The Providence Journal, And Town And Country Advertiser

PETERSBURGH, March 27.

It is impossible, at present, to get any precise idea respecting the death of Paul I. It is said in the Palace, that it was a blood-vessel which carried him off thus suddenly. His natural constitution and his mode of life, appear to preserve him from this sort of fate; he was of a spare habit, lived soberly, led a hard life, and took a great deal of exercise. On the other hand, he fatigued himself with excessive labour, entered passionately into politics, his soul was constantly agitated with mistrust and fear, and his love of women led him to great excess. These causes combined may serve to account for his premature death. Time only can clear up the mystery.

Whatever may have been the cause, his death does not appear to have excited any regret. His severity had alienated the minds of all classes; a vexatious and annoying Police had made an abode in the capital very melancholy. No ten persons dared to meet in one house, from the fear of alarming the suspicions of the Czar; no one was sure of preserving his employment, whether military or civil; all fortunes were held by an uncertain tenure; the rupture with England was completely unpopular, because the factories of the English in Russia, their manner of carrying on business, and the money which they expend, are favourable to industry and cultivation. At the same time a general prejudice in favour of the Grand Duke Alexander began to prevail among the people, the nobility, and the army. Add to this, the natural taste which all people have for change, and you will conceive the universal satisfaction with which this young Prince has ascended the throne.

The Paris papers also mention the following circumstances, concerning the death of Paul I.—At eleven o'clock in the morning preceding his death, being on the parade, he appeared all of a sudden to be struck with some idea; he called for a pen and ink, and wrote upon his hat a letter to the First Consul. He first gave orders that it should be instantly sent off by an extraordinary Courier. Afterwards, upon recollection, he said it would be sufficient to entrust the Courier who was to be sent on the following day to M. de Kalitchew. At nine o'clock at night he entered his apartment: at ten a Turkish servant, who constantly attended him retired; at eleven o'clock the death of Paul was made public. The Empress Mother took the oath to Alexander. At two o'clock in the morning the people took the Oath in all the churches.—For the last three months, Paul was subject to an hemorrhoidal flux.