In the meantime, in the midst of the siege, in March, 1855, Nicholas died, and left to his son and heir, Alexander II, the enormous difficulties which beset the country. The new Emperor was thirty-seven years old at the time, and he was well fitted to cope with the complicated situation which faced him.
His first care was to terminate upon honorable conditions the war which was exhausting Russia. Negotiations were at once opened, through the Court of Vienna, with a view to a settlement of this so-called Eastern question. The Western Powers could not agree upon the guarantees to be exacted from Russia. France demanded the neutralization of the Black Sea, or the limitation of the number of vessels which the Tsar might keep in it.
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From General Nelson A. Miles
Thrilling Stories of The Russian-Japanese War, 1904
