his "Complete Code of the Laws of the Russian Empire."

[Sidenote: Persian war]

[Sidenote: Defence of Choucha]

[Sidenote: Russian victories]

[Sidenote: Persia abandoned by England]

[Sidenote: Russia's ultimatum to Turkey]

[Sidenote: Massacre of Janizaries]

The military ambitions of Nicholas found a vent in the direction of Persia.
The encroachments of Ermolov, the Governor-General of the Caucasus, so
exasperated the Persians that soon a holy war was preached against Russia.
Ebbas-Mirza, the Prince Royal of Persia, collected an army of 35,000 men on
the banks of the Araxes. A number of English officers joined his ranks.
Nicholas at once despatched General Kasevitch with reinforcements for
Ermolov. Ebbas-Mirza was checked on his march on Tivlas by the heroic
defence of Choucha. In the meanwhile the Russians concentrated their
forces. The Persian vanguard, 15,000 strong, was defeated at Elizabethpol.
On the banks of the Djeham, Paskevitch, with a division of the Russian
army, overthrew the main body of the Persians and forced them back over the
Araxes. The Persians continued their resistance, relying on the terms of
the treaty of Teheran, wherein England had promised financial and military
subsidies in case of invasion. The English, promise was not kept. Hence
forth the Persians were at the mercy of the Russian army of invasion.
Almost simultaneously a rebellion against the Chinese Government broke out
in Kashgar. Undeterred by this diversion, Nicholas took up a vigorous stand
against the Turks. In March he presented an ultimatum insisting on the
autonomy of Moldavia, Wallachia and Servia, and on the final cession to
Russia of disputed Turkish territory on the Asiatic frontier. Turkey
yielded. Nicholas then joined in an ultimatum with England and France for
an immediate stop of the Turkish outrages in Greece. In this matter
Nicholas, who regarded the Greeks as rebels, showed himself more lenient to
the Turks, and negotiations with the Porte were permitted to drag. The
Sultan profited by the lull to execute a long contemplated stroke against
the Janizaries. The whole of this famous corps of bodyguards was massacred.

[Sidenote: Death of Bennigsen and Rostopchin]

During this year two men died in Russia who had distinguished themselves at
the time of Napoleon's invasion. One was General Bennigsen, a soldier of
German extraction and training, who took a leading part in all the Russian
campaigns against Napoleon