way of Moscow; for another " consideration"
he makes out the new passport itself, for which
I pay the legal sum of two roubles. I am then
told to go to the governor's own house, in a
distant part of the town, to get his signature.
When I get there I am told that it cannot be
done without a certificate from the chief of the
police that I am quite clear on his books. By
this time it is near four o'clock, and I am too
late. A day is lost.

Next day, at ten, I am at the police-office,
and, among a crowd of people of all sorts, am
obliged to wait till two before the chief makes
his appearance. In the mean time, I have coaxed
a secretary with another consideration to make
out the certificate on the back of my old passport,
that there may be no delay when he does
come.

Well aware, as I was, of the practically
irresponsible position held, and the almost unlimited
power exercised, by officials of this kind at such
a distance from head-quarters, still I was scarcely
prepared for the experience I acquired during a
patient waiting of four hours for this official. I
had been, as usual, asking questions, and moving
about from one part of the large room to another.
There were no mere spectators present. That
all had business, was fully manifested by the
enormously large papers each held in hand.
These papers contained their various cases, as
they were to be submitted to the chief of the
police, and as they had been written out by the
under functionaries of the police establishment
for a consideration, duly or unduly
proportioned to the nature of the cases and the
demands of the officials. Accommodation in an
inner room was offered to me, but declined; for I
wanted to know more of a Russian police-court.

"What are you wanting here, brother?" I
said to a decent-looking man.

"You are an Englishman. I will tell you.
You see that man in the blue caftan?"

"Yes."

"Well, my brother and I caught him stealing
from my premises six months ago. He had two
horses with him for carting my goods off, and,
as we caught him in the act, we gave him and
the horses up to the police."

"Well," I said, "that is a plain case easily
settled."

"God help me! I thought so too. But you
see they have been sending for my brother and
me, on one pretence or another, from our village,
fifteen versts away, every week for six months,
writing papers, and giving evidence, until I have
cause to believe that the affair itself must have
been a dream. I am so tired out, I cannot go
on telling the truth any longer. Besides, it's of
no use. Last week my brother saw the very
same two horses in the police master's
carriage."

"Ah! I see; the thief is free at the cost of
two good horses. And what do you do now?
That paper is——"

"A statement that the whole thing must have
been a dream and delusion on the part of my
brother and myself, and that we have nobody to
accuse. I wish we were quit of the business."
And he crossed himself.

"Why do you cry, my dear mother, and
what is your petition about?" I said to a poor
woman.

"Oh, my lord, I have been cheated. I am a
widow; my husband died three months ago. He
bought the little house and garden twelve
months before that, and paid two hundred
roubles—all the money except twenty roubles.
The police master signed the deed of sale for it,
but has forgotten all about it. The man that
sold the place denies the selling and the paying.
I and my children are turned out, and this
is the fourth petition I have presented. I have
no money to give his excellency, to make him
remember."

Poor woman! The only appeal from official
rapacity is to the emperor; his ears are, indeed,
never shut to the lowliest of his subjects; but
how can a poor woman tramp six hundred miles
of Russian road to sue for justice?

Wandering among these confused but silent
groups, I was heartily glad to be an Englishman.

An old grey-haired, long-bearded peasant, with
a head like an apostle, attracted my attention.

"Good father, why are you here? What is
that paper in your hand?"

"My son has been misbehaving and rebellious
to me, his father, and I am come to get him
whipped by the police."

"Is your son young, then?"

"He has seen thirty-four summers."

"How can you think of whipping a man of
that age?"

"Well, you see, before he left me for St.
Petersburg, nine years ago, he was, and had
always been, a good and respectful son. But
he has learnt bad manners amongst the fine
folks. He drinks, sir; puts on fine airs; sets
himself up against my authority; and is corrupting
the rest of my children. I must get him
wliipped, for, while I live, I will be father of my
own house."

Suddenly there was a bustle and stir. The
waiting claimants for justice, with a score of
prisoners under arrest, arranged themselves in
rows all round the room, and I had time to
ensconce myself behind a large and greasy
merchant, when in came the long-looked-for chief of
the police—judge, jury, law, and emperor in one.
He was a colonel, dressed in full regimentals, a
man who seemed to be naturally bold, shrewd,
and intelligent; but his nose was scarlet, his face
blotched, and he reeled rather than walked.
Doing his best to stand erect, he scowled upon
the assembled mob, all of whom, except myself,
stood bending and bowing before him.

He took paper after paper; glanced at and
partially read some of them; gave his signature
to contracts; passed, as the papers
were read, sentence on each with marvellous
rapidity; tossed some on the table, and ordered
those who presented them, under arrest; sent
ten to be whipped—among the rest the old
man's son; and before I was aware, so absorbed
was I in observation of this swift torrent of