I always supposed that the name was merely a fancy one, but what you say

of Allston’s intimacy with Sully and his family, makes me believe that

quite probably the name was taken from one of Sully’s daughters, and as

such it may even be a sort of portrait of her.”

I closed by asking for further information in regard to the original of

the picture, and received the following reply:—

MARY E. NEALY TO N. A.

618 Sixth Street, Washington City, D. C.

Nov. 18, 1875.

Your letter of enquiry in regard to the portrait of “Rosalie” by

Allston was duly received. Colonel Wheeler does not know about it, and

Mrs. Wheeler, formerly Ellen Sully, being married before her sister

Rosalie was grown, does not _know_ that the verses were inspired by

her sister, but thinks it highly probable, as Mr. Allston admired her

very much. She was very beautiful, as well as talented, but died at an

early age. Mrs. Wheeler could tell you certainly about your picture if

she could see a photograph of it.

I will be happy to call and see the picture if I ever go to Boston,

and thank you kindly for the privilege and the invitation. I have been

intensely interested in his pictures, and think that few artists ever

created more lovely female heads. I have an old annual called _The

Gift_, published in Philadelphia, in 1842. On the title page is a

lovely vignette head, which Col. Wheeler says is Rosalie Sully. If I

could send it to you without spoiling my book I would do so. But the

more simple way would be for you to photograph your painting.

P. S. This is a handsome and youthful brunette, with a spirited yet

most lovely and womanly expression. Her hand supports her head, and

the dark rich curls fall carelessly about her face. Sully painted his

daughters in many positions and in various characters, and many female

heads of his, supposed to be imaginary, are portraits of his own loved

ones.

_The Gift_, edition of 1842, is in the Boston Athenæum Library. The

second picture on the title page really does look like “Rosalie” but

younger.

Allston died in Cambridge, Mass., July 9, 1843. Mrs. Jameson, the

English author, in her Memoir of Washington Allston, January 1, 1844,

gives the following description:—

“‘Rosalie Listening to Music.’ The figure of a young girl, life-size

and three-quarters. She has been reading. The hand which holds the

book has dropped: the other is pressed on her bosom. The head a little

raised. Rapt, yet melancholy attention in the opening eyes and parted

lips. The coloring deep, delicate, rich.

When I first saw this picture, in the drawing-room of Mr. Appleton of

Boston, I had never seen Allston, did not even recollect his name. It

at once so captivated my attention, that I could not take my eyes from

it, even though one who might well have sat for a Rosalie was at my

side. I thought I had never beheld such a _countenance_, except in

some of the female heads of Titian or Palma. Yet the face was not what

would be termed _beautiful_; and oh, how far from the sentimental,

ringletted prettiness of our fashionable painters!

When I afterwards asked Mr. Allston whether his poem of ‘Rosalie’ had

suggested the picture, or the picture the stanzas, he replied, that,

‘as well as he could recollect, the conception of the poem and of the

picture had been simultaneous in his mind.’ He received for this

picture 1,200 dollars, about £250.”

The “Rosalie” was exhibited at the Philadelphia Centennial Exposition in

1876, and a lithograph was published by James R. Osgood & Co., Boston,

in a collection entitled “Massachusetts Artists’ Centennial Album,

1876.” The description is as follows:—

“This picture was painted in 1835. It represents a beautiful girl

seated, facing the spectator, with one hand upon her bosom, and the

fingers of the other between the leaves of a red book which she holds

upon one knee. A piece of dark-brown drapery thrown across the lap

nearly hides the blue of the skirt. The waist of the dress is of gray,

with white sleeves, and is bound to the form by a yellow girdle. The

background is a dull red curtain with a gray column at the left. The

picture is owned by Mr. Nathan Appleton. The illustration is a

heliotype made from the original.”

I loaned it for some years to the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, and in

1893, it was exhibited at the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago. I

afterward sold it to my brother W. S. Appleton, and it is now at 462

Beacon Street, Boston.

MY BROTHER TOM AND ALLSTON.

LETTER FROM T. G. A. TO MRS. SAMUEL APPLETON.

31st August, 1844.

Ashby de la Zouch.

I have been a week with Lady S. and her husband Mr. Smith Wright, not

far from here. Lady S. is famous for her taste in flowers. Her

conservatory is superb, and her white “yackas” unrivalled. She has a

sister like “_ma chere Mire_” in Miss Bremer, with a wonderful face for

energy. She is 87, but quick as a girl, a very clever botanist as well,

and corresponding with all the best botanists in England. I drove and

rode and walked over the country; magnetized a little, and drew a

little, and so the hours flew. The Everetts were there a bit, and then

flew to Scotland. To show how kind a man Mr. Smith Wright is,—he it was

at Rome who got the Protestant burial ground enclosed, and did away with

the burial by torchlight of old time. He is president of the Mechanics’

Institute at Nottingham. I shall hope to see these excellent friends

again. I am the first American who ever visited them.

Yesterday Lady S. drove me to Sir George Beaumont’s, wishing herself to

see Allston’s picture, I had so interested her in him. On the way there

she told me how odd a person the present Sir George was,—the nephew of

the famous art patron,—He received us at his superb porch in a blouse,

with a funny white hat on, and was in great spirits to see us.... He

took us over the fine house, a miracle of taste, as was everything of

his uncle’s, and at length into a glass conservatory-like gallery he had

built to hold the over abounding pictures. Here were all the first good

things of Wilkie, Leslie, etc., which Sir George bought to encourage the

young artists, but Sir G.’s own sketches were as interesting as any, and

as good. The last one he was upon when he fell with apoplexy was

peculiarly so. It represented boys playing over water upon a fallen

tree, and every figure was in danger. Sir G. considered this very

curious, so anticipating his own situation.

I mentioned Allston. He jumped. “I’ll show you a picture of his,”—and he

ran for the key. It is in a lovely gray stone church, close to the

house, a sort of guardian angel to the place.

Allston’s picture is the only one in the church. It is the one he often

spoke to me about. It is ill placed, and ill lit, but wonderfully fine.

An angel in white with sky blue scarf fluttering, points, while standing

on the steps, to the prison door with a radiant hand, while Peter lifts

a majestic face, heavy with sleep, upon the Angelus from between his

bent and drowsy guards.

There is a huge _patine_ of moonlight breaking through the grates of the

prison above.... The angel’s hair is nut brown and a little too pretty

for so sacred a subject. It reminded me of “Rosalie’s” which is womanly,

not angelic. The figures are life size and the picture one of Allston’s

fine ones tho’ not equal to the “Jeremiah,” “Miriam” or “Balshazzar.”

We spent hours in wandering through the grounds....

Oh! the dairy, you should see that! An arched alcove, all _tiles_ above

and below, rows of huge cream bowls standing upon marble slabs, and a

fountain coolly splashing from an antique mask at one end. This gem of a

dairy was dead Lady Beaumont’s doing.

There were poems of Wordsworth cut in stone about the walks. He was a

great friend of the former Sir George, and I saw a stone seat, the rock

cut, in which he wrote many of his poems. When one thinks of this lovely

place and the great men, Sir George, Allston, Wordsworth, and Beaumont

and Fletcher,—this is one of the family,—perhaps Shakespeare, one must

allow this to be almost unmatched as a country seat.

On page 67, of brother Tom’s volume of poems entitled “Faded Leaves,” in

one addressed to Allston after seeing his “Peter delivered from Prison”

at Colcorton Hall, in Wordsworth’s winter garden, may be found the

following stanzas:—

“A portion of thy soul divine

Is fitly shrined in yon meek aisle

Where arching roofs in prayer incline,

And chasten all the silent pile.

· · · · ·

Ah! yes, dear Allston, from the bars

And dungeon of this mortal sphere,

At length thy spirit seeks the stars,

Free in their happier atmosphere.”

FROM MY MOTHER AT BOSTON.

“February 24, 1867.

I do think you are having splendid times. The last princess seems to be

the loveliest. And then the furs, and the slippers, and the table

covers, and the malachite! Oh, what a boy!

Mr. Sayles (Henry Sayles) and Ned Brown (Edward Ingersol Brown) called

to see me and were so much pleased with your picture. (Staigg portrait.)

They were told you _really sent_ a telegram from St. Petersburg on

Christmas Day, and thought it so like you to do it. W. S. A. is in

pursuit of a second pair for his four-in-hand. I do not approve so much

display.”

In another letter my mother observes parenthetically:—“You must remember

I am an old lady and belong to the old school of manners and propriety,

which has sadly changed since my day.”

[Illustration:

THE BLESSING OF THE NEVA. ILL. LONDON NEWS.

]

CHAPTER SIXTH.

ST. PETERSBURG. THE NEVA. NOVGOROD. POLAND.

“We look into each other’s eyes,

And see a friendly peace which says,

While on the snowy Cossack flies,

‘Rave ye without, here Quiet stays.’

This silent, unexpressed delight

Glows brighter so severely set:

Heart-warm against the stormy white,

The Rose of Joy burns warmer yet.”

—_Thomas Gold Appleton_

_A Snow Storm_, Jan. 17, 1867.

THE BLESSING OF THE NEVA.

St. Petersburg, Jan’y 20, 1867.

My dear Mama.

Here we are back at the capital, where we were most enthusiastically

received by our hostess Madame Octavie, who expressed great joy at

seeing her “little Americans” safely returned, and installed us into our

old apartments.

Your letters came the next day, with accounts of Christmas festivities

at home, and the prospective party for New Year.

I am so glad that the portrait _à la militaire_ has been accomplished

enough to show what it is, and that the likeness is good, and the whole

thing gives pleasure. I rather pride myself upon it, for the idea of the

composition and pose was quite my own, and the secrecy with which it has

all been done is commendable.

Driving down the Nevski from the Moscow station St. Petersburg looked

_so_ funny, not in the least like a Russian city, but a great, sprawling

capital, and they tell us it is not gay here at all, especially after

Moscow. No balls at Court as yet, as the government is not very rich

just now, and after the tremendous expenses of entertaining our fleet

last summer, and later all the gorgeous display connected with the

wedding of the Tsarevitch, they are really trying to economize a bit.

This is good theoretically, but not for us individually, and I hope we

shall see one big ball at the Winter Palace.

The morning after our return was the day of the ceremony of the baptism

of the Neva, which the Emperor attends. We received invitations to the

Palace to go with the Diplomatic Corps, and although we could not see

much of the performance outside,—and how the poor fellows, Tsar,

priests, and “strikers” have to suffer with uncovered heads in the

bitter cold,—we got a very good idea of the male portion of the Russian

court in the Palace, and afterwards enjoyed an excellent breakfast. It

was quite striking to see us, the only two civilians in the big throng

of officers, courtiers and diplomats, and it was a pleasant feeling that

the grandeur of America does not go in for outside display.

We dined yesterday at the English Club with Curtin, the best one in the

city, and English only in name, and later played Russian nine-pins with

a party of officers.

I skated, also, on the Neva Club grounds, which have been carefully

arranged during our absence, and it was very jolly there, with music and

all the swells of the city. The costumes are very effective, and add

much to the brilliancy of the scene, those of the gentlemen being quite

as elaborate as of the ladies, velvet jackets and tight fitting tunics

trimmed with fur and slashed _à la Polenaise_, with Knickerbockers and

leggings. It is strange that if a gentleman with us should attempt to

wear such a costume, elegant, comfortable, and appropriate for the ice,

he would be set down as a snob. The democratic principle of every one

always wearing the same style of raiment on all occasions may, perhaps,

be good, but it certainly takes away much from the beauty of any

assemblage of human beings.

The ladies were much as in New York or Jamaica Pond, with the addition

of the omnipresent _basilisk_ or hood, made of different colored cloth,

and trimmed with gold or silver braid. We mean to bring several of them

home, as there is nothing prettier or more genuinely Russian here to

take away, and for a lady to wear sleigh-riding they are perfect. I hope

to see some of my own on the Brighton road next winter.

Today was held the first race of the season on the river, but it was so

very cold that it was not particularly amusing to witness. The horses

look fine, parading about covered with Persian blankets. Monday morning.

Very early! We start in a few minutes on an excursion of two or three

days to Novgorod the Great, once the capital of Russia, and I have just

time to seal this up without finishing it.

Therefore in haste, Nathan.

FOX’S MISSION TO RUSSIA.

The reference in my letter to our fleet and its presence in Russia is to

Fox’s mission. On the 16th of May, 1866, the President of the United

States, Andrew Johnson, signed a joint resolution passed by Congress,

congratulating the twenty million serfs upon the providential escape

from assassination of the Emperor Alexander II., by the hand of an enemy

of emancipation, and in order to give additional significance to the

act, Congress selected the Hon. Gustavus Vasa Fox, assistant secretary

of the navy during the entire period of the war for the Preservation of

the Union, to perform the delicate mission of carrying this resolution

to the Emperor of Russia. He was sent in the two turreted monitor

_Miantonomoh_, a class of vessel which had never before crossed the

Atlantic, and the _Augusta_ and _Ashuelot_, two wooden men-of-war,

accompanied the _Miantonomoh_.

August 6 (July 23) 1866, the fleet arrived in the harbor of Cronstadt,

on the 17th the Tsar sent the address acknowledging the visit of Mr.

Fox, and on Saturday, September 15 (3d) Mr. Fox left Saint Petersburg,

after a farewell breakfast given on the Russian yacht _Rurik_ at which

Lieutenant General Greig said in a speech while presenting a medal

struck in memory of the enfranchisement of the peasants:—

“He will see on it the likeness of our blessed sovereign, and the effigy

of a nobleman and of a peasant.”

A narrative of this mission to Russia from the Journal and Notes of J.

F. Loubat (Duc deLoubat) was published in 1873, and presented to me in

New York, by the author, September 28th of the same year.

THE CEREMONY OF BLESSING THE WATERS.

In some notes made in February, 1879, and printed in the Boston

_Advertiser_ under the title “_Outre Mer_,” I referred to the occasion

of the annual benediction of the Neva, a rite of the Orthodox Church

commemorative of the baptism of the Saviour, when the Tsar takes his

position in an open chapel built out on the quay, and the ice below

having been broken the Metropolitan blesses the waters and the cross is

dipped therein three times:—

“It takes place just opposite the Winter Palace, and all the guests

witness it comfortably from the windows of one of the large rooms of the

palace, while the Tsar and the priests and those who actually

participate in it have to go out with bare heads in the cold and take

some of the water from the frozen Neva, which they can only get through

a hole made in the ice. It is principally a religious service, with

rites performed upon a handsome platform, with a canopy above, erected

for it between the palace and the water. It does not last long, and in

this instance the Emperor and his suite might well have been glad to get

out of the intense cold when it was over.

We had some difficulty that day, my companion and myself, in getting up

to the door of the Winter Palace. We had our cards of invitation all

correct, indicating where we should go, and we supposed that our

_invostchik_, or the driver of the sleigh we used every day, understood

it perfectly. But it seems he did not, and we were stopped by a mounted

soldier to whom we could not talk a word, while we brandished the card

before him. But this did not work, and we had to turn back. We were at

our wits’ ends, determined if possible not to miss the sight, and I

suggested that we should drive at once to the United States Minister’s

residence, General Clay, to see if we could not find his servant, or

some one who would act as pilot. On the road we met our commissionaire

whom we had dismissed at the hotel, thinking we should not need him, and

took him in front with the driver.

“A FRIEND AT COURT.”

As it was then rather late we drove up to the nearest door of the

palace, but not the one designated for us to enter on the card. There we

met one of the young officers of the imperial household whose

acquaintance we had made at our regular presentation to the Tsar some

weeks before, and, explaining to him our dilemma he said it was all

right, and put us in charge of a _chasseur_, who was to conduct us to

our proper places. He was a gorgeously dressed fellow, with a very tall

plume in his hat, and slowly took us along through the endless _salons_

of the building, which were filled with people,—ladies in the

galleries,—and at length reached the room set apart for the Diplomatic

Corps and distinguished strangers who happened to be in St. Petersburg,

where we had a view of the ceremonies.”

A COUSINLY VIEW.

FROM MY COUSIN AT MOSCOW TO MY MOTHER.

Moscow, January 22, 1867.

My dear Cousin.

About a month ago, as I was standing at the window, I saw two gentlemen

stop at our door, with very English faces as I thought. I was surprised,

for I expected no visitors from abroad, but how much greater was my

surprise when the two gentlemen were introduced as Mr. Appleton and Mr.

Longfellow.

You may well imagine my joy at seeing some of my American relations at

last. Their stay in Moscow was for me a perfect enjoyment. I had such

pleasure in seeing them, and saw them as often as was possible, for they

had so many invitations from all sides that they could hardly find time

to answer them all: they went very much among the nobility.

Nathan admired the Russian ladies much and teased me all the time by

saying he would marry a Russian Princess or a Polish countess. I said I

would not acknowledge him after that, he must remain constant to the

American beauties. He left Moscow, however, with the firm intention of

falling desperately in love with the first fairy princess he met in St.

Petersburg. I trust, however, that the 30 degrees of frost we have at

the present moment will freeze his heart so as not to admit any warmer

feeling into it, and prevent melting away those he brought with him from

America.

You may well think, dear cousin, how much Nathan and Charles had to tell

us about you all, and it seems as if since I know them the ocean has

disappeared between us, and we are brought nearer to each other. How

much I should like to see you and know you all, and always will regret

not to have gone over to Boston during the three months I stayed in

Ostend, some twelve years ago. I should have then seen our dear

Grandmamma, let me call her thus, dear cousin, for she was to me more

than ever an aunt could be.

How much I value the beautiful pin you sent me is needless to say.

Receive my warmest and sincerest thanks for this kind attention, and

believe me, dear cousin, that I shall always wear the pin, so dear to

me, in remembrance of our dear Grandmamma and of yourself.

How do you like Nathan’s and Charles’s photograph in their furs? (See

frontispiece.) We admire it much, and I claimed one for my album.

Kiss the dear baby for me. I sent him a pair of little red Russian

boots, which I hope he will be able to wear by the time they reach him.

Good bye, dear cousin, write to me sometimes, and tell me something

about our travellers that interest me much. My husband begs to be kindly

remembered to you and your dear family.

Most affectionately,

Eliza Carnatz.

NOVGOROD.

TO MY MOTHER.

Saint Petersburg,

January 28, 1867.

_Ma chère Maman._

Our little trip to Novgorod was most successful. We went down the

railroad about 70 miles, to Tchudova, and there took the _troikas_ and

the funniest vehicle imaginable, in which you lie down on the hay and

are covered up with felt and skins. We made our forty-five miles in a

few hours, arriving at the town in time for supper and bed.

The next morning we set about seeing the sights of the place, which are

very few, the old church of St. Sophia and the modern monument

celebrating the 1000th anniversary of Russia.

What a quaint old place, with its Kremlin, and its white yellow

churches, and everything so Russian!

[Illustration:

THE MIDNIGHT DRIVE.

]

I found a fascinating antiquary, who would have driven Billy crazy, in

his gown and skull cap. He had a book store in his house, with

curiosities and minerals, and I bought a Russian missal of the 14th

century (I afterwards gave it to the Boston Public Library.) and a few

coins and odds and ends.

[Illustration:

SKATING IN THE YOUSOUPOFF GARDEN.

]

THE MIDNIGHT DRIVE.

We made the journey home by night, with the mercury near zero, and cold

enough it was. I had two pairs of gloves on, and mittens over them, and

was just comfortable. We rattled along over the snow, with a bright

moon, and clear, cold stars, stopping now and then at wayside inns to

drink tea and warm up.

Nothing have we done more Russ than our midnight drive from Novgorod.

Yesterday we dined with the Count Besborodko, the one who owns the

“swell” palace I mentioned in a previous letter. The dinner was good,

the company gay, the Countess charming, and never in my life was I so

_en train_ to speak French easily. I surprised myself. We came home

early, changed our dress, and went for a little while to the fête of the

Yacht Club Skating ground, which was brilliantly illuminated with

lanterns, grottoes of ice with Bengal lights thrown upon them, stuffed

bears, pretty toilettes, etc. etc.—music.

ISLA.

But even this was not enough for the evening, so off we go to Isla, a

café, theatre, skating ground combined, a few miles into the country,

where there are life size statues made of ice in the garden.

Shall we go to the _bal masqué_ at the Opera House? No, it will hardly

pay to put on our funereals twice the same evening, so go to bed

quietly, and good night!

Since my last return here I have been making many purchases preparatory

to leaving the place.

Your beautiful sables have been selected, paid for and packed up, and I

hope they will come home in safety.

MY CIRCASSIAN UNIFORM.

“‘Brave in battle,’ ‘eloquent in assembly,’ are great titles in

Circassia. But he who is the ‘most hospitable’ wears the brightest

crown of all.... A Circassian is always a Circassian.”

—_Colonel Richard Henry Savage._

“A land of the sword and spear, of the chase and mighty

woodcraft—Circassia.”

—_R. H. S._ 1876.

LETTER TO MY MOTHER CONTINUED.

I have got Master Will a Circassian overcoat for winter, and myself a

Circassian uniform, for fancy balls at home, very handsome and effective

it is too. Charlie has had a Russian dress made for the same object. I

have picked up in the Bazaar some nice things in the way of

arms,—pistols, daggers and swords, and am looking for some chain armor.

Today I bought all the malachite I want, a few pretty pieces only. My

Russian harness has come, and very nice it is, so light and graceful.

Look out for me on the avenue next summer crying “_berages_,” Russian

for “Look out!” “Take care!”

I have bought you a lovely Persian table cloth and myself a cover for an

easy chair for smoking.

[Illustration:

CIRCASSIAN UNIFORM.

]

We went the other evening to see the Davenport Brothers, who are here

now, and as luck would have it I was drawn by lot to tie one of them in

the box. Funny that way out in Russia they should be tied up by a fellow

countryman. There was quite a party of us Americans there, and we

chatted with them after the performance. It was very good and just what

I have often seen.

29th. Morning:—I have just received a big packet of letters; among them

one from Georgie Shattuck. He gives me a very good idea of just what is

going on in Boston.

Last eve we were again at the Opera, in the Pierces’ box. The Barber of

Seville—I have often heard it—with an ugly prima-donna. Tonight we go

first to a ballet, “Meteora,” and after to a ball at Lady Buchanan’s the

English ambassadress, and, perhaps, at two o’clock, to a costume ball at

one of the Clubs. Saturday next is my birthday, and I am to give a

gentlemen’s dinner to Russians and Americans.

I have many things here which are not completed, and I want all my

purchases well packed up and directed, before I leave the place, and,

try as hard as you please, it is difficult to accomplish much each day.

We made the acquaintance a few days past of the Souworoff family, the

descendants of the great old fighter whose sabre rang all over Europe.

The young princess was very nice and jolly, and did not like it that her

mother would not let her skate and flirt. The old party was eminently

proper and conservative in all her ideas, and reminded me of several

ladies in Boston I might perhaps mention.

We passed one evening last week quietly with Mr. Prince, as he was very

desirous we should. What are you going to do this summer? Will quiet

Lynn content you, or is it Niagara, Saratoga, or Newport? Go in for a

house there, and I will come home by the first of August, in time for

the season. I hear the Americans are cutting great rigs in Paris. Thank

Mr. Burgess for me for the arrival of the package. Breakfast being

ready, 12 m., I will say in the last words of many French comedies, “à

table”.

Nate.

THE COSTUME BALL AT DELMONICO’S.

“Send me a dream tonight,

A dream of the boy-time days,

Stop for me the shuttle of Time

That ever so swiftly plays—

A dream of the other days,

When the sky was ever bright—

Unravel the warp and woof of years—

Send me a dream tonight.”

—_Baltimore American_, April, 1900.

From a journal of a visit to New York and Philadelphia, made in March

and April, 1875, I extract the following written in my den, 788

Broadway, Room 16, New York, April 11th:—

“Since I left Boston, nearly three weeks ago, I have been through some

such interesting experiences that I must certainly record them in my

diary. But it is no easy thing to catch them as they go by, so rapid a

life do we lead in the great cities and so full of movement is the time,

still, I will try.”

The event of the season among the few hundred persons who make up the

fashionables of New York society, was the _Bal Costumé_ given at

Delmonico’s by thirty gentlemen on Easter Monday, March 29, 1875.

I was invited to take part in the Oriental Quadrille gotten up by Miss

Minnie Stevens (Daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Paran Stevens, and afterwards

wife of Arthur Henry Fitzroy Paget.) as I had a fine Circassian

officer’s dress, which I had had made years ago in Saint Petersburg,

just for occasions of the kind.

The Sunday before the ball I dined at Mr. S. L. M. Barlow’s, No. 1

Madison Avenue, as my partner in the quadrille was to be Miss Barlow,

and it was a kind attention on their part to invite me to dinner.

The other guests were Mr. Manton Marble and Mr. Hurlburt of the New York

_World_, one of the organs of the Democratic party. These gentlemen,

with Messrs. Barlow, Belmont and others, were very intimate, and all

leading spirits of the Manhattan Club.

After dessert, I took occasion to say, in a conversation in which some

of the leaders were being discussed, that the Democratic party to

succeed must get rid of many of its old planks, which would not support

any one today; that there were plenty of young fellows like myself and

others, who had been in the war, and were now growing up to take part in

public matters, who could not, and would not, place confidence in the

men whose record had been such as that of the leaders of the Northern

Democrats, the last fifteen years.

But how I have departed from the ball!

Instead of describing it particularly I insert here a drawing and notice

of it from Frank Leslie’s paper, also the card of invitation, etc. (The

illustration represented the ball room with the ball in progress,

showing many of the finest costumes.)

The invitation was for a _Bal Costumé—costume de rigueur_,—signed by H.

S. Fearing, secretary, and the time was nine o’clock. The reverse of the

card bore the names of twenty-eight gentlemen; among them August

Belmont, W. W. Astor, and A. Thorndike Rice.

The representative of _Frank Leslie’s_ said in his report:—

“All that bright flowers, perfumed air, sweet music, flashing

diamonds, manly beauty, female loveliness, elegant costumes, and grace

and refinement could contribute to such a scene, were found there....

One of the features of the evening was an Eastern quadrille of which

Miss Stevens of Fifth Avenue was queen. The costumes of the eight

forming the set were superb!”

The note from Miss Minnie Stevens to me with regard to the ball, was as

follows:—

“I write you some time ahead to know if it is possible for you to be

in New York a week from Monday, that is to say, the Monday before the

ball. We have arranged to dance the quadrille at our place on that

evening, for you have no idea how little any one knows about dancing

it, and, as the audience will be large, it would be very mortifying to

make several mistakes. As there is to be a procession formed, we have

also to know our partners and our places. I hope you will be able to

get here for the rehearsal on Monday the 22d as I would like all the

sixteen to come together. I am in despair about my dress, it is so

difficult to get up. Hoping soon to have the pleasure of seeing you,

I am sincerely yours,

Minnie Stevens.”

This was the handsomest ball of the kind I ever saw, as nearly all the

costumes were remarkable for richness, and few or none of them had a

cheap or tawdry look. The march in of all of us who took part in the

opening quadrille, was a brilliant sight.

Before going to it I went to show myself off in costume at the

Appletons’, 3 Madison Avenue, and also at the Beckwiths’ on Fifth Avenue

and 18th Street, whence I escorted Miss Helen Beckwith (Now Mrs. Dudley

Leigh.) in the dress of a Circassian slave across the street to the

Belmonts’, where there was a large reception, for those in costume

particularly, for the benefit of the invalid daughter who could not go

to the ball, but naturally wanted to see the people and the dresses. I

was glad to have the chance of paying a call at the house. Mrs. Belmont

looked remarkably well, and her other daughter (Now Mrs. Samuel S.

Howland.) too, as pretty as possible in Pompadour costume.

At the ball I sat at a supper table with Mrs. Strong,—née

Ruggles,—chatting and looking at the different persons as they passed

by; also, with Mrs. General Barlow née Shaw. This was a quiet and

comfortable way of enjoying the fête. Then I danced the “_cotillon_”

with Mrs. Kemys—the cotillon which was led by Jimmy Otis with all the

animation of twenty years before.

Strolling to my den through 14th street and Broadway, just as the day

was dawning, I got into bed, well tired, a little before six o’clock.

FROM MISS STEVENS ON RECEIPT OF THE PHOTOGRAPH, 1877.

“So many thanks for the charming photograph just received. It was very

kind of you to have remembered me, and so justly divined my wish.

The ‘Circassian’ shall join its companions in the album of the

oriental quadrille. We are going to England some time this spring, but

I hope only to return for the summer at dear old Newport, which we all

must acknowledge has no rivals.”

THE LOOM OF THE EAST.

I wore my Circassian costume again at my brother’s house, 10

Commonwealth Avenue, Boston, at the meeting of the Bric-a-Brac Club,

January 17th, 1877, when I read his paper on “The Loom of the East”

(Fifth chapter of “Windfalls” by Thomas Gold Appleton, author of “A

Sheaf of Papers,” “A Nile Journal,” “Syrian Sunshine” etc.) my brother

suffering from a fall at the time.

MY TWENTY-FOURTH BIRTHDAY.

FROM MY MOTHER IN BOSTON, SUNDAY, FEB. 3, 1867.

“Your birthday (February 2d) was not forgotten, and as I sat at my

lonely meal, I could only wish you, my boy, many years of happiness,—not

the giddy enjoyment of the present hour, but solid days of reality, when

the heart shall be satisfied, and all this fascination of travel and

society shall have lost some of its freshness, and you will not care for

a ‘spike’ team, or a ‘four-in-hand’.”

THE LAST LETTER FROM RUSSIA IN ’67.

St. Petersburg, February 3, 1867.

Yes, Mamma, it is here. We are off tomorrow for Warsaw. We leave this

delightful place, with its cold climate and its warm hearts. Willingly

would I linger here a week or two more, but Charles is resolute, and has

been saying for the last few days that he _will_ go tomorrow, and can’t

be stopped.

Our boxes are packed, our bills paid, and as it would be quite

impossible to find a time when we would not like to stay longer, perhaps

it is as well to go now as ever.

“20 AND 30 BELOW.”

It is mild today, but the four days before have been such cold as I

never experienced; the mercury being all the time between twenty and

thirty below the zero of Fahrenheit. In fact the people here say they

have not had such a snap for years. We were fortunate not to get frozen,

for our _isvoschik_ was in a continued state of freeze,—which he did not

seem to mind,—notwithstanding the neckkerchief and mittens we gave him.

The intense cold interferes little with your life, and wrapped up in our

_shubes_ we spend the day calling or shopping, or by night go from

ballet to ball till late in the morning. They have huge fires built in

front of the Opera House, and the Winter Palace, for the coachmen to

keep warm.

RUSSIAN FOOTMEN.

The life of a footman here is odd enough. Their principal duty is to

look after the cloaks and overshoes of their masters and mistresses, and

they follow them about all day and night, sitting and sleeping in the

entries of private houses during a visit and the duration of a ball, and

in the foyer of the theatre for the entire performance of the opera or

play.

The carriages, too, are always drawn up in line at the theatre or ball,

and stay there all night instead of going home and returning at a

certain hour. What would the tender coachmen and hackmen of Boston say

to that, who do not like to wait half an hour?

This is strange, when it is so cold, especially for the horses, but they

are never clipped, and the men are very thickly dressed.

At all the “swell” houses they have an impressive flunkey in the entry,

with a huge knobbed stick like a drum major or beadle, dressed in

gorgeous livery, a red sash a foot wide and covered with embroidered

black, double-headed eagles. All he does is to open and shut the front

door. In fact, at all houses, shops, and hotels, they have a porter,

generally an old soldier covered with medals, to take off and put on

overcoats and boots and goloshes.

Every house in Russia is double windowed and treble doored, and between

the two panes of the windows there are artificial flowers.

The houses are too hot, and the air bad, so that they use incense

everywhere in the country.

LADY BUCHANAN’S BALL.

The ball at the British embassy was very good, and we were introduced to

the prettiest girl in the city, the little Countess Apraxine. We met,

also, a charming young lady, the Princess Ourousoff, a cousin of my

friend at Newport last summer.

Today we have been lunching at the Prince Galitzine’s, with a crowd of

jolly young dogs; among them the son of the celebrated Gortschakoff.

TSARSKOË SELO.

We passed one day last week at Tsarskoë Selo, visiting the palace, a

summer residence of the Emperor; also, the arsenal with splendid armor,

and the imperial dairy, where we ate cheese and drank imperial milk. We

afterwards dined with Gen. Gogol, the commander of the department, who

was very strong on the _entente cordiale_ between us, with a most

healthy detestation of England. He was another good specimen of that

well-known type of humanity, the Russian general.

[Illustration:

SLEDGE DRAWN BY REINDEER.

]

The Palace was the best I ever saw, they being generally cold,

cheerless, all alike, and a bore, but this looked like a habitable

place, with a blue and silver boudoir, a room entirely made of Japan

wood, with panels, pictures, furniture, all Japanese; one room papered

with amber, and at last a Persian smoking room, small and cozy, filled

with bits of armor and pipes, divans, and a tiny fountain sunk in the

middle of the room.

I have been doing up sights rapidly, preparatory to leaving; for

instance, the Admiralty, where an officer showed us all the models,

interesting to Charles, especially the Yankee cutters; the Academy of

Fine Arts from which, however, the best paintings have already been sent

to Paris. (For the Exposition.) I wanted to get a fair idea of the

Russian school, as it is now very little known out of the country, but

headed by Zitchy, a genius. I have photographs which will give you an

idea of his talent.

The Imperial Library one day I slaughtered, well repaying a visit, but

finally, today, we gave a hurried half-hour to a last, lingering gaze at

the treasures in the Hermitage.

A DRIVE WITH REINDEER.

Yesterday, in all the cold, we took a five minute drive in a sledge

drawn by three reindeer on the Neva, just to say we had done it.

Midnight and after:—I take up my festive quill for the last time in

Petersburg, to finish a family epistle.

We have been to see our last ballet tonight, and then out to Tivoli, a

restaurant in the suburbs of the city, with a “swell” skating pond under

glass. We have been meaning to see the place for a long while, but have

not accomplished it before our last eve.

We have our government permission to leave the country, and nothing now

remains for us to do but gracefully take off our hats and give a parting

kiss to Russia.

Nate.

Please see that all my military traps are safely returned from the

studio of Staigg,—sword, bridle, jacket, belt, etc. Ask T. G. A. to

write me his opinion of the picture.

GAS-LIGHTING IN MOSCOW.

FROM MY MOTHER IN BOSTON, FEB. 10, 1867.

“Did you witness the lighting of Moscow with gas? It must have been a

great occasion from the newspaper accounts. It seems strange it should

not have been done before this.

GIFTS TO THE SOUTH.

Mr. George Peabody has made a munificent gift to the country of

$1,500,000 for educational purposes in the South, so that I am sure the

North may feel relieved of all responsibility.

I read in this evening’s _Transcript_, that the largest room in the

world is in St. Petersburg, did you see it? Twenty thousand wax tapers

are required to light it properly.

[Illustration:

DROSKY.

]

It is simply ridiculous the way people are to be off, there will be

eight or nine vacant houses at Nahant.”

Later, in a letter dated March 31, 1867, my mother mentioned the gift of

100,000 volumes of school books, which the New York Appleton firm had

added to the educational gift of Mr. Peabody.

“POOR POLAND.”

“Good Kosciusko! thy great name alone

Is a full harvest whence to reap high feeling;

It comes upon us like the glorious pealing

Of the wide spheres—an everlasting tone.”

—_John Keats._ _To Kosciusko._

LETTER TO MY MOTHER.

Vienna, Feb. 12, 1867.

From Saint Petersburg to here, a long pull, is it not? and what a change

in temperature from the icy zero of the Neva to that which seems almost

like summer! We saw the snow disappear on our way, and wheels gradually

take the place of runners, and now that I am far away, and in a city,

which like most European ones, is an attempted copy of Paris, how

brilliantly indeed do the peculiarities of Russia stand forth.

We left St. P. one morning and the evening of the next day were in

Warsaw. Returning to our hotel late from a ball, we were accosted and

stopped by a policeman of whom I asked the way, and he very politely

took us all (Mr. W. F. Nisbet, an American gentleman who came with us

from Russia, C. A. L. and myself.) to the station house. It seems no one

in Warsaw is allowed to be out after midnight without a “pass,” and we

had neglected to get them.

We coolly entered and sat down and burst out laughing, and at length I

explained in my bad German, to an official who talked an equally bad

lingo, our situation, impressing him with the fact of the greatness of

the Amerikanski alliance, and we were soon escorted home.

The next day we rambled about the town, saw the palaces and the pretty

ladies, and were attended to by some young Russian swells to whom we had

letters from St. Petersburg. In the theatre we saw the Mazourka most

gorgeously danced in true Polish national costume, which was not allowed

here a few years ago.

Poor old Poland! What is left of her former greatness? Alas, nothing but

the mazourka. As can be aptly said, how like to Byron’s Greece:—

We have the Polish dance as yet,

Where is the Polish phalanx gone?

Better this than nothing, as it helps keep up still the nationality of

the people.

The next morning Charles and I were off to Cracow, the old capital of

Poland, and one of the most interesting and quaint old towns I had ever

seen, with its Square and Schloss, and the church where all the kings of

Poland have been crowned and buried, and we mysteriously descended the

vault, and saw the tombs of Jagellon, Paniatowski, and our good friend

Kosciusko.

This is an Austrian territory, where the rule is much less rigid, and we

saw many old Poles in faded frogged coats and square caps, and the

antique equipages and livery of families once the greatest in Europe.

I was never so impressed before with the hard fate of Poland, a great

nation actually annihilated, and I got up my sympathy more on my journey

by reading a most interesting history of Poland by Mickiewicz.

There happens to be a big salt mine near Cracow, and as we had never

seen anything of the sort before, we descended with Bengal lights and

what not, and did the whole thing: illuminated chambers, ferried across

the Styx, crystal dance halls, and all, hundreds of feet below ground.

PARTING COMPANY.

The next morning we were up early for the train, and Charles and I,

after two and more most agreeable months together, parted company; he

for Dresden and then Paris, and I for Vienna.

CHAPTER SEVENTH.

CHARLES APPLETON LONGFELLOW.

“Friend of my youth! when young we roved,

Like striplings, mutually beloved,

With friendship’s purest glow,

The bliss which winged those rosy hours

Was such as pleasure seldom showers

On mortals here below.”

“To Lord Clare”—Byron’s _Hours of Idleness_.

IN VIRGINIA.

THREE YEARS PREVIOUS. THE PAIN OF BATTLE.

It was the movement of General George G. Meade called the Mine Run

Expedition, Nov. 26, 1863. On the morning of the 27th the First Mass.

Cavalry under command of General John I. Gregg, marched to Parker’s

Store on the Orange Plank Road, where it met a column of Meade’s

infantry, the Fifth Corps, under command of General George Sykes, passed

them, and marched ahead of them on the Gordonsville road, leading the

column through the Wilderness. At New Hope Church they met the enemy’s

cavalry pickets, but the country was so densely wooded they could only

fight dismounted.

Brevet Col. B. W. Crowninshield in his History of the First Mass.

Cavalry, says:—“As the force advanced, the ground became rougher and

well wooded at times, with occasional openings. Charges were made, and

prisoners were taken from what proved to be Walker’s North Carolina

Brigade of Infantry.

[Illustration:

CHARLES APPLETON LONGFELLOW.

]

Lieutenant C. A. Longfellow of Company A, was badly wounded, at first

supposed mortally....

When the 5th Corps infantry came up and relieved the cavalry the enemy

had been pushed back nearly to his works on Mine Run.... In the fight

the 1st Mass. Cavalry lost one officer and four men killed, and two

officers and eleven men wounded.”

FROM THE HISTORY OF THE FIFTH MASS. BATTERY, LIGHT ARTILLERY.

LETTER OF LIEUT. APPLETON P. 747.

THE CROSSING OF THE RAPIDAN. NEW HOPE CHURCH.

“On the 27th (Nov. 1863.) off at daybreak, struck a dirt road, which

soon led to another plank road parallel to the first, and also in the

direction of Orange Court House. On, on, we trudged, and soon we heard

heavy cannonading, which every minute grew nearer, mixed now and then

with the sharp cracks of the carbine. We soon came to the little village

of New Hope Church, where the Corps rushed on at ‘double quick’ to

relieve the shattered squadrons of Gregg, and a splendid sight it was.

The cavalry formed in squares by the road side, right glad to be

relieved by the ‘Doughboys’ and our artillery rushing on to the front.

Captain Martin (Capt. A. P. Martin commanding the Artillery Brigade)

soon got the batteries in posish, and in fact the only fighting our

Corps did was done by the artillery. I soon heard that Charlie

Longfellow had been wounded, and stole the first minute I could get to

run off to the hospital, New Hope Church, where I saw the dear boy,

lying on the pulpit, and surrounded by the officers of the regiment.

(First Mass. Cavalry.) He looked and talked well, but I did not have but

a minute to stay with him, as my biz. then was on the field.... I went

again to the hospital in the evening, but Charlie had gone, as they had

taken off all except the worst cases. I assure you it was not a pleasant

sight. Charlie and Bowditch (Captain Henry Pickering Bowditch shot in

the right forearm) went off together. Charlie was wounded by a ball just

under the shoulder blade, injuring the spine, but missing the vital

parts.”

* * * * *

Previous to his connection with the First Mass. Cavalry he joined the

First Mass. Battery, Light Artillery, at the front, as a private, but

was not mustered in, and at the age of 19 was commissioned in the

Cavalry. His record in the Adjutant General’s office of the State of

Massachusetts, is as follows:—

“Charles A. Longfellow, of Cambridge, was commissioned 2nd Lieut., Co.

G., 1st Regt. Mass. Vol. Cavalry, March 27, 1863; mustered March 27,

1863, for 3 years. Commissioned 1st Lieut. to date January 24, 1864,

not mustered; discharged February 15, 1864, as 2nd Lieutenant.

Charles A. Longfellow, of Cambridge, was commissioned 1st Lieut. in

Co. G, 5th Regt. Mass. Vol. Cavalry, January 7, 1864. He declined the

commission.”

The Fifth Cavalry was a Regiment composed of men of African descent.

In August, 1863, he was Acting Adjutant.

The wound affected him all his life, he was never in condition to rejoin

the army, and it prevented him from going on the ill fated expedition of

Captain George Washington De Long in the _Jeanette_, to the North Pole.

He had begged his great friend James Gordon Bennett to go as a volunteer

on the expedition, but the surgeon who examined all those who were to

take part in it, did not consider him fit to stand the probable

exposure, and so would not pass him, greatly to his own disappointment

but to the relief of his family and friends. As he would doubtless have

been in the boat with Captain De Long he was saved the suffering and

terrible death of those brave men.

After much travelling and residence in many lands, shortly after his

return from a trip to Tahiti with his friend T. Watson Merrill, in the

spring of 1892, he had a sudden stroke of paralysis, from which he never

recovered.

Passing the summer with his sister Miss Alice Longfellow, at the old

Nahant Cottage, he returned with her in the autumn to the historic home

at Cambridge, formerly Washington’s headquarters, and after living all

the winter and appearing somewhat better, he died April 13, 1893, at the

age of forty-nine. He was born June 9, 1844.

CHAPTER EIGHTH.

FRANCE. LAST DAYS OF THE EMPIRE. TO RUSSIA WITH GENERAL BANKS.

I

“Friend of the fair old days,

Have you forgotten me?

Back through the pleasant ways,

Oft in my memory,

Gladly I turn again.

Hearing the sounds that blew

Over the meadows then—

Oft at the side of you

Dreaming old dreams, I gaze

Worshipping all I see—

Friend of the fair old days,

Have you forgotten me?

II

· · · · ·

Do you remember me?

· · · · ·

Deeming you great and wise—

Questions I asked you then?

There where the green hills rise

Often your gaze was cast

Down on me tenderly—

Friend of the dear old past,

May you remember me?”

—_S. E. Kiser._

THE GUESTS OF FRANCE.

I wrote home June 5th, 1867, the year of the Great Exposition:—“It does

not pay just now to be away from Paris, for it is in a most exceptional

state, filled with Europeans—Kings, Princes, and all kinds of

celebrities. All other places are deserted and quieter than usual, and

moreover they will all keep for the future, but probably not for years

will Paris see such another sight.

[Illustration:

HON. NATHANIEL P. BANKS.

REPRESENTATIVE FROM MASSACHUSETTS.

]

The last few steamers have brought over crowds of ‘Yanks’; others have

come up from Italy and Germany, and I find that since the short time ago

that I left here for England, my many friends have turned up and prices,

too, have run up very fast.

The race for the Grand Prix on last Sunday, was probably the most

brilliant assemblage of the sort the world has ever seen, and the road

home from the tribune itself to the Place de la Concorde, was a solid

mass of vehicles five or six rows in breadth, and all going in the same

direction.

My friend the Tsar Alexander II. was there, and I recognized other

Russian friends, but I shall let you get the accounts from the papers,

and not from me, of all the grand doings of the season. There is to be

held at the race course at Long Champs a huge review of military.

THE REVIEW.

Thursday. Midnight: I must finish this for you tonight to dispatch it by

tomorrow morning.

The Review (Longchamps June 6, 1867, Review of the French Army.) was

superb. It was, perhaps, the proudest day of Napoleon Third’s career,

having on one side of him, as he reviewed the troops, the King of

Prussia, and on the other the Emperor of Russia.

I was late in driving up, but afterwards had a fine view of it all at

the apartments of Paul Forbes and his family of New York, on the avenue.

Returning to Paris after the Review, the carriage in which the Tsar was

seated passed me somewhere in the Bois de Boulogne, as I too, was

returning from the pageant. I was so full of the delightful time I had

had in Russia, a few months before, that I took off my hat as we passed

and gave him a bow. My salutation was so very marked that he looked at

me intently, as if trying to make out just who I was, but I do not

suppose he could bring me back to his recollection, though of course he

returned the salutation.

The weather is delightful now, and the days so long that it is not dark

at nine o’clock, and Paris is one prolonged fête, each day and night

more astonishing than the last.

There is a vague rumor floating about that some crazy Pole attempted to

assassinate the Tsar at the Review.

June 12, 1867: This marvellous life of Paris runs along, getting more

extraordinary every day!

How well Napoleon III. has succeeded in his undertaking. He invites

rulers of all descriptions to come and visit him in his home, to see the

Paris of ’67.

They accept, and he quietly sits twirling his moustache, surrounded by

Tsars, Popes, Queens, Sultans, Kings, Grand Dukes and Princes! What a

shrewd and wonderful stroke of diplomacy it all is, thus showing to the

world the marvels of his great capital! Balls, fêtes, races, reviews,

come and go, but how it will all end one cannot say, for I think the

French people will be tired of the tremendous expense before the summer

is over.

Yesterday I went with a party to Fontainebleau, but it so happened the

Imperialist party were all there the same morning, and the Palace was

closed for visitors. We breakfasted, and drove through the forest,

expecting to see a _chasse_, but, shortly after reaching the

“Rendezvous” we found it was abandoned on account of the heat, and dogs

and huntsmen all marched home.

It is almost too warm for theatres now, but tonight I have been to see a

piece called _La Dame aux Camélias_, which was a great success in Paris

ten or fifteen years ago. (Vaudeville Theatre, Paris, February 2, 1852,

Madame Eugénie Doche was the first Marguerite Gautier.)

July 4. 1867:—Here we have the great day of American independence, but,

owing to the death of Maximilian, all festivities, both for the Sultan,

and even our own “Fourth of July” celebration, are postponed. I must say

this seems rather unnecessary, but I am inclined to think that yesterday

morning Napoleon III did not have a very good appetite for breakfast.

(The Emperor Maximilian was executed in Mexico, where he bravely

insisted upon remaining to meet his fate when the army of Napoleon III

had been withdrawn.)

Paris is one of those places into which you tumble very easily, and then

find it almost impossible to get out of it. People are packing up now,

however, and the fashionable resort this summer, for Bostonians

especially, seems to be the baths about Salzburg in the Tyrol.

Funny thing life is here in Paris. You wake up in the morning without

any idea what you will do during the day. Invitations come, one thing

succeeds another, and the hours slip along.

July 10, 1867: The death of Maximilian has caused a very deep feeling in

Europe, and most of the festivities arranged for the Sultan have been

countermanded. This makes it rather quieter in Paris now than was

expected.

I went out yesterday to Saint Cloud, and saw some rowing regattas

between boats of various nationalities, but there were few persons

present, and not much excitement.”

* * * * *

The year of the great Exposition of 1867, may be regarded as the apogee

of the Second Empire, and soon after it ominous rumblings were heard in

the political clouds. The disastrous and humiliating expedition to

Mexico doubtless contributed to the beginning of the downfall, and even

the sight of Napoleon at the Longchamps Review in 1867, with the Emperor

of Russia and the King of Prussia on either side, could not bolster up

popular opinion as to the prestige of French military glory.

I never considered that the people of France endorsed the expedition to

Mexico, or believed in it. No, it was part of the personal ambition of

Napoleon to take advantage of our troubles, and try to foist an empire

upon one of the nations of the Western hemisphere, where it was not

wanted, would have been out of place, and could not last long. It was a

miserable business from beginning to end, and did much to weaken the

ties of friendship between France and the United States, as was shown

many years later by the opposition of our government and people to the

peaceful work of Mr. de Lesseps in his herculean efforts in behalf of

the Panama Canal.

Napoleon was at the height of his tinsel glory in 1867, but the triumph

of the Empress Eugénie was reached in 1869, at the fêtes in Egypt

attending the opening of the Suez Canal, certainly in her case a

well-merited one, her efforts as a relative of de Lesseps having

contributed so much to the success of that great enterprise. One would

hardly have imagined then, while looking upon her in all her grace and

loveliness, in every way the queen of the festivities, that the

over-throwing of the Empire was so soon to follow.

The celebration of our “Fourth of July” at the Pré Catalan in the Bois

de Boulogne was omitted in 1867, as noted, and I have heard that this

was done at the especial request of the French government, and I suppose

it was made in such a way that it would not have been easy or in good

taste to refuse. All the same I could not understand what our

celebration had to do with the death of Maximilian, and I regretted

extremely that our representative succumbed to the pressure brought to

bear. I never learned whether it was the result of orders from

Washington, or if our Minister took the responsibility, for such an act

does not seem to harmonize with the character of General John A. Dix,

though he was the most courteous of gentlemen.

PARIS IN 1869.

On the 21st of May, 1869, I wrote my sister—“Paris is now filled with

American diplomats, Washburn, Jay, Burlingame, Marsh, etc., most of whom

I have seen. Burlingame dined with me ten days ago, and expatiated on

the charms of everything in California.”

Among my guests at my apartment just off the Boulevard, were members of

congress, prominent men of business and science, diplomatic

representatives, and others, meeting there as they turned up in Paris on

their European trips for relaxation. They were generally Americans, as

my ambitions were all identified with my native country, but I would

often have a sprinkling of Frenchmen or English to give variety and

there, in the neutral territory of my smoking-room, all restraint thrown

aside, men who at home belonged to political parties sometimes in bitter

opposition, would meet and express their opinions in a way that would

have been impossible in New York or Washington. Sparks of wit would fly

off from the fast working grindstone of this unpretentious salon, and

there was plenty of valuable information to be picked up by any one who

would take the trouble to go there with his eyes and ears open.

BURLINGAME AND CHINA.

At a farewell banquet given to Major General John A. Dix, U. S. Minister

to France, at the Grand Hotel, June 1st, 1869, by the American residents

at Paris, the Hon. Anson Burlingame was present and was introduced by

the presiding officer Hon. Elliot C. Cowdin, as one who “pleaded for the

rights of four millions of slaves until their last fetter fell. He now

in loftier tones pleads before the nations the cause of four hundred

millions of men.”

In 1867, Prince Kung, regent of the Empire of China, offered to appoint

Burlingame, who was United States Minister to China appointed by

President Lincoln, special envoy to the United States and the great

European powers, for the purpose of framing treaties of amity with these

nations, an honor never before conferred upon a foreigner.

He resigned as U. S. Minister to accept this mission around the world,

and arrived at the United States the head of a numerous party, in March,

1868.

In the course of his remarks the following year at the banquet to

General Dix, he said:—

“While we do not interfere in other people’s affairs, nor permit them to

interfere in ours, we cannot forget that we are a great nation, that we

cannot abdicate our responsibilities, that we must take our part in the

peaceful police of the sea and the land, and in the maintenance of those

principles of international law, which recognize the equality of nations

as we recognize the equality of men. That, as it is the highest duty of

every society to protect the weak from the strong, so the weak nations

and struggling peoples should find ample protection in that sense of

justice of the strong nations which they cannot lose and prosper.”

Mr. Burlingame visited St. Petersburg the last of the European capitals,

and died there at forty-eight years of age, on Washington’s birthday,

1870, about a year after the original departure from China. I first met

him when he had the Chinese Embassy in London, then frequently in Paris,

and the last time in Stockholm before we left.

THE UNION PACIFIC RAILROAD.

In the speech of Ex-Governor Alexander H. Bullock at this banquet, he

said with reference to the mission of Burlingame, and the Union Pacific

Railroad just completed:—

“The great work is done, and hereafter the states are a unit in commerce

as in government. Before my friend Mr. Burlingame has half completed his

cosmopolitan mission, the freight trains have been made up at San

Francisco, laden with the product of China, and by the time he shall

have unpacked his trunks at Berlin, he may drink at the breakfast table

his favorite tea, which, thanks to the irrepressible and irresistible

Yankees, has been brought round to him the other way.”

THE CURTIN-DREXEL DINNER.

My first thought of seeing _Le Canal de Suez_, of going to the opening

ceremonies which took place on the 17th November, 1869, was the result

of a dinner given at the rooms of Bowles Brothers & Co. early in July of

that year.

The dinner was given in honor of Governor Andrew G. Curtin of

Pennsylvania, who had been appointed U. S. Minister to the Russian court

at St. Petersburg, and was then _en route_ to his post, and to Mr.

Anthony J. Drexel of Philadelphia, who was making his first visit to

Paris after the establishment there of the branch house of Drexel,

Harjes & Co.

Among the guests present I can now recall the Hon. Elihu B. Washburn U.

S. Minister at Paris, Hon. Anson Burlingame at the head of the Chinese

Embassy, Major General the Hon. Nathaniel P. Banks M. C., Hon. Zachariah

Chandler U. S. Senator, Hon. Fernando Wood M. C., Mr. John C. Lee, of

Lee, Higginson & Co., and Mr. S. Endicott Peabody afterwards a partner

in the house of J. S. Morgan & Co.

Charles Bowles then and there suggested that General Banks and I go to

the opening of the Suez Canal. I talked with the General about it and we

agreed to meet in Paris the middle of September, and start on the trip.

We went first to Hamburg, then to Copenhagen, where we arrived about the

20th of September, and met General Waldemar Rudolph Raasloff, Chargé

d’Affaires from Denmark to the United States, 1858 to 1862, Envoy

Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary 1864 to 1866, and then on to

Stockholm, where we saw a great deal of Mr. Burlingame, who had just

arrived with the Chinese Embassy.

AT STOCKHOLM.

From a letter written to my sister from Stockholm I take what follows

under date of October 4, 1869:—“You will be, doubtless, somewhat

surprised at seeing from the heading of this, how far I have managed to

get from my beloved Paris without any previous warning. With General N.

P. Banks M. C. from Massachusetts, I set out on the trip which he was

very desirous of accomplishing, first through the north countries of

Europe, and then through Russia to Constantinople and the opening of the

Suez Canal.

There is not a man in the United States just now who is a more valuable

companion for such a trip.

We have been passing several days here very pleasantly though quietly,

and tonight after dining with the U. S. Minister, General C. C. Andrews,

we take the steamer direct for Saint Petersburg, where I shall have an

opportunity of revisiting and seeing in a more summer like garb the

scenes of my former triumphs.

Mr. Burlingame happens to be here with all the Chinese, and they cause

an immense sensation in the city. The square in front of our hotel is

continually crowded with groups of curious ones, trying to catch a

glimpse of the Celestials, as they sit complacently at their windows and

gaze and smile benignly on the people below.

Mr. Burlingame, General Banks and I have long talks, lasting late into

the night, about everything, which generally end in glorifying the

grandeur of the great Republic.”

GENERAL BANKS, DENMARK AND SWEDEN.

There is to be held this year (1904) a Shakesperian celebration marking

the 300th anniversary of the first printed edition of the tragedy of

Hamlet, and a portrait statue of Shakespere is to be erected on the road

to Kronborg Castle, the foundations of which are now said to be insecure

through the undermining of the tides. I remember well after our visit to

Hamlet’s castle at Elsinore, and promenade on the terrace, when we

returned to the hotel, and had dined, and were in adjoining rooms,

before retiring, the General was full of the inspiration of the scene,

and repeated to me many of the lines of Hamlet appropriate to the place

and occasion. It seemed to me as if he knew the whole play by heart.

At Stockholm the house he especially wanted to see was that of

Swedenborg,—founder of the Swedenborg religion,—and we went there one

day. It was a simple dwelling as I now recall it after these many years.

We made an excursion, also, to the town of Upsala, famous for its

university.

The American Minister Gen. Christopher Columbus Andrews, of Minnesota,

who had but recently been appointed, gave us a dinner, and all in his

power to make our sojourn agreeable and instructive.

A REVIEW OF THE ARMY.

We saw a review of the army by King Oscar, and were told afterwards how

much he regretted he had not known we were there, so that he could have

invited us to join his staff, and take part in it.

RAASLOFF, BANKS AND THE ISLANDS.

In Copenhagen at the Raasloff lunch of perhaps 20, after he was elected

deputy, General Banks made at table one of his effective impromptu short

speeches. General Raasloff was the only candidate, and thus his election

was not difficult, but he never recovered from the disappointment of our

government not taking the island of St. Thomas, when he supposed it was

all settled between the United States and Denmark. Banks was elected

member of congress from Massachusetts in 1853, and 1855, Governor of the

state from 1858 to 1861, elected member of congress again, with the

exception of the election of 1872, from 1865 to 1877. In 1888, he was

again elected, and served until 1890. He was chairman of the committee

on foreign affairs of the U. S. House of Representatives in 1865 and

later, including the years General Raasloff was minister from Denmark to

the United States. I had heard him often speak of the purchase of Saint

Thomas, and the disappointment of his friend General Raasloff at its

nonaccomplishment.

In his judgment we ought to own or control all the islands of the West

Indies, showing the danger to us, as proved by the action of England

during our civil war, of their being in the possession of governments

that might be hostile. The blockade runners were almost entirely English

ships, making money out of our troubles by supplying the Confederates

with articles they needed, and receiving principally cotton in return,

which was then selling at a tremendous price.

If the advice of Banks had been followed, the War with Spain in 1898,

which began by the desire to assist Cuba in gaining its independence,

could not have occurred. He was one of the strongest advocates of the

purchase of Alaska.

During my travels with General Banks, then 53 years of age, from the

middle of September, 1869, to the early part of December, I always found

him a very abstemious man. I do not remember that he ever took a glass

of spirits; I mean by this what are called hard liquors. At dinner he

would take a little wine, and when I asked him what he preferred he

would say, “Well, you know, I consider champagne the most agreeable,”

and so once or twice a week we would have a bottle. Occasionally, at

night, he would indulge in a glass of beer.

Nor did he smoke at all. He would say to me, “I cannot smoke.” This

reminds me that he never clipped expressions of the kind, i. e. he

always said “I do not,” “I will not,” “I shall not,” instead of “I

can’t,” “I don’t,” etc. It was a good lesson for me which I have tried

to follow, for the abbreviations always seem to me cheap and

undignified, especially when used in a speech or in writing. Of course

in ordinary conversation it may be to a certain extent different, but,

all the same, I prefer the two words to the shortening them into one.

TO ST. PETERSBURG.

Crossing the Gulf of Finland, we stopped at several small towns on the

way to St. Petersburg, where our new minister, Ex-Governor Curtin and

the Secretary of Legation Mr. Titian J. Coffey of Pennsylvania, both of

whom had been but a short time in the country, treated us most

hospitably.

THE PRESENTATIONS.

Writing from St. Petersburg on this date I said: “The 27th of October

will be remembered by Americans as a day of great interest.”

Today at 2 o’clock at the Winter Palace, our new minister Ex-Governor A.

G. Curtin presented his credentials and was formally received by the

Emperor Alexander II.

Our minister’s speech and the reply by the Tsar, were short but to the

point, and replete with sentiments of increasing friendship between the

two great continental nations of the world, and the happy remarks about

President Grant and the Emperor Alexander will be appreciated by the

people of both countries. The secretary Mr. Titian J. Coffey, was

presented at the same time, and the United States legation at Russia can

well be proud of its representatives.

THE REVIEW.

Another event of the day was the review of military forces stationed in

and about the city, to the number of thirty-five thousand, which took

place on the Champ de Mars. Two great reviews are held yearly in Saint

Petersburg, one in the early spring and the other in January. The review

of today was especially ordered by the Emperor, out of regular course,

and whether or not it has any political significance was subject of

speculation.

The display was, as such things always are here, very fine, the beauty

and strength of the Russian horses being especially observed.

Besides General Banks there was present General Hiram Berdan, who has

been for some time in Russia, and we understand that he has large

contracts from the Russian government for supplying them with his

improved musket and cartridges.

AGRICULTURAL EXHIBITION.

In this month (October) there has been a very interesting exhibition of

the different herds of cattle raised in the Russian Empire. This is the

first exhibition of the kind ever held in the city, and it has been an

object of great interest. The prizes were awarded yesterday by the Grand

Duke Nicholas, and today the Emperor visited it in person. The ladies of

the Court have been much interested in its success, and many of the

farms in the neighborhood of the city where the finest stock is raised,

are owned by members of the Imperial family. Its object is to improve

the breed of all kinds of stock, and to assist as much as possible the

Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, especially in

everything that relates to preparing animal food for the market.

THE REVIEW OF THE TROOPS.

I went to the Review with General Banks as if attached to his staff. We

were both in uniform, he as a major general of United States Volunteers,

and I as a captain of Light Artillery, in accordance with an Act of

Congress which allows all honorably discharged officers of the Union

army to appear in their highest brevet rank on any and all occasions

during life when a uniform is the appropriate dress.

As a general rule the other armies of Europe follow the customs of the

great nations, and when the head of the government ordinarily wears a

uniform of course the officers follow the example, making it their

habitual dress. The Russian government dresses its men in the best of

all colors, gray, and besides the trimness and inconspicuousness of the

uniform itself they have many simple appliances, as for instance, the

hood or basilisk, for the comfort of the soldier, for adopting which the

rigorous climate of the country has doubtless contributed a great deal.

The result is, that for thorough winter work I doubt if there is any

soldier in Europe as well prepared as the Russians.

Horses were there ready for us, and we rode along the lines and between

the squares, on the staff of the Emperor himself. It was a fine sight

and I was specially struck with the enthusiasm of the troops for their

chief the Tsar. In no country is this carried to such a pitch as in

Russia. The shouts of the men as he approaches are astonishing in their

half-barbaric ecstasy, platoon after platoon taking up the cry in turn.

The shouts of these strange looking Russians I thought at the time

implied a power and assurance of fighting well for their country and the

Tsar, whenever the time should come, different from the _élan_ of the

French, the dogged determinedness of the English, or the severe

discipline of the Prussians. Subsequent events proved that I was not

wrong in my deductions.

The army was under the command of the Tsar’s brother, the Grand Duke

Nicholas, who turned it over to its real head as he came down at the

last moment in his open drosky, and mounted his horse which was in

readiness for him there.

In connection with this review I recollect an amusing incident. It was

in the month of October, and the weather was consequently becoming

rather cold, and so a day or two before a general order was issued for

the troops to appear in their overcoats. This made it a matter of

etiquette for us, also, to wear some kind of overcoat, and as we neither

of us had one of a military style, we went with our good-natured consul

George Pomutz to a tailor, where we each ordered a little dark blue cape

which must be made in a day’s time, and we thought would serve our

purpose. They did do very well, and I have often used mine since in the

militia, and once lent it to a lady to wear going to a dinner party,

fastened with a bright brass button.

GENERAL HIRAM BERDAN.

General Berdan, of rifle renown, happened then to be in St. Petersburg

with one of his famous guns he was offering for the consideration of the

Russian government, and he, too, was at the Review.

THE LOST SWORD.

Fortunately I did not have with me my precious army sword, but one I had

bought at Paris just before starting, an historic sword as the

proprietor of the little shop in the Rue St. Honoré,—on the right from

the Rue Castiglione, as you go towards the Rue Royale,—where I got it,

told me that it had belonged to one of the suite of Napoleon at St.

Helena, and that one of the family had brought it back.

Just before General Banks and I left Saint Petersburg for Moscow, we

heard that the railroad bridge over one of the great rivers had been

burned. This was indeed the case as we found on arriving there shortly

after dark, and we had to pass the night on the train where we were, and

traverse the stream the next day in boats, rafts, or any way we could.

As we had reached the southern side, and were stepping on to the bank

from the boat, the sword slipped out of my bundle of rugs, and fell into

the river, where I have no doubt it has remained to the present time.

Morijiks tried to find it for me, but the water was very deep, the

current swift, and it could not be recovered. I doubt if it was ever

known how, or by whom and for just what purpose the bridge was fired,

for it was generally believed to have been the work of an incendiary.

A short time before, the railroad had been sold by the Winans people of

Baltimore, who had built and largely owned it, for 7,000,000 roubles

cash to the Court clique, headed by Count Strogonoff, who, by the way,

came down on the same train with us to see what was the matter.

All the old employés were discharged for some reason or other, and their

places filled by Poles taken from the St. Petersburg and Warsaw

railroad, and so very likely one, or several, of the men turned off,

devised and carried out this plan of revenge.

I remember that Governor Curtin and the Secretary Mr. Coffey, whom we

had often seen during our stay in St. Petersburg, came to see us off at

the station. We experienced great difficulty in getting any kind of

information as to the situation, but we were determined to start and run

the chance, as we had but little time to catch our boat at Odessa. As it

was, we lost about twenty-four hours, reaching Moscow just one day later

than we should.

It was during our sojourn at St. Petersburg that I received, thanks to

Mr. Charles Bowles then in America, an invitation from the Board of

Trade of my native city of Boston, of which the Hon. Alexander H. Rice

was then president, to be its delegate for the opening ceremonies of the

Suez Canal, and to write a report thereon. I consider this as the

beginning of my service in the interest of a canal across the American

Isthmus, for instead of going to Egypt merely as a tourist and

spectator, I had some work to do by which my attention was specially

called to the subject of ship canals. Certain it is that since that time

with many other occupations it has constantly been before my mind and is

so now.

INDIVIDUAL ENTERPRISE.

To beguile the time on board ship I jotted down the following notes,

Odessa, Nov. 7, 1869:—

“The idea strikes me forcibly here—that of individual enterprise, or

rather great results accomplished by individuals—because the prosperity

of this city is mainly due to the unaided efforts of two persons. First

the Duke de Richelieu, a French nobleman who may be regarded as its

founder, and, secondly, Prince Woronzoff, for many years the Russian

governor of the province.

How much any one man can accomplish if he will devote himself entirely

to the attempt, and what a field there is today for such ambition in the

United States of America! We must have the Darien Canal cut, we must

have our commerce stimulated by a changed tariff; we must have cheaper

internal transportation for our products, and then there will be little

talk about the national debt. The Secretary of the Treasury will not

have to sell gold in Wall street.”

ON THE WAY TO SUEZ.

Passing in our journey from the cold autumn weather of Russia, partly by

rail and partly by boat and across the Mediterranean, we reached the

glorious sun of Constantinople and the tropical warmth of Egypt.

[Illustration:

FERDINAND DE LESSEPS, 1869.

]

At Odessa we joined an excursion party in one of the boats of the

Russian Navigation Company the “General Kotzebue,” to Constantinople,

Rhodes, Port Said, Ismailia, Suez, passing through the canal, Cairo by

rail, Alexandria, and then by Brindisi and the Mount Cenis Tunnel back

to Paris in December.

General Banks ought to have been invited to represent the government of

the nation, he was then member of congress and chairman of the committee

on foreign affairs in the house of representatives, but he was not

appointed.

It was on this occasion that I made the acquaintance of Count Ferdinand

de Lesseps, the hero of the canal, and my journey with General Banks

deserves more than a passing notice, for his varied experience of the

past, and his penetrating observation of the present, had given him

facilities for seeing and judging things in a manner which could not

fail to be instructive. The strong American stamp of his character,

while exciting my youthful enthusiasm did not bias him in his judgment

of European or Oriental customs or forms of government. From his mind

wonderful photographs were taken as we travelled together from the North

to the South, and his quiet and dignified encouragement of my

aspirations so naturally given in the offhand intimacy of a journey,

with the mixture of petty pleasures and annoyances, were a stimulus

which came very opportune to me and which I was not likely to forget.

Accidentally, too, at different stages of our wanderings, we were thrown

in with several other marked and representative types of Americans;

among them at Stockholm the noble Burlingame since then taken away in

the midst of his grand work of Chinese regeneration; Governor Curtin the

war governor of Pennsylvania, the genial, kindly, bright, wiry type of

American politician, and the well-known American dentist of Paris, Dr.

Thomas W. Evans, whose intimacy with the French Emperor Napoleon III,

and knowledge of the inner history of the past twenty years in Paris,

made him an agreeable and valued companion.

With the healthy glow of travel, at the most delightful season of the

year, and the excitement of military reviews and gala fêtes at the

different capitals visited, all ending with the gorgeous Aladdin-like

enchantments of the week in Egypt, when Europe, Asia, Africa, aye and

America, came at the invitation of the Khedive, and led by the graceful

Empress Eugénie, offered their congratulations at the completion of that

international work of peace, the Suez Canal,—and the opportunity of

seeing these sights in the presence of many of the most distinguished

personages alive, and of discussing them with advanced minds amid the

surroundings of attractive places,—what than this could be a better

phase of education?

CONSTANTINOPLE.

On arriving at Constantinople the captain of the steamer gave all the

passengers a couple of days to spend in seeing the wonders of this

extraordinary city before continuing our journey.

We went to the best hotel, and, after breakfasting, whom should we meet

in the hall but my old Harvard classmate Jeremiah Curtin vice consul at

St. Petersburg. Curtin is the translator of “Quo Vadis” by the Polish

author Henryk Sienkiewicz, published by Little, Brown & Co. of

Boston,—John Murray Brown our classmate being a member of the firm,—and

dedicated to another member of our class Auguste Comte of San Francisco.

I had seen Curtin in Moscow, when I was there in January, 1867. General

Banks had known him in Washington, Curtin’s headquarters when not on his

journeys of investigation, and he was very glad to meet us both. What he

was doing in Turkey we could not quite make out, but I think in the

interest of Russia he was quietly watching the movements of the Slavonic

elements there, and through the Danubian principalities. Besides this he

was writing letters for one of the great New York papers. Mr. Curtin

told us that for the morning he met us he was to have by appointment an

interview with the Patriarch of Constantinople the head of the Greek

Church there, and invited us to accompany him, and we were only too glad

to thus have an opportunity for seeing this distinguished personage.

The Metropolitan of Moscow and the Patriarch of Constantinople are two

of the heads of the Greek Church. We went to see the Patriarch simply as

the head of the Turkish branch of the Church.

We started from the hotel on horseback, and, winding down some narrow

streets to the water, crossed it at the Golden Horn, and were soon in

the old part of the city on the other side, threading our way to where

the Patriarch lived, amidst the ancient houses and quaint shops which

were swarming with inhabitants, until we arrived at the door.

We were taken up into quite a large room with divans all around it, and

ushered into the presence of the Patriarch, who sat tranquilly in one

corner.

He was an aged, fine looking gentleman, with long, flowing locks and

beard, and received us most graciously.

We talked, through an interpreter, on various matters, and, after

partaking of sweetmeats and coffee, retired very much gratified with the

interview.

His dress, as also that of the interpreter, was curious; being a

combination of Oriental robes and church trappings like all the

religious officers of the Greek Church. It is striking and effective.

ARRIVAL AT PORT SAID.

It was on November 15th a little before sundown that our vessel the

“General Kotzebue” entered the harbor of Port Said, with a very

agreeable company of Russians, and came to anchor in its proper place

about seven o’clock.

We took our position on the right in entering. The Emperor of Austria

had entered just before us. Salutes were fired.

We went on shore to see the U. S. Consul, but he was not at home. Left

cards on Mr. de Lesseps and strolled about the town. Left cards on the

Vice Roi in his yacht, and saw Nuba Pacha. Met Dr. Evans and Dr. Edward

A. Crane,—a well known member of the American colony in Paris and for

many years editor of _The American Register_ of that city owned by Dr.

Evans,—on the street at Port Said. Later we go to the reception in the

yacht of the Vice Roi or Khedive, a splendid boat, and I was there

presented to the enterprising ruler of Egypt, and first met Mr. de

Lesseps himself, who from that time has been one of my favorite heroes,

and who I am free to admit I consider the most remarkable man of our

day.

As I now look back through many years to that week of fêtes in the land

of the Pharaohs, I have a kaleidoscopic vision of enchantment worthy of

the Arabian Nights, and perceive through the charm and mystery of the

Orient, a work of practical modern progress which it softens and adorns.

RETURN TO PARIS.

I was with General Banks in Paris after our return from Egypt about ten

days in December, 1869, when he and I, with Paul Forbes, Anthoine de

Gogorza, Alexandre Boyer, two Erlangers, Emile and Louis Count

Excelmans, Dr. Evans, General Charles B. Norton, and others, were

organizing the Darien Canal Company. Then he went to Washington for the

session of congress, and I remained in Paris.

CHAPTER NINTH.

ALEXANDER II. AND EMANCIPATION.

“Though watery deserts hold apart

The worlds of East and West,

Still beats the self-same human heart

In each proud nation’s breast.

Our floating turret tempts the main

And dares the howling blast,

To clasp more close the golden chain

That long has bound them fast.

In vain the gales of ocean sweep,

In vain the billows roar,

That chain the wild and stormy steep

Of storied Elsinore.

She comes! She comes! Her banner dips

In Neva’s flashing tide,

With greetings on her cannon’s lips

The storm-god’s iron bride.

· · · · ·

No prairies heaped their garnered store

To fill her sunless hold.

Not rich Nevada’s gleaming ore

Its hidden caves enfold.

But lightly as the sea bird swings

She floats the depth above;

A breath of flame to lend her wings—

Her freight, a people’s love.

When darkness hid the stormy skies

In war’s long winter night,

One ray still cheered our straining eyes,

The far off northern light.

And now the friendly rays return

From lights that glow afar,

Those clustered lamps of heaven that burn

Around the western star.

A nation’s love in tears and smiles

We bear across the sea:

O! Neva of the banded isles,

We moor our hearts to thee.”

—_Oliver Wendell Holmes on Fox’s Mission to Russia_, 1866.

[Illustration:

ALEXANDER II., 1866

]

THE TERRITORY OF RUSSIA.

Forty-two years have passed since in Novgorod, the oldest town, Russia

celebrated the one thousandth anniversary of its birth, and erected a

monument consisting of an enormous globe, in the midst of emblematic and

historical figures. The original Russia was a republic. It occupied a

small district near the sources of the Dneiper and Western Dvina, and

the site of the future city of Novgorod. Its name was derived from Rūs

the patronymic of three brothers of a Variag tribe belonging to the

settlement. The oldest brother was called Rurik.

More than six hundred years had passed, when in the South, Ivan III.

united the independent principalities of Moscow, and, in 1505, cast off

the Tartar yoke from these states, whose rulers proclaimed themselves

Tsars, and which were accidentally discovered in 1553, on the White Sea,

by an English navigator seeking for a short route to China and India. A

commercial acquaintance was formed which has been intermittently

sustained ever since with England.

In 1570, was inaugurated the Russian principle of expansion, by

conquering the republic of the North and annexing it to Moscow. In this

process it is said 60,000 human beings were sacrificed. In a circular

recently issued by the Ministry of Public Instruction through the

curators of the several educational districts, instructing the directors

of secondary schools to instil into the minds of their pupils a correct

theory of the war of the present year (1904) emphasis is given to the

method of treatment of the Russian colonies compared with that received

by those pertaining to other countries.

It says:—“The western European states draw from their colonies an

immense income, they live on them. Russia expends on her periphery a

very considerable sum annually, and receives nothing from them in

return. The Russian periphery flourishes at the expense of the centre.”

This periphery embraces the colonies of Finland, the Caucasus, the

Central Asiatic possessions and Manchuria.

During the reign of Alexander I. the Grand Duchy of Finland, which

stretches from the Gulf of Finland to the Polar Sea, by the peace of

Friederichshamm was ceded to Russia by Sweden in 1809, and Poland was

acquired in 1814. In 1867, Russia possessed about 106,951 Russian square

miles in Europe and the Caucasus, 248,470 in Asia, and 24,210 square

miles which were ceded to the United States in that year. Now behold a

great empire with a territory stretching from the Baltic to the Northern

Pacific, and from the Polar Sea to the frontiers of Turkey, Persia,

Afghanistan and China, crossed by systematically extended lines of

railway, and divided as in the United States of America, into two

portions, whose sources of development, difference in soil, character of

colonization and products, call for constant reference to the

distinctive titles of “the North” and “the South.” Moscow, the

commercial and industrial capital of the empire, which has remained the

home of passive conservatism and an asylum for the discontented,

preserves the tombs of the Grand Princes, and the palace in which the

Tsars of Muscovy lived and other monuments made sacred by tradition, six

centuries of historical associations surrounding the Kremlin.

St. Petersburg, a cosmopolitan city was built on a European design

especially favoring French models, with the purpose frankly avowed by

Peter the Great of having “a window by which the Russians might look

into civilized Europe.” Like Odessa it has more of a foreign than a

Russian character, but not more than one tenth of the population are

dwellers in the city, while the agricultural element is ever expanding.

THE SYSTEM OF GOVERNMENT.

The historical development of Russia has been peculiar, and her social

and political organization differs radically from that of the countries

of western Europe. Its autocracy is founded on the unbounded hereditary

devotion of the people,—peasantry and nobles alike. The entire

government of the vast empire is administered from St. Petersburg, on

the principle that the people are incapable of understanding the methods

of governing their local affairs, and from that or from other reasons,

are not to be trusted with them, so that the local self government is

anomalous. Created by autocratic power through a commission appointed

for the purpose of “conferring more unity and independence on the local

economic administration,” it has not grown into an institution from

popular wants publicly declared, petitioned for and advocated, but

derives its main motive power and maintenance from the Central

Government which controls it. Peter the Great (1682–1725) introduced

uniformity and symmetry into the administration of public affairs. After

the death of Patriarch Adrian of the Greek Church, and an interregnum of

twenty years, Peter supplied his place by an ecclesiastical council a

synod which still remains the highest ecclesiastical authority, in which

as a contemporary observed “the mainspring was Peter’s power, and the

pendulum his understanding.”

The members of the Synod are appointed by the Tsar who is accountable to

no one. Next to him in temporal power come the Council of State, the

Committee of Ministers, and the Senate, which is the sole Court of

Revision for the Justice of Peace Courts and for the Regular Tribunals,

and is the regulator of the whole judicial system of the empire. Below

these are ten ministries, viz., the Ministries of the Interior, Public

Works, State Demesnes, Finance, Justice, Public Instruction, War, Navy,

Foreign Affairs, and the Imperial Court.

The territorial administration is divided into provinces, and each

province into districts, all varying greatly in size. Over each province

is a governor, vice-governor, and council. The governor is the local

representative of the Ministry of the Interior and each of the other

ministries have their bureaus and representatives in the provinces drawn

chiefly from the nobility and the clergy. Every province and each of the

ten districts into which it is divided, has an assembly of deputies and

an executive bureau elected by the assembly from among its members, but

the president of the assembly is a Marshal of the Noblesse, and a limit

is placed to the taxation of trade and industry. The deputies are

elected by the landed proprietors of the rural communes, composed of

peasants, and the municipal corporations. The members of the Assembly

for the provinces are elected by the District Assemblies. The system of

government for the towns differs essentially from that of the country,

the towns receiving the advantage of the development of trade and

industry, the establishment of schools, etc. They are of three kinds,

“Government towns,” “District towns,” and supernumerary, each divided

into merchants, nondescript, and artisans, the artisans being partly

made up from the population of the agricultural districts. The towns

have a mayor and council.

THE SERFS.

Moscow has been described as the centre from which serfage radiated,

decreasing toward the north, east, and south.

According to the documents of the several periods and the statements of

travellers, the rural population of Russia was composed originally of

three classes, viz., slaves who were made so by various causes—some

prisoners of war, others freemen who had sold themselves as slaves,

others insolvent debtors and convicts. One grade higher were the free

farm hands who wandered from place to place, wherever they could find

work, and then the peasants or small farmers, a distinct class by

themselves, who were highest in the social scale, and who were

possessors of land and of their personal liberty. But in the eighteenth

century these distinctions gradually became obliterated on account of

the disproportion between the small number of laborers and the large

amount of irreclaimable land, systematized immigration being impossible,

and all the classes were rolled into one under the name of “serfs,” who

were owned by the great landed proprietors or by the state, and being

held as property were bought and sold in families and singly, and were

deprived of legal protection by the Government according to the ukazes

of October 13, 1675, and June 25, 1682, which sanctioned the practice of

selling peasants and the exaction of the payment to the Government of

dues on the sales of slaves. Free peasants were often kidnapped from

weaker by more powerful proprietors and made serfs, while the same class

although nominally free were so valuable to those who possessed their

services that they were not allowed to leave their borders, so by this

means, and often by reason of debts contracted to the proprietor a large

number became practically serfs before serfage was established by law,

_i.e._ before the Tsars discharged their obligations to the nobles by

bestowing upon them a certain amount of land with a certain number of

laborers attached, thus legalizing serfage and the return of fugitive

slaves. A small proportion of the nobles who lived on their estates held

the peasants as slaves.

Under Peter the Great (1682–1725) and his immediate successor every man

was compelled to serve the state, and every proprietor paid the poll tax

of his serfs, who were thus reckoned as taxable property, and every

unattached laborer was arrested as a vagrant. In 1766, by imperial

ukaze, the proprietors or masters had a right to transport unruly serfs

to Siberia for life without trial. In 1767 and 1781, it was ordered that

those who entered complaints against their masters, should be punished

with the knout or sent to the mines, or, what they feared most, made to

join the Army as recruits. In extreme cases of the cruelty of

proprietors, the authorities interfered by direction of the Tsar, who

happened to be informed of it. In 1792, the serfs were bought and sold,

and given away as part of the masters’ working capital, in large and

small numbers, with and without the land, but they were not allowed to

be sold by auction, nor to be offered for sale at the time of the

conscriptions. From 1792 to 1861, the estimate of a noble’s fortune was

based on the number of serfs he owned.

The Emperor Paul toward the close of the 18th century (1796–1801)

desiring to limit the authority of the proprietors, issued an ukaze that

the serfs should not be forced to work for their masters more than three

days in the week, but many paid no attention to it, and the serfs still

had no legal standing in court in order to make a complaint. There were

indeed enlightened, humane proprietors who protected those for whom they

were responsible from outside interference, and under whose management

the life of the serf was much easier than that of agricultural laborers

in some countries who are free, but serfage generally, was the reverse

of this type. The worst suffering was from the hands of speculators who

bought up the land in order to make money in the shortest possible time,

and parted with the land and the families on it indiscriminately.

Even among uncivilized tribes the Russian peasant is good natured,

easily conciliated, and patient under extreme hardship. He readily

adapts himself to circumstances.

In the ordinary relations which existed between the serf and the

proprietor the manor land and the communal land were kept separate. From

the laborers on the rural commune land or village system,—the rural

commune contains five-sixths of the population,—where a share of land

was distributed to each serf, labor dues, a certain number of days’

labor per week, were exacted, also, dues consisting of the products of

the farm and the spinning wheel, in the case of the absence of the serfs

who were at work in the cities or larger towns but retaining, whether

they desired it or not, their membership in the commune. A large

proportion of the serfs could read and write and were enterprising,

self-reliant, and independent.

EMANCIPATION OF THE SERFS.

The Russian proverb, “A story is soon told but a thing is not soon

done,” may be consistently applied to their great reform, one of the

most interesting events of modern history,—the Emancipation of the

Serfs. An effort was made for freedom in 1762, by an insurrection led by

a Cossack with a scheme for creating a peasant empire, but he soon met

with defeat and his plan failed.

In 1801, Alexander I. attempted to ameliorate the condition of the

serfs, and entertained several projects for a general emancipation, and

Nicholas encouraged the consideration of the question by permitting six

committees to be formed for the purpose. The result was that some

thousands of serfs were emancipated, the custom of giving grants of land

with peasants was abolished, a number of the worst masters were removed

from their estates, and some, convicted of murder, were sent to Siberia.

Yet, when a general emancipation was really inaugurated, the leading

organs of the press acknowledged indebtedness to the Crimean War for

opening the eyes of the country to the dark side of their political and

social organization. It produced an intellectual movement and a moral

revival which led to gigantic results. Their foes in the Crimea, said a

Russian writer of the time, whose manuscript was widely circulated but

never printed, were “British statesmen,” “the crowned conspirator of

France,” “treacherous Austria,” and “Western Europe generally.” Militia

regiments were everywhere raised throughout the country, and many landed

proprietors spent large sums in equipping volunteer corps, but

unscrupulous members of the commissary department enriched themselves at

the expense of these patriotic efforts, and the deficiency of the

country in regard to the resources necessary for a prolonged conflict,

were soon manifest. “Another year of war,” wrote an eye witness in 1855,

“and the whole of Southern Russia will be ruined.”

In this conflict it was the aim of the Tsar Nicholas to realize the

grand idea of Catherine II., consort of Peter III. who succeeded to his

throne, of driving the Turks out of Europe, but the Allies were

victorious, and even the despised Turks made a successful stand on the

line of the Danube, and when he, the “Iron Tsar,” the sworn enemy of

liberalism, died in a soldier’s humble quarters in the Crimea, the

system he created,—which through the sacrifice of the intelligence of

the people to the increase of military power proved the chief cause it

was claimed of the national disasters,—died with him, and as soon as

peace had been concluded Alexander II. accepting the responsibility of

the dying words of Nicholas, “my successor may do as he pleases, but I

cannot change,” began a reign by which the public administration of

affairs was to be improved, in the words of his manifesto “by the

combined efforts of the Government and the people,” not secretly by the

Administration as had been the custom in making slight changes.

In March, 1856, soon after the close of the Crimean War Alexander II.

addressed to the Marshals of the Noblesse of Moscow the following

words:—

“For the removal of certain unfounded reports I consider it necessary to

declare to you that I have not at present the intention of annihilating

serfage, but, certainly, as you yourselves know, the existing manner of

possessing serfs cannot remain unchanged. It is better to abolish

serfage from above, than to await the time when it will begin to abolish

itself from below. I request you, gentlemen, to consider how this can be

put into execution, and to submit my words to the noblesse for their

consideration.”

These enunciations were received with indifference, and further action

was indefinitely postponed, to the great disappointment of the Tsar, who

at once instituted a committee called “Chief Committee of Peasant

Affairs,” composed of high officers of the state, and great land owners,

among them the Grand Duke Constantine, who should privately work for

these ends, and who would make a study of the subject for six months,

and on the assumption that the Lithuanian provinces where the serfs were

in a miserable condition desired it, “The Rescript of Nazimof” was

prepared, empowering the proprietors to form committees for the study of

this project with a view to definite results in effecting the gradual

abolition of serfage, and four days later a circular was sent by

direction of the Tsar, to the Governors and Marshals of Noblesse all

over Russia, informing them of the action relative to the Lithuanian

Provinces, and a copy of the rescript was furnished them in case they

were disposed to follow suit. This circular produced an immense

sensation. Its meaning was unmistakable, and convincing to loyal

subjects of the Tsar, for a few weeks later he made public announcement

of his wish that, with the help of God, and the co-operation of the

Noblesse, the great work would be accomplished. The public press most

enthusiastically sustained this liberal movement for the amelioration of

the condition of so large a proportion of the population and welcomed

the dawn of a glorious epoch for the nation in which this obstacle to

moral progress, a relic of barbarism, should be removed, and Russia be

placed on equality with the nations of the West, and with these

advocates were joined a majority of the noblesse, among whom were

numerous educated young enthusiasts, while some still clung to serfage

as an indispensable source of revenue not to be obtained except under

the rigid rule of the master, and a part of the land was to be let go to

the peasants. These considerations formed an adverse current which was

felt throughout the country, but no open opposition to the will of the

Tsar was allowed to manifest itself, because of its utter futility.

Still, when in 1857, it became evident that the emancipation of the

serfs was really at hand the prospect raised terrible forebodings in the

minds of masters, stewards, and employers of serfs. By law, it appeared

that the peasants would receive the land which they occupied on

sufferance, comprising half of the entire arable land of some estates,

but no pasturage, and it was feared that the emancipated peasants would

be content to live by the cultivation of their own land, and would not

consent on any terms to work for their former masters.