A Herzen Reader

Thus we hardly had time to recover from the story of the young student from Kazan arriving fifty years ago at the entry guardhouse to St. Peters­burg, when Grech presented a new old fellow, P. A. Vyazemsky, for a jubi­lee. What did he do fifty years ago with no Petersburg guardhouse? What is meant by the beginning of his literary activity fifty years ago?⁴ But this ques­tion would have been unimportant, had he done anything sensible during these fifty years. His literary activity, as well as his service record, is known to everyone except the troubadour singing his praises in frightfully poor verse. What thought or thoughts did this anniversary prince give to the younger generation, what task did he accomplish in his half-century? To be "Karamzin's brother and Pushkin's friend" and the deputy Minister of Education does not give one the right to such recognition. We don't know what kind of brother or friend he was but he did a poor job as the deputy Minister of Education. Why all this agitation—the man barely had time to eat his dinner and listen to the singing poet, when he, the old man, was summoned to tea at Yelena Pavlovna's where the tsar drank to his health. Pogodin himself came from Moscow. What could be added for the fiftieth anniversary of Pushkin—would they really only add Grech's prose and Sol- logub's verse?⁵

Notes

Source: "Zloupotreblenie piatidesiatiletiia," Kolokol, l. 96, April i5, i86i; i5:74-75, 336-39.

The elder Dumas traveled to Russia in i858 and published a book of his impres­sions; the Third Department kept an account of honors bestowed on him by aristocrats and local officials. Gustave de Molinari, the Belgian editor of Journal des Economistes, contributed to the reactionary journalist Mikhail Katkov's publications; in i860, he trav­eled to Moscow and was received with great honor by Katkov and his circle.

Nikolay I. Grech's own fiftieth jubilee was celebrated in Й54.

Herzen is referring to Minister of Finance Knyazhevich (i792-i870), whose an­niversary was celebrated in the Petersburg assembly of the nobility on January i9, i86i. Grech's speech on the occasion was published in The Northern Bee two days later. Her- zen made his own use of Grech's lofty rhetoric in a number of articles, and publicized Knyazhevich's minority stance against emancipation as a member of the Main Commit­tee. Grech is compared to Nestor, a monk and chronicler from the Kiev Monastery of the Caves (late eleventh to early twelfth centuries).

Prince Peter A. Vyazemsky (1792-1878), a poet and critic and from 1855 to 1858 deputy minister of education, beginning in 1861 was a member of the Main Censorship Committee.

Grand Duchess Yelena Pavlovna (1806-1873), widow of Grand Duke Mikhail Pav- lovich and the tsar's aunt, was famous for her salon, which was frequented by moder­ately liberal forces at court and in the government. Mikhail P. Pogodin (1800-1875) was a historian and journalist, and professor of history at Moscow University from 1826 to 1844. Count Vladimir A. Sollogub (1813-1882) was a writer.

♦ 35 +

The Bell, Nos. 98-99, May 15, 1861. Herzen was disturbed by violence against the Poles, Russian peasants, and students in Moscow and St. Petersburg, and wrote several es­says on this topic. The first letter quoted in this article was sent to Herzen by Stepan S. Gromeka (1823-1877), a journalist and government official in Russia and Poland. The authors of the other two letters are not known.

Russian Blood Is Flowing!

[1861]

Yes, Russian blood is flowing like a river!.. And there are vapid souls and timid minds who reproach us for our pained words of damnation and indignation!

The government could have prevented all of this, both the Polish blood and the Russian blood, but now—because of their unsteadiness, lack of understanding, and inability to carry anything through to the end—they are killing multitudes of our brothers.

The news coming from all quarters fills us with horror and tears. Those poor peasants! In Europe they do not even suspect what is meant in our country by pacification by soldiers, by adjutant-generals, and by aides-de­camp. Our only hope lies with soldiers and young officers. It is difficult to carry a weapon with the blood of your dear ones—fathers, mothers, and brothers—clotted on it.

We will stop; it is dark before our eyes, we are afraid to give voice to ev­erything that groans within us, and we are afraid to express everything that is fermenting in our heart.

First we will present the facts.

Here are extracts from letters, without any alterations: