434 
of Ruffia. The foreign articles are, in- 
deed, meagre and partial; as they are 
evidently borrowed only from the Ham- 
burg, Altona, Vienna, Stuttgardt, Stock- 
holm, and fome Englifh newfpapers ; and 
fafhioned conformably to the court-{fyftem 
and the rigorous prefcriptions of the board 
of licenfers. But the more interefting are 
the articles relative to Ruffian affairs.. A 
ftanding head are lifts (with the motives 
which occafioned them) of civil and mili- 
tary promotions, of the frequent difimiffals 
and difpenfations, of erafures from the 
military rolls, permitted or forced refigna- 
tions, of gracious expreffions of theem- 
peror’s fatisfaétion ; of petitions refuted, 
or torn and remitted as ablurd, &c. Thefe 
frequently fill one half of the new/paper. 
‘The motives of rejection are generally ex- 
preffed with laconic waiveté. A higher 
rank is often granted for zeal ix the ferwice, 
for the arrefi of a [ufpedied peryon, or for 
well-conduéted recruiting; and again taken 
away for a contrary behaviour. In the 
paper for the 23d of Augult1799, Golikof; 
editor of the Hiftory Peter 1. of glorious 
memory, is, as 2 recompenie for the great 
"pains he had beftowed on that work, ho 
noured withthe title of *¢ court-counfellor.”* 
The Ukajes, with the imperial formule of 
approbation ‘ So be zt,” are feldom given 
word for word; but extracts containing 
the fubftance of them are often inferted. 
©Ff lefs importance to foreigners are the 
defcriptions of the court feftivals and fo- 
Jemnities. Since the active co-operation 
of Ruffia in the war againft France, the 
accounts of military events are alfo become 
highly intereiting ; not fo much on account 
of the facts communicated, as of the man- 
ner of reprefenting them, fo often differing 
from that of the ftatements in the Vienna 
Court-gazettes. Sometimes the long de- 
tails are feafoned with a laconic fentence 
highly interefting to the politician, which 
the Hamburg new/papers are wont eagerly 
to adopt word for word. A late inftance 
of this we find in the difmiffion of the 
princes of Baden, on account of the fecret 
treaty concluded with France three years 
before. 
Equally attractive ina ftatiftical view is 
the appendix to each number, containing 
advertifements and the like, which often 
fill a fecond fheet. The greatelt part of 
the advertifements are diftinguifhed by pe- 
culiarities fo wholly Ruffian, that itis im- | 
poffible to comprehend them without a 
previous knowledge of the laws and in- 
ternal adminiftration of thatempire. ‘Thus 
for inftance, the fale of a young fellow, 
or of a girl, or the letting out an deredt- 
Account of the Political Fournals, Fc, in Ruffia. 
{June rz, 
tary lad for fines refer to the villanage or 
flavery which in that country ftill prevails. 
Another fuch inftance is the lift of ftran- 
gers who announce their departure from 
Ruffia 14 days before it takes place. This 
is ordered with a view to facilitate the in- 
quiries of the police; and that creditors 
may have an opportunity to enforce the. 
payment of debts that may be owing them. 
And many a family and tribunal in Ger- 
many learn from this lift the place of © 
abode of a long-loft relative or fugitive 
offender. The courfe of exchange and the 
fiate of the weather are hikewife two ftand= 
ing heads. In diftinét appendixes, the 
proceedings of the Senate are likewife pub- 
lifhed ; but with this addition the newf- 
paper cofts a double price, viz. 20 rubles 
annually, on common printing paper. For 
the rich and the grandees, copies of both 
the Ruffian and German newfpapers are 
printed on hot-preffed paper; the price is 
then, for one year, 25rubles, without the 
Proceedings of the Senate. The numerous 
changes which take place during the pre- 
fent reign, render this newfpaper more 
interefting than it was under the late em- 
prefs Catharine. 
Befides Peterfburg, only two other cities 
of Ruffia have new({papers, viz. Mofcow 
one in the Ruffian, and Riga one in the 
German language. Without examining 
now far this dearth may be owing to the 
want of cultivation and of learned infti- 
tutions; it is fufficient, fince the com- 
mencement of the prefent reign, to recur 
to the Ukafe which permits no printing- 
offices except in Mofcow, Riga, and Pe- 
terfburg: fo that of courfe it is there only 
that newfpapers can be publifhed. And 
that their number does not increafe in thefe 
populous cities, is probably to be afcribed 
to the Ruffian licenfing-regulation, which 
in feverity leaves far behind the reftricy 
tions in other ftates. That, however, in 
contequence of the above Ukaje, the print- 
ing-offices in Jaroflaw and Irkutfk,inReval 
and Dérpt in Livonia, had been fhut up, 
and at the fame time the Reval Intelli- 
gencer fupprefled—is hardly credible. 
With regard to the newly acquired two- 
thirds of the late Republic of Poland and 
Duchy of Courland, there too was mani- 
fefted the baneful influence of the juft- 
mentioned Ukaje. The newfpaper of 
Wilna, which even before was intereiting 
only to the Lithuanian nobility and to the 
academy eftablifhed there, was annihilated, 
together with the numerous Warfaw 
journals. Although in the Pruffian and 
Auftrian portions of Poland the newf- 
papers flourifhed almof more than wre 
e 
