Alexander I came to the throne of Russia just about the time that Thomas Jefferson was inaugurated president of the United States, old George III being still nominally king of England and Napoleon Bonaparte about to seize the power in France as First Consul, which he did the following year.
With the new emperor came a revulsion of foreign policy. The maritime differences as to question of blockade and right of neutrals were adjusted with England and a reconciliation was effected with George III. Paul's Council of State was dismissed and a new cabinet of younger men with English sympathies was installed. Still Alexander did not intend hostilities with France, but Napoleon was greatly irritated at this abrupt change in Russian policy.
No friend of his could flirt with Brittania.
To this attitude the high-spirited Alexander gave instructions to his ministers at Paris which breathed defiance toward Bonaparte, giving him to understand that he could not use Russia as a weapon against England. An elaborate treaty of peace and amity however was made between Napoleon and the Emperor, by which the First Consul promised to do a lot of things which he never did, and no doubt never intended to do, so far as provision was made for the recognition of the rights of various small kingdoms and policy of evacuation in the Eastern Mediterranean.
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From General Nelson A. Miles
Thrilling Stories of The Russian-Japanese War, 1904
