A VISIT TO RUSSIA
1857
The year '57 was a memorable period in my life in many ways. The great
panic of the time swept away my ambitious projects as if they had been
so many dreams and visions. My contracts in Italy were destroyed by the
peace of Villa Franca, and my Australian plans were defeated by the
panic. I was therefore ready to take up anything that looked promising;
but, as I had nothing immediately on hand, I took advantage of the
enforced leisure to see more of England and the continent of Europe.
I was in Liverpool at the time the Niagara arrived there for the purpose
of laying the Atlantic cable, and suggested giving a banquet to Captain
Hudson and Commander Pennock, who was my cousin, and to the other
officers, at Lynn's Waterloo Hotel. This old landmark, the resort of
American ship-captains for many years, was torn down long ago. At this
time a letter came to Captain Hudson from the Grand Duke Constantine,
of Russia, who had arrived at Dover in his yacht, the Livadia, thanking
him for granting permission for three Russian officers to witness the
laying of the cable.
In this little incident I saw an opportunity for visiting Russia in a
semi-official capacity, enabling me to see that country to much better
advantage. I said to Captain Hudson that I should like to carry his
answer to the Grand Duke. He replied that no answer was required, and
that, besides, the Grand Duke had returned to St. Petersburg. I assured
him that strict courtesy demanded an acknowledgment of the letter, and
that it would make no difference to me about the Grand Duke being in St.
Petersburg, as I expected to visit that city. So I persuaded him to let
me take an answer to the Russian Prince. I suggested the phrasing of the
letter. The Grand Duke was informed that I was visiting Russia for the
purpose of seeing the Nijnii Novgorod fair, and that the United States
was always glad to do anything that helped to repay Russia for her long
friendship.
I immediately started for London, where I called on the American
Minister, George M. Dallas. Mr. Dallas was very courteous, but he
evidently wanted to have the opportunity of handing the letter to the
Grand Duke himself. He offered to see that the communication was
expeditiously and properly transmitted. "But," I said, "I desire to take
it in person." I next called on John Delane, who was long the editor of
the London Times, and he asked me to write him some letters from Russia.
Then I left London for The Hague.
I met at The Hague Admiral Ariens, to whom I had been introduced by
Captain Fabius of the Dutch man-of-war, some years before, at Singapore.
From Holland I went through Germany, visiting Stettin, where I saw the
beginnings of those great ship-yards that are now sending out the
greatest and fastest vessels on the seas. I took a steamer from Stettin
for St. Petersburg.
At the Russian capital I called at once on our minister, Governor
Seymour, of Connecticut. Mr. Seymour made the same suggestion that Mr.
Dallas had made. He wished to transmit the letter to the Grand Duke. But
I was not to be deprived of the final triumph of my schemes. I told the
Minister that I had come all the way from Liverpool, and that it was my
purpose to hand the letter to the Grand Duke, if I had to travel all
over the Russian empire to do it. I was informed that it was not the
season for seeing this high official, as he had left the city and was at
his country residence, at Strelna.
My answer to this was, in true Yankee fashion, "Where is Strelna?" I was
told that it was just below Peterhof. Then I was advised not to try to
see the Grand Duke on that day, as it was Saturday. I resolved to go at
once to Strelna, without regard to official days, as I had long since
discovered that the only way to do a thing of this sort was to do it
straightway. I got a fast team, and was taken out to the Grand Duke's
palace.
I found the residence situated in the midst of an immense forest park,
and sentinels guarded every avenue of approach. These stopped me at
every turn, but at every challenge I showed the letter to the Grand Duke
and told my errand. I was passed on and on, until I was inside the
palace itself. Here I was met by a gentleman in the long frock coat the
Russians affect, with his breast covered with military orders. He
offered, as soon as I told him my errand, to take the letter to the
Grand Duke; but I merely said that it was my purpose to hand it to him
in person. I now began to fear that it would require some little time to
get into the presence of this high dignitary. I expected to be put off
for several days, and then to end up against a secretary or an
aide-de-camp, who would finally have me meet some one very near the
Grand Duke, but not the Grand Duke himself.
I was at last shown by this military-looking gentleman into a reception
room of the most spacious proportions. I sat down and prepared to wait
for a secretary or aide-de-camp, when, suddenly, the door flew open,
and, with a rapid step, a handsome, delicate-looking gentleman advanced
toward me. I rose, and again went through the tiresome explanation that
I had a letter for the Grand Duke, which I should like to hand to him
in person, and so on, and so on. I expected to receive the reply that
this gentleman would be greatly pleased to relieve me of the trouble,
and was prepared to answer rather severely that I wished to hand the
letter to his Grace myself. He said, with a gracious smile, which played
like a dim light over his pale features, that he would see that the
Grand Duke received the letter. "But," I said, "I must hand it to him
myself." "Is it necessary?" he asked, with his faint smile. "It is," I
replied as firmly as I could.
He stepped back a little, and said, with a bow, "I am the Grand Duke." I
almost sank into the chair with surprise. As soon as I recovered my
composure, I handed him the letter, which I now felt to be a very small
affair for so much ceremony and trouble.
While I was waiting for the Grand Duke to read the letter, two great
dogs came into the room, from different directions, and immediately
began fighting. The Grand Duke said something in Russian, which showed
that he at least knew how to speak commandingly. The great beasts, with
drooping tails, slunk from his presence like whipped children.
The Grand Duke Constantine was a younger brother of the Czar, and was a
man of many accomplishments. He spoke with ease and grace seven
languages, and his English was quite as grammatical and exact as my
own. The Grand Duke, as soon as he had read the letter, called in his
aide-de-camp, Colonel Greig, and said that the colonel would see to it
that all my needs were attended to immediately, and expressed the wish
that he might see me on my return from Nijnii. "I should like to know
what you, as an American, think of Russia."
Colonel Greig took me to the residence of his mother, the widow of
Admiral Greig of the Russian navy, who lived just opposite Kronstadt. We
were driven over in a troika, or droshky, with one horse trotting in the
middle and one on each side, in full gallop. It was the most
delightfully exhilarating drive I had ever taken, and I still think that
the troika is the most attractive of all vehicles. At the Greigs' I was
treated with the utmost consideration, and was a guest at a banquet the
first night I was there. When I came to prepare for this function, I
remembered that I had no change of clothes with me, as I had come out
from St. Petersburg in a great hurry.
In this dilemma, I turned to Colonel Greig and explained that it was not
possible for me to attend the banquet as I had no dress clothes with me.
He looked me over, and replied: "I think we are about the same size.
Suppose you try one of my suits?" I accepted the offer at once, and
found that his suit fitted me as well as my own. The banquet was a great
affair, with a vast concourse of "skis," "offs," "neffs," and so
on--little tag-ends of words by which one may tell a Russian name, even
if it were possible not to tell it from its general appearance and sound
without them.
After a few days at the Greigs', I left for Moscow, where I was received
by Prince Dombriski, brother-in-law of the Emperor. The old city of
Moscow impressed me more than any other city of Europe. It seemed to
belong to quite another world and to a different civilization. There is
something primitive and prehistoric about it--elemental in its
somberness and in its grandeur. I was astonished to find in the Kremlin
a portrait of Napoleon at the battle of Borodino.
In going from the capital to Moscow over the straight line of railway, I
heard much of the way that the Czar Nicholas had built the road. It is
said that he summoned to him his chief contractor and engineer,
Carmichael, and asked him to make specifications for the line as
arranged for between the two cities. The Czar confidently expected that
he was being deceived about all matters of this kind, and was prepared
for fraud in this enterprise. Carmichael drew up elaborate
specifications, which Nicholas saw at once were entirely too elaborate,
and gave abundant room for "pickings." He turned to Carmichael and asked
if the specifications were all right. Carmichael assured him they were.
"All right, then," said Nicholas, "I shall turn them over, just as they
are, to Major Whistler." The Major was the uncle of the famous artist
of to-day. Whistler built the road on Carmichael's specifications, and
made a fortune, which has been the foundation of a half dozen family
estates--the Winans, Harrison, Whistler estates, et al.
I observed a peculiar effect of the direct method of the Czar in
building a straight road to Moscow. All the big cities and even the
prosperous and important towns had, without exception, been left at
varying distances from the line of railway. At the little stations on
the route the Russians would get off and get hot water in samovars and
make tea, each of them carrying a supply of tea in bricks, with square
loaf sugar in their pockets.
Nijnii Novgorod I found a wonderful city. There, on the "Mother" Volga,
as the Russians call it, I saw the origin of all the world's fairs and
expositions, in this great fair, at which the nations of a world unknown
to Europe and America assemble for traffic and barter. More than
100,000,000 rubles, or, roughly, $50,000,000, change hands in six weeks.
There the traveler, who is too indolent or too poor to see the remote
tribes of the earth, may have all these strange and outlandish races
come to him, on the banks of the Volga. It was a marvelous experience to
me, and I considered it as well worth a trip around the world to see
Nijnii Novgorod alone.
Some time afterward, when I was in England, I received a letter from
Baron Bruno, the Russian Ambassador, enclosing a letter from Colonel
Greig, the aide-de-camp of the Grand Duke Constantine. He said that the
Grand Duke had read my book, Young America Abroad, with interest. The
Grand Duke, he said, was greatly pleased with my descriptions of Russia,
with my exposure of the Crimean fiasco, and with my predictions as to
the future development and greatness of the country. He added that the
Russian Government would like to have me visit the region of the Amur,
Petropauloffski and Vladivostok, and to make a report of the prospects
of far-eastern Siberia.
The Government proposed to make all the arrangements for me, so that I
could travel in luxury and leisure; but I could not then undertake so
extended an enterprise, besides I have ever preferred to follow my own
ideas rather than those of others. I desired to pursue original lines of
investigation, to go over new routes of travel and of trade, to explore
corners of the world that had not been worn into paths by the myriad
feet of travelers. I have always felt hampered in trying to carry out
the suggestions of others. I have found that there is but one course for
me, if I am to succeed, and that is to follow my own counsel. I must be
myself, untrammeled, unfettered, or I fail. If I had gone to Eastern
Siberia for the Russian Government, I might have succeeded in the way
the Government expected; but the chances, I consider, would have been
against me. If I had gone there at my own motion, I might have created a
sensation by exploiting that vast and magnificent region, which must
soon play a tremendously important part in the history of the world.