The Massachusetts Spy, And Worcester County Advertiser

By the Jails. NEW-YORK, MARCH 16. By the packet ship Lewis, from Havre, we have received Paris papers to the 23d of January. Affairs in Russia continued to be tranquil, and there were no signs of any disturbance of the peace of the empire. The Count Nesselrode, Minister for Foreign Affairs, had addressed a note to all the foreign ministers in St. Petersburg, assuring them that his Imperial Majesty Nicholas I. intended to follow the same line of policy which had governed the administration of his august predecessor; to observe with fidelity all the engagements and relations of Russia, and to adhere to the pre-existing arrangements for preserving the general peace of Europe. Letters from Warsaw of the 2d Jan. state, that on that day the garrison and the civil functionaries took the oath of fidelity to Nicholas I. The Grand Duke Constantine, who administered in person that oath to the Russian Guard, left his palace that day for the first time since he heard of the death of his brother. The Warsaw Moniteur publishes two proclamations of Nicholas, of the 13th and 25th December. In the first, he announced to the Poles that he succeeds his brother in all his rights as Emperor of Russia and King of Poland; that consequently he swears fidelity to the Polish Constitution, in which nothing is to be changed. Manifesto of the Emperor Nicholas I. PETERSBURG, DEC. 26. Whereas his Imperial Highness the Grand Duke Constantine has declared that he will resolutely adhere to his former abdication of the Imperial Crown, the Grand Duke Nicholas has to-day ascended the Throne of the Russian Empire, and all the proper Authorities, and the different divisions of the Army, have taken the Oath of Fidelity to his Imperial Majesty. In reference to this important event, the following Imperial Manifesto has appeared:— Manifesto.— By the Grace of God, Nicholas I. Emperor and Autocrat of all the Russias— In the grief of our heart, amidst the general pain which oppresses us, our Imperial House, our beloved Country, we can only bend before the impenetrable decrees of the Almighty, and we can only seek for strength and consolation with him. It has pleased him to call before him the Emperor Alexander I. of glorious memory, and we all have lost a Father, a Ruler, who, during 25 years, was the happiness of Russia and of us. "When on the 27th Nov. the information of this disastrous event reached us, we hastened even in that moment of the most acute grief to fulfil a sacred duty, and, listening only
to the dictates of our hearts, we rendered the oath of fidelity to our elder Brother, the Czarowitz Grand Duke Constantine as legitimate Heir to the Russian throne in virtue primogeniture. Scarcely had we discharged this sacred duty, when we were apprised by the Senate that there had been deposited in their hands, on the 15th October, 1823, a letter, with the seal of the deceased Emperor, and with the superscription in the own hand writing of his Imperial Majesty; to be preserved by the Senate until my further commands; in case of my death, however, this packet is to be opened in an extraordinary Sitting, before any other act is proceeded in; that this most gracious command had been complied with, and that the following documents were contained in the packet:— "1. A letter of the Czarowitz Grand Duke Constantine, dated 14th January, 1823, addressed to his Majesty the deceased Emperor, by virtue of which his Imperial Highness renounces the succession to the Throne, eloping to him by primogeniture. "2. A Manifesto, dated August 16, 1823, bearing the autograph signature of his Imperial Majesty, whereby his Majesty, after the ratification of the Deed of Abdication of the Czarowitz Grand Duke Constantine, establishes, that we, the next in age, are heir to the Crown, according to the fundamental law of the Empire. "We were further informed, that documents of the same tenor had been deposited with the directing Senate, with the Holy Synod, and in the Cathedral Church of the Ascension at Moscow. These informations could not alter our resolution once taken. We observed in these documents only a renunciation of his Imperial Highness during the life of the Emperor, and confirmed by the consent of his Imperial Majesty; but we had neither the wish nor the right to consider this abdication, which, when it took place, was not proclaimed publicly, and did not receive the power of a law, as revocable. We would manifest by this our veneration of the first fundamental law of our country, and of the unalterable order of succession and, faithful to the oath we had taken, we insisted that the whole empire should follow our example. Under these momentous circumstances, it was not our intention to dispute the validity of the resolution pronounced by his Imperial Highness, much less was it our intention to bring ourselves in opposition to the will of the deceased Emperor, our common Father and Benefactor, which will always remain sacred to us. We endeavored solely to protect the law, regulating the succession to the throne from every infringement, to shew the purity of our sentiments, and not to leave our beloved country one single moment in uncertainty respecting its legitimate sovereign. "This resolution, taken with a pure conscience, and before God the Almighty, was blessed and approved by her Majesty the Empress Maria, our much beloved mother. "Meanwhile, the mournful account of the decease of his Majesty had reached Warsaw, direct from Taganrog, on the 25th of November, and consequently two days prior to its being received here. Firm in his resolution, the Czarowitz Grand Duke Constantine confirmed the same on the following day, by two Acts, dated 26th November, and commissioned to our beloved brother, the Grand Duke Michael, to carry them to us. These acts consisted in:— "1. A letter to her Majesty the Empress, our much beloved mother, in which his Imperial Highness renews his former resolution, of the 2d February, 1822, and serving as answer to the Act of Abdication, and finally renounces solemnly all his claims to the Throne, and recognizes the same as transferred to us and our successors, according to the appointments contained in the fundamental Law of the Succession. "2. A letter directed to us, wherein his Imperial Highness, anew, declares his former resolution, gives us the title of Imperial Majesty, and reserves for himself, only, the former one of Czarowitz, and calls himself the most faithful of our subjects. "However decisive these acts were, and although they provide to ocular demonstration, that the resolution of his Imperial Highness was irrevocably fixed, yet our own sentiments, and the situation of affairs, induced us to defer the publication of the aforesaid Acts, until the will of his Imperial Highness, with reference to the oath taken by us and the whole empire, should be declared. "Whereas we have now also received on the part of his Imperial Highness this last declaration of his will, we communicate the same to our subjects, accompanying it by the following documents:— "1. The letter of his Imperial Highness the Czarowitz Grand Duke Constantine to the deceased Emperor Alexander. "2. The answer of his Imperial Majesty. "3. The manifesto of the deceased Emperor, which confirms the abdication of his Imperial Highness, and recognizes us as successor to the throne. "4. The letter of his Imperial Highness to her Majesty the Empress, our much beloved mother. "5. The letter of his Imperial Highness directed to us. "In conformity with all these documents, and with the fundamental law of the Empire regarding the order of succession— full of veneration for the impenetrable decrees of a guiding Providence— we now ascend the throne of our ancestors, the throne of the Empire of all the Russias, as well as the thrones inseparable therefrom— that of the kingdom of Poland, and the Grand Duchy of Finland— and command 1. That the oath of allegiance be rendered to us and to the heir of our throne, the Grand Duke Alexander, Imperial Highness, our much beloved son. 2. That the period of our ascension to the throne be calculated from the 19th November, 1825. "Finally, we call upon our faithful subjects to join us in fervent prayers to the Almighty, that he will grant us strength to bear the burthen he has, in his Divine Providence, laid upon us, that he may preserve in us the firm resolution to live solely for our beloved country, and to tread in the footsteps of the Monarch whom we now deplore. "May our reign be nothing but a continuation of his, and may we fulfil all the wishes for Russia's happiness which animated him, whose sacred memory shall preserve in us the endeavour and the hope to merit the blessing of Heaven, and the love of our people. "Done in our Imperial residence, St. Petersburg, the 12th of December, in the year of Salvation, 1825, and First of our Reign." (Signed) NICHOLAUS.