168 ST NICOTINE 



to our envoy at Moscow to not only return the workmen to 

 their homes, but to privately and secretly destroy all the 

 materials, machines and instruments of production. 



It is not a little amusing to learn how energetically the 

 envoy carried out the order of destruction. He relates at 

 considerable length in his home despatch how he and his 

 secretary (a private secretary undoubtedly) spent a night in 

 breaking up all the machinery and laying waste the material ; 

 how he afterwards explained to the Tsar that the object of 

 his zealous operations in smashing up the plant was to save 

 his Majesty's subjects from a burdensome monopoly and 

 thus, really, to encourage and enhance the tobacco trade in 

 Russia. Remembering that the Tsar was Peter the Great, 

 we are not surprised to learn that our excellent envoy was 

 listened to with impatience. 



