Harper's New Monthly Magazine: No. XVI.—September, 1851—Vol. III.Various
History
Harper's New Monthly Magazine: No. XVI.—September, 1851—Vol. III.
Various
American literature -- Periodicals; Civilization -- Periodicals; Culture -- Periodicals
Two hours after he had made his peace with God, Alexander experienced
more severe pain than he had yet felt; "Kings," said he, "suffer more
than others." He had called one of his attendants to listen to this
remark, with the air of one communicating a secret. He stopped, and then
as if recalling something he had forgotten, said in a whisper, "they
have committed an infamous action."
What did he mean by those words? Was he suspicious that his days had
been shortened by poison? or did he allude, with the last accents he
uttered, to the barbarous assassination of the Emperor Paul? Eternity
can alone reveal the secret thoughts of Alexander I. of Russia.
During the night, the dying prince lost consciousness. At two o'clock in
the morning, Count Diebitch came to the empress, to inform her that an
old man, named Alexandrowitz, had saved many Tartars in the same malady.
A ray of hope entered the heart of the imperial consort at this
information, and Sir Andrew Wyllie ordered him to be sought for with
haste.
This interval was passed by the empress in prayer, yet she still kept
her eyes fixed upon those of her husband, watching with intense
attention the beams of life and light fading in their unconscious gaze.
At nine in the morning, the old man was brought into the imperial
chamber almost by force. The rank of the patient, perhaps, inspiring him
with some fear respecting the consequences that might follow his
prescriptions, caused his extreme unwillingness. He approached the bed,
looked at his dying sovereign, and shook his head. He was questioned
respecting this doubtful sign. "It is too late to give him medicine;
besides, those I have cured were not sick of the same malady."
With these words of the peasant physician, the last hopes of the empress
vanished; but if pure and ardent prayers could have prevailed with God,
Alexander would have been saved.
On the sixteenth of November, according to the usual method of measuring
time, but on the first of December, if we follow the Russian calendar,
at fifty minutes after ten in the morning, Alexander Paulowitz, Emperor
of all the Russias, expired. The empress, bending over him felt the
departure of his last breath. She uttered a bitter cry, sank upon her
knees, and prayed. After some minutes passed in communion with heaven,
she rose, closed the eyes of her deceased lord, composed his features,
kissed his cold and livid hands, and once more knelt and prayed.
The physicians entreated her to leave the chamber of death, and the
pious empress consented to withdraw to her own. The autopsy exhibited
the same appearance generally discovered in those subjects whose death
has been caused by the fever of the country: the brain was watery, the
veins of the head were gorged, and the liver was soft. No signs of
poison were discovered; the death of the emperor was in the course of
nature.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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