leaving cracow.—the russian frontier.—the police and the custom-house.—russian censorship of books and papers.—catching a smuggler.—from the frontier to warsaw.—sights and incidents in the capital of poland.—from warsaw to st. petersburg.
outer wall of cracow.
the sun was setting as our friends reached cracow, on their return from wieliczka. 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 travellers. frank wished to make a sketch of the gate-way through which they passed on their entrance within the walls, but the hour was late and[pg 41] 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, 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.
custom house formalities.
at granitsa, the frontier station, they had a halt of nearly two hours. their passports were carefully examined by the russian officials, while their trunks 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 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 indorsement 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 cracow for approval by the russian consul at that point, 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 traveller 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 our friends had fallen into conversation while they were waiting in the anteroom of the passport office. "its object is to keep improper persons out of russia; but it does nothing of the kind. any nihilist, revolutionist, or other objectionable individual can always obtain[pg 42] a passport under a fictitious name, and secure the necessary approval of consuls or ambassadors. ivan carlovitch, 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 false swearing; it is approved by the russian minister at vienna, and the fellow enters russia with perfect ease. the honest traveller 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 russia when he wanted to go there.
passport not correct.
"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 indorsed. i supposed i would have to go back to berlin, but the station-master said i 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, and sent them by the conductor of the train to k?nigsburg, 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 the conductor for his trouble, and he brought back the passports on his return run to the frontier. then the station-master wanted four shillings (one dollar) for his share of the work, and we were all en regle 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 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[pg 43] in europe that keeps up the passport system with any severity, and it only results in putting honest people to trouble and expense, and never stops those whom it is intended to reach. there, they've opened the door, and we can now go before the representatives of the autocrat of all the russias."
in the passport bureau.
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 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[pg 44] about russia is carefully examined by the official censor as 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.
"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 nicholas 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 school-books. now they rarely object to school-books, unless they contain too many teachings of liberty; and they are getting over their squeamishness about criticisms, even if they are abusive and untruthful. the worst case i ever 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 could be allowed to enter the empire, and confiscated the volume in spite of its owner's explanations.
"under nicholas," continued the englishman, "macaulay's 'history of england' was prohibited, though it could be bought without much trouble. after alexander ii. ascended the throne the rigors of the censorship were greatly reduced, and papers and books were freely admitted into russia which were prohibited in france under louis napoleon. all the tauchnitz editions of english works were permitted, even including carlyle's 'french revolution.' it is possible that 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 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 suppressed at all before the death of alexander ii.
"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 "all works written in a spirit hostile to the orthodox greek church, or containing[pg 45] 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 autocratical monarchical power and the fundamental laws of the empire, or to diminish the respect due to the imperial family; all productions containing attacks on the honor or reputation of any one, 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 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.
way station on the railway.
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, 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[pg 46] changes russian into austrian. he receives one per cent. commission on each transaction, which amounts to four per cent. 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 per cent. annually on their capital. but perhaps they have to 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 anteroom of the passport office?"
before examination.
"yes," answered the doctor, "and she seemed quite uneasy, as though she feared trouble."
"doubtless she did," was the reply, "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 train has gone. ah! here she comes."
after examination.
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 of the anteroom," 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 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[pg 47] 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."
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.
in due time the train on the russian side of the station was ready to receive the travellers, and they took their places in one of the carriages. it needed only a glance to show they had crossed the frontier. the austrian uniform disappeared, and the russian took its place; the russian language was spoken instead of german; the carriages 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.
scene on the railway.
the train rolled away from granitsa in the direction of warsaw, which was the next point of destination of our friends. the country through which they travelled 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 especial interest. their english acquaintance said there were mines of coal, iron, and zinc in the neighborhood of zombkowitse, 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 of poland and silesia. a hundred miles from warsaw they[pg 48] passed petrikau, 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.
shutes for loading coal on the railway.
as 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 centre 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 h?tel de l'europe, where they proposed to stop 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 of 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,
wide o'er the fields a waste of ruin laid."
laid desolate by many wars and subjected to despotic rule, the country around warsaw bears little evidence of prosperity. many houses are[pg 49] 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 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 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 devoted an hour or so to a chat about poland and her 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 best of the fight. how many of those who sympathize so deeply with the wrongs of poland are aware of the fact that in 1610 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 1611, and thousands of its inhabitants were slaughtered; in 1612 the poles were[pg 50] 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 i," echoed fred; "and probably not one person in a hundred is aware of it."
polish national costumes.
"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 to each other for centuries; they are antagonistic in everything—language, religion, customs, and national ambitions—and there could be no permanent peace between[pg 51] them until one had completely absorbed the other. twice in this century (in 1830 and 1863) 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 1830 was brought about.
peasant's farm-house.
"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 1795. at the great settlement among the powers of europe, in 1815, after the end of the napoleonic wars, the emperor of russia proposed to form ancient poland into a constitutional monarchy under the russian crown. his plan was adopted, with some modifications, and from 1815 to 1830 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 rebelled, and were defeated. after the defeat the constitution was withdrawn and the national army abolished; the polish universities were[pg 52] 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 ii. ascended 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 of state. but nothing short of independence would satisfy the inhabitants, and then came the revolution of 1863. it was suppressed, like its predecessor, and from that time the russians have maintained such an iron rule in poland that a revolt of any importance is next to impossible. all the oppression of which russia is capable cannot destroy the 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 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.
royal palace at warsaw.
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 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 been several times altered and restored. there were many pictures and other objects of art in the castle until 1831, when they were removed to st. 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.
shrine at a gateway.
"from 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[pg 53] 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 latest figures of the population that we have at hand, russian poland contains about 3,800,000 catholics, 300,000 protestants, 700,000 jews, and 250,000 members of the greek church and adherents of other religions, or a little more than 5,000,000 of inhabitants in all. like all people who have 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[pg 54] shrines, and at nearly all of them the faithful were kneeling to repeat the prayers prescribed by their religious teachers.
"from the cathedral we went to the citadel, which is on a hill in the centre of the city, and was built after the revolution of 1830. 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 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 offences.
lake in the park.
"there are ten or twelve squares, or open places, in warsaw, 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 1830. 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 favor of the insurrection.
"there are several handsome streets and avenues; and as for the public palaces and fine residences which once belonged 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 was built by king stanislaus poniatowski. 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 travellers. 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 in 1850 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.'
[pg 55]
"inside the palace there are many fine paintings and other works of art. there are portraits of polish kings and queens, 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 sobieski, and now belongs to count potocki, there are paintings by rubens and other celebrated masters, and there is a fine collection of armor, including the suit which was presented to sobieski by the 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.
a business man of warsaw.
"warsaw has a population of nearly three hundred thousand, and there are a good many factories for the manufacture of carriages, pianos, cloth, carpets, and machines of various kinds. the city is the centre of a[pg 56] large trade in grain, cattle, horses, and wool, and altogether it may be considered prosperous. much of the business 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 all blonds; the men have red beards, and the hair of the women is 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 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 ballet are poles. russian 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[pg 57] 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 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 streets after dusk 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 tired enough to make a long walk objectionable."
the next day our friends visited some of the battle-fields near warsaw, and on the third took the train for st. 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 bialystok and grodno, 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 st. 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 to inspect this ancient capital of the independent duchy of lithuania. at pskof 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 not often visited by travellers.
in st. petersburg.
at gatchina, famous for its trout and containing an imperial palace, an official collected the passports of the travellers, which were afterwards returned to them on arriving at the st. 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. frank said it must be the dome of st. isaac's church, and the doctor nodded assent to the suggestion. the dome of st. isaac's is to the capital of russia what the dome of st. peter's is to rome—the first object on which the gaze of the approaching traveller is fixed.
