The National Register.
London, England, 1816-12-16 00:00:00

WE are so much in the habit, from a rivalship which
has subsisted for centuries, of looking to France alone
as the country to which our national jealousy should
be directed, that we are in danger of being inattentive
to other powers, from which, under the new circum-
stances of Europe, we may have much more to appre-
hend. Russia, before she acquired the populosas and
exuberant kingdom, which, by the treaty of Vienna,
was placed under her imperial sceptre, was already
more extensive than the Roman government, when
under the first Crsars it maintained its authority over
the entire civilized world. The acquisition of Poland
has so largely increased her vast resources, that if her
interior policy were equal to her physical strength, she
must undoubtedly be considered the most powerful
state known to the records of modern history.
Under these circumstances, it is extremely important
to all the surrounding nationt to inquire, what are the
maxims of her government, and what the projects of
her present rulers, in order to ascertain whether another
Buonaparte, on the throne of that empire, is to apply
its gigantic strength again to inundate Europe with
blood, or whether such are the pacific principles by
which her councils are directed, that there is no motive
for alarm, and that the more extensive her boundaries
may be, the more widely will be diffused that beneficent
system which dismisses all hostile designs, and places
the happiness of her people in the preservation of in-
ternal and external tranquillity?

In lyazarding such observations, we have reference
to a work on-Russian Policy, of which we believe only two
copies are in England, and in which are developed a
scheme of interior government, that necessarily con-
nects the security, happiness, and prosperity of that em-
pire, with the mild, generous, and humane maxims to
which we have adverted. M. Storch, the author,
stands in the double situation of Counsellor of State at
the Court of St. Petersburgh, and tutor to the Grand
Dukes Nicholas and Michael, the former of whom, it is
well known, is now on an excursion to examine into
the arts, manufactures, and policy of these islands ; and,
if we are not mistaken, at the express recommendation

of the instructor whom we have named. This pro-
duction is comprehended in six volumes octavo, and ispro-
fesscdly on political economy, or that department of
moral science to which peculiarly belongs the inquiry
into the wealth and prosperity of natiuns ; and it is not
only published with the customary licence, but with
the concurrence and at the expense of the Emperor him-

self, who has thus msde his acknowledgments to the
teacher of his brothers, and virtually expressed the co-
incidence of his opinions with the doctrines that are
here explained and enforced.

An exposition of these doctrines will perhaps supply
the best means of ascertaining the intentions of Alex-
ander in the direction of the enormous power with
which he is invested; and it will be seen, both by the
principles and measures of his governments, that the
autocracy he possesses is likely to be changed into a
limited monarchy, and that if the despotism of Napo-
leon gave an extraordinary impulse and velocity to the
application of his resources, none of those sudden and
dangerous movements are to be apprehended under the
system of moderation which is in progress in the Rus-
sian empire. _

What then are the doctrines promulgated in this first
production of a Russian native on political economy,—
a native, who stands in the situation of public COUTN-
senor and private mottitcor to the fatally on the throne?
He declares •that the sovereign is cl7khed with power
alone for the cornfut and happiness of his subjects, and
that the submission of the latter is conceded but fur
their awn ben;.;fit. He admits that force and mires-
__