174
RUSSIAN POLICE.
make me feel quite beyond all danger for the remainder of my journey. I often say to myself, that the Russian police, prudent, enlightened, well-informed, would not have recourse to any coup d`état, unless it believed it necessary, and that it would be to attach too much importance to my person and my remarks, to suppose that they could be capable of making uneasy the men who govern this empire. Nevertheless, these reasons for feeling secure, and many others that present themselves, are more specious than solid : experience only too clearly proves the spirit of minutia which actuates those who have too much power: every thing is of importance to him who would conceal the fact that he governs by fear, and whoever depends on opinion, must not despise that of any independent man who writes: a government which lives by mystery, and whose strength lies in dissimulation, is afraid of every thing—every thing appears to it of consequence: in short, my vanity accords with my reflection and my memory of past events, to persuade me that I here run some danger.
If I lay any stress upon these inquietudes, it is simply because they describe the country. As regards my own feelings, they dissipate as soon as it is necessary to act. The phantoms of a sleepless night do not follow me upon the road: I am more adventurous in action than in thought; it is more difficult for me to think than to act with energy. Motion imparts to me as much courage as rest inspires me with doubt.
Yesterday, at five in the morning, I set out in a caliche drawn by four horses harnessed abreast.
MANUFACTORIES OF PETERSBURG.175
Whenever they journey into the country the Russian coachmen adopt this ancient mode of driving, in which they display much boldness and dexterity. My feldjäger placed himself before me by the side of the coachman, and we quickly traversed St. Petersburg, soon leaving behind us the handsome part of the city, and next passing through that of the manufactories, among which are magnificent glass works and immense mills for the spinning of cotton and other fabrics, for the most part directed by Englishmen. This quarter of the city resembles a colony. As a man is only appreciated here according to his standing with the government, the presence of the feldjäger on my carriage had a great effect. This mark of supreme protection made me a person of consequence in the eyes of my own coachman, who had driven me the whole of the time that I had been in Petersburg. He appeared suddenly to discover and to glory in the too long concealed dignity of his master; his looks testified a respect that they had never done before: it seemed as though he wished to indemnify me for all the honours of which he had, mentally and in ignorance, hitherto deprived me·.
The people on foot, the drivers of the carts and drowskas, all bowed to the mystic influence of ray sub-officer, who, with a simple sign of his finger, made every obstruction of the road vanish like magic. The crowd was, as it were, annihilated before him, and I could not bnt think, if he had such power to protect me, what would be his power to destroy me if he had received an order to that effect. The clifìi-eulty attending an entrance into this country wearies more than it awes me; the difficulty of flying from I 4
176HOUSES OF RUSSIAN PEASANTS.
it would be more formidable. People say, " To enter Russia the gates are wide, to leave it they become narrow."
Under the guard of my soldier I rapidly followed the banks of the river; frequent views of which, through alleys of birch trees, with the appearance here and there of busy manufactories, and of wooden hamlets, enlivened the landscape, and made the road seem less monotonous than those I had hitherto travelled in Russia; not that the scenery was picturesque in the ordinary acceptation of the word, it was only less desolate than it is on the other side of the city : besides, I have a predilection for melancholy landscapes; there is always a species of grandeur in a scene, the contemplation of which produces reverie. I prefer, as regards poetical effect, the borders of the Neva to the plain between Mont-martre and St. Denis, or the rich wheat fields of La Beauce and La Brie.
The appearance of several villages surprised me ; they displayed signs of wealth, and even a sort of rustic elegance, which was very pleasing. The neat wooden houses form the line of a single street. They are painted, and their roofs are loaded with ornaments winch might be considered rather ostentatious, if a comparison were made between the exterior luxury and the internal lack of conveniences and cleanliness in these architectural toys. One regrets to see a taste for superfluities among a people not yet acquainted with necessaries; besides, on examining them more closely, these habitations are discovered to be ill built.
Always the same taste for that which addresses the eye ! Both peasants and lords take more pleasure
A RUSSIAN INN.
177
iu ornamenting the road than in beautifying the interior of their dwellings. They feed here upon the admiration, or perhaps the envy, which they excite. But enjoyment, real enjoyment, where is it ? The Russians themselves would be puzzled to answer the question.
Wealth in Russia is the food of vanity. The only magnificence that pleases me is that which makes no show, and I therefore find fault with every thing here which they wish me to admire. A nation of decorators will never inspire me with any other feeling than that of fearing lest I should become their dupe. On entering the theatre where their artificial representations are exhibited, I have but one desire ; that, namely, of looking behind the curtain, a corner of which I am ever tempted to lift up. I came to see a country, I find only a playhouse.
I had ordered a relay of horses ten leagues from Petersburg. Four, ready harnessed, awaited me in a village, where 1 found a kind of Russian Venta*, which I entered. It was the first time I had seen the peasants in their own houses.
An immense wooden shed, plank walls on three sides, plank flooring and plank ceiling, formed the hall of entrance, and occupied the greater part of the rustic dwelling. Notwithstanding the free currents of air, I found it redolent of that odour of onions, cabbages, and old greasy leather, which Russian villages and Russian villagers invariably exhale.
A superb stallion, tied to a post, occupied the attention of several men who were engaged in the dif-
* Venta, a Spanish country inn. — Trans, I 5
178
A RUSSIAN INJSr.
tìcult task of shoeing him. The magnificent but un-
оо
tractable animal belonged, I was told, to the stud of a neighbouring lord : the eight persons who were endeavouring to manage him, all displayed a figure, a costume, and a countenance that was striking. The population of the provinces adjoining the capital is not, however, handsome : it is not even Russian, being much mixed with the race of the Finns, who resemble the Laplanders.
They tell me that in the interior of the empire I shall find perfect models of Grecian statues, several of which I have indeed already seen in Petersburg, where the nobles are often attended by the men born on their distant estates.
Л low and confined room adjoined this immense shed ; it reminded me of the cabin of some river boat; walls, ceiling, floor, seats, and tables, were all of wood rudely hewn. The smell of cabbage and pitch was extremely powerful.
In this retreat, almost deprived of air and light, for the doors were low, and the windows extremely small, I found an old woman busy serving tea to four or five bearded peasants, clothed in pelisses of sheepskin, the wool of which is turned inwards, for it has already, and for some days past, become rather cold.* These men were of short stature. Their leather pelisses were rather tasteful, but they were very ill scented : I know nothing except the perfumes of the nobles that could be more so. On the table stood a bright copper kettle and a teapot. The tea is always of good quality, well made, and, if it is not pre-
* This is the 1st of August.
CHARACTEK OF THE RUSSIANS.179
ferred pure, good milk is every where to be obtained. This elegant beverage served up in barns, I say barns for politeness-sake, reminds me of the chocolate of the Spaniards. It forms one of the thousand contrasts with which the traveller
is struck at every step he takes among these two people, equally singular, though in many of their ways as different as the climates they inhabit.
I have often said that the Russian people have a sentiment of the picturesque : among the groups of men and animals that surrounded me in this interior of a Russian farm house, a painter would have found subjects for several charming pictures.
The red or blue shirt of the peasants is buttoned over the collar bone, and drawn close round the loins by a girdle, above which it lies in antique folds, and below forms an open tunic that falls over the pantaloon. The long Persian robe, often left open, which, when the men do not work, partly covers this blouse, the hair worn long and parted on the forehead, but shaved close behind rather higher than the nape, so as to discover all the strength of the neck —does not this form an original and graceful picture ? The wild yet, at the same time, gentle expression of the Russian peasants also possesses grace: their elegant forms, their suppleness, their broad shoulders, the sweet smile of their mouth, the mixture of tenderness and ferocity which is discernible in their wild and melancholy look, render their general appearance as diiferent from that of our labourers as the land they cultivate differs from the rest of Europe. Every thing is new here for a stranger. The natives possess a certain charm which can be felt though not expressed: i 6
180DIRTINESS OF THE PEOPLE.
it is the oriental languor combined with the romantic reverie of a northern people ; and all this is exhibited in an uncultured yet noble form, which imparts to it the merit of a primitive endowment. These people inspire much more interest than confidence. The common orders in Russia are amusing knaves : they may be easily led if they are not deceived; but as soon as they see that their masters or their masters' agents lie more than themselves, they plunge into the lowest depths of falsehood and meanness. They who would civilise a people must themselves possess worth of character—the barbarism of the serf accuses the corruptness of the noble.
If the reader be surprised at the ill-nature of my judgments, he will be yet more so when I add that I do but express the general opinion ; the only difference is, that I express openly what every one here conceals, with a prudence that none would be surprised at if they saw, as I do, to what extent this virtue, which excludes so many others, is necessary to those who live in Russia.
Dirtiness is very conspicuous in the country, but that of the houses and the clothes strikes me more than that of the individuals. The Russians take much care of their persons. Their vapour baths, it is true, appear to us disgusting ; and I should for myself much prefer the contact of pure water ; still these boiling fogs cleanse and strengthen the body, though they wrinkle the skin prematurely. By virtue of their use, the peasants may be often seen with clean beards and hair, when as much cannot be said for their garments. Warm clothing costs money, and has to be worn a long time ; the rooms also, in which
THE COUNTRY WOMEN.181
they think only of protecting themselves from the cold, are necessarily less aired than those of southern people. Of the air that purifies, the Russians are deprived for nine months in the year, so that their dirtiness is rather the inevitable effect of their climate than of their negligence.
In some districts the workpeople wear a cap of blue cloth, bulging out in the shape of a balloon. They have several other species of head-dress, all pleasing to the eye, and showing good taste as compared with the saucy affectation of negligence, visible among the lower orders in the environs of Paris.
When they work bare-headed, they remedy the inconvenience of their long hair by binding it with a kind of diadem, or fillet made of a riband, a wreath of rushes, or of some other simple material, always placed with care, and which looks well on the young people; for the men of this race have in general finely formed, oval heads, so that their working head-dress becomes an ornament. But what shall I say of the women ? All whom I have hitherto seen have appeared to me repulsive : I had hoped in this excursion to have met some fair villagers ; but here, as at Petersburg, they are broad and short in figure, and they gird their forms at the shoulders, a little above the bosom, which spreads freely under the petticoat. It is hideous ! Add to this voluntary deformity, large men's boots and a species of riding coat, or jacket of sheep's skin, similar to the pelisses of their husbands, but, doubtless through a laudable economy, much less gracefully cut, and far more worn ; falling indeed literally in rags — such is their toilette. Assuredly there is no part of the world
182
BAD ROADS.
where the fair sex so completely dispenses with coquettish finery as in Russia (I speak only of the female peasants and of the corner of the land that I have seen). Nevertheless these women are the mothers of the soldiers of which the Emperor is so proud, and of the handsome coachmen of the streets of Petersburg.
It should be observed that the greater number of the women in the government of Petersburg are of Finnish extraction. I am told that in the interior of the country I shall see very good-looking female peasants.
The road from Petersburg to Schlusselburg is bad in many parts: there are sometimes deep beds of sand, sometimes holes of mud to be passed, over which planks have been very uselessly thrown. What is yet worse, are the small logs of wood rudely laid across each other, on certain marshy portions of the route, which would swallow up any other foundation. This rustic, ill-joined and movable flooring dances under the wheels; and frequent broken bones and broken carriages on Russian grandes routes, testify to the wisdom of reducing equipages to their most simple forms, to something about as primitive as the telega. I observed also several dilapidated bridges, one of which seemed dangerous to pass over. Human life is a small matter in Russia. `Vith sixty millions of children how can there be the bowels of a father ?
On my arrival at Schlusselburg, where I was expected, the engineer who has the direction of the sluices received me.
The weather was raw and gloomy. My carriage stopped before the comfortable wood-house of the
THE ENGINEER AND HIS WIFE.183
engineer, who introduced me himself into a parlour, where he offered me a light collation, and presented me, with a kind of conjugal pride, to a young and handsome person, his wife. She sat all alone, upon a sofa from which she did not rise on my entering. Not understanding French, she remained silent, and also motionless, I cannot tell why, unless she mistook immovability for good breeding, and starched airs for taste. Her object seemed to be to represent before me the statue of hospitality clothed in white muslin over a pink petticoat. I ate and warmed myself in silence : she watched me without daring to turn away her eyes, for this would be to move them, and immobility was the part she had to perform. If I had suspected there could be timidity at the bottom of this singular reception, I should have experienced sympathy, and felt only surprise ; but I could, hardly be deceived in such a case, for I am familiar with timidity.
My host suffered me to contemplate at leisure this curious image of rosy wax-work, dressed up in order to dazzle the stranger, though it confirmed him only in his opinion that the women of the North are seldom natural. The worthy engineer seemed flattered with the effect that his wife produced on me. He took my wonder for admiration ; nevertheless, desirous of conscientiously acquitting himself of his duty, he at length said, " I regret to disturb you, lint wTe have scarcely sufficient time to visit the works which I have received an order to show to you in detail."
I had foreseen the blow without being able to parry it. I therefore submitted with resignation, and suffered myself to be led from sluice to sluice, my mind still dwelling with useless regret upon
184SLUICES OF SCHLUSSELBURG.
the fortress, that tomb of the youthful Ivan, which they would not suffer me to approach. It will be seen shortly how this secret object of my journey was attained.
To enumerate all the structures of granite that I have seen this morning, the floodgates fixed in grooves worked in blocks of that stone, the flags, of the same material, employed as the pavement of a gig
antic canal, would fortunately little interest the reader; it will suffice him to know that during the ten years that have elapsed since the first sluices were finished, they have required no repairs. This is an astonishing instance of stability in a climate like that of Lake Ladoga. The object of the magnificent work is to equalise the difference of level that there is between the canal of Ladoga and the course of the Neva near to its source. With .this object, sluices have been multiplied, without reference to cost, in order to render as easy and prompt as possible a navigation that the rigour of the seasons leaves open for only three or four months in the year.
Nothing has been spared to perfect the solidity and the precision of the work. The granite of Finland has been used for the bridges, the parapets, and even, I repeat it with admiration, for lining the bed of the canal; in short, all the improvements of modem science have been had recourse to, in order to complete, at Schlussclburg, a work as perfect in its kind as the rigours of the climate will permit.
The interior navigation of Russia deserves the attention of all scientific and commercial men : it constitutes one of the principal sources of the riches of the land. By means of a series of canals, the en-
UNION OF THE CASPIAN AND BALTIC. 185
tire extent of which is, like every other undertaking in this country, colossal, they have, since the reign of Peter the Great, succeeded in joining, so as to form a safe navigation for boats, the Caspian with the Baltic by the Volga, Lake Ladoga, and the Neva. This enterprise, bold in conception, prodigious in execution, is now completed, and forms one of the wonders of the civilised world. Although thus magnificent to contemplate, I found it rather tedious to inspeet, especially under the conduct of one of the executors of the chef-d'oeuvre. The professional man invests his work with the importance which no doubt it merits : but for a mere general observer, like myself, admiration is extinguished under minute details, — details which, in the present case, I will spare the reader.
Russia in 1839 -Empire of the Czar: A Journey Through Eternal Russia Page 46