sted in him, and cast away from him
all these obstacles to the perfection of his plans? The question is
easier asked than answered. We are but little enlightened upon the
secret councils that prevail at the court of St. Petersburg. Whatever
is done there is only known by its results; whatever finds its way
into the public press is subject to a rigid censorship, and is worth
little so far as it conveys the remotest idea of facts. What you see
demonstrated you may possibly be safe in believing, but nothing else.
It may be easier to speak of removing obstacles than to do it; or it
may be that the emperor has no fixed policy for the future, and
therefore hesitates to encounter difficulties through which he can not
see his way without any adequate or well-defined object.

No country in the world presents such an anomalous condition of
affairs as that presented by Russia at this time. The preliminary
steps have been taken to set free over twenty-three millions of white
people, so accustomed to a condition of servitude, so generally
ignorant, and so incapable of thinking or acting for themselves, that
many, if not most of them, look with dread upon the movement made for
their emancipation. The rights reserved to them are so little
understood, and, indeed, so visionary under any circumstances--for
two rights to the same land would be as impracticable in Russia
between the proprietors and the peasant as in our country between the
whites and the Indians--that they can see nothing beyond abandonment
to increased oppressions and sufferings in the proposed movement.
Degraded as they are, accustomed from infancy to obey their rulers,
kept in a condition of brutish ignorance in order that they may be
kept in subjection, it is natural they should be unable to realize the
mysterious benefits about to be conferred upon them. In their present
abject position they enjoy a certain kind of protection from their
owners, who, if not always governed by motives of humanity, are at
least generally susceptible of the influences of self-interest, and
take care to feed and clothe them, and provide for them in cases of
sickness; and although this is done at the expense of their labor, it
relieves them from responsibilities which they are scarcely prepared
to assume. To set them free against their own will, or even admitting
that, in common with all mankind, they must have some general
appreciation of liberty--to undertake so radical a change in their