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

the sweat fell from his brow ; and when I expressed my surprise to him, (Ah, Monsieur le Baron,' he replied, e гее serve our sovereign in a manner altogether different from that in which you serve yours'

" I cannot say whether it is the character of the Russian nation which has formed such autocrats, or whether it is the autocrats themselves who have given this character to the nation."

This letter, written more than three centuries ago, describes the Russians precisely as I now see them. Like the ambassador of Maximilian, I still ask, is it the character of the Russian which has made the autocracy, or is it the autocracy which has made the Russian character ? and I can no more solve the question than could the German diplomatist.

It appears to me, however, that the influence is reciprocal : the Russian government could never have been established elsewhere than in Russia; and the Russians would never have become what they are under a government differing from that which exists among them.

I wTill add another citation from the same author, Karamsin. He repeats the observations of the travellers who visited Muscovy in the sixteenth century. " Is it surprising, say these strangers, that the grand prince is rich ? He neither gives money to his troops nor his ambassadors ; he even takes from these last all the costly things they bring back from foreign lands.* It was thus that the Prince Yaroslowsky, on his return from Spain, was obliged to place in the

* Dickens, in his Travels through the United States, informs us that the same practice is at this day observed in America.