Page:The Boy Travellers in the Russian Empire.djvu/196

190 Emperor or his most zealous officer could object, I have no fear of being interfered with.

"Here are some of the stories which were current in the time ot Nicholas:

"A retired officer of the English army lived for several years in St. Petersburg. His manners were genial, and he made many friends both among the foreigners living here and those who visited Russia. He died suddenly one day, and one of his countrymen who was present at the time took charge of his effects. His papers revealed the fact that he was a spy of the Government, and was specially employed to watch foreigners.

"Soon after the Revolution of 1848 a party of French gentlemen in St. Petersburg met at the house of one of their friends. They had songs and speeches, and a pleasant evening generally; and as all were intimate, and of the same nationality, they were not at all cautious about their conversation. The only servants present were Russians, and none of them was known to understand French. Next morning the host was summoned to the Police Bureau, where he was politely received. The official read off the list of persons present, and a very accurate report of the songs, toasts and speeches of the evening. Then he asked the host if the account was correct. The latter tremblingly answered that it was, and was then told he had been very imprudent—an assertion he could not well deny. He was dismissed with a caution not to repeat the imprudence, and you may be sure he did not. He never gave another party, and never could he guess whether the spy was one of his guests and compatriots, or one of the servants who understood French while pretending to be ignorant of it.

"A great reform has taken place, and matters which were formerly in the control of the police are now managed by courts of law. Trial by jury has been established, and though there are many hinderances on account of the scarcity of lawyers and judges and the ignorance of jurors, the system is working well. The law-schools are filled with students, and in a few years the machinery of the courts will not be unlike that of other lands.

"But the police power is still too great for the safety of the people, and probably no persons are more aware of it than are the Emperor and his advisers. The police can imprison or exile a man for 'administrative purposes' without any trial whatever, and without even letting him know the nature of his offence. The police may, in certain cases, revise a sentence which has been decreed by a court, and punish a man who has been acquitted after trial, but they do not often exercise the right.