The Press. — London, England, 1854-12-30 00:00:00

DECEMBER 30, 1854. t tr a tit Vt. Le Tzar Nicolas et La Sainte Russia. By A. Gallet de Kulture. Paris : Lecou. A GREAT desideratum at this moment is a book on Russia as she is—a book which should tell on authentic data all that is worth knowing about her present political, material, and moral state, her resources and prospects, her showy aristocracy, ignorant but not vicious serfs, cunning and swindling functionaries—about her Emperor and Court, Ministers and diplo matists, her religion, literature, and art, if art she has. For though not many years have passed away since Custine published his sprightly letters, and Huxthausen collected the materials fpr his thoughtful work, since Schnitzler compiled his statistics. and the author of " The Revelations on Russia" made his bold exposures, yet it is certain that the strange and enigmatic empire of the Czar must, in spite of his desperate efforts to keep it in intellectual and political stagnation, have in the meantime undergone some great changes for better or for worse, or for both — have felt in some degree the contre-ooup of the political convulsions, the astonishing increase of material prosperity, and the vast develop ment of intelligence which have almost trans formed some of the nations of Western Europe, and have exercised au immense in fluence over the destinies of the others. It is, however, almost vain to hope for a work in which these changes should be set forth, for, in addition to long and patient observation on Russia, which few men have had the oppor tunity of making, and to correct information on all subjects which in that land of mystery and falsehood it is almost impossible to gain, it would require, what is rarely met with in the writers of books of travel, literary power of a high order, united to great political sagacity and foresight. In default of a work of the kind referred to, on the Russia and the Russians of the pre sent day and hour, may consult—not the heaps of trash which, under the guise of works on Russia, have been compiled in the Bri tish Museum at London, or the Bibliotheque Imperiale at Paris, by men who know as much of the country as of Patagonia—but the works written by people who have actually lived in the land for periods more or less long, and have only recently quitted it. Even if the un derstanding of such writers should be none of the brightest, and their means of observation have been none of the greatest, it will be strange, indeed, if they be not able to state some new facts, or to throw some new light on those already known, or in some way or other to supply materiel which will be useful as an in dication of the real state of things in Russia at this critical juncture, and of the destiny to which she is driving. The book before us is, we believe, the last persons who are anxious to form an. opinion that has been issued by a gentleman who really knows and has lived in Russia ; and whose acquaintance with the country comes down to so recent an epoch as just before the beginning of the war. He was for many years private secretary to Prince Demidoff. In this situation, from the prince's exalted social posi tion, vast possessions, extensive enterprises, MecEenas-like patronage of literature, and want of favour at Court, he must have been brought into extensive communication with the different classes of society from the greatest nobles down to the lowest serfs, with some of the most intelligent and least servile ten in Russia, and with many of the per t ilonages of high or low degree who are hostile 1 to the Czar Nicholas from personal motives, or to d his regime from patriotic considerations—in a word, he must have possessed opportunities t o of making observations, and means of pro- J r. curing information, larger and more varied at than any previous writer. We should flatter grossly if we were to say that he has Le turned his advantages to the best account "the has, in truth, done nothing of the kind. ~;But so true it is that no man of ordinary in telligence coming from Russia can write about Russia without having something worth kiowing to tell, that his book may be read with interest and with profit. It contains THE PRESS. some spirited sketches of the different classes of Russian society, a good. deal of pleasant gossip about Russian notabilities, and a dozen pages or so which seem to us to possess real political importance. In the latter category, the author's view of the Csar's true reasons for rushing into war differs considerably from that which has hitherto been generally taken in Western Europe. The Czar, he tells us, went to war neither to ex tend the domination of the Greek Church, nor to satisfy his ambition by demolishing Turkey and increasing his territory, but solely to prevent the increase of political discontent in his own dominions : The Czar has not, under the vain pretext of religious protection to the rayahs, and of imaginiu-y laminas to avenge, undertaken this iniquitous war, with the view of realising the projects of Peter I. and Catherine 11. ; or of doing something to illustrate his insignificant reign. However poWerfal these motives may have seen, they would not have' enticed to induce him to abdicate the prudent policy of his predecessors, who sought the success of their project,* in. Turkey, leas from open action than suceessive encroachments, ably dissimulated, aqd to throw himself and his people into this great and mysterious adreltture. The Czar has abandoned his part of defender of order, and Of universal pacificator, for a reason much more serious and more decisive. He could no longer govern. Absolute master of everything, he begun to be no longer master of anything. Old age in approaching showed him not only the decadence of the war, but that of the principle. Rising like the tide, by a uniform and inevitable impulsion, the idea of reform beat against the worn-out theory of old despotism; it pene trated even the darkest minds ; every one—even those nearest the idol—the intimate friends, the instruments, the valets of the Court—whispered to one another " this regime has served its time—it must be changed, it is im possible to continue it longer." The author of these lines has heard these very words from the mouth of men who direct the Administration and police—of statesmen who are bound up with the system, of those who having been the active and blind instruments of the past are more directly menaced with the wrath of the future. A party besides was formed amongst the nobility. It took fur its motto, progress. This dread party, discontented and sulky, criticised everything with bitterness, and stood aloof from the Government. Possessing energy, connection, spirit, it made disciples of the rising generation. In a very secret report of M. Liprandi, on the conspirators of 1840- 50, are these lines The pupils in the colleges have taken up wild ideas—have adopted the most extravagant systems. Every word they say, every line they write, ex presses their attachment to pernicious doctrines—doc trines of which frequently they do not perceive the terrible consequences." In another document, also kept very secret, presented to the Commission presided over by General Nabo koff,which was charged to make investigations respecting the said conspiracies, are these lines :—" Blindly abandoning themselves to Utopian ideas, young men think themselves called on to reform all social life, and all humanity, and they are ready to make themselves the apostles and mar tyrs of this wretched deception. Everything is to be ex pected from such people. Nothing will ever check them, for, according to their notions, they labour not for them selves but for humanity, not for the present, but for the future." In Russia the reading of French and German philoso phical works is a state crime. Of the different roads that lead to Siberia that is one of the most certain. Neverthe less these books are in every hand : young men read them, meditate on them, become imbued with them. " I was very much surprised," said to me M. P Tchikatcheff (the friend of Humboldt and Arago) "on finding in the hands of my nephew, a pupil of the Law School at St. Peters burg, the works of the French socialist economist Proud hon. Having asked him, in a severe tone, how he could have procured such books, he told me that they came from one of his fellow-pupils--and he added that all had them." Does not, besides, the rapid development of national slavism, in opposition to that encouraged by the Govern ment, the incessant discoveries of conspiracies, the in surrections of peasants, the murders of nobles, the deser tions of soldiers, the severe surveillance constantly ex ercised over certain individuals and certain classes of society—do not these things indicate the progressive, and for the Government menacing, development of public in telligence? A Russian writer, Iscander, in a remarkable pamphlet, says:—" Russia appears so tranquil that it is difficult to believe that anything takes place within her pale. Few people know what occurs beneath the shroud with which die Government covers her corpses—there are there stains of blood and military executions, but the Go vernment hypocritically and arrogantly denies that there are either stains of blood or dead bodies beneath that shroud !" Another Russian, who has studied his country all his life, and under every aspect, said to me :—" The precise moment of the triumph in Russia of what are called revo lutionary ideas, cannot be indicated, but it is near at hand. It will take a new and special form unknown in the rest of Europe—the Russian form. It will be produced in the name of a triple unity—political unity, administrative unity, intellectual unity. To govern, administer, and think in the Russian way—such will be its formula. Everybody will agree in destroying a system of govern ment condemned by the spirit of the times—an armed phantom, still capable of inspiring terror, bat powerless to cause a single fibre to vibrate in the human soul. There will afterwards be great conflicts ;—men of ad vanced ideas will want to establish new institutions—part of the old Russian party will want to return to old Russia, the Russia of the Isane--and the people will take in hand 12447 the idea of Robespierre, and cut offheade if these events should not arrive in the lifetime of Nicholas they will make an explosion at his death. His successor will have to encounter difficulties he cannot vanqaish. He must come to a compromise or fall. He will be Louis XV. or Louis XVI. according to cireunistauces." The Government has had these terrible prospects before it night and day ; it has seen the flood rise ; and though it is master of all material forces of seven hundred leagues in space, and of more than sixty million souls, it has felt itself too weak to check it.. A power more formidable than its own, that of time, acted in a spirit contrary to its spirit. Progress advanced hour by hour. It was neces sary at wpm oust to tutu away *tendon from it. And so the Czar opened the flood-gates of war. Such was the fatality, the cause, and the object of the war of 1853. The Czar did not make a coup de the, but a cusp desespoir ! The author describ situatiol MI nobililfsin &sett 11,4 p xtetwe. The, Vre stysr t tb ject th 4 s Ml' the , Czar, and are execrated by the serfs on account of their scandalous tyranny and oppression ; whilst at the samet v iate .t4cy are discontented. with themselves at being so much inferior to the aristocracies of Western Europe. In the break up which loe ft,utielpopia in the Russian empire ho predicts duit they will be swept away : The middle class, and even the serfs, are advancing towards emancipation—an emancipation disguised or public—normal or violent—but inevitable ; the nobility, on the oontniry, are progressing gradually but fatally towards a certain decomposition. Menaced from all parts, they have no present and no future ; condemned to inac tion to-day, death will overtake them to-morrow. He says that the middle class in Russia is increasing in wealth, intelligence, and in numbers; but that they aro subjected to the most odious and ridiculous restrictions. He notes, however, en passont,that in proportion to their numbers they commit more crimes than any other class. He declares that enlightenment is beginning to spread amongst the serfs, in spite of the efforts made to keep them in the darkness of ignorance and superstition: — The soldiers who have made war abroad, and who be come free after their liberation from service, return to their native villages ; the foreigners, French and German, whom the chiefs of great manufactories or agricultural enterprises employ; the Poles, who, in spite of the terrible persecutions to which they are subjected, creep in everywhere, by right of their superior intelligence ; the young serfs, whom some nobles, in a spirit more liberal than prudent, send abroad to learn improvements in manufactures, and who back with them notions about political rights and individual liberty—all these elements, put into circulation by the force ofthings, have succeeded in penetrating the thick covering beneath which the idea of emancipation was buried. From what the Russian peasant has been told of the condition of the Western peasant, of his freedom from the soil and the noble, of the part he plays and the position be can acquire, he has learned all the practical part of emancipation. Already in several parts, especially on the frontiers of Europe, does the word subject tend to displace that of serf. There is only one more step to take, one more prejudice to destroy, to cause emancipation, already partially accom plished in public opinion, to be come an Irresistible neces sity. The day on which it shall be demonstrated to the the serf that aristocracy is a purely human institution, maintained by his ignorance alone; that the Czar of Russia is not the Czar of the globe ; that the other chiefs of States, emperors, kings, sultans, and pontiffs, aro not his simple vassals . the day on which lie shall be taught these truths, as clearly as he is beginning to learn that he himself is something, that his soul is his own, that he was not burn for the yoke like the ox and the ass, that God has not excluded him from His sunshine any more than any other creature, that be has even the force of numbers on his side—on that day the Russian peasant will awaken from his long slumber. Such are the author's political views ; they may not be infallible, but they are worthy of attention. Turning to that part of the book in which our author treats of the Czar and certain of the great personages of his empire, we find, amidst much that is not new, much that is very amusing, and not a little that touches on scandal. He is by no means an admirer of the Emperor Nicholas. His Majesty, he says, has " studied rapidly, and as a matter of " form," literature, mathematics, theology, and politics ; and he intimates that he knows not much of any of those subjects. He says that he " was born a tyrant, has grown a tyrant, " and will die a tyrant." Ho asserts most positively that he is afflicted at times with the mental malady which is hereditary in his family ; and he most decidedly declares that his Majesty is by no menus the exemplary husband which it has been the fashion to con sider him in England. In support of this declaration he mentions facts and even names— ) names which he says are well known to every- .