The borderland of czar and kaiser

Front matter

TrtE BORDER! A OF CZARfll'VNI)

P O U L T N E Y B I G E L O W.

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

II

The train rumbled into Warsaw. Remington and I handed our valises to the porter of the hotel, but, instead of taking the omnibus or cab, slipped out through the crowd, and, with the aid of a map, strolled about the streets to take a look at the town before reporting at the hotel.

In Paris I had made the acquaintance of a very intelligent Polish landed proprietor, and had promised to look him up. The address he had given me in Warsaw was that of a German chemist in a large drug-shop. I was to ask for Mr. X., and introduce myself — the rest I was to leave to him.

This seemed an odd way of accomplishing a simple and innocent visit, but there was no other. We entered the drug-store; pretended to need a tooth-brush; asked casually for Mr. X.; he appeared from a back room ; I pretended to want something chemical, and when out of ear- shot, asked after my friend. The manner of Mr. X. immediately changed ; he took me into his back room, leaving Remington to inspect tooth-brushes, and after satisfying himself that I was the party I pretended to be, said, anxiously,

" Have you been to your hotel yet?"

I said no.

" That is right," said he, somewhat relieved. " Are you sure that no one has tracked you from the station to this door?"

I told him how we had disposed of our luggage, how we had slipped through the crowd, and expressed the opinion that if any one had kept an eye on us during the railway journey, he certainly could not have followed us to his door without our knowledge.

" You did well," he said, " but still you had better not call on Mr. Zerowski," for that was my friend's name. " You had better go to your hotel now, for if you stay longer away, it will excite suspicion. Say nothing while a servant is in the room. If you have any papers you don't wish read, carry them on your person. A police spy will come to your room five minutes after you have surrendered your passport. He will pretend to be an American, or at least to have lived in America and to love Americans. He will want to find out what you have done and what you propose doing, and will see that you are watched. While you are out he will see that your luggage is searched; you had better lock nothing up. Tell him you leave early to-morrow morning for St. Petersburg, and must have your passports back ; promise him a ruble, to have no mistake. Then drop in at the Cafe Tomboff at exactly 3.50, but do not act as though you looked for any one there. Zerowski will join you five minutes later, quite by accident, you understand. Good-bye."

Ill

Remington and I looked at each other dubiously as we left the chemist and sought our hotel. Neither of us relished the idea of attaining our object by indirect methods, although I was prepared to sacrifice something for the sake of exchanging news with my Polish friend Zerowski, who, by-the-way, makes it his business to know what is going on.

" I don't care for Russia, anyway," said Remington, finally, after we had spent some minutes debating the advisability of joining Zerowski at the Cafe Tomboff. " Let's go back to Germany, Hungary, Turkey, Africa — anywhere out of this—"

He did not finish his sentence, for at that point the door opened softly and swiftly to admit a sleek little bald-headed, black- coated, blinking man of about fifty years of age, who said, with a smirk, and in bad English, " I thought I heard you say ' Come in !' "

We had not said " Come in," but did not discuss that point.

" You have just arrived from Berlin?" he said.

" No, from America," said Remington. " But where did you stop last before reaching Warsaw?""

"Wherever the train stopped," said Remington.

He then tried to know where our next objective was, whether we had friends in Warsaw, how long we should stop, and finally offered himself to us as guide, philosopher, and friend, on the strength of having lost his heart in America. We parried his questions, gave him to under-

I THOUGHT I HEARD YOU SAY ' COME IN stand that we did not need him, expelled him finally from the room, and then strolled off to the Cafe Tomboff.

The chemist was right; the spy was in our wake. We had scarcely seated ourselves at the Tomboff when the little blinking man entered the place, took his seat at a table in the corner, and engaged in earnest conversation with a guest who had been sipping a cup of coffee there. The subject of the conversation was obviously ourselves, to judge by the manner in which the second man's eyes worked in our direction. The blinking man soon disappeared, and the younger one was left to watch.

Zerowski entered the outer door of the Tomboff exactly five minutes after Remington and I had taken our seats. He stood a moment on the threshold, in the manner of a man undecided whether to loaf or go to work. His eyes rested on us, then on the spy, then wandered listlessly about the room. Finally, pretending to be very much bored, he sauntered down among the little tables, passed ours without a glance at me, went slowly to the farthest end of the establishment, appeared very much annoyed at not finding a table for himself alone, strolled back towards us, asked politely if he might sit at our table, took his seat as a stranger, offered Remington a cigarette, and said to me, in a whisper, as he bowed to Remington :

"Consider that I've never seen you before; there is an agent of the secret service three tables from you."

Zerowski is one of the many patriots in Poland who remain in their own country, bound by large estates which they cannot dispose of, and who pray morning and night for a cessation of the present barbarous government. Like most Poles with a liberal education, he has served a term in the Warsaw citadel, and is on the list of " suspects" who are to be arrested and deported at the first rumblings of revolution in Poland.

" What is the news?" I asked.

" Don't ask me," he said, " we are in Russia, in the Military Department of the Vistula." Then lowering his voice, he said, in French : " There will be soon another excursion to Siberia — a large one this time — students of the university here — you should stop to see it — in about seventy days, I think."

Remington, whose senses have been quickened by mixing paints among the huts of Cheyennes and Apaches, gave me at this point a kick beneath the table-cloth, and remarked, with emphasis, that he did not relish the company of the sneak-agent, who by this time had brought his chair one table nearer.

" I shall go from here to the theatre," said Zerowski ; " shall get three seats together ; shall send two by a safe messenger to your hotel ; they will be there in an hour ; meanwhile stroll about town, and let the hotel porter know where you are going, so as to disarm suspicion."

The theatre was full ; but as neither Remington nor I included Polish among our acquired accomplishments, we could not do justice to the performance.

Zerowski came in, but took a seat far away from us, in spite of the fact that the seat next to me remained vacant. After the first act we met in the adjoining garden, and his first words were :

" Thank God, the scoundrel has gone ! He saw that I took a seat far from you. He concludes that he can make nothing of us to-night. He has gone to write his report, or do some other dirty work."

" But about the university?" I asked.

" Not a word has appeared or can appear in any Russian paper ; not a word can pass the censor that touches this matter. I have a ' discreet ' friend in the Warsaw faculty ; he has told me something, but it would mean dismissal or worse to him if the police knew that he had said a word about it. •

"You must know," said Zerowski, " that the czar's government has undertaken to tear up by the roots every manifestation of life that does not spring from soil prepared by Russian priest or police. The little veneer of civilization you find in Russia is due to Poland in the first place,

Q J THE UORDS Kl \NI> Of I Al: \M' I. \l .1 I

and, "i mod< i n i mi. .. to ( rei many I am .« Pole i\i 5 i.miih h.i.i i njoj - d I he fi uits oi E urope an 1 l\ 'ii atlon hundn da oi j ears bi fore i^ ussi i

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i h< R ussian h.ii. •. us u i hi ii ii. i . grosslj in i. H, >i mi. ii. . i u.iiu . .m.i be( .ni..- w . i. in..- to .i. .. end to hia level He haa * onquered ua . he in . floggi d ua . he haa erased the name ol Po land from hia map M3 i hildren dare not speak theli in.» i ii.i i .mi" ii- . m\ wife dares not employ .i • ; .>\ . in. . . ol h. i .m\ n nation . mj \ erj sen anta must b< ' lected foi mi bj the Russian poli< e i he i ii haa i ul Poland ofl from all inten ourse wiiii l in , <)'. . .m.i forced hei to starve 01 pick up i he * i umba from hia table rhe Pole t an no i. Mi-, i get .i .1. . .in . .in. ation in hia o\r n ( ountr) . iii. Russian polh - control oui schools aa they do oui ii' w spap< ' ■ and I heii obje< I is t.> ha\ e -ill ih. profi ssiona in Poland filled onl} bj orthodox Russians

r. oplt in i ngland .m.i Vmei l< .1 * annot mi derstand w hat this means, foi superfit lallj it •.. 1 ma .i light burden But look .»t it from the Polish side \ ou are a 5 oung man You w ish to bet ome an engineer, do< tor, la^ ) er, an architect anything oi that kind You must pass a series oi government examinations, 01 you \ annot begin to earn a Li\ ing > » oui examiners are Russians, and the) have orders to favoi all the 'Orthodox*' and place obstacles in the waj

,-i poll ■ ! iuppose, aftei passing all the pn liminary obstai lea, \ -mi get youi %o\ ernmi nt 11 i . n .. . \ .-II find then that \ ou i an a< * omplish i \ . i\ i hing ii \ "ii are ol < he Greek ( Ihuri h, and next i" nothing Ii \ on an not tn Russia the go\ ei mn. ni pi i mi >i' • everj depai tment ol hu

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tive, teli graph, railw aj . i ngiw 1 1 Ing Vou i annot pi.i. . j .mm fingi ' "ii anything that doi • not de pi ii. i to i large extent upon go^ - rnmi nl fa\ oi \ . .i result \ ou find I hat at ever} step In \ out profi -i"M.ii i ourse \ ou an hi a\ llj handii appi d i»\ iii. t.n,.\\ i, dgi that you w 111 ne\ - 1 g< I i m plo) mi. mi . ... ept from I he vei ) few who ari to bold as to i mi|>i.'\ \ en In spite ol \ oui nat lonal disability. Poll • do still i am .< ii\ Ing, bul ll Is mainly by making thi ms< lves< < i pt tonally useful to § R u. .i.in ..ih. i.ii who has mon pal ronagi i inn mi. ih-. ii. . \ i. w .i.i\ . bi fori \ "ii arrived iii. Polish st udents at the Warsaw I University had been deeply out raged by I hi K ussian head ..i i ii. i.i. nil v oi rathei . I should say I hal .i series "i out t'agi s brought on an i Kplosion. rhi R ussians, one and all, •! upid "< not , <« ■» 1 h ed diplomas at ( !omm< n( emi nl . w hile I hi Poll s, w hose i apa< Ity w as notoriously supi rior, were, almost to •• man, n ji cted I hi sham* li ■ po litii .ii bias was so appan nt thai all Warsaw w as ablazi . and om fim daj I In si udi nts lost obnoxious members of their faculty a sound pelting. Such a thing probably never could happen in America — "

To which I was compelled to answer that I had known, " 'neath the elms of dear old Yale," of students smashing the window of a very unpopular tutor.

" Bismarck used to pretend that the Poles were like the Irish — chronically rebellious. That is not true. There is no similarity between the two nations. England is giving Ireland the best government that unhappy country has ever had ; Russia is giving Poland the worst government it is possible to conceive of — worse even than what she gives her own orthodox subjects. England is raising the Irish to a higher level ; Russia is dragging us down into the mud."

" What will the police do with the disorderly Polish students?" I asked.

" Not so loud, if you please," said Zerowski, glancing about him. " There are spies at work now. They are being watched. The meshes are being drawn slowly and silently about them. Their letters are intercepted. They are being lulled into a false sense of security. By-and-by, in about three months, a raid will be made, and another transport to Siberia commence. . . ."

Between the acts we met by accident Professor X., the Polish member of the faculty, to whom Zerowski introduced us.

A GENDARME IN WARSAW

" Ask him about the university row," whispered my friend to me.

I did so, and Professor X. answered with ostentatious emphasis :

" University row! You surely must be thinking of some other university ! The Warsaw University never has any row of any kind ! Goodevening."

Zerowski smiled sadly as the form of the professor disappeared in the crowd.

" There goes," said he, " a product of Russian rule — the smooth liar. That is the man who told me the whole story. I introduced you only to give you a little object-lesson."

As we parted that night, Zerowski said : " You will understand why it is better that I do not come to the station to see you off. You are being watched here, and you will not move in Russia without a police agent behind you."

IV

On the 6th of June Remington and I readied St. Petersburg, and after depositing our scant canoe kit at the hotel, hurried to the legation of the United States.

The St. Petersburg cabs have wheels a trifle larger than that of a wheelbarrow, and hold about as much. Remington and I hugged each other hard to keep from " dripping out " over the sides as we jumped and bumped over the rough pavement of the vast and lonesome squares that seem specially designed for military purposes. The horse of the droschka is small but spry, and drags the clumsy little cab with extraordinary facility. Every other cab we met contained a man in uniform. Germany seemed bad enough in this respect, but in St. Petersburg there seemed no choice between uniforms and rags. The driver, no doubt, likes the small droschka because it makes his horse look stronger, while the official, no doubt, loves it because it makes his proportions appear to advantage. The horse probably curses it as a clumsy weight, and sighs for a civilized carriage.

A most distinguished-looking footman opened the door for us, in answer to our ring, and ushered us into a room full of costly adornment. The legations of Berlin, Paris, London, and Vienna paled in comparison with this princely suite, for from our seats we gazed in wonder upon room after room of corresponding luxury.

Being but plain American travellers, and having been ushered into this apartment in answer to our desire to speak with our representative, we concluded that we were in the office of the United States, and that an extra appropriation had been made to defray the expense of this mission. But we were wrong.

There was no United States minister in St. Petersburg when we called, and the first secretary, who acted as charge, informed us that we were in his private residence, one room of which appeared especially reserved for office purposes.

In other countries, particularly semi-civilized ones, the American seeking the protection or assistance of his minister is cheered by the sight of the American eagle over the legation door, possibly by a flag-staff from which the stars and stripes wave proudly on national holidays, proclaiming to all the world that wherever the American citizen travels he is sure of the support of his government so long as he obeys the laws of the place in which he is sojourning. But even if eagle and banner are absent, there is, in any event, a small brass plate affixed in some conspicuous place, with the information that there is such a thing as a legation of the United States in the place.

In St. Petersburg Remington and I looked in vain for some such cheering sign. There may have been one in Russian, but few American travellers speak that language. We stumbled about in a wretchedly homesick condition, ringing all the bells in the neighborhood, finding no one who could speak our language, and at length stumbling by accident upon the door of the magnificent gentleman who represents the government of Washington near the person of our friend the Czar of all the Russias. I had sent a letter on the first day of June, informing our charge in St. Petersburg that I bore a commission from the United States government, that I bore also the " special passport " of the State Department, and in addition an official letter from the Secretary of State introducing me personally to our diplomatic agents abroad.

Remington also bore the " special passport/ 5 and I added in my letter that he and I were travelling together in order more completely to fulfil the wishes of our government.

Mindful of the rapidity with which the average American diplomatist loses sight of his native land in the midst of courtly pomp, I took the occasion to remark that my companion was, in his line, the first artist of America, and desired permission to make sketches.

My letter remarked also that we had, at considerable cost, brought with us from America each a cruising canoe, that we proposed sailing from St. Petersburg the whole length of the Baltic, making notes and sketches as we went along.

Finally, I begged that our representative in St. Petersburg procure for me the necessary permission to make this cruise, or else, at least, present me to the official of whom I might make the request in person, and explain the innocent nature of our proposed trip.

i'"\ v w

-Tt

Knowing the delays of diplomacy in Eastern and semi-civilized countries, I suggested the 8th of June as the day of presentation, assuring the American charge that we should certainly be on hand before then.

Remington and I had racked our brains to imagine what further we could do to divest our mission of suspicious circumstance. We at last concluded to add a protocol to our document — to wit, we offered to pay the expenses of any one the Russian government should kindly send along with us as interpreter, guide, pilot, protector, or spy.

We knew that last year the United States government had sent a special committee to Russia to report upon Jewish emigration, that this committee had been snubbed, and that it left St. Petersburg in disgust, without having been recognized by the proper department of state.

Against this contingency we fancied we had protected ourselves completely, for we had sent our request a week beforehand. Our mission was not in the remotest degree connected with any political question whatsoever ; for what can be more innocent than the question of tree-planting along the sea-shores?

Besides, I had made a full statement of my purpose to the much-beloved ambassador of Russia in Berlin, Count Schuvaloff. He is a man full of amiability, particularly kind to Americans, and incapable of guile. He could not have shown more interest in my project had he been my own father ; assured me that I would have a delightful trip, that I should be received with open arms, begged to know what he could do for me, even gave me a most cordial letter of introduction to one of the greatest names in St. Petersburg.

What more could an American citizen desire, travelling in a country bound to us by so many friendly ties as Russia? Surely we did not expect the American navy as escort ! The fleet of grain-ships which we sent for the starving peasants should have been a good substitute.

The American charge calmly informed us at our first interview that he had not made any request, written or oral, in our behalf.

This was rather staggering, after giving him a week's start for this very purpose ! Remington looked ready for a fight.

The charge explained that there was some difficulty in regard to diplomatic usage or precedent.

I protested that the Russian minister in Washington would find no difficulty in getting his request before the Secretary of State, and I ventured to think that the United States minister in St. Petersburg was of quite as much importance as the Russian minister in Washington, and that if that was not the case, it was time people in

America heard all about it. Our formal papers we had brought along, and asked him to read them. He did so, returned them, and remarked, in rather a tired manner, that they were lacking in diplomatic form.

To this I rejoined that it was not for me to criticise the diplomatic form of my State Department ; that he might do that if he chose, but not through me. That our business in St. Petersburg was exclusively to obtain such permission as should protect us in our coasting cruise.

The charge answered very vaguely, and reminded me that in the last year the Russian government had grown very jealous of foreigners who came to report upon things in Russia. To this I answered that China also disliked the foreigner, but that I had found no difficulty in travelling there — even into the interior.

We pressed upon him the fact that both of us were prepared to give the fullest guarantees regarding the purely innocent nature of our cruise. Again we offered to defray the cost of a government escort. The charge smiled, and shook his head, and told us urbanely that we had come on a fool's errand.

Finally, in the presence of our military attache and Remington, I said to him : " Here is a formal request. I ask you, on the strength of the government papers I carry, to take me before the proper official of the Russian government ; I wish to be properly introduced to him ; I wish to present the credentials of the United States government ; I wish to explain the nature of our mission, and I wish to learn definitely from his lips whether there can possibly be any obstacle thrown in our path."

The charge looked from one to the other of us with a quizzical smile. Had we asked for a loan of the Russian czar, I should have expected such a smile.

" It's quite impossible," was his terse answer. " It's contrary to all diplomatic precedent, don't you know !"

What was to be done? Remington and I concluded to wait at least three days. If by that time the government gave us no answer, we should take our canoes to the first German port, cruise the Kaiser's coast first, and then return to Russia, in case permission should have been finally accorded.

The charge had at last condescended to promise that he would write formally for the needed authority, and would do everything in his power to further our mission, etc.

Russia is an expensive place to live in, particularly the capital. The stranger is fair game for extortion, and we found that at the rate of outlay current with us, we should soon be bankrupt. Socially our time passed agreeably enough, for we had letters to high and mighty functionaries, who treated us most cordially, invited us to their country-seats, offered to do everything under heaven to enhance our happiness, except the one thing we particularly wished done. Princes, counts, colonels, ambassadors, adjutants, and aides-de-camp — these could furnish caviar, champagne, and lordly hospitality, but not one of them dared move in a matter interesting to the Third Section — the secret police.

The letters we received were of course opened by the police, and clumsily closed again. Remington was one day driving in the suburbs, when he became aware that an official was following in a second droschka. The following droschka, however, passed his after a while, and Remington noticed that its occupant spoke to a gendarme on the road ahead. What he said, of course we do not know, but when Remington reached that point, the gendarme stopped his carriage, turned the horse's head back towards the city, and gave the driver some instructions in Russian that resulted in Remington finding himself an unwilling arrival back at the hotel, where I found him an hour later, pacing the floor like a caged lion, and venting his feelings in vigorous English.

We were used to being watched, but this was more than we had bargained for.

On the fourth day we called at the legation at half-past ten in the forenoon. The impressive man-servant told us that his excellency the charge was in bed. We sent up word on a card that we called to know if he had any news for us. He sent down word by the splendid servant that he had no news ; did not know when he should have any ; that there was no use in our waiting for any.

We returned a farewell message of thanks and compliments, and left.

Two days before, we had interviewed the head of the customs, and had arranged to have our boats shipped by fast freight to Kovno, on the river Nietnen, supposing that forty-eight hours' start was quite enough. We had also told the hotel porter that we were to start to-day, and ordered him to have our passports. He came to us with a drawn face, however ; said he was very sorry ; that he had been to the police station ; that there was some difficulty ; that he could not get them for us.

" Now we are in for it," thought we. For, of course, without a passport we ceased to be Americans, or even human beings ; we became merely the number of a police cell.

Luckily for us, an official close to the person of the czar happened to call upon us at that moment, and to him we explained our predicament. He left us for a moment, then returned, and assured us that there must be some mistake, that our passports would surely arrive. We chatted

GENDARME, ST. PETERSBURG for a while, and, sure enough, as though by magic, the precious documents once more made their appearance, duly stamped and sealed. What potent spell our great friend had exercised we shall never know, but to us he was a friend in need, and we feel very grateful for his intercession.

Between St. Petersburg and Kovno I stopped for a chat with a friend who knows the devious methods of Russian government pretty well. I told him my tale, and asked him what he made of it.

" Nothing is simpler," said he. " You are politely requested to disappear from Russia at the shortest possible notice. You have been watched from beginning to end, and you may be watched at this moment. You might have waited a month in St. Petersburg, but you would never have got an answer to your request."

" But," said I, " what if I had gone on without permission ?"

" You would never know what had interfered with you. You would have been arrested at the first convenient place, and kept a week or so pending examination. What is most likely, however," said he, " some dark night your boats would have been smashed to kindling-wood;