The destinies of Europe, and of the ancient world, oscillate between liberty and absolutism: and Russia at present turns the scale in favor of the partisans of the past, and against the apostles and worshippers of a political and social disenthralment. In this struggle Russia, on the one side, presses with all the might, possessed by an autocracy, leading the cardinal stem of a mighty and numerous race of the human family. Thus, in the general course of events, that are moving and shaking the world, Russia represents two historical elements: that of the arbitrary power and that of a race. As a race, the Russian people has its distinct characteristics, prevailing as well in its history as in its internal organism; characteristics unknown, misunderstood, or misrepresented. The following pages, it may be, will contribute to throw some light on questions filling out the foreground on the world-scene.

The country, the people, are both old and new. Old, because belonging, as a race, to the first historical peoplings of Europe; and new, because in its outward manifestation . . .