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

190ANGER OF THE COMMANDANT.

in a part of the fortress then occupied by state prisoners.

The excuse was legitimate; I had expected it; but what surprised me was the wrath of the commandant. Whether it was that he understood French better than he spoke it, or that he had only feigned ignorance of our language, he severely reprimanded my guide, whose indiscretion, he added, would some day ruin him. This, the latter, annoyed with the lecture he had received, found a favourable opportunity of telling me, stating also that the governor had warned him, in a very significant manner, to abstain henceforward from speaking of public affairs, and from introducing foreigners into state prisons. This engineer has all the equalities necessary to constitute a good Russian ; but he is young, and does not yet understand the mysteries of his trade — it is not of his profession as an engineer that I speak.

I found it was necessary to yield; I was the weakest, and therefore, owning myself vanquished, I renounced the hope of visiting the room where the unhappy heir of the throne of Russia died imbecile, because it was found more convenient to make him an idiot than an emperor. I cannot sufficiently express my astonishment at the manner in which the Russian government is served by its agents. I remember the countenance of the minister of Avar, the first time that I ventured to testify a wish to visit a castle that had become historical by a crime committed in the times of the Empress Elizabeth ; and I compare, with a wonder mixed with fear, the disorder of ideas that reigns among us, with the absence of all private views, of all personal opinion — the blind