\ANDKK, 



ALEXANDER. 



On the 8th of February hostilities recommenced, and 

 of Jen*, gained by Bonaparte a few day* after, laid the 

 i monarchy at hi. feet. Wbn this great battle was fought, 

 lor aad his Rusaian* had scaraaly reached the frontier, of Oer- 

 aay ; oa receiving the new* they immediately retreated aoroes the 

 Vistula. HHher they were punned by Bonaparte, and bavin* been 

 Maed by the remnant of the Prussian army, were beaten on the 8th 

 of February. 1807, in the destructive battle of Eylau. Finally, on the 

 Ilia of June, the united annie* were again defeated in the great battle 

 of FriedUnd, aad compelled to retreat behind the Niemen. This 

 crowniae; dwuter terminated the campaign. An armistice was arranged 

 on the Slit; aad five day* after, Alexander and Napoleon met in a 

 tent erected on a raft in the middle of the Niemen ; and at that inter- 

 view not only arranged their difference*, but, if we may trust tho 

 ubwqoeot professions of both, were converted from enemies into 

 warmly-attached Meads. A treaty of peaoe was signed between the 

 two at Tilsit on the 7th of July, by a secret article of which Alexander 

 engaged to join France against England. Ha accordingly declared 

 war arauwt hi* late ally on the 26th of October following. The treaty 

 of Tilait indeed converted the Russian emperor into the enemy of 

 Imoet all hi* former friend*, and the friend of all his former enemies. 

 Turkey, though supported by France, had for some time been hard 

 iinsssl by the united military and naval operations of England and 

 Russia; but upon Alexander's coalition with the French emperor, a 

 trace was concluded between Turkey and Russia at Slobosia, August 

 2 1 th, and the Turkish empire was saved from the rain which threatened 

 it. A war with Persia, commenced in 1802, continued to be carried 

 on with varying snocaes The meeting of the emperors of France and 

 P.n*rl at Tilsit is an important event not only in the life of Alex- 

 ander, but in the history of Europe. It produced a total change in 

 the policy of Russia, as well as in the personal sentiments of the two 

 emperors, who from deadly enemie* became to all appearance cordial 

 friend*. At their first interview, on the 25th of June, 1807, each left 

 the bank, of the Niemen in a boat attended by hi* suite. The boat 

 of Napoleon cleared the distance first ; and Napoleon, stepping on the 

 raft appointed for the conference, passed over, and receiving Alexander 

 oo the opposite side, embraced him in the night of both armies. The 

 first words of Alexander were directed to flatter the ruling passion of 

 Napoleuo. " I hate the EnglUh," he exclaimed, " as much as you do : 

 whatever you take in band against them, I will be your second." 

 " In that case,*' replied Napoleon, " everything can be easily settled, 

 aad peace is already made. In the first conference they remained 

 together two hours ; the next day they met a/am, and Alexander pre- 

 sented to Napoleon the King of Prussia, who was soon after joined 

 by hi* queen. During the remainder of the conferences, which lasted 

 twenty days, the two emperors were daily in the habit of meeting and 

 conversing on term* of intimacy ; while the King of Prussia was 

 treated by Napoleon with haughtiness, and the queen with rudeness, 

 aad Alexander appeared almost ashamed to make any exertion in their 

 favour with his new friend. He even concluded a separate treaty with 

 Napoleon to the bitter mortification of Frederick William, the treaty 

 made with whom soon after was of a very different character from 

 that between the two emperor*. 



Oa th* 24 tli of February, 1808, Alexander, in obedience to the plan 

 arranged with Napoleon, declared war against Sweden ; and followed 

 up thi* declaration by dispatching an army to Swedish Finland, which, 

 after a great deal of fighting, succeeded in obtaining complete possession 

 of that country. On the 27th of September the Russian and Frencli 

 am perms met again at Erfurt Many of the German princes, with 

 fepveeeuUlliM of the King of Prussia and the Emperor of Austria, 

 also attended the Conferees, which continued to sit till the 15th of 

 October. On thi* occasion a proposal for peace was made to England 

 in UM united name* of N*poUon and Alexander, but the negociations 

 wen broken off after a few week*. 



Th* friendly relations of Alexander with France continued for nearly 

 6r* yean ; but, notwithstanding fair appearance*, various causes were 

 in the meanwhile at work which could not fail at last to bring about 

 a rupture. The Russian autocrat having failed in the plan of policy 

 with which he had begun his reign, aad which seem* to have contem- 

 plated the avoidance of war, but at the same time the exercice of a 

 powerful foreign influence, appear* to have resolved to try another 

 game, and to see what be could gain by entering into confederacy 

 with the gnat conqueror of nations. But th* peaoe of Tilait, and the 

 new rrUUoos into which Kuaaia was thrown, however much they may 

 have beea to the mind of the sovereign, entailed such privation and 

 umuisicsal suflering on th* people of that country, by severing the 

 rosjisrtiou with England, a* made it at length impossible to persist 

 in thi* course of policy. In the meanwhile however the treaty of 

 Urmaa, eigned on the 14th of October, 1809, which, following the 

 battle* of Kalio. sad Wajrram, diswlved the fifth coalition against 

 Franc., iaanawd the Roasian dominion by the annexation of Eastern 

 OalUcia, c*dd by Auatiia. The war with Turkey also, which had 

 " naflmmeBeed, continued to be prosecuted with aucoes*. But by 

 the rod of the year 1811 the duputee with the court* of Pan*, which 

 ""jfc'r * t of UM scUure by Bonaparte of the dominion* of 

 the Duke of Oldenburg, had aesumed such a height a* left it no longer 

 doubtful th.t war would follow. A treaty of alliance having been 

 pmipwJj signed with Sweden, oa the 10th of March 1812 Alexander 



declared war against France; and on the 24th of April he lea St. 

 Petersburg to join hi* army on the western frontier of Lithuania. Un 

 the 28th of May peace was concluded at Bucharest on advantageous 

 term* with Turkey, which relinquished everything to the left of the 

 Prutb. The immense army of France, led by Napoleon, entered the 

 Ruwian territory on the 25th of June. A* they advanced tho inha- 

 bitant* fled as one man. and left the invaders to march through a 

 silent desert. In thin manner the French reached \Vilna. On the 1 Ith 

 of July Alexander had repaired to Moscow, whence he proceeded to 

 Finland, where he had an interview with Bernadotte, then crown prince 

 of Sweden. Hera he learned the entry of the French into Smolensk. 

 He immediately declared that he never would sign a treaty of peace 

 with Napoleon while he was on Russian ground. " Should St. Peters- 

 burg be taken," he added, " I will retire into Siberia. I will then 

 resume our ancient customs, and, like our long-bearded ancestors, will 

 return anew to conquer the empire." " This resolution," exclaimed 

 Bernadotte, " will liberate Europe." 



On the 7th of September took place the first serious encounter 

 between the two armies, the battle of Borodino, in which 25,000 men 

 perished on each aide. On the 14th the French entered Moscow. In 

 a few hour* the city was a smoking ruin. Napoleon's homeward march 

 then commenced, and terminated in the destruction of his mag: 

 army. Not fewer than 300,000 Frenchmen perished in this campaign. 

 The remnant, which wai above 150,000, repassed the Niemen on the 

 16th of December. 



In the early part of the following year Prussia and Austria succes- 

 sively became parties to the alliance against France. Alexander, who 

 had joined his army while in pursuit of Bonaparte nt Wilna, continued 

 to accompany the allied troops throughout the campaign of this 

 summer. On the 26th and 27th of August he wa^ present at the battle 

 of Dresden, and on the 18th of October at tho still more sanguinary 

 conflict of Leipzig. On the 24th of February, 1814, he met the Kin; 

 of Prussia at Chaumont, where the two sovereigns signed a treaty 

 binding themselves to prosecute the war against France to a successful 

 conclusion, even at the cost of all the resources of their dominion)'. 

 On the 30th of March 150,000 of the troops of the allies were before 

 the walls of Paris, and on the following day at noon Alexander and 

 William Frederick entered that capital. 



We shall not enter into the detail of the transactions which followed 

 this event. Alexander, owing in a great measure to his engaging 

 affability, as well as to the liberal sentiments which he made a practice 

 of professing, was a great favourite with the Parisians. The conquerors 

 having determined upon the deposition of Bonaparte, and the restora- 

 tion of the Bourbons, Alexander spent the remainder of the time he 

 stayed in inspecting the different objects of interest in the city and its 

 viciuity, as if he had visited it in the course of a tour. He left the 

 French capital about the 1st of June, and proceeding to Boulogne, was 

 there, along with the King of Prussia, taken on board an English 

 ship-of-war, commanded by the Duke of Clarence, and conveyed to 

 Calais, from which port the royal yachts brought over the two sove- 

 reigns to this country. They landed at Dover on the evening of the 

 7th, and next day came to London. They remained in this country 

 for about three weeks, during which time they visited Oxfor.l and 

 Portsmouth, and wherever they went, ns well as in the metropolis, 

 were received with honours and festivities of unexampled magnificence, 

 amidst the tumultuous rejoicings of the people. From Knglaud Alex- 

 ander proceeded to Holland, and thence, after a short stay, to Carlsruhe, 

 where he was joined by the Empress. On the 25th of July he arrived 

 at his own capital St. Petersburg, where bis appearance was greeted 

 by illuminations and other testimonies of popular joy. 



The Congress of European sovereigns at Vienna opened on the 3rd 

 of November, 1814. In the political arrangements made by this 

 assembly Alexander obtained at least his fair share of advantages, 

 having been recognised as King of Poland, which country was at tho 

 same time annexed to the Russian empire. Before the members of the 

 Congress separated however news arrived of Bonaparte's escape from 

 Elba. They remained together till after the battle of Waterloo ; win n 

 Alexander, with tho Emperor of Austria and the King of Prussia, 

 proceeded to Paris, where they arrived in the beginning of July, 1815. 

 Un tho 20th of the following September, tho three sovereigns signed 

 an agreement, professedly for the preservation of universal peace on 

 the principles of Christianity, to which, with some presumption, if not 

 impiety, they gave tho name of the Holy Alliance. Un l.'.-ivin. 

 Alexander proceeded to Brussels, to arrange tho marriage of his sinter, 

 the Orand Duchess Anne, with the Prince of Orange ; and thence, by 

 the way of Dijon and Zurich, to Berlin, where ho concluded another 

 family alliance, by the marriage of his brother Nicholas, aftfrwnrds 

 emperor, with the Princess Charlotte, daughter of the King of Prussia. 

 On the 12th of November he arrived at Warsaw, and after publi 

 the heads of a constitution for Poland, he left this city on the 3rd of 

 December, and on the l.'ith reached St. Petersburg. 



No great event* mark tho next years of tho reign of Alexander. 

 On the 27th of March, 1818, he opened in person the first Polish <li' t 

 at Warsaw, on the close of which he set out on a journey through the 

 southern province* of hi* empire, visiting Odessa, the Crimea, and 

 Moscow. The congress of Aix-la-Chapelle, at which ho was present 

 with tho Emperor of Austria and the King of Prussia, met in Septem- 

 ber, aud on the 15th of the following month promulgated a declaration, 



