Mr. Bourke gives several pages to the protective system with a pleasing candour, considering the last desperate stand which at that very time was being made for it at home. After speaking of the disabilities of the merchants, and the high price alike of the luxuries and of the necessaries of life in St. Petersburg, he says: 'I fancy the real secret of the unhealthy state of the commercial interest in Russia is the incompetency of the rulers to legislate properly on this most important branch of political economy. It is impossible that men totally unacquainted with the commonest details of trade can devise measures that would rectify the present system. As long as the Government is entirely in the hands of men selected mostly from the highest class of the nobles, a really enlightened Commercial Minister will be in vain hoped for.' But Protection and official control, he points out, were not confined to commerce. They penetrated into every nook and corner of Russian life--cramping the education, shackling the handicrafts, and interfering with the amusements, of the people. Here is how 'Protection' of the drama practically acted in Russia half a century ago: 'I never saw the Government management appear so palpably as to-night. For the performance did not commence till the Governor had taken his seat, some time after the hour {31} announced; and then the second act of the opera was delayed three-quarters of an hour, in order to permit Prince Frederick to hear as small a portion of Russian as possible. There is no use in drawing comparisons: I have avoided measuring things in other countries by our British standard of excellence, for travellers should leave as many of their patriotic prejudices as possible at home. But I could not help thinking, that were we in the Strand, instead of the Great Place of the city of Moscow, the probabilities are that the interior decorations of the theatre would, before the three-quarters of an hour had elapsed, have adorned the streets outside; and that Governor, performers, Prince, and all, would most likely have taken themselves off, in the shortest manner, or have had to await the consequences of a regular row. Be that as it may, no rebellious tongues among the small audience here dared to express even impatience, and they sat as silently and quietly doing nothing as if they had been in a conventicle.'[5] [Footnote 5: Vol. ii, pp. 125-126.]