VIII. 1815. motives of humanity, or in imitation of the emperor, CHAP. have put under the obrok system, and who enjoy the entire fruits of their labour after paying a certain annual sum, are much less at their ease than the old serfs, and they in general leave the cultivation of their fields to seek a less laborious existence in towns. In many instances, such has been their suffering from having incurred the destitution of freedom, that they have returned to their masters, and requested to be again made serfs. In general, it has been observed that emancipation has not succeeded, except in circumstances where easy modes of earning subsistence in other ways exist; and hence M. Haxthausen judiciously 1 Haxthauconcludes that the liberation of the serfs should never be sen, i. 174, 178; Tegob. made a general or compulsory measure in Russia, but i. 323, 327. should be left to the wants and interests of each locality.1 Russian It is not to be supposed from this, however, that slavery 33. in Russia is not both a very great social evil, and emi- Evils of the nently dangerous to the rest of Europe, and that he would serf system. not be the best friend of both who could devise and establish a method for its gradual and safe abolition. Probably that method is to be found only in the progressive rise of towns and spread of manufactures, which, by rendering the obrok ́system more general, should give the slaves the means of purchasing and the masters the desire of selling freedom to them. It is not easy to see, however, how this safe and wise method, which is analogous to the way in which it imperceptibly died out in the states of western Europe, is to spread generally in a country of such enormous extent as Russia, possessing eighteen times the area of Britain and Ireland, in Europe alone, intersected by few rivers, and for the most part so far distant from the sea-coast. Its inhabitants seem chained by their physical circumstances to the system of compulsory labour for an indefinite course of years. This system provides amply, and better than any other under such circumstances could, for their subsistence, and the gratification of the animal wants of life; but it provides for VOL. II. K VIII. 1815. the CHAP. nothing more. No gradation of rank can exist among labouring classes while it continues; all are equally well fed, and equally ill civilised. The spread of knowledge, the extrication of genius, the growth of artificial wants, are alike impossible. If this state of matters is a great evil to the inhabitants of this empire, what is it to the rest of Europe, when it promotes the growth of a population of sixty millions, doubling every seventy years, and all nearly equally supplied with the physical, and destitute of the intellectual food of man? Perhaps the only safeguard against the encroachments of such a colossus, directed in politics and war with consummate ability, is to be found in the growth of a similar colossus, similarly directed, on the other side; and it would be a curious object for the contemplation of philosophy in future times, if the barbarism of infant could be stopped only by that of aged civilisation, and the ambition of the Czar, heading the strength of the desert, was first checked by the ambition of the Emperor leading forth the forces induced by the Communist doctrines of Paris. 34. Foreign conquest upon Rus sia by its climate. Marquis Custine says, that in Russia we are perpetually reminded of two things-the absence of the Sun ever forced and the and the presence of Power. Both are equally important alike in their social and external effects; perhaps the last is the necessary consequence of the first. A very simple reason makes, and ever must make, the Russians desirous above all things of escaping out of their own country it is the severity of its climate. Those who live in a country where the snow covers the ground for eight months in the year, and the long nights of winter are illuminated only by the cold light of the aurora borealis, long with inexpressible ardour for the genial warmth and sunny hills of the south, where the skies are ever blue, the sun ever shines, and nature teems with the luxuriance of tropical vegetation. The shores of the Bosphorus, the Golden Horn, the dome of St Sophia, are not only the secret dream of ambition to every Russian, but the undoubted object of their expectation. "I do not wish VIII. 1815. ii. 247. Constantinople," said Nicholas; "my empire is already CHAP. too large; but I know that I or my successors must have it you might as well arrest a stream in its descent from a mountain, as the Russians in their advance to the Hellespont." The habits which necessity has given to Schnitzler, them, permanently fit, and ever must fit them for foreign conquest. Their life is a continual conflict with the severity of nature; actual warfare, as to the Roman soldiers, is felt chiefly as a relaxation from the rude but invigorating discipline of peace. What are the hardships of a campaign to men who never knew the luxury of beds, whose food is black bread and water, who sleep ever on the hard bench or cold ground, and know no pleasure save the simple ones of nature, and the exciting ones of conquest ? When the north ceases to communicate vigour to the frame, hardihood to the habits, and ambition to the soul, Russia will cease to be a conquering country, but not till then. universal government The presence of Power is not less universally felt in 35. Russia than the absence of the sun. It is not merely Fear the that the Czar is despotic, that his will constitutes law, principle of and that he is the master without control of the lives, in Russia. liberties, and fortunes of all his subjects-the same. system is continued, as is always the case in such circumstances, through every inferior grade in society. What the emperor is in his council or his palace, every inferior prefect or governor is within the limits of his territory, over his vast dominions. Despotism is the general system, force the constant weapon of authority, fear the universal basis of government. Gross acts of maladministration, indeed, are often made the subject of immediate and terrible punishment; the efforts of government are unceasing to find them out, and the justice of the Czar implacable when they are clearly established. But it may easily be conceived that in a country of such enormous extent, where the machine of government is so complicated, and no free press exists to signalise its abuses, these instances are the exception, not the rule. Power is, VIII. 1815. CHAP. in general, undetected in its abuses, or supported in its measures. So universal is the dread of authority in Russia, that it has moulded the national character, determined the national tastes, and even formed the national manners. Obedience is universal, from the Empress on the throne to the humblest serf in his log-house. All do not what they like, or what they would have themselves chosen, but what they are ordered and expected to do. Dissimulation is universal: if they are not happy, they pretend to be so, to avoid the reality of sorrow which awaits expressed discontent. The present Empress (1853), a woman of high spirit and the most captivating manners, is sinking under the incessant labour of amusing and being amused; the fortunes even of the greatest nobles or highest functionaries are wasting away under the enormous expenses imposed on or expected of them by the court. All must exert themselves incessantly, and to the uttermost, vols. i., ii. to keep up with the demand of authority, or conceal the ennui or discontent which, in reality, is preying upon their bosoms.1 1 Custine, and iii., passim. 36. General use of cor tisement. Clark, the celebrated English traveller, says that there is not a second in Russia, during the day or night, that poral chas a blow is not descending on the back or shoulders of some Russian peasant. Notwithstanding a considerable softening of manners since the time when the description was given, it is still precisely applicable. Corporal chastisement of their slaves is permitted to masters, without any other authority but their own; and except in the classes in the Tchinn, who are exempt from that penalty, it is the great engine of authority with all intrusted with judicial power. The punishment of death is abolished by law in all cases except high treason; but such is the severity of the corporal inflictions authorised, that it would be a mercy if it was restored. When a man receives the sentence of above a hundred strokes with the knout, the executioner understands what is meant; by striking at a vital place, he in mercy despatches him at the third or fourth. The police officers lay hold of disorderly persons or malefactors in VIII. 1815. the streets, and beat them, without the formality of a trial, CHAP. in the severest manner, without their cries exciting any attention among those who witness it, who, glad that the tempest has not fallen on their shoulders, quietly pass by without either observation or surprise. The nobles and higher classes of the Tchinn are exempt from such chastisement; but Siberia is constantly hanging over their heads, the most effectual of all bastinadoes to the mind; and the prisons resound with the cries of those upon whom the punishment of flogging for crime, or at the instance of their masters, is inflicted. The frightful screams of the sufferers under these inflictions leave the most melancholy impression on the minds of such as have 1 Custine, heard them; they recall the horrors of slavery among iv. 281, 283. the boasted republican institutions of America.1 37. which these imprinted sians. It is this constant recurrence to force, and the frequency and severity of corporal punishments in Russia, which Character has imprinted at once its regular methodical aspect on circumstanthe march of government, and their supple character and ces have extraordinary powers of dissimulation on the people. on the RusLike a harshly-disciplined regiment, in which the lash is the constant object of apprehension, everything goes on silently and smoothly in Russia. Nothing retards or checks the machine of government; riots or disturbances of any sort are unknown; resistance is never thought of, or, if attempted, is speedily suppressed by the strong arm of power. The country resembles rather a vast army obeying the directions and coerced by the authority of a single general-in-chief, than a great community actuated by separate interests and impelled by various passions. As a necessary consequence of this irresistible force of power and necessity of submission, the character of the Russians has been modified in a most essential degree. Originality or independence of thought is in a great degree unknown; where these qualities exist, as doubtless they must in many breasts, they are carefully concealed, as the most dangerous qualities which the possessor can discover. Like the Greeks under the Mussulman yoke, |