II.

After arriving in France, the Russian sailors for two weeks went

from one celebration to another, and in the middle or at the end of

every celebration they ate, drank, and talked; and the information

as to what they ate and drank on Wednesday and where and what on

Friday, and what was said upon that occasion, was wired home and

conveyed to the whole of Russia. The moment some Russian captain

drank the health of France, this at once became known to the whole

world, and the moment the Russian admiral said, "I drink to fair

France!" these words were immediately borne over the whole world.

But more than that: the scrupulousness of the newspapers was such

that they reported not only the toasts, but even many dinners, with

the cakes and appetizers which were used at these dinners.

Thus it said in one issue of a newspaper that the dinner was "an

artistic production:"

"Consommé de volailles, petits pâtés

Mousse de hommard parisienne

Noisette de bœuf à la béarnaise

Faisans à la Périgord

Casseroles de truffes au champagne

Chaufroid de volailles à la Toulouse

Salade russe

Croute de fruits toulonaise

Parfait à l'ananas

Desserts"

In the next number it said:

"In a culinary sense the dinner left nothing to be desired. The menu

consisted of the following:

"Potage livonien et St. Germain

Zéphyrs Nantua

Esturgeon braisé moldave

Selle de daguet grand veneur,"

and so forth.

The next number described another menu. With every menu a

detailed description was given of the wines which the fêted men

consumed,--such and such "voodka" such and such _Bourgogne vieux,

Grand Moët_, and so forth. In an English paper there was an account

of all the intoxicants consumed by the celebrators. This amount is

so enormous that it is doubtful if all the drunkards of Russia and

of France could have drunk so much in so short a time.

They reported also the speeches which were made by the celebrators,

but the menus were more varied than the speeches. The speeches

consisted invariably of the same words in all kinds of combinations

and permutations. The meaning of these words was always one and the

same: "We love one another tenderly, we are in transport, because we

have so suddenly fallen in love with one another. Our aim is not war

and not _revanche_, and not the return of provinces taken, but only

_peace_, the benefaction of _peace_, the security of _peace_, the

rest and _peace_ of Europe. Long live the Emperor of Russia and the

empress,--we love them and we love _peace_. Long live the president

of the republic and his wife,--we love them, too, and we love

_peace_. Long live France, Russia, their fleets, and their armies.

We love the army, too, and _peace_, and the chief of the squadron."

The speeches generally ended, as in couplets, with the words,

"Toulon, Kronstadt," or "Kronstadt, Toulon." And the names of these

places, where so much food was eaten and so many kinds of wine were

consumed, were pronounced like words reminding one of the loftiest,

most valorous of acts of the representatives of both nations, words

after which there was nothing else to be said, because everything

was comprehensible. "We love one another, and we love peace.

Kronstadt, Toulon!" What else can be added to this? Especially with

the accompaniment of solemn music, playing simultaneously two hymns,

one--praising the Tsar and asking God for all kinds of benefactions

for him, and the other--cursing all kings and promising their ruin.

The men who expressed their sentiments of love particularly well

received decorations and rewards; other men for the same services,

or simply out of a superabundance of feelings, were given the

strangest and most unexpected presents,--thus the Emperor of Russia

received from the French squadron some kind of a golden book, in

which, I think, nothing was written, and if there was, it was

something that nobody needed to know, and the chief of the Russian

squadron received, among other presents, a still more remarkable

object, an aluminum plough, covered with flowers, and many other

just as unexpected presents.

Besides, all these strange acts were accompanied by still stranger

religious ceremonies and public prayers, which, it would seem, the

French had long ago outlived. Since the days of the Concordat there

had hardly been offered so many prayers as in that short time. All

the French suddenly became unusually pious, and carefully hung up

in the rooms of the Russian sailors those very images which they

had just as carefully removed from their schools, as being harmful

tools of superstition, and they kept praying all the time. Cardinals

and bishops everywhere prescribed prayers, and themselves prayed,

uttering the strangest prayers. Thus the Bishop of Toulon at the

launching of the ironclad _Joriguiberi_ prayed to the God of peace,

making people feel, however, that, if it came to a pinch, he could

address also the God of war.

"What her fate will be," said the bishop, in reference to the

ironclad, "God alone knows. No one knows whether she will belch

forth death from her appalling bosom. But if, invoking now the God

of peace, we should later have occasion to invoke the God of war, we

are firmly convinced that the _Joriguiberi_ will go forth side by

side with the mighty boats whose crews have this day entered into

such a close fraternal union with our own. Far from us be such a

prospect, and may the present festivity leave nothing but a peaceful

recollection, like the recollection of the _Grand Duke Constantine_,

which was present here (in 1857) at the launching of the ship

_Quirinal_, and may the friendship of France and of Russia make

these two nations the guardians of peace."

In the meantime tens of thousands of telegrams flew from Russia to

France, and from France to Russia. French women greeted Russian

women. Russian women expressed their gratitude to the French women.

A troupe of Russian actors greeted some French actors, and the

French actors informed them that they harboured deeply in their

hearts the greeting of the Russian actors. Some Russian candidates

for judicial positions, who served in a Circuit Court of some town

or other, expressed their enthusiasm for the French nation. General

So and So thanked Madame So and So, and Madame So and So assured

General So and So of her sentiments for the Russian nation; Russian

children wrote verses of welcome to French children, and the French

children answered in verse and in prose; the Russian minister of

education assured the French minister of education of the sentiments

of sudden love for the French, which were experienced by all the

children, scholars, and authors subject to his ministry; members

of a society for the protection of animals expressed their ardent

attachment for the French, and so did the Council of the City of

Kazán.

The canon of the eparchy of Arras informed his Worship, the chief

priest of the Russian court clergy, that he could affirm that deep

in the hearts of all the French cardinals and archbishops there was

imprinted a love for Russia and his Majesty Alexander III. and his

most august family, and that the Russian and French clergy professed

almost the selfsame religion and equally honoured the Virgin; to

which his Worship, the chief priest, replied that the prayers of

the French clergy for the most august family reëchoed joyfully in

the hearts of the whole Russian Tsar-loving family, and that, since

the Russian people also worshipped the Holy Virgin, it could count

on France in life and in death. Almost the same information was

vouchsafed by different generals, telegraph operators, and dealers

in groceries. Everybody congratulated somebody on something and

thanked somebody for something.

The excitement was so great that the most unusual acts were

committed, but no one observed their unusual character, and all, on

the contrary, approved of them, went into ecstasies over them, and,

as though fearing lest they should be too late, hastened to commit

similar acts, so as not to fall behind the rest. If protests were

expressed in words and in writing and in printing against these mad

acts, pointing out their irrationality, such protests were concealed

or squelched.[17]

[17] Thus I know of the following protest of students, sent to

Paris, which was not accepted by a single newspaper:

"OPEN LETTER TO THE FRENCH STUDENTS

"Lately a group of Moscow students of law, with the university

authorities at their head, took it upon themselves to speak in

behalf of all the student body of Moscow University in respect

to the Toulon festivities.

"We, the representatives of the association of student

societies, protest in the most emphatic manner possible both

against the arrogation of this group and substantially against

the exchange of civilities between it and the French students.

We, too, look with ardent love and profound respect upon France,

and we do so, because we see in it a great nation, which

formerly used to appear before the whole world as the herald and

proclaimer of great ideals of liberty, equality, and fraternity;

and which was also the first in the matter of bold endeavour for

the materialization of these great ideals,--and the best part

of the Russian youth has always been ready to welcome France as

the leading champion for the best future of humanity; but we do

not consider such festivities as those of Kronstadt and Toulon a

suitable occasion for such civilities.

"On the contrary, these festivities signal a sad but, let us

hope, temporary phenomenon,--the disloyalty of France to its

former great historic rôle: the country, which once called the

whole world to break the fetters of despotism and offered its

fraternal aid to every nation that revolted for the sake of

its freedom, now burns incense before the Russian government,

which systematically trigs the normal, organic, and vital

growth of the national life, and mercilessly crushes, without

stopping at anything, all the strivings of Russian society

toward the light, toward freedom, and toward independence. The

Toulon manifestations are one of the acts of that drama which

is presented by the antagonism--the creation of Napoleon III.

and Bismarck--between two great nations, France and Germany.

This antagonism keeps all of Europe under arms, and makes the

Russian absolutism, which has always been the stay of despotism

and arbitrariness against freedom, of the exploiters against

the exploited, the executor of the political destinies of the

world. A sensation of anguish for our country, of pity for the

blindness of a considerable part of French society, such are the

sensations evoked in us by these festivities.

"We are fully convinced that the young generation of France

will not be carried away by the national Chauvinism, and that,

prepared to struggle for that better social structure toward

which humanity is marching, it will know how to render to

itself an account of the present events and to take the proper

stand about them; we hope that our fervent protest will find a

sympathetic echo in the hearts of the French youth.

"The union council of twenty-four united Moscow student

societies."--_Author's Note._

To say nothing of all the millions of work-days which were wasted

on these festivities, of the wholesale drunkenness of all the

participants, which was encouraged by all the powers, to say nothing

of the insipidity of the speeches made, the maddest and most cruel

things were done, and no one paid any attention to them.

Thus several dozens of men were crushed to death, and no one found

it necessary to mention this fact. One correspondent wrote that a

Frenchman told him at a ball that now there could hardly be found

a woman in Paris who would not be false to her duties, in order

to satisfy the wishes of some Russian sailor--and all this passed

by unnoticed, as something that ought to be. There occurred cases

of distinct madness. Thus one woman, dressing herself in a garment

of the colours of the Franco-Russian flags, waited for the sailors

and, exclaiming, "_Vive la Russie!_" jumped from the bridge into the

river and was drowned.

Women in general played in these festivities a prominent part and

even guided the men. Besides throwing flowers and all kinds of

ribbons, and offering presents and addresses, French women made for

the Russian sailors and kissed them; some of them for some reason

brought their children to them, to be kissed by them, and when the

Russian sailors complied with their wish, all persons present went

into ecstasies and wept.

This strange excitement was so infectious that, as one correspondent

tells, an apparently absolutely sound Russian sailor, after two days

of contemplation of what took place around him, in the middle of the

day jumped from the ship into the sea and, swimming, shouted, "_Vive

la France!_" When he was taken aboard and asked why he had done so,

he replied that he had made a vow that in honour of France he would

swim around the ship.

Thus the undisturbed excitement grew and grew, like a ball of

rolling wet snow, and finally reached such dimensions that not

only the persons present, not only predisposed, weak-nerved, but

even strong, normal men fell a prey to the general mood and became

abnormally affected.

I remember how I, absent-mindedly reading one of these descriptions

of the solemnity of the reception of the sailors, suddenly felt a

feeling, akin to meekness of spirit, even a readiness for tears,

communicated to me, so that I had to make an effort to overcome this

feeling.

[Illustration: Malévannians

_Photogravure from Photograph_]