468 IN THE DIPLOMATIC SERVICE-II 



taken away ; and lying near was the Polish scepter broken 

 in the middle. 



A visit to the Sparrow Hills, from which Napoleon 

 first saw Moscow and the Kremlin, was also interesting; 

 but the city itself, though picturesque, disappointed me. 

 Everywhere were filth, squalor, beggary, and fetishism. 

 Evidences of official stupidity were many. In one of the 

 Kremlin towers a catastrophe had occurred on the occa- 

 sion of the Emperor's funeral, a day or two before our 

 arrival: some thirty men had been ringing one of the 

 enormous bells, when it broke loose from its rotten fast- 

 enings and crashed down into the midst of the ringers, 

 killing several. Sad reminders of this slaughter were 

 shown us ; it was clearly the result of gross neglect. 



Another revelation of Russian officialism was there 

 vouchsafed us. Wishing to send a very simple mes- 

 sage to our minister at St. Petersburg, we went to the 

 telegraph office and handed it to the clerk in charge. 

 Putting on an air of great importance, he began a long 

 inquisitorial process, insisting on knowing our full names, 

 whence we had come, where we were going, how long we 

 were staying, why we were sending the message, etc., etc. ; 

 and when he had evidently asked all the questions he 

 could think of, he gravely informed us that our message 

 could not be sent until the head of the office had given his 

 approval. On our asking where the head of the office 

 was, he pointed out a stout gentleman in military uniform 

 seated near the stove in the further corner of the room, 

 reading a newspaper ; and, on our requesting him to notify 

 this superior being, he answered that he could not thus 

 interrupt him; that we could see that he was busy. At 

 this Erving lost his temper, caught up the paper, tore it 

 in pieces, threw them into the face of the underling with 

 a loud exclamation more vigorous than pious, and we 

 marched out defiantly. Looking back when driving off 

 in our droshky, we saw that he had aroused the entire es- 

 tablishment: at the door stood the whole personnel of the 

 office, the military commander at the head, all gazing 



