A terrible conflict ensued, in which blood flowed in torrents.  The emperor, heading his own troops, exposed himself, equally with them, to all perils.  As soon as it was evident that he would be compelled to fire upon his subjects, he sent word to his wife of the cruel necessity.  She was in the palace, surrounded by the most distinguished ladies of the court, tremblingly awaiting the issue.  When the thunder of the artillery commenced in the streets, she threw herself upon her knees, and, weeping bitterly, continued in prayer until she was informed that the revolt was crushed, and that her husband was safe.  The number slain is not known.  That it might be concealed, the bodies were immediately thrust through holes cut in the ice of the Neva.

Though the friends of liberty can not but regret that free principles have obtained so slender a foothold in Russia, it is manifest that this attempt could lead only to anarchy.  The masses of the nobles were thoroughly corrupt, and the masses of the people ignorant and debased.  The Russian word for constitution, constitutsya, has a feminine termination.  Many of the people, it is reported, who were shouting, “Constantine and the constitution for ever,” thought that the constitution was the wife of Constantine.  It must be admitted that such ignorance presents but a poor qualification for republican institutions.

At the close of this bloody day, one of the leading conspirators, a general of high position in the army was led a captive into the presence of Nicholas.  The heroic republican met, without quailing, the proud eye of his sovereign.

“Your father,” said Nicholas sternly, “was a faithful servant, but he has left behind him a degenerate son.  For such an enterprise as yours large resources were requisite.  On what did you rely?”

“Sire,” replied the prisoner, “matters of this kind can not be spoken of before witnesses.”

Nicholas led the conspirator into a private apartment, and for a long time conversed with him alone.  Here the tzar had opened before him, in the clearest manner, the intolerable burdens of the people, the oppression of the nobles, the impotency of the laws, the venality of the judges, the corruption which pervaded all departments of the government, legislative, executive and judiciary.  The noble conspirator, whose mind was illumined with those views of human rights which, from the French Revolution, were radiating throughout Europe, revealed all the corruptions of the State in the earnest and honest language of a man who was making a dying declaration.  Nicholas listened to truths such as seldom reach the ears of a monarch; and these truths probably produced a powerful impression upon him in his subsequent career.

Many of the conspirators, in accordance with the barbaric code of Russia, were punished with awful severity.  Some were whipped to death.  Some were mutilated and exiled to Siberia, and many perished on the scaffold.  Fifteen officers of high rank were placed together beneath the gibbet, with ropes around their necks.  As the drop fell, the rope of one broke, and he fell to the ground.  Bruised and half stunned he rose upon his knees, and looking sadly around exclaimed,