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Leader (1850-1860), 24th October 1857, Edition 1 of 2, Page 1025

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      imperial apology , which is interesting , not so much on account of any authenticity a 3 a record which can be attributed to it as from its disclosure of the style in which Russian emperors desire the world to suppose that they habitually live , the brethren venerating one another as angels , the princesses all holy tears and piety . No instrument could have been found better fitted than the Baron Korff to undertake the task of preparing , under imperial correction , a statement placing the entire series of incidents in a transcendental light . His work , which is now published simultaneously in Russia , England , France , and Germany ., is an example of courtly composition . The epithets are so rich and sonorous that xre mig ht imagine ourselves studying a Moslem recapitulation of the attributes of the Deity . But this is not all . The volume

      contains a new dispensation of European history . While proving the existence in the mind of Alexander I . of an intention to abdicate , Baron Korff describes that autocrat as * the restorer of legitimate monarchy , and the pacificator of Europe , worn oufc with glory and greatness . ' * The prince who in early youth had dreamed of a private life on the banks of the Rhine had twice crossed that river with the laurel of victory and olive branch of peace , and had avenged the destruction of Moscow by the preservation of Paris . Russia was blazing with the glory of her monarch ; kneeling Europe was proclaiming him her saviour , her earthly providence P It appears indisputable , from a curious letter published by Baron KorlF , that Alexander had professed during his youth an idea of refusing the crown . He gave some remarkable reasons for this desire . After describing the confusion of

      the empire he said that to restore order and prosperity was " absolutely impossible , not only to a man of ordinary capacities like myself , but even to a man of genius . . . . I shall therefore renounce the responsibility and go and live "with my wife , as a simple private gentleman , on the borders of the Rhine . " This plan , he never fulfilled , he died autocrat of Russia . His successor , in the natural course of events , would have been his brother Constantine , who , as Baron Korff seeks elaborately to prove , entertained a positive aversion to the thought of governing . This 3 however , was not enough . ' The never-to-be-forgotten' Nicholas himself is brought forward as a third scion of the dynasty to whom the prospect of an imperial crown was as that of a chasm yawning to engulph him . When the purple was first offered to him itjseenied like a cloud of deepening shadows . It fell out thus , according to the ltoinanoff recital : In the summer of 1819 the Emperor Alexander dined with the Grand Duke Nicholas and his consort . At first

      the conversation , although warmed by a tone of intense affection , ran upon indifferent topics , ' when suddenly the Emperor gave it a most unexpected turn . ' Constantine , he said , after entering into certain , explanations , had refused to succeed him . on the throne . " You are therefore informed beforehand that you are destined at a future period to be invested with the imperial dignity . " The young couple , relates Baron Korff , were struck as witli a thunderbolt by this unexpected communication , which was to them full of terror . Bursting into tears , they were unable to articulate a reply . Alexander , ' with that angelic kindness and delicacy which distinguished him / endeavoured to tranquillize them by remarking that it misht be ten y « ars before the great change took place ; but Nicholas persisted in arguing that he was unfit for the post . From his autograph memorandum , indeed , Baron Korff transcribes : "He felt precisely what a man might feel who , while tranquilly advancing along a level road , amid a lovely landscape , should see suddenly yawning at his feet a frightful precipice , towards which he should he drawn by the fascination of an overpowering force , so that he could neither go forward nor turn back . " He was , he urged , a mere cadet , a brigadier of Guards , a lounger in the ante-chambers , and . how could he dare to assume ' the burden of ruling the most gigantic empire in the world ?' Not once during his long reign , however , did he evince the least inclination of calling in a constitutional body to aid him in sustaining the ' almost insupportable responsibility . ' After this interview the palace revolution was managed with consummate celerity . Constantino , the heir apparent , put away his first wife , and on the same day was promulgated a Manifest , by which was established and legalized the principle that a member of the imperial family who should contract a marriage with a person not possessed of a corresponding dignity , i . e . not belonging to any sovereign or reigning house , cannot communicate to such person the rights which belong to hin ° self . Now , this was done in March , 1820 , when it was notorious that

      Constant ine was about to marry the Polish Princess Lovitzka : the union took place in the following JMjiy , and Nicholas was a step nearer the throne . Was it at the desire of Constantine , Alexander , or Nicholas , that the . Manifest was ordained ? By Baron KorlPs showing , the decree emanated from the : Czar , and most persons accustomed to close historical analysis will see in it nothing less than a detail of the intrigue which was working between him and his younger relative for the exclusion of the rightful , though weakminded and easily terrified , claimant to the imperial inheritance . " When I expect my brother Nicholas , " said Constantino , " 1 always feel as if I were preparing to meet the Emperor himself . " At length , it wjis arranged between the negotiators that the Cesarevitch should formally renounce ° his privilege , and he wrote , accordingly , an official letter to his ' " most gracious sovereign / ( who amended the phraseology himself ); the ' most gracious sovereign' ^ concurred , a rescript was drawn up , legalizing the transfer copies of the document being deposited upon the high altars of St . l ' eters-* TV ' i l | U 1 Cl MosCovv- Meanwhile , as . a sentence in italics assures us , JNicholaa and his wife remained in complete ignorance of what hud taken place . The third son of the Enmuror Faul was always of a secretive disposition . In due course , Alexander I . dying left the throne of all the Russian vacant . Then ensued a dramatic contest between his brothers , Nicholas ucsiring to take the oath of allegiance to Constantine , and Constantino styling JNiohoIas ' moat gracious sovereign . ' The Memoir contains a most cniirttctonatic description of the scene enacted at the capital when news arrived oi the Emperor ' n auddon death : — a i « f } mUcc > tho Empress stood close to tho altur , in the sacriaty , from which led amiIn . i wV ^ ° " " ^ -ehambor . Tlioro tho Grand-Duka also took up his stand , SS ^ r ° ^ T "" £° F Cfl 3 ' 8 ° M valet-dccUamOre , in tho event of a nwfeU-> W arnviug from lagaurog , to giyo him a uignal by tanning at this door . Tho

      mass was just concluded , and the prayer for the Emperor hardly begun , when the signal was given . The Grand-Duke quietly passed out from the sacristy ' , and in the library of what had formerly been the apartments of the King of Prussia he found Count Miloradovitch , by the expression of whose face he instantly guessed the terrible news . " C ' est nni , Monaeigneur , " said the Count ; " courage maintenant , donnez l ' exetnple : " and taking him by the arm , he began to lead him out of the room . On arriving at the passage which existed behind what was formerly the hall of the Chevalier Guards , the Grand-Duke felt himself on the point of fainting : Le sank into a chair and sent for Buhl , body-physician to the Empress , -without whose presence he was afraid to communicate the news , dreading the possibility of its causing her a

      stroke of apoplexy . Ruhl speedily arrived , and then they all three proceeded . The prayers for the recovery of the Emperor were still going on ; but the Empress had not failed to perceive the prolonged absence of her son : she was on her knees , ia the cruellest agonies of suspense . On entering the sacriaty , the Grand-Duke , without speaking , prostrated himself on the ground . From this gesture the heart of the mother guessed the truth , and a terrible stupor seemed to enchain all her faculties ; she could find neither words nor tears . The Grand-Duke passed through the inclosure of the altar in order to stop the service , and brought back with him her confessor Krinitzkii , holding the crucifix'in his hand , and who was in the act of concluding the prayers . It was not till then that the Empress , bowing to the ground before the crucifix , was able to shed the first tear .

      Nicholas was conspicuously eager in proclaiming the necessity of at once swearing allegiance to the Czar Constantine . He himself set the example , and hurried to inform the widowed Empress . " " Nicholas , " she exclaimed , " what have you done ? Do you not know that an act is in existence nominating you as heir-presumptive ? " Says Baron ICorflfJ " The Grand-Duke now heard of it for the first time . " The reply of Nicholas was peculiarly ambiguous . " If there be one , it is unknown to me ; no one knows of it ; but we all know that our master , our legitimate sovereign , successor of the Emperor Alexander , is my brother Constantine ; we have now done our duty , whatever may happen . " How soon , after this speech , did he vent his haughty exclamation , " If I am Emperor only for one hour , I will show invself worthy of being so . "

      We must refer to the Memoir itself for a recapitulation of the incidents which followed . They must be studied successively £ n detail . In general , they are very interesting ; but perhaps the most extraordinary point in the volume is the total suppression of all the circumstances connected with vengeance inflicted by Nicholas , in the first days of his reign , upon the conspirators and military insurgents of the capital , the ' idiots '—to employ imperial language—who dreamed of a Russian constitution . We must find room , however , for one remarkable passage : — Years passed away . At the interviews between his Majesty the Emperor Nicholas Pavlovitcti and the Cesarevitch . Constantine , when the conversation fell upon the

      events which-we have "been relating , the Cesarevitch always exhibited evident reluctance to speak on the subject . In 1829 they were travelling together from Zarnosc to Lucsz . " 1 hope , " said the Emperor , in a moment of familiar confidence , " that now at Iea 3 t you will render justice to my conduct on that occasion , and to the motives under which I acted , and that you will confess that , under the . circumstances in which I was placed , it was impossible for me to act otherwise . " The Cesarevitch . again endeavoured to change the conversation , and at last said that perhaps he would leave behind him a document in which would be developed his mode of looking at the affair arid the reasons of his conduct .

      The document itself , described ' a solemn communication , is a convincing proof that Constantine was a poor-spirited , feeble man , ashamed of his exclusion from ' the throne , helpless to avert it , and resolved upon persuading the world that he had taken the initiative in an act of heroic renunciation rather than that he had been subordinated by the vigorous co-operation of his imperial brothers . The mystery is not dispelled by Uaron Korff ' s Memoirs ; but the Memoir is , nevertheless , one of the most extraordinary publications of modern times .

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      DE QUINCEY'S SKETCHES . / Sketches Critical and Biographical . By Thomas de Quincey . J . Hogg and Sons . In this volume of his republishcd writings Mr . De Quincey gives us two elaborate , and four slight papers . The elaborate papers are on ' Whiggism in its relations to Literature , ' and on * Homer and the llomeridee '—the former occupied mainly with Dr . Parr , if so rambling an essay can truly be said to be occupied Avith anything ; the hitter discussing the question of Homer ' s authenticity . Neither of these papers is at all to our taste . Mr . De Quincey , as all his readers know , labours under the mental affliction of irresistible digression . He cannot keep to the point . He cannot check the quick and hurrying suggestions of his teeming fancy and fertile knowledge . He cannot control liis wandering thoughts and make straight for the goal . If he begin an essay with the express purpose of settling tho claims of some poet , an early sentence will seduce him into a discussion of the age of the Pyramids . He once published an article on Clmrtas Lamb , which iustead of referring to thnt exquisite humorist , was occupied ( that is , as far as it was occupied ) with an account of one of Walter Scott ' s German imitators . A digressive propensity so tyrannous as this renders Mr . De Q . uineey ' 8 writings almost always excellent in proportion to the slightness of the occasion , and inferior in exact proportion to the importance of the occasion . He excels in side glances , suggestions , passages . The digressions arc generally the most valuable part of each essay ; a parenthesis becomes the topic . When the original occasion is slight , or indeterminate , tho reader accepts these digressions as so many extra charms ; but when the occasion is important , or determinate , these digressions irritate him . In the volume before us Mr . De Quincey exhibits all his peculiar excellencies when slightly touching on Shclluy , Keats , Goldsmith , niul Wordsworth ' s poetry ; but in the two long and elaborated essays on l * arr and Homer he is at onco frivolous and fatiguing—he is for ever quitting the straight path to wander into the dullest byways . Neither of these essaya was worthy of rejmblication \ and they will materially retard the success of this volume . In the four slight papers , and they are very slight , on Shelley , Goldsmith , Keats , and Wordsworth , we have Mr . DeQ , iiinc < : y ' . i well-known excellencies and peculiarities , -which make very agreeable reading and Hoinetimes offer some delicate and suggestive criticism . That on Words worth's poetry ia the best . JNot , indeed , that we arc to suppose it pretends to be a , regular

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      No . 396 , October 24 , 1857 . ] .. T H E L E A T > EJR ___ 1025

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Oct. 24, 1857, page 1025, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2215/page/17/