The Portland gazette. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1818-1824, 1823-09-23
Miscellany.
RUSSIA.

meTacdn with the following interesting sketch
es relative TO the political and moral condition
of that empire. They afford view somewha
different (as our correspondent rcmarks) from
the opinion generally entertained 10 this coun
try of that colossus on basis of sand.n
The Autocrat in whose dominion the sur
! never goes down, once the polar star of popula,
and political liberty, has now turned the buo.
J. bear Of the Holy Alliance TO forge new chain:
e for the unfortunate inhabitants of the old con.
Itinent. Although bearing The pempous title
self-ruler, he Is really nothing more than the
first slave In bis enpire--and in this respect
he shares the fate Of his brother despots on the
throne of Europe, all of whom are governed
more or less BY ministers seldom their own
? choice. The Austrian Empire has now already
: been Tor three centuries under the sway Of an
oligarchy of ministers, whose power Is inner.
, tied from father to son. This has at least the
4 advantage OF government prosecuting stead.
lliy the same views without suffering any inter-
Eruption from court factions or intrigues-apd
thus Austria is ruled in the nineteenth Gen.
Itury by principles prevailing before the ref
lormation.-The Russian Autocracy is not rul-
led in the same sway--no oligarchy administers
Iexists there-the bloody change of monarchs
on that throne involves them too often in the
fate of the Despot. Every new minister makes
new laws, which his successor abolishes. their
policy always differing. The present Empe-
ror, The grandson of the great Catherine, en-
ldued with her principles. has the ambition OF
Ibeing an Autocrat in the true sense of the
Iword--but never was there seen more frail
instrument offaction on any throne of Europe.
This accounts at once for the total change in
the political ideas Of Alexander |.
II Count Nesselrode, the present prime minis
$ ter, knows particularly well how to indulge
q the whims and caprices of the great infant on
: the throne. The Emperor persists in signing
himself all the nkases, so that dnring his stay
in foreign countries, all the acts created by
: the senate and other high courts of the empire
lare liable to be sent by a weekly express to
receive the sign manuel ofthe self ruler. Thus.
when the Emperor was at the congress of We
roma, the going and coming of the couriers
took more than month, which contributed
undoubtedly to the expedition of business How
: able monarch may be-, among the designations
Of foreign courts md countries, TO inspect the
cumbrous acts of his own government. is left
) so the Judgment of the reader to decide.
Il Corruption in the highest degree prevails
: IN all the branches of the Russian government
; One great cause of this horrid abuse is the
: insufficient salaries cftbe functionaries every
one Of these har7ies is obliged TO feed on the
public for two thirds of his living; nothing can
be obtained from the lowest exciseman to the
highest minister without an additional fee, al
wavs surprising the amount of the lawful one
Bribery is there generally considered as Z
chief northumberland if such exactions take
place in the centre Of the administration at st
Petersburg and Moscow, how widely mus
they extend into the interior, where the differ
ent governors exert a power equal to that of &
y Turkish Pasha.
E The Marquis Paulucci, Governor Genera
Of Esthenia, Livonia and Courland, bastard
of Paul l. by an Italian lady, holds the frs
rank among these petty tyrants. Being ia
ivorite and brother of the reigning Emperor
he is the terror Of all the inhabitants of those
lprovinces.-They are the most populous of the
empire and are covered with the estates of Z
. nobility, descended from the ancient knights
D of the Teutonic Order, who conquered the re
/. gions, and, converting the aborigines to tbs
o christi-n religion, introduced the feudal sys
n TEN with all its horrors.-Even now this sys
: tenn is carried TO a great extent, the unfortu
< cruelty by the lord Of the manor.
: The Ukases of the Emperor are sent to th,
I governor-geueral, who executes them some
times two or three years afterwards, or ever
not at all, according to his own pleasure
7" Unhappy the man who looks for redress a
court when wronged by an arbitrary action 0
the satrap. The oppressor will never lister
to the formal orders of his emperor, and tn,
hnI1 .4a -. lr.1
governor does not think proper TO silence tn
clamors Of hrs victim BY close confinement
In January last the writer of this articl
passed through the province Of Courland an
found the typhus fever raging all over tn
+, country, notwithstanding the riror of the sea:
n on. Enquiring for the causes of this evil, b
n was informed that some months ago, according
,fl TO the orders of the reigning Pasha, or
d thousand persons men, women aud Chi ldrer
living in the country, were driven by the &c.
sacs aud other instruments of tyranny TO tn
le city Of inflow and there shut up in the castle
$ Very soon the typbus ragged among them, III
apartments nearly resembling the black hoI
LOT Calcutta So crowded were they with III
= poor prisoners, dead and living Law for sewers
weeks in the same room. AT length the gol
D. ernor general was informed Of the circumstar
ces and sent commissioners 10 investigate tn
matter. Finding that the evil arose from th
nj bad air of the dungeon, they SET the prisoner
> at liberty. giving them passports to retire
~ their native houses. Thus an infected part
to the population was thrown upon the countr
in the most wretched state, being alread
stripped of their small property by the Co
sacs and others on their way to prison. The
fingered and died mostly on the high roads
= or if Hospitality received in the farms and I'M
ofthe country, observation-disclosures were involve
in their destruction.
The whole crime Of the poor sufferers col
- sisted in not possessing permission from Il
So uobleman on whose estate they we're Dor
tochange their residence, although they we
allowed for ten or twenty years to live
- Courland without any enquiry on that subjec
The public opinion is generally deceiv'
C. BY the flattering reports Of the establishme
ri of liberal institutions in Russia. Whenev'