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NICOLAS I. 



NICOLAS, SIR NICOLAS HARRIS. 



491 



Greek Church, and, as is the usage, changed her names to those of 

 Maria Feodorowna, 



The Emperor Paul having been assassinated March 23, 1801, Nicolas 

 was left entirely to the care of his mother, who appointed Geneial 

 Lamsdorf his governor, and selected the Countess Lieven and the 

 German philologist Adelung as his principal teachers in languages and 

 literature, and Counsellor Storch as his instructor in general politics 

 and other sciences and arts suitable to his rank and station. He 

 acquired the power of speaking the French and German languages 

 with as much facility as the Russian, and early manifested that pre- 

 ference for military display, military tactics, and the art of fortifica- 

 tion, which distinguished him through life. 



After the termination of the great European war in 1814, Nicolas 

 was sent to travel, and visited some of the principal battle-fields. In 

 1816 he came to England, where he met with a cordial reception, lie 

 afterwards made a tour in the chief provinces of the Russian empire. 

 On the 13th of July 1817 he married Frederica-Louisa-Cbarlotte- 

 Wilhelmiua, eldest daughter of Frederic William III., king of Prussia, 

 and sister of Frederic William IV., the present king. She was born 

 July 13, 1798, and her distinguishing name was Charlotte, but on her 

 marriage and entering the Greek Church she assumed the names of 

 Alexandra Feodorowna. 



The Emperor Alexander I. having no issue, his next brother Con- 

 stantine was the legitimate heir to the throne ; but, by a document 

 signed August 28, 1823, Constantino renounced his right, reserving to 

 liiiu-elf the dignity of Viceroy of Poland ; so that, when Alexander 

 died at Taganrog, December 1, 1825, Nicolas immediately succeeded 

 him. He did not however become emperor without a struggle 

 attended with much danger. An extensive conspiracy had been 

 organised a considerable time before the death of Alexander among 

 the officers of the Russian army and those of the nobility who were 

 friendly to a constitutional government ; and the soldiers and people 

 were taught to believe that the abdication of the Grand Duke 

 Constantine had been obtained by forcible means. When the troops 

 were assembled in the great square fronting the Imperial Winter 

 Palace of St. Petersburg, in order to make a manifestation of their 

 allegiance to the new emperor, the officers, just as the ceremony wa.s 

 about to commence, stepping forward out of the ranks, denounced 

 Nicolas as a u-urper, and proclaimed Constantine as their rightful 

 czar. The soldiers followed their officers, with cries of " Constantine 

 and the Constitution!" Milardowich, governor of St. Petersburg, a 

 veteran favourite of the army, and the archbishop, in his ecclesiastical 

 robes, endeavoured to suppress the hostile demonstration, but in vain, 

 and the people showed signs of sympathising with the troops. At this 

 critical moment Nicolas came forward, and, boldly confronting the 

 officers and soldiers, called out with a loud voice, " Return to your 

 ranks obey kneel !" The czar's majestic form and undaunted 

 bearing, his pale but calm and stern countenance, and the reverence 

 with which the Russians habitually regard their sovereign, caused 

 most of the soldiers to kneel and ground their arms. The first out- 

 break was thus checked, but the conspiracy was not suppressed till 

 artillery and mu-kctry had poured freely their missiles of destruction 

 among the gathering masses of the insurrectionists. Colonel Pestel 

 and four other leaders of the conspiracy were executed. Others were 

 sent to the mines of Siberia, where Nicolas continued their punish- 

 ments with unappeasable severity. [CONSTANTIXE PAVLOVICB.] He 

 was crowned at Moscow with great pomp and ceremony, September 3, 

 1826; and at Warsaw, May 24, 1829. 



Soon after his coronation, in 1826, the Emperor Nicolas com- 

 menced a war with the Shah of Persia, which lasted till the victory 

 over the Persians by Field- Marshal Pa*kevich, February 28, 1828, led 

 to the treaty of Turkmanchai, by which the Shah, besides undertaking 

 to pay about three millions sterling, ceded to Russia the provinces of 

 Krivau and the countries situated on the lower Kour aud the Aras. 

 A war between Russia and Turkey ensued in 1828, during which the 

 Russian army crossed the Danube and took the fortresses of Braila 

 and Varna. In the campaign of 1829, General Diebitch took the 

 fortress of Silistriu, defeated the main army of the Turks at Shumla, 

 crossed the Balkan, and advanced to Adrianople, where a treaty of 

 peace was signed September 14, 1829. By this treaty, Nicolas 

 obtained for Russia, besides a large sum as indemnification for the 

 expenses of the war, liberty to trade in all parts of the -Turkish 

 empire, trading navigation on the Danube, free passage of the Durda- 

 . the fortress and pushalic of Anapa on the eastern coast of the 

 Black Sea, and other additions of territory as well as of political power. 



On the 29th of November 1830 an insurrection broke outiu Poland. 

 The Polish troops having joined the insurrectionists, the Grand-Duke 

 Constantine, as commander-in-chief, was allowed to retire from Poland 

 with 8000 Russians. In January 1831 the Polish Diet declared the 

 throne vacant, organised a national government under Prince Adam 

 Czartoryxki, and prepared for a vigorous defence of their country. 

 They assembled about 60,000 troops ; but the Russian armies which 

 advanced against them numbered about 130,000, and had about 400 

 pieces of artillery. The Poles fought bravely, and were successful in 

 several actions, but sustained an enormous loss at the battle of Ostro- 

 lenka, May M, 1831. The Prufsiau government prevented the Poles 

 getting supplies of arms and ammunition across their frontier, while 

 the Russians were allowed to have magazines withiu the Prussian 



territory. General Diebitch died suddenly on the 9th of June, and 

 was succeeded by Paskevich. Warsaw was besieged on the 6th of 

 September, and surrendered on the 8th. The failure of this insur- 

 rection was disastrous to the Poles. The Emperor Nicolas treated 

 them with rigorous severity : several were sent to the mines of Siberia, 

 and many to serve as soldiers in the Caucasus ; the Polish constitution 

 was formally abrogated ; the chief universities were suppressed, and 

 the libraries removed to St. Petersburg; and on the 17th of March 

 1832, by a decree of the emperor, the kingdom of Poland was incor- 

 porated with the Russian empire. 



In 1837 the Emperor Nicolas made a tour in his Trans-Caucasian 

 provinces. He travelled with great rapidity, but remained at Tiflis 

 from the 20th to tha 24th of October, reviewed the troops, gave 

 dinners and a grand ball, and held a levee, which was attended by all 

 persons of distinction in the provinces. He paid a visit of inspection 

 to the fortress of Gumri, since named Alexandropol, near the frontier 

 of Turkish Armenia, and about 45 miles E. by N. from Kara. It was 

 then in process of construction, and is now a fortified position of 

 great strength either for defence or offence against the Turks in A.sia 

 Minor. A desultory conflict was at this period carried on between 

 the Russians and Circassians, but in 1839 war was formally declared 

 by Russia against the Circassians, and has continued with little inter- 

 mission ever since. In 1844 the Emperor Nicolas paid a second visit 

 to England, and was entertained by Queen Victoria at Buckingham 

 Palace and Windsor Castle from the 1st to the 9th of June. In 1849 

 he sent a Russian army into Hungary in aid of the Austrians, aud the 

 subjugation of that country was accomplished in the month of August 

 of that year. 



The last and most important event in the reign of the Emperor 

 Nicolas was the recent war with Turkey and the Western Powers. 

 It was the only unsuccessful and disastrous war iu which he had 

 engaged, and the reverses his army experienced probably occasioned a 

 degree of excitement and irritation which shortened his life. It was com- 

 menced by the emperor's minister Menzikoff in March 1853 demanding 

 a right of protectorate over those subjects of the sultan who belong 

 to the Greek Church. The claim was refused, and a Russian army 

 occupied Moldavia and Wallachia as a ' material guarantee ' for 

 enforcing it. In October the same year the Porte declared war against 

 Russia, aud applied to France ami England for their promised aid. 

 A Turkish army under Oiner Pasha occupied Shumla aud the fortresses 

 on the Danube ; in November he threw a body of troops across the 

 river opposite Widin, and fortified a position at Oltenitza, on the left 

 bank, which was retained till the termination of the war. The destruc- 

 tion of the Turkish fleet at Sinope in the same month was followed by 

 the advance of the French and English fleets into the Klack Sea, The 

 English and French armies were next landed and encamped near 

 Constautiuople, whence they removed to the vicinity of Varna. In 

 March 1854 the Russian army crossed the Danube, and besieged the 

 fortress of Silistria, but after great efforts and an enormous loss of 

 men was compelled to raise the siege on the 1 5th of June, and to 

 retreat across the Danube. The Anglo-French army lauded in the 

 Crimea Sept. 14, 1854 ; won the battle of the Alma ; by a flank march 

 seized a position on the south side of Sebastopol, aud commenced 

 the siege, which, after a severe struggle, the facts of which are well 

 known, was terminated on the 8th and 9th of September 1855, by the 

 capture of the town and all the forts on the southern side of the 

 harbour of Sebastopol. 



Meantime, before this great feat had been accomplished, the Emperor 

 Nicolas died at St. Petersburg on the 2nd of March 1855, and was 

 succeeded by the present Emperor Alexander II. The Empress Alex- 

 andra survives him, and he has left issue four sons and two daugh- 

 ters : Alexander, born April 29, 1818; Maria, born Aug. 18, 1819 ; 

 Olga, born Sept. 11, 1822; Constantine, born Sept. 21, 1827; Nicolas, 

 born Aug. 8, 1831 ; and Michael, born Oct. 25, 1832. 



The Emperor Nicolas was upwards of six feet in height, muscular 

 and well-proportioned, with handsome features. In his personal habits 

 he was simple, abstemious, and indefatigably industrious. He had a 

 taste for the fine arts, and for music, and is stated to have composed 

 eome military airs ; but his favourite pursuits were connected with the 

 military sciences and military operations. In his political principles 

 he was professedly despotic. He had been heard to say, " Despotism 

 is the very essence of my government, and it suits the genius of my 

 land." The great objects of his public life were the increase of the 

 power of Russia and the extension of her territories to the east, west, 

 and south, by unscrupulous diplomacy, aud when that failed, by war. 

 His grand purpose is now known to have been the possession of Con- 

 stantinople. By means of that unrivalled military and political 

 position, he trusted to have superseded the Sultan iu his empire, and 

 to have become the dominant power in Europe and Asia. 



NICOLAS, SIR NICHOLAS HARRIS was born on March 10, 1799, 

 the fourth sou of John Harris Nicolas of Cornwall. He entered the 

 navy early, and attained the rank of lieutenant on September 15, 1815, 

 after having distinguished himself iu the capture of several vessels 

 on the coast of Calabria. As he ceased to be employed after the close 

 of the war he turned his attention to antiquarian literature, and his 

 first production was ' The Life of William Davison, Secretary of State 

 and Privy Councillor to Queen Elizabeth,' published in 1823, occa- 

 sioned probably by his having married in 1822 a daughter of John 



