CHAPTER XXXV. "ALL SORTS AND CONDITIONS OF MEN" IN RUSSIA—1892-1894
The "Minister of Public Enlightenment," Delyanoff; his theory and system. Hostility of sundry Russians to the Russian-Germans; evident folly of this. Woronzoff-Daschkoff and General Annenkoff. The Caucasian railways and the annexation of Bokhara. Galkin Wraskoy and the prison system Orloff Davidoff, "the funniest thing he saw in America." Professor Demetrieff's account of the murder of Peter III and of the relation of Catherine II to it. Prince Serge Wolkonsky; his ability and versatility; his tour de force at the farewell dinner given me at St. Petersburg; his lectures in the United States. Russian scientific men. Woeikoff. Admiral Makharoff. Senator Semenoff and Prince Gregory Galitzin. Mendeleieff. Two salons. Other attractions. General Ignatieff. Princess Ourousoff and her answer to Alexander III. Princess Radzivill. The copy-book used by Louis XIV when a child, preserved in the Imperial Library; its historical importance. The American colony at St. Petersburg. Mr. Prince; his reminiscences of sundry American ministers. Mr. Buchanan's satire on spies, in the Embassy Archives. Difficulties of the American Representative arising from his want of a habitation. Diplomatic questions between the two countries The Behring Sea Fisheries. My dealings with the Commandant of the Russian Pacific Islands. Success of Sir Robert Morier; how gained. Worldly wisdom of Great Britain. Difficulties regarding Israelites; my long despatch on the subject to Secretary Gresham. Adventurous Americans. Efforts to prostitute American citizenship. Difficulties arising from the complicated law of the Empire. Violations of the Buchanan Treaty. Cholera at St. Petersburg; thorough measures taken by the Government; death of Tschaikovsky; difficulty in imposing sanitary regulations upon the peasantry.
CHAPTER XXXVI. MY RECOLLECTIONS OF POBEDONOSTZEFF—1892-1894
My desire to know Pobedonostzeff; his history; his power. Public business which led to our meeting; his characteristics; reasons for his course; his view of the relations of the Russo-Greek Church to the Empire; his frankness in speaking of the Church. His hostility to Western civilization. His discussion of revolutionary efforts in Russia. His theory of Russian public instruction. His ultra-reactionary views. His mingled feelings regarding Tolstoi. His love for American literature; his paradoxical admiration for Emerson, his translation of Emerson's "Essays"; his literary gift. Feeling toward him in Russian society. His religious character. His esthetic character. Charles A. Dana's impression of him. Our discussion of possible relations between the Russian and English Churches; his talks upon introducing the "Holy Orthodox Church" into the United States. His treatment of hostile articles in the English Reviews. His professorial friends. His statements regarding Father Ivan; miracles by the latter; proofs of their legendary character; Pobedonostzeff's testimony on the subject.
CHAPTER XXXVII. WALKS AND TALKS WITH TOLSTOI—MARCH, 1894
Moscow revisited. Little change for the better. First visit to Tolstoi. Curious arrangement of his household. Our first discussions; condition of the peasants; his view of Quakers; their "want of logic." His view of Russian religious and general thought. Socrates as a saint in the Kremlin. His views of the Jews; of Russian treatment of prisoners. His interest in American questions. Our visit to the Moscow Museum; his remark on the pictures for the Cathedral of Kieff; his love for realistic religious pictures; his depreciation of landscape painting; deep feeling shown by him before sundry genre pictures. His estimate of Peter the Great. His acknowledgment of human progress. His view of the agency of the Czar in maintaining peace. His ideas regarding French literature; of Maupassant; of Balzac. His views of American literature and the source of its strength; his discussion of various American authors and leaders in philanthropic movements; his amazing answer to my question as to the greatest of American writers. Our walks together; his indiscriminate almsgiving; discussion thereupon. His view of travel. The cause of his main defects. Lack of interchange of thought in Russia; general result of this. Our visit to the Kremlin. His views of religion; questions regarding American women; unfavorable view of feminine character. Our attendance at a funeral; strange scenes. Further discussion upon religion. Visit to an "Old Believer"; beauty of his house and its adornments; his religious fanaticism; its effects on Tolstoi. His views as to the duty of educated young men in Russia. Further discussion of American literature. His hope for Russian progress. His manual labor. His view of Napoleon. His easy-going theory of warlike operations. Our farewell. Estimate of him. His great qualities. His sincerity. Cause of his limitations. Personal characteristics related to these. Evident evolution of his ideas. Effect of Russian civilization on sundry strong men.
CHAPTER XXXVIII. OFFICIAL LIFE IN ST. PETERSBURG—1892-1894
Difficulty in securing accurate information in Russia; the censorship of newspapers and books; difficulty in ascertaining the truth on any question; growth of myth and legend in the Russian atmosphere of secrecy and repression. Difficulties of the American Minister arising from too great proneness of Americans to believe Russian stories; typical examples. American adventurers; a musical apostle; his Russian career. Relation of the Legation to the Chicago Exposition; crankish requests from queer people connected with it; danger of their bringing the Exposition into disrepute; their final suppression. Able and gifted men and women scattered through Russian society. Russian hospitality. Brilliant festivities at the Winter Palace; the Blessing of the Waters; the "palm balls"; comparison of the Russian with the German Court. Visit of Prince Victor Napoleon to St. Petersburg; its curious characteristics. Visit of the Ameer of Bokhara; singular doings of his son and heir. Marriage of the Grand Duchess Xenia; kindness, at the Peterhof Palace, of an American "Nubian." Funeral of the Grand Duchess Catherine; beginnings of the Emperor's last illness then evident. Midnight mass on Easter eve; beauty of the music. The opera. Midnight excursions in the northern twilight. Finland and Helsingfors. Moscow revisited. Visit to the Scandinavian countries. Confidence reposed in me by President Cleveland. My resignation.
CHAPTER XXXIX. AS MEMBER OF THE VENEZUELAN COMMISSION—1895-1896
The Venezuelan Commission; curious circumstances of my nomination to it by President Cleveland. Nature of the question to be decided; its previous evolution. Mr. Cleveland's message. Attacks upon him; his firmness. Sessions of the Commission; initial difficulties; solution of them. The old question between the Netherlands and Spain. Material at our command. Discreditable features of the first British Blue Book on the subject; British "fair play" in this and in the Behring Sea question. Distribution of duties in the Commission. My increased respect for Lord Aberdeen; boundary line accepted by him, striking confirmation of his justice and wisdom by the Arbitration Tribunal at Paris. Triumph of President Cleveland and Secretary Olney. Men whom I met in Washington. Lord Panncefote. Secretary Carlisle, striking tribute to him by an eminent Republican; his characteristics. Vice-President Stevenson; his powers as a raconteur. Senator Gray and Mr. Olney. Visit with the American Geographical Society to Monticello; curious evidences there of Jefferson's peculiarities; beauty of the place. Visit to the University of Virginia. My increasing respect for the qualities of Mr. Cleveland.