The same misfortune is said to have occurred about four months ago to a certain noble princess from the south, who expressed some sympathy with the cause of the Western Powers. I have often asked Russians, when they were boasting of their great civilization, if this were a proof of it. Once the reply was that “a great many of the Russian ladies deserved to be beaten, and that it would do them a great deal of good.” At another time, in speaking of the peasant-women being so treated, a certain Prince A—— replied that “they were not worthy of the title of women, they were no better than cattle!” Once, on complaining of the impertinence of a servant, I was recommended to “box her ears well;” on my remarking that such an action would be a greater disgrace to me than to the girl herself, the lady, whose maid she was, answered, “If you do not do it, I will;” she rang the bell, the footman was told to send Marousha, and the instant she came, notwithstanding my entreaties, the lady administered with her own hand a sound blow on each side of the poor girl’s head! When abroad, the Russians invariably deny that such a state of things exists; they will even sometimes attempt to hide it in their own country, which shows that at the least they have the grace to be ashamed of it. A stranger in walking through the streets in St. Petersburg, if he understands anything of the language spoken, cannot fail to remark that the general theme of conversation among the lower classes is _money_; scarcely one of the men or women passes by without our catching the words tchitvertack, grebinick, roup, &c. In no country is more avidity displayed in the pursuit of gain; only speak of a piece of silver, and a Russian’s eyes sparkle at the sound, and he is ready to do anything in order to obtain it. Copecks and whisky are the two greatest temptations of his heart. M. P——ski, a gentleman of education, assured me, only the morning I left St. Petersburg, that they were in much more danger from the pillage of the lower classes than from any exterior enemy; and he expressed the greatest fears for the consequences of bringing so many thousands of wild savages of soldiers into the town, for, if they rose, it would be _en masse_, and he was fearful that the great temptation offered by the sight of a civilized capital for the first time would shortly prove an irresistible one; if they did have an outbreak, it would sweep the upper classes away like a torrent.