Travels through part of the Russian Empire and the country of poland; along the southern shores of the baltic

An English Gentleman’s trip from Dantzick (Danzig) to Berlin in 1814 following the long years of the Napoleonic wars. Robert Johnston describes the people, countryside, towns and cities encountered on his journey; one undertaken as an observational traveller but whose obvious jingoism, in a time before the phrase came into common parlance, provides a fascinating insight into the minds of the British ‘elite’ during this period of history. Travelling through a landscape largely devastated by twenty years of war, he is at pains to praise the Russians, their habits and culture, whilst writing off ‘lesser’ races. He describes lands completely razed by war, with inhabitants struggling to survive and cities in ruins but also covers religion and the arts. The book includes several maps and coloured plates and is dedicated to the Prince Regent in ‘the glorious cause of national honour, independence, and humanity..’