, gibbets, with their names, were ordered to be placed upon their graves instead of crosses. Of the officers not engaged in the conspiracy, prince Meschtchaki, and several others, were punished with imprisonment on account of their cowardice.

The

The whole progress of this judicial inquiry, as well as its termination, was most honourable to the character of the Russian government, and the new emperor. It was begun in no passionate or vindictive humour; it was prosecuted steadily and calmly, without those tedious delays which in some countries prevent the infliction of punishment till the impression made on the public mind by the guilt of the accused has been almost effaced by lapse of time. sources of evidence, too, on which the commission seems to have relied, were trust-worthy. An allegation of political crime, under a despotic government, generally supplies the place of proof; fear and suspicion serve the purposes of conviction: but here there was displayed no disposition to condemn at random; no inclination to exaggerate imputed guilt, no attempt to force an improbable meaning upon actions and words, to combine artificially circumstances which had no connexion with each other, and, in the absence of that precision and particularity, without which there can be no evidence, to

proceed upon vague and tyrannical maxims concerning the motives and tendency of acts. On the contrary, the government manifested a strong determination to avoid the conjuring up of imaginary plots and dangers, and to deal only with what was substantial and certain, and a humane anxiety to lessen rather than to exaggerate, the number of the guilty; to separate their varying degrees of criminality from each other, and point out every circumstance of moral palliation, the irresolution of the leaders themselves, the weakness of their dupes, even their subsequent répentance and remorse. The report was the candid charge of a judge, not the partial statement of a pub lic accuser. Hence, too, the government was able to give the utmost publicity not merely to the general results of the inquiry, for whose truth and justice their own assertion was to be the only guarantee, but all its details and evidence, from which every man could pass judgment for himself upon the government and its opponents. Nicholas acted as if he wished to convince, not to revenge: and his proceedings thus gained the confidence of the nation, the most essential of all results to the useful prosecution of political crimes. How different was this deliberate and discriminating inquiry, from the despotic and sanguinary measures, the precipitate punishments, the general proscriptions, the unrelenting love of penal vengeance, by which Ferdinand of Spain was making his kingdom recede from the comforts and securities of social life?

The very publicity which the Russian government gave to the inquiry, the discrimination with which it apportioned punishment among the criminals, and the

lenity with which the emperor interfered to soften down the rigour of the law, proved that they were confident in the hold which they had upon such public opinion as existed. Nicholas found himself sufficiently secure to be able to be merciful; Ferdinand felt his power to be so feeble and tottering, that he could not even afford to be just.

The interests of so many families of rank and respectability were involved in the result of this inquiry, that St. Petersburg, during its continuance, wore no air of gaiety. The Emperor had denied himself every kind of diversion, and public shew: even the birth-day of the empress had not been observed with the customary ceremonies, and the coronation of their majesties had been postponed. But justice and mercy having equally done their duty, the coronation took place at Moscow, on the 3rd of September, with all the pomp which the rites of the Greek church could bestow, and amid all the magnificence which the congregated representatives of all the crowned heads of Europe could display. The most striking occurrence was the unexpected presence of the grand-duke Constantine, who gave a very satisfactory confirmation of the good faith with which he acquiesced in his exclusion from the throne, by repairing voluntarily to Moscow, and bearing a principal share in the ceremony of placing upon the head of his younger brother, the imperial crown, which, by right of birth, ought to have glittered on his own brow. Animperial manifesto immediately followed, by which, in the event of the emperor's death, leaving a minor son, the grandduke Michael was declared regent till the majority of the heir; or if the empress should be left

a few cases into hard labour for twenty years with a similar degradation, and exile for life to Siberia, after these twenty-years shouldhave expired. Pestel and his accomplices were executed on the 26th of July; and, on the same day, in front of their gibbet, the ceremony of degradation was performed on the prisoners of whose sentence that punishment formed a part, except the naval officers, who were sent to Cronstadt, to be degraded on board a man of war. The fate of the officers condemned for life to labour in the mines, or drag out existence in Siberia, was scarcely to be envied in comparison with the lot of those who suffered on the scaffold. Any man may nerve himself to meet the mere extinction of life, and every man does it at last, whether he meet it on his couch, or on the scaffold; but protracted death, the lingering torture of hopeless banishment, the privation of all that can render life itself acceptable, permission to breathe, when every moment brings with it the wish to die, is an accumulation of misery at which the heart sickens. Yet this was the destiny to which many staff and superior officers of Russia were doomed, had not the well-judged policy of the emperor intervened. After a careful inquiry into the extent to which they had approved, or actively forwarded, the treasonable views of the conspirators with whom they were involved, he ordered them to be discharged from any sentence pronounced by criminal courts, and to be liable only to correctional punishments. The same merciful disposition, not more humane than wise, was manifested in the punishment of the conspirators implicated in the insurrection excited by Muravier at Kiev. Baron

Soloviev, and two lieutenants, being condemned to death, their sentence was commuted into hard labour; one officer was sent to Siberia, and four were degraded to serve as common soldiers in distant garrisons. As those of Muraviev's band, who had fallen in the conflict with the troops who dispersed them, were beyond the reach of the executioner, gibbets, with their names, were ordered to be placed upon their graves instead of crosses. Of the officers not engaged in the conspiracy, prince Meschtchaki, and several others, were punished with imprisonment on account of their cowardice.

The whole progress of this judicial inquiry, as well as its termination, was most honourable to the character of the Russian government, and the new emperor. It was begun in no passionate or vindictive humour; it was prosecuted steadily and calmly, without those tedious delays which in some countries prevent the infliction of punishment till the impression made on the public mind by the guilt of the accused has been almost effaced by lapse of time. The sources of evidence, too, on which the commission seems to have relied, were trust-worthy. An allegation of political crime, under a despotic government, generally supplies the place of proof; fear and suspicion serve the purposes of conviction: but here there was displayed no disposition to condemn at random; no inclination to exaggerate imputed guilt, no attempt to force an improbable meaning upon actions and words, to combine artificially circumstances which had no connexion with each other, and, in the absence of that precision and particularity, without which there can be no evidence, to

proceed upon vague and tyrannical maxims concerning the motives and tendency of acts. On the contrary, the government manifested a strong determination to avoid the conjuring up of imaginary plots and dangers, and to deal only with what was substantial and certain, and a humane anxiety to lessen rather than to exaggerate, the number of the guilty; to separate their varying degrees of criminality from each other, and point out every circumstance of moral palliation, the irresolution of the leaders themselves, the weakness of their dupes, even their subsequent répentance and remorse. The report was the candid charge of a judge, not the partial statement of a pub lic accuser. Hence, too, the government was able to give the utmost publicity not merely to the general results of the inquiry, for whose truth and justice their own assertion was to be the only guarantee, but all its details and evidence, from which every man could pass judgment for himself upon the government and its opponents. Nicholas acted as if he wished to convince, not to revenge: and his proceedings thus gained the confidence of the nation, the most essential of all results to the useful prosecution of political crimes. How different was this deliberate and discriminating inquiry, from the despotic and sanguinary measures, the precipitate punishments, the general proscriptions, the unrelenting love of penal vengeance, by which Ferdinand of Spain was making his kingdom recede from the comforts and securities of social life?

The very publicity which the Russian government gave to the inquiry, the discrimination with which it apportioned punish ment among the criminals, and the

lenity with which the emperor interfered to soften down the rigour of the law, proved that they were confident in the hold which they had upon such public opinion as existed. Nicholas found himself sufficiently secure to be able to be merciful; Ferdinand felt his power to be so feeble and tottering, that he could not even afford to be just.

The interests of so many families of rank and respectability were involved in the result of this inquiry, that St. Petersburg, during its continuance, wore no air of gaiety. The Emperor had denied himself every kind of diversion, and public shew: even the birth-day of the empress had not been observed with the customary ceremonies, and the coronation of their majesties had been postponed. But justice and mercy having equally done their duty, the coronation took place at Moscow, on the 3rd of September, with all the pomp which the rites of the Greek church could bestow, and amid all the magnificence which the congregated representatives of all the crowned heads of Europe could display. The most striking occurrence was the unexpected presence of the grand-duke Constantine, who gave a very satisfactory confirmation or the good faith with which he acquiesced in his exclusion from the throne, by repairing voluntarily to Moscow, and bearing a principal share in the ceremony of placing upon the head of his younger brother, the imperial crown, which, by right of birth, ought to have glittered on his own brow. Animperial manifesto immediately followed, by which, in the event of the emperor's death, leaving a minor son, the grand duke Michael was declared regent till the majority of the heir; or if the empress should be left