15/16 Embittered by the recollection of the fate of his father, who had died in his arms, and haunted by conspiracies for the destruction of himself and his family, he was probably the least happy man in his empire. His every act was a protest against the spirit of reform. The privileges so graciously bestowed upon the Grand Duchy of Finland by Alexander I.were for the first time invaded. Literature and the press were placed under rigorous censorship. The _Zemstvo_, his father's gift of local self-government to the liberated serfs, was practically withdrawn by placing that body under the control of the nobility. |