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

SILK MANUFACTORIES.37

to brave them; and on this opinion the reader will perceive I act.

Moscow prides herself on the progress of her manufactures. The Russian silks here contend with those of both East and West. The merchant-quarter, the Kitaigorod, as well as the street called the Bridge of the Marshals, where the most elegant shops are found, are reckoned among the curiosities of the city. If I mention them it is because I think that the efforts of the Russians to free themselves from the tribute which they pay to the industry of other nations, may produce important political consequences in Europe. The liberty that reigns in Moscow is illusive ; yet it cannot be denied that in its streets there are men who appear to move spontaneously, who think and act under an impulse of their own. Moscow is in this respect very different from Petersburg. Among the causes of the difference, I place in the first rank the vast extent and the varied surface of the territory in the midst of which it stands. Space and inequality (I here take this word in all its acceptations) are the elements of liberty ; for absolute equality is the synonyme of tyranny, though it is the minority who may be placed under the yoke : liberty and equality exclude each other by means of reserves and combinations, more or less abstruse, which neutralise the effect of things while preserving their names.

Moscow remains almost buried in the midst of a country of which it is the capital: hence the seal of originality impressed upon its buildings, the air of liberty which distinguishes its inhabitants, and the little inclination of the Czars for a residence whose