Consequently in passing from the semi-civilized nations, through the races of the North, to the educated communities of Christendom, we proceed without the theory of measuring a country’s manners by its geographical position. If it be civilized, it will be moral; but civilization is a false name when it is applied to a corrupt and enervated society. Art and luxury are not its highest evidences; but virtue and obedience to the exalted maxims of ethical philosophy.
Of Prostitution in Russia.
Russia, included by courtesy among civilized states, retains strong traces of its original barbarism. Resembling China in its system of government, it resembles it also in manners. What is admirable in its social characteristics arises from the natural good qualities of the people, who, notwithstanding a despotism which has wanted no feature to degrade them, please the traveller by a display of many signs of good disposition.
Russia resembles Asia in the indolence and apathy of its population. In the one region nations appear to have been enervated by heat, in the other benumbed by cold into a torpid submission to power. This is evident from the state of public manners. In Russia the inquiry is not what is essentially wrong, but what is wrong according to the police; and nothing else is condemned. Abject towards their rulers, they assume towards others the arrogance of slaves, so that a succession of tyrants may be said to exist from the emperor who tramples down sixty millions, to the peasant who oppresses his serving-boy.
No more striking proof could be mentioned of the fact that the condition and character of women form an infallible measure of civilization, than the state of the sex in Russia. It is true that our knowledge is very incomplete. Most travellers who have written on that country complain how difficult it is to describe it well, and they have generally verified their remark; still we learn enough from various authorities to enable us to judge in a general way of its characteristics.
Among the higher classes women affect and study a polish and refinement of manners, but this relates chiefly to the formalities of life. They dare not, under their own social code, make an inelegant salutation, transgress a point of etiquette, ride in an unfashionable equipage, or converse in a vulgar tone; but they may break the most sacred moral laws, may speak openly of indecent subjects, and may act and talk in a way which a modest English lady would blush to think of. The position they hold in society is in accordance with this view. Formerly marriage was little more than a bond between master and slave; but the relation has been, in that respect, improved. Women are to a certain degree independent, but it is the independence of neglect. They lead, in a word, a life very nearly resembling that of fashionable persons in our own metropolis, but their morals are not to be compared.
Little need be said of the marriage contract in Russia, since it is under the laws of the Christian church. It is, however, necessary to mention that few engagements occur between persons mutually united by affection. Interest is the usual tie; and frequently a girl is taken to the altar, where her appointed husband stands before her, all but an utter stranger. The ceremony is so theatrical that it wears no solemnity whatever. It is a drawing-room scene, directed by priests; so that the very seal of matrimony is of such a kind as to impress the woman with no idea of a holy union. The wives of the Russian nobles have accordingly little reputation for fidelity to their husbands; a characteristic observed by Clarke, long ago, as he travelled, and confirmed by Mr. Thompson, who wrote a year or two since, as well as by many other writers. Immorality and intrigue are of universal prevalence, from the palace to the private house. In a social sense they are scarcely looked upon as offences. The husband and wife, united by a bond, not of affection but of policy, look on each other from the first with coldness and indifference. Gradually each withdraws in a separate circle of life, and at length one looks without much care upon the guilt of the other. Before marriage the sexes are divided by etiquette, after marriage by mutual repulsion. The women, inferior in personal attractions, but superior in manner and acquirements to the men, receive from them little respect; and thus society, poisoned in its very springs, becomes yearly more dissolute and melancholy.
None will require to be reminded that numerous exceptions occur; that pure and strong family attachments exist in Russia; that young persons marry sometimes influenced by reciprocal feelings of affection; but from the accounts of all the writers we know who have described Russia, no other picture of its society could fairly be drawn. There is in that state licence for every crime which does not offend the government; and the more the nation is absorbed in its sensual enjoyments, the less will it be disposed to weary of servitude.
Among the peasantry sensuality is equally prevalent. They generally marry very young, but it is by no means essential that the bride should be a virgin. On the contrary, numbers of women never marry until they have had an intrigue with some other lover.
St. Petersburgh, it is said, is a city of men, there being, in a population of about 500,000, 100,000 more males than females. The native Russians are less handsome and sooner faded than the women of Germany, Finland, Livonia, Esthonia, and Courland—countries which supply the state with prostitutes. Such are the manners of the city that no woman may walk out unless accompanied by a man, not even on the great promenades, in the broad light of day.