ambassador at Constantinople, holding at the same time the post of commander-in-chief of the Black Sea fleet. He was, indeed, one of the most trustworthy agents of Nicholas I, whom in 1837 he accompanied on his foreign tour. From 1844 to 1856 he was in charge of the infamous Third Section, or secret police. In 1854 he was sent to Vienna to bring Austria over to the side of Russia, but without success. In 1856 he was one of the plenipotentiaries who concluded the peace of Paris. The same year he was raised to the dignity of prince, and was appointed president of the imperial council of state and of the council of ministers. In 1857, during the absence of the emperor, he presided over the commission formed to consider the question of the emancipation of the serfs, to which he was altogether hostile. He died on 9 May (21 May) 1862 in St. Petersburg. Other Princes Orlov Alexey Fyodorovich Orlov's only son, Prince Nikolay Alexeyevich Orlov (1827–1885), was a distinguished Russian diplomatist and author. He first adopted a military career, and was seriously wounded in the Crimean War. Subsequently, he entered the diplomatic service, and represented Russia successively at Brussels (1860–1870), Paris (1870–1882) and Berlin (1882–1885). As a publicist he stood in the forefront of reform. His articles on corporal punishment, which appeared in Russkaya Starina in 1881, brought about its abolition. He also advocated tolerance towards the dissenters. His wife, Katherine (Kathi) Orlov had a close relationship with Otto von Bismarck in the early 1860s. Bismarck's wife said she was not jealous and credited her with a long period of Bismarck's happiness. ("Bismarck: The Man and the Statesman by A J P Taylor. Sutton History Classics) Prince Alexey Fyodorovich also had a brother, Mikhail Fyodorovich Orlov (1788–1842), who took a most active part in the Napoleonic wars and received the rank of General-major upon returning to Russia in 1814. A friend of Alexander Pushkin and convinced liberal himself, he now concentrated his attention on the projects for emancipation of the serfs and introduction of republican government in Russia. Since 1818, he was in charge of the Kishinev section of the Decembrist society. After the revolt failed, he was arrested but presently released on bail, through his brother's mediation. Thereupon he settled in Moscow and published a pioneering study of the state credit. Prince Vladimir Nikolayevich Orlov was a