f social and political reform, and yet he
steals many a longing glance towards the dome of St. Sofia. This
instability in his nature has been thus pointedly criticised by his
friend Prince Czartoryski:[236]

"Grand ideas of the general good, generous sentiments, and the
desire to sacrifice to them a part of the imperial authority, had
really occupied the Emperor's mind, but they were rather a young
man's fancies than a grown man's decided will. The Emperor liked
forms of liberty, as he liked the theatre: it gave him pleasure and
flattered his vanity to see the appearances of free government in
his Empire: but all he wanted in this respect was forms and
appearances: he did not expect them to become realities. He would
willingly have agreed that every man should be free, on the
condition that he should voluntarily do only what the Emperor
wished."

This later judgment of the well-known Polish nationalist is probably
embittered by the disappointments which he experienced at the Czar's
hands; but it expresses the feeling of most observers of Alexander's
early career, and it corresponds with the conclusion arrived at by
Napoleon's favourite aide-de-camp, Duroc, who went to congratulate the
young Czar on his accession and to entice him into oriental
schemes--that there was nothing to hope and nothing to fear from the
Czar. The _mot_ was deeply true.[237]

From these oriental schemes the young Czar was, for the time, drawn
aside towards the nobler path of social reform. The saving influence
on this occasion was exerted by his old tutor, Laharpe. The
ex-Director of Switzerland readily persuaded the Czar that Russia
sorely needed political and social reform. His influence was
powerfully aided by a brilliant group of young men, the Vorontzoffs,
the Strogonoffs, Novossiltzoff, and Czartoryski, whose admiration for
western ideas and institutions, especially those of Britain, helped to
impel Alexander on the path of progress. Thus, when Napoleon was
plying the Czar with notes respecting Turkey, that young ruler was
commencing to bestow system on his administration, privileges on the
serfs, and the feeble beginnings of education on the people.

While immersed in these beneficent designs, Alexander heard with deep
chagrin of the annexation of Piedmont and Parma, and that Napoleon
refused to the King of Sardinia any larger territory than the
Siennese. This breach of good fai