August 18, 2025 • 28 mins
In Memoirs of a Revolutionist, Vol. 1, Peter Kropotkin, a notable Russian anarcho-communist and scientist, invites readers into his captivating life journey. This autobiography not only chronicles his personal experiences but also sheds light on the intricate tapestry of 19th-century Russian society and politics. Born into nobility and educated in the military, Kropotkin ultimately rejected the values of his social class to champion anti-authoritarian socialism, standing against both the Tsarist regime and the authoritarian Bolsheviks. With a diverse range of interests spanning literature, biology, economics, and geographical exploration, Kropotkins memoirs begin with his childhood and education, leading to his transformative time in Siberia. (Introduction by Elin)
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
The Corps of Pages, chapter nine of Memoirs of a Revolutionist,
Volume one by Peter Kropotkin. This LibriVox recording is in
the public domain. Recording by Eelin. In June eighteen sixty one,
I was nominated sergeant of the Corps of Pages. Some
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of our officers, I must say, did not like the
idea of it, saying that there would be no discipline
with me acting as a sergeant, but it could not
be helped. It was usually the first pupil of the
upper form who was nominated sergeant, and I had been
at the top of our form for several years in succession.
This appointment was considered very enviable, not only because the
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sergeant occupied a privileged position in the school and was
treated like an officer, but especially because he was also
the past de champ of the Emperor for the time being,
and to be personally known to the Emperor was of
course considered as a stepping stone to further distinctions. The
most important point to me was, however, that it freed
me from all the drudgery of the inner service of
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the school which fell on the pas de champre, and
that I should have for my studies a separate room
where I could isolate myself from the bustle of the school. True,
there was also an important drawback to it. I had
always found it tedious to pace up and down many
times a day the whole length of our rooms, and
used therefore to run the distance full speed, which was
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severely prohibited. And now I should have to walk very
solemnly with the service book under my arm, instead of running.
A consultation was even held among a few friends of
mine upon this serious matter, and it was decided that
from time to time I could still find opportunities to
take my favorite runs. As to my relations with all
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the others, it depended upon myself to put them on
a new comrade like footing. In this I did the past.
De Champre had to be at the Palace frequently in
attendance at the great and small the balls, the receptions,
the gala dinners, and so on. During Christmas, New Year
and Easter weeks, we were summoned to the Palace almost
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every day, and sometimes twice a day. Moreover, in my
military capacity of sergeant, I had to report to the
Emperor every Sunday at the parade and the riding school
that all was well at the company of the corps
of pages, even when one third of the school was
ill of some contagious disease. Shall I not report to
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day that all is not quite well? I asked the
colonel on this occasion. God bless you, was his reply.
You ought only to say so if there were an insurrection.
Court life has undoubtedly much set his picturesque about it,
with its elegant refinement of manners. Superficial though it may be,
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its strict etiquette and its brilliant surroundings, it is certainly
meant to be impressive. A great livier is a fine patient,
and even the simple reception of a few ladies by
the Empress becomes quite different from a common call when
it takes place in a richly decorated drawing room of
the palace, the guests ushered in by chamberlains in gold
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embroidered uniforms, the hostess, followed by brilliantly dressed pages and
a suite of ladies, and everything conducted with striking solemnity.
To be an actor in the court ceremonies in attendance
upon the chief personages offered something more than the mere
interest of curiosity. For a boy my age. Besides, I
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then looked upon Alexander the Second as a sort of hero,
a man who attached no importance to the court ceremonies,
but who, at this period of his reign, began his
working day at six in the morning and was engaged
in a hard struggle with a powerful reactionary party in
order to carry through a series of reforms in which
the abolition of serfdom was only the first step. But gradually,
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as I saw more of the spectacular signe of court life,
and caught now and then a glimpse of what was
going on behind the scenes, I realized not only the
futility of these shows and the things they were intended
to conceal, but also that these small things so much
absorbed the court as to prevent consideration of matters of
far greater importance. The realities were often lost in the acting.
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And then from Alexander the Second himself slowly faded the
aureole with which my imagination had surrounded him, so that
by the end of the year, even if at the
outset I had cherished some illusions as the useful activity
in the spheres nearest to the Palace, I should have
retained none on every important holiday, as also on the
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birthdays and name days of the Emperor and Empress. On
the coronation day and on other similar occasions, a great
levier was held at the palace. Thousands of generals and
officers of all ranks down to that of captain, as
well as the high functionaries of the civil service, were
arranged in lines in the immense halls of the palace
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to bow at the passage of the Emperor and his
family as they solemnly proceeded to the church. All the
members of the imperial family came on those days to
the palace, meeting together in a drawing room and merrily
chatting till the moment arrived for putting on the mask
of solemnity. Then the column was formed. The Emperor, giving
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his hand to the Empress, opened the march. He was
followed by his pas de champre, and he in turned
by the general aide de camp, the aide de camp
on duty that day, and the Minister of the Imperial Household,
while the Empress, or rather the immense train of her dress,
was attended by her two pas de champre, who had
to support the train at the turnings. And to spread
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it out again in all its beauty. The hare Apparent,
who was a young man of eighteen, and all the
other grand dukes and Duchesses came next in the order
of their right of success to the throne. Each of
the grand duchesses followed by her past de champ. And
there was a long procession of the ladies in attendance,
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old and young, all wearing the so called Russian costume,
that is, an evening dress which was supposed to resemble
the costume worn by the women of old Russia. As
the procession passed, I could see how each of the
eldest military and civil functionaries, before making his bow, would
try to catch the eye of the Emperor, and if
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he had his bow acknowledged by a smiling look of
the Czar, or by a hardly perceptible nod of the head,
or perchance by a word or two, he would look
round upon his neighbors, full of pride in the expectation
of their congratulations from the church. The procession returned in
the same way, and then every one hurried back to
his own affairs. Apart from a few devotees and some
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young ladies, not one in ten present at these lives
regarded them otherwise than as a tedious duty. Twice or
thrice during the winter, great balls were given at the palace,
and thousands of people were invited to them. After the
Emperor had opened the dances with the polonaise, full liberty
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was left to everyone to enjoy the time as he liked.
There was plenty of room in the immense, brightly illuminated halls,
where young girls were easily lost to the watchful eyes
of their parents and dants, and many thoroughly enjoyed the
dances and the supper, during which the young people managed
to be left to themselves. My duties at these balls
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were rather difficult. Alexander the Second did not dance, nor
did he sit down, but he moved all the time
Amongst his guests, his Bacht Dechamp were having to follow
him at a distance, so as to be within easy call,
and yet not inconveniently near. This combination of presents with
absence was not easy to attain, nor did the Emperor
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require it. He would have preferred to be left entirely
to himself, but such was the tradition, and he had
to submit to it. The worst was when he entered
a dense crowd of ladies who stood round the circle
in which the grand Dukes danced and slowly circulated among them.
It was not at all easy to make a way
through this living garden, which opened to give passage to
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the Emperor, but closed in immediately behind him. Instead of
dancing themselves, hundreds of ladies and girls stood there, closely packed,
each in the expectation that one of the grand Dukes
would perhaps notice her and invite her to dance a
waltz or a polka. Such was the influence of the
court upon Saint Petersburg's society, that if one of the
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grand Dukes cast his eye upon a girl, her parents
would do all in their power to make the child
fall madly in love with a great personage, even though
they knew well that no marriage could result from it,
the Russian grand Dukes not being allowed to marry subjects
of the Czar. The conversations which I once heard in
irrespectable family connected with the court after the hare apparent
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had danced twice or thrice with a girl of seventeen,
and the hopes which were expressed by her parents surpassed
all that I could possibly have imagined. Every time that
we were at the palace, we had lunch or dinner there,
and the footmen would whisper to us bits of news
from the scandalous chronicle of the place. Whether we cared
for it or not, they knew everything that was going
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on in the different palaces that was their domain. For
truth's sake, I must say that during the year which
I speak of, that sort of chronicle was not as
rich in events as it became in the seventies. The
brothers of the Tsar were only recently married, and his
sons were all very young. But the relations of the
Emperor himself for the Princess ax whom Turgeneff had so
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admirably depicted in the Smoke under the name of Irene,
were even more freely spoken of by the servants than
by Saint Petersburg's society. One. However, when we entered the
room where we used to dress, we were told the
ex has to day got her dismissal a complete one.
This time. Half an hour later we saw the lady
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in question coming to assist at mass, with her eyes
swollen from weeping and swallowing her tears during the mass,
while the other ladies managed so to stand at a
distance from her as to put her in evidence. The
footmen were already informed about the incident and commented upon
it in their own way. There was something cruelly repulsive
in the talk of these men, who the day before
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would have crouched down before the same lady. The system
of espionaut which is exercised in the palace, especially around
the Emperor himself, would seem almost incredible to the uninitiated.
The following incident will give some idea of it. A
few years later, one of the Grand Dukes received a
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severe lesson from a Saint Petersburg gentleman. The latter had
forbidden the Grand Duke his house, but returning home unexpectedly,
he found him in his drawing room and rushed upon
him with his lifted stick. The young man dashed down
the staircase and was already jumping into his carriage when
the pursuer caught him and dealt him a blow with
a stick. The policeman who stood at the door saw
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the adventure and ran to report it to the chief
of the police, General Trepov, who in his turn jumped
into his carriage and hastened to the Emperor to be
the first to report this sad incident. Alexander the Second
summoned the Grand Duke and had a talk with him.
A couple of days later, an old functionary who belonged
to the third section of the Emperor's chancery, that is,
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to the State Police, and who was a friend at
the house of one of my comrades, related the whole conversation.
The Emperor, he informed us, was very angry and said
to the Grand Duke in conclusion, you should know better
how to manage your little affairs. He was asked, of course,
how he could know anything about private conversation, but the
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reply was very characteristic. The words in the opinions of
his Majesty must be known to our department. How otherwise
could such a delicate institution as the State Police be managed?
Be sure that the Emperor is the most closely watched
person in all Saint Petersburg. There was no boasting in
these words. Every minister, every governor general, before entering the
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Emperor's study with his reports, had a talk with the
private valet of the Emperor to know what was the
mood of the Master that day, and according to that mood,
he either laid before him some naughty affair, or let
it lie at the bottom of his portfolio in hope
of a more lucky day. The Governor General of East Siberia,
when he came to Saint Petersburg, always send as private
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aide de camp with a handsome gift to the private
valet of the Emperor. There are days, he used to say,
when the Emperor would get into a rage and order
a searching inquest upon every whey, and myself, if I
should lay before him on such a day, certain reports.
Whether there are other days when all will go off
quite smoothly? A precious man, that valid is to know
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from day to day. The frame of mind of the
Emperor was the substantial part of the art of retaining
a high position, an art which later on Count Schuvalov
and General Typov understood the perfection. Also Count Ignatiev, who
I suppose from what I saw of him, possessed that
art even without the help of the valet. At the
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beginning of my service I felt a great admiration for
Alexander the Second, the liberator of the serfs. Imagination often
carries a boy beyond the realities of the moment, and
my frame of mind at that time was such that
if an attempt had been made in my presence upon
the Tsar, I should have covered him with my body.
One day, at the beginning of January eighteen sixty two,
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I saw him leave the procession and rapidly walk alone
toward the hall, were parts of all the regiments of
the Saint Petersburg Garrison were aligned for a parade. This
parade usually took place outdoors, but this year, on account
of the frost, it was held indoors, and Alexander the Second,
who generally galloped at full speed in front of the
troops at the reviews, had now to march in front
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of the regiments. I knew that my court duties ended
as soon as the Emperor appeared in his capacity of
military commander of the troops, and that I had to
follow him to this spot, but no further. However, on
looking round, I saw that he was quite alone. The
two aids de camp had disappeared, and there was with
him not a single man of his suite. I will
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not leave him alone, I said to myself, and followed him.
Whether Alexander the Second was in a great hurry that day,
or had other reasons to wish that the review should
be over as soon as possible. I cannot say, but
he dashed in front of the troops and marched along
the rows at such as speed, making such big and rapids.
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He was very tall that I had the greatest difficulty
in following him at my roast rapid pace, and in
places had almost to run in order to keep close
behind him. He hurried as if he ran away from
a danger. His excitement communicated itself to me, and every
moment I was ready to jump in front of him,
regretting only that I had on my ordinance sword and
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not my own sword with a Toledo blade, which pierced
Copper's and was a far better weapon. It was only
after he had passed in front of the last battalion
that he slackened his pace, and, on entering another hall,
looked round to meet my eyes, glittering with the excitement
of that mad march. The younger Aide de camp was
running at full speed two halls behind. I was prepared
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to get a severe scolding, instead of which Alexander the
Second said to me, perhaps betraying his own inner thoughts,
you here, brave boy, And as he slowly walked away.
He turned in dispace that problematic, absent minded gaze which
I had begun often to notice. Such was then the
attitude of my mind. However, various small incidents, as well
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as the reactionary character which the policy of Alexander the
second was decidedly taking, instilled more and more doubts into
my heart. Every year, on January sixth, a half Christian
and half pagan ceremony of sanctifying the Waters is performed
in Russia. It is also performed at the Palace. A
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pavilion is built on the Nieva River opposite the palace,
and the imperial family, headed by the clergy, proceed from
the Palace across the superb Quay to the pavilion, where
a tideum is sung and the cross is plunged into
the water of the river. Thousands of people stand on
the quay and on the ice of the Nieva to
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witness the ceremony from a distance. All have to stand
bareheaded during the service. This year, as the frost was
weather shot, an old general had put on a wig,
and in the hurry of drawing on his cape, his
wig had been dislodged, and now lay across his head
without his noticing it. The Grand Duke Constantine, having caught
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sight of it, laughed the whole time that tidum was
being sung, with the younger grand Dukes looking in the
direction of the unhappy general, who smiled stupidly, without knowing
why he was the cause of so much hilarity. Constantine
finally whispered to the Emperor, who also looked at the
general and laughed. A few minutes later, as the procession
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once more crossed the quay on its way back to
the palace, an old peasant, bareheaded too, pushed himself through
the double hedge of soldiers who lined the path of
the procession, and fell on his knees just at the
feet of the Emperor, holding out a petition and crying
with tears in his eyes. Father defend us ages of
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oppression of the Russian peasantry was in this exclamation. But
Alexander the Second, who a few minutes before laughed during
the church service at a whig lying the wrong way,
now passed by the peasant without taking the slightest notice
of him. I was close behind him and only saw
in him a shudder of fear at the sudden appearance
of the peasant, after which he went on without deigning
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even to cast a glance on the human figure at
his feet. I looked round the Eid de camp were
not there. The Grand Duke Constantine, who followed, took no
more notice of the peasant than his brother did. There
was nobody even to take the petition, so that I
took it, although I knew that I should get a
scolding for doing so. It was not my business to
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receive petitions, but I remembered what it must have caused
the peasant before he could make his way to the capital,
and then through the lines of police and soldiers who
surrounded the procession. Like all peasants who had petitions to
the Czar, he was going to be put under arrest
for no one knows how long. On the day of
the emancipation of the serfs, Alexander the second was worshiped
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at Saint Petersburg. But it is most remarkable that, apart
from that moment of general enthusiasm, he had not the
love of the city. His brother Nicholas, no one could
say why, was at least very popular among the small
tradespeople and the cabmen, But neither Alexander the second, nor
his brother Constantine, the leader of the Reform Party, nor
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his third brother Michael, had run the hearts of any
class of people in Saint Petersburg. Alexander the second had
retained too much of the despotic character of his father,
which pierced now and then through his usually good natured manners.
He easily lost his temper and often treated his courtiers
in the most contemptuous way. He was not what one
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would describe as a reliable man, either in his policy
or in his personal sympathies, and he was vindictive. I
doubt whether he was sincerely attached to any Some of
the men in his nearest surroundings were of the worst description.
Count Adlerbergh, for instance, who made him pay over and
over again his enormous debts, and others renowned for their
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colossal thefts. From the beginning of eighteen sixty two, he
commenced to show himself capable of reviving the worst practices
of his father's reign. It was known that he still
wanted to carry through a series of important reforms in
the judicial organization and in the army, that the terrible
corporal punishments were about to be abolished, and that a
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sort of local self government and perhaps a constitution of
some sort, would be granted. But the slightest disturbance was
repressed under his orders with a stern severity. He took
each movement as a personal offense, so that at any
moment one might expect from him the most reactionary measures.
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The disorders which broke out at the universities of Saint Petersburg,
Moscow and Kazan in October eighteen sixty one were oppressed
with an ever increasing strictness. The University of Saint Petersburg
was closed, and although free courses were opened by most
of the professors at the town hall, they also were
soon closed, and the best professors left the university. Immediately
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after the abolition of serfdom, a great movement began for
the opening of Sunday schools. They were opened everywhere by
private persons and corporations, all the teachers being volunteers, and
the peasants and workers old and young, flocked to these schools. Officers, students,
even a few pages became teachers, and such excellent methods
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were worked out that Russian, having a phonetic spelling, we
succeeded in teaching a peasant to read in nine or
ten lessons. But suddenly all Sunday schools, in which the
mass of the peasantry would have learned to read in
a few years without any expenditure by the state, were closed.
In Poland, where a series of patriotic manifestations had begun,
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the Cossacks were sent out to disperse the crowds with
their whips and to arrest hundreds of people in the churches.
With their usual brutality, men were shot in the streets
of Warsaw by the end of eighteen sixty one, and
for the suppression of the few peasant insurrections which broke
out the horrible flogging through the double line of soldiers,
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that favorite punishment of Nicholas the First was applied the
despot that Alexander the Second became in the years eighteen
seventy to eighty one was foreshadowed in eighteen sixty two.
Of all the imperial family, undoubtedly the most sympathetic was
the Empress Marie Alexandrovna. She was sincere, and when she
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said something pleasant, she meant it the way in which
she once thanked me for a little courtesy. It was
after her reception of the ambassador of the United States,
who had just come to Saint Petersburg, deeply impressed me.
It was not the way of a lady spoiled by courtesies,
as an empress is supposed to be. She certainly was
not happy in her home life, nor was she liked
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by the ladies of the court, who found her too
severe and could not understand why she should take so
much to heart the etauderie of her husband. It is
now known that she played a by no means unimportant
part in bringing about the abolition of serfdom, but at
that time her influence in this direction seems to have
been little known. The Grand Duke Constantine and the Grand
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Duchess Helene Pavlovna, who was the main support of Nicholas
Milutin at the court, being considered the two leaders of
the reform party and the palace fairs. The Empress was
better known for the decisive part she had taken in
the creation of girls Gymnasia high schools, which received from
the outset a high standard of organization and a truly
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democratic character. Her friendly relations with Ushinski, a great pedagogist,
saved him from sharing the fate of all men of
Mark at that time, that is, being very well educated herself,
Marie Alexandrovna did her best to give a good education
to her eldest son. The best men in all branches
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of knowledge were sought as teachers, and she even invited
for that purpose Cavelin, although she knew well his friendly
relations with Hudson. When he mentioned to her that friendship,
she replied that she had no grudge against Hudson, except
for his violent language about the Empress Dowager. The hair
Apparent was extremely handsome, perhaps even too femininely handsome. He
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was not proud at the least, and during the levis
he used to chatter in the most comrade like way
with the Page de Champre. I even remember at the
reception of the Diplomatic Corps on New Year's Day, trying
to make him appreciate the simplicity of the uniform of
the Ambassador of the United States as compared with the
parrot colored uniforms of the other ambassadors. However, those who
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knew him well described him as profoundly a reguistic, a
man absolutely incapable of contracting an attachment to any one.
This feature was prominent in him, even more than it
was in his father. As to his education, all the
pains taken by his mother were of no avail. In
August eighteen sixty one, his examinations, which were made in
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the presence of his father, proved to be a dead failure.
And I remember Alexander the Second at a parade of
which the hair Apparent was the commander, and during which
he made some mistake, loudly shouting out so that every
one would hear it, even that you could not learn.
He died, as is known, at the age of twenty two,
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from some disease of the spinal cord. His brother Alexander,
who became the hair apparent in eighteen sixty five and
later on was Alexander the Third, was a decided contrast
to Nikolay Alexandrovitch. He reminded me so much of Paul
the First, by his face, his figure, and his contemplation
of his own grandear, that I used to say, if
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he ever reigns, he will be another Paul the First
in the Gatchina Palace and will have the same end
as his great grandfather had at the hands of his
own courtiers. He obstinately refused to learn, having had so
many difficulties with his brother Constantine, who was better educated
than himself, adopted the policy of concentrating all his attention
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on the hair apparent and neglecting the education of his
other sons. However, I doubt if such was the case,
Alexander Alexandrovitch must have been averse to any education from childhood.
In fact, his spelling, which I saw in the telegrams
he had dressed to his bride at Copenhagen, was unimaginably bad.
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I cannot render here his Russian spelling, but in French
he wrote ecrie a uncle appopopiad le nouvel so morvaise
and so on. He is said to have improved in
his manners toward the end of his life, But in
eighteen seventy and also much later he was a true
descendant of Paul the First. I knew at Saint petersburgen
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officer of Swedish origin from Finland who had been sent
to the United States to order rifles for the Russian Army.
On his return, he had to report about his mission
to Alexander Alexandrovitch, who had been appointed to superintend the
re arming of the army. During this interview, the Tsarevich,
giving full vent to his violent temper, began to scold
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the officer, who probably replied with dignity, whereupon the Prince
fell into a real fit of rage, insulting the officer
in bad language. The officer, who belonged to that type
of very loyal but self respecting men who were frequently
met with amongst the Swedish nobility in Russia, left at
once and wrote a letter in which he asked the
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heir apparent to apologize within twenty four hours, adding that
if the apology did not come, he would shoot himself.
It was a sort of Japanese duel. Alexander Alexandrovitch sent
no excuse, and the officer kept his word. I saw
him at the house of a warm friend of mine,
his intimate friend, when he was expecting every minute to
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receive the apology. Next morning he was dead. The Czar
was very angry with his son and ordered him to
follow the hearse of the officer to the grave. But
even this terrible lesson did not cure the young man
of his Romanov haughtiness and impetuosity. End of the corps
of pages, Chapter nine,
The Corps of Pages, chapter nine of Memoirs of a Revolutionist,
Volume one by Peter Kropotkin. This LibriVox recording is in
the public domain. Recording by Eelin. In June eighteen sixty one,
I was nominated sergeant of the Corps of Pages. Some
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of our officers, I must say, did not like the
idea of it, saying that there would be no discipline
with me acting as a sergeant, but it could not
be helped. It was usually the first pupil of the
upper form who was nominated sergeant, and I had been
at the top of our form for several years in succession.
This appointment was considered very enviable, not only because the
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sergeant occupied a privileged position in the school and was
treated like an officer, but especially because he was also
the past de champ of the Emperor for the time being,
and to be personally known to the Emperor was of
course considered as a stepping stone to further distinctions. The
most important point to me was, however, that it freed
me from all the drudgery of the inner service of
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the school which fell on the pas de champre, and
that I should have for my studies a separate room
where I could isolate myself from the bustle of the school. True,
there was also an important drawback to it. I had
always found it tedious to pace up and down many
times a day the whole length of our rooms, and
used therefore to run the distance full speed, which was
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severely prohibited. And now I should have to walk very
solemnly with the service book under my arm, instead of running.
A consultation was even held among a few friends of
mine upon this serious matter, and it was decided that
from time to time I could still find opportunities to
take my favorite runs. As to my relations with all
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the others, it depended upon myself to put them on
a new comrade like footing. In this I did the past.
De Champre had to be at the Palace frequently in
attendance at the great and small the balls, the receptions,
the gala dinners, and so on. During Christmas, New Year
and Easter weeks, we were summoned to the Palace almost
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every day, and sometimes twice a day. Moreover, in my
military capacity of sergeant, I had to report to the
Emperor every Sunday at the parade and the riding school
that all was well at the company of the corps
of pages, even when one third of the school was
ill of some contagious disease. Shall I not report to
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day that all is not quite well? I asked the
colonel on this occasion. God bless you, was his reply.
You ought only to say so if there were an insurrection.
Court life has undoubtedly much set his picturesque about it,
with its elegant refinement of manners. Superficial though it may be,
(02:51):
its strict etiquette and its brilliant surroundings, it is certainly
meant to be impressive. A great livier is a fine patient,
and even the simple reception of a few ladies by
the Empress becomes quite different from a common call when
it takes place in a richly decorated drawing room of
the palace, the guests ushered in by chamberlains in gold
(03:13):
embroidered uniforms, the hostess, followed by brilliantly dressed pages and
a suite of ladies, and everything conducted with striking solemnity.
To be an actor in the court ceremonies in attendance
upon the chief personages offered something more than the mere
interest of curiosity. For a boy my age. Besides, I
(03:34):
then looked upon Alexander the Second as a sort of hero,
a man who attached no importance to the court ceremonies,
but who, at this period of his reign, began his
working day at six in the morning and was engaged
in a hard struggle with a powerful reactionary party in
order to carry through a series of reforms in which
the abolition of serfdom was only the first step. But gradually,
(03:57):
as I saw more of the spectacular signe of court life,
and caught now and then a glimpse of what was
going on behind the scenes, I realized not only the
futility of these shows and the things they were intended
to conceal, but also that these small things so much
absorbed the court as to prevent consideration of matters of
far greater importance. The realities were often lost in the acting.
(04:22):
And then from Alexander the Second himself slowly faded the
aureole with which my imagination had surrounded him, so that
by the end of the year, even if at the
outset I had cherished some illusions as the useful activity
in the spheres nearest to the Palace, I should have
retained none on every important holiday, as also on the
(04:43):
birthdays and name days of the Emperor and Empress. On
the coronation day and on other similar occasions, a great
levier was held at the palace. Thousands of generals and
officers of all ranks down to that of captain, as
well as the high functionaries of the civil service, were
arranged in lines in the immense halls of the palace
(05:05):
to bow at the passage of the Emperor and his
family as they solemnly proceeded to the church. All the
members of the imperial family came on those days to
the palace, meeting together in a drawing room and merrily
chatting till the moment arrived for putting on the mask
of solemnity. Then the column was formed. The Emperor, giving
(05:26):
his hand to the Empress, opened the march. He was
followed by his pas de champre, and he in turned
by the general aide de camp, the aide de camp
on duty that day, and the Minister of the Imperial Household,
while the Empress, or rather the immense train of her dress,
was attended by her two pas de champre, who had
to support the train at the turnings. And to spread
(05:48):
it out again in all its beauty. The hare Apparent,
who was a young man of eighteen, and all the
other grand dukes and Duchesses came next in the order
of their right of success to the throne. Each of
the grand duchesses followed by her past de champ. And
there was a long procession of the ladies in attendance,
(06:08):
old and young, all wearing the so called Russian costume,
that is, an evening dress which was supposed to resemble
the costume worn by the women of old Russia. As
the procession passed, I could see how each of the
eldest military and civil functionaries, before making his bow, would
try to catch the eye of the Emperor, and if
(06:29):
he had his bow acknowledged by a smiling look of
the Czar, or by a hardly perceptible nod of the head,
or perchance by a word or two, he would look
round upon his neighbors, full of pride in the expectation
of their congratulations from the church. The procession returned in
the same way, and then every one hurried back to
his own affairs. Apart from a few devotees and some
(06:52):
young ladies, not one in ten present at these lives
regarded them otherwise than as a tedious duty. Twice or
thrice during the winter, great balls were given at the palace,
and thousands of people were invited to them. After the
Emperor had opened the dances with the polonaise, full liberty
(07:13):
was left to everyone to enjoy the time as he liked.
There was plenty of room in the immense, brightly illuminated halls,
where young girls were easily lost to the watchful eyes
of their parents and dants, and many thoroughly enjoyed the
dances and the supper, during which the young people managed
to be left to themselves. My duties at these balls
(07:34):
were rather difficult. Alexander the Second did not dance, nor
did he sit down, but he moved all the time
Amongst his guests, his Bacht Dechamp were having to follow
him at a distance, so as to be within easy call,
and yet not inconveniently near. This combination of presents with
absence was not easy to attain, nor did the Emperor
(07:55):
require it. He would have preferred to be left entirely
to himself, but such was the tradition, and he had
to submit to it. The worst was when he entered
a dense crowd of ladies who stood round the circle
in which the grand Dukes danced and slowly circulated among them.
It was not at all easy to make a way
through this living garden, which opened to give passage to
(08:17):
the Emperor, but closed in immediately behind him. Instead of
dancing themselves, hundreds of ladies and girls stood there, closely packed,
each in the expectation that one of the grand Dukes
would perhaps notice her and invite her to dance a
waltz or a polka. Such was the influence of the
court upon Saint Petersburg's society, that if one of the
(08:40):
grand Dukes cast his eye upon a girl, her parents
would do all in their power to make the child
fall madly in love with a great personage, even though
they knew well that no marriage could result from it,
the Russian grand Dukes not being allowed to marry subjects
of the Czar. The conversations which I once heard in
irrespectable family connected with the court after the hare apparent
(09:03):
had danced twice or thrice with a girl of seventeen,
and the hopes which were expressed by her parents surpassed
all that I could possibly have imagined. Every time that
we were at the palace, we had lunch or dinner there,
and the footmen would whisper to us bits of news
from the scandalous chronicle of the place. Whether we cared
for it or not, they knew everything that was going
(09:27):
on in the different palaces that was their domain. For
truth's sake, I must say that during the year which
I speak of, that sort of chronicle was not as
rich in events as it became in the seventies. The
brothers of the Tsar were only recently married, and his
sons were all very young. But the relations of the
Emperor himself for the Princess ax whom Turgeneff had so
(09:49):
admirably depicted in the Smoke under the name of Irene,
were even more freely spoken of by the servants than
by Saint Petersburg's society. One. However, when we entered the
room where we used to dress, we were told the
ex has to day got her dismissal a complete one.
This time. Half an hour later we saw the lady
(10:10):
in question coming to assist at mass, with her eyes
swollen from weeping and swallowing her tears during the mass,
while the other ladies managed so to stand at a
distance from her as to put her in evidence. The
footmen were already informed about the incident and commented upon
it in their own way. There was something cruelly repulsive
in the talk of these men, who the day before
(10:33):
would have crouched down before the same lady. The system
of espionaut which is exercised in the palace, especially around
the Emperor himself, would seem almost incredible to the uninitiated.
The following incident will give some idea of it. A
few years later, one of the Grand Dukes received a
(10:54):
severe lesson from a Saint Petersburg gentleman. The latter had
forbidden the Grand Duke his house, but returning home unexpectedly,
he found him in his drawing room and rushed upon
him with his lifted stick. The young man dashed down
the staircase and was already jumping into his carriage when
the pursuer caught him and dealt him a blow with
a stick. The policeman who stood at the door saw
(11:17):
the adventure and ran to report it to the chief
of the police, General Trepov, who in his turn jumped
into his carriage and hastened to the Emperor to be
the first to report this sad incident. Alexander the Second
summoned the Grand Duke and had a talk with him.
A couple of days later, an old functionary who belonged
to the third section of the Emperor's chancery, that is,
(11:40):
to the State Police, and who was a friend at
the house of one of my comrades, related the whole conversation.
The Emperor, he informed us, was very angry and said
to the Grand Duke in conclusion, you should know better
how to manage your little affairs. He was asked, of course,
how he could know anything about private conversation, but the
(12:02):
reply was very characteristic. The words in the opinions of
his Majesty must be known to our department. How otherwise
could such a delicate institution as the State Police be managed?
Be sure that the Emperor is the most closely watched
person in all Saint Petersburg. There was no boasting in
these words. Every minister, every governor general, before entering the
(12:26):
Emperor's study with his reports, had a talk with the
private valet of the Emperor to know what was the
mood of the Master that day, and according to that mood,
he either laid before him some naughty affair, or let
it lie at the bottom of his portfolio in hope
of a more lucky day. The Governor General of East Siberia,
when he came to Saint Petersburg, always send as private
(12:48):
aide de camp with a handsome gift to the private
valet of the Emperor. There are days, he used to say,
when the Emperor would get into a rage and order
a searching inquest upon every whey, and myself, if I
should lay before him on such a day, certain reports.
Whether there are other days when all will go off
quite smoothly? A precious man, that valid is to know
(13:12):
from day to day. The frame of mind of the
Emperor was the substantial part of the art of retaining
a high position, an art which later on Count Schuvalov
and General Typov understood the perfection. Also Count Ignatiev, who
I suppose from what I saw of him, possessed that
art even without the help of the valet. At the
(13:33):
beginning of my service I felt a great admiration for
Alexander the Second, the liberator of the serfs. Imagination often
carries a boy beyond the realities of the moment, and
my frame of mind at that time was such that
if an attempt had been made in my presence upon
the Tsar, I should have covered him with my body.
One day, at the beginning of January eighteen sixty two,
(13:56):
I saw him leave the procession and rapidly walk alone
toward the hall, were parts of all the regiments of
the Saint Petersburg Garrison were aligned for a parade. This
parade usually took place outdoors, but this year, on account
of the frost, it was held indoors, and Alexander the Second,
who generally galloped at full speed in front of the
troops at the reviews, had now to march in front
(14:18):
of the regiments. I knew that my court duties ended
as soon as the Emperor appeared in his capacity of
military commander of the troops, and that I had to
follow him to this spot, but no further. However, on
looking round, I saw that he was quite alone. The
two aids de camp had disappeared, and there was with
him not a single man of his suite. I will
(14:40):
not leave him alone, I said to myself, and followed him.
Whether Alexander the Second was in a great hurry that day,
or had other reasons to wish that the review should
be over as soon as possible. I cannot say, but
he dashed in front of the troops and marched along
the rows at such as speed, making such big and rapids.
(15:00):
He was very tall that I had the greatest difficulty
in following him at my roast rapid pace, and in
places had almost to run in order to keep close
behind him. He hurried as if he ran away from
a danger. His excitement communicated itself to me, and every
moment I was ready to jump in front of him,
regretting only that I had on my ordinance sword and
(15:23):
not my own sword with a Toledo blade, which pierced
Copper's and was a far better weapon. It was only
after he had passed in front of the last battalion
that he slackened his pace, and, on entering another hall,
looked round to meet my eyes, glittering with the excitement
of that mad march. The younger Aide de camp was
running at full speed two halls behind. I was prepared
(15:46):
to get a severe scolding, instead of which Alexander the
Second said to me, perhaps betraying his own inner thoughts,
you here, brave boy, And as he slowly walked away.
He turned in dispace that problematic, absent minded gaze which
I had begun often to notice. Such was then the
attitude of my mind. However, various small incidents, as well
(16:09):
as the reactionary character which the policy of Alexander the
second was decidedly taking, instilled more and more doubts into
my heart. Every year, on January sixth, a half Christian
and half pagan ceremony of sanctifying the Waters is performed
in Russia. It is also performed at the Palace. A
(16:30):
pavilion is built on the Nieva River opposite the palace,
and the imperial family, headed by the clergy, proceed from
the Palace across the superb Quay to the pavilion, where
a tideum is sung and the cross is plunged into
the water of the river. Thousands of people stand on
the quay and on the ice of the Nieva to
(16:51):
witness the ceremony from a distance. All have to stand
bareheaded during the service. This year, as the frost was
weather shot, an old general had put on a wig,
and in the hurry of drawing on his cape, his
wig had been dislodged, and now lay across his head
without his noticing it. The Grand Duke Constantine, having caught
(17:13):
sight of it, laughed the whole time that tidum was
being sung, with the younger grand Dukes looking in the
direction of the unhappy general, who smiled stupidly, without knowing
why he was the cause of so much hilarity. Constantine
finally whispered to the Emperor, who also looked at the
general and laughed. A few minutes later, as the procession
(17:35):
once more crossed the quay on its way back to
the palace, an old peasant, bareheaded too, pushed himself through
the double hedge of soldiers who lined the path of
the procession, and fell on his knees just at the
feet of the Emperor, holding out a petition and crying
with tears in his eyes. Father defend us ages of
(17:57):
oppression of the Russian peasantry was in this exclamation. But
Alexander the Second, who a few minutes before laughed during
the church service at a whig lying the wrong way,
now passed by the peasant without taking the slightest notice
of him. I was close behind him and only saw
in him a shudder of fear at the sudden appearance
of the peasant, after which he went on without deigning
(18:20):
even to cast a glance on the human figure at
his feet. I looked round the Eid de camp were
not there. The Grand Duke Constantine, who followed, took no
more notice of the peasant than his brother did. There
was nobody even to take the petition, so that I
took it, although I knew that I should get a
scolding for doing so. It was not my business to
(18:41):
receive petitions, but I remembered what it must have caused
the peasant before he could make his way to the capital,
and then through the lines of police and soldiers who
surrounded the procession. Like all peasants who had petitions to
the Czar, he was going to be put under arrest
for no one knows how long. On the day of
the emancipation of the serfs, Alexander the second was worshiped
(19:04):
at Saint Petersburg. But it is most remarkable that, apart
from that moment of general enthusiasm, he had not the
love of the city. His brother Nicholas, no one could
say why, was at least very popular among the small
tradespeople and the cabmen, But neither Alexander the second, nor
his brother Constantine, the leader of the Reform Party, nor
(19:27):
his third brother Michael, had run the hearts of any
class of people in Saint Petersburg. Alexander the second had
retained too much of the despotic character of his father,
which pierced now and then through his usually good natured manners.
He easily lost his temper and often treated his courtiers
in the most contemptuous way. He was not what one
(19:50):
would describe as a reliable man, either in his policy
or in his personal sympathies, and he was vindictive. I
doubt whether he was sincerely attached to any Some of
the men in his nearest surroundings were of the worst description.
Count Adlerbergh, for instance, who made him pay over and
over again his enormous debts, and others renowned for their
(20:12):
colossal thefts. From the beginning of eighteen sixty two, he
commenced to show himself capable of reviving the worst practices
of his father's reign. It was known that he still
wanted to carry through a series of important reforms in
the judicial organization and in the army, that the terrible
corporal punishments were about to be abolished, and that a
(20:33):
sort of local self government and perhaps a constitution of
some sort, would be granted. But the slightest disturbance was
repressed under his orders with a stern severity. He took
each movement as a personal offense, so that at any
moment one might expect from him the most reactionary measures.
(20:54):
The disorders which broke out at the universities of Saint Petersburg,
Moscow and Kazan in October eighteen sixty one were oppressed
with an ever increasing strictness. The University of Saint Petersburg
was closed, and although free courses were opened by most
of the professors at the town hall, they also were
soon closed, and the best professors left the university. Immediately
(21:18):
after the abolition of serfdom, a great movement began for
the opening of Sunday schools. They were opened everywhere by
private persons and corporations, all the teachers being volunteers, and
the peasants and workers old and young, flocked to these schools. Officers, students,
even a few pages became teachers, and such excellent methods
(21:41):
were worked out that Russian, having a phonetic spelling, we
succeeded in teaching a peasant to read in nine or
ten lessons. But suddenly all Sunday schools, in which the
mass of the peasantry would have learned to read in
a few years without any expenditure by the state, were closed.
In Poland, where a series of patriotic manifestations had begun,
(22:04):
the Cossacks were sent out to disperse the crowds with
their whips and to arrest hundreds of people in the churches.
With their usual brutality, men were shot in the streets
of Warsaw by the end of eighteen sixty one, and
for the suppression of the few peasant insurrections which broke
out the horrible flogging through the double line of soldiers,
(22:24):
that favorite punishment of Nicholas the First was applied the
despot that Alexander the Second became in the years eighteen
seventy to eighty one was foreshadowed in eighteen sixty two.
Of all the imperial family, undoubtedly the most sympathetic was
the Empress Marie Alexandrovna. She was sincere, and when she
(22:44):
said something pleasant, she meant it the way in which
she once thanked me for a little courtesy. It was
after her reception of the ambassador of the United States,
who had just come to Saint Petersburg, deeply impressed me.
It was not the way of a lady spoiled by courtesies,
as an empress is supposed to be. She certainly was
not happy in her home life, nor was she liked
(23:07):
by the ladies of the court, who found her too
severe and could not understand why she should take so
much to heart the etauderie of her husband. It is
now known that she played a by no means unimportant
part in bringing about the abolition of serfdom, but at
that time her influence in this direction seems to have
been little known. The Grand Duke Constantine and the Grand
(23:29):
Duchess Helene Pavlovna, who was the main support of Nicholas
Milutin at the court, being considered the two leaders of
the reform party and the palace fairs. The Empress was
better known for the decisive part she had taken in
the creation of girls Gymnasia high schools, which received from
the outset a high standard of organization and a truly
(23:49):
democratic character. Her friendly relations with Ushinski, a great pedagogist,
saved him from sharing the fate of all men of
Mark at that time, that is, being very well educated herself,
Marie Alexandrovna did her best to give a good education
to her eldest son. The best men in all branches
(24:10):
of knowledge were sought as teachers, and she even invited
for that purpose Cavelin, although she knew well his friendly
relations with Hudson. When he mentioned to her that friendship,
she replied that she had no grudge against Hudson, except
for his violent language about the Empress Dowager. The hair
Apparent was extremely handsome, perhaps even too femininely handsome. He
(24:34):
was not proud at the least, and during the levis
he used to chatter in the most comrade like way
with the Page de Champre. I even remember at the
reception of the Diplomatic Corps on New Year's Day, trying
to make him appreciate the simplicity of the uniform of
the Ambassador of the United States as compared with the
parrot colored uniforms of the other ambassadors. However, those who
(24:57):
knew him well described him as profoundly a reguistic, a
man absolutely incapable of contracting an attachment to any one.
This feature was prominent in him, even more than it
was in his father. As to his education, all the
pains taken by his mother were of no avail. In
August eighteen sixty one, his examinations, which were made in
(25:19):
the presence of his father, proved to be a dead failure.
And I remember Alexander the Second at a parade of
which the hair Apparent was the commander, and during which
he made some mistake, loudly shouting out so that every
one would hear it, even that you could not learn.
He died, as is known, at the age of twenty two,
(25:39):
from some disease of the spinal cord. His brother Alexander,
who became the hair apparent in eighteen sixty five and
later on was Alexander the Third, was a decided contrast
to Nikolay Alexandrovitch. He reminded me so much of Paul
the First, by his face, his figure, and his contemplation
of his own grandear, that I used to say, if
(26:02):
he ever reigns, he will be another Paul the First
in the Gatchina Palace and will have the same end
as his great grandfather had at the hands of his
own courtiers. He obstinately refused to learn, having had so
many difficulties with his brother Constantine, who was better educated
than himself, adopted the policy of concentrating all his attention
(26:23):
on the hair apparent and neglecting the education of his
other sons. However, I doubt if such was the case,
Alexander Alexandrovitch must have been averse to any education from childhood.
In fact, his spelling, which I saw in the telegrams
he had dressed to his bride at Copenhagen, was unimaginably bad.
(26:44):
I cannot render here his Russian spelling, but in French
he wrote ecrie a uncle appopopiad le nouvel so morvaise
and so on. He is said to have improved in
his manners toward the end of his life, But in
eighteen seventy and also much later he was a true
descendant of Paul the First. I knew at Saint petersburgen
(27:04):
officer of Swedish origin from Finland who had been sent
to the United States to order rifles for the Russian Army.
On his return, he had to report about his mission
to Alexander Alexandrovitch, who had been appointed to superintend the
re arming of the army. During this interview, the Tsarevich,
giving full vent to his violent temper, began to scold
(27:27):
the officer, who probably replied with dignity, whereupon the Prince
fell into a real fit of rage, insulting the officer
in bad language. The officer, who belonged to that type
of very loyal but self respecting men who were frequently
met with amongst the Swedish nobility in Russia, left at
once and wrote a letter in which he asked the
(27:47):
heir apparent to apologize within twenty four hours, adding that
if the apology did not come, he would shoot himself.
It was a sort of Japanese duel. Alexander Alexandrovitch sent
no excuse, and the officer kept his word. I saw
him at the house of a warm friend of mine,
his intimate friend, when he was expecting every minute to
(28:09):
receive the apology. Next morning he was dead. The Czar
was very angry with his son and ordered him to
follow the hearse of the officer to the grave. But
even this terrible lesson did not cure the young man
of his Romanov haughtiness and impetuosity. End of the corps
of pages, Chapter nine,
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