Constantine Nikolaevitch

Constantine Nikolaevitch, Grand-duke of Russia, the second son of the emperor Nicholas I., and the brother of Alexander II., was born 21st September 1827. During the Crimean war he commanded the Russian fleet in the Baltic, and directed the defensive preparations which held the English and French armaments in check before Cronstadt. The leader of the Muscovite or national party, he strenuously opposed the concessions made to the western powers, but throughout gave, although contrary to expectation, steady allegiance to his elder brother from his accession to his unhappy death. On the outbreak of the Polish insurrection in 1862, he held the office of viceroy of Poland for three months, was appointed in January 1865 and reappointed in 1878 president of the council of the empire. In 1882 he was dismissed from this dignity, as well as the command of the fleet, on the suspicion of having intrigued with the revolutionary party, while his eldest son, Nicholas, was banished to Tashkend.