Pavlofski is another place whither many go to reside during the summer: there is a palace there also and a Vauxhall, whereat concerts and balls are given. Tzarskoselo is a large estate belonging to the crown, the grounds of which are laid out in the English style: of course there is a palace there also. At Gatchen there is another; indeed there seems no end to imperial residences. Go where you will, there is a country house belonging either to the Emperor, the Empress, some grand-duchess or other, nephew or grandchild of Nicholas the Czar. They almost seem to have descended in some hailstorm, they lie so thickly on the ground. The expense[14] of supporting them must be almost equal to that incurred by the “million of men,” the mighty boast of the Russian nation, which is not yet enlightened enough to perceive who pays for them all.
CHAPTER XVII.
Education—The highest studies—Russian history—Infallibility of the Czar—Moral excellence—Devotedness of a young lady—Profiting by instruction—Noble culprits—Education of the serfs—The University—The students’ costume—Naval school—School for the deaf and dumb—Academy of Fine Arts—Priouts—Education of boys—Studies—Ladies’ institutes—Plan of education—Uniforms—Private education—Remarks on education in Russia.
Education in Russia, unless strictly private and superintended by tutors and governesses at home, is entirely under the surveillance and control of the government, in which undoubtedly there is great policy. “Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it.” This is a truth from too high an authority to be called in question, and it is on this principle that the government acts, justly judging that what is instilled into the mind of youth is the most difficult to efface, and possesses an influence in after years that can never be entirely shaken off, although it may become weakened. Even ordinary schools are visited by inspectors appointed by the authorities, who examine the pupils, the branches of instruction studied by them, the books used, &c. By this means they possess immense power over the rising generation, as of course only such an amount of knowledge as the government approves of is allowed to be taught—history, in which the names of the Czars and the dates alone can be regarded as true, the remainder being merely an historical romance written for the glorification of Russia and all that appertains to it or to the imperial family, in which every prince that ever reigned in Muscovy, excepting the false Dmitri,[15] is recorded as having been possessed of all the virtues under heaven, while not the slightest notice is taken of their violent exit from the world; geography and statistics, which magnify every object within the frontiers of the empire, giving the most fabulous account of all the possessions and might, the resources and riches of the Czar, and diminishing those of every other country; and so on of every other study that can be turned to advantage by the government.
Religion is also taught by priests at all public establishments, and it must be confessed that one of the chief uses to which it is put is to inculcate the most slavish reverence for the Emperor, who, according to them, is infallible in all spiritual and temporal matters, and as holy as the Pope is in the eyes of fanatical Roman Catholics.
Submission and obedience, or rather slavishness and servility, are qualities infinitely more valued by the authorities than any other virtue. On making inquiries of students concerning rewards, &c., we were always answered, “O, good conduct (i.e. submission) is the first consideration, much greater than the progress we make in our studies.”
All St. Petersburg was in extasy some months ago at an anecdote that ran the round of the court, and was cited everywhere as the very climax of moral perfection. It was this. A young lady in one of the first Institutes of that city, whose brother had been slain at Kalafat by the Turks, received one morning the news of his death. On its being communicated to her she smiled and said that she was “rejoiced to hear it, as he had died for the Emperor.” A sentiment so elevated and noble was of course repeated to imperial ears, and the pseudo-Spartan damsel was handsomely rewarded by a splendid dowry, and the assurance that her future fortune should be cared for. “Pour encourager les autres,” as Voltaire said on another occasion. When such encouragements are given to youth of both sexes, and what we should consider as a vice is held up as the highest point of excellence, and inculcated from the earliest age, when the heart can be moulded to any form, it would be worse than useless to expect a just sense of moral independence, nobility of soul, or true sentiments on liberty, from men and women so educated. To do the Russians justice, they have “minded what their teachers said,” and have perfected themselves in the lesson, for, notwithstanding many good natural qualities which they undeniably possess, I think it would be impossible to find in any country so much baseness, deceit, and hypocrisy as are to be met with every day in Russia, and especially in the capital.
One of the greatest punishments to the nobility is the being banished from St. Petersburg and from the light of the Emperor’s countenance. I remember, a few years ago, when four ladies of rank, one of whom was, they say, a Countess O——f, thought proper to go to a masquerade and afterwards to a restaurant, where they all became “tellement ivres” that they were taken home by the police on droshskies. Two of them were exiled to their estates for five years, and it was remarked, par les mauvaises langues, that his Majesty had shown his usual discrimination, for the two who were endowed with pretty faces were allowed to remain in the capital (where I believe they are still an ornament to his court), and the others were sent away.