10 IN THE DIPLOMATIC SERVICE -VIII 



and cholera. It was, in fact, the same wide-spread and 

 deadly combination of starvation and disease which simi 

 lar causes produced so often in Western- Europe during 

 the middle ages. From the United States had come large 

 contributions of money and grain; and as, during the 

 year after my arrival, there had been a recurrence of the 

 famine, about forty thousand rubles more had been sent 

 me from Philadelphia for distribution. I therefore spoke 

 on the general subject to him, referring to the fact that 

 he was president of the Imperial Relief Commission. He 

 answered that since the crops of the last year there was 

 no longer any suffering ; that there was no famine worthy 

 of mention; and that he was no longer giving attention 

 to the subject. This was said in an offhand, easy-going 

 way which appalled me. The simple fact was that the 

 famine, though not so wide-spread, was more trying than 

 during the year before; for it found the peasant popu 

 lation in Finland and in the central districts of the empire 

 even less prepared to meet it. They had, during the pre 

 vious winter, very generally eaten their draught-animals 

 and burned everything not absolutely necessary for their 

 own shelter; from Finland specimens of bread made 

 largely of ferns had been brought me which it would seem 

 a shame to give to horses or cattle ; and yet his imperial 

 highness the heir to the throne evidently knew nothing 

 of all this. 



In explanation, I was afterward told by a person who 

 had known him intimately from his childhood, that, though 

 courteous, his main characteristic was an absolute indif 

 ference to most persons and things about him, and that 

 he never showed a spark of ambition of any sort. This 

 was confirmed by what I afterward saw of him at court. 

 He seemed to stand about listlessly, speaking in a good- 

 natured way to this or that person when it was easier than 

 not to do so; but, on the whole, indifferent to all which 

 went on about him. 



After his accession to the throne, one of the best judges 

 in Europe, who had many opportunities to observe him 



