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

author's preface.xvii

I may be accused of having prejudices, but I shall never be reproached with intentionally disguising the truth.

The descriptions of Avhat I saw were made upon the spot, the recitals of what I heard each day were committed to paper on the same evening. Thus, my conversations with the Emperor, given word for word in the ensuing chapters, cannot fail to possess a species of interest: that of exactitude. They will also serve, I hope, to render this prince, so differently viewed among us and throughout Europe, better known.

The chapters that follow were not all destined for the public. Several of the early ones were written as purely confidential letters. Fatigued with writing, but not with travelling, I resolved, this time, to observe without any methodical plan, and to keep my descriptions for my friends. The reasons that decided me to publish the whole will be seen in the course of the work.

The principal one was the feeling that my views were daily modified by the examination to which I subjected a state of society absolutely new to me. It struck me that in speaking the truth of Russia, I should be doing something bold and novel: hitherto, fear and interest have dictated exaggerated eulogies; hatred has also published calumnies: I am not afraid of making wreck either on the one rock or the other.

I went to Russia to seek for arguments against re-presentative government, I return a partisan of constitutions. A mixed government is not the most favourable to action; but in their old age, nations have less need of acting: this government is the one

.