In this she was mistaken. Nicholas, however, demonstrated his willingness to avoid the struggle over the succession, and at once took the oath of allegiance to Constantine who was the lawful heir, and who was that very day proclaimed Emperor. Messengers were sent to Poland to see Constantine, and after an interim of three weeks, documents came from him confirming his resignation in the most emphatic and solemn manner, and offering his allegiance to his brother Nicholas. Constantine seems to have taken this step freely and there were many reasons which moved him to this course.
He probably realized that he was unfit to rule so vast an empire, and he knew also that his wife, a Roman Catholic, and not of royal birth, could never be received at the Russian Court with the honors due to an Empress, and that his children would be ineligible to the succession. Furthermore he had become more greatly interested in Poland than in Russia, and he prized above all things the quiet of his domestic life at Warsaw.
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From General Nelson A. Miles
Thrilling Stories of The Russian-Japanese War, 1904
