They move on; they are at the Pole; the north star is in the zenith. A magnetic needle appears hanging in mid-air, like the visioned dagger before Macbeth, and dips southward and westward toward the other—the magnetic—pole, degrees away. A glare disturbs the eye, and terrible sounds surround them. Behold! the Pole is a large cylindrical aperture (miles in diameter) in our globe, down through which are seen the molten mass and fiery flame within the crust of earth! The watery billows, like a whirlpool, surge in loud roar around its circumferent shore, but enter not; and a column of heat ever rushes on the Arctic air.
A cry of terror and awe escapes from the sleeper. He is conscious of it, but does not awake. The dream resumes.
They are now flying southward, and the somnipathist has a vision (a dream in this dream) of a midsummer circling sun shining a day of months. They view the peculiarities of Iceland, examine the maelstrom, (that singular natural wonder, gurgitating into another earth-aperture, off Norway,) and comprehend by a glance Lapland, Norway and Sweden, their curiosities, peoples, customs, etc. There is not time or space for details. They are en voyage for the Court of Russia.
They alight at the Winter Palace of the Czar.
The Immortal with his pupil enters with free and commanding port—obstructions vanish. A festive scene of splendor—gayety, glitter and ceremony commingled—is at its height. Through the maze of an amazed, gorgeous, throng, they advance to the Emperor, surrounded by rank and beauty; and through the influence of a celestial majesty more enthralling than his own, they secure his deferential and cordial attention. Then follows a confused but charming association with “beautiful women and brave men,” amid all social bewitcheries.
The scene changes. They are seated in a small ice-crystal[B] salon, glistening on all sides except the carpeted floor, with the Emperor and his prime minister alone, all exhilarant with wine, and now sipping the potent subtlety of China’s most famed and fragrant tea, priced at its weight in gold. The philosophy of government, from a republican standpoint, rushes upon the soul of the American, and he exclaims to the mighty potentate of all the Russias:
“How can your humanity conscientiously hold and wield the power of imperial despotism?”
Emperor.—“The one-man power in the light and dignity of a principle, appeals to reason and fascinates the soul. It is the true theory of human government. I am God’s vicegerent, as king and priest, for the well-being and good order of my people.”
Prime Minister.—“This system derives its type from the One-God control of the universe. It has divinity from above, it has patriarchal sanction here below. It can bear comparison with its opposite extreme in absolutism—a pure democracy, the mere many-power, unrestrained, unregulated and uninstructed. What is more irresponsible, more selfishly callous, more heedlessly unstable, and more grinding than the vulgar tyranny of a bare popular majority? Extremes meet and have a singular affinity; it is the secret of the growing friendship between Russia and the United States.”
American.—“Ha! Our American people are not a mass democracy. The United States are republics federated under a Constitution—a system which excludes both your extremes.”