The popularity of the new sovereign was at its height.

All lips praised him, all hearts loved him.

He was declared to be a special gift which Heaven, in its boundless mercy, had conferred.

Unfortunately, this virtuous prince reigned but one year, leaving, however, in that short time, upon the Russian annals many memorials of his valor and of his virtue.

It was a barbaric age, rife with perfidy and crime, yet not one act of treachery or cruelty has sullied his name.