Part 37 (1/2)

PERILS OF RUSSIAN TRAVELLING IN WINTER--ARRIVAL AT ST PETERSBURG--INTERVIEWS WITH COUNT NESSELRODE AND THE CZAR--COUNT KISSELEFF'S PREJUDICES.

_March 29th._--Snow had again fallen heavily, and on arriving at Jamburg we found the ice in such a bad state that grave fears were entertained as to the possibility of crossing the River Lugu. The officer in charge repeatedly refused to allow us to cross.

Neither bedsteads nor bedding being obtainable, Sir Moses and Lady Montefiore had a kind of bed prepared on the floor in a very small and low room, and I had a bundle of straw, in another room, for my couch; it was, however, so warm there, and the air so very oppressive, that I was obliged to get up in the middle of the night, and take a walk outside the house.

_Jamburg, March 30th._--At seven in the morning I crossed the Lugu; there was not much ice on the river. The officer told me he would have three boats lashed together to take the carriages over. I returned to Sir Moses to bring him the good news, and to prepare for our departure. I had scarcely been at home an hour when the ice came down the river in great quant.i.ties. Sir Moses accompanied me to look at it, and decided not to cross, as we should have incurred a great risk by doing so. At last towards evening the officer came and told us that he would employ soldiers to launch the great barge, and would come for us when he was ready. We continued in painful suspense awaiting his arrival till a few minutes before seven, when he came and said ”All was ready.” Sir Moses and Lady Montefiore went in their carriage. I and the rest of the party walked down to the water side. The carriages were safely put on a large barge, and soon launched into the stream, but when in the middle it struck on some large stones, and they were in the greatest peril. The barge remained for nearly an hour fixed to one spot. Happily, after great exertions on the part of the soldiers, it was got off.

The officer then conducted us into his own boat, in which, besides Sir Moses and Lady Montefiore, were also two servants, the officer, and a gentleman with despatches from the Russian Government, and we were towed across, though not without some danger from the ice which was driving down the current in great ma.s.ses, and which our boatman found great difficulty in avoiding. Had they struck it must have proved fatal, but Heaven guarded us, and we landed in safety. We were one hour in crossing from the house on the west bank to the Post House at Jamburg, and had more than a hundred men to a.s.sist us. The officer was most civil and attentive, and refused to accept any present.

_March 31st._--We left Jamburg last night with the intention of travelling through the night, but we found the road so dreadfully bad, in many places covered with snow and ice and full of ruts, that Sir Moses and Lady Montefiore deemed it most prudent to stop at Opolje, which was reached at one in the morning. We found warm and excellent accommodation at the station, and instantly threw ourselves on the sofas in our clothes, and slept soundly. We started again after six.

The roads were so extremely bad that we were at last compelled to leave our carriages, Sir Moses and Lady Montefiore, as well as myself and the rest of our party, having to walk through the snow, between six and seven versts, and arrived dreadfully fatigued at Ischerkowitz, where we remained three hours for rest and refreshment. We then had a pleasant drive in a little open carriage placed on a sledge and drawn by two horses, but it was very cold. We reached Kaskowa one hour before our own carriages.

_April 1st._--We left Kaskowa, pa.s.sed through Kipeen, and a stage later arrived at Stretna. From this place to St Petersburg is seventeen and a half versts. The road is here well macadamised; on either side of it are the country seats of the n.o.bility. Up to this place we had had as many as eight, ten, or twelve, and sometimes even a greater number of horses put to the carriage, now the number was limited to three, we were told, by order of the Government. The driver remained standing all the time (while driving furiously) on a small piece of iron, which served as a step to get up to the coachman's seat. At about three o'clock we arrived at St Petersburg. After our pa.s.sports had undergone the necessary examination, we drove to the place where apartments had been taken for us, but found them unsuitable, and had to search some time before we succeeded in engaging rooms at the Hotel de Prusse.

_St Petersburg, April 2nd._--We went to His Excellency the Hon. T. A.

D. Bloomfield, who received us immediately. Sir Moses gave him his letters of introduction, and acquainted him with the object of his visit to the Russian metropolis. He also showed him the letters of introduction to Count Nesselrode which he had received from Sir Robert Peel and Baron Brunnow.

His Excellency received Sir Moses very kindly, wrote to Count Nesselrode, enclosing Sir Moses' letters to him, and eventually obtained an appointment for Sir Moses for the following Sunday.

_April 4th._--Both Sir Moses and Lady Montefiore found the climate very trying. Visitors who called on them reported that there was not a house in the city that had not three or four of its inmates confined by illness (an epidemic catarrh, generally called in Russia and Germany, ”Grippe”), which had greatly increased the mortality of the city.

_April 5th._--At one o'clock Sir Moses visited Count Nesselrode. We were at once received by him in a very friendly manner. He said he had already spoken to the Emperor about Sir Moses. The latter informed the Count of the two purposes for which he came to St Petersburg, viz., the establishment of Jewish schools, and the repeal of the two Ukases for the removal of the Jews from the frontiers. This, the Count said, was not in his department, but the Government was at present engaged on the amendment of those Ukases, and that he should be happy to render Sir Moses all the a.s.sistance in his power in furtherance of his objects. Sir Moses then spoke to him respecting the cultivation of land, and the Count said that his views were in strict accordance with those of the Government; that he wished to raise the Jews, and make them more useful members of society; that the cream of the Jews were in England, France, and Germany, but that those in the ancient provinces of the Russian Empire and Poland were engaged in low traffic and contraband pursuits.

Sir Moses expressed his deep regret to hear the Minister's opinion, for which he was not prepared. He then said to his Excellency that he should be happy to be presented to the Emperor; the Count told him he would ask His Majesty, and requested Sir Moses to call on Count Ouvaroff, the Minister of Public Instruction, at one o'clock on the following day. He again repeated his desire to render him every a.s.sistance.

In the course of the day Sir Moses left his card and letters of introduction at Count Orloff's.

_April 6th._--We called to-day on Count Ouvaroff, with whom we remained an hour and a half in conversation. He a.s.sured Sir Moses, for himself and on the part of his colleagues, that the measures of the Government for the organisation of the Jewish schools were designed for their improvement and happiness, and not with the slightest intention of conversion to another religion, but to make them more useful members of society, and to fit them for advancement. He also a.s.sured Sir Moses that the Government had some plans for a more liberal treatment, but that the Jews must first prepare themselves.

”The Jews of Russia,” he said, ”were different from the Jews in other parts of the world; they were orthodox, and believed in the Talmud,”

which he considered false. ”They were ignorant of their own religion; and he was obliged to force them to study Hebrew, their own language.”

Sir Moses defended the principles of those who strictly adhere to the doctrines of their religion. As to the Talmud, he pointed out to the Minister the great esteem in which that work is held by pious and learned Christians.

In support of this view, I reminded His Excellency of what Buxtorf said on the subject in his ”Abbreviations,”[A] and in the preface to his great Chaldaic and Talmudical Lexicon:--

”The Talmud,” that Christian Divine states, ”is a learned work, or a large corpus of erudition; it contains manifold learning in all sciences; it teaches the most explicit and most complete, civil and canonical law of the Jews, so that the whole nation, as well as their Synagogue, might live thereby in a state of happiness,--in the most desirable way.

”It is the most luminous commentary of the Scriptural law as well as its supplement and support.

”It contains much excellent teaching on jurisprudence, medicine, natural philosophy, ethics, politics, astronomy, and other branches of science, which make one think highly of the history of that nation and of the time in which the work was written.”

[Footnote A: De abreviat. hebr. (auct. Joh. Buxt. I.), p. 1.]

I mentioned to His Excellency the names of Buxtorf the younger, Dr Johannus Reuchlin, Johannes Meyer, Selden, Joh. Morinus, Sebastian Munster, Surenhusius, and quoted most of their statements on the subject.

With reference to the Russian Jews' knowledge of Hebrew and of their own religion, I called His Excellency's attention to the numerous works they had produced on all subjects connected with Hebrew literature and poetry.