Russians during the
Napoleonic wars. All critics agree, indeed, that the Arakcheev
administration was the golden era of the Russian artillery. The activity
of the inexhaustible inspector knew no bounds, and he neglected nothing
which could possibly improve this arm. His principal reforms were the
subdivision of the artillery divisions into separate independent units,
the formation of artillery brigades, the establishment of a committee of
instruction (1808), and the publishing of an _Artillery Journal_. At
Austerlitz he had the satisfaction of witnessing the actual results of
his artillery reforms. The commissariat scandals which came to light
after the peace of Tilsit convinced the emperor that nothing short of
the stern and incorruptible energy of Arakcheev could reach the sources
of the evil, and in January 1808 he was appointed inspector-general and
war minister. When, on the outbreak of the Swedish war of 1809, the
emperor ordered the army to take advantage of an unusually severe frost
and cross the ice of the Gulf of Finland, it was only the presence of
Arakcheev that compelled an unwilling general and a semi-mutinous army
to begin a campaign which ended in the conquest of Finland. On the
institution of the "Imperial Council" (1st of January 1810), Arakcheev
was made a member of the council of ministers and a senator, while still
retaining the war office. Subsequently Alexander was alienated from him
owing to the intrigues of the count's enemies, who hated him for his
severity and regarded him as a dangerous reactionary. The alienation was
not, however, for long. It is true, Arakcheev took no active part in the
war of 1812, but all the correspondence and despatches relating to it
passed through his hands, and he was the emperor's inseparable companion
during the whole course of it. At Paris (31st of March 1814) Alexander,
with his own hand, wrote the _ukaz_ appointing him a field-marshal, but
he refused the dignity, accepting, instead, a miniature portrait of his
master. From this time Alexander's confidence in Arakcheev steadily
increased, and the emperor imparted to him, first of all, his many
projects of reform, especially his project of military colonies, the
carrying out of the details of which was committed to Arakcheev (1824).
The failure of the scheme was due not to any fault of the count, but to
the inefficiency and insubordination of the district officers. In
Alexander's last years Arakcheev was not merel