Year: 1861

united could not keep him from tobacco.
Pipes he could not obtain but cows
horn perforated served his turn. From every
Arch angel fair rolls of the best Virginia
speedily found their way to Novgorod and
Tobolks.


The commercial intercourse between
England and Russia made some diplomatic
intercourse necessary. The diplomatic in
tercourse, however, was only occasional.
The Gar had no permanent minister here.
We had no permanent minister at Moscow,
and even at Archangel we had no consul.
Three or four times in century extraordi-
nary embassies were sent from Whitehall
to the Kremln, and from the Kremlim to
Whitehall.


The English embassies had historians whose
narratives may still be read with interest.
Those historians described wildly, and
sometimes bitterly, the savage ignorance
and the squalid poverty of the barbarous
country in which they had sojourned. In
that country, they said, there was neither
literature nor science, neither school nor
college. 1t was not till more than a hum
dred years after the invention of printing
that single printing had been introduced
into the Russian Empire, and that printing
had speedily perished in fire which was
supposed to have been kindled by the
priests. Even in the seventeenth century
the library of prelate of the first dignity
consisted OF few manuscripts. Those man.
uscripts, too, were in long rolls for the art
of bookbinding was unknown. The best
educated men could barely read and write.
1t was much if the secretary to whom was
intrusted the direction of negotiations with
foreign powers had sufficient smattering
of dog Latin to make himself understood.
The arithmetic was the arithmetic of the
dark sges. The denary notation was un-
known. Even in their imperial treasury the
computations were made by the help of balls
strung on wires. Round the person of the
sovereign there was blaze of gold and
jewels; but even in his most splendid pal
aces were to be found the filth and misery
of an Irish cabin. So late as the year 1868
the gentlemen of the retinue of the Earl of
Carlisle were, in the city of Moscow, thrust
into single bedroom, and were told that, if
they did not remain together, they would be
in danger of being devoured by rats


Such was the report which the English
legations made of what they had seen and
suffered in Russia and their evidence was
confirmed by the appearance which the
Russian legations made in England. The
strangers spoke no civilized language. Their
garb, their gestures, their salutations, had
wild and barbarous character. The EN-.
bassador, and the grandees who accompanied
him. were so gorgeous that all London
crowded to stare at them, and so filthy that
nobody dared to touch them. They came
to the court balls dropping pearls and yer.
min. 1t was said that one envoy cudgeled
the lords of his train whenever they soled or
lost any part of their fnery, and that another
had with difficulty been prevented from
putting his son to death for the crime of
shaving and dressing after the French fash
ion.


Our ancestors, therefore, were not little
surprised to learn that young barbarian,
who had, at seventeen years of age, become
the autocrat of the immense region stretch.
ing from the confines of Sweden to those of
China, and whose education had been infe-
rior to that OF an English farmer or shop
man, had planned gigantic improvements,
had learned enough of some languages of
Western Europe to enable him to commu-
nicate with civilized men, had begun to sur
round bimself with able adventurers from
various parts of the world, had sent many of
his young subjects to study languages, arts
and sciences in foreign cities, and finally,
had determined to travel as a private man,
and to discover, by personal observation,
the secret of the immense prosperity and
power enjoyed by some communities whose
whole territory was far less than the hun
dreth part of his dominions.


1t might have been expected that France
would have been the first object of his Curl
osity. For the grace and dignity of the
French King, the splendor of the French
court, the discipline of the French armies,
and the genius and learning of the French
writers, were then renowned all over the
world. But the Cars mind had already
taken strange ply which it retained to the
last. His empire was of all empires the
least capable of being made great naval
power. The Swedish provinces lay be-
tween his states and the Baltic. The Bos-
phorus and the Dardanelles lay between
his states and the Mediterranean. He had
access to the ocean only in latitude in
which navigation is, during great part of
the year, perilous and difficult. On the
ocean be had only sing le port, Archangel;
and the whole shipping Of Archangel was
foreign. There did not exist q Russian
vessel larger than fishing boat. Yet,
from some cause which cannot now be
traced, he had taste for maritime pursuits
which amounted to q passion, indeed al.
most to a monomania. His imagination
was full of sails, yard arms, and rudders.
That large mind, equal to the highest duties
of the general and the statesman, contract
ed itselfto the most minute details of naval
architecture and naval discipline. The
chief ambition of the great conqueror and
legislator was to be good boatswain and q