The Shadow of Great Britain

Capítulo 1412: Chapter 212: British Club (Part 3)

Speaking of this, Pushkin seemed to recall something and spoke again: “Also, I noticed you seem to have a misunderstanding about Russia, much like Count Feikermont, the Austrian envoy. Let me tell you something, and you’ll probably be as surprised as he was.”

“What is it?”

“A few days ago, Count Feikermont held a ball at his house. Rukovski caught a member of the regicide faction, Scarlatine, and forced him to recount the details of the March 11 incident (the 1801 court coup that assassinated Paul I). At that moment, the Emperor walked in accompanied by Count Bendendorf. It so happened that the Crown Prince’s Tutor and the murderer of his father were engaged in a friendly conversation. At that time, Scarlatine was removing a scarf, the very scarf he used to take the life of Paul I.”

Afterward, I spoke to Count Feikermont about this matter. He told me he did not know about Scarlatine’s past crimes; if he had known, he would not have invited this person to the feast. However, the count was still amazed by the bizarre happenings in our upper society. Surrounding the late monarch Alexander I were actually the murderers of his father.

However, I believe this is precisely why Alexander I did not suppress the young conspirators of the Decembrists during his lifetime. From all indications, the Holy King had long been aware of the Decembrists’ activities, but he maintained a considerable degree of silence and tacitly allowed their private connections. Because in Russia, almost every Tsar had to be tolerant and lenient to these secretly conspiring regicidal groups.

As for the current Emperor, he might be the first emperor in Russian history with the right and possibly the ability to eradicate the regicide factions or conspiratorial regicide groups.”

At this point, Pushkin’s emotions seemed somewhat complicated.

Although he was not listed among the Decembrists, in fact, he maintained good relations with the leaders of the Decembrists.

The main reason he did not participate in the uprising was simply because he was not in Saint Petersburg that day but in exile.

And to protect Pushkin, the leaders of the Decembrists astonishingly reached a tacit agreement not to list Pushkin’s name in any contact documents. During the preparation period before the uprising, they also concealed their plans from Pushkin to prevent him from becoming entangled.

After the failed uprising, no matter how Count Bendendorf interrogated, leaders of the Decembrists like Pisatel, Lei Lieyev, and Kahovski did not relent, none of them admitted Pushkin’s involvement with the Decembrists.

Because of this, although Bendendorf was determined to take down Pushkin, the poet closely associated with the Decembrists, he could not present any witnesses or evidence, thus had to give up.

And the new Tsar Nicholas I, considering the national impact and adhering to the principle of resource utilization, pardoned Pushkin, who had significant influence among Russian liberals, from exile to Moscow.

Hoping to use appeasement policies to win over this famous national poet, letting him lower his stance and serve the court of the Tsar well.

However, judging from the current situation, although Pushkin accepted the Emperor’s benevolent education, the transformation was not successful.

But for Arthur, whether Pushkin’s transformation was successful or not did not concern him, because more worrisome than Pushkin’s successful transformation was the discovery of an unnoticed hazard.

Though also a literary figure, Pushkin’s political inclination significantly differed from Heine and Herzen of Moscow University.

Heine and Herzen were typical liberals, therefore discussing issues with them was always very relaxed, as there was no worry of them leaking anything inappropriate to the government.

If exampled by the factions of the Russian literary circle, both Heine and Herzen belonged to the typical Western School.

As for Pushkin?

Arthur suddenly recalled the previously seen debate on the newspaper between Pushkin and the Western School representative Chadayev.

Back then, he thought Pushkin was merely fulfilling the task assigned by the Tsar.

However, from recent observations and information gathered from all sides, although the Tsar would censor Pushkin’s works, Pushkin could freely choose the subjects he wanted to create.

Moreover, the conversation just now basically revealed Pushkin’s stance.

If placed in Russia, Pushkin might be considered a left-wing liberal, but if analyzed, Pushkin absolutely cannot be regarded as a pure Western School member; in many aspects, his stance aligns with the Slavists.

This implies, he is not a liberal, but a nationalist.