DANCES. THE POLONAISE.THE GRAND GALLERY.POLITICAL
REFLECTIONS. FRENCH POLITICS. THE SUPPER. KHAN OF
THE KIRGUISES.THE QUEEN OF GEORGIA. RUSSIAN COURT
DRESS. THE GENEVESE AT THE EMPEROR'S TABLE. POLITE
NESS OF THE MONARCH.A NIGHT SCENE IN THE NORTH. AN
UNEXPECTED INTERVIEW WITH THE EMPRESS.PHILOSOPHY OF
DESPOTISM.
I лм writing on the 14th of July, 1839, fifty years after the taking of the Bastille, which event occurred on the 14th of July, 1789. The coincidence of these dates is curious. The marriage of the son of Eugene de Beauharnais has taken place on the same day as that wliich marked the commencement of our revolutions, precisely fifty years ago.
CHARACTER OF THE EMPEROR. 191
I have just returned from the palaee, after having witnessed, in the Imperial chapel, all the Greek ceremonies of the marriage of the Grand Duchess Marie with the Duke de Leuchtenberg.
I will endeavour to describe in detail, but in the first place I must speak of the Emperor.
The predominant expression of his countenance is that of a restless severity, which strikes a beholder at the first glance; and, in spite of the regularity of his features, conveys by no means a pleasant impression. Physiognomists pretend, with much reason, that the hardness of the heart injures the beauty of the countenance. Nevertheless, this expression in the Emperor Nicholas appears to be the result of experience rather than the work of nature. By what long and cruel sufferings must not a man have been tortured, when his countenance excites fear, notwithstanding the voluntary confidence that noble features inspire.
A man charged with the management and direction, in its most minute details, of some immense machine, incessantly fears the derangement of one or other of its various parts. He who obeys suffers only according to the precise measure of the evil inflicted : he who commands, suffers first as other men suffer, and afterwards that common measure of evil is multiplied a hundred fold for him by the workings of imagination and self-love. Responsibility is the punishment of absolute power.
If he be the primum mobile of all minds, he becomes the centre also of all griefs: the more he is dreaded the more he is to be pitied.
He to whom is accorded unlimited rule sees, even in
192 CHARACTER OF THE EMPEROR.
the common occurrences of life, the spectre of revolt. Persuaded that his rights are sacred, he recognises no bounds to them but those of his own intelligence and will, and he is, therefore, subject to constant annoyance. An unlucky fly, buzzing in the Imperial palace during a ceremony, mortifies the Emperor: the independence of nature appears to him a bad example : every thing which he cannot subject to his arbitrary laws becomes in his eyes as a soldier, who in the heat of battle revolts against his officer. The Emperor of liussia is a military chief, and every day with him is a day of battle.
Nevertheless, at times, some gleams of softness temper the imperious looks of this monarch, and then the expression of affability reveals all the native beauty of his classic features. In the heart of the husband and the father, humanity triumphs for a moment over the policy of the prince. When the sovereign rests from his task of imposing the yoke upon his subjects, he appears happy. This combat between the primitive dignity of the man and the affected gravity of the sovereign appears to me worthy the attention of an observer: it oecnpied mine the greater part of the time I passed in the chapel.
The Emperor is above the usual height by half a head; his figure is noble, although a little stiff: he has practised from his youth the Russian custom of girding the body above the loins to such a degree as to push up the stomach into the chest, which produces an unnatural swelling or extension about the ribs, that is as injurious to the health as it is ungraceful in appearance.
EMPEROR NICHOLAS. — HIS PERSON.193
This voluntary deformity destroys all freedom of movement, impairs the elegance of the shape, and imparts an air of constraint to the whole person. They say that when the Emperor loosens his dress, the viscera, suddenly giving way, are disturbed for a moment in their equilibrium, which produces an extraordinary prostration of strength. The bowels maybe displaced — they cannot be got rid of.
The Emperor has a Grecian profile — the forehead high, but receding; the nose straight, and perfectly formed; the mouth very finely cut; the face, which iu shape is rather a long oval, is noble ; the whole air military, and rather German than Slavonic. His carriage and his attitudes are naturally imposing. He expects always to be gazed at, and never for a moment forgets that he is so. It may even be said that he likes this homage of the eyes.
He passes the greater part of his existence in the open air, at reviews, or in rapid journeys. During summer the shade of his military hat draws across his forehead an oblique line, which marks the action of the sun upon the skin. This line produces a singular effect, but it is not disagreeable, as the cause is at once perceived.
In examining attentively the fine person of this individual on whose will hangs the fate of so many others, I have remarked with involuntary pity that he cannot smile at the same time with the eyes and the mouth, a want of harmony which denotes perpetual constraint; and which makes one remember with regret that easy natural grace, so conspicuous in the less regular but more agreeable countenance of his brother, the Emperor Alexander. The latter, always
VOL. I.K
194THE EMPRESS.
pleasing, had yet, at times, an assumed manner. The Emperor Nicholas is more sincere; but he has an habitual expression of severity, whieh sometimes gives the idea of harshness and inflexibility. If, however, he is less fascinating, he is more firm than his late brother: but then it must be added, that he has also a proportionately greater need of firmness. Graceful courtesy insures authority, by removing the desire of resistance. This judicious economy in the exercise of power is a secret of whieh the Emperor Nicholas is ignorant; he is one who desires to be obeyed, where others desire to be loved.
The figure of the Empress is very elegant; and, though she is extremely thin, I find an indefinable grace about her whole person. Her mien, far from being haughty, as 1 had been informed, is expressive of an habitual resignation. On entering the ehapel she was much affected, and I thought she was going to faint. A nervous convulsion agitated every feature of her face, and caused her head slightly to shake. Her soft blue, but rather sunken eyes, told of deep sufferings supported with angelic calmness. Her look, full of feeling, has the more power, from its seeming unconscious of possessing any. Faded before her time, and so weak, that it is said she cannot live long, her appearance gives the idea of a passing shadow, or of something that belongs no more to earth. She has never recovered from the anguish she had to undergo on the day of her accession to the throne, and conjugal duty has consumed the rest of her life.
She has given too many idols to Russia, — too many children to the Emperor. " Exhausting herself
CONSEQUENCES OF DESPOTISM.19õ
in Grand Dukes ! What a destiny !" said a great Polish lady, who did not think herself obliged to speak reverently with her lips of what she hated in her heart.
Every one sees the state of the Empress, but no one mentions it. The Emperor loves her: when ill in bed he attends her himself, watches by her bed-side, and prepares and administers her food or medicine. No sooner is she better, than he destroys her health with the excitement of fetes and journeys; but the moment that danger is again apprehended, he renounces all his projects. Of the precautions that might prevent evil he has a horror. Wife, children, servants, relations, favorites, — all in Russia must follow in the imperial vortex, and smile on till they die. All must force themselves to conform to the wish of the sovereign, which wish alone forms the destiny of all. The nearer any one is placed to the imperial sun, the more he is a slave to the glory attached to his situation. The Empress is dying under the weight of this slavery.