The Boy Travellers in The Russian Empire / Adventures of Two Youths in a Journey in European and Asiatic Russia, with Accounts of a Tour across Siberia, Voyages on the Amoor, Volga, and Other Rivers, a Visit to Central Asia, Travels among the Exiles, and a Historical Sketch of the Empire from Its Foundation to the Present Time

by Thomas Wallace Knox

"Did you ever hear," remarked the Doctor, with a smile, "of the attempt of Prince Bismarck to have German take the place of French as the language of diplomacy?"

Neither of the boys had heard the anecdote, which the Doctor gave as follows:

PRINCE GORTCHAKOFF.

"Shortly after the close of the Franco-German War, in 1870, Bismarck thought he would establish German as the diplomatic language, and with this object in view he made use of German instead of French in an official communication to Prince Gortchakoff, the foreign minister of Russia. Gortchakoff promptly replied to the communication, and wrote in Russian. Bismarck saw the joke, and desisted from further attempts to carry out his design."

"Returning to our subject," said the Doctor, "there are daily papers in the large towns of Russia, and weekly or semi-monthly papers in the smaller ones; but with its population of one hundred millions, the Empire has less than one-tenth as many newspapers as we have in the United States, and probably not more than one-fiftieth, or even one-hundredth, of the circulation.

"The first printing-press in Russia was set up in 1564. The first newspaper was printed at Moscow in 1704, and the second at St. Petersburg, a year later. Peter the Great abolished the use of the old Slavic characters for printing purposes, and personally supervised the casting at Amsterdam of the types in the Russian common language as we now find it.

"In addition to the newspapers there are many magazines and reviews in Russia, and some of them have a very large circulation. They contain articles on the condition of the country, biographical sketches of distinguished Russians, historical notices of cities and towns, scientific reports, travels, anecdotes, and stories by Russian writers, together with translations of European or American works. 'Uncle Tom's Cabin' was published in one of the Russian magazines, and so were the stories of Dickens and other English authors. The magazines go to all parts of the Empire, and have a larger circulation, proportioned to that of the newspapers, than do periodicals elsewhere."

The conversation was brought to an end by the entrance of the guide, who said it was time to start for their proposed excursion to Peterhof. In a few minutes they were on the way to the station, and in due time were seated in the train which carried them to their destination.