Alexander I., Pavlovitch, emperor of Russia, eldest son of Paul I. and Maria Feodorovna, princess of Wurtemberg, born Dec. 23, 1777, died Dec. 1, 1825. His grandmother, Catharine II., designed to place him on the throne in preference to his father, and intrusted the care of his education to Count Nicholas Soltikoff, drawing up the plan of his instruction with her own hand. Every possible branch was taught except music and singing. In 1783 Count Solti-koff selected as his tutor Frederic Cesar de la Harpe, who inculcated in the mind of his pupil the ruling liberal ideas of the 18th century. Toleration, philanthropy, and love of truth were from his childhood familiar to the future czar. Sometimes he dreaded the task before him, and wished to escape with his youthful friend Prince Czartoryski to America, and to live there as a private citizen. At the age of 15 he was married to Louisa Maria Augusta, princess of Baden, who was somewhat younger still. This marriage was not a happy one. Catharine died three years afterward, and was succeeded by her son Paul I., whose short reign was ended by murder, March 23, 1801. Alexander stands accused of having been accessory to this crime.

He was acquainted with the conspiracy, whose chief, Count Pahlen, persuaded him that his mother and his brother Constantine were in danger of losing their liberty, and even their lives, from the jealous suspicions of his half-insane father. Alexander, fully believing his father incompetent to reign, gave his consent to the dethronement, which alone was represented to be the aim of the conspirators. Once on the throne, the young czar attracted the attention of the world, and his generous qualities promised a brilliant future. He began by releasing and indemnifying the victims of the violent injustice of his father, and recalled many who had been exiled to Siberia. He kindled civilization among the masses, made efforts to create a public spirit among the people, and accomplished radical reforms in the administration. He abolished the secret tribunal established by Paul, suppressed the censorship, reorganized the beard constituted by Catharine for the creation of a national code, ordered every minister to publish yearly reports, decreed the abolition of torture (which, however, continued to be partially applied even under him), and renewed the ukase of Catharine in virtue of which hereditary estates could not be confiscated, and proclaimed that henceforth the czars should not give away estates with crown peasants, but lands alone.

He prohibited the public exposure of serfs in markets for sale, and allowed them to be sold only with the land to which they were attached. He chose for ministers men of large and clear minds, devoted to his reformatory ideas. Among these were Czartoryski, Novosiltzoff, and Speranski. He was impressible, enthusiastic, and easily influenced, not steady and persistent. His mode of life was simple and unostentatious; his manners were amiable, refined, and elegant. He concluded commercial treaties with various powers, and published new regulations for navigation. He protected the arts, and in order to stir up the intellectual powers of the people allowed his subjects of various classes, except those serfs who were private property, to select their own trades and pursuits. The raw products of Russia, and even some manufactures, now began to appear in the marts of Europe. In 1809 he erected three universities, at St. Petersburg, Kharkov, and Kazan, and added to them afterward that of Dorpat for the German Baltic provinces. He also reorganized that of Wilna for his Polish subjects, whom at that early epoch he treated generously, flattering them with hopes of the reconstruction of their kingdom.

He founded many gymnasia and high schools, ordering their number to be increased to 204, with 2,000 sub-ordinate elementary schools; but this project was only partially executed. He was wont to travel over the country in every direction, seeing persons of all classes and receiving their memorials. He scrupulously observed the ordinances of the national church, but later in life he became a pietist and mystic, at the same time that he turned against the liberal politics of his youth. - At an early period in his career Alexander was entangled in the great events which shook Europe in the beginning of the present century. The greatness of Napoleon, then first consul, impressed his imagination. His father had commenced a friendly inter-course with Napoleon, which the son contin-ued. On Oct. 8, 1801, he concluded a treaty of friendship, and when next year a general peace was established by the treaty of Amiens,; the new territorial organization of Germany was regulated by the two. But when Napo-leon, after making himself emperor, violated the territory of Baden, announced his purpose to assume the crown of Italy, prepared to destroy the independence of the Batavian repub-lie, and occupied almost the whole coast of northern Germany, Alexander put forth a solemn protest along with a warning against ! a continuance in this course of usurpation.

Finally, although a war was brewing between Russia and Turkey, and another actually wag-ing against Persia. Alexander entered the third i coalition to overthrow Napoleon formed by Sweden, England, and Austria. On Oct. 5, 1805, a Russian army debarked in Pomerania, and at the same time another traversed Prussia, although that power was neutral. The battle of Austerlitz, Dec. 2, 1805, destroyed the coalition, and Alexander barely escaped being made prisoner by a French general cutting off the retreat of his escort. The czar pledged; his written word of honor to this officer that | an armistice had been concluded, which, however, was not the case. The Russian troops retreated to Silesia, and Alexander returned to St. Petersburg to prepare new armaments, when his ally Francis of Austria made peace with the enemy. The czar, however, refused | to ratify the treaty made in Paris by his minister D'Oubril, and formed an intimate alliance with Prussia. He conceived a Platonic affection for Queen Louise, to whose husband, Frederick William III., he was bound by the ties of a strong friendship. This new coalition had no better luck than its predecessor.