THE PRINCESS TROTJBETZKOI.219
From the fear then of exasperating certain influential families, the government yielded to a kind of prudent compassion. The princess departed with her husband the convict, and, which is more extraordinary, she reached her destination. The journey was alone a frightful trial: hundreds, — thousands of leagues in a telega, a little open cart without springs, over roads that break both carriages and human bodies. The unhappy woman supported these and many other hardships and privations, which I shall not describe for want of the precise details : for I wish to add nothing to the strict truth of tliis history.
Her conduct will appear the more heroic when it is known that, · until the husband's ruin, the married pair had lived somewhat coldly together. But is not a fervent devotion a substitute for love ? Or rather, is it not love itself? Love flows from many sources, and of these, self-sacrifice is the most abundant.
They had never had children at Petersburg; they had five in Siberia.
This man, rendered glorious by the generosity of his wife, had become a sacred object in the eyes of all who approached him. Who indeed would not venerate the object of an affection so sacred ?
However criminal the Prince Troubetzkoi may have been, his pardon, which the Emperor will perhaps never grant, for he believes that he owes it both to his people and himself to maintain an implacable severity, has been doubtless accorded by the King of Kings. The almost supernatural virtues of a wife could appease the wrath of a God, they could not l 2
220FOURTEEN YEARS AT
disarm human justice. The reason is, that Divine Omnipotence is a reality, whilst that of the Emperor of Russia is a fìetion.
He would have long since pardoned the criminal had he been as great as he pretends to be; but clemency, independently of its being repugnant to his natural disposition, appears to him a weakness by which a king would degrade the kingly offiee: habituated as he is to measure his power by the fear whieh he inspires, he would regard mercy as a violation of his code of political morality.
For my part, I only judge of a man's power over others by that whieh I see him exercise over himself, and I cannot believe his authority safely established, until he can venture to forgive: the Emperor Nicholas ventures only to punish. Pardon might be a dangerous example to a people who are still so rude in the depths of their hearts. The prince lowers himself to the level of his savage subjects; he hardens himself with them ; he does not fear to brutalise them in order to attach them : people and sovereign emulate each other in deceptions, prejudices, and inhumanity. Abominable combination of barbarism and weakness, interchange of ferocity, <'ireulation of falsehood whieh warms the life of a monster ! — a cadaverous body whose blood is poison. Such is despotism in its essence and its aetion.
The husband and wife have lived for fourteen years by the side, so to speak, of the Uralian mines ; for the arms of a labourer like the prince are little suited to the work of the piek-axe. He is there for the sake of being there, and that is all: but he is a con-
THE UEALIAN MIXES.
221
vict, and -we shall soon see to what this condition condemns a man — and his children!
There is no lack of good Russians in Petersburg, and I have met some, who view the life of the convicts at the mines as very bearable, and who complain of the exaggeration with which the modern makers of fine speeches describe the sufferings of the traitors in the Uralian mountains. They own that they are not allowed to receive any money, but their relations are suffered to send them provisions. Provisions! there are few that could be forwarded so great a distance, without being rendered unfit for use. But the courtiers of the executioner always find the punishment too merciful for the crime.
However great may be the luxuries of life in Siberia, the health of the Princess Troubetzkoi is injured by her sojourn at the mines. It is difficult to understand how a woman accustomed to all the delicacies of life in the highest ranks of a luxurious capital, has been able to support so long the privations of every kind to which she has voluntarily submitted. She wished to live, she did live — she even gave life; she reared her offspring under a zone where the length and the rigour of winter seem to us inimical to existence. The thermometer falls there, yearly, to a temperature that might alone suffice to destroy the human race. But this saint-like woman had other cares to think of.
At the conclusion of seven years of exile, as she saw her infants growing around her, she thought it her duty to write to one of her family to beg that they would humbly supplicate the Emperor to suffer them to be sent to Petersburg, or to some other l 3
222MERCY OF THE EMPEROR.
civilised city, in order to receive a suitable education.
The petition was laid at the feet of the Czar, and the worthy successor of the Ivans and of Peter I. answered that the children of a convict, — convicts themselves, would always be sufficiently learned!
After this answer, the family — the mother and the condemned man, — were silent for seven more weary years. Humanity, honour, Christian charity, outraged religion, alone pleaded in their favour ; but this was done silently : not a voice was raised to appeal against such justice. Nevertheless, a renewal of misery has now called forth a last cry from the depths of this abyss.
The prince has completed his term of labour in the mines, and now the exiles, liberated, as they call it, are condemned to form, they and their young family, a colony in the most remote corner of the desert. The locality of their new residence, designedly chosen by the Emperor himself, is so wild that the name of that howling wilderness is not even yet marked on the ordnance maps of Russia, the most exact and minute geographical maps that exist.
It will be easily understood that the condition of the princess (I name her only) is more wretched since she has been permitted to inhabit this solitude. It should be observed that in the language of the oppressed, as interpreted by the oppressor, permissions are obligatory. At the mines, she could find warmth in the bosom of the earth, her family had companions in misfortune, silent consolers, admiring witnesses of her heroism. The human eye contemplated and respectfully deplored her martyrdom, a circum-
COLONISATION IN SIBERIA.223
stance which, externally, rendered it the more sublime. Hearts beat in her presence,—in short, without even having to speak, she felt herself in society; for let governments do their worst, pity will still spring to life wherever there are men. But what hope can there be of awakening the sympathy of bears, or of melting eternal ices amid impenetrable woods, or marshes that have no bounds? What means can there be found of excluding the mortal cold from a hovel ? — and how is subsistence for five children to be obtained a hundred leagues, perhaps more, from any hiunan abode, unless it be that of the superintendant oí the colonies?—fortius is called colonising in Siberia!
What I admire as much as the resignation of the princess, is the eloquence, the ingenious tenderness she must have possessed, to overcome the resistance of her husband, and to succeed in persuading him that she was less to be pitied in suffering with him than she would be in Petersburg, surrounded with all the comforts and elegances of life. This triumph of devotion recompensed by success, for her husband finally consented, I view as a miracle of delicacy, of energy, and of sensibility. To know how to sacrifice self is as noble as it is rare, — to know how to accept such a sacrifice, is sublime.
At present this father and mother, abandoned in the desert, without physical powers, stript of every aid, lost to their fellow men, punished in their children, whose innocence only serves to aggravate their anguish, know not how to provide food for themselves and their little ones. These young convicts by birth, these pariahs of the imperial realm, if they have no longer a country, no longer a position in tþe commu-L 4
224A MOTHER'S ANGUISH.
nity, have yet bodies that need food and raiment. A mother, whatever dignity, whatever elevation of soul she may possess, could she see the fruit of her body perish rather than supplicate a pardon ? ÜSTo;
she again humbled herself, and this time it was not through Christian virtue : the lofty woman was conquered by the despairing mother. She saw her children ill, and had nothing wherewith to administer to their wants. In this extreme misery, her husband, his heart withered by his misfortune, left her to act according to her impulse, and the princess wrote a second letter from her hut of exile. The letter was addressed to her family, but meant for the Emperor. This was to place herself at the feet of her enemy, to forget what she owed to herself; but who would think the less of her for doing so ? God calls his elect to every species of sacrifice, even to the sacrifice of the most legitimate pride. The man who would understand life without recognising eternity, can only have seen the things of this world on their sunny side : he must have lived on illusions, as they would have me do in Russia. The letter of the princess has reached its destination, the Emperor has read it; and it was to communicate to me this letter that I was stopped at the moment of my departure. I cannot regret the delay. I have never read anything more simple and touching. Actions like the writer's can dispense with words; she uses her privileges as a heroine, and is laconic, even in imploring the life of her children. In a few lines, she states her situation, without declamation and without complaint; she concludes by imploring this single favour — the permission to live within reach of an apothecary, in order to be able to get
SECOND PETITION TO THE EMPEROR. 225
some medicine for her children when they are ill. The environs of Tobolsk, of Irkutsk, or of Orenburg, would appear to her paradise! In the concluding words of her letter, she ceases addressing herself to the Emperor, she forgets every thing except her husband. With a feeling and a dignity which woiild merit the pardon of the worst crime (and she is innocent of any; the monarch she addresses is all-powerful; God alone judges his acts!) " I am very miserable," she says ; " but were it to come over again, I should do as I have done."
There was in the family of this woman an individual bold enough to dare to carry her letter to the Emperor, and even to support with an humble petition the request of a disgraced relative. He spoke only of that relative as a criminal, although, before any other being but the Emperor of Russia, a man would have gloried in avowing his relationship with so noble a victim of conjugal duty. Well! after fourteen years of continued vengeance, continued but not glutted — how can I moderate my indignation? to use gentler terms in recounting such facts would be to betray a sacred cause : let the Russians object against them if they dare; I had rather fail in respect to despotism than to misfortune. They will crush me if they can, but, at least, Europe shall know that a man to whom sixty millions of men never cease saying that he is omnipotent, revenges himself! — Yes, revenge is the proper name for such a justice! After fourteen years, then, of vengeance, this woman, whose misery had been ennobled by so much heroism, obtained from the Emperor Nicholas no other answer than the follow-l 5
226 PINAL VIEW OF THE EMPEROR'S CHARACTER.
ing: — "I am astonished that any one again dares to speak to me (twice in fifteen years I) of a family, the head of which has conspired against me!" The reader may doubt this answer, — I could yet do so myself, and nevertheless I have clear proof of its truth.
The relations of the exiles, the Troubetzkoï, a powerful family, live at Petersburg, and they attend the court! Such is the spirit, the dignity, the independence of the Russian aristocracy! In this empire of violence, fear justifies every thing, — and yet more. it is the only merit that is sure to receive reward.
I have no more hesitation, no more uncertainty of opinion as regards the character of the Emperor Nicholas; my judgment of that prince is at length formed. He is a man of talent and of resolution; it needs that he should be, to constitute himself the gaoler of the third of the globe; but he wants magnanimity : the use that he makes of his power only too clearly proves this to me. May God pardon him ! happily, I shall never see him again.
What heart would not bleed at the idea of the anguish of this unhappy mother ? My God ! if such be the destiny thou hast ordained upon earth for the sublimest virtue, show to it thy heaven, — open to it the gates thereof before the hour of death! Imagine what must be the fechngs of this woman when she casts her eyes on her children; and when, aided by her husband, she labours to supply the education which they need ! Education ! it will be poison for those who have no names, but are marked and numbered like the beasts of the herd. Can the exiles deny all their recollections, all their habits, in order to hide
CHANGE IN THE AUTHOR'S PLANS. 227
the misfortune of their position from the innocent victims of their love ? Would not the native refinement of their parents inspire these young savages with ideas that they could never realise ? What danger, what momentary torment for them, and what insupportable constraint for their mother! This mental torture, added to such a load of physical sufferings, haunts me like a hideous dream from which I cannot awake. Since yesterday morning it has pursued me ineessantly, whispering at every moment of the day — What is the Princess Troubetzkoi now doing ?—what is she saying to her children ? —with what look is she watching over them ?—what prayer is she addressing to God for these beings, damned ere they were born by the providence of the Eussians ? This punishment inflicted upon an innocent generation disgraces an entire people !
I shall finish my journey, but without going to Borodino; without being present at the arrival of the court at the Kremlin; without speaking more of the Emperor. What can I say of tins prince that the reader does not now know as well as I ? To form an idea of men and things in this land, it is necessary to remember that plenty of occurrences similar to the one I have related take place here, though they remain unknown. It required an extraordinary concurrence of circumstances to reveal to me the facts which my conscience obliges me here to record.
I am about to place in one sealed packet all the papers that I have written since my arrival in Russia, including the present chapter, and to deposit them in safe hands; things which are not easily found in Petersburg. I shall then finish the day by writing an l 6
228
PEECAUTIONS.
official letter, which will leave by the post to-morrow. In this, every thing will be so carefully praised and admired that I have rational hopes, the letter, seized on the frontier, will assure my tranquillity during the remainder of my journey. If my friends hear no more of me, they must suppose I am sent to Siberia : that journey could alone alter my intention as regards proceeding to Moscow, which intention will be delayed in execution no longer, for my fcldjäger has just arrived to inform me that the post-horses will be at my door without fail to-morrow morning.
SPEED OF TRAVELLING.229
CHAP. XXII.
ROAD FROM PETERSBURG TO MOSCOW. — SPEED OF TRAVELLING. —
A LIVONIAN. PUNISHMENT OF A POSTILLION. — THE BEST
MEANS OF GOVERNING. ENGLISH CARRIAGES ON RUSSIAN
ROADS. THE COUNTRY PEOPLE. ASPECT OF THE COUNTRY.
THE POST-HOUSE. MOUNTAINS OF VALDAI. COSTUME OF THE
PEASANTRY. RUSSIAN LADIES EN DESHABILLE. SMALL RUS
SIAN TOWNS. TORJECK RUSSIAN LEATHER. CHICKEN FRI
CASSEE. A DOUBLE ROAD. ¦
I am writing at Pomerania, a post town eighteen leagues from Petersburg.
To travel post on the road from Petersburg to Moscow, is to treat one's self for whole days to the sensation experienced in descending the montagnes Russes at Paris. It would be well to bring an English carriage to Petersburg, if only for the pleasure of travelling on really elastic springs this famous road, the best chaussée in Europe, according to the Russians,
230TREATMENT OF A POST-HORSE.
before it. An English carriage is very pleasant for the few first stages; but in the long run, the necessity of a Russian equipage to withstand the pace of the horses and the hardness of the road, is discovered. The rails of the bridges are formed of handsome iron balustrades, and the granite pillars which support them are carved with the imperial arms. This road is broader than those of England ; it is also as even, although less easy; the horses are small, but full of muscle.
My feldjäger has ideas, a bearing, and a person, which prevent my forgetting the spirit which reigns in his country. On arriving at the second stage, one of our four horses fell on the road. Notwithstanding the advanced season, the middle of the day is still excessively hot, and the dust renders the air suffocating. It appeared to me that the horse had fallen under the influence of the heat, and that unless he were instantly bled, he would die. I therefore called the feldjäger, and taking from my pocket a case containing a fleam, I offered it to him, telling him to make prompt use of it if he wished to save the life of the poor brute. He answered, with a malicious phlegm, while declining the instrument I offered, that it was of no consequence, as we were at the end of the stage. Thereupon, without aiding the unfortunate coachman to disengage the animal, he entered the stable hard by, in order to prepare another set of horses.
Russia in 1839 -Empire of the Czar: A Journey Through Eternal Russia Page 50