REASON FOR REFUSING THE PASSPORT. 145 



This injunction placed me in rather an awkward 

 predicament. Fortunately a Warsaw business - friend 

 had given me an introduction to one of the higher 

 officials of the dreaded department of the St. Petersburg 

 secret police. I therefore went first to this gentleman, 

 and requested to be advised how I should proceed, 

 in order to do the count's bidding, and yet not give 

 offence. From him I learnt . that a report from 

 Copenhagen, in which I was described as a dangerous 

 character, on terms of intimacy with the democratic 

 professors of Kiel, had occasioned the refusal of the 

 passport. Evidently it was Danish gratitude for the 

 torpedoes in the Kiel harbour and the construction 

 of the Eckernforde batteries, which had certainly ren- 

 dered the Danes rather uncomfortable. Both the chief 

 of the police, who in solemn audience received my 

 testimonial and thereupon assured me of his special 

 satisfaction and his constant readiness to help me in 

 my undertakings, and also Count Kleinmichel himself 

 were perfectly satisfied by these explanations. 



I have related this interesting episode of my life 

 in Russia at such length, because it gives a good 

 picture of the state of things and official relations in 

 the realm of the Czar at that time , and because it 

 has been of great service to our business transactions. 

 Count Kleinmichel's power was then so great, that, as 

 long as the Emperor Nicholas lived, no one ventured 

 to resist it. The count had acquired confidence in me, 

 and afterwards bestowed the same in a very marked 

 degree on my brother Charles. To his powerful 



OF THE 



UNIVERSITY 



