UTILITY OF EASY MANNERS.223
request him, with a solemn air, to introduce him to the fair and amiable foreigner. All these requisite ceremonies being duly accomplished, the awkward neighbour at length opened Ins mouth, and, drawing his breath from the lowest depths of his breast, while at the same time he bowed respectfully, said, " I have been particularly anxious, madame, to make your acquaintance."
The mention of this great anxiety produced in the lady an inclination to smile, which, however, her familiarity with the world enabled her to overcome; and she at length found in this ceremonious person a well-informed and even interesting man —of so little signification are forms in a country where pride renders the greater number of the men timid and reserved.
This proves that easy manners, light, agreeable conversation, in short, true elegance, which consists in putting every body we meet as much at his ease as we are ourselves, far from being an unimportant, frivolous thing, as certain people who only judge the world by hearsay call-it, is useful and even necessary in the higher ranks of society, where either business or pleasure is constantly bringing together people who have never seen each other before. If it was always necessary, in order to make acquaintance with new faces, to proceed with the slowness and patience required in the cases of the Polish lady and myself before Ave could have the right of exchanging a word with an Englishman, we should renounce the object, and lose many valuable opportunities of instructing and amusing ourselves.
This morning early, the governor, whose obliging L 4
224VISITS WITH THE GOVERNOE.
kindness I can never tire, took me to see the curiosities of the old city. His servants attended him, which enabled me to dispense with putting to a second proof the docility of my feldjäger, whose claims the governor respects.
There is in Russia a class of persons which corresponds to the citizen class among us, though without possessing the firmness of character derived from an independent position, and the experience obtained by means of liberty of thought and cultivation of mind: this is the class of subaltern employes, or secondary nobility. The ideas of these men are generally turned towards innovations, whilst their acts are the most despotic that are committed under despotism : this, indeed, is the class which, in spite of the emperor, governs the empire. They pretend to enlighten the people, and their pretensions incur the dislike and contempt of both great and little. Theii impertinences are become proverbiaclass="underline" whoever has any need of making use of these demi-nobles, newly raised by their office and their rank in the tchinn to the honours of territorial proprietors, revenges himself upon their pride by unmerciful ridicule. These men, risen from class to class, and attaining at length, by virtue of some cross or some employ, the class in which a man may possess lands and fellow-men, exercise their seignorial rights with a rigour which renders them objects of execration among their unhappy peasants. AVhat a singular social phenomenon is this liberal or changeable element in a despotic system of government, which system it here renders yet more intolerable ! " If we had only the old lords," the peasants say, " we should not complain of our
THE AUTHOR'S FELDJÄGER.225
condition." These new men, so hated by the small number who are their serfs, are also masters of the supreme master ; and are the preparers likewise of a revolution in Russia,—first, by the direct influence of their ideas, and, secondly, by the indirect consequences of the hatred and contempt which they excite among the people. Republican tyranny under autocratical! — what a combination of evils !
These are enemies created by the emperors themselves, in their distrust of the old nobility. An avowed aristocracy, long rooted in the land, but moderated by the progress of manners and the amelioration of customs, would have been an instrument of civilisation preferable to the hypocritical obedience, the destructive influence of a host of commissioners and deputies, the greater number of foreign origin, and all more or less imbued, in the secret of their hearts, with revolutionary notions; all as insolent in their thoughts as obsequious in their words and manners.
My courier, unwilling to perform his business because he is near attaining the prerogative* of thin order of nobility, is the profoundly comic type of its nature and character. I wish I could describe liis slim figure, his carefully-adjusted dress, his sharp, thin, dry, pitiless, yet humble countenance — humble whilst waiting till it may have the right to become arrogant; —in short, this type of a puppy, in a country where conceit is not harmless as with us; for in Russia it is a sure means of rising, if only it unite itself with servility: —but this person eludes the definition of words, as an adder glides out of sight. He represents to my eyes the union of two political
226FLAG 0Г MININE.
forces, the most opposite in appearance although possessing much real affinity, and although detestable when combined — despotism and revolution ! I cannot observe his eyes of clouded blue, bordered with nearly white lashes, his complexion, whieh would be delicate, but for the bronzing rays of the sun and the frequent influence of an internal and always repressed rage, his pale and thin lips, his dry yet eivil words, the intonation of whieh utters the very opposite of the phraseology, without viewing him as a protecting spy, a spy respected even by the governor of Nijni; and under the influence of this idea I am tempted to order post-horses, and never to stop until beyond the frontiers of Russia.
The powerful governor of Nijni does not dare to command this ambitious courier to mount the box of my carriage; and, though the representative of supreme authority, ean only advise me to be patient.
Minine, the liberator of Russia—that heroie peasant whose memory has become especially popular since the French invasion—is buried at Nijni. His tomb may be seen in the cathedral, among those of the great dukes.
It was in this city that the cry of deliverance first resounded, at the time when the empire was occupied by the Poles.
Minine, a simple serf, sought the presence of Pojarski, a Russian noble: the language of the peasant breathed enthusiasm and hope. Pojarski, electrified by the saered though rude eloquence, gathered together a few men. The daring deeds of these heroes attracted others to their standard: they marched upon Moscow, and liberated Russia.
BAD FAITH OF THE GOVERNMENT.227
Since the retreat of the Poles, the flag of Pojarski and Minine has always been an object of great veneration among the Russians: the peasants inhabiting a village between Yaroslaf and Nijni preserved it as a national relic. But durino; the war of 1812 a necessity was felt of exciting the soldiers to enthusiasm; historical associations were revived, especially those connected wTith Minine; and the keepers of his banner were requested to lend this palladium to the new liberators of their country, that it might be carried at the head of the army. The ancient guardians of the national treasure only consented to part with it through a feeling of devotion to the country, and upon receiving a solemn oath that it should be returned to them after victory, when its new triumphs would render it yet more illustrious. It was thus that the flag of Minine followed our army in its retreat: but, when afterwards carried back to Moscow instead of being returned to its legitimate possessors, it was detained and deposited in the treasury of the Kremlin in contempt of the most solemn promises ; while, to satisfy the just appeals of the despoiled peasants, и copy of their miraculous ensign was sent to them — a copy which, in the derisive condescension of the robbers, was made exactly similar to the original.