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 by the victory of Copenhagen. But ere the news of that event could reach his ear, Paul had met a terrible fate; for his tyrannies had so provoked his courtiers, that they declared his death to be essential to the welfare of the empire. At dead of night, in March 1801, the Emperor, in his regimentals, was reposing on a sofa, when the conspirators glided into his apartments. A hussar, who kept guard, opposing their entrance, was cut down with the stroke of a sabre; and the Emperor, awakening at the noise, sprang to his feet, and endeavored to intrench himself behind chairs and tables. Finding his assailants resolute, the Emperor implored mercy, and even promised to make them all princes; but observing that they were inexorable, he sprang forward to escape through a high window. At length a blow prostrated him on the floor, and a young Hanoverian, twining his sash round the victim's neck, and giving one end to an accomplice, twisted with all his might till the life of the miserable Emperor was extinct. The conspirators then retired, without molestation, from the palace. At early morn the intelligence was bruited about that Paul had died of appoplexy; and, in the course of the day, his eldest son, Alexander, was proclaimed Emperor of all the Russias.

The new Czar, for awhile, maintained neutrality between contending nations; but in 1804, when the Duke d'Enghien was seized at Ettenheim, carried to Paris, and shot in the wood of Vincennes, he assumed an attitude of hostility toward Bonaparte, formed a coalition with Austria and England, and undertook a campaign. The rapid successes of the French so bewildered Mack that he capitulated at Ulm; and Napoleon, after his entry into Vienna, marching into Moravia to meet the Russians, encountered their army, with the remains of the Austrians, at Austerlitz, and obtained one of the most glorious victories on record. Another coalition was soon formed; and Napoleon, appearing in Poland, fought at Eylau a battle bloody and indecisive; but at Friedland he completely vanquished the Russians, and forced the Czar to sue for peace. On a raft on the river Niemen, a conference was held between Napoleon and the vanquished sovereigns of Prussia, Russia, and Austria. This resulted in the Peace of Tilsit, in the erection of the Duchy of Warsaw, and in the acknowledgment of the elector of Saxony as its sovereign.

Continental Europe was now at Napoleon's feet; but against his prodigious power and inordinate ambition another confederation was formed; and, in this league, Russia took a conspicuous part. The Emperor of the French thereupon repaired to Dresden, and fruitlessly attempted to lure back the Czar to his interests. But failing in that object, Napoleon took the field at the head of four hundred thousand men, crossed the Niemen, and advanced to Wilna. The Diet of Warsaw, after proclaiming the liberation of their country, demanded that the invader should recognize the independence of Poland; and Napoleon, returning an evasive answer, drove the Russians before him to Smolensko, where preparations had been made to arrest his progress.

On the 16th of August, 1812, Napoleon was before the ancient city, and at noon next day the conflict began. The French, at the point of the bayonet, drove the Russians within the walls, and the battle raged fiercely till sunset; but, when night set in, the city was in flames. Next morning the French, entering without resistance, found the place abandoned, save by men who were yielding their latest breath amidst the glare of the con