"The sacred words of fidelity, oath, legitimate order, even the name of the Cesarowitsch and the grand duke Constantine, were for them only a pretext for treason. They wished to profit by the moment to accomplish their criminal design-designs long contrived, long meditated, long matured in darkness, and the mystery of which the government had penetrated only in part. They intended to cast down the throne and the laws, to overturn the empire, to produce anarchy. What were their means? As sassination. Their first victim was the military governor, count Milaradowitsch. He, whom, in the field of honour, the chance of war had spared in 50 battles, has fallen under the hand of an assassin. This murder is not the only one. Count Sturler, commander of the regiment of grenadiers of the body guard, killed; major-general Schenschin, major-general Fredericks, and others, severely wounded, have sealed with their blood their fidelity to honour and to duty.

"Hurried in the tumult, the soldiers of the companies that were seduced did not participate in these crimes, either in act or intention. A rigorous inquiry has given me the proof of this, and I consider it as a first act of justice, as well as my first consolation, to declare them innocent. But the same justice forbids us to spare the guilty. All those against whom proceed ingsare instituted, and who shall be convicted, will undergo a punishment proportioned to their crimes. "From the measures already taken in the proceedings, the punishment will embrace in its whole extent, in all its ramifications, an evil the germ of which is of the growth of years; and I am confident they will destroy it to the

very root; they will purge of this foreign contagion the sacred soil of Russia; they will cause to disappear that odious mixture of melancholy truths and gratuitous suspicions which is repugnant to noble minds; they will draw for ever a decisive and ineffaceable line of demarcation between love of country and revolutionary passions, between the desire of improvement and the rage of convulsions; they will show to the world that the Russian nation, always faithful to its sovereign and to the laws, repels the secret efforts of anarchy, as it has repelled the open attacks of its declared enemies; they will show how people may free themselves from such a scourge; they will prove that, it is not every where indestructible."

The real nature and extent of the alleged plot was not disclosed to the world. The rumour was, that an attempt to establish a constitution was to have commenced by murdering the whole imperial family, on the 12th of January, a day on which every member of the family attends, at the chapel in the castle, the celebration of a religious ceremony in memory of Paul. The imperial victims were to have been shut up in the chapel, and there murdered; the castle was then to have been seized, all the foreigners were to have been massacred, and the town given up to the soldiers, to be pillaged, for three days.

That there did exist a conspiracy, subsequent events showed too plainly. In consequence of the discoveries made by the committee of inquiry, orders were sent to arrest lieut. colonel Mouravieff Apostol, of the infantry regiment of Tchernigoff. These orders were executed by lieut. colonel Gebel, commanding that regiment: but

Mouravieff attacked that officer and wounded him in several places. He then instigated six companies of the regiment to revolt, by urging upon them the obligation to remain faithful to the oath which they had taken to Constantine. He next arrested the courier and the gens d'armes who had been sent to convey him to St. Petersburgh, pillaged the regimental chest, set the malefactors who were confined in the municipal prison of Vassilkoff, free from their chains, and gave the town up to the licentiousness of the soldiery. Three companies, however, of the regiment, under the orders of major Trouchin, remained firm to their duty, and separated themselves from the insurgents. As soon as the commander-in-chief of the first army was informed of these events, he ordered prince Scherbatoff to proceed directly, with a sufficient number of troops, to exterminate the rebels; and lest they might escape from the pursuit of that officer, the emperor confided the command of another corps of infantry to the grand duke Constantine, with a view to secure more certainly the suppression of the revolt. Mouravieff at first seems to have intended to march upon Bronssiloff by Yastoff: but the motions of his pursuers compelled him to change his plan, and he was proceeding towards Bela-Tcherkoff, in the hope of getting possession of considerable sums of money, which were in the house of the countess Branicka. He was, however, soon surrounded on all sides; and, on the morning of the 15th of January, a detachment under the command of lieutenant general Roth came up with the insurgents on the heights of Oustinovka, near the village of Pologoff,

in the district of Vassilkoff. Mouravieff Apostol, seeing the imperial troops approach, formed the rebels into a square, and advanced upon the artillery: but being received by a discharge of grape shot, the square was immediately broken. The cavalry then made a charge, and all the insurgents threw down their arms.

About seven hundred soldiers were taken prisoners, as well as Mouravieff Apostol himself, who was severely wounded by a grape shot, and by a sabre cut on the head; the second captain, baron Solovieff, lieutenant Bystrytchy, the sub-lieutenant Bestoujeff-Rioumine, of the infantry regiment of Poltava, and a brother of Mouravieff, a lieutenant-colonel on halfpay, were also prisoners.

Lieutenants Kouzmine, Chippela, and another brother of Mouravieff Apostol, were killed, besides many soldiers; and some were wounded. Of the imperial troops not a man was either killed or wounded.

Nicolas professed a firm purpose to pursue the same policy which his deceased brother had followed.

The note addressed by count Nesselrode, minister for Foreign Affairs, to the foreign ministers accredited to the court of Russia, on the emperor's accession, was in these words:" Called to the inheritance of the dominions of the emperor Alexander, the emperor Nicolas inherits also the principles which directed the policy of his august predecessor; and his Imperial Majesty has therefore given orders to his ambassadors, ministers, and agents at foreign courts, to declare to them, that, earnestly striving to follow the footsteps of the Sovereign whose loss he deplores, he will profess the same fidelity to the engagements contracted by Russia, the same respect for all rights con

secrated by existing treaties, the same attachment to the maxims which ensure the general peace, and of the bonds that subsist between the powers. On the other hand, the emperor confidently hopes from them the same disposition to

maintain the relations of intimate friendship and mutual confidence, which, having been established and maintained under the emperor Alexander, have given to Europe ten years of repose."

HE history of Spain during the present year the present year is nearly a blank. On the last day of 1824, Zea Bermudez was placed at the head of the ministry. This appointment was said to have been almost forced upon Ferdinand by the influence of France, and by the extreme difficulties in which the court found itself placed. Zea was conceived to be a man of ability, of knowledge, and of moderation in politics; and hopes were entertained that he would follow a more enlightened policy than that of his predecessors in office. But he had not sufficient strength to effect any good. As he refused to go all the lengths of the fanatical party, he was from the commencement of his ministry obnoxious to the church and the leading courtiers; and as, from the very nature of his situation, he could not obtain the support of public opinion in a country where there was no public, he was obliged, in order to maintain himself in office, to oppose intrigue to intrigue; to make a compromise with wrong, when he could not carry what he thought right; and to render ineffectual the measure of one day, by the promulgation of a modifying or counteracting decree

on the morrow. His almost total want of personal influence, of family connexions, or of party support, made it necessary for him to consult the caprices of those whose erroneous views and mischievous passions he should have been able to control, and thus rendered it impossible for him to observe any consistent line of conduct in attempting to restore public credit or to suppress dangerous disturbances. The consequence was, that the fanatical party, imagining that they had now something to apprehend, and at the same time freed from the check of the French army, became more violent than before: and most of the principal towns in Spain exhibited scenes of anarchy and tumult. The disorders were increased by the poverty of the government, who, being without either money or credit, were unable to furnish regularly the requisite supplies for the scanty and miserably appointed troops, and were in the habit of having recourse to forced contributions.

Many negotiations were set on foot for the purpose of raising a loan, but without effect. In March, Ugarte, whose private influence had long been great, was dismissed from

his office of secretary of the Council of State, and appointed ambassador to Turin. Having declined the embassy, he was ordered to quit the capital immediately. The cause assigned for his disgrace was, that he had, without the king's authority, allowed the introduction of a clause into the draught of a contract for a loan, fixing a rate at which the bonds of the Cortes should be received.

A report on the state of the finances, made to the minister of that department by the treasurer general, gave a lamentable picture of the wants of the country, but suggested no mode of remedying the evil.

"The general treasury has to provide for the arming, maintenance, and other expenses which the formation of a respectable army on a new footing requires; to attend to the navy, at present in a most deplorable state, by taking care at least of the outfit of the vessels which are indispensably necessary, and of the subsistence of the officers and crews; to supply what is wanting for the expeditions destined for the pacification of the Americas; to give attention to the serious representations of France for indemnification; to pay the anticipated interest on Guebhard's loan; and, finally, to cover the ordinary demands, which are greatly increased by particular cir

cumstances.

"On the other hand, the resources have diminished and are daily diminishing; the great sums which used to be received from America, and which in tranquil times amounted annually to more than 160 millions of reals, have ceased to be paid besides, the customs, the tobacco. duties, the salt duties, and other branches of the re

venue, have sustained a defalcation, amounting by estimate to about another hundred millions, which it has been found impossible to stop, as unfortunately the measures adopted for that purpose have not been followed by the expected results; so that it is not too much to assert, that scarcely enough is received to cover the half of the expenditure. Public credit, also, is ruined by the enormous weight of the debt, and by the impolicy of making promises which could not be fulfilled, thus feeding with delusive hopes the creditors, who, on being undeceived, doubt even facts. The measures resorted to with regard to this department have likewise failed to produce that favourable result which was so much to be desired; and the changes which have taken place have been the cause of some confusion, and have considerably lessened the produce of the appropriated duties.

"So great a deficit, and so general a want of confidence, spread great uneasiness through all classes of the state, and the country is exposed to the terrible effects of the general discontent, which is the necessary consequence of such a state of things."

In a subsequent part of the report, a complaint is made of "the arbitrary practices which are exercised by some authorities and corporations of the provinces, who, in the most shameful manner, impose and exact duties on articles of consumption. This being one of the prerogatives of the sovereign, it ought not to be done without his consent, whatever may be the pretext or urgency alleged for it, particularly at the critical moment in which it is necessary to remedy the abuses and preferences intro