269. ALEXANDER OF RUSSIA, Tribute to.—
I am much flattered by the kind notice
of the Emperor, which you have been
so obliging as to communicate to me. The
approbation of the good is always consoling;
but that of a sovereign whose station and endowments
are so pre-eminent, is received with
a sensibility which the veneration for his character
inspires. Among other motives of commiseration
which the calamities of Europe cannot
fail to excite in every virtuous mind, the
interruption which these have given to the
benevolent views of the Emperor, is prominent.
The accession of a sovereign, with the dispositions
and qualifications to improve the condition
of a great nation, and to place its happiness
on a permanent basis, is a phenomenon
so rare in the annals of mankind that when the
blessing occurs, it is lamentable that any
portion of it should be usurped by occurrences
of the character we have seen. If separated
from these scenes by an ocean of a thousand
leagues breadth, they have required all our cares
to keep aloof from their desolating effects,
I can readily conceive how much more they
must occupy those to whose territories they are
contiguous.—
To Count Pahlen. Washington ed. v, 526.
(M.
1810)
