DEPRESSED CONDITION OF WORKS. 103 



and development of every enterprise, trade, or business, is 

 constant petty theiving — men purloining little by little at 

 every chance, abstracting and defrauding in every possible 

 way. And this is a delinquency common to all concerned, 

 from the highest to the lowest, with all of them, always in 

 proportion to the opportunities they have and the position 

 tliey occupy. It is a saying, "There is honour among 

 theives," and this may account for the phenomenon that 

 Russian oflScials are very clannish in their way. They 

 all stick to one another like glue ; they stand by, screen 

 and help one another in every muddle and scrape. No 

 doubt the law of self-preservation is the motive power, so 

 that among them all transactions are made to look square 

 and presentable by cooked books and garbled accounts, 

 apparently technically right, though morally wrong. 



'Allow me to illustrate this. I have known several 

 estate stewards — "unjust stewards," invested with full power 

 of attorney — having only 600 roubles a year salary, who, 

 it has been said, have made their fortunes of one, two, and 

 three hundred thousand roubles in a few years; and I 

 have heard of officials set to watch over them receiving 

 from these very men — mis-managing directors — 5000 and 

 6000 roubles a year as " palm oil," as it is called, to induce 

 them to sit quietly at home, to sign all papers they are 

 required to sign, to hold their tongues, and to ask no 

 questions. Of course, you cannot prove that it is so, as these 

 nefarious practices are done in such a secret, hole-and- 

 corner sort of way, that there is no external evidence left 

 liable to exposure ; but the " Jeremy Diddler " thimble- 

 rigging is patent to all : as these very blind watchmen 

 spend on their splendid establishments, and in high living, 

 gambling, &c., more thousands annually than they get 

 hundreds in the shape of Government pay. And if you 

 say anything about it to anyone, or even to the parties 

 most intimately concerned, it is only met tvith a grin and 

 a shrug, and " Stcho daelat ! " (What is to be done !) 

 They tell you that they are not the only ones, nor are 

 they altogether in fault. They palliate their misconduct by 



