CHAPTER XXXV.
Assassination of a German Landholder. — Russian Aversion to
Innovations. — Consequences of the established State of
Things. — Servility of the Peasants. — Exile of M. Guibal.—
A Muscovite Witch. — A sick Man among his Friends in
Russia. — Russian Charity. — A Passion for Tombs. — Noc
turnal Lessons in Etiquette. — Gipsies at the Fair. — The
Virtues of Outcasts. — Victor Hugo. —Project of visiting
Kazan abandoned.—Medical Advice.—Ideas of the Russians
respecting Free Governments. — Vladimir. — The Forests
of Russia. — The Use of a Feldjager. — False Delicacy im
posed upon Foreigners.—Centralisation.— Rencontre with an
Elephant. — An Accident. — Return to Moscow. — A Fare
well to the Kremlin. — Effeet produeed by the Vicinity of
the Emperor.— Military Fete at Borodino. — The Author's
Motives for not attending.—Prince Witgenstein.—Historical
Travesty.Page 236
Return from Moscow to Petersburg. — History of M. Pernet, a French Prisoner in Russia. — His Arrest. — Conduct of his Fellow Traveller. — The French Consul at Moscow.
Effects of Imagination. — Advice of a Russian. — Great Novgorod. — Souvenirs of Ivan IV. —Arrival at Petersburg.
M. de Barante. —Sequel of the History of M. Pernet. — Interior of a Moscow Prison. — A Visit to Colpina. — Origin of the Laval Family in Russia. —The Academy of Painting.
The Arts in Russia. — M. Brulow. — Influence of the North upon the Arts. — Mademoiselle Taglioni at Petersburg. — Abolition of the Uniates. — Superiority of a Representative Form of Government. — Departure from Russia.— The Feelings of the Author. — A sincere Letter. — Reasons for not returning through Poland. .... 270
VIUCONTENTS.
CHAPTER XXXVII.
Return to Ems. — Autumn in the Vicinity of the Rhine. — Comparison between Russian and German Scenery. — The Youth of the Soul. — Definition of Misanthropy. — Mistake • >f the Traveller regarding Russia. — Resume of the Journey. — A last Portrait of Russia and the Russians. — Secret of their Policy. — A Glance at the Christian Churches. — The Task of the Author. — Danger of speaking of the Greek Religion in Russia. — Parallel between Spain and Russia.
Page 300
THE
EMPIRE 0E THE CZAR.
CHAPTER XXVII.
ENGLISH CLUB.REUNION OF NATIONS.PECULIAR CHARACTER
OF ARCHITECTURE IN MOSCOW. OBSERVATION OF MADAME DE
STAEL.ADVANTAGE OF OBSCURE TRAVELLERS.—KITAIGOROD.
MADONNA OF VIVIELSKI. CHURCH OF VASSILI BLAGENNOI. —
THE HOLY GATE.ADVANTAGE OF FAITH OVER DOUBT.CHURCH
f)F THE ASSUMPTION. FOREIGN ARTISTS.TOWER OF JOHN
THE GREAT. —CONVENT OF THE ASCENSIONINTERIOR OF THE
TREASURY. CROWNS AND THRONES, TREASURES OF THE
CZARS. — A CONTRAST. MOORISH PALACE.NEW WORKS AT
THE KREMLIN. —DESECRATION OF THE FORTRESS. ERROR OF
THE EMPEROR NICHOLAS. RESTORATION OF THE CAPITAL TO
MOSCOW.VIEW OF MOSCOW FROM THE KREMLIN. — RECOL
LECTIONS OF THE FRENCH ARMY. —OBSERVATION OF NAPOLEON.
— DANGER OF HEROISM IN RUSSIA. ROSTOPCIIIN.THE FALL
OF NAPOLEON. — REVIEW OF HIS CHARACTER
The inflammation of my eye being reduced, I left my prison yesterday, in order to dine at the English club. It is a species of restaurateur, to which there is no admission except through the introduction of a member of the society, which is composed of the most distinguished people in ]Viu`cow. The institution is
VOL. III.В
2
REUNION OF NATIONS.
newly copied from the English, like our
In the state which the frequency and facility of communication has produced in modern Europe, one is at a loss where to до to find original manners, and habits which may be taken as the true expression of characters. The customs recently adopted by each people are the results of a crowd of borrowed notions. There arises from this digest of all characters in the crucible of universal civilisation, a monotony that is any thing but conducive to the enjoyment of the traveller, although at no other epoch has the taste for travelling been so universal; owing to the great number of people who travel through ennui instead of for instruction. I am not one of those travellers: curious and indefatigable, I discover each day, to my cost, that differences are the rarest things in the world ; and that resemblances are the great annoyances of the traveller, whom they oblige to play the part of dupe, a part the most unpleasant to accept, precisely because it is the most easy to perform.
We travel to escape the world in which we have passed our lives, and we find it is impossible to leave it behind. The civilised world has no longer any limits; it is the whole earth. The human race is reuniting, languages are being lost, nations arc disappearing, philosophy is reducing creeds to a matter of private belief—last product of a defaced Catholicism, so ordained until it shall shine forth again with renewed brightness, and serve as the future basis of society. Who shall assign limits to this re-assorting of the human race ? It is impossible to avoid seeing in it a design of Providence. The malediction of Babel
THE TREASURY OF THE KREMLIN.3
approaches its prescribed term, and the nations are going to be one, notwithstanding all that has tended to
