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

submission, in short, which forms the rule of conduct among all, whether heads or subordinates, who carry on the administration of affairs in Russia. The unity of action observable in this government astounds me. I admire while I shudder, in noticing the tacit accord with which both superior and inferior employes act in making war against ideas and even events. At the time, this sentiment made me as impatient to leave the fortress of Schlusselburg as I had been eager to enter it. I began to fear lest I should become by force one of the inmates of that abode of secret tears and unknown sorrows. In my ever-increasing sense of its oppressive influence, I longed only for the physical pleasure of walking and breathing beyond its limits. I forgot that the country into which I should return was in itself a prison ; a prison whose vast size only makes it the more formidable.

A Russian fortress ! — this word produces on the imagination an impression very different to that which is felt in visiting the strongholds of people really civilised, sincerely humane. The puerile precautions taken in Russia to hide what are called secrets of state confirms me, more than would open acts of barbarity, in the idea that this government is nothing more than a hypocritical tyranny.

After having myself penetrated into a Russian state prison, and found there the impossibility of speaking of things which every stranger would naturally inquire about in such a place, I argue with mvsclf that such dissimulation must serve as mask to a profound inhumanity : it is not that which is commendable that people conceal with so much care.

I am assured, on good authority, that the sub-