The Rhode Island Republican

THE RUSSIAN CHARACTER.

From the travels of E. D. Clarke, LL. D. an Englishman.

"I have had occasion to mention the filthy establishment called an inn, and dignified by the title of Hôtel de Constantinople, in which we resided. The master of it had not less than five hundred persons, as servants; and in other capacities, employed to assist him. It may serve to convey an idea of the morals of this city, when the fact is stated that in this list were included a number of hired prostitutes, constantly kept by him, in open stews belonging to the house, for the numerous guests by which it was inhabited. The reader may be spared what else might be related concerning the publicity of such apartments.

A swarm of slaves, attendants, hirelings, and dependent sycophants, is peculiarly characteristic of domestic economy in Moscow. The Nobles consider the honor of their families so materially implicated in maintaining a numerous table, that should any of the satellites which usually surround them forsake his post at dinner, and swell the train of any other person, the offence is rarely forgiven; they will afterwards persecute the deserter by every means of revenge within their power; and, not being burdened by scruples of conscience, they generally find means of indulging their vengeance. I have seen persons, who were victims of their own good nature, in having accepted invitations which decoyed them from the table of their lord.

Similar motives gave rise to the prodigious hospitality which has been described by travellers. Before the reign of Paul, a stranger no sooner arrived in Moscow, than the most earnest solicitations were made for his regular attendance at the table of this or that Nobleman. If his visits were indiscriminate, jealousy and quarrels were the inevitable consequences. During the reign of Paul, Englishmen were guests which might involve the host in difficulty and danger; yet, notwithstanding the risk incurred, it is but justice to acknowledge, the nobles felt themselves so gratified by the presence of a stranger, that, having requested his attendance, they would close their portals upon his equipage, lest it should be discerned by the officers of police.

" The curious spectacle presented at their dinners has no parallel in the rest of Europe. The dishes and the wines correspond in gradation with the rank and condition of the guests. Those who sit near the master of the house are suffered to have no connexion with the fare or the tenants of the lower end of the table; and nothing would so much distress a Russian prince, as sending for a portion of the solid food and wines which are there placed. That which he intends for the gratification of the favored few around him, is generally carried to them ; nor is it usual to ask for any thing. The number of persons in waiting is prodigious. In the house of the young count Orloff were no less than four hundred servants ; many of them sumptuously clothed, and others, mingled with them, in rags. It was no uncommon sight to observe, behind a chair, a fellow in plumes and gold, like a Neapolitan running footman ; and another by his side, toeting like a beggar from the streets.

" It is upon such occasions that strangers have an opportunity of learning what becomes of the immense wealth of the Russian nobility He will see it lavished among foreigners in their service; upon their tables and equipages, their dresses, toys, trinkets, jewels watches, snuffboxes, balls, masquerades; private theatres, dancers, singers, trading antiquaries, and travelling picture dealers. This last office is frequently filled by hairdressers and Italian lackeys. There is no place in the world where adventurers reap such harvests as in Moscow. Frenchmen from Italy or Germany, having bought up any rubbish they are able to procure, get some friend to give them a letter and a name, with which they arrive in the city. The news is soon buzzed abroad ; the new comer sought after ; and he must be indeed a fool if he does not make his journey answer. I saw a man of this description, a barber of Vienna, as a picture-dealer in Moscow, caressed by the nobles, and invited to all their tables, until his stock of pictures was gone, and then he was no more noticed. He complained with bitterness to me of the dishonorable chicanery of the nobility. Some of them had given him pinchbeck: instead of gold watches and snuff boxes; and paste, instead of diamond rings : in exchange for his pictures. In fact, they had mutually cheated each other ; the pictures being of less value than the worst commodities given for them. Of the two parties, however; the seller and the buyers, the , barber had ultimately the losing part of the business.

Flushed by his newly acquired wealth, he set up as an amateur himself; bought minerals and gave dinners ; and ended by returning to Vienna without a sous in his pocket, to practice his old trade of frizzing and shaving.

" Moscow is; of all places in Europe, the most advantageous rendezvous of adventurers and swindlers; and, consequently, many are found there. The credulity, the extravagance, and the ignorance, of Russian nobles; offer a tempting harvest to such men. The notorious Sarti, rose to such a pitch of celebrity in Russia, that he influenced, if he did not govern, Potemkin. He introduced a uniform for the hussars, which is still worn : and made alterations, truly judicious, in their military discipline. Thus the Russian officers derived from the huts at Woolwich greater advantages than if they had served there in person; an honor which, though well merited, it is not necessary to assign them, as they experience very wholesome chastisement at home.

" Approaching the southern part of the empire, the strong characteristics of the Russian people are less frequently observed. Happily for the traveller in proportion as his distance is increased from that which has been erroneously considered the civilized part of the country. he has less to complain of theft of fraud, and of dissimulation. In the three northern provinces, he is cautioned to beware of the inhabitants of Ukraine, and the Cossacks by an unprincipled race of men, with whom the Cossack and the Tartar are degraded in comparison.

" We met frequent caravans of the Malo Russians, who differ altogether from the inhabitants of the rest of Russia. Their features are those of the Polonese, or Cossack. They are a much more noble race, and stouter and better looking people than the Russians, and superior to them in every thing that can exalt one set of men above another They are cleaner, more industrious, more honest, more generous, more polite; more courageous, more hospitable, more truly pious, and of course less superstitious. Their language only differs from the Russian, as the dialect of the meridional provinces of France does from the dialect spoken near Paris.

We found ourselves among Russians at Paulovskoy, and narrowly escaped with our lives.

" I believed him to be a Russian, sustaining his national characteristic by a venial theft; as our time of remaining among them was now drawing to a close. But, I was afterwards, informed, and indeed the man's conduct seemed to prove it that his design was to assassinate.

" Among the Russians, indeed; we were constantly exposed to danger: either from imposition which it was hazardous to detect; or from insult it was fearful to resent : and in both cases the consequences affected our security.

" In conversation, the Cossack is a gentleman ; for he is well informed, free from prejudice, open. sincere, and upright. Place him by the side of : Russian--what.a contrast !' The one is literally a two-legged pig, having all the brutality, but more knavery, than that animal : the other a rational, accomplished, & valuable member of society."