The complex character of Alexander I, 499. Ministerial influences; Speranski and Araktcheiev, 501. Educational advances; the Lycée and the library, 502. Expulsion of the Jesuits from St. Petersburg, 504. Liberation of the peasants of the Baltic provinces, 505. The emperor and the quakers, 506. Secret societies under Alexander I, 510. Closing of the masonic lodges, 513. Turgeniev’s comment on the secret societies, 514. Literary activity of the period, 516. Alexander I as a patron of literature, 517. Failure of the Polish experiments, 518. Constitutional projects, 520. The military colonies, 521. Alexander and the great uprising, 523. The great inundation of 1824, 525. The close of Alexander’s reign, 527. Death of Alexander I, 530. Alison’s estimate of Alexander I, 531. Skrine’s estimate of Alexander I, 532. CHAPTER XI THE REIGN OF NICHOLAS I (1825-1855 A.D.) 533 The interregnum, 533. The accession of Nicholas, 537. Trial of the conspirators, 539. The coronation of Nicholas, 539. Changes in internal administration, 540. Reforms in the administration of justice, 541. War with Persia, 543. War with Turkey, 544. The Polish insurrection, 545. The outbreak of cholera and the riots occasioned by it, 548. The war in the Caucasus, 550. The emperor’s conservative patriotism, 555. Unveiling of the monument at Borodino, 556. Death or retirement of the old ministers, 557. Great fire in the winter palace, 558. The emperor Nicholas’ views of Louis Napoleon, 559. Events leading up to the Crimean War, 560. Outbreak of the Crimean War, 562. France, England, and Turkey in alliance, 562. The taking of Bomarsund, 563. The seat of war transferred to the Crimea, 564. The battle of the Alma, 565. The seizure of Balaklava, 570. The advance on Sebastopol, 571. The Battle of Balaklava, 572. The Battle of Inkerman (November 5th, 1854), 573. Death of the emperor Nicholas I, 576. Skrine’s estimate of Nicholas, 576. CHAPTER XII ALEXANDER II, THE CZAR LIBERATOR (1855-1881 A.D.) 578 The fall of Sebastopol, 579. Amelioration in the condition of the soldier, 585. The emancipation of the serfs, 586. Laws and social rights granted to the peasants, 588. Text of the imperial proclamation, 589. Effects of the new conditions, 593. Abolition of corporal punishment, 595. Reforms in the courts of justice, 596. The Polish insurrection of 1863, 597. The subjection of the Caucasus, 598. The taking of Schamyl, 599. Wars with Khokand and Bokhara, 600. A glance at the past history of Bokhara, 600. The conquest of Khiva, 601. The Russo-Turkish War, 602. Spread of education and civilisation, 606. The death of Alexander II, 607. CHAPTER XIII