Sacramento Daily Union, Volume 22, Number 3347, 19 December 1861 — ROSS BROWNE'S LETTERS. [ARTICLE]

ROSS BROWNE'S LETTERS.

[EUROPEAN CORRESPONOENCE of the UNION.

So. 39 -Russian Character.

St. Petersburg. August, 1861.

In such random sketches as these, hastily written, and with but a very limited experience of the country or the people, it would scarcely be reasonable to expect much depth of observation or accuracy, of description. As before stated, I do not make any pretensions to the character of a serious traveler whose business it is to enlighten the world. It is my misfortune to possess an innate repugnance to hard labor of all kinds ; and as for valuable facts and useful information, my proclivities in that line were thoroughly eradicated by long experience in the Government service, where both facts and information, as I very soon discovered, were regarded as irrelevant and impertinent in official correspondence. You may naturally desire to know, then, upon what grounds I claim to occupy your time and space, without having anything worth reading to offer you. Now, don't you perceive that the reason lies in a nut-shell? We are old friends and fellow-citizens (theoretically, at least), bound together by bonds of sympathy, and can enjoy a social chat, even when it amounts to nothing more than an idle shift to pass away the time. If we are amused— why, let it go. No harm is done on either side, and some good, perhaps, if it makes us forget even for the time — *' Th pan -. of tl sp'_.-.<] love, 'he la**'. <_s!ay The tail lence of office acd th. tpzrsß That patient merit of lhe ur. worthy - akes." Besides, is it altogether true that it takes a long time to study the character of a people, their customs and their institutions before one can arrive at a fair conclusion ? I recollect having once remarked to a very intelligent and accomplished gentleman at Constantinople, an American, who had lived there for fifteen years, and thoroughly understood the Turkish language, as well as the customs of the people and the political institutions of the country, that he ought to be able to give us a very striking and valuable work on Turkey, being so much better informed than any casual traveler could hope to be, however learned or observant. His reply was " In some respects, you are probably right. My experience would doubtless enable me to arrive at great accuracy of detail. But on the whole, I feel less qualified to write a work on Turkey now such a work, at least, as would possess any vitality or interest to the mass of the reading public—than I did during the first year of my residence at Constantinople. Then, whatever I saw impressed me as new and strange ; now it has become an old song. I walk through the streets year after year, and see nothing uncommon. You, a stranger, fresh from another country, can see more in a single day, and derive stronger and more vivid impressions from what you see, than I could in a month. Familiarity has destroyed the charm. I have lost the capacity for receiving new sensations from anything around me, and really can scarcely understand how the Turks, their costumes, habits and customs appear to other people.''

• Is there not some philosophy in this, after all, as well as some consolation to random tourists, who dash off their impressions with the genuine . audacity of inexperience ? I knew a sculptor in Florence, who assured me that after working for months upon some favorite ideal in the line of his art, he began to lose all capacity for proportions, and could scarcely tell whether he was producing a model of perfection or a model of absurdity. It was only by going away for a time, or secreting his work until he had nearly forgotten it, and then taking it up again and regarding it with the critical eyes of a stranger that he could form an adequate conception of its faults and merits. Perhaps you will remind me of Horaces advice to literary aspirants, with something of a smile at the effect that a slumber ef ten years would have upon this manuscript. I am afraid if it slept that long, it would find itself upon waking up in the plight of Rip Van Winkle, when he came down from the Catskill mountains. But this you know is a fast age. The ancient Horace would be altogether behind the times in California, where ten years have served to build up a populous and prosperous State, with innumerable elegant cities, including the city of Oakland, which was started originally by another Horace, a descendant of his, one of the sharpest and most progressive men in the State, who,if he does'nt own it all at the present writing, certainly will in the course of ten years. Few of us have so much time to spare in the perfection of our labors, and, since we travel by steam, we must needs write and read by steam or the world will slip from under us somehow and leave us gaping at vacancy.

There is a consciousness of shallowness betrayed in these excuses I admit, but then, it is at least honest when you offer a man a cepper — the best you can do for him perhaps to assure him that it is not a ten dollar piece. Old Montaigne tells us that any common fellow can pass himself for what he is not, but it requires a high order of moral courage to pass ourselves for -what we are ; hence, he assures us that he is vain, conceited, and egotistical. Upon precisely the same principle I am going to give you my Tiews of Ru-sian character — warning you that i

they were picked up in a reckless, harum-scarum way, as the vagabond who lies down in a haystack or a stubble field to pass the night, picks up the husks, burrs, and seeds that happen to stick to his coat.

It may be a little startling to set out with the general proposition that Russia is not only very far from being a civilized country, but that it never can be one in the highest sense of the term. The remark of Peter the Great, that distance was the only serious obstacle to be overcome in the civilization of Russia, was such as might well be made by a monarch of iron will and unparalelled energy, at whose bidding a great city arose out of the swamps of Courland where nature never intended a city to stand. But the remark is not true in point of fact. Distance can be annihilated, or nearly so, and although Peter the Great was probably aware Of that fact,he might well have reasoned that facility of intercommunication is not so much the cause as the result of civilization. The wilderness may be made to blossom as the rose, through human agency, but it can only be done by divine permission. I think that permission has been withheld in the case of a very considerable portion of Russia. No human power can successfully contend against the depressing influences of a climate scarcely paralelled for its rigor. Where there are four months of a summer, to which the scorching heats of Africa can scarcely bear a comparison, and from six to eight months of a Polar Winter, it is utterly impossible that the moral and intellectual faculties of man can be brought to the highest degree of perfection. There must', of course, always be exceptions to every genera! rale ; but even

in the dark and bloody history of Russia we find that the exceptions of superior intelligence and enlightenment have been chiefly confined to those who availed themselves of the advantages afforded by more temperate climes. Peter himself, the greatest of the Czars, and certainly the most gifted of. his race in point of intellect, perfected his education in other countries, and in. all his grand enterprises of improvement, availed himself of the intellect and experience of other races. Every important improvement introduced into Russia during his reign was the product of .some other country, executed under foreign supervision. This, perhaps, more than anything else, may be said to afford the most striking evidence of the enlarged and progressive character of his mind. Yet the very same practice has been followed to a greater or less extent by all his successors, and still, with the exception of a railroad, built by Americans, a telegraph system, a few French fashions, and a movement professing to have for its object the emancipation of the serfs, the country, beyond the limits of the seaport districts and those parts bordering on the States of Germany, has advanced but little towards civilization since the reign of Peter.

With such a vast extent of territory, and such a variety of climates as it must necessarily embrace, it may seem rather a broad assertion to say that climate can be any obstacle to Russian civilization ; but let us glance for a moment at the general character of the country. Between the -sixtieth and seventy-eighth degrees of north latitude, embracing a considerable portion of Europem and Asiatic Russia, the Winters are exceedingly long and severe, the Summers so short that but little dependence can be placed upon crops. The greater part of this region consists of lakes, swamps, forests of pine, aud extensive and barren plains. The mines of Siberia may be regarded as the most valuable feature in this desolate region. The production of flax and hemp in the province of Petersburg and the lumber products of the forests which are accessible to the capital, give some importance to such portions as border on the southern and European limit of this great belt ; but its general features are opposed to agricultural progress. Whatever of civilization can exist within it must be of forced growth, and be maintained under the most adverse circumstances. South of this, between the fifty-fifth and sixtieth degrees of latitude, comes a still wider and more extensive region, comprising St. Petersburg,, Riga, Moscow, Smolensk, and a portion of Irkutsk and Nijni Novgorod. Here the Summer** are longer and the Winters not quite so severe; but a large portion of the country consists of forests, sterile plains and extensive marshes, and much of it i 3 entirely unfit for cultivation. The European portions are well settled, and corn, fl-ix and hemp are produced wherever the land is available, and large bands of cattle roam over many parts of the country. In its general aspect, however, considering the duration and severity of the Winters, and the large proportion of unavailable lands', I do not think it can ever become very productive in an agricultural point -of view. Betwen fifty and -five degrees latitude, embracing the valley of the Volga, is a more favored region, abounding in fertile lands, and the Summers are longer, but the Winters are still severe especially in the eastern portions. From latitude forty-three to fifty, embracing portions of Kief, the Caucasus and other southern possessions of the empire, the Winters are comparatively temperate, and the Summers warm and long ; but here, again, a great portion of this country consists of mountains, arid plains and deserts, and it is subject to extreme and terrible droughts. Here is a vast extent of territory, comprising about one hundred and sixty-five degrees of longitude and thirty-five of latitude, which contains within its limits a greater variety of bad climates, and a greater amount of land unavailable for any purposes of human life, than any equal compass of territory upon the globe — we except Africa, which is at least doubtful. Within the limits of this vast and, for the most part, inhospitable region, we find nearly all the races who, as far back as the history of mankind dates, have been the most addicted to predatory wars, and the indulgence of every savage propensity growing out of an untamable nature — Cossacks, Gypsies, Turks, Circassians, Georgians, etc., and the Russians proper, whose wild Sclavonic blood contains very nearly all the vices and virtues that circulate through the veins of all these races, besides many enterprising and unscrupulous traits of character to which the inferior tribes could never aspire. Here we have a mixed population, estimated in 1830 at seventy-one millions, including North American possessions and tributary tribes a great part of it composed of tot illyincongruous elements, and with a variety of religions embracing about nine millions of Roman, Armenian and irregular Greek Catholics, Lutherans, Mahomedans, Israelites and Buddhists the national creed being the GrecoRusse, which, it is estimated, is professed by about fifty millions of the inhabitants, including of course infants and young children and many others who know nothing about it. To keep all these incongruous elements in order, and provide against foreign invasion, requires a standing army of 577,859 troops, for grand operations," as the last almanac expresses it, besides various corps dc reserve, and a navy of 186 iron steamers, 41 large sailing vessels, and numerous gunboats and smaller vessels, in the Baltic, the Black Sea, the Caspian Sea, the White Sea and the Sea of Azof. More than seven-eighths of these are frozen up and totally unavailable for six months every year. It is estimated that after allowing for the forces necessary to protect the home possessions of the empire, of which Russian Poland is the most troublesome, the number of troops that can be brought into active offensive operation does not, under ordinary circumstances, exceed two hundred thousand men, and it must be obvious, considering that Russia has but little external seaboard, and must submit to the rigors of a climate which locks up the best part of her navy at least half of every year, that she can never attain any great strength as a naval power. i I am inclined to believe, therefore, that whilst this great nation, or combination of nations, is from the very nature of its climate and topography, almost impregnable to foreign invasion, it can never become a very formidable power at any great distance from home and there are considerations connected with , its form of government, and the difficulty or impracticability of changing it, which, in my opinion, form an insuperable obstaole to the education of the people, and such general dissemination of intelligence among the masses as will entitle them to take the highest rank among civilized nations. Nor does the history of Russia during past ages afford much encouragement for a different view of the future. Democracy existed for several centuries before the country became subject to despotic rule, and from the ninth to the fifteenth century the aristocracy possessed no hereditary privileges ; the offices of state were accessible to all, and the peasantry enjoyed personal liberty. It was net until the reign of Peter the Great— -the high priest of civilization — that the serfs became absolute slaves subject to sale, with or without the lands upon which they lived. If the present Emperor succeeds in setting .them free, it will avail them little, unless he accords to them at the same time some of the rights of freemen. In that respect there has been little if any advance since the reign of the Empress Catherine, who accorded some elective privileges to certain classes of her subjects in the provinces, and reduced the administration of the laws to something like a system. The absurd pretense of Alexander the Firet in according to the Senate the right of remonstrating against Imperial decrees, is perfectly in keeping with all grants of power made by the sovereigns of! Russia to their sublets. There is not, and can- 1 not be, in the nature of things, a limited despo- 1 tism. As soon as the subjects. possess constitutional rights at all binding upon the supreme authority, it becomes another form of govern- 1 ment. The great difficulty T in Russia Is that ' the sovereign cannot divest himself of any' substantial part of his power without adding to that of the nobles and the aristocracy, who are already by birth, portion j^d instm-?^ *_•_ ££«

j most to be feared, and most inimical to the progress of freedom. It is not altogether the ignorance of the masses, therefore, that forms an i insuperable barrier to the introduction of more J liberal institutions, but the wealth, intelligence j and influence of the higher classes, who neither toil nor spin, but derive their support from the I labor of the masses whom they hold in subjecj tion. It is natural enough they should oppose j every reform tending to elevate these subordinate classes upon whom they are dependent for ; all the powers . and luxuries of their position. j Admitting that the present Emperor may have ! a leaning towards free institutions, and possibly j contemplate, educating forty or fifty millions of : his subjects to run him into the Presidency of Russia, it is obvious that the path is very thorny and that the position will be well earned if ever he gets there. But these acts of sovereign condescension, although they read very well in newspapers, and serve to entertain mankind with vague ideas of the progress of freedom, are generally the essence of an intense egotism, and amount to nothing , more than cunnin*-* devices to subvert what little of liberty their* subjects may be likely to extort from them by the ! maintenance of" their rights. Ido not say that • Alexander 11. is governed by these motives, but having no faith in kings or despots of any ' kind, however good they may be, I can see no j reason why he should prove any better than bis predecessors. Upon this point let me tell you ; an anecdote. You are aware, perhaps, that the • Finns have a Constitution, which allows them to ! do what they please, provided it be pleasing to the Emperor. Like the ukase of Alexander I. to the Senate, and all similar grants of author- j ity, it is not worth the parchment upon which it j is written, and in its practical operation is no ! better than a practical joke. The Finns, how- : ever, are a brave, simple minded, and rather ' supernitious people, and take some pride in j this Constitution. It is the ghost of liberty at all events, and they indulge in the hope that some day or other it will fish up the dead i body. Not more than a few weeks ago, I a small party of these worthy peo- J ple, on their way to Stockholm for purposes ' of business or pleasure, were arrested and put * in prison by the Russian authorities, on the sup- j position that they differed from the Emperor in ! his interpretation of this liberal Constitution, j and were going to Sweden to lay their grievances I before their old compatriots. It is quite possi- j ble that this was true. I heard complaints made when I was in Helsingfois that there was quite a difference of opinion on the subject. But it is a marvel how they could misunderstand their right under the Constitution, when there is a strong military force stationed at the principal cities of Finland to make it intelligible. So thought the Emperor or his subordinates, and I put them in jail to give them light. The point | in the transaction which strikes me most forci- j bly is, that a power like that of Russia, after having wrested the province of Finland from Sweden, with an army and navy far inferior to what she now possesses, ought not to be afraid that a handful of Finns may tell a pitiful tale to the King of Sweden and prevail upon him to take their country back again. If this be the freedom granted under the free Constitution of Finland, the restraints upon personal liberty must be pretty stringent in dependencies where no constitutions at all exist. By a natnral law, the waves of despotism gather strength and volume as they spread from the central power. It is scarcely an exaggeration to say that the Autocrat of Russia is the least despotic of all the despots in authority. The landed proprietors in the remote provinces too often rule their dependents with an iron rod, and the strong arm of the supreme authority is more frequently exercised in the protection than in the oppression of the lower classes. The tribunals of justice in these districts are corrupt, and the laws as they are administered by the subordinate officers of the Government afford but little chance of justice to the ignorant masses. The landed proprietors are subjected to various exactments and oppressions from the Governors; and these again are at the mercy of the various colleges or departments above them, and so on up to the Imperial Council and Imperial presence. Each class or grade becomes independent, despotic and corrupt in proportion as they recede from the central authority, having a greater latitude of power, and being less apprehensive of punishment for its abuse. In truth, the nobles and aristocracy are the immediate oppressors of the ignorant masses, who are taught to regard them as demigods, and bow down before them in slavish abasement Now and then, in extreme cases, where the Autocrat discovers abuses, which threaten to impair his authority, he sends some of these aspiring gentlemen on a tour of pleasure to Siberia, and thus practically demonstrates that there is a ruling power in the land. A3 all authority emanates from him, and all responsibility rests with him, so all justice, liberality, fair dealing, and humanity are apt to find in a good sovereign, under such a system, their best friend and most conscientious supporter. The success of his Government, the prosperity and happiness of his people, even the perpetuity of the entire political system, depend upon the judicious and equitable use which he makes of b his power. Tbere are limits to human forbearance, as sovereigns have discovered by this time. The Czar is but a man, a mere mortal, after all, and can only hold his authority through the consent, indifference or ignorance of his subjects ; but should he oppress them by extraordinary punishments or exactions, or withdraw from them his protection against the petty tyranny of his subordinates, he would find, sooner or later, that the most degraded can be aroused to resentment. It is the belief on the part of the peasantry, of which the population of Russia is in so large a part formed, that the Emperor is their friend ; that he does not willingly or unnecessarily deprive them of their liberties. . This tends to keep them in subjection. Indeed they have but faint notions of liberty, if any at all, born as they are to a condition of servitude, and reared in abject submission to the governing authorities. They are generally well satisfied if they can get enough to eat ; and when they are not subjected to cruel and unusual abuses, are comparatively happy. The unreasonable assumptions of power on the part of their immediate governing authorities present a trait common to mankind. We know from experience in our own country that the negro-driver on a Southern plantation — a slave selected from slaves is often more tyrannical in the use of authority than the overseer or owner. We know that there are hard and unfeeling overseers on many plantations, where the owner is comparatively mild and humane. So far as he knows anything of the details of his own affairs, his natural disposition accords with his interest, and he is favorable to the kind treatment of -his slaves. But he cannot permit them to become intelligent beings. They may study all the mechanical arts which may be useful to him — become blacksmiths, carpenters, or machinists, but they must not learn that they are . held in servitude, and that the Almighty has given him no natural , right to live upon their earnings or enjoy his pleasure or power, at the expense of their labor and their freedom. The same condition of things, with some variation of course arising from differences of climate and races, exists in Russia ; and the results are not altogether dissimilar. We find idleness, lack of , principle, overbearing manners, ignorance and , sensualism a very common characteristic of the . superior classes ; mingled, though it may be, , with a show of fine manners and such trivial and superficial accomplishments as may be ob- • tamed without much labor. It is a great negro plantation on a large scale, in which the gradation of powers has a depressing tendency, caus- • ing them to increase in rigor as they descend, J like a stone dropped from a hight, which at ! first might be caught in the open hand, but ! soon acquires force enough to brain an ox. One of the effects of the strong coercive powers of the Government is perceptible in ' this, that the greatest latitude prevails in every- 1 thing that does not interfere with the mainten, ! ance of political authority ; and although it is i difficult, in such a country, to find much that j comes within that category, occasional excep- ■ tions may be found. Thus, drunkenness de- J j bauchery, indecency, and reckless, prodigal and 1 filthy habits, are but little regarded ; whilst the I I slightest approach to the acquisition of a liberal ' education or the expression ef liberal opinions i on any subject connected with public polity is I rigidly prohibited. Most of. the English newspapers are excluded from the Empire, although ' if admitted they would have but few general! sealers — iuieg &c li-*ia__3 — _.c_ui-J/ not,

many among the middle or lower classes. The only article, in my own case, that attracted the attention of the Custom : House 'officers at St Petersburg!, was a copy of Harpers Magazine, but upon informing them that it was not written by Lord Byron, the bad man who called Catherine •-Rots.as royal harlot," and who spoke of Alexander I. as •—-•—*■ the coxcomb Cxar, The autocrat of waltzse and cf war," they let me pass, not even detaining my two clean shirts, which I think would have been useful to them. Xo publication on political economy, no work of any kind relating to the science of government or the natural rights of man ; nothing, in short, calculated to impair the faith of the people in the necessity of their political servitude, is permitted to enter the country without a most careful examination. A rigid censorship is exercised over the press, the libraries, the public colleges, the schools, and all institutions having in view the education of the people and the dissemination of intelligence. The Censorial Bureau is in itself an important branch of the Government, having its representatives diffused throughout every province, in every public institution, and even extending its ramifications into the sacred realms of private life for it is a well known fact that a family cannot employ a private tutor whose antecedents and political proclivities have not undergone the scrutiny and received the official sanction of the censorial authorities. How can a country, under such circumstances, be expected to take a high rank among the enlightened' nations of the earth? The very germ of its existence is founded in the suppression of intelligence. It may flfcnjoy a limited advancement, but there can be no great progress in any direction which does not tend at the same time to the subversion of a despotic rule. Even the theaters, operas, cafes and all places of public amusement are under the same rigid surveillance. Xo play can be performed, no opera given, no cafe opened, no garden amusements offered to the public, unless under the supervision and with the sanction of the censorial authorities. In all well regulated communities there must be, of course^ some local or municipal restrictions respecting popular amusements, based upon a regard for public morals, but in this case the question of morality is not taken into much account. Provided there is nothing politically objectionable in the performance, and it has no tendency to make the people better acquainted with the rottenness of Courts, the selfishness, wickedness, and insincerity of men in authority, and their own rights as human beingsprovided the theme be Jishn za Zara — ''Your life for your Czar," or the exhibition a voluptuous display of provided it be merely a matter of abject adulation or fashionable sensation, the most fastidious censor can find no fault with it. What then does the education of the masses amount to ? We read of lectures for the diffusion of knowledge among the people ; of colleges for young men ; of various institutions of learning ; of a liberal system of common schools for the poor. All this is very well in its way. A little light is better than none when the road is crooked and the country abound-, in ruts and deep pitfalls. But the lights shed by these institutions are much obscured by the official glasses through which they shine. The building of fortifications ; the manufacture of gunpowder; the use of guns and swords ; the beauties.of rhetoric abounding in the drill manual ; the eloquence of batteries and broidsides; the poetry of ditching and draining ; the ethics of primary obedience to the authorities, and afterwards to God and reason ; all that pertains to rapine, bloodshed and wholesale murder — noble art of mutilating men in the most effective manner, and the best method of cutting them up or putting them together again when that is done ; the horrid sin of using one's own lights on any internal problem of right or wrong, religion or public policy, when the Emperor, in the plenitude of his generosity, furnishes light enough out of his individual head lor sixty-five millions of people — these are the principal themes upon which the intellects of the rising generation of Russia are nourished. In the primary schools a select and authorized few are taught reading, writing aud arithmetic, but they seldom get much farther, and not always that far, before subordinate positions in the army or navy are found for them. Their education is indeed very limited, and may be set down as an exception to the general ignorance. It will thus be seen that the whole system of education has but one object in view, the maintenance of a military despotism. In this it would scarcely be reasonable to search for cause of complaint. Doubtless the acquisition of knowledge is encouraged as far as may be consistent, with public security and public peace. But it is obvious that under such a system these people can never emerge from their condition of -emi-baibaristn. They must continue behind the spirit of the age in all that pertains to the highest order of civilization. Science, in a limited sense, may find a few votaries ; the art-, may be cultivated to a certain degree ; a feeble school of literature may attain the eminence of a national feature ; but there can be no general expansion of the intellectual faculties, no enlarged and comprehensive views of life and of human affairs. Whatever these people do must be subservient to military rule; beyond that there can be little advance save in what is palpable to the grosser senses, or what panders to the savagery of their nature. A statesman er a philosopher, with independence enough to think and speak the truth, if his views differed from those of the constituted authorities, would be a very dangerous character, and be very apt to pursue his c ireer in company with all who have hitherto aspired to distinction in that way—beyond the confines of Siberia. Russia may produce many Karasnmis to write glowing histories of her wars and conquests, but her Burkes, her Pitts and her Foxes will be few ; and her Shakspeares and her Bacons fewer still. Her Pascal's Reflections will be tinged with Siberian horrors ; her Young's Xight Thoughts will be of the dancing damsels of St. retersburgh ; her Vicars of Wakefield will abound in the genial humor of devils and dragons, saints and tortures and the wit of her Sidney Smiths will have a crack of the knout about — skinning men's backs rather than their backslidings ; effective only when it draws human blood, and best approved by the censors when it strikes at human freedom. We find the results of such a system strongly marked upon the general character. Whilst equJs are wary and distrustful towards each other, inferiors are slavish and : superiors tyrannical. It is often the case that overbearing manners and abject humility are centered in the same class or person. Thus, as Dolgoroukou tells us, the Camarilla are overbearing to the Bureaucracy the Bureaucracy to the Provincial nobility, and the Provincial nobility to the inferior classes, and so of the inverse. As I said before, it is a sliding-scale of despotism. The worst feature of it is seen in the treatment of women. Among the better classes conventionality has, doubtless, somewhat meliorated their condition. Absolute physical cruelty would be, perhaps, a violation of etiquette and good breeding ; but neglect, selfishness, innate coarseness of thought, and a general want of chivalrous appreciation, are too common in the treatment of Russian women not to strike the most casual observer. Certainly the impressions of one who has been taught from infancy to regard the gentler sex as entitled to the most profound respect and chivalrous devotion — look upon them as beings of a more delicate essence than man, yet infinitely superior in | those moral attributes which rise so high above j intellect or physical power— not favorable i to the assumptions of Russian civilization. Yet, j since the condition of woman is but little better in any part of Europe, it may be that this is one of the fashions imported from France *or Germany, and since these two claim to be the most polite and cultivated nations in existence, lit is even possible that the Americans— a rude i people, who have not yet had time to polish their, manners or perfect their customs be mistaken in their estimate of the ' ladies, and will, some day or " other, become more Eu : ropeanized. I fancy there is a leaning that way now ; but for one, polished or savage, a Valentine or an Orson, I beg to assure your fair readers that I shall stand by them and their rights to the last day of my existence. I wonder men should ever waste their time searching for gold and jewels when they have around them the inexhaustible treasures of woman's affection 1 ii) turn i.wu, i tiff oar, -uir iadies. w ftthforh. 4

there are none such as you upon the face ofthe earth ! If there were any so beautiful, so fas-* cinating, so attractive generally, I believe they would be better treated. Look upon me, then, I pray you, as the knight-errant who will beard the lion in his den, or the Russian bear in his icy desert, for your sake, and in your behalf. Nay, I will attack even windmills in" the excess of. my devotion; and I only ask of you in returnmaking, of course, due allowance for circumstances—that you will bestow an occasional thought upon your absent champion. If I don't address you in the passionate language . of Phaedra to the mistress of his soul, it is merely because I daren't attempt such a flight at my time of life with a heavy burden of responsibility resting upon me. But I believe in Phaedraglorious young Phaedra ! — he who, after an absence of three days, thus apostrophised the light of his life : '* When you are in the company of others, behave as if you were absent; but continue to love me by day and by night want me ; dream of me ; expect me ; think of me ; wish for me ; delight in me be wholly with me ; in short, be my very soul, as I am yours." What judicious or sensible man, with a spark of soul, or a drop of wholesome blood in his body, does not subscribe to the doctrines contained in this delicious little text?— except the people of France, Germany and Russia, who seem to be constructed upon some philosophical or physical principle which I confess my inability to understand. „.:./ But, in all fairness, if the Russians be a little uncouth in their way, they possess, like bears, a wonderful aptness in learning to dance ; if the brutal element is strong in their nature, so also is the capacity to acquire frivolous and meretricious accomplishments. Like all races in which the savage naturally predominates, they delight in the glitter of personal decoration, the allurements of music, dancing and the gambling table ;' and all the luxuries of idleness and sensuous folly— traits which they share pretty generally with the rest of mankind. Tropical gardens where the thermometer is twenty degrees below zero feasts and frolics that in a single night may leave them beggars for life ; military shows ; the smoke and carnage of battle ; the worship of their Saints and Czars— are their chief pleasures and most genial occupations. Their politeness consists less in quiet and gentlemanly bearing, innate kindness and a delicate regard for the feelings and prejudices of others, than in a lavish and prodigil hospitality— a constant craving to be thought high or grand The most elegant compliment that can be paid to a lady, in the Russian sense, i* rather to astonish her with some magnificent act of folly or prodigality, than manifest by an unobtrusive attention to her wishes or her comforts, any genuine respect for her sex. We read of the Count Orloff, who, upon hearing the Empress Catherine 11. praise some scene in a theater, immediately built a town just like it opposite the gates of the Tzarsko Selo, at a cose of several millions of roubles, so that the next time she visited the Palace the scene was realized. But we may well question if this piece of Russian gallantry was dictated so much by love as by ambition. Such a compliment to any woman" except an Empress would not, I think, have been regarded even by the gallant Count Orloff 115 a paying investment. We read also of the Crimean tour of the same voluptuous Sovereign, when artificial temples were erected by ht r paramours on the roadside ; picturesque scenery painted to improve the sterile wastes ; and soldiers dressed as peasants to do her homage all being at the expense of the poor wretches who were groaning in bondage. But with all this folly and prodigality, there is really a great deal of native generosity in the Russian character. Liberal to a fault, in everything but the affairs of Government, they freely bestow their wealth upon charitable institution.** ; and, whether rich or poor, are ever ready to extend the hand of relief to the distresses of their fellow creatures. It is rarely they hoard their gains. There are few who do not live up to the full measure of their incomes, and most of them very far beyond. Whether they spend their means for good or for evil, they are at least free from the groveling sin of stinginess. I never met more than one stingy Russian to my knowledge ; but let him go. He reaped his reward in the dislike of all who knew him. Towards each other, even the beggars are liberal. There is nothing little or contemptible in the Russian character. Overbearing and despotic they may be; deficient in the gentler traits which grace a more cultivated people ; but meanness is not one of their failings. In this they present a striking contrast to a large and influential portion of their Xorth German neighbors, for whose sordid souls Beelzeub might search in vain through the desert wastes that lie upon the little end of a cambric needle. In some respects the Russians evince a more enlarged appreciation of the world's progress than many of their European neighbors. They have no fixed prejudices ngainst mechanical improvements of any kind. Quick to appreciate every advance in the useful arts, they are ever ready to accept and put in practical operation whatever they see in other countries better than the product of their own. Thus they adopt English and American machinery, railways, telegraphs, improvements in artillery, and whatever else they deem beneficial, or calculated to augment their prosperity and power as a nation. Whilst in Germany it would be almost an impossibility to introduce the commonest and most obvious improvement in the mechanical arts — if we except railways and telegraphs, which have become a military and political necessity, growing out of the progress of neighboring powers — whilst many of their fabrics are still made by hand, and their mints, presses and fire engines are of almost primeval clumsiness, the Russians eagerly grasp at all novelties, and are wonderfully quick in the comprehension of their uses and advantages. A similar comparison might be made in reference to the freedom of internal trade, and the encouragement given to every industrial pursuit among the — being the exact reverse of the policy pursued by the German Governments. Thus, whilst we find them backward in the refinements of literature and intellectual culture, it is beyond doubt that they possess wonderful natural capacity to learn. They lack steadiness and perseverance, and are not always governed by the best motives ; but in boldness of spirit, disregard of narrow prejudice, ability to conceive and execute what they desire to accomplish, they have few equals and no superiors. Combined with these admirable traits, their wild Sclavonic _ blood abounds in elements which, upon great occasions, arise to the eminence of a sublime heroism. Brave and j patriotic, devoted to their country and their religion, we search the pages of history in vain for a parallel to their sacrifices in the defense of both. Not even the wars of the Greeks and Romans can produce such an example of heroic devotion to the maintenance of national integrity as the burning of Moscow. When an entire people, devoted to their religion, gave up their churches and their shrines to the devouring element ; when princes and nobles placed the burning brands to their palaces ; when bankers, merchants and tradesmen freely yielded up their hard-earned gains ; when women and children joined in the great work of destruction to deliver their country from the hands of a ruthless invader, it may well be said of that sublime flame .:„--., - " Thou stand'st alone anrivall'd, till the fire, To come, la which all empires shall expire." Truly, when we glance back at the national career of the Russians, they cannot but strike us as a wonderful people. Whilst we must condemn their cruelty and rapacity ; whilst we can see nothing to excuse in their ferocious persecution of the Turks; whilst the greater part of their history is a bloody record of injustice to weaker nations, we cannot but admire their indomitable courage their intense and unalterable attachment to their brave old Czars—and their sublime devotion to their religion and their nationality. ... But enough of this. . I merely desire to show you that I do not depreciate people because their manners, customs and institutions are distasteful to me. I like all men, individually, according to their personal collectively, I have my prejudices. It really matters not a jot what may be any man's birthplace, religion or political opinions, I cotton to him on general principles till I discover that there is something about him to dislike, and then only dismiss him from my memory. If I now and "then give the Russians a "star-spangler on the cronk," it is merely to show my regard for them— like the Irishman at Donnybrook fair, who I ' «_». L_i «**-«. itiV*-e_, «_,<_ lot iv**. k_.Qe-_.6J kuul elORB," -

I ! r They are a stalwart race ; a tall, strong- 1 • limbed, blue-eyed race, full of vigor, though * not skilled in the pugilistic art ; but they can ,- • stand a few manly passes against their vicious I ! ways, when made in the spirit of friendship. i . There is only one thing I regret in their recent j history. I was against them in the Crimean i j war, because I thought it was an unjust and aggressive movement against a feeble and in- { offensive people ; but it would not grieve me j now if they had given both the English and the i ! French a sound drubbing. The Russians have little or no humor, though | they are not deficient in what may be termed j the savagery of humor. There is something j fearfully vicious and grotesque in the royal j freaks of fancy of which Russian history furI nishes us so many examples. We read, with a shudder, of the facetious compliment paid to the Italian architect by Ivan the Terrible, who caused the poor man's eyes to be put out that he might never see to build another church so beautiful as that of St. Basil. We cannot but smile at the grim humor of Peter the Great, who, upon seeing a crowd of men with wigs and gowns at Westminster Hall, and being informed that they were lawyers, observed that he had but two in bis whole empire, and he believed he would hang one of them as soon as he got home. A still more striking, though less ghastly freak of fancy was . that perpetrated by the Empress Anne of Courland, who on the occasion of the marriage of her favorite buffoon, Galitzin, caused a palace of ice to be built, with a bed of the same material, in which she compelled the happy pair to pass their wedding night. The Empress Catharine II. — Pomeranian Prussian by birth, but thoroughly Russian in ber morals—possessed a more ardent temperament. Her thoughts certainly did not run much on icy beds for wedding couples. What time she did not spend in ** quenching her ambitious thirst " by slaughtering men she spent in loving them ; " for tho-i-.-hshe would widow all Nations, she liked mail as an l r dividual." She never dismissed an old admirer until she had secured several new ones, and generally consoled those who had served her will by giving them twenty or thirty thousand serf-.. Icis recorded of her that upon the death of one of her lovers, the handsome youth Lanskoi, "she gave herself up to the most poignant grief, and remained three months without going out of her Palace of Tzarsko Selo," thus perpetrating a very curious practical satire upon the holiest of human affections, Her grenadier lover, Potemkin, according to the character given of hjra by the Count Segur, was little better than a gigantic and savage buffoon, licentious and superstitious, bold and timid by turns sometimes desiring to be King of Poland, at others a Bishop or a Monk. Of him we read that "he put out an eye to free it from a blemish which diminished his beauty. Banished by his rival, he ran to meet death in battle, and returned with glory." Another pleasant little jest was that perpetrated by Suarrow, who after the bloody battle of Tourtourkaya, in Bulgaria, in which mauy thousands were slain, announced the result in two lines to his imperial mistress : " Glory to God, glory to you ! Tourtcurksya ia taken — here am I." This was the terribie warrior who used to sleep almost naked, in a room of suffocating heat, and rush out to review his troops, in a linen jacket, with the thermometer of Reaumur ten degrees below freezing point. Of the Emperor Paul, the son of Catherine, we read that he issued an ukase against the use of shoestrings and round hats ; caused all the watch- i boxes, gates and bridges throughout the empire : to be painted in the most glaring and fantastic ' colors, and passed a considerable "portion of his ; time riding on a wooden rocking — a degenerate practice for a scion of the bold Catherine, who used to dress herself in men's clothes and ride astraddle on the back of a live horse before her troops. These may be considered royal or princely vagaries, in which great people are privileged to indulge, but I think it will be found that the same capricious savagery of humor — I may so — prevails to some extent among all classes of Russians. In many instances it can scarcely be regarded as directly associated with any idea of mirthfulness; yet in its grotesque manifestations something is seen of a tendency toward the enjoyment of the strange, startling and incongruous; the ghost, perhaps, 'if not the living body of the humorous. We read of the ceremonies of Recollection Monday, when ihe mass of the people go out into the grave yards, and spreading table cloths on the mounds that cover the dead bodies of their relatives drink quass and punch to the health of the deceased saying, '.* since the dead are unable to drink,_the living must drink for them." We find in the museum of Peter the Great, at St. Petersburg, the flayed skin of a gigantic Holsteiner his favorite servant — who has been stuffed and put up amongst other sacred relics and curiosities, including stuffed horses and dogs. In one of the arsenals is an eagle made of gun-flint*", with swords ■ for wings, daggers for feathers, and the mouths of cannons for eyes ; in another a standard of the Strelitzes, with a painting upon it representing heaven and hell. Heaven contains the Russian priests and all the faithful, duly labeled, so ' that there may be no mistake about it ; but the other place, a dreadful region of fires and suffocating clouds of brimstone, contains Jews, Tartars, Germans and negroes. The bass singer of ' the Kazan church was a Tobolsken, who, accord- ' ing to Russian accounts had a voice of such - wonderful depth and power, that the first time ha , sang in church a number of ladies fainted. It was his habit to open doors by uttering a mere !. ■•hem," and once, when attacked by a gang of robbers, he put them all to flight by roaring for help. ' The driver of a kibitka sings doggrel rhymes to , his horses to make them go fast, and calls them . by the tenderest name ; but if they don't go as ■ fast as he desires, he very often adds point to ■ hi.-* jokes by leaving one or more of them dead ( on the roadside. If you are traveling by post ' in front of some officer of the Government, or ! ' even a private individual of rank, it is not a L rare thing to have the horses, for which you _ perhaps waited, at some dismal interior station, half an hour, taken from your vehicle, and at- '■ tached to that of the new comer, who without £ moving a muscle, touches his cap in a grave and polite manner as he drives off, and wishes you a . " pleasant journey." The guards who lived on , the roof of the Winter in St. Petersburg, prior _ to 1837, when it was nearly destroyed by fire, first carried up their families to live with them, 1 then their goats, and then, to cap the climax, , their cows. Only think of cows grazing on the roof of a palace over the imperial head of a ■ Czar. It is said that this practice was abandoned , after the fire. The Winter markets of St. PcI tersburg and Moscow present some of the most , cadaverous specimens of the startling humor in ' which the Russians delight. Here you find frozen oxen, calves, sheep, rabbits, geese, ducks, I and all manner of animals and birds, once animate with life, now a stark and ghastly coni course of skinned and plucked bodies, arranged in hideous mockery of life. The oxen stand , glaring at you with their fixed eyes and gory I carcasses ; the calves are jumping or frisking in skinless innocence ; the sheep ba-a at you with I open mouths, or cast sheep's eyes at the by-pas- . sers ; the rabbits, having traveled some hundreds of miles, are jumping or running or tumbling somersaults in frozen tableaux, to keep themselves warm ; and so on, with every va- '. riety of flesh, fowl, and even fish. The butchi ers cut short these* expressive practical witti- ; cisms by means of saws, a3 one might saw a j block of wood ; and the sawdust (bloody saw- ; dust it is, too .) is scraped up and carried away by the children and ragamuffins to be made into soup. A movement is now on foot, as all the world ! knows, to abolish serfdom. The Emperor Alexander has issued his ukase. The Prince Dolgoroukou says it is a mere piece of pleasantry to profess to give freedom to slaves, when the lowest subject under a constitutional Government enjoys higher privileges than a Russian noble. lam reminded by this of the freedom proclaimed by the ukase of: September, 1827, which I cannot help regarding as a very fine * specimen of Russian humor. It fixes the pei riod of miUtary service for serfs at twenty years I in the Imperial Guard, and twenty-two in ; the other corps; .states, in express terms . that the moment a serf becomes enrolled in the i ranks of the army, he is free ! But he must i I not desert, for if he does, he becomes a slave x. again. This idea of freedom is really refreshj ing. - Only twenty or twenty-two years of the ' . gCi-.IV. l'e.iUU_._; V 4 Xtaa^^.aA^ A___iU,u-V Ui-lV'll'lUitt I

to be enjoyed after receiving his freedom I Tbat he may go off (at the age of fifty or sixty, aay_V unless disease or gunpowder has carried him «_C long before, to enjoy the sweets of hard labor in some agreeable desert, or the position of * guard or watchman on the frontiers of Siberia, where the climate is probably considered salubrious. Thus it is that the boon of freedom » bestowed by the condescending hand of royalty thus may the subject of an Autocrat enjoy apleasing witticism for twenty odd years, with a_ subsequent " heritage of .ervKucte and wots, A blindfold bondage, where h's hire is blows.^ Some modifications have doubtless takes place in the treatment of serfs within the paafc thirty years, but their condition is, at best, bait enough. They are slaves, to all intents ataffi purposes, and can never be otherwise under aos absolute despotism. Naturally enough, theae? are the people who perpetrate the horribte mockery of making saints of their Czars, a__* worshiping the bones of the dead, whose iresclad heels trod upon them during life ! These are but a few of the examples of ... peculiar and characteristic trait abounding is. the history and every day life of the Russians. I have said that they are destitute of humor, m the English sense ; but it is manifest that they possess a high degree of it, in the Russian sen_KtTheir tragedies are comedies, and their comedies are tragedies. A trip to Siberia, under ti* Imperial auspices, a ghastly display of d_9-.fi bodies, the punching out of an eye, or the staffing of a skinned man, are delicate wittic_s___» and the blow of the sledge-hammer on the «__ froutis is a joke to set the table in a roar ; bet the frown of an Emperor makes women fain* and strong men tremble; the loss of a pewter image is a signal for the sounds of woe ; attm the cracking of a big bell a tragedy over which. the nation weeps for a century. I can conceive of nothing humorous, in these people, which is not associated in some way with the cruel and the grotesque. They have many noble a_t£ generous traits, but lack delicacy of feeling.. The milk and honey of. human kindness does. not flow abundantly in so rigorous a clhne^. though cows are the common stock of thenpastures, and bees of their fields and forest*"-.. Where the range of the thermometer is from at hundred to a hundred and fifty degrees of Fahrenheit, the character of the people must ps_*»take, in some sort, of the qualities of the eSmatefierce, rigoious and pitiless in its wintry aspect, and without the compensating andgen_a_r tenderness of Spring ; fitful and passionate as*the searching heats of Summer, and dark,, ttormy and dreary as the desolation of Autumn.. When the first stranger you meet of " frosty **" day in St. Petersburg may call upon his ll litll*. father to look out for his nose, or politetfp clap a handful of snow upon it to thaw the frost, it is scarcely reasonable to expect the <_*_- i:;ate subtlety of Parisian wit, or the geniaS overflow of English humor. When the w____e--cerements that cover the stiff stark earth as® burst open in a week or day, and vegetable Izfta— dashes like a dripping apparition into the blaast of a tropical sun, there to scorch and wither * few brief months, and then lie down again in ite dreary death slumber, we must look rather for the wild excesses of passion than the refinements of intellect. For the poor, the one is as. season of dreary stagnation or fearful suffering, followed by a laborious struggle for the laetstmof subsistence ; for the rich, a season of .

"Damsel, and dance., revels anil re-ny money, Taut make Ice seem Paradise, anei Winter nou-jr; followed by a career of outdoor folly, extra**gance, sensualism, and meretricious show, that maks rits way, with a slimy glitter, all over the continent of Europe. They visit France te study the refinements of civilized life, and thej* study the French language, French moralf*. French fashions, and generally return to Ru:-«-k-. with French mistresses. The^isit Germany;., to perfect themselves in German literature asfi German music ; and usually perfect themselves 1 in the art of gambling at the German watering places. They visit England, to study commerce,, . manufactures, machinery, and all the usefiaS arts, and what they don't learn in that way,, they do learn in the way of insolence, self-s2*-ness, dogmatism, and the art of being generaly disagreeable. They visit the United States, •*» study republican institutions, and go back " With no objec'lon to true liberty, Except that it would make the natlors free.'"

They are quick enough at learning whatever as? good and useful, but not persevering enough-, and too much occupied with the frivolous pursuits of pleasure, to carry it out. Like fresh, water, which naturally abounds in hcal_-ifi_3 properties, they have a tendency to absort* what is noxious in the atmosphere around them,, but, unlike that element, they don't get rid uiV it as they run through life. And now, be you Russian, Frenchman, German or American, permit me to say to you — without intending the remark in its vulgar zstV defiant sense put this in your pipe and smoke it. If it has served to amuse you fox half tat hour, it has answered its purpose, so far as I am concerned. But if it has ruffled your temper,, don't give way to anger about it. "He that ruleth his temper is mightier than he that taku__t_ a city." If the picture be untrue to nature, yoc will not recognize the likeness, and you should not be angry with the artist that he has failed..-. His intentions, at all events, are good, snsA must be regarded as having a democratic tea.dency. The great aim of his life is to ele nate modest merit, and put down pretension of aJB kinds. Therefore, suppress your wrath, if act accidental daub of the brush has disfigured 3. cherished ideal, or produced a paltry car_*c»ture of your respected self. Remember wha_st you learned in your copy book many years agp. ** A wrathful man stirreth up strife ; but Ise* that is slow to anger appeaseth strife."

Paicss at Petersburg, Virginia The Petc2*_vburg Express, under the head of " The Di__*grence," says :

Eggs are selling out in lowa at cne cent pro dozen— -here they sell for twenty-five centsThere, corn can readily be bought at fifteen cen*--.. per bushel — it is worth seventy-five tak eighty cents. There, apples sell for twentycents per bushel — here money can hardly bay a bushel. There, flour is worth four dollars per* barrel— here it is worth from seven to eight oar nine dollars. There, salt is selling for one Cellar and a half per sack — at fifteen dollaraBut these are only a few of the effects of Oats war and the blockade on the North and Bc94__*.

The same paper thus quotes the market fi__r salt:

The recent advertisements about getting adt. from the mountains (or in Western Virginia]^,, so far from putting down the market, seen. to* have had just a contrary efiect, as the n*.-.r%^_ to-day was very active and excited, galea ef 150 sacks fine at $15, and 50 at $15 50, and a* m**re to be had at those prices ; holders generally are asking $20, which we are advised ant the price in Richmond and also in Lynchburg Stock is being reduced rapidly. As reporters ef the market we have only to say that if bojere had paid more attention to our opinion,. &____. less to the "bastard" publications which haveappeared from time to time in the newspapers*, they would have been much better off. Somes little fine was sent off to-day at $16. We -quote ground alum at $14@14 50; Virginia fine, ist half sacks, $8. A lot of 10 sacks Liverpool fine was sold yesterday at $16 25. Oats in the sheaf are telling at very *fcq£k_. prices, say $2@2 25 per 100 lbs.

Thk Port Royal Affair. — A correspondeatt. writing from the.fleet to the New York THivag^ says :

The Wabash received thirty-four shots in thehull and rigging ; the mainmast waa severely wounded. The Susquehanna was struck by rif-s* balls several times. The Bienville was struck five times— twice in the hull. The Pawnee was hit nine times— mostly in the hull. The Mohican was hit several times, but not seriously injured. A ball struck the steam chimney of tke Penguin, cutting it off, and disabling the ve-HuS for the time being. Bhe can be repaired, however, without being sent home. The Seminole wes hit several times. The new gunboats were* but little injured, considering the position ihey took. It is a matter of much surprise that tke ships were damaged bo little when the fir.ojc was of such excellent character from the refcaß forts. The carp&nters were busy on board of -moat"* of the ships in repairing damages. Neatly bt*ery vessel was more or less damaged, but "«>"^rr seriously. The Penguin received a shot wfinb took effect in her steam pipe, and^he _m__. turned out of the action. The \ andalm mmm not hit, but she fired bo rapidly that one of tftsp fleet telegraphed that she was on fire. **».*■.. Wabash's mainmast is pretty badly damage* but it is now fished, and will last Buffic.ent.-_j.-lon* t*» enablcthe ship to do moreexscu.-o.i.&*-I ivtv »no return* home.