Flashback: Tsarskoye Selo

(I forgot to mention a trip we took to “Sarsko Selo” (English) near St. Petersburgh, where the Emperor has the most magnificent palace I ever saw.  It is immense in size, and  is fitted up in a style that I should never have thought of seeing anywhere out of Paris itself.  I never saw so much taste displayed in any other building.  One of the rooms has its whole sides formed of Amber, which was presented to Russia by Frederick the Great of Prussia.  One can scarcely conceive of its richness.  We saw nothing of the palace but the apartments & Chapel the most gorgeous thing one could imagine, of Ebony & Gold.  Some of the floors were most beautifully inlaid with  [60] pearls and ebony--appearing splendidly rich.

Every thing in the rooms was in accordance with the room itself and though it was imperfect appeared as if made for use as well as beauty.  We made the trip there on a very good railroad, the only one in the country.  After taking a trip through the park and grounds, and visiting the armory, where we saw every thing usual in such places most admirably arranged and very complete, we returned again to the city.  In the armory were two saddles presented by the Sultan to the King of Russia, Holsters[,] pistols, and bridle were all complete and all were actually covered with brilliant stones of very great size, the richest thing of the kind one ever saw.---------|

After leaving the interior of the Kremlin we passed by the Spaskoi [sic] Gate or Holy Gate, under which no person can pass without uncovering the head, and the Russians are so particular with regard to this that it is said, no bribe would induce one of them to pass under this gate with his hat on, were he not compelled to doff it by the Sentinel who stands always by--- The reason of its great sanctity, I cannot find.  ‘Tis dedicated to some saint I believe.  

Spassky Gate, Kremlin

Convicts destined for Siberia

Turning from our view of the city & the thoughts occasioned by it, of its former history, we [28] passed a short distance to the right to a building guarded by [Sentinels?], not looking much like a prison though strongly barred with iron.  We arrived a few moments before the prisoners were brought out, and leaving our carriage, stationed ourselves before the main gate of the building in front of a number of troops formed in a square waiting for the appearance & purpose of conducting & guarding the Convicts.  In a few moments, the gate was opened and we heard the voice of the officer on duty call out a name, and out stepped one of the unfortunate beings destined to spend the remainder of his days as a prisoner in Siberia.  He was dressed as well as his fellows in the Convict’s dress of a mixed home-spun cloth, making a cloak & pants and a pair of boots.  One half of his head [29] was shaved making his appearance singular indeed, whilst the other half of his head was, au naturel.  He had an iron chain fastened to either ancle, and kept suspended, (so as not to interfere with his walking) by a belt tied around his waist.  In this manner were some eighty-odd of these beings dressed preparatory to their weary journey from Moscow.  Amongst these we now and then saw a female, some as convicts and others following their husbands to their place of Banishment.  In front of the band ranged out in order, stood an old man with a plate in his hand collecting some small favors from the few spectators and officers standing about .The gate was now opened wide and out drove some half dozen wagons with luggage and those convicts who were too [30] old or too infirm to walk this six week journey. Here and there you could see a little baby in the arms of its mother, unconscious of course of its destination & future life.  There was an old woman in one of the wagons whose countenance I think I shall never forget.  She must have been near seventy years of age as dark as a Bohemian who was sitting beside her, and as she left the gates of the prison, her face expressed more than words could ever do; before her was an old man probably her husband and she was casting her lot still with him..  

Napoleon's Moscow

One Evening at Moscow we took a short drive out on the road by which Napoleon entered the City.  There is an Eminence at a short distance from the City, which [27] would shut out the view of Moscow from one approaching it from the opposite side.  Was this that the great personification of Ambition, of good & bad deeds, after leading his weary soldiers through the snows of Russia, harassed on all sides by the waiting Cossacks, first saw the end of his journey, and how taking up a handful of the Earth, turned to his followers and cheered them wit the words which in his mouth seemed almost equivalent to Victory “Voici la terre de Moscou.”  A few days afterwards and this great army left the place of their destination, a broken band and Napoleon wended his way to Paris, his confidence in his Omnipotence somewhat reduced from the place where he put it---- 

Moscow truly foreign--the city after the fire of 1812

The burning of Moscow

Our driver brought us to the top of an elevated piece of ground when we turned and beheld the city at our feet, the Moskva winding through the city and [26] losing itself on our left in the midst of a pretty country for this part of the world.  I have been so long away from home, and have been so accustomed to visiting new places, and considering them for the time being as my real home, that people and places now remind me of really being as far distant from my native land as I naturally am, but looking at Moscow from this height I was forced to think that I was truly in a foreign land.  All that I had heretofore viewed had been European (so to speak), modern—in fact in some degree like America, but this was new.  I beheld before me that which I had before seen in imagination only, and [illeg.] to myself as Asiatic, Oriental, in the times of the Caliph, in fact as something which belonged to another race of people.  Moscow of course is in a great degree modern as regards its’ buildings, yet when its Churches [26] & Mosques were burned as well as its private residences, in 1812, they have generally been rebuilt after the same models, and though often new in materials, are old in style.  This burning of Moscow has of late caused many words pro & con.  As regards the Great Conqueror who here first felt himself somewhat at least subdued, the Russians themselves universally deny the charge of having fired the City & place the fact upon the Soldiers of Napoleon.  By so doing I must say I think they destroy much of the romance of history attributing the deed to their determination, that if the Emperor entered Moscow that he should do so after its glory had departed.  

On to Moscow; Russian serfs

We of course had the privilege, being in our new Carriage, of stopping where & when we pleased, but no one thinks of sleeping in a Russian Hotel, they being almost universally filled with fleas & vermin. The Inns on this road furnish very good meals however, being kept principally by Germans.  Fortifying ourselves, with some bottles of wine (the water here is almost death to a stranger) a written vocabulary of what Russian we might need on the journey, expressed however in English characters, & for [attempting?] pronunciation (for a man to speak Russian well he must first have one of his jaws broken) and a good stock of patience.  We entered the Diligence which was to be our house for some eighty odd hours as it proved to be.  We had a lady in the party which tended [17] somewhat to make us a little more pleased with the trip.  Our horses (four in number[)] were all abreast, miserable looking beasts truly, and miserably harnessed; but able to go ahead, when urged on by the blows and cries of a Russian Muzhik—their serfs (of whom there are under the dominion of the Emperor 36,000,000 out of 56,000,000 inhabitants) and worse absolutely than our blacks, the only advantage that they have over our blacks being that they cannot be sold, only with the estate to which they belong.  They however are liable to be drawn for soldiers whenever the Emperor wants them, and every owner must furnish his quota.  They certainly approach nearer to brutes than any human beings I have ever seen, /their faces consequently are covered with hair as far as their faces are concerned, and the back part of their head, from their neck upwards is shaved close for the space of an inch or two, and the hair behind cut perfectly square, giving them a [18] very outré appearance. 

St. Petersburg without a guidebook

After finishing this disagreeable visit to the Custom House, we dressed ourselves and felt quite like other beings having in feeling made quite a voyage. [unint.] We took now our first walk in this really most magnificent city.  Every thing is laid out on the most grand scale.  The streets broad, airy, clean, and frequently paved with wood, and of very great length, and one can scarcely turn around without viewing on every side some of the finest buildings of any [11] continental city.  St. Petersburg is situated on the Neva, which runs directly through the city, the largest and prettiest looking stream that I can recollect of having seen passing through any city.  The sides are built upon its whole length.  Long beautiful quays built of huge blocks of dark granite giving the whole a noble appearance.  I have as yet taken but short walks through its principal streets, and though having seen the Palaces admired the Hermitage etc. can hardly say which is which as the Police (bless them) have got my guide books. This is one of the fête days in the Greek Church (the Church of Russia) and every thing is like on a Sunday.  T’is the day of St. John the Baptist, and what is very singular the people of the Church on this day do not eat any thing round such as apples, potatoes &c.  What the reason is, I cannot judge; unless it should be that the Baptist’s head on the charger [12] was round—Tis a strange thing, but nevertheless true, that I left London on the first day of September 1840, and yet, though I was nearly nine days on the passage I reached St. Petersburgh on the twenty-eighth day of August 1840.  

Arrival in Kronstadt and St. Petersburg

 A birds eye view of Kronstadt from 1855.

We then once again embarked and finished the remainder of our passage to St Petersburgh very pleasantly or rather as I should say to Chronstadt. When in London, on going to have our passports viseed by the Russian Consul we were obliged to obtain a written guarantee from some one known to him to the following effect. “that the person (myself) [6] was known to them as respectable, born in New York, aged so many years, such & such a profession, the reason for going to Russia and the name of some respectable person in St Petersburgh to whom I was addressed.”  I thought this class enough.  however by the politeness of my Bankers, I obtained the required guarantee of good behavior to[o] , and started. On our approaching Chronstadt, a number of officers form the guard-ship there boarded us and proceeded to see if there was anything contraband on board, and soon after this leaving us. We were visited by some twenty members of the Secret Police of his Majesty the Emperor of all the Russias etc. etc. etc.  The leader of them, was at the head of the Secret Police of the Empire, having a most unremarkable face and such an one as would imply (as our Captain observed) that he would smile at the same time [7] that he would cut your throat.  They all descended into the cabin, and arrayed their papers when we were all called up in turn, and obliged to answer questions to the same effect as those proposed in London, and moreover write it all down ourselves and place our signature to it.  This was frustrating enough but they had not finished with us yet.  We now went on board a smaller steamer in order to approach the city, the channel not allowing vessels but of small size to go up to the City.