AS ATTACHfi AT ST. PETERSBURG-1854-1855 449 



seven days and seven nights of steady traveling in a post- 

 coach after entering the Russian Empire. 



Arriving at the Russian capital on the last day of Octo- 

 ber, 1854, I was most heartily welcomed by the minister, 

 who insisted that I should enjoy all the privileges of 

 residence with him. Among the things to which I now 

 look back as of the greatest value to me, is this stay of 

 nearly a year under his roof. The attacheship, as it ex- 

 isted in those days, was in many ways a good thing and in 

 no way evil ; but it was afterward abolished by Congress 

 on the ground that certain persons had abused its privi- 

 leges. I am not alone in believing that it could again be 

 made of real service to the country : one of the best secre- 

 taries of state our country has ever had, Mr. Hamilton 

 Fish, once expressed to me his deep regret at its sup- 

 pression. 



Under the system which thus prevailed at that time, 

 young men of sufficient means, generally from the leading 

 universities, were secured to aid the minister, without any 

 cost to the government, their only remuneration being an 

 opportunity to see the life and study the institutions of 

 the country to which the minister was accredited. 



The duty of an attache was to assist the minister in 

 securing information, in conducting correspondence, and 

 in carrying on the legation generally ; he was virtually an 

 additional secretary of legation, and it was a part of my 

 duty to act as interpreter. As such I was constantly called 

 to accompany the minister in his conferences with his col- 

 leagues as well as with the ministers of the Russian gov- 

 ernment, and also to be present at court and at ceremonial 

 interviews : this was of course very interesting to me. In 

 the intervals of various duties my time was given largely 

 to studying such works upon Russia and especially upon 

 Russian history as were accessible, and the recent history 

 was all the more interesting from the fact that some of 

 the men who had taken a leading part in it were still upon 

 the stage. One occasion especially comes back to me, 

 when, finding myself at an official function near an old 



I.-29 



