Russia in 1839 -Empire of the Czar: A Journey Through Eternal Russia

ENQUIRY INTO THEIR MOTIVES.207

for what it principally requires, at whatever cost, is silence. The political state of Russia may be defined in one sentence: it is a country in which the government says what it pleases, because it alone has the right to speak. Thus, in the case before us, the government says — Such is the law — obey it; but, nevertheless, the mutual accord of interested parties annuls the action of this law in that iniquitous portion of it which could be applied to old debts. In a country where the governing power is patient, it would not have exposed the honest man to the danger of being deprived of his due by thieves : in justice, the law can only regulate the future. And, indeed, theory apart, such is the result here ; but to obtain it, it was necessary that the sense and good management of the subjects should be opposed to the blind impetuosity of the authorities, in order to escape the evils which would otherwise be entailed on the country by these freaks of supreme power.

There exists in all governments built on exaggerated theories, a concealed action, a de-facto influence, which nearly ahvays opposes the extravagant doctrine adopted. The Russians possess in a high degree the spirit of commerce, which will explain how it was that the merchants of the fair perceived that the real tradesman thrives only by acting, and by being able to act, in confidence, — every sacrifice of credit is a loss to him of cent, per cent. Nor was this all; another influence checked bad faith, and made blind cupidity silent. The temptation that might have been felt by the insolvent would be repressed purely by fear—that real sovereign of Russia. On this occasion, the evil-: intentioned will have thought that if they exposed