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PET 

PASTy 


AND  PRESENT 


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THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 

OF  CALIFORNIA 

LOS  ANGELES 

GIFT  OF 


Giff  U.C.  Ub;er/ 


PETROGRAD 

PAST    AND    PRESENT 


BY 

WILLIAM   BARNES  STEVENI 


^ 


WITH   THIRTY    ILLUSTRATIONS 


PHILADELPHIA 
J.    B.    LIPPINGOTT    COMPANY 
LONDON:    GRANT  RICHARDS  LTD. 


MDCCCCXVI 


PRINTED   IN    (iREAT    BRITAIN    BV    THE    RIVERSIDE    IRESS    LIMITED 
EDINBURGH 


PETROGRAD   PAST   AND   PRESENT 


Thk  Church  ok  thk  Rksurkixtion  ok  Chkist,     Itiii  r  on    ini 

WHKKK    Ai.EXANDKR    II,    THE    "  TsAR    Em  AMI  I'A  It  )R/"    WAS    ASSASbiN  A 1  Kl> 


I\ 


5-5-1 


CONTENTS 


I.  ARRIVAL   IN    PETROGRAD   AND  THE   NECESSITY   FOR   PASSPORTS 

II.  CRONSTADT,  THE  KEY  OF  PETROGRAD,  AND  SOME  MEMORIES    . 

III.  A    ZEALOT    OF    CRONSTADT    ..... 

IV.  SOME    CRONSTADT    CHARACTERS  .... 
V  THE    FOUNDING    OF    PETROGRAD          .... 

VI.  THE  YOUTH  AND  GROWTH  OF  PETROGRAD,  WITH  SOME 
HISTORICAL    NOTES  ..... 

VII.    THE    RIVER    NEVA    AND    THE    GREAT    FLOODS 

Mil.    THE     GREAT     FLOOD     OF      1777;     THE     DEATH     OF     PRINCESS 
TAUAKANOFFVA    ...... 

IX.  PETROGRAD  DURING  THE  UEIGN  OF  ITS  FOUNDER;  AND 
AN  ACCOUNT  OF  PETEr's  COURT  AS  SEEN  BY  PRINCESS 
WILHELMINA    OF    PRUSSIA  .... 

X.  STATUES  AND  MONUMENTS,  HISTORICAL  MEMORIES  AND 
SOME    SPECIAL    FEATURES    OF    THE    CAPITAL 

XI.    A    TRIP    UP    THE    NEVA  .... 

XII.    THE    FORTRESS    OF    PETER    AND    PAUL 
XIII.    THE    MODERN    CITY    AND    THE    PEOPLE 
XIV.    THE    POLICE    OF    PETROGRAD 

XV.    OFFICIALDOM    IN    RUSSIA         .... 
XVI.    THE    MOUJIKS    AND    WORKING    CLASSES 
XVII.    THE    TSAR,    HIS    HOUSEHOLD    AND    HIS    LABOURS 
XVIII.    HOTELS    AND    RESTAURANTS 
XIX.    THEATRES,    CONCERTS    AND    PLEASURE    GARDENS 
XX.    CONCERNING    THE    BALLET  .... 

-   XXI.    THE        HERMITAGE         AND         ITS        MEMORIES CATHERINE' 

FAVOURITE    RETREAT         .... 


1 
10 

22 

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65 

76 

85 

91 
101 
119 
126 
136 
155 
163  • 
174  - 
187 

196 


«  047,; 


vi  CONTENTS 

PACK 

XXII.    THE    ANITCHKOFF    PALACE    AND     A     NARROW    ESCAPE  .  206 

XXIII.    THE    TAURIDA    PALACE    AND    THE    WINTER    PALACE      ,  .  218 

XXIV.    THE    ALEXANDER    NEVSKY    MONASTERY  .  .  .  227 

XXV.    THE      KAZAN      CATHEDRAL,      THE      RIOTS,      AND      ST      ISAAc's 

CATHEDRAL  ......  232 

XXVI.    TWO     TSARS  :     PAUL,    THE     "  MAD    TSAR  "  ;     NICHOLAS    I.,    HIS 

CHARACTER    AND    AMBITION  ....  242 

XXVII.  SIR    ROBERT    MORIER    AND    THE    BRITISH    EMBASSY       .  .  251 

XXVIII.  COUNT    SERGIUS    DK    WITTE  ....  257 

XXIX.  THE    RUSSIAN    PRESS  .....  263 

XXX.  FOREIGN    CORRESPONDENTS    AND    THE    CENSORS  .  .  272 

XXXI.  THE    BRITISH    COLONY  —  ITS    HISTORY    AND    DEVELOPMENT  280 

XXXII.  KRASNOE    SELO    AND    THE    MILITARY    MANffX'VRES         .  .  290 

XXXIII.  ALEXANDER     III.,    HIS     "MUSEUM,"     AND     THE     LATE     GRAND 

DUKE    CONSTANTINE  .  .  .  .  .291- 

XXXIV.  THE    ENVIRONS    OF    THE    CITY  ....  2f)f)  < 

THE    GRAND    DUKE    MICHAEL,   THE    TSAU's    BROTHER,    AT   THE    FRONT  30,0 

A     NOTE     ON     THE     GROWTH     OF    THE     RUSSIAN     EMIMUE     SINCE     THE 

DAYS    OF    PETER    THE    GREAT         .  .311 

SOME    AUTHORITIES    REFERRED    TO    FOR    THE    I'URPOSE   OF   THIS    BOOK  314 

INDEX  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .315 


LIST   OF   ILLUSTRATIONS 


The  Church  of  the  Resur-ection  of  Christ 

Two  very  Important  Pers  jnages 

The    Steamer    Yermak    breaking    its    way    through 

the  Ice         ..... 
Father  John  of  Cronstadt 
The  Cousins :   the  Tsar  and  King  George    . 
Building  Ships  for  Russia's   Commercial   Marine  in 

the  Days  of  Peter  the  Great 
Petrograd  in  the  Days  of  Catherine  II. 
The    deep    and    rapid    Neva,    with    View    of    th 

Nicholai  Bridge      .... 
A  Crowd  on  the  Nevsky  Prospect :  "  Praznek  " 
The  Catherine  Canal     .... 
The  Last  Days  of  the  beautiful  Princess  TarakanofTva 

in  the  Fortress       .... 
A  Masquerade  in  the  Days  of  Peter  the  Great  (1722) 
The  old  Winter  Palace 
The  Admiralty  with  its  Gilded  Spire 
The  Fortress  Church  of  SS.  Peter  and  Paul 
Russian  Railway  Guard 
Typical  Russian  Coachman 
A  typical  Russian  Moujik  in  the  Rough  State 
Russian  Peasant  begging  for  Alms  for  the   Village 

Church         ..... 
The  Fagade  of  the  Imperial  Hermitage 
■' Babooshka  "  Ekaterina  II.    . 
The   Mechailoff  Palace,    now    converted    into  the 

Museum  of  Alexander  III. 
The  AnitchkofT  Palace  on  the  Nevsky 
The  Kazan  Cathedral    .... 
The  Gosteny  Dvor  (Guest  Bazaar)  on  the  Nevsky 
The  Cathedral  of  St  Isaac  of  Dalmatia 
The  old  Mechailoff  Palace 
Russian  Standard  Bearers  of  the  Guards 
The  Tsar  Alexander  III.— called  the  "Peace-lover" 
The  Palace  and  wonderful  Fountains  of  PeterhofF 


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THE   ARRIVAL  IN   PETROGRAD   AND   THE   NECESSITY 
FOR   PASSPORTS 

It  was  a  lovely  morning  in  May  when  our  diminutive 
steamer  the  Viking  first  entered  the  swift  stream  of 
the  Neva,  by  which  river  the  confined  and  pent-up 
waters  of  Lake  Ladoga  find  their  way  to  the  Gulf 
of  Finland.  As  our  little  boat — which  had  once  done 
service  as  a  canal  boat  in  England — entered  the  river, 
I  was  charmed  by  the  beautiful  spectacle  of  Peter's 
City,  now  Petrograd.  On  the  right,  past  the  massive 
Nicholas  Bridge,  named  in  honour  of  St  Nicholas,  one 
of  Russia's  patron  saints,  stood  the  beautiful  Cathedral 
of  St  Isaac,  with  its  five  cupolas  of  gilded  copper 
shining  in  the  morning  sky  like  balls  of  molten  gold 
against  a  background  of  azure.  On  the  left,  fronting 
the  granite  quays,  were  a  number  of  splendid  build- 
ings, beginning  with  the  palace  of  the  Grand  Duke 
Paul  and  ending  with  that  classic  structure,  the  Holy 
Synod,  for  many  years  the  scene  of  Pobjedonodzeff's 
fanatical  activity.  On  the  opposite  side  of  the  river 
was  the  Vasilii  Ostoff  (Basil  Island),  with  its  miles  of 
shipping  and  its  stately  front  of  offices  and  palatial 
buildings,  many  of  which  were  inhabited  by  the 
merchant  princes  of  the  capital.  Past  the  Nicholas 
Bridge  was  that  stately  block,  the  Academy  of  Arts, 
which  owed  its  origin  to  Catherine  the  Great. 

After  a  stormy  passage  in  our  little  canal  boat,  now 
bravely  doing  service  as  a  sea-going  vessel,  I  was 
delighted  to  arrive  at  my  destination  in  safety,  and 
still  more  so  to  watch  the  scene  before  me — ^the  great 
and  wondrous  creation  of  Peter  awaking  to  life  and 


2  PETROGRAD  PAST  AND  PRESENT 

activity,  and  the  scene  of  my  future  joys,  sorrows  and 
labours  for  a  quarter  of  a  century.  Suddenly  I  was 
awakened  from  my  day-dreams  by  a  gruff,  hearty 
voice  asking  for  my  passport.  "  Passport  1  "  I  ex- 
claimed in  astonishment.  "  What  do  I  want  with  a 
passport  ?  Surely  such  a  thing  was  never  heard  of 
since  the  days  of  the  great  Napoleon  and  the  Con- 
tinental system  !  "  for  even  at  that  early  age  I  was  a 
"  demon  for  history,"  as  my  literary  friends  called  me. 
The  captain  was  thunderstruck  at  my  ignorance  and 
my  reply  ;  I  had  but  the  haziest  conception  of  Russia. 
"  Napoleon  be  hanged,"  he  replied.  "  I  know  nothing 
about  the  Continental  system,  but  I  know  this,  that 
imless  you  can  produce  a  passport  at  once  you  will  be 
arrested  and  the  ship  will  be  fined."  As  he  spoke  he 
pointed  to  a  boat  with  two  gendarme  officers  on  board 
and  also  several  dosmoschiks  (searchers)  rowing  swiftly 
towards  us.  There  was  not  a  moment  to  lose,  and  the 
captain,  evidently  a  man  of  resource,  immediately 
rigged  me  out  in  a  suit  of  oilskins  and  entered  my 
name  on  the  manifest  as  "  cabin-boy."  I  was  then 
told  to  go  and  range  myself  in  line  with  others  on  the 
after-deck  while  the  gendarmes  keenly  inspected  each 
one  of  us  and  compared  us  with  the  names  on  the  mani- 
fest. When  it  came  to  my  turn  they  looked  very 
suspiciously  at  the  pale,  girlish  face  and  white  hands 
of  the  little  cabin-boy,  whom  they  evidently  sus- 
pected of  sailing  under  false  colours.  After  exchang- 
ing a  few  words  with  the  captain  and  signing  various 
documents  in  the  cabin,  the  gendarmes  and  customs 
officers  withdrew,  leaving  a  wretched  dosmoschik  on 
board  to  watch  the  vessel.  I  could  not  help  but  think 
that  he  had  been  left  behind  to  watch  the  author  of 
this  work,  and  therefore  I  confided  my  suspicions  to 
that  dear  old  sea-dog,  the  captain,  who  again  came  to 
my  rescue.  He  invited  the  eager,  brown-eyed  dosmos- 
chdk  into  the  cabin  to  have  a  drink  of  Swedish  punch. 


THE  ARRIVAL  IN  PETROGRAD  3 

a  brew  which  has  a  peculiar  power  of  robbing  a  man  of 
the  use  of  his  legs  before  he  is  aware  of  it.  After  the 
unsuspecting  searcher  had  taken  three  glasses  of  this 
golden  liquid  we  were  joined  by  the  mate,  who  invited 
our  amiable  guest  to  partake  of  kiimmel  and  other 
liqueurs.  Presently  both  the  captain  and  mate  were 
called  on  deck  to  their  duties,  whilst  I,  the  pale, 
innocent -looking  cabin-boy,  was  left  to  do  the  honours 
as  host.  I  listened  while  the  dosmoschik's  broken 
English  grew  more  and  more  incoherent,  until  finally 
he  dozed  peacefully  in  the  corner  of  the  cabin,  oblivious 
to  the  ship,  the  foreigners,  the  pale-faced  youth  and 
everything  around  him. 

In  this  condition  I  left  the  man,  probably  dreaming 
of  the  lonely  steppes  and  villages  of  Little  Russia  (for 
he  was  evidently  a  South  Russian,  judging  from  his 
appearance).  The  captain  in  the  meantime  had  not 
been  idle.  Without  losing  any  time  he  got  out  the  long- 
boat, and  after  placing  my  box  under  the  seat,  beneath 
the  folds  of  a  large  flag,  ordered  his  men  to  row  up  the 
river  and  land  me.  This  order  was  carried  out,  and 
in  twenty  minutes  or  so  I  found  myself  somewhere 
near  the  Baltic  works,  far  away  from  the  prying  eyes 
of  the  customs  officers.  The  mate,  who  accompanied 
us,  chartered  a  droshky  for  me  to  the  Cronstadt  pier  on 
the  Vasilii  Ostroff .  Here  I  took  a  ticket  by  the  Cron- 
stadt steamer — ^an  old  English  river  boat  dating  from 
the  days  of  Queen  Victoria — and  in  one  and  a  half 
hours  I  arrived  in  Cronstadt  and  was  safe  with  my 
friends,  who  had  long  expected  me.  But  I  was  not 
to  be  at  rest  for  long,  for  as  soon  as  my  friends  knew 
that  I  had  no  passport  their  anxiety  on  my  account 
deprived  me  of  all  the  pleasure  I  was  experiencing  in 
my  new  surroundings.  It  would  never  have  done  to 
tell  the  authorities  how  I  had  smuggled  myself  into 
"  Holy  Russia,"  so,  after  keeping  me  indoors  nearly 
a  fortnight,  they  decided  to  take  the  risk  of  getting 


4    PETROGRAD  PAST  AND  PRESENT 

a  passport  from  a  friend  in  England.  This  was  duly 
signed,  and  in  this  irregular  way,  at  sixteen  years  of 
age,  I  entered  Russia — the  country  where  I  was  to 
have  so  many  interesting  experiences  and  adventures 
during  my  twenty-seven  years'  sojourn. 

As  for  the  erring  dosmo^clSik,  I  frequently  used  to 
meet  him  in  the  large  square  near  the  Customs  House, 
but  on  seeing  me  he  would  drop  liis  beady,  brown 
eyes,  for,  like  myself,  he  was  suffering  from  the  pangs 
of  a  guilty  conscience — or  perhaps  from  the  effects 
of  that  never-to-be-forgotten  spree  on  the  little 
Viking,  when  he  was  so  gloriously  fuddled  on  punch, 
kiimmel,  vodka  and  port  wine — an  experience  not 
easily  forgotten  in  his  othenvise  dull,  mieventful 
existence.  These  poor  men  have  to  endure  a  laborious 
life  on  a  paltry  wage,  which  hardly  serves  to  keep  body 
and  soul  together.  All  this  happened  nearly  forty 
years  ago,  in  those  unregenerate  days  when  the 
almighty  rouble  ruled  Russia  and  vodka-drinking  had 
not  been  abolished  by  an  Imperial  ukase. 

As  for  the  old  captain  who  saved  me  from  the 
dilemma,  he  has  long  since  gone  to  his  viking  forbears, 
wliilst  liis  little  boat  lies  at  the  bottom  of  the  Gulf  of 
Finland,  beneath  sixty  fathoms  of  cold,  blue  water. 
About  a  couple  of  voyages  after  my  arrival  the  Viking 
fomidered,  with  all  on  board  except  the  captain.  A 
terrible  sea  suddenly  struck  her,  breaking  open  her 
hatches  and  putting  out  her  fires.  Being  laden  with 
Swedish  iron  and  copper,  she  sank  like  a  stone,  with  all 
hands  on  board,  including  the  kind  old  stewardess  who 
"  mothered  "  me. 

Before  proceeding  further  with  my  narrative  I  must 
not  forget  to  say  that  I  was  unusually  lucky  in  not 
getting  into  serious  trouble  for  not  having  a  passport. 
Not  every  one  is  so  fortunate,  as  the  following  incident 
will  show.  Shortly  after  my  arrival  an  invalid  clergy- 
man, who  had  come  out  to  Cronstadt  for  the  good  of  his 


THE  ARRIVAL  IN  PETROGRAD  5 

health,  narrowly  escaped  imprisonment,  for  the  gen- 
darmes in  Petrograd,  hearing  that  he  was  on  board  an 
English  steamer  without  that  most  necessary  docu- 
ment, the  passport,  boarded  the  boat  and  arrested  him. 
He  was  not  even  given  time  to  go  down  to  the  cabin 
and  get  an  overcoat,  but  was  hurried  into  a  boat  and 
taken  to  the  capital,  with  dire  visions  of  the  fortress  of 
St  Peter  and  St  Paul  as  his  only  companions.  Had 
this  unfortunate  curate  known  more  about  Russia  he 
would  have  escaped  arrest,  but  his  very  ignorance  and 
innocence  were  his  undoing,  for  on  being  asked  by  the 
gendarmes  what  he  was,  he  replied :  "  A  student." 
"  SkoohenW''  ejaculated  the  gendarmes ;  "  then  away 
with  him  to  the  police  station."  In  those  days  to  be  a 
student  was  synonymous  with  being  a  revolutionary. 
Almost  every  student  was  openly  or  secretly  an 
antagonist  to  the  Government.  After  the  "  con- 
spirator "  had  been  landed  at  the  police  station  the 
English  Vice-Consul  was  sent  for,  and  it  then  trans- 
pired that  the  pale  young  gentleman  in  the  black  coat 
and  white  collar  was  "  a  student  of  theology  "  ! — ^to 
the  great  disgust  of  his  captors,  who  imagined  that 
they  had  caught  a  dangerous  person  hiding  on  the 
steamboat  prior  to  making  his  escape  to  the  shores  of 
perfidious  Albion.^  Directly  the  mistake  was  cleared 
up  the  mihappy  curate  was  liberated,  with  apologies. 
I  have  known  many  similar  incidents — ^all  arising  from 
the  negligence  of  Englishmen  in  not  taking  the  few 
necessary  precautions,  either  of  procuring  a  passport 
or  of  having  it  properly  vised  before  their  departure 
for  Russia. 

On    reaching  the   Gutaieffsky  docks,  which  are  a 

^  It  was  a  common  practice  in  those  days  for  fugitive  students  and 
other  "politicals"  to  escape  in  English  and  German  steamers  from 
Russia.  The  good-natured  captains,  who  sympathised  with  the 
revolutionists,  would  frequently  hide  them  among  the  cargo,  at  con- 
siderable risk  to  themselves,  for  this  was  a  serious  offence  in  the  eyes  of 
the  authorities. 


6  PETROGRAD  PAST  AND  PRESENT 

considerable  distance  from  the  capital,  a  traveller  is 
obliged  to  make  the  acquaintance  of  that  curious  class 
of  cabbies  known  in  Russia  as  iSevoschiks.  Although 
they  are  attired  in  long,  oriental-looking  gowns 
reaching  to  their  feet,  and  are  crowned  with  a  hat 
resembling  that  of  a  beef-eater,  one  must  not  think 
that  these  primitive-looking  Jehus  are  half  as  simple 
as  they  appear  to  be ;  for  inside  the  garb  of  childlike 
simplicity  and  innocence  there  often  lurks  a  cunning 
and  a  ready  wit  which  are  really  astonishing  to  anyone 
who  does  not  understand  the  Russian  moujik,  from 
which  class  the  Russian  cabmen  are  generally  re- 
cruited. As  a  rule,  it  is  wise  to  offer  only  half  the  fare 
demanded,  and  even  then  to  bargain  until  a  figure  is 
arrived  at  which  is  not  too  exorbitant.  In  fact,  if  the 
man  is  given  what  he  originally  asked,  he  will  be  sorry 
that  he  did  not  ask  twice  as  much  from  the  unsuspect- 
ing foreigner,  while  at  the  same  time  he  will  be  dis- 
appointed at  being  deprived  of  the  pleasure  of  bargain- 
ing, which  to  him  is  the  salt  of  life.  Should  you  by 
any  chance  get  the  better  of  him,  he  will  usually  show 
his  displeasure  by  driving  through  the  streets  at  a 
snail's  pace,  leaving  you  to  fume  with  anger  at  his 
obstinacy,  with  the  alternative  of  offering  an  extra  tip 
if  he  will  hurry.  Usually  when  my  Jehu  treated  me 
in  this  way,  I  would  quietly  get  out  of  his  droshky  and 
jump  into  another  one,  much  to  the  astonishment  of 
the  deeply  offended  driver  of  the  first  vehicle,  whose 
face,  when  he  finally  turned  round,  was  a  study.  He 
had  lost  both  his  "  fare "  and  the  money !  These 
men,  however,  if  treated  well,  are  generally  very  kind- 
hearted  and  willing  to.,  drive  like  a  whirlwind  if  you 
should  be  in  a  hurry  to  catch  a  train.  On  these 
occasions  I  have  sometimes  had  to  catch  hold  of  the 
reins  and  pull  the  horse  in,  especially  if  there  happened 
to  be  another  cab  going  in  the  same  direction,  for  a 
mad  race  would  begin,  when  I  was  in  constant  danger 


THE  ARRIVAL  IN  PETROGRAD  7 

of  being  thrown  out  on  the  hard  cobbles  and  breaking 
my  neck.  Should  remonstrance  be  in  vain,  the  driver, 
if  he  has  been  promised  a  good  fare,  will  turn  round 
with  a  grin  and  console  his  passenger  with  one  of 
numerous  proverbs  :  "  Life  is  a  copeck,"  ^  "  You  can 
only  die  once,  so  what  does  it  matter,"  or  something 
in  a  similar  vein. 

A  kindly  smile  and  a  gentle  manner  will  go  a  long 
way  with  these  hardy,  struggling,  long-haired  fellows. 
As  an  example  of  this  I  can  quote  the  case  of  an 
English  governess  who  always  managed  to  drive  at 
half  the  proper  fare,  because  she  called  her  driver 
golubbchik  (little  pigeon)  and  smiled  on  him  very 
sweetly.  You  might  smile  like  the  wonderful  cat  of 
Alice  in  Wonderland  without  much  effect  on  an  English 
or  German  driver's  charges;  but  in  Russia  these  little 
matters  go  a  long  way.  The  simple  moujik  looks 
with  wonder  and  astonishment  on  all  foreigners,  and 
in  his  heart  thinks  them  all  beneath  him,  for  are  they 
not  heretics  without  the  true  faith,  which  is  going  to 
ensure  him  a  happy  place  hereafter,  even  if  at  present 
he  does  not  have  his  full  share  of  the  plums  ? 

On  arriving  at  a  hotel  a  traveller  must  hand  his 
passport  to  the  proprietor  or  hall  porter.  It  must  be 
"  written  in,"  as  it  is  termed  in  Russia,  otherwise  a 
person  may  find  that  he  will  have  to  pay  a  heavy  fine, 
or  perhaps  even  be  detained.  I  have  known  people 
to  be  delayed  weeks,  simply  because  they  did  not 
attend  to  small  matters  of  this  kind.  The  passport 
system  may  have  its  disadvantages,  but  it  also  confers 
some  benefits  on  the  country  where  it  is  in  force  ;  it 
gives  a  certain  hold  over  the  criminal  population  and 
anyone  who  is  dangerous  to  the  Government.  If 
people  do  not  pay  their  trades-people,  the  police  are 
informed,  and  the  debtor  may  not  leave  the  country 
until  the  debt  has  been  discharged.     If  a  wife  leaves 

^  I  copeck  =  I  farthing  ;    loo  copecks  =  i  rouble,  about  2S; 


8    PETROGRAD  PAST  AND  PRESENT 

her  husband  she  can  easily  be  brought  back,  for  she  is 
not  allowed  to  have  a  separate  passport  such  as  an 
unmarried  woman  possesses.  If  need  be,  she  can  be 
brought  back  etapom  (on  foot)  and  sent  under  convoy 
from  one  police  station  to  another  until  she  reaches 
the  place  from  whence  she  started.  Russian  husbands 
have  many  privileges  which  are  denied  to  married 
men  in  England,  where  wives  probably  have  more 
liberties  than  the  married  women  of  any  other  Euro- 
pean country.  Providing  a  passport  is  in  order,  there 
is  no  reason  why  an  Englishman,  visiting  Russia, 
should  be  caused  any  annoyance  or  inconvenience. 
As  long  as  he  keeps  to  his  own  business  and  avoids 
politics  as  one  would  the  plague,  a  traveller  is  perfectly 
safe.  If  engaged  in  business  or  trade,  the  local  police- 
man expects  a  certain  sum  for  looking  after  the  trades- 
man's property.  These  men  are  paid  a  starvation 
wage  by  the  Government  and  look  to  "  tips  "  to  help 
them  to  exist.  The  system  is  an  old  Tartar  survival 
and  has  much  to  do  with  the  corruption  in  official 
circles.  The  Government  evidently  believe  in  paying 
their  officials  the  smallest  possible  salaries,  believing 
that  those  who  are  sensible  will  make  up  the  deficiency 
by  taking  from  the  Tsar's  subjects  podarke  and  nachais 
(presents  and  tea  money).  So  long  as  this  practice  does 
not  go  too  far,  it  is  winked  at  by  the  authorities,  but  if 
an  official  is  found  to  be  systematically  taking  advantage 
of  his  position,  some  day  he  may  find  himself  confronted 
by  a  revisor  (inspector),  and  a  few  days  afterwards  he 
will  be  en  route  for  Siberia  at  the  Crown's  expense. 

With  regard  to  the  practice  of  bribing  officials,  in 
the  days  of  Catherine  this  pernicious  system  flourished 
in  all  its  glory.  It  is  related  that  on  one  occasion, 
when  an  official  complained  to  the  Empress  that  his 
salary  was  too  small,  "the  mother  of  her  people,"  as 
she  delighted  to  call  herself,  and  which  she  was  in 
more  senses  than  one,  replied  :  "  The  man's  a  fool ;  he 


THE  ARRIVAL  IN  PETROGRAD  9 

has  been  placed  near  the  trough,  but  the  ass  won't 
feed  himself."  Peter  the  Great,  however,  who  had 
imbibed  some  Western  ideas  on  this  subject,  used  to 
whack  his  ministers  without  mercy  when  convicted  of 
corruption,  unless  by  way  of  a  change  he  took  it  into 
his  head  to  hang,  draw  and  quarter  them.  Nicholas  I.,^ 
who  was  much  misrepresented  by  contemporary  his- 
torians, was  extremely  particular  about  his  servants 
taking  bribes,  and  on  one  occasion,  when  he  discovered 
that  his  palace  architect  had  been  guilty  of  corruption 
and  deceit,  struck  him  with  his  fist  and  killed  him  on 
the  spot.  But  as  Russians  come  more  into  contact 
with  the  people  of  the  West,  and  as  they  receive  better 
remuneration  for  their  services,  the  practice  of  bribing 
and  taking  bribes  will  gradually  die  out,  especially  in 
those  portions  of  the  Empire  which  are  in  close  contact 
with  the  seat  of  government. 

*  John  Maxwell,  in  his  excellent  and  trustworthy  work  entitled  The 
Tsar,  his  Court  and  People,  published  by  Bentley  in  1854,  gives  the 
following  just  estimate  of  the  character  of  Nicholas  I.  : — "  By  nature 
ardent  and  generous ;  possessing  most  noble  and  most  generous  qualities  ; 
gifted  with  very  considerable  mental  ability  and  great  personal  beauty 
and  bodily  strength  ;  his  errors  are  to  be  regarded  as  those  of  position, 
rather  than  those  of  inclination.  The  cruel  death  of  his  father,  the 
weakness  and  misfortunes  of  his  brothers,  and  the  bloody  events  attend- 
ing his  own  succession  to  the  throne,  seem  to  have  determined  him  to 
pursue  a  course  of  policy  more  in  keeping  with  a  soldier's  idea  of 
order  and  security,  than  one  distinguished  for  prudence,  wisdom  and 
moderation.-' 


II 


CRONSTADT,    THE   KEY   OF    PETROGRAD,    AND    SOME 
MEMORIES 

I  RESIDED  in  Cronstadt,  the  mighty  citadel  of  Russia, 
the  fastness  and  fortress  of  the  Tsar,  for  about  seven 
years,  making  the  acquaintance  of  many  of  its  most 
important  citizens,  from  the  Governor  down  to  the 
most  humble  midshipmen.  I  also  knew  a  number  of 
the  merchants,  captains  of  various  nationalities,  and 
even  became  intimate  with  the  peasants,  for  my 
occupation  then  brought  me  into  contact  with  almost 
every  class  of  the  population — rich  exporters  and  poor 
moujiks  labouring  on  the  docks  and  timber  yards. 
On  the  whole,  my  stay  was  a  pleasant  one,  though  at 
times  I  was  unhappy  in  this  "  Little  Siberia,"  as 
Russian  naval  officers  facetiously  called  it.  The 
English  captains  were  even  more  severe  in  their  criti- 
cisms, saying  that  Cronstadt  was  "  the  last  place  God 
made,"  and  even  then  hinting  that  He  forgot  to  finish 
it.  In  this  island  of  forts,  barracks,  shipyards  and 
cabbage  gardens  I  made  some  of  my  best  friends,  who 
stuck  to  me  through  life,  and  whose  memory  I  shall 
ever  cherish. 

But  most  of  these  near  and  dear  ones  are  no  more. 
Among  them  was  my  kind-hearted,  book-loving, 
honest  principal,  S.  K.,  by  whom  my  taste  for  letters 
was  greatly  encouraged.  I  can  hardly  say  that  this 
passion  for  books  was  conducive  to  my  business 
success  ;  but  inherited  qualities,  handed  down  from 
a  learned  ancestor  who  "  cared  for  learning  more  than 
the  plough,"  would  not  be  gainsaid,  and  by  a  long, 
slow,    and    sometimes    painful    process    I    became   a 

10 


CRONSTADT,  THE  KEY  OF  PETROGRAD  11 

scribe — much  to  the  astonishment  and  vexation  of 
many  friends,  who  would  have  preferred  to  see  me  a 
wealthy  merchant  or  butcher  instead  of  the  rolling 
stone  I  appeared  to  be.  My  erratic  career  was  a  sur- 
prise and  sorrow  to  those  who  could  not  see  whither 
that  same  stone  was  rolling,  until  it  eventually  found 
a  suitable  niche — even  though  much  chipped  and 
broken. 

Cronstadt  to  me  was  interesting,  not  only  because 
it  is  one  of  the  world's  great  fortresses,  but  also  be- 
cause within  its  walls  I  had  an  excellent  opportunity 
of  studying  Russia  in  miniature.  Here  I  came  to 
know  the  massive  old  Governor,  Admiral  K.,  a  man 
of  iron,  with  a  head  like  a  Bismarck,  a  powerful  frame, 
and  moustaches  that  gave  him  the  appearance  of  a 
venerable  walrus,  possibly  due  to  the  fact  that  he  had 
been  a  seafaring  man  and  a  dweller  in  the  icy  regions 
of  Eastern  Siberia.  There  was  also  the  Commandant, 
grey,  hardy  Admiral  B.,  the  faithful  servant  of  the 
Tsar,  to  whom  was  entrusted  this  key  of  the  island 
fortress,  which  prevents  all  foes  from  breaking  into 
the  capital  and  laying  waste  Peter's  city.  He  was  of 
Swedish  or  Finnish  origin,  and  a  great  favourite  of 
Alexander  III.  and  the  Empress,  who  when  in  Cron- 
stadt would  dine  with  him  and  show  him  many  marks 
of  confidence.  He  was  well  worthy  of  these  honours, 
for  all  the  forts,  batteries,  powder  magazines  and 
dungeons,  with  their  valuable  military  secrets,  were 
under  his  charge.  The  chief  forts  which  guarded  the 
entrance  of  the  narrow  channel  were  those  of  Menshi- 
koff,  Alexander,  Peter  and  Paul,  Milutine  and  various 
batteries  dotting  the  horizon  between  here  and  the 
capital,  which  would  be  brought  into  action  against 
any  vessel  which  might  manage  to  pass  the  defences 
of  this  Northern  Gibraltar.  The  most  terrible  fort,  to 
my  imaginative  mind,  was  that  named  Alexander, 
fitted  up  as  a  huge  laboratory,  where  poor,  broken- 


12        PETROGRAD  PAST  AND  PRESENT 

down  horses,  cats,  rabbits,  dogs  and  other  animals 
were  inoculated  with  many  of  the  germs  and  bacilli 
that  plague  and  decimate  humanity. 

More  formidable  than  the  forts,  however,  are  the 
hidden  mines  that  strew  the  narrow  waterways — ^to  be 
fired  from  the  shore  in  case  of  need  by  the  pressing  of  a 
button  ;  the  submarines  and  the  torpedo-boats  that 
would  dart  from  every  comer,  should  a  squadron  ever 
be  so  rash  as  to  attempt  a  passage.  Lord  Napier  did 
this  in  the  Crimean  War,  but  when  several  of  his  ships 
had  been  almost  blown  up  by  mines  manufactured  by 
that  great  engineer  and  chemist,  Ludwig  Nobel,  he 
thought  it  wiser  to  beat  a  retreat,  and  in  the  circum- 
stances discretion  was  certainly  the  better  part  of 
valour.  Had  the  English  admiral  known  that  there 
was  another  passage,  which  had  been  carelessly  left 
open,  owing  to  the  venality  of  rascally  contractors 
whom  Nicholas  I.  paid  to  block  that  very  channel, 
but  who  pocketed  the  money  and  scamped  their  work, 
he  would  have  tried  again,  and  Petrograd  might  have 
been  laid  in  ruins,  while  the  war,  which  dragged  on  for 
three  years,  would  have  reached  a  sudden  and  dramatic 
conclusion.  When  in  Cronstadt  I  sometimes  met  old 
soldiers  who  remembered  Napier's  attack  on  the  forts 
and  on  Sveaborg,  and  who  told  how  shots  were  seen  to 
fly  over  the  Island  of  Kotlin,  on  which  the  town  of 
Cronstadt  is  built.  It  thus  seems  that  Peter's  para- 
dise, as  he  fondly  called  the  beautiful  city  he  had 
erected  on  a  swamp,  narrowly  escaped  sharing  the  fate 
of  Sveaborg,  which,  during  the  terrific  bombardment 
by  the  English  and  French  fleets,  was  almost  a  sea  of 
fire.  Now,  thanks  to  the  Commandant  and  to  my  old 
Irish  friend,  Fitzgerald,^  who  mounted  some  of  the 
heavy  cannon  on  the  defences  at  a  cost  of  over  a  million 
pounds,  Cronstadt  may  fairly  be  considered  impregnable. 

^  The  late  Maurice  Fitzgerald,  a  man  of  unusual  talent,  afterwards 
Professor  of  Geology  at  King's  College,  Belfast. 


CRONSTADT,  THE  KEY  OF  PETROGRAD   13 

Before  I  left  the  place  for  good,  the  Commandant, 
knowing  that  I  could  be  trusted  not  to  take  advantage 
of  his  hospitality,  showed  me  the  interior  of  Fort 
Milutine,  with  its  iron-clad  turrets  and  immense  revolv- 
ing guns.  On  my  expressing  surprise  that  he  should 
show  me,  an  Englishman,  this  favour,  he  jokingly 
replied :  "  We  have  no  Drey  fuses  here."  The  sly  old 
sea-dog,  however,  did  not  tell  me  that  they  had  a 
certain  Captain  Smith  locked  up  in  a  dungeon  in  one 
of  the  forts  for  selling  plans  of  the  batteries  to  a  foreign 
Government — ^the  name  of  which  I  need  not  mention 
— and  that  others  who  had  attempted  to  pry  into 
Russian  secrets  had  met  a  similar  fate  or  a  worse  one. 
Nor  did  he  allude  to  the  marvellous  defences  he  had 
built,  after  years  of  labour,  on  an  artificial  island, 
almost  invisible  at  a  distance.  These  low-lying,  half- 
submerged  forts,  fitted  with  enormous  Krupp  guns, 
were  far  more  effective  than  the  grim,  picturesque 
granite  forts  around  Cronstadt,  which  could  be  bom- 
barded from  the  open  sea  almost  a  score  of  miles  away, 
if  necessary,  by  a  hostile  fleet. 

The  three  Russian  naval  officers  with  whom  I 
resided  for  several  years  in  Cronstadt  were,  like  the 
majority  in  the  Russian  service,  well-educated  and 
travelled  men.  One  was  of  Hungarian  origin,  another 
Swedish,  the  third  German.  The  first  was  a  fine 
Japanese  scholar,  the  second  a  polished  gentleman  of 
high  connections,  and  the  last  a  hard-working,  stolid 
Teuton.  Although  of  different  nationalities,  all  were 
thoroughly  devoted  to  the  Russian  service.  The 
majority  of  the  naval  men  I  came  across  spoke  English, 
French  and  German  fluently ;  most  of  them  came  of 
good  families,  and  had  passed  through  the  cadet  school 
at  Petrograd  or  Cronstadt.  As  a  rule  the  navy  officers 
are  more  broad-minded  and  better  men  of  the  world 
than  the  officers  of  the  line,  many  of  whom  are  exceed- 
ingly rough  customers,  knowing  no  tongue  or  country 


14   PETROGRAD  PAST  AND  PRESENT 

but  their  own.  As  Cronstadt  was  usually  frozen  up 
for  half  the  year,  little  experience  of  navigation  or  of 
ocean  voyages  was  to  be  obtained  ;  it  was  quite  an 
event  for  one  of  my  friends  to  be  sent  for  a  cruise,  and 
any  who  had  the  good  fortune  to  make  a  voyage  round 
the  world  were  ever  after  spoken  of  with  great  admira- 
tion ;  one  would  think,  indeed,  that  these  favoured 
individuals  were  so  many  Drakes  or  Frobishers,  judg- 
ing from  the  respect  and  awe  they  enjoyed  among  their 
comrades.  Under  such  conditions,  it  is  not  to  be 
wondered  at  that  the  Russian  fleet  came  to  grief  at 
Port  Arthur  and  Tshushima.  A  sailor  can  hardly  be- 
come proficient  in  his  calling  when,  for  months  together, 
he  has  nothing  to  do  but  repair  ships  which,  like  their 
crews,  are  rusting  for  want  of  use.  But  if  the  brave 
fellows — many  of  whom  I  knew — fought  unskilfully 
owing  to  lack  of  practice,  none  can  accuse  them  of 
cowardice.  Their  ships  were  sunk  without  being  able 
to  return  the  fire  of  the  Japanese,  at  a  range  of  six 
miles.  Among  those  who  took  part  in  this  conflict 
was  one  of  my  young  pupils,  who  was  afterwards  saved, 
the  only  survivor  of  his  vessel's  crew ;  they  all  stuck 
to  their  posts  as  long  as  there  seemed  the  least  prospect 
of  victory,  or  of  effective  retaliation.  These  mishaps, 
and  the  general  impressions  left  by  a  study  of  the  naval 
events  at  Sebastopol,  Port  Arthur,  and  also  of  the 
happenings  of  the  present  war,  when  a-  portion  of  the 
Russian  navy  was  again  bottled  up  in  Cronstadt, 
Libau  and  other  ports,  lead  me  to  conclude  that  the 
pure  Russians  are  not  a  seafaring  people  ;  like  the  old 
Romans,  they  are  at  their  best  on  terra  firma.  It  is 
difficult  for  a  nation  to  be  great  both  on  land  and  sea, 
and  the  desire  of  the  Germans  to  excel  in  the  two 
totally  different  spheres  has  much  to  do  with  their 
failures. 

Even  if  Russia  occupies  Constantinople,  the  north 
of  Sweden  and  Norway — on  which  she  casts  longing 


CRONSTADT,  THE  KEY  OF  PETROGRAD  15 

eyes — I  doubt  whether  she  will  ever  become  a  first- 
class  maritime  power,  as  long  as  the  Finns  and  Lithu- 
anians are  not  reconciled  to  her  rule.  Both  these 
races  make  excellent  sailors,  but  the  ordinary  Russian 
looks  upon  the  ocean  as  an  accursed  element  for  any 
-sensible  human  being  to  adventure  upon  ;  with  him 
more  (sea)  rhymes  with  gore  (woe). 

Although  the  Duma,  after  the  Japanese  War,  voted 
one  hundred  millions  sterling  towards  rebuilding  the 
navy,  that  money  has  to  a  large  extent  been  wasted  ; 
it  might  have  been  put  to  far  better  use  in  purchasing 
more  artillery  and  army  equipment,  and  in  the  con- 
struction of  a  better  system  of  strategic  railways. 
Russia  really  requires  a  fleet  in  the  Baltic  for  coast 
defence,  and  a  few  battle  cruisers  for  her  high  sea 
fleet.  At  that  time  the  Ministry  of  Marine  was 
severely  criticised  in  the  Duma.  It  was  considered 
that  the  nation  ought  to  have  possessed  sufficiently 
strong  naval  power  to  avoid  the  previous  disasters, 
had  the  money  devoted  to  the  navy  been  properly 
applied,  but  it  may  not  be  too  late  for  the  lesson  to 
be  learned. 

I  had  many  opportunities  of  observing  the  Russian 
methods  of  navigation.  When  the  General  Admiral 
came  in  his  yacht  to  inspect  the  fleet  and  fortress,  it 
often  happened  that  the  officers  on  the  bridge  managed 
to  run  the  yacht  ashore  at  the  entrance  of  the  harbour 
opposite  Fort  Menshikoff,  which  seemed  to  look  im- 
passively and  grimly  down  as  the  excited  sailors  ran 
about  the  ship  like  so  many  worried  ants  in  their 
endeavours  to  float  her  off.  As  a  rule  they  had  to  wait 
imtil  the  wind  veered  round  from  the  sea,  deepening 
the  water  at  this  particular  spot.  Great  was  the  joy 
on  these  occasions,  and  the  good-natured  Admiral — 
the  late  Grand  Duke  Alexis — would  show  his  grati- 
tude to  the  captain  by  bestowing  on  him  a  cross. 
There  seemed  to  exist  a  tacit  understanding  that  it  was 


16        PETROGRAD  PAST  AND  PRESENT 

quite  natural  in  those  days  that  an  olficer  should  run 
his  ship  aground,  but  that  it  was  a  heroic  feat  to  get 
her  afloat  again  !  The  Imperial  yacht  was  not  the 
only  vessel  continually  misbehaving  in  this  way ;  a 
large  flagship  named  after  the  Grand  Duke  often 
stuck  fast,  and  the  exertion  of  refloating  her  must  have 
been  the  crew's  most  exciting  duty.  On  a  visit  from 
one  of  these  high  officials,  or  from  the  Tsar,  all  work 
in  the  inner  and  outer  harbour  had  to  cease — ^to  the 
disgust  of  English  captains,  who  could  not  understand 
that  such  an  event  should  make  it  necessary  to  bring 
all  shipping  activities  to  a  standstill.  But  they  did  not 
know  the  Russian  proverb,  "  Go  slowly  and  you  will 
get  farther,"  which  is  tantamount  to  saying,  "  Time  is 
not  money." 

One  of  the  saddest  things  I  remember  in  connection 
with  Cronstadt  was  the  execution  of  a  talented,  hand- 
some young  naval  officer  outside  the  city  gates,  for 
taking  part  in  a  conspiracy  against  the  Tsar  Alex- 
ander II.  Although  this  monarch  liberated  the 
peasants  from  serfdom,  and  carried  out  many  reforms, 
he  fell  by  the  hand  of  an  assassin,  Risakoff — who  was, 
after  all,  but  a  tool  of  some  members  of  the  nobility 
who  had  been  injured  by  the  Tsar's  advanced  ideas. 
Well  do  I  remember  the  day  the  Tsar  was  carried 
wounded  to  his  palace  to  die,  for  two  of  my  friends  were 
present  when  the  bombs  were  thrown,  and  were  almost 
deafened  by  the  explosion,  while  a  third,  an  officer  in 
the  Royal  Bodyguard  {Tsarskoe  ochran)  was  struck 
on  the  head  by  a  splinter  from  one  of  the  shells  and 
hurt  for  life.  In  the  twenty-six  years  of  my  residence 
in  Russia  I  saw  three  Emperors  on  the  throne  ;  of 
these  Alexander  II.,  the  Tsar  Emancipator,  appealed 
most  to  my  mind  and  heart.  Never  shall  I  forget  the 
mournful  expression  of  his  eyes,  or  his  look  of  weariness 
and  pain.  There  were  many  attempts  on  his  life  ; 
perhaps  the  most  terrible  was  when  the  Nihilists  tried 


CRONSTADT,  THE  KEY  OF  PETROGRAD    17 

to  blow  up  the  Imperial  Palace  at  the  moment  its 
occupants  were  expected  to  seat  themselves  for  dinner. 
The  concussion  was  so  violent  that  I  heard  it  dis- 
tinctly in  Cronstadt,  eighteen  miles  from  the  capital. 
I  was  sitting  at  the  table  of  a  friend,  when  a  muffled, 
rolling  report  shook  the  glasses.  The  mine,  which  had 
been  laid  beneath  the  palace,  had  detonated,  and 
about  forty  officers  and  men  of  the  Imperial  Guard 
weie  killed.  The  Emperor,  the  Grand  Dukes  and 
other  members  of  the  family  would  have  shared  the 
same  death  had  not  their  dinner,  for  some  unknown 
reason,  been  delayed  ;  on  those  few  minutes  hung 
the  fate  of  the  Romanoffs,  for  practically  the  whole  of 
the  family  were  assembled  on  that  evening,  except  the 
Grand  Duke  Constantine.  By  chance  he,  who  was 
always  suspected  of  being  a  "  Red  " — ^that  is,  secretly 
in  favour  of  revolution  or  a  more  liberal  regime — was 
staying  with  the  old  Governor  of  Cronstadt,  whom  I 
have  already  mentioned.  Curiously  enough,  on  this 
night  the  Grand  Duke's  coachman  died  suddenly ; 
ill-natured  people  say  that  he  was  aware  of  the  plot 
and  committed  suicide,  fearing  detection.  Nothing 
was  proved  against  the  Grand  Duke,  but  for  long  after- 
wards he  remained  under  suspicion  of  sympathy  with 
the  revolutionists.  Eventually,  being  in  disgrace  on 
account  of  his  "  advanced  "  opinions,  he  retired  to  his 
beautiful  palace  at  Pavlovsk,  near  Petrograd,  where 
he  died.  There  are  many  strange  and  mysterious 
enigmas  in  Russian  history,  and  his  attitude  through- 
out this  political  struggle  is  one  of  the  most  interesting. 
In  an  important  naval  centre  such  as  Cronstadt  the 
question  of  spies  is  naturally  often  to  the  front,  and 
for  some  reason  or  other  the  authorities  seem  to  fear 
women  more  than  men  in  this  connection.  The 
beautiful  heroine  of  one  of  Mr  Max  Pemberton's  tales 
was  a  woman  spy,  who,  in  order  to  seal  the  hero's 
mouth  regarding  the  secrets  she  stole,  was  married  to 


18         PETROGRAD  PAST  AND  PRESENT 

the  impressionable  young  officer  ;  he,  of  course,  helped 
her  to  escape  and  thus  saved  himself  and  his  fiancee 
from  lifelong  captivity.     But  this  character  was  purely 
imaginary,   whereas   I   knew   a    lady,   now   living   in 
London,  who  narrowly  missed  becoming  involved  in 
very  serious  trouble,  owing  to  a  perfectly  harmless  yet 
suspicious  curiosity.     She  had  been  invited  by  certain 
officers  to  come  on  board  their  cruiser  and  look  round, 
and,  accepting  the  courtesy  with  pleasure,  was  shown 
the  guns  and  their  mechanism.     When  in  one  of  the 
huge  turrets  she  innocently  inquired  if  it  "  moved  on 
a  pivot."     "  Pivot !  "  exclaimed  her  escort,  instantly 
alert,  "  what  do  you  know  about  pivots  ?  "     Thinking 
that  she  was  undoubtedly  a  spy  in  the  guise  of  a  simple 
English  tourist,  he  immediately  blew  a  wliistle,  and 
my  injudicious  friend  heard  the  tramp  of  armed  men 
hastening   down   the   steps   of   the    turret.     Without 
demanding   any   explanation,   the  officer   called   out : 
"  This  woman  is  a  spy  ;  arrest  her  at  once."     She  was 
being  taken  off  to  a  cell,  when  she  luckily  saw  the 
captain,  who,  she  knew,  understood  English.     In  great 
indignation  she  informed  him  that  his  "  fool  of  an 
officer  "  had  mistaken  her  for  a  spy  and  ordered  her 
arrest ;    moreover,  she  said   that   she  was  a  British 
subject  and  that  the  man  would  pay  dearly  for  the 
insult  unless  she  was  set  free  at  once.     The  captain, 
an  intelligent  and  travelled  seaman,  inquired  into  the 
matter,  and,  seeing  that  a  mistake  had  occurred,  ordered 
her  to  be  set  at  liberty.     Whether  the  officer  had 
received  instructions  to  arrest  all  inquisitive  persons, 
or  whether  his  imagination  had  been  heated  by  read- 
ing about   the  attractive   lady   spy   of   Cronstadt,   I 
cannot  say,   but  this  little  incident  shows  how  ex- 
tremely dangerous  it  is  to  betray  even  a  slight  know- 
ledge of  technical  matters  in  Russia,  given  certain 
surroundings. 

My  first  lessons  in  the  Russian  language  were  given 


'O 


CRONSTADT,  THE  KEY  OF  PETROGRAD    19 

me  by  a  handsome  young  artillery  officer  who  hailed 
from  the  Baltic  Provinces.  Although  of  German 
blood,  he  was  very  hostile  to  the  Germans,  and  looked 
forward  to  the  day  when  Russia  and  Prussia  (as  he 
called  Germany)  should  cross  swords  and  pay  off  old 
scores.  His  feelings,  however,  underwent  a  great 
change  after  the  Russianising  of  the  University  of 
Dorpat  and  the  closing  of  many  ancient  schools  in  the 
Baltic  Provinces — some  of  wliich  dated  from  Han- 
seatic  times  and  the  Middle  Ages.  These  and  other 
attempts  to  Russianise  the  "  Baiter,"  as  the  inhabit- 
ants of  the  Provinces  are  called,  so  embittered  him 
that  he  informed  me  that  should  the  Prussians  march 
into  that  district  he  and  thousands  of  his  countrymen 
would  welcome  them  with  open  arms. 

The  Admiral  of  the  Fleet  at  Port  Arthur,  who  com- 
manded the  ill-fated  Petropavlovsk,  wliich  went  down 
with  its  brave  captain  and  the  gifted  artist,  Verest- 
chagin,  was  another  resident  of  Cronstadt.  I  never 
met  Admiral  Makarieff,  but  shortly  after  his  death  I 
encountered  hiS  handsome  wife  and  daughter.     It  was 

<  he  who  designed  the  remarki.blc  ice-breaker  Ermak, 
which  keeps  Cronstadt,  Libau,  Reval  and  other  Baltic 
harbours  open  for  a  month  longer  each  winter  than 
was  possible  before  its  construction.  Those  who 
journey  to  Russia  by  sea  in  the  spring  will  often  see 
this  powerful  vessel  pounding  her  way  through  ice- 
floes and  cutting  a  navigable  channel  for  the  traffic. 
Built  by  Armstrongs'  of  Newcastle,  the  Ermak  is 
capable    of    ploughing    through    ice    eighteen    inches 

'  thick  at  a  speed  of  eight  knots.  It  is  a  fascinating 
sight  to  watch  the  horses,  sledges  and  men  close  to  her, 
perfectly  safe  on  the  firm  surface,  while  she  breaks  a 
passage  for  ships ;  the  ice,  in  fact,  will  bear  a  railway 
{rain  and  its  locomotive  without  giving,  and  by  this 
expedient  of  a  temporary  line  the  winter  loading  of 
ships  i&  frequently  facihtated. 


20        PETROGRAD  PAST  AND  PRESENT 

"  Little  Siberia  "  was  not  without  its  compensations 
for  English  exiles,  chilly  though  its  surroundings  may 
seem  to  those  familiar  only  with  more  temperate 
realms.  When  harbours  and  roads  and  the  Gulf  of 
Finland  were  frozen  for  hundreds  of  miles  like  a  sheet 
of  solid  glass,  we  young  men  would  sally  forth  with 
skates  and  cover  immense  distances  in  the  utmost 
exhilaration.  So  transparent  is  the  ice  that  the  fish, 
and  rocks  at  the  bottom,  fathoms  deep,  can  be  clearly 
^een.  At  other  times  we  would  charter  an  ice-yacht 
and  skim  along  the  smooth  surface  with  arrowy  speed 
to  some  destination  where  a  good  supper  and  a  cheery 
samovar  was  ready  to  greet  us.  If  the  Gulf  chance 
to  be  covered  with  snow,  sledging  parties  would  be 
arranged  to  Oranienbaum,  the  fine  summer  resort 
opposite  Cronstadt  and  the  seat  of  the  Grand  Duchess 
of  Mecklenburg  ;  or  we  might  sledge  half  the  distance 
to  Petrograd,  shooting  podoroshnikee  (snow-birds)  on 
the  journey.  At  the  half-way  house  the  inner  man 
could  be  refreshed  with  koroschke,  a  kind  of  smelt, 
almost  straight  from  the  fishing  holes  of  the  frozen 
Gulf.  Duck  and  snipe  were  plentiful  in  the  marshes, 
and  in  the  season  I  have  spent  many  a  peaceful  night 
with  my  boatman,  the  faithful  Ivan  lonoff,  after  these 
birds,  waiting  until  dawn  flushed  the  sky.  Then  the 
wild  duck  began  to  emerge  from  their  reedy  nooks, 
where  they  lay  during  the  hours  of  darkness,  and  with 
the  sharp  report  of  the  guns  our  long  vigil  was  re- 
warded with  a  brace  or  more  of  plump  victims.  I 
have  seen  the  snow-white  ice,  in  early  spring,  blackened 
with  thousands  of  these  birds.  If  it  would  seem  that 
the  long  waiting  must  be  tedious,  spent  in  our  fragile 
dug-out  canoe  (tchelnock)  made  from  a  single  log,  there 
are  the  exquisite  sunsets  and  sunrises  to  set  off  the 
account.  Tea  from  a  simmering  samovar  at  sunrise 
on  the  marshes  is  an  experience  to  be  treasured  in  the 
memory.     On  one  occasion  I  nearly  lost  my  life  in  a 


CRONSTADT,  THE  KEY  OF  PETROGRAD  21 

quicksand  when  tracking  a  bittern  which  I  had  winged, 
but  not  killed.  In  my  hurry  to  secure  it  I  became  half 
submerged,  and  had  it  not  been  for  the  good  Ivan,  who 
risked  his  life  to  save  me,  these  reminiscences  would 
certainly  not  have  been  written.  The  bittern,  which 
I  found  at  last,  nearly  pecked  my  eye  out  in  its  fury, 
so  the  adventure  on  the  whole  was  not  one  of  my  most 
distinguished. 

There  were  other  dangers  of  a  totally  different 
character.  Sometimes  while  we  were  busy  in  the 
marshes  the  spent  bullets  from  the  rifle-butts  would 
come  whizzing  past  our  heads,  and  it  occurred  to  me 
that  many  of  the  Russian  soldiers  must  have  been 
shockingly  bad  shots  ! 

In  the  evenings  other  pleasures  were  accessible — 
those  of  the  dance  and  masquerade,  where  the  Polish 
mazurka  and  the  polka  were  given  with  the  animation 
and  abandon  which  one  can  only  find  in  Russia — the 
home  of  the  dance  and  the  ballet. 


Ill 

A   ZEALOT   OF   CRONSTADT 

At  that  time  the  city  of  Cronstadt  was  the  home  of 
a  very  remarkable  man,  whose  fame  spread  over  all 
the  land — Father  Sergius,  popularly  known  as  Otetz 
Johann,  or  Father  John,  as  I  shall  call  him.  He  was 
born  in  the  village  of  Sursk,  Archangel,  in  1829,  and 
completed  his  education  at  the  Petersburg  Ecclesi- 
astical Seminary.  In  1855  he  was  appointed  as  one 
of  the  priests  in  the  Cathedral  of  St  Andrew,  Cronstadt, 
and  it  is  now  more  than  fifty  years  since  the  young 
man  turned  to  the  people  and  expounded  the  great 
commandment :  "  Love  your  neighbour."  For  about 
half-a-century  he  consistently  endeavoured  to  carry 
out  the  precept  by  dedicating  his  whole  life  to  the 
doing  of  good  to  the  thousands  round  him,  no  matter 
how  degraded  their  condition.  At  the  beginning  of 
his  ministry,  when  his  means  were  of  the  scantiest, 
this  good  man  gave  to  the  poor  almost  all  his  stipend, 
contenting  himself  with  bare  necessaries,  but  after- 
wards, when  his  fame  had  reached  throughout  the 
Empire,  money  was  sent  to  him  from  all  parts  to  spend 
as  he  thought  fit.  Year  by  year  these  contributions 
increased  in  number  and  value,  until  "  The  Saint  of 
Cronstadt  "  was  able  to  undertake  works  of  charity 
beyond  his  wildest  expectations.  I  have  known  him 
to  receive  in  one  day  thousands  of  roubles,  and  to  give 
them  all  away  by  the  evening.  Such  inordinate 
charity  naturally  induced  many  sturdy  vagabonds, 
called  Pasadsky,  to  settle  in  the  town  and  exploit  the 
priest's  generosity  to  a  shameful  extent.  But  this 
was  not  for  long,  and  when  Father  John  established 

22 


A  ZEALOT  OF  CRONSTADT  23 

his  workhouses,  or  homes  for  "  lovers  of  labour  " — as 
he  termed  the  lazy  incompetents — they  did  not  trouble 
him  so  much. 

The  unbounded   veneration  of  the  people  for  this 
good  man  arose  from  the  fact  that  he  was  not  only  a 
priest,  but  a  teacher,  a  preacher,  a  benefactor  and  a 
clever  organiser  and  stimulator  of  labour  among  the 
lowest  dregs   of  humanity,  many  of  whom   he  lifted 
to  their  feet  when  all  hope  of  redemption  had  been 
abandoned.     Many  would  consider  his  charity  beyond 
reason.     With  an  income  amounting  to  many  thou- 
sands of  pounds  a  year,  Father  John  seldom  had  a 
spare  rouble  in  his  pocket  for  the  needs  of  to-morrow. 
I  have  been  told  that  he  had  been  known  to  give  away 
entire  bucketfuls  of  roubles,  the  contents  uncounted, 
to  the  consternation  of  the  donors  and  the  horror  of 
his  wife,  who  could  not  soar  to  such  heights  of  altruism. 
In  every  village  he  was  spoken  of,  and  rich  and  poor, 
nobles  and  peasants  travelled  hundreds  of  miles  to  see 
him.     His    portrait   was   in   scores   and   hundreds   of 
dwellings,    by  those   of   the   Emperor  and   Empress. 
Hardly  a  minute   passed  when  he  was  not  pestered 
on  all  sides,  and  he  continually  received  letters  and 
telegrams  from  those  who  believed  in  him.     In  these 
all  kinds  of  requests  were   made — he  was  asked  to 
administer  the   Sacrament,  to  heal  the  sick,  to  visit 
the  hospitals  and  to  perform  many  duties  of  similar 
character.      On   his  arrival  at  the  pier  in  Petrograd 
by  the  Cronstadt  steamer  I  used  to  see  Father  John 
surrounded  by  swarms  of  droshky-drivers,  each  one 
anxious   that  the   holy  man  should   honour  him  by 
riding    in    his    conveyance.     In    Cronstadt    he    could 
scarcely  go  into  the  street  without  being  followed  by 
crowds,  and  whenever  he  attended  service  he  was  the 
centre  of  a  throng,  some  of  whom  begged  alms,  while 
others  strove  to  kiss  his  hands  or  seized  the  hem  of  his 
long  clerical  robe.     On  these  occasions  he  would  make 


24        PETROGRAD  PAST  AND  PRESENT 

the  sign  of  the  cross,  and  take  from  his  purse  a  few  of 
the  coins  with  which  his  admirers  so  plentifully  supplied 
him.  Many  of  the  requests  of  the  people  no  human 
being  could  fulfil — it  was  a  troublesome  role,  that  of  a 
saint  ! 

Father  John  had  a  great  passion  for  observing 
strictly  the  customs  of  the  primitive  Christian  Church  ; 
he  carried  on  divine  service  in  the  manner  of  the  early 
Christians,  and  all  the  congregation  joined  in  the 
singing — not  a  general  practice  in  the  Russian  churches, 
where  it  is  usually  confined  to  the  choir. 

Most  of  the  common  people  believed  that  he  could 
perform  miracles.     This,  however,  he  did  not  profess 
to  do  ;    he  said  his  healings  were  by  the  power  of 
prayer.     It  may  seem  incredible  to  some,  but  there  is 
no  doubt  that  many  sick  persons  were  cured  by  this 
remarkable  man  ;  whether  it  was  the  power  of  faith 
— the  mind  working  on  the  body  for  its  benefit — is 
not  easy  to  say.    The  fact  remains,  and  in  consequence 
his  reputation  grew  by  leaps  and  bounds.     Whatever 
opinions  may  be  held  as  to  his  gifts,  he  was  no  ordinary 
man,  for  had  he  been  of  average  calibre  he  could  never 
have  acquired  such  vast  influence — ^not  only  over  the 
people,  but   even  over  their  rulers.     The  Tsar  Alex- 
ander III.  had  a  great  opinion  of  this  worthy  priest, 
and  it  is  believed  that  he  expired  in  Father  John's 
arms.     The  present  Tsar  also  used  frequently  to  send 
for  Father  John  and  ask  his  advice  on  various  questions 
relating  to  the  people,  as  he  was  gifted  with  strong 
common-sense,  and  understood  the  simple  moujik  as 
well  as  any  man.     Had  the  Tsar  been  more  amenable 
to  this  guidance,  we  should  probably  never  have  seen 
a   large   portion   of!  Russia   ablaze   with  the   fires   of 
revolution,   for  what  Father  John  said   was    law  to 
millions  of  the  Orthodox  in  all  parts  of  the  land. 

The  belief  in  "  The  Saint  of  Cronstadt "  extended 
even  to  other  and  foreign  members  of  the  community. 


o  z 


A  ZEALOT  OF  CRONSTADT  25 

I  have  known  many  instances  of  English  and  Germans, 
when  seriously  ill,  sending  for  him  because  ordinary 
sources  of  help  had  failed. 

Father  John  contributed  towards  the  erection  of 
many  beneficent  institutions,  but  it  can  hardly  be  said 
that  his  influence  had  in  it  anything  of  a  progressive 
tendency.  With  all  his  Orthodox  Christianity  he 
could  not  overcome  his  inborn  national  antipathy  for 
the  Jews,  and  when  the  horrible  riots  occurred  at 
Kjsheneff  he  did  not  condemn  these  fanatical  and 
barbarous  outrages  as  a  follower  of  Christ  should  have 
done.  Naturally  this  attitude  did  not  affect  his 
popularity  with  the  lower  classes,  as,  being  sprung 
from  the  peasantry,  he  thus  showed  that  he  was  not 
above  their  narrow  prejudices.  He  and  his  followers 
at  last  became  a  nuisance  to  the  authorities.  Many 
flocked  from  the  south  of  Russia,  a  thousand  miles  or 
more  away,  to  Cronstadt,  in  order  to  pay  him  divine 
honours,  believing  him  to  be  an  incarnation  of  Christ, 
who,  according  to  the  peasantry,  comes  upon  earth  at 
stated  intervals  in  the  person  of  some  good  man.  Of 
course  this  was  too  much  for  the  Government  officials, 
and  often  the  credulous  moujiks  were  locked  up  by  the 
unbelieving  police  of  Cronstadt.  On  the  latter  inquir- 
ing how  the  prisoners  could  be  so  wicked  as  to  worship 
a  sinful  man  like  themselves,  they  used  to  reply  :  "  The 
sin  is  not  ours,  but  of  the  other  people  of  Cronstadt." 
"  How  could  you  live  so  many  years  with  such  a  good 
man  in  your  midst  and  not  worship  him  ?  "  Nothing 
could  be  said  in  answer  to  these  naive  remonstrances ; 
nothing  could  be  done  but  send  the  superstitious  ones 
home  to  their  own  villages.  But  this  did  not  help, 
and  the  Father  had  to  travel  thousands  of  miles  to  put 
an  end  to  this  new  phase.  Among  the  places  he  visited 
on  this  mission  was  a  village  in  the  government  of 
Kostroma,  where  a  peasant  named  Artamonoff  conse- 
crated a  chapel  to  "  the  most  glorious  fellow-champion, 


26        PETROGRAD  PAST  AND  PRESENT 

Johann  Elias  Sergius  in  the  Trinity  "  ! !  On  hearing  of 
this,  Father  John  hastened  to  convince  the  people  of 
their  error,  going  from  village  to  village,  tearing  down 
the  icons,  images  of  himself,  which  the  peasants  were 
worshipping.  Arriving  at  one  place,  he  went  straight 
to  the  church  belonging  to  the  sectarians,  who  were 
adoring  his  own  icon,  and  explained  to  them  what  a 
great  sin  they  committed  by  regarding  him  as  a  saint. 
"  I  am  just  as  sinful  a  man  as  all  others,"  he  said. 
"  Therefore  pray  to  God  to  forgive  you."  He  then 
read  texts  from  the  Scriptures,  besought  them  to  give 
up  their  heresy  and  to  repent.  For  a  long  time  the 
sectarians  listened  to  the  oration  in  silence,  then,  after 
a  pause,  one  exclaimed  :  "  Forgive  us,  Little  Father — 
forgive  us,  accursed  ones  !  "  while  others  fell  on  their 
knees,  weeping,  not  daring  to  look  up  into  his  face. 
The  Russian  correspondent  who  describes  the  incident 
says  :  "  Father  John  regarded  these  ignorant  men  long 
and  sorrowfully,  who  through  ignorance  had  fallen  into 
error.  On  leaving  them  he  exclaimed  :  '  Pray  ardently 
before  the  throne  of  the  Almighty,  that  He  forgive 
your  great  sin  before  Him  !  '  " 

Many  a  time  have  I  met  the  priest  pacing  the  broad 
streets  of  Cronstadt,  surrounded  by  a  throng  of 
wretched  beggars  and  ne'er-do-wells,  all  hoping  that 
he  would  bring  some  happiness  into  their  darkened 
lives  or  at  least  temporarily  relieve  their  wants  by  a 
shower  of  copper  coins.  Finally,  I  became  so  inter- 
ested in  this  mediaeval  survival  that  I  ventured  to  call 
on  the  priest  at  his  residence  near  the  cathedral.  I 
found  his  ante-room  full  of  religious  humbugs  and 
parasites,  busy  extracting  large  fees  from  all  who 
wished  to  see  him.  They  demanded  two  or  three 
roubles  for  each  interview  with  the  Father,  whom  I 
could  see  if  I  would  wait  a  quarter  of  an  hour.  I  was 
so  disgusted  at  the  mercenary  spirit  of  these  hangers- 
on  that  I  immediately  quitted  the  house,  and  never 


A  ZEALOT  OF  CRONSTADT  27 

entered     it     again.      These     unscrupulous     wretches 
eventually  exploited  Father  John's  adherents  to  such 
an  extent  that  the  Government  was  compelled  to  inter- 
fere and  abolish  some  of  the  sects  that  were  founded 
in  his  honour.     The  Johannites,  as  they  termed  them- 
selves,  went   into   all  sorts   of  absurdities,   seriously 
announcing  that  he  was  God's  own  Father,  descended 
from  heaven  in  human  shape  ;    one  woman  posed  as 
the  Mother  of  God,  and  another  person  claimed  to  be 
the  Archangel  Gabriel.     According  to  their  teachings, 
only  Johannites  could  be  saved — other  mortals  were 
possessed  by  evil  spirits.     Their  principles  were  simple 
and  very  practical — viz.  in  order  to  be  saved  people 
should  sell  all  their  worldly  possessions,  but  should  not 
give  the  proceeds  to  the  poor,  but  to  the  monasteries 
or  religious  houses  of  the  sect.     Evidently  the  inten- 
tion of  the  leaders  of  this  new  movement  was  to  gather 
in  as  much  earthly  dross  as  possible ;   they  traded  on 
the  good  name  of  Father  John,  and  on  the  various 
"Mothers  of  God  "  and  "  Archangels  "  who  now  began 
to  spring  up  like  mushrooms  in  this  hotbed  of  super- 
stition.    Before   the    police   suppressed   this   harmful 
activity  there  were   thirteen    Johannite    monasteries 
in  Petrograd  alone.     It  was  in  the  country,  however, 
among    the    millions    of    simple,    illiterate    peasants, 
who  still  live  under  mediaeval  conditions,  that  the 
Johannites  reaped  their  richest  harvests.     The  most 
devoted   and   fanatical  teachers  and   preachers  were 
chosen  and  sent  to  the  governments  of  the  interior, 
where  they  employed  every  art  to  capture  the  masses. 
Their  methods  were  as  follows : — After  they  had  con- 
vinced their  victims  of  the  divine  origin  of  the  so-called 
"  Saint,"  and  inspired  in  them  a  mysterious  terror  of 
damnation   and   the   wiles    of    the    Evil    One    which 
threatened  all  who  were  not  of  their  faith,  the  preachers 
began  to  occupy  themselves  in  more  practical  ways. 
The  faithful  were  induced  to  sell  all  their  land  and 


28        PETROGRAD  PAST  AND  PRESENT 

goods  and  to  set  out  for  Petrograd,  together  with 
their  famihes,  and  take  up  their  abode  in  one  of  the 
reHgious  houses.  Once  immured  thus,  they  came 
imder  the  domination  of  various  impostors,  "  arch- 
angels "  and  so  on,  who  robbed  them  of  their  last 
copeck.  The  only  resource  of  the  impoverished 
victims,  after  this  process  of  fleecing,  was  to  remain 
in  the  monastery,  absolutely  in  the  power  of  the  prior 
and  prioress.  Many  shameful  injustices  and  exactions 
were  thus  inflicted  on  the  deluded  people,  but  Father 
John,  whose  name  was  simply  used  as  an  attraction 
and  an  excuse,  cannot  be  held  responsible.  According 
to  his  lights,  he  was  an  honest,  consistent  Christian, 
whose  simplicity  was  traded  upon  by  wretches  who 
were  incapable  of  understanding  his  goodness  or  his 
faith. 

Father  John  died  as  he  had  lived,  striving  to  the  last 
for  the  people's  welfare.  As  with  all  that  is  human, 
he  was  not  perfect,  and  he  was  steeped  in  the  super- 
stition of  the  class  from  which  he  rose  ;  but  it  is  not 
for  us,  who  have  advantages  that  were  denied  to  him, 
to  criticise  a  man  who  usually  did  more  good  in  a 
month  than  most  of  us  do  in  our  lifetime. 


IV 

SOME  CRONSTADT  CHARACTERS 

Some  few  years  ago  a  talented  English  novelist 
delighted  his  public  by  writing  a  story  founded  on  an 
imaginary  Cronstadt,  which  existed  only  in  his  fertile 
brain.  Being  no  novelist,  I  can  give  no  such  soul- 
harrowing  picture  of  this  gateway  of  the  Russian 
Empire.  Whatever  people  may  say  of  the  town — and 
some  have  said  most  unpleasant  things — it  will  always 
be  associated  in  my  mind  with  the  saddest,  and  also 
with  some  of  the  happiest,  hours  of  my  life.  Here  I 
made  the  close  friendship  of  one  of  the  most  lovable 
principals — a  fiery,  happy,  honourable  man,  of  Welsh 
descent,  whose  influence  over  me  was  for  my  good. 
Here,  in  contrast,  a  severe  chill  nearly  terminated  my 
career,  and  sent  me  wandering  all  over  Russia  and 
Europe  in  search  of  health,  or  of  relief  from  the  malady 
that  remained. 

The  English  chaplain,  whose  memory  will  always  be 
cherished  by  all  who  knew  him,  was  one  of  my  best 
friends.  In  the  comfortable,  solidly  built  vicarage 
of  the  Russian  Company  he  used  to  keep  open  house, 
dispensing  hospitality  "  like  a  fine  old  English  gentle- 
man, all  of  the  olden  time,"  and  in  the  whole  English 
colony  it  would  have  been  hard  to  find  a  warmer- 
hearted  or  more  talented  man.  There  seemed  to  be 
nothing  our  chaplain  could  not  do.  Father  O'Elynn 
was  not  to  be  compared  to  him,  although  both 
were  genial  Irishmen — genuine  sons  of  Erin.  Father 
M'Swiney  could  take  tea  with  the  ladies,  dance  and 
troll  out  a  good  song  ;  he  was  a  splendid  artist,  and 
the  beautiful  altar-piece  of  the  Crucifixion  in  the 
29 


80        PETROGRAD  PAST  AND  PRESENT 

English  chapel  at  Cronstadt  is  one  of  many  worthy- 
products  of  his  busy  brush.  As  a  linguist  he  was 
extraordinary ;  he  spoke  Russian,  German,  French 
and  his  own  native  Irish  tongue  with  equal  facility, 
and  was  an  excellent  Latin  and  Greek  scholar.  As  a 
former  officer  in  the  King's  navy,  and  a  fine  sailor,  he 
dearly  loved  a  fight,  and  sometimes  would  "  let  off 
steam  "  by  removing  his  black  coat  and  thrashing 
any  of  the  hulking  giant  carters  whom  he  caught  ill- 
treating  their  poor  horses — for  he  had  the  courage  of  a 
lion.  When  complaints  of  the  strange  proceedings  of 
the  English  pastor  were  made  to  the  Governor,  they 
were  dismissed  with  a  chuckle,  and  the  exclamation  : 
"  Never  mind  him — he  is  an  Englishman,  and  cannot 
help  being  a  bit  mad  !  "  Occasionally  our  chaplain 
would  have  arguments  with  the  Governor,  and  once 
told  him  that  if  any  news  of  preparations  against  his 
Majesty's  navy  came  to  his  ears,  he  should  consider  it 
his  duty  to  report  them.  The  Governor  was  not  at 
all  disturbed  by  tliis  outburst ;  he  knew  that  whatever 
the  excitable  Irishman  might  say,  he  would  never 
abuse  hospitality  or  act  meanly  in  any  way.  His 
two  sons,  who  were  descendants  of  one  of  Nelson's 
admirals,  were  chips  of  the  old  block ;  both  died 
high  in  the  service  of  their  country,  one  as  a  colonel, 
the  other  as  a  major. 

On  his  retirement,  pensioned,  he  was  succeeded  by 
a  saintly  scholar,  an  intimate  friend  and  co-worker  of 
the  great  Canon  Farrar,  and  collaborator  in  the  Life 
of  St  Paul.  But  as  most  readers  are  probably  more 
interested  in  sinners  than  in  saints,  I  will  not  describe 
this  worthy  man.  Our  last  chaplain  was  the  Rev. 
Father  R.,  who  as  a  young  "  blood  "  had  run  through 
a  fortune  of  £20,000  at  his  university  town ;  he 
then  became  a  Cowley  monk,  and  afterwards  entered 
another  branch  of  the  Church.  In  appearance  he  was 
a  typical  Friar  Tuck,  tall,  boisterous,  with  a  head  as 


SOME  CRONSTADT  CHARACTERS  31 

bare  as  a  billiard-ball  and  a  voice  like  a  bull ;   neither 
saint  nor  scholar,  he  was  yet  thoroughly  up  in  the 
classics,  and  had  a  heart  of  gold.     He  could  preach 
like  a  Savonarola,  when  stirred  by  pity  or  indignation, 
but  his  great  delight  seemed  to  be  in  hearty  drinking 
and  the  telling  of  yarns — some  of  which  were  perhaps 
of  a  racy  tendency  ;    his  laughter  shook  the  rafters  of 
the  vicarage.     This,  of  course,  shocked  many  of  the 
"  unco'  guid  "  folk,  who  did  not  understand  him.     At 
times,  when   his  congregation  consisted  of  a  solitary 
captain,  he  would  slap  his  audience  on  the  shoulder 
and   whisper :    "  Don't   stay    here    listening   to   me — 
come  into  the  vicarage  and  have  a  glass  of  whisky  !  " 
The  captain  missed — or  did  not  miss — an  indifferent 
sermon,  but  would  be  treated  to  an  excellent  supper 
and  some  good  liquor,  and  would  "go  home  blessing  the 
chaplain  of  Cronstadt,  who  comprehended  so  well  the 
weaknesses  and  wants  of  a  sailor-man  !     All  this  may 
not  have  been  strictly  clerical,  but  it  pleased  the  old 
salts  who  came  from  every  part  of  the  British  Empire, 
and  was  possibly  more  effective  than  the  methods  of 
his  predecessor,  who,  endeavouring  to  win  our  sailors 
from  their  temptations  of  "  wine,  women  and  song," 
substituted    for    these    attractions    chess,    draughts, 
books  and  tea  !     The  proclivities  of  the  old  sea-dogs 
could  not  be  changed  by  such  mild  relaxations,  and 
our  Friar  Tuck,  who  would  have  given  his  last  coin 
to   help   anyone   in   distress,   was   perhaps   the   more 
acceptable  exponent  of  religion  in  this  peculiar  sphere. 
These  remarks  concerning  the  last  man  who  held  this 
position  in  Cronstadt  may  not  be  out  of  place,  as  the 
chaplaincy  has  been  done  away  with,  and  the  church  and 
vicarage,  which  I  knew  so  intimately,  have  been  sold  to 
the  followers  of  Father  John,  the  Saint  of  Cronstadt.^ 

^  The  Rev.  Father  R.  is  now  no  more,  and  died,  missed  by  hundreds 
who  remember  his  kind  heart  and  generous  nature.  He  has  left  a  family 
far  from  well  provided  for. 


32         PETROGRAD  PAST  AND  PRESENT 

Our  population  of  50,000  included  the  garrison  of 
40,000,    and     among    these    artillerymen,     infantry, 
marines  and  sailors  there  were  many  characters  who 
would  have  adorned  the  pages  of  Gogol's  notable  satire 
on  Russian  official  life,  Revisor.     The  sudden  reform- 
ing zeal  of  the  police-master,  who  shortly  after  his 
appointment  became  a  strong  supporter  of  the  temper- 
ance movement,  was  therefore  hardly  appreciated  by 
these  devotees  of  Mars,  Venus  and  Bacchus.     Most  of 
all  was  he  unpopular  with  the  publicans  and  sinners, 
who  in  Russia  keep  the  irakters  (tea-shops),  beer  and 
wine   shops  and   hotels.     In   order  to   impress  upon 
them  the  excellence  and  beauty  of  temperance,   he 
would  make  unexpected  raids,  declaring  that  it  was  a 
sin  that  there  should  be  so  many  public-houses,  and 
that  it  was  sacrilege  that  wine-shops  should  exist  so 
near  the   cathedral   and   holy  buildings  ;   they   must 
be  closed.     The  proprietors  were  privately  informed, 
however,  that  if  they  would  give  two  or  three  thousand 
roubles  to  the  new  temperance  movement  they  would 
be  forgiven,   and  their  establishments  would  be  re- 
opened !     In  this  manner  the  wily  police-master  soon 
amassed  a  large  fortune.     But  his  career  came  to  an 
abrupt  end.     As  Cronstadt  is  in  constant  communica- 
tion   with    Petrograd,   close    at    hand,    news    of    his 
activity  reached  the  authorities.     An  inspector  was 
sent  from  the  Department  of  State  Control,  and  in  due 
course   our  energetic  police -master   disappeared   into 
the  wilds  of   Siberia.     His  successor  was  no  better. 
This   upholder   of   law    and    order   not    only   fleeced 
merchants   and    publicans,    but    actually   robbed   the 
police  and  fire  brigade  men  of  their  beds,  and  sold 
their  clothes  to  enrich  his  own  pockets.     Under  his 
rule  I  saw  men,  when  arrested,  call  to  the  crowd  : 
"  Take  my  money,  comrades — I  have  fallen  into  the 
hands  of  the  police  !  "     Whereupon  the  victim  would 
throw  his  cash  among  the  people  in  the  hope  that  some 


SOME  CRONSTADT  CHARACTERS    33 

honest  soul  would  retain  a  portion  of  it,  being  also 
aware  that  once  it  was  secured  by  the  guardians  of 
the  law  he  was  not  likely  to  see  it  again.  This  all 
happened,  however,  when  vodka  reigned  supreme, 
and  the  State  monopoly  on  the  spirit  had  not  been 
abolished. 

Our  bank  director  was  another  person  of  original 
views  on  morals.  After  robbing  the  bank  and  feather- 
ing his  own  nest,  he  also  was  transported  to  Siberia, 
where  he  managed  to  pass  a  very  comfortable  exist- 
ence on  his  "savings"  and  "investments,"  although 
he  was  never  allowed  to  return  to  Russia.  As  the 
crimes  of  both  these  officials  were  non-political,  they 
had  comparative  freedom  in  their  new  homes,  being 
permitted  to  live  much  as  they  pleased.  In  Russia 
the  punishment  for  civil  offences  is  light,  but  political 
offenders  are  treated  with  the  utmost  severity.  It 
is  thus  far  safer  to  rob  a  bank,  or  even  to  kill  a  man, 
than  to  plot  against  the  Government  or  to  belong  to 
the  revolutionary  party.  Truly  "  Holy  Russia  "  is  a 
strange,  incomprehensible  land  ! 


THE  FOUNDING  OF  PETROGRAD 

The  capital  of  Russia  was  founded  by  that  barbaric 
genius,  Peter  the  Great,  in  honour  of  his  patron  saint. 
In  a  comparatively  short  span  of  time — a  little  over 
two  hundred  years — in  spite  of  a  mortality  that  has 
often  reached  thirty-five  per  thousand,  it  has  become 
one  of  the  largest  and  most  important  cities  of  Europe, 
capital  of  an  Empire  stretching  from  the  Gulf  of 
Finland  to  the  Pacific  Ocean. 

Long  before  Peter  took  it  in  hand,  it  was  the  site  of 
a  thriving  colony  of  the  merchants  of  Novgorod  the 
Great,  and  a  place  of  considerable  commerce.  Even 
before  the  conquest  the  Roos  and  Gothland  vikings 
from  Varjag  (Sweden)  used  to  come  down  the  Neva 
and  enter  Lake  Ladoga,  from  thence  finding  their  way 
to  Novgorod — the  old  name  of  which  was  Holmgard. 
Li  course  of  time  the  connection  of  the  Varangians 
on  the  eastern  shores  of  the  Baltic  with  their  kindred 
in  the  west  was  broken  off,  and  Novgorod  became  a 
powerful  independent  state,  with  territories  extending 
from  Lake  Ilman  to  the  White  Sea  and  eastward  to  the 
Ural  Mountains.  The  southern  shore  of  the  Finnish 
Gulf  was  also  a  part  of  the  great  possessions  of  this 
free  republic,  and  the  very  spot  on  which  Petrograd 
now  stands  was  a  portion  of  ancient  Russia,  inhabited 
by  heathen  Finns  and  a  few  Swedish  and  later  on 
Hanseatic  merchants.  Even  in  the  tenth  century  the 
shippers  of  Novgorod,  who  were  mostly  Norsemen, 
carried  on,  with  the  aid  of  the  Gothlanders,  and  subse- 
quently with  the  help  of  the  Hanseatic  traders,  a  lively 
intercourse  with  the  rest  of  Europe.     In  fact  it  was 

34 


THE  FOUNDING  OF  PETROGRAD         35 

by  the  Volga-Ilman-Ladogo-Neva  route  that  the  wares 
of  Central  Asia  were  brought  to  England,  long  before 
the  Conquest.  Peter,  although  a  descendant  of  those 
Muscovite  rulers  who  had  destroyed  the  prosperity  of 
that  great  republic,  was  such  an  admirer  of  Alexander 
Nevsky,  the  heroic  Grand  Duke  of  Novgorod,  that 
he  transferred  his  bones  with  ceremony  to  Petrograd, 
and  erected  a  splendid  monastery  on  the  spot  where 
they  finally  rested.  The  remains  of  the  quondam 
enemy  of  Muscovy  now  rest  beneath  a  shrine  of  silver 
about  two  tons  in  weight,  at  the  monastery  at  the 
end  of  the  Nevsky  Prospekt,  named  after  him. 

Petrograd  did  not  pass  into  the  hands  of  the 
Russians  without  many  a  sanguinary  struggle  on  the 
banks  of  the  swift  Neva.  In  one  of  these  crusades 
against  the  heretics,  by  order  of  the  Pope,  the  Swedes, 
under  their  famous  General  Berger  Jarl,  were  surprised 
by  Alexander  Nevsky  and  defeated  with  great  loss. 
This  battle,  which  took  place  on  the  banks  of  the  River 
Ishora,  a  tributary  of  the  Neva,  occurred  in  1240.  In 
1300  the  Swedes  again  managed  to  establish  them- 
selves and  to  build  a  fort  on  the  spot  where  the  Nevsky 
Monastery  now  stands.  The  name  of  this  fortress 
was  Landskrona,  but  before  long  it  was  destroyed  by 
the  Novgorodians,  who  would  not  on  any  account  give 
up  this  most  important  strategic  point.  In  the 
seventeenth  century,  after  the  destruction  of  Nov- 
gorod the  Great  by  Ivan  the  Terrible,  the  Tsar  and 
Grand  Duke  of  Moscow,  the  Swedes  once  more  for  a 
short  period  gained  possession  of  the  banks  of  the 
river,  and  built  another  defence  at  Ochta,  a  pretty 
spot  higher  up  the  stream  opposite  the  Smolna 
Monastery,  which  I  have  frequently  visited.  The 
name  of  this  new  fort  was  Ny-skantze.  It  soon  be- 
came the  centre  of  a  flourishing  town,  and  towards  the 
end  of  the  century  owned  more  than  a  hundred  ships. 
In  order  to  defend  the  source  of  the  river  the  Swedes 


36        PETROGRAD  PAST  AND  PRESENT 

built  still  another  powerful  fortress  at  Schliisselberg, 
called  Noteborg  and  by  the  Novgorodians  Oreshka 
(walnut) — a  suitable  name,  for  it  was  a  very  hard  nut 
to  crack  for  any  who  essayed  to  capture  it.  Schliissel- 
berg was  given  its  present  title  by  Peter  the  Great, 
who  delighted  in  calling  the  different  places  he  built 
by  German  and  Dutch  names,  to  the  scandal* of  his 
Muscovite  subjects,  who  even  in  those  days  detested 
everything  German  or  foreign. 

After  a  struggle  with  Sweden,  which  lasted  for 
twenty  years,  Peter  captured  Noteborg,  Ny-skantze 
and  other  strongholds,  but  not  mitil  Sweden  was  quite 
exhausted  and  only  her  old  mcii  and  boys  were  left  to 
continue  the  unequal  war  against  Russia  and  her  Allies 
— Poland,  Prussia,  Saxony,  Denmark  and  Norway. 
In  1703  Peter  firmly  established  himself  on  the  Neva, 
and  from  that  time  Sweden's  energies  waned,  until  she 
could  hardly  maintain  her  position  as  a  second-class 
power. 

On  29th  June  1703  Peter  laid  the  foundation  of  the 
new  capital  of  his  Empire,  to  the  disgust  of  the  Musco- 
vites, who  regarded  Petrograd  as  the  gatew^ay  of  the 
infernal  regions,  if  not  Hades  itself.  As  for  Peter, 
he  was  charmed  with  his  fresh  project,  and  often 
referred  to  the  place  as  his  paradise,  though  if  heaven 
be  such  a  place  as  this  was  when  he  founded  it,  many 
sinners  would  perhaps  prefer  to  be  condemned  to  the 
lower  spheres.  He  termed  it  the  "  window  looking 
into  Europe,"  and  worked  at  his  capital  with  that 
ferocious  energy  and  zeal  peculiar  to  his  nature. 
Nothing  was  allowed  to  stand  in  his  way  now  that  his 
mind  was  finally  centred  ;  not  the  forces  of  nature,  or 
the  lives  of  thousands  of  "  ordinary  mortals,"  could 
prevent  him  from  making  his  great  city.  The  Moscow 
party  might  rave,  the  priests  might  excommunicate 
him  and  fulminate  curses  against  him  as  Antichrist, 
but  he   replied   by  putting  them  into   dungeons  or 


THE  FOUNDING  OF  PETROGRAD    37 

cutting  off  their  heads.  When  his  only  son,  Alexis, 
the  tool  of  the  party  of  reaction,  stood  in  his  way,  he 
also  was  sacrificed  for  the  future  good  of  the  State,  just 
as  Brutus  sacrificed  his  two  sons  for  the  sake  of  Rome. 

The  stones  of  the  city  were  laid  with  great  ceremony. 
According  to  a  legend,  wliich  has  perhaps  been 
borrowed  from  Roman  history  for  the  occasion,  Peter 
cut  out  of  the  island  two  pieces  of  earth,  and  placed 
on  them  a  cross,  saying :  "  Here  shall  be  a  town  " — 
which,  with  a  man  of  his  character,  was  tantamount  to 
saying  that  the  towii  was  already  there.  At  that  very 
moment,  relates  the  legend,  an  eagle  appeared  in  the 
heavens.  Peter  then  dug  a  trench,  in  which  was 
deposited  a  stone  box  with  some  saintly  relics.  This 
was  covered  with  a  slab  bearing  an  inscription  relating 
to  the  founding  of  the  city.  The  eagle,  in  the  mean- 
time, interested  in  the  proceedings,  circled  round,  and 
at  last  settled  on  two  small  birch-trees  ;  it  was  then 
shot,  and  Peter  took  it  with  him  to  his  camp  at 
Schliisselberg.  The  Russian  Messenger,  the  first 
Russian  paper,  WTiting  about  this  event,  says  that 
"  his  Imperial  Highness  on  reaching  Petersburg 
ordered  a  new  and  more  convenient  fortress  to  be 
built.  In  it  were  six  bastions,  on  which  worked 
20,000  men.  This  fortress  was  that  kno^vn  as  the 
Peter  and  Paul,  so  situated  that  it  commands  both 
sides  of  the  city."  Thus  Peter  sat,  as  he  expressed  it, 
"  with  a  firm  foot  in  the  sea."  His  city  soon  rose 
from  the  forests  and  marshes  that  surrounded  it,  to 
the  astonishment  of  the  neighbouring  states  and  of  his 
own  orthodox,  conservative  subjects,  who  regarded 
the  Tsar  as  a  madman  and  as  Anticlirist,  whose  coming 
had  been  foretold  in  the  Bible. 

During  the  construction  of  the  town  the  Tsar  lived 
close  to  the  Peter  and  Paul  Fort,  in  a  little  house, 
which  I  believe  is  still  intact.  Wherever  he  went, 
Peter  erected  these  small  houses,  for  though  a  giant 


38         PETROGRAD  PAST  AND  PRESENT 

in  stature,  he  preferred  to  live  in  a  small,  stuffy 
cottage  rather  than  in  a  palace.  An  enterprising 
man  soon  opened  a  Hosteria,  as  he  called  it,  near  by, 
and  there  Peter  used  to  refresh  himself  with  brandy 
and  cayenne  pepper,  one  of  his  favourite  beverages. 
He  had  also  another  kabak  ("  pub ")  opposite  the 
Admiralty,  where  I  have  spent  many  an  hour  reading 
the  Russian  papers  and  endeavouring  to  learn  from 
them  what  was  happening  in  this  country. 

Nothing  seemed  to  check  Peter's  enthusiasm  or  to 
damp  his  energy,  not  even  a  terrible  inundation  which 
in  August,  1703,  converted  his  camp  into  a  marsh  and 
undermined  the  walls  of  his  newly  constructed  fortress. 
His  disappointment  was  more  than  compensated  for 
by  the  arrival  of  the  first  Dutch  vessel  in  "  Sankt- 
Peterboorgh,"  as  he  termed  his  town,  in  honour  of  the 
Dutch,  whom  he  so  greatly  admired.  To  impress  his 
people  with  the  importance  of  the  event,  he  himself 
steered  the  ship  up  the  Neva,  and  afterwards  gave 
the  captain  several  hundred  ducats,  treating  him  to 
cayenne  brandy,  schnapps  and  all  the  dainties  he 
could  think  of,  in  his  little  dwelling. 

The  work  did  not  proceed,  however,  with  sufficient 
speed  to  suit  the  Tsar's  ambition.  He  ordered 
merchants,  tradesmen,  landowners  and  masons  to  come 
forward,  under  heavy  penalties  if  they  disobeyed. 
They  came — cursing  Peter  and  his  outlandish  heretical 
ideas,  which  they  were  convinced  boded  no  good  to 
Holy  Russia.  Peter  promulgated  a  decree  in  1714 
that  all  building  in  stone  should  be  forbidden  through- 
out Russia,  the  punishment  of  disobedience  being 
ruin  and  exile  to  Siberia.  He  also  wrote  to  Prince 
Romanodoffsky  to  send  him  2000  thieves  and  robbers, 
and  to  collect  all  who  were  deported  to  Vologda  and 
Siberia  ;  thus  he  obtained  a  horde  of  workers.  The 
historian  who  quotes  the  letter  adds  that  this  is  not  a 
joke,  for  many  of  the  buildings  of  the  city  were  erected 


THE  FOUNDING  OF  PETROGRAD    39 

by  criminals.  By  such  heroic  methods  the  capital 
began  to  grow.  In  1704  there  were  15  houses ;  in 
1709,  150  ;  in  1714,  485.  It  is  estimated  that  on  the 
death  of  its  founder  the  city  contained  about  100,000 
inhabitants.  The  idea  of  placing  his  beautiful  capital 
on  this  marshy,  unhealthy  spot  of  quagmires  and  floods 
was  only  finally  decided  upon  after  the  battle  of 
Pultava,  when  Charles  XII.,  wounded  and  with  half 
his  army  lost  through  frost  and  cold,  was  defeated. 
After  the  death  of  Peter  there  was  a  regular  stampede 
of  all  those  who  did  not  wish  to  reside  in  the  "  earthly 
paradise."  But  when  Catherine  II.  succeeded  to  the 
throne  Petrograd  again  began  to  flourish,  for  she  was 
a  great  admirer  of  Peter,  and  erected  a  splendid  statue 
in  his  honour,  which  is  still  to  be  seen  facing  the 
Neva,  near  the  Isaac  Square. 

The  older  portion  of  the  city  is  the  Petersburg 
Storona,  or  Petersburg  Side,  behind  the  fortress,  low- 
lying  and  damp.  Formerly  this  part  was  inhabited 
by  the  poorer  classes,  but  it  has  now  become  quite  a 
fashionable  quarter,  with  many  handsome  streets  and 
fine  houses  built  in  that  solid  style  only  to  be  found  to 
perfection  in  northern  lands.  The  southern  portion 
of  the  Neva  bank,  now  populous,  has  been  enlarged 
only  within  recent  years.  Catherine  II.  probably  did 
more  for  the  beautifying  of  the  "  Northern  Palmyra," 
as  she  poetically  called  it,  than  any  other  monarch 
since  the  days  of  Peter.  Many  of  the  noblest  palaces 
owe  their  origin  to  her  liberality  and  love  of  archi- 
tecture. It  was  she  who  began  to  confine  the  unruly 
waters  of  the  Neva,  ever  striving  to  burst  their  bounds, 
with  those  miles  of  massive  granite  quays,  lacking 
which  the  river  would  lose  half  its  beauty  and  dignity. 
At  the  present  time  this  vast  city  of  magnificent 
distances  occupies  an  area  of  over  300  square  kilo- 
metres. 

The  whole  place  is  arranged  in  a  manner  reminis- 


40        PETROGRAD  PAST  AND  PRESENT 

cent  of  New  York,  especially  the  Vasilii  Ostroff  (Basil 
Island),  which  Peter  originally  intended  to  lay  out 
like  Amsterdam,  with  canals  and  lines  of  trees  along 
their  banks.  This  plan  was  subsequently  abandoned  ; 
the  canals  were  filled  up  and  converted  into  boulevards 
and  streets. 

Petrograd  of  to-day  is  not  only  a  residential  to^vn 
and  the  seat  of  Government ;  it  is  also  an  immense 
industrial  centre.  In  its  immediate  neighbourhood 
are  many  mills,  shipyards,  breweries  and  glass  works, 
giving  employment  to  some  hundreds  of  thousands  of 
men.  These  in  their  turn  give  a  good  deal  of  work  to 
the  police  and  to  the  secret  police,  who  are  constantly 
on  the  watch  to  put  down  any  revolutionary  or 
socialistic  tendencies  in  this  huge  population,  whose 
members,  since  the  influx  of  so  many  English,  German 
and  French  workmen,  have  become  "  tainted  with  the 
advanced  ideas  of  the  Rotten  West,"  as  the  officials 
picturesquely  express  it. 


VI 

THE   YOUTH   AND   GROWTH   OF    PETROGRAD,    WITH   SOME 
HISTORICAL   NOTES 

Petrograd,  to  use  the  words  of  Oostrajloff,  "arose 
under  the  cannon-shots  of  the  Swedes,"  who  were  con- 
stantly attacking  the  fortifications  while  the  town 
gradually  grew  amid  the  marshes.  One  of  the  hottest 
of  the  engagements  took  place  at  the  entrance  of  the 
river.  The  Swedish  ships,  taken  by  surprise,  were 
boarded  and  captured  by  Peter,  with  the  aid  of  a 
number  of  boats  and  galleys  under  his  own  command, 
and  he  was  very  proud  of  this  achievement.  The 
place  where  the  war  galleys  were  kept  is  near  a  low- 
lying  street  behind  the  English  church,  called  the 
Galemaja,  and  one  of  these  strange  craft — which  I 
believe  are  simply  a  copy  of  the  old  Venetian  war 
galleys — is  exhibited  every  year  on  the  Neva,  when 
this  victory  is  celebrated  with  great  ceremony. 

According  to  Russian  historians,  it  was  never  Peter's 
original  intention  to  build  so  near  the  mouth  of  the 
river.  All  his  energies  were  at  first  centred  on  the 
construction  of  a  fortress  commanding  the  outlet,  and 
a  port,  the  remains  of  which  are  still  to  be  seen,  known 
now  as  the  "  Gavan  "  (The  Haven).  Peter  III.,  the 
grandson  of  the  founder,  was  one  of  those  backsliders 
who  fled  from  the  city  at  the  death  of  Peter  the  Great ; 
he  returned  to  the  Kremlin,  the  home  of  his  Romanoff 
forefathers,  whose  mediaeval  house  still  exists  inside 
the  walls.  The  Empress  Elizabeth,  Peter's  grand- 
daughter, who  secretly  married  Count  Razumoffsky, 
was  no  more  faithful,  and  little  by  little  Petrograd 
became  emptier  and  emptier.  But  although  Elizabeth 
41 


42        PETROGRAD  PAST  AND  PRESENT 

preferred  to  live  outside  the  city,  she  took  great  pride 
in  its  improvement  and  enlargement,  and  it  was 
during  her  reign  that  the  architect  Rastrelli  not  only 
began  the  Winter  Palace — probably  the  finest  Imperial 
residence  in  Europe — but  completed  many  important 
public  buildings,  much  to  the  benefit  of  the  new 
capital. 

When  at  length  Catherine  II.  brought  back  her 
Court  in  all  its  splendour,  and  summoned  to  her  side 
many  of  the  brilliant  men  of  the  Continent,  the  old- 
fashioned  Muscovites  and  some  of  the  pleasure-loving 
nobles,  vegetating  on  their  estates  in  the  lonely 
provinces,  began  to  realise  Petrograd's  attractions. 
It  was  no  longer  necessary  to  compel  the  nobility  to 
reside  in  the  place  where  a  second  Zenobia  reigned. 
Many  of  their  own  free  will  flocked  thither,  and  soon  it 
became  one  of  the  gayest  and  most  popular  cities  in 
Russia.  At  this  time  the  population  numbered  about 
300,000.  Catherine  carried  out  Peter's  ideas  on  a 
scale  of  grandeur  that  even  his  colossal  mind  might 
have  shrunk  from,  for,  with  all  his  ambition,  Peter 
was  practical,  while  with  Catherine  extravagance  and 
vanity  were  the  ruling  passions.  Under  her,  Petro- 
grad  assumed  symmetry  and  beauty.  She  planted 
trees  along  the  banks  of  canals,  and  fell  in  love  with 
her  own  work,  and,  intent  upon  her  delightful  task, 
induced  many  eminent  men  to  settle  there  by  costly 
presents  of  money,  jewellery  and  watches.  Petro- 
grad,  during  her  reign,  was  divided  into  Police 
Quarters,  in  the  manner  of  Paris.  She  built  a  marble 
palace  for  her  favourite,  Gregory  Orloff,  who  obliged 
her  by  strangling  her  husband  and  thus  removing  the 
most  formidable  obstacle  to  her  ambition — which  was 
to  become  the  ruler  of  the  Russian  Empire,  from  the 
Baltic  to  the  Pacific.  It  was  no  longer  necessary  to 
issue  edicts  threatening  heavy  penalties  to  those  who 
refused   to   live   in   the   city.     It   grew  rapidly,  and, 


s    *= 


YOUTH  AND  GROWTH  OF  PETROGRAD     43 

though  far  from  healthy,  was  a  centre  for  such  as 
cared  for  gaiety,  intrigue,  dissipation  and  extrava- 
gance— ^all  of  which  Catherine  sedulously  encouraged, 
both  by  precept  and  example. 

Her  son,  Paul,  who  had  been  brought  up  under 
Prussian  ideals,  spent  most  of  his  time  in  erecting 
barracks,  drilling  halls,  hospitals,  churches  and  other 
buildings  ;  to  him  is  due  the  once  beautiful  Michael 
Palace,  now  called  the  Castle  of  the  Engineers.  The 
costly  work  of  encasing  in  granite  the  river's  banks, 
the  River  Fontanka  and  the  Catherine  Canal  was  also 
carried  out  regardless  of  labour  and  expense. 

Alexander  I.,  the  son  of  Paul,  who,  with  the  help  of 
the  Allies,  broke  the  power  of  Napoleon,  directed  his 
energies  to  the  outskirts  of  the  town.  He  improved 
the  sanitary  arrangements,  a  reform  which  was  sadly 
needed.  In  1814,  on  the  centenary  of  the  founding, 
he  formed  a  committee  to  consider  the  question  of  new 
hydraulic  works.  He  also  in  the  same  year  invited 
Daniel  Wheeler,  a  well-known  Quaker,  to  come  from 
England,  and  entrusted  him  with  the  arduous  task  of 
preparing  about  5000  acres  of  land  for  agricultural 
purposes.  Thanks  to  this  practical  old  Quaker,  Petro- 
grad  is  now  well  provided  with  market  gardens  and 
cabbage-fields — seen  at  their  full  extent  on  entering 
the  town  by  rail.  Victoria  strawberries  are  grown 
in  abundance  at  Pargolo,  Shoovalofva  and  other 
environs,  and  in  the  summer  months  are  very  cheap  ; 
apples,  pears,  raspberries  and  other  fruit  to  which  we 
are  accustomed,  however,  do  not  seem  to  thrive  in  the 
northern  climate  and  uncongenial  soil. 

Nicholas  I.  also  did  much  for  the  city.  During  his 
government  the  principal  streets  were  paved — more  or 
less  badly — and  the  divisions  of  the  place  were  jfixcd. 
Official  records  give  the  population  as  150,000  in  1759, 
308,000  in  1812,  and  580,000  in  1864 ;  at  the  present 
time  it  is  about  2,000,000. 


44    PETROGRAD  PAST  AND  PRESENT 

V  Petrograd  retains  even  now  its  reputation  for  un- 
•  healthiness,  but  by  the  enterprise  of  certain  members 
of  the  municipal  council  this  reproach  is  gradually 
being  removed.  It  used  to  be  so  unhealthy  that  it 
was  said  that  if  the  country  people  refrained  from 
coming  to  the  town  for  a  period  of  fifty  or  sixty  years 
the  place  would  be  deserted  completely ;  also  that  it 
was  only  due  to  the  "  unmarried  mothers  "  that  there 
was  any  increase  at  all.  Perhaps  it  is  for  this  reason 
that  Petrograd  is  so  plentifully  supplied  with  foundling 
hospitals,  without  which  probably  the  population 
would  never  have  attained  its  present  proportions, 
for  in  Russia,  as  in  France,  the  "  unmarried  mother  " 
is  often  a  benefactor  to  her  country,  even  though 
she  may  be  considered  a  nuisance  by  "  respectable  " 
society. 

For  administrative  purposes  the  city  is  divided  into 
twelve  parts  and  thirty -eight  subdivisions  (oocha- 
stocks),  each  small  portion  being  under  the  control 
of  a  police  officer  called  a  Nadzeratel.  The  chief 
quarters  are :  the  Vasileffskaja — ^the  favourite  re- 
sidences of  the  English,  German,  Dutch  and  foreign 
merchant  classes  are  here  ;  the  Wiborg  side,  on  the 
right  of  the  Neva ;  the  Great  Nevke,  inhabited 
principally  by  Finns ;  the  Kazan  quarter,  lying 
between  the  Moika,  Catherine  and  Krukoff  canals, 
devoted  mainly  to  business  and  shopping ;  the 
Kolomna  quarter,  between  the  Neva,  Fontanka  and 
Moika  canals  ;  the  Letenaja  ;  the  Moscow  quarter ; 
the  Narvsky  quarter ;  the  Petersburg  side ;  the 
Roshdestvenskaja  and  the  Spasskaja  quarters.  There 
are  also  four  others,  favourite  residential  resorts  owing 
to  their  salubrity  and  numerous  gardens  and  parks — 
the  Ljesnaja,  the  Peterhoff,  the  Polustroff  and  the 
Schliisselberg  quarter,  stretching  along  the  river  banks. 
The  Polustroff  quarter,  once  famous  for  iron  springs, 
is  part  of  the  old  Swedish  town  of  Nyshants.     It  is 


YOUTH  AND  GROWTH  OF  PETROGRAD     45 

situated  on  high  ground  and  is  a  healthy  district. 
Here  I  spent  many  pleasant  days  wandering  round  the 
grand  parks  or  drinking  the  waters  of  the  neighbouring 
iron  springs. 


Notes  on  the  House  of  Romanoff 

In  this  wgrk  such  frequent  reference  is  made  to  the 
Romanoff  dynasty  that  the  following  table  of  those 
who  have  reigned  since  the  founding  of  Petrograd  will 
be  useful  and  convenient.  The  emperors  and  em- 
presses of  this  house,  since  the  city's  inception,  are : 


Peter  the  Great  (son  of  the  Tsar  Alex- 

sjevitch)  ruled  from  .  .  .  1721- 

Catherine  I.,  his  widow    .  .  .  1725- 

Peter  II.,  Alexsjevitch     .  .  .  1727- 

Anna  I.,  Johanovna          .  .  .  1730- 

Johan    VI.,    Antonovitch    (who  perished 

in  Schllisselberg)        .  .  .  1740- 

Ehzabeth  I.,  Petrofna      .  .  .  1741- 

Peter  III.,  Theodorovitch  .  .  1761- 

Catherine  II.,  of  Anhalt  Zerbst  .  .  1762- 

Paul  I.,  Petrovitch            .  .  .  1796- 

Alexander  I.,  Pavlovitch  .  .  .  1801- 

Nicholas  I.,  Pavlovitch    .  .  .  1825- 

Alexander  II.,  Nicholaivitch  .  .  1855- 

Alexander  III.,  Alexandrovitch  .  .  1881- 

Nicholas  II.,  Alexandrovitch  .  20th  Oct. 


1725 
1727 
1730 
1740 

1741 
1761 
1762 
1796 
1801 
-1825 
1855 
-1881 
-189-f'. 
1894 


Peter  the  Great,  the  founder  of  Petersburg — now 
called  Petrograd — reigned  from  1682  to  1725.  Many 
of  the  palaces,  gardens,  canals  and  chief  buildings  were 
planned  and  finished  in  his  time.  Among  these  may 
be  mentioned  the  fortress,  built  in  1703,  the  Summer 
Palace,  1711,  the  Alexander  Nevsky  Monastery,  1715, 
and  the  college  or  university,  1722. 


46    PETROGRAD  PAST  AND  PRESENT 

Peter  was  succeeded  by  his  wife  and  former  mistress, 
Catherine  I.,  who  is  said  to  have  died  through  her 
fondness  for  confectionery,  some  which  she  took  being 
probably  poisoned. 

The  next  ruler  was  Peter  II.,  who  died  in  1730,  after 
an  uneventful  reign.  He  was  followed  by  the  pleasure- 
loving  Empress  Anna,  Duchess  of  Courland,  whose 
Court  became  noted  for  licentiousness  and  dissipation. 
The  Admiralty  and  the  third  Winter  Palace  were 
erected  in  her  period.  Under  her  the  secret  chancel- 
lery, a  court  resembling  our  notorious  Star  Chamber, 
was  installed,  governed  by  the  cruel  Biron,  her  hand- 
some favourite.  It  is  said  that  both  the  Empress  and 
he  took  a  great  personal  interest  in  watching  the  effect 
of  the  various  tortures  inflicted  in  this  hated  institu- 
tion. This  Empress,  whose  policy  was  influenced  by 
the  unscrupulous  Duke  of  Courland,  died  in  1740 ; 
the  Empress  Elizabeth  then  reigned  until  the  year 
1762.  She  was  secretly  married  to  Count  Razumoff- 
sky,  and  is  said  to  have  had  several  children  by  this 
courtier.  In  her  reign  the  present  Winter  Palace  was 
built  by  Rastrelli,  the  Summer  and  the  Anitchkoff 
palaces,  and  the  Cathedral  of  the  Smolna  Monastery. 

The  imfortunate  Peter  III.  followed,  husband  of 
Catherine  II.,  the  ambitious  German  Princess  Sophia 
Augusta  Frederica  of  Anhalt  Zerbst,  who,  after  the 
death  of  her  husband,  ruled  Russia  for  about  thirty 
years.  In  her  reign  many  extensive  works  were 
carried  out :  the  granite  embankments  of  the  Neva, 
by  Rinaldi ;  the  Academy  of  Arts,  built  by  Felton  ; 
the  Courts  of  Justice  on  the  Letennaja,  by  Delamot ; 
the  Armenian  church,  by  Basheneff ;  the  State  Bank 
on  the  Fontanka,  by  Staroff ;  the  Taurida  Palace, 
and  the  Mechail  Palace ;  also  the  railings  of  the 
Summer  Gardens.  These  railings  used  to  be  thought 
so  beautiful  in  design  that  an  eccentric  Englishman 
once  travelled  all  the  way  to  Petrograd  merely  to  see 


YOUTH  AND  GROWTH  OF  PETROGRAD     47 

them,  returning  immediately  his  wish  was  gratified  ! 
The  Kazan  cathedral,  on  the  model  of  St  Peter's  at 
Rome,  built  by  Gvorenge,  also  dates  from  this  period, 
during  which  Russia  extended  her  domains  in  all 
directions.  The  capital  of  Mingrelia  in  the  Caucasus, 
Kutais,  was  taken  in  1771 ;  the  whole  of  White  Russia 
was  torn  from  Poland  in  1772  ;  the  Crimea  and  the 
Kuban  province  were  annexed  in  1783 ;  New  Russia 
in  1774 ;  the  whole  northern  shore  of  the  Black  Sea 
in  1791  ;  Volynia,  Podolia  and  the  province  of  Minsk 
in  1793  ;  Lithuania  in  1784,  and  Courland  in  1795. 
In  fact  Catherine,  although  a  German  by  birth,  did 
more  to  extend  the  area  of  Russia  than  any  monarch 
except  Ivan  the  Terrible  and  Peter  the  Great,  both  of 
whom  added  large  stretches  of  territory  to  the  Empire. 

The  half-mad  Paul  I.,  assassinated  at  the  Mechail 
Palace  (now  the  School  of  Engineers),  succeeded 
Catherine,  and  reigned  from  1796  to  1801.  Paul,  who 
admired  everything  Prussian,  built  the  old  Mechail 
Palace,  also  many  barracks  and  riding  schools  of  huge 
proportions  and  massive  architecture. 

The  magnanimous,  gentle  Alexander  I.  then  reigned 
from  1801  to  1825.  In  this  period  the  Smolna  Insti- 
tute, the  Admiralty  and  the  Imperial  stables  were  all 
completed. 

Nicholas,  the  "  Iron  Emperor,"  ascended  the  throne, 
and  during  his  reign  the  Alexander  Theatre,  built  in 
the  purest  classical  style,  came  into  being.  Like  Paul, 
he  had  a  mania  for  everything  military.  He  also 
originated  many  of  the  barracks  now  to  be  seen  in 
Petrograd,  Sebastopol  and  other  centres,  and  some  of 
the  fortresses.  He  was  much  aggrieved  at  his  inability 
to  capture  Constantinople  and  make  himself  head  of 
the  Balkan  Christians.     He  died  suddenly,  in  1855. 

Alexander  II.,  who  reigned  until  1881,  was  assassi- 
nated by  Risakoff  on  the  banks  of  the  Catherine  Canal. 
His  period  saw  many  beautiful  buildings  added  to  the 


48 


PETROGRAD  PAST  AND  PRESENT 


city.  Since,  in  recent  years,  the  French  and  English 
have  lent  Russia  so  many  millions  of  capital,  the 
hotels  and  public  buildings  have  been  erected  in  far 
better  material.  When  I  first  arrived  in  Russia  even 
the  palaces  were  of  brick,  stone,  or  stucco,  but  now 
one  sees  many  fine  palaces  entirely  of  stone,  faced  with 
granite  or  marble.  As  the  wealth  flows  in  from 
abroad,  Petrograd  becomes  more  and  more  magnifi- 
cent, and  will  eventually  be,  at  its  present  rate  of 
growth  and  adornment,  one  of  the  grandest  cities 
of  the  Continent. 


VII 

THE    RIVER    NEVA    AND    THE    GREAT   FLOODS 

The  Neva,  which  carries  a  greater  volume  of  water 
than  any  other  river  of  its  size  in  Europe,  is  Petrograd's 
pecuhar  charm;  without  this  stream  the  city  would 
lose  half  its  beauty.  Probably  through  no  other 
capital  do  so  many  waterways  flow — the  Big  Neva,  the 
Little  and  Middle  Neva,  and  numerous  broad  canals 
which  were  once  small  rivers  meet  the  eye  continually. 
The  Fontanka,  the  Catherine  and  the  Oboocheff  are 
the  most  noticeable,  and  in  the  summer  these  are  busy 
with  shipping  of  every  description,  from  the  long 
barge  as  big  as  a  schooner  to  the  modest  lighter.  In 
spring,  when  the  ice  begins  to  move,  many  of  the  barges 
are  torn  away  and  ground  to  pieces,  until  they  are  little 
better  than  matchwood.  The  Neva  is  then  unsafe  for 
foot  traffic,  and  many  a  careless  moujik  loses  his  life 
at  this  period,  and  disappears,  carried  by  the  ice-cold 
stream  beneath  far  into  the  Finnish  Gulf,  where  the 
battered  and  bruised  body  of  the  victim  of  the  river 
god  at  last  finds  a  rest.  In  order  to  render  the  ice  less 
dangerous  the  municipal  authorities  have,  in  recent 
years,  constructed  electric  tramways  from  shore  to 
shore,  illuminating  the  route  brilliantly,  and  the  effect 
at  night  is  exceedingly  beautiful. 

The  total  length  of  the  river,  which  rises  at  Schliissel- 
berg,  is  only  sixty-three  versts.^  In  some  parts,  how- 
ever, especially  opposite  the  Smolna  Monastery,  it  is 
as  much  as  2100  feet  across,  and  so  deep  that  the 
largest  steamers  can  load  and  unload  in  safety.     The 

^  I  verst  =  f  of  a  mile. 
D  49 


50        PETROGRAD  PAST  AND  PRESENT 

stream  is  very  rapid  and  treacherous,  with  a  number 
of  eddies  and  cross-currents,  particularly  near  the 
Nicholai  Palace  bridge.  If  a  man  slips  in  he  is  gener- 
ally drowned,  unless  he  is  an  exceptionally  good 
swimmer,  for  he  is  sucked  under  with  such  force  that 
he  seldom  rises  more  than  once.  I  have  seen  several 
drowned  in  the  Neva,  and  in  every  case  the  unfortun- 
ate one  vanished  just  as  a  boat  seemed  on  the  point 
of  rescuing  him.  On  one  occasion  a  would-be  suicide 
threw  himself  from  the  Nicholai  Bridge  and  was  saved 
with  extreme  difficulty — to  the  great  indignation  of 
the  peasants  round  me,  who  expressed  the  decided 
opinion  that  "  the  police  had  no  right  to  rescue  him ; 
he  was  tired  of  life,  and  wanted  to  die  in  the  arms  of 
Matooshka  (mother)  Neva.  It  was  his  own  affair,  and 
no  one  need  interfere  in  his  private  arrangements." 
The  Russian  peasantry  have  a  quaint  way  of  looking 
at  these  matters,  and  their  peculiar  philosophy  much 
impressed  Tolstoi,  Dostoieffsky  and  other  famous 
thinkers. 

Besides  the  canals  already  mentioned,  there  are 
thirteen  small  ones,  more  than  twenty  lesser  streams, 
and  various  branches.  Naturally  many  islands  are 
formed,  and  these  are  connected  by  about  150  bridges, 
some  of  which  are  of  considerable  size ;  of  them 
twenty-two  are  stone,  thirteen  are  of  iron  and  five  are 
suspension.  In  fact  Petrograd  is  a  city  of  islands, 
rivers,  canals  and  bridges ;  so  much  so  that  one  of 
Gogol's  comical  characters  is  made  to  affirm  that  the 
bridges  were  built  in  such  a  devilish  manner  one  would 
imagine  they  were  hung  without  any  attachments  ! 
But  this  discovery  was  probably  made  on  some  moon- 
lit night  when  returning  from  a  carouse,  so  cannot  be 
taken  very  seriously.  When  I  was  last  in  the  place, 
one  of  these  structures  suddenly  collapsed  and  pre- 
cipitated many  persons  into  the  river.  It  was  very 
shaky,  and  the  wonder  is  that  it  stood  so  long  or  was 


■= _Tr»~  _    _       .    : ■_  ,  _  -isHSBm 

TlIK     IIKKI'    AMI    KM'lh    Xk\  A.     Willi     \' 1 PAV    (il-      TIIIC     N'kiKiI    \|     1^,K  I  I  m  ;  M 


RIVER  NEVA  AND  THE  GREAT  FLOODS     51 

allowed  to  remain  so  long  before  strengthening.  But 
in  Russia  no  one  is  ever  in  a  hurry,  and  that  the  bridge 
should  at  last  break  was  doubtless  vola  Boshe  (the 
will  of  God)  and  not  due  to  the  fact  that  it  had 
rusted  through.  It  was  built  in  the  ancient  Egyptian 
style,  of  cast  iron  ;  the  approaches  were  adorned  with 
huge  sphinxes  and  the  sides  decorated  with  bas-reliefs 
copied  from  an  Egyptian  temple. 

Owing  to  its  low-lying  position  and  its  proximity 
to  the  Gulf  of  Finland,  Petrograd  has  suffered  ter- 
ribly from  inundations  from  the  very  beginning  of 
its  existence.  Pushkin,  the  Shakespeare  of  Russia, 
describes  vividly  the  flood  that  swept  over  the  city  in 
November,  1824,  comparing  the  havoc  wrought  to  the 
violence  of  a  band  of  robbers  : 

"  O'er  darkened  Petersburg 
November  breathed  with  Autumn  blast ; 
Splashing  in  noisy  tide 
Within  the  confines  of  her  ordered  sway 
The  Neva  tossed  in  her  restless  bed 
Like  one  who  is  sick 
Or  like  a  bandit, 
Who,  with  his  fierce  robber  crew 
Breaks  into  a  village,  pursuing,  killing,  wrecking, 
With  shrieks,  violence,  and  alarms ; 
Then,  with  plunder  laden. 
And  fearing  pursuit,  hastens  homeward 
Dropping  his  booty  on  the  way." 

Since  then  the  city  has  witnessed  many  similar  scenes. 
Such  a  catastrophe  is  a  sublime  spectacle,  especially  if 
it  happens  at  night.  Often,  instead  of  retiring  to  rest, 
I  have  spent  a  good  portion  of  the  night  in  wandering 
along  the  banks  of  the  Neva  and  its  inky-black  canals, 
listening  to  the  moaning  of  the  wind,  the  shouts  of  the 
people,  the  booming  of  the  guns  from  the  Peter  and 
Paul  Fortress.  The  cannon  give  timely  warning  to 
the  townsfolk  that  their  old   enemy  is  again   laying 


52         PETROGRAD  PAST  AND  PRESENT 

siege  to  their  city,  as  though  endeavouring  to  reconquer 
the  territory  snatched  away. 

The  indefatigable  genius  who  dared  thus  to  build 
on  a  delta  of  low  and  swampy  ground  did  not  hesitate 
at  the  most  heroic  efforts  ;  he  spared  neither  himself 
nor  his  men,  and  eventually  lost  his  own  life  from  the 
effects  of  a  chill,  caught  while  rescuing  some  soldiers 
from  drowning.  A  splendid  bronze  group,  represent- 
ing Peter  saving  the  men  near  the  mouth  of  the  river, 
has  been  erected  on  the  Admiralty  Quay,  near  the 
Panic ff  Theatre.  It  is  said  that  many  thousands  of 
men  succumbed  to  marsh  fever  before  his  beloved 
work  rose  like  Tyre  from  the  midst  of  the  waters. 
But  although  Peter  could  bend  his  unwilling  subjects 
to  his  stubborn  will,  he  failed  to  tame  the  elements. 
He  and  his  successors  constructed  costly  canals  to 
carry  off  the  floods,  yet  a  large  portion  of  the  city  is 
submerged  whenever  a  gale  from  the  Gulf  forces  the 
sea-waters  into  the  Neva.  The  cellars  of  the  house 
in  which  I  resided  have  often  been  swamped  for  days 
together  at  such  times,  and  the  flood  is  of  an  icy  cold- 
ness always,  explained  by  the  theory  that  the  ice  at 
the  bottom  of  the  river,  carried  down  from  Lake 
Ladoga,  never  completely  melts,  even  in  the  summer. 

In  1706  Peter  wrote  that  the  water,  during  a  flood, 
covered  the  entire  floor  of  his  palace.  A  greater 
inundation,  however,  occurred  in  1824,  when  most  of 
the  city  was  under  water.  Very  many  persons  were 
drowned,  and  property  worth  millions  of  roubles  was 
destroyed.  Autumn  is  the  worst  time,  shortly  before 
the  closing  of  navigation.  At  the  first  sign  of  danger 
the  gun-fire  begins — though  it  is  often  unheard  in  the 
clamour  of  the  storm — and  red  lights  are  shown  from 
the  Admiralty.  The  inhabitants  in  the  lower  quarters 
then  gather  up  their  goods  and  chattels  and  seek  the 
more  elevated  parts  of  the  town,  or  momit  to  upper 
rooms.      In    one    flood,    not    many    years    ago,    the 


RIVER  NEVA  AND  THE  GREAT  FLOODS    53 

Botanical  and  Zoological  Gardens  were  for  some  time 
quite  under  water.  The  result  of  this  enforced  icy 
bath  was  that  a  large  number  of  valuable  animals 
from  tropical  or  warmer  climes  perished  miserably, 
either  by  drowning  or  through  the  intense  cold. 
Lions,  tigers,  leopards,  monkeys  shivered  and  made 
pathetic  struggles  for  liberty,  the  keepers  striving  to 
assist,  with  the  water  up  to  their  waists  or  even  to  their 
shoulders.  Thinking  that  some  might  escape,  the 
cages  were  carefully  opened,  but  this  was  of  no  avail — 
the  helpless  creatures  were  carried  by  the  current  into 
wide  spaces  of  the  gardens,  and  lost.  Among  them 
were  four  bears,  three  Indian  oxen,  two  antelopes,  an 
ostrich,  four  eagles  and  many  other  exhibits  which  had 
been  collected  from  all  quarters  of  the  globe.  Of 
course  numbers  of  domestic  animals  also  perished. 
Still  more  tragic  scenes  were  in  progress  at  other  parts 
of  the  city.  Workmen,  endeavouring  to  save  their 
wives  and  little  ones,  were  swept  off  their  feet  and 
drowned.  In  the  night  shelters  the  water  reached  the 
ceilings.  The  wretched  inmates  scrambled  to  the  top 
of  the  stoves  and  on  any  high  place  for  safety.  The 
confusion  was  indescribable.  Cries  of  "  We  are 
drowning — save  us  !  "  and  screams  for  assistance  were 
heard  on  all  sides.  Towards  morning  boats  came  to 
the  aid  of  the  panic-stricken  people,  who,  wet  and 
frozen,  threw  themselves  into  the  arms  of  their  res- 
cuers. In  the  cellar  basements  (notwithstanding  many 
Imperial  ukases,  these  are  the  homes  of  thousands) 
heartrending  events  took  place.  Boats  approached 
the  windows  of  these  subterranean  domiciles,  if  we 
may  so  call  them,  and  removed  through  the  windows 
half-frozen,  terrified  children,  who  were  immediately 
conveyed  to  the  tea-houses,  or  to  the  homes  of  friendly 
folk,  who  warmed  and  fed  them  as  quickly  as  possible. 
In  this  good  work  soldiers,  sailors,  students  and  ladies 
emulated  one  another  with  that  self-forgctfulness  so 


54        PETROGRAD  PAST  AND  PRESENT 

peculiar  to  the  Russian  temperament  when  it  is  once 
stirred  to  sympathy.  Other  poor  wretches  fared 
worse,  having  to  pass  the  whole  night,  starved,  under 
the  bitter  November  skies — which  to  many  simply 
meant  death.  The  district  bordering  the  Galemaya 
Harbour  suffered  the  worst,  but  the  9th  Line  on  the 
Vasilii  Island,  where  for  many  years  I  lived,  was  con- 
verted into  a  second  Venice.  The  wish  of  Peter,  who 
desired  his  city  to  be  "  another  Venice,"  was  for  once 
fulfilled,  but  not  precisely  in  the  way  he  had  imagined. 
On  the  Petersburg  Side,  the  oldest  neighbourhood, 
and  the  first  to  be  built,  water  seemed  to  be  every- 
where. Some  of  the  streets  were  barricaded  by 
enormous  barges,  which  had  been  lifted  bodily  out  of 
the  river  by  the  flood,  to  drift  helplessly  at  the  will  of 
the  waters  and  to  settle  thus  awkwardly,  where  they 
remained  until  broken  up  by  their  owners.  On  the 
Viborg  Side,  still  inhabited  to  a  great  extent  by  Finns 
and  aliens,  many  were  awake  all  night  in  fear.  Float- 
ing craft  of  all  kinds  were  torn  from  their  moorings 
and  hurled  by  the  raging  torrent  against  the  massive 
granite  buttresses  of  the  iron  bridges,  which  shook  and 
vibrated  under  the  unusual  strain.  Later  on  they 
broke  loose  and  whirled  down  like  so  many  chips,  until 
at  last  thrown  on  the  banks  damaged  beyond  recogni- 
tion, or  sunk,  holed  and  wrecked. 

The  beautiful  islands  formed  by  the  ramifications 
of  the  stream,  summer  resorts  of  the  citizens,  were 
entirely  cut  off,  and  their  inhabitants  were  unable  to 
leave  the  houses.  Most  of  all  the  Island  of  Elagen 
suffered,  for  the  dams  which  kept  out  the  sea  were 
invaded,  while  the  canal  sluices,  supposed  to  protect 
the  islanders  from  inundations,  were  rendered  useless. 
In  addition  to  this,  all  the  Government  buildings 
belonging  to  the  Department  of  the  Court  were  flooded. 
What  this  means  only  those  j  who  have  lived  in 
Petrograd  can  tell.     The  loss  to  tradesmen  and  shop- 


-  ^ 


RIVER  NEVA  AND  THE  GREAT  FLOODS    55 

keepers  was  tremendous,  for  the  shops  on  the  Grand 
Moskaja,  Vosnesenskaja,  Ismailoffskaja  and  other  im- 
portant streets  were  flooded  with  dirty  water,  and  tea, 
sugar,  flour  and  other  provisions  were  ruined  to  the 
tune  of  thousands  of  roubles. 

In  the  Gavan,  or  low-lying  part  of  the  town,  the 
water  reached  the  ceilings,  and  furniture  floated  about 
the  streets.  By  midnight  measurements  proved  the 
flood  to  be  three  feet  above  the  ordinary  level.  From 
one  o'clock  it  rose  rapidly,  until  by  nine  in  the  morning 
it  stood  nine  feet  above  the  normal  level  of  the  Neva. 
For  sixty  years  such  a  disaster  had  not  occurred. 

A  few  persons  still  living  remember  the  year  1824, 
when  hundreds  were  drowned  and  immense  amounts 
of  property  were  destroyed.  This  flood  occurred  in 
the  reign  of  the  Emperor  Alexander  I.  The  Winter 
Palace  stood  like  a  rock  amid  the  stormy  sea,  the  waves 
dashing  against  its  strong  walls,  the  spray  washing  the 
windows  of  the  upper  storeys.  Many  vessels  were 
lost,  and  the  shores  of  the  river  were  encumbered  with 
all  kinds  of  wreckage  and  rubbish.  The  Vasilii 
Island  was  a  remarkable  sight.  On  all  sides  heaps  of 
ruins,  bodies  of  men  and  women  and  domestic  animals. 
After  the  waters  subsided  the  carcasses  of  3600  head 
of  cattle  were  taken  outside  the  bounds  of  the  city 
and  destroyed.  Sheets  of  iron  from  roofs  were  blown 
about  like  feathers  ;  in  the  streets  floated  coffins  and 
crosses,  uprooted  from  the  graveyards — it  is  even 
related  that  the  waters  brought  to  an  Englishman  the 
coffin  of  a  friend  he  had  buried  but  two  days  before. 
One  old  merchant,  living  on  the  Viborg  Side,  heard, 
on  the  morning  after,  the  cry  of  a  child.  He  found 
a  poor  infant  which  had  safely  weathered  the  storm 
and  flood  in  a  sugar-box !  Needless  to  say  the  good- 
natured  merchant  adopted  this  modern  edition  of 
Moses,  as  one  might  expect  an  Orthodox  Christian 
to  do. 


56        PETKOOrxAD  PAST  AND  rPxESKXT 

The  Enipoivr  showc\l  his  sympathy  for  \\\c  victims 
by  givino:  a  milHoii  nniblos  (i!l 00.000)  out  of  his  own 
private  fortune  towards  the  rehef  of  the  thro  (hstress, 
and  nobles  an^i  morehants  vied  with  c>ni>  aui>ther  in 
making  princely  donations  to  the  same  worthy  c>bjc>et. 


VIII 

THE  GREAT  FLOOD  OF  1777  ;  THE  DEATH  OF  PRINCESS 
TARAKANOFFVA 

The  most  terrible  inundation  of  all  took  place  on  8th 
September  1777,  although  the  water  rose  only  ten 
feet  seven  inelies — i.e.  not  to  sueh  a  level  as  in  1828, 
when  a  small  merchantman  floated  over  the  granite 
quays  right  past  the  Winter  Palace,  whilst  another, 
laden  with  apples,  was  carried  seventy  feet  from  the 
shore  into  a  forest.  The  Empress  Catherine  wrote 
an  account  of  this  inundation  to  Grinmi,  a  German 
writer.  Among  other  interesting  incidents  she  men- 
tions that  a  three-masted  vessel  was  thrown  up  on 
the  quay,  whilst  the  waters  of  the  Neva  washed  the 
grand  staircase  of  the  palace.  "  Oh,  my  God,"  she 
wrote,  "  the  Exchange  has  changed  its  place,  and 
Count  Munich  will  have  to  build  the  Custom  House  on 
the  site  of  the  Hermitage  Theatre.  .  .  .  How  many 
broken  window-panes  !  How  many  pots  have  been 
upset  with  flowers  I  This  morning  not  a  single  hair- 
dresser will  visit  any  lady.  .  .  .  The  big  window  has 
fallen  down  on  the  ground  alongside  the  table  where 
the  dessert  was  standing,  but  the  dessert  is  left  in- 
tact." Further,  the  Empress  writes  :  "  I  am  dining 
at  home.  The  water  is  going  down  and  you  know  I 
am  not  drowned.  .  .  .  But  enough  of  the  water;  we 
will  talk  of  the  wine.  ]My  cellar  is  full  of  water  and 
God  knows  what  will  happen  to  it."  Such  are 
extracts  from  one  of  the  letters  a  great  ruler  wrote  at 
this  critical  moment.  Window-panes,  flower-pots,  hair- 
dressers, her  wine  cellar — these  all  seem  u]ipermost  in 
her  mind  ;  not  a  word  about  the  hundreds  t)f  poor 
57 


58        PETROGRAD  PAST  AND  PRESENT 

wretches  that  were  being  drowned  in  the  neighbour- 
hood. But  she  apparently  thought  of  them  afterwards, 
when  her  flower-pots,  her  hair,  her  wine  cellar  and 
other  grave  matters  of  state  were  attended  to.  At 
that  very  moment,  opposite  her  palace,  the  beautiful 
Princess  Tarakanoffva,  who  claimed  the  throne,  was 
probably  struggling  for  dear  life  against  the  rising 
waters  that  threatened  to  drown  her  in  one  of  the  cold 
and  damp  casemates  of  the  Peter  and  Paul  Fortress. 
For  a  time  it  was  believed,  and  naturally  so,  that 
this  beautiful  and  accomplished  woman  was  actually 
drowned  thus,  but  historical  archives  subsequently 
revealed  the  fact  that  she  succumbed  to  consumption, 
increased  by  living  in  the  dungeon,  which  must  have 
been  flooded  whenever  the  river  overflowed  its  banks. 

According  to  Danileffsky,  the  celebrated  historical 
novelist,  the  Princess,  after  undergoing  a  mock 
marriage  to  the  unscrupulous  Count  Orloff,  one  of 
Catherine's  favourites,  was  enticed  by  him  on  board  a 
Russian  man-of-war  at  Leghorn  and  conveyed  by  force 
to  Petrograd,  when  she  was  thrown  into  the  fortress 
where  she  met  her  end.  As  her  story  is  one  of  the 
saddest  tragedies  that  was  ever  penned,  and  as  her 
death  was  at  least  partly  due  to  one  of  these  terrible 
inundations  which  practically  rendered  her  prison 
uninhabitable,  a  brief  account  of  this  remarkable 
woman  will  not  be  amiss.  In  the  words  of  the 
historian,  Solovieff  : 

*'A  young  girl  of  very  humble  origin,  a  native 
of  Prague  or  Niirnberg,  endowed  with  the  most 
marvellous  beauty,  clever  and  enterprising,  but  of 
extremely  equivocal  conduct,  shone  from  the  end  of 
the  year  1760  till  the  beginning  of  1770  at  Berlin, 
London  and  Paris,  lavishly  spending  on  her  dress  and 
pleasure  the  money  she  levied  from  her  admirers. 
We  are  bound  to  believe  that  her  charms  were  extra- 


THE  LAST  DAYS  OF  THE  BEAUTIFUL  PRINCESS  TARAKANOI^KA  IN   THE  FOKTKESS. 

Believed  to  be  the  granddaughter  of  Peiek  iue  (.keai 


THE  GREAT  FLOOD  OF  1777  59 

ordinary,  for,  notwithstanding  her  conduct,  several 
highly  placed  personages,  both  in  France  and  Germany, 
sought  her  hand.  In  the  summer  of  1774  the  Princess 
Radziwill,^  accompanied  by  a  numerous  suite,  set  sail 
for  Constantinople.  But  they  stopped  at  Ragusa, 
wishing  to  ascertain  beforehand  what  kind  of  reception 
they  were  likely  to  meet  with  at  the  hands  of  the 
Sultan.  Count  Orloff  was,  as  is  well  known,  in  Italy 
at  the  time ;  he  lost  no  time  in  writing  full  particulars 
concerning  the  '  false '  Tarakanoffva  to  Catherine, 
from  whom  he  received  orders  to  '  steal '  the  pre- 
tender and  so  cut  off  the  intrigue  at  the  very  outset. 
Orloff  surrounded  the  Princess  with  spies,  and, 
through  his  emissaries,  tried  to  inspire  her  with  con- 
fidence in  himself.  He  persuaded  her  to  come  to  a 
rendezvous  at  Pisa.  Here  he  paid  her  all  possible 
homage ;  balls  and  fetes  succeeded  each  other  in 
swift  succession.  He  pretended  to  fall  in  with  her 
plans,  and  eventually  offered  her  his  hand.  All  this 
time  he  was  only  waiting  for  an  opportunity  to  arrest 
her  without  causing  any  scandal.  He  had  not  long  to 
wait.  One  day  the  Countess  Zelinski,  as  she  called 
herself,  expressed  a  wish  to  visit  the  Russian  squadron 
then  stationed  at  Livorno.  Orloff  gave  orders  for 
preparations  to  be  made  for  a  magnificent  reception, 
and  arranged  some  splendid  naval  manoeuvres.  He 
himself,  with  his  suite,  accompanied  her  on  board  ; 
the  manoeuvres  began  ;  the  cannon  fired  ;  sails  were 
unfurled,  and  the  ships  sailed  out  into  the  open  sea. 
The  unfortunate  pretender  eventually  found  herself 
shut  up  in  the  fortress  of  Petrograd.  Here  it  is  said 
she  languished  until  1776,  when  she  was  drowned  by 
the  rushing  of  the  waters  into  her  prison  ;  but  this  is 
not  true.  Documents  prove  that  she  died  of  the  same 
illness  from  which  she  was  suffering  when  she  came 

^  A  descendant  of  the  celebrated  Princess  was  imprisoned  at  the  Cape 
on  a  charge  of  forgery,  which  she  indignantly  denied. 


60        PETROGRAD  PAST  AND  PRESENT 

to  Russia,  and  which  of   course   made  rapid  strides 
during  her  confinement  in  the  damp  dungeon." 

With  all  due  deference  to  Solovieff,  who  was  more 
or  less  an  "  official  historian,"  there  is  very  good  reason 
to  believe  that  the  unfortunate  Princess  met  her  death 
indirectly  owing  to  the  inundation,  and,  what  is  still 
more  sad,  she  was  probably  no  pretender  at  all,  but 
had  a  better  right  to  the  throne  than  Catherine — 
which  would  explain  the  anxiety  of  the  Empress  to 
get  rid  of  her.  She  claimed  to  be  the  daughter  of  the 
Empress  Elizabeth  and  the  granddaughter  of  Peter 
the  Great.  As  regards  her  claim  to  the  throne,  the 
Danish  writer  Wahl,  in  his  work.  The  Land  of  the 
Tsar,  says  that  "  Catherine,  who  had  not  scrupled  to 
sacrifice  her  husband  to  her  ambition,  also  knew  how 
to  get  rid  of  other  possible  pretenders  to  the  throne. 
Ivan  was  assassinated  in  his  wretched  prison.  In 
1763  a  daughter  of  the  Empress  Elizabeth  and 
Rasumoffsky,  the  master  of  the  Imperial  hunt 
(secretly  married  to  Elizabeth),  who  had  been  quietly 
living  at  Pisa,  was  carried  off  and  disappeared  at 
Cronstadt."  ^ 

Whether  the  Princess  disappeared  at  Cronstadt  or 
at  Petrograd  is  immaterial.  The  fact  remains  that 
she  was  kidnapped  by  the  orders  of  Catherine,  and 
perished  in  the  fortress,  whilst  her  child  by  the  un- 
scrupulous Count  Orloff  was  taken  away  from  her. 
Her  sad  end,  after  such  a  brilliant  career,  has  been 
made  the  theme  of  both  painter  and  novelist,  but 
who  thinks  of  the  thousands  of  poor  wretches  whose 
dwellings  are  flooded  every  autumn  by  the  rising  of 
the  Neva,  or  filled  with  the  foul  sewage  proceeding 
from  the  drains  and  cesspools  of  the  town  ?     "  When 

^  Those  who  are  interested  in  the  tragedy  of  this  unfortunate  Princess 
should  read  Princess  Tarakanoffva  :  a  Dark  Chapter  in  Russian  History 
published  in  1891. 


THE  GREAT  FLOOD  OF  1777  61 

the  waters  abated,"  writes  one  correspondent  con- 
cerning the  last  inundation,  "  it  was  possible  to  form 
some  idea  of  the  extent  of  the  damage.  One-third  of 
the  population  of  the  inundated  part  of  the  city  had 
caught  severe  colds  and  were  laid  up.  Medical  help 
there  was  none  ;  all  the  lower  basements  were  soaked, 
and  gave  out  an  insupportable,  horrible  smell.  It  was, 
of  course,  impossible  to  live  in  the  damp  rooms,  and 
the  inhabitants  had,  where  possible,  to  seek  other 
lodgings."  The  misfortune  is  that  lodgings  and  flats 
are  so  scarce  and  so  dear  in  Petrograd  that  the 
majority  of  the  poor  wretches  had  to  pass  the  winter 
in  these  filthy,  damp  and  poisoned  dwellings,  where 
doubtless  many  of  them  succumbed  to  typhus, 
diphtheria,  or,  what  is  worse,  to  the  slow  and  painful 
death  by  consumption,  and  other  complaints  be- 
gotten from  living  in  dwellings  not  fit  for  dogs.  No 
wonder  Petrograd  is  one  of  the  most  unhealthy  cities 
in  Europe. 

Owing  to  the  great  misery  and  misfortune  caused 
by  these  periodical  inundations,  the  Petrograd  Town 
Council  created  in  the  vicinity  of  the  harbour  a  house 
of  refuge,  where  the  inhabitants  of  the  low-lying  dis- 
tricts can  take  shelter  every  autumn  when  the  Neva 
overflows  and  the  angry  Baltic  comes  rushing  over  the 
dwellings.  They  can  remain  in  this  warm  and  com- 
fortable asylum  until  the  floods  abate  and  things  are 
normal  again.  The  house  is  built  on  an  elevated  piece 
of  ground,  so  that  all  who  flee  from  the  devastating 
waters  can  remain  there,  dry  amidst  the  most  terrible 
floods. 

The  soil  of  a  large  portion  of  the  city  consists  of 
artificial  hillocks,  under  which  there  is  a  thin  layer  of 
sand  and  grey  clay  ;  water  is  revealed  by  boring  a  few 
feet  under  the  surface.  The  drinking-water  is  very 
unwholesome  and  has  a  very  deleterious  effect  on  the 
health  of  all  who  are  not  accustomed  to  it.     As  it 


62        PETROGRAD  PAST  AND  PRESENT 

contains  a  considerable  quantity  of  magnesia,  it  is 
extremely  harmful  to  the  teeth,  and  causes  the  hair 
to  fail  off  rapidly.  Owing  to  these  peculiar  qualities 
it  is  to  be  expected  that  dentists  and  hair  specialists 
do  an  excellent  business  in  the  city.  Li  the  space  of 
three  or  four  years  I  have  knoAvn  people  to  become 
quite  bald  through  drinking  the  Neva  water,  and  also 
many  people  to  die  from  the  same  cause. 

The  water,  which  is  exceedingly  soft,  is  excellent, 
however,  for  making  tea  in  the  Russian  manner.  This 
was  so  much  the  case  that  the  Emperor  Alexander  II. 
is  said  to  have  carried  several  casks  of  it  with  him  for 
this  purpose  when  he  travelled  in  the  country.  The 
ignorant  lower  classes  have  the  most  primitive  ideas 
about  sanitary  laws,  and  the  death-rate  is  exceedingly 
high.  The  greatest  number  of  deaths  are  owing  to 
diseases  of  the  stomach  and  intestines.  These  com- 
plaints carry  off  thousands  annually.  Notices  are 
usually  posted  up  in  the  principal  hotels,  warning 
strangers  not  to  drink  water  from  the  Neva,  but  as 
these  warnings  are  generally  in  the  Russian  tongue, 
they  are  of  little  use.  When  the  American  fleet  came 
to  Cronstadt  a  great  many  officers  who  visited  Petro- 
grad  were  laid  up  several  days  through  drinking  the 
water  taken  from  the  Neva,  which  they  found  in 
their  bedrooms.  I  also  knew  an  English  captain  who 
lost  his  wife  in  twenty-four  hours  through  drinking 
the  water  at  Cronstadt,  which  is  even  worse  than  that 
of  Petrograd,  owing  to  its  often  being  brackish. 

Attempts  have  been  made  in  recent  years  to  bring 
the  beautiful  spring  water  from  Duderhoff,  a  group  of 
low^-lying  hills  in  the  vicinity  of  the  city.  The  water 
of  this  place  was  so  much  prized  that  when  I  was  a 
resident  in  the  capital  it  was  sold  at  one  shilling  a 
bottle.  Owing  to  the  extensive  system  of  drainage 
that  is  now  being  carried  on  and  the  improved  water- 
works, Petrograd  is  gradually  becoming  more  healthy. 


THE  GREAT  FLOOD  OF  1777  63 

but  it  will  take  many  years  before  it  is  as  salubrious 
as  London,  Paris  or  Berlin.  The  sudden  changes  of 
temperature,  the  damp  and  inclement  climate,  especi- 
ally in  the  autumn  and  winter,  are  exceedingly  trying 
to  the  health  of  delicate  people.  In  order  to  with- 
stand all  these  disadvantages  one  must  have  a  con- 
stitution of  iron  and  internal  parts  as  tough  as  leather  ; 
when  these  are  lacking,  sooner  or  later  there  will  be  a 
general  breakdown  of  the  whole  system. 

London  is  not  the  only  city  that  has  a  monopoly  of 
foggy  weather,  for  there  are  whole  days,  especially  in 
spring,  autumn  and  winter,  when  Peter's  paradise  is 
enveloped  in  thick  fog;  at  others  the  broad  streets 
and  great  empty  squares  are  swept  by  piercing  winds. 
Li  general  the  climatic  conditions  are  nothing  to 
boast  about,  but  the  city  has  many  attractions,  and 
in  some  respects  is  so  fascinating  that  I  have  often 
heard  its  citizens  state  that  they  would  not  exchange 
it  for  any  other  town  in  Europe.  Of  what  the  attrac- 
tions consist  I  will  explain  in  another  chapter,  but 
probably  Petrograd  will  always  be  notorious  for  its 
damp  climate  and  cold  winds.  This  is  not  astonishing, 
considering  that  it  is  not  only  built  on  a  marsh,  but  is 
close  to  the  sea  and  surrounded  almost  on  all  sides 
either  by  rivers  and  canals  or  morasses.  Water  seems 
to  be  everywhere — above,  below  and  around.  This  is 
so  much  the  case  that  within  the  confines  of  the  city 
there  are  at  least  forty  rivers,  canals  and  streams. 
An  Italian  ambassador  once  said  of  this  city  that  it 
was  always  winter — in  summer  there  was  a  green 
winter  and  in  winter  a  white  winter ;  that  was  the 
only  difference.  Some  people  predict  that  sooner  or 
later  the  river  will  sweep  the  city  out  of  existence,  but 
so  many  canals  have  been  constructed  to  take  off  the 
surplus  water  and  to  prevent  the  Neva  overflowing 
its  banks  that  I  think  the  terrible  catastrophe  will  be 
averted.     All  the  public  buildings  and  the  palaces  are 


64        PETROGRAD  PAST  AND  PRESENT 

built  in  a  very  solid  manner  on  enormous  blocks  of 
granite.  They  are  so  strong  that  not  even  the  great 
floods  can  move  them,  but  should  it  ever  happen  that 
the  S.S.W.  winds  from  the  Baltic  continue  to  blow  for 
a  week  at  a  time,  it  is  quite  possible  that  a  considerable 
part  of  Petrograd  would  be  demolished. 


\ 


IX 


PETROGRAD  DURING  THE  REIGN  OF  ITS  FOUNDER; 
AND  AN  ACCOUNT  OF  PETER's  COURT  AS  SEEN  BY 
PRINCESS    WILHELMINA   OF   PRUSSIA 

Peter,  in  gaining  a  firm  footing  on  the  shores  of  the 
Neva,  was  following  the  traditions  of  the  rulers  of 
Novgorod  and  his  Roos-Varangian  forbears,  who,  to- 
gether with  the  Arabs,  seem  to  have  been  pioneers 
of  commerce  in  Russia.  The  great  number  of  Anglo- 
Saxon  and  Arabic  coins  that  have  been  found  near  the 
upper  and  lower  reaches  of  the  Volga  give  mute  witness 
to  the  interchanges  of  former  years,  and  though  the 
subject  is  hardly  within  the  scope  of  this  work,  it  is 
a  fascinating  trail  to  follow.  Most  of  the  coins  dis- 
covered on  the  banks  of  the  Neva  and  in  the  Galernaya 
Harbour  of  Petrograd  date  from  the  eighth  and  ninth 
centuries.  Many  of  the  Arabic  ones  belong  to  the 
reign  of  Haroun-al-Raschid,  the  popular  ruler  whose 
adventures  as  set  forth  in  The  Arabian  Nights  are  still 
a  source  of  enjoyment  to  lovers  of  Eastern  life  and 
literature.  Among  the  finds  was  a  kettle  in  the 
Gutaieffsky  Island,  in  1797,  containing  silver  coins 
dating  from  a.d.  780,  minted  during  the  reign  of  Megda, 
the  third  Khalif  of  the  Abbassides  dynasty.  A  still 
more  important  discovery  was  made  on  the  shores  of 
Lake  Ladoga,  which  was  a  place  of  transhipment  for 
goods  brought  from  ancient  Bulgaria,  Itel  (the  old 
name  of  Astrachan)  and  the  lands  beyond  the  Caspian. 
Twelve  versts  from  the  mouth  of  the  Volchoff,  in  1766, 
a  peasant  found  a  barrel  of  Arabic  (Cufic)  money, 
weighing  several  poods,  and  of  great  value  ;  these 
were  minted  at  Cufa,  a  town  on  the  Tigris.  Thousands 
E  6s 


66         PETROGRAD  PAST  AND  PRESENT 

of  similar  coins  have  been  found  in  Gothland  and  round 
Lake  Maelar  in  Sweden,  brought  by  the  vikings  who 
traded  with  Russia  before  the  old  routes  became 
neglected. 

The  long  struggle  between  the  Novgorodians  and 
the  Swedes,  and  afterwards  between  the  Muscovite 
Tsars,  for  the  outlet  of  the  Neva  is  an  evidence  of  the 
importance  of  this  waterway  and  of  the  land  on  which 
Pctrograd  has  been  built.  For  centuries  the  blood  of 
Novgorodians,  Muscovites,  Finns  and  Swedes  reddened 
the  limpid  river,  until  Peter,  with  the  aid  of  Saxony, 
Poland,  Prussia,  Denmark  and  Norway  finally  broke 
the  power  of  Sweden  and  added  the  Ishora  to  his 
already  extensive  Empire. 

In  the  sixteenth  century  idolatry  of  the  most  revolt- 
ing character  prevailed  in  this  region  ;  the  worship  of 
forests,  hills,  rivers  and  the  offering  of  human  sacrifices 
were  common.  Even  the  children  were  immolated, 
and  traces  of  these  horrible  customs  still  exist  among 
the  Finnish  tribes  of  the  Volga.  Tree-worship  and 
the  belief  in  forest  spirits  were  common,  and  round  the 
capital  spots  are  still  to  be  found  where  the  accom- 
panying rites  were  practised.  Most  of  the  sacred 
groves,  where  on  Midsummer  Day  the  superstitious 
people  sang,  wept  and  danced  round  immense  fires 
(bale),  were  cut  down  by  Markarie,  Archbishop  of 
Novgorod.  The  human  sacrifices  have  been  for- 
bidden, but  on  that  day  the  Finns  even  nov/  dance 
round  their  sacred  fires  in  the  remoter  parts  of 
Scandinavia. 

The  little  islet  on  which  Peter  built  his  fortress  was 
called  Elesaree,  Finnish  for  "Hare's  Island  "  ;  another 
was  named  Hervasaari,  or  "Elk  Island,"  as  it  was  a 
favourite  haunt  of  the  elk,  which  still  survive  in  con- 
siderable numbers  in  Finland  and  the  interior  of 
Russia.    This  place  is  now  occupied  by  the  Petrograd 


C     i'' 


PETROGRAD  DURING  REIGN  OF  FOUNDER  67 

Exchange,  a  classical  building  on  the  model  of  an 
ancient  Greek  temple.  Opposite  are  two  triumphal 
columns  to  commemorate  a  naval  victory  over  the 
Swedes.  It  was  not  till  1711  that  the  city  began  to 
be  populated  by  Russian  merchants  and  noblemen,  but 
some  of  these  were  compelled  by  Imperial  decree  to 
reside  in  the  capital,  under  threat  of  heavy  penalties 
for  disobedience.  At  first  the  houses  were  generally 
one  storey  high,  and  built  in  a  fashion  similar  to  one 
which  Peter  erected  with  his  own  hands.  This  he 
termed  "  a  model  after  the  Prussian  manner,"  for 
he  was  obsessed  by  Prussian  ideas  and  ideals.  His 
subjects  at  last  became  so  indignant,  hating,  as  they 
did,  everything  Njemetsky  (German),  that  serious 
riots  broke  out  in  Moscow,  Kazan,  Astrachan  and 
many  other  parts  of  "  Holy  Russia."  The  inhabitants 
were  scandalised  at  such  heretical  and  anti-Christian 
innovations,  and  among  the  first  to  suffer  was  the 
unfortunate  Tsarevitch  Alexis,  who  put  himself  at  the 
head  of  the  Old  Moscow  party,  and  was  imprisoned, 
with  death  to  follow.  The  Streltzee,  Peter's  own 
bodyguard,  who  revolted,  and  whose  only  crime  was 
their  ignorance,  conservative  ideas  and  superstition, 
were  brought  in  thousands  to  Moscow,  to  be  executed 
in  the  Red  Square  of  the  Kremlin  before  the  Cathedral 
of  St  Basil,  round  a  low  circular  enclosure  known  as 
the  Lobnoe  Mjesto — ^the  Place  of  Execution.  Here 
Peter,  who  had  hurried  all  the  way  from  Holland 
to  quell  the  uprising,  superintended  the  slaughter. 
"  Seated  on  a  throne,  he  witnessed  the  dying  agonies 
of  two  thousand  Streltzee,  and  when  tired  of  the  rack 
he  compelled  his  nobles  to  complete  the  destruction 
with  the  sword.  With  a  wine-cup  in  one  hand,  a 
scimitar  in  the  other,  he  swallowed  twenty  bumpers 
and  cut  off  twenty  heads  in  a  single  hour,  and,  as  if 
proud  of  the  achievement,  invited  the  ambassador 
of    Prussia   to   try   his   skill.     Eighty  of   the    guilty 


68        PETROGRAD  PAST  AND  PRESENT 

Janissaries  were  subsequently  held  up  by  the  hair 
before  the  crowd  and  decapitated  by  the  hand  of  the 
infuriated  Tsar"  (Maxwell:  The  Tsar,  his  Court  and 
People,  page  143). 

When  news  of  these  atrocities  reached  the  rest  of 
Europe  many  of  the  admirers  of  Peter  were  greatly 
shocked  at  his  severity.  He  was  very  indignant  at 
their  criticisms,  and  replied  :  "  The  honest,  industrious 
and  the  obedient  I  will  exalt,  but  the  evil-doers  I  will 
correct  whenever  it  is  necessary.  Let  malice  defame 
me — my  conscience  is  clear.  God  is  my  judge." 
This  strange  faith  in  the  righteousness  of  his  actions 
seemed  to  support  him  througn  everything.  Nartoff, 
a  Russian,  writing  to  defend  him,  says  :  "  Alas — if 
many  could  but  know  what  is  known  to  us,  they  would 
be  astonished  at  his  clemency.  If  the  Imperial 
archives  are  ever  read,  with  their  secret  histories, 
people  would  turn  pale  with  horror  at  the  thought 
of  the  crimes  that  were  contemplated  against  this 
monarch."  These  archives  are  now  being  searched, 
and  the  more  they  are  studied  the  more  it  becomes 
evident  on  what  treacherous  soil  Peter  ventured  when 
carrying  out  his  reforms.  Everyone  round  him  was 
complaining,  and  these  murmurs  spread  from  his  own 
family  and  Court  to  the  outlying  parts  of  Russia.  His 
own  son  said  that  his  father  was  surrounded  by  evil 
persons,  that  he  was  cruel  and  did  not  spare  human 
lives,  that  he  desired  his  father's  death,  and  that  the 
priests  had  forgiven  him  for  this  sinful  thought.  His 
sister,  the  Tsareva  Maria,  wept  bitterly  on  account  of 
the  endless  wars — which  had  lasted  twenty  years — 
with  Sweden,  the  constant  taxes  and  the  ruin  of  the 
people.  Yet  Petrograd,  despite  all  these  troubles, 
began  to  grow  at  a  great  rate. 

Quantities  of  wine,  vodka,  beer  and  tobacco  were 
consumed  ;  nolens  volens,  people  resorted  to  strong 
liquors  to  prevent  poisoning  by  the  vile  fluid  miscalled 


PETROGRAD  DURING  REIGN  OF  FOUNT)ER  69 

water,  which  was  too  plentiful.  Peter's  special 
beverage,  cognac  and  cayenne  pepper,  possibly  saved 
him  from  fatal  chills,  but  it  played  sad  havoc  with 
his  constitution,  for  after  his  death  his  condition  was 
found  to  be  abnormal,  his  body  being  very  inflamed. 
Like  the  Russian  peasant  whom  I  once  heard,  he  pre- 
ferred "to  be  burnt  up  with  vodka  rather  than  rot 
with  the  water,"  and  of  the  two  evils  chose  that  which 
appeared  the  least — for  which  those  who  have  tasted 
the  water  of  the  Neva  will  hardly  blame  him.  His 
unfortunate  workmen,  who  could  not  afford  such 
luxuries,  perished  in  thousands,  and  the  marshes 
became  sprinkled  with  the  bones  of  those  who  died  at 
their  labours  for  the  beautiful  city. 

Other  instances  of  Peter's  rigid  rule  were  not  lack- 
ing. He  erected  gallows  and  pillars  in  the  principal 
squares,  on  which  he  could  immediately  hang  anyone 
who  refused  to  obey  his  orders  or  resisted  his  modem 
ideas.  One  of  the  pillars,  with  iron  spikes  on  which 
the  heads  of  criminals — and  there  were  many — used 
to  be  impaled,  stood  in  the  Troitsk  (Trinity)  Square. 
These  measures,  however,  must  have  been  in  some 
degree  necessary,  for  there  were  many  convicts^ 
rogues  and  doers  of  evil  among  the  men  whom  Peter 
had  imported  from  the  interior  to  help  in  the  work. 
The  pillars  were  afterwards  destroyed  by  Peter  II., 
the  husband  of  Catherine  II.  Golckoff,  a  Russian 
chronicler,  relates  that  on  the  day  when  Mens,  the 
lover  of  Catherine,  Peter's  wife,  was  executed,  the 
Tsar  took  her  for  a  walk  and  showed  her  the  head 
exhibited  on  one  of  the  pillars.  She  was  not  in  the 
least  confused,  however,  on  seeing  it,  and  calmly 
exclaimed  that  it  was  "  a  pity  that  the  vice  of  the 
courtiers  should  reach  such  limits."  Peter  must  have 
been  very  much  in  love  with  this  clever  woman  to 
permit  her  to  flirt  with  the  young  Englishman,  who,  it 
is  said,  was  the  brother  of  Catherine's  lady  companion. 


70    PETROGRAD  PAST  AND  PRESENT 

Although  she  was  only  a  peasant  girl,  the  illegitimate 
daughter  of  a  Swedish  officer,  she  seemed  to  possess  a 
remarkable  power  over  this  man  of  primitive  passions 
and  barbaric  instincts.  When  his  wrath  was  fearful 
to  behold,  and  nobody  else  dared  approach  him,  she 
could  soothe  the  anger  of  the  autocrat's  soul  effectively. 

About  this  time  (1717)  Peter  and  the  Empress 
visited  the  King  of  Prussia,  and  an  amusing  account 
of  the  Tsar,  his  consort  and  the  strange  Court  he 
gathered  round  him  on  his  travels  is  found  in 
the  Memoirs  of  Princess  Wilhelmina,  the  precocious 
daughter  of  King  Frederick  of  Prussia  ;  it  is  of  peculiar 
interest  and  at  times  borders  on  the  scandalous. 
"  The  Tsar,  with  his  consort  and  suite,"  she  writes, 
"  were  on  their  homeward  journey  from  Holland, 
when  suddenly  the  Tsarina  had  a  miscarriage,  which 
obliged  her  to  remain  at  Cleve."  As  the  Tsar  did  not 
care  to  have  many  people  about  him,  and  disliked  all 
ceremonies  and  formalities,  he  asked  the  King's  per- 
mission to  reside  in  a  little  summer  villa  in  the  environs 
of  Berlin,  belonging  to  the  Queen  (Sophia  of  Hanover). 
It  was  a  beautiful  building,  fitted  up  by  the  Queen 
with  great  taste  and  at  considerable  expense  ;  the 
porcelain  gallery  was  especially  fine,  and  all  the  rooms 
were  adorned  by  mirrors  ;  the  house,  in  fact,  was  a 
regular  jewel,  known  by  the  name  of  "  Mon  Bijou." 
In  order  to  prevent  Messieurs  les  Russes  from  causing 
the  disorder  they  had  done  in  previous  places  where 
they  had  lived,  the  Queen  removed  all  the  most  costly 
things. 

A  few  days  after  the  Tsar  and  his  retinue  arrived  by 
river.  On  the  shore  the  royal  couple  received  them, 
the  King  helping  the  Tsarina  out  of  the  boat.  The 
Tsar  gave  the  King  his  hand,  exclaiming  :  "  It  is 
pleasant  to  meet  you,  brother  Frederick  !  "  He  then 
went  to  the  Queen  and  was  about  to  embrace  her, 
but  she  pushed  him  away.    The  Empress  kissed  the 


PETROGRAD  DURING  REIGN  OF  FOUNDER   71 

Queen's  hand  several  times,  and  afterwards  was  pre- 
sented to  the  Duke  and  Duchess  of  Mecklenburg.  The 
Queen  was  also  introduced  to  four  hundred  ladies  who 
formed  the  suite — chiefly  German  young  women,  serving 
as  ladies  of  the  Court,  chambermaids,  cooks  or  laundry- 
women.  Most  of  them  carried  a  gaudily  dressed  infant 
in  their  arms,  and  when  anyone  inquired  if  the  child 
was  hers,  the  girl  curtsied  according  to  the  custom 
and  replied  :  "I  have  received  this  child  by  the  favour 
of  the  Tsar."  As  the  Queen  considered  it  beneath  her 
dignity  to  recognise  such  people,  the  Tsarina  in  revenge 
met  the  princesses  of  the  blood  royal  coldly ;  in  fact 
the  King  had  great  difficulty  in  persuading  her  even  to 
pay  them  a  visit. 

"  This  strange  Court  I  saw  on  the  following  day, 
when  the  Tsar  and  his  consort  called  upon  the  Queen, 
who  went  out  into  the  ante-chamber  of  the  banqueting- 
hall  to  welcome  them.  Taking  the  Tsarina's  hand,  she 
led  her  into  the  audience  chamber ;  the  King  and  the 
Tsar  followed.  As  soon  as  the  Tsar  caught  sight  of 
me " — Princess  Wilhelmina  at  this  time  was  only 
eight  years  of  age — "he  remembered  me  at  once,  for 
he  had  seen  me  five  years  previously;  he  took  me  in 
his  arms  and  kissed  me  so  much  that  he  almost  rubbed 
the  skin  off  my  face.  I  struggled  with  all  my  strength, 
and  boxed  his  ears  again  and  again,  and  said  that  I 
would  not  permit  such  liberties,  which  disgraced  me, 
but  the  Tsar  Peter  only  laughed  heartily,  and  after- 
wards conversed  with  me  for  a  long  time.  I  had  been 
taught  what  I  should  say  beforehand,  and  I  spoke 
about  his  navy  and  liis  victories,  with  the  result  that 
he  was  delighted,  and  repeatedly  told  liis  wife  that  he 
would  willingly  give  up  one  of  his  provinces  if  he  could 
only  have  such  a  child  as  I.  The  Queen  and  she  each 
sat  in  her  own  faiiteuil  under  the  canopy,  and  I  stood 
beside  the  Queen  while  the  princesses  stood  opposite. 


72        PETROGRAD  PAST  AND  PRESENT 

The  Empress  was  little  and  fat  and  of  a  dark  com- 
plexion ;  she  was  nothing  to  look  at,  and  behaved 
badly  ;  you  had  only  to  look  at  her  to  see  that  she  was 
of  low  origin.  Judging  from  her  ridiculous  apparel 
you  might  have  taken  her  for  a  German  comedienne. 
Her  old-fashioned,  dirty,  silver-bedecked  dress  must 
certainly  have  been  bought  in  an  old-clothes  shop. 
Her  waist  in  front  was  adorned  with  a  double-headed 
eagle  of  precious  stones  ;  she  also  wore  a  dozen  orders  ; 
round  the  hem  of  her  petticoat  reliques  and  sacred 
pictures  were  attached,  which  jingled  when  she 
walked,  so  that  one  might  imagine  it  was  a  mule 
trotting.  The  Tsar,  on  the  contrary,  was  tall  and 
stately  and  handsome  ;  but  there  was  something  brutal 
in  his  countenance  which  instilled  fear.  He  was 
dressed  as  a  simple  sailor. 

"  The  Tsarina,  who  spoke  German  badly,  and  had 
great  difficulty  in  understanding  the  Queen,  called 
her  Court  fool.  This  poor  creature,  a  Princess  Galitzin, 
had  assumed  the  post  of  fool  to  save  her  life,  for  she 
had  been  mixed  up  in  a  conspiracy  against  the  Tsar, 
and  had  been  beaten  with  the  knout. 

"  At  last  we  sat  down  to  the  table.  The  Tsar's 
place  was  next  to  the  Queen.  As  is  well  known,  this 
monarch  in  his  youth  had  been  well-nigh  poisoned  ; 
this  had  so  affected  his  nerves  that  he  subsequently 
had  convulsions,  and  often  could  not  control  himself. 
While  at  table  he  was  seized  with  such  grimaces,  and 
brandished  his  knife  so  close  to  the  Queen  that  she 
became  terrified  and  several  times  wished  to  leave. 
But  he  begged  her  to  be  calm,  assuring  her  that  he 
would  do  her  no  injury ;  yet  almost  in  the  same  instant 
he  took  hold  of  her  hand  and  grasped  it  so  hard  that 
she  screamed.  He  laughed  heartily,  and  said  that  she 
had  much  finer  bones  than  his  Catherine.  A  ball  was 
to  have  been  held  after  the  dinner,  but  the  Tsar  stole 
away,  and  walked  alone  to  Mon  Bijou. 


PETROGRAD  DURING  REIGN  OF  FOUNDER  73 

"  On  the  next  day  the  guests  were  shown  the  sights 
of  Berlin,  among  them  a  collection  of  coins  and 
antique  statues.  One  of  the  latter,  I  afterwards 
heard,  represented  a  heathen  divinity  posed  in  a  very 
immodest  attitude — a  rarity,  a  kind  of  symbol  used 
by  the  Romans  to  adorn  bridal  chambers.  It  roused 
the  Tsar's  especial  admiration,  and  he  ordered  the 
Empress  to  kiss  it ;  when  she  objected,  he  grew  very 
angry,  and  in  broken  German  exclaimed  :  '  If  you  do 
not  obey,  I  will  take  your  head  off  I '  The  Empress 
was  so  terrified  that  she  immediately  obeyed.  He 
begged  the  statue  from  the  King,  with  several  others, 
without  any  shame,  and  the  King  could  not  say  no." 
(At  the  same  time  he  took  away  with  him  a  unique 
cupboard  inlaid  with  amber,  which  had  cost  Frederick 
an  enormous  sum — to  the  sorrow  of  everyone  it  was 
now  fated  to  find  a  home  in  Petersburg.) 

"  Two  days  after,  this  barbaric  Court  departed. 
The  Queen  immediately  hastened  to  Mon  Bijou  ;  it 
reminded  one  of  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem.  Every- 
thing was  so  spoiled  that  the  whole  place  had  to  be 
restored  from  top  to  bottom  !  " 

If  the  reader  consults  Evelyn's  Diary  he  will  find 
that  Peter  left  the  house  he  occupied  at  Greenwich 
in  a  similar  state,  and  chopped  a  hole  through  a  fine 
hedge  in  the  grounds  in  order  to  reach  his  work  at 
the  shipyards  more  quickly.  His  threat  to  take  off 
Catherine's  head  was  probably  no  empty  one.  Had 
she  resisted  him,  she  might  have  shared  the  fate  of 
many  others  who  had  suffered  this  penalty  for  in- 
curring his  uncurbed  anger. 

On  his  return  from  Prussia,  Peter  introduced  many 
German  reforms  in  his  army,  which  increased  his 
unpopularity.  To  maintain  discipline  among  the 
soldiers,  he  arranged  in  the  square  of  the  fortress  a 
wooden  horse  with  a  sharp  back,  on  which  refractory 


74        PETROGRAD  PAST  AND  PRESENT 

soldiers  of  his  Guard  were  placed  ;  round  it  pointed 
stakes  were  set.  Chains  fastened  the  hands  of  the 
culprit,  who  was  forced  to  stand  with  his  feet  on  the 
upturned  edges.  By  the  aid  of  this  and  other  diabolical 
punishments  the  Tsar  managed  to  control  his  troops. 

While  in  England  on  a  visit  he  was  much  interested 
in  our  Parliament  and  in  the  speeches  he  heard  there. 
He  remarked  to  his  courtiers :  "  It  is  pleasant  to  listen 
when  the  sons  of  the  Fatherland  speak  to  the  King  the 
actual  truth ;  this  we  can  learn  of  the  English."  On 
his  return  he  founded  the  Imperial  Senate — probably 
in  the  hope  of  hearing  some  truth  from  liis  councillors 
and  asking  their  advice  on  affairs  of  state,  even  if  he 
did  not  always  intend  to  follow  it.  It  was  about  this 
time  that  he  instituted  his  "  assemblies,"  as  he  called 
them,  which  the  ladies  of  the  Court,  who  still  clung 
to  the  old  Muscovite  ideas  of  Oriental  seclusion,  were 
obliged  to  attend.  At  these  receptions  they  were 
treated  to  tea,  mead,  preserves,  chocolates  and  lemon- 
ade, while  the  men  indulged  in  more  potent  drinks. 
Soldiers  were  sent  to  bring  along  any  ladies  who 
declined  Peter's  hospitality,  or  who  despised  these 
Western  fashions. 

Petrograd  was  then  in  such  a  chaotic  condition  that 
it  was  difficult  to  find  the  houses  of  the  various  citizens, 
numbering  being  non-existent.  The  streets  were  so 
unsafe  that  they  had  to  be  barricaded  at  night  for  fear 
of  thieves.  At  each  barrier  stood  a  watchman  armed, 
and,  in  addition  to  this,  many  houses  were  protected 
by  palisades  against  the  wolves  that  prowled  during 
the  hours  of  darkness.  What  with  the  quagmires, 
ditches,  robbers  and  frequent  floods,  it  may  be  im- 
agined that  Peter's  capital  was  far  from  popular  with 
his  Muscovite  subjects.  They  regarded  Moscow  and 
Kieff  as  their  sacred  cities — not  this  foreign,  heretical 
town  built  by  a  sovereign  whom  all  true  Russians 
regarded  as  Antichrist. 


ThIC    ol.l)    WiNTKK     I'M  ACK,     WllKKK     I'KIKK    THE    ("iRKAl     IHKIi 

/■'rout  an  engraving  oj  i~lb 


PETROGRAD  DURING  REIGN  OF  FOUNDER  75 

Many  beautiful  buildings  came  into  existence  at  this 
period,  most  of  them  being  the  work  of  French  and 
Italian  architects,  attracted  by  the  enormous  salaries 
offered.  The  names  of  Count  Rastrelli  the  elder, 
Homan,  Forster,  Herbl,  Van-Svetin,  Pemone,  Mater- 
nov  and  Trezine  are  thus  associated  at  this  stage  with 
Petrograd,  the  University  or  House  of  the  Twelve 
Colleges  being  by  the  last- mentioned  designer.  Men- 
shikoff,  Peter's  favourite  minister,  who  began  life  as 
a  pie-boy,  ordered  the  fagade  of  the  college  to  front 
the  Tsar's  house  ;  towards  the  Neva  only  four  narrow 
windows  looked  out.  When  the  Tsar  returned  from 
abroad  and  saw  this  incongruity  he  was  furious,  and, 
according  to  his  custom,  belaboured  the  back  of  the 
"  child  of  his  heart,"  as  he  termed  Menshikoff,  with  his 
oaken  cudgel,  which  he  invariably  carried.  A  well- 
known  French  architect  who  displeased  him  is  said  to 
have  died  from  one  of  Peter's  beatings. 

In  1713  Peter  built  his  Summer  Palace  near  the 
Fontanka  Canal,  in  a  garden  which  formerly  belonged 
to  a  Swedish  landowner.  He  was  fond  of  designing,  and 
drew  the  plans  for  many  houses  himself.  On  the  spot 
where  the  Hermitage  Theatre  now  stands  the  Winter 
Palace  was  built,  and  here  Peter  died,  after  contracting  a 
severe  chill  in  saving  the  lives  of  some  drowning  sailors. 

Thus  ended  the  career  of  the  strange  Emperor  who 
did  not  hesitate  to  sacrifice  thousands  of  lives  for  the 
good,  as  he  supposed,  of  his  country — even  his  only 
son.  It  is  not  for  us  to  judge  harshly  this  savage 
genius.  As  he  said  when  criticised  :  "  Let  God  be  my 
judge."  If  Peter  did  not  spare  others,  he  certainly 
did  not  spare  himself.  The  evil  that  men  do  lives 
after  them.  If  he  did  evil  in  building  his  city  in  this 
unhealthy  spot,  it  will  become  evident  as  time  advances, 
but  if  it  was  for  the  good  of  his  people  and  country  the 
benefits  that  will  be  derived  from  his  colossal  sacrifices 
and  energy  will  be  his  truest  justification. 


\ 


hTArill'.fl    ,\MI»    iMnrnilMI.NIM.    IIIM  l«>ll  l<  A  I .    M  li'.MOlM  ICM    AND 
floMl!,    Ml'l,«  lAI.    I'I'.AI  lllM,;i    nl     nil,    iAI'lTAI. 

HtAII'I'inu  lioiii  I  Ik  hiiiiM-  S<jimi<',  «>i>  lli<  IrTl  IiuikI  hu\v 
ol'  Hh*  Iiii^v  nIuIik  <»I'  I  Ik  'Vunv  Ni<  holiui  1.,  Ili<-  (^ntiKl 
IMo^lli(iyll  IN  n|)|U'niulK  <l  u  Ml  i  rt  I  only  jiJhmiI  n  (|iiiu-l<  r 
ol'  n  iiiilr  IM  l<  ii^lli.  ImiI  iI  4'oiiln.iiiN  cxrclhiil  hIio|)N  njid 
many  liii<  ImuMiiikm.  II  l<  luiiiinh  ,i  willi  n.  hmiiltriil 
nrrli,  hitrnioniilnl  hy  u  (Itiuinl  ni\{\  jioivirfj,  hiiill  <>u 
lh<*  piircHl  tImnnu'mI  Inn  ft.  Tlnft  N|m»I  Ihin  been  I  Ik-  ruMiH* 
of  Niingnnniry  ciirointli  rn  Ixlwrrii  lli<  |iro|>l(-  niid  lii<^ 
iNmNiU^iiN.  TIk  iiK-li  roniH  «-h,  I  Ik  w  iii^S  of /III  (MUmnoUM 
hItH'k  wliu'li  r»Hn|niN«fi  I  lie  |'\>rrifjji  (  Ullrr,  I  he  MiniHlry 
of  I'lMMiicc  nti<l  I  Ik-  ltn|Mriiil  Shilf.  A  ciirioiiH  nn-ulml. 
oiir<  liii|>|)rii<  *l  l«»  DM  whilr  rihintliii/ji;  in  llic  (lotu'way 
of  (Ik-  ImiiMiiiilj  of  I  Ik  (^iniitl  Sinff  rliiillin^  Willi  IIk* 
NiH'nhiry  of  Ilic  Annru'iin  ninhaNHudor.  Me  \vn.H  an 
Mn^liriinnan.  and  used  lit  rollcci  anrcdoh-N  for  Ium  rliicr, 
wliu-li  lie  duly  cntrnd   in  a  hihcimI   hook.      ( )nr  of  liiN 

Htorit'H  NO  Im-IvI««i  iiiy  fMixN  iliiii  I  Imii.i  inio  a  licarly 
lanf>h.  lo  llic  innnrnNc  ajniiNcincnl  t>f  Ilic  hyNtandcrs. 
lV-opl<-  in  UiiNNia,  rar<'ly  laii^h  and  sin^^  in  tlu'  nIihtIh 
UN  IIkv  ofh  II  d(»  in  LoiuUui.  A  policr  oIllcrT  ntar  hy 
Wiis  rviil<  iiMn  |»ii/'/J<mI,  and  iinpi-oaflicd  \\u-,  nujuiring 
\vli>  I  h(-lia\<«l  NO  h«>iNl<-i\MiNly.  I  lold  linn  that  1  was 
«n|«»yinK  "  .!'*''•<'•  '•'*•'  atldcil  :  "  Snrrly  it  is  not  for- 
lMdd<  n  to  lim$^h  in  ({nssia.  V  '*  Tlir  |h)|ic(-iiian.  \vho 
iia«l  .M  giHal  ul»n  ol  ouI\\mi«I  ilcronim.  rrplicd,  to  my 
UNltMnshnunt  :  "  Moslmo  snujalNJa  iu>  n<-  lak  ^iHunki*" 
(Von  may  lain»ii,  hnt  not  m>  loudly)!  .Aftirtlud  littU> 
K'.sson  I  moihiatfd  my  cxpiN-Nsion  of  amust'iiK-nl  wlirn 


STATIIKS  AND  MONUMKNTS  77 

(Hil  i*\  doors,  ill  order  iiol.  To  shock  llut  siiK(;('plil)ilitic'M 
ol'  I  lie  l.'ivv. 

()|)|)osil<'  I  he  Jircliwiiy  is  I. Ik-  iiMiiMiisc  /^'niiiil*'  m<nni- 
iiKiil-  cnclcd  l<)  lli<"  incinory  ol'  lli«-  lOiiipcror  AI<'X- 
andcT  I.,  who  is  SJtid  lo  huv('(h((l  in  Sihcrin,  nn  ti  monk. 
li;  is  Jthoiil,  100  I*  <  I,  hi/^h,  :uid  is  in.uir  from  .*i,  single 
block.  No  olhcr  moiiolilh  in  liic  world  <'jiii  he  coiii- 
pured  lo  liiis  ^i/4;ml,i(^  (•olumn,  s;i,ve  |)erJi;i.j)S  J*oiii|)ey's 
Pilhir.  On  llw  l,o|)  sl.imds  n  hroiizt*  nri/^el,  one  hand 
holding  u  cross,  Ific  olher  poinlin^r  lo  |,fie  sky. 

On  I  lie  ji,c(tession  of  I  h<'  Tsjir  Nichohis  I  he  s(|iiJi,r<t 
coiil.'iinin^  lliis  momniKiil  vviis  Uie  scteiu;  ol"  ;i,  (ronlli<tl 
between  Uu;  n,d  Inn  n  Is  of  l,h<' (rnuid  Duke  (lonsliinline 
and  tliose  of  Nichol^is,  who  w;is  Ihe  youn^(;r  l)rol-her. 
P;i,rl,  of  U)e  (jln;i,rd  w:is  in  hi, von r  of  Uie  l)nk<',  Mie 
reniiiinder  sl-ood  h)r  Nicjiohis.  Tiie  soldiers  who  were 
in  favour  of  ('onsl,;ml,ine  wen-  l.old  lo  sfioni,  "  Kons- 
tclooizijal"  (A  (onstil,nl,ion  1)  which  1  h<  y  believed 
to  hv  tliC'  iiJinie  of  lint  INilish  wile  of  the  (inind  i)nk<;. 
As  soon  a,s  Nichok'ts  he.'trd  this  I  re;i,son;i,bl(t  outcry  Ik; 
ordered  his  (in.-irds  to  lin-  on  tint  ;i,(lh(;rents  of  his 
brother.  They  oIm  yed,  with  terribh;  effect — many  of 
tluM)p))()ncnls  were  killed  biittfieydid  not  understand 
why  tfic-y  h;ul  to  sfioot.  'i'his  story,  whi(;h  lias  a,  rin;^ 
ol*  trutli  about  it,  was  told  to  na;  by  tfie  adopted 
daughter  of  tfie  famous  General  J)iebiteh,  who  eaptureci 
Constantinople,  ;md  who  ;i,bout  this  time  mysb-riously 
died.  This  old  Ijuly  b'ui/^ht  iiw.  wfi}i,t  little  Oerman  1 
know.  Sh(;  w;i.s  of  J*olish  Jmd  Ci(  rm;ui  extra(;tion. 
The  dents  rruule  by  bullets  lired  on  this  occasion  in 
th(;  surrounding  houses  can  still  \)(t  seen.  Many  of 
Constantine's  followers,  who  fiad  becorrat  imbued  with 
progressive  and  liberal  ideas  during  the  long  campaign 
against  Na[)oleon,  were  sent  to  Siberia  ;  others  were 
executed.  Among  these  was  Colon(,l  Pestal,  author  of 
a  b(;autiful  liymn  which  some  of  us  us('d  f  r>  sing  in  our 
childliood,  wiien  the  unluxppy  late  of  Poland  stirred 


78  PETROGRAD  PAST  AND  PRESENT 
every  heart.  One  of  Tolstoi's  novels,  The  Decern- 
brists,  commemorates  the  many  brave  officers  who  fell, 
victims  to  the  wrath  of  Nicholas,  for  daring  to  dream 
of  establishing  a  constitutional  form  of  government. 
But  these  dark  days  have  passed  ;  the  people  are  wiser 
and  know  that  "  Konstetootzija  "  is  not  the  name  of  a 
woman,  but  of  an  ideal  form  of  government  which  in 
course  of  time  they  hope  to  attain.  In  my  opinion, 
however,  they  would  be  better  suited  by  a  series  of 
republics  or  grand  duchies,  based  on  the  model  of 
ancient  Novgorod,  Pskoff  or  Tver,  under  the  control 
of  a  Grand  Duke  or  President.  As  yet  it  seems  they 
are  not  ready  for  such  a  change. 

The  Emperor  Nicholas,  who  firmly  believed  in  the 
divine  right  of  kings,  has  been  so  long  misunderstood 
in  England  that  I  trust  the  reader  will  forgive  me 
for  stepping  aside  to  give  John  Maxwell's  opinion. 
Maxwell,  who  visited  Russia  in  the  fifties,  and  com- 
prehended the  "  Iron  Tsar  "  more  thoroughly  than  any 
other  writer  I  have  come  across,  says  : 

"  Nicholas  triumphed,  but  never  could  forgive  or  for- 
get this  attempt  at  revolution.  A  prince  by  birth  and 
soldier  by  education,  he  was  accustomed  to  command 
and  be  obeyed ;  and  now  he  was  called  to  exercise 
despotic  power  the  slightest  check  to  his  authority, 
the  slightest  murmur  of  suspicion,  awakened  his 
indignation  and  called  forth  all  the  severity  of  liis 
character.  .  .  .  The  fears  of  political  innovations,  of 
new  political  systems  and  ideas,  are  constantly  forcing 
themselves  upon  him,  and  to  combat  these  he  employs 
the  most  extraordinary  measures  and  exhibits  the 
most  remarkable  energy.  The  military  and  naval 
forces  of  the  Empire  surpass  in  number  anything  ever 
seen  before  his  time  in  days  of  peace  in  Europe. 
Ignorant  of  the  causes  of  this  martial  spirit  and  dis- 
play, the  nations  look  with  apprehension  upon  the  war- 


STATUES  AND  MONUMENTS  79 

like  preparations  of  the  Tsar.  The  PoHce,  counting  its 
thousands  and  tens  of  thousands  of  pubhc  and  private, 
open  and  secret  agents,  form  another  mysterious 
element  of  the  Government,  while  suspicions  of  all 
kinds  rest  upon  the  motives  and  intrigues  of  Russian 
diplomacy  in  every  quarter  of  the  globe.  Europe, 
however,  has  been  deceived  as  to  this  important  array 
of  the  military,  constabulary  and  diplomatic  regiments 
of  the  autocrat.  They  are  not  intended  for  the  final 
invasion  or  final  subjugation  of  the  nations.  On  the 
contrary,  they  are  designed  to  protect  Russia  from  the 
attacks  of  those  principles  of  liberation  which  seek  to 
penetrate  her  borders  ;  they  are  employed  to  arrest 
at  the  threshold  those  ideas  and  innovations  which 
could  dispute  with  the  despotism  of  Nicholas.  Europe 
has  nothing  to  fear  from  the  armies  of  the  Emperor  of 
Russia." 

Such  was  the  opinion  of  one  of  the  keenest  and  most 
judicial  students  of  Russian  history,  and  it  is  worth 
considering  attentively. 

We  all  know  how  Nicholas  quarrelled  with  Louis 
Napoleon,  refusing  to  recognise  him  as  a  brother 
sovereign,  and  afterwards  with  Lord  Stratford  de 
Ratcliffe,  the  English  ambassador  at  Constantinople, 
who  had  a  personal  grudge  against  the  Tsar.  The 
proposal  that  Russia  should  occupy  Constantinople 
and  take  over  the  protection  of  the  Balkan  Christians, 
and  that  England  should  occupy  Egypt  by  way  of 
compensation,  was  rejected  with  scorn,  and  the 
Crimean  War,  with  all  its  horrors,  was  the  result. 
Although  that  put  Russia  back  fifty  years,  almost 
everything  Nicholas  strove  for  has  been  attained : 
the  Balkan  Christians  have  been  liberated  from  the 
Turkish  yoke,  Russia's  rights  and  interests  in  the  holy 
places  of  Palestine  have  been  respected,  while  at  this 
very  moment  her  army  is  preparing  to  set  foot   in 


80        PETROGRAD  PAST  AND  PRESENT 

the  long-coveted  city.  Whether  or  no  this  is  for  the 
welfare  of  the  east  of  Europe  is  a  very  important 
question  which  cannot  be  discussed  here. 

There  are  other  interesting  monuments  in  Petro- 
grad,  all  with  their  historical  associations— the  statue 
erected  by  the  town  to  the  Tsar  Emancipator  on  the 
Fontanka,  the  statue  of  Alexander  III.  on  the  Ochta, 
in  front  of  the  barracks  of  the  Novo-Tcherkask 
Regiment,  the  statue  of  Baron  Wylie,  favourite 
physician  of  Nicholas  I.,  with  its  inscribed  pedestal : 
"  E.  V.  Wylie  (1765-1854),  who  rendered  great  service 
to  the  medical  profession  in  Russia,  and  placed  medical 
education  on  a  sound  footing."  A  large  hospital, 
bearing  the  name  of  this  philanthropic  Scotch  doctor, 
stands  on  the  opposite  bank,  near  the  Alexander 
Bridge,  and  several  members  of  this  family  still  live 
in  the  city,  Richard  Wylie  being  for  some  years  a  well- 
known  member  of  the  British  colony.  An  excellent 
figure  of  Gogol,  the  Dickens  of  Russia,  adorns  the 
Alexander  Garden,  also  one  of  Kryloff,  whose  Fables 
are  held  by  some  critics  to  equal  those  of  ^Esop. 
Catherine  has  her  monument  in  the  large  garden  to 
the  right  of  the  Nevsky  Prospekt.  She  is  represented 
as  standing  erect,  and  at  her  feet  her  admirers 
and  favourites  are  grouped — Roumantzoff,  Potemkin, 
Souvoroff,  Dashkoff  and  others.  This  was  set  up  in 
1873,  as  the  inscription  tells.  We  must  not  omit  the 
fme  full-length  figure  of  Admiral  Krusenstjema,  on  the 
Vasilii  Ostroff.  For  me  this  has  associations,  which 
need  not  be  detailed,  with  the  name  of  John  Henry 
Harrison,  an  old  friend  of  mine  who  translated  several 
Russian  classics  into  English.  He  and  the  late  Charles 
Heath  once  astonished  Nicholas  I.  by  jumping  from 
the  Palace  Bridge  and  swimming  down- stream  for 
a  wager.  Thinking  that  both  men  had  committed 
suicide,  the  Emperor  sent  police  to  arrest  them  if 
found    alive.    Discovering    that    it    was    merely    an 


STATUES  AND  MONUMENTS  81 

escapade,  he  laughed,  and  repeated  the  popular  saying 
to  the  effect  that  "  all  the  English  are  mad  1  " 

A  remarkable  institution  peculiar  to  Petrograd  is 
the  "Addresny  Stol"  (address  table),  on  the  Sadovaja, 
open  almost  every  day  from  nine  in  the  morning  to 
eight  o'clock  p.m.  Here  the  address  of  almost  any- 
body in  the  city  can  be  obtained  for  the  moderate  out- 
lay of  three  copecks — a  halfpenny.  People  who  have 
been  missing  for  years,  but  who  are  known  to  be 
residing  in  the  place,  can  be  found  without  the  least 
difficulty.  Of  course  this  passport  and  registry 
system  is  liable  to  abuse,  but  it  has  many  advantages, 
among  them  being  the  facility  with  wliich  the  move- 
ments of  criminals  or  suspected  persons  can  be  traced 
all  over  the  Empire.  On  the  other  hand,  it  has  draw- 
backs ;  it  can  easily  be  employed  by  unscrupulous 
people  for  base  purposes.  For  example  :  I  once 
refused  to  give  the  address  of  a  handsome  young 
English  girl,  a  governess,  to  an  inquisitive  official 
whose  sudden  interest  in  my  countrywoman  aroused 
my  suspicions.  But,  in  spite  of  my  curt  refusal,  he 
traced  her  by  means  of  the  "  Addresny  Stol  "  and  the 
police,  who  furnished  full  particulars  of  her  movements 
from  the  day  she  left  the  city  to  settle  in  some  distant 
village. 

The  town  hospitals,  I  have  been  informed  by  medical 
men,  are  in  some  respects  the  most  up-to-date  in 
Europe.  These  vast  buildings  are  supported  by  a  tax 
levied  on  every  peasant,  working  man  and  woman  in 
the  capital — an  equitable  system  of  taxation  secured 
by  simply  affixing  a  stamp  to  the  passport  of  every 
member  of  the  working  class  once  a  year,  when  he  or 
she  goes  to  the  police  office  to  have  it  vised  or  renewed. 
The  expense  of  the  host  of  officials  required  to  admin- 
ister, for  instance,  the  English  National  Lisurance 
Act  is  thus  saved.  Had  the  municipal  authorities 
to  support  an  army  of  clerks  for  the  collecting  and 


82        PETROGRAD  PAST  AND  PRESENT 

tabulating  of  the  tax,  there  would  be  very  little  left 
for  the  hospitals  themselves.  There  is  a  difference,  m 
this  respect,  between  the  English  and  Russians.  The 
English  are  long-suffering,  and  as  long  as  a  thing  is 
"  the  law  "  you  can  do  what  you  will  with  them— 
even  tax  them  to  their  last  penny.  The  Russians  are 
also  patient,  but  they  have  no  respect  for  the  law,  and 
evade  it  whenever  they  can.  Like  the  Irish,  they  are 
"  agin  the  law,"  unless  it  is  one  made  by  themselves. 
In  the  country,  where  every  little  village  makes  its 
own,  the  peasants  are  exceedingly  zealous  in  carrying 
out  the  regulations  of  the  commune ;  but  I  cannot  say 
that  they  care  much  for  the  rules  promulgated  by  the 
tchenoviks  (officials). 

Although  the  hospitals  are  so  fine  and  so  well 
managed,  the  people  for  whose  benefit  they  mainly 
exist  have  a  holy  terror  of  using  them  unless  absolutely 
compelled  to.  The  moujik  dreads  the  hospital  just 
as  much  as  our  own  poor  folk  dread  the  workhouse, 
but  for  quite  another  reason.  Ivan  Ivanovitch 
imagines  that  in  these  places  they  "  cut  up  people  " 
(lude  zarjezoot).  Having  some  vague  idea  that 
doctors  often  perform  post-mortem  examinations  of 
the  body — an  action  which  to  him  is  sacrilege — he 
believes  that  they  also  cut  up  the  living  for  the 
sake  of  making  experiments.  Rather  than  enter  such 
an  "  unclean  house  "  (netchesty  dom),  or  undergo  the 
simplest  operation,  he  prefers  death,  and  many  in 
consequence  do  die  sooner  than  risk  these  unknown 
terrors.  Notwithstanding  these  prejudices,  there  is 
no  doubt  that  the  municipal  hospitals  of  Petrograd 
are  worthy  of  all  praise,  and  should  be  visited  by  those 
interested  in  medical  science. 

In  all  the  town  hospitals — ^the  Alexander,  Oboo- 
cheff,  Peter-Paul  and  St  Maria  Magdalena — everyone 
who  has  paid  the  tax,  which  amounts  to  one  rouble 
(2s.  Id.)  a  year,  is  attended  free  of  charge.    Persons 


STATUES  AND  MONUMENTS  83 

who  have  not  paid  contribute  for  the  first  ten  days, 
Rl.72  (3s.  6d.);  from  ten  to  twenty  days,  R3.43 
(7s.),  and  for  one  month,  R5.15  (10s.  3d.).  There  are 
several  special  hospitals,  such  as  those  for  women,  etc., 
and  one  is  built  in  memory  of  Dr  Botkin,  the  late 
Emperor's  physician,  whom  I  once  consulted  for  a 
broken  finger.  This  eminent  surgeon,  true  to  his 
reputation,  wished  to  amputate  it.  To  this  I  would 
not  consent,  with  the  result  that  I  saved  the  finger, 
which  still  does  good  service.  The  Russian  doctors 
have  a  world-wide  fame.  Tarnoffsky,  Menshikoff, 
Botkin  and  many  more  earned  for  themselves  a 
reputation  over  the  whole  Continent  which  speaks 
well  for  the  future  prominence  of  the  country's  medical 
science. 

The  apothecaries'  and  chemists'  shops  are  all  under 
the  supervision  of  the  Crown,  and  by  experts  are  said 
to  be  unrivalled,  both  in  the  quality  of  drugs  supplied 
and  the  care  taken  in  making  up  prescriptions.  Each 
quarter  of  the  city  has  its  own  special  apothecary, 
carrying  on  his  business  under  Government  inspec- 
tion. Should  there  be  any  serious  complaints,  the 
Imperial  privilege,  or  licence  for  dispensing,  is  taken 
away  and  bestowed  on  someone  more  worthy  of 
confidence. 

The  chief  clubs  of  the  city  are  :  the  English  Club,  the 
Assembly  of  the  Nobles,  the  Railway  Club,  the  Com- 
mercial, the  Pedagogue's,  the  New,  the  Merchants'  and 
the  "Yacht"  Club — the  last  a  very  fashionable  one, 
which  used  to  be  much  frequented  by  the  grand  dukes 
and  the  wealthiest  nobles.  Large  sums  of  money  were 
lost  and  won  every  night  in  the  big  Hunting  Club,  but 
whether  this  gambling  still  goes  on  I  do  not  know. 
Dances,  masquerades  and  suppers  are  often  given. 
The  gaiety  begins  about  ten  o'clock  and  continues 
until  the  small  hours.  Nothing  is  omitted  to  make 
these  assemblies  enjoyable.    The  tired  guests  usually 


84        PETEOGRAD  PAST  AND  PRESENT 

return  between  three  and  four  in  the  morning,  but,  as 
the  men  have  not  to  be  at  their  offices  before  ten  or 
eleven,  this  turning  of  night  into  day  does  not  greatly 
interfere  with  their  various  vocations.  Many  of  the 
leisured  classes  do  not  get  up  until  midday. 


XI 

A   TRIP   UP   THE   NEVA 

The  river  may  be  explored  easily  by  motor  boat  from 
the  Admiralty  works,  or  by  the  small  ferry  steamers 
that  ply  up  and  down  during  the  summer.  Ascending 
the  stream,  from  its  mouth,  the  first  object  of  interest 
is  the  Admiralty  building  yard,  where  some  of  the 
navy's  largest  cruisers  have  been  constructed.  Many 
a  fine  vessel,  now  at  the  bottom  of  the  ocean,  have  I 
seen  leave  the  stocks  here.  One,  the  Hangudd,  I  saw 
launched  in  the  presence  of  Alexander  III.  It  sank 
in  the  Finnish  Gulf  during  heavy  gun  practice.  Owing 
to  faulty  construction  great  fissures  appeared  in  the 
hull  directly  the  guns  were  fired,  and  she  foundered.  I 
fear  she  is  not  the  only  Russian  battleship  to  meet  an 
untimely  end — not  in  actual  fight,  but  through  errors 
in  design,  and  also  through  the  peculation  which  for  a 
long  time  played  sad  havoc  with  the  efficiency  of  the 
navy.  Lower  down  the  river,  on  the  opposite  bank, 
are  the  Baltic  works,  near  which  I  first  set  foot  on 
Russian  soil.  Here  I  was  introduced  to  the  talented 
Mr  Kaze,  the  first  naval  architect  to  design  large  armed 
merchant  cruisers  which  could  go  almost  round  the 
world  without  coaling.  He  did  not  disguise  from  me 
that  these  would  be  used  as  commerce  destroyers 
should  England  and  Russia  ever  come  to  blows — a 
contingency  which  then  was  continually  spoken  of. 
Had  it  not  been  for  the  late  Sir  Robert  Morier  this 
calamity  would  have  befallen  without  doubt. 

As  the  Gulf  is  shallow,  it  was  the  custom  when  I  lived 
in  the  capital  to  float  the  men-of-war  when  ready  to 
the  harbour  of  Cronstadt,  where  they  were  fitted  with 
85 


86         PETROGRAD  PAST  AND  PRESENT 

masts  and  ordnance;  but  with  the  opening  of  the 
Marine  Canal,  that  gigantic  work  contemplated  by 
Peter  the  Great,  this  process  will  become  unnecessary. 
This  canal  runs  from  the  left  shore  of  the  Gulf  from  the 
river's  mouth  for  a  distance  of  about  eighteen  miles. 
It  is  about  three  hundred  feet  broad  and  twenty-two 
feet  deep.  At  the  embouchure  a  dock  has  been 
excavated  to  hold  as  many  as  forty  large  steamers. 
Here  are  many  huge  timber  yards,  which  on  the 
occasions  of  the  frequent  fires  present  a  grand  spectacle 
— though  not  a  very  pleasant  one  to  the  English  and 
Russian  shippers.  Conflagrations  are  so  prevalent 
that  it  is  estimated  that  the  whole  of  Russia's  wooden 
buildings  burn  down  every  twenty-five  or  thirty  years. 
The  beautiful  drive  of  the  English  Quay  comes  next. 
On  this  are  many  mansions  belonging  to  the  merchants 
and  the  nobility.  One  of  the  finest  is  that  of  the  late 
William  Clerk,  who  amassed  a  large  fortune  in  com- 
merce. Before  reaching  "  Dom  Clerk,"  as  it  is  called, 
we  pass  the  fa9ade  of  the  English  church,  surmounted 
by  a  carved  angel.  This  church,  which  belongs  to  the 
famous  Russian  Company,  is  outwardly  not  much  to 
boast  of,  but  the  interior,  with  rich  decorations  and 
stained-glass  windows,  is  well  worth  seeing.  Passing 
the  Koopetchsky  Club,  the  favourite  resort  of  business 
men  of  various  nationalities,  and  several  banks,  we 
arrive  at  the  enormous  block  occupied  by  the  Holy 
Synod,  which  forms  the  Isaac  Square,  in  the  centre 
of  which  stands  the  immense  cathedral  of  that  name. 
Fronting  the  Neva  is  the  splendid  equestrian  statue 
of  Peter,  by  Falconet.  Farther  on  are  the  Admiralty 
buildings,  where  formerly  was  a  yard  for  the  building 
of  Peter's  war  galleys,  also  a  wharf  with  ten  slips 
surrounded  by  walls  and  bastions  like  a  fortress, 
probably  with  the  object  of  resisting  the  attacks  of  the 
Swedes,  who  had  then  not  given  up  hope  of  recovering 
the  Neva  and  its  outlets  into  the  Baltic.    The  present 


A  TRIP  UP  THE  NEVA  87 

towering   blocks   were   erected    during   the   reign   of 
Alexander  I. 

After  the  Admiralty,  whose  gilded  spire  and  classical 
frontage  can  be  seen  from  most  parts  of  the  city,  comes 
the  Panaieff  Theatre,  built  by  General  Panaieff  for  his 
handsome  daughter.  Close  by  is  the  palace  of  the 
Grand  Duke  Michael  the  younger  (Count  Torby),  who, 
rather  than  abandon  the  woman  he  loved  (the  Baroness 
Torby),  quitted  Russia  and  relinquished  his  rank,  title 
and  privileges. 

Opposite  the  left  wing  of  the  Admiralty  is  the  Winter 
Palace,  facing  the  fortress  of  Peter  and  Paul,  and  next 
to  this  is  one  end  of  the  Hermitage,  separated  from 
the    main    building    by   a   bridge   spanning   a    canal, 
not  unlike  the  Bridge  of  Sighs  at  Venice.     Between 
the   Winter  Palace  and  the  marble  palace,  built  by 
Catherine   for   Orloff,    come   a    number   of   mansions 
occupied  by  nobles  and  ambassadors.     This   part  of 
the   quay   is   called    the   Dvortzovaja    Nabereshnaja, 
and  is  perhaps  the  most  expensive  quarter  of  the  city 
as  regards  rent.     On  the  left,  a  little  past  the  marble 
palace  (now  used  by  the  Grand  Duke  Constantine,  a 
noted  patron  of  the  arts  and  literature),  is  the  Champ 
de  Mars,  at  the  end  of  which  stands  a  statue  of  Souvo- 
roff,   whose   victories   in  Poland,   Prussia,   Italy  and 
Switzerland  ranked  him  as  one  of  the  leading  soldiers 
of  his  age ;  the  figure  is  quite  in  tune  with  the  simple 
and  stern  character  of  the  man.     On  its  right  is  the 
large  red  block  of  the  English  Embassy.     Here  many 
of  our  greatest  ambassadors  have  resided,  and  upheld 
the  name  and  fame  of  their  land  amid  difficulties  of 
which  few  people  have  any  conception.     Those  who 
made    the    greatest    impression    on    me    were    Lord 
Dufferin,  Sir  Robert  Morier  and  Sir  Francis  Lascelles  ; 
their   successors    I   seldom   met   either   in    public   or 
privately.     Past  this  spot,  where  the  fate  of  England 
has  more  than  once  trembled  in  the  balance,  are  the 


88        PETROGRAD  PAST  AND  PRESENT 

beautiful  Summer  Gardens.  By  the  entrance  facing 
the  river  is  a  votive  chapel  commemorating  the  escape 
of  Alexander  II.  from  the  bullet  of  an  angry  Pole. 
Like  other  rulers,  this  monarch  suffered  for  the  mis- 
deeds of  his  predecessors. 

The  Fontanka  Canal,  once  the  River  Fontanka,  is 
now  seen,  spanned  by  a  short  arched  bridge  ;  at  the 
end  of  the  embankment  is  the  Alexander  Bridge,  one 
of  Petrograd's  finest ;  across  it  lies  the  Finnish  Side, 
where  dwell  thousands  of  workmen  employed  by  the 
big  breweries  and  factories.  From  the  Finnish  rail- 
way station,  near  here,  excursions  can  be  made  to 
Ozerke,  Lanskaja,  Schouvalofva,  Pargolova,  Terrioki 
and  many  other  delightful  places  on  the  Finnish  State 
Line  ;  also  to  Wiborg,  which  for  many  years  was  the 
frontier  between  Sweden  and  Finland  and  Russia. 
The  banks  of  the  river  are  here  flanked  by  mills  and 
ironworks,  the  majority  facing  the  stream,  which  is 
usually  crowded  with  barges,  heavily  laden,  from  the 
interior  via  the  Mariensky  and  other  canals.  This 
part  of  Petrograd  is  known  as  the  Great  Ochta,  and 
used  to  be  a  healthy  district.  It  has  lost  much  of  its 
beauty  through  the  development  of  the  industrial 
aspect  of  the  city  and  the  consequent  crowding  of  the 
population.  Here  Count  Koosheleva  Bezborodkina, 
a  man  of  letters  and  a  favourite  of  Catherine,  had  his 
palace  and  park.  In  its  glades  I  have  spent  many 
pleasant  hours  with  Matthew  Edwardes,  a  genial, 
hospitable  Irishman,  son  of  the  late  Colonel  Edwardes 
of  Cleethorpe  and  Grimsby.  A  considerable  portion 
of  the  park  was  purchased  by  Caesar  Cavos  ;  he  be- 
queathed it  to  his  niece,  Camille,  who  married  Matthew 
Edwardes,  my  old  schoolfellow.  Here  I  often  met 
Lancere,  the  famous  Russian  sculptor,  also  Alexander 
Benois,  a  noted  painter  and  cousin  of  the  owner.  The 
exquisite  colonnades  and  fountains  that  once  graced 
the  grounds  have  disappeared,  and  only  a  classical 


A  TRIP  UP  THE  NEVA  89 

alcove  and  a  small  relic  or  two  attest  their  former 
splendour.  Opposite  this  park  one  gets  a  sight  of  the 
Smolna  Monastery.  So  many  of  Petrograd's  hand- 
some edifices  owe  their  origin  to  the  taste  of  Italian 
artists  and  architects  that  it  might  almost  be  termed 
an  Italian  city,  from  some  points  of  view.  Wherever 
one  goes  signs  of  the  activity  of  these  descendants  of 
the  ancient  Greeks  and  Romans  are  visible,  but  un- 
fortunately the  stone  of  which  their  works  are  built  is 
perishable,  and  the  peeling  surfaces  betray  the  effect 
of  the  fogs  and  winds  of  the  north. 

The  river  here  is  broad  and  deep  and  its  current 
flows  strongly.  This  neighbourhood  has  seen  many 
boating  mishaps,  often  fatal.  Farther  on  is  the  Little 
Ochta,  once  occupied  by  the  Swedish  town  and  the 
fortress  of  Nyshants,  which  Peter  besieged  and 
captured  after  its  defenders  had  made  a  gallant 
resistance  against  overpowering  odds — of  no  avail, 
for  the  Russian  troops,  encouraged  by  the  presence  of 
the  Tsar  in  person,  forced  a  capitulation.  The  rest 
of  the  journey  can  be  made  by  the  Schliisselberg 
steamer,  the  pier  of  which  is  not  far  away. 

I  once  made  a  charming  excursion  up  the  river  with 

the  young  Countess  Ti ,  accompanied  by  the  sister 

of  a  naval  commander  who  went  down  with  the  ill- 
fated  Petropavlovsk  outside  Port  Arthur.  The  day 
was  scorching  hot,  with  hardly  a  breath  of  wind 
stirring,  and  hundreds  of  men,  women  and  children 
lined  the  banks  in  a  state  of  nature,  cooling  at  intervals 
their  heated  bodies  in  the  cool  waters.  It  was  mixed 
bathing  with  a  vengeance,  and  I,  not  being  accustomed 
to  such  a  natural  state  of  affairs,  did  not  know  which 
way  to  look ;  but  my  fair  companions  did  not  seem  in 
the  least  disturbed,  and  regarded  the  whole  panorama 
of  happy  humanity  that  opened  to  our  view  as  the 
most  natural  thing  in  the  world.  I  tried  to  escape 
into  the  cabin  to  hide  my  embarrassment — for  I  was 


90  VKTR()(.R.\l)  i^AST  ASl)  PP.f:SEXT 
8t.i)l  fuJJ  of  st.ijpjfJ  Kr)f.^lJsh  oonv^ntjonalit y.  Mcntion- 
ir/j/  rrjy  f^:^;jjrjf/s  to  a  ilussjarj  ()\Y\cj:V  standing  nth.r,  he 
\ix\iuh<(i  }jf:artjJy  at,  rrjy  insular  pr^judiocs,  and  s^iid  I 
shoijJd  Ukf;  rjo  notice.  "  Arc  rjot  the  liassian  lower 
cUsses  verit.aWe  Adarn's/dn/ier  ?  ■'"'  he  asked.  "Adam's 
children  '"'  t,hf:y  are-,  v.jtijfjut  a  doubt,  ! 

iiefore  reaehirif/  Sehhjsselberr/  eornes  the  chatr:au  of 
Princf;  i^jt,/rnkirj,  now  rjrsrjate  arjd  forlorn,  as  thouf.^h 
larnentirif.^  t[je  f;dl  f>f  jts  arrjhjtious  rjwrjer.  'i'his  is 
an  f;xeellerit  sj^ot  for  a  pierjje,  or  the  centre  of  an 
(;xeursJon. 


XII 

THE  FORTRESS  OF  PETER  AND  PAUL 

The  fortress  of  the  city,  a  low-lying  structure  built  by 
Trezine,  and  one  of  the  oldest  landmarks,  has  ever 
since  its  foundation  been  the  scene  of  tragic  events  in 
Russia's  history.  Here  Alexis,  Peter's  misguided  son, 
was  done  to  death,  it  is  said,  by  order  of  his  father. 
In  one  of  the  lower  cells  the  lovely  Princess  Tara- 
kanoffva,  Peter's  granddaughter,  whom  I  have  already 
mentioned,  was  imprisoned.  Prince  Kropotkine  and 
many  famous  Nihilists  have  been  incarcerated  here, 
but  of  recent  years  it  has  lost  its  importance  as  a 
State  prison,  for  as  a  rule  the  more  dangerous  persons 
are  confined  at  Schliisselberg  or  exiled  to  Siberia. 
Although  designed  and  built  by  Trezine,  Peter's  lead- 
ing ministers  and  advisers  —  Menshikoff ,  Narishkin 
and  Troubetskoi — assisted,  and  in  their  honour  several 
of  the  principal  bastions  received  their  present  names. 
At  first  the  walls  were  simply  earthworks,  but  as  soon 
as  possible  these  were  faced  with  granite  and  brick. 
The  cannon  mounted  upon  them  can  be  fired  by 
electricity. 

Situated  exactly  opposite  the  Winter  Palace,  its 
guns  command  this  and  nearly  all  the  palaces  on  the 
other  shore.  During  the  "  blessing  of  the  waters," 
a  ceremony  which  takes  place  every  Easter,  the  guns 
are  discharged  in  celebration.  On  one  of  these 
occasions  a  "  mistake  "  was  made  and  a  ball  cartridge 
was  used  from  a  certain  point,  with  the  result  that 
a  shot  fell  in  the  midst  of  the  Imperial  procession ; 
a  bystander  was  killed,  and  the  Tsar  himself  had  a 
narrow  escape.     Whether  this  happened  by  design  or 

91 


92        PETROGRAD  PAST  AND  PRESENT 

accident  I  have  never  discovered,  but  it  was  quite 
likely  to  have  been  one  of  the  many  Nihilist  attempts 
which  disturbed  the  beginning  of  the  present  Tsar's 
reign. 

Schliisselberg,  which  is  under  the  department  of 
State  Police  and  the  Minister  of  Justice,  is  now  the 
Bastille  of  the  Russian  Empire ;  here  political 
offenders  are  imprisoned  by  Imperial  order,  and  only 
set  free  by  Imperial  consent.  How  many  are  now 
confined  I  cannot  say ;  in  my  capacity  of  foreign 
correspondent  I  was  naturally  not  allowed  to  inspect 
such  matters  too  closely.  Several  professors  who 
taught  in  the  same  school  as  myself  were  imprisoned, 
and  afterwards  deported  to  Archangel  and  Vologda, 
for  taking  part  in  the  social  revolution  and  supporting 
a  journal  called  The  Will  of  the  People  {Narodny  Vola). 
One  of  them  seemed  a  most  harmless  individual,  and 
had  become  noted  by  his  writings  on  geology.  Both 
his  sisters,  who  shared  his  political  views,  were  arrested 
at  the  same  time,  but  I  believe  were  soon  liberated. 
A  Russian  journalist  whom  I  knew  very  well  suffered 
arrest  on  suspicion  of  belonging  to  the  Nihilistic 
revolutionary  party.  He,  however,  was  exceedingly 
well  treated  by  his  gaolers,  being  allowed  wine  and 
cigars — most  unusual  luxuries  ;  possibly,  as  he  was 
only  a  suspect,  an  exception  was  made  in  his  case. 
On  being  set  free,  my  friend  was  so  pleased  with  his 
experience  that  he  joined  the  "  Tsarsky  Ochran,"  a 
body  of  special  secret  police  whose  duty  is  to  protect 
the  Tsar's  person  whenever  he  leaves  the  palace  or 
travels  from  home. 

There  are  many  branches  of  the  Secret  Police  in 
Russia.  I  am  informed  that  in  all  its  members  number 
about  30,000.  In  time,  by  dint  of  close  observation, 
I  used  to  be  able  to  recognise  one  when  I  met  him — 
though  this  was  not  always  possible,  for  they  turn 
up  in  most  unexpected  places  and  upon  all  sorts  of 


THE  FORTRESS  OF  PETER  AND  PAUL  93 

occasions.  At  Domenico's,  an  Italian  restaurant 
opposite  the  Kazan  cathedral,  they  often  drank  tea 
and  read  the  newspapers,  at  the  same  time  keeping  a 
sharp  eye  on  students  and  others  who  haunted  this 
favourite  cafe. 

The  Petrograd  fortress  was  built  chiefly  by  Swedish 
prisoners  and  Russian  workmen,  and  in  some  respects 
is  reminiscent  of  the  Kremlin  at  Moscow,  for  it  con- 
tains within  its  walls  the  Mausoleum  of  the  Tsars,  the 
Mint  and  many  national  treasures.  One  of  these  is 
called  "  The  Grandfather  of  the  Russian  Navy  " — a 
boat  which  was  found  by  Peter  in  1691  at  a  small 
village  near  Moscow.  On  the  model  of  this  little  craft, 
I  believe,  many  of  Peter's  first  vessels  were  constructed 
at  the  Admiralty  wharves. 

There  are  three  gateways,  over  which  the  double- 
headed  eagle  sprawls  in  all  its  magnificence  :  the 
Peter  Gate  (adorned  by  a  leaden  eagle  over  a  ton  in 
weight),  and  the  Nevsky  and  Nekolsk  gateways.  At 
the  rear  is  one  other,  called  the  Johannoffsky  Vorot, 
after  Johann  IV.,  whose  tragic  end  I  will  allude  to 
later. 

One  of  the  most  curious  duties  of  the  Commandant 
is  the  opening  of  the  navigation  of  the  Neva,  every 
year,  with  a  certain  fixed  ceremonial.  He  first  rows 
across  the  river  in  his  galley,  delivers  a  report  to  the 
Tsar,  and  hands  to  his  Majesty  a  tankard  of  Neva 
wateu — ^which  it  is  to  be  hoped  he  is  not  rash  enough 
to  drink.  The  Tsar  returns  the  compliment  by  filling 
the  tankard  with  good  wine,  and  this  part  of  the 
ritual  we  may  suppose  the  Commandant  thoroughly 
appreciates. 

The  church  of  the  fortress  of  Petrograd,  built  by 
Peter  in  1714,  raises  its  fine  copper  spire  122  feet 
above  the  frowning  bastions,  and  is  the  last  resting- 
place  of  all  the  tsars  from  the  time  of  its  founder — the 
Muscovite  rulers  who  preceded  him  being,  with  a  few 


94    PETROGRAD  PAST  AND  PRESENT 

exceptions,  buried  within  the  sacred  precincts  of  the 
Kremlin.  Over  each  grave  of  the  Romanoff  tsars 
and  grand  dukes  in  this  Petro-Pavlovsk  church  is  a 
massive  slab  of  plain  marble,  surmounted  by  a  golden 
eagle.  They  are  all  extremely  simple,  as  though  in 
death  these  high-born  ones  sought  the  peace  which  in 
life  was  often  denied  to  them.  Some  of  the  tombs — 
there  are  fifteen  emperors  and  empresses  and  twenty- 
two  members  of  the  royal  family — bear  the  favourite 
icons  of  the  departed,  or  some  other  significant  object. 
On  the  grave  of  Peter  the  Great,  for  instance,  lies 
the  flag  of  Kapoodan  Pasha,  the  commander  of  the 
Turkish  fleet  at  the  battle  of  Tchesma.  This  trophy 
was  placed  here  by  Catherine  II.  as  a  recognition  of 
Peter's  work  in  founding  the  Russian  fleet.  She  was 
his  great  admirer,  and  did  her  best  to  follow  in  his  foot- 
steps*— when  it  was  consistent  with  her  comfort  and 
safety.  Other  parts  of  this  cathedral  are  decorated 
with  silver  and  gold  wreaths,  formerly  deposited  on 
the  tombs.  Many  of  them  were  originally  placed  on 
that  of  the  popular  but  unfortunate  Tsar  Alexander  II., 
who  will  always  be  held  in  grateful  remembrance  by 
the  people.  The  last  time  I  visited  this  historic 
edifice  I  witnessed  a  touching  sight.  I  saw  the 
Princess  Dolgorouki  entering,  to  pray  at  the  grave 
of  the  man  she  loved  and  worshipped.  Many  have 
blamed  Alexander  II.  for  marrying  the  Princess ; 
they  forget  that  she  was  descended  from  one  of  the 
first  Grand  Dukes  of  Moscow,  and  from  Vladimir 
Monamach,  who  wedded  Guida,  the  daughter  of  the 
brave  King  Harold  of  England,  killed  at  Hastings. 
The  Princess  came  of  the  old  Varangian  Dynasty  that 
governed  Russia  before  the  Tartar  invasions,  and  long 
before  the  Romanoffs— who  are  said,  by  the  way,  to 
be  of  either  German  or  Scottish  origin.^ 

^  According  to  the  most  trustworthy  Russian  histories,  the  Romanoffs 
are  descended  from  an  old  German  family  of  merchants,  who  were  called 
Romanoff  after  they  had  been  ennobled. 


The  Fokikkss  Church  ok 
ss.  i'etkr  and  paui, 


THE  FORTRESS  OF  PETER  AND  PAUL   95 

Close  to  the  fortress  is  the  "Cathedral  of  the  Life- 
giving  Trinity,"  built  by  Peter  in  1703,  to  commemo- 
rate the  founding  of  the  city.  It  was  here  that  the 
Tsar  sang  and  assisted  in  the  divine  service  on  the 
anniversary  of  the  battle  of  Pultava,  also  on  the  day 
of  his  angel  (his  name-day)  —  which  all  Russians 
consider  as  important  as  their  birthday.  Near  the 
Troitska  Church  is  the  famous  "  palace,"  or  rather 
hut,  of  Peter.  In  honour  of  his  rank  it  is  dignified 
with  the  former  name.  It  is  difficult  to  see  in  this 
little  house,  about  sixty-three  feet  by  twenty-one,  con- 
sisting of  only  two  rooms,  a  palatial  residence  for  such 
a  monarch ;  but,  as  I  have  said,  this  man  of  volcanic 
passions  and  sudden  impulses  loved  small  apartments 
and  tiny  cottages,  although  he  was  of  goodly  stature 
and  a  giant  in  strength.  In  Cronstadt,  at  the  end  of 
the  island,  stands  an  old  villa,  wliich  I  have  often  visited, 
which  Peter  inhabited,  and  in  which  he  had  a  sleeping- 
room  of  even  smaller  dimensions  than  the  one  in  his 
"  palace."  During  the  reign  of  Catherine  the  hut  was 
enclosed  in  a  stone  casing  with  a  view  to  its  preserva- 
tion. Nicholas  I.,  in  order  to  show  his  respect  for  his 
great  predecessor,  constructed  a  small  chapel  which 
contains  the  miracle-working  icon  of  Peter,  which  he 
took  with  him  on  all  his  campaigns.  This  relic  is  held 
in  great  respect  by  the  people,  and  on  almost  any  day 
poor  peasants  may  be  seen  crossing  themselves  and 
praying  before  it. 

The  second  room  was  Peter's  working  cabinet,  and 
the  various  objects  in  it — cupboards,  chairs,  etc. — 
were  all  made  by  his  own  hands.  Near  the  cottage  is 
a  boat,  with  oars,  also  made  by  him.  He  was  not  only 
a  skilled  carpenter,  shipwright  and  blacksmith,  but  an 
expert  turner  and  wood-carver.  It  is  a  wonder  to  all 
who  study  his  career  how  he  ever  found  the  time  to 
rule  his  enormous  Empire  and  yet  to  do  all  these  things 
so  well. 


96        PETROGRAD  PAST  AND  PRESENT 

In  the  immediate  neighbourhood  of  the  fortress 
is  the  extensive  Alexander  Park,  containing  the  Zoo- 
logical Gardens  and  other  places  of  amusement,  but 
of  these  resorts,  which  are  crowded  with  pleasure- 
seekers  in  the  summer,  I  must  speak  in  another 
chapter. 

The  Fortresses  of  Schliisselberg 

Schllisselberg,  called  by  the  Swedes  Noteburg  and 
by  the  Novgorodians  Oraycha,  was  taken  by  Count 
Sheremeteff  from  Sweden  in  the  days  of  Charles  XII. 
For  centuries  it  has  been  regarded  as  important,  for  it 
commands  the  Ladoga  entrance  of  the  Neva,  and  the 
canals.  Ever  since  Prince  Kropotkine  escaped  from 
the  fortress  of  Peter  and  Paul,  this  stronghold  has  been 
used  for  the  confinement  of  "  politicals  "  of  note,  who 
are  sent  here  by  the  Tsar's  especial  command.  It  is 
said  that  there  are  dungeons  or  casemates  in  the 
former  which  only  the  Tsar,  the  Chief  of  Police  and 
the  Minister  of  the  Interior  have  the  right  to  enter. 
Schliisselberg,  however,  is  under  the  direct  control  of 
the  Minister  and  the  Department  of  State  Police. 

This  place  was  the  scene  of  the  murder  of  Johan 
Antonovitch  by  the  adherents  of  Catherine,  who  also 
murdered  her  husband  at  the  palace  of  Ropcha.  It 
is  said  that  this  crime  was  committed  by  the  brothers 
Orloff  and  a  Count  Barjatinsky.  I  have  often  seen  the 
spot  where  Catherine  sat  when  the  news  was  brought 
to  her  of  her  husband's  death  "  from  apoplexy."  In 
Russia  many  eminent  men  have  come  to  a  sudden 
end  through  this  mysterious  complaint,  when  those  in 
power  thought  they  would  be  better  out  of  the  way. 

More  than  one  novelist  has  described  the  history 
of  the  unhappy  Tsar,  who  was  imprisoned  by  the 
followers  of  the  Empress  Elizabeth,  the  daughter  of 
Peter  the  Great.    Entirely  forgotten  by  the  Empress 


THE  FORTRESS  OF  PETER  AND  PAUL   97 

and  her  callous  suite,  he  wasted  slowly  away  in  a  dark 
dungeon.  Peter  III.,  however,  her  successor,  was 
desirous  of  seeing  his  rival,  who  had  already  spent 
twenty-four  years  in  prison,  and,  impelled  more  by 
curiosity  than  by  pity,  ordered  the  door  of  the  cell  to 
be  opened.  The  strange  object  thus  exposed  for  the 
first  time  for  many  years  to  the  light  of  day,  "  that 
had  once  been  a  man,"  was  so  weakened  and  wasted 
that  one  would  imagine  there  could  be  no  possible 
danger  in  setting  it  at  liberty.  Those  who  were 
present  on  this  curious  occasion  state  that  the  two 
Emperors  for  a  long  time  regarded  one  another  fixedly, 
but  what  speech  they  exchanged  has  not  been  set  on 
record.  No  mercy,  at  any  rate,  was  shown  to  the 
unfortunate  sufferer ;  orders  were  immediately  given 
that  the  guards  should  be  increased,  that  his  conduct 
should  be  minutely  watched,  and  that  everything 
should  be  at  once  reported  to  the  Tsar  if  he  showed 
any  signs  of  liveliness.  Three  months  after  this  his- 
toric event  Peter  III.  himself  was  assassinated.  The 
prisoner  of  Schliisselberg  soon  followed  him  into  the 
next  world.  Two  months  after  an  attempt  was  made 
by  a  Polish  officer  named  Merovitch  to  rescue  the  un- 
happy man,  whose  only  crime  was  that  he  had  a  better 
right  to  the  throne  than  the  usurpers.  Merovitch 
and  his  soldiers  managed  to  break  through,  but  when 
they  entered  the  cell  they  found  him  lying  dead  on  the 
floor.  All  the  dangers  they  had  risked  in  vain,  for  it 
transpired  afterwards  that  a  standing  order  existed 
to  the  effect  that  the  imprisoned  Tsar  should  be  killed 
directly  any  rescue  was  attempted.  In  1875  an  inter- 
esting novel  describing  this  event  was  published,  but 
at  once  suppressed.  In  English,  however,  there  exists 
a  similar  novel,  founded  on  the  diary  of  a  Scottish 
officer  who  witnessed  the  affair  and  commemorated 
Merovitch's  unselfish  exploit.  Russian  history  is  full 
of  such  tragedies. 


98        PETROGRAD  PAST  AND  PRESENT 

More  than  once  I  have  walked  the  broad,  dusty 
streets  of  Schliisselberg,  but  naturally  have  never  been 
able  to  see  the  interior  of  the  dread  fortress.  How 
many  prisoners  it  still  contains  I  do  not  know  ;  they 
say  that  even  the  Commandant  himself  does  not  hear 
the  names  of  those  in  his  keeping— they  are  only  known 
to  the  Minister  of  the  Interior. 

As  a  rule  these  State  prisoners  never  leave  the  place 
alive  ;    frequently  they  go  mad  through  solitary  con- 
finement.    Political  misdemeanants,  in  Russia  gener- 
ally termed  arrestantes,  except  when   the  country  is 
under  martial  law  (which  is  more  often  the  case  than 
is  supposed),  are  sent  to  the  governments  of  Arch- 
angel, Vologda,  Yakutsk,  or  to  the  terrible  island  of 
Saghalien,  which    was  inhabited   by  three  thousand 
murderers  of  both  sexes.     C.  H.  Hames,  in  a  lecture 
before  the  Anglo-Russian  Society  in  1903,  stated  that 
he  met  on  this  hopeless  island  "  a  highly  educated 
lady,  who  as  a  girl  student  was  arrested  at  the  time 
of  the  assassination  of  Alexander  II.     After  spending 
ten  years  in  the  dungeons  of  the  Peter  and  Paul  Fort- 
ress, she  was  deported  to  Saghalien  for  twenty  years." 
The  most  desperate  criminals  of  the  Empire  are  sent 
there,  at  ordinary  times.     In  Russia  the  death  penalty 
is  seldom  inflicted,  save  for  political  offences  directly 
against  the   Government — which  in  official  eyes  are 
unpardonable.     Even  members  of  the  Duma  are  not 
exempt  from  chains  and  exile  to  Siberia,  and  if  the 
representative  of  the  people  can  be  treated  so  harshly, 
what   can    the   ordinary   citizen   expect  ?     We   must 
remember  that  Russia  is  two  hundred  years  behind  the 
rest  of  Europe.     In  the  days  of  the  Stuarts  we  treated 
political  offenders  just  as  cruelly,  and  decapitated  a 
man  for  an  offence  which  now  would  hardly  be  con- 
sidered worthy  of  imprisonment. 

Life  in  this  exile  is  rendered  more  awful  by  the 
intense  cold,  and  the  absence  of  any  civilising  influence 


THE  FORTRESS  OF  PETER  AND  PAUL   99 

in  the  bleak,  desolate  wastes,  often  a  thousand  miles 
from  the  nearest  town  or  station.  Most  of  these  spots 
have  terrible  climates,  and  if  a  prisoner  is  not  so  for- 
tunate as  to  succumb  to  the  frost  and  hardship,  the 
monotony  and  dreariness  often  drive  him  insane. 

Very  few  people  escape,  when  once  exiled,  unless 
assisted  by  the  settlers,  who  sometimes  sympathise. 
What  with  the  marshy  tundras,  the  dense  taigas  (virgin 
forests)  and  their  wild  wolves,  tigers  and  bears,  the 
biting  winds,  broad  rivers  and  endless  plains,  it  is 
almost  impossible  to  escape  and  live. 

In  spite  of  the  Department  of  State  Control  and  its 
inspectors,  who  travel  up  and  down  the  country  in- 
vestigating abuses,  it  is  easy  for  the  officers  of  a  prison 
to  maltreat  the  men  in  their  charge.  In  view  of  the 
shocking  behaviour  of  certain  brutal  governors  and 
officials  in  the  distant  provinces,  the  Emperor  a  few 
years  ago  ordered  one  of  his  Ministers,  General  Popoff, 
to  make  an  inspection  of  one  of  the  mines  where 
prisoners  work  in  chains,  and  while  there  to  note  how 
they  were  treated  by  the  warders.  The  Tsar's  com- 
mission also  was  that  a  society  should  be  formed  to 
look  after  the  children  of  persons  transported.  The 
most  interesting  fact  connected  with  this  general's 
duties  is  that  he  had  to  send  in  his  report  to  Madame 
Narishkine,  lady-in-waiting  to  the  Empress.  Had  it 
gone  through  the  hands  of  officials  probably  it  would 
never  have  reached  the  Tsar.  Many  documents  of 
this  nature  get  mysteriously  lost  or  delayed  in  Russia  ! 

The  procedure  of  sending  "  politicals  "  and  criminals 
to  Siberia,  where  many  of  the  latter  live  among  the 
colonists  and  contaminate  these  people  with  their 
ideas,  seems  a  serious  mistake  of  judgment.  As  the 
Siberian  colonists  become  more  enlightened  and  more 
moral,  they  will  resent  the  presence  of  so  many 
desperate  characters — ^just  as  the  settlers  in  Botany 
Bay  did — and  will  probably  refuse  ultimately  to  suffer 


100       PETROGRAD  PAST  AND  PRESENT 

this  indignity.  The  criminal  classes  should  be  segregated 
in  Saghalien  or  some  other  large  island,  so  that  they  need 
not  come  in  contact  with  the  rest  of  the  population. 
Another  island  or  district  should  be  set  apart  for  "  politi- 
cals "  of  the  most  rabid  and  unreasonable  type,  where 
they  might  be  allowed  to  carry  out  their  ideals — some 
of  which  are,  of  course,  quixotic  and  impracticable — 
without  upsetting  the  rest  of  the  community.  In  this 
way  everyone  could  be  satisfied — even  the  evil-doers, 
who  could  get  rid  of  one  another  if  they  wished,  and 
thus  be  prevented  from  perpetuating  their  species. 

The  last  time  I  visited  Schli'sselberg  was  on  a  hot 
summer's  day — so  hot  that  there  seemed  hardly  any 
life  in  the  long,  straggling  village  called  courteously  a 
town.  Only  the  boys  in  the  streets  seemed  alive  ; 
they  all  played  at  bahkee  with  the  vertebrae  of 
sheep — a  minor  sport  resembling  ninepins.  Pigs  lay 
fast  asleep  by  the  roadside,  and  on  barges  tired  men 
stretched  like  logs,  taking  the  universal  siesta.  This 
midday  rest  is  common  throughout  the  land  in  the 
summer  months,  when  the  heat  and  dust  are  almost 
tropical.  One  or  two  drunken  moujiks,  singing, 
wandered  aimlessly  about,  and  a  few  women,  un- 
occupied with  household  tasks,  retailed  to  each  other 
the  latest  village  gossip,  or  told  of  some  wonderful 
miracle,  or  of  the  mysterious  appearance  of  the  Evil 
One  in  some  neighbouring  hamlet.  The  few  persons 
I  could  see  thus  seemed  happy,  each  in  his  or  her  own 
way — drowsy  men,  intoxicated  peasants,  chattering 
women  and  even  the  sleeping  pigs  and  the  children. 
How  many  of  them  ever  gave  a  thought  to  the  life 
of  long-drawn-out  misery  of  those  deep  in  the  huge 
fortress  just  over  the  water  1  They  did  not  think ; 
therefore  they  were  happy.  Those  imprisoned  so  close 
by  did  nothing  but  think,  and  therefore  suffered 
terribly.  If  you  would  be  happy  in  Russia,  it  is  best 
not  to  think  overmuch. 


XIII 

THE   MODERN   CITY   AND    THE    PEOPLE 

p  Of  all  the  streets  in  Petrograd  the  Nevsky  is  the  most 
\_^j'mportant  and  interesting.  It  is  like  the  Strand  of 
London  in  one  sense.  If  you  wish  to  meet  a  friend, 
you  stroll  up  and  down  the  Nevsky,  and  sooner  or  later 
you  will  probably  see  him  doing  the  same  saunter  in 
the  broad,  animated,  pleasant  thoroughfare.  In  the 
winter,  when  the  merchants  and  the  nobility  are  in 
town,  this  highway  is  at  its  best.  Officers  gallop  along 
the  fine  "  prospekt  "  at  a  furious  speed  that  would  not 
be  permitted  in  England ;  but  Russian  riders  and 
drivers  are  expert,  invariably  surprising  strangers 
with  the  dexterity  of  their  handling  of  the  spirited 
steeds — which  are  frequently  stallions.  They  drive 
standing  upright  on  the  shafts,  holding  in  the  three 
horses  they  guide  like  ancient  Roman  charioteers 
racing  round  the  arena.  Even  mere  boys  are  clever 
drivers,  learning  the  art  in  their  villages  almost  as  soon 
as  they  are  able  to  stand  alone.  The  finest  carriage 
horses  in  Russia  are  the  beautiful  black  Orloff  steeds, 
which  were  introduced  into  Petrograd  by  the  cele- 
brated favourite  of  Catherine.  The  majority  of  the 
equipages  are  harnessed  in  the  troika  fashion — three 
horses  abreast ;  sometimes  four  are  attached  to  a 
sledge,  with  splendid  effect.  The  Imperial  coachmen 
are  generally  attired  in  fine  blue  or  crimson  uniforms, 
richly  decorated  with  gold  and  silver  braid.  Before 
the  revolutions  the  Tsar  and  Tsarina  often  drove 
through  the  streets  with  an  unusually  brilliant  turn- 
out, and  since  the  war  began  the  Tsar  has  regained  his 
popularity,  venturing  out  as  of  old  among  liis  subjects. 

lOI 


102      PETROGRAD  PAST  AND  PRESENT 

In  olden  times  the  Emperor  Nicholas  was  frequently 
seen  on  the  Nevsky  coolly  smoking  a  cigar.  I  have 
never  seen  the  present  Tsar  on  foot  in  the  main 
thoroughfares,  but  have  often  met  the  Grand  Dukes, 
although  they  appeared  thus  in  public  at  the  risk  of 
their  lives.  When  our  own  King  George  visited 
Petrograd  he  strolled  many  a  time  along  the  Nevsky 
Prospekt  and  other  streets,  to  the  great  surprise  of  the 
people,  who  took  him  for  their  own  ruler,  and  could 
not  understand  what  this  sudden  publicity  meant. 
That  they  should  make  this  mistake  is  not  a  cause  for 
wonder,  when  we  remember  the  astonishing  resem- 
blance between  the  two  royal  cousins.  I  am  told  that 
on  one  occasion  of  the  Tsar's  stay  at  Windsor  the 
citizens  there  made  a  similar  error,  presenting,  with 
their  Mayor,  a  petition  to  the  Tsar  as  he  walked  in  the 
Castle  grounds.  When  the  visitor  discovered  that  he 
had  been  taken  for  the  King,  he  was  much  amused, 
and  no  doubt  envied  our  monarch  his  freedom. 

A  building  to  be  especially  noted  on  the  Nevsky  is 
the  Gosteny  Dvor,  an  enormous  two-storeyed  bazaar 
containing  innumerable  shops,  in  which  almost  every 
imaginable  fabric  or  ware  can  be  bought.  When  I 
first  arrived  in  Russia  most  purchases  here  were  pre- 
ceded by  a  system  of  bargaining  common  to  all  Oriental 
lands.  You  began  by  offering  half  the  price  demanded, 
and  then  leaving  the  shop  in  apparent  disdain.  The 
shopman  or  his  assistant  would  probably  follow  you 
several  hundred  paces  down  the  bazaar,  imploring  you 
to  take  the  goods,  as  he  was  selling  them  at  a  third  of 
their  value  for  your  own  sweet  sake.  After  another 
talk  the  man,  if  he  thought  you  were  likely  to  be 
obdurate,  would  suddenly  haul  down  the  flag  by  saying 
that  he  would  let  it  go  at  a  loss  in  the  hope  that  you 
would  patronise  his  establishment  on  some  future 
occasion.  The  comedy  progressing,  he  would  return 
with  you  to  the  counter,  sell  you  the  article  at  the 


-  < 

O   'X 

U  o 
o 


THE  MODERN  CITY  AND  THE  PEOPLE    103 

reduced  figure,  and,  when  you  had  gone,  cross  himself 
before  his  favourite  icon,  thanking  his  patron  saint  for 
a  profit  of  twenty  or  thirty  per  cent.,  and  praying  that 
some  more  foolish  foreigners  (Njemtzee)  who  had  no 
idea  of  value  might  be  sent  his  way.  In  Cracow,  I 
recollect,  the  process  was  still  more  complicated  and 
exciting,  for  as  I  passed  along  the  shopping  district  I 
was  hailed  by  a  dozen  pretty  Cracovian  Jewesses,  who 
ran  after  me,  holding  me  by  the  coat-tails,  beseeching 
me  not  to  be  hard-hearted,  but  to  buy  their  goods. 
As  these  ladies  and  the  Poles  are  famous  for  their 
beauty  of  form  and  feature,  I  had  no  objection  to  their 
plaints,  or  even  to  being  called  hard-hearted,  especi- 
ally as  I  knew  the  accusation  was  a  libel  on  my 
character.  As  the  Russians  become  more  Westernised 
this  practice  of  bargaining  is  dying  out.  In  many 
shops  one  sees  the  notice  "  Prix  Fixe,"  which  effectively 
puts  an  end  to  all  such  amusing  adventures. 

I  used  at  one  time  to  visit  the  Gosteny  Dvor 
("  Guests'  Yard  "  is  the  real  meaning  of  the  words) 
every  week,  in  the  hope  of  picking  up  rare  old  pictures, 
silver,  coins  or  drinking  vessels.  Occasionally  a 
shock-headed  Cossack  from  the  Don,  having  spent  all 
his  roubles  in  cards  and  vodka,  would  sell  his  family 
treasures — drinking  cups  dating  from  the  days  of 
Catherine,  old  French  snuff-boxes  jewelled  with  pearls 
and  diamonds,  captured  from  officers  and  generals 
of  the  Grand  Army,  or  similar  items  of  tempting  value. 
Once  I  was  just  on  the  point  of  securing  some  of  these 
things,  but  while  I  was  absent  to  fetch  the  needful 
cash  a  French  lady  came  and  gathered  in  the  plunder 
— ^to  my  immense  disappointment,  for  I  had  not  been 
long  away.  On  my  return,  inquiring  for  the  treasures, 
she  joyfully  exclaimed :  "  Plus  tard.  Monsieur,  plus 
tard  !  "  and  remarked  that  I  was  not  the  only  one  who 
understood  the  value  of  bric-a-brac.  She  was  right. 
As  soon  as  it  became  known  in  London  and  Berlin  that 


104      PETROGRAD  PAST  AND  PRESENT 

such  lucky  finds  were  to  be  made  in  Petrograd  the 
antiquity  dealers  sent  their  agents  and  bought  up 
everything  worth  having.  These  agents  are  now 
always  on  the  look  out,  and  it  seldom  happens  that 
a  stranger  chances  on  anything  of  real  value.  Before 
the  bazaar-keepers  became  so  wise  one  of  my  country- 
men used  to  make  an  income  of  at  least  £500  a  year 
by  purchasing  in  this  way  old  pictures,  plate  and  other 
things  at  these  centres. 

It  is  estimated  that  the  Gosteny  Dvor  contains 
about  a  thousand  shops,  filled  with  all  kinds  of 
merchandise,  and  the  Alexander  Rinok,  a  resort  of  the 
Jews,  as  many  more.  Here  beautiful  lace  made  by 
the  peasants  of  the  interior  may  be  purchased,  linen 
from  Kostroma,  Orenburg  shawls  of  lovely  design, 
lacquer-work,  the  manufacture  of  which  is  still  a 
secret,  and  fine  gold  and  silver  enamel-work,  believed 
to  have  been  introduced  by  the  Varangians  or  taken 
from  Byzantium.  Icons,  too,  of  every  description  -are 
sold.  Many  of  these  are  exceedingly  beautiful,  and 
their  hanging  lamps  make  them  an  ornament  fit  for 
any  room — though  they  are  put,  one  thinks,  to  better 
use  by  the  devout,  whose  erring  thoughts  turn  to 
heavenly  things  when  they  look  on  the  representations 
of  Christ  and  the  saints. 

This  huge  bazaar  is  divided  into  "  Lines,"  which  are 
named  after  the  class  of  goods  formerly  sold  in  each 
part — sometimes  even  now  peculiar  to  each  row  of 
shops ;  thus  the  row  or  line  opposite  the  Nevsky 
Prospekt  is  called  the  "  Clock  Line."  That  looking 
toward  the  Sadovaja  (Garden  Street)  is  known  as  the 
"  Glass  "  or  "  Mirror  "  Line,  and  so  on.  This,  how- 
ever, is  now  chiefly  given  over  to  jewellers  and  their 
exquisite  stocks.  It  seems  that  most  of  these  Russian 
bazaars  are  arranged  in  the  same  manner  as  were 
the  old  bazaars  in  the  days  of  the  Hanseatic  League, 
when  from  all  over  Europe  the  merchants  of  the  Hansa 


THE  MODERN  CITY  AND  THE  PEOPLE    105 

came  to  make  their  purchases  at  Novgorod  the  Great, 
the  forerunner  of  Petrograd  and  the  commercial  rival 
of  Moscow.  This  town  was  so  prosperous  that  when 
Ivan  the  Terrible  conquered  it  he  spent  many  days  in 
destroying  the  shops,  torturing  and  killing  the  citizens. 
Its  wealth  may  be  imagined  from  the  fact  that  in  1478, 
when  the  National  Council  was  dissolved,  three  hundred 
cartloads  of  gold,  silver  and  precious  stones  were  con- 
veyed to  Moscow.  Its  population  was  about  400,000. 
Pskoff,  its  sister  city,  shared  the  same  fate,  being 
almost  equally  prosperous.  The  world -famed  bazaars 
of  Novgorod  and  Pskoff  are  no  more  ;  the  wealth  has 
gone  to  other  cities  ;  but  we  can  gather  an  idea  of  what 
they  were  from  the  busy  centres  of  Petrograd  and 
Moscow.  Merchants  come  from  all  parts  of  Europe 
to  buy  furs,  cloth,  precious  stones,  spices  and  goods 
for  which  the  land  of  Russ  has  been  famous  for 
centuries. 

The  best  time  to  see  the  Gosteny  Dvor  is  just 
before  the  prazniks,  or  holidays.  There  are  many  in 
Russia,  for  the  people  do  not  believe  in  too  much  work 
— keeping  saints'  days  and  "  name-days  "  is  far  more 
important,  for  by  due  observance  of  the  ordinances 
of  the  Church  one  not  only  does  good  to  one's  soul, 
but  makes  sure  of  an  everlasting  habitation  in  the  next 
world.  So  argues  the  simple-minded  Russian.  With 
all  his  devotion  he  does  not,  as  a  rule,  grow  any  richer. 
He  observes  so  many  holidays,  in  fact,  that  with  his 
poor  pay  I  wonder  sometimes  that  he  manages  to  exist 
at  all.  The  Christmas  holiday  is  an  especially  lively 
time.  The  whole  space  in  front  of  the  Nevsky  is 
covered  with  a  small  forest  of  fir-trees,  from  the  tiny 
sapling,  a  few  inches  in  height,  to  Christmas  trees  of 
the  real  old-fashioned  style.  Toys,  presents  and  deco- 
rations for  these  can  all  be  obtained.  The  peasants 
of  the  interior  spend  a  large  part  of  their  time  in 
making    such    trifles.       They    continue    the    ancient 


106      PETROGRAD  PAST  AND  PRESENT 

handicrafts  which  in  England  unfortunately  are  dying 
out,  owing  to  the  competition  of  factories,  whose 
articles  are  neither  original  in  design  nor  lasting. 

At  other  seasons  of  the  year  I  have  seen  peasants 
bring  numberless  cages  of  tiny  birds  to  the  town  to  sell. 
Aware  of  the  tender  spot  in  every  Russian  heart  for 
the  "little  brethren,"  as  they  term  dumb  creatures, 
they  well  know  that  the  majority  of  their  customers 
set  the  little  songsters  at  liberty  directly,  regarding  it 
as  a  sin  to  treat  God's  creatures  thus.  At  all  holiday 
times  the  noise  in  front  of  the  Gosteny  Dvor  is  deafen- 
ing ;  the  proprietors  spare  xieither  their  own  voices 
nor  the  ears  of  their  customers  in  extolling  their  wares 
and  shouting  down  competitors.  The  droshky-drivers 
join  in,  beseeching  you,  cap  in  hand,  calling  you  any 
title — High-bom  or  General  are  favourites — by  which 
they  think  to  please,  at  the  same  time  making  dis- 
paraging remarks  about  the  horses  of  their  rivals  and 
entering  into  unnecessary  details  concerning  the  sex 
and  qualities  of  their  own  steeds  in  the  most  natural 
manner  in  the  world .  If  this  does  not  secure  the  desired 
effect — your  valuable  patronage — they  will  give  still 
further  particulars,  which  Englishwomen  who  chance 
to  hear  will  happily  not  understand.  If  they  could, 
the  colour  would  rush  to  their  cheeks  at  such  unwonted 
familiarity  from  that  child  of  nature — ^the  Russian 
moujik. 

Opposite  this  famous  emporium,  on  the  Sadovaja 
Street,  is  the  Imperial  Library,  built  about  the  be- 
ginning of  this  century.  It  contains  more  than  a 
million  books,  among  them  many  of  priceless  value. 
Enriched  by  the  plunder  of  old  cities,  its  manuscripts 
are  unique.  It  has  the  Codex  Sinaticus,  one  of  the  very 
earliest  Biblical  MSS.,  discovered  by  Tischendorff  in 
the  monastery  of  Mount  Sinai.  Documents  throwing 
much  light  on  the  Varangian  invasion  and  colonisation 
of  ancient  Russia  are  also  in  this  collection.     With  the 


THE  MODERN  CITY  AND  THE  PEOPLE    107 

increasing  knowledge  of  the  Russian  tongue  it  will  be 
made  more  accessible  to  foreign  nations,  who  will  find 
in  it  many  records  elucidating  their  own  olden  customs. 
It  contains  the  collection  of  the  Polish  republic, 
brought  to  Petrograd  by  Souvoroff,  who  at  the 
same  time  secured  many  of  the  hideous  statues  now 
"decorating"  the  Summer  Gardens.  A  copy  of  every 
book  printed  in  Russia  is  deposited  here,  in  accordance 
with  the  regulations  of  the  censors,  who  make  it  their 
especial  care  to  see  that  the  people  are  not  allowed  to 
read  any  work  which  they  consider  might  be  injurious 
to  the  interests  of  the  State  or  of  society.  A  letter  of 
Jean  Jacques  Rousseau  is  one  of  the  rarities,  acquired, 
I  believe,  by  Catherine  II.  The  Koran  of  Mahomet 
and  the  Prayer  Book  of  Mary  Stuart,  which  she  used 
on  the  scaffold,  are  two  others,  though  how  the  latter 
came  here  is  a  problem  to  me,  seeing  that  this  book  is 
claimed  to  be  in  the  possession  of  the  Fathers  of  Stony- 
hurst  College,  Lancashire,  where  I  saw  it  with  my  own 
eyes  in  the  winter  of  1914. 

There  are  other  notable  collections  in  the  city. 
Among  them  may  be  mentioned  the  libraries  of  the 
Academy  of  Sciences,  the  Academy  of  Arts,  the 
Artillery  Museum,  the  Military-Medical  Academy, 
the  Conservatoire  of  Music,  the  Naval  Museum  in 
the  Admiralty  buildings,  and  the  Pedagogic  Museum. 
Besides  these,  various  learned  societies  possess  libraries 
open  to  the  public  on  certain  days. 

Many  of  the  treasures  of  the  Imperial  Library  came 
from  Catherine's  famous  Hermitage.  Maxwell,  in  his 
excellent  work  on  Russia,  Avhich  holds  good  in  most 
respects  at  the  present  time,  says  :  "  The  MSS.  from 
Persia  and  every  part  of  Asia  are  exceedingly  valuable 
and  interesting.  Some  of  the  Latin  writings  of  the 
fifth,  sixth  and  seventh  centuries  are  richly  illumin- 
ated and  adorned  with  arabesques.  A  Codex  con- 
taining the  four  evangelists  on  purple  vellum,  in  letters 


108       PETROGRAD  PAST  AND  PRESENT 

of  gold,  with  marginal  notes  in  silver  characters,  is 
said  to  be  the  work  of  the  Empress  Theodora;  this 
precious  document  was  taken  by  the  Russians  during 
their  campaign  in  Asia  Minor  in  1829.  There  is  an 
extraordinary  collection  of  Romances,  of  the  original 
correspondence  and  love  letters  of  the  kings  and 
queens  of  France  and  Scotland,  for  centuries  before 
the  Revolution  ;  these  were  saved  from  destruction 
and  purchased  for  a  trifle  by  Dabroffsky,  after  the 
taking  of  the  Bastille,  and  transferred  by  him  to  the 
Imperial  Academy.  Among  the  curiosities  of  this 
assortment  of  royal  penmanship  is  a  writing  exercise 
of  Louis  XIV.,  copied  by  him  many  times  ;  it  runs  as 
follows  :  '  Le  Rois  font  ce  qu'ils  veulent ;  il  feaut  leur 
obeir ! '  " 

It  is  said  that  Ivan  the  Terrible  had  a  fine  library, 
the  contents  of  which  were  derived  from  the  various 
cities  he  sacked — Novgorod,  Tver,  Pskoff,  Kazan,  etc. 
What  has  become  of  the  Greek  and  Roman  MSS.  that 
he  undoubtedly  owned  nobody  has  yet  discovered ; 
perhaps  some  day  they  will  be  found  in  the  archives 
of  one  of  the  monasteries  or  churches  he  built  as 
expiation  for  his  numberless  crimes.  The  Russians 
are  supposed  to  have  carried  away  many  literary 
treasures  after  their  occupation  of  Mukden  in  the 
Russo-Japanese  War.  It  was  stated  in  the  Press  at 
the  time  that  among  these  were  several  Greek  and 
Roman  parchments  taken  by  Attila  after  he  sacked 
Rome  and  other  cities  of  the  Empire.  If  this  report  is 
correct,  it  is  to  be  hoped  that  the  MSS.  will  soon  be 
made  public. 

I  have  been  tempted  into  a  digression  from  the 
Nevsky  Prospekt,  which  deserves  a  chapter  to  itself. 
It  begins  opposite  the  Admiralty,  and  continues  in  an 
almost  unbroken  straight  line  for  three  miles  to  the 
Alexander  Nevsky  Monastery,  the  broadest,  longest 
and  liveliest  highway  of  the  city.     It  passes  through 


THE  MODERN  CITY  AND  THE  PEOPLE    109 

seven  different  quarters,  and  is  adorned  by  the  most 
sumptuous  shops  and  emporiums.  The  majority  of 
Petrograd's  streets  are  still  paved  with  rough,  primitive 
cobbles,  which  cause  all  vehicles  to  shake  and  rattle 
loudly,  to  the  joy  of  their  drivers,  who  imagine  that 
the  more  noise  and  clatter  they  make  the  more  they 
are  exerting  themselves.  The  Nevsky  and  the  Grand 
Moskaja,  however,  are  set  with  neat  octagonal  wood 
blocks,  forming  a  smooth  and  level  surface,  over  which 
driving  or  riding  is  a  pleasure. 

At  one  time  the  Nevsky  was  the  favourite  residential 
quarter  for  the  well-to-do  classes,  but  they  have  now 
migrated  to  more  quiet  neighbourhoods,  for  the  life 
of  the  city  is  concentrated  in  and  round  this  fine 
promenade.  In  the  morning  thousands  of  officials 
hastening  to  their  posts  give  it  the  first  signs  of 
activity ;  about  one  o'clock,  in  the  lunch-hour,  it 
becomes  comparatively  silent.  Between  four  and 
five  it  wakens  for  the  evening.  The  officials,  after 
consuming  innumerable  cigarettes  and  much  tea 
flavoured  with  lemon,  during  the  discussion  of  the 
latest  ballet  or  the  last  rubber  of  "  vint,"  hasten 
homeward  to  their  dinner.  As  night  approaches,  the 
youth  of  the  town  and  the  ladies  of  the  pavement 
stroll  about — gay  young  officers,  students  from  the 
university,  clerks  from  the  banks,  and  a  sprinkling 
of  greybeards  who  ought  to  know  better,  throng  the 
pavements.  The  butterflies,  who  are  the  chief  cause  of 
this  promenading,  are  not  gaily  dressed  as  in  England 
or  Germany,  nor  do  they  powder  and  paint ;  they  are 
noted  for  their  unassuming  demeanour  and  quiet 
costumes.  They  never  sink  to  the  low  level  of 
degradation  of  the  prostitutes  of  other  large  Western 
cities,  partly  because  drink  rarely  coarsens  them, 
partly  because  they  have  always  a  chance  of  regaining 
their  lost  social  position  by  marriage  or  by  reform. 
In  Russian  eyes  they  are  merely  "  unfortunate,"  not 


110      PETROGRAD  PAST  AND  PRESENT 

"fallen."  The  teachings  of  Christ  and  his  compassion 
to  Mary  of  Magdala  are  ever  in  the  mind  of  the  true 
Russian  when  he  is  prone  to  condemn.  Thanks  to 
tliis  spirit  of  sympathy,  many  a  woman  of  this  class  is 
rescued  and  married  by  some  broadminded  or  warm- 
hearted merchant  or  officer.  In  most  European 
countries  this  would,  of  course,  be  impossible.  On 
once  expressing  my  surprise  to  a  Russian  merchant,  he 
replied  :  "  Why  not  ?  What  are  we  men  that  we  should 
cast  a  stone  at  a  poor  weak  woman  ?  "  The  answer 
silenced  me,  for  I  felt  that  he  was  in  the  right. 
Although  Petrograd  cannot  be  called  a  moral  city,  one 
never  sees  the  street  parades  that  are  so  terrible,  yet 
so  familiar,  in  London  ;  the  excellent  police  regula- 
tions tend  to  segregate  to  certain  quarters  this  portion 
of  the  population.  Owing  to  the  amative  nature  of 
the  Russian  people  and  the  presence  of  the  Guard, 
numbering  250,000  men,  in  and  around  the  capital, 
prostitution  is  very  prevalent.  In  1899  about  5000 
women  were  registered  as  belonging  to  the  unfortunate 
class,  and  the  number  now  must  be  far  greater. 
Probably  double  the  registered  number  are  secretly 
engaged  in  prostitution,  but  escape  the  vigilance  of 
the  authorities.  The  majority,  however,  are  relegated 
to  the  houses  of  ill  fame,  for  which  Petrograd  is 
notorious.  These  are  under  the  supervision  of  the 
police  and  the  medical  committees.  Were  it  not  so, 
disease  would  be  rife,  for  the  ignorance  and  careless- 
ness of  consequences  of  the  lower  classes  is  astounding. 
In  Russia  it  is  realised  that  as  long  as  human  beings 
congregate  in  cities  this  evil  will  never  be  eradicated ; 
measures  are  therefore  taken  to  keep  it  within  limits 
and  reduce  it  to  a  minimum,  thus  protecting  the  more 
moral  section  of  the  population.  The  prohibition  of 
vodka  and  the  rapid  spread  of  the  temperance  move- 
ment is  accomplishing  more  toward  this  desirable  end 
than  all  the  laws  and  regulations  can  do. 


THE  MODERN  CITY  AND  THE  PEOPLE    111 

As  to  other  forms  of  immorality,  robbery,  swindling 
and  even  murder  are  sadly  prevalent,  especially  in  the 
manufacturing  districts  of  the  capital.  Manslaughter 
is  common  in  the  Finnish  quarter,  for  the  Finns  are 
hot-tempered,  revengeful  and  fond  of  fighting  with 
their  sheath-knives  (pukkies)  whenever  the  police  are 
absent ;  they  resent  an  insult  and  will  draw  blood  for 
it,  when  the  good-natured  moujik  would  simply  get 
rid  of  his  anger  in  a  torrent  of  denunciations  and  oaths 
— relieving  his  feelings  and  harming  no  one  in  particular. 
Not  so  the  Finn,  when  the  wild  Turanian  temper  of  his 
forefathers  is  roused  ;  the  sharp,  swift  weapon  is  out 
in  a  moment,  and  so  many  deaths  have  resulted  from 
its  use  that  they  are  now  forbidden  to  carry  the  knife, 
under  threat  of  heavy  penalties. 

Suicide  is  admittedly  frequent  in  Petrograd,  and 
the  number  of  people  who  make  away  with  themselves 
is  surprising.  Among  all  classes  it  is  common,  and 
even  school-children  will  destroy  themselves  some- 
times if  they  fail  in  an  examination.  The  reasons  are 
often  political.  Persons  suspected  by  the  police,  or 
wishing  to  escape  the  wrath  of  the  secret  revolutionary 
committees  when  failing  to  carry  out  some  order,  will 
take  this  way  out  of  their  troubles.  I  shall  not  easily 
forget  the  loss  of  one  of  my  pupils,  a  handsome  young 
cadet,  who  committed  suicide  because  he  could  not 
get  into  the  Lyceum,  the  first  educational  academy  of 
the  country.  The  youth  who  can  pass  with  honour 
the  Government  examinations  often  has  the  prospect 
of  an  easy  or  brilliant  future ;  but  as  this  is  impossible 
without  a  diploma  or  distinction  in  certain  preliminary 
tests,  the  failure  to  secure  this  has  marred  many  a 
man's  entire  career. 

Crimes  of  passion  are  frequent.  Young  men  and 
women  I  have  known  well  have  sought  death  when 
their  union  has  been  forbidden  by  parents,  or  when 
their  means  were  insufficient  to  marry.     The  tragedy 


112       PETROGRAD  PAST  AND  PRESENT 

of  Romeo  and  Juliet  is  continually  being  enacted  in 
some  portion  of  the  Russian  Empire,  especially  in  the 
south,  where  the  people  are  more  passionate,  romantic, 
poetical  and  given  to  moods  of  alternate  elation  and 
despair.  About  ten  years  ago,  after  the  collapse  of 
the  revolution,  there  occurred  a  regular  epidemic  of 
suicide  in  Petrograd  and  Moscow,  and  the  tendency 
took  many  strange  forms — swallowing  the  tops  of 
phosphorous  matches,  drinking  vitriol,  or  self-immola- 
tion after  saturating  the  clothes  with  petroleum. 
The  commonest  practice  was  for  the  would-be  suicide 
to  throw  himself  or  herself  from  a  lofty  bridge  into  the 
river,  or  from  a  high  window  to  the  pavement  beneath. 
The  moujik  will  often  look  on  at  these  tragedies  with- 
out attempting  to  render  assistance — an  attitude 
which  arises,  not  from  callousness,  but  from  the 
general  feeling  that  life  is  of  little  value,  and  that  if  a 
man  falls  into  the  water  it  is  "  the  will  of  God  "  that 
he  should  die,  therefore  it  is  almost  sinful  to  interfere. 
Near  the  part  of  the  Nevsky  which  forms  the 
favourite  haunts  of  the  gay  promenaders  the  Vladi- 
mirsky  Prospekt  intersects  it,  deriving  its  name  from 
the  Church  of  Vladim^ir,  built  during  the  reign  of 
the  Empress  Elizabeth  and  finished  by  Catherine  II. 
After  the  Nevsky  the  finest  thoroughfare  is  the  Letay- 
naja  Street,  so  called  from  the  cannon  foundries  at 
one  end  of  it.  This  is  flanked  by  splendid  houses  and 
public  buildings,  and,  as  it  stands  on  rather  liigh 
ground,  is  free  from  the  intermittent  inundations 
which  trouble  the  lower  parts.  Near  here  is  the 
Nieholai  Railway  Station,  erected  during  the  reign  of 
Nicholas  I.,  who  planned  the  line  connecting  Petro- 
grad and  Moscow,  the  old  capital.  When  the 
engineers  showed  that  monarch  their  designs  for  the 
route,  with  many  curves  and  twists,  he  objected 
strongly,  and,  taking  a  ruler,  drew  a  straight  pen-line 
between  the  two  places.     "  Bwitj  po  semoo  !  "    (Thus  it 


THE  MODERN  CITY  AND  THE  PEOPLE    113 

shall  be  !)  he  said,  and  the  engineers  had  to  follow  his 
instructions,  constructing  the  railway  over  marshes, 
morasses  and  through  dense  forests.  In  the  end  this 
plan  proved  the  best,  and  it  is  possible,  thanks  to  his 
arbitrary  methods,  to  travel  speedily  at  this  day  from 
one  city  to  the  other.  Odessa  and  the  Caucasus  can 
be  reached  from  this  station.  Owing  to  the  "  zone 
tariff,"  fares  are  absurdly  cheap,  and  the  fact  that  the 
principal  lines  are  State  property  also  reduces  them. 
But  the  existence  of  these  extremely  low  rates  is  not 
an  unmixed  good.  The  consequent  influx  of  people 
from  the  country  to  the  capital  has  raised  the  rents  of 
flats  to  about  twice  the  price  they  used  to  be  twenty 
years  ago,  and  food  and  provisions  are  proportionately 
dearer. 

I  have  lived  so  long  in  Russia  that  I  resent  all  the 
modern  hurry  and  confusion,  and  the  changes  in  the 
aspect  and  very  atmosphere  of  the  place.  Many  of 
the  streets  have  been  widened,  and  paved  with  wooden 
blocks  or  granite  squares  instead  of  the  old,  primitive 
cobbles.  This  does  not  help  the  picturesqueness  of 
the  city,  though  naturally  an  advantage  for  traffic. 
Many  new  churches  have  sprung  up,  for  the  true 
Orthodox  Russian  is  nothing  if  not  religious,  according 
to  his  lights.  If  crossing  himself,  fasting  on  special 
occasions,  church-building  and  praying  are  ways  and 
means  to  salvation,  he  is  sure  of  it.  Yet  the  people 
are  extravagant  and  reckless,  spendthrift  by  nature, 
and  their  hospitality  is  proverbial.  The  author  of  The 
Land  of  the  Tsar  writes  of  this  quality  as  follows : — 

"  While  in  Russia  visitors  are  welcomed  with  a  joy  as 
sincere  as  it  is  touching,  in  Germany  they  never  escape 
a  certain  formality.  Instead  of  giving  him  a  hearty 
welcome  to  homely  '  pot  luck,'  the  German  host  con- 
ducts his  visitor  to  the  table  d'hote  of  a  restaurant,  and 
if  he  is  admitted  to  the  family  mahogany,  every  care 

H 


114      PETROGRAP  PAST  AND  PRESENT 

will  be  taken  to  conceal  the  daily  and  intimate  family- 
habits.  In  Russia  the  case  is  precisely  the  reverse. 
The  whole  family,  even  the  domestics,  are  gratified  by 
the  presence  of  visitors.  All  endeavour  to  make  them 
feel  at  home ;  and  without  causing  any  change  in  the 
ordinary  routine  of  the  house  they  are  made  to  per- 
ceive by  a  thousand  little  attentions  that  they  are 
welcome,  and  could  not  better  repay  the  kindness 
shown  them  than  by  a  speedy  repetition  of  their  visit. 
One  must  witness  the  thrill  of  joy  vibrating  through 
every  nerve  of  the  household  at  the  near  prospect 
of  visitors  to  conceive  the  hospitable  sentiment  of 
the  Russian.  With  a  peculiar  sound  of  satisfaction 
they  say  to  each  other :  '  Sevodnja  gosti  boodut ' 
(There  will  be  visitors  to-day)  !  " 

I  have  lived  in  almost  every  country  in  Europe,  but 
nowhere  have  I  met  such  kindness  to  strangers  as  in 
Russia.  Sweden,  perhaps,  comes  the  nearest  to  it  in 
this  respect.  In  palace,  mansion  or  cottage  it  was 
ever  the  same — the  hearty  welcome  awaited  me,  and 
the  feeling  of  being  "at  home"  set  one  at  ease 
directly. 

The  Russian  is  exceedingly  fond  of  his  bath,  and  the 
heat  he  can  stand  is  astounding.  In  Petrograd  an 
excellent  hot  vapour  bath  can  be  obtained  for  ten- 
pence,  for  which  in  London  eighteenpence  or  two 
shillings  would  be  charged.  Many  of  the  public  baths 
in  the  capital  would  do  credit  to  Imperial  Rome  ;  if 
not  on  such  a  large  scale,  they  are  very  comfortable, 
and  often  luxurious.  The  attendance  is  good,  and 
prices  are  reasonable.  The  masseurs,  or  banchiks,  as 
they  are  called,  are  specially  trained  for  their  work, 
and  form  an  artel,  or  co-operative  guild. 

The  Russians  are  a  most  sociable  race.  In  the  upper 
classes  the  gregarious  instinct — and  the  extravagance 
of  which  I  wrote — is  shown  by  a  constant  round  of 


THE  MODERN  CITY  AND  THE  PEOPLE    115 

pleasure.  A  genuine  Russ  loves  to  see  a  huge  con- 
course of  guests  round  him — the  more  the  merrier. 
Whether  he  can  afford  it  or  not  does  not  matter ;  if 
he  is  likely  to  end  in  the  bankruptcy  court  it  is  a  minor 
consideration.  Whatever  happens,  he  will  have  had 
a  good  time,  and  that  is  the  main  thing  in  his  opinion. 
If  you  glance  at  any  newspaper^ — ^the  Novoe  Vremya, 
for  instance — you  will  be  astonished  at  the  number  of 
fine  estates  for  sale  in  the  interior,  or  mortgaged  owing 
to  their  owners'  recklessness  in  pleasure-taking. 

With  all  this  geniality  goes  a  certain  unreliability 
in  the  character  of  the  people  ;  they  are  prone  to  yield 
to  sudden  impulses  or  to  unexpected  temptations. 
As  a  rule  they  trust  neither  themselves  nor  other 
people,  not  so  much  from  intent  to  deceive  as  from 
inherent  weakness.  One  of  my  pupils  used  to  amuse 
me  by  always  paying  for  his  lessons  in  advance. 
When  I  remonstrated,  saying  that  I  fully  trusted  him, 
he  replied  with  a  laugh  :  "  I  know  you  do  ;  but  I  do  not 
trust  myself  !  "  "  How's  that  ?  "  I  asked.  "  Well," 
he  answered,  "  after  leaving  you  to-night,  I  might 
meet  one  of  my  companions  and  spend  the  money. 
It  would  then  be  gone.  Is  it  not  far  better  to  pay 
you  now  rather  than  run  the  risk  ?  "  I  could  not 
help  smiling  at  his  frankness  and  his  method,  for  the 
reply  was  so  typically  Russian. 

If  the  folk  are  not  saints,  they  are  seldom  hypo- 
crites. I  came  across  only  one  real  hypocrite,  but  he 
was  so  transparent  that  he  was  not  at  all  dangerous. 
Whenever  I  met  this  queer  character  he  was  on  the 
point  of  going  to  pray  before  the  Kazan  Mother  of  God, 
or  the  image  of  the  holy  St  Nicholas.  This  ruse  greatly 
impressed  his  simple  peasant  customers,  who  were  lost 
in  awe  at  the  sight  of  such  a  God-fearing  man,  but  his 
saintliness  did  not  move  me  to  the  least  admiration — I 
had  met  many  whose  methods  were  far  more  cunning, 
though  they  hardly  came  under  the  name  of  hypocrite. 


116      PETROGRAD  PAST  AND  PRESENT 

Prince  Valerian  Galitzin,  discussing  the  appearance 
and  effect  of  the  capital  during  the  summer  months, 
writes  rather  depressingly  : 

"  The  heat,  dust,  and  smell !  Petersburg  is  horrible 
in  the  summer.  The  shops  exhale  the  smell  of  sour 
cabbage,  and  from  the  houses  that  are  being  built 
comes  the  smell  of  damp  and  of  lavatories.  Masons 
are  at  work,  and  there  is  dirt.  The  lomovie  (carters) 
are  carrying  iron  hoops,  making  a  deafening  din. 
From  the  scaffolding  round  the  houses  drop  white 
lime  and  chalk,  and  the  blue  sky  is  like  melted  copper. 
One  wanders  about  the  streets  as  if  in  a  dream.  Some- 
times I  gasp  for  breath,  and  do  not  know  where  I  am 
going  or  from  whence  I  am  coming.  My  head  whirls, 
my  legs  shake,  and  I  almost  fall.  I  have  just  seen  a 
drunken  painter  hanging  in  a  basket  at  the  end  of  a 
rope,  busily  painting  a  wall  and  singing  some  merry 
ditty ;  whenever  he  lets  the  basket  down  it  rocks,  and 
he  spins  round  and  round  as  if  he  were  dancing.  I 
look  at  him  and  laugh  so  heartily  that  the  pedestrians 
gaze  at  me  in  surprise  ;  in  truth,  I  almost  laugh  myself 
into  a  white  fever." 

Petrograd  in  July,  its  streets  up,  its  drains  open,  its 
miles  of  stucco  walls  undergoing  the  process  of  being 
replastered  and  "  whitewashed  "  in  red,  white,  blue, 
green,  according  to  the  fancy  of  the  owners,  is  not 
easily  forgotten.  The  heat  and  humidity  cause  the 
stucco  to  peel  off  in  large  flakes  and  patches,  and  the 
result  is  very  unsightly;  but  after  the  thousands  of 
masons,  painters  and  plasterers  have  done  their  work, 
the  dilapidated  aspect  of  the  city  is  cured  ;  once  more 
rejuvenated  and  rendered  respectable,  it  begins  to 
look  really  superb. 

While  this  annual  clean-up  is  in  progress,  all  who 
have  the   means   leave   the  place,  recuperating   their 


THE  MODERN  CITY  AND  THE  PEOPLE    117 

strength  among  the  pine  forests  and  lakes  of  Finland, 
and  preparing  for  the  gaieties  of  the  long  and  trying 
winter.  Some  go  to  Oranienbaum,  Peterhoff,  Strelma 
and  other  beautiful  spots  on  the  Russian  side  of  the 
Gulf,  or  retire  to  their  estates  in  the  interior.  Wher- 
ever they  go,  however,  the  heat  is  almost  intolerable. 
For  those  who  cannot  get  away  the  outlook  is  bad. 
Sickness  is  rife,  and  many  die  from  fevers  caused  by 
impure  air  and  still  more  impure  water.  At  the  end 
of  the  summer  the  poor  workers  who  have  stayed  in  the 
dusty  squares  and  streets  are  as  pale  as  parchment. 

The  last  time  I  was  in  Petrograd,  in  order  to  escape 
the  smells  and  the  stifling  heat,  I  took  a  trip  in  one  of 
the  small  steamers  that  ply  up  and  down  the  Fontanka 
Canal,  intending  also  to  visit  an  old  friend,  a  general 
who  had  served  three  emperors  in  the  capacity  of 
adjutant.  To  my  great  regret  I  found  he  was  no 
more  ;  he  and  his  stories  of  Court  life  had  gone  for 
ever.  This  serious  loss  reminded  me  that  the  Petro- 
gradians  are  not  a  long-lived  community.  A  few 
years  ago,  notwithstanding  all  the  efforts  that  had 
been  made  to  render  the  city  healthy,  the  birth-rate 
and  the  death-rate  were  equal. 

Moscow  in  summer  is  hardly  any  better  than  Petro- 
grad, although  it  is  built,  like  ancient  Rome,  on  seven 
hills.  The  primitive  sanitary  arrangements  make  it 
very  unhealthy,  and  its  mortality  sometimes  rises  to 
fifty  per  thousand. 

In  the  evenings  of  July  and  August,  when  the  heat 
reaches  its  climax,  the  pleasure  gardens  are  thronged, 
and  the  splendid  military  bands  of  the  regiments  of 
the  Guards,  stationed  in  and  round  the  capital,  play 
for  the  entertainment  of  the  people.  One  of  these,  the 
finest  I  ever  heard,  was  at  the  Krestoffsky  Gardens. 
The  musicians  were  Lesgians  from  the  Caucasus,  an 
exceedingly  musical  race,  and  they  wore  their  neat, 
close-fitting  native  costumes,  which  are  both  practical 


118       PETROGRAD  PAST  AND  PRESENT 

and  effective.  All  who  cannot  spare  the  time  to  drive 
through  the  environs,  or  to  visit  the  islands  at  the  delta, 
frequent  the  Summer  Gardens.  Here  they  indulge  in  a 
mild  form  of  excitement  called  gooljanee  (not  entirely 
unknown  to  Londoners),  which  consists  in  parading 
up  and  down  for  an  astonishing  number  of  times  and 
staring  at  one  another  with  the  most  unblushing 
curiosity.  From  what  I  have  seen,  Russian  women 
do  not  resent  this  scrutiny ;  they  accept  it  as  a  com- 
pliment, and  as  proof  that  their  coquetry  or  their 
charms  have  attracted  attention.  The  Summer  Gar- 
dens, containing  some  almost  indecent  statues  brought 
by  Souvoroff  from  Warsaw  as  a  present  for  Catherine  II., 
are  a  favourite  haunt  of  young  lovers.  In  former 
times,  I  am  told,  couples  became  acquainted  by  means 
of  a  svacha — a  kind  of  go-between,  generally  an  old 
dame,  who  not  only  introduced  the  two  desirous  ones, 
but  subsequently,  if  matters  went  well,  arranged  with 
the  parents  of  the  "  parties  "  the  terms  of  a  marriage. 
But  I  believe  this  custom,  with  many  other  quaint 
practices,  is  now  dying  out. 


XIV 

THE   POLICE    OF   PETROGRAD 

The  Prefect  of  Petrograd  during  a  recent  period  of 
unrest  was  General  Clayliills,  a  handsome,  portly  man, 
descended  from  a  Scottish  family  long  settled  in  Riga. 
Seldom  does  an  Englishman  or  a  Frenchman  become  a 
Russian  subject ;  but  when  Peter  the  Great  annexed 
the  Baltic  Provinces,  with  their  sprinkling  of  Scottish 
soldiers  of  fortune,  many  of  these  were  forced  to 
change  their  nationality,  and  others  followed  in  the  reign 
of  Catherine.  The  Russian  people  have  a  peculiar 
facility  in  absorbing  foreign  elements.  Many  Germans, 
Scotch,  Italians  and  other  aliens  have  in  two  or  three 
generations  become  quite  Russian  in  thought  and 
language.  Yet  I  have  known  English  families,  settled 
in  the  cities  for  over  a  hundred  years,  as  thoroughly 
English  in  sentiment  as  their  friends  at  home. 

General  Gresser,  perhaps  a  more  interesting  figure 
than  Clayhills,  was  another  Chief,  a  typical  bureaucrat 
and  a  Prussian  type,  straight  as  an  arrow,  tall,  wiry, 
with  a  commanding  address.  For  a  long  time  he  was 
practically  Dictator  of  Petrograd  and  the  terror  of  the 
working  classes.  At  a  word  from  him  almost  anyone 
whom  he  considered  obnoxious  or  dangerous  had  to 
leave  the  city;  few  nobles,  officials  or  merchants 
did  not  fear  him.  Once,  when  he  interfered  with  the 
grand  dukes  and  their  amusements — which  happened 
to  shock  his  German  susceptibilities — the  old  martinet 
suffered  a  severe  rap  on  the  knuckles,  which  he  never 
forgot.  It  was  left  to  the  celebrated  clown,  Vladimir 
Duroff,  of  the  Circus  Cincinelli,  to  "  take  a  rise  "  out 
of  the  energetic  Gresser ;  true,  by  doing  so  he  got  into 
119 


120       PETROGRAD  PAST  AND  PRESENT 

very  hot  water  himself.  Duroff  was  exhibiting  his 
famous  performing  pigs,  and  made  the  audience  roar 
with  laughter  by  a  stinging  pun  on  the  Chief's  name, 
asserting  that  one  of  his  pigs  was  called  "  gross  "  and 
the  other  "  gresser  "  (greater).  The  people,  who  at  once 
saw  the  point,  were  immensely  pleased,  but  Gresser 
was  not ;  he  had  the  clown  imprisoned  and  expelled 
from  Petrograd.  On  his  arrival  at  the  German  frontier 
Duroff  again  got  into  trouble.  He  sent  a  telegram  to 
some  friend  in  Berlin  which  reflected  on  the  Kaiser. 
The  German  police,  who  have  little  or  no  idea  of  a  joke, 
resented  this  as  an  insult,  and  the  poor  comedian  once 
again  was  placed  under  arrest.  What  happened  to  him 
after  this  I  do  not  know  ;  but  probably  he  became 
more  careful  in  this  hobby  of  poking  fun  at  important 
persons  with  a  touchy  disposition. 

Another  notable  police  master  was  General  Trepoff, 
under  whose  rule  the  terrible  Sunday  riots  took  place. 
Trepoff,  who  was  a  regular  soldier,  was  in  no  way 
responsible  for  this  catastrophe,  and  raised  a  large 
sum  of  money,  from  which  relatives  of  the  victims  were 
assisted.  The  late  Grand  Duke  Sergius,  who  died 
within  the  walls  of  the  Kremlin  at  the  hands  of  an 
assassin,  is  said  to  have  given  orders  to  fire  on  the 
demonstrators — rioters  they  could  not  be  termed  by 
anyone  with  the  least  respect  for  truth  and  justice. 

Both  Gresser  and  Trepoff  died  most  mysteriously, 
and  many  people  believe  that  they  were  poisoned.  It 
was  said  that  Gresser's  life  was  cut  short  by  a  potion 
administered  by  a  quack  doctor.  But  Petrograd  is 
always  full  of  similar  rumours,  and  it  is  extremely 
difficult  to  arrive  at  the  truth  of  such  matters,  so 
curious  is  the  state  of  society  there.  It  is  usually  the 
priests,  the  secret  police  and  the  officials  who  terrorise 
people,  not  the  nobles,  who  for  the  most  part  are 
enlightened  and  educated  men,  travelled,  and  versed 
in    many    languages.     They,    however,    are    in    the 


THE  POLICE  OF  PETROGRAD  121 

minority,  and  as  long  as  Russia  is  blessed  with  several 
hundred  thousand  priests  and  a  whole  army  of  secret 
police  it  will  hardly  adopt  Western  ideals,  even  though 
Tsar  and  Grand  Dukes  may  desire  it.  "  The  con- 
servative spirit  is  very  strong  in  Dahomey,"  said  a 
negro  from  that  land  to  a  middy  who  reproached  him 
for  his  country's  custom  of  human  torture  and  sacrifice. 
We  may  say  the  same  of  "  holy  "  Russia,  where  all 
reforms  must  be  introduced  with  extreme  circum- 
spection. Men  of  the  type  of  Peter,  who  could  with 
a  cudgel  administer  corporal  punishment,  or  act  as  his 
own  executioner,  are  not  born  every  day  ;  but  there  are 
occasions  when  they  are  needed,  to  keep  in  check 
characters  even  more  unscrupulous  and  dangerous 
than  themselves  if  given  a  free  hand. 

Trepoff  was  the  son  of  the  famous  General  of  that 
name,  shot  by  Vera  Sasulitch  for  beating  a  political 
prisoner  contrary  to  the  law.  He  was  seriously  wounded , 
and  would  have  died  had  it  not  been  for  the  skill  of 
Dr  Duncan,  of  the  Petrograd  police.  This  eccentric 
man,  who  received  the  title  of  General  for  his  services, 
extracted  the  bullet  and  saved  Trepoff 's  life.  The 
criminal,  after  many  dangers,  escaped  to  Switzerland, 
where  I  believe  she  died  in  exile. 

Trepoff  was  a  foundling,  like  many  eminent  Russians, 
and  is  said  to  have  obtained  his  name  from  a  German 
word  meaning  "  a  step."  He  was  found  on  a  step, 
and  was  taken  to  one  of  the  Government  homes, 
reared,  educated  and  placed  in  a  position  to  earn  an 
honest  livelihood.  In  Russia  no  great  stigma  attaches 
to  illegitimacy ;  it  is  rightly  and  justly  considered 
that  the  shortcomings  of  the  parents  should  not  be 
visited  on  the  innocent  children.  The  Government 
takes  great  care  of  children  born  thus,  and  thanks  to 
this  humane  spirit  many  a  soldier,  artist  or  actor  has 
been  saved  for  the  good  of  the  State  who  in  moral 
England   might   have   perished   or  gone   to   the   bad 


122       PETROGRAD  PAST  AND  PRESENT 

irretrievably.  If  the  child  is  a  girl,  she  is  equally  well 
looked  after,  taught  to  become  a  capable  and  useful 
servant,  cook  or  dressmaker — in  fact  to  earn  an  honest 
living  instead  of  being  sent  to  the  dogs  by  members  of 
an  outraged  community. 

On  the  whole,  the  order  maintained  by  the  pohce 
of  the  capital  is  excellent,  and  I  should  say  that  the 
streets  are  really  safer  than  those  of  London,  by  night 
or  day.  The  arrangement  of  the  houses,  which  are 
built  round  a  large  courtyard  with  only  one  entrance 
facing  the  street,  makes  it  easy  for  the  police  to  watch 
and  control  suspicious  persons.  At  the  entrance  of 
every  house  is  the  dvormik  (porter),  whose  duty  it  is 
to  notice  all  who  go  in.  Porters  are  also  stationed 
before  the  doorways  leading  to  the  flats  in  which  the 
majority  of  the  middle  classes  dwell.  These  men  are 
boimd  imder  heavy  penalties  to  furnish  all  details 
demanded  by  the  police  concerning  the  doings  of  every 
person  living  there.  Thus  it  is  difficult  for  rowdy  or 
suspicious  elements  to  enjoy  the  licence  they  have  in 
England,  though  it  must  be  admitted  that  in  Russia 
the  extra  power  granted  to  the  police  is  sometimes 
abused.  This  abuse,  however,  is  usually  by  the 
gendarmes  and  secret  police,  who  are  not  responsible 
to  the  municipal  authority  for  their  actions.  As  a 
rule,  I  have  found  the  Russian  municipal  police 
exceedingly  reliable  men,  very  courteous  and  willing 
to  oblige  the  stranger  in  distress,  even  when  the 
stimulant  of  a  tip  is  not  in  prospect.  Since  Gresser 
and  other  chiefs  instituted  the  practice  of  nominating 
only  good-conduct  soldiers  to  the  position  of  policemen 
and  sergeants,  the  Petrograd  force  has  much  improved 
in  every  way,  and  is  incomparably  superior  to  the 
local  police,  of  whom  I  could  relate  many  amusing 
anecdotes  did  space  permit. 

Whatever  we  may  think  of  the  political  ideals  and 
methods  of  the  Russian  police,  we  cannot  help  admir- 


THE  POLICE  OF  PETROGRAD  123 

ing  their  bravery  and  contempt  of  death.  Time  after 
time  they  faced  certain  death  in  their  attempts  to 
track  down  desperate  revolutionists  and  Nihihsts. 
An  idea  of  this  may  be  gained  from  the  following  para- 
graph from  a  Russian  paper : — "  In  a  single  fortnight 
in  February  these  deeds  of  violence  were  committed 
by  terrorists  :  Twelve  liigh  officials  were  murdered, 
twenty-one  wounded  ;  sixty-one  private  citizens  were 
attacked  for  political  reasons,  forty  of  whom  were 
killed  and  the  remaining  twenty-one  wounded  ;  State 
property  to  the  value  of  half-a-million  was  seized  by 
the  revolutionists."  Such  was  the  condition  of  affairs 
the  police  had  to  cope  with  for  several  years. 

As  a  rule  the  police  of  the  suburbs  and  the  interior 
are  neither  so  efficient  nor  so  trustworthy  as  those  of 
the  capital.  Among  them  are  still  to  be  found  such 
types  as  Gogol's  Stepan  Iljitch  Oochovertoff  and  his 
subordinates.  The  play  in  which  these  are  leading 
characters  so  pleased  the  Tsar  Nicholas  that  he 
ordered  it  to  be  played  every  year  in  the  Imperial 
theatres,  and  the  author  was  taken  under  his  especial 
protection.  This  did  not  save  Gogol,  however,  from 
the  wrath  and  spite  of  the  corrupt  officials,  who, 
angered  at  being  thus  satirised,  gave  him  no  peace 
during  his  brief  and  chequered  lifetime.  That  such 
types  still  exist  in  the  provinces  there  is  not  the  least 
doubt,  and  only  the  vigilance  of  the  Department  of 
State  Control,  which  sends  its  inspectors  up  and  down 
the  land  continually,  prevents  many  abuses  in  this 
body,  which  practically  rules  Russia.  The  revela- 
tions of  Nicholas  Burtzeff,  who  was  arrested  and  im- 
prisoned on  his  return  to  Russia,  gave  an  insight  into 
their  questionable  methods,  as  well  as  a  glimpse  of  the 
deliberate  murder  of  the  honest  but  severe  Stolypin — 
who,  it  appears,  was  done  to  death  by  the  police  when 
they  feared  he  would  punish  them  for  their  corruption. 
One  of  the  most  flagrant  cases,  the  Sliitormir  scandal, 


124       PETROGRAD  PAST  AND  PRESENT 

occurred  while  I  was  in  Petrograd.  It  transpired 
that  the  Chief  of  PoHce  was  actually  in  league  with  the 
Chief  of  the  Fire  Brigade,  with  the  object  of  setting 
houses  on  fire  and  claiming  the  insurance  money. 
On  being  found  out,  the  Chief  of  the  Fire  Brigade  and 
his  wife  committed  suicide ;  but  I  fear  there  are  still 
many  such  sinners  in  "  holy  "  Russia.  Perhaps  the 
principal  reason  for  this  criminality  is  that  such 
wretched  salaries  are  paid  that  it  is  almost  impossible 
for  men  to  live  honestly  on  their  proper  earnings.  The 
more  truthful  are  quite  outspoken  on  this  theme, 
plainly  intimating  that  they  expect  presents  (podarkee) 
from  those  they  protect,  as  it  is  impossible  for  them 
to  exist  on  their  pay.  As  a  rule  I  have  found  the 
so-called  exactions  of  the  police  not  extravagant  or 
unreasonable,  considering  the  huge  fortunes  foreign 
manufacturers  and  merchants  make  in  Russia.  Gener- 
ally speaking,  they  do  not  touch  aliens  or  British  sub- 
jects unless  revolutionary  or  socialistic  propaganda  is 
suspected.  Occasionally  they  make  mistakes.  Once 
one  of  my  friends,  an  English  farmer,  disappeared  on 
the  outskirts  of  the  city  in  the  evening ;  a  sack  was 
suddenly  thrown  over  his  head,  while  two  other  men 
bound  him  so  tightly  that  he  could  make  no  resistance. 
His  captors,  after  keeping  him  in  a  cell  for  several 
weeks,  discovered  that  they  had  caught  the  wrong 
man,  but,  fearing  to  set  him  free  so  near  the  capital 
— knowing  that  the  British  authorities  would  make 
things  very  unpleasant  for  them^ — ^they  took  him 
across  the  frontier  to  a  small  Prussian  town  and  allowed 
him  to  find  his  way  home  as  best  he  could.  No  diffi- 
culty arose  over  spiriting  the  poor  man  away,  for 
prior  to  the  war  the  Russian  and  Prussian  police  used 
to  work  hand  in  hand  and  oblige  one  another  by  often 
giving  up  fugitives  or  revolutionaries- 
It  is  something  to  be  thankful  for  when  I  am  able 
to    say   that   during    my   long   residence    in    Russia, 


THE  POLICE  OF  PETROGRAD  125 

engaged  in  a  trying  and  unpopular  profession,  I  never 
had  cause  to  complain  of  the  attentions  of  the  police. 
This  was  because  I  refrained  from  interfering  in  the 
internal  affairs  of  the  country  whose  hospitality  I 
enjoyed,  and  stuck  strictly  to  my  own  business  of 
foreign  correspondent.  Had  I  been  so  unwise  as  to 
show  any  interest  in  Nihilism,  this  little  work  would 
never  have  been  written,  for  I  was  keenly  watched — 
the  police  strongly  object  to  all  gentlemen  of  the  Press 
and  tolerated  our  presence  unwillingly.  Their  most 
dangerous  assistants  are  the  beautiful  women  employed 
to  wheedle  secrets  out  of  unsuspecting  and  impression- 
able young  men,  and  thus  lure  them  into  trouble. 
Once  I  almost  fell  into  the  clutches  of  one  of  these 
sirens,  owing  to  my  love  of  music.  I  was  invited  by  a 
young,  handsome  lady  of  German  extraction  to  sing 
some  of  the  melodies  for  which  Russia  is  famous. 
My  pleasure,  however,  came  to  an  abrupt  end  when 
my  companion,  a  Petrograd  Englishwoman,  whispered 
to  me  to  be  cautious,  as  our  fair  hostess  was  in  the 
pay  of  the  secret  police,  while  her  two  brothers  and 
the  officer  with  whom  I  had  just  been  playing  cards 
were  all  sitch-ke  (agents-provocateurs)  whose  chief 
duty  was  to  frequent  the  cafes,  entice  guileless 
students,  and  then  have  them  arrested. 

The  Government  has  spent  millions  of  roubles  in 
crushing  revolutions  by  such  means,  but  after  the 
war  I  fear  they  will  break  out  Avith  renewed  violence. 


XV 

OFFICIALDOM   IN   RUSSIA 

Every  Government  man  is  more  or  less  afflicted  by  red 
tape,  but  the  Russian  probably  takes  the  palm  in  this 
respect.  It  is  said  that  Peter  the  Great  copied  the 
Chinese  "  table  of  ranks  "  in  creating  his  army  of 
officials,  which  is  still  the  bane  of  the  country.  There 
are  hundreds  who  think  more  about  their  possible 
decorations  than  about  the  welfare  of  the  land,  and 
these,  with  the  police,  practically  rule,  rather  than 
the  Duma,  the  Council,  or  the  Cabinet  of  Ministers. 
They  are  the  mandarins  of  Europe,  comparable  in 
many  things  to  their  Chinese  prototypes.  They  seem 
to  live  on  red  tape  and  sealing-wax,  and  to  be  part  of  a 
huge  machine,  devoid  of  sense,  sentiment  and  often  of 
intelligence  ;  to  them  the  only  point  of  importance 
is  to  do  everything  according  to  rule,  whether  the 
country  suffers  or  not  by  their  hide-bound  prejudices. 
During  the  great  famine,  for  instance,  I  remember 
that  the  officials  declared  that  there  was  no  famine, 
only  "  a  failure  of  the  crops."  Thousands  perished, 
but  it  did  not  matter,  so  long  as  their  reports  were  not 
contradicted.  In  the  capital,  and  in  Moscow,  where 
Western  ideas  have  become  prevalent,  there  are  many 
enlightened  and  even  honest  men  among  this  class, 
but  in  the  interior,  where  Tartar  and  Oriental  notions 
still  obtain,  the  olden  type  depicted  by  Gogol  is  often 
found. 

There  are,  of  course,  ways  of  circumventing  these 
authorities.  One  of  my  friends,  a  railway  engineer, 
did  not  even  consult  them  ;  he  simply  went  on  with 
his   railways  and   bridges  as  if  they  did   not   exist, 

126 


OFFICIALDOM  IN  RUSSIA  127 

knowing  well  from  experience  that  it  might  take  years 
to  obtain  permission  from  headquarters  to  carry  out 
any  important  work.  So  many  petitions  had  to  be 
sent  in,  so  many  documents  had  to  be  stamped  and 
sealed,  before  the  appeal  finally  reached  the  proper 
person,  that  he  quietly  completed  his  work  and  said 
nothing.  The  Government  Revisor  —  for  a  con- 
sideration— took  no  notice,  and  never  mentioned  the 
matter  in  his  reports  ;  only  when  it  was  all  over  would 
he  recognise  its  existence.  Then  a  few  awkward 
questions  were  asked,  and  a  few  wheels  had  to  be 
greased ;  but  the  method  was  generally  attended  with 
success.  There  are  many  mysteries  in  Russia,  but 
the  ways  of  the  official  world  supply  one  of  the  most 
puzzling.  Yet,  with  all  their  failings,  the  result  of 
the  system  and  not  of  the  men,  the  Russian  official  is 
slowly  improving,  thanks  to  foreign  influence  and  the 
advance  of  Western  ideas.  One  may  be  thankful 
for  small  mercies,  for  in  truth  there  is  much  room  for 
improvement,  as  Sir  Mackenzie  Wallace  shows  in  his 
excellent  chapter  on  this  subject. 

One  man  I  used  to  visit,  occupying  a  minor  post  in 
the  Government,  frequently,  for  a  small  consideration, 
supplied  me  with  valuable  information  for  the  Press. 
By  way  of  supplementing  his  wretched  salary,  he 
acted  as  intermediary  for  German,  French,  English 
and  American  subjects,  whenever  they  wished  to 
become  Russianised,  or  to  obtain  permission  to  build 
factories  or  business  houses.  When  I  first  met  him 
he  was  in  reduced  circumstances,  and  could  hardly 
support  himself  and  his  family,  but  when  I  left  Petro- 
grad  he  was  flourishing,  and  rushing  about  the  city  in 
his  own  motor  car.  His  enormous  income  was  simply 
made  by  obtaining  concessions  and  privileges  for 
foreign  merchants,  who  paid  him  large  sums  for 
favours  of  this  kind.  He  would  sometimes  receive 
as  much  as  £3000  for  obtaining  permission  to  erect  a 


128       PETROGRAD  PAST  AND  PRESENT 

mill,  or  for  getting  the  tariff  lowered  on  certain  lines 
over  which  the  applicant's  goods  had  to  pass.  I  intro- 
duced to  him  several  merchants  who  had  wasted 
thousands  of  pounds  in  the  endeavour  to  gain  a  foot- 
ing. He  knew  exactly  which  officials  were  hard  up 
and  could  be  bribed  with  impunity.  In  every  depart- 
ment there  are  men,  however — nobles  or  country 
gentlemen — who  will  not  stoop  to  this,  and  with  these 
obstacles  concession-hunters  come  into  conflict  when 
they  do  not  know  the  ropes.  My  friend  knew  every 
man  in  his  department  whose  influence  was  necessary, 
and  was  often  able  to  secure  in  a  few  weeks  or  months 
privileges  which  others,  who  did  not  know  the  methods, 
might  not  have  gained  for  years  of  wasted  time.  This 
prosperity,  however,  did  not  last.  The  old  proverb, 
"  Lightly  come,  lightly  go,"  held  good,  and  before 
long  my  smart  friend  was  as  poor  as  ever. 

An  interesting  person  I  often  met  was  Colonel  L., 
attached  to  the  Finance  Department.  He  was  a 
learned  man,  and  a  great  admirer  of  Charles  Dickens, 
whom  he  compared,  as  do  many  critics,  to  Gogol. 
For  wit,  humour  and  pathos,  perhaps  Gogol  was  above 
Dickens,  but  he  burnt  a  good  deal  of  his  literary  work 
owing  to  his  worries  and  the  persecution  he  suffered 
at  the  hands  of  those  he  stung  by  his  satires.  Nicholas, 
honest  but  despotic,  was  so  pleased  with  Gogol's 
Revisor  and  Dead  Souls  that  he  took  the  author  under 
his  protection,  sending  him  to  Italy  to  recover  his 
health.  In  the  house  of  Colonel  L.  we  had  many  dis- 
cussions on  literary  matters,  also  on  other  affairs,  for 
I  remember  on  one  occasion  we  began  a  heated  argu- 
ment concerning  England's  Free  Trade  and  Russia's 
policy  of  Protection.  I  caused  some  consternation, 
believing  in  "  Fair  Trade  "  or  a  policy  of  reciprocity, 
by  stating  that  we  might  some  day  place  a  duty  on 
Russian  wheat  and  agricultural  produce,  in  favour  of 
our  own  colonies,  as  soon  as  they  were  able  to  meet  our 


OFFICIALDOM  IN  RUSSIA  129 

requirements,  in  case  Russia  did  not  soon  reduce  the 
high  protective  tariff  on  our  manufactured  and  other 
goods. 

My  friend's  wife,  Hke  himself,  spoke  English.  She 
was  not  only  a  first-class  housekeeper,  but  was  also 
able  to  prepare  a  dinner  which  would  have  done  credit 
to  a  French  chef.  She  could  converse  on  any  subject, 
and  with  all  these  accomplishments  was  not  in  the 
least  a  "  blue  stocking." 

If  my  official  acquaintances  were  badly  paid,  they 
could  not  as  a  rule  complain  that  they  were  over- 
worked. Tea-drinking,  cigarette-smoking  and  the  re- 
tailing of  the  gossip  of  the  city  seemed  to  account  for 
a  considerable  portion  of  their  time,  and  the  amours 
and  other  delinquencies  of  the  wives  of  other  men 
formed  a  frequent  topic.  Card-playing  also  occupied 
much  time.  Foreign  politics  were  eagerly  discussed. 
One  man  I  knew  was  obsessed  with  two  ideas  :  that 
the  English  would  some  day  bombard  Cronstadt,  and 
that  the  Finns  would  rise  and  march  on  Petrograd 
when  nobody  expected  it.  Others  constantly  feared 
a  German  invasion  of  the  Baltic  Provinces,  the 
inhabitants  of  which,  owing  to  the  Russianising  policy 
of  Pobjedonodtzeff,  the  Grand  Duke  Sergius,  Ploeve 
and  other  reactionaries,  were  none  too  loyal. 

It  is  due  to  the  system  of  officialism,  which  cannot 
easily  be  eradicated,  that  Russia  in  time  of  peace  or 
war  is  never  as  strong  as  she  might  be,  had  she  no 
immense  army  of  impecunious  persons  attached  to  the 
Government  in  one  way  or  another.  More  than  one 
has  told  me  that  it  is  quite  impossible  for  him  to  live 
on  his  salary,  and  openly  admitted  that  the  taking  of 
bribes  was  the  only  means  by  which  his  poor  wage 
could  be  reinforced. 

The  Tsar  Nicholas  used  to  say  thai  were  his  teeth 
loose  they  would  be  stolen  out  of  his  mouth  !  He 
endeavoured  to  remedy  the  prevalent  corruption  by 


130      PETROGRAD  PAST  AND  PRESENT 

the  most  drastic  means.  It  is  said  that  he  once  struck 
an  official  dead  who  attempted  to  deceive  him,  and, 
as  he  was  a  man  of  enormous  strength  and  violent 
temper,  quite  possibly  this  may  be  true.  One  of  his 
trusted  favourites,  with  whose  assistance  he  tried  to 
improve  the  state  of  affairs,  was  Count  Peroffsky, 
Minister  of  the  Interior,  whose  son  I  knew  intimately. 
The  following  anecdote,  which  has  probably  never 
been  heard  in  England,  throws  much  light  on  the 
character  of  this  Tsar  and  on  the  condition  of  Russia 
during  his  reign. 

One  day  the  Count  was  plunged  deep  in  thought 
after  an  interview  with  the  Tsar ;  Ms  musings  were  not 
of  the  brightest,  for  to  be  Minister  under  Nicholas  I. 
was  no  sinecure.  "  There  must  be  order  in  affairs," 
the  Emperor  had  said,  "  and  you  must  make  yourself 
thoroughly  at  home  in  the  course  of  events.  First  of 
all,  you  must  introduce  order  among  the  police  ;  all 
Petersburg  is  aware  that  the  greatest  rascals  are  to  be 
found  in  their  ranks.  Let  me  soon  know  that  this 
state  of  things  has  been  remedied." 

The  Minister  heaved  a  deep  sigh.  Every  child  knew 
that  the  police  took  bribes,  but  old  peccadilloes  could  not 
be  dragged  up  ;  besides,  proofs  w^ere  needed.  Where 
on  earth  could  he  obtain  proofs  against  the  police  ? 

Colonel  Baratoff,  his  cousin,  a  merry  young  hon- 
vivant,  entered  the  room.  He  evidently  wished  to 
congratulate  the  Minister  on  his  new  position,  and,  if 
possible,  to  derive  some  material  advantage  from  his 
visit,  for  he  was  always  in  want  of  money. 

"I  have  the  honour!"  he  exclaimed.  "You  are 
now  a  powerful  man " 

"  Yes — and  may  require  friends,  good,  reliable 
friends,  who  can  give  me  their  support,"  replied  the 
Minister.  "  I  was  just  thinking  of  you ;  you  are  a  bold 
fellow,  and  can  do  me  a  service."  He  then  confided  to 
the  young  man  what  lay  on  his  mind. 


OFFICIALDOM  IN  RUSSIA  131 

"  Splendid  !  "  cried  Baratoff.  "  To  set  a  trap  for 
the  police  is  just  in  my  line.  I  will  arrange  it  this 
very  evening.  To-morrow  you  shall  expel  at  least 
half-a-dozen  police  officers,  as  sure  as  my  name  is 
Baratoff !  " 

A  long  private  consultation  ensued,  and  Baratoff 
retired.  An  hour  after  the  Chief  of  Police  was  ushered 
into  the  presence  of  the  Minister. 

"  I  have  summoned  you  here,"  said  Peroffsky,  "  on 
very  important  business.  I  have  heard  from  a 
dependable  source  that  there  is  a  gaming  club  on  the 
Nevsky  Prospekt,  where  faro  and  other  games  of 
chance  are  played  for  enormous  sums.  These  people 
ought  to  be  arrested  this  very  day  !  " 

"  My  Commissioner  and  some  officers,"  answered  the 
Chief,  bowing,  "  will  even  to-day  arrest  the  offenders." 

That  same  evening  an  intimate  little  company  sat 
round  a  green  table  in  a  building  near  the  Nevsky. 
On  the  table  were  heaps  of  silver,  gold  and  notes. 
Suddenly  a  noise  was  heard  in  the  corridor ;  a  harsh 
voice  called  :  "  Open,  in  the  name  of  the  law  !  " 
Before  any  of  the  gamblers  could  reach  the  door,  it 
burst  open,  and  six  policemen  rushed  in.  The  players 
jumped  up,  horrified,  while  the  Commissioner  took 
the  money  and  put  it  in  his  pockets.  Then,  turning 
to  the  company,  he  requested  them  to  follow  him  to 
the  station. 

"  But  is  ecarte  a  forbidden  game  ?  "  asked  one. 

"  No,  ecarte  is  not  forbidden,"  said  the  Commis- 
sioner ;  "  but  people  do  not  play  ecarte  for  such  large 
sums." 

"  Large  sums  ?  No,  Mr  Commissioner — you  have 
seized  only  eight  hundred  or  at  the  very  most  one 
thousand  roubles  !  " 

The  Commissioner  looked  nonplussed,  but  a  light 
flashed  across  his  brain.  The  amount  was  at  least 
twelve  thousand  roubles.    For  a  moment  a  struggle 


132      PETROGRAD  PAST  AND  PRESENT 

went  on  within  him,  then,  with  a  meaning  glance  at 
his  comrades,  he  said  : 

"  Well— if  it  was  not  more  than  that " 

The  next  day  the  Commissioner  called  on  Peroffsky 
and  gave  a  detailed  account  of  the  operation. 

"  How  much  did  you  seize  ?  "  asked  the  Minister. 

"  About  eight  hundred  and  sixty  roubles,  your 
Excellency." 

"  You  lie,  you  scoundrel ! "  shouted  Peroffsky. 
Opening  a  door,  he  showed  the  Commissioner  the 
company  of  card-players,  among  whom  was  young 
Baratoff. 

On  that  day  the  Minister  had  an  audience  with  the 
Tsar,  and  related  his  fortunate  manoeuvre. 

"  Good,"  exclaimed  the  Tsar.  "  Was  it  Colonel 
Baratoff  who  helped  you  ?  " 

"  Yes,  your  Majesty." 

"  Then  we  will  make  him  Chief  of  the  Police." 

"  Baratoff  !  "  ejaculated  Peroffsky,  astounded. 

Nicholas  gave  him  a  questioning  glance.  "  I  per- 
ceive," he  said,  "  you  do  not  believe  in  Baratoff's 
honesty.  Good.  Then  we  will  find  another."  He 
paced  to  and  fro,  presently  standing  in  front  of  his 
Minister. 

"  Do  you  know,  Peroffsky,"  he  said,  with  a  certain 
contempt  in  his  tone,  "  I  believe  there  is  only  one 
honest  man  in  Petersburg." 

The  Minister  bowed,  highly  flattered. 

"  Understand  me  rightly,  Peroffsky,"  rejoined  the 
Tsar.     "  I  mean — myself  !  " 

This  story  may  be  partly  invention,  but  anyone  who 
knows  the  methods  of  the  Russian  police,  and  the 
revelations  of  Burzeff  (who  since  his  return  to  Russia 
has  been  arrested  and  imprisoned),  can  but  admit,  si 
non  e  vero,  e  hen  trovato. 

Count  Peroffsky's  son,  a  man  of  the  strictest 
integrity,  was  a  General  and  Courier  of  the  Tsar  in 


OFFICIALDOM  IN  RUSSIA  133 

Siberia,  and  one  of  those  fine  types  which  Nicliolas 
loved  to  attach  to  his  retinue.  In  later  years  he  was 
placed  in  charge  of  one  of  the  Emperor's  farms.  He 
married  a  beautiful  woman  of  Berlin,  and  brought 
up  a  large  family,  which  he  ruled  with  patriarchal 
severity ;  his  will  was  law,  and  no  one  dared  oppose  his 
wishes.  In  spite  of  this,  he  was  well  loved,  for  he  had 
qualities  which  compensated  for  his  austere  aspects. 
He  was  handsome,  honest,  daring,  a  typical  official, 
in  fact,  of  the  old  regime  of  Nicholas. 

The  card -playing  to  which  I  have  alluded  is  almost 
a  passion.  The  officials,  who  are  rarely  overworked, 
discuss  the  feats  of  the  previous  evening's  play  with 
the  greatest  gravity.  I  have  seen  merchants  on  the 
Exchange  commenting  on  their  last  game  before  pro- 
ceeding to  business  subjects.  With  many  the  intri- 
cacies of  "  vint  "  seem  of  far  more  importance  than 
the  tenets  of  their  religion — revoking,  or  inattention 
to  the  game,  is  a  most  serious  offence,  punishable,  one 
would  tliink,  with  decapitation !  In  1875,  110  tons' 
weight  of  playing  cards  were  conveyed  into  the 
interior  by  the  Moscow-Petersburg  Railway,  and  the 
quantity  now  is  immensely  larger.  All  these  card 
packs  are  made  by  the  Government,  and  the  proceeds 
from  their  sale,  which  reach  a  very  big  sum,  go  towards 
the  support  of  various  charitable  institutions,  such  as 
orphanages,  etc.,  under  the  supervision  of  the  Crown. 

On  my  last  visit  to  Petrograd  I  met  a  Russian 
official  whose  acquaintance  I  made  on  the  steamer 
that  conveyed  us  from  Hull  to  Cronstadt.  Of  peasant 
origin,  like  so  many  gifted  men  in  the  Russian  Empire, 
he  yet  was  one  of  the  best-read  men  I  have  ever  known 
in  any  country.  He  had  travelled  almost  all  over  the 
world  and  had  collected  an  immense  library  of  books 
in  various  languages.  During  his  stay  in  England  he 
had  come  to  the  conclusion  that  if  Russia  and  England 
did  not  soon  become  friends  it  would  be  so  much  the 


134      PETROGRAD  PAST  AND  PRESENT 

worse  for  both  of  them.  In  his  opinion  Russia  had 
everything  that  England  required  in  the  way  of  raw 
products,  while  England  possessed  all  that  Russia 
most  needed — capital,  enterprise  and  experience  in 
the  arts  and  sciences.  He  held  that  it  was  a  great 
misfortune  for  both  countries  that  they  could  not 
finally  settle  their  various  differences  in  Asia  and 
become  firm  allies.  Both,  he  added,  had  the  same 
enemy,  Germany,  and  both  were  concerned  at  the 
growing  power  of  that  progressive,  active  neighbour. 
Russia  did  not  fear  England  so  much.  The  worst 
England  could  do  if  she  attacked  Russia  was  to 
destroy  the  coast  towns  and  fortresses,  some  of  which 
she  might  annihilate.  This  would  not  matter,  for  she 
could  never  land  troops  in  sufficient  numbers  to  inflict 
material  damage.  Russia  had,  it  must  be  remembered, 
6,000,000  men  trained  and  armed,  with  about  4,000,000 
Landsturm  (Opolchina),  many  of  whom  were  excellent 
soldiers.  Of  these  immense  military  resources  only  a 
comparatively  small  part  could  be  used  in  the  Russo- 
Japanese  War,  because  of  the  enormous  distance — 
about  6000  miles — of  the  field  of  operations  from 
the  main  base.  The  necessity  of  keeping  the  best 
men  in  the  country  to  guard  the  German  and 
Austrian  frontiers  and  to  repress  the  revolutionists 
also  hampered  Russia  seriously  in  that  conflict. 

As  to  her  natural  resources,  her  wealth  was  beyond 
belief.  Annually  from  £20,000,000  to  £30,000,000 
sterling  in  gold  was  obtained  from  the  mines  and 
washings  of  Siberia ;  but  only  about  a  third  of  this 
amount  found  its  way  to  the  Crown ;  the  rest  was 
stolen  by  officials  and  miners,  who  illegally  sold  it  to 
the  Chinese.  But  people  cannot  live  on  gold.  Far 
more  important  than  this  were  the  vast  plains  and 
steppes,  with  their  millions  of  acres  of  virgin  soil,  the 
primeval  forests  stretching  for  hundreds  of  miles 
without  a  break.     Unfortunately  the  Russian  people 


OFFICIALDOM  IN  RUSSIA  135 

are  too  torpid  and  backward  to  make  use  of  this  un- 
bounded store,  or  to  earn  one-tenth  of  what  the  EngHsh, 
Germans  or  Belgians  would  derive  from  it.  If  Russia 
could  but  have  more  English  capital,  workmen  and 
men  of  commercial  enterprise,  both  Empires  would 
benefit  enormously.  "  She  does  not  want  India," 
continued  my  friend,  who  had  visited  the  East.  All 
she  required  was  more  outlets  to  the  oceans  of  the 
world.  And  why  should  there  be  any  strife  between 
the  two  countries  when  she  did  not  covet  an  inch  of 
our  territory  ?  The  stupid  talk  about  "  marching 
on  Lidia  "  originated  with  that  irrepressible  soldier, 
Skobeleff,  who  was  purely  a  military  man,  and 
no  statesman.  The  reason  why  Russian  militarists 
broached  this  scheme  was  because  India  was  the  only 
vulnerable  spot  where  pressure  could  be  exercised  on 
England  when  she  was  continually  opposing  what 
Russia  held  to  be  vital  interests.  If  the  two  Empires 
could  but  come  to  a  lasting  arrangement  in  Asia  and 
defend  their  respective  spheres  of  influence,  there 
would  be  no  need  whatever  to  maintain  the  large 
armies  or  to  be  perpetually  at  loggerheads  with  one 
another. 

As  to  Japan,  this  official  said  that  our  alliance  with 
that  purely  Asiatic  power  was  one  of  the  greatest  mis- 
takes ever  made  by  English  statesmen,  as  future 
events  would  show,  for  the  brilliant  successes  of  Japan 
had  stirred  into  activity  the  slumbering  races  of  that 
huge  continent,  and  the  results  would  in  the  end  be 
disaster  for  the  Western  nations. 


XVI 

THE   MOUJIKS   AND    WORKING   CLASSES 

It  must  not  be  forgotten  that  Petrograd,  besides  being 
a  great  port,  is  also  an  important  manufacturing  city. 
Various  kinds  of  industrial  undertakings  employ  about 
a  third  of  the  population ;  more  than  100,000  persons 
are  engaged  in  trade  and  commerce.  In  1894  there 
were  more  than  five  hundred  mills  and  factories  in  the 
city.  I  should  say  that  now  there  are  nearly  double 
that  number.  They  earn,  as  a  rule,  enormous  dividends, 
owing  to  the  existence  of  protective  tariffs — 25  per  cent., 
35  per  cent,  and  even  40  per  cent,  being  quite  common. 
The  directors  and  managers  receive  liberal  salaries, 
comparable  to  those  paid  in  England.  The  workmen 
are  generally  very  poorly  paid ;  but,  as  a  Russian  mill 
hand  can  live  on  less  than  sixpence  a  day,  the  small 
wages  are  generous  compared  with  what  they  would 
earn  in  the  villages,  where  a  day  labourer  receives  only 
from  fivepence  or  sixpence  to  tenpence  per  day. 

The  majority  of  the  men  who  toil  in  the  factories 
from  early  morn  till  evening  for  what  would  appear 
to  us  such  wretched  pay  are  peasants,  who  come 
from  Kostroma,  Tver  and  other  governments  of  the 
interior  whenever  they  are  dissatisfied  with  the  scanty 
remuneration  obtainable  in  their  villages.  Almost 
every  workman  is  a  landowner  in  a  small  way,  or  has 
a  share  in  the  commune,  which  makes  him  in  a  measure 
more  independent  than  his  fellow  in  England  ;  for  if 
he  does  not  earn  what  he  considers  a  fair  wage  in  the 
town,  he  returns  to  his  native  place  to  help  the  women 
and  old  folk  with  the  field  work,  which  is  often  sadly 
in  need  of  his  co-operation. 

136 


THE  MOUJIKS  AND  WORKING  CLASSES  137 

The  new  associations  and  surroundings  found  in  the 
cities  strongly  modify  the  character  of  the  men.  The 
influence  of  English,  German,  French  and  Belgian 
workers  is  permeating  the  industrial  classes,  and  as 
this  increases,  strikes,  revolts  and  outbreaks  of  dis- 
content are  becoming  more  frequent ;  but  a  long  time 
must  elapse  before  the  social  and  political  ideas  and 
ideals  of  the  proletariat  are  accepted,  or  even  com- 
prehended, by  the  millions  of  superstitious  and 
ignorant  labourers  and  peasants. 

In  the  governments  of  Tver,  Novgorod  and  Pskoff, 
which  were  once  centres  of  freedom  and  intercourse 
with  the  West,  the  percentage  of  illiterates  is  less  than 
in  the  interior,  where  the  darkness  of  the  people's 
minds  is  almost  beyond  belief.  In  spite  of  this, 
the  Russian  peasant  can  hold  his  own,  especially 
in  making  a  bargain,  and  his  stupidity  is  sometimes 
affected  for  his  own  ends.  The  cunning,  due  to  ages 
of  oppression,  has  been  developed  to  such  a  degree 
that  a  lawyer  of  the  Volga  told  me  that  the  peasant 
will  often  outwit  the  cleverest  attack  of  cross-question- 
ing. Added  to  this,  he  has  the  obstinacy  of  a  mule, 
and  a  capacity  for  bearing  discomfort  and  pain  that 
would  do  credit  to  a  Red  Indian.  We  hear  much  of 
the  Jews  exploiting  the  poor  moujik,  but  we  rarely 
hear  of  the  instances  when  the  Jew  is  himself  outwitted 
by  the  peasant.  The  Emperor  Alexander  had  a  keen 
sense  of  their  intelligence,  and  when  advised  to  banish 
the  Jews,  lest  by  their  craftiness  they  should  injure 
his  subjects,  is  reputed  to  have  replied  that  he  did 
not  fear  that  any  Jew  would  be  sharp  enough  to  over- 
reach a  Russian. 

The  following  notes,  collected  during  the  Japanese 
War,  will  give  the  reader  a  better  idea  of  the  shrewd- 
ness and  character  of  the  working  classes  than  any- 
thing I  could  write  about  at  the  moment.  Not  even 
the  most  autocratic  Tsar  can  afford   to   ignore  the 


138      PETROGRAD  PAST  AND  PRESENT 

moujik ;  the  throne  really  rests  upon  his  broad 
shoulders,  and  the  moujiks  furnish  most  of  the  fighting 
men,  who  in  times  of  stress — like  the  peasant  patriot 
Suzanin — stand  faithful  to  the  Emperor  when  perhaps 
the  nobles  fail  him. 

When  the  war  broke  out,  rumours  of  the  wildest 
description  were  circulated  concerning  its  cause  and 
origin.  The  meagre  information  given  in  the  news- 
papers did  not  tend  to  enlighten  to  any  great  extent 
even  the  minority  who  could  read  ;  thus,  left  to  their 
own  resources,  the  people  fell  back  upon  that  fertile 
imagination  which  seems  to  be  bestowed  in  especial 
abundance  on  the  Slav  races.  As  a  result,  the  most 
fantastic  legends  sprang  into  existence  and  were  firmly 
believed  by  very  many.  Most  of  these  were  childish 
in  the  extreme,  but  at  the  same  time  valuable  in  giving, 
as  a  Russian  writer  says,  "  the  echo  of  the  popular 
voice,  or,  more  truly,  the  soul  of  the  people." 

A  Russian  author  who  has  been  at  considerable 
trouble  to  collect  and  put  into  shape  a  number  of  these 
stories  relates  this  anecdote,  which  circulated  through 
the  government  of  Pskoff,  concerning  the  war  and  the 
outbreak  of  a  strange  malady,  "  beri-beri,"  among  the 
Japanese  troops  : 

"The  village  teacher  who  had  first  spoken  to  the 
peasants  about  this  disease  was  astonished,  shortly 
afterward,  to  hear  in  neighbouring  villages  this  version 
of  his  story  :  '  Many  Japanese  nobles  assembled  in 
council,  to  consider  how  they  could  get  rid  of  the 
Russian  moujik,  who,  you  know,  is  a  terrible  fellow. 
He  has  little  land  and  his  plots  are  barren.  He  has 
already  beaten  the  Chinaman,  and  now  he  is  trying 
conclusions  with  the  Japanese.  The  nobles  debated 
long  and  earnestly,  but  could  come  to  no  decision. 
They  decided  to  call  into  their  councils  the  Japanese 
priests,  who  are  wise  men  and  have  understanding 


THE  MOUJIKS  AND  WORKING  CLASSES  139 

in  business.  They  said  to  the  priests :  "  If  you  will 
solve  this  problem  for  us  and  show  us  how  to  get  rid  of 
the  Russian  moujik,  we  will  sew  you  new  vestments." 
The  Japanese  pope  became  thoughtful,  and  sat  on  the 
ground  with  his  head  bent  to  his  knees,  pondering 
deeply.  "  Now,  what  have  you  thought  of  ?  "  the 
nobles  asked.  "  Say — how  shall  we  drive  out  the 
Russians  ?  "  "I  do  not  know,"  was  the  answer ; 
"  they  do  not  believe  in  our  God,  and,  moreover,  our 
holy  icons  are  not  able  to  sweep  them  off  the  face  of 
the  earth.  Their  God  is  stronger  than  ours,  and, 
besides,  they  pray  far  more  than  we  do."  Then  the 
nobles  grew  angry,  drove  out  the  pope,  and  again  set 
to  work.  They  thought  and  thought,  debated  and 
debated,  but  all  in  vain.  Then  one  of  them  got  up  and 
said  :  "  I  have  found  it  out ;  give  me  then  a  reward 
in  return.  Let  us  summon  our  doctors  and  surgeons  and 
order  them  to  spread  the  Japanese  sickness  amongst  the 
moujiks,  for  it  will  soon  seize  them."  Forthwith  this 
was  done,  and  the  one  who  had  hit  on  the  idea  was 
presented  with  four  cartloads  of  rice,  "  because  the 
nobles  in  these  parts  have  nothing  to  eat ! " ' 

*'  The  narrator  proceeds  to  tell  how  the  doctors  ran 
to  the  hospitals  and  collected  '  ingredients,'  which 
they  poured  into  a  kettle  ;  how  they  brought  coal 
and  lighted  a  fire,  and  even  appointed  three  old 
women  to  preside  (like  the  witches  in  Macbeth). 
These  were  to  feed  the  fire  and  to  utter  incantations 
at  the  instigation  of  the  Evil  One.  They  boiled  the 
ingredients  for  twelve  days,  and  on  the  thirteenth  all 
the  medical  men  assembled.  The  cooled  mixture  was 
then  poured,  laden  with  death,  into  jars  ;  the  nobles 
called  the  Japanese  soldiers  and  gave  each  one  a  rusk 
and  a  jar,  with  strict  orders  to  throw  to  the  moujiks, 
whenever  they  should  see  one,  a  rusk.  Opening  the 
jars,  the  soldiers  were  to  call  out  in  Russian,  '  Bere, 
bere  '  (Take,  take),  when  the  moujiks  would  immedi- 


140       PETROGRAD  PAST  AJ^D  PRESENT 

ately  take  the  rusks  and  perish.  Everything  was 
done  as  arranged.  'When  the  Japanese  saw  our 
moujiks  they  carried  out  their  orders ;  but  our  people 
are  not  fools— they  stood  by  and  laughed,  for  they 
did  not  believe  the  Japanese.  "  Oh,  you  Japanese 
children,"  they  exclaimed,  "do  you  think  we  have 
never  before  seen  your  rusks  ?  Why,  in  Russia  we 
do  not  give  even  our  Orthodox  brother  beggars  rusks, 
but  baked  bread  ;  we  will  not  take  them  !  "  The 
Japanese  insisted  and  begged  and  implored,  with 
tearful  voices,  "  Please  take,  take."  But  at  that 
moment  the  fatal  odour  arose  from  the  jars,  and  such 
a  pestilence  spread  round  that  the  Japanese  fell  dead, 
despite  their  repeated  cry  of  "  Bere,  bere."  In  conse- 
quence of  this,  that  kind  of  sickness  is  called  "  beri- 
beri." ' " 

This  story  shows  the  childish  simplicity  of  the  Russian 
peasant,  who  believes  that  he  is  far  better  off  than  the 
Japanese  nobles,  or  even  than  the  English;  for  the 
former  have  "  nothing  to  eat,"  and  as  for  the  latter, 
does  not  the  peasant  feed  them  with  his  wheat  and 
other  agricultural  produce  ? 

The  announcement  that  the  Tsar  had  promised  to 
mitigate  the  sentence  of  those  convicts  on  the  terrible 
Island  of  Saghalien  who  would  volunteer  to  fight  the 
Japanese  created  a  sensation  throughout  the  Russian 
Empire,  and  indeed  through  other  parts  of  Europe. 
The  story  of  the  Tsar's  clemency  spread  from  village 
to  village,  and  the  absence  of  any  reliable  information 
tended  to  give  it  increased  interest,  until  vivid  im- 
aginations gave  it  the  character  of  a  popular  legend. 
Of  the  many  different  versions,  the  following  is  perhaps 
the  most  interesting,  as  giving  an  idea  of  what  the 
peasants  think  about  Saghalien,  and  showing  the  awe 
still  felt  by  millions  of  them  for  the  Imperial  authority. 
The  tale  runs  thus  : 


THE  MOUJIKS  AND  WORKING  CLASSES  141 

"  Far  away  in  the  Japanese  ocean,  close  to  the  Empire 
of  Japan,  is  the  Island  of  Saghalien.  God  has  cursed 
the  spot,  so  that  on  it  grow  neither  trees  nor  grass. 
They  do  not  sow  or  reap  there,  for  rocky  boulders 
encumber  the  paths,  and  all  the  year  round  it  is  icy 
winter.  All  criminals  who  are  guilty  before  God  and 
the  Tsar  are  sent  to  the  island  ;  they  dwell  in  caves, 
feeding  on  shell-fish,  and  the  convicts  work  from  day 
to  day  doing  penance  and  expiating  their  guilt.  They 
began  to  long  for  their  families,  and  wept  many  bitter 
tears,  for  although  they  were  hardened  criminals,  they 
were  yet  human  beings.  Then  they  heard  that  their 
neighbour  the  Japanese  Power  was  waging  war  on 
Russian  territory ;  moreover,  that  it  had  collected 
many  big  ships  and  warriors  with  guns  and  cavalry, 
with  which  to  conquer  holy  Russia.  The  poor 
prisoners  bethought  them  how  they  would  send  a 
petition  to  their  Tsar,  saying  :  '  Great  Tsar  and  Lord, 
do  not  command  punishment,  but  deign  to  listen.  We 
have  committed  many  crimes  ;  we  have  killed  and 
robbed  ;  we  have  embezzled  and  defrauded  and  have 
not  paid  the  taxes,  and  have  been  forced  to  do  convict 
labour,  as  we  justly  deserve.  We  have  heard  that 
Japan  is  warring  against  holy  Russia,  and  that  thou 
wishest  to  send  thy  troops  against  her.  Great 
Master,  do  not  order  thy  dear  little  soldiers  to  be 
sent,  for  they  are  honest  men,  who  have  not  killed  or 
robbed  or  defrauded,  who  have  paid  their  taxes  when 
due  and  who  do  no  wrong.  Order  only  that  old  guns 
shall  be  given  to  us,  with  balls  of  lead.  We  will  then 
take  those  guns  and  go  and  conquer  the  Japanese  ; 
thus  will  we  atone  for  our  evil  deeds  and  thus  do  service 
for  our  wickedness  before  God  and  thee.  Give  us, 
then,  a  brave  leader,  and  thou  wilt  see  that  even  we, 
who  are  lost  men,  will  do  our  duty  and  lay  down  our 
lives,  should  these  be  required.  Hard  indeed  it  is  to 
live  in  penal  servitude  and  to  satisfy  our  hunger  with 


142       PETROGRAD  PAST  AND  PRESENT 

naught  but  sea-fish.    Bid  us  but  go  out  and  fight  the 
foe.' 

"The  Tsar  received  this  petition,  and  was  much 
moved.  Handing  it  to  his  War  Minister,  he  said  : 
'  These  men  are  not  lost  if  they  wish  to  atone  for 
their  guilt  by  service.  Inform  them  of  my  Imperial 
gratitude,  give  them  new  guns,  appoint  a  brave  general 
to  command  them,  and  bid  them  be  zealous  in  the 
cause  of  Russia.  They  are  no  longer  convicts,  but  my 
faithful  servants.'  And  the  convicts  went  out  to 
wage  war  and  to  execute  the  orders  of  the  Tsar. 
'  The  Tsar  has  punished,'  they  cried,  '  but  since  he 
announces  to  us  his  gratitude,  we  are  forgiven.  Let 
us  then  shout  hurrah,  like  honest  soldiers  and  servants 
of  the  Tsar.'  And  now  the  militia  of  Saghalien  stood 
ready,  guarding  their  rocky  caves,  and  frightening  the 
Japanese,  who  alone  are  to  blame — not  the  Tsar." 

As  is  well  known,  millions  of  Russians  were  firmly 
convinced  that  we  were  the  instigators  of  the  Russo- 
Japanese  War.  It  was  also  part  of  their  creed  that  we 
were  responsible  for  the  disappearance  of  Skobeleff,  the 
popular  idol.  Formerly,  when  the  Germans  were  in 
the  bad  books  of  the  Russians,  it  was  they  who  had 
made  away  with  him.  According  to  another  account, 
Skobeleff  was  alive  and  well,  the  ex- Viceroy  Alexieff 
being  none  other  than  the  hero  of  the  people.  But 
how  did  he  come  to  be  called  Alexieff  ?  The  fertile 
brain  of  the  moujik  explains  the  transformation  thus  : 
Skobeleff  offended  a  certain  Power  (Anglia),  and  the 
people  forthwith  demanded  his  head ;  but  the  Tsar  was 
sorry  to  give  up  such  a  man,  and  said  that  he  was  dead. 
Skobeleff  then  changed  his  name  ;  he  had  to  do  this, 
because  he  spoke  ill  of  the  English  Queen  in  the 
presence  of  her  ambassador.  In  order  to  avoid  war, 
the  Russian  Government  informed  England  that  he 
was  dead,  and  a  soldier  who  resembled  him  was  buried 


THE  MOUJIKS  AND  WORKING  CLASSES  143 

in  his  stead.  Another  legend  states  that  General 
Linevitch,  the  experienced  and  popular  soldier  who 
commanded  the  First  Army  Corps,  was  the  real 
Skobeleff.  His  reappearance  was  accounted  for  as 
follows  : — 

"After  the  Turkish  War,  the  Tsar  Alexander  de- 
manded a  contribution  from  the  Turks ;  but  Osman  Pasha 
was  obstinate,  and  said  :  '  If  you  do  not  come  down  in 
your  demands  we  shall  again  declare  war  against  you.' 
The  Tsar  then  reproached  him  with  ingratitude,  say- 
ing :  '  We  have  taken  thee  prisoner,  Osman  Pasha, 
and  again  set  thee  at  liberty,  and  thou  thinkest  of 
again  rising  up  against  us.  Begin,  then,  and  I  will  let 
Skobeleff  loose  on  thee.'  On  hearing  of  these  words 
the  Englishwoman  (the  Queen)  said  to  the  Tsar : 
'  Why  boldest  thou  in  such  high  honour  thy  Skobeleff, 
as  if  he  were  above  all  justice  ?  '  Michael,  the  son  of 
Dimitrieff  (Skobeleff),  who  was  present,  boiled  over 
with  anger  and  called  her  a  bad  name  [as  did  Ivan 
the  Terrible  to  Queen  Elizabeth  in  his  letter  to  her. 
He  called  her  poshlaja  djevetza  (a  spurious  maiden) 
on  her  refusal  to  marry  him].  The  Englishwoman 
was,  of  course,  greatly  offended,  and  wished  to  have 
him  tried ;  but  the  Tsar  Alexander,  before  he  died  (in 
consequence  of  the  injury  he  received  from  Risakoff), 
commanded  in  his  will  that  Skobeleff  should  not  be 
given  up  to  England.  This  is  how  he  came  to  bear 
another  name  and  is  now  fighting  in  the  Far  East." 

These  amusing  stories  show  not  only  the  love  the 
peasants  bear  for  the  hero  of  Plevna,  but  the  respect 
they  feel  for  our  late  Queen,  who,  in  their  simple 
imaginations,  must  have  been  a  very  great  personage 
indeed  to  rule  over  such  an  enormous  Empire,  and  to 
dare  to  demand  the  punishment  of  the  most  popular 
man  in  Russia.     She  appeared  all  the  more  wonderful 


144      PETROGRAD  PAST  AND  PRESENT 

to  them  since  they  had  not  the  faintest  idea  that  there 
existed  so  powerful  a  body  as  the  British  ParHament. 
I  well  remember  the  awe  and  sorrow  that  was  shown 
when  "  Starooshka  Koreljeva  Victoria "  (the  old 
Lady,  Queen  Victoria)  died.  For  weeks  the  event 
was  the  principal  topic  in  thousands  of  villages,  whose 
inhabitants  had  been  familiar  with  her  name  for  nearly 
half-a-century.  "  Your  Queen  is  dead,"  they  said  to 
me  with  sympathy,  believing  that  every  English 
subject  had  sustained  an  irreparable  loss.  In  fact, 
the  respect  the  peasants  entertained  for  her  was  so 
great  that  during  the  famine  of  1891  and  1892  some  of 
the  sufferers  in  the  government  of  Samara  threatened 
to  become  subjects  of  Queen  Victoria,  as  she  was 
giving  them  eighty  pounds'  weight  of  bread,  while 
their  own  Government  only  gave  them  half  that 
quantity  ! 

In  the  villages,  however,  a  new  type  of  peasant  is 
springing  up,  who  reads  the  daily  papers.  It  is  a 
thousand  pities  that  he  is  not  supplied  with  more 
healthy  literature.  A  large  section  of  the  Russian 
Press — ^we  in  England  possess  a  corresponding  section 
— seems  to  think  its  chief  duty  is  the  sowing  of  hatred 
between  nations,  which,  though  copecks  and  pence 
may  flow  into  their  coffers,  may  eventually  lead  to 
trouble.  Before  the  present  entente,  as  I  have  else- 
where observed,  millions  of  people,  by  the  pernicious 
teachings  of  the  Svjet,  the  Petershurgsky  Listock,  the 
Novaya  Vremya,  and  a  few  more  of  the  same  kidney, 
came  to  regard  the  English  as  devils  incarnate, 
responsible  for  nearly  all  the  ills  that  befell  holy 
Russia.  Whether  it  was  war,  famine,  epidemic  or 
earthquake — "  Anglechanen  oostroel  "  (it  is  the  work 
of  the  English)  was  the  fervent  belief  of  the  peasantry. 
Considering  that  this  class  forms  so  large  a  proportion 
of  the  population,  the  absurd  and  malicious  stories 
thus  fostered  and  circulated  demanded  more  serious 


THE  MOUJIKS  AND  WORKING  CLASSES  145 

attention.  The  masses  are  now  becoming  educated, 
very  slowly  and  gradually,  and  will  in  the  future  be  a 
force  which  no  Government  will  dare  to  ignore. 

Nowhere  is  the  change  more  clearly  seen  than  in  the 
soldier.  During  the  Turkish  War  it  was  most  unusual 
to  see  a  soldier  reading  a  paper ;  now  it  is  a  common 
occurrence.  In  the  many  trains  that  are  being 
dispatched  daily  to  Galicia  one  sees  a  few  soldiers 
singing  and  smoking,  as  is  their  wont,  but  the  majority 
read,  having  been  instructed  by  their  officers.  A 
correspondent  says  that  books  are  seldom  found ; 
the  sensational  and  impossible  charms  the  mind  of 
the  simple  moujik  more  than  any  solid,  sober  fact.  In 
days  gone  by,  the  soldier  used  to  beg  for  the  paper,  in 
order  to  roll  his  cigarettes ;  now,  he  asks  for  it  with 
the  idea  of  posing  as  an  authority  on  public  questions 
before  his  less-educated  comrades. 

There  is  little  doubt  that  the  bureaucracy  will  have 
to  abandon  its  present  methods  when  the  bulk  of  the 
people  have  reached  the  level  of  education  obtaining 
in  other  civilised  countries.  Its  members,  therefore, 
are  not  over  eager  to  promote  the  enlightenment  of 
the  masses.  The  terrible  events  now  occurring  in 
Europe  will,  however,  compel  these  gentlemen  to  give 
more  attention  to  the  news  supplied  to  the  people  of 
all  classes. 

The  charitable  nature  of  the  moujiks  is  shown  by  the 
way  in  which  they  treated  the  Japanese  prisoners  in 
the  last  war.  Their  arrival,  as  may  be  imagined, 
caused  immense  excitement,  and  formed  another 
source  for  the  weaving  of  legends.  In  the  government 
of  Oofa,  near  the  Urals,  this  event  gave  rise  to  the 
following  tale  : — 

"  Many  prisoners  were  brought  from  a  Japanese  town  ; 
they  were  two  months  on  the  way  through  our  Siberia. 
The  soldiers  were  picked  out  and  placed  in  barracks  at 


146       PETROGRAD  PAST  AND  PRESENT 

the  cost  of  the  Crown.  The  women  were  also  picked 
out,  and  a  guard  was  placed  over  them,  so  that  the 
women-folk  should  not  be  spoiled  in  a  foreign  country. 
The  little  children  were  taken  away,  clothed,  shod  and 
given  sunflower  seeds  to  eat,  so  that  they  should  sit 
quiet  and  not  quarrel  with  one  another.  But  the  men 
stood  in  the  barracks  and  were  sad  at  heart,  thinking 
of  their  wives  and  children,  while  the  women  sat  cross- 
legged  and  sighed  for  their  husbands,  because  they 
were  not  accustomed  to  live  without  them.  The  boys, 
however,  were  always  seeking  to  play  at  war  with 
the  Russian  boys.  Then  the  authorities  thought 
how  they  should  make  the  Japanese  happy  and  rid 
themselves  of  much  trouble.  At  last  they  came  to  a 
decision.  They  ordered  the  Japanese  to  settle  on  the 
land,  so  that  their  wives  and  little  ones  should  be 
given  back  to  them ;  also  horses  to  plough  with,  so 
that  they  should  earn  their  bread.  They  received 
corn  from  the  Crown,  and  thought  to  cultivate  the 
ground.  But  everything  went  amiss  with  them ; 
they  could  not  manage  the  harrow,  it  was  too  heavy 
and  painful.  The  women  cried  because  their  husbands 
could  not  feed  them  with  bread  and  beat  them ;  the 
children  were  quite  forgotten,  and  without  sunflower 
seeds  life  was  indeed  wretched.  Then  they  all  begged 
that  they  should  be  placed  in  their  former  positions. 
There  was  nothing  else  to  be  done  ;  the  authorities 
quartered  the  men  in  barracks,  guarded  the  women 
and  bought  the  children  sunflower  seeds  to  eat.  But 
after  a  while  it  was  the  same  old  story  over  again  ; 
everybody  was  dissatisfied,  and  the  authorities  grew 
angry.  Then  the  Japanese  considered  the  matter, 
and  finally  said  :  '  Is  there  not  some  work  we  could 
do,  but  not  so  hard  ? '  '  What  work  is  there  for  you 
to  do  ?  You  are  but  dead  cattle,'  was  the  answer. 
'  But,  look  here,'  they  replied,  '  we  see  you  have 
taken  their  horses  for  the  war — permit  us  to  go  and 


THE  MOUJIKS  AND  WORKING  CLASSES  147 

dwell  among  your  moujiks.  We  will  take  the  place 
of  the  horses,  for  we  have  been  used  to  that  work 
from  our  infancy.'  At  this  the  authorities  laughed 
heartily,  and  distributed  the  prisoners  amongst  various 
households,  instead  of  horses.  The  moujiks  followed 
the  plough,  as  usual,  while  the  Japanese  drew  it,  and 
all  lived  in  peace  and  contentment." 

This  cliildish  tale  gives  us  an  insight  into  the  suffer- 
ing caused  by  taking  away  the  horses  for  military 
purposes,  and  shows  that  the  peasant  is  not  always  so 
unpractical  as  he  is  supposed  to  be.  The  poor  opinion 
he  has  of  womenkind  is  evidenced  by  the  putting  of  the 
Japanese  women  under  a  guard  ;  semi-Oriental  as  he 
is,  he  still  thinks  this  necessary,  so  that  they  shall  not 
commit  folly.  Like  his  own  women,  they  generally 
howl  when  they  cannot  get  bread,  and  the  Japanese 
husband  is  erroneously  supposed  to  maintain  his 
authority  with  the  stick,  as  most  moujiks  unfortun- 
ately do.  Like  the  burly  moujik,  also,  the  Japanese 
is  made  to  weep  when  things  go  wrong,  and  it  is  the 
Japanese  boys  who  are  anxious  to  wage  war  with  the 
Russian.  The  inability  of  the  Japs  to  do  the  heavy 
work  filled  Ivanovitch  with  pride,  for,  whatever  we 
may  think  of  him,  he  believes  that  he  is  infinitely 
superior,  both  physically  and  morally,  to  every  other 
Nyzemtze — a  term  meaning  "  dumb  one,"  by  which 
he  designates  all  who  do  not  speak  his  tongue.  That 
the  Japanese; — who  are  really  centuries  ahead  of  him 
in  agricultural  knowledge — were  only  fit  to  draw  the 
plough  tickled  his  pride  and  confirmed  his  good 
opinion  of  himself.  His  peace-loving  temperament — 
so  opposed  to  that  of  Tartar  and  Cossack — is  to  be 
seen  in  his  anxiety  that  the  children  should  not  quarrel, 
and  in  the  satisfaction  with  which  he  winds  up  the 
story,  by  stating  that  afterwards  "  all  lived  in  peace 
and  contentment." 


148       PETROGRAD  PAST  AND  PRESENT 

The  moujik's  ideals,  on  the  whole,  are  those  of  the 
Bible  ;  he  thinks  and  speaks  often  in  Biblical  language ; 
his  mental  development  is  slow  in  the  extreme.  Like 
the  Founder  of  Christianity,  Ivan  is  a  Communist  and 
a  Socialist,  but  in  his  knowledge  of  life  and  history  is 
as  simple  as  any  child  at  its  mother's  knee.  His  faith 
in  his  Sovereign,  his  Church  and  his  superiors  is  only 
equalled  by  his  pitiable  ignorance  ;  he  fights  and  prays 
with  the  same  fervour — prays  to  all  the  saints  in  the 
calendar.  He  maintains  that  Manchuria  belongs  to 
Russia,  and  that  the  greedy,  unbelieving  Japanese  were 
striving  to  wrest  it  from  her.  Others  of  the  peasantry, 
residing  in  the  most  distant  villages,  thought  that  their 
one-time  enemies  were  little  yellow  men,  half  man, 
half  monkey,  and  that  they  lived  in  a  land  infested  by 
fierce  dragons  which  belched  forth  fire  and  smoke  on 
the  faithful  soldiers  of  the  Tsar  and  destroyed  them, 
unless  a  magic  spell  could  be  found  to  render  the  evil 
powers  harmless.  The  Japs  were  believed  to  be 
subjects  of  the  Tsar,  who,  as  they  would  not  sit  at 
home  quietly,  but  revolted  against  their  "  Little 
Father,"  had  to  suffer  compulsion  to  restore  order. 

The  legend  that  has  grown  up  round  the  tragic  end 
of  Admiral  Makarieff  is  perhaps  the  most  beautiful 
of  these  remarkable  imaginations  of  the  Russian 
peasant.  The  sad  news  of  his  death  excited  the 
deepest  sympathy,  and  the  people  expressed  their 
feelings  in  this  delightful  manner  : 

"It  was  on  Easter  Eve  when  the  Admiral  partook 
of  the  Holy  Communion,  kissed  the  Holy  Shroud, 
and,  having  assembled  his  dear  little  sailors,  spoke  to 
them  sweetly  and  graciously.  '  To-morrow,'  said  he, 
'  Christ  the  Lord  rises  from  the  dead.  Go  ye  all  then 
to  the  holy  matin  service  and  pray  to  God,  for  I  shall 
go  to  sea.  My  heart  forewarns  me  that  the  Japanese 
are  going  to  pay  us  a  visit.     We  must  go  out  to  meet 


THE  MOUJIKS  AND  WORKING  CLASSES  149 

them.'  '  Indeed,'  said  the  httle  sailors  to  their  kind 
Admiral,  '  why  shouldest  thou  go  to  sea  ?  Let  thy 
sailors  carry  out  thy  orders,  meet  the  enemy  with 
powder  and  fire  and  shot ;  but  go  thou  to  the  church  to 
early  service.'  '  No,'  the  Admiral  said,  '  I  will  carry 
out  my  duty  myself  ;  go  you  and  pray  for  me.  When 
you  have  confessed,  come  to  me.  Now  let  us  cross 
ourselves  and  embrace  one  another.  Go  then,  my 
dear  little  brothers.'  The  sailors  stood  still,  however, 
and  said  nothing,  not  wishing  to  leave  their  Com- 
mander. Presently  one  of  them  exclaimed  :  '  It  is 
evident,  your  Highborn,  that  the  Japanese  intend 
to  disturb  your  rest  on  holy  Easter  morn.  Great 
heavens,  has  the  Japanese  no  God  that  he  wishes  to 
take  upon  his  soul  the  sin  of  interfering  with  divine 
worship  ?  Come,  Admiral  —  come  with  us.'  The 
Admiral  smiled  when  he  heard  these  words,  but, 
clapping  the  man  on  the  shoulder,  he  cried  :  '  No,  go 
ye,  and  when  the  morning  service  is  finished,  come  and 
kiss  me  and  bring  red  eggs.'  The  sailors  then  left 
him,  much  saddened. 

"  Easter  Eve  arrived.  The  Admiral  took  with  him  a 
companion,  seized  the  oars  and  sat  down  in  a  wooden 
boat.  They  sailed  out  to  sea  three  miles,  cast  anchor 
and  looked  through  the  telescope.  But  the  night 
was  dark  and  the  wind  howled,  so  that  one  could  not 
hear  the  divine  singing,  the  holy  prayers,  or  the  ringing 
of  the  church  bells.  It  was  terrible  on  the  water  while 
the  Admiral  sat  and  watched.  '  Look,'  said  he  to  his 
companion,  '  I  have  grown  old  and  do  not  see  any- 
thing in  the  dark.  Look  thou  through  the  telescope. 
Dost  thou  see  the  Japanese  ships  ?  Are  they  coming 
against  us  or  not  ?  My  heart  forewarns  me  of  evil.' 
His  comrade  looked  through  the  telescope  and  was 
silent ;  nothing  was  to  be  seen  ahead — all  was  black, 
above  and  below.  '  The  Japanese  will  never  approach 
us  in  such  a  darkness ;    'tis   enough  to   blind   one.' 


150      PETROGRAD  PAST  AND  PRESENT 

The  Admiral  smiled  a  little,  heaved  a  deep  sigh  and 
again  gazed  into  the  distance,  while  the  wind  raged 
and  the  storm  moaned.  All  on  a  sudden,  he  sprang  to 
his  feet  and  said  :  '  Didst  thou  hear  the  bells  ringing 
in  the  town  ?  It  is  Christ  that  has  risen.  Let  us 
worship  according  to  the  true  Orthodox  faith.'  He 
had  hardly  kissed  his  friend  thrice,  as  customary, 
saluting  him  with  the  words,  "  Christos  voskres " 
(Christ  is  risen),  when  there  rose  from  the  depths  of  the 
sea  a  mine,  and  struck  the  boat  so  that  it  flew  into 
splinters.  The  Admiral's  body,  wounded  in  many 
engagements,  floated  on  the  w^.ves,  and  drifted  to  the 
place  where  the  Russian  soldiers  were  standing.  They 
had  returned  from  morning  service,  and  stood  in  a  row, 
ready  to  salute  their  Admiral  and  give  him  their 
Easter  eggs.  But  behold,  the  body  floats  towards 
them  ;  it  is  washed  ashore  and  lies  on  the  sands  at 
their  feet.  The  men  weep  bitterly.  Everlasting 
peace  to  his  memory." 

Thus  the  simple.  God-fearing  peasantry  weave  the 
story  of  that  tragedy  into  legendary  lore,  showing  how 
their  beloved  and  kindly  Admiral  sped  into  eternity. 
The  anecdote  illustrates  well  the  democratic  side  of 
the  Russian  character,  and  the  amicable  relations 
which  often  exist  between  officers  and  men.  "  Gentle  " 
was  the  truest  word  to  describe  Makarieff ;  he  was 
so  adored  by  his  sailors  that  he  could  lead  them,  like  a 
father  does  his  children,  to  do  whatever  he  desired. 
We  see  clearly  the  reverence  of  the  people  for  their 
holy  days,  their  horror  of  the  enemy  for  daring  to 
fight  on  such  a  festival  as  Easter.  We  see,  too,  their 
sublime  ignorance  of  the  true  end  of  Makarieff. 

Did  the  peasantry  possess  but  a  tithe  of  the  advan- 
tages enjoyed  by  other  European  nations,  they  would 
not  be  behind  in  those  sterling  qualities  which  go  to 
form  the  true   patriot,   the  worthy  citizen   and   the 


THE  MOUJIKS  AND  WORKING  CLASSES  151 

honest  supporter  of  the  Throne.  Strange  doctrines 
misled  them  at  this  period  especially,  and  even  now 
the  moujik  falls  an  easy  victim  to  the  impossible 
stories  and  reports  that  appear  in  the  popular  Press. 
The  more  sensational  the  news,  the  more  he  believes 
it — for  is  it  not  printed  on  paper  with  black  ink,  and 
therefore  correct  ?  His  reverence  for  his  halfpenny  or 
farthing  rag  is  both  comic  and  tragic.  A  workman 
under  me  once  came  to  me  with  tears  in  his  eyes  and 
begged  permission  to  go  home  to  his  native  village,  in 
order  that  he  might  die  in  the  bosom  of  his  family, 
because  a  certain  Petrograd  halfpenny  paper  had  pre- 
dicted that  the  world  was  coming  to  an  end  on  a  given 
date  1  We  may  laugh  at  the  poor,  credulous  fellow 
and  at  the  paper  which  so  befooled  him,  but  are 
there  not  in  England  specimens  of  journalism  almost 
as  sensational,  and  thousands  of  people  almost  as 
gullible  ? 

It  will  be  seen  that  notwithstanding  all  that  has 
been  done  for  the  peasant,  or  rather  one  should  say, 
perhaps,  all  that  has  not  been  done,  he  retains  in  some 
respects  the  darkest  ignorance ;  yet,  if  he  knows  not 
the  simplest  elements  of  geography,  history,  or  arith- 
metic, he  understands  his  farm,  the  weather,  the  crops, 
the  habits  of  birds  and  animals.  His  education  is  not 
ours ;  but  one  can  hardly  call  him  strictly  uneducated, 
for  the  open  book  of  nature  teaches  him  many  things 
which  town-dwellers  never  learn,  and  in  his  folk-songs 
these  are  embodied  and  preserved  with  wonderful 
beauty  and  simple  skill.  Outwardly,  he  is  as  rough 
and  uncouth  as  any  bear  of  his  northern  forests,  but 
often  we  find  a  tender  heart  beneath  this  unpromising 
exterior,  and  a  mind  open  to  all  that  is  inspiring  in 
nature.  His  craftiness  and  frequent  dishonesty  are 
explained  by  the  fact  that  his  only  weapon  against  his 
oppressors  was  deceit  and  cunning.  That  he  is  tough 
as  leather  and  can  endure  any  hardship  is  not  surprising 


152      PETROGRAD  PAST  AND  PRESENT 

when  we  remember  that  much  of  his  hfe  is  spent  on  the 
border-Hne  of  starvation.  His  credulity  arises  from 
his  vivid  imagination.  If  you  tell  him  of  the  ordinary 
progress  of  events  in  Paris  or  London — the  tubes, 
underground  railways,  telephones — he  will  tell  you 
plainly  that  you  are  fooling  him  ;  but  if  you  asserted 
that  there  were  silver  and  gold  scattered  about  the 
streets  he  would  believe  every  word,  for  he  has  heard 
many  stories  of  the  wealth  of  the  English.  Fairy  tales 
and  miracles  are  his  native  mental  fare  ;  facts  concern 
him  very  little. 

The  average  peasant,  with  all  his  church-going  and 
piety,  holds  very  curious  ideas  on  religion  and  the  will 
of  the  Almighty.  I  heard  one  amusing  story  which 
illustrates  this  excellently.  A  droshky-driver  once 
conveyed  a  gentleman  to  a  certain  bank.  His  fare, 
who  had  money  and  valuable  papers  with  him,  pushed 
them  under  the  cushions  for  safety  while  he  did  his 
business,  but,  on  returning,  to  his  dismay  the  man 
had  driven  off,  taking  with  him  the  portfolio,  which 
contained,  among  other  things,  notes  to  the  value  of 
several  thousand  roubles.  The  owner  was,  of  course,  in 
a  great  state  of  perturbation,  and  informed  the  police, 
who  forthwith  summoned  every  day  a  number  of  the 
thousands  of  drivers  in  Petrograd  to  report  them- 
selves. At  last  the  lost  one  was  recognised,  and 
taxed  with  the  theft ;  but  the  poor  fellow  was  astounded, 
and  stoutly  denied  having  taken  either  the  money  or 
the  papers.  Orders  were  given  for  the  cab  to  be 
searched — ^and  there,  sure  enough,  was  the  missing 
portfolio,  with  its  contents  intact.  The  owner  was 
overjoyed,  and  gave  the  man  a  handsome  reward. 
But  the  droshky-driver  was  dumbfounded,  and  could 
not  understand  the  reason  of  his  patron's  generosity, 
and  when  he  at  last  learned  that  the  little  leathern 
book  had  contained  such  a  small  fortune  his  sorrow 
and  disappointment  knew  no  bounds ;    he  could  not 


THE  MOUJIKS  AND  WORKING  CLASSES  153 

get  over  his  astonishment,  and  finally  hanged  himself 
in  disgust  at  the  thought  that  God  had  sent  him  all  that 
money  and  he  had  not  taken  it  ! 

Nearly  all  these  drivers  are  peasants  from  the 
interior,  and,  as  we  have  seen,  possess  their  share  of 
mother  wit.  Tolstoi,  in  one  of  his  works,  says  that 
the  wisest  man  he  ever  loiew  was  a  Russian  peasant. 
In  their  conversation  with  one  another,  every  sentence 
is  characterised  by  some  bon  mot,  proverb,  or  vivid 
metaphor.  So  rich  are  they  in  this  figurative  mode  of 
expression  that  unless  one  has  been  brought  up  in  the 
country  they  are  often  very  hard  to  follow  and  com- 
prehend. It  is  especially  difficult  for  the  matter-of- 
fact  Englishman,  German  or  Scandinavian,  who  do 
not  bother  about  metaphorical  phrases,  but  as  a  rule 
employ  simple,  concrete  assertions.  With  them  a 
word  generally  means  a  fact ;  with  a  Russian  it  is 
frequently  an  image  of  something  in  his  mind.  Even 
the  smallest  boy,  almost  smothered  in  his  father's  or 
grandfather's  huge  cap,  and  his  blue  kaftan  reaching 
to  his  toes,  is  fully  able  to  take  care  of  himself;  also 
he  is  so  skilled  that  he  will  drive  you  safely  about  the 
most  crowded  streets,  so  courageous  that  he  will  drive 
through  miles  of  dense  forests  with  dangerous  animals 
lurking  in  their  depths. 

The  Marquis  de  Castine,  speaking  of  their  ready  wit, 
remarks  :  "  The  merest  boy  or  the  lowest  peasant  is 
never  at  a  loss  for  an  answer,  and  in  this  respect  offers 
a  striking  contrast  to  the  awkward,  embarrassed  and 
boorish  manners  of  the  German  peasantry.  The 
Russian  detects  in  a  moment  the  weak  side  of 
another,  and  no  one  can  with  fewer  words  turn  it 
to  ridicule.  If,  on  the  one  hand,  there  is  no  country 
where  fewer  bon  mots  are  perpetrated  than  in  our 
good  Germany,  there  is  certainly  none  where  they 
occur  more  frequently  than  in  Russia.  In  the  streets 
and  market-places,  as  in  the   highest  society,  smart 


154       PETROGRAD  PAST  AND  PRESENT 

sayings  old  and  new  of  Russian  origin  are  perpetually 
circulating." 

Saltikoff,  the  satirist,  in  his  famous  dialogue  entitled 
The  Boy  with  Trousers  and  the  Boy  Without,  shows  the 
remarkable  difference  in  wit  and  character  between  the 
Russian  boy  (without  trousers)  and  the  German  boy 
(with  them).  Even  in  early  childhood  this  difference 
is  distinctly  to  be  seen.  But  if  the  German  boy  is 
clumsy  and  embarrassed,  he  is  more  reliable  than  his 
brilliant,  versatile  Slavonic  companion. 

Bismarck  used  to  say  that  as  long  as  a  moujik  wore 
his  shirt  outside  his  baggy  trousers  you  could  trust  him ; 
when  he  tucked  it  in,  wore  a  top  hat,  and  swaggered 
about  with  an  umbrella,  it  was  time  to  beware.  An 
old  Scottish  resident  whom  I  knew,  used  to  swear  at 
the  peasants  energetically,  and  the  more  he  raved,  the 
more  he  was  respected,  for  they  love  a  strict  master 
who  "  knows  how  to  abuse  you  properly."  No  malice 
is  ever  borne  for  this  sort  of  treatment  by  the  peasant. 
With  the  Finn  or  Calmuck  it  is  a  different  matter.  He 
has  great  notions  of  his  own  dignity,  and  if  you  doubt 
his  word  or  swear  at  him  too  much  you  run  a  chance  of 
feeling  a  knife,  even  if  it  be  a  week  after.  You  may 
have  forgotten  the  incident,  but  he  will  not  forget ! 


XVII 

THE   TSAR,    HIS   HOUSEHOLD   AND    HIS   LABOURS 

The  personality  of  the  Tsar  is  a  subject  of  general 
interest.  Much  depends  upon  the  personal  influence 
of  a  ruler,  particularly  if  he  is  head  of  one  of  the  world's 
great  empires. 

In  appearance,  he  strikingly  resembles  King  George, 
and  I  have  elsewhere  mentioned  the  amusing  mis- 
understandings and  mistakes  this  strong  likeness 
caused.  As  to  character,  his  favourite  English  tutor, 
Mr  Heath,  told  me  that  the  Tsar  had  such  a  kind  and 
considerate  nature  that  he  would  never  ask  even  his 
servants  to  do  anything  if  he  could  do  it  himself.  He 
is  a  good  sportsman,  and  could  then  run  a  fair  dis- 
tance without  fatigue  ;  fond  of  cycling,  he  could  hit  a 
target  while  riding  his  machine.  The  report  that  he 
used  to  take  more  interest  in  his  bicycle  than  in  his 
army  must  have  originated  maliciously-  Anyone  who 
visits  the  manoeuvres  at  Krasnoe  in  peace  time,  as  I 
have  often  done,  will  see,  as  I  saw,  the  Tsar  toiling  for 
hours  together,  reviewing  his  troops  and  following  the 
long  operations  closely.  His  exertions  and  frequent 
journeys  to  the  Caucasus  and  the  Austrian  frontier 
showed  that  he,  like  most  of  the  Grand  Dukes,  is  a 
soldier  at  heart. 

But  it  must  be  remembered  that  the  Tsar  of  Russia 
has  much  more  important  work  than  attending 
military  manoeuvres.  He  notes  all  agricultural  and 
social  questions  or  suggested  reforms,  and  spends 
much  time  on  the  duties  of  the  State.  When  he  was 
but  a  young  man  I  expressed  the  opinion  in  my  book. 
Through  Famine-stricken  Russia,  that  he  would  make 
I5S 


156       PETROGRAD  PAST  AND  PRESENT 

an  excellent  ruler  if  he  could  find  good  officials  and 
advisers,  for  in  truth  he  is  an  upright  gentleman,  with 
a  fine  sense  of  duty.  But  not  even  autocrats  can  do 
as  they  please. 

Despite  the  revolutionists,  the  Tsar  has  done  much 
good  during  his  reign,  and  has  introduced  measures 
which  will  have  great  influence  on  the  country's 
future  development.  If  some  of  his  deeds  seem  unjust 
in  our  eyes — for  instance,  the  policy  pursued  in  Fin- 
land and  in  the  Baltic  Provinces — we  must  blame  his 
advisers,  for  I  am  convinced  that  he  wishes  to  do 
justice  to  his  subjects  of  every  race.  It  is  said  that 
he  ascended  the  throne  simply  from  a  deep  sense  of 
duty  and  to  please  his  father  ;  he  would  have  been  far 
happier  in  a  less-exalted  position  ;  therefore  we  should 
not  judge  too  severely  one  burdened  with  so  difficult 
a  task.  He  is  not  responsible  for  a  thousandth  part 
of  the  wrongs  done  in  his  name  but  without  his 
knowledge.  When  interviewed  by  Count  Tolstoi  the 
Younger,  with  whom  I  worked  in  the  government  of 
Samara  during  the  Great  Famine,  he  said  that  he  felt 
called  by  God  to  discharge  certain  difficult  duties 
towards  the  people,  and  that  he  was  responsible  before 
God  alone  for  the  right  fulfilment  of  his  task.  He  was 
inspired  by  love  for  the  nation,  and  would  not  shrink 
from  any  sacrifice  in  order  to  ensure  its  moral  and 
material  prosperity.  He  added  that  he  was  also  quite 
willing  to  relinquish  a  portion  of  his  prerogative,  if  by 
so  doing  he  really  furthered  the  people's  welfare — even 
his  rank ;  he  would  look  upon  it  as  a  pleasure,  for 
neither  his  character  nor  up-bringing  had  encouraged 
in  him  the  desire  for  power.  His  own  wishes  would 
have  been  for  a  quiet  family  life,  undisturbed  by  affairs 
of  State.  He  could  not  sanction  a  constitution,  or 
meet  other  radical  demands  as  regarded  a  representa- 
tive government ;  not  because  he  endeavoured  to  main- 
tain his  privileges,  but  because  these  demands  did  not 


THE  TSAR  157 

proceed  from  the  people,  and  their  concession  would 
only  mean  fresh  problems  and  possibly  sufferings. 
Such  was  the  tenor  of  his  converse  with  the  Count. 

Although  I  do  not  quite  hold  with  the  Tsar,  I  believe 
he  was  perfectly  sincere  when  he  said  that  the  agita- 
tion for  a  new  form  of  government  did  not  originate 
with  the  masses,  and  that  such  a  change  would  bring 
trouble.     When    one    remembers    that    millions    can 
neither  read  nor  write,  are  steeped  in  ignorance  and 
superstition,  and   that   they   have   no   conception   of 
liberty,  it  would  certainly  seem  unwise  to  give  these 
moujiks  the  vote  until  some  measure  of  education  and 
understanding  has  enlightened  them  to  its  possibihties. 
This  does  not  apply  to  the  merchants,  manufacturers, 
nobles,  professional  classes,  shopkeepers  and  thousands 
of  men  in  the  towns,  nor  to  a  proportion  of  the  peasant 
class   which   has   educated    its   members   fairly   well. 
Something  must  be  done  for  these,  or  in  the  future 
troubles  worse  than  those  of  1905-1906  will  arise.   This 
large  section  must  be  better  represented  in  the  Govern- 
ment, even  if  universal  suffrage  is  out  of  the  question. 
What   Russia  wants  is  reform,  not  revolution.     The 
old    policy   of    sitting  on   the   safety-valve    must   be 
abandoned,   otherwise  another  eruption   of  the  sup- 
pressed forces  may  come,  the  horrors  of  which  only 
those  who  have  seen  the  lower  classes  break  loose  can 
tell.     Such  a  calamity  means  the  destruction  of  the 
innocent  with  the  guilty,  the  despoiling  of  immense 
properties  in  which  Englishmen  are  interested,  and 
probably  the  repudiation  of  Russia's  enormous  foreign 
debt,  a  large  part  of  which  is  taken  up  by  English  and 
French  investors.     And  the  evil  might  not  stop  there. 
When  order  was  restored,  when  the  strong  leader  was 
found,  who  knows  but  that  the  teeming  population 
would  not  use  their  newly  gained  strength  to  over- 
run Europe.     France,  a  hundred  years  ago,  with  only 
14,000,000,  caused  havoc  throughout  the  Continent. 


158      PETROGRAD  PAST  AND  PRESENT 

If  she  could  do  so  much,  what  could  not  awakened 
Russia  do  ?  We  should  not,  then,  make  the  position 
of  the  Tsar  more  hard  than  it  is.  Our  influence  must 
be  on  the  side  of  judicious  reforms  gradually  intro- 
duced, and  then  we  who  have  such  great  commercial 
and  industrial  interests  in  Russia  shall  share  in  the 
benefits  resulting. 

The  young  Count  Tolstoi,  with  whom  the  Tsar  dis- 
cussed these  matters,  held  the  view  that  Russia  is  not 
yet  ripe  for  a  Constitution,  in  the  English  sense  of  the 
word.  He  considered  that  the  form  of  government 
most  suitable  would  be  a  Council  of  the  four  estates, 
sitting  in  the  capital.  Just  as  Russian  society  is 
split  into  four  distinct  classes — nobles,  ecclesiastics, 
burghers  and  peasants — so  should  the  people  be  repre- 
sented. The  popular  delegates  should  be  chosen  by 
freeholding  peasants  and  members  of  the  village  com- 
munes ;  those  of  the  clergy  should  be  selected  from 
among  their  own  members  ;  while  those  of  the  towns 
should  be  in  four  groups,  so  that  they  might  represent 
the  classes  mentioned  and  the  various  interests  of  the 
urban  population.  Tolstoi  confessed  that  he  obtained 
his  idea  of  the  proposed  parliament  from  the  old 
Swedish  parliament  of  the  four  estates.  He  held  that 
Sweden,  not  Germany,  was  the  best  model  for  the 
social  and  political  reorganisation  of  Russia — as  was 
the  case  first  under  Rurik  and  afterwards  under  Peter 
the  Great,  who  copied  from  Sweden  the  idea  of 
ministries  and  colleges. 

In  this  sketch  of  the  Tsar's  problems  I  have  not 
touched  on  the  political  side  of  his  character.  Owing 
to  our  entente  with  Russia  and  the  strict  censorship  in 
the  English  Press — which  obtained  even  prior  to  the 
present  war  —  outspoken  comment  on  these  themes 
is  impossible.  Since,  then,  I  cannot  write  from  the 
"  desired  direction,"  I  prefer  to  remain  silent  on  many 
subjects  familiar  to  me,  leaving  it  to  those  who  have 


THE  TSAR  159 

no  scruples  or  sense  of  responsibility  to  give  such  rosy 
pictures  of  the  internal  condition  of  the  country  as 
suits  the  authorities  in  power  for  the  time  being. 
Some  day  the  truth  will  be  told,  not  only  about 
Russia,  but  concerning  other  European  states  with 
whose  destinies  our  own  is  closely  knit. 

The  Tsarina  was  a  Princess  of  Hesse,  a  grand- 
daughter of  Queen  Victoria.  She  is  a  good,  highly 
educated  lady,  taking  a  great  interest  in  the  uplifting 
of  women  and  in  works  of  charity.  She  is  an  excellent 
mother  and  a  devoted  wife,  and  as  beautiful  as  she  is 
good.  She  is  too  fine  in  character  for  many  of  the 
corrupt  courtiers  round  her,  and  when  I  lived  in 
Petrograd  was  not  half  as  popular  as  she  deserved  to 
be  ;  firstly,  because  she  was  of  English  and  German 
origin,  and,  secondly,  because  she  did  not  countenance 
the  lax  morality  then  prevalent  in  the  Court  circles. 
She  was  derisively  called  "  Anglechanka "  and 
"  Puritanka  "  (Englishwoman  and  Puritan),  but  since 
the  two  countries  have  become  good  friends  her 
English  tastes  no  longer  stand  in  her  way.  The  fact 
that  she  had  no  male  offspring  also  seemed  derogatory, 
the  superstitious  people  interpreting  this  as  a  sign  that 
God  was  displeased  with  her.  In  striving  for  a  pure 
Court,  she  takes  after  Queen  Victoria,  who,  as  we  know, 
would  never  tolerate  loose  living  in  her  immediate 
entourage.  Were  the  Tsarina  to  emulate  "  babooshka 
Ekaterina  "  (grandmother  Catherine),  her  popularity 
would  increase  at  once,  but  a  notoriety  of  that  descrip- 
tion she  will  never,  fortunately,  attain. 

As  a  rule  the  royal  couple  lead  a  simple  family  life, 
but  the  necessity  of  keeping  up  the  traditional  luxury 
and  ostentation  of  the  Court  compels  them  occasionally 
to  go  against  their  private  inclinations.  For  example, 
the  galas,  ceremonials,  receptions  and  parades  are 
carried  on  with  a  grandeur  surpassing  anything  seen 
in  other  capitals  and  with  an  astonishing  attention  to 


160       PETROGR/VD  PAST  AND  PRESENT 

detail.  The  grand  banquets  and  balls  at  the  Winter 
Palace,  at  Tsarskoe  Selo,  Gatchina  and  other  places  of 
residence  cost  enormous  sums  of  money.  All  that  art 
and  taste  can  accomplish  are  there.  The  late  Grand 
Duke  Mechail  the  Elder,  the  Tsar's  grand-uncle, 
inherited  the  simple  tastes  of  so  many  of  the  Romanoffs. 
At  ordinary  times  he  led  a  plain,  almost  Spartan  life, 
spending  very  little  on  his  personal  comfort,  although 
one  of  the  wealtliiest  men  in  Europe.  But  on  special 
occasions  he  used  to  send  for  the  finest  Parisian  chefs, 
and  would  lay  out  thousands  over  his  feasts.  The 
Imperial  family  have  always  employed  French  chefs, 
and  it  is  no  wonder  that  some  of  these  skilful  artists 
have  returned  with  a  fortune  to  their  native  land  after 
a  few  years  in  the  Tsar's  service. 

The  whole  of  the  very  extensive  Imperial  household 
was  under  the  control  of  Count  Paul  Benckendorff. 
Next  to  him  came  an  official  in  a  gorgeous  uniform, 
his  tunic  sparkling  with  decorations  presented  by  w^ell- 
nigh  every  monarch  of  significance.  In  olden  days 
this  personage  had  to  swear  an  oath  of  fealty,  also,  if 
I  am  not  mistaken,  to  taste  each  dish  before  it  reached 
the  Tsar.  Those  serving  under  him  have  resplendent 
uniforms,  richly  ornamented  with  gold  broidery.  All 
who  love  to  display  their  persons  thus,  and  have  any 
influence,  endeavour  to  obtain  some  position  in  con- 
nection wdth  the  Court  or  household.  An  acquaint- 
ance of  mine,  obsessed  with  this  weakness,  after  a 
great  deal  of  effort  at  last  secured  one  of  these  posts, 
with  the  right  of  wearing  the  showy  attire.  The  Tsar, 
however,  was  puzzled  at  this  addition  to  his  already 

extravagant  suite,  and  seeing  C B strolling 

about  like  a  jackdaw  in  borrowed  plumes,  called  to  his 
adjutant  brusquely :  "  Who  is  that  cock  strutting 
about  over  there  ?  "  When  told,  he  said  :  "  Tell  him 
to  go  to  the  devil  and  not  show  his  face  here  any  more, 
for  I  do  not   want  liim."     So   ended   the   career  of 


THE  TSAR  161 

C B in  the  retinue  of  Alexander  II. !     This 

Tsar,  like  the  great  Peter,  hated  all  show  and  cere- 
mony. His  room  at  Gatchina  was  very  small,  and  he 
delighted  in  going  about  dressed  as  plainly  as  possible. 
His  strong  common-sense  and  careful  policy  made 
Russia  so  formidable  that  for  a  long  time  she  had 
only  one  ally — ^JVIontenegro.  Of  this  isolation  he  was 
proud,  and  once,  at  a  banquet,  proposed  a  toast  to 
"  Our  only  Ally — King  Nicholas  of  Montenegro," 
which  was  drunk  with  thunderous  applause. 

The  affairs  of  the  Imperial  household  are  managed 
by  a  special  chancellery,  comprising  in  its  personnel 
twelve  secretaries,  four  butlers,  twenty-four  chief 
waiters,  thirty-four  lackeys,  with  eighteen  sub- 
ordinates and  fifty-four  assistant  lackeys.  At  the 
head  of  the  kitchen  are  two  chefs,  both  Frenchmen, 
whose  annual  salaries  exceed  that  of  any  minister. 
At  their  disposal  are  four  under-chefs,  thirty-eight 
cooks,  twenty  apprentices  and  thirty-two  kitchen- 
boys.  The  sweetmeat  section  forms  a  separate  depart- 
ment, the  chief  of  which  is  also  a  Frenchman,  who  has 
under  him  two  bakers,  two  confectioners  and  twenty 
apprentices.  All  this  luxury  and  state  has  to  be  kept 
up  more  for  the  sake  of  visitors  than  for  the  Tsar's 
own  desires.  It  is  well  known  that  he  dislikes  artificial 
foods,  preferring  the  old  simple  national  dishes,  such 
as  horschy  a  soup  made  from  spinach,  tchi,  another 
soup  of  sour  cabbage  with  large  lumps  of  beef  floating 
in  it,  and  other  concoctions  which  do  not  sound 
particularly  appetising  to  Western  ideas.  The  piroks 
(meat  and  cabbage  pies),  the  various  soups,  the  black 
bread,  sterlet,  pickled  mushrooms,  gherkins,  caviare, 
a  real  Russian  delights  in  before  the  artistic  produc- 
tions of  French  chefs,  who  can  disguise  a  cabbage  until 
it  appears  as  a  cutlet,  and  cook  potatoes  in  a  hundred 
different  ways.  One  must  possess  a  truly  Russian 
digestion,  though,  to  stand  the  national  menus. 


162       PETROGRAD  PAST  AND  PRESENT 

At  the  Court  only  French  champagne  and  Bordeaux 
wines  of  the  finest  vintages  are  consumed.  The 
excellent  Caucasian,  Bessarabian,  Crimean  and  other 
wines  grown  in  the  south  cannot  as  yet  supplant 
these,  though  they  are  probably  purer  and  far  more 
nutritious.  When  the  last  Tsar  was  twitted  with 
preferring  foreign  champagne  to  the  sweet  but 
dangerous  brand  brewed  in  his  own  country,  he  replied 
in  the  words  of  Bismarck  when  his  friends  tried  to 
persuade  him  to  drink  only  champagne :  "  The 
stomach  knows  nothing  about  politics  I  "  The  Tsar 
is  right,  for  some  of  the  young  Caucasian  wines  are 
so  raw  and  ill  prepared  that  courage  and  a  strong 
stomach  are  required  to  swallow  them.  Possibly  the 
practice  of  keeping  the  wine  in  bullock-skins  has 
something  to  do  with  their  harsh,  peculiar  taste. 

Much  fruit  is  consumed  at  the  Imperial  table,  and 
the  pears,  which  are  sent  from  Paris,  cost  at  least  a 
shilling  each.  Large  quantities  of  apples,  grapes  and 
melons  come  from  the  Crimea  to  Petrograd,  but  I  do 
not  know  whether  they  reach  the  Court.  The  gold 
and  silver  plate,  richly  enamelled  by  skilled  artists,  is 
a  wonderful  sight,  but  there  is  no  need  to  describe  it  in 
detail  or  to  do  more  than  mention  its  very  beautiful 
and  elaborate  design. 


XVIII 

HOTELS   AND    RESTAURANTS 

Considering  the  two  million  inhabitants  of  Petro- 
grad,  it  cannot  be  said  that  the  city  is  well  provided 
with  first-class  hotels.     For  this  reason  many  visitors 
prefer  to   stay  at   one   of  the  numerous   pensions — 
Mehelorovanne  komnate  —  which  make   good  the   de- 
ficiency.    A  comfortable  place,  and  one  of  the  most 
popular  of  the  larger  hotels,  is  the  Angleterre  (Gos- 
tenetza    Anglija),    in    the    St    Isaac    Square,    exactly 
opposite  the  cathedral  of  that  name.     For  many  years 
this   favourite   centre   of  the   English   colony   of  the 
capital  was  under  the  direction  of  the  good-natured, 
hospitable  Herr  Kluge,  brother  of  Professor  Kluge  of 
the   University  of   Jena.     When   almost  a   boy,   this 
worthy  host  ran  away  from  home.     He  once  told  me 
that  he  cared  nothing  for  learning — his  one  ambition 
in  life  was  to  become  a  noted  chef  and  to  manage  a 
hotel.     In  course  of  time  this  ambition  was  realised, 
and  under  his  expert  control  the  Hotel  d 'Angleterre 
became  famous  for  its  good  dinners,  moderate  charges 
and  general  comfort.     So  celebrated  did  these  dinners 
at  last  become  that  I  have  known  Americans,  to  whom 
distance  and  money  were  of  no  account,  travel  all  the 
way  from  Berlin  simply  to  dine  with  "  Old  Kluge." 
In  time  he  grew  so  successful  that  he  took  over  the 
Hotel  de  I'Europe  in  the  Mechailoff  Street,  which  in 
those  days  was  considered  the  best  in  the  city.     After 
attaining  this  long-sought  fame,  Kluge  made  so  many 
friends  that  they  actually  shortened  his  useful,  merry 
career  by  treating  him  too  well.     He  was  killed  by 
kindness,  and   died  comparatively  young,  missed  by 
163 


164      PETROGRAD  PAST  AND  PRESENT 

all  who  knew  his  rotund,  beaming  countenance  and 
his  good  heart.  He  was  married  to  a  handsome 
Englishwoman  who  came  from  Leicester,  and  he 
had  lived  so  long  in  England  that  to  all  intents  and 
purposes  he  was  a  typical  John  Bull  of  the  olden 
school,  bluff,  genial  and  generous. 

Another  house  much  frequented  by  the  English 
was  the  Hotel  de  la  France,  in  the  Grande  Morskaja. 
It  is  famous  for  its  rouble  and  rouble-and-fifty 
luncheons,  and  is  now  patronised  greatly  by  Russian 
officers,  officials  and  tourists  of  various  nationalities. 
The  Bolshaja  Sjevernaja  Gostenetza,  opposite  the 
Nicholas  Railway  Station,  is  an  imposing  pile,  but 
somewhat  too  "  Roosky  "  for  my  taste.  Most  of  the 
really  Russian  hotels  are  furnished  with  great  mag- 
nificence, but  are  often  dirty  and  dusty  beyond  belief. 
It  is  difficult  to  make  pure  Russians  understand  the 
necessity  of  keeping  their  rooms  spotlessly  clean  and 
free  from  small  unwelcome  visitors.  Nearly  every 
moujik,  and  many  who  are  above  the  moujik  class, 
devoutly  believes  that  these  insect  pests  are  necessary 
parts  of  creation,  and  that  the  triffing  amount  of 
nourishment  they  extract  from  their  unwilling  victims 
is  good  for  the  general  health,  preventing  them  from 
becoming  too  full-blooded  and  thus  developing  apo- 
plexy. A  charming  belief,  perhaps,  but  decidedly 
inconvenient  to  cleanly  Westerners  ! 

There  is  a  modest  hotel  on  the  Kazanskaja,  but  as  it 
is  used  chiefly  by  Germans  from  the  Baltic  Provinces, 
I  will  not  take  the  responsibility  of  recommending  it 
to  my  countrymen.  The  Hotel  de  I'Europe,  in  the 
Mcehailoffsky,  is  perhaps  the  best  old-fashioned  one 
in  Petrograd,  but  it  is  not  particularly  cheap  or  com- 
fortable. The  best  hotel  of  all,  however,  is  the 
*'  Astora  "  Hotel,  managed  entirely  on  modem  lines. 
There  are  many  second-class  houses,  among  them 
the  Europa,   the   Palais   Royal,  "  Regina "  and  the 


HOTELS  AND  RESTAURANTS  165 

Hermitage,  but  intending  visitors  should  remember 
the  pensions  on  the  Nevsky,  Petit  Morskaja  and 
the  Ligoffskaja.  Excellent  boarding-houses  exist  for 
those  who  are  making  a  long  stay,  kept  by  English 
ladies,  on  the  Vasilii  Ostroff.  In  one  of  these  I 
resided  for  many  years. 

The  food  in  Petrograd  is,  on  the  whole,  inexpensive 
and  nicely  varied.  In  no  city  is  it  possible  to  obtain 
excellent  meat,  game  and  fish  at  such  reasonable 
charges.  In  shopping,  I  have  always  found  it  wise  to 
send  the  servant  or  housekeeper.  The  Russian  shop- 
keeper has  a  habit  of  putting  up  his  prices  if  he  thinks 
his  customer  can  afford  to  pay  well.  "  Kak  pokoopa, 
tel  tak  tsena  "  (As  the  buyer,  so  the  price)  is  his 
motto.  This  is  so  much  the  case  that  my  old  Finnish 
servant,  being  a  poor  woman,  could  invariably  purchase 
the  provisions  required  for  my  household  at  about  half 
what  I  paid  whenever  I  essayed  to  do  my  own  shopping. 
Sometimes  I  did  it,  but  was  usually  "  done  "  myself 
in  the  bargain,  for  immediately  I  appeared  the  cunning 
salesman,  seeing  that  I  was  a  barin  (gentleman),  in  his 
opinion,  doubled  the  legitimate  cost.  With  me  and 
members  of  my  class  he  threw  conscience  to  the  winds, 
but  with  the  poor  he  showed  a  less  grasping  turn  of 
mind. 

As  a  rule  beef,  game  and  fresh-water  fish  can  be 
obtained  at  about  half  the  English  prices  ;  vegetables 
and  fruit,  however,  are  dear,  especially  during  the 
winter  months,  when  they  are  either  brought  from 
the  south  or  imported  from  abroad.  In  the  summer 
strawberries  and  raspberries  are  exceedingly  cheap, 
also  grapes  and  melons,  which  come  in  plenty  from  the 
south  of  Russia,  Astrachan  and  Bessarabia.  Then 
the  fruit  stores  along  the  Nevsky  and  the  Grand 
Morskaja  are  filled  to  overflowing  with  every  kind  of 
grape — delicate  ones  from  the  Crimea,  amber  beauties 
from  the  sunny  south  and  Constantinople,  and  other 


IGG      PETROGRAD  PAST  AND  PRESENT 

varieties  that  are  never  seen  in  this  country.  As  a 
rule  they  are  about  sixpence  a  pound,  water-melons 
about  fourpence,  fivepence  and  sixpence  each,  but  in 
the  south,  that  land  of  plenty,  grapes  can  be  bought 
for  a  penny  a  pound,  and  melons  at  a  penny  each. 
Turkeys  in  this  district  cost  about  tenpence  each,  and 
geese  less  than  a  shilling.  Considering  the  transport 
— ^the  enormous  distances — ^the  prices  charged  in  the 
capital  for  meat,  game,  fruit  and  fish  are  most  moder- 
ate. Wine  follows  the  same  rule.  For  R.1.50  (3s.) 
a  large  jar  or  puncheon  of  Crimean  wine  can  be 
obtained.  There  are  many  sorts  of  native  wine — 
Bessarabian,  Crimean,  South  Russian,  Caucasian, 
Kjachitnskaja  and  others.  Connoisseurs,  who  know 
the  vintages,  can  purchase  wine  cheaply,  but  the 
uninitiated  may  find  themselves  drinking  a  concoction 
of  log-wood,  raw  grape  juice,  spirit  and  vile  chemicals 
that  will  make  them  vow  never  to  touch  Russian  wine 
again.  Russian  champagne  is  a  beverage  which  I 
should  advise  strangers  to  beware  of.  It  is  generally 
so  sweet,  and  so  carelessly  prepared,  that  it  cannot  be 
recommended.  The  material  for  the  wine  industry 
in  Russia  is  excellent,  and  vast  quantities  of  raw  wine 
are  exported  to  France  to  be  made  into  claret ;  but  the 
Russians  have  not  yet  learnt  the  secret  of  preparing 
a  first-class,  palatable  wine — with  few  exceptions. 
In  general,  I  found  the  wines  from  the  vineyards  of 
the  Emperor  and  the  Grand  Dukes  superior  in  quality, 
aroma  and  purity  to  those  from  the  vineyards  of 
private  firms. 

Petrograd,  like  Moscow,  has  always  been  famous 
for  its  restaurants.  The  people  are  exceedingly 
partial  to  the  delights  of  the  table.  From  the  earliest 
times  Russian  chroniclers  have  noted  that  the  old 
Russian  dearly  loved  merry-making  and  good  living, 
and  these  characteristics  remain  to  the  present  day, 
in   spite  of  the   constant   invasions   and   vicissitudes 


HOTELS  AND  RESTAURANTS  167 

that  have  taken  place.  As  might  be  expected  with  a 
race  so  frequently  conquered  and  often  in  contact 
with  many  strange  peoples,  traces  of  Tartar,  German, 
French,  Italian,  Polish  and  even  Caucasian  influences 
can  be  seen.  The  Zakooska,  which  resembles  in  some 
respects  the  Swedish  snwrgas-bord,  is  peculiar  to 
Russia  and  the  three  kingdoms  inhabited  by  the 
Norsemen.  These  people  attach  much  importance  to 
the  mysteries  of  the  side  table.  The  shashlik,  pieces 
of  stewed  bacon  sprinkled  with  herbs,  is  a  common 
dish;  beefsteak  a  la  Tartar  (raw  beef  sprinkled  with 
condiments  and  salt)  is  of  Tartar  origin.  But  there 
are  also  many  distinctive  and  peculiarly  Russian 
dishes,  among  which  may  be  included  the  tchi  (cabbage 
soup),  the  pirokee  (cabbage  pies),  sturgeon  cutlets, 
caviare  and  many  other  delicacies  which  are  only 
obtainable  in  Russia. 

In  the  better-class  restaurants  the  traveller  is  free 
to  make  acquaintance  with  all  these,  which  also 
include  smoked  reindeer  tongues  from  Archangel, 
smoked  ox  tongues  from  the  Caucasus,  smoked  fish 
from  the  Gulf  of  Finland,  grapes  and  melons  from 
Astrachan,  rosy  apples  from  the  Crimea,  pickled  mush- 
rooms and  many  other  edibles.  In  the  French 
restaurants  and  other  favourite  resorts  of  the  well- 
to-do  excellent  French  cooking  is  to  be  found  at  a  not 
too  expensive  price,  when  everything  is  taken  into 
consideration — the  high  duty  charged  on  imported 
wines  and  other  articles  of  luxury. 

There  is  also  a  famous  Milanese  restaurant,  the 
Brothers  Pivato,  where  all  the  delicacies  of  Italy  are 
to  be  found.  Many  restaurants  of  German  origin  cater 
for  those  who  can  stand  the  peculiar  cooking  of  the 
Fatherland.  The  Russians  believe  in  a  good  table, 
and  rich  folk  spend  immense  sums  in  gastronomical 
pleasures.  They  are  noted  for  their  hospitality,  and 
in  the  houses  of  the  rich  merchants  the  tables  groan 


168      PETROGRAD  PAST  AND  PRESENT 

with  quantities  of  fish,  flesh,  fowl,  together  with  all 
kinds  of  wines,  spirits  and  liqueurs.  When  these  do 
not  suffice,  resort  is  made  to  the  wines  of  Germany, 
Italy  and  France,  for  which  very  high  prices  are 
charged.  The  extravagance  of  the  Petrogradian  is 
astonishing  when  the  comparatively  small  incomes  of 
the  officers  and  the  gilded  youth  are  taken  into  account. 
The  most  costly  champagne,  brandy,  liqueurs  and 
cigars  find  a  ready  market  here ;  the  duties  are  so 
high  that  it  only  pays  to  import  the  best.  Often  a 
sovereign  or  more  is  given  for  a  single  bottle  of  cham- 
pagne and  three  shillings  for  a  bottle  of  English  stout. 
No  matter  w^hat  it  costs,  the  "  nuts  "  of  Petr^grad  will 
have  the  best,  even  if  their  expensive  tastes  land  them 
ultimately  in  prison,  for  in  Russia  debtors  are  still 
punished  with  imprisonment. 

It  is  owing  to  this  extravagance  that  there  are  so 
many  lombards  (pawnshops)  in  Petrograd,  which 
advance  money  on  jewellery,  expensive  furs  and  other 
valuables,  thus  helping  these  votaries  of  pleasure  to 
tide  over  the  dangers  pending  the  welcome  date  of 
the  20th,  when  every  Government  employee  receives 
his  salary  and  can  redeem  articles  that  have  been 
temporarily  "  popped."  In  Gogol  we  meet  with  an 
amusing  character  in  the  person  of  Ivan  Alexandro- 
vitch  Khlistakoff,  who  is  always  getting  into  debt  and 
trouble,  and  who  in  many  respects  is  a  typical  repre- 
sentative of  the  upper-class  youth  of  the  gay  capital. 
This  type  of  citizen  is  always  borrowing,  without  the 
faintest  possible  hope  of  ever  paying  off  his  loans. 
The  escapades  of  these  young  "  bloods  "  and  some  of 
the  members  of  the  aristocracy  and  the  ducal  families 
are  a  theme  of  continual  w^onder  and  gossip  among  the 
busybodies.  I  remember  one  restaurant,  the  Mjedved, 
noted  for  its  excellent  wines,  which  used  to  be  a 
favourite  resort  of  the  young  Grand  Dukes,  whose 
adventures  were  for  a  long  time  the  talk  of  the  town. 


HOTELS  AND  RESTAURANTS  169 

They  were  probably  not  an  iota  worse  than  thousands 
of  other  young  men  in  the  city,  but  owing  to  their 
exalted  rank  were  picked  out  for  special  attention  by 
the  "  do-nothings." 

Another  restaurant,  the  Leiner,  famous  for  its  good 
Munich  beer,  was  for  a  long  time  frequented  by  a 
swash-buckler  officer,  who  was  a  dead  shot  and  skilled 
swordsman.  He  amused  himself  by  challenging  and 
shooting  anyone  who  was  so  unwise  as  to  enter  into  an 
argument  with  him.  Let  us  hope  that  he,  like  many 
others  of  his  type,  has  long  ago  met  the  fate  he  so 
heartlessly  dealt  out  to  others  who  had  no  chance 
against  his  pistols.  Duelling  is  still  frequent  in 
Russia,  especially  among  the  young  men  and  officers 
from  the  Baltic  Provinces,  who  imagine  that  their 
honour  can  be  satisfied  in  no  other  way  than  by  killing 
the  man  who  has  offended  them,  or  by  running  him 
through  with  a  rapier.  For  instance,  one  of  my 
pupils  wished  to  fight  a  duel  with  another  student 
for  taking  liberties  with  his  servant  maid,  an  ignorant 
country  girl,  who  had  not  the  slightest  conception  of 
what  satisfying  honour  meant.  It  was  only  with  the 
greatest  difficulty  that  I  could  persuade  the  young 
men  to  abandon  their  fight.  Many  a  handsome  young 
fellow  I  have  known  or  heard  of  has  met  his  death  in 
this  manner,  often  on  account  of  the  most  trifling 
quarrel. 

Duelling  also  exists  in  the  army,  but  questions  as 
to  the  conditions  of  the  encounter  and  whether  it  is 
obligatory  for  an  officer  to  fight  are  usually  decided 
by  an  officers'  Court  of  Honour,  and  a  man  is  not 
called  on  to  fight  unless  his  superiors  consider  it 
necessary.  These  mediaeval  and  barbarous  ideas  have 
been  imported  from  Germany  and  are  really  not 
Russian  at  all,  or  in  accordance  with  the  Russian 
character,  which  is  easy-going  and  much  more  inclined 
to  forgive  than  to  take  revenge  for  an  insult  or  slight. 


170      PETROGRAD  PAST  AND  PRESENT 

The  craze  for  satisfying  an  officer's  honour  was  at  one 
time  quite  a  nuisance  in  Petrograd,  and  as  long  as 
Prussian  influence  obtained  in  the  army  many  civilians 
were  shot  to  uphold  the  "  honour  of  the  regiment." 
Even  in  the  days  of  Gustav  Adolphus  these  ridiculous 
performances  took  place  and  were  only  stopped  by 
the  wise  and  brave  King  ordering  the  survivor  to 
be  decapitated  immediately  after  he  had  killed  his 
antagonist.  Were  this  method  introduced  into  Russia 
it  would  be  an  excellent  thing,  for  as  long  as  the 
ordinary  law  exists  it  should  be  carried  out  and  its 
decisions  respected  by  all  classes  of  the  population, 
even  including  the  military.  Only  when  common  law 
is  impossible  and  at  an  end  should  military  law  and 
duelling  be  allowed. 

Besides  the  numerous  restaurants,  there  are  the 
kafene  (coffee-houses),  which  attract  a  great  number 
of  the  middle  classes.  The  majority  of  these  establish- 
ments are  found  in  the  Nevsky,  the  Letennaja  and  the 
Sadovaja.  Many  of  them  are  very  luxurious,  especi- 
ally one  in  the  Nevsky,  much  frequented  by  the 
nymphs  of  the  pavement,  who  here  make  appoint- 
ments with  their  admirers.  The  remarkable  choice 
of  cakes,  muffins  and  pastry  to  be  found  in  these  places 
is  astounding  and  bears  witness  to  the  skill  of  the 
Russians  in  the  making  of  every  variety  of  bread, 
from  the  simple  rye  loaf,  sold  at  a  halfpenny  per 
pound,  to  the  most  luscious  bread  made  from  the  very 
finest  wheat  grown  on  the  Volga.  There  is  also  an 
excellent  Italian  restaurant  and  confectionery  on  the 
Nevsky,  called  "  Domenico's,"  one  of  the  oldest  in 
Petrograd,  made  famous  in  many  a  Russian  novel. 
Here  young  officers,  students,  needy  officials  and 
others  stroll  in  to  read  the  newspapers  and  sip  coffee, 
or  still  more  frequently  a  glass  of  tea  flavoured  with 
lemon.  This  place  is  also  a  favourite  resort  of  the 
secret   police,   who   watch  the   unfortunate   students 


HOTELS  AND  RESTAURANTS  171 

and  suspected  persons  as  they  stroll  incessantly  up 
and  down  the  Nevsky.  It  was  while  taking  a  cup  of 
coffee  in  this  restaurant,  which  is  exactly  opposite  the 
cathedral,  that  I  witnessed  the  riots  I  have  described 
in  a  previous  chapter. 

There  are  many  good  restaurants  frequented  by 
the  upper  and  middle  classes,  and  trakteers  abound, 
the  favourite  resorts  of  every  genuine  Russian,  from  the 
rich  koopetz  in  his  long  kaftan  and  top-boots  to  the 
humblest  moujik,  who  has  perhaps  tramped  hundreds 
of  miles  into  town  from  the  country,  either  in  search  of 
work  or  to  pray  before  some  wonderful,  miraculous 
icon,  which  he  firmly  believes  has  the  mysterious 
power  of  healing  all  the  ills  that  flesh  is  heir  to  and 
bringing  him  luck.  I  have  often  seen  grey-coated 
country  yokels  staring  in  awe  and  astonishment  at  the 
wonders  of  Petre,  as  they  familiarly  call  Petrograd. 
In  their  villages  they  have  heard  about  "  iron  horses  " 
that  were  propelled  by  steam,  of  enormous  vessels 
with  the  same  motive  power,  of  wonderful  palaces, 
churches  and  bridges  "  which  hang  in  the  air  without 
support,"  but  they  never  imagined  anything  equal  to 
what  now  meets  their  astonished  gaze.  How  different 
from  the  long,  dreary,  straggling  village  with  its 
hundred  wooden  log-huts,  the  big  central  high-road  in 
which  men  and  horses  sink  in  mud  to  their  middles, 
the  little  church  with  its  gilded  cupolas  and  icons 
covered  with  silver,  tinsel  and  inlaid  with  precious 
stones — made  of  coloured  glass  !  Here  everything  is 
real — ^the  dome  of  St  Isaac's  is  covered  with  real  gold, 
the  jewels  are  genuine  and  every  vessel  used  in  the 
ceremonies  is  of  solid  gold  and  silver.  Truly  Petre  is 
a  veritable  earthly  paradise,  a  fairy  city  to  poor, 
ignorant  Ivan  Ivanovitch  when  he  first  sets  foot 
in  it,  and  before  he  has  made  the  acquaintance 
of  the  unhealthy  cellar  basements  and  wretched 
habitations  in  which  the  poor  have  to  dwell,  owing 


172      PETROGRAD  PAST  AND  PRESENT 

to  the  high  rates  charged  by  the  owners  of  the 
property. 

What  the  club  is  to  the  officers  and  merchants,  the 
trakteer  is  to  the  peasant.  It  is  here  that  he  meets  his 
fellow-toilers  and  discusses  with  them  the  events  of 
the  day,  as  criticism  of  home  affairs  is  tabooed.  The 
illiterate  moujiks  knowingly  talk  over  the  policy  of 
England,  France  and  Germany,  although  some  of  the 
would-be  politicians  have  the  haziest  ideas  of  where 
these  countries  are  or  in  whose  hands  the  government 
of  each  is  vested.  Their  self-assurance  is  only  equalled 
by  their  ignorance  ;  they  make  the  most  astonishing 
assertions.  During  the  Japanese  War  the  fear  and 
suspicion  of  England  assumed  marvellous  proportions, 
while  during  the  Turkish  War  it  was  imagined  that 
Englishmen  were  the  cause  of  all  Russia's  disasters, 
both  at  home  and  abroad.  If  there  was  a  defeat,  a 
plague,  a  pestilence,  a  famine,  or  if  the  crops  failed,  it 
was  all  the  work  of  Anglechanka,  by  which  term  the 
moujiks  meant  Britannia.  Where  Britain  was  on  the 
map  the  majority  had  not  the  faintest  idea.  On 
asking  a  peasant  from  Novgorod  where  England  was 
and  what  kind  of  people  the  English  were,  he  gravely 
informed  me  in  a  very  positive  manner  that  the  English 
lived  on  an  island,  that  they  were  the  same  people  as 
the  Turks,  that  they  had  many  wives,  and  that  they 
fought  Holy  Russia  with  the  aid  of  the  unbelieving 
Mohammedans,  because  they  themselves  were  also 
of  the  faith  of  Mohammed.  This  delusion,  however, 
existed  when  we  were  supposed  to  be  assisting  Turkey 
with  the  aid  of  Beaconsfield,  the  "  unbelieving  Jew," 
as  he  was  called. 

Dozens  of  peasants  may  be  seen  at  all  hours  of  the 
day  in  the  tea-shops  with  a  piece  of  sugar  between 
their  teeth,  for  the  price  being  sixpence  a  pound  it  is 
far  too  much  of  a  luxury  to  put  into  a  cup.  The 
atmosphere  of  these  places  is  very  thick,  what  with 


HOTELS  AND  RESTAURANTS  173 

the  strong  smell  of  the  tea-ums  mingled  with  the 
perspiration  oozing  from  the  bodies  of  the  peasants 
busy  drinking.  But  the  hotter,  the  more  stuffy  and 
the  more  odoriferous  the  air,  the  more  it  is  enjoyed  by 
the  Russian  moujik,  whose  sensibilities  seem  only  to 
be  reached  by  the  most  awful  of  smells.  Whilst  the 
tea-drinking  is  in  full  swing  and  argument  is  at  its 
highest,  a  large  Swiss  organ  or  musical-box  discourses 
sweet  music  to  the  ears  of  the  assembled  guests.  This 
music  consists  of  folk-songs,  dances,  marches,  with  a 
plentiful  accompaniment  of  drums,  bells,  cymbals  and 
tambourines.  These  all  make  such  an  awful  din  that 
the  excitement  of  the  debaters  is  cooled. 

The  peasant  merchants  frequent  better-class  tea- 
shops,  resplendent  with  gaudy  pictures,  damask 
curtains  and  frescoes,  but  with  dirty  carpets  contain- 
ing all  sorts  of  vermin.  These  pests  do  not  trouble  the 
ordinary  Russian  at  all,  for  he  seems  to  possess  a  skin 
as  impervious  as  that  of  the  hippopotamus.  In  these 
trakteers  business  to  the  tune  of  millions  of  roubles  is 
carried  on  daily  by  merchants  attired  in  long  blue 
gowns  and  top-boots.  English,  Germans  and  French- 
men who  have  not  considered  it  beneath  their  dignity 
to  fall  in  with  the  customs  of  this  class  have  done 
business  with  these  Russians  and  laid  the  foundation 
of  a  good  trade. 

In  some  of  these  tea-shops  the  organs  are  marvels 
in  ingenuity  and  cost  enormous  sums  of  money.  The 
poorer  ones  cannot  afford  expensive  instruments,  and 
noise  very  often  has  to  take  the  place  of  melody.  The 
trakteers  are  not  only  tea-shops ;  wine,  liqueurs  and 
various  articles  of  food  and  drink  can  be  obtained 
there.  The  majority  of  them  are  too  "  Roosky  "  for 
the  ordinary  traveller,  whose  skin  has  not  been 
hardened  by  years  of  residence  in  Russia  and  whose 
olfactory  organs  are  still  susceptible. 


XIX 

THEATRES,   CONCERTS   AND    PLEASURE   GARDENS 

Ever  since  the  days  of  the  Empress  Catherine  II. 
Petrograd  has  been  noted  for  its  theatres.  The 
principal  ones  are  the  Mariensky,  the  home  of  ballet 
and  opera ;  the  Imperial  Alexander  Theatre  on  the 
Nevsky ;  the  Mechail,  where  French  dramas  and 
comedies  are  performed.  There  was  formerly  a 
German  theatre,  under  the  management  of  the 
talented  impresario,  Philip  Bock,  but  since  all  pertain- 
ing to  that  nation  has  become  anathema  in  Russia, 
German  productions  have  been  done  away  with. 
Besides  these  Crown  theatres,  there  are  a  number  of 
private  houses — the  Aquarium,  the  Vaseleostroffsky 
on  the  island,  the  Little  Theatre  on  the  Fontanka,  the 
Panaieff  on  the  Admiralty  Quay,  and  the  Pavloff  on 
the  Troitskaja.  There  are  also  summer  theatres, 
where  Shakespearean  melodrama  and  French  operettas 
are  given,  in  various  gardens  surrounding  the  city,  for 
the  benefit  of  all  who  have  not  had  their  fill  of  such 
amusements  during  the  winter  season,  and  an  excel- 
lent one  attached  to  the  Conservatoire,  which  is  simply 
the  Great  Theatre  erected  by  Catherine  II.,  converted 
into  an  Academy  of  Music  at  an  enormous  outlay, 
after  the  original  building  mysteriously  caught  fire 
about  twenty  years  ago  and  was  completely  gutted. 
In  this  beautiful  place  some  of  the  best  works  of 
Russian  composers  are  given  before  being  performed 
at  the  Crown  theatres. 

At  the  old  Hermitage  Theatre,  erected  by  Catherine's 
orders  in  the  palace  of  that  name,  the  Empress  not 
only  encouraged  the  drama  and  the  ballet,  but  staged 

174 


THEATRES,  CONCERTS,  ETC     175 

her  own  productions  regardless  of  cost,  for  she  was 
ambitious  to  shine  in  literature  as  well  as  in  statesman- 
ship. It  was  in  the  form  of  a  Roman  circus,  but  on 
a  smaller  scale.  Walls  and  columns  were  of  marble, 
and  the  seats  were  covered  with  green  velvet,  ranged 
tier  on  tier  in  a  semicircle.  The  Empress  had  no 
specially  reserved  place,  but  whenever  she  attended 
an  arm-chair  was  at  her  disposal.  This  comparatively 
small  theatre  saw  almost  all  the  renowned  artists  of  the 
Continent,  for  Catherine  paid  huge  sums  to  attract 
foreign  talent.  Sarte,  Galuppi,  Paeziello  performed 
here,  and  among  musicians  Detz,  Lolle,  Tode  and 
many  others  graced  the  stage,  besides  all  the  famous 
dancers  of  the  time.  Many  of  these  artists  were  known 
to  all  the  world,  but  some  of  them  achieved  in  Petro- 
grad,  at  the  dissolute  Court,  notoriety  of  quite  another 
kind.  Maxwell,  in  his  work  on  Russia,  says  that  many 
returned  to  their  own  country  with  fame  and  fortune, 
and  proceeds  : 

"The  singular  conduct  of  the  Emperor  Paul  with 
respect  to  the  Allies  (England,  Austria  and  Prussia) 
has  been  attributed  to  the  influence  of  a  French 
actress.  It  appears  that  the  secret  agents  of  France 
in  Russia  induced  a  very  fascinating  person  named 
Chevalier  to  visit  Petrograd.  This  woman  was  skilled 
in  music,  of  which  the  monarch  was  passionately  fond. 
Watching  for  his  presence,  she  sang,  one  evening,  a 
song  celebrating  his  generosity  and  valour — ^the  siren 
song  that  led  to  his  destruction.  She  became  the  idol 
of  the  infatuated  Paul,  and,  acting  in  accordance  with 
the  directions  of  her  subtle  countrymen,  she  per- 
suaded him  to  recall  Souvoroff  from  Italy,  and  to 
break  off  the  Austrian  alliance.  She  next  received 
bribes  from  Zooboff  and  others,  the  exiled  favourites 
of  Catherine,  and  interceded  successfully  on  behalf  of 
those  who  were  to  be  the  assassins  of  her  Imperial 


176      PETROGRAD  PAST  AND  PRESENT 

lover.  When  he  was  murdered  she  applied  for  per- 
mission to  leave  the  country;  this  was  granted  on 
condition  that  she  returned  a  diamond  cross  that  had 
once  been  the  property  of  Peter  the  Great.  Madame 
Chevalier  was  not  at  all  disposed  to  give  up  this 
precious  relic,  resisted  stoutly  the  officer  who  was  sent 
to  take  it  from  her,  and  finally  departed  with  a  million 
in  jewellery  and  money." 

This  beautiful,  unscrupulous  adventuress  was  not  the 
only  one  who  waxed  rich  on  the  foibles  of  the  Romanoffs. 
Cora  Perl,  who  wrote  an  account  of  her  life  and  ad- 
ventures, is  another  type  of  this  class  of  woman,  who 
put  their  personal  charms  to  the  worst  uses  for  the 
sake  of  money. 

History  shows  that  the  ladies  of  the  stage  have  had 
a  peculiar  fascination  for  the  Imperial  house  and  the 
aristocracy  of  Petrograd,  several  members  of  which 
have  contracted  marriages  with  eminent  dancers  and 
singers.  At  this  we  need  not  be  surprised,  for  many 
of  the  artists  of  the  Imperial  theatres  are  educated, 
virtuous  women.  Some  whom  I  have  met  are  excel- 
lent wives,  others  are  faithful  mistresses,  loved  and 
respected  by  all  who  have  the  privilege  of  their 
acquaintance.  In  Russia,  for  reasons  which  I  need 
not  explain  here,  a  mistress  does  not  sink  to  that  level 
of  degradation  and  contempt  common  in  England, 
Germany  and  other  Protestant  countries,  which  be- 
have with  especial  severity  to  those  whom  they  are 
pleased  to  term  "  fallen  women." 

Catherine  did  her  utmost  to  procure  the  ser^dces 
of  Gabrielle,  a  famous  Italian  danseuse,  offering  her 
R.  12,000,  an  enormous  wage  in  those  days.  On  being 
informed  that  a  Field-Marshal  did  not  receive  such  a 
sum,  the  actress  replied  :  "  Your  great  Empress  can 
make  as  many  Field-Marshals  as  she  chooses,  but 
there  is  only  one  Gabrielle  1  "    Besides  this  star  there 


THEATRES,  CONCERTS,  ETC     177 

was  Markese,  a  eunuch  with  a  woman's  voice,  who 
played  female  parts ;  Tode,  noted  for  her  voice  and 
loveliness,  but  later  on  more  famous  for  her  liaison 
with  Count  Bezborodko — whose  devastated  palace 
and  park  I  have  often  visited ;  Mondene,  a  handsome 
Ital'dn  baritone,  over  whom  the  Russian  ladies  simply- 
raved,  just  as  in  later  years  they  have  over  the  de 
Rezkes.  Mondene,  says  one  writer,  drove  them  to 
extremes  of  folly ;  for  his  sake  they  argue,  and  "  wear 
badges  which  he  distributed  among  them.  Princess 
Dolgorouki  applauds  him  alone  from  her  box,  and  is 
quite  beside  herself,  and  the  Princess  Kuraken  related 
with  ecstasy  that  Mondene  passed  the  evening  with 
her  in  his  dressing-gown,  and  wore  a  night-cap  1  '* 
His  wife,  a  flighty  Parisian,  was  received  everywhere 
on  account  of  his  popularity.  From  what  I  have  seen 
of  this  aspect  of  Russian  life,  and  the  costly  gifts 
which  ladies  showered  upon  their  favourites,  both  in 
Moscow  and  Petrograd,  I  should  say  that  the  state- 
ments of  this  observer.  Count  Rostopchin,  are  not  in 
the  least  exaggerated.  All  Russians  love  music,  and 
when  roused  to  admiration  by  a  really  great  artist 
their  generosity  and  enthusiasm  know  no  bounds. 
Once,  when  I  lived  in  Moscow,  Andrade  received  on 
his  benefit  night  not  only  expensive  jewellery,  but  a 
pair  of  white  horses.  Another  artist — I  believe  it  was 
Savena — ^was  presented  with  a  large  stone  house  by 
her  admirers  on  a  similar  occasion.  The  people  are 
extremists  in  all  things.  If  they  love,  they  love  with 
their  whole  soul ;  if  they  strike,  it  is  with  all  their 
strength ;   if  they  give,  they  count  no  cost. 

Long  before  the  building  of  the  Hermitage  Theatre 
the  comedies  of  the  versatile  Empress  were  given  on 
the  stage  of  the  Little  Theatre  in  the  Winter  Palace, 
and  on  20th  January  1773,  for  the  first  time, 
Catherine's  comedy,  O,  Time  (O,  Vremya),  was  placed 
on  the  boards.    A  fitting  title,  if  it  described  the  gay 

M 


178      PETROGRAD  PAST  AND  PRESENT 

doings  of  the  Court,  only  a  part  of  which  I  may  hint  at 
in  this  volume.  These  pieces  afterwards  were  staged 
at  the  public  theatres. 

During  Catherine's  reign  the  utmost  interest  was 
shown  in  the  sayings  and  doings  of  actresses  and 
actors  who  came  to  the  capital,  and  this  tendency  is 
still  to  be  observed  in  Petrograd,  the  escapades  of 
artists  being  chronicled  and  discussed  with  the  greatest 
seriousness.  The  scandal  and  tittle-tattle  that  centred 
in  Guitry,  the  French  actor,  would  fill  a  book.  Political 
affairs  being  a  forbidden  topic,  it  is  no  wonder  that 
in  a  country  where  the  leading  members  of  society 
become  infected  with  this  cra,ze,  it  should  run  through 
all  classes. 

Li  those  days  the  staging  of  a  play  could  not  be 
compared  with  the  profusion  and  taste  now  lavished 
upon  good  productions.  It  was  comical  to  note  the 
poverty  of  the  decorations,  machinery  and  costumes. 
There  were,  however,  exceptions,  as  for  instance  in 
1788,  when  the  Empress  presented  an  entire  richly 
fitted  wardrobe  of  dresses  for  two  presentations  of  her 
historical  play,  Oleg,  founded  on  the  character  of  the 
man  who  first  conquered  Constantinople,  about  one 
thousand  years  ago.  The  Russians,  of  course,  have 
always  cast  longing  eyes  on  that  city  since  Olaf 
Trygvarsen  brought  from  there  a  Greek  priest  to 
baptize  the  pagan  subjects  of  Vladimir  the  Great,  and 
Catherine,  knowing  the  popular  ambition  toward  the 
acquisition  of  Byzantium,  did  well  to  take  this  theme. 
Count  Bezborodko,  who  was  a  man  of  letters,  had 
recently  acquired  a  precious  MS.,  containing  the 
account  of  the  campaign  of  Ivor  (Igor)  the  Varangian 
against  the  Polotzeff .  The  full  title  of  the  drama  was : 
The  Beginning  of  the  Rule  of  Olaf,  in  the  manner  of 
Shakespeare,  without  preserving  the  usual  Rules  of  the 
Stage :  in  Five  Acts.  The  music  was  composed  by 
Sarto,  with  his  own  explanation,  translated  by  Lvoff, 


THEATRES,  CONCERTS,  ETC.     179 

1791.  The  play,  richly  bound,  is  extremely  valuable, 
and  is  much  sought  by  bibliophiles,  as  only  a  few 
hundred  copies  were  printed,  for  the  Empress's  friends 
and  admirers.  It  is  said  that  R.  15,000  were  spent  on 
the  staging. 

Catherine's  love  for  the  theatre  had  much  to  do  with 
the  growth  and  development  of  both  the  drama  and 
the  ballet,  and  it  must  be  attributed  to  her  influence, 
to  a  large  extent,  that  the  appreciation  of  these  artistic 
performances  has  spread  down  through  the  aristocracy 
to  the  commercial  magnates,  who  in  Moscow  some- 
times show  their  enthusiasm  by  supporting  a  theatre 
entirely  at  their  own  expense.  Li  Russia  there  have 
been  many  such  patrons  of  the  arts  as  Sir  Joseph 
Beecham,  and  this,  with  the  steady  assistance  of  the 
State,  has  done  much  to  place  Russian  opera  and 
dancing  in  the  high  position  they  now  hold.  Mamon- 
toff  and  von  Meek,  the  railway  plutocrat  of  Moscow, 
are  two  noted  names  in  this  connection,  and  Bjelaieff, 
a  wealthy  timber  merchant  of  Petrograd,  printed  and 
produced  the  works  of  several  composers  at  his  own 
cost.  Of  the  latter,  whom  I  often  met,  Mrs  Rosa 
Newmarch  writes  :  "  He  was  born  in  1836,  and  was 
an  exception  to  the  Russian  commercial  man  of  his 
day,  having  studied  the  violin  and  piano  in  his  youth, 
and  found  time,  amid  the  demands  of  a  large  business, 
to  occupy  his  leisure  with  chamber  music.  I  recall 
in  him  a  brusque,  energetic  and  somewhat  choleric 
personality  of  the  '  rough  diamond  '  type  ;  a  passion- 
ate but  rather  indiscriminate  enthusiast,  and  an 
autocrat."  Desiring  to  give  some  practical  support 
to  national  music,  he  founded  in  1885  a  publishing 
house  in  Leipzig,  where  he  brought  out  a  number  of 
works  by  members  of  the  then  new  school,  including  a 
fine  edition  of  Borodin's  Prince  Igor.  He  also  began 
the  splendid  symphony  concerts,  which  I  often  used 
to  attend.     Unfortunately  for  Russian  art,  Bjelaieff 


180      PETROGRiiD  PAST  AND  PRESENT 

met  with  an  untimely  death  at  the  hand  of  a  woman 
whom  he  had  once  loved.  In  him  Russian  music  lost 
a  friend  who  cannot  soon  be  replaced.  By  the  muni- 
ficence of  such  men  the  nation,  comparatively  young 
as  a  state,  has  been  able  to  produce  some  of  the  best 
ballet  music  in  the  world,  and  to  bring  into  existence 
a  national  opera  which  in  the  last  few  seasons  has 
excited  the  admiration  of  London,  Paris  and  Berlin. 
It  is  certain  that  there  are  now  in  Russia  very  many 
talented  artists,  besides  Glinka,  Tchaikoffsky,  Mous- 
sorgsky,  Korsakoff,  the  familiar  names  to  music  lovers, 
whose  work  is  as  yet  entirely  unknown  outside  their 
own  land. 

The  folk-songs  of  Russia  form  one  of  the  musician's 
finest  sources  of  inspiration.  It  needs  but  a  slight 
acquaintance  with  the  nation's  music  to  discover  to 
what  an  extent  this  has  been  exploited.  Cavos,  a 
Venetian,  whose  grandson  was  one  of  my  intimate 
friends,  was,  strange  to  say,  the  first  foreigner  to  show 
the  Russians  the  value  of  their  own  national  melodies. 
Before  his  advent  composers  had  turned  to  Italy  and 
France,  neglecting  the  rich  wealth  at  their  own  doors. 
His  example  was  followed  by  Glinka,  who  in  his 
operas.  Prince  Holmsky  and  Ruslan  and  Ludmela, 
used  ancient  songs  of  the  people  and  hwilinas  richly 
expressive  of  Slavonic  character  and  sentiment.  After 
his  death  Anton  Rubinstein,  who  was  of  Jewish 
origin,  turned  his  attention  to  the  same  inexhaustible 
field,  writing  a  series  of  songs  founded  on  the  simple, 
plaintive  folk-music.  He  then  veered  to  Biblical  and 
classical  themes,  and  I  was  present  when  he  produced 
his  great  opera.  The  Tower  of  Babel.  On  this  occasion 
I  sang  in  the  chorus,  and  shall  not  soon  forget  the 
composer,  as  he  stood  before  us,  his  hair  dishevelled, 
his  collar  limp,  his  shirt-front  like  a  crumpled  news- 
paper, perspiring  from  every  pore;  nor  his  almost 
superhuman  efforts  on  that  night  in  the  Hall  of  the 


THEATRES,  CONCERTS,  ETC.     181 

Salle  de  Noblesse,  where  this  work  was  first  heard.  I 
remember  that  at  the  tragic  moment,  when  the  great 
Tower  was  supposed  to  fall  with  a  crash  of  drums  and 
loud  cymbals,  one  of  the  musicians  grew  so  excited 
that  he  let  the  drumsticks  fly  from  liis  hands  among 
the  startled  audience  !  Again  seeking  the  folk-songs, 
he  composed,  later  on.  The  Demon,  a  setting  of  a 
Caucasian  legend  by  Lermontoff,  and  The  Merchant  of 
Kalaschnikoff,  in  which  he  exposed  the  diabolical 
cruelty  of  Ivan  the  Terrible;  but  this,  perhaps  his 
finest  work,  was  forbidden  in  Moscow  and  Petrograd, 
as  it  was  considered  to  reflect  unduly  upon  the  auto- 
cratic claims  of  the  Tsars.  Rubinstein  was  succeeded 
by  Balakarieff  and  other  moderns,  such  as  Tchaikoff- 
sky.  In  order  that  Tchaikoffsky  should  be  free  to 
follow  his  talent  untroubled  by  pecuniary  cares,  the 
Baroness  von  Meek,  whom  I  have  mentioned,  made 
him  an  allowance  of  about  £600  a  year  from  her  private 
purse,  paid  on  the  curious  condition  that  he  should 
never  show  his  face  to  the  donor  of  the  bounty,  it  is 
said.  Whether  this  is  true  I  do  not  know ;  but,  though 
I  was  a  tutor  of  the  von  Mecks,  I  never  met  the 
composer  in  their  house.  Afterwards  I  frequently 
encountered  him  in  Petrograd  at  the  Lieder  Tafel,  of 
which  I  was  a  member.  He  was  a  handsome,  well- 
knit  little  man,  with  fine  features  and  a  pleasing 
manner. 

It  would  take  too  long  to  give  all  the  instances 
in  which  Tchaikoffsky,  Rachmaninoff,  Kue  and  other 
composers  have  drawn  on  Russian  folk-songs  for  their 
famous  works.  I  can  only  assure  all  lovers  of  music 
that  in  those  songs  and  melodies  there  is  a  great  and 
scarcely  tried  field  for  all  composers  to  explore — a 
veritable  realm  of  romance  and  poetry  which  will  well 
repay  the  closest  attention. 

There  are  in  Russia  many  "  People's  Theatres  " — 
more  popular  places  of  dramatic  entertainment.     The 


182      PETROGRAD  PAST  AND  PRESENT 

one  in  Petrograd  (the  Narodny  Dom)  owes  its  exist- 
ence to  the  generosity  of  the  present  Tsar,  and  is  close 
to  the  Zoological  Gardens.     It  is  well  worth  a  visit, 
for  in  its  way  it  is  quite  original.     In  Kharkoff  and 
several    other   provincial  towns   theatres    have    been 
constructed   after   the  same   model.     They  generally 
contain  a  spacious  stage,  a  concert  hall,  a  library  and 
reading-room,  and  a  tea-room  ;    the  different  depart- 
ments are  looked  after  by  various  educational  and 
philanthropic    societies.      The    Society    for    Popular 
Education  sees  to  the  lectures  and  the  library,  other 
bodies   control   the   theatrical   work   and   the   choral 
music ;    the  games  are  supervised  by  the  Society  for 
the  Protection  of  Children,  while  the  buffets  are  in  the 
hands  of  the  Committee  for  the  encouragement  of 
temperance — this  latter,  which  is  doing  good  work, 
has  also  a  barge  on  the  Neva  fitted  up  as  accommoda- 
tion for  such  workmen  as  are  teetotallers.     Many  of 
the  large  mills  round  the  capital  and  in  the  neighbour- 
hood of  Moscow,  in  order  to  encourage  temperance 
among  the  men,  have  built  similar  People's  Houses, 
with  pleasure-gardens  attached.     It  is  a  curious  fact 
that  the  peasants,  the  majority  of  whom  can  neither 
read  nor  write,  enjoy  Shakespeare's  plays,  and  seem 
to   understand  his   philosophy  of  the   human   heart. 
Hamlet  and    Macbeth,  the   chief   favourites   in   these 
folk-theatres,    are    repeatedly    given.     The    moujiks 
look  upon  Hamlet  as  a  weak  man,  who  could  not  make 
up  his  mind,  but  for  Macbeth,  who  "  dare  do  all  that 
becomes  a  man,"  they  have  the  liveliest  admiration. 
The  Russian  language  is  exceedingly  rich,  and  it  is 
easy  to  render  the  substance  of  Shakespeare's  thought 
and  feeling  into  this  tongue.     In  fact  I  often  think 
that  Russian  and  German  translations  of  the  great 
poet  are  the  nearest  to  the  original  of  any  that  I  know. 
French,  Spanish  and  Italian  do  not  seem  capable  of 
giving  a  faithful  interpretation  of  the  true  meaning, 


THEATRES,  CONCERTS,  ETC.     188 

and  in  some  foreign  renderings  the  speeches  of  the 
heroes  are  made  simply  ridiculous.  This  difficulty  I 
have  never  found  in  Russia,  and  I  have  followed  in 
the  folk-theatres  many  a  Shakespearean  play  as  inter- 
preted by  a  popular  Russian  actor  with  the  greatest 
pleasure. 

French  comedies  and  choral  open-air  concerts  are 
also  popular  in  these  places,  and  I  have  listened  to 
them  all,  sometimes  in  the  autumn  until  the  damp 
and  chilly  atmosphere  sent  me  homeward  shivering. 
There  are  many  side-shows,  where  the  youth  of  Petro- 
grad  turn  night  into  day,  drinking  tea  or  supping  with 
the  gipsies  and  Little  Russian  dancers  and  singers. 
These  swarthy  daughters  of  the  steppes  seem  to  exer- 
cise a  great  fascination.  During  the  short  summer  the 
half-wild  Zigana  women,  with  their  passionate  love 
songs  and  their  Oriental  dances,  earn  thousands  of 
roubles  from  their  admirers.  I  once  knew  a  merchant 
who  spent  immense  sums  upon  them,  his  delight  being 
to  have  about  thirty  of  them  round  him  dancing  and 
singing  weird  Southern  and  Caucasian  melodies,  to  the 
accompaniment  of  guitars  and  tambourines,  and  other 
queer  instruments  peculiar  to  the  older  world.  After 
spending  several  million  roubles  in  pleasure,  he  died 
almost  poor,  "  a  short  life  and  a  merry  one  "  being 
his  motto.  As  a  rule  I  did  not  find  these  dark- 
skinned  women,  with  burning  eyes  and  jet-black  hair, 
particularly  beautiful.  Their  charms  appeal  mxore  to 
the  primitive  man  than  to  those  brought  up  amid 
Western  ideas.  Their  supple  limbs,  languorous  move- 
ments, their  voices  vibrant  with  emotion,  have  been 
the  ruin  of  many  a  man  who  in  all  things  but  where 
women  were  concerned  was  a  model  of  common-sense 
and  prudence.  But  all  prudence  flies  to  the  winds 
when  they  begin  to  rock  their  voluptuous  bodies  from 
side  to  side  and  to  sing  an  enchanting  love  song,  and 
young  men — old  ones  too,  very  often — fall  an  easy 


184      PETROGRAD  PAST  AND  PRESENT 

prey ;  the  hours  speed  on,  and  the  roubles  fly  too,  if 
they  are  handy.  Who  thinks  of  roubles  when  he  is 
in  Paradise  ?  Many  a  poor  gipsy  returns  to  her 
home  in  Bessarabia,  Galicia  or  Little  Russia  with 
thousands,  earned  in  a  single  season  in  the  city.  In 
the  summer  she  may  wander  through  Europe  with 
her  kinsfolk,  obtaining  a  strange  knowledge  of  life.  I 
have  even  met  them  in  Surrey,  mending  pots  and  pans, 
yet  well-to-do  with  money  earned  in  Russia.  They 
are  generally  splendid  linguists.  Not  all  of  them  are 
mercenary,  however;  many  of  these  children  of 
nature  are  capable  of  great  self-sacrifice,  especially 
when  love  comes  to  them.  Some  have  married  into 
the  most  influential  Russian  families  and  are  happy; 
but  it  is  a  risky  experiment.  They  are  impatient  of 
the  restraints  of  civilisation,  and  settle  with  difficulty, 
as  a  rule,  to  the  humdrum  occupations  of  a  city  life, 
even  though  wealth  relieves  the  monotony  as  much  as 
is  possible. 

The  pleasure  gardens  of  the  city  are  often  intensely 
dull,  and  in  the  evenings  are  liable  to  be  damp.  I 
do  not  recommend  them  to  visitors,  a  drive  round 
the  parks  or  environs  being  much  preferable.  The 
spectators  have  little  or  no  protection  from  the  heavy 
dews  which  sweep  across  from  the  river  like  a  misty 
cloud  as  soon  as  the  sun  sets.  To  stand  about  for 
hours  needs  a  patience  which  none  but  Russians  know. 
About  ten  o'clock  guests  from  all  parts  of  the  city  begin 
to  arrive  in  taxis  and  other  conveyances.  This  is  early 
for  Petrograd,  for  the  real  life  of  the  city  only  begins 
towards  eleven  o'clock,  by  which  time  the  people  seem 
thoroughly  awakened.  Occasionally,  when  I  went  to 
these  spots,  the  stuffy  atmosphere  grew  quite  over- 
powering;  all  I  could  do  was  to  sit  on  a  bench  and 
listen  to  the  strains  of  a  fine  military  band  playing 
folk-tunes  to  the  delighted  public.  How  bitter  a  cup 
of  suffering  has  been  drained  by  the  Russian  people 


THEATRES,  CONCERTS,  ETC.     185 

can  only  be  realised  by  those  who  know  their  history, 
v^ith  its  long  record  of  massacre,  civil  wars  and  in- 
vasions, and  the  plaintive  story  is  expressed  in  this 
music  of  humanity.  Had  it  not  been  for  the  solace  of 
music,  one  imagines  that  the  people  would  be  as  the 
beasts  of  the  field.  After  an  hour  or  two  I  would 
sometimes  return  home  on  foot,  to  have  an  oppor- 
tunity of  studying  the  night  life  of  the  streets.  At 
midnight  most  of  the  highways,  long  and  sombre,  were 
deserted  save  for  some  drunken  moujik  staggering  slowly 
along,  singing,  of  course,  a  love  ditty  in  honour  of  his 
Marsha,  Greesha  or  some  other  flame.  The  policeman 
standing  at  each  corner,  or  the  porter  watching  before 
each  house  door,  took  no  notice,  well  knowing  that  if 
every  intoxicated  labourer  was  arrested  all  the  cells  of 
Petrograd  would  not  suffice.  The  thought  that  the 
reveller  is  a  good  citizen,  bringing  by  his  excesses 
revenue  to  the  Crown,  might  also  have  flashed  through 
his  brain — it  would  hardly  be  fair  to  punish  a  man 
whose  custom,  and  that  of  his  kind,  brought  in  many 
millions  sterling  to  the  authorities  who  employ  the 
police  !  Now,  as  we  know,  the  State  monopoly  on 
vodka  has  been  done  away  with.  At  first  it  will  be 
extremely  difficult  to  make  up  for  the  loss  of  revenue, 
but  ultimately  the  wise  action  of  the  Tsar  and  his 
advisers  will  bring  its  own  reward.  The  increased 
earning  capacity  of  the  people  will  more  than  com- 
pensate for  the  temporary  deficit ;  millions  of  working 
days  will  be  saved,  and  it  is  not  too  much  to  say 
millions  of  lives  also,  in  the  years  to  come,  that  other- 
wise would  have  been  irretrievably  lost  through  the 
curse  that  has  so  long  afflicted  the  people. 

Some  of  the  gardens,  illuminated  with  small  lamps, 
are  simply  a  reproduction  on  a  slightly  smaller  scale 
of  the  mild  festivities  which  used  to  enliven  Earl's 
Court  and  the  "  White  City  "  in  London.  There  are 
the    same    "joy    wheels,"    "flip-flaps,"     "toboggan 


18G      PETROGRAD  PAST  AND  PRESENT 

hills,"  and  other  absurd  but  ingenious  devices  for  the 
entertainment  of  the  crowd.  At  one  of  these  places  I 
saw  a  rehearsal  of  the  play,  ''1812  "—quite  interesting, 
but  it  was  curious  to  see  that  many  of  the  leading  parts 
were  taken  by  women.  The  piece  seemed  spoiled  by 
the  introduction  of  so  much  of  the  feminine  element. 
When  old  Koutosoff,  the  terrible  Scythian  leader, 
gave  his  orders  in  a  rough,  deep,  manly  voice,  one  felt 
the  sense  of  reality  and  appreciated  the  dramatic 
effect;  but  when  the  young  officer  who  received  the 
commands  answered  in  a  squeaky,  girlish  tone,  the 
result  was  not  at  all  congruous  to  the  supposed 
surroundings  of  battlefield  oi  military  camp.  The 
rounded,  plump  forms  of  the  women  squeezed  into  the 
tight-fitting  uniforms  of  men  looked  ridiculous,  and 
hardly  decent.  A  more  pleasant  interlude  came  when 
the  water-nymphs,  wood  sprites  and  wild  animals  held 
a  conclave  to  inquire  what  the  strange  intrusion  into 
their  domains  could  mean.  The  scene  with  the 
roosalke  (nymphs),  probably  introduced  to  break  the 
grim  tragedy  of  the  play,  certainly  suited  the  women 
better  than  men,  for  it  was  full  of  grace,  beauty, 
romance  and  fantasy.  This,  however,  was  spoiled 
again  when  the  composer  time  after  time  stopped  the 
progress  of  the  piece  and  made  the  lovely  water- 
nymphs  begin  their  parts  once  more.  One  should  not 
attend  rehearsals  if  one  wishes  to  enjoy  a  play  ! 


XX 

CONCERNING   THE   BALLET 

During  the  reign  of  Nicholas  I.  the  Petrograd  ballet 
attained  a  very  high  level  of  excellence.  Like  his 
father,  Paul,  the  "Iron  Tsar"  was  exceedingly  fond 
of  this  entertainment,  and,  if  report  be  true,  was  not 
wholly  indifferent  to  the  charms  of  the  artists.  These 
were  the  days  of  Didlo,  Taglione,  Fanny  Elser,  Greze 
and  many  other  famous  ones,  and  some  assert  that 
the  Russian  ballet  then  reached  its  acme  of  effieiency 
and  perfection ;  since  that  time,  they  say,  the  choreo- 
graphic art  has  declined  continuously. 

Fanny  Elser,  the  beautiful  Viennese,  who  took  the 
capital  by  storm,  and  who  is  said  to  have  been  the  ruin 
of  Napoleon's  only  son,  the  Duke  of  Reiehstadt,  was 
the  favourite  of  all.  Her  benefit  nights  in  ^Moscow 
and  Petrograd  were  great  events,  bringing  her  fabulous 
sums  of  money,  and  causing  much  scandal  to  centre  in 
the  booking-offices  of  the  Imperial  Theatre.  On  one 
of  these  occasions  a  duel  almost  occurred  between  two 
ardent  officer  admirers  who  quarrelled  over  a  ticket 
of  admission.  Another  balletomaniac,  a  wealthy  gold- 
mine proprietor,  gave  Fanny  Elser  one  thousand 
roubles  (£100)  for  each  box  he  took.  "  One  might  well 
pay  more — she  is  worth  it,"  he  observed.  Other 
enthusiasts  went  still  further,  and  many  men  quite 
lost  their  heads  over  the  Viennese  and  paid  dearly  for 
their  folly.  In  Moscow  her  reception  was  tremendous, 
but  space  will  not  permit  an  enumeration  of  her  eon- 
quests  or  a  description  of  the  extravagance  of  her 
devotees.  They  made  themselves  so  notorious  that 
an  order  came  from  the  authorities  in  the  capital  to 
187 


188      PETROGRAD  PAST  AND  PRESENT 

the   police  of  Moscow  to  draw  up  a   report  of  the 

eccentric  actions  of  her  admirers.     Even  in  the  days 

after  she  had  accomphshed  the  downfall  of  the  Duke 

of  Reichstadt  the  story  goes  that  she  was  so  interesting 

that  an  Englishman  travelled  all  the  way  by  coach 

from  Paris  to  Vienna  simply  to  see  this  remarkably 

seductive  woman,  who  played  such  havoc  with  the 

impressionable  hearts  of  men  in  every  grade  of  society. 

Charlotte  Greze  was  another  favourite,  a  splendid 

classical  dancer  with  a  very  finished   technique.     It 

has  been  truly  said  by  an  authority  on  the  subject  that 

the  Russian  dancers  not  only  equalled  their  foreign 

instructors,  but  in   some  directions   surpassed   them. 

Had  all  the  money  lavished  in  Russia  on  this  art  been 

expended  in  London,  we  should  probably  have  had  by 

now  the  finest  established  ballet  in  the  world,  despite 

the  fact  that  the  English  are  neither  so  musical  nor  so 

fond  of  dancing.    Money  attracts  talent,  and  in  course 

of  time  London,  with  its  vast  cosmopolitan  population, 

would  have  become  fascinated.     It  is  curious  that  the 

love  of  dancing,  once  so  strong  in  France  and  Italy, 

should  have  been  transported  now  to  the  colder  lands 

of  the   north.     So   passionately   is   it   seated   in   the 

Russian  people  that  the  greatest  composers — Tchaik- 

offsky,  Glazoonoff  and   others — have   not  thought   it 

beneath  their  dignity  to  devote  years  of  labour  to  the 

composition  of  ballets  and  ballet  music. 

Until  recently,  the  principal  artist  in  this  profes- 
sion was  Khesinskaja,  who  possesses  great  force,  a  fine 
technique  and  striking  vivacity.  This  lady,  whom  I 
often  met,  is  a  great  favourite  in  the  highest  circles, 
both  for  her  talent  and  her  common-sense  and  agree- 
able manner.  Her  palace  on  the  Karmennyostroffsky 
Prospekt,  presented  to  her  by  the  Tsar,  is  a  model  of 
good  taste  and  skilful  arrangement,  and  is  said  to  have 
cost  R.l, 500,000.  Her  diamonds  and  other  jewels  are 
of  immense  value,  as  I  can  attest. 


CONCERNING  THE  BALLET  189 

Preobrashenskaja  was  considered  the  finest  lyrical 
artist  in  Russia.  She  was  only  in  London  for  a  short 
time,  but  is  a  highly  educated  and  most  amiable  lady, 
fitted  to  move  in  any  society.  Her  charm,  good 
nature  and  natural  grace  made  an  impression  on  me 
which  I  shall  not  soon  forget.  These  two  ladies,  as  a 
rule,  only  dance  now  by  special  Imperial  request. 
Pavlova,  who  is  much  younger,  is  probably  the  greatest 
ballerina  of  the  coming  age.  Experts  hold  that  she 
has  every  chance  of  becoming  the  first  dancer  in  the 
world,  if  she  has  not  already  attained  that  honour. 
She  is  so  well  known  in  London  that  I  need  not  enlarge 
on  her  gifts  or  her  appearance. 

Two  more  famous  artists  are  Sjedova  and  Karsa- 
vina,  the  former  better  known  in  Paris  than  in  this 
country.  All  those  I  have  mentioned  have  the  right 
to  a  decoration  in  diamonds,  only  permitted  to  be 
worn  by  the  cream  of  the  profession.  There  are  only 
six,  I  believe,  thus  distinguished  in  the  Imperial 
ballet.  Among  the  notable  male  dancers  we  have 
Nijinsky,  Andrianeff,  the  brothers  Kozleff,  Mordkin  and 
Leontieff.  Some  of  them  belong  to  Moscow,  but  most 
have  passed  through  the  Petrograd  School  of  the 
Ballet.  It  is  strange,  when  we  think  of  the  warm 
welcomes  these  people  have  received  in  London  and 
their  high  remuneration  on  foreign  tours,  what  a 
permanent  fascination  Petrograd  has  for  them.  Prob- 
ably the  small  importance  attached  to  convention  in 
that  easy-going  city  has  a  great  deal  to  do  with  it. 
The  last  time  I  saw  Karsavina,  who  was  then  staying 
in  England,  I  asked  her  how  she  liked  London  after 
Petrograd.  She  replied  that  with  its  fogs  and  narrow 
streets  it  could  not  be  compared  with  the  northern 
city.  To  tease  her  I  said  :  "  But  there  is  no  doubt 
that  London  is  the  hub  of  the  universe,  and  for  its  size 
one  of  the  healthiest  places  in  the  world,  while  Petro- 
grad is  only  fit  to  be  inhabited  by  frogs,  snipe  and  wild 


190      PETROGRAD  PAST  AND  PRESENT 

duck  1  "  "  What  do  you  know  about  wild  duck  ?  " 
she  rejoined.  "  Ah,  a  good  deal,"  I  said  ;  "  in  my 
time  I  have  shot  many."  "Not  wild  duck,  but 
tchoochela,'"  she  mischievously  retorted — tchoochela  in 
Russian  meaning  decoys.  This  little  anecdote  I  give 
merely  to  show  how  the  Petrogradians  love  their  city 
in  spite  of  all  its  drawbacks.  It  has  a  charm  of  its 
own,  very  hard  to  explain  or  describe,  which  grows  on 
all  who  know  it  almost  imperceptibly.  The  free-and- 
easy  life  and  the  hospitality  of  its  inhabitants  have 
much  to  do  with  this  attraction,  in  my  opinion,  and  the 
comparative  ease  with  which  a  fortune  can  be  made 
is  another  factor  to  its  credit — notwithstanding  the 
numerous  saints'  days  and  holidays  that  sprinkle  the 
Russian  calendar. 

Some  of  the  ballerinas  become,  as  I  have  already 
said,  the  mistresses  of  persons  in  high  positions — 
even  the  morganatic  wives  of  the  Grand  Dukes,  with 
the  knowledge  and  consent  of  their  legal  wives,  who 
in  Russia  are  neither  so  jealous  nor  so  exacting  as 
English  partners.  One  of  the  most  beautiful  and 
attractive  women  I  ever  met  was  the  daughter  of  a 
well-known  Grand  Duke  and  a  celebrated  danseuse. 
She  was  fair,  with  golden  hair  and  blue  eyes, 
voluptuously  proportioned — a  regular  roosalka,  or 
water-nymph.  Her  mother's  apartments  were  opposite 
the  Grand  Duke's  palace,  near  the  English  Quay. 
An  old  professor  who  used  to  visit  the  palace  and 
dine  there  states  that  whenever  the  lady  wished  to 
see  her  Imperial  admirer  she  would  place  a  small 
lighted  taper  in  her  window.  His  adjutant  had  orders 
that  when  this  signal  appeared  he  was  to  report  a  fire 
— the  Grand  Duke  taking  a  great  interest  in  conflagra- 
tions. One  day  the  usual  report  was  given  ;  the  taper 
burned  steadily  like  a  star  in  this  naughty  world,  and 
the  lover  was  at  dinner  with  the  Grand  Duchess. 
"  Your  Highness,  there  is  a  fire  1  "  said  the  adjutant. 


CONCERNING  THE  BALLET  191 

saluting.  The  Grand  Duchess,  however,  who  had 
discovered  the  trick,  laughingly  remarked  :  "  There  is 
no  need  to  hurry — it  is  only  a  farthing  candle  in  a 
blaze  !  "  We  are  not  told  the  reply,  but  probably  the 
"  flame,"  when  next  she  desired  the  presence  of  her 
admirer,  resorted  to  some  other  stratagem. 

It  was  in  the  Kononoff  Theatre,  on  the  Moika 
(mainly  devoted  to  the  drama),  that  Laurence  Irving, 
who  was  then  studying  Russian  with  the  object  of 
entering  the  diplomatic  service,  first  displayed  such 
exceptional  talent  in  David  Garrick  that  he  was  advised 
to  abandon  his  intended  career  and  take  up  the  stage 
seriously.  The  evidences  of  his  gifts  for  drama  were 
clearly  shown  while  he  was  attending  the  Shake- 
spearean classes  of  the  popular  Professor  Charles 
Turner,  Lector  of  English  Literature  at  the  University 
of  Petrograd.  Young  Irving,  whom  I  often  met  at 
these  gatherings,  always  attracted  my  especial  atten- 
tion by  the  striking  melancholy  of  his  expression  ; 
his  pallid  cheeks  and  flashing  eyes,  heightened  in 
effect  by  his  thick  dark  hair,  seemed  to  suggest  that 
he  was  no  ordinary  personality,  and  I  wondered  what 
part  in  life  he  was  destined  to  play — little  dreaming 
that  his  end  would  be  so  sadly  early  and  so  tragic,  in 
the  waters  of  the  Atlantic.  But  how  or  when  our 
fate  comes  matters  very  little  if  we  can  meet  it  with 
the  spirit  in  which  he  passed  to  his  death  on  the 
Titanic. 

The  Mariensky,  the  most  important  though  not  the 
largest  theatre,  is  the  home  of  opera  and  ballet.  It 
might  be  termed  the  Covent  Garden  of  the  caj^ital,  for 
here  the  greatest  singers,  dancers  and  musicians  have 
made  their  debut.  The  boxes  and  seats  cannot  be 
engaged  ad  libitum,  as  in  the  other  theatres,  for  most 
of  them  are  in  the  hands  of  life-long  subscribers,  who 
obtain  them  as  a  favour ;  either  that,  or  they  are 
handed    on    from    friend    to    friend.      One    of    my 


192      PETROGRAD  PAST  AND  PRESENT 

intimate  relations,  for  instance,  owed  his  loge  to  the 
influence  of  a  celebrated  ballerina,  whose  receptions 
are  attended  by  Grand  Dukes,  Ministers  and  leading 
men.  If  charm,  a  lively  and  engaging  disposition, 
strong  common-sense  and  perfect  naturalness  are 
commendable,  I,  who  have  spent  many  hours  in  this 
lady's  society,  can  well  understand  why  her  salon  is 
so  frequented.  Her  jewels  are  worth  a  fortune,  and 
she  owns  a  palace  decorated  with  exquisite  taste. 

In  order  to  raise  money  for  charitable  purposes,  a 
tax  of  two  copecks  (Jd.)  is  levied  on  every  ticket  up 
to  a  shilling  in  value,  and  five  copecks  (about  Id.)  on 
all  over  that  price.  This  is  r'ommon  to  all  places  of 
amusement,  and  the  large  amount  derived  from  this 
source  goes  to  institutes  which  support  a  great  many 
hospitals,  schools  and  charitable  bodies. 

Enormous  prices  are  paid  for  such  loges  as  happen 
to  be  free,  especially  when  artists  such  as  Mazini, 
Andrade  or  de  Reszke  appear ;  three  or  four  pounds, 
or  even  more,  for  a  very  poor  position,  is  often  given. 
No  expense  is  spared  to  make  the  theatres  equal  to 
those  of  Paris,  London  or  Berlin.  The  modem  ballet 
in  Russia  owes  its  success  and  prestige  partly  to  the 
millions  that  have  been  lavished  on  this  enchanting 
form  of  art,  partly  to  the  untiring  energy  of  M.  Petit 
Pas,  the  great  French  maitre  de  ballet^  whose  sym- 
pathetic and  beautiful  daughter  was  for  years  the 
favourite  of  Petrograd  society.  M.  Pas  was  Master 
of  the  Imperial  Ballet  for  sixty  years,  and  during  his 
career  staged  150  pieces,  most  of  which  had  five  or 
six  acts;  under  his  expert  direction  the  ballet  at- 
tained almost  to  perfection,  even  eclipsing  that  of 
Paris  and  Milan.  The  theatres,  then  as  now,  were 
under  the  control  of  a  prominent  official  called  the 
Director  of  the  Imperial  Theatres,  a  post  generally 
occupied  by  some  person  of  the  highest  rank.  Under 
Prince   Usupoff's   rule   in   this    capacity   a    ballerina 


CONCERNING  THE  BALLET  193 

received  annually  R.6500  (£650),  others  having  sums 
little  less — pay  which  in  those  days  was  considered 
magnificent,  since  the  purchasing  power  of  the  rouble 
was  probably  four  times  what  it  now  is.  Judging 
from  the  enormous  salaries  paid  to  foreign  talent, 
theatres  continued  to  prosper  during  the  reign  of 
Alexander  I.  The  danseuse  Dupor  from  Paris,  for 
example,  received  for  each  repertoire  £120,  equivalent 
to  100,000  francs  a  year.  Thanks  to  the  constant 
encouragement  of  the  Government  and  the  wealthy 
classes,  the  Russian  ballet,  instead  of  the  most  primi- 
tive, became  the  finest  in  Europe,  and  Petrograd 
finally  shone  as  its  chosen  home.  Has  it  not  given  us 
Pavlova,  Mordkin,  Karsavina  and  many  more  whose 
names  are  now  familiar  to  all  ?  Of  these  beauteous 
ones  who  have  danced  their  way  to  fame,  perhaps  the 
Polish  artist,  Lydia  Kjasht  (or  Kyasht,  as  London 
spells  her),  who  married  a  Russian  officer  of  the 
Guards,  was  the  real  pioneer  of  the  ballet  in  England. 
It  was,  in  fact,  an  English  merchant  of  the  capital,  a 
near  relation  of  mine,  who  discovered  this  new  star 
and  persuaded  her  to  try  her  fortune  in  London. 
Through  his  interest  with  the  theatrical  managers  he 
procured  for  her  an  engagement,  besides  making  it 
easy  for  many  other  Russian  artists  of  merit  to  obtain 
a  trial  in  our  own  prosaic  metropolis,  and  his  efforts 
as  a  patron  are  immensely  appreciated  by  all  who  have 
benefited.  Lydia  Kyasht,  who  in  Russia  was  then  a 
rising  dancer,  but  not  yet  "  an  artist  of  merit  "  (the 
highest  title  to  which  a  ballerina  can  aspire),  became 
so  successful,  as  we  know,  that  her  example  was  soon 
followed  by  others,  to  the  surprise  and  delight  of  all 
lovers  of  beauty  and  the  poetry  of  motion. 

For  nearly  two  hundred  years  Petrograd  has  pos- 
sessed a  School  of  the  Ballet,  founded  by  the  Empress 
Anna  in  1739,  its  first  director  being  M.  Lande,  of 
Paris,    who    was   then    celebrated.     This   institution, 


194      PETROGRAD  PAST  AND  PRESENT 

continually  supported  and  favoured  by  the  Court,  has 
produced  many  splendid  artists,  and  has  promulgated 
traditions  and  ideals  which  render  its  public  exceed- 
ingly difficult  to  please.  Among  this  hypercritical, 
spoilt  audience  Miss  Maud  Allan,  it  may  easily  be 
imagined,  found  small  appreciation  when  she  thought 
to  gain  fresh  laurels.  Judging  from  the  critiques  that 
appeared  in  the  Russian  Press,  the  English  "barefoot " 
(hosonoshka),  as  she  was  called,  would  perhaps  have 
been  wiser  to  stay  at  home.  The  Russian  Press  is  not 
lightly  shocked,  but  the  New  Boos  and  other  Petro- 
grad  productions  made  some  most  ungallant  remarks 
about  our  fair  countrywoman,  which  I  will  not  repeat 
in  extenso.  The  sum  total  of  them  was  to  the  effect 
that  Miss  Maud  Allan  stood  then  on  the  very  threshold 
of  her  career,  and  had  a  great  deal  to  learn  before  she 
attempted  to  educate  the  people  of  Petrograd.  Since 
then  she  has  made  much  progress,  possibly  in  part 
owing  to  the  exposure  of  her  deficiencies  by  these 
critics,  who  knew  more  about  the  intricacies  of  the 
ballet  than  about  their  Bibles.  The  comparison  may 
stand,  for  one  might  almost  think,  from  the  awe  in 
which  the  ballet  is  held,  that  it  was  some  form  of 
religion,  whose  exponents  were  priestesses  of  the 
temple.  Miss  Duncan,  who  also  astonished  the  city 
by  her  capers,  met  with  much  more  success,  perhaps 
because  she  was  more  original.  For  a  long  time,  how- 
ever, she  was  mercilessly  caricatured,  and  formed  a 
source  of  merriment  and  satire  for  the  citizens,  who 
give  as  much  attention  to  a  dancer  as  we  in  England 
do  to  a  noted  sportsman  or  athlete. 

The  influence  of  famous  danseuses  and  artists  in 
Russia  has  been  immense  in  politics  and  diplomacy, 
as  I  have  suggested.  The  book.  Woman  in  History,  has 
yet  to  be  written — it  will  be  a  large  one,  in  several  big 
volumes,  and  Russia  will  take  up  much  space  in  its 
chronicles.     The  adventuresses  of  the  land  have  often 


CONCERNING  THE  BALLET  195 

flown  at  dukes,  princes,  counts  and  nobles,  but  it  is 
seldom  that  they  have  aspired,  as  did  Madame  Cheva- 
lier, to  get  an  emperor  into  their  power.  While  I  was 
in  residence  more  than  one  ministerial  career  was 
ruined  by  the  intrigues  of  actresses  and  dancers, 
generally  of  foreign  origin. 

Most  of  the  actresses  appearing  at  the  Russian 
Imperial  Theatre  pass  through  the  Imperial  School 
already  mentioned,  or  through  the  Theatrical  School, 
where  they  receive  a  first-class  education,  at  the  ex- 
pense of  the  Government.  Dancers,  singers,  actors, 
musicians  and  even  the  chorus  girls  are  in  the  regular 
pay  of  the  Government,  and  receive  a  pension  on 
retiring  from  the  stage. 

It  seems  that  the  Slavs  were  always  musical.  One 
Byzantine  historian  records  that  they  were  so  absorbed 
in  the  delights  of  singing  that  their  camp  was  once 
easily  surprised  by  the  Greeks.  This  was  in  a.d.  592, 
and  this  intense  love  of  music  is  as  strong  to-day. 
The  father  of  Peter  the  Great,  Alexis  Mechailovitch, 
was  the  first  Tsar  to  encourage  the  arts.  In  1660 
he  ordered  an  Englishman  in  his  service  to  engage 
"  master  glass-blowers  and  engravers,  and  master 
makers  of  comedies."  Later  on,  as  we  have  seen, 
other  rulers  encouraged  the  love  of  song  that  wells 
up  like  a  never-failing  spring  from  the  hearts  of  the 
people. 


XXI 

THE   HERMITAGE   AND   ITS    MEMORIES — CATHERINE'S 
FAVOURITE   RETREAT 

On  the  right-hand  side  of  the  Palace  Square,  adjoining 
the  Winter  Palace,  is  the  Imperial  Hermitage,  the 
favourite  retreat  of  Catherine  II. — called  by  her 
admirers  Catherine  the  Great  and  by  her  enemies 
Catherine  the  Bad.  Whichever  adjective  we  may 
choose,  there  is  little  doubt  that  she  was  one  of  the 
most  remarkable  women  of  the  time.  The  daughter 
of  a  Prussian  general  and  a  Princess  of  Anhalt 
Zerbst,  therefore  certainly  a  pure  German,  she  initi- 
ated that  great  Panslavistic  movement  which  will 
doubtless  contribute  to  the  aggrandisement  of  Russia 
and  help  to  make  her  the  first  power  in  Europe. 
Nicholas  I.  tried  to  follow  in  Catherine's  footsteps  and 
to  make  himself  the  head  of  Balkan  Christians,  but 
owing  to  the  opposition  of  England,  France  and 
Turkey,  his  plans  came  to  grief,  and  this  proud  and 
reserved  monarch,  who  has  been  much  misrepresented 
in  England,  either  committed  suicide  or  died  of  grief 
and  mortification.  ^ 

The  Hermitage  has  the  largest  of  all  the  numerous 
art  collections  of  Petrograd — in  fact  there  is  so  much 
to  be  seen  that  it  is  not  possible  to  appreciate  it  all  in 
a  single  day.  This  beautiful  store  of  pictures,  marbles, 
cameos  and  other  works  of  art  was  begun  by  Catherine, 
who  laid  its  foundations  of  marble  and  granite,  and 
enriched  it  by  securing  the  picture  collections  of  Du 
Chaillet,  Bralja,  Valona,  de  Conde,  Robert  Walpole 
and  many  valuable  specimens  from  the  Flemish 
Schools  of  Art.    It  is  especially  rich  in  Rembrandts, 

196 


CATHERINE'S  FAVOURITE  RETREAT    197 

Teniers  and  the  works  of  Paul  Potter.  The  Itahan 
School  is  also  well  represented  by  the  works  of  Guido 
Reni,  Carazze,  Canaletto,  Paul  Veronese  and  other 
masters.  There  are  many  Vandykes  wliich  Catherine 
herself  obtained  from  England,  owing  to  her  friend- 
ship with  an  English  duchess  who  had  been  tabooed 
in  English  Court  circles.         ^ 

Here  also  are  the  portraits  of  Lord  Philip  Wharton, 
Queen  Henrietta  Maria,  Charles  I.  and  the  Holy 
Family  —  purchased  for  £1600 ;  also  several  rare 
pictures  by  Sir  Joshua  Reynolds,  with  a  fine  portrait 
of  Oliver  Cromwell. 

Room  8  contains  some  splendid  specimens  from 
Rafael's  palette.  Among  these  we  may  mention  "  The 
Madonna  with  the  Book,"  "The  Madonna  Alba" 
— purchased  for  £14,000 — "  St  George,"  and  several 
^  other  portraits  by  the  great  masters.  Those  who 
>70uld  like  to  form  an  idea  of  the  countless  treasures 
t(\  be  found  in  this  temple  erected  to  the  glory  of  the 
ar;s  (and  to  satisfy  Catherine's  vanity)  should  turn  to 
thiir  guide-books,  where  further  particulars  will  be 
found.  I  was  much  impressed  with  the  rare  armour 
dating  from  the  Middle  Ages,  and  the  Scythian  and 
Sarmatian  jewellery  found  in  the  Crimea  and  in 
Southern  Russia.  This  district  was  formerly  colonised 
by  the  ancient  Greeks,  whose  most  skilled  artisans 
and  craftsmen  used  to  work  for  the  old  Scythian  kings, 
many  of  whom  have  been  buried  in  the  Chersonese. 
Greek  and  Roman  cameos  are  also  very  plentiful,  and 
beautiful  statuary,  which,  to  please  Catherine's  taste, 
was  made  as  near  to  nature  as  possible,  also  abounds. 

I  was  particularly  struck  by  the  unusual  quantity 
of  Varangian  (Viking)  arms,  ornaments  and  ring 
money,  discovered  by  Russian  archaeologists  in  the 
old  Rus  Viking  settlement  around  Lake  Ladoga  and 
Novgorod.  This  collection  is  far  more  valuable  and 
rich  than  that  to  be  found  in  the  British  Museum, 


198      PETROGRAD  PAST  AND  PRESENT 

which  is  very  poor  in  Viking  remains,  although 
England,  Scotland  and  Ireland  were  settled  and 
colonised  by  the  Norsemen.  On  expressing  my 
surprise,  the  Public  Curator,  Mr  Troinetsky,  who 
showed  them  to  me,  increased  my  astonishment  by 
stating  "  that  it  was  nothing  compared  to  the  collec- 
tion to  be  found  in  the  cellars  of  the  Hermitage." 

The  walls  of  this  palace  conceal  many  secrets.  It 
was  here  that  Catherine  had  her  famous  Winter 
Gardens,  when  she  relieved  the  burdens  of  office  by 
amusing  herself  with  masquerades,  at  which  she  ap- 
peared in  disguise  and  made  herself  known  to  many 
who  on  other  occasions  would  have  been  too  bashful 
to  return  her  advances.  Here  it  was  that  she  gave 
splendid  banquets  to  her  chosen  friends  and  lovers — 
Potemkin,  Orloff  and  others,  who  were  invited  as  long 
as  they  were  in  favour.  Many  men  of  genius  attended 
her  receptions  and  enjoyed  her  bounty.  Wit,  beauty 
and  genius  could  always  gain  admission,  for  although 
Catherine  loved  pleasure,  she  was  perhaps  equally 
devoted  to  the  Muses.  In  order  to  show  her  interest 
in  the  theatre,  she  wrote  several  plays  on  the  found- 
ing of  Russia  by  Ruric,  Sineus  and  Truvor,  and  the 
exploits  of  Oleg  (Norse,  Olaf),  who  first  conquered 
Constantinople  and  hung  his  shield  on  its  gates  about 
a  thousand  years  ago.  These  plays  were  written  "  after 
the  manner  of  William  Shakespeare,"  for  whose  works 
Catherine  evidently  had  the  most  profound  admira- 
tion. Here  Catherine,  when  not  occupied  in  looking 
after  State  affairs,  spent  much  of  her  leisure.  She 
superintended  the  collecting  of  gems,  cameos  and 
pictures.  At  her  receptions,  which  cost  millions  of 
roubles,  wine  flowed  like  water,  and  all  the  young 
nobles  flocked  to  the  gay  Court  of  the  Semiramis  of 
the  North.  Providing  they  were  handsome  and  witty, 
everything  was  placed  at  their  disposal. 

Married  to  a  drunkard  who  kept  a  kennel  of  fox- 


CATHERINE'S  FAVOURITE  RETREAT    199 

hounds  in  her  ante-chamber,  and  threatened  her  with 
imprisonment  in  a  nunnery  for  Hfe  (a  fate  pecuharly 
terrible  for  a  woman  of  Catherine's  taste),  it  is  not 
surprising  that  she  soon  found  someone  to  rescue  her 
from  a  dangerous  and  unenviable  position.  No  matter 
how  bad  or  how  good  a  beautiful  woman  may  be,  she 
will  always  find  someone  to  pity  her,  especially  when 
mated  to  a  brutal  husband.  Catherine,  who  was 
neither  pre-eminently  good  nor  bad,  soon  discovered  a 
means  of  deliverance  from  the  society  of  her  wretched 
partner,  who  was  eventually  assassinated  by  her 
admirers  and  sympathisers  in  the  palace  of  Ropcha. 
She  then  ascended  the  throne,  with  the  help  of  a  coterie 
of  brilliant  and  unscrupulous  men,  who  committed 
untold  crimes  in  her  name,  for  which  she  is  unfortun- 
ately too  often  held  responsible  by  historians  who  were 
not  acquainted  with  her  precarious  and  peculiar 
position. 

From  that  time  she  was  ruled  by  a  succession  of 
able  and  unscrupulous  ministers  who  would  have  soon 
treated  the  "  German  Usurper  "  as  mercilessly  as  they 
did  her  husband  had  she  not  propitiated  them  with 
enormous  largesses  and  carried  out  the  policy  they 
dictated.  The  so-called  comedy  presents  the  great 
Empress  as  she  actually  was.  Henceforth  she  will 
appear  in  the  light  of  modern  history  as  "  more  sinned 
against  than  sinning,"  with  all  those  intellectual  and 
spirituelle  qualities  which,  in  a  more  healthy  atmos- 
phere, would  have  made  her  not  only  one  of  the  most 
remarkable  women  of  her  time,  but  also  one  of  the 
best.  Forbidden  to  marry  the  only  man  whom  she 
really  loved,  she  endeavoured  to  find  in  the  favours 
of  a  score  of  lovers  that  satisfaction  which  a  virtuous 
woman  should  only  find  in  one.  Her  life,  when  probed 
to  the  core,  is  in  reality  one  long-drawn-out  tragedy, 
and  shows  all  the  mischief  that  can  ensue  for  misplaced 
affection  and  wasted  talent.     Poor  Catherine  was  not 


200      PETROGRAD  PAST  AND  PRESENT 

even  permitted  to  live  respectably,  and  when  she 
wished  to  marry  Alexis  Orloff,  the  handsome  guards- 
man, she  was  informed  by  Panin,  her  Chancellor,  that 
"Madam  Orloff  could  never  become  the  Empress  of 
Russia  !  "  One  of  the  members  of  the  Senate  was  even 
still  more  brutally  outspoken,  and  voiced  the  general 
opinion  concerning  her  future  conduct  in  the  following 
speech  :— "  We  are  delighted  to  see  our  Sovereign 
selecting  subjects  on  whom  to  confer  the  favour  of 
her  affection,  but  we  can  never  consent  that  men  who 
are  socially  no  more  than  our  equals  should  presume 
to  become  our  masters !  "  Catherine  was  not  long  in 
taking  this  hint,  and  since  she  was  not  permitted  to 
marry  either  Poniatowski,  the  King  of  Poland,  or 
OrloflF,  she  endeavoured  to  drown  her  sorrow  and 
regrets  in  the  wildest  dissipation,  giving  full  play  to 
her  neurotic  and  passionate  temperament,  which,  like 
a  mighty  torrent  diverted  from  its  proper  channel, 
flowed  in  wasteful  profusion  in  all  directions.  Potemkin, 
who  actually  ruled  Russia,  continually  discovered  for 
the  Empress  fresh  admirers,  and  was  rewarded  with 
palaces,  estates,  territories  and  millions  of  roubles  in 
this  questionable  metier. 

The  Orloff  brothers,  who,  with  the  aid  of  the  Guards, 
had  secured  her  nomination  to  the  throne,  were  re- 
warded for  their  "  affection  "  and  loyalty  with  seven- 
teen millions  of  roubles  (£3,400,000) ;  also  with  estates 
as  large  as  provinces  and  thousands  of  serfs.  Not- 
withstanding her  licentiousness,  her  extravagance  and 
fickleness,  there  is  evidence  to  show  that  she  not  only 
longed  for  a  better  life,  but  was  to  a  great  extent  what 
circumstances  and  her  peculiar  temperament  made  her. 
In  the  plays,  poems,  diaries  and  other  literary  memoirs 
she  has  left,  we  can  see  the  real  Catherine  better  than 
in  the  narratives  of  many  historians.  She  not  only 
aspired  to  be  a  literary  woman,  but  cultivated  the 
society  of  some  of  the  most  eminent  literary  men  of 


CATHERINE'S  FAVOURITE  RETREAT    201 

her  day,  including  Grimm,  Diderot  and  Rousseau. 
The  costly  manuscripts,  books,  cameos,  statues  and 
pictures  she  collected  around  her  in  the  Hermitage  are 
evidence  of  her  innate  love  for  all  that  was  beautiful 
and  refining.  With  all  her  frailty,  she  was  not  so  bad 
as  is  generally  believed.  To  Poniatowski,  whom  she 
really  loved,  she  wrote  :  "I  feel  the  power  over  me  of 
the  man  whom  I  love  ;  may  God  preserve  you  for  me, 
I  shall  be  a  better  woman."  A  woman  who  could 
write  thus  could  not  be  wholly  bad.  "Calumny," 
wrote  the  French  Ambassador,  "  has  not  spared  her 
moral  character,  but  it  must  be  allowed  that  while  not 
entirely  above  reproach,  she  was  far  from  the  excesses 
of  which  she  was  accused."  Concerning  Gregory 
Orloff,  the  same  Ambassador  is  far  more  scathing  in 
his  remarks. 

In  Francis  Gribble's  Comedy  of  Catherine  II.  further 
interesting  particulars  concerning  Catherine  will  be 
found. 

After  spending  a  week  or  more  in  revelry  and 
dancing,  she  used  to  have  qualms  of  conscience. 
Although  brought  up  in  strict  Lutheran  surroundings, 
during  her  sojourn  in  Russia  she  had  put  off  her  early 
creed  and  become  a  zealous  Orthodox  Christian  and 
a  strong  supporter  of  the  Church  and  priesthood,  on 
which  she  lavished  much  treasure,  in  the  shape  of 
costly  jewels,  icons  and  ecclesiastical  ornaments, 
probably  as  a  kind  of  insurance  premium  against  the 
possibility  of  eternal  fire,  which  she  only  very  vaguely 
believed  in  at  all.  In  fact  at  heart  Catherine  was  a 
thorough  heathen.  She  admired  Voltaire,  with  whom 
she  corresponded  regularly  and  quarrelled  repeatedly. 
On  the  other  hand,  Voltaire  was  not  averse  from  friend- 
ship with  this  beautiful  and  witty  patron,  and  in 
return  received  many  marks  of  favour  in  the  shape  of 
jewels,  pearls  and  diamonds  and  pieces  of  gold  coin. 
Voltaire,  however,  could  never  be  induced  to  reside 


202       PETROGRAD  PAST  AND  PRESENT 

in  Petrograd  ;  he  said  the  city  "  would  not  suit  his 
health."  In  the  end  the  two  disagreed,  and  Catherine, 
after  amusing  herself  with  the  wit  and  brilliance  of  the 
writer,  grew  afraid  of  his  liberal  and  progressive  views 
and  forsook  both  him  and  his  works.  Voltaire,  who 
was  a  cjrnic,  believed  that  nothing  could  absolve 
Catherine  from  her  sins  or  even  ease  her  conscience 
from  them.  She  therefore  appealed  to  her  chaplain 
for  aid,  and  after  confessing  her  many  lapses  from 
virtue,  wrote  as  follows  to  her  confessor: — "Oh,  Adam 
Vasilovitch,  pray  for  my  sin,  as  I  have  received  absolu- 
tion." Every  time  she  sinned  she  made  a  costly  gift 
to  her  confessor,  so  that  the  more  she  strayed  from  the 
paths  of  virtue  the  fuller  became  the  coffers  of  the 
Church. 

It  was  but  natural  that  a  ruler  who  spent  such  a  vast 
proportion  of  her  time  in  dissipation  and  pleasure 
should  not  be  able  to  attend  to  serious  affairs  as  much 
as  she  ought  to  have  done.  The  management  of  the 
government  was  taken  over  by  Potemkin  and  other 
lovers,  with  the  consequence  that  at  her  death  it  was 
found  that  a  huge  amount  of  State  business  had  been 
left  undone.  As  a  result  of  her  extravagance  a  large 
portion  of  Russia  was  scourged  by  terrible  famines, 
which  caused  the  death  of  many  thousands  of  people  of 
the  peasant  class.  Sedition  and  rebellion  showed  their 
threatening  heads  all  over  the  Empire,  while,  on  the 
Volga,  Pugacheff  raised  the  standard  of  revolt  with 
such  success  that  he  almost  overthrew  the  throne  of 
the  Tsars,  and  re-established  the  old  form  of  govern- 
ment, which  consisted  of  a  number  of  independent 
republics  or  grand  duchies,  each  ruled  by  a  Hetman, 
and  in  the  north  by  a  Grand  Duke,  whose  powers  were 
exceedingly  limited. 

But  after  Pugacheff  had  captured  many  towns,  and 
had  killed  many  officials  and  noblemen,  he  was  finally 
defeated  by  Colonel  Michelsen  and  brought  in  a  cage 


CATHERINE'S  FAVOURITE  RETREAT    203 

to  Moscow,  where  he  was  executed.  Catherine  was 
delighted  at  his  defeat,  and  now  wished  to  pass  her 
last  days  in  peace.  Although  she  had  led  a  life  of 
excitement,  she  died  at  a  ripe  old  age,  beloved  by  many 
kindred  spirits  and  hated  by  millions  of  old-fashioned 
Orthodox  Russians,  who  regarded  her  as  a  kind  of 
Antichrist  or  the  "  Scarlet  Woman  "  of  Revelation. 

In  spite  of  all  Catherine's  weaknesses,  however,  she 
had  her  good  qualities.  Millions  were  spent  in  beauti- 
fying her  two  capitals — ^with  palaces,  churches  and 
pubhc  buildings.  Yet  the  provinces  were  terribly 
neglected,  and  many  of  her  subjects  heaved  a  sigh  of 
relief  when  she  went  to  her  last  account.  But  in 
judging  her  we  must  remember  that  for  the  greater 
part  of  her  reign  she  was  under  the  influence  of  un- 
scrupulous adventurers,  or  ambitious  statesmen  and 
soldiers  who  would  not  have  hesitated  a  moment  in 
putting  her  away,  as  they  did  her  unfortunate  and 
half -mad  husband,  had  she  not  fallen  in  with  their 
views.  In  return  for  their  support  Catherine  erected 
costly  palaces  for  each  of  her  lovers  in  turn,  and  in 
addition  to  the  palace  she  usually  gave  the  courtier  a 
grant  of  several  million  roubles  and  several  thousand 
serfs,  so  that  he  should  better  be  able  to  uphold  the 
dignity  of  his  position.  I  have  visited  several  of 
these  palaces  in  the  interior,  and  was  astonished  at 
Catherine's  generosity;  but  then  it  is  so  easy  to  be 
generous  with  other  people's  money,  and  "  Catherine 
the  Bountiful "  forgot  all  about  her  humble  bringing- 
up  as  Princess  Anhalt  Zerbst.  It  is  estimated  that 
she  spent  about  £80,000,000  over  her  various  lovers, 
who  naturally  extolled  her  beauty  and  her  virtue  to 
the  highest  heaven. 

The  people  of  Petrograd  seemed  to  enjoy  themselves 
just  as  much  as  the  nobility,  even  if  not  in  quite  such 
a  refined  and  elegant  manner.  It  is  no  wonder  that 
Catherine   was   popular  among   the   classes  and   the 


204      PETROGRAD  PAST  AND  PRESENT 

masses  of  the  capital,  who  both  benefited  by  her 
bounty.  The  Empress  was  extremely  kind  to  her 
immediate  entourage  and  very  good  to  her  servants. 
Rising  at  six  o'clock  in  the  morning,  when  everyone  else 
was  sound  asleep,  she  dressed  herself  in  order  not  to 
disturb  anyone;  she  lit  the  candles  and  heated  the 
stoves.  Like  the  present  Emperor,  she  did  not  like 
troubling  the  servants,  and  used  to  say  :  "  We  must 
hve  and  let  live." 

There  are  many  anecdotes  about  her  kindness  to  those 
about  her.  Dumb  animals  were  fond  of  her  and  used 
to  run  and  meet  her  without  fear,  which  showed  that 
there  must  have  been  something  good  in  this  remarkable 
woman,  who  unfortunately  was  seldom  able  to  show 
her  true  self  to  the  world.  Her  courtiers,  statesmen, 
favourites  and  lovers,  many  of  whom  were  most  unscrup- 
ulous men,  undoubtedly  instigated  many  of  the  crimes 
committed  and  attributed  to  Catherine's  influence. 
This  is  the  penalty  of  being  a  ruler ;  but,  on  the  other 
hand,  much  of  the  glory  which  should  go  to  the  men  of 
genius  around  the  Court  often  reverts  to  the  sovereign. 

A  splendid  statue  of  Catherine  II.,  with  her 
councillors  at  her  feet,  is  to  be  seen  in  the  Great  Square 
on  the  Nevsky  Prospekt  in  front  of  the  Alexander 
Dramatic  Theatre. 

She  died  on  6th  November  1796.  If  we  can  believe 
the  rather  superstitious  chronicles  of  the  time,  she  had 
several  premonitions  of  her  approaching  end  some 
months  before.  During  a  thunderstorm,  lightning 
damaged  many  ornaments  in  her  favourite  room,  for 
instance;  and  in  some  historical  notes  published  in 
Paris  under  the  name  of  Louis  XVIII.  the  author 
states  that  she  was  once  compelled  by  a  curious  im- 
pulse to  go  to  the  throne-room,  where  she  saw  herself 
seated  on  the  throne.  Once,  when  setting  out  to 
attend  a  ball  of  Count  Samoileff,  she  saw  a  bright 
meteor  fall  behind  her  carriage.     On  the  next  day  she 


••  IJAIlOdSIlKA  "'     KkaTEKINA    II: 

'  Gka.ndmotiikk  "'  Catherine  i.\   i.atek  yeak.s 


CATHERINE'S  FAVOURITE  RETREAT    205 

remarked  to  her  companion,  Countess  Matushka  : 
"  Just  such  an  omen,  the  falling  of  a  star,  heralded  the 
death  of  the  Empress  Elizabeth,  and  this  foretells  my 
end."  A  few  days  before  the  end  she  spoke  much 
about  the  death  of  other  monarchs,  and  of  her  own 
also,  to  Narishkin.  "  Was  this  not  a  premonition  ?  " 
he  asked.  Subsequently  Perekooseka  and  Zotoff, 
gentlemen  of  the  bed-chamber,  stated  that  after  rising 
as  usual  about  seven  a.m.  the  Empress  said  :  "  Now 
I  am  about  to  die,"  and  added,  pointing  to  the  clock  : 
"  See — for  the  first  time  it  has  stopped  !  "  A  watch- 
maker was  summoned,  and  the  clock  had  started  again. 
"  Thou  seest !  "  exclaimed  Catherine,  and  gave  him 
20,000  roubles,  adding :  "  This  is  for  thee  !  "  After 
this  she  drank  two  large  cups  of  strong  coffee,  joked 
with  Perekooseka  and  went  into  her  cabinet,  occupying 
herself  with  her  usual  work.  This  was  at  eight  o'clock. 
At  ten  the  attendants  grew  alarmed  at  her  prolonged 
absence,  opened  the  door  and  saw  her  lying  extended 
on  the  floor.  In  horror  Perekooseka  and  her  lover, 
Zotoff,  lifted  her  and  placed  her  on  a  mattress,  summon- 
ing Dr  Richardson,  her  English  physician,  who  bled 
her  and  placed  Spanish  fly  blisters  on  her  feet ;  but  she 
did  not  recover  consciousness.  He  then  twice  applied 
hot  irons  to  her  cheeks,  but  without  avail.  For  thirty- 
six  hours  she  fought  with  death.  Perekooseka  would 
not  leave  her,  and  the  doctor  kept  changing  the 
bandages  and  wiping  away  the  foam  that  gathered  on 
her  lips.  Only  a  slight  movement  betrayed  that 
she  still  lived.  Towards  nine  o'clock  the  following  day 
her  breathing  became  more  feeble,  and,  with  a  last 
sigh,  the  Empress  expired  at  9.55  p.m. 

Thus  ended  the  career  of  a  woman  whose  life  was  more 
astounding  than  many  a  fairy  tale.  Who  could  have 
thought  that  the  daughter  of  a  petty  German  princess 
and  Prussian  general  would  rule  over  the  greatest 
empire  in  the  world,  and  add  so  greatly  to  its  fame  ? 


XXII 

THE   ANITCHKOFF   PALACE   AND   A   NARROW   ESCAPE 

Of  all  the  Petrograd  palaces  none  is  associated  with 
so  many  memories  as  this,  the  favourite  residence  of 
the  Tsar.  Many  a  time  have  I  entered  its  well-guarded 
precincts  to  visit  the  late  Charles  Heath,  the  com- 
panion of  Alexander  III.,  and  tutor  of  the  present 
Emperor.  Mr  Heath  was  a  burly  Englishman,  be- 
loved by  all  who  knew  him.  He  was  promoted  to  the 
honorary  rank  of  General  and  presented  with  many 
Russian  decorations  for  his  long  and  faithful  service 
to  the  royal  family — with  whom  he  was  intimate  for 
many  years  as  a  member  of  the  household.  An 
Oxford  man,  he  was  a  first-class  sportsman,  and  used 
to  accompany  the  last  Emperor  in  his  excursions 
among  the  Finnish  skerries.  All  formality  vanished, 
and  to  their  infinite  relief  the  Imperial  personages 
became  ordinary  mortals  on  these  occasions.  They 
would  leave  the  yacht  and  picnic  in  the  forests,  or  on 
some  little  island  where  they  were  safe  from  intruders, 
and  from  the  perhaps  more  worrying  attentions  of 
their  retinue  of  servants  and  the  endless  etiquette  of 
the  Court,  which  must  have  been  simply  maddening 
to  a  man  of  Alexander's  simple  tastes.  Each  one 
would  perform  some  little  duty  contributing  to  the 
general  welfare.  Often,  I  believe,  Mr  Heath  cooked  the 
meat,  while  the  Empress  attended  to  the  potatoes,  and 
the  Tsar,  if  I  remember  rightly,  like  most  men,  was 
fond  of  managing  the  fire.  Probably  these  interludes 
of  boating,  fishing  and  sport  formed  the  happiest  days 
spent  by  the  late  Tsar  and  his  intimates. 

Mr  Heath's  water-colours  of  the  district  still  fetch 

206 


The  Mechailokk  I'alack,   now  convertki)  into  the  Museum  oe 
Alexander  III 


;""!itfy*' 


/r'f  ;3^h^b[=:5 


r  -Ft  Pj  a;- — ,-7^ — ==-^ss;? 


The  ANiTfnK..ii    I'mam.  (i\    mm.   .\i.\sk\  :    mi..  'I'sak'.s   kanoukitk 

residence 


THE  ANITCHKOFF  PALACE  207 

high  prices.  His  wife  and  daughter  were  also  talented 
artists.  For  many  years  he  had  apartments  within 
the  palace  grounds,  artistically  furnished  and  full  of 
costly  souvenirs  and  marks  of  the  esteem  in  which  he 
was  held  by  his  friends  at  Court.  His  autograph-book 
contained,  among  various  distinguished  signatures  and 
writings,  this  quotation  written  and  signed  by  the 
present  Tsar  :  "To  thine  own  self  be  true,  and  it  must 
follow,  as  the  night  the  day,  thou  canst  not  then  be 
false  to  any  man."  I  knew  that  Catherine  admired 
Shakespeare,  but  that  the  Tsar  had  so  felt  his  magic 
was  a  revelation.  In  Russia,  however,  our  greatest 
poet  is  more  read  even  than  in  England,  especially  by 
the  aristocracy  and  the  middle  classes.  I  have  met 
Russians  who  could  recite  whole  pages  from  the  plays, 
but  on  this  theme  I  may  have  more  to  say  later  on. 

For  years  I  used  to  visit  the  Anitchkoff  Palace 
regularly.  On  one  of  the  last  occasions  the  obtuse 
sentry  at  the  entrance — a  raw  moujik — on  my  asking 
for  General  Heath,  directed  me  to  an  underground 
passage  leading  beneath  the  palace.  Thanks  to  the 
potent  words,  "  General  Hees,"  which  was  as  near  as 
the  soldiers  could  get  to  the  name  of  the  tutor,  I  passed 
the  first  guard  at  the  beginning  of  the  passage;  but 
when  I  reached  the  middle  of  the  central  block  I 
was  stopped  by  two  sentries  with  fixed  bayonets, 
who  demanded  the  password.  My  only  resource, 
"  General  Hees,"  did  not  suffice,  and  I  seemed  in 
danger  of  being  run  through  on  suspicion  of  being  a 
Nihilist.  Perceiving  that  I  was  no  Pravoslavny — 
Russian  subject — but  a  foreigner  of  some  kind,  the 
soldiers  spared  me  the  fate  my  carelessness  deserved, 
and  told  me  not  to  move  from  the  spot  until  a  messenger 
had  fetched  Mr  Heath  to  prove  my  identity.  That 
gentleman,  who  at  the  very  moment  was  engaged  in 
teaching  two  of  the  young  Grand  Dukes,  hurried  down 
in  a  great  state  of  agitation,  and  after  he  had  ener- 


208       PETROGRAD  PAST  AND  PRESENT 

getically  blown  me  up  for  trying  the  forbidden  entrance, 
and  let  off  steam  in  general,  I  inquired  what  he  was 
afraid  of.  When  he  observed  that  for  all  he  knew  it 
might  have  been  someone  with  a  few  pounds  of 
dynamite  bent  on  sending  them  all  sky-high,  I  laughed 
hugely.  Yet  such  a  thought  was  quite  natural  to  one 
who  constantly  lived  near  the  Tsar's  person,  in  danger 
of  sharing  a  fate  more  than  once  intended  for  the  last 
two  monarchs.  This  little  adventure  taught  me  to 
have  a  great  respect  for  sentries,  especially  those 
posted  at  Imperial  residences,  fortifications  or  powder 
magazines.  The  men  on  guard  know  only  one  word 
— Prekazano  (It  is  ordered) — and  never  reason  for 
themselves  or  allow  that  there  may  be  circumstances 
in  which  blind  obedience  can  be  as  disastrous  as  down- 
right disobedience.  As  the  majority  of  them  are 
exceedingly  ignorant,  almost  unable  to  read  or  write, 
it  is  always  best  not  to  linger  near  any  public  building 
that  happens  to  be  guarded,  and  when  ordered  by  one 
of  those  watch-dogs  of  the  Tsar  to  move  on,  strangers 
should  do  so  immediately,  without  staying  to  argue 
or  explain. 

Through  neglecting  this  rule  a  near  friend  of  mine 
was  almost  killed.  The  incident  occurred  at  Cron- 
stadt,  just  before  the  outbreak  of  the  Turkish  War, 
when  feeling  against  England  ran  very  high  in  Russia. 
My  friend,  who  had  lived  in  the  country  for  years,  was 
watching  a  burning  building,  when  a  sentry  told  him 
to  go  away,  raising  his  musket  almost  at  once,  as  if  to 
strike.  Mr  X.,  as  I  will  call  my  friend  (who  is  still  a 
well-known  man  in  Russia),  having  been  taught  box- 
ing, lifted  his  hand  to  parry  the  expected  blow.  The 
dense  sentry,  mistaking  the  action  and  imagining  he 
was  about  to  be  attacked,  felled  the  trespasser  to  the 
ground  with  the  butt  of  his  rifle.  I  was  standing  close 
by  with  Colonel  M'Swiney  of  the  Indian  army  and 
Maurice  Fitzgerald,  son  of  an  Irish  bishop. 


THE  ANITCHKOFF  PALACE  209 

We  rushed  to  the  rescue,  and  pulled  our  senseless 
comrade  from  beneath  a  fire-cart.  The  Colonel,  who 
was  a  hot-blooded  Irishman,  immediately  complained 
to  the  commandant  of  the  troops  surrounding  the 
blazing  building,  who  increased  our  dismay  by  inform- 
ing us  that  the  soldier  would  most  likely  be  punished, 
not  for  striking  Mr  X.,  but  because  he  had  not  done  his 
work  properly  and  used  the  bayonet ! — asserting  that 
as  my  friend  had  struck  the  sentry  this  was  simply  his 
duty.  This  could  have  been  only  a  surmise,  for  he 
had  not  been  present  at  the  spot  when  the  incident 
occurred.  As  may  be  imagined,  the  answer  did  not 
turn  away  wrath.  When  our  large-hearted,  impetu- 
ous chaplain  heard  of  the  affair  he  was  wildly  indignant 
and  sent  a  formal  complaint  to  the  English  consul,  who 
at  once  placed  the  account  before  Lord  Dufferin,  at 
the  time  our  excellent  ambassador.  He,  not  one  to 
leave  the  wrongs  of  a  British  subject  unredressed, 
acquainted  the  Government  at  home  with  all  details. 
Then,  as  luck  would  have  it,  the  Russo-Turkish  War 
broke  out,  and  both  irate  Commandant  and  thick- 
headed sentry  were  sent,  with  thousands  of  others, 
to  fight  the  unbelievers. 

For  two  years  the  war  continued,  and  I  and  my 
friends  had  almost  forgotten  the  evening  of  the  fire — 
yet  Mr  X.  was  under  supervision  of  the  police  for  all 
this  time,  not  allowed  to  leave  the  country.  At  the 
conclusion  of  the  hostilities  the  Commandant  and  the 
sentry  returned  to  their  quarters  at  Cronstadt,  and, 
as  the  English  were  still  unpopular,  this  old  case  was 
raked  up.  Mr  X.  was  commanded  to  appear  before 
the  Petrograd  High  Court  of  Justice  on  the  grave 
charge  of  "striking  a  sentry  on  one  November  night 
before  the  war."  Knowing  he  was  innocent,  my 
friend  at  first  did  not  mind ;  but  when  he  came  to  look 
up  his  witnesses  for  the  defence,  he  found  that  with 
one    exception — a    little    German    from    the    Baltic 


210       PETROGRAD  PAST  AND  PRESENT 

Provinces — they  were  far  away.  Some  were  even  in 
India.  The  officer,  evidently  a  revengeful  character, 
had  drawn  up  a  lengthy  indictment,  and  things  looked 
decidedly  black.  The  charges  were  supported  by 
half-a-dozen  witnesses,  who  probably  had  been  bribed 
into  giving  false  testimony.  In  Russia  the  penalty  for 
striking  a  sentry  on  duty  is  one  of  two  terrible  alter- 
natives— death,  or  Siberia  ;  so  the  reader  may  imagine 
our  trouble  at  this  sudden  crisis.  All  seemed  lost, 
when  Maurice  Fitzgerald,  who  was  then  a  Professor 
at  King's  College,  Belfast,  heard  of  the  case,  and, 
generous  as  ever,  hastened  to  Russia  to  save  the  situa- 
tion. His  ready  wit  and  good  humour  worked 
wonders.  Wlien  asked  where  he  was  just  before 
coming  to  see  the  fire  on  that  evening  so  long  before, 
he  replied:  "At  church,"  and  made  an  excellent 
impression.  The  judge  argued  that  these  young  men 
must  have  been  sober  if,  previous  to  the  outbreak  of 
the  conflagration,  they  had  attended  divine  service, 
not  knowing  that  we  had  been  on  the  church,  watching 
the  fire  from  the  summit  of  the  tower  !  "  Do  you 
ever  drink,  Mr  Fitzgerald  ? "  inquired  the  judge. 
"  Yes,  your  Excellency,"  replied  the  Irishman,  with  a 
twinkle  in  his  eye,  "  I  drink ;  but  I  never  get  drunk." 
This  reply  greatly  tickled  the  judge,  and  put  him  in  a 
more  amiable  frame  of  mind.  When  the  counsel  for 
the  defence  began  to  cross-examine  the  poor  soldier, 
who  was  scared  badly  at  the  serious  turn  such  a 
trifling  affair  had  taken,  the  man  prevaricated,  con- 
tradicted himself  and  finally  broke  down.  The  old 
Commandant,  enraged  at  seeing  his  principal  witness 
fail  thus,  made  an  exhibition  of  himself  when  his  turn 
came,  and  in  confusion  said  :  "  Kindly  excuse  me, 
your  High-born  Excellency,  for  I  received  a  contusion 
in  the  war  which  caused  me  to  forget  the  more 
minute  details  not  mentioned  in  the  indictment." 
This  general  collapse  saved  my  friend  Mr  X.,  and  he 


.^ii 


THE  ANITCHKOFF  PALACE  211 

left  the  assembly  amid  applause  from  the  chief 
members  of  the  English  colony,  who  had  gathered  to 
hear  this  interesting  trial — which  was  mentioned  in 
our  Parliament.  Mr  X.,  cool  as  a  cucumber,  in  spite 
of  his  recent  peril,  went  up  to  the  judge  and  asked 
what  damages  he  might  claim  for  wrongful  arrest 
and  two  years  of  police  supervision.  The  judge  was 
thunderstruck  at  the  "  cheek "  of  the  cold-blooded 
Englishman,  and  replied  severely  :  "  Young  man,  your 
acquittal  is  your  indemnity ;  be  thankful  for  that^ — 
you  have  had  a  very  narrow  escape  of  being  im- 
prisoned or  sent  to  Siberia  !  "  He  was  right.  Had  it 
not  been  for  Fitzgerald,  who  travelled  from  Ireland 
without  thought  of  compensation  to  stand  by  his 
countryman  in  danger,  the  case  would  undoubtedly 
have  gone  against  us.  Not  every  prisoner  finds  such 
a  friend,  nor  is  there  often  at  hand  an  ambassador 
such  as  Lord  Dufferin,  who  interested  himself  in  our 
dilemma,  or  such  an  able  correspondent  as  Mr  Charles 
Dobson,  who  put  matters  before  the  public  in  The 
Times.  There  is  no  doubt  that  England  protects  her 
subjects  better  than  any  other  nation,  and  onlj?"  when 
some  unfortunate  member  of  the  British  Empire  gets 
into  a  pickle  abroad  does  he  fully  realise  what  it  is 
to  be  able  to  say  the  equivalent  of  the  proud  :  "  Civis 
Romanus  sum.'''' 

The  Anitchkoff  Palace  is  the  Tsar's  own  personal 
property  and  is  situated  on  the  right-hand  side  of 
the  Nevsky,  close  to  the  Anitchkoff  Bridge.  Formerly 
the  ground  on  which  it  stands  was  the  quarters  of  the 
Preobrashensky  Regiment.  The  Empress  Elizabeth 
afterwards  purchased  this  plot  of  ground  and  ordered 
Rastrelli  to  build  a  sumptuous  palace.  On  its  com- 
pletion, in  1751,  the  Empress,  who  was  secretly 
married  to  Count  Razoomoffsky,  presented  it  to  this 
nobleman.  It  is  generally  believed  by  Danileffsky  and 
other  historians  that  the  Princess  Tarakanoffva,  who 


212       PETROGRAD  PAST  AND  PRESENT 

perished  in  the  fortress  of  Peter  and  Paul,  owing  to  the 
perfidy  and  cruelty  of  Count  Orloff,  was  the  fruit  of 
this  marriage.  In  his  thrilling  novel,  The  Princess 
Tarakanoffva,  this  dramatic  episode  is  treated  with 
great  delicacy  and  with  regard  for  the  truth. 

The  palace  was  originally  very  large  and  three 
storeys  high,  but  it  has  been  much  altered.  The  side 
towards  the  street  is  exceedingly  simple  in  structure. 
The  garden  and  out-houses,  however,  occupied  an 
immense  area  and  stretched  from  the  Grand  Sadovaja 
Street  to  the  Tchernishoff  Bridge.  On  the  spot  now 
occupied  by  the  Alexander  Theatre  there  once  stood 
a  large  pavilion,  containing  the  picture  gallery  of  the 
Court,  while  opposite  this  was  the  concert-room,  where 
entertainments  and  masquerades  were  given.  The 
balustrade  that  now  surrounds  the  palace  is  after  the 
design  of  the  Prussian  king,  Frederick  William  III., 
who  had  an  artistic  bent. 

Razoomoffsky,  who  died  here  in  1771,  was  of  humble 
origin.  It  is  said  that  he  began  his  career  tending 
sheep  on  the  steppes  of  Little  Russia.  He  was  the  son 
of  a  simple  Cossack  and  was  born  in  the  village  of 
Lemesbach  in  1709,  in  the  government  of  Tchernigoff. 
His  beautiful  voice  and  handsome  appearance  attracted 
the  attention  of  the  Empress  when  he  was  a  singer 
in  the  Court  chapel.  Although  merely  a  man  of  the 
people,  she  showered  titles  and  honours  on  him,  after- 
wards entering  into  a  morganatic  marriage  with  her 
favourite.  He,  being  a  man  of  great  common-sense, 
never  lost  his  head  or  became  proud  or  overbearing ; 
he  was  one  of  Nature's  gentlemen.  When  sober,  his 
mind  was  as  beautiful  as  his  body,  and  he  was  famous 
for  liberality. 

It  is  a  curious  coincidence  that  Peter  the  Great,  the 
Empress's  father,  should  have  made  a  simple  woman, 
the  illegitimate  daughter  of  a  servant  girl,  first  his 
mistress  and  then  his  wife,  and  that  their  daughter,  the 


THE  ANITCHKOFF  PALACE  213 

Empress  Elizabeth,  should  follow  in  her  father's  foot- 
steps and  marry  the  son  of  a  poor  Cossack,  whose  only 
recommendation  consisted  of  his  voice  and  good  looks. 
But  Russians,  who  are  near  to  nature,  do  not  look  on 
these  misalliances  as  we  do.  I  have  known  men  of 
the  liighest  rank  and  position  marry  women  of  no 
better  social  position  than  the  wife  of  Peter  the  Great. 

When  we  remember  that  William  the  Conqueror's 
mother  was  the  daughter  of  a  tanner,  and  that  many 
of  the  Norman  nobles  were  no  more  highly  connected, 
we  need  not  be  surprised  at  the  action  of  Peter  and 
his  daughter  in  thus  choosing  partners  for  life,  and 
as  both  were  happy  in  their  choice  there  is  very  little 
about  wliich  we  can  complain. 

As  might  be  expected  in  a  man  of  such  humble 
origin,  the  Count  occasionally  took  too  much  to  drink, 
and  when  in  this  condition  was  often  rough  to  his 
subordinates.  The  Countess  Schouvaloff  always  at- 
tended service  and  sang  the  Te  Deum  whenever  her 
husband  returned  from  hunting  and  had  not  been 
beaten  by  the  tipsy  Razoomoffsky  and  his  dependents. 
Such  actions  as  this  would  seem  to  be  absolutely  in- 
credible in  our  days,  but  the  authenticity  of  the  story 
is  vouched  for  by  the  English  ambassador  in  his  letter 
concerning  Count  Apraxin,  whom  he  called  a  coward, 
because  Count  Razoomoffsky  always  beat  him  at  table 
and  he  did  not  resent  it.  The  Count,  however,  did  not 
reside  in  the  Anitchkoff  Palace  ;  in  1767  he  sold  it  to 
the  Crown,  and  from  this  time  it  frequently  changed 
hands. 

Catherine  II.,  when  she  was  reigning  in  Russia,  pre- 
sented the  same  palace  to  her  minister,  Pot  em  kin. 
He,  being  hard  up,  sold  his  gift  to  the  merchant  Shem- 
jaken,  who  in  1759  amassed  a  fortune  by  transporting 
provisions  and  stores  from  Petrograd  to  Pillau  for 
the  Russian  army  when  it  was  engaged  in  operations 
against  Prussia.     Later  the  palace  was  partly  rebuilt 


214       PETROGRAD  PAST  AND  PRESENT 

and  adapted  to  contain  the  Imperial  cabinet  or  office 
which  has  to  do  with  managing  the  estates,  more 
especially  the  gold,  copper,  silver  and  other  mines, 
numbers  of  ^\hich  belong  to  various  members  of  the 
Imperial  family.  The  only  time  I  visited  this  office 
was  to  make  inquiries  concerning  a  gold  mine  which 
an  English  company  promoter  asserted  he  had  bought 
and  was  taking  over.  In  less  than  half-an-hour  I  found 
that  the  great  "  company  promoter  "  was  only  a  very 
small  shareholder  and  not  the  owner  of  the  mine  at 
all.  I  was  thus  the  means  of  nipping  another  Stock 
Exchange  swindle  in  the  bud. 

On  the  accession  of  Catherine  Pavlova  (on  the  12th 
June  1816)  and  her  second  marriage  to  the  King  of 
Wiirtemberg,  the  palace  came  under  the  Department 
of  the  Imperial  "  Oodel,"  which  has  the  control  and 
management  of  the  Imperial  estates  in  Russia, 
Siberia,  the  Caucasus  and  other  parts  of  the  Empire. 
Each  member  of  the  Imperial  family  owns  a  certain 
number  of  mines,  estates  and  patents,  the  proceeds  of 
which  go  to  the  person  to  w^hom  they  are  apportioned. 
If  these  estates,  many  of  which  consist  of  vineyards, 
tobacco  plantations  and  cotton-fields,  are  well  managed 
the  recipient  of  the  income  is  well-to-do,  but  should 
there  be  any  wastage  the  Imperial  family  suffers. 
Some  of  the  Grand  Dukes  appear  to  receive  a  much 
greater  revenue  than  others.  For  example,  the  late 
Grand  Duke  Michael,  the  Tsar's  grand-uncle,  had 
enormous  properties  in  Russia  as  well  as  in  the 
Caucasus,  from  which  he  derived  an  income  of  several 
millions  annually.  Other  Grand  Dukes,  who  were  not 
so  thrifty  —  in  fact  were  exceedingly  extravagant — 
have  had  to  sell  their  lands.  The  latter,  however, 
cannot  be  disposed  of  in  the  same  way  as  an  entailed 
estate  in  England.  The  Oodel  or  Imperial  Appanage 
Department  is   an  old  Norse  institution  and  dates  ^ 

1  The  old  name  of  Russia  is  Roos,  or  the  land  of  the  Roos  or  Rus. 


1 


THE  ANITCIIKOFF  PALACE  215 

from  the  Varangian  Grand  Dukes  of  old  Roos.  Many 
of  these  were  "  Oodel  Knjazee,"  or  Oodel  princes. 
The  last  Oodel  prince  of  Russia  was  Demetry,  the 
youngest  son  of  Ivan  the  Terrible,  who  is  believed  to 
have  been  murdered  by  Boris  Godounoff  at  Ooglitch 
on  the  Volga.  Whenever  a  province  is  conquered  a 
portion  is  set  aside  for  the  Imperial  family.  This  is 
called  the  Imperial  appanage,  and  cannot  easily  be 
disposed  of. 

Li  1817  the  Emperor  Alexander  I.  presented  this 
palace  to  his  brother,  the  Grand  Duke  Nicholai  Pavlo- 
vitch,  who  resided  here  until  he  ascended  the  throne  in 
1825,  under  the  title  of  Nicholas  I.  This  Emperor 
was  exceedingly  fond  of  the  palace,  and  in  order  to 
differentiate  it  from  others  called  it  "  his  own  palace." 
He  frequently  said  that  in  this  building  "  he  had  spent 
the  happiest  and  best  years  of  his  life."  Even  after 
removing  to  the  Winter  Palace,  Nicholas  every  year 
spent  long  intervals  at  the  Anitchkoff  Palace  with  the 
Imperial  family.  During  Passion  Week  he  fasted  in 
the  beautiful  church  with  other  members  of  his  family. 
Here  he  not  infrequently  was  present  at  the  baptism 
of  infants  and  at  the  marriage  of  friends  whom  he 
desired  to  honour.  In  fact  the  Emperor  was  very 
much  attached  to  the  services  of  the  Church,  and  would 
himself  often  take  part  in  them  by  reading  the  Psalms 
or  by  intoning  the  Litany.  Further  light  is  thrown 
on  the  religious  character  of  Nicholas  in  an  excellent 
work  on  the  Tsar  and  his  Court  by  John  ]\Iaxwell 
of  Baltimore. 

In  1859  tliis  palace  was  occupied  by  the  Grand  Duke 
Nicholas  Nicholaivitch,  whom  I  met  at  the  military 
manoeuvres  shortly  before  his  death.  Here  he  lived 
for  many  years,  until  the  residence  specially  built  for 
this  old  soldier  was  ready.  His  two  consuming 
passions  were  his  love  for  the  ballet  and  for  the  army. 
His   talented   son,   who  was  also  an    expert  cavalry 


216   PETROGRAD  PAST  AND  PRESENT 

general,  became  Commander-in-Chief  of  the  Russian 
army  in  the  present  gigantic  campaign  in  Poland, 
where  he  has  astonished  most  qualified  critics  by  his 
military  knowledge. 

The  last-mentioned  residence,  which  is  exactly  op- 
posite the  end  of  the  Nicholai  Bridge,  leading  to  the 
city  from  the  Vasilii  Ostroff,  has  now  been  converted 
into  an  institution  for  orphans,  under  the  patronage 
of  the  Grand  Duchess  Xenia,  the  Tsar's  sister.  Many 
of  the  palaces  of  the  Grand  Dukes  are  sharing  a  similar 
fate,  and,  as  the  expense  of  living  increases,  are  being 
sold  by  the  owners  and  converted  into  military  schools, 
orphanages  and  hospitals. 

The  gentle  and  peace-loving  Alexander  II.,  who 
emancipated  the  serfs,  spent  most  of  his  days  in  the 
Winter  Palace,  where  he  was  carried  faint  and  bleeding 
after  the  abominable  attempt  on  his  life,  which  un- 
fortunately for  the  progressive  and  liberal  party  in 
Russia  was  only  too  successful ;  for  his  son  and 
successor,  Alexander  III.,  remembering  the  murder  of 
his  father,  not  only  stopped  Russia  on  the  road  to 
liberty  and  freedom,  but  also  became  a  strong  retro- 
grade and  reactionist,  which  can  hardly  be  wondered 
at.  In  the  room  where  he  expired  are  to  be  seen  his 
blood-stained  uniform,  his  half-smoked  cigarette  and 
other  silent  mementoes  of  the  tragedy.  His  son  hated 
the  place  where  his  father  died,  and  resided  in  the 
Anitchkoff  Palace,  which  seems  to  be  the  favourite 
home  of  the  later  Romanoff  tsars.  Here  the  bluff 
Alexander  III.,  who  was  a  typical  Romanoff  as  regards 
strength  and  sound  common-sense,  passed  many  happy 
days  in  company  with  his  beloved  Danish  wife,  who 
was  so  impressed  by  her  husband's  personality  that 
she  became  a  strong  upholder  of  his  religion  and  his 
political  views.  This  made  her  extremely  unpopular 
with  the  revolutionary  party,  and  several  attempts 
were  made  on  her  life.     It  is  said  that  she  and  several 


THE  ANITCHKOFF  PALACE  217 

other  members  of  the  Imperial  family  were  condemned 
to  death  by  the  Revolutionary  Committee,  but  as  she 
was  not  assassinated  this  rumour  may  be  unfounded. 
The  present  Tsar  was  partly  educated  there.  In  this 
comfortable  abode  Alexander  III.  felt  at  ease,  free  to 
live  the  life  that  was  in  accordance  with  his  simple 
tastes.  Many  a  time  he  could  be  seen  in  the  grounds 
chopping  firewood  with  a  huge  axe  such  as  only  a 
strong  man  could  wield. 

As  the  Tsar  found  that  the  palace  at  Petrograd  was 
too  large  for  his  comfort,  he  had  another  built  at 
Alexandroffka,  close  to  the  palace  of  Peterhoff — in 
reality  only  a  one-storey  house,  which  out  of  compli- 
ment to  the  Tsar  was  called  a  palace.  This  building 
was  so  small  that  it  could  be  easily  guarded  by  a  few 
soldiers  or  sentries.  It  was  in  the  Anitchkoff  Palace 
that  Alexander  III.  fell  ill,  and  grave  rumours  were 
circulated  to  the  effect  that  he  had  been  poisoned.  A 
noted  specialist  was  summoned,  but  it  was  too  late. 
Disease  had  made  too  much  headway  for  even  this 
excellent  physician  to  cure,  and  Father  John  was  sent 
for  to  administer  the  consolation  of  religion  to  the 
failing  Emperor. 

Mr  Heath  used  to  tell  me  that  Alexander  III. 
possessed  enormous  bodily  strength.  Like  Augustus, 
King  of  Saxony,  he  was  able  to  break  a  horseshoe  in  his 
hand  or  bend  a  thick  silver  rouble  between  his  finger 
and  thumb.  At  the  banquets  at  the  palace  he  would 
sometimes  show  his  strength  by  taking  one  of  the 
gold  plates  from  the  table  and  forming  it  into  the 
shape  of  a  bouquet-holder,  presenting  it  to  one  of 
the  ladies  present  whose  appearance  pleased  him. 
Unlike  Augustus  the  Strong,  the  Tsar's  private 
life  was  exemplary,  which  cannot  be  said  of  all  his 
predecessors. 


XXIII 

THE  TAURIDA  PALACE  AND  THE  WINTER  PALACE 

The  Taurida  Palace,  now  converted  into  the  Duma, 
a  magnificent  building  with  one  of  the  most  spacious 
halls  of  the  Continent,  was  for  many  years  the  resi- 
dence of  Potemkin,  Catherine's  favourite.  In  1783  she 
ordered  Ivan  Egorovitch  Staroff,  an  eminent  architect, 
to  build  a  palace  "  after  the  design  of  the  Pantheon  "  ; 
but  this  command  was  not  very  closely  followed.  The 
outward  appearance  is  not  particularly  interesting, 
for  the  architect's  taste  was  lavished  on  the  interior 
decorations,  which  are  in  pure  Doric  style.  When 
completed,  it  was  presented  to  the  glorious  "  Prince 
of  Taurida  " — a  title  bestowed  by  the  Empress  on 
Potemkin  after  his  conquest  of  the  Crimea.  He,  con- 
tinually in  want  of  funds  owing  to  his  extravagance 
and  dissipation,  sold  the  palace  to  Catherine,  who 
promptly  presented  it  once  more  to  its  original  owner, 
so  that  Potemkin  again  found  himself  rich.  In  1791 
the  anniversary  of  Ismail,  celebrated  by  Byron,  was 
commemorated  here  with  notable  splendour.  Accord- 
ing to  accounts  of  contemporary  writers,  the  buildings 
in  front  of  the  palace  facing  the  Neva  were  pulled 
down.  Potemkin  drew  up  the  programme  of  the 
festivities,  assisted  by  Dershaven  the  historian,  who 
composed  special  songs  for  the  occasion,  to  be  rendered 
by  several  choirs  of  the  best  singers.  Enormous  sums 
were  spent.  All  the  wax  in  the  city  was  bought 
up  for  illuminating  purposes,  and,  this  proving  in- 
sufficient, agents  were  sent  to  Moscow  for  more — 
70,000  roubles  went  for  this  alone,  equal  at  the  current 
value   of  the   rouble   to   about   £14,000.     For  weeks 

2l8 


THE  TAURIDA  AND  WINTER  PALACES    219 

skilled  artists  worked  on  the  decorations,  and  long 
beforehand  numbers  of  high-born  folk  assembled  there 
to  practise  their  various  parts,  each  repetition  being 
on  so  grand  a  scale  that  it  seemed  a  special  holiday. 
In  this  way  vanished  much  of  the  money  Catherine 
squandered  on  Potemkin  in  such  profusion.  Between 
the  palace  and  the  river,  the  whole  space  was  occupied 
by  booths,  swings,  and  shops  where  clothes,  boots, 
caps,  etc.,  were  distributed  gratis  among  the  people. 
On  her  arrival,  accompanied  by  the  Imperial  family, 
the  Empress  immediately  ascended  the  dais  prepared 
for  her,  and  the  ballet,  arranged  by  Le  Picquet,  a 
famous  maitre  de  ballet  of  the  day,  began  at  once. 
Fairies  to  the  number  of  twenty-four,  recruited  from 
noted  families,  took  part,  dressed  in  costumes  of 
white  enriched  with  diamonds.  The  Grand  Dukes 
Alexander  and  Constantine,  who  were  to  become  so 
well  known  in  Russian  liistory,  directed  the  dancing, 
assisted  by  the  Prince  of  Wiirtemberg,  while  Picquet 
performed  a  remarkable  solo  act  for  Catherine's 
delectation.  Three  thousand  guests  were  invited,  and 
all  appeared  in  costume.  It  is  said  that  Potemkin's 
hat  was  so  heavy  with  jewels  that  he  was  compelled 
to  give  it  to  his  adjutant  to  carry  ! 

The  scene  was  reminiscent  of  The  Arabian  Nights. 
Invisible  musical-boxes  discoursed  selections  from  the 
best  composers,  and  the  most  noted  musicians  and 
singers,  to  the  number  of  three  hundred,  made  harmony 
when  these  were  silent.  Lustres  of  great  value  adorned 
several  pedestals  round  the  walls.  These  were  of  black 
crystal,  and  had  been  purchased  from  the  Duchess  of 
Kingston — famed  for  her  beauty,  and  for  her  lawsuit 
against  her  husband.  Besides  these  huge  lustres, 
there  were  in  the  salon  fifty  smaller  ones,  and  5000 
lamps  of  various  colours.  It  is  estimated  that  on  tliis 
one  evening  140,000  lamps  and  20,000  wax  candles 
were  burning. 


220       PETROGRAD  PAST  AND  PRESENT 

The  rooms  set  apart  for  the  use  of  the  Empress  were 
especially  luxurious ;  the  walls  displayed  precious 
Gobelin  tapestry,  representing  the  story  of  Mordecai 
and  Haman  ;  and  in  one  room  was  a  golden  elephant 
— really  a  clock — which  in  1829  was  presented  by  the 
Tsar  Nicholas  I.  to  the  Shah  of  Persia.  The  two  ballets 
were  Les  Faux  Amants  and  The  Merchant  of  Smyrna ; 
in  the  second,  people  of  all  countries  appeared  as 
slaves,  with  the  exception  of  Russia.  As  the  Empress, 
who  was  passionately  fond  of  dancing  and  masquerades, 
entered  the  salon,  the  opening  of  the  ball  was  announced 
by  the  booming  of  guns  and  the  strains  of  a  patriotic 
Polish  song. 

It  would  take  volumes  to  describe  in  detail  the 
extravagance  of  that  entertainments — the  beautiful 
winter  garden,  a  wonder  of  luxury  and  of  taste,  rival- 
ling even  that  of  the  Hermitage  ;  the  flirtation  of  the 
gay  ladies  and  courtiers ;  the  freedom  of  manners 
which  Catherine  encouraged  in  order  to  hide  her  own 
lapses.  Such  licence  and  vicious  splendour  had  hardly 
been  known  since  the  days  of  the  Csesars.  The  kiosks, 
fountains,  statues,  feasting,  the  alcoves  where  lovers 
might  meet  undisturbed,  called  back  the  olden  times 
of  Rome's  hey-day. 

At  midnight  supper  was  begun — the  Russians  love 
to  turn  night  into  day  and  thus  pass  the  long  winter 
in  gaiety.  The  table  of  the  Empress  and  the  Court 
was  loaded  with  golden  dishes,  and  Potemkin  himself 
waited  on  her.  Behind  her  dais  a  place  was  reserved 
for  those  taking  part  in  the  ballet,  and  many  other 
tables  were  spread,  over  which  glowed  lamps  with 
globes  of  tinted  glass.  Naturally  the  viands  and  wine 
were  of  the  finest,  for  Potemkin,  who  had  the  reckless 
tastes  of  a  Roman  proconsul,  spared  no  expense  in  | 
obtaining  the  best.  The  Empress  departed  at  two 
in  the  morning — which,  for  Russia,  is  quite  early.  She 
was  highly  pleased  with  it  all,  and  expressed  her  hearty 


THE  TAURIDA  AND  WINTER  PALACES     221 

thanks.  Potemkin,  gallant  courtier,  knelt  at  her  feet 
and  raised  her  hand  to  his  lips  ;  it  is  said  that  tears 
stood  in  his  eyes,  and  that  even  Catherine  wept. 
Whether  this  emotion  was  genuine  or  not  I  will  leave 
to  the  student  of  history  to  decide;  but,  strange  to 
say,  not  a  word  of  the  whole  affair  was  given  in  The 
Government  Messenger  of  those  times.  A  reason  is 
to  be  found  for  this  freezing  silence  in  the  elevation 
of  another  lover.  Prince  Zooboff,  to  favour,  who  had 
succeeded  in  supplanting  the  intellectual  and  physical 
giant,  Potemkin. 

Potemkin  never  forgot  the  slight,  although  Catherine 
once  more  visited  him.  Two  months  after  this  visit 
he  quitted  the  Taurida  Palace,  and  did  not  set  foot 
within  its  precincts  again.  These  months  were  quiet 
ones,  for,  now  that  his  mistress  had  fixed  her  heart  on 
another,  carnivals  could  no  more  afford  the  courtier 
any  satisfaction.  The  fear  of  approaching  death  filled 
this  hardened  and  worldly  man  with  terror  and  gloom. 
When  Catherine  heard  that  he  lay  seriously  ill,  she 
showed  her  sympathy  and  sorrow  by  attending  the 
Alexander  Nevsky  Monastery  and  presenting  the 
Church  of  the  Annunciation  with  a  large  silver  reliquary 
and  a  golden  lamp,  also  several  vessels  set  with 
precious  stones.  On  news  of  his  death  arriving,  she 
wept,  and  for  days  seemed  inconsolable.  Speaking  of 
him,  she  said  :  "  He  possessed  unusual  wisdom,  a  hot 
temperament,  a  good  heart ;  he  looked  like  a  wolf, 
and  therefore  was  not  beloved,  but  he  bestowed 
favours  even  on  his  enemies.  It  is  difficult  to  replace 
him  ;  he  was  a  thorough  nobleman,  and  not  to  be 
bought  by  money  or  favour."  To  Prince  Eugene  of 
Nassau  she  wrote  :  "  C'etait  mon  eleve ;  il  faisait  le 
bien  a  ses  ennemis,  et  c'est  pour  cela  qu'il  les  desarmait." 

Potemkin  expired  on  5th  October  1791,  on  the  road 
from  Jassy  to  his  beloved  port  of  Nicholaieff.  After 
going  about  twenty  miles,  he  ordered  his  coachman  to 


222       PETROGRAD  PAST  AND  PRESENT 

stop.  "  It  will  do  now,"  he  exclaimed  ;  "  there  is  no 
need  to  travel — I  am  dying.  Take  me  out  of  the 
carriage  ;  I  wish  to  die  in  the  open  field."  Thus  this 
giant,  who  practically  ruled  Russia,  and  for  a  while 
held  Catherine  in  the  hollow  of  his  hand,  gave  up  his 
saddened  spirit.  With  all  his  faults,  he  was  a  true 
patriot,  living  for  the  glory  of  his  country,  even 
though  he  benefited  thereby  indirectly.  There  is 
little  doubt  that  he  was  a  man  of  commanding  ability, 
and  his  work  as  statesman  and  soldier  has  left  its  mark 
on  liistory.  In  his  later  years  he  may  well  be  regarded 
rather  as  friend  than  as  lover  ;  as  long  as  he  could  enjoy 
the  sweets  of  office  and  the  power  of  liis  position  he  was 
content  to  leave  the  smiles  and  favours  of  the  Empress 
to  men  of  smaller  calibre  and  less  ambition. 

The  Taurida  Palace,  bereft  of  those  who  filled  its 
halls  with  life  and  song,  was  like  a  body  without  a  soul. 
Slowly  it  fell  into  decay,  and  held  only  echoes  of  its 
former  glory.  Every  spring  and  autumn  the  Empress 
visited  this  haunt  of  happy  memories,  but  on  her  death 
the  Emperor  Paul,  who  hated  every  place  associated 
with  Potemkin,  Orlolf,  Zooboff,  and  other  lovers  of  his 
mother,  had  all  the  beautiful  statuary  and  ornaments 
removed  to  the  Mechailoff  Castle,  his  own  residence, 
and  the  building  itself  was  turned  into  barracks  for  the 
soldiers  of  the  Guard.  In  addition  to  this  indignity, 
Paul,  to  show  his  detestation  of  Potemkin,  who  had 
injured  him  in  his  mother's  estimation,  gave  orders 
that  the  courtier's  body  should  be  taken  from  the  spot 
where  it  rested  and  be  buried  "  without  further  pomp  " 
in  a  hole,  with  the  earth  flattened  in  such  a  manner  as 
to  show  no  evidence  that  he  had  ever  existed.  What 
an  end  to  the  man  who  ruled  an  empire,  who  spent 
millions  in  the  endeavour  to  please  his  Empress — to 
to  be  buried  in  a  hole  like  a  dog,  with  the  ground 
levelled  so  that  his  very  existence  might  be  forgotten  ! 
There  is  reason  to  believe,  however,  that  this  decree 


THE  TAURIDA  AND  WINTER  PALACES     223 

was  not  carried  out,  for  some  years  later,  in  the  Church 
of  St  Catherine  at  Kherson,  remains  were  found,  with 
a  portrait  of  Catherine  set  in  diamonds,  and  a  coat  and 
shppers  once  belonging  to  Potemkin. 

In  1802  the  Taurida  Palace  was  restored,  and  in 
the  following  year  the  Emperor  Alexander  I.  made  it 
his  abode.  In  1829  it  became  the  residence  of  Hozrer 
Mirza,  the  Persian  heir-apparent.  It  has  now  been 
given  over  to  the  Douma,  Russia's  first  popular 
representative  assembly  since  the  accession  of  Peter 
the  Great.  It  still  contains  many  statues,  pictures 
and  other  relics  of  magnificence,  also  a  winter  garden 
and  an  excellent  orangery.  I  have  not  visited  it  since 
its  new  character  of  the  House  of  Parliament ;  the 
last  time  I  was  there  was  on  the  occasion  of  a  "  Ball 
of  Flowers  " — one  of  the  last  this  classic  building 
knew.  Some  of  Petrograd's  fairest  danced  with  me 
then,  and  for  a  short  time  music  and  revelry  held 
possession  of  the  immense,  beautiful  halls  ;  but  now 
all  that  is  past.  Henceforth  the  Taurida  will  be 
devoted  to  far  more  serious  matters — the  discussion  of 
ways  and  means  of  raising  the  Empire  to  the  level  of 
other  European  nations,  and  of  making  Russia  greater, 
not  only  in  wealth  and  resources,  but  in  freedom, 
refinement  and  progress ;  in  short,  of  placing  her 
in  the  forefront  of  civilisation. 

The  first  Winter  Palace,  begun  by  Peter,  was,  com- 
paratively speaking,  a  small  building.  The  Empress 
Anna  Ivanovna,  on  her  return  from  Moscow,  where 
she  had  been  crowned,  stayed  in  the  old  palace  in 
December,  1730.  On  tliis  occasion  the  whole  Court 
travelled  to  the  city  in  three  days  by  sledge.  From 
this  time  the  Winter  Palace  became  the  principal 
centre  of  the  Empire,  the  Kremlin,  the  ancient  seat 
of  Muscovite  power,  being  practically  deserted.  It 
soon,  however,  proved  too  small  for  the  requirements 
of  the  Court,  and  in  1754  the  Empress  decided  to  lay 


224       PETROGRAD  PAST  AND  PRESENT 

the  foundation  of  a  new  edifice.  In  July  the  work 
began  ;  over  140,000  barrels  of  lime,  chalk  and  other 
materials  were  needed,  and  the  building  proceeded 
slowly.  There  were  so  many  labourers  that  housing 
became  a  problem,  and  they  had  to  live  in  earth 
shelters  in  the  meadows,  or  in  distant  parts  of  the 
town.  Owing  to  bad  food  and  impure  water,  hundreds 
of  them  died,  and  sometimes  the  work  came  to  a  stand- 
still for  want  of  funds.  Money  was  so  scarce  that 
the  Crown  often  spent  only  from  40,000  to  70,000 
roubles  a  year  instead  of  120,000.  Rastrelli,  the 
Italian  architect,  took  the  suspension  of  operations 
so  much  to  heart  that  he  sickened,  and  his  place  was 
taken  by  Felten. 

In  1761,  in  accordance  with  a  promise  made  to 
the  Empress,  the  palace  was  ready.  The  following 
November  she  gave  orders  that  its  great  church  should 
be  prepared  for  consecration  on  the  22nd  April;  but 
the  royal  lady  was  not  destined  to  behold  the  full 
grandeur  of  the  most  beautiful  architectural  achieve- 
ment of  her  reign,  for  she  died  suddenly  on 
25th  December  1761.  The  work  of  adorning  it  and 
adding  it  to  the  Hermitage  was  left  to  Catherine  II., 
who  spent  a  large  part  of  her  career  in  the  two  buildings. 
They  are  connected  by  a  number  of  passages. 

For  a  short  period  the  Winter  Palace  became  the 
residence  of  Peter  III.,  although  it  was  not  complete — 
the  whole  square  in  front  was  littered  with  timber, 
bars,  and  all  kinds  of  rubbish.  General  Baron  Korf, 
the  prefect  of  the  city,  ultimately  suggested  to  the 
Emperor  that  this  waste  material  should  be  given 
to  the  citizens.  The  notion  pleased  the  Tsar,  who 
assented  immediately,  and  as  soon  as  his  generosity 
was  made  known  the  people  thronged  the  square, 
picking  up  and  carrying  off  whatever  bits  might  come 
in  useful  for  their  homes.  The  scene  was  greatly 
enjoyed  by  the  Emperor  from  the  windows. 


THE  TAURIDA  AND  WINTER  PALACES  225 

Peter  then  took  up  his  quarters  in  the  palace.  He 
was  a  Lutheran,  and  refused  to  witness  the  consecra- 
tion of  the  new  church ;  dishking  the  Russian  form 
of  worship,  he  could  not  be  persuaded  to  attend  the 
service.  He  belonged  to  the  Holstein  dynasty,  and  his 
unfortunate  love  for  everything  German  eventually 
led  to  his  assassination ;  for  the  Russian  courtiers 
still  hated  Prussian  ideas,  while  Peter  w^as  bent  on 
forcing  his  military  notions  upon  them.  He  also 
shocked  them  by  neglecting  to  observe  the  religious 
fasts.  His  wife,  Catherine,  designing  and  ambitious, 
pretended  to  be  a  zealous  supporter  of  the  Orthodox 
Church,  and  so  pleasing  was  her  behaviour  to  the 
officers  of  the  Guard  that  when  Peter  was  murdered 
at  Ropcha  she  was  unanimously  proclaimed  Empress. 

Paul  I.  for  some  reason  never  cared  to  live  in  the 
Winter  Palace,  but  built  for  himself  a  splendid  home, 
surrounding  the  boundary  with  a  ditch,  in  which  he 
set  cannon.  The  place  resembled  a  fortress  in  the  very 
heart  of  the  city.  Here  he  lived  almost  alone,  as 
though  in  a  state  of  siege  ;  but  all  his  precautions 
could  not  save  the  "  mad  Tsar,"  and  he  fell,  assassi- 
nated by  courtiers  whose  amour  propre  he  had  offended 
by  his  eccentricities  and  impossible  conduct.  This 
palace  was  at  the  end  of  the  Summer  Garden  ;  it  is 
now  converted  into  a  School  of  Engineers.  The  new 
one  is  at  the  end  of  the  Mechaileffski,  at  right  angles 
to  the  Nevsky  Prospekt. 

The  Emperors  Alexander  I.,  Nicholas  I.  and 
Alexander  IL,  successors  to  Paul  I.,  passed  much  of 
their  lives  in  the  Winter  Palace  ;  but  after  the  attempt 
to  blow  up  the  Court,  and  the  murder  of  Alexander  IL, 
who  was  brought  there  to  die,  the  magnificent  abode 
was  rarely  inhabited  by  the  Imperial  family.  After 
the  explosion — ^the  sound  of  which,  as  I  have  mentioned, 
I  heard- — ^the  whole  of  the  enormous  structure — it  is 
almost  a  mile  in  circumference — was  searched  by  the 


226      PETROGRAD  PAST  AND  PRESENT 

police,  who  made  many  astonishing  discoveries. 
Among  other  surprises,  they  found  that  mines  had 
been  laid  in  the  cellars,  also  that  hundreds  of  persons 
were  in  residence  who  had  no  right  to  be  there.  Cows 
and  other  animals,  it  is  said,  were  found  even  on  the 
roof  1 

One  of  my  best  friends,  who  was  also  intimate  with 
the  late  Laurence  Irving,  was  present  when  the  Tsar 
met  his  doom.  A  colonel  I  knew  had  his  head  so 
injured  by  flying  fragments  of  the  bomb  that  he  was 
never  again  any  good  for  active  service.  As  for  the 
Tsar,  his  lower  limbs  were  shattered,  and  all  he  could 
utter  was  the  words  :  "To  the  palace  to  die."  It  can 
hardly  be  wondered  at  that,  with  such  terrible  memories 
as  this  palace  harbours,  the  present  rulers  of  Russia 
prefer  to  reside  in  their  less  ostentatious  home  on  the 
Nevsky  Prospekt. 


XXIV 

THE   ALEXANDER   NEVSKY  MONASTERY 

At  the  end  of  the  Nevsky  Prospekt — which  seems 
endless — is  the  Monastery  of  Alexander  Nevsky,  built 
in  honour  of  the  brave  Grand  Duke,  descendant  of  one 
of  those  Varangian  princes  who  in  the  ninth  century 
laid  the  foundations  of  the  Russian  Empire  and  made 
Novgorod  (Holmgard)  their  first  capital.  Although 
Novgorod  was  the  enemy  of  Muscovy,  Alexander 
Nevsky  is  now  considered  a  saint,  and  his  bones  are 
at  rest  in  a  shrine  of  solid  silver  about  two  tons  in 
weight,  which  has  been  further  enriched  by  all  the 
Romanoff  sovereigns  since  Peter  the  Great  brought 
the  precious  relics  from  Novgorod  to  his  new  capital. 
Raymond  Beazeley,  Litt.D.,  in  the  introduction  to 
his  Chronicles  of  Novgorod,  published  by  the  British 
Historical  Association  in  1914,  thus  writes  of  Alexander : 
"  After  the  intoxicating  victories  of  the  Neva  over  the 
Swedes  (1240)  and  of  Lake  Chudskera  over  the  German 
knights  (1242),  it  was  hard  to  submit  to  the  Mongol 
taxes  as  in  1259.  But  Alexander  realised  that  to  defy 
the  Horde  was  to  complete  the  desolation  of  Russia. 
The  hero  of  Novgorod  at  last  persuades  her  of  the 
humiliating  truth.  He  rides  out  with  the  Mongol 
emissaries,  whom  he  has  guarded  day  and  night  from 
mob  violence,  and  under  his  protection  the  '  accursed 
ones'  (the  Mongols)  go  through  the  streets,  marking 
the  houses  of  the  Christians.  To  save  the  Russian 
remnant  Alexander  journeys  repeatedly  to  the  western 
Tartar  army  (the  Golden  Horde)  upon  the  Volga. 
Death  overtakes  him  on  his  way  home  from  the  Golden 
Horde  in  1263.  The  news  reaches  Novgorod  as  the 
227 


228      PETROGRAD  PAST  AND  PRESENT 

Eucharist  is  finishing ;  turning  to  the  people,  the 
Archbishop  Cyril  tells  the  disaster — 'The  sun  of  the 
Russian  land  has  set,  my  children  ! '  '  Grant,  merciful 
Lord,'  exclaims  the  chronicler,  '  that  he  may  see  Thy 
face  in  the  ages  to  come ;  for  he  has  laboured  for 
Novgorod  and  for  the  whole  Russian  land.' "  Such 
was  the  hero  and  saint  whom  Peter  honoured.  The 
remains  were  conveyed  by  land  from  Novgorod,  and 
then  placed  on  a  small  vessel  on  the  River  Volchoff, 
whose  waters  Ivan  the  Terrible  had  reddened  with  the 
blood  of  thousands  of  citizens  of  the  once  powerful 
republic.  Thus  they  floated  to  Lake  Ladoga,  and 
thence  to  the  Neva.  At  Oost-Ishora,  the  scene  of 
Alexander's  victory,  Peter  met  the  procession,  placed 
the  relics  on  his  own  boat,  and  himself  took  the  rudder. 
The  Empress,  the  Court,  the  priests,  and  the  whole 
Guard,  with  crowds  of  the  excited  populace,  assembled 
to  meet  the  Tsar,  and  with  his  attendants  he  carried 
the  burden  into  the  Church  of  Alexander,  which  had 
been  especially  consecrated  on  this  day  for  the  recep- 
tion of  the  remains.  Peter  chose  the  30th  of  August 
1724  for  this  ceremony,  the  third  anniversary  of  his 
peace  with  the  Swedes.  At  last  he  was  happy ;  his 
"  Paradise "  was  no  longer  accursed  to  all  true 
Russians — for  did  it  not  contain  the  relics  of  one  of 
Russia's  greatest  heroes  and  saints  ?  One  who  by 
his  wisdom  and  courage  practically  saved  the  nation 
from  extinction  and  ruin  was  thus  brought  to  his  final 
rest. 

The  monastery  is  supposed  to  be  one  of  the  wealthi- 
est religious  houses  in  the  country  ;  its  present  revenue 
is  over  half-a-million  pounds  a  year.  During  the 
Crimean  War  the  monks  lent  the  Emperor  Nicholas 
several  million  pounds  ;  afterwards  they  laid  out  huge 
sums  in  the  construction  of  large  granaries  on  the 
Kalaschinkoff  Quay,  which  now  bring  in  a  good  income. 
Licidentally  I  may  mention  that  these  granaries  are 


THE  ALEXANDER  NEVSKY  MONASTERY  229 

infested  with  thousands  of  enormous  rats,  which  seek 
the  river  at  night,  presumably  to  quench  the  thirst 
induced  by  the  feasts  of  the  day.  It  is  said  that  a 
drunken  moujik  once  tried  to  stop  them  in  their  march, 
and  was  torn  to  pieces  for  his  foolhardiness. 

Six  churches,  an  ecclesiastical  academy,  the  house 
of  the  metropolitan,  a  seminary  for  priests  and  a  school 
are  embodied  in  the  monastery,  and  in  its  beautiful 
adjoining  cemetery  many  famous  statesmen  and 
writers  are  buried — among  them  Glinka,  Dostoieffsky, 
Karamzin  the  historian,  Rubinstein  and  Tchaikoffsky. 
About  one  hundred  monks  are  attached  to  the  place, 
and  I  have  heard  that  some  rich  merchants  of  Petro- 
grad  give  large  sums  to  ensure  the  privilege  of  passing 
their  last  days  within  the  sacred  precincts — also  that 
the  life  they  lead  there,  surrounded  by  old  friends  and 
good  books,  is  not  a  particularly  austere  one  !  An 
interesting  work  could  be  written  on  this  theme. 
Russia  to  a  great  extent  is  still  living  in  the  Middle 
Ages,  and  the  existence  of  millions  in  the  interior 
reminds  one  more  of  the  days  of  Chaucer  than  of  the 
period  of  Kipling  and  his  contemporaries.  The  holy 
friars,  the  ascetics,  the  merry  monks,  the  drunken 
village  priests,  who  relate  scandalous  stories,  all  call 
to  mind  The  Canterbury  Tales.  Not  all  these  ecclesi- 
astical professors  are  above  reproach.  The  story  goes 
that  the  monks  and  nuns  in  a  very  noted  house  near 
Moscow  were  so  famed  for  their  piety  that  for  a  long 
time  they  escaped  all  supervision.  Unfortunately  for 
them,  the  bishop  of  their  diocese  happened  to  pay  a 
visit  quite  unexpectedly,  and  entered  a  section  in 
which  they  usually  held  devotions.  In  one  room  he 
noticed  an  oily  liquid  trickling  from  the  ceiling,  and 
this  led  him  to  make  a  thorough  investigation  of  the 
upper  storeys.  To  his  surprise  he  discovered  on  each 
side  of  the  upper  chamber  a  secret  corridor  which 
passed   over    the    prayer    cells.    His    suspicions    still 


230       PETROGRAD  PAST  AND  PRESENT 

further  roused,  he  searched  these,  and  found  pigment- 
boxes,  face  powders  and  fragrant  pomades.  It  was 
afterwards  found  that  the  trickhng  hquid  originated 
in  a  tub  of  prime  butter  whose  contents  had  been 
melted  by  the  heat.  The  most  remarkable  discovery, 
however,  was  a  gramophone,  which  reproduced  songs 
of  such  a  nature  that  the  cheeks  of  the  worthy  bishop 
blushed  scarlet.  He  was  so  scandalised  that  he 
summoned  a  special  ecclesiastical  conclave  to  discuss 
the  affair,  and  as  a  result  of  its  deliberations  sixty 
nuns  were  expelled.  If  this  particular  story  is  fiction, 
I  have  heard  many  to  beat  it  during  my  wanderings 
through  Russia. 

In  the  church  of  Blagovetchesk,  belonging  to  this 
monastery,  are  interred  the  bodies  of  Natalya,  sister 
of  Peter  the  Great,  and  Field-Marshal  Souvoroff,  with 
many  another  eminent  personage.  On  Souvoroff's 
grave  is  the  simple  inscription  this  hero  of  so  many 
fights  desired  :  "  Here  lies  Souvoroff."  Many  precious 
relics,  and  a  huge  quantity  of  jewels,  pictures  and  gems, 
gifts  from  the  faithful  and  the  repentant  to  the  church 
and  its  patron  saint,  are  contained  here. 

Farther  up  the  river,  past  the  Schliisselberg  Gate, 
is  a  cathedral  which  came  into  existence  while  I  was 
in  Petrograd.  Its  origin  was  curious.  One  summer 
day  during  a  heavy  thunderstorm  the  lightning,  by 
a  strange  freak,  struck  the  metal  dish  containing  a 
quantity  of  coins  which  had  been  offered  to  an  icon. 
Several  of  the  smaller  ones  were  embedded  in  the  metal 
framework  of  the  picture,  which,  of  course,  immedi- 
ately became  doubly  sacred.  The  old  monk  attending 
at  the  shrine  ran  out,  crying  that  a  wonderful  miracle 
had  occurred — the  Almighty,  in  order  to  show  His 
favour  to  this  chosen  icon,  had  scattered  the  money  on 
its  frame.  This  story  made  a  strong  appeal  to  the 
imaginative  and  superstitious  people,  and  soon  from 
all   parts   came   crowds   to    pray   before   the   image. 


THE  ALEXANDER  NEVSKY  MONASTERY  231 

Several  real  or  imaginary  cures  took  place,  and  soon  the 
little  chapel  where  the  event  happened  was  too  small 
for  the  worshippers.  It  was  found  necessary  to  build 
a  church,  which  gradually  developed  into  a  cathedral 
with  its  adjuncts.  And  so  it  stands,  in  all  its  glory, 
and  the  wonder-working  image  which  brought  such 
luck  to  the  priests  is  still  there,  the  innocent  cause  of 
this  unexpected  flow  of  wealth  and  fortune.  I  believe 
that  a  large  number  of  the  monasteries  and  churches 
in  Russia  owe  their  origin  to  "  miracles  "  of  this  kind. 
In  another  religious  house  not  far  away,  near  which  I 
lived  for  a  whole  summer,  the  monks,  according  to  the 
boatmen,  who  used  to  ferry  them  across  the  river  told 
me,  did  not  deny  the  flesh  at  all.  After  dark  the  ferry- 
men take  over  wine,  vodka  and  other  delicacies  more 
exciting  than  sour  cabbage,  black  bread  and  cucumbers. 
All  this,  again,  called  to  mind  the  days  of  Chaucer  and 
Langland,  when  the  priests  made  merry  and  lived  well, 
to  the  scandal  of  those  who  imagined  that  fasting 
and  praying  were  their  chief  occupations.  But  each 
monastery  has  its  own  code  of  conduct,  and  it  is 
perhaps  better  not  to  pry  too  closely  into  these 
mysteries  ! 


1 


XXV 

THE    KAZAN    CATHEDRAL,    THE    RIOTS,    AND    ST    ISAAC'S 

CATHEDRAL 

Passing  the  Imperial  Library,  one  arrives  shortly  at 
the  Corps  de  Pages  (Pashesky  Korpus),  a  splendid  mili- 
tary school  which  occupies  a  large  area  on  the  banks 
of  the  Fontanka.  This  owes  its  origin  to  the  Tsar 
Paul,  who  was  a  Knight  Commander  of  the  Knights 
of  Malta,  and  a  zealous  freemason.  He  had  many 
good  qualities,  and  still  more  excellent  intentions ; 
but  this  is  not  the  place  to  speak  of  him  or  them. 
On  the  right  hand  is  the  "  Cathedral  of  the  Kazan 
Mother  of  God,"  and  in  front,  in  the  large  square,  are 
the  statues  of  Koutosoff,  the  Russian  cunctator,  and 
Barclay  de  Toll,  the  two  chief  generals  who  helped  to 
defeat  Napoleon  in  1812,  and  to  drive  him,  baffled, 
over  the  frontier.  Nowhere  in  Russia,  save  perhaps 
in  Moscow,  does  one  see  so  many  mementoes  of  this 
disaster.  In  the  cathedral  alone  there  are  one  hundred 
and  twelve  eagles  captured  from  the  French  army  in 
its  retreat,  also  a  considerable  portion  of  the  plunder 
from  Moscow,  rescued  from  the  French  soldiers  when 
they  fled  in  disorder  before  the  raging  Cossacks  and  the 
fanatical  peasants — who  regarded  the  French  as  the 
Belgians  now  regard  the  Germans.  The  cathedral  also 
contains  the  keys  of  Memel,  Berlin  and  many  other 
European  cities  occupied  by  the  Russians  after  that 
campaign.  One  of  its  treasures  is  the  "  Iconostase," 
which  divides  the  principal  altar  from  the  body  of  the 
church.  This  beautiful  ornament  is  of  pure  silver, 
weighing  about  forty  poods,  and  is  chased  in  a  most 
intricate   manner ;    it  is   enriched  with  many  icons 

232 


■z  o 

:5  O 

—  a. 

Z  < 

y. 


THE  I^ZAN  CATHEDRAL,  ETC  233 

glittering  with  rubies,  sapphires  and  diamonds,  and 
was  captured  by  the  Don  Cossacks  and  presented  by 
them  to  the  church.  The  most  valuable  icon  of  all, 
however,  is  the  one  from  which  the  cathedral  derives  its 
name.  The  frame  alone,  containing  the  image  of  the 
Virgin,  weighs  ten  poods  (360  lb.),  and  is  of  pure  gold, 
inlaid  with  hundreds  of  gems.  In  1812  Marshal 
Koutosoff  placed  the  image  in  liis  bosom  after  praying 
in  the  church,  and  set  off  to  take  over  the  supreme 
command  of  his  country's  forces  against  the  "  heretical 
French."  Many  Russians,  especially  those  of  the  lower 
classes,  believe  that  it  was  only  due  to  the  miraculous 
aid  given  by  the  "  Holy  Mother  of  Kazan  "  that  he 
was  able  to  conquer,  when  all  other  help  had  proved 
vain.  When  Tochtemish,  the  Tartar  invader,  marched 
against  Moscow  and  the  Kremlin,  it  is  stated  that  by 
the  power  of  a  holy  icon  borne  in  solemn  procession  by 
the  priest  round  the  walls,  the  Tartars  were  compelled 
to  retreat.  Russian  history  abounds  with  instances 
of  miracles  and  wonderful  victories  effected  in  this 
manner  through  images  of  the  Virgin  Mary  and  the 
immmerable  saints,  and  whether  or  not  we  believe  the 
faith  which  millions  of  the  poorer  people  still  have  in 
their  icons  and  sacred  relics,  it  is  a  great  power  in  the 
hands  of  the  priests  and  officials,  whenever  they  make 
use  of  it  for  their  own  ends.  This  power,  however, 
does  not  always  avail,  and  I  have  myself  seen,  in  a 
house  of  one  of  my  friends  in  the  suburbs  of  London, 
the  very  icon  the  merchants  of  Kharkoff  presented 
to  Grcneral  Krapotkine  when  he  started  on  his  dis- 
astrous expedition  against  the  "  little  yellow  men  of 
the  East." 

The  Kazan  cathedral  will  always  be  associated  in 
my  mind  with  the  great  riot  that  took  place  in  the 
square  on  11th  March  1901 — an  event  which  I  con- 
sider as  the  real  beginning  of  the  terrible  revolution 
that  for  years  cast  a  cloud  of  misery  and  despair  over 


234      PETROGRAD  PAST  AND  PRESENT 

the  whole  Empire.  On  that  day  I  was  attending 
service  in  the  American  church,  and  received  warning 
from  a  student  that  serious  trouble  was  expected.  I 
immediately  hurried  to  the  Kazan  Square,  and  took  up 
a  position  on  the  steps  of  the  Domenico  Cafe,  exactly 
opposite  the  cathedral.  I  saw  no  signs  of  the  coming 
storm,  except  a  small  crowd  standing  under  the 
colonnade,  at  first ;  but  the  square  gradually  filled 
with  a  throng  of  excited  people,  as  if  by  some  pre- 
arranged plan.  Many  students  were  there,  gesticu- 
lating wildly  and  talking  volubly.  Suddenly  someone 
began  to  sing  the  Marseillaise,  which  the  Avorkmen  had 
learned  from  sailors  who  had  been  in  France,  and  this 
stirring  strain,  which  has  inspired  so  many  fighters  all 
over  the  world,  at  last  roused  the  attention  of  the  grey- 
coated  police  as  they  paced  slowly  up  and  down  the 
broad  street  and  kept  order.  Every  moment  the 
crowd  grew  more  and  more  excited.  Then,  without 
the  least  warning,  General  Clayhills,  the  Prefect  of  the 
city,  entrusted  with  almost  autocratic  powers,  drove 
up  in  front  of  the  cathedral.  I  observed  that  he  was 
also  excited,  and  that  he  pointed  now  and  then  to  the 
people  assembled  on  the  steps  under  the  colonnade. 
He  gave  several  orders  to  the  adjutants  standing 
round  him,  and  these  officers  immediately  disappeared. 
Seeing  that  affairs  looked  serious,  I  withdrew,  and 
sheltered  in  a  doorway — as  it  happened,  not  a  moment 
too  soon,  for  before  one  could  count  a  hundred  a  large 
company  of  Don  Cossacks  and  mounted  gendarmes 
rushed  up  from  all  sides  and  rode  down  mercilessly 
the  crowd  just  in  front  of  me.  For  twenty  minutes 
or  more  the  air  rang  with  the  agonised  screams  of 
women  and  the  curses  of  infuriated  men  who  had  been 
crushed  by  the  wild  horsemen  of  the  steppes,  or  struck 
down  by  the  terrible  nagaika — a  loaded  whip  that  tears 
the  flesh  or  cuts  like  a  jagged  sword. 

Little  by  little  the  turmoil  subsided.     I  saw  young 


THE  KAZAN  CATHEDRAL,  ETC.  235 

men  and  lady  students  carried  off,  bleeding  and  dis- 
figured ;  some  were  even  killed  outright,  others  were 
severely  injured  by  the  hoofs  of  the  horses.  As  soon 
as  I  was  able  to  pass  the  cordon  of  soldiers  that  shut 
off  all  approaches  to  the  square,  I  made  for  a  small 
underground  shop  in  a  side  street,  and  there  wrote 
out  a  detailed  description  of  the  affair,  which  I  posted 
to  my  agent  across  the  frontier.  He  at  once  tele- 
graphed it  to  London.  Thus,  despite  the  vigilance  of 
the  censors,  who  stopped  all  letters  referring  to  this 
riot,  the  incident  was  known  directly  afterwards  all 
over  Europe. 

On  making  further  inquiries,  I  subsequently  found 
that  some  hundred  persons  had  been  arrested  and 
locked  up  in  the  barracks  and  prisons.  Among  these 
were  ladies,  who  had  taken  no  part  in  the  demonstra- 
tion, but  who  had  merely  been  guilty  of  idle  curiosity. 
It  was  fortunate  that  I  was  not  with  them,  for  I  was 
just  as  curious.  Some  of  the  people  who  took  part 
in  the  tumult — which  was  attended  with  loss  of  life 
on  both  sides — were  sent  to  Siberia ;  others  were 
imprisoned,  I  remember  how  one  muscular  lady 
student  killed  a  police  officer  with  a  hammer  ;  another 
official  was  badly  wounded  with  one  of  the  old 
standards  which  hang  round  the  walls  of  the  cathedral. 
One  little  dreamed  that  they  would  ever  be  put  to  so 
novel  an  employment — as  weapons  of  desti-uction  ! 
The  women,  being  "  politicals,"  were  treated  with 
greater  severity.  As  a  rule  the  women  demonstrators 
and  "  emancipated  "  females  who  cause  trouble — 
especially  students,  who  often  wear  short  hair  and 
dress  as  men — are  taken  to  a  police  station,  where  they 
receive  corporal  punishment  at  the  hands  of  women 
warders,  administered  on  the  most  sensitive  parts  of 
the  body. 

After  this  eventful  day  similar  scenes  were  enacted 
in  Nizhni-Novgorod,  Moscow,  Kieff,  llostoff  and  many 


236      PETROGRAD  PAST  AND  PRESENT 

other  centres.  The  social  revolutionary  movement 
spread  rapidly  throughout  the  whole  of  Russia,  and 
thousands  were  killed  and  wounded  in  encounters  with 
the  police,  though  the  censors  did  their  utmost  to 
conceal  from  the  outside  world  what  was  happening. 
After  each  outbreak  the  Government  spared  no  efforts 
or  expense  to  crush  the  revolution;  but  it  still  pro- 
gressed, until  it  culminated  in  the  dramatic  episodes 
that  followed  the  Russo-Japanese  War  in  1906,  when 
Moscow,  and  even  Petrograd,  seemed  for  a  time  at  the 
mercy  of  the  revolutionists. 

During  this  period  all  newspapers,  books,  songs  and 
pamphlets  w^ere  carefully  examined  by  the  censors 
before  publication,  and  concerts  or  other  entertain- 
ments were  prohibited  unless  the  police  first  scrutinised 
the  proposed  programme,  or  an  officer  was  present. 
Yet,  in  spite  of  all  these  precautions,  the  secret  print- 
ing presses  managed  to  do  their  work.  Thousands 
of  inflammatory  pamphlets  were  smuggled  over  the 
frontier  and  distributed  broadcast.  Gendarmes  and 
police  were  then  armed  with  revolvers  and  allowed  to 
use  their  weapons  on  the  slightest  provocation,  but 
these  repressive  measures  did  not  suffice ;  and  von 
Ploeve,  Minister  of  the  Interior,  who  had  himself  been 
a  police  officer,  spent  millions  of  money  in  increasing 
the  rural  and  secret  police  force.  This  soon  became 
the  most  important  body  in  the  Empire,  with  auto- 
cratic powers  exceeding  those  of  any  other  State 
department.  Many  laws  were  passed  to  improve  the 
condition  of  the  manufacturing  and  agricultural  classes, 
but  the  disaffection  and  ill  will  of  the  revolting  sec- 
tion seemed  undiminished,  and  the  prisons  became  so 
overcrowded  that  accommodation  for  criminals  grew 
scarce.  This  terrible  internal  rebellion  brought  about 
the  assassination  of  the  dreaded  von  Ploeve,  who  was 
blown  to  pieces  by  a  bomb  while  driving  along  the 
Ismaielsky  Prospekt  on  his  way  to  the  station.    The 


} 


THE  KAZAN  CATHEDRAL,  ETC.         237 

Generals  Sacharoff,  Bobrikoff,  Stolypin  and  many 
others  in  high  positions  shared  a  similar  fate,  but  in 
the  end  the  Government,  of  course,  gained  the  upper 
hand.  The  rebellion,  in  my  opinion,  failed  rather  for 
the  want  of  capable  leaders  than  for  any  other  reason. 
The  Russian  people,  accustomed  for  so  long  to  being 
governed  like  children,  have  not  yet  developed  qualities 
which  fit  men  to  become  leaders  of  their  fellows. 

The  unsuccessful  finale  of  the  Japanese  War  had 
much  to  do  with  kindling  the  slumbering  fires  of  public 
feeling  against  all  who  were  believed  responsible  for 
the  disasters  on  land  and  sea.  Should  the  present  war 
by  any  chance  end  badly  for  Russia,  we  may  again  see 
an  outburst  of  activity  among  the  revolutionaries. 
It  is  a  mistake  to  think  that  there  is  no  public  opinion 
in  Russia  corresponding  to  ours.  The  public  voice 
exists,  but  is  slow  in  expression,  for  a  variety  of 
reasons  which  cannot  here  be  dwelt  upon.  But  when 
once  awakened  it  is  a  force  not  to  be  ignored,  as  past 
years  have  amply  proved.  Had  there  not  been  a 
strong  popular  verdict  in  favour  of  the  present  war 
against  Germany,  it  would  never  have  met  with  the 
support  it  has  among  all  classes  of  the  Slavonic 
people ;  with  them  it  is  a  racial  struggle,  but,  more 
than  that,  it  is  primarily  a  religious  war. 

Until  the  building  of  the  Cathedral  of  the  Saviour 
in  Moscow,  the  Cathedral  of  St  Isaac  was  held  to  be 
the  most  costly  in  the  world.  This  beautiful  temple 
was  begun  by  Catherine  II.,  in  honour  of  the  saint  of 
Dalmatia.  It  stands  in  a  capacious  square  opposite 
the  Alexander  Gardens,  close  to  the  Hotel  d'Angle- 
terre,  and,  driving  from  the  Gutaieffsky  Harbour,  or 
along  the  fine  Admiriilty  Quay,  you  cannot  fail  to  see 
this  impressive  edifice  of  granite,  marble  and  bronze, 
with  its  cupola  of  burnished  gold  that  towers  to  a 
height  of  forty  feet  above  the  cross  of  St  Paul's. 

The  original  structure  erected  by  Catherine  on  this 


238      PETROGPtAD  PAST  AND  PRESENT 

spot  proved  unsatisfactory,  and  Alexander  I.  ordered 
it  to  be  rebuilt.  The  work  was  entrusted  to  Mont- 
ferran,  a  celebrated  architect  of  the  day,  whose  bust, 
by  the  way,  I  once  saw  for  sale  in  the  Gosteny  Dvor — 
so  soon  are  our  famous  deeds  forgotten.  The  founda- 
tions were  laid  in  1819,  but  the  task  was  not  completed 
imtil  1858.  Before  a  safe  soil  could  be  found,  it  was 
necessary  to  sink  hundreds  of  thousands  of  piles  into 
the  treacherous,  moist  ground,  and  many  tons'  weight 
of  granite  blocks.  Even  now  the  foundations  seem 
imsatisfactory,  subsidence  occurs,  and  occasionally 
alarming  fissures  make  their  appearance  in  the  outer 
walls.  These  have  to  be  filled  up  with  cement  and 
newly  cut  blocks  of  marble.  The  work  of  keeping  St 
Isaac's  in  thorough  repair  brings  a  quite  respectable 
revenue  to  the  contractors,  but  unfortunately  while  it 
proceeds  an  unsightly  scaffolding  mars  the  general 
effect  of  beauty. 

The  cathedral  is  quadrilateral  in  shape,  and  has  four 
classical  porticoes,  supported  by  monoliths  of  porphyry 
and  jasper,  each  of  which  weighs  about  one  hundred 
and  thirty  tons.  Round  the  principal  dome  are  four 
smaller  ones,  richly  gilt,  which  shine  like  planets  round 
a  central  sun  in  the  summer  light.  The  entire  build- 
ing, within  and  without,  is  ornamented  with  marble  of 
many  sorts  and  colours,  and  the  bronze  capitals  of  the 
pillars  are  of  great  value.  All  visitors  are  impressed 
with  the  grandeur  of  the  interior.  There  are  three 
altars,  and  the  principal  iconostase,  which  resembles 
the  ancient  presidium  of  the  Roman  and  Greek 
temples,  has  three  rows  of  icons,  some  of  which  are  by 
Italian  artists,  others  by  Russian  artists  of  the  school 
of  mosaic  work  on  the  Vasilii  Ostroff.  The  iconostase 
is  of  white  marble,  with  columns  of  malachite  and 
lapis  lazuli  brought  from  Siberia.  The  beautiful 
stained -glass  window  behind  it  is  over  twenty-eight 
feet  high,  and  represents  the  Saviour.    The  gold  and 


THE  IvAZAN  CATHEDRAL,  ETC.         239 

silver  ornaments  and  vessels  of  the  church,  given,  in 
most  cases,  by  the  faithful  worshippers,  weigh  collec- 
tively more  than  four  tons.  Among  its  rare  treasures 
is  a  cross  containing  the  relics  of  the  apostle  Andrew 
Pervozvannavo  {lit.  "  first-called  "),  and  a  miraculous 
icon  of  the  Techven  Madonna.  These,  and  many 
other  sacred  things,  are  protected  by  iron  bars,  some- 
times by  an  iron  railing,  for  the  precious  stones  they 
contain  are  worth  millions  of  roubles.  Some  such  pre- 
cautions are  necessary.  It  has  happened  before  now 
that  the  "  pious,"  under  the  pretext  of  kissing  supposed 
holy  images,  have  extracted  a  valuable  gem  with  their 
teeth — to  the  real  horror  of  true  believers.  When  the 
first  church  was  being  built  some  unfortunate  wretch 
attempted  to  destroy  one  of  the  icons,  but  was 
detected,  and  by  order  of  Peter  the  Great  burned  alive. 
Peter,  according  to  his  own  lights,  was  a  religious  and 
devout  man.  During  my  residence  in  the  city  the  son 
of  one  of  the  officiating  priests  stole  a  large  diamond 
from  an  icon.  The  culprit,  instead  of  being  burned 
to  death,  was  sent  either  to  Siberia  or  to  a  monastery, 
where  he  would  be  compelled  to  undergo  very  severe 
labour  and  penance.  I  can  only  explain  the  curious 
fact  that  the  most  dangerous  criminals  and  revolu- 
tionists have  been  the  sons  of  priests  by  supposing 
that  the  pent-up  evil  passions,  repressed  sternly  in 
the  parents,  burst  forth  with  tenfold  energy  in  their 
children  when  relieved  from  the  restraints  imposed  by 
the  ordinances  of  the  Church. 

But  what  interested  me  more  than  images  studded 
with  precious  jewels  was  the  glorious  singing — the 
grand  old  Gregorian  chants  which  the  Orthodox 
Greek  Church  introduced  from  Byzantium  when  the 
Varangian  Grand  Dukes  of  Kieff  embraced  Christi- 
anity, bringing  the  new  faith  to  Russia  with  sword 
and  fire.  The  methods  used  by  them  were  certainly 
drastic,  but  when  we  think  of  the   human  sacrifices, 


240       PETROGRAD  PAST  AND  PRESENT 

the  diabolical   practices,  the  superstitious  rites,  that 
were  common  in  the  land  of  Roos  before  St  Madimir 
broke  down  Permi  and  the  other  idols  of  the  Slavs,  we 
can  almost  forgive  these  pioneers  of  Christianity  for] 
their  haste  and  zeal.    As  is  well  known,  there  is  no 
instrumental  music  in  Russian  churches  or  cathedrals,, 
and  it  may  be  added  that  it  is  really  not  necessar\%i 
for  the  people  are  not  only  by  nature  intensely  musical,  \ 
but  are  gifted  with  such  sonorous,  rich  voices  that  anj 
organ  would  be  superfluous.     Some  of  the  voices  arej 
of  surprising  volmne  and  depth,  and  none  who  havej 
attended  Russian  services  would  wonder  at  the  vocal! 
feats  of  Chahapine,  the  basso  who  made  such  a  sensa- 
tion at  Covent  Garden  and  at  the  Grand  Opera  in  Paris. 
The  most  remarkable  bass  voice  I  remember  was  at 
Vishny  Volochock,  a  small  to^vn  between  Moscow  and 
Petrograd,  where  I  once  heard  a  priest  intoning  the 
service  on  the  opposite  side  of  a  tiny  lake.     Although 
he  must  have  been  about  half-a-mile  away,  I  could  dis- 
tinguish his  mellow  tones  above  all  the  rest,  carried 
across  the  still  water. 

I  have  heard  many  splendid  voices  in  Russia,  but 
very  few  good  tenors.  The  extremes  of  the  climate 
seem  to  be  fatal  to  the  production  of  rich  tenors  of 
dehcate  timbre  and  high  range,  such  as  one  hears  in 
England  or  in  France. 

The  most  suitable  time  to  gain  an  impression  of  the 
grandeur  of  the  service  of  St  Isaac's,  and  of  those  of 
the  Orthodox  Greek  Church  in  general,  is  at  Easter, 
Christmas  or  other  notable  festivals.  The  visitor  is 
then  struck  with  the  beauty  of  the  ritual  of  the 
Orthodox  Church — which,  in  the  eyes  of  all  good 
moujiks,  is  the  only  true  one  ;  in  which  sweet  and 
harmless  belief  we  will  leave  them,  if  it  gives  them  any 
joy  to  think  that  they  only  will  be  saved  in  the  next 
world  !  Their  faith,  if  not  yeiry  charitable,  is  certainly 
exceedingly  simple  and  comprehensible. 


The  Gosteny  D\or  (Giest  Bazaar)  on  the  Nevskv 


i 


The  Cai  iiehkai.  ok  St.  Isaac  ok  Dai.maiia 


THE  KAZAN  CATHEDRAL,  ETC.  241 

After  seeing  the  cathedral,  it  would  be  well  to  stroll 
along  the  Admiralty  Quay  fronting  the  river,  and 
inspect  the  beautiful  statue  of  Peter  the  Great,  erected 
by  Catherine  at  a  cost  of  £30,000.  It  is  the  work  of 
the  talented  French  sculptor  Falconhet,  and  is  one 
of  the  finest  equestrian  statues  in  existence.  On  the 
granite  pedestal  is  the  simple  inscription  :  "To  Peter 
the  First,  from  Catherine  II."  For  once  Catherine 
was  modest,  and  refrained  from  proclaiming  herself 
as  Minerva,  Venus,  Zenobia  or  Cleopatra.  The  enor- 
mous granite  block  forming  the  base  was  found  at 
Ljachta,  about  eight  miles  from  the  city,  and  was 
dragged  with  great  labour  to  its  present  site.  Accord- 
ing to  tradition,  Peter  used  to  climb  upon  this  very 
jtone  and  gaze  round  at  the  neighbouring  country 
Nhile  his  "  Paradise  "  was  rising  from  the  marshes. 
This  stone  is  called  the  "  Thunder  Stone,"  for  it  is 
relieved  that  it  was  once  struck  by  lightning  and 
;plit  in  two.  Considering  its  weight — 166  tons — we 
tan  understand  easily  what  tremendous  efforts  were 
•ntailed  in  transporting  it  from  its  original  position. 


1 


XXVI 

TWO    TSARS  :    PAUL,    THE    "  MAD    TSAR  "  ;    NICHOLAS    I., 
HIS   CHARACTER  AND   AMBITION 

The  Inshenerny  Zamok,  otherwise  the  School  of 
Engineers,  is  an  interesting  building  from  an  historical 
point  of  view,  since  it  was  once  the  palace  of  the  "  Mad 
Tsar  "  Paul,  who  erected  it  in  the  hope  that  he  would 
reside  in  it  for  many  years.  In  fact  its  walls  bear  an 
inscription  to  that  effect ;  but  Paul  did  not  allow  for 
the  unscrupulous  actions  of  his  many  enemies.  His 
palace,  the  work  on  which  went  on  day  and  night, 
and  which  was  defended  by  moats  and  ramparts  and 
cannon,  stands  on  the  very  spot  once  occupied  by  an 
old  fort  of  the  republic  of  Novgorod,  which  in  those 
days  recognised  the  importance  of  this  territory, 
centuries  before  Peter's  town  came  into  existence. 
Peter,  in  building  here,  simply  acted  on  the  plans 
of  the  Grand  Dukes  of  Novgorod  and  the  Tsars  of 
Muscovy  in  their  ambition  to  possess  this  outlet  to 
the  Varangian  Sea  (the  Baltic)  at  any  sacrifice. 

According  to  a  legend,  a  vision  appeared  to  the 
sentry  in  front  of  the  Summer  House  built  here  by 
Peter.  An  angel  ordered  the  sentry  to  go  to  the  Tsar 
and  say  that  a  temple  should  be  erected  in  the  name 
of  the  Archangel  Mechail.  When  Paul  heard  of  this 
apparition  he  said  :  "  The  will  of  the  Archangel  is 
already  known  to  me  ;  his  wish  shall  be  carried  out." 
We  are  not  told,  however,  what  happened  to  the 
sentry  for  taking  his  orders  from  an  angel,  or  whether 
he  was  beheaded  for  leaving  his  post  (as  would  be 
extremely  likely),  but  only  that  in  due  time  the 
castle  was  built  by  Basheneff,  according  to  the  Tsar's 

242 


TWO  TSARS  243 

own  plans  and  drawings.  On  8th  November  1800  it 
was  consecrated  by  the  priests.  Soldiers  guarded  it 
continually,  as  though  the  city  was  in  a  state  of  siege. 
The  entrance  was  decorated  tastefully,  and  traces  of 
its  luxury  can  still  be  seen.  The  beautiful  staircase 
leading  from  the  main  approach  gives  an  idea  of  its 
former  splendour.  In  the  upper  storey  is  the  immense 
chamber  of  the  Tsar,  now  converted  into  a  chapel. 
In  addition  to  this  there  is  a  chapel  dedicated  to  the 
Archangel  Mechail,  who  so  imperiously  ordered  the 
palace  to  be  built. 

According  to  historians,  Paul  died  of  apoplexy ;  but 
if  we  can  credit  the  memoirs  and  chronicles  of  those 
who  took  part  in  the  crime,  he  was  murdered  by  Zoo- 
boff  and  the  favourites  of  Catherine,  whom,  through  his 
mistaken  clemency,  he  had  allowed  to  return  from  exile. 
Mayne,  in  his  Life  of  Nicholas  I.,  says  that  the  Grand 
Duke  Nicholas  was  little  more  than  an  infant  at  the 
time  of  his  father's  murder.  It  is  said  that  the 
Empress,  hearing  a  noise,  took  her  two  youngest  sons, 
Nicholas  and  Mechail,  from  their  beds,  and  fled  with 
them  for  safety,  as  she  thought,  to  the  chamber  where 
the  deed  was  done.  The  door  was  guarded  by  Count 
Panen,  who  refused  her  admittance,  telling  her  that 
there  was  nothing  to  fear.  Paul  was  strangled  with 
his  own  scarf,  and  the  room  is  still  to  be  seen  where  this 
well-meaning  autocrat  was  put  to  death. 

How  many  Russian  rulers  have  met  a  violent  end  is 
only  too  well  known  to  historians.  We  need  not  be 
surprised,  therefore,  that  Paul  was  no  more  fortunate 
than  many  of  his  predecessors.  Had  he  not  been  so 
attached  to  his  German  relations,  and  to  everything 
German,  his  long-suffering  subjects,  who  had  been 
used  to  far  more  cruel  rulers,  would  probably  have 
tolerated  his  escapades  until  he  died  a  natural  death. 
His  mother,  Catherine,  knew  the  danger  of  leaning  to 
German  ideas,  and  became,  as  it  were,  more  Russian 


244       PETROGRAD  PAST  AND  PRESENT 

than  the  Roos ;  but  Paul  had  neither  the  wit  nor  the 
cunning  to  hide  his  true  nature.  Inheriting  German 
prochvities  from  his  father,  Peter  III.,  he  soon  made 
himself  disliked  by  favouring  German  tastes,  both  in 
the  army  and  at  Court.  Like  Panin,  his  instructor, 
one  might  say  of  him  that  "  the  Prussian  alliance  was 
the  first  article  of  his  political  creed  ;  Frederick  II. 
was  his  prophet  and  Berlin  was  his  Mecca.  This 
infatuation  was  his  bane,  and  ultimately  ended  in  his 
tragedy,  for  his  Russian  subjects  could  forgive  their 
Tsar  for  being  half  mad  (among  the  Russian  people 
madmen  are  still  considered  sacred),  but  they  could 
never  forgive  his  being  German  in  blood  and  sym- 
pathy." There  is  little  doubt  that  the  exercise  of 
supreme  power  turned  his  brain,  just  as  it  did  the  brain 
of  Nero  and  Caligula,  though  he  had  some  excellent 
qualities.  His  occasional  flashes  of  sound  common- 
sense  have  always  been  an  enigma  to  historians. 
Walizeffsky  is  so  interested  in  this  strange  mortal  that 
he  has  written  a  large  volume  on  the  life  and  character 
of  Paul.  "  If  there  are  any  doubts,"  he  says,  "as  to 
who  was  his  father,  there  can  be  little  doubt  that 
Catherine  was  the  author  of  this  curious  creature's 
existence.  But  in  his  ideals  and  character  Paul  was 
so  opposed  to  his  mother  that  she  did  her  utmost 
to  prevent  him  from  succeeding  to  the  throne.  He 
looked  on  the  life  and  policy  of  his  mother  with  the 
strongest  aversion,  and  for  this  reason,  with  his 
extravagant  temper,  has  been  considered  mad.  If 
he  was,  then  many  Russians  who  are  usually  thought 
sane  have  the  same  failing,  for  I  have  met  those  in  the 
interior  who  were  as  violently  opposed  to  the  notions 
of  Catherine  as  was  her  unfortunate  son."  Paul's 
peculiar  conduct  with  regard  to  the  burial  of  his 
father  has  been  cited  as  evidence  of  his  insanity.  The 
body  of  the  dead  Tsar  was  opened,  and  Catherine, 
his    dear    spouse,    remarked    that    "  his    heart    was 


2  ^ 


TWO  TSARS  245 

exceedingly  small  1  "  The  Archbishop  of  Pctrograd 
(Benjamin  ?)  states  that  the  corpse  was  brought  to 
the  Alexander  Nevsky  Monastery  in  the  early  morning 
from  Ropcha,  and  for  three  days  lay  in  state,  so  that 
the  nobles  and  simple  folk  could  pay  it  their  last 
respects,  according  to  the  ancient  custom.  It  was  in 
a  white  coffin,  round  which  four  candelabra  constantly 
burned.  The  body  was  in  the  uniform  of  his  Holstein 
Regiment,  and  on  the  hands,  folded  across  his  breast, 
were  white  gloves — spotted  with  blood  from  the  effects 
of  the  careless  autopsy.  The  Senators,  fearing  that  the 
nerves  of  the  Empress,  wliich  must  have  been  greatly 
upset  by  the  sudden  change  in  her  fortunes,  due  to  the 
"  colic  "  from  which  he  was  supposed  to  have  died, 
would  suffer,  requested  her  not  to  take  any  part  in  the 
burial  service.  Paul,  who  had  method  in  his  madness, 
on  his  accession  had  the  body  removed  from  the  grave 
and  brought  to  the  Winter  Palace,  there  to  be  placed 
in  a  catafalque  by  the  body  of  the  wife.  After  it  had 
lain  in  state,  he  had  it  taken  back  to  the  monastery 
and  there  buried  in  great  pomp.  All  the  regiments  of 
the  Guard,  as  well  as  troops  of  the  regular  army,  lined 
the  streets,  and  nothing  was  left  undone  to  make 
the  ceremony  as  imposing  and  dramatic  as  possible. 
Count  Alexis  Orloff,  by  a  refinement  of  irony,  was 
ordered  to  carry  the  crown  of  the  murdered  Tsar,  but 
was  so  overcome  that  he  leaned  in  a  corner  of  the 
church  and  wept.  Whether  the  tears  were  false  or 
genuine  is  a  mystery  which  we  can  make  no  attempt  to 
solve.  Orloff  was  discovered  with  extreme  difficulty, 
and  was  hardly  to  be  persuaded  to  join  the  procession. 
The  Emperor  and  the  Grand  Dukes  followed  on  foot, 
although  the  cold  on  the  day  was  almost  insupportable. 
H.  E.  Gretch  in  his  Memoirs  says  :  "  I  saw  the 
cortege  from  the  window,  in  the  house  of  the  Petro- 
pavlovsk  Cathedral.  The  Guards  lined  both  sides  of 
the  Nevsky  Prospekt.     Among  the  gigantic  grenadiers 


246      PETROGRAD  PAST  AND  PRESENT 

in  their  light  green  uniforms  and  their  splendid 
casques  were  to  be  seen  the  petty  soldiers  from  the 
Palace  of  Gatchina,  in  the  ridiculous  Prussian  uniform 
of  the  Seven  Years'  War.  General  attention  was 
centred  on  three  men  bearing  the  ends  of  the  pail ; 
these  were  Count  Alex  Gregorivitch  Orloff,  Prince 
Barjatinsky  and  Passak."  By  an  ingenious  revenge 
the  men  who  were  accused  of  causing  the  Tsar's  death 
were  chosen  to  take  a  leading  part  in  the  ceremonial. 
Paul  was  not  so  mad  after  all,  if  this  w^as  his  idea  of 
retribution. 

I  have  often  wandered  round  the  palace  and  gazed 
on  the  equestrian  statue  of  Paul  before  the  entrance, 
but  I  have  never  had  occasion  to  enter  this  house  of 
terrible  memories. 

Close  to  the  Summer  Gardens  is  the  Champ  de  Mars, 
an  immense  plain  where  magnificent  parades  and 
military  reviews  are  held.  On  the  left,  looking  to- 
wards the  Neva,  are  the  enormous  barracks  of  the 
Pavlovski  Regiment,  built  by  Paul.  All  the  men  of 
this  regiment  have  snub  noses.  It  is  said  that  the 
practice  of  enlisting  men  with  this  peculiar  form  of 
nose  was  originated  by  Paul,  who  did  not  wish  his 
own  nose  "  put  out  of  joint "  by  having  soldiers 
aroimd  him  continually  with  nice  straight  noses. 

Paul  was  inclined  to  be  a  martinet  in  matters  of 
discipline.  He  once  ordered  a  whole  regiment  to 
wheel  round  and  march  right  off  to  Siberia,  because 
something  in  their  equipment  did  not  please  his 
Prussian  notions  of  neatness.  The  unhappy  men 
obeyed  without  a  murmur,  and  had  achieved  a  good 
distance  on  their  terrific  journey  when  Paul  was  sent 
to  his  last  account — fortunately  for  them — by  those 
who  could  not  stand  his  pranks  and  antics. 

Another  instance  of  this  quality  was  sho^vn  when  on 
one  occasion  a  droshky-driver  ran  over  a  pedestrian. 
Paul  ordered  that  every  cabby  in  Petrograd  should 


TWO  TSARS  247 

leave  the  city  pro  tern.  Of  course  this  drastic  remedy 
was  effectual,  and  as  long  as  he  reigned  very  few  people 
were  run  over  by  the  careless  drivers,  wlio  had  learnt 
their  lesson. 

Mayne,  writing  in  1854,  in  his  Life  of  Nicholas  /., 
thus  describes  this  Emperor  ^ : 

"  The  Tsar  is  now  fifty-seven  years  of  age  ;  in 
person,  tall  and  commanding,  being  about  six  feet 
two  inches  in  height,  well  made,  but  inclined  to 
corpulency.  As  yet,  however,  this  is  kept  within  due 
bounds  by  tight  lacing,  said  to  be  very  injurious  to  his 
health.  His  shoulders  and  chest  are  broad  and  full, 
his  limbs  clean  and  well  made,  his  hands  and  feet  are 
small  and  finely  formed.  The  Emperor  has  a  Grecian 
profile,  a  high  but  receding  forehead,  that  and  the 
nose  being  in  one  grand  line  ;  the  eyes  are  finely  lined, 
clear,  large  and  blue  ;  the  mouth  is  delicately  cut,  with 
good  teeth  and  a  protruding  chin  ;  the  face  is  large, 
and  his  whole  air  is  military.  As  a  young  man,  the 
Tsar  was  cold,  stern  and  dignified,  even  with  his 
youthful  companions.  He  is  unbending  to  all,  both 
in  public  and  domestic  intercourse,  except  to  the 
Empress,  to  whom  he  is  said  to  be  sincerely  attached." 

Although  Nicholas  admired  and  copied  the  Prussian 
military  organisation,  he  looked  upon  the  Duke  of 
Wellington  as  the  beau-ideal  of  a  soldier,  just  as  the 
Emperor  William  regarded  the  late  Field-Marshal 
Lord  Roberts  in  the  same  light.  But  both  monarchs, 
though  admirers  of  England  in  many  things,  were 
destined  to  fight  against  her. 

The  Marquis  de  Castine,  who  saw  more  of  Nicholas 
than  any  other  foreigner,  formed  a  by  no  means  flatter- 
ing opinion  of  this  autocrat,  whose  ambitions  in  the 

'  The  Panslavists  are  now  endeavouring  to  carry  out  the  poUtical 
ideals  of  Catherine  II.  and  Nicholas  I.  as  far  as  possible. 


248       PETROGRAD  PAST  AND  PRESENT 

Balkans  and  in  Asia  Minor  were  to  drench  Europe  in 
blood,  although  Russia,  even  in  his  days,  possessed  far 
more  territory  than  she  could  develop,  populate  or 
cultivate.  The  Russian  writer  Golovin  describes  him 
as  an  unmitigated  despot,  and  condemns  him  for  his 
harsh  treatment  of  literary  men,  the  majority  of 
whom,  with  the  exception  of  Gogol,  he  either  feared 
or  hated.  For  example :  when  Lermontoff,  the  poet, 
died,  Nicholas  exclaimed  :  "  He  lived  like  a  dog  and 
he  has  died  like  one."  Rylieff,  who  wrote  poems  on 
Varangian  Russia,  of  times  when  the  people  were  free, 
he  hanged.  That  was  his  way  of  treating  native 
talent.  Another  young  poet  of  Liberal  tendencies 
Nicholas  called  and  embraced,  and  all  believed  that 
this  poet,  Polejaieff,  was  to  be  favoured  ;  but  the  Tsar 
made  him  a  soldier — a  terrible  punishment  in  those 
days — and  when  he  died,  a  friend,  wishing  to  find  the 
body,  was  told  to  look  among  the  boxes  which  are 
used  as  coffins  for  the  common  soldiers.  These  are 
but  a  few  of  the  eminent  men  visited  with  the  dis- 
pleasure of  Nicholas. 

Most  Russian  literary  men  of  talent  have  been 
unfortunate,  ending  their  lives  in  misery  or  exile. 
Pushkin  was  exiled  to  the  Caucasus ;  Dostoieffsky 
to  Siberia  ;  Tchedrin  (Saltikoff)  was  disgraced,  and 
Skalkoffsky  was  thrown  into  a  dungeon,  where  he 
died.  Even  now  it  is  a  perilous  thing  to  be  reckoned 
among  the  so-called  intelligentsia  (the  educated 
classes).  Should  you  belong  to  them  you  will  sooner  or 
later  be  suspected  by  the  police  and  written  down  in 
their  books  as  neblaganadeshny  (not  to  be  trusted). 
As  a  young  man  I  often  gave  thanks  that  I  was  born  a 
British  subject  and  could  pursue  my  affairs  and  tastes 
freely  in  Russia.  Had  I  been  a  Russian  this  would 
have  been  very  risky.  One  easily  understands,  bear- 
ing this  in  mind,  why  the  works  of  Gogol,  Pushkin, 
Turgenieff,    Tolstoi,    Dostoieffsky,    Gorki    and    other 


TWO  TSARS  249 

Russians  are  tinged  with  such  deep  sadness,  pessi- 
mism and  even  despair.  Speaking  once  with  Rjepin, 
the  Russian  painter,  on  this  theme,  he  said  to  me  : 
"  Ah,  your  Shakespeare,  Byron,  Burns,  Dickens, 
Fielding,  and  the  rest,  are  all  healthy  men ;  but  we 
are  all  bolnie  lude  (sick  men)."  True,  I  thought — all 
mentally  sick  ;  not  one  with  the  healthy  spirit  and  joy 
of  life  found  in  our  English  writers.  England's  great 
literary  men  are  the  product  of  centuries  of  liberty, 
while  Russia's  are  the  outcome  of  conquest,  oppres- 
sion, suppression  and  persecution,  which  has  been 
going  on  ever  since  the  country  was  invaded  and 
crushed  by  the  Tartars. 

;It  is  not  easy  to  explain  the  dislike  of  Nicholas 
for  the  gentler  arts.  One  would  have  thought  that  he 
would  simply  ignore  them,  for,  according  to  Mayne, 
"  the  one  overwhelming  feature  of  the  Tsar's  character 
was  his  ambition  to  be  a  great  Emperor  and  to  make 
Russia  the  chief  Empire  of  the  world.  This  seems  to 
have  been  his  aim  from  the  moment  he  ascended  the 
throne,  even  if  it  was  not  the  dream  of  his  life  from 
a  still  earlier  period.  The  partition  of  Poland  with 
others,  his  amenities  to  Austria,  the  assistance  he 
rendered  during  the  civil  war  in  Hungary,  were  all  so 
many  present  self-denials  to  smooth  the  way  for  the 
conquest  of  the  land  on  which  he  had  set  his  heart — 
Turkey.  For  long  years,  as  witnessed  by  the  diplo- 
matic correspondence  lately  published,  he  had  deter- 
mined to  own  the  keys  of  the  Empire  of  the  East, 
which  he  thought,  and  probably  truly,  added  to  his 
mighty  Northern  possessions,  would  give  him  supreme 
domination.  Very  crafty,  deep-laid  and  sagacious 
have  been  his  plans ;  but  the  British  feeling  for  pro- 
tecting the  weak,  and  the  far-sighted  policy  of  the 
Emperor  of  the  French,  have  unexpectedly  come  in 
kis  way." 

But  now,  with  England,  France,  Serbia  and  Italy, 


250       PETROGRAD  PAST  AND  PRESENT 

the  Allies  of  Russia  in  her  endeavours  to  reach  Con- 
stantinople and  to  be  the  leader  of  the  Slav  states 
of  the  Balkans,  it  seems  that  all  that  Napoleon  and 
England  laboured  to  prevent  in  the  Crimean  War  will 
be  attained.  Russia's  huge  population,  which  doubles 
every  fifty  years,  will  make  her  the  first  power  in 
Europe  and  Asia,  now  that  the  might  of  Germany  is 
being  laid  low  under  the  hammer-like  blows  of  the 
Powers  composing  the  Quadruple  Entente.  In  fifty  or 
sixty  years  Russia,  with  the  Slav  provinces  of  Austria, 
which  she  is  resolved  upon  annexing,  will  have  a 
population  of  above  four  hundred  millions — as  many 
as  the  Empire  of  China.  The  realisation  of  Nicholas's 
dream  may  not  then  be  an  impossibility ;  but  all  waits 
upon  the  result  of  the  present  dreadful  conflict. 


XXVII 

SIR   ROBERT    MORIER    AND   THE    BRITISH    EMBASSY 

One  of  the  oldest  buildings  on  the  Palace  Quay  is  the 
British  Embassy,  at  the  corner  of  the  Field  of  Mars. 
Here  have  laboured  many  famous  men — Lord  Loftus, 
Sir  Edward  Thornton,  Lord  Dufferin,  Lascclles,  Sir 
Charles  Scott,  Sir  Nicholas  O'Conor  and  others.  Of 
the  notable  men  I  met  none  made  a  greater  impres- 
sion upon  me  than  the  late  Sir  Robert  Morier,  our 
ambassador  while  I  lived  in  Petrograd,  son  of  the 
British  ambassador  in  Teheran,  and  author  of  the 
amusing  Hadji  Baba,  a  vivid  picture  of  Oriental 
hfe. 

Only  the  Foreign  Office,  au  courant  with  the  political 
and  diplomatic  activity  of  its  representatives  abroad, 
knows  how  much  the  British  people  owe  to  tliis 
champion  of  their  interests  and  ideals.  From  those 
who  were  behind  the  scenes,  I  learnt  that  Sir  Robert 
twice  saved  us  from  war  with  Russia,  principally 
through  his  personality  and  his  great  influence  with 
the  Tsar  Alexander  III.,  who  had  an  immense  admira- 
tion and  respect  for  him.  I  remember,  on  the  second 
occasion  when  the  Tsar  and  his  Court  had  journeyed 
to  Livadia,  preparatory  to  declaring  war  upon  Bulgaria 
and  invading  that  country.  Sir  Robert,  on  his  own 
responsibility,  went  to  the  Crimea  and  managed  to 
dissuade  the  Tsar  from  his  project.  This  was  in  1894 
or  1895,  shortly  before  Stambouloff  was  cut  to  pieces 
with  yataghans  in  the  street  of  Sophia.  The  troops 
were  mobilised  in  Odessa ;  everything  was  ready, 
when  Sir  Robert  appeared  and  pointed  out  that  the 
placing  of  an  army  in  Bulgaria  was  tantamount  to  a 
251 


252      PETROGRAD  PAST  AND  PRESENT 

war  with  England.  The  Tsar,  who  knew  that  he  was 
dealing  with  a  man  who  meant  what  he  said,  took  the 
hint,  and  did  not  return  to  Moscow  to  proclaim  war, 
as  he  had  intended.  Thus  Europe  was  saved  from  a 
conflagration  and  much  useless  bloodshed. 

The  last  occasion  on  which  I  saw  Sir  Robert  Morier 
was  when  he  was  leaving  for  Schwalbach,  to  die, 
broken  down  by  years  of  anxiety  and  by  the  deep 
grief  at  the  loss  of  his  only  son,  a  handsome,  popular 
Englishman  in  Petrograd's  British  colony.  It  was 
the  old  story — a  bright  life  and  a  promising  career 
cut  short  by  infatuation  for  a  beautiful  woman,  and 
it  practically  brought  the  ambassador  with  sorrow  to 
his  grave.  The  old  lion,  as  I  used  to  think  him,  was 
about  to  depart  for  the  station  when  I  sent  up  my  card 
and  informed  his  officials  of  my  errand.  Although  he 
had  only  a  very  short  time  to  spare,  and  was  busied 
with  many  final  arrangements,  he  received  me  will- 
ingly. "  Mr  Steveni,"  he  said,  as  I  entered  his  private 
rooms,  "  I  am  very  ill,  and  shall  perhaps  never  come 
back  here  again  ;  but  the  business  you  come  upon  is  of 
such  interest  to  me  that  I  cannot  refuse  you  an  inter- 
view." The  business  related  to  the  opening  out  of 
Siberia  to  British  trade  by  means  of  the  Kara  Sea 
route,  to  which  Sir  Robert,  his  son,  and  the  famous 
navigator.  Captain  Wiggins,  had  for  years  been  giving 
much  attention.  Through  these  three  persons  this 
ancient  trade  route  was  again  opened,  and  should  the 
vast  wealth  of  Central  and  Eastern  Siberia  ever  find 
its  way  to  the  markets  of  London,  it  will  be  due  to  the 
energy,  public  spirit  and  self-sacrifice  of  these  pioneers 
of  commerce  in  the  frozen  North.  It  would  take  too 
long  to  mention  the  half  of  the  mineral  and  agri- 
cultural possibilities  held  by  this  project.  Sufficient 
to  say  that  I  did  my  utmost  to  carry  out  what  might 
almost  be  called  the  dying  request  of  our  great 
ambassador — to  bring  this   route  and  the  immense 


SIR  ROBERT  MORIER  253 

potentialities  of  Siberia  before  the  English  public  by 
means  of  many  articles  in  the  Press. 

Sir  Robert,  as  he  predicted,  never  recovered  from 
the  malady  which,  in  poetic  terms,  might  be  called 
a  broken  heart.  Before  he  left,  he  showed  me  a 
beautiful  bronze  statuette  of  the  Emperor  Frederick, 
given  to  him  by  that  monarch  as  a  mark  of  friendship 
when  he  represented  England  at  the  Court  of  Hesse- 
Darmstadt.  His  admiration  for  this  Emperor  and 
the  Empress  brought  on  him  the  wrath  and  malice  of 
Bismarck,  who  endeavoured  by  guile  and  intrigue  to 
get  him  dismissed  from  office,  on  the  charge  of  betray- 
ing German  secrets  to  the  French.  These  attacks, 
not  only  on  Sir  Robert,  but  on  the  memory  of  the 
Emperor  Frederick,  our  ambassador  rebutted  with 
such  energy  that  Bismarck,  who  was  then  striving  to 
embitter  the  relations  between  England  and  Russia, 
was  foiled,  and  had  to  retire  discomfited.  It  was 
not  the  only  time  the  Iron  Chancellor  tried  to  under- 
mine the  influence  of  our  Russian  ambassador;  but 
on  this  occasion  he  met  his  match  in  a  man  who 
fought  with  clean  hands.  More  than  once  the 
Government  at  home  wished  to  recall  Sir  Robert,  but 
the  Tsar  was  so  pleased  with  him  that  his  services 
were  retained. 

His  death  was  an  irreparable  blow  to  England. 
^  Unlike  many  diplomatists,  he  was  above  stooping  to 
the  tricks  and  deceptions  that  too  often  tarnish  the 
profession.  I  was  told  that  he  never  lied  in  liis 
country's  interests  ;  if  he  could  not  answer  a  question, 
he  kept  silence.  He  used  to  swear,  on  occasion,  like  a 
trooper,  and  a  round  British  oath  on  his  lips  seemed  to 
carry  great  weight !  In  his  strong,  firm  hands,  often 
holding  the  balance  between  peace  and  war,  our 
honour  was  safe.  Such  giants  of  body  and  intellect 
are  not  seen  every  day,  and  now  that  the  Empire  is 
convulsed  with  battles  we  can  better  appreciate  Sir 


^ 

254      PETROGRAD  PAST  AND  PRESENT  1 

Robert  Morier's  constant  efforts  for  "peace  on  earth' 
and  good  will  towards  men." 

The  foreign  affairs  of  England,  for  reasons  some  of 
which  I  fail  to  comprehend,  have  been  for  generations 
in  the  hands  of  the  aristocracy  and  the  leisured  classes, 
and  not  controlled  by  men  who  have  risen  by  their  own 
ability,  regardless  of  their  origin  ;  and,  as  the  repre- 
sentative of  a  Liberal — I  might  almost  say  a  Radical — 
paper,  I  did  not  often  visit  the  British  Embassy. 
Perhaps  for  this  cause  I  was  doubly  welcomed  at  the 
American  Legation,  where  men  of  worth  rather  than  birth 
manage  the  affairs  of  the  great  republic  which  prefers 
to  bestow  on  its  editors,  publishers,  its  journalists  and 
men  of  letters  these  high  positions.  When  Sir  Andrew 
White,  the  American  Minister,  was  doubtful  as  to  the 
ti-uth  of  any  report,  he  would  send  for  me,  and  say  : 
"  I  find  it  so  difficult  to  learn  the  truth  in  this  city  that 
before  deciding  what  to  believe  I  want  your  opinion." 
When  we  remember  all  the  tittle-tattle  and  scandal 
constantly  flying  round  in  a  city  such  as  Petrograd, 
and  the  Oriental  imaginations  of  the  Russians,  who 
delight  in  nebwliitzaf — literally,  "things  that  never 
happened  "f — we  cannot  wonder  at  any  ambassador 
being  perplexed  in  such  novel  surroundings.  Sir 
Andrew  White,  who  was  President  of  Cornell  University, 
and  a  man  of  immense  wealth,  spent  most  of  his  time 
in  literary  work.  His  books,  the  fruit  of  incessant 
labour  and  large  sums  laid  out  in  obtaining  the  best 
material,  will  always  be  appreciated  by  those  who 
value  thoroughness  in  literature.  His  works  on 
Modern  Germany  and  The  Conflict  between  Science  and 
Religion  are  perhaps  his  most  familiar.  In  spite  of  his 
talents,  his  wealth  and  his  responsible  position,  he  was 
an  exceedingly  simple  and  unaffected  man. 

His  successor,  Emery  Smith,  with  whom  I  co- 
operated in  the  tremendous  work  of  relieving  the  dis- 
tress of  the  suffering  peasants  during  the  great  famine 


SIR  ROBERT  MORIER  255 

of  1891-1892,  was  another  remarkable  character.*  He 
had  formerly  been  editor  of  the  Philadelphia  Public 
Ledger,  and  was  a  fine  orator.  His  energy  was  un- 
tiring, and  on  quitting  Russia  he  was  nominated  to  the 
position  of  Minister  of  the  Post  in  the  United  States. 
The  last  American  ambassador  I  knew  was  General 
Braekenridge,  who  took  a  prominent  part  in  the 
Civil  War. 

The  practice  of  electing  smart  men  of  ability,  who 
have  risen  through  merit,  to  these  honourable  positions 
should,  I  think,  be  imitated  by  our  own  Foreign  Office. 
They  are,  as  a  rule,  more  capable,  more  fitted  to  repre- 
sent the  ideals  and  desires  of  the  people  of  a  nation, 
than  men  of  birth,  privilege  and  rank — men  of  one 
particular  class  whose  honours  have  been  gained,  not 
by  hard  w^ork,  but  generally  by  influence,  and  who 
can  but  represent  a  small  section  of  the  community. 

In  Germany  the  Socialistic  and  Democratic  parties 
intend  demanding  that  the  people  should,  in  future, 
be  consulted  with  regard  to  foreign  affairs  and  making 
treaties  with  foreign  powers,  as  soon  as  this  sanguinary 
struggle  is  over. 

I  trust  that,  as  we  grow  wiser  from  the  bitter 
teachings  of  experience,  the  people  of  England  and 
Russia  will  be  brought  into  closer  and  more  direct 
contact  with  one  another,  and  that  they  will  be  able  to 
exercise  a  greater  and  more  direct  influence  on  foreign 
affairs  than  they  do  at  present. 

This  was  also  the  desire  of  the  great  writer  and 
thinker  Leo  Tolstoi,  who  before  his  death  expressed 
to  me  the  hope  that  there  would  sooner  or  later  be  a 
union  of  hearts  and  mind  between  the  Russian  and 
English  people  ;  for  such  a  union  would  be  more  lasting 
and  beneficial  than  political  ententes  and  alliances, 
which  are  evanescent  and  as  changeable  as  the  wind. 

^  For  further  details  see  Through  Famine- stricken  Russia,  by  W.  B.  S. 
(Sampson  Low,  1892). 


256       PETROGRAD  PAST  AND  PRESENT 

There  is  little  doubt  that,  when  the  112,000,000 
Russian  peasants  become  educated  and  more  advanced, 
they  will  exercise  a  great  and  lasting  influence  on  the 
destinies  of  Europe. 

Sir  Robert  Morier  foresaw  this,  and  once  in  a  speech 
at  the  Anglo-American  Chapel  let  fall  the  following 
remarkable  words  : — 

"  Let  us  thank  God  that  He  has  given  the  Russian 
peasantry  a  kind  and  good  heart ;  for  in  future  years 
the  destinies  of  Europe  will  so  much  depend  on  their 
character  and  ideals  !  " 


XXVIII 

COUNT   SERGIUS    DE   WITTE 

I  HAVE  interviewed  many  eminent  men  in  the  course 
of  my  duties  as  correspondent,  and  among  them  was 
Count  de  Witte,  Minister  of  Finance,  and  afterwards 
Chancellor  of  the  Empire  and  President  of  the  Council 
of  Ministers.  Like  other  men  of  talent  who  have  left 
their  mark  on  history,  he  began  in  quite  a  humble 
position — it  is  said  as  stationmaster  on  a  private 
railway.  His  extraordinary  energy  and  organising 
capacity,  displayed  during  the  Russo-Turkish  War, 
led  him  to  an  important  post  in  the  Government,  and 
he  soon  made  himself  felt  in  every  department.  For 
years  he  was  practically  the  ruler  of  Russia,  so  that 
some  called  him  jokingly  "  Sergius  Witte  the  First." 
The  title  was  not  wholly  undeserved,  for  it  is  stated 
that,  had  it  not  been  for  his  efforts  in  conjunction  with 
the  Tsar,  Russia  would  have  gone  to  war  with  us  in 
India  and  Afghanistan,  about  the  time  of  the  Tugela 
disaster.  This  was  then  without  doubt  the  aim  of  the 
military  party  in  Petrograd  ;  in  fact  an  officer  of  high 
position  informed  me  that  the  War  Office  had  already 
drawn  up  a  plan  of  campaign  and  carried  out  an 
experimental  mobilisation  of  troops  on  the  Afghan 
frontier.  The  Count,  who  wished  to  sec  Russia 
prosperous,  went  dead  against  the  war  party,  and 
refused  to  grant  the  requisite  funds,  on  the  ground  that 
such  a  conflict  would  cripple  the  country  for  a  hundred 
years  to  come.  Although  he  assumed  this  pacific 
attitude,  it  was  more  from  motives  of  finance  than 
any  particular  love  for  England.  There  is  little  doubt 
that  his  sympathies  were  with  his  German  neighbours 

R  257 


258       PETROGRAD  PAST  AND  PRESENT 

rather  than  with  the  people  of  our  island  Empire. 
He  was  a  typical  Great  Russian — great  in  body  and 
mind ;  but  his  origin  was  German  or  Dutch.  He 
appeared  to  me  more  like  a  gigantic  Boer  farmer  than 
a  German,  and  I  should  not  be  surprised  if  his  ancestors 
hailed  from  Holland,  the  home  of  another  famous 
statesman  of  the  same  name,  Cornelius  de  Witte. 

Never  shall  I  forget  my  interview  with  this  colossal 
man  with  the  pale  face  and  stolid  features ;  so  pre- 
occupied did  he  seem  with  affairs  of  State  that  it 
seemed  as  though  his  countenance  could  never  relax 
into  a  smile.  His  replies  to  my  questions  were  very 
guarded  ;  he  evidently  did  not  wish  to  commit  himself 
in  any  way,  and  repeatedly  said  that  he  desired  to 
cultivate  "  commercial  relations  with  England,  on  an 
economical  basis."  So  much  stress  was  laid  on  the 
word  "  economical  "  that  I  plainly  saw  he  had  no 
idea  of  entering  into  any  friendly  alliance,  but  simply 
wanted  to  encourage  closer  business  ties.  He  was 
intent  upon  improving  Russia's  financial  position,  and 
on  giving  her  a  gold  currency — in  which  he  succeeded. 

After  the  Peace  of  Portsmouth  Witte's  influence 
rapidly  declined.  It  was  currently  reported  at  that 
time  that  the  Government  and  people  never  forgave 
him  for  agreeing  to  give  up  half  of  Saghalien  to  the 
Japanese.  The  Tsar's  instructions  were  that  not  a 
rouble  should  be  paid  to  Japan  as  indemnity,  not  a 
yard  of  territory  yielded.  Witte  worked  for  peace  in 
order  to  carry  out  his  industrial  schemes  for  making 
Russia  one  of  the  world's  richest  countries,  and  con- 
sented to  the  Treaty  of  Portsmouth,  owing  to  the 
diplomatic  pressure  of  America  and  other  neutral 
powers.  Considering  that  on  the  whole  the  Japanese 
were  victors,  Witte's  efforts  were  deserving  of  more 
gratitude  than  fell  to  his  share  ;  but  ingratitude  is  the 
world's  reward,  and  after  a  time,  retired  from  high 
office,  he  took  a  less  important  position  in  the  Council, 


COUNT  SERGIUS  DE  WTTTE  259 

where  his  voice  was  frequently  heard,  but  where  his 
power  to  carry  through  his  pet  projects  was  much 
reduced. 

I  have  been  told  that  he  maintained  his  power  with 
the  Tsar  by  clever  stratagem.  The  Tsar  then  resided 
at  his  palace,  Tsarskoe  Selo,  and  every  week  the 
Ministers  travelled  by  a  special  train  to  place  their 
reports  before  him  and  to  obtain  his  sanction.  Witte, 
knowing  that  the  last  man  would  have  the  best  chance 
of  talking,  usually  managed  to  miss  the  special  and 
arrive  by  a  later  train,  "  owing  to  pressure  of  business  " 
or  some  such  excuse.  He  would  inquire  what  had 
been  decided  upon  with  regard  to  the  propositions  of 
the  others  ;  then,  with  plenty  of  time  before  him,  his 
commanding  personality  would  gain  its  own  way,  his 
arguments  being  generally  plausible  enough  to  succeed. 

It  would  take  long  to  enumerate  the  financial, 
industrial  and  other  reforms  Count  de  Witte  carried 
out  during  his  term  of  office.  Among  his  many 
achievements,  he  was  responsible  for  the  buying  up  of 
private  railways  and  placing  them  under  State  control ; 
the  Government  spirit  monopoly ;  the  gold  currency 
and  the  construction  of  many  new  ports  and  harbours 
on  the  Pacific,  the  Black  Sea  and  the  Baltic.  He  also 
took  an  active  part  in  planning  the  Trans-Siberian 
line.  Daring  to  a  degree,  his  critics  used  to  say  that 
he  would  either  ruin  Russia  or  make  it  the  most 
powerful  country  in  the  world ;  but  his  removal  from 
office,  and  the  Japanese  War,  prevented  either  of 
these  prophecies  from  fulfilment.  His  policy  was 
certainly  not  entirely  beneficial,  for  his  high  tariff 
helped  to  make  the  lives  of  millions  of  the  wretched 
peasantry  a  greater  burden  than  before,  when  they 
were  serfs.  Agricultural  interests,  which  in  Russia 
ought  to  come  before  all  others,  were  neglected  and 
starved  in  order  to  establish  a  great  number  of  factories 
and  mills  all  over  the  land,  which  were  supported  by 


260      PETROGRAD  PAST  AND  PRESENT 

a  system  of  tariffs  on  foreign  imports.  Capital  which 
might  have  been  spent  in  teaching  the  peasants  to  till 
the  fertile  black  soil,  or  in  assisting  them  with  advances 
at  low  interest  by  means  of  agricultural  banks  (which 
have  now  been  established  in  many  provinces),  was  to 
a  great  extent  wasted.  The  policy  certainly  succeeded 
in  making  many  manufacturers  extremely  wealthy, 
but  it  brought  into  being  a  large  proletariat  which  has 
more  than  once  proved  a  danger  to  the  State.  In 
these  operations,  it  must  be  admitted,  Count  de  Witte, 
statesman  though  he  was,  showed  a  lack  of  foresight. 

The  origin  of  his  State  monopoly  on  spirits,  which 
in  truth  was  no  reform  at  all,  is  interesting.  Alex- 
ander III.,  who  was  by  no  means  an  abstainer,  during 
his  last  incurable  malady  (kidney  disease)  became 
afflicted  with  qualms  of  conscience  because  so  large 
a  proportion  of  the  population  was  being  annually 
destroyed,  physically,  mentally  and  morally,  through 
the  ever-increasing  consumption  of  vodka  and  other 
fiery  liquors.  (Tolstoi  was  so  incensed  at  this  that 
he  designed  a  label  for  vodka  bottles  ;  on  it  appeared 
the  word  "  Poison "  and  a  skull  and  cross-bones.) 
After  a  journey  through  Finland,  a  sober  and  well- 
administered  country,  the  Tsar  came  to  the  conclusion 
that  if  the  Finnish  authorities  could  check  this  national 
evil,  his  own  advisers  should  be  able  to  follow  the 
good  example.  He  therefore  consulted  de  Witte,  who 
in  response  proposed  that  the  Crown  should  itself 
take  over  the  sale  of  all  spirituous  drinks,  and  that  all 
profits  thus  acquired  should  go  to  the  Crown  instead  of 
to  the  traktershiks  (publicans).  The  Tsar  jumped  at 
this  grand  idea.  While  encouraging  sobriety  and  thrift, 
the  Government  would  benefit  immensely.  Like  the 
majority  of  Russian  projects,  very  fine  in  theory,  this 
so-called  reform  proved  a  terrible  failure.  The  net 
result  was  that  far  more  spirits  were  consumed  than 
before,   despite    the    praiseworthy    efforts    of    many 


■ 


COUNT  SERGIUS  DE  WITTE  261 


temperance  societies.  Formerly,  the  working  classes 
assembled  in  the  trakteers  and  drank  there  as  much 
as  the  tavern-keepers  would  allow  them,  but  after  the 
change  there  was  practically  no  control.  Spirits  were 
sold  by  the  bottle  instead  of  by  the  glass,  the  smallest 
being  named  a  "  Wittochke,"  in  honour  of  the  Minister. 
For  twenty -four  copecks — our  sixpence — a  fairly  large 
bottle  could  be  purchased.  Usually  this  was  drunk 
straight  off,  on  an  empty  stomach,  and  the  poor 
moujiks  would  collapse  in  some  doorway,  speechlessly 
intoxicated.  Again,  the  bottle  would  be  taken  home, 
and  the  wives  would  join  in  a  carouse,  while  the 
children  from  their  earliest  years  acquired  a  taste  for 
strong  drink.  Thus  the  curse  spread  and  misery 
haunted  thousands  of  little  homes — ^to  a  much  greater 
extent  than  in  England ;  for  the  Russian  workpeople, 
owing  to  the  poor  sustaining  powers  of  their  food, 
cannot  stand  half  the  quantity  of  spirits  that  an 
Englishman  or  Scotsman  can  carry.  One  glass  will 
often  upset  their  ill-nourished  bodies.  The  number 
unfit  for  service  in  the  army  increased  each  year ; 
physical  degeneracy  became  a  danger  to  the  State. 
The  reform  due  to  the  present  war  came  just  in  time, 
and  the  sudden  and  drastic  manner  of  it  proved  how 
necessary  it  was. 

In  his  well-known  book  on  the  Russian  people, 
Maurice  Baring  has  some  interesting  remarks  upon 
Count  de  Witte : 

"  The  war  with  Japan  [he  says]  came  about 
owing  to  the  sudden  volte  face  in  Russia's  policy 
with  regard  to  the  Far  East,  when  the  Govern- 
ment decided  to  adopt  the  aggressive  policy  of  Bezo- 
brazeff  instead  of  the  peaceful  policy  of  development 
which  had  been  initiated  and  followed  by  Witte.  It 
will  be  to  Count  Witte 's  lasting  credit  as  a  statesman 
that  he  saw  clearly  on  this  matter.    As  far  back  as  the 


262      PETROGRAD  PAST  AND  PRESENT 

time  of  the  Russo-China  operations  he  stated,  with 
regard  to  the  occupation  of  Manchuria,  that  Russia 
was  not  in  a  fit  state  to  carry  on  an  aggressive  poHcy. 
In  the  beginning  of  1903,  five  months  before  he  retired 
from  the  post  of  Minister  of  Foreign  Affairs,  and  a  year 
before  the  war,  he  explained  himself  clearly  on  the 
subject  in  a  report  on  his  journey  to  the  Far  East. 
He  argues  thus  :  (a)  That  he  did  not  consider  a  con- 
flict with  Japan  to  be  inevitable,  because  owing  to  the 
building  of  the  Manchurian  Railway  it  was  possible 
that  Russia  and  Japan  might  come  to  an  agreement 
on  the  basis  of  commercial  interests,  which  are  the 
chief  factors  in  obviating  international  armed  con- 
flicts. There  was,  therefore,  reason  to  think  that  a 
peaceful  solution  of  the  questions  at  issue  might  be 
arrived  at,  on  a  basis  of  this  kind,  in  the  near  future. 
(b)  If  such  a  hope  were  groundless,  it  was  in  any  case 
imperatively  necessary  to  defer  the  conflict,  and  to 
attempt  to  find  at  least  a  temporary  solution,  a  com- 
promise, which  would  satisfy  Japan  with  regard  to 
Korea.  An  armed  conflict  with  Japan,  said  Witte, 
would,  in  his  opinion,  prove  a  great  misfortune.  It 
was  necessary,  however,  for  Russia  to  get  ready. 
Even  if  it  were  a  choice  between  a  conflict  and  a  total 
cession  of  Korean  interests  to  Japan,  the  latter  would 
be  the  lesser  evil  of  the  two." 


XXIX 

THE   RUSSIAN   PRESS 

The  war  with  Germany  has  changed  the  affairs  of  the 
Press  in  Russia  so  greatly  that  I  feel  it  advisable  to 
use  the  past  tense  in  speaking  of  the  papers  I  know  so 
well.  Most  of  them  were  in  existence  at  the  outbreak 
of  hostilities,  but  if  the  struggle  goes  on  for  many  more 
months  it  is  extremely  likely  that  many  of  them  will 
close  down. 

The  chief  papers  were  :  The  Government  Advertiser 
(Pravetelstvenny  Vjestrik),  The  Financial  and  Industrial 
Gazette,  the  Journal  de  St  Petersburg,  the  Petersburgsky 
Vjedemost,  the  Novaya  Vremya,  the  Grashdanin,  the 
Svfet,  the  Novosti,  the  Sin  Otechestva,  the  Ootra,  The 
Exchange  Gazette,  the  Roos,  the  Petersburg  Zeitung, 
the  Herold  and  the  Nedjely — ^the  last  one  a  weekly. 

The  Government  Advertiser  was  a  purely  official 
organ,  and  generally  contented  itself  with  making 
known  the  opinions  and  decisions  of  the  Government. 
The  Financial  Gazette,  though  not  a  regular  daily, 
was  an  important  publication,  being  the  favourite 
mouthpiece  of  the  Minister  of  Finance.  The  Journal 
de  St  Petersburg,  semi-official,  is  simply  an  echo  of  the 
leading  Government  organs,  and  a  verbatim  translation 
into  French  of  news  that  has  already  appeared  in 
other  sheets,  read  principally  by  those  who  did  not 
understand  Russian,  or  by  the  aristocracy — who  for 
the  most  part  have  a  weakness  for  conversing  in  the 
elegant  language  of  France,  even  when  their  hearers 
are  Russians  like  themselves. 

The  Vjedemosti  was  very  much  to  the  fore  after  the 
Tsar's  visit  to  India.  Its  editor,  Prince  Oochtemsky, 
263 


264      PETROGRAD  PAST  AND  PRESENT 

was  believed  to  be  a  personal  friend  of  the  present  Tsar  ; 
but  it  is  a  question  whether  this  has  anything  to  do 
with  its  sentiments.  One  interesting  fact  concerning 
it  is  that  it  annually  received  a  large  subsidy  for  pub- 
lishing all  the  Government  advertisements. 

The  Novaya  Vremya,  which  is  sometimes  inspired,  is 
perhaps  the  most  powerful  paper  in  the  country,  and 
still  enjoys  great  popularity,  though  it  was  far  from 
scrupulous,  or  fair  to  its  political  opponents.  Like 
some  of  its  contemporaries,  it  went  with  the  times, 
and  was  rewarded  for  its  laxity  by  a  circulation  of 
70,000 — a  large  number  for  a  daily  in  Russia.  Its 
policy  was  worldly-wise,  perhaps,  since  other  papers 
have  been  temporarily  or  wholly  suppressed  for  ventur- 
ing to  express  opinions  in  opposition  to  those  prevailing 
in  official  circles.  The  editor  was  a  clever  and  able 
journalist,  who  would  have  had  more  influence  among 
well-informed,  educated  people  had  he  been  more 
particular  and  more  careful  of  his  facts.  At  one  time 
the  Novaya  Vremya  was  exceedingly  hostile  towards 
England,  losing  no  opportunity  of  abusing  us.  Being 
wealthy,  its  correspondents  were  well  paid,  and  it 
was  usually  supplied  with  plenty  of  fresh  telegraphic 
news,  which,  however,  often  proved  excessively  biassed. 
This  hostility  eventually  assumed  such  an  aggressive 
form  that  one  of  our  leading  correspondents  called 
on  its  former  celebrated  editor,  Souvorin,  and  asked 
him  what  he  meant  by  abusing  England  on  every 
possible  and  impossible  occasion.  Souvorin,  whom 
the  French  journalists  described  as  a  combination  of 
an  old  Russian  boyar  and  Mephistopheles,  was  not  a 
whit  abashed,  and  smilingly  replied  to  our  indignant 
countryman  :  "  You  see,  I  have  no  other  resource. 
I  must  abuse  some  nation,  for  you  know  that  suits  the 
taste  of  my  readers.  Now  England  is  the  only  one 
left  for  me  to  attack.  I  cannot  go  for  our  ally  France, 
obviously,   nor   can    I   insult    Germany,   as   the   ties 


THE  RUSSIAN  PRESS  265 

between  our  Imperial  houses  are  so  notable.  What 
else,  then,  can  I  do  ?  "  It  is  well,  perhaps,  in  the 
light  of  such  confessions,  not  to  take  too  much  notice 
of  all  the  leaders  one  reads  in  the  influential  Press  of 
modem  nations  I 

The  Grashdanin  was  another  strong  paper,  but 
latterly  its  power  has  waned  in  consequence  of  several 
prohibitions  and  fines  by  the  censors.  Plus  roi  que 
le  roi,  and  more  conservative  than  the  Government, 
the  eccentric  editor  had  an  unlucky  talent  for  not 
pleasing  anybody  but  himself.  The  Liberals  cordially 
detested  him,  while  the  official  party  thought  him  a 
nuisance  for  his  persistent  advocacy  of  retrograde, 
old-fashioned  measures  and  his  scorn  of  all  who  did 
not  happen  to  agree  with  him.  He  was  a  great 
advocate  of  corporal  punishment,  and  used  to  lament 
the  "  good  old  times  "  when  the  nobles  and  boyars 
could,  if  they  chose,  flog  their  serfs  to  death  with 
impunity.  This  editor,  Prince  Metchersky,  frequently 
got  into  serious  trouble.  He  once  was  soundly  horse- 
whipped by  two  young  men,  whose  father  they  im- 
agined he  had  insulted  in  one  of  his  leading  articles. 
More  than  once  his  paper  was  suppressed  for  publish- 
ing articles  attacking  President  Faure,  the  French 
alliance,  and  the  French  army — which,  according  to 
him,  was  good  for  nothing.  Yet  we  could  not  help 
respecting  the  editor  of  the  Grashdanin,  whether  we 
agreed  with  his  diatribes  or  not,  for  he  was  one  of 
the  few  who  had  courage  to  speak  their  minds  and  to 
abide  by  the  consequences — which  in  Russia  are  often 
disastrous  for  such  as  may  follow  his  example.  After 
repeated  stoppages  the  paper  managed  to  appear  as 
a  weekly,  to  be  read  by  musty,  retired  officials, 
country  gentry  and  the  older  aristocracy.  Metcher- 
sky was  a  bitter  enemy  of  the  Jews,  and  wrote  most 
pungent  leaders  against  this  oppressed  and  mipopular 
race.     After  the  appearance  of  one  of  these  phihppics, 


266      PETROGRAD  PAST  AND  PRESENT 

of  singular  virulence,  I  called  on  him  to  inquire  why 
he  was  so  "  down  "  on  them.  *'  Why  ?  "  he  answered 
fiercely,  rolling  his  big  eyes,  "  why  do  we  kill  fleas  and 
other  parasites  ?  "  I  retorted  that  Jews  were  by  no 
means  vermin,  and  that  we  had  no  right  to  treat  them 
as  such ;  but  he  contradicted  me,  asserting  that  every 
nation  and  every  individual  had  the  right  to  get  rid 
of  parasites.  Before  his  death,  which  took  place  last 
year  (1914),  Metchersky  changed  his  opinions  like  a 
modern  Saul,  and  instead  of  preaching  persecution 
and  death  to  the  Jews,  advocated  that  they  should  no 
longer  be  confined  within  the  pale  of  settlements,  but 
should  be  distributed  all  over  the  Empire,  so  that 
their  commercial  and  business  instincts  might  assist 
in  developing  its  vast  resources.  He  had  come  to  the 
conclusion  that  his  own  countrymen  were  lacking  in 
enterprise  and  energy.  This  was  a  great  surprise  to 
all  who  knew  him.  With  all  his  prejudices,  Metcher- 
sky was  a  man  of  remarkable  gifts  and  strong  individu- 
ality. He  was  brought  up  with  the  late  Tsar,  Alex- 
ander III.,  and,  on  the  whole,  was  held  to  be  one  of 
Russia's  most  talented  editors. 

The  Svjet  must  not  be  passed  over  in  silence,  although 
the  proportions  of  this  paper  were  diminutive  and  its 
contents  merely  a  stale  copy  of  news  that  had  previ- 
ously appeared — often  a  week  before.  As  it  was  read 
chiefly  by  country  folk,  and  the  majority  of  its  sub- 
scribers were  never  in  a  hurry  for  the  latest  informa- 
tion, this  peculiarity  did  not  matter.  Possibly  its 
cheapness — two  copecks  (Jd.) — explains  its  circulation, 
which  equals  that  of  the  Novaya  Vremya.  In  a  land 
where  a  good  newspaper  costs  three  halfpence  or  two- 
pence, a  halfpenny  charge  for  the  equivalent  of  a  sheet 
and  a  half  of  foolscap  is  considered  very  cheap  indeed. 

Next  to  the  Novaya  Vremya  in  political  importance 
we  must  rank  the  Novosti,  although  its  circulation  was 
small — only  about  17,000.     It  was  known  as  a  Jewish 


THE  RUSSIAN  PRESS  267 

organ,  and  had  a  Jewish  editor,  but  was  one  of  the 
most  moderate  and  reputable  papers  of  the  capital. 
In  politics  it  was  inclined  to  the  Liberal  side,  as  far  as 
it  dared  go,  standing  for  Western  ideas  and  reform — 
tendencies  which  excited  the  wrath  of  all  good  Pan- 
slavists,  Chauvinists  and  so-called  "  Kvass  "  patriots, 
who  fancy  that  Russia  can  only  be  saved  by  swallowing 
their  political  prescriptions.  ("  Kvass  "  is  the  national 
beverage,  made  from  sour,  fermented  bread.)  In 
the  days  when  it  was  the  fashion  to  abuse  England, 
the  Novosti  spoke  out  pretty  freely  on  our  continued 
occupation  of  Egypt,  yet  on  the  whole  was  very 
friendly  towards  this  country,  and  favoured  an  under- 
standing between  us  and  the  Dual  Alliance.  Un- 
fortunately it  had  little  influence  among  the  real 
Russians — not  only  on  account  of  its  small  circulation, 
but  because  its  editor  was  a  Jew — an  insurmountable 
objection  in  Muscovite  eyes,  which  see  no  possible 
good  in  anything  touched  by  an  Israelite.  The 
editor,  Mr  Notovitch,  dramatised  The  Pickwick  Papers, 
and  had  the  piece  staged  in  Petrograd  at  his  own 
expense.  Eventually  he  was  expelled  from  Russia 
and  his  paper  suppressed.^ 

The  Sin  Otechestva  has  the  qualities  of  age  and 
historical  associations.  Founded  in  1812,  in  com- 
memoration of  the  expulsion  of  the  French  from 
Russia,  by  the  irony  of  fate  it  subsequently  became 
a  warm  supporter  of  France  and  the  Franco-Russian 
Alliance.  More  than  once  it  roused  the  anger  of 
Pushkin,  the  poet,  who,  in  an  outburst,  playing  on 
its  name,  which  means  "  Son  of  the  Fatherland," 
exclaimed  :  "  What  son  of  the  Fatherland  art  thou  ? 
Thou  art  simply  the  son  of  a  dog  !  "  The  original  is 
too  strong  to  be  literally  translated ;  this  is  a  mild 
rendering. 

The  Petersburg  Zeitung,  seldom  quoted  in  the  English 

*  M.  Notovitch  was  a  great  advocate  of  the  Triple  Entente. 


268       PETROGRAB  PAST  AND  PRESENT 

Press,  was  a  paper  of  some  standing,  although  it  was 
patronised  solely  by  the  German  population  of  the 
capital  and  the  Baltic  Provinces.  As  a  rule  it  sup- 
ported the  feudal  interests  and  privileges  of  the 
German  barons,  and  was  devotedly  hated  by  all  good 
Russians — first,  because  it  was  German  ;  secondly, 
because  it  opposed  as  far  as  it  dared  the  Russianising 
policy  of  the  Government  among  the  Germans, 
Livonians,  Esthonians  and  other  inhabitants  of  the 
Baltic  Provinces.  The  Her  old,  another  German  paper, 
had  a  large  circulation,  but  carried  little  weight  politic- 
ally. It  was  eagerly  read  by  the  German  merchants, 
shopkeepers  and  handicraftsmen  of  the  city. 

There  were  several  other  dailies,  of  small  impor- 
tance but  very  popular  among  the  kooptzee  (peasant 
merchants)  and  lavotchniks  (small  business  men). 
The  chief  attraction  of  these  precious  prints  was  their 
partiality  for  blackguarding  everything  and  every- 
body who  did  not  happen  to  please  the  enterprising 
journalists  who  ran  them.  Both  the  Listock  and  The 
Gazette  made  it  a  cardinal  part  of  their  creed — if  they 
could  be  said  to  have  one — to  abuse  some  person  or 
nation  every  morning.  The  stronger  the  abuse,  the 
better  the  article,  according  to  the  opinion  of  the 
edified  readers.  When  neither  Salisbury,  Gladstone, 
Bismarck,  Balfour  nor  Caprivi  had  misconducted 
himself,  then  some  unfortmiate  country  came  in  for 
the  wrath  of  these  knights  of  the  pen.  One  day 
England  might  be  the  sinner,  another  day  Germany, 
a  third  perhaps  Austria,  and  when  these  failed,  Italy, 
Switzerland  or  any  other  nation  would  do.  England, 
however,  was  always  the  favourite  villain  of  the  piece. 
Had  it  not  been  for  "  perfidious  Albion,"  the  Russian 
Press  of  those  days  would  indeed  have  had  a  very  dull 
time  of  it.  There  was  hardly  a  crime,  intrigue  or  con- 
spiracy in  the  world  of  politics  which  England  had  not 
a  hand  in.     She  was  charged  with  dehberately  killing 


THE  RUSSIAN  PRESS  269 

off  the  aborigines  of  Africa  with  guns  and  rum  ;  poison- 
ing the  Chinese  with  opium  ;  with  stirrhig  up  the 
Armenians  against  Russia  ;  with  intentionally  bring- 
ing the  plague  to  Europe  !  But  when  King  Edward 
went  to  Russia  and  inaugurated  the  Triple  Entente, 
the  time  was  soon  changed. 

With  the  exception  of  two  or  three  Government 
organs,  almost  all  the  journalists  indulged  in  this 
spleen  against  England,  according  to  their  lights, 
and  their  misplaced  industry  certainly  succeeded  in 
instilling  a  fervent  antipathy,  if  not  hatred,  towards 
our  country  for  years.  This  was  much  to  be  regretted, 
for  England  was  formerly  popular  in  Russia,  and  of 
course  now  again  is  liked. 

Every  year  a  number  of  new  papers  spring  into 
precarious  existence,  only  to  achieve  a  tragic  termina- 
tion by  the  hands  of  the  Damoclean  censors,  whose 
all-powerful  mandates  are  the  terror  of  editors.  The 
papers  are  not  long-lived  miless  they  float  with  the 
official  tide.  Their  suppression  is  a  pity,  for  some 
of  them  were  brought  out  with  great  taste,  and 
their  printing  and  illustrations  were  excellent.  The 
Mirovoi  Otogloski,  said  to  have  been  a  resurrection  of 
the  once  famous  Golos,  deserves  special  mention.  It 
might  have  succeeded  had  it  not  been  so  dear. 

The  Moscow  Press  merits  little  attention.  With 
the  exception  of  the  Moskovsky  Vjedemesti  and  the 
Russky  Vjedemesti  it  is  of  small  importance.  The 
first,  since  the  death  of  its  celebrated  controller, 
Katkoff,  who  made  and  unmade  ministers  at  his 
pleasure  and  pretty  well  led  official  and  public  opinion, 
is  no  more  what  it  used  to  be  ;  he  gave  it  name  and 
fame  beyond  the  limits  of  his  own  land.  The  second 
was  the  favourite  of  the  liberal  professors  and  men  of 
letters  in  Moscow.  It  often  received  pressing  atten- 
tions from  the  censor,  who  intimated  that  its  views 
did  not  meet  with  the  approval  of  the  powers,  and,  as 


270       PETROGRAD  PAST  AND  PRESENT 

might  be  anticipated,  this  progressive  and  enhghtened 
paper  hved  on  the  brink  of  disaster.  It  is  probably 
extinct  by  now.  Moscow  produced  several  other 
curious  sheets,  which  waxed  fat  by  levying  blackmail 
on  the  rich  merchants.  It  was  wonderful  what  a 
golden  harvest  this  system  brought  in  for  the  pro- 
prietors of  these  publications.  Their  names  I  will  not 
give,  but  they  are  well  known  to  everyone  who  has 
lived  in  Moscow.  It  was  but  necessary  to  insinuate 
that  such  and  such  a  man  had  dealt  in  a  certain  kind 
of  goods,  or  was  on  the  verge  of  bankruptcy,  or  was 
addicted  to  dishonest  practices,  for  the  guilty  party, 
without  being  named,  to  rush  to  the  editorial  office 
and  make  his  peace-offermg,  sometimes  to  the  tune 
of  hundreds  of  roubles.  Great  is  the  power  of  the 
Press  when  wielded  in  a  just  cause  !  I  suspect  that 
most  of  these  unprincipled  papers,  however,  have  now 
succumbed  to  the  strain  of  the  present  conflict,  when 
readers  have  something  more  urgent  to  do  than  the 
perusal  of  scandal  and  ill-natured  chatter  about 
personalities  whose  fame  is  but  local. 

It  is  remarkable  to  see  the  change  that  came  over 
the  views  of  Souvorin,  the  former  bitter  Anglophobe 
editor  of  the  Novoe  Vremya,  before  his  death.  He 
actually  laboured  for  a  friendly  alliance  with  England, 
and  in  an  interview  with  an  Englishman  spoke  of  the 
literature  of  the  two  countries,  and  the  possibility  of 
union,  as  follows  : — 

"  The  Russians,  from  the  eighteenth  century,  have 
always  been  fond  of  English  novels,  and  still  love  them. 
It  must  be  remembered  that  the  English  were  our 
teachers,  and  Shakespeare,  Byron,  Thackeray  and 
Dickens  are  regarded  as  almost  of  our  own  country. 
The  Russians  and  the  English  both  possess  humour, 
and  humour  is  the  evidence  of  a  strong  soul,  capable 
of  enduring  the  greatest  trials  with  the  fortitude  of 
a  martyr.     If  we  have  not  loved  the  English  in  our 


THE  RUSSIAN  PRESS  271 

political  life,  it  is  because  they  have  caused  us  quite 
enough  trouble.  There  are  other  similar  traits  in  JDoth 
nations,  and  sometimes  the  Russian  is  the  superior  of 
the  Englishman.  We,  like  England,  have  our  aris- 
tocracy of  intelligence  in  Grebojedeff,  Pushkin,  Gogol, 
Turgenieff,  Tolstoi,  Dostoieffsky,  Glinka,  Bruloff  and 
others,  without  reckoning  our  contemporaries."  He 
also  added  that  diplomacy  generally  does  not  recog- 
nise the  most  important  influence  on  the  fate  of 
peoples — their  literature  and  art,  believing  that  these 
are  quite  unnecessary.  In  reality  they  are  the  very 
soul  of  a  nation,  its  strivings,  its  real  thoughts.  His 
words  as  to  the  love  of  the  Russians  for  English 
literature  are  absolutely  correct.  It  is  wonderful 
what  a  number  of  English  classics  have  been  and  still 
are  being  translated — how  widely  and  willingly  our 
famous  writers  are  read.  Even  Bunyan  and  Milton 
find  their  public;  but  owing  to  their  religious  and 
archaic  style  their  readers,  as  a,  rule,  are  the  peasant 
classes,  who  delight  in  works  where  God,  the  devil, 
angels  and  archangels  take  a  prominent  part.  To  the 
Russian  peasant  these  unseen  beings  and  all  the  saints 
of  the  calendar  form  real  and  living  personalities, 
which  colour  his  daily  existence.  If  the  inhabitants 
of  the  towns  live  in  the  twentieth  century,  the  vast 
majority  of  the  peasants  are  mentally  still  in  the 
Middle  Ages,  taking  more  interest  in  miracles,  icons, 
pilgrimages,  omens  and  witchcraft  than  in  theatres, 
picture  palaces,  newspapers  and  cheap  literature. 


XXX 

FOREIGN  CORRESPONDENTS  AND  THE  CENSORS 

The  best-informed  body  of  men  in  Petrograd,  next 
to  the  diplomatic  corps,  was  without  question  the 
httle  band  of  newspaper  correspondents  which  thci 
Government  tolerated  in  their  midst.  The  journalistic^ 
activity  of  its  members  was  continually  being  cur- 1 
tailed  by  the  severity  of  the  censors,  who,  with  a 
mighty  pair  of  scissors,  clipped  and  mutilated  many  a 
message  sent  abroad,  in  order  that  the  "  Rotten  West  " 
should  not  learn  too  much  of  what  was  going  on  in 
"  Holy  Russia."  This  small  group  of  English  and 
foreign  writers  was,  as  a  rule,  far  better  informed  as 
to  events  in  Russia  than  were  the  ambassadors  or 
diplomats  themselves,  who  usually  sat  in  all  their 
glory  at  the  embassies  waiting  for  news,  while  we 
unfortunate  people  "  got  busy  "  searching  for  items 
all  over  the  city — in  the  many  Government  depart- 
ments, in  the  salons  of  the  wealthy  and  influential,  at 
official  receptions  and  in  various  other  less  reputable 
places  which  need  not  be  mentioned  here.  Then, 
sooner  or  later,  the  embassies  heard  from  us  of  the 
changes  that  were  in  progress  all  round  them. 

There  were  many  types  of  correspondents.  Strictly 
honourable  men  usually  only  represented  one  paper, 
and  were  satisfied  with  the  pay  thus  earned.  The 
English  members  of  our  community,  with  few  excep- 
tions, came  under  this  category.  They  had,  however, 
a  hard  struggle  to  compete  with  another  class,  who 
were  not  above  working  at  one  time  for  half-a-dozen 
papers  of  different  interests  and  nationalities,  or  even 
receiving  payment  from  banks  abroad  for  sending  off 

272 


CORRESPONDENTS  AND  THE  CENSORS    273 

telegrams  calculated   to  influence   stocks  and  shares 
favourably.     These  men,  who  threw  all  scruples  to 
the  winds,  were  most  difficult  to  deal  with,  owing  to 
the  high  salary  they  received  from  their  many  em- 
ployers.    They  came  more  to  the  front  as  the  papers 
became  engrossed  in  the  effort  to  please  a  sensation- 
loving   public,  until   finally  the   position   of  the  old- 
fashioned,  straightforward  correspondent  was  almost 
intolerable.     Editors  found  it  necessary  to  supply  the 
demand,  and,  as  tliis  increased,  our  labours  became 
more  onerous.     Honest  writers  were  constantly  placed 
on  the  horns  of  a  dilemma.     If  they  sent  sensational 
news  off  to  please  their  papers,  they  came  into  conflict 
with  the  police  and  the  censors.     If  they  refused  to  do 
this,  they  were  eventually  dismissed  for  not  contribut- 
ing bright  and  chatty  news,  which  the  public  at  home 
appreciated  more  than  useful  information  and  solid 
facts.     It  was  perhaps  pleasant  for  those  who  read, 
two  thousand  miles  away,  free  from  the  attentions  of 
these  busy  officials,  to  hear  every  day  that  a  minister 
or  a  governor  had  been  blown  up  by  Nihilists,  or  that 
an  attempt  had  been  made  to  assassinate  some  high 
personage.     In  fact  one  English  lady  who  subscribed 
to  a  "  weekly  horror  "  confessed  to  me  that  she  could 
not  enjoy  her  breakfast  without  a  murder  or  two, 
which  she  read  greedily  on  Sunday  mornings  before 
going  to  church.     But  there  was  no  such  mild  enjoy- 
ment for  the  unhappy  correspondent  supplying  these 
tit-bits,  for  he  lived  in  fear  of  imprisonment  or  expul- 
sion.    This  anxiety  so  told  on  one  man  I  knew  that  he 
went  out  of  his  mind,  while  others,  after  undergoing 
the  ordeal  for  a  few  months,  either  returned  home  or 
tried  commerce  for  a  change  of  occupation. 

The  more  adventurous  spirits,  who  loved  the  excite- 
ment, or  wished  to  be  of  service  to  their  country  or  to 
humanity,  stuck  to  their  harassing  work  for  years. 
Some  were  finally  expelled,  others  went  back  to  their 


274       PETROGRAD  PAST  AND  PRESENT 

native  land,  to  be  forgotten  by  those  who  had  em- 
ployed them,  for  whose  sake  they  had  neglected 
hundreds  of  chances  of  enriching  themselves.  A  friend 
of  mine  suffered  in  this  way,  very  sadly.  After  repre- 
senting for  thirty  years  one  of  the  largest  and  wealthi- 
est papers  in  England,  he  returned  to  London  shattered 
in  health,  to  look  for  an  appointment.  Yet,  in  spite 
of  his  brilliant  career,  and  the  benefits  Enghsh  trade, 
diplomacy  and  commerce  had  gained  by  his  unceasing 
championship  of  his  country's  interests,  and  his  con- 
stant defence  of  Englishmen  in  trouble  in  Russia, 
nothing  worthy  of  his  talent  was  offered  him — not 
even  a  living  wage.  He  was  by  no  means  the  only 
one.  In  fact  I  know  of  few  more  ungrateful  or 
anxious  callings  than  that  of  the  foreign  correspondent 
in  Russia,  if  bribes  or  opportunities  of  personal 
advantages  are  honourably  declined — his  large  circle 
of  friends  gives  him  endless  chances  of  making  money 
by  speculation,  or  other  easy  means. 

Not  all  our  members  belonged  to  the  self-sacrificing 
type  of  man  who  embraces  the  profession  for  the  good 
he  can  do  rather  than  for  material  gain.  One  of  the 
successful  men  in  the  capital  wdiile  I  was  there  was 
an  Italian  Jew,  who  reported  for  English,  French, 
Belgian  and  Italian  papers  !  Having  no  scruples, 
and  belonging  to  no  especial  nationality,  he  worked 
for  any  country  that  would  employ  him,  and  a  greater 
cynic  I  never  met.  He  looked  upon  the  various 
nations  with  their  rivalries  and  jealousies  as  so  many 
opportunities  for  his  own  profit.  Sometimes  I  used 
to  meet  this  worthy  rusliing  off,  and  would  ask  him 
what  his  hurry  was.  "  I  am  going  home  to  colour  the 
news,"  he  would  reply.  "  '  Colour  the  news  ?  '  What 
do  you  mean  ?  "  "  Well,"  he  would  say,  half  apolo- 
getic, knowing  that  I  represented  one  paper  only, 
"  you  see  I  send  to  about  six  different  papers,  and  must 
colour  the  news  according  to  the  varied  taste  of  my 


CORRESPONDENTS  AND  THE  CENSORS    275 

readers."  Although  England  and  France  were  then 
on  the  verge  of  war,  my  enterprising  colleague  managed 
to  tint  his  information  suitably  to  liis  English  and 
French  employers.  Owing  to  his  connection  with  so 
many  foreign  banks  and  papers  he  was  the  best  in- 
formed of  our  little  crowd,  for  the  simple  reason  that 
he  could  afford  to  pay  more  for  news  than  we,  who  only 
had  one  string  to  our  bow,  could  manage.  He  has 
long  ago  gone  to  his  account,  and  is  perhaps  laugliing 
in  another  world  at  the  folly  of  those  who  employed 
him.  He  used  to  give  brilliant  receptions,  to  which 
even  highly  placed  officials  came.     At  one  of  these  I 

met  Mile ,  a  voluptuous  creature,  sister-in-law  of 

a  powerful  Minister.  To  her  charms  I  might  easily 
have  succumbed  had  I  not  loved  freedom  rather  than 
wealth  and  comfort. 

All  the  principal  London  dailies  were  represented 
in  Petrograd ;  The  Times  for  many  years  by  Mr 
Dobson,  a  conscientious,  lovable  and  energetic  man, 
in  whose  hands  not  only  the  interests  of  liis  paper,  but 
those  of  his  country,  were  safe.  The  Standard  had  for 
a  long  time  a  handsome  Englishman  named  Baddeley 
who,  through  connections  among  the  Russian  aris- 
tocracy, was  often  able  to  gather  very  valuable  items 
of  exclusive  information.  The  Daily  News  was  repre- 
sented by  Andrew  Lydken,  an  able  journalist  from 
Denmark,  afterwards  on  the  staff  of  the  Politiken  of 
Copenhagen.  He  lost  his  life  by  the  explosion  of  a 
cannon  while  reporting  some  experiments  with  a  new 
type  of  artillery.  Another  conscientious  member  of 
the  fraternity  was  Mr  Romanes,  who  eventually  went 
under  owing  to  the  strain  and  anxiety  of  the  life. 

One  of  our  most  amusing  friends  was  Braily  Hod- 
getts,  of  The  Daily  Graphic,  who  actually  "  took  a 
rise  "  out  of  our  dreaded  Prefect,  General  Gresser,  the 
autocrat  of  Petrograd.  The  correspondence  of  this 
Englishman  did  not  quite  please  the  General,  and  the 


276       PETROGRAD  PAST  AND  PRESENT 

offender  was  summoned  into  his  august  presence. 
Although  mercilessly  severe,  General  Gresser  was 
frequently  extremely  polite.  "  Mr  Hodgetts,"  he 
began,  "it  is  very  remarkable  the  change  that  comes 
over  your  communications.  When  you  are  at  home 
in  England  you  write  the  truth  in  your  paper,  but 
when  you  come  here  you  write  nonsense.  How  do 
you  account  for  this  paradox  ?  " 

"  Your  Excellency,"  replied  Mr  Hodgetts,  not  at 
all  abashed,  "  I  can  only  explain  the  phenomenon  by 
the  suggestion  that  there  must  be  something  in  the 
political  atmosphere  of  Petersburg  which  converts  a 
truthful  man  into  a  prevaricator." 

This  answer  was  quite  enough  for  the  Prefect ;  from 
that  time  he  asked  Mr  Hodgetts  no  more  questions. 
Had  he  gone  into  the  matter  he  would  have  perceived 
that  the  strict  censorship  exercised  on  all  news  leaving 
Russia  made  it  absolutely  impossible  for  any  man  to 
tell  the  whole  truth  as  he  knew  it  to  be. 

Once,  when  I  was  attending  the  fencing  school  at  the 
Mechail  Palace  (now  the  Engineers'  School),  an  officer 
made  a  somewhat  similar  remark  to  me,  saying  in  a 
bantering  tone  :  "  What  nonsense  you  correspondents 
write  about  Russia  !  "  "  If  we  wrote  sense  only,"  I 
replied,  untroubled,  "  we  should  not  remain  at  our 
posts  twenty -four  hours  !  " 

It  did  not  pay,  generally  speaking,  for  a  corres- 
pondent to  show  too  much  zeal  in  his  profession.  I 
remember  one  who  arrived  full  of  energy,  but  who 
within  six  months  had  to  leave  the  country.  There 
were  others,  and  during  my  time  I  knew  about  half- 
a-dozen  who  had  to  quit,  often  at  twenty-four  hours' 
notice,  through  having  said  too  much  and  offended  the 
authorities.  Taking  one  consideration  with  another, 
as  Gilbert  might  have  put  it,  a  correspondent's  life 
is  not  a  happy  one.  We  had  to  choose  between  two 
evils — if  we  sent  too  much  news  home  we  annoyed  the 


CORRESPONDENTS  ANT)  THE  CENSORS     277 

censors  and  the  officials,  and  if  we  sent  too  little  our 
editors  grew  fractious.  I  once  sent  news  that  the 
Russian  troops  had  violated  the  Afghan  frontier  in 
pursuit  of  some  natives  of  that  land.  This  stirred  up 
the  wrath  of  the  entire  Russian  Press,  but  it  could  not 
be  helped,  for  after  Komaroff's  exploits  against  the 
Afghans  it  was  needful  to  be  on  guard  that  they  should 
not  be  repeated.  The  affair  came  before  Parliament, 
and  the  militia  were  called  out,  every  preparation 
being  made  for  war.  But  the  Russian  Government 
apologised  for  the  incident  and  the  storm  blew  over. 

One  of  our  chief  difficulties  lay  in  getting  our 
missives  across  the  frontier.  If  we  posted  it  at  the 
usual  post  office,  the  enclosure  would  go  to  the  chambre 
noire,  to  be  opened  and  read.  If  it  was  sent  by  wire, 
half  of  it  would  be  excised  by  the  courteous  but  vigilant 
telegraphic  censor,  whose  scissors  seemed  a  veritable 
sword  of  Damocles  ever  suspended  above  our  heads. 
Sometimes  I  travelled  several  miles  down  the  line  to 
post  a  letter,  for  the  gendarmes  at  the  main  station 
watched  everybody,  and,  I  was  informed,  were  in  the 
habit  of  going  to  the  post  office  and  demanding  any 
parcel  that  had  been  posted  by  one  of  our  group.  We 
were  without  doubt  a  troublesome  thorn  in  the  side 
of  the  Russian  authorities  ;  they  resented  these  men 
of  the  pen  who  chronicled  their  peccadilloes  and 
published  them  abroad  so  annoy ingly. 

Yet  I  must  admit  that  great  courtesy  was  given  to 
me  during  my  ten  years  in  the  city,  both  by  police  and 
censors,  the  majority  of  whom  were  educated  men  who 
mutilated  our  telegrams  and  blacked  out  our  papers, 
not  from  any  feeling  of  personal  spite,  but  simply 
because  it  was  their  duty  as  ordered  by  the  chief 
officials  of  the  Department. 

After  acting  as  correspondent  for  the  London  Press 
for  about  ten  years,  my  career  came  to  a  sudden  end. 
When  the  halfpenny  papers  began  to  compete  with 


278       PETROGRAD  PAST  AND  PRESENT 

the  more  steady,  old-fashioned  journals,  my  easy-going, 
non-sensational  organ  had  not  only  to  do  away  with  its 
foreign  representatives,  but  to  reduce  its  price  to  the 
popular  coin.     To  make  up  for  the  loss  to  my  income 
I  agreed,  in  an  evil  hour,  to  write  for  one  of  the  half- 
penny  sheets   which,    with    "  scare "    headlines   and 
American  methods,  have  taken  the  field  almost  to 
themselves.     For  a  time  all  went  well.     I  supplied 
all  the  exciting  news  I  could  gather ;  but  this  proved 
inadequate — they  wanted   news  about   "  what  never 
happened,"  as  the  Russians  say.     When  I  refused  to 
manufacture  sensations  for  their  benefit,  they  printed 
news  either  made  "  by  our  correspondent  in  Vienna  " 
or  Berlin,  or  as  a  last  resource  concocted  in  Fleet  Street 
and  published  as  coming  from  Petrograd.     As  I  was 
the  accredited  Petrograd   correspondent,  I  was  held 
responsible  by  the  officials  for  all  these  inventions. 
For  a  time  nothing  was  said,  but  one  morning  I  was 
summoned  before  the  Chief  Censor  of  the  Telegraph 
Department  for  having  communicated  something  very 
awful  concerning  the  death  of  a  Russian  Minister  of 
Foreign  Affairs — in  fact,  according  to  the  authorities, 
I  had  said  that  he  was  poisoned  by  the  secretary  of 
the  Chinese  ambassador !    Other  incriminating  charges 
were  made  against  me,  and,  to  my  astonishment,  I  was 
requested   to   leave  the   country  within   twenty-four 
hours.     Fortunately  I  had  kept  copies  of  all  my  tele- 
grams sent  across  the  frontier,  where  I  had  an  agent, 
and,  thanks  to  this   precaution  and   my  past  good 
record,  I  was  eventually  allowed  to  remain — on  con- 
dition  that   I  gave  up  my   paper.     This   I  was,   of 
course,  compelled  to  do,  and  I  then  turned  to  the  less- 
exciting  but  safer  occupation  of  teaching  in  the  Govern- 
ment gymnasiums  and  schools.     In  this  profession  I 
remained  until  my  return  to  England,  after  thirty 
years'  absence,  twenty-seven  of  which  were  spent  in 
the  "  Holy  Land  of  Roos." 


CORRESPONDENTS  AND  THE  CENSORS     279 

On  dismissing  me,  Gospoden  Gretch  (Mr  Gretch),  the 
courteous  Chief  Censor,  grandson  of  the  celebrated 
Russian  historian,  said  :  "  I  fear  your  new  paper  is 
not  a  serious  journal  1  "  To  this  I  blushingly  assented, 
and  vowed  to  have  nothing  more  to  do  with  sensational 
sheets,  for  this  was  not  the  only  pickle  my  enterprising 
editors  got  me  into  abroad  during  the  comparatively 
short  time  I  worked  for  them. 


XXXI 

THE  BRITISH  COLONY — ITS  HISTORY  AND  DEVELOPMENT 

The  British  residents  in  Petrograd  coalesced  into  what 
may  reasonably  be  termed  a  colony  about  the  time  of 
Peter  the  Great.  It  is  well  known  that  he  employed 
many  Englishmen  and  Scotsmen  in  his  army  and 
navy,  and  to  assist  in  various  military  undertakings, 
reforms  and  public  works.  In  the  old  church  at 
Spalding  a  tablet  on  one  of  the  walls  bears  the  following 
inscription  : — 

"  To  the  Memory  of  lohn  Perry,  Esq'  in  1693 
Commander  of  His  Maiesty  King  Will™'  Ship  the 
Cignet ;  second  Son  of  Sam^  Perry  of  Rodborough  in 
Gloucestershire  Gent  &  of  Sarah  his  Wife  ;  Daughter 
of  Sir  Tho'  Nott ;  K* .  He  was  several  Years 
Comptroller  of  the  Maritime  works  to  Czar  Peter  in 
Russia  &  on  his  Return  home  was  Employed  by 
y"  Parliament  to  stop  Dagenham  Breach  which  he 
Effected  and  thereby  Preserved  the  Navigation  of  the 
River  of  Thames  and  Rescued  many  Private  Familys 
from  Ruin." 

This  worthy  is  only  one  of  the  many  Englishmen  who, 
by  industry  and  energy,  helped  the  Tsar  to  build  up 
his  new  Empire  and  to  lay  the  foundations  of  the  city 
which  bears  his  name.  Long  before  his  time,  how- 
ever, the  English  opened  out  commerce  with  Russia 
by  means  of  the  merchants  of  Gothland,  then  known 
as  the  Osterlings.  These  Baltic  traders  had  their 
headquarters  at  the  ancient  city  of  Wisby,  where 
subsequently  all  the  money  and  treasures  of  the  Goth- 

280 


THE  BRITISH  COLONY  281 

landers  were  kept  in  the  cellars  of  the  Cathedral  of  St 
Maria.     Evidences  of  the  trade  with  Russia,  especially 
with   the    regions    round    the    Neva   and    the    upper 
reaches  of  the  Volga,  are  constantly  met  with  in  the 
shape  of  Anglo-Saxon  coins  minted  in  England  before 
the  Conquest,  and  fragments  of  Anglo-Saxon  pottery 
discovered  so   far  off  as  east  of  the  government  of 
Orenburg.     The  Neva  was  the  outlet  for  goods  brought 
from  the  East,  up  the  Volga,  and  thence  via  Lake 
Ladoga  to  the  Baltic.     Most  of  the  trade  was  at  first 
in  the  hands  of  the  Gothland  and   Swedish  vikings 
from    Roos-lagen,   the    large    district    lying    between 
Vaxholm  (near  Stockholm)  and  Upsala,  the  old  capital 
of  Sweden.     Later,  it  was  taken  up  by  the  Novgor- 
odians,  who  for  a  long  time  owned  both  banks  of  the 
Neva.     But  it  was  left  to  Alfred  the  Great  to  inaugur- 
ate  the    first  trading   relations  with   the   people   of 
Bjarmiland,  on  the  shores  of  the  White  Sea,  by  send- 
ing out  his  ships  under  the  command  of  Norwegian 
navigators,  who  supplied  him  with  material  for  the 
earliest  description  of  these  northern  lands  that  we 
have  in  the  English  tongue.     He  was  really  the  first 
Englishman  of  note  to  recognise  the  possibilities  of 
commerce  with  Northern  Russia.     There  is  little  doubt 
that  international  relations  of  this  kind  were  estab- 
lished long  before  the  Conquest,  and  when,  in  1553, 
King  Edward  VI.  sent  Sir  Hugh  Willoughby,  Captain 
Richard  Chancellor  and  other  adventurers  to  traffic 
in  the  White  Sea  ports,  he  was  only  reopening  an  inter- 
course which,  owing  to  Tartar  invasions  and  political 
upheavals,  had  been  broken  off  and  for  a  while  for- 
gotten. 

According  to  Johnstone's  work  on  this  subject,  the 
young  King  Edward  VI.,  who  was  dying  of  consump- 
tion, watched  the  heroic  mariners  pass  out  to  the  great 
unknown  from  the  palace  window  at  Greenwich.  The 
majority  never  returned,  for  they  were  overtaken  by 


282       PETROGRAD  PAST  AND  PRESENT 

an  early  winter — the  entire  crews  of  two  of  the  three 
vessels,  with  their  commander,  Sir  Hugh,  died  of  cold 
and  starv^ation.  But  the  third,  under  Chancellor, 
reached  a  safe  bay,  where  it  anchored.  This  "  bay  " 
was  the  White  Sea,  and  after  sending  a  boat  ashore  the 
voyagers  learnt  that  "  one  Ivan  Vasilevitch  ruled  far 
and  wide  in  these  provinces."  Now  this  was  none 
other  than  the  dread  Tsar  Ivan  the  Terrible.  With 
all  his  cruelty  and  barbarity,  he  fully  understood  the 
importance  of  cultivating  friendly  relations  with  that 
great  maritime  nation,  England,  which  was  taking  the 
place  of  the  old  Hanseatic  League  and  depriving  it  of 
the  ruinous  monopoly  and  power  which  Ivan  himself 
had  done  so  much  to  impair.  Chancellor  in  his  report 
mentions  the  Emperor's  "  majestic  appearance,  his 
rich  robes  covered  with  large  and  heavy  stones,"  and 
describes  the  pomp  and  ceremony  with  which  a  noble- 
man (Nikita  Romanoff,  an  ancestor  of  the  present 
Tsar)  set  out  on  an  embassy  to  Lithuania.  On  his 
return  he  averred  that  he  had  found  another  Indies. 
This  was  scarcely  an  exaggeration,  for  wealth  and 
territory  were  Ivan's  to  an  extent  exceeding  that  of  the 
Indies,  even  though  the  climate  in  many  parts  of  his 
dominions  was  bleak,  inhospitable  and  forbidding. 

The  result  of  the  friendly  intercourse  between  the 
Tsar  and  Queen  Elizabeth,  who  had  succeeded  her 
invalid  brother,  was  a  treaty,  by  which  the  English 
merchants  were  allowed  to  establish  factories  at 
Archangel,  Vologda,  Narva,  Moscow  and  later  on  at 
Kazan.  Aftersvards  came  another  at  Holmnegore, 
near  Archangel,  and  a  branch  at  Petrograd.  This, 
like  the  factory  at  Archangel  and  Moscow,  had  a 
church  supported  by  the  ancient  Russian  Company,  the 
first  charter  of  which  was  granted  by  Ivan  during  the 
reign  of  Queen  Mary,  as  can  be  seen  by  the  seal  of 
the  Company  at  its  offices  in  London.  This  Company, 
which  was  very  exclusive,  continued  to  receive  various 


THE  BRITISH  COLONY  283 

charters  from  the  successors  of  Ivan  until  it  eventu- 
ally became  extremely  rich  and  influential.  In  1585 
Queen  Elizabeth  wrote  to  the  Emperor  Theodora 
begging  for  still  further  privileges.  The  latter  replied 
to  the  ambassador  that  the  English  residents  con- 
stantly broke  the  laws  of  the  country  ;  that  their 
manner  of  living  corrupted  his  subjects  ;  that  they 
already  enjoyed  far  greater  favours  than  other 
foreigners  in  Russia,  and  that  he  could  not  exclude 
all  other  traders  simply  for  their  benefit.  The 
"  corrupt  practices  "  mentioned  probably  referred  to 
the  fact  that  the  English  did  not  keep  the  fasts  of  the 
Greek  Church,  and  ate  meat  during  the  season  of  Lent, 
when  all  good  Russians  abstain  rigidly.  As  to  the 
privileges,  from  the  very  first  the  English  have  been 
treated  as  a  favoured  nation.  Li  the  international 
agreements  they  are  always  termed  "  guests "  and 
regarded  as  such.  For  offences  that  would  send  a 
native  to  Siberia  they  would  only  be  imprisoned,  or 
requested  to  leave  the  country.  The  whole  time  of 
my  residence  in  the  capital  in  the  difficult  position 
of  foreign  correspondent  (tolerated,  not  liked)  I  received 
the  finest  courtesy  from  the  censors,  police  and 
officials^ — not  because  I  happened  to  be  on  the  Press, 
but  because  I  was  a  British  subject.  If  I,  whose 
presence  the  authorities  tacitly  resented,  was  treated 
so  well,  it  is  easy  to  see  how  pleasant  is  the  lot  of  other 
Englishmen  not  connected  with  papers  or  politics. 

Boris  Godounoff,  the  Tartar  usurper,  who  was  sus- 
pected of  having  murdered  at  Ooglitch  the  Tsarevitch, 
the  younger  son  of  Ivan  the  Terrible,  also  strove  to 
encourage  trade  with  these  islands,  and  rendered 
valuable  assistance  to  the  Russian  Company.  Even 
the  weak-minded  Theodor  granted  the  English  special 
facilities  in  consideration  of  their  being  the  first  to  try 
the  route  to  Archangel.  The  English  cause,  however, 
suffered  from  the  imprisonment  and  death  of  its  chief 


284      PETROGRAD  PAST  AND  PRESENT 

friend  in  the  Imperial  Council,  Nikita  Romanoff,  who 
was  too  powerful  a  rival  to  be  permitted  to  remain. 
His  sons  also  were  all  executed  or  imprisoned,  prob- 
ably at  the  instigation  of  Godounoff,  who  desired  to 
seize  the  throne.  He  was  full  of  craft,  and  in  some 
ways  wise  enough  to  act  up  to  more  generous  methods. 
He  sent  four  young  Russians  to  England  to  study,  to 
learn,  in  fact,  all  they  could  about  the  wonderful 
island  kingdom  in  which  the  people  of  Muscovy  were 
so  interested.  Three  of  them  died  of  small-pox  at 
Oxford,  but  the  survivor,  Nicephorus  Alfery,  was 
ordained  into  the  Church  in  1618  and  appointed  to 
the  living  of  Woolsey  in  Huntingdonshire.  A  direct 
descendant  of  this  man,  who  claimed  the  throne  of 
Muscovy,  was  for  years  governess  to  my  own  cousins 
at  Normanby  Grange  in  Lincolnshire,  and  the  history 
of  this  offshoot  of  the  Muscovite  Tsars,  who  were 
related  to  Ivan  the  Terrible  by  marriage,  is  still  in 
my  possession. 

Although  Nicephorus  Alfery  was  twice  invited  to 
return  to  his  native  land,  and  was  offered  the  rank  of 
an  Imperial  prince,  he  thought  his  head  sat  more 
tightly  on  his  shoulders  in  this  country  than  it  would 
at  the  Court  of  Muscovy,  and  preferred  to  remain  here 
as  a  quiet  parson.  He  seems  to  have  filled  this  office 
with  credit,  and  died  peacefully. 

On  the  election  of  Mechail  Romanoff  to  the  throne 
by  the  will  of  the  clergy,  the  boyars  and  the  people, 
commerce  with  England  via  the  White  Sea  ports  was 
fostered  in  every  possible  way.  The  old  charters  were 
renewed  and  confirmed,  and  from  that  time  Russia 
became  one  of  our  principal  markets.  During  the 
Romanoff  dynasty  the  two  nations  increased  their 
intimacy,  and  more  than  once  the  Russian  Company 
in  London  rendered  the  Russian  Government  signal 
service,  not  only  by  loans,  but  also  by  supplying 
cannon,    arms    and    ammunition.     When    Peter    the 


o       " 


THE  BRITISH  COLONY  285 

Great  began  to  be  possessed  by  the  idea  of  his  new 
city,  he  abolished  the  rights  of  the  Company  in  Arch- 
angel in  order  to  attract  trade  to  the  fresh  centre. 
The  British  factory  was  then  removed  to  Pctrograd, 
where  its  offices  are  still  managed  by  a  board  of 
directors  sitting  in  London.  The  factory  then  built 
the  beautiful  church  on  the  English  Quay,  also  another 
church  at  Cronstadt,  which  I  have  already  mentioned. 
The  one  in  the  capital  is  also  the  church  of  the  Em- 
bassy, and  the  merchant  classes  support  it  with  great 
liberality.  An  excellent  Congregational  church  is 
built  near  the  post  office.  For  many  years  its  pulpit 
was  occupied  by  the  Rev.  Alexander  Francis,  a  man 
of  eloquence  and  energy.  While  the  great  famine  of 
1891-1892  raged,  he  was  one  of  the  leading  members  of 
the  English  and  American  colony  in  Petrograd,  whose 
efforts  were  the  means  of  saving  many  thousands  of 
lives  in  the  interior.  Close  to  this  spot  a  young 
English  governess  was  murdered  by  the  Horse  Guards 
one  winter  night,  her  body  being  hidden  in  the  loft  of 
their  barracks.  As  soon  as  the  crime  was  discovered, 
all  the  suspected  men  were  shot.  The  Tsar  (Alex- 
ander HI.)  was  so  enraged  that  he  returned  his  uniform 
of  the  guilty  regiment  and  refused  ever  to  wear  it 
again. 

Another  English  church,  at  Alexandroffka,  on  the 
Schiisselberg  road,  was  built  chiefly  for  the  convenience 
of  the  mill  population  up  the  river.  Here  the  Thorn- 
tons, Hubbards,  the  Becks  and  the  Nevsky  Stearine 
Company  have  several  large  mills  and  factories,  their 
managers  and  foremen  being  generally  Englishmen. 
The  Russians  have  of  late  years  become  so  skilled  in 
the  manufacture  of  cloth  and  cotton  goods,  and  in  the 
knowledge  of  machinery,  that  fewer  Englishmen  are 
required  in  these  duties  than  was  the  case  some  years 
back.  In  the  interior  I  have  visited  mills  turning  out 
first-class  stuff  for  the  Central  Asian  markets  that  do 


286       PETROGRAD  PAST  AND  PRESENT 

not  employ  a  single  foreigner — everything  is  Russian, 
even  the  cotton,  with  the  exception  of  a  small  quantity 
imported  from  America.  There  remain  still,  however, 
some  English  managers  who  earn  princely  salaries — men 
from  Yorkshire  or  Lancashire,  sometimes  mill-owners, 
who  have  made  large  fortunes.  The  wealthiest 
are  the  Hubbards,  whose  big  mills  are  at  Schliissel- 
berg.  The  head  of  this  firm,  who  has  been  made  a 
peer,  has  for  long  had  much  to  do  with  the  control  of 
the  Russian  Company  in  London.  The  Cazalets  have 
been  in  Russia  ever  since  Peter  the  Great's  reign.  In 
the  timber  industry,  the  largest  export  houses  are 
Oscar  Steveni  (formerly  of  Hull  and  Grimsby),  Charles 
Stewart  and  Edward  Reynolds.  The  English  and 
Germans  used  to  monopolise  this  trade,  but  every  year 
Russian  names  come  more  and  more  prominently  into 
it.  Petrograd  has  also  large  breweries  and  oil-works, 
belonging  to  the  Millers,  another  old  English  house  of 
repute.  On  the  Bolshoi  Ochta  one  of  the  principal 
factories  is  that  of  Matthew  Edwardes,  a  native  of 
Lincolnshire,  who  came  to  Russia  as  a  tutor,  and  now 
owns  an  estate  at  Sieverska,  with  extensive  glass- 
works. He  is  typical  of  many  of  our  countrymen 
who  went  abroad  with  little  beyond  education  and 
character,  to  succeed  and  become  wealthy.  Shipping, 
commerce  and  engineering  naturally  claim  their  pro- 
portion of  English.  Among  them  may  be  mentioned 
the  Johnstones,  Maxwells,  Wylies,  Wishaws,  Ander- 
sons, Hills,  Howards,  Merryweathers,  the  Tamplins 
of  Brighton,  and  there  are  many  others. 

Life  in  the  English  group,  both  in  Petrograd  and 
Moscow,  is,  as  a  rule,  very  enjoyable.  Most  of 
the  members  are  fairly  well  off.  They  show  more 
hospitality  and  sociability  in  their  daily  intercourse 
than  do  their  compatriots  at  home.  Freed  from 
the  deadening  effects  of  the  strenuous  existence,  the 
struggle  for  life,  which  too  often  spoils  Londoners  for 


THE  BRITISH  COLONY  287 

any  enthusiasms  when  work  is  done,  they  uphold,  as 
do  other  EngUshmen  in  our  colonies,  some  of  the  best 
traditions  of  the  race.  There  are,  however,  many 
English  governesses  and  tutors,  who  generally  find 
their  places  very  pleasant  and  satisfactory ;  the 
Russians  treat  them  as  one  of  the  family.  Especially 
among  the  older  nobility  the  aged  governess  or  nurse 
who  has  spent  her  best  years  in  bringing  up  and 
educating  the  younger  generation  is  pensioned  off 
comfortably.  The  old  nurse,  in  fact,  occupies  much 
the  same  position  as  the  nurse  in  Romeo  and  Juliet ; 
even  when  her  charges  have  grown  up  she  has  her 
place  at  the  table,  and  is  considered  the  adviser  and 
friend.  Ivan  the  Terrible  would  listen  to  his  nurse, 
fearing  her  reproaches  and  curses,  when  his  heart  was 
hard  as  adamant  towards  all  other  human  appeals. 
This  democratic  and  Christian  trait  of  character  is  not 
confined  to  one  class,  but  appears  beautifully  in  all.  I 
witnessed  a  most  touching  example  of  it  in  the  funeral 
of  the  English  nurse  of  the  late  Tsar,  who  had  watched 
over  his  youth  and  that  of  his  brothers — the  Grand 
Dukes  Alexis,  Sergius,  Vladimir  and  Paul.  All  these, 
the  Tsar  at  their  head,  tramped  several  miles  through 
the  streets,  following  the  coffin,  which  they  helped  to 
bear  to  its  resting-place  in  the  cemetery  outside  the 
city,  and  a  beautiful  marble  monument,  erected  by  her 
illustrious  charges,  marks  the  spot. 

So  many  of  our  countrymen  have  flocked  to  Petro- 
grad  in  recent  years  that  the  profession  of  tutor  is  not 
half  so  attractive  as  it  used  to  be.  In  other  towns, 
however — Kharkoff,  Kursk,  Nizhni -Novgorod,  Kazan 
— a  good  field  still  remains. 

The  present  war  will  tend  to  encourage  commercial 
relations  between  Russia  and  ourselves,  but  unless  the 
English  merchants  bestir  themselves,  studying  more 
than  they  have  done  the  language  and  the  require- 
ments of  the  people,  trade  will  again  drift  into  the 


288       PETROGRAD  PAST  AND  PRESENT 

hands  of  the  Germans.  At  one  time  the  Enghsh  and 
Dutch  held  practically  all  the  foreign  trade,  but  the 
pushful  Teuton  ousted  them  with  his  capacity  for 
organisation. 

The  English  folk  in  the  capital,  prior  to  the  outbreak 
of  war,  numbered  about  four  thousand,  most  of  them 
living  on  the  Vasilii  Ostroff  or  in  the  mill  districts, 
some  in  stately  houses  in  the  suburbs.  They  have,  of 
course,  their  own  club  on  the  Grand  Moskaya,  their 
own  booksellers  (Watkin  &  Sons),  and  they  support 
several  schools,  a  fine  library,  the  church  and  a  gym- 
nasium. They  have  also  cricket  and  football  clubs, 
tennis  grounds,  rowing  clubs,  etc.,  and  the  natives 
are  becoming  extremely  interested  in  their  sports,  so 
much  so  that  in  wrestling  and  games  of  strength  they 
are  beginning  to  excel.  We  may  expect  in  time  from 
this  young  and  natural  nation  some  of  the  best  sports- 
men in  the  world,  particularly  from  the  Cossacks, 
North  Russians  and  Siberjaks,  many  of  whom  are 
men  of  huge  stature  and  immense  physical  capacity. 
Winter  sports  appeal  strongly  to  the  English.  They 
hold  skating  competitions  and  amuse  themselves  by 
ice-yachting,  ski-ing,  tobogganing  or  hunting  bears  and 
wolves  in  the  forests  of  Novgorod  and  Finland  ;  also 
by  shooting  foxes  on  skis.  Foxes  and  hares  being  so 
plentiful  as  to  become  almost  a  plague  in  some  parts, 
this  is  not  considered  unsportsmanlike.  Once  these 
delights  have  been  tasted,  with  the  sense  of  enjoyment 
which  is  such  a  feature  of  Russian  life,  not  many 
Englishmen  care  to  return  for  good  to  their  native 
land.  Many  I  have  known  who  went  back,  but  Russia 
called  them  and  they  left  the  old  home  once  more. 

The  real  Russian  does  not  love  what  we  call  sport, 
and  cannot  understand  why  people  should  go  to  so 
much  exertion  for  no  tangible  gain.  A  Russian  lady 
who  stood  by  me  watching  a  football  match  on  the 
island  suddenly  said  she  would  not    look  at  it  any 


THE  BRITISH  COLONY  289 

longer,  for  it  was  a  "  coarse  and  brutal  and  stupid 
spectacle  to  see  young  men  kicking  one  another  and 
hurting  themselves  for  the  sake  of  a  leather  ball." 
When  I  tried  to  explain  that  it  was  "  sport,"  and  good 
for  their  health,  she  turned  on  me  indignantly  and 
said  :  "  I  call  it  brutality  and  barbarism  !  "  I  was 
thunderstruck;  but  then  I  remembered  that  many 
of  the  people  are,  in  their  ideas,  still  half  Oriental, 
regarding  all  violent  exercise,  except  when  absolutely 
necessary,  as  something  to  be  avoided. 

The  English  who  have  resided  in  the  country  for 
many  years  are  regarded  almost  as  Russians  by  the 
authorities,  though  they  retain  their  nationality  with 
jealous  care.  When  the  French  ambassador  was 
instructed  by  Napoleon  to  inform  the  Tsar  that  the 
English  should  be  dismissed,  as  those  who  remained  in 
Franee  had  all  been  imprisoned,  Alexander  replied  : 
"  Their  ancestors  have  been  here  for  centuries,  and  I 
certainly  shall  not  ill  use  my  old  friends  so  much  as  to 
treat  them  as  enemies.  If  they  choose  to  remain  in 
Russia,  no  one  shall  molest  them  !  " 


XXXII 

KRASNOE   SELO   AND    THE   MILITARY   MANOEUVRES 

Everyone  who  is  interested  in  military  matters  should 
visit  the  camp  of  the  Guards  at  Krasnoe  Selo  (literally, 
"  beautiful  village  "),  where  the  Tsar  has  one  of  his 
numerous  palaces.  The  journey  is  only  about  half-an- 
hour  from  the  capital  by  rail. 

Every  summer  the  Guards,  numbering  about  200,000 
men,  pitch  their  tents  on  the  green  hills  overlooking 
Krasnoe  and  carry  out  a  great  many  military  exer- 
cises, at  which  the  Tsar,  the  Grand  Dukes  and  the 
leading  officers  of  the  staff  are  always  present.  It  was 
at  this  centre  for  practical  soldiering  that  the  crack 
regiments  of  the  army  became  so  proficient  that  they 
were  able  in  the  early  days  of  the  present  war  to  in- 
flict some  severe  defeats  on  certain  of  the  finest  troops 
of  the  German  army,  led  by  several  of  the  most  skilful 
generals  in  the  world.  The  Tsar  is  usually  mounted 
on  a  white  charger,  which,  I  believe,  Alexander  III. 
acquired  from  England  ;  very  carefully  he  reviews 
the  various  battalions  as  they  file  past.  They  salute 
their  Emperor,  with  loud  cries  :  "  We  wish  your 
Imperial  Highness  health ! "  and  in  the  distance  the 
hoarse  shouts  sound  like  the  subdued  roar  of  a  stormy 
sea  beating  on  the  shore. 

The  finest  regiments  in  the  Russian  army  take 
part — ^the  Ismail,  the  Pavlovsk,  the  Semenoff  and 
the  Preobrashensk ;  regiments  which,  under  Peter  the 
Great,  Souvoroff,  Barclay  de  Toll  and  other  leaders 
covered  the  Russian  arms  with  glory  and  victory. 
The  Preobrashensk  Regiment  was  first  formed  by  Peter 
from  among  his  dissolute  companions,  who  were  sent 

290 


KRASNOE  SELO  291 

to  him  by  his  unscrupulous  sister  with  the  object  of 
demoralising  him  and  making  him  unfit  to  ascend  the 
throne.  But  she  reckoned  without  her  host  in  this 
case,  for  Peter  had  a  will  of  his  own,  and  soon  made 
it  felt,  with  the  result  that  those  who  were  supposed 
to  be  able  to  mould  his  character  were  themselves 
transformed  into  useful  men. 

After  the  military  exercises  in  the  camp  are  com- 
pleted, the  autumn  manoeuvres  begin  in  real  earnest. 
They  are  carried  through  with  such  thoroughness  and 
realism  that  the  soldiers  have  to  undergo  privations 
and  hardships  as  severe  as  would  occur  to  them  in 
actual  warfare.  It  happens  often  that  many  of  the 
weaker  ones  succumb  to  the  heat  and  fatigue  ;  others 
are  drowned  in  the  broad  rivers  and  streams  they  have 
to  cross.  On  more  than  one  occasion,  following  these 
operations  as  foreign  correspondent,  I  narrowly 
escaped  being  ridden  down  and  possibly  trampled 
to  death  by  the  Cossacks,  who  charge  like  a  human 
avalanche,  against  which  nothing  can  stand.  Once 
when  I  was  there  the  field  of  operations  extended  from 
Finland  to  Narva,  a  distance  of  several  hundred  miles. 
The  Grand  Duke  Nicholas  the  Elder  was  present — 
father  of  the  present  Grand  Duke  of  that  name.  He, 
like  his  hardy  son,  was  a  man  of  great  stature,  but 
then  his  face  was  ashen-grey,  for  the  hand  of  Death 
was  evidently  upon  him. 

These  extensive  manoeuvres  were  of  the  utmost 
importance,  for  they  were  planned  on  the  assumption 
that  an  enemy  from  the  south  was  marching  through 
the  Baltic  Provinces,  with  the  object  of  capturing 
Petrograd.  Another  force  belonging  to  the  same 
hostile  army  had  simultaneously  landed  in  Finland, 
and  was  also  advancing  on  the  capital  by  way  of  the 
northern  coast  of  the  Gulf.  It  was  no  secret  that 
the  supposed  invader  was  Germany.  After  witnessing 
these  manoeuvres,  and  those  in   Western   Finland,  I 


292       PETROGRAD  PAST  AND  PRESENT 

came  to  the  conclusion  that  the  Russian  Government 
had  good  reason  to  fear  an  attack  from  this  quarter 
by  Germany,  and  was  preparing  beforehand  to  meet  it. 
When  war  really  broke  out,  the  Germans  immediately 
proved  this  true  by  seizing  the  Aland  Islands,  at- 
tempting to  carry  out  this  very  scheme,  and  march- 
ing on  the  capital  through  the  Baltic  Provinces.  They 
were  checked,  however,  in  the  western  area  of  war  by 
the  British  army  before  Paris,  and,  having  to  look  after 
themselves  pretty  sharply  in  that  direction,  their  well- 
laid  plans  went  wrong.  Studying  the  whole  situation 
in  the  light  of  later  events,  I  firmly  believe  that  they 
thought  to  conquer  Paris  by  a  sudden  onslaught,  and 
then,  after  levying  a  heavy  indemnity  on  France,  to 
throw  all  their  weight  against  Russia  by  way  of  the 
Baltic  Provinces. 

In  Finland  the  supposed  hostile  army  occupied  the 
road  right  up  to  Petrograd,  but  after  landing  near 
Cronstadt,  amid  some  very  severe  fighting,  they  were 
driven  off  by  the  defending  forces.  The  final  battle 
took  place  just  outside  the  city,  near  Krasnoe,  and 
never  shall  I  forget  the  dust,  the  din,  the  cannonade 
and  smoke  of  that  last  engagement.  In  this  mimic 
but  strenuous  warfare  the  enemy  was  defeated  by  the 
Imperial  Guards. 

The  Russian  Government  were  so  convinced  that 
this  plan  would  be  carried  into  effect  that  directly  war 
came,  thousands  of  labouring  men  were  drafted  into 
the  city  to  dig  trenches  and  build  earthworks  round  it, 
night  and  day,  for  extravagant  wages.  The  forests 
and  trees  near  the  city,  which  might  afford  cover,  were 
cut  down,  and  an  enormous  force,  estimated  by  some 
at  a  million  men,  was  sent  to  occupy  Finland.  But  as 
the  Germans  were  compelled  to  retreat  from  the  neigh- 
bourhood of  Paris,  and  the  chances  of  serious  invasion 
via  Finland  became  more  remote,  Russia  removed  a 
great  many  of   her  best  soldiers  and   sent  them  to 


k^ 


y 


KRASNOE  SELO  293 

reinforce  the  Austrian  and  lower  German  frontiers. 
There  is  Httle  doubt  that  for  a  time  Petrograd  was  in 
danger,  and  there  was  a  Hvely  possibility  that  Kussia 
would  lose  Finland  and  the  command  of  the  Baltic. 
According  to  the  German  Press,  Germany  has  not 
completely  abandoned  all  hope  of  this  eastern  opera- 
tion, although  she  has  already  lost  over  3,500,000 
men  in  killed,  wounded  and  prisoners.  A  Berlin 
paper  printed  an  article  by  Professor  Chicmann  on 
7th  June  1915,  under  the  heading  :  "  Where  is  Russia 
vulnerable  ?  "  The  Professor  says  that  the  fnial  blow 
must  be  delivered  against  Petrograd,  where  cvery- 
tliing  is  centred  that  really  represents  the  Russian 
Government.  "  It  is  not  sufficient  to  drive  the 
Russians  out  of  Galicia  ;  one  must  take  action  with 
the  aim  of  threatening  the  capital  and  conquering 
Finland."  Professor  Chicmann  knows  Russia  as  well 
as  anybody,  and  great  value  is  attached  to  his  opinions, 
since  he  has  been  the  Kaiser's  instructor,  and  is  still 
his  good  friend.  If  Germany  succeeded,  the  Provinces 
would  become  a  part  of  her  Empire,  and  Petrograd 
would  once  more  be  "  Petersburg  "—a  German  city  not 
only  in  name,  but  in  reality.  Lifland  and  Courland 
would  again,  wdth  their  memories  of  the  prosperous  and 
powerful  Ilanseatic  League,  become  an  autonomous 
state,  with  their  own  laws  and  religion  as  before. 


XXXIII 

ALEXANDER     III.,     HIS      "  MUSEUM,"     AND     THE     LATE 
GRAND    DUKE    CONSTANTINE 

Across  the  Moika,  at  the  end  of  the  Champ  de  Mars, 
are  the  precincts  of  the  old  Mechail  Palace,  now  con- 
verted into  an  engineering  school.  The  new  Mechail 
Palace,  now  known  as  the  Museum  of  Alexander  III., 
is  not  for  away,  and  near  it  is  the  French  Theatre, 
where  Sarah  Bernhardt,  Guitry  and  other  great 
artists  of  France  have  triumphed.  The  study  of  the 
French  language  and  literature  is  encouraged  in  every 
possible  way.  Although  English  is  popular  in  the  high- 
est circles,  French  is  the  favourite  among  the  officials. 
A  Russian  hardly  considers  himself  as  properly 
educated  unless  he  can  converse  fluently  in  that 
tongue.  German  is  naturally  unpopular,  and  I  heard 
recently  that  since  the  war  began  a  German  was  fined 
R.3000  for  daring  to  speak  his  mother  tongue  in  Petro- 
grad.  Even  before  the  war  the  Germans  were  so  dis- 
liked that  I  have  myself  been  asked  not  to  speak  the 
language  in  Russian  society  ;  but  that  was  in  Moscow, 
where  the  Panslavists  and  old  Russian  ideals  and  ideas 
are  still  very  strong. 

It  was  the  Tsar  Alexander  III.  who  first  set  the 
example  of  speaking  Russian  instead  of  French  at 
Court,  and  who  opposed  everything  that  tended  to 
weaken  a  national  spirit  among  his  subjects.  Before 
he  ascended  the  throne  it  was  quite  usual  to  meet 
Russian  nobles  who  spoke  English  and  French  well, 
but  could  hardly  hold  a  passably  correct  conversation 
in  their  own  language.  In  order  to  encourage  Russian 
art,  he  acquired  the  beautiful  Mechail  Palace,  and  con- 

294 


The  Tsak  Ai.knandkk   III     <  ai.i.ki.  hik  ■■  1'ka.  k  i.ovkk 


gem 


ALEXANDER  III.  295 

verted  it  into  this  Museum,  where  only  the  works  of 
genuine  native  artists  were  exhibited.     Many  of  those 
which  formerly  adorned  the  walls  of  the  Hermitage 
and  the  Academy  of  Painters  were  hung  here.     About 
four  hundred  statues  and  pictures  were  brought  from 
the  Winter  Palace  and  the  palaces  of  Gatchina  and 
Tsars koe  Selo.     The  best  tilings  in  the  collection  are  : 
The  Last  Days   of  Pompeii,   by  Bruloff;    The   Last 
Supper,    Peter    I.    and    the    Tsarevitch    Alexis,    The 
Marriage    Kiss,    by    Makoffsky;    The    Cossacks,    by 
Rjepin;    Ermak,    by    Soorekoff;    and    Phryna,    by 
Semeradsky.     There  are  also  some  splendid  sculptures 
by  Anatolsky.     The  Museum   cost   Alexander  III.  a 
fortune  to  found,  and,  as  it  is  certainly  one  of  the 
finest  in  the  city,  it  should  be  seen  by  all  who  wish  to 
form  a  good  idea  of  what  constitutes  true  Russian  art. 
Its    originator,   though    rough    and    brusque,    was 
probably  the  most  genuinely  Russian  monarch  who 
ever  occupied  the  Romanoff  throne.     He  loved  the 
people,  and  felt  that  the   State  could  be  built  on  a 
firm  foundation  only  by  awakening  and  developing  the 
national  spirit — not  by  following  in  the  steps  of  former 
rulers,  who  made  England,  France,  Prussia  and  even 
little  Holland  their  models.     For  the  first  time  was 
heard  the  watchword,  "  Russia  for  the  Russians,"  and 
in  his  brief  reign  the  people  became  proud  of  their 
nationality  and  its  own  peculiar  manifestations.    That 
he  was  a  reactionary  in  some  things  cannot  be  denied ; 
but  when  we  remember  the  fate  of  his  father  after  he 
had  emancipated  millions  of  serfs  and  was  on  the  point 
of  giving  the  people  a  constitutional  form  of  govern- 
ment, we  can  almost  forgive  him — though  it  seems 
hard  that  one  hundred  and  eighty  millions  should  be 
dragged  back  for  the  violent  deed  of  a  handful  of  mis- 
guided enthusiasts,  the  ready  tools  of  those  who  hated 
his  liberal  ideas  and  reforms.     It  transpired,  after  the 
assassination  of  Alexander  II.,  that  a  section  of  the 


296       PETROGRAD  PAST  AND  PRESENT 

nobility,  ruined  by  the  emancipation  of  the  wretched 
serfs,  who  by  toil  had  supported  them  in  idleness  and 
luxury,  were  the  instigators  of  the  crime  for  which 
Risakoff    paid    the    penalty   with    his    life.     Sophia 
Peroffsky,  a  clever  noblewoman,  had  some  personal 
animus  against  the  Tsar.     If  I  am  not  mistaken,  she 
was  the  great-granddaughter  of  Count  Peroffsky,  the 
favourite  Chancellor  of  Nicholas  I.,  and  a  descendant 
of   Catherine   II.   (who,    by   the   way,   left   so   many 
descendants  that   she   has   not  without   reason   been 
called  "the  mother  of  her  people  ").    Sophia  Peroffsky 
employed  her  gifts  very  unwisely  when  she  arranged 
a  plot  to  kill  the  ruler  who  had  done  more  for  the 
people  than  any  other  since  Vladimir  sat  on  the  Grand 
Ducal  throne  at  Kieff  and  converted  them  to  Chris- 
tianity.    My  friend,  Professor   Turner,  of   Petrograd 
University,  saw  the  terrible  explosion,  and  a  few  years 
afterwards  I  met  another  victim  of  it — Colonel  K., 
known  as  "the  Tsar's  watch-dog,"  from  the  fact  that 
his  duty  was  to  accompany  the  Tsar  wherever  he  went. 
He  was  severely  wounded  in  the  head  by  a  splinter 
from  the  bomb,  and  for  a  long  time  hovered  between 
life  and  death,  until  his  strong  constitution  came  to 
the  rescue.     Unfit  for  active  military  service,  he  was 
then  given  a  post  in  the  Criminal  Investigation  Depart- 
ment, but,  as  his  frame  was  so  shattered,  he  began  to 
study  painting  and  sculpture.     Though  over  forty,  he 
developed  a   most   remarkable   talent,  and    executed 
several  excellent  statues  of  the  Tsar.     On  the  spot  of 
the  tragedy  a  magnificent  church,  named  the  "Holy 
Resurrection  of  Christ,"  has  been  erected.     It  seems, 
however,    sadly    out    of    place    among    the    classical 
buildings  of  the  more  modern  part  of  the  city. 

The  Marble  Palace,  on  the  Palace  Quay,  was  in- 
habited by  the  Grand  Duke  Constantine,  recently 
deceased.  It  faces  the  Nev^  and  the  Champ  de  Mars, 
occupying  the  very  site  where  once  stood  Peter  the 


ALEXANDER  III.  297 

Great's  old  Coaching  Yard.     Unlike  so  many  of  the 

palaces,  it  is  of  stone  and  marble,  instead  of  brick  and 

stucco.     It  was  built  by  the  Italian  architect  Rinaldi, 

to  the  order  of  Catherine  II.  in  1769.     In  1789  it  was 

presented   to   Orloff,  and   the   facade   then   bore   the 

inscription  :  "  The  Building  of  Gratitude  " — by  which 

Catherine   acknowledged  the  many  favours   received 

at  the  hands  of  her  herculean  lover.     He  never  lived 

in  it ;  he  did  not  even  see  it  completed,  for  he  died  in 

torment,  at  Moscow,  from  the  result  of  his  excesses. 

The   palace  was  then   purchased  by  Catherine  from 

his   heirs  and   given   to   the   Polish   king,   Stanislaus 

Poniateffsky.     The  Emperor  Paul  I.  presented  it  to 

his  son,  the  Grand  Duke  Constantine,  but  he  seldom 

occupied  the  luxurious  building.     Li  1832  the  Marble 

Palace  passed  into  the  hands  of  the  next  Grand  Duke 

Constantine,  son  of  Nicholas  I.     Until  quite  recently 

it  was  occupied  by  his  son,  whose  death  is  announced 

as  this  book  is  on  the  point  of  going  to  press.     The  late 

Grand  Duke  was  well  known  as  a  poet  and  man  of 

letters.     He  translated  the  plays  of  Shakespeare,  and 

himself   acted    in   some    of   the    leading    parts.     His 

version    is    considered    by   scholars   to    be    excellent, 

showing  a  remarkably  fine  knowledge  of  English.     He 

formerly  held  a  high  position  as  commander  of  the 

principal  regiments  of  the  Guards.     At  the  manoeuvres 

I  have  often  seen  him,  busy  and  dusty,  in  company 

with  the  late  Grand  Duke  Michael. 

At  the  time  of  his  sudden  death,  on  15th  June,  he 
was  only  fifty-six.  He  was  the  son  of  the  Grand  Duke 
Constantine  Nicholaivitch  "  the  Red,"  and  nephew 
of  the  martyred  Alexander  II.  During  the  Crimean 
War  his  father  commanded  the  Baltic  Fleet,  and  in 
1863,  when  Poland  was  in  revolution,  was  the  Imperial 
Viceroy  at  Warsaw.  Constantine  Nicholaivitch  made 
himself  exceedingly  unpopular  in  Government  and 
bureaucratic  circles  by  his  liberal  and  progressive  ideas. 


298       PETROGRAD  PAST  AND  PRESENT 

He  had,  however,  much  influence  over  the  humane, 
philanthropic  Alexander  II.,  and  it  was  greatly 
owing  to  this  that  the  Tsar  was  induced  to  liberate 
the  serfs.  When  Alexander  III.  ascended  the  throne, 
and  resolved  to  carry  out  a  policy  of  reaction  in  all 
departments,  the  Grand  Duke  was  compelled  to  retire 
from  his  various  duties  and  to  quit  the  capital.  He 
spent  his  last  days  in  the  Palace  of  Pavlovsk.  During 
the  reign  of  Alexander  II.  I  often  saw  this  liberal- 
minded  member  of  the  house  of  Romanoff  in  Cron- 
stadt,  where,  owing  to  his  intense  interest  in  the  navy, 
he  was  constantly  a  guest  of  the  Governor,  Admiral 
Kazekevitch. 

The  late  Grand  Duke,  Constantine  the  Younger, 
followed  his  father  into  comparative  exile,  devoting 
himself  to  literature,  science,  art  and  his  military 
duties.  Under  the  nom  de  guerre  "  K.  Romanov  "  he 
published  a  number  of  lyrics,  chiefly  relating  to 
military  life,  also  translations.  His  drama,  The  King 
of  the  Jews,  was  forbidden  by  the  Holy  Synod,  as 
might  be  anticipated,  on  account  of  its  heterodox 
tendencies.  He  was  elected  President  of  the  Academy 
of  Science  in  1892. 

His  sudden  death  is  a  great  blow  to  Russia.  Had  he 
lived,  it  is  quite  within  the  bounds  of  possibility  that 
he  would  eventually  have  taken  the  lead  in  the  Liberal 
movement,  and  under  his  wise  guidance  the  people 
would  have  had  a  chance  of  developing  the  great 
intellectual  and  spiritual  gifts  with  which  Nature  has 
so  bountifully  provided  them.  In  my  opinion  he  was 
one  of  the  most  talented  and  sympathetic  of  the  house 
of  the  Romanoffs,  w^hich  for  weal  or  woe  has  controlled 
the  destinies  of  the  Russian  nation  for  almost  three 
hundred  years. 


XXXIV 

THE   ENVIRONS   OF   THE   CITY 

This  work  would  not  be  complete  without  some  refer- 
ence to  the  resorts  near  Petrograd,  where  the  more 
fortunate  members  of  the  population  find  amusement, 
sport  and  relaxation.  Every  great  city  has  its  beauty- 
spots,  and  Petrograd  without  its  exceptionally  at- 
tractive surroundings  would  be  at  certain  periods  of 
the  year  almost  insupportable. 

Gatchina,  a  favourite  summer  residence  of  the  Tsar, 
has  a  palace  built  by  Rinaldi  in  1770,  in  the  old 
German  style.  It  contains  seven  hundred  rooms, 
decorated  with  especial  simplicity.  Behind  it  lies 
an  immense  park,  containing  a  number  of  so-called 
"  surprises " — a  Roman  bath,  a  fine  pavilion,  a 
menagerie,  an  obelisk,  a  subterranean  gallery  and 
a  noted  "  echo." 

Another  easily  accessible  resort  is  Oranienbaum,  a 
small  but  very  picturesque  town  opposite  the  fortress 
of  Cronstadt.  I  have  often  been  glad  to  refresh  and 
rest  at  its  comfortable  station  after  crossing  the  frozen 
Gulf — perhaps  risking,  as  one  does,  being  chilled  to 
death  or  blown  down  and  stunned  by  the  whirlwinds 
and  gales  that  prevail  during  the  winter.  Many 
followers  and  admirers  of  Father  John  of  Cronstadt 
lost  their  lives  in  this  way  on  the  wild  waste  of  snow 
and  ice,  when  coming  to  the  town  to  worship  or  to  see 
their  hero.  In  summer  the  scene  is  very  different,  and 
I  recall  happy  days  spent  in  the  villas  of  merchant 
friends  who  make  this  spot  their  home  in  the  hot 
weather.  Oranienbaum  was  founded  by  Prince  Men- 
shikoff  in  1711.  He  beautified  it  at  an  enormous 
299 


300       PETROGRAD  PAST  AND  PRESENT 

expense.  Here  stands  the  palace  of  the  Grand 
Duchess  of  Mecklenburg,  its  park  overlooking  the 
Gulf  and  the  fortress.  A  most  lovely  walk  may  be 
taken  through  these  grounds.  It  was  in  this  park 
that  a  gigantic  she-bear  tore  and  mangled  a  forester 
of  the  Duchess  fatally.  As  a  rule  bears  are  good- 
natured  animals,  seldom  attacking  strangers  unless 
irritated  or  famished,  but  when  with  cubs,  as  was  this 
one,  they  will  show  fight  if  approached.  The  tragedy 
caused  quite  a  sensation,  I  remember,  in  Cronstadt. 
Very  occasionally  wolves  are  seen  in  the  outskirts  of 
Petrograd,  but  never  in  the  town  itself.  In  the  reigns 
of  Peter  and  Catherine  II.  the  streets  at  night  were 
unsafe,  both  because  of  wild  animals  and  men  scarcely 
less  wild. 

Pavlovsk  calls  the  more  fashionable  section  of 
society  at  holiday-time.  It  also  has  a  fine  park,  and 
splendid  bands  play  there  in  the  hot  season.  The 
palace,  for  a  long  time  the  residence  of  the  Grand  Duke 
Constantine  the  Elder,  contains  a  library  of  30,000 
volumes,  also  a  very  valuable  collection  of  paintings 
by  Correggio,  Guido  Reni  and  other  Italian  masters. 
Here  I  made  the  acquaintance  of  Colonel  Kirjaieff, 
brother  of  the  famous  Olga  Novikoff,  who  in  Glad- 
stone's days  made  such  a  stir  by  championing  Russia's 
cause  in  England.  The  Colonel  was  then  acting  as 
adjutant  to  one  of  the  Grand  Duchesses.  He  was  a 
most  gifted  soldier,  a  skilled  swordsman  and  curiously 
enough  equally  distinguished  as  a  dialectician  and 
theologian  ;  a  rare  combination  for  a  military  man 
in  our  days,  but  less  uncommon  among  soldiers  of 
the  past.  Richelieu,  Ignatius  Loyola,  Servetius  and 
others  might  be  mentioned  as  men  who  were  at  the 
same  time  soldiers  and  keen  theologians. 

At  Peterhoff  the  Tsar  usually  spends  a  portion  of 
the  summer.  The  palace  is  said  almost  to  rival 
Versailles    in    its    fountains    and    grounds.     It    was 


k 


4 


THE  ENVIRONS  OF  THE  CITY  301 

founded  by  Peter  I.,  who,  true  to  his  German  pro- 
chvities,  called  it  "  Peterhoff  " — a  name  now  corrupted 
to  "  Petergoff  "  in  Russian.  The  Russian  language, 
like  the  Cockney,  has  no  use  for  the  troublesome 
letter  "  h."  On  special  occasions  the  grassy  alleys, 
the  fountains  and  cascades  are  illuminated  by  thou- 
sands of  coloured  lights.  Here  Peter  used  to  pass 
happy  days  with  his  miniature  wife,  whose  tiny  slipper 
is  still  to  be  seen  in  the  old  Dutch  house  which  he 
made  his  home — small  mansion  indeed  for  so  mighty 
a  man  !  But  we  measure  men  by  their  characters, 
not  by  their  dwellings.  Close  to  the  house  stands 
a  smaller  palace,  where  the  Empress  Elizabeth  used 
to  amuse  herself  with  "  feasts  of  love  and  dinners  of 
her  own  cooking" — a  strange  combination.  Near  it, 
again,  is  the  little  palace  of  "  Alexandria,"  built  by 
the  bluff  Alexander  III.,  who,  like  Peter,  preferred 
small  houses  devoid  of  pomp  and  display.  Only  once 
have  I  visited  this  place,  for  here  the  Tsar,  surrounded 
by  triple  cordons  of  sentries,  dwelt  in  cherished 
seclusion.  The  larger  palace,  with  its  gorgeous  halls 
and  vestibules,  I  have  often  visited,  especially  when 
my  friend,  Charles  Heath,  was  there  with  the  Tsar. 
A  day  at  Peterhoff  among  its  flowers  and  more  artificial 
beauties  is  not  easily  forgotten  ;  but  on  its  attractions 
and  historic  associations,  interesting  though  they  arc, 
I  must  not  enlarge.  A  whole  volume  might  be  written 
on  the  palaces  of  Petrograd  and  its  suburbs,  so  full  are 
they  of  memories,  so  suggestive  of  former  glories. 

Tsarskoe  Selo  (the  Tsar's  Village)  is  perhaps  the 
favourite  summer  residence  of  the  royal  family.  Tliis 
town — for  it  can  no  longer  be  rightly  termed  a  village 
— grew  from  a  small  farm  given  by  Peter  to  his  charmer, 
Catherine.  The  park  and  grounds  could  not,  one 
imagines,  be  surpassed  anywhere  in  Europe.  MilHons 
must  have  been  lavished  on  the  place  by  Catherine  and 
her  successors,  without  reckoning  the  enormous  cost  of 


302       PETROGRAD  PAST  AND  PRESENT 

the  "  accessories  " — ^the  Turkish  baths,  the  "  ruins," 
the  marble  gallery  built  by  Cameron  and  the  huge 
column  raised  to  commemorate  the  battle  gained  by 
Orloff  and  the  Allies  at  Tchesma.  The  magnificent 
saloon,  the  apartments  gilded  and  decorated  with  glass 
and  amber,  the  floors  inlaid  with  ebony  and  mother- 
of-pearl  form  a  dazzling  sight  for  the  English  visitor, 
accustomed  to  more  restrained  evidences  of  wealth. 
The  last  time  I  came  here  I  was  shown,  in  a  small 
alcove,  the  plain  iron  bedstead  in  which  Alexander  I. 
used  to  sleep  during  his  campaigns,  also  even  in  times 
of  peace.  A  craving  for  the  simple  life,  indulged 
whenever  possible,  seems  to  be  a  peculiar  trait  of  the 
Romanoffs.  Since  the  olden  days  Tsars koe  Selo  is 
like  an  enchanted  palace  robbed  of  its  fairy  princess; 
for  such  Catherine  must  have  appeared  to  millions  of 
her  subjects.  It  still  retains  many  attractions,  however, 
one  of  the  most  striking  being  a  work  of  art  known  as 
"  The  Fountain  of  the  Broken  Pitcher,"  representing  a 
weeping  girl  standing  on  a  rock,  with  a  broken  vessel 
at  her  feet,  from  which  flows  a  stream  of  water. 
There  are  a  few  other  curiosities  in  the  grounds — 
pyramids,  columns,  statues  and  even  a  Swiss  dairy 
farm,  with  some  splendid  cattle.  The  baths  are  of 
the  best,  and  are  crowded  in  the  summer.  The  well- 
to-do  classes  are  frequent  visitors,  for  the  bracing  and 
healthy  climate  suits  those  who  cannot  stand  the 
damp,  marshy  soil  of  the  city.  Some  of  them,  in  fact, 
live  at  Tsarskoe  all  the  year  round. 

Tsarskoe,  like  Peterhoff,  Gatchina  and  Seversky, 
is  on  the  Russian  side  of  the  Gulf ;  Strjelna  is  on  the 
Finnish  shore.  It  is  also  a  resort  of  the  aristocracy. 
I  have  always  preferred  the  Finnish  side,  on  account 
of  its  pine  forests,  pretty  little  lakes  and  sandy 
shores ;  also  because  it  is  comparatively  cheap. 
Schouvalofva,  Pargolova,  Ozerki,  Tcherny  Rjetcka, 
are  other  beauty-spots  of  this  coast.     Ozerki,  noted 


THE  ENVIRONS  OF  THE  CITY  303 

for  its  lakes,  is  where  Father  Gapon  was  cniclly  done 
to  death  by  the  extreme  revohitionists  because  of  his 
opposition  to  the  members  of  the  party  who  advocated 
the  reckless  use  of  bombs  to  spread  their  propaganda. 
His  murder — he  was  of  Italian  origin — is  one  of  the 
darkest  stains  on   the  annals  of  the  revolution,  and 
he  will  always  be  considered   as  a  martyr  by  those 
who  are  in  favour  of  liberty  and  progress  without  re- 
course to  violence  and  terrorism.     Tcherny  Rjetchka 
is  another  charming  spot,  pine-clad  and  sweet,  where 
are  found  many  villas  belonging  to  the  richer  members 
of  the  English  colony  ;    boating,  tennis,  fishing  and 
driving  are  in  full  swing  here  in  the  summer.    Bathing 
is  a  great  amusement,  and  as  the  Russians  are  an 
exceedingly  natural  people,  bathing  costumes  are  fre- 
quently invisible,  non-existent  in  fact,  for  both  sexes. 
Farther  down   the   Gulf,   where  the   inhabitants  are 
pure  Finns,  the  folk,  after  half  boiling  themselves  in 
the  bathing-houses  attached  to  almost  every  cottage, 
will  sally  out  into  the  snow  and  roll  over  and  over  in 
delight,  apparently  with  no  evil  results.     What  Mrs 
Grundy  would   do   among  these    primitive    people   I 
have  no  idea.     Judging  from  her  antics  in  England, 
her  home,  she  would  perish  of  shock.     When  last  in 
Finland,  on  the  way  to  Wiborg,  I  came  to  a  cross-road 
and  was  puzzled  which  direction  to  take.     Pulling  up 
my  sledge,  I  saw  three  Finnish  girls,  absolutely  in  the 
costume  of  Eve,  sitting  on  a  gate — and  this  in  mid- 
winter— cooling  off  in  the  open  before  rushing  back  to 
their  beloved  banja,  or  scalding  hot  bath.  In  reply  to  my 
question,  without  a  blush  they  showed  me  the  road  to 
Wiborg  by  pointing  with  one  hand  over  their  shoulders, 
hiding  their  breasts  with  the  other.     My  companion,  an 
Englishman,  was  astounded    at   their  "  immodesty  " 
(of  course  it  was  nothing  of  the  sort),  or  pretended  to 
be  ;  while  even  I,  who  knew  the  ways  of  the  land,  was 
not  a  little  surprised  at  the  unexpected  apparition. 


304       PETROGRAD  PAST  AND  PRESENT 

Wiborg  is  a  popular  place  with  the  Petrogradians, 
many  of  whom  have  villas  in  the  neighbourhood. 
The  more  wealthy,  however,  pass  much  time  at 
Imatra.  Before  the  River  Wuoksonista,  flowing  from 
Lake  Saima  to  the  Gulf,  reaches  the  sea,  it  forms  a 
number  of  dangerous  rapids.  These  are  famous  for 
salmon-trout,  and  I  have  known  a  good  angler  to 
catch  as  much  as  three  poods'  weight  (120  lb.)  in 
one  evening.  Overlooking  the  falls,  an  enterprising 
Finn  has  erected  a  fine  hotel,  where  many  of  the 
English  and  Russian  merchants  often  stay.  The  late 
Tsar,  with  Charles  Heath,  passed  much  of  his  summer 
holidays  fishing  at  this  spot,  and  the  Fishing  Club  has 
many  noted  members  of  society. 

Hunting  elk,  wolves,  bears,  foxes  and  other  animals 
takes  some  of  the  spare  time  of  the  leisured  young 
men  of  the  capital ;  but  on  the  whole  better  sport  is 
found  in  the  forests  south  of  the  city,  though  the  woods 
of  the  Grand  Duchy  are  not  to  be  despised. 

It  will  be  seen  that  although  Petrograd  has  a  poor 
climate,  with  seven  long  months  of  winter,  this  fair 
city  on  the  banks  of  the  Neva  has  many  compensating 
attractions  for  those  who  by  choice  or  through  business 
reasons  make  it  their  habitation.  I  for  one  do  not  in 
the  least  regret  the  years  I  spent  in  the  place,  and  one 
always  remembers  that  it  owes  its  wonderful  existence 
and  history  to  the  genius,  foresight  and  indomitable 
will  of  one  man. 

In  saying  farewell  to  Petrograd,  let  me  in  these  last 
words  thank  all  who  made  my  sojourn  there  so  pleasant 
and  express  the  hope  that  those  who  are  induced  to 
visit  Russia's  capital  may  have  as  happy  and  eventful 
a  time. 


THE    GRAND    DUKE   MICHAEL,    THE    TSAll'S 
BROTHEll,  AT  THE  FRONT 

CHARACTER  SKETCH  BY  A  RUSSIAN  CORRESPONDENT 

In  view  of  the  possibility  that  the  Grand  Duke  Michael 
may  succeed  to  the  throne  of  the  Romanoffs,  owin^  to 
the  delicate  health  of  the  present  yomig  Tsarevitch, 
the  following  character  sketch  is  of  much  interest, 
the  more  so  as  it  is  written  by  one  who  knows  him 
intimately.  Describing  the  Grand  Duke's  appearance 
and  activity  at  the  front,  this  correspondent  writes  : 

What  a  hearty,  harmonious,  even  rhythmic  precision 
is  observable  in  his  movements.  He  is  a  truly  nmscular 
figure — a  sportsman  of  the  real  English  type.  There 
is  also  something  English  in  the  cut  of  his  light  linen 
jacket,  ornamented  with  the  epaulets  of  a  general, 
and  bearing  the  Cross  of  St  George.  His  soft,  search- 
ing eyes  gleam  from  a  pale,  ivory-white  face,  but  this 
clean-shaven,  striking  countenance  has  the  look  of 
perfect  health. 

The  Grand  Duke  has  a  noble  soul,  as  may  easily  be 
seen  in  everything  he  does,  in  each  phrase,  glance  or 
gesture.  He  is  a  man  of  the  most  pronounced  sincerity, 
which  is  emphasised  by  his  simplicity.  Thus  he  is 
especially  alive  to  anything  in  the  nature  of  a  pose,  to 
hypocrisy  and  deception. 

Bearing  this  in  mind,  it  may  be  easily  understood 
that  after  several  journeys  to  Germany  his  Imperial 
Highness  received  from  the  inhabitants  of  that  country 
an  impression  of  persistent  egotism.  "  The  Emperor 
Alexander  III.,  my  father,"  he  observed,  "  with  deep 
wisdom  guessed  and  understood  the  liypocritical 
u  305 


306       PETROGRAD  PAST  AND  PRESENT 

tendencies  of  German  policy,  and  once  and  for  all 
set  it  down  at  its  true  value.  He  gauged  its  worth, 
and  from  that  time  consistently  arranged  his  future 
relations  with  the  young  Empire  according  to  the 
strongly  defined  impression  it  had  made  upon  him." 
The  Grand  Duke  decided,  therefore,  to  bring  to  naught 
as  far  as  might  be  the  proud,  aggressive  plans  of 
Germany. 

"  She  imagined,"  he  said,  "  that  in  two  or  three 
short  months  she  would  crush  us  and  our  Allies,  and 
then  dictate  Draconic  terms  of  peace  to  the  conquered. 
But  despite  all  her  technique,  her  skill  and  prepared- 
ness, she  has  made  a  cruel  mistake.  Of  all  her  grand 
schemes  only  fragments  remain.  Germany,  until 
recently  so  powerful,  has  suffered  a  wound  that  is 
well-nigh  fatal.  The  loss  of  her  colonies,  the  ruin  of 
her  commercial  hegemony,  her  terrible  sacrifices  in 
men — all  these  are  injuries  which  cannot  soon  be 
healed,  and  the  successes  of  the  combined  Austro- 
German  armies  will  have  little  influence  upon  the 
ever-threatening  catastrophe  that  awaits  her." 

The  words  of  the  Grand  Duke  seem  to  be  inspired. 
His  quiet,  manly  strength  is  supported  by  his  faith  in 
the  certain  final  victory  of  Russia  and  her  Allies. 

His  Imperial  Highness  is  beloved  by  all  the  com- 
manding officers  for  his  courage.  He  has  covered 
himself  and  his  division  with  glory,  in  this  respect 
bearing  a  strong  resemblance  to  the  brave  King  of 
the  Belgians.  He  is  nearly  always  in  the  most  ad- 
vanced positions,  often  being  found  in  the  firing  line 
not  only  of  the  heavy  cannon,  but  of  the  machine 
guns  and  rifles.  He  keeps  perfectly  calm,  and  heartens 
the  soldiers  in  the  trenches  with  gentle  and  winning 
words.  The  Caucasian  mountaineers,  who  set  great 
value  on  personal  courage,  absolutely  idealise  their 
leader,  with  unrestrained,  purely  Mohammedan  fatal- 
ism.    Among  themselves,  he  is  affectionately  called 


THE  GRAND  DUKE  MICHAEL  307 

"  Our  Mechail."  Enthusiastic  letters  are  written 
about  him  to  their  relatives  in  the  far  distant  villages, 
every  letter  reminding  its  recipient  of  the  good  fortune 
of  fighting  under  the  command  of  the  Tsar's  own 
brother !  All  his  leisure  moments,  when  not  engaged 
in  studying  maps  in  his  rooms,  consulting  with  his 
chiefs  of  the  staff,  or  in  the  multifarious  other  duties 
pertaining  to  his  rank,  the  Grand  Duke  spends  in  the 
military  positions  ;  he  knows  all  his  officers  even  to 
the  young  ensigns,  by  name.  He  has  the  soul  of  a 
saint ;  in  fact  he  is  called  a  saint  by  the  officers  of 
his  division,  and  each  one  is  ready  to  follow  him  to 
the  death. 

As  regards  our  positions  (continues  this  correspond- 
ent), imagine  to  yourself  the  steep  banks  of  a  large 
river.  One  shore  is  shrouded  in  twilight,  its  outlines 
softened  and  dim,  and  silent  figures  in  their  Caucasian 
uniforms  pass  to  and  fro.  Lower  down,  on  the  slope, 
is  a  labyrinth  of  wire  entanglements,  invisible  in  the 
gloom,  but  nevertheless  to  be  felt.  On  the  other 
higher,  steeper  shore,  it  is  the  same  with  the  Austrians. 
Suddenly  a  group  of  men  appears.  Picture  the  scene  : 
it  is  the  Grand  Duke  in  company  with  the  command- 
ant of  the  brigade  and  his  adjutants.  His  Imperial 
Highness  politely  questions  the  officers,  listening  at- 
tentively as  each  in  turn  gives  his  impression  of  the 
day's  fighting  and  of  the  positions  which  he  occupied 
with  his  section.  Gradually  they  form  a  merry, 
animated  bivouac.  Being  hungry,  the  Grand  Duke 
sits  down  on  a  felt  coat  and  eagerly  eats  the  shashlike 
(pieces  of  meat  roasted  on  skewers  over  a  fire)  which 
has  been  prepared  by  one  of  our  horsemen.  His  own 
ensign,  Volkoff,  hero  of  many  breakneck  encounters 
and  reconnaissances,  is  there,  and  over  the  fragrant 
samovar  of  tea  Volkoff  is  asked  to  relate  the  details 
of  his  last  exploit,  in  which  he  earned  the  St  George's 
Cross.      "  Your    Imperial    Highness,"    says    Volkoff, 


308       PETROGRAD  PAST  AND  PRESENT 

"  will  you  have  a  glass  of  tea  ?  "  It  is  accepted. 
The  ensign  beams  with  joy,  and  says  :  "  Now  I  will 
send  this  samovar  and  this  glass  to  my  home,  as  two 
family  treasures."  So  unaffectedly  is  this  said  that 
none  could  be  offended. 

In  the  principal  street  of  the  little  Galician  town 
behind  the  wire  entanglements  stands  a  small  house 
resembling  a  foreign  villa.  This  is  the  headquarters 
of  the  Grand  Duke.  Before  it  a  sentry  of  the  Imperial 
Convoy  paces  to  and  fro  with  regular  steps.  The  office 
and  the  sleeping  quarters  are  all  in  one  room.  It  is 
light  and  spacious,  and  in  one  corner  stands  a  narrow 
camp  bedstead,  with  a  small  table  bearing  an  icon  of 
an  old  design.  The  Grand  Duke  works  at  a  large 
writing-desk.  Everything  is  of  the  simplest,  severe, 
giving  almost  the  impression  of  a  cell ;  but  it  is  the 
cell  of  a  warrior  monk.  The  next  apartment  is  the 
dining-room,  with  open  windows  protected  by  muslin 
screens  from  the  flies.  Through  the  screen  ever  and 
anon  appears  the  figure  of  the  sentry  on  guard. 
Breakfast  consists  of  but  two  courses  ;  as  a  rule  the 
Grand  Duke  drinks  only  water,  but  sometimes  when 
toasting  a  friend's  health  he  takes  a  little  mead.  He 
is  a  merry  host,  lively  and  interesting.  At  table, 
besides  the  ordinary  suite,  there  is  generally  some 
specially  invited  guest.  Conversation  does  not  flag  ; 
his  Highness  is  a  delightful  raconteur,  and  capably 
takes  his  part  whatever  subject  is  discussed.  In  giving 
his  views  on  the  war,  in  his  estimate  of  the  latest 
literary  productions,  in  his  recollections  of  many  en- 
counters and  descriptions  of  episodes  of  various  battles 
— in  everything  he  touches  upon  you  may  remark  the 
presence  of  a  sharp,  observant,  witty  mind,  illumined 
by  artistry  and  humour.  He  is  fond  of  a  joke,  and 
made  much  fun  of  the  attempt  of  the  Prince  of  Wied 
to  occupy  the  throne  of  Albania.  This  penetrating 
humour  is  seen  also  in  the  caricatures  that  decorate 


TIIE  GRAND  DUKE  MICHAEL  309 

the  walls  and  doors  of  his  dining-room  ;  the  ^enre  and 
political  sketches,  the  firmness  oi'  the  lines,  tell  of 
something  more  than  the  talent  of  the  mere  amateur. 
En  "passant,  we  may  mention  that  the  Grand  Duke 
is  a  clever  photographer.  Among  the  hundreds  of 
splendid  photographs  he  possesses,  his  choice  of 
themes  shows  the  standpoint  of  the  artist. 

With  modest  and  simple  affection  he  loves  every- 
thing Russian,  and  the  comitry  itself — the  retiring 
villages,  the  wide  plains  radiant  in  the  evening  smi. 
when  the  distant  horizon  grows  dim,  and  the  quail, 
hidden  in  the  meadows,  utters  his  loud,  shrill  challenge. 

On  Ms  religious  side,  the  Grand  Duke  reminds  one 
of  a  mediaeval  monk  of  Moscow — which  city,  it  must 
be  said,  always  holds  a  warm  place  in  his  heart.  One 
may  especially  learn  to  know  a  man  during  his  hours 
of  devotion.  When  campaigning,  he  never  misses 
a  service,  and  the  worsliip  of  God  thus  naturally 
harmonises  with  his  entire  personality.  The  temple 
may  be  a  grass  plot  set  in  a  field  of  waving  rye.  The 
priest,  in  his  sacerdotal  golden  vestments,  serves 
zealously  amid  the  singing  of  the  soldiers'  choir,  and 
the  congregation  consists  of  a  crowd  of  our  grey- 
coated  heroes.  In  front  is  the  tall  figure  of  the 
Grand  Duke,  absorbed  in  prayer. 

In  concluding  these  notes  of  this  bright  personality, 
we  must  not  omit  to  record  his  abilities  as  a  sportsman. 
With  justice,  the  Grand  Duke  is  considered  one  of  the 
best  cavalrymen  in  the  Russian  army.  A  splendid 
rider  in  the  field,  he  knows  his  horse  to  perfection  and 
has  an  irreproachable  seat.  Active,  and  accomplished 
in  gymnastic  exercises,  he  possesses  surprising  physical 
strength,  especially  in  the  fingers.  He  can  tear  a 
pack  of  cards  into  four  parts,  first  in  half,  then  again 
across.  This  strength  is  inherited  from  his  late  father, 
the  Emperor  Alexander  III.,  who  could  roll  up  a  silver 
plate  in  his  hands,  and  break  a  copper  coin  in  two. 


310      PETROGRAD  PAST  AND  PRESENT 

It  should  not  be  forgotten  that  many  of  the  excellent 
qualities  and  principles  of  the  Grand  Duke  are  due  to 
the  fine  training  of  his  late  English  tutor,  Mr  Charles 
Heath,  M.A.,  of  Oxford,  who  also  acted  as  tutor  to 
the  Tsar.  The  bluff  and  hearty  Mr  Heath  was  also  a 
good  sportsman,  honest  and  reliable,  with  an  intense 
love  of  art,  and  these  tastes  have  without  doubt  had 
much  to  do  with  moulding  the  character  of  the  Grand 
Duke  Michael. 

As  there  is  a  possibility  of  this  member  of  the  royal 
house  succeeding  to  the  throne,  should  the  Tsarevitch 
not  recover  from  his  present  state  of  ill  health,  the 
people  of  Russia  are  fortunate  in  having  such  a  prince 
as  this  possible  future  Tsar  ;  the  more  so  as  a  ruler 
with  such  fine  qualities  cannot  fail  to  be  a  source  of 
great  happiness  to  the  nation  he  may  some  day  be 
called  upon  to  govern. 


A  NOTE  ON  THE  GROWTH  OF  THE  RUSSIAN 
EMPIRE  SINCE  THE  DAYS  OF  PETER  THE 
GREAT 

In  my  work  on  The  Russian  Army  from  JVithin, 
published  this  year,  I  have  shown  how  important  a 
factor  in  war  and  pohtics  is  the  fecundity  of  the 
women,  and  in  the  East  especially  of  the  Slav 
women.  When  Peter  the  Great  visited  England, 
about  two  hundred  years  ago,  the  population  of 
the  Empire  of  Muscovy  was  only  14,000,000  ;  now, 
owing  to  wars  of  conquest  and  the  above  factor 
(too  often  lost  sight  of  by  historians),  it  stands  at 
185,000,000. 

Should  Russia  during  the  present  campaign  lose 
2,000,000  men  killed,  which  is  an  improbably  liigh 
estimate,  her  population  next  year  will  be  still  about 
186,000,000,  since  every  year  she  has  an  increase  of, 
roughly,  3,000,000  souls.  Every  fifty  years  the  popula-'t 
tion  of  the  Empire  doubles,  in  spite  of  the  enormous 
death-rate,  which  in  many  governments  is  from  50  to 
60  per  1000,  and  at  the  present  rate  of  increase  the 
numbers  by  the  year  1965  should  be  370,000,000, 
even  if  Russia  does  not  annex  the  Slavonic  states  of 
Austria  and  carry  out  the  Panslavist  programme — 
which  means  that  all  Slavs  should  come  under  her 
rule  or  influence,  although  the  Muscovites  are  not 
pure  Slavs,  but  to  a  great  extent  are  of  Tartar 
origin. 

During  the  reign  of  Peter,  the  first  census  was  taken 

by  his  orders.     The  following  table  shows  the  growth 

of  the  nation  since  his  day,  despite  constant  wars, 

revolutions,  epidemics,  famines  and  other  calamities, 

311 


312       PETROGRAD  PAST  AND  PRESENT 

none  of  which  seem  to  affect  seriously  the  marvellous 
vigour,  endurance  and  fertility  of  the  people  : — 


1722,  First  Census,  by  order 
of  Peter  the  Great 

1742 

1762 

1782 

1796 

1802 

1812 

1815 

Ig32 

1835 

1851 

1858 

1860 

1870 

1880 

1890 

1900 

1910 

Probable  result  of  Census  in 
the  year  1920  . 

Probable  result  of  Census  in 
the  year  1930  . 


14,000,000 

16,000,000 

19,000,000 

28,000,000 

36,000,000 

37,000,000 

41,000,000 

45,000,000 

58,000,000 

60,000,000 

68,000,000 

74,000,000 

76,000,000 

85,000,000 

100,000,000 

119,000,000 

135,000,000 

155,000,000 

195,000,000 


200,000,000 


If  we  assume  that  Russia  will  neither  lose  nor  gain  in 
possessions,  but  will  continue  to  increase  her  numbers 
in  the  same  ratio,  by  1985  her  population  will  stand  at 
about  400,000,000.  Should  she  succeed  in  obtaining 
Galicia  and  Bukhovina,  and  the  other  Slav  territories 
of  Austria,  according  to  the  desires  of  the  Panslavists, 
it  will  be  more  like  500,000,000,  especially  as  the  Slov- 
jaks  and  many  other  Slav  races,  owing  to  their  high 
birth-rate  and  superior  knowledge  of  hygiene,  increase 
even  more  rapidly  than  their  Russian  kinsmen.     When 


GROWTH  OF  THE  RUSSIAN  EMPIRE    313 

we  remember  that  the  Germans  only  inerease  at  the 
rate  of  900,000  per  annum,  the  Enghsh  at  the  rate  of 
350,000,  and  that  the  population  of  France  is  practic- 
ally stationary,  the  future  of  Europe,  it  seems,  must 
depend  on  the  Russian  Empire  and  the  Balkan  States, 
unless  the  various  Germanic  races— the  English, 
Scandinavians,  Dutch,  Germans,  Austro-Ciermans — 
forget  their  differences  and  unite  before  they  are  over- 
whelmed by  the  rising  wave  of  Slavonic  fertility. 


SOME  AUTHORITIES  REFERRED  TO  FOR 
THE  PURPOSE  OF  THIS  BOOK 

Russia,  by  Mackenzie  Wallace. 
The  Writings  of  Catherine  II. 
Russian  Opera,  by  Rosa  Newmarch. 
Russian  Flashlights,  by  Joseph  Prelooker. 
Capitals  of  the  Northland,  by  Ian  C.  Hannah. 
The  Works  of  Nicholas  Gogol. 
Around  the  Kremlin,  by  Lowth. 
Istorecheske  Otcherkee  Razskaze,  by  Shoobensky. 
Stary  Peterbourg,  by  M.  E.  Pylaieff. 
Paul  the  First  of  Russia,  by  K.  Walizeffsky. 
The  Comedy  of  Catherine  II.,  by  Francis  Gribble. 
Rossija  (Devrien's    Edition),    Petrograd,  and    other 
works  mentioned  in  the  text. 


314 


INDEX 


Academy  of  Arts,  46 

Actresses   and   ballerinas,  their   great 

importance,  178 
Addresny  Stol,  81 
Agents-provocateurs,  125 
Alexander  Nevsky,  his  noble  character, 

227 
Alexander  Rinok  (market),  104 
Alexander  III.,   his  love  of  a  simple 

life,  206-216,  217 
Alexander  Park  and  Gardens,  96 
Alexander's  Column,  77 
Alexander  Nevsky  Monastery, 226, 228, 

229 
"  Alexandria  "  miniature  palace,  301 
Alexis'  (Tsarevitch) ,  death,  91 
Alexis   Mechailovitch,   Tsar,   and    the 

stage,  195 
Alfery,  Nicephorus,  strange  history  of, 

284 
Alfred  the  Great,  trade  with  Russia, 

283 
Allan,   Maud,    appears   in    Petrograd, 

194 
Anecdotes  of  Alexander  III.,  160 
Anglechanka  (Britannia),  172 
Anglo-Russian  understanding,  134 
Anglo-Saxon   trade,   before   the   Con- 
quest, 65  ;    coins,  65 
Anitchkoff  Palace,  the  Tsar's  favourite 

residence,  206,  207,  208 
Anna,  Empress,  46  ;    her  infatuation 

for  Biron,  46 
Antonovitch,  Johan,  his  murder,  96 
Arabic  trade,  65 
Archangel  opened  out  to  English  trade, 

284,  285 
Architecture  and  architects,  75 
Arrestantes  and  their  fate,  98 
Authorities  quoted,  314 


B 


Ballerinas,    their   importance,    188, 

190 
Ballet,  anecdotes  of  the,  190  ;  famous 

dancers,     Pavlova,    etc.,     193  ;     of 
_^  Petrograd,   187 
Balls  and  banquets,  160 
Baltic    Provinces,   invasion    of,    292  ; 

discontent,  129  ;    Russification,  19 
Banja  (baths),  114 


Baring,  Maurice,  on  Witte,  261 

Barjatinsky,  Count,  96 

Bartering  in  Russia,  necessity  of,  165 

Benckendorff,  Count,  and  Tsar's  house- 
hold, 160 

Benois,  Alexander,  88 

Bezborodko,  Count,  his  love  of  litera- 
ture, 177 

Bismarck,  162 

Bismarck's  conflict  with  Sir  Robert 
Morier,  254  ;  opinion  of  the  Russian 
moujik,  154 

Bjelaieff  and  Sir  Joseph  Beecham,  179 

Borodin's  Prince  Igor,  I'jt) 

British  Colony  in  Petrograd,  282,  283 

Burtzefi,  123 


Canals,  49 

Cards  and  card-playing,  133 

Catherine,  I.,  46,  72 

Catherine  II.,  42 

Catherine,  "  the  mother  of  her  people," 
8 

Catherine's  monument,  80  ;  plays,  178; 
vanity,  242  ;  admiration  for  Shake- 
speare, 178  ;  confessions,  202  ;  mis- 
rule, 203  ;  good  qualities,  204 ; 
tragic  end,  205 

Cavos,  Caesar,  88 

Censors,  highly  educated  men,  279 ; 
courtesy  of,  279  ;  and  foreign  corre- 
spondents, 272 

Champ  de  Mars  and  the  military  re- 
views, 247 

Chief  censors,  my  experience  of,  279 

Climate  and  temperature,  63 

Clubs,  principal,  83 

Codex  Sinaticus,  106 

Coffee-houses,  170 

Comedy  of  Catherine  II.,  by  Francis 
Gribble,  201 

Commandants'  duties,  93 

Constantine,  Grand  Duke,  17,  77 

Constantine  the  Younger,  297 

Constantinople,  79 

Constitution  and  "  Konstetootzija,"  77 

Correspondents  and  their  difliculties, 
279 

Cossack  charges,  291 

Cossacks  quell  riots,  234 

Cracow  Jewesses,  103 

Credulity  of  the  peasantry,  139 

Crimean  War,  how  caused,  12,  79 


315 


316 


INDEX 


Cronstadt,  lo,  ii,  33  ;  memories,  11  ; 
batteries,  13  ;  o£licers,  13  ;  and 
Admiral  Makarieff,  19 ;  characters, 
29  ;  English  chaplains,  30,  31  ;  police, 

Cronstadt,  Max  Pemberton  s,  17 


Dancing  and  its  attractions,  21 
Danileffsky,  58 

Decembrists,  The,  by  Tolstoi,  78 
Department  of  State  Control,  necessity 

for,  238 
Dickens,  love  of,  128 
Diebitch,  von,  General,  his  mysterious 

death,  77 
Doctors,  Russian,  83 
Dolgorouki,    Princess,   and   Alexander 

II.,  94 
Domenico's  Restaurant,  93 
Dosmoschiks  (searchers),  2 
Droshki  drivers,  how  to  manage,  7 
Duelling,  169 

Duncan,  Miss  (danseuse),  194 
Duncan,  Dr,  121 
Dvormik,  or  house  porter,  122 


Easter  and  Christmas  festivals,  241 
Elizabeth,  Empress,  41,  96;    her  in- 
fatuation for  Count  Razoomoffsky, 

212 
"Emancipated"     women,     how 

punished,  235 
Empire,  Russian,  its  growth  since  the 

founding  of  Petrograd,  311 
"  England  the  Source  of  all  Evil,"  144 
English  colony  in  Petrograd,  288 
English  Embassy,  87,  253 
English    writers,    Russian    admiration 

for,  273 
English  churches  in  Petrograd,  287 
Englishmen    in    Russia,    kindness    of 

Alexander  I.  to,  289 
Environs  of  Petrograd,  their  charm,  299 
Ermak,  ice-breaker,  19 
Evelyn's  Diary,  73 
Excursions,  88 
Execution  of  Catherine's  lover,  69  ;  at 

Cronstadt,  16 
Executions  under  Peter  I.,  69 


Factories,  British,  in  Russia,  284 
Fanaticism  and  ignorance  of  the  people 

and  its  danger,  157 
Fecundity    of    Russian    women,    im- 
portance of,  311 


Fete,  a,  under  Potemkin,  220 

Finnish  characteristics,  154 ;  man- 
oeuvres,  292-293 

Finns  and  Finnish  quarter,  iii 

Finns  and  superstition,  66  ;  and  their 
natural  habits,  303 

Fires,  86  ;   and  peculation,  238 

Floods,  51,  52,  53,  58,  59 

Fontanka  Canal,  49,  88 

Food  in  Petrograd,  165 

Foreign  correspondents,  their  difficulty 
in  Russia,  279 

Foreign  influence  on  working  classes, 

137 
Foreign  Of&ce  reforms  much  needed, 

256 
Fortress,  59 

Frederick  of  Prussia,  70 
Frederick,   Emperor,   his    respect    for 

Sir  Robert  Morier,  254 
French  comedies,  183 


Gabrielle,  the  dancer  (anecdote),  176 
Galitzin,  Princess,  72 
Gardens,  pleasure,  184 
Gatchina  Palace,  by  Rinaldi,  299 
George,  King  of  England,  102 
Germanic  races  compared  with  Slavonic, 

313 
Gipsies,  love  of,  183 
Godounoff,  Tsar,  sends  young  Russians 

to  England,  285 
Gogol,  the  Dickens  of  Russia,  80 
Gosteny  Dvor  (bazaar),  102 
Gothland  trade,  66,  283 
Gregorian  music  and  its  grandeur,  240 
Gresser,  General,  the  Prefect  and  the 

English  Press,  278 
Growth  of  Russia  since  1722,  312 
Guards    at    Krasnoe     Selo,     Russia's 

crack  regiment,  290 
Guida,  daughter  of  Harold,  94 
Gutaieffsky  docks,  6 


H 


Hanseatic  League,  104 

Haroun-al-Raschid,  65 

Harrison,  J.  H.,  80 

Heath,  Charles,  M.A.  (Tsar's  tutor), 
207,  304,  313 

Hermitage  built  by  Catherine,  197 

Hospitality,  Russian,  114 

Hospitals,  how  supported,  81;  peasants' 
fear  of,  82  ;  taxes,  83 

Hotel  Angleterre  and  its  memories,  164 

Hotels  and  restaurants,  163,  164 

Hunting  elk,  wolves,  etc.,  near  Petro- 
grad, 304 


INDEX 


317 


I 


"  IcoNosTASE  "  of  pure  silver,  233 
Ikons  and  their   mystic  powers,  233, 

240 
Illegitimacy,  frequency  of,  44  ;   among 

the  Normans,  213 
Imperial  cabinet  or  office,  214 
Imperial  family,  private  life  of,  159 
Imperial  Court,  splendour  of,  150 
Insalubrity  of  Pctrograd,  39 
Inshenerny  Zamok  (Paul's  old  palace), 

242 
Insurance  in  Russia,  81 
Irving,  Laurence,  his  first  appearance 

in  Petrograd,  191 
Isaac  of  Dalmatia,  Cathedral  of  St,  298 
Islands,  54 

Isovoschiks  (cabbies),  6 
Isovoschiks'  cunning,  6 
Ivan  the  Terrible 's  library,  108 


Japanese,   what   the   Russians  think 

of  them,  141 
Jews  and  the  moiijiks,  137 
Johannites,  the,  27 
John   of   Cronstadt,    Father,    23  ;    his 

generosity,  25 
Joking,  danger  of,  76 


K 


Kara  sea  route  and  its  importance,  253 
Kazan  Cathedral  and  its  memories  of 

1812,  233 
Kaze,  naval  architect,  85 
Khesinskaja  and  her  palace,   188 
Kirjaieff,  Colonel,  and  Olga  Novikoff, 

300 
Kitchen,  Tsar's,  how  managed,  161 
Kjasht,  Lydia,  193 
Kotlin  Island,   12 
Koutosoff  and  181 2,  233 
Krasnoe  Selo,  the  Russian  Aldershot, 

290 
Krestoffsky,  118 
Kropotkine,  Prince,  91 


LANckRi';,  sculptor,  88 
Law,  disregard  of,  82 
Libraries,  107 
Library,  Imperial,  106 
Lombards  (pawnshops),  168 
Lyceum,  m 


M 


Makarieff,  Admiral,  19,  148 

Manoeuvres,  Imperial,  their  significa- 
tion, 291, 294 

Marble  Palace,  297 

Mariensky  Theatre,  191 

Marine  Canal,  86 

Marriage  laws,  8 

Mary  of  Magdala,  no 

Mary  Stuart's  Prayer  Book,  107 

Maxwell  (author),  68 

Mechail  Palace  (new),  295 

Meek,  Baroness  von,  181 

Merovitch  at  Schliisselberg,  97 

Metchersky,  Prince,  and  theGras/irfaMtw, 
266 

Metchersky's  hostility  to  the  Jews,  268 

Michael,  Grand  Duke,  the  Tsar's 
brother,  character  sketch,  305 

Michael  the  Elder,  Grand  Duke,  his 
wealth,   160,  214 

Michelson,  Colonel,  defeats  Pugacheff, 
202 

Midsummer  Day  and  dances,  66 

Milutine  Fort,  13 

Miracles  and  mysteries,  231 

Monasteries  and  churches,  strange 
origin  of,  230 

Mon  Bijou,  palace,  73 

Monks,  merry,  231 

Morier,  Sir  Robert,  our  great  am- 
bassador, 80,  251  ;  last  interview 
with,  253 

Moscow  Press  methods,  272 

Moujiks  and  workmen,  136 

Moujiks'  deep  religious  feeling,  148 

Moujiks'  credulity  and  suspicions,  etc., 
152 

M'Swiney,  the  Rev.,  chaplain  of  Cron- 
stadt, 29 

"  Museum  "  of  Alexander  III.,  295 


N 


Napier,  Lord,  12 

Napoleon,  Louis,  79 

Narishkine,  Madame,  99 

"  Narodny  Dom,' '  "  People's  Theatre," 

181 
Nartoff,  68 

National  Art  Collection,  295 
Neva,  49,  50,  51  ;   trip  up  river,  84 
Nevsky  Prospekt,  10 1 
Newspapers  in  Russia,  266,  267 
Nicholai  Railway,   112 
Nicholas  I.,  his  character  by  Maxwell, 

9  ;      his    hatred    of     authors,    249 ; 

his  great  ambition,  250 
Nicholas  the  Elder,  Grand  Duke,  214 
Nicholas'  Palace,  216 


318 


INDEX 


Nihilists'  plots,  i6,  17 

Novaya     Vremya,    principal  J  ^  Russian 

paper,  266 
Novgorod  the  Great,  105  ;    Chronicles, 

227 
Novosti,  and  its  Anglophile  editor,  267 
Ny-skantze,  36 


Prazniks  or  holidays,  105 
Prefects,  120 
Press  in  Russia,  the,  266 
Provisions,  charges  of,  166 
Pskoff  and  its  destruction,  105 
Pugacheff's  rebellion,  202 
Pultava,  anniversary  of,  39,  95 
Pushkin,  the  Shakespeare  of  Russia,  51 ; 
the  poet  and  the  Sin  Otechestva,  ■zG'j 


OcHTA,  88  ;    powder  mills,  88 

Official  corruption,  124 

Officialdom  in  Russia,  127 

Oodel,  Imperial  Appanage,  and  its 
origin,  214 

Opening  of  navigation,  93 

Oranicnbaum  Palace  and  its  memories, 
20,  299 

Organs,  Russian  love  of,  193 

Orloff,  Count,  58  ;  his  treachery,  59  ; 
steeds,  102  ;  brothers,  Catherine's 
extravagance,  200 

Orloff,  Alexis,  the  handsome  Guards- 
man, 200  ;  Paul's  revenge  on,  246 

Ozerki  and  its  lakes  (Father  Gapon's 
end),  303 


"  Palmyra,"  39 

Parliament,  Peter's  impressions  of,  74 

Passport  difficulties,  5,  8 

Paul  I.,  43,  225 

Paul's  love  of  the  theatre,  176  ;   hatred 

of    Potemkin,    222  ;     madness    and 

end, 246 
Pavlovsk  Palace  and  its  memories,  298 
PerofEsky,  Count,  and  the  police,  296 
Pestal,  Colonel,  77 
Peter    the    Great's    appearance,     72  ; 

statue,  241 
Peter's  strange  faith,   68  ;     numerous 

offspring,  71 
Peter  visits  Prussia,  70 
Peter  and  Paul  Fortress,  91 
Peter    III.,    97  ;     his    admiration    for 

everything  German,   67 ;    his   weird 

funeral,  247 
Peterhoff,  the  Russian  Versailles,  300 
Petit  Pas  and  the  ballet,  192 
Petroffsky,  Count  (anecdote),  130 
Petrograd,  the  founding  of,  34,  37,  41  ; 

in  July,  116;   environs,  117 
Petropavlovsk,  loss  of,  19 
Pickwick  Papers,  269 
Police,  of  Petrograd,  118  ;    Secret,  125 
Political  crimes,  123 
Politicals  and  their  punishment,  98,  235 
Poniatowski,  King  of  Poland,  Cather- 
ine's love  for,  200 
Potemkin's  extravagance,  219  ;  death, 

222 


Q 

Quarters  of  Petrograd,  44 
Quay,  English,  86  ;    Admiralty,  87 
Queen  Elizabeth  and  Ivan  the  'Terrible, 

284 
Queen  Victoria  and  Skobeleff,  143 


R 


Rastrelli,  42 

Razoomoffsky,  60  ;   his  humble  origin, 

212  ;     secret   marriage   to   Empress 

Elizabeth,  213 
Red  Square,  Moscow,  67 
Reforms,  German,  67 
Regiments,  crack  Russian,  290 
Revolutionary    movement,    its    rapid 

spread,  236  ;    origin  of,  237 
Riots,   student,  234,  235  ;    provincial, 

235 

Romanoff,  house  of,  45  ;    origin  of,  94 

Ropcha  Palace  tragedy,  96 

Russia's  huge  population,  251  ;  great 
future,  251  ;    vulnerable  spot,  293 

Russian  naval  officers,  13  ;  navi- 
gators, 15  ;  drivers,  loi  ;  and 
German  peasantry  compared,  154  ; 
champagne  and  its  dangers,  166 ; 
love  of  music,  177;  surprising  voices, 
241  ;  writers  and  authors,  their  sad 
fate,  249 

Russians  not  good  sailors,  15 


Sacrifices,  human,  66 
Sadovaja  Street,  104 
Saghalien,  98 

Salmon-trout  fishing  in  Finland,  304 
Sasulitch,  Vera,  121 
Schliisselberg,  36,  92  ;    Fortress,  96 
School  of  the  Ballet,  when  founded,  193 
Schouvaloff,  213 
Schouvaloff,  Countess,  213 
Secret  Police,  92,  296 
Sensational  Press,  275 
Sentries',  Russian,  unreasoning  obedi- 
ence, 208 
Sentry,  a,  narrow  escape  from,  210 


INDEX 


319 


Sergius,  Grand  Duke,  120 
Shakespeare  translated  by  Grand  Duke 

Constantine,  298 
Sheremetefif,  96 
Siberian  exiles,  99 
Slavs,  extremely  musical,  195 
Smolna  Monastery,  89 
Sociability,  115 
Solovieff,  58 
Sophia  of  Hanover,  70 
Souvoroff,  Marshal,  230 
Spies,  real  and  imaginary,  18 
Sport,    Russian   ideas   of,   289  ;     near 

Petrograd,  307 
State  Control  Department,  99 
State  Monopoly  on  Spirits,  its  origin, 

261 
Statues  and  monuments,  76,  77 
Stolypin's  assassination,   123 
Streltzee,  execution  of,  67 
Strjelna  Palace,  302 
Students,  suspicions  of,  5 
Suicide,  iii,  112 
Summer  Gardens,  46  ;   Palace,  75 
Sveaborg,  12 

Svjet,  and  Komoroff,  268 
Swedes,  Peter's  fights  with  the,  41 
Swedish  punch  and  its  dangers,  2 


Taigas  and  tigers,  Siberian,  99 
Tarakanoffva       Princess,      58,      212  ; 

daughter  of  the  Empress  Elizabeth, 

60 
Taurida    Palace,    converted    into    the 

Duma,  219,  223  ;   and  its  memories, 

219,  220, 221 
Tchaikoffsky,  181 
Tcherny    Rjetcka's    attractions,    303  ; 

English  visitors  at,  303 
Tea-drinking,  129,  173 
Temperance  reform,  the  necessity  of, 

262 
Theatres,  concerts,  etc.,  176 
Tolstoi  the  Younger,  his  interview  with 

the  Tsar,  156 
Trade  with  Russia  in  Saxon  times,  282, 

283 
Tragic  end  of  Russian  rulers,  244 
Trakteers  (tea-houses),  171 
Tree  worship,  66 
Trepoff,  120 

Tsar  and  his  household,  155 
Tsar's  private  character,  155  ;   difficult 

position,   159  ;   only  Ally  (anecdote), 

161 


Tsarina,  the,  her  high  ideals  and  pure 

life,  159 
Tsarskoe  Selo  and  its  charms,  30 1 
"  Tsarsky  Ochran,"  92 
Tshushima  defeat,  cause  of,  14 
TiDidras,  99 


U. 


Unconventionality,  Russian,  90 


Varangian  arms.  Hermitage  Collec- 
tion, 197 

Varangians,  34,  35 

Varjag,  the  old  Russian  name  of 
Sweden,  34 

Vasilii  Ostroff ,  i ,  40 

Vermin,  173 

Vladimir  Monamach,  94 

Voltaire's  "  friendship  "  with  Catherine 
II.,  201 


W 


Wars  with  Sweden,  68 

Water,  unhealthy  drinking,  61,  62 

White,  Sir  Andrew,celebrated  American 

Minister,  255 
Wiborg  and  the  attractions  of  Imatra, 

304 

Wiggins,  the  famous  navigator,  253 

Wilhelmina,  memoirs  of  Princess,  70 

Wines,  Russian,  166 

Winter  Gardens,  198 

Winter  Palace,  17,  87  ;  of  Peter  the 
Great,  223  ;  of  Rastrelli,  its  magni- 
ficence,  224 

Witte,  Count  Sergius  de,  259,  261 

"  Wittochke,"  261 

Woman  in  history,  195 

Wylie,  Baron,  Physician  of  Nicholas  I., 
80 


Yellow  Press  in  Russia,  270 


Zakooska  (side-table  delicacies),  167 
Zealot  of  Cronstadt,  a,  23 


^(UaJ(> 


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