THOMPSON'S LIFE IN RUSSIA.

THIS is one of the most amusing and useful books that has been published on Russia. Without yielding to Custine, the author of the "Revelations," or Golovine himself, in a thorough appreciation of the blighting effects of autocratic government, and of the corrupt state of society directly produced by the delegated powers of despotism, Mr. Thompson shows far less of personal animus, especially against the Imperial family ; while he avoids the error, into which many have fallen, of making a man's private virtues an answer to the charge of public crimes. Mr. Thompson also has a pleasant and lively manner of conveying his information. The corruption of the officials—the tyranny of all above, the servility of all below—the suspicion, the insincerity, the mistrust, that pervades society—with the total want of honour, or even honesty, that characterizes Russians in Russia—are exhibited by living instances, and the reasons for such a terrible state of things explained. Government, with national character and society as influenced by government, are not the only topics of his book. The author describes the external appearances of nature and of cities, as far as Moscow ; public fetes and ceremonies are not forgotten ; nor markets, nor shopkeepers and their dealings, nor field sports ; to the last of which he devotes an entire chapter. Something of the deceit of the national character would seem to obtain even there.

"At other times, the wolf is enticed within on-shot, by men driving in a sledge in the neighbourhood of his haunts, and dragging a bundle of hay behind them with a long cord, while a pig which they have with them is made to squeal. The wolf, attracted by the cries and ravenous from hunger, pursues the object trailing behind, and is despatched by a rifle-shot from the sledge. This sport can only be followed out on moonlight nights, and is particularly dangerous when several wolves join in pursuit of the sledge."

Of the personal character of the Emperor in all the relations of life Mr. Thompson speaks in the highest terms ; and as a husband, perhaps more panegyrically than the state of society around the Monarch, and even one or two of his own anecdotes, seem likely to warrant. To the Emperor's public character Mr. Thompson attributes more evil results than we think can fairly be charged upon it ; for we are at a loss to see what the Sovereign really can do, or what he can remedy. No doubt, he might discard or diminish the shows of imperial power which have no real foundation : he might discontinue his efforts to have a fleet, and reduce the strength of his army. But that would render many officers discontented ; and it is so totally opposed to the fundamental policy of the empire, to the ideas of Peter the Great enforced by all his successors and interwoven with the very primordia of Russian policy, that it seems hopeless to expect it. He might as well be asked to abandon St. Petersburg, as a mere artificial capital, (which it is,) and return Russia to a natural, that is to a kind of Asiatic state. That the Emperor rules too much, and that he often interferes in things which he does not fully understand, may be true : but his interference, if occasionally mischievous, would seem to work beneficially in general. If his ideas are too stiff and formal, his objects are yet honest towards the public; the occasional detection and instant punishment of an official crime may have a tendency to produce caution in the officials : if the Emperor were to do less, there would be more corruption, from the fewer chances of detection, since he could delegate his power to no one but what would be as corrupt as the persons to be detected.

We formerly remarked, when noticing M. Golovine's account of the institutions of Russia, that it was not so much constitutional weapons which the Russians required, as courage and skill to use them. This opinion is supported by the facts in the volume before us. Each class of society is what Mr. Disraeli would call "an estate," with its rights and privileges distinctly defined, and possessing self-government within the limits of their degree, but not extending beyond. No doubt, it is this limitation to their own business, this confinement to municipal and exclusion from imperial affairs, that deprives Russia of the forms of a constitution; but in her local assemblies of the nobility, and in the municipalities of the citizens, however powerless they may be de facto, there is the germ of two houses of Parliament, if there were a spirit either of freedom or honesty in the race. But, according to all accounts, the autocratic power of the Emperor is so deeply impressed upon society—as a superstition among the mass, as a servile habit among the higher class— that an assemblage of the states, for the purpose of consultation or advising, would end in leaving everything to the Emperor's decision. This habitual slavery, and the frightful corruption that pervades society, are the evils with which Russian regenerators will have to struggle. The latter the Emperor seems doing what he can according to:his lights to correct; but the Asiatic corruption of many centuries, improved by a century and a half of the worst kind of European civilization, cannot be got rid of in a day. Nor indeed is it possible for honour to grow where everything must give way to a single will. Goodnatured weakness in an ,gmperor would not improve matters; still less conspiracies of military men; and great ability on a throne seldom likes to part with power. One tangible cause of the pecuniary corruption of Russia exists there, as it did throughout Europe some two centuries ago, and as it still prevails extensively on the Continent—the predominance of the noble poor.

"The highest appointments in the vadat' public offices are in the hands of men

in the first rank; but the intermediate grades, and their name is legion, are eon.. furred on an anomalous class, called the Chinovnika. These men are free by birth, and would form in other countries a class of gentlemen; but as that distinction is not recognized in Russia, they are, as their name implies, attached to the nobility, among whom they hold the lowest rank. To find employmeatfor this race, the public offices are thronged; and, as they have no property and are miserably paid, they contrive to realize a sufficient income by exacting bribes, or extorting money for services rendered through their interest with their superiors, for whom they jackal-like, hunt down the game, and share the spoil. It can easily be coat:awed that they are not over-scrupulous, and that they contrive impediments for the purpose of levying a fine for their removal."

For this evil there exists no remedy except in opening up new sources of enterprise, and making commerce more honourable : but that must be a work of long time ; and actual social danger does not much lie in this direction. The serfs seem the Russian volcanic agency : and, indeed, the misery of the poor is a main cause of the revolutions that are shaking and threatening Europe. The main remedy against serfdom is one that we ought to have adopted in the West Indies—the principle of compulsory manumission: it gives a stimulus to abolition, but renders it gradual, prepares the serf for freedom, and first places the best and most industrious serfs in that position. At present, owners do not object, it seems, to give serfs a sort of ticket of leave, for a consideration ; but many refuse to sell the freedom; some agree, take the money, and then refuse manumission,—an infamy unknown, we believe, out of Russia.

The opinions of Russian politics and society contained in Mr. Thompson's volume must be gathered from its pages. Our extracts are of a miscellaneous cast. The national corruption begins at the moment 01 landing. By an accident the police-officer with the passengers' passports had been left on board the large steamer, and they were all marched off in durance till he arrived.

PASSPORTS AND OFFICIALS.

Our fate was at length decided; having no passports, we were marched oft' under a guard of soldiers, and locked up m a large comfortless warehouse. It was ten o'clock a. m., and we had not broken our fast; and we were denied any refreshment, and even the means of communicating with our friends: resistance, therefore, was loudly talked of as time grew on. I declined joining in the scheme' knowing from past experience the means of effecting a quiet escape; which I accomplished at six p.m., after eight hours' confinement. A silver rouble placed in my snuff-box was too tempting a pinch to the sergeant of the guard to be refused, and I was at liberty in a moment. At ten o'clock at night the passports arrived, and I went to claim mine: but the same difficulty was offered to my entrance as there had been before to my exit. The officer in command, seeing me, at once accosted me, "Monsieur, oh avez vous 4th? Je ne vous at pas &calve tantot." " Moi ! nullepart," replied I, laughing. " Mais, badinage apart, il fent me le dire, n'est ee pas vous vous etas echappe? Comment Fawn vous fait? on yeas a aide?" "Pour caje suis franc magen, et garde bien mon secret; naais je vous dit en confiance que je me &Lis sauve par mes

talents et par mes talons." Tres-bien! mais veils avez donne un rouble d'argent an serjeant la bas." " Comment saves vous eels?" "Oh! je le sais bien moi," replied he topping his pocket at the same time. I took the trouble to inquire, and found that on missing me he had taxed the sergeant with having received a bribe, and had coolly transferred the doueeur to his own pocket.

BOOKS IN RUSSIA,.

The law of the censorship is very severe, and works of certain descriptions are strictly prohibited; among which histories of revolutions stand first. The case of books I took with me contained several of that character, and I was naturally anxious not to be deprived of them. They might have been crammed with treason, and I should have had nothing to fear; for a ten-rouble note, applied in the right quarter, brought the box to my door without a nail having been disturbed. The ignorance in this department must be verygross if it be true, as I have been told, that a book professing to treat on the revolution; of the heavenly bodies was detained as being of a dangerous teudency.

WITNESSES IN RUSSIA.

As the means of enforcing the attendance of witnesses are unknown in Russia

excepting by keeping them secure, persons whose testimony is required are actually confined till their services are required. Now, to brave imprisonment, even in furtherance of the ends of justice, is beyond the ordinary bounds of patriotism: hence a tumult in the street, or a crime committed on the highway, is the signal for every passenger to fly in a contrary direction, in order to avoid the duty of giving evidence, which in other countries strengthens the arm of justice. Thus, humanity suffers by this iniquitous abuse of arbitrary power; since to witness a transaction is equivalent to being particeps criminis; and, further, to render assistance in cases of accident, illness, or sudden death in the street, involves the humane person in the most dangerous responsibility; for a person found with a corpse must account for the death, and clear himself from the suspicion which his presence inevitably attaches to him. Ignorance, besotted ignorance, increases that hardness of heart and apathy to suffering which this dreadful regulation has made habitual to every Russian. A few days since, as I was walking through one of the principal streets, a respectably-dressed man before me staggered and fell. Like the Levite in the parable, I, with the other passengers, "passed by on the other side"; but I stood at a distance and watched the result. I saw as I passed the man, that it was a ease of apoplexy, and that with immediate attention he might probably have recovered: but no—in opposition to the commonest dictates of reason, an inferior policeman, who was attracted to the spot, not daring to act without the authority of his superior, threw a cloth over the man's face, and left him to perish by suffocation while lie went for help. The delay, to say nothing of the application of the cloth, was fatal.

A RUSSIAN CLUB.

The club originally established by the English, and still distinguished by their name, is principally composed of the Russian aristocracy and the most influential people; and admission is difficult, in consequence of the vast number of candidates, who are elected by ballot on the occurrence of vacancies. Tchernicheff; the Minister of War, who is highly unpopular, on his name being put up was blackballed by so large a majority that the greatest consternation was created among the balloting parties, who were principally military men. It could not have been a preconcerted plan, because no man would have ventured to have breathed hiS intention, on account of the certainty of being betrayed. The consequence in this case, where every name would be known, and retribution would certainly be meted out to the innocent as well as the guilty, led to a reconsideration of the vote: new ballot was decided on; when, as if to prove the terror of "discipline," there was not one black balL By such acts as these, worthy of the vassals of a Persian satrap, the Russians rivet their own chains and strengthen the bonds which their own servility has formed.

PROSPECTS BETWEEN PETERSBURG AND Moscow..

The-country presents throughout the same melancholy aspect of interminable swamp, studded with plantations of abortive birch trees and thinly-scattered firs. The eye seeks in vain for refreshing varieties of cultivation, or well-grown timber trees with thick foliage, and encounters nothing save an impoverished soil sad patches of stunted forest. The very cattle are ill-grown and of a wretched kind; as if the climate oppressed the beasts in the ratio that despotism tyrannizes over the human beings: indeed, it appears as if both Nature and Government in Russia were in league to render existence a hardship. When one reflects on the physical source from which it was necessary to start to organize such a state of society, there is no further room for astonishment, unless it be to find material civilization so advanced among a people so little favoured by nature. The horizon seldom bounds the view of the plain, as the obstacle of a bush or fence on the dreary level conceals miles of its extent, without a rise or undulation to mark the distance beyond; in fact, there is no scenery to fix the memory, no bits of landscape to gladden the eye. The Valdai hills, among which the Volga takes its source, are of inconsiderable elevation, and present no new feature in the scene. The signs of population are scanty, and the appearance of villages, either in the distance or on the main road, unfrequent. The houses are entirely of wood, (loghouses, as the Americans call them,) formed of the rough stems of trees, with the interstices stuffed with moss and lime: but, uncouth as they are, they are not unsiotly, nor without some pretension to a kind of rustic elegance • the gable is invariably made to face the street, and is edged with a kind of lace-work of carved wood, often painted in gay colours. And this is a type of the national character; where external display and superficial effect mask sordid want and squalid misery, while the absence of many of the necessary comforts of life proclaim the semibarbarian. The rooms are dark, close, mind unwholesome, scantily furnished, and wanting the luxury of a bed. In the rater, the inhabitants sleep huddled up on the top of the stove; and in the summer they either throw themselves on the benches fixed round the room or more frequently resort to an open balcony affixed to the house, or lay themselves at full length on the ground by the side of the street. I have seen long lines of these sleeping figures wrapped up in their sheepskins in many of the villages we passed, sunk in so deep a slumber that I have stepped over them and entered the houses without disturbing them. The general aspect of these villages is monotonous: they consist invariably of two rows of houses removed to some little distance from the road, already too wide; and as the distance from St. Petersburg increases, they look more impoverished and neglected. Every house is isolated, and surrounded with a tall wooden fence, within which a variety of domestic offices are grouped: this gives them an air of comfort and ease, which in truth they are far from actually possessing. But, however poor the people, there is no house where the samovar is not to be found, nor where the peasant will not furnish you with tea for a trifling consideration.