RUSSIA AND THE RUSSIANS,

COMPRISING AN ACCOUNT OF

THE CZAR NICHOLAS

AND THE HOUSE OF ROMANOFF,

WITH A SKETCH OF

THE PROGRESS AND ENCROACHMENTS OF RUSSIA

FROM THE TIME OF THE EMPRESS CATHERINE.

By J. W. COLE, H. P. 21st FUSILIERS.

“Thrice is he arm'd that hath his quarrel just,
And he but naked, though lock'd up in steel,
Whoso conscience with injustice is corrupted."

SHAKESPEARE.

LONDON:

RICHARD BENTLEY, NEW BURLINGTON STREET,

1854.

Hatch / Grad 5000 66485 russ 8-11-os

RUSSIA AND THE RUSSIANS.

AFTER forty years of peace, the advent of a general war announces itself by signs and tokens which can no longer be mistaken. The enlightened nations of the world are driven into an alternative which they never desired less, and have struggled to avoid, until forbearance is construed into pusillanimity. Occupied with internal improvements and the interchange of commerce, long experience has taught them that the steam engine and the electric telegraph are more wholesome reasoners, more potent instruments of civilization and happiness, than the bayonet, the sabre, or the musquet ball. The brand of Althæa

B