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

298REASONS FOR NOT RETURNING

friend; and had scarcely set foot on the deck of the English vessel, which was about to weigh anchor, when he threw himself into his companion's arms, exclaiming, " God be praised, we may now breathe freely and speak openly !"

Many people have, doubtless, felt the same sensation : but why has no traveller before recorded it ? Here, without comprehending, I marvel at the prestige which the Russian government exercises over minds. It obtains silence, not only from its own subjects — that were little, — but it makes itself respected, even ît a distance, by strangers escaped from its iron discipline. The traveller either praises it or is silent: this is a mystery which I cannot comprehend. If ever the publication of tins journey should procure me an explanation of the marvel, I shall have additional reason to applaud myself for my sincerity.

I had purposed returning from Petersburg into Germany, by way of `Wilna and Warsaw; but I changed that project.

Miseries like those which Poland suffers cannot be attributed entirely to fatality: in prolonged misfortunes, we may always look to faults as well as to circumstances. To a certain point, nations, like individuals, become accomplices in the fate which pursues them ; they appear accountable for the reverses which, blow after blow, they have to suffer: for, to attentive eyes, destinies arc only the development of characters. On perceiving the result of the errors of a people p\mished with so much severity, I might not be able to abstain from reflections of which I should repent. To represent their case to the oppressors would be a task we should impose upon our-