The people of this country have an aversion for every thing that is not Russian. I often hear it repeated, that they will some day rise from one end of the empire to the other upon the men without a beard, and destroy them all. It is by the beard that the Russians know each other. In the eyes of the peasants, a Russian with a shaved chin is a traitor, who has sold himself to foreigners, and who deserves to share their fate. But what will be the punish-ment inflicted by the survivors iipon the aiithors of these Muscovite Vespers ? All Russia cannot be sent to Siberia. Villages may be transported, but it would be difficult to exile provinces. It is worthy of remark, that this kind of punishment strikes the peasants without hurting them. A Russian recognises his country wherever long winters reign : snow has always the same aspect; the winding-sheet of the earth is every where eqiially white, whether its thickness be six inches or six feet; so that, if they only allow him to re-construct his cabin and his sledge, the Russian finds himself at home to whatever spot he may be exiled. In the deserts of the north it eosts little to make a country. To the man who has never seen any thing but icy plains scattered with stunted trees, every cold and desert land represents his native soil. Besides, the inhabitants of these latitudes arc always inclined to quit the place of their birth.
Scenes of disorder are multiplying in the country: every day I hear of some new crime : but, by the time it is made public, it has already become ancient, which tends to weaken its impressiveness, especially
238
SERVILITY OF
as from so many isolated atrocities nothing results to disturb the general repose of the country. As I have already said, tranquillity is maintained among this people by the length and difficulties of communication, and by the secrecy of the government, which perpetuates the evil under the fear of disclosing it. To these causes I may add the blind obedience of the troops, and, above all, the complete ignorance of the country people themselves. But, singular conjunction of facts ! — the latter remedy is at the same time the first cause of the evil: it is, therefore, difficult to see how the nation will í>`et out of the dan-gerous circle in which circumstances have placed it. Hitherto the good and the evil, the danger and the safety, have come to it from the same source.
The reader can form no conception of the manner in which a lord, when taking possession of some newly-accµúred domain, is received by his peasants. They exhibit a servility which woiúd appear incredible to the people of our country: men, women, and children, all fall on their knees before their new master—all kiss the hands, and sometimes the feet, of the landholder; and, О ! miserable profanation of faith ! — those who are old enough to err, voluntarily confess to him their sins — he being to them the image and the envoy of God, representing both the King of Heaven and the emperor! Such fanaticism in servitude must end in casting an illusion over the mind of him who is its object, especially if he has not long attained the rank which he possesses: the change of fortune thus marked, must so dazzle him as to persuade him that he is not of the same race as those prostrate at his feet —· those whom he sud-
THE PEASANTS.
239
denly finds himself empowered to command. It is no paradox which I put forward, when I maintain that the aristocracy of birth could alone ameliorate the condition of the serfs, and enable them to profit by emancipation through gentle and gradual transitions. Their slavery becomes insupportable under the new men of wealth. Under the old ones, it is hard enough: but these are at least born above them, and also among them, which is a consolation; besides, the habit of authority is as natural to the one party as that of slavery is to the other ; and habit mitigates every thing, mollifying the injustice of the strong, and lightening the yoke of the feeble. But the change of fortunes and conditions produces frightful results in a country subjected to a system of servitude : and yet it is this very change which maintains the duration of the present order of things in Russia, because it conciliates the men who know how to benefit by it — a second example of the remedy being drawn from the source of the evil. Terrible circle, round which revolve all the populations of a vast empire ! This lord, this new deity — what title has he to be adored ? He is adored because he has had enough money and capacity for intrigue to be able to buy the land to which are attached all the men prostrate before him. An upstart appears to me a monster, in a country where the life of the poor depends upon the rich, and where man is the fortune of man; the onward progress of industrious enterprise, and the immovableness of villenage combined in the same society, produce results that are revolting: but the despot loves the upstart — he is his creature ! The position of a new lord is this: yesterday his slave
240SERVILITY OF THE PEASANTS.
was his equal: his industry more or less honest, his flatteries more or less mean, have put it into his power to purchase a certain number of his comrades. To become the beast of burden of an equal is an intolerable evil. It is, however, a result which an impious alliance of arbitrary customs, and liberal, or, to speak more justly, unstable institutions, can bring upon a people. No where else does the man who makes a fortune have his feet kissed by his vanquished rivals. Anomalies the most shocking have become the basis of the Russian constitution.
I may allude, en passant, to a singular confusion of ideas produced in the minds of the people by the system to which they are subjected. Under this system, the individual is intimately connected with the soil, being, indeed, sold with it; but instead of recognising himself as a fixture, and the soil as transferable — in other words, instead of pereeiving that he belongs to this soil, by means of which men dispose of him despotically, he fancies that the soil is his own. In truth, his error of perception is reduced to a mere optical illusion ; for possessor as he imagines himself of the land, yet he does not understand how it can be sold without the sale also of those who inhabit it. Thus, when he changes masters, he does not say that the soil has been sold to a new proprietor ; he considers that it is his own person that has been first sold, and that, over and above the bargain, his land has gone with him — that land which saw him born, and which has supplied him with the means of life. How could liberty be given to men whose acquaintance with social laws is about on a level with that of the trees and plants ?
EXILE OF M. GUIBAL.2-41
M. Guibal — every time that I am authorised to cite a name, I use the permission — M. Guibal, the son of a schoolmaster, was exiled without cause, or at least without explanation, and without being able to guess his crime, into a Siberian village in the environs of Orenburg. Л song, which he composed to beguile his sorrow, was listened to by an inspector, who put it before the eyes of the governor; it attracted the attention of that august ]Dersonage, who sent his aide-de-camp to the exile to inform himself re"·ardin£·· the circumstances of his situation and his
оо
conduct, and to judge if he was good for any thing. The unfortunate man succeeded in interesting; the aide-de-camp, who, on his return, made a very favourable report, in consecpience of which he was immediately recalled. He has never known the real cause of his misfortune: perhaps it was another song.
Such are the circumstances on which depends the fate of a man in Russia !
The following story is of a different character.
In the domains of Prince, beyond Nijni, a
female peasant obtained the character of being a witch, and her reputation spread far and wide. Prodigies were said to be performed by this woman : but her husband grumbled; the household was neglected, and the work abandoned. The steward confirmed in his report all that was said of the sorceress. The prince visited his domains. The first subject about which he made inquiry was the affair of the famous demoniac. The pope told him that the state of the woman grew worse daily, that she no longer spoke, and that he was determined to exorcise her. The ceremony took place in the presence of the lord, but
VOL. III.M
242A MUSCOVITE WITCH.
without any effect; he, being determined to get to the bottom of so
singular an affair, had recourse to the Russian remedy par excellence, and sentenced the possessed woman to be flogged. This treatment did not fail to produce its effect.
At the twenty-fifth stroke the sufferer asked for mercy, and swore to tell the truth; which truth was, that she had married a man whom she did not love; and that to avoid working for his benefit she had pretended to be possessed. The enactment of this comedy suited her indolence, and at the same time restored the health of a multitude of sick people, who repaired to her full of faith and hope, and returned cured.
Sorcerers are not scarce among the Russian peasants, with whom they supply the place of physicians: these rogues perform numerous and complete cures, as is corroborated even by the scientific practitioners ! TVbat a triumph for Molière ! and what a vortex of doubt for all the woi`ld! . , . Imagination! . . . who can tell if imagination is not a lever in the hands of God to raise creatures of limited ¡:>owers above themselves ? For my own part, I carry doubt to a point that brings me back to faith ; for I believe, against my reason, that the sorcerer can cure even unbelievers, by means of a power whose existence I cannot deny, and yet know not how to define. By recourse to the word imagination, our learned men dispense with explaining the phenomena which they can neither refute nor comprehend. Imagination is to certain metaphysicians what the nerves are to certain medical men.
An anecdote here occurs to me which will show
HALLUCINATIONS OF EANK.243
whether I am wrong in thinking that there are men who become dupes of the worship which the serf renders to the lord. Flattery has so much power over the human heart that, in the long run, the most elumsy of all flatterers, fear and interest, find a way of attaining their end: it is thus that many Russians suppose themselves to possess a different nature from the common orders.
A Russian, immensely rich, but who ought to have been enlightened as regards the miseries and infirmities of wealth and power—for the fortune of his family had been established for two generations—was travelling in Germany. He fell siek in a small town, and called in the first physician of the place: at first he submitted to every thing that was ordered ; but not finding himself at the end of a few days any better, he grew weary of obedience, rose up angrily, and throwing off the veil of civilisation in which he had deemed it advisable to muffle himself, he called the landlord, and, while rapidly marching up and down his chamber, thus addressed him : " I do not understand the manner in which I am treated: here I have been dosed for three days without being in the least benefited : what kind of a doctor have you sent me ? he cannot know who I can!"
As I have commenced my chapter with anecdotes, here is another, less piquant, but which will give an idea of the character and habits of the people in high life in Russia. It is only the fortunate who are liked here; and this exclusive preference sometimes produces very inconsistent scenes.
A young Frenchman had perfectly succeeded in gaining the good graces of a social circle met together M 2
244A MAX SICK AMONG HIS FRIENDS.
in the country. There was quite a contest who should do him most honour: dinners, balls, excursions, hunting matches—nothing was wanting, and the stranger was enchanted : he boasted to all comers of the hospitality and elegance of these calumniated barbarians of the North !
A short time after, the young enthusiast fell ill in the neighbouring town. So long as the malady continued, and grew worse, his most intimate friends were invisible and silent as the grave. Two months thus passed ; scarcely did any one during that time send to make an inquiry after him: at length youth triumphed, and, notwithstanding the doctor of the place, the traveller became convalescent. As soon as he was perfectly restored, every body resorted to him to celebrate his recovery, as though they had been thinking only of him during the whole time of his illness: to have seen the delight of his former hosts, you would have said it was they who had been raised again to life. He was loaded with protestations of friendship; he was overwhelmed with new projects of diversion; he was caressed with feline tenderness: capriciousness, egotism, and inconstancy are velvet paws: visitors came to play at cards by his armchair; they proposed to send him a sofa, sweetmeats, and wine ; — now that he had no longer need of any thing, every thing was at his disposal. However, he did not allow himself to be a second time caught by this bait; he profited by the lesson, and, rich in experience, entered his carriage in all haste, impatient, he said, to fly from a country which is hospitable onlv to those who are fortunate, useful, or amusing!
An intellectual, elderly French woman, an émigrée¡
RUSSIAN СИАШТГ.245
resided in a provincial town. One day she went to pay a visit to a Russian lady of her acquaintance. In many of the houses in the country, the staircases are covered by trap-doors. The French lady, who had not remarked one of these deceptive openings, in proceeding to descend, fell down about fifteen wooden steps. What course did the lady of the house take? The reader would not easily guess. Without even seeking to inform herself whether her unfortunate friend was dead or alive — without running to her aid, without sending for a surgeon, or even calling for help, she ran devoutly to shut herself up in her oratory, there to pray the holy Virgin to come to the succour of the poor dead, or wounded — either one or the other, as it might please God to ordain. Meantime the wounded—not the dead—had time to rise, and, there being no limb broken, to re-ascend into the antechamber, and to cause herself to be conveyed home before her pious friend had quitted her cuslùon of prayer. That individual could not, indeed, be brought out of her asylum, until she had been loudly assured, through the key-hole, that the accident was without serious consequences, and that her friend had returned home. Upon this, active charity again awoke in the breast of the good Russian devotee, who, recognising the efficacy of her prayers, hastened officiously to her friend's house, insisted on entering her apartment, and having reached her bedside, overwhelmed her with protestations of interest, which, for upwards of an hour, deprived her of the repose she so much required.
The above trait of childishness was related to me by the individual to whom the accident happened. ы 3
246A PASSION FOR TOMBS.
We need not be surprised, after this, to hear that people fall into the Neva and drown there, without any one running to their succour, or even daring to speak of their death !
"Whimsical sentiments of every species abound in Russia among the higher classes, because hearts and minds are the prey of exhaustion and satiety. A lady of high rank in Petersburg has been married several times : she passes the summers in a magnificent country house, some leagues from the city, and her garden is filled with the tombs of all her husbands, whom she begins to love passionately as soon as they are dead. She raises for them mausolea and chapels, weeps over their ashes, and covers their tombs with sentimental epitaphs ; in short, she renders to the dead an honour offensive to the living. The pleasure-grounds of this lady have thus become a real Père La Chaise, with very little gloom about them for whoever has not, like the noble widow, a love of tombs and deceased husbands.
Nothing need surprise us in the way of false sensitiveness among a people who study elegance with the same precise minutia that others learn the art of war or of government. The following is an example of the grave interest the Russians take in the most puerile matters whenever they aifect them personally.
A descendant of ancient boyards, who was rich and elderly, lived in the country, not far from Moscow. A detachment of hussars was, with its officers, quartered in his house. It was the season of Easter, which the Russians celebrate with peculiar solemnity. All the members of a family unite with their friends
NOCTURNAL LESSONS IN ETIQUETTE. 247
and neighbours, to attend the mass, which on this festival is offered precisely at midnight.
The proprietor of whom I speak, being the most considerable person of the neighbourhood, expected a large assembly of guests on Easter-Eve, more especially as he had, that year, restored and greatly beautified
his parish-church.
Two or three days before the feast, he was awakened by a procession of horses and carriages passing over a pier that led to his residence. This castle is, according to the usual custom, situated close upon the borders of a small sheet of water; the church rises on the opposite side, just at the end oí the pier, which serves as a road from the castle to the village.
Astonished to hear so unusual a noise in the middle of the night, the master of the house rose, and to his great surprise, saw from the window, by the light of numerous torches, a beautiful calèche drawn by four horses and attended by outriders.
He quickly recognised this new equipage, as well as the man to whom it belonged : he was one of the hussar officers lodged in his house, an individual who had been recently enriched by an inheritance, and had just purchased a carriage and horses, which had been brought to the castle. The old lord, upon seeing him parading in his open calèche, all alone, by night, in the midst of a deserted and silent country, imagined that he had become mad: he followed with his eyes the elegant procession, and saw it advance in good order towards the church, and stop before the door; where the owner gravely descended from the carriage, aided by his people, who crowded round to support the M 4
248GYPSIES AT THE FAIE.
young officer, although he, appearing quite as nimble as they, might have easily dispensed with their assistance.
Scarcely had he touched the ground, than, slowly and majestically, he re-entered his coach, took another turn on the pier, and came back again to the church, where he and his people recommenced the previous ceremony. This game was renewed until daybreak. At the last repetition, the officer gave orders to return to the castle without noise. A few minutes after, all were in their beds.
Russia in 1839 -Empire of the Czar: A Journey Through Eternal Russia Page 83
