Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: 30 CHAPTER II. Alexander having thus assumed the government, issued a proclamation, in which he says—" On ascending the Imperial throne, we take upon us, at'the same time, the obligation, to govern the people confided to us by God, according to the laws, and in the spirit of our grandmother of glorious memory, the Empress Catherine II. that, according to her wise plans, we may raise Russia to the highest pitch of glory, and secure the permanent welfare of our subjects." No mention was made of his father's government. As Alexander's handsome person, and the expression of moral goodness in his pleasing countenance, had already acquired him the love of the people, he soon confirmed it, by the beneficial tendency of his new institutions, and particularly by revoking numerous absurd and vexatious ordinances issued by the late emperor; and the prudence and firmness which were manifested by the youthful sovereign, excited throughout Europe the most joyful hopes. His first and great wish was to preserve peace in his empire, and, if possible, to give it to the belligerent powers. The manner in which he proceeded was equitable, without weakness; suitable to his dignity, without haughtiness. Immediately after his accession, he sent a letter to the King of England, in which he openly expressed his wish to arrange the existing differences by amicable negocia- tion. On the 26th of March, he gave orders to set at liberty the captains and crews of English ships, who had been sent into the interior of the empire, and revoked the prohibition of exportation: and, in order to put an end to the shedding of blood, he caused his pacific dispositions to be signified to Admiral Parker (then commanding the English fleet in the Baltic, which had just been employed in the attack on Copenhagen), a...