Travels in the Steppes of the Caspian Sea, the Crimea, the Caucasus Part 10

The military spirit, so potent elsewhere, scarcely exists in the empire.

Glory and honour are things for which the Russian serfs care very little, nor have they any conception of the magic that lies in the words "Our country," "Our native land." The only country they know is their village, their stove, their _kasha_, the patch of ground they daily cultivate, and that mud which a French grenadier lifted up with his foot, exclaiming, "And this they call a country!" "_ils appellent cela une patrie!_" At the same time, it is evident that this antipathy of the Russians for military service, is to be attributed as much to the political const.i.tution of the empire, as to the character of the inhabitants; and as that const.i.tution has. .h.i.therto been a national necessity, it would be unjust to charge as a crime upon the government, the unhappy moral condition of its armies. We shall speak at more length in another place, on the subject of the Russian soldiery.

Moral and intellectual instruction have hitherto made very little way among the slave population. Attempts indeed have been made to found schools in some of the crown villages, but these attempts have been always ill-directed, and necessarily unsuccessful. Religion which everywhere else const.i.tutes the most potent instrument of civilisation, can have in Russia no favourable effect on the improvement of the people. Consisting solely in fasts, crossings, and outward ceremonies, it leaves the mind totally uninfluenced, and in no respect acts as a bar to the demoralisation which is gradually pervading the immense cla.s.s of the serfs. The peculiar circ.u.mstances of the Russian towns and villages are also perhaps among the greatest obstacles to intellectual progress.

The advance of civilisation depends in a great measure on facility of intercourse. When a population is compact, and its several members are continually in presence of each other, each man's knowledge is propagated among his compatriots, facts and opinions are discussed, and men become mutually enlightened as to what is thought and done around them. From this continual interchange of mental wealth, there naturally arises an amount of enlightenment and capacity that tends greatly to extend the domain of thought. But let any one cast his eyes on Russia, and he will be struck by the unfavourable manner in which its population is distributed. Not only are the great centres of population very thinly scattered over the surface, but the several dwellings too in the towns are placed very wide apart, and those of the villages still more so.

Every man is isolated, every man lives by and for himself, or at least within a very contracted sphere. Social meetings are rare, and in winter almost impossible; in a word, it is not at all unusual for people not to know their neighbours on the opposite side of the street; hence the invariable _nesnai_ (I do not know) with which the Russian replies to every question the traveller puts to him, ought not to astonish or incense the latter. At first I was disposed to think this ignorance was pretended, and to attribute it to sulkiness and indolence; but I afterwards perceived that it was occasioned in much greater measure by the absurd style of building adopted in the country.

Another thing that tends to enervate the Russians and keep them in their brutified condition, is the immoderate use of brandy, to which both men and women are addicted. It is truly deplorable that the government feels constrained to favour the sale of that pernicious liquor which forms its most important source of revenue. How often have I seen the dram-shops full of women dead drunk, who had left their poultry yards tenantless, and sold their household furniture to gratify their fatal pa.s.sion.

A thing by which I have always been much struck in Russia, is the stationary uniformity which prevails over the whole surface of the empire, both in ideas and in physical productions. You see everywhere the same plans and arrangements of the buildings, the same implements, and the same agricultural practices and modes of carriage. Contact with foreigners has as yet had no influence on the Sclavonic population, and the prosperity generally enjoyed for sixty years by the German colonies has done little in the way of example. Is this intellectual insensibility the result of servitude exclusively? I think not.

Servitude may indeed repress, but it cannot extinguish, the various qualities with which nature has endowed us; and if the Russians are still so backward, and give so little promise of improvement, we must explain the fact by the nature of their race, by their still infant state as a nation, and their want of precedents in civilisation. At the same time there is no reason to despair of them. In our opinion, the future civilisation of Russia rests in a great measure on the contingency of a religious reformation; but as that reformation could not but be hazardous to absolute power by awakening ideas of independence and resistance to oppression, the government impedes it by every means in its power, and labours unceasingly to reduce all the inhabitants of the empire to religious uniformity, as is proved by its conduct towards the United Greeks of Poland, and towards the Douckoboren and the Molokaner. I had opportunities of observing among the members of the two latter communities, how great an influence a change of religion may have on the character and intellect of the Russians. The Douckoboren and the Molokaner differ essentially in this respect from the other subjects of the empire. Activity, probity, intelligence, desire of improvement, all these qualities are developed among them to the highest degree, and after having consorted with the Germans for fifteen years, they have completely appropriated all the agricultural ameliorations, and even the social habits of those foreign colonists. Among the Russian peasants on the contrary, whether slave or free, a complete immobility prevails, and nothing can force them out of the old inevitable rut. All the efforts and all the encouragements of the government have hitherto been of no avail.

The emanc.i.p.ation of the slaves seems earnestly to occupy the Emperor Nicholas; and the measures adopted of late years testify in favour of his generous intentions. Unfortunately, the task is beset with difficulties for the legislator, and an abrupt attempt to make the Russian people independent, would infallibly expose the empire to the greatest dangers.

There are in the Russian slave two natures, essentially distinct: the one, dest.i.tute of all energy, of all vitality, is the result of the servitude under which the nation has bent for ages; the other, a bequest of barbarism, starting into action at the breath of liberty, is prompt to the most alarming excesses, and inspires the revolted serf with the desire, above all things, to ma.s.sacre his master. Emanc.i.p.ation, therefore, is not so easy as certain philanthropists would believe it to be, and the details we have just given may enable one to conceive all the mischiefs that might ensue from it.

The greatest obstacle to this social metamorphosis is presented by the private slaves, the majority of whom belong to the hereditary aristocracy; it is especially on the part of this cla.s.s that premature liberty might occasion fatal and b.l.o.o.d.y reactions, which would endanger the empire itself, though immediately directed against the lords only.

Accordingly the tzar, who is not ignorant of these facts, does all in his power to withdraw the serfs from their proprietors, and bring them into the crown domain: hence the position of the serfs has been considerably altered within the last few years. Slaves can now no longer be purchased without the lands to which they are attached. Formerly owners often hired out their slaves: they can now only grant them pa.s.sports for three years, and the serf himself chooses the master he will serve, and the kind of labour to which he will apply himself.

It was evidently with a view to the same end that a bank was created some years ago in St. Petersburg, for the purpose of rendering pecuniary a.s.sistance to the aristocracy. Every proprietor can borrow from the bank at eight per cent., on a mortgage of his lands. But by the rules of the inst.i.tution, when the term of payment is past, the property of a defaulting creditor may be immediately sequestrated to the crown. What the government foresaw has happened, and does happen daily, and it has acquired numerous private estates, and incorporated them with the imperial domains.

A new ukase respecting the emanc.i.p.ation of the slaves which was issued in 1842, fixed the relative position of freedmen and their former lords.

The measure was shaped so as to give the government a direct influence conducive to the gradual emanc.i.p.ation of the population. The owners were left, as before, the power of emanc.i.p.ating their serfs; but by the terms of the ukase, they could only do so in accordance with certain rules, and with the express sanction of the emperor. This ukase excited so much dissatisfaction among the old _n.o.blesse_, that the tzar was induced subsequently to neutralise its effect by a police enactment. The primary end was, nevertheless, obtained, and the ukase dealt a heavy blow to the subsisting relations between lord and serf.[11] We believe, nevertheless, that the course adopted by the Emperor Nicholas (by the advice, no doubt, of Count Kizilev) is erroneous, and that the last ukases are impolitic. Do what it will, the government will never succeed in liberating the private slaves without the co-operation of their owners. It is impossible to think of making all the peasants exclusively serfs of the crown; such a means of emanc.i.p.ation is impracticable, for it implies that the government should remain, in the last result, sole possessor of all the lands in the empire, and that the n.o.bility, great and small, should be infallibly ruined. In our opinion, the last ukases have only served to make emanc.i.p.ation more difficult, by exciting hatred between masters and slaves, and fostering the germs of a dangerous rebellious spirit. The Russians are still so backward in civilisation, that ideas of independence, abruptly and incautiously introduced amongst them, would be very likely to cause disastrous convulsions. Liberty must reach them gradually; and above all, it is absolutely necessary that they should be prepared, by instruction, to exchange their slavery for a better state of things. Otherwise, with their present character, liberty, after being first summed up by them in the privilege of doing nothing, in pillage and ma.s.sacre, would inevitably end in wretchedness and dest.i.tution. In the treatment of this great social question, it is before all things necessary that the government should come to a fair understanding with the n.o.bles, and labour conjointly with them for the regeneration of the slave population: it is only by earnest mutual aid that those two powers will ever succeed in advancing the cause of emanc.i.p.ation without imminent peril to the empire. But in any case, there is no denying the many difficulties of this enterprise, no answering for all future contingencies. Considerations connected with landed property will probably long defeat all efforts in this direction, unless the peasants be freely permitted to become landowners, on payment of a certain sum for the redemption of their persons, and the purchase of the land requisite for their subsistence. This seems to us the only rational, nay, the only possible means, of arriving at complete emanc.i.p.ation without violence. No doubt if such a privilege be granted to the peasants, the present improvident and prodigal race of n.o.bles will be rapidly dispossessed; but this will not occasion the country any serious inconvenience, and the new order of things will but favour the development of the middle cla.s.s, in which really reside, in our day, all the strength and prosperity of a nation.

As for the clergy, whose numbers amount to about 500,000, both males and females, we mention them here only to repeat our declaration of their nullity and immorality. Utterly unacquainted with any thing pertaining to polity and administration, having nothing to do with public instruction, and being in their own persons ignorant to excess, the priests enjoy no sort of influence or consideration, and are occupied solely with corporeal things. We will not enter further into this subject. We are loath to unveil completely the vices and ign.o.ble habits that distinguish the priests of the orthodox Russian church.

The following is a general table of the Russian population as published by the ministry in 1836:

_Clergy._ Males. Females.

Orthodox Greek clergy of all grades, including the families of ecclesiastics 254,057 240,748 United Greek 7,823 7,318 Catholic 2,497 Armenian 474 343 Lutheran 1,003 955 Reformed 51 37 Mahommedan Mollahs 7,850 6,701[A]

Buddhist Lamas 150[B] _n.o.bility._ Hereditary n.o.bles 284,731 253,429 Personal n.o.bles, including the children of officers 78,922 74,273 Subaltern functionaries, retired soldiers, and their families 187,047 237,443 _Populations bound to military_ _service in time of war._ Cossacks of the Don, the Black Sea, the Caucasus, Astrakhan, Azov, and the Danube, Orenburg and the Ural, and of Siberia, Bashkirs, and Mestcheriaks 950,698 981,467 _Inhabiting towns, or included_ _in the munic.i.p.alities._ Merchants of the three guilds, including notable _bourgeois_. 131,347 120,714 Bourgeois and artisans 1,339,434 1,433,982 Bourgeois in the towns of the western provinces 7,522 6,966 Greeks of Nejine, armourers of Toula, apprentices in the pharmacies, and others, brokers in the towns, and functionaries in the service of the munic.i.p.alities 10,882 10,940 Inhabitants of the towns of Bessarabia 57,905 56,176 _Inhabiting the rural districts._ Serfs of the crown and the apanages 10,441,399 11,022,595 Serfs of the seignorial lands 11,403,722 11,958,873 _Nomade races, such as_ Kalmucks, Khirghis, Turkmans, Tatars 254,715 261,982 Inhabitants of the Transcaucasian Provinces 689,147 689,150 Kingdom of Poland 2,077,311 2,110,911 Grand Duchy of Finland 663,658 708,464 Russian colonies in America 30,761 30,292 +-------------+---------- Total 28,883,106 30,213,759

[A: These figures are evidently misplaced. Ought they to stand for Catholic nuns?--_Translator._]

[B: This number is quite erroneous, for we ourselves found several hundred priests among the Kalmucks of the Volga. The encampment of Prince Tumene, which we visited, alone possesses more than 200.]

Soldiers and sailors in actual service, their wives and families, not having been included in this total, the gross amount of the population of the empire appears to be about 61,000,000,--at least if we may judge from the ministerial table, the correctness of which we by no means guarantee.

According to the report of the ministry of the interior, the part of the population of European Russia not belonging to the orthodox Greek church, was, in 1839, as follows:

Catholics 2,235,586 Gregorian Armenians 39,927 Catholic Armenians 28,145 Protestants 1,500,000 Mohammedans 1,530,726 Jews 1,069,440 Buddhists 65,000 --------- Total 6,868,824

FOOTNOTES:

[11] We have not the honour of being acquainted with the Emperor of Russia's secret thoughts, and we willingly ascribe to a certain liberalism all the ukases concerning the emanc.i.p.ation of the slaves; it is possible, however, that the tzar's measures may have been prompted, in a great degree, by the fears with which he regards an aristocracy still possessing more than 20,000,000 of slaves.

CHAPTER XIV.

CONSt.i.tUTION OF THE EMPIRE; GOVERNMENTS--CONSEQUENCES OF CENTRALISATION; DISSIMULATION OF PUBLIC FUNCTIONARIES-- TRIBUNALS--THE COLONEL OF THE GENDARMERIE--CORRUPTION-- PEDANTRY OF FORMS--CONTEMPT OF THE DECREES OF THE EMPEROR AND THE SENATE--SINGULAR ANECDOTE; INTERPRETATION OF A WILL --RADICAL EVILS IN THE JUDICIAL ORGANISATION--HISTORY AND PRESENT STATE OF RUSSIAN LAW.

The existing division of the Russian empire into fifty-six governments dates from the reign of the Emperor Paul. A nearly similar organisation existed indeed in the time of Catherine II., but the functions of the governors had a much wider range at that period than in our days, and those administrators, called by the empress her stewards, enjoyed nearly sovereign power.

The Russian governments correspond to the French departments, the districts to sub-prefectures; each government has its chief town, which is the seat of the different civil and military administrations.

The governor, who has the exclusive charge of the civil administration, nominates to various secondary places, is the head of the college of _prevoyance_, and ex-officio inspector of the schools, can demand an account of their proceedings of all the provincial authorities except the high court, and determines administrative questions with the aid of a council of regency composed of two councillors and a secretary, nominated by the emperor.

At first sight the governor's power seems unlimited; and indeed he has all the authority requisite to do mischief, but very little to do good.

In Russia the most laudable intentions and the most brilliant capabilities are completely paralysed, and the chief administrators must, whether they will or not, undergo the disastrous consequences of the venality and corruption of their subordinates. Distrust and suspicion have been made the essential basis of the organisation of the bureaucracy. By surrounding the high functionaries with a mult.i.tude of _employes_, and subjecting them to countless formalities, it was thought the abuses of power would be hindered; and all that is come of it is the creation of an odious cla.s.s, who use the weapons put into their hands to cheat the government, rob individuals, and prevent honest men from labouring for the prosperity of their country. The governors have not even the right of inquest in judicial questions, and the judges may, by entrenching themselves behind the text of the rules, p.r.o.nounce the most iniquitous sentences with impunity. I have known some true-hearted and generous administrators, but all after struggling for long years to arrive at some sage reforms, at last gave up their efforts in despair, and most of them fell into disgrace through the multiplied intrigues of their subordinates. In each chief town it is the secretary, the head of the chancery, who is the real wielder of the power of government. He alone is regarded as knowing the text of the Russian laws; so that, in order to oppose any measure of the governor's, he has but to cite a few phrases, more or less obscure, from the code of regulations, and it very rarely happens that his princ.i.p.al ventures, without his approbation, to take on himself the responsibility of any administrative act. There have been instances in which governors, disregarding bureaucratic formalities, and acting for themselves, have impeded the execution of a decree of the tribunals; but they have never failed to expiate their audacity by dismissal, unless they were supported by a high social position and potent protectors.

Furthermore, the representatives of government are so cramped in their powers, that a governor-general, who often rules over several millions of men, cannot dispose of 200_l._ without the sanction of the ministry.

Centralisation, no doubt, has its advantages; but in a country so vast, and of such varied wants as Russia, it is impossible that a minister, be his talents what they may, can ever satisfy the reasonable demands of all parts of the empire. The consequence is that the most useful projects are almost always neglected or rejected in the provinces remote from the capital.

Another evil, not less deplorable, is the necessity of practising mutual deception, under which the public functionaries labour. A public servant never thinks of making known to his superior the real situation of the country he governs: either he ridiculously exaggerates the good, or he is absolutely silent as to what is bad. In the latter case, he acts only in accordance with the imperative dictates of prudence, for if he declared the truth he would infallibly incur disgrace, and would even run the risk of being dismissed. So whenever a public calamity happens, it is only at the last extremity, and when the mischief is become irremediable, that he makes up his mind to call for an aid that usually comes not at all, or else is sure to come too late.

This profound dissimulation, joined with the jealousy which the distinctions of rank excite among the _employes_, does incalculable damage to the empire by impeding every useful reform. However, of all the sovereigns of the empire, the Tzar Nicholas is, perhaps, the one to whom truth and plain dealing are most welcome, and with whom well-grounded censure finds most acceptance. Unfortunately, since Potemkin's mystifications, falsehood has become a normal thing with the Russian _employes_, and the basis of all their proceedings, and hitherto the imperial will has been incapable of eradicating this fatal evil.

The superior court of justice sitting in the chief place of each government, and comprising a civil and a criminal section, consists of two presidents, two councillors, two secretaries, and eight a.s.sessors, four of whom are burghers. The emperor endeavoured in 1835 to extend the rights of the n.o.bility, by making the offices of president and judge in these tribunals elective, but this change appears to have produced but very unfavourable results. As all the great proprietors had very little inclination to fill such offices, the electors had no opportunity of making a good choice, and at last it was found necessary to return to the old inst.i.tutions.

The superior court of justice decides finally in all civil cases, in which the sum in dispute does not exceed 500 rubles. Over it are the various departments of the senate and the general a.s.sembly, resident partly in St. Petersburg, and partly in Moscow, and const.i.tuting two courts to which appeals lie from the governmental courts. There is no appeal from the decisions of the general a.s.sembly of the senate, or from those of the council of the empire approved by the emperor, except on the ground of misrepresentations in the evidence.

In the district courts (corresponding to the French _tribunaux de premiere instance_) there are also two sections, civil and criminal, consisting each of a president, a secretary, having under him several _employes_ who const.i.tute the chancery, and four a.s.sessors, two of whom are chosen from among the inhabitants of the rural district. These latter sit only in cases where peasants are concerned.

There is likewise in each governmental chief town, and in each district town, an inferior court, specially charged with the affairs of the rural police, the taking of informations in criminal affairs, summary jurisdiction as to minor offences, and the execution of sentences. This court consists of a president, called _ispravnik_, and four a.s.sessors, two of them n.o.bles, two peasants. These judges, who are all elected by the n.o.bles, are a.s.sisted by a secretary, the only _employe_ directly dependent on the government.

The chief towns and the district towns have also a sort of munic.i.p.al council, consisting of a mayor (_golova_), and four a.s.sistants, elected by the munic.i.p.ality, and afterwards approved of by the government. This council acts also as a tribunal, and takes cognizance of all the petty cases of litigation that may arise among the townsfolk. A nearly similar inst.i.tution exists among the peasants of the empire.

We will not speak of the colleges of wards, the committees of the n.o.bles presided over by the marshals of the n.o.bles, the courts of conscience which try cases between parents and children, &c. The members of all these inst.i.tutions are elected, but their functions are too insignificant to demand mention here.

One of the most influential personages in each government, is the colonel of the gendarmerie, who is completely independent of the governor. He is the head of the secret police, corresponds directly with the minister, and has it in his power, if he is an honest man, to do much good by the rigorous control he can exercise over all the _employes_ of a province.

This justiciary scheme is in itself very liberal, and ought, one would suppose, to satisfy the wants of the population; but like the governors, the judges of the different tribunals are in fact but puppets, moved at the discretion of the subordinate clerks, who alone are masters of the tricks and quibbles of Russian jurisprudence, and legal practice. The lowest clerk in a chancery has often more influence than the president himself, and the suitor who refuses to be squeezed by him may be quite certain that he will never see the termination of his cause. It is impossible to imagine with what adroitness all these fellows, many of whom receive for salary only sixty or a hundred rubles a year, manage to sweat the purses of those who require their a.s.sistance. Justice is continually violated in favour of the highest bidder, and thanks to the number of contradictory ukases which pa.s.s for laws, the most audacious robberies are unblus.h.i.+ngly committed without the possibility of redress.

It may be a.s.serted with truth, that the jurisdictional authority in Russia resides in the offices of court rather than in the persons of the judges. The secretary is the omnipotent arbiter of sentences, and dictates them under the influence of money and the bureaucracy.

Nothing can give an idea of the arts of knavery and chicane put in practice to fleece the unfortunates who have to do with the underlings of justice. The rigorous stickling for forms, and the mult.i.tude of papers, are a curse to the country; no business is done by word of mouth in Russia.[12] All law proceedings are carried on in writing; the slightest question and the most trivial explanation must be put down on stamped paper according to the appointed forms. Hence it may be conceived that with the horrible spirit of chicanery that characterises the _employes_, and the readiness with which they can find a flaw (a _krutchuk_ as they call it), in every paper, legal proceedings are spun out to an indefinite length, and scarcely end until both parties are ruined, or until the one prevails over the other by dint of money and corruption. I have often known a doc.u.ment to be sent back from St.

Petersburg after a lapse of six months, merely because this or that phrase was not written according to rule. The government of Bessarabia alone paid 63,000_l._ for stamps, in the course of four years, and the population of that province does not exceed 500,000. The want of publicity, moreover, has the most pernicious influence on the administration of justice. All judgments are made up in secret; there are no open pleadings; law processes consist from first to last in piles of paper, which enrich the judges and their subordinates, but in no-wise affect their opinions, which are always based on the most advantageous offers.

This woful state of things is further aggravated by the fact that the judges are secure from all responsibility; in whatever manner they decide a cause, they always do so in accordance with the laws, provided they observe the due forms; but what is really incredible, is the impudence with which the lowest tribunal of a district town presumes to annul both the decrees of the emperor and those of the general a.s.sembly of the senate. I will mention in ill.u.s.tration a certain suit brought against the heirs of a rich landowner in Podolia, who was deeply indebted at his death to the imperial bank of St. Petersburg and to several foreign bankers. These latter having become creditors before the bank, naturally claimed to be paid in the first instance. The consequence was a suit, which had been going on for twelve years when I arrived in Russia. The foreigners were defeated in the district court, but they gained their cause successively in the governmental court and the general a.s.sembly of the senate, and finally they obtained a decree in their favour from the emperor himself; but the district tribunal, under pretext that certain regulations had been violated, took upon itself to annul all the decisions of the senate, and to make the whole suit be begun over again.

It sometimes happens, however, that the imperial will is declared in so positive a manner, that all the tricks and subterfuges of judges and secretaries must give way to it. Here is an anecdote that conveys a perfect notion of what law means in Russia. In Alexander's reign the Jesuits had made themselves all-powerful in some parts of Poland. A rich landowner and possessor of 6000 peasants at Poltzk, the Jesuit head-quarters, was so wrought on by the artful a.s.siduities of the society that he bequeathed his whole fortune to it at his death, with this stipulation, that the Jesuits should bring up his only son, and afterwards give him whatever portion of the inheritance _they should choose_. When the young man had reached the age of twenty, the Jesuits bestowed on him 300 peasants. He protested vehemently against their usurpation, and began a suit against the society; but his father's will seemed clear and explicit, and after having consumed all his little fortune, he found his claims disowned by every tribunal in the empire, including even the general a.s.sembly of the senate. In this seemingly hopeless extremity he applied to a certain attorney in St. Petersburg, famous for his inexhaustible fertility of mind in matters of cunning and chicanery. After having perused the will and the doc.u.ments connected with the suit, the lawyer said to his client, "Your business is done; if you will promise me 10,000 rubles I will undertake to procure an imperial ukase reinstating you in possession of all your father's property." The young man readily agreed to the bargain, and in eight days afterwards he was master of his patrimony. The decision which led to this singular result rested solely on the interpretation of the phrase _they shall give him whatever portion they shall choose_, which plainly meant, as the lawyer maintained, that the young man was ent.i.tled exclusively to such portion as the Jesuits _chose_, _i. e._, to that which they chose and retained for themselves. The emperor admitted this curious explanation; the son became proprietor of 5700 peasants, and the Jesuits were obliged to content themselves with the 300 they had bestowed on their ward in the first instance. a.s.suredly the most adroit cadi in Turkey could not have decided the case better.

We have already seen that litigants can appeal to the governmental court, and again to the general a.s.sembly of the senate, in all suits for more than five hundred rubles. This privilege instead of being advantageous, appears to us to be highly the reverse. In France, where distances are short, and where justice is administered with a prompt.i.tude and impartiality elsewhere unexampled, the appeal to the court of ca.s.sation affords the most precious guarantee for the equitable application of the laws. Besides this, it only gives occasions to a revision of the doc.u.ments in the case, and to a new trial before another tribunal if there have been any error of form; but in Russia, where distances are immense, and where all things conspire to render suits interminable, litigants from the provinces can only ruin themselves by using their right of recourse to the tribunals of St. Petersburg. I have known landowners who spent twenty years of their lives in prosecuting a suit in the capital, and who died without having obtained judgment. It must be acknowledged, however, that appeals to St. Petersburg are justified to a certain extent by the deplorable nature of governmental justice.

The last radical vice we have to mention has its origin in the n.o.biliary system of Peter the Great, in inadequate salaries and the want of a special body of magistrates. We have seen the necessity entailed on all freemen of entering the service of the state and acquiring a more or less elevated rank, the consequence is, that all the public departments are overburdened with _employes_; and as most of them have no patrimony and are very scantily paid, sometimes not paid at all, they are of course driven to dishonest s.h.i.+fts for their livelihood. Even the heads of departments are not sufficiently remunerated to be safe from the many temptations that beset them. The government has indeed augmented their salaries at various times, but never in a sufficient degree to produce any desirable reform in their conduct. The office of judge, too, is not regarded with sufficient respect and consideration to make it an object of ambition to the high n.o.bility; it is filled in all instances by the lowest privileged cla.s.s in the empire, or bestowed as a recompense on retired military men. This will no doubt appear extraordinary; but it must be remembered that there exists as yet in Russia no distinct corps of magistrates, nor any official cla.s.s of lawyers; the members of the several tribunals, whether elected by the n.o.bles, or nominated by the emperor, are by no means expected to be acquainted with jurisprudence and the laws, and if any among them have studied law in the universities this is a mere accident. Those of them who are honest, judge according to their conscience and their common sense; the others give their voices for those who have bought them.

It is the same with the senate, the supreme judicial court in the empire. It consists only of military veterans, and superannuated servants of the state; in a word, of men who know nothing whatever of law. Hence it is easy to conceive the unlimited power exercised in all these courts by the government secretaries, who, when they know by heart the some thousands of ukases that form what is called the imperial code, pa.s.s for eminent lawyers in the eyes of the Russians.