ON THE POLICY AND THE POWER OF RUSSIA. 319 



alone the fate of Nations and the existence of^constitutions are dicta- 

 torially decided, and peace and good order are conceded to Europe 

 only at the will of the Czar. 



The young Autocrat plays with the ambasadors of the European 

 states as the monkey does with a kitten, whom at one time he dandles 

 in his arms, and at another gives a pat on the head. To the re- 

 presentations of England herself, to whose exertions during a pro- 

 tracted war almost every continental kingdom owes its present 

 independence, the Emperor Nicholas deigns to give no reply, but 

 merely feasts or flatters the ambassadors \viihfetes and still more 

 unmeaning compliments. 



The ambassador of the King of the Barricades (who, by doing all 

 in his power to stamp himself quasi legitimate, still wins the favour of 

 the Holy Alliance) was received not only with coldness, but even 

 with insult. In the very first formal audience the Czar absolutely 

 turned his back upon one of the French marshals, but to whom, in 

 the best days of Napoleon, it would have cost an Emperor of 

 Russia half his kingdom to have shewn the least disrespect. 



The policy recommended by Metternich is flattered in words, but 

 really derided in secret by Nicholas ; and while he encourages Prussia 

 in her consistent system of inconsistency, he insures at once her 

 feebleness and his influence over her. 



For that wondrous body with many members and no head, nick- 

 named the " Germanic Diet," ukases suffice ; and the mandates of the 

 dictating Czar are accepted as God-sends by the good Germans. 



The wrath of his lightning is launched in letters of political ex- 

 communication against the lesser princes who have dared to swear 

 the oath of fidelity to the constitution of their states. 



The causes of Miguel and Carlos were upheld by him as long as it 

 was possible ; and every attempt of freedom against such usurpers 

 is branded as a criminal interference with his dictation over other 

 nations. 



Denmark and Sweden are flattered and lulled to rest in quiet de- 

 pendence, that they may one day assist as allies against Prussia and 

 GermaVy, and shut the Sound to the fleets of France and Great 

 Britain. 



Switzerland is menaced on every side, if not directly by Russia, 

 at least indirectly through the intermediate voices of Austria, Prussia, 

 and the Germanic Diet. 



In Greece, a new kingdom has been vainly formed by England, 

 France, and Russia, to the advantage of the latter alone ; and every 

 kind of intrigue is resorted to, for the purpose of keeping up the in- 

 terest of Russia in countries where a similarity of religion forms the 

 ready bond of union. 



In the European and Asiatic provinces of Turkey, the mouldering 

 flame of revolt is alternately fed with a liberal, and kept under by a 

 powerful, hand. The treaties, kept secret from other states, are 

 formed with Persia, and throughout Asia, even to the recesses of 

 Tartary, China, Cochin-China, and the East Indies. Even from 

 Kamschatka, the intruders send their emissaries to British America, 

 to see, and to profit by what they see. Their ships of discovery ex- 



