334 THROUGH RUSSIA ON A MUSTANG. 



Indeed, it occurs to me, as I reach the end of this 

 record of a journey of investigation, that most of the 

 blemishes that deform the Russian character, — the sus- 

 picion of which the last few pages treat ; the corruption 

 of the clergy ; the intellectual degradation of the peas- 

 ants; the dishonesty of the mercantile element; the 

 poverty of the masses ; the drunkenness and improvi- 

 dence, are mainly chargeable to the monstrous thing 

 we call the Russian government. The people have 

 naturally many admirable traits, which, if they were 

 allowed to develop and expand, would enable them to 

 put to shame many of their lofty and self-sufficient 

 critics. They are charmingly simple, and free from the 

 caddish affectation of superiority that disfigures the 

 society of Western Europe, and in which America is 

 not the least of the offenders. The Russian is by 

 nature a " good fellow "; and it is agreeable to believe 

 that by and by, when he is allowed to read newspapers, 

 educate himself properly, and develop politically and 

 religiously — in short, to be a man, and take charge of 

 himself, instead of a child in the crib of a paternal gov- 

 ernment, — he will in time develop the sturdy virtues of 

 manhood's estate, and take the place he ought to 

 occupy in the brotherhood of civilized men. 



THE END. 



