vain was old Kolokotrones released from his prison to
oppose the onslaught of Ibrahim's Arabs. The Greeks were driven back
through Tripolitza, and did not succeed in making a stand until the Turks
reached Nauplia. Here Demetrios Ypsilanti with a few hundred men repulsed
the Turkish vanguard at Lerna. Ibrahim settled down to the siege of Nauplia
and of Missolonghi. The country round about was laid waste and the people
killed. Ibrahim's hordes even cut down all trees and saplings. Thus the
fertile mountains and hillsides of Greece were changed into the barren
rocks they are to-day. Nothing so excited the sympathy of the lovers of
liberty in Europe as these wanton ravages on classic soil committed by the
savages of the desert. Even Alexander of Russia was so moved by the rising
indignation of his people that he dissolved diplomatic conferences at St.
Petersburg in August. He issued a declaration that Russia, acting on its
own discretion, would put a stop to the outrages of Greece. Accompanied by
the leaders of the Russian war party, he left St. Petersburg and travelled
to the Black Sea. All Europe waited for the long-threatened Russian advance
on Constantinople. Suddenly news arrived that the Czar had died at
Taganrog.

[Sidenote: Death of Czar Alexander]

[Sidenote: Alexander's early reforms]

[Sidenote: Russian letters stimulated]

Alexander expired on November 19 (December 1), in the arms of Empress
Elizabeth. His last hours were clouded by revelations of a plot to
assassinate him. As if to recant his reactionary measures of the last few
years, he said: "They may say what they like of me, but I have lived and
will die republican"--a curious boast which is justified only by the
earlier years of Alexander's reign. In the beginning of his rule the Czar
reversed the despotic tendencies of his predecessors. Free travel was
permitted; foreign books and papers were allowed to enter; the better
classes of the community were exempted from corporal punishments; the
emancipation of serfs was begun, and the collegiate organization of the
administration was supplanted by ministries modelled after those of the
chief European countries. As early as 1802 Alexander could boast of a
Cabinet as good as that of any constitutional monarch. Another far-reaching
reform was the reorganization of Russian public education, and the
encouragement given to the publication of Bibles. A temporary relaxation of
the censorship resulted in the founda