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

THE TASK OP THE AUTH01í,325

powerful nobleman. In this instance, the encomium on the sovereign appeared to me as a satire upon the community. The too-highly boasted fact proved to me positively that equity is only an exception in Russia.

Every thing duly considered, I would by no means advise obscure men to act in reliance upon the success of the person thus instanced, who was favoured perhaps to assure impunity to the usual coiirse of injustice, and to furnish a specimen of equity which the dispensers of the law were in need of, to serve as a reply to reproaches of servility and corruption.

Another fact, which suggests an inference little favourable to the Russian judiciary, is, that there should be so little litigation in the country. The reason is not obscure ; people would more often have recourse to justice if the judges were more equitable. A similar reason accounts for there being no fighting or quarrelling in the streets. A dread of chains and dungeons is the consideration which usually restrains the two parties.

Notwithstanding the melancholy picüires that I draw, two inanimate objects, and one living person, are worth the trouble of the journey. The Neva of Petersburg during the nightless season, the Kremlin of Moscow by moonlight, and the Emperor of Russia: these include picturesque, historical, and political Riissia; beyond them, every thing is fatiguing and wearisome to a degree that may be judged of by the preceding chapters.

Many of my friends have already written to advise me not to publish them.

As I was preparing to leave Petersburg, a Russian