The Praetorian Option 255experience augmented their malaise about the direction of affairs at home
,..,ithcut offering a satisfactory model for change. This mood wa~ iaic::r iu be
given a philosophical foundation by the intellectuals of the 'marvellous
decade' (1838-48), who became obsessed with Russia's backwardness vis-a-vis
'the West'. The problem was not perceived in such terms by the men of
1813-14, who saw themselves as heroes liberating Napoleon's unwilling sub-
jects from a hateful tyranny.
France, too, produced a preponderantly negative impression, if one may go
by the published sources. Memories of earlier cultural ties had receded, and
there was now an understandable antagonism towards a country that was
associated mainly with revolution, imperial expansion, and invasion by the
Grande Armee. 'Paris is a nice town', wrote one officer; 'it is a bit like
Moscow, [which] is smaller but more populous. There a family has an entire
house, whereas in Paris one finds a family behind each window. In short,
there's nothing to be envious about except perhaps the ladies [madamy).'^31
What impressed this writer most was the zoo, which boasted 'an enormous
elephant'. Another observer, probably of higher rank, who like many
dvoryane had learned French in his youth from a private tutor, recorded
opinions that were only a little more favourable. On crossing the border he
found the inhabitants dirty, impoverished, and ignorant. 'Where is that douce
France of which our tutors had told us, I wondered.' Perhaps it lay ahead, in
the capital? But Paris disappointed him too: life was expensive and the people
unfriendly. As a professional soldier he was more taken by the Artillery
Museum and the lnvalides than the Louvre, where he inspected the paintings
from a sense of duty rather than for pleasure.^32 Likewise Krivtsov, who was •
introduced to Chateaubriand, Madame de Stael, and other leading celebrities,
found the city 'poor, dirty, and unbearable' but then went on to criticize the
excess of luxury.33 His attitude might be illogical, but it was quite understand-
able psychologically: the visitors from the east poured scorn on the very temp-
tations they found hard to resist and sought to escape: 'the city is very grand,
rich, and jolly, but I would much rather leave it as soon as I can and, praise be
to God, come home'. 34
Admittedly, letters to relatives written by survivors of an arduous campaign
cannot tell the whole truth. In a more positive vein S. I. Mayevsky later
declared that his education had not really begun until, aged 33, he arrived in
the French capital, for it was there that he learned to appreciate the finer
things of life. 3S However, he was of Polish extraction-and did not put pen to
paper until 1831, by whicll time attitudes towards the West were changing.
Even less valid as evidence is the oft-cited remark by the 'Decembrist' I. D.
JI I. lkonnikov to I. S., 24 Apr. 1814, in Shchukinskiy sbornik, i. 411.
l2 Murav'yev[-Karsky), 'Zapiski', pp. 110-17.
ll Shchukinskiy sbornik, iii. 273.
.14 I. Danilov to his wife, I. Apr. 1814, in ibid., iii. 297.
35 Mayevsky, 'Moy vek', p. 282.