possesses such a government as it deserves, and in Russia there is despotism because there are slaves. Thus in this instance, and perhaps in every other, despotism is an effect and not a cause of slavery; and it may be affirmed, that were there no slaves, there would be no despots. Little attention has hitherto been paid to this subject, owing to which many fatal errors have arisen. Catherine shared the common error, and believed that it lay in her power to divest herself of despotism; but she discovered at length her mistake, as will be shown hereafter." ways in the hands of the sovereign, to the prejudice of the general good. On this account the government of women is preferable, in such countries, to that of men: women being unfit to command troops, and to enter into military details which absorb and narrow the minds of despots, who are usually ignorant of the art of war and merely playing at being soldiers. Be sides these advantages the reigns of women have been always more distinguished for impartiality: women have usually shown more right judgment, and those around them less baseness. Even flattery ceases to be ignominious when addressed to a woman, for it then assumes the character of gallantry. Russia knows from ex sequently to Peter the Great, two proved good sovereigns, and one was great; whilst of the six emperors who have reigned since that epoch, the Emperor Alexander alone can be instanced as a well-meaning autocrat." From the above we learn two astounding facts, and which are the more so from not being the relation of a traveller, but the state-perience that of the four women who ruled subments of a native who witnessed them for fifty years-namely, that there exists in Russia a despotism so bad as never yet existed elsewhere under the sun; and that this despotism has not been established by an autocrat, or a succession of autocrats, but is the To her accidental advantages of womanoffspring of a slavish spirit in the people them- hood, Catherine united those of having been selves, from which, we are told, there is no born and educated in Germany, from which hope of emancipating them. Gibbon has country she imported sound notions of social already said the same, and to the causes asorganisation, unknown to all former sovesigned by the Admiral of this woeful phe- reigns of Russia. Married to the presumpnomenon, may be added that of the Russians tive heir of the crown (the ill-fated Peter), having been thoroughly intermingled with she devoted a great portion of her time to the two inferior races-the Tshoud and Tatar, study of history, politics, legislation and genebesides the numerous others which compose ral literature. Thus prepared, she mounted the population of Russia. Peter the Great, the throne with sanguine hopes of substituting who does not appear to be in favour with any for the desolating maxims of the Russian govenlightened Russian, aggravated the evil, by ernment those of humanity and justice. For destroying the last vestiges of Russian nation- her starting point, and for the foundationality, and by establishing a kind of military stone of the edifice she proposed to raise, Chinese rule. It might exhaust the ingenui- Catherine selected the charter which her prety of a Plato to define all the qualities requisite in a sovereign to enable him, if not to substitute a world of good for this world of evil, yet at least to ameliorate it in a degree despaired of by some of the friends of humanity. The Admiral settles the question as usual in an original manner, and not without some plausibility. He thinks that a woman is by her nature better fitted than a man for such a Titan-like task, and these are his rea sons. decessors had granted to the nobility, and which was a first step towards something like civilisation. Peter III. also born, and partly educated abroad, felt himself as it were humbled by reigning over slaves, and his first act had been to emancipate the nobility. Catherine wished to develope that germ of liberty, and granted letters-patent to the nobles, which secured to them their acquired rights, and at the same time gave them the power of choosing magistrates. She also established municipal laws which conferred certain privileges on the citizens; and these were so many preparatory measures which she deemed were calculated to familiarize the nation hand it is a well-known fact, that nothing is with elective forms, and gradually to intromore hostile to true civilisation than a military duce a representative government. With her government, ever prone to lower the civil au- own hand, she drew up a code of civil and thority in favour of an armed force. The head of criminal laws, and abolished barbarous puna representative government must not be viewed ishments-the inquisition, torture, and confisin the light of a commander-in-chief, but in that cation; and continued to enforce the aboliof the first magistrate of the state. For this tion of capital punishment decreed by the reason the king of Great Britain cannot put him "It is now generally acknowledged that a representative government is of all human institutions, that which comes nearest to perfection. To the advantages of hereditary monarchy it unites those of an elective one. On the other self at the head of his army; whilst in despotic Empress Elizabeth. Catherine also simplicountries, or such as do not understand the true fied the administration of her empire, and parprinciples of government, the armed force is al-celled it out into several grand divisions, the government of which was entrusted to her tion different chapters of Belisarius, reserving lieutenants, who, though furnished with ex- one for herself, and this gave her an opportunity tensive powers, were obliged to confine them- of perceiving how entirely the Russian language selves strictly within the limits of her injunc- low and common expressions, and how absohad been neglected, how replete it was with tions. Having thus established a kind of con- lutely deficient in words of a refined and exalted federative system, she is said to have disco- kind. Such words as sentiment, admiration, vered the best means of governing that mon- genius, man of honour, virtue, capacity, and strously extended empire. Finally she intro- nice distinctions of terms, such as bravery, cour duced perfect toleration in matters of religion, age, valour, gallantry, did not exist at all. The which in her time, America excepted, did language was equally deficient in terminology not virtually exist in any other country. We of St. Petersburgh was required to publish a Rusof science and the arts; and when the Academy have now summed up nearly all that Cathe-sian version of Buffon's works, after many efforts, rine attempted for the benefit of her subjects, the execution of the task was found to be impos and which it would appear was planting the sible. The Empress therefore established the dragon's teeth-for the Admiral says in his Academy with a view to polishing and enrichusual quaint and forcible manner— ing this language, which she thought was susceptible of being improved. But a single reign is not sufficient to ensure satisfactory results in such cases; and the Russian language has therefore undergone but few changes, and the small number of good authors of that period was lost in the mass of ignorance." "Catherine, like another Cadmus, caused men to spring out of the earth, whilst her successors know only how to bury them in it." have lurked behind all the efforts of CatheA fatal therefore, of this kind, seems to worth. At length, forgetting that a single sufficient for bringing her reforms to maturireign, as the Admiral justly remarks, was not ty, she gave up the hope of civilizing her people by the arts of peace, and let loose the demon of war, in order, we are told, to accomplish that object by bringing the Rus sians into immediate contact with civilized nations. The truth is, that intent upon arousing her people from their death-like apathy, she, unlike both her predecessors and successors, looked for men of talent, not amongst foreign-rine to raise her people in the scale of moral ers, but amongst her own subjects, and succeeded in finding Russians well fitted for every branch of public service. Amongst the many we need only mention Prince Potemkin, a statesman of the highest merit, the presiding genius of her councils; and the field marshals Romanzoff and Souvaroff, who with other able generals rendered her armies everywhere victorious both on land and sea. Her government is praised for having been economical and just; the expenses of four have said, that she had not fire enough to We suspect that the wise Indian would departments of the ministry having amounted burn up the sins of her people, but only to only to a million and a half of roubles, whilst exhibit a series of illuminations, or rather to under Alexander, in 1819, one department make a conflagration of the world, for which alone, that of the finances, cost the treasury twenty-five millions of roubles. After her purpose a very small spark would suffice. Her method was calculated to produce a redeath, not a single ukase was found that had not been put in execution, whilst Alexander sult the very reverse of that she desired, as she could not reasonably expect that her subleft at his twenty-four thousand, which had not been carried into effect, and which pro- long as she trampled upon the sacred rights jects should learn to know what is right, so bably never will be. "This inability," says of nations. To the aggressive spirit of Rusthe Admiral," of executing the ukases is the sole barrier which a pitying Providence opsian policy should be traced the entire abposes to the arbitrary will of despots, and it sence amongst the Russian people of all just Madame de diminishes in some degree their fatal effects." notions of right and wrong. Though a foreigner, Catherine did more ander is well known, said, that they equally Stäel, whose partiality for the Emperor Alex for the cultivation of the Russian language admired stealing and giving. With the view and literature than any of her predecessors, of civilizing her people by bringing them in by establishing the Russian Academy of St. Petersburgh on the model of the French Academy. The following curious circumstance provoked this measure on the part of Catherine, and gives a Tacitus-like picture of the Russian people. "During her journey to the Crimea, she distributed to each of her companions for transla immediate contact with other nations, Cathe rine determined, as a first step, upon the conquest of Poland, and as the next, upon that of Turkey. That Russia ever entertained such a design upon the latter country, has been denied a thousand times, and even now there exists a treaty founded upon this assumption, for the preservation of Turkey, to which Russia has become a willing party. (is said that hell is paved; but was she capable It is therefore infinitely important to listen to of realizing them? We will further grant the confession of a Russian minister of state on this very subject. The Admiral says— "Her object was to develope to the greatest possible extent the moral power of her empire; but at the very outset she met with invincible obstacles. On casting her eyes towards the north, she saw herself placed at the most desolate extremity of Europe, and even of her dominions, almost in the vicinity of the polar circle, in short, in a region Dark and wild, beat with perpetual storms Of whirlwind and dire hail, which on firm land are of opinion that Turkey lay beyond her grasp, so long as Poland was not definitively partitioned. The following passage, from a work written by a Pole, is calculated to remove any further doubt on this subject. that she might have been successful, but what guarantee could she give that her successors would follow the same policy? That this was not in her power is proved beyond a doubt, by her having been unable to secure, even to the Russians, the benefits which she had bestowed upon them. Her successor mounted the throne with the avowed intention of undoing all that she had done, and he kept his promise but too well. Putting aside the question of the right of nations, the notion of which the French philosophers of the eighteenth century had entirely obscured,-and Catherine in this respect was not superior to and far removed from the more fertile provinces, her age, we say with the admiral, that no and from all the resources of her empire. Her country, and Russia least of all, should atcapital lay close to a sea, or rather lake, which tempt to subjugate another, when it is unable is frozen during one half of the year, in conse- to confer upon it thereby any essential benequence of which all trade is paralyzed. If she fit. With regard to the assertion that Catheturned her attention to the south, she perceived rine's moderation alone delayed her conquest there a thinly scattered population, without arts of Turkey, we differ from the Admiral, and and civilisation, although placed in the centre of great material resources; and there she beheld again another sea, closed not during one half of the year only, but perpetually, another state holding the keys of it. And yet the vital resources possessed by this part of her empire could neither be developed nor put in circulation except by the Black Sea being open. In that case, Russia would have a free communication by the Mediterranean and the Atlantic with the rest of the world-a communication indispensable to her prosperity. Catherine was therefore desirous of removing those obstacles, by uniting to her empire countries which, blest with a genial sky, contained all the elements necessary to the welfare of their inhabitants, who, nevertheless, owing to barbarism and ignorance, were sunk in wretchedness and anarchy. The advantages of this acquisition, contrasted with the evils of an inhospitable climate, and the situation of a capital often threatened with submersion, flattered the policy of Catherine, and had she succeeded in obtaining it, the Greeks would have been delivered from bondage without that effusion of blood which has been Though it little matters now with which subsequently witnessed, Trade, the arts and sciences, would have revived in their ancient of the three northern powers originated the fallen country. To deliver men from slavery partition of Poland, their crime being equal, was her favourite idea, and having met with since all shared in it, we agree with our auinsurmountable obstacles to this design in her thor, that it was not Catherine, but Frederick own country, she would have rejoiced to restore the Great, who first conceived the idea. liberty to the Greeks-a people once free, and Notwithstanding the success of Prussia, durcapable of becoming so again. She would have introduced genuine civilisation into her Turkish dominions, instead of those absurd and ridiculous innovations which only hasten the fall of the Ottoman empire. Her moderation alone delayed the accomplishment of her projects, for no other obstacle could have arrested her, as great Turkish armies constantly fled before a handful of her troops." "Had Poland remained independent and intact, these gigantic schemes (the conquests of Turkey and India) could never have been contemplated by the Czars. Let Russia (the geographical situation of Poland being borne_in mind) be imagined as extending from the Icy Sea to the Crimea, without the Polish provinces on the one hand; and on the other, let Poland be supposed to be re-established, Russia would then at once be cut off from Odessa and Turkey, as well as from all communication with central Europe. Poland has therefore become the conductor of the Czar's power from the north to the east, south and west, and is, in their political system, that which the heart is for the circulation of the blood,-the pulse of a new north.” * ing the seven years' war, that state was com paratively weak, when contrasted with the two neighbouring powers. Frederick and his brother Henry, no less good politicians than great generals, knew well the projects of Austria for recovering the provinces torn from her, and were aware that Russia would fa * Insurrection of Poland, in 1830-31, by S. B. We are willing to give Catherine credit for her good intentions, although with such it Gnorowski. 4 VOL. XXVII. vour them, provided Austria did not oppose her own plans of aggrandizement in the south. In this critical situation, and already deserted by France, they perceived that Prussia could not preserve her rank unless they should succeed in binding her by a common interest with the two other powers, and with this view they conceived the project of the partition of Poland, which once accomplished became the tie of permanent alliance between the three powers. The conduct of Catherine, on that occasion, was very characteristic. When a dispute arose about the respective shares of each party, she put an end to it by dipping her finger in the ink and marking with it on the map the three portions. What had then become of the angel's smile for which she was said to be remarkable? Maria Theresa, on her part, stood with her handkerchief in one hand weeping for Poland, whilst with the sword in the other she divided the land in sections, and took her share. Frederick the Great exulted that Voltaire could no longer liken his state to a pair of gaiters, whilst his brother Henry drew the conclusion, that it would no longer be ridiculed for want of logic. Alas for justice! We cannot help extracting the passage on the character of the unfortunate Polish people, the more interesting from being written by a Russian, to whose candour also it does great honour. Alluding to the insurrection of the Poles in 1830, the Admiral says: "The extreme cruelties exercised upon the Polish nation since the insurrection of 1830, the work of those to whom the government of have no palliation, since that insurrection was the country was entrusted-of the Grand Duke Constantine, half man, half monkey,' and of the grinding oppression of his minions. Yet the Poles are treated as though they had revolted against a wise and legitimate government. We may discern, however, that powerful obstation of this violent state of affairs. The harsh cles will one day arise to prevent the continuatreatment of the Poles only exasperates and disposes them to revolt, and the Russian government must therefore look upon them as a vanguard of the enemy. It is evident, that should Russia engage in a foreign war, her enemies would make good use of the hatred of the Poles terminate a nation, exposes himself to the conse for their oppressors. He who is resolved to exquences of its despair, and his victims, until they are annihilated, will display all that is most sublime in civic virtue. On the other hand, if it is intended that they should constitute a part of the empire, what can the Russian government ultimately gain by endeavouring to weaken them ?" Besides the above causes, which render the amalgamation of the Poles with the Russians a thing impossible, others exist, according to the Admiral, still more powerful, and which cannot be removed, except by the total extirpation of the Polish race. The Admiral is, however, of opinion, that this cannot take place, and it is with pleasure that we quote his words. sians and the Poles are, with regard to their re"It must also be borne in mind, that the Russpective moral characteristics, two races widely different, and that no power can ever fuse them slavery, but they cherish it, and make their together. The Russians not only do not fear boast of it, which is the lowest degree of base "The Poles are one of the finest of the human races; the personal beauty, both of the men and women, is such as can hardly be seen elsewhere. The men possess, in an eminent degree, both physical strength and energy of character. They are generous, hospitable to prodigality, full of noble sentiments, and their manners are those of true chivalry. They are amiable towards their equals, haughty to their vassals; susceptible on the point of honour, and magnificent in their domestic arrangements. Their enthusiasm for liberty and national independence is unbounded, and for these they are ready to venture on the most daring undertak-ness to which men may descend. The Poles, ings. To these qualities may be added the unon the contrary, hold slavery in horror, and pant shakeable constancy they have lately shown in velli is particularly applicable to these two naonly for freedom. The observation of Machiathe midst of misfortunes. The Polish women tions. It is,' says he, as difficult to render free, have great influence over the other sex, and to the beauty of the English and the graces of the made to be free.' Two races of men thus dimen made to be slaves, as to render slaves men French women, they join the highest patriotism. rectly opposed to each other have at length been By their superior education and the power of found in the Russians and Poles. Their respectheir charms, they keep alive in the hearts of tive moral contrasts, acting as a permanent the men the sentiments of honour, independence and patriotism. Civilisation also is more gen- cause, which has thrown the Poles into a false cause, will ultimately overpower the accidental erally developed amongst them than amongst position a state of violent constraint: just as their neighbours. During my sojourn in White the English, a nation independent by nature, long Russia, I knew many gentlemen who, although struggled against all kinds of tyranny with more their country had been for many years subjugatmore correct notions of law and justice, than I ed by Russia, displayed more knowledge, and or less success, until they ultimately obtained, by have subsequently witnessed in the members of ministerial committees and legislative assemblies." Let the Poles too persevere, and equal success perseverance, a government suited to them. awaits them." We rejoice to hear these words of hope from a Russian, for the Admiral is still as twenty-four years' reign, could reproach her for, ever an ardent Russian patriot, as well as an would be, that she left them a series of legitienthusiastic admirer of Catherine. Under mate successors, all more or less affected by the her reign, the Admiral thinks the Poles were opinion on this subject, I may be allowed to give malady of Peter and Paul. In support of my treated with all the regard due to their mis- an extract from the letter written by Prince fortune; but since her death, owing to the Talleyrand to Louis XVIII. from Vienna, on the suspicious policy of her successors, every- 25th January, 1815, to dissuade him from giving thing has been called in question: the rights, his consent to the marriage of the Duc de Berry liberties, and privileges, granted one day, are with a Russian Grand Duchess.swept away the next, and serve only as a pretext for persecution. "Let them hate me, provided they fear me !" Such is, according to him, the maxim of the master of Poland, whose sole ambition is to be formidable to his subjects. "With diadem and sceptre high advanced, The lower still he falls; only supreme In misery." There are two other blemishes in the character of Catherine, which the Admiral endeavours to wipe away-namely, that of having usurped the crown by dethroning and murdering her husband, Peter III.; and that of having purposely neglected the education of Paul, her son and successor. Peter III., though born with good dispositions, which he showed in his sober intervals, plunged, after 'Considering the state of the intellectual facul ties of Peter III., the grandfather of the Grand Duchess, and of Paul I. her father; led by the examples of the late King of Denmark, and of the present reigning Duke of Oldenbourg, and of the unfortunate Gustavus IV., to look upon their deplorable infirmity as a dreadful appendage to the house of Holstein; I cannot but be apprehensive lest it should be introduced by this marriage into the royal family of France, and perhaps be inflicted on the heir of the throne. Shall Russia, who has been unable to establish any of her princesses upon any foreign throne, behold one of them called to that of France? Such a prospect would be, I and I should not wish that M. le Duc de Berry venture to affirm, too much good fortune for her, should thus find himself placed in circumstances of very close relationship with a multitude of princes in the lowest departments of sovereignty.'' With regard to the second charge brought against Catherine, that of having neglected the education of her son Paul, those who are disposed to find fault with all her actions, assume that she did so, in order that the splendour of her reign, like that of the Roman Augustus, might be the better displayed, by being contrasted with the barbarous rule of her Admiral Chichagoff thinks that successor. Catharine was too generous to be capable of conceiving such an idea, and that those who blame her in this respect do not take into consideration the organisation and nature of man. Education may, to a certain extent, develope and improve the natural qualities of a man, but it can neither give him qualities, his accession to the throne, into the most revolting debauchery. This, added to his mania for anti-national innovations, would have rendered his reign ruinous to his country. That révolution de palais-the only revolution possible in Russia-by which he was dethroned, was prepared and consummated by some patriots, and Catherine is said to have kept aloof from all their proceedings, and to have joined them only when her personal interference became indispensable to the final success of the work. She had, too, no alternative but the throne or the tomb; as Peter had determined to shut her up for life in a fortress, and to marry the sister of the Princess Dashkoff. There cannot, therefore, be any question with regard to her pre-Duchesse, chez Paul I. son père; conduit par les tended usurpation of the throne of Russia, the regular succession besides having been in no way determined; which led the famous Caraccioli to say, that the throne of Russia was neither hereditary nor elective, but occupative. "It is also," says the Admiral, " equally true, that the death of Peter III. no more took place by the order of Catherine, than that of Paul by the order of his sons. The imminence of a real or imaginary danger, which struck on the mind of some of the conspirators, was the sole moving cause in both cases. The only thing which the Russians, who derived so much benefit from the change during Catherine's * "Ici considerant quel fut l'état des facultés intellectuelles chez Pierre III., aïcul de la Grande exemples du feu Roi de Denemarck, du Duc actuellement regnant d'Oldenbourg, et du malheureux Gustave IV. à regarder leur deplorable infirmité comme une funeste appui de la maison de Holstein; transportée par ce mariage, dans la maison de je ne puis me defendre d'apprehender qu'elle ne fût France, et peut être à l'heritier du trône. La Russie, qui n'a pu placer aucune des ses princesses sur aucun tronc, en verra-t-elle une appellée à celui de France ? Une telle perspective serait, j'ose le dire, point, que M. le Duc de Berry se trouvât de la une trop grande fortune pour elle, et je n'aimerai sorte dans des rapports de parenté fort étroits avec une foule de princes placés dans les dernières divisions de la souveraineté."-Memoires tirés des papiers d'un homme d'état sur les causes secrètes, qui ont determiné, la politique des cabinets dans les guerres de la Revolution. Paris, 1838. |