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which the Czar was suffering, and had predicted for certain that the patient had at most only two years to live.' This was done in a letter to Lord Palmerston, written with the good object of terminating the complications which were threatening war, and of gaining time until death should have delivered Russia and Europe from a Czar whose mental balance was disturbed. The physician-who proved himself a prophet, since the Emperor Nicholas, as it happened, died suddenly on March 2, 1855, or about four months before the period predicted in the letter-remarks that not one of the four sons of the Emperor Paul reached his sixtieth year, and that all of them, from and after the age of forty-five, suffered severely from congestion of the brain.

Mental maladies, like that of the Emperor Paul, are, as is well known, nearly always hereditary. Alexander I. died at the age of forty-eight in a deep brooding melancholy, which Prince Metternich describes in his sketch of that Prince as a 'weariness of life.' That the Grand Duke Constantine, his brother, though not exactly insane, was so mentally afflicted as to think himself unfit to rule, is an established fact of history. His conduct in 1830, on the outbreak of the revolution at Warsaw, was that of a man wholly irresponsible for his actions. As Emperor he might not, perhaps, have escaped his father's fate. Had he been a private person, he would have been handed over to a mad doctor. As Grand Duke he could be trusted to the care of his wife, the Princess.

The confidential letter, dated Kissingen, July 6, 1853, written to Lord Palmerston by Dr. A. B. Granville, the English physician, well known at that time both in Russia and at Kissingen, is to be found in the Times of March 5, 1855. The authenticity of this letter, which was circulated in 1853 among the members of the English Cabinet, was vouched for to me, on the day of its publication, by Lord Palmerston himself, who added that the English Government must hold to facts, and could not allow their policy to be determined by the diagnosis of a physician.

of Lowicz. He died, in his fifty-second year, of congestion of the brain. The Grand Duke Michael ended by falling from his horse in a fit; he had passed the fatal age of forty-five by only three years, and had shown, before his death, such a morbid irritability that the author of the letter, who was attending him, did not hesitate to treat him as insane.

The events of 1848-1852 were eminently calculated to aggravate still further such an hereditary disease of the brain. Let anyone merely picture to himself the terrible contrast between the external position and the internal malady of the Emperor Nicholas. Of the latter he, of course, knew nothing. But even had no hereditary disposition existed, the part that Nicholas I. played in 1849 and 1850 would suffice to explain the idiosyncrasies which became patent after 1853. What an impression must have been produced on an irritable nature, inclined already of itself to be overbearing, by the announcement of Prince Paskéwitsch: Hungary lies at the feet of your Majesty.' But that was not enough. Did not Austria and Prussia, the very next year, submit themselves to his arbitrement at Olmutz? Was it to be wondered at, after such events, that the Czar should treat the monarchs of such countries not as allies, but almost as vassals? Of Austria he was quite certain, as he boasted to Seymour. Prussia he did not condescend to mention. It was quite a matter of course to his mind that at Berlin his every hint should be obeyed. In his strange infatuation he forgot to take into account 'Monsieur son grand ami,' and the France which, as he fancied, was wholly sunk in the mire of revolution. Nor was he alone in that view. Public opinion, so far as it can be said to exist in Russia, only confirmed him in the belief that the whole of Europe was in a state of revolution, and that princes and people would be compelled to implore the gracious assist

THE CZAR AND THE 'SICK MAN.'

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ance of the White Czar, in order to place their lives and property under the protection of his powerful hand. So universal was this delusion that it was repeated everywhere with the greatest naïveté, and no flattery could be more welcome to the White Czar.

Psychologically, therefore, it was perfectly intelligible that Nicholas, in the winter of 1852-53, should have imagined in all earnest that he had only to come to an understanding with England, where his old friend Lord Aberdeen had become Prime Minister, in order to dispose of the Ottoman Empire as he chose. I should doubt whether he really contemplated the taking of Constantinople. What he wished was just as the boa constrictor first fascinates his victim, and then licks him over for digestion before swallowing him—to spin a web round the Turkish Empire by means of clauses and treaties of every kind, and bring it completely under his power. Perceiving that the offer of Egypt as a bait produced no effect in England, he tried to make Austria the mortal enemy of Turkey.

At Vienna susceptibilities had been awakened by the asylum given by the Sultan to the Pole Bem, and to Kossuth and other Hungarian refugees. Troops were collected, and the Austrian men-of-war took up a position of menace, and one not devoid of danger, owing to the superiority of the Turkish fleet. The frontier dispute between the Turks and Montenegrins gave the Austrian Cabinet a not unwelcome pretext for the mission of Count Leiningen, as to which little was publicly divulged. The General in question went to Constantinople, formulated certain demands, discussed them in concert with the Austrian Internuncio and with the Divan -apparently without success-and finally delivered an ultimatum, with the threat that not only he but the Internuncio

VOL. I.

D

would demand their passports if the Porte did not think better of the matter within twenty-four hours.

It seemed really as if the Sultan would let things proceed to that extremity; and Oseroff, the Russian chargé d'affaires, had the impression that a rupture of diplomatic relations between Austria and the Porte was unavoidable. He wrote to that effect, and sent a special messenger to St. Petersburg. As usual, the latter delivered his despatches not at the Foreign Office, but at the Winter Palace. The Emperor unsealed them, read them, and then sent for Nesselrode. The Chancellor, on entering the room, found the Emperor in high spirits. Now,' exclaimed his Majesty, 'we have it; the very thing I have always said to you! You can do nothing with these Turkish curs. They have rejected the just demands of the Emperor of Austria. Leiningen has taken his departure, and the Internuncio has demanded his passport. Our turn has now come; the hour of action we have waited for so long. There, read it yourself.' The Minister read with his wonted calmness and with the utmost attention the despatch of Oseroff. 'Well,' exclaimed the impatient monarch, have you read it all?'

'I beg pardon, your Majesty, but have you not read the postscript?'

'A postscript?'

If it please your Majesty. Our chargé d'affaires states: "Just as I was on the point of sending off this despatch, news is brought to me that the Porte, at the eleventh hour, has agreed to all the Austrian demands. The Internuncio remains here, and Leiningen leaves Constantinople, his mission having been successful.""

What an impression this news, so unexpected and so destructive of all his hopes, produced upon the Emperor, I was

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able myself to gather a few days after. It was on February 23, during a grand entertainment given by the Emperor that year in the Winter Palace. The opera, La Figlia del Reggimento,' was being performed in the small Court theatre. Lablache and Mario were acting, and the daughter of Lablache was making her début as the heroine of the piece. She had, by the bye, a wonderful voice, which, thanks to her father's instruction, she managed with rare skill, and her beauty excited the admiration of the audience. After the performance came supper; the silver chamber had been emptied, and innumerable tables were laden with costly plate. In the centre a table was reserved for the diplomatic body, where we were placed according to rank. Next to me sat Count Francis Zichy, the only 'foreigner of distinction;' his visit was occasioned by some private business relating to his wife, who had property in Russia. But he was well known, having in the previous year conducted, and concluded to the satisfaction of the Emperor, the negotiations at Warsaw respecting the expenses of the Russian assistance in the Hungarian war.

Nicholas did not partake of the supper, but he made his appearance in the dining hall, and suddenly took his stand behind my neighbour's chair. The latter attempted to rise, but was put back by a pair of strong hands into his seat. On the Emperor's beginning to speak in German, I thought I ought also to rise, in order to remind him that I understood the language. But the Emperor motioned me to remain sitting, and without further noticing my presence, proceeded to give Count Zichy, who was intending to return the next day to Vienna, his last verbal messages to the Emperor Francis Joseph. The Czar spoke during the supper uninterruptedly, and Zichy listened, as did I, in silence. Nicholas soon lapsed spontaneously into French, which he spoke with greater ease,