Marquis de Custine in his La Russie en 1839 coined the description of Russia as the prison of the peoples. Below are the quotes from his book to better understand what made him arrive at such a conclusion.
“Should it be thought that I judge Russia too severely, I must plead the involuntary impression that I receive each day from persons and from things, and which every friend of humanity would receive in my place, if, like me, he endeavoured to look beyond the surface that would be exhibited to him.
This empire, immense as it is, is no more than a prison, of which the Emperor keeps the key. Nothing can exceed the misery of the subjects unless it be that of the prince. The life of the gaoler [jailer] has always appeared to me so similar to that of the prisoner, that I am astonished at the mental illusion which makes the one believe himself so much less to be pitied than the other.
Man, here, knows neither the real social enjoyments of cultiated minds, nor the absolute and animal liberty of the savage, nor yet the independence of action of the half savage—the barbarian; I can see no compensation for the misery of being born under this system, except the dreams of vanity and the love of command; on these passions I stumble every time I return to the endeavour of analysing the moral life of the inhabitants of Russia. Russia thinks and lives as a soldier! A soldier, to whatever country he may belong, is scarcely a citizen; and here less than anywhere can he be called one; he is rather a prisoner for life, condemned to look after other prisoners.
It should be observed that the word prison signifies something more here than it does elsewhere. When one thinks on all the subterranean cruelties concealed from our pity by the discipline of silence, in a land where every man serves an apprenticeship to discretion, it makes one tremble. He who would cherish a hatred for reserve should come here. Every little cheek in conversation, every change of expression, every inflexion of voice, teaches me the dangers of confidence and candour…
In my ever-increasing sense of its oppressive influence, I longed only for the physical pleasure of walking and breathing beyond its limits. I forgot that the country into which I should return was in itself a prison; a prison whose vast size only makes it the more formidable.
A Russian fortress !—this word produces on the imagination an impression very different to that which is felt in visiting the strongholds of people really civilised, sincerely humane. The puerile precaution taken in Russia to hide what are called secrets of state, confirms me, more than would open acts of barbarity, in the idea that this government is nothing more than a hypocritical tyranny…
Every thing, whether purposely or not, has a symbolical sense in its architecture; but the real, the abiding, that appears after you have divested yourself of your first emotions in the contemplation of these barbaric splendours, is, after all, only a congregation of dungeons pompously surnamed palaces and cathedrals. The Russians may do their best, but they can never come out of the prison.
To have a feeling for the liberty enjoyed in other European countries, one must have sojourned in that solitude. Without repose, in that prison without leisure, that is called Russia. If ever your sons should be discontented with France, try my recipe – tell them to go to Russia. It is a journey useful to every foreigner, whoever has well examined that country will be content to live anywhere else.”
De Custine on Russians: semi-Asiatic, drilled but not civilized >
