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

8VIEWS OF THE PRESENT EMPEROR.

them to a trick of jugglery, executed more or less adroitly.

The present emperor has, with his sound judgment and his clear apprehension, perceived the shoal, but will he be able to avoid it ? More than the strength of Peter the Great is necessary to remedy the evil caused by that first corrupter of the Russians.

At the present time, the difficulty is of a double character; the mind of the peasant remains rude and barbarous, while his habits and his disposition cause him to submit to restraint. At the same time the false refinement of the nobles contravenes the national character, upon which all attempt to ennoble the people can alone be built. What a complication ! Who will unloose this modern gordian knot ?

I admire the Emperor Nicholas. A man of genius can alone accomplish the task he has imposed upon himself; he has seen the evil, he has formed an idea of the remedy, and he is endeavouring to apply it.

But can one reign suffice to eradicate evils which were implanted a century and a half ago ? The mischief is so deeply rooted, that it strikes even the eye of strangers the least attentive, and that too in a country where every one conspires to deceive the traveller.

In travelling in Russia, a light and superficial mind may feed itself with illusions ; but whoever has his eyes open, and adds to some little power of observation an independent humour, will be presented with a continued and painful labour, which consists in discovering and discerning, at every point, the struggle between two nations carried on in one community. These two nations arc — Russia as she is,