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wanted to entrust this position to a man hostile to the Poles, but may simply signify personal gratitude on the part of the viceroy.

As for the new Tsar he was remembered as a young boy watching a paradę in Warsaw; it was further known that he spoke Polish and a change for the better was generally expected, and was indeed shown by the Ukaz of April lOth 1856, which ended the State of siege in the Kingdom, and in Lithuania, postponed conscription and promised ap-pointments to the vacant bishoprics. Another improvement of conditions was manifested by the lifting of the ban on the issue of passports. Whoever wanted could now go abroad. Further and broader concessions were expected with the arrival of the Tsar in Warsaw.

The gentry began to discuss among themselves what they should demand from Alexander in a petition which they intended to hand to him. The country was exhausted by thirty years of martdal law, and very little was expected from the Russian govemment. This was the result of Paskevitch's rule. The Organie Statute became the ideał of the well-to-do landowners, and the petition originally suggested by Count Jan Jezierski, the Marshal of the Nobility for the province of Lublin, consisted in its finał version only of four points: an amnesty for the refugees, a return of the exiles from Siberia, Justices of Peace elected by the gentry and a Polish University in Warsaw. Yet, although petitions were received by the Tsar from his Russian subjects in the Empire, this privilege was denied to the Poles. Gorchakov espressly forbade anyone to speak to the Tsar, reserving this right only to himself, "lest the Tsar's thoughts might be directed towards different objectives than those planned by Gorchakov”.^,32> Jezierski on leaming this tried to go as far as Mińsk to meet the Tsar, but was promptly refused a visa. Already at this juncture a part of the gentry reflected that sińce they were not allowed to lay before the Tsar their demands, at least "national dignity should be saved by keeping aloof from the festivities which were being prepared for the visit of Alexander. However, the belief in his good will was so strong, that most of them came to Warsaw, and on his arrival on the 22nd of May, the Tsar received a spontaneous welcome from the crowds as in the good old ways before the Revolution of 1830”.¹³³>

It is possible that Alexander was prejudiced against the Poles by his German entourage and by the Russian officials. He greatly respected old friends of his father, of whom Gorchakov was one. As a result he showed unnecessary severity towards the gentry and the nobility in his opening speech in the Łazienki Pałace when the representatives of that class were presented to him. Alexander repeated and closed his speech with the phrase that flashed through the Kingdom: "Messieurs, point de reveries, point de reveries”.

To say this in front of venerable old gentlemen, drawn from the most conservative element in the country, was ąuite unnecessary and tactless. This phrase overshadowed the opening words, ”Moi, j’arrive au milieu de vous avec 1’oubli du passe.

132)    F. Skarbek: Pamiętniki F. hrabiego Skarbka, p. 283.

133)    Roczniki Polskie, Listy z Królestwa, vol. I, p. 83.

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