THE TCHINN DIVIDED INTO CLASSES. 145
Ivan IV. Peter I, was a Russian in character, though not in politics; Nicholas is a German by nature, but a Russian by calculation and by necessity.
The tehiim consists of fourteen classes, each of which possesses its own peculiar privileges. The fourteenth is the lowest.
Placed immediately above the serfs, its sole advantage consists in its members having the title of freemen. Their freedom means that no one can strike them without rendering himself liable to prosecution. In return, every member of the class has to inscribe on his door, his registered number, in order that no superior may be led to act under an ignorance that would render him liable to a penalty.
The fourteenth class is composed of persons in the lowest employ under the government, clerks of the post- office, factors, and other subordinates charged with carrying or executing the orders of the heads of departments : it answers to the rank of sub-officer in the imperial army. The men who compose it are servants of the Emperor, and serfs of no one : they possess a sense of their social dignity. But as to human dignity, it is not known in Russia.
All the other classes of the tchinn answer to as many military grades; the order that reigns throughout the entire state is analogous to the order of the army. The first class stands at the summit of the pyramid, and is now composed of one single man — Marshall Paskiewitch, viceroy of Warsaw.
The will of the Emperor is the sole means by which an individual is promoted in the tchinn ; so that a man rising step by step, to the highest rank
VOL. II.H
146 IMMENSE POWER OF THE EMPEROR.
in this artificial nation, may attain the first military dignity without having served in any army. The favour of promotion is never demanded, but always intrigued for.
There is here an immense quantity of fermenting material placed at the disposal of the head of the state. Medical men complain of their inability to communicate fever to certain patients in order to cure them of chronic maladies. The Czar Peter inoculated with the fever of ambition the whole body of his people, in order to render them more pliant, and to govern them according to his humour.
The English aristocracy is equally independent of birth; it depends upon two things which may be acquired, office and estate. If, then, this aristocracy, moderated as it is, still imparts an enormous influence to the crown, how great must be the power of that crown whence all these things — the rank, and also the office and estate — are both
There results from such a social organisation a fever of envy so violent, a stretch of mind towards ambition so constant, that the Russian people will needs become incapable of any thing except the conquest of the world. I always return to this expression, because it is the only one that can explain the excessive sacrifices imposed here upon the individual by society. If the extreme of ambition can dry up the heart of a man, it may also stop the fountain of intellect, and so lead astray the' judgment of a nation as to induce it to sacrifice its liberty for victory. Without this idea, avowed or disguised, and the influence of which many, perhaps,
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obey unconsciously, the history of Russia would seem to me an inexplicable enigma.
Here is suggested the grand question : is the idea of conquest that forms the secret aspiration of Russia a lure, suited only to seduce for a period, more or less long, a rude and ignorant population, or is it one day to be realised?
This question besets me unceasingly, and, in spite of all my efforts, I cannot resolve it. All that I can say is, that since I have been in Russia, I take a gloomy view of the future reserved for Europe. At the same time, my conscience obliges me to admit that my opinion is combated by wise and very experienced men. These men say that I exaggerate in my own mind the power of Russia; that every community has its prescribed destiny, and that the destiny of this community is to extend its conquests eastward, and then to beeome divided. Those minds that refuse to believe in the brilliant future of the Slavonians, agree with me as regards the amiable and happy disposition of that people; they admit that they are endowed with an instinctive sentiment of the picturesque; they allow them a natural talent for music; and they conclude that these dispositions will enable them to cultivate the fine arts to a certain extent, but that they do not suffice to constitute the capacity for conquering and commanding which I attribute to them. They add, that ' the Russians lack scientific genius; that they have never shown any inventive power ; that they have received from nature an indolent and superficial mind; that if they apply themselves, it is through fear rather than inclination: fear makes them apt to undertake and H 2
148OPPOSITE OPINIONS ON THE
to draw the rough drafts of things, but also it prevents their proceeding far in any effort: genius is, in its nature, hardy as heroism ; it lives on liberty ; whilst fear and slavery have a reign and a sphere limited as mediocrity, of which they are the arms. The Russians, though good soldiers, are bad seamen ; in general, they are more resigned than reflective, more religious than philosophical; they have more instinct of obedience than will of their own; their thoughts lack a spring as their souls lack liberty. The task which is to them most difficult, and least natural, is seriously to occupy their minds and to fix their imaginations upon useful exercises. Ever children, they might nevertheless for a moment be conquerors in the realm of the sword; but they would never be so in that of thought: and a people who cannot teach any thing to those they conquer, cannot long be the most powerful.
' Even physically, the French and English are more robust than the Russians; the latter are more agile than muscular, more savage than energetic, more cunning than enterprising; they possess passive courage, but they want daring and perseverance. The army, so remarkable for its discipline and its appearance on days of parade, is composed, with the exception of a few
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brought about by foreign influence, cannot, thus enervated in its germ, have a long existence in prospect.'
Such, it seems to me, are the strongest reasons opposed to my fears by the political optimists. From them it is concluded that Russia, powerful at home, and formidable when she struggles with the Asiatic people, would break herself against Europe so soon as she should throw off the mask, and make war in maintenance of her arrogant diplomacy.
I have in no degree weakened the arguments of those who thus think. They accuse me of exaggerating the danger. At any rate my opinions are shared by other minds quite as sober as those of my adversaries, and who do not cease to reproach these optimists with their blindness, in exhorting them to see the evil before it become irremediable.
I stand close by the Colossus, and I find it difficult to persuade myself that the only object of this creation of Providence is to diminish the barbarism of Asia. It appears to me that it is chiefly destined to chastise the corrupt civilisation of Europe by the agency of a new invasion. The eternal tyranny of the East menaces us incessantly; and
