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132 action in the Peace of Tilsit. The first of his sketches, like his translation of the tragedy, made the critics speak indulgently of the Russian's proficiency in English composition; but they, at the same time, "wished it contained a little more information and a little less rhetoric." In Russia, the two pamphlets, but especially the second, attracted the attention of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the author was transferred to the office of the Embassy at the Court of St. James.

When, in 1809, Alexander decided to send consuls to America and to be represented by ministers at Washington, the choice for the secondary positions fell upon men already acquainted with the English language or promising to distinguish themselves in the service. Thus, while the first minister, Pahlen, owed his selection merely to Imperial favor, his secretary, Poletica, who a decade later himself became the Russian minister in the United States, was a really capable man, who at home belonged to the famous literary club of the Arzamas, and who profited by his stay in America by writing down his impressions in French, for the benefit of his own countrymen and of others in Europe. This work, though somewhat meagre in details, found favor even in America and was at once translated into English, under the title, "A Sketch of the Internal Condition of the United States of America and of their Political Relations with Europe." Poletica himself carried through life a warm attachment for England and America and was, on account of his strong Anglo-Saxon propensities, nicknamed at home a Methodist and Quaker.

Similarly, the Consul-General Dashkov was a man of inferior caliber who later, when he took Pahlen's place in Washington, made himself very much disliked in the United States, and in the unfortunate incident of the arrest of the Russian consul-general for criminal misconduct almost brought about a rupture of diplomatic relations. But two of his minor associates, Svinin and Eustaphieve, the consul at Boston, were men of more than ordinary ability. Upon his return to Russia, Svinin developed a prodigious activity in art and literature, and in his practical aspects of life and love of material progress showed unmistakably his indebtedness to America. His activity in this direction really began when he was in this country. In the two years of his trans-Atlantic sojourn he drew and painted a mass of American scenes, for which he was later offered the immense sum of 25,000 roubles. He contributed an excellent portrait of Alexander and a drawing of a Cossack of the Don,