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

FORM OF GOVERNMENT.295

of the slain; whilst, on the other hand, the excesses of this iniquitous power remain carefully concealed so long as it maintains itself; for its first aim is to ítifîe the cries of its victim: it exterminates, hut avoids lightly wounding; and applauds itself for its mercy in having recourse to none save indispensable cruelties. But its boasting is hypocritical: when the prison is as silent and closely shut as the tomb, there is no mercy in saving from the scaffold.

I left France scared by the abuses of a false liberty; I return to my country persuaded that, if logically speaking, representative government is not the most moral, it is, practically, the most wise and moderate, preserving the people on one side from democratic licence, and on the other from the most glaring abuses of despotism: I therefore ask myself if we ought not to impose a silence upon our antipathies, and submit without murmur to a necessary policy, and one which, after all, brings to nations prepared for it more good than evil. It is true that hitherto this new and wise form of government has only been able to establish itself by usurpation. Perhaps these final usurpations have been rendered inevitable by preceding errors. This is a religious question, which time, the wisest of God's ministers upon earth, will resolve to our posterity. I am here reminded of the profound idea of one of the most enlightened and cultivated intellects in Germany, M. Varnhagen von der Ense:

" I have often laboured," he wrote to mc one day, " to discover who were the prime movers of revolutions ; and, after thirty years' meditation, I have come to the conclusion that my earliest opinion was О 4