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

10INFLUENCE OF FEAR ON SOCIETY.

an Asiatic people : " at the same time they think in their hearts, " we would gladly dispense with talking liberalism and philanthropy, we should then be more happy and more strong, but we have to do with the governments of Europe."

The Russians of all classes conspire with an unanimity which is extraordinary in causing duplicity to triumph among themselves. They have a dexterity in lying, a natural proneness to deceit, which is revolting. Things that I admire elsewhere, I hate here, because I find them too dearly paid for; order, patience, calmness, elegance, respectfulness, the natural and moral relations which ought to exist between those who conceive and those who execute, in short, all that gives a worth and a charm to well-organised societies, all that gives a meaning and an object to poHtical institutions, is lost and confounded here in one single sentiment — that of fear. In Russia, fear replaces, that is, paralyses thought. This sentiment when it reigns alone can never produce more than the appearances of civilisation ; whatever short-sighted legislators may say, fear will never be the moving influence of a well organised society ; it is not order, it is the veil of chaos; where liberty is wanting, there soul and truth must be wanting also. Russia is a body without life, a colossus which subsists only by its bead; and whose members, all equally deprived of force, languish ! Thence arises a profound inquietude, an inexpressible uneasiness, an uneasiness which does not, like that of the new French révulutionnaires, arise from a vagueness of ideas, from abuses, from the satiety of material prosperity, or the jealousies which a combination of