Page:General History of Europe 1921.djvu/724

 552 General History of Europe Under his dominion there were many races and peoples, dif- fering in customs, language, and religion Finns, Germans, Poles, Jews, Tartars, Armenians, Georgians, and Mongols. 1 The Rus- sians themselves had colonized the southern plains of European Russia and had spread even into Siberia. They made up a large proportion of the population of the empire, and their language was everywhere taught in the schools and used by the official?. In the time of Alexander I the great mass of the population still lived in the country, and more than half of them were serfs, as ignorant and wretched as those of France or England in the twelfth century. 997. Absolute Powers of the Tsar. Alexander I had inherited, as "Autocrat of all the Russias." a despotic power over his sub- jects similar to that to which Louis XIV laid claim. There was no thought of any responsibility to the people, and the tyranny which the Tsar's officials were able to exercise will become apparent as we proceed. During his early years Alexander entertained liberal ideas, but after his return from the Congress of Vienna he became as apprehensive of revolution as his friend Metternich and threw himself into the arms of the " Old-Russian" party, which obsti- nately opposed the introduction of all Western ideas. The Tsar could not prevent, however, some of his more enlightened subjects from reading the new books from western Europe dealing with scientific discoveries and questions of political and social reform. Alexander I died suddenly on December i, 1825. The revo- lutionary societies seized this opportunity to organize a revolt known as the "December conspiracy." But the movement was badly organized ; a few charges of grapeshot brought the insur- gents to terms, and some of the leaders were hanged. 998. Polish Rebellion (isso-issi). Nicholas I never forgot the rebellion which inaugurated his reign, and he proved one of the 1 The Cossacks, or light cavalry, who constitute so conspicuous a feature of the Rus- sian army, were originally lawless rovers on the southern and eastern frontiers, composed mainly of adventurous Russians with some admixture of other peoples. Certain districts are assigned to them by the government, on the lower Don, near the Black Sea, the Urals, and elsewhere, in return for military service.