Moscow.
Gilded cupolas announced Moscow from afar; however, as the
surrounding country is only a plain, as well as the whole of Russia,
you may arrive in that great city without being struck with its
extent. It has been well said by some one, that Moscow was rather a
province than a city. In fact, you there see huts, houses, palaces,
a bazaar as in the East, churches, public buildings, pieces of
water, woods and parks. The variety of manners, and of the nations
of which Russia is composed, are all exhibited in this immense
residence. Will you, I was asked, buy some Cashmere shawls in the
Tartar quarter? Have you seen the Chinese town? Asia and Europe are
found united in this immense city. There is more liberty enjoyed in
it than at Petersburg, where the court necessarily exercises great
influence. The great nobility settled at Moscow were not ambitious
of places; but they proved their patriotism by munificent gifts to
the state, either for public establishments during peace, or as aids
during the war. The colossal fortunes of the great Russian nobility
are employed in making collections of all kinds, and in enterprises
of which the Arabian Nights have given the models; these fortunes
are also frequently lost by the unbridled passions of their
possessors. When I arrived at Moscow, nothing was talked of but the
sacrifices that were made on account of the war. A young Count de
Momonoff raised a regiment for the state, and would only serve in it
as a sublieutenant; a Countess Orloff, amiable and wealthy in the
Asiatic style, gave the fourth of her income. As I was passing
before these palaces surrounded by gardens, where space was thrown
away in a city as elsewhere in the middle of the country, I was told
that the possessor of this superb residence had given a thousand
peasants to the state: and another, two hundred. I had some
difficulty in accommodating myself to the expression, giving men,
but the peasants themselves offered their services with ardor, and
their lords were in this war only their interpreters.
As soon as a Russian becomes a soldier, his beard is cut off, and
from that moment he is free. A desire was felt that all those who
might have served in the militia should also be considered as free:
but in that case the nation would have been entirely so, for it rose
almost en masse. Let us hope that this so much desired emancipation
may be effected without violence: but in the mean time one would
wish to have the beards preserved, so much strength and dignity do
they add to the physiognomy. The Russians with long beards never
pass a church without making the sign of the cross, and their
confidence in the visible images of religion is very affecting.
Their churches bear the mark of that taste for luxury which they
have from Asia: you see in them only ornaments of gold, and silver,
and rubies. I was told that a Russian had proposed to form an
alphabet with precious stones, and to write a Bible in that manner.
He knew the best manner of interesting the imaginations of the
Russians in what they read. This imagination however has not as yet
manifested itself either in the fine arts or in poetry. They reach a
certain point in all things very quickly, and do not go beyond that.
Impulse makes them take the first steps: but the second belong to
reflection, and these Russians, who have nothing in common with the
people of the North, are as yet very little capable of meditation.
Several of the palaces of Moscow are of wood, in order that they may
be built quicker, and that the natural inconstancy of the nation, in
every thing unconnected with country or religion, may be satisfied
by an easy change of residence. Several of these fine edifices have
been constructed for an entertainment; they were destined to add to
the eclat of a day, and the rich manner in which they were decorated
has made them last up to this period of universal destruction. A
great number of houses are painted green, yellow, or rose color, and
are sculptured in detail like dessert ornaments. The citadel of the
Kremlin, in which the emperors of Russia defended themselves against
the Tartars, is surrounded by a high wall, embattled and flanked
with turrets, which, by their odd shapes, remind one of a Turkish
minaret rather than a fortress like those of the West of Europe. But
although the external character of the buildings of the city be
oriental, the impression of Christianity was found in that,
multitude of churches so much venerated, and which attracted your
notice at every step. One was reminded of Rome in seeing Moscow;
certainly not from the monuments being of the same style, but
because the mixture of solitary country and magnificent palaces, the
grandeur of the city and the infinite number of its churches give
the Asiatic Rome some points of resemblance to the European Rome.
It was about the beginning of August, that I was allowed to see the
interior of the Kremlin; I got there by the same staircase which the
emperor Alexander had ascended a few days preceding, surrounded by
an immense people, who loaded him with their blessings, and promised
him to defend his empire at all hazards. This people has kept its
word. The halls were first thrown open to me in which the arms of
the ancient warriors of Russia are contained; the arsenals of this
kind, in other parts of Europe, are much more interesting. The
Russians have taken no part in the times of chivalry; they never
mingled in the Crusades. Constantly at war with the Tartars, Poles,
and Turks, the military spirit has been formed among them in the
midst of the atrocities of all kinds brought in the train of Asiatic
nations, and of the tyrants who governed Russia. It is not therefore
the generous bravery of the Bayards or the Percys, but the
intrepidity of a fanatical courage which has been exhibited in this
country for several centuries. The Russians, in the relations of
society, which are so new to them, are not distinguished by the
spirit of chivalry, such as the people of the West conceive it; but
they have always shown themselves terrible to their enemies. So many
massacres have taken place in the interior of Russia, up to the
reign of Peter the Great, and even later, that the morality of the
nation, and particularly that of the great nobility, must have
suffered severely from them. These despotic governments, whose sole
restraint is the assassination of the despot, overthrow all
principles of honor and duty in the minds of men: but the love of
their country and an attachment to their religious creed have been
maintained in their full strength, amidst the wrecks of this bloody
history, and the nation which preserves such virtues may yet
astonish the world.
From the ancient arsenal I was conducted into the apartments
formerly occupied by the czars, and in which the robes are preserved
which they wore on the day of their coronation. These apartments
have no sort of beauty, but they agreed very well with the hard life
which the czars led and still lead. The greatest magnificence reigns
in the palace of Alexander; but he himself sleeps upon the floor,
and travels like a Cossack officer.
They exhibited in the Kremlin a divided throne, which was filled at
first by Peter I. and Ivan his brother. The princess Sophia, their
sister, placed herself behind the seat of Ivan, and dictated to him
what to say; but this borrowed strength was not able to cope long
with the native strength of Peter I. and he soon reigned alone. It
is from the period of his reign that the czars have ceased to wear
the Asiatic costume. The great wig of the age of Louis XIV. came in
with Peter I. and without touching upon the admiration inspired by
this great man, one cannot help feeling the disagreeable contrast
between the ferocity of his genius and the ceremonious regularity of
his dress. Was he in the right in doing away as much as he could,
oriental manners from the bosom of his people? was it right to fix
his capital in the north, and at the extremity of his empire? These
are great questions which are not yet answered: centuries only can
afford the proper commentaries upon such lofty ideas.
I ascended to the top of the cathedral steeple, called Ivan Veliki,
which commands a view of the whole city; from thence I saw the
palace of the czars, who conquered by their arms the crowns of
Casan, Astracan, and Siberia. I heard the church music, in which
the catholikos, prince of Georgia, officiated in the midst of the
inhabitants of Moscow, and formed a Christian meeting between Asia
and Europe. Fifteen hundred Churches attested the devotion of the
Muscovite people.
The commercial establishments at Moscow had quite an Asiatic
character; men in turbans, and others dressed in the different
costumes of all the people of the East, exhibited the rarest
merchandize: the furs of Siberia and the muslins of India there
offered all the enjoyments of luxury to those great noblemen, whose
imagination is equally pleased with the sables of the Samoiedes and
with the rubies of the Persians. Here, the gardens and the palace
Razoumowski contained the most beautiful collection of plants and
minerals; there, was the fine library of the Count de Bouterlin,
which he had spent thirty years of his life in collecting: among the
books he possessed, there were several which contained manuscript
notes in the hand-writing of Peter I. This great man never imagined
that the same European civilization, of which he was so jealous,
would come to destroy the establishments for public instruction
which he had founded in the middle of his empire, with a view to
form by study the impatient spirit of the Russians. Farther on, was
the Foundling House, one of the most affecting institutions of
Europe; hospitals for all classes of society might be remarked in
the different quarters of the city: finally, the eye in its
wanderings could rest upon nothing but wealth or benevolence, upon
edifices of luxury or of charity; upon churches or on palaces, which
diffused happiness or distinction upon a large portion of the human
race. You saw the windings of the Moskwa, of that river, which,
since the last invasion by the Tartars, had never rolled with blood
in its waves: the day was delightful; the sun seemed to take a
pleasure in shedding his rays upon these glittering cupolas. I was
reminded of the old archbishop Plato, who had just written a
pastoral letter to the emperor Alexander, the oriental style of
which had extremely affected me: he sent the image of the Virgin
from the borders of Europe, to drive far from Asia the man who
wished to bear down upon the Russians with the whole weight of the
nations chained to his steps. For a moment the thought struck me
that Napoleon might yet set his foot upon this same tower from which
I was admiring the city, which his presence was about to extinguish;
for a moment I dreamed that he would glory in replacing, in the
palace of the czars, the chief of the great horde, which had also
once had possession of it: but the sky was so beautiful, that I
repelled the apprehension. A month afterwards, this beautiful city
was in ashes, in order that it should be said, that every country
which had been in alliance with this man, should be destroyed by the
fires which are at his disposal. But how gloriously have the
Russians and their monarch redeemed this error! The misery of Moscow
may be even said to have regenerated the empire, and this religious
city has perished like a martyr, the shedding of whose blood gives
new strength to the brethren who survive him.
The famous Count Rostopchin, with whose name the emperor's bulletins
have been filled, came to see me, and invited me to dine with him.
He had been minister for foreign affairs to Paul I., his
conversation had something original about it, and you could easily
perceive that his character would show itself in a very strong
manner, if circumstances required it. The Countess Rostopchin was
good enough to give me a book which she had written on the triumphs
of religion, the style and morality of which were very pure. I went
to visit her at her country-house, in the interior of Moscow. I was
obliged to cross a lake and a wood in order to reach it: it was to
this house, one of the most agreeable residences in Russia, that
Count Rostopchin himself set-fire, on the approach of the French
army. Certainly an action of this kind was likely to excite a
certain kind of admiration, even in enemies. The emperor Napoleon
has, notwithstanding, compared Count Rostopchin to Marat, forgetting
that the governor of Moscow sacrificed his own interests, while
Marat set fire to the houses of others, which certainly makes a
considerable difference. The only thing which Count Rostopchin could
properly be reproached with, was his concealing too long the bad
news from the armies, either from flattering himself, or believing
it to be necessary to flatter others. The English, with that
admirable rectitude which distinguishes all their actions, publish
as faithful an account of their reverses as they do of their
victories, and enthusiasm is with them sustained by the truth,
whatever that may be. The Russians cannot yet reach that moral
perfection, which is the result of a free constitution.
No civilized nation has so much in common with savages as the
Russian people, and when their nobility possess energy, they
participate also in the defects and good qualities of that
unshackled nature. The expression of Diderot has been greatly
vaunted: The Russians are rotten before they are ripe. I know
nothing more false; their very vices, with some exceptions, are not
those of corruption, but of violence. The desires of a Russian, said
a very superior man, would blow up a city: fury and artifice take
possession of them by turns, when they wish to accomplish any
resolution, good or bad. Their nature is not at all changed by the
rapid civilization which was given them by Peter I.; it has as yet
only formed their manners: happily for them, they are always what we
call barbarians, in other words, led by an instinct frequently
generous, but always involuntary, which only admits of reflection in
the choice of the means, and not in the examination of the end; I
say happily for them, not that I wish to extol barbarism, but I
designate by this name a certain primitive energy which can alone
replace in nations the concentrated strength of liberty.
I saw at Moscow the most enlightened men in the career of science
and literature; but there, as well as at Petersburg, the professors'
chairs are almost entirely filled with Germans. There is in Russia a
great scarcity of well-informed men in any branch; young people in
general only go to the University to be enabled sooner to enter into
the military profession. Civil employments in Russia confer a rank
corresponding to a grade in the army; the spirit of the nation is
turned entirely towards war: in every thing else, in administration,
in political economy, in public instruction, &c. the other nations
of Europe have hitherto borne away the palm from the Russians. They
are making attempts, however, in literature; the softness and
brilliancy of the sounds of their language are remarked even by
those who do not understand it; and it should be very well adapted
for poetry and music. But the Russians have, like so many other
continental nations, the fault of imitating the French literature,
which, even with all its beauties, is only fit for the French
themselves. I think that the Russians ought rather to make their
literary studies derive from the Greeks than from the Latins. The
characters of the Russian alphabet, so similar to those of the
Greeks, the ancient communication of the Russians with the Byzantine
empire, their future destinies, which will probably lead them to the
illustrious monuments of Athens and Sparta, all this ought to turn
the Russians to the study of Greek: but it is above all necessary
that their writers should draw their poetry from the deepest
inspiration of their own soul. Their works, up to this time, have
been composed, as one may say, by the lips, and never can a nation
so vehement be stirred up by such shrill notes.