When I believed I had strictly accorded the time and the praise that were due to the wonders I was obliged to pass in review in return for the favour which, it was supposed, I had received, I returned to the original motive of my journey, and, disguising my object in order the better to attain it, I asked permission to see the source of the Neva. This wish, the insidious innocence of which could not eoneeal the indiscretion, was at first eluded by the engineer, who replied, " It rises up under the water at the outlet of Lake Ladoga, at the end of the channel, which separates the lake from the island on which stands the fortress."
I knew this already, but replied: " It is one of the natural curiosities of Russia. Are there no means of reaching this spring ? "
" The wind is too high; we could not see the bubbling up of the waters. It is necessary that the weather
186
SOURCE OF THE NEVA.
be calm, in order that the eye may distinguish a fountain which rises from the bottom of the waves; nevertheless I will do what I can in order to satisfy your curiosity."
At these words the engineer ordered a very pretty boat to be manned with six rowers, who were handsomely clad. TVe immediately proceeded, as was said, to visit the source of the Neva, but, in reality, to approach the walls of the strong castle, or rather the enchanted j)rison to which I had been refused access with so artful a politeness. But the difficulties only served to excite my desire : had I had the power to give deliverance to some unhappy prisoner, my impatience could scarcely have been more lively.
The fortress of Schlusselburg is built on a flat island, a kind of rock, very little elevated above the level of the water. This rock divides the river in two parts; it also serves, properly speaking, to separate the river from the lake, for it indicates the point where the waters mingle. We rowed round the fortress in order, as we said, to approach as nearly as possible the source of the Neva. Our rowers soon brought us immediately over the vortex. They handled their oars so well that, notwithstanding the rough weather and the smallness of our boat, we scarcely felt the heave of the waves, which, nevertheless, rolled at this spot as much as in the open sea. Being unable to distinguish the source, which was concealed by the motion of the billows, we took a turn on the lake ; after which, the wind having rather lulled, permitted our seeing, at a considerable depth, a few waves of foam. This was the spring of the Neva, above which our boat rode.
INUNDATIONS OF PETERSBURG.187
When the west wind drives back the waters of the lake, the channel which serves as its outlet remains almost diy, and then this beautiful spring is fully exposed. On sueh occasions, which are fortunately very rare, the inhabitants of Sehlusselburg know that Petersburg is under water. The news of such catastrophe never fails to reach them on the morrow ; for the same west wind which causes the reflux of the waters of Lake Ladoga, and leaves dry the channel of the Neva near its source, drives also, when it is violent, the waters of the Gulf of Finland into the mouth of the river. The course of this stream is therefore stopped, and the water, finding its passage obstructed by the sea, makes a way by overflowing Petersburg and its environs.
When I had sufficiently admired the site of Sehlusselburg, sufficiently siu`veyed, with a spy glass, the position of the battery which Peter the Great raised to bombard the strong fort of the Swedes, and sufficiently praised evei`y thing which scarcely interested me, I said, in the most careless manner imaginable, " Let us go and see the interior of the fortress: " — "its situation appears extremely picturesque," I added, a little less adroitly; for in matters of finesse it is, above all, necessary to avoid overdoing any thing. The Russian east upon me a serutinising look, of which I felt the full force. This diplomatic mathematician answered:
" The fortress, sir, possesses no object of curiosity for a foreigner."
" Never mind : every tiling is curious in so interesting a land as yours,"
188
THE INTERIOR OF THE
" But if the governor does not expect us, we shall not be suffered to enter."
" You can ask his permission to introduce a traveller into the fortress ; besides, I rather believe he does expect us."
In fact we were admitted at the first application of the engineer; which leads me to surmise that my visit, if not announced as certain, was indicated as probable.
We were received with military ceremony, conducted under a vault, through a gate ill defended, and after crossing a court overgrown with grass, we were introduced into—the prison? Alas! no: into the apartments of the governor, lie did not understand a word of French, but he received me with civility, affecting to take my visit as an act of politeness of which he himself was the object, and expressing to me his acknowledgments through the engineer, accordingly. These crafty compliments were by no means satisfactory. There I was, obliged to talk to the wife of the commandant, who spoke little more French than her husband, to sip chocolate, in short, to do every thing except visit the prison of Ivan—that imaginary prize, for whose sake I had endured all the toils, the artifices, and the wearisome civilities of the day.
At length, when the reasonable time for a call had expired, I asked my companion if it was possible to see the interior of the fortress. Several words and significant glances were hereupon exchanged between the commandant and the engineer, and we all left the chamber.
I fancied myself at the crowning point of all my
FORTRESS ОГ SCHLUSSELBURG. 189
labours. The fortress of Schlussellmrg is not picturesque: it is a girdle of Swedish walls of small elevation, and the interior of which forms a kind of orchard, wherein are dispersed several very low buildings; including a church, a house for the commandant, a barracks, and the dungeons, masked by windows the height of which does not exceed that of the rampart. Nothing announces violence or mystery. The appearance of this quiet state prison is more terrible to the imagination than to the eye. Gratings, drawbridges, battlements, and all the somewhat theatrical apparatus of the castles of the middle aces, are not here to be seen. The o;ovemor com-menced by showing me the superb monuments of the church ! The four copes which were solemnly displayed before me cost, as the governor himself took the trouble to say, thirty thousand roubles. Tired of such sights, I simply asked for the tomb of Ivan VI. They replied by showing me a breach made in the лга11 by the cannon of the Czar Peter, when he conducted in person the siege of the key of the Baltic.
" The tomb of Ivan," I continued, without suffering myself to be disconcerted, "where is it?" This time they conducted me behind the church, and, pointing near to a rose bi·ier, said, " It is here."
I conclude that victims are allowed no tomb in Russia.
¢í And the chamber of Ivan," I continued with a pertinacity which must have appeared as singular to my guides, as their scruples, reserve, and tergiversations appeared to me.
The engineer answered in a low voice that they could not show the chamber of Ivan, because it lay
190ANGER OF THE COMMANDANT.
in a part of the fortress then occupied by state prisoners.
The excuse was legitimate; I had expected it; but what surprised me was the wrath of the commandant. Whether it was that he understood French better than he spoke it, or that he had only feigned ignorance of our language, he severely reprimanded my guide, whose indiscretion, he added, would some day ruin him. This, the latter, annoyed with the lecture he had received, found a favourable opportunity of telling me, stating also that the governor had warned him, in a very significant manner, to abstain henceforward from speaking of public affairs, and from introducing foreigners into state prisons. This engineer has all the equalities necessary to constitute a good Russian ; but he is young, and does not yet understand the mysteries of his trade — it is not of his profession as an engineer that I speak.
I found it was necessary to yield; I was the weakest, and therefore, owning myself vanquished, I renounced the hope of visiting the room where the unhappy heir of the throne of Russia died imbecile, because it was found more c
onvenient to make him an idiot than an emperor. I cannot sufficiently express my astonishment at the manner in which the Russian government is served by its agents. I remember the countenance of the minister of Avar, the first time that I ventured to testify a wish to visit a castle that had become historical by a crime committed in the times of the Empress Elizabeth ; and I compare, with a wonder mixed with fear, the disorder of ideas that reigns among us, with the absence of all private views, of all personal opinion — the blind
RUSSIAN FORTRESS.
191
submission, in short, which forms the rule of conduct among all, whether heads or subordinates, who carry on the administration of affairs in Russia. The unity of action observable in this government astounds me. I admire while I shudder, in noticing the tacit accord with which both superior and inferior employes act in making war against ideas and even events. At the time, this sentiment made me as impatient to leave the fortress of Schlusselburg as I had been eager to enter it. I began to fear lest I should become by force one of the inmates of that abode of secret tears and unknown sorrows. In my ever-increasing sense of its oppressive influence, I longed only for the physical pleasure of walking and breathing beyond its limits. I forgot that the country into which I should return was in itself a prison ; a prison whose vast size only makes it the more formidable.
A Russian fortress ! — this word produces on the imagination an impression very different to that which is felt in visiting the strongholds of people really civilised, sincerely humane. The puerile precautions taken in Russia to hide what are called secrets of state confirms me, more than would open acts of barbarity, in the idea that this government is nothing more than a hypocritical tyranny.
After having myself penetrated into a Russian state prison, and found there the impossibility of speaking of things which every stranger would naturally inquire about in such a place, I argue with mvsclf that such dissimulation must serve as mask to a profound inhumanity : it is not that which is commendable that people conceal with so much care.
I am assured, on good authority, that the sub-
192
STATE PEISONEES.
marine dungeons of Kronstadt contain, among other state prisoners, miserable beings who were placed there in the reign of Alexander. These unhappy creatures are reduced to a state below that of the brute, by a punishment the atrocity of which nothing can justify. Could they now come forth out of the earth, they would rise like so many avenging spectres, whose appearance would make the despot himself recoil with horror, and shake the fabric of despotism to its centre. Every thing may be defended by plausible words, and even by good reasons: not any one of the opinions that divide the political, the literary, or the religious world, lacks argument by which to maintain itself: but, let them say what they please, a system, the violence of which requires such means of support, must be radically and intensely vicious.
The victims of this odious policy are no longer men. Those unfortunate beings, denied the commonest rights, cut off from the world, forgotten by every one, abandoned to themselves in the night of their captivity, during which imbecility becomes the fruit, and the only remaining consolation of their never-ending misery, have lost all memory, as well as all that gift of reason, that light of humanity, which no one has a right to extinguish in the breast of his fellow-being. They have even forgotten their own names, which the keepers amuse themselves by asking with a brutal derision, for which there is none to call them to account; for there reigns such confusion in the depths of these abysses of inicµiity, the shades are so thick, that all traces of justice are effaced.
Even the crimes of some of the prisoners are not
A DINNER WITH THE MIDDLE CLASS.193
recollected; they are, therefore, retained for ever, because it is not known to whom they should be delivered, and it is deemed less inconvenient to perpetuate the mistake than to publish it. The bad effect of so tardy a justice is feared, and thus the evil is aggravated, that its excess may not require to be justified. Infamous pusillanimity, which is called expediency, respect .for appearances, prudence, obedience, wisdom, a sacrifice to the public good, a reason of state ! Words are never wanted by oppressors; and are there not two names for everything that exists under the sun ? Ve are unceasingly told that there is no punishment of death in Russia. To bury alive is not to kill! In reflecting on so many miseries on one side, and so much injustice and hypocrisy on the other, the guilt of the prisoners is lost sight of, the judge alone seems criminal. My indignation is at its height, when I consider that this iniquitous judge is not cruel by choice. To such extent may a bad government pervert men interested in its duration! But Russia, marches in advance of her destiny. This must explain all. If we are to measure the greatness of the end by the extent of the sacrifices, we must, without doubt, prognosticate for this nation the empire of the world.
On returning from my melancholy visit, a new labour awaited me at the engineer's : a ceremonious dinner with persons of the middle classes. The engineer had gathered around him, in order to do me honor, Ms wife's relations and a few of the neighbouring landholders. This society would have interested me as an observer, had I not at the first moment perceived that it would furnish me with no new ideas.
VOL. II.К
194THE RUSSIAN MIDDLE CLASS.
There is no citizen class in Russia, but the petty employes and the small, though ennobled, landed proprietors, represent there the middle orders of other lands. Envying the great, and themselves envied by the little, these men vainly call themselves nobles. They are exactly in the position of the French bourgeois before the revolution; the same data produce everywhere the same results.
I felt that there reigned in this society a hostility, ill disguised, against real greatness and true elegance, to whatever land they might belong.
That starehness of manners, that acrimony of sentiment, ill concealed under an air of preciseness and propriety, recalled to my mind only too well, the epoch in which we live, and which I had a little forgotten in Russia, where I had hitherto only seen the society of courtiers. I was now among aspiring subalterns, uneasy as to what might be thought of them, and these people are the same everywhere.
The men did not speak to me, and appeared to take little notice of me; they did not understand French, beyond perhaps being able to read it with difficulty; they therefore formed a circle in a corner of the room, and talked Russian. One or two females of the family bore all the weight of the French conversation. I was surprised to find that they were acquainted with all that portion of our literature that the Russian police suffers to penetrate into their land. The toilette of these ladies, who, with the exception of the mistress of the house, were all elderly, was wanting in taste; the dress of the men was yet more negligent; large brown topcoats, almost traiUng upon the ground, had taken the place
THE RUSSIAN MIDDLE CLASS.195
of the national costume. But what surprised me more than their careless attire, was the caustic and captions tone of their conversation. The Russian feeling, carefully disguised by the tact of the higher orders, exhibited itself here openly. This society was more candid, though less polite, than that of the court; and I clearly saw what I had only felt elsewhere, namely, that the spirit of curiosity, sarcasm, and carping criticism influences the Russians in their intercourse with strangers. They hate us as every imitator hates his model; their scrutinising looks seek faults in us with the desire of finding them. As soon as I recognised this disposition I felt no inclination to be indulgent myself. I had thought it necessary to offer a few words of excuse for my ignorance of the Russian tongue, and I finished my speech by remarking that every traveller ought to know the language of the country he visits, as it is more natural that he should give himself the trouble of learning to speak the language of those whom he seeks, than of imposing upon them the trouble of speaking as he does.
This compliment was answered by the observation, that I must nevertheless resign myself to hearing French murdered by the Ru
ssians, unless I would travel as a mute.
'-' It is of this I complain," I replied; " if I knew how to murder Russian as I ought to do, I would not force you to change your habits in order to speak my language."
c¢ Formerly Ave spoke only French."
c¢ That was wrong."
" It is not for you to reproach us." к 2
196
CLASS INFLUENCE.
" I invariably speak my real opinions."
" Truth, then, is still thought something of in France ? "
" I cannot tell; but I know that it ought to be loved for its own intrinsic merits."
" Sitch love does not belong to our age."
" In Russia ? "
S( `No where; and especially in no country governed by newspapers."
I was of the same opinion as the lady, which made me desirous of changing the conversation, for I would not speak contrary to my own sentiments, nor yet acquiesce with those of a person who, when she even thought with me, expressed her views with a causticity that was capable of disgusting me with my own.
An incident occurred very a-propos to turn the conversation. A sound of voices in the street attracted everybody to the window : it was a quarrel among boatmen, who appeared outrageous in their anger. The conflict was likely to become bloody, when the engineer showed himself upon the balcony, and the sight alone of his uniform produced a miraculous effect. The rage of these rude men calmed, without its being necessary to address them a single word; the courtier, the most perfectly broken in to falsehood, could not have better disguised his resentment.
Russia in 1839 -Empire of the Czar: A Journey Through Eternal Russia Page 47
