This nation [Russia] − at its heart conquering, greedy by dint of deprivation − atones in advance, at home, through a debasing submission, in the hope of exercising tyranny elsewhere: the glory, the wealth that it expects distract it from the shame it suffers; and, to wash away the sacrifice of all public and personal freedom, the slave, on his knees, dreams of the conquest of the world,” – is a fuller quote.
“In Russia, the government interferes with every thing and vivifies nothing. In that immense empire, the people, if not tranquil, are mute; death hovers over all heads, and strikes capriciously whom it pleases: man there has two coffins, the cradle and the tomb. The Russian mothers ought to weep the birth more than the death of their children.”
“The greatest pleasure of this people is drunkenness, in other words, oblivion. Poor folk! they must dream to be happy… The common people drown their sadness in silent intoxication; the lords, in noisy drunkenness. The same vice assumes a different form in the master and the slave.”
“At the present day you will hear, both in Paris and in Petersburg, numbers of Russians dwelling with rapture on the prodigious effects of the word of the Emperor; and, while magnifying these results, not one troubles himself with dwelling upon the means.” The word of the Emperor can create,” they say. Yes, it can animate stones by destroying human beings. Notwithstanding this little restrictive clause, every Russian is proud of being able to say to us, “You take three years to deliberate on the means of rebuilding a theatre, whilst our Emperor raises again, in one year, the largest palace in the universe.” And this puerile triumph does not appear to them too dearly bought by the death of a few thousand wretched artizans, sacrificed to that sovereign impatience, that imperial fantasy, which constitutes the national glory. Whilst I, though a Frenchman, see nothing but inhuman ostentation in this achievement, not a single protestation is raised from one end of this immense empire to the other against the orgies of absolute power. People and government are here in unison. That a man brought up in the idolatry of self, a man revered as omnipotent by sixty millions of men (or at least of beings that resemble men), should not undertake to put an end to such a state of things, this does not surprise me; the wonder is, that among the voices that relate these things to the glory of this individual, not one separates itself from the universal chorus, to protest in favour of humanity against such autocratic miracles. It may be said of the Russians, great and small, that they are drunk with slavery.”
“In sooth, the country lends itself marvellously to every species of fraud: there are slaves elsewhere, but to find a nation of courtly slaves it is necessary to visit Russia… Do not deceive yourselves: these are the slaves of slaves.”
Marquis de Custine (1790–1857) was a French aristocrat and writer who is best known for his travel writing, in particular his account of his visit to Russia, La Russie en 1839. This work documents not only Custine’s travels through the Russian Empire but also the social fabric, economy, and way of life during the reign of Nicholas I.
