Russian trials (1864).

September-October.

Denmark's war with Prussia and Austria came to an end in October, now the territories of Schleswig, Holstein and Lauenburg, are under the administration of Prussia and Austria. To these territories, Denmark renounces its claim.

Previous to this, in September, Tsesarevich Nicholas Alexandrovich travel to Denmark in his birthday, accompanied by the remains of the Russian royal family.

The goal was for the Tsesarevich to ask Princess Dagmar to compromise, as the Russians and Danes had been arguing for some months.

The already delighted Tsesarevich fell much more in love with Dagmar when she (and the Royal family of Denmark) accepted.

On the other hand, Grand Duke Alexander Alexandrovich started a bad habit, playing a joke on the young prince Valdemar.

*******

"Tell me do you ever liked a girl?" The Tsesarevich asks his younger brother, eager to annoy.

"It's not important" Grand Duke Alexander insists, but so does Nixa "Well, there was a time ... but it wouldn't have worked"

"Not with that attitude" The older brother laughs.

*******

In the United States, President Lincoln is reelected, obviously receiving letters and gifts from foreign dignitaries, including Russia.

Grand Duke Alexander Alexandrovich urged his father to send some observers to see the recent unravelings of the American Civil War, which in the Grand Duke's opinion would soon end.

Emperor Alexander II accepted and sent some sailors and officers back to the United States, with diplomatic permission of course. The experience gained from observing and learning was already valuable, the battles on land and sea were different from most previous wars in terms of technological use and certain tactics of the moment.

The Tsesarevich Nicholas Alexandrovich was on a new journey, this time through Southern Europe, traveling from Greece where Prince George of Denmark now ruled as King George of the Hellenes (his future brother-in-law as well) and then to Italy. But something happened in the 20 of October.

At first there, with his newfound fanaticism for boxing (from an American match), Nicholas Alexandrovich participated in a boxing match, where he was thrown to the ground.

Since then the Tsesarevich was weak and in pain, what was initially considered rheumatism. Despite this he was sent to Nice, in the south of France.

There doctors diagnosed him with a cold ... then with sciatica.

Maria Alexandrovna and Emperor Alexander II were concerned, but doctors said the climate in the region would do him good. Almost everyone believed that Nicholas had a strong build.

*******

It is November and Alexander II of Russia launches his judicial reform (which includes the unification of a judicial system), a bar association was created, the equality of the parties was instituted, the trials were mostly made public, and the trials were introduced. jury (among other things), a good thing to begin with, but Grand Duke Alexander Alexandrovich noticed a problem.

His father was a moralist, jurors could not only decide whether the defendant was guilty or not, but they could also decide whether the defendant was guilty but should not be punished.

"I want to go back to work at the Okhrana" Grand Duke Alexander Alexandrovich insisted to his father.

"And why is that?" The emperor asked before giving an answer.

"... There are judges who allow terrorists to escape freely. We have to investigate that, if not arrest criminals, at least arrest judges for malpractice, they are supposed to be professionals" The Grand Duke insisted.

Grand Duke Alexander's judgment had proven to be good in dealing with the Poles, so the emperor allowed him to re-settle in the Okhrana, staying in Russia while the Tsesarevich prepared a new voyage.

A tour of southern Europe.

Grand Duke Alexander Alexandrovich for his part was beginning to increase the reach of the Okhrana, watching over judges and suspects throughout the heartland and west of Russia.

He used Pobedonostsev, who helped to point out various "liberal" judges, liberalism in itself was not the problem (for Alexander Alexandrovich) the problem was the judges' decisions about whether or not to punish criminals.

The Okhrana was beginning to denote irregularities in judges' decisions despite the reform, and therefore, a problem within the government.

Certain criminals had been so scandalously pardoned that Grand Duke Alexander formally insisted on repeating the trial, but with a different judge. Certainly the Okhrana's request was sometimes accepted, leading to new criminals being imprisoned or exiled to Siberia.

Sometimes executed or exiled abroad.

On certain occasions there were also extrajudicial corporal punishments, Grand Duke Alexander tried to keep the Okhrana's participation in such practices as minimal as possible.

As a founding member of the Okhrana or at least responsible for the founding of the Okhrana, the influence of the body and the Grand Duke within the institution increased in the European regions of Russia.

The body had been created only 1-2 years more a few months, but it expanded from Poland, Western Ukraine, Belarus and Luthiania to regions such as Bessarabia, Finland and most of European Russia (with the exception of the North Caucasus).

An intelligence service like the Okhrana would be very useful, you just had to iron out some rough edges or imperfections.