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 282 ALEXANDER (RUSSIA) beat the Turkish fleet in the Archipelago. Prussia being annihilated, and Napoleon at the threshold of Russia, Alexander was forced to negotiate. In June, 1807, the two emperors met on a raft on the river Niemen, the frontier between Prussia and Russia. In the course of their now almost daily intercourse, Napoleon not only bewitched Alexander by his genius and his manners, but did not disdain to Hatter the foibles of the czar, whose former resent- ment gave way to the most enthusiastic friend- ship and admiration. By the treaty of Tilsit, Alexander got from the Prussian spoils the dis- trict of Bialystok in Lithuania. He entered warmly into all the Napoleonic schemes, and accepted the continental system, though it was pernicious at the start to the agricultural inter- ests and the exporting trade of Russia. Gus- tavus IV. having rejected every plan of ac- commodation with France, and refused the invitation of Russia to exclude English vessels from Swedish harbors, Alexander declared war against Sweden, invaded Finland, and con- quered the long-coveted duchy. The war was not yet ended when the interview of Erfurt took place, beginning Sept. 27, 1808. Here culminated the friendship of the two emperors, who, representing the west and the east, de- cided the destinies of Europe. The resistance of the Spaniards to Joseph Bonaparte, and English subsidies, encouraged the court of Vienna to appeal to arms for the third time in 1809. Alexander, as the ally of Napoleon, occupied Galicia, and at the peace got a slice of it. In Turkey, the fortresses of Rustchuk, Giurgevo, and Silistria were taken, and the bulk of the Turkish army on the left side of the Danube laid down their arms before Kutu- zoff. The war with Persia was also successful. In the interior Alexander continued the work of reform. The exclusion of English manu- factures gave activity to domestic industry. In 1810 he reorganized the council of the em- pire, and formed eight separate departments or ministries. He regulated the value of the cur- rency, introduced a new organization into Fin- land, and in 1811 inaugurated the church of the Holy Virgin of Kazan, one of the great mon- uments of St. Petersburg. About this epoch a revolution took place in his feelings toward Na- poleon, and he inclined to the ancient party of his nobles, who were enemies of France and of domestic reforms, and partisans of England. Under this influence he exiled some of his for- mer favorites, who for years had labored with him in the task of reform. Napoleon now oc- cupied the duchy of Oldenburg, and Alexander refused him his sister in marriage. The im- mense majority of the Russian nobility were hostile to the French alliance. Animosity in- creased, and the war of 1812 broke out. Eng- land and Sweden alone stood by Russia at that time helpless and negative allies ; but the treaty of Bucharest, concluded in that year by the mediation of England, on terms wholly ad- vantageous to Russia, disengaged the Russian armies operating on the Pruth and the Danube. Napoleon rapidly crossed the Niemen and in- vaded Russia, directing one part of his forces north toward St. Petersburg, while he himself pressed with the mass upon the centre of the empire toward Moscow. Alexander was taken almost unawares. He adopted the plan of Gen. Barclay de Tolly, retiring slowly step by step, to draw the enemy into the interior, de- stroying everything in the retreat, and thus facilitating the union of the central army with that coming from Turkey. He made an ap- peal to the religious and national feelings of the Russians, and organized levies en masse. The people were even more excited than their ruler. After the battle of Smolensk (Aug. 17) he transferred the command of the retreating but not dispirited army to KutuzolF, yielding to the desire of the nation to be commanded by a native Russian. It is not ascertained whether he ordered the burning of Moscow, but at any rate he approved the act. He refused all ac- commodation with Napoleon, answering that he had only begun the campaign, and would not treat while a foot of his dominions was oc- cupied by the enemy. The retreat of the French, the terrible crossing of the Beresina, and the final annihilation of the invaders, are well known. The Russian forces now overran the duchy of Warsaw, which had been created by the treaty of Tilsit, and whose free institu- tions had caused much uneasiness in Russia ; and soon afterward it was definitively incorpo- rated with the empire. The advisers of Alexan- der Kutuzoff, Volkonski, Araktcheyeff, Bala- shoff insisted on arresting there the further pursuit of the French, and leaving the rest of Europe to its fate. But England urged the continuation of the war, Prussia asked for help, and Alexander, in his manifestoes from "War- saw, Feb. 22, and Kalisz, March 25, 1813, ap- pealed to the European nations as the redeemer of the continent. In Kalisz an offensive treaty against Napoleon was concluded be- tween Russia, Prussia, and England, at the same time that the czar, animated with new impulses of religion, founded a Bible society, to spread the gospel among all nations. He took part personally in various battles in Germany and France, where he arrived as the leader of the crusade against Napoleon. On Oct. 12, 1813, the treaty of Gulistan put an end to the war with Persia, and Russia acquired thereby a part of the Caucasus and of Armenia. In Paris, Alexander defended the integrity of France against others of the allies. In June, 1814, he visited London, where he was bril- liantly received. In July of the same year he made a short visit to St. Petersburg. The senate proffered to him the title of "God- sent," which he refused. At the congress of Vienna, of which he was the most influential member, he gave to his newly conquered sub- jects, the Poles, a constitution, of which Car- not said that it was too good to be observed. Napoleon's escape from Elba now shook Eu-