THE JAMES K. MOFFITT FUND. 
 
 LIBRARY OF THK UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 GIFT OF 
 
 JAMES KENNEDY MOFFITT 
 
 OF THE CLASS OF 
 
 Accession No. 
 
 Class No - 
 
EUGENE SCHUYLER 
 
 SELECTED ESS ATS 
 
,-.. 
 
 CAL 
 

EUGENE SCHUYLER 
 
 SELECTED ESSATS 
 
 WITH A MEMOIR BY 
 EVELYN SCHUYLER SCHAEFFER 
 
 NEW YORK 
 
 CHARLES SCRIBNER S SONS 
 
 1901 
 
COPYRIGHT, 1901, BY 
 CHARLES SCRIBNER S SONS 
 
 TROW DIRECTORY 
 
 PRINTING AND BOOKBINDING COMPANY 
 NEW YORK 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 PAGE 
 
 EUGENE SCHUYLER ! 
 
 COUNT LEO TOLSTOY TWENTY YEARS AGO . . 205 
 THE MINNESOTA HEIR OF A SERBIAN KING . . 301 
 
 THE LOST PLANT 321 
 
 INDEX 351 
 
 96259 
 
EUGENE SCHUYLER 
 
 A MEMOIR 
 
EUGENE SCHUYLER 
 
 A MEMOIR 
 
 It is almost as difficult to describe a man of 
 magnetic personality as to paint the portrait of 
 a face remembered rather by its changing ex 
 pression than by its features. To those who 
 have known the man a hint may be enough; for 
 the stranger he can hardly be made to live again, 
 even with the help of his own letters. Yet 
 one would like to preserve some record, however 
 inadequate, of a most unusual character. 
 
 Eugene Schuyler was born at Ithaca, New 
 York, February 26, 1840. On his father s side 
 his ancestry was altogether Dutch, unless one 
 takes into account the one drop of French blood 
 some six generations back; and it is perhaps 
 the absence, unusual in America, of a mixture 
 of nationalities, that has caused a persistence, 
 from generation to generation, of certain quali- 
 
 3 
 
EUGENE SCHUYLER 
 
 ties. In the seventeenth century Philip Pieterse 
 van Schuyler was a man of prominence, especially 
 distinguished for his services to the State in the 
 negotiation of treaties with the Indians, and for 
 his success in keeping up the subsequent friendly 
 relations with those difficult allies. He treated 
 the Indians with a wisdom which insured him 
 their friendship during his life, and even per 
 petuated his memory to such an extent that 
 many years after his death they presented to 
 his youngest daughter two thousand acres of 
 land " in remembrance of the kindness of her 
 father and mother." That his descendants fol 
 lowed in his footsteps is abundantly shown by 
 the colonial records. 
 
 George Washington Schuyler, the father of 
 Eugene Schuyler, was born at Stillwater-on-the- 
 Hudson, February 2, 1810, but spent his boy 
 hood as well as his later life in Ithaca, his 
 father having removed there in 1811. The fam 
 ily had become less prosperous than of old, and 
 it was only by great determination and per 
 severance that he was able to get the educa 
 tion that he desired. He graduated at the Uni 
 versity of the City of New York, taking the 
 Junior and Senior studies in one year, with He 
 brew in addition; at the same time supporting 
 
 4 
 
A MEMOIR 
 
 himself by acting as private tutor to two stu 
 dents. Even with the lower standards of those 
 days this might be called a good year s work. 
 He next studied theology, but for family reasons 
 gave up his studies when near the end of the 
 course, and entered upon mercantile life, where 
 his abilities and sagacity would have yielded him 
 a fortune had it not been for the never-ending 
 demands upon his generosity. Naturally of a 
 cheerful and genial disposition, very generous, 
 unselfish and conscientious, and strongly relig 
 ious, the self-denials and repressions of his youth, 
 and especially the rigorous and gloomy Calvin- 
 istic form of religion in which he had been 
 brought up, had their effect upon him in making 
 him in early life too serious; only in his later years 
 did he learn to sympathise with less strenuous 
 views and habits of thought. 
 
 Always public-spirited and ardent, his influ 
 ence soon extended beyond the confines of the 
 village. Much as he loved the approval of his 
 fellows, the unpopularity of a cause never de 
 terred him from embracing it. The Abolition 
 movement found in him a warm supporter at a 
 time when to support it meant not merely un 
 popularity, but some petty persecution. He not 
 only became an agent of the famous " under- 
 
 5 
 
EUGENE SCHUYLER 
 
 ground railway," but took negroes into his own 
 employment whenever he could, and struggled 
 valiantly to engraft upon the irresponsible negro 
 temperament something of his own reliability 
 it must be confessed with not very flattering 
 results. Later he was much in public life, serv 
 ing successively as Treasurer of the State of 
 New York, Superintendent of the Banking De 
 partment, Member of the Assembly, and Audi 
 tor of the Canal Department, and was instru 
 mental in securing the adoption of several im 
 portant measures. His integrity was so unas 
 sailable that even in times of great excitement 
 he escaped the personal attacks which usually 
 seem to be an inseparable accompaniment of 
 political prominence. A trustee of Cornell Uni 
 versity from its foundation, his judgment and re 
 source did much to tide it over its early financial 
 difficulties and place it on a lasting foundation. 
 
 The achievement of his life which probably 
 gave him most pleasure was the preparation 
 and publication of his book, " Colonial New 
 York Philip Schuyler and his Family," which 
 he published when he was seventy-six years old, 
 and which is accepted as an authority on the 
 subjects of which it treats. 
 
 He married, in April, 1839, Matilda Scribner, 
 6 
 
A MEMOIR 
 
 daughter of Uriah Rogers Scribner, one of the 
 old merchants of New York, but of a New Eng 
 land family. Mrs. Schuyler was a woman of 
 much beauty and of an individuality at once 
 strong and delicate. Her extreme shyness and 
 modest estimate of herself prevented her from 
 being known outside of a small circle, but those 
 who knew her intimately were aware that she 
 possessed much insight, and a remarkable gift of 
 terse expression; but she had a horror of unchar 
 itable comment, which she always repressed in 
 her children; and such was her self-control that, 
 during their childhood and youth, at least one 
 of them can never remember having heard her 
 speak severely of any one. Physically timid and 
 subject to all the discomforts entailed by a highly 
 strung nervous temperament, her moral courage 
 was of the highest type. She lived eighty-nine 
 years, and to the end of her life could adapt 
 herself to new circumstances and assimilate new 
 ideas. 
 
 Like her husband, Mrs. Schuyler had been 
 brought up in the strictest traditions of puri- 
 tanism, and during the earlier years of their 
 married life they were placed in an environ 
 ment which only strengthened the impressions 
 already given. The village of Ithaca was sharply 
 
 7 
 
EUGENE SCHUYLER 
 
 divided between the godly and the ungodly, the 
 former being of the bluest dye of Calvinism. As 
 time went on, religious beliefs were slowly 
 softened, and in any case persons of the natural 
 characteristics of Mr. and Mrs. Schuyler would 
 necessarily have outgrown the severe creed of 
 their youth. They both became in the highest 
 degree tolerant and liberal, while never losing the 
 peculiar conscientiousness which strongly charac 
 terised them both; though the manifestations were 
 different. The descendant of Dutchmen bears 
 his conscience with better cheer than the New 
 Englander can ever learn to do. But this de 
 velopment came later. The world into which 
 their children were born was a serious world. 
 
 Eugene was a beautiful and clever child. To 
 him, to learn was a delight. Mentally and phys 
 ically he was alert for new impressions. He 
 loved flowers, animals, pictures, music, good 
 things to eat, and made nice distinctions as to 
 the relations between taste and smell. Certain 
 flowers belonged on the dinner-table with cer 
 tain articles of food for instance, sweet peas 
 went with roast beef. Alphabet blocks taught 
 him his letters before he could pronounce them, 
 and he learned to read about the time he learned to 
 talk. What a friend of later years called his esprit 
 
 8 
 
A MEMOIR 
 
 chercheur always impelled him not only to leave 
 no question unsolved, but no sensation untried. 
 
 As a boy he attended the old Ithaca Acad 
 emy, but did not confine himself to its rather 
 limited curriculum. On spring and summer af 
 ternoons, after school, he went on botanical ex 
 peditions and became learned in the flora of 
 the region, even to discovering species hitherto 
 unknown in that locality; and a warm friend 
 ship sprang up between him and an eminent 
 botanist in a neighbouring village. In short, his 
 mind was open in all directions; but with an 
 especial taste for literature and a very unusual 
 gift for languages. At twelve years old he be 
 gan to take lessons on the piano, of a Scotch 
 woman who was a character in the town; an 
 eccentric person, not without genius, a warm 
 friend and an equally warm enemy; with a keen 
 sense of beauty and an admiration of clever 
 ness. A pagan herself, she did not escape her 
 Calvinistic inheritance, and was of a severe turn 
 of mind in the matter of religion, being fiercely 
 intolerant of the intolerant Orthodox. Her 
 commanding height and generous amplitude, 
 with her taste for striking and bizarre costumes, 
 made her a figure to be remembered. She took 
 her bright pupil in great affection, and the 
 
 9 
 
EUGENE SCHUYLER 
 
 middle-aged woman and the clever boy of 
 twelve conversed on terms of intellectual equal 
 ity; and for many years as long as she remained 
 in Ithaca he was in the habit of going to see 
 her during his visits there. As to the piano, he 
 learned in two years all that she could teach 
 him, and to the end of his life played much 
 with no great technical skill, but with much 
 musical feeling. His unusual facility in playing 
 at sight was always a source of pleasure to him 
 self and others. 
 
 As a playmate he was considered desirable, by 
 the girls as much as by the boys. Whatever 
 the game, he put into it something new and 
 original that at once made it different from all 
 other games. I was but seldom admitted to 
 the amusements of my elders, but sometimes it 
 was desirable to swell the number, and then I 
 came in as a great treat. In one game, where 
 the person pointed at by the one who was " It " 
 had to drop down dead, I was nearly fright 
 ened out of my wits, and on seeing this, Eugene 
 confessed to me, small as I was, that he too felt 
 very creepy, and was going to give up that 
 game. He was always fond of children and 
 ready to take trouble for them. I was once shut 
 
 out of the play-room for days that seemed like 
 
 10 
 
A MEMOIR 
 
 centuries, and then admitted and presented with 
 a beautiful doll s house which he had made in a 
 low chimney cupboard. He had made every 
 thing with his own hands, even to the chande 
 liers of steel beads strung on wires, with candles 
 made of wax matches, with the inflammable ends 
 burned off to make them look more natural. 
 During one of his college vacations he happened 
 to come into the room where I was playing with 
 paper dolls, and was struck with the ugly colours 
 of the frocks which they had brought with them 
 from the shop. With him, to see a thing wrong 
 was to want to set it right, from paper dolls to 
 the Sublime Porte, and he at once sat down 
 with my paint-box and made such beautiful 
 paper dolls dresses that they were treasured until 
 they fell apart with much handling. 
 
 At fourteen he was prepared to enter Yale 
 College, but his youth, and especially his youth 
 ful appearance, made his parents hesitate about 
 sending him away from home, and it was de 
 cided to delay for a year. His constitution was 
 somewhat delicate and extremely susceptible. 
 At that time the importance of physical culture 
 was not recognised as it is now. Nature, if let 
 alone, is apt to look out for a growing boy, and, 
 by merely following his natural bent, the average 
 
 ii 
 
EUGENE SCHUYLER 
 
 boy becomes hardy, in case he does not break his 
 neck or drown himself by the way. But the 
 anxious mother of her first boy was only too 
 thankful that his tastes did not lead him in the 
 direction of hair-breadth escapes. His boyish 
 longings of that sort were the more easily 
 checked since he had so many other resources, 
 and if a dangerous amusement were forbidden 
 he could usually turn with interest to a safe one; 
 so that he never gained the physical hardening 
 which most boys get a lack which he deplored 
 all his life. Learning to swim could not be 
 helped if a boy were a boy at all, and a certain 
 amount of other sports, but it was always the 
 minimum amount. 
 
 At fifteen he was only a rosy-cheeked little 
 boy, and left off his boyish " roundabout " and 
 put on his first " tail-coat " the day before he 
 started for college. He had still been attending 
 the Academy, and it was felt by the trustees 
 that he had conferred such lustre on that insti 
 tution that when he left they sent him three 
 large volumes of " Selections from the British 
 Poets," with a complimentary letter. The crit 
 ical instinct was ever strong in him and struggled 
 with his natural gratification; and from his New 
 England ancestors he inherited an almost irre- 
 
 12 
 
A MEMOIR 
 
 pressible instinct to speak what he thought. He 
 expressed his gratitude properly, however, and 
 perhaps it was only the sympathetic little sister, 
 hardly old enough to know what " British Poets " 
 meant, who quite understood that while in one 
 way Eugene was delighted, yet one poet s com 
 plete works were rather nicer to have than an 
 other man s selections from all of them. He 
 loved books. Children did not have much 
 spending money then, but one of his earliest 
 purchases and the very first book he ever bought 
 was " Lalla Rookh," a welcome change from the 
 serious volumes of his father s library. 
 
 The impression made on him by the stern 
 religious beliefs in which he had been brought 
 up was not apparent; but on the one hand they 
 drove him in the direction of negation, and on 
 the other they added to the enjoyment of his 
 later life by the piquancy of the contrast. He 
 seemed an incarnate reaction from the whole 
 system as if he represented those tastes and 
 impulses which the hardships of life and the 
 severities of religion had compelled his parents 
 to extinguish for a time in themselves. He 
 was affectionate and extraordinarily loyal. With 
 him a friendship once formed was enduring, and 
 survived disillusionment. Equally strong was his 
 
 13 
 
EUGENE SCHUYLER 
 
 feeling for the tie of blood; and he retained 
 his interest in his own kin, even through the 
 gradations of diminishing relationship. The live 
 liness of his interest and his power of placing 
 himself in imaginary situations, of which he ar 
 ranged even the smallest details, often made him 
 feel a strong desire to arrange matters for his 
 friends; but while he had a somewhat authori 
 tative way of advising, his sense of humour kept 
 him from expecting his advice to be taken. On 
 the other hand his remarkable magnetism gave 
 him a certain compelling power, and the people 
 about him were very apt to do as he wished. 
 
 The interest which he so freely gave to others 
 he liked to receive in return. He wanted sym 
 pathy he liked to expand he could not exist 
 without telling someone what he was doing and 
 thinking and reading; and it was not difficult 
 for him to get the sympathy he wanted, since 
 he always made himself interesting. A friend 
 once said of him, " If Schuyler is taken up with 
 dry bones, you become intensely interested in 
 dry bones yourself, and are ready to believe that 
 you have cared for nothing else all your life." 
 
 With all these captivating ways he was sub 
 ject to gusts of irritation, generally unreason 
 able and harmless, and frequently laughable in 
 
 14 
 
A MEMOIR 
 
 their half-comic whimsicality. Where he did 
 himself a more serious injustice was in an occa 
 sional coldness of manner which was at times 
 even repellent. Sometimes this was caused by 
 a shyness which but few people suspected the 
 less since it was of the intermittent variety 
 sometimes, it may have been, by a mood of dis 
 content or depression, or even by the simple 
 fact that he was bored. His temperament in 
 clined him to a sudden loss of self-control which 
 surprised and vexed no one more than himself. 
 
 In college he did not work for honours, but 
 rather from simple interest and pleasure in learn 
 ing. Some honours came, however. In his jun 
 ior year he took a Clark premium for excel 
 lence in Latin, and in his senior year a Berkeley 
 premium for Latin composition. At graduation 
 he stood fifth in a class of 105, and had the rank 
 of Philosophical Oration, taking also the Berke 
 ley and Clark Scholarships. 
 
 His classmate and friend, Professor Arthur W. 
 Wright, of Yale University, has written of his col 
 lege life: 
 
 " Schuyler was the youngest member of the 
 class of 1859, and when he first appeared at 
 Yale he seemed to have but just emerged from 
 childhood. Even then, however, he possessed 
 
 15 
 
EUGENE SCHUYLER 
 
 a strong personality, and it was not long before 
 he gave evidence of powers of acquisition and a 
 critical faculty which, before the close of the 
 four years, placed him in the foremost rank 
 among the scholars of the class. He had a nat 
 ural aptitude, as well as a taste, for exact schol 
 arship and wide culture. It was evident that he 
 was destined to take a high place as a scholar, 
 and his later successes were no surprise to those 
 who had known him well while here. 
 
 " In his personal character perhaps the most 
 prominent trait was a refinement and elevation 
 of sentiment, which showed itself not only in 
 his intellectual activities, but even in his bear 
 ing, his manner, and his dress. With this, a 
 certain reserve, a strong individuality, independ 
 ence of opinion, and the highly intellectual and 
 scholarly tone of his conversation raised him 
 decidedly above the ordinary and the common 
 place, and gave an air of aristocratic distinction 
 to everything he did. While this made him 
 appear sometimes as if lacking in warmth of 
 disposition, those whom he honoured with his 
 confidence and intimacy were often surprised by 
 an almost child-like expression of friendliness 
 and affection, which revealed the capability of 
 deeper feeling beneath the veil of his reserve. I 
 have always felt that his was a rare personality, 
 and that his early departure was a great loss, 
 great to the world of scholarship, and especially so 
 to those who had learned to know and admire him." 
 
 16 
 
A MEMOIR 
 
 II 
 
 After his graduation, in 1859, he remained in 
 New Haven for two years, pursuing his studies, 
 and was the first to receive the degree of Doctor 
 of Philosophy there in 1861. During this time 
 he wrote a long and elaborate review of Wedg 
 wood s " English Etymology," and was gratified 
 and amused at receiving from Professor Wedg 
 wood a letter discussing certain points, and 
 assuming that the youthful (and severe) critic 
 was a venerable professor. He had also begun 
 working on the revision of Webster s " Diction 
 ary," which appeared in July, 1864 his particular 
 duty being the revision of Dr. Mahn s etymolog 
 ical contributions. 
 
 He studied law at Columbia College (LL.B. in 
 1863), not because the profession especially at 
 tracted him, but rather because he had not as 
 yet found anything that seemed to him more 
 desirable. In December, 1862, he wrote to a 
 friend : 
 
 " I like the law much better than I did at first. 
 One reason is that I know more about it, and 
 another that I am so constantly occupied with it 
 that I can t help getting interested in it. ... 
 Somehow or other, writing essays and reviews 
 VOL. I. 2 17 
 
EUGENE SCHUYLER 
 
 is just now a mania with me, and I sketch out 
 plenty of them in my head, none of which I 
 shall ever finish, such is my accustomed procras 
 tination." 
 
 Some months later he wrote to the same per 
 son: 
 
 " I understand that Mr. is astonished at 
 
 my eagerness to see sights. I do not think that 
 I have anything more than a laudable curiosity. 
 I seldom go out of my way to see anything, but 
 if anything comes along I consider it a duty 
 which I owe to my general education, as well as 
 a reasonable source of pleasure to know what is 
 to be known." 
 
 i 
 
 After graduating he went for a time into the 
 
 office of Messrs. Weeks, De Forest & Forster, 
 and afterwards into that of Messrs. Lewis & Cox. 
 Later he opened an office with Mr. James Bruyn 
 Andrews. During these years he was writing 
 for the Round Table and the New Path, besides 
 occasional contributions to the New Englander, 
 the North American Review, and other periodicals, 
 and was a contributor to the Nation from the 
 time of its first appearance to the end of his 
 life. 
 
 His summer vacations were spent in Ithaca, 
 
 where his arrival was the signal for a series of 
 
 18 
 
A MEMOIR 
 
 festivities. Those at his father s house were al 
 ways arranged by him, and were distinguished 
 by some novelty; it might be a morning dance 
 and luncheon (an unheard-of thing at that time), 
 or it might be a supper with an odd menu 
 whatever it was, it brought variety into the small 
 circle whose interest had become somewhat 
 jaded. 
 
 In the summer of 1864 he had had a flattering 
 request from Professor Norton (at that time 
 editor of the North American Review), for a forty- 
 page article, to which he expected to devote the 
 vacation. Accordingly, having told me, a girl 
 in my teens, that I was to write stories and be 
 come in time a distinguished author, he took 
 me with him every morning into the large, cool 
 dining-room, seated me at a table, and bade me 
 write. His own place was at an old mahogany 
 desk, where he had a great array of writing mate 
 rials. Once there he was seized by the horreur 
 de la plume and wouldn t write a word. I, how 
 ever, was not allowed to be idle, and wrote 
 Heaven knows what nonsense, he supplying the 
 names of the characters and telling me to put 
 in " plenty of conversation and incident." He 
 wrote letters, talked to me, spread out his serious 
 sheets of paper, and then rushed out into the 
 
 19 
 
EUGENE SCHUYLER 
 
 garden and brought in flowers to arrange, and 
 so on, until it was time for the table to be laid 
 for the midday meal; and the forty-page article 
 did not get written that summer. 
 
 His interest in Russia began in 1863, when 
 he made the acquaintance of a number of the 
 officers of the Russian flagship which was for a 
 time stationed off New York. The opportunity 
 to learn a new language was too great a tempta 
 tion to be resisted, and he secured a teacher in 
 the person of a priest connected with the Greek 
 Church in New York. In the summer of 1867 
 he published a translation of Turguenief s " Fath 
 ers and Sons." 
 
 About the end of the year 1866 he was asked 
 to edit a translation of selections from the " Kal- 
 evala," made just before his death by the late 
 Professor John A. Porter, of Yale College. This 
 involved an Introduction and Analysis, and with 
 his usual thoroughness he prepared himself by 
 a careful study of the poem in the original, 
 learning the Finnish language for the purpose. 
 His introduction is dated July 26, 1867. 
 
 Although his law-practice was improving and 
 the prospect was brighter than for many young 
 lawyers, yet it was a profession which never in 
 terested him sufficiently to gain his undivided 
 
 20 
 
A MEMOIR 
 
 attention. He yielded to his desire for travel 
 and a larger knowledge of the world, and in the 
 summer of 1867 obtained an appointment as 
 Consul at Moscow. He sailed early in Septem 
 ber, and, landing at Queenstown, went on slowly, 
 seeing as much as possible by the way. He made 
 the acquaintance of M. Taine and of Sainte- 
 Beuve in Paris and of Turguenief at Baden, 
 The latter gave him letters to friends in Moscow, 
 among others one to Count Leo Tolstoy. After 
 a short stop in St. Petersburg he went on to 
 Moscow. There he found himself at the same 
 time intensely interested and intensely lonely. 
 He longed for letters and counted the days be 
 tween mails. Meantime he drew for his mother 
 a plan of his lodgings, with the location of chairs 
 and tables, and told her about the Russian houses 
 with plants growing in all the rooms, the poorer 
 houses with artificial flowers stuck in the sand 
 between the double windows. He described the 
 appearance of the town with its green roofs and 
 gilt domes, and the three hundred and sixty- 
 six churches, each with a dozen bells, ringing 
 nearly all the time, " fast, too, as if for a fire." 
 To other friends he wrote detailed and enthusi 
 astic descriptions of scenery, architecture, cus 
 toms, and people. He lost no time in making 
 
 21 
 
EUGENE SCHUYLER 
 
 acquaintances. All kinds of people interested 
 and amused him, and here, as later in St. Peters 
 burg, he was the enfant gate of every house which 
 he frequented, from that of Prince Odoiefsky, 
 the last survivor of the noblest family in Russia, 
 to the rich merchants of various nationalities, 
 and the Russianised German baroness who eked 
 out her husband s income by keeping a shop for 
 fancy-goods. 
 
 He wrote to his friend Russell Sturgis, Octo 
 ber 29, 1867: 
 
 " Of course I have not yet made many acquaint 
 ances here. I dined last night with the Prince 
 Vladimir Odoiefsky, en famillc, his wife and 
 one young man whose name I can t recall. The 
 Prince is an agreeable old man of about sixty- 
 five, a bibliophile, with a splendid library which 
 overflows every room except one salon, where 
 plants in profusion take the place of books. . . . 
 They live very simply and without affectation. 
 To be sure there were three man-servants, but 
 those here are a matter of course. The house is 
 not furnished richly, and there was no attempt 
 at show. The dinner was very good, though 
 with only one dish peculiarly Russian. It is a 
 kind of partridge, and with it are served salted 
 not pickled cucumbers. They are very good 
 large, with sometimes a dash of caraway in 
 them. We had any number of wines all set on 
 
 22 
 
A MEMOIR 
 
 at once, and you take which you please. I was 
 made to taste a Russian sherry and claret, one 
 from the Crimea, the other from the Caucasus, 
 and both very good the sherry was from vines 
 imported from Spain also some Russian cordials. 
 Before dinner we had also the sakuska, 1 salt-fish, 
 bread, and brandy. After dinner it is the custom 
 here for each guest to shake hands with and 
 thank the hostess and host. After coffee and 
 cigarettes we had a general conversation on 
 books and other matters. The Prince is also a 
 musician. He has an organ, two or three 
 pianos and other instruments. Nothing would 
 do but I must try a duet with him; so we played 
 half a dozen, apparently to his satisfaction, for 
 he complimented me a good deal, and then 
 showed me, as a special favour, a piano which he 
 had had made on mathematical principles. It is 
 the only one in the world and is beautiful, as 
 well as curious. In the ordinary piano the 
 sharps and flats, being separated by only a very 
 small interval, are run together and then all the 
 keys equally regulated. It would be impossible 
 for an ordinary man to play on or tune them 
 otherwise. In this the sharps and flats were dis 
 tinct, there being twenty instead of thirteen 
 notes in the octave. The fourth is a perfect 
 concord, as on the violin. The workmanship 
 was exquisite and the effect splendid. Alto 
 gether it was the ideal piano. After this we 
 
 1 Foretaste. 
 23 
 
EUGENE SCHUYLER 
 
 had tea, in tumblers, and more talk. I pleased 
 the old lady by showing her a new game of soli 
 taire, and am invited to a salon on Friday even 
 ing, when I am to be introduced to the haute 
 societe of Moscow. Some of the princesses are 
 pretty, but none of them are said to be rich." 
 
 After the first really cold weather of the Rus 
 sian winter, he wrote: 
 
 " Now I will tell you how it feels. Of course 
 you find it difficult to keep the house as warm 
 as usual. You wrap up and go out-doors. Your 
 skin is shrivelled up and you feel smaller. I be 
 lieve if it were not for your bones you would 
 shrink up to half the size. There are not many 
 people in the streets, and all of them are shape 
 less lumps of wrappings. The sun shines very 
 brightly in a perfectly cloudless sky, but the 
 breath of men and horses makes a vapour that 
 immediately falls in minute snow-crystals. If 
 you walk fast you can keep warm, but your legs 
 feel heavy and you would like to sit down on a 
 doorstep for awhile, or lean up against a fence. 
 If you wink, your eyelashes freeze together. 
 Then at night, the sky seems perfectly black 
 and the stars shine very brightly, but don t give 
 much light. The vapour from the gas has formed 
 a coat of ice on the inside of the street-lamps 
 and the lights are mere faintly glimmering 
 
 specks." 
 
 24 
 
A MEMOIR 
 
 His esprit chercheur carried him far in his ob 
 servations. 
 
 " The common people dress very lightly thin 
 trousers and shirt, without underclothing, and 
 reserve their warm furs and skins for the street. 
 In the Traktirs, or restaurants, the waiters have 
 long, loose white linen trousers, with a white 
 linen or coloured silk shirt, with a sash round it 
 nothing else. I pinched one of them to see." 
 
 In the spring of 1868 he made his first jour 
 ney to Orenburg, travelling in company with a 
 Russian merchant. They went down the Volga 
 by steamboat and thence by tarantass; frater 
 nising with young Englishmen in the telegraphic 
 service, with Russian families, with travellers of 
 all nationalities; landing to pay visits with his 
 merchant friend, and calling in addition on " the 
 wife of one of the principal Ural Cossacks," 
 where he found " a rather pretty daughter play 
 ing on a grand piano and not a bit like a Cos 
 sack," and " a very nice little girl named Tanya;" 
 and alighting from the tarantass to pick wild 
 lilies of the valley and other flowers. At Oren 
 burg he saw much that was interesting and 
 heard much talk of the hostilities in Asia and 
 the depression of trade and uncertainties of car 
 avans; attended prayers at the Bukharan mosque 
 
 25 
 
EUGENE SCHUYLER 
 
 and made numerous acquaintances, including an 
 American, who by some turn of fortune was liv 
 ing in Orenburg as Capellmeister. He dined 
 with the Cover nor- General and also with a Buk- 
 haran who had the dinner served on " a little 
 pink tablecloth laid on the Bukharan carpets 
 which covered the floor." The pilof, for which 
 each guest had a spoon, a concession to their 
 foreign prejudices, but which all ate out of the 
 same dish, " was truly delicious." He says in 
 his diary that the Bukharans " seem to have 
 supposed that America was a mere expression 
 used to lower the price of their cotton, and are 
 quite curious about me, thinking I am come to 
 interfere with their trade." 
 
 He crossed the Ural, and as he drove over 
 the steppe had the pleasure of feeling himself 
 in Asia; took refuge from a storm in a Kirghiz 
 kibitka and drank kumys for the first time in his 
 life; and finally ended his visit by assisting at 
 the festivities in honour of the Grand Duke Vla 
 dimir a banquet and a camel-race and got 
 back to Moscow four weeks from the time he 
 started. 
 
 Early in October of the same year he visited 
 Count Leo Tolstoy at his estate of Yasnaya 
 Polyana. The letters which he wrote from 
 
 26 
 
A MEMOIR 
 
 there were incorporated in the sketch of Tol 
 stoy, written twenty years later. 
 
 All this time he was working indefatigably, 
 studying Russian and French, reading exten 
 sively, and making himself familiar not only 
 with the work of his office, but with Russian 
 affairs. The character of his work is indicated 
 in the following letter of good advice written 
 about this time: 
 
 " MY DEAR EVA : . . . I think you make 
 a mistake in going to so many lectures. One 
 can t have time to know everything. Take the 
 subjects you are most interested in and let the 
 others alone. You are like me, you can be 
 come easily interested in almost anything, and 
 we are both tempted continually to study up 
 some new thing. I try quite rigidly to confine 
 myself to four connected subjects, but am con 
 tinually running over. Mine are history, liter 
 ature, language, and mythology especially in 
 the Teutonic and Slavonic peoples. Science I 
 am extremely fond of and am sometimes sorry 
 I did not devote myself to it, but it is now too 
 late, and I must content myself with an occa 
 sional glance. Diplomacy and statistics my 
 present profession I consider a part of history. 
 Among other wild projects I seriously think of 
 writing a Manual of the Diplomatic History of 
 the Nineteenth Century. " 
 
 27 
 
EUGENE SCHUYLER 
 
 With the change of administration in 1869, 
 came the usual turning out of office. By this 
 time Mr. Schuyler was used to his official work 
 and had grown fond of it, and was making him 
 self an authority on Russian affairs. His reports 
 and despatches abounded in information. More 
 over he was now making plans for literary work 
 which would require a longer stay in Russia. 
 He hoped that his proved fitness for his post 
 would cause him to be retained, especially as it 
 had not been generally considered a desirable 
 one at the time of his appointment. For a time 
 he heard nothing, either directly or indirectly. 
 Then the London Times announced his removal 
 and he awaited the event. Various newspapers 
 contradicted the statement of the Times, and he 
 wrote, May I4th: 
 
 " I am delighted to find that the news in the 
 London Times of my removal is so far untrue, 
 and that I shall have a chance to stay here a while 
 longer. What especially pleases me is the inter 
 est some of my friends have taken in the matter. 
 Some unknown friend inserted a letter (which I 
 have heard of, but not seen) in a London paper, 
 praising me and objecting to my removal; and 
 Mr. Bancroft, the moment he heard the report, 
 wrote to Washington to have me retained or 
 transferred to Odessa." 
 
 28 
 
A MEMOIR 
 
 Supposing that matters were settled for the 
 time, he went for a few days to Kief, and on his 
 return found that he had been superseded some 
 weeks before, and that his pay had stopped at 
 the same time. He says, in a letter of June 
 1 7th: 
 
 " If I had known that I was removed I should 
 not have taken the journey which I shall here 
 relate to you, but supposing that the report of 
 my removal was an error, I went and enjoyed 
 myself, without suspicion of the evil fate that 
 was in store for me. On the whole, I can t say 
 I am sorry I went, though I should like to have 
 again the money it cost." 
 
 At Kief he saw, as usual, all that there was 
 to see, and made many acquaintances (only one 
 of whom he found fault with, a lady who was 
 " fearfully talkative in several languages "), and 
 happened, as usual, on a peasant wedding, where 
 he " drank cherry vodka, danced the Kazatchek, 
 and learned the Russian game of jackstraws of 
 a little girl." 
 
 On his return to Moscow, wishing to remain 
 in Russia, he expressed his willingness to accept 
 the consulship at Revel, although it was not a 
 desirable post; and in the meantime occupied 
 himself in writing for various periodicals. 
 
 29 
 
EUGENE SCHUYLER 
 
 "August $?, 1869, Moscow. 
 
 " MY DEAR EVA : Your letter from Cherry 
 Valley came yesterday, to my great delight, as 
 it was a very long time since I had heard from 
 you. I have myself not written to anybody for 
 the last two or three weeks, because I am often 
 in a disagreeable state of mind, and because as 
 I am trying to write for my living, I am so busy 
 writing and reading every day that my head is 
 about run out of ideas. This week I have writ 
 ten one letter to the World and three to the 
 Evening Post, besides being busy on two articles 
 and reading for another. I cannot do one thing 
 at a time. It is not my nature. If I could 
 only write ten such pages every day I should be 
 quite content, but there are sure to be three days 
 out of the week when I am either indisposed to 
 write or am interrupted. For instance, yester 
 day I had promised to introduce the new consul 
 to the dignitaries and other consuls, and that 
 destroyed the whole day. . . . 
 
 " I have had a great misfortune; my little white 
 and brown cat is dead she was Belenka. I 
 have two others, gray ones Sasha and Masha. 
 I had another Masha, a beautiful tiger-striped 
 cat, that I had since it was a little kitten, but 
 somebody stole it, so I got a second one as 
 nearly like it as I could, but it is much more 
 stupid. You see in my old age I have taken up 
 again with the pets of my infancy. Sasha is 
 
 30 
 
A MEMOIR 
 
 very wise and sits on my shoulder, her favourite 
 place, as I write this. . ." 
 
 In the autumn he was appointed Consul at 
 Revel; but in the meantime he had made the 
 acquaintance of Mr. Curtin, the new Minister 
 to Russia, who offered him the position of Secre 
 tary of Legation, left vacant by the resignation 
 of Mr. Coffey, and he resigned the consulship. 
 
 Life in St. Petersburg was a great change 
 from the simpler ways of Moscow. Here he 
 first tasted the pleasures and excitements of di 
 plomacy, at that time perhaps nowhere more in 
 teresting than in Russia, whose progress in 
 Asia was arousing a jealous attention, while her 
 form of government inevitably led to the impres 
 sion that there were secrets in the air, and stim 
 ulated diplomatic acuteness. To this new sphere 
 of action Mr. Schuyler brought special qualifi 
 cations; for to an inquiring mind and marvellous 
 quickness of observation he added winning man 
 ners and a knowledge of the Russian language. 
 As a result he soon came to be looked upon as 
 perhaps the best informed man in diplomatic cir 
 cles. The extent and minuteness of his knowl 
 edge were only rivalled by its accuracy, and what 
 ever news he chose to impart could be relied upon. 
 
EUGENE SCHUYLER 
 In January, 1870, he wrote: 
 
 " Most of my reading just now is very solid 
 and practical, on Russian statistics and other 
 subjects almost exclusively. I have to write 
 here a great many letters which demand a thor 
 ough knowledge of Russian subjects, and though 
 I suppose I know more about them than any dip 
 lomat here, except Michell, the English Secre 
 tary, I have to do a good deal of cramming. I 
 have just finished a long report on Russian man 
 ufactures, with the prospect ahead of another on 
 grain production and traffic. Then, too, I wrote 
 not long ago a paper on the Treatment of the 
 Jews in Russia for Mr. Curtin." 
 
 Curtin, the " War Governor " of Pennsylvania, 
 had been an important figure at a time and in 
 a place which had given scope for his qualities. 
 He had gained a great reputation and deserved 
 well of his country. To fill the mission in Rus 
 sia was not an easy matter for a man who knew 
 no language but his own. Naturally he had to 
 depend much on his Secretary of Legation, and 
 his frequent absences on leave left the latter in 
 charge of the Legation during comparatively 
 long periods. A situation of that sort is exceed 
 ingly difficult both for the Minister and for the 
 Secretary. 
 
 32 
 
A MEMOIR 
 
 One would think that with the business of 
 the Legation, a keen interest in diplomatic and 
 political affairs, and a habit of reading and writ 
 ing, a man s time would be well filled. But 
 this was only half of the story. At this period 
 of his life the taste for amusement was equally 
 strong. Practically all doors were open to him. 
 Society was ready not only to receive him, but 
 to make much of him, and he was on terms of 
 intimacy in a very great variety of houses. Then 
 there were the great spectacular festivities which 
 formed part of the diplomatic life, and of which 
 the letter quoted below gives a fair picture; 
 there were the several intimate circles of young 
 men, each in sympathy with a different side of 
 a many-sided nature; and there were all the 
 usual amusements of a city a brilliant, extrava 
 gant, cosmopolitan city, where the pace was 
 rapid. And to this menu he brought an appe 
 tite rendered keener by an extraordinary union 
 of intellectual with physical ardour. 
 
 In the midst of all this, and although Court 
 festivities soon became a twice-told tale, he 
 found time to write to the sister left behind in 
 the quiet of a country town, minute descriptions 
 of what he knew would interest her. 
 VOL. I. 3 33 
 
EUGENE SCHUYLER 
 
 "ST. PETERSBURG, January A, 1870. 
 " MY DEAR EVA : . . . Last week we had a 
 great ceremony here at the Palace. The Grand 
 Duke Alexis arrived at majority and took the 
 oath of allegiance. The Diplomatic people were 
 all invited and all the ladies and gentlemen of 
 the Court. The ladies were all in Russian cos 
 tume and the men in uniform. Mr. Curtin hap 
 pened to be ill and General Franklin was of 
 course in uniform, so that I was the only one 
 in the immense assemblage in black dress. Of 
 course I felt very awkward. What a ridiculous, 
 foolish law that is, to make us go in the costume 
 of a waiter. Well, to go back we arrived at 
 one o clock and were conducted through any 
 quantity of salons hung with pictures and lined 
 with detachments of all the various regiments of 
 the guard, in beautiful uniforms, into the chapel. 
 There we were placed on one side and the ladies 
 on the other. Next to us were the Ministers 
 and the Council of the Empire. Finally there 
 came in a procession of officials who brought in 
 the orb, the sceptre, containing the celebrated 
 Orloff diamond, and the crown. After that the 
 Metropolitan and other archbishops went towards 
 the door of the chapel to meet the Imperial fam 
 ily. First came the Emperor and Empress, who 
 kissed the cross and were blessed, then the Tse- 
 sarevitch and Dagmar, looking very pretty in her 
 Russian dress, and then all the other members of 
 
 34 
 
A MEMOIR 
 
 the Imperial family, and then the rest of the Court. 
 When they had taken their places there was a 
 short religious service with very fine music, then 
 Alexis read aloud the oath in a loud, strong, fine 
 voice, signed it and handed it to Gortchakoff. 
 After that there was a Te Deum sung. The choir 
 was magnificent, but right in the middle we were 
 led out through rooms filled with soldiers to the 
 Throne-room, where we were put on a platform 
 to the right of the throne. There were selected 
 specimens from all the regiments, with drums and 
 banners, and one banner, that of the Moscow 
 regiment, standing directly over a little reading- 
 desk. The Imperial family again entered and 
 took places on the throne platform. The Em 
 peror led up Alexis to the desk and he took the 
 military oath. Then he kissed his father, holding 
 his cheek up to his for a long time. Then after 
 a military salute, the Imperial family passed out, 
 and we finally did the same and went home. The 
 Empress stood during the ceremony on the throne 
 steps, so that I saw her very well. She was 
 dressed magnificently in white with lots of lace, 
 and a train of dark red-purple velvet covered with 
 gold embroidery. Her coronet and necklace 
 were the finest diamonds I ever saw. The Em 
 peror was in uniform. The effect of the gorgeous 
 uniforms and the ladies dresses was very beau 
 tiful. 
 
 35 
 
EUGENE SCHUYLER 
 
 " Saturday, January i$. 
 
 " We have had still more ceremonies. On Tues 
 day there was the blessing of the River Neva and 
 a grand parade. We were invited to the palace, 
 where we had a nice time. The ladies were in 
 morning costume, and it was quite free and easy. 
 We had good places and saw the religious cere 
 mony on the ice very well, but the walls and 
 windows were so thick that it was all dumb show, 
 for we could not hear a sound. After that we 
 sat down to a lunch, and, I must say, the Em 
 peror either has a bad cook, or he did not exert 
 himself much for us. Then we were taken to 
 the other side of the palace, from which we saw 
 the review of 47,000 troops. The Cavalry, 
 Lancers, and Cossacks were splendid, and the 
 whole was by far the best parade I ever saw. 
 The Governor says the same, though he saw the 
 great reviews at Paris of 1867. It, however, lost 
 a little from the bands being inaudible. 
 
 " To-day we were all presented to the Grand 
 Duchess Marie Alexandrovna, 1 the only daughter 
 of the Emperor. She is only sixteen and this is 
 her first appearance in the world. She is to come 
 out at a Grand Ball on Tuesday. Marie is rather 
 pretty, though her nose and mouth are not good. 
 She was a little embarrassed, though on the whole 
 she did very well, and everybody was charmed 
 with her. The ladies were taken to her one by 
 one, and then the men of the Corps Diplomatique, 
 
 x The Duchess of Edinburgh. 
 
 36 
 
A MEMOIR 
 
 about sixty, were put in circle and she went the 
 rounds, having quite a conversation with each 
 one in French, English, or German, as the case 
 might be. She was apparently crammed up be 
 forehand, for she seemed to know something 
 about each man s private history. It was a very 
 trying ordeal for a young girl. She looks fully 
 nineteen. She was dressed in rose-pink silk, 
 much flounced, with white trimming, low-necked, 
 with a pearl necklace, one pearl bracelet and one 
 diamond one, and a rose in her hair. I go into 
 particulars at the risk of being thought absurd, 
 because I think they will interest you, and I know 
 they will Aunt R. Tell me whether I sent you 
 her photograph and if not I will do so. 
 
 " For more serious occupation I went on 
 Wednesday to an Economic Society dinner, 
 where I made the acquaintance of many economists 
 and scientists, and heard a long discussion in Rus 
 sian on the Suez Canal. I paid a flying visit to 
 Pakoff on Thursday, but as I was only there a few 
 hours, I have nothing to tell about it. I went down 
 with General Franklin, who has at last gone, 
 much to my regret. He is one of the few men 
 with whom I have been in intimate relations for a 
 month, and with whom, with all my criticalness, 
 I can discover no possible fault. 
 
 " I think the length of this letter will excuse the 
 length of time that has elapsed since my last. 
 Write to me all that is going on. With much 
 love to all, Yours, as ever, EUGENE." 
 
 37 
 
EUGENE SCHUYLER 
 
 In all his letters the dominant note is friendli 
 ness. It is astonishing how well he liked people; 
 and in the intimate letters of twenty-five years one 
 could count on one s fingers the persons whom he 
 mentioned with dislike. Even his dislikes were not 
 bitter, and he could appreciate the good qualities 
 of an enemy; though in a moment of irritation he 
 might seem unable to tolerate the foibles of a friend. 
 
 In October, 1870, he visited Finland, a coun 
 try which had interested him ever since his edi 
 torial work on the translation of the " Kalevala." 
 He was enchanted with the scenery, with his 
 night s stay at a farm called Liuxiala, which was 
 " towards the end of the sixteenth century the 
 abode of Queen Catherine of Sweden, after her 
 husband, Erik XIV., was dethroned." From 
 Helsingfors he wrote: 
 
 The people here have really been too good to 
 me. They have looked on me as in some way 
 representing the Kalevala in America and have 
 shown me no end of attention. I have met 
 nearly all the professors at the University, and 
 they have taken great pains to explain to me all 
 I wanted to know and one even volunteered to 
 give me some Finnish lessons. Several of them 
 have presented me copies of their books in Fin 
 nish and Swedish, and I have quite a collection 
 illustrating the Finnish literature." 
 
 38 
 
A MEMOIR 
 
 He was much feted, and as he wrote, " made 
 many pleasant acquaintances." With some of 
 them he corresponded at intervals for years. 
 
 In the spring of 1871 he obtained a leave of ab 
 sence and returned to America, where he spent the 
 summer. A trip to the Rocky Mountains fulfilled 
 the double object of increasing his knowledge of his 
 own country and renewing his acquaintance with 
 the younger brother whom he had left as a cadet at 
 West Point, 1 and whom he characterises in a letter 
 written during this journey as " the nicest fellow 
 I ever met." 
 
 He returned to Russia in the autumn, but the 
 pleasures of St. Petersburg had begun to pall, 
 and in March, 1872, he wrote to a friend: 
 
 " I don t think St. Petersburg is a place to grow 
 in, though I have grown a great deal in spite of 
 it. There are many cultivated people scattered 
 about. The Court circle numbers some. . . . 
 But you can t find any set with that general love 
 of art and literature that you find in New York, 
 with the same cultivation and good manners. I 
 am continually thinking better of America. I 
 sometimes sigh for New York. Indeed I often 
 sigh to be away from here, and it is a resolve of 
 mine to get away as soon as I can." 
 
 i Major Walter Schuyler, United States Army, at present Colonel of the 
 Forty-sixth Infantry, serving in the Philippines. 
 
 39 
 
EUGENE SCHUYLER 
 
 But he was destined to remain in St. Peters 
 burg for some time longer. About this time he 
 began to interest himself more systematically in 
 art than he had heretofore done. In September, 
 1872, he wrote: 
 
 " There is one fault which nearly all connoisseurs 
 have, and the better they are, the more they fall 
 into it. With a good memory and a trained eye 
 one can arrive at fixing almost unerringly by 
 what artist a picture is painted, in which of his 
 manners, and what parts have been retouched 
 or repainted. That is a very good thing. But I 
 notice that most people who can do that, get to 
 looking at pictures very much as a botanist does 
 at plants. If it is a fine specimen they are de 
 lighted. They don t seem to discriminate enough 
 between pictures, setting down one artist as good 
 and another as bad. Then, too, they are naturally 
 led by the consensus of the critical and artistic 
 world, and admire Raphael or Correggio or 
 Poussin, or whom you will, simply because they 
 have great reputations and must be good painters. 
 That is all a truism to you, but I am particularly 
 struck with it every time I meet a good judge 
 of art/ Whatever I do I don t want to do that, 
 but hope to be able to like pictures with a reason, 
 and also to say why others are bad, and not to be 
 afraid to say so, because Ruskin or Reynolds or 
 Eastlake are opposed to me." 
 
 40 
 
A MEMOIR 
 
 From a month s trip to Vienna and Dresden, 
 with incidental halts at other places, he acquired 
 an amazing amount of artistic experience. At 
 last even he felt that his brain was becoming 
 over-stimulated; especially when an opera of Wag 
 ner was added to the sightseeing of the day. Of 
 " Lohengrin " he wrote : 
 
 1 " It was wonderful, but it excites me too much. 
 I should like to hear it again to-night to form a 
 cooler judgment. I have never been so worked 
 up by an opera before, and listened to it breath 
 lessly from beginning to end. It is the music 
 chiefly. The play is not so well written nor so 
 poetical an idea as the Fliegende Hollander. 
 
 " All this excites me too much. My imagination 
 runs perfect riot. I go to bed tired at eleven or 
 so, and the moment my head touches the pillow 
 I have the most curious complicated dreams, 
 combining the times of mythology, the middle 
 ages and the present day, which last till morning, 
 so that I wake up tired." 
 
 On his return to St. Petersburg he wrote: 
 
 " So ends my Art Journey, as I call it. I feel 
 as if it were at least six months since I left here. 
 Then, too, I feel that I have learned so much. I 
 really look on it as one of those growing and 
 starting points in a man s life, and I shall be 
 much astonished if I don t develop still more. . . . 
 
EUGENE SCHUYLER 
 
 Now I am going to try to settle down to hard 
 work. I have a lot of things on hand to do, and 
 I am going to set about doing them as fast as 
 possible." 
 
 Ill 
 
 Mr. Curtin resigned in the summer of 1872, 
 and his successor, Mr. Orr, did not reach St. 
 Petersburg until the following winter. Soon after 
 his arrival Mr. Schuyler obtained a leave of ab 
 sence and availed himself of an opportunity to 
 visit Central Asia a region rendered especially 
 interesting by the recent Russian conquests. 
 
 " I shall probably astonish you a good deal by 
 telling you that I am going to Central Asia, 
 where I shall be gone for some months. It is 
 one of those chances that ought not to be thrown 
 away. I go with the permission of Governor 
 Orr. I cannot say exactly when I shall come 
 back, if I ever do, for as there is a war in that 
 region things are rather unsettled. Still, I ex 
 pect to keep far away from any fighting, and do 
 not apprehend any difficulties at all. So do not 
 be alarmed. 
 
 " My route is something like this : Moscow, 
 Saratof on the Volga, Orenburg (where I was in 
 1868), Sea of Aral, Tashkent, Samarcand, per 
 haps Kokan, and back by way of Siberia." 
 
 42 
 
A MEMOIR 
 
 This was the most extensive journey which he 
 had yet undertaken, and was not by any means 
 devoid of danger. Inheriting from his mother a 
 physical timidity which made him uncomfortable 
 when walking beside a precipice, or on a lonely 
 road at night, a touch of excitement and interest, 
 and especially a sense of responsibility brought 
 the other side of his nature uppermost, and he 
 could ride cheerfully through a crowd of un 
 friendly Asiatics, knowing that the first act of 
 hostility might be the signal for his murder; or 
 he could sit and read a novel (and remember what 
 he read) while awaiting the order for the pas 
 sengers to leave a burning ship in mid-ocean. 
 With a strong love of luxury and without great 
 physical endurance, he submitted philosophically 
 to any amount of fatigue and discomfort in pursuit 
 of new knowledge and experience. 
 
 He left St. Petersburg toward the end of March, 
 1873, and from Saratof travelled by open taran- 
 tass, arriving at Orenburg with a " lobster face," 
 from which the skin was peeling off. From 
 there he went on, with camels or horses, as the 
 case might be, writing from Kazala : This 
 country reminds me a good deal of the plains of 
 Colorado, but I suppose it is still more like 
 
 Arizona." 
 
 43 
 
EUGENE SCHUYLER 
 
 MacGahan was his travelling companion, but 
 at Fort Peroffsky they separated, MacGahan 
 going across the desert to Khiva. Nothing 
 failed to interest him, and during the long drives 
 across the country he noted, with the trained eye 
 of a botanist and the enthusiasm of a lover of 
 nature, the varying vegetation, both wild and 
 cultivated thickets of saxaul; tulips and pop 
 pies, and " a blue flower something like a hya 
 cinth;" the fields of barley and millet; and the 
 little irrigating canals, " without which one can 
 do nothing." He reached Tashkent on May 3d, 
 driving " through a perfect wilderness of gardens." 
 
 " As I sat on the doorstep that evening, I could 
 not help thinking that I had fallen on some vil 
 lage in Central New York. The houses, to be 
 sure, are differently built, but then in the moon 
 light one does not notice that. But the aspect 
 of the straight streets with the gardens and trees, 
 the noise of the water, etc., all were like Ithaca 
 or Geneva. New or Russian Tashkent is quite 
 distinct from the old city, and has all been built 
 in seven years. There are about 10,000 Russians 
 here, including the army; and shops, a church, 
 and a beautiful garden attached to the house of 
 the Governor-General, where there is music 
 three times a week. The Sart, or native town, 
 is very different. The streets are narrow and 
 
 44 
 
A MEMOIR 
 
 crooked, with no windows on them, the houses 
 all being put back behind the gardens and en 
 closed with high walls, so as to hide the women. 
 You see them occasionally in the street in blue 
 dresses and a black horse-hair veil, which effectu 
 ally hides their faces. The men are all in long, 
 gay-coloured dressing-gowns of cotton or silk. 
 Some wear white or blue turbans, but the most 
 of them only little embroidered caps on their 
 shaven skulls. I have only once been to the 
 bazaar, so I will not say anything about it till I 
 have seen it more thoroughly. In the Sart city 
 there must be over 300,000 people. 
 
 " I have made a number of acquaintances both 
 among the Russians and the natives. Last even 
 ing, in company with some others, I walked 
 through the town, through the pretty garden of 
 a mosque, and finally called on Sharif-Khodja 
 Kazi, a judge (cadi, they call them in Turkey), 
 and one of the chief mollahs, or learned men, 
 the director of a college, or medresse. There 
 were a lot of people there, relatives and students. 
 We sat on our legs on carpets spread on a por 
 tico, drank green tea, smoked a Bukharan pipe, 
 and ate various sweet things and pistachio nuts. 
 This spread they call a destur-khan. Curiously 
 enough everyone seems to have heard of Amer 
 ica, and one man had even seen a picture of 
 Lincoln whom he thought a very handsome 
 man. 
 
 " Monday. Last night I went to the Governor- 
 
 45 
 
EUGENE SCHUYLER 
 
 General s garden to hear the music, and met 
 there a lot of people, some Russians and some 
 Asiatics. At last we went home to tea with Mr. 
 Petroffsky, who is very kind to me in showing* 
 me about, and I stayed there till two o clock. 
 Among the people were Djura Beg, the former 
 Bek of Kitab, another Bukharan, an influential 
 Khirgiz, a Tartar doctor who has been doctor of 
 nearly all the sovereigns here, has seen several of 
 them murdered, and has been nearly killed him 
 self several times. The story he told me was in 
 the highest degree interesting. . . . 
 
 " Three of us made a little excursion to Urgut, 
 a town in the mountains, twenty-five miles to 
 the south. Everywhere on the road the village 
 authorities met us with complimentary addresses, 
 and trays of sweets, which are here called destur- 
 khans. At Urgut we had pavilions ready for us 
 in a beautiful grove, and had a royal time. When 
 I left Samarcand, horses were ready for me every 
 where on the road, and I returned by way of Ura 
 Tube and Khodjent. Everywhere the same des- 
 tur-khans, everywhere rooms were prepared for 
 me, and I travelled as the Emir himself." 
 
 Nevertheless he found the road barred before 
 him in various directions, and in Kokan was 
 " reviled by the inhabitants," although as a rule 
 the opposition to his journey was masked under 
 many civilities. 
 
A MEMOIR 
 
 " At every place I have been most magnificently 
 received, in fact I don t know what they could 
 do more for me. At every city the principal men 
 of the place in gorgeous attire rode out several 
 miles to meet us, and everywhere I was presented 
 with khalats a robe like a dressing-gown of 
 cloth of gold, horses with magnificent caparisons, 
 etc., had too much even to eat, and almost every 
 night dances and festivities, such as they were. 
 It is the exact contrary of my experience in 
 Kokan. But a few minutes ago the Bek, a son 
 of the Emir, and the heir to the throne, sent me 
 five khalats of various kinds, and a white horse 
 this time I believe a good one with housings 
 of blue and silver and a bridle set with tur 
 quoises and agates. I am now the possessor of 
 four horses, but most of them bad. Of course 
 I have to give presents in return, and with the 
 exception of a few things I shall keep, I shall 
 sell the most to pay the expenses." 
 
 " BUKHARA, August i2th. 
 
 " I have now done with my trip here and shall 
 go back to Samarcand to-morrow. At present 
 I am a slave-owner, having bought to-day a 
 young Persian of ten years old for 700 tengas, 
 or about $100. I saw a charming boy on the 
 bazaar in the slave market and felt very sorry 
 for him, as he had only been lately captured, 
 and after wavering in mind whether I could 
 afford it, finally bought him, and paid part of 
 
 47 
 
EUGENE SCHUYLER 
 
 the price, but before I could secure him, he was 
 spirited off by order of the Government and I 
 lost him. So to take to Samarcand a visible 
 proof that they sell slaves here (for they deny it 
 to the Russians), I bought this little fellow at 
 private sale. I shall take him to St. Petersburg 
 and hand him over to the Persian Minister to be 
 sent home. 
 
 u On the road from Karshi here I spent a night 
 in the camp of the Emir, who was going to 
 Karshi, and was presented to him. He received 
 me very well; told me I could travel where I 
 pleased, and gave me a horse and four khalats. 
 Here, at Bukhara, I have been lodged in a very 
 nice house, and have had a chance to see every 
 thing. I think the Government has been a good 
 deal disturbed by my inquiries and investigations. 
 They have tried to make my stay as agreeable as 
 possible, but on the subject of the slave deceived 
 me fearfully and lied to me constantly. The 
 same thing took place about going to Tchardjui, 
 where I wanted to go. The Emir told me I could 
 go, but the people here made all sorts of diffi 
 culties and finally told me I could not go. I 
 think, however, that I have thoroughly done the 
 city, and I have rather enjoyed the intrigues." 
 
 A few days later, as he was riding through a 
 large bazaar, there were some hostile demonstra 
 tions. One man picked up a large stone, but 
 fortunately betrayed himself by muttering: "Just 
 
 48 
 
A MEMOIR 
 
 let me hit him and he will drop dead at once, and 
 there will be one Kaffir the less." He was driven 
 off, picked up another stone, and was finally 
 soundly beaten by Mr. Schuyler s servants. 
 
 In the meantime Mr. Orr had died in St. 
 Petersburg, and by the time the news reached 
 Mr. Schuyler in Asia, Mr. Jewell had been ap 
 pointed Minister and was on his way to Russia. 
 Mr. Schuyler hastened his return and reached St. 
 Petersburg about the middle of November. 
 
 " I have been here now a week, but am not yet 
 settled down. . . . Mr. Jewell I like very 
 much, and he is certainly remarkably kind and 
 considerate. The State Department, so far as I 
 know, is still satisfied with me, and talks of pro 
 motion, though as yet in indefinite terms. . . . 
 
 " I expect to write a book and hope to have it 
 ready by spring. In that case I shall probably 
 resign in case I do not receive some other place. 
 The Herald has offered me a place in New York 
 as editorial writer, but I think I can do bet 
 ter. . . . 
 
 " People here seem to think I have done a 
 great thing in going to Central Asia, and more 
 especially in coming back again. I don t know 
 exactly how I have changed, but somehow I 
 seem no longer to be the same even to myself. 
 Without being more serious I feel myself so. 
 VOL. I. 4 49 
 
EUGENE SCHUYLER 
 
 Probably I am not yet oriente to St. Petersburg 
 life, but all here but two or three bore me dread 
 fully, and I don t know what to do with myself. 
 With people who are interested in Central Asia 
 I can talk with much more pleasure. You see it 
 is my present hobby that I am riding to death." 
 
 Mr. Jewell resigned in the summer of 1874, 
 after only a year and a half of St. Petersburg. 
 His relations with Mr. Schuyler always remained 
 cordial and even affectionate. He, too, was a man 
 who spoke no language but English, and was 
 unversed in Russian affairs, and thus had to rely 
 greatly on his Secretary of Legation. His letters 
 show him to have been shrewd, generous, humour 
 ous, and modest, and a very loyal friend. He saw 
 clearly the disadvantage of sending representa 
 tives who were ignorant of the affairs of the 
 countries to which they were accredited, and of 
 any language but their own; and he expressed 
 very earnestly his desire to have the place suit 
 ably filled after his resignation. 
 
 At this time Mr. Schuyler wished to resign his 
 position in order to publish his book on Central 
 Asia; and in spite of his strong preference for a 
 diplomatic career and his unwillingness to give 
 it up unless it should prove necessary to do so, 
 he was making plans to adopt another profession, 
 
 50 
 
A MEMOIR 
 
 in view of the uncertainties of the American Dip 
 lomatic Service. 
 
 Meanwhile, although anxious to publish his 
 book while the subject was still fresh in the 
 public mind, he felt obliged to remain at his post 
 until the arrival of a new Minister, since the Secre 
 tary of State had requested him to do so, and had 
 in fact refused to accept his resignation. 
 
 He had returned from the journey to Central 
 Asia in 1873, filled with information on many 
 subjects; and above all enlightened as to the 
 methods of Russian officials in those parts. Since 
 the better class of men disliked being sent to 
 those outlying regions, it unfortunately happened 
 that there where promotion was exceptionally 
 rapid, inferior men rose to power. Thus, even in 
 cases where the policy of the Government was 
 unobjectionable, untrustworthy agents were left 
 to carry it out. From this arose great abuses. 
 What with burdensome taxation, broken promises, 
 attempts to enforce a system of government for 
 eign to the ideas of the inhabitants and incompre 
 hensible to them, and the substitution of " admin 
 istrative methods " for law, whenever law seemed 
 burdensome to the foreign rulers, the unfortunate 
 natives were greatly fretted and bewildered. 
 When in addition to this, the Russian officers 
 
EUGENE SCHUYLER 
 
 were all anxious to obtain decorations as a reward 
 of valour, a premium was placed on war. As, for 
 instance, in the celebrated case of General Kauf- 
 mann, who wanted the Cross of St. George and 
 could not obtain it except for victory in battle. 
 It will be remembered that the Turkomans had 
 yielded and had been pardoned, and were keeping 
 faith with the Russians. Under the circumstances 
 General Kaufmann decided that it was necessary 
 to subdue " their pride and their license." Ac 
 cordingly he levied an extortionate tax, and then 
 went out on the warpath without giving them 
 time to raise the money to pay it. The battle 
 which brought him his Cross of St. George was 
 really a massacre; but the distance from St. Peters 
 burg was great. 
 
 It was such information as this that Mr. 
 Schuyler brought back from Asia. At Mr. 
 Jewell s request, he prepared a report for the 
 State Department, which they both supposed 
 would be considered a confidential document. 
 The Department, however, did not agree with 
 their view, and it was published in the Red Book 
 of December, 1874, and made much talk. Many 
 people were only too glad to receive information 
 of Russian atrocities from any source, and all 
 the more from a trustworthy authority; and the 
 
 52 
 
A MEMOIR 
 
 newspapers in general took it for granted that 
 the man who had made such revelations could 
 not possibly remain in Russia. However, no 
 complaint was ever made by the Russian Govern 
 ment, and shortly afterward the Emperor, always 
 open-minded, rejected General Kaufmann s plan 
 for the reorganization of Central Asia. In his 
 diary Mr. Schuyler says: 
 
 " January 10, 1875. Four copies of Red Book 
 arrive w r ith my report on Central Asia, which 
 rather startles me. . . . General Vlangali 1 calls 
 on me a charming man lend him a copy of Red 
 Book. 
 
 "January nth. Baron Osten-Sacken 2 calls he 
 takes Red Book to give me his opinion. . . . 
 
 " January i$th. Take the Red Book to Strem- 
 oukhofT, 3 who receives my report on Central Asia 
 much better than I expected. He says no harm 
 done. Go to Petrofsky. 
 
 " P. comes to me, says Osten-Sacken is in ecsta 
 sies over my report. Vlangali very much pleased 
 and wants to read it to Grand Dukes Alexis and 
 Vladimir. Stremoukhoff pleased and will use it for 
 his own purposes. . . ." 
 
 Five years later he wrote to a friend who had 
 asked him some questions on the subject. 
 
 1 Russian minister to China and later of the department of Asiatic affairs. 
 
 2 At that time one of the Masters of Ceremonies of the Court. 
 
 3 Of the department of Asiatic affairs 
 
 53 
 
EUGENE SCHUYLER 
 
 " I suppose it is impossible to eradicate a pop 
 ular error, but the Russian Government never 
 found fault with me in any way or shape, and 
 never hinted at my recall either in St. Peters 
 burg or Washington. On the contrary when 
 General Kaufmann stated his grief * at my criti 
 cisms of his doings in Central Asia, he replied 
 that I was in my right and refused to take notice 
 of his complaints. It arose from a report which 
 I wrote on Central Asia being published by the 
 State Department to my great astonishment. I 
 remained after that as Charge d Affaires for more 
 than a year. The report was written in March, 
 1874, was published in December, 1874, and I 
 left Russia for Constantinople in February, 1876. 
 
 " My book on Turkistan was not published until 
 October, 1876, after I had left Russia. Naturally 
 after the publication of my report and the subse 
 quent newspaper war, I was obliged to print the 
 main facts more in extcnso in my book, lest I 
 should seem to retract. I did so on the advice 
 of several highly placed Russians, two being 
 Under Secretaries of the Foreign Office, two 
 members of the Council of State, and one, Mr. 
 (now Count) Valnief, then Minister and now 
 President of the Council of Ministers." 
 
 Mr. Boker accepted the Russian mission early 
 in the winter of 1874-75, but did not arrive at 
 his post until the following summer. In the 
 
 1 He sometimes uses " grief " in the French sense. 
 
 54 
 
A MEMOIR 
 
 meantime Mr. Schuyler s friends in Washington 
 had endeavoured to keep him in the service by 
 obtaining his transfer to another post. Mr. 
 Jewell, who was then in the Cabinet, wrote to 
 him: 
 
 " I have been trying to get Constantinople for 
 you. . . . The Secretary of State has taken it 
 up quite vigorously, and the other day asked the 
 President to give it to you, giving two very good 
 reasons that he thought the Eastern Question 
 was assuming such a peculiar shape now that we 
 should have a Minister there now who under 
 stands the language and Eastern politics, and 
 saying that you filled the bill better than any 
 man on the list of his acquaintances. The Presi 
 dent replied that the pressure on him for that 
 place had been very great, people claiming that 
 those who stayed at home and fought in the war 
 were more entitled to these high offices than 
 those who had already filled nice positions abroad 
 for many years. Mr. Fish reminded him that 
 your position had not been a very nice one, 
 though you had filled it well; to which the Presi 
 dent replied that from all accounts he had no 
 doubt of your ability and fitness for any Mission, 
 as he had heard you very favourably spoken of. 
 In the course of the conversation it was remarked 
 by somebody, I cannot tell who, that New York 
 had three Ministers already, and that it did not 
 help us politically to give it to you, but rather 
 
 55 
 
EUGENE SCHUYLER 
 
 the reverse; and that we ought to give it to some 
 able and competent Republican from a State like 
 Iowa perhaps, which had no representation 
 abroad." 
 
 A later letter says: 
 
 " Boker has written that he desires you to stay 
 and coach him at least until he is started." 
 
 IV 
 
 In January, 1876, Mr. Schuyler was appointed 
 Consul-General and Secretary of Legation at 
 Constantinople. It was a relief to him to turn 
 his back on St. Petersburg, where, in spite of 
 many friends, he had become weary of a mode 
 of life which interfered with serious work, and 
 which required an inexhaustible purse. However, 
 he was detained until the arrival of his successor. 
 He then took leave of absence and went to Lon 
 don, where he saw his book through the press, 
 reaching Constantinople about the beginning of 
 July. On his way he stopped at Belgrade, just 
 at the time when Serbia had decided to make com 
 mon cause with her neighbours, Herzegovina, 
 Bosnia, and Montenegro, and declare war upon 
 Turkey. 
 
 56 
 
A MEMOIR 
 
 To Miss King. 
 
 "BELGRADE, June 28, 1876. 
 
 " . . . The change from the comfort and the 
 orderly life of Paris to the turmoil of a little prin 
 cipality which is on the eve of declaring war 
 upon a still powerful empire is a great one. I feel 
 as if I were in a far different world, where both 
 passions and interests are new to me. And yet I 
 have entered into them with a heartiness which I 
 did not suspect that I possessed, and the three days 
 which I have spent here have been full of incident. 
 
 " I had thought that the efforts of the great pow 
 ers had been effectual in keeping Serbia quiet, and 
 I was therefore the more astonished to find that 
 everybody here considered war inevitable and was 
 daily expecting the issue of a patriotic proclama 
 tion and the departure of Prince Milan for the 
 Turkish frontier. Desirous of getting all the in 
 formation I could for future use in Constantinople, 
 I at once sank the tourist in the politician, and 
 spent nearly my whole time in visiting the Diplo 
 matic Corps, some of whom I already knew, in 
 having interviews with the Ministers and with the 
 Prince, and in studying the situation. 
 
 " Last Sunday the night of my arrival I went 
 to the theatre, which was open for the last time 
 before the war as all the actors are to join the 
 ambulances. The piece was The Janissary, full 
 of blood and murder, of Turkish insolence and 
 oppression, and of Serbian valour and patience. 
 
 57 
 
EUGENE SCHUYLER 
 
 I think only two of the characters were alive at 
 the end. The object was, of course, to excite 
 the popular feeling against Turkey, and if the 
 shouts at the end be an index, the piece was well 
 chosen. Had the circumstances not been so tragic, 
 the play would have seemed to me laughable, but 
 I could hardly keep down my emotion when I 
 thought of the ruin that might come upon the 
 country, the bombardment of this pretty town, 
 and the terrible cruelties that would be perpe 
 trated in consequence of this popular enthusiasm. 
 
 " Prince Milan considering that he left school 
 at Paris when only sixteen, in consequence of his 
 uncle s assassination, and has had a difficult and 
 busy life of it ever since impressed me as a very 
 remarkable young man. He is now only twenty- 
 two, handsome and well-built, and singularly in 
 telligent and well-informed. He gave me much 
 information about Serbia, and in the course of his 
 talk showed me that he was well acquainted with 
 America, and followed the march of events there 
 better, I fear, than do many Americans in Paris. 
 
 " To-day all the flags are flying, and Belgrade is 
 as gay as if for some great victory, but it is only 
 to welcome the proclamation of war, and to ex 
 press its delight at the march of the Prince. He 
 sets out early in the morning, and in a week we 
 shall hear of a fight. The suffering will no doubt 
 be great, unless, indeed, the Turks kill all the 
 wounded, as they had a habit of doing in Herze 
 govina. I hope the ladies of the West will con- 
 
 58 
 
A MEMOIR 
 
 tribute something in the way of hospital stores. 
 Such things will be useful to both sides. . . ." 
 
 He arrived in Constantinople at the moment 
 when the attention of the civilised world was 
 being drawn to the condition of Bulgaria, where 
 the Turks had made an insignificant insurrection 
 the pretext for a savage onslaught on the Chris 
 tian population. The effort made by the Great 
 Powers in 1856 to ameliorate the condition of the 
 Christian subjects of Turkey, had had no result. 
 The reforms and privileges granted by the Sultan 
 Abdul Medjid had never been carried out. This 
 delay and the consequent unjust treatment of the 
 Christians by government officials, together with 
 the almost daily acts of murder and violence com 
 mitted by the Mussulman population, had caused a 
 series of feeble and abortive insurrections. Mean 
 time, however, a system of national education was 
 making progress, owing in great part to the ex 
 ertions of the Americans; and in 1871 the inde 
 pendence of the Bulgarian Church was re-estab 
 lished. With the gradual spread of education, a 
 greater national feeling grew up, and the tyranny 
 of the Mussulman rulers became still harder to 
 bear. Still, no real agitation was carried on in 
 the country until 1875, when the prevailing dis- 
 
 59 
 
EUGENE SCHUYLER 
 
 content assumed a more organized form, and 
 an insurrection was planned, with the object of 
 making a sufficiently formal demonstration to 
 compel the Porte to pay some attention to the 
 demands of the people. Apparently there was 
 no idea of making any real opposition to the 
 Turks. The people were without arms and un 
 accustomed to their use. After the day for the 
 intended rising had been fixed, the chiefs resolved 
 to defer it; but, owing to the miscarriage of a 
 letter, one district remained ignorant of the post 
 ponement. Accordingly, about a hundred men of 
 this region, armed with old muskets, sticks, and 
 clubs, left their villages and went towards the 
 Balkans. They were overtaken, some of them 
 were killed and the rest imprisoned. Many more 
 arrests were made and a number of persons 
 remained for many months in prison without 
 trial. 
 
 After this, it was resolved to see what could be 
 done by petitioning the Sublime Porte. Many 
 petitions were received at Constantinople, but no 
 attention was paid to them. On May i, 1876, 
 another premature and partial insurrection took 
 place. It was a very insignificant affair, but it 
 caused a panic among the Turks, who spread the 
 
 report that the Russians were coming. Aziz 
 
 60 
 
A MEMOIR 
 
 Pasha, the mutessarif of Philippopolis, who had 
 been a good governor, and was hated by the 
 Turks, for being, as they thought, too favour 
 able to the Christians, found himself powerless 
 to prevent the arming of the Mussulman popu 
 lation and the formation of companies of bashi- 
 bazouks, a term which signifies simply irregular 
 troops, either infantry or cavalry. Aziz Pasha 
 was superseded in a few days by Abdul Hamid 
 Pasha, a man who did nothing to restrain the 
 barbarities which followed. Meantime the regu 
 lar troops, for which Aziz Pasha had telegraphed, 
 were arriving on the scene, so that there was 
 no excuse for arming the population. Scenes 
 of horror followed. Near and accessible as the 
 region was, it was weeks before the outside world 
 began to learn what was taking place, and then 
 the reports came chiefly through American mis 
 sionaries and the professors and students of Rob 
 ert College. These reports were discredited, and 
 feeling ran high against those who disseminated 
 them. It was then rumoured that the Porte in 
 tended to close the American schools and send 
 the missionaries out of the country. The British 
 Ambassador, Sir Henry Elliot, as is well known, 
 refused to give any credence to the stories and 
 did what he could to belittle them. Dr. Wash- 
 
 61 
 
EUGENE SCHUYLER 
 
 burn, the President of Robert College, and Dr. 
 Long, then a professor in the college, but for 
 merly a missionary and stationed during seven 
 years in Bulgaria, placed in his hands much docu 
 mentary and other evidence of the treatment to 
 which the Bulgarians had been subjected, asking 
 that he would use his influence in their behalf. 
 However, the Ambassador did not appear to think 
 the evidence of sufficient importance or authen 
 ticity to communicate to his Government, and re 
 turned the documents. The correspondent of the 
 London Daily News adopted a statement pre 
 pared by Dr. Long, and it appeared in that paper, 
 on June 23, 1876. This statement startled and 
 aroused the people of England, but the Govern 
 ment was unwilling to take any notice of it. 
 Meantime a Turkish Commissioner sent by the 
 Porte into Bulgaria denied every accusation of 
 cruelty on the part of the Turks, and represented 
 them as the victims of Christian ferocity; and the 
 British Government apparently preferred to be 
 lieve the Turkish side of the story. However, 
 Lord Derby requested Sir Henry Elliot to send 
 one of his officials into Bulgaria to inquire and 
 report. He sent Mr. Walter Baring, one of the 
 secretaries of the Embassy, who started on July 
 1 9th; and at the same time the Ambassador re- 
 
 62 
 
A MEMOIR 
 
 ported to Lord Derby that the statements as to 
 the atrocities had been taken chiefly from infor 
 mation furnished by the American missionaries. 
 At this crisis the United States Minister was glad 
 to avail himself of Mr. Schuyler s willingness 
 to be sent to Bulgaria to investigate the out 
 rages. 
 
 To Miss King. 
 
 "CONSTANTINOPLE, July 21, 1876. 
 
 " . . . I am to start to-morrow on an errand 
 which is difficult, if not dangerous. No doubt 
 you have heard something already of the fright 
 ful atrocities perpetrated in Bulgaria by the 
 bashi-bazouks and Circassians. The English af 
 fect to disbelieve the reports and call them exag 
 gerated. The British Ambassador even defends 
 the acts of the irregular troops as just reprisals. 
 I have therefore been strongly urged to go to 
 Bulgaria and make an official report to our Gov 
 ernment on the actual state of things. My mis 
 sion is nominally to see about the establishment 
 of vice-consulates. I am armed with vizerial let 
 ters, so that the governors will try to give me 
 protection, but I fear that they will put all sorts 
 of difficulties in my way, to keep me from seeing 
 the calamities and distress of the poor peasants. 
 I mean, however, to give my guard the slip and 
 penetrate into the country. I have with me a 
 secretary and an interpreter who speaks Bulgarian 
 
 63 
 
EUGENE SCHUYLER 
 
 as well as Turkish, an educated young man from 
 Robert College, an American institution here. I 
 hope to come back alive, though I must admit 
 that I run some risk and what is more, I hope to 
 bring back irrefragably proved facts which will 
 show to the civilised world what sort of a Gov 
 ernment is this of England s protege in the East. 
 " I went yesterday to the Commencement of 
 Robert College up at Roumele Hissar, one of the 
 most picturesque places on the Bosphorus. I am 
 glad to say that here is one form of missionary 
 enterprise with which I can thoroughly sympa 
 thise. It was founded, however, not entirely by 
 missionaries, but by a merchant of New York, 
 and the men who teach there forswear any con 
 nection with religious propaganda and devote 
 themselves exclusively to education. . . ." 
 
 He started July 23d, and was joined later by 
 Prince Tseretelef, of the Russian Embassy. Mr. 
 MacGahan, correspondent of the London Daily 
 Nezvs and the New York Herald, and Mr. 
 Schneider, of the Kblnische Zeitung, went at the 
 same time. Mr. Schuyler says in his report: 
 
 " In going from village to village, I always had 
 an escort of two zaptiehs, that being the smallest 
 number which the authorities would allow me to 
 take. They usually offered me six or ten, and 
 would not permit me to travel without zaptiehs, 
 on the ground that they were responsible for my 
 
 64 
 
A MEMOIR 
 
 safety, as well as that politeness compelled them 
 to escort me. The zaptiehs were useful for show 
 ing the road, but they were of slight value for 
 purposes of protection, as they would probably 
 have run away at the first approach of danger. 
 
 " While paying all proper respect to the authori 
 ties, arid being careful to fulfil the necessary for 
 malities of visits, I avoided staying in Turkish 
 houses, as I would thus have been prevented from 
 having free access to the Bulgarians. I also re 
 fused to allow a guard to be placed at the houses 
 where I stayed. 
 
 " I had as an interpreter an educated young 
 Bulgarian, Mr. Peter Dimitroff, who, besides his 
 own language, understood English and Turkish 
 perfectly. I knew sufficient Bulgarian to be able 
 to follow the conversations and to be able to con 
 trol what he translated to me. Besides this, I 
 had for the most of my journey one and some 
 times two other persons who thoroughly under 
 stood Turkish and Greek one an Armenian, the 
 other a Greek. . . . As I set out with no in 
 tentions either of proving or disproving any asser 
 tion or statement, I shall relate merely what I be 
 lieve to have occurred." 
 
 As a result of the strictest questioning, cross- 
 examination, and comparison of statements, he 
 found that " the insurgent villages made little or 
 no resistance. In many instances they surrendered 
 their arms upon the first demand." 
 VOL. I. 5 65 
 
EUGENE SCHUYLER 
 
 But both bashi-bazouks and regular troops 
 vented their hatred freely upon the whole Chris 
 tian population. It mattered not that the villagers 
 surrendered at once. It mattered not even that a 
 village (as happened in many cases) had taken no 
 part in the insurrection, or that (as in the case of 
 Perushtitsa) it had asked the authorities for pro 
 tection against the attacks of a presumably un 
 authorized Mussulman mob. All were subjected 
 to the same treatment. Messengers sent out to 
 parley with the Turks were almost invariably 
 massacred, as were also the hostages retained by 
 them. One town, Panagurishta, 
 
 " Was attacked by a force of regular troops, to 
 gether with bashi-bazouks, on the nth of May. 
 Apparently no message to surrender was sent. Af 
 ter a slight opposition on the part of the insur 
 gents, the town was taken. Many of the inhabi 
 tants fled, but about 3,000 were massacred, the 
 most of them being women and children. . . . 
 The ruffians attacked children of eight, and old 
 women of eighty, sparing neither age nor sex. 
 Old men had their eyes torn out and their limbs 
 cut off, and were then left to die, unless some 
 more charitably disposed man gave them the final 
 thrust. Pregnant women were ripped open and 
 the unborn babes carried triumphantly on the 
 
 66 
 
A MEMOIR 
 
 points of bayonets and sabres, while little chil 
 dren were made to bear the dripping heads of 
 their comrades. This scene of rapine, lust, and 
 murder was continued for three days, when the 
 survivors were made to bury the bodies of the 
 dead. The perpetrators of these atrocities were 
 chiefly regular troops commanded by Hafiz Pasha. 
 The Turks claim and the villagers admit the death 
 of fourteen Mussulmans, two of whom were 
 women, who were killed with arms in their hands 
 during a conflict with a party that refused to sur 
 render to the insurgents." 
 
 The case of Batak was even worse. 
 
 " This village surrendered without firing a shot, 
 after a promise of safety to the bashi-bazouks, 
 under the demand of Ahmed-Aga, of Burutina, 
 a chief of the rural police. Despite his promise, 
 the few arms once surrendered, Ahmed-Aga or 
 dered the destruction of the village and an indis 
 criminate slaughter of the inhabitants, about a 
 hundred young girls being reserved to satisfy the 
 lust of the conqueror before they too should be 
 killed. I saw their bones, some with the flesh 
 still clinging to them, in the hollow on the hill 
 side, where the dogs were gnawing them. Not a 
 house is now standing in the midst of this lovely 
 valley. The saw-mills for the town had a large 
 trade in timber and sawn boards which lined the 
 rapid little river, are all burned, and of the 8,000 
 
 67 
 
EUGENE SCHUYLER 
 
 inhabitants not 2,000 are known to survive. Fully 
 5,000 persons, a very large proportion of them 
 women and children, perished here, and their bones 
 whiten the ruins or their putrid bodies infect the 
 air. The site of Batak is enough to verify all that 
 has been said about the acts of the Turks in re 
 pressing the Bulgarian insurrection. And yet I 
 saw it three months after the massacre. On every 
 side were human bones, skulls, ribs, and even 
 complete skeletons, heads of girls still adorned 
 with braids of long hair, bones of children, skele 
 tons still incased in clothing. Here was a house, 
 the floor of which was white with the ashes and 
 charred bones of thirty persons burned alive there. 
 Here was the spot where the village notable, 
 Trandafil, was spitted on a pike and then roasted, 
 and where he is now buried; there was a foul hole 
 full of decomposing bodies; here a mill-dam filled 
 with swollen corpses; here the school-house, where 
 two hundred women and children, who had taken 
 refuge there, were burned alive; and here the 
 church and church-yard, where fully a thousand 
 half-decayed forms were still to be seen, filling 
 the enclosure in a heap several feet high, arms, 
 feet, and heads protruding from the stones which 
 had vainly been thrown there to hide them, and 
 poisoning all the air. 
 
 " Ahmed-Aga, who commanded at the massacre, 
 has been decorated and promoted to the rank of 
 yuz-bashi." 
 
 68 
 
A MEMOIR 
 
 At Klissura, among other barbarities, " a newly 
 born child was hacked to pieces before the eyes 
 of its mother, who was put to death afterward." 
 
 Tussum Bey, who was in command of the band 
 which pillaged and destroyed Klissura and sev 
 eral other villages, was, for this exploit, decorated 
 with the order of the Medjidie. 
 
 At Petritch the children were put to death 
 with fearful tortures. At Viega eight children 
 were killed who first had their hands and other 
 members cut off. 
 
 Chefket Pasha marched to his native village of 
 Boyadjik, and was personally responsible for its 
 destruction. This was believed to be an act of 
 personal vengeance. As a recompense for his 
 conduct, he was named Marshal of the Palace. 
 
 Seventy-five insurgents came out of a monastery 
 where they had taken refuge, and surrendered 
 themselves. They were unarmed and carried a 
 white flag. 
 
 " They were all massacred by order of the Pasha 
 commanding, in a most cruel way. Some were 
 cut to pieces, others had their limbs cut off or 
 long strips of flesh torn from their bodies, and 
 others were disembowelled. On arriving at the 
 monastery, the troops killed there the mother of 
 the Prior, an old woman of eighty. . . . 
 
 69 
 
EUGENE SCHUYLER 
 
 " In the districts to which I paid particular at 
 tention, i.e., those of Philippopolis, Sliven, and 
 Tirnova and the neighbouring part of the province 
 of Sophia, there were seventy-nine villages wholly 
 or partially burned, besides very many pillaged. 
 At least 9,000 houses were burned, and taking the 
 average of eight to a Bulgarian house, 72,000 
 persons were left without roof or shelter. Ac 
 cording to the figures I have given above, 10,984 
 persons were killed. Many more were killed in 
 the roads, in the fields, and in the mountains, of 
 whom there is no record or count, and I think, 
 therefore, I am not wrong in estimating the total 
 number of killed at about 15,000. Many more 
 died subsequently from disease and exposure and 
 in prison. . . . 
 
 " I vainly tried to obtain from the Turkish of 
 ficials a list of the outrages which they said were 
 committed by the Bulgarians at the beginning of 
 the insurrection, but I could hear nothing but 
 vague statements, which, on investigation, were 
 never proved. . . . 
 
 " The highest number fixed for the Mussulmans 
 killed, as stated to me in different places by Mus 
 sulmans, before and during the insurrection, is 
 one hundred and seventy-four. ... I was un 
 able to assure myself that more than two Mussul 
 man women have been killed at Panagurishta, and 
 these were killed in fight. Neither Turkish women 
 nor Turkish children were killed in cold blood. 
 No Mussulman women were violated. No Mus- 
 
 70 
 
A MEMOIR 
 
 sulmans were tortured. No purely Turkish vil 
 lage, with the exception of Urutsi, was attacked 
 or burned. No Mussulman house was pillaged; 
 no mosque was desecrated." 
 
 To Miss King. 
 
 " TATAR-BAZARDJIK, August 3, 1876. 
 "... I don t know whether you ll find this 
 place on the map, but it is near the end of the 
 railway, a little west of Philippopolis, and the centre 
 of the district which suffered most. I returned 
 from one excursion yesterday, and start on an 
 other to-day to three villages northward, after 
 which I shall return to Philippopolis for a day, and 
 shall then visit the region of Yamboli. In my 
 last trip I saw a scene of great horror, so fearful 
 that I shall not attempt description. I can say 
 but little. It was at the village of Batak, which I 
 reached after a four hours hard ride over lovely 
 mountains. Here fully six thousand people were 
 massacred in cold blood by Ahmed-Aga, after they 
 had given up their arms and had made no resist 
 ance. The whole town was burned, and the 
 streets and ruins were thickly strewn with skele 
 tons, bones, and skulls, to which in many cases 
 the hair still adhered. In the church and church 
 yard there were the unburied remains of fully a 
 thousand bodies. But I will not go on. I was 
 glad to escape from the fearful sight and equally 
 terrible stench. 
 
EUGENE SCHUYLER 
 
 "This is the worst; I expect to find nothing 
 again so horrible; but on every side it is nothing 
 but murder, pillage, and conflagration, attended 
 with the most horrible details. The prisons are 
 full of victims, and innocent men have been lying 
 there three months without even the mockery of a 
 trial. Many have been executed, especially priests, 
 for the storm raged most severely against priests 
 and school-teachers, it being thought that educa 
 tion was at the bottom of this desire for liberty. 
 
 " Everywhere I am besieged by crowds of women 
 who wish me to intercede for their husbands, sons, 
 and brothers, in prison or condemned to death. 
 I can do but little, but if I can believe what I have 
 been told, my visit has had a good effect. Very 
 many men have been released one hundred and 
 fifty in one day and executions have stopped for 
 the present. 
 
 There is, of course, no thought of punishing 
 the perpetrators of the massacres; the severity of 
 the law is reserved for the innocent villagers ac 
 cused of insurrection against Turkish injustice. 
 
 " The condition of these poor peasants is now 
 terrible. The Turks took all their cattle, and re 
 fuse to restore them, and they are therefore un 
 able to draw wood to rebuild their houses, or to 
 reap and sell their crops, which are abundant. In 
 addition to this they are afraid to go into the 
 fields lest they be murdered. There is urgent 
 need of relief, and I hope it will be possible to 
 raise a fund for them by public subscription. 
 
 72 
 
A MEMOIR 
 
 " Were it not for the horrors this journey would 
 be a pleasant one, for the country is lovely. The 
 valley of the Maritza is rich and well cultivated, 
 and the Balkans form picturesque groups and 
 ranges. Philippopolis is finely situated on three 
 rocky hills rising out of the plain, and Adrianople 
 has some splendid architectural remains, and 
 boasts a mosque finer than that at Constantinople. 
 I should like to go farther up into the mountains 
 and see some of the monasteries, to visit the rose- 
 gardens which produce the famous attar, and see 
 the people where they are happy and prosperous. 
 As it is, I am rather over-worked, for I have to 
 rise at five and hear complaints, examine witnesses, 
 talk to the Turkish officials, or ride until late in 
 the evening. And all this in very hot weather. 
 I sometimes feel as if I were gradually melting 
 away. I hope that the results of my work will 
 repay for the trouble and difficulty. How I wish 
 that all these hideous scenes were past. . . . 
 Yours ever, 
 
 EUGENE SCHUYLER." 
 
 To J. S. Fiske. 
 " PHILIPPOPOLIS, Saturday Evening. 
 " Things are prospering, but I find harder work 
 than I anticipated. . . . 
 
 " In the evening, Baring, who had just returned 
 from a tour, came to see me. I liked him and 
 my first impressions have been confirmed by what 
 I have seen since. . . . 
 
 73 
 
EUGENE SCHUYLER 
 
 Thursday was a day of horror. Calls, work, 
 the Konak, the courts, and the sight of a priest 
 hung in the street. My every movement is beset 
 with wretched Bulgarian women and children 
 pleading for the life and liberty of their husbands 
 and fathers. Then I went through the prisons 
 crowded, but clean prisoners fed on bread and 
 water many petitions. In all a horrid and un 
 comfortable day. As to outrages I am burning 
 with indignation and rage can scarcely contain 
 myself. There may be exaggerations, but it is 
 sufficiently horrible. Lowest estimate of Chris 
 tians killed 12,000, highest of Turks killed two 
 hundred and thirty, of whom thirty women, but 
 no death of Mussulman woman or child has been 
 proved to me. . . . 
 
 " Friday. Went to Kutshura and Perushtitsa, 
 the latter all destroyed. Sat in the church-yard 
 still smelling of putrid blood and heard the fearful 
 tale about 1,000 killed there. . 
 
 Yours ever, 
 
 E. S." 
 
 To J. S. Fiske. 
 
 " SLIVNO, August 14, 1876, Monday Evening. 
 "... Since leaving Philippopolis, I have done 
 little except save two men from a hanging, and 
 investigate. We arrived at Yamboli Friday even 
 ing, having increased our train by Prince Tsere- 
 telef, of the Russian Embassy, his cavass and ser 
 vant. Saturday we investigated very thoroughly 
 
 74 
 
A MEMOIR 
 
 Boyardjik, which was wilfully and unnecessarily 
 burned by Chefket Pasha (since made Marshal of 
 the Palace), and where about two hundred people 
 were massacred. On returning we had to dine 
 with the Mutessarif of Slivno, Haider Bey, who 
 was there on a visit. He is, I think, the best 
 Turk I have seen, and tries to do well. Yesterday 
 morning we came here on horseback in four hours. 
 This is a charming place, unpillaged, but we have 
 been drowned with deputations and investigations. 
 To-morrow we cross the Balkans, and on Wednes 
 day night shall be at Tirnova. After a day there 
 we go to Gabrovna to investigate the forty-one 
 destroyed villages in that region then Kazzan- 
 lyk, Eski-Saara, and so home. 
 
 : The English left Tirnova to-day, so that we 
 shall pass them on the road to-morrow. 
 
 " As to the two men, I met them on the train 
 which brought me to Yamboli, heavily ironed and 
 to be hung the next morning at Slivno. I imme 
 diately telegraphed to Maynard, Tseretelef did the 
 same to his Embassy. I then told the Governor 
 what I had done and that he would be responsible 
 if the men were hung before an answer came from 
 Constantinople. Immediate postponement, and to 
 day telegram, saying : Orders have been given 
 to stop all executions for political offences, which 
 accidentally had not before been communicated. 
 The two men were to be imprisoned in chains for 
 life. 
 
 " The result, great increase of our influence, and 
 
 75 
 
EUGENE SCHUYLER 
 
 Umbessarif, who returned to-day, very frank and 
 cordial. . . . 
 
 " Everything leads me to think that I have been 
 doing much good, but I am quite cut off from the 
 world. . . ." 
 
 From Philippopolis, on August 10, 1876, Mr. 
 Schuyler sent a preliminary report to his Chief, 
 which was published while he was still in Bulgaria. 
 
 This report exceeded the very worst that had 
 been told by the missionaries. Written as an of 
 ficial document by the Consul-General and Secre 
 tary of Legation of the United States, a man who, 
 although friendly to Russia, had exposed Russian 
 misrule in Asia, and who was moreover noted for 
 his accuracy, it had an instantaneous and tre 
 mendous effect throughout Europe, and particu 
 larly in England. The Turks were probably not 
 wrong in considering him in a large measure 
 responsible for the war with Russia. 
 
 From Moncure D. Comvay. 
 
 "HAMLET HOUSE, HAMMERSMITH, LONDON, 
 September 21, 1876. 
 
 " MY DEAR SCHUYLER: . . . I should indeed 
 have written to you before several times if I 
 had been sure of my letters overtaking you in 
 your wanderings, simply to tell you how (person- 
 
 76 
 
A MEMOIR 
 
 ally) I glory in the admirable service you have 
 been doing, and how (Americanly) proud I am that 
 our Consul-General should be on hand to step in 
 where European diplomacy faltered, to direct and 
 determine the path of the storm, to sweep away 
 the refuge of lies. That refuge England mainly 
 has protected, but will protect no more. This 
 whole kingdom has resolved itself into a meeting 
 of indignation which is in session day and night, 
 and the ministry must bend or break. At each of 
 these meetings a resolution of thanks is offered to 
 you, and if you were recognized walking in the 
 street, you would be followed by a shouting crowd. 
 I wish your letter had reached me fourteen hours 
 sooner, for I should have had it in my pocket 
 when addressing a meeting of 1,500 people, who 
 gathered in South Place Chapel to protest. The 
 house was crammed to overflowing. I gave them 
 some account of you and your service in the 
 KJiokand expedition, and circumstances of your 
 transfer to Constantinople, all of which was re 
 ceived with loud cheering. The Americans have 
 hardly had time yet to get the full hang of mat 
 ters, but the next mail will bring tidings of ex 
 citement there. . . . 
 
 " Wife comes in to remind me (which I didn t 
 need) to tell you that when you next come to 
 London we shall have an old English mansion 
 with plenty of room to entertain you and a billiard- 
 table for your amusement, after the long, ugly 
 tragedy in which you have been bearing a part. 
 
 77 
 
EUGENE SCHUYLER 
 
 When you find a chance for a private rest and 
 armistice of your own, do think of London where 
 you will find a thousand friends where you had 
 one or two before. . . . 
 
 Ever yours, 
 
 M. D. CONWAY." 
 
 From Edward A. Freeman. 
 
 " SOMERLEAZE, WELLS, SOMERSET, 
 
 September 27, 1876. 
 
 " MY DEAR SIR : I am happy to be able to send 
 another sum, 439 7s., for the Bulgarian sufferers. 
 I am sure there is no one to whom it can be so 
 well intrusted as to you who have done so much 
 for the cause. I have now sent the following 
 sums. . . . 
 
 The English people are roused as they never 
 were roused before within my memory. They 
 commonly go right whenever the real facts are 
 set before them, and this time, thanks to you and 
 the Daily News, the real facts have been set before 
 them. Everybody agrees that Baring s report, 
 with all his wrigglings to excuse the Turk, sub 
 stantially confirms you and D. N. 
 
 " Believe me yours faithfully, 
 
 EDWARD A. FREEMAN." 
 
 The following letters are taken almost at ran 
 dom from many similar ones: 
 
 " EXCELLENCE : Les mines de nos eglises, de 
 nos ecoles, et celles de nos habitations, les mal- 
 
 78 
 
A MEMOIR 
 
 heureux qui trainent dans nos rues et pleurent 
 leur vie, et, le petit nombre des detenues qui palis- 
 sent encore dans les prisons sont des traces et des 
 souvenirs affreux qui nous font fondre le coeur a 
 chaque instant. Toutes ces traces seront effaces 
 et grace a votre bonte et a la peine que vous 
 prenez pour nous tout sera oublie. Mais, il est 
 trop penible, il est grand malheur pour nous 
 lorsque ces choses se prolongent et trainent leur 
 chemin longtemps envers nos detenus. Notre 
 desir le plus grand est d en finir un moment plus 
 
 tot. 
 
 " Grace aux secours qui vont arriver de 1 etran- 
 ger nos etablissements seront releves et nos mal- 
 heureux consolles nous 1 esperons bien; mais que 
 faire de ces detenus qui sont encore dans les 
 prisons. La plupart d eux ne sont pas interroges 
 et tous ils ne savent pas pourquoi on les retient et 
 jusqu a quand on les retiendra. Chacun de ces 
 detenus a sa famille et toutes ces families sont a 
 la discretion de toutes espece de souffrances : Feu, 
 fer et des voles innombrables nous ont epuises et 
 la plupart des survecus sont laisses nus et sans 
 aucuns ressources. De plus il faut penser que 
 1 hiver approche a grand pas. 
 
 " Vous avez fait beaucoup pour nous, vous nous 
 avez rendu de grands services a nous, et, nous ne 
 pouvons que de vous en etre reconnaissants jusque 
 ce que un Bulgare existe sur la terre. Apres tant 
 du bien que vous nous avez fait, veuillez encore 
 avoir la pitie pour quelques malheureuses families, 
 
 79 
 
EUGENE SCHUYLER 
 
 veuillez faire lacher nos quatorze detenus qui se 
 trouvent a Philiple, et dont cibas sont leurs noms. 
 Apres tant des pertes que notre village a subits, 
 la liberte de ces detenus lui fera gagner beaucoup; 
 le village entier en sera consolle et soulage infine- 
 ment. Les noms des detenus: Ne ivro Stoyanoff 
 (pretre), Pintcho Stoytchoff, Stoyan Troptchoff, 
 Pavel Simonoff, Rad Nicoloff, Na iden Stoyanoff, 
 Peyo Stoyanoff, Mazine Dettchoff, Gueorgui 
 Neytchoff, Evan Marinoff, Petro Radoff, Pavel 
 Nicoloff, Thoma Stoyoff, Sto iko Stoyanoff. 
 
 " Apres tout cela et surtout la bonte et la bien- 
 veillance qui vous font distinguer le plus nous font 
 esperer que vous daignerez accueuiller favorable- 
 ment la demande que nous avons 1 honneur de vous 
 adresser. 
 
 " Agreez nos reconnaissances perpetuelles at nous 
 sommes Excellence vos serviteurs les plus humbles 
 vous remerciant d avance: 
 
 Le 28 Septembre 1876. 
 
 Panaguiourichte 
 (Otlou-Veni). 
 
 Signatures des villageois : 
 
 (Thirty-nine signatures, not decipherable.) " 
 
 " HONORABLE SIR: There are in Dear-Bekir, 
 as you know well, many exiled Bulgarians, for 
 political causes, who were free to live in the town, 
 and gain their daily bread with their labour. 
 
 " Some of those Bulgarians before eight months 
 being in a state of despair, as it seems, escaped 
 
 80 
 
A MEMOIR 
 
 from that city. The remaining were then more 
 rigorously confined, for the sole reason that some 
 of their co-sufferers escaped without their knowl 
 edge. 
 
 " My brother, Christo Illitch, one of those exiled 
 at that place, writes to me that they heard, with 
 great pleasure and gratitude, that you, Honorable 
 Sir, hearing about their misfortunes, you had the 
 kindness to speak in their favour before the Gov 
 ernment, asking they should be let loose so that 
 they may earn their daily food by their labour. 
 
 " But, unfortunately, they are kept in prison still, 
 and almost all of them suffer from the dampness 
 of the place and from the climate. 
 
 " I take the liberty to announce all those and to 
 beg you most humbly to help them in any way 
 possible, and I will with them glorify your well 
 doings, as they are glorified by the whole Bul 
 garian nation. 
 
 " I have the honor to be, Honorable Sir, 
 
 Your most respectful and obedient servant, 
 
 STEP. ILLITCH. 
 
 CONSTANTINOPLE, 16 Decembre 1876. 
 To the Honorable Mr. Eug. Schuyler, etc., etc., 
 Pera." 
 
 On his return to Constantinople he found himself 
 
 almost overwhelmed with work, which poured in 
 
 upon him from every direction. Not the least 
 
 important item was the preparation of his formal 
 
 VOL. I. 6 81 
 
EUGENE SCHUYLER 
 
 report, to which the one already published had 
 been merely preliminary. 
 
 " My report is not yet finished and takes much 
 time and thought, for I labour to be strictly accur 
 ate, and to meet all the objections which will cer 
 tainly be brought against it. 
 
 " Mr. Baring has been sent again to Bulgaria to 
 diminish his statements, but from what I hear he 
 feels more inclined to strengthen them." 
 
 In the midst of this excitement his book on 
 Central Asia appeared and went rapidly through 
 several editions. He writes of it: 
 
 " In one sense, I regret that my book should be 
 untimely for the Russians and be used against 
 them in the Eastern matter, but in another I do 
 not, for it is some evidence of my impartiality. 
 Mr. Boker wrote to me from St. Petersburg that 
 the only objection to my book in the Censor s 
 office was a light remark about Catherine II. (vol. 
 ii., p. 93), but that at last even this passed. 
 Speaking of Petersburg, I feel that I should like 
 to see my friends there again, and at the same time 
 I feel so happy that I am not there. I began to 
 detest that life of dining out and card-playing and 
 uselessness. Here I have ten times the real 
 leisure I had there, and do ten times the work. 
 But I fear there must be a change even here. The 
 Embassies have all come back to town, and that 
 
 82 
 
A MEMOIR 
 
 will necessitate calls to say the least. If there 
 should be a conference with the foreign delegates 
 that are suggested, there must be dinners, soirees, 
 and waste of time. Such things always attract me 
 and generally bore me." 
 
 From G. H. Boker. 
 
 " LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES, 
 
 ST. PETERSBURG, October 26, 1876. 
 " MY DEAR SCHUYLER : ... It gave me great 
 pleasure to read in the Times that your work has 
 already reached a second edition, and bids fair to 
 go through many more before its run is over. 
 I have not as yet received my copy of the book, 
 after which I have been hankering, although 
 your volumes are for sale at the English book 
 shop, where I have seen them with longing eyes. 
 The people at that shop told me a queer story 
 about your book, when they were attempting to 
 get their copies through the Custom-house with 
 out the dreadful chasms of black ink with which 
 our Censor so lavishly and artistically has orna 
 mented the pages of other volumes. It seems 
 that the embellishing official hung over your 
 book, paint-pot in hand, for a half hour, revolving 
 your literary atrocities in his mighty mind. He 
 said that he did not care one damn about all that 
 you had said of Kaufmann, nor of the misdeeds 
 and the horrors perpetrated by the Russians in 
 Central Asia; all that might go scot-free; but that 
 
 83 
 
EUGENE SCHUYLER 
 
 story about the Empress Catherine was more than 
 he could stand! What do you think of that for 
 loyalty to an Empress whose hot bones must now 
 be bleaching upon the roaring shores of Hell, if 
 there be any use in such an institution? Finally 
 the stern Censor softened, having convinced him 
 self that Catherine would either hear nothing or 
 care nothing about the scandal, and your book 
 was permitted to enter without a single blemish 
 upon its fair pages. I suspect that you owe this 
 indulgence to the immense popularity which you 
 have attained in Russia because of your Bulgarian 
 Report. 
 
 " Never was St. Petersburg so deserted of all 
 kinds of people, official and unofficial, as it is just 
 now. . . . It is impossible to get a word of 
 news out of De G., so that all that I can send to 
 the Department is but a rehash of the newspapers, 
 and my own feeble and unguided speculations. 
 So far, by being very cautious and making my 
 predictions capable of almost any interpretation, 
 I have kept my foot out of the fire, and, read by 
 the light of the future, my despatches will seem 
 ridiculous to no one so much as to myself. 
 
 " Socially things are just as you left them. We 
 have the same round of dinners and of whist- 
 parties as those at which you assisted, the only 
 recruits to our circle being Mrs. Scott and Mrs. 
 Boker, who seem to look on with wonder at the 
 placid manner in which we all bear one another s 
 stupidity. ... Of course we often discuss you 
 
A MEMOIR 
 
 and your late history, and as I have yet to hear 
 ventured a single word of disfavour, even by your 
 Turk-loving friends at the British Embassy, I am 
 beginning to think that you are an extraordinary 
 man, and that you must have left a deal of affec 
 tion behind you, inasmuch as no abuse has yet 
 burst forth from a flaw in any one s friend 
 ship. . . . 
 
 " With my best wishes, I am 
 
 Yours very sincerely, 
 
 GEO. H. BOKER." 
 
 To Mrs. Schaeffer. 
 "CONSTANTINOPLE, November 15, 1876. 
 
 " MY DEAR EVELYN : . . . I cannot help 
 being amused at what is said about me. Even 
 the Tribune, in a review of my book, calls me a 
 man of singular courage. Why, I am as tim 
 orous as a cat about some things precipices, for 
 instance. I don t know that I have any courage, 
 except for saying disagreeable things, and that is 
 apt to be called impudence. You ought to see a 
 picture of me that appeared in a Vienna paper. I 
 keep it to prevent my growing vain, for it is de 
 testably ugly. . . . 
 
 " I am fearfully busy. Just now I am getting 
 up a Constitution for Bulgaria. General Ignatief 
 is to present it at the Conference, and as Russia 
 threatens to fight unless she gets what she wants, 
 I am anxious to make it a good one. . . ." 
 
 8s 
 
EUGENE SCHUYLER 
 
 His work on the Constitution was interrupted 
 by a visit to Bulgaria. 
 
 " I hope to come back with material enough to 
 support their case before the assembled diplomatic 
 wisdom. . . . My full report of the Massacres 
 was finished to-day, and I flatter myself it is com 
 plete and unattackable. 
 
 " One of the commissions I have in Bulgaria is 
 to bring back with me twenty little she-orphans, 
 aged from seven to twelve, for adoption in Russia. 
 Imagine my doing it ! " 
 
 The Turks objected to his going back to Bul 
 garia, and refused, under various pretexts, to give 
 him a travelling pass, so he took the risk of going 
 without one, merely saying that they would be 
 held responsible if anything happened to him; an 
 act which certainly required the courage which he 
 disclaimed. However, when he wanted to do a 
 thing he did it. 
 
 To Miss King. 
 
 " PHILIPPOPOLIS, November 28th. 
 "... Don t think from my heading that I 
 am in the midst of horrors. On the contrary I 
 find things much better than I expected. A cer 
 tain amount of security is restored to the country, 
 which gives me the hope that reforms could be 
 carried out without new massacres. In my opinion 
 
 86 
 
A MEMOIR 
 
 much will depend on the punishment of some of 
 the leaders of the bashi-bazouks. The commission 
 is slowly considering their cases, but is, I think, 
 waiting to see the result of the conference, and to 
 know whether to punish or to liberate. 
 
 " I have visited two of the burned villages, and 
 find that the Turks have really done something in 
 the way of rebuilding much more than I ex 
 pected. It amuses me however to see the credit 
 they take to themselves for this, and that they 
 offer it as proof of their humanity. If all Europe 
 had not cried out, nothing of the kind of course 
 would ever have been done. The Relief Com 
 mittees are on the whole doing very well. Lady 
 Strangford is working admirably and with great 
 pluck and perseverance. She has gone to Batak 
 to establish some English nurses in the hospital 
 built there. 
 
 " Our Relief Committee at Philippopolis is, I am 
 happy to say, very successful and has in its way 
 done more good than any of the others. It de 
 votes itself solely to the relief of widows and or 
 phans. I visited the asylums and saw those who 
 live there. They all look well, clean, and com 
 fortable. The children are bright and all go to 
 school. ... I came up here partly to establish 
 a Vice-Consul, but I find that at the last moment 
 my nominee refuses, from patriotic motives, be 
 cause he doesn t wish to protect the missionaries 
 or to be mixed up in their affairs. And I don t 
 know whom else to name. By the way, d Istria, 
 
 87 
 
EUGENE SCHUYLER 
 
 the French Vice-Consul, is acting splendidly. He 
 is the president of our Relief Committee and is 
 working hard, and besides has great trouble with 
 the authorities to secure the punishment of the 
 murderers of two Frenchmen during the troubles. 
 " I shall have to carry this letter back to Constan 
 tinople myself, but I don t know when it will be. 
 I came by the last train, as there has been a flood 
 which has washed away the railway, and no trains 
 have yet got through. I am anxious to get back, 
 because I have some work for the Conference, and 
 because the Porte, not content with refusing me 
 permission to come here, has taken occasion to 
 abuse me well in the journals and to accuse me of 
 everything under the sun. Under such circum 
 stances, I think my presence desirable; then, too, 
 I have done what I had to do and have got the in 
 formation I desired." 
 
 " To Eugene Schuyler, Esq., Consul-General of the 
 United States in Constantinople. 
 
 " SIR : We gladly avail ourselves of the oppor 
 tunity afforded by your second visit to our town 
 to tender you our most heart-felt thanks for your 
 services to Bulgaria. No nation has ever con 
 tracted such a debt of gratitude towards the disin 
 terested defenders of truth as we have done towards 
 you and the noble band of your fellow-workers. 
 To all of them we are deeply indebted, but we 
 cannot forget, Sir, that it was only when the 
 
 88 
 
A MEMOIR 
 
 weight of your name was added to the reports of 
 our misfortunes which reached England, that that 
 explosion of feeling broke out which has saved a 
 nation and marked an epoch. Be good enough to 
 accept our thanks and the expression of our hope 
 that you will continue in the future also those 
 labours on behalf of the Bulgarians which have al 
 ready earned for you their eternal gratitude. 
 
 " On behalf of the Bulgarians of Philippopolis, 
 The President of the Diocesan Council, 
 A. ENUCERON SESSBEICIU. 
 
 PHILIPPOPOLIS, November f, 1876." 
 
 Meantime Mr. Schuyler was experiencing some 
 of the annoyances which beset the champion of 
 an unpopular cause. Outside of Turkey he had 
 become famous and popular, but naturally he was 
 hated by the Turks, and still more by English 
 society, which, as he said, " is assuring each other 
 that I am a little devil incarnate." 
 
 " I amuse myself greatly in making the acquaint 
 ance of some of the English residents. They are 
 all more Turkophile than the Turks, and have 
 most horrible ideas about me without knowing 
 me call me a Russian spy, a Turkenfresser, say I 
 had no business to come here and meddle, etc., etc. 
 They milden down a little when they find I am 
 mild and peaceable-looking, and don t abuse them 
 up and down as soon as I am introduced. Some 
 
 89 
 
EUGENE SCHUYLER 
 
 of them, I think, positively hated me. The Eng 
 lish here to explain this are either Levantines, 
 or are connected in some way with the Govern 
 ment (Turkish), and therefore their duty and 
 their interest both make them love the Turks. 
 Then the English Embassy has so long been 
 Turkophile that it has given the tone to the Eng 
 lish society that revolves even distantly around 
 the Embassy. Among the merchants, who have 
 no social relations with the Embassy, the feeling is 
 very different. I have no doubt that with a new 
 Ambassador of different ideas, the tone would be 
 soon changed to meet the exigencies of the 
 time." 
 
 The representatives of the Powers assembled at 
 Constantinople early in December. It was hoped 
 that the Porte would be induced to grant certain 
 guarantees for the protection of the oppressed 
 provinces and that war would be averted. The 
 Conference, however, was destined to be a failure. 
 Emboldened by the moral support of England, the 
 Porte refused, in the end, to accede to the require 
 ments of the Powers. 
 
 " Lord Salisbury is expected to arrive to-day. 
 Chaudordy is here. . . . The English have 
 asked many of their Consuls to come and give in 
 formation. Mr. White has come down from Bel 
 grade. He was so polite to me there and is such 
 
 90 
 
A MEMOIR 
 
 a charming man that I was delighted to see him. 
 He dined with me last night. The Austrians have 
 sent as their representative Calice, who is only 
 Consul-General at Bucarest. Count Zichy, the 
 Ambassador, is furious. Plenty of other people 
 come too especially correspondents, many of 
 them recommended to me. . . . 
 
 " A letter from the Russians telling me I must 
 work harder and come after lunch and help finish 
 the Bulgarian Constitution. . . . 
 
 " December ?th. To-day I have had to do a 
 disagreeable duty. I went to the Central Relief 
 Committee to protest against Mr. (an Amer 
 ican missionary) reading the Bible and praying in 
 the Hospital at Batok. I have no especial objec 
 tions to this myself, but the Committee agreed to 
 do nothing sectarian, and the Bulgarians decidedly 
 
 object to Mr. s proceedings as an attempt to 
 
 proselytise them. We must respect their scruples, 
 especially when they are in such difficulties. . . . 
 
 " Since Lord Salisbury has arrived, things look 
 more peaceful. He seems inclined to come to 
 terms with the Russians far more than Elliot is. 
 Mme. Ignatief goes into raptures over Lady Salis 
 bury, etc." 
 
 " CONSTANTINOPLE, December i2th. 
 "... The Bulgarian Constitution is done 
 and has been accepted by Salisbury as the basis 
 of discussion. I think it will get through with 
 out a great many modifications, and what I am 
 
EUGENE SCHUYLER 
 
 chiefly interested in is that Bulgaria be left as a 
 unity, instead of being divided into several sepa 
 rate provinces. . . ." 
 
 To Miss King. 
 44 CONSTANTINOPLE, December 19, 1876. 
 
 " . . . It begins to look now as though the 
 Conference would soon be over. Everyone has 
 been calculating on several weeks yet of talk, but 
 a sudden desire of conciliation seems to have 
 taken hold of all the members, and they have so 
 nearly agreed that they hope to present their plans 
 to the Turks on Saturday. It is to be hoped that 
 no chance will be given to the Turks for discus 
 sion, but that they will be forced to say either yes 
 or no. Otherwise the Conference will be apt to 
 last all winter, for the Turks are fertile in delays 
 and apt at procrastination. . . . 
 
 " Did I tell you that we had been to St. Sophia 
 at last the most wonderful church that ever I 
 saw? I am trying at last to see some of the sights. 
 . . . We find that there are thirty-six old Greek 
 churches left all but four of which are mosques 
 and we hope to see them all or perish in the at 
 tempt. I must have something for relaxation, 
 especially as I am thinking of beginning another 
 book. By the way, do you know that Turkistan 
 has reached its fifth edition in England and its 
 second in America? Did I tell you that I have 
 been elected to the Royal Geographical and Royal 
 Asiatic Societies (English) in consequence? . . ." 
 
 92 
 
A MEMOIR 
 
 Diary. 
 "PERA, January i, Monday, 1877. 
 
 "... After lunch went out for New Year calls 
 and cards. Met Mr. White (English Agent, Bel 
 grade) in the street, who told me affairs were look 
 ing very critical. Found Sala 1 at home, and had 
 a little talk with him, and afterwards with Campbell 
 Clarke. Both are immensely disgusted with the 
 Daily Telegraph for not printing or misprinting 
 letters and telegrams, and for taking such an ab 
 surdly wrong tone in opposition to all the facts. 
 Sala says Arnold, who is the chief leader writer, 
 is bitten by the Oriental tarantula/ fears for 
 India, dreads Russia, etc., etc. 
 
 " After dinner went to a soiree at General Igna- 
 tiefs. Even Lady and Miss Elliot were there. 
 Lord Salisbury said to me : Well, you see, they 
 are sending us away sooner than we expected. 
 We had some little talk, in which d Ehrenhoff 2 
 and afterwards Tseretelef joined. I told of the 
 farcical elections at Salonica, and then of Chefket 
 Pasha. D Ehrenhoff tried to defend the Turks. 
 Salisbury was inclined to be a little bitter against 
 them. He is evidently impatient of them and 
 anxious to get away. After all were gone, I had 
 rather a long talk with General Ignatief. He told 
 me what had taken place at the Conference, and 
 hinted that Elliot and Beaconsfield were trying 
 some underhand game to make the Turks obsti 
 nate. I referred to various rumours. He assured 
 
 1 George Augustus Sala. 2 The Swedish Minister. 
 
 93 
 
EUGENE SCHUYLER 
 
 me Russia had no intention of backing out; that 
 all the stories of faults in mobilisation, of illness 
 of troops, etc., were all lies. The Grand Duke 
 Nicholas had telegraphed to him that evening, 
 asking when he could cross the frontier. 
 
 " What happened at the Conference seems to 
 have been this: On Saturday (December 3Oth), 
 Turks presented certain counter propositions 
 which consisted in brief in accepting a part of the 
 provisions for the cantonal administration, another 
 Russian project for Bulgaria, and applying them 
 to the whole Empire, but leaving out all the rest 
 of the project. This proposition was sent in writ 
 ing to General Ignatief about six o clock Saturday 
 evening. Prince Tseretelef sat up most of the 
 night making an analysis and criticisms of it. 
 This was approved by General Ignatief and copies 
 were sent the next day to the other representa 
 tives. A private meeting of members of the six 
 powers was held Sunday afternoon at General 
 Ignatiefs house, and it was decided that the 
 Turkish proposition could not be accepted nor 
 even discussed. At the meeting on Monday 
 therefore Lord Salisbury, as the spokesman of the 
 Conference, said to Safvet Pasha that it was im 
 possible for them to discuss the Turkish counter 
 proposition. This caused considerable ebullition 
 of feeling on the part of the Turkish delegates. 
 The question was then asked whether the Turks 
 would consider the propositions of the Conference. 
 To this Safvet Pasha replied that it would be im- 
 
 94 
 
A MEMOIR 
 
 possible even to consider them unless many points 
 were eliminated. Ignatief said that according to 
 his instructions he could not discuss the project at 
 all if the Turks had made up their minds to refuse 
 certain articles as soon as they were reached. He 
 asked what the points were that the Turks wished 
 to eliminate. Safvet Pasha enumerated several 
 of them, including the gendarmerie, the interna 
 tional commission, the provincial assembly, reform 
 of taxes, interference of Powers in appointing the 
 Governor-General and other officers, etc. When 
 he reached this point Ignatief wrote a few words 
 on paper and handed it to Salisbury and with his 
 assent said this was a mere farce and waste of 
 time. There was no use going farther if the 
 Turks eliminated all the propositions which con 
 stituted the merit of the scheme. The Turks then 
 refused to discuss the matter further, and General 
 Ignatief asked for a firman for a vessel to carry 
 him to Odessa. He was followed by Salisbury, 
 Zichy, Werther, Chaudordy and Corti. Safvet 
 seemed astonished at this situation and said, There 
 is no necessity for going away/ adding, Est-ce 
 que r Europe est folle? The Conference then broke 
 up to meet on Thursday. 
 
 " Tuesday, January 2d. There was to-day a 
 meeting of the Representatives of the Powers at 
 General Ignatief s to adopt a line of action to be 
 pursued on Thursday. It is not definitely known 
 what this is, but it is thought that they have all 
 agreed to leave Constantinople as soon as possible 
 
 95 
 
EUGENE SCHUYLER 
 
 after the refusal of the Turks at the next Confer 
 ence. This refusal is considered to be highly 
 probable. 
 
 " Wrote to-day to Lawson to say that Daily Tele 
 graph was pursuing a very wrong course, and was 
 inciting the Turks to resist and thus provoking 
 war. Currie told MacGahan that Lord Salisbury 
 felt very much the same way. It is believed here 
 that Beaconsfield is inspiring the Telegraph and 
 that both he and Elliot are trying to counteract 
 Salisbury. Cannot believe this. . . . 
 
 " I am beginning to think that in case of war, 
 Russia s policy will be, after beating Turkey well, 
 and making the provinces into autonomous states, 
 to keep Turkey at Constantinople, and make it a 
 very weak power, always subject to Russian influ 
 ence." 
 
 To Miss King. 
 " CONSTANTINOPLE, January 2, 1877. 
 
 "... We are in turmoil here political, for it 
 looks more like war than ever, and the Conference 
 has nearly gone to pieces; social, for calls and 
 cards have to be exchanged with lightning rapid 
 ity. . . . We hardly know here what a day may 
 bring forth. Last week everything was peaceful, 
 this week everything is warlike and unsettled. The 
 Ambassadors are talking of going away, and unless 
 the Turks are more yielding next Thursday they 
 will. I think Lord Salisbury has fully made up 
 his mind not to stand this sort of thing any longer. 
 The Turks in one way have not played their cards 
 
 96 
 
A MEMOIR 
 
 well, for none of the new men seem to love them. 
 Sir Henry Elliot is still obdurately fond of them, 
 and Baring, who is a good fellow, has no end of 
 complaints against him. Well, Elliot is going off 
 on leave of absence in any case. 
 
 " I have been nowhere since I wrote last, except 
 to make some calls, and last night to a soiree at 
 the Ignatiefs . The outsiders here don t seem to 
 entertain this winter, so that one rarely meets 
 them. But I am beginning to find that there are 
 many pleasant people here, in spite of their senti 
 ments and their political views. I wish they would 
 forego my opinions in the same way. Little by 
 little, they ll find out that I can criticise the Turk 
 ish administration and still be a respectable mem 
 ber of society. Meanwhile I am reading some old 
 English plays and don t trouble myself much about 
 them. . . ." 
 
 CONSTANTINOPLE, January 12, 1877. 
 " . . . The Conference winds its slow length 
 along, astonishing the people who expect to see it 
 burst up daily. The Turks are very obstinate, 
 and yet manifest signs of giving in. Lord Salis 
 bury is getting furious at them. The rupture be 
 tween him and Elliot is now very open, and both 
 sides take little pains to conceal their feelings. 
 There would seem to be little doubt that Elliot is 
 encouraging the Turks and working against Salis 
 bury. Hints have been given me that Beacons- 
 field is doing the same thing. If this be so, a split 
 VOL. i. 7 97 
 
EUGENE SCHUYLER 
 
 in the Cabinet is inevitable as soon as Parliament 
 meets, and I think Salisbury will win, for he will 
 have part of the Conservatives and all the Liberals 
 to back him. The situation is further complicated 
 by the attitude of Germany. It appears that Bis 
 marck has given Baron Werther here a sort of 
 reprimand for his moderation, and ordered him not 
 to give in to the Turks. It is Lord Salisbury s 
 opinion that Bismarck, * for reasons of his own/ 
 desires to get Europe into a general war. I think 
 those reasons point towards France. The Russians 
 seem more yielding than before, but whether it 
 comes of unwillingness for war, or whether they 
 are trying to lead the Turks on in obstinacy to 
 make them fight, it is impossible to say. All I 
 know surely is that when the Porte looks like re 
 fusing, Ignatief is very good-humoured, and when 
 there seems a chance of arranging matters, he looks 
 cross. . . ." 
 
 "CONSTANTINOPLE, January i6th. 
 "... My last excitement is being medalled/ 
 The Prince of Roumania, whose acquaintance I 
 made when I was in Bucarest last summer, and 
 who seems to be equally in triangular-wise im 
 pressed with my person (so the letter of the Mar 
 shal states), my book, and my Bulgarian report, 
 has given me a medal * Bene Merenti - - distinc 
 tion exclusivement reservee a ceux qui out bien merite 
 de rhumanite. . . . After having satisfied myself 
 that a medal is an award, and neither an emolu- 
 
A MEMOIR 
 
 merit, pecuniary favour, office or title, I have writ 
 ten to say I have accepted. . . ." 
 
 " January i9th. 
 
 "... We had a very pleasant dinner two days 
 ago with the wardroom officers of the Vandalia. 
 Last night was the last soiree of the Ignatiefs, but I 
 didn t feel well enough to go, and shall bid every 
 body good-by at the Greek Minister s to-morrow 
 night. It seems settled now that everybody is go 
 ing away on Sunday or Monday. The Turks held 
 a great council yesterday, which unanimously re 
 solved to reject the proposals of the Conference. 
 The people who feel worst are the Turcophiles. 
 They have all along counselled the Porte to resist 
 ance, and now they begin to look at the matter 
 seriously, and wonder what will happen. It would 
 serve them right if the Turks should turn them all 
 out of their places. In the present feeling against 
 foreigners this is very possible. 
 
 " Lord Salisbury, in a certain way, regrets the 
 failure of his mission, which was to arrange a peace, 
 but he has been so much worried with the delays 
 and ill-will of the Turks that I think he much prefers 
 a definite refusal to any further haggling. The men 
 who most sincerely regret the failure of the Confer 
 ence are the French delegates. They wanted peace 
 at any price, and would have yielded still more. 
 From their point of view the attitude of Germany 
 they are quite right. Even I would rather have 
 Bulgaria wait a little than France attacked. . . ." 
 
 99 
 
EUGENE SCHUYLER 
 
 " CONSTANTINOPLE, January 23d. 
 
 "... We are in the midst of a terrible storm, 
 which has lasted already for several days, and which 
 may last for several more. General Ignatief says: 
 Le temps est- contre nous; notrc coup a manque 
 Lord Salisbury s party got off yesterday, as they go 
 by the Mediterranean. But all the rest, who jour 
 ney by the Black Sea, are afraid to voyage in the 
 teeth of this north wind. 
 
 " The final refusal of the Turks was on Saturday. 
 Sunday evening the protocol was to be signed at 
 Count Zichy s, and there was a little soiree d adieu. 
 The Turkish plenipotentiaries did not turn up, 
 though they sent no excuses, and the paper had to 
 be signed without them. It was a final exhibition 
 of spite, which, however, did no one any harm. 
 Saturday evening I dined with Count Corti, and 
 went afterwards to a pleasant little party at the 
 Greek Minister s. Last night Mr. White and Sala 
 dined here very quietly. 
 
 " Now for a lull in the political storm and a period 
 of rest and work. I have nearly finished my com 
 mercial report, and shall soon be at leisure to take 
 up some more pleasant work editing some old 
 travels of Russians in various parts of the world, 
 which I promised to do for the Hakluyt So 
 ciety. . . ." 
 
 " January 26th, Friday. 
 
 " The weather is still as bad as bad can be. Not 
 only can I not go anywhere, but no one can go any 
 where. Elliot got off yesterday, because he goes 
 
 100 
 
A MEMOIR 
 
 by the Mediterranean; but the other ambassadors 
 are all still here. 
 
 " I got last night my Roumanian medal. It is the 
 first class, No. 6, which shows that it is a rarity, and 
 may some day be a curiosity. . . ." 
 
 From W. E. Gladstone. 
 
 (Address) 
 
 " 7 HARLEY STREET, LONDON, 
 January 29, 1877. 
 
 " MY DEAR SIR : I thank you very cordially for 
 your letter of the Qth. It was a satisfaction to me 
 to have the power of reading your report in words 
 which, unless as to some possible errors of typog 
 raphy, appear to have had your own sanction. It 
 is an appalling document. By its production you 
 conferred a great service upon the people of my 
 country, if not upon all Christendom. I am glad 
 to tell you confidently that this service is known 
 and felt all over England. The day before yester 
 day I had to address a public meeting at Taunton, 
 one of our small towns in a rural and rather remote 
 district. I mentioned your name partly to test the 
 feeling and knowledge of a community of this class; 
 and I wish you had heard the hearty cheering with 
 which it was received. 
 
 " All that has been said about a reaction in the 
 national feeling here is so much trash. The people 
 do not repent, and will not repent, of their outburst 
 in August. The majority of the London news 
 papers are governed by the sentiment of the clubs 
 
 101 
 
EUGENE SCHUYLER 
 
 of the West End. Clubs in the first French Revo 
 lution and in the Italian movement were the organs 
 of popular feeling. Now they are the homes of the 
 anti-popular sentiment. Of all the great legislative 
 measures, which in this country have given name 
 and mark to the age, there is not one that has been 
 carried by the agency or with the approval of these 
 clubs. The question is, whether the present House 
 of Commons, which is intensely ministerial, will in 
 any tolerable degree answer to the national senti 
 ment. This must remain for a time uncertain. 
 But come what may, the people are sound; and in 
 due time they will prove it authentically, if they 
 have the opportunity. 
 
 What we want is a steady flow of information on 
 all the parts of this great and many-sided question. 
 I am gratified with the announcement, then, of 
 your further report on Bulgaria, and thankful for 
 your promise to send it me. 
 
 " Pray do not be uneasy about the Turkestan 
 business. What I wrote has served its purpose and 
 stopped the mouth of falsehood. I well knew that 
 the editor of the Pall Mall Gazette must reply, and 
 must reply by charging me with lying, for he had no 
 other weapon. I am content. 1 
 
 " Again expressing my share of gratitude for 
 your services to truth, justice, and humanity, and 
 
 1 This refers to Mr. Gladstone s discussion with the Pall Mall Gazette. 
 He had used " Turkistan " as an authority, and in reply to a subsequent letter 
 of inquiry Mr. Schuyler had been obliged to inform him that he had mistaken 
 the meaning of a certain passage in the book. 
 
 102 
 
A MEMOIR 
 
 heartily wishing that God may prosper all your 
 labours, I remain, my dear sir, 
 
 " Most faithfully yours, 
 
 W. E. GLADSTONE. 
 EUGENE SCHUYLER, ESQ." 
 
 Meantime the Turkish Minister in Washington 
 was doing everything in his power to injure Mr. 
 Schuyler, without bringing forward the real griev 
 ance. In an earlier letter the latter had said: "I 
 think the Government would be glad to get rid of 
 me, but will not dare to say so. It couldn t more 
 plainly confess the weakness of its cause." On 
 February 16, 1877, he wrote: 
 
 " It seems that the Turks attacked me at Wash 
 ington and accused me of all sorts of things, among 
 others putting into my mouth that I had come 
 here to destroy the Ottoman Empire. This I was 
 supposed to have said at a private dinner-party at 
 Adrianople. Mr. Fish gave the Turks a very- 
 proper answer, and informs me of what they have 
 said, to which, of course, my reply is one of the 
 easiest." 
 
 About the end of March, writing on the eve of 
 a short visit to Athens, he says: 
 
 " Everything now looks very warlike, and Stam- 
 boul is in great excitement. It is said that the 
 arriero ban has been called out. If there should be 
 
 103 
 
EUGENE SCHUYLER 
 
 war now, it would be entirely the fault of England, 
 which pursues a wretched policy under the guise of 
 preserving the peace." 
 
 War between Russia and Turkey was declared in 
 April, and on May I3th he wrote: 
 
 [< The Bosphorus is quiet and lovely, as it was last 
 summer; the only sign of war I can see is the greater 
 stillness. There are fewer vessels going to and 
 coming from the Black Sea. For all else we might 
 be in Italy or Corsica. Here no rumour even 
 comes nowadays. . . . 
 
 " I had a visit the other day from Yussuf Zia, 
 the Member from Jerusalem (doesn t that sound 
 strange?), who has made such a sensation in the 
 Parliament by his eloquence and boldness. It was 
 almost dinner-time, but I nerved myself for a long 
 Turkish call with stupid compliments and a great 
 deal of ennui. To my astonishment the Member 
 from Jerusalem spoke English and French very 
 well, and the conversation became lively. Yussuf 
 Zia was almost as liberal as a French Republican, 
 both in politics and religion. Though a Mussul 
 man, he lives by preference here in a Greek convent. 
 He inveighed in no measured terms against the 
 Sultan, the corrupt officials, and the Turks in gen 
 eral. That is not unnatural, for he is an Arab, and 
 the Arabs don t like the Turks, whom they con 
 temn as a low, coarse race. He particularly object 
 ed to polygamy. He wanted a reformed Islam. 
 
 104 
 
A MEMOIR 
 
 He thought the Turks had no business in Europe, 
 that it was inevitable they would some time be 
 forced back to Asia, and that the sooner they went 
 there the better. The result was, that, though he 
 stayed an hour, I stifled my appetite and was in 
 terested and pleased." 
 
 Shortly after this Mr. Schuyler obtained leave of 
 absence and spent several weeks in Paris and ten 
 days in London, where he enjoyed some of the 
 pleasanter results of the reputation which he had 
 acquired by his work in Bulgaria. Hitherto the 
 seamy side of fame had been turned towards him. 
 His brief letters give some idea of the attention 
 which he received. 
 
 " I have had a very busy time of it since I have 
 been here. I went last night to the House of Com 
 mons and saw Dilke, Forster, Mundella, and Grant 
 Duff. Finally Mr. Gladstone, after eying me a long 
 time, came up and presented himself and asked me 
 to breakfast. ... I breakfasted to-day with Sir 
 Charles Hartley, breakfast to-morrow with Smalley, 
 and dine with Burnaby 1 at the Marlborough 
 Club. On Monday I lunch with Mrs. Bruce 2 
 from whom I had a charming note. I shall not 
 be back till Tuesday, the loth, as I have promised 
 
 1 Author of " A Ride to Khiva." 
 
 2 Bed-chamberwoman of the Queen, and a well-known personage in 
 English and Roman society. In her apartment in St. James s Palace 
 was the room in which Anne Boleyn spent the last night of her life. 
 
 105 
 
EUGENE SCHUYLER 
 
 to dine with Dilke on Monday a party for 
 me. . . . 
 
 " Sunday. ... I have just time before din 
 ner to write a line. It has rained all day till now, 
 but I have, nevertheless, breakfasted with the 
 Smalleys, lunched at the Eustace Smiths , and 
 called on several people, including the Milner- 
 Gibsons. 
 
 " General Grant did not go to Mr. Motley s fu 
 neral, and Mr. Pierrepont refused to go because Mr. 
 Motley had not called on him. 
 
 " Thursday. ... I am getting very tired of 
 all this dissipation, and at the same time I wish I 
 could have come here two months ago, because 
 then I could have taken it more easily. 
 After leaving some cards, I went to the Fourth of 
 July reception at the Pierreponts . Lots of Amer 
 icans; very few whom I knew. I dined quietly 
 with Ashton Dilke and wife. Later on I went to 
 the Cosmopolitan Club a peculiar institution 
 here where I saw Dilke, Forster, Spedding, Lord 
 Carnarvon, Harcourt, etc., etc. The Comte de 
 Paris was also there, but I did not make his ac 
 quaintance. 
 
 " I woke up this morning feeling very wretched, 
 but managed to crawl out of bed and go to the 
 Gladstones to breakfast. Both Mr. Gladstone and 
 his wife were very amiable. I sat next to Mrs. 
 Gladstone. Among the guests were Goldwin Smith, 
 Palgrave, Freeman, the Bishop of Bath and Wells, 
 Lord and Lady Frederick Cavendish, etc., etc. 
 
 106 
 
A MEMOIR 
 
 To-morrow night I go to an evening party at Buck 
 ingham Palace, per order. 
 
 " Saturday. ... I had a very pleasant din 
 ner with Sala last night, and enjoyed the concert 
 immensely. Buckingham Palace is prettier than 
 I supposed, and the concert-room was very fine. 
 The Prince of Wales spoke to me very cordially 
 and invited me to come and see him on Sunday, 
 at 1.30. The Comte de Paris and wife were there, 
 as well as no end of royalties, but not the Queen 
 herself. Invitations continue to pour on me from 
 all quarters. I almost wish we were coming here 
 for a while. 
 
 " Sunday. ... I have had a day of it. One 
 friend came along before I was up, then I had to 
 go out and see two men on business, and be at 
 Maryborough House at 1.30. The Prince was 
 very nice, and did most of the talking, which ran 
 over very many subjects. He congratulated me 
 on my marriage and inquired who you were. . . . 
 He kept me so long that I got late to the Gos- 
 selins for lunch, and found it all eaten up. ... 
 The dinner last night by Gennadius 1 was very 
 pleasant. Among the guests was one delightful 
 old fellow, General Gore-Browne, who had been 
 in Greece at the time of the revolution. I for 
 got to say that yesterday afternoon I was taken to 
 see a very charming old lady, the dowager Lady 
 Stanley of Alderley. She looks like a picture and 
 talks like a book, only better. 
 
 iThe Greek Charge-d Affaires. 
 107 
 
EUGENE SCHUYLER 
 
 " If I can get up early enough to take the tidal 
 train on Tuesday, I can be in Paris at five 
 o clock. . . ." 
 
 On July 12, 1877, Mr. Schuyler was married in 
 Paris to Miss Gertrude Wallace King, a daughter of 
 the late Charles King, of New York, president of 
 Columbia College, and granddaughter of the emi 
 nent Rufus King. 
 
 V 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Schuyler arrived in Constantinople 
 towards the end of the summer, going first to Buy- 
 ukdere, where they spent the rest of the hot weather. 
 There, when consular duties were over for the day, 
 they took long walks always accompanied by a 
 cavass and armed with pistols to " Paradise " and 
 the Fountain of Roses, and down along the Chest 
 nut Water. Reading aloud was a favourite amuse 
 ment in " German, French, English, or Italian;" 
 but the authors whom they chiefly read at this 
 time were Gibbon and Byron. " Byron, especially 
 read on the Bosphorus, where you understand the 
 allusions and appreciate the truth, strikes one as 
 very great; far greater and simpler than I ever 
 
 imagined." 
 
 108 
 
A MEMOIR 
 
 The house in Pera, to which they went later, 
 could not fail to be interesting to a new-comer, with 
 its consular offices below, including the court-room 
 where the Consul-General dispensed the law, even 
 granting divorces, if he chose; the big drawing- 
 room above, of which one end was masculine, with 
 book-shelves and a large writing-table, and the 
 other end feminine, with bric-a-brac and a fire 
 place; and the rooms above screened off with glass 
 and making a little apartment by themselves. 
 Hitherto a man s household of Montenegrin ser 
 vants (who were so devoted in their attachment 
 that if dismissed, their wounded feelings were in 
 danger of expressing themselves in a dagger 
 thrust), it was now tempered by the French maid, 
 whose doubts of Montenegrin tidiness were so 
 deep-seated that she went down-stairs and scrubbed 
 the kitchen once a week herself. 
 
 This house was a head-quarters for all sorts of in 
 teresting people the more so, since hospitality was 
 almost a passion with its master. His wife used 
 to say that getting properly settled in a new house 
 was a minor and incidental matter; as soon as the 
 necessary housekeeping articles were at hand, they 
 had a dinner or a breakfast, and went on having 
 breakfasts and dinners from that moment. 
 
 Here, as in Russia, Mr. Schuyler was considered 
 109 
 
EUGENE SCHUYLER 
 
 a well-spring of authentic information. Everybody 
 who wanted to get at facts, to verify surmises, to 
 learn secrets, applied to him, from diplomats to 
 newspaper correspondents. The political situation 
 was, of course, intensely interesting. On Novem 
 ber Qth he wrote: 
 
 " The situation is more critical here than it has 
 been at any time, and yet everybody is very apa 
 thetic. It is believed that Erzeroum is taken, and 
 it is known that the Russians are near Trebizond. 
 Plevna is thought to be on the point of surrender 
 ing, and the Turkish outlook is everywhere black. 
 We think ourselves too on the brink of a domestic 
 revolution. Mahmoud Pasha has a fit of apoplexy 
 (poison?), and will scarcely survive. Orders were 
 given to poison Murad, and his servants refusing, 
 were all arrested for high treason. The newspapers 
 have just been forbidden to publish news of a char 
 acter likely to excite popular feeling." 
 
 Towards the end of January affairs looked very 
 threatening. 
 
 " By the time you get this letter you will prob 
 ably know what has happened to its writer. The 
 Russians occupied Adrianople on Sunday; they will 
 take Gallipoli to-day; whether they will come to 
 Constantinople, a day or two will decide. The 
 Circassians, who are far worse, are marching along 
 
 no 
 
A MEMOIR 
 
 the coast of the Black Sea, burning and pillaging 
 as they go. I don t really think we shall be troub 
 led with them, but I fear for Buyukdere and Thera- 
 pia. I think their plan is to cross from there into 
 Asia. So you see we are surrounded by foes. 
 The Turks I may now say poor Turks are 
 almost frightened to death, especially the Sultan. 
 It is a great break-up." 
 
 In fact, the Sultan was so badly frightened that 
 he thought of running away. In that case a revo 
 lution would probably have broken out; and with 
 the feeling which prevailed among the Turks, there 
 was every reason to fear a general massacre of for 
 eigners. Each of the Powers represented in Con 
 stantinople had two warships in the harbor, but in 
 the case of the Schuylers and a few others it would 
 have been useless to try to get to them. Any one 
 attempting it would have been cut to pieces. A 
 plan was therefore arranged by which, in case of an 
 outbreak, these persons, after sending their valua 
 bles to the ships, were to collect the Christians of 
 the neighborhood and take refuge in the Austrian 
 and French Embassies, which stood in adjoining 
 grounds, and were there to stand a siege. Mean 
 time the function of the Ambassadors ceasing with 
 the cessation of the Government, the consuls were 
 to come forward, invite the Russians in, and hand 
 
 in 
 
EUGENE SCHUYLER 
 
 over the keys of the city to them. In view of these 
 possibilities, life at the Consulate was sufficiently 
 exciting. However, the Sultan decided to stay 
 where he was, and by the end of January there was 
 talk of an armistice. 
 
 " February i, 1878. . . . The general belief 
 is, that an armistice has been signed, but nobody 
 really knows anything. I have been amused with 
 
 the fear of the Turcophiles. G sent away his 
 
 wife oa Wednesday, and Lady T and a lot of 
 
 other people were intending to go to-day. Per 
 haps they feel so sure of peace that they will stay 
 now. 
 
 Baker and Burnaby have got back, having ac 
 companied Suleiman Pasha in his retreat to Enos 
 and Gallipoli. Baker is sad and quiet. Burnaby 
 is full of spirits. 
 
 At present the Russians are at Tcherlow, about 
 seventy miles from here, and we suppose them also 
 to be near Rodosto, on the Sea of Marmora. Yes 
 terday was lovely, and Gargiulo, James, and I took 
 a long walk in Stamboul, amid crowds of refugees 
 and Circassians. We went into several mosques, 
 which are quite full of wretched people. The dif 
 ference between the Mussulmans over there and the 
 Greeks and Bulgarians from Burgas who fill the 
 churches here is immense. Here they are bright 
 and intelligent looking; there, the reverse; and oh, 
 how dirty! 
 
 112 
 
A MEMOIR 
 
 Diary, 1878. 
 
 " Wednesday, February 6th. . . . It is said 
 the Russians have advanced and taken Silivria, it 
 is supposed by accident. Several Russian officers 
 are to arrive to-day or to-morrow at Hotel Royal; 
 it is thought to arrange details of neutral zone. 
 
 " Thursday, February fth. I was startled this 
 morning by receiving a package which turned out 
 to be from MacGahan, containing letters from him 
 self and Greene, our Military Agent with the Rus 
 sians. MacGahan says he will be here in a few days. 
 He wrote from Haden-Keui, the head-quarters of 
 Ahmed Mukhtar Pasha, where he had gone with a 
 flag of truce with Count Keller, to see why the 
 Turks did not evacuate their position. By the 
 armistice the Turkish line of fortifications was to be 
 evacuated and placed in the neutral zone. The 
 Turkish lines run from Tchekmedje to Derkos, close 
 to the fortifications. The Turks were to have evac 
 uated their positions by February 6th, but last night 
 Ahmed Mukhtar had not received from the Porte 
 any instructions and did not know the actual terms 
 of the armistice. He asked for three days more to 
 remove heavy guns and stores. The mud is fearful. 
 
 " Skobelef s head-quarters are at Tchaldja. The 
 Grand Duke s will probably be at Rodosto, and 
 Gourko s at Silivria. . . . Chambers is going 
 to-morrow to join Greene in Russian lines. Wrote 
 by him to MacGahan, and will try to have des 
 patch go for him to Rodosto. . . . 
 VOL. i. 8 113 
 
EUGENE SCHUYLER 
 
 " Saturday, February pth. . . . Gargiulo 
 tells me that Turkish Parliament have refused to 
 recognize Ahmed Vefyk as First Minister, on ac 
 count of the unconstitutionality of his appoint 
 ment. Yussuf Zia (Jerusalem) made a violent 
 and telling speech. General Mott says Yussuf Zia 
 made a very forcible speech Wednesday against 
 the Council of State, on account of the Jaffa 
 railway. 
 
 " Sunday, February loth. . . . The Levant 
 Herald issues a supplement, to say the English 
 fleet had orders to pass the Dardanelles and come 
 to Constantinople to-day. Morloy met me in the 
 street, told me the order was countermanded, and 
 that the fleet had returned from the Dardanelles. 
 It is supposed that the Ministry went crazy on 
 finding that the Turkish fortifications here were to 
 be evacuated by the Turks in accordance with the 
 terms of the armistice. 
 
 " Captain Touchard, of the French Latouche-Tre- 
 ville, told me to-night that Layard had a conversa 
 tion with Mouy, the French Charge-d Affaires, 
 about the fleet, and said that his Government tele 
 graphed him that the French fleet would enter with 
 the English. Mouy said he thought not; that he 
 had telegraphed the real state of things to his Gov 
 ernment, and that there was no necessity for such 
 action. Both Mouy and Count Corti, the Italian 
 Minister, telegraphed to their respective Govern 
 ments that in the present circumstances it was bet 
 ter not to ask for a firman. 
 
 114 
 
A MEMOIR 
 
 " The Phare de Bosphore has been publishing some 
 very bitter articles on the supposed delimitation of 
 Bulgaria, taking an ultra Greek view of Greek rights 
 in Thrace and Macedonia. 
 
 " Monday, February nth. In the afternoon Cap 
 tain Higginson called here officially with Captain 
 Haxtun. Then went with Galloway to see St. 
 Sophia. About two thousand refugees there, look 
 ing, for the most part, tolerably comfortable. 
 
 Tuesday, February I2th. Placards were posted 
 this morning on the British Embassay and in the 
 surrounding streets : Perdue entre la Bale de Bes~ 
 ika et Constantinople une flotte. Recompense hon- 
 nete a ceux qui pourront fournir quelques renseigne- 
 ments. Other placards said: Apply to Mr. Lay- 
 ard. It is understood here that the English Min 
 istry ordered the fleet here, but that when Mr. 
 Layard applied for a firman the Porte refused it, on 
 the ground of complications, it being thought that 
 the Russians would at once occupy Constantinople. 
 Layard then telegraphed to Admiral Hornby to 
 wait for further orders. 
 
 " Safvet Pasha has started for Adrianople to take 
 part in the peace negotiations. 
 
 " In the afternoon I went with the Higginsons to 
 make their official calls, and in the evening to tea 
 at the Maynards . Just before I started, MacGahan 
 suddenly came in, having returned with General 
 Chambers. 1 He says Russians all ready to come 
 
 1 United States military attache with the Turks. 
 
EUGENE SCHUYLER 
 
 to Constantinople, and will come if the British fleet 
 comes. They have orders to attack any British 
 troops without asking any questions. 
 
 " The fiasco of the British fleet is the general sub 
 ject of laughter everywhere. 
 
 " Owing to the raising of the blockade, many 
 ships have already sailed for the Black Sea. 
 
 " Wednesday, February i^th. MacGahan came 
 in and then Pears, and both breakfasted here. Mac 
 Gahan brought me last night a very pleasant letter 
 from Tseretelef, with an invitation to come to 
 Adrianople. Onore, the first Russian Dragoman, 
 came here to-day on some special business from 
 Adrianople. 
 
 " According both to MacGahan and Chambers, 
 who quotes Greene, the capture of the Shipka pass 
 was a fluke, and owing entirely to Skobelef s diplo 
 macy, after both Mirsky and Radetsky had been 
 beaten in detail. MacGahan was full of interesting 
 accounts of events and people. He has suffered 
 much in the campaign, and is very lame with rheu 
 matism. Levant Herald had a rumour that the 
 English fleet has passed the Dardanelles. 
 
 " Went to the German Embassy in the evening, to 
 be presented to the Grand Duchess of Saxe-Weimar. 
 Confirmed that English fleet has passed. 
 
 " Thursday, February iqth. I had a telegram 
 from the Dardanelles, from Consular Agent Calvert, 
 about 2 A.M., telling me that English fleet passed 
 Dardanelles at 4.15 P.M. of Wednesday. . . . 
 Nothing yet seen of English fleet, which, it is said, 
 
 116 
 
A MEMOIR 
 
 will anchor off Prinkipo. Reported one of the 
 ships aground. 
 
 " Thursday, February 2 ist . . . . In the even 
 ing lectured for the British Mechanics and Liter 
 ary Association on the superstitions connected 
 with the days of the week. . . . 
 
 " It is said that there are now three English ships 
 at Gallipoli and three in the Gulf of Saros. It is re 
 ported that the Russian demands in detail are so 
 great that Safvet Pasha has refused to sign the 
 treaty. 
 
 " Friday, February 22d. . . . There are 
 many rumours to-day about the Russians and the 
 English fleet, but nothing definite is known. The 
 Turkish fleet left yesterday, it is said, for Crete. 
 Azarian, 1 who has frequently very correct infor 
 mation, said that he talked with Namyk Pasha, 
 who was very despondent, and feared the whole 
 thing was up, and with Ahmed Tefik Pasha, who 
 said that the armistice would be over by the end 
 of the week, and that then they could attend to 
 their ordinary affairs. What it meant he did not 
 quite know. 
 
 " Saturday, February 2$d. We had intended go 
 ing up the Bosphorus, but the boiler of the De 
 spatch gave out, so I sent Greene up with James 
 Maynard. Greene and I breakfasted on the De 
 spatch and afterwards called on Mrs. Maynard and 
 walked. In the evening went to the Maynards , 
 where Greene and some others were dining, and 
 
 1 The Armenian Metropolitan. 
 117 
 
EUGENE SCHUYLER 
 
 then to the Austrian Embassy. The Ambassadors 
 all say that there was a great crisis, which has fortu 
 nately passed, and that war has been averted. It 
 is generally understood that a Russian force, to 
 gether with General Ignatief and the plenipoten 
 tiaries, will occupy San Stefano, and that the treaty 
 will be signed there. On dit that without question 
 Bulgaria will have a port on the ygean. 
 
 " Sunday, February 24th. While still in bed I had 
 a card from Millet, an American artist, now corre 
 sponding for the Daily News. Hastily dressing, I 
 went down to him and found a very sympathetic 
 fellow. He arrived at San Stefano at 2.30 A.M. with 
 the Grand Duke Nicholas, Gourko, Ignatief, and 
 the whole lot. The war is apparently over. La 
 Turquie publishes a supplement with Bismarck s 
 speech, which is extremely sensible, and very differ 
 ent from the first report. 
 
 " According to what I am told to-day, the Rus 
 sians must have had a very good spy system here, for 
 they occasionally recall to people the places and 
 dates when they have said certain things here. 
 Some believe that peace will be signed to-morrow. 
 
 " Monday, February 2$th, 1878. ... Millet, 
 a young American artist, who has been through 
 the war as a newspaper correspondent on the 
 Russian side, came to see me yesterday, and told 
 me that he had just come in from San Stefano, 
 which the Russians occupied early in the morning. 
 As Greene wanted to get back to his post, I 
 agreed to take him down in a tug, together with 
 
 118 
 
A MEMOIR 
 
 C. K. Tuckerman, lately our minister at Athens. 
 There was some trouble about the luggage and 
 horses, causing delay, so that we only reached San 
 Stefano at half past twelve. The first man I met 
 was Radonitch, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of 
 Montenegro, who had been here last year during 
 the Conference, and had dined with me. He 
 seemed delighted to see an old acquaintance. I 
 then called on Prince Tseretelef, who is living 
 with General Ignatief and the rest at Schneider s 
 house a fine house with large garden right on 
 the shore. We had picked up MacGahan in a 
 sail-boat when half way to San Stefano, and he and 
 I breakfasted with Tseretelef, Basili, Stebatchef, 
 and one or two Russian Secretaries. No one is yet 
 settled, and there is not much to eat. We had 
 bread and a pate, some beer that I had brought, 
 and an egg-nogg made with condensed milk. 
 After breakfast I saw General Ignatief for a 
 minute. . . . We then walked out on the 
 quay: the day was lovely, and all was anima 
 tion, the bands playing, and every one many 
 in new uniforms enjoying the sun and the 
 sea. The inhabitants, too, enjoyed it. I saw many 
 faces I knew, but, except Benkendorp and the 
 Grand Dukes, could not place them. I was intro 
 duced to Prince Eugene Leuchtenberg, who was 
 very amiable, and introduced me to General Sko- 
 belef, the father of the celebrated one. Leuchten 
 berg said he wanted to go to Prinkipo to see the 
 Duke of Edinburgh. ... By the way, people 
 
 119 
 
EUGENE SCHUYLER 
 
 say that opinions are so divided on the * Sultan/ 
 H.M.N., that the Duke of Edinburgh had to put 
 up a sign, Please remember that the Emperor of 
 Russia is my father-in-law. I saw also Prince 
 Alexander Battenberg, son of Prince Alexander of 
 Hesse, brother of the Empress of Russia, who is 
 expected to be Prince of Bulgaria when that State 
 is created, a handsome, agreeable young fellow who 
 has accompanied the army during the campaign. I 
 met, too, many old acquaintances, including Colo 
 nel Gaillard, the French Military Attache, whom I 
 had known at St. Petersburg. Brunswick was 
 there to see Ignatief, though he had only just re 
 turned from Paris. He and several people wanted 
 to return with us, but finally we brought no one 
 except the two Austrian Military Attaches. We 
 made very good time returning, leaving at 5.15 and 
 reaching Galata at 6.45. On coming home, I found 
 a telegram that General Grant will be here on Fri 
 day. 
 
 " Wednesday, February 2?th. I expected to go 
 to-night on the Despatch to the Dardanelles to 
 meet General Grant, but after the sailing had been 
 put off from five to seven, we got on board only 
 to find that the boiler had totally given out and was 
 worse than ever. We (General Chambers, James 
 Maynard, and Feridoun Bey, the Turkish Court 
 official) dined on board and came away. 
 
 " February 28th. It was finally decided that Gen 
 eral Chambers, James Maynard, and myself should 
 go down on a tug and meet General Grant. We 
 
 120 
 
A MEMOIR 
 
 started at five and towards seven reached San Ste- 
 fano, where we found Greene. We went into Le 
 Bon s restaurant while Greene ate his dinner, where 
 we met MacGahan and a number of Russian offi 
 cers, many of whom I had known before. . . . 
 Afterwards I went with MacGahan to the Schneider 
 house to see Tseretelef. General Ignatief found 
 us waiting, came in and talked for nearly half an 
 hour. He said that the propositions of peace as 
 published in the Levant Herald were all nonsense. 
 The Turks were very slow and dilatory; he must 
 give them a little time or Europe would cry out 
 that he did not allow them to deliberate. Saadoul- 
 lah was all the time talking about his commission 
 in Bulgaria and the trouble he had with Baring. 
 Ignatief said : Are you not ashamed ever to men 
 tion that you were on such a commission? Safvet 
 Pasha never could remember anything about the 
 Conference, and always seemed to forget that Igna 
 tief had been present at it. Ignatief, however, 
 hoped to get an answer to some points next day. 
 The Turks would never consider one point at a 
 time, but were all the time skipping from Serbia to 
 Bulgaria, and from Montenegro to Armenia; were 
 constantly discussing the boundaries of Bulgaria 
 and mentioning isolated points within them, such 
 as Rasgrad, where the population was mostly or 
 wholly Turkish. 
 
 " After he went away, we took tea with Tseretelef 
 and Stchertatchef, and had a long talk and many 
 stories about the war and old scenes. 
 
 1*1 
 
 | ut v ^ 
 
 V r A M?0^ 
 
EUGENE SCHUYLER 
 
 " Afterwards went to Greene s room, where we 
 talked about West Point, etc., till after twelve, 
 when we went on board the tug with no difficulty, 
 for the Russian sentries had been withdrawn during 
 the night. 
 
 " March ist. We passed rather an unsettled 
 night, sleeping partly below and partly on deck. We 
 stood out to sea all night, so as to be on the course 
 of any vessel. A little after daylight we saw the 
 Vandalia and finally went on board. General Grant 
 was very strong in conversation on the Silver Bill; 
 said that if he were President he would not only 
 veto it, but that if Congress passed it over his veto, 
 he would use every means to hinder its execution 
 until the Supreme Court had passed on it, and would 
 advise all bankers and others to have dealings only 
 in gold. Much as he should hate to vote for a 
 Democrat for President, he would rather vote for a 
 Democrat sound on financial questions than for an 
 unsound Republican. He was anxious to know 
 about recent events, and was interested to hear all 
 that I could tell him from my visit to San Stefano 
 the night before. In spite of everything that he 
 had said and done at the places where he had previ 
 ously made visits, it was evident that the military 
 spirit had come upon him very strongly, as he ex 
 pressed a great desire to see the Russian Army, and 
 wanted to know if it would not be possible for him 
 to get horses and ride out that day to San Stefano 
 and back. I endeavoured to dissuade him by ex 
 plaining the difficulty of the communications, and 
 
 122 
 
A MEMOIR 
 
 that he could scarcely visit the Russian camp except 
 under the convoy of Greene, who had remained 
 there, and to whom I could not easily get word so 
 quickly. I suggested that it would be better to go 
 down in the Vandalia, perhaps, when he went away 
 after his visit to Constantinople was over. I told 
 him how Greene had ridden in from the Russian 
 lines, forgetting that, owing to the exigencies of the 
 campaign, he was almost in Russian uniform, wear 
 ing Russian decorations given to him for his 
 bravery, and how he had not been challenged by 
 the Turkish sentries till he had entered the streets 
 of Constantinople, when, for the first time, he 
 thought what a fool-hardy act he had committed. 
 His ride in, however, had given him great prestige. 
 We reached Tophane about nine o clock. . . . 
 Lieutenant Miller, Jesse Grant, and John Russell 
 Young, who was acting as General Grant s private 
 secretary, dined with us, together with Greene, 
 who had just returned. Several others came in 
 the evening, including Austin (the Times corre 
 spondent), Millet, and MacGahan. Greene had 
 arranged that if General Grant chose to visit the 
 Russian head-quarters he would be invited to 
 breakfast with the Grand Duke Nicholas, and that 
 a review would be held in his honour. 
 
 " March 2d. General Grant had proposed going 
 up the Bosphorus, but the weather was too bad. I 
 called there and stayed to breakfast. Grant is very 
 strong in his ideas against the Turks and what 
 ought to be done with Turkey. It is plain he is 
 
 123 
 
EUGENE SCHUYLER 
 
 learning a great deal during his journey. The 
 Grant family and some others dined at the Lega 
 tion. We went there in the evening for a little 
 while. It was not very amusing. 
 
 " March $d. General Grant dined with us to-day. 
 As it is impossible in my position to invite Ambas 
 sadors to dinner, and as I could not in any case 
 ask them to yield their place at table to General 
 Grant, we had only a small party Mr. Maynard, 
 the Minister, and his daughter, Captain Robeson, 
 of the Vandalia, and Captain Higginson, of the De 
 spatch, with his wife. A very good dinner, and 
 Grant was unusually talkative. Mrs. Grant had a 
 headache and did not come. Being our usual re 
 ception evening, a lot of people came, including the 
 Italian, Dutch, and Swedish Ministers and other 
 diplomats about thirty in all. Prince Reuss, the 
 German Ambassador, sent word by Count Rado- 
 linsky regretting that he was kept home by illness. 
 Everybody seemed to enjoy themselves, and General 
 Grant more than all. When tea was announced, 
 he proposed to go; but on my telling him that 
 whiskey toddy and cigars were always provided in 
 the dining-room, he consented to stay for a few 
 minutes. Nevertheless, after he had cooled his 
 glass of toddy with a little more whiskey, he sat 
 down on a sofa with the wife of the Swedish Minis 
 ter next to him till nearly one o clock. He made 
 himself so very entertaining that he was the middle 
 of a large circle. Count Corti, the Italian Minister, 
 had known the General in Washington, and came 
 
 124 
 
A MEMOIR 
 
 expressly to tell us that he had just had a despatch 
 from General Ignatief, saying that peace had been 
 signed at San Stefano that afternoon a little before 
 five o clock." 
 
 This was the first public announcement of the 
 peace, and it turned out afterwards that the English 
 Embassy did not hear of it till next morning. 
 
 " March 4th. The Maynards had a reception for 
 General Grant, to which they had bidden all the 
 Diplomatic Corps, no end of Turkish officials, and 
 every one they knew. It passed off very well and 
 was thoroughly a rAmericaine. After that, Gen 
 eral and Mrs. Grant came to our house to rest and 
 dress before going to dine at the British Embassy. 
 They had three or four rooms devoted to their ex 
 clusive use, and the General was left alone in my 
 study with his cigars and the last American news 
 papers. He rriade his appearance, however, long 
 before it was time to go out; and while waiting for 
 Mrs. Grant, stood with his back to the fire and told 
 us what he would have done had he been the Rus 
 sian Commander-in-Chief. Millet and MacGahan 
 were present, as they were going to dine with us, 
 together with Greene. They told us all about the 
 signature of peace and about the review afterwards. 
 Among other things, the General said : Had I 
 been in the position of the Grand Duke Nicho 
 las, I should have refused to make peace ex 
 cept at Constantinople. The occupation of Con- 
 
 125 
 
EUGENE SCHUYLER 
 
 stantinople for the English fleet could not have 
 prevented it would have been an accomplished 
 fact, which the European Powers would have had 
 to treat as they best could. I should have insisted 
 on one condition that Turkish rule in Europe had 
 for ever come to an end ; and should have expressed 
 my willingness to leave the details of the settlement 
 to the European Powers on this one condition; 
 provided, also, that all rights of private property, 
 whether Mussulman or Christian, should be re 
 spected, and a fair sum be paid to the Turks for 
 the Government property. 
 
 " He then went into many details as to how this 
 settlement could be made, but I remember only the 
 general drift of what he said. After dinner we 
 went to the reception given to General Grant at the 
 British Embassy, and found Mr. and Mrs. Layard 
 unusually amiable and all Constantinople present. 
 Unfortunately, Mrs. Grant was tired and the Gen 
 eral went away early, before many people had time 
 to see him. 
 
 " March $th. Early this morning Tseretelef tele 
 graphed that he would come and breakfast with me. 
 He made himself very agreeable and amusing, and 
 was delighted to be once more in Pera. General 
 and Countess Ignatief breakfasted with the Greek 
 Minister. Tseretelef told us that everything was 
 prepared for a fine reception of General Grant at 
 San Stefano to-morrow, with a breakfast and parade. 
 Some of the rest of us are to go down on the Van- 
 dalia or Despatch, and will be met and shown about 
 
 126 
 
A MEMOIR 
 
 the town and given places at the review. The 
 Vandalia with the Grant party will then go on, 
 while we return to Constantinople. 
 
 " At 6.30 the Grant party and all the Legation 
 dined at the Seraskierat, with most of the Turkish 
 Ministers, the Military Attaches, and some others. 
 The dinner was given in the Sultan s name (as on 
 account of the disaster he does not wish to appear 
 in public). It was an excellent one in French style. 
 I sat between Mehemmed AH Pasha and Assym 
 Pasha, President of the Council and acting Minis 
 ter of Foreign Affairs, and amused myself very well. 
 Both were polite and agreeable. Grant saw the 
 Sultan informally to-day and the Sultan s stables. 
 The Sultan wished to give him a fine Arabian horse, 
 but he refused. 
 
 " After dinner the General told me that he had 
 suddenly decided not to go to San Stefano to-mor 
 row to see the Grand Duke Nicholas. I repeated 
 what Tseretelef had told me of the preparations 
 made for him; but he said that our Minister was so 
 positive that this would be considered impolite to 
 the Turks and would injure his position as American 
 representative that he begged him not to go. I 
 represented to him that since the armistice, and es 
 pecially since the conclusion of peace, there had 
 been frequent communications between the two 
 sides; that General Ignatief had breakfasted in Pera 
 to-day with the Greek Minister; that various diplo 
 mats had been to San Stefano, and that arrange 
 ments were on foot for a formal visit of the Grand 
 
 127 
 
EUGENE SCHUYLER 
 
 Duke Nicholas to the Sultan. At the same time I 
 admitted that the Minister was the only person to 
 decide what might affect our relations with Turkey, 
 though, considering the length to which matters 
 had gone, I feared the effect upon the Russians. 
 Much as I dislike the result, I cannot but admire 
 Grant s patience and loyalty in submitting to the 
 advice of the Minister, especially as he says it was 
 against all his wishes and inclinations. Poor Greene 
 has had to ride post haste to San Stefano, in order 
 to make what apologies and explanations he can. 
 What annoys and amuses me particularly in this 
 affair is that some of the suite who were disposed 
 to be severe with me because I dissuaded the Gen 
 eral from riding to San Stefano on the first day of 
 his arrival, now wonder that such an idea could ever 
 have been considered, and blame me as if I had sug 
 gested it. 
 
 " March 6th. The Vandalia, with the Grant par 
 ty, after various delays, got off to-day for Athens. 
 
 " March fth. Just as I was finishing breakfast 
 there came a little note from Greene, asking me to 
 go to breakfast at Le Bon s to meet Skobelef. I 
 went at once. General Skobelef professed to be 
 very anxious to meet me, as we both knew so much 
 about each other. He complimented me on my 
 Turkistan/ and said that many of the persons I 
 had spoken of were being accused and brought to 
 trial. General Kaufmann was making a regular 
 clearing out. We pitied General Golovatchef, who 
 had been turned out of the army, and was even re- 
 
 128 
 
A MEMOIR 
 
 fused a brigade in this war. We both thought him 
 personally innocent, though he was always sur 
 rounded by swindlers and blacklegs. 
 
 " Skobelef dined with us, together with Helbert, 
 MacGahan, Millet, Greene, and Chambers. He 
 made himself very entertaining, especially in his 
 discussions of the war and of military operations. 
 He is evidently a genius and a very sympathetic 
 one. 
 
 " Among other things, we spoke of Kashgar. He 
 said that much as the Russians hated to see a strong 
 Mussulman nation erected in Kashgar by the Eng 
 lish, they would have kept still had the English been 
 in earnest. The moment they saw the English 
 waver in their policy they took advantage of it, and 
 egged on the Chinese even supplying them with 
 money and arms. Kaufmann wrote to him the 
 other day that much as he disliked the Chinese as 
 neighbours, he yet liked them better than the Eng 
 lish. 
 
 " His appearance was very amusing. A Euro 
 pean officer who lives in his uniform always looks 
 odd in civilian dress. Skobelef had ridden to town 
 in uniform, and had been obliged to send to a Jew 
 slop-shop to get some ready-made clothes, and they 
 did not at all fit him. 
 
 " March loth. In accordance with a telegram I 
 had yesterday from Tseretelef, I went to the Rus 
 sian war steamer Vladimir to see General and 
 Countess Ignatief. I found the whole Russian Em 
 bassy. General Ignatief takes the treaty signed by 
 VOL. I. 9 129 
 
EUGENE SCHUYLER 
 
 the Sultan, together with Reouf Pasha, the Minister 
 of War, as special Ambassador. Tseretelef and 
 Stcherbatchef accompany him. The Countess Ig- 
 natief was very amiable, but abused me like a pick 
 pocket because I had not been to see her and be 
 cause Mr. Maynard had not let Grant go to San 
 Stefano. The General told me that Zichy, who had 
 been aboard, had begged him not let Bulgaria come 
 down to salt water; that if it did, England and 
 France would intrigue, etc., etc. Ignatief told him 
 that this was a proof of Russia s sincerity, for if 
 she had wished to keep Bulgaria all to herself, 
 she would have been very careful not to give it a 
 port. . . ." 
 
 " My previsions were correct. Greene had very 
 hard work to explain why General Grant had not 
 come to see the Grand Duke Nicholas, and when 
 the General went to St. Petersburg later he was 
 given a very cold shoulder. Years before there had 
 been a little ill-feeling against General Grant, on ac 
 count of the Catacazy affair, and it had been very 
 difficult to procure a proper reception for General 
 Sherman, because he was accompanied by one of 
 the President s sons as aide-de-camp.") 
 
A MEMOIR 
 
 VI 
 
 It was quite natural that the Turks should object 
 to the presence of a man who had done so much 
 to expose their barbarities. However, they never 
 dared say a word about the Bulgarian business, but 
 complained that Mr. Schuyler had too vigorously 
 supported his Government s view of its treaty rights 
 in Turkey. To relieve the situation, he was given 
 leave of absence and returned to America in the 
 spring of 1878, where he spent the summer. In the 
 autumn he was transferred to the consulship at Bir 
 mingham a curious appointment for a man whose 
 specialty was the Eastern Question. He accepted it 
 as a stop-gap, which, in fact, it was, as he was made 
 Consul-General at Rome in the summer of 1879. 
 
 Life in Birmingham was not in itself interesting, 
 but wherever he might be he made life interesting. 
 From his house at Edgebaston, the most attractive 
 of the suburbs, he took long walks over the country, 
 and longer excursions by train. Naturally, he and 
 his wife met all the people of note in the neighbour 
 hood, and in his letters he speaks of Mr. Chamber 
 lain, of Mr. Samuel Timmins, the Shakespearian 
 scholar, of the antiquarian, Mr. Bragge, and of many 
 others. 
 
 Housekeeping in Birmingham was unexpectedly 
 
EUGENE SCHUYLER 
 
 difficult, the British cook objecting to the French 
 maid s irreligious habit of sewing on Sunday, and 
 giving notice in consequence; while the latter took 
 England so hard as to bring on a crise des nerfs, 
 which was made the occasion for a delightful trip 
 to Bath, " partly for ourselves, but chiefly for the 
 maid, who over-exerted herself until the other night 
 she went half crazy." 
 
 Then the confectioner would not supply sweets on 
 Sunday, the cook had a heavy hand, guests were 
 expected, the mistress was a good mistress, but no 
 cook, so the master of the house, collecting a hete 
 rogeneous array of fruits and liqueurs and a bottle 
 of champagne, invented a dish which was a standby 
 of the family for ever after. The garden was looked 
 upon hopefully at first, but as everything came up 
 rhubarb, no matter what was planted, it did not 
 prove the source of pleasure that was expected. 
 
 All this time he was not forgotten in Bulgaria. 
 At the first meeting of the Bulgarian National As 
 sembly, on April 4th, 1879, three telegrams were 
 sent, one to the Emperor of Russia, one to Mr. 
 Gladstone, and one to Mr. Schuyler. His diary 
 contains the following entry: 
 
 " Sunday, April 6th. Palm Sunday. 
 Went to the office and found a letter from Lord Au 
 gustus Loftus and another from Shaw, Consul at 
 
 132 
 
A MEMOIR 
 
 Manchester, which enclosed a telegram, sent there 
 by mistake, from the National Bulgarian Assembly 
 at Tirnova. I could not hel-p being much pleased. 
 
 "TiRNOVA, April 4, 1879. 
 
 " i At the time that European diplomacy was try 
 ing with all possible means to conceal the sufferings 
 of the Bulgarian nation, in consequence of the Turk 
 ish atrocities perpetrated two years ago, you, 
 through your famous report, brought the truth to 
 light and helped to remedy the evil. The free Bul 
 garian nation hastens to thank you heartily for your 
 great services, and to assure you that your hon 
 oured name will hold an enviable place in the his 
 tory of the liberation of our nation. 
 
 (Signed) ANTRIM, 
 
 President of the National Assembly. 
 
 While on a visit to London in May, 1879, Mr. 
 Schuyler saw in a newspaper his appointment as 
 Consul-General at Rome, and returned to Birming 
 ham only to prepare to leave it; although for some 
 reason his departure was delayed until the end of 
 August. Meanwhile, in the leisure of Birmingham, 
 he had begun his " Life of Peter the Great," and be 
 fore going to Rome he found time for a visit to Hol 
 land, where, as he says, he " archived " most indus 
 triously, and incidentally made an effort to find out 
 something about his Dutch ancestors. To his eld 
 est sister, 1 whose birthday he never forgot to notice, 
 
 1 Mrs. Grant. 
 133 
 
EUGENE SCHUYLER 
 
 through all his wanderings, he wrote from Amers- 
 foort on August 3d: 
 
 " You see that I do not forget your birthday, and 
 I write, too, from the birth-place of your ancestors, 
 as well as of Jan Olden Barneveldt. ... At 
 present I will only say that there was a Hendrik 
 van Slichtenhorst, a Schepen (Alderman) at the 
 Hague from 1633 to 1646, when he died, and that 
 he figures in two splendid large pictures by Raves- 
 tyn, and one of Jansen. I hope he is a relative. I 
 have also bought a copy of the book of our ancestor 
 Arent v. Slichtenhorst, the History of Guelder- 
 land. I can only barely make myself understood 
 in Dutch, but I find I can read it easily enough. 
 
 " My Dutch cousin came and took me to Nykerk, 
 the home of the Van Rensselaers. They took their 
 name from an estate called Rensselaer close by. 
 There and in many other churches I saw the Van 
 Rensselaer arms on many tombstones. In the 
 orphan asylum there is a splendid picture by 
 Breecker in 1641, of the first regents of the asylum. 
 One of them is Jan Van Rensselaer and another 
 Rykert van Twiller. Every one thought I looked 
 very much like the Van Rensselaer. I didn t see it 
 myself, except that he was short and stout. . . ." 
 
 Mr. Schuyler s position in Rome was a very agree 
 able one. He and his wife were persona gratissimce 
 in Roman society, where the latter had already had 
 
 134 
 
A MEMOIR 
 
 five years experience. On the other hand, the ven 
 erable Mr. Marsh, for many years Minister of the 
 United States at Rome, and greatly respected there 
 for his learning and other qualities, considered it 
 derogatory to the dignity of the Service to associate 
 the Commercial with the Diplomatic branch in social 
 matters, and therefore declined to present the Con 
 sul-General at Court. To a man who had been used 
 to being on pleasant terms with royalty in many 
 countries, this view was unexpected. However, in 
 one way it gave to him and his wife a social position 
 of more scope than would otherwise have been pos 
 sible. They had a delightful apartment in the 
 Palazzo Altemps, where they received their friends 
 in their usual way. Because they were, in a manner, 
 outsiders, having no connection with the Quirinal, 
 everybody came to them both Blacks and Whites. 
 One met at their receptions Cairoli, the King s 
 Prime Minister, and the officials of the Papal Court; 
 Cardinal Howard, and Doctor O Connell, the head 
 of the American College; the ladies of the Court; the 
 Ambassadors to the two Courts, resplendent with 
 decorations; all Roman society, and Americans 
 without number. 
 
 At this time " Peter the Great " was coming out 
 in Scribner s Monthly almost as fast as it was writ 
 ten; a manner of publication which proved trying to 
 
 135 
 
EUGENE SCHUYLER 
 
 the nerves of a much-interrupted man. Fortu 
 nately for him and for the book, his duties as Consul- 
 General required many short journeys of supervis 
 ion, and at these times he could often stop by the 
 way and get a quiet day or two for writing, and for 
 the country walks which he loved. He wrote from 
 Albano in the spring of 1880: 
 
 " A rainy day has not prevented work, though it 
 has made me hazy from want of exercise. Just now 
 I am capturing Azof. ... I walked yesterday 
 fully ten miles and came home rather tired. We 
 went to Genzano, from there down close to the 
 shore of Lake Nemi, then up an awfully steep hill 
 to the village of Nemi, and then by a short cut to 
 the Galleria di Sopra, on Lake Albano, and so down 
 home. It was windy and cool, but we had the sun 
 just at the worst time as we were going up the 
 hill. For wild flowers it beats even Greece. I 
 counted fully eighty-five plants in bloom, not count 
 ing grasses or the lovely ferns. Some of them were 
 very pretty. In the woods between the lakes the 
 ground was covered with the Poets Narcissus, of 
 which I brought home a large handful. 
 
 " Dictation last night and this morning. Three 
 parts of Part 10 finished. Peter is back in Moscow, 
 having resisted so far as I know the temptations 
 of Aurora v. Konigsmark and the Fraulein v. 
 Thurn, and is beginning to cut off beards and 
 skirts. . . ." 
 
 136 
 
A MEMOIR 
 
 The Roman life came to an end very soon. In 
 June, 1880, Mr. Schuyler was surprised by the an 
 nouncement of his promotion and transfer to Bu- 
 carest as Diplomatic Agent and Consul-General. 
 He writes of his appointment: 
 
 " We enjoyed Rome very greatly, though I have 
 been far too busy with my Consular work and with 
 Peter the Great to get all the advantage of Italy 
 that I wished. I leave it with regret. Bucarest is 
 very expensive and not particularly pleasant. Still 
 there is great political interest in the East, and no 
 one knows what is in store there. ... I was 
 appointed without my knowledge, and even yet 
 have no official announcement of the fact." 
 
 His stay in Bucarest was beset with vexations. 
 The title with which he was sent Diplomatic 
 Agent did not suit the Roumanian Government, 
 who justly maintained that such an agent could not 
 be received in an independent country. The new 
 ness of their independence made them, perhaps, 
 more particular; but, in fact, the only other Dip 
 lomatic Agent sent by us was to Egypt, a vassal 
 state. The President respected their prejudices by 
 using the term " Diplomatic Representative " in his 
 Message; and Mr. Schuyler was accepted provision 
 ally until his title could be arranged. About the 
 
 137 
 
EUGENE SCHUYLER 
 
 end of January he received his credentials as Charge- 
 d Affaires and Consul-General, but meantime his 
 anomalous position had caused him many annoy 
 ances. As Char ge-d Affaires he was placed on a 
 par with his colleagues of Holland and Monaco, all 
 the others being of higher rank. His personal rela 
 tions with the Prince and Princess were always 
 pleasant. Of the former he had written in 1876: 
 " Like all the Hohenzollern princes that I have met, 
 he leaves you under a spell, produced by frankness, 
 bonhommie, intelligence, and culture. 
 
 With a new country like this, relations of every 
 kind had to be begun, and it was necessary, there 
 fore, to make commercial and consular treaties, 
 which placed Americans choosing to go to Rou- 
 mania for business purposes, on the same footing as 
 other foreigners as to rights and privileges. These 
 negotiations dragged on until the following sum 
 mer, owing to the procrastinating habits of the 
 Roumanian statesmen. The treaties were, how 
 ever, finally signed and ratified. In addition, there 
 was a trade-mark convention to be made, and gen 
 eral and special reports to prepare on the commerce, 
 industries, and revenues of the country. 
 
 Meantime a visit to Bulgaria, in response to an 
 invitation to dine with the Prince, made a pleasant 
 episode. 
 
 138 
 
A MEMOIR 
 
 " RUSTCHUK, September 26, 1880, 
 Monday Morning. 
 
 ". . . So far I have every reason to be satisfied 
 with my reception. Stoilof, the Prince s secretary, 
 timed a visit to Bucarest so as to take me over, and 
 we found one of the Prince s launches waiting on 
 the Roumanian side of the river. I got here about 
 noon, and at two o clock was received by the Prince, 
 who was very amiable, and who talked politics a 
 long time with me. He thanked me for all I had 
 done, and also for my telegrams. It seems that 
 my telegram after the Winter Palace explosion was 
 the first he received, and Stoilof told me he was 
 very much touched. 
 
 " Afterwards I went to Stoilof s room, where I 
 saw the Metropolitan-Archbishop, who was all that 
 is most amiable. A number of Bulgarians were in 
 vited to dinner to meet me, and one of them said I 
 had saved his life. I had seen him in prison. He 
 was then a school-teacher, and is now a judge. The 
 Metropolitan sat on the right hand of the Prince 
 and I on his left. There were, among others, the 
 Prefect, the Master of the Court, a German, and a 
 young Russian aide-de-camp, to whom I took a 
 fancy. The dinner was good, and the conversation, 
 at least on our side, tolerably animated. The 
 Prince started off that night for Shumla, where he 
 has some inspections of troops. 
 
 " I was interrupted here by a visit of the Metro 
 politan, the Prefect, and all the city authorities, etc., 
 etc., with formal speeches and no end of hand- 
 
 139 
 
EUGENE SCHUYLER 
 
 shaking, and thanks to the original liberator and 
 saviour of Bulgaria, etc. If it did not somehow 
 seem ludicrous for me to be in this position I 
 should feel like crying. At the bottom of the last 
 page I had a visit from Mr. ZancofT, the Minister 
 of Foreign Affairs and Prime Minister. 
 
 " Later. I breakfasted with Dalziel, the English 
 Vice-Consul, where I met Vincent, 1 one of the 
 secretaries of the East Roumelian Commission. I 
 had seen him in London. Then I went with the 
 Prefect to inspect some fortifications, visited a 
 school, and called on the Metropolitan, and appar 
 ently thus escaped a Macedonian deputation. 
 
 " I am, on the whole, very much pleased with my 
 visit. Everybody looks happier and more comfort 
 able. One can see that the people are free. Even 
 the Turks seem contented enough. It seems rather 
 pleasant to see Turks again in their motley garb, 
 bazaars, and minarets. . . ." 
 
 He was now working harder than ever at " Peter 
 the Great," which was drawing to a close in a man 
 ner that was vexatious to him. The magazine hav 
 ing changed hands, he was asked to condense his 
 later chapters, in order to finish more quickly; and 
 where he did not condense enough, a ruthless editor 
 either mangled or omitted some of the portions with 
 which he had taken the greatest pains. This, of 
 course, necessitated a subsequent rewriting of all 
 
 1 Sir Edgar Vincent. 
 140 
 
A MEMOIR 
 
 the latter part of the book. In October he went 
 to Odessa to consult the library there. 
 
 "Still at ODESSA, October 28, 1880, 
 but I expect to leave on Monday. 
 
 " MY DEAR GERTRUDE : I have been very busy 
 with reading up until I thought my brain would 
 burst. Everything opens up here so much, but I 
 hope to go back with a much clearer idea of certain 
 things concerning Peter. I shall also be all primed 
 to write my regular article for the Athenaum on 
 Russian literature. . . ." 
 
 " BUCAREST, November 14, 1880. 
 ". . . My report is finished, but the third copy 
 is not quite finished. It makes eighty-one pages of 
 foolscap, of which forty-one have been done since 
 I got back in ten days. Besides that, I have cor 
 rected, had copied, and got off three chapters of 
 Peter, have drawn up and had copied a pro jet de 
 traite, both in English and French, twenty-one 
 pages each; have written two long despatches in 
 English and French, and two short ones, and this 
 makes thirty-six letters. I have now on hand some 
 more Peter and three long despatches. I feel, 
 therefore, that I have not been idle, but still I have 
 not seemed to work particularly hard. . . ." 
 
 It was a peculiarity of his that he never did seem 
 to be working very hard. He always had an air of 
 leisure and detachment, stopping to walk about 
 
 141 
 
EUGENE SCHUYLER 
 
 the house or the garden, to talk, to play a game 
 of patience, seeming to idle away his time, but ac 
 complishing an amazing amount of work. At this 
 time his work was made much more difficult by the 
 long illness of his private secretary. Moreover, 
 Bucarest did not agree with him. He suffered 
 greatly from neuralgia, and found his life there alto 
 gether depressing. To one of his family he wrote : 
 
 " I don t know why you have such a fixed idea 
 of the charms of Bucarest. Take to-day; it is sunny 
 and pleasant, but it is impossible to walk a step. 
 There are two streets that are well paved, six more 
 with a block or two of paving; the rest are with 
 large cobble-stones worse than Constantinople, 
 either no sidewalks or paved like the street. Even 
 in the good streets the sidewalks are as in Pera, 
 either very narrow or none at all. As the streets 
 are never cleaned or swept, those rare sidewalks are 
 now covered with slimy, sticky mud, through which 
 you must shuffle, for if you lift your feet you fall 
 down. There is not a picture nor statue a poor 
 library, a parody on a museum, almost no music, 
 except a wretched Italian opera. Society is fear 
 ful. . . . 
 
 " I have just had another Christmas present, or, 
 rather, notice of one. The Prince of Serbia has 
 sent me the Takova Cross, Commandeur, round the 
 neck like the others. It has not come yet, so that 
 I don t know how it looks. When it arrives I will 
 
 142 
 
A MEMOIR 
 
 write a polite note, and say that I will ask permis 
 sion of Congress to wear it. I won t say when, but 
 that will excuse me from wearing it if I go to Bel 
 grade. Of course I don t wear any of them, except 
 the Roumanian medal, which is not a decoration, 
 being only given for literary merit. But some day 
 when I am in America I ll get some friend to get 
 a resolution through Congress for all of them. I 
 see General Sickles has just asked permission for 
 the Legion of Honor." 
 
 In March, 1881, occurred the assassination of the 
 Emperor of Russia. 
 
 " The first account has just come. The awful 
 details make me almost sick. ... I don t think 
 I ever spoke to the present Emperor, 1 except on 
 my formal presentation, and I don t remember that 
 I was even presented. He did not care much to 
 see people. But I used to hear a good deal about 
 him from people who knew him, and, contrary to 
 most foreigners, formed a high opinion of him. 
 One thing is perfectly true. He and his wife are 
 still in love with each other; and they were the only 
 ones of the Imperial family, male or female, about 
 whom there was not the slightest breath of scandal. 
 I might, perhaps, except the Grand Duchess Cath 
 erine (Mecklenburg) and the Grand Duchess Vladi 
 mir. He is obstinate, but he is sensible and intelli 
 gent, and is fond of the English." 
 
 i Alexander III. 
 143 
 
EUGENE SCHUYLER 
 
 " BUCAREST, March 26, 1881. 
 
 ". . . We have had a great excitement. The 
 Prince has been proclaimed King. I have just 
 come from the Senate, where I saw the law voted. 
 The town is gay with flags. It is a pleasant day, 
 and everybody is out. Fortunately, I did some 
 work this morning, for I have been gadding about 
 all the afternoon, seeing my colleagues, who are 
 now only distinguished strangers until they get 
 new credentials, and looking at the crowd. Un 
 luckily, it will put the treaty back a few days yet, 
 and some pages will have to be re-copied. I have 
 sent a telegram to Washington and hope to get 
 one soon in reply. 
 
 " It seems that yesterday the Conservatives vio 
 lently attacked the Liberals for protecting Nihilists, 
 which made the majority so angry that they insisted 
 on proclaiming the King as a reply. It was not 
 to be done until May 22. No foreign power has 
 been asked for its consent, and some of the Aus- 
 trians are furious. Awkwardly enough for them, 
 both Hoyos and Wesdehlen went to Sinaia early 
 this morning to look for a house, so that they know 
 nothing about it. ... 
 
 " March 2?th. After finishing my letter last 
 night, I went up towards the palace with the crowd, 
 and when all the formalities had been concluded the 
 King and Queen came out on the balcony. He 
 looked grave and quiet, but she was excited and 
 very much pleased, and constantly waved her hand 
 kerchief to the crowd. When they had gone in 
 
 144 
 
A MEMOIR 
 
 Bratiano 1 bowed awhile and finally kissed his 
 hand right and left. It is something, of course, to 
 make a king. . . . 
 
 " May 10, 1881 ... Your letters came yes 
 terday, just as I was starting on my picnic. Gar 
 nichts oder ganz is the Queen s favourite motto, 
 and has no special reference to her being queen. 
 They say she is very unhappy. She is rather afraid 
 of her husband, who is not very sympathetic; she 
 has no children, and worse even, not a single rela 
 tive or equal in the country. In most royal families 
 you know, there are a lot of cousins, brothers, and 
 sisters, who help pass the time. When Carol came 
 as Prince he introduced a very rigid etiquette, 
 which has quite cut them off from intercourse 
 with the people of the country. So she is to be 
 pitied. . . . 
 
 " I am much worried over Bulgaria. The Prince 
 is going to try to upset the Constitution. You will 
 have seen his proclamation in the papers. I tried 
 to see Zancoff to-day, but was unsuccessful. I 
 shall do what I can to support the Constitutional 
 party. I think the abdication of the Prince much 
 the least of two evils, and I cannot but ask myself 
 whether there is not some Russian intrigue at bot 
 tom, to show the Russians the folly of a constitu 
 tion. . . . 
 
 " It seems to me now as if there were nothing but 
 going to bed and getting up again, with a little 
 worry in between. ... If I were in the service 
 
 1 The Prime Minister. 
 
 VOL. I. 10 145 
 
EUGENE SCHUYLER 
 
 of any other Government it might do me good to 
 be an authority about these countries. But with 
 ours it is not of the least service." 
 
 In June, 1881, he was sent on a special mission 
 to Belgrade for the purpose of making treaties with 
 Serbia. 
 
 " I fear that my stay here will be prolonged for a 
 few days. I saw Mr. Mijatovitch again this morn 
 ing, and gave him my draft treaties. He says he 
 will read them over at once, and hopes that we can 
 come to an agreement in a few days. I should 
 then have to send them to America before signing, 
 which would take about six weeks. . . . We 
 had a long hunt in the library this morning for the 
 volumes of Russian laws I wanted, which had got 
 misplaced. There is an awful job before me to 
 study them, which, however, will satisfy my author s 
 conscience not to take the things at second 
 hand. . . . 
 
 " At noon I was received by the Prince and Prin 
 cess. I was in ordinary morning dress, with black 
 gloves, he ditto, and she in black. They are in 
 mourning for his grandmother, who died the other 
 day, very old a peasant woman, who could neither 
 read nor write. I had sweets and cold water and a 
 cup of coffee. They were very amiable. He has 
 great good sense, and showed that he perfectly 
 understood himself and what he was talking about. 
 
 146 
 
A MEMOIR 
 
 He is much more sympathetic than the Roumanian 
 King." 
 
 While waiting for the treaties to be sent back 
 from America, he went for a short visit to Paris. 
 From Vienna he wrote to his wife, August 4th: 
 
 " I think you will laugh when I tell you why I 
 stay over here to-morrow. I am invited to dinner 
 to meet the King of the Sandwich Islands. I have 
 been dining to-night to meet the Prime Minister, 
 and am to breakfast with him to-morrow. 
 
 " I found, to my astonishment, to-day that the 
 Prime Minister is Armstrong whom we used to 
 call Feejee Armstrong an old college friend of 
 mine. You say I meet them everywhere. He was 
 born in the Sandwich Islands, where his father was 
 a missionary or something of the kind, but had 
 never been back there. He had always known the 
 King, and did a good deal for him in America. 
 The King then asked him to go out, but he refused. 
 He said, however, that if the King should ever get 
 into difficulties, to send for him. Last November, 
 when he had lost all his money and was helping his 
 brother supervise the negro schools at Hampton, 
 he got a telegram to go at once. He was made 
 Attorney-General, settled all the difficulties, and is 
 now Prime Minister and Foreign Affairs. Then 
 came the journey round the world, and for the last 
 few months he has done nothing but hobnob with 
 Kings, Queens, and Emperors China, Japan, 
 
 147 
 
EUGENE SCHUYLER 
 
 Siam, Burmah, India, Egypt, Berlin, London, 
 Vienna, etc. He is very entertaining and amus 
 ing, especially when he talks about his King. 
 Phelps had him to dinner to-night, together with 
 Jones and his daughter, and a very amusing old 
 man, Smith who is with them a man who seems 
 to know everybody. By the way, Jones crossed 
 with you all in 1867, when you rescued a ship 
 wrecked crew, and your father christened a baby. 
 From there we went to the Volks-garten, where I 
 met General di Cesnola, whom I knew only by 
 correspondence. . . ." 
 
 " VIENNA, Sunday, August 7, 1881. 
 ". . . The dinner last night passed off very 
 well. . . . Besides the King, his prime minister 
 and his chamberlain, there were only Jones, Smith 
 who knows everybody in New York and Paris 
 Cesnola, and myself. His Majesty Kalakaua was 
 very amiable and pleasant, and there was a good 
 deal of general conversation. I did not, however, 
 get any chance to talk to him, on account of my 
 place at table. I devoted myself chiefly to Arm 
 strong, and had a very jolly time. His Majesty is 
 not bad looking, but very much like a negro, 
 which is strange, as he has no negro blood in him. 
 I have acquired such delightful ideas of the climate 
 and life at the Sandwich Islands, that I think I 
 would accept with joy if Blaine sent me there as 
 Minister. . . ." 
 
 148 
 
A MEMOIR 
 
 To his Wife. 
 
 " BUCAREST, Monday, September 26, 1881. 
 ". . . The Requiem for the repose of the soul 
 of President Garfield took place yesterday morning 
 in the cathedral, with all due ceremony, the Metro 
 politan conducting the proceedings. The service 
 by no means comes up to a Russian one. There had 
 been very late notice, and not many people were 
 there; most of the diplomats, several officials and 
 officers, etc., etc. In spite of the pouring rain, I 
 had to go down again in the afternoon to call on 
 the Metropolitan and thank him. He speaks 
 French and is a nice old man. I believe the Gov 
 ernment has also sent a telegram of condolence to 
 Mrs. Garfield. They have also charged me with a 
 message for the Government. The papers say that 
 the English Court has gone into mourning. I 
 should not be surprised if this and the general feel 
 ing of sympathy in England led to our sending an 
 Ambassador to England before very long. I am 
 sure I hope so. All this only shows how people 
 are beginning to respect us now that we are strong 
 and successful. England now looks at us with very 
 different eyes from twenty years ago. ... I see 
 that the Belgian and Spanish Courts have also gone 
 into mourning. . . ." 
 
 In the autumn of 1881 a leave of absence enabled 
 Mr. Schuyler to revisit America. During the win 
 ter, which he spent chiefly in Washington, his 
 
 149 
 
EUGENE SCHUYLER 
 
 advice was asked in regard to certain matters 
 concerning which he was greatly interested and 
 particularly well informed. He had always advo 
 cated the union, wherever possible, of the Diplo 
 matic and Consular Service, on grounds of economy 
 and efficiency. 
 
 " Our interests are chiefly commercial ones. Any 
 important case has to go in the end to the Minister. 
 Why not suppress the intermediate step the Con 
 sul-General or unite him to the Legation? It 
 will be cheaper and will be more efficient. At the 
 same time there is a saving to travellers and 
 others. . . . The office of Consul-General is 
 chiefly one of supervision at Rome almost en 
 tirely so and that could perfectly well be per 
 formed by the Legation. In London and Paris 
 this is impossible or very difficult, owing to the 
 amount of work done. . . . 
 
 " There is no such absolute distinction between 
 diplomatic and consular duties as many people, not 
 diplomats, seem to think. They constantly run 
 into one another. If our Government chose to im 
 pose upon the Legations all the duties incumbent 
 on consuls it would make no practical difference to 
 anybody, and would, of course, be only applicable 
 in the Capitals, where the Legations reside. . . . 
 Nearly every government has at some time carried 
 on its consular business in some Legation or other. 
 But just here is a point about which there may be 
 
 150 
 
A MEMOIR 
 
 a susceptibility, charging not diplomats with con 
 sular, but consuls with diplomatic functions. Gen 
 erally speaking, in Europe diplomats come from 
 the upper and consuls from the middle classes; and 
 this looks like putting a man above his sphere. 
 You know the idea is very widely spread in America 
 that it is absurd to have any diplomats; that a 
 consul acting as Char ge-d? Affaires could do the 
 work just as well. Now what I have wanted to 
 do was to ... show that ministers and secre 
 taries, while not losing the consideration attached 
 to them, and keeping their proper rank, are per 
 fectly fit and able to do consular duty and are not 
 useless excrescences." 
 
 Mr. Schuyler s opinion was not mere theory. 
 Among other instances, the Italian Minister had 
 the title of Consul or Consul-General in five coun 
 tries, while a number of European Courts recog 
 nised our Minister as Consul-General or our Con 
 sul-General as also Secretary of Legation without 
 any trouble. In view of all this he assisted in the 
 preparation of a bill uniting the Consulate-Gen 
 eral with the Legation in several places, including 
 Rome and Vienna. In his absence, and greatly 
 to his annoyance, the wording of the bill was ac 
 cidentally changed, so that instead of making the 
 Secretary of Legation, Consul-General, the Con 
 sul-General was invested with the office of Secre- 
 
EUGENE SCHUYLER 
 
 tary of Legation. This unfortunate mistake caused 
 him to be accused of having shortened the life of 
 the Minister to Rome, by depriving him of a sec 
 retary without whose services he was unable to 
 carry on the work of the Legation; and a very 
 powerful enemy was raised up in Washington. 
 The result was far-reaching, and was undoubtedly 
 one of the causes of the subsequent interruption of 
 his career. 
 
 VII 
 
 Mr. Schuyler remained in America until the fol 
 lowing July. Meantime he was appointed Minister 
 to Greece, Serbia, and Roumania, and after visiting 
 the two latter countries, took up his residence in 
 Athens in January, 1883. 
 
 His first visit there had been made in the spring 
 of 1877, when he went off for a breathing space 
 after the eight months of work and worry entailed 
 by the Bulgarian investigation and the events 
 which followed it. A letter written at that time 
 gives his first impressions in all their freshness: 
 
 " I cannot realize that I have been here only a 
 week, so much has been compressed into a small 
 time. There is much to see and much to enjoy, and 
 much that is simply strange. For one thing, peo- 
 
 152 
 
A MEMOIR 
 
 pie here are much more cut off from the world than 
 at Constantinople, and the European mails leave at 
 rare and, to me, difficult-to-ascertain times. To 
 day is the Greek Good Friday, and I must say I 
 never saw so strange a one, or, on the whole, so 
 jolly a one. The streets are full to overflowing 
 with people, and yet it is not a close holiday, for 
 most of the shops are open. One, indeed, is draped 
 in deep black, and the flags are everywhere at half- 
 mast, but trade goes on as briskly as ever. Half 
 of the common people go about with lambs and 
 sheep on their shoulders or hung around their 
 necks to be eaten on Easter and booths are on 
 all the corners, for the sale of Easter candles and 
 red Easter eggs. We went into some of the 
 churches and did as the rest did, and were never 
 before so hospitably received. For a few sous we 
 bought some slim candles, which we lighted and 
 stuck before the pictures of the saints, some little 
 bouquets and sprigs of flowers, which we laid on 
 the tomb of Christ, erected in the middle of the 
 church, and we were then sprinkled with holy 
 water from long-necked blue bottles, and were 
 given sprigs of orange flowers for ourselves, amid 
 the smiles and bows of the priests, deacons, and 
 all the assistants. To-night there are to be every 
 where funeral processions, of which I will tell you 
 later. 
 
 " It is impossible to give you an idea of the purity 
 of the air, the loveliness of the landscape, and the 
 charm of everything, from the Acropolis to the 
 
 153 
 
EUGENE SCHUYLER 
 
 Public Garden, and from the peasant to the King. 
 Each day seems more delightful than the one pre 
 ceding. Coming here from Constantinople is like 
 suddenly emerging into civilization. I feel better 
 and younger. We don t even talk politics, though 
 I have met nearly the whole diplomatic corps. It 
 is quite another atmosphere moral and intellect 
 ual, as well as physical. 
 
 " The more I see the ruins and the remnants of 
 ancient sculpture, the more I am willing to bow 
 down before Greek art, and to admit that the 
 Greeks of the old days could not do wrong in mat 
 ters of taste. 
 
 " We left Constantinople last Wednesday on the 
 Messageries steamer, and after coasting by purple 
 islands scattered through a bright blue sea, anch 
 ored off the Piraeus early on Friday morning. An 
 hour s drive brought us to Athens. 
 
 " How our days have been spent, except that they 
 have been pleasant and happy, I don t think I could 
 tell you. We have been to Daphne and Eleusis, 
 have ascended Mount Pentelicus, have driven 
 through the olive groves of Plato s Academy, have 
 been almost daily to the Acropolis, and were pre 
 sented to King George, who was very pleasant and 
 amiable and talked to us for a long time. One 
 thing we found very delightful, and that was, 
 strange to say, the cemetery. Not the modern 
 one, but one where people have been resting for 
 2,000 years and more; where simple, touching 
 tombs have but lately been brought to light. There 
 
 154 
 
A MEMOIR 
 
 was no suggestion of grief in those sculptures 
 restrained, but sad, farewells. I wish you could see 
 them. Unfortunately, photographs never show 
 such things exactly as they seem to you when you 
 see them; they exaggerate defects and discolora- 
 tions, and do not allow your fancy to replace the 
 broken noses or smooth the ragged outlines. . . . 
 
 " I believe I began this letter on Good Friday, 
 but it is now Easter Sunday in the Greek rite. We 
 were at a great ceremony last night at the cathe 
 dral, or, rather, on a platform in front of it. The 
 King and Queen and all the Court came to be 
 blessed by the Metropolitan at midnight. The 
 whole square was alive with lighted candles, and the 
 effect was marvellous. Unluckily, Greek church 
 music is not as good as Russian, or it would have 
 been even grander. The streets were all filled with 
 troops, and what with the bands, the people, the 
 lights, and the firecrackers and the fireworks, it was 
 very gay. Good Friday evening was almost as gay 
 in another way with the religious processions, while 
 everybody held candles. 
 
 :( The fields, hillsides, and roadsides all about here 
 are wonderfully gay with wild onion pink or white 
 daisies, marigolds, scarlet poppies, and blood-red 
 anemones these last the most beautiful of all. 
 
 " The Reads have been very polite to us; far more 
 than I had any right to expect, and we have taken 
 them in great affection. In general, every one here 
 is nice and agreeable, and we are already great 
 Philhellenes. . . ." 
 
 155 
 
EUGENE SCHUYLER 
 
 The Schuylers were very fortunate in their house 
 (Michaeli Vodu), which was a little out of the city; 
 a palace, in a very large garden the largest in 
 Athens except the King s. Their landlord was 
 Prince Souzo, a son of that Souzo, a Phanariot 
 Greek, who, after being made Hospodar, was start 
 ing for Bucarest, when the Sultan casually men 
 tioned a little service which he could render in return 
 for his new honours. Would he be so obliging as 
 to send back the head of a certain prominent per 
 sonage in Bucarest. The commission was executed 
 in the simple manner of the time, the person in re 
 quest being bidden to a feast. At the end, when 
 the guests were dispersing, there was the slight 
 gesture usual in such cases, and the head was 
 brought in a few moments after. 
 
 In spite of the Arabian Nights entertainments of 
 the last generation, the Athenian Souzo was a 
 peaceful and agreeable man, who let his palace and 
 lived in an apartment in the city. Still, the civili 
 sation of modern Greece is not very old. The 
 King s aide-de-camp de Service was Colonel Hadji- 
 Petros, the son of the Roi des Montagnes; and 
 among the Greek Deputies were a few who still 
 wore the national costume, and might quite well 
 have been brigands in their day. One of them 
 stared so long and so fixedly at Mrs. Stanford s dia- 
 
 156 
 
A MEMOIR 
 
 monds that a bystander exclaimed: " Oh, wouldn t 
 he like to catch her in a dark place on her way 
 home!" 
 
 It was at a reception at the Schliemanns . They 
 had a handsome house and entertained a great deal. 
 As Schliemann delighted in finding that the old 
 Greek names were still in use, Madame Schliemann 
 (who is a Greek) used to say when engaging a new 
 porter: " Your name is Rhadamanthus," and to 
 the cook, " Your name is Pelops." On this occa 
 sion Mrs. Stanford had consulted a friend about her 
 dress, saying that she was sorry she had left her 
 diamonds at home; she only travelled with a few. 
 When she entered in her purple and gold gown, she 
 was blazing with diamonds from head to foot. 
 Everybody stopped talking and looked at her, and, 
 after a little, Madame Schliemann said to Mr. 
 Schuyler: " Shall I go up and put on my Trojan 
 necklace? " " Certainly," he said; and she ran up 
 stairs like a little girl. When she came down she 
 said to Mrs. Stanford: " You have your diamonds, 
 but I have my necklace, which was dug out of the 
 ruins of Troy." 
 
 " My diamonds are older still," said Mrs. Stan 
 ford. " They were dug out of the bowels of the 
 earth." 
 
 At this time Tricoupis, the great Greek states- 
 157 
 
EUGENE SCHUYLER 
 
 man, was in power. He was the Government. 
 His capabilities and endurance seemed unlimited, 
 and it used to be said of him, with more or less 
 truth, that whenever a Minister resigned, he took 
 the vacant place, so that it sometimes happened 
 that he held nearly all the portfolios at once. He 
 was a strong man and a serious one. Interesting 
 he always was, but he did not care for trifling; nor 
 could he find leisure or inclination to be so con 
 stantly accessible as is expected in ultra-democratic 
 Greece. His devoted sister took that duty upon 
 herself. Miss Tricoupis was never known to go out 
 of the house, but received from eight o clock in the 
 morning until midnight. A man-servant in Greek 
 costume sat on a chair on the pavement, in order 
 to be able to direct visitors upstairs. At the head 
 of the stairs they knocked on a door, were bidden 
 to come in " Oriste! " and entered the salon. 
 This was a room literally filled with plants and 
 flowers. An india-rubber plant reached to the ceil 
 ing; all manner of other things grew in pots, and 
 every available spot held plates and vases of flowers, 
 principally wild flowers. Miss Tricoupis always sat 
 on a sofa at the left of the door. Chairs were 
 arranged in a semicircle in front of the sofa, and the 
 most distinguished guest was placed beside the 
 hostess, in the Continental fashion. Miss Tricoupis 
 
 58 
 
A MEMOIR 
 
 wore an unchanging costume; a black stuff gown, 
 made with a train, with white lace around the 
 neck and down the front of the bodice, and her 
 hair braided in front a la Grecque. Her face was 
 not handsome, but strong and pleasing, with very 
 bright, brown eyes. At this time she was a middle- 
 aged woman, perhaps a trifle older than her brother. 
 She had the vivacity which he lacked, and made 
 herself agreeable to every one. Besides this, she 
 was able, in the course of a day, to pick up any 
 amount of information which he must have found 
 useful. Foreigners were welcome to her salon 
 during the day, but the evening, when Tricoupis 
 himself could be present, was reserved for the 
 Greeks; and while others were not forbidden, it was 
 generally understood that they would go in the 
 daytime. 
 
 There were always Russian ships in the harbor 
 and usually many others, and life was gay as far 
 as breakfasts, dinners, dances, and entertainments 
 of that sort were concerned, but there was no the 
 atre no opera not even concerts, except some 
 times at the palace. 
 
 " In spite of scenery, we cannot equal Rome in 
 attractions. Tis the Carnival, and dancing is the 
 aim of life. You would not suspect me of that, 
 and what will you think when I tell you that I 
 
 159 
 
EUGENE SCHUYLER 
 
 opened a the dansant chez nons day before yesterday 
 by dancing with the Queen? You know every 
 thing begins small. We have the best dancing- 
 room in Athens. Twas thought to revive the 
 mazurka, which has not been danced since Otho s 
 days, and of which the Queen, as a Russian, is very 
 fond. At the Russian Court it replaces the cotil 
 lon. So they asked us to give a practising place. 
 We were only too glad to consent, for it amuses us 
 to have others be amused. The Grand Duke Paul 
 (brother of the Emperor of Russia) came once, and 
 asked for another. The result was, that on Tues 
 day we gave a dancing afternoon, which seems to 
 take here, as saving ball dresses, to which the 
 Queen also came with one hundred and ninety 
 others and danced for three hours. Now they ask 
 for another soon. As royalty has gone to no other 
 diplomatic house for three years, the rest don t like 
 
 it, and talk about these d d republicans, but 
 
 what care we? What makes it worse is, that we 
 are the only non-Russian diplomats asked to the 
 balls and fetes on the Russian ships when the King 
 and Queen go. The King says he don t care. 
 Neither do I." 
 
 The Queen was still young; she had been married 
 at sixteen. She was a devoted mother and a most 
 kind and sympathetic woman, very active in works 
 of benevolence. She had more gayety of tempera 
 ment than the King, and must have missed the 
 
 160 
 
A MEMOIR 
 
 large family circle of the Russian Court, with their 
 constant informal amusements. 
 
 The afternoon dances were all extremely simple 
 affairs. Tea and cakes constituted the principal 
 refreshment. On the first occasion a young Rus 
 sian officer said to Mrs. Schuyler: " Your samovar 
 isn t nearly big enough. I ll bring ours next time." 
 And after that, every time there was a dance at 
 Michaeli Vodu, the young Russian appeared with 
 the ship s samovar tucked under his arm. 
 
 After hearing about the Queen s dance, the King 
 intimated that he would like to go too. 
 
 " Admiral Baldwin has been here now a week 
 with the Lancaster, (illegible) and Kearsarge, and 
 has been making full atonement for what was 
 thought the rudeness of Admiral Nicholson about 
 two years ago. I am nearly killed by it all myself. 
 We began with an informal dinner and soiree, fol 
 lowed by another. On Monday we had a pretty 
 garden-party and dance, where we were much 
 helped by the Lancaster s band. One surprise we 
 could give to the officers, which was to show them 
 more pretty girls than they have the habit of seeing 
 out of America. On Wednesday the King break 
 fasted with us at the Legation. We were twenty in 
 all; and besides the officers and regulation guest?, 
 we were able to ask the Roumanian Minister and 
 the Serbian Minister and his wife; also the Russian 
 VOL. I. ii l6l 
 
EUGENE SCHUYLER 
 
 Char ge-d Affaires and Madame Bakhmeteff. It 
 passed off remarkably well, both eating and drink 
 ing fairly good, and the Lancaster s orchestra play 
 ing in the next room. The King stayed fully an 
 hour and a half afterwards. This is the only foreign 
 house he has taken a meal in for very many years, 
 except the Russian Legation, where it is de rigueur 
 to invite the Queen, as being a Russian Grand 
 Duchess." 
 
 It was at this breakfast that the King spoke to 
 Mrs. Schuyler of his early life in Greece, and of 
 having come there a boy of eighteen, of another 
 religion and another language. " My boy will have 
 an easier time of it than I have had," he said; " but 
 thank God, I have had a happy marriage." 
 
 It is a somewhat thankless task to be the king 
 of an intensely democratic people. 
 
 The King and Queen carried themselves very 
 royally, and no one knew better than King George 
 how to prevent a liberty; but in their private life 
 they were extremely simple and natural. When 
 Mr. and Mrs. Schuyler were about to leave Athens, 
 they were invited to the King s country place at 
 Dekeleia to say good-by. A palace has been built 
 there since, but then it was a simple country house. 
 It was all quite charming, and leaves a pretty picture 
 
 in one s mind the King making jokes with the 
 
 162 
 
A MEMOIR 
 
 children and running up-stairs two steps at a time to 
 see if the Queen was ready to receive the guests; 
 the Queen taking Mrs. Schuyler into her bedroom 
 to show her an Ikon which had belonged to Peter 
 the Great, and saying: " Do you think Mr. Schuy 
 ler would be shocked if I brought him in here? " 
 Everything perfectly unaffected, yet not without 
 the proper amount of observances. 
 
 When they were asked to write their names in 
 the visitors book, and it was found that a queen s 
 writing materials go astray like other people s, she 
 called out, as any other wife might call on the man 
 of the house for help: " Oh, Vil lee, Vil lee, I 
 have no pen; I have no ink! " 
 
 On coming to the throne, the King had been 
 obliged to change his name, as well as his language 
 and his religion. As King of the Hellenes, he had 
 to be George, but in his family he was still " Wil 
 lie." 
 
 A lady spending a day at Dekeleia was asked 
 to " Come up-stairs and see the prettiest thing you 
 ever saw." She went up, and there was the Queen, 
 giving the baby its evening bath, while the King 
 looked on and handed sponges and towels. Then 
 the other children were put to bed, and their 
 mother went around and kissed them all good 
 night, making the sign of the cross over each one. 
 
EUGENE SCHUYLER 
 
 i 
 
 The Queen was a devout member of the Greek 
 Church, but the King clung to the faith of his 
 childhood; or, rather, King George belonged to the 
 Greek Church: " Villee " was a Lutheran. 
 
 Among all the social diversions there was no 
 lack of serious occupation. " Peter the Great " 
 was finished in Athens and came out in book form. 
 
 To A. A. Adee. 
 
 " November 5, 1883. 
 
 " MY DEAR ADEE : I have been feeling of late 
 that I have been neglecting you officially 
 but I have always remembered that it is far more 
 of a bore for you to read a despatch than it is for 
 me to write it, and I have thus quieted my diplo 
 matic and consular conscience. In point of fact, I 
 have been working very hard ever since the first 
 of August at finishing Peter the Great/ and I 
 have sent off, on the average, forty 8vo pages of 
 print a week, which has thus relieved the Depart 
 ment. I am happy to say that this great feat has 
 been accomplished, and I think you will (modesty 
 of no account) find the copy I shall send you worth 
 your reading. You will tell me afterwards. But on 
 parting from this companion of so many years, I 
 don t quite know what to do next, and to keep my 
 self from having brain fever and to cure a bad cold 
 for even in my orange and lemon garden, with my 
 tame owl and tortoise, I have a cold I am going 
 
 164 
 
A MEMOIR 
 
 to Corfu for a week, leaving the newly raised 
 vexed question of the suppression of free Bible 
 distribution until my return. Perhaps by that time 
 I shall be more inclined to agree with the Synod, 
 and think it even worse than I do now. . . . 
 " Pray remember me to all, and believe me 
 Yours most sincerely, 
 
 EUGENE SCHUYLER." 
 
 To A. A. Adee. 
 
 "January 30, 1884. 
 
 " MY DEAR ADEE : I have ordered my publishers 
 to send you a copy of my Peter the Great. But 
 I can scarcely expect you to read it, as it is all 
 prose and no poetry. You will, however, I hope, 
 make semblance of reading it, and in due time send 
 me a little compliment. Just now I am working 
 on a translation of some old Russian travellers one 
 as early as the thirteenth century in Constantinople 
 before the Latin conquest. I began them years 
 ago. 
 
 " I am delighted with a recent circular of the De 
 partment, asking information about the culture of 
 raisins, figs, olives, etc., partly because it revives 
 all my old botanical tastes, and partly because it 
 gives me occasion for various petty excursions to 
 the islands. I shall set about the work at once, and 
 only hope I can do it justice; not that I expect 
 much from Greek agri- and arboriculture. 
 
 "Another thing, too; it makes me put an end 
 
 165 
 
EUGENE SCHUYLER 
 
 to a period of dissipation which has lasted too long, 
 beginning with the daily practice of the mazurka 
 in our salon and ending with an afternoon dance 
 here, in which the Queen and the Grand Duke Paul 
 took a lively part. Did I say ending? I have 
 been out nearly every night since, and that, added 
 to dances on the Russian ships, has nearly finished 
 me. I absolutely need solitude in the olive groves 
 with Theocritus. With good weather we have 
 snow here there is nothing like that. 
 Yours most sincerely, 
 
 EUGENE SCHUYLER." 
 
 At this time the American School of Archaeology 
 at Athens was in its infancy, and a man of Mr. 
 Schuyler s tastes could not fail to be deeply inter 
 ested in its success. What he could do for it, he 
 did, more in the way of moral support than in any 
 other way, although he was occasionally able to 
 obtain gifts of money. He wrote in April, 1883: 
 
 The school is getting on very well, and fortu 
 nately some excellent Americans have been here 
 who can witness to its utility. Sturgis is here now, 
 as well as Professor Thayer and Professor Green- 
 ough, of Harvard. ... In order to show the 
 good feeling of the Government here, Professor 
 Goodwin was invited twice to dine at Court, and 
 has also been invited to the balls there." 
 
 166 
 
A MEMOIR 
 
 One of the last pleasant incidents of Mr. Schuy- 
 ler s official residence in Greece was a series of short 
 cruises on the Undine, a little yacht which he hired 
 for a time. 
 
 " I have just got back from another cruise; this 
 time to the Cyclades, when I saw something of six, 
 the prettiest being Tinos, and Karystos on the 
 south end of Euboea, and by far the most interest 
 ing, Delos. In its utter desolation it is more in 
 teresting to me than Olympia; but then it was the 
 seat of a finer religion. . . . 
 
 " The proposed abolition of this Legation is mere 
 ly the absurd economy-cry. The Democrats want to 
 save $100,000 on the Consular and Diplomatic Ser 
 vice, and then give outright a million to the New 
 Orleans Exposition (which promises, however, to 
 be very remarkable, and you may find it worth while 
 going there). The Department of State has taken 
 up the defence of this Mission, saying very nice 
 things about me and of the Service generally with 
 unusual warmth and energy. The Senate has 
 greatly amended the House bill, and it now remains 
 to see what will be done in the Conference Com 
 mittee." 
 
 To Russell Sturgis. 
 
 "July 23, 1884. 
 
 " MY DEAR STURGIS : Consummatum est. . . . 
 The Diplomatic Agency at Cairo is reduced to a 
 simple consulate. The Consul-General at Constan 
 tinople is reduced nearly half, and is no longer Sec- 
 
 167 
 
EUGENE SCHUYLER 
 
 retary of Legation. This Legation is utterly abol 
 ished. A Consul-General will be appointed at 
 Bucarest at $3,500 and a Consul here at $2,500. 
 The total saving on this place is $1,000. No provis 
 ion is made for any officer at Belgrade. So far as I 
 know, I am legislated out of official existence; for 
 I know of no vacancy where I can be stored until 
 wanted for future use. Therefore, as far as I know, 
 I am a private man and my own master. I don t 
 so much object to the situation as to the moment 
 when it comes. ... I have a house on my 
 hands up to the middle of November. Therefore, 
 I think I shall stay here until the late autumn. At 
 all events, I have a house over my head my books 
 around me; I can pack up at leisure, and perhaps 
 do a little work. And yet, when I am in trouble 
 and perplexity, I find it very hard to work. It is 
 only when I am comfortable and prosperous that 
 my brain works easily and that my hand follows. 
 
 " Here is one hardship. Congress passed the law 
 July 6th, to take effect July ist. I did not know it 
 till the i4th." 
 
 When the letters of recall came, that to Serbia 
 was written to Prince instead of King, and the one 
 to Greece to the King of Greece, instead of King 
 of the Hellenes. They had to be sent back, caus 
 ing much delay and annoyance. Later he writes : 
 
 " I am on my way to Belgrade and Bucarest, to 
 take leave and present my letters of recall. It is 
 
 1 68 
 
A MEMOIR 
 
 an expensive journey, and at the present time un 
 comfortable, for I do not see how I can escape a 
 quarantine on returning. However, I cannot af 
 ford to be impolite, even if the Government chooses 
 to be. I have known the Kings of Serbia and 
 Roumania since 1876, and they have always been 
 very amiable to me. The Department said that if 
 it were inconvenient to present my letters in person 
 I could send them to the Foreign Offices. But 
 these small countries are very sensitive for such 
 a proceeding with England or France would hardly 
 be remarked and I am patriotic enough to wish 
 to soften the withdrawal of the Mission as much as 
 possible, even at my own expense. I shall try to 
 get repayment out of the Government, but have 
 little hope of it." 
 
 This had been a very happy and successful period 
 of his life. A dozen years later, a visitor returning 
 from Athens said: "It is astonishing how the 
 Schuylers are still loved and lamented there." 
 
 VIII 
 
 Mr. Schuyler returned to America in November, 
 1884, and he and his wife established themselves 
 for the winter in Washington. During the follow 
 ing year he delivered at Johns Hopkins and Cornell 
 Universities the lectures afterwards embodied in the 
 book entitled " American Diplomacy," which was 
 
 published in 1886. 
 
 169 
 
EUGENE SCHUYLER 
 
 There was every indication that if he had chosen 
 to stay in America and resume the practice of the 
 law, his peculiar experience and training would 
 have brought him an important practice. His de 
 cision to leave his own country at this period of his 
 career was an error of judgment, of which he after 
 wards became conscious. But literature was al 
 ways more attractive to him than law; and he longed 
 for the out-of-door life of a southern climate. In 
 March, 1886, he settled in Alassio, on the Riviera, 
 which remained his head-quarters until he went to 
 Cairo, in September, 1889. 
 
 For the moment the restful life was very agree 
 able. The villa, Molino di Sopra, was a pleasant 
 place, with one of the lovely terraced gardens com 
 mon in that locality. The owners of the villas 
 about Alassio are much given over to gardening, 
 and he was an important member of the enthusiastic 
 band. He had gone to Alassio mentally and physi 
 cally tired, but his natural elasticity was great and 
 the surroundings were restorative. He soon be 
 gan to plan literary work, and to feel the need of 
 getting in touch with people and things in Italy. 
 In June he wrote from Parma : 
 
 " I am on a little journey. It seemed to me that 
 I w r as not quite Italianised, and I needed to see more 
 of the country and fall into Italian ways of thought. 
 
 170 
 
A MEMOIR 
 
 Out on the edge, in Liguria, we see too many for 
 eigners and too few cultivated natives. . . . 
 There have come suggestions to my mind which 
 may turn me off into a new track. For somehow 
 I cannot resist the temptation to write, or at least 
 to study for writing ultimately. Taking in knowl 
 edge in one way, working it over, and letting it 
 out in a different form begins to attract me for its 
 own sake." 
 
 A temporary decrease of income made him feel 
 that the gap must be filled by something less leis 
 urely than literature, and he made an arrangement 
 with the New York Herald for occasional corre 
 spondence. This was not an agreeable step to take, 
 and he only did it from a sense of duty. " I don t 
 want, but our income has been reduced, and I 
 must." 
 
 About the same time he was spending some of 
 his time in looking up out-of-the-way words and 
 their definitions for the " Century Dictionary," on 
 which his friend, Mr. Russell Sturgis, was engaged. 
 This was a pursuit which interested and amused 
 him greatly, and for which, with his stores of un 
 usual and accurate information, he was peculiarly 
 fitted. 
 
 In pursuance of his arrangement with the Herald 
 
 he spent about two months in Vienna in the early 
 
 171 
 
EUGENE SCHUYLER 
 
 winter of 1887. One of the interesting events of 
 this visit was the meeting with the Bulgarian Depu 
 tation in search of a Prince. They told him that 
 the Prince of Coburg, on whom their choice finally 
 fell, and who became Prince Ferdinand of Bulgaria, 
 had never occurred to them until suggested by him 
 at that time. 
 
 A few months later he and his wife were stopping 
 in Mentone at the time of the famous earthquake 
 of that year. 
 
 To G. Bakhmeteff. 
 
 "ALASSIO, March 10, 1887. 
 
 " MY DEAR JACK : Ever since your telegram I 
 have been intending to write, but you know in such 
 times one can t always do as one chooses. 
 
 "We had gone to Mentone for a dinner-party with 
 the expectation of going on to Nice and Cannes 
 for the like. The very morning that we were to 
 breakfast at Nice came the earthquake at six. Of 
 course there was no getting off, as the trains were 
 too full of runaways. So the next day we came 
 back to Alassio, after spending five hours at the 
 station, to come back to Italy on a train with no 
 passengers, simply because the fugitives had about 
 6,000 trunks at the station bound the other way, 
 and they would look after them first. As no tele 
 grams had come, we supposed Alassio safe, and were 
 much surprised on arriving to find that the whole 
 
 172 
 
A MEMOIR 
 
 town had fallen down, but the villas safe; ours, how 
 ever as luck will be the worst damaged. To go 
 back it seems an age. Having seen several small 
 earthquakes, and supposing this not to be an earth 
 quake region, I lay calmly in bed, happening to be 
 awake at the time, wondering when it was going to 
 stop . . . and then when part of the front of the 
 hotel came off, G. and I found ourselves under the 
 archway of the door. Somehow I had managed to 
 put some clothes on. She had very little. We went 
 into the garden. She shivered and I went up again, 
 enjoying the view of the distant mountains through 
 the fissures in the walls, to get some more clothes. 
 Unluckily, she had packed up the night before, and 
 it was very hard to hit on anything. I had my 
 money in my pocket; diamonds and jewels were out 
 of the question ; but I seized what I could, even the 
 blankets from the bed. But while I was groping 
 about in the twilight came a second shock, almost as 
 bad as the first. She did I don t know what in 
 the garden, and I well, imagine anything you like. 
 However, I got down-stairs, and, although we 
 were perfectly safe, we followed example and went 
 to the Public Gardens, where Howard and I held 
 up a blanket and She put on a dress, and then my 
 brilliant yellow and brown plaid dressing-gown from 
 Vienna, and then blankets over her head. Howard 
 found a Kiosque; they gave us brandy and biscuits; 
 we revived ourselves and then others, especially one 
 very pretty girl. Then we went back to the hotel, 
 had coffee the strong-minded servants (though 
 
 173 
 
EUGENE SCHUYLER 
 
 they left that day) wanted to know if we wished 
 hot water, baths, etc. We packed up entirely and 
 left nothing; we had our luggage brought down 
 stairs, and then went to see how our friends had 
 fared. (Our friends are the Andrews. Him you 
 met in Athens; she is Cyrus Field s daughter.) 
 They were very nervous; their house was unharmed, 
 but the shock had gone about one hundred feet the 
 other side. A number of people already there, in 
 cluding a Dresden baroness, a grand-niece of Sir 
 Walter Scott, and two very shaky old New Yorkers 
 named Watts. We took coffee again, and then the 
 third shock came, when we preferred the dew to 
 the coffee. Andrews, however, was very calm, re 
 mained up-stairs, and insisted on having a long, 
 scientific discussion with me, and refused to come 
 down till he chose, or let his carriage take the 
 Watts home, lest he should never see it again. 
 (The Watts, however, got home and took their nine 
 o clock drive, as if nothing had happened.) Then 
 a sad day. We couldn t get away; we went to 
 Rumpelmayer s, had kummel and bitters, then to 
 see the ruins, then to Rumpelmayer s, etc., etc., etc. 
 The telegraph office was in ruins; an office rigged 
 up in a hotel garden, with one wire, four hundred 
 English women and men waiting to send telegrams. 
 We that is, Howard and I couldn t stand it; by 
 great good luck got tickets, went to Monte Carlo, 
 to send telegrams and postal-cards. Of course we 
 played on all the earthquake numbers, and, strange 
 to say, always lost, when we ought to have won. 
 
 174 
 
A MEMOIR 
 
 At last we went to the Grand Hotel to dine, and 
 found old Admiral Baldwin and his wife and a lot 
 of other people whom we knew. At Monte Carlo 
 there had been only an uneasy feeling, and they 
 were much astonished at our tales. Finally, in de 
 spair, we came back to Mentone, found the ground 
 floor of the Andrews villa covered with beds, and a 
 motley, but pleasant, company. Unfortunately, at 
 each alarm they routed us out, and finally we were 
 forbidden to go back to the house. The garden 
 was very damp and cold. Howard sat in the street 
 in front of a fire which they built for him, and we 
 took a deserted carriage and slept for three hours. 
 And we could have been comfortable indoors, had 
 we known it; for there was a room with a fire and 
 a private entrance into the garden, where it was 
 very cold and damp. 
 
 " We could stand it no longer and made up our 
 minds to come back to Alassio as soon as possible, 
 having no idea as to its state. We went to the sta 
 tion at about nine, but there was such an accumula 
 tion of luggage that we couldn t get off till about 
 two o clock. The farther on we went, the more 
 ruins we saw, except at San Remo, which is intact, 
 and the more we began to think that our own 
 house had fallen down. It was not, however, so 
 bad as that. Nearly every house in the town itself 
 is uninhabitable, but the villas are safe enough, 
 though the walls and ceilings of our bedrooms are 
 so badly cracked that we are sleeping in the study, 
 drawing-room, and dining-room. The rest of the 
 
 175 
 
EUGENE SCHUYLER 
 
 population was in the fields, or a few favoured ones 
 in railway wagons. Now most of them have little 
 wooden huts. At last, too, they have begun to pull 
 down and repair the town where it is possible. 
 Here there were only three old women killed, but 
 the material damage is very great and falls chiefly 
 on poor, ruined, decayed gentlemen, and mezzo ceto, 
 who get a scanty living from the rents of their 
 houses and rooms. Some houses had as many as 
 twenty owners, for single rooms were bought and 
 sold. At Diano Marina, not far off, there were 
 over two hundred killed, and every house is down. 
 All must be blown up by dynamite and rebuilt. 
 Diano Castello is just as bad, but the loss of life is 
 less. I had to accompany our consul to these places 
 the other day and walk through the whole. I 
 wished him at the bottom of the sea, for we had 
 had a little shake, which drove us from the break 
 fast-table, and sent down walls at Diano, nearly 
 killing two soldiers. One couldn t help thinking 
 that another shock might come when we were in 
 the middle of it all. 
 
 " It is only two days now that we have been quite 
 free from little shocks, and I think even with this 
 that there have been some tremors. We cannot 
 quite get reconciled to them; and when the pigeons 
 all fly away from the window-ledge at once it gives 
 my heart such a quiver as makes me want a glass of 
 vodka. At the same time we don t feel equal to go 
 ing away, unless for a long time, and that we cannot 
 do just now. Besides, we want to give a good ex- 
 
A MEMOIR 
 
 ample to the rest. The worst of it is, that the 
 shocks came chiefly at night, and seemed to prefer 
 from four to six in the morning. We have had to 
 put all our clothes near the door, so as to grab them 
 when we ran out, to sleep with the outside door 
 open, with lights everywhere, with a bottle of 
 brandy and water already mixed in the garden, 
 and cold bouillon and sandwiches on the hall table. 
 We devoutly hope that you will never have such 
 experiences and we never again. . . . 
 " We both send much love. 
 
 Ever yours, 
 
 EUGENE SCHUYLER." 
 
 " On reading this letter over to Gertrude, I find it 
 very mixed and repeating, but you must lay that 
 to our tremors and quivers. E. S. 
 
 " March n, j.jo P.M. I was just going to close 
 this letter ten minutes ago, when we had the worst 
 shock we have had since the first." 
 
 The strain of living for several months with con 
 tinual shocks of earthquake and continual expec 
 tation of worse ones was greater than appeared at 
 the time, and left him somewhat run down. From 
 Castrocaro, where he went for a course of baths, he 
 wrote : 
 
 " I amuse myself with reading, even in my bath. 
 Byron s and Shelley s poems took me to their lives, 
 and Landor s Life has taken me to his poems. 
 VOL. I. 12 177 
 
EUGENE SCHUYLER 
 
 How wonderful Gebir and Count Julian are ! Now 
 I d like to read a little of Southey, but he seems 
 so very dead that he is not even in Vieusseux. I 
 remember about things which I read years ago and 
 liked. I have also read the greater part of Moore s 
 poems, and want now to get hold of his Journals. 
 I must try Wordsworth, though I rather hate the 
 thought. I am now in Lady Blessington s novels, 
 having read three volumes of her life and letters. 
 Dickens comes next. The fact is, that all these peo 
 ple knew, and most of them either loved or hated 
 one another, and thus I am led on, and all because 
 I saw Byron s and Shelley s houses at Pisa last 
 April." 
 
 A little later he wrote from Alassio: 
 
 " Of late I am entirely devoted to Italian history 
 
 and memoirs of the early part of this century 
 
 For serious reading I have a canto of Dante every 
 morning before my bath and tea. Longfellow s 
 translation amuses me very much. You cannot 
 possibly understand it unless you have read the 
 original. I dare say that at first it was very good, 
 but that little Dante Club sat on it every week, 
 until they quite squashed all the poetry, and even 
 the verse out of it. ... 
 
 " In reality, I am lazy by nature, and yet I am 
 never so happy as when hard at work. But I like 
 to get off quickly what I have in my head, and 
 writing bothers me. I really can t do much with- 
 
 178 
 
A MEMOIR 
 
 out a shorthand writer and clerk, and that here is 
 impossible. Indeed, I fear that I need a good deal, 
 and was looking back with delight to Athens at the 
 time I was finishing Peter. I must have, in ad 
 dition, a good study, with my man in the next 
 room, table, lights, many books, etc.; then mild 
 weather, so that I can get up early, and finally a 
 country not so hilly as this, with a carriage, and 
 facilities for making excursions where I can stay a 
 day or two, when I always read greatly. Here I 
 have most of this, except the carriage and the level 
 country. It is a bore always to walk up and down 
 hill." 
 
 The early summer of 1888 found him in Bologna, 
 attending the festivities in honour of the eight hun 
 dredth anniversary of the university. On this oc 
 casion he represented Yale, Columbia, Johns Hop 
 kins, and Cornell Universities and the State Univer 
 sity of Iowa. His detailed description of the com 
 memorative ceremonies was sent to the New York 
 Nation, and his private letters contain only jottings. 
 From Bologna he went on by short stages to Ven 
 ice, picking up material for the series of short arti 
 cles which he was at this time writing. 
 
 " I had six delightful weeks at Venice, two days 
 at Bassano and Possagno, a fortnight at Salo, on 
 Lago di Garda, and a week at Brescia, which pleased 
 
 179 
 
EUGENE SCHUYLER 
 
 us very much. Gertrude and I are studying up 
 Lady Mary Wortley s * Italian Life, and we have 
 seen some pleasant places and made some agreeable 
 acquaintances in consequence. . . . 
 
 " The Nation has let you know from time to time 
 where I have been and what I have been doing. 
 They have three or four articles still on hand, and 
 1 have as many more nearly ready. It has amused 
 me to write them, and especially to read up for 
 them; for each of them represents two or three 
 thousand pages of reading, and some of them have 
 been in outline in my head for a year and more. 
 Indeed, I have read more English literature and 
 more real literature in general than for many, many 
 years before. And I have enjoyed it, too! 
 
 " On the whole, I am more than usually satisfied 
 with myself. I have told you what to think about 
 Bulgaria in two articles in the New Princeton Re- 
 view (for which or for some other reason I have 
 received the Grand Cordon of the Bulgarian order 
 of St. Alexander), I have enlightened you on our 
 Consular Service in The America of Chicago, and 
 on Mr. Bayard anent of Marriages Abroad in 
 the North American, besides three stories, which 
 repose and will long repose in manuscript. At 
 present I am trying to enlighten you on the ad 
 vantages of Commercial Treaties, and on the rela 
 tions of the Pope to the Italian Government. For 
 lighter work I have Canova, Corinne, Ruskin, Mrs. 
 Browning, and Smollett, not to speak of others on 
 the stocks or in them." 
 
 1 80 
 
A MEMOIR 
 
 The political situation in America interested 
 him greatly, and in November he wrote : " Things 
 happen just now to be in that state that our for 
 eign policy during the next ten years will make a 
 great point in the history of the nation." And 
 again, December 3oth : 
 
 " I am writing out some of my ideas about for 
 eign policy, but I shall probably send the article 
 to the North American, as it will be too long for 
 a mere newspaper. I am working also at one or 
 two shorter things on the same subject or similar 
 ones. I don t exactly like to write anything for 
 the Post, simply for the purpose of being refuted. 
 It seems to me as if you all had chosen to typify 
 all that seemed to you most objectionable in the 
 single person of Elaine, regardless of whether he 
 really possesses all of these characteristics. It 
 seemed to me during the campaign that Godkin 
 weakened his case by harping too much on Elaine 
 and his wickedness. I fear that you are all too 
 busy in America to get interested in more than 
 one or two issues at a time; and now that you all 
 go in for tariff reform and civil-service reform, you 
 forget that a nation as great as ours has other 
 duties and interests which must also be looked 
 after." 
 
 When, in March, 1889, Mr. Elaine was made 
 Secretary of State, he offered the Assistant Secre 
 taryship to Mr. Schuyler by telegraph. The latter 
 
 181 
 
EUGENE SCHUYLER 
 
 had been hoping that a foreign mission would 
 reinstate him in the Diplomatic Service, and this 
 appointment took him entirely by surprise. The 
 pay was very small, the work was hard, and the 
 expenses were great; but in every other respect the 
 position was attractive to him, and he telegraphed 
 his acceptance, and at once began his preparations 
 for departure. In a few days came another tele 
 gram from Mr. Elaine, asking him to refuse the 
 nomination, offering a European post, and promis 
 ing explanations by letter. There was but one 
 thing to do to comply with the request and await 
 the explanation. While awaiting it, he wrote: 
 
 " Perhaps a great favour is done me, perhaps I 
 am sacrificed in an ingenious way. But I can t help 
 myself. ... I had made up my mind to four 
 years of Washington, and Washington life, which 
 I love, with all its surprises and opportunities, and 
 am therefore disappointed. I had hoped, perhaps, 
 to make some reforms, and do a little good to the 
 country, as well as to help a few deserving people 
 and do something to raise the consular standard. 
 For all that, I was willing to make some sacrifices, 
 though I feared that it would end in my financial 
 ruin. I shall now probably be able to go on with 
 the mild literary work, to which I have taken a 
 liking, and shall be in every way more indepen 
 dent." 
 
 182 
 
A MEMOIR 
 
 The opposition to his confirmation, which was 
 the cause of the withdrawal of his nomination, 
 was generally supposed to have been caused by the 
 fact that in his " American Diplomacy " he had 
 made certain statements concerning the official ac 
 tions of a man who had at one time held a high 
 office in the Government. In point of fact, while 
 this was one of the causes, his connection with the 
 bill uniting the offices of Secretary of Legation and 
 Consul-General at Rome was possibly an even more 
 important factor. In spite of his philosophy and 
 his mental resources, it would be useless to deny 
 that he was disappointed and for a time depressed. 
 He never did deny it he only made the best of it. 
 
 In connection with this appointment there were 
 some touching incidents. He received a large 
 number of letters and petitions from Armenians, 
 reminding him of his services to humanity at the 
 time of the Bulgarian massacres, and begging him, 
 now that he was to be in power, to induce the 
 United States Government to interpose in behalf 
 of the oppressed Armenians. Perhaps nothing 
 went to his heart more than his powerlessness to 
 respond to these appeals. 
 
 As to the promised European post, he wrote : 
 
 " Think of my uncertainty anywhere from To 
 bolsk to Tangiers. We have settled ourselves in 
 
 183 
 
EUGENE SCHUYLER 
 
 imagination in Paris, Frankfurt, Athens, Constan 
 tinople, Cairo, and even Calcutta. We live a day 
 in each in turn." 
 
 To Herbert Tuttlc. 
 
 "ALASSIO, May 11, 1889. 
 
 " MY DEAR TUTTLE : Many thanks for your let 
 ter of April 27th, which came this morning. The 
 Schuyler incident requires some work to ex 
 plain; but I have every confidence in Mr. Elaine s 
 wishes and intentions, and I hope that will justify 
 us. 
 
 " Briefly thus : I had asked for a diplomatic post, 
 especially the Roman mission. To my surprise, 
 I was offered by telegraph the Assistant Secretary 
 ship, my chief friend being notified at the same 
 time. There was a reason, and the offer was seri 
 ous. Aside from what Mr. B knew about 
 
 me before, I had an opportunity in Rome last 
 spring, though a private man, and not having 
 been there for eight years, to manage for him one 
 or two little diplomatic matters that no one in the 
 Legation was able to do. 
 
 " The objections against me on the part of certain 
 senators were not political, but from such petty, 
 trifling, personal reasons, that, had I been in Wash 
 ington, I could have stopped it all by threatening 
 to tell the true cause. But even had I started I 
 
 should have been too late. Mr. B asked me 
 
 by telegram to decline, not saying why, and prom 
 ising me a European post. This I did. Had I 
 
 184 
 
A MEMOIR 
 
 known of the Senate opposition to me, I should 
 have declined sooner for a patriotic reason : it is es 
 sential to the success of an administration that the 
 State Department and the Senate Committee on 
 Foreign Relations should work well together. 
 Now Sherman, the chairman, is, or has been, a 
 rival of Blaine; while Edmunds has not for years 
 been on speaking terms with him. I could not 
 properly, by fighting for a confirmation, increase 
 this tension. 
 
 " If Mr. Blaine offers me a place that I can accept, 
 as he has promised others, as well as myself, that 
 he will do, I shall come to America in the winter, 
 and I have no doubt of my confirmation if I am on 
 the spot, though I may have to show fight. I am 
 willing to accept one or two places that would 
 otherwise be unacceptable, simply for the purpose 
 of setting myself right before the public. 
 
 " I have been doing a great deal of work, and 
 writing, with the great amount of reading neces 
 sarily involved, is now my chief amusement. The 
 Nation still has five of my Italian articles on hand, 
 besides some reviews, including a long one of 
 Mme. de Stael. You have probably seen one of 
 my articles on Tolstoy (as he wrote his name) in 
 Scribner s for May, and you will find one which 
 will interest you on American Marriages Abroad 
 in the North American for April. Every once in 
 awhile the old habit comes over me, and I write, 
 what would once have been a report or despatch 
 to the Department. . . ." 
 
 185 
 
EUGENE SCHUYLER 
 
 To Mrs. Schaeffer. 
 
 "ALASSIO, May 25, 1889. 
 
 " MY DEAR EVA : It rejoices me that you have 
 liked my Tolstoy article. I hope to follow it up 
 with some more, but they will not have that in 
 terest of actuality, nor will they give much, if any, 
 of my personal experience. One is written, though 
 not corrected, called Corinne, which is an account 
 of one of Mme. de StaeTs flirtations (I have al 
 ready sent a review to the Nation on Lady Blenner- 
 hasset s life of her); Lady M. W. Montagu, that 
 I have been preparing for ever since last summer; 
 and perhaps Gorilla, the improvisatrice, with 
 Florentine and Roman life in the last century. 
 Also Two Petty Sovereigns : i, Napoleon, Lord 
 of Elba; 2, Marie Louise, Duchess of Parma. 
 
 " Here is a list of small subjects. If you want 
 anything done quickly, say so, as I am blown 
 about by every wind. They all enter into the cadre 
 of my Italian Influences (don t mention that 
 title): Pisa, Leigh Hunt; Florence, George Eliot, 
 Countess of Albany; Rome, Lady Blessington, 
 Queen Christina, Hans Christian Andersen, Cha 
 teaubriand, Thorwaldsen; Bologna, Lady Morgan, 
 Rogers; Chiozzia, Goldoni; Venice, G. P. R. 
 James, Cooper, Ruskin, Moore; Mantua, Sordel- 
 lo; Naples, Alexandre Dumas. Also somewhere 
 Stendhal, N. P. Willis, and Miss Sedgwick, 
 Madame Mere (Bonaparte); Ugo Foscolo, Ros 
 sini, Metastasio, etc., etc. The list is very easy to 
 
 186 
 
A MEMOIR 
 
 extend. I have just sent off an article on Haw 
 thorne. That on Smollett will be published at 
 once. I don t know why I should inflict all this 
 on you, except that it is pleasant to talk about 
 what I am interested in just now more than any 
 thing else. . . ." 
 
 On July 2, 1889, while on a visit to Zurich, he 
 received the announcement of his appointment as 
 Diplomatic Agent and Consul-General at Cairo. 
 He wrote to his wife, " It is like beginning a new 
 career." 
 
 To Herbert Tuttle. 
 
 " ZURICH, July 23, 1889. 
 
 " MY DEAR TUTTLE : Many thanks for your con 
 gratulations and your letter of July 7th. Cairo 
 was one of the places I had expressed a willingness 
 to take, and even a preference for, over Athens 
 again. You understand, what is not so well known 
 in America, that over here the post is rated as of 
 first importance, that the Agent ranks as Minister, 
 and that it is a place of great political interest. 
 After seeing the intrigues of Oriental powers like 
 Russia, England, and Turkey, it will be interesting 
 to witness those of Western powers on Eastern 
 soil. I shall regret being cut off from libraries, and 
 I hope that I shall not be bitten with the mania for 
 Egyptology, almost thinking to take up the study 
 of the Alexandrine period in self-defence. 
 
 " By the way, in coming to Switzerland on a semi- 
 187 
 
EUGENE SCHUYLER 
 
 literary journey, I have in full view daily here the 
 house in which Bluntschli was born, and have 
 visited Neuchatel, the early home of Vatel. In 
 general, my Swiss tour has been very fertile, and 
 something may yet come of it. I have been par 
 ticularly interested in the bearing of the Swiss dur 
 ing this last crisis. I saw many old friends among 
 the diplomats at Berne, and had quite a talk with 
 Droz, the Minister of Foreign Affairs. . . . 
 
 " I shall leave for Egypt about the end of August. 
 Probably I shall come to America to see about my 
 confirmation, in which case I ll see you. You ll 
 find in the September number of the Political Sci 
 ence Quarterly a short article of mine on Italian 
 immigration. With regards to Mrs. Tuttle, 
 Yours ever, 
 
 EUGENE SCHUYLER." 
 
 Even in the pleasure of a return to the profession 
 which he preferred, he did not disengage himself 
 from literary interests. A letter written while he 
 was still in Zurich contains the following outline of 
 a projected work : 
 
 To amuse you and show you that my mind has 
 not been idle, I send a prospectus of my proposed 
 book. 22-24 I have not yet visited, and I should 
 like to make royalty complete by adding Prangins, 
 with Jerome Napoleon, his father and mother, 
 whose diary is just being published. You see that 
 I have a good deal of work cut out, but I have so 
 
 188 
 
A MEMOIR 
 
 much material that with a shorthand writer it would 
 go very fast. In treating of the reformers, I shall 
 take a modified Catholic view, which has not been 
 done in English with the new lights; but I should 
 tell of their private lives, etc., rather than of their 
 religious ideas. 
 
 " Does it look like a book that you or any one 
 else would want to read? " 
 
 Swiss ASSOCIATIONS. 
 
 I. Geneva in 1816 (Byron, Stae l, Shelley, 
 
 Countess Bruce, etc., etc.). 
 II. Geneva Calvin and the Heretics. 
 
 III. Coppet Benjamin Constant. 
 
 IV. Geneva Bonstettin. 
 V. Geneva Voltaire, etc. 
 
 VI. Chillon Bonivard and Peter of Savoy. 
 VII. Lausanne Madame de Charriere, Gib 
 bon, etc. 
 
 VIII. Payerm The two Jominis. 
 IX. Yverdon Pestalozzi and Education. 
 X. Neuchatel Rousseau. 
 XL Geneva Toppfer, Cherbuliez, Zschokke, 
 
 and Swiss Novelists. 
 XII. Berne in the Eighteenth Century. 
 XIII. Basel Erasmus and Paracelsus. 
 XIV. Sackingen Schleppel. 
 XV. Constanz John Huss and Pan-Slavic 
 
 Patriotism. 
 
 XVI. St. Gall Gustavus IV. (very affecting). 
 189 
 
EUGENE SCHUYLER 
 
 XVII. St. Gall Vadian, Kenler, and his funny 
 
 adventure with Luther. 
 XVIII. Zurich Zwingli. 
 
 XIX. Zurich Lavater, the pietist and physiog 
 nomist, the Russians, and the French. 
 XX. Rapperschwyl Koszciuszko. 
 XXI. Rapperschwyl Caroline Bauer and Leo 
 pold I. and Stockmar. 
 XXII. Einsiedeln. 
 
 XXIII. Chur and Louis Philippe. 
 
 XXIV. Arenenberg and Louis Napoleon, the Don 
 
 Juan of Canton Thurgau. 
 XXV. Luzerne William Tell. 
 
 IX 
 
 Mr. Schuyler did not reach Cairo until October 
 ist, owing to delays about his papers. It seemed 
 wiser, in consideration of possible difficulties about 
 confirmation, to keep the house in Alassio for an 
 other year, and Mrs. Schuyler decided to remain 
 there for a time, especially as they were expecting 
 to go to America later in the season. This journey 
 was finally given up, but in view of the uncertain 
 ties of the situation, he did not settle himself in any 
 permanent way; and his Cairo house remained only 
 half furnished. He had with him, as Vice and 
 Deputy Consul, a nephew, to whom he was much 
 attached. 
 
 190 
 
A MEMOIR 
 
 " CAIRO, October 14, 1889. 
 
 " MY DEAR EVELYN : Your letter of September 
 1 3th came to me here, where I arrived ten days 
 ago, after being obliged to spend a few days in 
 Alexandria. It seems much the same as ever, and 
 I have not yet tired of looking at the people. But 
 the moist heat at this season, when the Nile is 
 overflowed, and the consequent flies, mosquitoes, 
 etc., beggar all description. I have to attend to 
 work, to make official calls, and to bother about 
 the house, but it is far too hot even to look at rugs 
 and portieres. That will come later. 
 
 " Louis 1 has been appointed my Vice and Dep 
 uty, and I shall hurry to have him here, as I have 
 no one at all to write or copy for me. . . . My 
 predecessor . . . took the house before I 
 came, owing to the stupid blunders which delayed 
 me. It does not quite suit me, but we can manage 
 to live in it, especially with our pretty garden, 
 which we hope to make still prettier. I am going 
 to furnish a bedroom temporarily and take up my 
 abode there, for the hotel is too expensive. The 
 house, being built by a Turk or Arab, is full of 
 absurd, useless passages, so as to allow women and 
 servants to disappear in every direction. Not to 
 speak of the ground floor, where I must create a 
 kitchen, we have on the first floor two halls, four 
 passages, two staircases, a coffee-kitchen, a Turk 
 ish bath, various closets, etc., a large salon, and 
 four other good rooms, besides one which will serve 
 
 1 His nephew, Louis Bedell Grant. 
 
EUGENE SCHUYLER 
 
 for the servants dining-room. On the floor above 
 are seven good rooms, besides four passages, etc. 
 My present household consists of the first Janissary, 
 Suleiman, a light-colored Arab, in a gorgeously 
 embroidered costume, speaking English; the 
 second Janissary nominally, but really a very good 
 body-servant, the blackest nigger you ever saw, in 
 similar attire, named Farak, brought from the 
 Soudan by Gordon, and trained by Lady Vivian; 
 a boab, or gate-keeper, named Ali; and a gardener 
 called Abdullah. All these more or less paid by 
 the Government. Then we shall bring Francesco 
 and Barbara, and, of course, have a cook. Last 
 w r inter, as Cardwell says, about five hundred Amer 
 icans called at the Consulate, and the year before 
 about twelve hundred. And as the season lasts 
 from four to six months, that alone gives work. 
 
 " But I am hungry, this being 7 A.M., before my 
 bath, so good-by. 
 
 Ever affectionately, 
 
 EUGENE." 
 
 To his Wife. 
 
 "CAIRO, Monday, November 25, 1889. 
 ". . . This week has gone like a flash, and has 
 been so taken up that I have had time for nothing. 
 First, it was necessary to instal Louis; then there 
 have been lots of Americans who wanted things; 
 and finally, on Saturday, I was received by the 
 Khedive. Everybody says that it was a very fine 
 ceremony, but being inside a gilt coach, drawn by 
 
 192 
 
A MEMOIR 
 
 six horses, with an escort of cavalry, Louis and 
 Lynch (whom I had temporarily attached) follow 
 ing in another, I didn t see much of it. But there 
 were salutes of cannon (twenty-one guns) from the 
 citadel, and the band played " Hail, Columbia." 
 My suite were much impressed with my demeanor, 
 especially Louis, and the hotel was crowded with 
 spectators. We made our little speech, then we 
 sat down and smoked jewelled tchibouks about ten 
 feet long, which were arranged with such mathe 
 matical precision that I could scarcely keep from 
 laughing, as, including the whole Cabinet, we were 
 about twenty people. Then coffee in jewelled cups 
 or cup-holders; and then as I went away a sword 
 was hung over my shoulders. The master of cere 
 monies accompanied me back and came in. Then 
 the Minister of Foreign Affairs called in state. A 
 special salon, coffee, and cigarettes. Then five 
 minutes afterwards we went in state (Suleiman hav 
 ing new clothes and sword for the occasion) to call 
 on the Minister of Foreign Affairs. That night 
 we were at a friend s to see a dance of Arabs, and 
 yesterday I was so used up that we took refuge 
 with the Pyramids and the Sphinx, and had a nice 
 lunch there. All this morning we have been mak 
 ing official calls, and have been working hard all 
 the afternoon. 
 
 VOL. I. 13 193 
 
EUGENE SCHUYLER 
 
 To Mrs. Schacffer. 
 
 " THE NILE, NEAR MARAGHA, January 17, 1890. 
 
 " MY DEAR EVA : Receiving two letters from 
 you makes me think that it is very long since I 
 wrote to you. Of course here in a dahabiyeh I 
 don t have all the distracting occupations and wor 
 ries of Cairo, but I find that reading, work, sight 
 seeing, and a rough sea like the present interfere 
 with letter-writing. In fact, the Nile life does not 
 come up to my ideal, especially as we have gener 
 ally had too cold winds to sit on deck, and the sun 
 has not always shone. The trip has been an in 
 teresting one, but I have had enough of tombs and 
 temples, of mud towns, and native visitors. How 
 ever, I have had a rest, and have accomplished my 
 consular inspection. I feel as if I were beginning 
 to know something about Egypt. To-day we are 
 bored by the strong head wind, as we are in a hurry 
 to get to Assiout, where I shall probably take the 
 railway to Cairo, as I ought to be there for the 
 dinner to Stanley on the 2Oth. I am the guest of 
 a San Francisco friend, Mr. Jeremiah Lynch, on 
 this good dahabiyeh Vittoria. . . . 
 
 " Since I have been in Egypt I have had no time 
 to write anything but official reports; but even 
 those I have tried to make entertaining, and all 
 have been complimented. I have been up here 
 working on a big one on Irrigation. And yet I 
 am boiling over with subjects and information, and 
 desire to write, but I can t find the time. I believe 
 
 194 
 
A MEMOIR 
 
 that I could get off three long articles in the next 
 week if I only had a good shorthand writer always 
 at hand. I brought up a lot of books and material 
 with me, chiefly so as not to run too much in one 
 groove. But the only poetry I have read was Pa 
 racelsus on the day of Browning s funeral. I had 
 read it already twice since getting interested again 
 in Paracelsus himself when I was at Einsiedeln and 
 Basel. As was natural, my reading has been chiefly 
 on Egyptian subjects books of all kinds and de 
 scriptions. So far as I have yet got, about the 
 best book of travel on the Nile is Miss A. B. Ed- 
 wards s A Thousand Miles up the Nile/ though 
 she is too wordy and gushing. Her article on Bu- 
 bastis in the last Century is very good. As she is 
 now lecturing in America, you may see her. 
 
 " I have also been trying to read Ebers s novels, 
 but I find them rather tough. I am only three- 
 quarters deep in the Egyptian Princess, though 
 Uarda looks better. Still the E. P. was his 
 first attempt. The most romantic things I have 
 read are the Biblical accounts of the Egyptian Jews. 
 If you can read the story of Joseph without preju 
 dice, you will find it great fun. He was such a 
 fearful Jew, especially when he made Pharaoh pro 
 prietor of all the land. His successors have main 
 tained this monopoly ever since. And the gen 
 eral wiliness of everybody before and during the 
 plagues, which really occur every year! . . . 
 Truth compels me to state, that being obliged to 
 use glasses to read, I bought a big-print Bible of 
 
 195 
 
EUGENE SCHUYLER 
 
 the Missionaries especially for the trip. My great 
 regret is, that it does not contain the Apocrypha. 
 I have picked up a few stray bits of information; 
 as finding that Jeremiah wrote his * Lamenta 
 tions in the immediate vicinity of Cairo, in a vil 
 lage now called Matarieh, the ancient Heliopolis. 
 When I was there I did not know this, though I 
 did know that Moses, Pythagoras, Plato, and 
 Euclid had studied there, and Herodotus had 
 stayed there. By the way, I hope you like my 
 seal, which is an old cornelian scarab say 5,000 
 years old bearing the name or cartouche of King 
 Usurbasen I. I don t go in for such things, but 
 this was given to me, and I rather like it, now that 
 I know that this king built the obelisk at Hieropo- 
 lis, which must have been seen and admired by all 
 the gentlemen just named, not to speak of Joseph. 
 Close by the obelisk is a big sycamore-tree, under 
 which the Holy Family rested during the flight. 
 It is surrounded with a fence, and a knife is pro 
 vided for visitors to carve their names thereon, 
 provided they do not touch the tree. . . . 
 " Much love to you all. 
 
 Yours ever affectionately, 
 
 EUGENE." 
 
 He had entered upon his life at Cairo with all 
 his usual enthusiasm, and without taking the Egyp 
 tian climate into account any more than he had 
 
 ever taken anything into account when he had an 
 
 196 
 
A MEMOIR 
 
 interesting occupation on hand or a plan to carry 
 out. A bad climate is a great searcher-out of weak 
 points; and certain tendencies which might have 
 remained in abeyance, or might even have been 
 corrected in Washington or Alassio, were rapidly 
 developed in Egypt. By midwinter the climate 
 and the feverish rush of work were beginning to 
 tell on him. Soon after his return from his trip 
 up the Nile, he had a great anxiety in the danger 
 ous illness of his nephew, who had no sooner re 
 covered than he himself was attacked with influenza. 
 
 " About a week after I got back Louis was taken 
 down with influenza, which turned into bronchitis, 
 and then with pneumonia with a touch of pleurisy. 
 He had to be taken to the hospital of the German 
 diaconesses, where he was for two weeks, excel 
 lently attended to and nursed, though he was twice 
 close to death. The doctor insists on sending him 
 up the Nile, probably to-morrow, so that I shall 
 be alone again with all my tourists. Well, Louis 
 was not yet out when I was taken down with a 
 very sharp though short attack, raging fever, 
 bronchitis, etc., etc., in bed six days before allowed 
 to sit up. Can now crawl about, but have tempo 
 rarily lost my voice. It leaves us all so weak. One 
 of the cavasses was ill too, and we had to shut the 
 Consulate for three days. Then people besieged 
 me in my bed. I had to interfere when an Austrian 
 
 197 
 
EUGENE SCHUYLER 
 
 officer threatened to kill a very pretty American 
 girl if she would not marry him, with no end of 
 telegrams, letters, and interviews. I think, how 
 ever, that the excitement did me good. I had also 
 to institute a search for the missing head of the 
 American School at Athens. I have drunk more 
 milk than I have since I was a baby. 
 
 " Now for your letter. I have lost all thought 
 about my confirmation. I am too busy. I suppose 
 that - will keep me on the tenterhooks until 
 the end of the session in July or August, and that 
 then I shall be reappointed. I don t care, except 
 for the uncertainty, and on Gertrude s account. 
 Just at present I feel desperately like writing- 
 novels, plays, essays, all sorts of things and no 
 time. . . . Constance Woolson has been here, 
 and is coming back again. She has quite set me 
 up. She cares not about plot, but only for the 
 way things are done, and she puts my little stories 
 way, way up, next to the French, for facture. Now 
 she wants me to write a play, and has left me a lot 
 of French ones to read and profit by. I have two 
 in my head. One an English melodrama, the other 
 a society comedy, scene in Cairo. Dear me ! if I 
 could only do all that is expected of me. 
 
 " It is impossible to give you an idea of the num 
 ber of Americans here. I have had fifty in one day 
 in the office. Until I was convalescent I had not 
 been able to open a book since I left the Nile. The 
 season is at its height. They will go soon." 
 
 198 
 
A MEMOIR 
 
 He was never really well again, although he went 
 on with his usual occupations and tried to write 
 in his usual vein. 
 
 " This is Shams el-Nessin, the smelling of the 
 Zephyrs/ and is the only festival which Mussul 
 mans and Christians both hold to. It always comes 
 on the Coptic (or Greek) Easter Monday, and the 
 proper thing is to eat some onions and badfish in 
 a garden: much like that festival in Athens to 
 which we were invited for strawberries at 8 A.M. 
 As the garden looked pretty, I thought it a good 
 way of inaugurating an unfurnished house by giv 
 ing a small tea-party under this pretext. 
 
 u Tuesday, April i$th. Our little party went off 
 very well, but I got no chance to finish my letter. 
 There were about twenty here altogether. . . . 
 Four rooms and the veranda were open, though 
 only two were furnished, i.e., properly with curtains 
 and all. The rest had only rugs, tables, and chairs. 
 The garden looked pretty, as the roses are just 
 coming out, and the turf was bright green with 
 the shadows of the palms on it. I had eight big 
 earthenware bowls filled with roses, which are very 
 fine here now. There are not many varieties, but 
 the La France and Marechal Niel are as good as 
 anything on the Riviera also a dark red rose. 
 People seemed to enjoy themselves. . . . 
 
 " . . . One of the great races here is a Noah s 
 Ark race, where people drive or guide animals. 
 General Dormer won one once with a turkey, and 
 
 199 
 
EUGENE SCHUYLER 
 
 someone else with a pelican. The ostrich and the 
 monkey were recalcitrant and lost. . . ." 
 
 To Maurice Howard. 
 
 " CAIRO, June 9, 1890. 
 
 " MY DEAR MAURY : How many letters I have 
 begun to you I don t know. The one I just tore 
 up was dated May I3th. 
 
 " Would that you were here, for in spite of the 
 heat I could get much out of you, and you would 
 be much interested in all sorts of things. The gar 
 dens, for example. As a rule, everything blooms 
 twice a year, and just now we have no end of 
 Brazilian, Madagascar, Soudan, and Indian queer 
 trees and plants. I never saw a place where bright 
 red was so prevailing a colour. I have just driven 
 by a little oval, which I remember in early winter 
 as thickly planted with scarlet geraniums and Hibis 
 cus rosasinensis, with an inside circle of Poinsettias, 
 which grow here from six to ten feet high. Now 
 the poinsettias are green, but there is an outside 
 row of Poinciana regia, a graceful clean mimosa- 
 leaved tree, each now a mass of scarlet flowers with 
 yellow stamens, each flower about three inches 
 across. You can scarcely see the foliage, and they 
 look like bonfires. Then the Erythrinas have been 
 gorgeous, especially the indica. There was one 
 very beautiful tree just going off Jacaranda Mi- 
 mosifolia, leaves as suggested, but lovely blue 
 flowers, in big clusters, like a Tecoma. The trees 
 
 200 
 
A MEMOIR 
 
 vary from ten to thirty feet. There is a very beau 
 tiful Tecoma stans now in bloom, bright yellow 
 flowers, a shrub from ten to twenty feet high, well 
 worth cultivating on the Riviera, as is also Bigno- 
 nia venusta, the most beautiful I know, climbing, 
 flowers of a perfect orange, growing in clusters, in 
 shape and size like a trumpet honeysuckle. The 
 Frangipannis are in full bloom again, as also the 
 Duranta Plumieri, though I am not very fond of 
 this last. The general shade-tree here, which grows 
 very quickly, is the lebbek Albizzia Lebbek a 
 sort of acacia with locust leaves and a whitish-green 
 tassel of flowers. It is not quite evergreen, for the 
 leaves fall off about the middle of April, but by 
 the middle of May they are all on again and the 
 flowers out. Then the sycamore and no end of 
 fiats, including banyan; bananas, palms of all kinds 
 (I have a big Pritchardii in bloom in the garden 
 which is very fragrant), candle Euphorbias, Phy- 
 tolacca dioria, rosewood (palissandre), with its pen 
 dulous branches of fragrant yellow flowers, and 
 logwood, much like it, casuarinas, acacias, eucalyp 
 tus, and deciduous trees like poplars, planes, etc. 
 I wish you could smell a double Jasminum Sambac, 
 or even a single one. Mrs. Gibb and I once tried 
 to make them grow. The double is a greenish- 
 white flower like a round double ranunculus, with 
 a strong jasmin odor, just saved by a touch of 
 lemon. It is heavenly. There are beautiful mag 
 nolias out now. As to roses, I have seen few 
 climbing ones, except Marechal Niel, but those and 
 
 201 
 
EUGENE SCHUYLER 
 
 La France are as good as you have anywhere on 
 the Riviera. I have two or three hundred bushes 
 of La France and little else. If I stay I shall have 
 Stamm send for some fine varieties. Hardly a day 
 passes but I see something new. 
 
 " Just now both melons and watermelons are ex 
 quisite, apricots and plums fair, cherries bad. But 
 the fresh dates in October! Nothing is more 
 delightful. 
 
 * You would be charmed too with the colours 
 both of faces and dresses. Such figures, such 
 poses, such dignity and grace ! And then the 
 camels, the donkeys, the black soldiers in white 
 uniform, the jugglers, the marriage and circum 
 cision processions. I can sit at a cafe or on the 
 hotel veranda for hours at a time, simply watch 
 ing the people. As to the bazaars I will not speak, 
 for I have kept pretty clear of them, having no 
 money to buy, and not wanting to be tempted. 
 There is a 5,000 rug which I d like, but am not 
 going to buy only about six metres square. 
 
 " Love to John and much to yourself. Yours 
 ever sincerely, EUGENE SCHUYLER." 
 
 In spite of himself his letters began to show his 
 failing health. To his wife s desire to join him in 
 Egypt was opposed the decree of his physician, 
 ordering him away. He was prevailed upon to write 
 for a leave of absence, and awaited its arrival, hop 
 ing, as he said, that after all he would not need it. 
 
 202 
 
A MEMOIR 
 
 11 CAIRO, June 12, 1890. 
 
 " MY DEAR EVA : Just as I was about to write 
 to you there came in your letter of May 15-20. I 
 have not been in the mood for writing either letters 
 or articles, and yet I have greatly wanted to do 
 the latter. But I have been far from well, and even 
 now am in the doctor s hands. My liver seems to 
 be all wrong, which in this climate is bad. The 
 doctor is coming to-morrow to take another gen 
 eral look at me and tell me what to do. However, 
 my mind is more active than it has been in a long 
 time, and to-day I have even written a page of a 
 note for the Nation. Otherwise I have done noth 
 ing but official things, and yesterday got off a re 
 port on irrigation of one hundred and twenty-eight 
 pages, which cost me a lot of work, as I knew very 
 little about the subject, and now I know a good 
 deal. My next official subjects are Egyptian Fi 
 nance, Olive Culture, Education, and the Suez 
 Canal. Every month now we have to w r rite a Crop 
 report, and I have varied mine with all sorts of 
 agricultural lore. . . . 
 
 " I am glad that you have become a gardener. 
 My work in that line consists at present in sitting on 
 the veranda. However, I have raised some sweet- 
 peas, much to the wonder of the florist, though I 
 admit that they are not good, and I have some 
 morning-glories and balloon vines running up the 
 veranda lattice. One of the palms is in bloom and 
 is very fragrant evening and morning. We are 
 very comfortable in the house, though there is very 
 
 203 
 
EUGENE SCHUYLER 
 
 little furniture; but that is all the better in sum 
 mer. Since I have been ill the servants make me 
 up messes. I can .make milk-toast myself, and 
 Farak makes excellent oatmeal-porridge. We al 
 ways have our early breakfast here. 
 
 " I had a little trip through the Suez Canal with 
 the U. S. S. Alliance, and enjoyed it greatly, then 
 stopped a few days at Suez and Ismailia for a 
 change. . . . 
 
 " Much love to you all. 
 
 Affectionately, 
 
 EUGENE." 
 
 At length, yielding to the urgency of his physi 
 cian, he telegraphed for a leave of absence. Im 
 mediately on its arrival he left Cairo, expecting to 
 join his wife at Alassio and go with her to Carlsbad. 
 Stopping to rest at Venice, he was prostrated by a 
 malarial fever. The physician in attendance did 
 not consider him in immediate danger; but in any 
 attack of illness a weak heart had to be taken into 
 account. On the evening of July i6th, suddenly, 
 without an instant s warning, he died. 
 
 Two days later he was buried in the Protestant 
 cemetery on the island of San Michele, in accord 
 ance with his own request that wherever he died, 
 there he should be buried. 
 
 204 
 
COUNT LEO TOLSTOY 
 TWENTY YEARS AGO 
 
COUNT LEO TOLSTOY 
 TWENTY YEARS AGO 1 
 
 Twenty years ago there still existed in Moscow 
 the salon of the Prince and Princess Odoiefsky, 
 one of the literary centres of Russia. Other houses 
 there were where literary men assembled in groups 
 and coteries. At Katkof s for instance, on Sunday 
 evenings, one was sure to find the shrewd and 
 caustic Leontief, Professor Liubimof and his fel 
 low-workers on the Moscow Gazette and the Rus 
 sian Messenger, some of the professors in the re 
 cently established Lyceum, and occasionally a 
 passing stranger, from either North or South, 
 who sympathized with the Moscow as distin 
 guished from the Petersburg school of literature 
 and politics. Katkof, decided as he was in his 
 political views, was a charming talker on literary 
 subjects, about which he allowed more difference 
 of opinion. He was such a hard worker, especially 
 
 1 Published in 1889. 
 207 
 
COUNT LEO TOLSTOY 
 
 at night, that Sunday afternoons and evenings 
 were the only times when he was visible, as his 
 Gazette was not issued on Monday. His wife, a 
 princess of some small family in the Caucasus, was 
 an agreeable little woman; and the house swarmed 
 with children, with whom I may speak of myself 
 I was the best of friends; and I shall never for 
 get my occasional dinners and evenings with the 
 family. At the house of Aksakof, the journalistic 
 rival of Katkof, and the great Slavophile, one 
 used to meet Miliutin, Prince Tcherkasky, and 
 others of his particular clique, as well as his father- 
 in-law, the poet Tiutchef, when he happened to be 
 in Moscow; but the feeble health of Madame 
 Aksakof prevented anything like regular recep 
 tions. At Bartenief s the editor of the Russian 
 Archives a man remarkably well informed on all 
 historical and bibliographical subjects, and in the 
 rooms of some of the professors of the University, 
 one occasionally saw scholars and interesting men. 
 But the salon of Prince Odoiefsky was the great 
 meeting-place. 
 
 Prince Vladimir Feodorovitch Odoiefsky was 
 then the sole surviving member of the eldest 
 branch of the descendants of Rurik, and was 
 therefore not only the first noble in Russia, but, 
 
 genealogically speaking, of higher origin than the 
 ^ 208 
 
COUNT LEO TOLSTOY 
 
 Emperor. He had begun his public life as a 
 Chamberlain at Court and in the Ministry of Public 
 Instruction, had become Director of the Imperial 
 Public Library at St. Petersburg, and Grand 
 Master at the court of the learned and witty Grand 
 Duchess Helen; and had finally retired to Moscow 
 as President of one of the sections of the Senate 
 which is the Russian Court of Appeals. In a 
 literary way he was one of the few survivors of 
 the Pushkin epoch, and in his youth had written 
 many short tales of a somewhat reflective and 
 ideal cast; some of them, such as " Beethoven s 
 Last Quartet " and " A Fugue of Bach," of great 
 merit. During later years his productions had 
 been fewer, but of much value. He was a many- 
 sided man a courtier, a lawyer, a musician, a 
 writer, and a scientist. There was hardly a branch 
 of knowledge in which his opinion was not val 
 uable, and his opinion was founded not only on a 
 wonderful acquaintance with books but on reflec 
 tion as well. In his large library, filled with rare 
 works, there was hardly a volume that was not 
 annotated with his careful pencillings. For a 
 scientific knowledge of music and of musical 
 acoustics he had probably few, if any, superiors in 
 the world, and of late years had given all his spare 
 
 time to musical experiment, study, and composi- 
 VOL. I. 14 209 
 
COUNT LEO TOLSTOY 
 
 tion. Though the first aristocrat of Russia, he 
 was perhaps the greatest democrat. In his famous 
 and curious cabinet, where all the Russian authors 
 from Pushkin to Count Tolstoy had so often 
 talked, where Glinka and Berlioz and every musi 
 cian, and, in fact, every distinguished man who 
 had ever been in Russia had sat; where Emperors 
 and Grand Dukes even came, everybody was per 
 fectly equal and perfectly at home. The lowest 
 clerk was treated in exactly the same way as the 
 Cabinet Minister or the Ambassador. There was 
 the same kind reception for all, the same willing 
 ness to oblige and serve. The Princess Olga was 
 as charming as her husband, though in a different 
 way. Her brother, Count Lanskoy, as Minister 
 of the Interior, had been the chief man in the 
 movement for the emancipation of the Russian 
 serfs. Her family still keeps up its liberal ideas, 
 and one of her nephews is Mr. Galkin-Vrassky, 
 well known in connection with prison reform in 
 Russia; and whom Mr. Kennan has frequently 
 occasion to mention with praise. 
 
 To this hospitable house I was introduced, on 
 my first arrival at Moscow, in the autumn of 1867, 
 by Turguenief the novelist, whose personal ac 
 quaintance I had just made at Baden-Baden. I 
 
 was young in years and still younger in character 
 
 210 
 
COUNT LEO TOLSTOY 
 
 and temperament; and from the first I was treated 
 not so much like a favored guest as like the 
 spoiled child of the house. I was made to dine 
 there regularly at least once in the week, and was 
 also expected to come to the usual Friday even 
 ings; and the Prince, who had a taste for cooking 
 and had even published a cookery book, used to 
 send for me by messenger whenever he was to try 
 a new dish, or was expecting an interesting guest. 
 He lived in an old house on the Smolensky Boule 
 vard, which had apparently escaped the fire of 
 1812, with wings extending in a semicircle on 
 either side to the street in the old Moscow style; 
 with a great court-yard in front, a large garden be 
 hind, where he used to experiment on rare vege 
 tables and plants for he was as fond of botany as 
 of cookery or of music. Beneath him, on the 
 ground floor, dwelt the well-known bibliophile 
 Sobolefsky whose library since his death has 
 been pretty well distributed through Europe and 
 America who was then an habitue of the house. 
 On the regular Friday evenings the ladies usually 
 assembled in one of the two drawing-rooms about 
 the Princess, who made the tea, unless some young 
 lady relieved her of that duty; while the men 
 sooner or later dropped off into the cabinet of the 
 
 Prince for cigars, cigarettes, and talk. When 
 
 211 
 
COUNT LEO TOLSTOY 
 
 some great singer or musician was present, like 
 Madame Alexandrova, the prima donna of the 
 Russian opera, who used to come when she was 
 free, we adjourned to the big hall lined with books 
 between the salon and the cabinet, where there 
 were two pianos, an organ, and a collection of 
 musical instruments. There I met Berlioz and 
 other foreign musicians; and once heard the Rus 
 sian composer Serof give us the bonnes douches of 
 one of his new operas. The Prince had invented 
 a little piano-forte with separate keys for the flats 
 and sharps properly tuned like a violin. This 
 was sometimes tried, with the result of spoiling 
 our ears during the rest of the evening for the con 
 ventional approximate sounds of an ordinary piano. 
 To tell of all who used to come there would simply 
 be to give a catalogue of Russian society of the 
 best sort for all that was good at St. Peters 
 burg occasionally stopped at Moscow, and in that 
 case always went to see the Princess or to re 
 count all the eminent names in Russian art and 
 literature. 
 
 It was here that one evening I met Count Leo 
 Tolstoy, who had of old relations with the Prince, 
 and who was intimate besides with many Moscow 
 ladies, great friends of the Princess, who were in 
 
 fact at that time furnishing material for his novel 
 
 212 
 
COUNT LEO TOLSTOY 
 
 of " War and Peace " which he was then slowly 
 writing. I was greatly attracted by him, and at 
 the end of the evening told the Princess that he had 
 asked me to come to see him. She laughingly 
 replied: " It is not worth your while; for you will 
 make nothing out of him, as he is very shy and 
 very wild " (tres- farouche et tres-sauvage). 
 
 Somehow I was not deterred by the forbidding 
 remark of the Princess, and the next day went off 
 to see Count Tolstoy, whom I found surrounded 
 by books and papers in a small apartment lent to 
 him by a friend. Far from being a bear he seemed 
 to me to be extremely amiable. Our acquaintance 
 continued until a suddenly proposed journey took 
 me southeastward to Orenburg on the confines of 
 Asia, when he not only gave me letters to various 
 relatives and friends whom I would be likely to 
 meet, but gave me, in addition, a pressing invita 
 tion to come to his country-place in the autumn 
 and stay as long as I liked and could put up with 
 his ways. 
 
 When the autumn came the invitation was re 
 peated. 
 
 213 
 
COUNT LEO TOLSTOY 
 
 II 
 
 Therefore, on Saturday, October 3d, 1868, I 
 left Moscow at five o clock in the afternoon by the 
 only available train on the Southern Railway, then 
 lately opened, and after passing Tula the Bir 
 mingham and Sheffield of Russia about one hun 
 dred and twenty miles south of Moscow, arrived 
 at the Yasenki Station about two o clock at night. 
 During the journey I was much amused by mak 
 ing the acquaintance of Mr. N. Makarof, the com 
 piler of the best Russian-French dictionary, who, 
 in the Russian simple way, told me all his affairs 
 and the whole story of his life. On a journey Rus 
 sians become very garrulous, and, while they are 
 as inquisitive as the Scotch, they are frank and 
 confiding about their own affairs even those of 
 an intimate nature to a degree that it is difficult 
 for us to imagine. The lovely day in Moscow had 
 ended in a disagreeable storm of rain. The Count s 
 carriage was waiting at Yasenki Station, but it 
 rained so hard and it was so dark that it took us 
 fully an hour and a half to drive the four miles to 
 the house at Yasnaya Polyana. At last we came 
 to a tall stone column and turned up an avenue 
 of trees. A servant was waiting for me at the 
 
 house, who conducted me through what seemed a 
 
 214 
 
COUNT LEO TOLSTOY 
 
 labyrinth of passages to my room, where I found 
 a table spread, and was very glad to eat somewhat 
 and warm myself with tea. I was told that very 
 late hours were kept, and that I should not be ex 
 pected to appear before eleven o clock, which 
 was the usual time for morning coffee. The room 
 which had been given to me was on the further 
 corner of the ground floor. I had to pass the 
 Count s business-room and study to get to it; but, 
 as I found the next day, I was near a staircase, 
 and could go up to the drawing-rooms and dining- 
 room with ease. In one corner was a glass cup 
 board filled with holy pictures images, or Ikons 
 as they call them some in the old and primitive 
 style, evidently painted before the beginning of 
 Dissent, and some richly covered with jewels; be 
 sides crosses, rosaries, and relics, so that my curi 
 osity was greatly aroused. I soon ascertained that 
 this was the room of Madame Yushkof, the 
 Count s aunt, who had taken care of him since 
 his early youth and had since continued to live 
 with him. 
 
 At eleven o clock the next morning I made my 
 appearance in the drawing-room and became ac 
 quainted with the various members of the family: 
 the Countess Sofea Andreievna, a charming, tall, 
 slender, and handsome woman of about twenty- 
 
 215 
 
COUNT LEO TOLSTOY 
 
 four, the daughter of a German physician at Mos 
 cow, named Bors, who was at that time the chief 
 military medical officer at Tula; three children 
 Serge or Seryozhka, a nice handsome boy of five 
 years old; a little girl with bright eyes like her 
 mother, called Tania, short for Tatiana; and a 
 little boy named Ilya or Ilyushka (Elijah); and an 
 English governess. The Count wore a gray 
 plaited blouse, confined by a belt, neither exactly 
 a shooting-jacket, nor yet a peasant shirt, which 
 turned out to be his habitual costume in the coun 
 try. The usual language of the family was Eng 
 lish, at all events when the children were present. 
 The children had their coffee and bread and butter 
 with us, after which the Count and I smoked, 
 talked, and played an hour or so duets on the 
 piano, as it was still too rainy to go out. Suddenly 
 the weather cleared as if by magic, and we \vere 
 able to ride out and look at the estate. 
 
 Yasnaya Polyana, which means, literally, an 
 open field or clearing, contains about 3,000 acres, 
 the greater part of which had been always under 
 cultivation; but as the land was not rich and 
 seemed poor in comparison with the fertile black 
 soil beginning four miles to the south, and as the 
 recent opening of the railway had reduced the 
 
 price of grain by bringing it from far better lands, 
 
 216 
 
COUNT LEO TOLSTOY 
 
 and wages in this region were very high in con 
 sequence of the peasants being employed as 
 carters and drivers, Count Tolstoy had begun to 
 give up sowing wheat and rye, and was then plant 
 ing the whole estate with birch-trees. These he 
 estimated would in the course of twenty years 
 yield a large and steady revenue if carefully cut for 
 firewood on the French plan, and thus he would 
 leave the estate to his children far more productive 
 than he had himself inherited it. The house 
 stood on a little hill at the end of a fine avenue of 
 birch and lime trees: in front were the remains of 
 a magnificent garden, with many ponds and slopes 
 of grass and fine alleys of trees. Behind the courts 
 and stables the woods, fields, and plantations be 
 gan. The green-house had been burnt down a 
 year or two before, and since then the flower- 
 garden had been given up. The old manor- 
 house, which had been a very fine building, had 
 become so ruinous that it had been pulled down 
 shortly before, and the family were then living in 
 one of the detached wings. All large Russian 
 houses, both in city and country, were formerly 
 built with two or three detached wings, which 
 were always found useful and convenient in the 
 times when a whole family, with half a dozen 
 
 servants, would come for a three months visit. 
 
 217 
 
COUNT LEO TOLSTOY 
 
 We came back to a five o clock dinner, after 
 which there was music and general conversation, 
 until between nine and ten, when we had a light 
 supper, without the children, and then the Count 
 took me to his study, where we talked until one or 
 two. 
 
 The other days were passed much in the same 
 way. It is impossible to give the diary of a week 
 so spent, the charm of which lay in the company, 
 the lovely October weather which invited to ex 
 cursions of all kinds, and in the talk. 
 
 Although Tolstoy was then engaged on the last 
 part of " War and Peace," there could have been 
 little writing done at this time. The author s 
 great passion was then, as it always had been, 
 sport. Every morning I found that he had been 
 up by daylight, or even before, no matter at what 
 time he had gone to bed on the previous night, 
 and had gone off into the woods with his gun 
 and dogs in pursuit of game. This was just the 
 season for it; but the heavy rain had for the mo 
 ment driven off the woodcock, of which there 
 were generally quantities within a short distance 
 of the house in what had been formerly a park. 
 It is to this love of sport that we owe not only the 
 whole story of " The Cossacks," as well as several 
 
 other of his early tales, but also some of the best 
 
 218 
 
COUNT LEO TOLSTOY 
 
 pages in " War and Peace " and in " Anna 
 Karenin " the shooting parties and the military 
 races, all of them evidently accounts of what Tol 
 stoy had seen and taken part in. After going out 
 once or twice with him I could see the intense 
 realism of these parts, and for me they now have 
 a special attraction as recalling this visit to Yas- 
 naya Polyana. Having inherited an antipathy to 
 firearms, and never having lived in a region where 
 game was plentiful, or where its pursuit was 
 socially obligatory, as in England, I had never 
 been in the woods with a gun in my hand, and I 
 was persuaded to do so for the first and last time 
 in my life not that it displeased me, quite the con 
 trary, but somehow the occasion has never come 
 again. 
 
 I can never forget my first day out a day as 
 warm and beautiful as that on which I am now 
 writing on the Riviera. We drove about a dozen 
 miles to an open wood where we expected to 
 shoot hares. There we were joined by Mr. Bibi- 
 kof, our nearest neighbor, whom we saw nearly 
 every day. Perhaps it was because Tolstoy had 
 so strong an individuality that I have but little 
 remembrance of Bibikof, except as a pleasant, 
 hospitable country gentleman, with a good house 
 
 and an agreeable family. I but dimly recollect 
 
 219 
 
COUNT LEO TOLSTOY 
 
 even how he looked. Each party had brought a 
 dog or two, whose duty was to start the hares and 
 drive them along the country-road through the 
 woods, so as to pass us, who sat or stood at con 
 siderable intervals in convenient little nooks ap 
 parently arranged for the purpose; for there was 
 generally a stump or log so placed as to make a 
 seat and a look-out. My forest excursions had up 
 to that time been solely botanical, and, except for 
 a curious bird or insect, I had looked only at trees, 
 shrubs, and the ground in search of some rare 
 plant, moss, or fungus. It was new to me to sit 
 still and use my ears as well as my eyes; to appre 
 ciate the different noises of the wood; to know 
 whether that was a twig or a leaf which fell for 
 the leaves were just falling, none of them, even 
 maples and oaks, coloured so highly as with us; to 
 distinguish between the noises made by the birds; 
 to speculate as to the origin of unknown sounds, 
 and to have one s attention always strained for the 
 patter-patter of the hare. I passed thus what I 
 look back to now as one of the pleasantest half- 
 hours of my life; strained, attent, and exercising 
 what seemed to me to be a new sense; quite alone, 
 yet having friends within call, though I knew not 
 where they were, having been first posted. At 
 last I heard the dogs coming down the road and 
 
 220 
 
COUNT LEO TOLSTOY 
 
 the unmistakable sound of the hare over the dry 
 leaves. She came out into the little clearing, 
 stopped still, and looked at me with curiosity. I 
 looked at her with equal wonder, and was so 
 nervous and excited that I quite forgot that I had 
 a gun and had been put there to kill her. When 
 we had each gazed our fill she leisurely walked 
 off. There was another half-hour of waiting, dur 
 ing which I heard occasional shots in various di 
 rections. Again a hare appeared and sat in front 
 of me it was probably the same one come back 
 to see what I was doing then. This time I delib 
 erately aimed and fired, wounding her in a hind 
 leg. I pitied her as she hopped off into the under 
 brush, and entirely forgot that I had a second 
 barrel of my gun. When we met afterwards and 
 compared results, it was found that on the whole 
 I had not done so badly; for there was only one 
 hare killed by the whole party by one of the Bibi- 
 kofs. Tolstoy had seen a hare, but she had 
 escaped while he was cocking his gun. The rela 
 tion of my adventures sent the sportsmen into 
 roars of laughter; but Tolstoy said something in 
 the evening which showed that he appreciated 
 their poetic side. 
 
 On another day we went hare-hunting. Tol 
 stoy and two of the Bibikofs were mounted, and 
 
 221 
 
COUNT LEO TOLSTOY 
 
 armed with very long, flexible, but heavy whips, 
 followed by the dogs in leash. The rest of us 
 that is, the ladies and children of the Bibikof fam 
 ily, the Countess, Serge, and myself went in a 
 lineika, a long, low Russian vehicle for country 
 use, shaped very much like a prolonged Irish 
 jaunting-car, which will hold eight or ten people 
 sitting back to back. When we had come to a 
 sort of moor we were posted on a low hill from 
 which we had a wide view in all directions, and 
 where the servants were to prepare the picnic 
 lunch. The riders, with their respective dogs, 
 which were loosed, started off in different direc 
 tions. The dogs were trained to drive the hares 
 near the hunters, who, as soon as they came within 
 distance, deftly killed them with one blow of the 
 whip, either strangling them or breaking their 
 backs. It was mad, break-neck riding over the 
 hills, gullies, and blind holes, and the sport was 
 almost as exciting to the onlookers as to the actual 
 participants. 
 
 This particular sort of sport is perhaps peculiar 
 to the region; the rest of it might have been en 
 joyed at almost any country-house in such weather. 
 What had more savour to me were the after-supper 
 talks, often prolonged till late in the night. 
 
 222 
 
COUNT LEO TOLSTOY 
 
 III 
 
 One evening during my stay Tolstoy told me 
 much about his early life; but in what I shall say 
 now I do not repeat all that he said or as he said 
 it, and I fill in some details from other sources. 
 
 He was born on s^Se 2 ?* 1828, at Yasnaya 
 Polyana, the youngest of four sons. Of his 
 brothers, Nicholas lived until 1862; he is said to 
 have had a charming character, was a great 
 sporting friend of Turguenief, whose estate was 
 near by, and served for some years in the army 
 of the Caucasus. He told sporting stones very 
 well, and even wrote out some of them, which 
 were published; but, as Turguenief said, "his 
 hands were as callous as those of a workman, and 
 he experienced great physical difficulties in writ 
 ing." In some ways he might well have stood 
 for the original of Nicholas Levin in " Anna 
 Karenin " even to many of the details. His sister 
 Marie married another Tolstoy. She was, accord 
 ing to Turguenief, " a woman in the highest 
 degree agreeable and sympathetic; " who again 
 writes (in 1856) : " Her illness saddens me. If 
 there is a woman on earth who deserves to be 
 happy, it is she. But it is just on such natures 
 
 that the heavy hand of fate is always laid." Tol- 
 
 223 
 
COUNT LEO TOLSTOY 
 
 stoy s mother died in 1830, when he was not yet 
 two years old, on which the children were taken 
 care of by their aunt, the Countess Osten Sacken, 
 their father s sister. But about the time of the 
 removal of the family to Moscow, in 1837, the 
 father died. Leo, his brother Dimitri, and his 
 sister Marie, were sent back to the country, while 
 Nicholas remained in Moscow with his aunt Osten 
 Sacken and attended the University. Three years 
 later the Countess Osten Sacken died, and the 
 younger children passed into the care of her sister, 
 another aunt, Madame Yushkof, living at Kazan. 
 She devoted herself to Count Leo and his family 
 for the rest of her long life, and Tolstoy gives an 
 amusing example of her wishes for his future 
 prosperity in the first chapter of his " Confessions." 
 Dimitri now went to the University of Kazan, dis 
 tinguishing himself at one time by a religious zeal 
 which made him the laughing-stock of the rest of 
 the family. 1 
 
 1 The account of his early life, given by Count Tolstoy in his " Con 
 fessions," is interesting; but we must remember that it was written 
 under the influence of a very strong religious emotion. 
 
 " I was baptized and brought up in the Orthodox Christian Faith. 
 It was taught to me in my early childhood, and through my whole 
 boyhood and youth. But when, at the age of eighteen, I had passed 
 my second year at the University, I no longer believed anything that 
 I had been taught. Judging from certain recollections I could never 
 have believed seriously, and had only a sort of confidence in what 
 older people had professed in my presence. Even this confidence was 
 very shaky. I remember when I was about eleven years old that a 
 boy, long since dead, Volodinka M , a pupil of the High School, 
 
 224 
 
COUNT LEO TOLSTOY 
 
 Leo himself began to attend the University in 
 1843 a * tne a e f fifteen, and passed one year 
 in the course of Eastern Languages, and two 
 years in that of Law. Suddenly, seized with a 
 desire of doing good to his peasants, he left the 
 University and settled on his estate at Yasnaya 
 Polyana. His experiences there, as well as his 
 ideas in going there, are hinted at in his sketch 
 called " The Morning of a Proprietor " (Utro 
 
 came to see us one Sunday and told us, as the last news, a discovery 
 that had been made at school. This was that there was no God, and 
 that all that had been taught us on that subject was pure imagination. 
 This was in 1838. I remember how interested my elder brothers got 
 over this news; how they called me into the consultation, and how 
 we all became very animated and received the information as some 
 thing very interesting and perfectly possible. 
 
 " I remember, too, that when my eldest brother Dimitri, while he 
 was at the University, suddenly gave himself up to religion with the 
 peculiar passion of his nature and began to attend all the services, 
 to fast, and to lead a purely moral life, we all, even our elders, con 
 stantly held him up to ridicule, and for some reason or other called 
 him Noah. Mussin-Pushkin, who was then Curator of the University 
 of Kazan, when he used to invite us to a dance and my brother re 
 fused, laughingly tried to persuade him by saying that David had 
 danced before the ark. I sympathized then with these jests of my 
 elders and concluded from them that it was necessary to learn the 
 catechism and go to church, but that all that should not be taken 
 too seriously. I remember also that I read Voltaire when I was very 
 young, and his ridicule not only did not disturb me, but even amused 
 me. Unbelief came on me just as it had come, and still comes, on 
 persons of all classes of society. 
 
 " The religious belief which had been inculcated into me in my 
 childhood disappeared in me as in several others, with this difference 
 only, that as I had begun to read philosophical works at the age of 
 fifteen, my refusal to believe was made with the consciousness of what 
 I was doing. At sixteen I had stopped saying my prayers, and act 
 ing on my own convictions refused to go to church or to fast. I did 
 not believe in what had been taught me in childhood, but I believed 
 in something or other. 
 
 " Some time I will tell the history of my life, which is both touch 
 ing and instructive in these ten years of my youth. I think that very 
 many will have the same experience. I desired with all my soul to 
 
 VOL. I. 1 5 225 
 
COUNT LEO TOLSTOY 
 
 pomiestchika). In 1851 he made to his brother, 
 then serving in the Caucasus, a visit which com 
 pletely changed the current of his life. Struck 
 with the scenery and the simple ways, influenced 
 perhaps also by other considerations, he desired to 
 remain; and, as the Caucasus was not then a 
 place for civilians, he entered the military service 
 as Yunker in the fourth battery of the twentieth 
 brigade of artillery. A Yunker was at that time 
 
 be good; but I was young, I had passions, and I was alone, quite 
 alone, when I sought for good. Every time that I tried to express 
 what were my most heartfelt wishes, that I wished to be morally 
 good, I met with contempt and ridicule; but whenever I gave my 
 self up to my bad passions I was praised and encouraged. 
 
 " Ambition, love of power, love of gain, pleasure, pride, wrath, 
 vengeance all that was respected: when I gave myself up to these 
 passions I began to be like a man and felt that people were contented 
 with me. My good aunt, a most virtuous woman, with whom I lived, 
 always said to me that she wished nothing for me so much as to come 
 into relations with a married woman: rien ne forme un jeune homme 
 comme une liaison avec une femme comme il faut. She wished me 
 also another good fortune, that I should become an aide-de-camp, 
 especially an aide-de-camp to the Emperor. But the very highest good 
 luck would be to marry a very rich girl, in consequence of which I 
 should possess the greatest possible number of serfs. 
 
 " I cannot remember these years without horror, disgust, and pain 
 of heart. I used to kill people in war; I challenged them to duels in 
 order to kill them ; I used to lose money at cards ; I ate up the labour 
 of the peasants and punished them; I led an immoral life; gave my 
 self up to systematic deception. Lying, theft, pleasure of all kinds, 
 drunkenness, violence, murder. . . . there was no crime that I 
 did not commit. For all that my contemporaries praised me and still 
 considered me a comparatively moral man. 
 
 " Thus I lived for ten years. During this time I began to write 
 from vanity, cupidity, and pride. I was the same in my writings as 
 I was in my life. In order to get fame and money, for which I wrote, 
 it was necessary to conceal what was good and show forth what was 
 bad. And so I did. How often did I take great pains in my writings 
 to conceal, under an appearance of indifference, and even of light ridi 
 cule, those aspirations of mine to virtue which were really the aim of 
 my life. That end I succeeded in attaining, and I was praised in con 
 sequence." 
 
 226 
 
COUNT LEO TOLSTOY 
 
 something between a soldier and an officer, the 
 rank by which noblemen generally entered the 
 army, which obliged them to do soldier s duty, and 
 yet allowed them to associate on an equality with 
 the officers. He was stationed at Staro-Lidov- 
 skaya on the Terek, where he remained about 
 three years, till the outbreak of the war with 
 Turkey. The new surroundings awakened new 
 expressions of his nature, and Tolstoy began to 
 write. " Childhood " (Dietstvo) was finished in 
 1852, and " Boyhood " (Otrotchestvo) in 1854. 
 "The Incursion" (Nabieg) and "A Landlord s 
 Morning " (Utro Pomiestchikd) were also written 
 in 1852. It is curious to find that at the very 
 beginning were the germs of the three different 
 lines that he has continued and woven together in 
 his latest and best works, and even the germs of 
 his more recent philosophical-religious phase. 
 The foundations were laid for several other short 
 stones, especially " The Cossacks " and in some 
 cases the projects were committed to paper. 
 
 When the Eastern war began, Tolstoy asked for 
 active service, and was assigned to the staff of 
 Prince Michael Gortchakof, the commander-in- 
 chief of the Russian army on the Danube; and 
 when the scene of action was transferred to the 
 
 Crimea, he obtained the command of a mountain 
 
 227 
 
COUNT LEO TOLSTOY 
 
 battery, and had the chance to do good service 
 in the battle of the Tchernaya (August 16, 1855). 
 This battle, which was so disastrous to Russia, 
 was the outcome of a series of blunders, beginning 
 with the demand of Baron Vrefsky, the repre 
 sentative of the Minister of War, for active oper 
 ations of some kind, and with the forgetfulness of 
 the military topographers to put down on the cam 
 paign-map certain gullies and ravines that proved 
 of great importance. The deliberations of the 
 Council of War and the events of the battle were 
 well hit off in a satirical song, which is an excel 
 lent illustration of a national trait of Russians, of 
 being able to joke and laugh even in the worst 
 moments, and thus to keep up their spirits. It 
 was very popular in the Crimea, and was soon 
 circulated in manuscript throughout Russia. The 
 voice of the army ascribed the authorship to Tol 
 stoy, but it was naturally impossible to avow it. 
 He was at least one of the authors, for new verses 
 were occasionally added at officers suppers, when 
 Tolstoy himself sometimes accompanied it on the 
 piano. 
 
 During the campaign Tolstoy began " Youth " 
 (Yiinost), which was not finished till two years 
 later, wrote another sketch of the Caucasus, 
 
 " Wood-cutting " (Rubka-lyesa), and the three 
 
 228 
 
COUNT LEO TOLSTOY 
 
 sketches of Sevastopol. These last drew to the 
 author great attention at home. The first two 
 were read with sympathy at the Palace, and the 
 Emperor Nicholas who even in the midst of war 
 could think of the intellectual glory of his country 
 gave orders that " the life of that young man 
 must be looked after." That is the expression 
 which Tolstoy used in speaking of it. As a result 
 much to his personal annoyance he was kept 
 out of harm s way; sent, I believe, to Simpheropol 
 for the short remainder of the siege. 
 
 After peace was made Tolstoy resigned from 
 the army, and went to St. Petersburg, twenty-six 
 years old, and with a great prestige for so young 
 an author. Here he was at once received in a 
 flattering way by the chief literary circle of the 
 capital Turguenief, Gontcharof, Grigorovitch, 
 Druzhinin, and Ostrofsky and on one occasion 
 they had themselves photographed together. 1 
 
 1 " Twenty-six years old I arrived at St. Petersburg after the war, 
 and came into relations with authors. They received me in a flatter 
 ing way, like one of their own number. I had not succeeded in 
 taking any situation before the views about life of the writers with 
 whom I became intimate had already taken possession of me, and had 
 completely effaced in me all my previous desires to make myself better. 
 These views made up a theory which quite excused the license of 
 my life. Their substance was in general, that life continues to prog 
 ress, and that in this development the preponderant part is due to 
 us men of thought, and especially to those of us who are artists and 
 poets. Our vocation was to instruct people. What was our instruc 
 tion there was no need of inquiring; for it was admitted in theory 
 that artists and poets instructed unconsciously. I considered myself 
 a remarkable artist and poet, and therefore very naturally accepted 
 
 229 
 
COUNT LEO TOLSTOY 
 
 Tolstoy at last grew weary of life at St. Peters 
 burg and returned to Yasnaya Polyana. The life 
 of the capital did not agree with his ideal of the 
 objects of existence. He was young, obstinate in 
 his own opinions, and was inclined to deviate from 
 the accepted rules of literary art. But in spite of 
 obstinacy and eccentricity, he was respected and 
 loved by those who met him. As his brothers 
 had died of consumption, and he looked very deli 
 cate and was credited with leading a very fast life, 
 fears were entertained for his health; and Tur 
 guenief, who was comparatively a near country 
 neighbour, as distances go in Russia, had a general 
 mandate to look after him. Of Russian literary 
 men Turguenief was perhaps his warmest friend, 
 although he was the constant object of his raillery; 
 and in general conversation Tolstoy was sometimes 
 exasperating. Of the results of Turguenief s ef 
 forts to keep Tolstoy in order I must speak later. 
 
 Tolstoy, while in the country, kept on writing, 
 and showed only to a moderate extent his peculiar 
 
 this theory. I, an artist and poet, wrote and taught not knowing what. 
 For that I was paid money, I had excellent eating, lodging, and so 
 ciety: I was famous. Therefore what I taught must be very good. 
 This belief in the importance of poetry and the development of life 
 was a Faith, and I was one of its Priests. Being a Priest was very 
 advantageous and very agreeable, and I lived a long time in this be 
 lief without doubting its truth. . . . We were all then convinced 
 that it was necessary for us to speak and write and print as quickly 
 as possible, and as much as possible, and that all that was necessary 
 for the good of humanity."" Confessions." 
 
 230 
 
COUNT LEO TOLSTOY 
 
 ideas. The next year, 1857, he went abroad for 
 the first time. He was delighted with Germany, 
 stayed a long time in France, and went as far as 
 Rome. In Paris he went to see a man guillotined 
 and was greatly impressed. He told me the whole 
 story in such a vivid way that I fully expected he 
 would use it in a novel; and I could not help 
 thinking of it afterwards when reading Turgue- 
 niefs remarkable account of the execution of 
 Troppmann. But so far it has only furnished a 
 sentence or two in the " Confessions. * 
 
 His journey abroad gave rise to two or three 
 short stories; but he soon ceased writing, to de 
 vote himself to educating the serfs on his estate, 
 and in 1860 he made another journey to the West. 
 He married in 1862, and from that time on, and 
 for fully ten years after I knew him, devoted 
 himself to the enjoyment of his family life, and to 
 the pursuit of literature, without, however, neg 
 lecting opportunities for well-doing. 
 
 The Count said that his family was descended 
 from a Dane named Dick, who, when he came to 
 Russia, translated his name into the corresponding 
 Tolstoy (thick). The tradition, however, which 
 is received by the genealogists, traces the origin 
 of the family to a German named Indris, who came 
 
 to Tchernigof, in 1353, with his two sons and 
 
 231 
 
COUNT LEO TOLSTOY 
 
 about 3,000 followers, all of whom immediately 
 accepted the doctrine of the Eastern Church, and 
 Indris was renamed Leontius. It was only in the 
 fourth generation that one Andrei received the 
 surname of Tolstoy, on account of his figure. All 
 of the Tolstoys who are counts, are descended 
 from Count Peter Andreievitch, the well-known 
 diplomatist and statesman of the times of Peter 
 and Catherine I., who distinguished himself dis 
 agreeably by the capture of Peter s son Alexis at 
 Naples. For his services he was made count in 
 1724, the fourth time that this title had been 
 given. Therefore the present Minister of the In 
 terior, Count Dimitri Andreievitch, and the late 
 Count Alexis Constantinovitch, the poet and 
 author of " Prince Serebryanny," are both distant 
 cousins of Count Leo; but it is necessary to go 
 back to the son or grandson of the first count to 
 find a common ancestor. Many of the family, 
 both counts and untitled, have distinguished them 
 selves in war, in diplomacy, in statesmanship, in 
 literature, in the arts, and at Court. Each of the 
 three Emperors Alexander has had for intimate 
 friend a Count Tolstoy. A cousin of the novelist s 
 grandfather, Count Peter Alexandrovitch, served 
 with distinction under Suvarof, gaining the grade 
 
 of colonel and the cross of St. George at the storm 
 
 232 
 
COUNT LEO TOLSTOY 
 
 of Praga, was Russian Commissioner with the 
 army of the Archduke Karl, commander of the 
 Russian army in Northern Germany in 1805, and 
 ambassador in Paris in 1807 and 1808, when his 
 recall was asked by Napoleon because he fre 
 quented the society of the Faubourg St. Germain. 
 In 1812 he commanded the militia at Moscow and 
 organized the national defence; in 1813 he com 
 manded a corps in Benningsen s army in the oper 
 ations against Dresden and Hamburg; in 1823 he 
 was made a member of the Council of State as 
 President of the Military Section, and in 1831 
 commanded the reserve army against the rebellious 
 Poles. He is described by Dolgoruky, who is not 
 given to compliment, as " a man of pre-eminent 
 nobility of soul, of unwavering constancy, of ex 
 emplary unselfishness, who ardently loved his 
 country, was faithful in friendship, honourable 
 without the shadow of a change, respected by 
 everyone, and who, during the whole seventy- 
 five years of his life, was a chevalier sans peur et 
 sans reproche." In fact he was a worthy prototype 
 of the old Prince Nicholas Bolkonsky, the father 
 of Prince Andrei in " War and Peace." 
 
 Count Osterman-Tolstoy might have served as 
 the original of one incident in Byron s " Don 
 Juan," in having been the handsome young lieu- 
 
 233 
 
COUNT LEO TOLSTOY 
 
 tenant who brought to Catherine II. the news of 
 the fall of Ismail. He speedily advanced at Court, 
 inherited the immense fortune of his great-uncles, 
 Counts Ivan and Feodor Osterman, and was al 
 lowed to add this name to his own. Though in 
 disfavour under the Emperors Paul and Alexander 
 I., he nevertheless took an active part in the war 
 of 1812, and won the battle of Kulm (so far as is 
 permitted even to a Tolstoy to win a battle), by 
 which the tide was first turned against Napoleon. 
 Later he lived abroad, took Fallmerayer on a three 
 years journey in the East, and died at Geneva in 
 
 1837- 
 
 The novelist s father, Nikolas Hitch, had no 
 higher rank than Lieutenant-Colonel: but his 
 uncle, Feodor Andreievitch, the Senator and 
 Privy Councillor, who died in 1849, a * the age of 
 ninety-one, was a noted bibliophile, whose splen 
 did collection of Slavonic manuscripts is now in 
 the Public Library at St. Petersburg; and his 
 cousin, Count Feodor Petrovitch, was a sculptor 
 and medallist of merit, and died in 1873 as Vice- 
 President and Professor in the Academy of the 
 Fine Arts. 
 
 The mother of the novelist was the Princess 
 Marie Volkonsky, daughter of a general of Cath 
 erine s time, and a direct descendant of St. 
 
 234 
 
COUNT LEO TOLSTOY 
 
 Michael, Prince of Tchernigof, who was mar 
 tyred by the Mongols in 1246 for refusing to per 
 form an act of heathen worship, and was subse 
 quently canonised by the Russian Church. Thus 
 on his mother s side, and also in other ways, 
 Count Leo Tolstoy is a descendant of Rurik. 
 Among his other direct ancestors we find mem 
 bers of the princely houses of Trubetzkoy Gort- 
 chakof, Stchetinin and Trockurof, without men 
 tioning countless relationships and connections 
 with most of the noble families of Russia. 
 
 I have dwelt thus at length on the family of the 
 Tolstoys, partly perhaps because I have a personal 
 leaning to genealogy, but chiefly because Tolstoy 
 is the rare exception in Russian literature of a 
 novelist who really forms part of the society he 
 has undertaken to describe, and because of the 
 contrast of his family history with his present 
 religious and social opinions. Such contrasts are 
 not rare in Russia. 
 
 IV 
 
 As we spent the evenings and part of the 
 mornings in the Count s study, which was full of 
 books, the talk very naturally ran on literature. 
 At intervals I helped him to rearrange his library, 
 a good portion of which consisted of old French 
 
 235 
 
COUNT LEO TOLSTOY 
 
 books which had descended to him from his father 
 or grandfather; but which contained also the best 
 imaginative literature of England, France, Ger 
 many, and Italy, not to speak of Russian books 
 and an enviable collection of works about Napo 
 leon and his times which were in use for " War 
 and Peace." Of these latter, some rare books I 
 was able afterwards to obtain; others I still envy 
 him. Unfortunately I have mislaid most of my 
 notes with regard to our literary conversations. 
 Certain things, however, made a strong impres 
 sion upon me. 
 
 Tolstoy had a very high opinion of the English 
 novel, not only as a work of art but especially for 
 its naturalism a word not then in vogue. " In 
 French literature," he said, " I prize, above all, 
 the novels of Alexandre Dumas and of Paul de 
 Kock." At this I opened my eyes wide, being 
 at that time strongly imbued with the ideas of the 
 school then prevalent. " No," he said, " don t 
 tell me any of that nonsense that Paul de Kock is 
 immoral. He is, sometimes, according to English 
 notions, improper. He is more or less what the 
 French call leste and Gaulois; but he is never im 
 moral. Whatever he may say in his books, and 
 in despite of his little loose jokes, his stories are 
 
 perfectly moral in tendency. He is the French 
 
 236 
 
COUNT LEO TOLSTOY 
 
 Dickens. His characters are all drawn from life, 
 and very perfectly too. When I was in Paris I 
 used to spend half my days in the omnibuses, 
 simply for the amusement of looking at the people; 
 and I can assure you that nearly every passenger 
 had come out of one of Paul de Kock s novels. 
 And as to Dumas, every novel-writer ought to 
 know him by heart. His plots are marvellous, to 
 say nothing of his workmanship : I can read him 
 again and again; but his plots and intrigues form 
 his strong point." For Balzac he did not care so 
 much. Among other writers I can now only re 
 call Schopenhauer, for whom at that time he had 
 a great admiration, and whose German style he 
 particularly praised. 
 
 We talked of contemporary Russian authors, 
 and the conversation naturally fell upon his own 
 books, of which he spoke with great frankness. 
 " War and Peace," which was then in publication, 
 afforded the subject for a long talk; but of this I 
 can only give the result, and not in so many words 
 what he said. 
 
 " War and Peace " was originally published in 
 six parts, beginning in 1865, and not as usual in 
 Katkof s Russian Messenger. Four numbers had 
 then been issued, had had a very great sale, and 
 had been read by everybody. These carried the 
 
 237 
 
COUNT LEO TOLSTOY 
 
 story down to the battle of Borodino. The final 
 portions did not appear for a year or so afterward. 
 There had been, of course, some hostile criticism, 
 to which Tolstoy replied in Bartenief s historical 
 journal, Russian Archives, at about this time, and 
 much in the same way that he talked about the 
 book to me. 
 
 It may be remarked here that before writing 
 " War and Peace," Tolstoy began a novel to be 
 called " The Decembrists " (Dekabristy), on the 
 theme of the attempted revolution of December 
 if, 1825 (on the accession of the Emperor Nich 
 olas), in which so many well-born Russians, in 
 cluding several of his own relatives and family 
 connections, had taken part. At this time, before 
 the rise of destructive Nihilism, owing in part to 
 the return of several of the participators, who had 
 been pardoned by the Emperor Alexander after 
 a sojourn of over forty years in Siberia, the his 
 tory of this conspiracy greatly occupied the Rus 
 sian public. But " in trying to bring to life again 
 in his own mind the period of the Decembrists, 
 he could not help going back in thought to the 
 preceding period the past of his heroes. Grad 
 ually he penetrated deeper and deeper into the 
 causes of the events that he wished to describe 
 into the family history, the education, the social 
 
 238 
 
COUNT LEO TOLSTOY 
 
 conditions of the characters he had chosen. Final 
 ly he stopped at the time of the Napoleonic wars," 
 and wrote what we all know. 
 
 The idea of " The Decembrists " was not lost 
 sight of, and the reader who remembers among 
 the later chapters of " War and Peace " those 
 that describe the home life of Pierre and Natasha 
 will see, if he be acquainted with Russian history, 
 how skilfully the ground is prepared for another 
 epical romance of a similar character. Diis aliter 
 visum. Twice before 1878 the project was taken 
 up, and the opening chapters were re-written, but 
 it was then abandoned. In the first draught Pierre 
 and his family appear in Moscow on their return 
 after their long exile in Siberia. 
 
 " War and Peace, " said Tolstoy, "is not a 
 novel, still less a poem, still less an historical 
 chronicle. It is not presumption on my part if I 
 keep clear of customary forms. The history of 
 Russian literature from Pushkin down presents 
 many similar examples. From the Dead Souls 
 of Gogol to the Dead House of Dostoiefsky 
 there is not a single artistic prose work, of more 
 than average merit, which keeps entirely to the 
 usual form of a novel or a poem. 
 
 " Some of my readers have said that the char 
 acter of the times is not sufficiently shown. I 
 
 239 
 
COUNT LEO TOLSTOY 
 
 know what they mean the horrors of serfdom, 
 the walling up of wives, the flogging of grown-up 
 sons, the Saltytchikha, as she is commonly called 
 (that Madame Saltykof who, in the time of 
 Catherine II., in the course of eleven or twelve 
 years had over a hundred of her serfs whipped to 
 death, chiefly women and girls, for not washing 
 her linen properly), and things like that. The 
 fact is that I did not find all this a true expression 
 of the character of the times. After studying no 
 end of letters, journals, and traditions I did not 
 find such horrors worse than in our own times or 
 any other. In those times people also loved, 
 hated, sought the truth, tried to do good, and 
 were led away by their passions. There was also 
 then a complicated, thoughtful, moral life, perhaps 
 even more refined than now, in the highest class. 
 Our traditions of that epoch are drawn from the 
 exceptions. The character of that time comes 
 from the greater separation of the highest class 
 from the rest, the ruling philosophy, the peculi 
 arities of education, and especially the habit of 
 talking French; and it is that character which I 
 tried, as far as I could, to portray. 
 
 * You spoke of the similarity of some of the 
 names, such as Bolkonsky, Drubetzkoy, Bilibin, 
 
 Kuragin, etc., with well known Russian names. 
 
 240 
 
COUNT LEO TOLSTOY 
 
 Yes, that I did purposely. In making imaginary 
 personages act with real historical characters, 
 there seemed to me to be something awkward for 
 the ear if Count Rostoptchin talked with a Prince 
 Pronsky, or Strelsky, or some other made-up 
 name. Although Bolkonsky and Drubetzkoy 
 are not Volkonsky and Trubetzkoy, yet they have 
 a sound which is natural and customary in Russian 
 aristocratic circles. I couldn t invent names for 
 everybody, like Bezutchy and Rostof, which did 
 not seem false to the ear, and I tried to get 
 around the difficulty by taking the names of well- 
 known families with the change of a letter or a 
 syllable. I should be sorry if this should lead 
 people to think that I wanted to represent partic 
 ular persons, especially because that sort of litera 
 ture which consists in the description of persons 
 who really exist or have existed has nothing in 
 common with my purpose. Maria Dmitrievna 
 Akhrosimof le terrible dragon (Madame Ofrosimof) 
 and Denisof (the celebrated guerilla leader Denis- 
 Davydof) are the only characters to which invol 
 untarily and without thinking I gave names re 
 sembling those of two characteristic and charming 
 personages of the society of that time. That is 
 my fault, caused by the special characteristics of 
 
 these two persons; but the reader must admit that 
 VOL. I. 16 241 
 
COUNT LEO TOLSTOY 
 
 there is nothing resembling the truth in their 
 actions. All the other characters are entirely im 
 aginary, and even for myself have no original, 
 either in tradition or in actual life." 
 
 In spite of this declaration the Count s family 
 friends insist that in the Princess Marie Bolkonsky 
 he drew an ideal portrait of his own mother; but 
 it is possible that the similarity of the name (Prin 
 cess Marie Volkonsky) may have deceived their 
 imaginations into seeing a likeness of character. 
 The faithful picture of the times is due to a study 
 of memoirs, old letters, and personal accounts, 
 quite as conscientious as that given by any his 
 torian to his material. There were still living in 
 Moscow many old people whose early recollections 
 went back to the burning of Moscow, and Tolstoy 
 himself must in his younger days have known 
 many who had taken at least a minor part in the 
 events which form the groundwork of his story. 
 The Princess Odoiefsky told me that some ladies, 
 and especially a Miss P., a distant connection of 
 Tolstoy, and a common friend of us all, had been 
 very serviceable in getting at the old people of 
 Moscow, and in writing out their stories and 
 anecdotes. In fact, society had changed so little 
 in Moscow and the country, up to the time of the 
 
 Crimean War, that had Tolstoy described only 
 
 242 
 
COUNT LEO TOLSTOY 
 
 what he had himself seen, his picture would have 
 been true externally of the earlier period; but it 
 would have lacked the breath of life, the spirit 
 which animated the men of 1812. 
 
 The indication of sources detracts no more from 
 the merits of the novelist than from those of the 
 historian. At times it is easy to see what influ 
 ences were at work in " War and Peace." The 
 history and influence of freemasonry in Russia 
 was just at that time a new subject for research, 
 as the barriers against historical study and criti 
 cism were being gradually relaxed. The reading, 
 by the author, of a series of articles in the Russian 
 Messenger, on freemasonry in the time of Cath 
 erine, and the book of Longinof on Novikof, made 
 Pierre become a mason, and further guides were 
 found in the large collection of masonic books, 
 emblems, and rubbish, in the public museum at 
 Moscow, which contains most of the archives and 
 property of the Russian masonic lodges when they 
 were closed and seized. 
 
 One incident in the latter part of the story, the 
 indecision of the Countess Helen, Pierre s wife, as 
 to her choice of a new husband, is founded on an 
 occurrence at St. Petersburg while the story was 
 in progress. A certain Madame A., although she 
 was not yet divorced from her husband, was eagerly 
 
 243 
 
COUNT LEO TOLSTOY 
 
 courted by two suitors, the old Chancellor, Prince 
 Gortchakof, and the Duke of Leuchtenberg, the 
 Emperor s nephew. The Emperor forbade both 
 the rivals to marry, one because of the relationship, 
 the other on account of his age and family. The 
 issue of the story was different. The lady lived 
 for a while with Prince Gortchakof as his niece, 
 and in that capacity presided at his diplomatic 
 dinners; subsequently she ran away with the 
 Duke, and years after, in 1879, married him mor- 
 ganatically, with the title of Countess Beauhar- 
 nais. 
 
 The Vicomte E. M. de Vogue, in his interesting 
 and appreciative book " Le Roman Russe," seems 
 to imply that Tolstoy s battle descriptions are im 
 itated from the celebrated account of the battle of 
 Waterloo in Stendhal s " Chartreuse de Parme," 
 the idea of which, Sainte-Beuve in turn says, " was 
 taken from an English book, The Memoirs of a 
 Soldier of the Seventy-first Regiment, who took 
 part in the battle of Vittoria without understand 
 ing anything about it; much as Fabrice took part 
 in that of Waterloo, asking himself aftenvard if 
 he really had been in a battle and had really 
 fought." The "Chartreuse de Parme," with all 
 its merits, is a signal example of how an historical 
 
 novel should not be written. Tolstoy made im- 
 
 244 
 
COUNT LEO TOLSTOY 
 
 aginary take part with real characters in historical 
 events. Stendhal does the same partially at 
 Waterloo and in Milan; but after that all is ficti 
 tious, and, worst of all, real names are given to 
 purely imaginary places. The Parma of the novel 
 is in no way, either historically or topographically, 
 like the real Parma, however much it may be like 
 Modena. 
 
 In speaking not of this, but of his treatment of 
 history in general, Tolstoy said that the historian 
 and the artist, in describing an historical epoch, 
 have totally different aims and treat of different 
 subjects. " An historian would not be right if he 
 tried to present an historical personage in all his 
 entirety, in all his complicated relations to all 
 sides of life. Neither would an artist do his duty 
 if he always gave him his historical signification. 
 Kutuzof was not always riding on a white horse, 
 with his field-glass in his hand, pointing at the 
 enemy. Rostoptchin was not always with a torch 
 setting fire to his house at Voronovo (in fact he 
 never did this at all), and the Empress Maria 
 Feodorovna did not always stand in an ermine 
 cloak resting her hand on the Code of Laws/ 
 But this is the way in which the popular imagi 
 nation pictures them. The historian deals with 
 heroes; the artist with men. The historian treats 
 
 245 
 
COUNT LEO TOLSTOY 
 
 of the results of events; the artist of the facts con 
 nected with the event. 
 
 " Battles are, of course, nearly always described 
 in a contradictory way by the two sides; but, be 
 sides this, there is in every description of a battle 
 a certain amount of falsehood which is indispen 
 sable on account of the necessity of describing in 
 a few words the actions of thousands of people, 
 distributed over a space of several miles, all under 
 the strongest moral excitement, under the influ 
 ence of fear of disgrace or death. 
 
 " Descriptions of battles generally say that such 
 troops were sent to attack such a point, and were 
 afterwards ordered to retreat, etc., as if people sup 
 posed that the same discipline which on a parade 
 ground moves tens of thousands of men by the 
 will of one, could have the same effect where it is 
 a question of life or death. Everyone who has 
 been in a war knows how untrue this is, and yet 
 on this supposition military reports are made out, 
 and on them descriptions of battles are written. 
 
 " By the way, a friend told me what was said 
 by Nikolai Nikolaievitch Muravief-Karsky about 
 my description of Schongraben, which confirms 
 my conviction. Muravief, who had been himself 
 a commander-in-chief, said that he had never read 
 
 a truer account of a fight, and from his own ex- 
 
 246 
 
COUNT LEO TOLSTOY 
 
 perience he knew how impossible it was to carry 
 out the orders of the commander-in-chief on the 
 field of battle. 
 
 " Go about all the troops immediately after an 
 engagement, or even on the second or third day, 
 before the official reports are written, and question 
 all the soldiers and the higher and lower officers 
 how things went: all these people will tell you 
 what they really felt and saw, and you will receive 
 an impression which is grand, complicated, im 
 mensely varied, and solemn, but by no means 
 clear; you will learn from no one, still less from 
 the commander-in-chief, exactly how the whole 
 took place. But in two or three days official re 
 ports begin to come in, talkers begin to describe 
 what they never saw, finally the whole report is 
 made up, and this creates a sort of public opinion 
 in the army. It is so much easier to settle all 
 one s doubts and questions by this false, but always 
 clear and flattering account. If in a month or 
 two you question a man who took part in the bat 
 tle, you will no longer feel in his story that raw, 
 living material that was there before, for he will 
 tell it according to the official report. The details 
 of the battle of Borodino were told to me by many 
 shrewd men who took part in it and are still alive. 
 They all told the same story, all according to the 
 
 247 
 
COUNT LEO TOLSTOY 
 
 untrue accounts of Mikailofsky-Danilefsky, Glinka, 
 etc., and even related the same details in the same 
 way, though they must have been miles off from 
 one another. 
 
 " After the loss of Sevastopol, General Kryz- 
 hanofsky, the chief of artillery, sent me the reports 
 of the artillery officers from all the bastions and 
 asked me to combine these twenty or more reports 
 into one. I am very sorry that I did not take 
 copies of those reports. It was an excellent ex 
 ample of the na ive, indispensable, military lie out 
 of which descriptions are made. I presume that 
 many of my comrades, who then made those re 
 ports, would laugh at the recollection of their 
 being ordered by their superiors to write about 
 what they never saw. All who have experienced 
 a war know how fit Russians are to do their mili 
 tary duty, and how unfit they are to describe it 
 with the indispensable, bragging lie. Everybody 
 knows that in our armies this duty, the compilation 
 of reports, is generally performed by our officers 
 of non-Russian race. 
 
 " But besides the necessary falsehood in the 
 description of events, I find a false way of under 
 standing events. Often when studying the two 
 chief historical productions on this epoch, Thiers 
 and Mikailofsky-Danilefsky, I am astonished how 
 
 248 
 
COUNT LEO TOLSTOY 
 
 such books could be printed or read. Without 
 speaking of the exposition of the same events in 
 the same serious, important tone, with references 
 to authorities, and yet diametrically opposed to 
 each other, I have found in these histories descrip 
 tions of a sort that I did not know whether to 
 laugh or to cry over them, when I remembered 
 that these books are the sole memorials of the 
 epoch and have millions of readers. I ll give a 
 single instance from Thiers, who, in speaking of 
 the forged Russian bank-notes brought by Napo 
 leon, says : . Using these means in an act of benevo 
 lence worthy of himself and of the French army, 
 he distributed assistance to the sufferers by the 
 conflagration. But provisions being too precious 
 to be given for long to strangers, for the most 
 part enemies, Napoleon preferred to furnish them 
 with money, and had paper rubles distributed to 
 them/ If Thiers had fully understood what he 
 was saying, could he have written in such a way 
 of such an immoral act? " 
 
 This led to a long discussion of the French oc 
 cupation, and of the burning of Moscow, which 
 Tolstoy maintained in even stronger terms than 
 those he afterwards employed in his novel, was 
 solely due to accident. He showed me the large 
 library of books and authorities that he had col- 
 
 249 
 
COUNT LEO TOLSTOY 
 
 lected for his studies, and pointed out to me some 
 interesting memoirs and pamphlets which are rare 
 and little known. Of Rostoptchin he spoke with 
 great contempt. Rostoptchin always denied that 
 he had had a hand in the burning of Moscow until 
 he found out that, to excuse themselves, the 
 French had attributed it to him, and that in his 
 visit to France after the restoration this was 
 thought a glorious deed of patriotism. He at first 
 accepted it modestly, and then boldly boasted of 
 it. The legend has been kept alive, partly by the 
 chauvinism of French historians and partly by the 
 influence of the Segurs (one of whom married his 
 daughter) and their numerous relatives and liter 
 ary following. 
 
 Count Tolstoy insisted on his accuracy, and 
 especially on his conscientiousness in historical 
 matters and said : " Wherever historical characters 
 act and speak in my novel, I have imagined noth 
 ing, and have conformed myself strictly to his 
 torical materials and the accounts of witnesses. * 
 From this the conversation branched off to the 
 activity and effect of historical characters on events, 
 all of which was afterward said so fully in the epi 
 logue of " War and Peace " that there is no need 
 to repeat it here. 
 
 In his early stories Tolstoy had already so suc- 
 250 
 
COUNT LEO TOLSTOY 
 
 ceeded in combining vivid realistic descriptions 
 of places and persons with the moral and meta 
 physical reflections and reasonings of the charac 
 ters that it was natural for the reader to say: 
 " This is a real personage; " That is a genuine 
 experience;" "The author must have passed 
 through that phase in order to portray it so well." 
 Tolstoy laughingly, but in all seriousness, denied 
 that there was the slightest autobiographical char 
 acter in the three sketches, " Childhood," " Boy 
 hood," and " Youth," which in the translations 
 lately made have been given the names of " Souve 
 nirs " and " Mes Memoires." Indeed, neither do 
 the incidents of the book correspond to the facts 
 of Tolstoy s life, nor does the moral and mental 
 development of Irtenief conform to what Tolstoy 
 has told about himself in his " Confessions." Now 
 that Tolstoy has become a figure in the religious 
 world, his novels and tales have been carefully 
 studied by many who seek in them something 
 more than their artistic merits; and wherever there 
 are traces of the ideas about life and its objects, 
 which have been so greatly developed in his mys 
 tical writings, they choose to consider these por 
 tions as autobiographical. Thus Tolstoy is found 
 to be present in " The Cossacks," in " War and 
 Peace," and in " Anna Karenin " in the respective 
 
 251 
 
COUNT LEO TOLSTOY 
 
 characters of Olenin, Pierre, and Levin. It would 
 be strange if he were not to some extent there 
 present, as he invented them. But between put 
 ting a little part and parcel of the author s self 
 not only into these, but into every character he 
 drew, and autobiography, there is a great differ 
 ence. This constant tendency to see the person 
 ality of the author in his heroes, whether the 
 author in question be Byron or Tolstoy, seems to 
 me to be a perversion of fact and a perversion of 
 criticism. In " Childhood," " Boyhood," and 
 Youth " there are pictures of Russian family life 
 so carefully drawn and so well coloured that their 
 truth is recognised at once by every Russian of 
 that class in society, and by every foreigner who 
 has had the good fortune to be intimate with Rus 
 sian families where there are a lot of children. On 
 reading the book again, after twenty years, certain 
 things strike me now as peculiarities of Russian 
 life which were then so natural as to pass unnoticed. 
 For instance, Nicolai Irtenief stealing off in a 
 sledge to make his second confession at the age of 
 fifteen, and saying that this was the first time that 
 he had ever been in the street alone without his 
 tutor or some one of the family. The pedagogue 
 (TraiSaywyos) to sleep in his room, to take him to 
 
 and from school, and follow his every movement, 
 
 252 
 
COUNT LEO TOLSTOY 
 
 is so usual a character in the life of every well 
 brought up Russian boy (as indeed in the life of 
 some other European countries) that a foreigner 
 even an American as soon as he becomes inti 
 mate with Russian life, forgets the strangeness of 
 him. In the characters of this book Tolstoy, with 
 the aid of his own recollections and his lively 
 imagination, simply tried to put himself into the 
 place of the boys, with the ideas that he thought 
 he might have had at the time. The boy who 
 approaches nearest to Tolstoy s character is not 
 Irtenief but Prince Nekhliudof, who reappears 
 with some of the author s peculiar views in some 
 of the stories of the Caucasus, in " A Landlord s 
 Morning/ and in " Lucerne." While writing the 
 other books just mentioned the author was grap 
 pling with some of the great problems of human 
 life, and he made Olenin, Pierre, and Levin do 
 some of his thinking for him, without intending 
 to give them any portion of his individuality. At 
 the time of my visit, for instance, Tolstoy was still 
 occupied with his studies in freemasonry, and was 
 diligently reading the mystical writings of Novi- 
 kof and others for the sole purpose of understand 
 ing the psychological history of the early part of 
 the century, and not with any intention of seeking 
 the highest benefits of humanity through such 
 
 253 
 
COUNT LEO TOLSTOY 
 
 means. He was simply reading up cramming 
 if you will for the character of Pierre; and 
 Pierre s dabblings with freemasonry must not 
 therefore be thought to represent any experience 
 or mental process of Count Tolstoy. 
 
 " The Cossacks," Tolstoy assured me, was a true 
 story so far as the plot is concerned, and was told 
 to him by an officer one night when they were 
 travelling together, not even in the Caucasus but 
 in the north of Russia. What he had written 
 was, however, only the first part, and he then still 
 hoped some day to write the rest. Perhaps on 
 the whole it is best as it is; as, though a fragment, 
 it is perfect in its way an idyll and not a complete 
 story. I told the Count of my first acquaintance 
 with Turguenief at Baden-Baden the year before, 
 and that he had advised me, if I wished to do any 
 thing more, to translate " The Cossacks," which 
 he considered the finest and most perfect product 
 of Russian Literature. I asked Tolstoy s permis 
 sion to translate it, which was readily given, but 
 I tried my hand first on one of the sketches of 
 Sevastopol, and, although I began at " The Cos 
 sacks," changes of post and varied duties pre 
 vented my finishing the translation for fully ten 
 years. 
 
 254 
 
COUNT LEO TOLSTOY 
 
 V 
 
 Tolstoy received with evident pleasure the 
 compliments of Turguenief, and spoke of the 
 latter s books with appreciation " Smoke " had 
 been published not long before and of the man 
 in terms of affection and sympathy. From noth 
 ing that he said, or that Turguenief ever said on 
 the various occasions when he talked to me about 
 Tolstoy, to whom he even gave a letter of intro 
 duction, could I have ever imagined that there 
 was then a wide breach between the two friends, 
 and that the quarrel was not made up till ten 
 years later. I learned this only afterwards, and 
 gradually came to the whole story of the rupture. 
 A brief account of their mutual relations may be 
 interesting, and is almost necessary to a proper 
 appreciation of Tolstoy at that time. 
 
 Turguenief s admiration of Tolstoy s genius and 
 power never varied, although his criticisms were 
 sometimes harsh, when it seemed to him in special 
 cases that his brother author had taken the wrong 
 road. The first reference to Tolstoy in his letters 
 seems almost prophetic. He wrote from his 
 country place at Spasskoe, on October 24, 1854, 
 when Tolstoy was still in the army : " I am im 
 mensely delighted with the continuation of Boy- 
 
 255 
 
COUNT LEO TOLSTOY 
 
 hood; may God give Tolstoy long life, as I hope 
 he will astonish all of us, for he is a talent of the 
 first rank. I made yesterday the acquaintance of 
 his sister, who has just married another Tolstoy, 
 a highly pleasing, sympathetic woman." In his 
 letters of 1855-56 there are some words of praise 
 for the Sevastopol sketches. After the war as I 
 have already said the two writers met and saw 
 each other frequently at St. Petersburg, as well 
 as in the country, where they visited each other 
 for the purpose of shooting. The signs of dis 
 sension soon began to appear. The natures of the 
 two men were not at that time harmonious, and 
 their ideas ran in very different channels. Tol 
 stoy, who was young, and who as a writer was 
 somewhat of a spoilt child, whose ways smacked 
 a little still of the freedom of the camp, was in 
 clined to rebel against the tutelage and paternal 
 care which Turguenief seemed to be exercising 
 over him. He amused himself not only by escap 
 ing from the surveillance of his friends, but by 
 occasionally enticing them to a late supper or a 
 wild night. Besides that he was much given to 
 persiflage, which did not always accord with the 
 serious humour of his friend. After leaving Rus 
 sia for Paris in the autumn of 1856, Turguenief 
 wrote to Tolstoy (November 26th) in reply to a 
 
 256 
 
COUNT LEO TOLSTOY 
 
 letter of his, " I have reflected seriously over all 
 that you write, and it seems to me that you are 
 wrong. I can be quite frank to you, because it 
 would be impossible for me to be false where you 
 are concerned. We seem to have made our ac 
 quaintance in an awkward way and not at the 
 right time: when we see each other again things 
 will go smoother and better. I feel that I love 
 you as a man; as regards the writer words are 
 superfluous. But there is much in you with 
 which I am not quite satisfied, so that I thought 
 it better to keep away from you: when we see 
 each other again we will try to go hand in hand 
 and perhaps will succeed better. But here, far 
 away from you, odd as it may sound, my heart 
 hangs on you as on a brother, and I am very ten 
 derly disposed towards you: perhaps with time 
 everything good will come of this. I heard of 
 your illness and was much troubled; but I beg 
 you to banish all remembrance of it. You are 
 anxious about yourself, and think perhaps of con 
 sumption but, by God, you have it not/ Then 
 follow questions about Tolstoy s sister and brother, 
 talk about common friends, and about the state of 
 affairs in Paris, and then literature comes up. 
 " You have already finished the first number of 
 Youth : that is splendid. How vexed I am 
 VOL. I. 17 257 
 
COUNT LEO TOLSTOY 
 
 that I cannot hear you read it ! If you do not go 
 off on by-ways, you will go far. I wish you 
 health, activity, and spiritual freedom. . . . As 
 concerns my Faust, I scarcely believe it will 
 please you. My writings were at one time able 
 to please you, and possibly even to influence you, 
 but only until you became independent; now you 
 can learn nothing more from me. You see only 
 the difference of the style, the slips and the faults; 
 you need now only to study men, your own heart, 
 and really great writers. I am only a writer of 
 the transition period, and am only good for 
 people who are in the transition period." 
 
 About this time he wrote to a literary friend, 
 Druzhinin : " People tell me that you sympathise 
 with Tolstoy, and that he is become very polished 
 and clear. I am much delighted with that. 
 When this young wine has gone through the proc 
 ess of fermentation it will be a drink fit for the 
 gods/ 
 
 A few days after, December 8, 1856, he writes 
 again to Tolstoy : 
 
 " DEAR TOLSTOY : My good genius took me 
 yesterday to the Post-Office and inspired me to 
 ask whether there were any letters for me Poste 
 Restante, although I supposed that all my friends 
 had my Paris address. There I really found your 
 
 258 
 
COUNT LEO TOLSTOY 
 
 letter in which you speak of my * Faust. You 
 will easily understand with what joy I read it. 
 Your sympathy gave me deep and sincere pleas 
 ure. Your whole letter breathes a gentle and 
 calm feeling, a friendly peace; and it only re 
 mains for me to stretch my hand over the gulf 
 which had long ago become a scarcely notice 
 able crack; about which we will think no more, 
 as it is not worth the trouble. I am shy about 
 speaking on one thing which you mentioned in 
 your letter, . . . but may everything turn out 
 for the best, and may it bring to you that peace 
 of soul which you so need or rather did need 
 when I learned to know you. As I see, you 
 sympathise for the moment very much with Druz- 
 hinin, and are under his influence. Very well, but 
 take care that you don t eat yourself sick off him. 
 When I was at your age none but enthusiastic 
 natures had any influence over me; but you are 
 a very different man from me, and it is quite 
 possible that his journal, The Times, is now 
 changed." 
 
 Turguenief saw Tolstoy often during the latter s 
 journey abroad, but wrote to a friend (March, 
 J 857) "I cannot thoroughly sympathise with 
 Tolstoy. We seem to be far too unlike each 
 other." 
 
 The summer of 1861 Turguenief spent on his 
 Russian estate, where he was finishing " Fathers 
 
 259 
 
COUNT LEO TOLSTOY 
 
 and Sons," and had frequent opportunities of see 
 ing Tolstoy. It was then that the great breach be 
 tween the two friends took place. Different ver 
 sions became current. That given by Pavlofsky 
 is substantially as follows: 
 
 He had visiting him at one time, besides Tolstoy, 
 his friend the poet Fet; a very good fellow, who 
 had a large estate in the neighbourhood to which 
 he was just then devoting himself heart and soul, 
 letting his beard grow, and giving himself all the 
 airs of a country gentleman of the old Russian 
 school. There were also some others, one of them 
 an intimate friend. An excursion had been or 
 ganised to Fet s estate, and the party was taking 
 a hasty breakfast while the carriages were waiting. 
 Somebody thoughtlessly asked Turguenief about 
 his daughter a subject on which he was very sen 
 sitive. " She is always abroad," he replied, " and 
 as I did not like her education to be entirely French, 
 I have got for her now an English governess, an 
 excellent woman." Tolstoy smiled (little thinking 
 that he should ever have an English governess for 
 his children) and said, " Yes, she will be taking 
 your daughter to visit the poor, and leaving money 
 and medicine on the table." " Well," said Turgue 
 nief, " there s no harm in any case; because the 
 
 poor will receive some aid, and the child will begin 
 
 260 
 
COUNT LEO TOLSTOY 
 
 to understand the duty everyone owes to the suf 
 fering." 
 
 " Yes, if it is not one thing it is the other. If 
 your daughter does not get a good education, at 
 least the poor will receive something. She s your 
 natural daughter, isn t she? " 
 
 " Yes, well? " 
 
 " Well, you seem to be making an experiment 
 in anima vili" 
 
 Turguenief could scarcely contain himself, espe 
 cially when he thought he saw a gleam of satisfac 
 tion in Tolstoy s eyes that his power of teasing 
 should have been so successful, and burst out: 
 " Tolstoy, stop, or I ll throw my fork at your 
 head." 
 
 Both calmed down and the affair seemed ended. 
 It is necessary to say that the mother of this 
 daughter of Turguenief was one of his serfs, who 
 subsequently married a shopkeeper at Moscow. 
 Such children born of serfs were as little regarded 
 by Russians who lived at home as children born 
 of negro or mulatto slaves were regarded by the 
 Southern planters in the United States at the same 
 time. Although his daughter, she was his serf; and 
 therefore, according to the ways of thinking at that 
 time, Tolstoy s remark was not quite so brutal as 
 it might seem to us now. It was the peculiar sen- 
 
 261 
 
COUNT LEO TOLSTOY 
 
 sitiveness of Turguenief on this subject that gave 
 it importance. 
 
 Tolstoy went to an estate of his in the neighbour 
 hood, while Turguenief and the others went to see 
 Fet, where they spent some days. On returning, 
 Turguenief found two notes from Tolstoy; one an 
 apology and sincere regret for what he had said; 
 the other, that the insult given to him could only 
 be wiped out in blood, and challenging him to 
 come the next morning, between five and six 
 o clock, to a place mentioned, and kill each other 
 without witnesses. Turguenief thereupon sent one 
 of his friends to propose a regular duel according 
 to the code. But Tolstoy had already gone back 
 to Yasnaya Polyana, and, when he was found, re 
 peated his apologies and retracted his challenge. 
 
 Of course the matter got out, and all sorts of 
 stories were circulated at Moscow; before which, 
 however, Turguenief wrote to his friend Annenkof : 
 " I have entirely and decisively quarrelled with Leo 
 Tolstoy. The question of a duel hung on a hair, 
 and at this moment the hair is not yet broken. The 
 fault is mine: but it was all the result of an old 
 hostility an antipathy of our two natures. I have 
 always felt sure that he hated me, and I can never 
 understand why, nevertheless, he used to come 
 
 back to me. I have been forced to keep my dis- 
 
 262 
 
COUNT LEO TOLSTOY 
 
 tance then I have tried to approach him; and we 
 were very near approaching each other with pistols 
 in our hands. I have never liked him." 
 
 Turguenief went off to Paris; but gossip and 
 scandal were rife in Moscow, and somewhat later 
 he heard to his surprise that Tolstoy had circulated 
 among his friends a defamatory letter. He wrote 
 to Annenkof : " In all this business, except at the 
 beginning, when I was wrong, I have done every 
 thing to avoid this radical conclusion; but Tolstoy 
 has insisted on driving me to the foot of the wall, 
 so to speak, and consequently I can t do otherwise 
 than fight. Next spring we shall be face to face 
 at Tula." He enclosed a copy of the letter or chal 
 lenge which he had written to Tolstoy, proposing 
 to fight as soon as he should return to Russia in 
 the spring. Tolstoy immediately wrote to Turgue 
 nief, denying categorically that he had circulated 
 any letter or had given the slightest cause for any 
 injurious remarks. There was therefore no cause 
 for a duel, and it did not come off; and Turguenief 
 wrote to his friend: "We are not going to fight, 
 of which I am very glad." But the two writers 
 had not again met when I was at Yasnaya Polyana, 
 and did not in fact see each other until the summer 
 of 1878. 
 
 With the passing years the old friendly feeling 
 263 
 
COUNT LEO TOLSTOY 
 
 returned, fostered naturally by the respect each had 
 for the other s talent. We have, unfortunately, 
 very few letters of Turguenief between 1862 and 
 1868; in January, 1868, he wrote to Polonsky: 
 " The lack of talent, especially of poetical talent, 
 is our misfortune. Since Leo Tolstoy nothing has 
 come up, and his first work was already printed in 
 1852." Two months later he was reading " War 
 and Peace " and wrote : " The novel of Tolstoy is 
 a wonderful work, but its weakest side and that 
 is what the public especially enjoy is its history 
 and psychology. His history is sleight of hand, 
 dazzling your eyes with trivial details; and his psy 
 chology is a capriciously uniform turmoil over one 
 of the same set of themes; everything that has a 
 relation to life, description, the military part, and 
 so forth is thoroughly excellent. A master equal 
 to Tolstoy we do not possess." In 1875 he says: 
 Anna Karenin does not please me, though 
 there are truly splendid passages in it the races, 
 the mowing, the hunt but it all tastes sour, and 
 smells of Moscow, incense, old maids, Slavophilism, 
 Junkerthum." And about the same time: " He has 
 a very extraordinary talent, but in Anna Karenin 
 il a fait fausse route. One notices here the influ 
 ences of Moscow, of the Slavophile nobility, of 
 
 orthodox old maids, as well as his own retired life 
 
 264 
 
COUNT LEO TOLSTOY 
 
 and the lack of the necessary artistic freedom. The 
 second part is insipid, tiresome, and unmeaning; 
 that is a pity ! " It is fair to say that at this time 
 the novel was not yet finished; and the conclusion 
 was not published for three years thereafter. On 
 the last day of 1876, speaking of a recently pub 
 lished criticism on Tolstoy, he wrote: " I think the 
 critic exaggerates. But how can one help com 
 plaining that this man, who is so unusually gifted, 
 should do exactly that which he ought not to do, 
 just as if he were trying to win a bet." 
 
 Finally, whether it was brought about by the 
 intervention of friends, or whether caused by a sud 
 den impulse, Tolstoy, in the spring of 1878, wrote 
 to Turguenief. We possess only the reply: 
 
 "PARIS, May 8, 1878. 
 
 " DEAR LEO NIKOLAIEVITCH : I have just re 
 ceived your letter, which has greatly rejoiced and 
 touched me. I am very sincerely ready to renew 
 our early friendship and warmly grasp the hand 
 you have stretched out to me. You are per 
 fectly right in supposing that I have no kind of 
 hostile feelings towards you. Even if they once 
 existed they have long ago disappeared, and 
 there remains only the remembrance of you as 
 a man to whom I was once attached, and as 
 an author whose first steps I was one of the 
 earliest to appreciate, and whose works of imag- 
 
 265 
 
COUNT LEO TOLSTOY 
 
 ination have always excited in me the most lively 
 interest. I am heartily delighted at getting rid of 
 the misunderstandings which had come up be 
 tween us. I hope to go to Orel this summer, 
 when we shall certainly see each other." 
 
 At the beginning of August Turguenief arrived 
 at Moscow, and immediately wrote to Tolstoy, pro 
 posing either to go to Yasnaya Polyana or to have 
 a meeting at Tula. Tolstoy, who was then medi 
 tating a long novel though he had not then be 
 gun it, and perhaps has not yet done so went to 
 meet him at Tula, carried him off home, and kept 
 him several days. On reaching his own estate 
 Turguenief wrote to him : " I must repeat to you 
 again what a good and agreeable impression my 
 visit to Yasnaya Polyana made upon me, and how 
 glad I am that our earlier misunderstanding has so 
 disappeared as to leave no traces of having ever 
 existed. I feel clearly and plainly that Life, which 
 has whitened our hairs, has not been useless to us, 
 and that both you and I are better to-day than we 
 were sixteen years ago. This feeling does me 
 much good." And again, ten days later: "I am 
 very glad to hear that everybody at Yasnaya Pol 
 yana looked on me with friendly eyes. There is no 
 
 doubt but that the bond you speak of exists be- 
 
 266 
 
COUNT LEO TOLSTOY 
 
 tween us, and I am very glad of it, although I will 
 not investigate all the threads of which it is woven. 
 The main point is that it exists." 
 
 The next letters to Tolstoy were taken up partly 
 with my translation of " The Cossacks," which, I 
 regret to say, was found " literal, but dry and mat 
 ter of fact," with an idea he had of himself trans 
 lating " The Cossacks " into French, and with 
 efforts to put on the Paris market the French 
 translation of " War and Peace." In one of these 
 letters he says : " I am glad that you are all physi 
 cally well, and hope also that your intellectual ill 
 ness, about which you wrote, has disappeared. I 
 have gone through the same thing. It has often 
 appeared in the form of an inner fermentation be 
 fore the beginning of a work. I believe that you 
 have had some such fermentation. Although you 
 ask me not to speak of your writings, I cannot 
 help remarking that I have never made fun of you 
 even in the very slightest degree. Some of your 
 works pleased me very much others less: for ex 
 ample, The Cossacks caused me great pleasure 
 and astonishment. Why should I have laughed at 
 you? I thought that you had long ago got rid of 
 those feelings of old times." 
 
 At another time he sends him a letter from Flau 
 bert about the French translation of " War and 
 
 267 
 
COUNT LEO TOLSTOY 
 
 Peace." " Thanks for having made me read the 
 novel of Tolstoy; it is of the first order. What a 
 painter and what a psychologist! The first two 
 volumes are sublime, but the third falls off horri 
 bly (degringole affreusement). He repeats himself 
 when he philosophises. At the end you see the 
 gentleman, the author, and the Russian while up 
 to that time you had seen only nature and human 
 ity. There seemed to me sometimes to be things 
 like Shakespeare. I kept uttering cries of admira 
 tion while reading it and it is long: yes, it is 
 strong, very strong " (out, c est fort, bien fort). 
 
 Turguenief talked much about the necessity of 
 advertisement and reclame to make anything suc 
 ceed in Paris, and said : " During these last few 
 days I have read for the fifth or sixth time with 
 ever new enjoyment this truly great creation of 
 yours. Its whole putting together is very differ 
 ent from what the French like and demand in 
 books. But its truth keeps the upper hand. I 
 hope, if not for a famous victory, at least for an 
 enduring, though slow, conquest. You tell me 
 nothing about your new work, though there are 
 rumours here that you are working diligently. I 
 see you in spirit sitting before your writing-table 
 in that simple room that you showed me." The 
 
 summer of 1881 Turguenief spent at Spasskoe, 
 
 268 
 
COUNT LEO TOLSTOY 
 
 where his friend Polonsky paid him a long visit, 
 which he has described very pleasantly in an arti 
 cle called " Turguenief at Home." Among other 
 events Tolstoy spent a couple of days there and 
 sent him a copy of his collected works. 1 
 
 After his departure Turguenief read aloud por 
 tions of Tolstoy s works, especially the forty-third 
 chapter of the first part of " War and Peace," and 
 
 1 The following is the account by Polonsky of Tolstoy s visit: " One 
 Wednesday, July 8th, Turguenief received a telegram from Leo Niko- 
 laievitch Tolstoy, informing him that he would reach Mzensk on 
 Thursday at ten o clock in the evening. Turguenief therefore ordered 
 the horses to be sent to meet him the next day. 
 
 " That evening we separated soon after taking tea, and went to our 
 own rooms. I sat down to my table, pulled the candles nearer, and 
 wrote out my impressions of the journey I had just made, till one 
 o clock. Suddenly I heard someone whistling in the court-yard, the 
 sound of steps, and the dogs all barking. I looked out of the window, 
 but there was no moonlight and I could distinguish nothing. 
 
 " I sat down again to my writing, but heard someone pass through 
 the garden towards the house, and then dimly heard a voice in the 
 house. I thought that one of my children was talking in his sleep, 
 and went into the children s room. I again heard the voice, this time 
 quite plainly, and I recognised it as Turgue"niet s. What the devil s 
 the row? Are there thieves in the house? I went in the dark 
 through the whole house, and opened the door of a room which had 
 an exit to the terrace, and into Turguenief s study. A candle was 
 burning there, and a gray-haired, bronzed peasant, in a blouse girt 
 by a strap, was reckoning up with another peasant. I looked at him 
 and did not know him. The peasant raised his head, gave an inquiring 
 glance at me, and asked: Polonsky, is that you? Then for the first 
 time I recognised Count Leo Tolstoy. We embraced and kissed each 
 other warmly. 
 
 " It turned out that the Count had mistaken the day of the week, 
 and had said Thursday when he meant Wednesday. Not finding Tur 
 guenief s carriage at the railway station he had taken another; but as 
 the night was dark and the driver scarcely knew the way, he had 
 taken all this time in coming. Turguenief also had not yet gone to 
 bed and was writing. He was surprised and greatly delighted to find 
 the Count. The samovar and a little supper soon made their appear 
 ance in the dining-room, and we talked till three o clock. 
 
 " The day after Tolstoy s arrival we had a comical incident. An 
 hour before dinner Turguenief was told that the cook was dead drunk 
 
 269 
 
COUNT LEO TOLSTOY 
 
 greatly excited said, shaking his head : " I know 
 nothing in European literature finer than this de 
 scription. . . . That is a description ! " And 
 he was as delighted as if he had discovered it for 
 the first time. 
 
 But while Turguenief thought Tolstoy a great 
 writer and admired and prized his talent, he from 
 time to time considered him from his own moral 
 and aesthetic standpoint. In other words, he ap 
 plied to the views of Tolstoy the measure of his 
 own views about men, and was not always satisfied. 
 While he was reading " Anna Karenin " he could 
 not understand why Tolstoy was so evidently pre 
 possessed in favour of Levin, who was to him an 
 unsympathetic character. " Can you for a moment 
 believe," said Turguenief to Polonsky, " that Le 
 vin is in love with Kitty, or that he could ever 
 
 and that there was no one to prepare the dinner. At first he was 
 much perplexed. The guests could not be left without dinner, and 
 so he resolved to cook it himself. Rubbing his hands he explained 
 how he would cut the turnips and chop up the cutlets. He had already 
 started for the kitchen when Zakhar, vigilant as Argus and mysteri 
 ously silent, though not dumb, immediately reined in the passionate 
 ardour of his former master, and gave him a hard scolding. That s 
 not your business, he said, go away. We can get dinner ready with 
 out you. And Turguenief at once obediently returned to our society. 
 In this way the culinary talents of the honoured Ivan Serghe"ievitch have 
 been hidden from posterity. I cannot repeat all that was said in our 
 conversation with Tolstoy; but I can asseverate that there was noth 
 ing which in society is known as censurable talk. The Count pressed 
 his views on no one, and listened to Turgueniefs remarks and objec 
 tions. In short, he was no longer that Count that I had once known 
 in his youth. He did not stay more than two days at Spasskoe, and 
 then travelled to his estates in the government of Samara, where he 
 wanted to be for the harvest." 
 
 270 
 
COUNT LEO TOLSTOY 
 
 love anybody? No; love is one of those passions 
 which annihilates our Me and compels us in 
 some degree to forget ourselves and our interests. 
 But Levin, even after he knows that he is loved 
 and is happy, never ceases holding fast to his own 
 personality, and flattering himself. It seems to 
 him that the very drozhky-drivers especially they 
 offer him their service with peculiar respect and 
 readiness. He is annoyed that people near Kitty 
 greet him. He does not for a minute cease being 
 an egotist, and sees something quite extraordinary 
 in himself. Psychologically this is all perfectly 
 correct (although I do not like psychological pre 
 cision and minuteness in a novel), but all these 
 details show that Levin is thoroughly selfish, and 
 it is easy to understand why he sees in women 
 beings created merely for house-wifely and family 
 cares and for empty prattle. It is said that the 
 author is himself like this Levin, but that is scarce 
 ly the case; at most he may have transferred to 
 Levin one individual trait of his own character and 
 worked it up artistically; but even with all that, I 
 cannot see what there is to awaken our sympathy." 
 " Not love alone," continued Turguenief, " but 
 every violent passion, religious, political, social 
 yes, even the passion for study can destroy our 
 
 selfishness. Fanatics for hateful and senseless 
 
 271 
 
COUNT LEO TOLSTOY 
 
 ideas do not spare their lives, so great is their 
 love." 
 
 A year later, October 31, 1882, Turguenief 
 wrote : " I have lately received from a very dear 
 Moscow lady that Confession of Leo Tolstoy 
 that has been forbidden by the censorship. I read 
 it with the greatest interest. A remarkable piece 
 of writing for its straightforwardness, its sincerity, 
 and its conviction: but it is wholly based on false 
 propositions, and if carried out to the end would 
 lead to the saddest denial of energetic human 
 life; . . . this is a kind of Nihilism. I wonder 
 greatly why Tolstoy, who among other things also 
 renounces and denounces art, surrounds himself 
 with artists, and what they can learn from his con 
 versation. Nevertheless Tolstoy is perhaps the 
 most remarkable man in the Russia of to-day." 
 
 When, a few months later, Turguenief lay on his 
 death-bed, he probably thought over the ideas in 
 Tolstoy s " Confession " and the long conversation 
 the last that they had had during the brief visit 
 at Spasskoe. And taking up a pencil, he wrote to 
 Tolstoy that touching appeal to be himself once 
 more; the last words he ever wrote: 
 
 " DEAR AND BELOVED LEO NIKOLAIEVITCH : 
 
 " I have not written to you for a long time; for 
 I lay and lie, in two words, on my death-bed. I 
 
 272 
 
COUNT LEO TOLSTOY 
 
 cannot get well, that is not to be thought of. 
 But I write in order to tell you how glad I am to 
 have been your contemporary, and to make my 
 last, earnest request. My friend, return to literary 
 work! This talent of yours has come down from 
 whence all else comes. O ! how happy would I be 
 if I could believe that my prayer would be an 
 swered ! But I am only a man who is near his end 
 the doctors do not even know how to call 
 my disease neuralgic stomachale goutteuse. I can 
 neither stand, nor eat, nor sleep; but what am I 
 saying! It is wearisome to repeat all this! My 
 friend, great writer of the Russian land give heed 
 to my prayer! Let me know if you receive this 
 scrap, and allow me once more to embrace warmly, 
 warmly yourself, your wife, and all yours! . . . 
 I can write no more. ... I am tired ! " 
 
 Tolstoy deeply lamented Turguenief s death, 
 and, speaking of his delicate, loving nature, lament 
 ed that a writer so artistic in the highest sense, and 
 so devoted to Russia, should have passed his best 
 and ripest years abroad, afar from his sincere 
 friends and away from his own family. 
 
 " He was till the end of his life," said Tolstoy 
 
 1 The artist Verestchagin, who was present at the death of Tur- 
 guenief, says: " Madame Arnold told me that Turguenief was much 
 agitated by a letter which he wrote from his death-bed to Tolstoy. I 
 was sitting by the table when he called me; he gave me a piece of 
 paper on which he had written in pencil, and said, Please send this 
 off at once, it is very urgent. " 
 
 VOL. I. 18 273 
 
COUNT LEO TOLSTOY 
 
 to Danilefsky, " an independent, inquiring spirit; 
 and, notwithstanding our temporary breach, I al 
 ways highly esteemed him and warmly loved him. 
 He was a genuine self-reliant artist, never lower 
 ing himself to consciously serving a passing de 
 mand of the minute. He may have gone astray, 
 but even in his errors was sincere." 
 
 VI 
 
 In helping Tolstoy rearrange his library I re 
 member that the collected works of Auerbach were 
 given the first place on the first shelf, and, taking 
 out the volumes of " Ein Neues Leben," the Count 
 told me to read it after I had got to bed, as it was 
 a very remarkable book, and added : " It was ow 
 ing to this that I started a school for my peasants 
 and became interested in popular education. When 
 I went back to Europe the second time I went to 
 see Auerbach, without giving my name. When he 
 came into the room I merely said, I am Eugen 
 Baumann, and, when he hesitated in surprise, I 
 hastened to add : not really in name, but in char 
 acter; and then told him who I was, how his book 
 had set me thinking, and what good it had done 
 
 me." 
 
 274 
 
COUNT LEO TOLSTOY 
 
 It so happened that in the following winter I 
 spent a few days in Berlin, where, in the hospitable 
 house of Mr. Bancroft, then the American Minis 
 ter, I had the pleasure of meeting Auerbach, with 
 whom during my stay I became well acquainted. 
 In talking about Russia we spoke of Tolstoy, and 
 I recalled to him this incident. " Yes," he said, 
 " I always remember how frightened I was when 
 this strange-looking man said, I am Eugen Bau- 
 mann, for I feared he was going to threaten 
 me with an action for libel and defamation of 
 character." 
 
 " Ein Neues Leben " naturally brought us to 
 talk of peasant schools, and of the general condi 
 tion of the peasantry, and of the results of emanci 
 pation, and the Count took me through the peasant 
 village of the estate, which is close to the ruined 
 pillars of the large gateway of the park. 
 
 " The houses are low huts of one story " I 
 quote from a letter written by me at the time from 
 Yasnaya Polyana " built generally of logs; brick 
 houses are not thought so warm. 1 
 
 " The entrance takes you into the court, on one 
 side of which are cattle and horse-sheds, made of 
 interlaced twigs and covered with straw; on the 
 other side is the door leading into the hut, which 
 
 1 Printed in the Evening Post of New York, November 27, 1868. 
 275 
 
COUNT LEO TOLSTOY 
 
 consists usually of a single room lighted by two 
 small windows, each with double frames to keep 
 out the cold. There is no ceiling, but the room is 
 open to the roof, which is thatched with straw. 
 The floor is sometimes of earth, but more gener 
 ally of brick or boards. There is a large brick 
 stove which keeps the house perfectly warm. 
 There is seldom more than a single chair, but 
 rough benches are disposed about the sides of the 
 room, and there are one or two tables. Behind a 
 screen is usually a sort of bed for the master of the 
 house, and a cradle a square board suspended 
 from a beam by four cords attached to the corners 
 and gathered into a knot, resembling the scale of 
 a balance. There is a little shelf in one corner, 
 with the usual holy picture, and perhaps a small 
 lamp burning in front of it. Except the wooden 
 dishes and utensils there is no other furniture. 
 The families are always very large, and people 
 sleep on the stove, on the benches, or on the floor. 
 It is quite customary here for the younger married 
 members of a family to sleep in the sheds, or in the 
 court. They do this even in winter, though some 
 times in the morning they are covered with snow. 
 The peasants houses in this part of Russia are per 
 haps the worst of all. In the north of Russia, 
 where wood is abundant, though the peasants are 
 actually poorer, they have larger and better houses 
 and more furniture. All the peasant huts which I 
 saw on the Volga, or even at one hundred miles 
 from it in the government of Samara where wood 
 
 276 
 
COUNT LEO TOLSTOY 
 
 was so scarce that they burned dung for fuel were 
 larger, usually of two or even three rooms, and had 
 more furniture, and well carved cupboards for the 
 crockery and the holy pictures. 
 
 " One evening I paid a visit to an old peasant in 
 one of these huts. The room was lighted with a 
 lutchina, or piece of birchwood, which gave out a 
 bright blaze. This is a narrow strip of wood held 
 between three nails on the top of a wooden stand 
 ard, and as each piece will burn not more than two 
 minutes, a little girl has to be constantly replen 
 ishing the burner. The ashes are caught in an 
 earthen vessel. An old woman was weaving a 
 coarse linen cloth with a rude machine. A man 
 was making, very neatly and deftly, lapti, or the 
 shoes of linden bast which the peasants usually 
 wear. The most interesting sight was a man beat 
 ing wool. He had fixed to the wall a large strong 
 bow, strung with a heavy gut string. He kept the 
 string in continual vibration by striking it with a 
 heavy, notched piece of wood, and at each vibra 
 tion the string caught up and tore apart the wool, 
 and sent it down to the floor in white snowy flocks 
 like soapsuds. It was as well carded as if it had 
 been done with a machine. 1 This was the trade of 
 this man, who goes from house to house and earns 
 perhaps a ruble and a half a day, if he works stead 
 ily. His coming is rather a festival in the house, 
 as he is usually a merry fellow, and sings to the 
 
 1 Exactly the same instrument is used in Central Asia for carding 
 cotton. 
 
 277 
 
COUNT LEO TOLSTOY 
 
 music of his bow-string. The winter is the intel 
 lectual season for the Russian peasants as for the 
 rest of the world. They begin to use lights on the 
 1 5th (27th) of September, and from that time on 
 they work in the evening, while the old women tell 
 stories and the young people sing. Usually all the 
 young girls meet together for singing and spin 
 ning, and go from house to house on successive 
 evenings. In this cottage was a very intelligent 
 boy about fourteen, who knew something about 
 America, and had a fair elementary education. 
 
 " There is no church in the village, but half-way 
 between this and the village of the next proprietor 
 is a neat old church, called St. Nicholas of the Ant 
 hills, from a miraculous image of St. Nicholas said 
 to have been found in some ant-hills in the neigh 
 bourhood. I am told that the priest has absolutely 
 no influence on his flock. The peasants are relig 
 ious, but respect the proprietors more than the 
 priests, and are more influenced by them both for 
 good and evil. Count Tolstoy says that the entire 
 abolition of the priesthood would probably have no 
 effect whatever on the morality of the peasantry. 
 The morals here, as in all villages which are near 
 a high road, are not good. The women are early 
 corrupted by the soldiers who pass. As to drunk 
 enness, it is neither worse nor better than others. 
 The men are nearly all cartmen and drivers, and 
 have the faults of that class. The land is therefore 
 cultivated almost entirely by women. 
 
 " I asked Count Tolstoy what he thought had 
 278 
 
COUNT LEO TOLSTOY 
 
 been the effect of emancipation. He told nle that 
 he had been a supporter of the measure, and one 
 of the officers to carry it out a mediator of the 
 peace but that he now thought that it had come 
 too soon: that it had been reached by reasoning 
 only by theoretical men, and had not come, as in 
 Western Europe, through the demand of the peo 
 ple, or by the necessity of the case. So far as the 
 material condition of the peasants is concerned, he 
 thought that the emancipation was injurious. He 
 always judged the prosperity of a village by the 
 amount of live stock, and always counted that 
 whenever he passed a village, and had noticed that 
 the amount was continually decreasing. His peas 
 ants had three dessyatines (nine acres) of land per 
 head, held in common, for which an annual rent of 
 three rubles per dessyatine is paid. They have the 
 privilege of buying this land at fifty rubles per 
 dessyatine, and can even buy for thirty; but to his 
 knowledge no peasant in his district has purchased 
 land and settled on it as in other countries, though 
 many of them do not lack the means. The peas 
 ants are glad to work as little as possible, and like 
 to spend most of their time in a drinking-house. 
 Unfortunately just about the time of the emanci 
 pation the taxes on spirits were very much reduced, 
 and this has been productive of much drunkenness. 
 It is now proposed to raise them again, and limit 
 the number of licenses to sell." 
 
 279 
 
COUNT LEO TOLSTOY 
 
 While it may have been Auerbach s novel which 
 turned Tolstoy s mind particularly toward the sub 
 ject of peasant education, yet in starting a school 
 he was only conforming to the spirit of the time 
 for philanthropy was then in the air as well as sat 
 isfying his own personal desires to do good, desires 
 common in that emancipation period to all liberal 
 spirits. In 1862, in that small district, containing 
 about ten thousand inhabitants, there were four 
 teen good schools besides ten petty ones, taught by 
 church readers, or old soldiers, or simply for the 
 servants children on the various estates. The 
 school which Tolstoy founded he placed in a two- 
 storied brick house on his estate, separated from 
 the village by a little ravine. It was open both 
 morning and evening, and had on an average about 
 forty pupils, boys and girls : some coming long dis 
 tances and even from other villages, attracted by 
 the fact that the instruction was free, and the school 
 enjoyed a good reputation. In its last year there 
 were four teachers, but Tolstoy frequently gave 
 personal instruction at one time he passed all his 
 evenings there in Russian, and especially in Bible 
 History, in singing and in drawing, as he was then 
 passionately fond of music and art. This school 
 flourished for about three years, when it died a nat 
 ural death; not so much from any lack of interest 
 
 280 
 
COUNT LEO TOLSTOY 
 
 on Tolstoy s part, as because every child in the vil 
 lage, which had only one hundred and fifty inhabi 
 tants, had learned to read and write, and had ac 
 quired all the other knowledge he seemed capable 
 of mastering, and new pupils could not grow up 
 fast enough to make it worth while keeping up the 
 school. A sort of school lingered on, but it was 
 subsequently closed, apparently in consequence of 
 some mistaken interpretation of a circular of the 
 Minister of Public Instruction; and new schools 
 were forbidden to be opened unless the number of 
 the pupils seemed to satisfy the Government. In 
 connection with this school Tolstoy published a lit 
 tle journal under the name of Ydsnaya Polydna, in 
 which he gave a description of the school itself and 
 of the method of teaching employed there; as well 
 as long papers containing his views on the general 
 subject of education, and specimens of the compo 
 sitions and themes of the pupils. This journal, a 
 copy of which he hunted up and gave to me, has 
 now become very rare; but many portions of it, to 
 gether with some articles published elsewhere, are 
 now included in the fourth volume of his Collected 
 Works. The three papers describing the school in 
 November and December, 1862, have been trans 
 lated, at least into French, and are well worth read 
 ing even by those not at all interested in education, 
 
 281 
 
COUNT LEO TOLSTOY 
 
 for they contain passages descriptive of children 
 and life in a Russian village which are equal to parts 
 of his best novels. There are also interesting pas 
 sages in the longer essays which have not yet been 
 translated, but more because they throw light on 
 the development of Tolstoy s character, than be 
 cause what he says, or what anyone else may say, 
 about the education of Russian peasants is of any 
 importance to us who live in a very different phase 
 of civilisation. 1 
 
 1 Toystoy in his Confession is not just either to himself or to his 
 schoolwork. He says: " When I came back from my journey abroad 
 I settled in the country and accidentally hit on occupying myself 
 with peasant schools. This occupation was quite according to my 
 liking, because there was not apparent in it that falsity which had 
 so impressed me in my literary teaching. Here I was also acting in 
 the name of Progress, but I had already begun to be critically dis 
 posed towards Progress itself. I said to myself that Progress in some 
 of its phases was irregular, and that it was therefore necessary that 
 our relations towards unsophisticated people, towards simple peasant 
 children, should be perfectly free, and that they should be allowed to 
 choose that path of progress which they preferred. In reality I was 
 always turning about the same insoluble problem, teaching without 
 knowing what I taught. In the higher spheres of literary activity I 
 understood that it was possible to teach without knowing what to 
 teach, because all writers taught differently, and concealed from them 
 selves their own ignorance only by their disputes with one another; 
 here with peasant children I thought it possible to get over this diffi 
 culty by allowing children to learn what they wished. Now I laugh 
 in recollecting how I tacked in order to accomplish my desire of 
 teaching, although I knew very well in the depth of my soul that I 
 could teach no one anything useful because I myself did not know 
 what was useful. After passing a year over my school I went abroad 
 a second time, in order to learn there how to gain the art of teaching 
 others, when one knew nothing one s self. 
 
 " It seemed to me that I had learned that abroad, and armed with 
 all this wisdom and skill I returned to Russia in the year of the 
 Emancipation of the Serfs, took the place of mediator, and began to 
 teach the ignorant people in the schools and the educated class in a 
 journal that I started publishing. Everything seemed to go on well, 
 but I used to feel that I was not quite right in mind, and that it 
 
 282 
 
COUNT LEO TOLSTOY 
 
 Tolstoy s school was free in more senses than 
 one, for generally no attempt was made to keep 
 order or discipline, and only those subjects were 
 taught which interested the pupils, and only so far 
 as that interest continued to exist. The great 
 questions in his mind were, What can one teach? 
 and How can one teach? 
 
 " In the decision of these questions I was aided 
 by a sort of pedagogic tact which I possessed, es- 
 
 could not last long. I might have reached the same despair which 
 came on me fifteen years later, if there had not been yet one side of 
 life which I had not yet experienced, and which promised me salva 
 tion: that was family life. 
 
 " During a whole year I continued to act as mediator, buried myself 
 in my schools and my journal, and worked so hard that I became worn 
 out. The continual disputes between serf and master, that I tried to 
 settle as mediator, weighed on me; my work in my schools seemed 
 to come to nothing; and I began to hate my tacking and veering in 
 my journal, all with a desire of teaching everybody, and of concealing 
 the fact that I did not know what I taught. I grew ill, rather morally 
 than physically; I threw up everything, and went off into the steppes 
 among the Bashkirs, where I could breathe the pure air, drink kumyss, 
 and lead an animal life. 
 
 " When I came back I married. The new conditions of a happy fam 
 ily life turned me completely away from any search for the general 
 meaning of life. My whole life at this time was concentrated in my 
 family, my wife, and my children; and then in studying how to in 
 crease our fortune. My aspiration for personal perfection, which had 
 already given place for a desire for perfection in general, for progress, 
 now completely gave way to a desire to make myself and my family as 
 comfortable as possible. 
 
 " Thus fifteen years passed. Notwithstanding the fact that during 
 all that time I considered literature to be nonsense, I nevertheless con 
 tinued to write. I had already tasted the charm of literature, the charm 
 of receiving great pecuniary reward and much applause for worthless 
 work, and I gave myself up to it again as a means of bettering my fort 
 une and of suffocating in my soul all questions about my life and 
 about life in general. I wrote what was for me the only truth then, 
 that one should live so that one s self and family should be as com 
 fortable as possible." 
 
 This is the way in which Tolstoy now describes himself as he was 
 at the time that I visited him at Yasnaya Polyana. 
 
 283 
 
COUNT LEO TOLSTOY 
 
 pecially by my zeal for the work. Coming all at 
 once into the closest personal relations with the 
 forty little men who constituted my school (I call 
 them little men because I found in them those same 
 traits, sagacity, a great knowledge of practical life, 
 a fund of humour, simplicity, perfect straightfor 
 wardness, which characterise in general the Rus 
 sian peasant); perceiving their impressionableness, 
 and their readiness to obtain what knowledge they 
 needed, I immediately felt that the old clerical way 
 of teaching had outlived its time and did not suit 
 them. 
 
 " After that I tried modes proposed by peda 
 gogic writers, especially Germans, and found, too, 
 that they did not suit; and much especially where 
 there was an effort to teach by sight or by sound 
 was distasteful to the pupils and often laughed at. 
 Compulsion was contrary to all my ideas, and 
 therefore when I found that one subject was repul 
 sive, I tried to find something which the pupils 
 would be glad to learn. I experimented at the 
 same time on what were the best ways of teaching 
 even these subjects. People, who came to know 
 my school personally, approved and applied some 
 of my ideas, which I set forth sometimes at very 
 great length in the journal which I had started for 
 that purpose. But I must admit that I was an 
 noyed being younger then not so much at the 
 fact that my ideas w r ere not accepted, as that those 
 who officially devoted themselves to educational 
 interests did not think it worth while to refute 
 
 284 
 
COUNT LEO TOLSTOY 
 them; but treated them with complete indiffer 
 
 ence." 
 
 In discussing methods of teaching Tolstoy laid 
 down three principles as fundamental : " The 
 teacher is always involuntarily led to teach in 
 the manner of teaching most convenient to him 
 self. The more convenient this method is to the 
 teacher, the less convenient it is to the pupils. 
 The only good method is that which satisfies the 
 pupils." 
 
 What had always particularly troubled him and 
 occupied his attention was the best method of 
 teaching children to read. He asked me much 
 about new methods in use in America, and at his 
 request I was able to procure for him I think 
 through the kindness of Mr. Garrison of the Nation 
 a good selection of American Primers and Ele 
 mentary Readers. In one of these I remember the 
 pronunciation of the different sounds of the vowels 
 and of certain consonants was represented to the 
 eye by a character similar in general shape to the 
 ordinary letter, but with special distinctive changes 
 which at once caught the eye. These books 
 proved of some use to Tolstoy in the preparation 
 of his Primer or ABC, on which he spent much 
 time, but the publication or use of which in schools 
 
 285 
 
COUNT LEO TOLSTOY 
 
 was forbidden by the Minister of Public Instruc 
 tion. 
 
 Tolstoy did not approve of examinations, nor 
 even of individual recitations, at least for Russian 
 peasant children. He seemed to prefer something 
 akin to what is the Arabic, and in general the 
 Eastern method, of all the pupils reciting together. 
 His efforts in instruction in history and geography 
 were on the whole failures. What little success he 
 had came from using the Manuals of Peter Parley, 
 translated into Russian fifty years ago; by telling 
 stories, and by appeals to the Russian patriotic 
 feeling, which was quickly on the alert; " so that," 
 he said, "as a general rule I see no necessity of 
 teaching history or geography to a boy before he 
 goes to the University; and I do see great harm in 
 it. After that I don t know." The one exception 
 that he made was for biblical history and the Bible 
 in general, especially the Old Testament. One of 
 the most interesting portions of his report is the 
 passage about the Bible, of which I cannot forbear 
 quoting the conclusion : 
 
 " In order for a pupil to give himself up entirely 
 to his teacher, it is necessary to raise a corner of 
 that veil which hides from him all the enchantment 
 of that world of thought, knowledge, and poetry, 
 to which his studies are to introduce him. . . 
 
 286 
 
COUNT LEO TOLSTOY 
 
 What means have we for raising this veil? I 
 thought of many things. But as I was myself in 
 that world to which I wished to introduce my 
 pupils, nothing seemed to be easier, and I taught 
 them to read; I explained the phenomena of nature; 
 I used to tell them what was written in the Primers, 
 that the fruits of knowledge are sweet; but they 
 did not believe me, and even drew off. I then tried 
 reading the Bible to them, and took complete pos 
 session of them. The edge of the veil was lifted, 
 and they quite gave themselves up to me. They 
 grew to love the book, love study, and love me. 
 All that I had to do was to guide them fur 
 ther. . . . Perhaps this was accident; perhaps 
 in another school the same results may be reached 
 by beginning in a different way. Perhaps. But 
 this accident is repeated too invariably in all schools 
 and in all families, and its explanation is too clear 
 to me for me to admit that it is a chance. For the 
 purpose of opening a new world to a pupil, and of 
 making him love knowledge before he has knowl 
 edge, there is no book like the Bible. I speak even 
 for those who do not regard the Bible as Revela 
 tion. No; at least, I do not know of a production 
 which unites to the same extent as the Bible, in so 
 condensed a poetic form, all the sides of human 
 thought. All questions of natural phenomena are 
 explained by this book. All the primitive relations 
 of men to each other families, states, religions, are 
 for the first time recognised in this book. Gener 
 alisation of ideas, wisdom in a simple childlike 
 
COUNT LEO TOLSTOY 
 
 form, enchants the pupil s mind for the first time. 
 The lyrical qualities of the Psalms of David affect 
 the minds of children as well as adults; and for the 
 first time, in the Bible, everyone learns the charm 
 of the Epic in its inimitable simplicity and force. 
 Who has not wept over the history of Joseph and 
 of his meeting with his brothers? Who has ever 
 told without terror in his heart the story of the 
 chained and shorn Samson, who, in order to re 
 venge himself on his enemies, buried himself under 
 the ruins of the Palace? And still hundreds of 
 other impressions which have nourished us like our 
 mother s milk. Let those who deny the educa 
 tional signification of the Bible, and who say that 
 the Bible has outlived its time let them compose 
 such a book, such stories which explain the phe 
 nomena of nature, either drawn from general his 
 tory or from their own imagination, which will be 
 accepted as the Bible stories are and then we will 
 admit that the Bible has outlived its time. . . . 
 I repeat my conviction, which may perhaps be 
 drawn from an exceptional experience, that with 
 out this Bible in our society the development of 
 the child or of the man would be as impossible 
 as it would have been in Greek society without 
 Homer. . . . The publication of a translation 
 of the Bible in the simple language used by the 
 peasants would form an epoch in the history of the 
 Russian people." 
 
 288 
 
COUNT LEO TOLSTOY 
 
 In another place, speaking of the way in which 
 children love to learn, and how their feelings grad 
 ually affected their families, he writes : " A father 
 once told me that he burned up a whole candle 
 while holding it in his fingers before his son s 
 book, and he praised greatly both his son and the 
 book. It was the Gospel." 
 
 In his educational writings, most of them as old 
 as 1862, there is an occasional paragraph that fore 
 shadows the later phase of Count Tolstoy; and in 
 an article written as late as 1885 he avows his ad 
 herence to all that he had said earlier. Such are, 
 among others : " Perhaps the people do not under 
 stand, and do not wish to understand, our literary 
 language, because there is nothing in it for them 
 to understand; and because all our literature has no 
 meaning to them and they must create their own 
 literature." Again, in discussing the question 
 whether peasants should be taught Art, he says: 
 " Every child of the people has the same rights- 
 even greater rights to the enjoyments of Art as we 
 who belong to a privileged class; we who are not 
 weighed upon by the necessity of constant hard 
 labour; we who are surrounded by all the comforts 
 of life. To deprive them of the enjoyment of Art, 
 to deprive me, the teacher, of the right to introduce 
 them into the domain of the highest pleasures, 
 VOL. I. 19 289 
 
 \ UN1VRS4 
 
 V ^*V 
 
COUNT LEO TOLSTOY 
 
 which they are begging for with all the powers of 
 their being, would be an immense absurdity." And 
 again : " I have arrived at this conviction, that all 
 that we have done in poetry and music is false, 
 exclusive, without meaning and without future, 
 and insignificant in comparison with the needs and 
 even with the productions of these arts of which 
 we find specimens among the people. I am con 
 vinced that a lyric of Pushkin or the last Symphony 
 of Beethoven is not as unconditionally and uni 
 versally good as the song about Vanka the Cel 
 larer, or the air, Down along Mother Volga; 
 that Pushkin and Beethoven please us not because 
 they express absolute beauty, but because we are 
 as depraved as they, and because they only flatter 
 our abnormal irritability and our weakness." 
 
 VII 
 
 When I had been just a week at Yasnaya Pol- 
 yana I happened in the course of the evening to 
 speak of my journey down the Volga, and told of 
 my call at Kazan on General Yushkof, Count Tol 
 stoy s uncle, to whom he had kindly given me a 
 letter. The old man had been in the campaign of 
 1812, when he was even already a general, though 
 
 young; and the Count had told me that I might 
 
 290 
 
COUNT LEO TOLSTOY 
 
 perhaps get out of him some stories about the 
 battle of Borodino, the retreat of the French, and 
 how Moscow looked after the great fire. He had 
 apparently utilised some of these for " War and 
 Peace." I explained, therefore, why I had heard 
 nothing of the kind. I had been admitted at 
 Kazan into a very good and comfortable house, 
 and had presented my card and letter of introduc 
 tion to the servant, who came back and begged me 
 to wait a little. While waiting I noticed that the 
 letter, still sealed, had been placed on a chair. At 
 last the General came in, old but vigorous, and 
 with an expression of great kindliness and sym 
 pathy. He asked me to sit down, sat down him 
 self, and after a few words: " You brought me, I 
 think, a letter from my nephew Leo? Where is 
 it?" 
 
 " I believe you are sitting upon it," I replied. 
 He got up, found the letter, and handing it to me 
 said : " Will you kindly read it to me. I am totally 
 blind." The situation was awkward, but there was 
 no help for it; although the letter was so flatter 
 ing and affectionate towards me that I felt com 
 pelled to skip a whole paragraph. I regret now 
 that, instead of giving it back to the old man, I 
 did not put it into my pocket and preserve it as a 
 souvenir. There were two grand pianos in the 
 
 291 
 
COUNT LEO TOLSTOY 
 
 other room, and in answer to some question the 
 General said that he had always been passionately 
 fond of music, that he had brought up all his chil 
 dren to play and sing, but that now that he was 
 old and blind they would go off to St. Petersburg 
 during the winter and leave him all alone. Gradu 
 ally I persuaded him to play from memory some 
 thing from Beethoven and Mozart; then we went 
 out into the garden and sat in the sun, and in the 
 two hours that he kept me he told me much that 
 was interesting, but not what I wanted. 
 
 About four o clock the next morning, after tell 
 ing this adventure, I was awakened by hearing 
 someone fumbling along the passage, when sud 
 denly my bedroom door opened, and thinking that 
 for some inexplicable reason the servant had come 
 to wake me, I called out, " What s the matter? " 
 The door closed and I heard a voice say in French: 
 " //, there s a man in my bed; a man! " The door 
 again opened and a gentleman appeared with a 
 candle, and asked " Seryozha, is that you? " " No," 
 I replied, " I am a guest of the house." He laughed, 
 begged pardon, and went away; and my senses 
 were then sharp enough to hear the arrangement 
 made that she would go up to the drawing-room 
 and sleep on the sofa till the family were up; while 
 
 he could lie down on the divan in the Count s study. 
 
 292 
 
COUNT LEO TOLSTOY 
 
 I immediately conjectured what turned out to be 
 the true state of the case. I was occupying the 
 room of Madame Yushkof, the Count s aunt, and 
 had been invited to stay till her arrival, about a 
 week hence. She had suddenly returned without 
 giving notice, and had brought a friend with her. 
 As the doors of Russian country-houses are very 
 rarely locked at night, they had come in without, 
 as it happened, awaking anyone in the house but 
 myself. 
 
 I ascertained the truth when Ivan brought me 
 my morning tea, and I immediately packed up so 
 as to be in readiness to depart the same day. 
 When I went upstairs for the eleven o clock coffee, 
 I chanced to find Madame Yushkof alone in the 
 drawing-room and was obliged to introduce my 
 self. She had evidently been told probably in 
 explaining who I was my story of the night be 
 fore, for she smiled and said: " So, you were in 
 Kazan last spring and saw my husband, who told 
 you that he was stone blind. I assure you that 
 there is not a word of truth in it. He sees as well 
 as you or I do. It is merely one of his notions to 
 make himself appear interesting." I asseverated 
 my belief that he really was blind, but could not 
 convince her. Count Tolstoy afterwards told me 
 that, although they were on perfectly friendly terms, 
 
 293 
 
COUNT LEO TOLSTOY 
 
 she had long been separated from her husband, and 
 had not seen him for years. I felt sure that at least 
 he had not seen her. 
 
 The morning was dark and rainy, but the sun 
 came out afterwards, and the strange gentleman, 
 who turned out to be an old family friend with 
 whom Madame Yushkof had been staying, drove 
 with me to Tula. Although we exchanged occa 
 sional letters, Count Tolstoy did not come again to 
 Moscow during my stay there, so that this was the 
 last time I saw him. 
 
 POSTSCRIPT. 
 
 JUDGING from the past there has never seemed 
 to me any reason to believe that the present phase 
 of mystical religious enthusiasm, through which 
 Count Tolstoy is now passing, would last for the 
 whole of his life; or that he is permanently lost to 
 literature. Most of the foreign visitors to him, 
 who have published their impressions, were more 
 interested in his social and religious theories than 
 in Russian literature. It is pleasant, therefore, to 
 find from the account of the novelist, G. P. Dani- 
 lefsky, of his visit to Yasnaya Polyana in the au 
 tumn of 1886, that Count Tolstoy is not so different 
 
 after all from what he once was; and that to an old 
 
 294 
 
COUNT LEO TOLSTOY 
 
 friend he is willing to show the interest in art and 
 literature which still possesses him. 
 Some passages may well be quoted: 
 
 " My conversation with the Count about the 
 past and present was interrupted by a large, hand 
 some setter, running in and lying down at his feet. 
 Is that Laska? I asked, thinking of Anna Ka- 
 renin. No; she died long ago. This is my eldest 
 son s sporting dog. And do you shoot now? 
 1 No; I gave it up long ago; although I walk about 
 the neighbouring fields and woods every day. . . . 
 What a delight it is to repose from intellectual 
 occupations by means of simple physical labour. 
 Every day, according to the season, I either dig 
 the ground, or saw and chop wood, or work with 
 scythe, sickle, or some other instrument. I could 
 not help thinking of the box of shoemaker s tools 
 in the window of the Count s reception-room. 
 
 And ploughing, the Count continued, you 
 cannot conceive what a satisfaction it is to plough. 
 It is not very hard work, as it seems to many; it 
 is pure enjoyment. You go along lifting up and 
 properly directing the plough, and you don t notice 
 how one, two, and three hours have gone by. The 
 blood runs merrily through your veins; your head 
 becomes clear; you don t feel the weight of your 
 feet. But the appetite afterwards, and the sleep ! 
 If you don t feel tired wouldn t you like to take a 
 walk before dinner and look for mushrooms? It 
 
 295 
 
COUNT LEO TOLSTOY 
 
 has rained lately, and there must be some good 
 white mushrooms. 
 
 This little walk lasted for three hours and a half, 
 and led them a course of five or six miles, through 
 the orchards planted by the Count, over hill and 
 dale, through woods and meadows; and past those 
 plantations of trees which I had seen in their in 
 fancy, but which now are thick woods and realise 
 the prophecy of the Count with regard to their 
 value. All this time the Count talked with sym 
 pathy and interest of art, of Russian literature, and 
 of its best representatives. Speaking of popular 
 literature, Tolstoy said: 
 
 " More than thirty years ago, when some of 
 our present writers and I among them had 
 just begun to work, among the hundred millions 
 of the Russian Empire, the number of readers 
 could be counted by tens of thousands. Now, 
 since the multiplication of schools, they can prob 
 ably be counted by millions; and these millions 
 of Russian readers stand before us like hungry 
 little jackdaws with wide open mouths, and say 
 to us : Gentlemen, writers of our own land, throw 
 into our mouths some intellectual food which is 
 worthy of you and of us. Write for us, who 
 thirst for the living literature, save us from those 
 chap-books of " Yeruslam-Lazarevitch," " Milord 
 George," and the like food to be found at the 
 
 296 
 
COUNT LEO TOLSTOY 
 
 fairs. The simple and honourable Russian peo 
 ple is worthy of our answering this call of their 
 good and upright soul. I have thought much 
 about it, and have decided to make essay on this 
 ground according to the measure of my strength." 
 
 " . . . How warm it is, and how the air smells 
 of leaves/ he said, approaching an old half-ruined 
 bridge over a little narrow stream. The force of 
 immediate impressions from nature is wonderful. 
 How I love and prize artists who draw all their in 
 spirations from that mighty and eternal source! 
 In it is the only force and truth. 
 
 " We talked about various artistic methods in 
 literature, painting, and music. Not long ago I 
 happened to read a book/ said Tolstoy, stopping 
 before the planks thrown over the stream, the 
 verses of a dead young Spanish poet. Besides the 
 remarkable talent of this writer the account of his 
 life greatly interested me. His biographer quotes 
 a story told of him by his old nurse. She had no 
 ticed, with apprehension, that he often passed whole 
 nights without sleep, would sigh and pronounce 
 aloud some sort of words, would go out into the 
 fields and villages by moonlight and stay there 
 whole hours. One night she even thought he had 
 gone out of his mind; for he got up, dressed in the 
 dark and went out to a neighbouring well. The 
 nurse, who followed him, saw how he drew a bucket 
 of water and began to pour it slowly on the ground; 
 then drew another and poured that out too. " Poor 
 fellow, you ve lost your wits," she said. But not at 
 
 297 
 
COUNT LEO TOLSTOY 
 
 all. The young man was doing that for the pur 
 pose of hearing and seeing the more carefully 
 how streamlets of water fall and splash in the 
 moonlight on a quiet night. The experience was 
 necessary for his new poem. In that case he was 
 confirming his recollections, and the poetic im 
 pressions which they prompted, by nature itself; 
 just as painters are obliged sometimes to have 
 recourse to mannikins which they place in the re 
 quired positions, and cover with the proper cloth 
 ing. In reading our own and foreign writers I 
 involuntarily feel who is true to nature and borrows 
 from her, and who is false. There are some books 
 whose falsity is at once so evident that I cannot 
 get beyond the first page, and not even threats of 
 corporal punishment would induce me to read them. 
 . . . Tolstoy would have been willing to walk 
 further, but the Countess arrived from Tula with 
 a bundle of proof-sheets, and it was dinner-time. 
 You are not tired? said Tolstoy, as he gaily and 
 lightly went up the staircase; for me daily exer 
 cise and physical labour are as indispensable as the 
 air. In summer in the country as to this I have 
 full choice. I can plough or cut grass. In the 
 autumn in rainy weather it is wretched. In the 
 country there are no sidewalks or pavements, 
 and when it rains I cobble and make shoes. In 
 town, too, I am bored by simple walking, and 
 one cannot plough or mow there; so I saw and 
 split wood. Sedentary intellectual work, without 
 physical exercise and labour is a real calamity. 
 
 298 
 
COUNT LEO TOLSTOY 
 
 If for even a single day I do not walk or work 
 with my legs or hands, I am good for nothing by 
 evening. I can t read or write, or even listen to 
 anyone with attention; my head turns; there seem 
 to be stars in my eyes and I have a sleepless 
 night. " 
 
 Danilefsky concludes as follows: 
 
 " Count Leo Tolstoy, after this new meeting of 
 ours, remains in my thoughts the same great and 
 mighty artist that Russia knew and knows. He is 
 in perfect health, vigorous, in full possession of all 
 his artistic force; and, without any doubt, is still 
 able to enrich his country with more than one pro 
 duction similar to War and Peace and Anna 
 Karenin. I say even more. Just as his quiet life 
 and interruption of work after Childhood and Boy 
 hood and the Sevastopol Sketches, when he was 
 busy with questions of pedagogy, and published 
 the Ydsnaya Poly ana school journal, was not apathy 
 nor weakening of his artistic strength, but only an 
 involuntary repose or breathing time during which 
 there ripened in his mind the ideas of War and 
 Peace so now, when Count Tolstoy, after study 
 ing in the originals the Old and New Testaments 
 and Lives of Saints, consecrates his leisure to 
 tales for the people, he is evidently only preparing 
 himself for new and great artistic productions; and 
 his present state of mind is only a new step, only 
 a nearer approach to other still higher stages of his 
 creative power." 
 
 299 
 
THE MINNESOTA HEIR OF 
 A SERBIAN KING 
 
 A CONSULAR EXPERIENCE 
 
THE MINNESOTA HEIR OF 
 A SERBIAN KING 
 
 A CONSULAR EXPERIENCE 
 
 On one of my visits to Belgrade I happened to 
 hear some vague rumours about an unfortunate 
 American who had been seeking for treasure in 
 several of the ruined old castles of Serbia. I heard 
 enough to interest me deeply, and seized the first 
 occasion for obtaining accurate information. What 
 I am now about to tell was chiefly derived from 
 Mr. Miyatovitch, afterwards Minister of Foreign 
 Affairs, but at that time Minister of Finance. He 
 was kind enough to give me not only all the details 
 he knew, but copies of certain papers in his pos 
 session, and to note down for me the most impor 
 tant points. It is more convenient, however, to ex 
 press myself in my own words and in my own way, 
 though many of the expressions which I heard still 
 cling to me. 
 
 In July, 1875, a man, evidently a foreigner, came 
 303 
 
THE MINNESOTA HEIR 
 
 to the Ministry of Finance at Belgrade. When he 
 obtained an interview with the Minister, and was 
 asked why he came to Serbia, and why especially 
 he wished to see the Minister of Finance, he said 
 in a strange German-English dialect that he was 
 a citizen of the United States, and owned a farm in 
 Minnesota which he worked with his children; but 
 that he was unfit for hard work, as he had served 
 in the war as a private, had been wounded, and was 
 then receiving a pension of six dollars a month. 
 The first impression which he produced on the 
 Minister and the Minister had the pardonable 
 weakness of trusting to first impressions was a 
 favourable one. He was a man apparently of be 
 tween fifty-five and sixty years old, of middle size 
 and well built, with a fine head and face. His 
 forehead was high; his bluish-grey eyes expressed 
 goodness and gentleness as well as a strong will; 
 his nose was well proportioned and well formed; his 
 thick brown beard was slightly sprinkled with grey. 
 He was poorly but neatly dressed, and had all the 
 air of an earnest, sober man, accustomed to earn 
 his own living. On being asked again what had 
 brought him to Serbia and what he wanted, he pre 
 sented his American papers, began to smile, and 
 said : " You will laugh at me, and perhaps pity me, 
 and think me an old fool; but the reason that I 
 
 304 
 
OF A SERBIAN KING 
 
 have come out here all the way from Minnesota is 
 to search quite alone for what was left to me by 
 my ancestors." There was nothing extraordinary 
 in the request for permission to seek for hidden 
 treasure. Such permissions are often asked for; 
 sometimes as many as twenty or thirty in a year: 
 and once in a while there seems to be an epidemic 
 of the sort in different districts. But the Minister 
 was surprised that so old a man, who seemed so 
 sensible and modest, should abandon his family and 
 his country and come as far as Serbia with the sole 
 object of hunting for a treasure. Then, as on many 
 subsequent occasions, the Minister tried to dis 
 suade him, and to prove the uselessness of his work. 
 But all was in vain. " No, no, dear sir," he said, 
 " the treasure is still buried in the ground, or there 
 would be something of it in the European muse 
 ums: I have been in many places in Europe and 
 have never seen anything like it, and therefore I 
 am sure of my enterprise, as I am searching ac 
 cording to my documents." He then said that he 
 was of Serbian origin; that his name was August 
 Boyne de Lazar; that he was born in Chemnitz in 
 Saxony in 1818; and that after the Revolution in 
 1848, in which he was implicated, he had emi 
 grated to the United States. He claimed to be 
 descended from a family closely related to that of 
 VOL. I.-20 305 
 
THE MINNESOTA HEIR 
 
 Prince Lazar; which was once so rich and powerful 
 that it owned Sokol, Shabatz, and other towns in 
 the Shumadia that w onderful forest-country, even 
 the name of which is derived from a word express 
 ing the rustling of the leaves. When he said this, 
 the Minister, who is well versed in history, remem 
 bered an old tradition that the Obilitch family had 
 owned property in this region; and he advised the 
 American, if he searched at all, to confine himself 
 to the delta between the Sava and the Drina, where 
 these towns are situated. Boyne knew the name 
 of Obilitch, but nothing of the connection of that 
 family with King Lazar, and had never heard of 
 the hero Milosh. 
 
 In order thoroughly to understand the circum 
 stances, it is necessary to make here a slight his 
 torical digression. The literature of Serbia is rich 
 in ballads of an epic character. These were among 
 the earliest Slavonic ballads collected, and were of 
 great interest, especially to German scholars, as 
 throwing light on the possible composition of the 
 Homeric poems. One great cycle of these ballads 
 is concerned with the battle of Kossovo, where on 
 Vidovdan (St. Vitus s Day), June 15, 1389, the 
 Serbian King Lazar was defeated by the Turks, 
 and Serbian independence was lost for nearly five 
 
 centuries. This defeat was rendered decisive by 
 
 306 
 
OF A SERBIAN KING 
 
 the defection of Vuk Brankovitch, one of the sons- 
 in-law of Lazar, who, believing the day lost, went 
 over to the Turks. Vuk had had a personal quar 
 rel with another son-in-law of Lazar, Milosh Obi- 
 litch. At a banquet which Lazar gave the night 
 before the grand battle he brought out a great gold 
 goblet and drank to the health of Milosh, taunting 
 him with his disloyalty. The latter accepted the 
 toast, finished the cup, and strode out of the tent 
 in a fury; swearing that he would show if it were 
 he who could be disloyal. With one of his friends 
 he rode into the Turkish camp straight to the tent 
 of the Sultan Murad I. (Amurath) and demanded 
 an audience. On the advice of the Vizier, Murad, 
 instead of giving his hand to be kissed, offered his 
 foot, which Milosh seized, pulled him to the 
 ground, and stabbed him in the belly. After kill 
 ing the two Viziers he mounted his horse and rode 
 away with his companions, pursued by the Turks, 
 but leaving a broad swath of death as they gal 
 loped through the camp. The other two were 
 killed and Milosh was captured. The Sultan did 
 not die on the spot, but was so grievously wounded 
 that his son Bayazed (Bajazet), the same who was 
 afterward captured by Tamerlane and kept in a 
 cage, fought the battle in his stead. King Lazar 
 was taken prisoner, and both he and Milosh Obi- 
 
 307 
 
THE MINNESOTA HEIR 
 
 litch were brought to the dying Murad for his 
 orders. The Sultan ordered them to be executed, 
 and commanded that Milosh Obilitch should be 
 buried by his side and King Lazar at his feet; to 
 show that all Christians were r ayahs or subjects. 
 Milosh spoke up and said: 
 
 Thou art dying ! I also am death-doomed. 
 I beseech thee, O Murad, great Sultan ! 
 Let not thus our dead bodies be buried, 
 Let the two Tsars lie in death side by side ! 
 Let me lie at the feet of Tsar Lazar ! 
 His true knight was I ever in this world ; 
 His true vassal I would be in that one!" 
 
 It is said that Murad, struck with the bravery and 
 fidelity of Milosh, granted his petition. 
 
 Milosh is the hero from whom the treasure- 
 seeker was apparently descended. The proofs of 
 this descent are very curious. 
 
 When August Boyne left Saxony to go to Amer 
 ica his father gave him some papers and docu 
 ments, a small Bible containing notes, and told him 
 all that he had heard from his own father and could 
 remember about the family history. Long after 
 wards, when Boyne was ill in a hospital at Chicago, 
 this Bible was stolen from him; it was recovered, 
 but portions of the notes having been apparently 
 purposely cut out in a mutilated condition. In 
 
 308 
 
OF A SERBIAN KING 
 
 order to guard against further loss, copies were 
 made of all that remained, which were duly certi 
 fied and attested by the proper judicial and notarial 
 authorities. Among the papers shown to the Ser 
 bian Minister was one " the validity of which 
 was proved by many signatures and legalised by 
 American authorities. [I give here the Minister s 
 exact words.] It was said therein that the docu 
 ment consisted of four leaves; but only two came 
 into my hands. The other two had either been lost 
 by Boyne, or had been stolen from him." This 
 professed to be written by Andria Obilitch, the 
 great-grandfather of August Boyne. It was in 
 German and ran as follows: 
 
 "BRANDENBURG, May I, 1759. 
 
 " MY DEAR SON FREDERIC DE LAZAR : I hand 
 over to thee my last Will and Testament relating 
 to our family matters, which I know from my par 
 ents in Serbia. I could never go there myself, for I 
 was so long in the military service; and afterwards 
 was too ill and old. Other secret things and mat 
 ters I will tell thee orally. But here it seems nec 
 essary and important to describe the days of my 
 youth and my experience. My father was a Prince 
 of Serbia. I was born in the year 1697 in a castle 
 in the Shumadia; and was brought up in the castle 
 of Shabatz on the River Sava. In the year 1704 
 there was great excitement and commotion in con- 
 
 309 
 
THE MINNESOTA HEIR 
 
 sequence of the Turkish tyranny; and there were 
 disasters without precedent. 
 
 " One night, when the reflection of burning 
 houses reddened all our windows, I woke up daz 
 zled by the bright light of the conflagration; and 
 was seized by the hand of a faithful servant. Get 
 up, Andria, he cried to me, * we have no time to 
 lose; the long-beards are near/ The long-beards 
 were the Turks so we called them. I was always 
 afraid of them they were terrible, and came often 
 to our town to kill and plunder, and I rose instantly. 
 The servant took me in his arms. I heard fearful 
 noises everywhere about me. My mother came 
 into the room very much agitated and excited, and 
 wished to see me. At the same moment we heard 
 the firing of muskets quite close to us. One of the 
 doors was burst open; smoke and sparks flew all 
 about us, and a gang of fierce-looking Turks 
 rushed into the room. They swung around their 
 heads their swords, which glittered like reddish 
 flame, and, shouting terribly, threatened to kill and 
 massacre all of us. The servant, in his fright, let 
 me fall to the ground; and I rolled under some fur 
 niture and crept off as far as I could get. But I 
 could see how he fell a victim to his fidelity, in the 
 attempt to save me, by the cruel hands of the 
 Turks. I could also see oh, horror how they 
 caught my mother, how they took her by the hair 
 and cut her to pieces. When this was done they 
 left the place. This bloody scene remained deeply 
 engraved on my mind; so that even now, after 
 
 310 
 
OF A SERBIAN KING 
 
 many years, I see these horrible details again en 
 acted. I remained alive among the dead; but felt, 
 after a while, that I was taken up and carried into 
 the street. They washed my face, which was 
 covered with blood, put me on a cart, and off we 
 went in great haste, as fast as the horses could run. 
 We saw all round us villages in a blaze, and peo 
 ple and cattle running in all directions. From 
 time to time we met many carts, and people laden 
 with their property, going along our road to the 
 Shumadia forest. When we reached the forest we 
 were warmly received, with joyful acclamations. 
 They took me down from the cart, and passed me 
 about from one to another. All were surprised 
 that I had survived, and covered me with kisses. 
 My man the same who brought me here took 
 me into his arms, carried me into a tent, and told 
 me to lie down and rest. He told me that his 
 name was Yefrem Nadustratz (one who has lost all 
 hope), that he was a servant of our family, and that 
 he had saved me out of gratitude to my father, his 
 master. The people called me Andria Obilitch. 
 They afterwards built houses and shelters, and my 
 servant and preserver also built a house. He was 
 clever in healing horses, and lived well, and I often 
 travelled about with him. When I was about 
 twelve years old, I went with him to Sokol; and as 
 w r e came back, he said : We will pass now on the 
 Belgrade road, so that you may see where your 
 father lived. Do you see yonder that half-ruined 
 tower, and the ruins of buildings? Yes, I see. 
 
THE MINNESOTA HEIR 
 
 That was where your father Lazar lived. He was 
 a prince of the Serbian land, and a famous and 
 highly esteemed lord. All of your family were 
 greatly respected. But they were all killed by the 
 Turks, who carried off great treasures. You are 
 now the only surviving member of your famous 
 race. I saved you when Shabatz was burned. 
 The Shumadia Castle alone remains in the posses 
 sion of your family; but, you see, it is worth noth 
 ing now. The Turks killed every living soul, and 
 burned down all the villages, and it will be worth 
 nothing during your lifetime. 
 
 The castle of Sokol is now a picturesque ruin- 
 like so many others in Serbia which gives a great 
 idea of the power and wealth of its former owners. 
 The general effect of all of them is occidental 
 rather than oriental. The old nobility of Serbia, 
 as well as of Bulgaria and Greece, were either ex 
 terminated by the Turks, or reduced to peasantry 
 by being stripped of their lands. In Bosnia, on the 
 other hand, the nobles saved their estates by turn 
 ing Mohammedan. They are still fanatical Mus 
 sulmans; but they speak Serbian and rarely Turk 
 ish, retain their family names, and use coats of 
 arms. 
 
 The remaining part of the story was on the miss 
 ing sheets, and has to be filled in from the family 
 
 traditions told by August Boyne to the Minister. 
 
 312 
 
OF A SERBIAN KING 
 
 There was, however, a copy of the notes from the 
 old Bible, about the descendants of Andria Obi- 
 litch; by which it may be seen that one of his sons, 
 Frederic, was born in Brandenburg on May 7, 
 1744; that Frederic s son, John, was born on June 
 12, 1784; and that John s son August the man in 
 question was born in Chemnitz on August 5, 
 1818. 
 
 The accuracy of names in this document and its 
 general air of historic truth make it curious and in 
 teresting. Mr. Miyatovitch believes it genuine, 
 and has published it as throwing light on the popu 
 lar rising against the Turks in 1704. One might, 
 perhaps, account for the character of the story by 
 supposing it to be a romance invented by some 
 soldier who had served in the army of Prince 
 Eugene, when he besieged and took Belgrade, in 
 1717. This, however, could not be the case if we 
 are to accept the family history as handed down 
 and related by Boyne. 
 
 According to the oral account Andria lived in 
 this way for some time longer; until Yefrem, feel 
 ing himself infirm, said to the boy : " I shall die 
 soon, and you will be left alone to live as you can. 
 If it is possible, escape across the river away from 
 the Turks, so that your life may be preserved; and 
 perhaps your descendants may some time come 
 
 313 
 
THE MINNESOTA HEIR 
 
 back, and get again the lands and property of your 
 family." Later on Yefrem, after swearing the boy 
 solemnly to secrecy, took him to the ruined castle; 
 made him observe carefully, and try to remember 
 certain signs and landmarks; and finally led him 
 through subterranean passages of great length into 
 a vaulted room, where the goods and treasures of 
 Andria s father were heaped up. There were, he 
 said, many splendidly ornamented oriental arms, 
 and weapons of excellent workmanship, books and 
 documents, deeds and diplomas, rich drinking- 
 cups, and many utensils of gold and silver, mosaics 
 and enamelled trinkets, medals and money, and 
 strong chests full of valuables. It was impossible 
 to take anything away, from fear of the Turks. 
 Besides this, Yefrem felt that it was a solemn trust 
 which he had no right to deliver up to the boy. 
 He allowed him, however, to take one ancient coin 
 in order to impress the secret on his mind. 
 
 Soon after this it must have been about the 
 time that the Austrians were besieging Belgrade 
 Yefrem found a means of escaping from the coun 
 try with Andria; and in search of some honest 
 and honourable employment they made their way 
 through the Slavonic-speaking countries to Silesia. 
 Yefrem died, and Andria took service with a great 
 landed proprietor. Here he fell in love with a 
 
OF A SERBIAN KING 
 
 pretty peasant-girl, who was born on the estate, 
 and was consequently the serf of the lord of the 
 manor. For that, or for some other reason, he 
 was not allowed to marry her; but he gave her the 
 old coin which he had brought from the vault and 
 had carefully kept. One day the lord, his master, 
 played cards with a German baron, and, among 
 other stakes, lost the girl who was Andria s sweet 
 heart. Andria, in a frenzy of anger and despair, 
 tried to kill the baron; but, mistaking the man, 
 killed one of his attendants. For this he was 
 obliged to run away and hide himself; and, meet 
 ing some recruiting sergeant, he was enlisted in the 
 body-guard of the King of Prussia. He was then 
 about twenty-two years old. One day, many years 
 after, when there was a festivity at court, and 
 Andria was on guard at the door of the ball-room, 
 a fine lady passed on the arm of a gentleman; and 
 by some accident dropped her bracelet. Andria 
 picked it up, and even in its setting of jewels recog 
 nized the coin; then, raising his eyes as much as he 
 dared, he recognized the girl he had once loved. 
 She had married, it seems, an officer who had be 
 come a great general, and she was then a fine lady. 
 The gentleman who was with her admired the coin, 
 which seemed curious and rare, and had an inscrip 
 tion in an unknown language; and the King, send- 
 
THE MINNESOTA HEIR 
 
 ing for the director of his numismatic collection, 
 asked him if such a piece existed in his cabinet. 
 The director replied that he had recently bought 
 a similar one at Venice. 
 
 It must be remarked here that Venice had in 
 the Middle Ages an active commerce with the 
 whole Balkan Peninsula, and that the Venetian 
 coins served as models for the old Serbian money. 
 About all this August Boyne knew nothing, and 
 when he first told the story to the Minister had 
 never seen any old Serbian gold coins, which are 
 extremely rare. 
 
 As time went on Andria prospered; the King, 
 who had taken a fancy to him, helped him; and he 
 was able to build a house with the right to convert 
 it into an inn. This he did when he had grown 
 too old to be of use in active service; and, as 
 he often told his guests stories about fights in Ser 
 bia, to which he gave the name of boyne or voyne 
 (in Serbian boy or voy means a fight, and voyna 
 war), they came to call the house the Boyne Inn 
 Gasthans zum Boyne and he and his descendants 
 adopted it as a surname. The de Lazar was evi 
 dently an attempt at translating Lazarevitch, the 
 son of Lazar, the patronymic which Andria had 
 from his father Andria Lazarevitch Obilitch 
 and had nothing to do with the old King Lazar. 
 
 316 
 
OF A SERBIAN KING 
 
 About the life of Andria s son and grandson I 
 know nothing, nor why one of them went to Sax 
 ony; nor did the Minister remember that August 
 Boyne had told him anything in particular about 
 his life up to the age of thirty, when he emigrated 
 to America. I must return to his appearance in 
 Belgrade. 
 
 As I have said, the Minister at first tried to dis 
 suade Boyne from what he considered a useless and 
 absurd undertaking; and, when he found this of no 
 avail, advised him to search especially near Shabatz 
 and in that region; where he knew, as a historian, 
 that the Obilitch family had possessed lands. 
 Boyne spent a whole year in that part of the coun 
 try, and then began to explore the districts of 
 Morava and Kraguyevatz. He occasionally re 
 turned to Belgrade; and the Minister, who had be 
 come more and more interested in him and had 
 been greatly impressed by his straightforwardness, 
 his earnestness, and his simple piety, assisted him 
 from time to time with food, linen, clothes, and 
 even money. Boyne had gradually learned a little 
 Serbian, and wherever he went tried to do good to 
 the people about him; leaving a most favourable 
 opinion of him on all with whom he had to do. 
 What particularly struck my friend the Minister 
 was that he generally prayed aloud, and that his 
 
 317 
 
THE MINNESOTA HEIR 
 
 prayers were extemporised, and suited to particular 
 circumstances. " I was deeply touched," the Min 
 ister said, " when he prayed for Serbia, the Prince, 
 the whole Serbian nation; and specially for the 
 children of this nation who frequent the schools, 
 upon whom he implored the Almighty s blessing. 
 At the time when he asked for the concession, and 
 permission to search for the treasure, he said that 
 he would spend it entirely on the construction of a 
 Serbian railway, and that he would not carry out 
 of the country a single farthing. But later he 
 changed his mind and said : It is nearly two years 
 that I live in this country among the Serbians; and 
 I see that the nation is not pious and has forgotten 
 God and His goodness to men : and so, if I find my 
 treasure, I wish with the money to build many good 
 schools to teach children the fear of the Lord, and 
 to educate them in the love of their neighbours. 
 
 In May, 1876, Boyne was full of hope, and said 
 that he had found certain signs on an old ruined 
 castle not far from Kraguyevatz. He came again 
 to Belgrade in June during a period of great heat, 
 on foot and utterly destitute; and was almost im 
 mediately taken ill. The Minister was absent at 
 the time; but a lady went to see him in the wretched 
 cottage where he had found a lodging, and provid 
 ed him with linen and other necessaries. This 
 
 318 
 
OF A SERBIAN KING 
 
 friend on a later visit found that everything had 
 been stolen from him in the weak state in which he 
 was; and therefore had him transferred to the hos 
 pital. He was accompanied at this time by an ill- 
 looking man, whose acquaintance he had some 
 where made, and whom he had engaged to help 
 him in his work. When the Minister returned to 
 Belgrade he went to see poor Boyne, and found 
 him dying. He expired on the morning of August 
 3, 1876, and was buried among the poor in the 
 highest spot of the cemetery of Belgrade, whence 
 there is a lovely view over the Danube. The body 
 of this unknown and friendless American, the pos 
 sible descendant and the last of the hero King 
 Lazar, was followed to the grave by one mourner 
 only the Serbian Prime Minister. The face of 
 the poor man after death took on such a Serbian 
 type that the Minister took the trouble of having 
 him photographed. His death was doubtless due 
 to fever brought on by overwork and exhaustion; 
 but the lady, with whom I have talked, felt sure 
 that he had been poisoned. What supported her 
 in this theory was that the man whom he had taken 
 as his assistant had disappeared; carrying with him 
 most of the papers, notes, and the various small 
 objects that belonged to him. 
 
 Seven or eight years after this I met in Athens 
 
THE MINNESOTA HEIR 
 
 Mr. Arthur J. Evans, now keeper of the Ashmolean 
 Museum at Oxford, with his wife a daughter of 
 Mr. E. A. Freeman, the historian who had come 
 from a journey in Macedonia. At Prishtina, or 
 somewhere near there, Mr. Evans had bought some 
 fine old Serbian gold coins from a man who, al 
 though he seemed to have a large quantity of them, 
 would only show them one by one, behaved very 
 mysteriously and suspiciously, and then disap 
 peared. Some of these coins were unique; of 
 others only one or two specimens were known to 
 exist. I told him the story of poor August Boyne, 
 and he agreed with me in thinking that possibly at 
 least a part of the Obilitch treasure had been 
 found. 
 
 320 
 
THE LOST PLANT 
 
THE LOST PLANT 1 
 
 That evening we were playing whist at the Gov 
 ernor s house, as we had the habit of doing two or 
 three times a week. I had as partner my French 
 colleague, M. Dorat, still a young man, who had 
 arrived in the island as consul two or three months 
 before. I had not seen very much of him, for it 
 was the season of the year when we old fellows feel 
 disinclined to much movement; with the excep 
 tion of an occasional outing in a boat, or on a don 
 key, I had confined myself chiefly to my books and 
 my garden. With most of us our gardens were 
 great sources of amusement and delight. There 
 was always a pleasurable excitement when a new 
 package of seeds arrived from Europe for every 
 thing grew so well and fast; and many were the 
 tin-boxes of bulbs and plants imported in the gen 
 erally vain hope that something new might possibly 
 be found. No one was contented with the produc 
 tions of the island; we all wanted something dif- 
 
 1 This story appeared in Scribner s Magazine under the nom de plume 
 of John Pierson, and was the only fiction ever published by Mr. 
 Schuyler. " The Minnesota Heir of a Serbian King " is a true story. 
 
 323 
 
THE LOST PLANT 
 
 ferent. Each had his own little fad, and mine was 
 to reproduce, in this tropical country, an old-fash 
 ioned English garden, with its hollyhocks and lark 
 spurs, its columbines and daffodils, its lavender and 
 rosemary and sweet-scented shrubs and herbs. Do- 
 rat had not been there long enough, we thought, 
 to catch the prevailing taste; his garden, which 
 was large, and in the time of his predecessor had 
 been very fine, was now neglected and had gone 
 to waste; and if he occasionally put into it some 
 wild plant which he had found, it was only for his 
 experiments on the food and ways of life of the 
 insects which he was always collecting and study 
 ing. He had also a pronounced taste for ornithol 
 ogy, and for natural history of every kind; and, in 
 pursuit of specimens, accompanied by an old native 
 whom he had somewhere picked up, made constant 
 excursions often for days at a time into the 
 swampy and little known interior of the island. 
 
 Just behind my chair was standing a young 
 English officer, named Furniss, apparently a family 
 connection of the Governor at all events, a mem 
 ber of his official and personal household who had 
 arrived by the last steamer. He was waiting for 
 the end of the rubber to take a hand, and while the 
 cards were being dealt was asking some questions 
 about the methods of travelling, and announcing 
 
 324 
 
THE LOST PLANT 
 
 his intention of making some botanical excursions. 
 One or two things struck me in what he said, and, 
 looking over my shoulder, I jestingly remarked, 
 " So you are going to look for Humm s Sim&a," 
 As I turned back I intercepted such a look, seem 
 ingly of hatred, from beneath the dark brows and 
 lashes of my partner that I almost dropped the 
 cards I was dealing. There was something which 
 made me feel thoroughly uneasy. Furniss had 
 started a topic to which my chance remark had 
 given more interest; and, after we had begun to 
 play, the conversation still went on behind my back. 
 Although my partner kept control of his game, and 
 made no mistakes, I could see that he was listen 
 ing to every word that Furniss said, and closely 
 watching every movement that he made. I grew 
 more and more nervous, till at last I could stand 
 it no longer, and called out, rather abruptly, as 
 others thought : " My dear Furniss, if you keep on 
 looking at my cards and talking of botany at the 
 same time I shall think each trick a new and rare 
 species and shall lose all the points." Furniss, some 
 what offended at my tone, walked away from the 
 table. 
 
 When the rubber was over Dorat withdrew, by 
 rights, and I refused to play longer, which was mis 
 interpreted by some of the party, as was also a 
 
 325 
 
THE LOST PLANT 
 
 whispered remark of mine to Furniss in passing, 
 which was overheard by someone, that I would see 
 him again later. I went into the other room, to a 
 balcony overlooking the sea, and lighted a cigar, 
 while reflecting on what course I ought to pursue. 
 The fact is that a German botanist named Humm 
 had discovered in this island a plant which pos 
 sessed singular curative virtues, used among the 
 natives, but the existence of which they carefully 
 concealed. Medically as Humm had shown by 
 experiments it was as important as cinchona or 
 condurango, or the more recently introduced coca. 
 Humm had brought away a sufficient amount of the 
 drug for it to be thoroughly tested in European 
 laboratories and hospitals; but the plant had never 
 been found again. One academy after another had 
 offered prizes for its discovery, which in the aggre 
 gate then amounted to a large sum a sum suffi 
 cient to encourage an enterprising man to encoun 
 ter great risks in its search. It was evident from 
 what Furniss said that he had come out to look for 
 it; hoping that his connections and his official posi 
 tion would enable him to conduct his explorations 
 more easily and more thoroughly than those who 
 had gone before him. Several had already visited 
 the island for this purpose; but they had either fallen 
 victims to the climate, or had given up the quest 
 
 326 
 
THE LOST PLANT 
 
 in despair, in consequence of the difficulties put in 
 their way by the natives. It was equally plain to 
 me, from his conduct at the card-table, that Dorat 
 had come out for the same purpose; although he 
 had so far concealed his plans and his interest in 
 plants, in order to blind the eyes of the English. 
 He had the advantage of being in better relations 
 with the natives, because French prestige and 
 French influence are persistent in any place which 
 has once been under French rule; and the only 
 foreign words which the natives used were also 
 French. Although the English have held the isl 
 and for a long time they hold it simply as con 
 querors, and have never succeeded in identifying 
 themselves with the people. 
 
 I had not been smoking long before I was joined 
 by Dorat, who was evidently looking for me. With 
 great politeness and delicacy he offered me his ser 
 vices as to a colleague in difficulties; and, when 
 he saw my look of astonishment, in answer to my 
 questions told me that everybody believed that I 
 was to have a duel with Furniss. English customs, 
 we see especially on such points were not yet 
 predominant in the island; and duels were not yet 
 uncommon, although they were generally innocu 
 ous. I of course thanked him for his kindness, and 
 promised to call on him if I stood in need of a 
 
 327 
 
THE LOST PLANT 
 
 friend; but explained that between an old, irritable 
 fellow like myself, and a young man like Furniss, 
 there would probably be no difficulty which could 
 not be settled with an explanation, or, if need be, 
 with an apology. The talk passed on to other 
 things, when suddenly Dorat asked, " How did you 
 come to mention the Simcea Hummiif " 
 
 " Oh! " I said, " that is an old idea of mine; I 
 thought of looking for it when I first came; so 
 that I naturally suspect every fresh man of the same 
 desire." 
 
 " And you never did look for it? " 
 
 " No, I was always naturally indolent; I broke 
 my ankle a week after I arrived; that and the heat 
 and malaria, and the bother of travelling in the in 
 terior have kept me quiet. But I have never lost 
 a Platonic interest in it, and if you find it I shall 
 congratulate you heartily." 
 
 " But why should I look for it? " 
 
 " In the first place, my dear colleague, why 
 should you mention it at all, if it were of no in 
 terest to you? And, secondly, you must know as 
 well as I do that very large rewards are offered for 
 finding it, with which will follow a wide scientific 
 fame. Why shouldn t you find it? You are young 
 and vigorous; being French, you have influence 
 with the natives; you already, if I mistake not, 
 
 328 
 
THE LOST PLANT 
 
 speak something of their language; you make fre 
 quent shooting excursions into the interior; and 
 you can perfectly well make botanical experiments 
 in your neglected garden at the consulate. The 
 spirit of old Hume would, I am sure, be delighted 
 if you should carry out his beneficent intentions." 
 
 " You call him Hume; do you mean Humm? " 
 
 " Yes, the last was his German name; but when 
 he got naturalized in America he was so laughed 
 at on account of his name that he changed it to 
 Hume." 
 
 " You knew him, then? " 
 
 " Yes, I met him first when I was quite a boy, 
 when I joined a scientific party to the Rocky Moun 
 tains, and, as I had been a comrade of Eaton and 
 Brewer, was much interested in botany. We got 
 to be very good friends then; but I had almost for 
 gotten about him until I met him again when I 
 was vice-consul at Tripoli. He had come there to 
 study assafoetida and laserpitium and other precious 
 plants which the ancients obtained from that region. 
 I was able to lodge him in my house, and we re 
 newed our old acquaintance; you know he died 
 there, or, rather, in the interior; but he left me his 
 papers, and well, come and breakfast with me to 
 morrow, about twelve, and I will show you some 
 thing that will interest you." 
 
 329 
 
THE LOST PLANT 
 
 Throwing away the end of my cigar I went back 
 to the drawing-room, and finally found Furniss 
 to whom I at once apologized for my brusque lan 
 guage and asked him, if he did not mind my limp, 
 to walk home with me, as I had something to tell 
 him. He readily consented, and as soon as we 
 could get away we walked down the quiet tree-lined 
 street until we reached my garden. Then I per 
 suaded him to sit awhile with me in the veranda, 
 where I knew that we could not be overheard. My 
 faithful servant brought us out narghilehs, for this 
 souvenir of my life in Asia and Africa still clings 
 to me; the broad-leaved plants looked fantastic in 
 the moonlight, and we were glad to neutralise the 
 strong, heavy odours with the smoke of our pipes. 
 The outlook on the garden gradually brought us 
 to the subject of plants, and, after we had got 
 warmed up on this topic, with the help of a glass 
 or two of good old Madeira, I told him that I had 
 overheard enough of his conversation to make me 
 understand that he had come out expressly to find 
 the lost plant. He frankly admitted his purpose, 
 without the slightest hesitation; and gradually was 
 led on to talk of his past life, of the influences which 
 had moulded it, and of his hopes for the future. 
 
 " Well," I said, " I will do all I can for you; and 
 perhaps I can give you certain information which 
 
 330 
 
THE LOST PLANT 
 
 you do not possess. But I must be fair all round. 
 Dorat is a colleague of mine, with whom I am on 
 the best possible terms; and whatever information 
 I give you I must give him." 
 
 " Dorat," he said, " the French consul, who was 
 your partner to-night? Has he come here, too, for 
 this purpose? " 
 
 " Yes; I never suspected it till this evening; now 
 I know it. He is coming to tiffin with me to 
 morrow; and the best way to manage the thing 
 will be for you to meet him. But, as I want a wit 
 ness or two, bring the Governor with you. I ll send 
 him a little note early in the morning, and I will 
 try to find one or two others also." 
 
 " Oh, I think there will be no difficulty about 
 that, as the Governor has already told me of 
 your breakfasts; besides, to-morrow is Sunday, 
 and he will have no engagements after church. 
 But you re as solemn and mysterious as though 
 some great event were impending. What is the 
 matter? " 
 
 " The matter, my dear fellow, is simply this, that 
 you must entirely forget all that I tell you, and act 
 entirely on your own judgment. Be on your guard 
 against your rival. Never trust yourself alone with 
 him, if you meet him in the interior. From what 
 I saw to-night I believe him quite capable of kill- 
 
 33i 
 
THE LOST PLANT 
 
 ing you, if need be, to prevent your succeeding to 
 his detriment." 
 
 " Not so bad as that, I hope." 
 
 " Not a word more ever on this subject. You 
 know all that I fear. Take your own course. We 
 shall see you to-morrow at noon." 
 
 II 
 
 Our breakfast was unusually pleasant, for I had 
 succeeded in getting hold of M. Blancsube, one of 
 the richest and most hospitable planters of the isl 
 and, a man universally liked for his wit and his good 
 company, and respected for his intelligence and 
 probity. The Governor was in better form than I 
 had ever seen him, gave us amusing stories of his 
 experiences in other colonies and he seemed to 
 have lived in some capacity in nearly every part 
 of the globe and by great good luck assisted me 
 by appearing in an entirely new and unexpected 
 character. Apropos of some of the fruit, he launched 
 out in a discourse on the vegetable productions of 
 the different places where he had been which would 
 have done credit to Grant Duff himself. 
 
 When we began to smoke I brought out a port 
 folio and showed some of the very curious things 
 that I had been able to retain in my wandering life 
 
 332 
 
THE LOST PLANT 
 
 autograph letters of Bruce and Burckhardt; a 
 sketch-map of Humboldt; a relic of Connolly and 
 Stoddart from Bukhara which had not been found 
 by Dr. Wolff; photographs of Convolvulus Sabbatius 
 and Campanula Sabbatia which I had myself taken 
 from living plants at Capo di Noli, the only place 
 in the world where they grow; and a few similar 
 things. 
 
 " You are an amateur photographer, then? " said 
 M. Blancsube. 
 
 " Don t be alarmed for yourself, monsieur, there 
 are no instantaneous cameras concealed in the walls 
 to take you in an unguarded moment; I photograph 
 only plants. And I could show our friends here, 
 if they were not already too learned to need them, 
 photographs of nearly every plant growing on the 
 island, except of the one we all want most to see, 
 the Simcea Hummii. I can, however, show you 
 something about that; but before I open this en 
 velope I must make a bargain with them. What 
 I want is the drug. At one time I should have been 
 glad of the fame of the discovery, but now I am 
 too old to care much about that, as well as of the 
 great reward offered for the plant ; but, while money 
 is always an object, I have luckily a few weeks ago 
 received a legacy large enough to enable me to live 
 wherever I please in tolerable comfort. Therefore 
 
 333 
 
THE LOST PLANT 
 
 if I show you now what I have carefully preserved, 
 in the hope that I might myself some day be fortu 
 nate enough to come across the plant, I must ask 
 both Dorat and Furniss, or whoever is the dis 
 coverer, to furnish me with one living root, after he 
 has taken proper measures to secure his priority of 
 discovery." 
 
 To this they both agreed, and after telling them 
 in detail of my acquaintance with Humm or Hume; 
 of his tragic death in the desert, on the eve of an 
 other voyage to our island; and of how he came to 
 make me the heir of his secret, I showed them, first, 
 a careful water-coloured drawing of the plant, and 
 then a dried specimen of it just as it was coming 
 into bloom. Finally, I unfolded a leaf of paper on 
 which Humm had drawn from memory a sketch of 
 the locality where the plant was found, and of the 
 route which he had taken from the coast. Unfor 
 tunately the paper had got worn out at the folds, 
 from being carried in the old botanist s pocket- 
 book; and the chart was so illegible and confused 
 as to be of comparatively little value. The aston 
 ishment and interest with which my revelations 
 were received by all present, although Blancsube 
 needed a few words of explanation in order further 
 to understand the matter, were so great as to justify 
 me to myself for the little coup de theatre which I 
 
 334 
 
THE LOST PLANT 
 
 had prepared. When one gets old, one s vanity is 
 pleased with even such little harmless successes. 
 
 While the map was being carefully examined by 
 the Governor, who was trying to identify localities, 
 Blancsube suggested what, strangely, never oc 
 curred to me that it might be photographed. 
 This I offered to do at once and to give both Dorat 
 and Furniss copies, as well as to allow them the use 
 of the little herbarium I possessed and of all my 
 photographs of plants. 
 
 " But," I said, " you will notice from Humm s 
 note that the plant was found just coming into 
 bloom on October 6th, and to-day is September 
 2Oth. If either of you intend to look for it in ear 
 nest you must lose no time. You will, of course, 
 take your own ways of announcing the discovery 
 so as to secure the priority; although I believe that, 
 according to the conditions of most of the rewards 
 offered, the plant must be brought back in a living 
 condition and planted in a botanical garden. The 
 Governor has one here under his charge, though 
 I am surprised to learn to-day that he takes such 
 a personal interest in it. I must tell you, also, that 
 I have still deposited in a safe place a bit of the 
 drug, which, however, is not unknown to others, 
 and which will serve for the identification of the 
 plant; and I shall be greatly pleased if, when you 
 
 335 
 
THE LOST PLANT 
 
 find it, you will send a messenger to let me know. 
 When you come back I hope to be able to show 
 you a fairly good specimen of it growing in my own 
 garden." 
 
 They all laughed at my last remark, which they 
 thought a mere bit of chaff; but in very truth, I had 
 a few days before planted in an out-of-the-way 
 place a tuber which I had every reason to believe 
 was that of the Simcza. 
 
 Ill 
 
 Within the week both Furniss and Dorat started 
 on the quest, the former taking the route which he 
 had combined with the Governor s from Humm s 
 sketch-map; and the latter preferring, on hints re 
 ceived from the natives, to begin with the other end 
 of the island, whither he went by sea. For some 
 days we heard nothing. At last one afternoon a 
 negro brought me a laconic note from Furniss, say 
 ing, simply : " I have found it, and, with due in 
 gratitude, I hope that I am ahead even of you." 
 I immediately went out and looked again at my 
 precious plant; for the tuber had sprouted, and the 
 rapidly unfolding leaves were beginning (at all 
 events to my imagination) to present a strong re 
 semblance to the dried specimen given me by 
 
 336 
 
THE LOST PLANT 
 
 Humm. I am ashamed to tell how many times 
 that day I had already looked at the plant; and, in 
 deed, I was beginning to grow nervous, anxious, 
 envious, and jealous of my rivals; and to think that 
 I had made a precious old fool of myself in being 
 so generous with my information. After all, what 
 difference did it make to me if they did kill each 
 other people whom I hardly knew? But as the 
 cool freshness of evening approached, my amiability 
 returned; and I resolved to go to the Governor s 
 and invite myself to dinner, and find out what in 
 formation he had received; for I felt sure that he 
 knew something more. Sir Thomas was in very 
 good spirits, but could tell me nothing that I did 
 not know. He was glad to see me, and, for a won 
 der, we were quite alone. We concluded that 
 piquet would be better than the usual double- 
 dummy; the card-tables were brought out, the 
 lights were being arranged, and the soda-water and 
 glasses exposed on the side-table, when a clatter of 
 hoofs was heard coming down the road, and in a 
 moment more a message was brought to us from a 
 coffee-planter that the body of a man had been 
 found at the bottom of a precipice, in a place about 
 twenty miles away, but hard to reach. It was 
 thought to be that of an Englishman, apparently 
 a scientific man, as he had been collecting plants; 
 VOL. I. 22 337 
 
THE LOST PLANT 
 
 and the request was made for the despatch of some- 
 one to identify, if possible, the corpse, with instruc 
 tions as to its burial. We had no question but that 
 it was Captain Furniss, as we knew of no one else 
 corresponding to the description. From what I 
 knew, or rather suspected, it flashed through me at 
 once that there had been foul play. But I consid 
 ered it best, for the moment at least, to keep my 
 suspicions to myself, as they might be entirely un 
 founded. After a hurried consultation with me as 
 to the best course to pursue, Sir Thomas decided 
 that two or three men from the hospital should go 
 on at once with extra horses, and that he and the 
 doctor would leave before daybreak, driving as far 
 as the road was practicable, so as to reach the field 
 of the accident at the earliest possible moment in 
 the morning. I readily acceded to his suggestion 
 to accompany him. 
 
 We had little time for sleep, as we started very 
 early, and the sun was just rising when we had to 
 leave the high-road and mount our horses. Had 
 it not been for the errand on which we were bent 
 and our desire to hasten, I should have greatly en 
 joyed this early ride on one of our delightful South 
 ern spring mornings. As we descended the ridge 
 we had opposite us a hill-side, which we had to cross 
 later, covered with plantations of coffee and pepper, 
 
 338 
 
THE LOST PLANT 
 
 while the valley below was green with the sugar 
 cane. Flowers of all kinds grew in profusion along 
 the roadside, and I could not help observing them 
 carefully and mentally repeating their names. But 
 the detour was long, and it was a toilsome march. 
 That the body was that of Captain Furniss there 
 could be no doubt. There were no signs of stabs 
 or shots, but it was so bruised and cut by the rocks 
 that, although it had been carefully covered with 
 leafy boughs, decomposition had already begun, 
 and it was necessary to bury it as soon as possible. 
 Due note, however, was taken of its position and 
 of various apparently petty details. One circum 
 stance I could not help noticing at once, and I nat 
 urally called the Governor s attention to it. The 
 botanical specimen-box lay at a little distance from 
 the body; it had evidently been opened and a 
 search had been made among the plants it had con 
 tained; for they were lying in a confused heap, not 
 as if they had been accidentally shaken out. This 
 certainly looked strange. The plant that was 
 sought for was not among them. The pressing- 
 boards were missing, and as I felt sure that he or 
 one of his men would carry them, that also 
 seemed strange. Those, however, we afterwards 
 discovered, caught on a ledge of rock above. One 
 of the men climbed up with difficulty and threw 
 
 339 
 
THE LOST PLANT 
 
 them down to us; they were still strapped together, 
 but the drying paper contained no plants of any 
 kind, and in all probability they had not been used 
 in that last day s excursion. Out of pardonable 
 curiosity I looked carefully at every sheet, even 
 holding them up to the light; and it seemed to me 
 as if on one I detected the outline of the Simcea. 
 
 With the consent of the planter who owned the 
 land, a grave was dug for poor Furniss close to the 
 spot where he fell, and his body was tenderly and 
 reverently placed in it, Sir Thomas reading, in a 
 broken voice, the English burial service, with only 
 myself to make the responses. We resolved to 
 place a tablet or cut an inscription upon the nearest 
 rock in commemoration of this martyr to science. 
 I could not help thinking of a similar tablet I had 
 once seen in the old quarries near Syracuse where 
 the Athenians had been imprisoned and starved. 
 But that was to an American midshipman, named 
 Nicholson, who had fallen in a duel with a British 
 officer, in maintaining the honour of his flag, in 
 the opening years of the century. 
 
 It needed no hint of mine as to my private sus 
 picion to induce Sir Thomas to proceed to a minute 
 investigation of the rock from which Furniss had 
 fallen. For that it was necessary to return to the 
 high road, proceed along it some distance farther, 
 
 340 
 
THE LOST PLANT 
 
 and then turn to the left over a difficult bridle-path, 
 and then a foot-path among the rocks. I did not 
 feel equal to this, and stayed in the little hut on the 
 roadside where we had left the carriage; while Sir 
 Thomas, who had kept up wonderfully, went on 
 with the others to the scene of the accident. 
 
 The report which they brought back was, in one 
 sense, very satisfactory. The place from which 
 Furniss had fallen was identified, close to a splendid 
 clump of that lovely, fragrant flower which the 
 natives call naruna the botanical name of which 
 escapes me now which was somewhat rare, and 
 was the finest Sir Thomas had ever seen. The 
 marks were seen where Furniss s foot had slipped, 
 and there were no traces of a struggle or of the 
 presence of anyone else. He had apparently been 
 engaged in securing fine specimens of the naruna, 
 when a treacherous branch or twig broke and down 
 he went. Nevertheless it was impossible entirely 
 to exclude the hypothesis that he might have been 
 pushed off by some barefooted native coming up in 
 silence behind him. 
 
 We had wondered what had become of Furniss s 
 servants; but while we were resting from the fa 
 tigue and emotion of the day, we were joined by 
 them. They did not yet know of his death. Two 
 mornings before, owing to the illness of the special 
 
THE LOST PLANT 
 
 man who carried his traps and assisted him in plac 
 ing the specimens between the drying-papers, the 
 captain had insisted on starting out alone, with the 
 expectation of returning in the course of a couple 
 of hours. It was only, however, towards night 
 that his absence caused any apprehension. They 
 looked for him in vain that night, and had been 
 searching for him without result ever since. So 
 far their evidence all agreed. They utterly denied 
 having met any other white man for several days 
 before that, and had seen no suspicious character 
 either on the day of Furniss s disappearance or 
 since. They had not seen Dorat. But when they 
 tried to explain why they had not brought away 
 the whole of their master s collections, or even all 
 of his kit, there were strange and suspicious hesita 
 tions and contradictions. They professed to know 
 nothing of any living plants, planted, or otherwise 
 preserved by Furniss. As the place which had 
 been the captain s last head-quarters was a long 
 way off and difficult to reach, Sir Thomas decided 
 not to go himself, but to send one of the men from 
 the hospital, on whom he thought he could thor 
 oughly depend, back there with one of Furniss s 
 black followers, in order to make a thorough inves 
 tigation of the camp, and bring away everything, 
 explaining to him the importance of the matter. 
 
 342 
 
THE LOST PLANT 
 
 It seemed to us quite plain that someone 
 whether a rival or a native herb-doctor, or, rather, 
 herb-charmer, or, perhaps, one of the plantation- 
 hands who had discovered the body had searched 
 the botanical case found near the corpse; and that 
 someone had probably also searched his tent; at the 
 same time we had no actual proof that Furniss had 
 yet attempted to dig up and remove any specimens 
 of the plant, even if he had found it. He had per 
 haps waited to do that until the instant of starting 
 on his return, when it would be in the more devel 
 oped state. Nor did we find out anything subse 
 quently to make us change that opinion. 
 
 We were just taking a hasty bite before starting 
 on our return to town, when there suddenly came 
 on one of those torrential showers which are not 
 unusual in tropical countries. Fortunately the hut 
 in which we were stood on high ground, or we 
 should have run the risk of being swept away. 
 Rain fell in sheets. The continued thunder and 
 vivid flashes of lightning frightened the horses, 
 while the poor natives cowered on the floor of the 
 hut from fear. It seemed as if the storm would 
 never end; but just when the thatched roof was be 
 coming like a sieve, and we were beginning to be 
 wet by the drizzle, the storm passed away as sud 
 denly as it had begun. 
 
 343 
 
THE LOST PLANT 
 
 It was, however, impossible to move. The 
 ground was water-soaked and the road too heavy 
 for our vehicles; more than that, the dry bed of the 
 little stream we had crossed in the morning was 
 now rilled with a rapid, raging river. There was 
 nothing to do but to wait. 
 
 By sunrise the stream had fallen sufficiently to 
 allow us to proceed, and we reached the town with 
 out any serious difficulty, but through what a scene 
 of desolation! Everywhere the lowlands were 
 covered with gravel and mud; good land had 
 been temporarily ruined, and the sugar-canes were 
 broken down and destroyed. We heard afterwards 
 that in other places serious damage had been done 
 to the coffee and spice plantations. 
 
 My servant, as he opened the door for me, had a 
 careworn and dejected look, as if reproaching me 
 for having stayed out all night; and when, while 
 waiting for a cup of tea, I started down the garden- 
 path, he warned me to be careful as the ground 
 was undermined and treacherous, or something of 
 that sort. A fear passed through my mind, which, 
 alas ! was only too well founded. The consulate 
 was not far from the edge of a little stream, which, 
 in swelling so suddenly, had cut for itself another 
 temporary channel and had swept away a part of 
 my garden a part which had contained many 
 
 344 
 
THE LOST PLANT 
 
 plants which were dear to me, and, more than all, 
 that precious plant which I before believed and 
 now felt sure was the Simaa. 
 
 IV 
 
 Days passed, and there was no news from Dorat. 
 The accident to Furniss, the destruction of my gar 
 den, and the silence of Dorat, worked so strongly 
 upon my nerves that I became disgusted with the 
 island and everything in it, and I had serious 
 thoughts of resigning. My work had not been 
 hard at this post, for the trade with the United 
 States was not great, and American ships came so 
 infrequently that the quarrels and complaints of the 
 crews were rather a diversion than a burden. But 
 a few busy days happened to come just then, and 
 made me feel how wretched my life would be were 
 I deprived of just that kind of work to which I had 
 been accustomed from my youth up. I was too 
 old to engage in another occupation even had I 
 needed so to do and could not bear the thought 
 of absolute idleness. Besides, the position itself is 
 a pleasant one to a man old in the service, who 
 neither overrates its advantages nor neglects its 
 opportunities. Some of my friends used to think 
 me unpatriotic because I had lived so many years 
 
 345 
 
THE LOST PLANT 
 
 abroad. But they forgot that I was all this time 
 in the Government service; and I am sure that, if 
 anything will make a man patriotic, it is to feel that 
 it is his sole duty in life to guard and advance the 
 interests of his country without other cares or oc 
 cupations. He is not, like people who remain at 
 home, distracted by the struggle for existence, and 
 thinking of the duty he owes to his country only 
 when drawn on the jury, or dunned by the tax-col 
 lector, or inspirited by party enthusiasm just be 
 fore an election. Abroad, his consular or diplo 
 matic duties form the chief object of his life; and 
 distance and time make him love and cherish more 
 some manifestations of our national life which, it 
 is true, might after a long absence in other lands 
 prove irksome to him were he living at home. 
 
 I therefore thought better of this, and sent by 
 steamer to be telegraphed from Suez a request 
 for a leave of absence, to be taken at once. Before 
 resigning, I thought I would go home on leave, 
 and see whether I could not obtain promotion or 
 a change of post; but, as I had no intention of ever 
 returning to the island, I proceeded to pack up or 
 otherwise dispose of my goods and chattels. 
 
 At last, one morning I received a message from 
 the gerant of the French consulate saying that 
 Dorat was ill with malarial fever at the other end 
 
 346 
 
THE LOST PLANT 
 
 of the island. He had been very low for several 
 days, but had finally roused sufficiently to send 
 word, and hoped to see me before he died. Much 
 as I could have wished to go to him, the journey 
 was at that time beyond my strength. We decid 
 ed to send a good doctor, who agreed that, if Dorat 
 were in a state that he could be moved, he should 
 be brought down to the nearest point on the coast, 
 and from thence, if possible, to Port Philip by sea. 
 I even gave the doctor the bit of the precious drug 
 that I had preserved so long, explaining its quali 
 ties, with the idea that it might possibly be of use. 
 
 In a few days Dorat was brought to town, very 
 weak, pale, and emaciated; but the doctor seemed 
 to think that he had passed the crisis, and that if 
 carefully nursed he would slowly recover. Al 
 though I was expecting to sail in the next steamer 
 for I had received a favourable reply to my tele 
 gram I felt that I could not under the circum 
 stances leave Dorat in this condition, and to 
 make a long story short I threw up my passage, 
 stayed on, and devoted myself to looking after him, 
 making him comfortable, and cheering the hours 
 of his convalescence until he was strong enough to 
 be sent home, when we came to Europe in the 
 same steamer. 
 
 It was impossible not to be impressed with his 
 347 
 
THE LOST PLANT 
 
 patience, his gentleness, his strong will, and his de 
 votion to science. His character appeared to me 
 in an entirely new light, and all my foolish suspi 
 cions and prejudices speedily vanished. It was a 
 long time, however, before I dared tell him of the 
 accident to Furniss, and of my own personal disap 
 pointment. To this he seemed to pay no attention, 
 and I said nothing more. It was only some days 
 afterwards that he seemed suddenly to remember 
 the incidents just preceding his journey to the in 
 terior, and inquired how Furniss had fared. He 
 was evidently sincerely shocked and astonished at 
 the story I had to tell him. Indeed, at first, all 
 memory of recent events seemed to have passed 
 away from him, leaving his mind a blank. When 
 he had recovered his memory he felt sure that just 
 at the time when he was fighting with the fever 
 he had seen and handled the Simcea, and made 
 preparations for its transport; intending to start on 
 his return on the very day when he was stricken 
 powerless. But these may have been delusions of 
 his fevered brain. From that time his most ardent 
 desire was to get well quickly in order to visit 
 again that locality where he was sure the Simcea 
 grew. For my part, I tried to persuade him that 
 we had probably all been victims of a delusion, and 
 that the quest was hopeless: 
 
 348 
 
THE LOST PLANT 
 
 I should perhaps have succeeded in this had not 
 the incoming steamer brought, with introductions 
 to me, a small scientific party organised and sent 
 out by Cornell University with the intention of 
 making a careful exploration of that and the neigh 
 bouring islands, which had been never really ex 
 plored since the time of Bougainville, and then only 
 superficially. Among the special objects of the 
 expedition was that of discovering the Simcea, as 
 well as the finding of some traces of the dodo. My 
 part of the play was ended; and I therefore not only 
 gave all the information that I could telling these 
 enthusiastic young men the outward story of the 
 most recent events; but I also made over to them 
 for the museum of the university all my collections 
 and special books, about the disposal of which I 
 had been somewhat in a quandary. I have not yet 
 heard, however, that the expedition has discovered 
 either the lost bird or the lost plant. 
 
 349 
 
INDEX 
 
INDEX 
 
 Abdul Hamid Pasha, 61 
 
 Abdul Medjid, Sultan, 59 
 
 Abdullah, 192 
 
 Academy, Plato s, 154 
 
 Acropolis, the, 153, 154 
 
 Adee, A. A., letters to, 164-166 
 
 Adrianople, 73, 103, no, 115, 116 
 
 JEgean, the, 118 
 
 " A Fugue of Bach," 209 
 
 Ahmed-Aga, 67, 68, 71 
 
 Ahmed Mukhtar Pasha, 113 
 
 Ahmed Tefik Pasha, 117 
 
 Ahmed Vefyk, 114 
 
 Akhrosimof, Maria Dmitrievna, 
 241 
 
 Aksakof, 208 
 
 Aksakof, Madame, 208 
 
 " A Landlord s Morning," 227, 
 253 
 
 Alassio, 170, 172, 175, 178, 184, 186, 
 190, 197, 204 
 
 Albano, 136 
 
 Albany, Countess of, 186 
 
 Alexander, Emperor, 238 
 
 Alexander I., Emperor, 234 
 
 Alexander III., 143 
 
 Alexandria, 191 
 
 Alexandrova, Madame, 212 
 
 Alexandrovitch, Count Peter (Tol 
 stoy), 232 
 
 Alexis, 232 
 
 Alexis, Grand Duke, 34, 35, 53 
 
 Ali, 192 
 
 Alliance, U.S.S., 204 
 
 America, 26, 39, 45, 58, 131, 143, 
 147, 149, 151, 152, 169, 170, 181, 
 185, 187, 188, 190, 195, 211, 278, 
 308 
 
 America, 180 
 
 " American Diplomacy," 169, 183 
 
 " American Marriages Abroad," 
 185 
 
 Americans, the, 59 
 
 Amersfoort, 134 
 
 Andersen, Hans Christian, 186 
 
 Andreievitch, Count Dimitri (Tol 
 stoy), 232 
 
 Andreievitch, Count Dimitri (Tol 
 stoy), 232 
 
 Andrews, James Bruyn, 18, 174 
 
 " Anna Karenin," 219, 251, 264, 270, 
 295, 299 
 
 Annenkof, 262, 263 
 
 Anthim, 133 
 
 Arabs, the, 104 
 
 Aral, Sea of, 42 
 
 Archaeology, American School of, 
 166 
 
 Arenenberg, 190 
 
 Arizona, 43 
 
 Armenia, 121 
 
 Armenians, 183 
 
 Armstrong, 147, 148 
 
 Arnold, 93 
 
 Arnold, Madame, 273 
 
 Ashmolean Museum, 320 
 
 Asia, 26, 31, 52, 76, 105, 213 
 
 Asia, Central, 42, 49-51, 53, 54, 82, 
 83, 277 
 
 Assiout, 194 
 
 Assym Pasha, 127 
 
 Athenceum, the, 141 
 
 Athens, 119, 128, 152, 160, 162, 164, 
 166, 169, 174, 179, 184, 187, 199, 319 
 
 Auerbach, 274, 280 
 
 Austin, 123 
 
 Austrians, the, 91 
 
 Azarian, 117 
 
 Aziz Pasha, 60, 61 
 
 Azof, 136 
 
 VOL. I. 23 
 
 353 
 
INDEX 
 
 Baden-Baden, 21, 210, 254 
 
 Baker, 112 
 
 Baldwin, Admiral, 161, 175 
 
 Balkan Peninsula, 316 
 
 Balkans, the, 73, 75 
 
 Balzac, 237 
 
 Bancroft, 28, 275 
 
 Baring, Walter, 62, 73, 78, 82, 97, 
 
 121 
 
 Bartenief, 208, 238 
 
 Basel, 189, 195 
 
 Bashi-bazouks, 61, 63, 66, 67 
 
 Bashkirs, 283 
 
 Basili, 119 
 
 Bassano, 179 
 
 Batak, 67, 68, 71, 87, 91 
 
 Bath, 132 
 
 Bath and Wells, Bishop of, 106 
 
 Battenberg, Prince Alexander, 120 
 
 Bauer, Caroline, 190 
 
 Bayard, Mr., 180 
 
 Bayazed, 307 
 
 Beaconsfield, 93, 96, 97 
 
 Beauharnais, Countess, 244 
 
 Beethoven, 290, 292 
 
 " Beethoven s Last Quartet," 209 
 
 Bek, the, 47 
 
 Belgrade, 56-58, 90, 93, 143, 146, 168, 
 
 303 304. 3", 3*3, 3I4 3 J 7-3i9 
 Benkendorp, 119 
 Benningsen, 233 
 Berlin, 148 
 Berlioz, 210, 212 
 Berne, 188, 189 
 Besika, Baie de, 115 
 Bibikof, Mr., 219 
 Bibikofs, the, 221 
 Bilibin, 240 
 
 Birmingham, 131, 133, 214 
 Bismarck, 98 
 
 Black Sea, the, 100, 104, in, 116 
 Elaine, 148, 181, 182, 184, 185 
 Blessington, Lady, 186 
 Bluntschli, 188 
 Boker, Geo. H., 54, 56, 82; letter 
 
 from, 83-85 
 Boker, Mrs., 84 
 Bolkonsky, 233, 240-242 
 Bologna, 179, 186 
 Bonaparte, Madame Mere, 186 
 
 Bonivard, 189 
 
 Bonstetten, 189 
 
 Borodino, battle of, 238, 247, 291 
 
 Bors, 216 
 
 Bosnia, 56, 312 
 
 Bosphorus, the, 64, 104, 108, 117, 
 
 123 
 
 Boyardjik, 69, 75 
 " Boyhood " (Tolstoy), 227, 251, 
 
 252, 255 
 Boyne, August, 306, 308, 309, 312, 
 
 313. 3 l6 ~3 2 o 
 Bragge, Mr., 131 
 Brandenburg, 309, 313 
 Bratiano, 145 
 Breecker, 134 
 Brescia, 179 
 British fleet, 116 
 Browning, 195 
 Browning, Mrs., 180 
 Bruce, Countess, 189 
 Bruce, Mrs., 105 
 Brunswick, 120 
 Bubastis, 195 
 Bucarest, 91, 98, 137, 139, 142, 144, 
 
 149, 168 
 
 Buckingham Palace, 107 
 Bukhara, 47, 48 
 Bukharans, the, 26 
 Bulgaria, 59, 62, 63, 76, 82, 85, 86, 
 
 88, 94, 99, 102, 105, 115, 118, 120, 
 
 121, 130, 132, 138-140, 145, 180, 
 
 312; Prince of, 120 
 Bulgarian Church, 59; Constitu 
 tion, 85, 86, 91; Deputation, 172; 
 
 National Assembly, 132, 133 
 Bulgarians, 62, 91, 112; petitions 
 
 of, 79-81 
 Burgas, 112 
 Burmah, 148 
 Burnaby, 105, 112 
 Burutina, 67 
 Buyukdere, 108, in 
 Byron, 108, 177, 178, 189, 233, 252 
 
 Cairo, 167, 170, 184, 187, 190-192, 
 
 194, 196, 198, 203, 204 
 Cairoli, 135 
 Calcutta, 184 
 
 354 
 
INDEX 
 
 Calice, 91 
 
 Calvert, Consular Agent, 116 
 
 Calvin, 189 
 
 Cannes, 172 
 
 Canova, 180 
 
 Canton Thurgau, 190 
 
 Cardwell (U. S. Diplomatic 
 Agent and Consul General at 
 Cairo), 192 
 
 Carlsbad, 204 
 
 Carnarvon, Lord, 106 
 
 Carol (King of Roumania), 145 
 
 Castrocaro, 177 
 
 Catacazy, 130 
 
 Catherine, 243 
 
 Catherine, Grand Duchess, 143 
 
 Catherine I., 232 
 
 Catherine II., 82, 84, 240 
 
 Catherine, Queen, of Sweden, 38 
 
 Caucasus, the, 23, 208, 223, 226, 228, 
 253. 254 
 
 Cavendish, Lord and Lady Fred 
 erick, 106 
 
 Century, the, 195 
 
 " Century Dictionary," 171 
 
 Cesnola, General di, 148 
 
 Chamberlain, Mr., 131 
 
 Chambers, General, 113, 115, 116, 
 120, 129 
 
 Charriere, Madame de, 189 
 
 " Chartreuse de Parme," 244 
 
 Chateaubriand, 186 
 
 Chaudordy, 90, 95 
 
 Chefket Pasha, 69, 75, 93 
 
 Chemnitz, 305, 313 
 
 Cherbuliez, 189 
 
 Chicago, 180, 308 
 
 " Childhood " (Tolstoy), 227, 251, 
 252 
 
 " Childhood and Boyhood," 299 
 
 Chillon, 189 
 
 China, 147 
 
 Chinese, the, 129 
 
 Chiozzia, 186 
 
 Christina, Queen, 186 
 
 Chur, 190 
 
 Circassians, the, 63, no, 112 
 Clarke, Campbell, 93 
 
 Coburg, Prince of, 172 
 
 Coffey, Mr., 31 
 
 " Colonial New York Philip 
 Schuyler and his Family," 6 
 
 Colorado, 43 
 
 Columbia College, 17, 108; Uni 
 versity, 179 
 
 " Confessions " (Tolstoy), 224, 
 231, 251, 272, 282 
 
 Conference, the, 85, 88, 90, 92-97, 
 
 99, 119, 121 
 
 Constant, Benjamin, 189 
 Constantinople, 54, 56, 57, 59, 60, 
 
 73, 75, 77, 81, 85, 88, 90, 91, 95-98, 
 
 100, 108, no, in, 114-116, 123, 
 125-127, 142, 153, 154, 165, 167, 
 184 
 
 Constantinovitch, Count Alexis 
 
 (Tolstoy), 232 
 Constanz, 189 
 Conway, Moncure D., letter from, 
 
 76 
 
 Cooper, 186 
 Coppet, 189 
 Corfu, 165 
 Gorilla, 186 
 Corinne, 180, 186 
 Cornell University, 6, 169, 179 
 Correggio, 40 
 Corsica, 104 
 
 Corti, Count, 95, too, 114, 124 
 Cosmopolitan Club, 106 
 Cossacks, 25 
 " Count Julian," 178 
 Cox, S. S., 18 
 Crete, 117 
 
 Crimea, the, 23, 227, 228 
 Currie, 96 
 
 Curtin, Andrew G., 31, 32, 34, 42 
 Cyclades, the, 167 
 
 Dagmar (Grand Duchess, now 
 
 Empress Dowager), 34 
 Daily News, London, 62, 64, 78, 118 
 Dalziel, 140 
 
 Danilefsky, 274, 294, 300 
 Dante, 178 
 
 Danube, the, 227, 319 
 Daphne, 154 
 
 Dardanelles, the, 114, 116, 120 
 " Dead House," the, 239 
 " Dead Souls," 239 
 
 355 
 
INDEX 
 
 Dear-Bekir, 80 
 
 De Forest, Mr., 18 
 
 Dekeleia, 162, 163 
 
 Delos, 167 
 
 Denisof, 241 
 
 Denis-Davydof, 241 
 
 Derby, Earl of, 62, 63 
 
 Derkos, 113 
 
 Despatch, the, 117, 120, 124, 126 
 
 Diano Castello, 176 
 
 Diano Marina, 176 
 
 Diary, 93-96, 113-130 
 
 Dick, 231 
 
 Dickens, 237 
 
 Dilke, Ashton, 106 
 
 Dilke, Sir Charles, 105, 106 
 
 Dimitri, Tolstoy, 224, 225 
 
 Dimitroff, Peter, 65 
 
 Djura Beg, 46 
 
 Dolgoruky, 233 
 
 " Don Juan," 233 
 
 Dormer, General, 199 
 
 Dostoiefsky, 239 
 
 Dresden, 41, 233 
 
 Drina, the, 306 
 
 Droz, 188 
 
 Drubetskoy, 240, 241 
 
 Druzhinin, 229, 258, 259 
 
 Duff, Grant, 105 
 
 Dumas, Alexandre, 186, 236, 237 
 
 Eastlake, 40 
 
 Ebers, 195 
 
 Edgebaston, 131 
 
 Edinburgh, Duke of, 119, 120 
 
 Edmunds, 185 
 
 Edwards, Miss A. B., 195 
 
 Egypt, 148, 188, 194, 197, 202 
 
 Egyptian Jews, the, 195 
 
 " Egyptian Princess," 195 
 
 d Ehrenhoff, 93 
 
 " Ein Neues Leben," 274, 275 
 
 Einsiedeln, 190, 195 
 
 Eleusis, 154 
 
 Eliot, George, 186 
 
 Elliot, Sir Henry, 61, 62, 91, 93, 96, 
 
 97, ioo 
 
 Elliot, Lady, 93 
 Elliot, Miss, 93 
 Emir, the, 46, 47, 48 
 
 Emperor, the, of Russia, 34-36, 53, 
 
 120, 143, 160, 244 
 Empire, Ottoman, 103 
 Empress, the, of Russia, 34, 35, 120 
 England, 62, 64, 76, 77, 90, 101, 104, 
 
 130, 132, 149, 169, 187, 219, 236 
 English fleet, 114, 116, 117 
 Erasmus, 189 
 Erik XIV., 38 
 Erzeroum, no 
 Eski-Saara, 75 
 Euboea, 167 
 Euclid, 196 
 
 " Eugen Baumann," 274, 275 
 Eugene, Prince, 313 
 Europe, 76, 86, 95, 98, 105, 121, 126, 
 
 151, 211, 274, 279, 305 
 Evans, Arthur J., 320 
 Evening Post, 30, 275 
 
 Fallmerayer, 234 
 Farak, 192, 203 
 " Fathers and Sons," 20, 259 
 " Faust," 258, 259 
 Feodor Andreievitch (Tolstoy), 234 
 Feodor Petrovitch, Count (Tol 
 stoy), 234 
 
 Ferdinand, Prince of Bulgaria, 172 
 Fet, 260, 262 
 Field, Cyrus, 174 
 Finland, 38, 39 
 Fish, Mr., 55, 103 
 Fiske, J. S., letters to, 73-75 
 Flaubert, 267 
 
 " Fliegende Hollander," 41 
 Florence, 186 
 Forster, Mr., 18 
 Forster, 105, 106 
 Foscolo, Ugo, 186 
 France, 98, 99, 130, 169, 231, 236, 250 
 Frankfurt, 184 
 Franklin, General, 34, 37 
 Freeman, E. A., 78, 106, 320 
 
 Gabrovna, 75 
 Gaillard, Colonel, 120 
 Galata, 120 
 
 Galkin-Vrassky, Mr., 210 
 Gallipoli, no, 117 
 
 356 
 
INDEX 
 
 Galloway, 115 
 
 Garda, Lago di, 179 
 
 Garfield, President, 149 
 
 Garfield, Mrs., 149 
 
 Gargiulo, 112, 114 
 
 Garrison, Mr., 285 
 
 Gazette, Pall Mall, 102 
 
 " Gebir," 178 
 
 Geneva, 189, 234 
 
 Geneva, New York, 44 
 
 Gennadius, 107 
 
 Genzano, 136 
 
 George, King (of the Hellenes), 
 
 154, iSS, 161-164, i 68 
 Germany, 98, 99, 231, 233, 236 
 Gibb, Mrs., 201 
 Gibbon, 108, 189 
 Gladstone, W. E., 101-103, 105, 106, 
 
 132 
 
 Glinka, 210, 248 
 Godkin, E. L., 181 
 Goldoni, 186 
 
 Golovatchef, General, 128 
 Gontcharof, 229 
 Goodwin, Professor, 166 
 Gordon, 192 
 
 Gore-Browne, General, 107 
 Gortchakof, 235 
 
 Gortchakof, Prince, 35, 227, 244 
 Gosselin, 107 
 Gourko, 118 
 Grant, General, 106, 120, 122, 124- 
 
 128, 130 
 
 Grant, Mrs., 124-126, 133, 134 
 Grant, Jesse, 123 
 Grant, Louis Bedell, 191 
 Greece, 107, 136, 152, 158, 167, 168, 
 
 312 
 
 Greek Church, the, 164 
 Greeks, 112 
 Greene, Francis V., 113, 116-118, 
 
 121-123, I2 5, 128-130 
 Greenough, Professor, 166 
 Grigorovitch, 229 
 " Guelderland, History of," 134 
 Gustavus IV., 189 
 
 Haden-Keui, 113 
 Hadji-Petros, Colonel, 156 
 Hafiz Pasha, 67 
 
 Hague, the, 134 
 
 Haider Bey, 75 
 
 Hakluyt Society, 100 
 
 Hamburg, 233 
 
 Hampton, 147 
 
 Harcourt, 106 
 
 Hartley, Sir Charles, 105 
 
 Harvard, 166 
 
 Hawthorne, 187 
 
 Haxtun, Captain, 115 
 
 Helbert, 129 
 
 Helen, Grand Duchess, 209 
 
 Heliopolis, 196 
 
 Helsingfors, 38 
 
 Herald, New York, 49, 64, 171 
 
 Herodotus, 196 
 
 Herzegovina, 56, 68 
 
 Hesse, Prince Alexander of, 120 
 
 Hieropolis, 196 
 
 Higginson, Captain, 115, 124 
 
 Hohenzollern, 138 
 
 Holland, 133, 138 
 
 Hornby, Admiral, 115 
 
 Howard, Cardinal, 135 
 
 Howard, Maurice, 173-175; letter 
 
 to, 200 
 Hoyos, 144 
 Hunt, Leigh, 186 
 Huss, John, 189 
 
 Ignatief, Countess, 91, 126, 129, 130 
 Ignatief, General, 93-95, 97-100, 
 
 118-121, 125-127, 129, 130 
 Ikon, 163, 215 
 Illitch, Christo, 81 
 Illitch, Stef, 81 
 Ilya (Tolstoy), 216 
 India, 148 
 Indris, 231, 232 
 
 Iowa, 56; State University of, 179 
 Irtenief, 251, 252 
 Islam, 104 
 Ismail, 234 
 Ismailia, 204 
 d Istria, 87 
 
 " Italian Immigration," 188 
 " Italian Influences," 186 
 Italy, 104, 170, 172, 236 
 Ithaca, New York, 3, 4, 7, 18, 44 
 Jaffa Railway, 114 
 
 357 
 
INDEX 
 
 James, G. P. R., 186 
 
 Jansen, 134 
 
 Japan, 147 
 
 Jeremiah, 196 
 
 Jerusalem, 104, 114 
 
 Jewell, Marshall, 49, 50, 52, 55 
 
 Jews, 32 
 
 Johns Hopkins University, 169, 179 
 
 Jominis, the two, 189 
 
 Jones, 148 
 
 Joseph, 195, 196 
 
 Kalakaua, 148 
 
 " Kalevala," 20, 38 
 
 Karl, Archduke, 233 
 
 Karshi, 48 
 
 Karystos, 167 
 
 Kashgar, 129 
 
 Katkof, 207, 208, 237 
 
 Kaufmann, General, 52-54, 83, 128, 
 129 
 
 Kazala, 43 
 
 Kazan, 224, 225, 291, 293 
 
 Kazzanlyk, 75 
 
 Kearsarge, the, 161 
 
 Keller, Count, 113 
 
 Kenler, 190 
 
 Kennan, Mr., 210 
 
 Khiva, 44 
 
 Khodjent, 46 
 
 Khokand, 77 
 
 Kief, 29 
 
 King, Charles, 108 
 King, Miss (Mrs. Eugene Schuy- 
 ler), letters to, 63, 71, 86, 92, 96- 
 101; marriage of, 108 
 King, Rufus, 108 
 
 King, the (of Roumania), 144, 169 
 King, the (of Serbia), 169 
 Kirghiz, 26 
 Kitab, 46 
 Klissura, 69 
 
 Kock, Paul de, 236, 237 
 Kokan, 42, 46, 47 
 Kblnische Zeitung, 64 
 Konigsmark, Aurora von, 136 
 Kossovo, battle of, 306 
 Koszciuszko, 190 
 Kraguyevatz, 317, 318 
 Kryzhanofsky, General, 248 
 
 358 
 
 Kulm, battle of, 234 
 Kuragin, 240 
 Kutshura, 74 
 Kutuzof, 245 
 
 " Lalla Rookh," 13 
 
 " Lamentations," 196 
 
 Lancaster, the, 161, 162 
 
 Landor, 177 
 
 Lanskoy, Count, 210 
 
 Latouche-Treville, 114 
 
 Lausanne, 189 
 
 Lavater, 190 
 
 Lawson, 96 
 
 Layard, 114, 115, 126 
 
 Lazar, August Boyne de, 305 
 
 Lazar, Frederic de, 309 
 
 Lazar, King, 306, 307, 308, 319 
 
 Lazar, Prince, 306 
 
 Le Bon, 128 
 
 Leontief, 207 
 
 Leontius, 232 
 
 Leopold I., 190 
 
 " Le Roman Russe," 244 
 
 Leuchtenberg, Duke of, 244 
 
 Leuchtenberg, Prince Eugene, 119 
 
 Levant Herald, 114, 116, 121 
 
 Levin, 223, 252, 253, 270, 271 
 
 Lewis, Charlton, 18 
 
 Liguria, 171 
 
 Lincoln, 45 
 
 Liubimof, Professor, 207 
 
 Liuxiala, 38 
 
 Loftus, Lord Augustus, 132 
 
 " Lohengrin," 41 
 
 London, 56, 77, 78, 101, 105, 133, 
 
 140, 148, 150 
 Long, Dr., 62 
 Longfellow, 178 
 Longinof, 243 
 Louis Philippe, 190 
 " Lucerne," 253 
 Luther, 190 
 Luzerne, 190 
 Lynch, Jeremiah, 193, 194 
 
 Macedonia, 115 
 
 MacGahan, 44, 64, 96, 113, 115, u6, 
 119, 121, 123, 125, 129 
 
INDEX 
 
 Mahmoud Pasha, no 
 
 Mahn, Dr., 17 
 
 Makarof, N., 214 
 
 Mantua, 186 
 
 Maragha, 194 
 
 Maria Feodorovna, Empress, 245 
 
 Marie Alexandrovna, Grand 
 
 Duchess, 36, 37 
 Marie Louise, 186 
 Marie (Tolstoy), 223, 224 
 Maritza, the, 73 
 Marlborough Club, 105 
 Marlborough House, 107 
 Marmora, Sea of, 112 
 " Marriages Abroad," 180 
 Marsh, Geo. P., 135 
 Matarieh, 196 
 Maynard, Mr. (U. S. Minister at 
 
 Constantinople), 75, 115, 124, 130 
 Maynard, James, 112, 117, 120 
 Maynard, Mrs., 117 
 Mediterranean, the, 100, 101 
 Mehemmed AH Pasha, 127 
 Mentone, 172, 175 
 " Mes Memoires," 251 
 Metastasio, 186 
 
 Metropolitan, the Armenian, 117 
 Metropolitan, the (of Bulgaria), 
 
 139 
 
 Metropolitan, the (of Greece), 155 
 Metropolitan, the (of Roumania), 
 
 149 
 
 Metropolitan, the (of Russia), 34 
 Michael, St., Prince of Tcherni- 
 
 gof, 235 
 
 Michaeli Vodu, 156, 161 
 Michell, 32 
 Mijatovitch, Mr. (See Miyato- 
 
 vitch), 146 
 
 Mikailofsky-Danilefsky, 248 
 Milan, 245 
 
 Milan, Prince, 57, 58 
 Miliutin, 208 
 Miller, Lieut., 123 
 Millet, 118, 123, 125, 129 
 Milner-Gibson, 126 
 Milosh, 306 
 
 Milosh, Obilitch, 307, 308 
 Minnesota, 304, 305 
 Mirsky, 116 
 
 Miyatovitch (See Mijatovitch), 
 
 303, 3i3 
 Modena, 245 
 Molino di Sopra, 170 
 Monaco, 138 
 
 Montagu, Lady M. W., 186 
 Monte Carlo, 174, 175 
 Montenegro, 56, 119, 121 
 Moore, 178, 186 
 Morava, 317 
 Morgan, Lady, 186 
 Morloy, 114 
 Moscow, 21, 26, 29, 35, 42, 136, 207- 
 
 212, 214, 216, 224, 233, 239, 242, 
 
 243, 249, 250, 261-264, 272, 291, 294 
 Moscow Gazette, the, 207 
 Moses, 196 
 Motley, Mr., 106 
 Mott, General, 114 
 Mouy, 114 
 Mozart, 292 
 Mundella, 105 
 Murad I., 307, 308 
 Murad, no 
 Muravief-Karsky, Nikolai Niko- 
 
 laievitch, 246 
 Mussin-Pushkin, 225 
 Mussulmans, 67, 70, 112, 312 
 
 Mzensk, 269 
 
 Nadustratz, Yefrem, 311 
 
 Namyk Pasha, 117 
 
 Naples, 186, 232 
 
 Napoleon, 186, 233, 234, 236, 249 
 
 Napoleon, Jerome, 188 
 
 Napoleon, Louis, 190 
 
 Nation, the, 18, 179, 180, 185, 186, 
 
 203, 285 
 
 Nekhliudof, Prince, 253 
 Nemi, 136 
 Neuchatel, 188, 189 
 Neva, the, 36 
 New Englander, 18 
 New Haven, 17 
 New Path, the, 18 
 New Princeton Review, 180 
 New York, 4, 39, 49 
 New York (City), 3, 44, 55 
 Nice, 172 
 Nicholas, Emperor, 229, 238 
 
 359 
 
INDEX 
 
 Nicholas, Grand Duke, 94, "8, 
 
 123, 125, 1*7, 128, 130 
 Nicholas (Tolstoy), 223, 224 
 Nicholson, Admiral, 161 
 Nihilism, 238, 272 
 Nikolas Hitch (Tolstoy), 234 
 Nile, the, 191, 194, 197, 198 
 North American, the, 18, 19, 180, 
 
 181, 185 
 
 Norton, C. E., 19 
 Novikof, 243, 253 
 Nykerk, 134 
 
 Obilitch, 306, 317, 3 2 o 
 
 Obilitch, Andria, 309, 3", 3 3. 3*6 
 
 O Connell, Dr., 135 
 
 Odessa, 28, 95, 141 
 
 Odoiefsky, Prince, 22, 23, 207, 208 , 
 211, 212 
 
 Odoiefsky, Princess, 207, 210-213, 
 242 
 
 Ofrosimof, Madame, 241 
 
 Olenin, 252, 253 
 
 Olympia, 167 
 
 Onore, 116 
 
 Orel, 266 
 
 Orenburg, 25, 26, 42, 43, 213 
 
 Orr, Mr., 42, 49 
 
 Osten Sacken, Baron, 53 
 
 Osten Sacken, Countess, 224 
 
 Osterman, Count Feodor (Tol 
 stoy), 234 
 
 Osterman, Count Ivan (Tolstoy), 
 
 234 
 
 Osterman-Tolstoy, Count, 233 
 Ostrofsky, 229 
 Otho, 160 
 Oxford, 320 
 
 Pakoff, 37 
 
 Palazzo Altemps, 135 
 
 Palgrave, 106 
 
 Panaguiourichte, 80 
 
 Panagurishta, 66, 70 
 
 Paracelsus, 189, 195 
 
 Paris, 21, 36, 58, 105, 107, 120, 148- 
 
 150, 184, 231 
 
 Paris, Comte de, 106, 107 
 Parma, 170, 186, 245 
 Paul, Emperor, 234 
 
 Paul, Grand Duke, 160, 166 
 
 Pavlofsky, 260 
 
 Payerm, 189 
 
 Pears, 116 
 
 Pennsylvania, 32 
 
 Pentelicus, Mt., 154 
 
 Pera, 81, 93, 109, 126, 1-7, 142 
 
 Peroffsky, Fort, 44 
 
 Perushtitsa, 66, 74 
 
 Pestalozzi, 189 
 
 Peter, 232 
 
 Peter Parley, 286 
 
 Peter of Savoy, 189 
 
 Peter the Great, 163 
 
 " Peter the Great, Life of," 133, 
 i35 137, MO, 164, 165, 179 
 
 Petritch, 69 
 
 Petroffsky, 45 
 
 Petrofsky, 53 
 
 Phare de Bosphore, 115 
 
 Phelps (U. S. Minister at Vien 
 na), 148 
 
 Philippopolis, 61, 70, 71, 74, 7 6 . 86, 
 89 
 
 Pierre, 252-254 
 
 Pierrepont, Mr., 106 
 
 Piraeus, 154 
 
 Pisa, 178, 186 
 
 Plato, 196 
 
 Plevna, no 
 
 Poles, the, 233 
 
 Political Science Quarterly, 188 
 
 Polonsky, 264, 269-270 
 
 Porte, the, 60-62, 88, 90, 98, 99, 113, 
 
 "5 
 
 Porter, John A., 20 
 Possagno, 179 
 Post, the, 181 
 Poussin, 40 
 Praga, 233 
 Prangius, 188 
 President, the (Grant), 55 
 " Prince Serebryanny," 232 
 Prince, the (of Bulgaria), 138, 139 
 Prince, the (of Serbia), 142, 146 
 Prinkipo, 117, 119 
 Prussia, King of, 315 
 Pushkin, 209, 210, 239, 290 
 Pyramids, the, 193 
 Pythagoras, 196 
 
 360 
 
INDEX 
 
 Queen, the (of the Hellenes), 155, 
 
 160, 162-164, 166 
 Queen, the (of Roumania), 144, 
 
 145 
 
 Queenstown, 21 
 Ouirinal, the, 135 
 
 Radetsky, 116 
 
 Radolinsky, Count, 124 
 
 Radonitch, 119 
 
 Raphael, 40 
 
 Rapperschwyl, 190 
 
 Rasgrad, 121 
 
 Ravestyn, 134 
 
 Read (U. S. Minister at Athens), 
 
 155 
 
 Red Book, 52, 53 
 
 Reouf Pasha, 130 
 
 Reuss, Prince, 124 
 
 Revel, 29, 31 
 
 Reynolds, 40 
 
 Riviera, the, 170, 199, 201, 219 
 
 Robert College, 61, 62, 64 
 
 Robeson, Captain, 124 
 
 Rocky Mountains, 39 
 
 Rodosto, 112, 113 
 
 Rogers, 186 
 
 " Roi des Montagnes," 156 
 
 Rome, 131, 133, 134, 137, 150-152, 
 159, 183, 184, 186 
 
 Rossini, 186 
 
 Rostoptchin, Count, 241, 245, 230 
 
 Roumania, 138, 152 
 
 Roumania, Prince of, 98 
 
 Roumanian Government, the, 137 
 
 Roumele Hissar, 64 
 
 Round Table, the, 18 
 
 Rousseau, 189 
 
 Royal Asiatic Society, English, 92 
 
 Royal Geographical Society, Eng 
 lish, 92 
 
 Rump el may er, 174 
 
 Rurik, 208, 235 
 
 Ruskin, 40, 180, 186 
 
 Russia, 20, 28, 31, 32, 39, 49, 53, 54, 
 76, 84-86, 93, 94, 96, 104, 109, 130, 
 187, 207, 208, 210, 214, 228, 230, 235, 
 242, 254, 256, 263, 272, 275, 276, 
 282, 299 
 
 Russia, Emperor of, 132, 143, 160, 209 
 
 Russian Archives, the, 208, 238 
 Russian Government, the, 53, 54 
 Russian Messenger, the, 207, 237, 
 
 243 
 
 Russians, the (in Asia), 52 
 Rustchuk, 139 
 
 Saadoullah, 121 
 Sackingen, 189 
 
 Safvet Pasha, 94, 95, 115, 117, 121 
 St. Gall, 189, 190 
 
 St. Petersburg, 21, 22, 39-43, 48-50, 
 52, 54, 56, 82-84, 120, 130, 207, 209, 
 
 212, 229, 230, 234, 243, 256, 292 
 
 St. Sophia, 92, 115 
 
 Sainte-Beuve, 21 
 
 Sala, George Augustus, 93, 100, 107 
 
 Salisbury, Lord, 90, 91, 93-100 
 
 Salisbury, Lady, 91 
 
 Said, 179 
 
 Salonica, 93 
 
 Saltykof, Madame, 240 
 
 Saltytchikha, the, 240 
 
 Samara, 270, 276 
 
 Samarcand, 42, 47, 48 
 
 Sandwich Islands, 147, 148 
 
 San Francisco, 194 
 
 San Michele, 204 
 
 San Remo, 175 
 
 San Stefano, 118, 119, 121, 122, 125- 
 128, 130 
 
 Saratof, 42, 43 
 
 Saros, Gulf of, 117 
 
 Sava, the, 306, 309 
 
 Saxe-Weimar, Grand Duchess of, 
 116 
 
 Saxony, 305, 308, 317 
 
 Schaeffer, Mrs., letters to, 186, 194 
 
 Schleppel, 189 
 
 Schliemann, 157 
 
 Schliemann, Madame, 157 
 
 Schneider, Mr., 64, 119, 121 
 
 Schongraben, 246 
 
 Schopenhauer, 237 
 
 Schuyler, Eugene, birth and an 
 cestry, 3; boyhood and youth, 8- 
 20; Consul at Moscow, 21-31; 
 visit to Orenburg, 25, 26; Con 
 sul at Revel, 31; Secretary of 
 Legation in St. Petersburg, 31- 
 
 361 
 
INDEX 
 
 56; journey to Central Asia, 42- 
 49; Consul General and Secre 
 tary of Legation at Constanti 
 nople, 56-130; visits to Bulgaria, 
 63-81, 86-89; Consul at Birming 
 ham, 131-133; Consul General at 
 Rome, 134-136; Charge d Af- 
 faires and Consul General at Bu- 
 carest, 137-152; visit to America, 
 149-152; Minister to Greece, 
 Serbia, and Roumania, 152-169; 
 visit to America, 169; residence 
 in Alassio, 170-190; Diplomatic 
 Agent and Consul General at 
 Cairo, 187-204 
 
 Schuyler, Mrs. Eugene, 161-163, 
 i73> 177, 180, 190; letters to, 141- 
 149, 192 
 
 Schuyler, George Washington, 4-8 
 
 Schuyler, Mrs. G. W., 7, 8 
 
 Schuyler, Philip Pieterse, 4 
 
 Schuyler, Walter, 39 
 
 Scott, Mrs., 84 
 
 Scott, Sir Walter, 174 
 
 Scribner, Matilda (Mrs. G. W. 
 Schuyler), 6 
 
 Scribner, U. R., 7 
 
 Scribner s Monthly, 135, 185 
 
 Secretary of State, the, 55 
 
 Sedgwick, Miss, 186 
 
 Segurs, the, 250 
 
 Seraskierat, the, 127 
 
 Serbia, 56, 57, 58, 121, 146, 152, itfc, 
 303-306, 309, 312, 3i8 
 
 Serge (Tolstoy), 216, 222 
 
 Serof, 212 
 
 Sessbeicin, A. Enuceron, 89 
 
 Sevastopol, 229, 248, 254, 256, 300 
 
 Shabatz, 306, 309, 312 
 
 Shakespeare, 268 
 
 Shams-el-Nessin, 199 
 
 Shaw, 132 
 
 Sheffield, 214 
 
 Shelley, 177, 178, 189 
 
 Sherman, General, 130 
 
 Sherman (Senator), 185 
 
 Shipka Pass, the, 116 
 
 Shumadia, 306, 309, 311, 312 
 
 Shumla, 139 
 
 Siam, 148 
 
 Siberia, 42, 238, 239 
 
 Sickles, General, 143 
 
 Silesia, 314 
 
 Silivria, 113 
 
 Simpheropol, 229 
 
 Sinaia, 144 
 
 Skobelef, 113, 116, 128, 129 
 
 Skobelef, General, 119 
 
 Slichtenhorst, Arent van, 134 
 
 Slichtenhorst, Hendrik van, 134 
 
 Sliven, 70 
 
 Slivno, 74, 75 
 
 Smalley, G. W., 105, 106 
 
 Smith, 148 
 
 Smith, Eustace, 106 
 
 Smith, Goldwin, 106 
 
 Smollett, 180, 186 
 
 " Smoke," 255 
 
 Sobolefsky, 211 
 
 Sofea Andreievna (Countess Tol 
 stoy), 215, 222, 299 
 
 Sokol, 306, 311, 312 
 
 Sophia, 70 
 
 Sordello, 186 
 
 Soudan, the, 192 
 
 Southey, 178 
 
 " Souvenirs," 251 
 
 Souzo, Hospodar, 156 
 
 Souzo, Prince, 156 
 
 Spain, 23 
 
 Spasskoe, 255, 268, 270, 272 
 
 Spedding, 106 
 
 Sphinx, the, 193 
 
 Stael, Madame de, 185, 186, 189 
 
 Stamboul, 103, 112 
 
 Stamford, Mrs. Leland, 156, 157 
 
 Stanley, 194 
 
 Stanley, Lady, of Alderley, 107 
 
 Staro-Lidovskaya, 227 
 
 Stchetmin, 235 
 
 Stebatchef, 119 
 
 Steherbatchef, 121, 130 
 
 Stendhal, 186, 244, 245 
 
 Stillwater-on-the-Hudson, 4 
 
 Stockmar, 190 
 
 Stoilof, 139 
 
 Strangford, Lady, 87 
 
 Stremoukhoff, 53 
 
 Sturgis, Russell, letters to, 22, 166, 
 167, 171 
 
 362 
 
INDEX 
 
 Suez, 204 
 
 Suez Canal, 37 
 
 Suleiman, 192, 193 
 
 Sultan, the, 104, in, 112, 127, 128, 
 
 130 
 
 Suvarof, 232 
 
 " Swiss Associations," 189 
 Switzerland, 187 
 
 Taine, 21 
 
 Tamerlane, 307 
 
 Tangiers, 183 
 
 Tashkent, 42, 44 
 
 Tatiana (Tolstoy), 216 
 
 Taunton, 101 
 
 Tchaldja, 113 
 
 Tchardjui, 48 
 
 Tchekmedje, 113 
 
 Tcherkasky, Prince, 208 
 
 Tcherlow, 112 
 
 Tchernaya, battle of the, 228 
 
 Tchernigof, 231 
 
 Telegraph, Daily, 93, 96 
 
 Tell, William, 190 
 
 Terek, the, 227 
 
 Thayer, Professor, 166 
 
 " The Cossacks," 218, 227, 251, 254, 
 
 267 
 
 " The Decembrists," 238, 239 
 " The Incursion," 227 
 " The Morning of a Proprietor," 
 
 225 
 
 Theocritus, 166 
 Therapia, in 
 The Times (Russian), 259 
 Thiers, 248, 249 
 Thorwaldsen, 186 
 " Thousand Miles up the Nile," 
 
 195 
 
 Thrace, 115 
 
 Thurn, Fraiilein von, 136 
 Times, London, 28, 83 
 Times, the, 123 
 Timmins, Samuel, 131 
 Tinos, 167 
 Tirnova, 70, 75, 133 
 Tiuchef, 208 
 Tobolsk, 183 
 Tolstoy, Count Leo, 21, 26, 27, 185, 
 
 186, 207, 210, 212, 213, 216-220, 
 
 223-225, 227-232, 235, 236, 238, 239, 
 
 242, 244, 245, 249-267, 269, 270, 272- 
 
 275, 278, 280-284, 285, 286, 289, 290, 
 
 293-299 
 Tophane, 123 
 Toppfer, 189 
 Touchard, Captain, 114 
 Trandafil, 68 
 Trebizond, no 
 Tribune, the, 85, 121, 126, 127 
 Tricoupis, 157, 159 
 Tricoupis, Miss, 158, 159 
 Trockurof, 235 
 Troppmann, 231 
 Trubetskoy, 235, 241 
 Tseretelef, Prince, 64, 74, 75, 93, 
 
 94, 116, 119, 121, 129 
 Tsesarevitch, the, 34, 35 
 Tuckerman, C. K., 119 
 Tula, 214, 216, 263, 266, 298 
 Turguenief, 20, 21, 210, 223, 229- 
 
 231, 254, 255, 259-266, 268-273 
 Turkey, 45, 46, 59, 89, 96, 104, 123, 
 
 128, 131, 227 
 Turkish fleet, 117 
 Turkish Parliament, 114 
 Turkistan, 54, 102 
 " Turkistan," 92, 128 
 Turkomans, 52 
 Turks, the, 58-61, 66-68, 72, 86, 87, 
 
 89, 93-100, 103-105, in, 113, 114, 
 
 121, 123, 126, 127, 131, 140, 3O6, 
 307, 310, 312, 313 
 
 Tuttle, Herbert, letters to, 184, 
 
 187 
 Twiller, Rykert van, 134 
 
 " Uarda," 195 
 
 Undine, the, 167 
 
 United States, 76, 261, 304, 305 
 
 Ura Tube, 46 
 
 Ural, the, 26 
 
 Urgut, 46 
 
 Urutsi, 71 
 
 Vadian, 190 
 
 Valnief, Count, 54 
 
 Vandalia, the, 99, 122-124, 126-128 
 
 Van Rensselaer, 134 
 
 Vatel, 188 
 
 363 
 
INDEX 
 
 Venice, 179, 186, 204, 316 
 
 Verestchagin, 273 
 
 Viega, 69 
 
 Vienna, 41, 85, 147, 148, 151, 171, 
 
 Vieusseux, 178 
 
 Vincent, Sir Edgar, 140 
 
 Vivian, Lady, 192 
 
 Vladimir, Grand Duchess, 143 
 
 Vladimir, Grand Duke, 26, 53 
 
 Vladimir, the, 129 
 
 Vlangali, General, 53 
 
 Vogue, Vicomte de, 244 
 
 Volga, the, 25, 42, 276, 290 
 
 Volkonsky, 241, 242 
 
 Volkonsky, Princess Marie, 234 
 
 Voltaire, 189, 225 
 
 Voronovo, 245 
 
 Vrefsky, Baron, 228 
 
 Vuk Brankovitch, 307 
 
 Wagner, 41 
 
 Wales, Prince of, 107 
 
 " War and Peace," 213, 218, 219, 
 
 233, 236-239, 243, 250, 251, 264, 
 
 267, 269, 291, 299 
 Washburn, Dr., 61 
 Washington, 28, 54, 55, 103, 124, 
 
 144, 149, 152, 169, 182, 184, 197 
 Waterloo, 244, 245 
 
 Watts, Mr. and Mrs., 174 
 " Wood-cutting," 228 
 Woolson, Constance, 198 
 Wordsworth, 178 
 World, the, 30 
 Wortley, Lady Mary, 180 
 Wright, Arthur W., 15 
 
 Yale College, n, 20 
 
 Yale University, 15, 179 
 
 Yamboli, 71, 74, 75 
 
 Yasenki, 214 
 
 Yasnaya Polyana, 26, 27, 214, 216, 
 
 219, 223, 225, 230, 262, 263, 266, 
 
 275, 281, 283, 290, 294, 299 
 Ycung, John Russell, 123 
 " Youth " (Tolstoy), 228, 251, 252, 
 
 257 
 
 Yushkof, General, 290-292 
 Yushkof, Madame, 215, 224, 293, 
 
 294 
 Yverdon, 189 
 
 Zancoff, Mr., 140, 145 
 Zeitung, Kolnische, 64 
 Zia, Yussuf, 104, 114 
 Zichy, Count, 91, 95, 100 
 Zschokke, 189 
 Zurich, 187-190 
 Zwingli, 190 
 
 364 
 
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