country, without money or friends, he had afterwards served as a private soldier in the same army; but being severely wounded and mangled at Zurich [here he pulled open his rags and shewed several gun-shot wounds] he had closed his campaign in a French prison. He had now begged all the way to Petersburgh, to apply to the emperor himself for justice, and to implore him to inquire into the reason of his ignominious degradation from his rank. Alexander listened with patience till he had finished, and then asked, in a significant tone, if there was no exaggeration in his story? "Let me die under the knout," said the officer, "if I shall be found to have uttered one word of falsehood." The emperor then desired his brother to conduct the stranger to the palace, while he attended to the troops who were waiting for him. The result was, that the commanding officer who had behaved so shamefully, though of a good family and a prince in title, was severely reprimanded, while the brave warrior whom he had unjustly persecuted was reinstated in his rank, and presented by the emperor with a considerable gratuity.

Every thing that savours of harshness or cruelty is abhorrent to the feeling of this excellent monarch. A Russian, who was suspected of having wilfully set fire to a house, was doomed to undergo the torture. No sooner was the benevolent Alexander informed that this poor wretch had, upon mere suspicion, been put to the rack and expired under his torments, asserting his innocence with his last breath, than he immediately dispatched an officer to Casan, to investigate the matter thoroughly; and at the same time published an edict by which the torture is for ever abolished in Russia.

Alexander is one of those who know how to confer a favour in a manner that infinitely enhances the value of the gift. This is most strikingly exemplified in the admirable compliment which he paid to

the brave Kutusow, a compliment which it would, perhaps, be difficult to parallel for elegance, significance, or refined feeling. When he announced to that officer his elevation to the rank of prince of Smolensko, for his services during the campaign of 1812, against the French, the emperor accompanied his letter with a most valuable jewel, taken from the imperial crown, as a tribute to the valour of one by whom it had been so ably defended. He directed the vacancy thus occasioned to be filled up with a small gold plate, and upon the latter to be inscribed the name of Kutusow.

CHAP. XXXIX.

Memoirs of Field Marshal Von Blucher and Count Platoff.

MARSHAL VON BLUCHER, general and commander-in-chief of the Silesian army, was born in 1742, at his father's country-seat in Pomerania, and has been in the service of his country ever since his fifteenth year. He began his military career in the "seven years war," under the patronage and command of the celebrated ZIETEN, the friend and favourite of Frederick the Great. We therefore know that he studied in the military school, which was then, unquestionably, the greatest in all Europe. Ardent from infancy, Blucher preferred the cavalry, and entered into the regiment of red hussars, which had acquired peculiar distinctions for its bravery on different occasions, but particularly for defeating the French in the memorable battle of Rosbach. In this regiment our hero continued nearly twenty years, when he took offence at the promotion over him, of a junior officer. Superior influence caused his remonstrances to be disregarded: irritated at the in

justice, he challenged the favoured youngster; a duel took place, and Blucher in disgust demanded and received his discharge. It is not accurately known what length of time he was absent from his profession: but he lived some years in retirement, occupying himself in the cultivation of his paternal estates, which were tolerably extensive. It is also said, that in this seclusion he became particularly partial to literature and the arts. However this may be, the fact is not material to the history of his military life; but to judge from the style of his proclamations, we should conceive the report to be well-founded.

Blucher did not remain unknown to the different administrations of the Prussian government, while absent from his profession: but the stern and unforgiving disposition of the sovereign, miscalled great, caused him to repel all attempts of the friends of Blucher for getting him restored to the service. He, however, regularly appeared as a spectator at the grand annual reviews; and at one of these, after the death of Frederick II. he was noticed by Frederick William II. who restored him to his rank. From this period he began to ascend most rapidly to eminence. He very soon obtained a squadron in his old regiment of hussars; the colonel soon after. wards died, and Blucher obtained his rank. now came into perpetual service; his regiment being under the orders of the duke of Brunswick; and his name and deeds are well known on the banks of the Rhine, where he distinguished himself in the revolutionary campaigns. The various attacks which he made were all similar and characteristic. It was his plan to rush upon the enemy with irresistible impetuosity; to retire on meeting with serious opposition; to place himself at a distance and minutely observe the enemy's movements, to take advantage of every indication of weakness and disorder, by a new attack; and then to dart upon

He