St. Petersburg: its people; their character and institutions

Front matter

THE HOME CYCLOPEDIA.

Trrissi? volnmes are intended to comprise a comprehensive view of the whole M4f<$4;'K circle of human knowledge — in other words, to form a General Cyclopedia in gfpL, a portable shape, for popular reference, for Family Libraries, for Teachers and <£'s

I

Author's Preface

THE friendly reception which several of the following sketches from St. Petersburg have already found in various journals, encourages me, in compliance with the gratifying invitation of my publishers, to place them before the public in a collective form, and with considerable augmentations. I do not deceive myself as to the difficulties of my undertaking ; I know how much more is justly required from a book than from fugitive newspaper sketches ; and on that account I have arranged the present volume in the unassuming form of detached pictures. I do not pretend to pass judgment ; I confine myself to depicting that which I have partly seen with my own eyes, and partly derived from trustworthy sources.

The present tone of public opinion in no way discourages me. In a far more agitated time, upon my return from France, I wrote my book on Paris ; and although, in many respects, it was directly opposed to the prevailing opinion of the political and social condition of France, it nevertheless met, at the hands of both readers and critics, the indulgent consideration which those may fairly claim who honestly strive after a knowledge of the truth. Now, as then, I address myself to my task in a cheerful and impartial spirit.

Observant by education, by calling, and by inclination, and weaned, by travel and experience, from many prevalent prejudices, I noted, with careful eye, during three years' sojourn in the Russian capital, all that my social relations allowed me opportunity of investigating ; and I here add to my observations such remarks only as are their natural and inevitable results. I put myself forward neither as moralist nor as politician. My aim is to display the customs and manners of a foreign land, with that candour and freedom of speech whose consequences certainly darkened some of the best years of my life, but of which I have never been able to divest my-

6 AUTHOR'S PREFACE.

self. I must either speak the naked truth or be silent. In speaking of the men and things of Russia, I have exhibited them as I beheld and appreciated them. If I took a false view, it was the fault of my powers of perception, not of my will. I can see only with my own eyes ; but the consciousness that I have in no way misrepresented what I have seen, gives me courage to present my observations to the world, at risk of running counter to the prevailing opinion of many, and of opening to prejudice a wide field of criticism. I say prejudice, and I repeat the word, for on no subject have I, in enlightened Germany, heard such prejudiced opinions expressed as on the subject of Russia and its Ruler. We are more intimately acquainted with the state of China than with that of a country which commences at our frontier. To the many erroneous views with respect to Russia which have obtained wide currency amongst us, the various books published concerning that country have not a little contributed. For, independently of wilful misrepresentations, French and German writers have contemplated the social and political circumstances of Russia with the eyes of their own nationality. This is wrong and unjust, for every country and every nation has a right to demand that it should be examined and judged from the point of view of its own peculiar idiocrasy. He who refuses to take his observations from that point of view, may achieve sparkling comparisons, witty reasoning, jest and satire, but will never attain to a natural and lifelike representation of the people he professes to describe.

It is with heartfelt conviction that I praise in Russia much which in Germany I should bitterly blame. Persons who have blamed those things in Russia have had before their eyes, when forming their judgment, not Russia, but their own country, their nationality, themselves in short. I have done my utmost to avoid this subjective manner of viewing things, and have endeavoured, when investigating whatever struck me as strange, to make due allowance for differences of climate and civilisation, and in the temperament and character of the people. As for the rest, I stand upon facts, partly historical, partly still existing, and therefore incontrovertible. My views may possibly be refuted, but the facts upon which they are based defy refutation.

Contents

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I. First Impressions and Social Intercourse ... 9

II. The Emperor Nicholas

Chapter I. First Impressions And Social Intercourse

ST, PETERSBURG, the capital of an empire which borders on Germany ; St. Petersburg, which reckons amongst its inhabitants upwards of forty thousand Germans, of whom a large proportion correspond with friends and relations in their own country ; St. Petersburg, which annually receives several hundred German guests, is nevertheless as imperfectly known to us as if it lay beyond the Mountains of the Moon ; and the accounts we get of it are so fabulously strange, that when we come to visit it we scarcely dare to trust the evidence of our own eyes. Even according to the sketches given by Messrs. Kohl and Pelz (Treumund Welp), who nevertheless abode there long enough to know better, one trembles lest one should encounter a bear on the Newsky Perspective, or receive in one's peaceable dwelling the visit of a famished wolf. His mind full of such erroneous anticipations, the traveller fancies himself a stage or two beyond Christendom, expects to make acquaintance with a semi-barbarous land, and approaches the City of the Czars with trepidation and anxiety. How startling and agreeable is the contrast, to these gloomy forebodings, of the reality that presents itself on entering the Russian capital, especially if the approach be made from the side of the sea. The beauty of the entrance into St. Petersburg cannot easily be paralleled. First, magnificent Cronstadt, with its harbour full of countless ships, its docks without end, its remarkable towers and works, rising in wonderful strength and beauty out of the depths of the open sea, strikes us with admiration. A little further we pass the beautiful palace of Peterhof, with its delightful gardens, its pleasant park, its fairy-like buildings. After several hours' sail up stream, and after passing the splendid build- 1*

10 PIG TUBES FROM ST. PETERSBURG.

ing appropriated to the mining school, we reach the majestic English quay, where the steamer stops, just opposite to the Exchange.

The delay occasioned by the revision of passports, before which no one is allowed to quit the vessel, and by the subsequent inspection of baggage at the custom-house, is disagreeable, especially as the glimpse one gets of the city excites the strongest desire and most impatient curiosity to examine it more closely. The annoyance of the detention is lessened, however, by the obliging courtesy with which the officials perform their duty, assisting the travellers, after its completion, to repack and arrange their property. If there be any truth in the oft-repeated tales of the horrors of the Kussian custom-house, they at least can apply but to the inland frontiers, where, perhaps, Cossack usages still prevail. "When entering St. Petersburg by water it is only in cases where information of fraud has been received, that harshness and severity are displayed ; otherwise, and as a general rule, the treatment is considerate and humane, and might be substituted with great advantage for the petty annoyance inflicted by the Austrian customs' officers. The customary formalities at an end, it is usually still broad daylight when you reach the interior of the city. Most strangers proceed thither along the quay, across the Isaac Square, by the fine statue of Peter the Great, the imposing building of the Admiralty and the wonderful Isaac Church, to the Newsky Perspective. However much accustomed to Paris and London, the stranger cannot but be struck, impressed and delighted by the spectacle that here presents itself to him ; by the remarkable beauty of this street, its immense width, including a double line of carriage ways floored with wood, and foot-paths ten or twelve feet broad — by the magnificent palaces and palatial houses bordering it on either side : by the elegance of the rows of shops, each vying with the other in luxury and richness, fronted with the clearest glass, illumined at night with floods of gaslight, and filled with the most costly objects that luxury and refine merit can devise.

Still more is he astonished at the constant stream of life which flows along this great artery ol the city ; at the throng of passengers on foot and on horseback, in carriages drawn by six and by four horses, in smaller vehicles of every kind, in droschkis and istworstschiks. If the stranger, extricating himself from this noisy bustling scene, succeeds in finding accommodation at the Hotel Coulon or the Hotel Demuth, the only foreign hotels in St. Petersburg, he may live there comfortably enough until he can settle himself in more permanent quarters. But if, through want of room at those houses, or ignorance of the locality, he betakes himself to a Russian hotel, he has speedy opportunity of studying one of the most disgraceful sides of life in St. Petersburg. Short of a forest cavern, a foreigner could hardly meet with anything more uninviting and unpleasant than the aspect of one of these caravanserais, or with anything more dismal than its arrangement and distribution. He is ushered into ill-lighted rooms, betraying a sad want of the careful and cleansing hand of a tidy hostess ; and where the elegance of the furniture is by no means so great as to make amends for its extreme scantiness. The absence of anything like a bed particularly strikes him. Russian travellers do not miss this, for they invariably carry their own beds about with them, as Maximilian the First carried his coffin, and thus accustom hotel keepers to dispense with beds in their apartments. At last, after many delays, and at the urgent and agonized entreaty of the weary foreigner, such a bed is provided as the German, accustomed to the snug eiderdown of the fatherland, shudders to contemplate. The painful impression of this first reception is but very partially surmounted, when he becomes aware of another cause of discomfort and annoyance. The attendance is simply execrable. In these Russian hotels there is seldom a living creature who can speak anything but Russian ; and foreigners are at their wit's end to make themselves understood. There is little hope for English, French, and Italians. Only the German, if his good genius suggests to him to visit the kitchen, may chance to discover there a Finland woman. These are skilful cooks, and most of them speak German. He will hardly get a better supp<a: for this, however ; and ultimately will be fain to have recourse to the hospitality of his countrymen resident in St. Petersburg, and which assuredly will never fail him. If the stranger has letters, or even only a single letter, of introduction, which it is natural to suppose will in most instances be the case, he is rescued, immediately on presenting them, from the purgatory of his inn, either by the oft'er of a room in the friend's house to whom he is recommended or by being provided with a furnished apartment, of which there are plenty to let in St. Petersburg, chiefly in German houses, and where he will usually find himself very comfortable.

Should any one who reads these lines ever visit St. Petersburg without introduction or acquaintance, let him go to the first winehouse or restaurateur he meets with (there is no lack of them), and inspect the bill of fare, upon which the names of eatables and drinkables are inscribed in German as well as in Russian. In such places, too, there is generally an attendant who can speak German. Let the stranger walk in, seat himself at the first unoccupied table he comes to, and order his breakfast in German, and in rather a loud voice. He may be pretty certain that, before he has half finished his repast — and provided he be not too entirely engrossed in its discussion — he will observe some one of the persons present call the waiter, and whisper a few words in his ear. The waiter replies by the same sort of pantomime usually performed by a German courtchamberlain when his royal master asks him why the people do not cheer as he goes by. The habitug, having received this shouldershrugging answer to his inquiry, seems to consult a moment with his companions, then empties his glass, fills it again, rises from table, approaches the stranger, and greets him as a countryman. Some conversation ensues, and if there be anything in the new comer's mode of speaking, occupation, country, journey, or manner, to inspire the slightest interest, it may safely be wagered that before his interlocutor has emptied his glass, he has invited him to join his party. If, in the intercourse which then follows, he justifies, ever so little, the good opinion which his new acquaintance are well-disposed to entertain of him, he is asked to call upon them, and thenceforward it only depends upon him to consider their houses, if he so pleases, as his own.

There is little ceremony used with anybody. A stranger is invited only once to dinner. If he does not please his entertainers, they nevertheless, for that once, endure him with a good and hospitable grace. If, upon the other hand, he makes a favourable impression, on leaving table his host says to him, with a cordial shake of the hand, " Do not wait for another invitation ; your knife and fork will be laid here daily, and the often er you come and use them, the greater the pleasure you will do us." And when this is said, the guest may feel assured that it is meant literally as spoken. Nor need he ever fear to inconvenience his hospitable entertainers ; go when he will, he will be welcome. His place is ready for him : if oysters and champagne are upon table, his host smiles, well-pleased that he has come on a day of good cheer. But though beef and potatoes alone be on the board, the lady of the house betrays not a sign of vexation or embarrassment. Enough there always is ; how it is managed I know not ; but the entrance of half a dozen unforeseen guests neither excites surprise nor occasions inconvenience. On the other hand, however homely the repast, the hostess never deems an apology requisite. What she gives is freely given, and she therefore makes sure that it will be contentedly received. How she would laugh, could she witness, in some German household in Dresden or Berlin, the housewife's deadly agony when her husband unexpectedly brings home from 'Change a friend or two to dinner. Such agony, for such a motive, is unknown in St. Petersburg; unknown, too, there, is the German custom of making trifling presents to servants as often as you take a meal in a friend's house. At Christmas and Easter it is customary to make calls at the houses of your friends, and then money is given to servants, and in handsome amounts ; ten or twenty rubles to each, or even more, according to the means and inclination of the donor. If the two customs come much to the same in the end, at any rate that of the Kussians is more seemly and convenient.

Conversation at Russian dinner tables is not very striking or diversified. This may be partially accounted for by the separation of the sexes. Be it observed that I here depict the manners of the middle classes. He who desires to learn those of the nobility — not only of Russia, but of the rest of Europe — has only to study the usages of Parisian society, and he then knows those of all other aristocratic societies. In the burgher circles at St. Petersburg, the two sexes usually group themselves very much apart from each other. Even at meals the gentlemen take one half of the table, and the ladies the other. I will not venture exactly to praise such an arrangement, but certainly it spares many an old greybeard, or busy merchant, engrossed with agios and percentages, the trouble of having to entertain a simpering sixteen-year-old neighbour.

The chief subjects of conversation with the ladies of St. Petersburg, at the dinner table, and in the circle they subsequently form round their coffee cups, are music, theatricals, the gossip of the town, a very little literature, and above all, the fashions. On this last subject they are inexhaustible, and truth demands the confession that they do not cultivate a barren soil. They do not, as many a distinguished national assembly has done, waste their time in fruitless theories. Every project devised speedily becomes an accomplished fact ; plans are no sooner sketched than carried out ; theory quickly blossoms into practice; no undertaking is too difficult, no obstacle insurmountable, no sacrifice too great for these devoted priestesses of the Graces.

Amongst the men at St. Petersburg the talk is of their business, of art, science, and politics. Of the latitude of conversation on this latter subject, we, in Germany, have no idea. Our notion is, that politics are a prohibited topic in the Russian capital. ]N~or is the notion altogether erroneous, for in public one does not hear them discussed. But did any one hear them discussed publicly in Germany until before the events of March ? And did not the places of public amusement in Germany offer a thousand opportunities for their discussion ? And in all Austria did any man dare, even in his own house — if there were a few persons collected there — to speak his mind freely ? And if by chance, between cheese and dessert, he did allow a candid word or two to escape him on political subjects, did he not, on the servant's entrance, even though the man had been ten years under his roof, bite his lip, and quickly hold his peace ?

In St. Petersburg people do not live abroad. Public gardens, boulevards, bazaars, and so forth, are there unknown. There everybody minds his business, and stops in his house ; and when the cares and toils of the former are at an end, he does his utmost to transform the latter into a paradise. Freedom is an indispensable condition of such transformation, and of freedom, the Petersburger enjoys, in his own house, an ample measure ; not only in the complete liberty of his social life, not only in his complete abandonment to his individual inclinations, but also in respect of political controversies, which in his domestic circle are often carried on with such keenness and unreserve, that the hearer fancies himself transported into some German republican club. Freedom is far greater in St. Petersburg, in this respect, than is generally supposed. Considering the license of expression indulged in when conversing on political subjects before strangers and servants, it is quite inconceivable that the vigilant police should never have become aware of, or taken umbrage at it ; and that there should be no instance on record of a domiciliary visit in the house of a German resident in St. Petersburg. It is probable enough, however, that the authorities are aware of those conversations, but intentionally take no notice of them, knowing the character of Germans, and that, with them, — words do not lead to deeds.

When politics, into which conversation at St. Petersburg usually ends by gliding, have been fairly exhausted, play is resorted to as a pastime. In this the women are in no way behindhand with the men ; but, on the contrary, have usually organised their tables of whist, boston, ombre, or preference, long before the politicians have finished their discussions. Preference, especially, is a favourite game with the St. Petersburg fair ones. "With unremitting assiduity they play on from seven or eight in the evening till two in the morning, then sup, and separate at four to get up again at daybreak, — that is to say, according to German time, at nine in the morning ; for I here speak of winter parties only, seeing that in summer, at St. Petersburg, there are neither parties nor inhabitants.

When the St. Petersburger has thus introduced a stranger into his house and shown him his domestic interior, the chief subject of his pride, he proceeds to display to him the second thing in which he glories, namely, the beauties of the capital. A day is fixed, the droschki is brought to the door, — few Petersburgers in comfortable circumstances are without an equipage, — and the foreigner is driven all about the town. First, through the Newsky Perspective, already referred to, to the majestic Newsky Convent, where repose the bones of St. Alexander Newsky, which were miraculously cast ashore, so runs the tradition, on the Neva's bank, by the Baltic's tempestuous billows. In costly silver relievos, the hero's exploits are perpetuated upon his coffin. Returning hence, the stranger's guide points out to him, on the left of the Perspective, the Kasan church, one of the most beautiful ornaments of the city. In its front stand four colossal stone statues of apostles, models for four statues of the like gigantic size, which are to be cast in silver. The metal for this purpose is already stored up in the vaults of the Church, and is a pious present from the Cossacks of the Don. On entering the sacred edifice, the eye is at once fettered and dazzled by the magnificence it meets. Pillars, walls, floor, and ceiling, all of the costliest marble; a great barrier, three feet high, and of wrought silver, in front of the sanctuary, and behind it pictures of saints, partly cut out, according to the Russian fashion, and having head, neck, and breast, as well as the frames, studded with precious stones of great price. Various trophies, conquered in the wars with Turks and French, decorate the Church ; amongst others, the marshal's baton of Davoust, the sight of which once incited a Frenchman, fanaticised by false patriotism, to commit a church robbery. He was detected ; and although the offence is one of those most severely punished in Russia, the authorities contented themselves, in consideration of the extenuating motive, with sending him out of the country.

From the Kasansky you drive through the Morskoy, paved, like the ISTewsky, with wood, to the Etdt Major*, one of the handsomest buildings in St. Petersburg, opposite to which, on an immense open square, stands the enormous Alexander's Pillar. Thence you proceed to the sumptuous Winter Palace, whence the view over the Neva, Wasili-Ostrow, and the Petersburg bank, is exceedingly fine. Going down the quay, you reach the Champ de Mars, of such vast extent, that I once saw the Emperor pass in review there a body of 80,000 men of all arms. Whoever has had the opportunity of seeing the Russian guards manoeuvre, will assuredly hesitate before expressing German contempt of those " barbarous hordes." Several days are requisite for even a superficial examination of the principal sculptural and architectural monuments of the city. Then it is the turn of St. Petersburg's charming environs; — Sarskoje-Selo, Jelagyn, and Peterhof, the summer residence of the Court, whose beauty borders on the fabulous. Thence comes a visit to Apothecary's Island, with its wonderful botanical garden, in whose immense con-

* Generalstah, military headquarters, offices of the staff : in England, the Horse-Guards is the only analogous establishment. — T.

servatories one fancies oneself transported to the tropics. To the intelligent zeal of the court-gardener, Mr. Tellmann, a German, these hot-houses are indebted for a care and development which renders them probably unsurpassed by similar establishments in any country of the world. At any rate, nothing of the kind that I have seen in Potsdam, Vienna, and Paris, can bear comparison with them. From Apothecary's Island you reach Kamini-Ostrow, thence proceed to Petrowsky, and so from one island to another, each surpassing its neighbour in the beauty of its plantations and elegance of its summer villas. Certainly art alone is to be thanked for all this beauty and bloom in the far north of Europe, where nature does nothing ; equally certain is it that the glory of these lovely gardens lasts at most but ten or twelve weeks. Not on that account, however, are we to withhold our recognition of the Beautiful, wheresoever we find it : but rather prize and appreciate it the more, because our enjoyment of it is to be so brief. And assuredly the stranger, crossing for the first time the bridge of Kamini-Ostrow, pausing in its centre, and looking right and left at the lovely villas, built in the most graceful Italian style, and embedded in luxuriant vegetation and beauteous flowers, may well imagine, as his astonished gaze wanders over the shores of the arm of the Neva, that he has been suddenly transported to the seductive banks of Arno or of Brenta. These islands are the summer abode of the inhabitants of the capital ; where no one, whose business will possibly admit his absence, ever remains between the beginning of June and the end of August.

The oppressive heat, combined with the intolerable dust, and, above all, the pestiferous exhalations of the canals, drive every one forth. These canals, of great width, and encased in handsome granite quays, are very ornamental to the city ; but they render residence there during the hot season perfect torture. Accordingly, towards the end of May, all make their escape ; and if I have already had occasion to praise the hospitality of the town, I must now admit it to be surpassed by that exercised in the country. There it is a common practice for whole families to quarter themselves, unexpected and uninvited, upon their friends and acquaintances, bringing with them their servants, horses, and dogs. They are always heartily welcome, kindly received, and hospitably entertained ; and their departure is sincerely deplored, though it occur only after many weeks' stay. The rural amusements are walks and rides, bathing, bals champetres, fire-works, — which are let off almost every evening, especially towards the beginning of autumn, — music, singing, somewhat more conversation than in town, because less time is passed at cards, somewhat less reading, because one is almost constantly out of doors. Gambling, however, is not entirely given up, and moreover the abstinence in summer is amply compensated by the winter's excess. With the exception of Mexico, there is assuredly in no place in the world more gambling than here. True, that games of chance are strictly prohibited, and are played neither in public places nor at private clubs ; but games of skill, especially preference, are played so abominably high that scarcely an evening passes, in the winter-time, without a few hundred thousand rubles banco exchanging hands at the card-tables of the English club and other establishments of the kind. These profuse and habitual gamblers play, especially the Russians, with wonderful coolness, and with the utmost apparent indifference as to the result.

A circumstance that comes greatly in aid to the hospitality of the Petersburgers, is the abundance of provisions and their consequent cheapness. One can hardly form an idea of the plenty that prevails. On Twelfth Day, when midnight chimes, the peasants of the whole empire set out upon their sledges, well packed with fish, flesh, game, and preserved fruits, which latter are nowhere so well prepared and of such good flavour as in Russia, and repair to the towns, especially to St. Petersburg, often performing journeys of 2000 or 3000 versts. There they usually sell their goods at very advantageous prices, and then, in large caravans, in high spirits, and somewhat elevated by drink, retrace their steps homewards. These journeys, however, take place only in what are called fine winters, by which the Russians understand a steady cold of 20° to 24° Reaumur. Then the sledging paths are firm and smooth ; the peasants' little horses, not bigger than a bull of a year and a half old, drag them briskly and without fatigue to the capital, where their eatables arrive fresh and in good order. If, upon the other hand, a thaw sets in, these poor people are greatly to be pitied. The results of their year's toil are inevitably lost to them. And even when it freezes again directly, so that the provisions reach their journey's end seemingly well preserved, the thaw has nevertheless caused distrust as to the state of the meat, and sale and price are alik^ diminished. With respect to fish not the slightest deception can take place, for the Russian knows by the very first look at the fish's eye, and by pressing it gently with his finger, whether the fish has been thawed, and if it has he will not purchase it at any price. In remarkably mild winters, when there are frequent intermissions of thaw and frost,— as happened, for instance, in the winter of 1841-2, — the police institute a rigid examination of the provisions before they are allowed to enter the city. And so it came to pass that in that unfortunate winter, many hundreds of sledges were excluded from St. Petersburg, their contents were thrown into the water or buried in the earth, and their unhappy owners had no choice but to sell horse, sledge, and harness, and to retrace on foot, sorrowful and a-hungerecl, the weary journey to their distant homes. Happily such bad (mild) winters are of very rare occurrence. The one I have just referred to, during which the Neva twice thawed and twice again was frozen, was unparalleled in the memory of the oldest man in St. Petersburg.