Arrival in Russia.
One had hardly been accustomed to consider Russia as the most free
state in Europe; but such is the weight of the yoke which the
Emperor of France has imposed upon all the Continental states, that
on arriving at last in a country where his tyranny can no longer
make itself felt, you fancy yourself in a republic. It was on the
14th of July that I made my entrance into Russia; this co-incidence
with the anniversary of the first day of the Revolution particularly
struck me; and thus closed for me the circle of the history of
France which had commenced on the 14th of July 1789.* When the
barrier which separates Austria from Russia was opened to let me
pass, I made an oath never to set my foot in a country subjected in
any degree to the emperor Napoleon. Will this oath ever allow me to
revisit beautiful France?
* (Note by the Editor) It was on the 14th of July, 1817, that my
mother was taken from us, and received into the bosom of God. What
mind is there that would not be affected with religious emotion on
meditating on the mysterious co-incidences which the destiny of the
human race presents!
(End of Note by the Editor.)
The first person who received me in Russia was a Frenchman, who had
formerly been a clerk in my father's bureaux; he talked to me of him
with tears in his eyes, and that name thus pronounced appeared to me
of happy augury. In fact, in that Russian empire, so falsely termed
barbarous, I have experienced none but noble and delightful
impressions: may my gratitude draw down additional blessings on this
people and their sovereign! I entered Russia at the moment when the
French army had already penetrated a considerable distance into the
Russian territory, and yet no restraint or vexation of any kind
impeded for a moment the progress of a foreign traveller; neither I,
nor my companions, knew a syllable of Russian; we only spoke French,
the language of the enemies who were ravaging the empire: I had not
even with me, by a succession of disagreeable chances, a single
servant who could speak Russian, and had it not been for a German
physician (Dr. Renner) who in the most handsome manner volunteered
his services as our interpreter as far as Moscow, we should have
justly merited the epithet of deaf and dumb, applied by the Russians
to persons unacquainted with their language. Well! even in this
state, our journey would have been quite safe and easy, so great is
the hospitality of the nobles and the people of Russia! On our first
entrance we learned that the direct road to Petersburg was already
occupied by the armies, and that we must go to Moscow in order to
get the means of conveyance there. This was another round of 200
leagues; but we had already made 1500, and I now feel pleased at
having seen Moscow.
The first province we had to cross, Volhynia, forms a part of
Russian Poland; it is a fertile country, over-run with Jews, like
Gallicia, but much less miserable. I stopped at the chateau of a
Polish nobleman to whom I had been recommended, who advised me to
hasten my journey, as the French were marching upon Volhynia, and
might easily enter it in eight days. The Poles, in general, like the
Russians much better than they do the Austrians; the Russians and
Poles are both of Sclavonian origin: they have been enemies, but
respect each other mutually, while the Germans, who are further
advanced in European civilization than the Sclavonians, have not
learned to do them justice in other respects. It was easy to see
that the Poles in Volhynia were not at all afraid of the entrance of
the French; but although their opinions were known, they were not in
the least subjected to that petty persecution which only excites
hatred without restraining it. The spectacle, however, of one nation
subjected by another, is always a painful one;--centuries must
elapse before the union is sufficiently established to make the
names of victor and vanquished be forgotten.
At Gitomir, the chief town of Volhynia, I was told that the Russian
minister of police had been sent to Wilna, to learn the motive of
the emperor Napoleon's aggression, and to make a formal protest
against his entry into the Russian territory. One can hardly credit
the numberless sacrifices made by the emperor Alexander, in order to
preserve peace. And in fact, far from Napoleon having it in his
power to accuse the emperor Alexander of violating the treaty of
Tilsit, the latter might have been reproached with a too scrupulous
fidelity to that fatal treaty; and it was rather he who had the
right of declaring war against Napoleon, as having first violated
it. The emperor of France in his conversation with M. Balasheff, the
minister of police, gave himself up to those inconceivable
indiscretions which might be taken for abandon, if we did not know
that it suits him to increase the terror which he inspires by
exhibiting himself as superior to all kinds of calculation. "Do you
think," said he to M. Balasheff, "that I care a straw for these
Polish jacobins?" And I have been really assured that there is in
existence a letter, addressed several years since to M. de Romanzoff
by one of Napoleon's ministers, in which it was proposed to strike
out the name of Poland and the Poles from all European acts. How
unfortunate for this nation that the emperor Alexander had not taken
the title of king of Poland, and thereby associated the cause of
this oppressed people with that of all generous minds! Napoleon
asked one of his generals, in the presence of M. de Balasheff, if he
had ever been at Moscow, and what sort of city it was. The general
replied that it had appeared to him to be rather a large village
than a capital. And how many churches are there in it?--continued
the emperor. About sixteen hundred:--was the reply. That is quite
inconceivable, rejoined Napoleon, at a time when the world has
ceased to be religious. Pardon me, sire, said M. de Balashoff, the
Russians and Spaniards are so still. Admirable reply! and which
presaged, one would hope, that the Russians would be the Castilians
of the North.
Nevertheless, the French army made rapid progress, and one has been
so accustomed to see the French triumphing over every thing abroad,
although at home they know not how to resist any sort of yoke, that
I had some reason to apprehend meeting them already on the road to
Moscow. What a capricious destiny, for me to flee at first from the
French, among whom I was born, and who had carried my father in
triumph, and now to flee from them even to the borders of Asia! But,
in short, what destiny is there, great or little, which the man
selected to humble man does not overthrow? I thought I should be
obliged to go to Odessa, a city which had become prosperous under
the enlightened administration of the Duke of Richelieu, and from
thence I might have gone to Constantinople and into Greece; I
consoled myself for this long voyage by the idea of a poem on
Richard Coeur-de-Lion, which I have the intention of writing, if
life and health are spared me. This poem is designed to paint the
manners and character of the East, and to consecrate a grand epoch
in the English history, that when the enthusiasm of the Crusades
gave place to the enthusiasm of liberty. But as we cannot paint what
we have not seen, no more than we can express properly what we have
not felt, it was necessary for me to go to Constantinople, into
Syria, and into Sicily, there to follow the steps of Richard. My
travelling companions, better acquainted with my strength than I was
myself, dissuaded me from such an undertaking, and assured me that
by using expedition, I could travel post much quicker than an army.
It will be seen that I had not in fact a great deal of time to
spare.