He
would lie on his back, and allow the little things to scramble over him.
His Majesty admitted Mr. ------ to great closeness of intercourse, and
informed him of a conspiracy which was then on foot for the Czar's
murder. On the evening, when the assassination was to take place, the
Czar did not refrain from going to the public place where it was to be
perpetrated, although, indeed, great precautions had been taken to
frustrate the schemes of the conspirators. Mr. ------ said, that, in
case the plot had succeeded, all the foreigners, including himself, would
likewise have been murdered, the native Russians having a bitter hatred
against foreigners. He observed that he had been much attached to the
Czar, and had never joined in the English abuse of him. His sympathies,
however, are evidently rather English than Russian, in this war.
Speaking of the present emperor, he said that Lord Heytebury, formerly
English ambassador in Russia, lately told him that he complimented the
Czar Nicholas on the good qualities of his son, saying that he was
acknowledged by all to be one of the most amiable youths in the world.
"Too amiable, I fear, for his position," answered the Czar. "He has too
much of his mother in him."
September 27th.--Yesterday, much earlier than English people ever do such
things, General ------ made us a call on his way to the Consulate, and
sat talking a stricken hour or thereabouts.
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