OFFICIAL LIFE IN ST. PETERSBURG- 1892-1894 107 



in his musical practice, and in the thought that he was 

 lodged in the palace and would soon communicate his mes 

 sage to the Emperor. At various times I called upon 

 him and found him convinced that his great mission would 

 soon be accomplished; but after a week or ten days he 

 began to have doubts, and said to me that he distrusted 

 the Russians and would prefer to go on and deliver a 

 message with which he was charged to the Emperor of 

 China. On my showing him sundry difficulties, he said 

 that at any rate there was one place where he would cer 

 tainly be well received Mar Iborough House in London; 

 that he was sure the Prince of Wales would welcome him 

 heartily. At last, means having been obtained from his 

 friends, I sought to forward him from St. Petersburg; 

 but, as no steamers thence would take a lunatic, I sent my 

 private secretary with him to Helsingfors, and thence se 

 cured his passage to America. 



A very curious feature in the case, as told me afterward 

 by a gentleman who traveled in the same steamer, was 

 that this American delighted the company day after day 

 with his music, and that no one ever saw anything out of 

 the way in his utterances or conduct. He seemed to have 

 forgotten all about his great missions and to have become 

 absorbed in his piano. 



Among the things to which special and continued atten 

 tion had to be given by the legation was the Chicago Ex 

 position. I was naturally desirous to see it a success; 

 indeed, it was my duty to do everything possible to pro 

 mote it. The magnificent plans which the Chicago people 

 had developed and were carrying out with such wonderful 

 energy interested thinking Russians. But presently came 

 endeavors which might easily have brought the whole 

 enterprise into disrepute; for some of the crankish per 

 sons who always hang on the skirts of such enterprises 

 had been allowed to use official stationery, and they had 

 begun writing letters, and even instructions, to American 

 diplomatic agents abroad. 



The first of these which attracted my attention was one 



