1034 fuccinSi 
not doubt, that the Ruffians preferve the Memory of 
this, and will take the firft Opportunity that offers, of 
recovering a Trade which they once profecuted with 
great Diligence and Spirit. 
I will add to thefe Arguments but one more, and that 
is, the prodigious Pains taken, and the immenfe Ex- 
pence the Czar Peter and his Succeflbrs have been at 
in the Improvement of Roads, cutting Canals, rendring 
Rivers and Lakes navigable, purely for the Sake of fa- 
cilitating the Communication of the different Provinces 
of their Empire with Petershourg, and each other. 
Thefe are manifeft Inftances both of the Reditude of 
their Conceptions on this Head, and of the Sincerity of 
their Intentions, which have been alfo attended with 
lurprizing Confequences ; fo that at prefent there is 
hardly a Country in the World where Carriage is either 
cheaper or more expeditious than in Ruffia ; and this in 
Winter more efpecially, when by the Help of the Snow, 
their Sledges make an eafy Paffage from Petershourg to 
Mojcow in four Days, tho* the Diffance between thefe 
two Cities is between four and five hundred Englijh 
Miles, a Thing that would be fcarce credible, if it was 
not fupported by as authentick and indubitable Proofs 
as any Fad whatever ; lo that as the Summer is favour- 
able to their Navigation and foreign Commerce, the 
oppofite Seafon of the Year is no Ids fo to their Inland 
Traffick, which is a very great Advantage ; and tho’ 
it is already much improved, is ftill capable of being 
rendered more commodious. 
But there may be another Objedion ftarted, which 
will at firft Sight feem fubverfive of all that I have been 
faying, and that is taken from the Nature of their Confti- 
tution, by which their Nobility, and indeed all Perfonsof 
Property, are abfolute Lords over their Peafants, who 
for that Reafon abhor Induftry, confidering it as an 
Obligation to Labour, not for their own Profit, but 
that of their Mafters. In Support of this Objedion, it 
may be likewife urged, that thefe Lords, who have fuch 
a boundlefs Power over the miferable People that live 
upon their Eftates, are in their Turns expofed, upon very 
trivial Offences, to feel the bitter Effedts of the Refent- 
ment of their Government ; fo that from this double 
Confideration it cannot be reafonably expeded, that 
either the Peafants fhould alter their Courfe of Life 
without any Encouragement, or that the great Lords, 
from a meer Principle of Beneficence, fhould put their 
Dependants upon a better Foot than chemfelves. 
But tho’ it muft be confefs’d, that there is much more 
in this than in any other Objedion that can be made 
upon this Subjed, yet it is very far from being unan- 
fwerable. For by Degrees, as a new Spirit prevails in 
the Ruffian Government, and among the Ruffian No- 
bility, new Maxims muft alfo of Neceflity take place ; 
and as, on the one Hand, the great Men will tind it 
requifite, from no higher Principle than that of Intereft, 
to deal more kindly, or at leaft more humanely with 
their Vaffals ; fo on the other Hand, the Government 
alfo will relax in its Severity ; for in Proportion as the 
great Lords come to employ themfelves in attending to 
their own Affairs, managing their Eftates, and taking 
Meafures to live decently at home, and magnificently at 
Court, they will contrad new Habits and new Notions, 
that will hinder them from running into Confpiracies 
or defperate Defigns, and will conlequently contribute 
to fix their Government upon a firmer Foundation j 
and this by Degrees will beget a milder Adminiftra- 
tion, and in Procefs of Time produce a better Con- 
ftitution. 
Thofe who are acquainted with the prefent Situation 
of Things in Ruffia^ are very fenfible that confiderable 
Alterations have been made already, and that the Cle- 
mency of the prefent Reign has had very fingular Ef- 
feds, more efpecially if we confider, that as yet it has 
been of no long Duration. One Thing is particularly 
worth obferving, that the Government is now altoge- 
ther in the Hands of the Natives, from whence feveral 
Inferences may be drawn. Firft of all, that evil Spirit 
which reigned among the People, and made them fb 
averfe to all Kinds of Improvement, from a Notion that 
it ferved only to fubjed them to Strangers, is in a 
Account of Book III. 
great Meafure worn out, and their natural Readinefs to 
pay an implicit Obedience to their Superiors, provi- 
ded they are of their own Nation, makes them chear- 
fully undertake thofe Things to which they were for- 
merly dragged with great Violence. In the next place 
It is evident, that the Ruffian Nobility alfo have got 
pretty well rid of their Prejudices, begin to embrace 
other Notions, and to ad upon Principles very different 
from thofe by^ which they were governed in former 
Times, Thirdly and Lajily^ The happy Confequences 
that thefe Alterations have produced, as well by efta- 
blifhing great Regularity and a new Face of Things at 
Home, as by rendering them efteemed and refpeded 
abroad, may be very well fuppofed to have railed fo 
ftrong a Barrier againft their ever relapfing into their 
former Eftate of Barbarifm, that we may rather exped to 
fee them animated by a warm Ambition of carrying to 
the utmoft Degree of Perfedion that new Stile of Life, 
if I may be allowed fo Metaphorical an Expreffion, 
from whence they have already received fo many and 
fo confiderable Advantages. 
It may perhaps be alledged, and that with fome 
Foundation of Truth, that there are ftill many great 
Obftacles to be got over in their Manners, Policy, and 
Views, both in private and publick Life ; but when 
one confiders how much greater Difficulties have been 
already overcome, and how much eafier a thorough 
Reformation is effeded when once well begun ; then 
the flighteft Alterations made, while a People are uni- 
verfally barbarous, we cannot fuffer ourfelves to be 
much moved by any fuch Reprefentations. Befides, it 
is very well known, that the Impreffions given us of the 
Ruffians, by fome who have remained feveral Years in 
that Country, in reference to thefe Points, have been 
falfified by Fads ; for it is not a long Time ago that 
fuch People infifted very pofitively on the abfolute In- 
capacity of the Government to march any confiderable 
Body of Troops out of their own Territories, and this, 
notwithftanding an Inftance to the contrary freffi in 
every body’s Memory, which has however proved an 
abfolute Untruth, that large Body of Auxiliaries having 
marched with greater Eafe and Expedition, with more 
Chearfulnefs and Alacrity, and with better Difcipline 
than the like Body of Men of almoft any other Nation 
could have done, the Seafon of the Year and other 
Circumftanees confidered. 
It is therefore better to found our Opinions upon 
Fads, than upon Conjedures ; and we ffiall be lefe 
liable to be mifled, if we form our Sentiments of what 
this Nation may hereafter do from what they have al- 
ready done, than from what Statefmen or Travellers 
may believe, or pretend to believe, they can or will do. 
But now it is high Time to colled from all that has 
been faid, fome few Conclufions that may be applied to 
certain ufeful Purpofes. It has been ffiewn, that not- 
withftanding that Spirit of Difcovery which has of late 
appeared in Ruffia, and which in many Inftances has 
been profecuted with Zeal, Induftry, and Vigour, yet 
there is little Reafon to fuppofe that any great Progrefs 
can be made in fuch Difcoveries during our Times, 
and that for a Variety of ftrong Reafons which have 
been already given. That tho’ from the Situation of 
this vaft Country there refult many, and thofe too very 
confiderable Advantages with refped to Commerce, 
yet there are many Difficulties that lie in the Way, and 
muft render the turning thefe Advantages to any great 
Account, a Work of Skill, Time, and Labour. That 
notwithftanding all this, there is a very high Probability 
thefe Difficulties will be got over, and that the beft Ule 
may be made of many, and in Length of Years, of all 
thefe natural Advantages, fo as to render the Ruffians 
by degrees a trading People, and that from thefe gradual 
Improvements, as well of the interior Stare of the Em- 
pire, as of its Intercourfe with Foreigners, the Face of 
Affairs will be continually altering for the better. 
It is indeed no way impoffible, that either from fo- 
reign Wars, or domeftick Commotions, thefe Improve- 
ments may fuffer fliort Interruptions j but it feems to 
be a Thing abfolutely improbable, that the Ruffians 
fhould ever fail back into their former State of Obfcu- 
rity. 
