In February, 1848, just after news of the revolution in Paris reached St. Petersburg, Emperor Nicholas I was advised of the growth of a subversive periodical literature within Russia. His informants implied that the Chief Administration of Censorship and the Minister of Education, Count Sergej Uvarov, the supreme authorities in the censorship, had been lacking in vigilance or ability. The charges were grave because, if true, they revealed a fundamental threat to the security of the police regime that Nicholas had maintained since the beginning of his reign in 1825. The threat was not one of out-and-out sedition; what was at issue was the suggestion by his informants that periodical literature had evaded the close supervision of the censorship and assumed the role of an independent observer of contemporary Russia. Nicholas realized the gravity of the charges and immediately moved to appoint a special investigating group known as the Menshikov Committee.