VISITS WITH THE GOVERNOR. THE BUREAUCRACY.THE
AUTHOR'S FELDJÄGER. FLAG OF MININE.BAD FAITH OF THE
GOVERNMENT. — MODERN VANDALISM.PETER THE GREAT.
FRENCH CHARACTER. THE TRUE GLORY OF NATIONS. THE
KREMLIN OF NIJNI. THE GOVERNOR'S CAMP. SONG OF THE
SOLDIERS. — CHURCH OF THE STROGONOFFS. — RUSSIAN VAUDEVILLE.
This year, immediately before opening the fair, the governor called around him the ablest commercial heads in Russia, then assembled together at Nijni, and laid before them, in detail, the long-ago-acknowledged and deplored inconveniences of the monetary system of the empire.
The reader is, aware that there are in Russia two representative signs of commodities — paper and silver money ; but he, perhaps, does not know that the latter, by a singularity that is unique, I believe, in financial history, is constantly varying in value, whilst the worth of the former remains fixed. Nothing but a к 6
204 FINANCIAL REFORM OF THE EMPEROR'S.
profound study of the political economy of the country could explain another very extraordinary fact resulting from this singularity, namely, that in Russia, the specie represents the paper, although the latter wras only instituted, and only legally exists to represent the former.
Having explained this anomaly to his auditors, and expatiated on all the mischievous consequences arising therefrom, the governor added that the emperor, in his constant solicitude for his people and for the order of his empire, had at length determined to put an end to a disorder, the progress of which threatened seriously to cripple the internal commerce of the land. The only remedy recognised as efficient is the definite and irrevocable fixing of the value of the coined rouble. The edict of the emperor accomplished this revolution in one day, as far at least as words could do it; but in order to realise the reform, the governor concluded his harangue by announcing that it was his majesty's will that the ukase should be immediately put in execution; and he added that the superior agents of the administration, and he, the governor of Nijni, in particular, hoped that no consideration of personal interest would prevail against the duty of obeying, without delay, the supreme will of the empire's head.
The honest men consulted on this serious question, replied that the measure, though good in itself, would destroy the most secure commercial fortunes if it were applied to transactions and bargains already made, and the terms of which would have to be fulfilled during the actual fair. While continuing to laud and admire the profound wisdom of the emperor, they
MEANS TAKEN TO ENFORCE IT. 205
humbly represented to the governor that those among the merchants who had effected sales of goods at a price fixed according to the ancient rate of money, which they had done, acting in dependence upon the relations between the paper and the silver rouble being continued as they were at the last fair, would be exposed to the necessity of submitting to payments that would be not the less fraudulent because authorised by the law, since they would rob them of their just profits, and might ruin them if the present edict were allowed a retro-active effect; the consequences of which would be a multitude of small bankruptcies, that would not fail finally to draw in the others.
The governor replied, with the gentleness and calmness which presides in Russia throughout all administrative, financial, and political discussions, that he perfectly entered into the views of the chief merchants interested in the business of the fair; but that, after all, the mischievous results dreaded by these gentlemen only threatened a few individuals, who would have, as a guarantee, the severity of the existing laws against bankrupts, whereas, on the other hand, a delay would always look something like resistance ; and that such example, given by the most important commercial place in the empire, would involve inconveniences far more injurious to the country than a few failures, affecting only a small number of individuals; for disobedience, approved and justified by men who had hitherto enjoyed the confidence of the government, would be an attack aimed at the dignity of the sovereign, at the administrative and financial unity of Russia, or, in other words, at the vital principles of the empire : he added,
206 THE MEKCIIANTS' NOMINAL COMPLIANCE.
that, under these peremptory considerations, he did not doubt the gentlemen addressed would, by their compliance, hasten to avoid the monstrous reproach of sacrificing the good of the state to their personal interests.
The result of this j)acißc conference was that, on the morrow, the fair opened under the retro-active system of the new ukase, the solemn publication of which was made after the assent and the promises of the first merchants in the empire had been thus obtained.
This was related to me by the governor himself, with the intention of proving to me the gentleness with which the machine of despotic government works — that machine so calumniated by people governed under liberal institutions.
I took the liberty of asking my obliging and interesting preceptor in oriental politics, what had been the result of the government measure, and of the cavalier manner in which it was judged right to put it in execution.
" The result has exceeded my hopes," replied the governor, with a satisfied air. " Not one bankrupt! ... All the new bargains have been concluded under the new monetary system ; but what will surprise you is the fact, that no debtor has availed himself, in paying his old engagements, of the power which the law gave him of defrauding his creditors."
I confess that at the first view this result appeared to me astounding; but, on reflection, I recognised the astuteness of the Kussians : the law being published, it was obeyed — on paper; and that is enough for the government. It is easily satisfied, I admit:
ENQUIRY INTO THEIR MOTIVES.207
for what it principally requires, at whatever cost, is silence. The political state of Russia may be defined in one sentence: it is a country in which the government says what it pleases, because it alone has the right to speak. Thus, in the case before us, the government says — Such is the law — obey it; but, nevertheless, the mutual accord of interested parties annuls the action of this law in that iniquitous portion of it which could be applied to old debts. In a country where the governing power is patient, it would not have exposed the honest man to the danger of being deprived of his due by thieves : in justice, the law can only regulate the future. And, indeed, theory apart, such is the result here ; but to obtain it, it was necessary that the sense and good management of the subjects should be opposed to the blind impetuosity of the authorities, in order to escape the evils which would otherwise be entailed on the country by these freaks of supreme power.
There exists in all governments built on exaggerated theories, a concealed action, a de-facto influence, which nearly ahvays opposes the extravagant doctrine adopted. The Russians possess in a high degree the spirit of commerce, which will explain how it was that the merchants of the fair perceived that the real tradesman thrives only by acting, and by being able to act, in confidence, — every sacrifice of credit is a loss to him of cent, per cent. Nor was this all; another influence checked bad faith, and made blind cupidity silent. The temptation that might have been felt by the insolvent would be repressed purely by fear—that real sovereign of Russia. On this occasion, the evil-: intentioned will have thought that if they exposed
208ENQUIRY INTO THEIR MOTIVES.
themselves to any process, or even to too notorious animadversion, the judges or the police would turn against them; and that, in such case, what is here called law would be applied with rigour. They have dreaded incarceration, the blows of the rod in the prison, or, perhaps, something worse ! Under these motives, operating with double influence in the universal silence that forms the normal state of Russia, they have given this good example of commercial probity, with which the governor of Nijni took pleasure in dazzling me. If I was dazzled, it was only for an instant; for I was not long in recognising that if the Russian merchants forbore to ruin each other, their reciprocal modei`ation had precisely the same source as that of the boatmen of Lake Ladoga, and t
he coachmen and porters of Petersburg, who control their angry passions, not through motives of humanity, but under the dread of the superior authority intervening in their affairs. As I remained silent, I could see that M. Boutourline enjoyed my surprise.
¢¢ No one knows the supei`iority of the emperor," he continued, " unless they have seen this prince engaged in public business, especially at Nijni, where he performs prodigies."
I answered that I greatly admired the sagacity of the emperor.
" When we visit together the works directed by his majesty," replied the governor, " you will yet more admire him. You will see that, owing to the energy of his character and the justness of his views, the monetary revolution, which would elsewhere
IMPERIAL LEGERDEMAIN.209
have required infinite precaution, works among us as if by enchantment."
The courtier-like governor had the modesty to forbear adding a word in favour of his own good management; he equally avoided giving me any occasion to allude to what evil tongues are continually repeating to me in secret, namely, that every financial measure of the kind just taken by the Russian government, gives to the superior authority means of profit, which it well knows how to use, but of which no one dares openly to complain under autocratic rule. I am ignorant of the secret manoeuvres to which recourse has been had on this occasion; but to give myself an idea of them, I imagine the situation of a man who has deposited with another a considerable sum of money. If the receiver has the power to triple the value of each piece of coin of which the sum is composed, it is clear that he can return the deposit, and all the while retain two thirds of the amount deposited. I do not say that such has been the actual result of the measure ordained by the emperor, but I admit the supposition, among many others, to aid me in comprehending the insinuations, or, if you like, the calumnies of the malcontents. They, indeed, add that the profit of this so suddenly executed operation, which consists in depriving, by a decree, the paper-money of a part of its ancient value, to increase in the same proportion that of the silver rouble, is designed to compensate the private treasury of the sovereign for the sums which it was necessary to draw from it, in order to re-build, at his own cost, his winter-palace, and to refuse, with a magnanimity which Europe and Russia have admired, the offers of
210IMPKOVEMENTS AT NIJNI.
towns and of many private individuals, great merchants, and others, emulous of contributing to the re-construction of a national edifice which serves as habitation for the head of the empire.
The reader may judge, by the detail which I have deemed it my duty to give of this tyrannical charlatanism, of the value here attached to words, and of the real worth of the noblest sentiments and the finest phrases. He may judge also of the constraint imposed upon generous minds and independent spirits, obliged to live under a system in which peace and order are purchased by the sacrifice of truth—that most sacred of all the gifts of heaven to man. In other communities, it is the people who apply the whip, and the government which puts on the drag; here, it is the government which urges onward and the people who hold back: for if the political machine is to keep together at all, it is essential that the spirit of conservatism should exist in some part of it. The displacement of ideas which I here note is a political phenomenon, which I have never seen except in Russia. Under an absolute despotism it is the government which is revolutionary; for the word revolution signifies arbitrary system and violent power.
The governor has kept his promise. He has taken me to see and minutely examine the works ordered by the emperor, with the view of making Nijni all that it is capable of being made, and of repairing the errors of its founders. A superb road rises from the banks of the Oka to the high city, the precipices are filled up, the terraces are laid out, magnificent openings are eut even in the bosom of the mountain,
THE SERF AND THE LOEI>.211
where enormous substructures support squares, streets, and edifices ; bridges are constructed ; and all these works, worthy of a great commercial city, will soon change Nijni into one of the most beautiful in the empire. As his Majesty has taken it under his special protection, each time that any small difficulty rises as to the mode of carrying on the works commenced, or whenever the face of an old house is to be repaired or a new one to be built, the governor is instructed to cause a special plan to be made, and to submit the question of its adoption to the emperor. What a man ! exclaim the Russians .... What a country ! I should exclaim, if I dared to speak.
While on the road, M. Boutourline, whose obliging civility and hospitality I cannot sufficiently acknowledge, gave me some interesting explanations of the Russian system of administration, and of the improvement which the progress of manners is daily effecting in the condition of the peasants.
A serf may now become the proprietor even of lands, in the name of his lord, without the latter daring to violate the moral guarantee by which he is bound to his wealthy slave. To despoil this man of the fruit of his labour and industry would be an abuse of power which the most tyrannical boyard dare not permit himself under the reign of the Emperor Nicholas : but who shall assure me that he dare not do so under another sovereign ? Who shall assure me even, that, in spite of the return to equity which forms the glorious characteristic of the present reign, there may yet be no avaricious and needy lords, who, without openly robbing their vassals, know how skilfully, and by turns, to employ threats and kindness,
212 GOVERNOR OF NIJNl'S EXPLANATION
in order gradually to extract from the hands of the slave a portion of the wealth which they dare not carry away at one swoop ? It is difficult to believe in the duration of sueh relations between the master and the serf, and yet the institutions which produce this soeial singularity are stable.
In Russia nothing is defined by the proper words. In theory, every thing is precisely as is said; but under sueh a system, if carried out, life would be impossible: in practice there are so many exceptions, that we are ready to say, the confusion caused by customs and usages so contradictory must make all government impossible.
It is necessary to discover the solution of the double problem; the point, that is, where the principle and the application, the theory and the practice, accord, to form a just idea of the state of society in Russia.
If we are to believe the excellent governor of Nijni, nothing can be more simple: the habit of exercising the power renders the forms of command gentle and easy. Angry passions, ill treatment, the abuses of authority, are become extremely rare, precisely because soeial order is based upon extremely severe laws; every one feels that to preserve for such laws a respect without which the state would be overthrown, they should not be put in force frequently or rashly. It is requisite that the action of despotic government be observed close at hand to understand all its gentleness (it is the governor of Nijni who now speaks): if authority preserves any force in Russia, it is to be attributed to the moderation of the men who exercise it. Constantly placed between an aristocracy which the more easily abuses its power be-
0Г DESPOTIC ADMINISTRATION.213
cause its prerogatives are ill-defined, and a people who the more willingly misunderstand their duty because the obedience exacted ñ`om them is not ennobled by a moral feeling, the men who command can only preserve the prestige of sovereignty by using as rarely as possible violent means: these means would expose the measure of the government's strength ; and it judges it wiser to conceal than to unveil its resources. If a noble commits any reprehensible act, he would be several times warned in secret by the governor of the province before being admonished officially. If warnings and reprimands were not sufficient, the tribunal of the nobles would threaten to place him under guardianship; and if this had no good effect, the menace would be executed.
All this superabundance of precaution does not appear to me to be very consolatory to the serf, who, if he had as many lives, might die a hundred times under the knout of his master, before the latter, thus prudently warned and duly admonished, should be obliged t
o give account of his injustices or his atrocities. It is true that the day after, lord, governor, and judges might be all sent to Siberia; but this would be rather a consolation for the imagination of the poor peasants than a real protection from the arbitrary acts of subaltern authorities, who are ever disposed to abuse the power delegated to them.
The common people have very rarely recourse to the legal tribunals in their private disputes. This enlightened instinct appears to me a sure indication of want of equity in the judges. The infrequeney of litigation may have two causes—the spirit of justice in the subjects, or the spirit of iniquity in the judges.
214VALUE OF MERCHANDISE
In Russia, nearly every process is stifled by an administrative decision, which very often recommends an arrangement onerous to both parties, who prefer the reciprocal sacrifice of a pajt of their claims, and even of their best founded rights, to the danger of proceeding against the advice of a man invested with authority by the emperor. This is the reason why the Russians have grounds for boasting that there is very little litigation in their land. Fear produces everywhere the same result — peace without tranquillity.
Will not the reader feel some compassion for a traveller lost in a country where facts are not more conclusive than words ? The fictions of the Russians have upon me an eífect precisely the contrary to that intended: I see at the very outset the design to blind and dazzle me ; I therefore stand upon my guard; and the consequence is, that instead of being the impartial spectator that I should have been but for their vain boasting, I become, in spite of myself, an unfriendly observer.
The governor was also pleased himself to show me the fair; but this time, we made the tour of it rapidly, in a carriage. I admired one point of view that was worthy of forming a panorama. To enjoy the magnificent picture, we ascended the summit of one of the Chinese pavilions, which commands an entire view of the city of a month. I was there more especially struck with the immensity of the piles of wealth annually accumulated on this point of land — a focus of industry the more remarkable, because it is lost, as it were, in the midst of deserts without bounds either to the eye or the imagination.
Russia in 1839 -Empire of the Czar: A Journey Through Eternal Russia Page 80
