ALEXANDER I., PAVLOVITCH ( 1777-1825 ) . Emperor of Russia from 1801 to 1825. Ile was horn December 23 (12 Old Style), 1777, at Saint PeterNburg, and was the son of Paul 1. and _Maria Ecodo•o•na (born Dorothea of Wtirttemberg). The violent and arbitrary reign of Alexander's predecessor produced a conspiracy to force his abdication in of his son. The Polish prince, Adam Czartoryski, a friend of Alexander, who gives a circumstantial account of the conspiracy, says that Alexander was privy to the plan of forced abdication, but not to the assassination. The news of the accession of Alexander was re ceived, according to the Russian historian Ka ramsin. as "a message of redemption." Alexander had been educated under the direction of Ins grandmother, Catharine 11., by eminent instruc tors, chief among whom was the Swiss Colonel Laharpe, whose ability and liberal views inn de a strong impression upon the imaginative character of pia pupil. His education, however, was still incomplete when broken otT by the dismissal of Laharpo, on account of his sympathy with the French Revolution. Alexander received a mili tary training which was equally incomplete. His defective education, his experiences in the courts of his great, hut despotic and immoral grand mother and of his half-insane father produced a curious mingling of characteristics and tenden eies. Czartoryski speaks of the frank avowal made to him in 1796 by Alexander of his sympa thy with republicanism and his belief that heredi tary power was unjust and absurd. The tragedy with which his reign began alto made its impres sion.
Ile began Ids reign with sweeping reforms. He abolished the barbaric and excessive punishments in use under his predecessors, restrained the bru tality of the police, did away with the secret tribunal. pardoned many of his father's victims, and in other ways reformed the lows and pro•ed ure. Restrictions upon literature, art, and trade were removed, "I would not place myself above the law. even if I could," Alexander wrote to the Princess Galitzin, "for I do not recognize any legitimate power on earth that does not emanate from the law. . . . The law should be the same for all." He was aided in his work by four inti mate friends, young men of liberal views—Count Paul Strogoned, Prince Victor Kotelmbei, :Nicho las No•ossiltsoff, and Prince Adam Czartoryski. These Alexander called his -committee of public safety." They deliberated the duties and the lim itations of the imperial power—a new question in Russia. ;ind not much considered since that time.
In 1801 the Senate was made the supreme high court, its uka see to be subject only to the imperial veto. The first move of the Senate in opposition to the Emperor, however, inet with a sharp re hake, and Czartoryski well explains the attitude of Alexander: "The Emperor liked the forms of liberty as we like spectacles. . . . He would have willingly consented that the whole world should be free on condition that the whole world should submit voluntarily to his single will." The Rus sian Senate, in which the idle nobility were shelved, was not the body with which to experi ment in parliamentary government. Alexand(4. and his associates discussed the emancipation of the serfs; but the time seemed hardly ripe for that measure. An imperial ukase of March 3, 1804, attempted to ameliorate their condition.
The real administrative achievement of Alex ander was the creation by the ukase of September 8, 1802, of the ministries, eight in number: Inte rior and Police, Finance. Justice. Public Instruc tion, Commerce, Foreign Affairs, Marine, and War. This was a marked step toward an orderly government from the semi-Asiatic methods, by which the growing Empire had been managed. Each department was in charge of a minister and an adjunct. Progress was made toward a codifi cation of the laws. The privilege hitherto held by the nobles only, that their patrimonial estate should not be confiscated as a punishment, was made the common right of all subjects. An im perial bank was instituted, Odessa was made a free port. the laws regarding debt and mortgages were amended, and by the ukase of 1818 peasants were permitted to carry on manufactures. Alex ander sent expeditions around the world, and made treaties with the United States, Spain, Brazil, and Turkey. Settlements were established on the northwestern coast of America, but the enunciation of the Monroe Doctrine in 1823 checked the Russian advance in the last direction. The new Ministry of Public Instruction meant much for the Empire. There had been hut three universities in Russia—Moscow, Vilna. and Dor pat. These were strengthened, and three others were founded at St. Petersburg, Kharkov, and Kazan. Literary and scientific bodies were estab lished or encouraged, and the reign became noted for the aid lent to the sciences and arts by the Emperor and the wealthy nobility.