Johnston, Robert. Travels Through Part of the Russian Empire and the Country of Poland; Along the Southern Shores of the Baltic. New York: Arno Press, 1970.  (First edition: J.J. Stockdale, London 1815) 403 pages.                           

A British author describes his journey through Western Russia in an attempt to record its prominent features, as well as to document details of the ravages of the Napoleonic wars on one of Britain’s allies. Johnston states that, politically, the affairs of Russia have never been more interesting than in the present and that "every Briton must feel a conscious glow of pride in looking at the glorious alliance of Russia with his country," but he stresses that his writing is not meant for the "diplomatist or statesman" and that he wishes to present the average reader with mere observations of the climate, the physical country and the moral constitution of Russia’s natives (pp. viii).

Johnston’s excursion begins in Dantzick (Danzig) and continues on to Memel (Klaipeda), Cronstadt (Kronstadt), St. Petersburg, Jagelbitzi, Moscow, Smolensko, Grodno, Warsaw and Berlin. His interest in the Western regions of Russia seems to be due to the significant amount of fighting, which took place near Moscow following Napoleon’s Russian invasion (and his eventual retreat), as well as noteworthy developments of modernization in the North. He explains that, "while war has ravaged and left the fairest portion of Europe almost a desert, and a race of men returning to barbarism; the once bleak and unknown wilds of Scandinavia are now becoming the land of freedom, of riches, and of the arts and sciences" (pp. 20). Evidence of Johnston’s interest in the arts of Northern Europe can be drawn from his considerable concentration on the contents of Russian museums and details of religious architecture.   

Although Johnston states his desire to complete his observations with absolute objectivity, his descriptions are often very slanted. Written shortly after 20 years of war in Europe and Napoleon's final defeat, the author’s tone is spiced with British pride, some praise for the noble Russian soul and scathing contempt for the French and their allies. Within his depictions of Russian nunneries and peasant agriculture, Johnston’s personal opinions emerge such as "the French will ever be execrated for the cruelties they have committed" and "no class of people seems to pay more attention to personal cleanliness than the Russians, taken collectively; yet, perhaps, there are none who live more filthily clad, taken individually" (pp. 23 &139). Johnston’s account thus provides both information about the Russian Empire and the feelings of Britons toward imperial France.  

Initially published in 1815 by J.J. Stockdale, a well-known London printer, which also published works of Voltaire (1807) and Shakespeare (1807), Travels was reprinted in 1970 by the Arno Press in New York, which frequently revived old, obscure, valuable, authentic titles from all around the world. The resultant work includes 12 chapters with information on topics such as monetary currency, the police system, clothing, class divisions, river junctions, trading partners, slavery and superstitions in Russia.  (LB 2005)