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

Nevertheless this doctrine, with whatever moderation it be propounded, passes for seditious in Petersburg;. The Russians of our times are therefore the worthy children of the subjects of Ivan IV. This is one of the reasons which induce me to present a short summary of his reign. The reader need not fear being wearied : never was there a stranger history. That madman may be said to have overstepped the limits of the sphere wherein the creature lias received from God, under the name of free will, íi permission to do evil; never has the arm of man stretched so far. The brutal ferocity of Ivan IV. would chill Tiberius, Nero, Caracalla, Louis XI., Peter the Cruel, Richard III., Henry VIII., and all other tyrants, ancient or modern, together with their most impartial judges, Tacitus at their head, with horror.

Before describing some of the details of his incredible excesses, I feel, therefore, the more called upon to assert my accuracy. I shall cite nothing from memory, for, in commencing this journey, I filled my carriage with the books that will aid my task ; and the principal source whence I have drawn is Karamsin, an author who cannot be objected to by the Russians, for he is reproached with having softened rather than exaggerated the facts unfavourable to the renown of his nation. A prudence so extreme as to approach to partiality is the fault of this author. Every Russian writer is a courtier: Karamsin was one. Of this I find the proof in a little pamphlet, published by another courtier, Prince Wiasemski, and describing the conflagration of the winter-palace at Petersburg—a description which forms one continued eulogy