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

SECOND PETITION TO THE EMPEROR. 225

some medicine for her children when they are ill. The environs of Tobolsk, of Irkutsk, or of Orenburg, would appear to her paradise! In the concluding words of her letter, she ceases addressing herself to the Emperor, she forgets every thing except her husband. With a feeling and a dignity which woiild merit the pardon of the worst crime (and she is innocent of any; the monarch she addresses is all-powerful; God alone judges his acts!) ' I am very miserable,' she says ; ' but were it to come over again, I should do as I have done.'

There was in the family of this woman an individual bold enough to dare to carry her letter to the Emperor, and even to support with an humble petition the request of a disgraced relative. He spoke only of that relative as a criminal, although, before any other being but the Emperor of Russia, a man would have gloried in avowing his relationship with so noble a victim of conjugal duty. Well! after fourteen years of continued vengeance, continued but not glutted — how can I moderate my indignation? to use gentler terms in recounting such facts would be to betray a sacred cause : let the Russians object against them if they dare; I had rather fail in respect to despotism than to misfortune. They will crush me if they can, but, at least, Europe shall know that a man to whom sixty millions of men never cease saying that he is omnipotent, revenges himself! — Yes, revenge is the proper name for such a justice! After fourteen years, then, of vengeance, this woman, whose misery had been ennobled by so much heroism, obtained from the Emperor Nicholas no other answer than the follow-l 5

226 PINAL VIEW OF THE EMPEROR'S CHARACTER.

ing: — 'I am astonished that any one again dares to speak to me (twice in fifteen years I) of a family, the head of which has conspired against me!' The reader may doubt this answer, — I could yet do so myself, and nevertheless I have clear proof of its truth.

The relations of the exiles, the Troubetzkoi, a powerful family, live at Petersburg, and they attend the court! Such is the spirit, the dignity, the independence of the Russian aristocracy! In this empire of violence, fear justifies every thing, — and yet more. it is the only merit that is sure to receive reward.

I have no more hesitation, no more uncertainty of opinion as regards the character of the Emperor Nicholas; my judgment of that prince is at length formed. He is a man of talent and of resolution; it needs that he should be, to constitute himself the gaoler of the third of the globe; but he wants magnanimity : the use that he makes of his power only too clearly proves this to me. May God pardon him ! happily, I shall never see him again.

What heart would not bleed at the idea of the anguish of this unhappy mother ? My God ! if such be the destiny thou hast ordained upon earth for the sublimest virtue, show to it thy heaven, — open to it the gates thereof before the hour of death! Imagine what must be the fechngs of this woman when she casts her eyes on her children; and when, aided by her husband, she labours to supply the education which they need ! Education ! it will be poison for those who have no names, but are marked and numbered like the beasts of the herd. Can the exiles deny all their recollections, all their habits, in order to hide

CHANGE IN THE AUTHOR'S PLANS. 227

the misfortune of their position from the innocent victims of their love ? Would not the native refinement of their parents inspire these young savages with ideas that they could never realise ? What danger, what momentary torment for them, and what insupportable constraint for their mother! This mental torture, added to such a load of physical sufferings, haunts me like a hideous dream from which I cannot awake. Since yesterday morning it has pursued me ineessantly, whispering at every moment of the day — What is the Princess Troubetzkoi now doing ? —what is she saying to her children ? —with what look is she watching over them ?—what prayer is she addressing to God for these beings, damned ere they were born by the providence of the Eussians ? This punishment inflicted upon an innocent generation disgraces an entire people !

I shall finish my journey, but without going to Borodino; without being present at the arrival of the court at the Kremlin; without speaking more of the Emperor. What can I say of tins prince that the reader does not now know as well as I ? To form an idea of men and things in this land, it is necessary to remember that plenty of occurrences similar to the one I have related take place here, though they remain unknown. It required an extraordinary concurrence of circumstances to reveal to me the facts which my conscience obliges me here to record.

I am about to place in one sealed packet all the papers that I have written since my arrival in Russia, including the present chapter, and to deposit them in safe hands; things which are not easily found in Petersburg. I shall then finish the day by writing an l 6

228

PEECAUTIONS.

official letter, which will leave by the post to-morrow. In this, every thing will be so carefully praised and admired that I have rational hopes, the letter, seized on the frontier, will assure my tranquillity during the remainder of my journey. If my friends hear no more of me, they must suppose I am sent to Siberia : that journey could alone alter my intention as regards proceeding to Moscow, which intention will be delayed in execution no longer, for my fcldjager has just arrived to inform me that the post-horses will be at my door without fail to-morrow morning.

SPEED OF TRAVELLING.229

CHAP. XXII.

ROAD FROM PETERSBURG TO MOSCOW. — SPEED OF TRAVELLING. —

A LIVONIAN. PUNISHMENT OF A POSTILLION. — THE BEST

MEANS OF GOVERNING. ENGLISH CARRIAGES ON RUSSIAN

ROADS. THE COUNTRY PEOPLE. ASPECT OF THE COUNTRY.

THE POST-HOUSE. MOUNTAINS OF VALDAI. COSTUME OF THE

PEASANTRY. RUSSIAN LADIES EN DESHABILLE. SMALL RUS

SIAN TOWNS. TORJECK RUSSIAN LEATHER. CHICKEN FRI

CASSEE. A DOUBLE ROAD. ¦

I am writing at Pomerania, a post town eighteen leagues from Petersburg.

To travel post on the road from Petersburg to Moscow, is to treat one's self for whole days to the sensation experienced in descending the montagnes Russes at Paris. It would be well to bring an English carriage to Petersburg, if only for the pleasure of travelling on really elastic springs this famous road, the best chaussee in Europe, according to the Russians, <md, I believe, according to strangers also. It must be owned that it is well kept, although hard, by reason of the nature of the materials, which broken as they are in tolerably small pieces, form, in encrusting over the surface, little immovable asperities, which shake the carriages to a degree that causes something to come out of place at every stage. As much time is thus lost as is gained by the speed at which they drive ; for we rush along, in a whirlwind of dust, with the rapidity of a hurricane chasing the clouds

230TREATMENT OF A POST-HORSE.

before it. An English carriage is very pleasant for the few first stages; but in the long run, the necessity of a