ck upon his pillow to die. The empress was
weeping by his side. He took her hand, pressed it tenderly as if
bidding her an eternal adieu, and died. It was the 1st of December,
1825.

The empress Elizabeth in this sad hour forgot all her wrongs; for the
emperor had by no means been to her a faithful husband. She wrote to
her friends, "Our angel is in heaven; and, as for me, I still linger
on earth: but I hope soon to be reunited with him in the skies!"

The cry immediately resounded through Europe that Alexander had fallen
by poison. As the emperor had no children living, the crown, by
hereditary descent, passed to his next brother, Constantine. Alexander
had long been conscious that Constantine did not possess suitable
qualifications to govern, and Constantine himself, frivolous and
pleasure-loving, was not at all emulous of imperial power. When a mere
boy he had been married to a German princess, but fifteen years of
age. They endured each other through the angry strifes of four years
and then separated. Constantine became enamored of the daughter of a
Polish count, and sought a divorce. Alexander consented to this
arrangement on condition that Constantine would resign all right to
the throne. The terms were gladly accepted, and Constantine signed the
following renunciation, which was kept secret until the occasion
should arise for it to be promulgated.

"Conscious that I do not possess the genius, the talents or the
strength necessary to fit me for the dignity of a sovereign, to which
my birth would give me a right, I entreat your imperial majesty to
transfer that right to him to whom it belongs after me, and thus
assure for ever the stability of the empire. As to myself, I shall
add, by this renunciation, a new guarantee and a new force to the
engagements which I spontaneously and solemnly contracted on the
occasion of my divorce from my first wife. All the circumstances in
which I find myself strengthen my determination to adhere to this
resolution, which will prove to the empire and to the whole world the
sincerity of my sentiments."

Another document had also been prepared which declared Alexander's
second brother, Nicholas, heir to the empire. Napoleon, at St. Helena,
speaking of the King of Prussia and of Alexander, said,

"Frederic William, as a private character, is an honorable, good and
worthy man, but in his political capacity he is naturally disposed to
yield to necessity. He is always commanded by w