Russia in 1839 -Empire of the Czar: A Journey Through Eternal Russia

by Astolphe De Custine

  Were I in the place of the emperor, I should not be content with forbidding my subjects to complain; I should also forbid them to sing, which is a disguised mode of complaining. These accents of lament are avowals, and may become accusations : so true it is that the arts themselves, under despotism, are not innocent; they are indirect protestations.

  Hence, no doubt, the taste of the government and the courtiers for the works, literary or artistical, of foreigners: borrowed poetry has no roots. Among

  VOL. III.I

  170

  THE ROAD TO SIBERIA.

  a people of slaves, when patriotic sentiments produce profound emotions, they are dreaded: everything that is national, including even music, becomes a means of opposition.

  It is so in Russia, where, from the corners of the farthest deserts, the voice of man lifts to heaven vengeful complaints; demanding from God the portion of happiness that is refused him upon earth. Nothing more strikingly reveals the habitual sufferings of the people than the mournfulness of their pleasures. The Russians have consolations, but no enjoyments. I am surprised that no one before me should have warned the government of its imprudence in allowing the people an amusement which betrays their misery and their resignation. He who is powerful enough to oppress men should, for consistency's sake, forbid them to sing.

  I am now at the last stage on the road to Nijni. `We have arrived on three wheels, and dragging a prop of wood in the place of the foiu`th.

  A great part of the road from Yaroslaf to Nijni is a long garden avenue, traced almost always in a straight line, broader than the great avenue in our Champs-Élysees at Paris, and flanked on either side by two smaller alleys, carpeted with turf and shaded by birch-trees. The road is easy, for they drive nearly always upon the grass, except when crossing marshes by means of elastic bridges, a kind of floating floors, more cmious than safe either for the carriages or the horses. A road on which grows so much grass can be little frequented, and is therefore the more easily kept

  Л PICTURE OF RUSSIA.171

  iu repair. Yesterday, before we broke down, I was praising tins road, which we were travelling at full gallop, to my feldjäger. " ^No doubt it is beautiful," replied the individual addressed, whose figure resembles that of a wasp, whose features are sharp and dry, and whose manners are at once timid and threatening, like hatred suppressed by fear: " no doubt it is beautiful — it is the great road to Siberia."

  These words chilled me through. It is for my pleasure, I said to myself, that I travel this road : but what have been the thoughts and feelings of the many unfortunate beings who have travelled it before me ? These thoughts and feelings, evoked by the imagination, took possession of my mind. Siberia ! — that Kussian hell, is, with all its phantoms, incessantly before me. It has upon me the effect that the eye of the basilisk has upon the fascinated bird.

  What a country is this ! a plain without limit and without colour ; with only here and there some few inec[iialities in the surface, a few fields of oats and rye, a few scattered birch and pine woods in the distance, villages built of gray boards along the lines of road, on rather more elevated sites, at every twenty, thirty, or fifty leagues, towns the vast size of which swallows up the inhabitants, and immense, colourless rivers, dull as the heavens they reflect! Winter and death are felt to be hovering over these scenes, giving to every object a funereal hue: the terrified traveller, at the end of a few wTeeks, feels himself buried alive, and, stifling, struggles to burst his coffin-lid, that leaden veil that separates him from the living.

  Do not go to the north to amuse yourselves, unless i 2

  172

  EXILES

  at least you seek your amusement in study; for there is much here to study.

  I was, then, travelling upon the great road to Siberia, when I saw in the distance a group of armed men, who had stopped under one of the side alleys of the road.

  " "What are those soldiers doing there ?" I asked my courier.

  " They are eossaeks," he replied, " conducting

  exiles to Siberia! "

  It is not, then, a dream, it is not the mythology of the gazettes ; I see there the real, unhappy beings, the actual exiles, proceeding wearily on foot to seek the land where they must die forgotten by the world, far from all that is dear to them, alone with the God who never created them for such a fate. Perhaps I have met, or shall meet, their wives or mothers: for they are not criminals; on the contrary, they are Poles—the heroes of misfortune and devotion. Tears came into my eyes as I approached these unhappy men, near to whom I dared not even stop lest I should be suspected by my Argus. Alas ! before such sufferings the sentiment of my impotent compassion humiliates me, and anger rises above commiseration in my heart, I could wish to be far away from a country where the miserable creature who acts as my courier can become formidable enough to compel me, in his presence, to dissimulate the most natural feelings of my heart. In vain do I repeat to myself that, perhaps, our convicts are still worse off than the colonists of Siberia: there is, in that distant exile, a vague poetry, which adds to the severity of the sentence all the influence of the imagination ; and this

  ON THE ROAD.

  173

  inhuman alliance produces a frightful result. Besides, our convicts are solemnly convicted; but a few months' abode in Russia suffices to convince us that there are no laws there.

  There were three exiles, and they were all innocent in my eyes ; for, under a despotism, the only criminal is the man who goes unpunished. These three convicts were escorted by six cossacks on horseback. The head of my carriage was closed, and the nearer Ave approached the group, the more narrowly did the courier strive to observe the expression of my countenance. I was greatly struck with the efforts he made to persuade me that they were only simple malefactors, and that there was no political convict among them. I preserved a gloomy silence: the pains that he took to reply to my thoughts appeared to me very significative.

  Frightful sagacity of the subjects of despotism! all are spies, even as amateurs, and without compensation.

  The last stages of the road to Nijni are long and difficult, owing to the sand-beds, which get deeper and deeper*, until the carriages become almost buried in them. They conceal immense, movable blocks of wood and stone, very dangerous to the carriages and horses. This part of the road is bordered by forests, in which, at every half league, are encampments of cossacks, destined to protect the journeying of the merchants who resort to the fair. Such a precaution reminds me of the middle ages.

  My wheel is repaired, so that I hope to reach Nijni before evening.

  * A chaussée is being made from Moscow to Nijni, which will be soon completed.

  I 3

  174SITE OF NIJNI-NOVGOROD.

  CHAP. XXXTII.

  SITE OF NIJNI-NOVGOROD.PREDILECTION OF THE EMPEROR FOR

  THAT CITY.ТПЕ KREMLIN OF NIJNI. — CONCOURSE AT THE FAIR.

  THE GOVERNOR. BRIDGE OF THE OKA. DIFFICULTY IN

  OBTAINING A LODGING.THE PLAGUE OF PERSICAS. PRIDE

  OF THE FELDJÄGER. THE FAIR-GROUND. SUBTERRANEAN

  CITY. SINGULAR APPEARANCE OF THE RIVER. THE CITY OF

  TEAOF RAGS. OF WHEELWRIGHTS' WORK. OF IRON.

  ORIGIN OF THE FAIR. PERSIAN VILLAGE. SALT FISH FROM

  THE CASPIAN. LEATHER. FURS. LAZZARONIS OF THE

  NORTH. BADLY CHOSEN SITE. COMMERCIAL CREDIT OF THE

  SERFS. —THEIR MODE OF CALCULATING. BAD FAITH OF THE

  NOBLES. PRICES OF MERCHANDISE. TURQUOISES OF THE

  BUCHARIANS.KIRGUIS HORSES. THE FAIR AFTER SUNSET. —

  THE EFFECT OF MUSIC IN RUSSIA.

  The situation of Nijni is the most beautiful that I have beheld in Russia. I see no longer a little ridge of low banks falling upon a large river, but a real mountain, which looks down on the confluence of the Volga and the Oka, two equally noble rivers; for the Oka, at its mouth, appears as large as the more celebrated stream. The lofty town of Nijni, built on this mountain, commands a plain, vast as the sea.
A land without bounds spreads before it, and at its foot is held the largest fair in the world. During six weeks of the year the commerce of the two richest quarters of the globe meet at the confluence of the Oka and the Volga. It is a spot worthy of being painted. Hitherto, the only truly picturesque scenes that I had

  PREDILECTION OF THE EMPEROR FOR NIJNI. 175

  admired in Russia were the streets of Moscow and the quays of Petersburg. But those scenes were the creations of man: here, the country is naturally beautiful. The ancient city of Nijni, instead, however, of seeking the rivers, and profiting by the riches they offer, hides itself behind the mountain ; and there, lost in the country, seems to shrink from its glory and prosperity. This ill-advised situation has struck the Emperor Nicholas, who exclaimed the first time he saw the place — " At Nijni nature has done every thing, but man has spoilt all." To remedy the errors of the founders of Nijni-Novgorod, a suburb, in the form of a quay, has been built under the hill, on that one of the two points of land separating the rivers, which forms the right bank of the Oka. This new town increases every year; it is becoming more populous and important than the ancient city, from which it is separated by the old Ki`emlin of Nijni; for every Russian city has its Kremlin.

  The fair is held on the other side of the Oka, upon a low tract, which forms a triangle between it and the Volga. The Oka is crossed by a bridge of boats, which serves as the road from the city to the fair, and which appears as long as that of the Rhine at May-ence. The two banks of the river thus connected, are very different in character: the one which is the promontory of Nijni, rises majestically in the midst of this immense country ; the other, nearly on a level with the water which inundates it during a part of the year, forms a portion of the plain called Russia. The singular beauty of the contrast did not escape the glance of the Emperor Nicholas: that prince, with his characteristic sagacity, has also perceived that I 4

  176THE KREMLIN OP NIJNI.

  Nijni is one of the most important points in his empire. He is very fond of this central spot, thus favoured by nature, and which has become the rendezvous of the most distant populations, who here congregate from all parts, drawn together by a powerful commercial interest. His Majesty has neglected nothing that could tend to beautify, enlarge, and enrich the city. The fair of Makarief, which was held formerly on the estate of a boyard twenty leagues below, following the course of the Volga towards Asia, was forfeited for the benefit of the crown and country ; and the Emperor Alexander transferred it to Nijni. I regret the Asiatic fair held on the domains of a Muscovite prince: it must have been more original and picturesque, though less immense and regular, than the one I find here.

  I have already said that every Russian city has its Kremlin, just as every Spanish city has its Alcazar. The Kremlin of Nijni, with its many-shaped towers, its pinnacles and embattled ramparts, which circle round a mountain far loftier than the hill of the Kremlin at Moscow, is nearly half a league in circumference.

  When the traveller perceives this fortress from the plain he is struck with astonishment. It is the pharos, towards whose shining turrets and white walls, rising above the stunted forest pines, he shapes his course through the sandy deserts which defend the approach to Nijni on the side of Yaroslaf. The effect of this national architecture is always powerful: but here, the grotesque towers and Christian minarets, that constitute the ornament of all the kremlins, are heightened in effect by the striking character of the

  CONCOURSE AT THE FAIR.177

  site, which in certain places opposes real precipices to the creations of the architect. In the thickness of the walls have been worked, as at Moscow, staircases, which serve to ascend, from battlement to battlement,' up to the very summit of the crowning ramparts. These commanding stairs, with the towers by which they arc flanked, the slopes, the vaults, the arcades which sustain them, form a picture from whichsoever point of approach they are viewed.

  The fair of Nijni, now become the most considerable in the world, is the rendezvous of people the least alike in person, costume, language, religion, and manners. Men from Thibet, from Bucharia, from the regions bordering upon China, come to meet Persians, Finns, Greeks, English, and Parisians: it is like the merchants' doomsday. The number of foreigners present at Nijni every day during the fair, exceeds two hundred thousand. The men who compose this yearly gathering come and go daily; but the number always continues pretty nearly the same : nevertheless, on certain days, there are at Nijni íw many as three hundred thousand at the same time. The average consumption of bread in the pacific camp amounts to four hundred thousand pounds weight per day. Except at the season of this saturnalia of trade and industry, the city is lifeless. Nijni scarcely numbers twenty thousand stationary inhabitants, who are lost in its vast streets and naked squares during the nine months that the fair-ground remains forsaken.

  The fair occasions little disorder. In Russia disorder is unknown: it would be a progressive movement, for it is the child of liberty. The love of gain, i 5

  178

  BRIDGE OP THE OKA.

  and the ever-increasing need of luxuries, felt now by even barbarous nations, cause the semi-barbarous populations who resort here from Persia and Bucharia to recognise the advantages of orderly demeanour and good faith: besides, it must be admitted that in general the Mohammedans are upright in money matters.

  Though I have only been a few hours in the city, I have already seen the governor. I had several flattering letters of introduction to him: he appears hospitable, and, for a Russian, open and communicative. His name is illustrious in the ancient history of Russia — it is that of Boutourline. The Boutourlines are a family of old boyards ; a class of men that is becoming rare.

  I have scarcely encountered any really dense crowd in Russia, except at Nijni, on the bridge over the Oka, the only road which leads from the city to the fair-ground, and the road also by which we approach Nijni from Yaroslaf. At the entrance of the fair you turn to the right to cross the bridge, leaving on the left the booths, and the temporary palace of the governor, a pavilion which forms a species of administrative observatory, whither he repairs every morning, and from whence he surveys all the streets, all the rows of shops, and presides over the general arrangements of the fair. The dust, the din, the carriages, the foot-passengers, the soldiers charged with maintaining order, greatly obstruct the passage of the bridge, whose use and character it is difficult at first to understand; for the surface of the water being covered by a multitude of boats, at the first glance, you suppose the river to be dry. The boats are so crowded together at the confluence of the Volga and the Oka

  DIFFICULTY IN OBTAINING A LODGING. 179

  that the latter river may be crossed by striding from junk to junk. I use this Chinese word because a great portion of the vessels whieh resort to Nijni bring to the fair the merchandise, more especially the tea, of China.

  Yesterday, on arriving, I expected that our horses would have run over twenty individuals before reaching the quay of the Oka, which is New Nijni, a suburb that will in a few years more be very extensive.

  When I had gained the desired shore, I found that many other difficulties awaited me : before everything else it was necessary to find a lodging; and the inns were full. My feldjäger knocked at every door, and always returned with the same smile, ferocious by its very immobility, to tell me that he could not find a single chamber. He advised me to appeal to the hospitality of the governor; but this I was unwilling to do.

  At length, arrived at the extremity of the long street that forms this suburb, at the foot of the steep hill whieh leads to the old city, and the summit of which is crowned by the Kremlin of Nijni, we perceived a coffee-house, the approach to which was obstructed by a covered public market, from whence exhaled odours that were anything but perfumes. Here I descended, and was politely received by the landlord, who conducted me through a series of apartments, all filled with men in pelisses, drinking tea and other liquors, until, by bringing me to the last room, he demonstrated to me
that he had not one single chamber at liberty.

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  180 DIFFICULTY IN OBTAINING A LODGING.

  " This room forms the corner of your house," I observed : " has it a private entrance ? "

  " Yes."

  " Very good: lock the door which separates it from the other apartments, and let me have it for a bedchamber."

  The air that I breathed already suffocated me. It was a mixture of the most opposite emanations : the grease of sheep-skins, the musk of dressed leather, the blacking of boots, cabbage, which is the principal food of the peasants, coffee, tea, liqueurs, and brandy, all thickened the atmosphere. The whole was poison : but what could I do ? it was my last resource. I hoped, also, that after being cleared of its guests, swept and washed, the bad odours of the apartment would dissipate. I therefore insisted on the feldjäger clearly explaining my proposal to the keeper of the coffee-house.

  " I shall lose by it," replied the man.

  " I will pay you what you please ; provided you also find somewhere a lodging for my valet and my courier."

  The bargain was concluded; and here I am, quite proud of having taken by storm, in a dirty public-hoise, a room for which I have to pay more than the price of the finest apartment in the Hotel des Princes, at Paris. It is only in Russia, in a country where the whims of men supposed to be powerful, know no obstacle, that one is able to convert, in a moment, the public hall of a coffee-house into a sleeping-apartment.