361 



CONSTANT DE REBECQUE. 



CONSTANTINE PAVLOVICH. 



363 



obliged to tike flight towards Spain, when he was pursued and over- 

 taken at the foot of the Pyrenees by some emissaries of Magnentius, 

 and killed, A.D. 350. He is represented by the historians as indolent 

 and rapacious; Zosimus accuses him also of cruelty and other crimes, 

 but Zosimus wrote under the influence of party feeling. The character 

 however of all the three sons of Constantino is open to much censure. 

 Constans protected the Christian faith, as established by the council 

 of Nicsea, against the Arians and Donatists. and he also shut up many 

 heathen temples. After the death of Constans, Magnentius took pos- 

 session of Italy and of Rome, and styled himself Augustus, until he 

 was overthrown by Const an tins. [CONSTANTIUS.] 



CONSTANT DE REBECQUE, HENRI BENJAMIN, was born at 

 Lausanne, October 25, 1767. Whilst a mere youth his father carried 

 him to England, and placed him at the University of Oxford; he was 

 then sent to a German college, and finished his studies at Edinburgh. 

 There he met with Erskine, Mackintosh, and other young men of 

 liberal opinions, from whom he is supposed to have acquired those 

 principles of political liberty which he retained through life. He was 

 married in 1787 to his 6rst wife, but the union was not auspicious, 

 and he obtained a divorce two years after. Constant returned to France 

 in 1795, after travelling some time in Germany, and the next year his 

 pamphlet, ' On the Strengtli of the existing Government in France,' 

 was produced. In 1799 the First Consul placed him on the ' Tribunal," 

 but the independent spirit evinced by the young Swiss in resisting the 

 encroachments of his power displeased Bonaparte, who consequently 

 banl-hed him in 1801. Madame de Stael was ordered to leave the 

 country about the same time. During his exile, Benjamin Constant 

 visited most of the European courts, and in 1808, the authoress of 

 ' Corinne ' having refused his hand, he married Mademoiselle de 

 Hardenberg. His famous brochure, ' On the Spirit of Conquest and 

 Usurpation,' appeared in 1813. 



In 1814 he returned to Paris, and wrote several pamphlets, in all of 

 which he maintained the fundamental interests of constitutional 

 liberty with that sound judgment and lucid exposition, which formed 

 the leading characteristics of his talent. He also advocated the cause 

 of Louis XV11I. in the 'Journal des De"bats ' and other newspapers. 

 It was in this journal that appeared, March 19, 1815, his vehement 

 philippic against Napoleon, on the eve of the emperor's return to the 

 Tuileries : " Never will I crawl, like a base deserter, from power to 

 power . . . under Louis XVIII. we enjoy a representative govern- 

 ment . . . under Bonaparte we endured a government of Mamelukes. 

 He is an Attila, a Oc-ngis Khan. . . ." But, a few days after this bold 

 denunciation, Constant became a councillor of state under this 

 Attila, and assisted Count Mole in drawing up the Acte Additionuel. 



The second fall of Napoleon restored Constant to France, and the 

 department of La Sarthe elected him their deputy in 1819. For the 

 next eleven years, he attached himself to the opposition party in 

 the Chambers; became its leader after the death of General Fay, 

 in 1825, and was considered by many as the greatest debater France 

 had seen since the Revolution. His popularity was almost unrivalled. 

 But for some time previous to the Revolution of July he waa observed 

 in droop, and bis friends heard him deplore " the too rapid advance 

 of popular feelings." He openly condemned the insurrection of the 

 Three Days. His health was declining fast, and after lingering a few 

 months, he died on the 8th of December 1830, at the age of 63. M. 

 Constant possessed remarkable facility of composition, and a very 

 large number of political brochures proceeded from his pen, as well as 

 various works in general literature, including a drama founded on 

 Schiller's ' Wallenstein .' One of the most ambitious of his later works, 

 was a treatise, ' De la Religion considered dans sa source, ses formes et 

 MS developpements,' 5 voU. 8vo, Paris, 1824-31 ; and a sort of 

 supplementary publication was his posthumous work, entitled, ' Du 

 Polytheisme remain consider^ dans ses rapports avec la philosophic 

 grecque et la religion Chrdtienne,' 2 vols. 8vo, Paris, 1838. 



CONSTANTINE THE GREAT. [COXSTAXTIXUS, FLAVIUS VALE- 



BICS.] 



CONSTANTINE, POPE, a native of Syria, succeeded Sismnius in 

 70S. He visited Constantinople and Nicomedia, where he was received 

 with great honour by the Emperor Justinian the younger. After his 

 return to Rome he defended the worship of the images agniust John, 

 patriarch of Constantinople, and against Philippicus, who had usurped 

 tin: empire. Felix, archbishop of Ravenna, who had at first refused to 

 acknowledge Constantine, and had been exiled in consequence, made 

 hu submission to him, and was reinstated in his see. Cou.stautiue died 

 in 714, and was succeeded by Gregory II. 



'CONSTANTINE, N1KOLAEV1CH, the second of the four sons 

 of the Emperor Nicholas of Russia, who named them after his brothers 

 and himself, so that in two successive generations of the Ru.-sian 

 imperial family the four names present themselves in the same order, 

 .Alexander, Constantine, Nicholas, Michael. The second Constantine 

 was born on the 21st of September 1827 (new style), and was declared 

 admiral of the fleet by his father in 1831, when he waa four years old. 

 As he grew up he manifested an ardent attachment to the profession 

 to which he had been thus ear ly devoted. His chief instructor was 

 Captain, afterwards Admiral Liitke, a man of science as well as a 

 seaman, who had become celebrated by his voyage from Cronstadt to 

 KamUchatka and back in 1829-27, in the course of which he discovered 

 several new i -lands. Under hi guidance his pupil became minutely 

 Bioo. DlV. VOL, n. 



acquainted with all the technicalities of the profession, and stories 

 were current in Russia of disputes between them, in which Lutke 

 had opposed the caprices of the young prince with the manly freedom 

 which we are accustomed to regard as characteristic of a sailor. 

 Whatever truth thero may have been in these reports, it is certain 

 that their manner towards each other when they were on a visit to 

 England in 1847, was such as to convey the notion that in familiar 

 phrase they " got on very well together." Constantiue in his boyish 

 studies displayed a marked predilection for everything Russian, and 

 also for the study of the oriental languages, of one of which, Turkish, 

 he made himself completely master. These circumstances, and his 

 general reputation for quickness and talent, earned him a wide popu- 

 larity in Russia, especially with the old Russian or auti-foreign party, 

 to the disadvantage of his elder brother, Alexander, who was looked 

 upon as comparatively dull and spiritless. An id^a appeared to gain 

 ground in Russian society, that as in one generation a Constantino 

 had broken the law of succession by vacating the imperial throne, in 

 another a Constantiue would do so by mounting it. Stories were 

 current such as we find recorded in Schnitzler, that once when 

 Alexander remarked that the task of governing a nation was burden- 

 some, his brother instantly rejoined, " If that weighs heavy on you, 

 only speak the word, and I will relieve you of the burden." On one 

 occasion Constantine put his brother under arrest for a breach of 

 discipline, in coming aboard his. the Admiral's, vessel without having 

 obtained his leave, and the Emperor, who was seriously offended at 

 the proceeding, was not reconciled to Constantine till in return he 

 had made him suffer an arrest of considerable length. In 1845 

 Constantine paid a visit to Constantinople, being the first prince of 

 the Russian imperial family who had done so. The embarrassing 

 visitor was received by Abd-ul-Mejid with every show of welcome, 

 though the way in which he was met by the Greeks evinced tliat they 

 had not forgotten the old prophecy, that the city which had been lost 

 to the Turks under one Constantine, should be won from the Turks 

 under another. In 1847 he assumed the command of the 'Ingerinau- 

 land," a ship of the line which had been launched at Archangel under 

 his own direction, to make a cruise in the Mediterranean for the 

 purpose of visiting his mother, the empress, then an invalid at Palermo. 

 On this occasion he paid a flying visit to England, and went over 

 many of the public establishments, signing himself at the model-room 

 at Somerset House "post-captain in the Russian navy." He left a 

 favourable impression on almost all with whom he cau.e in contact. 

 His appearance was more that of a vivacious German student than of 

 a Russian prince, to which his practice of wearing spectacles contri- 

 buted. He speaks French and English with perfect fluency, having 

 like the rest of the imperial family, acquired the latter language 

 from Dr. Law, the English chaplain at St. Petersburg. He was soou 

 afterwards received with great distinction at Algiers by the Duo 

 d'Aumale, at that time in command of Algeria, and after paying a visit 

 to Naples and Rome, he left his ship and returned home through 

 Germany. On his way he was betrothed to the Princess Alexandra of 

 Saxe Altenburg, to whom he was married the next year, and by whom 

 he has three children, a son and two daughters. In the dispute 

 between Russia and the western powers which led to the war of 1854- 

 66, Constantine was throughout considered to be on the warlike side, 

 and the great support of the old Russian party. He was entrusted 

 with the command of the defensive measures against the French and 

 English in the Baltic, in conjunction with his inseparable companion, 

 Admiral Liitke. It can hardly be said that the high expectations 

 entertained of his abilities by his countrymen have been realised. If 

 the English navy has suffered some loss of credit from not having 

 gamed any signal victory, the Russian navy can hardly be considered 

 to have come with honour from a contest, in which all its efforts have 

 been directed to avoid the hazard of a battle. So remarkably timid 

 a line of policy was in striking contrast with the reputation which the 

 prince had long enjoyed for spirit. On the other hand his humanity 

 to the prisoners and other good qualities are highly spoken of in Lieu- 

 tenant Royer"8 'English Prisoners in Russia.' The death of the 

 Emperor Nicholas led to no collision between his sons, as had long 

 been anticipated, both in and out of the empire, and to all appearance, 

 Constantine has hitherto been the most submissive as well as the first 

 of bis brc ther's subjects. 



CONSTANTINE PAVLOVICH, the second son of the Emperor 

 Paul of Russia, and the brother of two other emperors, was born at 

 St. Petersburg on the 8th of May (new style) 1779. The baptismal 

 name of Constantiue waa bestowed on him at the desire of his grand- 

 mother the reigning empress Catharine, and was generally considered 

 to indicate her wish that this grandson would accomplish the 

 prophecy current among the Greeks, that a Constantino should once 

 more reign at Constantinople. Greeks were placed about him from 

 the cradle to interest him in their native language ; but the child 

 took a disgust to it from the very outset. As he grew up his favourite 

 study waa military exercises and manosuvres, and he showed many 

 signs of obstinate and eccentric character like that of his father, th^n 

 the Grand-duke Paul, to whom he also bore a striking resemblance iu 

 features, which were the reverse of beautiful. At the age of seven- 

 teen he was united to a lady of fifteen, the Princess Juliana of 

 Saxe-Coburg, sister" of the present Duchess of Kent. The marriage,, 

 which toojk place in 1796, the year of Catharine'? death, did not turn 



