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RUSSIA. 



The Russians seem not to have much love of country ; they are willing exiles, olten even to 

 Siberia, and they overrun the south of luirope. They have not the moral sentiments, that 

 bind man to his home as the scene of his childhood, and of his friendships and affections ; they 

 are led by the senses and impulses, and wherever these may receive the most gratification, there 

 the Russian is the most at home. The burning of Moscow is not now considered a sacrifice 

 of patriotism. The governor of the city, to whom it has been attributed, supposes it to have 

 Deen committed by the wretches, who' remained behind to plunder. Honesty seems to have 

 fled to a more genial climate, and extortion alone flourishes. The merchants almost invariably 

 cheat, and ask for their wares double wliat they may be induced to take, while the whole sys- 

 tem, both of police and traffic, is one of overreaching and plunder. These are grievous charg- 

 es, but they are supported by the testimony of almost every traveler. No profession is honor- 

 able but that of arms, and to this only the nobility devote themselves. 



The peasantry have the national facility of imitation, but as little of the inventive power as 

 pertains to their superiors. Though rendered in some degree stupid hy their situation, many 

 of them have been found capable of imitating the best works of art. They are addicted to in- 

 toxication, and their morals are in a most depraved state. The lower classes of Russians are 

 covered with filth and infested with vermin ; and the latter, it is said, have no respect for rank, 

 pertaining both to nobles and serfs. The women are the drudges, which they always are among 

 barbarians, and are as much subjected to the blows of their husbands, as these are to the 

 cudgels of their masters. All the operations and implements of agriculture denote an age far 

 behind the present. What the fathers did, that do the sons ; the harrows are but the lateral 

 branches of the fir tree, sharpened, and dragged over the ground, and many other implements 

 are equally rude. 



The house of a peasant is a receptacle of filth ; neatness is unknown in Russia. The door 

 is closed in winter, and the air, heated by stoves and tainted by respiration, becomes excessive- 

 ly offensive and noxious. The Russian of the lower orders makes his presence obvious to 

 more senses than one. Almost all Russia presents a picture of the same state of society ; for 

 the cities of Moscow and St. Petersburg, form but inconsiderable parts of the whole. The 

 Cossacks, as much as they are to be execrated in war, form a pleasing exception. Thej' live in 

 neat villages, in a highly social and not uncultivated state. They are, to a great degree, neat 

 in their houses, persons, and dreos. They have books and musical instruments. Dr. Clarke 

 describes them as the most cheerful, kind, and honest of all the inhabitants of Russia. The 

 ladiei are handsome, and intelligent ; many of them play on the piano forte, and have the other 

 European accomplishments. The Russians make good soldiers, and yet they have not a military 

 spirit. But their political situation makes ihem passive instruments in the hands of their rulers. 

 A serf gains his freedom, and improves his situation, by entering the army. Besides this, he is 

 strong, hardy, and constitutionally brave. 



The Calmucks^ who belong to the great Mongol family of Eastern Asia, roam over the 

 steppes between the Don and the Volga. They settled here toward the end of the 17th cen- 

 tury, but about 100 years later, in 1771, the bulk of the nation returned to the banks of the 

 Ri, in the Chinese empire, only about 50,000 of their number remaining in Russia. They are 

 Buddhists in religion. They have no fixed abode, but dwell in movable huts called Itybitkas, 

 which they carry from place to place, as they follow their herds to pasture. They do not cul- 

 tivate the ground, living wholly on animal food, their herds consisting chiefly of camels, sheep, 

 and horses, with very few black cattle. The Calmucks are not in reality the immediate sub- 

 jects of the princes in whose territories they live, but they have their own hereditary chiefs and 

 nobles, to whom they pay strict obedience. 



The Cossacks are of Sclavonic origin, but seem to have been largely mixed with Tartars, 

 Calmucks, and Gypsies. After a long series of struggles with the Tartar khans, the Polci, 

 and the Russians, their hetman, or chief, sought the protection of the latter in the middle of the 

 17th century. The heir apparent of the Russian crown now bears the title of hetman of the 

 Cossacks. Every Cossack between the ages of IS and 40 is liable to perform military duty, 

 and their troops are wholly composed of cavalry. They receive no pay but when in the field, 

 or engaged in guarding the frontier ; but they are essentially a nation of soldiers, having their 

 own local government. The dress of the soldiery is a short vest in the Polish style, large 

 trowsers of deep blue, and a black sheepskin cap. Their arms consist of a long spear, sabre, 

 musket, pair of pistols, and a whip with a leather thong, which they apply not to their steed, but to 

 the back of a flying enemy. The great body of the Cossacks live on the Don, and its branches ; 

 and thou- capital has already been described ; but there are some on the TJrnl, in Siheri.i, &.r. 



