The Russian people are singularly adroit: it is against the will of nature that this race of men has been driven by human revolutions towards the pole, and that it is kept there by political circumstances. He who would penetrate further into the designs of Providence, might perhaps recognise a war with the elements as the rough trial to which God has subjected a nation, destined by Him some day to rule over others. A situation demanding a severe struggle is the school of Providence.
Fuel is becoming scarce in Russia. Wood is as dear in Petersburg as in Paris. There are houses here which consume the value of nine or ten thousand francs per winter. In beholding the inroads made upon the forests we may ask, with inquietude, how will the next generation warm themselves.
If the jest be pardonable, I would advise as a measure of prudence on the part of the people who enjoy a genial climate, that they should furnish the
308ADDRESS OF THE RUSSIAN PEOPLE.
.Russians wherewith to keep good fires. They might then less covet the southern sun.
The carts used for removing the filth and refuse of the city are small and inconvenient. With such machines a man and horse can do but little work in a day. Generally speaking, the Russians show their skill rather in their manner of using inferior implements than by the pains they take to perfect those which they have. Endowed with little power of invention, they most frequently lack the mechanical appliances suitable to the end they would attain. This people, who possess so much graee and so much facility of character, have no creative genius. Once for all, the Russians are the Romans of the north. Both people have drawn their arts and sciences from strangers. The former have intelligence, but it is an imitative and therefore ironical intelligence ; it counterfeits every thing, and imagines nothing. Ridicule is a prevailing trait in the character of tyrants and slaves. All oppressed people are given to slander, satire, and caricature; they revenge themselves for their inaction and degradation by sarcasm. The nature of the relation which exists between nations and their governments has yet to be elucidated. In my opinion, each nation has for a government the only one which it could have. I do not however pretend either to impose or expound this system. It is a labour which I leave to those who are worthier and wiser than I: my present object is the less ambitious one of describing that which has most struck me in the streets and on the quays of Petersburg.
Several parts of the Neva are entirely covered with boats of hay. These rural objects are larger
THE PLASTERERS.
309
than many houses; they are hung with straw mattings, which give them the picturesque appearance of oriental tents or Chinese junks.
The trade of plasterer is important in a city the interior of whose houses is a prey to swarms of vermin, and the exterior spoilt in appearance every winter. The manner in which the Russian plasterers perform their work is curious. There are only three months in the year during which they can work outside the houses ; the number of artificers is therefore considerable, and they are found at the corner of every street. These men, suspended at the peril of their life on little planks attached to a long hanging cord, seem to support themselves like insects against the edifices which they rewhiten.
In the provinces they whitewash the towns through which the emperor may have to pass: is this an honour rendered to the sovereign, or do they seek to deceive him as regards the wretchedness of the land ? In general the Russians carry about their persons a disagreeable odour, which is perceptible at a considerable distance. The higher classes smell of musk, the common people of cabbage, mixed with exhalations of onions and old greasy perfumed leather. These scents never vary.
It may be supposed from this, that the thirty thousand subjects of the emperor who enter his palace on the 1st of January, to offer him their felicitations, and the six or seven thousand that we shall see to-morrow pressing into the interior of the palace of Peterhoff, in honour of their empress, must leave on their passage a formidable perfume.
Among all the women of the lower orders whom I
о
%
10 DISPROPORTION OF WOMEN TO MEN.
have hitherto met in the streets, not a single one has appeared to me to possess beauty, and the greater number among them are ugly and dirty to a degree that is repulsive. Astonishment is excited by the recollection that they are the wives and mothers of men with features so fine and regular, profiles so perfectly Grecian, and forms so elegant and supple as those seen among even the lowest classes of the nation. There are no where old men so handsome, nor old women so hideous, as in Russia. I have seen few of the citizens' wives. One of the singularities of Petersburg is, that the number of women in proportion to that of the men is less than in other capitals. I am assured that the former do not at the utmost form more than a third of the total population of the city. Their scarcity causes them to be only too highly prized. They attract so eager an attention that there are few who risk themselves alone after a certain hour in the streets of the less populous quarters. In the capital of a country altogether military, and among a people addicted to drunkenness, this discreetness appears to me sufficiently well founded. At all times the Russian women show themselves less in public than the French: it is not necessary to go far back to find the time when they passed their lives shut up like the women of Asia. This reserve, the remembrance of which still lingers, recalls, like so many other Russian customs, the origin of the people. It contributes to the dnlness of the streets and the fetes of Petersburg. The finest sights in this citv are the parades, which strengthens my former observation, that the Russian capital is a camp, somewhat more stable and pacific than a mere bivouac.
RUSSIAN POLITENESS.311
There are few cafes in Petersburg, and no authorised public balls in the interior of the city. The promenades are little frequented, and those who are met there exhibit a gravity that conveys but little idea of enjoyment.
But if fear renders the men serious, it also renders them extremely polite. I have never elsewhere seen so many men of all classes treating each other with respect. The driver of the drowska formally salutes his comrade, who never passes him without rendering reverence for reverence; the porters salute the plasterers, and so with all the others. This urbanity is3 perhaps, affected; at least, I believe it overstrained : nevertheless, the mere appearance of amenity contributes to the pleasure of life. If a pretended politeness has so much about it that is valuable, what a charm must real politeness possess, the politeness, that is to say, of the heart!
A stay in Petersburg would be agreeable to any traveller who possessed character, and who could believe all that he heard. The greatest difficulty would be the escaping of dinners and soirees, those real plagues of 1tussia, and it may be added of all societies where strangers are admitted, and consequently where intimacy is excluded.
I have accepted here but few private invitations. I was chiefly curious to view the solemnities of the court, but I have seen enough; one soon wearies of wonders in the contemplation of which the heart has no share.
END OF THE FIRST VOLUME.
CONTENTS
OF
THE SECOND VOLUME.
CHAPTER XV.
Fete of Peterhoff. —The People in the Palace of their Master.
—Immense Power of the Emperor. — The Empress Cathe
rine's Motives for instituting Schools.—Views of the present
Emperor.—Russian Hospitality. — Foreigners' Descriptions
of Russia. — The Author's Motives in writing his Travels.—
No Middle Class in Russia. — The Children of the Priests.—
Capital Punishments. — Abject Misery of the People.—Rules
for Foreigners who would seek Popularity in Russia. — Pro
bity of the Peasants. — Pickpockets in the Palace. — The
Journal des Débats.—The Site of Peterhoff.—The Park
Illuminations.—A Citizen Bivouac. — The English Palace.—
Silence of the Crowd. —The Ball. —Good Or
der of the Pea
sants.—Accident in theGulf.—Evil Omens. — The Empress's
Mode of Life.—Description of the Illuminations. — Review
of the Corps of Cadets. — A Cadet in favour. — The Circas
sian Guard.Page 1
CHAPTER XVI.
Cottage of Peterhoff.— A Surprise. — The Empress.— Her Dress, Manners, and Conversation. — The Hereditary Grand Duke.—An embarrassing Question. — Interior of the Cottage.— The Grand Duke acts as Cicerone. — Timidity in Society.—The Prince and the young Lady.—Cabinet of the Emperor. — Castle of Oranienbauni.—Fortress of Peter HI. — Account of his Assassination. — The Summer Houses of the Empress Catherine. — The Camp of Krasnacselo. - 39 A 2
IV
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER XVII.
Responsibility of the Emperor.—Effects of the Storm atPeter-hoff.—Death of Two Englishmen.—The Mystery in which all Occurrences are enveloped.—A Steam-Boat saved by an Englishman. — The Russian Police. — Disappearance of a Feimne de Chambre. — Politeness and Brutality united.— Cruelty of a Feldjäger.— Quarrel among Work-people, and the revolting Cruelty of the Police. — The Emperor a Reformer.— The Column of Alexander. — Reform in the Language of the Court. — The Church of Saint Isaac. — Its Immensity. — Spirit of the Greek Religion. — Its Degradation. — Conversation with a Frenchman. — A travelling Prison. — Insurrection caused by a Speech of the Emperor's
—Bloody Scenes on the Volga. — History of the Poet
Fouskine.— His Duel and Death. — Fate of his ambitious
Successor. — The Poetry of Pouskine. — Effects of the Adop
tion of Foreign Languages in Russia. — Consequences of the
Rage for English Nurses and Governesses in France. — Su
periority of the Chinese. — The Confusion of Tongues. —
Rousseau.—Decline of French Literature.- Page 5G
CHAPTER XVin.
Disturbances in Russia. —Parallel between French and Russian Crimes and Cruelties. — Characteristics of Revolt in Russia.
—Order in Disorder. — Danger of inculcating liberal Ideas
among ignorant Populations. — Reasons for Russian Supe
riority in Diplomacy. — History of Thelencf, a Tale of Modern
Russia. - - - - - - - - -91
CHAPTER XIX.
Petersburg in the Absence of the Emperor. — Character of the Courtiers. — The Tchinn. — Its Nature and Origin.—Destruction of the Aristocracy. — Character of Teter the Great.
—The Tchinn divided into fourteen Classes. — An immense
Power in the Hands of the Emperor. — Opposite Opinions on
the future Influence of Russia. — Russian Hospitality.— Po
lite Formalities. — Resemblance to the Chinese. — Difference
CONTENTS.
V
between the Russians and the French. — Russian Honesty.—
Opinion of Napoleon. — The only sincere Man in the Empire.
—Spoiled Savages. — Errors of Peter the Great. — Absurd
Architecture. — Beauty of the Quays.—The Great Scµiare.
The Churches.— Palace of the Taurida.—Antique Venus.—
The Hermitage. — Picture Gallery. — Private Social Code
of the Empress Catherine..... Page 137
CHAPTER XX.
The Minister of War. — An Evasion.—The Fortress of Sehlus-selburg. — Formalities. — Troublesome Politeness. — Hallucinations. — Kotzebue in Siberia. — The Feldjäger. — Manufactories of Petersburg. — Houses of Russian Peasants. — A Russian Inn. — Dirtiness of the People. — The Country Women. — Bad Roads. — The Engineer and his Wife. — The Sluices of Sc·hlusselburg. — Union of the Caspian and Baltic. — The Source of the Neva. — Inundations of Petersburg. — The Interior of the Fortress of Schlusselburg. — The Tomb of Ivan. — Anger of the Commandant. — State Prisoners. — A Dinner with the Middle Classes in Russia.— Natural Causticity of the People. — Polite Conversation. — Madame de Genlis. — French Modern Literature prohibited.— A National Dish. —Difference in the Manners of the Higher and Middle Classes. — Return to Petersburg. - -169
CHAPTER XXI.
Philosophy of Adieus. — Imagination.—A Twilight Scene in Petersburg. — Northern Mythology. — God in Nature. — The Spirit of the World. — Literary Candour. — The Bridge of Neva at Night. — Petersburg compared to Venice. — The Gospel dangerous. — Religion in Russia. — Janus. — New Poland. — The Future. — A Delay. — History of the Prince and Princess Troubetzko'¿. — Devotion of the Princess. — Fourteen Years in the Uralian Mines. — Mercy of the Emperor. — The Children of a Convict. —Colonisation in Siberia. — A Mother's Anguish. — Second Petition to the Emperor, and his Answer. — A final Opinion on the Character of tire Emperor. — The Family of the Exiles. — Change in the Author's Plans. — Means taken for deceiving the Police. 201
VI
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER XXII.
Road from Petersburg to Moscow. — Speed of travelling. — A Livonian. — Punishment of a Postilion. — The best means of governing. — English Carriages on Russian Roads. — The Country People. — Aspect of the Country. — The Post-house. — Mountains of Valdai. — Costume of the Peasantry.—Russian Ladies en Deshabille.—Small Russian Towns.— Torjeck Russian Leather. — Chicken Fricassee. — A double Road.
Page 229
CHAPTER XXIII.
The Countess O'Donnell. — Boy Coachmen. — The Road. —
Gracefulness of the People. — Dress of the Women. — The
See-saw. — Beauty of the Female Peasants. — Russian Cot
tages.— Customs of the Serfs.— Devout Thieves.—Want
of Principle in the Higher Classes. — Female Politicians. —
Domestic Happiness of the Serfs. — Casuistical Reflections.—
Connection of the Church and State. — Abolition of the Pa
triarchate of Moscow. — Fundamental Difference between
Sects and a Mother Church. — History of a Foal. — The
Author injured by the Moral Atmosphere. — National Moral
Responsibility. — Dream of a waking Man. — First View of
the Volga.— Spain and Russia compared. — Dews of the
North.251
CHAPTER XXIV.
First View of Moscow. — Symbolic Architecture of Greek
Churches. — Castle of Petrowski. — Entrance to Moscow. —
Aspect of the Kremlin.—Church of SaintBasil.—The French
at Moscow. — Anecdote relative to the French in Russia. —
Battle of Moskowa. — The Kremlin a City. — Origin of the
word Czar. — An English |Hotel in Russia. — The City by
Moonlight. — Population of Moscow. — The Object of Con
science.— Gardens under the Walls of the Kremlin.— De
scription of the Fortress. — Ivan III. — Napoleon and the
Kremlin. — Modern Grandiloquence.... 283
CONTENTS.VÜ
CHAPTER XXV.
The Kremlin by Daylight. — Character of its Architecture. —
Symbolic Imagery. — Relation between the Character of
Buildings and Builders. — Ivan IV. — Patience criminal. —
Introduction to the History of Ivan IV. — Reasons for credit
ing Karamsin.Page 302
CHAPTER XXVI.
History of Ivan IV. — Commencement of his Reign.—Effects of his Tyranny. — One of its Causes. — His Marriages. — His Cruelties. — Fate of Novgorod. — Abdication. — The Secret of Russian Servility. — Ivan resumes his Crown. — The Opritchnina. — Extracts from Karamsin. — Cowardice of Ivan. — Siberia conquered. — Friendship of Ivan and Queen Elizabeth of England. — Ivan assumes the Cowl. — Religious Resignation. — The only independent Church. — National and universal Religion. — Extract from Karamsin. — Anecdote of Grand
Duke Constantine. — Correspondence of Ivan with Griasnoï. — Livonia ceded. — Murder of the
Czarewitch. — Death of Ivan.Appendix: A New Order
of Architecture. — Russian Equity. — Sketch of Ivan III.,
by Karamsin. — Resemblance of Peter the Great to the
Ivans. — Account of the Death of Alexis, Son of the Czar
Peter, by M. de Ségur. ¦312
■$ùn(`&
ТПЕ
EMPIRE ОЕ THE CZAB,
CHAPTER XV.
l·ete l)f feterhoff.—the people in the palace of their master. — immense power of the emperor. —the empress Catherine's motives for instituting schools. — views of
the present emperor.russian hospitality.foreigners'
descriptions of russia the author`s motives in writing
his travels. — no middle class in russia.the children
of the priests.capital punishments.abject misery
of the people. rules for foreigners who would seek
popularity in russia.probity of the peasants. pick
pockets in the palace.the journal des debats. the
site of peterhoff.the park illuminations.a citizen
bivouac.the english palace.silence of the crowd.
the ball. good order of the peasants. — accident in
the gulf.evil omens. the empress's mode of life. —
description of the illuminations. — review of the corps
of cadets.a cadet in favour.the circassian guard.
It is necessary to view the fete of Peterhoff under two different lights, the material, and the moral ; thus viewed, the same spectacle produces very different impressions.
Russia in 1839 -Empire of the Czar: A Journey Through Eternal Russia Page 30
