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ALEXIS' grief empearl'd th' ethereal gleam,
Temper'd its fire, and dignifi'd its beam*.

While thus the son, by gentle nature mov'd,
Mourns o'er the parent whom he fondly lov'dt,
The Monarch's soul a thousand duties share,
Mankind his family !---the world his care‡ !

-Jam Phœbum urgere monebat

Non idem eoi color ætheris, albaque nondum
Lax rubet, et flammas proprioribus eripit astris.
Lucan. lib. ii.

Now thro' night's shade the early dawning broke,
And changing skies the sun's approach bespoke :
But yet the morn was dress'd in dusky white,
Nor purpled o'er the east with ruddy light.

+ Summa Deum Pietas! cujus gratissima colo

Rowe.

Rara profanatas inspectant numma terraš. Stat. Sylv. 3.

Chief of the skies, celestial Piety!

Whose godhead, priz'd by those of heav'nly birth,
Revisits rare these tainted realms of earth.

Addison.

The first acts of Alexander's reign realised the expectations of the world, and exhibited the benevolence of his nature in the most impressive manner. His accession to the throne was announced early on the 12th March, 1801. On the day fol lowing, he went to the senate, and restored its authority. He suppressed the state inquisitions which had been guilty of the greatest tyranny and injustice-he gave liberty to the state prisoners arbitrarily confined in the several fortresses-recalled the exiles-abolished the insulting ordinances about dress, allowing every one to deck his person agreeably to his fancy;

Mercy with sweet enrichment from his mind
Now mounts, seraphic, on the searching wind:
Now through the dungeon's gloomy sorrow breaks;
Now from the languid limb the fetter shakes:
Now wings her flight o'er cold Siberia's plains,
Cheers the poor exile, and dissolves his chains;
Inspires new being with Promethean breath,
And sweetly shines amidst the waste of death.
Now through the inquisition's sanguine cell,
(Where jealousy and tyrant faction dwell),
Justice appears, and breaks the mystic spell:
The foul abortion of unreal pow'r,
Engender'd in some curst malignant hour,
Which sapp'd the state it was design'd to rear,
(Injustice ever giving birth to fear);

Felt, as it coarsely on suspicions fed,

A coward gilt still trembling round its head:
While
and murder mark'd its fell career,
groans
And its vast crimes still blacken'd half the year.

and exonerated the inhabitants of the capital from the trouble'some duty of alighting from their carriages at the approach of any of the imperial family. He dismissed from office many persons undeserving the stations they filled, and corrected numerous abuses which had crept into the military as well as the civil department. In short, he did every thing that the most comprehensive judgment, or the most virtuous heart, could suggest. Amongst other ukases which were issued on the day succeeding his accession, was one for reviving and confirming all the regulations of the late Empress Catherine for the encouragement of industry and cominerce.

Now in truth's placid fire the monster dies,
Now hope and freedom from its ashes rise.

See the blythe peasant rais'd to man's estate*, With growing thought, and new-born pride elate,

The Emperor has materially ameliorated the condition of the peasants. He lately expressed himself on this subject in the following terms, in a letter to a nobleman who had solicited the hereditary possession of an estate :—

"The Russian peasants are in general no better than slaves; " and I need not enlarge upon the degradation and wretched"ness of such a condition. I have made a vow not to augment "the number of them, and have therefore adopted the reso"lution of never transferring them away as property to any The estate shall be granted to you and yours, at a "long lease and quit-rent, which will prove equally advantageous to you; and the only difference will be, that the peasants cannot be sold or alienated like brute beasts. Such « are my reasons, and I am persuaded they will meet with your approbation."

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The peasants of Russia, excepting those of Finland, Carelia, the Ukraine, and a few other districts, are all serfs or slaves. About a sixth part of them belong to the crown, inhabiting the Imperial demesnes, or the church lands, now annexed to the crown, and are under the jurisdiction and protection of the Imperial officers or bailiffs. The peasants belonging to indi viduals are private property, and may be sold or hired out to labour. Previous to the present auspicious reign, their condition was wretched in the extreme, particularly in Livonia and Esthonia-without property, or the means of obtaining it, subject to corporal punishment on the caprice of their mastertheir wives and children liable to be taken from them, in

With willing labour tills the grateful soil,
Secure to reap the produce of his toil.

constant incertitude as to their own disposal, and fed with infinitely less consideration than the more valued horse ;-but the authority and the example of the Emperor have reversed this odious scene. The power of inflicting punishment is transferred from the Lord to the Magistrate; marriages are unincumbered by the difficulties which formerly attended them, and are respected. The barbarous practice of removing the boor from the spot which he Lad cultivated, and which he considered as the reward of his labour, into perhaps a forest or a morass, to break up new land, which, the moment it became productive, he was again obliged to quit, has received the Sovereign's most decided reprobation. The peasants are now allowed to settle in any part of the empire, to enrol themselves amongst the burghers or merchants according to their respective capitals; and, in short, they now receive the strongest incitement to industry by the assurance that they will enjoy the fruits of their labour. The amount of soccage work has become better defined and regulated, and the peasants are allowed sufficient leisure for the culture of their own fields. Many of them, under this amended system, have become camparatively affluent ; and thousands, by their little savings, have purchased their emancipation; while gaiety, contentment, and loyalty, keep pace with the other improvements of their condition.

Amongst numerous instances of the public advantage resulting from this benevolent policy of the Emperor, is the following-A gentleman of the government of Woronese having purchased from Prince Truboskoi an estate of 6000 peasants, sold to them their freedom, at such small sums as reimbursed him. The first use which the peasants made of their liberty,

Sweet liberty descends to nerve his arms*,
And through his waking soul breathes all her charms.
His cares, his fears, his sorrows she beguiles,
And decks e'en poverty in cheerful smiles.
See, where he views with ardent, doubting eyes,
And awkward gratitude and glad surprise,
About him shoot unhop'd felicities:

was to write to his Imperial Majesty, thanking him for the edict which authorized these transactions; asking permission to build a church, and proposing, of themselves, to make a canal fifteen versts in length, which would facilitate an intercourse of the greatest importance to commercial industry.

When the Russian peasant becomes eligible to a more liberal line of government, we are satisfied that his benevolent master will extend it to him. His mind, however, must be gradually formed for the reception of social and civil freedom; in its present debasement they could not flourish. Liberty must be proportioned to the capacity of those who are to enjoy it;

and

it should be the constant aim of every wise council to find out, by cautious experiments and candid consideration, this happy medium, and without imposing unnecessary restraints, not to indulge in a too liberal dispensation; for, as Mr. Burke observes," Liberty is a good to be improved, and not an evil to be lessened."

Liberty! whose hand benign
Teaches unwearied toil to clothe the fields,
And on his various fruits inscribes the name

Of property.

Dyer's Ruins of Rome.

Catharine the II. judiciously observed :-L'Agriculture ne pourra jamais prosperer là, où l'agriculture ne possede rien en propre."

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