Kiow.
Determined to continue my journey through Russia, I proceeded
towards Kiow, the principal city of the Ukraine, and formerly of all
Russia, for this empire began by fixing its capital in the South.
The Russians had then continual communication with the Greeks
established at Constantinople, and in general with the people of the
East, whose habits they have adopted in a variety of instances. The
Ukraine is a very fertile country, but by no means agreeable; you
see large plains of wheat which appear to be cultivated by invisible
hands, the habitations and inhabitants are so rare. You must not
expect, in approaching Kiow, or the greater part of what are called
cities in Russia, to find any thing resembling the cities of the
West; the roads are not better kept, nor do country houses indicate
a more numerous population. On my arrival at Kiow, the first object
that met my eyes was a cemetery, and this was the first indication
to me of being near a place where men were collected. The houses at
Kiow generally resemble tents, and at a distance, the city appears
like a camp; I could not help fancying that the moveable residences
of the Tartars had furnished models for the construction of those
wooden houses, which have not a much greater appearance of solidity.
A few days are sufficient for building them; they are very often
consumed by fire, and an order is sent to the forest for a house, as
you would send to market to lay in your winter stock of provisions.
In the middle of these huts, however, palaces have been erected, and
a number of churches, whose green and gilt cupolas singularly draw
the attention. When towards the evening the sun darts his rays on
these brilliant domes, you would fancy that it was rather an
illumination for a festival, than a durable edifice.
The Russians never pass a church without making the sign of the
cross, and their longbeards add greatly to the religious expression
of their physiognomy. They generally wear a large blue robe,
fastened round the waist by a scarlet band: the dresses of the women
have also something Asiatic in them: and one remarks that taste for
lively colours which we derive from the East, where the sun is so
beautiful, that one likes to make his eclat more conspicuous by the
objects which he shines upon. I speedily contracted such a
partiality to these oriental dresses, that I could not bear to see
Russians dressed like other Europeans; they seemed to me then
entering into that great regularity of the despotism of Napoleon,
which first makes all nations a present of the conscription, then of
the war-taxes, and lastly, of the Code Napoleon, in order to govern
in the same manner, nations of totally different characters.
The Dnieper, which the ancients called Borysthenes, passes by Kiow,
and the old tradition of the country affirms, that it was a boatman,
who in crossing it found its waters so pure that he was led to found
a town on its banks. In fact, the rivers are the most beautiful
natural objects in Russia. It would be difficult to find any small
streams, their course would be so much obstructed by the sand. There
is scarcely any variety of trees; the melancholy birch is
incessantly recurring in this uninventive nature; even the want of
stones might be almost regretted, so much is the eye sometimes
fatigued with meeting neither hill nor valley, and to be always
making progress without encountering new objects. The rivers relieve
the imagination from this fatigue; the priests, therefore, bestow
their benedictions on these rivers. The emperor, empress, and the
whole court attend the ceremony of the benediction of the Neva, at
the moment of the severest cold of winter. It is said that Wladimir,
at the commencement of the eleventh century, declared, that all the
waters of the Borysthenes were holy, and that plunging in them was
sufficient to make a man a Christian; the baptism of the Greeks
being performed by immersion, millions of men went into this river
to abjure their idolatry. It was this same Vladimir who sent
deputies to different countries, to learn which of all the religions
it best suited him to adopt; he decided for the Greek ritual, on
account of the pomp of its ceremonies. Perhaps also he preferred it
for more important reasons; in fact the Greek faith by excluding the
papal power, gives the sovereign of Russia the spiritual and
temporal power united.
The Greek religion is necessarily less intolerant than the Roman
Catholic; for being itself reproached as a schism, it can hardly
complain of heretics; all religions therefore are admitted into
Russia, and from the borders of the Don to those of the Neva, the
fraternity of country unites men, even though their theological
opinions may separate them. The Greek priests are allowed to marry,
and scarcely any gentleman embraces this profession: it follows that
the clergy has very little political ascendancy; it acts upon the
people, but it is very submissive to the emperor.
The ceremonies of the Greek worship are at least as beautiful as
those of the catholics; the church music is heavenly; every thing in
this worship leads to meditation; it has something of poetry and
feeling about it, but it appears better adapted to captivate the
imagination than to regulate the conduct. When the priest comes out
of the sanctuary, in which he remains shut up while he communicates,
you would say that you saw the gates of light opening; the cloud of
incense which surrounds him, the gold and silver, and precious
stones, which glitter on his robes and in the church, seem to come
from countries where the sun is an object of adoration. The devout
sentiments which are inspired by gothic architecture in Germany,
France and England, cannot be at all compared with the effect of the
Greek churches; they rather remind us of the minarets of the Turks
and Arabs than of our churches. As little must we expect to find, as
in Italy, the splendor of the fine arts; their most remarkable
ornaments are virgins and saints crowned with rubies and diamonds.
Magnificence is the character of every thing one sees in Russia;
neither the genius of man nor the gifts of nature constitute its
beauties.
The ceremonies of marriage, of baptism, and of burial, are noble and
affecting; we find in them some ancient customs of Grecian idolatry,
but only those which, having no connection with doctrine, can add to
the impression of the three great scenes of life, birth, marriage
and death. The Russian peasants still continue the custom of
addressing the dead previous to a final separation from his remains.
Why is it, say they, that thou hast abandoned us? Wert thou then
unhappy on this earth? Was not thy wife fair and good? Why therefore
hast thou left her? The dead replies not, but the value of existence
is thus proclaimed in the presence of those who still preserve it.
At Kiow we were shown some catacombs which reminded us a little of
those at Rome, and to which pilgrimages are made on foot from Casan
and other cities bordering on Asia; but these pilgrimages cost less
in Russia, than they would anywhere else, although the distances are
much greater. It is in the character of the people to have no fear
of fatigue or of any bodily suffering; in this nation there is both
patience and activity, both gaiety and melancholy. You see united
the most striking contrasts, and it is that which makes one predict
great things of them; for generally it is only in beings of superior
order that we find an union of opposite qualities; the mass is in
general of a uniform color.
I made at Kiow the trial of Russian hospitality. The governor of the
province, General Miloradowitsch, loaded me with the most amiable
attentions; he had been an aide-de-camp of Suwarow, like him
intrepid; he inspired me with greater confidence than I then had in
the military successes of the Russians. Before this, I had only
happened to meet some officers of the German school, who had
entirely got rid of their Russian character. I saw in General
Miloradowitsch a real Russian; brave, impetuous, confident, and
wholly free from that spirit of imitation which sometimes entirely
robs his countrymen even of their national character. He told me a
number of anecdotes of Suwarow, which prove that that warrior
studied a great deal, although he preserved the original instinct
which is connected with the immediate knowledge of men and things.
He carefully concealed his studies to strike with greater force the
imagination of his troops, by assuming in all things an air of
inspiration.
The Russians have, in my opinion, much greater resemblance to the
people of the South, or rather of the East, than to those of the
North. What is European in them belongs merely to the manners of the
court, which are nearly the same in all countries; but their nature
is eastern. General Miloradowitsch related to me that a regiment of
Kalmucks had been put into garrison at Kiow, and that the prince of
these Kalmucks came to him one day, to confess that he suffered very
much from passing the winter cooped up in a town, and wished to
obtain permission to encamp in the neighbouring forest. Such a cheap
pleasure it was impossible to refuse him; he and all his regiment
went in consequence, in the middle of the snow, to take up their
abode in their chariots, which at the same time serve them for huts.
The Russian soldiers bear nearly in the same degree the fatigues and
privations of climate or of war, and the people of all classes
exhibit a contempt of obstacles and of physical suffering, which
will carry them successfully through the greatest undertakings. This
Kalmuck prince, to whom wooden houses appeared a residence too
delicate in the middle of winter, gave diamonds to the ladies who
pleased him at a ball; and as he could not make himself understood
by them, he substituted presents for compliments, in the manner
practised in India and other silent countries of the East, where
speech has less influence than with us. General Miloradowitsch
invited me the very evening of my departure, to a ball at the house
of a Moldavian princess, to which I regretted very much being unable
to go. All these names of foreign countries and of nations which are
scarcely any longer European, singularly awaken the imagination. You
feel yourself in Russia at the gate of another earth, near to that
East from which have proceeded so many religious creeds, and which
still contains in its bosom incredible treasures of perseverance and
reflection.