15 MARCH 1856, Page 15

CONSTANTINE ON DICTION.

Tim Grand Duke Constantine has set out on a mission which may be the redemption of his country—the discovery of "the truth.' As High Admiral of Russia, he issues an admonition which must fall like a bombshell in the bureaux of his department, the Ad- miralty. He proclaims that he will no longer tolerate "the of- ficial he so common among us," the Russians. He wants to know how matters actually are ; but "among our official phraseology," he says, "truth has no place " ; and he finds it impossible to ex- - tract truth out of fiction. " Oast a glance at the annual reports and accounts, and you will find that everyivliere the greatest possible amount of work has been executed ; in every direction progress has been made ; everywhere have the prescribed works advanced, if not with excessive haste, yet at least in due relation to the exigencies of the case. But when you come to look closer at the actual state of things, to examine into them, to divest them of all false colouring, to separate what really is from what only appears to be, to distinguish the true from the false or the only half-true there will seldom be left any positive and beneficial result,—on the surface speciousness, beneath it cor- ruption."

Constantine will have no more of this : reports "that must be read between the lines" he will return. "I do not look for enco- iniums, but the truth, and above all a frank statement that goes to the pith of the matter."

Now what does this mean ? Is it sincere ? If sincere today, will it be so tomorrow ? How will Russian employes adopt the new manner of the Imperial artist? All these are serious ques- tions. If Constantine is in earnest, the true greatness of Russia begins with the date of his letter to Vice-Admiral von Wrangel— the 7th of December 1855. But what a revolution will he require in the very composition of the Russian public service ! Of all public services, it appears from every account to partake most the character of diplomacy ; of which it is the grand boast to produce compositions that are to be "read between the lines.' Every student of the new manner must be courageous as well as intelli- gent, for how can he foresee the effect of telling the Czar "the actual state of things " ; that vessels are half-manned, officers in- competent, ships sunk, their timbers rotten, and the navy which is .powerful on paper a corpse in fact ? Do Czars habitually rehshreports of that kind ? The late Emperor is understood to _Is have d' liked every account that was disagreeable ; and it is more than probable that half of the first Napoleon's motive in telling Joseph to lie indefinitely was dictated by the instinctive aversion to disagreeable truth. Constantine may be a philosopher, but prinoes oftener ape philosophy than carry it out; and how are the herd of civil servants to recognize the miraculous exception ? And how are they to report their own non-successes ? The Czars have picketed over the globe a scattered army of agents to serve Russian interests and report what is going on. How can the most absolute of princes expect that one of these agents shall write home—" Dread Sire I can learn nothing authentic : I can bring nobody of any worth over to my views of foreign policy; the only recruits I get are among the unsettled, uninfluential mal- contents found in every country ; in a word, the agency at this place is utterly useless." It is not in human nature to do it. The only way to abolish the lying is to abolish the liars. Constantine could not finish that work ; but if he begins, Ras sia will indeed take the start of this majestic world, and become an example where she has been a warning.