Reminiscences of a Literary Life
CHAP. XIX
ALEXANDER I.
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CHAPTER XIX
THE EMPEROR ALEXANDER I. OF RUSSIA
I well remember the rainy, gloomy December day, in 1825, on
which Count Stackelberg, the Russian Minister Plenipotentiary at
Naples, invited a very numerous party to celebrate the anniversary of the Emperor’s
birthday. Prince Ischitella was one of the guests,
and I was dining with his family, who occupied a part of the same immense palazzo in which the Count had his residence. At the appropriate time the
Minister and all his guests stood up, glass in hand, to drink, with all the honours, the
health of the Emperor Alexander. The Cavalier
Don Luigi Medici, turning to the Duc —— said,
quite sotto voce, “Noi beviamo alla sua salute, ed egli è morte!”
(“We drink to his health, and he is dead!”) The Duc was electrified,
but said nothing. The toast was repeated, and the feast went on merrily to its conclusion.
Just before going to it, Medici had received despatches by a quick
courier; but he did not consider it consistent with Court and diplomatic etiquette either
to interrupt the banquet, or to be the first to announce the fatal news to the
Emperor’s own Minister. Count Stackelberg’s courier did
not reach Naples till late on the following day. When the dinner-party broke up,
Medici and the Duc imparted the tidings to two or three friends as
they were leaving the Count. Prince Ischitella, who came up to us from
the banquet at no very late hour, was deeply affected by the news, by
Medici’s whispered remark, and by the contrast between the
jollity of ![]()
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[CHAP. XIX |
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the scene and the fact of death. Yet the Prince was no
partisan of Russia, and no personal friend of the deceased Emperor. When Murat was King of Naples, he served on his staff; he
accompanied that daring, dashing sabreur all
through the fatal Russian campaign of 1812, was in the Battle of Smolensk, and other
murderous affairs, and was all but mortally wounded at the bloody Battle of Borodino;
where, without counting the wounded, 10,000 French and about 15,000 Russians lay side by
side, dead on the field, or in the redoubts. In the tragical retreat from Moscow, when he
was suffering greatly from his uncured, open wound, and from the intensity of the cold,
Murat divided with him his last bottle of wine, a magnum of
burgundy.
Francesco Pinto, principe d' Ischitella (1788-1875)
Italian aide-de-camp to King Joachim Murat; he was Minister of War in the Kingdom of the
Two Sicilies (1848-55). He published
Mémoires et souvenirs de ma vie
(1864).
King Joachim Murat of Naples and Sicily (1767-1815)
French marshall; he married Caroline Bonaparte (1800) and succeeded Joseph Bonaparte as
king of Naples (1808); in 1815 he was captured and shot in an attempt to retake
Naples.
