&quot;ALL CONDITIONS OF MEN&quot; -1892 -1894 45 



barred: these belonging to the rooms in which the Em 

 peror Paul himself was assassinated in order to protect 

 the life of his son Alexander and of the family generally. 



Another Russian, Prince Serge Wolkonsky, was cer 

 tainly the most versatile man I have ever known : a play 

 wright, an actor, an essayist, an orator, a lecturer, and ad 

 mirable in each of these capacities. At a dinner given me, 

 just before my departure from St. Petersburg, by the Rus 

 sians who had taken part in the Chicago Exposition, I was 

 somewhat troubled by the fact that the speeches of the 

 various officials were in Russian, and that, as I so imper 

 fectly understood them, I could not know what line to take 

 when my own speech came; but presently the chairman, 

 Minister Delyanoff, called upon young Prince Serge, who 

 came forward very modestly and, in admirable English, 

 gave a summary of the whole series of Russian speeches 

 for my benefit, concluding with an excellent speech of his 

 own. His speeches and addresses at Chicago were really 

 remarkable ; and, when he revisited America, his lectures 

 on Russian literature at Cornell University, at Washing 

 ton, and elsewhere, were worthy of the College de France. 

 This young man could speak fluently and idiomatically, 

 not only his own language, but English, French, German, 

 Italian, and I know not how many other tongues. 



To meet scientific men of note my wont was to visit 

 the Latin Quarter; and there, at the house of Professor 

 Woeikoff of St. Petersburg University, I met, at various 

 times, a considerable body of those best worth knowing. 

 One of those who made an especially strong impression 

 upon me was Admiral Makharoff. Recently has come 

 news of his death while commanding the Russian fleet 

 at Port Arthur his flag-ship, with nearly all on board, 

 sunk by a torpedo. At court, in the university quarter, 

 and later at Washington, I met him often, and rated him 

 among the half-dozen best Russians I ever knew. Hav 

 ing won fame as a vigorous and skilful commander 

 in the Turkish war, he was devoting himself to the sci 

 entific side of his profession. He had made a success 



