heir satraps,
flings in the addition of a few provinces of kingdoms to their
satrapies.

And oh! Almighty father of humanity! is there no power on earth to stop
this execrable annihilation of human and national rights, of freedom and
independence?--though there is a Republic powerful enough to do so--a
Republic founded upon the very principles which the despotic powers have
put under an inexorable ban!

Gentlemen, I have dwelt perhaps too long on the condition of Europe; but
it was necessary to show that though there be no Russian eagles, painted
over the public offices in Germany, Italy, France, still the Russian
frontier is really extended to the Atlantic.

People of free America, beware, ere it be too late! Hurriedly and by
sudden violence, all civil and religious liberty must, for the repose of
absolutism, be trampled out of Europe; and by more deliberate
perpetration, by diplomacy, persuasion, and gold, the way must be
prepared to trample it out elsewhere by ulterior violence.

And here I claim permission to say something about the most dangerous
power of Russia, its DIPLOMACY.

It is worthy of consideration that while Russia starves her armies and
underpays her officials, who live by peculation, still, abroad she
devotes greater resources to her diplomacy than any other power has ever
done.

Acting on the maxim that "men are not influenced by facts, but by
opinions respecting facts"--not by "things as they are," but by "things
as they are believed to be," she finds it easier and cheaper, through a
diplomatic agency, to impress the world with a belief in a strength she
has not, than to try to organize or attain that strength.

And to come to that aim, Russian diplomacy is not restricted to
diplomatic proceedings. Brilliant saloons of fascinating ladies, as well
as marriages, are equally departments of Russian diplomacy.

The secret-service money at the disposal of all other diplomatists, is
always limited, and has only been exceptionably used. But every Russian
diplomatist, in whom confidence is reposed, has _unlimited credit_,
and is allowed to disburse any sum to achieve an adequate result. Their
traditional experience teaches them how to attain their point; their
discretion can be relied on, and they understand every possible means of
reaching men directly and indirectly, pulling frequently the strings of
thoroughly unconscious puppets.

Constantinople is the great workshop of diplomatic skill, worthy