Sreconations as to what might have happened bad certain persons acted differently at particular crises may be regarded as fanciful, but at the same ime they are not without historical instruction. In the life of individuals it may often happen that the current of a career has been changed by turning up a particular street, or by accepting ® particular invitation, or by sitting next to a particular person at dinner; and as individuals make history, so the inadvertencies even of certain men ab great epochs may have weighty results and an influential bearing on the character of centuries. The effect of the length of Cleopatra's nose is an instance too trite to be alleged, and account of the battle of Hastings by the well-known sentence, " Arletta's pretty feet twinkling in the brook gained her a Duke's love, and gave us William the Conqueror." Thus the fate of an Empire may depend on the arch of an instep, To bring an illustration from modern times, Fow careers have so largely affected the history of Europe and Asia as that of the late Emperor of Russia, Nicholas, Without him in all probability the thirty years' peace woald have lasted for twenty years more, and the progress and advancement of the world would have been secured as there is no prospect of their being secured now. Yet if we refer to the curious history of the Dekabrist consi. racy, 80 called because it took place in December [Dekaber], we shall see on how slender a thread the Czar's life once hung, and how an unaccountable paralysis of action at a particular juncture changed the fate of millions, The history of the transaction in 1825 is also interesting, as it shows how far back secret societies were plotting schemes against the life of the Czar, and making fitful efforts to liberate the country. Fifty-five years ago every. thing was ripe in Russia for a sub. version of the dynasty, And as under Alexander now, 80 under Niche. las then, the conspirators were men close about the Imperial person, the trusted officers and high nobles of the State. Two Princes, Obolensky -and Trubetzkoy, were at the head of the movement. All was planned, The oath of allegiance to Nicholas was to be refused. The throne was to be declared vacant and a provisional gov. ernment of five members was to be installed. Two thousand troops ready to revolt were drawn up in or near the Winter Palace, the scene of the recent attempt. But the critical moment was lost. The necessary vigour which would have decided the success of the attempt was wanting. The soldiers who should have been forced into action when their blood was hot were allowed to grow tired. Standing without greatcoats and without food through a Russian day would cool the ardour of most men, and it effectually nipped in the bud the blood-red' rose of revolution, which was to have bloomed in St. Petersburg and propagated all over Russia, But the point which deserves notice in this curious attempt jis the evidence of a certain Colonel Bulatow, who was implicated in the conspiracy avd had the success of the whole affair in his hands. To quote the narrative "On the Admiralty Quay, twenty paces from the Emperor, stood Colonel Bulatow with two loaded pistols firmly resolved to shoot the Sovereign; but some unseen power held him back. When the Emperor confronted him on his first interrogatory, and expressed surprise that he should be a conspirator, Balatow replied that, on the contrary, Sir Edward Creasy begins his vivid what surprised him was to seo the
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.