Custine had gone to Russia expecting to find evidence to support his views touching upon the excellence of autocratic rule. Instead he was dismayed by what he found and his book turned out to be a bitter condemnation of a government based on fear, servility and repression. He was well aware that any visible connection with Custine could be harmful to Hanska, who owned a large estate in the Ukraine. When he applied for a visa to travel to St. Petersburg in 1843, N. D. Kisselev, the Russian charge d'affaires in Paris, sent a message to his chiefs suggesting that since Balzac was always notoriously short of funds, it might be worth suggesting that he write a refutation of Custine's book, but nothing came of it. The first best-selling foreign account of the Russian state was written 150 years ago by the French Marquis de Custine.
Blind submission forms the rule of conduct among all. . . .
Fear paralyzes thought. It was hard to find a potentially more sympathetic observer than de Custine, a monarchist who obtained an audience with the czar. In this enormous state the people are quiet. There are emperors who have slaves. Contrary to all appearances,inside it all there is violence and lawlesness.