spirit and tradition of the ancient churches of the East, which have retained to this day, and under even Turkish governments, entire spiritual and even civil independence. The Russian clergy form a caste, supported by the strictest rules of tradition. Thus no marries any but the daughter of another pope; and the same families commonly remain in holy orders. Till a very recent period, the secular clergy of Russia have been regarded with the utmost contempt by the people. mocanon. In 1648 the Boyars, during the minority of Alexis Michaelowitch, compiled a new code of civil laws, into which they introduced a statute of mortmain, not only preventing the Church from holding further lands, but placing their property under the survey of the state. The separate ecclesias-pope tical jurisdiction was also made subject to a supreme lay court. A conflict ensued, and after a struggle of twenty years the Patriarch Nicon was solemnly deposed by the Czar in 1667. From that day the Czar has remained supreme judge of the Most Holy Synod, and the Church of Russia became absolutely dependent on the temporal power, to a degree which no Eastern Church had ever before witnessed, and no other Eastern Church would even now voluntarily endure. In the language of another of the works before us The Russian national Church has preserved the doctrines of the Byzantine Church as its basis; but its hierarchy and its discipline have been so modified by the lapse of some hundred years, that it would find the utmost difficulty to justify that assimilation to the Church of Constantinople which it asserts, and which it represents to constitute a species of protectorate. In the first place, the tie of language, which is so important a condition of religious community, is wanting. The Church of Constantinople speaks Greek, the Church of Russia Sclavonian. Again, the Russian Church has lost its Patriarchate, whilst that of Constantinople has preserved that authority. Peter the Great expressly declared that a spiritual authority, represented by a college or synod, could never excite in a country the same amount of agitation as a personal chief of the ecclesiastical order, and that the populace are apt to suppose that the head of the Church, when there is one, is a potentate of equal or superior dignity to the sovereign himself. Such is the wide difference between the organization of the Church of Russia and the Church of Constantinople. The latter, though under a Mussulman government, preserves its self-government, and all the rights of spiritual independence; the former, under an orthodox ruler, is deprived of all internal life, and all freedom of action; the bulls of its patriarchs are superseded by the ukases of the Czar. Even the acts of the Holy Synod offer in this respect an instructive aspect. They are full of the expressions-"By the high Imperial pleasure-by the commands-in obedience to the commands by the highest orders," &c., which denote the direct action of the supreme power. Yet some of these mandates go to the extent of the canonization of a saint, or the deprivation of a priest in orders. On all these grounds the assimilation of the Church of Russia and the Church of the East is, I repeat, radically impossible. Leouzon le Duc, p. 200. Nothing can be more opposite to the whole Priests of merit are rare in the rural districts. Most of the elder popes are ignorant, coarse, uneducated, and exclusively occupied with their own interests. In solemnizing the ceremonies, or dispensing the sacraments of the Church, they frequently think of nothing but their own gains. They care nothing for the cure of souls, and spread around neither consolation nor instruction. -Haxthausen, p. 95. M. Leouzon le Duc produces statistical evidence as to the capacity and morals of the Russian clergy from the reports of the Holy Synod itself: Those documents state that, in the year 1836 alone, no less than 208 ecclesiastics were deprived for infamous crimes, and 1985 convicted of other offences of less gravity. As the whole number of the Russian clergy in 1836 was 102,456, it appears that about two per cent. on that nubmer were judicially condemned in one year! This proportion increased in the following years. In 1839 it rose to five per cent.; and in a period of three years, from 1836 to 1839, no less than 15,443 Russian priests passed before the courts of justice, amounting to one-sixth of the whole body. It is probable, however, that many individuals in the number were subject to repeated convictions. The scandal produced by these synodical reports was so great, that in 1837 an attempt was made to explain the circumstances. But the character of the clergy is well known to the people; and the Russians present the singu lar contradiction of a nation fanatically addicted to the most superstitious practices, yet absolutely indifferent to the honor and dignity of the priesthood. The most insulting proverb in the language is, "Do you take me for a pope?"—and even to meet a priest on leaving the house is considered an alarming and unwelcome omen.Leouzon le Duc, p. 218. Severer language could hardly be used, but it is not undeserved; and if this be the character of the clergy, what is the religious condition of the people? The chief object of such a clergy under the direct control of the state is to enthrall the people altogether; and accordingly their religious fervor, when more nearly examined, is the hypocrisy or the fanaticism of servile superstition. It is, 1854.] THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. dead language to the nation. So, too, all in a word, Christianity orientalized, until it | allies the subtleties of the Greek Church to the abject submission of an Asiatic people. It will still be in the memory of our readers that on the 10th March last Lord Shaftesbury addressed to the House of Lords a speech, not more remarkable for its eloquence than for the peculiar information to which that noble Earl has access as one of the most active members of the religious societies of England. Wherever the condition of man is darkest and most abased, those societies have endeavored to carry the Word of God and to propagate the knowWhat has been the reledge of his truth. sult of their labors in the Russian empire? Thirty years ago the English Bible Society had opened a wide field for its labors in Russia, under the enlightened patronage of the Emperor Alexander. One of the best works we possess on that empire is that of Dr. R. Pinkerton, who was himself actively and successfully employed from 1811 to 1823 in founding local societies for the circulation of the Scriptures in Russia. The Emperor Alexander himself joined the Mos-votion. Every pilgrim who approached the cow Bible Society, and gave it a piece of ground for its establishment, besides a donation of 25,000 roubles and an annual subscription of 10,000. The Metropolitan of it his most strenuous Moscow, Philaret, gave support. The receipts of the society in ten years amounted in Russia to 113,0527.; upwards of 500,000 copies of the Holy Scriptures were circulated in all the various dialects of the empire, but especially in Sclavonian and Modern Russ, and the number of auxiliary societies amounted to no less than 289. But all these hopes have been extinguished by the present Autocrat and by the increasing intolerance and bigotry of the Greek clergy. The Bible Societies throughout Russia were suppressed by a ukase of Nicholas soon after his accession, under pretence of their being connected with political movements. No association is now tolerated for religious purposes; no printing-presses are permitted to print the Bible in Modern Russ; no versions of the Scriptures are allowed to be imported in the language of the people, or even in the language of the Jews. It is believed, said Lord Shaftesbury, that not a copy of the Scriptures has been printed in Russia in the language of the people since 1826. The language of the Church is the old Sclavonian tongue, which bears the same relation to the modern Sclavonian languages as Anglo-Saxon does to English, and is a The revenues of the Church in Russia are not large or independent of the state; but this deficiency is amply compensated by the influence of the clergy in extracting voluntary contributions from the people. It is related that on some occasion the Emperor Alexander expressed his astonishment to one of the great dignitaries of the Church at the immense sums they had apparently at their disposal. The prelate led the Czar to the window, which commanded a view of the entrance to a much-frequented place of de shrine dropped at least his four-copeck piece even to the pecting frigidity, and to the House of Commons it was foolishness. Yet in those observances lie the most intense sentiments of the Russian nations. Christianity still descends to them in the form of tradition. The hierarchy are its living representatives, and the visible objects connected with the wondrous narrative of man's salvation have alone power to command their passionate adoration. Government of the empire has unquestionably found means to incorporate a vast extent of territory in the last hundred and fifty years by availing itself of the divisions of its neighbors, by diplomatic interference, and by military power. The Tartars, who formed for ages one of the most formidable portions of the Turkish armies, have now passed, under the name of Cossacks, into the ranks of the Sultan's constant enemies. The Poles are subdued, the The Baron speaks with extreme dread and Baltic provinces are annexed, even Georgia aversion of what he terms "the miasma of has rewarded the able government of Prince Western Europe," by which he means all Woronzow by resisting a Turkish invasion. that constitutes the liberty and civilization of Finland has been reduced to furnish seaother nations. But he confesses that these men for the Imperial fleet, and it is said that observances of the Russian clergy and peo- they have even been transported across the ple are a poor substitute for sound religious empire to man some of his vessels at Sebastruth. They are, indeed, despised by the topol. Yet in all these provinces nothing upper classes, who are prone to extreme has really been done to assimilate them to scepticism. But even amongst the lower, the country which has imposed on them its "what is termed pastoral solicitude is un-yoke. The natives of these provinces have known to the Russian clergy." "The Rus- indeed been received with favor into the Imsian people wants to be enlightened on questions of right and wrong, the just and the unjust, and, in short, on moral questions; but the clergy neglect these subjects." There is nothing in these facts to raise the Russian Church above the level assigned to it by its origin. It possesses none of the qualities of the great Church of the East, founded before all others by the Apostles themselves, and retaining through all ages an indestructible spirit of nationality, selfgovernment, and independence. But false as this argument is, it is used even by our author to establish by a chain of fallacies the claim of Russia to restore the Byzantine empire. The Church of Russia, it is argued, is the Church of the East. The Emperor of Russia is the head of that Church, and his imperial dignity is sufficiently indicated by his double-headed eagle, as his spiritual dig-lations which had so long subsisted between nity is that of protector of the whole Eastern Church; therefore, it is impossible to deny, says our enlightened German traveller, that in the present state of Europe the Russian empire really represents the empire of the East. It would scarcely be worth while to dwell on this quibble of erroneous facts and confused inferences, if we did not trace in this strange series of blunders some of the fallacies on which the present exorbitant pre-subject; and Sir Hamilton Seymour states tensions of the Russian monarchy appear to have been raised. In spite of these pretensions, M. de Haxthausen has the candor to remark that Russia, with all her conquests and encroachments, has utterly failed to extend her faith, her language, or her national character. The perial service, and with very few exceptions the men who have risen in Russia to a European reputation will be found to belong to these European territories. M. de Nesselrode's astute, though somewhat unscrupulous, school of statesmen and diplomatists, which reckons, or has reckoned, amongst its members Prince Lieven, Count Benkendorf, Baron Meyendorf, Baron Brunow, Baron Budberg, and many more, is essentially German in its character and origin and in spite of the stupendous extent of the Russian territories and population, properly so called, it is to the outlying provinces or to foreigners of a different race that almost every improvement of the empire is due. They are, or were, the links which connect Russia to Europe, and the first breach occasioned by the late events was the interruption of the confidential re Nicholas and his veteran minister, when the purely Russian spirit seemed to triumph over the more enlightened and honorable views of the elder servants of the Crown. One of the reasons assigned by the Emperor Nicholas for his difference with Count Nesselrode on the Menschikoff note was, that a Protestant Minister could not enter into the feelings of the head of the Greek Church on such a in the very curious secret correspondence which has recently been produced, that he believes Count Nesselrode to be steadily attached to moderate and English views. We have thus endeavored briefly to point out the reasons for which we reject Baron Haxthausen's conclusion that Russia is the 1854.1 THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. destined meditator to transmit the civilization In 1848, with the army at her disposal, and with inexhaustible resources, Russia could, without doubt, have conquered the whole of Europe to the Rhine. France, in exchange for her Rhenish frontier, would no doubt have remained passive. Prussia and Austria were totally paralyzed and threatened with dissolution. The free corps and the fulminating orators of St. Paul's at Frankfort would certainly have taken to flight at the sight of the first. Cossack. In 1848 the conquest of Europe would have been easy to Russia. We suppose the fact is indisputable, as it is a German writer who thinks it worth while to tell the world so, or we should be tempt ed to suspect that the blockheads and demagogues of the Frankfort parliament were after all not the worst politicians of Germany. But, before we submit thus tacitly to the advance of the Russian legions, we propose to inquire a little further into the "inexhaustible resources" of the empire, and we shall presently avail ourselves of the information communicated by M. de Haxthausen, especially on the state of the army. He is not equally wellinformed on the finances of the empire; and, as no authentic statement of the revenue is known to be published, we have some difficulty in arriving at any accurate conclusions on this essential point. At the accession of Catherine II. the revenue of the empire was believed to be about 30,000,000 roubles, or 5,000,000l. sterling: that empress doubled the amount of it; and it is supposed that the sum has again been doubled; insomuch that the actual revenue of Russia would be about In order to meet Of course it is The value of the rouble, which represents a silver coin, varies from 38d. to 40d. British money, according to the exchanges. the exigences of the state expenditure, so excessive was the issue of these notes in former times, that their value in exchange with England represented not 38d., but sank by a steady and regular gradation, as one fresh issue succeeded another, to 30d., to 24d., to 18d., and finally to 10d.; and for many years the rouble, instead of representing an intrinsic value of 38d. to 40d., circulated for 10d. to 11d. unnecessary to say, in the face of this statement, that, as a preliminary step to those extravagant and forced issues, the notes were declared to be inconvertible, except at the will of the governThe holder had no power to demand payment. ment; for, if he had, the notes would have been returned as fast as they were issued in excess, and no depreciation could have occurred. The enormous amount of rouble-notes in circulation in Russia prior to 1840 constituted a public debt of the government upon which no interest was paid. Let us then see how that debt was dealt with. The intrinsic value of the rouble having been reduced, as we have stated, to about 11d., an Imperial manifesto was issued on the 1st of July, 1839, decreeing that from the 1st of January, 1840, the enormous amount of notes then in circulation hould be redeemed by new rouble-notes to be ssued, which were to be convertible, at the will of the holder, into silver in the full amount of 38d.; but that for every one of such new notes as should be received, three and a half of the old notes should be delivered up: and thus a large debt was liquidated by a payment of 28 per cent. of the amount. Since 1840 the currency of Russia has been upon a most satisfactory footing. The new notes have been circulated to the full amount in which they have been required; their convertibility has been strictly preserved by a proper reserve of specie locked up in the fortresses of St. Peter's and St. Paul's, under the care and superintendence of a mixed board of management, composed of government bank officers and eminent merchants, appointed for the purpose. In 1846 the bullion in those fortresses had reached the amount of 19,000,000l.; but shortly after that date a sum of 5,000,000l. was withdrawn, and appropriated to investment in England and France, which has since been otherwise disposed of. What amount now continues in those vaults is not known, but there is reason to believe it has been further re duced. Nevertheless, the sum remaining has proved ample for meeting all demands in exchange for notes, especially as the circulation has not latterly been in excess of the actual requirements of the country. But now comes a proposal to meet a war expenditure by another issue of notes. In the first place we are certain that the existing note circulation is sufficient for all the purposes of currency; and this we know, beyond doubt, by the fact that the whole circulation consists of these notes, and without any coin corresponding therewith. If, then, the Emperor of Russia has determined to defray his war expenditure by the issue of notes, the first thing that will be necessary will be to make them inconvertible; if not, they will go back upon the bank for payment as fast as they are issued; and he might just as well use the bullion now in reserve at once. But the scheme is, that they shall be inconvertible as formerly; and 60,000,000 rouble-notes (about 10,000,0007) are to be added to the present circulation. Of course depreciation will rapidly take place; the rouble will again soon come to represent, in the place of 38d. or 40d., only 30d., or less, just as these issues may be made in excess.-The Economist, Jan. 1854. One of the peculiarities of the Russian system of taxation is, that the parishes are responsible for the taxes of all the inhabitants, who are assessed collectively, and the community or the wealthier members of it must pay for the poor, and even for the absent. There is reason to believe that, although the revenue has increased, the expenditure of the state increases in a larger proportion, and leaves a constant deficiency, which has hitherto been supplied by loans contracted, from time to time, in Holland or England. The absence of capital renders it totally impossible to extract from the nation any material addition to the revenue; and even the internal trade of the empire may said to be carried on chiefly by remittances from abroad. This country has been in the habit of remitting annually to Russia at least 5,000,000l. or 6,000,000l. sterling on bills drawn by Russian houses on their English consignees; and the first sign of hostilities which gave a serious check to Russian commerce last year was, that these bills were protested by the leading English houses engaged in the Russian trade. Count Nessel rode called the attention of the British minister to this premonitory symptom, at which he affected to 'feel great surprise; and the Chancellor confessed that the immediate effect of the distrust felt by British capitalists towards their Russian correspondents had been to suspend at once the ordinary mercantile transactions of the empire. We now arrive at the consideration of the book, and that with which it is most essential most curious portion of Baron Haxthausen's for the public at this moment to be acquainted. Whatever the strength of the Russian empire may be, it does not lie in the vigor of its political institutions, the intelligence and enterprise of its people, the superiority of its civilization, or the state of its finances. In these respects, on the contrary, Russia is clearly inferior to all its western neighbors, and even to most of the provinces which it has subdued and annexed to its own empire. The claim of Russia to be considered a power of first-rate importance in the world rests then solely on the military organization of the empire-or, in other words, on the immense establishment of its army. On this subject Baron Haxthausen speaks with the authority of a military observer, and we therefore place greater confidence in his statements. We may add, too, that his conclusions agree in the main with those arrived at by General Lamoricière, who took great pains to investigate the subject during his brief embassy to St. Petersburg under the French republic, and who brought back with him the conviction that, although Russia still remained in a state of social and political barbarism, her barbarism was armed with all the weapons of civilization. We shall therefore rapidly pass in review the principal statements of our author, reserving for the close of our observations the comments they suggest to us. In the opinion of this writer, the forces of no European state have been so considerably augmented since the Peace of Paris, both in numbers and in quality, as those of Russia; and during a reign of twenty-five years the Emperor Nicholas has applied himself constantly to reörganize and improve every branch of his army. Taking first into account the regular army, we find that the geographical distribution of his forces has been mainly regulated by the duties they were intended to perform, and that this is the basis of the Russian military system; for the extent of the empire is so great, and the means of communication so bad, that every thing depends on the habitual position of the forces. The great defect of Russian military operations has al |