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

The Emperor Nicholas did not devise this imposition ; and such being the case, it would be the more worthy of him to abolish it. Yet it must be owned, that nothing is abolished in Eussia without peril. The people who want the guarantees of law, are protected only by those of custom. An obstinate attachment to usages, which are upheld by insurrection and poison, is one of the bases of the constitution, and the periodical death of sovereigns proves to the Russians that this constitution knows how to make itself respected. The equilibrium of such a machine is to me a deep and painful mystery.

In point of magnificent decorations, and of picturesque assemblage of the costumes of all ranks, the fete at Peterhoff cannot be too highly extolled. Nothing that I had read, or that had been related to me concerning it, gave me any adequate idea of this fairy scene; the imagination was surpassed by the reality.

The reader must picture to himself a palace built upon a terrace, the height of which seems that of a mountain in a land of plains extending farther than the eye can reach : a country so flat that, from an elevation of sixty feet, the vision may sweep over an immense horizon. At the foot of this imposing structure lies a vast park, which terminates only with the sea, on whose bosom may be descried a line of vessels of war, which were illuminated on the evening of the fete. This illumination was general; the fire blazed and extended, like a conflagration, from the groves and terraces of the palace to the waves of the Gulf of Finland. In the park, the lamps produced the effect of daylight. The trees в 2