Excerpt from Russia as It Is: Its Court, Its Government, and Its People Tm little bookzis intended to meet the wants of a large class of readers. Though near to us in distance, Russia is so remote from our moral and intellectual horizon, that the generality of men in this country know probably much more about the antipodes than they do of these uncouth neighbours, and though many voluminous and able works have lately appeared on Russia, in England, and especially on the continent, their length and price place them often beyond the reach of the general reader. Nor was it likely, till the present storm in the East broke the serenity of our political atmo sphere, that many of the inhabitants of this busy country could patiently sit down to pore over ponderous tomes, on a people whose ditcrary, aesthetical, and commercial produce has never exceeded, and seldom equalled, mediocrity, Now, however, the case is dif ferent, and though a heavy and lengthy book on Russia would be still out of place and time in this stirring epoch, a concise, clear, and comprehensive epitome of its most striking features, seems a legitimate demand that requires to be speedily satisfied. Hence it has been the attempt of the author to give a popular sketch of the most striking characteristics of that colossal empire. Hurry and brevity have necessarily led to omissions, and probably occasional inaccuracies, yet the author trusts that they are not serious, and that they will not militate materially against the value of the book. Many other little sketches of the same nature are before the public, but they generally differ from the present volume, by presenting the limited experience of individual authors, instead of a summary and comparison of all the best authorities on the subject, together with the inductions of the author drawn from them. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.