THE MARQUIS DE CUSTINE'S EMPIRE OF THE CZAR.

THE Marquis DE CUSTINE is a member of the old noblesse, and was born during that Revolution which destroyed the power of his class. His fither and grandfather perished on the scaffold under the Reign of Terror : his mother narrowly escaped the same fate ; having been confined in prison for several months, when the death of ROBESPIERRE saved her life without im- mediately restoring her to liberty ; and young DE CUSTINE was preserved in a kitchen by an old nurse of the family. A dislike to democracy, and a distrust of popular power however checked or guided, was therefore with the Marquis not merely a principle but an instinct. A sort of sentimental Catholicism, dazzled by the splendour and pretension of the Romish Church yet not blind to the misconduct of the Romish clergy, strengthened this opinion ; which the Revolution of 1830, and the existing state of parties and society in France, still further confirmed. The Marquis DE CUSTINE went to Russia prepared to admire the order maintained by an absolute government and an active despotism. At first he was rather taken by the magnificence of the Court, and the artful partiality shown to himself by the Emperor, the Empress, and the Grand Duke; but as soon as he had time to look about him and penetrate below the surface of things, he changed his opinion and became a constitutionalist.

"In France," says he at the conclusion of his work, " I had imagined myself in accord with these rigorous disciplinarians [who call a bard tyranny, "respect for unity" and" love of order"]; but since I have lived under a des- potism which imposes military rule upon the population of an entire empire, I admit that I prefer a little of the disorder which announces vigour, to the perfect order which destroys life."

Such are the political traits of M. DE CUSTINE: in his literary characteristics he is an accomplished Frenchman,—given to re- flection and reverie, prone to endow ordinary things with the glittering hues of a brilliant imagination, and not only addicted to seeing through a millstone but prompt to find a good deal more in the stone itself than common observers suppose to be there. He has also, like some talkers one encounters, the habit of dressing up commonplace sentiments in a pompous guise, and uttering them with an air as if they were discoveries; where his personal vanity or a pointed paragraph are in the way, it may be doubted how far his invention influences his narrative ; and, bent upon the brilliant or the philosophical, he is not at all times con- sistent with himself, though some of the inconsistency may be attri- buted to two other causes—the gradual modification of his first im- pressions, and the anomalous nature of the country he was examining. Still, despite of all drawbacks, M. DE CUSTINE has exhibited some new views on Russia, and in a striking and attractive way. To the Frenchman's sparkling vivacity of manner he adds his skill in seizing upon the incidents of action, the features of character, or the points of things, and presenting them with an attractive or im- posing effect ; though the reality might appear different from the picture in English eyes. The aristocratical opinions of M. Da CUSTINE also impart a character to his sentiments; as his polite- ness refines his taste, and gives ND air of decorum to his morals, without modifying his French confidence. His family remini- scences enable him to tell a variety of anecdotes connected with the Revolution; and though they have no relation to Russia, they give interest and variety to a long-winded work. The travels of M. DE CUSTINE, in the usual sense of the word, begin at Lubeck on the Baltic, and extend to the Volga ; but his observations, conveyed in the form of letters, are principally confined to St. Petersburg and Moscow. In point of matter, there is not much of absolute novelty. Korn, equals him in painting the external features of streets and population, and we suspect excels him in accuracy ; whilst Lord LosnosnEssit and a few other English travellers have had nearly the same opportuni- ties of seeing the Emperor and the Court. The chief novelty of The Empire of the Czar consists in the views of the author, and in the peculiarity his own character imparts to his writings. After every allowance is made for the rhetorical nature of the writer and his natural tendency to philosophize on insufficient data, M. DE CUSTINE'S picture of Russia is dark enough ; and the shades deepen with each succeeding epistle. The conclusion we have more than once drawn from the description of travellers, as to the buildings and showy evidences of material prosperity, is ex- tended by our author to every thing in Russia. All is forced and artificial; borrowed, imitated, filched from other countries, and transplanted into an uncongenial soil, where material things—as architecture—are ill suited to the climate; and manners, in the widest sense of the term, are not adapted to the character of the people. We have formerly noted this incongruity in the con- trast between the forms and material of their buildings, or in their magnitude as compared with their uses,—antique structures in painted wood or coloured plaster ; customhouses and quays fit for the commerce of London or Liverpool, without the trade of a fifth- rate commercial port. According to M. Ds CUSTINE' this con- trast obtains throughout. The great, including the ladies, are splendid in public and slatternly dirty in private—more than reali- zing Scoxis description of foreigners, " fine waistcoats over dirty shirts "—splendid Jewels, magnificent dresses, immense palaces, troops of servants, and gorgeous furniture, but the appointments incomplete even to Asiatic meanness, the servants filthy, and their peisons as well as the rooms of' their masters swarming with vermin to a degree which seems incredible. The boasted readiness and ability of the Russians the Marquis rates equally low. He does not deny it, but he considers it no more than an imitative faculty, or an impressibility to present circumstances, that renders them engagingly polite for the passing moment, but as they have no depth or feeling, it is literally "out of sight out of mind," unless they have some interested motive in view. Their claim to any reach of thought or strength of genius our author refuses, on the sufficient ground of their want of literature or native creations either in art or philosophy. He even denies lingual qualities— not to the diplomatists, but to the people : their difficult language, he says, gives them a facility in pronunciation, which they parade ; but they have merely a smattering of language,—though French is the common tongue of the upper classes. Tact is the national quality.

"Among all the intelligent faculties, the only one that is here valued is that of tact. Imagine a whole nation bending under the yoke of this drawing-room virtue ; picture to your minds an entire people prudent as a diplomatist who has yet his fortune to make; and you will compass the idea of the substance and worth of conversation in Russia. If the atmosphere of the Court oppresses us even when at the Court, how unfriendly to life must it not be when it pursues us into the very retirement of the family circle."

At first the Marquis DE CUSTINE was taken with the Emperor. Further observation, and some stories of cold-blooded cruelty that came to his ears, qualified his admiration. Of the government he speaks in terms of great disgust. The power of the aristocracy is destroyed : the government is a pure autocracy, so far as any autocrat can govern ; but as no man can attend to sixty millions of people, the government of Russia is really a tyranny of a bureau- cracy, the bulk of which are adventurers without birth or prin- ciple, whose pay is insufficient for their support, whose social ex- istence depends upon the Emperor, and whose profit and safety consist in deceiving him. Of the boasted order of Russia he has some doubts : terror enchains the tongue, and the government prevents publicity ; but provincial disturbances frequently arise from the oppression of the serfs, who when goaded beyond endur- ance revolt, roast their masters and families and burn their houses. From these and other circumstances, the Marquis foresees the pos- sibility of a revolution at some time, in which the serfs should form the soldiers, and the lower order of officials the leaders of a Russian reign of terror.

In the picture painted by the Marquis DR CusTrivs there is, no doubt, the exaggeration and the rhetorically erroneous conclusions to be expected from the character we have endeavoured to portray. But in some essential points his deductions agree remarkably with those that may be drawn from other writers ; and the coincidence is the more trustworthy inasmuch as the character of the writers and the facts which they narrate have no resemblance to each other.

Our extracts will be taken as specimens of the author rather than of the book ; which, from its discursive character, must be read at large to be properly understood. The extracts, how- ever, will bear upon the general characteristics of the Russians as a people, rather than upon particular incidents or individual features.

NICHOLAS AS EMPEROR.

It is easy to perceive that the Emperor cannot fora single instant forget what he is, nor the constant attention which he excites ; he studies attitude inces- santly,—from whence it results that he is never natural, not even when he is sincere. He has three expressions, not one of which is that of simple bene- volence. The most habitual appears to be that of severity. Another, though rarer expression, suits perhaps better his fine face—it is that of solemnity; a thhd is that of politeness, in which are mixed some shades of gentleness and grace, that serve to temper the chill produced by the two former. But not- withstanding this grace, there is still something which injures the moral influ- ence of the man: it is, that each expression is assumed or cast off at will, without the least trace of one remaining to modify the one next adopted. For such change we are not prepared, and it therefore appears like a mask, that can be put on or off at pleasure. Let not my meaning of the word mask be misunderstood; I employ it according to its strict etymology. In Greek, hypocrite means an actor ; the hypocrite was a man who masked himself to perform a play. I would only say, then, that the Emperor is always engaged in acting his part.

Hypocrite or actor are ill.sounding words, especially in the mouth of one who professes to be impartial and respectful. But it appears to me that, to intelligent readers, (and it is only such that I address,) words are nothing rn themselves ; their importance depends upon the sense that is given to them. I do not say that the physiognomy of this prince lacks candour, but it lacks natural expression. Thus, the chief evil under which Russia suffers, the absence of liberty, is depicted even on the countenance of its sovereign : be has many masks, but no face. Seek for the man, and you still always find the Emperor. RUSSIA, ITS COUNTRY, CLASSES, AND LIFE.

Russia is a book the table of whose contents is magnificent; but beware of going further. If you turn over the leaves, you will find no performance an- swering to the promise : all the chapters are headed, but all have to be filled up. How many of the Russian forests are only marshes, where you will never cut a fagot; bow many distant regiments are there without men, and cities and roads which exist only in project. The nation itself is as yet nothing more than a puff placarded upon Europe, dupe of a diplomatic fiction. I have found here no real life except that of the Emperor's ; no constitution except that of the Court.

The tradespeople, who ought to form a middle class, are too few in number to possess any influence in the state ; besides, they are almost all foreigners. The authors amount to one or two in each generation; the artists are like the authors—their scarcity causes them to be esteemed; but though this favours their personal prospects, it is injurious to their secial influence. There are no legal pleaders in a country where there is no justice : where, then, is to be found that middle class which constitutes the strength of other states, and without which the people is only a flock, guided by a few well-trained watch-dogs ? I have not mentioned another class of men who are not to be reckoned either among the great or the little. These are the sons of the priests, who almost all become subaltern employes—the commissioners and deputies who are the plagues of Russia. They form a species of obscure noblesse, very hostile to the great nobles ; a noblesse whose spirit is anti-aristocratic in the true po- litical signification of the word, and who at the same time are very burdensome to the serfs. These are the men (inconvenient to the state, and fruits of the schism which permits the priests to marry) who will commence the approach-

ing revolution of Russia. • • This empire, immense as it is, is no more than a prison, of which the Empe- ror keeps the key. Nothing can exceed the misery of the subjects, unless it be that of the prince. The life of the gaoler has always appeared to me so similar to that of the prisoner, that I am astonished at the mental illusion which makes the one believe himself so much less to be pitied than the other.

DUPING THE GREAT.

The Emperor Nicholas extends his reforms even to the language of those who surround him; he requires Russian to be spoken at court. The greater number of the women of the highest circles, especially those who have been born at Petersburg, are ignorant of their native language ; but they learn a few Russian phrases, which they utter through obedience to the Emperor, when he passes into the saloons of the palace where their duties may retain them. One of them acts always as a sentinel, to announce to the others, by some conventional sign, the arrival of the Monarch; on whose appearance French conversation immediately ceases, and Russian phrases, destined to flatter the Imperial ear, are heard on every side. The Prince observes, with self-com- placency, the extent of his power as a reformer ; and the fair rebels begin to laugh as soon as he has passed.

SIGHT-SEEING IN RUSSIA.

Nothing can be seen here without ceremony and preparation. Russian hospitality is so edged round with formalities as to render life unpleasant to the most favoured strangers. It is a civil pretext for restraining the movements of the traveller, and for limiting the freedom of his observations. Owing to the fastidious politeness exercised in doing the honours of the land, the observer can inspect nothing without a guide; never being alone, he has the greater difficulty in forming his judgment upon his own spontaneous impressions; and this is what is desired. To enter Russia, you must, with your passport, deposit also your right of opinion on the frontier. Would you see the curiosities of a palace, they give you a chamberlain, with whom you are obliged to view every thing, and indiscriminately to admire all that he admires ; would you survey a camp, an officer, sometimes a general officer, accompanies you ; if it be an hospital, the head-surgeon escorts you; a fortress, the governor, in person, shows it, or rather politely conceals it from you ; a school, or any other public institution the director or the inspector must be previously apprized of your visit, and you find him under arms, prepared to brave your examina- tion if an edifice the architect himself leads you over the whole building, and explains to you all that you do not care to know, in order to avoid informing you on points which you would take interest in knowing: All tide Orientalceremony leads people to renounce seeing many things, were it only to avoid the trouble of soliciting admissions: this is the first advantage gained. But if curiosity is hardy enough to persist in importuning official personages, it is at least so carefully watched in its perquisitions that they end an nothing. You must communicate officially with the heads of the so-called public establishments; and you obtain no other permission than that of ex- pressing before the legitimate authorities the admiration which politeness, prudence, and a gratitude of which the Russians are very jealous, demand. They refuse you nothing, but they accompany you everywhere : politeness be- comes a pretext for maintaining a watch over you.

THE NARA AVIS OF RUSSIA.

On first entering the city of Moscow, I forgot poetry, and even history : I thought only of what I saw; which was not very striking, for I found myself in streets similar to those in the outskirts of all great cities. I crossed a boule- vard which resembled other boulevards, and then, after driving down a gentle descent, found myself among straight and handsome lines of houses, built of stone. At last I reached the Dmitriskoi Street ; where a handsome and coin- fortable chamber had been engaged for me in an excellent English hotel. I had, at Petersburg, been commended to Madame Howard, who without this introduction would not have received me into her house. I took care not to reproach her for being so scrupulous, for it is owing to this precaution that one can sleep comfortably in her establishment. The means by which she has succeeded in maintaining in it a cleanliness rarely seen anywhere, and which ii an absolute miracle in Russia, is the having had erected, in her court-yard, a separate building, in which the Russian servants are obliged to sleep. These men never enter the principal edifice except to wait upon their masters. In her judicious precautions Madame Howard goes yet further ; she will scarcely admit any Russian guest.

THE ROADS AND THE PROSPECTS.

If we are to believe the Russians, all their roads are good daring the summer- season, even those that are not the great high-ways. I find them all bad. A read full of inequalities, sometimes as broad as a field, sometimes extremely narrow, passes through beds of sand, in which the horses plunge above their knees, lose their wind, break their traces, and refuse to draw at every twenty yards : if these are passed, you soon plunge into pools of mud, which conceal huge stones and enormous stumps of trees, that are very destructive to the carriages. Such are the roads of this country, except during seasons when they become absolutely impassable ; when the extreme of cold renders travelling dangerous; when storms of snow bury the country; orwhen floods, produced by the thaw, transform, for about three months in the year, the low plains into lakes—namely, for about six weeks after summer, and for as many after the winter-season; the rest of the year they continue marshes. The landscape remains the same. The villages still present the same double line of small wood houses, more or less ornamented with painted carvings, with their gable always facing the street, and flanked with a kind of enclosed court, or large shed open on one side. The country still continues the same monotonous though undulating plain, sometimes marshy, sometimes sandy ; a few fields, wide pasture-ranges bounded by forests of fir, now at a distance, now close upon the road, sometimes well grown, more frequently scattered and stunted : such is the aspect of all those vast regions. Here and there is to be seen a country- house, or large and mansion-like fared, to which an avenue of birch-trees forms the approach. These are the manor-houses, or residences of the proprietors of the land; and the traveller welcomes them on the road as he would an oasis in the desert.

The Marquis DE CUSTINE was present at the marriage of the Grand Dutchess to the Duke of LEUCHTENBERG ; and from his description of the Emperor's conduct on that and some other occasions, his Majesty would appear to be more of a master of the ceremonies than a sovereign.

IMPERIAL ETIQUETTE AT CHURCH.

The Emperor himself appeared to me aot mach accustomed to what was passing before him ; for he was continually leaving his prayers, and slipping from one aide to the other, in order to remedy the omissions of etiquette among his children, or the clergy. This proves, that in Russia, even the Court has not finished its education. His son-in-law was not placed quite conveniently ; whereupon he made him shift his position by about two feet. The Grand Dutchess, the priests themselves, and all the great functionaries of the Court, seemed to be governed by his minute but supreme directions. I felt that it would have been more dignified to leave things as they were; and I could have wished that when once in the chapel God only had been thought of, and each man had been left to acquit himself of his functions, without his master so scrupulously rectifying each little fault of religious discipline or of court ce- remonial: but in this singular country the absence of liberty is seen every- where—it is found even at the foot of the altar.