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CHAP. knows our intention," said they; "we will restore the child only to his father, who intrusted him to us.

VIII. 1826.

125. Nicholas advances

rebels.

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Meanwhile Nicholas put himself at the head of the first battalion of the regiment Preobrazinsky, which turned against the out with unheard-of rapidity, and advanced towards the rebels, supported by the third battalion, several companies of the grenadiers of Pauloffsky, and a battalion of the sappers of the guard. On the way he met a column proceeding to the rendezvous of the rebels. Advancing to them with an intrepid air, he called out in a loud voice, "Good morning, my children!"— the usual salutation of patriarchal simplicity of the emperors to their troops. "Hourra, Constantine!" was the answer. Without exhibiting any symptoms of fear, the emperor, pointing with his finger to the other end of the Place, where the insurgents were assembled, said, "You have mistaken your way; your place is there with traitors." Another detachment following them, to which the same salute was addressed, remained silent. Seizing the moment of hesitation, with admirable presence of mind he gave the order, " Wheel to the right-march!" with a loud voice. The instinct of discipline prevailed, and the men turned about and retraced their steps, as if i. 227, 228. they had never deviated from their allegiance to their sovereign.1

1 Schnitzler,

126.

Forces on both sides,

lution of

the chiefs

of the revolt.

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The rebels, however, reinforced by several companies and detachments of some regiments which succesand irreso sively joined them, were by one o'clock in the afternoon above three thousand strong, and incessant cries of Hourra, Constantine!" broke from their ranks. The ground was covered with snow, some of which had recently fallen; but nothing could damp the ardour of the men, who remained in close array, cheering, and evincing the greatest enthusiasm. Loud cries of "Long live the Emperor Constantine!" resounded over the vast Place, and were repeated by the crowd, which, every minute increasing, surrounded the regiments in revolt, until the shouts were heard even in the imperial palace.

VIII.

1826.

Already, however, Count Alexis Orlof had assembled CHAP. several squadrons of his regiment of horse-guards, and taken a position on the Place in front of the mutineers; and the arrival of the emperor, with the battalion of the Preobrazinsky regiment and the other corps from the palace, formed an imposing force, which was soon strengthened by several pieces of artillery, which proved of the greatest service in the conflict that ensued. Of the chiefs of the revolt, few had appeared on the other side. Troubetzkoi was nowhere to be seen; Colonel Boulatoff was in the square, but concealed in the crowd of spectators awaiting the event. Ryleif was at his post, as was Jakoubovitch; but the former, not seeing Troubetzkoi, could not take the command, and lost the precious. minutes in going to seek him. Decision and resolution 1 Schnitzler, were to be found only on the other side, and, as is gener- i. 230, 232. ally the case in civil conflicts, they determined the contest.1

127.

Milara

Deeming the forces assembled sufficient to crush the revolt, the generals who surrounded the emperor besought Death of him to permit them to act; but he long hesitated, from dowitch. feelings of humanity, to shed the blood of his subjects. As a last resource, he permitted General Milaradowitch, the governor of St Petersburg, a noble veteran, well known in the late war, who had by his single influence appeased the mutiny in the guards in the preceding year, to advance towards the insurgents, in hopes that his presence might again produce a similar effect. Milaradowitch, accordingly, rode forward alone, and when within hearing, addressed the men, in a few words, calling on them to obey their lawful sovereign, and return to their duty. He was interrupted by loud cries of "Hourra, Constantine!" and before he had concluded, Prince Obolonsky made a dash at him with a bayonet, which the veteran, with admirable coolness, avoided by wheeling his horse; but at the same instant Kakhofski discharged a pistol at him within a few feet, which wounded i. 232, 233; him mortally, and he fell from his horse." "Could I have ix. 387. believed," said the veteran of the campaign of 1812,

2Schnitzler,

Ann. Hist.

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"that it was from the hand of a Russian I was to receive death?" "Who," said Kakhofski, "Now speaks of submission?" Milaradowitch died the following morning, deeply regretted by all Europe, to whom his glorious career had long been an object of admiration.*

The

The emperor, notwithstanding this melancholy catastrophe, was reluctant to proceed to extremities; and perhaps he entertained a secret dread as to what the troops he commanded might do, if called on to act decisively against the insurgents. A large part of the guards were there ranged in battle array against their sovereign : what a contest might be expected if the signal was given, and the chevalier guards were to be ordered to charge against their levelled bayonets! Meanwhile, however, the forces on the side of Nicholas were hourly increasing. sappers of the guard, the grenadiers of Pauloffsky, the horse-guards, and the brigade of artillery, had successively come up; and the Grand-duke Michael, who acted with the greatest spirit on the occasion, had even succeeded in ranging six companies of his own regiment, the grenadiers of Moscow, the leaders of the revolt, on the side of his brother. Still the emperor was reluctant to give the word; and as a last resource, the Metropolitan Archbishop, an aged prelate, with a large part of the clergy, were brought forward, bearing the cross and the sacred

* "Hear me, good people: I proclaim, in the name of the king, free pardon to all excepting'- -' I give thee fair warning,' said Burley, presenting his piece. 'A free pardon to all but''Then the Lord grant grace to thy soul!' with these words he fired, and Cornet Richard Graham fell from his horse. He had only strength to turn on the ground, and exclaim, My poor mother!' when life forsook him in the effort. 'What have you done?' said one of Balfour's brother officers. My duty,' said Balfour firmly. 'Is it not written, Thou shalt be zealous even to slaying? Let those who dare now speak of truce or pardon.” ”— Old Mortality, chap. viii. How singular that the insurrection of St Petersburg in 1825 should realise, within a few hours, what the bard of Chios had conceived in song and the Scottish novelist in prose, at the distance of twentyfive centuries from each other; and what a proof of the identity of human nature, and the deep insight which those master-minds had obtained into its inmost recesses, that a revolt in the capital of Russia in the nineteenth century should come so near to what, at such a distance of time and place, they had respectively prefigured.

VIII.

1826.

ensign, who called on them to submit. But although CHAP. strongly influenced by religious feelings, the experiment failed on this occasion: the rolling of drums drowned the voice of the Archbishop, and the soldiers turned his grey hairs into derision. Meanwhile the leaders of the revolt, deeming their victory secure, began to hoist their real colours. Cries of "Constantine and the Constitution!" broke from their ranks." What is that?" said the men to each other. "Do you not know," said one, "it is the Schnitzler, empress (Constitoutzia)?" "Not at all,” replied a third: Bremner, "it is the carriage in which the emperor is to drive at his 127. coronation." 1 *

i. 233, 234;

Russia, ii.

ror gains

At length, having exhausted all means of pacification, 129. the emperor ordered the troops to act. The rebels were The empeattacked in front by the horse-guards and chevalier guards, the victory. while the infantry assailed them in flank. But these noble veterans made a vigorous resistance, and for a few minutes the result seemed doubtful. Closely arrayed in column, they faced on every side: a deadly rolling fire issued from the steady mass, and the cavalry in vain strove to find an entrance into their serried ranks. The horsemen were repulsed: Kakhofski with his own hand slew Colonel Strosler, who commanded the grenadiers; and Kuchelbecker had already uplifted his arm to cut down the Grand-duke Michael, when a marine of the guard on his own side averted the blow. Jakoubovitch, charged with despatching the emperor, eagerly sought him out, but, in the melée and amidst the smoke, without effect. The resistance, however, continued several hours, and night was approaching, with the rebels, in unbroken strength, still in possession of their strong position. Then, and not till then, the emperor ordered the cannon, hitherto con

"The leaders of the revolt, however, had different ideas of what they, at all events, understood by the movement. On loading his pistols on the morning of that eventful day, Boulatoff said, 'We shall see whether there are any Brutuses or Riegos in Russia to-day.' Nevertheless, he failed at the decisive moment he was not to be found on the Place of the Senate."-Rapport sur les Erénements, &c., 26 Déc., p. 125; and SCHNITZLER, i. 232, note.

VIII.

CHAP. cealed by the cavalry, to be unmasked. The horsemen withdrew to the sides, and showed the muzzles of the guns 1826. pointed directly into the insurgent square: they were again summoned to surrender, while the pieces were charged with grape, and the gunners waved their lighted matches in the now darkening air. Still the rebels stood firm; and a first fire, intentionally directed above their heads, having produced no effect, they cheered and mocked their adversaries. Then the emperor ordered a pointblank discharge, but the cannoneers refused at first to fire on their comrades, and the Grand-duke Michael, with his own hand, discharged the first gun. Then the rest followed the example, and the grape made frightful gaps in the dense ranks. The insurgents, however, kept their ground, and it was not till the tenth round that they broke and fled. They were vigorously pursued by the horse-guards along the quays and through the cross streets, into which they fled to avoid their bloody sabres. Seven hundred were made prisoners, and several hundred bodies remained on the Place of the Senate, which were hastily i. 237, 239; buried under the snow with which the Neva was overix. 389,390; spread. By six o'clock the rebels were entirely dispersed ; La Russie and the emperor, now firmly seated on his throne, relas I., i. 26. turned to his palace, where the empress fell into his arms, and a solemn Te Deum was chanted in the chapel.1

1Schnitzler,

Ann. Hist.

Golovine,

sous Nicho

130.

the leaders

of the con

Of all the conspirators during this terrible crisis, JakouSeizure of bovitch had alone appeared at the post assigned him. Troubetzkoi, whose firmness had deserted him on this occaspiracy, and sion, sought refuge in the hotel of the Austrian ambassador, conduct of Count Libzeltern, but, on the requisition of the emperor, the privates. he was brought from that asylum into his presence. At

generous

Nicholas to

first he denied all knowledge of the conspiracy; but when his papers were searched, which contained decisive proof not merely of his accession to it, but of his having been its leader, he fell at the emperor's feet, confessed his guilt, and implored his life. "If you have courage enough," said Nicholas, "to endure a life dishonoured and devoted to

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