magnificence and immensity, is a trophy raised by the Russians to the greatness of the future. The hope which produces such efforts appears to me sublime. Never, since the construction of the Jewish temple, has the faith of a people in its own destinies raised up from the earth a greater wonder than St. Petersburg. And what renders more truly admirable this legacy, left by one man to his ambitious country, is/'that it has been accepted by history.
The prophecy of Peter the Giant, sculptured upon
158 MUNICH AND PETERSBURG COMPARED,
blocks of granite reared in the sea, has been fulfilled before the eyes of the universe. This is the first instance in which pride has appeared to me really worthy of admiration.
The history of Russia does not, however, date, as the ignorant and superficial in Europe seem to suppose, from the reign of Peter I.; it is Moscow which explains St. Petersburg.
The deliveranee of Museovy, after long ages of invasion, and afterwards the siege and capture of Kasan by Ivan the Terrible, the determined struggles with Sweden, and many other brilliant as well as patient deeds of arms, justified the proud attitude of Peter the Great, and the humble confidence of his people. Faith in the unknown is always imposing. This man of iron had a right to put his trust in the future : characters like his produce those results which others only hope. I can see him, in all the simplicity of greatness, seated in the threshold of this cabin, planning and preparing against Europe, a city, a nation, and a history. The grandeur of Petersburg is not unmeaning. This mighty metropolis, ruling over its icy marshes, in order from thence to rule the world, is superb — more superb to the mind than to the eye ! Yet it may not be forgotten, that one hundred thousand men, victims of obedience, were lost in converting the pestilential swamps into a capital.
Germany is at present witnessing the accomplishment of a masterpiece of critical art—one of its cities is being learnedly transformed into a city of ancient Greece or Italy. But New Munich wants an ancient population; Petersburg was wanted by the modern Russians.
IJirEEIAL TOMBS.159
On leaving the house of Peter the Great, I again passed before the bridge of the Neva (which leads to the Islands), and entered the celebrated fortress of Petersburg.
I have already remarked that this edifice, of which the name alone inspires fear, has twice had its ramparts and its granite foundations undermined, although it is not yet 140 years old. What a struggle ! The stones here seem to suffer violence like the men.
I was not permitted to see the prisons : there are dungeons under the water, and there are others under the roofs, all of which are full of human beings. I was only allowed to inspect the church, which incloses the tombs of the reigning family. ]Iy eyes were on these tombs while I was yet searching for them, so difficult was it to imagine that a square stone, of about the length and l)readth of a bed, newly covered with a green cloth embroidered with the imperial arms, could be the cemetery of the Empress Catherine I., of Peter I., Catherine II., and of so many other princes, down to the Emperor Alexander.
The Greek religion banishes sculpture from its churches, by which they lose in pomp and religious magnificence more than they gain in mystical character *; while at the same time it accommodates itself to gilt work, chasings, and to pictures which do not show a very pure taste. The Greeks are the children of the Iconoclasts.† In Russia they have ventured to mitigate the doctrine of their fathers ; but they might have gone further than they have done.
* En mysticite.† Destroyers of images.
160RUSSIAN PRISONERS.
In this funereal citadel, the dead appeared to me more free than the living. If it had been a philosophical idea which suggested the inclosing in the same tomb the prisoners of the emperor and the prisoners of death —the conspirators and the monarchs against whom they conspired — I should respect it; but I see in it nothing more than the cynicism of absolute power — the brutal security of a desjiotism which feels itself safe. Strong in its superhuman power, it rises above the little humane delicacies, the observance of which is advisable in common governments. A Russian emperor is so full of what is due to himself, that he cannot afford to have his justice lost sight of in that of God's. We royalist
Who would not pity this people ? The Russians, I speak now of the higher classes, are living under the influences of an ignorance and of prejudices which
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161
they themselves no longer possess. The affectation of resignation appears to me the lowest depth of abjectness into which an enslaved nation can fall: revolt or despair would be doubtless more terrible, but less ignominious. Weakness so degraded that it dare not indulge itself even in complaint, that consolation of the lower animal creation fear calmed by its own excess — this is a moral phenomenon which cannot be witnessed without calling forth tears of horror.
After visiting the sepulchre of the Russian sovereigns, I proceeded to the Catholic church, the services of which are conducted by Dominican monks. I went there to demand a mass for an anniversary which none of my travels have hitherto prevented my commemorating in a Catholic church. The Dominican convent is situated in the Perspective Newski, the finest street in Petersburg. The church is not magnificent, but decent; the cloisters are solitary, the courts encumbered with rubbish of mason work. An air of gloom reigns throughout the community, which, notwithstanding the toleration it enjoys, appears to possess little wealth, and still less sense of security. In Russia toleration has no guarantee, either in public opinion, or in the constitution of the state : like every thiii? else it is a favour conceded by one man ; and that man may withdraw to-morrow what he has granted to-day.
While waiting for the prior in the church, I saw beneath my feet a stone on which was inscribed a name that awoke in me some emotion—Poniatowski ! the royal victim of folly. This too credulous lover of Catherine II. is buried here without any mark of
162 TOMBS OF PONIATOWSKI AND MOREAU.
distinction ; but though despoiled of the majesty of the throne, there remains for him the majesty of misfortune. The troubles of this prince, his blind fatuity punished so cruelly, and the perfidious policy of his enemies, attract the attention of all Christians and of all travellers to his obscure tomb.
Near to the exiled king has been placed the mutilated body of Moreau. The Emperor Alexander caused it to be brought there from Dresden. The idea of placing together the remains of two men so greatly to be pitied, in
