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- i
EBENSBUItG, fiXRCU 29, 1855;
VOL. 2. KO. '20.
-.11 !
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- THE WASTED PLOWER.- v :
The itorras 0 Heaven have bom thee down ;
Thy tem ia bruke--4hy leaves arc Btrown ,
In wild dirler o'er the plain, ' ; , .' 7 j
Wleuce 0ku ahalt never lift aaia '. , ' '
" Thy head, to patch the evening dfw, - .
Or charm the lonely wanderer's view. ,
" Yet; wisted flower! thy sweet perfume
Partakes not of tby fearful doom ;
It lingers still around the spot "
" Where ifirst thy form the sunshine caught ;
And pours its incense on the air, '
. When thou art desolate and bare.
t . : ' "
r Thou art a type, thou lovely flower ! - s ;
, Of virtue's death-serving power : ;
j Fit emblem of the fragrance shed ;
r. Afouiul the truly, virtuous dead
. The hallowed memory of the good,
v Wbich from the grave's cold solitude, ;
l Gives to the thought of parted worth;
A charm unknown to things of earth.
From Dickens? Household Words.
ISSU AND m RUSSIANS.
1 : BT AN EXGLISH LADT.'i n ? . "
- An English lady who, for ten years, was
domesticated among the Russians, and did not
pVit their iountry until some time after the
commencement of the present war, has just
published under the title of an An .English
woman in Russia three hundred and fifty
pages of information upon the actual state of
society in that empire. The book confirms
ideas familiar to many peoplo ; but inasmuch
as it does this in the mot-t Satisfactory way,
wholly by illustrations drawn from personal
experience or information of a trustworthy
land, its value is equal to its interest. ' Ilav
in? read it, we lay it jiown, and here make
note of some of the impressions it has left up
on US. ' i ' ' ' ! -
. Unless, from one who has been for a long
time aa English resident, and who can speak
without : passion, "4 is not easy : to get clear
views of the internal state of Russia. - Despo
tism has established there 80 strict a censor
ship, that even the Russian scholar only learns
as much of his own country as the emperor
shall please, and a learned traveller assured
oar countrywoman that, of an account written
by him of his journeys in the north of Asia
only those parU were allowed to be published
wherein nothing was said tending to .expose
the desolation of the land. The regions of
the barren north were no more to be confessed
thaa a defeat - in arms; . The great historian
of Russia rKaramsin was obliged to read
his pages to the emperor before he was allowed
to publish them. . Not only a certain class of
facts, but also a certain elass of thoughts,' are
rigidly kept from the public mind.
. One of the best living Russian authors com
plained to the Englishwoman that all those
parts of his works that he valued most had been
cut out by the censor. lie wrote a play con
taining, as he thought, some admirable speech
es ; it came back to him from the censor's office
with every one of them erased, and only the
light conversation left as fit for the amuse
ment ot the public. . Shakspeare is honored j
greatly by the trading class, and translations j
of King Lear and Hamlet are frequently per-
formed ; but all those of Shakspear's plays j
which contain . sentiments of .ibertyj such as
Julius Ciesar, are exclnded by the censor. !
A Russian .writer wished to produce a play,
on some subject ' in English history ; - upon
which he "consulted with our countrywoman.
Every topic was found dangerous. The story
of Elfrida, daughter of the Earl of Devonshire,
was. suggested. The Russian shook his head.
It would not be allowed." Why not? It is
a legend of a thousand years ago." " Why;
they would never let Elfrida's husband cheat
the king." ' But he was not a Czar."" No
matter. The act is the same, and the possi
bility of a crowned head's being deceived
would never be admitted by the Czar. .
The Ctar of Russia practically ; stands be
fore the greater number of his subjects as a
little more than God, The Czar is near,
- Y.nJ? ' ton"non Russian saying.
- God and the Czar know it - is the Ruanfn
for our Heaven knows!" A gentleman
describing one evening the emperor's reeet
tion on the route to Moscow, said, "I assure
yOu, it was gratifying in the extreme ; for the
peasants knelt as he passed, just as if it were
the Almighty himself "" And who bjvjon.
tradict this deity ? , Oar ennntrv was
orioe at the opera when dT tvperoriras gra
ciously disposed to applaud Madame Castellan
by - the clapping of his hands. Immediately
soma one hissocL I He- repeated his applause :
the hiss was repeated.. His majesty 6tood up
-looked round the house with dignity and.
ume, soiemniy ciappea nis nands.
" Ul
followed Heroin ' Tii-. m fran.nnJv,, .
fie over-headv The nolice had caught th.
Aa example of another
kind was made by a young lady whose broth
er was killed at Kalafa and who, on receiving
news of his death,, smiled, .and said,' MShe
was rejoiced to hear it, as he had died for the
emperor." Imperial munificence , rewarded
her with a splendid dowry, and the assurance
that her, future fortune thould bo cared tor.
There is need now to encourage a show of
patriotism. The Englishwoman who, on her
return, found London streets as full of peace
as when she quitted them ; had left St. Pe
tersburg; wearing a far different aspect. LS
lines of cannon and ammunition-wagons drawn
op hero and there; parks of artillery contin
ually dragged about ; outworks being construe-'
ted ; -regiments , marching in - and out; whole
armies submitting to inspection and departing
on their mission, told of the deadly struggle
to which the CzatV ambition. had committed
him. -There was no hour in which wretched
recruits might not be seen tramping in weari
ly, by hundreds and by thousands, to receive
the emperor's approval. It is hard for us in
this country to conceive the misery attending
the terrible conceptions which plague.the sub
jects of the Russian .empire. Except recruits,,
hardly a young., man is to, be .seen in any of
the villages; the post roads are . being . all
mended by women and girls.' Men taken
from their homes and families, " leave behind,
among the women, broken ties and the foun
dation of a dreadful mass of vice and immoral
ity. It is fearful enough under Ordinary cir
cumstances. "True communism," said ft
Russian noble, " is to bo found only in Rus
sia."...; ..: - ; ..- i t v 1, ,7 !;.-:;.
.. One morning a poor woman went crying
bitterly to the Englishwoman, saying that hoc
two nephews . had. just , been forced from her
house to go into tua army. - "I tried", we
leave the relator of these things to speak, in
her own' impressive words "I tried to con
sole her, saying that they would "return when
the war was over ; but this only ' made her
more distressed.- ' No ! no 1" exclaimed she,
in the deepest sorrow, " they will never come
back, any more; the .Russians are beaten in
every place." Until lately, the lower classes
were always convinced; that the;. emperor's
troops were invincible ; bat it-seems, by what
she said, that eventfoy have got to know
something of the truth. A foreigner in St.
Petersburg informed me that he had "gone to
we the recruits that mornincr, but there did
not se"era to be muoh patriotism among them:
there was nothing but sobs and tears to be
seen among those who were pronounced fit for
service, whilst the rejected ones were frantic
with delight, and bowed and crossed them
selves with the greatest gratitude." Reviews
were being held almost daily when tho Eng
lishwoman left, and she was told that, on one
occasion, when reviewing troops destined for
the South,' the Emperor was struck with the
forlorn and dejected air of the poor sheep whom
he was sending to tho slaughter. : -
" Hold your heads up 1" he exclaimed an
grily. Why do you look so miserable ?
There is nothing, to causo you to be so?"
There is something to cause hiyi. to , be so, we
are very much disposed to think. , . , ,
But we did not mean to tell about the war.
The vast empire over which the Czar has rule
is in a half-civilized it would be almost ivore
correct to say in an uncivilized stated Oreat
navigable rivers roll useless through extensive
wilds Except the excellent roads that con
nect St. Petersburg with; Moscow and with
Warsaw, and a few fragments of road serving
aa drives in the immediate vicinity of these
towns, there are no roads at all in Russia that
are roads in any civilized sense. . The post
roads of the r empire are clearings through
wood, with boughs of trees laid here and there,
tracks over, 6teppes and through morasses
There is everywhere the grandeur of nature ;
but it is the grandeur of its solitudes. A few
huts surround government post stations, and
small briek houses at intervals of fifteen or
twenty , miles along the routes are the halting
laces of gangs destined for Siberia. . A few
og huts, many of them no better, than the
wigwams of Red Indians, some of them ador
ned with elegant wood tracery, a line of such
dwellings, and commonly also a row of willows
by the wayside; indicate a itussian village.
A number of churches and ' monasteries with
domes and cupolas, green, gilt, or dark blue,
studded .with, golden stars, and surmounted
each by . a cross standing on .a crescent ; bar
racks, a government school and a. post office ;
a . few good . houses, , and a great .... number, of
huts- constitute a Hussion provincial town,
and the surrounding wastes or forests shut it
in, The rapid traveler who follows one'of the
two good lines of road, and sees only the show
places of 'Russian civilization, may be very
much deceived. Yet even here he is deceived
on!yl. .fey. a show. ' The great buildings that
appear so majS8jve are of. stuccoed brick, and
evin- the massive grandeur of the quays, like
that of infinitely greater works, the Pyramids,
is allied closely to the barbarous. They were
constructed at enormous sacrifice of life.. The
foundations of St.- ; Petersburg were, laid by
levies of men who perished by. hundreds of
thousands in the work. , One hundred thous
and died of famine only- ., ,;.t ,
f The ' civilization of the : Russian capital is
not more than skin deep. - One may bee this
any day in the streets. The pavements are
abominable. Only two or three; streets are
lighted with gas ; in the rest oil glimmers
The oil lamps are the dimmer for beine sub
ject to the peculation of ofSijials. Three wicks
are charged for, and two only are burnt ; the
difference is pocketed by the police, -All the
best shops are kepti by foreigners, the native
Russian shops being mostly collected in a cen
tral bazaar, Gostinoi Dwor. The shopkeepers
appeal to the ignorance of s & half barbarous
nation by putting pictures of their trades over
tbeir doors ; and in his shop a Russian strives
to eheatwuh oriental recklessness. - Every
shop in St, Petersburg contains a mirror for
the -Me-of ; the customers. Mirrors," says
the Englishwoman, bold, the same position
m Bttssia a. clocks daln EnglaDWitli us
time is valuable j ! w,th them, appearance.
Th7 car not tiioBgh :it be
pearance.". They even paint their faces. The
lower classes of women use a great deal of
white paint, and, as it contains mercury, it
injures alike health and skin. A young man
paying his court to a gTri generally presents
her with a box of red and white paint, to im-
5 rove her looks ; and in the upper classes, la
ies are often to be ' seen by one another, as
they arrive at a house,- openly rouging their
faces before entering the drawing-room. . " ,
- Tficse are email things, indicative of an ex
tensive principle. ! Peter the Great undertook
to civilize Russia by a eoup de main. ' A walk
is shown at St. Petersburg along which be
made women march unveiled between files of
soldiery '. to accustom them to go unveiled.
But civilization is not to be introduced into a
nation by imperial edict, and ever since Peter
the Great's time tha Pussian emigre has been
laboring . to stand for what it is not, namely,
the equivalent to nations that have become
civilized in the slow lapse of time.. It. can only
support,, or attempt to support, this reputation
by deceit. It must hide, or attempt to hide
and it has hidden from many eyes with
much success its mass of barbarism, while by
clever and assiduous imitation, as well as by
pretensions cunningly sustained, ; it must put
forward a show of havingwha it only in some
few directions even strive to get. " 7J- .
"The" elements of civilization Russia has, in a
copious language,' soft and beautiful without
being effeminate,' and a good hearted people,
that would become a nobler people under bet
ter government. Their character ia stained
chiefly by ignorance and fear The best class
of Russians especially those who are " not
tempted by poverty to the meanness that in
Russia is almost the only road to wealth are
boundlessly hospitable, kindly, amiable almost
beyond the borders of sincerity, but not with
the design of being insineere. They are hu
mane to their serfs ; , and although this class
suffers in Pussia troubles that surpass those
of the negro slaves, it is not from the proper
gentlemen and ladies of the country that this
suffering .directly comes. ; When the noble
proprietor, himself - lives in the, white house
that peeps from among trees, side by side
with the gilt dome of its church, the slaves
on the estate are reasonably happy. It is not
true that a Russian gentleman is frequently
intoxicated. A Russian lady never Is so.
Of the government functionaries, who forma
large class of the facitious nobility and gentry
of the empire, no good is to bo said; they- are
tempted to pillage and extortion under a sys
tem that all radiates from a great centre of
deceit." ' Ostentation is 'the rule! A post
master, a colonel in rank, receiving forty
pounds a year, and Without private estate, is
to be seen .keeping.it carriage; foar horses,'
two footuien, and a coachman. His .wife
goes extravagantly dressed ; she has two or
three children, a maid and a cook to keep ;
but she' can afford to pay a costlv visit every
season to the capital. ! This system of false
pretension ruins the character of thousands
upon thousands. It makes of Russia what it
is, a land eaten up with fraud and lying. 1
Living near such a colonel-postmaster, , the
Englishwoman could obserye his mode of opera
tion He was about to pay a visit to St. Peters
burg, but wanted money. ' Uis expedient was
to send an enormous order for iron, for the
use of government, to a rich - iron-master in
the town. ..The iron-master knew that .gold,
not iron, was (he metal wanted ; ; and as he
dared not expose himself to the anger of a
government official, he was glad to compromise
the matter by the payment of a round sum of.
silver roubles as a fine for default in execution
of the order.: The habit of ostentation bar
barous in itself, which destroys the usefulness
and credit of the employers of government
tempts the ' poof nobles also to a forfeiture of
their own honor and self-respect. " ' ''
; It runs into everything. "- Even in the most
cultivated classes, few Russians who have not
gone out of Russia for their knowledge are
really well-informed. They have learnt two
or three modern languages, and little elsel
Yet tbey cultivate a tact in conversing with an
air of wisdom upon topics about which5 they
are almost 'wholly uninformed, and after an
hour's sustainmentof a false assumption, show,
perhaps, by some senseless question, that they
cannot have understood properly , a syllable
upon the points under discussion., Their
emptiness of mind is a political institution.
"If three Russians talk together, one is a spy,"
stands with them'as a social ' proverbs They
are forbidden to express their own opinions
upon great movements in the world ; .their
censorship excludes from them : the- noblest
literature ; they have no common ground of
conversation left but the merits of actors and
actresses, tho jests of the last farce or trashy
comedy, or the state, of the opera, in which
place, by-tbe-by, such cperas as William Tell
and Massanelld are performed with new libretti,
from; which1 all taint of a love of liberty ;bas
been expunged: ' Peeling the weakness of this,
and in a great many cases, secretly resenting
it,, the men shrug their. shoulders and say,
" Wha' would you' have ? We must' play
cards' and talk of the odd trick." " While our
countrywoman was staying with a friendly
Russian lady,- an old gentleman called to bor
row a few roubles', got them, and departed.
" Ah, poor man," said the lady, when he was
gone, ' ' think how unfortunate he has been.
He once possessed fourteen thousand slaves,
and he has lost them all at cards." The En
glish visitor expressed regret that a man of his
years should be the prey of such a vice. "Dow
old do you think himf ' was then asked. : "Oh,
sixty t the least." "Sixty ! He is past eighty,
only.be wearsa wig, paints Jjye-brows, and
rouges to make himself look" younger." L v '
j -The ' Russian ladies have1 little to do but
read dissolute French novel (which' the cen
sorship -does not exclude,) .' dress and undress,
talk slander, and criticise the dresses of them-;
selves and one another. Their slaves do all
that might usefully occupy their hands and
they are left to idleness; whiresults inva
horrible amount of immortality.' The trading
classes' and official talk' almost exclusively of
money. The enslaved- peasants,' bound to the
soil,' content when they are not much beaten,
sing over the whole country their plaintive
songs (they are all set in the minor key,) and
each carries an axe in his girdle ; for 'which
the day may come when be finds terrible u&e.
At present, that day aeems to be very dis
tant. t The ignorant house slaves, like the
negroes holding the same rank clsewere, are
treated as children 1 . Anew footman, in. a
household which the Englishwoman visited
a man six feet two out of his shoes -was found
to have an apitude for breakage. He was
told one day that when next he let anything
fall he would be punished. - On the day fol
lowing he droped the fish'ladle in handing fish
at the beginning of dinner. - He looked dole
fully at bis master, expecting that blows would
be ordered. .'.4His mistress put him in the
corner 1 . Their ignorance is lamentable., , A
Russian gentleman returned from abroad,
where he had seen better things, determined,
to devote his life and fortune to the enlighten
ment f his peasantry.' " The priest taught
them- that he was destroying ancient customs,
and that his-design was to subvert the religion
of their, forefathers.'? Th consequence was
that the slaves formed a conspiracy against
him, and -shot him one evening, as he was
reading a book in..his own setting. room! 5t
Sometimes they take vengeance upon an
oppressor ;' and terrible incidents of this kind
come within the experience of .our country
woman. 'The heads of cruel masters are some
times cleft with the hatchet of the serf They
are capable at the same time of strong feudal
attachments.' It should be understood that
all the slaves .in Russia are not poor Some
of the wealthiest traders in St. ' Petersburg arc
slaves to nobles who will not suffer them to
buy their freedom, but enjoy the pride of own
ing men who themselves own in some cases
hundreds of thousands of pounds capital.. The
inheritor of an estate in which there were many
well-to-do serfs, arrived at it for the first time
one evening, ' and in the morning found his
house as he thought,' besieged.' His people
had . heard that he was in debt ; and their pride
being hurt at servitude to an embarrased mas
ters, they brought with them a gift of money
raised among themselves, not less than five
and forty thousand pounds their free-will off
ering, to make a man of him again. He did
not need" this help, but the . illustratiop still
remains of the great generosity of feeling pos
sible among the class of Russians. ; -'
The slaves detached from their lords, and
living in a comparatively independent state,;
acknowledge their.-subjection to the soil by
payment of - poll-tax. Oppressive owners
often use this claim of poll-tax as a means of
aevourrng air ine earnings oi a struggling
slave.' Our English woman met with a poor
cook,, who had served a seven year's appren
ticeship in- a French bouse, and earned high
wages in a family besides -being allowed to
earn many fees by superintending public sup
pers and private parties. ; -There was an : up
per servant . under the same roof with him
whom this poor fellow sU ove ternary ; but much
as he earned,' he strove in vain to save. Year
by year the abrock or poll-tax was" raised. pro
portion to the progress that he had made , and
the . last time the English lady saw., him, "he
was 6obbing bitterly ; over an open letter-r a
demand from his proprietor for , more abrock;
and an answer to a request from Madame with
whom he served, that she might buy his free
dom, naming an impossible Bum that doomed
him to continued slavery.- is -.; ,'J
I v There was a poor man in Twer. a dave born
.with a genius for painting that in any civilized
country would have proourred for him fame
and fortune, . .His master, finding how he was
gifted, doomed him to study under a common
portrait-painter,- and -obliged him then to pay
a poll-tax,-which he could only raise from year
to year by painting.a great number . of cheap
Eortrajts. he who had genius - for higher and
etter things. "When we last saw him,"
writes -our countrywoman, he had pined into
a decline; and, doubtless, ere this the village
grave has closed over his griefs and - sorrows.
and buried his genius in the shades of itseter--
nal oblivion."' , , , ... ..... z -. . , -) ..- -r
. The Englishwoman was present once when
a bargin was struck, for-a dressmaker.'. A
gentleman had dropped in , to dine ; the host
mentioned that his wife wanted a good dressing-maid....
The guest recommended one skilful
in dressmaking,, with whom he thought his
wife would part. " Well," the other said, -"her
price ?", t "-Two hundred and fifty silver rou
bles." That was more than could be given.;
but the bargin finally was struck for a hun
dred roubles and an old piano. ; , t . ; : .
Sueh a servant must-be. content 0 'submit
to much oppression. ' The, mistress who parts
from you in the drawing ioom. with a , smile,
may be met ten minutes afterwards -in- the.
garden, her face inflamed with, rage, beating
a man before her, one of the serfs employed
ppon the grounds. - iA. lady who lost much
money at the gambling table, being pressed to
pay a debt .of honor, reraemberpd that she had
not a female servants who possessed . beautiful
hair. ;She ordered them all to be cropped and
their hair sold for her benefit, regardles of the
fact that together. witbjthcir hair, she robbed
them of their. "reputation"; cropped hair being
one of the marks set on a criminal. - -.---' i
; The boxing of the ears 'of maids is not below
the dignity of any lady, but when the maid is
not a Russian, there may be some -danger in
the practice.; f. A princess,' whose hair was
being dressed by a Trench waiting-maid, re
ceiving some accidental scratch, turned round
and slapped the face of her ''attendant.-; -.The
Frenchwoman,' had the lady's back hair in her
hand3 at the time, and grasping it firmly, held
her head fast, while she administered a sound
correction on the cheeks and ears of her high
ness with the back of her hairbrush, r " It was:
an insult that could not be resented publicly.
A lady of her highness's blood could not let it
be-said that a servant had given, her- a beat
ing, and she therefore bribed the- Frenchwo
man by mstir and kind I treatment to hold
her totjgue. rs vt
Yet blows." & not account for much in Rus
sia; from the highest to the lowest, are all
liable to suffer them. A lady of the hi,. hot .
rank, using the lady's priTih-ge of chartering I
in the ear or the Emperor at a iuakcd ball,
let fall some iudicrcct f uggestiotia. hc waa j
followed home by a npy ; (tuukuosed nest dy
to Count Urlott s ouiee ; presently let ntyeUy
down into a cellar, where she was birched Ly
some person unsi'cn. This lady whose bt.ry
we have heard before, tho Ecg'ihwouian
often met ; her sister she knew well ; and she
had the- anecdote from an rati mate friend of
the family. " ' - ' - ; ;
TJbe knot, the emblem of Russian barbae-;
ism, falls not only on the slave . or the , crimi
nal.', A poor student of more . thau ordinary
tajents had, by great perseverance, , twice
merited a prize ; but he was regarded with
jealous hostality by a certain professor, whom
he was too poor "to - bribe. "Twice- cheated,
the poor fellow made a third : effort," though
barely able to sustain himself in'; Lis humble
lodginguntil the period of examination camel
His .future hang upon the result ;' for,' upon
his passing the ordeal with credit, depended
his access to employment thai would get him
bread. He strained every.nerve. and succee
ded, welL All the professors . testified their
approbation except one whose voice was ne
cessary to complete'the votes.,".. He rose, and
withheld his'suffrage upon false grounds that
cast dishonor on the young mans character,
It was -his old enemy; and the poor boy -a
widow's son with starvation before him,
and his hopes all to the winds, rushed forward
by a sudden impulse of despair, and struck his
persecutor, He was arrested, tried and con
demned, by the Emperor himself, to receive
a thousand lashes with the knout.- . . All the
students and professors were ordered to be
present at the execution of the sentence. Long
before it was complete, of course, the youth
was dead . but the full number was completed.
Many students, who were made spectators of
the scene, lay on the ground in swoon. - From
another eye-witness, the Englishwoman heard
of the-presence of a Ene of carriages, filled
with Russian ladies, at a similar scene the
victims.being slaves who had rebelled oecanse
a master introduced upon his ground a box in
which to thrash them bv machinery and had
seized him and given him a taste of his own
instrument of torture. Need we say more to
prove that the true Russian civilization is a
thing to come. -' ' ' ' ; ' -
Our countryman, visiting a monastery, was
invited to. eat ices in the garden She saw
how the 6poons were cleaned behind the bush
es licked and wiped. Such ice-eating, with
the spoon -licking in the back-ground, is typi
cal of the sort of elegance and polish Russia
has.,t.. .,,..'..." a
One day the Englishwoman saw an officer
boldly pocket some of his neighbor's money
while playing at carda, ' Another slipped up
his sleeve some concert tickets belonging to
her friend. She and her friend both saw him
do it. One day a young: officer called while
they. were at dinner; was shown into one of
the drawing-rooms, and departed witha lady s
'watch. Nothing was said to the police, out
of respect to his uncle, who is of rank. La
dies going to a party will sometimes steal the
papers of kid gloves and the hair-pins left on
the toilet tables to supply those who happen
tq come unprovided. Our countrywoman
went to visit an old lady; and. as all (he drawing-rooms
were thrown open for the reception
of visitors, thought it no sin to walk from one
room to anptljer for the purpose of examining
some pictures. - The old lady rose and followed
her, watching her mpyements so closely that
she returned to herr seat greatly amazed.
:" You must not be surprised at it,' my dear,"
said a friend, after she got home again :' "for
really-you do not know how many things are
lost iq auchpanie8 from the too great admi
ration of the visitors." ' ' c" J'- i ' l';
The officers just mentioned were men hold
ing .employments under government. - So
much . has been . made notorious during the
present war, of the extent to -which tho Rus-;
sian government suffers from the peculation
and falsehood pf officials in . all grades, that
one illustration in this place will be sufficient,
and we will choose one that illustrates at the
same time another topic. " The railway at
Warsaw is dropped, because he money needed
for it is absorbed by war ; the only ' Russian
railway line is that between he two capitals,
St. Petersburg and. Moscow. .- When it was
nearly finished, the Czar ordered it to be. ready
for his own use on a certaiu day. It was not
really fiiffiihed ; but over several miles of the
road, since the Czar must be obeyed,' rails
were laid down upon whatever contrivance
could be patched up .for the occasion. ' The
Imperial neck was risked by the Russian sys
tem. While this railway- was iu course of
construction, the fortunes made by engineers
and government officials on the line of road
was quite astonishing : men of straw rapidly
acquired estates. Government suffered and
the serfs. Our countrywoman living once.
in-aoproTmce through which the railway runs
went by train to a pic-nie " At the station,
four hundred workmen were assembled, who
asked eagerly whether he' governor was of
the party-.- No, they were told, but his wife
was. Her, then, they bogged to see. To :
her they pleaded with their miserable tale,' for
interference in their behalf. For six : weeks
they, had been paid no wages, their rations
were bad, and a fever like a piaguuund bro
ken out among them, of which their compan
ions perished by scores, to be b'iried, like so
many dogs, in morales along the line. Their
looks cenfirmcii their tale. The criminal em
ployers were uron the spot, and acted igno
rance and sympathy, making at the same time
-humane speeches and - promises, ' which the
poor men received by exchanging looks pr
profound despair with each other.
- Then there is the system of espial. ' - In addi
tion to the secret police 'the accredited spies
-there is said to be a Btafi of eighty thousand
paid agents, persons moving in society ; gen
erals, tradesmen, dressmakers, people of all
ranks ; who are secretly engaged io watching
and betraying - those with whom they live.
The consequence is, that nobody dare speak
his rarneiit thought. ev n to Lis familiar
frit nd. Men ay what ' tLy do' sot thick,
after -credit of gwernBient rrpertarhich they
know to be audacious lies, and take pains to
exhibit theu.Hdves as vbedicnt sul Jects. When
the Englibhwouian lived at Archangel, a deaf
and dnuib gentleman arrived with letters of
introduction to the prinipj people, and was
received with cordiality and Kympathy ; he
was a clever man, read several language, and,
displayed pretty drawings cf his own execu
tion. He was made everywhere welcome. '
More than once our quick-eyed country-woman
fancied that lie looked over-attentive to words
spoken behind his back'. - It soon afterwards
was made only two certain that this man was
a government spy,' playing a difficult part for
a baae purpose. . ; . 4. .
k Of the Grek form of religojQ . wesay no
thiug. ,Lct the Russiaua bow before, the pic
tures of their saints. , We will quote oly an
anecdote tpl5 in this book, of a poor Wander
ing Samoyede, a fish-eating savage from tho
borders xf the Arctic Ocean. le asked whe
ther his visitor was Russian, and being an
swered No, lifted up some skins in his tent
which covered pictures of paints, and, pointing
to them with disdain, said, " See J nere are
Russian gods, but ours, raifing ihi's hand
heavenwards, a greater. - He lives up
, , An Election Speech. . ,
. Laiues and Gentlemen :. I rise; but
there's no use telling you that you know I'm
up as well as I do ' I'm a modest man very
but I've never lost a picayune by it in my
life ; because' its a scarcecommodily among
candidates, I thought I would nientiPn. h, for
fear if I didn't you would never be lucky' in
finding it out. ..".' ... W . .a
Candidates are generally, considered aa
nuisances, but (.hey are not ; they are. the poli
test men in the world, bhake you by the baud,
and ask how's your family, what's the pros
pect for crops, &c I'm the politest man in.
the State.' I'm not only the politest man, but
the best electioneerer you Ought to see me
shaking hands with all the variations the
pump-handle and'the pendulum, the cross-cut
and wiggle-waggle : I understand the scienp e
perfectly.. If any of the country candidates
wish instructions, let them come to me. . -:
Fellow citizens ; I was born if I, had not
been I Wouldn't have been a randidate but
I was going to tell you where. It was not in
the Mississippi, but 'twas on the north 6ide pf
the negro line ; yet that is not a compliment,
as the negroes are mostly born in the same
side I started in the world as poor as a church
mouse, yet I came honestly by my poverty
for I inherited it ; and if 1 did start poor, no
man can say but that I've held my own pretty
well. .: ' - , " ' . . i
Candidates-generally aek you if you think
they are qualified, Ac. Now I don't ask your
thought I ask your votes. Why, there's
nothing to think of except to watch that Swan's
name is not on your ticket; if it is, think to
scratch it off and put mine on. . I'm certain
I'm competent for who ought to know better
than I do? Nobody. , ' I
I will allow that Swan is the best auditor "
that is till I'm elected. ' Then perhaps it is'
not proper for me to say any thing more . Yet, ,
as an honest man, I'm bound to say that it's
a grievous sin to hide anything from my fcl-low-citizens.
Therefore I say it's my private
opinion, publicly expressed, that I'll make the
best auditor ever in the United States. ' e
- 'Tu cot for honor I wish to be auditor ; for, :
in my own county, I was offered an office, that '
was all hpnor-coroner which I respectfully;
declined The auditor's office is worth some ,
$5,000 a year, and I am iu for it like a thou-
sand of brick., To show my goodness of heart ;
I'll make this offer to my competitor, I am
sure of being elected f and he will - lose some
thing by the canvass ; therefore I am willing
to divide equally with him, and . make - these
two offers : I'll take the salary, and he may i
have the honor ; or he may have the honor, .t
and I'll take the salary. Iu the way of honors ..
t have received enough to satisfy me for life. "
J went out to Mexico,' eat pork and beans," '
slept in the rain and mud, and swallowed every-''
thing except live Mexicans. When I was
ordered to go," went ; " charge," charged ;
and " break for the chapparral," you had betr
ter believe I beat a quarter nag "n doing , my .
duty.r :. . .:; ,.,': f - . i
. My competitor, Swan, is a bird of golden
plumage,. who has been fewimming for the last
four years in the auditor's pond at $5,000 a '
year. I am for rotation. I want to rotate
him out," and to rotate myself in. There's
plenty of room for him out side of that pond,T
therefore pop iu your votes for me I'll pop -him
out, and pop myself in J L '. . "
I am for a division of labor. Swan says
hp has to work all the time with his nose down -upon
the public grind-stone. T Four years (
must have ground it to a point. Poor follow, .
the public ought Dot to insist on having the
handle of hU mug ground clean off. I have '
a large full grown nose, and tough as sole- '
leather. I rush to the post of duty I offer ;
it up as a sacrifice. - I clap it on the grind-" '
stone. : Feilow-crtixens, grind away, till I ;
holler ennff, and that'll be some time first.
Time's most out.' .Well, I like to forget to
tell you my name. . .. It's Daniel (for Bhort, ,
Dan ; not a handsome , name', for my parents .
were poor people, who lived where .he quality t
appropriated all the nice names; therefore
they had to take what was left and divide "
around among us but it's as handsome as I
am) It. Russell. Remember every one of
you, that it's not Swan. "
1 am sure to be elected ; so one and all, :
freat and small, short and tall, when you come ;
own to Jackson, after the election, stop at
the auditor's offico-the latch-ats'icg hang ,
out enter , without knocking, f:akapff youir
things,' and make yourself at home.
; " Mother, did you hear sissyswear V : 1
No. mydear; what' did bh say ?" '
-"Why, she said she vr-'t going to wear
her dirncd stockings to ch'.u hT - : i . ;