August 18, 2025 • 31 mins
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Chapter two of The Boy Travelers in the Russian Empire.
This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in
the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please
visit LibriVox dot org. Read by Jennifer Beckett Wood. The
Boy Travelers in the Russian Empire by Thomas Wallace Knox,
(00:24):
Chapter two. The sun was setting as our friends reached
Krakau on their return from Welishka. The walls of the
city were gilded by the rays of light that streamed
over the hills, which formed the western horizon. In all
its features, the scene was well calculated to impress the
youthful travelers. Frank wished to make a sketch of the
(00:47):
gateway through which they passed on their entrance within the walls,
but the hour was late and delay inadvisable. The commissioner
said he would bring them a photograph of the spot,
and with this consolation, the young man dismissed from his
mind the idea of the sketch. All retired early, as
they intended taking the morning train for the Russian Frontier
(01:11):
and thence to Warsaw. They were up in good season
and at the appointed time the train carried them out
of the ancient capital of Poland. At Grenitza, the frontier station,
they had a halt of nearly two hours. Their passports
were carefully examined by the Russian officials while their trunks
(01:32):
underwent a vigorous overhauling. The passports proved to be entirely
in order, and there was no trouble with them. The
officials were particularly polite to the American trio and said
they were always pleased to welcome Americans to the Empire.
They were less courteous to an Englishman who arrived by
the same train, and the doctor said it was evident
(01:54):
that the Crimean war had not been entirely forgotten. Several
passengers had neglected the precautions which our friends observed at
Vienna in securing the proper endorsement to their passports, and
were told that they could not pass the frontier. They
were compelled to wait until the passports could be sent
to Krakau for approval by the Russian consul at that point,
(02:16):
or else to Vienna. A commissioner attached to the railway
station offered to attend to the matter for all who
required his aid. Formerly it was necessary for the careless
traveler to return in person to the point designated. But
of late years this has not been required. This passport
business is an outrageous humbug, said the Englishman with whom
(02:40):
our friends had fallen into conversation while they were waiting
in the ante room of the passport office. Its object
is to keep him proper persons out of Russia, but
it does nothing of the kind. Any nialist, revolutionist, or
other objectionable individual can always obtain a passport under a
fictitious name and secure the necessary approval of consuls or ambassadors.
(03:05):
Ivan Karlovitch, for whom the police are on the watch,
comes here with a passport in the name of Joseph Cassini,
a native of Malta and subject of Great Britain. His
English passport is obtained easily enough by a little foal swearing.
It is approved by the Russian minister at Vienna, and
the fellow enters Russia with perfect ease. The honest traveler,
(03:28):
who has neglected the formality through ignorance, is detained, while
the revolutionist goes on his way contented. The revolutionist always
knows the technicalities of the law and is careful to
observe them, and it is safe to say that the
passport system never prevented any political offender from getting into
(03:49):
Russia when he wanted to go there. I have been
in Russia before, he continued, and know what I am saying.
The first time I went there was from Berlin, and
on reaching the frontier, I was stopped because my passport
was not properly endorsed. I supposed I would have to
go back to Berlin, but the station master said I
(04:09):
need not take that trouble. I could stop at the
hotel and he would arrange the whole matter so that
I might proceed. Exactly twenty four hours later. I did
as he told me, and it was all right. How
was it accomplished? Why he took my passport and a
dozen others whose owners were in the same fix as myself,
(04:30):
and sent them by the conductor of the train to Kernigsburg,
where there is a Russian consul, for a fee of
two English shillings fifty cents of your money. The consul
approved each passport. Another fee of fifty cents paid to
the conductor for his trouble, and he brought back the
passports on his return run to the frontier. Then the
(04:51):
station master wanted four shillings one dollar for his share
of the work, and we were all ah regg to
enter the Russian Empire. We got our baggage ready and
were at the station when the train arrived. The station
master delivered our passports and collected his fee, along with
the fees of the conductor and consul, and that ended
(05:12):
the whole business. The consul knew nothing about any of
the persons named in the passports, and we might have
been conspirators or anything else that was objectionable, and nobody
would have been the wiser. Russia is the only country
in Europe that keeps up the passport system with any severity,
and it only results in putting honest people to trouble
(05:33):
and expense, and never stops those whom it is intended
to reach. There they've opened the door. We can now
go before the representatives of the Autocrat of all the Russias.
One by one they approached the desk, with the result
already stated. At the examination of the baggage in the
custom house, the clothing and personal effects of our friends
(05:57):
were passed without question, but there was some difficulty over
a few books which the boys had bought before leaving Vienna.
One volume pronounced objectionable was seized as contraband, but the
others were not taken. Every book written by a foreigner
about Russia is carefully examined by the official censor as
(06:18):
soon as it is published, and upon his decision depends
the question of its circulation being allowed. In the Empire,
anything calculated to throw disrespect upon the imperial family or
upon the government in general is prohibited, as well as
everything which can be considered to have a revolutionary tendency.
(06:40):
They are not so rigid as they used to be,
growled the Englishman as he closed and locked his trunk
after the examination was completed. In the time of the
Emperor Nicolas, they would not allow anything that indicated there
was any other government in the world which amounted to anything,
and they were particularly severe upon all kinds of seas
school books. Now they rarely object to school books unless
(07:04):
they contained too many teachings of liberty, and they're getting
over their squeamishness about criticisms, even if they are abusive
and untruthful. The worst case I have heard of was
of an inspector at one of the frontier stations who
seized a book on astronomy because it contained a chapter
on the revolutions of the earth. He said nothing revolutionary
(07:26):
could be allowed to enter the Empire and confiscated the
volume in spite of its owner's explanations. Under Nicholas continued,
the Englishman Maccaulay's History of England was prohibited, though it
could be bought without much trouble. After Alexander the Second
ascended the throne, the rigors of the censorship were greatly reduced,
(07:48):
and papers and books were freely admitted into Russia which
were prohibited in France. Under Lewis Napoleon, all the Tauschnitz
editions of English works were permitted, even in including Carlyle's
French Revolution. It is possible the last named book had
escaped notice, as you would hardly expect it to be
allowed free circulation in Russia. Books and newspapers addressed to
(08:13):
the professors of the universities, to officers above the rank
of colonel, and to the legations of foreign countries are
not subjected to the censorship, or at least they were
not so examined a few years ago. Since the rise
of nihilism, the authorities have become more rigid again, and
books and papers are stopped which would not have been
(08:33):
suppressed at all before the death of Alexander the second.
If you want to know the exact functions of the censor,
said the gentleman, turning to Frank and Fred, here is
an extract from his instructions. With these words, he gave
to one of the youths a printed slip which stated
that it was the censor's duty to prohibit and suppress
(08:54):
all works written in a spirit hostile to the Orthodox
Greek Church, or contain meaning anything that is contrary to
the truths of the Christian religion, or subversive of good
manners or morality. All publications tending to assail the inviolability
of autocratic monarchical power and the fundamental laws of the Empire,
(09:16):
or to diminish the respect due to the imperial family.
All productions containing at tax on the honour or reputation
of anyone by improper expressions, by the publication of circumstances
relating to domestic life, or by calumny of any kind whatever.
The boys thanked the gentleman for the information he had
(09:39):
given them on a subject about which they were curious,
and as the examination of the custom house was completed,
they proceeded to the restaurant, which was in a large
hall at the end of the station. Near the door
of the restaurant was the office of a money changer,
its character being indicated by signs in at least half
a dozen languages. Passengers were exchanging their Austrian money for Russian,
(10:04):
and the office seemed to be doing an active business.
That fellow has about as good a trade as one
could wish, said the Englishman, as he nodded in the
direction of the man at the little window. Two trains
arrive here daily each way. For people going north he
changes Austrian into Russian money, and for those going south
he changes Russian into Austrian. He receives one percent commission
(10:28):
on each transaction, which amounts to four percent daily, as
he handles the money four times. I have often envied
these frontier bankers, who run no risk whatever, provided they
are not swindled with counterfeits, and can make twelve hundred
percent annually on their capital. But perhaps they have to
(10:48):
pay so dearly for the privilege that they are unable
to get rich by their business. By the way, said he,
changing the subject abruptly. Did you observe the stout lady
that stood near us in the ante room of the
passport office? Yes, answered the doctor, And she seemed quite uneasy,
as though she feared trouble. Doubtless she did, was the reply.
(11:11):
But it was not on account of her passport. She
was probably laden with goods which she intended smuggling into
Russia and feared detection. I noticed that she was called
aside by the custom house officials and ushered into the
room devoted to suspected persons. She isn't here yet, and
perhaps they'll keep her till the trains gone. Ah, here
(11:33):
she comes, Frank and Fred looked in the direction indicated,
but could not see any stout lady. Neither could the doctor,
But he thought he recognized a face he had seen before.
It belonged to a woman who was comparatively slight in figure,
and who took her seat very demurely at one of
the tables near the door. That is the stout lady
(11:55):
of the ante room, said the Englishman. And her form
has been reduced more rapidly than any advocate of the
Banting or any other anti fat system ever dreamed of.
She was probably detected by her uneasy manner, and consequently
was subjected to an examination at the hands of the
female searchers. They've removed dry goods enough from her to
(12:19):
set up a small shop, and she won't undertake smuggling
again in a hurry. Import duties are high in Russia
and the temptation to smuggle is great. She was an
inexperienced smuggler, or she would not have been caught so easily.
Probably she is of some other nationality than Russian, or
they would not have liberated her after confiscating her contraband goods.
(12:43):
The incident led to a conversation upon the Russian tariff system,
which is based upon the most emphatic ideas in favor
of protection to home industries. As it is no part
of our intention to discuss the tariff in this volume,
we will omit what was said upon the subject, particularly
as no notes were taken by either Frank or Fred.
(13:06):
In due time, the train on the Russian side of
the station was ready to receive the travelers, and they
took their places in one of the carriages. It needed
only a glance to show they had crossed the frontier.
The Austrian our uniform disappeared and the Russian took its place.
The Russian language was spoken instead of German. The carriages
(13:27):
were lettered in Russian posts, painted in alternate stripes of
white and black. The invention of the Emperor Paul about
the beginning of the present century denoted the sovereignty of
the Czar, and the dress of many of the passengers
indicated a change of nationality. The train rolled away from
Granitza in the direction of Warsaw, which was the next
(13:49):
point of destination of our friends. The country through which
they traveled was not particularly interesting. It was fairly, though
not thickly settled, and contained no important towns on the
line of the railway or any other object of a
special interest. Their English acquaintance said there were mines of coal,
(14:10):
iron and zinc in the neighborhood of Zomkotzi, where the
railway from Austria unites with that from eastern Germany. It
is about one hundred and eighty miles from Warsaw. About
forty miles farther on there was a town with an
unpronounceable name, with about ten thousand inhabitants, and a convent
which is an object of pilgrimage to many pious Catholics
(14:33):
of Poland and Silesia. A hundred miles from Warsaw, they
passed Petrokau, which was the seat of the ancient tribunals
of Poland, and then, if the truth must be told,
they slept for the greater part of the way till
the train stopped at the station in the Praga suburb
of Warsaw, on the opposite bank of the Vistula. As
(14:55):
they neared the station, they had a good view of
Warsaw on the heights above the river and commanded by
a fortress which occupies the center of the city itself.
Alighting from the train, they surrendered their passports to an
official who said the documents would be returned to them
at the Hotel de l'urope, where they proposed to stop
(15:15):
during their sojourn. Within the gates of Warsaw. Tickets permitting
them to go into the city were given in exchange
for the passports, and then they entered a rickety omnibus
and were driven to the hotel. It was late in
the afternoon when they climbed the sloping road leading into
Warsaw and looked down upon the Vistula and the stretch
(15:35):
of the low land on the Praga side. Fred repeated
the lines of the old verse from which we have
already quoted, and observed how well the scene is described
in a single couplet. Warsaw's last champion from her heights,
surveyed wid o'er the fields a waste of ruin, laid
(15:57):
laid desolate by many wars and subjected today spotic rule.
The country around Warsaw bears but little evidence of prosperity.
Many houses are without tenants, and many farms are either
half tilled or wholly without cultivation. The spirit of revolution
springs eternal in the Polish breast, and the spirit of
(16:17):
suppression must be equally enduring in the breast of the
Russian It is only by the severest measures that the
Russians can maintain their control of Poland. A Polish writer
has well described the situation when he says, under a
cruel government, it is Poland's duty to rebel against oppression.
Under a liberal government, it is her duty to rebel
(16:40):
because she has the opportunity. After dinner at the hotel,
our friends started for a walk through the principal streets,
but They did not go very far. The streets were
poorly lighted, few people were about, and altogether the stroll
was not particularly interesting. They returned to the hotel and
(17:00):
devoted an hour or so to a chat about Poland
and has sad history. Walls are said to have ears,
the doctor remarked, but we have little cause to be
disturbed about them, as we are only discussing among ourselves
the known facts of history. Poland and Russia were at
war for centuries, and at one time Poland had the
(17:21):
best of the fight. How many of those who sympathize
so deeply with the wrongs of Poland are aware of
the fact that in sixteen ten the Poles held Moscow
as the Russians now hold Warsaw, and that the Russian
Czar was taken prisoner and died the next year in
a Polish prison. Moscow was burned by the Poles in
(17:43):
sixteen eleven and thousands of its inhabitants were slaughtered. In
sixteen twelve the Poles were driven out, and from that
time to the present their wars with Russia have not
been successful. I didn't know that, said Frank until I
read it to day in one of our books, nor did,
(18:03):
I echoed Fred and probably not one person in a
hundred is aware of it, understand, said the doctor, with emphasis.
Understand that I do not say this to justify in
any way the wrongs that Russia may have visited on Poland,
but simply to show that all the wrong has not
been on one side. Russia and Poland have been hostile
(18:27):
to each other for centuries. They are antagonistic in everything, language, religion, customs,
and national ambitions, and there could be no permanent peace
between them until one had completely absorbed the other. Twice
in this century, in eighteen thirty and eighteen sixty three,
(18:48):
the Poles have rebelled against Russia because they had the
opportunity in consequence of the leniency of the government. From
present appearances, they are not likely to have the opportunity
again for a long time, if ever. One of the
youths asked how the Revolution of eighteen thirty was brought about.
(19:09):
Poland had been, as you know, divided at three different
times by Russia, Austria, and Prussia, said the doctor, the
third partition taking place in seventeen ninety five. At the
Great Settlement among the Powers of Europe. In eighteen fifteen,
after the end of the Napoleonic Wars, the Emperor of
Russia proposed to form ancient Poland into a constitutional monarchy
(19:33):
under the Russian crown. His plan was adopted with some modifications,
and from eighteen fifteen to eighteen thirty the country had
its National Diet or parliament, its national administration, and its
national army of thirty thousand men. The Russian Emperor was
the King of Poland, and this the Poles resented. They
(19:57):
rebelled and were defeated. After the defeat, the constitution was
withdrawn and the national army abolished. The Polish universities were closed,
the Polish language was proscribed in the public offices, and
every attempt was made to Russianize the country. It was
harshly punished for its rebellion until Alexander the Second ascended
(20:20):
the throne. Alexander tried to conciliate the people by granting concessions.
The schools and universities were reopened, the language was restored.
Poles were appointed to nearly all official positions. Elective, district
and municipal councils were formed, and also a Polish Council
(20:40):
of State, but nothing short of independence would satisfy the inhabitants,
and then came the Revolution of eighteen sixty three. It
was suppressed like its predecessor, and from that time the
Russians had maintained such an iron rule in Poland that
a revolt of any importance is next to impossible. All
(21:03):
the oppression of which Russia is capable cannot destroy their
spirit of independence. Among the Poles, they are as patriotic
as the Irish, and will continue to hope for liberty
as long as their blood flows in human veins. A
knock on the door brought the doctor's discourse to an
abrupt end. It was made by the commissioner, who came
(21:23):
to arrange for their excursion on the following day. We
will see in due course where they went and what
they saw. It is now their bedtime, and they are
retiring for the night. The next morning they secured a
carriage and drove through the principal streets and squares, visiting
the royal Palace and other buildings of importance, and also
(21:46):
the parks and gardens outside the city limits. Concerning their
excursion in Warsaw, the youths made the following notes. We
went first to the Royal castle, which we were not
permitted to enter, as it is occupied by the Viceroy
of Poland, or the Emperor's Lieutenant, as he is more
commonly called. It is a very old building which has
(22:08):
been several times altered and restored. There were many pictures
and other objects of art in the castle until eighteen
thirty one, when they were removed to Saint Petersburg. In
the square in front of the castle is a statue
of one of the kings of Poland, and we were
told that the square was the scene of some of
the uprisings of the Poles against their Russian masters. From
(22:31):
the castle we went to the cathedral, which was built
in the thirteenth century and contains monuments to the memory
of several of the kings and other great men of
the country. It is proper to say here that the
Catholic is the prevailing religion of Poland, and no doubt
much of the hatred of Russians and Poles for each
other is in consequence of their religious differences. By the
(22:54):
latest figures of the population that we have at hand,
Russian Poland contains about three million, eight hundred thousand Catholics,
three hundred thousand Protestants, seven hundred thousand Jews and two
hundred and fifty thousand members of the Greek Church and
adherents of other religions, or a little more than five
million of inhabitants in all. Like all people who have
(23:17):
been oppressed, the Catholics and Jews are exceedingly devout and
adhere unflinchingly to their religious faith. Churches and synagogues are
numerous in Warsaw, as in the other Polish cities. In
our ride through Warsaw, we passed many shrines, and at
nearly all of them the faithful were kneeling to repeat
(23:37):
the prayers prescribed by their religious teachers. From the cathedral,
we went to the citadel, which is on a hill
in the center of the city and was built after
the Revolution of eighteen thirty. The expense of its construction
was placed upon the people as a punishment for the
revolution and for the purpose of bombarding the city in
case of another rebellion. From the walls of the citadel
(24:00):
there is a fine view of considerable extent, but there
is nothing in the place of special interest. The fort
is constantly occupied by a garrison of Russian soldiers. It
contains a prison for political offenders and a military court
house where they are tried for their alleged offenses. There
are ten or twelve squares or open places in Warsaw,
(24:24):
of which the finest is said to be the Saxon Square.
It contains a handsome monument to the Poles who adhered
to the Russian cause in the Revolution of eighteen thirty.
Some writers say it was all a mistake, and that
the Poles whose memory is here preserved were really on
their way to join the regiments which had declared in
(24:44):
favor of the insurrection. There are several handsome streets and avenues,
and as for the public palaces and fine residences which
once belong to noble families of Poland but are now
mostly in government hands, the list alone would be long
and tedious. One of the finest palaces is in the
Lazienki Park, and it was built by King Stanislas Poniatowski.
(25:09):
It is the residence of the Emperor of Russia when
he comes to Warsaw, but as his visits are rare,
it is almost always accessible to travelers. We stopped a
few minutes in front of the statue of King John Sobieski.
There is an anecdote about this statue, which the students
of Russian and Polish history will appreciate. During a visit
(25:30):
in eighteen fifty, the Emperor Nicholas paused in front of
the statue and remarked to those around him the two
kings of Poland who committed the greatest errors were John
Sobieski and myself, for we both saved the Austrian monarchy.
Inside the palace there are many fine paintings and other
works of art. There are portraits of Polish kings and queens,
(25:53):
and other rare pictures, but not as many as in
the Castle of Villanov, which we afterwards visited. In the latter,
which was the residence of John Sobierski and now belongs
to Count Potoki, there are paintings by Reubens and other
celebrated masters, and there is a fine collection of armor,
including the suit which was presented to Sobyevski by the
(26:17):
Pope after the former had driven the Turks away from Vienna.
It is beautifully inlaid with ivory and mother of pearl
and covered with arabesques of astonishing delicacy. We could have
spent hours in studying it, and you may be sure
we left it with great reluctance. Warsaw has a population
(26:37):
of learly three hundred thousand, and there are good many
factories for the manufacture of carriages, pianos, cloth, carpets, and
machines of various kinds. The city is the center of
a large trade in grain, cattle, horses, and wool, and
altogether it may be considered prosperous. Much of the business
(26:58):
is in the hands of the Jews, who have managed
to have and hold a great deal of wealth in
spite of the oppression they have undergone by both Poles
and Russians. The women of Warsaw are famous for their beauty,
and we are all agreed that we have seen more
pretty faces here than in any other city of Europe.
In the same time, the Jews of Warsaw are nearly
(27:20):
all blondes. The men have red beards, and the hair
of the women as of the shade that used to
be the fashion among American and English actresses, and is
not yet entirely forgotten. We bought some photographs in one
of the shops, and are sure they will be excellent
adornments for our albums at home. In the evening we
(27:40):
went to the opera in the hope of seeing the
national costumes of the poles, but in this we were disappointed.
The operas are sung in Italian, the principal singers are French, Italian, English,
or any other nationality, like those of opera companies elsewhere,
and only the members of the chorus and ballets. Russian
(28:02):
uniforms are in the boxes and elsewhere in the house,
and every officer is required to wear his sword and
be ready at any moment to be summoned to fight.
The men not in uniform are in evening dress, and
the ladies are like those of an audience in Vienna
or Naples, so far as their dress is concerned. The
opera closed at half past eleven. Our guide met us
(28:25):
outside the door, and when we proposed a stroll, he said,
we must be at the hotel by midnight, under penalty
of being arrested. Any One out of doors between midnight
and daylight will be taken in by the police and
locked up unless he has a pass from the authorities.
In troubled times, the city is declared in a state
of siege, and then everybody on the street after dusk
(28:48):
must carry a lantern. As we had no fancy for
passing the night in a Russian station house, we returned
straight to the hotel. Probably we would have been there
by midnight in any event, as we were tard enough
to make a long walk objectionable. The next day our
friends visited some of the battlefields near Warsaw, and on
(29:10):
the third took the train for Saint Petersburg, six hundred
and twenty five miles away. There was little of interest
along the line of railway, as the country is almost
entirely a plain, and one mile is so much like
another that the difference is scarcely perceptible. The principal towns
or cities through which they passed were Bialostock and Grodno,
(29:33):
the latter famous for having been the residence of several
Polish kings and containing the royal castle where they lived
At Wilna, four hundred and forty one miles from Saint Petersburg,
the railway unites with that from Berlin. The change of
train and transfer of baggage detained the party half an
hour or more, but not long enough to allow them
(29:53):
to inspect this ancient capital of the independent Duchy of Lithuania.
They had another halt, but only sufficient for patronizing the restaurant.
The town is two miles from the station and contains
an old castle and several other buildings of note. It
has a prominent place in Poland's war history, but is
(30:15):
not often visited by travelers. At Gatchina, famous for its
trout and containing an imperial palace, an official collected the
passports of the travelers, which were afterwards returned to them
on arriving at the Saint Petersburg station. As they approached
the imperial city, the first object to catch the eye
was a great ball of gold outlined against the sky.
(30:39):
Frank said it must be the dome of Saint Isaac's Church,
and the doctor nodded ascent to the suggestion. The dome
of Saint Isaac's is to the capital of Russia what
the Dome of Saint Peter's is to Rome. The first
object on which the gaze of the approaching traveler is
fixed end of two two
Chapter two of The Boy Travelers in the Russian Empire.
This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in
the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please
visit LibriVox dot org. Read by Jennifer Beckett Wood. The
Boy Travelers in the Russian Empire by Thomas Wallace Knox,
(00:24):
Chapter two. The sun was setting as our friends reached
Krakau on their return from Welishka. The walls of the
city were gilded by the rays of light that streamed
over the hills, which formed the western horizon. In all
its features, the scene was well calculated to impress the
youthful travelers. Frank wished to make a sketch of the
(00:47):
gateway through which they passed on their entrance within the walls,
but the hour was late and delay inadvisable. The commissioner
said he would bring them a photograph of the spot,
and with this consolation, the young man dismissed from his
mind the idea of the sketch. All retired early, as
they intended taking the morning train for the Russian Frontier
(01:11):
and thence to Warsaw. They were up in good season
and at the appointed time the train carried them out
of the ancient capital of Poland. At Grenitza, the frontier station,
they had a halt of nearly two hours. Their passports
were carefully examined by the Russian officials while their trunks
(01:32):
underwent a vigorous overhauling. The passports proved to be entirely
in order, and there was no trouble with them. The
officials were particularly polite to the American trio and said
they were always pleased to welcome Americans to the Empire.
They were less courteous to an Englishman who arrived by
the same train, and the doctor said it was evident
(01:54):
that the Crimean war had not been entirely forgotten. Several
passengers had neglected the precautions which our friends observed at
Vienna in securing the proper endorsement to their passports, and
were told that they could not pass the frontier. They
were compelled to wait until the passports could be sent
to Krakau for approval by the Russian consul at that point,
(02:16):
or else to Vienna. A commissioner attached to the railway
station offered to attend to the matter for all who
required his aid. Formerly it was necessary for the careless
traveler to return in person to the point designated. But
of late years this has not been required. This passport
business is an outrageous humbug, said the Englishman with whom
(02:40):
our friends had fallen into conversation while they were waiting
in the ante room of the passport office. Its object
is to keep him proper persons out of Russia, but
it does nothing of the kind. Any nialist, revolutionist, or
other objectionable individual can always obtain a passport under a
fictitious name and secure the necessary approval of consuls or ambassadors.
(03:05):
Ivan Karlovitch, for whom the police are on the watch,
comes here with a passport in the name of Joseph Cassini,
a native of Malta and subject of Great Britain. His
English passport is obtained easily enough by a little foal swearing.
It is approved by the Russian minister at Vienna, and
the fellow enters Russia with perfect ease. The honest traveler,
(03:28):
who has neglected the formality through ignorance, is detained, while
the revolutionist goes on his way contented. The revolutionist always
knows the technicalities of the law and is careful to
observe them, and it is safe to say that the
passport system never prevented any political offender from getting into
(03:49):
Russia when he wanted to go there. I have been
in Russia before, he continued, and know what I am saying.
The first time I went there was from Berlin, and
on reaching the frontier, I was stopped because my passport
was not properly endorsed. I supposed I would have to
go back to Berlin, but the station master said I
(04:09):
need not take that trouble. I could stop at the
hotel and he would arrange the whole matter so that
I might proceed. Exactly twenty four hours later. I did
as he told me, and it was all right. How
was it accomplished? Why he took my passport and a
dozen others whose owners were in the same fix as myself,
(04:30):
and sent them by the conductor of the train to Kernigsburg,
where there is a Russian consul, for a fee of
two English shillings fifty cents of your money. The consul
approved each passport. Another fee of fifty cents paid to
the conductor for his trouble, and he brought back the
passports on his return run to the frontier. Then the
(04:51):
station master wanted four shillings one dollar for his share
of the work, and we were all ah regg to
enter the Russian Empire. We got our baggage ready and
were at the station when the train arrived. The station
master delivered our passports and collected his fee, along with
the fees of the conductor and consul, and that ended
(05:12):
the whole business. The consul knew nothing about any of
the persons named in the passports, and we might have
been conspirators or anything else that was objectionable, and nobody
would have been the wiser. Russia is the only country
in Europe that keeps up the passport system with any severity,
and it only results in putting honest people to trouble
(05:33):
and expense, and never stops those whom it is intended
to reach. There they've opened the door. We can now
go before the representatives of the Autocrat of all the Russias.
One by one they approached the desk, with the result
already stated. At the examination of the baggage in the
custom house, the clothing and personal effects of our friends
(05:57):
were passed without question, but there was some difficulty over
a few books which the boys had bought before leaving Vienna.
One volume pronounced objectionable was seized as contraband, but the
others were not taken. Every book written by a foreigner
about Russia is carefully examined by the official censor as
(06:18):
soon as it is published, and upon his decision depends
the question of its circulation being allowed. In the Empire,
anything calculated to throw disrespect upon the imperial family or
upon the government in general is prohibited, as well as
everything which can be considered to have a revolutionary tendency.
(06:40):
They are not so rigid as they used to be,
growled the Englishman as he closed and locked his trunk
after the examination was completed. In the time of the
Emperor Nicolas, they would not allow anything that indicated there
was any other government in the world which amounted to anything,
and they were particularly severe upon all kinds of seas
school books. Now they rarely object to school books unless
(07:04):
they contained too many teachings of liberty, and they're getting
over their squeamishness about criticisms, even if they are abusive
and untruthful. The worst case I have heard of was
of an inspector at one of the frontier stations who
seized a book on astronomy because it contained a chapter
on the revolutions of the earth. He said nothing revolutionary
(07:26):
could be allowed to enter the Empire and confiscated the
volume in spite of its owner's explanations. Under Nicholas continued,
the Englishman Maccaulay's History of England was prohibited, though it
could be bought without much trouble. After Alexander the Second
ascended the throne, the rigors of the censorship were greatly reduced,
(07:48):
and papers and books were freely admitted into Russia which
were prohibited in France. Under Lewis Napoleon, all the Tauschnitz
editions of English works were permitted, even in including Carlyle's
French Revolution. It is possible the last named book had
escaped notice, as you would hardly expect it to be
allowed free circulation in Russia. Books and newspapers addressed to
(08:13):
the professors of the universities, to officers above the rank
of colonel, and to the legations of foreign countries are
not subjected to the censorship, or at least they were
not so examined a few years ago. Since the rise
of nihilism, the authorities have become more rigid again, and
books and papers are stopped which would not have been
(08:33):
suppressed at all before the death of Alexander the second.
If you want to know the exact functions of the censor,
said the gentleman, turning to Frank and Fred, here is
an extract from his instructions. With these words, he gave
to one of the youths a printed slip which stated
that it was the censor's duty to prohibit and suppress
(08:54):
all works written in a spirit hostile to the Orthodox
Greek Church, or contain meaning anything that is contrary to
the truths of the Christian religion, or subversive of good
manners or morality. All publications tending to assail the inviolability
of autocratic monarchical power and the fundamental laws of the Empire,
(09:16):
or to diminish the respect due to the imperial family.
All productions containing at tax on the honour or reputation
of anyone by improper expressions, by the publication of circumstances
relating to domestic life, or by calumny of any kind whatever.
The boys thanked the gentleman for the information he had
(09:39):
given them on a subject about which they were curious,
and as the examination of the custom house was completed,
they proceeded to the restaurant, which was in a large
hall at the end of the station. Near the door
of the restaurant was the office of a money changer,
its character being indicated by signs in at least half
a dozen languages. Passengers were exchanging their Austrian money for Russian,
(10:04):
and the office seemed to be doing an active business.
That fellow has about as good a trade as one
could wish, said the Englishman, as he nodded in the
direction of the man at the little window. Two trains
arrive here daily each way. For people going north he
changes Austrian into Russian money, and for those going south
he changes Russian into Austrian. He receives one percent commission
(10:28):
on each transaction, which amounts to four percent daily, as
he handles the money four times. I have often envied
these frontier bankers, who run no risk whatever, provided they
are not swindled with counterfeits, and can make twelve hundred
percent annually on their capital. But perhaps they have to
(10:48):
pay so dearly for the privilege that they are unable
to get rich by their business. By the way, said he,
changing the subject abruptly. Did you observe the stout lady
that stood near us in the ante room of the
passport office? Yes, answered the doctor, And she seemed quite uneasy,
as though she feared trouble. Doubtless she did, was the reply.
(11:11):
But it was not on account of her passport. She
was probably laden with goods which she intended smuggling into
Russia and feared detection. I noticed that she was called
aside by the custom house officials and ushered into the
room devoted to suspected persons. She isn't here yet, and
perhaps they'll keep her till the trains gone. Ah, here
(11:33):
she comes, Frank and Fred looked in the direction indicated,
but could not see any stout lady. Neither could the doctor,
But he thought he recognized a face he had seen before.
It belonged to a woman who was comparatively slight in figure,
and who took her seat very demurely at one of
the tables near the door. That is the stout lady
(11:55):
of the ante room, said the Englishman. And her form
has been reduced more rapidly than any advocate of the
Banting or any other anti fat system ever dreamed of.
She was probably detected by her uneasy manner, and consequently
was subjected to an examination at the hands of the
female searchers. They've removed dry goods enough from her to
(12:19):
set up a small shop, and she won't undertake smuggling
again in a hurry. Import duties are high in Russia
and the temptation to smuggle is great. She was an
inexperienced smuggler, or she would not have been caught so easily.
Probably she is of some other nationality than Russian, or
they would not have liberated her after confiscating her contraband goods.
(12:43):
The incident led to a conversation upon the Russian tariff system,
which is based upon the most emphatic ideas in favor
of protection to home industries. As it is no part
of our intention to discuss the tariff in this volume,
we will omit what was said upon the subject, particularly
as no notes were taken by either Frank or Fred.
(13:06):
In due time, the train on the Russian side of
the station was ready to receive the travelers, and they
took their places in one of the carriages. It needed
only a glance to show they had crossed the frontier.
The Austrian our uniform disappeared and the Russian took its place.
The Russian language was spoken instead of German. The carriages
(13:27):
were lettered in Russian posts, painted in alternate stripes of
white and black. The invention of the Emperor Paul about
the beginning of the present century denoted the sovereignty of
the Czar, and the dress of many of the passengers
indicated a change of nationality. The train rolled away from
Granitza in the direction of Warsaw, which was the next
(13:49):
point of destination of our friends. The country through which
they traveled was not particularly interesting. It was fairly, though
not thickly settled, and contained no important towns on the
line of the railway or any other object of a
special interest. Their English acquaintance said there were mines of coal,
(14:10):
iron and zinc in the neighborhood of Zomkotzi, where the
railway from Austria unites with that from eastern Germany. It
is about one hundred and eighty miles from Warsaw. About
forty miles farther on there was a town with an
unpronounceable name, with about ten thousand inhabitants, and a convent
which is an object of pilgrimage to many pious Catholics
(14:33):
of Poland and Silesia. A hundred miles from Warsaw, they
passed Petrokau, which was the seat of the ancient tribunals
of Poland, and then, if the truth must be told,
they slept for the greater part of the way till
the train stopped at the station in the Praga suburb
of Warsaw, on the opposite bank of the Vistula. As
(14:55):
they neared the station, they had a good view of
Warsaw on the heights above the river and commanded by
a fortress which occupies the center of the city itself.
Alighting from the train, they surrendered their passports to an
official who said the documents would be returned to them
at the Hotel de l'urope, where they proposed to stop
(15:15):
during their sojourn. Within the gates of Warsaw. Tickets permitting
them to go into the city were given in exchange
for the passports, and then they entered a rickety omnibus
and were driven to the hotel. It was late in
the afternoon when they climbed the sloping road leading into
Warsaw and looked down upon the Vistula and the stretch
(15:35):
of the low land on the Praga side. Fred repeated
the lines of the old verse from which we have
already quoted, and observed how well the scene is described
in a single couplet. Warsaw's last champion from her heights,
surveyed wid o'er the fields a waste of ruin, laid
(15:57):
laid desolate by many wars and subjected today spotic rule.
The country around Warsaw bears but little evidence of prosperity.
Many houses are without tenants, and many farms are either
half tilled or wholly without cultivation. The spirit of revolution
springs eternal in the Polish breast, and the spirit of
(16:17):
suppression must be equally enduring in the breast of the
Russian It is only by the severest measures that the
Russians can maintain their control of Poland. A Polish writer
has well described the situation when he says, under a
cruel government, it is Poland's duty to rebel against oppression.
Under a liberal government, it is her duty to rebel
(16:40):
because she has the opportunity. After dinner at the hotel,
our friends started for a walk through the principal streets,
but They did not go very far. The streets were
poorly lighted, few people were about, and altogether the stroll
was not particularly interesting. They returned to the hotel and
(17:00):
devoted an hour or so to a chat about Poland
and has sad history. Walls are said to have ears,
the doctor remarked, but we have little cause to be
disturbed about them, as we are only discussing among ourselves
the known facts of history. Poland and Russia were at
war for centuries, and at one time Poland had the
(17:21):
best of the fight. How many of those who sympathize
so deeply with the wrongs of Poland are aware of
the fact that in sixteen ten the Poles held Moscow
as the Russians now hold Warsaw, and that the Russian
Czar was taken prisoner and died the next year in
a Polish prison. Moscow was burned by the Poles in
(17:43):
sixteen eleven and thousands of its inhabitants were slaughtered. In
sixteen twelve the Poles were driven out, and from that
time to the present their wars with Russia have not
been successful. I didn't know that, said Frank until I
read it to day in one of our books, nor did,
(18:03):
I echoed Fred and probably not one person in a
hundred is aware of it, understand, said the doctor, with emphasis.
Understand that I do not say this to justify in
any way the wrongs that Russia may have visited on Poland,
but simply to show that all the wrong has not
been on one side. Russia and Poland have been hostile
(18:27):
to each other for centuries. They are antagonistic in everything, language, religion, customs,
and national ambitions, and there could be no permanent peace
between them until one had completely absorbed the other. Twice
in this century, in eighteen thirty and eighteen sixty three,
(18:48):
the Poles have rebelled against Russia because they had the
opportunity in consequence of the leniency of the government. From
present appearances, they are not likely to have the opportunity
again for a long time, if ever. One of the
youths asked how the Revolution of eighteen thirty was brought about.
(19:09):
Poland had been, as you know, divided at three different
times by Russia, Austria, and Prussia, said the doctor, the
third partition taking place in seventeen ninety five. At the
Great Settlement among the Powers of Europe. In eighteen fifteen,
after the end of the Napoleonic Wars, the Emperor of
Russia proposed to form ancient Poland into a constitutional monarchy
(19:33):
under the Russian crown. His plan was adopted with some modifications,
and from eighteen fifteen to eighteen thirty the country had
its National Diet or parliament, its national administration, and its
national army of thirty thousand men. The Russian Emperor was
the King of Poland, and this the Poles resented. They
(19:57):
rebelled and were defeated. After the defeat, the constitution was
withdrawn and the national army abolished. The Polish universities were closed,
the Polish language was proscribed in the public offices, and
every attempt was made to Russianize the country. It was
harshly punished for its rebellion until Alexander the Second ascended
(20:20):
the throne. Alexander tried to conciliate the people by granting concessions.
The schools and universities were reopened, the language was restored.
Poles were appointed to nearly all official positions. Elective, district
and municipal councils were formed, and also a Polish Council
(20:40):
of State, but nothing short of independence would satisfy the inhabitants,
and then came the Revolution of eighteen sixty three. It
was suppressed like its predecessor, and from that time the
Russians had maintained such an iron rule in Poland that
a revolt of any importance is next to impossible. All
(21:03):
the oppression of which Russia is capable cannot destroy their
spirit of independence. Among the Poles, they are as patriotic
as the Irish, and will continue to hope for liberty
as long as their blood flows in human veins. A
knock on the door brought the doctor's discourse to an
abrupt end. It was made by the commissioner, who came
(21:23):
to arrange for their excursion on the following day. We
will see in due course where they went and what
they saw. It is now their bedtime, and they are
retiring for the night. The next morning they secured a
carriage and drove through the principal streets and squares, visiting
the royal Palace and other buildings of importance, and also
(21:46):
the parks and gardens outside the city limits. Concerning their
excursion in Warsaw, the youths made the following notes. We
went first to the Royal castle, which we were not
permitted to enter, as it is occupied by the Viceroy
of Poland, or the Emperor's Lieutenant, as he is more
commonly called. It is a very old building which has
(22:08):
been several times altered and restored. There were many pictures
and other objects of art in the castle until eighteen
thirty one, when they were removed to Saint Petersburg. In
the square in front of the castle is a statue
of one of the kings of Poland, and we were
told that the square was the scene of some of
the uprisings of the Poles against their Russian masters. From
(22:31):
the castle we went to the cathedral, which was built
in the thirteenth century and contains monuments to the memory
of several of the kings and other great men of
the country. It is proper to say here that the
Catholic is the prevailing religion of Poland, and no doubt
much of the hatred of Russians and Poles for each
other is in consequence of their religious differences. By the
(22:54):
latest figures of the population that we have at hand,
Russian Poland contains about three million, eight hundred thousand Catholics,
three hundred thousand Protestants, seven hundred thousand Jews and two
hundred and fifty thousand members of the Greek Church and
adherents of other religions, or a little more than five
million of inhabitants in all. Like all people who have
(23:17):
been oppressed, the Catholics and Jews are exceedingly devout and
adhere unflinchingly to their religious faith. Churches and synagogues are
numerous in Warsaw, as in the other Polish cities. In
our ride through Warsaw, we passed many shrines, and at
nearly all of them the faithful were kneeling to repeat
(23:37):
the prayers prescribed by their religious teachers. From the cathedral,
we went to the citadel, which is on a hill
in the center of the city and was built after
the Revolution of eighteen thirty. The expense of its construction
was placed upon the people as a punishment for the
revolution and for the purpose of bombarding the city in
case of another rebellion. From the walls of the citadel
(24:00):
there is a fine view of considerable extent, but there
is nothing in the place of special interest. The fort
is constantly occupied by a garrison of Russian soldiers. It
contains a prison for political offenders and a military court
house where they are tried for their alleged offenses. There
are ten or twelve squares or open places in Warsaw,
(24:24):
of which the finest is said to be the Saxon Square.
It contains a handsome monument to the Poles who adhered
to the Russian cause in the Revolution of eighteen thirty.
Some writers say it was all a mistake, and that
the Poles whose memory is here preserved were really on
their way to join the regiments which had declared in
(24:44):
favor of the insurrection. There are several handsome streets and avenues,
and as for the public palaces and fine residences which
once belong to noble families of Poland but are now
mostly in government hands, the list alone would be long
and tedious. One of the finest palaces is in the
Lazienki Park, and it was built by King Stanislas Poniatowski.
(25:09):
It is the residence of the Emperor of Russia when
he comes to Warsaw, but as his visits are rare,
it is almost always accessible to travelers. We stopped a
few minutes in front of the statue of King John Sobieski.
There is an anecdote about this statue, which the students
of Russian and Polish history will appreciate. During a visit
(25:30):
in eighteen fifty, the Emperor Nicholas paused in front of
the statue and remarked to those around him the two
kings of Poland who committed the greatest errors were John
Sobieski and myself, for we both saved the Austrian monarchy.
Inside the palace there are many fine paintings and other
works of art. There are portraits of Polish kings and queens,
(25:53):
and other rare pictures, but not as many as in
the Castle of Villanov, which we afterwards visited. In the latter,
which was the residence of John Sobierski and now belongs
to Count Potoki, there are paintings by Reubens and other
celebrated masters, and there is a fine collection of armor,
including the suit which was presented to Sobyevski by the
(26:17):
Pope after the former had driven the Turks away from Vienna.
It is beautifully inlaid with ivory and mother of pearl
and covered with arabesques of astonishing delicacy. We could have
spent hours in studying it, and you may be sure
we left it with great reluctance. Warsaw has a population
(26:37):
of learly three hundred thousand, and there are good many
factories for the manufacture of carriages, pianos, cloth, carpets, and
machines of various kinds. The city is the center of
a large trade in grain, cattle, horses, and wool, and
altogether it may be considered prosperous. Much of the business
(26:58):
is in the hands of the Jews, who have managed
to have and hold a great deal of wealth in
spite of the oppression they have undergone by both Poles
and Russians. The women of Warsaw are famous for their beauty,
and we are all agreed that we have seen more
pretty faces here than in any other city of Europe.
In the same time, the Jews of Warsaw are nearly
(27:20):
all blondes. The men have red beards, and the hair
of the women as of the shade that used to
be the fashion among American and English actresses, and is
not yet entirely forgotten. We bought some photographs in one
of the shops, and are sure they will be excellent
adornments for our albums at home. In the evening we
(27:40):
went to the opera in the hope of seeing the
national costumes of the poles, but in this we were disappointed.
The operas are sung in Italian, the principal singers are French, Italian, English,
or any other nationality, like those of opera companies elsewhere,
and only the members of the chorus and ballets. Russian
(28:02):
uniforms are in the boxes and elsewhere in the house,
and every officer is required to wear his sword and
be ready at any moment to be summoned to fight.
The men not in uniform are in evening dress, and
the ladies are like those of an audience in Vienna
or Naples, so far as their dress is concerned. The
opera closed at half past eleven. Our guide met us
(28:25):
outside the door, and when we proposed a stroll, he said,
we must be at the hotel by midnight, under penalty
of being arrested. Any One out of doors between midnight
and daylight will be taken in by the police and
locked up unless he has a pass from the authorities.
In troubled times, the city is declared in a state
of siege, and then everybody on the street after dusk
(28:48):
must carry a lantern. As we had no fancy for
passing the night in a Russian station house, we returned
straight to the hotel. Probably we would have been there
by midnight in any event, as we were tard enough
to make a long walk objectionable. The next day our
friends visited some of the battlefields near Warsaw, and on
(29:10):
the third took the train for Saint Petersburg, six hundred
and twenty five miles away. There was little of interest
along the line of railway, as the country is almost
entirely a plain, and one mile is so much like
another that the difference is scarcely perceptible. The principal towns
or cities through which they passed were Bialostock and Grodno,
(29:33):
the latter famous for having been the residence of several
Polish kings and containing the royal castle where they lived
At Wilna, four hundred and forty one miles from Saint Petersburg,
the railway unites with that from Berlin. The change of
train and transfer of baggage detained the party half an
hour or more, but not long enough to allow them
(29:53):
to inspect this ancient capital of the independent Duchy of Lithuania.
They had another halt, but only sufficient for patronizing the restaurant.
The town is two miles from the station and contains
an old castle and several other buildings of note. It
has a prominent place in Poland's war history, but is
(30:15):
not often visited by travelers. At Gatchina, famous for its
trout and containing an imperial palace, an official collected the
passports of the travelers, which were afterwards returned to them
on arriving at the Saint Petersburg station. As they approached
the imperial city, the first object to catch the eye
was a great ball of gold outlined against the sky.
(30:39):
Frank said it must be the dome of Saint Isaac's Church,
and the doctor nodded ascent to the suggestion. The dome
of Saint Isaac's is to the capital of Russia what
the Dome of Saint Peter's is to Rome. The first
object on which the gaze of the approaching traveler is
fixed end of two two
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