Page:Julian Niemcewicz - Notes of my Captivity in Russia.djvu/276

248 to crowned heads, or, as it is said, the effect of a drink which his mother used to give him. Whatever it may be, certain it is, that had not Catherine died suddenly, Paul I. would never have ascended the throne; for it is no longer a secret that she wished to declare him unfit for governing, and to appoint as her successor the young Grand Duke Alexander-Pawlowicz. The people having already obtained from Paul some relief, and the soldiers an increase of pay, prefer him to Catherine, but it is not so with the aristocracy. He sows less corruption and spares them less. It is very fortunate for him that his Empress (a rare instance!) is fond neither of intrigue nor power, and that Alexander-Pawlowicz, the presumptive heir to the throne, is a prince endowed with the most amiable qualities, otherwise he would not have reigned six months. In spite of all these extravagancies and follies, Paul I. had one virtue, which princes believe they may dispense with, I mean justice, even in politics. He was the only one of all the allied