J 814.] Bistrihition of the Inhalttants of Russia. 439 



Religion for a long time had a striking effect upon politics. From 

 the end of the 13th century to that of the 1 7th the character of the 

 politics of cabinets was religious. The 18th century bears the cha- 

 racter of the mercantile system : and that of the 19th is revolutionary. 

 Various governments have adopted the principles of toleration : but 

 in some states it is political, without being religious ; in others 

 religious but not political. It is only in France, in Prussia, and in 

 Russia, that it bears the double character of religion and politics. 



The distribution of population according to the nations is one of 

 the most interesting statistical imiuiries. The farmer is attached to 

 his fields, because upon them he has lavished his labours and the 

 fruit of his savings. These fields are the only sources of riches, 

 and consequently the possessors of them become by degrees the 

 absolute masters of those that have none. Manufactures and com 

 merce open a new source of riches independent of the territorial 

 property. A third class of citizens interposes itself between the 

 labourer of the fields and the proprietors of estates. They are 

 justly called the third estate. They belong to the whole world. 

 Knowledge and the arts friendly to liberty, comfort, and tranquillity ' 

 spread with the greatest facility in this class. Tlie want of the third 

 estate stops the progress of knowledge among a people of slaves ; 

 and the German nations, notwithstanding their feudal system, were 

 only more fortunate in possessing this third estate some ages before 

 other nations. The nobility and the clergy form a political body 

 between the sovereign and the nation. Their number, their pro- 

 perty, their privileges, require the greatest attention in order to be 

 able to judge of the moral force of monarchies. The great armies 

 kept up by all nations have established a military system in the 

 midst of peace. This system, brought to perfection since the time 

 of Louis XIV. and Frederick II., has destroyed the finances, and 

 overturned several states. 



Formerly there were various states in Europe in which the sove- 

 reign was limited by the privileges of the people. Those provinces 

 which had preserved particular rights sometimes rendered tiie 

 operations of government more slow and more difiicult. 



The origin of nations, then, religion, the diHerent orders of 

 society, and the particular rights of certain provinces, are the prin- 

 cipal points of view under which we are about to contemplate the 

 total populati(jn of Russia. 



Ethnography makes researches into tlie origin of peoples, and the 

 smallest tribe is classed apart, provided it exhibits national diffe- 

 rences. 



The writer on political statistics attends to these differences only 

 when they have a marked eflect upon the happiness of me state. 



Under the first point of view Russia contains nearly a hundred 

 different nations ; under the second, European Russia includes only 

 three nations, tiie Sclavonians, Finns, and Tartars. We might 

 indeed include the inhabitants of Caucasus; but they are not 



