ABSTRACT
People are hardly accustomed to regarding Russia as the freest state in Europe, but the yoke the Emperor of France imposes upon all the states of the Continent is such that one thinks he is in a republic upon arriving in a country where Napoleon's tyranny can no longer make itself felt. Everywhere in Europe one sees the contrast between wealth and poverty, but in Russia neither the one nor the other, so to speak, is conspicuous. Russian silence is absolutely extraordinary; it is induced only by what arouses their deep interest. Gilded cupolas announced Moscow from afar; yet, as the surrounding country is only a plain like all of Russia, one can reach that large city without being impressed by its extent. The Russians played no role in the Age of Chivalry; they were not involved in the Crusades.
