Special correspondents at Paris, Berlin, and St. Petersburg all aver
that the Emperor Alexander was recently married, with all religious and legal ceremonial, to the Princess Dolgorouki, who has long been his acknowledged mistress, has legitimatised
her children, and has even declared them Imperial Princes, and sixth in the order of the succession. It is added that the marriage, though not without precedent in Russian history, and quite in accordance with Russian law, has deeply displeased the Imperial family, the Heir Apparent, in particular, refusing to be present. The event is of political importance, because it is believed that the Emperor—who is sixty-two, incurably melancholy, and afflicted with asthma—is inclined to resign, and may possibly reside for the future either in Livadia or southern France. The design of abdication is, howeyer, strenuously denied, and would prob- ably not be admitted atil the act was complete, and a new Czar could be presented to the troops and people. The Czar is so important in Russia, that any visible interregnum even of a few days would be sure to be selected for disturbances, which the Government are anxious to avoid. The alternative story, that the Czar desires to associate his son with him on the throne, is not in itself very probable, the Heir Apparent having a different policy from his father, which, while the latter was still Emperor, it would be most difficult to carry out. No Sovereign quite likes to lose all the popularity which usually attends a new reign, or to carry out his new views through the old Ministers of the State.
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