314 Russia in 1832. [MARCH, 



dent. It was the deviation from the grand military principle of a base 

 which alone can ensure the success of a military operation and not to the 

 elements, which proved almost as fatal to the pursuing as to the retreating 

 army, that must be attributed the failure of an enterprise conceived by the 

 greatest military genius the world ever produced. Had Napoleon, 

 passing over his grand political fault, the non re-establishment of the 

 ancient kingdom of Poland, formed a second base of operations in Lithu- 

 ania, he might, as even the Russian military themselves allow, have 

 taken up good winter-quarters in Smolensko and its vicinity, and have 

 reorganised his army for another campaign, which would have decided 

 the fate of Russia. We have adverted to this " thrice-told tale" merely 

 to shew how fallacious is the opinion of Russian invincibility, founded on 

 the result of this memorable campaign. 



Since that period, however, the influence exercised by the Autocrat 

 upon the European political system has been all preponderating. By 

 matrimonial alliances he has enchained the Prussian monarchy, Holland 

 and Wertemberg, to his political wake ; while over the councils of the 

 other powers he has exercised an influence which can only be attributed 

 to fear to fear actively kept alive by the works of political and military 

 writers, who (and we could name several distinguished of our own 

 countrymen) have vied with each other in representing the rapid deve- 

 lopment of this northern power as fatal to the liberties of southern 

 Europe. Upon a superficial view of the subject, we frankly allow that 

 there existed but too well-founded grounds for the exaggerated fears 

 entertained of the power and designs of Russia. At the general peace, 

 her territory, embracing three quarters of the globe, surpassed in extent 

 the most colossal empires of antiquity, the ephemeral monarchy of 

 Alexander, the Roman republic, when at the summit of its grandeur, 

 and the immense regions swayed in more modern times by the dynasty 

 of the Caliphs. Her population forms the fifteenth part of that of the 

 whole earth ; her army, both in numbers, composition, and every mili- 

 tary requisite, stands unrivalled in the military annals of the world ; 

 while her government, enlightened, though despotic, combining the 

 suppleness, craft, and ductility of the lower empire, with the fiery 

 energy, vigour, and activity of the Scythian desert, avails itself with 

 consummate skill and ability of every event that can develop the re- 

 sources of the empire, and extend its political influence. 



Yet, if undazzled by the boundless extent of her dominions, unawed 

 by the composition and numbers of her armies, and the ambitious and 

 vigorous character of her government, we calmly, with a statistical and 

 scientific eye, survey this mighty empire, geographically, politically, and 

 militarily, if we penetrate to the sources of her revenue, and unfold the 

 various branches of her expenditure, we shall arrive at the conclusion, 

 that the fears entertained by Europe of the power of Russia, are utterly 

 baseless, and the opinion of her invulnerability an absolute fallacy. 



In approaching the question of Russian statistics, in calculating the 

 "materiel" force of this empire in other words, her finances, her army, 

 and marine we have imposed on ourselves a task of no ordinary diffi- 

 culty. In a state where little or no publicity is given to public affairs, 

 where the government has to render no account of its conduct, where 

 the elements which constitute the national riches are as varied as multi- 

 plied, where every thing in fact is in a state of constant fluctuation, 

 owing to jts continual development, these branches of interior economy 



