6 Feelingsat St.Piicrsburgh onihe Death of the Due D'Enghieti. [Feb. 1, 



outrages of Bona])arte were severely 



censured ; he was drawn, flushed with 



crimes, and in the waritnuness of 



spreading desolalioii and 



and demanded an iiiidience. This was 

 inscantly granted ; and the minister 

 proceeded to laj before their majesties 

 all the circiimstliiiees of a proceeding, 

 which, with every political philan- 

 thropist, has sonietiiing in it monstrous 

 or disgusting. The eniperor, eagerly 

 seizing the letters, was so struck ^yith 

 an action so completely Catalinarian, 

 that he tore them to pieces, execrating 

 Bonaparte as an implacable foe, glut- 

 ted with injustice and cruelty, and 

 calling (or vengeance and ignominy to 

 be heaped tenfold on his head. Driven, 

 as it were, to madness, the empress- 

 mother and prince had much ado to 

 calm his perturbed spirit, to confine 

 his hatred, relleetions, and antipathy, 

 within the bounds of moderation. 



While the emperor was expressing 

 his hatred, so cordially, that he might 

 seem to be repelling some personal in- 

 jury, the (Jrand Duke Constantine 

 arrived. The emperor put into his 

 hand the dispatches, which so clearly 

 detailed the particulars, that it was 

 needless to add any thing on the topic. 

 The grand duke, alter perusing tlie 

 letters, and collecting the substance of 

 them, said, with great carelessness, 

 that he could easily admit the fact, so 

 positively stated, from its probabilities. 

 In this case, he observed a conformity 

 between the person and the transac- 

 tion, for he had always had good rea- 

 son to believe, (founded on common 

 authority, and the received histories of 

 his life,) that Napoleon's real character 

 was that of one destitute of integrity, 

 benevolence, and a sense of religion ; 

 that of an armed savage in a state of 

 intoxication and madness. 



After this, every arrangement was 

 taken in the Russian capital and pro- 

 vinces, to commence a sort of indirect 

 hostilities against the criminal and 

 sanguinary character of the French 

 emperor. To testify his abhorrence of 

 the crime, and that it might serve the 

 longer as a sort of beacon to the whole 

 nation, and leave an imp cssion for the 

 recollection to dwell upon, a grand 

 court-mourning, with funeral obse- 

 quies, and dirges in all the churches, 

 was ordered. A very spirited Ode, 

 also, was printed on vellum, in folio, 

 wherein the life and death of the un- 

 fortunate prince, tlie innocent victim of 

 Napoleon's cruelty, were brought 

 together, as a leading subject for the 

 whole empire, seriously, to contem- 

 plate and cherish. In that Ode, the 

 2 



power, 



anarchy over every land : in brief, as 

 " a vile assassin, a tyrant, a monster." 

 The Russian public pronounced its 

 verdict in favour of the general ten- 

 dency of the Ode. Copies of it, which, 

 at St. Petersburgh, oidy cost five co- 

 paques, in lieu of a rouble, were soon 

 so multiplied, that ten thousand were 

 sold in a few hours. The Russians, as 

 a nation, were sufficiently enlightened 

 to shudder at the excesses and abhor 

 the crimes of Bonaparte, notwithstand- 

 ing the triumphs with which he had 

 dazzled the world. 



The Marquis d'Hedouville, then am- 

 bassador from the French government 

 at the court of St. Petersburgh, had 

 gained the cordial approbation and 

 favourof the imperial family, and was 

 generally respected by all with whom 

 he had concerns, as well in the social 

 intercourse of life, as in its public bu- 

 siness. This minister complained, in 

 an official note, to Prince Czartorinsky, 

 of the above Odes, as extremely inju- 

 rious in many respects ; and, from 

 their general cast and spirit, likely to 

 do harm among the poorer and more 

 ignorant of the community. The an- 

 swer which he received was in strict 

 cocformity to truth, tlmugh not such as 

 he h;id been accustomed to ; that his 

 excellency might readily form a judg- 

 ment as to the sentiments that per- 

 vaded the court and government, 

 when, in an empire like that of Russia, 

 wherein a vigilant police was in per- 

 manent activity, the sale of such publi- 

 cations was permitted, in the very 

 capital. To this notification the 

 prince superadded, as an occasional 

 observation of his own, that his m;;- 

 jesty, the emperor, and all the impe- 

 rial family, had expressed the deepest 

 concern at this outrage of his master, 

 and that it might lead to a rupture 

 between the two governments. 



Hereupon the French ambassad(<r 

 demanded a private audience of the 

 emperor ; but, as the court mourning 

 had not terminated, and the ambassa- 

 dor would not submit to the etiquette, 

 there was a necessity for his taking 

 leave, which he did, in a missive to the 

 emperor and imperial family. His 

 general conduct, grounded on princi- 

 ples of dignity and moderation, had 

 conciliated universal esteem. 



