nder, that
the Greeks "violated the passive obedience owed by subjects to their
legitimate sovereigns." Nicholas wanted Turkey for himself, and
proposed to leave no stone unturned to secure possession of
Constantinople.

After the battle of Navarino, on the 20th of October, 1827, where the
allied forces destroyed the Turkish fleet. England withdrew,
suspicious of Nicholas' schemes; but France and Russia continued the
war until by the Peace of Adrianople, the sultan recognized the
independence of Greece,--and ceded to Russia four fortresses in Asia
and the islands in the delta of the Danube. Russia was thus in
possession of the whole southern slope of the Caucasus, besides
holding part of its northern front. The czar began war upon the tribes
dwelling in the mountains, but found that he had engaged in a very
difficult enterprise. A soldier-priest named Schamyl defied the power
of Russia for a quarter of a century. It cost Nicholas more in men (p. 210)
and money to subdue the liberty-loving mountaineer, than all the wars
he waged in Asia.

The year 1830, was one of great unrest in Europe. Nicholas was deeply
angered when his friend Charles X of France was expelled. The
revolution in Paris was the signal for a similar movement in the
capital of Poland. Owing to the independent expression of opinion in
the Diet, Alexander had adjourned that body indefinitely in 1822. At
the same time the liberty of the press was revoked and the police
assumed a power in defiance of the law. The Grand Duke Constantine was
really a friend of Poland, but he was eccentric and impetuous and
often unconsciously gave offense. In 1830, Nicholas came to Warsaw to
open the Diet, when its members made demands which he could not grant.
Both sides were angry when Nicholas returned to St. Petersburg.

As soon as the French tricolor was raised above the consulate at
Warsaw, the trouble commenced. Taken unprepared, Constantine withdrew
with his troops. Again the Poles were divided; the patriots advised
reconciliation with Russia, while hotheads demanded the abdication of
the Romanofs. The first party sent a deputation to St. Petersburg and
another to Paris and London, to secure mediation. The czar's answer
was decisive; he absolutely refused to "make concessions (to the
revolutionists), as the price of their crimes." Again, too, there was
discord among the leaders as they entered upon a life or death
struggle. Poland appealed to Europe. The people were