Czar, and cites various anecdotes in support of his views especially as to his treatment of literary men:—

"Lermontoff, another eminent Russian poet, died, and Nicholas exclaimed-'He lived like a dog, and he has died like one!' Ryleïecff was a distinguished lyric poet. Nicholas hanged him! That is his way of treating Russian talent. Polejaïeff was another young poet of Liberal tendencies. Nicholas called him to him, and embraced him. Everybody believed that he meant to take him in favour. He made him a soldier, and when the poet died, a friend, wishing to find his body, was told to go and look among the boxes which are used as coffins for the common soldiers! Sakoloffsky wrote some spirited verses against the Czar. His judges asked him whether he had not hurled his fiercest invectives against God? 'Yes,' replied the poet, 'knowing that God is more merciful than the Czar.' He was thrown into a dungeon, which he never quitted, save as a corpse. Even at this very moment Nicholas is wreaking his vengeance on Bakunin, whom he is pledged to Austria to keep immured in prison. Disgust prevents our continuing the sad list of victims, and we will, therefore conclude by mentioning a single fact, to show his mode of treating female poets. Madame Rastoptchin wrote some verses entitled, "The Husband and the Wife.' The husband is Russia, and the wife is Poland, and the poet shows, that if they do not love one another, it is for want of a proper understanding. Madame Rastoptchin was exiled to Moscow; the Court goes there, and, at the end of a few months, the Empress meets the exile at Madame Nesselrode's, and invites her

to a ball at the palace. As soon as Nicholas sees her, he orders her to quit the palace!"

The one overwhelming feature of the Czar's character is ambition. To be a great Russian Emperor, and to make Russia the chief empire in the world, seems to have been his aim from the moment he mounted the throne, even if it was not the dream of his life from a still earlier period. The partition of Poland with others, his amenities to Austria, the assistance he rendered that state during the civil war in Hungary, were all so many present self-denials to smooth the way for the future conquest of the land on which he had set his heart,-Turkey. For long years, as witnessed by the diplomatic correspondence lately published, has he determined on possessing himself of the keys of the Empire of the East, which, he thinks, and probably truly, added to his mighty Northern possessions, would give him supreme dominion throughout the world. Very crafty, deep-laid, and sagacious have been his plans; but the British feeling of protecting the weak, and the far-sighted policy of the Emperor of the French, have unexpectedly come in his way.

But the errors of Nicholas are to a certain degree the hereditary appanage of the sovereigns of Russia,

and a part indeed of the system of autocracy, as will be shown from the following extracts from the catechism taught in the Russian schools, where absolute devotion is required to the Czar as "the Vicegerent and Minister of God to execute the divine commands":

"Q. How is the authority of the Emperor to be considered in reference to the spirit of Christianity?

"A. As proceeding immediately from God.

"Q. What duties does religion teach us, the humble subjects of his Majesty the Emperor of Russia, to practise towards him?

"A. Worship, obedience, fidelity, the payment of taxes, service, love, and prayer, the whole being comprised in the words worship and service.

"Q. Wherein does this worship consist, and how should it be manifested?

"A. By the most unqualified reverence in words, gestures, demeanour, thoughts, and actions.

"Q. What kind of obedience do we owe him?

"A. An entire passive and unbounded obedience in every point of view.

"Q. How are irreverence and infidelity to the Emperor to be considered in reference to God?

"A. As the most heinous sin, and the most frightful criminality."-Morell's Secret Documents.

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CHAP. II.

THE FAMILY OF THE CZAR.

IF the Marquis de Custine and other travellers in Russia can say little in favour of the Czar himself, yet all unite in describing the elegance, beauty, and goodness of heart of the Czarina. Though it is fifteen years since the Marquis de Custine described her as thoroughly worn out, she is still alive. And thanks to a winter spent in Italy, in 1847, when Nicholas wished to gain a similar influence over the Pope to that which he is reported to have gained over most others with whom he comes in contact, she appears infinitely stronger than at the time when the following description of her was penned.

"The shocking thinness of the Empress, her air of languor, the diminished lustre of her eye, rendered these presages the more ominous. Her life, like a disease, may be said to be mortal; fêtes and balls every evening! There is no choice here, but that of dying of amusement or of ennui.

"For the Empress, as well as the zealous courtiers, the

spectacle of parades and reviews commences early in the morning. These are always followed by receptions; the Empress then retires for a quarter of an hour, after which she rides out in her carriage for two hours. She next takes a bath before again going out on horseback. Returned a second time, she has some more visitors to receive this over, she proceeds to inspect certain useful institutions, superintended by herself, or by some of those honoured with her intimacy. From thence she follows the Emperor to the Camp, there being always one some where near. They return to dance; and thus her days her years, and her life are consumed."-Custine.

The Czarina was, as we have before stated, a Prussian Princess. In person she is extremely engaging, and in her manners still more so. The late Marquis of Londonderry, in his "Tour in the North of Europe," says of her,

"The indescribable majesty of deportment and fascinating grace that mark this illustrious personage, are very peculiar. Celebrated as are all the females connected with the lamented and beautiful Queen of Prussia, there are none of them more bewitching in manner than the Empress of Russia; nor is there existing, according to all reports, so excellent and perfect a being."

She is devotedly attached to her husband and family, and her long illness even is said to have been greatly occasioned by the mental anxiety she underwent at the period of the Czar's accession to the