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

polished manners of the modern, produces a combination that is, in a manner, original. The hospitable customs of ancient Asia and the elegant language of civilised Europe have met together at this point of the globe, to render life pleasant and easy. Moscow, fixed on the limits of two continents, marks, in the middle of the earth, a spot for rest between London and Pekin.

A small number of letters of introduction suffice to put a stranger in communication with a crowd of persons, distinguished either by fortune, rank, or mind. The debut of a traveller is here easy.

I was invited a few days ago to dine at a country-house. It is a pavilion situated within the limits of the city, but to reach it, we had to traverse, for more than a league, fields that resemble steppes, to skirt solitary pools of waters; and, at last, on approaching the house, we perceived, beyond the garden, a dark and deep forest of firs, which borders the exterior bounds of Moscow. Who would not have been struck at the sight of these profound shades, these majestic solitudes, in a city where all the luxuries and refinements of modern civilisation are to be found ? Such contrasts are characteristics; nothing similar is to be seen elsewhere.

I entered a wooden house — another singularity. In Moscow both rich and poor are sheltered by planks and boards, as in the primitive cottages. But the in-

66SUMMARY OF RUSSIAN CHARACTER.

terior of these large cabins exhibits the luxury of the finest palaces of Europe. If I lived at Moscow, I would have a wooden house. It is the only kind of habitation the style of which is national, and, what is more important, it is the only kind that is adapted to the climate. Houses of wood are esteemed by the true Muscovites as warmer and healthier than those of stone.

We dined in the garden; and, that nothing should be wanting to the originality of the scene, L found the table laid under a tent. The conversation, although between men only, and very lively, was decent — a thing rarely known among the nations who believe themselves the first in civilisation. The guests were persons who had both seen and read much; and their views appeared to me very clear and just. The Kus-sians are apes in the manners and customs of refined life; but those who think (it is true their number is limited) become themselves again, infa miliar conversation — Greeks, namely, endowed with a quickness and sagacity which is hereditary.

The dinner seemed to me short, although in reality it lasted a long time, and although, at the moment of sitting down at table, I saw the guests for the first time, and the master of the house for the second. This remark is worthy of notice, for great and true politeness could alone have put a stranger so quickly at his ease. Among all the recollections of my journey, that of this day will remain as one of the most agreeable.

At the moment of leaving Moscow, never to return, except merely to pass through it, I do not think it will be inappropriate for me summarily to review the

WANT OF GENEROSITY.67

character of the Russians, so far as I have been able to discern it, after a sojourn in their country, very brief, it is true, but employed without cessation in attentively observing a multitude of persons and of things, and in comparing, with scrupulous care, innumerable facts. The variety of objects which passes before the eyes of a stranger, as much favoured by circumstances as I have been, and as active as I am when excited by curiosity, supplies, to a certain extent, the time and leisure which I have wanted. I naturally take pleasure in admiring: this disposition ought to procure some credit for my opinions when I do not admire.

In general, the men of this country do not appear to me inclined to generosity; they scarcely believe in that quality ; they would deny it if they dared; and if they do not deny it, they despise it, because they have nothing in themselves by which to apprehend its nature. They have more finesse than delicacy, more good temper than sensibility, more pliancy than easy contentedness, more grace than tenderness, more discernment than invention, more wit than imagination, more observation than wit, more of the spirit of selfish calculation than all these qualities together. They never labour to produce results useful to others, but always to obtain some recompense for themselves. Creative genius has been denied them; the enthusiasm which produces the sublime is to them unknown ; sentiments which seek only within themselves for approval and for recompense, they cannot understand. Take from them the moving influences of interest, fear, and vanity, and you deprive them of all action. If they enter the

68

CONTEMPT FOR THE

empire of arts, they are but slaves serving in a palace ; the sacred solitudes of genius are to them inaccessible ; the chaste love of the beautiful cannot satisfy their desires.

It is with their actions in practical life, as with their creations in the world of thought, — where artifice triumphs, magnanimity passes for imposture.

Greatness of mind looks to itself for a recompense; but if it asks for nothing from others, it commands much, for it seeks to render men better: here it would render them worse, because it would be considered a mask. Clemency is called a weakness among a people hardened by terror: implacable severity makes them bend the knee, pardon would cause them to lift the head; they can be subdued, but no one knows how to convince them; incapable of pride, they can yet be audacious; they revolt against gentleness, but they obey ferocity, which they take for power.

This explains to me the system of government adopted by the emperor, without, however, leading me to approve it. That prince knows how to make himself obeyed, and acts in a way to command obedience ; but, in politics, I am no admirer of the compulsory system. Here, discipline is the end; elsewhere, it is the means. Is it pardonable in a prince to resist the good dictates of his heart, because he believes it dangerous to manifest sentiments superior to those of his people ? In my eyes, the worst of all weaknesses is that which renders a man pitiless and unmerciful. To be ashamed of being magnanimous is to confess an unworthiness of possessing supreme power.

The people are in need of being incessantly re-

LAW OF KINDNESS.69

minded of a world better than the present world. How can they be made to believe in God, if they are not to know what is pardon ? Prudence is only virtuous when it does not exclude a higher virtue. If the emperor has not in his heart more clemency than he displays in his policy, I pity Russia; if his sentiments are superior to his acts, I pity the emperor.

The Russians, when amiable, have a fascination in their manners whose spell we feel in spite of every prejudice ; first, without observing it, and afterwards, without being able to throw it off. To define such an influence would be to explain the power of imagination. The charm forms an imperious, though secret attraction, — a sovereign power vested in the innate grace of the Slavonians, that gift of grace which, in society, can supply the want of all other gifts, and the want of which, nothing can supply.

Imagine the defunct French politeness again restored to life, and become really all that it appeared — ima2fine the most agreeable and unstudied com-plaisance — an involuntary, not an accµiired, absence of egotism — an ingenuity in good taste — a pleasant carelessness of choice—an aristocratic elegance without hauteur—an easiness without impertinence—the instinct of superiority tempered by the security

which accompanies rank: but I am wrong in