22A JOURNEY FROM ST. PETERSBURG

TO MOSCOW EXCERPTS

By Alexander Radishchev

Radishchev (1749-1802) is often called the father of the Russian intelligentsia.Dedicating his work to a friend, he wrote: "I looked about me--my heart was trou­bled by the sufferings of humanity." His famous book, suppressed by the censorunitl 1905, is today a Soviet classic. He was the first to raise his voice on 'behalf ofcauses which generations of the intelligentsia after him continued to plead. LikeUncle Tom's Cabin, the Journey is an abolitionist tract. It was translated into Eng­lish by the late Leo Wiener of Harvard; we reproduce excerpts from the edition ofRoderick Page Thaler.

There are several biographies of Radishchev: Alexander Radishchev: The FirstRusswn Humanist, by Boris Evgeniev; The First Russian Radical, by David Lang;A Russian Philosophe, by Allen McConnell; and The Philosophical Ideas oj Alex­ander Radishchev by Jesse Clardy. The Soviets view the man as the first Russianrevolutionary; see John Letiche (ed.), History oj Russian Economic Thought, pp.549-646, for an extended Soviet analysis; see also Allen McConnell, "Soviet Imagesof Radishchev's Journey from St. Petersburg to Moscow," Slavic and East EuropeanJournal, Spring, 1963. Two studies of Russian thought which examine Radishchevare Vasily Zenkovsky's A History oj Russian Philosophy, Vol. I, and Stuart Tomp­kins' The Russian Mind Jrom Peter the Great through the Enlightenment. See alsoRoderick Thaler, "Radishchev, Britain and America," Harvard Slavic Studies,Vol. IV, and a chapter on Radishchev in Max Laserson's The American Impact onRussia (paperback).

Aleksandr Nikolaevich Radishchev wasborn in Moscow on August 20/31, 1749,three days after Goethe, six years afterJefferson, ten years before the youngerPitt. Until he was eight years old, helived on his father's estate at VerkhneeOblyazovo in what was then Saratovprovince (now in Penza oblast'), somethree hundred miles north of present­day Stalingrad, two hundred miles southof Kazan', and one hundred miles westof the Volga River. His father was awell-educated landed gentleman who

seems to have been liked and trustedboth by his own peasants and by thegentry of his district. His peasants pro­tected him during the Pugachev Rehel­lion, when many peasants were only toohappy to murder their proprietors. In

Reprinted by permission of the publishersfrom A. Radishchev, A Journey Irom St. Peters­burg to Moscow (Cambridge, Mass.: HarvardUniversity Press, 1958), pp. 4-7, 9-19, 46-48,158-60,164-71,187-90,201-10,239-41,248-49.Copyright 1958, by The President and Fellowsof Harvard College.

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262 A Journey from St. Petersburg to Moscow

1787 he was elected marshall of the ences as he wishes." Accordingly Ra-gentry of his district, Kuznetsk, in Sara- dishchev studied many of the FrenchtOY province. . philosophers, not only Montesquieu,

From 1757 to 1762, between the ages Voltaire, and Rousseau, but the now lessof eight and thirteen, Radishchev lived well-known Bayle, Fenelon, Helvetius,in Moscow with his mother's relatives, Mably, and Raynal.the Argamakov family. The head of the In 1771 Radishchev returned to Rus-Argamakov family was the curator of sia and entered the Civil Service as athe newly founded Moscow University, clerk of the Senate. He was transferredand their home was always full of teach- to the Military Service, to the staff ofers and students. From 1762 to 1766 General Bruce, in 1773. In this sameRadishchev was in the Corps des Pages year, when he was twenty-four, he pub-in St. Petersburg, where he may have lished his first book: a translation, withacquired some of his intense dislike for introduction and noles, of Mably's Db-the Court Service. He was in St. Peters- servations sur l'histoire de La Grece.burg in 1765 when Mikhaylo Vasil'evich What I have seen of this translation is aLomonosov, the Russian Benjamin very fair rendering of the original, notFranklin, died there. Lomonosov, a very slavishly literal, hut certainly close todifferent sort of man from most of those Mably's meaning. Perhaps the mostat court, embodied many of the qualities striking passage in the work is one inRadishchev most admired, and to him which Radishchev renders Mably's wordRadishchev devoted the last chapter of "despotisme" by the Russian wordhis Journey. "samoderzhavstvo," which means "au-

In 1766 Radishchev was one of twelve tocracy." The Russian government atRussians sent hy the government to this time, and down to 1917, officiallystudy at the University of Leipzig. called itself an autocracy. In one of hisAmong his fellow students at Leipzig numerous notes, Radishchev commentswere Aleksey Mikhaylovich Kutuzov, to at length on this word. "Autocracy," hewhom the Journey was dedicated; Pyotr says, "is the state of affairs most repug-Ivanovich Chelishchev, who figures nant to human nature.... The injusticeprominently in the Journey; Matvey of the sovereign gives the people, whoKirilovich Rubanovsky, whose niece are his judges, the same or an even great-Radishchev later married; Fyodor er right over him than the law gives himVasil'evich Ushakov, whose biography to judge criminals. The sovereign is theRadishchev later wrote, telling particu- first citizen of the people's common-larly about their years at the University; wealth."and Goethe. Like Goethe, Radishchev In 1775, the war with Turkey wonparticularly enjoyed Professor Christian and the Pugachev Rebellion suppressed,Furchtegott Gellert's lectures on poetry Radishchev received his honorable dis-and rhetoric, and Professor Ernst Plat- charge with the rank of second major.ner's lectures in philosophy and physiol- He married Anna Vasil'evna Rubanov-ogy. The Russian students had heen sent skaya, with whom he was very happy"to study the Latin, German, French, until her death in 1783. In 1777 theirand.. if possible, Slavonic languages, . • • first child, Vasily, was born, and Ra-

moral philosophy, history, but particu- dishchev went back into the Civil Serv-Iarly natural and international law, as ice, in the Department of Commerce. Hewell as the law of the Roman Empire. had a successful career in the Service,Each one is free to study the other sci- was promoted in 1780, 1782, 1784, and

A Journey from' St. Petersburg to Moscow 263

finally, in 1790, became Chief of the St.Petersburg Custom House. He won hon­or as well as rank, being made a Knightof the Order of St. Vladimir in 1785.

When he resigned from the Service in1775, Radishchev made a journey fromSt. Petersburg to Verkhnee Oblyazovoto ask his parents' blessing for his mar­riage. On the way, he traveled throughsome of the country ravaged by thePugachev Rebellion in the past twoyears. When he reached home, he wastold how his father's peasants hadhelped his father hide out safely in thewoods and had disguised his youngerbrothers and sisters as peasant childrenwhile Pugachev's men were near theirestate. But he also heard of things thathad happened to many another land­lord. less enlightened and less generousto the peasants than his father. In theJDurney Radishchev, referring more thanonce to the Pugachev Rebellion, warnshis fellow serf-owners, in vivid andstriking language, that a far worse andmore terrible rebellion awaits them.Only by prompt and substantial reforms-above all, by freeing the serfs~an

~hey hope to avert revolution. . . .Radishchev worked at the JDurney in­

termittently over the course of ten years,beginning part of it as early as 1780.One of his own footnotes, which refersto the death of the Austrian EmperorJoseph II, must have been written afterFebruary 20, 1790. Part of the chapter"Podberez'e" was written no later than1782, while another chapter, "Torzhok,"contains a reference to "the late Fred­erick II, King of Prussia," who died in1786. There are only two brief referencesto the French Revolution, which in anycase was only in its early stages by thetime the I Durney was published, in May1790. Russia had been at war with Tur-key since 1787 and with Sweden since1788, a fact which should he kept inmind when reading Radishchev's ae-

count of a sale of serfs as recruits forthe army, and his particular rejoicingat Russian .victories over the Turks inearlier wars.

Much the greater part of his book,however, was written by 1788. It wouldhave been better for Radishchev had hepubiished it then, before the French Rev­olution had gotten under way at all. Ithad not yet gone very far by 1790, butit had gone far enough to frightenCatherine II, to make her expect to seeits poisonous, subversive contagioneverywhere. "The purpose of this book,"she wrote in her Notes on the lourney,"is clear on every page: its author, in­fected and full of the French madness,is trying in every possible way to breakdown respect for authority and for theauthorities. to stir up in the people in­dignation against their superiors andagainst the government." In one of histwo brief references to the French Rev­olution, Radishchev had simply listedMirabeau, along with Demosthenes,Cicero, Pitt, Burke, and Fox, as a greatorator to whom Lomonosov was com­parable. The Empress was furious atRadishchev's "praise of Mirabeau, whodeserves not once but many times overto be hanged. . . ."

At the end of the book was the usualimprimatur, the statement that it wasprinted "With the permission of theDepartment of Public Morals." The Em­press, noting this, said: "This is prob­ably a lie, or else carelessness." It wasactually carelessness. Radishchev hadsubmitted the manuscript to the censor,who had cut out substantial parts of it.But Radishehev had nevertheless printedit all, on his own press. He then submit­ted the whole thing to the police, whogave it their official stamp of approvalwithout reading it again. It never oc­curred to them that anyone would dareto print anything they had cut out.

Radishchev had printed the Journey

264 A Journey from St. Petersburg to Moscow

anonymously, but it was a very simplematter for the Empress to discover whohad written it. Frank, straightforward,outspoken, Radishchev had none of theinstincts of a revolutionary. In 1789 hehad dedicated his Life of Fyodor Vasi­['evich Ushakov to Aleksey MikhaylovichKutuzov, whom he addressed as "mybest beloved friend." In 1790 he dedi­cated the Journey "To A.M.K., My BestBeloved Friend," using exactly the samewords. He went on to say: "Everythingmy mind and heart may wish to pro­duce shall be dedicated to you, my com­rade." Radishchev and Kutuzov wereboth well known in St. Petersburg, andCatherine herself had sent them off ascomrades to the University of Leipzig.They had been good friends ever since.If this were not enough, the author ofthe Journey calls himself an inhabitantof St. Petersburg and later speaks ofwalking down the customs pier and look­ing at the ships, with more than a merelayman's knowledge of the ships andtheir cargoes. It was earlier in this veryyear 1790 that the Empress had madeRadishchev Chief of the St. PetersburgCustom House. If it he objected that aneditor with nothing else to do might no­tice such details in a book, but that anEmpress with two wars to fight and afair-sized country to govern would hard­ly have time, the editor must ruefullyreply that the 'Empress found 'time towrite ten closely' pririted pages of noteson the lourney, and that she noticedsome things in it which he had missed.

The Empress's private secretary, Alek­sandr Vasil'evich Khrapovitsky, notedin his diary that "She was graciouslypleased to say that he [Radishchev] wasa rebel, worse than Pugachev." On June3D/July 11, 1790, Radishchev was ar­rested and hnprisoned in the Fortress ofSt. Peter and St. Paul. On July 24/August 4, he was condemned to death.Ten days later, Russia and Sweden made

peace in the Treaty of Verela. In honorof the peace, the Empress, on September4/15, mercifully commuted Radishchev'ssentence to banishment for ten years toIlimsk in eastern Siberia, some threehundred miles north of Irkutsk andforty-five hundred miles east of St. Pe­tersburg. She also deprived him of hisstatus as a member of the gentry, of hisrank in the service, and of his order ofknighthood. But she did not confiscatehis property, and she permitted him totravel without wearing fetters, after thefirst day...•

Less than a month after the commu­tation of Radishchev's sentence, CountSemyon Romanovich Vorontsov, theRussian ambassador to England, wrotea letter to his brother, Count AleksandrRomanovich Vorol1tsov, President of theCommerce Collegium, Radishchev's su-perior officer in the service and IifelonO'friend. The ambassador wrote fro~Richmond, England, on October 1/12,1790: "The condemnation of poorRadishchev hurts me deeply. What asentence and what a commutation for amere blunder! What will they do for acrime or for a real revolt? Ten years ofSiberia is worse than death for a manwho has children froin whom he mustpart, or whom he will deprive of aneducation and a chance to enter theservice if he takes them with him. Itmakes one shudder." But now, in timeof trouble, Radishchev was very fortu­nate in his family and friends. Hisbrother, a government official in Arch­angel, took care of his two elder sons.His deceased wife's sister, ElizavetaVasil'evna Rubanovskaya, took care ofhis youngest son and his only daughter,and with them followed him into exile.In 1791 she married him, and they hadthree children in Siberia: two girls anda hoy. Count Aleksandr Vorontsovproved to he a faithful friend, sendingmoney," hooks, and news, and using his

A Journey from St. Petersburg to Moscow 265

influence to make things easier for theexile. It was Vorontsov who prevailedupon the Empress to allow Radishchevto travel to Siberia unfettered, and whopersuaded the governor of Ilimsk to letRadishchev go off on long walks andhunting trips. . . .

Fortunately for Radishchev, the Em­press Catherine II died, November 6/17, 1796. Her son and successor, theEmperor Paul, had been treated abomi­nably by his mother and hated every­thing that she had done. Accordingly, onNovember 23/Decemher 4, 1796, Paulissued an Imperial rescript permittingRadishchev to leave Siberia and to liveon his estate in European Russia, wherehis "conduct and correspondence"would he "under observation" by thegovernor of the province. Radishchevtherefore went to live on his estate ofNemtsovo, near Maloyaroslavets in Ka­luga province, some seventy-five milessouthwest of Moscow, where he arrivedin June 1797. His wife had died on theway back from Siberia, but in January1798 Radishchev and all his children­four sons and three daughters-set offfor Verkhnee Oblyazovo to see his par­ents. He stayed with them for a wholeyear, returned to Nemtsovo in 1799, andremained there until 1801....

The Emperor Paul was assassinatedon March 11/23, 1801. Four days later,the Emperor Alexander I freed Radi­shchev from being "under observation"and restored to him his status as one ofthe gentry, his rank in the service, andhis order of knighthood. On August 6/18, 1801, on the recommendation ofCount Aleksandr Vor~ntsov, Radishchevwas appointed a member of the Com­mission on Revision of the Laws. Fouryears earlier, the Emperor Paul, at hiscoronation, had issued one new law ofwhose purpose Radishchev had heartilyapproved. On April 5/16, 1797, Paulhad forbidden that peasants he required

to work more than three days a week ontheir master's land. Radishchev, in theJDurney, had particularly attacked land­lords who required their peasants togive all their time to work on theirmaster's land and allowed them no timeto work their own. Now Radishchevhoped that under the reputedly moreliheral Emperor Alexander I it would he

possible to take further steps to protectthe peasants. . . .

Two statements made by Radisnchevas a member of the Commission havebeen preserved. The Commission de­bated at length the question of recom­mending a change in the law regulatingthe compensation to be paid to a serf­owner whose serf had heen unintention-ally killed. The Commission, includingRadishchev, finally recommended a sub­stantial increase in the amount of com­pensation. But Radishchev also sent tothe Senate his own supplementary"minority report," in which he said thatif a serf were killed, money should bepaid, not to his owner, hut to his par­ents, wife, or children. Although he ap­proved of the increase in compensation,he wrote that "the value of humanblood cannot be measured in terms ofmoney." Again, Radishchev disagreedwith the rest of the Commission as tothe proper methods of trying personsaccused of blasphemy, acts of rebellion,murder, rohbery, and other capital of­fenses. The Commission recommendedthat the law should remain as it was,and specifically, that such accused per­sons should neither be permitted tochallenge their judges nor he given alist of the charges against them. Radi­shchev, in a dissenting opinion worthy ofHolmes or Brandeis, held that in everysuch trial the accused should be allowedto choose sonleone to defend him, andthat if he could find no one, the courtitself must provide someone to defendhim; that the accused should have the

LYUBANI

I suppose it is all the same to youwhether I traveled in winter or in sum­mer. Maybe both in winter and in sum­mer. It is not unusual for travelers to setout in sleighs and to return in carriages.In summer. The corduroy road torturedmy body; I climbed out of the carriageand went on foot. While I had been ly­ing back in the carriage, my thoughtshad turned to the immeasurable vast­ness of the world. By spiritually leavingthe earth I thought I might more easilybear the jolting of the carriage. Butspiritual exercises do not always distractus from our physical selves; and so, tosave my body, I got out and walked. Afew steps from the road I saw a peasantploughing a field. The weather was hot.I looked at my watch. It was twentyminutes before one. I had set out onSaturday. It was now Sunday. Theploughing peasant, of course, belongedto a landed proprietor, who would notlet him pay a commutation tax [obrok].The peasant was ploughing very care­fully. The field, of course, was not partof his master's land. He turned theplough with astonishing ease.

"'God help you," I said, walking up tothe ploughman, who, without st0.pping,'was finishing the furrow he had started."God help you," I repeated.

"Thank you, sir," the ploughman saidto me, shaking the earth off the plough­share and transferring it to a new fur­row.

"You must be a Dissenter, since youplough on a Sunday."

"No, sir, I make the true sign of thecross," he said, showing me the threefingers together. "And God is mercifuland does not bid us starve to death, solong as we have strength and a family."

266 A Journey from St. Petersburg to Moscow

right to challenge his judges; and that A JOURNEY FROM ST. PETERS-no one should he condemned to death BURG TO MOSCOWby less than a two-thirds majority ofthe judges.•.•

In short, Radishchev had very highhopes for reform, but he was deeplydiscouraged and depressed by the atti­tude of the other members of the Com­mission, especially the chairman. CountZavadovsky. One of the best Russian au­thorities on Radishchev, ProfessorBorozdin, accepted as "very probablycorrect" Pushkin's account. of Radi­shchev's death. Pushkin said that theEmperor Alexander I ordered Radi­shchev

to set forth his ideas on certain questionsof government. Poor Radishchev, carriedaway by the subject, ... remembered theold days and, in a project presented to thegovernment, revealed his old opinions.Count Z[avadovsky] was astonished at theyouthfulness of his gray hairs and saidto him in friendly reproof: "Eh, AleksandrNikolaevich, do you still want to talk thesame old nonsense? Or didn't you haveenough of Siberia?" In these words Radi­shchev saw a threat. Distressed and terrified,he went home, remembered the friend ofhis youth, the student at Leipzig [probablyFyodor VasH'evich Ushakov] who had firstsuggested to him the thought of suicide · · ·and took poison. He had foreseen his endlong before and had prophesied it himself!

The Journey is full of Radishchev's viewof suicide. In one place he advised hissons: "If there is no refuge left on earthfor your virtue, if, driven to extremes,you find no sanctuary from oppression,then remember that you are a man, callto mind your greatness, and seize thecrown of bliss which they are trying totake from you. Die. As a legacy I leaveyou the words of the dying Cato." Whenhe had committed suicide, Cato had

said: "Now I am my own master." Andso, on September 12/24, 1802, Radi­shchev became his own master....

A Journey from St. Petersburg to Moscow 267

"Have you no time to work duringthe week, then, and can you not haveany rest on ~undays, in the hottest partof the day, at that?"

"In a week, sir, there are six days,and we go six times a week to work onthe master's fields; in the evening, if theweather is good, we haul to the master'shouse the hay that is left in the woods;and on holidays the women and girls gowalking in the woods, looking for mush­rooms and berries. God grant," he con­tinued, making the sign of the cross,"that it rains this evening. If you havepeasants of your own, sir, they are pray­ing to God for the same thing."

"My friend, I have no peasants, andso nobody curses me. Do you have alarge family?"

"Three sons and three daughters. Theeldest is nine years old."

"But how do you manage to get foodenough, if you have only the holidaysfree?"

"Not only the holidays: the nights areours, too. If a fellow isn't lazy, he won'tstarve to death. You see, one horse isresting; and when this one gets tired,I'll take the other; so the work getsdone."

"Do you work the same way for yourmaster?"

"No, Sir, it would be a sin to workthe same way. On his fields there are ahundred hands for one mouth, while Ihave two for seven mouths: you canfigure it out for yourself. No matter howhard you work for the master, no onewill thank you for it. The master willnot pay our head tax; but, though hedoesn't pay it, he doesn't demand onesheep, one .hen, or any linen or butterthe less. The peasants are much betteroff where the landlord lets them pay acommutation tax without the interfer­ence of the steward. It is true that some­times even good masters take more thanthree rubles a man; but even that's bet-

ter than having to work on the master'sfields. NowadaY8 it's getting to be thecustom to let villages to tenants, as theycall it. But we call it putting our headsin a noose. A landless tenant skins uspeasants alive; even the best ones don'tleave us any time for ourselves. In thewinter he won't let us do any carting ofgoods and won't let us go into town towork; all our work has to be for him,because he pays our head tax. It is aninvention of the Devil to turn your peas­ants over to work for a stranger. Youcan make a complaint against a hadsteward, hut to whom can you complainagainst a bad tenant?"

"My friend, you are mistaken; thelaws forbid them to torture people."

"Torture? That's true; but all thesame, sir, you would not want to be inmy hide." Meanwhile the ploughmanhitched up the other horse to the ploughand bade me goodbye as he began a newfurrow.

The words of this peasant awakenedin me a multitude of thoughts. I thoughtespecially of the inequality of treatmentwithin the peasant class. I compared thecrown peasants with the manorial peas­ants. They both live in villages; hut theformer pay a fixed sum, while the lattermust he prepared to pay whatever theirmaster demands. The former are judgedby their equals; the latter are dead to thelaw, except, perhaps, in criminal cases.A member of society becomes knownto the government protecting him, onlywhen he breaks the social bonds, whenhe hecomes a criminal! This thoughtmade my blood hoil.

Tremble, cruelhearted landlord! on

the brow of each of your peasants I seeyour condemnation written....

VYSHNY VOLOCHOK

. . • The story of a certain landed pro­prietor proves that man for the sake ofhis personal advantage forgets human-

268 A lourney from St. Petersburg to Moscow

ity towards his fellow man, and that tofind an example of hard-heartedness weneed not go to far-off countries nor seekmiracles through thrice-nine lands; theytake place before our eyes in our owncountry.

A certain man who, as they say in thevernacular, did not make his mark inthe government service, or who did notwish to make it there, left the capital, ac­quired a small village of one or two hun­dred souls, and determined to make hisliving by agriculture. He did not applyhimself to the plough but intended mostvigorously to make all possible use ofthe natural strength of his peasants byapplying them to the cultivation of theland. To this end he thought it the sur­est method to make his peasants resem­ble tools that have neither will nor im­pulse; and to a certain extent he actual­ly made them like the soldiers of thepresent time who are commanded in amass, who move to battle in a mass, andwho count for nothing when actingsingly. To attain his end he took awayfrom his peasants the small allotment ofplough land and the hay meadows whichnoblemen usually give them for theirhare maintenance, as a recompense forall the forced labor which they demandfrom them. In a word, this noblemanforced all his peasants and -their wivesand children to work every day of theyear for him. Lest they should starve, hedoled out to them a definite quaniity ofbread, known by the name of monthlydoles. Those who had no families re­ceived no doles, but dined according tothe Lacedaemonian custom, together, atthe manor, receiving thin cabbage soupon meat days, and on fast days breadand kvas, to fill their stomachs. If therewas any real meat, it was only in EasterWeek.

These serfs also received clothing be­fitting their. condition. Their winterhoots, that is, hast shoes, they made for

themselves; leggings they received fromtheir master; while in summer theywent barefooted. Naturally these serfshad no cows, horses, ewes, or rams.Their master did not withhold froln theseserfs the permission, but the means tohave them. Whoever was a little betteroff and ate sparingly, kept a few chick­ens, which the master sometimes tookfor himself, paying for them as hepleased.

With such an arrangement it is notsurprising that agriculture in Mr. So-and-50's village )\·as in a flourishingcondition. Where the crops were a fail­ure elsewhere, his grain showed a four­fold return; when others had a goodcrop, his grain had a tenfold return orbetter. In a short time he added to histwo hundred souls another two hundredas victims of his greed, and, proceedingwith them just as with the first, he in­creased his holdings year after year,thus multiplying the number of thosegroaning in his fields. Now he countsthem by the thousand and is praised asa famous agriculturist.

Barbarian ! You do not deserve tobear the name of citizen. What gooddoes it do the country that every year afew thousand more bushels of grain aregrown, if those who produce it arevalued on a par with the ox whose jobit is to break the heavy furrow? Or dowe think our citizens happy because ourgranaries are full and their stomachsempty'? Or because one man blesses thegovernment, rather than thousands?The wealth of this bloodsucker does notbelong to him. It has been acquired byrobbery and deserves severe punishmentaccording to law. Yet there are peoplewho, looking at the rich fields of thishangman, cite him as an example ofperfection in agriculture. And you wishto be called merciful, and yOll hear thename of guardians of the public good!Instead of encouraging such violence,

1 They tell of a censor of this sort who wouldnot permit any works to be published in whichGod was mentioned, saying, "I have no businesswith Him." If in any work the popular customsof this or that foreign country were criticized,he considered this inadmissible, saying, "Russiahas a treaty of friendship with that country."If a prince or count was mentioned anywhere,he did not permit that to be printed, saying,"That is a personal allusion, for we have princesand counts among our distinguished person­ages."

A Journey from St. Petersburg to Moscow 269

which you regard as the source of the partment of Public Morals may do thecountry's wealth, direct your humane greatest harm to enlightenment and mayvengeance against this enemy of society. for years hold back the progress of rea-Destroy the tools of his agriculture, son: he may prohibit a useful discovery,burn his barns, silos, and granaries, and a new idea, and may rob everyone ofscatter their ashes over the fields where something great. Here is an example onhe practiced his tortures; stigmatize him a small scale. A translation of a novel isas a robber of the people, so that every- brought to the Department of Publicone who sees him may not only despise Morals for its imprimatur. The trans-him but shun his approach to avoid in- lator, following the author, in speakingfection from his example. of love calls it "the tricky god." The

censor in uniform and in the fullness ofTORZHOK piety strikes out the expression, saying,.•• Everyone in our country is now per- "It is improper to call a divinity tricky."mitted to own and operate a printing He who does not understand should notpress, and the time has passed when they interfere. If you want fresh air, removewere afraid to grant this permission to the smoky brazier; if you want light,private individuals, and when, because remove that which obscures it; if youin free printing offices false statements do not want the child to be timid, throwmight be printed, they renounced the the rod out of the school. In a housegeneral good and this useful institution. where whips and sticks are in fashion,Now anybody may have the tools of the servants are drunkards, thieves, andprinting, but that which may be printed worse. l

is still under watch and ward. The cen- Let anyone print anything that enterssorship has become the nursemaid of his head. If anyone finds himself in-reason, wit, imagination, of everything suIted in print, let him get his redress atgreat and enlightened. But where there law. I am not speaking in jest. Wordsare nurses, there are babies and leading are not always deeds, thoughts are notstrings, which often lead to crooked legs; crimes. These are the rules in the I n-where there are guardians, there are struction for a New Code of Laws. Butminors and immature minds unable to an offense in words or in print is alwaystake care of themselves. If there ~re ai- an offense. Under the law no one isways to be nurses and guardians, then allowed to libel another, and everyonethe child will walk with leading strings has the right to bring suit. But if onefor a long time and will grow up to he a tells the truth about another, that can-cripple. . . . not, according to the law, he considered

Having recognized the usefulness of a libel. What harm can there be if booksprinting, the government has made itopen to all; having further recognizedthat control of thought might invalidateits good intention in granting freedomto set up presses, it turned over the cen­sorship or inspection of printed worksto the Department of Public Morals. Itsduty in this matter can only he the pro­hibition of the sale of objectionableworks. But even this censorship is super­Huous. A single stupid official in the De-

270 A Journey from St. Petersburg to Moscow

are printed without a police stamp? Not stretch forth his audacious but mightyonly will there be no harm; there will and fearless !lrm against t)he idol ofbe an advantage, an advantage from the power, will tear off its mask and veil,first to the last, from the least to the and lay bare its true character. Every-greatest, from the Tsar to the last citi- one will see its feet of clay; everyonezen. . • . will withdraw the support which he had

The dissenters from the revealed reli- given it; power will return to its source;gion have so far done more harm in the idol will fall. But if power is notRussia than· those who do not acknowl- seated in the fog of contending opin-edge the existence of God, the atheists. ions, if its throne is founded on sincer-There are not many of the latter among ity and true love of the common weal,us, because few among us are concerned win it not rather be strengthened whenabout metaphysics. The atheist errs in its foundation is revealed? And will notmetaphysics; the dissenter in crossing the true lover be loved more truly?himself with only two fingers. Dissenters Mutuality is a natural sentiment, andor raskol'niki is our name for all those this instinct is deeply implanted in ourRussians who in any manner depart nature. A solid and firm building needsfrom the common doctrine of the Greek only its own foundation; it has no needChurch. There are many of them in of supports and buttresses. Only whenRussia; hence they are allowed to hold it is weakened by old age does it havedivine services. But why should not need of lateral support. Let the govern-every aberration be permited to he out ment he honest and its leaders free fromin the open? The more open it is, the hypocrisy; then all the, spittle and vomitquicker it will break down. Persecutions will return their stench upon him whohave only made martyrs; cruelty has has helched then,. forth; hut the truthheen the support of the, Christian reli- will always remain pure and immacu-gion itself. The consequences of schisms late. He whose words incite to revolt (inare sometimes harmful. Prohibit them. deference to the government, let us soThey are propagated hy example. De- denominate all firm utterances whichstroy the example. A printed book will are based on truth hut opposed to thenot cause a raskol'nik to throw himself ruling powers) is just as much a fool asinto the fire, but a moving example will. he who blasphemes God. Let the govern-To prohibit foolishness is to encourage ment proceed on its appointed path;it. Give it free rein; everyone will see then it will not be troubled by the emptywhat is foolish and what is wise. What is sound of calumny, even as the Lord ofprohibited is coveted. We are all Eve's Hosts is not disturbed by blasphemy.children. But woe to it if in its lust for power it

But in prohibiting freedom of the offends against truth. Then even apress, timid governments are ~ot afraid thought shakes its foundations; a wordof blasphemy, but of criticism of them- of truth will destroy it; a manly act will"selves. He who in moments of madness scatter it to the winds.does not spare God, will not in moments A personal attack, if it is unjustlyof lucidity and reason spare unjust offensive, is a libel. A personal attack ~

power. He who does not fear the thun- which states the truth is as admissibleclers of the Almighty laughs at the gal- / as truth itself. If a blinded judge judgeslows. Hence freedom of thought is terri- unjustly, and a defender of innocencefying to governments. The freethinker publicizes his unjust decision and showswho has been stirred to his depths will up his wiles and injustice, that will be a

A Journey from St. Petersburg to Moscow 271

personal attack, but one that is permis­sible; if he calls him a venal, false,stupid judge, that is a personal attack,but it is admissible. But if he hegins tocall him dirty names and slanders himwith offensive words such as one hearsin the marketplace, that is a personalattack, but it is offensive and inadmis­sible. But it is not the business of thegovernment to defend the judge, eventhough he may have been criticized un·justly. Not the judge, but the personoffended, should appear as plaintiff inthis case. Let the judge justify himself,before the world and before those whoappointed him, by his deeds alone.2

Thus one must judge of a personal at­tack. It deserves punishment, hut inprint it will do more good than harm. Ifeverything were in order, if decisionswere always rendered in accordancewith the law, if the law were foundedon truth, and all oppression were barredthen perhaps, and only then, a personalattack might be injurious to the state.

I will close with this: the censorshipof what is printed belongs properly tosociety, which gives the author a laurelwreath or uses his sheets for wrappingpaper. Just so, it is the public that givesits approval to a theatrical production,and not the director of the theater. Simi­larly the censor can give neither glory

2 l\fr. Dickinson, who took part in the recentrevolution in America and thus achieved fame,and later became President of Pennsylvania,did not disdain to do battle with those whoattacked him. The most heinous accusationsagainst him were published. The first officerof the state went into the arena, publishedhis defense, justified himself, overthrew thecontentions of his opponents, and put themto shame..•• This is an example worth imi­tating, of the way one ought to take revengewhen publicly attacked liy another in print.If one rages against the printed word, one onlyleads others to conclude that what is printedis true, and that he who seeks revenge is pre­cisely such a man as he is described in print.

nor dishonor to the publication of awork. The curtain rises, and everyoneeagerly watches the performance. If theylike it, they applaud; if not, they stampand hiss. Leave what is stupid to thejudgment of public opinion; stupiditywill find a thousand censors. The mostvigilant police cannot check worthlessideas as well as a disgusted public. Theywill he heard just once; then they willdie, never to rise again. But once wehave recognized the uselessness of thecensorship, or, rather, its harmfulnessin the realm of knowledge, we must alsorecognize the vast and boundless use­fulness of freedom of the press. . . .

MEDNOE

... Twice every week the whole RussianEmpire is notified that N.N. or B.B. isunable or unwilling to pay what he hasborrowed or taken or what is demandedof him. The horrowed money has heenspent in gambling, traveling, carousing,eating, drinking, etc.-or has heengiven away, lost in fire or water, or N.N.or H.B. has in some other way gone intodebt or incurred an obligation. What­ever the circumstances, the same storyis published in the newspapers. It runslike this: "At ten o'clock this morning,by order of the County Court, or theMunicipal Magistrate, will be sold atpublic auction the real estate of CaptainG., Retired, viz., a house located in-­Ward, No.--, and with its six souls,

male and female. The sale will takeplace at said house. Interested partiesmay examine the property before theauction."

There are always a lot of customersfor a bargain. The d~y and hour of theauction have come. Prospective buyersare-gathering:-In the hall where it is totake place, those who are condemned tohe sold stand immovable. An old man,seventy-five years of age, leaning on an

272 A Journey from St. Petersburg to Moscow

elmwood cane, is anxious to find out

into whose hands fate will deliver him,and who will close his eyes. He hadbeen with his master's father in theCrimean Campaign, under Field Mar­shal Munnich. In the Battle of Frank­furt he had carried his wounded masteron his shoulders from the field. On re­turning home he had become the tutorof his young master. In childhood hehad saved him from drowning, for,jumping after him into the river intowhich he had fallen from a ferry, he hadsaved him at the risk of his own life. Inyouth he had ransomed him fromprison, whither he had been cast fordebts incurred while he was a subalternof the Guards. The old woman, his wife,is eighty years of age. She had been thewet-nurse of the young master',s mother;later she became his nurse and had thesupervision of the house up to the veryhour when she was brought out to thisauction. During all the time of her serv­ice she had never wasted anything be­longing to her masters, had never con­sidered her personal advantage, neverlied, and if she had ever annoyed them,she had done so by her scrupuloushonesty. The forty-year-old woman is awidow, the young master's wet-nurse.'1'0 this very day she feels a certain ten­derness for him. Her blood flows in hisveins. She is his second mother, and heowes his life more to her than to his nat­ural mother. The latter had conceivedhim in lust and did not take care of himin his childhood. His nurses had reallybrought him up. They part from him asfrom a son. The eighteen-year-old girlis her daughter and the old man's grand­daughter. Beast, monster, outcast amongmen! Look at her, look at her crimsoncheeks, at the tears flowing from herbeautiful eyes. When you could neitherensnare her innocence with enticementsand promises nor shake her steadfast­ness with threats and punishments, did

you not finally use deception, and, hav­ing married her to the companion ofyour abominations, did you not in hisguise enjoy the pleasures she scorned toshare with you? She discovered yourdeception. Her bridegroom did nottouch her couch again, and since youwere thus deprived of the object of yourlust, you employed force. Four evildo­ers, your henchmen, holding her armsand legs-let us not go on with this. Onher brow is sorrow, in her eyes despair.She is holding a little one, the lamenta­ble fruit of deception or violence, but theliving image of his lascivious father.Having given birth to him, she forgothis father's beastliness and her heartbegan to feel a tenderness for him. Butnow she fears that she may fall into thehands of another like his father. Thelittle one-. Thy son, barbarian, thyblood! Or do you think that where therewas no church rite, there was no obliga­tion? Or do you think that a blessinggiven at your command by a hiredpreacher of the word of God has estab.lished their union? Or do you thinkthat a forced wedding in God's templecan be called marriage? The Almightyhates compulsion; He rejoices at thewishes of the heart. They alone arepure. Oh, how many acts of adulteryand violation are committed among usin the name of the Father of joys andthe Comforter of sorrows, in the pres­ence of His witnesses, who are unworthyof their calling! The lad of twenty-five,her wedded husband, the companionand intimate of his master. Savageryand vengeance are in his eyes. He re­pents the service he did his master. Inhis pocket is a knife; he clutches it firm­ly; it is not difficult to guess histhought-. A hopeless fancy! You willbecome the property of another. Themaster's hand, constantly raised overhis slave's head, will bend your neck tohis every pleasure. Hunger, cold, heat,

A Journey from St. Petersburg to Moscow 273

punishment, everything will be againstyou. Noble thoughts are foreign to yourmind. You do not know how to die. Youwill how down and be a slave in spiritas in estate. And if you should try tooffer resistance, you would die a lan­guishing death in fetters. There is nojudge between you. If your tormentordoes not wish to punish yOll himself, hewill become your accuser. He will handyou over to the governmental j llstice.Justice! Where the accused has almostno chance to justify himself! Let us passby the other unfortunates who havebeen brought out for sale....

GORODNYA

As I drove into this village, my earswere assailed not by the melody ofverse, hut by a heart-rending lament ofwomen, children, and old men. Gettingout of my carriage, I sent it on to thepost station, for I was curious to learnthe cause of the disturbance I had no­ticed in the street.

Going up to one group of people, Ilearned that a levy of recruits was thecause of the sobs and tears of the peoplecrowded together there. From many vil­lages, both crown and manorial, thosewho were to he drafted into the armyhad come together here.

In one group an old woman fiftyyears of age, holding the head of a ladof twenty, was sobbing. "My dear child,to whose care are you committing me?To whom will you entrust the home ofyour parents? Our fields will be over­grown with grass, our hut with moss. I,your poor old mother, will have to wan­der about begging. Who will warm mydecrepit body when it is cold, who willprotect it from the heat? Who will giveme food and drink? But all that doesnot weigh so heavily upon my heart asthis: who will close my eyes when. I die?Who will receive my maternal blessing?

Who will return my body to our com­mon mother, the moist earth? Who willcome to remember me at my grave?Your warm tears will not fall upon it; Ishall not have that consolation."

Near the old woman stood a grown­up girl. She, too, was sobbing. "Fare­well, friend of my heart; farewell, myshining sun. I, your betrothed, willnever know comfort or joy again. Myfriends will not envy me. The sun willnot rise for me in joy. You are leavingme to pine away, neither a widow nora wedded wife. If our inhuman villageelders had only let us get married, ifyou, my darling, could have slept butone short night on my ,vhite breast. Per­hap's God would have taken pity on meana given me a little son to comtort

"me.The lad said to them: "Stop weeping,

stop rending my heart. Our Sovereigncalls us to service. The lot fell on me. Itis the will of God. Those not fated to diewill live. Perhaps I will come home toyou with the regiment. I may even winrank and honors. Dear Mother, do notgrieve. Take care of my Praskov'yush­ka." This recruit was drafted irom anEconomic village.3

From another group standing nearbyI heard altogether different words.Amidst them I saw a man of about thir­ty, of medium size, standing erect andlooking happily at the people aroundhim.

"The Lord has heard my prayers," hesaid. "The tears of an unfortunate manhave reached the Comforter of all men.Now I shall at least know that my lotmay depend on my own good or bad be­havior. Heretofore it depended on thearbitrary whims of a woman. I am con-

3 A village of serfs, formerly belonging to amonastery. Since the secularization of monasticlands by Peter III in 1762 these villages be­longed to the state and were administered bythe Economic College.

274 A Journey from St. Petersburg to Moscow

soled by the thought that hereafter I they will never again call me Van'ka orshall not he flogged without a fair any other offensive name, that they willtrial!" never again call me like a dog by whis-

Having gathered from what he said ding. MyoId master, a kindhearted,that he was a manorial serf, I was curi- reasonable, and virtuous man, whoous to learn the cause of his unusual often lamented the fate of his slaves,joy. To my question he replied: "Dear wanted, on account of my father's longsir, if a gallows were placed on one side service, to do something special for me;of you and a deep river ran on the other, so he gave me the same education as hisand you, standing between these two son. There was hardly any differenceperils, could not possibly escape going between us, except that the cloth of hiseither to the right or to the left, into the coat was perhaps better. Whatever theynoose or into the water, which would taught the young master, they taughtyou choose? Which would sense clnd me, too; our instruction was exactly theimpulse make you prefer? I think same, and I can say without boastingeveryone would rather jump into the that in many things I did better than myriver, in the hope of escaping from young master.peril by swimming to the other shore. "'Vanyusha,' the old master said toNo one would willingly investigate the m~, 'your happiness depends entirely onstrength of the noose by putting his you. You have more of an inclinationneck into it. This was my situation. A for learning and morality than my son.soldier's life is a hard one, but better He will be rich by inheritance and willthan the noose. Even that would be all know no want, while you have known itright, if that were the end, but to die a from birth. So try to be worthy of thelingering death under the cudgel, under pains I have taken for you.' When mythe cat-o'-nine-tails, in chains, in a dun- young master was in his seventeenthgeon, naked, barefooted, hungry, thirsty, year, he and I were sent to travel abroadunder constant abuse-my lord, al- with a tutor, who was told to look uponthough you look upon your peasants as me as a traveling companion, not ayour property, often less regarded than servant. As he sent me away, myoIdcattle, yet, unfortunately, they are not master said to me: 'I hope that you willwithout feeling. You appear to be sur- return to give me and your parents joy.prised to hear such words from the lips You are a slave within the horders ofof a peasant; but why, when you hear this country, but beyond them you arethem, are you not surprised at the cruel- free. When you return, you will not findty of your brothers, the noblemen?" fetters imposed upon you because of

And in very truth I had not expected your birth.' We were away for five yearssuch words from a man dressed in a and then returned to Russia, my younggray caftan and with his head shaven. master happy at the thought of seeingBut wishing to satisfy my curiosity, I his father, and I, I mqst confess, flatter-asked him to tell me 'how, being of such ing myself that I would obtain what Ia low estate, he had arrived at ideas had been promised. My heart was atrern-which are frequently lacking in men im- ble as I again entered the borders of myproperly said to be nobly born. country. And indeed my foreboding was

"If it will not tire you to hear my not false. In Riga my young master re-story, I will tell you: I was born in ceived the news of his father's death. Heslavery, the son of my master's former was deeply moved by it; I was thrownvalet. How happy I am to think that into despair. For all my efforts to win

A Journey from St. Petersburg to Moscow 275

his friendship and confidence had heenin vain. Not only did he not love me,but-perhaps from envy, as is charac­teristic of small souls-he hated me.

"0bserving the anxiety produced inme by the death of his father, he toldme he would not forget the promise thathad been made to me, if I would be\vorthy of it. It was the first time he hadventured to tell me so, for, having re­ceived control of his property throughthe death of his father, he had dismissedhis tutor in Riga, paying him liberallyfor his labors. I must do justice to myformer master: he has many good quali­ties, hut timidity of spirit and thought­lessness obscure them.

"A week after our arrival in Moscow,my master fell in love with a pretty girl,but one who with her hodily beautycombined a very ugly soul and a hardand cruel heart. Brought up in the con­ceit of her station, she respected onlyexternal show, rank and wealth. In twomonths she became my master's wife,and I became her slave. Until then Ihad not expt;rienced any change in mycondition and had lived in my master'shouse as his companion. Although henever gave me any orders, I generallyanticipated his wishes, as I was awareof his power and of my position. Scarce­ly had the young mistress crossed thethreshold of the house, in which she wasdetermined to rule, before I was madeaware of my hard lot. On the first eve­ning after the wedding and all next day,when I was introduced to her hy herhusband as his companion, she was oc­cupied with the usual cares of a hride;hut in the evening, when a fairly largecompany came to the table and sat downto the first supper with the newly mar­ried pair, and I sat down in my usualplace at the lower end of the table, the .new mistress said to her husband in afairly loud voice that if he wished herto sit at the table with the guests, he

must not permit any serfs to sit there.He looked at me and, at her instance,sent \vord to me that I should leave thetable and eat my supper in my room.Imagine, how deeply this humiliationhurt me! I suppressed the tears thatcame to my eyes, and withdrew. I didnot dare to make my appearance thenext day. They brought me my dinnerand supper without saying anything tome. And so it went on succeeding days.One afternoon, a week after the wed­ding, the new mistress inspect€d thehouse, and, after apportioning theduties and living quarters to all theservants, entered my rooms also. Theyhad been furnished for me by myoIdmaster. I was not at home. I will notrepeat what she said there, to ridiculeme, but when I returned home they gaveme her order, whereby I was sent downto a corner on the ground floor with theunmarried servants, where my bed andmy trunk, with my clothes and linens,had already been placed; all my otherthings she had left in my former rooms,in which she installed her serving maids.

"What took place in my soul when Iheard this is easier to feel, if you can,than to describe. But so as not to detainyou with superfluous details: my nlis­tress, after taking control of the houseand finding that I had no aptitude forservice, made me a lackey and deckedme out in livery. The least, imaginaryremissness in my duties led to my earsbeing boxed, beatings, and the cat-o'­nine-tails. 0, my lord, it would haveheen better if I had never been horn!How many times did I complain againstmy dead benefactor for having fostereda responsive soul in me. It would havebeen better for me if I had grown up inignorance and had never learned that Iam a man, equal to all others. Long,long ago I would have freed myselffrom my hateful life, if I had not beenheld back by the prohibition of our Su-

276 A Journey from St. Petersburg to Moscow

preme Judge. I determined to bear mylot patiently. And I endured not onlybodily wounds, but also those which sheinflicted upon my soul. But I alnlostbroke my vow and cut short the miser­able remains of my woeful life as a re­sult of a new blow to my soul.

"A nephew of my mistress, a young­ster of eighteen years, a sergeant of theGuards, educated in the fashion of Mos­cow dandies, became enamored of achambermaid of his aunt's, and, havingquickly won her ready favors, made hera mother. Although he was usually quiteunconcerned in his amours, in this casehe was somewhat embarrassed. For hisaunt, having learned about the affair,forbade the chambermaid her presence,and gently scolded her nephew. She in­tended, after the fashion of benevolentmistresses, to punish the one whom shehad formerly favored by marrying heroff to one of the stable boys. But sincethey were all married already, and since,for the honor of the house, there had tobe a husband for the pregnant woman,she selected me as the worst of all theservants. In the presence of her hus­band, my mistress informed me of thisas though it \vere a special favor. I couldnot stand this abuse any longer. 'Inhu­man woman! ' I cried. 'You have thepower to torment me and to wound mybody; you say the laws give you theright to do this. I hardly believe it, butI know full well that no one can be forcedto marry.' She listened to my words inominous silence. Then I turned to herhusband and said: 'Ungrateful son of agenerous father, you have forgotten hislast will and testament, you have forgot­ten your own promise; hut do not drive

to despair a soul nobler than yours! Be­ware!' I could say no more, because, bycommand of my mistress, I was taken tothe stable and whipped mercilessly withthe cat-o'-nine-tails. The next day I couldhardly get up out of bed from the beat-

ing; hut I was brought hefore my mis­tress again. 'I will forgive you your im­pudence of yesterday,' she said; 'marrymy Mavrushka; she begs you to, and Iwant to do this for her, because I loveher even in her transgression.' 'Youheard my answer yesterday,' I said; 'Ihave no other. I will only add that I willcomplain to the authorities against youfor compelling me to do what you haveno right to.' 'Then it's time for you tobecome a soldier!' my mistress screamedin a fury.-A traveler who has lost hisway in a terrible desert will rejoice lesswhen he finds it again than I did when Iheard these words. 'Take him to be asoldier!' she repeated, and the next dayit was done. Fool! She thought that be­ing made a soldier would be a punish­ment for me, as it is for the peasants. Forme it was a joy, and as soon as they hadshaved my forehead, I felt like a newman. My strength was restored. Mymind and spirit began to revive. 0 hope,sweet solace of the unfortunate, remainwith me!" A heavy tear, but not a tearof grief and despair, fell from his eyes.I pressed him to my heart. His counte­nance was radiant with new joy. "All isnot yet lost," he said; "you arm my soulagainst sorrow by making me feel thatmy misery is not endless."

From this unfortunate man I went toa group in which I saw three men fet­tered in the strongest irons. "It is amaz­ing," I said to myself as I looked atthese prisoners, "now they are downcast,weary, thnid, and they not only do notwant to become soldiers, but the greatestseverity is required to force them intothat status; but as soon as they becomeaccustomed to the execution of theirhard duty, they grow alert and spirited,and even look with scorn upon theirformer condition." I asked one of thehystanders who, to judge from his uni­form, was a government clerk: "Nodoubt you have put them in such heavy

A Journey from St. Petersburg to Moscow 277

fetters because you are afraid they willrun away?"

"You guessed it. They belonged to alanded proprietor who needed moneyfor a new carriage and got it by sellingthem to crown peasants, to be levied intothe army."

I.-"My friend, you are mistaken.Crown peasants can't purchase theirbrothers."

He.-"It isn't done in the form of asale. Having by agreement received themoney, the master sets these unfortu-nates free; they are presumed to be 'vol­untarily' registered as crown peasantsof the commune which paid the moneyfor them; and the commune, by com­mon consent, sends them to be soldiers.They are now being taken with theiremancipation papers to be registered inour commune."

Free men, who have committed nocrime, are fettered, and sold like cattle!o laws ! Your wisdom frequently residesonly in your style! Is this not an openmockery? And, what is worse, a mock­ery of the sacred name of liberty. Oh, ifthe slaves weighted down with fetters,raging in their despair, would, with theiron that bars their freedom, crush ourheads, the heads of their inhuman mas­ters, and redden their fields with ourblood! What would the country lose bythat? Soon great men would arise fromamong them, to take the place of themurdered generation; hut they would beof another mind and without the right tooppress others. This is no dream; myvision penetrates the dense curtain oftime that veils the future from our eyes.I look through the space of a wholecentury. I left the crowd in disgust.

But the fettered prisoners are freenow. If they had any fortitude, theycould put to naught the oppressive in­tentions of their tyrants. Let us go backto them.-"My friends," I said to thecaptives, these prisoners of war in theirown country, "do you know that if you

do not freely wish to enter the army, noone can now compel you to do so?""Stop making fun of poor wretches, sir.Even without your jesting, it was hardenough for us to part, one from his poorold father, another from his little sisters,a third from his young wife. We knowthat our master sold us as recruits fora thousand rubles."

"If you did not know it before, youmust know now that it is against the lawto sell men as recruits, that peasants can­not legally buy men, that your masterhas set you free, and that the purchasersintend to register you in their commune,as though of your own free will."

"0, sir, if that is really so, we dothank you. When they line us up formuster, we will all say that we do notwant to become soldiers and that we arefree men."

"Add to it that your master sold youat a time when such a sale was not legal,and that they are delivering you up asrecruits in violation of the law."4 Onecan easily imagine the joy that lightedup the faces of these unfortunates. Leap­ing up from their places and vigorouslyshaking their fetters, they seemed to betesting their strength, as though theywould shake them off. But this conversa­tion could have gotten me into serioustrouble, for the recruiting officers, hav-ing heard what I said, rushed towardme in violent anger, and said, "Sir, don'tmeddle with other people's business, andget away while the getting's good!"When I resisted, they pushed me so vio-lently that I was forced to leave thiscrowd as fast as I could. . . .

THE EMPRESS CATHERINE II'SNOTES ON THE JOURNEY

[The starred pages here refer to thepages of Radishchev's original editionof the Journey.]

4 During the time of a levying of recruits,it was illegal to make any contract for the saleof serfs.

278 A Journey from St. Petersburg to Moscow

No.1

This book was printed in 1790 withoutmention of the printing press and with­out any visible permission at the begin­ning, although at the end it says: "Withthe permission of the Department ofPublic Morals." This is probably a lie, orelse carelessness. The purpose of thishook is clear on every page: its author,infected and full of the French madness,is trying in every possible way to breakdown respect for authority and for theauthorities, to stir up in the people in­dignation aganst their superiors andagainst the government.

He is probably a Martinist or some­thing similar. He has learning enough,and has read many hooks. He has a mel­ancholy temperament and sees every­thing in a very somber light; conse­quently he takes a bilious black and yel­low view of things.

He has imagination enough, and he isaudacious in his writing....

The author is maliciously inclined onpage *60. This is particularly evidentfrom the following pages. Pages *72,*73. They show clearly enough the pur­pose for which this whole book was writ­ten. It is a safe bet that the author's lno­tive in writing it was this, that he doesnot have entree to the palace. Maybe hehad it once and lost it, but since he doesnot have it now but does have an eviland consequently ungrateful heart, he isstruggling for it now with his pen. Onpage *75. Our babbler. is timid. If hestood closer to the sovereign, he wouldpipe a different tune. We have seen a lotof such humbugs, especially among theSchismatics. The firmer their hearts, themore they change when the time comes.

I do not know how great the lust forpower is in other rulers; in me it is notgreat.

Page *76. The fledglings teach themother hird. Malice is in the malicious;I have none of it.

"The murder called war": What do

they want, to he left defenseless to fallcaptive to the Turks and Tatars, or to beconquered by the Swedes?

In criticizing the poor execution ofour commands, they are accusing them­selves.

Pages *77, *78 are written with aseditious purpose, and the care taken inrooting out an evil is criticized ad­versely....

Page *81 is full of abuse, invective,and evil-minded interpretation of things.This villainy continues through the fol­lowing pages: *82, *83, *84, and *85.But withal they were unable to censurethe intentions, and so were obliged toturn to' their fulfillment; hence they arecriticizing society, and not the Sover­eign's good heart or intentions....

Page *88. He refers to "information:what I have had the good luck to learn."I think that information was picked upin Leipzig; hence the suspicion falls onMessrs. Radischev and Chelishchev, themore so since they are said to have es­tablished a printing press in their house.

Pages *92, *93, *94, *95, *96, *97preach the doctrines of the Martinistsand other theosophists.

Page *98 is so indecent that it can­not even be mentioned.

*99, *100, *101. Speaking of Novgo-rod, of its free government, and of Tsarloann Vasil'evich's cruelty to it, he doesnot say anything about the cause of thispunishment, which was that, having ac­cepted the union, Novgorod had sur­rendered to the Polish Republic; conse­quently the Tsar punished the apostatesand traitors, in which, to tell the truth,he did not keep within hounds.

-102. The author cries: "But whatright did he have to rage against them?What right did he have to take Novgo­rod for himself?" Answer: the old rightof sovereignty and the law of Novgorodand of all Russia and of the whole world,

.If Journey from St. Petersburg to Moscow 279

which punishes rebels, and apostatesfrom the Church. But the question israised here only to deny monarchicalrights, and should therefore be left with­out an answer.

On *103. The questions brought uphere are the ones over which France isnow being ruined.No.5Tell the author that I have read hisbook from cover to cover, and that inthe course of reading it I have come towonder whether I may in some way haveoffended him. For I do not want to judge

him without hearing him, although hejudges sovereigns without hearing their

justification. . . .*410, *411, *412, *413, *414, *415,

*416 continue to describe the miserable

condition of the peasants.

On *418 begins the eulogy on Lomo­nosov, which continues to the end of thebook. This contains praise of Mirabeau,who deserves not once but many timesover to be hanged. Here the EmpressElizabeth Petrovna is treated with dis­respect. Here it is evident that the author

is not a true Christian. And it seemsprobable that _he has appointed himselfthe leader, whether by this book or byother means, in snatching the sceptersfrom the hands of monarchs; but, sinceone man alone could not do this, andsince there are indications that he hasa few accomplices, he should be ques-tioned on this matter, as well as on hisreal intentions. And, since he himselfwrites that he loves the truth, he shouldbe asked to say how the matter stood.If, however, he does not write the truth,

I shall be compelled to seek evidence,

and things will be worse for him thanbefore.

On *453 the author promises a con­tinuation of this book "on our returnjourney." Where is this work? Was it

begun, and where is it?

Of the line "With the permission ofthe Department of Public Morals" I willsay that it is a deceitful and contemptibleact to add anything to a book after thepermission has been signed. It must bedetermined how many copies were pub­lished and where they are.