Upon our calling in the evening we found the two ladies not returned from Court, but another sister received us most graciously, and after a long conversation, chiefly on the emancipation of the Serfs, which they did not approve of, having about 2,000 of them on their own estates, but at the same time giving the Emperor credit for the best intentions. Before leaving we were asked by the particular desire of the absent ladies to renew our visit the following evening, which we regretted not being able to do, having to make arrangements for our return home.
The manufactures at St. Petersburg are numerous, and some of them very extensive in tapestry, porcelain, glass, carpet, paper and cotton, all under the patronage of the State, but chiefly owned or managed by foreigners.
One of the cotton factories we visited, situated at Octi, about three miles up the river Neva, is a good-sized mill, worked by four engines of 250 and 260 horse power, spinning yarn about forty or fifty hanks, and employing 700 or 800 hands, chiefly serfs, from the neighbouring villages, with managers, mostly English, occupying cottages surrounding the establishment.
The proprietors, De Jerseys, well known in Lancashire, have other concerns in Russia, and are now erecting very large works in Finland for the purpose of spinning, weaving, bleaching, dyeing and printing.
At the Misses Bensons there were three English gentlemen, a Captain Glascott and two others, who had been engaged several years in an extensive survey through Russia and a part of Turkey. They kindly exhibited their plans, beautifully drawn upon a large scale.
Before leaving St. Petersburg you have to give two or three days' notice, so that your name may appear in the Gazette, and thereby ensure the due discharge of claims upon you. You are also furnished with a new passport, instead of viséing the one you brought with you, thereby supplying a few extra fees to the officials, which I consider to be the chief object in keeping up this abominable system.
We left St. Petersburg in a small steamer, and embarked at Cronstadt in the "Vladimer," a Russian steamer, very beautifully fitted up, with two cabins on deck, one for the captain and the other for the use of the passengers; the bulwarks, rather too high, and so obstruct the view, but at the same time protective in foul weather. The accommodation was very good, and the supply of provisions most ample, but not all suited to the English palate.
In the evening we had a glorious sunset, and the following day passed a lighthouse built upon a rock jutting out of the sea; then Reval, situated on a high coast, and in three days arrived at Stettin, having had a most enjoyable passage.
Among the passengers was a young Russian count, an officer in the army, and, though only 27, had been in several severe engagements without receiving a single wound. He was a most intelligent young man, well acquainted with the history of most of the countries in Europe, and free in his remarks upon the faults of his own, so much so that I did not fail to remind him of Siberia.
Approaching the Prussian coast, I observed the first star since entering the Baltic.