Note 79 — THE EMPEROR ALEXANDER I. AND V. N. KARAZIN⁠[79]

In my early youth I saw Vassily Nazarovitch Karazin two or three times. I remember that my father used to talk of his letter to Alexander I., of his close association with the Tsar, and of his rapid fall. In 1860 I read a remarkable life of the man in the Northern Bee. In the impetuous, enterprising career of Karazin everything arrests attention, most of all what was not in the Northern Bee, that is, what was left on the other side of the censor’s shears. I happened to get hold of a letter of Karazin’s to the Emperor (it was published in the Russian Messenger in 1810) and some other documents. At first I only thought of publishing the letter to complete the above-mentioned article. Then I felt inclined to make a few general observations regarding Alexander I.’s attitude to Karazin, and this I have done. The biography of V. N. Karazin is far from being covered by the article in the Northern Bee and these notes; they are only materials for it. I have hardly touched upon Karazin’s life, I have only tried to sketch the surroundings and block in the background against which his figure stands out. This article was published in The Polar Star, vol. vii. page 7.—(Author’s Note.)