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

ГНЕ EMPEROK.57

that earth may urge against heaven. If my dog is hurt, it is to me that he comes for the cure of his wound; if God afflicts the Russians, they immediately call upon their czar. This prince, wTho is responsible for nothing in politics, must answer for every thing in Providence; a natural consequence of man's usurpation of the rights of God. A man who allows himself to be considered as more than a mortal, takes upon himself all the evil that heaven may send upon earth during his reign. There results from this species of political fanaticism, a susceptibility, and jealous delicacy of which no idea can be formed in other lands. Nevertheless, the secrecy which policy believes it necessary to maintain on the subject of misfortunes the least dependent upon human will, fails in its object, inasmuch as it leaves the field open to imagination. Every one relates the same transaction differently, according to his interest, his fears, his ambition, or his humour; according to his situation at court, or his position in the world. Hence it is, that truth, in Petersburg is an imaginary thing, just as it has become in France, although from different eauses. An arbitrary censorship and an unlimited liberty may lead to the same results, and render impossible the verification of the most simple fact.

Thus, some say that there Avere only tliirty persons who perished the day before yesterday, while others speak of twelve hundred, others of two thousand, and others again of one hundred and fifty. Imagine the uncertainty in which every thing must be involved, when the circumstances of an event that took place, as it were, under our eyes, will always remain D 5