THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 LOS ANGELES 

 
 a ^ 
 
 v 
 
 A 
 
 
 ^
 
 • ■ OH OP' RUSSIA . 
 - .. lburn,(.^eatMariborou^iBtre.e„l8'*0
 
 EXCURSIONS 
 
 IN THE 
 
 INTERIOR OF RUSSIA: 
 
 INCLUDING 
 
 SKETCHES OF THE CHARACTER AND POLICY 
 
 OK THE 
 
 EMPEROR NICHOLAS; 
 
 SCENES IN ST. PETERSBURG, 
 
 &c. &c. 
 
 By ROBERT BREMNER, Esq. 
 
 IN TWO VOLUMES. 
 VOL. I. 
 SECOND EDITION. 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 HENRY COLBURN, PUBLISHER. 
 
 GREAT MARLBOROUGH STREET. 
 
 1840.
 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 Punted by William Clowes uud Sons, 
 Stamford Street.
 
 UACK Aiiita 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 These volumes chiefly consist of the narrative of a 
 short visit to Russia, during the autumn of 1836, in the 
 course of a general tour through Europe. 
 
 Much of what they contain, however, is the fruit of 
 the author's occasional intercourse with Russians in 
 other pari s of the continent. Having (on two different 
 occasions) spent in all upwards of five years abroad, he 
 has had it in his power to become acquainted with the 
 manners and sentiments of Russians, under circum- 
 stances which enabled them to throw off the mask which, 
 in their own country, few of them can dare to dispense 
 with. To all who know what Russia really is, it is un- 
 necessary to say that it is not in Russia that the true 
 state of opinion among the higher classes of that country 
 can be best learned. 
 
 To his long residence abroad, during which he paid 
 considerable attention to the various political questions 
 connected with Russia, the author is also indebted for 
 many of the facts given in support of the remarks which 
 he hazards on the policy and character of the present 
 
 emperor. 
 
 a 2 
 
 > Ai Ac/ \.r 

 
 IV PREFACE. 
 
 Fully aware, however, that neither his visit to Russia, 
 nor his opportunities of becoming acquainted with the 
 opinions of Russians in other countries, can qualify him 
 for doing justice to such an ample theme as that com- 
 prised in the present work, he begs of those who may 
 cast their eye on the following pages, that they will 
 regard their contents rather as scraps by the way, than 
 as the complete and well-matured production of the 
 study. In fact the title — " Excursions" and " Sketches" 
 — will at once warn the reader that he is here to find 
 only snatches caught by the passing eye, not the full 
 landscape itself — the mere gleanings of a vast and fertile 
 field, not the rich harvest which abler hands would have 
 reaped. 
 
 It is also necessary to state that the work was begun 
 on a foreign shore, under circumstances which rendered 
 it impossible to obtain access to books of any value, and 
 has been completed in a beautiful but remote part of 
 Scotland, where it was equally impossible to obtain the 
 aid of any extensive library. It has been entirely writ- 
 ten, therefore, from hurried notes kept while travelling, 
 and does not even contain that array of learned names 
 which might have atoned for the want of learning in the 
 author himself. 
 
 In fact, conscious as he is of its many defects, he 
 would not have presumed to lay his work before the 
 public, had he not felt that at a moment like the pre- 
 sent, when the most overwhelming interest exists in
 
 PREFACE. V 
 
 regard to Russia, it is the duty of every one, who has 
 made that country his study, and endeavoured to obtain 
 correct information concerning it, to give to the world 
 whatever may be calculated to throw light on its actual 
 condition, its prospects, or its resources. This duty is 
 doubly incumbent on those who are anxious, as the author 
 is, to counteract the tendency of some works which have 
 recently appeared on the same subject. The presses of 
 the continent now teem with publications containing the 
 most fulsome praises of Russia, and giving the most 
 overcharged statements of her power and resources ; and, 
 unfortunately, the presses of England are not altogether 
 ignorant of books written in the same spirit. Were we 
 to take these for our guides, the government of Russia 
 would appear to be the most liberal of all governments, 
 and the people of Russia the happiest of all people. Her 
 strength is held up to us as boundless, irresistible, — as 
 the most formidable, and best consolidated, that ever 
 threatened the liberties and the rights of man. In short, 
 the praises of Russia, which now ring on every side, are 
 of the most exaggerated description. 
 
 It would not, perhaps, be difficult to discover the source 
 from which many of these representations proceed ; or, at 
 least, to account for the tone which they assume. Suffice 
 it, however, to say, that truth will never be written on 
 Russia, except by those who repair to it untrammelled 
 by connexion with the government, and who leave it un- 
 bought by the favours of the emperor.
 
 VI PREFACE. 
 
 That the author was in this impartial position,, will 
 at once be evident, when he states that he and the friend 
 included in the " we" which is employed throughout the 
 following pages visited Russia as private individuals, 
 with no object in view but to make themselves acquainted 
 with the manners, condition, and prospects of the people ; 
 in short, to obtain as much information as could be ac- 
 quired during so short a visit, about a country which is 
 daily becoming more and more interesting to the other 
 nations of Europe. They had neither government pro- 
 tection, nor a single tie of interest to bias their views. 
 But though they had no higher patronage than that 
 which good introductions procured for them, they en- 
 joyed many opportunities for acquiring information, and 
 can honestly say that they endeavoured to turn them to 
 the best account, by associating with those who, from 
 their talents and position, were best qualified to give 
 them useful and accurate intelligence ; by mingling 
 freely in the various scenes of interest with which both 
 the capital and the interior abound ; by leaving no sight 
 unvisited that was likely to yield instruction ; and by 
 sparing no pains in their endeavour to arrive at the truth 
 on all important subjects connected with the country or 
 its prospects. 
 
 These excursions, therefore, should they possess no 
 other value, may at least serve as specimens of what 
 travellers, anxious to make the best use of their time, 
 may see and learn during even a brief stay in a strange
 
 PREFACE. VII 
 
 land ; and the author has been encouraged in his under- 
 taking, by the conviction which he entertains that many 
 defects will be pardoned in a writer who is anxious to 
 correct misrepresentation, to remove prejudice, to impart 
 truth ; and especially when he treats of subjects which, 
 it will be universally allowed, are of vital moment to Eng- 
 land at the present crisis. 
 
 So little has of late been written on the interior of 
 Russia, that the author trusts the portions of his work 
 which relate to it will possess considerable interest for all 
 who may be anxious to become acquainted with the 
 actual state of that vast region. The agriculture and 
 manufactures of the principal districts — the condition of 
 the serfs — and, especially, the internal resources of the 
 empire, are subjects which at this moment possess the 
 very highest interest for the statesman and the publicist ; 
 and all of these, accordingly, have been touched upon at 
 considerable length. Passing pictures of scenery and 
 manners, and notices of such other subjects as are likely 
 to interest the general reader, have also been introduced ; 
 and they may be more acceptable to the public, from the 
 fact that, while so much has recently been published on 
 the manners and scenery of the more frequented portions 
 of Europe, comparatively little of the same description 
 has appeared on Russia. This is, doubtless, attributable 
 to the circumstance that few of our travellers visit that 
 country ; for, even in the present day, when the passion 
 for travel has become so universal, and thousands of
 
 Vlll PREFACE. 
 
 miles are thought as little of as hundreds were some 
 years ago, the number of Englishmen who venture to 
 the south of Moscow seldom exceeds one or two every 
 year. 
 
 This paucity of foreign visiters to Russia may be partly 
 owing to the want of information regarding the method of 
 travelling in that country. For, strange to say, while 
 there are hundreds of guide-books to every other country, 
 there is not a single work that gives any really available 
 advice to the traveller intending to visit the dominions of 
 the autocrat. In order to supply this want, and in 
 answer to the many applications which friends have 
 made to him for advice about travelling in Russia, the 
 author here publishes all that his notes contain on this 
 subject. Judging by the difficulty which he himself had 
 in procuring information of this kind when about to visit 
 Russia, he trusts that, while not devoid of interest to the 
 general reader, the notices he has given on the best way 
 of proceeding to St. Petersburg — the customs and police 
 formalities on entering and leaving it ; the more common 
 words of the language ; hotels and posting ; and particu- 
 larly on the best method of accomplishing a journey in 
 the interior, will be of the greatest use to those who in- 
 tend to travel in Russia. A full enumeration of all the 
 topics of this nature, with references to the pages where 
 they occur, is given under the head of Hints to Tra- 
 vellers, at the end of the Table of Contents to the pre- 
 sent volume.
 
 PREFACE. IX 
 
 That some of the questions discussed in these pages 
 are handled with a freedom which may be far from agree- 
 able to the admirers of Russia, is what the author is 
 fully prepared to hear. But he is persuaded that the 
 enlightened sovereign who now sways the destinies of that 
 mighty empire would rather hear the strictures of an im- 
 partial censor than the praises of an uncompromising 
 eulogist. The commendations here bestowed on some 
 of his measures will be less liable to suspicion, when 
 they come from one who has felt himself constrained to 
 speak in very different terms of other parts of his 
 policy. 
 
 Throughout the narrative, the author has endeavoured 
 k> avoid thrusting himself unnecessarily forward on the 
 reader's attention. His object has been to give informa- 
 tion about the jjeople and the country, not to write a 
 brilliant romance, of which he himself should be the 
 hero. Deeming all details of a merely personal nature 
 to be nothing but impertinencies in a book of travels, 
 he has seldom alluded to affairs which, however inte- 
 resting to himself, can possess no interest for the public. 
 Facts, in themselves trifling, are indeed occasionally 
 mentioned, but it is only when they tend to throw light 
 on the manners or customs of the country. 
 
 After what has been already mentioned, it is unneces- 
 sary to add that it is neither with a view to give addi- 
 tional importance to the statements, nor to ward off 
 
 a 3
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 responsibility for them, that the pompous " we" has been 
 made use of in these volumes. In fact, the original 
 party of two was latterly increased to four individuals; 
 but the author does not feel himself entitled to publish 
 the names of those in whose society he performed his 
 happy and improving rambles through Russia, as he 
 alone is accountable for all the statements and opinions 
 advanced in the work, which he now respectfully recom- 
 mends to the indulgence of the public. 
 
 London, January 25, 1839.
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 OF THE 
 
 FIRST VOLUME. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 SUMMER HOURS IN THE BALTIC. 
 
 Our sailing from Stockhol in— Reasons for avoiding the route through 
 Findland — The Johanna Sophia — Scanty berth on board — Sketch of a 
 Swedish captain and his crew — Droppir g down Channel — Con'rast with 
 the Thames — Wexholm — Romantic scenery — Sandham — Gulf of 
 Bothnia — Islands of Aland — Their importance to Russia — Sunrise — 
 " Land !" — Dago Island — Revel — Sveaborg . . . Page 1 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 CRUISE THROUGH THE RUSSIAN FLEET — THE EMPEROR 
 AT SEA. 
 
 Surprise — First impression on meeting so many ships of war — Great 
 strength of the Russian marine — The emperor on board — Anecdotes — 
 — The sea-sick courtier — Energy of the emperor — His general character 
 — Beloved by the people — His anxiety to astonish them— Activity on 
 land — Exposes himself at sea . . . . . .18 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 CRONSTADT, ITS FORTIFICATIONS AND COMMERCE. 
 
 Unkind reception of strangers — Duke of Wellington in Russia — Castles 
 — Military and commercial harbours — Trade and way of doing business 
 — Heavy duties on British goods — First specimens of Russian manners 
 — Beards — Sheepskins — Paying of wages — Great number of English 
 — The man of languages — Ships detained by the ice — Remissness of 
 the governor — Drunkenness — Few women — Handsome public buildings 
 — Lamps of the Virgin — Superstition of the Greek Church . 25 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE CUSTOM-HOUSE; OR, THE DELIGHTS OF VISITING THE 
 AUTOCRAT. 
 
 Delays on arriving — Compared with those of other countries — Searchers 
 — Luggage sealed — Captivity — Guardian — Annoyance to ship-captain- 
 — Danger of letters, and of Russian money — Passports — Disadvantages 
 of being " a gentleman"- — Books detained — Tyranny of underlings — 
 Advice about steamers, &c. . . . . . 3'J
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 LANDING AT ST. PETERSBURG. 
 
 Approach by sea — Distant view — Disappointment — Unfavourable site — 
 Contrast with other capitals — Strange adventures — Deserted streets 
 — Fiist attempt in a droschky — " Pady ! Pady !" — A word to the 
 stranger . . . . . . . Page 48 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 FIRST IMPRESSIONS AMONG THE SPLENDOURS OF THE 
 RUSSIAN CAPITAL. 
 
 Hospitality — Letters of introduction — Danger of giving names in books 
 on Russia — Numerous sights — The palaces — Hermitage, &c. — Peter's 
 cottage — Magnificence of the principal streets — Style of architecture 
 — How the city has been raised — Proprietors compelled to build — 
 Buildings-board — Foot-pavements — Effects on the ladies — Italian archi- 
 tects — Reflections — Perishable splendour — Critical situation of the 
 hou*e , < — Iuunda'ions . . . . . .55 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 THE NEVA AND GENERAL VIEW FROM ISAAC'S BRIDGE. 
 
 Attractions of the river — Compared with the Thames — The great bridge 
 — Magnificent prospect — General sketch of the city from this point — 
 The public buildings within view — Divisions of the city — Its progress 
 — The islands — The quays — Want of trees . . .69 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 GLANCE AT THE MONUMENTS, CHURCHES, AND STATISTICS 
 OF ST. PETERSBURG. 
 
 Alexander's Column, the finest monument in the world — Singular 
 anecdote of Russ-ian obedience — Equestrian statue of Peter the Great — 
 Passion of the Russians for monuments of this kind — Russian churches 
 — General description — Feelings excited by their splendour — Trophies 
 from the French and Turks preserved in them — Too much gilding — 
 Pictures — Reverence for them — New cathedral of St. Isaac — Convent of 
 St. Alexander Nefsky— Cathedral of St. Peter and St. Paul— Tombs 
 of Peter and the Tzars — Cathedral of our Lady of Kasan — Foreign 
 churches — Other public buildings — Size and population — Manufactures 
 — Exports and imports — Great manufactory at,. Alexandrof'sky — Ge- 
 neral Wilson — Porcelain and glass manufactories . . 77 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 SCENES AMONG THE PEOPLE BEARDS, DRESS, AND MANNEKS. 
 
 Singular a| pearance of the Russian crowd — Unlike every other European 
 nation — Oriental character — Plainness of the women — Smallpox — The
 
 CONTENTS. Xlll 
 
 men — Intermarriages with Germans, &c — Long beards esteemed by the 
 people — Want of cleanliness — Washing process — Sheepskins — Clean 
 shirts — General costume — Not always suited to the climate — Incon- 
 sistency of the Russians — Heated rooms — Cold — Sobriety — Drunken- 
 ness in the streets — The Russian peasant contrasted with the French- 
 man — The Englishman — The dram shop— Natural gaiety Page 94 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 LOUNGE IN THE FASHIONABLE NEFSKOI RUSSIAN EQUIPAGES 
 
 FOREIGN POPULATION. 
 
 Scenes among the lone streets and silent canals — Policemen — The 
 gay quarters — The Nefskoi Prospekht — New kind of pavement — 
 Crowds and carriages — Equipages of the nobility — Russian idea of 
 hoises— Bad steeos — Long traces — Bearded coachmen — Young pos- 
 tillion — Three-horse <lroschkies — Foreign quarter — French — Swedes; — 
 Italians — English — Few soldiers seen in the crowds — Profusion of 
 medals . . . . . . • • • .106 
 
 CHAPTER XT. 
 
 THE PEASANT IN CHURCH SIGN OF THE CROSS BELLS 
 
 SUPERSTITIONS. 
 
 Popular devotions — Priests — Chanting — Genuflexions — Melancholy sight 
 — Ignorance of true religion — Crossing themselves from morn to night 
 — Their respect for bells — Pleasant associations — Superstitions — For- 
 tune-telling — Gipsies — Lucky days — Thirteen at table — Upsetting the 
 salt- — Meeting a monk, &c. — Fatalism — Opposed to insurances, &c. — 
 Russians veiy charitable to the poor . . . . .115 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 CRUELTY WITH WHICH THE LOWER ORDERS ARE TREATED — 
 THEIR FOOD. 
 
 Meekness under the harshest usage— The scourge — Beatings — Severity of 
 masters — Ladies and their servants — Family executioner — The butler 
 punished — Brutality of government underlings — Scene with the po- 
 liceman — With the post-office clerk — "Off'hats" — Spitting when angry 
 — Peasants kind and happy with each other — Their general character 
 — Honesty — Easily contented — Their food. — Cucumbers, cabbage, 
 sours — Wages — In general, better provided in regard to food and 
 lodging than the Irish and some of the Scotch peasantry . 124
 
 XIV CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 THE RUSSIAN PEASANT ASLEEP, AND AT WORK. 
 
 Sleeping in the streets — Fearless workmen — Giddy ladders — The man 
 and the weathercock — Using the hatchet — Ingenious in copying 
 anything — Rustic pianoforte — Dexterous employment of their 
 tools ....... Page 137 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 POPULAR AMUSEMENTS ON THE ISLANDS. 
 
 Dances — Songs — Tales of a droschky — Russians fond of music — Summer- 
 evening amusements — Dancing scene — Singing — Droschky journey — 
 Anecdotes of the Isvoshtchiks — Merry scenes on the islands — Boating 
 — More singing— Gay gardens — Noble villas — Mineral waters, &c. 143 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 SCENES IN THE FISH-BARGES BATHS — BAZAARS, AND 
 
 MARRIAGE MARKET. 
 
 Live fish — Tethered sturgeon, and winter fare — Betting — Hawkers of 
 lemonade— Russian baths — The effect of bathing on the habits, &c. — 
 Scenes in the GostinoY Dvor — Importunate merchant — Bargaining — 
 The old-clothes mart — Old iron — Visit to the Summer garden — How 
 to get married . . . . . . . . 15G 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 THE HIGHER CLASSES THEIR INCOMES AND MUNIFICENCE 
 
 EMPEROR'S TREATMENT OF TRAVELLING BEAUTIES — ABUSE 
 OF SOME TITLES. 
 
 Witty account of the Russian capital — Difference between the Russian 
 and English nobility — A man valued by the number of his serfs — 
 Sources of income in Russia — Land — Manufactures — Mines — Flocks 
 — Large fortunes — The Cheremetieffs — Demidoffs, &c. — The Countess 
 
 R and her sheep — Extent of Russian properties — Compared with 
 
 that of a Scottish estate — The wealthy Count Woronzoff — His muni- 
 ficence — Anecdote of him — Nobles not allowed to spend too much of 
 their forhvnes abroad — Russian ladies marrying foreigners — Intimacy 
 between Russian and English gentlemen — Style of dressing — Abuse of 
 the title of" Prince" — Hundreds bearing it — Abundance of *' Generals" 
 — The apothecary made a general — Privileges of a uniform — Use of 
 epaulettes — Edinburgh archer — Disputes about precedence rendered 
 impossible . . . . . . . . 170
 
 CONTENTS. XV 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 AMUSEMENTS OF THE NOBLES — PASSION FOR TRAVEL TASTE 
 
 FOR LANGUAGES. 
 
 Russians seldom ride — Rural sports unknown — Fond of gambling — The 
 theatre — The emperor and his dancers — Passion for travel — Dif- 
 ference between English and Russian travellers — English travelling 
 inconsistencies — Russians not devoid of patriotism — Their quickness 
 in acquiring languages — Apathy of the English in this study — The 
 Englishman and his Italian master — His German professor — Russians 
 very attentive to their native tongue . . . Page 183 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 STYLE OF LIVING AMONG THE NOBLES. 
 
 Splendid mansions — Style of entertaining — March of French cookery — 
 Arrangements of the table — Simplicity — Feast of flowers — Names of 
 guests — Domestic unhappiness — Mercenary marriages — Russian love- 
 making — Costly feasts . . . . .193 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 NATIONAL DISHES. 
 
 Expensive fish — The sterlet — Foreign wines — Russian wines of the Don, 
 the Crimea, &c — Kvass, the national beverage — Vodki — Delicious tea 
 — The horrors of eating Batinia — Buckwheat pudding — Russian broth 
 — Hospitable matrons — Mushrooms — Their abundance and safety — 
 Our poisonous kinds eaten in Russia — Mode of cooking — Suggestions 
 — Is tallow eaten by the Russians ? — Tsehi, or cabbage-soup — Sni- 
 atky . . . . . . . .199 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 THE ENGLISH IN ST. PETERSBURG WITH NOTICES OF THE EX- 
 PENSE OF LIVING IN IT, AND HINTS ON THE HOTELS, &C. 
 
 English mercantile houses — Style of living among the British — Nature 
 of their business — Large capitals — Tallow trader — Residences of the 
 English — The Knglish quay — English Back Line — The factory — 
 Church — Library — Clubs — Horse-races — Fox-hounds — Bear-shooting 
 — English an'l Russian merchants contracted — No Jews merchants —
 
 XVI CONTENTS. 
 
 Scotch land-stewards — English tutors and governesses — Mr. Baird, the 
 engineer — Total number of English — Warning to people not to be rash 
 in going to Russia — Capricious treatment from the authorities — Eng- 
 lishman sent to Siberia — Grooms from England — English physicians 
 in St. Petersburg — Country cottages of the English — Of the Russian 
 nobles — Hard names of the nobility — Short summer — Compared with 
 that of England — Living here very cheap for the poor — Expensive for 
 the rich — Costly furniture — House rent — Bad hotels — Excellent Eng- 
 lish houses — Tables d'hote — Coffee-houses — Travellers' purchases — 
 Velvets — Leather — Slippers — Furs . . . Page 212 
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY AND LIBRARIES — FINE ARTS AND 
 LITERATURE. 
 
 Great exertions of the Emperor Alexander in behalf of national education 
 — Result doubtful — University of St. Petersburg — Its comparative in- 
 feriority — Number of students and professors — Compared with Dorpat 
 — Academy of sciences — Fossil remains — Imperial library — Persian 
 manuscripts— Academy of painting — Hermitage gallery — Murillo — 
 Paul Potter — Periodical and general literature — Poets — Karamsin 226 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 THE HOSPITALS AND PUBLIC PRISONS RUSSIAN PUNISHMENTS. 
 
 Splendour of the hospitals — Treatment of patients compared with that in 
 England — Crimes and criminals — Banishment to Siberia — The knout 
 — Visit to the public prisons — Debtors — Criminals — Boys — Women — 
 Great order — Rooms too much crowded — Diet — Health — The emperor's 
 vigilance ....... 237 
 
 CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 THE EMPEROR. 
 
 Generally represented as cruel and tyrannical — Pallia! ion of the charge 
 — Great interest felt about his character throughout Europe — Import- 
 ance of the subject — Circumstances under which he came to the throne 
 — Meaning of the title Tzar, Autocrat, &c. — Miscellaneous anecdotes — 
 Simplicity of his private habits — Happiness with his family — His 
 opinion >rf the judgment which the English pass on him — The empress 
 and the stranger — His restless activity — Love of military show — Com- 
 manding appearance of Nicholas — Fascinating manners — Especially 
 towards foreigners — His desire to conciliate the foreign press — Atten- 
 tion to the French journalist. Monsieur L. VV — . — Flatteries of French 
 
 and German writers — Herr Von D and his hook — Attachment of 
 
 some of the Russian officers — Popular with the soldiers and the people
 
 CONTENTS. XV11 
 
 — Mode of saluting him in the streets — His exertions in any public 
 calamity — His noble conduct when cholera appeared — His activity and 
 hardy habits in travelling — His iron bed — His energy not always pro- 
 ductive of good — Rogues in office — No sportsman — His style of elo- 
 quence — Argument with the French ambassador — His religion — Su- 
 perstition — Toleration — Not so remarkable as is often stated — Why 
 the Jews are tolerated — Torture — Only nominally abolished in Russia 
 — Activity of his police — Spies — Anecdote of an Englishman at Ka- 
 lisch — Emperor's conduct in regard to the admission of English and 
 French newspapers — The Morning Post — Galignani — Journal des D6- 
 bats, &c. — German papers — Censorship — Treatment of booksellers— 
 Byron — Books of Travels, &c. — His restrictions on the stage — A poli- 
 tical play ...... Page 243 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 INFLUENCE OF THE COURT. 
 
 Great improvement in the morals of the Russian nobles — Chiefly attribu- 
 table to the empress — Way in which she has produced the change — 
 Splendour of the court entertainments — Banquets — Receptions — Most 
 honoured guests — Effect which her example has had on the education 
 of the daughters of the nobility — Great pains taken with her own fa- 
 mily — The emperor's attention to the education of his sons — Its influ- 
 ence on that of the young nobles — Many Germans of princely rank 
 visit the court— Prince Maximilian of Leuchtenber^ — Motives of the 
 emperor in choosing him to be his son-in-law — His character — The 
 extravagance of the court injurious as an example to the nobles — 
 Their burdens — Painful reflections on witnessing the splendour of the 
 palaces ....... 274 
 
 CHAPTER XXV. 
 
 THE EMPEROR'S REFORMS OFFICIAL BRIBES — CONDITION OF 
 
 THE SERFS. 
 
 Shameful prevalence of bribery — Judges — Magistrates — Anecdotes of a 
 police director — Nothing can be done without bribing — Difficulty of 
 changing the system — Attempt to liberate the serfs — Their present 
 degraded condition — Sold with the land — May be bought as servants 
 — Extreme difficulty of arriving at the truth on these subjects in Russia 
 — Injurious effects of slavery on masters as well as the sufferers them- 
 selves — Danger of keeping the people longer in slavery . . 285 
 
 CHAPTER XXVI. 
 
 THE EMPEROR AND HIS ARMY. 
 
 His longing for military fame — Love of reviews, &c. — Makes a plaything 
 of hi? troops — Amount of the Russian army — How composed — Cannot 
 be relied upon — Jew soldiers — The imperial guard — Finland sharp- 
 shooters — Russian compared with Prussian soldiers — The reviews at 
 Kalisch — Pay — Length of service, &c. ■ . . . 298
 
 XV111 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER XXVII. 
 
 THE EMPEROR'S NAVAL PROJECTS, AND THEIR DANGER TO 
 ENGLAND. 
 
 What is England doing ? — Naval statistics of Russia — The Baltic fleet — 
 That of the Black Sea — Of the Caspian — Steamers — Danger from the 
 numerical strength of her marine — Otherwise no great cause for alarm — 
 The Russian revenues not fit for such continued outlay — Rotten ships 
 — Naval projects condemned by the emperor's ministers — Service not 
 liked — Spirit of the sailors — Their bravery — Docility — Admiral Kru- 
 senstern — Officers in spurs — Russian sailors only bad soldiers — Their 
 awkwardness — Ships run ashore — Officers mast-headed — Emperor's 
 severity to them, and consequent unpopularity — Amusements of his 
 young cadets at Peterhof — Childishness and cruelty of the system — 
 Parade of Peter the Great's boat — More care now taken in building 
 ships — The Russia — Visit to the College fob Naval Cadets — An- 
 nual expenses of the whole Russian navy — Necessity for preparations 
 in England — Efficacy of Lord Durham's remonstrances — Engagement 
 with the Swedes — Reflections — England has nothing to fear in the 
 event of a war with the emperor — His weakness — Folly and crimi- 
 nality of the present clamour for war . . . Page 308 
 
 CHAPTER XXVIII. 
 
 THE EMPEROR'S AMBITIOUS POLICY HIS VIEWS ON GREECE 
 
 TURKEY — PERSIA NORWAY. 
 
 Reasons why Nicholas aims at the subjugation of the East — And of 
 Greece in particular — The Greeks in the Turkish empire — Intends to 
 restore Greece to the splendour of classic days — Sketch of the em- 
 peror's present territories — And of his energy in governing them — His 
 revenues — Ministry, &c. — Treacherous conduct towards Persia — Has 
 supplanted the English there — Miserable state of that country — Russian 
 cunning — Their deserters in Persia — Schemes against Norway . 342 
 
 CHAPTER XXIX. 
 
 THE EMPEROR'S DIPLOMATIC SYSTEM CONTRASTED WITH THAT 
 OF ENGLAND HIS PLANS FOR AMALGAMATING THE DIFFER- 
 ENT PARTS OF THE EMPIRE. 
 
 Russian ambassadors selected for their talents — Great confidence reposed 
 in them — High education for the diplomatic service required in Russia 
 and other parts of the Continent — Laxity of our English system — Rus- 
 sian ministers at Constantinople — Boutanieff — Pozzo di Borgo — Mal- 
 titz — Matucevitz — D'Oubril — Devotion of his agents to the emperor — 
 Russia:, spies in the houses of English ambassadors — Large bands of 
 informers in Russian pay all over Europe — The emperor's spies in 
 Paris, and at the German universities — Their activity in Turkey — Al- 
 leged interference against England in Canada — Count Nesselrode — 
 Talleyrand — Metternich — The emperor's care in educating young men 
 from the distant provinces — Makes them his warm friends — Professors 
 from strange lands ...... 3G0
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER XXX. 
 
 REVOLUTIONARY SPIRIT IN RUSSIA DISCONTENT OF THE 
 
 ARMY, AND LIBERAL OPINIONS OF THE NOBLES POLAND 
 
 WAR IN THE CAUCASUS. 
 
 Elements of discord in the empire itself — Causes of dissatisfaction felt 
 by the nobles — Discontent among the officers of the army — The 
 emperor's harsh and arbitrary conduct towards them — Insults them 
 — Partiality to foreigners — Persecution of liberalism — Secret political 
 associations among the nobility, especially in Moscow — Prosecutions 
 — Restrictions on travelling — Spread of free opinions — Rumours of 
 plots — Of a revolution — lis probable object — Republics to be esta- 
 blished — State of Poland — Misrepresented by Russian writers — War in 
 the Caucasus . . . . . . Page 373 
 
 CHAPTER XXXI. 
 
 THE EMPEROR'S PROJECTS AGAINST BRITISH INDIA CONSI- 
 DERED ALLIANCE WITH PRUSSIA. 
 
 March through Persia to Hindustan — This conquest a favourite theme 
 ^with French writers — Actually planned and contemplated by Russia — 
 Its absurdity and impracticability — Can be easily counteracted by 
 England — Favourable stations for us in the Persian Gulf, &c. — Allies 
 of the emperor — Doubtful friendship with Austria — Prussian aid — 
 Views of that state on Hamburg .... 338 
 
 CHAPTER XXXII. 
 
 THE EMPEROR'S PARTIALITY TO THE ENGLISH INFLUENCE 
 
 AND SERVICES OF LORD DURHAM. 
 
 Russian nobles unfavourable to a war with England — Nicholas himself 
 fond of Englishmen — His attentiou to our travelling countrymen — 
 
 Captain in the imperial palace — The emperor's anxiety to 
 
 know the state of public opinion in England — -Reads our newspapers 
 and debates in parliament — His respect for Lord Durham — Favours 
 obtained by him for Englishmen — Has removed many of the empe- 
 ror's prejudices regarding England — Mistakes about us on the Con- 
 tinent . . . . . . .399
 
 HINTS TO TRAVELLERS IN RUSSIA 
 
 Are given on the following subjects, at the pages indicated 
 below : — 
 
 Page Vol. 
 
 On Travelling- through Finland . . . 4, 5 i. 
 
 Disadvantages of entering Russia in a trading- 
 vessel. Annoyance at the Custom-house at 
 Cronstadt, and examination of books at St. 
 Petersburg. Advice about the Lubeck steamer 28 — 46,47 i. 
 
 Hotels and expense of living in St. Petersburg . 223, 224 i. 
 
 Account of the police regulations regarding tra- 
 vellers, and of the forms on leaving Russia . 2 — 5 ii. 
 
 Preparations for a journey to the interior, and 
 explanation of Russian dates, distances, and 
 money ..... 
 
 Diligences to Moscow .... 
 
 Hotels and expenses in Moscow 
 
 A few of the words most useful to the traveller . 
 
 Preparations, purchase of stores, &c, for a jour- 
 ney through the less frequented parts of Russia 
 
 Explanation of the posting system in Russia, and 
 expenses of the Padoroshna, engaging a courier, 
 &c. . 
 
 Marche-route from Moscow by Nishnei to Odessa 
 
 Hotels and expenses at Odessa . 
 
 Statement of the expenditure, per month, of a 
 traveller in Russia, sale of a carriage, &c. 
 
 5—9 
 
 ii. 
 
 11, 12 
 
 ii. 
 
 114, US 
 
 ii. 
 
 118, 119 
 
 ii. 
 
 139—143 
 
 ii. 
 
 143—146 
 
 ii. 
 
 146, 147 
 
 ii. 
 
 399 
 
 ii. 
 
 394—400 
 
 ii.
 
 MISCELLANEOUS HINTS 
 
 Will be found scattered through the text, such as 
 the following : — 
 
 Page Vol. 
 
 Sea voyage from Stockholm to Abo . . . 13 i. 
 
 Crossing the Gulf of Bothnia in winter . . . ib. i. 
 
 Seeking the way in a strange city . . 50 — 54 i. 
 
 Importance of knowing the native name of an hotel . 54 i. 
 
 Letters of introduction ... 55, 56 i. 
 
 Comforts of tea to the traveller in Russia . . 204 i. 
 
 Russian postillion and his horses . . 19, 167 ii. 
 
 Length of stages .... 19,268,395 ii. 
 
 Post-houses . . . • • 19,268 ii. 
 
 No beds at the inns . . . 153, 157, &c. ii. 
 
 The two most useful words in the Russian language .117 ii. 
 
 Wayside inns and dinners . 18, 22, 156, 228, 268 ii. 
 
 Choice of routes from Moscow to Nishnei . . 145 ii. 
 
 Comforts of a large carriage . . . 162, 266 ii. 
 
 Securing luggage .... 162,266 ii. 
 
 Russian mode of reckoning an account . . . 210 ii. 
 
 Crossing ferries .... 165,226 ii. 
 
 Inns at Towns of the Interior : Novgorod-Veliki 20, ii. ; 
 
 Torjok, 25, ii. ; Mourom, 164, ii. ; Nishnei-Novgorod, 208, ii. ; 
 Melenky, 219,ii. ; Riazan, 231, ii. ; Zaraisk, 235, ii. ; Toula, 247, 
 ii. ; Orel, 263, ii. ; Koursk, 270, ii.; Kharkoff, 284, ii. ; Pul- 
 
 tava ..... 307, 308,323 ii. 
 
 No trouble about passports in the interior . 4,265 ii. 
 
 Specimens of postmasters, 235, 253, 254, ii. ; of a kind one, 220 ii. 
 
 Method of driving, marking the roads, &c. . . 269 ii. 
 
 On resting at night ..... 372 ii. 
 
 Fate of a Russian courier .... 396 ii.
 
 ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 NICHOLAS I. 
 
 Frontispiece to the First Volume. 
 
 THE EMPRESS ALEXANDRA-FCEODOROVNA. 
 
 Frontispiece to the Second Volume.
 
 ST. PETERSBURG. 
 
 THE EMPEROR.
 
 EXCURSIONS, 
 
 Sfc. 8fc. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 SUMMER HOURS IN THE BALTIC. 
 
 Our sailing from Stockholm — Reasons for avoiding the route through 
 Finland — The Johanna Sophia — Scanty berth on board — Sketch of a 
 "Swedish captain and his crew — Dropping down Channel — Contrast 
 with the Thames — Wexholm. — Romantic Scenery — Sandham — Gulf 
 of Bothnia — Islands of Aland — Their importance to Russia — Sunrise 
 — " Land" — Dago Island — Revel — Sveaborg. 
 
 " To morr' punkt at tolf, jimmlemen, we schiff from 
 Stockholm." 
 
 Such were the mystic words in which captain, or more 
 correctly, skipper Eric Simonsson of Malmo, acquainted 
 us with the hour at which his tidy bark the Johanna 
 Sophia was to sail for St. Petersburg ; the good man 
 wisely employing, as the safest means of communicating 
 with foreigners, the amusing lingua-franca of the North 
 — a capricious mixture of English, German, and Swedish, 
 so accommodating that it varies with each speaker, ac- 
 cording to the language in which he is, for the moment, 
 most ambitious of being thought a proficient. 
 
 That he spoke a language, if language it could be 
 called, out of which, with a little ingenuity, we could 
 
 VOL. I. B
 
 2 THE HARBOUR OF STOCKHOLM. 
 
 always draw some meaning, was, of course, no slight re- 
 commendation of his ship. Besides his attainments in 
 English, however, the captain possessed another great 
 virtue in our eyes — he was overjoyed at the prospect of 
 carrying us with him. Having never in all his voyages, 
 to many parts of the world, had charge of even one Eng- 
 lishman, the thought of actually having two of them at 
 once was so delightful to him, that we verily believe 
 he would have taken us for nothing, rather than have 
 renounced a distinction he had so long sighed for. 
 
 We had little difficulty therefore in coming to an 
 agreement. Arrangements were soon made for our re- 
 ception ; and, knowing that we had to deal with a right 
 peremptory and word-keeping Swede, we did not fail to 
 be on board, the following day, most punctually at 
 twelve. 
 
 But, alas ! winds and waves provokingly kept true to 
 their wonted fickleness. The captain was ready — we 
 were ready — all the world was ready ; yet noon was long 
 past, and we moved not from the spot. 
 
 The bright sun of July shone so benignantly on the 
 deep clear waters of the Malar — the vapoury clouds hung 
 so gracefully over the most beautiful of all the beautiful 
 cities of the north — the lovely flowers crept so gently 
 against the gleaming windows of the palace, beneath 
 which lay our vessel — silence — the silence of noonday, 
 more st-rtling in a great city than that of night — rested 
 so breathlessly on rock, and tower, and tree — in short, 
 both on the water and on land all was 
 " So peaceful and so fair," 
 that the breeze refused to lift his discordant voice. A
 
 A STILL SCENE. 3 
 
 goodly convoy was that day to leave the crowded har- 
 bour ; but their canvas hung idly by the mast. The 
 hundred ships around floated as if bound by a wintry 
 spell ; the sleeping sea-birds that basked in the tide 
 were not more motionless. 
 
 Man himself was affected by the stillness and beauty 
 of the summer day. The heavy wheels of commerce, as 
 during the siesta in a southern clime, had ceased to roll. 
 The sailor's shout, and the boatmaid's song, were hushed. 
 The oars of the few boats still passing from side to side 
 glided as noiselessly as if the element they dipped into 
 had been turned into oil. 
 
 Wishing, however, to be ready for any change, we 
 remained patiently on board, hoping that, as day de- 
 clined, some stray gale might steal from the lakes of the 
 interior, and waft us on to the sea. In fact, having 
 regretfully said our adieux — and who ever left Stockholm 
 and its warmhearted people without regret ? — we were 
 unwilling to land there again, lest, after all, we might be 
 tempted to give up our project of visiting the dominions 
 of the Tzar. 
 
 We knew before embarking that the voyage to St. 
 Petersburg would occupy at least eight days, and per- 
 haps as many as eighteen. But, even with the chance of 
 delay, we thought it advisable to avoid the more cir- 
 cuitous course now usually adopted — by the steamboat to 
 Abo, and thence by land along the northern shore of the 
 Gulf of Finland. We had no desire to face the annoy- 
 ances complained of by all who enter Russia at that 
 point. There being no public conveyance from the land- 
 ing-port, we should have been compelled to take any 
 
 b2
 
 4 TRAVELLERS COMFORTS IN FINLAND. 
 
 carriage and any servant that happened to be idle, at the 
 risk of being robbed by the one, or having our necks 
 broke by the other. 
 
 The greatest objection to this route, however, lies in 
 the severities of the Russian custom-house, which, trou- 
 blesome everywhere, are on the Finland line so particu- 
 larly annoying, that some friends who traversed it the 
 preceding year say they would go five hundred miles 
 about rather than be again exposed to them. Carriage, 
 trunks, pocket-books, and pockets are searched, not once 
 merely on landing, but over and over again at certain 
 stations along the road. One had his box of tooth- 
 powder carefully emptied to see what treason or 
 what contraband might lurk in its dusky shelter. Ano- 
 ther had his soap-balls cut in two, with the same pur- 
 pose ; he next saw his stockings slowly unfolded, pair 
 after pair, and was not sure that some of them did not 
 vanish in the process ; for the searchers have a trick of 
 coming three or four together, and, distracting their vic- 
 tim's attention by opening several packages at the same 
 time, quietly secrete any article that pleases them ; yet, 
 after all, ask a fee for having given so little trouble. 
 
 It should be a rule with the traveller in every country 
 not to allow more than one of his trunks to be open at 
 the same moment in such places. But, with the light- 
 fingered Russians, even this precaution will not always 
 save hie property. An American gentleman, lately 
 passing this very road, with his wife, while he had his 
 feet on one portmanteau, and was sitting on the other to 
 keep them from being all opened at once, had the satis- 
 faction of seeing a costly shawl walk off before his eyes.
 
 MULTUM IN PARVO. O 
 
 The best of it was, the theft was denied ; the search 
 which he attempted in the adjoining cottage among the 
 goods and chattels of the officer's wife, to whom he sup- 
 posed it had been handed, was, of course, fruitless. For 
 the sake of future travellers, he afterwards complained 
 to the finance minister, who received him very courte- 
 ously, and, perhaps, ordered one or two of the parties to 
 be knouted, — then appointed others in their place, to 
 play the same game on the very first opportunity. These 
 are evils in Russia which, although civilization may 
 banish them, neither the knout nor the emperor have yet 
 been able to root out. 
 
 In short, the complaints about this Abo route are so 
 great, that, though the country is very pretty, and the 
 roads good, there are few who know its character that 
 would not prefer almost any conveyance by sea all the 
 way to St. Petersburg. 
 
 We, at least, had no reason to regret our choice ; an 
 admission at which some may marvel when^ we state 
 that the accommodations of the Johanna Sophia were not 
 of the most elegant description. The cabin — a sort of 
 overgrown sentry-box fastened to the deck — was something 
 like the poet's closet — 
 
 " just six feet by four ; 
 
 So nobly large, 'twas scarcely able 
 To admit a single chair and table." 
 
 A temporary bed-frame occupied the doorway on one 
 side, while another displayed a brown box, serving as a 
 second bed by night and as a bench by day. 
 
 Sailors, however, are such good hands at making the 
 most of little space, that this cage further contained a
 
 6 
 
 THE CAPTAIN. 
 
 folding-board to write and dine upon, a cabinet for our 
 books and maps, and a larder for indispensables. In fine, 
 nothing was wanting, however, to any one in good health 
 and willing to be pleased. 
 
 The crew, as we found on further acquaintance, was 
 very steady ; and our squat friend, the captain, one of the 
 worthiest souls that ever chewed tobacco. In his trips 
 to London and Leith he had picked up about as much 
 of English as he had acquired of German in his visits to 
 Stettin, and from both united had concocted a most 
 amusing jargon peculiar to himself. 
 
 Having a high regard for England, and everything 
 connected with it, he showed us great attention from 
 the first ; and, when we got better acquainted, his 
 anxiety to make us comfortable was most affectionate. 
 Travelling he held in the greatest horror. On hearing 
 that we had been full twelve months from home, and 
 might still be absent as many more, he held up his 
 hands in wonder, and fairly confessed that he could 
 not imagine what tempted people to go among strangers, 
 merely to be pestered with difficulties. In a ship, to 
 be sure, a person might visit foreign countries without 
 losing all claim to be regarded as a man of sense ; there 
 the wanderer was in a manner at home all the time ; 
 but on land ! he would make ten trips through the 
 Bay of Biscay sooner than trust himself ten hours on 
 shore. His tirades were generally wound up with an 
 emphatic " They 're terrible fellows, thim furraners !" 
 
 These warnings, partly intended for the benefit of a 
 Swedish mechanic on board, going to seek his fortune in 
 Russia, were given out of pure love. He seemed to
 
 THE CAPTAIN. 7 
 
 look upon us somewhat in the light of children that had 
 run away from home, without calculating the danger of 
 an unfriendly world. If at any time we appeared to tire 
 of a ship-life, or if the vapours threatened us, which was 
 but seldom, or if the Russian grammar, which we were 
 trying to study, was thrown aside in utter despair, there 
 was no end to the devices he employed to cheer us. 
 When his lessons in steering, boxing the compass, stu- 
 dying the charts, heaving the lead, fishing for turbot, or 
 other grave pursuits, were all exhausted, he would put 
 on his best gray coat, and sit down with us to ask ques- 
 tions about England, or spin a sailor's yarn, squirting 
 out waves of tobacco-juice at every second sentence. 
 Should all these intellectual methods fail, he tried to 
 rouse us with a beaker of his best coffee, or some sa" 
 voury dish, cooked under his own eye. Indeed, the 
 " cok " being by no means a first-rate professor, and, 
 as he said, there being " no wummans on board to do 
 things nice," he generally bore a hand himself in pre- 
 paring our dinner, and brought it to table, with the 
 joyous shout, " Dinner's a-cumbing, jimmlemen !" 
 
 We always knew by his dress when a squall was 
 approaching. The moment the first angry cloud ap- 
 peared he mounted himself in a pair of enormous boots, 
 which covered half his body, wrapped an ominous red 
 comforter about his neck, donned a battered scraper, 
 with a tail down the back as long as the swab, and took 
 with double fury to the tobacco-pouch. He never lost 
 his temper, however; the only theme that could at all 
 ruffle it was that of steam-boats— a sore topic with most 
 of his profession. His remarks on this subject were a
 
 8 A SAILORS PREJUDICES — THE CREW. 
 
 beautiful specimen of the sort of reasoning brought 
 against innovations of every kind, " Both stim-boats 
 and railroads is werry dangerous," would he say in better 
 English than usual. " I'm for nun on 'em myself. 
 Only ten men employed where there were a hundred, 
 and horrid nasty. Near a dozen of ships used to go 
 several times every summer to Lubeck ; now one stim- 
 boat carries all the goods- They took six weeks, and 
 she only ten days, out. and home. It's quite a shame. 
 My hands get fourteen dollars (1/. 4s.) a month, and 
 the stim-fellows don't give no more. They should all be 
 burnt. I hope nun o' my men will ever try such nigger 
 work." 
 
 In fact the good Swede had a great regard for his 
 *crew ; and it is much to the credit of their country that 
 neither from them nor him did we hear an oath or an 
 angry word all the time we were on board. 
 
 The regularity with which they performed their devo- 
 tions was most exemplary ; and the same sight may be 
 witnessed on board of most Swedish ships. At a certain 
 hour, before setting the night-watch they assembled 
 together in a small place on deck. When each had 
 uncovered a prayer was said by the captain, and then 
 all united in singing a psalm ; after which they sepa- 
 rated, each going to his post, with mutual blessings. 
 Those quiet sunset-hours in the Baltic, hallowed by 
 such a touching scene, will long be looked back to 
 among the most pleasing remembrances of wanderings 
 in which we have to thank God for much that is pleas- 
 ing. Generally the first sound that greeted us again in 
 the morning was the voice of prayer renewed. The
 
 DEPARTURE FROM STOCKHOLM. 9 
 
 manner too in which they honoured the sabbath — so 
 often unheeded at sea — was most edifying ; there was 
 something pious even in their way of changing the 
 watch in the night, the man at the helm chanting 
 slowly, " Rise up to change the watch, in the name of 
 God !" and if the crew happened to be asleep when the 
 supper-hour came on, the summons always ran, " Turn 
 out to eat, in the name of God." 
 
 In such good company did we leave Stockholm ; 
 the weather continuing so calm that it took us nearly 
 two days to reach the sea, a distance of only seventy 
 miles. Whatever breeze there was above, the high 
 rocks which line the long channel the whole way from 
 .the sea to the Swedish capital lulled its influence so 
 completely, that, in spite of every effort, we lay the 
 whole of the first day within hearing of the city murmur. 
 While the boat was sent ahead with a few hands on the 
 oars, for the lazy purpose of tugging us on at the rate of 
 some yards in two or three hours, we had no solace but 
 to look with envy on the happy people driving about in 
 the park, or to hang over the ship's side as submissively 
 as the unsuccessful sportsmen who had rowed from town 
 to pass the afternoon in fishing for strccmlings, a small 
 (and the only) kind of herring now found in the Baltic; 
 in angling for which no bait is used, but merely a sharp 
 hook, against which the fish is thrown by chance and is 
 caught — to the great joy of the cockney angler, who sits 
 as if boat and man were nailed together, jerking his 
 elbows and nodding his head with the monotonous pa- 
 tience of a Chinese figure in a tea-shop. 
 
 Yet it was a pleasant dreamy life, as we lay gazing on 
 
 b3
 
 10 SUNKEN VESSELS. 
 
 the smooth waters, and the fantastic wooded heights 
 mirrored back with new beauty from the crystal below. 
 The varying city, of itself, long formed a magnificent 
 picture, and its charm was heightened by the nearer 
 objects — the graceful ships, when the evening breeze at 
 last came forth, with their sails all set, moving lazily up 
 and down, and across — pleasure-boats — scenes of industry, 
 with the busy hammer echoing back from the cliffs — 
 and the falling calm of sunset beginning to rest upon 
 all. 
 
 About 16 miles down we passed Wexholm, a kind of 
 dilapidated fortress, on a small rock in the middle of 
 the channel, where ships going and coming show their 
 papers, and passengers their passports. On the north 
 side, where the rocks recede a little, is a small town, with 
 abundance of windmills and distilleries. The channels 
 on either side of the rock are so narrow that a boom can 
 be thrown across each. The place is of little strength, 
 but is now undergoing repair. The handful of convicts 
 at work were probably the only cause of newspaper 
 rumours which had recently been travelling through 
 Europe, announcing mighty preparations in the forts and 
 strong places of Sweden. 
 
 Just below this point the direct navigation is impeded 
 by the remains of two men-of-war, which were sunk in 
 22 feet of water, so far back as 1801, to'keep the English 
 from passing. 
 
 It is now long since any English ships of war passed 
 here ; but, to all appearance, the day is not far distant 
 when we may find it wise to send them this way, unless 
 we wish to see a steady ally become the victim of an in-
 
 CHANNEL SCENERY. II 
 
 satiable ambition. Russia, with her usual foresight and 
 cunning, under the mask of friendship and the interchange 
 of courtesies, beneath which she so well knows how to 
 conceal the most inimical designs, is making herself well 
 acquainted with the approach to Stockholm. A Russian 
 brig of war was lying in the very heart of the city during 
 our stay there ; and on our way down we met one of the 
 emperor's steamers hastening up with young officers on 
 board, sent thither with the view of making them practi- 
 cally acquainted with the highway which they hope soon 
 to traverse in a different character. 
 
 Soon after passing the little fortress the river becomes 
 extremely beautiful, the widening channel being varied 
 with verdant inlets and fine bays, at the bottom of one of 
 which, to the south, rises the palace of Fredericksberg — 
 a large structure among gentle eminences fringed with 
 trees. In truth, few rivers are more romantic than the 
 noble approach to the Swedish capital. At certain spots 
 the channel is so narrow that we could touch the foliage 
 drooping from the rocks overhead. From the loftiness 
 and variety of its shores, this channel is, in point of 
 scenery, far superior to the sail from Margate to Lon- 
 don. But what a contrast its silence and loneliness pre- 
 sent to the shouts and bustle of the Thames ! After we 
 had got away from the pleasure-boats of the citizens, which 
 with even a moderate breeze could have been done in 
 twenty minutes, the inlet was often as silent as the lakes of 
 Norway. Ships of some kind or other, however, were ge- 
 nerally in sight ; now and then a girl would row up, in a 
 little boat, with her milk-pails glittering about her, bound, 
 quite alone, on a twenty-mile voyage to market; or ;i
 
 12 
 
 STILL LIFE. 
 
 barge would appear, sunk to the edge by the towering 
 castles of firewood built on its deck. Sometimes a fishing- 
 boat would offer us her capture, or a provision-lugger 
 would creep up from Finland, which still supplies the 
 Swedish capital with butter, cheese, poultry, salmon, 
 beef, — in short, as the captain said, that fertile land ex- 
 ports '• all kinds of fat things." 
 
 These objects, however, presented themselves only at 
 distant intervals. At times not a single sail was in view ; 
 and we were often so completely becalmed, that we had 
 an opportunity of rowing in the yawl to spots so tranquil 
 and so beautiful, that, while we gazed on them in the 
 silence of the summer night, it seemed as if Ariosto's 
 magic, 
 
 " Giace in Arabia" — 
 
 might, with more than poetic justice, have been trans- 
 ferred to these hyperborean solitudes. At other times, in 
 exploring some of the lonely islands, our fancies changed 
 to scenes of another character ; for so lonely and beau- 
 tiful are these wood-crowned isles, so fresh and limpid 
 their surrounding waters, that we dreamed ourselves 
 away to the far Pacific, and began to fancy that the 
 fir-trees were palms, and thought we should meet poor 
 Friday, or, at least, discover the print of a man's foot in 
 the sand — but in vain. These islands, as well as the 
 greater part of the land on either side of the inlet, are 
 almost entirely tenantless and uncultivated ; so that the 
 capital, with this long stretch of fruitless soil on one side 
 of it, is forced to draw most of its supplies from a dis- 
 tance : without Scania and Finland it could not stand 
 out a fortnight.
 
 GULF OF BOTHNIA. 13 
 
 Pleasant as we had found this inlet, the navigation 
 requires such caution that we had a pilot on board all 
 the way to Sandham, a small cluster of houses in the 
 bay, which forms the entrance to the channel. It is 
 surrounded by firs, which find but a scanty subsistence 
 among the sand, and can scarcely be said to shelter the 
 sad groves of those who had died of cholera in the 
 quarantine. Here we got a new pilot to convey us out 
 to sea, were overhauled by the custom-house, and left 
 Sweden with a hearty breeze, which carried us gallantly 
 past the mouth of the Gulf of Bothnia. 
 
 On the map the gulf looks very narrow ; in fact, a 
 short way farther north it is so contracted, that in 
 March, 1809, a Russian army, under Barclay de Tolly, 
 crossed on the ice in three days from Wasa to Umea in 
 Sweden. But, narrow as the mouth seems, it is beset by 
 so many rugged provoking little islands, that vessels 
 going to Abo often have a most tedious passage. Some 
 English gentlemen, who hired a vessel for this voyage in 
 the preceding October, were twelve days at sea, and in 
 such danger, that they advise all who come after them 
 to seek another course. In winter the post and couriers 
 cross from island to island on the ice ; but even those 
 who are most accustomed to this task reckon it very 
 dangerous work. The ice being often full of flaws, and 
 large holes occurring where least expected, they never 
 travel without a light boat and a band of fishermen, who, 
 on reaching solid ice, mount their pinnace on long skates, 
 and drag it to the next opening. At one point the 
 coasts of Sweden and Russia are scarcely sixty miles
 
 14 SUNRISE AT SEA. 
 
 apart ; and, there being islands between, there is not 
 in fact, more than twenty-five miles of water. 
 
 The group of islands nearest the mouth of the gulf 
 are known by the general name of the Aland isles. As 
 many as eighty are said to be more or less inhabited by 
 people who chiefly subsist by catching fish and sea- 
 birds. The largest island, from which the whole group 
 is named, contains 14,000 inhabitants. Near it, in 1714, 
 Peter the Great gained over the Swedes the victory 
 which first made Russia known as a naval power. 
 Since 1809 these islands have belonged to Russia, who 
 finds them of great importance as a station for some of 
 her ships in winter ; the current from the gulf being so 
 stormy as to keep a few of the creeks free from ice, when 
 the other Russian seas are completely frozen. 
 
 But it is time to take leave of the Baltic. Before 
 doing so, however, we must mention a scene which will 
 not soon be forgotten. 
 
 A sunrise at sea is one of the most impressive sights 
 in nature. The hour of one had not long struck. As 
 if expectant of some great advent, the waves had soft- 
 ened their turbulence, and the wind was almost lulled. 
 In the east the sky was gradually reddening ; but be- 
 hind us lay a gray uniform mass of vapours, whose 
 gloom only heightened the golden blushes that were 
 every moment spreading wider and wider in the oppo- 
 site quarter of the heavens. Ere long, the burning edge 
 — a single narrow line you would have said — just kissed 
 the waters. Little by little it rose, — and we gazed 
 almost breathless on the expanding glow, — till the broad
 
 SUNRISE AT SEA. 15 
 
 round orb hung over the rejoicing waters, one strong 
 undimmed circle of intensest red. 
 
 For a moment he paused, as if to survey the course 
 he was to follow, then rolled on in triumph, to give beauty 
 and strength to the nations. 
 
 Silence, deep and reverential, was the fittest hymn 
 with which we could welcome the beneficent luminary ; 
 words at such a moment would have been out of place. 
 The complete tranquillity, in the absence of all other 
 objects to distract the attention, increased the effect of a 
 sight which, under any circumstances, would have been 
 most sublime. To this at least it is that we attribute 
 the deep impression made by this sunrise. We have 
 witnessed others, but none with feelings of delighted awe 
 equal to those now experienced. Except the smooth 
 steady rush of the vessel through the water, not a single 
 sound was to be heard ; while the only thing in sight 
 was a solitary ship, in itself always a beautiful object, 
 and now heightening rather than diminishing the effect 
 of the orb which had brought it into light on the dis- 
 tant horizon. 
 
 The last sunrise that we had witnessed was on the 
 Harz Mountains ; the next that we were to enjoy was 
 on the Adriatic, within sight of Venice ; both were 
 beautiful ; but neither of them made so strong an im- 
 pression as this scene in the Baltic. In the one instance, 
 the witches of the Brocken, in the guise of fair- haired 
 German maidens, distracted our thoughts by their in- 
 cantations ; in the other, the trampling feet of the wonted 
 motley crowd of an Italian steamer banished all idea of 
 solitude — for it was a December morning, and, even on
 
 16 RIVAL SUNRISE. 
 
 the Adriatic, December calls for exercise to keep the 
 blood in motion. At the same time a serious rival to 
 the struggling sun was presented by the smoke and 
 flames in which the poor Fenice was bidding a last fare- 
 well to " the sea Cybele" it had so long helped to adorn. 
 True, we might contrast this northern sunrise with 
 another — one beheld from the island of Capri, on the 
 roof of Tiberius's palace — that giddy eminence where 
 none can have stood at such a moment without 
 trembling, not from fear, but from drunken joy ; for lo ! 
 the sun is up, and, far as the eye can reach, a thousand 
 and a thousand glories are gleaming beneath the bright 
 sky of the Campanian spring — 
 
 " Not a grove, 
 
 Citron, or pine, or cedar, not a grot, 
 Sea- worn and mantled with the gadding vine, 
 But breathes enchantment. Not a cliff but flings 
 On the clear wave some image of delight, 
 Some cabin-roof glowing with crimson flowers, 
 Some ruin'd temple or fallen monument." 
 
 What a contrast to the unsung, uninteresting shores 
 along which we were now sailing ! 
 
 The captain's shout of " Land ! Russia !" soon after 
 the sun had risen, most effectually dispelled all dreams 
 of other lands. The first view of Russia resembled 
 anything but the coast to which our thoughts were 
 wandering. 
 
 The second morning from Sandham had brought us 
 in sight of the large and populous island of Dago, 
 whicli looks the most perfect contrast to all that is 
 beautiful.
 
 FIRST VIEW OF RUSSIA. 
 
 17 
 
 We next crossed the mouth of the deep gulf which 
 takes its name from Riga, the capital of Livonia, and 
 the second trading city of Russia. White sails raised 
 on poles to warn ships off the reefs which they mark, 
 and the many lighthouses, as on the island of Norgen 
 and others, show that the navigation is very dangerous. 
 It was not till next day that we got a sight of Revel, 
 the capital of Esthonia, with its pointed towers high and 
 heavy in the distance. We were now in sight also of the 
 opposite coast of Finland, formed of low heights, pre- 
 senting a singular variance with the cliff-bound shores 
 of Sweden and Norway. When night fell we had often 
 as many as three lighthouses within view at the same 
 time. 
 * The breeze which had been deserting us now re- 
 turned, and, carrying us on all night at the rate of seven 
 knots an hour, took us, next morning, swiftly past the 
 high island of Hogland, with several other islands right 
 and left. Helsingfors, the capital of Finland, and its 
 neighbouring fortress Sveaborg, " the Gibraltar of the 
 North," rose, but scarcely visible, on our left. 
 We now pass to a more exciting scene.
 
 18 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 CRUISE THROUGH THE RUSSIAN FLEET—THE EMPEROR 
 AT SEA. 
 
 Surprise — First impression on meeting so many ships of war — -Great 
 strength of the Russian marine — The emperor on board — Anecdotes — 
 The sea-sick courtier — Energy of the emperor — His general character 
 — Beloved by the people — His anxiety to astonish them — Activity on 
 land. — Exposes himself at sea. 
 
 If disappointed of a sight of the sea-fortress of Fin- 
 land, we were destined to behold another and more 
 stirring exhibition of Russia's strength. 
 
 It was about noon (18th of July), when our atten- 
 tion was drawn to a large vessel bearing down with all 
 sail set. She proved to be a ship-of-the-line, of the 
 largest dimensions. Another soon appeared — another — 
 and another — 
 
 " The cry was still ' They come !' " — 
 till we could reckon near fifty men-of-war, all in view at 
 the same moment. 
 
 A more splendid scene it had never been our fortune 
 to witness. Such a number even of small vessels would 
 have formed a beautiful sight ; but the effect produced 
 by this vast array of large ships is beyond description. 
 
 When the first feelings of wonder had subsided we 
 rubbed our eyes, and began to ask where we could have 
 got to ? We were in the midst of the Baltic fleet ;
 
 THE BALTIC FLEET. 19 
 
 and, if the truth must be told, we did not, as Englishmen, 
 feel at all gratified by the sight. We had heard much 
 of the increasing strength of the Russian navy, but 
 merely hearing of it produced a very feeble impression 
 compared with that of actually seeing this modern 
 armada in life and motion around us. 
 
 The fleet was now out on its annual cruise, and we 
 had come just at the luckiest moment, the ships being 
 all in their highest trim, in expectation of the emperor. 
 We gazed almost with childish wonder, long after we 
 had thought that all must have passed, as frigate after 
 frigate still continued to heave in sight. 
 
 The only way we had of measuring the space occupied 
 by the different divisions was, by referring to the pins in 
 our log-board, by which it appeared that, from noon, 
 when we came upon the first of them, till past six in the 
 evening, when we were still meeting ships, we had been 
 going regularly five-and-a-half knots an hour ; so that 
 the whole line must have extended considerably above 
 thirty miles. Nor was this all ; a great many passed 
 us in the night — at one time fourteen of them together ; 
 they were repeatedly so thick, ships of all sizes, that our 
 captain could scarcely make his way through them. 
 
 In short, we thought the gay pageant would stretch 
 till our very hearts should break for vexation. 
 
 It is not, however, as alarmists that we write, but 
 simply to give information — to communicate what we 
 saw and heard of the Russian fleet, with the view of 
 helping, as far as we can, along with more able autho- 
 rities, to enlighten the public regarding the real con- 
 dition of the emperor's navy. For this purpose, some
 
 20 THE BALTIC FLEET. 
 
 facts connected with this fleet, and the state of the Rus- 
 sian marine in general, will be given in another part of 
 the volume, under a distinct head. At present, it may 
 suffice to state that for a time our attention was com- 
 pletely absorbed by the exciting spectacle. Such a 
 splendid sight we never expect to see again. The day 
 was most beautiful ; every ship had her sails set, and 
 ploughed the waters with the grace of some stately bird 
 that scarcely ruffles her native lake. The fine breeze 
 kept all in motion. Signals for changing position were 
 rapidly passing from one end of the line to the other ; 
 new groups, the most varied and most beautiful, were 
 thus every moment presenting themselves. 
 
 A little more of storm — something of danger — black 
 hurrying gloom in place of that sunny sky — and it 
 would have been a scene for a Vernet. Night at last 
 closed upon it, and drove us to rest — to rest, but not to 
 sleep. For the breeze had freshened, and the whole 
 night long, there was nothing but shout and tumult, 
 from the danger of being run foul of by some of the still 
 increasing concourse. 
 
 At last, the emperor himself passed us in a fine steamer. 
 He was on his way down to superintend the manoeuvres 
 which were to take place before a great proportion of the 
 fleet should return to port for the season. The morning 
 was rough, and, for a landsman, sufficiently disagree- 
 able. 
 
 Many on board with his majesty were dreadfully ill. 
 Among the anecdotes afterwards whispered about was 
 one of some member of the imperial party — a minister 
 or other high functionary — on whom the sea-sickness
 
 A MAD COURTIER. 21 
 
 had such an extraordinary effect, that for a time he was 
 literally mad ! In madness, as in another state of forge t- 
 fulness, truth will sometimes come out. Amid his ravings 
 he upbraided his imperial master in the most unmeasured 
 terms — heaped all kinds of abuse upon him, and brought 
 all kinds of charges against him. In short, the royal cabin 
 was a scene of confusion and dismay ; everybody was 
 confounded ; such uncourtly indiscretion, even in a court 
 madman, had never before been heard of. Nicholas 
 himself — the Russians never speak of him as the Em- 
 peror, but always by his Christian name, with the Rus- 
 sian addition of his father's — Nicholas Paulovitch him- 
 self was probably the least moved of all ; but the story 
 goes that — whether as part of his fit, or from terror 
 on* discovering his rashness, we know not — the poor 
 offender at last threatened to kill himself, and could 
 only be kept by violence from accomplishing his pur- 
 pose. 
 
 But, let winds, or courtiers who were never at the 
 mercy of the winds before, rave as they might, the 
 emperor was not to be kept at home. For, in order to 
 introduce the reader to some knowledge of his character, 
 and as a key to the remarks which will be made in suc- 
 ceeding chapters, it may be stated, at this early stage of 
 our excursions, that, on land, it is part of his policy to 
 surprise the people by encountering difficulties of every 
 kind; flying here and flying there, in the face of danger ; 
 accomplishing journeys and doing all kinds of things that 
 nobody else would do. The peasant holds up his hands 
 at the narrative — " Eto stranno, It is strange, Nicholas 
 is a wonder ! "
 
 22 THE EMPEROR. 
 
 And Nicholas knows well what he is about. By his 
 activity and energy he has brought the people to look 
 upon him as a god. His very name strikes them with 
 awe — not with terror; for,, let the admission from an 
 Englishman be viewed in England with what prejudice it 
 may, here, on the very threshold of his dominions, we 
 think it but candid to declare, as the result of our inter- 
 course with Russians, that the feelings with which he is 
 regarded, we do not say by all, but by the many, are 
 those of warm affection. In plain terms, the emperor 
 
 IS MOST ENTHUSIASTICALLY BELOVED BY THE GREAT 
 
 mass of the people. From the freedom of the stric- 
 tures which we shall hereafter make, it will be seen that 
 we are not among the flatterers of the autocrat. We 
 neither court his smiles nor fear his frowns — have 
 neither favours to thank him for, nor favours to ask at 
 his hand. No suspicion, therefore, can be attached to 
 the admission of his popularity now recorded, nor to this 
 further one, that the idea of there being any difficulty so 
 great that it shall not disappear before him, is as distant 
 from the minds of his people as the thought that the 
 snows of winter should not vanish before the heat of 
 summer. 
 
 The advantages which this admiration gives him in 
 accomplishing his measures, and in keeping down the 
 most distant attempt at revolt, are incalculably great. 
 But, having exhausted all the themes of wonder that 
 land-adventures could furnish, his majesty is now seek- 
 ing to prolong the illusion by similar doings at sea. He 
 would have visited the fleet even had the weather been 
 fine; indeed, he spends part of every summer on the
 
 THE EMPEROR. 23 
 
 Baltic ; but to join it in the face of what, with Russians, 
 would pass for a serious storm, he knew would cause a 
 sensation — give eclat to the manoeuvres — which is pre- 
 cisely the effect he aims at in all he does. 
 
 To surprise — to impress with an idea of his intrepidity, 
 coolness, and decision — is what he lives for. He has 
 taken another emperor, who long filled the eye of Europe, 
 for his model in this, as in some other things. l J The 
 end is not yet." Will there be any resemblance in their 
 closing destinies ? 
 
 Nicholas has a strange luck of being caught in storms : 
 he never comes to sea without raising a riot. No state 
 of the elements ever daunts him ; and the Russians say 
 that no degree of labour from exposure in this or any 
 other way can kill him. As yet he has shown no tend- 
 ency to disease of any kind : his iron frame looks as if 
 nothing could wear it out. He has never been known 
 to complain of fatigue. In reviewing the fleet at this 
 time he was eleven hours on his legs ; yet at the close 
 he looked as fresh as if he had just risen from breakfast. 
 Instead of hastening to repose at the palace, when the 
 survey was over, he landed in Cronstadt to transact 
 business. Among the first sights that greeted us, when 
 permitted to go ashore there, was his imperial majesty, 
 in his inseparable white cap, flying through the streets ; 
 with true Russian fury he had thrown himself into the 
 nearest droschky, and was off to the admiralty. 
 
 As already hinted, however, the reflections suggested 
 by the overwhelming display of Russian strength, which 
 we witnessed in the Baltic, will be more appropriately 
 given in a subsequent chapter "on the naval projects
 
 24 CRONSTADT. 
 
 of the emperor," in which we shall also state the full 
 strength of his marine, and give some account of the 
 Russian sailor. 
 
 Meantime, let us visit together the much-famed Cron- 
 stadt, the great bulwark of Russia, and the nursery of 
 her navy. As English sailors and English ships may 
 before long have an errand to its walls, we shall give a 
 pretty full account of this most interesting place.
 
 25 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 CRONSTADT, ITS FORTIFICATIONS AND COMMERCE. 
 
 Unkind reception of strangers — Duke of Wellington in Russia — Castles 
 — Military and commercial harbours — Trade and way of doing business 
 — Heavy duties on British goods — First specimen of Russian manners 
 — Beards — Sheepskins — Paying of wages — Great number of English 
 — The man of languages — Ships detained by the ice — Remissness of 
 the governor — Drunkenness — Few women — -Handsome public buildings 
 — Lamps of the Virgin — Superstition of the Greek Church. 
 
 When we parted company with the reader, we were 
 gallantly fighting our way past the latest stragglers of 
 the fleet, and the imperial steam-boat itself. 
 
 On escaping these formidable opponents we hoped to 
 gain shelter from them, and the rising storm, in the har- 
 bour of Cronstadt ; but this was contrary to the will and 
 pleasure of our mighty adversary, the Emperor and Au- 
 tocrat of all the Russias. Think only of our hard fate ! 
 After wasting so much good admiration on his fleet, he 
 condemned us to lie nearly three days in front of that 
 iron-girt place, bouncing up and down in our poor bark, 
 at the mercy of a strong north-wester, which had well- 
 nigh swamped some of his best seventy-fours ! Here 
 we lay, in danger of drifting from our anchor every 
 minute, without permission to put a foot on shore — 
 literally jnisoners, closely guarded by a savage who was 
 sent to take care of the cargo, and seemed to regard us 
 as part of it. 
 
 vol. i. c
 
 26 GRONSTADT. 
 
 Before entering, however, on the narrative of our 
 grievances, let us form some acquaintance with the place 
 where they occurred. 
 
 From the length of time which the custom-house 
 people compelled us to spend in our delightful position, 
 and from the opportunities we afterwards had, when 
 permitted to land, the Russians seemed determined that 
 we should become fully acquainted with the strength 
 of the fortress ; — in this treating us with more regard 
 than was paid even to the Duke of Wellington when in 
 their country. The story goes, that the emperor showed 
 the duke all that he thought it safe to exhibit, accom- 
 panying him everywhere in person, and loading him 
 with attentions beyond what were ever shown even to 
 royal visiters. But he wisely paid him the compliment 
 not to show him Cronstadt — knowing well that the time 
 might come, when the acquaintance which the duke's 
 quick eye would have formed with its position and de- 
 fences, would be far from convenient for Russia. 
 
 Cronstadt — at once the Portsmouth and the Liver- 
 pool of Russia — her chief naval station, and most thriv- 
 ing trading-port, all in one — stands on a naked sandy 
 island, about five miles long and one broad, in the mid- 
 dle of the narrowing Gulf of Finland, some 20 miles 
 from Petersburg, five or six from the rising shores of 
 Istria on the south, and the same distance from the 
 flatter coast of Carelia on the north. Both channels are 
 of equal depth ; but that on the south is preferable. The 
 island is so perfectly level, that no ground is seen in ap- 
 proaching it : it looks a vast fortress rising on piles rather 
 than a town on solid ground.
 
 CRONSTADT. 27 
 
 So strongly is it defended by every device which skill 
 can suggest, that many look upon it as impregnable. 
 One part of its strength lies in the shallowness of the 
 gulf about it : except on one small line, there is not 
 more than eight feet of water all round it. Ships can 
 approach only through a narrow winding channel, with 
 24 and 28 feet of water, along which stand several forti- 
 fications of immense strength — each as formidable as 
 the more celebrated one off Copenhagen — and so placed 
 that no enemy could pass without being demolished by 
 their united fire. First comes the Citadel, of great 
 strength, close by the passage which all ships must take ; 
 then follow the frowning batteries on the Risebank rock ; 
 and lastly, stronger than all, the Castle of Cronschlott, 
 a polygon with double batteries. In addition to all these 
 a new one is in progress, a short way to the north-west, 
 founded on piles. This will prevent any attempt to pass 
 up between the island and the shore. 
 
 The navigable channel is marked by buoys, which 
 must be sought for the more cautiously as no pilot is 
 allowed. But for the good eyes of one of his passengers, 
 our poor captain, who had only been once here before, 
 and who was sadly terrified by the gale, now blowing 
 very hard, would have certainly run us aground, being 
 unable to discover the many little flags through the 
 spray. At last, however, we got fairly opposite the 
 Mole, from which guns were gaping upon us as thick 
 as the cells of a honeycomb. We have seen nothing 
 to compare with the grim bulwark that now frowned 
 over us. 
 
 Indeed, whether viewed in detail, or as a whole, Cron- 
 
 c2
 
 28 CRONSTADT. 
 
 stadt is every way worthy to be the outpost of the largest, 
 empire in Europe. There is nothing mean or disap- 
 pointing about it, as is often the case with the first places 
 seen in approaching a new country. It speaks boldly 
 out — an unblushing frontispiece to tales of war and des- 
 potism. The remarkable effect which it produced upon 
 lis was doubtless heightened by the animated view 
 through which we had to pass in reaching it. First,, as 
 day dawned, we had part of the fleet hovering about us. 
 Then, when morning advanced, we were surrounded by 
 hundreds on hundreds of merchant ships, belonging to 
 every nation of Europe, and all with their colours flying 
 in honour of the occasion — French, Dutch, Greek, Sar- 
 dinan, American, and, more numerous than all, Eng- 
 lish — crossing and recrossing in the most beautiful 
 disorder. 
 
 But though this pageantry greatly added to the effect 
 of our first view, Cronstadt must, under any circum- 
 stances, form one of the most imposing sights in the 
 world. 
 
 If the truth must be told, we felt far from comfortable 
 while running the terrible gauntlet of the fortresses. 
 But there was no help for us. It was impossible to 
 anchor till we had passed Cronschlott, which fronts the 
 mouth of the mercantile harbour, and is separated from 
 it by a deep roadstead, 2000 paces wide. 
 
 When at last we were permitted to lay-to, which was 
 immediately off the military harbour, we were sur- 
 rounded by steamers, barges, lighters, and half-sunk 
 luggers. We all day kept straining our eyes and our 
 necks to get a glimpse over the mole, but were able 10
 
 CROXSTADT. 29 
 
 see nothing except the crowds of masts lying snugly 
 within, as dense and naked as a wintry forest. 
 
 The bristling wall above us, surmounted by 300 can- 
 non of the largest size, forms a triangle round the whole 
 of the town and its bastions ; and is so high that, though 
 the place contains 40,000 inhabitants, not a creature 
 was visible; the tops only of the highest houses can be 
 seen from without. The two harbours of the fleet con- 
 tained only one ship ; but in a few days both were to be 
 again crammed with their bulky tenants, now sporting 
 on the Baltic. Behind them lie the slips and powder- 
 magazine, with manufactories of pitch and tar. The 
 admiralty buildings, canals, and docks for repairing and 
 building ships ; the foundry, furnishing 1200 tons of 
 bombs and balls every year, storehouses to which the 
 ships of war can come close when loading, rope-works, 
 boat-houses, &c, are all arranged on the most modern 
 and improved principles. 
 
 The great harbour can accommodate with ease thirty- 
 five of the largest ships in the navy, besides their trans- 
 ports, &c. The second is intended chiefly for vessels 
 under repair, but is also used as a winter harbour. Both 
 communicate with another vast basin, known as the 
 Italian lake. In all of these, ships are admirably pro- 
 tected from sea and storm ; but, owing to the vicinity of 
 the Neva, there is one disadvantage, from which nothing 
 can protect them — the freshness of the water — which 
 destroys the ships with incredible rapidity. The third, 
 or commercial harbour, lies to the north-west, close 
 beside the others. It is defended by a rampart of beauti- 
 ful granite, which is planted with cannon at every second
 
 30 RUSSIAN COMMERCE. 
 
 step, and forms the favourite promenade of the citizens, 
 — the view seaward being very fine, and that towards the 
 town not less interesting. This capacious basin — in 
 which one thousand ships can be accommodated with 
 ease — was crowded to excess at the time of our visit, and 
 presented one of the most singular sights we have ever 
 seen. All large ships engaged in the St. Petersburg 
 trade unload their cargoes, to be transmitted by smaller 
 vessels, the gulf above this being so shallow that no 
 ship drawing more than nine feet can reach the capital. 
 Here also their home cargoes are taken in. 
 
 For some years there has been no material variation in 
 the amo\int of business done here. The present state of 
 its trade is shown by a document in the official journal 
 of the Russian government, the Gazette de St. Peters- 
 burg, by which it appears that the number of ships 
 which entered the port from the opening of the naviga- 
 tion to the 5th of November of the current year (1838), 
 was 1343, and the number which left within the same 
 period 1280. 
 
 We were never so forcibly struck with the value of her 
 commerce to Russia as when reminded that very few of 
 the ships around us had brought cargoes with them : 
 that is, Russia has articles to export which all the nations 
 of the world require, and send fleets of their ships to 
 fetch ; but so little does she need from others, that a few 
 of her own vessels can supply her wants at very small 
 expense. In fact, so immensely does the bulk, at least, 
 of her exports surpass that of her imports, that most 
 ships come in ballast. Some English masters may take 
 a cargo to Copenhagen, and then come up here empty
 
 RUSSIAN BOORS. 31 
 
 for a freight home; but the duties on most kinds of 
 English goods are so unreasonable that a shipment 
 seldom pays : the tariff, indeed, often operates as an 
 absolute prohibition. 
 
 Consignments from abroad are nearly all made to 
 houses in St. Petersburg ; Cronstadt is a mere shipping 
 station, not the place of business itself. The merchants 
 of the capital either send down their clerks to superin- 
 tend the loading and dispatch of their vessels, or are in 
 constant communication with houses here who manage 
 this kind of business. The iron (which is the worst 
 freight a vessel gets), flax (the best, because it packs 
 well), pitch, tallow, hides, and all the other articles of 
 Russian export, are brought from the capital in large 
 open lighters, like our herring-boats, which have once 
 been white. These have two singular cross sails, and are 
 managed by two or more men, who were the first speci- 
 mens we beheld of the genuine unsophisticated Russ. 
 
 Almost every person we saw was clad in sheep-skins, 
 made into a kind of short tight surtout, the wool turned 
 in, and the leathery side, intended to be white, shining 
 on the outside, black and filthy as the ungainly persons 
 of their wearers. Every labourer has a beard flowing 
 rough and grisly on his bosom. Knowing that these 
 appendages are subjects of astonishment to strangers, 
 they never pass an English ship without some drollery, 
 such as bleating in long and helpless tones like a goat, 
 with which the beard gives them title to claim kindred. 
 In fact, the Russian peasants are excellent mimics, and 
 in every way very merry, contented fellows. You never 
 see them rowing home at night without a song, if alone,
 
 32 THE ENGLISH AT CRONSTADT. 
 
 or hearty shouts of laughter if there be two. They trim 
 their ragged sails with great dexterity, and if the yard- 
 arm become unruly and dash them into the sea, they 
 clamber in again and shake themselves with all the 
 unconcern and something of the grace of Newfoundland 
 dogs ; then set to work anew, as gay as if nothing had 
 happened. 
 
 There is a curious scene at night ou the quay behind 
 the harbour, when all the labourers are mustered on 
 leaving the ships where they have been employed during 
 the day. Such an appearance of hairy, or, if it please 
 you better, woolly gentlemen, we defy the world to 
 match. Here are red beards enough to make cables for 
 the fleet. 
 
 The whole of these men are registered by the police; 
 and, in order to prevent robberies, are assembled for in- 
 spection when work is over. On inquiring about their 
 wages, we were told that each gets 8%d. a-day. We 
 thought them well paid for a cheap country : but we 
 forgot where we were — in Russia the poor man's wages 
 are not his own. If he be in the country, the nobleman 
 on whose estate he lives claims part of his earnings; 
 nay, if he go away to work in summer the law binds 
 him to come back with part of his gain in winter ; and 
 here, in the seaport, government steps in and takes from 
 each honest creature the lion's share of his earnings : 
 sixpence is deducted each day from every man ! 
 
 The quarter of the town near the landing-place is 
 completely English. In some parts of the harbour you 
 have been passing nothing but English ships ; and now, 
 under the arcades, you meet none but English captains.
 
 SUMMER AND WINTER. 33 
 
 All the dialects, from Falmouth to Aberdeen, may be 
 heard in this inelegant lounge ; where " English porter," 
 "good butcher-meat," "ship-biscuit," "leather," "ropes," 
 " candles," and other British attractions, are painted at 
 every door. In short, for a few months in summer the 
 place is another Wapping. One of the best known fre- 
 quenters of the piazza is a kind of walking Polyglott. 
 He is a native of Holland, and, having been in Java, 
 speaks some of the Eastern tongues as well as most of 
 the European ones. We heard at least eleven languages 
 enumerated among the acquirements of this useful ally 
 of the ship-captains. 
 
 There is no good hotel in the town, nor even a tavern 
 of any great pretensions ; but of dram-shops, with " Bri- 
 tish spirits," there is great abundance. 
 
 The harbours are generally shut up with ice before the 
 end of November ; sometimes earlier ; and are seldom 
 open before the end of April, or even the 12th of May. 
 The change in winter is singular : not a foreigner is to be 
 seen — fountains, and harbours, and sea for miles on miles 
 around, are as solid as the land — every ship and 
 boat is as motionless as the ramparts, and not a step is 
 to be heard in the streets. In short, so wide a contrast 
 is seldom to be found elsewhere. The population at that 
 season is diminished by at least 15,000, the nobility and 
 many of the labourers going to St. Petersburg. The 
 winter of 1835-6, however, was an exception. The frost 
 set in so early — nearly as soon as in the famous 1813 — 
 that forty English ships were detained the whole season. 
 This was no slight disappointment and loss to the owners. 
 They were all full-loaded: another night would have 
 
 c3
 
 34 RUSSIAN JUSTICE. 
 
 saved them, but the tyrant was relentless ; his icy gras p 
 bound them too fast for escape. They made an attempt 
 to get out. At first it promised to be successful, a breeze 
 had sprung up, and they were making their way by 
 cutting the ice. Very little more would have freed them ; 
 but it was too late. Difficulties multiplied as they ad- 
 vanced. The wind and snow fought against them with 
 a fury known only in the Baltic : they had no choice but 
 to return or perish. 
 
 For this ruinous detention, government is not without 
 blame. Had more labourers been granted to clear the 
 channel, not a ship would have been kept back. It can- 
 not be supposed that the local authorities were tempted 
 by the prospect of so rich a spoil as would be gained to 
 the place, by caging such a numerous fleet for six or 
 seven months. But the governor is chargeable at least 
 with indecision. The fact is mentioned as one which 
 throws some light on the " system" in Russia. Several 
 fatal accidents had happened among the labourers ; for 
 whose lives the governor was responsible to the emperor. 
 If more deaths occurred, he might be called to account 
 by a stern master ; but to the merchants he had no ac- 
 count to make. In Russia, no man knows when he is 
 doing right, or when he is doing wrong ; nor does he 
 know the extent of the punishment he may be incurring. 
 It was better in this instance to keep' himself safe, and 
 let the blame fall on agents whom the emperor cannot 
 punish — the elements. 
 
 Let the fault, however, have been where it might, the 
 English owners and merchants, both in St. Petersburg 
 and at home, were heavy losers by the detention ; not
 
 RUSSIAN HABITS. 35 
 
 only from the extent of capital thus locked up, but from 
 the unforeseen expense of the crews, which were more 
 than sufficient to run away with any profits that might 
 afterwards be realized from the cargoes. When vessels 
 come out, intended to remain all winter, the crews are 
 put on half-wages. In such a case as this, when no 
 bargain could have been made, they continue to draw 
 their full allowance. 
 
 With so many foreign sailors amongst them, the 
 population of the place does not, of course, present such 
 an exclusively Russian aspect as that of towns in the 
 interior. The first walk in it, however, afforded us many 
 strange sights. Two facts struck us most forcibly. One 
 was the unhappy propensity of the people to drinking : 
 many were to be seen staggering, blind, helpless, rolling 
 in the mud, in a state of the most brutal intoxication. 
 The other national trait which most forced itself upon us, 
 during our first survey, was the practice of secluding their 
 women : we scarcely saw a female in the whole place. 
 Throughout all parts of Russia, except in St. Petersburg 
 and Moscow, ten men may always be seen for one female. 
 They are guarded with Oriental jealousy. None but the 
 very old or the very young are allowed to gad abroad. 
 In Sweden and Norway the traveller finds none but 
 women to attend him at the inns ; in Russia, he finds 
 none but men. 
 
 The houses and general arrangement are precisely 
 like those of all the towns seen from first to last in 
 Russia; — broad, silent streets, straight as an arrow-line 
 — buildings, stiff and formal ; the government ones of
 
 36 RUSSIAN NEATNESS. 
 
 immense extent, of regular, and generally handsome 
 architecture, and, withoutside as within, kept in the 
 highest order. 
 
 In fact, the order and efficiency of everything with 
 which government is concerned strikes the stranger 
 from the first to the last step he takes in Russia. 
 Nothing has the look of age ; nothing betrays the sloven. 
 All appears as fresh and strong as if newly finished. Not 
 a speck of dust is to be seen anywhere ; — from the smart 
 green swallow-tails and well-finished uniform buttons of 
 the clerks, to the good carpets of the handsome rooms in 
 which they write, and the very mats at the door, all is 
 faultlessly neat. The motto of the Russian government 
 would appear to be " Order, Decency." If not able to 
 reform the private manners of the lower classes — to clean 
 out the dens of filth in which whole families are stewed up, 
 - — their rulers say, " Let us at least have some order in all 
 that is public Let us first give a good example ourselves, 
 where we can enforce it. In evil, example is contagious, 
 and why should it not sometimes be so in good? If the 
 lesson be not tacitly adopted, having reformed ourselves 
 a little, we may, by-and-by, with better grace compel the 
 people to do something towards reforming their habits." 
 
 The glittering lamp suspended by its gilded chain 
 before a picture of the Virgin, in the corner of all public 
 rooms, and in some private ones, reminded us that we 
 were among the votaries of a new religion — new at least 
 to us. This practice is universal in the Greek church, 
 whose sway, it now for the first time struck us, is one of 
 the widest ever exercised by any church'. The little
 
 THE GREEK CHURCH. 37 
 
 lamp which we here first beheld, under the pole as it 
 were, we found almost daily throughout months of con- 
 stant travel — in the endless plains of Russia — among the 
 Greeks in Turkey and Asia — and finally in the fair 
 Greece itself. 
 
 The last time, we remember, it was in our small 
 chamber beneath the hoary rocks of Delphi. As it glim- 
 mered pale above us, through broken slumbers, we at 
 one time fancied it the sacred flame that night and day 
 was fed in the temple of the oracle — our dreams were in 
 the sunny and classic isles of the Egean which we had 
 left. At another, it seemed the taper of some forlorn 
 wanderer, clad in furs and icicles, seeking his way amonor 
 the arctic snows — our fancies had fled back to the cheer- 
 less land where this usage first met us. 
 
 What a wide and what an enduring tie is religion ! A 
 similar faith unites the most distant regions, and the 
 most dissimilar tribes — makes as brothers the elegant 
 Greek who has a history of centuries, and the barbarous 
 " stranger," whom we heard of but yesterday. 
 
 Our first visit to a Russian place of worship power- 
 fully reminded us how easily the human mind imposes 
 on itself. The Greek church is, in many respects, purer 
 than the Roman. In nothing are they more distinct 
 than in the detestation with which images are regarded 
 by the Greek Catholics. Neither as objects of worship, 
 nor as ornaments in churches, are solid figures of any 
 kind tolerated amongst them. But, mark the deception 
 which its members practise on themselves : pictures — 
 surface representations of the Saviour and Virgin — they
 
 38 PICTURE WORSHIP. 
 
 not only tolerate, but treat with exactly the same venera- 
 tion as that which the condemned Roman Catholics show 
 to their statues. Where lies the difference ? The Greeks 
 may plead that they keep within the letter of the revealed 
 word; but from the spirit of the gospel they wander, 
 surely, as far as their opponents.
 
 39 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE CUSTOM-HOUSE; OR, THE DELIGHTS OF VISITING 
 THE AUTOCRAT. 
 
 Delays on arriving — Compared with those of oth^r countries — Searchers 
 — Luggage sealed — Captivity — Guardian — Annoyance to ship captains 
 — Danger of letters, and of Russian money — Passports — Disadvantages 
 of being " a gentleman'' — Books detained — Tyranny of underlings — 
 Advice about steamers, &c. 
 
 This is a chapter of woes. 
 
 It is intended solely for such as have travelled ; who, 
 from its contents, will have the gratification of learning 
 that others have been treated as scurvily as themselves. 
 Yet should untravelled readers wish to profit by our 
 costly experience; or, what is hardly to be expected in 
 these hard-hearted days, should any be moved with 
 sympathy for travellers in difficulty, they too may cast 
 an eye over this sad narrative. 
 
 To be more explicit : the annoyances to which we 
 were subjected at Cronstadt, from the absurdity of the 
 custom-house arrangements — and to which all strangers 
 coming to this country by sea are exposed — afford an 
 excellent specimen of the way in which things are 
 managed in Russia. 
 
 These delays were so vexatious, that, during the first 
 ebullitions of our wrath, we heartily joined in all the 
 railino- that was ever uttered against Russian barbarism.
 
 40 CUSTOM-HOUSE 
 
 Let others take warning by our example, and never seek 
 to visit this country in a trading vessel., but go at once 
 by the steamer to St. Petersburg. 
 
 The troubles alluded to are attributable to the regula- 
 tion which requires that every ship bound for the capital 
 must first be inspected, measured, sealed, reported, and 
 we know not what, before passing this inevitable outport : 
 forms which ship-captains find so perplexing, that they 
 would rather go with little profit to any other country 
 than come here for great gain. And, if they complain, 
 what must the general traveller have to say, who in other 
 parts of the continent is very little troubled by police or 
 custom-house regulations? In most countries, if there 
 be no quarantine, you step ashore the moment you arrive, 
 throw your passport to the people of the house, and never 
 hear a word more on the subject, till you call for it on 
 going away. As for the visites at frontiers, the expe- 
 rienced traveller is never annoyed by them ; and he would 
 be equally indifferent to the customs' gentry in Russia, 
 were it not for the number of hands through which he is 
 bundled, and the great loss of time they occasion. 
 
 The first of the business began some miles below 
 Cronstadt, where we had to lay-to for a visit from the 
 guard-ship. Papers and passports were here examined, 
 and we rejoiced in the thought that we should be at 
 liberty to land when we pleased, on reaching the port, so 
 as to catch the first steam-boat for St. Petersburg; but 
 our troubles were only beginning. After casting anchor, 
 no one came near us for hours. At last appeared a boat, 
 with a strong crew, from the custom-house — the officer 
 in a blue uniform-coat, the men in short grayish sea-
 
 REGULATIONS. 41 
 
 coats, with green jackets below, and belts girding the 
 waist — small round green caps, seamed with yellow cord, 
 wide striped breeches, and boots reaching to the knee — 
 most Russian in their looks, but without the beard. Then 
 began the process of sealing up the hatches; but as they 
 had not brought enough of their filthy wax and gray 
 tape, it was necessary to row ashore for more. We 
 thought we should be allowed to accompany them — but 
 no ; we must remain in custody of the man left on board, 
 till it might suit the harbour-master's pleasure to decide 
 our fate. 
 
 When the boat returned, the sealing task was con- 
 tinued ; but not till the officer had got plenty of " Essen, 
 Essen,'' as he greedily called it; for all of them have 
 German enough to insist on meat and drink from the 
 foreign captains. His copious meal of beef and sausage, 
 washed down with schnapps and strong ale, had not 
 softened his temper; for on discovering some slight 
 omission on the captain's part the bear again mustered 
 German enough to exclaim " Strafe, Strafe .'" his eyes 
 glistening with delight at the idea of inflicting a fine on 
 the worthy man who had fed him. 
 
 The sealing was now resumed. Not a particle was 
 left open. Our very writing-materials, nay, our walking- 
 sticks, and an old umbrella, were tied together and 
 adorned with the government seal, till the officers at St. 
 Petersburg, twenty miles away, should examine them, 
 and decide whether they could be admitted to the coun- 
 try, without injury to the life of his majesty, or the for- 
 tunes of his subjects. We were not allowed even a 
 change of linen.
 
 42 
 
 CUSTOM-HOUSE 
 
 Letters were strictly searched for ; and we should 
 advise the traveller not to bring any sealed ones with 
 him if he wish to keep out of trouble : in case of doubt, 
 they search the person, and should any be found, if a 
 fine be not imposed, they will at least send them to the 
 post-office for you. 
 
 Particular inquiries were made whether we had any 
 Russian money ; a point on which many have got into 
 serious difficulties on coming here. It is the law of 
 Russia that you may take as much paper money out of 
 the country as you please, but none of it is ever allowed 
 to come back. The object of this regulation is to 
 prevent the introduction of forged notes ; but it at times 
 operates very cruelly. People not aware of the law, 
 taking money at other ports from captains or friends, 
 glad to get rid of any surplus notes, are liable, on arriving 
 in Russia, not only to confiscation of the whole, but also 
 to fine and imprisonment. The captain of a ship from 
 Finland was lately placed in great danger, by a mistake 
 of this kind. What heightens the peril is, that you are 
 supposed not to have any money (Russian silver is not 
 included in this law) till you have cleared with the 
 custom-house, which may not be for several days after 
 entering the country ; and how is the stranger to pay 
 his way in the meantime ? We had very nearly fallen 
 into a scrape on this head, by inadvertently drawing a 
 couple of hundred roubles, to meet unavoidable expenses 
 till we should reach the capital. When our captain saw 
 the notes, he trembled for the safety of his good ship ; 
 but fortunately they were never found by any of the 
 officers, and neither confiscation nor stripes ensued. The
 
 REGULATIONS. 43 
 
 incident shows the beauty of the Russian " system :" 
 neither captain nor passenger knows what is right or 
 what is wrong. If they would tell people what is for- 
 bidden, or what they have to do, there would be no 
 difficulty ; but their principle is, " Find out these things 
 for yourself : it is not our business to keep you out of 
 scrapes, but to get you into them, if possible." 
 
 When hatches and luggage were all sealed, we made 
 sure that now we should be permitted to go ashore ; — 
 but patience a little longer. There being nobody to in- 
 terpret between us and the officers, we could not compre- 
 hend all the reasons given for the delay, but understood 
 that we must still remain in custody of the guardian — a 
 personage placed on board each ship the moment she 
 arrives, to prevent smuggling, &c. A second boat's crew 
 came, but not for us : they brought an officer to inspect 
 the seals, and add a few more to some trifling things 
 which had been overlooked. A third boat came, but the 
 guardian doubted whether he could part with us. Night 
 was now at hand, and we were becoming obstreperous — 
 all in vain. 
 
 The boat which did at last come for us, the fifth in the 
 course of the day, was forced to return back without us, 
 it being now too late to do business at the public offices, 
 where we had to appear. The captain went on shore to 
 fight for us; but the only comfort he brought was, that 
 " Thim nasty fellows, the Russians," would not, on any 
 account, allow us to quit the vessel till next day. The 
 poor man was in a sad fright about some gunpowder 
 which he had on board. Whether from political or 
 commercial jealousy we know not, but by the Russian
 
 44 VARIOUS DELAYS. 
 
 laws not an ounce of this article is allowed to be brought 
 into the country, under pain of total confiscation both of 
 ship and cargo. Some masters surrender what they may 
 have ; but the trouble of getting it restored again is so 
 great, that they generally take the shorter method of 
 throwing it overboard. 
 
 When next day came, there was so much sea that few 
 boats could move out of the harbour. Being anxious, 
 however, to effect our liberation, we rowed ashore, in 
 charge of an officer connected with the harbour-office. 
 From the violence of the storm, it took us nearly an hour 
 to do what may usually be done in ten minutes : the men 
 could scarcely keep the boat off the mole, where we ran 
 the risk of being dashed to pieces. 
 
 We were first taken to the harbour-master, and were 
 bowled from one set of clerks to another, making decla- 
 rations about ourselves, our objects incoming to Russia, 
 and our luggage. After being detained some hours at 
 this place, we were twice paraded round the ramparts a 
 mile or two, with an officer marching beside us, first to 
 the custom-house, and then to Mr. Foster, secretary to 
 the Admiral of the Fleet {ecc-offi,cio Governor of Cron- 
 stadt), who gave us passports for St. Petersburg, ten 
 roubles being charged for each, — a fee from which all tra- 
 vellers designated as noblemen, officers, or clergymen, are 
 exempted, as well as from others which we paid afterwards. 
 Having been described simply as " English gentlemen," 
 we were included among the ignoble crew of merchants, 
 bank-directors, county members, or such " base bisog- 
 nos," who alone have the privilege of paying taxes for 
 travelling in this happy country.
 
 CUSTOM-HOUSE FORMS. 45 
 
 There was yet another form to go through at the Swedish 
 consul's, before whom it was necessary to make affidavit 
 of the number of shirts, coats, nightcaps, pairs of boots, 
 watches, shirt-pins, &c, in our possession; with warning 
 that if more were found when the seals on our trunks 
 should be opened, all we had would be liable to be dealt 
 with according to the will and pleasure of his majesty the 
 emperor. 
 
 Before the whole of these matters could be despatched, 
 the day was far gone. Now, however, we were at liberty, 
 and made a visit to our worthy consul, Mr. Booker, who 
 was indignant at the treatment we had met with ; but com- 
 forted us with the assurance that we had escaped very 
 cheaply compared with some foreigners. From one de- 
 lay "or other we could not leave Cronstadt till past noon 
 on the third day after reaching it. In any other country 
 all our business would have been over in half an hour. 
 
 Having by these delays been prevented from taking 
 the morning steamer, we were forced to proceed to St. 
 Petersburg in our old ship. But even after reaching the 
 capital, several days elapsed before we got our luggage. 
 Not a particle of it could we touch. We were told to be 
 thankful if we got it within a week. The ship had first to 
 pass the bridge on the Neva, which is open only for an 
 hour or so at ten in the morning, when perhaps more 
 ships are waiting than could get through in double the 
 time ; and after passing the bridge, we had to wait the 
 pleasure of the custom-house inspectors. They gave us 
 very little trouble when the things were opened ; much 
 less than we should have had entering by land. Our few 
 books and maps, including even poor innocent " Ma-
 
 46 MORE DELAYS. 
 
 dame de Genlis," were sealed up and sent to the office of 
 the censor, who having duly examined the same, restored 
 them a few days after. 
 
 In no part of the world, as already stated, has the tra- 
 veller such tedious- and provoking formalities to go 
 through. Even in Holland, where all is stiff' and formal, 
 he gets very little trouble. When we visited that country, 
 the ship was detained a couple of hours at Helvoetsluys ; 
 her papers were examined, and a guardian put on board, 
 who accompanied us up the Maes to Rotterdam ; but all 
 the time the passengers were not once spoken to, being 
 permitted to walk ashore when they pleased, and to take 
 as much of their luggage as might be necessary, till they 
 found it convenient to call an officer to examine and libe- 
 rate the remainder. In Austria, too (by no means famed 
 for laxity towards foreigners), there is nothing to com- 
 plain of: landing at Trieste or Venice, the traveller gets 
 off' immediately. But in Russia the annoyances are so 
 great, to strangers entering by land as well as to those 
 coming by sea, that we have known travellers who have 
 visited every country of Europe, vow that they w r ould not 
 enter Russia again for any temptation. 
 
 It is alleged that these annoyances are expressly in- 
 tended to keep foreigners away, the emperor being jea- 
 lous of the spread of liberal opinions, and unwilling to 
 expose his subjects to contagion. Cut this can scarcely 
 be the reason ; for in no country are strangers better 
 treated, once the first annoyances are over. It is only 
 among the underlings that there is rudeness and rapacity ; 
 when you have to do with the heads of any department 
 all goes well. Nothing can surpass the courtesy with 
 which every assistance and explanation is given.
 
 LUBECK STEAM-BOATS. 47 
 
 The grievances complained of ought properly to be 
 attributed to a vicious system, which has been so long 
 established that, like other abuses, it cannot be easily re- 
 formed. Let every traveller lift his voice against them, 
 and before many years it will be as pleasant to visit 
 Russia, as any other country. The government is sensitive 
 about the opinions of foreigners, and at this moment, in 
 particular, is anxious to stand well with the rest of 
 Europe. Some proof of this is given by the indulgence 
 granted to the Liibeck steam-boats, which proceed direct 
 to St. Petersburg, where passengers have their luggage 
 examined immediately on their arrival.
 
 48 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 LANDING AT ST. PETERSBURG. 
 
 Approach by sea — Distant view — Disappointment — Unfavourable site — 
 Contrast with other capitals — Strange adventures — Deserted streets — 
 First attempt in a droschky — " Pady ! Pady !" — A word to the 
 stranger. 
 
 Our first excursion in the Russian capital was one of 
 the strangest ever made. 
 
 We had sailed pleasantly up the bay of Cronstadt, a 
 light breeze carrying us quickly past the wooded slopes 
 adorned with Oranienbaum, Peterhof, and seats of the 
 nobility. We met at least a dozen steam-boats, some 
 with passengers, some on the business of government, and 
 some tugging ships across the shallows. The great 
 number of luggers and small vessels that had gone down 
 and left their masts projecting above the surface, show 
 that the navigation is not always so pleasant as it was 
 this sunny afternoon. 
 
 The Neva is met about sixteen miles from Cronstadt ; 
 but the bay continues wide for some miles farther. Long 
 before leaving the wider part, our attention had been 
 drawn from all other objects by the more exciting view 
 of St. Petersburg. Its broad domes glittering with silver 
 stars, and tall spires piercing the sky like pyramids of 
 gold, seen many miles away, make the stranger fancy that 
 he is approaching an Oriental, rather than a European
 
 FIRST VIEW OF ST. PETERSBURG . 49 
 
 city. But, fair as the sight in some respects is, the sea- 
 view of St. Petersburg is, on the whole, a disappoint- 
 ment. It can by no means be compared with the ap- 
 proach to Copenhagen : it is too flat, and presents no 
 imposing, masses of architecture to the gulf. The domes 
 are scattered wide away from each other, and no houses 
 are to be seen uniting them ; they are like the churches 
 of so many separate villages, rather than the ornaments 
 of one compact capital. You long wonder where the 
 great St. Petersburg can have hid itself behind those 
 mud islands, those wide straggling wood- yards, and those 
 red barrack-looking structures that lie so desolate on the 
 flats. The metropolis of a great empire should stand 
 boldly out on the water ; but this one chooses to steal 
 away among reeds and bulrushes, sending up a few 
 blazing skyrockets, more like signals of distress than 
 proofs of splendour. 
 
 Patience, patience, rude stranger ! The shade of Peter 
 the Great will be amply avenged when you get in to his 
 capital, and see what it is. But remember, it is only 
 when you have entered that St. Petersburg fills you 
 with astonishment. Other places make all their show 
 without ; here it is all within. The city cannot help its 
 position. It would look better if there were some heights 
 in or near it; there is not one as high as a candlestick in 
 the whole region. The islands and shores about the 
 mouth of the Neva are perfectly level. They can do 
 wonderful things in Russia ; but they have not been able 
 to raise mountains where nature, for miles and miles 
 around, placed only duck-ponds and ague-marshes. 
 With all our disappointment, however, we should have 
 
 VOL. I. D
 
 50 FIRST VIEW OF ST. PETERSBURG. 
 
 been glad to have got into the Russian capital, when we 
 found the treacherous breeze dying away, and likely to 
 leave us motionless all night within the sound of its bells. 
 There was barely enough of wind to carry us through th& 
 twisting intricate line marked out by flags, as affording 
 the only safe passage for vessels of any size. The young 
 pilot, who here joined, took care to tell us that there are 
 but seven and a half feet of water allowed by the charts, 
 while the wide sands on each side, where a few people 
 were fishing in small boats, have scarcely two and a half 
 feet upon them. That we might have no doubt on the 
 subject, and to let the captain know the value of the ser- 
 vices which he was not inclined to pay so high for as de- 
 manded, he managed to let us touch a moment, exclaim- 
 ing " Ship's aground, sir!"* to the great confusion of 
 our friend. We got safely off', however ; but were forced 
 to drop anchor in the mouth of the river, where the first 
 lonely houses begin; there being no wind to carry us 
 against the current up to the centre of the city. We 
 had been nine days from Stockholm. 
 
 Here, then, commenced our landing adventures. We 
 were rowed ashore within sight of the principal part of 
 the city, but a long way from it, in some remote suburb 
 
 * English is literally the language of the sea. Our nautical terms are 
 used all over the world, not only in addressing English sailors, but be- 
 tween the natives of foreign countries themselves. This is more particu- 
 larly the case, however, in the north of Europe. A Swedish mate gives 
 nearly all his directions in English ; and here we find a Russian pilot 
 employing the same language to a Swede, taking it for granted that, 
 whatever country he might belong to, he would understand enough of 
 English to enable him to communicate on matters connected with the 
 ship.
 
 A DILEMMA. 51 
 
 — Rqtherhithe, Redriff, or such like place, perhaps ; con- 
 sequently we had to seek our way for two or three miles, 
 with scarcely a word of the language to seek it with. 
 What was worse, we had not the Russian name of the 
 street we wanted ; and the English one was of no use. 
 Had we been able to pronounce the Galernoy Oulitza, 
 we could at once have been rowed or driven to it ; but to 
 ask for it as the English Back Line, by which it is known 
 among the British settlers in these parts, only made the 
 bearded passenger pity our helplessness. 
 
 We addressed a large crowd of respectable people in 
 French, but none understood us. On and on we wan- 
 dered, always with a correct idea of the quarter our con- 
 templated resting-place was in, but prevented by canals 
 from getting the way we wanted. St. Petersburg is not 
 like London, or any other capital where the numerous 
 inns or lodging-places enable the stranger, even though 
 he cannot speak the language, to get at. least shelter and 
 food, till he finds some one who can help him. Here 
 there are very few hotels or places of entertainment, even 
 in the best part of the city, and none at all in the remote 
 ones. Had we seen a sign, or even an " open door," we 
 should soon have taken possession in one way or other, 
 and not have run the chance of wandering all night, in 
 the streets. In London, a hackney-coach, or cab or om- 
 nibus, may be got at the most remote corner of its wide- 
 spread suburbs ; but here, after walking miles, we saw 
 no vehicle of any kind. 
 
 What a desert the place seemed ! and, except in the 
 very centre, it is a most desolate city. The . buildings, 
 you would say, have outgrown the population; only they 
 
 d2
 
 52 A DILEMMA. 
 
 all look so fresh and well painted, that they cannot be 
 quite abandoned. Houses, houses — streets, streets, and 
 very handsome ones ; we thought they were never to 
 have done; but still no people. It was broad daylight, 
 yet all was silent, all inhospitable. 
 
 At last one person did address us. He had overheard 
 our English ; but, strange to say of a Russian, though, 
 by his own confession, he had been three years in Lon- 
 don, and two in Paris, he knew very little English, and 
 no French. It is a proof of the paucity of inns here, and 
 shows what sort of a place it is, when this man — an inha- 
 bitant — did not know of a single place we could go to ; 
 although we were at the time not far from a very im- 
 portant part of the city. 
 
 Forward we still hied, evidently getting into a more 
 populous region. The tide of life was surging stronger ; 
 still no help, no sign of land. It was now getting dark, 
 but we did not lose courage. We passed a theatre, and 
 churches, and squares, and bridges — when, lo ! an ac- 
 quaintance appears — no less a personage than Peter the 
 Great himself — the very monarch whose proud work we 
 had been thinking evil of, come out on horseback, with 
 his laurel crown on his head, to assist and welcome us. 
 We knew him and his horse, and the very stone they 
 were standing on, quite well — from pictures, namely ; 
 and the first glimpse of him dispelled our fears : we had 
 reached friendly and frequented haunts — the very centre 
 of the capital. 
 
 But which way to go ? Peter covdd not be expected 
 to accompany us, for it had begun to rain. 
 
 At this moment aid was sent in the shape of a long- 
 bearded droschky-man. He saw we were at a loss —
 
 A DROSCHKY AND ITS DRIVER. 53 
 
 knew what we wanted, though we could not speak a 
 word to him — and, as he had an honest face and intelli- 
 gent eye, we at once took our seats in his vehicle, leaving 
 him to dispose of us at his pleasure. 
 
 " Traktir ! Traktir ! " said he, in Russian. " Jah ! 
 Jah ! " answered we, in German, never doubting that 
 Traktir meant an inn of some kind or other. 
 
 But then his droschky puzzled us. We had often 
 heard of droschkies ; but to hear and read of droschkies 
 is one thing, and to be called on to sit in one, without 
 getting a lesson in the art, is quite another. We were 
 completely mystified, and no less completely amused, by 
 our strange position : we knew not how to sit, whether 
 sideways or astride, whether with face or back foremost. 
 iK'importe ! It was neck or nothing with us. So away 
 we splashed over bridge and stone, clinging to the vehicle 
 as we best could, laughing at ourselves, and, doubtless, 
 making others laugh to see us sitting so funnily. Drosch- 
 kies, we thought, must be very insecure things ; for we 
 were often like to be tumbled out from our awkwardness. 
 But these difficulties our zealous driver did not see ; or, 
 if he saw, he heeded them not. 
 
 " Pady, pady ! " was his order. Clear the way — 
 here come two foreigners to look at the emperor, and to 
 pay me well. " Pady, pady ! " 
 
 With all this, however, we were never coming to a 
 stand-still; and we knew nothing about where he was 
 driving us to. We had all along been on the outlook 
 for a shop where German or French might be spoken, 
 and were in the very streets for them ; but it was so dark 
 that we could scarcely read the sign-boards. At last, in 
 a broad and handsome street, we caught the cheering
 
 54 HOUSED AT LAST. 
 
 inscription, " English Tailor, from London ;" and, never 
 doubting that we should here find help, we made our 
 charioteer stop, that, through the expected interpreter, 
 we might hold some parley with him about the place he 
 might be taking us to. But, to our dismay, no one was 
 to be found that could speak to us ; so Pady, pady ! was 
 again the word, and, in a short time, our doubts were 
 dispelled, when the horse stopped, and his master point- 
 ed, with a grin of delight at his own sagacity, to the 
 shield of a German tavern, inscribed " Gasthaus, 
 Wittwe." This was nearly what we wanted ; but not 
 exactly the place itself. The widow's waiters soon told 
 the man where we wished to go, and back we started all 
 the way over the ground he had brought us ; for, had 
 we but taken the good Peter's hint, we were close by the 
 desired locality when he first appeared to us. 
 
 A kind reception soon made us forget our street vaga- 
 ries. They had not been altogether unprofitable, for we 
 had seen and learnt more of this huge place the first 
 night of our arrival, than many do in the first week. 
 The remote outskirts we should never have seen at all, 
 but for our unwonted landing. They had also taught us 
 a lesson, which we record for the benefit of other wan- 
 derers — never to enter a strange city without knowing 
 at least the name of the street they are in search of. 
 Even had our difficulties been greater, we should have 
 forgotten them on seeing that our arrival had made one 
 creature happy — the poor droschky-man ; who, for the 
 four roubles he had gained, bowed himself to the ground, 
 and " kissed the hem of our garment," after the fashion 
 of his country, as grateful and as much overjoyed as if 
 he had driven the Tzarevitch.
 
 DO 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 FIRST IMPRESSIONS AMONG THE SPLENDOURS OF 
 THE RUSSIAN CAPITAL. 
 
 Hospitality — Letters of introduction — Danger of giving names in books 
 on Russia — Numerous sights — The palaces — Hermitage, &c. — Peter's 
 cottage — Magnificence of the principal streets — Style of architecture — 
 How the city has been raised — Proprietors compelled to build — Build- 
 ings-board — Foot-pavements — Effects on the ladies — Italian architects 
 — Reflections — Perishable splendour — Critical situation of the houses — 
 Inundations. 
 
 The two great subjects to which all writers on St. 
 Petersburg first turn their readers' attention are, its 
 hospitality and its sights ; for both of which it has long 
 been famed, beyond most of the cities of Europe. 
 
 Of its hospitality we also should wish to say much. 
 But nothing being so offensive to the really hospitable 
 man as the parade of his courtesies in print, we shall 
 simply state that we had not been long amongst its 
 inhabitants until we had ample proof of the justice of the 
 assertion, that nowhere is the stranger honoured with such 
 unbounded attention. 
 
 We cannot leave this topic altogether, however, with- 
 out adding a note of advice for our travelling countrymen, 
 regarding the necessity of providing themselves with 
 good introductions, before coming here. Englishmen are 
 always too negligent of this. We have known some set 
 out on the tour of Europe without a single letter, beyond
 
 56 LETTERS OF INTRODUCTION. 
 
 a pretty substantial one from Coutts's or Herries's ! Now, 
 without recommending the German system, which is to 
 get a trunk-full of letters, when they can be got, and to 
 deliver every one of them, even should there be one hun- 
 dred and twenty (the number brought over by a recent 
 visitor when he came to make a book about us), we 
 should advise the stranger who wishes to enjoy his visit 
 to St. Petersburg, to furnish himself with at least the 
 twentieth part of the German allowance ; and if but one- 
 half of these are as well attended to as ours were, he will 
 long look back with pleasure to the happy and instructive 
 hours enjoyed on these distant shores. 
 
 Without introductions, no stranger can make his way 
 in the Russian capital , with them, he will be loaded 
 with attentions. Many Englishmen who come here are 
 so coldly welcomed that they go away disappointed with 
 the people and the country. But they are themselves to 
 blame for having found St. Petersburg naught and un- 
 profitable. A single good letter would have enabled 
 them to spend their time both instructively and agreeably. 
 Travellers passing by Berlin cannot do better than pro- 
 vide a few letters there ; such, from the present intimacy 
 between the two courts, being the most influential that 
 can be procured. 
 
 Were we to follow out the German example we ought, 
 at least, to give a list of all who entertained- us, even 
 though the reason given at the commencement of the 
 chapter may prevent us from enlarging on their kind- 
 ness ; but English taste repudiates the trick of giving 
 weight to a work by filling it with eminent names, and 
 thereby throwing the responsibility of its statements on 
 individuals who cannot answer for themselves.
 
 NECESSARY CAUTION. 57 
 
 Another fashion — we will not call it a German one, 
 because only one German has been found capable of 
 adopting it — is, to use the opportunities which intro- 
 ductions give, for laying bare the sacred privacies of 
 domestic life — for sporting with the afflictions(l) of the 
 family who unsuspectingly gave the ribald jester shelter 
 at their board — and sometimes even for traducing the 
 character of his entertainers ! This fashion, however 
 much its adoption might add to the piquancy of his work, 
 no English writer will ever adopt. 
 
 The consideration, however, which principally induces 
 us' to refrain from mentioning names in these pages, is 
 the danger in which the most respectable individuals 
 have sometimes been involved, by the rashness of tra- 
 vellers in this respect. Foreigners who allude to politics 
 in their works ought never to give the name of any 
 private friend ; for many have been exposed to merciless 
 persecution — to the dungeon, and to exile — in consequence 
 of having been mentioned by travellers whose political 
 remarks are unpalatable to the government. To be 
 named in such a work, were it only in the way of well-meant 
 compliment, or thoughtless gratitude, at once exposes the 
 individual to the suspicion of having furnished the ob- 
 noxious intelligence, although he may not have opened 
 his lips on politics. There are other continental states 
 also, where the same caution would be necessary : there 
 is an English book of Travels in Southern Italy, which 
 had the effect of compromising some of the first noblemen 
 of the country so seriously, that they were thrown into 
 prison, and never again allowed to breathe the air of 
 freedom. 
 
 d3
 
 58 THE SIGHT OF ST. PETERSBURG. 
 
 The sights of St. Petersburg cannot be dismissed so 
 briefly as its hospitality ; yet on these also we shall try to 
 be as little tedious as possible. In fact, all the objects 
 worthy of notice — churches, palaces, public buildings — 
 have been so fully and so ably described by Dr. Granville, 
 or other travellers, that it were idle to attempt going over 
 the same ground with them in a work of this nature. 
 Mere &\$it-seeing is the most wearisome occupation in the 
 world, except it be that of reading about sights. Chairs, 
 tables, wash-hand basins, mirrors — empresses' bedrooms, 
 and emperors' writing-tables — are most useful, and may 
 be most edifying things in their way ; as well as imperial 
 nightcaps and pincushions; but no one who has endured 
 the infliction of following a gilded lackey from room to 
 room — up stairs and down stairs — from pantry to garret 
 — over miles of carpet and wax-cloth ; or, taking out-of- 
 doors work, no one who has trudged through enchanted 
 gardens and mazy woods, seven acres square, adorned 
 with metal waterfalls, and timber grottoes, and peopled 
 with playful dolphins and spouting lions, with Dianas, 
 Apollos, Mercuries, Fawns, Floras, Phoebuses — Neptunes 
 and their cars, Ariadnes and their bulls — long-legged 
 cranes and long-legged nymphs, frogs v gladiators, tritons 
 — monsters of every shape, and size, and colour that 
 stucco and gilding can produce ; no one who has dis- 
 charged these melancholy duties, — in every country the 
 heaviest of all the taxes that the traveller pays for his 
 more instructive pleasures, — will be surprised that a 
 fellow-sufferer declines to give a narrative which would 
 only revive forgotten woes. 
 
 If it were not. treason against the sight-loving tribe, we
 
 SIGHT-SEEING. 59 
 
 should say that there are ways in which both the tra- 
 vellers' and the readers' time may be much more profit- 
 ably employed, than on the mere shows of foreign 
 countries. A day passed among the crowds of a great 
 capital — in the streets — in the unvisited purlieus — in the 
 markets — the bazaars — wherever the moving, living mul- 
 titude may be seen — is more instructive, ay, and more 
 amusing, than a dozen of days spent among glittering 
 rooms and gingerbread pleasure-gardens ; and he who 
 could faithfully describe what he sees in such scenes, 
 would make a more attractive book, and deserve better 
 of his country, than all the marvel-hunters that ever 
 wrote. A single hour spent in the heavy vapours of an 
 hospital, or in the cold cells of a public prison — full of 
 sad and painful thoughts as that hour may be — will give 
 more real insight into the spirit and character of a nation, 
 than can be drawn from whole months frittered away 
 among the thousand artificial sights which the idle most 
 delight in. 
 
 That we are using a wise discretion in not attempting 
 a minute, day-by-day description of St. Petersburg, the 
 reader will himself readily admit, on hearing the bare 
 names of all the places he would have to wander through 
 under only one division of its sights — namely, the palaces. 
 First would come the Winter Palace, which, with its 
 dependencies, forms the largest royal residence in Europe, 
 being capable of lodging twelve thousand souls ; or 
 rather, it was capable: for, since we left Russia, it has 
 unfortunately been burnt down, and, such is Russian 
 energy, again raised from its ashes with a splendour 
 scarcely inferior to that in which it formerly gloried.
 
 60 PALACES. 
 
 Next, were we to attempt a minute description, would 
 follow what may be called continuations of the palace 
 just named, the Hermitage and Theatre of the Court, 
 the Marble Palace and that of Constantine — all on the 
 Neva. Even without leaving the capital, we should still 
 have, in addition to these, a long series of royal resi- 
 dences to visit; such as the old palace Mikhailoff, near 
 the summer garden, built by the Emperor Paul, and the 
 scene of his assassination — now occupied as a school for 
 young engineers ; the Taurida palace (in the Vosskre- 
 censkaia street), presented by Catherine to Potemkin for 
 conquering the Crimea, but afterwards purchased by 
 government; the new palace Mikhailoff (between the 
 old one of the same name and the Nefsko'i Prospekht), 
 finished in 1832, as a residence for the Grand Duke 
 Michael, brother of the emperor ; the Anitchkoff Palace 
 (in the Nefsko'i, near the bridge of the Fontanka), built by 
 the Empress Elizabeth in 1748, and occupied as the private 
 palace of the present emperor. Such are the names of a 
 few of the palaces in the capital. On the islands, or in 
 the immediate neighbourhood, are the Summer Palace of 
 the late Emperor, and that built by Nicholas ; Catha- 
 rinenhof, &c. &c. Peterhof, a favourite seat of the 
 emperor, on the bay of Cronstadt ; and Tzarkoie-Celo 
 (meaning " the village of the Tzar") 15 miles on the 
 Moscow road, are familiar to all who have opened a 
 book on Russia. 
 
 Were we to give a description of any of the palaces, it 
 would be of the little cottage in which Peter the Great 
 lived, while laying the foundations and superintending 
 the progress of his new capital. Many relics and me-
 
 peter's cottage. 61 
 
 morials of him. are preserved about St. Petersburg, as 
 well as at Peterhof and Cronstadt ; but this is by far the 
 most interesting. It is a simple Scotch " but and ben," 
 but with a greater profusion of windows than Scotch cot- 
 tages can boast of. The small sleeping-room is immedi- 
 ately opposite the entrance ; but neither in it, nor in the 
 other rooms, is door or ceiling high enough for a tall vi- 
 siter. It is built of logs, painted to resemble bricks. 
 The walls are hung with coarse canvas, whitewashed ; 
 the only piece of luxury being round the doors, which are 
 edged with a pennyworth of flowered paper. To preserve 
 this modest mansion from decay, a good brick house has 
 been built round it; within which it nestles as dry as a 
 kernel in its shell. In the space between the cottage and 
 its case, lies a very appropriate relic of the illustrious 
 apprentice in the dock-yards of Saardam — the boat built 
 by his own hands, in which he rowed about the Neva to 
 his different works. The only furniture in the room are 
 a few glass-cases, with rings, lamps, medals, and other 
 remembrances of the first tenant, all under charge of an 
 old soldier, who lives by selling tapers to those who 
 worship at the rude shrine standing in the corner of one 
 of the chambers, 
 
 In these humble rooms, then, scarcely ten feet square, 
 lived the great founder of this city of palaces ! Touched 
 by the simplicity and self-denial manifested by his pre- 
 ference of this plain mansion, we were about to leave the 
 spot with increased admiration for one of the most re- 
 markable men that ever lived ; but, as we were turning 
 away, a woman in respectable mourning came in. She 
 was in deep grief — bowed herself on her knees before the
 
 02 PUBLIC EDIFICES. 
 
 shrine, and with sobs smote her forehead to the dust. It 
 was a mother mourning for her son. The thought now 
 struck us, that he whom we had just called " great" 
 also had a son, but the remembrance of that son's terri- 
 ble death made us change the epithet into "cruel." 
 
 Could the prison-scenes of Alexei Petrovitch, reckless 
 though he was, be blotted from history, the name of 
 Peter would be one of the brightest in its ample page. 
 
 The list of public edifices in St. Petersburg is larger 
 even than that of its palaces. There are churches, pri- 
 sons, hospitals, cabinets, libraries, seminaries, museums, 
 picture galleries, theatres, barracks, &c. &c, more than 
 could be walked through in a month, or read of in a 
 week. For the reasons already given, however, no at- 
 tempt will be made to describe the whole of these : all 
 that is here proposed, is to notice only a lew of the more 
 modern and most striking sights. Meanwhile let us say 
 a few words of the general impression which it produces 
 on the stranger. 
 
 No capital of Europe surprises so much as St. Peters- 
 burg. The width and regularity of the streets — the long 
 lines of houses, generally of uniform plan, and all looking 
 as if new — the breadth and solidity of the quays — the 
 stout masonry of the canals — the excellence of the pave- 
 ment and the comfort of the foot-walk ; these are so dif- 
 ferent from all presented by other continental cities, that 
 the stranger is literally amazed. The magnitude of the 
 scale on which every thing is done, and the solidity of 
 much (we do not say all) that has been reared, admirably 
 correspond with the greatness of the empire. Another 
 consideration which increases the stranger's wonder, is
 
 ST. PETERSBURG. 63 
 
 the expenditure which they must have occasioned. 
 Stones and pillars, many tons weight, are lavished as if 
 they could have been charmed into their place by a 
 word ; but, in fact, each of them had to be brought an 
 immense distance, at an enormous expense. That the 
 stranger should be surprised on reflecting, that all this 
 has been done in so short a time — has risen like a vision 
 of the night — some may think superfluous, for he has been 
 well prepared for it ; yet when he feels himself actually in 
 the midst of the splendours of this new city, walking upon 
 and touching them, he may be excused for marvelling, 
 and almost for doubting, whether the surrounding scene 
 could really have been but a neglected marsh, or, at most, 
 a fishing-village of poor Fins, little more than a hundred 
 years ago ! Palaces, cathedrals — triumphal arches, and 
 monumental statues, all of most tasteful design and most 
 costly workmanship, standing in thick and fair array, 
 where so lately the nest of the bittern or the floating 
 cradle of the water-hen were, the proudest works of 
 architecture ! It must be a dream ! 
 
 One point which particularly excites surprise is, the 
 freshness, the seeming newness of every thing. It is not 
 as in the ancient capitals of Europe, where the eye is 
 offended by whole streets of houses decaying and out of 
 order : here, things have not had time to go wrong ; and, 
 what is more, they are not allowed to do so. The plas- 
 terer's trowel and the painter's brush are set to work 
 every year, all over the city. Nor are repairs left to the 
 caprice or indolence of the individual proprietor. Go- 
 vernment steps in — for in this country, government does 
 everything — and tells him you must make such and such
 
 64 EFFECTS OF AN UKASE. 
 
 repairs. Your ukase is a powerful conservator. It can 
 create,, too, as well as preserve ; for much of St. Peters- 
 burg has been built by compulsion : it would never have 
 attained half its present magnitude, but for the inter- 
 ference of the authorities, who used to say, in very plain 
 terms, " You who have this income or that, this or that 
 number of houses, are hereby called upon to build forth- 
 with so many more ; and you who have but half of what 
 your neighbour possesses, must just follow with half of 
 what he is put down for." 
 
 Everything connected with the streets, new buildings, 
 &c, is under the direction of a Board, without whose 
 sanction it is not allowed to make any alteration even in 
 an old building. No man can follow his own plan as to 
 the outside of a house, whatever he may do within ; a 
 system which may sometimes press hard on individuals, 
 but is on the whole a good one, preventing those mon- 
 strosities with which other capitals abound, when every 
 proprietor is left to indulge his own fantasies. The good 
 effect of this arbitrary way of doing things is well shown 
 by the handsome foot-pavements. These English luxuries 
 are so rare abroad, that we were not prepared to find 
 almost every street here well furnished with them. 
 Twenty years ago, scarcely one was to be seen ; but the 
 mystery was explained, when we were told that it was 
 all in consequence cf the Emperor Alexander's visit to 
 London, after the Peace, when he was so much delighted 
 with our pavements that, the moment he returned, an 
 ukase appeared, enjoining every proprietor to lay the 
 footpath in front of his house with slabs. It was of no 
 avail to remonstrate. The party might say that his
 
 TROTTOIRS. 65 
 
 means were inadequate to this unexpected outlay; his 
 want of means could not be put in balance with the 
 Emperor's wishes. There was no remedy but to obey ; 
 for if the Sultan has but one short answer to those who 
 refuse his application for money, " Compliance, or the 
 bastinado," so his neighbour, the Tzar, with equal 
 brevity, declares " Obedience, or Siberia !" 
 
 These trottoirs have not only done much towards im- 
 proving the look and comfort of his capital, but have 
 also, to a certain extent, been auxiliary in reforming 
 the habits of his subjects. Formerly, scarcely a woman 
 was to be seen in the streets of St. Petersburg ; the 
 stones were so rough, or the mire so deep, that the poor 
 creatures could not venture out. They sat stewing at 
 home, without sun or air, in the close unhealthy atmos- 
 phere of their stoves, with cheeks as white as plants 
 trained in darkness. But now, since the foot-pavements 
 have enabled them to make the wonderful discovery that 
 they can walk, the St. Petersburg ladies come boldly 
 abroad ; not in such numbers as the fair sex of other 
 countries, but still in very creditable proportion, con- 
 sidering the recent date of their enfranchisement. These 
 innovations have also enabled them to make another 
 agreeable discovery — that exercise of this kind gives a 
 health to the frame more vigorous than that derived 
 from the midnight waltz, and lends a bloom to the cheek 
 more attractive than that of the rouge of which they 
 formerly made so liberal a use. 
 
 Every country has a style of architecture, or, if that 
 word be too high, of building, peculiar to itself; and 
 nowhere is the style of each more conspicuous than in its
 
 66 
 
 STYLE OF ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 capital. Russia also has a style of its own ; but there is 
 little of it seen in St. Petersburg. He who comes here 
 expecting to find something national and characteristic in 
 the general appearance of the houses will be completely 
 disappointed : except for the churches, a stranger, in 
 walking through it, might suppose himself in some new 
 city of Italy, of France, or of Germany : for it has a 
 little of the manners of each of these countries ; being 
 precisely such a place as would be made by taking the 
 large plain houses of the Rue de la Paix, of Paris, or 
 of the new streets of Frankfort, and uniting them in 
 straight endless streets with some of the ornamental 
 buildings of the different towns of Italy. Little wonder 
 that it has not a Russian look ; for, until lately, no 
 Russian had any share in adorning it : not only the 
 palaces but all the streets were built by foreign, chiefly 
 Italian, architects. 
 
 Among the various surprises excited by St. Peters- 
 burg, the greatest of any felt by the stranger is — that it 
 should have been built here at all. Whatever the city 
 may have gained in strength against an enemy, by being 
 placed in this position, it has lost in security from inun- 
 dations, as well as in beauty. The object of its founder 
 in planting it among inaccessible swamps, was to render 
 it more safe from his active foes ; but the ground is so 
 low that the Neva at times sweeps irresistibly over a 
 great part of the city. The inundations have often risen 
 so high as to threaten the complete submersion of the 
 finest quarters. In 1828, the waters raged over every 
 barrier, and occasioned great loss, not only of property, 
 but of life. The Tzar wept like a child when he looked
 
 ST. PETERSBURG INUNDATED. G7 
 
 from his palace windows, and saw the disastrous spec- 
 tacle. The height to which the waters reached in many 
 of the most crowded streets, is still shown by a line on 
 the houses, especially in the Vassilii-island, where the 
 destruction was dreadful. Eye-witnesses say, that the 
 heaps of dead bodies taken from the houses, and piled 
 up till the water should retire, and permit the earth to 
 receive them, formed the most appalling sight they ever 
 beheld — melancholy monuments of their " great " em- 
 peror's energy and rashness. Had he but gone ten miles 
 farther up the river, a site would have been found fully 
 as advantageous for commerce, the stream being navi- 
 gable all the way, and much more safe ; the height of 
 the banks above the water being such that no flood can 
 overflow them. 
 
 What a place would St. Petersburg have become in a 
 situation presenting greater natural beauties ! It would 
 then have been the most beautiful city in the world : 
 now it is only the most wonderful. 
 
 Yet the beauty and regularity of this capital become 
 less wonderful when we consider how different its origin 
 has been from that of others. Other cities have grown 
 up at random, from small beginnings. They are the 
 work of centuries ; each succeeding improver has to con- 
 tend against, or remove, what has been done by his pre- 
 decessors. But St. Petersburg is the creation of a day, 
 and having been begun at once on a great and regular plan, 
 its beautifiers have only had to add to what was done, 
 not to undo. Nor are they hampered by what, in many 
 continental cities, renders improvements impossible, — an 
 insurmountable line of fortifying walls, whose narrow limits
 
 68 ORIGIN OF ST. PETERSBURG. 
 
 forbid our modern Augustuses to convert narrow alleys 
 and ten-story houses into spacious squares and gardened 
 villas. St. Petersburg never had *nor needed walls. 
 The batteries of Cronstadt and the shallow mouths of 
 the Neva are the best bulwarks in the world. So long 
 as these remain, there will be no need of walls to keep 
 this city from going on increasing, .till the very waters 
 which now constitute its best defence from the foe, shall 
 at last sweep over it in scorn. 
 
 The Russian capital has filled the nations with wonder 
 by its sudden rise : is it to fill them with greater wonder 
 by its yet more sudden fall ? Shall the proud monarch 
 of the north hear it said of his darling seat, as was said 
 to the repining prophet of the gourd which had made 
 him, so " exceeding glad/' — " It came up in a night, 
 and perished in a night !" Such a calamity, if we may 
 believe those who have long resided here, is by no 
 means improbable. Even if spared by the flames, which 
 in Russia soon lay cities low, it is so liable to suffer from 
 inundations, that it may one day be necessary to abandon 
 it altogether.
 
 69 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 THE NEVA; AND GENERAL VIEW FROM ISAACS BRIDGE. 
 
 Attractions of the river — Compared with the Thames — The great bridge 
 — Magnificent prospect — General sketch of the city from this point — 
 The public buildings within view — Divisions of the city — Its progress 
 — The islands — The quays — Want of trees. 
 
 In attempting to give a general idea of St. Petersburg, 
 we would begin with its finest and most distino-uishinor 
 feature — the Neva — the noblest of city rivers. 
 
 Englishmen are proud of the Thames; and with rea- 
 son. It is a noble river ; but will not compare with the 
 Neva. The one flows smooth and voiceless, afraid to 
 disturb the slumbers of the aldermen who are its masters, 
 and keep it in awe : the other rushes swift as the tempest 
 — roars like an untamed savage, fresh from his native 
 deserts, caring neither for citizen nor emperor, who have 
 in vain tried to subdue him. The spirit of old Father 
 Thames is broken by the insults we have heaped upon 
 him ; ugly black lines of mud defile his shores ; we turn 
 the ends and backs of our houses to him, as if he were 
 not worth looking at, and set down such buttresses of 
 masonry to support the bridges across him, that he can- 
 not move them even in his fury. Instead of displaying 
 banners along his banks, and doing all we can to make 
 him sensible of his importance and our gratitude, we 
 affront him in the most atrocious manner : hanging out
 
 70 THE NEVA. 
 
 dyers' poles and washerwomen's ropes, with old linen, 
 flannel petticoats, and other unutterable tatterdemalion 
 things, fluttering so insultingly in the breeze, that the 
 poor river skulks along in shame, glad to hide his head 
 among the brewers' vats of Southwark, or underground 
 in Mr. Brunei's tunnel — any where to be out of sight. 
 
 But the Neva asserts his privileges, and is honoured 
 with becoming respect. The emperor himself rears his 
 beautiful palace on his banks, unfurls his proudest ban- 
 ner in his honour, and does all he can to coax him into 
 good humour; bringing sweet flowers to please him 
 with their perfume, spreading trees to shade him from the 
 sun, and costly statues to adorn his path. Nor are the 
 citizens ashamed to come and look at him, but have built 
 strong walls along his banks, as costly as palaces, sup- 
 porting broad avenues, corresponding to his own majesty, 
 and long lines of splendid mansions, from whose win- 
 dows it is the pride of the richest and the fairest to look 
 on his ample tide; while, instead of insulting him, by 
 blocking up his bed with pillars that cannot be shaken, 
 they every autumn clear the way for him by removing 
 the bridges which, in his vernal joy, he would take very 
 good care to remove for himself. 'In return for this 
 courtesy of theirs, he lays himself calmly down to rest 
 when winter comes, and allows his children to dance and 
 sing, and play upon his breast, throughout the long 
 slumber that will again give him vigour to bring them 
 bread and wealth — gold and rich argosies — in summer. 
 
 The Neva enters the sea by many branches, along all 
 of which portions of this great capital or of its suburbs 
 are built ; but the only one with which we have to do is
 
 THE NEVA. 71 
 
 the principal one, called the Grand Neva, on which stand 
 the finest parts of the city. The chief point is at the 
 Isaac Bridge, which passes from Isaac Square on the 
 mainland, to the rich and populous quarter built on the 
 Vassilii-ostroff (BasiFs isle), which, from its size and 
 importance, is termed, pre-eminently, the Island. This 
 square, which is adorned with Peter's statue, the 
 admiralty, the cathedral of St. Isaac, the senate-house, 
 &c, and unites with the admiralty square, may be called 
 the heart of St. Petersburg, all the great lines from 
 the remotest extremities centring in it more or less 
 directly. 
 
 The bustle and gaiety always seen on the bridge, from 
 the crowds of pedestrians and showy equipages con- 
 stantly moving on it, or on the quays stretching right and 
 left, make it one of the most attractive stations in the 
 whole city. The bridge itself, built entirely on boats, is 
 not the least curious object. Though fully one thousand 
 and fifty feet long, and about sixty wide, it is entirely of 
 wood — not painted white and handsome, however, like 
 the wooden bridges in other countries, but rough and 
 dark-looking. The roadway is of squared logs, enor- 
 mously thick ; they are left quite naked, without gravel 
 or composition of any kind over them. Though only a 
 bridge of boats, it is not so low as that term would lead 
 some to suppose. The huge beams, slanting upwards from 
 twenty boats, or rather pontoons, anchored in the river, 
 are so long that they elevate the roadway nearly to the 
 height of ordinary bridge-paths. Though very strongly 
 moored, the pontoons are kept in their places with great 
 difficulty, owing to the violence of the current, which
 
 7'2 GENERAL VIEW OF 
 
 occasions a loose rocking motion, perceptible in passing 
 from one joint to another; but the work is secure enough 
 to support any number of the heaviest waggons that 
 could find room upon it, the yielding of the boats being 
 in favour of its strength. The enormous joints can all 
 be floated away separately ; each pontoon carrying off 
 its own share of the roadway. Some of them are taken 
 to the side at two o'clock every morning, to let ships pass 
 to the custom-house, where they unload under the eye of 
 the officers ; and every year, before the ice forms, they 
 are all removed, because, if left, the floating ice, when 
 summer arrives, would destroy them. All communica- 
 tion between the opposite banks is, of course, interrupted 
 until the ice is fully formed ; after which the whole river 
 is a bridge, and a fair too ; games and festivities of all 
 kinds being carried on upon its bosom throughout the 
 long winter. There is again an anxious interruption 
 when the thaw begins, till the floating ice has cleared 
 away sufficiently to permit the re-establishment of the 
 bridge. These interruptions occasion such a serious 
 break to the intercourse both of trade and of friendship, 
 that it has long been projected to build a stone bridge at 
 this point; but there are difficulties ,-to be surmounted, 
 which, as well as the great expense, have always retarded 
 the execution, and left to the present, emperor the glory 
 of adding one beautiful monument more to the many 
 that, adorn his capital. It is believed that, when other 
 projects shall allow him leisure, he will build not only a 
 bridge of stone, but aldo complete the quays which are 
 still unfinished. The great depth of the Neva, in many 
 places said to be at least fifty feet, and the flatness of its
 
 ST. PETERSBURG. /O 
 
 banks, render it difficult to lay a sufficient foundation, 
 either for the pillars of a stone structure, or for the piers 
 of a suspension-bridge. 
 
 We have mentioned this bridge so particularly, because 
 it is to it that we would beg the reader to accompany us, 
 as the point best suited for enabling him to form a general 
 idea of St. Petersburg, and of the position of its principal 
 ornaments. Standing with the face up the river, we 
 have, 1st, the mainland on the right ; 2d, the Vassilii- 
 Ostroff on the left; and, 3d, farther up the river, Trinity 
 Island separated from the Vassilii by a very wide arm 
 of the stream. On the third division stands what is 
 called the Old city : it was the part first built by Peter ; 
 and here his cottage, already mentioned, still remains. 
 It has become the most desolate-looking portion of the 
 whole. It is now united to the mainland by the enormous 
 moveable bridge of Troitsko'i, which is 2456 feet long. 
 At first, however, all building was confined to the two 
 islands. No one thought of taking up his quarters on 
 terra firma till 1705, two years after the first foundations 
 of old St. Petersburg were laid ; but the example being 
 once given, the buildings increased so rapidly, that the 
 quarter on the mainland soon became, and is still, by far 
 the largest and most splendid of the capital. 
 
 Having thus explained the general position of the three 
 principal divisions of the city, we may next, mention some 
 of their particular ornaments. Such a view as now lies 
 around us can seldom be equalled. Nearly all the finest 
 objects of the capital are within sight. On either hand 
 are the magnificient quays, adorned by long lines of 
 buildings, rivalling the finest _ in Europe; the public 
 
 vol i. K
 
 74 GENERAL VIEW OF 
 
 structures mingling harmoniously with, but scarcely out- 
 shining, those of the rich private citizens. The Vassilii 
 quay, stretching only a short way up the river, but 
 extending for miles down toward the sea, is adorned with 
 the Academy of Arts, the Mining College, the College 
 
 * * DO D 
 
 of Cadets, &c, all handsome, with lines of streets behind 
 them, penetrating far away to the other side of the island. 
 Up the river, and round the Strelka (battery) point, are 
 the Academy of Sciences, the Exchange, the Custom- 
 
 • D * 
 
 house, the Rostral Columns, with dense masses of 
 shipping in front. In old St. Petersburg are seen the 
 imposing citadel, containing the cathedral of St. Peter 
 and St. Paul, surmounted by a lofty gilded spire. Be- 
 hind this, among the mazy branches of the river, lie 
 numerous other islands, Petrofski, Krestofski (isle of the 
 Cross), Ielaghine, Kammenoi (Stone island), and Apo- 
 thecaries Island, with its botanic garden, and nearly 
 4000 feet of glass-houses : but these are all out of sight 
 from the point where we now stand. The whole of the 
 islands of St. Petersburg are of considerable size ; not 
 little rocks like those of Stockholm, but wide flats 
 covering many acres — in one instance several miles. 
 What a contrast they present to' the romantic islets of 
 the Miilar! 
 
 Crossing the river to the right, the eye rests on the 
 most splendid part of all — the fair line of royal dwellings 
 already mentioned, beginning in the distance with the 
 Marble, and ending with the Winter Palace, where die 
 splendid buildings of the Admiralty begin ; all of which 
 together present to the view a full mile of the most 
 beautiful architecture in the world, scarcely broken the
 
 ST. PETERSBURG. /D 
 
 whole way, from the admired railing of the Summer- 
 garden down to the end of the bridge, where, as already 
 stated, stands the Isaac square, encircled by so many 
 ornaments. From this square the eye, travelling down 
 the stream, takes in the whole of the English quay, 
 composed of a line of most elegant houses, occupied by 
 the principal nobility, the English merchants, the great 
 bankers, the club-houses, the English* factory, &c, with 
 storehouses and other government structures innu- 
 merable, in the distant outskirts about the mouth of the 
 river. 
 
 This is but a mere outline, a most meagre sketch of 
 some of the objects seen from the bridge. As yet we 
 have mentioned only these on the river ; but far off, also, 
 wherever the eye may wander, especially towards bur 
 right, where the city, with its long streets, spreads back- 
 ward for miles, objects of magnificence and beauty are 
 seen. The number of gleaming domes, many pealing 
 forth their sweetest tones, rising over miles of land and 
 island, is countless. The great part of the shipping, we 
 have said, is out of sight, round the Vassilii point : here 
 are only the arrivals of the day, waiting by the bridge till 
 the hour of opening. 
 
 No large vessels being ever allowed to discharge their 
 cargoes on the principal quays, they are always free 
 from confusion, and the margins of the river are thus not 
 so much encumbered with shipping as to diminish its 
 noble breadth. Barges, piled high with charcoal, or 
 other kinds of fuel — huge vessels with stones for some 
 public building — long clumsy structures, with open sides, 
 for fishmongers and washerwomen— "-compose the floating 
 
 e2
 
 76 GENERAL VIEW OF ST. PETERSBURG. 
 
 tenantry of the river's edge ; but, numerous though they 
 may be, they form but a slender line on each side, com- 
 pared with the ample stream. Its bosom, however, is 
 continually enlivened by numerous pleasure-boats, gaudily 
 adorned, shooting in every direction, some hastening up 
 from the bay, some from the large building-yards, where 
 ships are seen in progress at various stations along the 
 river, and some conveying gay parties to visit their friends 
 on the opposite bank. The great bridges being too far 
 apart to suffice for the intercourse of such a large popula- 
 tion, crowds of trim ferry-boats are constantly plying at 
 different points. 
 
 Beautiful as the view which we have been enjoying on 
 the grand Neva certainly is, it has one great defect — 
 want of trees. Some are seen, but not nearly enough. 
 A line of foliage along the quays would be an immense 
 improvement to them, and most welcome to the eye. 
 The houses now look too harsh — too cold. Miles of 
 stone and window-glass fatigue, even when the architec- 
 tural combinations are faultless. The Chiaja, at Naples, 
 is one of the most beautiful lines of building in Europe ; 
 but without the fresh verdure of the Villa Reale running 
 parallel to it, it would be insupportable. To drive along 
 it, day after day, without some relief, would burn the eyes 
 from their sockets. What then must be the effect of the 
 verdureless splendours of St. Petersburg?
 
 77 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 GLANCE AT THE MONUMENTS, CHURCHES, AND 
 STATISTICS OF ST. PETERSBURG. 
 
 Alexander's Column, the finest monument in the world — Singular 
 anecdote of Russian obedience — Equestrian statue of Peter the 
 Great — Passion of the Russians for monuments of this kind — Russian 
 churches — General description — Feelings excited by their splendour 
 — Trophies from the French and Turks preserved in them — Too much 
 gilding — Pictures — Reverence for them — New cathedral of St. Isaac — 
 Convent of St. Alexander Nefsky — Cathedral of St. Peter and St. 
 Paul — Tombs of Peter and the Tzars — Cathedral of our Lady of 
 Kasan — Foreign churches — Other public buildings — Size and po- 
 pulation — Manufactures — Exports and Imports — Great manufactory at 
 Alexandrofsky — General Wilson — Porcelain and glass manufactories. 
 
 Turning away from our bridge, let us now survey 
 some other portions of this fair city. 
 
 There are few squares in St. Petersburg ; where all 
 the streets are wide and airy, they are less wanted than 
 among the narrow alleys of other capitals. It. contains, 
 however, many open spaces, surrounded with fine build- 
 ings ; but they scarcely correspond with the usual ideas 
 of a jilace. The most beautiful of these is that which 
 divides the Winter Palace, &c. from the Nefsko'i quarter. 
 It is adorned with what we do not hesitate to pronounce 
 the finest monument in the world. 
 
 In no part of Europe have we seen anything worthy 
 of being compared with the remarkable pillar lately 
 erected here, in honour of the, Emperor Alexander. If
 
 /O MONUMENTS OF 
 
 we admire Napoleon's column in Paris, or the Melville 
 column in Edinburgh, composed of separate stones put 
 together in the usual way, what shall we say of this 
 stupendous work which consists of only one stone, and 
 yet is considerably larger than those monuments ? its 
 height, if we are correctly informed, including the 
 figure on the top, being exactly 154 feet, and its dia- 
 meter 15 feet.* It is a round column, of mottled red 
 granite, from the quarries of Pytterlax, in Finland, 140 
 miles from St. Petersburg. The stone is very like the 
 beautiful granite of Peterhead, in Scotland, but darker, 
 and susceptible of even a higher polish. 
 
 We have never seen anything that attracted us so 
 much. It is the perfection of monumental architecture. 
 There is no frippery ; there is something sublime in its 
 simplicity. It is impossible to gaze on it without emo- 
 tion. You never think of asking to whom it is raised : 
 it has an interest quite distinct from any association with 
 him whose memory it honours. You view it merely as 
 a triumph of human power, which could tear such a 
 mass from the reluctant rock, transport it so great a dis- 
 tance, and, under so many difficulties, carve, and mould, 
 and polish it into one smooth shaft, then poise the huge 
 weight as lightly as a feather, and plant it here, to be 
 the admiration of ages. 
 
 * In some accounts ,the height is given as only 150 feet. The Paris co- 
 lumn is 140 feet high ; the Edinburgh one is 136 feet 4 inches high : or, 
 including the figure, 152 feet, with a diameter of 12 feet 2 inches at the 
 base, and 10 feet 6 inches at ton ; while Trajan's column at Rome, on 
 which it is modelled, is 1 13 feet 9 inches high. Antonine's column 
 was 172^ feet in height, and 12 feet 3 inches in diameter. The Monu- 
 ment in London is the highest of all, being 202 feet from the pavement ; 
 the diameter is 15 feet.
 
 ST. PETERSBURG. 79 
 
 This pillar is founded on massive blocks of granite, 
 and has a pedestal and capital of bronze, made from the 
 cannon taken in the recent wars with the Turks. It is 
 the largest stone ever cut either in ancient or modern 
 times. The shaft alone is eighty- four feet high. On its 
 top stands a bronze statue of Religion, in the act of bless- 
 ing the surrounding city. The head of this figure stoops 
 so ungracefully below the higher part of the half-ex- 
 panded wings, that, in some positions, it looks a headless 
 trunk. The usual practice of placing on the top the 
 statue of the hero to whom the monument is dedicated 
 has been here departed from, out of deference to a word 
 uttered by Alexander, when passing the column of the 
 Place Vendome, before the now-restored statue of Napo- 
 leon had been removed from its giddy eminence. " God 
 forbid," said he, " that ever / should occupy such a post ! 
 There is something of profanity in thus exalting any 
 human being, to be worshipped, as it were, by his fellow- 
 creatures." 
 
 This unrivalled monument is a remarkable proof of 
 the bold and original taste of the present emperor ; for 
 the idea of it began solely with him. But if it excite our 
 admiration so strongly, even as it now is, what would 
 have been thought of it had it been raised here of the 
 full height in which it was cut from the quarry ? The 
 history is enough to drive one mad ; and it did very 
 nearly drive the emperor that length. Orders had been 
 given to the director of the quarries to try and extract 
 one solid mass, fit to be hewn into a column of a certain 
 length. The .operation was begun with slight hopes of 
 success. It was deemed impossible ever to obtain one
 
 80 MONUMENTS OF 
 
 stone of such a size. Ministers, generals, princes, the 
 whole court, were in anxiety about what the mountain 
 should bring forth; when, at last, — who shall describe 
 their joy? — a courier arrives with the happy tidings 
 that, for once, the labours of the mountain had not ended 
 in disappointment. Expectation was even surpassed; 
 for, in place of eighty-four feet, a mass had been sepa- 
 rated nearly one hundred feet long. There were no 
 bounds to the delight inspired by the news. St. Peters- 
 burg would now boast of a monument that might chal- 
 lenge the world. But, alas! there was a postscript to 
 this famous letter. The director had been ordered to get a 
 stone eighty-four feet long; and as in Russia they are not 
 in the habit of giving a man much credit for departing 
 from the very letter of an imperial mandate — and it 
 being a bad precedent to allow any functionary to think 
 for himself — the zealous man of stones added, that he 
 was now busy sawing away the superfluous fourteen 
 feet. Here was a pleasant piece of implicit obedience ! 
 The emperor was in despair; but as it is not his custom 
 to commission others to do things which may be better 
 done by himself, he posted away immediately, in hopes of 
 still saving his unexpected treasure ; and, as good luck 
 would have it, arrived just in time — to see the fair frag- 
 ment tumble off*. 
 
 The expense of this monument was very great. To 
 say nothing of the cost of transport, one hundred men 
 laboured on it for some years after its arrival. Not the 
 least expensive part was the raising of it, when finished, 
 into its present position. As a specimen of the great skill 
 which the Russians have acquired in applying mecha-
 
 ST. PETERSBURG. 81 
 
 nical powers, it is worth mentioning that it was swung 
 into its place in the short space of fifty-four minutes. 
 The whole population of the capital were present (August, 
 1832) to see the ceremony. M. de Montferrand, the 
 architect, is a native of France, but must have had some 
 lessons in mechanics from his adopted countrymen ; for 
 in Paris, the other day, they took several hours to raise 
 the poor little obelisk of Luxor, which would not make 
 a little finger to this Russian giant. 
 
 In honouring his predecessor with a monument of this 
 description, the emperor may have been prompted by a 
 wish to excel the boasted feat of the empress Catherine, 
 who selected for the base of the Equestrian Statue of 
 Peter the Great, a large mass of grayish rock, lying in 
 the middle of marshes, at such a distance from St. Peters- 
 burg that every one believed it impossible to transport it 
 thither. In its native bed it was sunk fifteen feet in the 
 ground ; on being raised from which, before reaching the 
 sea, it had a journey of nearly six miles to make, by a 
 road ingeniously constructed for the occasion ; after 
 which it had a voyage of eight miles to the spot which 
 it now occupies. Two small pieces are joined to the 
 largest block, which weighs upwards of fifteen hundred 
 tons. It is a rough irregular mass, forty-three feet long, 
 twenty-one broad, and thirteen high in front, from which 
 it slopes gradually backwards. The inscription is beau- 
 tifully simple : Petro primo Catharina secunda, 1782. 
 Peter is seen riding gallantly up this rock, in the ancient 
 costume of Muscovy, — which, with a short mantle flow- 
 ing from his shoulders, has a very classical effect. He is 
 without stirrups, and is so busy getting his steed to 
 
 e3
 
 82 MONUMENTS OF 
 
 trample on the hydra of rebellion writhing beneath his 
 feet, that he does not perceive the brink of the precipice 
 till he is about to be plunged over it. Ever calm and 
 fearless in peril, he checks his horse as if by a wish, and 
 pauses with the greatest self-possession, to beckon into 
 existence the proud city which was to bear his name. 
 The effect of the whole monument is certainly good ; but 
 the marvels of the rock it stands upon have been too 
 much trumpeted : one is disappointed to find that it is 
 merely a good-sized block, scarcely higher than the 
 pedestal of our own Charles at Charing-cross. It is said 
 to have sunk considerably of late. 
 
 Men are always most eager about what is most diffi- 
 cult to be obtained. The Russians have a passion for 
 these mountains of granite, probably because there is not 
 a stone bigger than a molehill within sight of their 
 capital. If common materials could be procured at 
 little expense, they would build monuments like other 
 people ; but since stones may not be had for thousands, 
 they must transport whole rocks at the expense of tens 
 of thousands. In Norway and Sweden, which are 
 strewed as thick with rocks as other countries are with 
 furze-bushes, they build everything of wood. 
 
 A foreigner is more struck by the strength and dura- 
 bility of the two monuments now described, on looking 
 at the crumbling plaster-work of the city in which they 
 stand. Could we suppose St. Petersburg deserted by its 
 inhabitants, and left without a repairing hand only for a 
 single century, how much of it would remain standing ? 
 The handful of bronze and adamant of its founder's 
 monument, Alexander's column, the granite embank-
 
 ST. PETERSBURG. 83 
 
 ments of the Neva, and a few pillars in some of the 
 churches, rearing their heads among indistinguishable 
 heaps of decay, would probably be all that would survive 
 to tell that here was a city. 
 
 The churches, though not in general composed of 
 such imperishable materials as the monuments just men- 
 tioned, are well worthy of notice. They are so numerous, 
 however, that any other than a mere allusion, and that 
 only to a few of them, would be impossible in a work of 
 this nature. If the taste displayed in them be often 
 questionable, their splendour none will deny. The first 
 entrance of a foreigner into a Russian church is a mo- 
 ment of complete surprise. As soon as the threshold is 
 crossed, the vast space enclosed by lofty roof and long 
 aisle is one blaze of light, which is thrown back with new 
 lustre from the pure marble below. There is nothing to 
 break the fine proportion of the architecture — neither 
 chair nor bench of any kind. The eye wanders in 
 rapture, from pavement to keystone, without a single 
 object to mar the effect, except, perhaps, some lonely 
 worshipper kneeling by the foot of a pillar, which only 
 appears larger from having something to measure it by. 
 In fine, the cleanness, the glitter, the lavishness of orna- 
 ment, are beyond all that can be seen in other northern 
 countries. Almost every one of the principal temples 
 here must have cost more than all the churches of 
 Berlin put together. 
 
 Externally, the style is more Oriental than European. 
 The great number of domes and cupolas on these vast 
 structures would qualify them for being at once turned 
 into Turkish mosques. Millions must have been ex-
 
 84 CHURCHES OF 
 
 pended on the outside gilding of the domes of St. Peters- 
 burg. 2814 gold ducats were spread over the iron of a 
 single spire — that of the cathedral of the fortress ; and 
 others are said to have cost still more. Some of the 
 domes, instead of being wholly gilt, are painted deep 
 blue, with large stars spangled over them, shining with 
 beautiful effect in the sun. The severity of the climate, 
 however, soon injures the external ornaments, and puts 
 gold-leaf and tin, as well as paint and lime, in frequent 
 request. Indeed, every building in the city is constantly 
 needing repair. We found many of the theatres and 
 museums, as well as the churches, shut up because the 
 workmen were in them. This is owing to the frailty of 
 the materials employed. Most of the public buildings, 
 as well as the new houses, are put down in the statistical 
 returns as built of stone; but this often means brick 
 covered with stucco, which is hourly peeling off. The 
 great palaces, which look so imposing, are as flimsy as 
 all the rest of the city. 
 
 But while the outside of the churches is thus unsub- 
 stantial, their interior is generally adorned in the most 
 solid manner. Granite columns, polished to the highest 
 degree, rise glittering from marble pavements, of every 
 varied colour that the quarry has produced. Where the 
 wall is not coated with marble, expensive gilding takes 
 its place ; and often large portions of scripture are written 
 in the intervals. In some instances, the whole of one 
 of the gospels is thus painted on the wall, in large and 
 beautiful letters. 
 
 The way in which the internal columns and aisles of 
 churches are sometimes adorned, is singular enough.
 
 ST. PETERSBURG. 85 
 
 In one are grouped the trophies earned in the wars with 
 the Turks, from the capture of Ismail to the fall of 
 Varna. Here banners and horsetails festoon the walls, 
 intermixed with the keys of important fortresses, scimi- 
 tars, and Oriental armour; while, bright through all, 
 gleams the humbled crescent. In other churches hang 
 banners taken from the Austrians, Prussians, and French ; 
 among which last, the mace of a marshal of the empire 
 — of Ney, we believe — is carefully displayed. 
 
 Every church contains some pictures. Outside even 
 — but this is more the case in country places — large 
 groups of figures, mere daubs, may be seen on the 
 plaster above the portico. Of the pictures u-ithin, among 
 all the churches we examined in St. Petersburg, there 
 is hardly one of any merit. The only performances of 
 this kind which are at all tolerable, so far as our expe- 
 rience goes, are some copies from 'Reubens, Guido, and 
 Perugir.o. The most revered pictures, generally of the 
 Saviour, the Virgin, or some saint, are always placed not 
 far from the door — sometimes on a table, sometimes on 
 the wall— framed in a most vulgar, gaudy fashion, a 
 character which belongs to too much of what is seen 
 among the ornaments of Russian churches. The drapery 
 on these pictures is formed by a thin sheet of gold and 
 silver tinsel, leaving nothing exposed of the original 
 picture but the face, which thus has a most ludicrous 
 effect ; looking like a child peeping through a hole in 
 a piece of tin. The veneration in which they are held 
 by the people, however, is extreme. The toe of the 
 black statue of St. Peter at Rome, well burnished 
 though it be with the kisses of the faithful, is not saluted
 
 86 
 
 NEW CATHEDRAL 
 
 with half the fervour displayed by the Russians in this 
 picture-worship. If the surface of the painting were 
 left exposed, every trace of it would be soon kissed away. 
 Each person on entering presses his lips as close to the 
 face as the tinsel and frame will allow ; then, kneeling, 
 and making the sign of the cross, utters some vow or 
 ejaculation, before advancing to the place where the 
 officiating priests are stationed, — which is usually at the 
 side, not at the end of an aisle.* 
 
 The cathedral which would best merit a full descrip- 
 tion is that of St. Isaac, the protector of the empire. As 
 yet, however, it is only in progress towards splendour. 
 When completed, it is expected to rival St. Peter's at 
 Rome. The sums already expended on it are enor- 
 mous. In every successive reign, since 1768, something 
 has been done to it ; but the foundations having been at. 
 first insecure, the work of each emperor has been more 
 to repair the blunders of his predecessor than to add to 
 the splendour of the structure. Wearied of this endless 
 waste, the present emperor has very wisely thrown down 
 nearly all that was done before him, and is now raising 
 it on a plan of great magnificence and solidity. If 
 spared so long, he is determined to complete in ten years 
 what had baffled all his predecessors ; and, for this pur- 
 pose, he has decreed that so much shall be expended 
 on it every year. What renders this structure so ex- 
 pensive is, that while other buildings have but one front, 
 this has four, its form being a perfect square. The 
 walls are of beautiful white marble ; each peristyle is 
 formed of twelve columns of polished red granite, each 
 * See chap. xi. of this volume, and chap. viii. of the second.
 
 OF ST. ISAAC. 87 
 
 of one solid stone, sixty feet in height and seven in dia- 
 meter. According to the fashion which seems so com- 
 mon here, every pillar rests on a socket of bronze, and 
 terminates in a Corinthian capital of the same. High 
 above these, where the dome springs, is a circle of simi- 
 lar columns, also of large proportions. The operation of 
 transporting these huge stones from the river across the 
 square is a very curious sight ; the beams on which tbey 
 are rolled are bruised to threads by the weight. Nothing 
 but marble, or the equally expensive granite brought 
 from Finland, are to be employed in this immense build- 
 ing. The whiteness of the marble on the walls throws 
 out the dark columns beautifully. The architect is a 
 Frenchman, the same who was intrusted with Alexander's 
 pillar. He has five thousand labourers engaged on this 
 great task. The scaffolding is of strength sufficient to 
 make one believe it is intended to be as durable as the 
 building itself. 
 
 The same solidity is visible in the preparations con- 
 nected with all the public works here. The framework 
 employed in swinging Alexander's pillar into its place 
 is said to have been ten times too strong — an error on 
 the right side. This peculiarity is worth mentioning, as 
 a proof that the Russians are not so careless of human 
 life as has been represented. 
 
 There are many churches of great beauty, but we can 
 do little more than name them. That called Alexan- 
 dronefskdia svaitotroitzkdia lavra, or Convent of St- 
 Alexander Nefsko'i, situated at the end of the Perspec- 
 tive of the same name, nearly three miles from the Ad- 
 miralty, contains the tombs of some princes of the royal
 
 88 
 
 CHURCHES OF 
 
 family, those of many eminent generals or statesmen, 
 and especially that of the saint, who has a sarcophagus 
 consisting of 3250 pounds weight of silver. 
 
 The Cathedral of St Peter and St. Paul, the oldest 
 place of worship in the capital, protects the remains of 
 nearly all the emperors and empresses since the time of 
 Peter, who himself sleeps here, with Tzars, Tzarinas, 
 Tzarevitches (sons of Tzars), and Tzarovnas (daughters 
 of Tzars), in long and pompous array beside him. 
 
 The Cathedral of our Lady of Kasan would also 
 merit a long description. Its dome bears some resem- 
 blance to that of the Pantheon at Rome, and the noble 
 converging sweep of 132 pillars, forming the arcade in 
 front, is imitated from the colonnade of St. Peter's. The 
 interior is adorned with fifty-four beautiful pillars of 
 grayish granite, each but a single stone, the shaft resting 
 on finely-wrought pedestals of bronze, and terminating 
 in wreathed summits of the same rich material. The 
 picture of the Virgin here displayed is looked on with 
 such reverence, that pearls and jewels to the value of 
 100,000 roubles (4000^.) have been employed to adorn 
 it. Generals departing on distant campaigns come here 
 in solemn procession, at which the whole court and capi- 
 tal attend, to kiss the sacred image, and to invoke its 
 blessing on their enterprize. 
 
 The churches of our Lady of Vladimir, St. Nicolas, 
 and that of the Raskolniks, &c, the church of the 
 Armenians (of whom there is a numerous body), and 
 the temple of the French Catholics in the Nefsko'i, where 
 the remains of Moreau, transported from the fatal heights 
 of Dresden, find the repose which his country denied
 
 ST. PETERSBURG. 89 
 
 him — are among the more remarkable of the many reli- 
 gious edifices which we must leave undescribed. There 
 are in all 140 churches of the establishment, besides the 
 two large convents and their chapels. The foreign 
 churches are also numerous, and include 9 Lutheran, 3 
 Calvinist, and 2 Roman Catholic places of worship. 
 
 Among the public edifices of a general nature, those 
 which would most merit description are the Exchange, 
 the Academy of Fine Arts, the Mining College (Gor- 
 no'i Korpous), the Admiralty, the Foundling, the Poor's 
 Hospital, City Infirmary, the Institutions for the Deaf 
 and Dumb, the Blind, &c, the Imperial Library, the 
 new Alexander Theatre near it, the Grand Theatre, 
 &c. ; but all of these, as well as Souvaroff's Statue, 
 near the Champ de Mars, and Ron m ants off" s modest 
 pillar on the square of the Vassilii-ostroff, we must leave 
 undescribed, with the frank confession that we have no 
 hope of inducing the reader to accompany us through 
 all the curiosities of a city which, with its suburbs and 
 islands, covers a wearisome circle 22 English miles 
 (33ij versts) in circumference. 
 
 Nor has St. Petersburg yet reached its full growth : the 
 statistical tables, collected by the indefatigable Schnitzler, 
 prove that it is rapidly increasing in size and population. 
 In 1762 there were only 4554 houses, of which not more 
 than 460 were of stone; whereas, in 1832, there were 
 8157, of which 2915 were of stone. It will give a more 
 clear idea of its progress, however, to state the amount 
 of population at three different periods.* In the year 
 
 * The statements in this and the tliree following pages are given on the 
 authority of official documents quoted "in Schnitzi.eu's La Russie. la
 
 90 POPULATION OF ST. PETERSBURG. 
 
 1750 it contained only 74,273 souls, but in 1828 the 
 population had reached 422,165, while in 1832 it was 
 given at 449,343. The following table will show how 
 the population is composed :- — 
 
 Clergy 2,188 
 
 Nobility 34,079 
 
 Non-commissioned officers and soldiers 39 ,437 
 
 [Nobles 25 
 
 I Domiciled in St. Petersburg 8,506 
 in other towns . . 2,297 
 
 Merchants 
 
 Foreign merchants 30 
 
 Artisans, inscribed in the different crafts 4,617 
 
 (Russians 21,526 
 
 temporary . . . 1 
 
 iForeigners 1,136 
 
 _.,. f Domiciled at St Petersburg 24,653 
 
 Citizens ni . „ 
 
 I Belonging to other places . . 12,072 
 
 Raznotchintsi (people of various professions) 66,366 
 
 Foreigners, not merchants 7 , 199 
 
 Servants of the nobility 94,009 
 
 Peasants (shopkeepers, hawkers, hackney - coach- 
 
 men,&c.) 127,865 
 
 Inhabitants of the village of Okhta 3, 338 
 
 449,343 
 
 To give an idea of the arrivals andf departures from 
 the capital it may be stated, that in the same year, 
 37,222 Russians entered it, while 3695 left it : of 
 foreigners 5027 arrived, and 9697 left. 
 
 A knowledge of the commerce of the Russian capital 
 is of such importance to all who would form any correct 
 opinion of the wants and resources of the empire, that no 
 
 Polugne, et la Finlande, Paris and St. Petersburg, 1835, 1 vol. 8vo. — a 
 work of immense value to all who wish to become acquainted with the 
 statistics of Russia.
 
 COMMERCE OF ST. PETERSBURG. 91 
 
 apology is necessary for inserting the following tables, 
 showing the imports and exports in the years 1831 and 
 1832. Ship-captains say of St. Petersburg, that it is 
 the most liberal port in the world, there being no 
 charges on ships in any shape whatever, beyond the 
 dues on their cargoes. It may be premised that the 
 capital enjoys precisely one-half of the whole foreign 
 trade of Russia, leaving only an eighth to Riga, and the 
 twelfth to Odessa. Of the trade of Russia in general, it 
 also deserves to be mentioned that it is in the most flou- 
 rishing state. Archangel, which was long the only sea- 
 port of the empire, now makes but a poor figure beside 
 its younger rivals : yet even its trade is still of great im- 
 portance, and is rising higher every year; the exports, 
 which in 1829 amounted to 562,000/., having in 1831 
 reached 590,057/. ; since which they have been gradually 
 advancing in a still greater proportion. 
 
 IMPORTS OF ST. PETERSBURG. 
 
 1831. 1832. 
 
 Roubles. Roubles. 
 
 Gold and silver 16 ,000,000 
 
 Spun cotton (twist and yarn) 32,160,700 40,000,000 
 
 Cotton goods 3,609,612 3,400,000 
 
 Woollens 6,261,794 8,000,000 
 
 Linengoods 364,883 500,000 
 
 Silks 3,637,188 5,700,000 
 
 Coffee 2,507,814 4,500,000 
 
 Raw sugar 20,290,639 25,500,000 
 
 Wines 8,335,269 7,000,000 
 
 Liqueurs ....• • 863, 000 
 
 Medical drugs 1,400,000 
 
 Tobacco 1,965,917 
 
 Fruits 1,813', 698 
 
 Cheese 862,609
 
 92 COMMERCE OF ST. PETERSBURG. 
 
 EXPORTS. 
 
 1831. 1832. 
 
 Roubles. Roubles. 
 
 Grain 12,956,600 5,000,000 
 
 Iron 3,892,330 7,500,000 
 
 Copper 5,500,000 
 
 Hemp 2,377,544 15,000,000 
 
 Flax 2,520,926 4,000,000 
 
 Linseed oil 1 ,249, 146 
 
 Timber articles 2,377,544 
 
 Tallow 35,181,270 37,650,000 
 
 Linenstuffs- 6,215,175 6,800,000 
 
 Towelling 2,90,000 
 
 Tobacco 331 , 000 
 
 Dressed hides 138,218 
 
 louftes and raw hides 3,453,637 3.610,000 
 
 Cordage 1,000,000 
 
 Potash 2,500,000 
 
 As Schnitzler's phrase, " marchandises en bois," is not 
 very intelligible, it may be more instructive to state, that 
 the wood exported from all parts of Russia in 1833, was 
 valued at seven millions of roubles, and the quantity for 
 1835, at nine millions. The fur trade is of great import- 
 ance to Russia: the total exports in 1834 were valued 
 at 168,378/., of which 55,357/. were to England alone. 
 In 1827, furs to the value of 493,440/. were sold to the 
 different countries of Europe. 
 
 To show what progress Russia is making in manufac- 
 tures, it may be stated that there are no fewer than one 
 hundred and eighty-seven manufactories of various 
 kinds in or near the capital. Many of these are worthy 
 of especial notice, but we can mention only the cele- 
 brated and interesting Alexandrofsky Zavod, which stands 
 about six miles from the city. This is one of the largest
 
 COMMERCE OF ST. PETERSBURG. 93 
 
 manufacturing establishments to be met with on the con- 
 tinent, there being about 3000 free labourers employed 
 in it, and 1000 boys and girls from the Foundling Hos- 
 pital. There is also a house of convalescence for patients 
 from the Foundling, and a hospital for the sick of the 
 place. Cotton, linen, table-cloths, quilts, sail-cloth, and 
 playing cards, are here manufactured on a very exten- 
 sive scale, the men being employed in the hemp and 
 flax departments, and the children on the cotton and 
 linen. There is also a very extensive fabric of weaving 
 and spinning machinery, steam-engines, &c. ; but we 
 were given to understand that (as we have usually found 
 regarding such establishments abroad) the emperor can 
 procure steam-engines, and all kinds of machinery, much 
 cheaper from England than he can make them at home. 
 The superintendents are from England ; and the whole 
 of the works are under the management of a gentleman 
 of the name of Wilson, who, according to the Russian 
 fashion of giving military titles to those who never 
 wielded any weapon more bloody than the pen or the 
 pestle, enjoys the rank of General, and is honoured with 
 much regard by the government. 
 
 Though comparatively little has been doing in them 
 of late years, a visit to the porcelain works will also 
 reward the stranger. We have seen some vases which 
 were made here, as large and as beautiful as any of the 
 famous Dresden manufactory. The painting, in par- 
 ticular, is most exquisitely finished. 
 
 The glass works of St. Petersburg have long beer 
 celebrated. Some of the largest mirrors in Europe have 
 been made here, and the labours are still carried on with 
 great spirit.
 
 94 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 SCENES AMONG THE PEOPLE— BEARDS, DRESS, AND 
 MANNERS, 
 
 Singular appearance of the Russian crowd — Unlike every other Euro- 
 pean nation — Oriental character — Plainness of the women — Smallpox 
 — The men — Intermarriages with Germans, &c. — Long beards esteemed 
 hy the people — Want of cleanliness — Washing process — Sheep-skins 
 — Clean shirts — General costume — Not always suited to the climate 
 — Inconsistency of the Russians — Heated rooms — Cold — Sobriety — 
 Drunkenness in the streets — The Russian peasant contrasted with the 
 Frenchman — The Englishman — The dram-shop — Natural gaiety. 
 
 Leaving dead monuments and dry statistics, let us 
 glance at the more interesting — the living sights around. 
 
 Most of the streets are silent and deserted ; scarce a 
 creature is to be seen. The houses are known to be 
 occupied, else we should say that the city is much too 
 large for its population. On the bridge, however, and 
 in the principal thoroughfares near it, there is a constant, 
 and highly interesting crowd. The appearance of the 
 people is most strange— different from that of all other 
 nations. In the other countries of Europe, a traveller, 
 passing from state to state, can note the differences 
 between the two ; here it is unnecessary to do so, fur- 
 ther than by the brief sentence, "everything is dif- 
 ferent." Dress, features, manners, pursuits — all are 
 new. The Swedes, the Norwegians, the Danes, are like 
 some of the other nations of the continent; but the 
 Russian is unique — alone among the tribes of men. He
 
 RUSSIAN COSTUME. 95 
 
 is neither Asiatic nor European, partly of the one, 
 perhaps, and partly of the other, but he partakes of the 
 character of neither so strongly as to entitle us to pro- 
 nounce decidedly" on his parentage. Let his origin have 
 been what it may, he now stands apart from all. The 
 only comparison that can be made about him is, to say 
 that he is like — a Russian. 
 
 The first impression, however, of a stranger in a 
 Russian crowd is, that he must be in some city of Asia, 
 — so truly Oriental is the air of many ; but the strength 
 and freshness of every structure around soon recall him 
 from dreams of the decaying east. At another time the 
 long beards, and flowing robes, and coloured girdles 
 make them look a population of Jews ; but their hair 
 and eye want the deep dark hue of the tribe of Israel. 
 
 The great mass of the people wear the coarse sheep- 
 skin dress already mentioned ; and, filthy and rude as it 
 is, it sets off their good forms to advantage ; for, however 
 bad their features may be, they are a tall, well-built race 
 as to figure. The men at least are so ; of the women few 
 are gifted with handsomeness, either of face or person. 
 There is no country in Europe where the females of the 
 lower classes are so universally forbidding, their features 
 and forms being equally bad. If you meet a person at 
 all worth looking at, she is sure to be a German, or 
 perhaps a Swede. Heavy wrinkled cheeks, and short 
 blunt noses, are the prevailing style of beauty. The gait, 
 too, is exceedingly ungraceful, their step being as short 
 and uneasy as that of stumping Chinese damsels. In 
 fact, among Russian women of the middle and lower 
 class, we did not see a single face that would be danger-
 
 96 RUSSIAN FEMALES. 
 
 ous to an Englishman. Their pernicious baths, and 
 early marriages, have been blamed for this dearth of 
 female charms ; but they also suffer greatly from another 
 ravager of beauty, long deemed incapable of control — 
 smallpox. Nowhere have we seen so many marked with 
 the traces of this sad malady. Whether it be from 
 ignorance or from some religious scruple, we know not, 
 but they have always shown themselves averse to vac- 
 cination : out of 9779 infants born here in 1828, only 
 543 were vaccinated. 
 
 Nor is it the females alone that are chargeable with 
 the grievous offence of plain looks; fine features are 
 equally rare among the men. The imperial family are 
 the only really good-looking people in Russia. Both the 
 emperor and his brother, the Grand Duke Michael, 
 have faces that would pass for handsome anywhere ; but 
 they are more Germans than Russians. The true Russian 
 may be known in any part of the world, by his small 
 light eyes ; a certain lowness of the nose, the end of 
 which is thrust back so as to show the nostril too much ; 
 and especially by the general flatness of the cheek, and 
 total want of expression in the countenance. A more 
 unmeaning face, even when there is anything like 
 handsomeness, cannot be met with. 
 
 Should the reader ever happen to see a good-looking 
 Russian, an exception to the tempting standard now 
 given, he may safely set him down as of the higher 
 ranks — in fact, not a pure Russ, of whom alone we are 
 now speaking ; — for many of the best families have 
 intermarried with those of Livonia or Courland — 
 countries famed for the beauty and amiability of their
 
 RUSSIAN ORIGIN. 97 
 
 women. Russian officers always look well, whether 
 taken individually or together ; but all of them belong 
 to the class now named, and have the further advantage 
 of being well dressed : unlike some of the German ones, 
 the Russian uniforms set off a good figure and improve 
 a bad one. 
 
 Of Circassian blood there is little among the Russians. 
 We have heard Germans speak of some of that graceful 
 tribe, as adorning the gay societies of St. Petersburg ; 
 but it must have been in dreams that they were seen. 
 The maids of Daghestan still bloom among their native 
 rocks, in spite of Russian power and Russian gold. The 
 Russians call themselves masters of Circassia and its 
 mountains, but they have never been able to win the 
 affections of even the meanest of the people. Though 
 the traffic in beauty be now strictly prohibited by treaties, 
 a Circassian mother, even at every risk, would sell her 
 child to a Turkish soldier, rather than marry her to a 
 Muscovite count. 
 
 Historians say so much about Peter's firmness in 
 extirpating the long beards in which his people delighted, 
 — with his own imperial hand cutting off, not the beards 
 merely, but the heads of the refractory, — that we ex- 
 pected to find the chins of the Russians as naked as 
 those of barbers' blocks. But there are national pre- 
 judices too strong even for the most unshrinking reformers. 
 The Russian loves his beard with no common love, and 
 there it still flows in ample waves to his girdle, defying 
 alike the beheading-sword and the razor. The peasant 
 would sooner part with his purse than his beard : it is 
 his pride, his birthright. Better abandon children and 
 
 VOL. i. f
 
 98 RUSSIAN BEARDS. 
 
 home to wander into forlorn exile, than give up the only 
 thing left him to glory in. Liberty is not worth con- 
 tending for, but a beard is. Liberty is but a word, an 
 untangible fanciful thing, which no man ever saw or could 
 make money of: a beard is a reality; something which 
 a man can not only see, but handle also. And if he 
 cannot exactly make money by a beard, it gains him that 
 which is better than gold, for he knows that no true 
 Russian maid would look at him, if shorn of this beau- 
 teous appendage. Without his beard he would neither 
 have affection from others, nor respect from himself. 
 A beard is graceful, imposing, venerable — in one word, it 
 is Russian. 
 
 The usage still continues, therefore, let the emperor 
 thunder against it as he may. He can shear his soldiers, 
 his sailors, his ministers, his nobles, his foreigners, his 
 brothers, his princes — for these live by his breath, and 
 must do as he bids them. But his subjects — those who 
 support him, and supply him with the means of paying 
 all these creatures of his will, — every man that is obscure 
 enough to be independent, — persists in displaying this, 
 the only badge he has to show that hje is still a Mus- 
 covite. Even the clergy refuse to be cropped ; they are 
 the most obstinate of all the hairy flock. The government 
 is right to let the matter rest. Violent changes in 
 manners — the compelled adoption of any prescribed 
 reform — have never done good in any country. Cutting 
 off his beard does not make a civilized man of a savage. 
 Let them humanise the people by indulgent laws and 
 good institutions, and the beards, if they be such an evil, 
 will disappear of themselves.
 
 RUSSIAN COSTUME. 99 
 
 Whether the long beard be consistent with cleanliness, 
 is a question soon settled in the streets of St. Petersburg. 
 Nothing can be more filthy than the appearance of the 
 people ; and it strikes one the more, immediately after 
 leaving the Swedes, Norwegians, or Danes, who are all 
 very cleanly. The nature of their dress powerfully con- 
 tributes to the disgusting appearance of the native 
 population. Greasy sheep-skins cannot, be great pro- 
 moters of cleanliness. It is a notorious fact also, that 
 the great bulk of the people never allow water to touch 
 the person, except once a week — on Saturday evening, 
 when their religion prescribes a visit to the bath, where 
 they get such a thorough ablution (see chap. xv. on 
 Baths), as entitles them to eight days of filthiness. The 
 Russian takes his clean shirt with him on this occasion, 
 and it never leaves his back till Saturday comes round 
 again ; for among the lower classes it is not customary 
 to put off any part of their dress, even at night — nearly 
 all of them sleep in their clothes. 
 
 To wash the face on ordinary week-days is a folly 
 unknown ; the hands may, by a few, be occasionally 
 polluted with water. In the country a small jar of this 
 scarce liquid may be seen hanging by some of the doors, 
 for washing with ; at least a thimbleful being allowed, 
 oozing from below, to each person. At some inns and 
 eating-houses, also, a metal cistern, of the smallest di- 
 mensions, hangs by the entrance ; from which, on push- 
 ing up the pin stuck in the bottom, a few drops of water 
 trickle, to smear the hands with, before going to dinner. 
 But the practice is scarcely associated in our minds with 
 any idea of cleanliness ; the towel hanging near having al- 
 
 f2
 
 100 RUSSIAN COSTUME. 
 
 ready been used by every comer for a week past, and being 
 often as black as if it had been scouring the saucepans. 
 
 Instead of the woolly skin, a short frock of red-striped 
 cotton, made much in the same shape, is often worn by 
 shop-lads, errand-boys, butchers' apprentices, &c. Like 
 every dress the Russians wear, it sets off the figure to 
 advantage. But the most common dress of all who have 
 not the axe or the oar in their hand, is the long blue 
 swaddling-coat. Droschky-men, and a great part of the 
 people met with in the streets, are dressed in it. There 
 is a long sash round the middle, generally yellow or red. 
 They seldom wear any thing about the neck; the collar 
 of the coat being very low, and the shirt made' without 
 a neck, like that of a woman. The head projects above 
 a long tract of skin, which, from constant exposure to 
 sun and wind, looks as horny as the rhinoceros's hide. 
 We shave our chins ; the Russian shaves the back of the 
 head. His idea of handsome looks appearing to consist 
 in having his head raised as distinct as possible from the 
 body, he shaves away a large portion of the hair at the 
 top of the neck, and cuts the remainder so as to make 
 the head resemble a turnip, as near' as may be. He 
 generally wears a small low-crowned hat, with a broad 
 brim. 
 
 If the Russian's dress be scanty above, it- is long 
 enough below. It reaches to the ground, and laps 
 closely over the limbs, so that he has a long waving ap- 
 pearance, as he moves through the streets with solemn 
 pace. Instead of blue cloth, the variegated cotton- velvet, 
 — one of the most beautiful products of the Russian loom, 
 as yet little known in England, — is sometimes employed
 
 CLIMATE OF RUSSIA. 101 
 
 to make the flowing robe ; but on those who come into 
 the streets with it, this article, worn also by the rich for 
 morning-gowns, is always shining with grease. 
 
 The dress below the coat is often very slight. They 
 wear no flannel ; the only protection to the limbs is a 
 thin rag of striped cotton, made into breeches, which are 
 thrust into the long black boots that complete the 
 costume. 
 
 A stranger would say that one- half the people must be 
 starving with cold even in summer, so thin and slight are 
 their garments. Yet there is a singular contradiction in 
 the dress of the other half of the street crowd. Even in 
 the warmest days, when we were scarcely able to walk 
 for the heat, we saw Russians wrapped up as if for win- 
 ter. While foreigners are glad to fan themselves with 
 their hats, the natives may be seen with huge fur cloaks 
 about them, thick great-coats below, and other articles 
 sufficient to load a giant. This custom arises from the 
 variableness of their climate, of which we ourselves saw 
 some examples. When we first arrived the days were 
 as hot as we ever felt ; but before long the weather was 
 as cold and rainy as in November at home. Even in 
 the course of the same day, there are great variations of 
 temperature. At noon it is burning, but ere night almost 
 freezing. Nay, some assert that, out of the sun, it is 
 always cold at St. Petersburg. The damps of the river, 
 or the breezes sweeping from Lake Ladogo, penetrate 
 everywhere. On the sunny side of the street you are 
 comfortable, perhaps melting ; but pass to the shade, 
 and you shiver. Such at least was the reason given us 
 by a German, who had been ten years in Russia, fur
 
 102 COLD AND HEAT. 
 
 asserting that of all seasons in the year, summer is the 
 one when people here must be most guarded about their 
 dress. 
 
 How the Russian should be able to stand either sum- 
 mer or winter cold was to us most surprising, when we 
 became acquainted with the state in which they keep 
 their rooms. On entering the house of a tradesman, for 
 instance, it is scarcely possible to breathe, so great is the 
 heat. The smell, too, not a breath of air being admitted, 
 is frightful. Yet here they smother themselves winter 
 and summer, never making the least change in the tem- 
 perature. We cannot suppose it possible for human 
 beings to endure a higher degree of heat. The Russians, 
 in fact, are full of contradictions. In speaking of them, 
 you at one time say that they are so hardy as to go very 
 thinly clad ; and then, immediately after, you are forced 
 to bring in that they are so effeminate, that people of 
 other countries can neither carry their loads of summer 
 furs, nor endure the stifling vapours of their summer 
 stoves. Their frames must be differently constituted 
 from ours : they can encounter the most opposite excesses, 
 and the most sudden transitions, without the slightest in- 
 convenience. They load themselves with furs, yet can 
 sleep on the stones without cloak or covering. From 
 rooms where an Englishman would expire with the 
 suffocating warmth, they rush to tumble upon the ice 
 of the Neva. From a bath, heated to an almost in- 
 supportable extreme, they plunge themselves among 
 snow. 
 
 Nor is it merely in regard to heat and cold that this 
 inconsistency is exhibited : it is visible in all they do.
 
 RUSSIAN CONTRADICTIONS. 103 
 
 They are naturally sober and self-denying ; can live 
 long without indulging in excess ; are most industrious 
 when it is in their power to gain a little, and anxious to 
 store up something against the evil day. Yet, put liquor 
 in their way — let temptation come across their path — and 
 that instant, farewell sobriety, industry, saving habits ! 
 all are forgotten, as much as if they had never been 
 known. They are consistent in nothing but their con- 
 tradictions. 
 
 The propensity last mentioned is the worst part of the 
 Russian character. Nothing is more common in the 
 quiet streets (for the sight is seldom witnessed in the 
 more crowded parts) than to meet a pair of blue-coated 
 gentlemen, reeling home in most helpless intoxication. 
 They neither see nor hear you. If they run against the 
 passenger, they think it is the wall that they have struck, 
 and shoulder on without moving eye or lip. They are 
 generally arm in arm, trying to help each other — but 
 the effort cannot be continued much longer — they are 
 evidently getting more oblivious. There is neither oath 
 nor angry word betwixt them; they are reeling on in 
 perfect silence and brotherly love. They have still some 
 sense of shame left, and are anxious to get home out of 
 sight : they raise their feet to make longer steps — but it 
 will not do ; the foot falls where it rose from ; the head 
 is getting giddier, the street wider, the limb feebler, till 
 down they fall in the nearest gutter, snoring in most 
 complete insensibility. A melancholy, but a too fre- 
 quent sight ! If the emperor could eradicate this de- 
 basing propensity, he would dQ more for his people than 
 if he should overrun Asia.
 
 104 VARIETIES OF DRUNKENNESS. 
 
 There is something remarkable, too, in the Russian's 
 way of getting drunk. Even in his vices he is unlike 
 other people. Some nations drink for amusement — the 
 Russians drink to get drunk. A Frenchman spends his 
 long holiday at the barriere, over a demi-litre, and, even 
 if he make it a whole one, walks home very decently at 
 night. He went there to talk, pour se desennuyer, to 
 see his friends, or dance a round with his sweetheart. 
 The wine was a mere secondary consideration ; a mean, 
 not the end of his amusement. The Englishman goes to 
 the tavern to hear the paper read, to abuse the ministry, 
 and smoke his pipe : he may come away merry, but 
 would be ashamed to hear afterwards that he came away 
 drunk. It was not for the liquor, but for the company 
 and the talk he went thither. Even when a Frenchman 
 or an Englishman does get intoxicated, he has spent 
 hours in reaching that state ; but with a Russian it is 
 quite otherwise — he gets drunk in a moment. He enters 
 a brandy-shop, beckons to the master, counts down his 
 kopeeks, seizes the measure, and, at one draught, quaffs 
 enough to make him a beast. 
 
 Some nations seek to justify their drinking by the 
 pretext that they do so to make themselves merry — 
 their phlegmatic blood will not move without a stimu- 
 lant. The Russian drinks to make himself sad. He 
 needs no stimulus to put him into spirits; he is by nature 
 the merriest soul alive. Frolicsome as a young colt, he 
 may be seen, when two or three have got together on the 
 quays, or on the greensward round the fortress, flinging 
 his heels as high as the trees, playing all manner of fan-
 
 A RUSSIAN DRUNKARD. 105 
 
 tastic tricks with his companions, and keeping the ring 
 in laughter with his jokes. But the moment this happy 
 creature has swallowed the poisonous dose, he becomes 
 heavy, flat, and powerless. Mirth and strength alike are 
 gone. He must be cared for by the police, or tied in the 
 droschky among his mates. 
 
 F 3
 
 106 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 LOUNGE IN THE FASHIONABLE NEFSKOI— RUSSIAN 
 EQUIPAGES— FOREIGN POPULATION. 
 
 Scenes among the lone streets and silent canals — Policemen — The gay 
 quarters — The Nefskoi Prospekht — New kind of pavement — Crowds 
 and carriages — Equipages of the nobility — Russian idea of horses — 
 Bad steeds — Long traces — Bearded coachman — Young postilion — 
 Three-horse droschkies — Foreign quarter — French — Swedes — Italians 
 — English — Few soldiers seen in the crowds — Profusion of medals. 
 
 We have said that the scenes described in the last 
 chapter are to be seen only in the quiet streets; and it 
 should be stated, that the great majority of the streets 
 are of this character. The moment you leave the bridge 
 and its neighbourhood, or the Nefskoi Prospekht, and 
 one or two, of its tributaries, all the avenues are as quiet 
 as the glades of a forest. Now and then a stray droschky 
 may be seen, but generally in most of the streets there 
 is room to manoeuvre a brigade without disturbing a 
 creature. 
 
 The canals are also very lonely and silent. These 
 are in the mainland portion of the capital, and lie one 
 behind the other, forming irregular semicircles, from 
 one point of the Neva to another. There are several of 
 them, such as — beginning with the one farthest back — 
 the Exterior and Lingofskii, the Fontanka, Catherine's 
 Canal, and the Moika ; but they do not stand so near 
 each other as to form very conspicuous objects in the
 
 RUSSIAN POLICE. 107 
 
 general aspect of the capital. Some of them are covered 
 with fuel-barges and washing-boats. Their masonry, 
 parapets, &c , are very handsome ; and the footpath 
 across some of the more frequented canals is laid with 
 rough iron. On some of these bridges, as well as on 
 those of the Neva, a solitary policeman is stationed in a 
 small house, where one watches night and day — quiet 
 creatures the whole tribe of them are, in whitish coats 
 and dark trousers, peeping out at their door, with harm- 
 less Lochaber axes in their hands. Having a good eye, 
 and being always on the alert to notice who passes, they 
 are said to be of great use in detecting thieves. Few 
 policemen of any other kind are seen even in the Nefsko'i, 
 where the crowd is greatest. 
 
 The gay place just named is the boast of the Russian 
 capital. Indeed, the Nefsko'i Prospeckht is one of the 
 finest streets we have ever seen. In many respects it 
 surpasses the Corso at Milan, and in some it almost 
 approaches even the Linden-drive at Berlin, which com- 
 bines so many attractions, that it is perhaps the most 
 beautiful street in Europe. The Nefsko'i commences at 
 the square adjoining the Admiralty and the Palace, and 
 runs backward through the city in a straight line, nearly 
 three English miles long, with lofty, handsome houses on 
 each side, and occasionally rows of trees by the footpath. 
 Along it stand some of the finest buildings of the city — 
 such as the cathedral of our Lady of Kasan, and the 
 Imperial Library; some of the theatres and minor 
 palaces may also be reckoned among its splendours, as 
 well as the Gostinnoi Dvor, or Bazaar, &c. The gilded 
 spire of the Admiralty forms a conspicuous termination
 
 108 BLOCK PAVEMENT. 
 
 to this and some other great lines, which radiate from 
 the same point as a centre. 
 
 In width and regularity the Nefsko'i resembles all the 
 other streets, but not in dulness and monotony. Its 
 broad foot-pavements are incessantly covered with gay 
 parties passing from shop to shop ; and the centre, 
 at certain hours, is literally crowded with the showy, 
 but tasteless equipages of the nobility; for it is both the 
 Hyde Park and the Regent-street of St. Petersburg. 
 
 The carriage-path is of a kind, of which, except the 
 specimen of it recently exhibited in one of the great tho- 
 roughfares in London, we have seen no example in any 
 other European city. It consists of what is now known 
 by the name of block-pavement ; to form which, little 
 hexagonal blocks of wood, eight inches thick perhaps, 
 and as many wide, cut across the grain, are imbedded in 
 sand and pitch, and made to fit so closely together, that 
 nothing can be more even than the surface they form. 
 There is no driving in the world half so delightful as to 
 roll along this wooden road, in a well-hung carriage 
 drawn by good horses. The noise or the wheels is as 
 soft and agreeable as the motion, which is quite different 
 from that on any other kind of road. Dr. Johnson's 
 idea of the summum bonum would have been heightened 
 tenfold had he been whirled in a postchaise on such a 
 road as this. Here and there a block has started or 
 sunk, but the inequalities are scarcely perceptible, and 
 soon repaired when they come to be so. This pavement 
 was laid down partly as an experiment; and it has 
 answered expectations completely as to comfort and look : 
 but the expense is found to be very great, from the
 
 RUSSIAN EQUIPAGES. 109 
 
 effects of the frosts and wet in disturbing the pieces, and 
 rendering frequent repairs necessary. It has been said 
 that the emperor wishes to have every street in the 
 capital paved in this way, but we can see no sufficient 
 reason for deranging the present good pavements of the 
 old-fashioned kind. 
 
 The equipages seen in this seductive quarter are most 
 singular, and, to an English taste, most amusing. We 
 do not speak of the active little droschkies, gliding along 
 in thousands at every hour of the day, but of the great 
 lumbering equipages of the higher classes, seen only at 
 the fashionable hours. In Russia a man's rank is known 
 by the number of horses he drives. One order of nobi- 
 lity, for instance, can drive two or three horses ; but 
 these are persons of very low dignity indeed. Another 
 order can sport four, the one above it six ; and so on. 
 A merchant, however rich he may be, cannot go beyond 
 the small number allowed to his guild. The great point 
 therefore is to have number, not quality ; and four bad 
 horses are thought much more of than two good ones 
 worth treble the money. If a poor prince were to drive 
 one less than his right, he might be taken for a rich 
 count, which would be disgraceful. The consequence is. 
 that you may often see the most singular mixture of 
 steeds to one carriage — dissimilar in colour, size, paces. 
 One thing, however, there is always sure to be — black 
 straggling traces between the different pairs, shaking 
 most clumsily up and down, and so long, that Ducrow 
 might leap his whole stud across the interval without 
 troubling their noble master to stop. 
 
 The coachman intrusted with this sorry squadron
 
 110 RUSSIAN EQUIPAGES. 
 
 would appear to be selected by the size of his beard ; in 
 the same way that in London this functionary is chosen, 
 as the French maintain, by the bulk of his person. He 
 occupies a lofty seat, commanding a view of his whole 
 charge; but the front pair is generally managed by a 
 youth, seated on what we would call the wrong side, who 
 lias not yet acquired the honours of a beard, but tries to 
 borrow dignity from a round black hat and long flowing 
 blue coat — the most awkward garment possible for 
 sitting on horseback with. 
 
 The carriage itself is as uncouth as all the other parts 
 of this untidy display. In fact, with their inclination to 
 imitate everything foreign, it is surprising that the Rus- 
 sian nobility have not long since discarded their unseemly 
 equipages, and adopted our English style, as most other 
 nations are trying to do. Four horses abreast, which 
 are often seen, look very well ; and we were still better 
 pleased with four abreast and two in front. 
 
 They have one kind of vehicle which looks extremely 
 smart ; a sort of droschky, but very different from the 
 common one ; in fact, a cabriolet without the head, on 
 four low wheels, drawn by two, sometimes three, horses 
 abreast, of which the one in the shafts is always kept at 
 a furious trot, while the others are advancing at a gal- 
 lop. These latter, being trained to bend the head and 
 curve the neck outwards, give a most graceful look to the 
 concern, as they bound along with their long manes 
 floating about them. None but the finest horses are 
 ever seen in this gay vehicle. It is the favourite equi- 
 page of the young noblemen and rich officers, and is also 
 much used by the emperor in his flights about the city.
 
 FOREIGNERS IN ST. PETERSBURG. Ill 
 
 An attempt has been made to imitate it at Berlin, and it 
 is likely to become fashionable in other capitals. 
 
 In the distant parts of the Nefsko'i the pedestrian 
 crowd consists of Russians, but nearer the palace, and in 
 the openings branching off in that vicinity, the stream is 
 chiefly composed of people from other nations. This is 
 the place, therefore, for saying a few words concerning 
 the foreigners in St. Petersburg ; and, first, as the most 
 conspicuous, of the French. 
 
 From the inscriptions on the sign-boards, all along 
 the Nefsko'i, one might almost suppose himself in France, 
 Marchande des modes, gants de Paris, foulards, bas de 
 sole, chapeaux, and the names of all the other articles 
 of the toilette, are as frequent as in the Rue de la Paix ; 
 and the demoiselles de comptoir acquit themselves with 
 all the grace of the school they were bred in. In every 
 shop of this quarter, either the wife or the husband, not 
 unfrequently both, are from Paris. France also sup- 
 plies the people of St. Petersburg with dancing-masters, 
 ballet-masters, opera figurantes, and hairdressers beyond 
 number. 
 
 Germany, again, supplies hands for the heavier and 
 more laborious kinds of work ; tailors, cabinet-makers, 
 gunsmiths, &c, invariably belong to that nation. In 
 fact, the number of Germans in St. Petersburg is quite 
 surprising, and does not appear to be decreasing. The 
 German goes anywhere for bread ; he has no home. 
 Germany is still the country of his love, his dreams ; but, 
 unlike the Swiss or the Scotch, who also wander in their 
 youth, but only in their youth, the German, if he is com- 
 fortable, seldom seeks to revisit his fatherland, even
 
 112 FOREIGNERS IN ST. PETERSBURG. 
 
 when he has become independent. Hence it is that the 
 number who speak the German language here is so great. 
 Whole families born in St. Petersburg of German parents 
 speak it more than Russian. From the close alliance 
 with Prussia, since a princess of that country has been 
 empress, the greatest influx of new-comers is from Ber- 
 lin ; but in former times Dresden sent a large proportion, 
 Without reckoning those employed in the army, or high 
 government offices, there cannot be fewer than 10,000 
 Germans here. A great many of them, as well as of the 
 French, are employed about the theatres. At one time 
 the number of German officers in the different regiments 
 was immense ; indeed it is to them that Russia owes all 
 her military instruction, from the days of Peter down- 
 ward. 
 
 From the analysis of the population given at the end 
 of a foregoing chapter, it is not possible to ascertain the 
 precise number of foreigners here ; the greater part of 
 them being mixed up with Russians, under the general 
 heads of merchants and artisans : but, from what we are 
 told, the total number of foreigners must be from fifteen 
 to twenty thousand, all gaining a respectable maintenance 
 by their industry. There is a considerable proportion of 
 Swedes, in some handicrafts. Of Italians there are also 
 many : a sad change it must be to leave their sunny land 
 for such a climate ! But what will not men do for independ- 
 ence ? They are chiefly employed as architects, painters, 
 and singers. To them, as to foreigners of every nation, 
 government affords every encouragement and protection : 
 in many instances they enjoy privileges not extended to 
 natives; and this system the emperor must continue, 
 until the Russians can do more for themselves.
 
 THE MILITARY. 1 13 
 
 Of English there is a great number here ; but as they 
 are nearly all engaged in the higher branches of com- 
 merce, they seldom form a conspicuous part of the city 
 crowd which has suggested these remarks. An English 
 sign-board is very rarely seen. Our countrymen will 
 therefore, with more propriety, be spoken of under a sepa- 
 rate head. 
 
 In one respect the crowd of St. Petersburg disappoints 
 us : we hear so much of the emperor's military propen- 
 sities, that we had expected to find his capital little 
 better than a large camp, where we should meet soldiers 
 at every step, and rub shoulders with generals at every 
 turn. But the number of soldiers seen in the streets is 
 extremely small : we may walk half an hour and not 
 encounter one. Many of the troops, we were aware, had 
 gone to the camp of Tzarkoie-celo ; but the number 
 necessary for the ordinary duties of the garrison had not 
 been diminished. In fact, epaulettes and tight-buttoned 
 coats are much more rare than in Berlin, where the 
 crowd is often more than half made up of military men. 
 We have seen a sentinel near the Brandenburg gate 
 salute twenty times in as many minutes, even when 
 there was no especial occasion for officers being abroad ; 
 but in the most frequented parts of St. Petersburg we 
 passed day after day without seeing a musket moved. 
 In short, though we expected to be tormented both night 
 and day with warlike noises — with din of troops march- 
 ing and countermarching — we did not once hear the 
 sound of fife and drum all the time we were in the 
 capital. We never saw any large body of military, un- 
 less when we went to some place on purpose. Among
 
 114 THE MILITARY. 
 
 the soldiers met in the streets, however, one thing struck 
 us as curious enough — the profusion with which medals 
 are lavished on all who have served any time. It is 
 quite ridiculous : a medal would seem to be given for 
 every action, great or small, in which the troops are not 
 beaten. We often see sergeants with as many as seven 
 medals glittering in a line across the breast, like watches 
 in a shop-window.
 
 115 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 THE PEASANT IN CHURCH ; SIGN OF THE CROSS; BELLS ; 
 SUPERSTITIONS. 
 
 Popular devotions — Priests — Chanting — Genuflexions — Melancholysight. 
 — Ignorance of true religion — Crossing themselves from morn to night 
 — Their respect for bells — Pleasant associations — Superstitions — For- 
 tune-telling — Gipsies — Lucky days — Thirteen at table — Upsetting the 
 salt — Meeting a monk, &c. — Fatalism — Opposed to insurances, &c. — 
 Russians very charitable to the poor. 
 
 With all their equipages and decorations, this crowd 
 of nobles, foreigners, and soldiers, in the gay Nefskoi, is 
 not so attractive as our humble friends in the sheepskins. 
 To a stranger, the genuine new-caught Russian is worth 
 all his civilized superiors in the empire. Whenever he 
 may be seen, he is a most interesting subject for study ; 
 but nowhere more than in church. 
 
 Follow him into the beautiful temple of the Virgin of 
 Kasan, and you find him on his knees, repeating his 
 prayers after the priest, with a fluency which nothing can 
 arrest, and a devotion which nothing can distract. Pass 
 him, or jostle him as you may, he is too deeply engaged 
 with his pious work to take the least notice of you. It 
 is always painful to be present, an unconcerned spectator, 
 where a religious service is going forward in which the 
 heart cannot join. We feel as if intruding on that which 
 we have no right to witness, and seem to scoff without 
 wishing to do so. In Russia, however, there is no occa-
 
 116 PICTURE WORSHIP. 
 
 sion for feeling thus. Let the stranger take off his hat 
 on entering, and he is no more looked at than one of the 
 pillars : he disturbs nobody. 
 
 We are here surrounded by splendour. The noble 
 simplicity of the design — two long pillared aisles in the 
 form of a cross — only renders the richness of the ma- 
 terials more conspicuous. From a floor of the costliest 
 marble, the eye rises to a light and lofty dome, spangled - 
 with stars of gold, that twinkle from a sky of the deepest 
 blue. There is neither gallery nor buttress to break the 
 fine height. Even the dais, occupied by the priests, 
 scarcely breaks the general outline ; it is but a simple 
 step or two, not far from the entrance. There they 
 stand, in strong array, with long beards flowing over 
 their robes of embroidered crimson, and wearing a lofty 
 black hat, that gives yet more dignity to their stately 
 forms. Their deep rich voices make the vaults ring, as 
 they chant the prayers, aided by a band of bearded 
 choristers, ranged beside singing-desks, within a side- 
 railing. Great care being taken in trailiing the singers, 
 this part of the service is always exceedingly impressive : 
 finer voices we have never heard. 
 
 But the crowd of worshippers is the most interesting 
 sight. Every person as he enters kisses the sacred 
 picture near the door, or tries to reach that hanging on 
 the wall, — to which latter, as it is of more than ordinary 
 sanctity, you may see parents raising their little infants, 
 that they too may touch it with their lips. Of these 
 effigies, as hinted elsewhere, the more sacred usually 
 have the brow, the cheeks, and the arms covered with 
 silver, the votive offering of the pious, whose gratitude to
 
 MUMMERIES OF THE GREEK CHURCH. 117 
 
 the saint whom he thus seeks to honour for deliverance 
 from sickness or danger has overcome his taste ; for the 
 appearance given to the picture by this tinsel covering is 
 truly ludicrous. What makes them more hideous to the 
 indifferent spectator, however, only gives them greater 
 attraction in the eyes of the faithful. To these, accord- 
 ingly, the people flock in greatest numbers. 
 
 His salutation over, the peasant selects a place for 
 himself on the floor, as near the priest as possible. There 
 is a woman in one of the aisles, with a small table or 
 basket before her, selling long slender tapers ; and from 
 her the more devout make a purchase, and, lighting it, 
 set their offering on one of the little triangular frames of 
 wood, planted among the pillars, and stuck all over with 
 nails for attaching these gifts to. Though it be sabbath, 
 many workmen are busy polishing some steps with 
 pumice, within a few feet of the officiating priests ; but 
 no one is distracted by the noise ; the people come here 
 to pray, not to look about them. 
 
 The mutterings and prostrations of the worshippers 
 are most singular. Some, on the outskirts of the as- 
 sembly, may remain standing; but the greater part have 
 their knees bent to the naked floor. At certain words, how- 
 ever, all, both those who were standing and those who 
 kneel, strike their very foreheads on the earth, with great 
 vehemence, uttering, at the same time, some words from 
 the priest ; and this again and again before the service 
 is finished. Some poor old women are always the most 
 conspicuous in these violent manoeuvres ; but all ages 
 and classes, and both sexes, join with more or less 
 ardour. At vespers, we have seen most respectably-
 
 118 MUMMERIES OF THE GREEK CHURCH. 
 
 dressed ladies going through the whole ceremony with 
 great fury. In short, the mummery of their religion 
 surpasses all that we had previously witnessed. There 
 is nothing like it in Catholic countries : it can only be 
 compared to the violence of some of the Hindus. One 
 can scarcely describe the emotion which he feels on 
 seeing a crowded assembly going through all these 
 crossings, and attitudes, and genuflexions, so strange 
 and so outrageous. It is impossible not to be moved 
 with sorrow for those who look upon such things as con- 
 stituting religion. 
 
 Whether this extreme attention to forms be accom- 
 panied with any real religious knowledge is a question 
 which few foreigners are qualified to decide. Judging, 
 however, from what we are told by Russians themselves, 
 we cannot hesitate to say, that, with the lower orders in 
 this country, religion is little better than superstition. Of 
 the true nature of the Great Atonement they are utterly 
 ignorant ; and even of the first principle of all religion, 
 the Existence of a Supreme, they entertain the most im- 
 perfect notions. With the boor, God is only something 
 higher than the emperor ; they think not of him as an 
 omnipotent spiritual Being, but as one residing they 
 know not where, who will punish them for neglecting 
 church and their prescribed forms, nearly in the same 
 way as they would be punished for disobeying a mandate 
 of the emperor. Of a future state their notions are also 
 very indefinite. 
 
 In short, as has often been said before now, " the 
 Russian's religion consists in being able to make the sign 
 of the cross." 1 He is crossing himself all day long.
 
 CROSSING MANIA. 119 
 
 When he first cames forth into the open air, in the 
 morning, if no church be in sight from his own door, he 
 listens for the first sound of some bell, then, turning 
 towards it, crosses himself with great fervour, to ensure 
 a blessing on the undertakings of the day. He crosses 
 himself before and after each meal. When you make a 
 bargain with him, he crosses himself that it may prosper. 
 When his countryman spits upon him (as they do by 
 way of anathema, when in anger with each other), he 
 meekly crosses himself, to avert the curse. When the 
 peasant, who is to drive you, takes the reins in his hand, 
 he crosses himself to keep away accidents; and every 
 steeple he passes gets the same mark of respect. Some- 
 times the edifice thus saluted is so far off that the stranger 
 wonders at the quickness shown in discovering it, and is 
 often at a loss to catch the distant hamlet where it stands. 
 In like manner, the person sitting beside you in any 
 public conveyance crosses himself every time you start 
 with new horses. What the old do thus frequently, the 
 young of course imitate. If you give a child a piece of 
 money, its little hand is up in a moment, to make the 
 sign of the cross, by way of blessing and thanking you. 
 
 Much of this crossing work may be seen at all hours 
 — even in the streets ; — for, whether in the city or in the 
 country, no Russian ever passes a church without paus^ 
 ing when he comes opposite its centre, to make the sign 
 of the cross, from brow to breast, and utter some pious 
 ejaculation, prescribed for the occasion. This operation 
 may be seen going on incessantly, before every church 
 of the capital ; and on the most frequented walks there 
 are certain small places, like shrines, with pictures and
 
 120 CROSSING MANIA. 
 
 gilding in them, in front of which it is also performed. 
 It is not alone the grave and the aged who pause at 
 these places, but also the giddy and the young. You 
 have just seen some gray-haired general do it — but wait 
 one minute; a laughing band of youngsters is coming 
 up. Now they are opposite the church or the shrine — 
 their mirth and their talk have ceased — each crosses 
 himself devoutly — utters a prayer or two — you see his 
 lips moving — then passes gravely on, the laugh and the 
 jest being resumed only when they are some way off. 
 
 So far is this crossing mania carried, that when a 
 Russian enters your room he cannot say " Good morn- 
 ing- ! " till he has crossed himself to the Saviour's picture. 
 A man in any public way, such as an innkeeper, must 
 always have a picture hung in his own apartment, in 
 addition to that in the public room, to which each Rus- 
 sian turns before he sits down to eat. While at break- 
 fast at an inn one morning, in a small room off the 
 public one, we were roused by the solemn chanting 
 of a priest in his robes, whom we found, with his attend- 
 ants, praying before the picture of our Saviour in the 
 corner. Waiting to learn how the ceremony would close, 
 we saw abundance of the usual signing ; with the painted 
 wooden crucifix in his hand, about a'foot long, he made 
 the sign of the cross towards each of the four corners, and 
 withdrew. It appears that some of the priests have 
 little to live by beyond the offerings obtained from the 
 people, for these ehantings and crossings before their 
 sacred images, or for saying prayers in families on high 
 holidays. 
 
 Another very remarkable part of the religion of the
 
 BELL HOMAGE. 121 
 
 Russians is their respect for bells ; and there is something 
 so inexpressibly sweet in the sound of all we hear in this 
 country that we can almost forgive this superstition. 
 The air resounds with them from morn to eve. Every 
 church is furnished with several; and among these some 
 are very expensive. They have not the deep solemn 
 sound of English bells, but a rich sweetness, never heard 
 except here, and said, poetically perhaps, to arise from 
 the predominance of silver in their composition. They 
 are not swung, as with us ; as if this were deemed too 
 rude a way of treating these venerated objects, it is 
 merely the tongue that is moved. This is accomplished 
 by tying a cord to the tapering point, and then pulling it 
 forward or allowing it to sink back, so as to strike either 
 side at pleasure. No sooner has the peasant caught the 
 sound than his fingers are in motion to his forehead. 
 
 This reverence, perhaps, begins even when they are in 
 the hands of the founder. The child casts its mite into 
 the melting mass, and the beggar his only alms. The 
 bride gives her ornaments, and the princess sells her 
 pearls ; all are eager to aid in the pious work. Gold and 
 silver are, in consequence, so profusely parted with on 
 such occasions that some of these bells have grown to be 
 the monarchs of their tribe. Russia boasts of having the 
 largest bells in the world. 
 
 The day on which a bell is consecrated is always 
 marked with great solemnity and rejoicing; and through- 
 out the whole of its existence it joins in the joy and in 
 the gloom of the flock over which it presides, for it is 
 tolled on every occasion of sorrow or of gladness. Little 
 wonder that these objects are so much beloved ; for, 
 
 VOL. I. G
 
 122 BELL HOMAGE. 
 
 perhaps, the happiest and most romantic associations of 
 the Russian are linked with his village bells. 
 
 In a land where there is so little bordering on ro- 
 mance this trait of national character is not unwelcome. 
 But if we attempt to ascertain what it is they worship in 
 their bells the result will be far from distinct. We could 
 never learn whether the salute in passing a church be to 
 the building or to the metal : that it proceeds from 
 respect to Him with whose service they are connected 
 would be asserting too much of a people with the great 
 mass of whom religion, we fear, is nothing but ignorance. 
 
 The Russians also place great reliance on the gifts of 
 fortune-tellers. Gipsies consequently are a privileged 
 race, and drive a thriving trade in the land. In short, 
 the instances of credulity and weakness met with among 
 the lower, and not unknown even among the higher, 
 classes are most melancholy. The belief in lucky and 
 unlucky days, for setting out on a journey or commencing 
 any undertaking — the evil consequences of meeting 
 certain kinds of people, such as a monk — the danger of 
 having thirteen at dinner, or of upsetting the salt; in 
 fact, all the absurdities which were so prevalent in Scot- 
 land, and which are not yet quite abandoned in many 
 parts of it, still reign here with undiminished authority. 
 
 Their enmity to vaccination, already mentioned, arises 
 from some superstitious scruple ; and we all know that 
 its introduction was opposed from similar motives, even 
 in more enlightened countries, where it was pronounced 
 impious to adopt any such means for averting what was 
 sent by Heauen. 
 
 It would appear to be from some notions of the same 
 kind that the Russians have such a reluctance to insure
 
 RUSSIAN FORBEARANCE. 123 
 
 houses, or property of any description. It is long since 
 attempts were made to establish insurance companies ; 
 but, until very lately, such unbecoming schemes never 
 met with encouragement. In fact, they are half Turks 
 in their practice, if not in their faith ; and act as if it were 
 impious to struggle against fate. 
 
 One thing, however, must be mentioned that is greatly 
 to their credit — their charity to the poor. In St. Peters- 
 burg very few beggars are to be seen ; but in the country 
 villages, when a carriage or stage-coach stops, some of 
 them are instantly in attendance ; and we never saw a Rus- 
 sian dismiss them unrelieved. A bearded merchant, with 
 whom we travelled for a few days, seldom passed a halt- 
 ing-place without leaving a liberal alms and his blessing. 
 
 It were unjust not to admit, also, that in the character 
 of the nation at large there may be discovered much of 
 that meekness which is one of the best fruits of genuine 
 religion. Their lords may be proud and tyrannical, but 
 the people are the most patient, submissive creatures 
 imaginable. Neither insult nor blows drive them to 
 revenge. For ten times less than what we have seen a 
 Russian endure without a murmur, an Italian would 
 plunge his knife to the hilt in the breast of his dearest 
 friend. There is something touching in the patience with 
 which wrong is endured here. You see a man struck — 
 it is a too frequent sight. He is strong enough to crush 
 like a worm the thing that has smote him ; yet his hand 
 is not raised in return : the silent reproach of his eye tells 
 that he is not insensible to the indignity, though he will 
 not, or dare not, resent it. 
 
 But of this more in a new chapter. 
 
 g2
 
 124 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 CRUELTY WITH WHICH THE LOWER ORDERS ARE 
 TREATED— THEIR FOOD. 
 
 Meekness under the harshest usage — The scourge — Beatings — Severity 
 of masters — Ladies and their servants — Family executioner — The 
 butler punished — Brutality of government underlings — Scene with the 
 policeman — with the post-office clerk — " Off hats" — Spitting when 
 angry — Peasants kind and happy with each other — Their general 
 character — Honesty — Easily contented — Their food — Cucumbers, cab- 
 bage, sours — Wages — In general, better provided in regard to food and 
 lodging than the Irish and some of the Scotch peasantry. 
 
 The position in which the Russian serfs stand towards 
 the proprietors of the soil will be more particularly men- 
 tioned at a future page, when the emperor's reforms 
 come to be discussed. At present, we are giving merely 
 a few general facts, illustrative of the condition of the 
 lower orders. 
 
 The peasant, then, as was hinted at the close of the 
 last chapter, seems to be at the mercy'of all who choose 
 to lift the arm against him. His lord orders him stripes, 
 as many and as often as he pleases. The poor creature 
 is made to stoop on his hands and knees, while a man 
 smites him with a rod on the back the prescribed num- 
 ber of times. Though degrading, however, this chastise- 
 ment is not often severe : it is quite distinct from the 
 terrible knout, which is inflicted only by the sentence of 
 a judge, and lacerates the sufferer so dreadfully, that it
 
 CRUEL TREATMENT OF THE LOWER ORDERS. 125 
 
 is long before he recovers, if at all.* This latter species 
 of torture we never saw inflicted ; indeed we purposely 
 avoided seeing it : but no one can be long in Russia 
 without seeing many instances of the common beating. 
 When a workman offends his overseer, he is punished 
 with stripes. A poor labourer on one of the churches, 
 who had been ordered to let none pass through a certain 
 part of the building, having inadvertently allowed a 
 party of us to do so, remonstrated with us for our con- 
 duct, and, in enumerating the serious consequences that 
 would ensue to him from our trespass, significantly 
 pointed to his back, imitating the blows which awaited 
 him. 
 
 Nobles and military men, all who wear a government 
 uniform of any kind, seem to possess — or if they do not 
 possess it, they exercise — the privilege of beating the 
 lower orders, whenever they feel offended with any of 
 them. It is thus that the peasants crouch before their 
 superiors in terror. Even the servants of the better 
 classes claim the privilege of beating those beneath 
 them ; but it is only to be themselves beaten in their 
 turn by the master himself, or by his executioner, — who, 
 though this may not be his name, is an indispensable 
 appendage to every great establishment. The Russians 
 try to conceal from strangers that they chastise their 
 domestic servants in this way : we ourselves saw no 
 instance of it, but we have been told by an Italian, in 
 whom we have every confidence, who had lived among 
 the nobles in the country, that he knew T it to be a regular 
 practice. At dinner one day, in the house of a man of 
 
 * See Chap. XXII. on Prisons, &c.
 
 126 FAMILY DISCIPLINE. 
 
 high rank, one of the principal servants, equivalent to 
 our butler, omitted something at table — a mere trifle ; 
 but the master's blood was chafed at the mistake — his 
 face grew black. He was too polite, however, to say a 
 word before a stranger ; but this self-command did not 
 save the offender. The private signal had been given 
 to the man of the scourge, who understands too well to 
 need that his master should betray his barbarity in the 
 presence of foreigners ; and that night a respectable do- 
 mestic bled for an offence which everywhere else would 
 have been sufficiently rebuked with a word ! 
 
 None are more strict, he said, than ladies in punish- 
 ing their servants. The executioner's office is never a 
 sinecure in families where there is no master. Delicate 
 creatures they must be, these Russian dames ! 
 
 Even in other parts of Europe, the Russians — gentle- 
 men at least — cannot, good imitators though they be, 
 at all times forget their native rights so completely as to 
 refrain from striking those whom they have brought from 
 home with them. If they comply with our usages so 
 far as not to do it very openly, they indemnify themselves 
 for the denial by a little private discipline now and then. 
 For when some gentlemen were lately about to take 
 possession of their apartments at Rome, the person in 
 charge hinted that, though they were forestieri, she 
 hoped they would not give her the same sort of trouble 
 which a Principe Russo, the tenant for two winters past, 
 had been in the way of giving. He was a very good 
 personage in every other thing, but used to get into such 
 a fury with his servant, and beat him so unmercifully, 
 that poor Barbara lay quaking all night, in fear of finding
 
 BEATING IN RUSSIA. 127 
 
 one of the parties dead in the morning; and so she 
 would, had either of them been of her own less enduring 
 country. 
 
 But though every noble may strike with his own 
 hands, or order his domestic servants to be beaten by 
 others, it is a mistake to assert, as has been often done, 
 that a Russian nobleman can order any poor man, at 
 whom he takes offence, to be beaten with rods. Without 
 the concurrence of a magistrate, no person can be 
 formally beaten, unless by his own master, or by his 
 orders. This beating process, therefore, though there 
 be quite enough of it, still does not go on to such an 
 extent as Dr. Clarke and other authors have represented, 
 in their well-wrought pictures of the emperor beating his 
 prime minister, the prime minister his secretary, and so 
 downwards, till, from the first to the last link in the 
 social chain of Russia, there is nothing but stripes and 
 howling from morning to night. 
 
 This nominal protection of the magistrate, however, 
 does not shield the poor man from much contumely and 
 much wrong. The brutality with which he is treated is 
 often of such a kind as to be almost incredible when 
 repeated. A gentleman told us one day at dinner, that 
 he had just seen a police-officer reprimanding his infe- 
 rior on the public quay. After abusing him in the most 
 dreadful terms — Russian abuse is altogether hideous — 
 he took the offender's nose in his fingers, and twisted it 
 violently, then spit in his face, and walked away. With 
 so good a lesson in rudeness from his superior, the poor 
 watchman who had been thus treated would, of course, 
 tear the beard and trample on the body of the first 
 peasant who fell into his clutches.
 
 128 RUSSIAN VENGEANCE. 
 
 It should be mentioned, however, as a part of Russian 
 character, that this man, so ready to twist his inferior's 
 nose, would be the most cringing creature possible before 
 a superior. It is in this class of subordinates that the 
 worst specimens of the nation are to be found. Unfor- 
 tunately, these are precisely the people whom foreigners 
 come most in contact with ; and, such being the case, 
 can it be wondered at that so many travellers go away 
 with an abhorrence of the nation ? 
 
 There is nothing that a Russian underling is so tena- 
 cious of, as that every person who has anything to do 
 with him shall take off his hat before him — a formality 
 which Britons in general are so little prepared for, that 
 we were not surprised to read in the newspapers some 
 time ago, of an Englishman at St. Petersburg having got 
 into most serious difficulty, in consequence of some rude- 
 ness shown to him at a public institution, before the 
 officers of which he had not supposed it necessary to 
 cringe hat in hand. 
 
 We can fully believe what has been reported of this 
 case, after witnessing the following off-hat scene in the 
 lobby of a post-office in one of the towns in the interior. 
 A foreigner, who had a letter to despatch, knocked at the 
 little window, and civilly asked the clerk who appeared, 
 " Est-Co ici que Von affranchit les lettres pour Saint- 
 Petersboarg ?" 
 
 " Otez votre chape an, d'abord," was the reply, " et je 
 vous dirai." 
 
 " Je I' 'aurais deja fait si f avals su que ce'tait neces- 
 saire ; maisje ne suis pas chez vous ; je me trouve dans 
 la joule, et dans une telle position je ne vous dois pas 
 eette ]Jolitesse. u
 
 A JACK IN OFFICE. 129 
 
 " Otez voire chapeau, je vous dis," roared he in rising 
 choler. " On le fait toujours devant des gens comme- 
 il-faut" 
 
 " Monsieur, je ne mens pas pour discuter. Faites- 
 moi le plaisir de prendre ma lettre — " 
 
 " Otez votre chapeau," was again the monster's reply, 
 " Otez voire chapeau, ou je ferme la grille''' 
 
 It would have been superfluous to have told this man 
 comme-il-faut, that it was never customary to take off 
 the hat to a person when you were speaking through a 
 hole to him — that neither in London, Paris, nor St. 
 Petersburg, was it usual to make people take off their 
 hats in a public lobby. To have reasoned with him 
 longer would have been as wise as to hold parley with 
 the Russian bear. The best argument for such a man, 
 and the whole of his too numerous tribe, is that employed 
 by the emperor, who causes every fellow guilty of be- 
 having rudely in matters of duty to be scourged comme- 
 il-faut. 
 
 Generally speaking, nothing can be more brutal than 
 the conduct of every man wearing a uniform, whenever 
 he has it in his power : it is in this way that the under- 
 ling revenges himself for the contumelious treatment he 
 is doomed to endure from those above him. To the poor 
 in particular, they behave in a way which it makes the 
 cheek burn to think of. Fortunately, however, this 
 official brutality is not imitated by people of the lower 
 ranks in their intercourse with each other. Their task- 
 masters may be cruel and arbitrary, but the peasants 
 among themselves are affectionate and sympathising to a 
 remarkable degree : they may squabble in words, and 
 
 g3
 
 130 DISGUSTING HABIT. 
 
 that most furiously — railing at each other with amazing 
 volubility — but they seldom come to blows. One part of 
 their conduct to each other, when angry, is far from 
 laudable — it is the fashion, already alluded to, of spitting 
 with contempt at the man who displeases them. This is 
 done also by the better classes, with those whom they 
 cannot venture to beat. In fact, it is common in all ranks ; 
 and is put in force on all occasions of provocation or dis- 
 satisfaction, however trivial. Thus, a person who was one 
 day helping us to buy a carriage, was so much offended 
 by the coachmaker's exorbitant demands, that he spit 
 uppn him and turned away in disdain. The fashion would 
 seem to be of Oriental origin. Mussulmen, it is well 
 known, spit on the ground when enraged. 
 
 It is seldom, however, that the lower orders of Rus- 
 sians go beyond this in their quarrels. We never saw a 
 fight amongst them of any kind, but scenes of hugging 
 and kissing are most amazingly frequent among the 
 bearded gentlemen. Their politeness to each other knows 
 no bounds. Two fellows in sheepskins, when they hap- 
 pen to be intimate friends, bow to each other in passing 
 as profoundly as a couple of French academicians. This 
 bowing propensity is not so indiscriminate, however, as 
 among the French, who bow to all, friend and foe, but 
 more especially to their superiors. The Russian, on the 
 other hand, seldom takes any notice of those he does not 
 know : it is only to his woolly brother that his ragged hat 
 comes oft' in passing along the road. To the stranger 
 who asks his assistance, however, he is most polite, being 
 all attention to his but half-intelligible inquiries, and at 
 «reat pains to aid him in every way. The smallest trifle
 
 POLITENESS OK THE LOWER ORDERS. 131 
 
 pleases in the shape of a reward for any service of this 
 kind. If you are a foreigner, and speak the language 
 imperfectly, he will never smile at your blunders, as most 
 Englishmen do, and cannot resist doing, when addressed 
 by a foreigner in similar circumstances. Instead of laugh- 
 ing at you for making mistakes, the Russian's wonder 
 seems to be that you know a word at all; and though 
 generally quick in seizing your intentions, even when im- 
 perfectly expressed, he is always eager to encourage, and 
 help out with the attempted explanation. 
 
 Duplicity and treachery, so far as our experience went, 
 are extremely rare amongst them. We do not recollect a 
 single attempt to extort money from us on the score of our 
 being foreigners. The shopkeepers, indeed, always asked 
 too much for anything we wanted to buy ; but this they 
 practise on their own countrymen with the same latitude 
 as on strangers : it is never looked upon as cheating, but 
 merely as a necessary branch of the art of bargain- 
 making, which both parties, buyer and seller, are sup- 
 posed to have studied in its fullest extent. 
 
 In short, we have every reason to look upon the great 
 mass of the people as of excellent natural dispositions — 
 patient under wrong — amiable, warm-hearted, and grate- 
 ful to those who treat them well. When confidence is 
 reposed in them, their honesty is proof against every 
 temptation. It is well known that there is a particular 
 class of poor peasants, from certain districts in the inte- 
 rior, employed by the greatest merchants of St. Peters- 
 burg, in collecting and paying money ; and such is their 
 integrity, that, though sums to a vast amount are daily 
 passing through their hands, not a penny has ever been
 
 132 RUSSIAN HONESTY. 
 
 embezzled by them. An English merchant, who pro- 
 bably pays away more than any other trader in Russia, 
 says, that he has for many years been in the habit of 
 sending money to remote parts of the country by one of 
 these men, without ever losing one farthing of it ; though, 
 from the distance of the places where the payments had 
 to be made, he had repeatedly had it in his power to em- 
 bezzle large sums, without the remotest chance of detec- 
 tion until too late. 
 
 From the whole of our intercourse with them, there- 
 fore, as well as what we heard from friends who have 
 been long in St. Petersburg, we are firmly persuaded 
 that Dr. Clarke's character of the lower orders of Russians 
 is unjust. Faults they have, and those not a few ; but 
 they are not the lying, dishonest creatures he paints 
 them, more than they are the exemplary, faultless beings 
 which Russian authors have of late begun to hold them 
 up for. 
 
 The Russian peasant is satisfied with the plainest 
 food. No people in Europe are so coarsely fed. Their 
 diet consists of the most acrid articles that were ever 
 devised — pickled cucumbers, pickled cabbage, or pickled 
 mushrooms, with a piece of black bread, are their daily 
 fare. At rare intervals, they may taste a little fish, or 
 even butcher-meat ; but these also — the fish at all events 
 — are atrociously acrid. To satisfy this taste for sours, 
 the quantity of cucumbers raised here is quite sur- 
 prising : every market-place in the kingdom displays 
 he;q)s of them from side to side. In the country towns, 
 a hundred good ones may be bought for threepence. 
 At the tables of the middle classes they are seen
 
 ACRID FOOD. 133 
 
 almost every day, and are presented in the usual way — 
 that is, in slices. But the poor seldom use them until pre- 
 pared in something of the following fashion : — A cask, not 
 always very clean, is strewed with a layer of fresh oak- 
 leaves at the bottom. Over this, a layer of cucumbers is 
 placed ; after which, more leaves — then cucumbers again 
 — and so on till the vessel is full. A pickle of salt and 
 water is now poured in, till the whole be well saturated ; 
 and so strong is the compound, that, when stored in a 
 cold place, the cucumbers will keep a whole year in their 
 briny element. Eaten in moderation, the cucumber thus 
 prepared will be found a very tolerable relish, even by 
 the stranger. 
 
 Their cabbage we did not taste, but were told that it 
 is not unlike the saner- kraut of the Germans, though the 
 mode of preparation is not quite the same. Instead of 
 employing vinegar and juniper-leaves in the process, the 
 Russians simply slice the vegetable very small, then 
 pour water over it, and let the compound lie until the 
 cabbage becomes sour by the fermentation that has 
 taken place. This fermenting process goes best on, of 
 course, in warm weather : when it has been favourably 
 performed, the vegetable may be preserved till summer 
 come again. 
 
 We have said that mushrooms constitute another great 
 article of food among the peasants ; but of the way in 
 which these are preserved, as Well as of the nature of 
 some other national dishes, something will be said in 
 another place. Suffice it here to state that, as eaten by 
 the peasant, mushrooms are beyond all endurable sour- 
 ness. We remember tasting them one day in a market-
 
 134 COMPARATIVE COMFORTS 
 
 place among some soldiers, who were licking their lips 
 with delight over them ; and we thought the taste most 
 horrid. They appear to salt them as we would beef. 
 
 In short, the Russian peasant lives on sours — unless 
 his food burn the palate, it would do him no good. 
 But, without dwelling longer on this subject, enough has 
 been said to show that his diet is wretched. As may 
 easily be inferred, it is also very unwholesome. The 
 constant use of nothing but salted food renders the 
 Russians more liable to scorbutic diseases than any 
 nation in Europe. Though now less freq\ient, these are 
 still extremely common. 
 
 That the food of the Russian peasant should be so 
 poor will not surprise any, who consider that his earnings 
 are exceedingly small. Nine roubles a week — or seven 
 shillings and sixpence, English — are frequently all that 
 a labourer can gain ; and, even in the manufactories, 
 the best hands earn only eleven roubles, or nine shillings 
 and sixpence of our money. 
 
 On the whole, however, so far at least as mere food 
 and lodging are concerned, the Russian peasant is not so 
 badly off as the poor man amongst ourselves. He may 
 be rude and uneducated — liable to be 'ill-treated by his 
 superiors — intemperate in his habits, and filthy in his 
 person ; but he never knows the misery to which the 
 Irish peasant is exposed. His food may be coarse; but 
 he has abundance of it. His hut may be homely ; but 
 it is dry and warm. We are apt to fancy that if our 
 peasantry bo badly off, we can at least flatter ourselves 
 with the assurance that they are much more comfortable 
 than those of foreign countries. But this is a gross
 
 OF THE RUSSIAN PEASANTRY. 135 
 
 delusion. Not in Ireland only, but in parts of Great 
 Britain usually considered to be exempt from the mise- 
 ries of Ireland, we have witnessed wretchedness com- 
 pared with which the condition of the Russian boor is 
 luxury, whether he live amid the crowded population of 
 large towns, or in the meanest hamlets of the interior. 
 There are parts of Scotland, for instance, where the 
 people are lodged in houses which the Russian peasant 
 would not think fit for his cattle. During the present 
 autumn (1838), in the rich and populous county of 
 Inverness, we have beheld scenes of wretchedness, ex- 
 ceeding all that we ever witnessed, either in Russia or 
 any other part of the world. There is one valley, that of 
 Glenelg, where the families share their cabin with the cow 
 and the pig ; the latter, aided by a starved chicken or 
 two, contending with the children for the comforts of 
 their scanty fire, from which the cow is separated only by 
 a wattled partition, the door in which is generally left 
 open, that the breath of the animal may help the fire to 
 keep the inmates warm. Chimney there is none in these 
 miserable cabins ; so that clouds of smoke constantly fill 
 every corner, or issue from every crevice in the roof and 
 walls : while, there being but one common door to the two 
 divisions — that of the family and the cow — all that enter 
 have to wade through the filth and water of the byre, 
 before they can reach the precarious shelter of the prin- 
 cipal quarter. 
 
 Compare the comforts of the Russian peasant with 
 such misery as this ! Before wasting our pity on him we 
 ought to look at home, and try to silence the outcry 
 which foreigners so justly raise against us, when they
 
 136 THE RUSSIAN PEASANTRY. 
 
 witness such scenes as these, in the wealthiest and most 
 civilized country in the world. 
 
 Let it not be supposed, however, that because w 
 admit the Russian peasant to be in many respects more 
 comfortable than some of our own, we therefore consider 
 his lot as, on the whole, more enviable than that of the 
 peasant in a free country like ours. The distance be- 
 tween them is wide — immeasurable ; but it can be ac- 
 counted for in one single word — the British peasant has 
 rights ; the Russian has none ! Does mere abundance 
 of food and fuel compensate for the want of all that gives 
 a man respect in his own eyes, or dignity in the estima- 
 tion of others? The hut of the meanest peasant in 
 Britain is inviolable ; that of the Russian may be invaded 
 without permission and without warning. The poor man 
 with us is not chained to his dwelling, but is free to dis- 
 pose of his skill and labour where he thinks they will 
 bring him the best return, without once consulting the 
 lord of the soil, or paying him part of what he may earn 
 throughout life. Above all, he is not liable to be trans- 
 ported as a convict to Siberia at the caprice of his lord 
 — relentlessly torn from wife, and friends, and home, 
 without the power of remonstrance or -the right of ap- 
 peal.
 
 137 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 THE RUSSIAN PEASANT ASLEEP, AND AT WORK. 
 
 Sleeping in the streets — Fearless workmen — Giddy ladders — The man 
 and the weathercock — Using the hatchet — Ingenious in copying any- 
 thing — Rustic pianoforte — Dexterous employment of their tools. 
 
 Before leaving the Russian peasant altogether, let us 
 glance at him in his ordinary pursuits. We have already 
 seen some of his ways, but he is such an interesting 
 fellow, that a few more moments with him will not 
 weary. 
 
 Watch him, for instance, at work, and you will find 
 him labouring most diligently — getting through an 
 amazing quantity in any given time. So willing is he 
 to toil while any good may be done, that, in the summer 
 season, he lives almost without sleep. As if he had 
 taken his fill of it in the long winter, he will now toil 
 both night and day, with little rest beyond the hurried 
 snatches of slumber at meal-hours. He seems to care 
 little for a bed, so long as the nights are short : the first 
 shed or the first gutter is couch dainty enough for him. 
 In the country villages, along the high-road, crowds of 
 labourers may be seen stretched asleep in the open air, 
 by the sides of houses ; but in the capital, none are to be 
 seen in the streets at night. During the day, however, 
 just as among the poorer orders at Naples, you may see 
 them in dozens, stretched near the house where they have
 
 138 MODE OF SLEEPING. 
 
 been hewing, or by the boat which they were unloading, 
 sleeping till the work-bell rouses them. 
 
 What struck us most in regard to these slumbering 
 scenes was, the suddenness with which they fall into re- 
 pose. Some men are said to be able to command sleep 
 the moment they court its favours : the Russian peasant 
 would seem to have the same power, for he is asleep as 
 soon as the tools are thrown down. One moment of the 
 vacant hour is given to the scanty meal — a poor onion, 
 when cucumber may not be had, and a piece of rye- 
 bread, need but little carving — and all the rest is be- 
 stowed on what, next to drinking, seems to be their 
 favourite dissipation. They have no idea of filling up 
 their idle lime with a book, or talk, or any other intel- 
 lectual exercise ; like the beasts that perish, when ap- 
 petite has been satisfied, they have no resource but slum- 
 ber. 
 
 The positions they choose for this purpose are often 
 most surprising. Where a piece of pavement is under 
 repair, in a crowded street, you may see them sleeping 
 among the stones and mud, liable to be run over by the 
 first wheel. Adroschkyman falls asleep, standing by 
 his horse's shoulder, and leaning his -head on the poor 
 animal, which never moves an ear for fear of disturbing 
 him. In short, a Russian sleeps in every attitude, and 
 on every kind of bed — sitting or standing — on the top of 
 dung-carts, or perched on a load of stones. He is every- 
 where as happy as on a silken bed. 
 
 Sometimes the post which he takes up is still more 
 dangerous : we have seen workmen stretched on the 
 ridge of some roof which they had been repairing; and,
 
 RECKLESSNESS. 139 
 
 passing along the quays, they may be seen at any time 
 soundly asleep on the narrow parapet, where, if they 
 turn but from the right side to the left, they have not an 
 inch to save them from rolling into the deep river below. 
 They may even be seen fast asleep in the sun on the 
 narrow edge of a loaded barge, near the strongest part 
 of the stream : yet, so sound is their repose, that though 
 you watch them till their short hour is out, you will not 
 see them move limb nor feature. Tell the peasant of his 
 danger, in thus exposing himself — remonstrate with him 
 on his rashness — and he will not understand you. He 
 does not know what fear is : his fatalism makes him 
 careless of life. 
 
 He would even seem to have an affection for giddy 
 and terrifying positions. There is a kind of ladder used 
 here — a single tree, often sixty feet long, with steps, 
 about fifteen inches in length, nailed across it, affording 
 almost no hold to feet or hands. At this season of 
 cleaning and scrubbing, you are every minute passing 
 some of these, raised from the street to the eaves, with a 
 man seated at top, brushing away as thoughtless as if on 
 the pavement. Nay, so little do they think of danger, 
 that there is a companion below shifting the ladder 
 every minute, to bring his comrade into a new position 
 — both as fearless as if it could not be easily pushed from 
 its balance, and one of them, at least, be dashed to pieces 
 by the fall. This, in fact, does sometimes happen ; but 
 the mangled body is soon carried to the hospital, and the 
 survivor, calmly raising the ladder, mounts to the vacant 
 post, humming his interrupted song, before the blood 
 has dried on the stones.
 
 140 DARING FEAT. 
 
 This intrepidity is often shown on heights more peril- 
 ous than those now mentioned. Something had lately 
 gone wrong about the angel that is perched on the lofty 
 spire of the cathedral, in the fortress; which, being at 
 an elevation of 350 feet from the ground, is among the 
 most conspicuous ornaments of the capital. The repair 
 wanted was so trivial that it could have been done by a 
 single workman in a few minutes. But how to get him 
 raised to the airy weathercock was a question of difficult 
 solution. To think of erecting a scaffolding, of some hun- 
 dred feet, for such a small affair, was out of the question. 
 Still, as the accident occasioned an eyesore from the pa- 
 lace-windows, it was desirable to have it remedied in 
 some way or other. For a long time, however, the su- 
 perintendent was in despair ; until at last relief presented 
 itself through one of his workmen, a common moozik 
 (peasant), who offered to climb up and put all right for 
 300 roubles. Consent having been gladly given, he 
 mounted as far as possible inside, then crawled out by a 
 hole, stuck in pegs for steps outside, as far as his arm 
 could reach, and so, always driving in a new peg before 
 he left the old one, crept fearlessly round and round the 
 giddy spire, till he reached a point from which he could 
 throw a rope over a projecting part of the figure ; he 
 then swung himself at once into the necessary position, 
 where he plied his tools as calmly as if on solid. ground ! 
 The spectators below were forced to turn away their 
 heads in terror, expecting every moment to see him 
 dashed to pieces; but he descended as safely as he had 
 gone up. 
 
 The emperor, who never loses an opportunity of re-
 
 IMITATIVE SKILL OF THE RUSSIAN PEASANT. 141 
 
 warding conduct of this kind, hearing of what had been 
 done, caused a calculation to be laid before him of the 
 expense which would have been incurred for scaffolding, 
 wages, &c, had the repair been executed in the ordinary- 
 way, and presented the poor fellow with the amount — 
 enough to keep him comfortable for life, without han- 
 dling axe or rope again. 
 
 The neatness with which a Russian workman uses his 
 tools is unequalled. In place of the ten or twelve dif- 
 ferent instruments, which a carpenter in other countries 
 must have constantly about him, a Russian has only 
 three or four ; indeed, his principal and often sole com- 
 panion is the axe — a sharp and good one it is, with a 
 short handle. We have often watched him at work, 
 laying a floor or making a chair, and it is really asto- 
 nishing what he does with it alone. The ease, and the 
 grace even, with which he wields it — always with one 
 hand — would be a lesson to the most skilful of our arti- 
 sans. Without plane or line, he cuts and joins two 
 deals, as neatly as if they were one. A firm hand, a 
 good eye, and great coolness, supply the place of tools 
 to him. 
 
 The facility of imitation possessed by the Russians is 
 another remarkable point in their character. They can- 
 not invent, but will copy anything you choose to set be- 
 fore them. Say only, I want the match of this ; and 
 done it is — as correct a fac-simile as could be desired. 
 They will make not only small things in this way, but 
 even large articles of the most complicated construction. 
 We have examined a pianoforte, made the other year bv 
 a peasant in some country place,xwho had never seen but
 
 142 IMITATIVE SKILL OF THE RUSSIAN PEASANT. 
 
 one in his life before. He had very few tools at com- 
 mand ; but, thinking he should like to have an instru- 
 ment to match the one whose sweet sounds had given 
 him so much pleasure, he set to work, and made a most 
 excellent copy. Some one having told the emperor of 
 the feat, a handsome price was offered for the instru- 
 ment, and it now occupies an honourable place in his own 
 palace at Moscow. 
 
 These imitations are not confined to the ruder branches 
 of mere mechanical labour. The Russians are equally 
 successful in copying pictures, and in all the more 
 delicate kinds of work, requiring accuracy of eye and 
 delicacy of touch.
 
 143 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 POPULAR AMUSEMENTS ON THE ISLANDS. 
 
 Dances — Songs — Tales of a droschky — Russians fond of music — Summer- 
 evening amusements — Dancing scene — Singing — Droschky journey — 
 Anecdotes of the Isvoshtchiks — Merry scenes on the Islands — Boating 
 — Moie singing — Gay gardens — Noble villas — Mineral waters, &c. 
 
 Passing from these physical pursuits, we shall find 
 that in nothing are the imitative qualities of the Russians 
 better seen, than in their national amusements and 
 pastimes. To aid them in these, they possess great 
 powers of mimicry ; their excellence in which is of course 
 greatly seconded by another endowment which, as may 
 be inferred, from allusions already made, they possess 
 in no ordinary degree — liveliness, They are blessed with 
 an astonishing flow of animal spirits. The fun and 
 drollery displayed among them, when two or three are 
 banded together on an idle holiday, are inexhaustible. 
 Their wit is surpassed only by their playfulness and 
 good-humour. On such occasions, dancing is a favourite 
 amusement ; and as for singing, whether there be holiday 
 or not, they torment you with it beyond endurance. 
 They sing for ever — such singing as makes you wish 
 them fifty miles away. It is only the untutored song, 
 however, that is disagreeable : when taught, they make 
 excellent musicians. The regimental bands, it is well 
 known, are among the best in Europe. So strong is
 
 144 HUMOUR OF THE PEASANTRY. 
 
 their natural turn for music, that a lad taken from the 
 plough will play the most difficult pieces in six months, 
 on any instrument that may have been selected for him. 
 
 These qualities of imitation and liveliness make them 
 excellent actors. They are born comedians; even the 
 most vulgar of them showing a strong passion for every- 
 thing dramatic. On the stage, consequently, they are 
 extremely natural, and keep the audience in constant 
 laughter. 
 
 The national dance is very pretty. As seen in the 
 theatre, it is an artificial unnatural series of complicated 
 evolutions, intended to show the skill of the artiste, more 
 than the real features of the dance, of which only some 
 of the characteristics are retained. The true place for 
 seeing it in perfection is among a group of peasants, 
 keeping holiday in some of the suburbs. We had wan- 
 dered out in one of the finest evenings of July, through 
 the wide, quiet lanes in the lower part of the Vassilii- 
 Ostroff. Scarcely a creature was stirring in the calm 
 sunset. We had reached the place where the houses 
 almost terminate, or, at least, become more rare ; where 
 little is to be seen but extensive green meadows, neg- 
 lected and marshy, with low bushes and rough trees 
 scattered about. In short, there was so little to interest, 
 that we began to think of returning, — when a shout of 
 laughter from the neighbourhood of some houses farther 
 on induced us to advance. It came from a large group, 
 assembled in a shady green lane, young men and 
 maidens, all in the national dress. It was an unmixed 
 Russian scene. Within the group stood a ring of dancers. 
 Shortly, a youth touched a small instrument, the simplest
 
 NATIONAL DANCE. 145 
 
 ever heard : it was their balileka, a tiny thing of white 
 fir- wood, shaped like a guitar, but only an inch thick, 
 and with no more than three small strings, which the 
 little boy jingled in a sort of measured way with his 
 fingers, without attempting any thing like a tune. The 
 sound was so faint that it was scarcely heard a few yards 
 off, but no sooner was it struck than the whole ring was 
 in motion, wreathed hand in hand. It is a beautiful 
 dance, with something of classic gracefulness, and not the 
 least motion that could be offensive to delicacy. As they 
 twisted and turned, now moving slow, now quick, the 
 descriptions of the mazy dance of ancient Greece recurred 
 to the memory. Soon, however, the whole again stood 
 still — the dancers unlinked their hands — a maiden stood 
 forth, and waved her white kerchief slowly and gracefully 
 towards a youth, who, on the signal, pursued her round 
 the ring at respectful distance. Once she allowed him 
 to come near; but again she fled. At short intervals 
 they would pause, and dance before each other, the 
 youth now beating his right foot, in regular measure, on 
 the sward, now waving his flowing caftan not inelegantly, 
 as he turned in giddiness away from the glances of his 
 beloved. At length it seemed as if the lover was to be 
 rewarded with his mistress's hand ; but ever as he took 
 courage to come nearer, the coy maiden was off", flying 
 from, yet courting his pursuit. This part of the dance 
 continued till despair made him abandon the chase ; on 
 which the circle was again formed, and all tripped 
 merrily round. There is nothing violent in these dances ; 
 every motion is slow and dignified ; the woman resting 
 her arms akimbo, and her partner calculating each step 
 
 VOL. I. H
 
 146 NATIONAL DANCE. 
 
 he is to make. All the men were in holiday dress ; long 
 blue robes, striped shirts, wide trousers, and huge boots. 
 
 The lovely evening invited to a farther stroll on the 
 beach. On coming back to the merry crowd, the dance 
 had given way to the song. The maidens had left the 
 group, but the men had formed a larger ring, and, united 
 by their handkerchiefs from hand to hand, were moving 
 slowly round two of their number, a big one and a little, 
 standing in the centre. All the time this was going on,. 
 the whole band were singing a slow and very striking 
 melody, which strongly resembled some of our old Scotch 
 airs. They sung in parts, and kept up a kind of dra- 
 matic scene, of which those in the middle sustained the 
 principal characters. The words, of course, were unin- 
 telligible to us ; but the excellent pantomime which 
 followed spoke for itself, especially where the big one 
 feigned himself fatigued, and the little one, — who had a 
 handkerchief tied round his head, and acted the part of 
 a female, — tenderly taking off his (or her) partner's hat, 
 fans him with well-assumed anxiety. She then wipes and 
 braids his hair, opens his vest to give him air, and finally 
 prevails on him to renew the dance. 
 
 We are not ignorant that some of ,the Russian dances 
 are of a much less innocent character ; but on this oc- 
 casion, at least, it was impossible not to be struck with 
 the orderly conduct of the lower classes. We had al- 
 ready experienced that it. was possible to wander the 
 streets all day long without meeting a single instance of 
 rudeness ; and we now discovered that strangers might 
 look even on their amusements, when neither policeman 
 nor patrole was within reach, without being at all annoyed.
 
 MANNERS OF THE LOWER ORDERS. 147 
 
 Several ladies, and other casual passengers, were at- 
 tracted to this group of youngsters, and listened atten- 
 tively to their fine singing. In England, such intruders 
 would soon have been driven away by improper language, 
 if not maltreated for their curiosity ; but here, all went 
 on as if no stranger had been near. Some of the dancers 
 were in the boat as we recrossed ; but they seemed more 
 intent in watching the lightning, as it flashed, bright and 
 frequent, on the clear bosom of the Neva, than in eyeing 
 their late visitors. 
 
 There is no place where the manners of the people 
 may be seen in all their life more frequently, than in the 
 gardens and pleasure-grounds of the islands lying among 
 the various branches of the Little Neva, the Great and 
 Little Nofka, &c. As these are a long way off, however, 
 we must take a droschky to reach them ; and, while on 
 the way, shall tell the reader what a droschky is. With- 
 out knowing something about a droschky, no one can say 
 that he knows aught of St. Petersburg. 
 
 This is one of the most absurd little vehicles ever in- 
 vented. It consists of a low narrow seat, covered with 
 black leather, not much larger than a dragoon saddle, 
 and supported on four small wheels, between the two 
 foremost of which is a box for the driver. Any body 
 who has seen a velocipede may form some idea of a 
 droschky : as in that exploded contrivance, so here also, 
 you sit with the feet touching the ground on each side, or 
 rather resting on metal steps ; or, if you please, stirrups, 
 which brush the mud below you. There is room, on a 
 push, for two passengers ; but they must sit face to face, 
 as comfortable as a pair who should try to mount a horse 
 
 h2
 
 148 A DROSCHKY. 
 
 together, looking into each other's face. Sometimes the 
 passengers sit sideways, one on each side; or one does 
 so, and the other rides en cavalier, holding him or her 
 in his lap ; but whatever way they sit, two always cut 
 an awkward figure in these machines. 
 
 There is neither flap nor hood to hide you from the 
 isvoshtchik (clover), who is generally some peasant that 
 has mustered money enough among his friends in the 
 country to buy a good horse, and hire a droschky, in 
 order to make a little fortune in the capital. His black 
 hat and long blue garment are supposed to give him 
 great dignity ; but the filthy state in which his person 
 generally seems to be renders him by no means an en- 
 viable companion to sit so near. He has no whip, the 
 long reins terminating in a tough piece of leather, which 
 supplies the place of that article. They drive extremely 
 well ; but have the character of being great extortioners 
 when a stranger comes in the way. " How much must 
 
 I pay for a drive to ?" " Five roubles," (or 
 
 4s. 2d.) is the answer. If you have Russian enough, 
 offer him 8d., and he is sure to take it. We always 
 found, when in company with Russians, or with country- 
 men who speak the language, that we could drive an 
 amazing distarce for a small sum. 
 
 Nor is extortion the worst part of the isvoshtchiks' 
 character : they are said to have a hand in many of the 
 robberies and murders of the capital. Winter is the 
 season for these crimes. There are many instances of 
 women and helpless persons, who hade mployed them 
 at night, having disappeared, and never been heard of. 
 An English traveller has published a case of this kind, 
 where the body, after being stripped of money and va-
 
 MYSTERIOUS STORY. 149 
 
 luables, was supposed to have been thrown into a hole 
 in the ice of the Neva ; and we ourselves heard similar 
 stories from many quarters. Until we reached Moscow, 
 however, we met with no person who could speak from 
 experience. An English gentleman there told us that 
 he had, the winter before, been the object of one of the 
 most mysterious attacks ever heard of in droschky annals. 
 On leaving the theatre, he had hired the first vehicle 
 that presented itself, and ordered the owner to drive to 
 a certain part of the city. After proceeding for a con- 
 siderable time through the silent streets, then covered 
 with deep snow, he remarked to his guide that they were 
 far out of the usual line, but received for answer that all 
 would soon be right. On they went, the streets always 
 getting more lonely and more unknown ; when suddenly 
 a man started from the corner of a cross-lane, and at- 
 tempted to throw the noose of a large rope over the 
 passenger ; but before it caught he was able to disen- 
 tangle himself, and urged the driver to press on. This 
 command was so reluctantly complied with, that he now 
 began to be suspicious of him, as an accomplice in the 
 attack which had been made. Instead of holding on, 
 he loitered and changed his course, evidently as if in 
 consequence of a premeditated plan. This put the 
 Englishman more on his guard, and he became anxious 
 to leave him ; but before he had time to escape, he felt 
 himself entangled in a strong noose, by which he was 
 dragged from his seat. After trampling upon and 
 bruising him, his assailants robbed him of his watch and 
 pocket-book, then left him senseless, with injuries that 
 kept him long confined to his apartment. Meantime
 
 150 PASSION FOR THE DROSCHKY. 
 
 the authorities had been using every effort to discover 
 the robbers. Several men had been arrested on suspi- 
 cion, and the knout had not been unsparingly employed 
 to make them confess ; but the gentleman being unable to 
 identify any of those in custody, the affair still remained 
 a mystery at the time we heard the story. 
 
 The number of droschkies in Petersburg is immense. 
 Indeed a love for this vehicle would seem to be an inse- 
 parable part of the Russian character ; it is to be seen 
 in the remotest corners of the empire. But what especial 
 recommendation it can have in such a climate, and on 
 such roads as may be seen in every Russian town, it 
 would be impossible to discover. There is no kind of 
 shelter in it. When it rains, you are sure to be soaked ; 
 when there is mud, you are defiled to the eyes ; when 
 there is dust, you are choked; and when there is sun, 
 you are roasted : in short it is most ingeniously contrived 
 for exposing you to the worst of every possible annoy- 
 ance. It is, at best, a toy-looking carriage ; for we are 
 not speaking, be it remembered, of the gallant and 
 fashionable droschky displayed in the Nefsko'i, but of 
 the genuine, original droschky, in which a person always 
 looks like a schoolboy broke loose from his master, get- 
 ting along as hard as the horse can fly; or a sailor newly 
 paid off, who wants to make a fine show on land, and 
 get rid of his money in the shortest possible time. 
 
 It has the recommendation, however, of being easily 
 mounted. There are neither steps to let down nor doors 
 to fasten ; and you take your seat as readily as in an 
 arm-chair, and are off in a twinkling. These carriages 
 also answer remarkably well at a public drive, when the
 
 UNIVERSALITY OF DROSCHKIES. 151 
 
 dust is not too great, and where you want to see every- 
 thing without the distraction of driving. As already 
 stated, however, few of the better classes appear in them 
 on occasions of show ; they are used only by people in 
 a hurry. From the great distances they have to go in 
 this wide desert of a city, servants in gentlemen's families, 
 porters at the public offices, &c, always have a droschky 
 at their disposal. The man who goes on foot, therefore, 
 is here little thought of; nor can it be expected that he 
 should, when the cookmaid would disdain to bring her 
 vegetables, and the errand-man his letters, without the 
 aid of a carriage of some kind or other. There are 
 hackney-coaches, or things very like them, to be had 
 here; but they are dear, and seldom used, unless by those 
 going to the country. 
 
 During this long talk about droschkies, we have got 
 over a wide stretch of ground, crossed the Great Neva, 
 traversed the handsome streets of the Vassilii-Ostroff, 
 passed the bridge of the Little Neva, got through the 
 low houses of Old St. Petersburg, and away across 
 Nefkas and branches innumerable, till now we scarcely 
 know where we are ; somewhere among the islands of 
 Krestofski, Ielaghine, &c, which present as gay and 
 happy a scene as heart could wish. Nothing can be more 
 lively and varied than the sights witnessed here in sum- 
 mer. Some of the islands are adorned with the acacia, 
 birch, aspen, willow, and other trees of summer foliage ; 
 while some are still clothed with all the gloom of their 
 native pines. Gay palaces for the royal family, and 
 handsome carriage-drives for the nobles, adorn a few, 
 while on others the lower classes find the ordinary means
 
 152 THE ISLANDS. 
 
 of amusing themselves ; eating- rooms, dancing-places, 
 merry-go-rounds, wandering musicians, &c. These islands 
 may, therefore, be said to form both the Champs Elysees 
 and Bois de Boulogne of St. Petersburg. They are 
 much farther away from the centre of the capital than 
 these places are from that of Paris, but the cheapness of 
 the droschky brings them near, as their crowded state 
 shows. 
 
 Yet, crowded as the woods are by people of every 
 rank, not a single act of disorder occurs. In another 
 respect, too, these islands are far superior to the places 
 of public resort near the French capital ; in the singular 
 life and interest given to the scenes by the branches of 
 the river, which twine round them in most confusing but 
 beautiful variety. The waters are constantly enlivened 
 by gay barges, shooting past in every direction, with lofty 
 prows, and gaudy streamers floating behind : in these, 
 many, and generally the merriest parties, come all the 
 way by the river ; some shaded by striped awnings, 
 some sitting unprotected, but all singing most beauti- 
 fully. 
 
 Singing, in fact, is one of the great amusements on 
 these islands; and though the Russian' peasant is a most 
 disagreeable vocalist when heard alone, nothing can be 
 more delightful than to hear two or three of them joining 
 in their national airs together. To the Russian, singing 
 appears to be as natural as speaking is to other nations. 
 The moment a stone-cutter gets the chisel in his hand, 
 the song begins; and the Temtchik (postilion), in seizing 
 the reins, strikes up his horrid melody, as regularly as 
 if the amount of hire depended on the qualities of his
 
 PASSION FOR SINGING. 153 
 
 voice. Watch a party of friends returning at night : if 
 in a boat, the oars keep time to their harmony ; if on 
 foot, the pavement rings with their measured steps. But 
 most of all are they musical in their droschkies. Five, 
 six, or eight of them will crowd on one of these vehicles : 
 how they do not all tumble off, like that bearded 
 gentleman, or long-gowned lady, whom you see rolling 
 in the mud not far off, is wonderful. Notwithstanding 
 this accident, the song is not stopped — the vehicle is, 
 perhaps, but the worthy fallen continues his song till 
 raised by his brethren, who build themselves on again, 
 and drive away, with a fury of voice increased by the 
 delay. 
 
 Their love of music is well seen among the crowds on 
 the islands. The rope-dancers — the mountebanks — the 
 man who exhibits a live seal, which he keeps in good 
 humour by always pouring water on its back from a tub, 
 and rubbing it with his hand — the bird-trainer — even 
 the man with the badger, and other exhibitors of curio- 
 sities, natural and artificial, generally have but a small 
 ring of admirers, compared with that which hangs in 
 breathless silence round a band of singers, or horn- 
 players. The latter are extremely interesting, but our 
 surprise in hearing them was less, from having pre- 
 viously, heard so much about their skill. Not so, 
 however, with the singing-band ; for their powers went 
 far beyond all the ideas we had ever formed of Russian 
 music. Those we listened to were mere peasants ; but 
 they had an advantage over those formerly heard, in 
 having been well taught, and thus were able to ex- 
 ecute the most difficult passages, with an ease and a 
 
 h 3
 
 154 RUSSIAN SINGING. 
 
 finish that would not have disgraced a company of 
 Italians. Indeed, the whole performance reminds one of 
 Italian music. The very language, rough and guttural 
 as we generally suppose it, sounds soft and musical on the 
 lips of the natives. 
 
 These entertainments have always something drama- 
 tic. We could not, of course, understand a word of them ; 
 but some were serious, some comic. The latter partook 
 much of the manner of the quick and lively dialogue of 
 the Italian bvffo comico. The serious differed from most 
 things of the kind we had ever heard : two or three were 
 reciting a tale of sorrow, in which one of their number, 
 who stood alone, was the principal party ; they were 
 bewailing the death of his mistress. Ever and anon, 
 when they came to some more affecting turn of the 
 narrative, he would strike in with a plaintive exclama- 
 tion, as if in the deepest grief: the others would then 
 resume their part, and at times all would unite in a cho- 
 rus, as wild and touching as a Highland Lament. 
 
 We saw on these islands almost every kind of popular 
 amusement peculiar to the country, except that of the 
 " Russian Mountains," which the season of course for- 
 bade. This exercise is the favourite sport in winter, 
 when mountains of snow are formed on the Neva, down 
 which they slide with giddy fury. From all we could 
 hear of it, the amusement is not unlike one well known 
 in some parts of Scotland, under the name of hurley- 
 hacket, which, if school-day recollections can be trusted, 
 is performed by sliding down a steep bank of sand or 
 loose gravel, pretty much in the same attitude as that as- 
 sumed by the Russians on the more slippery ice.
 
 VARIETY OF VILLAS. 155 
 
 The variety and originality of the scenes presented in 
 this quarter invariably kept us lingering till the latest 
 twilight. The carriages of the nobility might be seen 
 waiting in long files till near eleven, the more select 
 avenues being generally crowded with fashionable loun- 
 gers. Besides the summer palaces of the imperial 
 family, these islands, and their neighbourhood on the 
 mainland of the Carelian shore, are adorned with the 
 pretty datcha, or summer villas of the nobility, scattered 
 about, in great variety of plan. The snug cottage of 
 England may be seen side by side with the fantastic- 
 pinnacles of China. The grounds of the Strogonoff 
 villa, which are open to the public, contain a Greek 
 sarcophagus and other specimens of ancient art. There 
 is a theatre also in this region, which is open only in 
 summer, for French plays and Italian operas. Another 
 attraction is the establishment where mineral waters of 
 all kinds are manufactured " to order." you may here 
 drink the waters of Tbplitz, or of Ems, of Cheltenham or 
 of Bareges, just as the doctor or fancy may prescribe. 
 These establishments for imitating every kind of mineral 
 water by chemical combinations (first attempted by 
 Dr. Struve, a celebrated chemist of Dresden) are spread- 
 ing rapidly on the continent. 
 
 It is now time, however, to leave the islands. Bidding 
 good night to the groups still dancing merrily, even at 
 this late hour, we shall return by the longest bridge in 
 the capital — that above the fortress. A night's rest will 
 qualify us for new expeditions of discovery among our 
 interesting friends of the lower classes, to whom our out- 
 of-door excursions were chiefly* devoted.
 
 156 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 SCENES IN THE FISH-BARGES— BATHS— BAZAARS, AND 
 MARRIAGE MARKET. 
 
 Live Fish — Tethered sturgeon, and winter fare — Betting — Hawkers of 
 lemonade — Russian baths — The effect of bathing on the habits, &c. — 
 Scenes in the Gostino'i Dvor — Importunate merchants — Bargaining — 
 The Old-clothes Mart — Old iron — Visit to the Summer Garden — How 
 to get married. 
 
 To give a full account of all that struck us as remark- 
 able in this wonderful city would only weary the reader. 
 Where we are hourly wandering 
 
 "'Mong many things most new to ear and eye," 
 a selection must be made; else attention will be ex- 
 hausted, long before the narrator has got half through 
 his tale. 
 
 Among the places, however, which do not tire in 
 visiting — and which consequently are not likely to tire in 
 reading of them — a few still remain to be mentioned. 
 Of these, none better deserve attention than the fish- 
 barges, or floating-houses near the Isaac bridge, in 
 which the finny tribes are preserved alive in great num- 
 bers. The bottom of each huge ark is occupied by 
 square wells, each devoted to a distinct kind of fish. 
 Here may be seen the cheap carp swimming next door 
 to the costly sterlet (of whom more, under the head of 
 National Dishes) ; and a few feet away from these, eels
 
 TETHERED FISH. 157 
 
 and flounders may be seen sporting with great activity^ 
 in the perilous vicinity of a voracious, large-mouthed, 
 gentleman from the Baltic, who would give something 
 that the plank between him and his dear friends could 
 be removed. 
 
 But what strong-snouted fellow is this who next 
 claims our notice ? It is a huge sturgeon (sturio huso), 
 swimming at large in the river, with a thick rope through 
 his upper jaw, by which this " triton among the min- 
 nows" is kept as safe as a seventy-four struggling within 
 the Plymouth Breakwater. The thick knot above the 
 horny gristle keeps him so securely, that you may haul 
 him home, and examine him at leisure. Here he comes, 
 splashing about as formidable as a young shark, though 
 not quite so large as the sturgeons on the American 
 coast, which the Yankees accuse of swamping their 
 boats; nor even like those of the mouth of the Danube, 
 where they are sometimes found weighing 1500 lbs. 
 Those of Lake Baikal, where they are very numerous, 
 are of much more moderate dimensions, seldom exceed- 
 ing 200 lbs. weight. 
 
 The rope next to this one moors a smaller captive, 
 perhaps of a different species. Poor fellows ! they must 
 lead a sad life of it, notwithstanding this seeming liberty 
 of theirs; for every hard-hearted kitchen-wench, or more 
 scientific but equally cruel maitre d'hotel, who wants a 
 good fish to complete a dinner, has the right to tug 
 them about at pleasure, till some one, captivated by 
 their charms, compassionately ends their amphibious 
 existence. 
 
 This fashion of mooring the live fish resembles a prac-
 
 158 GAMBLING FOR FISH. 
 
 tice which is very common in Egypt ; though, in a 
 country where there is so much ice, it cannot arise from 
 the same cause — namely, the difficulty of preserving dead 
 fish in summer. When the binny or barbel of the Nile 
 is hooked, the fisherman puts a strong ring in the jaw, ties 
 a few cords to it, and returning the fish to the river, fas- 
 tens him to the shore : thus he goes over the whole file of 
 his hooks, not one of which is unoccupied. It is only in 
 the dog-days, however, that the fish-markets of Russia 
 and Egypt bear any resemblance to each other. In win- 
 ter the fishes of St. Petersburg need neither rope nor 
 tank to hold them. Land-carriage, by means of sledges 
 on the snow, being then cheap, they are brought from 
 great distances, and in large quantities, completely frozen ; 
 in which state they are sold much cheaper than at other 
 seasons. Indeed, contrary to the usual rule, winter here 
 is in some respects a season of greater plenty than sum- 
 mer : beef, which the heat prevents from being trans- 
 ported sound in summer, is then brought upon sledges 
 from the distant provinces, and sold in its frozen state so 
 cheap, that the peasant can allow himself a piece of it to 
 the cabbage he has hewn from the tub with his axe. 
 
 Fishing would seem to employ a good many hands 
 about the; capital in summer. Boats of small size may 
 be seen constantly at work in the shallow waters of the 
 bay, and occasionally off the quays in some parts of the 
 city, where, we believe, fishing is often made a kind of 
 gambling concern. Before a net has been hauled in, 
 some person in the crowd at the landing-place agrees to 
 give so much for whatever it contains ; or two or three 
 unite in the venture. The result of the speculation is of
 
 RUSSIAN BATH. 159 
 
 course variable, there being often nothing at all for the 
 rash gambler, though at other times a considerable sum 
 may be realised. 
 
 Great numbers of the lower orders are employed in 
 selling lemonade and other refreshing drinks, very essen- 
 tial to the pedestrian's comfort, in the warm days of July. 
 Some of these liquors are made from cranberries and 
 such forest dainties. The large red bottles in which the 
 mixtures are exhibited make a most showy display, on 
 benches near the crowded thoroughfares, where many a 
 brawny youth, in red-striped surtout, may be seen stroll- 
 ing about, with his whole stock in trade slung on his 
 back, in a portly-bellied crystal jug, half full of the 
 tempting beverage. 
 
 The best way of all, however, to dispose of oneself in 
 a warm day, is to visit one of their Baths. A passion 
 for the bath forms such a striking part of the Russian 
 character, that we ought to have mentioned it more par- 
 ticularly long before now. For a Russian to live without, 
 the bath would be as impossible as for him to live with- 
 out food. Ablutions are prescribed by his religion too. 
 They are not now performed, however, in the promiscuous 
 way described by early travellers, who speak of men and 
 women as frequenting the bath together. We found no 
 instance of this in any part of the empire. 
 
 At the one we visited in the capital, there was no other 
 person in the room going through the bathing process ; 
 but, it being Saturday night, the adjoining chambers 
 were full of customers. We had expected to find an im- 
 mense open yard, or something of that kind — at least, a 
 large hall of rude structure, ringing with the yells of
 
 160 THE RUSSIAN BATH. 
 
 swimmers; but found the bath a handsome house, like 
 a private dwelling, in a well-kept court-yard. An office 
 for the clerks and superintendents is near the principal 
 entrance, from which a broad passage runs the whole 
 length of the building. From this passage doors open 
 on either hand into sunk apartments of different sizes, 
 paved with clean flagstones, and often with marble. On 
 entering one of these, the heat was so great, that it 
 seemed wonderful how the human frame could en- 
 dure it. 
 
 " Where are the baths, though ?" asked the simple 
 foreigner : " There is no water here, and how can a man 
 bathe without water ?" 
 
 In Russia, kind reader, when you go to take a bath, 
 you are plunged, not into water, as you had fondly ex- 
 pected, but into vapour. The patient, having duly 
 stripped in an adjoining room, is seated by the man in 
 attendance on the lowest of a range of steps, running 
 round the whole of the generally oval chamber, and 
 rising like a stair towards the ceiling. Here he sits pa- 
 tiently, though at first most uncomfortably — for he fears 
 the heat will suffocate him — going through all the rub- 
 bings, and strainings, and knucklings, which the operator 
 thinks fit to inflict. It is necessary to rise from step to 
 step, in order to reach an always increasing degree of 
 heat, which, instead of being unpleasant, has now become 
 quite delightful, the oppressive feeling having gone off 
 as soon as the perspiration broke freely out. In fact, 
 the sensation is now so pleasant, that the bather is willing 
 enough to remain. Hitherto the process has been in 
 general not unlike the Turkish bath ; but the scourging
 
 THE RUSSIAN BATH. 161 
 
 with birch rods, which ere long begins, is very different 
 from both the Turkish and English ideas of scourging 
 and of birch : it is one of the most pleasant and original 
 devices in the whole process. But when the truly Russian 
 finale comes — the sousing with ice-cold water, while you 
 are still melting with heat — the poor stranger is com- 
 pletely startled ; for a moment he loses all sensation — 
 but, that moment over, he feels a glow of comfort, of 
 which no language could give an idea. 
 
 The heat of a Russian bath is seldom lower than 
 100°, nor higher than 200° of Fahrenheit. A beginner 
 remains only twenty minutes in the place, but the ex- 
 perienced visitor tarries more than twice as long. The 
 assistants rub the body with soap, bran, &c. during a 
 great part of the time, and often pour cold water on the 
 head, or tie a wet towel round it. In the houses of the 
 nobles, the baths are most luxuriously fitted up, and a 
 considerable part of the household have no other duties 
 than to minister to this part of their master's enjoyments. 
 In such private baths it is customary to drink largely 
 of some cold, but not intoxicating liquid, after the pro- 
 cess; but we saw nothing of this in the public ones. In 
 country villages the common bath is generally a very 
 rude affair — a mere shed by the river, into which the 
 peasants plunge immediately after exposing themselves 
 to the first part of the cleansing operation. 
 
 The stranger, of course, pays high for a bath — seldom 
 less than three roubles; and for an ordinary bath, with 
 water, &c, five. To the lower orders, however, it costs 
 but a mere trifle, though they have not yet quite brought 
 it down to the classic standard of ancient Rome, where a
 
 162 THE RUSSIAN BATH. 
 
 bath cost only about half an English penny (a quadrans, 
 or fourth part of an as). 
 
 As to the boasted effects which this bath — or rather 
 the habit of bathing in this way — is said to have in brac- 
 ing the frame, making the Russians hardy, &c, they are 
 all imaginary. Instead of bracing the frame, this habit 
 enervates and undermines it most rapidly. Look at the 
 Russian women, and you will soon see its good effects— 
 they are old before their time. As iron glowing hot is 
 tempered by being plunged into water, so, the advocates 
 for Russian bathing assert, is the body hardened by the 
 process just described. But so far from the sudden 
 transition helping to temper the frame, and render it, 
 more fit to stand the cold of winter, experience shows 
 that it only makes it more sensitive. The peasant may 
 not wear much dress in winter, because he cannot afford 
 it, but he puts on all he can get ; while his master, as 
 every body knows, burdens himself with coverings. 
 
 Those who think the Russians hardy, because they 
 make long journeys through the snow, forget how a 
 Russian travels : he is built up in a close machine, 
 buried among beds and blankets enough for a whole 
 household. The only hardy people in Russia are the 
 lowest of the peasants and soldiers, who, from constant 
 exposure, become nearly frost-proof. A Russian gentle- 
 man is not half so hardy as an Englishman. It is 
 notorious that the English, though brought up in so 
 mild a climate, when they come here, endure the terrible 
 cold of Russia — a cold intense beyond all our ideas of 
 winter — much better than the Russians themselves. A 
 Russian nobleman who had an English tutor in his familv
 
 RUSSIAN BAZAAR. 163 
 
 told us that when he himself could scarcely cross the 
 threshold, even in his loads of fur and woo], his friend 
 was frisking happily about, with nothing but a light 
 great-coat added to his usual dress, and tantalising him 
 every time they met, by telling him that it was a fine 
 day — a very fine day ! And so it is with all Englishmen 
 on first arriving here — but only at first ; for, after they 
 have had a year or two of the bath, to which they become 
 as much addicted as the Russians, they are forced to 
 wear as many wrappings as their neighbours. That the 
 bath has an enervating influence is evident from the 
 habits of Russians, even in the milder climates of France 
 and Italy, where they may be seen in their furs, when 
 the natives are satisfied with their ordinary dress. In 
 short, their early and constant use of the bath is as in- 
 jurious to the body as it is to the morals of the Russians; 
 but on this latter subject we do not deem it expedient to 
 enter. 
 
 Neither is the bath such a promoter of cleanliness as 
 some allege. Those who pretend that the Russian gets 
 such a scrubbing every week as the Englishman does not 
 get in his whole life, thereby insinuating that the former 
 is more cleanly than the latter, forget that this weekly 
 bath is an excuse with the Russian for indulging in the 
 greatest habitual filthiness. The Englishman, who em- 
 ploys soap and water so copiously as to surprise the 
 hydrophobic nations of the continent, and is satisfied with 
 a moderate use of the ordinary bath, is the only clean 
 and cleanly animal in the world. 
 
 There is still another place, however, which the 
 stranger ought to visit, and often, if he wish to become
 
 164 RUSSIAN BAZAAR. 
 
 acquainted with the manners of the people : — the Bazaar, 
 or Gostinoi Dvor, where the Russian shopkeepers are 
 seen in the greatest perfection. 
 
 In their long beards, blue robes, and lofty caps, the 
 tenants of this singular mart might pass for Jews ; but 
 they are all genuine, unadulterated Russkys. The place 
 our friends have to operate in is a vast square, with ar- 
 cades opening to the numerous streets, and alleys divid- 
 ing it at different points, all occupied by small shops, 
 some for jewellery, some for cutlery, with others for 
 army-clothiers, grocers, stationers, upholsterers, mercers, 
 &c. In short, there is a little, or rather a large town of 
 shops here, which it would take a day to explore. Some 
 of the neighbouring streets are also filled with shops. A 
 journey through this place is sooner described than made. 
 Some days the merchants are very quiet, each merely 
 opening his door, and bowing most winningly to tempt 
 the stranger in. At other times, when, from seeing him 
 repeat his visits, they begin to think something may be 
 made of the stranger, he is beset with importunate shop- 
 men the moment he appears. A bearded fellow thrusts 
 himself in your way, and launches forth in an harangue 
 about the quality of his goods. But lo ! another has 
 scented the prey from afar. You are too respectable a 
 customer to be given up without a struggle. Fortu- 
 nately, they soon begin to fight with each other, and you 
 escape in the storm of winged words. Sometimes, how- 
 ever, a man in the fervour of his importunity actually 
 lays violent hands upon you, till it becomes impossible 
 to escape without leaving the skirt of your polluted gar- 
 ment as a trophy of his zeal.
 
 RUSSIAN EXTORTION. 165 
 
 Should you be wiled into any shop, be sure that at 
 least double the value is asked for every article. This 
 disposition of the Russians to ask too much for every 
 thing imposes caution on the stranger who would bar- 
 gain with them. It is this well-known part of their 
 character that has made so many pronounce them a 
 nation of rogues and sharpers. They evidently have no 
 pleasure in selling an article without first having a fight 
 about it. We had many instances of this, but none more 
 striking than that with a hawker, who had waited on a 
 gentleman at our lodgings with a bundle of those velvet 
 dressing-gowns, of which it is now the fashion for every 
 stranger to carry home some. After disposing of a few 
 of the larger ones, there was still question about a smaller 
 one, for which thirty roubles were asked, and twenty 
 offered. Day after day the Russian came to see whether 
 more would be given, but in vain ; the customer knew 
 that he had offered the full value, and would be sure to 
 get it at last. For a time the importunate merchant was 
 not seen ; but the very morning of the stranger's depar- 
 ture, the first man he saw in the street was his friend of 
 the dressing-gown, hastening, when he heard of the in- 
 tended flight, to offer him the disputed article at his 
 own, or at any price. The rule of the Russian merchant 
 is, never to lose a customer for the shame of being 
 thought a rogue : rather than let him go, he will give 
 the article for any thing that has been offered. At one 
 of the shops a pair of shoes, for which eleven roubles 
 were first asked, were finally given for three and a half. 
 
 Of all the surrounding bazaars in the vicinity of the 
 large one, the Marche mix poux) or Old-Clothes Market,
 
 166 RAG-FAIR OF ST. PETERSBURG. 
 
 is by far the most amusing. The ragged store displayed 
 here is as undefinable as the crowd. In no other part of 
 St. Petersburg have we seen so many women of the lower 
 classes assembled; some pricing a petticoat of ancient 
 date, some buying a gown with as many holes as spots, 
 and some carrying off a shift, of which one-half is bidding 
 adieu to the other. Here a posse of soldiers are holding 
 a council of war over a pair of superannuated trousers ; 
 a little farther on a poor bargeman is sighing over the 
 departed glories of a moth-eaten sheepskin. There is no 
 finery here. In the old-clothes marts of other capitals 
 many a gaudy sight may be seen — silks, ribbons, and 
 frippery, once as gay as life, which they now seem to 
 mock ; but, in the St. Petersburg fair, misery is misery : 
 it comes to this market in rags, undisguised, unpretend- 
 ing, and finds nothing but rags to cover it. 
 
 The market for old iron, near this, is also worthy of a 
 glance. Such a collection of rusty articles was never 
 made before, since iron was first dug from the mine ; old 
 nails, old screws, old hammers, hinges, anchors, — old 
 things of all kinds that ever iron was used for. The only 
 puzzle is to find names and uses for half of them. 
 
 But the reader must now be wearied of our walks 
 through St. Petersburg, and perhaps of the low company 
 we have been keeping. If he ask why we have all this 
 time said so little of the well-dressed throng, we would 
 tell him that the manners and appearance of the better 
 classes being now pretty much the same in every country, 
 he who would form a correct idea of the national cha- 
 racter of a people must, while amongst them, forsake at 
 times the drawing-rooms of the great, and visit the
 
 THE SUMMER GARDEN. 167 
 
 market, the workshop, the kennel, the place of every day 
 as well as that of holiday resort. Unless he follow this 
 plan, he might as well have stayed at home. Travelling 
 will teach him nothing new ; show him nothing to 
 remember. 
 
 To please the fastidious, however, we shall take a turn 
 as far as the celebrated Summer Garden. There is no 
 vulgarity here ; the ladies are all in satin shoes, and the 
 beaux in kid gloves. There are flowers to sweeten the 
 air after the musty places we have been in; long alleys 
 of trees to keep away the sun, and a goodly assemblage 
 of statues to honour us with their silent admiration. In 
 fact, for those who prefer such places to the haunts we 
 have been wandering through, this is a most appropriate 
 retreat. The handsome iron railing towards the river, 
 regarded as one of the finest things of the kind in Eu- 
 rope, most effectually excludes the vulgar. But, for our 
 own parts — there is no accounting for taste — in place of 
 sauntering through the throng of affectation and pretence 
 generally assembled here, we should prefer visiting these 
 gardens on the famous ffite of the 26th of May, — when 
 the girls of the middle classes are brought out to catch 
 husbands. 
 
 This is one of the most singular usages we have ever 
 met with. The Russians call it the Inspection or Show 
 of young Girls. Regularly as the first days of summer 
 return, all the young women who have not got husbands 
 are paraded here by their parents, each in her best dress 
 and best looks. Bachelors, young and old, enter the 
 alleys, with cautious step and anxious eye — glide in 
 silence through the files of beauty ranged thick on each
 
 168 RUSSIAN GIRL SHOW. 
 
 side — see some one whom they like better than others — 
 stand awhile — go away — come back — and take another 
 look ; then, if the honoured fair one still please, the 
 victim ends by making proposals. To whom ? To the 
 young lady to be sure, guesses some impatient youth — 
 but he guesses wrong. Such indelicacy is never heard of 
 in Russia. A man to make love for himself would be 
 contrary to nature ; that is, to Russian nature, which is 
 quite a different thing from human nature every where 
 else. It is to the parents, then, that he addresses him- 
 self? No such thing ! The unhappy reader is still wide 
 of the mark. They manage these things very differently 
 in Russia. A gentleman who intends taking a wife, em- 
 ploys some old hag from a class of women who live by 
 match-making. He tells her what funds he has, what 
 he is employed in, what he expects from his friends ; and, 
 naming the fair one whom his eyes have chosen, begs 
 that she will explain all these matters, not to her, but to 
 her family. This go-between, this most unclassical 
 Proxenete, whose wages are as regularly fixed as the 
 per-centages of a broker, enters on her mission in due 
 form. Explanations are given on both sides ; friends 
 are consulted; negotiations of the most formal nature 
 are carried on. Diplomacy is nothing to it. From un- 
 foreseen objections about prospects or dowry, the expla- 
 nations of the high contracting parties often become as 
 tedious as Belgian protocols. Months, in fact, may be 
 spent on these preliminaries ; but all this time the poor 
 damsel has had no voice in the matter. She has not 
 seen her intended; they have never met so long as to 
 whisper a stolen vow to each other. There will be time
 
 RUSSIAN WIVES. 169 
 
 enough for the unimportant process of becoming ac- 
 quainted, when their fate has been irrevocably fixed. 
 What have such silly considerations as like or dislike to 
 do with marriage ? In choosing a wife, it is a beast of 
 burden, a domestic drudge, that the Russian wants, not 
 a rational companion — an equal. Were he to consult 
 his affections in selecting his spouse, could he have the 
 pleasure of beating her whenever he feels inclined ? 
 
 Married women in the middle ranks appear to lead a 
 most listless existence. Without education, and, by the 
 jealous usages of the country, almost prohibited from 
 taking exercise, their chief occupation seems to consist in 
 leaning over the window all day long, with their elbows 
 resting on cushions, and sometimes a poodle dog on each 
 side. 
 
 We have now done with the vulgar of St. Petersburg. 
 The title of next chapter challenges the reader to higher 
 game. 
 
 VOL. I.
 
 170 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 THE HIGHER CLASSES— THEIR INCOMES AND MUNIFI- 
 CENCE—EMPEROR'S TREATMENT OF TRAVELLING 
 BEAUTIES— ABUSE OF SOME TITLES. 
 
 Witty account of the Russian capital — Difference between the Russian 
 and English nobility — A man valued by the number of his serfs — 
 Sources of income in Russia — Land — Manufactures — Mines — Flocks — 
 Large fortunes — The Cheremetieffs — Demidoffs, &c. — The Countess 
 
 R and her sheep — Extent of Russian properties — Compared with 
 
 that of a Scottish estate — The wealthy Count WoronzofF — His muni- 
 ficence — Anecdote of him — Nobles not allowed to spend too much of 
 their fortunes abroad — Russian ladies marrying foreigners — Intimacy 
 between Russian and English gentlemen — Style of dressing — Abuse of 
 the title of " Prince " — Hundreds bearing it — Abundance of "Ge- 
 nerals " — The apothecary made a general — Privileges of a uniform — 
 Use of epaulettes — Edinburgh archer — Disputes about precedence ren- 
 dered impossible. 
 
 P — l L n's saying about St. Petersburg is worthy 
 
 of being recorded. When asked what he thought of his 
 native capital, he replied, with true Russian contempt for 
 everything Russian, and with a depth of discrimination 
 worthy of one who had graduated in the Exclusive and 
 Brummell schools of England, " There are but two 
 places in the world where a man can live — London and 
 Paris. St. Petersburg is but a large country village." 
 
 This (though not quite new) was excellent, to be said 
 of a place with 400,000 inhabitants. But there was 
 (ruth as well as wit in the response of the youthful phi- 
 losopher. In spite of all its splendour and extent, St.
 
 RUSSIAN NOBLES. 171 
 
 Petersburg is but a village. Of mere bulk, wealth, 
 population, it has enough ; but it wants the indescribable 
 something which makes the capitals of France and 
 England the capitals also of the intellect and fashion of 
 Europe. 
 
 This assertion would be amply confirmed by a sketch 
 of the state of society here : but this task must be left to 
 more experienced pens ; we had neither time nor oppor- 
 tunity to become acquainted with more than its surface. 
 It is here proposed to mention merely a few general facts, 
 not so much with the view of giving a complete picture 
 of the better classes, as to show some of the differences 
 between them and those of England. 
 
 In England, a man's worth depends on the number of 
 pounds sterling which he has of yearly income ; but in 
 Russia, the question that decides the degree of estima- 
 tion in which a man shall be held, is, " How many 
 slaves have you?" The number of these once known, 
 the person's value is easily turned into money. Thus, in 
 ordinary hands, each peasant is worth so many roubles 
 a-year ; you have but to multiply by that standard, and 
 in a trice you have the annual income. There is always 
 a wide additional allowance made, however, above the 
 strict sum, on the complimentary supposition that the 
 party in question is skilful at grinding the poor wretches, 
 and so will extort a good deal more than an ordinary 
 person. Happy he, then, who can boast of his thou- 
 sands of slaves; he is the envied, the courted, the suc- 
 cessful ; while the man who has few is as little thought 
 of as a country curate or a younger son. " I have no 
 slaves," said a nobleman of our acquaintance, from the 
 
 i2
 
 172 CRITERION OF RESPECTABILITY. 
 
 German frontier, to a Russian prince, who had been 
 paying him great attention since his arrival in the capital ; 
 " slaves are unknown in my country." The look of con- 
 tempt from his interrogator could not have been more 
 cutting had he said, " I am a slave myself." From that 
 night he was never taken the least notice of by his 
 princely host. Who would ask to his balls or his din- 
 ners " a man of nothing," who not only had no slaves, 
 but also wanted tact to conceal his forlorn condition? 
 
 There are some families, such as the Cheremetieffs 
 and Stroganoffs, who possess between forty and fifty 
 thousand serfs. Cne hundred thousand is the largest 
 number we ever heard ascribed to one family. These, 
 however, are the most colossal fortunes. Even one thou- 
 sand is looked upon as a very respectable share ; the 
 man who can boast of this round number is somebody. 
 We never heard any estimate of the average value of 
 each slave, but were told that a household of the most 
 ordinary kind may bring about 100 roubles (4/.) a-year. 
 The household of a serf occupying a farm is of course 
 worth a great deal more to the proprietor : so that, taking 
 the average of the two classes of serfs together, the annual 
 worth of each family may be calculated at 5/. of our 
 money ; which, allowing six persons to each household, 
 and, consequently, dividing the whole population on his 
 estate by that number, would give the incomeof a noble- 
 man possessing one thousand serfs, as approaching to 
 840/. a-year. 
 
 In addition to their income from this source, many of 
 the wealthiest families possess large revenues from manu- 
 factories of various kinds. Not a few, also, draw im-
 
 tHE DEMIDOFFS. 173 
 
 mense sums from their mines. The name of Demidoff, 
 so long an object of interest to the travelling crowd in 
 Italy, will at once be recalled, in connexion with the 
 branch last named. This family is one of the newest in 
 the empire; little more than a hundred years ago its 
 founder was but a poor blacksmith. Peter the Great, 
 being highly pleased with some muskets, halberds, and 
 other weapons, which he had executed in a way very 
 superior to any which had hitherto been made in Russia, 
 gave his humble friend a grant of land near Moscow, 
 thereby enabling him to establish forges on an extensive 
 scale. These succeeded so well, that he soon after was 
 presented with large territories in Siberia, the iron and 
 other mines of which continue so productive, that the 
 family now enjoys revenues equal to those of the highest 
 among the English nobility. Their platina mines are 
 the most valuable known in the world. So abundantly 
 have jewels been found on some parts of their property, 
 that on the nights when the old count used to receive 
 company in Florence, it was no uncommon thing to see 
 gems on his tables to the value of 400,000/. 
 
 Some families in the south of Russia draw immense 
 
 revenues from their lands and flocks. The Countess 
 
 « 
 R , whose estates we traversed near Pultava, pos- 
 sesses 60,000 merino sheep, and 100,000 deciatiues of 
 land, which make about 270,000 imperial acres, or very 
 nearly the size of the county of Radnor (272,640 acres). 
 The countess has been long abroad, but has recently 
 got a hint (the emperor's hints are somewhat peremptory) 
 to return and look after her sheep. Large, however, as 
 her property is, it does not come near that of the terri-
 
 174 IMMENSE ESTATES. 
 
 tories of some of the Scottish nobility — for it would be 
 unjust to compare Russian estates with the compact and 
 highly-cultivated properties of English landowners. The 
 property of the Dukes of Gordon, for example, in the 
 counties of Banff, Moray, Aberdeen, and Inverness, 
 covered 422,000 acres, or 22,000 acres more than the 
 whole county of Hertford. If to this be added the estates 
 to which they succeeded on the Dee, they will be found 
 to have possessed in all considerably more than 550,000 
 acres, or three times the size of the county of Middlesex 
 (179,590 acres). The estates of the Duchess-Countess 
 of Sutherland, in Scotland, also surpass in extent those 
 of the great families of Russia. 
 
 While speaking of the more wealthy of the Russian 
 nobles, we must not omit Count WoronzofF, the most 
 popular man in Russia, and the master of revenues that 
 would entitle him to rank with some of the crowned 
 heads of Germany, his paternal income having been 
 greatly increased by the large fortune of his wife. At 
 Odessa, where he resides as governor of New Russia, he 
 maintains all the splendour, without the constraint, of a 
 court. When he visits the Crimea, he daily enter- 
 tains some hundreds at his table ; arid he is building a 
 palace near Sebastopol, which will cost 300,000/. 
 
 While he was commander of the Russian armies in 
 France, the officers, as Russian officers always do, lived 
 so extravagantly, that, when the army was about to be 
 withdrawn, bills were brought against them to a much 
 greater amount than they were able to discharge. The 
 count heard of the business ; but the sum was so great 
 that, it startled him. The honour of Russia, however,
 
 MUNIFICENT ACT. 175 
 
 was at stake : to leave a foreign country with such claims 
 unsatisfied would for ever stamp the national character 
 with infamy. There was no alternative but at once to 
 give an order on the military chest for the whole 
 amount. 
 
 He reached St. Petersburg, expecting a cordial re- 
 ception from Alexander and his ministers; but was dis- 
 appointed. For a lime there was nothing but coldness. 
 He had not yet seen the emperor; but at last was sent 
 for, and a hint given that he had exceeded his powers, 
 in making such an unprecedented use of the public 
 money. His answer was worthy of a Roman : " I 
 thought to please your majesty by saving the honour of 
 Russia: I calculated wrong; but atone for the error by 
 this scrap of paper. My banker will refund the whole 
 amount to the Minister of Finance." It was an order 
 for 50,000/. 
 
 A man capable of making such a sacrifice could not 
 long continue a favourite at court. His character, how- 
 ever, was too highly appreciated by the country at 
 large — and especially by the army — to enable the go- 
 vernment to dispense with him altogether. They were 
 at last compelled to give him carte blanche, in order to 
 keep his friendship ; and his answer was, that they must 
 either give him his present government or nothing. He 
 has since been offered that of Moscow, as of higher rank, 
 but declined it. 
 
 The character of the count is interesting to English- 
 men, from the circumstance that he is himself nearly 
 half English. Besides having a sister married to an 
 English nobleman, he spent the^ best part of his youth
 
 176 COUNT WORONZOFF. 
 
 amongst us, at one of our public schools ; and is thus as 
 well acquainted with England as any peer of the realm. 
 The conduct we have related does no discredit to his 
 training. 
 
 Another instance of his munificence occurred on a 
 more recent occasion. Knowing that the true way to 
 prevent peculation in government offices is to pay re- 
 spectably those employed in them, he annually distributes 
 the whole of his salary as Governor-General (50,000 
 roubles, or 2000/.) among the secretaries and clerks 
 employed under him. The count having had occasion 
 to visit England a few years since, a substitute was ap- 
 pointed till his return, who drew all the emoluments of 
 the office, but, being of limited fortune, was not able to 
 show the same liberality to his subordinates. This di- 
 minution of income occasioned great, embarrassment to 
 those: who had hitherto trusted to their patron's bounty ; 
 but no sooner did the count hear of the circumstance, 
 than he generously ordered that the usual amount should 
 be paid to each out of his private fortune, in order that 
 none connected with him might suffer even a temporary 
 inconvenience by his absence.* 
 
 The emperor takes good care, however, that the for- 
 tunes o f his subjects shall not be all spent abroad. No 
 
 * No one who knows anything of the beautiful "system" in Russia, 
 will be surprised to hear that, since the above remarks on Count Woron- 
 zoffs character were written, he has fallen under the emperor's dis- 
 pleasure, and is now on a visit in England. There are countries where 
 it is dangerous to be honest ! It also appears from statements in the 
 German newspapers, published while these pages are passing through 
 the press, that the whole of his secretaries and clerks have been dis- 
 missed from the public employment.
 
 NO ABSENTEEISM. 177 
 
 Russian is allowed to remain more than five years in 
 foreign countries ; — so that the empire does not suffer to 
 any perceptible extent from the system of absenteeism 
 which oppresses England. It is also free from another 
 English affliction : ladies of fortune are not allowed to 
 marry foreigners ; at least, if they do so, they must 
 bring their captive knights to live in Russia. This is 
 a practical lesson which we might take with much advan- 
 tage from that country. The Englishwomen whom we 
 see wedding themselves to misery in France and Italy 
 would be more cautious in their choice, were they com- 
 pelled to bring Monsieur Le Comte, or II Signor Mar- 
 chese, home amongst their English friends. They now 
 throw themselves away, on the principle that so long as 
 they remain among strangers, there is none to reproach 
 them with their folly ; and, when the worst comes, they 
 know that heart-break and shame will be less galling, 
 where no friend of happier years is by, to remind them of 
 what they were and might still have been. A little of the 
 Russian discipline would most effectually prevent all 
 this. 
 
 The gallant emperor, we have said, has too tender a 
 regard for his fair subjects to leave them entirely to their 
 own discretion ; and, as an example of it, we may state 
 
 that, the other day, when the wealthy Countess S 
 
 wished to give her hand to Prince Butera, a Neapolitan 
 nobleman, formerly well known as a member of the 
 diplomatic corps at Paris, the answer of her imperial 
 guardian was, " I have no objection to the match, but 
 the prince must live in Russia ;" — which his excellency 
 very wisely consented to do. The King of Naples has 
 
 i 3
 
 178 DRESS OF RUSSIANS. 
 
 also gained by the bargain ; the prince, in return for the 
 honour of being nominated his majesty's permanent am- 
 bassador, having agreed to discharge the duties of the 
 office without any salary. 
 
 It is a singular fact, that notwithstanding the extreme 
 difference between the institutions of Russia and those 
 of England, there are no foreigners with whom English- 
 men associate more cordially than with Russians. In 
 liberality, indifference about expense, and readiness to 
 make a sacrifice for their friend, they come nearer to 
 ourselves than any other of the continental nations. They 
 are the only body of men abroad to whom our term 
 " gentlemanly" can be applied. 
 
 Without diving for profound reasons to account for this 
 favourable feeling on the part of the English, we may 
 state one which, though by no means of a very deep 
 nature, is yet not without its weight with Englishmen — 
 namely, that, generally speaking, the Russian nobles 
 are the best-dressed men of the whole continent. The 
 Germans and French are over- dressed ; the Italians — 
 except the few who dance attendance on the English 
 families at Florence and Naples — don't dress at all ; but 
 the Russians keep a happy medium, dressing in a plain 
 manly style, like people of sense at home. Even the 
 clerks in public offices are noticeable in this respect. 
 
 Having fallen on the subject of dress, we. ought to 
 state, once for all, before leaving it, that the Russian 
 ladies wear the last month's Parisian fashions, but always 
 exaggerated. For instance, their bustles — or whatever 
 else those mysterious structures ought to be termed — are 
 large enough for camels to dance upon.
 
 A RUSSIAN PRINCE. 179 
 
 We were amused, and, at first, greatly puzzled, with 
 the frequency of the title of "prince.'' Every second 
 carriage we met was that of Prince somebody or other. 
 We soon began to find out, however, that to be a prince 
 here is no great distinction. Though many wealthy 
 people enjoy it, the title is often held by those who are 
 distinguished by little else than this " handle" to their 
 name. It is nothing more than the mistranslation of a 
 Tartar word. All who bear it are of that race, and it 
 is assumed by every member of any family in which it 
 has been transmitted. The original term was certainly 
 descriptive of some kind of rank, but had a meaning very 
 different from the idea we attach to its substitute. " To 
 be a prince in Russia," said a friend, " is scarcely reputa- 
 ble. For one rich man who bears the title, there are 
 thousands who have it in beggary. In some towns — 
 Odessa, for instance — you may see princes at every door, 
 without a rouble in their pockets." 
 
 In this way, one meets with twenty Prince M.'s and 
 Prince P.'s, before falling on the right one. " Prince 
 Galitzin is to be of the party where you dine to-night," 
 was an announcement which overjoyed us ; for we had 
 heard much of him many-a-day since in Paris, and anti- 
 cipated much information and pleasure from his com- 
 pany. But it was not the prince ; our prince turned out 
 to be an employe in some government office. 
 
 Owing, probably, to its vulgarity, "prince" is not 
 known as a title in the imperial family : the sons and 
 brothers of the emperor have the title of "grand-duke;" 
 which is the more distinguished, from the fact that here 
 no subject ever bears the title of " duke."
 
 180 RUSSIAN TITLES. 
 
 There is another distinction, however, whose frequency 
 puzzled us nearly as much as that now spoken of — that 
 of "general." We had heard several people, distin- 
 guished neither by warlike looks nor warlike dress, spoken 
 of as generals. One man, in particular, quite routed our 
 philosophy — a shabby little creature, with scarcely bone 
 enough to carry a sword, far less to wield it, was always 
 addressed as Monsieur le General ; but still, as the young 
 officers who were of the party treated him with very little 
 deference, we could reconcile neither his bearing nor 
 their conduct with our English ideas of the dignity to be 
 expected from a man addressed by such a high military 
 appellation, and of the respect due to him from juniors 
 in the service. At length the mystery was cleared up : 
 the poor old man was a director of some theatre, and held 
 the title by gift of the emperor, as many do without ever 
 having been in the army. If we mistake not, it may be 
 purchased ; at all events it is lavished in a way which 
 makes it perfectly worthless when not coupled with mili- 
 tary rank. We heard of an apothecary who is a general ; 
 and, for all we know to the contrary, the empress's man- 
 midwife may be a lieutenant-colonel. In short, these 
 military honours are distributed with, a freedom truly 
 ridiculous. Russians themselves smile at it. Amonn 
 the lower orders, however, these things, with their accom- 
 panying ribbons, excite great awe. 
 
 This circumstance, of military rank commanding so 
 much reverence, will explain why a penniless lieutenant, 
 with nothing but his epaulettes, will get horses at the 
 post when he is travelling, without a moment's delay, 
 when a merchant who has thousands must wait for hours.
 
 RESPECT FOR THE MILITARY. 181 
 
 The respect paid to a uniform is, in fact, so great, that 
 we have heard of travellers pinning a bunch of gold-lace 
 to their shoulders, in order to strike awe into the post- 
 masters and servants, the latter of whom are kicked and 
 driven about in grand style by the gentlemen in real 
 military dress. Some foreigners have found it advisable 
 to sport epaulettes even in the capital, as well as in tra- 
 velling. A gentleman who was connected with the 
 English embassy, during our visit to St. Petersburg, 
 rinding that, in his visits with Lord Durham to the camp, 
 he was sometimes treated with less respect than others of 
 his standing, began to meditate how he might best re- 
 medy the evil. His case seemed a desperate one, for he 
 had never served even in the militia, as other diplomatists 
 have done, nor could he assume the handsome uniform 
 of deputy-lieutenant. But at length he happily bethought 
 himself that he was a member of the Scottish Archers' 
 Club, whose uniform, with a little aid from lace, &c, can 
 be made warlike enough to impose on a Russian sentinel 
 This accordingly he resolved to sporl, and ever after, on 
 public occasions, in going to court or camp, it procured 
 him all the honours of a British general. 
 
 To the first class of nobility very few belong ; perhaps 
 only two, one of whom is Prince Paskevitch, who hum- 
 bled the Persians, and is now helping to keep the Poles 
 enslaved. Very singularly, some of the orders have no 
 members : thus, of the eleventh and thirteenth, none are 
 alive. Though titles are hereditary, there is no rank, 
 except what the emperor confers. A man may be prince 
 or count by birth, yet a general of the emperor's creation 
 takes precedence before him : he has a title, but no rank.
 
 182 PRECEDENCE SETTLED — PRIVILEGES. 
 
 The classes of nobility in Russia are singularly numerous 
 — in all, fourteen ! 
 
 At one time, the Russian nobles were exposed to con- 
 tinual feuds among themselves, about place, precedence, 
 &c, in consequence of some ancient usages comprehended 
 under the general name of mestnichestvo, " placeship ;" 
 but the Tzar Fcedor Alexeievitch (who possessed such 
 extraordinary talents for governing, that, had he lived, 
 he might have done even greater things for Russia than 
 his brother and successor, Peter the Great), put an end to 
 these disputes by a very ingenious and summary pro- 
 ceeding. Having assembled all the nobles and boyars at 
 Moscow, he made an harangue, setting forth the evils 
 that had arisen to the empire from their dangerous 
 quarrels ; he then committed to the flames, in their pre- 
 sence, the whole of the razriad, or " arrangement," 
 which was a roll containing the titles and facts on which 
 each family founded its pretensions. It was impossible 
 for them to fight about claims of which no evidence was 
 any longer in existence. Before this time, no member of 
 an ancient family could be put under the command of 
 one belonging to a family which stood lower on the roll ; 
 but now all the nobles are equal, none 'having any privi- 
 leges beyond those which are common to the whole 
 order.
 
 183 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 AMUSEMENTS OF THE NOBLES— PASSION FOR TRAVEL 
 —TASTE FOR LANGUAGES. 
 
 Russians seldom ride — Rural sports unknown — Fond of gambling — 
 The theatre — The emperor and his dancers — Passion for travel — Dif- 
 ference between English and Russian travellers — English travelling 
 inconsistencies — Russians not devoid of patriotism — Their quickness 
 in acquiring languages — Apathy of the English in this study — The 
 Englishman and his Italian master — His German professor — Russians 
 very attentive to their native tongue. 
 
 The Russian nobility have none of that taste for out- 
 of-door exercises which constitute so large a share of 
 the amusements of the higher classes in England. In 
 winter they have abundance of sledge- driving ; but in 
 summer, if they come out at all, it is in their carriages. 
 We saw only one lady on horseback all the time we were 
 here ; and even the gentlemen are rarely seen riding, 
 compared with those of other countries. In little Berlin, 
 where the passion for this kind of exercise is carried far- 
 ther than in any other continental capital, more fine 
 riding-horses may be seen in a day than the large St. 
 Petersburg will turn out in a week. We scarcely recol- 
 lect seeing so much as a servant mounted during the 
 whole of our journey in the interior, and certainly not 
 one gentleman after leaving Moscow. 
 
 Rural sports are unknown. They wonder what pleasure 
 a nobleman can have in trudging out to shoot partridges,
 
 184 AMUSEMENTS OF 
 
 or stalk red-deer. They leave such pursuits to the men 
 whom they can scourge if the larder be ill-supplied. In 
 fact, u country amusements " — a phrase which calls up 
 so many delightful images to the Englishman — has no 
 place in the Russian vocabulary. 
 
 The want of all taste of this kind accounts for many 
 peculiarities in the character and habits of the Russians. 
 Having no occupations of an active kind, they fill up 
 their time with sensual and pernicious amusements. In- 
 stead of spending their forenoons among books, in the 
 fields, or in visiting their neighbours, they waste day 
 after day in gambling. This vice is fatal to many of 
 them. Nowhere does it exist in such violence, or to 
 such a ruinous extent, as here. In the army, officers 
 make it almost their constant occupation. Even in other 
 countries a Russian may always be recognised by his 
 passion for play. 
 
 The drama is in great favour with the higher ranks, 
 as is well shown by the many large and handsome 
 theatres scattered through the capital. The opera, both 
 Italian and German, is always well frequented. The 
 ballet corps is said to be scarcely inferior to that of 
 Vienna. We mention these things, however, chiefly as 
 giving an opportunity for reminding the reader that, in 
 foreign countries, such frivolities are looked upon as mat- 
 ters of the very utmost importance. In England, happily, 
 they are left to the few ; on the continent they engross 
 the thoughts and the time of all. Even the old king of 
 Prussia occupies himself about the movements of a 
 ballet as anxiously as about those of an army; and, will 
 it be believed that here the emperor, who finds time for
 
 THE RUSSIAN NOBLES. 
 
 185 
 
 everything, has actually been at immense pains in drilling 
 the public dancers, — having condescended to give in- 
 structions himself to the leaders of the female regiment 
 in the Revolt of the Seraglio. He is frequently behind 
 the scenes, and always visits the stage between the acts. 
 
 The larger theatres being shut for repairs, as twenty 
 other places were, during the greater part of our stay 
 we had no opportunity of seeing any but the Michael- 
 ofski theatre, which is quite new, and one of the hand- 
 somest theatres we have ever seen. The arrangement is 
 entirely different from that of all other similar places that 
 we are acquainted with ; the greater part of the pit being 
 occupied by rows of handsome arm-chairs, while a few 
 ranges of seats, covered with red velvet cushions, sweep 
 round the edge. The whole is so clean and well-ar- 
 ranged that the pit looks more like a private drawing- 
 room than a place of indiscriminate resort. Part of the 
 conduct of the audience, however, did not exactly accord 
 with our ideas of drawing-room behaviour : we allude to 
 the proceedings of the young officers present, who amused 
 us by the assiduity which they displayed in dressing 
 their hair before the audience; each, on entering, took 
 out his pocket-comb, and plied it most vigorously.* 
 
 There are so few associations of a pleasant or romantic 
 nature to link Russians with home, that we cannot wonder 
 
 * Admission to these places is so dear that none but respectable people 
 can attend. A ticket to the boxes at the summer French theatre, in the 
 Kammenno'i-Ostroff, costs 30 roubles (near 25 shillings) ; and at the 
 Alexandra theatre, which was open before we left, the prices are said to 
 be as long as the title of the Koniglich-grossbritlanisch-Hannoverische 
 Kammersdngerin who was delighting the public as the Countess, in 
 Mo z art's Marriage of Figaro. v
 
 186 MANIA FOR TRAVELLING. 
 
 at the great love which they have for foreign travel. 
 Three months of sunshine to nine of snow would justify 
 any man for longing after other lands. Let a Russian 
 wander where he may, every change is for the better. 
 
 The English have the travelling mania as well as the 
 Russians : yet in nothing is the difference between their 
 characters more strikingly seen than in this point of 
 seeming resemblance ; for no two nations differ more 
 widely in their conduct when abroad. The Russian 
 travels to forget, the Englishman to be reminded of, his 
 native country. At every step the Russian finds some- 
 thing better than in Russia : the Englishman, at every 
 hour, meets something which he pronounces worse than 
 ever was seen in England. The Russian courts the 
 society of foreigners, and for the moment adopts entirely 
 the manners of the country he is in : an Englishman fre- 
 quents only his own countrymen, and prides himself in 
 keeping up his national habits. The Russian is de- 
 lighted with all he sees — has never beheld anything equal 
 to it : an Englishman abuses all that, surrounds him in 
 his new element ; — scenery, palaces, women, — earth, and 
 sky, — are nothing to those at home. 
 
 " How delightful this French cooking is ! " exclaims 
 the long-named fur-merchant who never left the Neva 
 before. "Who would live in a country where a man 
 can't get even a slice of decent toast . ?" says plain John 
 from Whitechapel. 
 
 " What charming things these French beds are !" 
 sighs the one. "What monsters!" roars the other: 
 *' they actually are not ashamed to say that they never 
 saw a four-posted bed in their lives ! I've slept all my
 
 CONTRASTS. 187 
 
 life in a four-posted bed, and shan't at this time o' day 
 put my head into a cat's cradle to please any man. Mind, 
 landlord, I'm off — I won't stay another night in your 
 house unless you get a f-o-u-r-post bed." 
 
 Or, taking a higher sphere of society : " What a de- 
 lightful place this Paris is !" says my lady countess : 
 " what gloves, what lace, what everything compared with 
 our vile St. Petersburg !" " It is impossible to live in this 
 horrid France !" exclaims her English friend : " I'm quite 
 sure they send all their good gloves and slippers to 
 London, for here I never get one to stay on — they can't 
 so much as make a pin that will hold five minutes !" 
 
 A Russian surrounds himself with everything that 
 can make him forget home : an Englishman is miserable 
 unless everything about him be from his own country. 
 English politics, English fashions, English quarrels, and 
 English scandal, are as abundant in the Cascine at Flo- 
 rence as in the Pump-room at Bath. The Englishman 
 literally " drags at each remove a lengthening chain ;" 
 the farther away from his home, the more he thinks of 
 it : but his northern friend never recalls his, except as 
 the country whence he derives his income, till the em- 
 peror's order too significantly admonishes him that he is 
 a Russian. In all this he deserves at least the palm of 
 consistency : he spends as much as possible of his time 
 abroad, because he thinks every country better than 
 Russia. The Englishman also stays years away, but all 
 the time his heart is in England — there is no land like his 
 own. 
 
 On this head, it will be seen, we differ entirely from 
 the gallant marquis who has lately favoured the public
 
 188 LORD LONDONDERRY. 
 
 with his interesting " Recollections of a Tour in the North 
 of Europe." He therein states that all with whom he 
 conversed appeared to " have a very great disinclination to 
 the conquest of new dominions ;" and from thence infers, 
 that it is unjust to accuse the nobles of being so pas- 
 sionately fond of other countries. But was his lordship — 
 the feted of the court, the friend of the emperor — in the 
 best position for hearing the real sentiments of those with 
 whom he mingled? The Russian nobles know when to 
 speak and when to hold their tongue. They have more 
 tact than to have rudely disturbed the noble stranger's 
 dream of admiration. It would soon be seen that the 
 emperor had resolved to send his English guest away 
 with the most favourable impression of all things Russian ; 
 and every courtier would therefore vie with his neighbour 
 in the struggle who should best deserve the emperor's 
 smiles. Not one murmur against the existing order of 
 things — not even one little sigh for a more genial clime, 
 would be heard from the well -disciplined throng that 
 fluttered around him. Plain-speaking has never been 
 proverbial for haunting courts ; and of all the courts in 
 Europe, that of St. Petersburg is the last where it will 
 seek to intrude. 
 
 In making these remarks it is by no means intended 
 to throw any suspicion on the fidelity of the Marquis of 
 Londonderry's statements. On the contrary, we are per- 
 suaded that he has most faithfully represented all that 
 came under his notice. What we mean is, that he was 
 in the very worst possible position for learning the real 
 state of public opinion among the nobles. His intimacy 
 with the emperor, we repeat, would of itself be sufficient
 
 CONTRAST. 189 
 
 to give a false tone to the representations of all who opened 
 their lips to him. 
 
 Let it not be thought, however, that we accuse the 
 Russians of want of patriotism. It is what we may term 
 the physical disadvantages of Russia that make them 
 roam so fondly to more favoured climes. Their affec- 
 tion for their country may not be of the same warm kind 
 as ours, but that they have patriotism, in the truest sense 
 of the word, was well manifested at the time of Napo- 
 leon's invasion. In other parts of Europe he too often 
 found willing tools among the native nobles. In Ger- 
 many, how many were forward to betray their country — 
 how readily did the needy flock round him ! But it 
 should for ever be remembered, to the honour of the Rus- 
 sians, that when the conqueror of Europe came amongst 
 them, not one joined him, or bade him welcome. 
 
 But, to resume our contrast. An Englishman looks 
 forward to travelling, if he think of it at all, as something 
 he must go through some day or other, not from choice, 
 but from necessity — the dire necessity, namely, of being 
 like other people. If it were not the fashion, the great 
 mass of our wandering countrymen would stay at home. 
 Not so with the Russian : from the first hour that he can 
 think for himself, a journey abroad is the great theme of 
 his thoughts. His early life is a constant course of pre- 
 paration for it. He begins with languages, and having 
 his heart in the study, advances to a proficiency truly 
 surprising. The young Russian knows what he is to do 
 with his French or Italian, and therefore acquires them 
 rapidly : an Englishman sees no advantage in such ac- 
 quirements; cannot imagine what possible use there is in
 
 190 ENGLISH ABROAD. 
 
 tormenting himself with any modern tongue but his own, 
 and therefore never retains what his master attempts to 
 cram him with. When reminded that foreign languages, 
 if they gain no other advantage, will at least be useful in 
 foreign countries, he replies that it will be time enough 
 to think of them when the evil is unavoidable — that is, 
 when actually in those countries. But before he has 
 made up his mind to go abroad, he is too old, or too in- 
 dolent, to learn one word of a new tongue. It is there- 
 fore the rarest thing possible to meet an Englishman who 
 can speak a foreign language decently : his courier saves 
 him the trouble ; picking his pocket, too, so politely, that 
 he is in perfect amazement at '* that man's economy." 
 
 The aversion of the English to study foreign languages, 
 even when abroad, is now so well known in every country 
 they go to, that each nation has some standing joke 
 against us on the subject. The people of Rome, for in- 
 stance, take great delight in telling of an Englishman who 
 hired a master to teach him Italian, but soon found it so 
 troublesome, that he always took care not to be out of 
 bed when the punctual professor came at ten for the 
 lesson, and never acquired more of the language than 
 just enough to be able to drawl from his pillow, " Doppo- 
 domani, alle undeci" " The day after to-morrow, at 
 eleven ;" which was sure to be repeated every time the 
 intrusive tap was heard. 
 
 The Germans improve on this, or at least on a fact 
 which actually happened to an accomplished theologian, 
 now filling one of the highest chairs in Prussia. A 
 young Englishman of fortune, staying at Berlin, engaged 
 him for lessons in German. For a day or two a yawn-
 
 HOW TO LEARN GERMAN. 191 
 
 irtg attention was paid to the matter in hand ; but the 
 lessons soon improved into breakfasts " Cutlets and 
 champagne to-day, Herr Professor," said the noble stu- 
 dent, " provided :" the provision was, that he 
 
 should not speak one word about German, nor in Ger- 
 man. With a willing scholar, the Germans are the best 
 language-masters in the world ; but, with such a learner 
 as this, and too many of our travellers are like him, who 
 could blame the professor for doing as most of his 
 countrymen do when they get hold of an English pupil — 
 making him teach English, in place of learning Ger- 
 man? 
 
 To this English indolence in acquiring foreign tongues 
 the Russians furnish a most complete contrast. They 
 have been always famed for their facility in acquiring 
 these ; but we should think the secret lies fully as much 
 in their methodical way of study as in any superiority of 
 mental endowments. The Englishman is by nature as 
 highly gifted as the Russian : when he applies himself 
 seriously to any language, there are few can keep pace 
 with him. He may not pronounce so well as some 
 foreigners, but he masters not only the vocabulary, but 
 the spirit, of a language more thoroughly than any com- 
 petitor that can enter the field with him. Foreign lan- 
 guages and foreign literature are much more accurately 
 appreciated by English writers than ours are by fo- 
 reigners. The number of English, however, who take this 
 trouble is so small, that foreigners carry off all the merit 
 as linguists ; and none deserve a larger share of it than 
 the Russians. The fact is, they begin at a very early 
 age : it is no uncommon thing to find children at eight
 
 192 RUSSIAN LINGUISTS. 
 
 conversing in French, German, and Italian, with great 
 fluency. As soon as they are able to speak, they are 
 placed under foreign governesses, generally natives 
 of Switzerland or Germany, and sometimes of France. 
 With these, and with their parents, they speak fo- 
 reign languages ; with servants, they employ Russian. 
 In some families, tutors from England may now be met 
 with. But even in families which cannot go to the ex- 
 pense of employing foreigners, several languages are 
 spoken by the children. They learn them at school ; 
 French and German being as much used as Russian in 
 all respectable places of education. 
 
 Nor are the Russians distinguished merely by the 
 number of languages which they possess: they are re- 
 markable also for the correctness with which they pro- 
 nounce every foreign tongue. Their own impracticable 
 alphabet is of great use in this respect. Those who can 
 pronounce the elementary sounds of Russian have already 
 got. over all the difficulties and delicacies in the pro- 
 nunciation of every other European tongue. 
 
 Before leaving this subject, it may be mentioned that 
 it is a mistake to suppose, as is generally done, that the 
 Russians pay no attention to their own language. On 
 the contrary, every person of rank not only learns his 
 native tongue, when young, but continues to study it 
 afterwards. He applies himself to it much more care- 
 fully than we do to ours. The fact of its not being yet 
 in a state which would entitle it to be called a. fixed lan- 
 guage, renders its study very difficult even to them.
 
 193 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 STYLE OF LIVING AMONG THE NOBLES. 
 
 Splendid mansions — Style of entertaining — March of French cookery- 
 Arrangements of the table — Simplicity — Feast of flowers — Names of 
 guests — Domestic unhappiness — Mercenary marriages — Russian love- 
 making — Costly feasts. 
 
 Many of the wealthiest of the Russian nobles reside 
 constantly at Moscow ; but the more ambitious are, of 
 course, attracted to St. Petersburg by the court. Their 
 mansions are large and splendid. Their style of living, 
 in the capital, greatly resembles that of the higher ranks 
 in other parts of Europe. In summer, however, they are 
 not seen to advantage, many being absent on their 
 estates. They have at all times been celebrated for their 
 hospitality to strangers ; and, as we have already said, 
 still deserve the character. 
 
 Their entertainments, however, are no longer on the 
 rude scale of indiscriminate hospitality described by some 
 travellers. Extravagant feasts are still given, as will be 
 mentioned below; but it is more from their costliness, 
 than by the number of guests invited, that they deserve 
 to be thus characterized. So far as we had any oppor- 
 tunity of judging, the dinner at the table of a Russian 
 nobleman is now little different from that of a nobleman 
 in any other country. French cookery, like the French 
 language, is fast overrunning ^the earth, levelling all 
 
 VOL. I. K
 
 194 STYLE OF LIVING. 
 
 national distinctions, and, doubtless, destroying all na- 
 tional prejudices. The professors of this popular branch 
 of science are to be met with everywhere ; everywhere, 
 too, are their labours in behalf of humanity munificently 
 rewarded. A chef-de-cuisine, who leaves Paris on the 
 top of the Diligence, with nothing but his nightcap and 
 saucepans, rolls back from Russia, as from England, in 
 his own carriage, loaded with the tribute of grateful 
 nations. 
 
 It may not be below the dignity of travellers to record 
 that we were struck with the extreme elegance of some 
 of the Russian tables. Those who think that good taste 
 is better displayed by simplicity than by profusion, in- 
 stead of making the board groan beneath a load of 
 vulgar eatables, have adopted the French method, which 
 is spreading among ourselves, of having all large dishes 
 carved at the sideboard : thus leaving the dinner-table 
 free for a tasteful display of fruit, in gold baskets, and 
 vases of rich workmanship, intermixed with costly ice- 
 pails and bouquets of roses. To prevent the starving 
 guest from supposing that he is to dine on perfumes 
 altogether, the soup — with which pates are generally 
 handed round — is placed before the lady of the house ; 
 but no ^ther dish is put on the table till the fish appears 
 — which is at a much later stage of the dinner than 
 English taste would approve. On the same principle of 
 keeping the grosser operations connected with the table 
 as much out of the way as possible, many have the 
 kitchen detached from the mansion, there being merely 
 a range of stoves near the servant's door of the dining- 
 room, for keeping the dishes warm.
 
 RUSSIAN DINNERS. 195 
 
 Some families have adopted the fashion of marking 
 the place each guest is to occupy at table with a slip of 
 paper bearing his name laid on the destined plate. This 
 practice, which is seldom seen elsewhere — except in Ger- 
 many, at fashionable (!) three o'clock dinners, or formal 
 supper parties, to which the old school still adhere — has 
 nothing to recommend it. In place of the delightful ease 
 of an English dinner-table, where every one drops into 
 his place without the aid of the drill-sergeant, the guest 
 has to hunt about for his name, and, after all, may have 
 the pleasure of being danced half-a-dozen seats down by 
 a footman telling you that this is not your name, and 
 then danced back again with the assurance that it is your 
 name — the soup cooling all this time to a jelly, and 
 those you wished to sit beside exiled to Siberian 
 distance. 
 
 Wines are dealt with pretty much as in England : the 
 plainer ones on the table, to which the guests may help 
 themselves; the finer brought round by the butler, when 
 the host has invited you to join him. The old English 
 privilege, now disappearing even in England, of asking 
 ladies to take wine, is as much unknown in Russia, as in 
 other parts of the continent. Drinking after dinner, 
 except in bachelor parties, is happily unknown ; both 
 gentlemen and ladies escaping to the drawing-room as 
 soon as coffee has been handed round. 
 
 With all his wealth, however — with all his passion for 
 travelling, all his taste for languages, and all the elegance 
 of his table — the Russian noble is still but half-civilized.* 
 
 * We have seen this term applied by^an able writer in Blackwood to 
 the Danes, Norwegians, and Swedes : but surely with little justice. These 
 
 k2
 
 196 RUSSIAN WIVES. 
 
 Such, at least is the opinion of those who know him best. 
 He puts on the dress and learns the manners of other 
 European nations, but is infinitely behind them in all the 
 qualities that constitute real refinement. This sentence 
 may appear a harsh one, but it was still more harsh as 
 expressed to us by a gentleman who had studied them 
 for years. "The Russian," said he, "has but the exte- 
 rior of a civilized man : in heart he is both brutal and 
 cruel — devoid of delicacy and feeling. Before strangers, 
 he is smooth and plausible ; in the bosom of his family, 
 he is rough and tyrannical. For instance — the kindness 
 and affection which a wife expects, and is entitled to, are 
 seldom rendered by a Russian spouse. He treats her 
 well before the world, because otherwise he would be re- 
 minding people that he is a Russian; but in private, 
 harsh words — ay, and harsher blows — are often inflicted 
 on his helpless mate." 
 
 Of the real truth of this charge no stranger can know 
 much ; but we heard from a Russian himself, that he 
 knew the practice of beating their wives to be extremely 
 common among people of rank : while a foreign lady, 
 who has been in the country, says, " that she suspected 
 it in many cases, and knew that it was^done, and cruelly, 
 in several; one victim, of high rank, having often bared 
 her arm and shoulder to show the too obvious marks of 
 her husband's ferocity." 
 
 nations are as much entitled to be called "civilized" as ourselves. Of 
 wealth, indeed, they have less than the English ; but of free institu- 
 tions, though differently modified, they can boast as well as England : 
 while of education, taking the whole population, they display even a 
 higher average than ourselves ; and these certainly are good titles to all 
 the honours of civilization, even when wealth is deficient.
 
 RUSSIAN LOVERS. 197 
 
 These remarks, of course, apply only to a class of 
 families who seldom visit foreign countries. The Russian 
 families whom we see gracing the courts of London and 
 Paris, it should be known, are in every way exceptions to 
 the great mass of the Russian nobility. They are the 
 elite of the empire. Few travel, or are sent on diplo- 
 matic missions, except such as are distinguished by 
 elegance of manners, as well as rank, and, above all, by 
 self-command : in short, such as are most like the better 
 classes of the rest of Europe, and consequently most 
 unlike the bulk of their fellow nobles. 
 
 The mercenary, heartless way in which marriages are 
 arranged among the great may account for their domestic 
 unhappiness. " A lover in Russia," said a Livonian 
 nobleman, " must proceed very differently from what he 
 would in Germany. A German maiden is to be won 
 only through her heart : here this antiquated method 
 would never do — for the excellent reason that a Russian 
 woman has no heart. The admiring swain must address 
 himself to her vanity, her envy, her desire to shine in 
 society. She is as incapable of loving as her husband. 
 In fact, the passion of love, about which German and 
 English novelists have blotted so much paper, is here 
 altogether unknown. People marry solely for conveni- 
 ence — because their parents are pleased, their estates lie 
 near each other, or their fortunes are suitable." 
 
 If this representation be true, who will wonder to hear 
 of unhappy marriages, separations, and all their melan- 
 choly consequences ? The transfer of a spouse by a 
 husband of high rank seems to be not unknown. A 
 wealthy widow, whose name is familiar in the fashionable
 
 198 TRANSFER OF WIVES EXTRAVAGANCE. 
 
 circles of western Europe, was originally married to one 
 
 of the G family. But the second husband having 
 
 offered her first lord 50,000 roubles (2000/.) to give her 
 up, the transfer was speedily and amicably accomplished. 
 Decency required a short retirement from the world, but, 
 in due time, the lady appeared as the wife of one of the 
 most powerful of the Russian nobles. 
 
 That their civilization is but half completed, is also 
 proved by the tasteless splendour of the entertainments 
 in which many indulge. They are not contented with 
 what nature can furnish, but they must oppose nature. 
 The finest fruits at the proper seasons are not enough 
 for them : some display the rarest delicacies of the stove 
 and the garden, in the months when art must help the 
 season. Great sums are expended on hothouses, in order 
 to produce grapes and other unseasonable rarities in 
 winter. Cherries are to be seen at table in the month of 
 
 February, at a guinea apiece. Prince P , who used 
 
 to spend 1300/. on a single entertainment, was in the 
 habit of surpassing this cherry-fete, by displaying plums, 
 peaches, and apricots, at the expense of a couple of 
 guineas for each piece. Little wonder, then, that he 
 has now got rid of his troublesome wealth !
 
 199 
 
 CHAPTER XIX 
 
 NATIONAL DISHES. 
 
 Expensive fish — The sterlet — Foreign wines — Russian wines of the Don, 
 the Crimea, &c. — Kvass, the national beverage — Vodki — Delicious tea 
 — The horrors of eating Batinia — Buckwheat pudding — Russian broth 
 — Hospitable matrons — Mushrooms — Their abundance and safety — 
 Our poisonous kinds eaten in Russia — Mode of cooking — Suggestions 
 — Is tallow eaten by the Russians ? — Tschi, or cabbage-soup — Sniatky. 
 
 At the close of the last chapter, the extravagance of 
 the Russian nobles was referred to; and now, as speci- 
 mens of it, we may mention a few of the favourite, and 
 truly very expensive, dishes seen at their tables. 
 
 To begin with their favourite dish, the Sterlet 
 (Sturio ruthenus). For one of these, not much larger 
 than a good salmon, a nobleman, or even a merchant, 
 when he is giving a feast at his daughter's marriage, has 
 been known to pay as much as twelve hundred roubles 
 (50/.) ; three and four hundred roubles are not un- 
 common prices. On tasting this delicacy, we by no 
 means found it so exquisite as to justify this enormous 
 price. It is a white fish, with a taste something between 
 salmon and turbot, but not as good as either. It is 
 generally served up whole, dressed with mushrooms and 
 olives. The value would appear to be enhanced in some 
 way or other not explained to us — probably by the 
 expense of transporting them alive, for they are sold
 
 200 
 
 EXPENSIVE FISH. 
 
 very cheap at the plaees where they are caught. They 
 are very abundant in the Volga. The sea of Azoff also 
 teems with them, and even in the Black Sea they are so 
 abundant, that at Odessa they may be had for a shilling 
 apiece. Some years they would appear to be dearer 
 than others in the capital ; for of the two which we saw 
 alive in a tank in the Neva, the larger, about the size of 
 a salmon in its first year, was offered for 175 roubles 
 {7L), and the smaller, like a sea-trout, for 75 roubles 
 (3/.) This was called uncommonly cheap, but seven 
 pounds sterling, for eight or nine pounds of fish, was no 
 bad price. It seems to be a very lively fish. The back 
 and head, which are nearly black, are covered with 
 diamond-shaped spots, the corners of which consist* of 
 hard prominent points. 
 
 The extravagance of the Russians in regard to wines 
 is also worthy of remark. Their own country produces 
 wine, but it is a rule with a Russian to care for nothing 
 that, can be got at home. You almost insult him to ask 
 for a bottle of the wine of the Crimea, were it only to be 
 able to say that you had drunk Russian wine in Russia. 
 The government has been at great pains to encourage 
 the culture of the vine in the South, -but as yet with no 
 decided success. Some of the wines of the Crimea are 
 very tolerable, but the greater part of them are little 
 better than red ink, with plenty of sugar in it. • 
 
 In general they use nothing but French wines, and 
 these of the most expensive quality: their predilection 
 for champagne is well known. At home or abroad, the 
 Russian is steady in his affection for this beverage: it is 
 the only one which he seems to think fit for rational beings.
 
 RUSSIAN WINES. 201 
 
 Of the whole quantity annually exported from the de- 
 partments of the Marne, Ardennes, &c, the Russians 
 take 400,000 bottles ;— which is only 6000 less than the 
 quantity taken by England and her colonies, east and 
 west. Yet, even after allowing Russia this fair proportion 
 of the genuine wine, it remains a mystery where the rest 
 can come from ; a mystery which the wine-merchants 
 alone can solve. As to its being genuine, the French 
 song merrily settles the question, when it tells us that 
 this precious wine has the power of multiplying itself; 
 for, besides what is used in France and other parts of 
 the world, there is much more of it drunk in Russia alone 
 than ever grew in Champagne. 
 
 Nowhere are wines seen in greater perfection than at 
 the house of a wealthy merchant. His rule when he 
 gives a feast, especially if he live in the provinces, is to 
 have part of every thing costly. Port, Sauterne, Cham- 
 pagne, gin, English porter, all follow each other in 
 indiscriminating confusion, till the hospitable mistress of 
 the feast puts an end to the dinner, by handing to each 
 guest a glass of brandy, upon which you kiss her hand, 
 and she salutes your cheek. 
 
 The wines of the Don still keep their ground against 
 those of the Crimea : one kind, resembling Champagne, 
 is excellent. Those called Stanitze and Zimlyanskoye 
 come very near Burgundy, both in colour and flavour ; 
 but the greatest favourite of all is the Vinomarozka, or 
 frozen wine, made by mixing wine and brandy with the 
 juice of berries peculiar to the districts about the mouth of 
 the Don. The cultivation of the vine began there as long 
 ago as Peter the Great's time; but of late more atten- 
 
 k3
 
 202 RUSSIAN KVASS. 
 
 tion has been paid to it than formerly, government hav- 
 ing ordered experiments to be made in the south, on no 
 less than several hundred kinds of vine-slips from all 
 parts of the world. Russians are also sent to study the 
 art of cultivating the vine, in the best wine districts of 
 France. 
 
 With all their partiality, however, for imported luxu- 
 ries, there is another home-made liquor for which no- 
 thing can shake their love ; and that is their Kvass. In 
 vain have the English tempted them by establishing 
 breweries for ale. Excellent though the ale be, — and it 
 is the best we ever tasted out of England, — the Russians 
 still keep by their national drink. The kvass is the 
 thinnest, sourest, queerest kind of stuff ever concocted; 
 yet the Russian could not live without it. It is patron- 
 ized by all ranks and all denominations. There is a 
 vessel of it in every peasant's hut, from which the family 
 are sipping the whole day long ; and you find it in 
 bottles, on the same table with champagne. We met 
 with it even in the public prisons ; a large tin vessel full of 
 it, with a jug beside, being placed in every common room, 
 for the prisoners to drink of at pleasure. The keepers 
 told us they might as well deprive them of air at once as 
 rob them of their kvass. It is made from rye boiled in 
 a large quantity of water, which being afterwards fer- 
 mented, acquires a sourish taste, far from disagree- 
 able, and most effectual in allaying thirst. It is of a 
 yellowish colour, not unlike the barley-water of the 
 sick-room. There is a dear kind of it, sold in bottles at 
 (\<l. each, called white kvass, which is exceedingly good 
 and brisk.
 
 SOBRIETY OF THE RUSSIAN NOBLES. 203 
 
 The Vodki, or brandy, in which the poor Russian 
 indulges to such a debasing excess, is a light- coloured 
 spirit, not unlike the corn-brandy of Sweden, but more 
 harsh and fiery. It is distilled chiefly from rye ; but 
 oats and barley are also employed. None but the lower 
 classes use this spirit freely ; for neither in their native 
 country, nor elsewhere, have we ever found reason to look 
 on the better class of Russians as addicted to the use of 
 ardent spirits. If not altogether entitled to be called 
 abstemious in this respect, they are certainly not so bad 
 as the French, who indulge more freely than is generally 
 supposed ; and they are infinitely superior to the better 
 class of Swedes, Norwegians, or Scotch. It is a melan- 
 choly fact, that the three most highly-educated nations 
 of Europe should, at the same time, be the hardest 
 drinkers. 
 
 Another favourite beverage must not be forgotten — 
 their tea. The Russians are the most inveterate tea- 
 drinkers out of China ; and with such excellent tea as 
 they have, the passion is quite excusable. 
 
 Tea in Russia and tea in England are as different as 
 peppermint-water and senna. With us it is a dull, fla- 
 vourless dose ; in Russia it is a fresh, invigorating draught. 
 They account for the difference by sta ing that, as the 
 sea-air injures tea, we get only the leaves, but none of 
 the aroma of the plant, which left Canton ; while they 
 on the other hand, receiving all their tea overland, have 
 it just as good as when it left the celestial empire.* Be 
 the cause what it may, there can be no doubt of the fact, 
 
 * See Vol. II., chap, xv., where the Chinese bazaar is mentioned at 
 Nishnei-Novgorod. „
 
 204 TEA IN RUSSIA. 
 
 that tea in Russia is infinitely superior to any ever found 
 in other parts of Europe. Englishmen are taken by sur- 
 prise on tasting it ; even those who never cared for tea 
 before, drink on during the whole of their stay in Russia. 
 Like everything else here, however, it is very expensive : 
 the cheapest we saw even at Nishnei-Novgorod, which is 
 the greatest mart in the empire, cost from 1 1 to 12 roubles 
 (about ten shillings) a pound ; and when a bearded 
 Russian wants to give a feast, he will pay as high as 50 
 roubles (2/.) for a pound of some high-flavoured kind of 
 bohea. The difference between these and English prices 
 arises from the same cause as the difference in the quality 
 — the long land-carriage, which is tedious and very ex- 
 pensive, through regions where there are neither roads 
 nor resting-places. 
 
 It. should be stated, however, that, in travelling espe- 
 cially, no price will be thought too high for this, the 
 only comfort of the wanderer in Russia. It banishes 
 many a headach, and cheers under all the annoyances 
 of a country which, by universal consent, is the most 
 troublesome and fatiguing- to travel in that can be visited. 
 Tea may always be had at the inns in large towns, but 
 being too dear an article for most of the country post- 
 houses, everybody should carry a stock for himself: we 
 once paid 6*. 8d. for the tea necessary to make break- 
 fast for four : but such a charge is rare. 
 
 The Russian seldom eats with his tea ; he never adds 
 cream to it like the English ; nor does he disgust people 
 by making tea-drinking an excuse for tippling, like the 
 Germans, who half fill their cup with brandy when they 
 can get it. The only thing the Muscovite mingles with
 
 EXECRABLE LUXURY. 205 
 
 his tea is sugar, and sometimes a thin slice of lemon ; 
 and these being duly added, he sips the brown draught, 
 not from a cup, but from a common drinking-glass, slowly 
 and seriously, with all the solemnity of a libation. 
 
 Now that we have fallen on the subject of national 
 tastes, w T e must not forget to describe the most atrocious 
 compound ever presented to man in the shape of food. 
 It is the Russian soup called Batinia, which, to English 
 palates, tastes worse than poison, but which these our 
 allies, high and low of them, delight in as the greatest 
 delicacy on earth. Hearing so much in its praise, we 
 ventured once, and only once — for there is no fear of its 
 being asked for a second time — to give a hint that we 
 should like to make a trial of it. But — " O dura Rus- 
 sorum ilia ! " — the taste is not yet away from our lips, 
 nor are we yet persuaded that the skin has returned to 
 our throats. 
 
 A plateful of this yellow liquid — it ought not to be 
 called soup — was placed before us, with a scum on its 
 top something like a thin coating of sulphur. Adven- 
 turously diving through this surface, what did we dis- 
 cover? — Lumps of rotten sturgeon, slices of bitter cu- 
 cumber, spoonfuls of biting mustard ; in short a conca- 
 tenation of all the most putrid, most acrid, mostvillanous 
 substances that nature produces. The Witches' broth 
 was nothing to it : — 
 
 '' Eye of newt, and toe of frog, 
 Wing of bat, and tongue of dog," 
 
 would be delicacies most exquisite, compared with these 
 Russian horrors. But, though both smell and sight 
 were well-nigh daunted, we resolved ;o persevere like
 
 206 ICED SOUP. 
 
 men. We had begun the perilous adventure, and could 
 not with honour draw back, before taste had also been 
 put to proof. A spoonful of it was accordingly raised 
 to the lips ; when, lo ! besides its other recommenda- 
 tions., it was found to be literally as cold as ice : for the 
 mountain projecting above the surface, which we had 
 innocently supposed to be some nice redeeming jelly, of 
 Russian invention, turned out to be a lump of ice from 
 " the frosty Caucasus," or some other vile place. That 
 mouthful was the worst we ever swallowed ! It would 
 be impossible to depict the looks of anguish which we, a 
 party of deluded, inexperienced Englishmen, cast on each 
 other. It took away the breath; tears rolled from our 
 eyes ; we were more than satisfied — we were humbled, 
 silenced, overcome ; and made a vow before the whole 
 company of strangers, never more to be lured into an 
 attempt to make new discoveries in the adventurous 
 region of Russian dishes. 
 
 The Russians consider this soup the highest possible 
 luxury, and eat it when it can be got (which is not often, 
 as it is expensive) with the same avidity that a French 
 abbe displays in attacking his dindon aux trvffes, or an 
 Italian his beccaficoes. 
 
 With one of their dishes we could have made out very 
 well; th<* pudding, or something in that way, made from 
 buckwheat. Being very cheap, it is much eaten by the 
 middling classes, but may also be seen at the tables of 
 the great, at least once or twice a-week. It is considered 
 very wholesome. Buckwheat, however, being a very im- 
 portant article in Russian agriculture, it will be more 
 particularly mentioned at a subsequent page.
 
 NATIONAL DISHES. 207 
 
 We once got a very good kind of broth, with an un- 
 wonted, but not unpalatable, addition — huge spoonfuls of 
 thick cream thrown into the plate. This was in a part of 
 the country where, of course, cheese is unknown, otherwise 
 the cream would have been less abundant. 
 
 Generally speaking, the true place for seeing national 
 dishes, as well as national manners, is at the tables of the 
 native merchants. In the provinces, they live in old 
 abundance and old hospitality. When a feast is made, 
 the mistress of the house, as already hinted, is completely 
 the slave and servant of her husband's guests. She waits 
 upon them at table, with unwearied assiduity, from first 
 to last, coming round with the dishes herself, and scarcely 
 sharing of any till all have been served. 
 
 The only dish we should really envy the Russians for 
 is their mushrooms. In England, mushrooms are used 
 by very few : in Russia, the use of them is universal, 
 from the emperor to the beggar; and those who know 
 what a delicate dish they make — the salted ones excepted 
 — need not be told that they are always welcome, whether 
 dressed with a rich sauce, as at the tables of St. Peters- 
 burg, or with the plainer art of a hut by the way-side. 
 Many of the peasants live almost entirely upon them, at 
 some seasons of the year. In the summer afternoons, 
 bands of village children may be seen searching for them 
 in the woods, with little baskets on their arms ; and in the 
 mornings, at some places south of Moscow, we met long 
 files of women, returning from the forests with the hasty 
 growth of the night, heaped in large black baskets on 
 their shoulders, like a string of fish- women of the Moray- 
 frith, trudging to market with their odorous "creels."
 
 208 MUSHROOMS. 
 
 We did not hear the value of those sold in one year at St 
 Petersburg ; but were told, that in Moscow, not fewer than 
 200,000 roubles' worth (8000/.) are brought to market 
 every summer. They are most abundant in the districts 
 where open forests occur, and are always more plentiful 
 under certain kinds of trees ; far south, they disappear 
 altogether. The best weather for them is sunshine, in- 
 termixed with showers by day and warmth overnight. 
 
 What surprised us most of all regarding them was to 
 find, that the very kinds which are poisonous with us, are 
 here used every day without the least danger. " These 
 are the mushrooms of your English woods," said a gen- 
 tleman with whom we first saw them : " why don't you 
 eat them at home ?" The information was far from tran- 
 quillizing : few would like to be told that they had made 
 the best part of their dinner on poison ; but as no evil con- 
 sequences followed, we doubted whether they could be 
 really the same. Further inquiry, however, convinced 
 us beyond all doubt that, be the cause what it may, 
 mushrooms which are highly poisonous in Great Britain, 
 are perfectly innocent in Russia. This is no new disco- 
 very : our men of science are already aware of the fact, 
 but none of them have been able to explain it. With us, 
 only three kinds are eatable — the common mushroom 
 (Agaricus campestris), the fairy ring, (Agaricus pra- 
 tensis), and the Agaricus Georgii : — in Russia, nearly 
 ten times that number are used; in fact, almost every 
 kind. A French cook told us, that he himself knew at 
 least twenty varieties, all fit for the table, and that an ac- 
 cident from them is here totally unknown ; he considered 
 such a thing quite impossible. The only precaution
 
 MUSHROOMS. 209 
 
 necessary, he said, is not to boil two distinct species toge- 
 ther ; but this is merely from the degree of boiling which 
 suits one not being sufficient for the other. 
 
 That mushrooms, virulently poisonous in one country, 
 are eaten with safety in another, is well known in other 
 cases ; as, for instance, in that of the fly mushroom 
 (Agaricus muscarius), which is very common in Eng- 
 land, and always poisonous there, while in Kamtschatka 
 it is used as a frequent article of food. In France and 
 Italy also some of our noxious mushrooms become quite 
 safe. Now, what can be the cause of this remarkable di- 
 versity ? Surely the question merits more attention than 
 has yet been bestowed on it. It is not enough to say, 
 that difference of soil and climate explain the mystery : 
 for though we know that culture changes the properties of 
 plants, converting what is poisonous in its wild state, into 
 a wholesome esculent when raised in the garden, — as in 
 the case of the common celery, for example ; yet, through- 
 out the whole vegetable kingdom, we find almost no other 
 instance of a plant, which is poisonous in one country, be- 
 coming wholesome, without culture, when transplanted to 
 another, and left entirely to itself, and, in both, placed in 
 apparently the same circumstances as to soil, exposure, 
 &c. After all, a great part of the secret may lie, not in 
 the plant, but in the mode of preparing it for the table ; 
 and it is to this point that some of our practical authori- 
 ties ought to direct their attention. So far as we can 
 judge, the Russian cook, on first cutting up these spoils of 
 the forest, makes a much more copious use of salt than is 
 done with us ; and the efficacy of this agent in deadening 
 the poisonous quality is sufficiently proved by the nielan-
 
 210 MUSHROOMS. 
 
 choly case recorded in the medical treatises, of a French 
 officer and his wife, both of whom died in thirty-two hours 
 after eating of certain mushrooms, while the person who 
 supplied them, and his whole family, made a hearty and 
 wholesome meal from the same gathering. A careful 
 inquiry having been afterwards instituted, it was found 
 that no blame could be attached to the latter : the mis- 
 fortune appeared to have originated entirely in the differ- 
 ent modes of cooking employed — one family had eaten 
 them without any addition; the other had strongly salted 
 them before boiling, and then squeezed them carefully be- 
 fore partaking of them. Such an occurrence as this, while 
 it points to a very important fact in the dressing of these 
 productions, enjoins also more than ordinary caution on 
 those who would make experiments with them ; but that 
 experiments ought to be made with more diligence than 
 has yet been done, little argument can be required to 
 show. Heaven forbid that the day should come when 
 our peasantry shall, from necessity, be driven to think of 
 these as substitutes for less doubtful fare ! But no one 
 who has tasted the savoury dish made of them by the 
 Russians, while he deprecates the prospect of their ever 
 being used from necessity in England, will deny that, as 
 a luxury, they would form a most desirable addition to 
 the tables both of rich and poor. A few kinds have al- 
 ready found their way to the tables of the better classes 
 amongst us ; but it is a more general use of the easily 
 procured species that is now contended for. Why should 
 the lower classes of other countries continue exclusively 
 to enjoy a cheap and simple delicacy, which nature seems 
 also to have intended for those of England ?
 
 TALLOW AS FOOD — TSCHI, 211 
 
 We have now nearly done with the subject of Russsian 
 dishes ; yet, as the reader may have remarked, nothing 
 has been said of a dish which, in England, is believed to 
 be a favourite article of food with this refined people — 
 namely, the delicate and rare substance vulgarly known 
 by the name of tallow. The belief that all Frenchmen 
 live on frogs is not more common than the one that all 
 Russians live on the dainty dish now named ; and the one 
 is just as correct as the other. Without reverting, how- 
 ever, to the subject of the diet of the lower orders, which 
 has already been considered, we shall merely add, that 
 there is one dish sometimes seen amongst them, which we 
 should be glad to see plenty of within reach of our own 
 poor. W 7 ho that has at all heard of Russian dishes, has 
 not heard of their Tschi, or cabbage-soup ? Soups in all 
 parts of the continent are generally little better than an 
 aggravated edition of toast-and-water ; but this is really 
 a good sensible affair. Like the soup already spoken of, 
 it is sometimes mixed with sniatky (fish) ; and then does 
 it become all that Russian taste can desire of most lux- 
 urious and delightful.
 
 212 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 THE ENGLISH IN ST. PETERSBURG — WITH NOTICES 
 OF THE EXPENSE OF LIVING IN IT, AND HINTS ON 
 THE HOTELS, &c. 
 
 English mercantile houses — Style of living among the British — Nature 
 of their business — Large capitals — Tallow trade — Residences of the 
 English — The English quay — English Back Line — The factory — 
 Church — Library — Clubs — Horse-races — Foxhounds — Bear-shooting 
 — English and Russian merchants contrasted — No Jews merchants — 
 Scotch land-stewards — English tutors and governesses — Mr. Baird, the 
 engineer — Total number of English — Warning to people not to be rash 
 in going to Russia — Capricious treatment from the authorities — Eng- 
 lishman sent to Siberia — Grooms from England — English physicians 
 in St. Petersburg — Country cottages of the English — Of the Russian 
 nobles — Hard names of the nobility — Short summer — Compared with 
 that of England — Living here very cheap for the poor — Expensive for 
 the rich — Costly furniture — House rent — Bad hotels — Excellent Eng- 
 lish houses — Tables d'hote- — Coffee-houses — Travellers' purchases — 
 Velvets — Leather — Slippers — Furs. 
 
 In several of the preceding chapters allusion has been 
 made to the difference between the habits of Russians 
 and English. There can be no doubt, however, that, in 
 some things, the better class of Russians have imitated 
 English manners to a considerable degree. Even such 
 of the nobles as have not travelled enjoy good oppor- 
 tunity of becoming acquainted with our national habits 
 through the great number of English resident as mer- 
 chants in St. Petersburg, many of whom are very 
 intimate with the most distinguished of the Russian 
 nobility.
 
 THE ENGLISH IN ST. PETERSBURG. 213 
 
 The English society here is not only numerous, but 
 most respectable. It is chiefly composed of gentlemen 
 possessing all the high qualities which combine to make 
 up one of the highest characters in the world — that of an 
 English merchant ; a title which, on the continent, is still 
 one of the most honourable that a man can bear, being 
 associated in the minds even of our enemies with ideas 
 of strict integrity, great liberality, and high intelligence. 
 Among the more distinguished houses are those of 
 Thompson, Bonar, and Co. ; Cayley and Co., another 
 long-established firm of high character ; Gray and Co. ; 
 that of Allan, Stuart, and Co., &c. Many of these 
 gentlemen live in great splendour, and their attention to 
 travellers, properly introduced, is unbounded. In fact, 
 the tone and general style of society among them is so 
 superior, that, after visiting nearly every trading place on 
 the continent, in which English are to be found, we must 
 give the palm to our countrymen at St. Petersburg. 
 
 With the good sense and good taste which might be 
 expected in men of this stamp, these gentlemen strictly 
 refrain from politics. As the guests — and favoured ones 
 — of the state, they are in honour bound to this line of 
 conduct ; and from all we saw, we should say that the 
 emperor has not in his dominions more loyal nor more 
 devoted subjects, than the respectable and influential body 
 composing the English society at St. Petersburg. 
 
 It is well known that many handsome fortunes have 
 been made here by our countrymen : but they them- 
 selves maintain that the greatest fortunes have been made 
 in Riga ; which may be easily accounted for, by the less 
 expensive style of living in such a place, compared with 
 that of the metropolis.
 
 214 THE TALLOW TRADE. 
 
 The peculiar nature of some branches of the Russian 
 trade requiring a very large capital, so few natives can 
 carry them on successfully, that our countrymen enjoy 
 very nearly a monopoly of the more lucrative part of the 
 commerce of St. Petersburg. The export of tallow, 
 for instance, which is among the most important branches 
 of the Russian trade, is almost entirely in their hands ; 
 and that the capital required to carry it on is very large, 
 will be seen from the fact, that one house has been 
 known to pay away as much as 400,000/. in a single 
 year, on this article alone. Payments being made be- 
 forehand, or, at least, long before the delivery of the 
 article at St. Petersburg, this trade is said to be very 
 precarious. In order to secure the tallow which is to be 
 delivered in England a year hence, it is necessary to send 
 purchasers to the remotest parts of the empire full 
 twelve months before ; but if in the mean time prices 
 should fall at London, the merchant loses not only the 
 interest on his large capital for that long period, but also 
 a great portion of his first outlay. 
 
 In connexion with this branch of trade, it may be 
 stated, that it is not so much from having a larger pro- 
 portion of cattle than other countries, ,that Russia is able 
 to export such immense quantities of tallow, as from the 
 circumstance that the people, instead of using that article 
 itself, employ some substitute for it in their domestic 
 economy. Most of the farmers, for instance, use fir- 
 roots in place of candles, and carefully hoard the tallow 
 of every ox they kill, knowing that it will sell as profit- 
 ably as the produce of their fields. 
 
 Many respectable English families reside on the
 
 THE ENGLISH IN ST. PETERSBURG. 215 
 
 Vassilii island, and in other quarters of the capital ; but 
 the more fashionable part seem to prefer the quay of the 
 Grand Neva, formerly described, and known as the 
 English quay ; of which the establishment called the 
 English Factory, and the houses of our merchants, form 
 some of the principal ornaments. The less pretending 
 street in the rear of this, called Galernoy Oulitza, is so 
 full of British, that it is always spoken of as the English 
 Back Line (from its being at the back of the English 
 quay). Here are situated the boarding-establishments 
 and lodging-houses most frequented by our countrymen, 
 some kept by English, and some by Americans. It is a 
 street of great length, not mean and filthy as we had 
 imagined, but very clean, and formed of handsome 
 houses, with excellent pavement, from end to end. Each 
 of the houses, like nearly all others here, has a large 
 courtyard, either in front or rear. 
 
 Most of our countrymen may be seen once a day in the 
 Exchange, a very handsome building in the Grecian 
 style, near the Custom-house. The principal time of 
 business is from four to half-past five, when the Russian 
 merchants go home to supper, and the English to dinner. 
 
 There is no permanent residence for the English am- 
 bassador. Each new representative takes a house suited 
 to his means. That which Lord Durham occupied is 
 said to have cost him near a thousand pounds a-year. 
 
 The English Factory is chiefly occupied by a very 
 handsome place of worship, arid apartments for the 
 clergyman, the Rev. Mr. Law. This is the most beau- 
 tiful and becoming English chapel in any part of the 
 continent. There is also an excellent English library
 
 216 THE ENGLISH IN 
 
 attached to the establishment, of which strangers have a 
 most liberal use, on the recommendation of members. 
 There is a Presbyterian place of worship in another part 
 of the city, where a Scottish clergyman officiates. 
 
 St. Petersburg contains two English clubs, one on the 
 Moika, and another ou the quay just spoken of. Both 
 are excellent, and distinguished by their liberality to 
 strangers ; but we can speak only of the latter, where 
 there is a copious supply of all the (permitted) news- 
 papers, French, English, German, an account of which 
 will be given at the close of the next chapter ; also hand- 
 some apartments, good society, and unexceptionable 
 dinners. Though called English, these clubs contain 
 men of wealth of all nations. 
 
 With characteristic attachment to their home amuse- 
 ments, our countrymen have of late got up horse-races 
 in true English style, and have now the satisfaction of 
 seeing the Russians beginning to imitate them. In ad- 
 dition to these many English things, they have also a 
 good pack of fox-hounds ; but we did not hear that the 
 Russian nobles risk their necks so freely with our friends 
 in the field, as they do their money with them in the club- 
 houses. They speak of excellent shooting in winter ; and 
 even in autumn there is tolerable sport among the par- 
 tridges (a different species from ours), within thirty miles 
 of the capital. Some Englishmen killed a great many 
 elks the Christmas before our visit, about 70 versts ("46 
 miles) from town. Another party shot two bears ; but 
 such luck is rare, many having been here several years 
 without finding one. 
 
 Though not able to compete with our countrymen in
 
 ST. PETERSBURG. 217 
 
 extensive speculations, there are in all parts of Russia 
 many native merchants of great fortune. There is an 
 immense difference between them, however, both as to 
 way of living and general character. The former are 
 held in great esteem and looked upon as a superior class, 
 even by the nobles, to whom they give entertainments, 
 and from whom they receive attentions in return. The 
 Russian merchant, on the contrary, even when wealthy, 
 is regarded as belonging to a degraded caste. There are 
 various degrees of this degradation, the merchants 
 being divided into guilds, first, second, &c, each having 
 distinct privileges. We never saw a Russian merchant 
 of any grade without thinking of a Jew, his dress and 
 beard being generally so like those which continental 
 Jews so frequently display. The resemblance goes still 
 farther ; as already stated, they are as greedy and as 
 ready to overreach as any Hebrew that ever trod the 
 Rialto. With this grasping disposition the Russians 
 succeed well as merchants on a small scale. They have 
 that true love of pelf necessary to push them on in petty 
 undertakings, but have not spirit for any great, enterprise. 
 Russian Jews are not allowed to settle in St. Petersburg, 
 or to carry on business of any kind : Stieglitz, the wealthy 
 Jew banker, is of German origin. 
 
 Returning to the subject of the British, however, we 
 may state, that though there are many Scotchmen em- 
 ployed as land-stewards in various parts of Russia, yet 
 few of them are to be seen near the capital. 
 
 It surprised ns to hear that so many English are now 
 employed in Russia as tutors and governesses in noble 
 
 vol. i. k L
 
 218 THE ENGLISH IN 
 
 families. They are well paid, and in general do not 
 appear to regret the choice they have made. 
 
 The English, or rather the Scotch medical men here, 
 still enjoy a very respectable share of the public regard. 
 Sir William Crichton has left Russia, and Dr. Walker 
 has also retired, from the capital, leaving the field to 
 Doctors Handyside, Macnab, and Lefevre. Sir James 
 Wyllie, who was physician to the late emperor, continues 
 to reside here, and is still in favour at court. The Grand 
 Duke Michael has also a medical attendant from Scot- 
 land, a nephew and namesake of the learned knight last 
 named. If we mistake not, however, the golden days of 
 foreign physicians in this country are now gone by ; for 
 though a good many surgeons from Edinburgh are still 
 employed in the navy, Russia will ere long be able to 
 manufacture doctors for herself. 
 
 Although, as formerly stated, there are few English 
 shopkeepers or general tradesmen here, compared with 
 those of other foreign nations, yet on the whole there 
 cannot be less than 2400 Englishmen in St. Petersburg, 
 of one class or other. Of these a great number are em- 
 ployed by Mr. Baird, a thriving engineer, in building 
 steam-boats, iron bridges, &c. Many are also placed at 
 the head of government works of different kinds. Nearly 
 all of itiese superintendents, in compliance with a usage 
 already referred to, glory in the title of captain or some 
 other warlike distinction, conferred by the emperor, to 
 give them dignity in the eyes of his people. Some of 
 these gentlemen are tolerably paid, but none, so far as we 
 could hear, handsomely. An Englishman who super-
 
 ST. PETERSBURG. 219 
 
 intends a large number of workmen, employed in the 
 fabric of a very important article, has only 120/. (3000 
 roubles) a-year, and we did not hear that he values his 
 military distinction at a great deal. 
 
 On the whole, we saw no inducement to tempt English- 
 men to enter the Tzar's employment in any capacity 
 whatever. Few of our countrymen now in Russian* pay 
 appear to be very much satisfied with their position. Even 
 were they to be renumerated in the very handsomest 
 manner, what attraction can there be in a service, where 
 they are every moment liable to be the victims of the 
 most capricious and unsparing despotism ? It was but 
 the other day that an Englishman who had unhappily 
 been lured to St. Petersburg, in order to superintend 
 some public works, was banished to Siberia, for what 
 appears to have been a misapprehension regarding the 
 perquisites included in his contract. Warned, therefore, 
 by such an example, Englishmen, whether mere me- 
 chanics or men of science and skill, ought to ponder well 
 before they abandon a country where the oppressor 
 cannot trample on the weak, for the brilliant but perilous 
 honour of serving a master whose power is subject to no 
 control. 
 
 Illiberal, uncharitable as it may sound, we cannot 
 help confessing that we have never witnessed without a 
 grudge so many of our countrymen transferring their 
 talents and experience to the service of the stranger. 
 What has Russia — what have the other nations of 
 Europe — ever sent us back in return for our too frequent 
 exportations of this nature ? Nothing but rivalry, and 
 exclusion from their markets, the moment they think it 
 
 l2
 
 220 
 
 RUSSIAN SUMMER. 
 
 possible to cripple our commerce by excessive burdens 
 and unjust restrictions. 
 
 There still remains to be mentioned a class of our 
 countrymen who have of late been employed in con- 
 siderable numbers, both at St. Petersburg and in the 
 provinces — we mean grooms from St. James's and 
 trainers from Newmarket. The more wealthy of the 
 Russian nobles now go to great expense in keeping 
 certain kinds of horses, especially trotters and racers ; 
 and, by giving large wages, have induced not a few 
 " crack men" to go and take charge of their studs. 
 Those of them who remain in or near the capital may 
 find little reason to repent their exile ; but such as go 
 live or six hundred miles to some lonely place in the 
 interior, are not in the most comfortable condition, 
 however kindly treated ; though it is but fair to add, 
 that, in the families of the nobility, English dependents of 
 every description are always most indulgently, and even 
 affectionately, treated by their employers. 
 
 With true English taste for country life, many of the 
 merchants have built pretty cottages along the shores of 
 the bay, where they spend the brief but beautiful summer 
 with their families. Their example/ in this, also, has 
 been followed by some of the noble Russians, whose 
 villas on the road to Peterhof are very fine. Among 
 these are Kras-naiamouisa and Hah-hah, elegant man- 
 sions belonging to the Naryshkine family. Other families, 
 such as those of Ostermann-Tolstoy, Khitrovo, Daschkoff, 
 Chouvaloff, Demidoff, and many other " ofifs," might be 
 named among the possessors of fine villas in the neighbour- 
 hood ; but the names of the proprietors are as difficult to
 
 RUSSIAN WINTER. 221 
 
 transcribe as those of Viasemski, Belzko'i, Miloradovitch, 
 Belocelski, Lapoukhine, Zavadofski, Ghika, Cheremetieff, 
 Jakovleff, Tchernicheff, Roumantsoff, Lomonosoff, Kha- 
 nikoff, Tchitchagoff, Ismailoff, &c. &c, which adorn 
 the mausoleums and monuments of the capital, but are 
 never placed by the traveller in his notes, from the 
 difficulty of writing such unwonted sounds. 
 
 When we expressed our delight at the beautiful 
 evenings of July, our countrymen never failed to remind 
 us that the summer-life of the Russian fashionables is the 
 shortest in Europe. They can seldom leave St. Peters- 
 burg before the beginning of June, and the increasing 
 frosts compel them to return again by the first of Sep- 
 tember — that is, they are taking their flight for town at 
 the very time when the higher classes of happy England 
 are beginning to make themselves comfortable in the 
 country. Nay, their summer often terminates before 
 these three brief months are out. In the beginning of 
 August, during our stay in St. Petersburg, cold, rain, and 
 high winds prevailed with such severity, that some gentle- 
 men told us they must soon commence their preparations 
 for town, the winter having, in all probability, already 
 set in. At least, when the weather breaks in this way, 
 though they may not have snow, they are sure to have 
 little but. rain and cold till the frost appears in grim 
 reality. Winter in August, good friends — think of that! 
 Truly this is a delightful climate : a few weeks, or at 
 most, months of boiling heat, and throughout all the rest 
 cold so intense that the circulation nearly stagnates. 
 Even in summer we are reminded what their winter 
 colds are, by the huge stoves, like houses, in the churches.
 
 222 EXPENSE OF LIVING. 
 
 as well as in the lobbies of theatres, which in winter are 
 always well heated, for servants to shelter themselves in. 
 Yet, with every precaution, coachmen at that season are 
 often frozen to death, while waiting for or driving their 
 masters. Sentinels also die on their posts in winter- 
 nights, when the thermometer is often more than fifty 
 degrees below zero ! Though there are large houses for 
 drilling the soldiers in, their sufferings from cold, even 
 when going through their exercise, it is said, are most 
 dreadful. 
 
 May not such facts justify us in asking, " Where is. 
 there a country favoured like our own ? " We complain 
 of our climate; but, equally remote from the treacherous 
 heats of Italy and the freezing colds of Russia, it is, 
 beyond doubt, the best in the world. 
 
 The expense of living in St. Petersburg being a subject 
 of considerable interest to the general reader, it may be 
 stated that, to those who can content themselves with the 
 bare necessaries of life, this city is, perhaps, one of the 
 cheapest places in the world. The sum for which an 
 economist may support himself is incredibly small. We 
 have heard of a foreigner who expended no more than 
 six shillings a-week ; yet, by his own confession, he 
 wanted for nothing ! 
 
 This, however, applies only to the lower and middle 
 classes : for people of fortune, St. Petersburg is one of 
 the dearest places in the world. As already stated, the 
 general style of living among these is ruinously ex- 
 pensive. The variety of new and costly dresses required 
 by the ladies of a family, whether young or old, is beyond 
 all that female extravagance ever imagined in any other
 
 EXPENSE OF LIVING. 223 
 
 part of Europe. The style of furniture now in vogue 
 also occasions an immense expenditure. Costly mirrors 
 — -numerous windows, each of a single pane — gilding, in 
 tasteless profusion — furniture of the rarest kinds of wood 
 — marble of the most costly descriptions — articles of 
 jasper, malachite, and porphyry — or-molu ornaments of 
 extreme beauty — gold and silver plate of the newest 
 forms — in short, all that honest wealth, or dishonest 
 poverty can purchase, are deemed indispensable in a 
 Russian mansion of the highest class. The Russian rule 
 is, that nothing which is not rare, and consequently 
 expensive, can be worth having. Add to these the high 
 prices of wines, and of all articles of luxury for the table, 
 and it will at once be seen, that none can make any figure 
 here without an enormous income. The single item of 
 house-rent swallows up the annual profits wrung from 
 a couple of thousand serfs. Several houses were pointed 
 out to us as letting for 25,000 roubles (1000/.) a-year; 
 a rent which is very rarely heard of even in London. It 
 must be added, however, that from the immense number 
 of servants kept by the Russian nobility, a first-rate town 
 mansion here is larger than one of corresponding rank in 
 England. 
 
 The passing stranger finds few good hotels. DemutKs, 
 the most fashionable, is dear and uncomfortable. This 
 being a Rvissian house, you have to pay while in it for a 
 numerous train of servants, and, after all, can scarcely 
 get any attendance. Each man, Hindu-fashion, having 
 a separate department, the commission you want executed 
 is delegated from one to another, and probably neglected 
 altogether. Coulons, in the Nefskoi, we have heard
 
 224 HOTELS IN ST. PETERSBURG. 
 
 highly spoken of, by travellers who have been in Russia 
 since the time of our visit. The Hotel cle Londres and 
 Hotel de Paris are on the plan of the second-rate hotels 
 of Paris, with bad rooms, indifferent restaurants, or 
 tables -d'hote, high prices, plenty of filth, and noise 
 insufferable. The German house, Heides, on the 
 Vassilii-Ostroff, is very good for a short stay ; but those 
 who like English comfort and English cleanliness cannot 
 be better anywhere than in the house of Mrs. Cotesworth, 
 in the English Back Line, where they may have good 
 board, lodging, and attendance — in short, everything 
 except wine — for the marvellously reasonable charge of 
 8 roubles (6s. 8d.) a-day. Mrs. Wilson's, much fre- 
 quented by Americans, is also an excellent house. 
 Good private lodgings may be had in the same street, 
 and other parts of the town, at London prices. 
 
 The fees for sights, and the other incidental expenses 
 of the traveller, make St. Petersburg, and Russia ge- 
 nerally, more expensive than most parts of the continent. 
 Dinner at a restaurateur s, including the cheapest wine, 
 seldom costs less than 7 or 8 francs, and is not better 
 than what would cost only one-half in Paris. A bottle 
 of small-beer in the coffee-houses (of vyhich there are 
 .scarcely any in the French style) is charged 8c/.; in 
 Paris it would be 2d. A hackney-coach for two persons 
 to go a short distance into the country, where some fete 
 was going forward, was charged near 60 rubles, or more 
 llian twice the Paris price. Clothes are very dear, always 
 excepting the velvet dressing-gowns already spoken of". 
 Leather articles of all kinds are cheap ; and as Russian 
 leather, though not at all durable, is in high repute from
 
 COST OF APPAREL. 225 
 
 the peculiar flavour which the manufacturers of other 
 countries have never succeeded in imitating, strangers 
 always lay in a large stock of them. Ordinary boots are 
 about the same price as in Paris ; that is, one-half the 
 price of a London fashionable shop ; but dress-boots, that 
 look well, may be bought for 7s. 6d. Morocco boots for 
 the dressing-room, and ladies' slippers, of all imaginable 
 hues, are often brought to England, as presents, by 
 those who choose to pay the duty on them at home. 
 Furs are also so cheap, in comparison with English 
 prices, that travellers are in the way of lining their old 
 cloaks (thus escaping the duty) with a sufficient quantity 
 to keep their fair friends in England warm for at least a 
 couple of winters. 
 
 L 3
 
 226 
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY AND LIBRARIES— FINE ARTS AND 
 LITERATURE. 
 
 Great exertions of the Emperor Alexander in behalf of national educa- 
 tion — Result doubtful — University of St. Petersburg — Its comparative 
 inferiority — Number of students and professors — Compared with Dor- 
 pat — Academy of Sciences — Fossil remains — Imperial Library — Per r 
 siaii manuscripts — Academy of Painting — Hermitage Gallery — 
 Murillo — Paul Potter — Periodical and general literature — Poets — 
 Karamsin. 
 
 Until the time of the late Emperor Alexander, 
 Russia, in regard to education, was the most neglected 
 nation of Europe. Under him, however, much was done 
 to remove this stigma. Schools were estahlished all over 
 the country ; universities were planted in the principal 
 cities, and liberally endowed ; men of ardour and learn- 
 ing were sought out and induced to settle in them : in 
 short, neither cost nor encouragement was spared in the 
 good cause. 
 
 But has the result corresponded with the benevolenl 
 patriot's anticipations? Has education spread among 
 the poor and the ignorant? Has the seed so liberally 
 scattered on a not ungrateful soil really begun to bear 
 its goodly fruits ? Alas ! we shall hereafter see that in 
 spite of all that, was done, and is doing, popular educa- 
 tion is advancing but slowly ; for in many of the govern- 
 ments of the interior through which we shall pass in the
 
 EDUCATION. 227 
 
 course of our wanderings, out of every four or live hun- 
 dred of the population, there is not more than one 
 young person attending school. The educational schemes 
 of the government have hitherto been unsuccessful in the 
 provinces, because the people, being ignorant of the 
 value of instruction, seldom think of sending their children 
 to school. 
 
 In the large cities, however, public seminaries are 
 most successfully conducted and numerously attended. 
 This holds true of the capital more particularly. The 
 number of gymnasia in St. Petersburg is very great, in 
 addition to military and normal schools, and, in fact, 
 educational institutions of every kind. All of these are 
 very nourishing, with the exception of the university 
 alone, which, though opened under the most favourable 
 auspices, and with the brightest promise of almost imme- 
 diately attaining high eminence, appears to be still very 
 inferior to its ancient and highly-celebrated rival at Mos- 
 cow, and is even eclipsed by the university of Dorpat, in 
 Livonia. The institution last named would appear to be 
 the most prosperous of all the universities in Russia, 
 many of its professors, such as Struve, the astronomer, 
 Parrot, the traveller, and others, being men of great 
 eminence in the scientific world. It is usually attended 
 by six hundred students ; while St. Petersburg seldom 
 reckons more than two hundred and fifty, divided among 
 the goodly array of forty-two professors. In both uni- 
 versities, as indeed in nearly all throughout the empire, 
 the principal chairs are filled by Germans. The uni- 
 versity of St. Petersburg was founded by Alexander in 
 the year 1819; and was the seventh which that enlight- 
 ened monarch had established during his reign.
 
 228 EDUCATION. 
 
 The number of scientific establishments in St. Peters- 
 burg is very great ; but we can mention only the Imperial 
 Academy of Sciences, on the quay of the Vassilii-Os- 
 troff which possesses collections of immense value, in al- 
 most every department of human knowledge. Its library 
 contains more than 105,000 volumes, including many 
 valuable manuscripts. The Zoological Museum is among 
 the most celebrated in Europe, from containing some of 
 the most singular fossil remains that have yet been dis- 
 covered ; especially those of the mammoth, found in the 
 ice at the mouth of the Lena, in Siberia, the bones of the 
 leg of which are as thick as the human body. It would be 
 impossible to describe the feelings of wonder with which 
 we gazed on this huge monster of another world ; a naked 
 hideous anatomy, standing in grim mockery of all that 
 has passed, and is passing, around him. The flesh, skin 
 and hair, were quite entire at the time of his first dis- 
 covery (1799-1800), and even now his well-propped 
 bones look sturdy enough to carry him through our 
 modern world, if he had any regard for the degenerate 
 elves which usurp his place. His vast bulk, when first 
 seen in his icy bed, so frightened the simple huntsman 
 who discovered him, that he fell sick at the sight, and 
 took to bed, believing that it boded him some evil for- 
 lune. lie stands 9 feet 4 inches high, and 16 feet 4 
 inches long, without including the tusks or horns (as his 
 neighbours, the Tungusians, more appropriately call 
 them), which are of most amazing bulk, measuring along 
 the curve 9 feet 6 inches, and weighing together 3601bs. 
 avoirdupois ! The tusks of fossil elephants are so numer- 
 ous in Eastern Siberia, that they are sold throughout
 
 FOSSIL MONSTER. 229 
 
 Russia as an article of commerce, and are used by ivory- 
 turners for the same purposes as the tusks of the ele- 
 phants of the present day ; but the works made from 
 them are not so fine nor so beautiful. This museum 
 contains also some fossil skeletons of other huge quadru- 
 peds, such as the rhinoceros, the urus, and buffalo, all 
 found in the same remote region. The mineralogical 
 department is likewise very rich, as well as the collections 
 of medals, the Asiatic and Egyptian rooms, &c. 
 
 The Imperial Library, in the Nefskoi Prospekht, 
 would merit a chapter to itself, were it only for the im- 
 mense number of valuable Oriental manuscripts, for 
 which it has long been famous. To these have now been 
 added the celebrated library of Ardebil, which came into 
 the hands of the Russians on the fall of that city in 1827 : 
 it contained, exclusive of duplicates, ninety-six works of 
 great value, such as the Djami-Ettevarikh, the Zefer- 
 Nameh, by Sheref-ed-din Iesdy ; the Teskeret-etch- 
 chuera, a History of Persian Poetry, by Daiiletchah ; 
 the Shah- Name h of Firdousi ; the hkender-Nameh ; 
 the Shah-Nameh of Thumach the First ; and a great 
 many other poems. In addition to all these, there are 
 at least 350 volumes, chiefly in the Persian and other 
 eastern languages, brought by General Paskevitch from 
 Erzerum, and the places adjacent. 
 
 As might be expected, among all these institutions for 
 the advancement of science and learning, the Fine Arts 
 have not been forgotten. The academy founded for 
 their encouragement was liberally endowed, and is said 
 to be at present in a very flourishing condition. It con- 
 tains some valuable treasures ; but the lover of pictures
 
 230 ACADEMY OF ARTS. 
 
 will find still more to please him in the Hermitage 
 Palace and its wilderness of rooms, where there are some 
 thousands of pictures, many of them surpassing in value 
 even the porphyry vases and other costly articles pro- 
 fusely scattered through this beautiful retreat. The 
 Spanish collection is the richest in the world, out of 
 Spain : there are Murillos and Morales enough to fill 
 even Marshal Soult with envy. The late emperor added 
 the Malmaison pictures to this splendid collection, which 
 had already been enriched by the Houghton gallery, 
 greatly to the disgrace of England, who ought never to. 
 have parted with such an acquisition. The Hermitage 
 boasts of one of the most celebrated pictures in the 
 world, Paul Potter's " Cow," which, however, can by 
 no means be compared with his " Bull," at the Hague. 
 Wouvermanns has a whole room to himself; and Schnei- 
 ders fills another with his vast hunting-pieces. There 
 are some lovely gems both of Cuyp and Ruysdaehl, 
 three splendid Teniers, and Vandycks beyond all price. 
 Rembrandt and Rubens have contributed some of 
 their best works, as well as Gerard Douw, Mieris, and 
 Ostade. We saw but one Titian and one Raphael, but 
 the gallery is rich in the works of Claude, Vernet, and 
 Poussin. 
 
 Several native artists of great promise have lately 
 appeared, and those who are best acquainted with the 
 nation believe that the Russians will yet rise high as 
 painters. 
 
 Prom the Fine Arts passing to literature, and, first, to 
 its most familiar department, we find that though the 
 scientific periodicals of Russia, published by various
 
 RUSSIAN PERIODICALS. 231 
 
 learned bodies, maintain a very high character, yet 
 periodical literature of a general kind does not appear to 
 meet with much encouragement. In no country, how- 
 ever, does it exercise more tyrannical sway. We do not 
 mean that it influences the mass of the people, who, it is 
 well known, do not read at all; but its power over the 
 educated and " buying " portion of the community is so 
 great, that they are invariably guided by the sentiments 
 of their favourite periodicals, in all matters connected 
 with literature, the drama, or the fine arts. 
 
 The total number of periodicals in Russia, including 
 newspapers and scientific journals, lately amounted to 
 86 ; but their number has since been increased, in conse- 
 quence of the establishment of printing presses in some 
 of the remoter provinces. Of these, 45 are in the Rus- 
 sian language, and the remainder in French, German, 
 the Lette tongue, &c. 
 
 Of all the periodicals, we are sorry to say, a French 
 compilation of fashions and idle tales appears to be the 
 most popular; but, so far as we could learn, none of the 
 St. Petersburg periodicals, either daily or monthly, 
 reckons more than 3000 subscribers. It would be 
 unjust, however, to deny that there is very great talent 
 displayed by the conductors of these publications. The 
 Literary Library, a monthly periodical, whose editors 
 are great admirers of English literature, and are accused 
 of being partial to English principles in other matters, 
 often contains articles which would do honour to any 
 periodical in Europe. The influence exercised by this 
 journal over the public taste is very great, its circulation 
 being the highest of all the periodicals of the capital.
 
 232 NEWSPAPERS. 
 
 The Son of the Country, another monthly work, is also 
 highly spoken of, but its talented editors are accused of 
 dealing too much in German mysticism. 
 
 In the provinces of Russia periodical literature is 
 almost unknown, except in the university towns, at some 
 of which scientific journals are now published. One 
 of these, the Gazette of Moscow, has long had a very 
 high character, and it still circulates nearly 10,000 
 copies. 
 
 Of newspapers, St. Petersburg has great abundance. 
 They are also exceedingly cheap, some being .as low as 
 15 roubles (13,y. 6d.) a-year, while few even of the daily 
 ones are higher than twice that sum. With a parade of 
 anxiety to communicate information on government sub- 
 jects, and yet after all communicating but very little, each 
 ministry publishes a newspaper on the affairs of its own 
 department ; so that the general reader must buy the 
 Minister of War's paper, that of the Home Minister, &c, 
 before he can know what is passing. There are several 
 German papers published here : one of which, closely 
 filled with advertisements, appears twice a-week. The 
 Gazette de St. Petersbourg is in French ; but few of its 
 articles are of any value. Those as well as the news- 
 papers printed in the Russian language are printed in a 
 clear type, on thin paper, of a small folio size, such as 
 that which was employed for the Paris newspapers, until 
 within the last ten or twelve years. 
 
 Generally speaking, Russian newspapers are mere 
 vehicles for advertisements and government documents. 
 They scarcely ever contain a single article of home 
 news. Any intelligence that is given consists entirely of
 
 RUSSIAN POETS. 233 
 
 extracts, accidents, deaths, wonderful stories, &c, from 
 the English and other foreign journals. The Northern 
 Bee, the title at least of which is well known in other 
 parts of Europe, may in some respects be an exception to 
 this remark. It is a daily paper, and said to be conducted 
 by several gentlemen who enjoy great popularity as au- 
 thors in other departments of literature. From the charac- 
 ter given us of its articles, they would appear to display 
 more playfulness of humour than depth of learning. 
 
 As will be seen at a future page, when we come to 
 speak of the emperor's regulations regarding foreign 
 books and newspapers, government has laid the severest 
 trammels on the press, and consequently on thought. In 
 spite of all these restrictions, however, Russian lite- 
 rature is advancing with great rapidity. Several of 
 the authors who have recently appeared are distin- 
 guished by great boldness and originality of fancy. 
 Some of the novelists, and especially Bulgarine (one 
 of the editors of the Northern Bee), are highly popular 
 as painters of national manners : their works are also 
 read with great avidity in Germany, where they circulate 
 through translations. Of all their poets Pouschkin* is 
 the most popular ; without being an imitator, he is said 
 to have much of the manner of Byron. 
 
 Of all Russian authors, however, the name of Karamsin 
 stands highest : but his merits are so universally known 
 that it is unnecessary to speak of them here. Of their 
 other dead authors, the names which we heard most fre- 
 
 * This distinguished poet fell in a duel (February, 1837), soon after 
 our visit to St. Petersburg. The causes, and indeed the whole historv, of 
 this melancholy affair are of the most revolting description.
 
 234 RUSSIAN WRITERS. 
 
 quently repeated among the Russians, are those of 
 Bogdanovitch and Dmitriev, famed as poets. Of the 
 first of these it may be stated, as he is little known to 
 the English reader, that he was born in 1743, in the 
 town of Perevolotchna, in Little Russia, and was author 
 of the Dushenka, said to be a very happy performance, 
 on the mythological story of Psyche, abounding in 
 graces of style, and playfulness of illustration, as well as 
 in lofty eloquence and polished vivacity. The Russians 
 are extremely proud of this poem, and delight to speak 
 of its author as the Moore of Russia. During his life, he 
 was highly esteemed by Catherine, who gave him a lu- 
 crative appointment in some public department, after lie 
 had retired from the diplomatic service for which he was 
 educated. 
 
 Dmitriev, born at Simbirsk, in 1760, and educated at 
 Kasan, is the Lafontaine of Russia. His fables, re- 
 markable for refinement of sentiment and simplicity of 
 style, are extremely popular, the Russians having a 
 great taste for this kind of composition. His epistles, 
 odes, and satires, are also prized. The works of this 
 author, next to those of Karamsin, did much towards 
 fixing the Russian language. He was at first in the 
 army, but afterwards in the civil service, where he 
 enjoyed a handsome income. In fact, the Russian go- 
 vernment never allows genius to linger either in poverty 
 or obscurity. 
 
 Beyond those now mentioned, there are but few names, 
 living or dead, that Russians can bring forward in con- 
 nexion with literature. Its annals in this long-neglected 
 region are short and scanty, as will be seen from the list
 
 RUSSIAN WRITERS. 235 
 
 which we shall now give of all the other distinguished 
 writers of whom they can boast. 
 
 Until the time of Prince Cantemir, in the reign of the 
 Empress Anna, no author had employed the language 
 with any success. His translations of Horace and 
 Boileau are said (for, of course, all that we can state on 
 the subject of Russian literature is at second-hand, on 
 the authority of Russians themselves) to possess little of 
 the merits of the originals ; and the same remark has 
 been made of his translation of Fontenelle's Plurality of 
 Worlds. Strictly speaking, his successor, Lomonosoff, 
 whose name stands high as an author, may be con- 
 sidered the father of taste and style among his country- 
 men. His Peter the Great contains many beautiful pas- 
 sages, but the interest is not well sustained. He wrote 
 every species of poem, — tragedy, comedy, satires, epistles, 
 elegies, eclogues, and songs ; which last became very 
 popular. The next name is that of Kerazkoff, who im- 
 proved on his style and manner, but had less poetic 
 talent than his predecessor. Having written epics on the 
 conquest of Kasan and the history of Vladimir the 
 Great, he was in his time pronounced the Homer of 
 Russia, but is already forgotten. Maykoff now acquired 
 unmerited reputation by two burlesque poems. Kniash- 
 jinin wrote lively comedies on the manners of the time, 
 which are still admired. Kostroff translated the Iliad 
 into Alexandrine verse, and the poems of Ossian into 
 prose. Bobroff, a most extravagant genius, was the 
 author of many bombastic odes, and of the Taurida, a 
 descriptive poem, abounding in bright passages. Petroff 
 wrote odes on the victories of Catherine the Great.
 
 236 RUSSIAN WRITERS. 
 
 Weissen was the author of some comedies which are full 
 of humour. Muravieff, tutor of the Emperor Alexander, 
 wrote treatises on Russian history, dialogues, essays, &c. 5 
 all of which display much goodness of heart and love of 
 virtue. 
 
 About this time, Derschawin gave a great impulse to 
 public taste. He chose, as his theme, the glory of the 
 Russian arms under Catherine, and treated his subject 
 with true poetic fire. The time was now at hand when 
 the literature of Russia was to take a place among the 
 most refined of Europe. This was done under Karamsin, 
 whose great History of Russia is one of the most classi- 
 cal performances in any language. It rose at once into 
 universal popularity in his own country, and is now 
 equally esteemed by all the nations of Europe. The 
 honours and rewards heaped upon him by the emperor 
 were endless, and hold out strong encouragement to 
 genius. He began his career as an author by contribu- 
 tions to " The Painter," a satirical journal ; and soon after 
 became editor of the Journal of Moscoiv, in which his 
 »' Letters of a Travelling Russian" first appeared. 
 
 Brief as our notice is, it must not omit Shukoffskij and 
 Batzuschkoff. Prince Wiasemskij and Wostokoff are also 
 named with applause. The more recent authors, not. al- 
 ready named in this sketch, are, Kosloff, Gribogedoff, 
 Glinka, Baron Delwig, Schazykoff, and Baratinskij.
 
 237 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 THE HOSPITALS AND PUBLIC PRISONS— RUSSIAN- 
 PUNISHMENTS. 
 
 Splendour of the hospitals — Treatment of patients compared with that 
 in England — Crimes and criminals — Banishment to Siberia — The 
 knout — Visit to the public prisons — Debtors — Criminals — Boys — Wo- 
 men — Great order — Rooms too much crowded — Diet — Health — The 
 emperor's vigilance. 
 
 A government which has done so much for promot- 
 ing the education and the taste of the nation, may rea- 
 sonably be expected not to have forgotten the more in- 
 cumbent duty of providing for the alleviation of distress 
 among the sick and the poor. We find, accordingly, 
 that the charitable institutions of St. Petersburg are not 
 only very numerous, but also deserve to be reckoned 
 among the most wonderful things in this wonderful em- 
 pire. Of these, however, so many accounts have already 
 been published, that all we deem it necessary to say con- 
 cerning them is, that the Hospitals are palaces, — not 
 asylums for the poor. We have never seen any thing to 
 compare with the order, the cleanness, or the comfort of 
 these establishments : they are almost too fine for such 
 melancholy purposes. 
 
 But though the beds are so white, the label-boards so 
 neat, the little tables with their soup- dish, gruel- bowl, 
 &c, so clean — in short, though there be a great deal of 
 show, we were assured by medical men on the spot, that,
 
 238 HOSPITALS PRISONS. 
 
 in all the essentials of hospital treatment, they are far 
 behind our English institutions. All goes on very well 
 till the patient needs some strengthening diet, or any 
 other indulgence out of the common routine. Then 
 there is nothing for him. Hence, some private indivi- 
 duals have often been obliged to support a poor patient 
 from their own funds, when wine or expensive medicines 
 were required. 
 
 Before saying too much about the order of these 
 places, the way in which it is enforced ought to be taken 
 into consideration. When the Emperor Alexander was 
 going through St. Bartholomew's hospital, in London, 
 Sir James Wyllie, or some other of his doctors, drew 
 his attention to a patient peeling potatoes, implying that, 
 at home, no such irregular exhibition would ever offend 
 the eye. Very true ; but he forgot the reason. A Rus- 
 sian who should be guilty of the smallest deviation from 
 the rules of the hospital would be scourged for his of- 
 fence. Oh happy Russians ! It is now the fashion 
 with some to laud everything Russian ; but we had 
 rather be a potato-peeler in England, than a Herr Graf 
 with the scourge hanging over us. 
 
 A visit to the prisons will also well reward the 
 stranger. Great crimes would appear to be less com- 
 mon In Russia than in many of the other countries of 
 Europe. The number of murders in the whole empire 
 for a single year (1831) is 1271 ; being at the rate of 
 one to every 40,000 inhabitants (taking the estimated 
 amount of the population at the time). Suicides are 
 also rare, having in the same year averaged one to 
 46,200 souls.
 
 THE KNOUT. 239 
 
 The punishment of death is now limited to those who 
 are guilty of the highest kind of high treason. Those 
 convicted of murder and other offences are banished to 
 Siberia, to toil in the mines, salt-works, and government 
 distilleries, some of which kinds of labour are so detri- 
 mental to life, that, many survive but a very short period 
 after commencing with them. Only the greatest crimi- 
 nals, however, have to work in these fatal places ; most 
 of those sent being employed on farms, or located as 
 colonists.* 
 
 Convicts may be seen labouring at Cronstadt, and in 
 other towns. These are prisoners condemned for stated 
 periods ; and we have heard that not a few of them are 
 Poles ! They are dressed in blue-striped trousers, short 
 boots, and whitish jackets, with a black patch on the 
 back. 
 
 The terrible punishment of the knout is no longer 
 allowed to extend so far as to take away life. This 
 formidable weapon, however, is of such a nature, that the 
 executioner, according to the instructions he has got, can 
 take the culprit's life as nearly as possible, leaving him 
 in such a state that he will not recover for months, if at 
 all. Sometimes it is little more than a severe scourging 
 that is inflicted ; but, when the executioner pleases, four 
 strokes of it can be made to inflict death. The eulogists 
 of Russia and everything Russian stun us with praises 
 of the mercy of their criminal code, and with songs of 
 triumph about the emperor's clemency ; but we see little 
 
 * For further information regarding banishment to Siberia, the num- 
 ber of culprits annually sent, and the total number in the country, see 
 vol. ii. chap. vii.
 
 240 debtors' prison. 
 
 proof of mercy in retaining- a mode of torture which is not 
 more gentle than that of flaying alive ! There were op- 
 portunities for seeing this terrible punishment enforced 
 during our stay in the capital, but we declined the savage 
 sight. Those who have been present tell us that the 
 knout is a whip of three lashes, made of the hardest 
 kind of leather, with burnt knots, &c. The victim is 
 tied against one of the posts of a triangle, raised in some 
 public place, and receives the blows on his back. 
 
 On visiting one of the prisons, in which there are gene- 
 rally about 400 prisoners, we found the first range of 
 rooms occupied by debtors belonging to St. Petersburg, 
 and noblemen (so they were called to us) from Finland, 
 confined for minor offences — such as rioting, or being 
 drunk in the streets. The rooms are tolerably clean, 
 but by far too much crowded. The floors are generally 
 of wood, and the walls plastered. The only bed is a 
 piece of wood some two feet wide, with a sloping head, 
 behind which lies a rug that is spread on the naked 
 board at night : blankets are out of the question in a 
 country where, as we have seen, a large portion of the 
 class most, likely to be in prison never think of undress- 
 ing overnight. Eight or ten of these beds may be seen, 
 in two rows, in a room not much more than twenty feet 
 long. 
 
 In one room was a flock of boys, teasing hemp, some 
 quite children ; most of them sent here for theft. The 
 superintendent could not give us a very distinct answer 
 when we asked whether any attempt is made to educate 
 those who are likely to remain long in confinement; but 
 we understand that there is a class of reading for such.
 
 PRISONS. 241 
 
 Debtors are allowed 11 roubles (9*. 2d.) a-month by 
 their creditors, government, of course, supporting its own 
 debtors. 
 
 The opposite side of the well-guarded court is set apart 
 for criminals not yet tried. A convoy leaves every 
 Tuesday with those who have received sentence during 
 the week ; they go away in twos and threes, with a guard 
 to each set, and walk on foot all the way to Siberia — a 
 distance of many thousand miles. The rooms here are 
 lower, and even more crowded than those we had left. The 
 men, as in the others, always rose and ranged themselves 
 as we entered. One was here for stealing 80,000 roubles 
 (more than 3000/.) from his father. Generally, these 
 unfortunate men had more the look of imbecility than of 
 villany. It is seldom that prisoners lie very long without 
 receiving sentence ; but there is no limit to the time ; — 
 they cannot force on their trial. Hence one man has 
 been here five years, the proof against him being insuffi- 
 cient : in England, he would have been set at liberty. 
 
 So little do the Russians fear having their prison ar- 
 rangements criticised, that the major explained to us the 
 minutest details : he offered even to show us a poor 
 wretch who had that morning received five blows of the 
 knout, for attempting to assassinate his master, a colonel. 
 
 One end of the court is occupied by the female pri- 
 soners, of whom there were about a hundred. At the 
 other end of the quadrangle stands the hospital, in which 
 things are very well arranged. The number of sick is 
 always very considerable, but especially in winter, 
 when the jail-fever is so severe that as many as ninety 
 patients are often in the hospital together. The linen, 
 
 VOL. I. M
 
 242 PRISONS THE EMPEROR. 
 
 food, and attendance in this department are all unex- 
 ceptionable : we have seldom seen any place of the kind 
 in better order. 
 
 So far as may be consistent with their safe-keeping, 
 the prisoners are treated with every indulgence. They 
 are allowed abundance of a soup made from peas — 
 varied with the national dish of buck-wheat — and beef, 
 except on fast-days and in Lent. Though there is no- 
 thing very offensive in the look of the rooms, the persons 
 of the prisoners cannot be very clean, when they bathe 
 only on Saturday, and sleep constantly in what they 
 wear. 
 
 Debtors may see their relations every day ; criminals 
 can see theirs only on Sundays and holidays. There is a 
 large Greek chapel, and a Lutheran one for foreigners. 
 
 On expressing our surprise at finding the prison in 
 much higher order than we had been prepared for, the 
 governor answered, " We must have it constantly in high 
 order, for fear of the emperor." He pounces upon them 
 at the most unexpected times — often as early as seven in 
 the morning ! Prison-room, sick-rooms, kitchen, apo- 
 thecary's room, all are inspected. But this is only in 
 keeping with the ever-thoughtful vigilance of this extra- 
 ordinary man, whose character will be more fully appre- 
 ciated by glancing at the following chapters.
 
 243 
 
 CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 THE EMPEROR. 
 
 Generally represented as cruel and tyrannical — Palliation of the charge 
 — Great interest felt about his character throughout Europe — Import- 
 ance of the subject — Circumstances under which he came to the throne 
 — Meaning of the titles Tzar, Autocrat, &c. — Miscellaneous anecdotes 
 — Simplicity of his private habits — Happiness with his family — His 
 opinion of the judgment which the English pass on him — The empress 
 and the stranger — His restless activity — Love of military show — Com- 
 manding appearance of Nicholas — Fascinating manners — Especially 
 towards foreigners — His desire to conciliate the foreign press — Atten- 
 tion to the French journalist, Monsieur L. W Flatteries of French 
 
 and German writers — Herr Von D and his book — Attachment of 
 
 some of the Russian officers — Popular with the soldiers and the peo- 
 ple — Mode of saluting him in the streets — His exertions in any public 
 calamity — His noble conduct when cholera appeared — His activity 
 and hardy habits in travelling — His iron bed — His energy not always 
 productive of good — Rogues in office — No sportsman — His style of 
 eloquence — Argument with the French ambassador — His religion — 
 Superstition — Toleratiou — Not so remarkable as is often stated — Why 
 the Jews are tolerated — Torture — only nominally abolished in Russia 
 — Activity of his police — Spies — Anecdote of an Englishman at 
 Kalisch — Emperor's conduct in regaid to the admission of English 
 and French newspapers — The Morning Post — Guligani — Journal des 
 Dtbats, &c. — German papers — Censorship — Treatment of booksellers 
 — Byron — Books of Travels, &c. — His restrictions on the stage — A 
 political play. 
 
 Before proceeding to state some facts illustrative of 
 the character and policy of the Emperor Nicholas, it is 
 but fair to confess that, like most of our countrymen, we 
 repaired to his dominions with strong prejudices against 
 him. All the accounts of his character current in other 
 parts of Europe are so universally unfavourable, that we 
 
 m 2
 
 244 THE EMPEROR. 
 
 regarded him as a cruel, relentless tyrant, with few re- 
 deeming qualities of any kind ; and this, probably, is 
 the idea entertained of him by ninety-nine out of every 
 hundred foreigners who ever heard his name. 
 
 Truth, however, compels us to avow that we found 
 reason to modify our opinions concerning him. We will 
 not acquit him from the charge of tyranny, but are now 
 inclined to believe that he is a tyrant from circumstances 
 more than from disposition. He is the slave of a vicious 
 system — tied to a course from which, as yet, he has not 
 been able to break loose. The worst excesses he has 
 been guilty of arise from an ungovernable temper, which, 
 by nature sufficiently strong, has been further strength- 
 ened to such a degree by the long exercise of unchecked, 
 uncontrolled authority, that now it often bursts out in 
 the most fatal ebullitions. His defenders assert, however, 
 that when the passing madness has subsided, he is the 
 first to regret, and, if possible, to atone for what, has been 
 done. They will not allow that the stern, we might say 
 the cruel system of discipline which prevails in the fleet 
 and the army, and extends to officers as well as privates, 
 can with justice be attributed to him : for it is not of his 
 creating, but has been handed down from the times when 
 Russian officers were really as barbarous as Russian 
 privates ; and he continues it, because, from his military 
 education, he believes it to be the best. In fine, those 
 who know him most intimately assert, that, however vio- 
 lent he may be under the fits of passion alluded to, he is 
 not tyrannical on system, or from innate fierceness of dis- 
 position. 
 
 Let it not be thought, however, that we are the pane-
 
 THE EMPEROR. 245 
 
 gyrists of Nicholas. Until a milder policy shall be 
 adopted towards Poland, his faults are too strongly en- 
 graved in a nation's wrongs to be blotted out by redeem- 
 ing traits of a mere private nature, even were these more 
 strong than any that he has hitherto displayed. Yet 
 that his character is not such a complete concentration of 
 unmixed evil as has generally been supposed, will appear 
 from some of the facts now to be adduced. 
 
 It is necessary, however, in the very outset to state 
 that it is not here intended to give a complete history, or 
 even a brief memoir of the emperor.* What is aimed at 
 in these pages, is simply to communicate a few facts il- 
 lustrative of the character of the man on whom the eves 
 of all Europe are at this moment fixed ; — on whom the 
 peace and welfare of the world are more dependent than 
 they ever before were on a single individual, at any 
 period in the long history of human society. The Em- 
 peror of Russia has but to say the word, and the flames 
 of war shall burn more universally than they have ever 
 done even in our warlike day — in Europe, in Asia, In 
 America — wherever there is a right to acquire, or a heart 
 to defend. In all parts of the earth, the elements of dis- 
 cord are lying prepared, with a profusion only too un- 
 
 * The Emperor Paul, assassinated in 1801, left four sons : Alexander, 
 the late emperor, who died at Taganrog on the 1st of December, 1825 ; 
 Conslantine, who ought to have succeeded his elder brother, and who 
 died in 1832 ; Nicholat, the present emperor ; and the Grand-duke 
 Michael, Viceroy of Poland. The present emperor was born July 6, 
 1796, and in 1817 married Charlotte (on her admission to the Greek 
 church, rebaptized Alexandra Feodorovna), daughter of the King of 
 Prussia. Their family cousists of four sons, the oldest born in 1818, and 
 three daughters.
 
 246 THE EMPEROR. 
 
 sparing and too ominous : nothing is wanting but the 
 reckless hand to place the torch to the pile, and in one 
 short month the blaze shall be as wide and as fierce, as 
 the fellest enemy of our race could desire. 
 
 In attempting, however, to make the public acquainted 
 with the character and the measures of the sovereign 
 in whose hands the temporal weal or woe of humanity- 
 are for the time so helplessly placed, the author does 
 not profess to have had access to sources of secret 
 or exclusive information regarding him. Of a public 
 nature he has nothing to reveal but what may be 
 learnt by any one moving in good society at. St. Peters- 
 burg, or among respectable Russians in other parts of 
 Europe; while of private anecdotes — of court calumnies, 
 or of chamber scandal — he has literally none to impart. 
 Even had he been inclined to retail facts of the descrip- 
 tion last alluded to, there is one good reason why these 
 pages can contain nothing of the kind, — namely, because 
 the author had it not in his power to acquire any personal 
 knowledge of the emperor's habits. Beyond seeing him 
 accidentally in the course of his furious drives, he had no 
 opportunity of approaching his person. This honour, it 
 is believed, he might have obtained with the same facility 
 as other travellers ; but he is now thankful that it was 
 not applied for. Had he been honoured with the private 
 attentions of the emperor, his lips would have been for 
 ever shut regarding him, unless they could have been 
 honestly opened in the- same strain of unmingled pane- 
 gyric which all travellers take up in speaking of him. 
 Completely untrammelled, however, by the ties which 
 personal kindness would have imposed, the author is at
 
 THE EMPEROR. 247 
 
 liberty to speak plainly and frankly ; giving the emperor 
 all credit for what is praiseworthy in his character and 
 measures, and censuring, without reserve, whatever ap- 
 pears to be blameable in the same. 
 
 It may be proper to remind the reader, that Nicholas, 
 Emperor and Autocrat of all the Russias,* is third son 
 of the unfortunate Paul, and that he succeeded to the 
 throne on the death of Alexander, in consequence of some 
 arrangement made by that emperor for the exclusion of 
 
 * Such is the title by which the sovereigns of Russia are now generally 
 designated. la the time of Peter the Great, his claim to the title of em- 
 peror was the subject of many years' negotiation between him and the 
 different courts of Europe. It was asserted, that though his predecessors 
 had been styled Emperors of Muscovy, yet the European powers never 
 meant thereby to give him a title corresponding in dignity to that of the 
 Emperor of Germany. After many difficulties, however, it was agreed to 
 style him emperor, but without prejudice to the other crowned heads of 
 Europe The phrase " all the Russias," isallusive,to the ancient divisions 
 of Little, Great, White, Black, and Red Russia, now all united under the 
 general name of the Russian Empire. Autocrat is composed of two 
 Greek words, meaning sole ruler. The title of Czar — the pronunciation 
 of which is better represented in English by the spelling Tzar, or Tsar — 
 by which the emperor is also frequently designated, is not, as has been 
 supposed, a corruption of the word Ca?sar, but a Sclavonic term, signify- 
 ing King. That the title of Czar has no connexion with, and was 
 deemed inferior to that of Ccesar, is proved by a fact in the life of the 
 celebrated character known in history by the name of the false Demetrius. 
 When this bold personage assumed the title of Czar, it was readily re- 
 cognised and confirmed by his protector the King of Poland. But when 
 he went still farther, and claimed the appellation of Ceesar, even the com . 
 placent Sigismund indignantly refused to gratify his vanity so far. The 
 historian of Peter the Great, referring to the regions where this title was 
 first known, such as Kasan, Siberia, and Astracan, remarks that the 
 title is much more probably derived from the Tschahs of Persia, than 
 from the Caesars of Rome, of whom, in all likelihood, the Tzars of Siberia 
 had never heard on the banks of the Oby.
 
 248 THE EMPEROR. 
 
 his second brother Constantine, who was still alive. 
 Alexander has been much blamed for sanctioning an ar- 
 rangement directly subversive of those very principles of 
 legitimacy for which he had made so many sacrifices 
 throughout his long reign ; but in Russia it was no new 
 thing to pass over the direct heir, in favour of one better 
 qualified to govern : for the greatest emperor who ever 
 reigned over it, Peter the Great himself, was called to the 
 throne in the same way, Fcedor having named him his 
 successor, to the exclusion of Ivan, the rightful heir, who, 
 from weakness of intellect, was deemed incapable of go- 
 verning. In both cases, demonstrations were made in 
 favour of the disinherited. Ivan was for some time re- 
 garded as sovereign by one party, but soon gave way to 
 his more energetic brother; and Constantine was pro- 
 claimed at Warsaw, as well as supported by a revolt of a 
 portion of the guard, and of the populace of St. Peters- 
 burg. 
 
 The energy displayed by Nicholas in subduing this 
 rebellion has continued to characterise the whole of his 
 conduct ever since. There is nothing, however, either in 
 the attainments or measures of the Tzar to justify his 
 admirers in holding him up as a man of extraordinary, 
 nay, almost superhuman talent. That he possesses rest- 
 less activity of mind and body — and in a degree, which 
 in a monarch may be not unnaturally mistaken for genius 
 — no one will deny ; but we have never discovered in him 
 any other qualities that entitle him to be considered as 
 much above the ordinary average of human character, 
 and certainly none that can entitle him to be pronounced, 
 as he has sometimes been, the greatest genius, the master
 
 THE EMPEROR. 249 
 
 spirit, of our age. His most prominent qualities, we 
 should say, are decision and firmness ; quickness in de- 
 vising expedients to meet the unforeseen emergencies of 
 the moment, and steadiness in enforcing them. Next to 
 these, is the excess of his passion for reducing everything 
 to military uniformity. This propensity degenerates al- 
 most to a weakness : it is his great aim to give the whole 
 empire the appearance of an encampment. This passion 
 is so well known, that the very children in the streets are 
 made to affect the air military, strutting about in a white 
 cap with red band a rempereur. On entering a school, 
 the boys and girls rise in files, to salute you after the mi- 
 litary fashion, and march out as if wheeling to the sound 
 of fife and drum. In the very prisons a dash of the cor- 
 poral's discipline is visible ; and even in the hospitals, you 
 would say the old nurses ape the imperial guard. 
 
 The emperor's private habits and general style of liv- 
 ing are extremely simple ; and the delight which he takes 
 in the society of his children is boundless. Those who 
 have seen the imperial family in their private moments, 
 when free from the constraint of pomp and ceremony to 
 which princes are slaves before the world, speak of them 
 in terms of rapture. An English gentleman who was 
 honoured with many opportunities of entering the august 
 circle, says that more happiness, more affection, more 
 simplicity, it would be impossible to conceive. The un- 
 constrained and innocent amusements of their evenings, 
 contrasted delightfully with the notions usually formed 
 of imperial family scenes. In short, from all that he 
 beheld, it appeared that a kinder husband or a better 
 father than Nicholas does not exist. The emperor, too 
 
 m 3
 
 250 . THE EMPEROR. 
 
 quick not to perceive what was passing in the mind of 
 his guest as he mused on the scene before him, said one 
 evening, stamping his foot and grinding his teeth, as the 
 unpleasant thought rose to his mind, " I know that I am 
 unpopular in England. They hate me — because they 
 think me a tyrant ; but if they knew me, they would not 
 call me so. They should see me in the bosom of my 
 family !" The way in which the imperial family live at 
 some of the country palaces, is also extremely unostenta- 
 tious, as may appear from the following anecdote. 
 
 A stranger, who was rambling on the shores of the bay 
 near Peterhof, entered the grounds of what he took to be 
 the villa of some nobleman employed in the neighbouring 
 palace. Meeting with no obstruction in the beautiful 
 walks, he explored them in every direction, and was at 
 last proceeding to get round to the other side of the 
 mansion, to a position where he expected to enjoy an 
 extensive sea-view. In order to effect his object, it was 
 necessary to come nearer the windows than he had 
 intended. At one of them, which was open, with a rich 
 flower-plot before it, sat a lady dressed in the simplest 
 white, and holding in her hand a book, which fortunately 
 engrossed her attention so deeply, that he was able to 
 withdraw without disturbing her. Until he came on 
 the sentinel, whom he had not previously seen, he never 
 suspected that the lady on whom he had been allowed to 
 intrude, and whom he had seen surrounded with as little 
 pomp as a private gentlewoman, was none else than the 
 empress herself. 
 
 In person the emperor is tall and well made. Few 
 men of his height (six feet two inches) display such grace
 
 THE EMPEROR. 251 
 
 and freedom of carriage. In fact, his appearance is so 
 superior, that many have bestowed upon him the wide 
 and not easily disputed compliment of being " the hand- 
 somest man in Europe." Being one of the best horsemen 
 of the time, he is never seen to more advantage than 
 when mounted on his favourite steed. Accustomed to 
 command, and to see his commands obeyed with 
 crouching submission, he has acquired the air and mien 
 of majesty more completely than any sovereign of the 
 age. His eye has a singular power : its fierce glance 
 can awe the turbulent, and, it is said, has disarmed the 
 assassin. His manners, however, are far from those of 
 the despot; nothing can be more winning than his at- 
 tentions, where he wishes to please. No man ever 
 seemed to possess more strongly the power of removing, 
 from those who have access to him, the prejudices which 
 may have been previously entertained against him. The 
 Russians, it is said, see little of his fascinating powers; 
 towards them he dare not be familiar without exciting 
 jealousies which would be fatal to the empire. It is on 
 strangers, passing visiters, that he lavishes his amiability, 
 for with them it can be done without danger, and he is 
 too anxious to stand well with the rest of Europe to allow 
 a foreigner to leave him under an unfavourable impres- 
 sion. Never was even imperial flattery more successful 
 in attaining its aim : the raptures with which his con- 
 descension, his frankness, his courtesy, are spoken of by 
 all who come near him, would indicate that it is not 
 merely the emperor but the man who triumphs. i 
 
 The length to which he goes in order to secure friends, 
 and the success of his blandishments, were shown in one
 
 252 THE EMPEROR. 
 
 instance which was much talked of during our stay in 
 
 his capital. Monsieur L. W , a French author of 
 
 some repute, and well known as a contributor to the 
 Journal des Debats, had arrived shortly before us, 
 charged of course to overflowing with all the prejudices 
 of a French liberal against the Emperor and Russia. 
 Some said that the talented Alsacian had been sent by 
 M. Thiers, the prime minister of the time, to spy the 
 nakedness of the land, and to send him information 
 regarding it ; but it is much more probable that he was 
 travelling " on his own account," to pick up hints for a 
 tale or two, or matter for a few vaudevilles, of which the 
 scene should be laid in Russia, which country was for 
 a time the favourite field of action with M. Scribe and 
 his rivals. At the same time, like a prudent feuille- 
 toniste of the well-paying Journal, he may have kept a 
 sharp outlook for any thing which would furnish good 
 " articles" for the home-market; and, in fact, the Pa- 
 risians had soon the pleasure of perusing some very 
 excellent letters of his from St. Petersburg. 
 
 Let the object of his journey, however, have been 
 what it may, Nicholas soon heard of him through the 
 French ambassador, M. de Barante,/ who, himself a 
 distinguished man of letters, was anxious to render every 
 service to a brother in talent. Soon after, all St. Peters- 
 burg was amazed to see the emperor paying attention 
 to a French litterateur, a " liberal" too, and connected 
 with the very Debats which had recently made the 
 violent attack on the emperor's famous Warsaw speech. 
 Not satisfied with conversing with him freely and con- 
 fidentially in the palace, the condescending monarch
 
 THE EMPEROR. 253 
 
 was to be seen walking with him in the gardens for a 
 whole hour together, and sent one of his aides-de-camp 
 to show him every thing of interest about the capital. 
 Many rumours were instantly abroad on this marvellous 
 subject ; but. the favourite one was, that the emperor, 
 anxious to reconquer that popularity with the other 
 nations of Europe which his brother Alexander had 
 enjoyed, was about to establish at St. Petersburg another 
 newspaper, in the French language, of which this ex- 
 perienced stranger should be editor, on a handsome 
 salary. The Journal de Francfort, faithful and talented 
 though it be, is not answering all the purposes for which 
 it is retained ; — for it is now and then under the necessity 
 of advocating Prince Metternich's interests, which do not 
 always agree with those of Count Nesselrode. In these 
 circumstances, the establishment of a newspaper, under 
 such a gifted editor, appeared to the eager habitues of 
 the fashionable salons a most advisable scheme. But 
 the emperor thought otherwise. He knew how to turn 
 his visiter's talents to better account. He gained his 
 affections — removed his prejudices — made him his own; 
 not by bribery, but by the more efficient influence of con- 
 descension and kindness ; — then, having done all this, 
 sent him where his good opinions would be of more use 
 to the emperor than in Russia — to write and speak 
 favourably of him in France and throughout Europe. 
 So efficiently had he removed his anti- Russian notions, 
 that the next thing we heard of this French convert, was 
 a report from Moscow that he had won the heart and the 
 hand of the daughter of a Russian nobleman in that citv. 
 Nay, the emperor's triumph went further: — with such
 
 254 THE EMPEROR. 
 
 force had he reasoned with him on the sins and follies of 
 liberalism, that, when he returned to France, Louis- 
 Philippe found him completely cured, and has since 
 given him a good diplomatic appointment at one of the 
 German courts. 
 
 That hour's walk in the imperial garden has made 
 M. L — W — 's fortune ; but we should be sorry to see 
 him becoming as great a flatterer of the emperor as his 
 countryman, Voltaire, was of another Russian sovereign, 
 who had managed him so well, that he gravely wrote of 
 her, " Une Imperatrice vient de donner a ce vaste etat 
 des lois qui auraient fait honneur a Minos, a Numa, et 
 a Solon, sils avaient eu assez d esprit pour les inven- 
 ter ! ! La plus remarquable est la tolerance universelle ; 
 la seconde est V abolition de la torture." 
 
 To these two reforms we shall have occasion to allude 
 hereafter ; the passage is now quoted merely for the sake 
 of reminding the reader that the formula contained in it 
 has served for all French writers on Russia, from the 
 day it first appeared down to our own. Frenchmen of 
 all descriptions — literary men and soldiers — from Vol- 
 taire to Marshal Marmont, have always been the warm- 
 est eulogists of Russia. It is among them that the 
 emperor still finds the readiest agents for circulating 
 through Europe all the fine things we see in the journals 
 about him from time to time. 
 
 When necessary, however, Nicholas can command 
 flatterers from other nations. An excellent instance of the 
 use he makes of these is afforded by the recent work of 
 
 Herr von D , which is so completely crammed with 
 
 fulsome praise of Nicholas and everything Russian, that,
 
 THE EMPEROR. 255 
 
 unless for the information received from friends of the 
 author, we could not have believed the description which 
 he gives of himself in the title-*page : Prussian, we 
 thought, must have been inserted by mistake for Russian 
 counsellor, &c, since no Russian ever could have gone 
 farther in praise of the autocrat and his doings. Its 
 flattery, in fact, is so gross, that in Germany the origin 
 and object of the book were at once detected ; but in 
 England, where we are less quick at discovering the 
 emperor's agency, it has been honoured with a transla- 
 tion, and by some readers, perhaps, esteemed valuable 
 as the unbiassed testimony of a liberal foreigner to the 
 
 excellence of all things Russian. The useful D will 
 
 soon be promoted for his book. While in Russia, he was 
 notorious for his outrageous admiration of everything 
 done, doing, or to be done, in that happy land. 
 
 These facts are mentioned to put the public on their 
 guard about all works in which Russia is too vehe- 
 mently praised ; though written by foreigners, they are 
 usually brought out under the kind of influence now ex- 
 plained. The emperor knows well what authors to give 
 his diamond rings too ; and if they praise Russia well, he 
 has more substantial rewards than these, the common 
 gifts presented to foreigners who send their books to 
 him. 
 
 Being himself thus polite towards foreigners, the em- 
 peror very reasonably expects equal politeness on their 
 part. Nay, one who presumes too far is soon brought 
 to his senses. A Prussian officer, who probably thought 
 that in St. Petersburg a Prussian might do as he pleased, 
 one day joined the cortege at a review, without having
 
 256 THE EMPEROR. 
 
 previously been at court, and was riding about as active 
 as the best of them, till arrested by a message from the 
 emperor, ordering him off the field, with the explanation 
 that he was at all times proud to see foreigners present 
 on such occasions, but thought that they might take the 
 trouble of making themselves known to him before 
 coming there. 
 
 When inclined, the emperor succeeds in gaining the 
 affections of his own subjects as completely as those of 
 foreigners. He knows well how to reward fidelity and 
 to inspire enthusiasm. Hence, though not generally 
 popular with the officers of his army, there are some who 
 love him to excess. A young nobleman, of most amia- 
 ble and winning manners, often- said to us, " My brother 
 is toiling in Siberia, a hopeless exile. He was concerned 
 in the revolt which broke out at the emperor's accession. 
 Others of my family are suffering wrong. Yet I love the 
 emperor as much as my own father. How could it be 
 otherwise? Look at these decorations; 1 hey were given 
 me from his own hand. He has never allowed an 
 opportunity to pass without rewarding me for anything I 
 had done to merit his notice ; and once, when I had 
 pleased him by the rapidity with which I had raised a 
 corps of recruits to a high state of discipline, he asked me 
 to allow his young son the honour of being enrolled in 
 my troop. These may be trifles to some, but to me they 
 are links that bind me to him with a force which nothing 
 ean break." A little more of this conduct, and he might 
 have the most faithful army in Europe. 
 
 With the common soldiers he is highly popular ; but 
 it is, above all, among the mooziks, the good-hearted
 
 THE EMPEROR. 257 
 
 fellows with the beards and sheepskins — in other words, 
 it is by the great body of the people — that he is most 
 beloved. He never appears in public without being 
 greeted by rapturous welcome as soon as he is dis- 
 covered: until our own fair queen ascended the throne, 
 there was no sovereign in Europe whose appearance was 
 hailed with such joy by the people. Individual cases of 
 oppression are overlooked in his general kindness. His 
 anxiety to find out, and generosity in rewarding humble 
 merit, go far in reconciling the poor to his political mea- 
 sures. He is also kind and familiar with them on all 
 public occasions : at the great summer fete of Peterhof, 
 where thousands of the people are assembled, he dances 
 and capers amongst them, as merry and free as any goat 
 of them all. 
 
 The Russian passion about taking off hats has been 
 already mentioned : the emperor is not without his share 
 of it. The way of saluting him when he passes you in 
 the streets, is, to English ideas, sufficiently slavish. We 
 are not speaking of the mob, but of gentlemen, who, on 
 such occasions, are compelled to pull up straight and 
 stiff on the pavement — like a frightened Prussian recruit 
 saluting his officer — facing towards his majesty, and 
 there standing, hat in hand, till the carriage has passed. 
 Some of the ambassadors even have adopted this obser- 
 vance ; but we should think that an Englishman, gentle 
 or noble, behaves with sufficient respect, when he salutes 
 the emperor as he would his own sovereign. If it were a 
 Ho-Tung-Fo, or any barbarian who did not know better, 
 there would be some reason for conforming to the inno- 
 cent exaggerations of his people.
 
 258 THE EMPEROR. 
 
 In cases of public calamity, no one is more sympathiz- 
 ing than the emperor. When a fire occurs, he is sure to 
 be among the first on the spot. Indeed, the way in 
 which he exposes himself on such occasions is surprising. 
 Fear seems to be unknown to him. Many instances 
 could be given of his courage ; but never was it more 
 advantageously shown than at the time the cholera broke 
 out in Moscow. It was in that city, as all may remem- 
 ber, that this dreadful scourge first showed itself to any 
 alarming extent in Europe. It had crept slowly up from 
 Asia by the Volga to Nishnei-Novgorod, and thence 
 spread to the second capital of Russia. As yet, little was 
 known of a disease which even now mocks all science : 
 it was looked upon as a new and more fatal form of 
 the plague. The people were flying in terror. Even 
 the medical men were appalled, and the sick were left 
 without nurse or medicine. At last, these tidings reached 
 the emperor's ears. Without a moment's hesitation he 
 threw himself into his droschky, and posted oft* to 
 Moscow — visited the sufferers — touched them — went 
 from bed to bed — tasted the medicines — cheered — repri- 
 manded — placed ample funds at the disposal of the 
 authorities ; — and by all these decisive steps at once 
 allayed the panic which was giving new violence to a 
 malady that needs but little aggravation. Courage of 
 this kind is of a higher character, and more useful lo 
 society, than any that was ever shown on the field of 
 battle. 
 
 When the epidemic reached St. Petersburg, he again 
 showed the same heroism, exposing diimself in every 
 place where his presence could give confidence; and in
 
 THE EMPEROR. 259 
 
 this instance his conduct is even still more worthy of ad- 
 miration, from the fact that, in the interval, he had him- 
 self suffered from a very severe attack of the disease. 
 This was not made public at the time ; but we are assured 
 of its truth from one who has been informed of it by his 
 majesty's private physician. 
 
 Of his presence of mind, and readiness of devising 
 means in the moment of difficulty, many instances might 
 be given. But on this subject it will be sufficient to 
 recall his conduct during the revolt in favour of Con- 
 stantine, which, as already stated, was at once put down 
 by the promptitude with which he met it. Many say 
 that in punishing the guilty he showed greater mildness 
 than could have been expected. 
 
 His health is of the most robust kind, being, doubtless, 
 greatly aided by the activity of his habits. He thinks 
 nothing of accomplishing in a couple of weeks a journey 
 which ordinary people would take months to perform. 
 Indeed, generally, among Russians, distance is never 
 taken into calculation when there is question of travel- 
 ling. In setting out on a five-hundred miles' excursion, 
 therefore, as if it were but a drive to dinner, the emperor 
 is but doing what most of his subjects would do. The 
 people of St. Petersburg always know when he is in the 
 capital, by looking whether the flag be flying on the 
 palace or not : it is hoisted only when the emperor is 
 there. Some mornings, when it has unexpectedly disap- 
 peared, they will be told that he is already many hundred 
 miles away, having started in the night in consequence of 
 some sudden intelligence. After the reviews of Kalisch, he 
 posted off through Silesia, and Bohemia, and was in the
 
 260 THE EMPEROR. 
 
 chambers of the imperial family at Vienna, before a 
 courier could have arrived to announce his visit. About 
 the time we were leaving Russia, he accomplished a tour 
 to Moscow and Nishnei-Novgorod; then, after visiting 
 Kasan and many of the eastern provinces, came to Little 
 Russia, holding reviews and levees at a great many 
 places by the way ; yet he was back again in the capital, 
 from this three or four thousand miles survey, within a 
 few weeks. 
 
 He is the only Russian emperor whose travelling habits 
 ever corresponded with the extent of his dominions : he 
 drives literally ventre-a-terre, and seldom fails to accom- 
 plish twelve miles an hour, even on the unmade roads of 
 the south. His path is generally marked by dead horses. 
 On these occasions he never" encumbers himself with reti- 
 nue or escort : his own light droschky, with six horses, 
 and a similar vehicle following with an aide-de-camp, 
 ready to be sent off right or left, constitute the whole of 
 the imperial train. 
 
 For such an impetuous traveller, railroads are the only 
 suitable paths. He has, accordingly, already got one 
 formed between St. Petersburg and Tzarko'i-Celo (opened 
 since we left Russia), and talks of continuing it all the 
 way to Moscow. There being already^ however, a beau- 
 tiful macadamized road on this long line, it is not likely 
 that he will actually attempt a railroad also; but it is 
 highly probable that the first roads which will ever be 
 established in the other parts of the empire, especially 
 to the south and east of Moscow, where there are now no 
 roads worthy of the name, will be railways, for which the 
 level nature of the country makes it highly suitable.
 
 THE EMPEROR. 261 
 
 Russia sometimes gains by being behind her neighbours. 
 She has waited long for roads ; but may now, at once, 
 get the very best. Notwithstanding the parade made in 
 Germany and France about railroads, there have been 
 greater wonders than that Russia, though she talks less 
 about it, may still get before them in the march of iron. 
 
 The emperor's habits in travelling, as indeed at all 
 times, are extremely simple. He eats but little, and 
 always of the plainest. The bed carried with him on 
 these occasions is far from being too luxurious. It is 
 similar to those seen in his bedrooms in the palaces, con- 
 sisting simply of a hard mattress, on a light iron frame, 
 exceedingly narrow. He carried the same kind of bed 
 all through England. Though sufficiently small and 
 uninviting, it is not quite so uncomfortable as the short 
 fir-wood crib of his good father-in-law, the King of 
 Prussia. 
 
 In consequence of his quick movements, he has a way 
 of arriving even at distant places earlier than had been 
 announced, — sometimes several days sooner. And then 
 loud is the song of praise and of wonder. " Oh, what a 
 wonderful emperor ! what a great man !" will the courtier 
 cry. " Who but the emperor could travel 300 versts in 
 twenty hours ?" echoes the diplomatist. After all, it is 
 but the greatness of a courier. 
 
 These rapid journeys surprise nobody but the honest ; 
 the rogues are never taken unawares. He thinks to 
 catch people napping by his flights ; but those whose 
 consciences tell them that they have need to be afraid of 
 him, are never unprepared. Knowing, from experience 
 the suddenness of his movements, they are invariably be-
 
 262 THE EMPEROR. 
 
 forehand with him at any place of meeting. All the dis- 
 honest are linked hand in hand, and take care to give 
 each other early intimation of their master's motions. 
 But the honest, who are neither intriguers nor defaulters, 
 and do not. choose to pay for information of this kind, 
 are generally too late on these occasions. There was a 
 good instance of this while we were in the south : the 
 emperor arrived at a place of rendezvous some days 
 
 sooner than had been announced : Count , an honest 
 
 man, was too late to see him ; but M. le Comte de , 
 
 a rogue, was in great good time. Which of the two 
 would be set down as the most zealous servant of the 
 state ? 
 
 The emperor's personal interference in almost every 
 kind of business, though in general productive of good, 
 occasionally does harm : it paralyses those who act under 
 him. When any sudden emergency arises, they never know 
 how far to go. For instance, in the frequent case of fire in 
 the capital, little can be done if the emperor is not on the 
 spot ; and even when he is present, people are afraid to do 
 more than they are commanded. A melancholy instance of 
 this occurred not long before we reached St. Petersburg. 
 A large wooden booth, a sort of playhouse, had been 
 erected near the palace, during the festivities of the Masle- 
 nitsa, or Butter Week, a kind of popular festival, which 
 represents the carnival of southern countries, and is en- 
 joyed by the lower classes as the great season for balls, 
 masquerades, and rioting of every kind. While the per- 
 formances were going on in broad daylight, this structure 
 suddenly took fire, and the destruction was so rapid, that 
 more than a hundred people — (we have heard the num-
 
 THE EMPEROR. 263 
 
 ber raised to several hundreds ; for in this, as in every 
 thing of a disagreeable nature, the newspapers are never 
 allowed to tell the whole truth) — were killed before they 
 could be exlricated. Yet, gentlemen who were on the 
 spot, assert that it would have been possible to have re- 
 scued the whole assembly, merely by tearing off the 
 boards outside, in place of leaving the ill-fated revellers 
 to be suffocated in the narrow passages, of which the 
 doors were kept shut by the very weight of the crowd 
 rushing towards them for escape. When these specta- 
 tors made a proposal to this effect to the policemen stand- 
 ing by, they beat the meddlers back with their axes : the 
 emperor had not given instructions to tear off the boards, 
 and if any thing went wrong in the attempt, the officers 
 would have been punished for going beyond orders I 
 
 With all the fierce restlessness of disposition, which we 
 have spoken of as characterizing the emperor, he might 
 be expected to be passionately fond of what is considered 
 the favourite amusement of kings and tyrants, the chase; 
 but it appears that he has never followed hound nor 
 horn. 
 
 Though his majesty has not cultivated the graces of 
 eloquence, he is said to be both quick and persuasive in 
 argument. Unaccustomed to opposition, however, 'he is 
 apt to let himself be carried away by passion when con- 
 tradicted, or when speaking on a subject that rouses his 
 feelings. This was strikingly shown in his famous 
 oration at Warsaw, in the spring of 1836 — the first pub- 
 lic speech he ever made ': the Poles, at least, will not be 
 sorry should it be his last display of the kind. It was
 
 264 THE EMPEROR. 
 
 quite unprepared ; but being on a subject that touched 
 him keenly, he spoke fluently and impressively. 
 
 He is so apt to be carried away by passion in debate, 
 that words often entirely fail him. He has a way, how- 
 ever, of filling up the pause : in an interview with the 
 French ambassador, the discussion became so warm that 
 his majesty, chafed by opposition, at last, in the agony of 
 unwilling words, summed up his arguments very in- 
 telligibly, by striking his hand with great violence on the 
 table — a most impressive figure of speech. On another 
 occasion, when hard pressed for a good argument, he 
 rushed to the window, threw it open, and, pointing sig- 
 nificantly to some regiments exercising below, clenched 
 his reasoning with the words, " Voila ma garde; ce 
 nest que la vingtieme partie de mon armee .'" The 
 emperor knew well that, after all, force is the best ultima 
 ratio of kings. 
 
 Though not an enemy to literature nor to literary 
 men, he is not distinguished by any particular taste for 
 letters. His attainments, however, in all useful branches 
 of knowledge, — history, science, languages, — are highly 
 respectable. The only one of the imperial family spoken 
 of as being at all literary, is the Grand-duke Michael, 
 who is said to have written some able remarks, chiefly 
 political, suggested by a visit to Naples many years 
 since. 
 
 So far as can be judged by mere outward acts, the 
 emperor's respect for religion is very great. His devout- 
 ness while in church is extreme. Some say his part is 
 here overacted ; for there is no end to the bowings and
 
 THE EMPEROR. 265 
 
 salutations between him and the officiating clergy when 
 the service is over. No saint's-day, or formality of the 
 church, is ever neglected by him; and in travelling, he 
 never passes a steeple without crossing himself as de- 
 voutly as the yemtchik who drives him. The fervour of 
 his superstition, if not of his devotion, is well shown by a 
 recent act, which is spoken of with great applause by the 
 priests. He has added a new saint to the calendar. It 
 appears that some holy man, who lived a hundred years 
 ago, had left this earth in all the odour of sanctity, but, 
 amid the more exciting subjects which occupied men's 
 minds at that time, his fame was soon forgotten. Lately, 
 however, wonderful things had been performed near the 
 place where he lies interred, in the Government of Voro- 
 nesh : a talk went forth of the sick being cured, the lame 
 restored, merely by visiting the favoured spot. All this, 
 in due course, came to the ear of the emperor, who 
 forthwith canonized him ; and now, to the great edifi- 
 cation of the ignorant, his bones are performing miracles 
 every day, among the thousands who are flocking to the 
 shrine. 
 
 Of the emperor's toleration in matters of religion, 
 which has been very loudly vaunted, we cannot speak 
 in such enthusiastic terms as many have done. It is 
 true, that under him all sects and religions are tolerated, 
 as they long have been in Russia, but that members of 
 other sects are promoted with the same rapidity as those 
 of the Greek church is not true. No one is compelled 
 to join the predominant religion ; but. there is profit in 
 belonging to it notwithstanding. Is it any proof of 
 tolerance on the part of the Russians, to demand that a 
 
 vol. i. . N
 
 266 THE EMPEROR. 
 
 foreign princess, on allying herself to the emperor, must 
 be baptized into the Greek church, and assume a new 
 name commemorative of the rite ? It was a severe trial 
 to the protestant King of Prussia, to see his daughter 
 abandoning her faith, even though she did it to win such 
 dazzling honours. 
 
 This narrow-minded policy of the royal family of 
 Russia is now placed in a stronger light, by the libe- 
 rality of the royal family of France, who, although them- 
 selves strict Roman Catholics, have cordially welcomed 
 to their bosom the amiable protestant princess who will' 
 one day wear a crown not less brilliant than that of the 
 Empress of all the Russias. 
 
 The emperor also gets great credit for his liberality 
 to the Jews. In fact, any one who will not sing the 
 praises of this liberal despot is now set down as an 
 enemy to human improvement. Strange liberality, 
 truly, under the cloak of which iniquities innumerable 
 are committed every day. Beneath the merit of a little 
 good, Russia is allowed to perpetrate a great deal of evil. 
 Toleration is one of the most praiseworthy characteristics 
 in the policy of any state ; but we must not allow it to 
 blind us to great errors and great cruelties. But, after 
 all, what is this boasted toleration of Russia ? Before we 
 can raise our admiration of it to the required pitch, she 
 must, carry her toleration a little further. At present it 
 implies a most complete abnegation of all political rights 
 on the part of those who are to be tolerated. To become 
 its objects, men must cease to think like men. The 
 Jews are favoured by the emperor, because, as is well 
 known, they never interfere in affairs of government.
 
 TOLERATION OF THE JEWS. 267 
 
 Give them opportunity of making money, of carrying on 
 their traffic, and they live as happy under a despotism, 
 as under the freest government that could be framed. 
 Yet, even as regards the toleration manifested toward 
 the Jews in Russia, it should be borne in mind that it is 
 only very lately that they were placed on the more ad- 
 vantageous footing which they at present occupy. Prior 
 to the promulgation of the famous Ukase of 1835, which 
 defined their rights more precisely, none could have told 
 what was their exact position. They can now study at 
 the Universities, take degrees, &c. But even with all 
 these high-sounding liberalities before us — and the 
 emperor takes good care to have them duly trumpeted 
 through Europe — we deny that the indulgence of the 
 Russian government to the Jews is by any means of that 
 generous nature which many suppose. Should we call 
 it toleration in England were the government to say to 
 the Jews, " Get out from amongst us : we give you a 
 certain portion of country in the bleakest and most un- 
 cultivated corner of the empire ; go thither, all the 
 twelve thousand cf you, and render it fertile by your 
 industry : — pay your taxes, multiply your race, and get 
 rich if you can ; but not one of you shall we allow to live 
 in the capital, or even in some of the counties, on the 
 same footing with Christians ?" 
 
 In English ears, this, we are persuaded, would sound 
 very unlike toleration. Yet such is the toleration we 
 have been taught to praise in the Russian government. 
 For it is notorious, that though in some districts — those 
 which the government is anxious to colonize, and can 
 get nobody else to go to — they enjoy the immunities 
 
 n2
 
 268 ABOLITION OF TORTURE. 
 
 above alluded to; yet in certain provinces — Bialystock, 
 for instance, where there are many Jews — they are 
 treated as a degraded race, and are expressly prohibited 
 by law from leaving their villages, or settling in any 
 town of the district ; and it is equally well known that 
 no Jews, except a few of great wealth, are allowed to 
 settle in St. Petersburg and some other cities of the 
 empire. 
 
 It might also be asked, whether there be much tolera- 
 tion in compelling the Jews to serve in the army — nay, 
 in the navy, too — driving them like wild beasts, with 
 chains on their limbs, and the whip at their shoulders, to 
 enter professions to which, as is well known, they have 
 never been accustomed, and which they mortally abhor. 
 
 The abolition of the torture, at an earlier period even 
 than in France and some other countries, is another point 
 for which Russia has long received much praise. What 
 a liberal, what a marvellous country ! But this, like the 
 praise of her tolerant spirit, is also somewhat exagge- 
 rated. That the torture has been nominally abolished 
 cannot be denied; but for torture read knout, and the 
 practice still exists as vigorously as ever. When the pri- 
 soners, arrested on suspicion, are knouted to make them 
 confess, what is it but torture with a different name ? 
 
 Many assert that the emperor's sentiments on political 
 matters are much more liberal than has usually been 
 represented or expected. If this be true, he is inconsistent 
 in repressing all freedom of opinion so severely among 
 his subjects. Benkendorf, the head of the police, aids 
 him most powerfully in this work. Political associations 
 or meetings, however secretly conducted, are soon dis-
 
 THE POLICE. 269 
 
 covered, and mercilessly put down. It is said that he 
 has his spies in every place. Few private parties can be 
 held without some one being present to repeat what is 
 said. All places frequented by foreigners, such as 
 tables-dhote, hotels, &c, have a well-dressed spy or two 
 appended to them, who keep watch over the conversation 
 of the guests, and note those with whom they associate. 
 
 That the Russian police is not to be tampered with 
 was shown by its conduct on a recent occasion to a dis- 
 tinguished Englishman, commanding the armies of one 
 of the greatest powers in the East. During the last re 
 
 views at Kalisch, Sir — , then on his way to London, 
 
 turned off from the direct route through Gallicia and Si- 
 lesia, in order to witness a sight which could not but 
 possess unusual interest for a soldier. Being a man of 
 very remarkable personal appearance, he soon attracted 
 the attention of the police at Kalisch. Inquiries were 
 made about his object in visiting the place. He referred 
 to his passport as a sufficient security for his character ; 
 but was answered that a special permission was necessary 
 for all coming there. Having no further papers to tell 
 much about him, the affair began to look serious. Ar- 
 rest and worse consequences were threatened, when he 
 at length thought of appealing, as an Englishman, to the 
 Duke of Cumberland. His royal highness, however, 
 refused to have any thing to do with him ; so that mat- 
 ters now looked more suspicious than ever. In the eyes 
 of the impartial police, there could no longer be any 
 doubt that the tall stranger had come there on some con- 
 spiracy, and must be dealt with accordingly. Fortunately, 
 however, just when extreme measures were about to be
 
 270 THE POLICE. 
 
 resorted to, he learnt that there was another English noble- 
 man among the visiters, — one to whom even the humblest 
 of his countrymen could never have appealed in vain, — 
 the late Duke of Gordon ; who at once exerted all his 
 influence to free the stranger from his awkward position, 
 and made the emperor himself acquainted with his real 
 character. Thanks to the Duke, the gallant, soldier was 
 now honoured with every attention, and urged to take 
 'hat share in the martial festivities to which his rank and 
 reputation entitled him. But if the story as we had it at 
 Constantinople be correct, he was so indignant, at the 
 treatment he had previously received, that even imperial 
 entreaties could not induce him to remain an instant after 
 he had fully vindicated his character. 
 
 In nothing is the vigilance of the emperor's police more 
 actively displayed, than in its severity in all that concerns 
 the press.. Books, and publications of every kind, are 
 under the strictest censorship. Not a line can be printed 
 not even the prices of tallow and sugar, without the per- 
 mission of government. As to any thing like free discus- 
 sion in the newspapers, it is out of the question in a 
 country where, as already mentioned, few newspapers are 
 allowed except the official organs of 'the ministry. In 
 regard to the admission of foreign journals, however, there 
 is more liberality than we were prepared for. All the 
 German newspapers of any repute are to be- seen at the 
 clubs : such as the Staats-Zeitvvg, the Allgemeine- 
 Zeitung, the Hamburger Correspondent, the Borsen- 
 HaJle, with its Critische Blatter, the Journal fur Aus- 
 landische Litteralur, and the Freimuthige, some of 
 which, as is well known, often contain articles of a liberal
 
 PROHIBITED PAPERS AND BOOKS. 271 
 
 tendency. The only French newspaper which we met 
 with was the Journal des Debats ; and the only English 
 one permitted in public places is the Morning Post. 
 Galignanis Messenger, which had formerly been ad- 
 mitted, was excluded about the time of our visit, to the 
 great regret of the English, who found it by far the most 
 useful of all the continental papers. Yet as each number 
 was carefully examined at the post-office, and kept back 
 if it contained anything unpalatable to the government, 
 many of its readers found it much less tantalizing to be 
 without it altogether. Foreign newspapers of all kinds 
 are generally detained many hours at the post-office, to 
 give time for their perusal before being delivered. Such 
 is the jealousy of the authorities, that even in private 
 English families we saw few of our newspapers. Cham- 
 bers's Journal, and some other periodicals, which do not 
 deal in politics, are admitted. 
 
 In general, however, English books do not seem to be 
 very strictly prohibited. At Dixon's, the English book- 
 seller, we found copies of nearly all the English works 
 reprinted on the continent; that is to say, everything 
 worth reading. Brieff, one of the most respectable pub- 
 lishers in St. Petersburg, receives most of the new French 
 works; and it is said that none of the importers of books 
 are much troubled by the censor, government having a 
 general confidence in their honour, which of course they 
 take care not to abuse. Books of travels that treat of 
 Russia, especially English ones, are very severely pro- 
 hibited, unless they contain nothing but praise of the 
 emperor and his people. Yet others, sometimes, find 
 their way in. Byron is strictly forbidden : he made too
 
 272 DRAMATIC SATIRE ON 
 
 free with Russia in some of his poems, and said too 
 much about that troublesome thing liberty, to be a 
 favourite with the police. In spite of all their care, how- 
 ever, Ave heard of many a smuggled copy of him in 
 German, — which everybody can read who reads at all. 
 He is the favourite poet of the Russians. 
 
 Knowing that the stage is also under a strict censor- 
 ship, we were not a little surprised to see a piece per- 
 formed, which, though we could not understand the 
 dialogue, was evidently very severe on the malpractices of 
 some government functionaries. It is called the Reviser ; 
 and is meant as a satire on the practice of taking bribes, 
 which is so prevalent among Russian functionaries. Ayoung 
 spendthrift, reduced to his last sixpence, is mistaken in a 
 provincial town, to which he had removed, for the impor- 
 tant personage sent down to revise the accounts of tax- 
 collectors, government contractors, &c. No sooner has 
 this misapprehension become general than his prospects 
 are completely changed. Wealth, in the shape of 
 bribes, pours in upon him so fast, that, he knows not how 
 to dispose of it. One person offers him a hundred 
 pounds to let his books pass unexamined. Another 
 brings double the sum to purchase hi^ silence about an 
 acknowledged deficit. A third great man puts his castles 
 and horses at his disposal ; and a fourth gives him his 
 choice of his daughters in marriage, with the promise of 
 n rich dowry to increase the charms of the favoured fair. 
 In short, all goes so prosperously, that our hopeful 
 youth, from being the most despairing, begins to be the 
 most arrogant of men. Yet such, things, it appears, are 
 too common in Russia not to be understood and relished
 
 OFFICIAL CORRUPTION. 273 
 
 by the' poor taxpayers, at whose expense all this is 
 done. 
 
 Now all this freedom on the part of a dramatist sur- 
 prised us greatly in a country where we did not expect 
 to hear the smallest allusion on the stage, at least in the 
 way of censure, to anything connected with government ; 
 but the mystery was solved, when we are assured that, 
 numerous and powerful though they be, the class alluded 
 to in this piece had not been able to procure its suppres- 
 sion, for the very good reason that it had found favour 
 in the eyes of the emperor, who comes to laugh at it as 
 often as any grumbling liberal in all St. Petersburg. 
 He patronises it because it aids him in a part of his po- 
 licy, which will be discussed after we have offered a few 
 remarks on the influence which the example of the court 
 exercises on the nobles of the empire. 
 
 N ■}
 
 274 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 INFLUENCE OF THE COURT. 
 
 Great improvement in the morals of the Russian nobles — Chiefly attri- 
 butable to the empress — Way in which she has produced the change — 
 Splendour of the court entertainments — Banquets — Receptions — Most 
 honoured guests — Effect which her example has had on the education 
 of the daughters of the nobility — Great pains taken with her own 
 family — The emperor's attention to the education of his sons — Its 
 influence on that of the young nobles — Many Germans of princely 
 rank visit the court — Prince Maximilian of Leuchtenberg — Motives 
 of the emperor in choosing him to be his son-in-law — His character — 
 The extravagance of the court injurious as an example to the nobles — 
 Their burdens — Painful reflections on witnessing the splendour of the 
 palaces. 
 
 From having been the most profligate of all the courts 
 of Europe, the imperial circle of St. Petersburg has now 
 become the purest and most exemplary. The world has 
 not yet forgotten the foul tales with which the very men- 
 tion of some of the Muscovite sovereigns was once inva- 
 riably associated ; but, happily, at the imperial court of 
 the present day it is now as fashionable to be virtuous, 
 as it was in the days of other rulers to be immoral. 
 
 The emperor himself deserves a great share of the 
 merit of having accomplished this much-needed reform 
 in Russian manners ; for, whatever may be the truth of 
 the whispers regarding his private conduct, it is unde- 
 niable that in public he has at all times most strenuously 
 discountenanced every tendency to open licentiousness or 
 impropriety among the members of his court.
 
 COURT MORALS. 275 
 
 Of the merit of this good work, however, the greatest 
 share is due to the amiable and high-minded empress. 
 Brought up amid the bitter but wholesome lessons of 
 adversity, the daughter of the ill-fated Queen of Prussia 
 carried with her to the throne those principles of true 
 morality and religion which, when they once have been 
 firmly rooted, can neither be shaken by misfortune nor 
 deadened by prosperity. She had not long been raised 
 to an elevation whose splendours would have dazzled a 
 more ordinary or a less religious mind, and deprived it 
 perhaps of that delicate perception of right and wrong 
 which in lower station might have remained unimpaired, 
 before she discovered that many things in the manners 
 and conduct of the Russian nobles greatly needed ame- 
 lioration. Under the correct and exemplary reign of 
 the Emperor Alexander, a change for the better had 
 already begun to appear ; but it had only begun. There 
 was still wanting to the wives of the Russian nobility 
 the sanctifying influence of a pure female court ; an ex- 
 ample of correctness in the first lady of the empire. 
 This they had now obtained, in one who knew well the 
 mighty extent of the influence, either for good or for 
 evil, which her elevated station conferred, and who, at. 
 the same time, was not ignorant that there were dangers 
 as well as difficulties awaited her, in attempting to bring 
 about a change among those who had hitherto never 
 heard the voice of entreaty, far less that of reproof. 
 
 Sincerely impressed, however, with a sense of the 
 necessity which existed for a reform, the empress was 
 determined to spare no effort in the noble task which she 
 had assumed. The only question with her was, how
 
 276 THE EMPRESS. 
 
 could the laudable object best be accomplished ? It was 
 here that the strong good sense of the empress came to 
 the aid of her zeal. A less judicious reformer of man- 
 ners and morals, invested like her with almost boundless 
 power for carrying her wishes into effect, would have 
 thought only of the way in which that power could be 
 most violently employed in accomplishing her wishes. 
 But in place of prohibitions and proscriptions, she chose 
 the gentler and more persuasive method of reforming by 
 example ; a course which was the more effectual, that in 
 Russia good example from an empress had unhappily 
 been but too rare. 
 
 It is, then, by a strict adherence to propriety in her own 
 conduct, and firmness in refusing to countenance those, 
 however high their rank, who had become noted for 
 levity, that the excellent Alexandra Feodorovna has at 
 length succeeded in making her court the resort of 
 morality without hypocrisy, and of decorum without mo- 
 roseness. 
 
 During the season at which we visited Russia the court 
 is not held at St. Petersburg. It is only in winter that 
 it is seen in its full magnificence. All that the empire 
 contains of noble and wealthy are then drawn to the 
 capital, by the gorgeous festivities which are continued 
 without intermission, till the return of summer again 
 permits the imperial family to enjoy the comforts and 
 tranquillity of country life. 
 
 The entertainments given at the court are on a scale 
 of splendour surpassing all that is now to be seen in any 
 other part of the world. We have heard a member of 
 one of the royal families of Germany say, that the mar-
 
 SPLENDOUR OF THE COURT. 277 
 
 vels which he had witnessed in the Winter Palace could 
 only be compared to the fictions of the Arabian Nights. 
 The wide and beautiful entrances lined with crowds of 
 attendants in the richest liveries — staircases of the whitest 
 marble glittering with men and armour, arranged in 
 groups the most tasteful and impressive — the vast size 
 and splendour of the apartments, lighted by thousands 
 of costly lamps — the ceiling and doors one blaze of gild- 
 ing — the roofs supported by columns composed of the 
 rarest materials, and in some instances glowing with 
 precious stones — the walls covered with crystal mirrors 
 that multiply the objects a thousand times, or even in 
 some instances composed of lapis lazuli of enormous 
 price — the richest furniture that artists' skill can produce 
 — vases of the most beautiful forms, and of materials 
 which kings and emperors alone can aspire to — the 
 panels hung with the most famed performances of the 
 pencil — and beneath them, the fairest, creations of the 
 classic chisel, mingling with all that modern art has 
 contributed of beautiful or sublime — in short, whatever 
 the most uncontrolled fancy can imagine, or the most 
 boundless wealth command, are here assembled with a 
 profusion that dazzles even the accustomed eye. 
 
 The condescension and even kindness displayed by 
 the imperial hosts on such occasions win every heart. 
 The emperor, all life and frankness, is every where, and 
 has a happy word for every one ; while the empress, 
 ever graceful and dignified, presides with inexpressible 
 charms in her own peculiar sphere. Every member of 
 their family follows the gracious example set before 
 them by those whom they naturally look up to as the 
 first beings on earth.
 
 278 SPLENDOUR OF THE COURT. 
 
 The splendour displayed by the guests at these gay 
 festivals is in every way worthy of their illustrious enter- 
 tainers. Ladies never appear in any but the most expen- 
 sive dresses; while their lords glitter in rich stars and 
 uniforms of every variety. 
 
 On some occasions the officers of all the troops in gar- 
 rison at St. Petersburg have the honour of being enter- 
 tained by their imperial majesties. These, however, are 
 looked upon as mere public banquets, not as fashionable 
 receptions, which are exceedingly select. At these latter, 
 none but the highest nobility and the families of the 
 ministers of state are present ; nor could any other class 
 meet the enormous expenditure which they occasion. Of 
 the official personages, some have not private fortunes 
 sufficient to qualify them for such display; but their sa- 
 laries being very large — perhaps the largest paid to any 
 ministers in Europe — they are able, while in office, to 
 shine with the greatest in the empire. 
 
 The names of the Cheremetieffs, Apraxines, Benken- 
 dorffs, Naryschkines, Strogonoffs, Paschkoff's, Volkon- 
 s!-ys, Lievens, Troubetskoys, &c, need not be repeated 
 as among those who are the most frequent and most 
 honoured guests at court. It should be stated, however, 
 that many of the native families who are the most dis- 
 tinguished supporters of his throne really have very little 
 acquaintance — if we may use so humble a phrase — with 
 the emperor. The intercourse on these occasions is on 
 the whole so formal, that strangers, who have only been 
 a fortnight in St. Petersburg, sometimes see more and 
 know more of the emperor and his family than those 
 who have spent the best part of their lives at court. 
 
 It must not be concealed, however, that these frequent
 
 RUSSIAN NOBILITY. 279 
 
 opportunities of associating with the imperial family 
 have been productive of great good in regard to the edu- 
 cation of the families of the nobility. In this important 
 matter the example of the empress has been of the very 
 greatest consequence. Formerly, the education of females 
 in the highest families of the nobility was of the most 
 superficial nature. They acquired all that could "tell" 
 in society ; every showy accomplishment was prosecuted 
 with the greatest anxiety : but to useful knowledge, to 
 the acquirement of sound principles of religion and 
 morals, so little time was given, that the education of a 
 Russian lady of high rank was not unjustly said to be 
 limited to the study of French and the art of handling 
 the fan. The young beauty was most thoroughly in- 
 structed in the science of turning her personal charms to 
 the greatest account ; but while the mode of captivating 
 a lover was so carefully instilled, the more important one 
 of retaining his affections as a husband was left entirely 
 out of view. 
 
 Such a state of things could not be expected to con- 
 tinue under an empress who belonged to the most highly- 
 educated of all the royal families of Europe, and who 
 had herself received the most complete education that 
 ever a princess enjoyed. The sincerity of her zeal in 
 this vital cause was soon made apparent, by the -great 
 pains which she took with the education of her own 
 daughters. The Russians, ever prone to imitate those 
 whom they look up to, soon followed the example; and, 
 having once been taught the importance of storing the 
 female mind with knowledge of a higher character, they 
 have latterly bestowed such care on this good task, that
 
 280 THE YOUNG PRINCESS. 
 
 now, perhaps, there is no country in the world where the 
 daughters of the nobility receive a better education than 
 they do in Russia. 
 
 What the empress has done for her daughters, the 
 emperor has not less faithfully performed for his sons. 
 They have all been educated under his own eye. The 
 time and labour bestowed by him in this department of 
 his parental duties would appear altogether inconsistent 
 with his devotion to so many other serious affairs. For, 
 not satisfied with having provided for them in every 
 department the best masters that could be found in Eu- 
 rope, he himself bestows many hours in superintending 
 the studies of his promising sons. As might be expected 
 from what we have said of his martial tastes, he is espe- 
 cially zealous in making them acquainted with all the 
 branches of a military education. His oldest son, the 
 hereditary grand-duke, Alexander Nicholaevitch, now in 
 his twenty- first year, is said to have a most complete 
 knowledge of the science which, to all appearance, will 
 for many years be the most important that the sovereigns 
 of Russia can acquire. Having been brought up with the 
 most hardy habits, the heir-apparent can endure every 
 kind of fatigue, and expose himself to every kind of wea- 
 ther. This hardening process, indeed, would even 
 appear to have been carried too far ; for it is now alleged 
 that the health of the young prince has been. broken by 
 it, though not, happily, to such extent as to excite any 
 serious alarm. 
 
 The care taken by the emperor in educating his sons, 
 as in the case of the empress just mentioned, has also 
 been very beneficial as an example to the nobility in
 
 THE PRINCE OF LEUCHTENBERG. 281 
 
 training theirs. The Russian nobles have long been 
 distinguished for the pains bestowed in educating their 
 sons ; and with the improvements recently made, their 
 system is now probably as complete as any course of 
 private education — for such, generally speaking, it still 
 is — can ever be made. 
 
 From the warm affection which subsists between all 
 the members of the royal family to which the empress 
 belongs, there is scarcely a season passes that some 
 Prussian prince does not visit St. Petersburg. Indeed, 
 from this and its other numerous connexions with the 
 royal families of Germany, the court is almost constantly 
 attended by some of the younger scions of Teutonic roy- 
 alty. One of these princely knights-errant, Maximilian 
 of Leuchtenberg, it appears, has been fortunate enough 
 to gain the heart of the fair princess who doubtless aided 
 in drawing so many of the gay and gallant to her father's 
 court. Who would have ventured, twenty, or even ten 
 years since, to predict that the imperial house of Russia 
 would ally itself with the family of Napoleon ? Truly 
 politics work changes which surpass the calculations of 
 the warmest lover of the marvellous. And yet politics 
 can have had little to do with this match. Some, indeed, 
 may think that, if the prince himself be without political 
 prospects or name — in fact, little more than a private 
 gentleman — yet he has sufficient recommendation even 
 to an ambitious father, as the brother-in-law of him who 
 must soon be king of Sweden, and the near relative of 
 him who is actually king of Greece — two countries in 
 which Russian interests are deeply involved. But it is 
 probable that, in selecting the son of Eugene Beauhar-
 
 282 PASSION FOR SHOW. 
 
 nois for his son-in-law, Nicholas has consulted the feel- 
 ings of the father more than those of the emperor — 
 preferred the competitor for his daughter's hand who was 
 most likely to make her happy, to the one that would 
 merely have made her great. Nor are his expectations 
 likely to be deceived. When we saw him, some years 
 since, Prince Maximilian of Leuchtenberg was one of 
 the gayest of the many gay courtiers who then graced 
 one of the northern courts ; and those who had opportu- 
 nities of knowing his character, spoke of him in terms of 
 warm praise. A good heart and amiable manners, both 
 of which he possesses in an eminent degree, will be valu- 
 able qualities in the Viceroy of Poland — the dignity to 
 which, public rumour asserts, he is, ere long, to be raised. 
 Whether these visits of the princes of Germany to a 
 court so splendid as that of St. Petersburg tend to make 
 them better pleased with the sober gaieties of their own 
 circles,- is a question for others to decide. Of the effect, 
 however, which familiarity with these splendours pro- 
 duces on the native nobility, we may state that it is far 
 from favourable. That the example of the court has 
 been most beneficial in some important respects has 
 been already shown : but that in some points its exam- 
 ple is decidedly prejudicial, is strongly asserted by 
 many : and in nothing is it more prejudicial than in fos- 
 tering that turn for extravagance and love of show which 
 are naturally so strong in every Russian breast, that it 
 would be more desirable to check than to encourage 
 them. Accustomed, in their visits to court, to see nothing 
 but the most unbounded extravagance, they carry back 
 the lesson with them into private life; each rivalling
 
 RUSSIAN EXTRAVAGANCE. 283 
 
 with the other, who shall go farthest in the magnificence 
 of their tables, and their general style of living. The 
 natural consequence of this reckless mode of life has been, 
 that many of the nobles, with incomes nominally of 
 enormous amount, are in reality involved in the greatest 
 difficulties. So far from leading the happy, enviable 
 existence which the world would ascribe to them, they 
 are, in fact, leading the most miserable life that can be 
 imagined — that of being compelled by their vanity to 
 maintain a hollow show, which though it may add to 
 the splendour of the imperial court, entails only misery 
 on the families of its victims. 
 
 In one sense, indeed, the evil consequences of the ex- 
 ample which he gives recoil on the emperor himself: for 
 those of the public functionaries who have neither private 
 fortune nor official salarj^sufficient to enable them to cope 
 with their neighbours in this race of extravagance, 
 manage to find means of doing so by robbing the state. 
 There can be no doubt that the ruinous style which they 
 are forced to keep up on these occasions is one great 
 cause of the extreme and shameless dishonesty which, as 
 will be hereafter shown, prevails among Russian func- 
 tionaries, to a most deplorable extent. 
 
 Nor is it possible to avoid remarking, in connexion 
 with all these splendours, that the means of supporting 
 them are wrung from the poor and the oppressed. How 
 many serfs must toil — how many millions must eat the 
 bitter bread of sorrow — before the emperor can fill his 
 halls with ornaments that would purchase kingdoms, and 
 keep up a show to which history yields no parallel ! 
 Such, at least, were the reflections that rose to our minds,
 
 284 RUSSIAN EXTRAVAGANCE. 
 
 as we trod his magnificent saloons, glittering with more 
 than barbaric pomp. In the palace of a sovereign who 
 reigns over a free people, these thoughts will not intrude ; 
 for its splendours are but the reflected grandeur of the 
 nation which has voluntarily contributed them. But in 
 Russia it is impossible to forget that the magnificence of 
 its mighty ruler is levied from those who have no voice to 
 plead their cause — no arm to shield them from rapacity 
 and wrong.
 
 285 
 
 CHAPTER XXV. 
 
 THE EMPEROR'S REFORMS— OFFICIAL BRIBES- 
 CONDITION OF THE SERFS. 
 
 Shameful prevalence of bribery — Judges — Magistrates — Anecdotes of a 
 police director — Nothing can be done without bribing — Difficulty of 
 changing the system — Attempt to liberate the serfs — Their present 
 degraded condition — Sold with the land — May be bought as servants — 
 Extreme difficulty of arriving at the truth on these subjects in Russia 
 — Injurious effects of slavery on masters as well as the sufferers them- 
 selves — Danger of keeping the people longer in slavery. 
 
 Of all the important measures by which the short 
 reign of the Emperor Nicholas has already been dis- 
 tinguished, none are so likely to hand down his name with 
 honour to posterity as those which he has adopted for 
 reforming the many abuses which exist in the general 
 administration of the empire. Some indeed may wonder 
 to hear his name mentioned in connexion with reform of 
 any kind ; but that he is nevertheless, in many things, 
 both a bold and persevering reformer, none who know his 
 character can for a moment doubt. 
 
 As the greatest and most obvious abuse of all, he has 
 strenuously set himself to reform the bribing system re- 
 ferred to at the close of a former chapter. In spite of all 
 his efforts, however, bribery in public offices still prevails, 
 to a degree unheard of in other countries. Even in Aus- 
 tria, where they understand such things very well, they 
 are mere tyros in the science compared with the Russians. 
 It grinds the poor and impoverishes the rich : it is prac-
 
 286 SYSTEM OF BRIBERY 
 
 tised in every branch of the administration, from the 
 lowest clerk to the highest minister : it paralyzes indus- 
 try, enterprise, merit, in every corner of the empire. 
 
 If you commence a lawsuit, however just your cause, 
 it remains undecided for years, unless you bribe the 
 judges again and again. If you want a government con- 
 tract, the heads of the department must be propitiated 
 with half of your calculated profits. If a situation is pro- 
 cured it must be paid for. If you wish to have your pass- 
 port, especially in any of the remote provinces, a thou- 
 sand difficulties can be thrown in the way till money 
 removes ihem. Thus a foreigner, in a distant part of 
 the empire, who wanted to leave the country, had waited 
 upwards of a month without being able to obtain his 
 papers from the governor's secretary, who alw 7 ays sent 
 evasive answers. His patience being at length exhausted, 
 he mado a journey of a hundred miles, to wait on the 
 governor himself. He was received with open arms, 
 feasted, honoured as if he had been a bosom friend ; but 
 still his passport made no progress, until means were 
 found to give the applicant a hint that he had forgot to 
 accompany his letter with the customary bribe. The 
 money was paid — the well-bred governor perhaps pocket- 
 ing half of it; and the traveller got off without further 
 delay In all probability, money would have been equally 
 powerful had he been a murderer, only that he would 
 have had more to pay. 
 
 The sums drawn in the shape of bribes by some peo- 
 ple in office are quite enormous, not only in the capital, 
 but in the provinces also. There is a town in the south 
 of Russia where the director of police has an income of
 
 SYSTEM OF BRIBERY. 287 
 
 80,000 roubles a-year (3200/.), though his regular salary 
 is only 6000 roubles, or 240/. All over the empire, the 
 people holding such situations are notorious for their ra- 
 pacity ; but this personage enjoys peculiar opportunities 
 for swelling his booty, having a monopoly for furnishing 
 the prisons, lighting the streets, &c. Every inhabitant 
 must make him presents, to avoid arbitrary interference 
 with their affairs. But the largest item of all is paid by 
 thieves, who thus purchase their escape from justice, in 
 the face of complaints strongly and frequently urged by 
 the most respectable residents. It is quite impossible 
 to obtain redress for any grievance : better leave it untold, 
 if you wish to avoid new loss. 
 
 One of the anecdotes regarding this worthy illustrates 
 so admirably the state of matters in Russia, that we give 
 it as a specimen, from among many which could be 
 repeated. Our informant, a merchant living at the place 
 in question, had repeatedly missed money from his cash- 
 box. Suspecting a man in his office, he resolved to 
 watch him; and at last, after losing 800 roubles in the 
 experiment, obtained sure proof that he was the thief. 
 A police officer being sent for, the person's trunk was 
 searched, and 650 of the roubles found in it; but 
 neither restitution of the money, nor punishment of the 
 offender could ever be obtained: The officer, indeed, 
 carried off the cash, and made an able report to his 
 chief; but good care was taken that it should never find 
 its way back again to the rightful owner, who was 
 forced to let the matter lie unagitated, knowing that 
 to pursue it more would only be expending money in 
 vain.
 
 288 SYSTEM OF BRIBERY. 
 
 Further to show the purity of Russian justice, the 
 same gentleman mentioned that a fellow once came to 
 him with a forged paper, demanding money in the name 
 of the police : it was paid without suspicion. But the 
 visit being soon repeated, he suspected that there was 
 something wrong, and put some questions to the messen- 
 ger, who instantly took guilt to himself, and fled. The 
 printed paper and police stamps being both found to be 
 forgeries, the offender was taken into custody, and the 
 gentleman who had been the means of exposing him was 
 thanked a hundred and a hundred times by the head of 
 the department, who said that the man was an old officer, 
 known for his tricks. 
 
 Surely this delinquent was made an example of? By 
 no means ! In place of being punished, he is now again 
 in the pay of the police. He had gained enough by his 
 forgeries to be able to bribe the authorities to silence and 
 connivance. 
 
 These are only weak specimens of what bribery can 
 achieve in Russia. It can do everything; and the 
 misfortune is, that without it nothing can be done. If 
 you apply for the most trifling service, or the smallest 
 piece of information at any public office, it must be paid 
 for. When we asked a bookseller 'why he had not 
 thought of publishing a proper guide to St. Petersburg, 
 such as those which are to be found of every other capital, 
 he said that the undertaking would ruin him. Before he 
 could procure the necessary intelligence in that accurate 
 form which alone could render such a book of any value, 
 he would have to expend at least 30,000 roubles in bribes 
 to the clerks and principals of the various establishments.
 
 SYSTEM OF BRIBERY. 289 
 
 The bribes expended in getting up a small and ineffi- 
 cient thing of the kind, containing only a few sheets, had 
 amounted to ten times the cost of the printing and paper 
 of the whole edition. 
 
 It is notorious that, in some of the public offices, many 
 are so poorly paid, that, in order to subsist, they must 
 have recourse to the taking of bribes ; and it is equally 
 notorious that some of these gentlemen, who have only 
 30/. a-year of salary, drink their claret and champagne. 
 When an inferior officer is detected taking money, his 
 master may make a pretence of punishing him ; but at 
 the same time he secretly encourages the practice by 
 pocketing a share of the spoil. 
 
 It is this universality of the system which renders it so 
 difficult to sweep it away. Were there only the heads of 
 departments to deal with, it would soon be cured ; but 
 besides the few hundred leaders in this rapine, there is 
 an army of many thousand subordinates to contend with. 
 Before their ravages can be checked, every salary in the 
 empire must be raised tenfold. With all his determi- 
 nation, therefore, Nicholas has not yet been able to clear 
 out this worse than Augean stable. As in every similar 
 case, the contemplated reform is very unpopular with 
 those on whom it may fall. The attempt is also attended 
 with considerable danger to the emperor himself; but his 
 character is sufficient guarantee that he will not shrink 
 from it on that account. It is the misfortune of a despotic 
 government that no great reform can ever be accom- 
 plished under it without violence ; so that, in all proba- 
 bility, the stream with which this nuisance will be swept 
 away must be one of blood. 
 
 VOL. i. o
 
 290 OFFICIAL PECULATION. 
 
 That Nicholas can be impartial in his vengeance — - 
 that rank will not save an offender when once his guilt is 
 known — was well proved the other day, by the case of a 
 collector of taxes, who, though a man of good family, 
 and invested with a high military title, was degraded to 
 the ranks, and sent to Siberia, for peculation. 
 
 That the functionaries who take bribes from the people 
 should also be guilty of robbing the sovereign, is a tran- 
 sition so natural, that none will be surprised to hear this 
 also enumerated in the list of Russian grievances. In 
 fact, peculation prevails to an enormous extent. Those 
 who have the public money passing through their hands 
 plunder in the most unblushing manner ; and contractors 
 cheat the government as if it were a bounden duty to do 
 so. This is one of the most melancholy characteristics 
 of the Russian. He seems to be utterly incapable of 
 distinguishing between right and wrong in regard to the 
 public money. Neither banishment, nor fear of exposure 
 and loss of rank can keep him from turning his position 
 to account, as it is politely termed. The difficulty of 
 finding Russians who will act in office with anything 
 like honesty, is one of the principal reasons why so many 
 foreigners are still employed in the highest offices of the 
 state. Whenever a Russian is appointed to a public 
 situation, or obtains a government contract, he begins to 
 consider how he may best impose on the emperor, and 
 enrich himself. But Nicholas has at last stepped in; 
 and, from the vigilance now employed in watching the 
 public robbers, it will no longer be so easy to supply the 
 navy with tar little better than ditch-water, nor to mount 
 the cavalry in leather that would not stand a week's hard 
 wear.
 
 LIBERATION OF THE SERFS. 291 
 
 Another reform, which puts the emperor's character 
 even in a still more favourable light, is his desire to 
 liberate the peasantry, and to raise their character in 
 every way. He has not directly interfered with the no- 
 bles on this subject^ but has set them the example, ac- 
 companied by a pretty intelligible hint that he expects it 
 to be followed. On all the estates of the crown the serfs 
 have been liberated, and care is taken to qualify them for 
 freedom by education and indulgent treatment. 
 
 The great objection raised to this scheme by the 
 nobles is the same which has always been made in other 
 countries to attempts of this nature : namely, that 
 the jieople do not wish for freedom ; and, as a proof of 
 this, reference is made to some experiments of last cen- 
 tury, when the peasants in certain districts were enfran- 
 chised, and attempts made to introduce a better system 
 of agriculture amongst them. Instead of showing them- 
 selves proud of their free state, many first sold and drank 
 the value of their new implements, and then, complain- 
 ing that they did not know what to do with liberty, 
 petitioned that they might be again placed under the 
 lash and the goad. But this is only the natural conse- 
 quence of slavery : it always makes men unfit to appre- 
 ciate the blessings of freedom. If the nobles were sincere 
 in seconding the emperor, the true way to remedy this 
 would be to teach their humble brethren the value of 
 liberty. They should begin by establishing schools more 
 extensively, or otherwise labour honestly to prepare 
 the minds of the people for independence; and amoug 
 the things which they might teach them, ought to be the 
 fact that the bondage of the lower classes is not an old 
 
 o 2
 
 292 RUSSIAN SERFS. 
 
 and traditional usage in Russia, but an innovation of 
 comparatively modern date. There had always been 
 domestic slaves in Russia ; but it was only in the reign 
 of Foedor Ivanovitch, the last Tzar of Muscovy, who died 
 in 1591, that the peasants, the great mass of the people, 
 became serfs (servi glebce adscripti). Through the in- 
 fluence of his talented minister, Godunoff, they lost the 
 right of passing, as interest or fancy dictated, from one 
 landowner to another, and have ever since been com- 
 pelled to remain on the soil where they are born, or, 
 which is the same thing, they cannot leave it without 
 their master's permission, who continues to the last hour 
 of their life to draw a portion of their earnings, in 
 whatever part of Russia they may be located. The 
 landlord can transplant them wherever he pleases on his 
 own property, but it is a high crime to sell or buy slaves 
 by auction, or in any other way, apart from the land. 
 The owner of the soil on which they were born is com- 
 pelled to support them in sickness and old age. 
 
 In certain parts of the country there would appear to 
 be some exceptions to the law just mentioned, regarding 
 the sale of peasants being authorized only when the land 
 is sold: for we were distinctly told an the south of 
 Russia, by English families long resident there, that 
 Russians of a certain rank are allowed to buy slaves, 
 even when not buying land. No merchant, no foreigner, 
 no Jew, is permitted to do so ; but any Russian, who has 
 attained the military rank of major, can purchase slaves 
 to be his servants. He can also, in some manner, 
 transfer his rights to others: for many foreigners get a 
 friend to buy slaves for them, and retain them as servants
 
 DIFFICULTY OF OBTAINING THE TRUTH. 293 
 
 in his name. Indeed, unless people have recourse to this 
 system, they can scarcely get servants at all. " Why 
 don't you buy slaves ?" was the question put to an Eng- 
 lish lady, when she complained that she was at a loss for 
 servants. Her objection about her principles not allow- 
 ing her to employ slaves was regarded as mere English 
 prejudice. Even if our fair countrywoman could have 
 got over her repugnance to this traffic in human blood, 
 she would have found, what all others find, that such 
 servants are the worst that can be got. 
 
 It is necessary to state, however, that on the subject 
 now under discussion, we found it impossible to obtain 
 any really satisfactory information. English people, of 
 course, having no object to gain either by exaggerating 
 or concealing the truth, all agree in telling the same story 
 on this question ; but no two Russians ever agree on this, 
 or, we may say, on any other point connected with the 
 usages and institutions of the country. To get at the 
 truth in Russia, even regarding the simplest subject of 
 curiosity, is literally impossible. In free countries truth 
 is to be got at by a stranger, if he takes the trouble of 
 inquiring in the proper quarter ; but here the more he 
 inquires, the more is he bewildered. What he writes 
 down one day, he is forced to contradict the very next. 
 Many instances might be given of the ignorance which 
 prevails here regarding the subjects most likely to interest 
 a stranger, and especially regarding public matters, or, 
 at least, of the contradictions which we heard concerning 
 them : but we shall now mention only one. It happened, 
 during a discussion about the public revenue of Russia, 
 in a large party of most intelligent people. Some main-
 
 294 STATE OF THE SERFS. 
 
 tained that it amounted to 34,000,000/. sterling, and 
 maintained it stoutly. They were only making it more 
 than twice what it really is ! In fact, every Englishman 
 who has visited this or any other continental country, 
 where there is no free press, must have been struck with 
 the great difficulty there is in learning the truth, even on 
 the most public affairs. The stranger is confounded with 
 statements the most contradictory, from people who ought 
 to be equally well informed. This will always be the 
 case where men get, little thanks for knowing anything 
 beyond the mere routine of their duty — where no discus- 
 sion is allowed on questions connected with government 
 arrangements — and, above all, where the press is not 
 allowed to circulate correct information. 
 
 Returning, however, to the subject from which we 
 have digressed, we may mention that on one point, con- 
 nected with the serfs, all our informants were agreed ; 
 namely, that though only certain classes can hold slaves 
 without buying the property they belong to, yet any per- 
 son who has the means may buy a property with slaves on 
 it. It would also seem well established, that the total 
 number of serfs in the empire amounts to 21,000,000. 
 Of these a portion is liberated every year; some, but only 
 very few of the nobles following now and then the exam- 
 ple of the crown. Thus, it appears, that in the course of 
 1836 about 352 were liberated, making the whole num- 
 ber of enfranchised serfs up to that time 67,736. 
 
 Shopkeepers and traders worth thousands a-year may 
 
 . be seen in St. Petersburg, who are still but slaves. It is 
 
 oven said that such find some advantage in being thus 
 
 bound, and would not change their thraldom even were
 
 STATE OF THE SERFS. 295 
 
 it in their power to do so. But this we cannot compre- 
 hend : it may be good Russian reasoning, but is scarcely 
 common sense. 
 
 One thing, however, connected with these serfs, we can 
 fully understand ; which is, that, whatever may be the 
 blessings of slavery to those who remove from their native 
 huts, those who remain on the property are in a most 
 wretched state. In most instances there is no bargain 
 between the landlord and his people. He may take as 
 much or as little of their money or their crop as he 
 pleases: there is nothing but self-interest to hinder 
 him from taking all. The poor wretches are ground to 
 the very dust. Besides the stripes already spoken of, 
 they are subject to banishmeut, and even severer punish- 
 ment, at their tyrant's pleasure. Of course, he has an 
 interest in retaining as many of them on the estate as 
 possible. Like a farmer with his horses or his oxen, he 
 cannot kill nor drive them out to the waste, without in- 
 juring his own revenue ; for, besides the amount of his 
 income, the value of his property, when he wishes to sell 
 it, also hinges on the number of his dependants. The 
 people are counted over to the purchaser, like so many 
 sheep. 
 
 We even doubt, whatever the theory of the law may 
 be, whether in practice a nobleman has not power of life 
 and death over his serfs. If he commit murder it is al- 
 most impossible to punish him. In short, spite of the 
 sentimental rhapsodies which have been published on 
 this subject, the connexion between master and slave 
 in this country is unredeemed by a single allevia- 
 tion. Bad as slavery was in our West India possessions.
 
 296 STATE OF THE SERFS. 
 
 we know that there were some happy slaves, just because 
 there were some kind masters who took an interest in al- 
 leviating the sad lot of their dependants : but in Russia 
 we did not meet with a single well-attested instance of a 
 landlord having adopted a philanthropic scheme for im- 
 proving the condition of those whom he has robbed of 
 their birthright. It is not asserted that there are no in- 
 stances of kindness — that all are cruel ; but that there is 
 nothing like enlightened, or well-organized benevolence 
 among the greater part of the proprietors toward the un- 
 happy creatures whose fate is in their hands, was the as- 
 sertion made to us by every Russian with whom we spoke. 
 It might be thought that nothing could be more close 
 than the tie between master and slave in this country — 
 that were it only from mere sentiment, if from no higher 
 motive, a proprietor would be continually doing some- 
 thing for those on his estate. But, alas ! Slavery bru- 
 talizes all who come in contact with it. To its debasing 
 influence alone can we attribute the fact, that we never 
 once heard Russians of rank speak with anything like 
 affection of slaves. Nay, they speak of the lower orders 
 with contempt — with something of a fierce hatred even; 
 as if they were worse than brutes, not worthy of a mo- 
 ment's regard from rational beings! 
 
 These remarks, however imperfect, will give some idea 
 of the system which the emperor is labouring to reform. 
 In doing so, he is only following out the policy of some of 
 his predecessors, who also wished to increase the number 
 of freemen ; and, as a first step, established those 
 Foundling Hospitals which are among the most remark- 
 able institutions in Russia, but are in no respect more re-
 
 STATE OF THE SERFS. "297 
 
 markable than as being literally nurseries of freemen. 
 The many thousands annually educated in these places 
 become perfectly free. It would be well for the nobles if 
 they would follow, ere it be too late, the example set them 
 by the government; for knowledge makes its way in by 
 narrow channels : strictly as their frontiers appeared to be 
 sealed, a better light may penetrate even this Russian 
 darkness, and hasten the day when the nobles may wish 
 that, like their emperor, they had foreseen the danger of 
 attempting to enslave twenty millions of men, whose re- 
 venge will be cruel in proportion to the cruelties they have 
 endured. 
 
 o3
 
 298 
 
 CHAPTER XXVI. 
 
 THE EMPEROR AND HIS ARMY. 
 
 His longing for military fame — Love of reviews, &c. — Makes a play- 
 thing of his troops — Amount of the Russian army — How composed — 
 Cannot be relied upon — Jew soldiers — The imperial guard — Finland 
 sharpshooters — Russian compared with Prussian soldiers — The review 
 at Kalisch — Pay — Length of service, &c. 
 
 Anxious as the emperor may be to accomplish the re- 
 forms alluded to in the preceding chapter, they occupy 
 but little of his time compared with his military schemes. 
 
 It is, after all, for honours of another kind that his 
 heart most ardently burns. To be distinguished as a 
 soldier, " a conqueror," would be dearer to him than all 
 the fame he could ever obtain as the " redresser of 
 wrongs." He is now the only monarch in Europe of de- 
 cidedly warlike tastes, He is never happy unless when 
 occupied with some military pageant : when he cannot 
 get up the real game of war, he tries Jo comfort himself 
 with its image, in 1835, for instance, he dragged the 
 grave King of Prussia into the play, and a costly bout of 
 it they had at Kalisgh. The following year, he had a 
 camp of 40,000 men near St. Petersburg, where all the 
 ceremonies of a campaign were gone through with so 
 much solemnity, that an aide-de-camp of his Prussian 
 majesty attended the whole time, and daily sent a report 
 of the movements to Berlin, just as if a real war had
 
 THE EMPEROR AND HIS ARMY. "299 
 
 been going on. In 1837 he had reviews and ma- 
 noeuvres at Vosnecensk, in the south of Russia, on a scale 
 seldom surpassed even in actual warfare. From thence 
 he visited Sebastopol, where he took part in some ma- 
 noeuvres of the Black Sea fleet ; and afterwards proceeded 
 to Tcherkass, where he met a division of his Cossack 
 troops, some 60,000 strong, and presented to them his 
 son, who has always had the title of Hetman, or chief of 
 the Cossacks, but had never appeared amongst them in 
 that capacity. He next started for Taganrog, and there 
 closed his military shows for 1837, by reviewing 65,000 
 Cossacks of another tribe. In 1838, we have seen, with 
 the help of his deluded victims, before the walls of Herat, 
 he has made some approach to more serious pastime. 
 What the programme of his military amusements for the 
 year 1839 may be a few months will show ; but those 
 who know his character best will be much surprised 
 should he fail in getting up a real war to occupy his next 
 autumnal leisure. 
 
 These military shows create an immense drain on the 
 treasury. It may be remarked, however, in regard to 
 them, that even were they unobjectionable on the score 
 of expense, many doubt whether such holiday exhibitions 
 are productive of any real benefit to the army. All the 
 advantages that can flow from them, rating them at the 
 very highest, are dearly purchased with a waste of trea- 
 sure which would cover Russia with roads in the course 
 of a few years. But it is vain for his ministers to object ; 
 the emperor must be amused. And so much the better 
 for England ! These shows at home keep him so poor, 
 that he can do little harm to his neighbours. His most
 
 300 THE EMPEROR 
 
 faithful counsellors assert that the discipline of the array 
 could be quite as efficiently maintained at one-third of 
 the expense. 
 
 On these, and, in fact, on all occasions, Nicholas treats 
 his army too much like a plaything. The men are 
 drilled, and laced, and strapped, and perked, with such 
 childish minuteness, that they begin to think a soldier 
 can have no higher duty than to look well on parade. 
 '■ He fiddles away with his guard," said an officer, "just 
 as a child does with its doll ; and he is bringing up his 
 son to do the same." 
 
 The amount of the Russian army in time of peace is 
 nominally 612,332, of which the imperial guard contains 
 41,200. But it would be more near the truth to regard 
 the army as almost double this strength ; for it does not 
 appear that the government has ever reduced it to the 
 strict peace establishment. 
 
 We cannot profess, however, to give authentic in- 
 formation on the subject of the actual amount of the 
 army. We have already referred to the extreme diffi- 
 culty we often had in arriving at the truth on even the 
 most public questions, but about none did we encounter 
 greater contradictions than on this. One person would 
 tell us that the army is a million strong, another that it 
 reckons only half that amount. In short, the public 
 would appear to know nothing at all on this subject. It 
 is impossible even to ascertain the number of officers, 
 there being neither army-list, nor guide of any kind, 
 published by government ; which, for very obvious rea- 
 sons, keeps all these matters to itself. Even the Marquis 
 of Londonderry, with all the excellent opportunities 
 which he enjoyed for obtaining every kind of informa-
 
 AND HIS ARMY. 301 
 
 tion, confesses that he could not ascertain the strength of 
 the Russian army at the present moment. " It is very 
 difficult," such is Jiis confession, " to get at exact infor- 
 mation, as on this head the greatest secrecy prevails." 
 
 The most correct enumeration of the Russian army 
 that has yet been given would appear to be that of 
 Marshal Marmont, in his valuable work on Southern 
 Russia ; in which he states that " the imperial guard 
 are six divisions, three of infantry, and three of cavalry, 
 making sixteen battalions in all. The grenadier corps 
 has three divisions of infantry, made up of twelve regi- 
 ments, and a division of light cavalry, made up of four 
 regiments ; also two batteries of horse artillery, and fifteen 
 of foot. The regiments of guards consist of three batta- 
 lions of infantry, and seven squadrons of cavalry. The 
 six corps of the line are composed each of a division of 
 light cavalry (made up of four regiments), three divisions 
 of infantry, each of four regiments — in all twelve regi- 
 ments; besides two battalions of foot, and two of horse 
 artillery. The total six corps of the line are seventy-two 
 regiments of infantry, and twenty-four of cavalry, twelve 
 batteries of horse, and ninety of foot artillery. -The 
 corps of cavalry reserve has two divisions, each four 
 regiments, making a total of twenty four regiments, and 
 twelve batteries of artillery. The reserve of the line 
 are three divisions, composed of twenty-four battalions. 
 There is, in addition, the corps of the Caucasus, Siberia, 
 and Finland, the troops of the interior, fifty battalions of 
 horse militia, and one hundred and forty-six regiments of 
 Cossacks."* 
 
 * Marmoni, as quoted in the ' Recollections of a Tour in the North 
 of Europe,' vol. i. pp. 162, 1G3.
 
 302 THE RUSSIAN ARMY. 
 
 There is no exaggeration in asserting that within 
 Russia this mighty army is unconquerable. For a 
 foreign war, however — for a long, or even a short service 
 in any other part of Europe — the best judges consider 
 them by no means likely to be formidable. No man 
 denies that they make a good show on parade, and at 
 the annual manoeuvres ; but even on these occasions, 
 there is nothing very astounding to be discovered in their 
 training or capabilities. In short, their merits, as com- 
 pared with those of the English army, may be summed 
 up in the words which we have heard attributed to a 
 
 distinguished British officer (Sir T A ), who, 
 
 after spending several days with the emperor in witness- 
 ing the manoeuvres of fifty thousand of his finest troops, 
 said to some Englishmen present, " This is all very fine, 
 but we have nothing' to learn from them." 
 
 We will grant, however, that the emperor's officers ac- 
 quit themselves on all show occasions better than any in 
 the world. None cut such a figure either at an imperial 
 levee or an imperial banquet. They are potent trencher- 
 men, and most gallant courtiers ; can waltz as Russians 
 only- can waltz, and coin 
 
 " Soft words for lady's ear, 
 
 Or compliments for rougher mood/' 
 
 such at Russians only can coin. In short, if a soldier's 
 duties never called him beyond the well-roofed exercise- 
 house, or the glittering ball-room, the emperor's army 
 might challenge the world. Some, however, believe that 
 the qualities of troops are better tested in the field than 
 on the carpet ; and, following the Russian officer from 
 the gala-room to the bivouac, they discover that men
 
 THE RUSSIAN ARMY. 303 
 
 who look well and " act " well in the mimic scene of 
 war, do not always acquit themselves the most ably in 
 the real tragedy. Such cavillers ask — what have the 
 Russians done in Circassia ? None looked better in the 
 reviews of St. Petersburg ; yet they have been repelled, 
 times without number, by what they termed a mere 
 mountain horde, the very best of whom, assuredly, never 
 were called " brothers " by an emperor, nor allowed to 
 kiss the hand of art empress. In Poland, too, as is well 
 known, they were all but beaten, their choicest troops 
 having been nearly driven from the country by raw 
 insurgents ; and in the last campaign against Turkey, as 
 has been admitted by military men of all nations who 
 have since visited the ground, things were done which 
 would have disgraced a rabble of schoolboys, weeks 
 having been spent on points where days ought to have 
 sufficed. It is morale that they want — energy, high 
 soldierly feeling — that which, whatever be its name, can 
 alone make an army valuable. 
 
 Whether the spirit and tone of feeling in the Russian 
 army are likely to be improved by the experiment now 
 making, of filling it up with Polish Jews, may be inferred 
 from what an officer told us in describing these reluctant 
 warriors. " They are so fond of the smell of gun- 
 powder," said he, " that each man needs to be put 
 between two Russians, who pull him into action, and 
 have instructions to shoot him if he runs away." These 
 men, be it remembered, are quite distinct from the real 
 Poles. There are whole villages of them ; and it was 
 notorious during the late melancholy war in Poland, that 
 a couple of Russian soldiers had but to appear in a place
 
 304 THE RUSSIAN ARMY. 
 
 of some hundred inhabitants, and be allowed to do as 
 they pleased, the people falling on their knees in terror, 
 and granting all they demanded. 
 
 The Russians, however, are far from sharing in this 
 Jewish want of courage ; yet their courage, even at best, 
 is not of a kind that can be much relied upon. In mere 
 looks, and such advantages as good drilling can give, few 
 troops surpass them. The imperial guard is one of the 
 finest corps in Europe. The Finland sharpshooters also, 
 who were of such importance at Ostrolenka, are greatly 
 admired. An English gentleman, who has been long in the 
 Russian service, says, they are among the best ever known : 
 with single ball the men can bring down a crow on the 
 wing with the greatest certainty. The same officer states 
 that, various as is the composition of the Russian army, 
 there is not a single portion of it that will not endure any 
 . privation of food and rest, without the slightest murmur. 
 Their power of enduring fatigue he considers quite won- 
 derful. The Prussians, their neighbours, he regards as 
 unfit for hard work, because too young. A long war 
 would make the Prussians capital soldiers, none being 
 more willing ; but at present they could be worn out 
 merely by marching and countermarching, without a 
 single battle : for the very good reason that, from their 
 years, they cannot bear fatigue like men double their age, 
 and who were under arms before the raw students of 
 Bonn and Breslau had left their cradles. This difference 
 was strongly seen at Kalisch. The exercises each day 
 were necessarily short, for old Frederick William's sake : 
 yet, before the few hours were out, his best Branden- 
 burgers were completely "knocked up," running away
 
 THE RUSSIAN ARMY. - 305 
 
 to the bushes, &c., while the Russians thought it a 
 mere holiday, being accustomed even on ordinary occa- 
 sions to be under arms twice the time. Altogether, the 
 Kalisch business was a failure — at least to the Prussians. 
 Their officers — men of limited fortunes and honourably 
 strict economy — were galled by being placed in contact 
 with the profuse living of their northern friends. While 
 nothing but champagne and wassail rang from the Rus- 
 sian dinner-parties, the Prussians were fasting on sour 
 Moselle and lean rind-fleisch. 
 
 The regular period of service is twenty years ; but if 
 war be going on at the close of that period, two years 
 more are required for privates. No pensions are 
 granted, but there are regulations compelling the men 
 to give so much of their pay to certain funds, from 
 which, on being discharged, each man has four or five 
 hundred roubles (16/. or 20/.) to receive, with which he 
 enters on a little farm. Such at least was the statement 
 made to us by an officer of great experience ; but we are 
 compelled to add that it was flatly contradicted by ano- 
 ther to whom we repeated it, and who insisted that the 
 soldier is dismissed without a farthing. After this, go to 
 Russia for truth ! 
 
 Each proprietor is compelled to furnish annually five 
 recruits out of every thousand of the population on his 
 estates, and pays to government the sum of 33 roubles 
 (1/. 5*. 10c/.) for the outfit of every man drafted. The 
 nominal pay — near a rouble a-day — is better than in 
 other continental countries ; but after paying his rations, 
 &c, the poor fellow has only a kopeck, or less than 
 half- a-far thing, of pocket-money remaining. Small as
 
 306 THE RUSSIAN ARMY. 
 
 the pay may seem, he comforts himself on reflecting 
 that it is munificent compared with that of the sailor. 
 
 In regard to food, the soldiers are looked upon as be- 
 ing very well off, every man getting 31bs. of bread daily, 
 as well as a liberal allowance of beef and vegetables. 
 Every time the emperor is present at a review or parade, 
 each man gets a rouble (or rather it is paid to the fund) 
 and a glass of brandy. 
 
 The best thing connected with the army, however, is 
 that every serf on entering it becomes free. Yet we saw 
 nothing to make us suppose that it is a popular service 
 with any class, and especially not with the peasants. 
 How different from those of France ! So little do the 
 Russians like the idea of becoming soldiers, that all con- 
 scripts must be sent to head-quarters heavily chained, to 
 keep them from running away. In the remote villages 
 we frequently met small bands of them marching in this 
 state, and for a long time supposed them to be convicts 
 — so harshly did the emperor's ardent warriors appear 
 to be treated. 
 
 The officers are but wretchedly paid. After many 
 years' service, they have not more than 700 roubles 
 (28/.) a-year. Without private fortune it is quite im- 
 possible to live in the army. Even generals are paid at 
 a rate which seems incredible. Colonels in command 
 have an allowance for table-money, which in part makes 
 up for the smallness of their pay. 
 
 Not satisfied even with the numerous army already at 
 his disposal, the emperor would seem to intend that the 
 whole of his empire shall be converted into one vast en- 
 campment ; and with this view, by means of his military
 
 THE RUSSIAN ARMY. 307 
 
 colonies, he is planting it with soldiers as people plant 
 cabbages. There is great diversity of sentiment about 
 the success of these establishments ; but of the schemes 
 which he hopes to accomplish by them and his numerous 
 army, there is but one opinion. The consideration of 
 these schemes, however, will be entered upon with more 
 propriety when we shall have made ourselves better 
 acquainted with the other great arm of the emperor's 
 power — his navy ; to which important subject the next 
 chapter will be devoted.
 
 308 
 
 CHAPTER XXVII. 
 
 THE EMPEROR'S NAVAL PROJECTS, AND THEIR DANGER 
 TO ENGLAND. 
 
 What is England doing ? — Naval statistics of Russia — The Baltic fleet 
 — That of the Black Sea — Of the Caspian — Steamers — Danger from 
 the numerical strength of her marine — Otherwise no great cause for 
 alarm — The Russian revenues not fit for such continued outlay — Rot- 
 ten ships — Naval projects condemned by the emperor's ministers — 
 Service not liked — Spirit of the sailors — Their bravery — Docility — 
 Admiral Krusenstern — Officers in spurs — Russian sailors only bad sol- 
 diers — Their awkwardness — Ships run ashore — Officers mast-headed 
 — Emperor's severity to them, and consequent unpopularity — Amuse- 
 ments of his young cadets at Peterhof — Childishness and cruelty of 
 the system — Parade of Peter the Great's boat — More care now taken 
 in building ships — The Russia — Visit to the College fob Naval 
 Cadets — Annual expenses of the whole Russian navy — Necessity for 
 preparations in England — Efficacy of Lord Durham's remonstrances — 
 Engagement with the Swedes — Reflections — England has nothing to 
 fear in the event of a war with the emperor — His weakness — Folly 
 and criminality of the present clamour for war. 
 
 We have stated at a former page — more ingenuously 
 perhaps than wisely — the extreme vexation which we 
 felt while passing through the Baltic fleet at sea. What 
 right have they — was the question which rose petulantly 
 to our lips — what right have the Russians to so many 
 fine ships ? " Children of the Desert/' who, a hundred 
 years ago, scarcely knew that there was a sea, and had 
 not on their abominable swamps a ferry-boat that their 
 tzar could sit dry in, nor a carpenter to patch it, till he 
 himself gave them a lesson ! Let England answer the
 
 THE RUSSIAN NAVY. 309 
 
 question — England, which has witnessed the progress of 
 this gigantic force without uttering a word to check it — 
 without making a single preparation for coping with it 
 becomingly in the hour of need ! 
 
 For — in sober earnestness — what have we to meet this 
 new navy ? Ships we can count by hundreds ; but are 
 they disposable, ready to put to sea on an hour's warn- 
 ing, as these are every summer ? When our navy was 
 at its best, we were a match for sll the navies of Europe ; 
 but now that, by universal admission, it has sunk from 
 its palmy state, are we able to meet not only our old foes 
 — every one of whom longs for the day of our humiliation 
 — but this overwhelming foe in addition ? It is not 
 feared that Russian ships are better than ours, nor that 
 the Russians are better sailors. Our ships are, as ever, 
 the best in the world ; and of their officers as of their 
 crews, it can still without exaggeration be said, that 
 
 " A braver choice of dauntless spirits 
 
 Did never float upon the swelling tide." 
 
 But men, however bold, cannot fight without ships ; nor 
 can ships, however stout, steal out to sea of their own ac- 
 cord. The error of England is, that, having many more 
 ships than Russia, she yet allows them to lie idle, as if 
 they were to be improved by rotting awhile. It is now 
 admitted on all hands, that, after providing for the large 
 forces which we must keep up in the Mediterranean, in 
 the Tagus, on the coast of Spain, on the American sta- 
 tions, we have no. more than half-a-dozen ships that 
 could be available for any sudden emergency. But 
 what are these — what are even the whole of our twenty 
 heavy ships afloat, against a foe which now, in the Baltic
 
 310 THE RUSSIAN NAVY. 
 
 and the Black Sea together, possesses not fewer than 
 forty-five ships of the line, with a numerous complement 
 of frigates and smaller vessels, in round numbers making 
 up the formidable force of one hundred and sixty ships, 
 most completely equipped, and constantly victualled for 
 four months' service ? 
 
 We will] not say that Russia, even had she attempted 
 
 to take us by surprise, has ever been in a condition to 
 
 deprive England of her supremacy on the ocean. On 
 
 the contrary, our patriotism, or as some may say, our 
 
 prejudice, is still so blind, that we are firmly persuaded 
 
 that England, even with numerical force against her, has 
 
 ever been, and is at this moment, able to humble any 
 
 foreign power that may be rash enough to excite her 
 
 anger. So long as we trust in English valour, and in 
 
 that higher aid which has ever fought on our side, and 
 
 will still protect us as a people raised up for advancing 
 
 the welfare and civilization of the whole human race, we 
 
 shall never join the cry of those who think that England 
 
 is now to sink from her high place among the nations. 
 
 But while we refuse to adopt the exaggerations in which 
 
 some have indulged on this subject, we cannot conceal 
 
 the fact, that Russia now possesses a navy, which ought 
 
 to make us look searchingly at the state of our own. 
 
 The ;nagnitude of the danger which menaces us will be 
 
 most apparent, from an analysis of the united force above 
 
 named. The Baltic fleet, for instance, which, two years 
 
 ago, consisted of only twenty-six ships of the line, now 
 
 (1838), including the two fine ships which were launched 
 
 last September, is composed as follows :
 
 THE RUSSIAN NAVY. 311 
 
 1 Three-decker of 120 guns 
 
 3 Three-deckers ■ . . . . of 110 ,. 
 
 7 Ships of 84 „ 
 
 19 Ships of 74 „ 
 
 in all, thirty heavy line-of-battle ships (not forty-five, as 
 has been erroneously stated). To these, however, must 
 be added, 
 
 1 Razee . . . . . . of 51 guns 
 
 3 Frigates of 52 „ 
 
 18 Ditto ....... of 44 „ 
 
 besides corvettes and small craft: in all, composing a 
 fleet of the strength above named, and manned bv a 
 force of 33,000 men.* 
 
 The Russian fleet in the Black Sea, which three years 
 ago reckoned only fifteen ships of the line (not eighteen, 
 as has been frequently stated in England), with smaller 
 vessels in proportion, and manned by 19,800 well-trained 
 seamen, was considerably weakened by losses in the severe 
 gales of the winter of 1837-8 ; but in consequence of addi- 
 tions made to it of ships recently launched at Nicolaeff, &c, 
 the strength of this fleet at the present moment amounts 
 to sixteen ships of the line, which, it is said, will be 
 further strengthened in the course of the ensuing summer, 
 by the addition of other ships now building. It being 
 customary in Russia to begin the training of the crew of 
 a new ship the moment her keel is laid, the ships last 
 
 * These numbers will be found to differ considerably from those of the 
 list published by Captain Crawford, many additions having been made 
 to the naval force of Russia since his pamphlet was published. From 
 what we saw of him in the north of Europe, we were fully prepared to 
 find that any thing coming from his pen would be well worthy of the 
 attention with which his pamphlet has been received in England.
 
 31*2 THE RUSSIAN NAVY. 
 
 referred to will be ready for sea as soon as they are 
 launched. 
 
 Nor is the list yet finished. In calculating the naval 
 strength of Russia, we must not overlook the ships which 
 she now has on the Caspian, which are the more valuable 
 to her, that there is no chance of an enemy being able to 
 reach them. Already there are several vessels of very 
 considerable size on this sea ; and more are in rapid 
 progress at the building-yards recently established at 
 very favourable points. 
 
 The last item to be added is her steam-boats, which in 
 such seas as Russia will have to fight upon, will be of 
 the utmost service to her in case of a war. Including 
 those on the Caspian and the sea of Azoff, she has now 
 at least sixty steamers, of one kind or other. 
 
 Great, however, as the naval strength of Russia un- 
 deniably is, we must not allow our fears to blind us to 
 the fact, that she has often had a fleet, much more 
 numerous than her present one. At the commencement 
 of the wars of the French Revolution, she had a fleet 
 half as strong again as that now under consideration; 
 and at the termination of those wars, she had exactly the 
 same number of large ships that she now has. After 
 that period, indeed, the navy was greatly neglected, and 
 it had dwindled away to nothing when the present 
 emperor came to the throne. 
 
 Yet, admitting as we most readily do, that the Russian 
 navy has at some former periods been strong and nu- 
 merous ; admitting also that the fleet, whose strength is 
 above detailed, is, in every sense of the word, inferior to 
 ours ; that much of what has been circulated about the
 
 THE RUSSIAN NAVY. 
 
 313 
 
 science of the officers and the adroitness of the men is 
 mere puerile exaggeration ; that the Russian sailor is a 
 hundred years behind the British ; — admitting all this, 
 the great fact must still strike all who reflect on this 
 subject, that the Russian navy neve?' was before in such 
 high condition as it now is. Ships and men, even the 
 worst in the service, are far superior to any that she ever 
 before could boast of. 
 
 Besides, — the mere numerical strength of such a fleet, 
 managed with however little skill, cannot fail to tell 
 tremendously when war breaks out. Though England 
 has nothing to fear from superiority of ships nor of sea- 
 manship, she ought to look well at the physical weight, 
 the brute force, of the many-limbed leviathan with whom 
 she will have to engage. 
 
 We saw nothing in Russia, however, that need make 
 any Englishman seriously afraid of her power. England, 
 if she be once fairly aware of the danger, may smile at 
 the emperor and his thirty mile of ships : but what we 
 saw in Russia certainly impressed us with the conviction 
 that England must, and must speedily, do something 
 more than she has yet done in the way of preparation, 
 before she can treat this matter with the indifference 
 which many have shown in discussing it. France has 
 taken warning: from Toulon to Cherbourg, her arsenals, 
 which had long been silent, have been in a state of the 
 greatest activity since the spring of 1837; and would 
 England but follow the example, the sooner Russia 
 comes out of her lurking-places the better. We are, 
 however, persuaded that, so far from being anxious to 
 
 VOL. I. P
 
 314 THE RUSSIAN NAVY. 
 
 go to war with us, the very moment that the English 
 government could say to the Russians, 
 
 " Let them be welcome, then ; we are prepared !" 
 
 little would be heard about the emperor's ships : they 
 would not dare to show themselves on the waters, but 
 would be allowed comfortably to rot where so many of 
 them are rotting already, — in the docks of Cronstadt. 
 
 Much as we had heard of the emperor's energy, we 
 were still surprised to learn that the fine fleet which we 
 had sailed through is almost entirely of his own creation. 
 When he came to the throne, there was not a ship of any 
 value remaining in the Baltic ! In fact, he is now labouring 
 as hard on his navy as he long did on his army. He is 
 determined that Russia shall be not only a naval power, 
 which Peter had made her many a day since, but that 
 she shall be a first-rate naval power, cost what it may. 
 To aid in accomplishing this project, he makes every 
 personal exertion to inspire the fleet with enthusiasm ; 
 showing himself frequently to the sailors ; popping upon 
 them by surprise, to see whether all is going right ; is 
 now in the dock-yards, and next day on the Baltic, 
 threatening, encouraging, promoting ; everywhere giving 
 an example of vigilance and self-denial, — everywhere 
 enforcing the great doctrine of the Russian creed — 
 Devotion to the Emperor. 
 
 These, all will admit, are excellent methods for ac- 
 complishing his darling scheme ; but whether he will 
 be able to increase his fleet to the immense amount con- 
 templated to us seemed very doubtful, when we were told
 
 THE RUSSIAN NAVY. 315 
 
 that his very best ships last only nine years, and many 
 only six ! The wet rot is disabling them, not quite so 
 fast perhaps, but quite as efficiently, as English shot 
 would do. Vessels launched in 1823 had to be re-tim- 
 bered in 1830, and at the end of twenty years they are 
 broken up altogether. Worse ships, it is said — we are 
 speaking of quality, not of look — were never put together. 
 They have all been hurriedly built from unseasoned oak, 
 injudiciously cut in the forests of Livonia. The emperor 
 wanted to make a show, to surprise Europe, when without 
 the world being at all aware of what was going on in his 
 dockyards, he should suddenly be able to announce, 
 through his newspapers in Germany, that the Baltic fleet 
 of Russia was at sea, and consisted, in round numbers, of 
 at least one hundred sail. It was vain for practical men 
 to object that ships are not mushrooms, and cannot be 
 raised in a single night, or that, if so forced, they 
 must, even like mushrooms, decay as fast as they have 
 risen. The emperor willed it so ; and that was reason 
 sufficient. Who had a better right to have his whim 
 gratified ? 
 
 We are willing to admit, that his navy costs the em- 
 peror little. Indeed, it is one of the points which should 
 never be forgotten in considering this question, that Rus- 
 sia can not only build ships cheaper than any other 
 European power, but can also man them for less. The 
 pay both of officers and men is so small, that the annual 
 outlay on twenty Russian line-of-battle ships would not 
 defray the expense of ten of ours. 
 
 But, however small both the first cost of his ships, 
 and the maintenance and pay of their crews may be, 
 
 p2
 
 316 THE RUSSIAN NAVY. 
 
 his revenues are not fit to meet, for a succession of years, 
 the rapid destruction constantly going on in the navy ; 
 the only marvel is, that it should have been possible to 
 keep up this ruinous display so long. " You forget," 
 said a friend at St. Petersburg, to whom we were speak- 
 ing of the expense of maintaining in an efficient state a 
 fleet composed of such perishable materials, " you forget 
 that the sands of Siberia are made of gold, and that Rus- 
 sia has no national debt, or so little that she scarcely 
 feels it." 
 
 But the sea is a greedy mistress ; and the monarch 
 who woos her ought to have few other favourites. For- 
 tunately for England, Nicholas has many other rapa- 
 cious claimants for his golden sands. A numerous army 
 to support ; an expensive and harassing war in the Cau- 
 casus, from which he would willingly, yet dare not for 
 shame, recede ; the most numerous and not the worst- 
 paid diplomatic corps in Christendom ; agents, informers 
 — spies if you will — handsomely pensioned at every court 
 of Europe, and throughout the whole East ; these are some 
 of the other favourites maintained by the emperor; all of 
 them rapacious enough to leave little for a service that 
 needs so much to keep it even in any degree of respecta- 
 bility. " I will not stop," such is said to be his boast. 
 " until Russia has a hundred sail of the line in the 
 Baltic ; " but all impartial foreigners who have been in 
 Russia, and who have taken the trouble to inquire into 
 these matters, instead of dreading that he will be able to 
 increase his fleet to this unheard-of extent, greatly doubt 
 whether he can long be able to keep up even the present 
 number of ships.
 
 THE RUSSIAN NAVY. 317 
 
 Nor is it by foreigners alone that this opinion is enter- 
 tained ; by none are the emperor's naval projects more 
 loudly condemned than by enlightened Russians. In 
 the bosom of the senate itself, among his warmest friends 
 and ablest advisers, his fancies about making Russia 
 more formidable at sea are most unequivocally opposed. 
 Nothing is more common at St. Petersburg than to hear 
 that all the ministers condemn the fleet, as a mere 
 wasteful toy. 
 
 Even those who found their arguments, or their fears, 
 about the ability of Russia to keep up and to increase 
 such a fleet, on the alleged increase of her revenues, must 
 admit, that if the public income has improved — a fact 
 which cannot be denied — the public expenditure also has 
 more than doubled within a few years. To continue his 
 fleet, therefore, the imperial magician must find some 
 other El Dorado besides his Siberian one ; he will wave 
 his wand for many a day, before ships can be evoked 
 without more vulgar aid. 
 
 Admitting that, from the small amount of the public 
 debt, he must always have a much larger proportionate 
 share of free revenue than England, yet, in justice to 
 other departments, little more can be spent in the dock- 
 yards than is at present done. It is even said that the 
 fleet has already drained the treasury to such a low ebb, 
 that — alas ! for all believers in the teeming fertility of his 
 fabled sands ! — the emperor would fain try a more com- 
 mon species of alchymy — that of charming money from 
 the Jews of Hamburg and Amsterdam. In plainer 
 terms, it is thought that, raise it where he may, he 
 must soon have recourse to a new loan, and that the
 
 318 THE RUSSIAN NAVY. 
 
 attempt would have been made before now, had not the 
 first proposals been unfavourably received among the 
 great capitalists of Europe. 
 
 So much for the fears which England needs to enter- 
 tain, about the projected increase of the Russian navy. 
 As to the ships already built, however, it is but fair to 
 confess that, so far as mere look goes, few ships of any 
 nation can surpass them. We not only saw them under 
 sail at sea, when they seemed to do their work most beau- 
 tifully, but, two days after, we lay alongside the largest of 
 them, off Cronstadt, when they returned to be laid up for 
 the winter ; and, in spite of their irregular look, — some 
 being high, some low on the water, some having round 
 and some square sterns, — presenting specimens, in fact, 
 of all the different plans suggested within the last thirty 
 years, — on both occasions we were forced to admire their 
 general appearance. But, huge as they seemed, though 
 their lofty sides loomed above our little bark like those 
 of a mountain, and the men in the shrouds dwindled 
 away to the size of crows, still, considering all the cir- 
 cumstances which came under our observation, we saw 
 little to make us fear for the consequences of a quarrel 
 with Russia. However well ships may look in port, their 
 value r\ action depends on the men; and in the Russian 
 sailors we discovered nothing that would entitle them to 
 be compared for a moment with ours. Of mere bone 
 and muscle they have abundance; being, in general, 
 stout, well-made fellows : but they want life and activity. 
 They move about, stiff and prim as recruits obeying the 
 drill-sergeant ; and they sit down to the oar with the 
 agility of Dutchmen going to climb a stair. Their gray
 
 RUSSIAN SAILORS. 319 
 
 jackets and whalebone stocks are not the only differ- 
 ences between them and our sailors : instead of the free, 
 care-nought look of the British tar, the Russian has a 
 quiet, subdued manner. He is more like the slave chained 
 to the oar of the ancient galley, than the modern sailoi 
 with a home to fight for. He looks as if going through 
 a task, not an occupation; as if working because the 
 lash is over him ; doing something from which he would 
 run away the moment he has an opportunity. In fact, 
 the service is far from popular in Russia, and there is 
 little chance of it becoming so, while the common sailors 
 continue to be paid with a pittance so wretchedly small, 
 that a beggar in the street would scarcely take their 
 daily pay for an alms. To sum up all, the people want 
 that which no amount of pay, no severity of discipline, 
 no enthusiasm on the part of their sovereign, well as 
 they love him, can ever make up for : they want all 
 passion for the sea. It is not their element. 
 
 Let it not be thought, however, that we charge them 
 with want of bravery. The Russians are a bold and 
 gallant people. It is the system, not the men, that we 
 blame, for what struck us as defective in their sailors. 
 They have, undeniably, one virtue over the English, — 
 docility. The Russian is the most obedient creature in 
 the world; he has no will, no wish, but that of his supe- 
 rior. Neither privation nor danger will ever draw a 
 murmur from his lips ; it is the command of his officer, 
 and that for him is quite sufficient. Such a thing as 
 insubordination was never heard of among a Russian 
 crew. There is an instance of five of their ships having 
 fled in the very commencement of a battle ; but it was
 
 320 RUSSIAN SAILORS. 
 
 the cowardice of the officers, not the insubordination 
 of the men, that led to this disgraceful exhibition. If 
 those who command them be firm, Russians will stand 
 till their last shot is fired. 
 
 We had a remarkable testimony to their submissive- 
 ness from Admiral Krusenstern, at St. Petersburg. 
 When this distinguished officer was preparing for his 
 voyage round the world, he said, the Emperor Alexander 
 authorized him to select the men best suited to his pur- 
 pose, from all nations, and at any expense ; but, wishing 
 that the merit or failure of the enterprise should be 
 exclusively Russian, the admiral took none but his own 
 countrymen ; and out of a numerous crew, he found it 
 necessary to punish only a single individual during the 
 whole two years he was away. Every thing he proposed 
 — short allowance, change of diet, additional duty — was 
 cheerfully submitted to ; a docility which drew his atten- 
 tion more forcibly, from his having often known English 
 sailors — with whom he is well acquainted, in consequence 
 of having served six years in our navy — murmur for 
 much more frivolous reasons. A man who has seen the 
 marines drawn out to quell a mutiny got up in conse- 
 quence of a diminution of grog, recommended by the 
 doctor during the prevalence of a dangerous disease on 
 some part of the East-India coast, could not but be 
 struck by the readiness with which his own countrymen 
 endured every necessary restriction. The gallant ad- 
 miral, however, is far from insinuating that he thinks the 
 British sailor likely to fight worse in the day of battle, 
 because he sometimes shows a will of his own. 
 
 The greatest, defects in the Russian navy originate in
 
 RUSSIAN SAILORS. 
 
 321 
 
 the emperor's favourite project of making sailors as like 
 soldiers as possible. What would the crew of the Cale- 
 donia have said, had they seen Admiral Rowley strutting 
 the deck in a gale, with spurs on his heels, as long as 
 those of a Cheapside shopman ? Yet, such is the Rus- 
 sian fashion ; every officer on board is booted and spurred 
 with such fury, that a foreigner is tempted to regard 
 them as so many cavalry ensigns sent to sea for change 
 of air. 
 
 From the officers, passing to the men, the first glance 
 at a boat's crew shows that, as already hinted, there is 
 much more of the soldier than of the sailor about them. 
 In their gray jackets, rough duck trousers, and little blue 
 cloth cap with red edgings, they look precisely like army 
 recruits, of six months' standing. Most of them, in fact, 
 are draughted from the infantry regiments, and are not 
 sent to sea until too stiff for their new trade. To make the 
 matter worse, it is only the most awkward of the soldiers 
 that are turned into the navy. It was this which made 
 an English naval officer tell the emperor not long ago, 
 when he asked him what he thought of his fleet, " That 
 his majesty had done wonders in making it what it is, 
 and would still do more wonders ; but there was one 
 wonder, which it would baffle even his power and perse- 
 verance to accomplish — out of bad soldiers he would 
 never be able to make good sailors." 1 
 
 Even after entering the sea-service, they continue to be 
 drilled in military fashion, during the long eight months 
 which they spend in harbour every year. Little wonder, 
 then, that they should be so unskilful when they do get out 
 to sea for a month or two. The clumsy way in which we 
 
 p3
 
 322 RUSSIAN SAILORS. 
 
 saw some things done by the crews of their very finest 
 ships would not have been tolerated on a Berwick smack. 
 They are so little accustomed to saltwater, that officers 
 and men lose their presence of mind when the slightest 
 difficulty occurs. The breeze, during the few days we 
 were near them, would not have frightened a Margate 
 fishing-boat ; yet such is their inexperience, that a very 
 fine ship was run ashore from mismanagement, just 
 as if there had been a hurricane. 
 
 We were the less surprised at such an occurrence, 
 when told that many of the men sent with the fleet on 
 the occasion had never once been at sea before. In fact, 
 the greatest disadvantage under which the Russian fleet 
 labours, is the shortness of the northern summer. Many 
 of the ships which we saw returning to harbour had left 
 it only a few days before ! 
 
 Another incident, which occurred during these ma- 
 noeuvres, throws further light on her strange system. 
 How would English officers like to be mast-headed? 
 This punishment is now seldom inflicted in our navy, 
 even on midshipmen ; yet, at the very time we were 
 passing through the fleet, two officers of considerable 
 standing, for some very trivial misapprehension of orders, 
 were instantly sent aloft. The emperor having given the 
 command in question less distinctly than usual, the 
 one officer obeyed the signal which the other had taken 
 up wrong ; and this was sufficient reason for disgracing 
 gentlemen before the whole ship's company ! 
 
 Liability to such capricious degradation cannot foster 
 that high feeling which, in British notions, is inseparable 
 from the very idea of a good officer. In fact, both in the
 
 RUSSIAN SAILORS. 323 
 
 sea and land forces (as will be more fully shown at a future 
 page), the emperor carries his discipline too far. Gen- 
 tlemen are degraded for the most trifling omission ; and 
 it is probably to this practice that he owes the bad feel- 
 ing which exists against him among officers of eveiy 
 rank. We were not prepared for the unpopularity now 
 alluded to. We had heard that he was beloved by the 
 lower classes, — by the great mass of the army, as well as 
 of the nation, — and found that he really is so. But we 
 had not been long in Russia before we discovered that, to 
 say the least, there is no liking towards him in the class 
 just named. Nor can it be wondered at ; for, generally 
 speaking, none but noblemen are officers, and it cannot 
 be expected that, if they have the slightest spark of the 
 feeling becoming their station, they can forget insults 
 like those above mentioned. They may not seek to re- 
 venge it at the time, but assuredly it rankles in the 
 bosom for some future day; while even those who have 
 never been thus treated, sympathize with their compa- 
 nions, from the mere possibility of being themselves simi- 
 larly punished, for an equally trivial offence. 
 
 On this point, the emperor errs even with his young 
 naval cadets. He is extremely fond of them, making 
 them often come to the palace of Peterhof, and there 
 playing all kinds of follies with them. Sometimes he 
 amuses himself with making them run into the lake to 
 charge old Neptune, or Sampson and his lion ; promising 
 a reward to those who shall first get on the giant's 
 shoulders — in which position they are forced to remain 
 till they shiver with cold and wet. Sometimes he runs, 
 wrestles, and leaps with them ; and then, with a flock of
 
 324 NAVAL CADETS. 
 
 them round him, allows the urchins to pull him about, 
 leap on his back, and use every familiarity with him, 
 exclaiming to some newly-caught simpleton from France 
 (or England ?) beatified at such amiable condescension in 
 one whom he had always heard spoken of as a gloomy 
 tyrant, " See how my children love me !" All of which 
 goes on delightfully, till a luckless little man, in the ex- 
 cess of his mirth, forgetting how dangerous it is to be 
 familiar with autocrats, does something or other that 
 rouses the true lion, and in a moment the complacent 
 speech is changed to "Go to the black-hole, sir !" — 
 or perhaps some more degrading punishment is in- 
 flicted. 
 
 When we found that the emperor treats officers, and 
 those intended for that rank, so capriciously, it did not 
 surprise us to hear that the common sailor is subjected to 
 a system of discipline which all acquainted with it con- 
 demn, as most unnecessarily cruel. The smallest fault is 
 punished with barbarous severity. If Nicholas should 
 urge the example of other navies as an excuse for his 
 method, the plea will not be admissible ; for there are 
 nations with whom severity is absolutely necessary, while, 
 with the Russian, mildness will go much farther than 
 harshness. Some may wonder at the statement, but it is 
 not the less true, that until made so by the system in 
 their army and navy, the Russians are by rio means 
 savage. There never was a people more sensible to 
 kindness. Use them well, and any thing may be made 
 of them. 
 
 In short, the emperor's system with his navy is a mix- 
 ture of severity and childishness, as the facts just stated
 
 GRANDFATHER OF THE FLEET. 325 
 
 L 
 
 fully show. Of the childishness, however, another speci- 
 men may be given. 
 
 The old boat in which the naval propensities of Peter 
 the Great were first hatched, is, it seems, still preserved 
 with great veneration, in the citadel of St. Petersburg. 
 The Russians have not gone quite so far as to build a 
 temple to it, as the ancients would have done, but they 
 have christened it " Grandfather of the fleet," and treat 
 it with honours little short of divine. A day or two be- 
 fore we reached the capital, this crazy concern had been 
 removed with much solemnity from its place of rest ; 
 and, by way of worthily celebrating the centenary of 
 Peter, Father of the Russian navy, this venerable grand- 
 papa was carried round the whole fleet on a steamboat, 
 which paused at each ship, until officers and men had 
 saluted its precious freight with the same honours as they 
 would have shown to the illustrious Peter himself. This 
 glorious act of the emperor's patriotism, this proof of his 
 reverence for all that concerns the national glory, was 
 loudly sung in the newspapers ; nothing but eulogies and 
 exclamations were to be heard for a week together ; while 
 the good effect to be produced on the spirit of the navy, 
 by the sight of such a glorious relic, it was beyond the 
 power even of imperial flatterers to calculate. No man 
 of sense, however, could see any good effect the mummery 
 would have, beyond that of making the men laugh at 
 such childish weakness on the part of their master, — who 
 thinks to surprise the world by these coujjs-de-thedtre, 
 but, like other theatrical people, sometimes excites ridi- 
 cule where he reckoned on applause. Peter himself 
 appears to have begun this folly, v— having once honoured
 
 326 SPLENDID SHIP. 
 
 the marvellous boat with something of a similar triumph, 
 and given it the imposing title which it still bears. 
 
 The emperor has done more for his navy than will be 
 done by this holiday work, by the resolution lately 
 adopted — that, for the future, no green timber shall be 
 employed in the imperial dockyards. The Russians 
 have paid dear for the lesson, but are henceforth to take 
 time to build, and are to use only seasoned materials. 
 On this principle it is that they have recently constructed 
 what is undoubtedly one of the finest ships in the world — 
 the Russia, of 130 guns, the skeleton of which, at the 
 time of our visit, was to be seen in the splendid drv- 
 dock, lately built in St. Petersburg, at an expense of 
 1,600,000 rubles (64,000/.). This ship is on Sir W. 
 Symond's plan, and measures 206 feet long, by 57 wide. 
 Formerly she would have been hurried up in a season or 
 two ; but, under better advice, four or five years have 
 been employed in finishing her. On expressing our 
 wonder how such a huge ship could be floated out to sea 
 across the bar of the Neva, where they can never calcu- 
 late on more than eleven feet of water at the very utmost, 
 we were shown contrivances still more huge — camels, as 
 they are called, which have long been used with great 
 success, for floating new ships down to Cronstadt, where 
 the carcases are rigged and completed for sea. There 
 can be little advantage, however, in building at St. 
 Petersburg, the expense of these machines being enor- 
 mous : one thousand men must labour at least ten days, 
 before a ship of great size can be launched with them. 
 Peter had a good reason for building his ships in the 
 heart of the capital, for his city was peopled by hordes
 
 SHIP-BUILDING AT ST. PETERSBURG. 327 
 
 who had never heard of a fleet, nor of the sea ; and he 
 wished to familiarize them to the sight of ships. This 
 reason exists no longer ; the inhabitants of St. Peters- 
 burg know very well that there is a navy, the emperor 
 taking good care to remind them frequently of the fact, 
 by a rejoicing for Tchesme, or Navarino, the latter of 
 which was commemorated while we were in Russia, by a 
 sham-fight, and grand display of fireworks at Tzarkoie- 
 Celo, when every soldier was compelled to subscribe ten 
 days' pocket-money, for the gunpowder to be used on the 
 glorious occasion ! 
 
 As to Tchesme, the Russians forget what it would 
 have been without the young officer from Fifeshire, who 
 planned and executed the scheme for burning the 
 Turkish fleet; and that the English had any thing at all 
 to do with Navarino has probably long since been for- 
 gotten by the Russians, in order to keep their allies, the 
 Prussians, in countenance ; who are trying to forget that 
 the British troops had any share in the victory at Wa- 
 terloo. 
 
 Great care is now taken also to remedy another defect, 
 under which the Russian navy has hitherto laboured — 
 the want of good native officers. Instead of employ- 
 ing foreigners, Russians are now trained for the higher 
 branches of the service at the Cadet schools, where 
 every attention is paid to their education. One of the 
 schools is for naval engineers, in which 300 pupils are 
 educated, and the other for officers of the line, contain- 
 ing 600 pupils. 
 
 The latter of these is one of the most interesting sights 
 in the capital, and forms one of the handsomest orna-
 
 328 COLLEGE OF 
 
 ments of the Quay of the Vassilii-Ostroff. As we are 
 not aware that any account has been given of this insti- 
 tution, we shall mention some facts concerning it, noted 
 down after a very instructive visit which we paid to it, in 
 company with one of the ablest and most experienced 
 officers in the Russian navy. They will show what pains 
 are now taken in Russia with the education of naval 
 officers. 
 
 The College of Naval Cadets, then, is the pet institu- 
 tion of the emperor, who visits it at all seasons and at all 
 hours. He comes upon the masters unannounced and 
 unexpected. Nothing escapes his eye. He has some- 
 times dropped upon thorn at midnight, and gone through 
 the sleeping- rooms, to see that the youths were com- 
 fortable. Jt is conducted by the venerable Krusenstern, 
 than whom the emperor has not a more devoted ser- 
 vant in his dominions ; and he seems fully sensible of 
 his merit, honouring him with much of his confidence and 
 regard. 
 
 The cadets being absent on their annual cruise at the 
 time of our visit, we had an opportunity of visiting the 
 whole of the building, and have never seen any place of 
 the kind in such high order ; which surprised us less, as 
 in Russia every public institution is kept with a cleanli- 
 ness and a care unexampled in other countries. All the 
 rooms are painted anew every year ; the smallest are 
 comfortable, and the public ones even elegant. The 
 emperor's own sons are not better lodged nor cared for 
 than these youths. The young princes sometimes come 
 to play with their future defenders; which they are 
 enabled to do with more freedom, from the circumstance
 
 NAVAL CADETS. 329 
 
 that none are admitted to the college but youths of noble 
 family : such are Russian prejudices even in the present 
 day! 
 
 The pupils are generally from ten to fifteen years of 
 age ; only a few are as old as seventeen. Besides being 
 carefully trained in all the branches more immediately 
 connected with their profession, they are instructed in 
 foreign languages. There are not fewer than seventy 
 teachers, under whom the inmates are arranged in five 
 divisions, according to age. At the end of five years' 
 attendance, students are permitted to enter the navy, as 
 officers of the lowest class. As many as seven or nine, 
 however, of the annual draught, — those who show capacity 
 and feel inclined, — remain three years longer in the 
 college; at the end of which time they may enter 
 the service as lieutenants, while those first sent away 
 must serve five years to obtain that rank. When the 
 three additional years have expired, these, the more 
 talented cadets, have also an option to study three years 
 more (six beyond the general term) at the University of 
 Dorpat, under the most eminent professors in Russia. 
 
 The object of these exceptions is most wise, it being 
 intended thereby to secure to the country the full benefit 
 that may arise from the encouragement of youths of 
 extraordinary promise. No one is forced to continue 
 his studies beyond the first period; indeed, every thing 
 here is voluntary, great attention being paid to the genius 
 and disposition of each individual. No one is expected 
 to follow languages or geometry, unless he has a parti- 
 cular turn for them. On mere professional branches, 
 however, there is great strictness ; the examinations,
 
 330 COLLEGE OF 
 
 especially in mathematics, being very severe and im- 
 partial. 
 
 Attention being paid to the practical as well as the 
 theoretical departments of nautical knowledge, one of 
 the rooms contains a smart frigate, fully rigged and 
 equipped, of such a size that the youths of ten can climb 
 and reef upon it with perfect ease. Even the mechanical 
 branches of ship-building are not neglected ; for in one 
 vast apartment the plans of men-of-war are chalked on 
 the black floor ; and in the end of the beautiful dining- 
 room, preparations were being made to build a miniature 
 man-of-war : a hall of goodly dimensions the reader may 
 suppose it to be, when it permits the scaffolding for a 
 ship 50 feet long and 22 broad, to be raised in it, without 
 appearing to be at all diminished by so large a piece of 
 furniture. The model was first built and rigged in the 
 imperial dockyard, and then sent in separate portions to 
 the college. When finished by one set, it is taken to 
 pieces, and built again by another. The work was to 
 be commenced in November, when the heir-apparent 
 himself, we believe, bore a hand in the work, as well 
 became the prince destined for the post of High-admiral 
 of Russia. At present, the emperor is Admiral of the 
 young Cadets, and during the three or four months 
 which they spend at sea every summer, their ship is 
 frequently ordered to lie off Peterhof, that he may have 
 an opportunity of exercising them in person. But they 
 also make more distant cruises, which occasionally extend 
 as far as Stockholm and Copenhagen. 
 
 This institution existed before the time of Nicholas; 
 but he has given it new life. So minute are the pains he
 
 ^AVAL CADETS. 331 
 
 takes with it, that he often examines the trial-papers 
 himself, and with great care, in order to settle a disputed 
 point of merit. Those who distinguish themselves he 
 invites to visit his son, four or five at a time, on Saturday 
 or Sunday afternoon. On his visits of inspection, every 
 nook is looked into ; larder, kitchen, linen-room, — from 
 the porch to the garret, all must be seen. When accom- 
 panied by his brother, the Grand-duke Michael, or any 
 strangers of distinction, he often commands a boy to strip 
 on the spot, to convince them that the dress and habits 
 of the pupils are not neglected. This, to be sure, is 
 treating nobles with little ceremony ; something as chil- 
 dren do dolls and puppy-dogs : but in Russia, nobles, 
 as well as mooziks, were made for the emperor's amuse- 
 ment. 
 
 Hospital, class-rooms, sleeping-rooms, are all kept 
 with exemplary nicety. The Museum contains a most 
 instructive collection of curiosities from the South Sea, 
 plans, nautical and astronomical instruments, models of 
 ships, steamboats, &c. In the library, we were struck 
 by the immense preponderance of English books ; and 
 the explanation was, that all the pupils are most carefully 
 instructed in that language. 
 
 The whole annual expenditure of Russia, on account 
 of the Baltic fleet, including the maintenance of the 
 institution now spoken of, and those for engineers, pilots, 
 &c, as well as the cost of labour in the dockyards, is 
 said to be 23,000,000 of roubles, or 920,000/. sterling. 
 The annual outlay on account of the Black Sea fleet, is 
 estimated at 16,000,000 of roubles, or 640,000/. ; 
 together making the whole navy-budget of the empire 
 1,560,000/.
 
 332 NAVAL DESIGNS 
 
 We have been thus prolix in stating some particulars 
 regarding the Russian navy, from the immense im- 
 portance of the subject at the present moment. There 
 is no point to which the attention of our public men 
 ought to be more anxiously directed ; for, of all nations, 
 England is most interested in watching the naval progress 
 of Russia ; and she is notoriously the only one of which, 
 as a naval power, the emperor stands the least in awe 
 This was well proved by what happened in 1836. When 
 rumours came out in the spring of that year, that the 
 Baltic fleet was preparing for a much more distant 
 cruise than had been attempted in former summers, the 
 ministers of some of the continental powers, residing at 
 the court of St. Petersburg, ventured to state to the 
 government that it would be necessary to give their 
 sovereigns some explanation of the objects contemplated 
 by such an expedition. But these notices were ineffec- 
 tual. Preparations at Cronstadt still went on as actively 
 as ever. All this time England had been silent. At 
 last, backed by the sentiments so strongly manifested in 
 Parliament during the warm discussions on Russian 
 affairs, Lord Durham interfered. A hint was given — 
 only a hint — that unless the Russian government would 
 distinctly state that, in fitting out such a powerful 
 fleet, they had no object beyond the usual summer 
 cruise — in fact, that they were not to go beyond the 
 Baltic — hammers would also soon be heard in the 
 English dockyards. The hint was sufficient; for Russia 
 is never ashamed to retreat when it is not quite con- 
 venient to advance ; she cautiously " bides her time." 
 But if she, for the moment, relaxed her preparations, and
 
 OF RUSSIA. 
 
 333 
 
 changed her plans, because the English ambassador 
 spoke out, she will find another opportunity for accom- 
 plishing her views, whatever they may be. Not next 
 year, perhaps, nor the one after that, nor, probably, for 
 several years to come ; but some year not very far hence, 
 when no Lord Durham shall be in the way, Russia will 
 steal gently but ; and, when we see so many huge ships 
 sailing down the Channel, we shall rub our eyes in wonder, 
 innocently asking, " What has England been doing all 
 the time these were getting ready ?" 
 
 Such at least was the question which we repeatedly 
 put, on seeing the Russian fleet, not in print, where we 
 had often seen it already, but in life and vigour, decked 
 out in all the grim array of battle ; and, what should not 
 be forgotten, manned with crews who, though they have 
 not any great love for a sea-life, would yet a thousand 
 times prefer a life of action, whatever it were, to the lazy 
 boy-work of Cronstadt harbour, and the tiresome bit of 
 water round it. Without adopting the emperor's exag- 
 geration, that they are " burning with zeal to show the 
 world that the Russian sailor can fight with the heroism 
 of the Russian soldier," there can be no doubt that they 
 would willingly abandon their inglorious ease. It should 
 also be borne in mind that, however inferior the Russian 
 may be to the British sailor, he is still a tough fellow to 
 deal with when roused. He may want science, but he 
 has brute force enough to make his enemy respect him ; 
 and what we say of the individual, may be extended to 
 the mass of their naval force. It is inferior to that of 
 England in many most important respects ; but, returning 
 to the point already urged, it is still formidable from its 
 mere bulk, \U physical weight. For matters must indeed
 
 334 PHYSICAL FORCE OF THE RUSSIAN NAVY. 
 
 be badly managed, if such a weight of metal as Russia 
 now possesses should not tell in action. It is true that 
 the ships are at sea only a few months every year, and 
 that, during their long winter, the men forget much of 
 what they had learnt ; but Russia was formidable at sea 
 when her ships were manned merely with boors, new 
 torn from the forest and the plough. Can she be less 
 dangerous now that her ships are filled with men who, 
 however far below English and French sailors, are vet 
 more regularly trained than Russians ever were before ? 
 
 What Russians may do under the most unfavourable 
 circumstances was strikingly shown in the engagement 
 between them and the Swedes, in 1788. The empress 
 had been trusting to the usual foreign supplies to man 
 her fleet ; but on this occasion, both England and Hol- 
 land refused to allow their subjects to enlist in her service. 
 The war at last broke out so suddenly, that Admiral Greig 
 had no other resource than to hurry numerous levies of 
 raw peasants on board his ships, and put to sea as fast 
 as possible, with only one regular seaman to seven who 
 had never heard a shot fired. His fleet, consisting of 
 seventeen sail of the line, soon came in sight of the 
 enemy's squadron, which was commanded by the Duke 
 of Sudermania, and consisted of fifteen line-of-battle 
 ships, all manned with veteran seamen, ranking among 
 the best in Europe. Knowing how the crews of his 
 enemy were composed, the Swedish admiral made sure 
 of an easy victory, and gave battle under very disadvan- 
 tageous circumstances, in a perfect calm, where superior 
 seamanship could be of no use. In the very commence- 
 ment of the action, five of the largest of the Russian
 
 DESIGNS OF RUSSIA. 335 
 
 ships took to flight : yet such was the steadiness of the 
 remaining crews, that the Swedes, after a well-fought 
 battle, were forced to retire before a fleet now inferior in 
 number, leaving their vice-admiral prisoner. 
 
 This fact is recalled merely to enforce the great points 
 to which public attention in England ought to be turned 
 — namely, the advantage which numbers, however indif- 
 ferently trained, and weight of metal, even when unskil- 
 fully used, can give against the most experienced foe. If 
 such things could be done by men who had to be trained 
 after they came on board, surely the Russians have not 
 become less formidable now that they have so many thou- 
 sands regularly bred to the sea. Even were they the 
 worst sailors in the world, which they are not, they are 
 now numerous enough to deprive the proudest foe of all 
 right to despise them. Let England then bestir herself: 
 she has nothing to fear when fairly roused ; but " this is 
 no sleepy business ;" with such an enemy it is better to 
 be ready than to wait for warning. 
 
 The British government must not allow itself to be de- 
 ceived by the smooth words of the Tzar. He is even 
 now attempting to persuade the world that he has no evil 
 intentions towards us. But these assurances are glar- 
 ingly at variance with his open acts. Can it be denied, 
 that so long ago as the month of September last, he 
 ordered ships to be built for him in the dockyards of 
 England itself? and has he not given instructions that 
 these, and others to be purchased for him in our seaports, 
 must be ready by the spring ? Surely such demon- 
 strations warrant, at least, precautionary steps on the 
 part of England. A leading member of the Radical
 
 336 DESIGNS OF RUSSIA. 
 
 party has been known to say that, were they in office, the 
 first thing they should do would be to take possession of 
 the Sound. But, without going this length, the most 
 pusillanimous must see that England is called upon, if 
 she has any regard for her own security, to keep a fleet 
 of observation at sea, when the Baltic squadron again 
 sails on its pretended annual cruise. 
 
 England ought also to look well to the state of her re- 
 lations with Denmark, and endeavour, by every means, 
 to cultivate a good understanding with a power whose 
 friendship will be of the utmost importance in the event 
 of a war. During a recent visit to Copenhagen, we were 
 sorry to hear from all men of experience, of every shade 
 of opinion, that England has been completely supplanted 
 by Russia at the Danish court. 
 
 When the emperor and his advocates allege that it is 
 not against us that his immense navy has been created, 
 one may be allowed to ask, Against whom, then, has it 
 been built ? Are there pirates to be put down in the 
 Gulf of Bothnia ? or have the fishermen of Stralsund all 
 of a sudden become warlike ? Where, in sober earnest- 
 ness, has he a single foe to dread, from the Neva to the 
 Sound? Or will he say that it is to prepare his naval 
 officers for conquest along the shores of the Baltic, that 
 he is at such pains in teaching all of them to speak 
 English ? Nay, it is against England, and England 
 alone, that, in the midst of profound peace, and with the 
 words of peace on his lips, he has been preparing for 
 war these ten years past. Fond though he be of show, 
 he is not child enough to have made all this outlay with- 
 out having some serious end in view ; and that end he
 
 POWER OF ENGLAND. 337 
 
 hopes to accomplish the more securely, because he knows 
 he can reckon on the aid of supporters as eager for our 
 downfall as he can be. No one knows better than N icholas 
 that we have but one steady ally on the continent — 
 Austria ; which, fortunately, if it be our only constant 
 friend, is also the very power whose support will be most 
 valuable in the crisis which may not now be far distant. 
 France, nominally our friend, would be the first to 
 abandon us. The monarch of that powerful nation may 
 be honestly anxious to preserve peace with England, for 
 he is too enlightened not to know the value of her friend- 
 ship ; but he is the only man in his dominions who 
 wishes us well. For, in spite of all that has been said 
 about the extinction of national prejudices in France, 
 both the ministry, and, above all, the people of that 
 country, would rejoice to see the day when they can join 
 such an ally as Russia in a crusade against the power 
 which they most hate ; and hate the more bitterly from 
 knowing that it is the power which they have most reason 
 to fear. 
 
 Once more, however, it is not meant to insinuate that 
 England has any cause to dread the result of a quarrel 
 with Russia. We have reason to take warning by the 
 Tzar's manifestations : we ought not to trust one moment 
 to his assurances of continued good-will ; but as to any 
 dread that England must succumb in the too-probable 
 quarrel, no intelligent man can ever have seriously enter- 
 tained it. Russia has become powerful, but it is solely 
 by the permission of Great Britain. She has made inch- 
 by-inch conquests ; waged war pn a petty scale with 
 barbarous neighbours ; but let her once rouse the wrath 
 VOL. i. Q
 
 338 COMPARATIVE POWER OF 
 
 of England, and she will then, for the first time, feel what 
 war is. This overgrown foe would be crushed to atoms 
 in our indignation. 
 
 Russia, with all her seeming strength, is but a shadow 
 compared with England. True, her armies are more 
 numerous than ours ; but something more than brute 
 force is wanted before battles can be won. Her fleets, 
 too, are strong; but in three short months England can 
 send to sea a force that would sweep them from the ocean. 
 Let Russia lose but one great battle, and how could she 
 replace her seamen ? She has neither merchant crews 
 nor a hardy race of fishermen to fall back upon, to repair 
 her losses ; and the raw levies of peasants, from the inte- 
 rior, above described, would soon be required for service 
 of a different kind. In fact, the numerous population of 
 the Russian empire is a mere bugbear. The population 
 of England, though numerically not much more than a 
 third of that of Russia, virtually possesses three times its 
 strength. The one is compact, and, consequently, avail- 
 able on any sudden emergency ; the other is scattered 
 over wastes so wide, that, in case of any unexpected loss, 
 months would elapse before new levies could be raised 
 either for the fleet or for the army. The population of 
 England is also superabundant ; that of Russia is so de- 
 ficient, that the demands of the army, even in times of 
 peace, scarcely leave hands enough to till the ground. 
 Let the emperor withdraw more of the peasantry, and 
 the fields must be thrown out of culture — the country 
 becomes again a desert — the nobles lose their only 
 sources of income — general bankruptcy ensues — and the 
 warlike monarch is left to contend with domestic, in addi- 
 tion to his external foes.
 
 ENGLAND AND RUSSIA. 339 
 
 In short, those who dread the power of Russia do not 
 know what Russia is — a nation of immense, but useless, 
 because unwieldy, power. There is no life, no healthy 
 circulation, throughout her giant frame. The towns, 
 though many, are not close together, nor united by hourly 
 intercourse, like those of England. They are hundreds of 
 miles apart, and have no common interest to bring them 
 in contact. The inhabitants of the different, towns seldom 
 hear of, and never see each other. Having no errand 
 beyond their own gates, the citizens live and die without 
 having been five miles from home. In short, the towns 
 are as distinct from each other as if they belonged to 
 different states. Between the towns and the country 
 there is, if possible, still less sympathy : so that the very 
 circumstance which makes the emperor look so formid- 
 able at .a distance — namely, the extent of his dominions 
 — will be found, when more closely considered, to be in 
 reality a source of weakness. 
 
 As to her steamers, on which Russia places so much 
 reliance, there are twenty ports in England, any one of 
 which could match them without help from government 
 At the port of Hull alone more steamers may be seen in 
 a single afternoon than could be numbered on all the 
 Russian seas ; while Liverpool or Glasgow could meet 
 them ten for one. 
 
 But it is not merely her deficiency in ships and men 
 that renders Russia unfit to cope with England : she 
 wants also that which is of more value to England than 
 all her ships and armies — our moral energy ; an ele- 
 ment of strength which our continental foes too often 
 
 q2
 
 340 SUPERIORITY OF ENGLAND. 
 
 overlook, in surveying our dismantled ships, and, as they 
 think, defenceless shores. 
 
 Away, then, with the thought that England need fear a 
 war with Russia. The clamour about the " favourable 
 east wind " which is to bring her ships in hundreds to 
 our shores — about their being likely to come upon us 
 before we " could be informed of their having passed the 
 Sound " — and about the gratitude which we ought to 
 feel to the emperor for giving us " a six months' respite 
 by locking them up in the ice of Cronstadt" — is unwor- 
 thy of Englishmen. Russians themselves must wonder 
 when they hear that England is afraid of them : for all 
 Russians know well that, would we but stand on our 
 guard, the emperor will not send a single ship out of the 
 Baltic, even when the unfriendly summer shall open its 
 gates. In short, the course required of us is very simple 
 and obvious. Russia has made preparations for war, 
 which, as it was her pleasure, she was fully entitled to 
 do : let England also make preparations, — but on such a 
 scale as to show that we are in earnest, — and the dis- 
 mal clouds and the foreboding thunder which now fill 
 the political horizon will pass harmlessly away. This, 
 at all events, would be a more dignified and a more 
 Christian line of policy than at once to declare war 
 against Russia, as some amongst us have, too rashly 
 counselled. Surely he who urges his country to war 
 forgets the evils which war must bring ; thinks not of the 
 increased burdens of an already burdened people; num- 
 bers not the homes made desolate, and the hearts made 
 void — all the terrible bereavements that constitute the
 
 WAR MAY BE AVOIDED. 341 
 
 costliest part of the ransom by which a nation's trophies 
 are won. 
 
 It should also be considered that, as yet, the emperor 
 has not shown any decided intention of going to war. 
 He has taken no step, from which, if our government 
 assume the tone which becomes them, he will not recede 
 without a moment's delay. Little insults, isolated in- 
 stances of wrong, have been received at his hands : but 
 England can afford to be magnanimous ; or, if she must 
 have an atonement, in the name of humanity, let it be 
 something less costly than the peace of the world — the 
 breaking-up of sociality between nations — the inter- 
 ruption of the progress of civilization, for perhaps long 
 years to come.
 
 342 
 
 CHAPTER XXVIII. 
 
 THE EMPEROR'S AMBITIOUS POLICY— HIS VIEWS ON 
 GREECE— TURKEY— PERSIA— NORWAY. 
 
 Reasons why Nicholas aims at the subjugation of the East — And of 
 Greece in particular — The Greeks in the Turkish empire — Intends to 
 restore Greece to the splendour of classic days — Sketch of the Emperor's 
 present territories — And of his energy in governing them — His revenues 
 — Ministr}', &c. — Treacherous conduct towards Persia — Has supplanted 
 the English there — Miserable state of that country — Russian cunning 
 — Their deserters in Persia — Schemes against Norway. 
 
 It was stated in a former page, that all who have 
 studied the character of the Emperor Nicholas agree in 
 opinion as to the ends which he proposes to attain with 
 the aid of the immense army and the powerful fleet which 
 have now been described. Those who know him best 
 unite in asserting, that his ambition aims at nothing 
 short of what may well be determined Universal Con- 
 quest. , 
 
 It is not to Western Europe, however, that the longing 
 gaze of the autocrat is directed. Her cold climes and 
 grudging fields are prizes too poor for his ambition. It is 
 to the East, the warm and teeming East, that the shiver- 
 ing Muscovite looks. On Greece, with her thousand 
 sunny isles, and on Turkey, with her once rich Asiatic 
 dominions, have the eyes of Nicholas, as well as of his 
 predecessors, constantly been set. For, richly as the 
 Byzantine eagles have battened on the plains of the North,
 
 ANECDOTES OF THE EMPEROR. 343 
 
 they still turn with remembrance to the glowing shores of 
 the Bosphorus, from whence they first winged their ad- 
 venturous flight. On Greece, and all that ever the wide 
 name of Greece included, the Russian emperors think 
 they have claims, not only from similarity of faith, but 
 also and especially from early family connexion. Ni- 
 cholas has allowed the spoil to pass him for a time ; but 
 it is only* to grasp it with double advantage hereafter — 
 when the Greeks shall have been improved by a regular 
 government, and habits of submission to the law. 
 
 But why, it will be asked, should he long thus vehe- 
 mently for a country so distant and so poor? It is not 
 for Greece by herself that he longs, it is for Greece as the 
 mistress of dominions yet wider and fairer than all she 
 ever owned in her palmiest days. In the stinted kingdom 
 which now bears the proudest of all names of antiquity, 
 there is a population of only 800,000 souls ; but, scattered 
 over Turkey — in Europe and Asia — there are not fewer 
 than four millions of Greeks, every one of whom looks 
 back to Greece as his country and his home. Ask any 
 Greek, in the remotest corner of the Turkish empire, who 
 is his king ? — and he will say, "Otho, the Bavarian," not 
 " Mahmoud, the Turk." True, he never saw Greece. 
 But he speaks her language. He has heard of her 
 glorious mountains, and, still more, of her glorious annals. 
 He has been hushed in his cradle with songs that tell of 
 Themistocles, and Epaminondas, and Miltiades ; and in 
 riper years he has heard whispered names of more recent 
 fame. Though himself little better than a slave, and 
 degraded by a\\ the vices that long habits of slavery 
 engender, yet his brow will burn, and his eye will flash, 
 if he but hear the name of his country. Give him a
 
 344 the emperor's views 
 
 leader, and there is nothing that he will not dare, to 
 avenge her wrongs, and drive the Moslem from the throne 
 where the Christian should reign. 
 
 It is to this Greek population, then, as well as to that 
 in Greece itself, that Nicholas looks in his schemes upon 
 the South ; and it is by them that he hopes to be aided in 
 his projected conquests. It is with a view to retain their 
 affections that he is so constantly intriguing, not only in 
 Attica and the Morea, but all over the East. When the 
 time shall come that he can march into Turkey, he counts 
 on their support in every part of the empire. Of what 
 importance would they be, were it only as guides to an 
 invading army ! For instance, taking European Turkey 
 alone, there are at least 40,000 Greeks in its northern 
 provinces, intimately acquainted with every pass and every 
 stronghold by which an invading army would have to 
 march. 
 
 To reconcile the Greeks to his ambitious projects, the 
 emperor, through his thousands of spies and agents, 
 tempts them, not only with gold, but with projects of new 
 greatness for the lofty name which they bear. The fallen 
 empire is to be restored, with glory more resplendent 
 than ever. When the Tzar shall have transferred his 
 seat from the gulf of Finland to the Bosphorus, the name 
 of " Russia" shall be for ever merged in the more glorious 
 one of " Greece," Bright days will then begin to roll. 
 Nicholas wishes to be not merely the Political, but the 
 Moral Regenerator of the East. As Emperor of Greece 
 and Lord of the Orient, the rude Scythian is to drag 
 back literature and science from the regions to which they 
 have strayed, and replant them in the lands where know-
 
 ON GREECE. 345 
 
 ledge and civilization's rst appeared. Attica is to recover 
 her temples, her statues, her academies ; Byzantium 
 is to have her palaces ; Ionia, her schools ; Chaldea, her 
 astronomers ; Egypt, her mysteries. The treasures and 
 the products of distant India are to resume their ancient 
 channels. The mountains are to be clad anew with 
 flocks, and the sea with barks ; blessing is to be on every 
 tongue, contentment in every home. The shepherd's 
 pipe shall again be heard in the vales of Arcady, the 
 lover's song once more float from the Lesbian cliffs. 
 Happiness and industry will be everywhere revived ; the 
 whole wide East of Alexander blest with light, with arts, 
 and with Liberty. 
 
 A noble project ! a most gorgeous dream ! Who would 
 not be tempted to enlist under the emperor's banner, to 
 share in the glory of bringing about so proud a consum- 
 mation ? It is to be feared, however, that the kind of 
 liberty with which he would endow his new conquests 
 would be very different from that of classic Greece. To 
 show, however, that this scheme is not so completely a 
 dream as some may consider it, and to give some further 
 idea of the character of the monarch who has devised it, 
 we shall now mention a few additional facts more directly 
 illustrative of his policy. From what he has already 
 done, some estimate may be formed of what he may 
 hereafter do. 
 
 There is nothing which shows the nature of the policy 
 of Nicholas more strikingly than the undeviating steadi- 
 ness with which he has followed up the system of his 
 predecessors. That system, the reader knows well, has 
 ever been one of aggrandizement. It is said that, on 
 
 q.3
 
 346 VAST PROJECTS OF THE EMPEROR. 
 
 ascending the throne, the sovereign of Russia takes a 
 solemn oath, not merely to maintain the empire unim- 
 paired, but to extend its boundaries by every means in his 
 power. That this has been no idle vow a moment's 
 glance at the map of Europe, or of her sister Asia, will 
 fully prove : it is the book which affords the best com- 
 mentary on the policy of Russia. How terrific have 
 been her strides ! There is something astounding in the 
 constancy of the progress which she has been, and is at 
 this hour making, over the face of the globe. Not very 
 long ago, we find the Tzars of Muscovy confined to the 
 centre of Russia. A little time after, one conquers the 
 kingdoms of Astracan and Siberia, of themselves covering 
 half a continent. Another adds the provinces on the 
 Baltic. A third flies back to the north, and subdues the 
 Crimea. The last Catherine joins Poland and other 
 conquests, in all covering 10,000 square miles of fertile 
 land. Even the mad Paul, short as his reign was, ex- 
 tends the power of Russia in a quarter dearer, though 
 more distant, than all ; for it was during his reign that . 
 her dominion was first firmly established over Greece, by 
 the formation of the republic of the Seven Islands, under 
 Russian and Turkish protection — a dominion which, how- 
 ever fondly we may flatter ourselves with the contrary, 
 has not yet been overthrown. Alexander follows, with 
 Georgia, Finland, &c. ; and last of all comes Nicholas, 
 who lias already more than fulfilled his vow, as the con- 
 quered provinces of Turkey, at the mouth of the Danube, 
 and the wide acquisitions more recently made on the side 
 of Persia, too strongly testify. 
 
 In short, province after province, kingdom after king-
 
 COMPARATIVE POPULATION. 347 
 
 dom have been successively added, till the once narrow 
 dominions of the Tzars have swollen to be the largest 
 empire in the world. It includes more than the half of 
 Europe, the whole of northern Asia, and a large tract of 
 the north-western coast of America. Its entire surface 
 occupies more than twice the size of Europe, and con- 
 stitutes a full eighth part of the habitable globe ; while 
 France covers only a two-hundred-and-fortieth part. 
 Not fewer than twenty different languages are spoken 
 within the Tzar's dominions. The total number of inha- 
 bitants has been variously estimated, some accounts 
 making it little short of sixty millions, while others make 
 it but fifty-eight. Both of these estimates fall below the 
 truth : for recent returns raise the population of the em- 
 pire within a little of sixty-two millions. China, which 
 covers a much smaller surface than Russia, contains 
 nearly four times as many inhabitants. This difference 
 is owing to the singularly unfertile and inhospitable 
 nature of the greater part of Asiatic Russia; for the 
 European dominions are not unfavourably peopled, since 
 they contain at least forty-eight millions of inhabitants, 
 or a fourth part of the whole population of our division of 
 the globe. It gives a singular idea, however, of the bar- 
 renness of a large portion of her remaining territory, to 
 find that in Siberia, for instance, there is not more than 
 one inhabitant to a couple of square miles. Central 
 Russia is very densely populated, there being in the go- 
 vernments of Moscow and Kalouga nearly 500 inhabit- 
 ants to the square mile. The average population 
 throughout European Russia is somewhat above 90 to 
 the square mile. The Greek church claims 42,700,000
 
 348 REVENUE OF RUSSIA. 
 
 followers, including Armenians. Of Roman Catholics- 
 there are six millions, of which Poland alone claims one- 
 half : while of Jews the number is variously estimated, 
 but, according to the most correct accounts, there would 
 appear to be 658,809 in the whole empire, of whom 
 410,062 belong to Poland. 
 
 The annual revenue of the whole empire is stated at 
 355,000,000 of roubles, or 14,200,000/. sterling; of 
 which 75,000,000 are contributed by a poll-tax ; 
 83,000,000 by the guild taxes, and the import and ex- 
 port dues; 116,000,000 by the crown peasants, brandy 
 distilleries, &c. The national debt, which in other 
 countries swallows up more than half of the revenue, here 
 takes but a very small share of it. Its whole amount 
 does not now reach 50,000,000/. sterling. Happy 
 country, which three years' revenue would clear of all its 
 burdens ! So prosperous has the state of the revenne 
 been since the present minister, Cancrin, assumed the 
 management of the finances, that there is a prospect of 
 the debt being soon paid up altogether. The sum at pre- 
 sent appropriated every year to the fund for its extinction 
 is 30,000,000 of roubles, or 1,200,000/. The gold-mines, 
 which many look upon as contributing so largely to the 
 revenues of the empire, in 1136 did not yield more than 
 130 poods (45801bs.) ; while the quantity of platina ob- 
 tained was only 17|lbs. The quantity of gold obtained 
 in the same year, from mines belonging to private indivi- 
 duals, was 135 poods, or 48601bs., and of platina 118 
 poods, or 42481bs. 
 
 We are quite aware that not only in Russia, but in 
 other parts of Europe, there are many who believe that
 
 SOURCES OF REVENUE. 349 
 
 the amount of gold drawn from the mines is greatly un- 
 derrated in these official publications, and who maintain 
 that the increasing expenditure of the emperor has been 
 met by the increasing productiveness of this branch of 
 the revenue. In this opinion, however, we can by no 
 means agree. That the mines have latterly become more 
 valuable is quite true ; for improved methods of working 
 have been introduced, and greater attention is now paid 
 to their management everywhere, but especially to those 
 of the Ural mountains, whose sands are richly impreg- 
 nated with the pernicious ore. But that anything like 
 the amount implied in the statements of the credulous 
 can have been realized is altogether impossible. As 
 gold, like every other article of commerce, must find its 
 way to the market through the hands of the merchants, 
 no extraordinary amount of it can have been realized 
 without the agency of those who would have made no 
 mystery of its value. 
 
 The true secret of the emperor's recent prodigality 
 will be found in the miseries of Poland. The sums ob- 
 tained for the confiscated lands of a whole kingdom can- 
 not be small, allowing even that the conqueror may be 
 liberal in giving them " cheap" to his favourites. The 
 indemnities wrung from humble Turkey and enslaved 
 Persia have also placed immense sums at his disposal. 
 But the days when he could reckon on these sources of 
 revenue are now, let us hope, for ever at an end. 
 
 The general administration of the empire is conducted 
 by eight ministers, whose departments are as follow : 
 Household, Prince Volkonsky ; Foreign Affairs, Count 
 Nesselrode ; War, Tchernitcheff^ Marine, Menzikoff;
 
 350 ADMINISTRATION OF AFFAIRS. 
 
 Home Department, Bladow ; Justice, Daschkoff ; Fi- 
 nances, Cancrin ; Public Instruction, Ulvaroff. In ad- 
 dition to these ministers, there are four Boards, headed 
 by directors-general : Control, Chitroff ; Post-office, 
 Prince Lieven ; Church Affairs and Foreign Confessions 
 (has for some time been united to the Foreign-office) ; 
 and Land and Water Communication, Count Toll. 
 There is a special minister or secretary of state (Count 
 Grabofski) for Poland, and a secretary of state for Fin- 
 land. All of these, as well as the heir-apparent, and the 
 Granduke Michael, have a seat in the senate, which is 
 the highest council of the empire. Its powers have been 
 greatly extended of late years ; but, for all essential pur- 
 poses, the will of the emperor is still the supreme law of 
 Russia. 
 
 Nicholas is the more entitled to dictate to his minis- 
 ters, from the fact that he is intimately acquainted v;ith 
 the details of every branch of administration now named. 
 Some kings have a favourite branch, on which they ex- 
 clusively bestow their attention ; but the present Empe- 
 ror of Russia devotes himself to the business of each in 
 its turn, and is master of every particular connected with 
 it. The ministers all say that the well-known efficacy of 
 the master's eye was never more completely confirmed than 
 by the zeal with which every department is animated. 
 
 It is not merely, however, by the perseverance shown 
 in increasing his dominions and revenues to their present 
 unheard-of extent, nor by the untiring vigilance displayed 
 in superintending every branch of the administration, 
 that the wisdom of Nicholas is manifested. There is 
 another part of his policy which indicates yet more pro-
 
 DESIGNS OF THE EMPEROR. 351 
 
 
 
 found sagacity, and is, therefore, still more worthy of 
 attention even than these — the readiness, namely, which 
 he ever shows to withdraw from any ambitious project, 
 nay, to disavow it altogether, either when it has been 
 prematurely detected by those who may be interested in 
 opposing it, or when it would be otherwise impolitic to 
 persevere in the attempt. This, in fact, is the hereditary 
 policy of Russia. She watches her opportunity — waits 
 till her intended prey has incautiously assumed a defence- 
 less attitude, or till those who should keep guard over it 
 have been disarmed of their suspicion, then pounces 
 upon it with all the cunning and cruelty of the tiger. 
 
 This characteristic of the system followed by the 
 Russian government is strongly confirmed by a recent 
 transaction in Persia, regarding which country, and 
 especially regarding the emperor's conduct towards it, we 
 shall now mention some particulars which, while they 
 strongly illustrate the general policy of Russia, are, at 
 the same time, of especial importance to the English 
 reader; for it will be hereafter seen that the Russians 
 regard the humiliation of Persia merely as a stepping- 
 stone to that of Great Britain. 
 
 The transaction more immediately alluded to arose out 
 of the repayment of the expenses of the last Persian war, 
 with which the poor Shah, as the loser, had of course been 
 burdened. All had been regularly paid up to the final 
 instalment, which, at the moment in question, was some 
 time in arrear. The coffers of the state had long been 
 completely exhausted, and the supplies from England 
 were also dried up. Extortion, confiscation, squeezing
 
 352 RUSSIAN DESIGNS 
 
 of rich private individuals and gorged favourites, cutting 
 off noses, thrusting out eyes, and all the other gentle 
 methods of Persian financiers, had already been put in 
 such frequent operation, that they no longer had vic- 
 tims to act upon. In short, the Shah and his ministers 
 were in despair; when, to their great joy and astonish- 
 ment, help appeared from a quarter whence it had been 
 little expected — from Russia herself. Why all this 
 anxiety about money — a mere trifle of 250,000/. ? With 
 such a friend as the Shah, the emperor would be the last 
 in the world to exact such rigorous payment. Besides, 
 the matter could be easily settled without one farthing of 
 money. Persia had only to cede a little strip of terri- 
 tory, which looks nothing at all on the map, and every 
 claim for further indemnity should be instantly can- 
 celled. 
 
 Will the reader guess what this little insignificant strip 
 of the Persian territory was ? It was only about the size 
 of one of the kingdoms of Germany — extended only from 
 Astara to somewhere beyond Eschref — and would only 
 have put Russia in possession of an important line of 
 coast on the south-western shore of the Caspian, on 
 which she has long had her heart set, from some peculiar 
 advantages which it presents — the present station for 
 steamboats and ships of war being too far distant from 
 that part of the coast where they are most likely to be 
 useful ; and, lastly, it would only have brought Russia 
 within a hundred and forty miles of Teheran, the capital 
 of Persia, from which she has already calculated every 
 mile of the march she will have to make in order to 
 reach the English territories in India.
 
 ON PERSIA. 353 
 
 Fortunately, this cunning manoeuvre was detected in 
 time, by those charged with the care of English interests 
 in Persia ; and Russia, never ashamed to go back when 
 she cannot advance with perfect safety, loudly disowned 
 the imputation. She had never thought of such a 
 treacherous conquest — would never take such base ad- 
 vantage of Persia's weakness, and of the unsuspecting 
 confidence of a generous ally like England. But, in spite 
 of all these denials, she had thought of it, and — what is 
 more — she will again do so when a fitting occasion 
 arrives. Meantime, as one step towards the accomplish- 
 ment of her object, and by way of forming as many 
 friends as possible in the envied district, she has been in- 
 triguing to get a consul appointed at Resht, which pre- 
 sents a fovourable point for her operations. 
 
 In fact, the whole of the emperor's conduct towards Per- 
 sia, ever since his accession, would furnish an admirable 
 illustration of his grasping, yet cunning policy. It was 
 not in one battle, nor in two, that the ill-fated Shah was 
 humbled. The work was carried on gradually — now by 
 an engagement won, and now by a bribe well bestowed, or 
 a diplomatic ruse well played off — gradually, but so 
 effectually, that now Persia, besides being stripped of a 
 large portion of territory, lies a helpless, pitiable de- 
 pendency ; without revenue, almost without a government, 
 and literally without an army. Their Scottish com- 
 mander-in-chief, Sir Henry Bethune Lindsay, whom 
 they look upon as a kind of god — a second Tamerlane — 
 will now have to fight all the battles alone ; for in the 
 whole of Persia it would be difficult to assemble more 
 than sixteen thousand soldiers, "and of these there are
 
 354 STATE OF PERSIA. 
 
 entire regiments which could not muster more than fifty 
 muskets, and not half as many flints, amongst them. 
 This is even overrating their equipments : the quantity 
 allowed by an intelligent traveller, who has lately re- 
 turned from that country, is, " half a musket among a 
 dozen men, and two or three flints to a whole regiment." 
 The fellows fight well, but what reliance can be placed 
 on troops so miserably furnished ? The Persian govern- 
 ment, in fact, is now a mere skeleton, ready to shrink at 
 the slightest nod of Russia ; while the country, never a 
 beautiful one, is fast becoming a desert from the want of 
 population. You wander over its wastes of sand and 
 wildernesses of salt — alas ! how different from the scenes 
 with which young poets deck the land of the fragrant 
 rose and the sparkling fountain — and find nothing but 
 barrenness — misery ! Such are the fruits of Russia's 
 policy. She blasts where she cannot seize. The time 
 is not come when she can with safety close her grasp on 
 Persia; England still has some weight where she takes 
 the trouble to exert herself ; and, but for England, the 
 kingdom of Cyrus, ere now, had ceased to be named 
 among the nations. 
 
 That Russia, however, has not abandoned her schemes 
 — that the still looks forward to a day when Persia may 
 be hers — is put beyond doubt by a fact more strongly 
 illustrative of the calculating, Jesuitical foresight of the 
 policy we are describing than any we ever heard of. 
 Some Englishmen, when lately in Persia, were sur- 
 prised to see a corps of Russians in the capital, drilled 
 and paraded with great pomp in the most public 
 places. On inquiry, it turned out that these were
 
 HUSSIAN CUNNING. 355 
 
 deserters from the Russian army, tempted by higher pay, 
 and that Nicholas himself does all he can to encourage 
 desertion, having made an express stipulation in the last 
 treaty with Persia, that Russians absconding to the ser- 
 vice of the Shah shall be treated by him as his own sub- 
 jects, and allowed to re-enter their native country when- 
 ever they may feel inclined, without being liable to 
 punishment or degradation of any kind. The emperor's 
 object in this singular arrangement is, gradually to re- 
 move the prejudices of Persian bigotry against the 
 Franks — to accustom, not merely the army, but the 
 people to the sight of the Russians — to prepare them, 
 in short, for the time when Muscovite soldiers will visit 
 Teheran on more permanent duty. By encouraging the 
 deserters to come back after a few years' service, he 
 accomplishes another important object — secures, namely, 
 the aid of men who must be of infinite value in any 
 future invasion of Persia, from having had time to acquire 
 the language, as well as to become acquainted with the 
 manners and geography of the country. 
 
 These facts, singular as they may seem, are nothing 
 compared with others equally well known to all who 
 have had intercourse with recent travellers in Persia. 
 What strange tales Mr. Ellis could tell about his mission 
 to that country ! Vigilant as he was, Nicholas, we fear, 
 was before him in the field, and, if report speaks true, 
 even previous to his arrival, had prejudiced the Persians 
 so strongly against him, that his efforts to save their 
 country from its impending fate were completely para- 
 lysed. 
 
 In England we pay too little attention to what the em-
 
 356 ENGLAND OUTWITTED. 
 
 peror is doing in Persia. All the cry with us is about 
 Turkey. " We must not let the Russians get Turkey !" 
 is contantly rung in our ears ; and while we are busy 
 repeating the cry, Nicholas is quietly securing for him- 
 self some conquest or other, of much more importance to 
 him than Turkey will ever be to us.* 
 
 * The emperor's views on Persia will again be referred to, in con- 
 nexion with his schemes against British India, in chap. xxxi. Mean- 
 time, the attention of the reader is requested to the following extract of 
 a private letter written by a young baronet, who has enjoyed ample and 
 recent opportunities, in the country itself, for becoming acquainted with 
 the state of Persia; and whose name, did the author feel himself at 
 liberty to communicate it, would be a sufficient guarantee for the inde- 
 pendence of his sentiments, as well as for his ability to support them. 
 
 " R 1, M r, December 3, 1833. 
 
 " From the columns of the Times newspaper of last month, I learn 
 that — at length — Russia has been detected in intrigues with the rulers of 
 the country between Persia and India. These she has been instigating 
 to hostility against India, tempting them with large promises of co- 
 operation and assistance, in the event of the two powers coming to a con- 
 flict. To put an end to, and obviate these insidious measures on the 
 part of Russia, the Indian government has taken advantage of the dis- 
 tracted state of the kingdom of Cabool, divided into factions by two 
 brothers, rival competitors for the throne of their father ; and has 
 offered its armed assistance to one, on the condition of his becoming a 
 tributary to the British power ; which offer, accepted and acted upon, 
 will be the virtual advance of our frontier from the Indus to the confines 
 of Persia, and thus enable us to prevent the machinations of Russia on 
 what will have, in a manner, become our own territory. 
 
 "This account, added to my own previous knowledge of the state of 
 these countries, has the appearance of authenticity, and will account for 
 all the rumours of warlike preparations in India — Affghanistan and the 
 Punjaub will doubtless follow the fate, eventually, of their more northern 
 neighbours of Cabool; but these measures have been rendered imperative 
 on the British rulers of India fur their own self-defence, as English in- 
 fluence in Persia is completely eclipsed by the preponderating ascendancy 
 which Russia has obtained in the councils of the Shah, by means not the
 
 RUSSIA VERSUS ENGLAND. 357 
 
 In the commencement of this chapter we have said that 
 the emperor's ambition does not stoop so low as to con- 
 sider western Europe worthy of being conquered. Yet 
 there is one exception to this remark. His southern 
 projects certainly occupy most of his thoughts; but there 
 still remain some coveted spots even in the north of 
 Europe — rough but important — to other nations mere 
 deserts, but to him fair as the classic shores of the 
 ./Egean. — Norway — the name will startle the reader as 
 much as it did us, for we never dreamt of the project till 
 we had been in the north Norway is wanted to render 
 
 most scrupulous. Almost all the nobles of Persia are notoriously in the 
 pay of Russia. From the Shah down to the meanest peasant, all are to 
 be purchased, and would always attach themselves to the highest bidder. 
 Russia — liberal in bribes — magnanimous in promises — with threats of ad- 
 vancing her legions continually put forward — has obtained a complete 
 ascendancy amongst them ; while the timid, fickle, and unsteady policy 
 of England has lost for her the high name she once possessed in the 
 East. ***** With a barbarian power, brute force is a more 
 convincing argument than logical reasoning. * * * * * To show 
 the nature of the insidious spirit of perseverance with which Russia has 
 for some time past been endeavouring to gain a footing in Persia, I may 
 mention that the Shah has now in his service a whole regiment of Rus- 
 sian deserters, 600 strong, who have been encouraged to desert by Russia 
 herself. They are his best troops — the only regiment on which an 
 European officer could depend — and .are considered the fighting regiment 
 of Persia. 
 
 " The population of Persia may, perhaps, be some ten or twelve mil- 
 lions ; the whole country, from Dan to Beersheba, an arid desert. Her 
 army, disciplined in the European fashion, nominally amounts to 25,000 
 men ; but, in reality, she has a standing army of only about 16,000, and 
 never could present, in herself or population, any serious obstacle to the 
 Russian hordes. Her security would consist in the barren state of 
 the country, which would occasion great difficulties in supplying an 
 invading army with food."
 
 358 RUSSIAN AMBITION. 
 
 the naval power of the empire available. With the 
 Black Sea sealed like a fresh-water lake, and the Bos- 
 phorus open at her nod, Russia looks forward to the day 
 when she may rule the Mediterranean without a rival. 
 Even at present she can enter it at pleasure. But not 
 so with the Atlantic — it can be entered by Russia only 
 with the good permission of England. The Sound is a 
 narrow neck to fight through, if it come to blows ; and 
 English sailors are so quick-scented when there is likely 
 to be any fighting, that they are sure to be in the way if 
 a hostile fleet should seek to leave the Baltic. The only 
 remedy that the emperor can devise for all this, is to 
 have ports on the Atlantic itself: — in other words, to 
 seize Norway, whose jagged coast presents creeks enough 
 for more ships than the Baltic could float. Now that 
 Finland is secured, the way to Norway is open to the 
 Russians any winter's day they please to start on. 
 What opposition can Sweden make in her northern 
 deserts ? Besides, if Bernadotte prove recusant, it 
 would not be impossible to find out Colonel Gustavson, 
 who will without scruple give Norway, which never be- 
 longed to his family, as the price of a recovered king- 
 dom. 
 
 Does this project throw any light on the emperor's 
 assiduity in forming such a fleet on the Baltic ? 
 
 But it will be said that this is carrying Russian am- 
 bition too far : some will look on it as mere madness to 
 speak of such a scheme. But many of the best conquests 
 of Russia were much more improbable than that now 
 hinted at ; and those who predicted them were also con- 
 sidered madmen.
 
 FOREWARNED FOREARMED. 359 
 
 Though we give these details, however, we again 
 repeat, that we are not among those who are afraid of 
 the Russians. We by no means fear the Russians when 
 fairly met. It is only where the danger is not seen, or 
 unsuspected — where she is allowed to work secretly, 
 without, opposition — that there is aught to be feared from 
 her. Did she avow her intentions, and proceed openly, 
 there would be no danger ; but it is not always by ships 
 and soldiers that she works : the fairest of her acqui- 
 sitions have been made by the pen, not the sword — by 
 gold, not with bullets ; and so it will be with the schemes 
 now hastily referred to. Lest the employment of force 
 should alarm us too much, she will try cunning. 
 
 It is not enough to say that neither in the south, 
 nor in the north, will England ever allow such con- 
 quests to be made. England never thought that she 
 would allow Poland to be dismembered, nor, more lately, 
 to be ravaged by the fire and the sword. She never 
 thought that we would allow the mouths of the Danube 
 to be seized by Russia. Yet both Poland and the islands 
 of the Black Sea now glitter with the emperor's bayonets.
 
 3G0 
 
 CHAPTER XXIX. 
 
 THE EMPEROR'S DIPLOMATIC SYSTEM CONTRASTED 
 WITH THAT OF ENGLAND— HIS PLANS FOR AMAL- 
 GAMATING THE DIFFERENT PARTS OF THE EMPIRE. 
 
 Russian ambassadors selected for their talents — Great confidence reposed 
 in them — High education for the diplomatic service required in Russia, 
 and other parts of the continent — Laxity of our English system — 
 Russian ministers at Constantinople — Boutanieff — Pozzo di Borgo — 
 Maltitz — Matucevitz — D'Oubril — Devotion of his agents to the empe- 
 ror — Russian spies in the houses of English ambassadors — Large bands 
 of informers in Russian pay all over Europe — The emperor's spies in 
 Paris, and at the German universities — Their activity in Turkey — 
 Alleged interference against England in Canada — Count Nesselrode — 
 Talleyrand — Mettemich — The emperor's care in educating young men 
 from the distant provinces — Makes them his warm friends — Professors 
 from strange lands. 
 
 The important characteristic of the emperor's policy, 
 mentioned towards the close of the last chapter, is 
 another of those points connected with Russia which 
 have not yet been sufficiently attended to in other 
 countries— namely, the efficient use' which he makes 
 of his diplomatic agents. 
 
 It is now a fashion with some to look on ambassadors 
 as most unnecessary burdens in these enlightened times 
 — as mere " ceremonies," of no further use than to keep 
 up our dignity, by spending our money and neglecting 
 our interests. Hut the Emperor Nicholas takes quite a 
 different view of their importance. Thinking that a 
 talented ambassador may sometimes do as much as a
 
 RUSSIAN DIPLOMACY. 361 
 
 strong army, he keeps only the ablest agents in his pay, 
 and, in return, has the satisfaction of seeing them outwit 
 the " good, easy men," who dream that there can be 
 nothing going on, because the Russian ambassador gives 
 balls and dinners like the idlest of them. And so he 
 does : the only difference is that, under the noise of 
 fiddles and champagne corks, the smooth Russian con- 
 ceals the working of the machinery by which he is con- 
 ducting some snug, advantageous little intrigue to a 
 triumphant conclusion. 
 
 That, amongst our representatives abroad, there are 
 some most able and vigilant men it would be unjust to 
 deny ; but it is impossible for an Englishman to wander 
 long on the Continent, without finding reason to regret 
 the incapacity and supineness of too many of our diplo- 
 matists. There are important posts where British in- 
 terests are neglected in the most melancholy manner. 
 It is not the present government alone that are to blame 
 for this : it is the system, not the men, that is chargeable 
 with the evils complained of. Our interests at foreign 
 courts will never be efficiently attended to, until we are 
 at some pains to educate in a proper manner those who 
 are aspiring to employment in a diplomatic capacity. 
 It is not enough to send young men abroad for two or 
 three, or even half-a-dozen of years, as attaches. Every 
 body who has travelled but six months knows very well 
 how an attache spends his time, and what sort of studies 
 occupy him most. What is wanted is, a careful course 
 of preliminary study for all connected with this service, 
 before they are allowed to cross the Channel. 
 
 Englishmen may think it strange to be referred to 
 
 VOL. I. R
 
 362 ERRORS OF 
 
 Russia for a lesson in anything ; but there are, never- 
 theless, things even in Russia which we might do well to 
 imitate ; and this is one of them. 
 
 Prussia, too, might furnish us with a useful example 
 in the training of young men for this employment. 
 The plan in these countries is to admit none, even to 
 the lowest step connected with the department, who 
 have not gone through the regular course of study pre- 
 scribed for this important service. Besides the early 
 training at the gymnasia, there are classes expressly set 
 apart for them in all the more important universities. 
 Languages, history, international law, lectures on the 
 forms and provisions of treaties, constitute part of a di- 
 plomatic education. So carefully are the living tongues 
 attended to, that it is no uncommon thing to find stu- 
 dents, even before they have passed their examination, . 
 who, besides being fully masters of their own language, 
 can speak and write with ease French, English, and 
 Italian. Even the more difficult languages are not neg- 
 lected : in Russia, for instance, the Turkish, Arabic, 
 and other eastern tongues, are indispensable to all look- 
 ing for employment in this capacity. In Prussia, again, 
 the Russian, which is the most difficult of European 
 languages, is so carefully studied, that we have known 
 an expectant who, without ever having been out of Ber- 
 lin, was able to translate a pamphlet, which he had 
 written, into that language, so ably, as to receive from 
 St. Petersburg the thanks of the minister at the head of 
 the department to which it related. 
 
 How differently is all this managed in England ! A 
 young man is sent abroad without any previous training,
 
 ENGLISH DIPLOMACY. 363 
 
 ignorant of the very A B C of diplomacy. At the end 
 of a few years he has picked up a little French, the com- 
 monest language of the Continent, which shopmen and 
 milliners' apprentices are now ashamed'to be ignorant of. 
 But what more has he acquired in the course of this 
 residence abroad ? Having had no good foundation to 
 build upon, he has never followed out a regular or well- 
 directed system of study. He could not complete what 
 was never begun, and does not yet know so much of his 
 profession as the young Russian who has not left the 
 gymnasium. Even at this stage, however, there would 
 be a remedy against the incapables, were care taken to 
 grant promotion only to those who deserve it by their 
 talent and zeal in the service. But to be convinced that 
 this is not done, we have only to look to the many ac- 
 complished men connected with our embassies, who, 
 after toiling for years through all the drudgery of an 
 unpaid attache ship, are still little beyond that happy 
 position, while they see younger and less deserving com- 
 petitors promoted over their heads, for no other reason 
 than that they have more influential, or less scrupulous, 
 friends at home. 
 
 It will be said that, in a government like ours, such 
 evils are unavoidable : for no minister can rule without 
 bestowing his patronage on those who can support him. 
 But, admitting the truth of this objection, we still revert 
 to the position from which we started, viz., that ministers 
 have it fully in their power to check the evil to a certain 
 extent, simply by establishing a strict course of prelimi- 
 nary study, exprecsly for this service, and insisting that, 
 just as in the other professions, none shall be admitted 
 
 r 2
 
 364 RUSSIAN DIPLOMACY. 
 
 who cannot stand a free examination on the prescribed 
 branches. This ought to be done, were it only for the 
 sake of the young men themselves. While advancing 
 the public interests, by fixing a high standard of previous 
 study, we should be conferring on them the greatest pos- 
 sible favour ; — for the more numerous the resources they 
 have within themselves, the less liable will they be to fall 
 a prey to the temptations and facilities which so thickly 
 beset them, in the most dangerous career that ever rash 
 youth embarked upon. 
 
 But to return to Russia. From the lowest vice-consul 
 to the highest ambassador, all intrusted with her interests 
 abroad are chosen on no other principle than that of ta- 
 lent and fitness for the post assigned. It would be im- 
 possible to point out a Russian agent in any part of the 
 world who is not most intimately familiar with the lan- 
 guage of the people he is amongst ; and of the immense 
 advantages which such a knowledge gives to an ambas- 
 sador it must be unnecessary to say one word. Were an 
 ambassador's duties confined to the courtesies of the 
 drawing-room, or the formalities of a diplomatic note, 
 his attainments in foreign tongues, might be safely 
 bounded by the compliments of a French phrase-book ; 
 but the minister who really does his duty, will sometimes 
 step beyond his own family circle. He will mix with the 
 native society, nay, with the people ; will learn their man- 
 ners, their sentiments, their prejudices; and, by the few 
 hours spent now and then in this way, may do his coun- 
 try as much service, as by being ever the first at a review, 
 and the last to leave a ball-room. 
 
 The zeal and fidelity with which the emperor's agents
 
 RUSSIAN DIPLOMACY. 365 
 
 have served him are best shown by the treaties of the 
 last ten years, and by his fast increasing influence, pre- 
 cisely in those very quarters where it was most the in- 
 terest of other powers to have checked its progress. In 
 all that time the diplomacy of Russia has not met with 
 a single defeat. It has been a period of uninterrupted 
 triumph to her ; of uninterrupted humiliation to every 
 other government of Europe. 
 
 That there is little prospect of her interests being neg- 
 lected in the next ten years might be proved by a sur- 
 vey of the characters and talents of the different ministers 
 who now represent the emperor at the various courts of 
 Europe. With the wily and successful Boutanieff, at 
 Constantinople, who never neglects a single chance of 
 advancing Russian interests ; with the talented and lite- 
 rary Maltitz, now at Berlin, and now at London, who 
 can lay aside his German plays when some real drama 
 is going forward ; with the half- English Matucevitz, one 
 week at Naples, and the next at Melton- Mowbray — turn- 
 ing his knowledge of our language and institutions to the 
 more account, that he can so easily assume the appear- 
 ance of the mere man of fashion, when it suits his pur- 
 pose to conceal the man of talent ; — with the well-tried 
 and watchful D'Oubril, at Frankfort, the city of diplo- 
 matists, where deliberations are held that affect the re- 
 pose of Europe more powerfully than do the decisions of 
 some royal cabinets,* — with the experienced Pozzo di 
 
 * ' Our new minister to the Germanic Confederation — the son of the 
 Speaker of the House of Commons — though young, has the advantage 
 of having been bred in a good school, where he had every opportunity of 
 obtaining such a knowledge of the difficult and intricate bearings of 
 German politics, as is likely to render him highly useful in his new post.
 
 366 RUSSIAN DIPLOMATS. 
 
 Borgo, sometimes wandering in search of health, but ever 
 at his post when able counsel is required ; — with these, 
 and others of less note but equal zeal, watching over her 
 interests, there is no probability that Russia will be less 
 ably served in future than she has hitherto been. 
 
 The strongest guarantee which the emperor has for 
 the zeal of his agents lies in their enthusiastic attach- 
 ment to his person and system. There is nothing more 
 remarkable connected with those employed by him, than 
 that, from whatever country they may originally have 
 come, they always show themselves most thoroughly 
 Russian. The tact of Nicholas in selecting the men 
 fittest for his purpose, is equalled only by the wonderful 
 quality which he has of inspiring them with devotion to 
 himself. Those who serve him at home may not be so 
 warmly attached to him ; on them falls all the trouble 
 arising from his activity and vigilance. But his foreign 
 agents are too far off to feel the lash. They hear the 
 shouts, and catch something of the reflected splendour of 
 his triumphs, without being soiled by the dust that is 
 raised. In short, they see only the bright side of their 
 master's character, and are not in the way to be fretted 
 by his discipline. Instead of the sharp rebukes which he 
 deals T.nsparingly out to those near him, they are receiv- 
 ing only compliments and encouragement. Hence it is 
 that we never yet saw a Russian agent in any part of the 
 world who did not live, as it were, exclusively for the 
 emperor. He may be fond of gaiety, of this or that pur- 
 suit, but it is ever secondary to a higher passion — a 
 desire to please his imperial protector, by the most 
 unwearied attention in promoting Russian interests. He
 
 RUSSIAN SPIES. 
 
 367 
 
 lives but for this, and often is not over-scrupulous about 
 the means he employs in the cause. There are Russian 
 ambassadors at some courts — perhaps all of them do the 
 same — who employ spies in the house of the English 
 minister — who can neither receive a friend, nor give a 
 dinner, without the certainty that some of his servants 
 will report every word that has passed on the occasion. 
 Per fas aut nefas should be the motto of Russian diplo- 
 matists. With them the end justifies the means. If 
 they can serve the emperor by it, they see no harm in 
 breaking through the decencies of life. 
 
 Nor is it always to needy lackeys that these gentlemen 
 trust for information. Persons who, from their profes- 
 sion and standing in society, ought to be above such 
 treachery, are often dragged into this base traffic. No 
 Englishman would stoop so low; but there axe foreigners 
 in English pay, who carry tales from the table they 
 dine at. 
 
 In addition to such auxiliaries, the emperor has his 
 regular bands of well-salaried scouts, men and women, 
 Russian and native, in every capital of Europe, whose 
 duty it is to ascertain the sentiments of the leading men 
 towards Russia, and keep the ambassador on the spot, or 
 the political police at St. Petersburg, acquainted with all 
 that may concern the views or wishes of the emperor. It 
 was said the other day, by one residing at Paris, and 
 from his position well qualified to know what is passing, 
 " We have five hundred well-dressed men and women 
 here, moving in the best society, who, if it were allow- 
 able to give things their plain names, would be described 
 as nothing else than Russian spies."
 
 368 RUSSIAN SYSTEM 
 
 As might be expected from its vicinity to Poland, no 
 country is more carefully watched than Germany. The 
 emperor's vigilance is not satisfied with placing sentinels 
 at the principal cities merely, such as Dresden and Mu- 
 nich, for it is well known that he also maintains a spy 
 at each of the German universities. The state of opinion 
 among the students, from Konigsberg to Freiburg in the 
 Brisgau, and from Kiel to Vienna, is as well known to 
 the secret police of St. Petersburg as to the criminal 
 judges of the universities themselves. But Russia may 
 now dispense with this branch of her espionnage ; for the 
 students of Germany, once such hot-headed revolution- 
 ists, are now, happily, most completely cured of all their 
 political enthusiasm. 
 
 If Russia be thus vigilant in the West and in the cen- 
 tre of Europe, we need not be surprised to find her even 
 more so in those quarters where, as we have seen, she has 
 a still greater interest at stake. It is chiefly in the East 
 that she puts forth all her means of seduction and espion- 
 nage. The whole of the regions included under that 
 general term are now struggling in the net which she 
 has silently spread over them. Disdaining no aid, how- 
 ever low, provided it can be useful, she 'descends so far as 
 to employ hotel-keepers, and those most in the way of 
 seeing strangers, for the sake of watching all that go or 
 come. Hence it is no uncommon thing in Greece and 
 Turkey to be told, " Take care what you say before your 
 landlord — he is a Russian." Besides 'this stationary 
 troop, she has a moveable corps of agents, who are con- 
 stantly traversing all parts of Turkey and the adjacent 
 regions. No traveller can move any distance without
 
 OF ESPIONNAGE. 369 
 
 meeting some of these. It is not pretended that they are 
 engaged in any actual plot, in organising an immediate 
 rebellion ; they are merely looking out for what may 
 happen, collecting information, taking notes for the people 
 at head-quarters. The plan which Russia follows in re- 
 gard to most of these wandering agents, is to attach any 
 person, likely to be useful, to some of the embassies in 
 the south — at Constantinople, or Athens, for instance — 
 from which, after being well instructed in his duties, he 
 is sent out with a kind of roving commission, sometimes 
 for an indefinite period. We lately met one of these 
 agents, a man of great talent and plausibility, who, hav- 
 ing presented a memoir to the emperor on the subject of 
 Syria, and the advantages which Russia may derive from 
 a closer connexion with it, was forthwith set off to travel 
 through that country, and the less frequented portions of 
 Southern Persia. To conceal their purpose better, these 
 gentlemen always appear to be travelling as private in- 
 dividuals, and at their own expense; but on a little 
 acquaintance with them, it will generally be found that 
 their drafts are payable at the chancery of the nearest 
 Russian legation. 
 
 Should any think that we are pushing the emperor's 
 vigilance too far, and giving him by his agents an almost 
 ubiquitous influence, we would remind the reader, that 
 many carry his interference still further. Who is it that 
 incites the Arabs in the neighbourhood of Constantina 
 against the French ? The Parisian journalists answer, 
 ". The Emperor Nicholas." What has stirred up the dis- 
 turbances in Canada ? " Russian gold," say the Ameri- 
 can newspapers — which further st#te that there are agents 
 
 r3
 
 370 RUSSIAN SYSTEM 
 
 of the emperor busily at work, even in the United States, 
 rallying the malcontents against England ! After these 
 specimens of what is believed by some about the extent 
 of Russian interference, who shall accuse us of exaggera- 
 tion in saying, that it is so actively exerted in countries 
 where the emperor makes no secret of his intrigues ? 
 
 In considering the diplomacy of Russia, it must not be 
 forgotten, that while much of its efficacy is attributable to 
 the tact and vigilance of the emperor himself, great merit 
 is also due to his minister for foreign affairs, Count Nes- 
 selrode, next to Metternich, the ablest statesman in 
 Europe. In talent, honesty, and greatness of mind he is 
 infinitely superior to the overrated Talleyrand. Almost 
 every cause that Talleyrand supported throughout a 
 long and tortuous career was at last unsuccessful. His 
 touch brought misfortune ; for of the dozens of govern- 
 ments to which he swore allegiance, and lent his counsel, 
 each succeeding one proved as insecure as its predecessor. 
 The only government which Nesselrode has supported is 
 at this moment stronger and more flourishing than ever. 
 When we have such a minister to deal with, it need not be 
 stated that there is no court in Europe where England 
 would require to have an able representative so much as 
 here. Our ambassador at St. Petersburg ought to be a 
 man of long experience in diplomacy — of great firmness, 
 yet of much courtesy of manner — of unimpeachable in- 
 tegrity, and possessed of a high sense of honour — inti- 
 mately versed in all the complicated interests of his country, 
 both political and commercial — and, above all, inaccessible 
 to flattery. A man without talent would be led by Count 
 Nesselrode into every snare ; and a vain man would be-
 
 OF ESPIONNAGE. 371 
 
 come the emperor's tool in a single week : for there is 
 nothing that Nicholas excels in more than in detecting 
 the weak side of those with whom he is brought in con- 
 tact ; and there is no one who can employ the discovery 
 more effectually in advancing his own purposes. 
 
 Next to the efficacy of his diplomacy, there is nothing 
 which shows the talent of Nicholas more remarkably 
 than the means he employs to consolidate and keep to- 
 gether the heterogeneous tribes of his vast empire. It 
 would take volumes to describe the system by which the 
 accomplished Pole and the rude fishermen of Kamt- 
 schatka — Turk, Tartar, and Fin — Cossack and Georgian 
 — Bashkir and Kirghisian — are all kept in the same 
 order and subjection, as if they spoke but one tongue, and 
 had but one code of manners. One of the methods em- 
 ployed is all that can here be mentioned ; but it is a most 
 efficient one — that of bringing the young and talented 
 from the remotest provinces, to be educated either in the 
 capital, or at Moscow. It is thus no uncommon thing to 
 find a youth from the foot of Mount Ararat "seated on 
 the same form with one from the shores of the White Sea. 
 It is the emperor's particular study to make himself 
 known to the scholars from remote provinces. There 
 are some schools expressly for such, and these he visits 
 frequently, speaks kindly to the boys, bestows on them 
 some mark of his favour, — in short, wins them, makes 
 them his, and then sends them back to their native dis- 
 tricts in some official capacity. The youths are, of course, 
 devoted to him for life, and do all they can to inspire their 
 countrymen with the same enthusiasm and love for the
 
 372 QUESTIONABLE POLICY. 
 
 emperor, which they themselves feel. Carrying with 
 them the habits and improvements of the more refined 
 society in which they have been brought up, they also aid 
 in spreading, gradually, and without violence, an uniform 
 system of manners throughout the whole empire. Those, 
 however, who show more than ordinary talent, or apti- 
 tude for some particular service, are retained in the capi- 
 tal and promoted to offices, in which many of them run 
 a brilliant and useful career. In this way, the stranger 
 in Russia is often meeting people with the dress and 
 manners of the most finished gentlemen, who afterwards 
 startle him by the announcement that they come originally 
 from some distant spot, which he had hitherto regarded 
 as the haunt of none but the Samoeid or the Kalmuck. 
 It needs some time before we can look without wonder 
 on professors from the mouths of the Don, and imperial 
 tutors from the shores of the Caspian, speaking French 
 and English as if born in our far West. One of the gentle- 
 men who accompanied the Grand-duke Michael in his 
 tour through England is a native of Astracan. 
 
 This system of amalgamation has also been attempted 
 on a more extensive scale, viz., by colonising one part of 
 the empire with settlers from another. The natives, 
 for ins f ance, of some of the recent conquests in Asia 
 have been encouraged to remove to some parts of 
 southern Russia, bordering on the Crimea ; but the po- 
 licy of this experiment is much questioned by those who 
 know the habits of the people.
 
 373 
 
 CHAPTER XXX. 
 
 REVOLUTIONARY SPIRIT IN RUSSIA— DISCONTENT OF 
 THE ARMY, AND LIBERAL OPINIONS OF THE NOBLES 
 —POLAND— WAR IN THE CAUCASUS. 
 
 Elements of discord in the empire itself — Causes of dissatisfaction felt 
 by the nobles — Discontent among the officers of the army — The em- 
 peror's harsh and arbitrary conduct towards them — Insults them — 
 Partiality to foreigners — Persecution of liberalism — Secret political 
 associations among the nobility, especially in Moscow — Prosecutions 
 — Restrictions on travelling — Spread of free opinions — Rumours of 
 plots — Of a revolution — Its probable object — Republics to be esta- 
 blished — State of Poland — Misrepresented by Russian writers — War in 
 the Caucasus. 
 
 Admitting, as we fully do, that there is much wisdom 
 and energy displayed in the system employed for keeping 
 all the parts of this vast empire together, yet we do not 
 see any reason for believing that they are likely to remain 
 united so long as many writers have imagined. How- 
 ever well-cemented the union appears, the elements of 
 disruption are even now at work. The present emperor 
 himself may live to see the Tartar huntsman returning 
 to his steed, and the Persian shepherd to his flock. 
 Nay, in Russia Proper, in the very heart [of his heredi- 
 tary dominions, there is a little worm at work which may 
 undermine his throne. The discontent of his nobles 
 is what we allude to. The same spirit which has un- 
 seated other Tzars — and, also, how rudely ! — now me- 
 naces him. 
 
 The causes of his unpopularity with this powerful
 
 374 DISCONTENTS OF THE 
 
 class are various. Some have private and deep causes of 
 dislike — some have been annoyed by his insulting and 
 tyrannical conduct towards them as public functionaries 
 — some complain of a denial of justice — some of an 
 arbitrary interference with their family rights — some have 
 fathers and kindred pining in Siberia to avenge — and all 
 have, as they believe, cause of complaint against Nicholas, 
 in his attempts to enfranchise the serfs — to raise the lower 
 classes at the expense of their masters. This last cause 
 of dissatisfaction every Englishman will of course consi- 
 der honourable to the emperor ; but it is one which, in 
 Russia, operates against him perhaps more powerfully 
 than any other: for the Russian noble, as has been 
 already stated, looks on his serfs as he would on beasts of 
 burden: they belong to him as much as the stones and 
 trees of his estate ; and every attempt to rob him of them, 
 or to render them less valuable, is attacking him, not 
 only in his most deeply-rooted prejudices, but in his 
 dearest interests. Thus it is that those very measures — 
 his efforts, namely, in behalf of the great mass of the 
 people — which we would consider the most likely to 
 strengthen the emperor's throne, are precisely those which 
 most threaten its security. 
 
 Nowhere is the spirit of dissatisfaction more violently 
 at work than in that very body which has usually been 
 looked upon as the emperor's surest stronghold — the 
 army. Of the spirit of the common soldiers we heard 
 nothing unfavourable ; but, admitting them to be quite free 
 from infection, their allegiance cannot be much relied on 
 when the officers are almost universally disaffected. As 
 alluded to above, in speaking of the navy, this discontent
 
 RUSSIAN NOBLES. 375 
 
 may be traced to the captious and tyrannical nature of 
 the discipline to which they are subject. Officers — not 
 merely young men, but old and experienced veterans 
 also — are punished in the most arbitrary manner. Things, 
 which in other countries would not be noticed at all, are 
 here visited with indiscriminating vengeance. The merest 
 trifle — a boot-strap too narrow, or a collar awry — is cen- 
 sured with all the severity of a grave neglect of duty. 
 For a word, a look, a nothing, an officer may be de- 
 graded to the ranks in an instant, without trial or right 
 of appeal. When any manoeuvre is wrong performed, all 
 the blame falls on those in command : insulting words 
 are used by the emperor himself, in the hearing of the 
 privates : and some say that even blows have been in- 
 flicted on gray-haired men fit to be his masters in their 
 art. Is it enough to a man of high feeling, that an 
 apology is afterwards made, for insults that are only 
 more degrading when inflicted by one who cannot be 
 called to account for them ? 
 
 Degradation to the ranks is a very frequent punishment ; 
 but, though frequent, we never heard it spoken of but 
 with a bitterness which showed that even banishment to 
 Siberia is looked on as less disgraceful. 
 
 Banishment to the army of the Caucasus appears to 
 be another pnnishment resorted to. From the harassing 
 nature of the warfare, and the dangers of the climate, it 
 is always looked upon as equivalent to sentence of death. 
 Exile to Siberia, which, though not so fatal to life, is more 
 degrading than the Caucasus, awaits only those officers 
 who have been guilty of grave offences. 
 
 For what trifling causes punishment may be inflicted
 
 376 TREATMENT OP OFFICERS. 
 
 is shown by an anecdote much talked of during our stay 
 at St. Petersburg. A young officer, of amiable manners, 
 believed that he had gained the esteem and favour of the 
 Grand-duke Michael. His august protector carried his 
 condescension so far, that he had even deigned to visit him 
 occasionally at his apartments. But the favour of princes 
 is fatal and fleeting. He one day entered the apartment 
 of his humble friend unannounced — the youth was in un- 
 dress — contrary to regimental rules, he was without his 
 sash. The moment the door opened he knew what would 
 befall him. " I am lost ! " was his exclamation ; and the 
 foreboding was but too true — he was instantly ordered to 
 the Caucasus ! 
 
 The partiality shown to foreigners is another cause of 
 discontent with the higher classes. Russia, they say, has 
 been long enough under foreign tutelage, and can now 
 take care of herself, without having strangers thrust into 
 all the most important and lucrative posts of the public 
 service. Against the Germans, in particular, the outcry 
 is very loud. 
 
 The nobles are also galled by the severity with which 
 liberalism is persecuted. In Russia, everything is per- 
 mitted to a nobleman — except to have opinions. If he 
 has so wide a license in other respects, every precaution 
 is employed to prevent him from falling into this offence. 
 When the slightest suspicion is entertained against an 
 individual, his words, his visits, his associates, are all 
 most strictly watched. In fact, society is so extensively 
 infested with spies, that even in his most private hours a 
 man is not safe to speak his mind. 
 
 This system of repressing all political heresy, so rigo-
 
 THE NOBLES OE MOSCOW. 377 
 
 rously enforced against private individuals, is of course 
 doubly severe in the army. Nothing is so dangerous for 
 an officer as to speak, nay, to think, on politics. Even in 
 his sleep a man would need to be guarded ; for there are 
 instances of words spoken in dreams having been turned 
 against the unconscious self-accuser. 
 
 That secret associations exist among the nobles, both 
 in Moscow and in other parts of the empire, is a fact 
 which does not rest merely on the vague testimony of 
 passing travellers : it is confirmed by the public, though 
 not always published, acts of the government itself. As 
 strangers, we, of course, had no opportunity of knowing 
 the truth of all that is whispered on this subject ; but no 
 foreigner can be long in Russia without hearing the omi- 
 nous words, " The emperor trembles before the nobles of 
 Moscow." We were repeatedly assured, on what we 
 consider undoubted authority, that many individuals of 
 the highest rank had lately been punished for having 
 joined these societies. Few sentences of this kind find 
 their way to the newspapers ; but one of the most re- 
 cent prosecutions affected so many individuals, that it has 
 reached all the journals of Europe ; — it is that of the 
 twelve noblemen of Moscow, who were arrested in 1837, 
 and have since been banished to Siberia, under circum- 
 stances of unusual cruelty. 
 
 The emperor was long and faithfully represented at 
 Moscow by Prince Galitzin, one of the most enlightened 
 and patriotic of the old nobility. There can be little 
 doubt that, but for the influence of this distinguished no- 
 bleman, political discontent would long ere now have 
 risen much higher in that part of the kingdom. Under
 
 378 PRINCE GALITZIN. 
 
 a despotism, however, it is a dangerous thing to merit 
 the high character now given of the prince : since we left 
 Russia, he has incurred the emperor's displeasure, for 
 not having been sufficiently zealous in denouncing these 
 political associations. He is no longer governor of 
 Moscow. But will his disgrace arrest the tide of liberal 
 opinions ? It will be but the signal for increased activity 
 and increased caution, throughout all the wide ramifica- 
 tions of the secret societies, which, in defiance of the ex- 
 ertions made to put them down, exist in every part of the 
 empire. 
 
 Yes, all these persecutions of opinion are vain. The 
 day is gone by, even in Russia, when liberal sentiments 
 can be kept down by proscription and banishment. No 
 body of men on the continent have travelled so much as 
 the Russian nobility of the higher class ; and it is impossi- 
 ble that men so intelligent as many of them are could live 
 long in free countries without imbibing free opinions ; 
 which, in place of being checked, are only more widely 
 diffused by the severe measures employed to repress 
 them. With nations, as with individuals, that which is 
 most strictly forbidden is what we most often indulge in. 
 Were the government less severe in proscribing everything 
 like liberalism, and all that can be interpreted to border 
 upon it, the taste for it might soon diminish ; but, as a natu- 
 ral consequence of the zeal and violence displayed against 
 free opinions, it is now " the fashion " to be a liberal. 
 
 Not satisfied with punishing liberalism when detected, 
 the emperor has at last struck at what is considered the 
 root of the evil, by prohibiting his subjects from travelling 
 so much as formerly. It is now difficult for a man of
 
 TRAVELLING PROHIBITED. 379 
 
 any rank to obtain permission to leave the country at all ; 
 and those who do so are on no account allowed to visit 
 France, where the most dangerous lessons in politics are 
 supposed to be given. England is not yet erased from 
 the Russian's travelling map, but it may soon be. Pri- 
 vate individuals are not suffered to stay abroad more than 
 five years, under any pretext : those who do not return 
 within that period are punished with confiscation of 
 estates and property of every kind. 
 
 From these restrictions, of course, all are exempted 
 who travel as spies and purveyors of intelligence; yet 
 even these are under the strictest restraints when away. 
 No Russian, while in a foreign country, can consider 
 himself free ; the terror with which he regards his am- 
 bassador, at whatever place he may for the time be, is 
 only short of that with which he regards the emperor at 
 home. Trembling before the spies of the one, as much 
 as before the police of the other, he must report himself, 
 present himself, and conduct himself, with a deference 
 which amuses the English traveller, happily exempt 
 from all such annoyance. 
 
 To these causes of discontent many others might be 
 added ; but enough has been said to enable the reader 
 to understand the grievances which have given rise to 
 those 
 
 " tales of peril, from dark plots and snares — 
 
 From foes and discontented troops and nations — 
 I know not what — a labyrinth of things — 
 A maze of mutter'd threats and mysteries." 
 
 The question then comes to this : Will the support of 
 the lower classes — for the same impartiality which bids
 
 380 CAUSES OF DISCONTENT. 
 
 us state that he is disliked by the nobles, compels us to 
 add that he is enthusiastically beloved by the great 
 body of his subjects — will this support of the humble 
 counterbalance the enmity of the powerful ? In a fair 
 fight, or under a constitutional government, it undoubt- 
 edly would ; but in Russia, unhappily, there are other 
 means for getting rid of an obnoxious sovereign, besides 
 those of open contest in the field or in the senate. 
 
 The existence of this feeling against the emperor is 
 now matter of notoriety. The nomination of commis- 
 sioners, in the course of the autumn of 1837, to inquire 
 into charges of conspiracy affecting many individuals of 
 rank in various parts of the empire, is a, public confirm- 
 ation of that which all acquainted with Russia must have 
 been familiar from private sources long ago. The foreign 
 journals assert that hundreds of the accused have been 
 banished to Siberia, by these commissions, within the 
 last few months. In making the above statements, 
 therefore, we do not profess to have been revealing any- 
 thing new, but have merely repeated facts, which, though 
 not generally known throughout Europe, are amply at- 
 tested by the public measures of the Russian government 
 itself. 
 
 In connexion with this subject, however, it ought to be 
 stated, that the emperor has it. completely in his own 
 power to convert any bad feelings which .may exist 
 against him into those of warm attachment. His nobles 
 are men of high spirit, and, in many respects, of en- 
 lightened views : the emperor himself is of a frank and 
 noble character. Let him no longer yield to the coun- 
 sels of an unfeeling policy ; but, following the more
 
 ADVICE TO THE EMPEROR. . 381 
 
 generous impulse of his own heart, let him throw himself 
 confidingly on the better feelings of the aristocracy. Let 
 him grant them, under due restraint, the privileges for 
 which they long — let him deprive them of all excuse for 
 continuing to oppress their serfs, by abandoning his own 
 rights over themselves — let him finally modify the sys- 
 tem of discipline now in force against his officers, and 
 from that moment his throne will be based on a rock, 
 which the united strength of Europe shall not be able to 
 shake. If he wishes his name to live in history, as it is 
 said he does, what more certain prospect to fame can he 
 find, than that which he would command by becoming 
 the benefactor of the higher, as he already is of the 
 lower, classes of his subjects — in one word, by securing 
 for himself that most rare, almost unheard-of, distinction 
 among kings and rulers, of being a voluntary re- 
 former ! 
 
 Among the probable objects of a revolution in Russia, 
 we were surprised to find that the establishing of repub- 
 lics is supposed to be the general aim. The conspiracy 
 detected in 1825 (the discovery of which, it is well known, 
 clouded with sorrow the dying hours of the benevolent 
 Alexander) contemplated the breaking up of the empire 
 into separate kingdoms ; but the scheme most generally in 
 favour at present would seem to be that now mentioned. 
 If the word republic sound strange in connexion with 
 Russia, it should be remembered that, at least in some 
 parts of what is now called Russia, republics have already 
 existed. The time is long gone by ; but the traditions 
 of liberty, or even of its semblance, do not altogether die, 
 even under centuries of despotism. That the nobles —
 
 382 CONTEMPLATED REPUBLICS. 
 
 among whom alone such remembrances are to be found 
 — have no intention of giving power to the people by 
 these institutions, will surprise no one, after what has 
 been said above. They would make a revolution en- 
 tirely for their own benefit : they do not wish to free the 
 people, but to enslave them more completely. Surely, 
 then, they have chosen a wrong name, in styling their 
 contemplated governments " Republics !" 
 
 In addition to all these sources of domestic alarm, 
 another remains to be named — Poland. This country 
 is far from being so hopelessly humbled, as to entitle the 
 emperor to dismiss all fear regarding it. Confiscation 
 — Siberia — death — are the gentle words by which he is 
 governing it. He is fast making it a desert, but is not 
 thereby making it more securely his own. The very 
 severity of the measures employed against them, as might 
 be expected, are driving the people more irresistibly to 
 plot for their freedom. It makes one weep to hear what 
 is hourly done in that fair land. We have heard its 
 woes recited by a woman, and the appeal was irresistible. 
 Only by stealth, and in whispers, could she name the 
 land of her birth — but when she found that Poland was 
 not yet without friends — that even strangers had a kind 
 word to raise in her defence — she was overcome with joy. 
 The tale she had to tell was a thrilling one — nobles 
 driven through the streets with the scourge — women 
 dragged to infamy — children (!) punished for con- 
 spiracy ! These are a few of the sights of horror daily 
 witnessed in Poland. Yet they tell us that the em- 
 peror's speech at Warsaw was but a hasty ebullition — 
 mere words — threats which he never intended to exe-
 
 STATE OF POLAND. 383 
 
 cute. Why, not many months had passed till they were 
 more than executed; — as if it had been intended that 
 their fulfilment should be a mockery of those constant 
 declarations of his agents, who are employed to tell the 
 world so frequently, that Poland, under his benignant 
 rule, is tranquil, happy, flourishing. Yes, flourishing it 
 is, in the Russian sense of the term ; for barracks and 
 fortifications and prisons are springing up on every side. 
 The large properties are fast passing into more faithful 
 hands. Could the ill-fated Poles in France and Eng- 
 land but see the St. Petersburg newspapers, they would 
 have full proof that Poland is flourishing ; for almost 
 every week they contain long lists of the Russian favour- 
 ites, on whom the emperor is bestowing their castles and 
 broad lands. The work of spoliation is going steadily 
 forward ; ere long, there will be little left to bestow : but 
 that with all this, however " flourishing" his flatterers 
 may call it, the emperor himself does not consider 
 Poland very " secure," his large armies and violent mea- 
 sures very clearly testify. 
 
 Nor can the struggle for liberty, still going on in the 
 Causasus, be omitted in this enumeration of the circum- 
 stances which weaken the emperor's hands. The war in 
 that singular region, long considered a mere passing re- 
 volt, has now assumed an aspect which could never have 
 been anticipated. Will none of the European powers 
 strike a blow, nor even lift a voice, in behalf of these 
 brave mountaineers, who, after years of unremitting 
 warfare, are still able to bear up against all the might of 
 the largest empire in the world ? A contest which bet- 
 ter merits the sympathy of every generous breast has
 
 384 STRUGGLE FOR LIBERTY 
 
 not arisen in modern times. Never, perhaps, has the 
 world had a more remarkable example of the efforts that 
 men will make for liberty. Some, well qualified to 
 judge, maintain that the emperor will never be able to 
 subdue them ; and in support of this assertion, they ap- 
 peal to the irresistible fact, that now, at the close of 1838, 
 the power of Russia is not more firmly established among 
 the Circassians than it was at the close of 1836, when 
 Captain Spencer visited their country, and made his 
 spirit-stirring appeal in their behalf to the English na- 
 tion. It is even asserted that the Muscovite cause is be- 
 coming more and more desperate every day ; for now the 
 Circassians, in place of merely acting on the defensive, 
 are about to sally from their mountains, in order to in- 
 vade the adjoining provinces of Russia while, it is also 
 stated, the emperor, in addition to his mountain-foes, has 
 to contend against a still more ominous opposition ; 
 namely, insubordination in his own army, whose patience 
 has at length given way under the prolonged miseries of 
 this most fatiguing and inglorious war. 
 
 Another strong ground of hope for the Circassians 
 may be discovered in the favourable sentiments with 
 which their struggle is regarded by / the surrounding 
 tribes, all of whom consider the cause so good, that 
 nothing but force has kept them from joining it. So 
 strong is this sympathy, that, as is not unknown to many 
 in England, the chiefs of Georgia and Mingrelia, at one 
 time, actually subscribed a " round-robin," pledging 
 themselves to rise against Russia. The document was 
 sent to the Shah Abbas Mirza, who was expected to aid 
 the attempt ; but (will it be credited ?) Persia is so com-
 
 IN THE CAUCASUS. 385 
 
 pietely under Russian control, that its monarch had no 
 alternative but to transmit the paper to St. Petersburg. 
 The consequences to those who had signed it may easily 
 be inferred. 
 
 We have heard from a gentleman, filling an important 
 situation under the English government, who visited the 
 country not long ago, that nothing can be more favour- 
 able for defence than the positions now taken up by the 
 gallant warriors. A land of mountains, some of which 
 are 13,000 feet, and few under 8,000 feet high, affords 
 so many capabilities for defence, that he considers it next 
 to impossible to subdue them. Nothing, he says, can 
 be more picturesque than the aspect of this region, as 
 beheld from the sea. The eye commands nothing but 
 mountains of the wildest forms, separated by savage 
 ravines, which are filled with most luxuriant and beauti- 
 ful vegetation. Strange to» say, the only plains of this 
 region are on the summits of the mountains; while the 
 valleys, which in other mountainous countries are usually 
 the paths to the higher spots, are here all but impass- 
 able. The winter is exceedingly severe, and continues 
 long; but no sooner have the snows disappeared than 
 vegetation bursts at once into summer splendour. The 
 climate is not so bad as the mortality in the emperor's 
 army would lead us to suppose ; for the numerous deaths 
 among the Russians are attributable to the position of 
 their forts and encampments, which they have never 
 been able to place anywhere except on the low and 
 swampy levels that extend in some places between the 
 mountains and the sea. The excellent authority referred 
 to was nearly in the heart of the principal scene of war, 
 VOL. l. s
 
 386 THE STRUGGLE 
 
 and states that no Russian vessel can come near the shore 
 without being fired upon ; for the very sufficient reason, 
 that almost every landing-place is commanded by a 
 height, from which it has not been possible to dislodge the 
 enemy. The war he considers as nothing but a ruinous 
 hobby of the emperor : it can lead to no result but waste 
 of life and treasure. The people hate the Russians 
 so inveterately, that nothing but the humane tenure of 
 complete extermination can render Circassia a sure pos- 
 session of the emperor. 
 
 To this enumeration of the causes which render the 
 emperor's position a less enviable one than it is generally 
 supposed to be much might still be added. More dis- 
 contented nations — more ill-secured, because unjustly 
 acquired, conquests might be named. 
 
 Is Finland safe ? Its inhabitants are Swedes — in de- 
 scent, in manners, in affections — and wait but the signal 
 to rid themselves of a hated yoke. Is Livonia secure ? 
 Its people still have a warm leaning to their German 
 fatherland. Can Ingria be relied upon ? — can Courland ? 
 
 But we shall stop. Enough has been said to show 
 that Russia, so far from being the strongly-cemented 
 and well-harmonized mass, which it ^s generally sup- 
 posed to be, is, in fact, the most fragile and ill-assorted 
 empire in the world. Nicholas is throned on a volcano. 
 
 It is not alleged, however, that the considerations now 
 enumerated are sufficient to entitle us to prophesy that 
 the emperor will, under no circumstances whatever, be 
 tempted to try the fortune of war. But that they have 
 great weight in keeping him from disturbing the peace
 
 IN THE CAUCASUS. 387 
 
 of Europe too rashly is well known ; and, at all events, 
 they ought to be kept in mind as circumstances which, if 
 a war should really break out, tend to render the em- 
 peror less formidable, and to make it probable that, so 
 far as Russia is concerned, the contest will not be of such 
 long duration as if its warlike chief were untrammelled 
 by fears of domestic commotion. 
 
 s '2.
 
 388 
 
 CHAPTER XXXI. 
 
 THE EMPEROR'S PROJECTS AGAINST BRITISH INDIA 
 CONSIDERED— ALLIANCE WITH PRUSSIA. 
 
 March through Persia to Hindustan — This conquest a favourite theme 
 with French writers — Actually planned and contemplated by Russia — 
 Its absurdity and impracticability — Can be easily counteracted by 
 England — Favourable stations for us in the Persian Gulf. &c. — Allies 
 of the emperor — Doubtful friendship with Austria — Prussian aid — 
 Views of that state on Hamburg. 
 
 We have now hurriedly and imperfectly stated some 
 of the reasons which induce us to believe that, in place 
 of being able to add to his dominions, the emperor will 
 for the next few years have sufficient employment in 
 keeping together those which he already possesses. 
 However ambitious he may be to distinguish himself as 
 a warrior, he will not, for the present, attempt to disturb 
 the peace of Europe. That he will ultimately do so, 
 when Poland is more secure, Circassia conquered, and 
 internal factions appeased, there can be little doubt ; 
 and therefore it is that we urge on England the necessity 
 of bein^ prepared for a struggle. 
 
 Should the emperor find us too strong to give him any 
 chance at sea, it is generally thought that he will attack 
 us by land, on what he believes to be our most vulnerable 
 side, — through our Indian possessions. With French 
 writers, at least, this has long been a frequent and a 
 favourite theme. They every now and then remind us
 
 the emperor's PROJECTS AGAINST INDIA. 389 
 
 that it is among the distant defiles of the Sutlege, or the 
 yet more distant and equally probable jungles of Coim- 
 batore, that the doom of proud England will be sealed ; 
 or sometimes they make the discovery that the Punjaub 
 or the Sunderbunds will be the more fitting scene of our 
 humiliation — of a fall, from which we shall never rise. 
 
 When enumerating the emperors projects at a former 
 page, we did not mention this one amongst them, because 
 we were then giving only those which we considered most 
 practicable. For, although no one acquainted with his- 
 tory will assert, in the face of so many instances of its 
 having been actually accomplished, that this passage is 
 altogether impossible, yet few can look, upon it as an 
 enterprise very likely to succeed in the present day, 
 and with modern troops. Undeterred, however, by any 
 regard to its difficulty, Nicholas, there is every reason 
 to believe, has, at times, cherished a scheme something 
 like that now alluded to. With eagle eye he has sur- 
 veyed the wide space from the Caspian to the mouths of 
 the Hoogly, and, in dreams, seen his banner waving on 
 the ruins of Fort William. His empire, beginning with 
 conquered Greece, would then extend from the eastern 
 side of the Adriatic to the " solar shores of Ganges ;" 
 from Cape Comorin to the ridge of the Himmalayas, 
 and thence, in one flight, to the Arctic shores. This 
 would be something like an empire for a man to breathe 
 in. And who shall say that it is unreasonably large ? 
 it will only be a little more extensive than that ruled 
 over by Alexander, or than the Caliphate, under Haroun- 
 al-Raschid, when it spread from the Pyrenees to the 
 Indus.
 
 390 the emperor's projects 
 
 Absurd as the project may appear to those who have 
 not turned their attention to such subjects, the miles 
 have been counted, the rivers crossed, the mountains 
 scaled ; the whole scheme stands among the imperial 
 archives at St. Petersburg, as fair and legible as en- 
 gineer's quill and surveyor's compass can make it. Nei- 
 ther does the project date merely from yesterday. It is 
 at least as old as the time of Peter the Great, : for, in 
 ihe account of his expedition against Persia, it is ex- 
 pressly stated, that he had long meditated the scheme of 
 ruling in the Caspian Sea by a powerful marine, " and 
 thus to cause the commerce of Persia, and of a 'part of 
 India, to pass through his states." — (Voltaire's Peter the 
 Great, chap, xvi.") Yet, however long, or however fondly 
 the project may have been cherished, it is but a dream. 
 The emperor and his wise men have been planning an im- 
 possibility. Mountains, that are easily scaled on paper, 
 prove but a rough path when an army comes to climb 
 through them inch after inch. Allow this second hero of 
 Macedon to be actually on his march, how many months 
 would it take him to reach even the most northerly point 
 of the British frontier ? Admitting even that Russia 
 were mistress of Persia, — as she is very likely to be at 
 no distant day, — and that she could secure the neutrality 
 or the co-operation of the other intervening tribes — of 
 which there is little probability — where would she find 
 means of maintaining such a numerous force as would 
 be requisite for any attempt of the kind? How organ- 
 ize supplies through at least 2000 miles, — the distance 
 to be crossed before reaching the frontiers of the coun- 
 tries which divide the English territories from Persia ?
 
 AGAINST INDIA. 391 
 
 — and how find her way through at least 1000 miles 
 more, before she touch even the nearest frontier of 
 British India ? She must first give fertility to sands 
 which never were green ; and raise a numerous popula- 
 tion where man is fast disappearing. Having accom- 
 plished these wonders, she must next charm mountains 
 and rivers from their stubborn positions. But, until 
 these and many other impossibilities have been achieved, 
 it will be vain for her to think of marching on an 
 invasion, regarded by every one acquainted with the 
 countries as utterly impracticable under existing circum- 
 stances. 
 
 All the reasoning that has been employed on this 
 subject is so ably condensed in the following passage, 
 written twenty years ago, and, consequently, at a time 
 when the subject would be more dispassionately con- 
 sidered than under the present excitement regarding 
 the enterprises of Russia, that it must carry conviction 
 to every impartial mind. " That the passage is possi- 
 ble," says an able writer, " no one who recollects the 
 many similar transits in Sir John Malcolm's history can 
 safely venture to deny. But in what condition an Eu- 
 ropean army would arrive at Delhi, after fighting its 
 way from the fords of the Araxes ; what would be the health 
 of the troops after passing so many different climates ; 
 how many cannon would have been abandoned in the 
 sands of Durra and Beloochistan ; how many horsemen 
 would 'tighten their reins' in despair, when the ridges 
 of the Indian Caucasus rose before them; and with what 
 remaining strength and spirit the invader would be 
 enabled to cope with forces as well disciplined as his
 
 392 CHANCES OF SUCCESS. 
 
 own in the best of times, — are subjects, we apprehend, to 
 be quite as seriously considered by those who meditate 
 such an attack, as by those who are called upon to resist 
 it."* 
 
 But the strongest argument of all against this much- 
 vaunted threat, lies in the fact that, before the invading 
 army could have got through the first desert, the fate of 
 the Russian empire would be decided in a very different 
 quarter. Ere England could be injured in even the re- 
 motest of her wide-spread dependencies, Russia would 
 have received her death-blow in the most vital point. 
 Hindustan is many months' journey away from St. 
 Petersburg ; but Cronstadt is within a few days' sail of 
 England. 
 
 If England chose to exert herself, however, even at 
 this the eleventh hour, she could still do much to coun- 
 teract the emperor's influence in Persia ; for, both sove- 
 reign and people lean to us more than to their Muscovite 
 conquerors. If no other way remains for strengthening 
 ourselves against the consequences of Russian predomi- 
 nance in those regions, why delay so strangely to secure 
 the long-talked-of islands in the gulf of Persia, which, 
 when fortified, as they could easily be^ would give us a 
 Gibraltar in the East, that may one day be as useful to 
 us, as the one which cost us dearer in the Mediterranean ? 
 We are surely as able to pay for these places — if pay- 
 ment be the question — as the Americans are to pay for 
 Pola in the Adriatic, negotiations about the purchase of 
 which are still coino- n between the Austrians and them. 
 
 * Quarterly Review, 1816, vol. xv.. p. 291.
 
 ALLIES OF RUSSIA. 393 
 
 What is lawful for them to do in Europe cannot be 
 unlawful for us in Asia. 
 
 Without entering into further details regarding the 
 ambitious projects of the Emperor Nicholas, we may 
 now try to answer the important question, Who are the 
 allies that are to support him in accomplishing these 
 daring schemes ? For, bold and confident though he is, 
 no one will suppose him capable of attempting so much 
 with his own single hand. 
 
 The support of France — the probability of his obtain- 
 ing which has already been hinted at — is by far too 
 doubtful to entitle him to place much confidence upon it 
 in the hour of need. She might join him in a war 
 against England; but in any other quarrel that could 
 arise, the interests of France and Russia would be so 
 directly opposed to each other, that no fear need be enter- 
 tained that these powers would long march hand in hand. 
 We are willing to admit, however, that the partiality 
 which the emperor has of late been showing to the 
 Bonaparte family may have more in it than meets the 
 eye. All who know the French, must know that the vary 
 name of Napoleon still acts on them like a spell. Is 
 Nicholas, by courting the connexions of their great em- 
 peror, seeking to secure the good-wishes of the French 
 nation, under a belief that they may yet avail him more 
 than those of their king ? 
 
 Some regard the government of the United States as 
 the sure supporter of Russia. Having, say they, no 
 naval power in Europe on whom he can reckon as a 
 steady ally, he is forced to cross the Atlantic, for that 
 
 s3
 
 394 PROBABLE ALLIES 
 
 kind of aid, which, in the event of a rupture with Britain, 
 is precisely that which he most needs. That there has 
 been some coquetting betwixt, them is beyond a doubt ; 
 and the distinguished regard with which the emperor 
 treats all travellers from the United States shows at 
 least his anxiety to obtain a good name in America. 
 Their government, however, is too wise to unite with him 
 in any quarrel in which he would have England for an 
 enemy, until he can hold out more templing advantages 
 than he has yet been able to offer. 
 
 Others say that Russia reckons strongly on her alli- 
 ance with Austria. But though there be a seeming 
 friendship, there is no real good-will between those two 
 courts. The pride of Austria has been too deeply 
 wounded by Russia in various ways, of late, to make it 
 probable that the present alliance can be of long dura- 
 tion. Austria, from the first, foresaw the evil conse- 
 quences of the success of Russia in the recent war with 
 Turkey ; but the peaceful policy in which she so honestly 
 perseveres prevented her from interfering at the time. 
 Now, however, she feels the full shame of her too con- 
 ciliating system, in the hourly insults she was preparing 
 for herself, when she permitted Russia tp plant her forts 
 and her custom-houses at the mouths of the Danube — 
 when she inconsiderately committed the water-gates of 
 her fair empire to the keeping of her most powerful 
 enemy. Her turn for vengeance is not yet come, but 
 come it will. Let a good occasion arise — let another 
 European war break out — and it will soon be seen how 
 cordial is the amity between Austria and Russia. 
 
 Nicholas, however, has another German ally, and one
 
 OF RUSSIA. 
 
 395 
 
 on whom he knows that he can reckon in every emer- 
 gency. There cannot be the least doubt that the friend- 
 ship between him and the court of Berlin is extremely 
 close, and, for the rest of Europe, pregnant with danger. 
 To use a familiar expression, they understand each 
 other most thoroughly. There is no scheme of the 
 emperor's so ambitious that Prussia will not support 
 him in it. Nicholas cannot add a single league to 
 his territory, but at the expense of the honour or of the 
 interests of some of the greater powers of Europe: 
 Prussia, on the contrary, has nothing to lose, and 
 may even gain by the aggrandizement of Russia. On 
 Prussia, therefore, the emperor relies with unbounded 
 confidence ; and her friendship would be of infinite 
 value to him, were it only as a barrier against the 
 powers of the West. In the event of a war with France, 
 Prussia could at least keep the enemy at bay, till 
 the Russian troops should be brought back from more 
 distant fields. 
 
 We have heard many Prussians say, that the present 
 close alliance between their government and that of 
 Russia is a mere " family affair" — -nothing more than a 
 kind of gratitude to the all-powerful emperor of the 
 Russians, for having been the first to raise a Prussian 
 princess to a throne of the highest rank. " How," 
 say they — the liberal party in Prussia — " how can we, a 
 civilized, and now, by universal admission, a highly 
 enlightened nation, have any real sympathy with such a 
 barbarous people as the Russians, and so despotic a 
 ruler as their Tzar ? It is to England, the land of free 
 institutions, that we lean, and her should we wish to have
 
 396 POLICY OF PRUSSIA. 
 
 for an ally, because it is for institutions like hers that we 
 wait, and, ere long, must have." 
 
 But though the sympathies of the more intelligent in 
 Prussia are in favour of England, the government is most 
 decidedly Russian. The prudence of the present king 
 — a prudence learnt from afflictions the longest con- 
 tinued, the most humiliating, and the most severe 
 endured by any monarch of our eventful century — keeps 
 him from embarking in war in conjunction with Russia. 
 So long as Frederick William is spared, Prussia will not 
 rashly engage in a game which at one time cost her so 
 dear : but, in the course of nature, his days cannot now 
 be many, and when " another shall reign in his stead," 
 the ardour of a younger king will soon forget the 
 sage counsels of his more temperate father. The Crown- 
 Prince, it is well known, is a most decided — we should 
 say more — a most uncompromising admirer of Russia 
 and her policy. 
 
 There is a way, too, by which the emperor can secure 
 the support of every man in Prussia — liberals, soldiers, 
 and philosophers. Much as they gained, both in territory 
 and in power, at the Congress of Vienna, the Prussians 
 are not yet satisfied. They must have more. They 
 have as yet no name as a naval power, and notwith- 
 standing their long line of sea-coast, and a large popula- 
 tion of hardy fishermen, the nursery of their future 
 navy, they can never hope to possess any weight at sea, 
 so long as the Baltic is but a Danish duck-pond, with a 
 sluice which England can shut at pleasure in summer, and 
 which in winter not even the English themselves can open. 
 "Prussia must have a footing on the North Sea" —
 
 PRUSSIA AND ENGLAND. 397 
 
 we are repeating words which we have heard a hundred 
 times in. Berlin and in the provinces — " in plainer terms, 
 she must have Hamburg, and the mouth of the Elbe" 
 Then will the model frigate of the good King William of 
 England — a present more flattering to the vanity of the 
 Prussians than any they ever received — be no longer an 
 empty compliment, a mere show for the holiday folks of 
 Potsdam ; then will the naval tastes of their amiable and 
 gifted Prince Adelbert have full scope for development ; 
 then, in one word, will Prussia have fulfilled her destiny, 
 and attained in Europe that rank to which she is en- 
 titled. 
 
 We repeat, that the emperor has but to hold out this 
 flattering prospect to the Prussians, to pledge himself to 
 satisfy their ambitious claims, and there is not a man in 
 the kingdom that will not aid him in any war he may 
 undertake. 
 
 Let it not be imagined, however, that this statement 
 is made from bad feeling to the Prussians. On the con- 
 trary, there is no nation on the continent whom we 
 consider more worthy of the esteem of Englishmen ; for 
 there is none more enlightened, none more brave, none 
 (we are not speaking of the government, but of the 
 nation) more kindly disposed towards England, and 
 none of whose good opinion England has more reason to 
 be proud. In saying, as we have now done, that they 
 are eager for the aggrandizement of Prussia, we say 
 nothing that does them shame ; and w r e do it in the hope 
 that England may find means of detaching them from an 
 alliance, not more unfavourable to her, than it will in the 
 end prove to be to them. The sentiments of the great
 
 398 Prussia. 
 
 mass of the Prussian nation being, as already stated, 
 so favourable to England and English principles, we 
 ought to employ every means to cherish that partiality. 
 Much good has already been done in this respect, 
 through the agency of Lord William Russell, the vigi- 
 lant representative of Great Britain at the court of 
 Berlin ; and if our government give him efficient aid in 
 carrying out his enlightened views, both the sovereign 
 and the people of Prussia would be soon weaned from 
 their projects of conquest; and the two greatest pro- 
 testant powers of Europe would once more cement the 
 bonds of a friendship, which ought never to have been 
 even temporarily interrupted, and which cannot be long 
 dissolved, without the most fatal detriment to the highest 
 interests of the whole human race.
 
 399 
 
 CHAPTER XXXII. 
 
 THE EMPEKOR'S PARTIALITY TO THE ENGLISH— INFLU. 
 ENCE AND SERVICES OF LORD DURHAM 
 
 Russian nobles unfavourable to a war with England — Nicholas himself 
 fond of Englishmen — His attention to our travelling countrymen — Cap- 
 tain in the imperial palace — The emperor's anxiety to know the 
 
 state of public opinion in England — Reads our newspapers and debates 
 in parliament — His respect for Lord Durham — Favours obtained by 
 him for Englishmen — Has removed many of the emperor's prejudices 
 regarding England — Mistakes about us on the Continent. 
 
 We are far from believing that the Emperor Nicholas, 
 even with the certainty of that support from Prussia 
 alluded to in the preceding chapter, will be eager to pro- 
 voke a war with any of the European powers. Some of 
 the facts connected with the internal dissensions of his 
 empire, which may be regarded as securities for his o-ood 
 behaviour towards Europe in general, have been already 
 enumerated ; and we shall now state some of those con- 
 siderations, which are likely to prevent him from seeking 
 a rupture with England in particular. 
 
 Among the reasons which will restrain him from going 
 rashly to war with England, is the sure knowledge which 
 he possesses, that such a war would be most unpopular 
 among his own subjects. England can do much better 
 without Russia, than Russia can without England. His 
 nobles have not yet forgotten the embarrassing diminu- 
 tion which their incomes experienced, during the adher-
 
 400 THE EMPEROR AND 
 
 ence of Russia to the Continental System of Napoleon, 
 after the treaty of Tilsit. They know that the moment 
 we refuse to take the hemp and other produce of their 
 estates, their best source of income is dried up. In 
 Russia, as in other countries, rich and poor depend on 
 each other : if the peasant cannot dispose of the tallow 
 which he hoards, the nobleman cannot look for his 
 dues. 
 
 Another reason for believing that there is no chance 
 of an immediate war between Russia and England lies 
 in the emperor's character. Though he has at times 
 cherished wild projects of ambition, yet, those who know 
 him best maintain that, in his calmer moments, he has no 
 serious desire to measure weapons with us. If he be in- 
 creasing his fleet, and keeping his army on so strong a 
 footing, it is only with a view to be ready for war when 
 war becomes inevitable. Instead of hating the English, 
 it is said that there is no nation which he more admires, 
 and none of which he is so anxious to acquire the good 
 opinion. He is willing to make every sacrifice, in order 
 to remove our prejudices against him and Russia. 
 
 As a proof of this, it must be stated, that in no country 
 are English travellers treated with such distinction ; the 
 very name is a passport. Where travellers of other 
 nations are treated with neglect, the Englishman meets 
 with the warmest attention. " We have no merit in 
 
 using you well," said the amiable Countess , to 
 
 whom we were expressing our gratitude for the courteous 
 attentions received from her and her husband, who holds 
 an official situation in one of the most important divi- 
 sions of Central Russia : " in showing attention to the
 
 THE ENGLISH. 401 
 
 English who come our way, my husband is only obeying 
 the express commands of the emperor." 
 
 Nor is it through others merely that he shows his re- 
 gard for our countrymen : he is personally at much 
 pains to render their stay in Russia agreeable. In fact, 
 his attention to English visiters who have once become 
 known to him is extreme. They are invited to court; 
 honoured with much of his conversation ; recognised in 
 the streets, to the great astonishment of the natives ; and 
 have every facility given them for visiting all that may 
 interest them. Nor are these attentions extended merely 
 to men of high station — to the duke or earl, whether 
 minister or not, who may stray into the Russian territo- 
 ries once in ten years. In that case it might be said that 
 it is to their rank, not their country, that the homage is 
 paid : but he is equally attentive to those devoid of 
 all claim from rank or official consequence. This was 
 particularly evinced by the distinguished kindness shown 
 to an officer of the English navy — at present, we believe, 
 on the South- American station — who visited St. Peters- 
 burg a few summers ago, without any especial introduc- 
 tions beyond those of gentlemanly manners and great 
 zeal for his profession. After being some time in Russia, 
 the gallant captain surprised his friends in other parts of 
 the world by the announcement that he had been spend- 
 ing part of his time on a visit in the imperial palace. In 
 fact, the emperor, pleased with his manner, and eager, 
 as he always is, to turn to account every opportunity of 
 obtaining information, showed him unbounded kindness 
 — took him to see his ships — made him dine with the 
 empress; in a word, treated hjm as a brother officer
 
 402 THE EMPEROR AND 
 
 would have treated his old comrade after long separation. 
 The English gentlemen resident in the capital, accus- 
 tomed only to the stiff and killing formality with which 
 the imperial family treat even the highest nobles about 
 them, were struck with amazement when walking with 
 their naval friend, to hear a grand- duke or a minister of 
 state salute him, in passing, with a " How d'ye do ?" or 
 a " Comment $a va ?" with all the familiarity of ordinary 
 mortals. In this instance the emperor did not lose his 
 labour : the gallant captain, who, besides being a liberal 
 in politics, had gone to St. Petersburg with even more 
 than the usual prejudices which Englishmen entertain 
 against Russia and its sovereign, became so complete a 
 convert, that no young ensign whom he had personally 
 selected for promotion could be more enthusiastic in 
 sounding the praises of Nicholas than he has ever since 
 been. 
 
 In fact, a desire to obtain the good opinion of England 
 is a prominent part of the emperor's character. In this 
 respect he resembles Napoleon, who, all the time that he 
 was making war upon us, and abusing us through his jour- 
 nals, was most sensitively desirous to know what was 
 thought and said of him in England. So anxious is Ni- 
 cholas on this head, that when any discussion is coming on 
 in the British parliament connected with Russia, he has no 
 rest till he sees the speeches. Never was this anxiety more 
 remarkably shown than when Lord Dudley Stuart, now 
 nearly three years ago, announced his intention of bring- 
 ing the affair of Cracow before the House of Commons, 
 and when the attention of the house, much about the 
 same time, was to be called to the progress of Russia
 
 THE ENGLISH. 403 
 
 power in the East The emperor's eagerness to know 
 what had been said was boundless. On one or other of 
 these occasions the government newspapers had not 
 arrived at. the regular time ; but the moment it was dis- 
 covered that Lord Durham had received the London 
 journals, they were sent for with as much haste as if the 
 fate of Russia had hung on the lips of Mr. Wakley or 
 Mr. Attwood. The speeches, it wi\l be recollected, were 
 very acrimonious. A belief had for some time prevailed 
 that the emperor was preparing for immediate war ; and 
 our merchants were complaining of insults and injuries 
 received at his hands, or at his instigation, in the East- 
 Under these circumstances, each successive speaker went 
 beyond " the honourable gentleman who had just sat 
 down " in abuse of Russia. War — nothing' but instant 
 and unrelenting war, it seemed, could wipe out the stains 
 inflicted on the outraged dignity of England. The em- 
 peror read all this, and, as might be expected, was 
 furious. The uncourtly plainness of English radicals is 
 most unmeet for an emperor's ear. The threat of " war" 
 he could forgive — if it must come to that, let the two 
 nations even try their strength ; the sooner the better : 
 but the " abuse" — the taunts of barbarism, tyranny, 
 slavery, and all the other terms of polite indignation, 
 strewed as thickly through the reports of the speeches as 
 if the printer had kept a supply of them ready set for the 
 occasion, and thrown them in at random — these were what 
 Nicholas could npt away with. But, fortunately, Lord 
 Durham was at hand : he knew something more of the 
 House of Commons than his majesty could do, and put 
 matters in their true light. The imperial wrath died
 
 404 LORD DURHAM 
 
 away; but with it did not die the regret felt by every 
 i'riend of England in St. Petersburg, that it is now so 
 much the fashion to speak of Russia in these irritating 
 terms. All with whom we talked on this subject say 
 that such diatribes do a great deal of harm. Russia is 
 not to be conquered by the rhetoric of Billingsgate. It 
 would be more wise to be prepared to fight her than to 
 lull ourselves in that fancied superiority which such re- 
 presentations are calculated to cherish. Charges of bar- 
 barism are easily made — they cost neither much time nor 
 much penetration ; but both writers and speakers would 
 be doing much more good to England by acquainting 
 her with facts than by pleasing her with tropes. It is 
 only by looking boldly at our danger — by counting the 
 ships, the soldiers, the resources of Russia — that we can 
 ever be prepared for the struggle which must come. 
 
 There can be little doubt but the rupture has been re- 
 tarded by the visit of Lord Durham to the court of St. 
 Petersburg. As travellers who would fain chronicle 
 nothing but. the truth concerning all, we must do him the 
 justice to say that he has deserved well of England by 
 his conduct in Russia. We are by no means among the 
 admirers of his lordship's politics, and went to Russia 
 much more inclined to detect subject for censure in his 
 conduct than matter for praise. Candour, however, 
 compels us to state, that from all we could learn he dis- 
 charged his public duties with much zeal and integrity ; 
 while, in private life, his courtesy to our countrymen, 
 individually, gained him the affections of every class of 
 Englishmen living under the Tzar, more completely than 
 had ever been done by any former minister. All those
 
 AT ST. PETERSBURG. 405 
 
 who had most frequent opportunities of associating with 
 him in Russia, agree in stating that years have wrought 
 a salutary change both on the manners and the senti- 
 ments of the noble lord. From being petulant and 
 supercilious, he has become kind and familiar; from 
 being an exclusive in his bearing, and strictly tenacious 
 of the privileges of his rank, he has become liberal and 
 indulgent to all who approach him ; — above all, from 
 being violent and visionary, he has settled down into a 
 calm and practical politician. That his diplomatic ser- 
 vice has had much share in producing this change can- 
 not be doubted : he has " seen with his own eyes" that 
 there may be good things even in the much-libelled 
 Russia, and by his own experience learnt that a despot 
 can be both amiable and enlightened. 
 
 Intercourse with the emperor would seem, in fact, to 
 be fatal to our liberal countrymen. His glance no 
 sooner falls upon them than they become his most de- 
 voted admirers ; and the same, we are afraid, must be 
 admitted of his power over our countrymen of the oppo- 
 site party, — as is well shown by the case of the noble 
 marquis whose work on Russia has already been referred 
 to in these pages. It is but fair to state, however, in 
 regard to Lord Durham, that the emperor had much 
 trouble before he could make him a good Russian. His 
 visits to the ambassadorial villa, we have heard, were so 
 frequent, that his lordship has sometimes been compelled 
 to discourage them. In fact, the distinction with which 
 he was treated by the emperor was most remarkable. 
 Wherever he went, to the fleet or to the camp, at church 
 and at court, Lord Durham had ^o be with him. It was
 
 406 LORD DURHAM 
 
 soon seen that, greatly to the annoyance of the other 
 foreign ministers, literally nothing could be done without 
 the English ambassador. Some of our countrymen, in- 
 deed, feared that his lordship had become too good a 
 courtier, and alleged that the imperial attentions had no 
 other aim than to flatter him into convenient security. 
 The emperor, said they, is a clever man, a quick judge 
 of character, and, having soon discovered his lordship's 
 foible, was merely playing on his vanity, by those extreme 
 marks of personal esteem. In plain terms, they hinted 
 that Nicholas, to use a vulgar expression, was too much 
 for Lord Durham, and loaded him with all these atten- 
 tions merely to put him off his guard, and to enable him 
 to carry on his own schemes undisturbed. 
 
 For our own parts, however, we found no reason to 
 concur in these sentiments. So far as we could learn, 
 Lord Durham did not neglect his country's interests, 
 nor allow himself to be over reached in a single instance. 
 The non-rejection even of exaggerated courtesies does 
 not necessarily imply the sacrifice of any principle. 
 
 That the emperor's compliments were not all empty 
 ones, was well shown by a case which was much talked 
 of during our stay in the Russian capital ; and which, 
 beside* doing credit to his lordship's vigilance as the pro- 
 tector of his countrymen, speaks strongly for his huma- 
 nity as an individual, An Englishman of the name of 
 
 G , having been wronged out of a considerable sum — 
 
 160.000 roubles (6400/.) or thereabouts — in some tran- 
 saction with government more than thirty years ago, 
 raised an action in the courts of law, in the hope of 
 obtaining some redress. Years passed away, however,
 
 AT ST. PETERSBURG. 407 
 
 without bringing any prospect of a favourable termination 
 to his suit. At last, when the whole of the tribunals 
 through which the case had been dragging its tedious 
 length had decided against him, he gave up all hope of 
 ever recovering his money. This was some time before 
 Lord Durham's arrival at St. Petersburg ; but the disap- 
 pointed suitor, hearing soon after that the new ambassa- 
 dor was very attentive to all questions brought before 
 him, and especially to those affecting the rights or inte- 
 rests of even the humblest of his countrymen, took 
 courage and submitted the case for his consideration. 
 His lordship finding that there really was foul play in 
 the matter, resolved, as the only likely way of obtaining 
 justice, to lay the papers before the emperor himself. 
 Nor had he calculated wrong in trusting to his majesty's 
 high sense of justice; for, although it is contrary to his 
 usual habits to revise a proceeding which has been heard 
 before all the regular tribunals, yet, solely out of regard 
 to Lord Durham, as he took care to state, he made him- 
 self carefully master of the whole transaction, and, in a 
 few weeks, sent the overjoyed Englishman an order for 
 the full payment of his claim. 
 
 Nor was it merely by procuring favours for individuals 
 that our late ambassador at the court of St. Petersburg 
 turned his influence with the emperor to account, for he 
 also procured some most important favours for our mer- 
 chants as a body ; such as the abolition of burdensome 
 restrictions, by which some branches of the trade with 
 England were hampered. 
 
 But of all the services rendered by Lord Durham to 
 his country, while acting as our minister in Russia, none
 
 408 MISCONCEPTION OF FOREIGNERS 
 
 is more important than that which he conferred, by 
 removing the misapprehension under which the emperor 
 laboured, in regard to many points connected with 
 England. No one can have mixed much in society 
 abroad, without discovering that the most gross miscon- 
 ceptions are entertained, even by the best informed, about 
 the state of parties, the spirit of revolution, and the ten- 
 dency of recent reforms in England. They read one of 
 Mr. O'Connell's letters to my Lord Somebody, or one of 
 his speeches at the Corn Exchange, and instantly take it 
 for granted that the chief of Derrynane is to be King of 
 Ireland within a week; or at least, that France, or 
 Russia, or the Pope, or anybody that pleases, has but to 
 land a regiment or two in Galway Bay, and all is over 
 with English supremacy. The Green Isle, they infer, 
 will, without reluctance, swear allegiance to any that will 
 have charity enough to be her new master. Sometimes 
 it is Mr. Hume that has made a speech about flogging, 
 or some other military question, and next day, much to 
 his own surprise, the unwarlike orator is marching at the 
 head of the army, proclaiming through the land that 
 there shall be " no more kings in England." 
 
 Next time, it is Sir Robert Peel who brings about the 
 revolution : he has opposed some measure of the govern- 
 ment, and forthwith our clear-sighted friends behold 
 Victoria, 
 
 " Regina <li virtu et di belta," 
 
 setting out to conquer new hearts and new kingdoms, in 
 some more loyal clime. 
 
 In short, our neighbours do not understand us. They 
 read these things; and their newspapers — none more
 
 ABOUT ENGLAND. 
 
 409 
 
 actively than the salaried and censored government 
 organs — are at great pains to disseminate all that ap- 
 pears to weaken England : they read them, and misin- 
 terpret their import, chuckling with glee at the thought 
 that now, surely, our last knell has sounded. Poor, 
 simple ones ! They know as little of England, as if 
 the Channel were an insurmountable wall of adamant, 
 instead of an open friendly sea, which thousands of them 
 are crossing every day to visit us, and study us, and write 
 about us. Our "freedom of speech," our privilege of 
 grumbling, of being dissatisfied with every man and 
 everything, actual or possible, — in short, all the great, 
 essential features of English character and English insti- 
 tutions, — are at this moment as great mysteries to the 
 nations of the continent, as if printing had never been 
 invented, nor travelling thought of. They cannot ima- 
 gine how the members of our different parties can oppose 
 each other so vigorously in public, and yet never seek 
 to cut each other's throats ; nor will they be brought to 
 believe that, though we have many a contest among 
 ourselves, yet, let a foreign enemy appear, and that 
 instant all domestic quarrels are laid aside, that, we may 
 unite with one heart and one hand, to convince the world 
 how little they know us. 
 
 Such is the ignorance regarding England that prevails 
 on the continent ; and none was more under its influence 
 than the well-informed Emperor Nicholas. The recent 
 changes in our institutions, in particular, are not yet un- 
 derstood, even by the few who were formerly well ac- 
 quainted with England. The emperor, therefore, like 
 many others, was fully persuaded that we were fast ad- 
 
 VOL. I. T
 
 410 MISCONCEPTIONS OF FOREIGNERS 
 
 vancing towards revolution and anarchy ; that, the spirit 
 which achieved the Reform Bill would not rest, till every 
 vestige of what had made us great should have been 
 swept away. Rank and property had lost their influence. 
 Tories were never to lift their voices nor obtain power 
 again. The principles we had acted on for a thousand 
 years were to be abandoned ; royal palace and baronial 
 hall were alike to be laid in ruins; rapine and strife rode 
 triumphant; " chaos was come again;" and England, so 
 long the admiration of the world, needy, distracted, 
 friendless, torn by factions, floating without star to cheer, 
 or compass to guide her, — unhappy England, lay at the 
 mercy of the first assailant who might think so mean a 
 wreck worthy of his seizure. 
 
 But the emperor now knows better what England is. 
 He is at length aware that the principle of destruction is 
 not so strong nor so dangerous amongst us as he had at 
 one time hoped. Lord Durham has opened his eyes ; 
 and he will no longer dare all he had meditated, in the 
 belief of our disunion and helplessness. Let it not be 
 thought, however, that Nicholas has abandoned his 
 plans ; he has only altered the way in which he hoped to 
 accomplish them. He may not now seek to employ 
 force so soon as was intended, but he will still employ 
 cunning. He will not fight us with his fleets, as he had 
 begun to think he might ; but, wherever he has a pro- 
 vince to annex, or an empire to subdue, he will still try 
 to get the better of us by negotiation — by bribery — by 
 talent. 
 
 After all, if England is really to lose her superiority — 
 to sink to the rank of a second-rate power — as she will
 
 ABOUT ENGLAND. 411 
 
 virtually do when the emperor's intrigues shall have 
 wrested from us every shadow of influence in Turkey, in 
 Persia, in Greece, perhaps in the North of Europe itself 
 — would it not be more honourable to have it said by the 
 future historian, that Russia achieved all this by strength 
 of arms — that we yielded only when compelled to do so 
 — than to have it recorded that we allowed her to 
 triumph by our own want of spirit, and the incapacity of 
 our agents ? 
 
 Our St. Petersburg budget is now exhausted ; but we 
 cannot say farewell to that marvellous city without 
 adding, that if all the days that may be allotted to us on 
 earth could be as profitably filled up as were those of 
 the short month which we spent on the banks of the 
 Neva, then would the close of life bring few regrets for 
 opportunities wasted, and advantages unimproved. So 
 happily had our time fled away, that we could gladly 
 have tarried longer among the friends whose kindness 
 gave it wings ; but, tempted by the favourable opportunity 
 for visiting the interior of Russia which now presented 
 itself, we once more struck our vagrant tent, and hied 
 us to new scenes. 
 
 END OF VOL. I. 
 
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