A Russian Paints America: The Travels of Pavel P. Svin'in, 1811-1813 9780773575066

Table of contents :
Contents
Acknowledgments
A Note on the Translation
Introduction
The Beginnings of Russian-American Diplomatic Relations
A Biography of Pavel Petrovich Svin’in, 1787–1839
Travel in North America and the Genre of the Picturesque Journey
A Picturesque Voyage through North America
Appendix: Observations of a Russian in America: A Look at the Free Visual Arts in the United States of America
Additional Watercolours of North America
Notes
Bibliography
Index
A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
I
J
K
L
M
N
O
P
Q
R
S
T
U
V
W
Y

Citation preview

Philadelphia from across the Delaware River, ca. 1811–13. mma, Rogers Fund, 1942 (42.95.13)

Travel by Stagecoach near Trenton, New Jersey, ca. 1811–13. mma, Rogers Fund, 1942 (42.95.11)

Black Methodists Holding a Prayer Meeting, ca. 1811–13. mma, Rogers Fund, 1942 (42.95.19)

A Philadelphia Anabaptist Immersion during a Storm, ca. 1811–13. mma, Rogers Fund, 1942 (42.95.20)

Steamboat Travel on the Hudson River, ca. 1811–13. mma, Rogers Fund, 1942 (42.95.7)

A Ferry Scene on the Susquehanna at Wright’s Ferry, near Havre de Grace, ca. 1811–13. mma, Rogers Fund, 1942 (42.95.37)

Two Indians and a White Man in a Canoe, ca. 1811–13. mma, Rogers Fund, 1942 (42.95.33)

The Pennsylvania Hospital, Philadelphia, ca. 1811–13. mma, Rogers Fund, 1942 (42.95.24)

A Russian Paints Amer ica

Marina Swoboda & William Benton Whisenhunt With an introduction by C h r i s t o p h e r E l y

A Russian Paints America The Travels of Pavel P. Svin’in, 1811–1813

Translated by M a r i n a S w o b o d a

McG I LL -QU E E N’S

Montreal & Kingston

•

U N I VE RS ITY

London

•

Ithaca

PR E SS

© McGill-Queen’s University Press 2008 isbn 978-0-7735-3414-8 Legal deposit third quarter 2008 Bibliothèque nationale du Québec Printed in Canada on acid-free paper. This book has been published with the help of a grant from the Canadian Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences, through the Aid to Scholarly Publications Programme, using funds provided by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. McGill-Queen’s University Press acknowledges the support of the Canada Council for the Arts for our publishing program. We also acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada through the Book Publishing Industry Development Program (bpidp) for our publishing activities. Pavel Svin’in’s watercolours are reproduced courtesy of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication Swoboda, Marina, 1947– A Russian paints America : the travels of Pavel P. Svin’in, 1811–1813 / Marina Swoboda & William Benton Whisenhunt ; with an introduction by Christopher Ely. Includes Pavel P. Svin’in’s text, with annotations, translated by Marina Swoboda. Includes bibliographical references and index. isbn 978-0-7735-3414-8 1. Svin’in, Pavel Petrovich, 1788–1839 – Travel – United States. 2. Svin’in, Pavel Petrovich, 1788–1839 – Travel – Canada. 3. United States – Description and travel. 4. Canada – Description and travel. 5. United States – Pictorial works. 6. Canada – Pictorial works. 7. Watercolor painting, Russian – 19th century. I. Svin’in, Pavel Petrovich, 1788–1839. II. Whisenhunt, William Benton. III. Title. e165.s987 2008

917.304'5

c2008-901592-4

This book was designed and typeset by studio oneonone in Sabon 10 / 14

To my son, Andre Swoboda, and Michele, Meredith, and Matthew Whisenhunt, my adventurers

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Contents

Acknowledgments / ix A Note on the Translation / xi Introduction / 3 c h r i s to p h e r e ly The Beginnings of Russian-American Diplomatic Relations / 12 william benton whisenhunt A Biography of Pavel Petrovich Svin’in, 1787–1839 / 24 william benton whisenhunt Travel in North America and the Genre of the Picturesque Journey / 34 m a r i n a swo b o da A Picturesque Voyage through North America / 55 p av e l p. s v i n ’ i n Translated by m a r i n a s w o b o d a

c o n t e n t s

Appendix: Observations of a Russian in America: A Look at the Free Visual Arts in the United States of America / 122 p av e l p. s v i n ’ i n Translated by m a r i n a s w o b o d a Additional Watercolours of North America by Pavel P. Svin’in / 143 Notes / 155 Bibliography / 195 Index / 207

viii

Acknowledgments

I would like to express my greatest debt to my co-author William Benton Whisenhunt, for suggesting this project to me; he was the one who brought back to life Pavel Svin’in’s name. I am also much indebted to my friends and colleagues Dean Colin Barnes, Amber Saunders, and Frank Babics for their proofreading of the text and for helping me with the intricacies of the English language. As well, I would like to thank my friend Dr Sarah Kadarabek for her help in tracing the necessary data in archives in Philadelphia. And I am very grateful to all the staff of McGill University Library, particularly the Interlibrary Loan Department, for their help and patience in answering my most difficult and obscure requests. ms I would like to thank Marina Swoboda for working with me on this project. Even though her area of interest lies elsewhere, she really immersed herself in this subject, and I appreciate that dedication. A note of acknowledgment also goes to James Cracraft for suggesting Pavel Svin’in to me many years ago. And I would like to thank Steven Usitalo, who

a c k n o w l e d g m e n t s

has given me tips and suggestions all along the way. I would also like to thank Prema Ramnath and Marianne Berger of the College of DuPage Library for helping me to track down some unusual sources. As well, I would like to acknowledge Frank Plantan of the International Relations Department and Kevin Platt of the Slavic Languages and Literature Department at the University of Pennsylvania for allowing me to present some of our ideas on Svin’in. A special note of thanks to my father, Donald W. Whisenhunt, for his preparation of the index. A note of thanks also goes to Philip Cercone of McGill-Queen’s University Press and the two anonymous reviewers for their helpful suggestions. In addition, I want to thank my wife, Michele, for her patience with this and the other projects that never seem to end. wbw Pavel Svin’in’s watercolours are reproduced courtesy of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

x

A Note on the Translation

This translation was made from a copy of Svin’in’s book, published in 1815 in St Petersburg. In order to maintain a better textual flow, the very short paragraphs employed by Svin’in in his book were combined into longer sections. The transliteration of original Cyrillic follows the modified Library of Congress system, that is, without the diacritics and ligatures required by the strict style. Exceptions have been made when quoting directly from other publications; these passages preserve the system followed in the cited article or book. The numbered notes represent commentaries by the translator, while the footnotes, identified by asterisks, reproduce Svin’in’s remarks as they appear in the Russian text. The italics in Svin’in’s text reflect the format of the original.

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A Russian Paints Amer ica

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` Introduction Christopher Ely

A respected reference manual on Russian literature has this to say of Pavel Svin’in: “He is remembered (if at all) as a figure of fun: as the object of epigrams … fables … and prose satire, such as Pushkin’s ‘A Little Liar’ … for his exaggerated patriotism … and (above all) his persistent disregard for the conventional boundaries between fact and fiction.”1 Despite his achievements as a diplomat, prolific writer, and founding publisher of Notes of the Fatherland, later to become one of the most influential journals in imperial Russia, Pavel Svin’in is reduced here to a comic footnote, more remarkable for his freedom with the truth than for his varied accomplishments. Indeed, for nearly a century after his death, Svin’in was largely forgotten in his native Russia. An English translation of his American travels was published in 1930, and until the 1990s only a few short articles on him had appeared in any language. Nevertheless, a curious – if so far rather inconspicuous – rehabilitation seems to be underway. In recent years, a number of prominent historians have drawn on Svin’in’s writings in their work, often at some length.2 The present publication marks a further step out of obscurity for this forgotten writer. For reasons I will try to make sense of below, this “figure of fun” has been taken more seriously lately.

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As Marina Swoboda and William Benton Whisenhunt point out in this book, Svin’in’s work was lambasted by some of his most illustrious contemporaries. The combination punch of mockery from two of Russia’s greatest authors, Aleksandr Pushkin and Nikolai Gogol, dealt the sort of fatal blow to his reputation that even death could not overcome. Even if he had never been subjected to their potent literary scorn, however, it is reasonable to conclude that Svin’in’s contribution to Russian culture would have remained little known during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. His conciliatory politics and mainstream interests ensured that the increasingly polarized and polemical world of Russian letters would find little to nothing of value in his work. Until recently, in fact, there has been more interest in Svin’in’s writings about the United States on the part of American historians than among Russian historians in his far more voluminous material regarding Russia. Svin’in’s irrelevance was born of the growing politicization of Russian thought that began around the 1840s, and it only deepened as ideologies hardened into extremes in late-imperial and Soviet Russia. But new questions often point toward new or little-used sources. In this respect, the formerly obscure figure of Pavel Svin’in may now be seen as something of a bellwether. To understand him in historical context, it is useful to compare him to his famous contemporaries, the Decembrists, that group of would-be revolutionaries who participated in Russia’s first revolt against autocracy in 1825. Where the Decembrists found flaws in their society, sought to address them, failed, and in failing achieved the status of martyrs, Svin’in looked beyond the problems of his society, supported the autocratic state, idealized Russia in his writings, and was promptly forgotten. The Decembrists summoned the courage to act, while Svin’in did not even seem to possess sufficient courage to acknowledge the degree of dissatisfaction surrounding him. His copious and enthusiastic descriptions of his native land also set him apart from the circumspect, civic-minded, and critical Decembrists. For twenty years of his life – from the early teens into the 1830s – he wrote incessantly. Among other subjects, he composed travel notes, historical novels, ethnography, art criticism, and proposals for improvement and edification. All the while, however, he kept well away from contentious social or political topics. Collected together, his writings conjure up a largely untroubled Russia, a society that 4

Introduction

enjoyed sufficient contentment to take an interest in art, scenery, antiquities, and all manner of interesting or exotic, but uncontroversial phenomena. The self-satisfied approach to Russia found on the pages of Svin’in’s Notes of the Fatherland, accompanied by a sometimes overt sycophancy for ranking officials, was well suited to raise the hackles of the more critically minded members of his cohort.3 Svin’in’s differences from the Decembrists help explain to why he was so soon condemned to insignificance, but they also indicate why we see renewed interest in his work today. If it was almost predictable that he would be labelled an obsequious prevaricator by certain members of his generation, from our removed vantage point he comes across more as a simple and wildly optimistic dreamer. Svin’in’s rose-coloured glasses allowed him to envision a Russia that could not be seen by many of his contemporaries. He managed to detect, for example, a “striking resemblance” between czarist Russia and the new US democracy, he could imagine and lobby for a Russian national museum a half-century before one was actually built, and he enjoyed the scenic beauty of St Petersburg and the Russian countryside without seeming to notice the equally evident squalor and misery apparent to many of his peers.4 Svin’in’s strategy of overlooking the dark side and focusing on the light was not at all uncommon in Western European journalism, but in the increasingly contentious context of Russian letters, it stood out as unrealistic, even complicit with state power. On the other hand, precisely in his capacity to examine what others avoided lies the special usefulness of his work. His optimism allowed him to delve into subjects many of his contemporaries found beneath their interest. One might say, in opposition to Pushkin’s ridicule, that it was precisely Svin’in’s ability to envision (to fantasize, as some might have it) a stable and contented Russia that makes him noteworthy today. As mentioned above, however, only recently have Svin’in’s interests begun to dovetail with those of current scholarship. Two broad changes in Russian historiography have helped to make this connection possible; one involves Russia in particular, and the other is the result of broad shifts throughout the historical profession. In the first case, the collapse of the Soviet Union finally began to undermine the long-standing tendency to view the last two centuries of Russian history and culture 5

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through the prism of political ideology. Through most of the twentieth century the concrete existence of a Soviet state made it difficult to pose questions that did not in some way concern the rise of socialism in Russia. With the weakening and collapse of the Soviet Union, however, historical scholarship on imperial Russia has witnessed an explosion of new topics and themes that raised little interest during the Cold War. Not only obscure writers and topics but even whole periods in Russian history that had been relatively marginalized (such as the reign of Alexander i, during which Svin’in did the bulk of his writing) have received renewed attention in recent years. Coincidentally, the period around the fall of Soviet Russia also witnessed a broad historiographical turn from questions based on well-articulated ideological foundations to a looser focus on the politics of “culture” and its impact on history. This shift did not so much entail an abandonment of political or ideological concerns as it generated a revision in thinking about where politics and ideology might be found. Gender, identity, sub-state institutions, and representations in the arts and popular culture all have gained in prominence as subjects of study for historians seeking to understand the political dynamics of the societies in which they are interested. With these two shifts in approach, the work of writers such as Svin’in, who avoided overt ideology but revelled in cultural themes, has taken on a new significance. His travels in the United States suggest that even outside Russia he was more interested in culture and nature than in explicitly political topics. In spite of the intriguing set of political issues facing the young democracy that he reported on, the bulk of Svin’in’s American travel descriptions involve rites, customs, industry, and natural scenery (with the obvious exception here of the rather anomalous reminiscence on General Moreau). These descriptions, moreover, are interesting in equal measure for what they tell us about the United States and for what they reveal about the author himself as a representative of Russia trying to make sense of a world very different from his own. In this latter respect, dispassionate accuracy is less helpful than the imaginative capacity to express internal reactions to external phenomena. After his years abroad, Svin’in would go on to develop that capacity in response to his own country in ways that would later prove helpful in elucidating Russian culture. Richard Wortman, for example, found Svin’in’s 6

Introduction

active imagination valuable in his exploration of Czar Nicholas i’s use of symbol and ceremony to legitimize his reign. Wortman benefited from the very extravagance of Svin’in’s language: “it was Svin’in’s ability to embellish reality with the blandishments of fiction that enabled him to construct a description of the coronation filled with the precise personal meaning that the emperor intended.”5 As far as I am aware, Svin’in never explicitly credited his travels abroad with inspiring his approach to Russia. The evidence, however, does point in that direction. While momentous, generation-shaping events were taking place in Russia as a result of Napoleon’s invasion and defeat, Svin’in was far away in the United States working on his first book, an illustrated English-language description of Russia for an American audience. In 1815, not long after his return, he published the present American travelogue in Russian. The similarities Svin’in found in his comparison of the two countries hovers over the remainder of his writings, not in the sense that he continued to make such comparisons, but because the remainder of his work approached Russia in the seemingly apolitical manner of the picturesque traveller he had first adopted in the West. He looked at Russia with what often seemed to be the eyes of a very curious but not overly impassioned outsider. In searching for a usable way to understand his country, Svin’in was responding to an imperative all thinking Russians of his generation had to face. The defeat of Napoleon put Russia on the European map as a force to be reckoned with. From a geopolitical perspective, this was a moment of triumph, but from an intellectual point of view, it raised all sorts of troubling concerns. If Russia was now more clearly than ever a European country, then one had to ask certain new questions. What kind of European country was it? How did one account for the fundamental socio-economic and political differences from Europe? Did Russia need to become more like Europe? Or would it lead the way out of the social and political problems then accumulating in the West? The Decembrists offered their own answers in the language of armed revolt. Another of Svin’in’s contemporaries, Petr Chaadaev, responded in a famous article that Russia was inevitably incapacitated because, unlike Western Europe, it had never received the blessings of any more than a thin veneer of civilization. With his characteristic optimism, Svin’in’s 7

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appraisal of Russian conditions was almost the precise reverse of Chaadaev’s. In his descriptions of Russia, differences between Russia and the West appear superficial, while similarities run deep. To be sure, Chaadaev’s relatively short but remarkably acute observations on Russia immediately, and ever since, received infinitely greater attention than all of Svin’in’s work put together. But Svin’in’s manner of cutting the Gordian knot of Russia’s tangled troubles by assuming they did not exist does have its advantages, at least from the viewpoint of current historical research. One such advantage is so simple as to be easily overlooked. Rather than getting wrapped up in painful ruminations about what ought to be, as an increasing number of his compatriots did, Svin’in spent a great deal of time contentedly recording what was. The motto he chose for Notes of the Fatherland, “God and nature command we love our country/But to know it is an honour and a duty,” was meant to be taken literally.6 Svin’in sought to describe the notable sights of Russia so that his fellow Russians would have the opportunity to grow more familiar with the geography, history, and culture of their country. Both stylistically and ideologically, this approach lumped him in with widely detested reactionaries such as Nikolai Grech and Faddei Bulgarin, further marginalizing his work for future generations. At the same time, it enabled him to write numerous descriptions of places and events. Today his ingratiating style, naive enthusiasm, and aversion to polemics render his writings an easier path toward the conventional wisdom of his time, while his willingness to take a simple pride in his surroundings opens a window onto places and events we would not otherwise know in such detail. It is interesting to note the differences between Svin’in and the avowed conservatives of his era. Where one finds in Bulgarin’s journalism a clear antagonism to the forces of disorder, or even in the older Nikolai Karamzin a desire to shore up autocratic authority, Svin’in’s work is marked, rather, by an apparent lack of awareness of the conflicts that swirled around him. Instead, he clung obstinately to his normative, unspectacular celebration of Russia as one among many noteworthy and valuable European countries. Indeed, the base note of all his writing, the point to which he perpetually returned, is the valorization of Russia as a legitimate European nation. Although he focused on uncontroversial sub8

Introduction

jects such as urban monuments, popular holidays, antiquarian objects, rural architecture, archaeology, and “exotic” nationalities, in the end such topics all served Svin’in as yet further embellishments of the Russian Empire. His interest in publicizing subjects such as these involved his wish to demonstrate Russia’s relative worth with respect to other lands, particularly Western Europe. He wanted to familiarize his fellow Russians with the advantages available to them so that, as he put it, “the Russian can feel his own merit in full measure … can lose the habit of a passionate fascination for other lands and recover from the blind partiality for things foreign.”7 Although Svin’in treated the autocracy as “Exhibit A” of Russia’s national glory, he was not interested in celebrating the state in its own right. As the above comment indicates, he wrote to convince an audience of literate Russians that they could and should take pride in the Russian Empire, their national inheritance. To this end, his descriptions of St Petersburg characterized the Russian capital as the equal of other grand European cities, his domestic travel observations set an itinerary for an early kind of “heritage tour” of the Russian provinces, and the aforementioned portrayal of the ascension of Nicholas i “was the first … to present the coronation as a national tradition manifesting the monarch’s historical ties with his people.”8 As a part of his focus on Russia as a legitimate and important European nation, Svin’in also imagined a Russian public sphere of active (if wholly obedient) citizens, in which “men illustrious by their birth or office were not ashamed to walk together with the lower class.”9 As this rather unrealistic but hopeful statement suggests, he was aware that Russia lacked one of the key ingredients of a national community – a public realm within which educated people of diverse backgrounds could intermingle. His dream of founding a Russian national museum offers a good example of this vision. It was intended simultaneously to bolster a Russian sense of national identity and to serve as one important locus for the physical embodiment of the national community, as a gathering place to which entrance was available to all members of the population. Notes of the Fatherland itself was meant to provide a kind of public sphere in which print facilitated interactive discourse about the national community. Despite its small circulation, the journal published many letters from 9

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interested readers. It is not unlikely that some of those letters may have been fabricated by the publisher himself, but no matter who wrote them, they demonstrate the journal’s aspiration to constitute a modest forum for public interaction and to put that interaction on display as an instance of the common good. And yet despite the sincerity of Svin’in’s desire to invigorate national identity and public interaction, the realization of his efforts was severely compromised by the very spirit that inspired him: patriotic acceptance of a tightly controlled autocratic state. His Pollyanna definition of “public opinion” in the wake of the Decembrist Revolt illustrates the contradictions under which he laboured. “Public opinion,” Svin’in explained, “is that faithful, impartial judge, which of course skilful journalists may sometimes force into error and lead into darkness; but not for long: true talent and useful labour always find in it retribution, and obtain from it abiding respect and approval.”10 In other words, he believed that public opinion would always ultimately reaffirm the autocratic status quo. Following in the footsteps of Karamzin, Svin’in would have agreed that “the strength of the state is to be found in the strength of the sentiment of obedience displayed by the people.”11 By way of conclusion, we may contrast Svin’in’s views of the Russian public realm with those of the Decembrists. Whereas the Decembrists continued, up to the final moment, to value secrecy as their strategy to more effectively force civil autonomy on the government, Svin’in tried to identify and encourage a tame civil polity entirely transparent to and at one with the state. In many ways his aims and those of the Decembrists seem nearly antithetical; so it is interesting to note the existence of certain similarities. Both tried to push the educated public closer to the centre of Russian life, both drew on models from Western Europe for the source of the Russia they hoped to bring about, and both envisioned the Russia of the future as a nation-state rather than a patrimonial empire. Iurii Lotman has argued that the Decembrists generated their public stance in the semi-private, elite world of balls, salons, and smaller gatherings. They used this social milieu as a background against which to generate a defiant stance in which “prosaic accountability to authority was replaced by accountability to history.”12 Svin’in’s writings tend to ignore the extremes of social difference on which Russian soci10

Introduction

ety had long rested. Instead they emphasized a less differentiated, more docile “general public.” And Svin’in never presented himself in print as other than perfectly satisfied with a “prosaic accountability to authority.” He accepted the notion that society, as a civic entity separate from the state, had little role to play in consequential public affairs. But if we keep in mind his obedience in the face of power, it is worth noting that Svin’in’s modest efforts to promote a wider degree of nonthreatening public activity encouraged the growth of journalism, art exhibits, public architecture, scenic travel, and museum collecting. By contrast, Nicholas’s violent response to the failed Decembrist Revolt unleashed thirty years of autocratic reaction, for a long time severely undermining the expansion of Russia’s public sphere. The Decembrists had a formative impact on liberal and revolutionary traditions, while Svin’in did nothing more than quietly advocate a cautious expansion of public activity. The revolutionary political history to which the Decembrists contributed is well-known worldwide, whereas the growth of a public sphere in Russia usually comes in for criticism as a relative failure by contrast to that of many Western countries. Yet in spite of Russia’s slow development, the scope of public activity did gradually widen over the course of the nineteenth century.13 As we come to understand more about this unspectacular but not insignificant extension of public space, we may begin to see Pavel Svin’in as a less peripheral figure in Russian history. In this respect it is notable that he began his literary career on his trip to North America. His travel descriptions of the United States served as an important departure point for his interest in and particular his approach to public culture. As such, not only do they offer an interesting initial perspective on their subject; they also provide useful insights into the figure and career of a long-neglected Russian writer, a writer who may yet prove difficult to laugh away.

11

` The Beginnings of Russian-American Diplomatic Relations

William Benton Whisenhunt

As Russia experienced a type of “Europeanization” begun by Peter the Great, who reigned from 1682 to 1725, it also expanded its diplomatic and commercial ties to Europe and beyond. By Catherine the Great’s reign (1762–96), Russia’s developing relationship with Great Britain proved to be one of its most important and beneficial diplomatic and commercial connections. Therefore, by extension, the British American colonies were also growing in importance for Russia. However, the turmoil that turned into the American Revolution left Russia’s official relationship with the rebellious colonies and later the new nation in a precarious position. Russia wanted to honour its traditional relationship with Great Britain, but the United States offered benefits for Russia that the former could not. The United States desired official recognition from as many nations as possible to secure its fragile position as an independent nation. France had aided the rebellious colonies in the revolution and extended official recognition to the new nation, but many countries, including Russia, were hesitant to take such a bold step in the face of the military and commercial strength of Great Britain. The following analysis notes the difficult and inconsistent development of of-

Th e Begin n in gs o f Ru ssian-A merican Diplomatic R elations

ficial and some unofficial contacts between Russia and the United States, culminating in official recognition in 1809 and the establishment of missions in the respective countries. Many historians claim that the first contact between Russia and North America began in 1763, but relations between these two parts of the world started well before that date. As early as 1698, during his trip to London, Peter the Great met with American colonist William Penn. They discussed Quakers, religious tolerance, tobacco, and trade. The two certainly did not reach any official agreements, but new commercial relations were established between Russia and England for tobacco trade.1 Up to the Seven Years War (1756–63), contact between the British American colonies and Russia was minimal, but as the war ended, more concrete relations between the regions began to form. Some of the most profound contacts were between American and Russian natural philosophers. The most famous association was between Benjamin Franklin and the Russian naturalist Mikhail Lomonosov. Even though the two never met and rarely corresponded directly, they were both familiar with the other’s work. Clearly, the letters Franklin and Ezra Stiles, an American clergyman and scholar, addressed to Lomonosov illuminated the nature of their interests, which included electricity, temperature, and trade routes between Siberia and North America. However, Lomonosov’s death in 1765 prevented a closer connection between the Russian and American scholars from being established.2 As the American Revolution approached, Catherine was preoccupied with the First Turkish War and the rebellion led by Emelian Pugachev. By the time she could turn her attention to the situation in North America, the conflict had already begun. Pressing commercial and naval issues with Great Britain contributed to the empress’s reluctance at direct involvement. It was no secret that while she was interested in enlightened ideas, she was not necessarily sympathetic to the colonists’ cause and their rebellion against a legitimate power in Great Britain. At the same time, she did not feel threatened by the colonists’ actions, as she would later by the French Revolution.3 During the American Revolutionary War some prominent Russians supported the colonists’ cause, even though Catherine’s official stance was neutrality. Some of these Russians played minor roles, and very little 13

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record remains of the encounters. However, Fedor Karzhavin spent more than a decade in North America, and many historians believe that he had significant contacts with such prominent revolutionaries as John Hancock and James Madison. Upon his arrival in the 1770s, he had offered his services as a translator of French, but he was not used immediately. He spent much of his time in North America writing about his travels, associating with as many notable Americans as possible, and working as a translator at the French consulate.4 The American Revolution placed great strain on the relations between Russia and Great Britain. As early as 1775, King George iii asked Catherine for help in suppressing the American rebels, but the Russian empress refused to send the 20,000 troops to Canada as the king had requested. She further reduced the possibility of aiding the British when she issued the Declaration of Armed Neutrality in 1780 and even offered to serve as a mediator between the two sides. Catherine noted that she did not have an ample supply of soldiers for her own country’s military needs in dealing with Sweden and Poland. Also, Russian troops were suffering from fatigue after a lengthy war with the Turks. She concluded that “without speaking of the disadvantages of employing so considerable a corps in another hemisphere, living there under a power almost unknown to it, and deprived almost entirely of all correspondence with its sovereign, my own assurance of my peace, which has cost me so many efforts to acquire, absolutely requires that I not strip myself so soon of considerable a part of my forces.”5 On the other hand, in the late days of the American Revolution, colonial officials also sought support and recognition from European nations aside from France. American officials periodically debated the prudence of seeking at most recognition and at least some form of support from Catherine for their independence movement from Great Britain, which was still allied with Russia. In the early 1780s John Adams in the Netherlands and Benjamin Franklin in France sent Francis Dana of Massachusetts to St Petersburg with the charge of establishing a relationship with Russia. The nature of the relationship to be forged by the Americans was unclear. He often received cautionary and contradictory instructions from the American officials in France about his status and duties in Russia. He travelled on a “private mission” to “test the waters.” 14

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Catherine, however, could not and would not recognize Dana as an official American representative, let alone support the American independence movement because of her relationship with Great Britain.6 It was evident that many in the Russian government were concerned with the commercial implications with Great Britain that an association with the rebellious American colonists would bring them. Dana tried to convince several Russian officials that an association with the United States would only enhance Russia’s commercial prospects, as well as that of the new nation. He proved to be a controversial figure during his brief time in Russia. He was sent there with the knowledge that he would not receive official recognition; nevertheless, he was charged with the duty of establishing some kind of relationship. Many American officials criticized Dana for exceeding his assignment and making too many direct advances to Catherine for recognition, thereby jeopardizing the possibility of a future relationship with Russia. He was quickly recalled as the American Revolutionary War officially ended in 1783, without having secured a clear formal or informal relationship with Russia. Even though his mission failed before the end of the American Revolution, high officials in the Russian government such as Ivan Osterman were open to discussing a more formal relationship with the new United States.7 During the 1780s the relationship between the two nations continued to develop in starts and stops, although there was no official diplomatic recognition. Some of the encounters were related to naval and commercial developments in the Pacific. One of the most interesting contacts came when, in 1787, Thomas Jefferson and the Russian envoy in Paris, I.M. Simolin, arranged for Revolutionary War hero John Paul Jones to enter service in the Russian navy. The official order came from Catherine in February 1788, and Jones arrived in Russia in April of that year to receive a commission at the rank of rear admiral (kontraadmiral). Even though Jones and Simolin disagreed initially about his rank, consensus was reached, and Catherine was happy to have a sailor of his skill and reputation in her service. He was well received by the empress in St Petersburg, and Russian society seemed to be intrigued by Jones. Unlike his predecessor, Francis Dana, he was outspoken and bold in Russia. He praised the Declaration of Armed Neutrality and gave Catherine a copy of the American Constitution. He wrote to the Marquis de 15

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Lafayette, of American Revolutionary fame: “If her Imperial Majesty were not the Empress of all Russia (not to mention her other great qualities), in my eyes she would have been the most amiable of all women.”8 By June 1788 Jones was leading a naval operation in the Dnieper Liman under the command of Prince Charles Nassau-Siegen, a French naval adventurer. The two knew each other from 1778 when, during the American Revolutionary War, Jones had refused to serve under NassauSiegen. The initial battles of June 1788 went well for Jones, but much of the credit went to the French commander. Jones criticized NassauSiegen’s role in the battles with the Turks and credited himself and his men with defeating the enemy and saving the war effort, despite the fact that most of the evidence gave credit for the success to the French leader. Feeling that his claims were being ignored, Jones took his criticism of Nassau-Siegen higher, to Grigorii Potemkin, who did not accept such bold assertions well. Jones received the Order of St Anne, but Nassau-Siegen was awarded the Cross of St Sergei, the highest military honour in Russia. When Potemkin dismissed Jones’s criticism as being inappropriate, the American decided to launch new criticisms of Potemkin himself to one of his subordinates, General Alexander V. Suvorov. The two men had developed a friendship, and the Russian general showed some sympathy for Jones’s views but was wise enough not to express his support publicly. Soon after this conflict began, Potemkin asked Catherine to remove Jones from his duties in the south. By December 1788 Jones was back in St Petersburg but was not given an official assignment. In early 1789 he put forward a proposal for an alliance between Russia and the United States that would be applied “in the Mediterranean against the attacks on commercial shipping by the Barbary corsairs.”9 His abrasive personality and an incident in which he was involved later that year prevented this proposal from receiving serious consideration. On 30 March 1789 Jones allegedly raped a twelve-year-old German butter peddler in his home. On 2 April the girl, Katerina Stepanova Koltzwarthen, submitted a statement to the head of the St Petersburg police, Nikolai Ryleev, claiming that she had been called to the house of a man she did not know to sell him some butter. She was ushered into the master’s room by a manservant and left alone there. She sold the man butter, but when she tried to leave, the man, “in a white uniform, in front 16

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of which was embroidered in gold and decorated with a crimson ribbon and a gold star,” grabbed her and stuffed a handkerchief into her mouth that cut her lip. Then he carried her into a different room and raped her “until she lost her memory.” The girl claimed that the man, who spoke Russian very badly, threatened more violence if she told anyone. She left and told no one of the incident until she arrived home. This incident swirled out of control over the next few weeks. Jones was questioned repeatedly, but charges were never brought against him despite the fact that he appeared to be guilty.10 In the end, the allegation against Jones was never tried in court or proven. Ultimately for Russian-American relations, the truth of the allegation itself was not important, but the incident could have damaged affairs between the two countries. By the 1790s Russia had a strong trading relationship with the United States and most nations in Europe. The Jones affair left the admiral in disgrace as he left the country in the summer of 1789 to join the revolutionary forces in France, but it did not seem to undermine rapport between the two nations. Between 1790 and 1807 trade relations increased between the two countries by more than five times, and in 1795 John Miller Russell arrived in St Petersburg to serve as the American consul in Russia. Catherine refused to recognize him because his appointment had not been approved by Great Britain, which seemed to be an odd and perhaps antiquated requirement from the aging empress, considering that American independence had been achieved more than a decade before. It was the first serious attempt at gaining official recognition since Francis Dana, but the results were much the same. In addition, the Embargo Act of 1807, enacted by Thomas Jefferson, greatly restrained this part of the relationship, since the United States ports were under greater restrictions for foreign trade. Nonetheless, American ships continued to visit the port of St Petersburg, even though official relations remained ambiguous.11 During the 1790s several prominent and lesser-known Russians visited the United States. In particular, naval officer Iurii Lisianskii travelled and wrote about his time in the country. His travel narrative was simple, blunt, and generally positive about the United States. He noted that “many see Philadelphia’s lack of hospitality as coming from the Quakers, who make up a large part of the city. But, on the contrary, I 17

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found that these people are much more courteous to foreigners than others.”12 In the late 1790s the new emperor of Russia, Paul i, and American officials found common ground in commercial interests in the Mediterranean and an emerging fear of potential French aggression. Sporadic discussions took place under Paul, but the inconsistent nature of his government did not produce any concrete agreements or resolutions with the Americans.13 At the turn of the century, relations between the United States and Russia were influenced by the complex Russian-British commercial interests, fears of radicalism in France, and the ambition of Napoleon Bonaparte. By 1801, two dramatic changes helped to shape the future of Russian-American relations. First, Paul i was assassinated and his son, Alexander i, took the throne. Second, Thomas Jefferson took office as president of the United States after winning the contentious and controversial election of 1800. Even though Levett Harris of Philadelphia became the first official American consul in Russia in 1803, the direct and indirect personal relationship between Alexander i and Jefferson provided much of the foundation for the furthering of Russian-American relations. These two leaders exchanged letters on such matters as constitutionalism and land settlement. Both issues were timely for the two countries. The United States was testing and amending its new constitutional system and trying to settle its newly acquired Louisiana Territory. Alexander i and his close group of young advisers, also known as the unofficial committee, were entertaining ideas of constitutionalism. They were also trying to incorporate vast areas of new land as a result of successful conquest in the south.14 It is evident that the unofficial relationship which developed between Alexander and Jefferson helped to open the way for the establishment of official diplomatic recognition. It is also clear that the activity of the Russian-American Company, chartered in 1799 by Paul i, had created numerous commercial and cultural contacts between the two expanding countries in the Pacific. Both were interested in expansion of trade in the Pacific, colonizing more territory, trading with China, and limiting Britain’s political and economic influence. Even though they agreed on these ideas, there were still points of contention between the Russians and the Americans. One of these areas was each country’s inter18

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action with the Native peoples of the Pacific. The Russians were particularly upset with the sale of liquor and guns to many Native groups. In addition, the Russians and the Americans were at odds over shipment of supplies. Russians were reliant on American ships, primarily from Boston, for supplies, while American ships often used Russian ports for logistical connections. After the purchase of the Louisiana Territory in 1803, tension continued to rise over land itself. Americans were moving westward and Russians eastward, reaching the port of San Francisco in 1806 and establishing Fort Ross (originally Krepost Rossiya), about sixty miles to the north, in 1812.15 In the midst of these tensions and growing friendship, Russia and the United States agreed to establish official relations that led to the exchange of diplomats. In 1809 the first American minister to Russia, John Quincy Adams,16 arrived in St Petersburg. In the same year Andrei Dashkov17 arrived in Philadelphia to head the first Russian diplomatic mission to the United States. Initially, in early 1809, William Short had been nominated by the outgoing president, Thomas Jefferson, as the first American minister to Russia, but his rejection by the Senate left the nomination for the position in the hands of the future president. In July, Adams received a cordial letter from Andrei Dashkov just before he, Adams, left for his post in St Petersburg. Dashkov assured Adams that he was confident good commercial and diplomatic ties could be developed between the two nations.18 Even though Adams walked throughout the city often, even meeting Alexander i occasionally, he faced internal and external problems. First, partisan fighting over the election of James Madison in 1808 and the appointment of Adams left some in the American mission uneasy with their positions in Russia. One official in the mission noted how solemn and distant Adams was, while others thought the minister was outright aloof, especially during social gatherings. Second, after about two years in St Petersburg, Adams’s infant daughter died, bringing his sense of melancholy to a low point.19 Not all connections between Russians and Americans were so cold and distant, though. Numerous American traders, merchants, and visitors had been living in Russia for many years. Most of the Americans mingled with Russian high society through the English Club, which as far back as 1770 had become a meeting place for Russians who were 19

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engaged in social, commercial, and political interaction with the British and other foreigners. Russian-American relations in St Petersburg have been characterized by one historian as follows: “the Russians tolerated well the American traits of frugality, plainness of dress, and smattering of the court language, French, and many even seemed to enjoy the opportunity to be at ease with friendly Americans at social occasions and to practice their English. In turn, Americans were impressed with the formality, luxury, and ostentation of Russian society, but did not find it particular to their liking.”20 Clearly, official relations and the establishment of the first American mission in Russia began with complications. One of the most difficult periods in the relationship between the two countries was during the war that engulfed Europe, Russia, and the United States between 1812 and 1815. Despite the fact that the two nations were on opposing sides in the war, relations remained reasonably close if we take into account the fact that Washington, dc, was captured and burned by the British, and Moscow suffered the same fate at the hands of French army. After four years of difficult political, personal, and cultural relations, Adams summed up his feelings by writing that he and his colleagues “have formed no social attachments that can make us regret the Country; and I have no employments here which even afford the consolation of being useful to my own.”21 The difficulties encountered by the American mission were serious, but the problems encountered by the first Russian mission to the United States nearly jeopardized the future of relations between the two nations. Official diplomatic relations between the United States and Russia were established in 1807, with Count Fedor von der Pahlen as the original choice to represent Russia in the United States. However, the first Russian diplomatic mission arrived in the United States only in July 1809, and by then von der Pahlen had been replaced by Andrei Dashkov as first minister. He, like Adams, was not the original choice for the position. He was appointed to serve in Philadelphia, the primary diplomatic location, which oversaw the Russian delegations in Boston, Charleston, and other cities. Ironically, there was not a diplomatic contingent in Washington, dc, because the city was still under construction and still vulnerable to British attack. Most of Dashkov’s early official interaction 20

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with the American government primarily concerned trade in the Pacific. While commerce was a principal interest for both countries, personal, legal, and cultural difficulties persisted here as they did in St Petersburg. A part of Dashkov’s duties was to oversee the Russian consuls in other cities. Aleksei G. Evstaf’ev, a consul in Boston, gave a toast at a public occasion in 1813 in which he endorsed the policies of the Federalist opposition to the current president, James Madison. American officials accused Evstaf’ev of interference in the internal policies of the American government and petitioned Dashkov for an explanation and redress of their grievances. Apparently, this was not the first time that this Boston consul had made inflammatory comments: he had criticized American policy in the War of 1812 and had expressed positive views toward the British, with whom the United States was still at war. Evstaf’ev explained that he meant no offence and that he was actually supporting “the politics and morals of Boston.” However, Secretary of State James Monroe noted that the statement was offensive: “The impropriety of it is the more evident when it is compared with the spirit of impartiality with which the Emperor, his Sovereign, has offered his mediation between the United States and Great Britain.”22 Only a year into the mission, armed violence broke out between some citizens of Philadelphia and the Russian diplomatic mission. In 1810 Dashkov displayed imperial symbols and crowns in the windows of his residence to mark the anniversary of Alexander i’s coronation. This action drew criticism from some Philadelphians who passed by his home. During a party, which was attended by the Philadelphia elite, a mob gathered outside the Russian mission and demanded the removal of the imperial symbols. As Dashkov was doing so, someone in the mob (who was probably drunk) fired two shots through the windows. No one was hurt, and Dashkov later felt satisfied with the Philadelphia authorities’ investigation. American officials were more embarrassed by the incident than Dashkov was outraged.23 Despite some tension between the diplomatic missions and each host country, there were also positive political and cultural developments. The arrival of Pavel P. Svin’in as a secretary and translator for the Philadelphia mission in 1811 opened a more extensive and detailed cultural dialogue between the two nations. Svin’in spent about twenty months in the 21

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United States, and having only a few official duties, he travelled from modern-day Maine to Niagara Falls to Virginia. He saw more of the new nation than most Americans had seen of their own country at this time. He left the United States in 1813 in order to escort exiled French General Jean Victor Moreau back to Europe. Despite his short stay, he left three important documents describing his time in the country. While residing in Philadelphia, he published in English, and therefore directed to the American public, Sketches of Moscow and St Petersburg in order to give Americans a glimpse of what Russians were like. He illustrated the book with his own sketches and described in detail Russian customs, traditions, cities, and much more. Soon after he left the United States, Svin’in published An Attempt at a Picturesque Voyage across North America. This travel narrative discussed the American political system, slavery, religion, Niagara Falls, steamboats, and much else. He also painted more than thirty watercolours that depicted many of the scenes described in the narrative. This is the earliest known account of the United States written by a Russian official. The book provided some proof of the cultural connections between the two countries, but despite its popularity at the time, it failed to solidify diplomatic contacts. Soon after, a serious incident further jeopardized Russian-American relations. In November 1815 a Russian consul in Philadelphia, Nikolai Kozlov, was accused of raping a twelve-year-old servant girl in his home. He was immediately arrested and held, and since the girl swore an oath, he was sent to jail without the possibility of bail, according to the law at that time. Dashkov immediately came to his defence by stating that a foreign diplomat could not be charged and Kozlov should be released. This request was not granted, but Kozlov’s representation convinced the judge that rape was not a crime to be tried by federal courts; so Kozlov was released by the summer of 1816. Even though the charges were dropped, he was not determined to be innocent; nor did Dashkov let things lie. Dashkov sent inflammatory letters to the American government on the matter in an attempt to clear Kozlov’s name and character. He received little response from American officials in Philadelphia, but American diplomats such as Levett Harris in St Petersburg were working to remedy the situation. Frustrated by the perceived lack of cooperation in Philadelphia, Dashkov, by the fall of 1816, broke off official 22

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diplomatic relations with the United States, making it difficult to negotiate a resolution to the conflict in St Petersburg. To make matters worse, earlier American officials had charged Evstaf’ev with illegally holding seized British property during the war. Clearly, relations were at a breaking point. For weeks, Harris and Russian officials in St Petersburg negotiated a way to resolve the dispute. The Americans held firm to the notion that Kozlov had committed an offence and should be held accountable. Russian officials felt that the Americans had not followed “the law of nations” (basically, forgiveness of offences by diplomats, or diplomatic immunity) and had insulted Kozlov and Alexander i by this treatment. Many historians believe that in a different time, this conflict might have sent these two nations to war. However, the agreement reached by the end of 1816 placed the primary blame on Kozlov. Both nations appointed new diplomats, and the Russians moved their primary diplomatic mission to Washington, dc.24 The ability of the two nations to settle their disputes through diplomatic negotiations reveals the emerging sense of legality in each country. The United States, especially, broke new ground in foreign relations and in establishing policies governing the actions of foreigners on American soil. After many decades of sporadic contacts, events that appeared to threaten Russian-American relations instead introduced a new era of cooperation between the two nations. Despite the initial difficulties, both countries recognized the mutual benefits to having official diplomatic, commercial, and cultural relations between the two developing nations. Despite the fact that through the nineteenth century, Russia and the United States were neither allies nor primary trading partners, the establishment of diplomatic relations helped to open up greater access for a number of curious Russians travelling in the United States and Americans travelling in Russia. The number of travel accounts, especially of Americans in Russia, greatly increased from the 1850s through to the end of the century.

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` A Biography of Pavel Petrovich Svin’in 1787–1839

William Benton Whisenhunt

Pavel Petrovich Svin’in was born on 8 June 1787 into a family in the provincial gentry of some financial means.1 His father, Peter Sergeevich Svin’in (1734–1813), served as a lieutenant-general in the army and later as a senator. The Svin’in lineage appears to have gone back to a migration from Lithuania in the fifteenth century. Probably for service to the czar, members of the family were granted an estate, and they became landowners. Svin’in’s family was certainly never among the highest of Russian nobility, but its status and wealth provided many opportunities that were only reserved for the elite.2 Svin’in attended the Boarding School for the Nobility (Blagorodnyi pansion), attached to Moscow University. Most sons of nobles did not go to universities at this time because they were “the preserves of the sons of the lower gentry and the offspring of priests and lawyers preparing for a career in the bureaucracy.”3 He was afforded the opportunity to explore other career options. The Pansion (as the Boarding School was known at the time) taught mathematics, modern languages, literature, law, natural sciences, and history. Other subjects such as ancient languages were optional. The arts were also encouraged. The school took

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an encyclopedic approach that was probably overwhelming and often superficial. Because of its extensive curriculum in the humanities, it gained a reputation as an important literary centre that produced major cultural figures such as Mikhail Lermontov. The Pansion had a standard military component as a part of its program, but interestingly, it did not practise corporal punishment. Svin’in excelled at school, often earning the highest marks in his years there. He also developed a keen interest in writing and painting. He contributed essays, translations, and verses to the literary journal The Morning Dawn (Utreniaia Zaria), published by the Pansion.4 Clearly, his passion for writing and painting were encouraged during his years at the school. After graduating from the Pansion, Svin’in did not join the civil service immediately, as did most of his classmates. Instead, he went to St Petersburg to study painting more seriously at the Imperial Academy of Fine Arts. Early in the reign of Catherine ii (“the Great”), the new empress took the academy under her wing and directed much of its work along European lines. In particular, French style began to dominate the teaching at the academy. As befitted an official institution, it became the main guardian of canonical artistic expression in Russia, leaving little room for independent output. Nevertheless, by the first decade of the nineteenth century, the academy had turned away from French style and begun to emphasize the importance of Russian folk life.5 A formal Russian style had started to emerge from the academy by the first quarter of the nineteenth century. Many truly famous Russian painters, such as Karl Bruillov (1799–1852), Fedor A. Bruni (1799–1875), and Alexander Ivanov (1806–58), would later emerge from the academy. Svin’in was educated in the same environment and was exposed to many of the same influences. In particular, the stress on historical themes and on the “national” character evident in many of his works, including his American scenes, came from the academy. However, information about his education in the academy remains vague. Some historians have debated Svin’in’s influences, but it was clear that the director of the academy, Ivan A. Akimov, and Professor Grigorii I. Ugriumov had the greatest impact, especially concerning historical themes in his painting.6 Not long after Svin’in began his serious study of painting, he joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as a translator. During the summer of 25

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1806 he was sent from Kronstadt to join Admiral D.N. Seniavin’s forces, who were opposing Napoleon in the Mediterranean. On the way to join the fleet he stopped in Copenhagen and Portsmouth, England. This travel through Europe had a profound effect on the young artist now turned diplomat that would later resurface in his career. He wrote extensively about England in his Memoirs of the Fleet (Vospominaniia na flote), which was published in 1818. This work was composed nearly ten years after his service in the Mediterranean, but it was based on voluminous notes he kept during this assignment. It is not clear what kind of Englishlanguage skills Svin’in possessed at this time, but he noted in his work his ease in communicating with British naval officers. He also expressed his admiration for Shakespeare and Henry Fielding. He mentioned many prominent people with whom he had become acquainted in his travels in the Mediterranean. Aside from important Russian naval officers, Albanians, Greeks, and Turks, a Mr Hopkins of Philadelphia was introduced to him and would prove instrumental in assisting Svin’in’s stay in that American city four years later.7 After the Treaty of Tilset in 1807, the Russian fleet headed to Lisbon. Here Svin’in spent time sightseeing, even visiting Fielding’s grave. Eventually he was given a new assignment as a diplomatic courier. He mostly travelled overland from Portugal to Russia. This was a largely unpleasant trip because of the tough terrain. He noted in his Memoirs of the Fleet that Spain was a wonderful place, while Paris was one of great political and cultural interest. It was in Paris that Svin’in saw Napoleon review his troops, and he commented that it was an impressive scene. German territories held less interest for him. He found his way back to St Petersburg by late December 1807 and was awarded the Cross of St Vladimir for his service. From 1808 until mid-1811, the events of Svin’in’s life are not clearly documented. He returned to service in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, most likely as a translator. He also painted once again and re-established his association with the Imperial Academy of Fine Arts in St Petersburg. In September 1811 Svin’in submitted a portfolio of his paintings, including a favourable one of Field Marshall Suvorov’s successful Italian campaign of 1799, to the governing council of the academy as an application to become a member. The academy granted him membership 26

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on 13 September, recognizing Svin’in as a competent painter. Within a few days of this accomplishment, he was on his way to Philadelphia as a member of the first Russian diplomatic mission to the United States.8 Svin’in was assigned to the mission as a secretary and translator. Ironically, the minister who headed the delegation, Andrei Dashkov, was quite competent in French, German, and English; so Svin’in’s language skills were not used extensively. The main goal of the first diplomatic mission was the establishment of good commercial relations between the two countries. It was evident that Svin’in’s duties did not put a great demand on his time. Less than a year into his stay in the United States, the country went to war with Great Britain and Napoleon invaded Russia. With both the United States and Russia fighting foreign invaders, a closer relationship began to be forged between them. Despite the British rejection of a role for Russia in negotiations, the United States accepted Alexander i’s offer to mediate its conflict with Great Britain, possibly remembering the young Russian emperor who had corresponded with Thomas Jefferson during the previous decade.9 During his stay in the United States, Svin’in wrote and provided sketches for the journal Port Folio. In his articles he tried to depict a clear image of Russia for an American audience. In 1813, toward the end of his stay in the United States, he published Sketches of Moscow and St Petersburg in English. This book to some extent incorporates the material he had published in the Port Folio, but in a more extensive format he attempted to present Russian life and culture to the American public in order to dispel the many myths that surrounded Russia and to emphasize the similarities between the two nations. In the 1840s this book was republished under the title Sketches of Russia. In all of these accounts Svin’in tried to link the histories, cultures, and peoples of Russia and the United States, emphasizing that both countries had been treated poorly in the accounts of European travellers. Nevertheless, despite his claims of similarities, few of his contemporaries saw such associations between the United States and Russia. In his accounts of Russia, Svin’in noted that Moscow was a very hospitable city, open to visitors, and a place of great sophistication. He also stressed Russia’s tolerant attitude toward religion by noting “Tolerance Street” (Nevskii Prospekt) in St Petersburg because it had a mosque, a synagogue, and several non27

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Orthodox Christian churches. He expressed similarly positive views of the United States and applauded the American constitutional system as a unique attempt at self-government. Svin’in was critical of his beloved Britain for not having negotiated with the American colonies for a peaceful solution to the earlier conflict and for allowing the revolution to take place at all.10 Clearly, Svin’in’s stay in the United States took him all over a broad territory and allowed him to attend political meetings, religious gatherings, steamboat launches, and many other activities and events that shaped the impressions he eventually presented in his memoir. During his time in the United States, Svin’in also became concerned about his future once he returned to Russia. While in North America, he was quite intrigued by the steamboat and became convinced that its use might have an impact in his homeland. He offered his services as an intermediary between American inventor Robert Fulton and Alexander i with the purpose of obtaining an exclusive charter for steamboats in Russia. Svin’in dedicated an entire chapter of his Picturesque Voyage to the development of steamboats in the United States. In his account, he placed himself at the centre of negotiations, often noting how he was selfless in his own acts. In reality, negotiations had begun between Fulton and the Russian government before Svin’in’s involvement. It was also clear that Svin’in was seeking to secure his own financial future once he returned to Russia. In the end, according to him, he was not able to serve as the agent for steamboats in Russia, but he nevertheless felt proud at having been the one to introduce the concept to both parties.11 In reality, he had not introduced the idea. Fulton died not long after leaving the charter in the hands of Charles Baird. Svin’in’s assignment in the United States abruptly ended as the war with Napoleon turned decidedly in favour of the Russians and their allies in 1813. That summer Svin’in was charged with the duty of accompanying the famous French general Jean Victor Moreau on his return to Europe. The general had spent several years in exile in the United States despite the fact that he had been a military hero in the 1790s and around the turn of the century. His recognition of the rising dictatorial intentions of Napoleon Bonaparte had resulted in conflict between the two. Some leading French generals planned an overthrow of Napoleon, but they were foiled by intrigue and backstabbing on the part of the 28

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new emperor. The results were trials and eventually disgrace, which included prison, suicide, and exile for the conspirators. Moreau was exiled to the United States, where he resided for nearly nine years and was received well by the American government and people.12 However, after Napoleon’s disastrous invasion of Russia, Moreau, discounting the prospect of a popular rebellion against the French emperor, agreed to serve the Russian emperor, Alexander i. After the trial and during Moreau’s exile, Napoleon’s enemies had offered commissions to the general, but he had refused them because he would not betray the French people. By early 1813, however, it was clear that Napoleon’s vision for his empire was fading, and Moreau agreed to return to Europe to participate in the final defeat of his long-time adversary. Svin’in left an account of his experience with Moreau in the summer of 1813. Initially it was published the following year in a small book entitled Some Details Concerning General Moreau, and His Last Moments, Followed by a Short Biographical Memoir. A short version of this book was included in the Picturesque Voyage. Here, as in much of Svin’in’s writing, questions of accuracy arise. However, his account of his journey reveals an interesting aspect of Svin’in’s character. His developing sense of national pride and belief in a unique mission for Russia and its emperor, evident later in the pages of his journal Notes of the Fatherland, permeates this narrative. It may seem odd to assert that this Russian diplomat found a sense of national identity through a French general, but his language and praise of Moreau and the overall description of his mission support such a claim. Early in Some Details, Svin’in comments at length on the regret Moreau felt at getting involved in politics in France, which had resulted in his exile. Svin’in describes Moreau’s sentiments in these words: “but the disasters which the French armies had undergone in Russia, so afflicted his heart on account of the warm attachment he bore toward France, and irritated him so strongly against the man in whom it originated, and who in that enterprise, equally barbarous and senseless, had sacrificed the flower of the French warriors.”13 Svin’in notes that Moreau was so distraught about France’s reputation in relation to other countries that he stated, “The French will soon be treated worse than the Jews; more persecuted than that very nation.”14 Svin’in records his conversations with Moreau during the journey to 29

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Europe, in which the general expressed his extraordinary love for France. He links the general’s approach to France with his personal conduct. Svin’in finds it fascinating that Moreau did not need servants or numerous personal possessions. The general told him, “Such should be the life of a military man … never be discouraged by privations.”15 The lack of grandeur in the general’s life seemed to be in the service of a higher purpose, and Moreau’s only concern was for his men and France. When he was exiled nearly ten years earlier, Moreau had not taken up arms against Napoleon because he believed the emperor was the embodiment of the French nation. This view seemed to have changed by 1813. Moreau summed up his feelings by stating to Svin’in that “the fury-tending tactics of Bonaparte have entirely overthrown the art of war; battles are now no longer anything but butcheries: it is not, as formerly, by sparing the blood of the soldiers; that a campaign is terminated; but, in fact, by making that blood flow in torrents. Napoleon has gained his victories solely by mortal dint of men.”16 Through Svin’in’s depiction of Moreau, it becomes clear that the French general had come to the conclusion that the French people were the true France. He seemed not to know or understand that Napoleon was still popular. Upon his return to Europe, Moreau was warmly received by the Swedes and the Prussians, and even the simple soldiers found him to be a true inspiration, according to Svin’in. He notes the admiration of the ordinary soldier and the Russian general alike for Moreau, stating, “Contentment was exhibited on all faces: our young officers rushed before our carriage to contemplate their great model.”17 Svin’in pursues this connection even further when he documents the first encounter between Alexander i and Moreau. He claims that the emperor sought out Moreau in the general’s apartment early one morning and that they spoke for two hours. After the emotional meeting, Svin’in asserts that Moreau exclaimed, “Ah! My dear S – – , what a man is the Emperor! From this moment I have contracted the sweet and sacred obligation of sacrificing my life for him.” Moreau continued in gushing terms that it was unthinkable that all people would not be willing to die for this “angel of goodness.”18 Svin’in was developing a strong sense of national identity. But, despite his efforts to deliver the French general safely, Moreau died from wounds he received in his first battle against Napleon. 30

A Biography of Pavel P. Svin’in

After the general’s death, Svin’in set off for England to inform his widow and to offer her condolences on behalf of Alexander i. Upon his arrival in England, he decided to publish some of his accounts of the United States in Son of the Fatherland (Syn Otechestva).19 A series of articles with some artwork appeared in this journal in 1813 and 1814 on topics such as religion, Native Americans, slavery, and steamboats. In 1815 Svin’in published An Essay of a Picturesque Voyage through North America (Opyt zhivopisnago puteshestviia po Sievernoi Amerikie), which was, in essence, a collection of previously printed articles presented in book form with some new chapters. The following translation is the first complete, annotated translation of the Picturesque Voyage. After he returned to St Petersburg, Svin’in continued in government service until 1824. He founded a new journal, Notes of the Fatherland (Otechestvenniia zapiski), in 1818, which he edited and published. In the pages of this journal, he addressed the themes of nationalism, patriotism, and the monarchy by writing many of the essays himself. Napoleon’s invasion had reinforced a strong sense of nationalism in Svin’in that he held for the rest of his life. Some of his contemporaries, as well as later historians, charged Svin’in with exaggeration and outright lying in the pages of his journal. He also expressed a respect for absolute monarchy, a sentiment not very popular in progressive intellectual circles. In Notes of the Fatherland, he issued one of the most complete and flattering accounts of Nicholas i’s coronation in 1826. He traced the history of coronations and stressed how this ritual made a strong link or even a bond between the czar and the Russian people. Svin’in’s description was full of sentimentalism and national pride, if not a little simplistic. He expressed the traditional view of the divine right of the Russian monarch. The most endearing figure, he said, was Alexander, Nicholas i’s son and heir, because he symbolized Russia’s future and continuity of the Russian dynasty.20 However, by this point in his career Svin’in’s reputation was not a good one. His political views and his tendency to exaggeration made him unpopular among his contemporaries. Some claimed that he wrote travel accounts about places he had never visited. The Russian naval memoirist V.B. Bronevskoi accused Svin’in of plagiarizing his travel works in the account of escorting General Moreau back to Europe. It was a charge 31

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that had no conclusive resolution, but it would surface again and again, especially later in his journalistic career.21 Prominent writers of his own time went so far as to make him the object of ridicule. Alexandr Pushkin belittled Svin’in in his poetry, and it is clear that the principal character in Nikolai Gogol’s The Inspector General was based on Svin’in. In the last ten years of his life, Svin’in continued to write books and articles for several journals. He had to discontinue the publication of Notes of the Fatherland in 1830 because of a lack of money. After that he spent nearly eight years on his family estate in Kostroma, writing ethnographic studies and collecting antiquities and old manuscripts. It was rumoured that he acquired the archives of the eighteenth-century natural philosopher Mikhail Lomonosov. He also continued to paint and gained further acceptance in the Russian art community. His interest in antiquities prompted him to formulate a plan for a Russian national museum.22 This idea did not originate with Svin’in, but he was certainly in the forefront of the movement. In 1817 and 1821 two proposals were published in Son of the Fatherland, first by a Prussian scholar, Freidrich von Adelung (1768–1843), and the second by a bibliographer, Burkhard von Wichmann (1786–1822).23 Despite the fact that Svin’in’s specific plans did not become a reality and his personal collections did not remain intact, his museum concept contributed to discussion concerning the creation of a Russian national museum. In 1838 Svin’in returned to St Petersburg and restarted Notes of the Fatherland, but this time he did not edit it himself. He died in April the following year.24 After Svin’in’s death, he and his works fell into obscurity. Some of his articles were republished sporadically during the nineteenth century. His journal, Notes of the Fatherland, continued to be issued from the late 1830s until nearly the end of the Russian Empire. While it remained fairly nationalistic, it certainly did not retain the tone with which Svin’in had infused it. His paintings and drawings were dispersed in many repositories. Interestingly, by the beginning of the twentieth century, Svin’in was virtually forgotten in Russia. As Marina Swoboda recounts in the following essay, after the turmoil of the Bolshevik Revolution and the Civil War, an American Red Cross worker discovered much of Svin’in’s American writings and artwork (many of the pieces presented here), bought them from the Soviet government, and transported them to the 32

A Biography of Pavel P. Svin’in

United States, where Avrahm Yarmolinsky of the New York Public Library published parts of Svin’in’s account of his adventures in North America with accompanying artwork in 1930.25 Throughout the twentieth century, Svin’in received only passing mention in various works dealing with Russians in North America and Russian art, diplomacy, and journalism. In the 1990s a collection of his paintings was reproduced in a book with a brief narrative describing his experiences in the United States.26 However, neither this publication nor Yarmolinsky’s pioneering work presented a full translation in English of the American memoir with annotations and the associated watercolours. The present volume does so for the first time.

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` Travel in North America and the Genre of the Picturesque Journey

Marina Swoboda

The name of Pavel Petrovich Svin’in first came to the attention of the American public in 1930 when Avrahm Yarmolinsky translated and published excerpts from his book; the volume also included fifty-two reproductions of Svin’in’s watercolours.1 According to R.T.H. Halsey, who wrote the introduction, “seven years after the war ended, there was brought to me a large leather-bound folio containing fifty-two water colors.” The folio had been purchased in Russia by a Red Cross worker. The paintings were soon identified as those of Pavel Svin’in, the Russian painter, writer, and first publisher of the journal Notes of the Fatherland (1818–30). Independent of this finding, Dr Yarmolinsky, then director of the Slavonic Division of the New York Public Library, had discovered during his trip to Russia in 1923–24 a small volume previously unknown to him entitled A Picturesque Voyage in North America, written by Svin’in and published in St Petersburg in 1818. Yarmolinsky’s book was a result of these two discoveries. Its main purpose was to present to the American public an album of Svin’in’s paintings depicting American scenes and to supplement these with excerpts from the author’s written accounts, edited and annotated by Yarmolinsky.

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Yarmolinsky included in his volume fifty-two watercolours he believed were painted by Svin’in. However, recent research has proven that only some of them were Svin’in’s. A number of paintings were in fact by American artist John Lewis Krimmel,2 and some of the watercolours were Svin’in’s copies of paintings by other artists of the time, such as Thomas Birch,3 Alexander Wilson,4 William Russell Birch,5 and CharlesBalthazar-Julien Févret de Saint-Mémin.6 This volume therefore represents the first complete translation of Svin’in’s writings on North America. The translation is based on the first edition of his book, published in St Petersburg in 1815. Also included are thirty-one watercolours that at the present time are attributed to Svin’in. An appendix contains the first translation into English of his article from Notes of the Fatherland entitled “Observations of a Russian in America: A Look at the Free Visual Arts in the United States of America.”7 The story of Pavel Petrovich Svin’in’s introduction to North America begins in the fall of 1811, when he was given a post as secretary to the Russian consul in Philadelphia, Andrei Dashkov. In mid-September he sailed from Kronstadt and would spend about twenty months, from October 1811 to June 1813, in the United States. Upon his return to Russia, he published a number of articles dedicated to descriptions of American life. It seems that during his extensive travels, Svin’in had developed the idea that most conflicts between nations are based on a lack of knowledge of the other’s customs and traditions and that by introducing nations to each other, solutions could be found to resolve most conflicts peacefully. He firmly believed that the United States and Russia possess great similarities, such as geography (size of territory and abundance of natural resources) and even climate. Therefore he was determined to introduce the American public to Russia and the Russian public to the United States, at a time when travel was inaccessible to most. In 1813 he published Sketches of Moscow and St Petersburg Ornamented with Nine Coloured Engravings taken from Nature by Paul Svenin in Philadelphia. The book was issued by Thomas Dobson and included an essay on the Cossacks as well as Svin’in’s drawings of a Don Cossack in his military dress and a sketch of Emperor Alexander. Upon his return to Russia, he continued on this course of introduction of nations to one another, and the culmination was the publication 35

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of a book on the United States. In fact, Svin’in’s short document is the first travel account of North America written by a Russian. It was published in St Petersburg in 1815 under the title Opyt zhivopisnogo puteshestviia po Severnoi Amerike.8 The book consists of seven chapters: Introduction, Religion in the United American Provinces, Steamboats, General Moreau, Niagara Falls, The Amusements of the Indians, and Fishing on the Banks of Newfoundland. Three of these chapters had appeared previously in different formats. The introduction is an abridged version of an article published by Svin’in in 1814 in Syn Otechestva (Son of the Fatherland),9 soon after his return to Russia. The steamboat chapter had also been published previously in Syn Otechestva under the title “The Observation of a Russian in America” (“Nabliudeniia Russkogo v Amerike”),10 and with the subtitle “The Development of the Steamboat.” The chapter on General Moreau was an abbreviated version of a pamphlet published in 1814. The last three chapters of the book – Niagara Falls, The Amusements of the Indians, and Fishing on the Banks of Newfoundland – consist of previously unpublished material. As already mentioned, Pavel Svin’in spent about twenty months in the United States as a secretary in the Russian Consulate in Philadelphia. It seems that he became reasonably well acquainted with Philadelphian society, with the city, and with the outlying areas. However, a question remains about how much time was he able to devote to travels in North America and to informing himself about topics he examined in his book, for in it he brings to light information about the American political system, economic developments, industry, art, architecture, literature, religion, geography, and so on. He had to collect and absorb an overwhelming amount of data in a very short time. Inevitably, questions arise as to how accurate the information is, how much of it was based on Svin’in’s own research, how much was borrowed from other sources, and even how much of it is pure fiction. Such questions are not surprising. Percy G. Adams, in his book Travelers and Travel Liars, 1660–1800, defines the information provided in most seventeenth- and eighteenth-century travel books as consisting of innocently misunderstood information, inaccurate data presented inten-

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tionally in order to promote the author’s own cause or to inflate his importance, or reports that were borrowed or plagiarized from other, often inaccurate sources, thereby perpetuating the mistakes. Svin’in’s book was written at the beginning of the nineteenth century, but a close analysis seems to indicate that in it the author fell into some of the pitfalls of an earlier tradition. What was the tradition of travel literature, and who were these travellers? Beginning in early human history, people have exhibited an enormous interest in discovering the lands that were outside their immediate surroundings. With the rise of Christianity, missionaries were sent out, initially around Europe and eventually to Asia and the Americas to spread the Gospel and to convert the local population. The pilgrimage to the Holy Land was an important, if rarely attainable, dream for most Christians. Even in these early days, those who managed to travel and to discover new lands were eager to report their experiences in writing. Prior to the seventeenth century, the hardship of travel made it inaccessible for most. By the 1600s however, with improvements in shipbuilding and navigation, the oceans of the earth became safer to travel, thus promoting the expansion of markets into foreign lands inhabited by different peoples, as well as the colonization of new, previously unpopulated worlds. The Roman Catholic Church, following the losses it suffered during the Reformation, was actively seeking new converts. The Jesuits sent missionaries around the world and reported their findings back to Europe. According to Percy Adams, “the eighteenth century was a time in which people and ideas moved about. In this age of geographical exploration and intellectual activity, men wrote their travel accounts to satisfy their scientific curiosity of the century of reason or to satisfy the idle curiosity and the escapism found in all centuries.”11 By the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, the popular topic was travel to North America, with its fascinating stories of strange lands populated by wild “Indians” and previously unknown beasts. Many of these accounts were designed to provide information as accurately as possible in order to satisfy the needs of economic expansions, colonization, or military interests. But a number were written for the entertainment of the reading public and were therefore designed to surprise and to shock by describing

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fictitious events, animals, traditions, or languages. The accurate and the fictitious were often closely intermingled a complex web. As Adams points out, most travel books of the period provide some false information, often as a result of the author’s vanity, gullibility, or prejudice or possibly for financial gain. Most authors fell victim to other writers, or to “travel liars,” from whom they borrowed their information, unwittingly perpetuating the lies.12 The so-called borrowing is particularly interesting, since it was applied in its most open form. In other words, the authors felt free to repeat information they had found in other sources, occasionally acknowledging the source but most often presenting the information as their own by changing somewhat the time, the environment, the participants, or the description to suit their personal style. Some of Svin’in’s accounts succumb to all these temptations. Nevertheless, rather than condemning him, we should understand the overall tradition of travel accounts, particularly of picturesque tourism. During the early days, those who explored exotic lands, often inaccessible to the great majority of their readers, devoted their reports to recording the uniqueness of their experience. Frequently these travellers had a specifically “pragmatic” consideration in mind, such as preparation for colonization, the establishment of new trade routes, or the creation of new markets. The Grand Tour of western Europe (France, Italy, and Germany) had its own well-established perimeters. It was intended for the cultured elite as a sophisticated guide to the great cultural centres of Paris, Rome, Florence, and other cities. However, by the end of the eighteenth and the beginning of the nineteenth century, a new element appeared, the invention of an aesthetic of the picturesque landscape. The authors of these picturesque journeys broadened the notion of the Grand Tour and incorporated into their views the landscapes and scenery around the objects of study, thereby opening up interest not only in the “cultural universe” but in the natural surroundings as well.13 The term “picturesque” entered in English terminology of the eighteenth century from the Italian pittoresco and the French pittoresque as a way to describe something that looked like a picture or a painting.14 William Gilpin became the “father” of picturesque tourism in Britain, and with his book A Dialogue upon the Gardens of the Right Honourable the Lord Viscount Cobham at Stow in Buckinghamshir (1748), 38

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he established a tradition of travelling with the intent of visiting gardens, lakes, and forests and devoting one’s time to an appreciation of the power of nature, the beauty of the landscape, and the simplicity of rural scenery. In 1791, in his Essay on Picturesque Beauty, Gilpin defines picturesque as a painting (description) that is faithful to nature, thereby, rejecting artificial symmetry, smooth surfaces, and harmonious proportions.15 He states that “in treating picturesque travel, we may consider first its object; and secondly its source of amusement.”16 The object of picturesque travel could be not only the elements of nature but everything of interest and worthy of study by the picturesque traveller, for beauty can be found in various forms and structures. The source of amusement for the picturesque traveller is in the expectations of new scenery, new objects, and new discoveries. The other element of amusement, according to Gilpin, is the power of visualization in presenting the object, the ability of the traveller to depict, not a copy from nature, but a creative vision, a flight of imagination, the work of art.17 We cannot say with the absolute certainty that Svin’in was familiar with Gilpin’s work or with any of the other debates concerning the picturesque. Unfortunately, we do not possess information concerning the training in art history or theory that he received at the Imperial Academy of Fine Arts, apart from the fact that he studied under two painters, Ivan Akimov and Professor Grigorii Ugriumov.18 It is known that Svin’in was a great admirer of everything British, especially the works of Shakespeare and Henry Fielding, whose grave he visited during his stay in Lisbon in 1807. Again, there is no information to indicate his familiarity with the British picturesque landscape painters, such as J.M.W. Turner,19 Thomas Girtin,20 and Thomas Gainsborough.21 However, a number of Svin’in’s watercolours contain clear evidence of the influence of this style of painting (the paintings Niagara Falls – Canadian Side by Moonlight, Niagara Falls – Table Rock by Moonlight, Two Indians and a White Man in a Canoe, The Tornado, and After the Tornado). Certainly, he was exposed to abundant literary examples in numerous travellers’ accounts, including those written in Russian. In 1790 Alexander Radishchev 22 had published his Journey from St Petersburg to Moscow, using the form of a sentimental journey, which was greatly popularized by the success of Laurence Sterne’s Sentimental Journey.23 39

The Tornado, ca. 1811–13. mma, Rogers Fund, 1942 (42.95.51)

After the Tornado, ca. 1811–13. mma, Rogers Fund, 1942 (42.95.52)

Travel in N orth A merica and the Picturesque

Radishchev’s book was not so much a travel or progress through a measurable and unfamiliar space (after all, the road between the new and old capitals of Russia was the most travelled one and needed no introduction) as a literary device employed in order to deliver a vigorous and eloquent attack on the system of serfdom and other injustices in Russia. Not surprising, upon the publication of his book, Radishchev was arrested, tried, found guilty, and sentenced to death. Eventually, the death sentence was commuted by Catherine ii to exile in Siberia. Nevertheless, it is impossible to say if Svin’in was familiar with Radishchev’s work, as the book was forbidden in Russia. The most popular example of the journey writing produced by a Russian, and one undoubtedly known to Svin’in was the Letters of a Russian Traveller, 1789–1790, by Nikolai Mikhailovich Karamzin,24 partially published in 1794 and 1795 in two volumes of a literary miscellany called Aglaia. The complete text appeared in 1801. Karamzin in his Letters employs the epistolary form commonly used, particularly in the genre of the Grand Tour. He describes an actual trip undertaken by the author, providing information about the real post chaises and stagecoaches, carefully describing cities, sites, monuments and museums, events, political and social institutions, and the customs and manners of the countries and their inhabitants. However, the information given by Karamzin is very much a reflection of the author’s personal perception of beauty, his emotions and sensibilities, his impressions not only of “grand” creations of Western civilization but of the simplicity of the countryside, rivers, woods, and mountains. Svin’in’s book follows in the footsteps of many traditions and styles. On the one hand, his account of North American travel attempts to record hard data that could be of interest not only to the inquisitive reader but also to the future business traveller to the New World. On the other, Svin’in digresses to poetic descriptions of the natural landscapes and beauty of the countryside, the splendour of Niagara Falls, the pleasure of fishing in Newfoundland, and so on. The newness of the North American land and the absence of great cultural monuments and exhibits of classic civilization encourage him to look for alternative points of interest. His fascination with North America is based on acknowledgment of the natural beauty of the land and on recognition of the 41

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great American experiment in creating a new nation. Much later, in his travel sketches in Notes of the Fatherland, Svin’in returns to his fascination with the idea of nation-building, national identity, and by extension, the symbols of nationhood, national monuments, this time as they relate to Russia. In the same way as he looked earlier in the United States for the symbols that represented its essence – the unique form of government, the peculiar mixture of religions and cultures, the distinctive landscape and nature – in his travels across his own country, Svin’in was looking for the essence of the Russian land and finding it in churches, monasteries, and the traditional architecture of provincial towns.25 Picturesque Voyage seems to combine the various traditions of travel writing established in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries with the newly emerging genre of the picturesque journey. His book is a “sentimental journey” that reveals his personal perspective on the beauty of the land (utilizing the visual skills of an artist through his paintbrush whenever possible) and factual, businesslike information that he believes could be beneficial to the establishment of economic and political ties between Russia and the United States. The weaknesses and sometimes the strengths of the book derive from this distinctive combination of the “factual” with frequent diversions in the form of emotional outbursts and poetic and sentimental descriptions of people, scenery, and events. Despite Svin’in’s talents as a painter and his skills in “visual” expression, in his narration he often seems to be “short of words,” his imagery somewhat repetitive and bland. The seven chapters of his book are very uneven in their balance of solid facts, enthusiastic poetic narrations, dubious anecdotes, unabashed “borrowings” from not always accurate sources, and occasional blatant lies. The introduction contains, for the most part, factual data concerning the economic, political, cultural, and social development of the United States. It is possible to argue that some of the information he supplies is not completely accurate. He makes a number of mistakes in statistical data, misunderstands and therefore misquotes the articles of the American Constitution, exaggerates the country’s educational and social achievements, and so on, but nevertheless he provides for his audience a compact and fairly accurate sketch of the United States as a vibrant,

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growing, and highly developed economic power. He depicts the land, its mountains and rivers, its flora and fauna, its people and their customs, and most of all, the structure of the state, which was built on principles totally different from those familiar to the Russian public. If we take into account the extent of the author’s task, the inaccuracies of some of his observations seem somewhat insignificant. The information presented in “Religion in the United American Provinces”26 must have posed a particular quandary for the writer. He was overwhelmed by the abundance of different denominational communities in the Unites States and was undoubtedly impressed by the religious tolerance that, according to him, was responsible for the fast growth of the American population and for the prosperity of the land. Svin’in’s understanding of “religious tolerance” is somewhat naive; nevertheless, it reflects his own concept of political and social reality. A political conservative but socially progressive man, he is searching for “harmony” on some level, believing that the chaos of political opinions must be balanced by the tranquility of religious tolerance. He applauds the results that this system had produced and recognizes the country’s tremendous accomplishments. Svin’in attempts, as he puts it, to give an unbiased description of religious denominations in the United States, but despite all his declarations of tolerance and understanding, he is unable to hold back his own voice and not express his own sentiments about the superiority of orthodoxy. Describing the service in a black Methodist church or the baptismal practices of Anabaptists, Svin’in inevitably slips into mockery and humour. He proceeds with descriptions of other “curious” denominations in the United States, among them Quakers and Shakers. He gives a rather positive picture of Quakers, being impressed by their demeanour, work ethic, strong family values, and charitable works, and offers his readers a fairly comprehensive history of the movement and its beliefs, organization, and other characteristics. The overall picture presented by Svin’in, however, suffers as a result of his unceremonious “borrowing” from other sources and misrepresentation of his own involvement in the study of the groups he describes. He acknowledges information he found in Charles Janson’s The Stranger in America in the description of the baptism ceremony conducted by a

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Anabaptist minister, at the same time distorting other material he took from the book by presenting the observations as his own. Svin’in not only describes a Methodist service but also states that he often witnessed Methodist gatherings and shares with his readers an announcement of an event taken from a Trenton paper.27 The vivid description of the Methodist service makes us believe that Svin’in was indeed there; however, the overall authenticity is somewhat spoiled by a copy of the announcement, which was not taken from the paper (as he claims) but, as noted by Yarmolinsky, directly from Janson.28 In the two following chapters, “Steamboats” and “General Moreau,” Svin’in seems to be much more precise. There is a good reason for this accuracy, as in both cases he describes a subject with which he was familiar. He was taken with the idea of steamboats and the advances they offered to navigation. It is clear that Svin’in was knowledgeable about the history of steamboat development in North America and Europe and that he dedicated enormous amount of time to observing individual steamboats, researching their construction, and analyzing their economic advantages, their safety records, and other details. Undeniably, he was using his writing to enhance the positive elements of the enterprise and to establish a position for himself in such a venture.29 He exaggerates and somewhat embellishes his own role in the introduction of steamboats to Russia, but how many other authors could be accused of this sin? The same approach is applied in the chapter about General Moreau. We know that Svin’in met the general in the United States, had a close relationship with him there, and was assigned to accompany Moreau to his new position in the Russian army. His fascination with Moreau is not surprising; after all, he still was a young man raised on stories about Napoleon, the conqueror of Europe. For him, Moreau, the hero of the French Revolution and the nemesis of the French dictator, was an individual who was guided only by higher morals and incorruptible principles. Svin’in travelled with Moreau to the general’s destination, witnessed his death, and was entrusted with delivering to the general’s widow a letter from Emperor Alexander i. His description of encounters between Moreau and Alexander are highly sentimental, probably somewhat ex-

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aggerated, and written in overly elated tones; nevertheless, they provide an accurate portrayal of his respect for Moreau and his love for Alexander, a sentiment toward the czar who liberated Europe from Napoleon shared by many of Svin’in’s contemporaries. There is no doubt that the author to some degree overstates his own role in the entire Moreau affair, but on the whole, the information provided in this chapter is reasonably authentic and credible. On the other hand, the chapter titled “The Amusements of the Indians, the Native Inhabitants of North America” exceeds Svin’in’s normally limited “borrowings.” In it he describes a performance given by a group of North American Natives in a theatre in Philadelphia, a performance he presumably had witnessed and was therefore able to describe in detail. The importance of this chapter is clear. In the era of Romanticism the topic of the “noble savage” was of great interest to the reading public, and no viable travel account of North America would be accepted without a description of Natives. Unfortunately for Svin’in, the days of “noble savages” roaming the area around Philadelphia were over, and he had few opportunities to observe their way of life. We know, for example, that his portraits of an Osage warrior and chief were not drawn from life but copied from watercolours by his French contemporary Saint-Mémin.30 Svin’in’s predecessors in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries had a much easier time making up convincing lies and getting away with them. After all, Jonathan Carver, in reporting his life among North American Natives, not only indiscriminately used events described by other authors as his own adventures but also “borrowed” Lahontan’s dictionary of the Algonquian language and passed it off as his own “Short Vocabulary of the Chipeway Language.”31 Svin’in resolves his lack of an encounter with Natives by creating a rather elaborate but convincing lie. According to him, on 10 August 1812 he was able to observe dances performed by Natives on the stage of The Olympic in Philadelphia.32 He states that on 9 August 1812 a delegation of American Natives from several tribes, including Little, Great, and Arkansas Osage, Sioux, Iowa, Sac, and Fox, stopped in Philadelphia on their way to Washington to negotiate the conditions of their support of the American government in its war against Britain. The director of

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The Olympic paid them $100 for performaning their dances on the stage of his theatre. Therefore Svin’in was able to witness this performance first-hand. It seems a plausible story, but close inspection proves it to be a total sham. Yarmolinsky already noticed that Svin’in’s description of the Native performance in Philadelphia was rather suspicious, as he was unable to find any confirmation of any Native delegation stopping in the city at that time or any information concerning negotiations between the American government and Natives related to the war.33 However, more information is now available to disprove Svin’in’s story. First, no newspapers advertised the performance,34 and no information about it exists in the Olympic theatre archives.35 Secondly, according to Reese D. James, only three performances were given at The Olympic in the summer of 1812. It was closed from 17 July to 25 September, as the manager had neglected to pay the actors and was arrested by the police.36 Yarmolinsky translates the pages describing the Native dances, as well as the Native Death Song, which Svin’in claims was printed in the program for the Philadelphia performance. He made a serious attempt to uncover Svin’in’s sources of information, correctly pointing to Charles Janson’s Stranger in America as the most obvious.37 Janson, in his book, reports the arrival in Washington in October 1805 of an Osage delegation. At the same time, a delegation of Creek arrived from Missouri to negotiate a trade treaty. According to Janson, Doctor Mitchell, a senator from New York, entertained the Osage at his apartment in Washington, and in return, the Osage amused the doctor with a sampling of their songs.38 It is possible that this particular report of Janson’s gave Svin’in the idea for a plausible insertion about Natives in his book. However, Janson does not provide descriptions of dances; therefore a question remains about Svin’in’s sources. There is also the question of the Indian Death Song. Svin’in claims that the song was translated into bad English but nevertheless is close to the original, and that he is translating it into Russian for his readers. What are the origins of this song introduced by Svin’in? Did he completely make it up or translate some previously published Native song? The most extensive descriptions of Native dances were given in two books known to Svin’in (both mentioned in his Voyage). One is Jonathan 46

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Carver’s Travels through the Interior Parts of North America, in the Years 1766, 1767, and 1776, which was first published in London in 1778 and republished under various titles many times.39 According to Percy Adams, Carver used a number of well-known travel books in his description of Natives, such as those of Lahontan,40 Hennepin,41 Adair,42 and Charlevoix.43 Adams comments, “Even the famous funeral speech which Schiller rewrote from Carver as the universally admired Nadowessiers Todtenlied was itself a rewriting of one in Lahontan.”44 Carver provides descriptions of several dances, “The Pipe or Calumet Dance,” “The War Dance,” “The Marriage Dance,” and “The Dance of the Sacrifice.”45 The second possible source is the Journal of a Voyage to North America, by Pierre-François-Xavier de Charlevoix.46 In his two works Charlevoix gives extensive descriptions of Native dances, including “The Discovery or Scouting Dance” and “The Buffalo Dance.” It is clear that Svin’in borrowed heavily from both authors, and his depiction of “The Discovery” or “Scouting Dance” seems to correspond to Carver’s “War Dance”47 and to one provided by Charlevoix.48 “The Pipe or the Peace Dance” is given also by Carver,49 and “The Buffalo Dance” by Charlevoix.50 The song reported by Svin’in could be a reworking of a Native song, recorded (or made up) by Charlevoix, describing the feelings of a captured warrior. Here are the two first stanzas of the song given by Svin’in: The fierce flame is raging; the fire is already blazing! And the blood in my chest is bubbling and boiling, I am engulfed in a black smoke and flame, And pale death stands before me! But am I to tremble? Am I to fear death? I, before whom the enemies fled in the fields; Who single-handed, dared to fight the entire army, And by a dreaded arm had planted among them death and fear! And here is the song quoted by Charlevoix: “I am brave and undaunted, and fear neither death nor the cruelest torments; those who fear them are cowards and less than women; life is nothing to a man that has 47

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courage; may rage and despair shock all my enemies; why cannot I devour them and drink up their blood to the last drop.”51 There is another relevant passage in Charlevoix. It is the song of a prisoner who is tied to a post and about to be burned: “Thou art going to burnt, my brother, be of good courage.” He (the prisoner) answers coolly, “It is well, I thank thee.”52 Yarmolinsky suggests one other possible source, the chant, believed to be by F.W. Hodge, called “The Death Song of the Cherokee Indians: An Original Air, brought from America by a Gentleman Long Conversant with the Indian Tribes.” Yarmolinsky reproduces the entire document, stating that while the words do not correspond to Svin’in’s text, the overall form and theme are similar.53 The last two chapters of Svin’in’s book describe two events: the author’s trip to Niagara Falls, which is well documented by him not only in the book but in his paintings,54 and his sailing from Kronstadt on 29 September 1811 and arrival in Newfoundland twenty-four days later. In several pages, Svin’in gives a history of the island’s discovery, its importance to navigation and the cod-fishing industry, the appearance of a comet in 1811, and other details. The chapter on Niagara Falls seems to be particularly interesting from the point of view of genre. Svin’in appears determined to provide his reader with concrete information about the falls in terms of size, location, and other geographic data. At the same time, as an artist, he aims to create for his readers a visual picture of the site, describing the pure beauty of the water, the forest, and the mountains surrounding the falls. His watercolours of the falls not only provide the illustrations for his book but also compensate for his inability to fully verbalize his experience. Despite all its shortcomings, the Picturesque Voyage was well received by the Russian public and appears to have been rather popular at the time, as it was republished in 1818 and eventually translated into German and Dutch. Upon his return to Russia, Svin’in continued his career in government service. At the same time, he embarked on the major project of his life, the launch of the periodical Notes of the Fatherland in St Petersburg in 1818. The journal contains a number of Svin’in’s own contributions as well as the work of major Russian writers of the time. Among these writings are two articles by Svin’in that continue the 48

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topic of North America begun in his earlier articles and eventually in the Picturesque Voyage. The first essay, entitled “Trade Relations between Russia and the United American Provinces and a Look at the General Trade of the Last,” was published in 1820, and the second, “Observations of a Russian in America: A Look at the Free Liberal Arts in the United States of America,” in 1829. There is a popularly held belief that Svin’in’s views underwent a noticeable change after his return from North America, that he became more conservative, more prone to nationalism, thus turning away from his earlier cosmopolitanism. As his political views changed, he fell out of rapport with his more progressively minded contemporaries. He was also blamed for being “free with his facts” and prone to sentimentality, overt patriotism, and exaggeration. His artistic reputation particularly suffered as a result of a confrontation with the American painter Rembrandt Peale.55 Particularly damaging to Svin’in’s reputation were two other important “literary” episodes. As noted earlier, it is claimed that he was a model for Nikolai Gogol’s main character of a con man in The Inspector General. In addition, an epigram of Pushkin’s seems to be cited whenever Svin’in’s name is mentioned. Indeed, Pushkin composed a short tale that was published only after the poet’s death in 1837 in a volume entitled The Children’s Book (Detskaia knizhka). One can assume that Pushkin had not intended it for public consumption (it was found in his manuscripts) but that it was one of his characteristic jokes, frequently directed toward his friends as well as his enemies. The poet had a sharp tongue and, for the sake of a jest, would not spare even his closest friends. The tale mentioned was entitled “The Little Liar.” Pauly was a tidy, kind, diligent boy, but he had one major vice: he was unable to say three words without lying. For his name day, his father gave him a gift of a small wooden horse. Pauly would have us to believe that this horse had belonged to Charles xii and that it was the one he used to escape from the Battle of Poltava. Pauly was convinced that in his parents’ house there was a kitchen-boy who was an astronomer, a post-boy – a historian – and that the poultry-yard helper Proshka was writing better 49

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verses than Lomonosov. Initially, all his friends believed him, but soon they caught on to him, and no one was willing to believe him, even when he happened to be telling the truth.56 As crude as this little story is, it describes somewhat accurately the attitude toward Svin’in among his contemporaries that seems to register in a statement about him published long after his death. In the Russian literary environment of the nineteenth century a dismissal from Pushkin, combined with the dubious connection to Gogol’s hero, amounted to certain public ruin for any writer. Despite Svin’in’s contribution to Russian cultural and literary life during the first half of the century, he was completely forgotten soon after his death in 1839. There are a number of reasons for this unfortunate fate, and some of these should be mentioned. Clearly, with the advance in Russia of “progressive” journalism and literary criticism, introduced by Belinskii and propagated by Chernyshevskii and Dobroliubov, Svin’in’s conservative political views fell outside the “norms” promoted among the intellectual liberal elite.57 Curiously, our knowledge of nineteenth-century cultural history and particularly our understanding of the educated reading public seem to be based on the assumption that these readers were raised entirely on the writings of the radical left. However, this picture is somewhat incomplete, for there was a wide range of mainstream writers and readers, and therefore in order to fully understand the complexity of nineteenth-century cultural life, we need to expand our study beyond the well-remembered and often overanalyzed authors. There is an additional way of understanding Svin’in’s “freedom” with information. It is important to place his study of the United States correctly within the genre, restricting our expectations of “factual data” and concentrating on the importance of the overall message. Prior to Svin’in’s writing, there was an established tradition of travellers’ accounts that were based on borrowed or entirely fictitious information. Janson, Carver, Hennepin, Lahontan, Charlevoix, Jean de Crevecoeur, and many other authors plagiarized, made up, and promoted incorrect information, often as a result of repeating unsubstantiated accounts provided by others. Nevertheless, they are accepted as legitimate sources of 50

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information about the lands they visited. Svin’in is not an exception here. In fact, he seems to be much more conscientious in his accounts than most of his predecessors. For his models, Svin’in had to look at the wide variety of sources available in French, German, and particularly English, where the travel genre was firmly entrenched as a way of conveying not only the literary skills of the author but also hard data of interest to other travellers. Svin’in’s book is a “picturesque journey” that reveals his personal perspective on the beauty of the land (utilizing the visual skills of an artist) and factual, businesslike information which he believes could be beneficial to the establishment of economic and political relations between Russia and the United States. In other words, rather than condemning Svin’in and negating his achievements, it would be prudent to balance all of his “weaknesses” against his overall contribution to cultural life in Russia in the first half of the nineteenth century. In conclusion, Svin’in provided the Russian reader with the first reasonably colourful and extensive account of travels to North America. Like generations of travellers before him, he educates and entertains his audience by mixing facts and fantasy. Notwithstanding, it seems that his information is much more credible and tangible than that of his predecessors. His job at the consulate gave him the opportunity to collect economic data. It is possible to suggest that some of his knowledge was based not only on the secondary sources but also on original information gathered by him during his stay. The weaknesses and the strengths of this book are determined by the lively combination of “factual authenticity” with constant shifts towards emotional outburst and poetic and sentimental descriptions of people, scenery, and events. Despite all the inaccuracies, exaggerations, and outright fantasies, Svin’in’s Picturesque Voyage constitutes the first substantial picture of early nineteenthcentury North America by a Russian intellectual.

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`

A Picturesque Voyage through Nor th Amer ica

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` A Picturesque Voyage through North America P A V E L P. S V I N ’ I N

Translated by Marina Swoboda

According to the opinion of some learned people, Cabot1 and other early travellers to the shores of North America were hastened there, as to Mexico and Peru, by the hope of obtaining gold and silver. However, it is known that the first colonies established there were formed by the Protestants, persecuted by brutal fanaticism during the time of James i. Their move to America saved England from terrible bloodshed and populated the United Provinces with hardworking, enterprising people. Despite the fact that the colonies were established through the initiative of common people, because of the colonists’ family connections, similarities in their ancestry, and inclinations of the heart, they placed themselves under the control of England, the land from which they had only recently been forced out. Nevertheless, they granted themselves many privileges and affirmed their own chosen form of government. In addition to the great trade profits gained by England from these rich colonies, England is indebted to Americans for their help in the conquest of many French and Spanish possessions in the Americas, such as Canada, Newfoundland, Guadeloupe, and others. During the current war 2 the colonies have supported 25,000 troops and 800 corsairs, consequently incurring a deficit, whereas England has rested on its laurels.

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Despite all this, despite the convincing eloquence and passionate speeches in Parliament by the great Pitt (the father* opposing the unjust, insane acts of the English ministry of the time against the American colonies), despite the fact that he [Pitt] was predicting pernicious ramifications, the cabinet of St James did not stop exhibiting envy of the American colonies. Thus, finally, they were forced to defend their freedoms and resort to general insurrection. The American Revolution cannot be compared with any other; certainly, extraordinary reasons were needed in order to create this amazing universal accord through which the Americans were able to overcome all the overwhelming obstacles! On 4 July 1776 the colonies proclaimed their freedom and independence. From that moment onward they began to act as independent states, announcing to the whole world in twentythree points all the injustices of the English government, all the oppressions directed against their independence, happiness, and trade. They turned down all of England’s demands and swore to sacrifice their lives and property in support of their rights. At that time there emerged on the American scene, bringing the attention of the world to himself, a man endowed with military talent and high morals, the immortal Washington. After eight years of bloody war, he gave his compatriots peace and freedom and prescribed wise laws, which he himself had undertaken to carry out. The grateful, adoring public sought in vain to convince him to take the reins of the government forever, but Washington was not enticed by the crown, and like the ancient Cincinnatus, he returned to his fields.3 The thirteen provinces that originally formed the republic entered into a federal alliance and ratified the Constitution. Later on it was proved to have been selected and inscribed by people of vast knowledge and of great virtues. Each province maintains its own form of government, its own rights and internal laws, and is closely connected with the others in the Congress. It sends to Congress two senators and a representative for every 30,000 inhabitants.4 Congress is the highest court and the leg*At this point Pitt was not in the ministry. [Translator’s note: William Pitt the Elder, first Earl of Chatham (1708–78), British statesman, excelled as a war minister and orator. He was the father of William Pitt the Younger (1759–1806), the prime minister.]

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islative power of the republic, and the president is the executor of the laws. He is elected by the people; every citizen is entitled to this honour if through his talents, virtues, and service to the fatherland, he has earned universal love and trust. The president is elected for three years and is not under any circumstances allowed, according to the Constitution, to remain in this position for more than three terms.5 At the present time the Republic of the United American States consists of twenty-two provinces: (1) Massachusetts, (2) Rhode Island, (3) Connecticut, (4) Vermont, (5) New Hampshire, (6) the District of Maine, (7) New York, (8) New Jersey, (9) Delaware, (10) Pennsylvania, (11) Ohio, (12) Michigan and the North West Lands, (13) Illinois and Indiana, (14) Maryland, (15) Kentucky, 16) Virginia, (17) North Carolina, (18) South Carolina, 19) Tennessee, (20) Georgia, (21) the Mississippi Lands, and (22) Louisiana.6 This republic is located between 20° and 49° 37⬘ northern latitude and 67° and 95° 6⬘ western longitude. To the north it is bordered by Upper and Lower Canada, to the east by New Brunswick and the Atlantic Ocean, to the south by Florida, and to the west by the Mississippi River. The surface of the land is rather more flat than mountainous. It contains more than 520,000,000 acres of fertile soil, which is ready to yield generously at the slightest effort. There are also 51,000,000 acres covered by water, around 40,000,000 acres of mountainous and forest lands, and 20,000,000 acres of sandy soil, scarcely suitable for cultivation. Among the 230,000,000 acres suitable for cultivation, only 40,000,00 acres were tilled by 1813. The United American Provinces, like Russia, contains within itself almost all types of climate, from the coldest to the hottest, which makes it difficult to classify. Let us take a province located in the middle of the republic and compare it to a place positioned in Europe at the same latitude; for example, the city of Philadelphia is located at the same degree of latitude as Naples, but what a difference in climate! In Naples winter is unknown, but here the frost reaches -15° Réaumur.7 During the summer the heat is often unbearable, particularly when a southwesterly wind blows. From the vastness of the sea this wind brings storms and damp, intolerable weather, which penetrates all objects and almost suffocates a person, especially in the city. The local spring is highly unpleasant. 57

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After the cold suddenly comes heat, and I would never exchange it for even our Russian spring, when nature gradually takes off its white cover and everything is breezy resurrection and joy. The rivers that flow within the borders of the United Provinces are remarkable in their depths and width. The most famous among them are the Mississippi, Ohio, Potomac, Susquehanna, Delaware, Hudson, and St Lawrence.8 The American lakes, because of their size, seem like oceans. The most important among them are Lake of the Woods, Lake Superior, Lake Michigan, Huron, Lake St Clair, Lake Erie, and Lake Ontario. The Appalachian Mountains are the highest and greatest mountain range in the United Provinces. The forests are the main wealth of this land because of the quality of the wood as well as the large number of species. They also present the most beautiful sight for the eyes. Even on a palette it is impossible to find the diversity of colours that glitter here in the greenery. Frequently one is astounded by the brightest purple and sky blue. Incomparable magnolias welcome you almost everywhere. There are fragrant flowers even on the trees, which do not yield in their height to hundred-year-old oaks, such as tulip trees, dogwood, and other trees.9 This part of America is rich in birds, remarkable for their magnificent plumage and pleasant songs. One can constantly see the fluttering of little blue, red, and yellow birds and hear the enchanting voices of mockingbirds (American nightingale)10 or the melodious humming of hummingbirds. A quarter of all the known species of animals in the world can be found in the United American States and some can be found only here. Many enormous mammoth bones have been discovered here. The local creeks and rivers abound with large quantities of fish. There are times when the rivers are completely filled with fish – namely, when the fish migrate from the sea to spawn. At the markets in some cities of the United Provinces one can always find up to thirty varieties of fish. In Virginia in the St James River they fish for sturgeon, which until now was known only in Russia. Among the number of amphibians in the southern regions of the United Provinces are well-known species of small crocodiles called alligators. The American forests and swamps are filled with reptiles; among them is the most frightful of all snakes, the rattlesnake. 58

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The mineralogy of the United Provinces does not offer particularly curious or new elements for the explorer of nature; granite and marble are its main riches. Iron ore is located everywhere on the surface in large abundance. Gold has been discovered in South Carolina, and silver in New York, but until now they have not been mined. Near Lake Erie a large reserve of magnesium and zinc has been found. Rhode Island, Pennsylvania, and Maryland abound with coal. There are many mineral and hot springs; among them, those in Boston are particularly significant. The richness of the land, the freedom, the areas open to industry and to enterprise, have attracted miserably poor but resourceful people from all over Europe to this land. At the beginning of this century, in one year, approximately ten thousand families from Ireland and almost the same number from Germany and Switzerland moved here. The people’s contentment and the high standards of morality also contribute to the fast increase in the population. At the last census, conducted in 1810, the population of the United Provinces was 7,230,514.11 The local inhabitants are divided into three groups. The first and most important group among them are the Europeans and their descendants, the next are the black Africans, and the third are the native Indians. The northern parts of the United Provinces are inhabited almost exclusively by the English and the Irish; the middle by people of German extraction and the Dutch; the South by the French.* According to the last census, there are 106,000 free blacks and 1,185,350 blacks in slavery. There is hope that soon all of them will be liberated as the six northern states have already abolished slavery and given freedom to all their blacks.12 The Indians, who are susceptible to the harsh effects of smallpox and excesses of strong drink, approach insignificant numbers with remarkable speed. It seems that they are destined to disappear in face of the superiority of the whites! Already, at this time, from some of the strong nations only a few families remain to remind one of their former existence. One can count no more than 60,000 Indians in the United Provinces.13 Despite the large number of different nations speaking different languages, the most important language and, generally, the one used most *Even here is an example of the division between the English and the French.

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in legal proceedings is English. Congregationists, Presbyterians, Episcopalians, Quakers, and Methodists are the most populous among the large number of sects in the United Provinces. This spectrum of sects and nations is the reason for the absence among Americans of distinctive features, or the so-called mark of their own nation so common among Europeans; for the same reason it is impossible to define their generic character, as it shifts according to where each sect or nation is prevalent. Generally, the Americans possess more liveliness of character than the English. They are much more affable and hospitable. A passion for trading enterprises dominates all classes, inevitably giving birth to the vice of greed14 and to other ensuing vices. There are still not many families who have given up the unrelenting acquisition of wealth; money is the god of the American. It is possible to say that until now, only the wealth of the land and piety support their morality. In America there are fewer examples of depravity, murders, or thievery than anywhere else. The main profits of the Republic of the United States tally from customs duties and from land sales. It is possible to expect in a normal year profits close to $14 million. The state debt is nearly $80,000,000. However, it should be noted that the government is in debt to its own citizens. The actual military force of the United Provinces consists of a militia that must always have 700,000 men in service. In time of peace, the states do not maintain more than 5,000 troops. At the present time they have almost 25,000 troops. A soldier is formed through decades of training and through war; thus it is not surprising that the American army is in a dire state because of its newness. It is particularly in need of officers. When it comes to the personal bravery of Americans, there is no shortage, and providing the army maintains good discipline, it will surpass many others. In 1813 the United American Provinces had 23 naval ships among which were 10 large frigates, and 160 gunboats; 10 more frigates were being built. During this war the Americans proved their superiority to all other nations in naval art by capturing 3 frigates and 2 sloops from the equally powerful English. In 1813 their corsairs captured more than 600 English merchant ships, and confident in the superiority of their ships’ speed, they often separated the ships from their convoys and inflicted damage on English trade close to the British shores. Everything 60

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seems to further the American government’s work in bringing this small fleet to perfection. The government can choose from 300,000 brave and skilful sailors, whereas the English, who are forced to maintain a large fleet, accept anyone to sail the naval ships. It can be stated that in the last twenty years American enterprising spirit in trading ventures, the superiority of their shipbuilding, together with the benefits from the European war, have placed in their hands the trade of the entire world. In the last years, prosperous for Americans, their trade turnover consisted of about $200,000,000 annually, and close to 5,000 ships sailed from their ports and returned there with goods. It is likely that England will always impose all kinds of trade barriers on the Americans, as England will clearly see that through their resourcefulness and trading skills, these people will always be the most feared competitors and will strive to take over commerce everywhere. The fate of the current war will decide whether the Americans will take an active part in world trade. If they are permitted to do so, trade between America and Russia will increase drastically and the following goods will always be sold at great profit and in large quantities: (1) sailcloth, (2) unbleached and Flemish linens, (3) canvas, (4) damask, (5) hemp, (6) iron, (7) candles, (8) bristles, (9) feathers, (10) tallow, (11) wax, (12) leather, etc. It would be very profitable to export our manufactured goods such as hats, boots, shoes, mirrors, morocco, etc. All this should be of only the best quality. These goods could be sold in the United American Provinces for double the price and more. For example, in America a pair of boots of the latest fashion costs in our money 40 rubles, 50 rubles per hat, and so on.* The Americans use their riches for the welfare of their fatherland with a remarkable determination. There is no other land in which the government participates less in the improvement of the state. The roads, the canals, the bridges are all built and maintained by private individuals, and if one is unable to undertake the venture, he finds partners instead of competitors. Fortunately for their fatherland, Americans understand *American trade has suffered substantially during the current war. The English captured 400 ships from the Americans in 1813. However, there is no land where such damage was not corrected faster, for this number of ships can be built in America in a short time.

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that the creation of companies eases the execution of all enterprises and makes failure more bearable. The roads in the United Provinces are repaired annually and very quickly. As of last year, there were 37,000 miles of post roads, of which about 10,000 miles were hard-packed.15 The cities maintain constant communication by the use of public stagecoaches, the number of which can be larger or smaller, depending on trade between the cities. For example, there are six of these coaches every day from Philadelphia to New York. They all depart at different times. The bridges of this land deserve particular attention from the European. Many of them are truly magnificent, such as the Philadelphia, Trenton, Washington, Boston, and other bridges. However, the most remarkable and amazing construction is the bridge across the river Schuylkill, near Philadelphia, built in 1811. It is made of a single arch, is 340 feet long, and is totally constructed of wood. If the current war does not hinder

Philadelphia from across the Delaware River, ca. 1811–13. mma, Rogers Fund, 1942 (42.95.13)

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Albany, New York, ca. 1811–13. mma, Rogers Fund, 1942 (42.95.10)

Centre Square and the Marble Works, Philadelphia, ca. 1811–13. mma, Rogers Fund, 1942 (42.95.23)

Travel by Stagecoach near Trenton, New Jersey, ca. 1811–13. mma, Rogers Fund, 1942 (42.95.11)

The Upper Bridge over the Schuylkill, Philadelphia – Lemon Hill in the Background, ca. 1811–13. mma, Rogers Fund, 1942 (42.95.26)

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progress, then in a short time the internal waterway connections will be brought to such perfection that the farthest corners of the land will be connected via canals and rivers. The embargo and the war with England have turned many enterprising Americans toward manufacturing and the building of factories, and they have succeeded in this splendidly. Because of a labour shortage, they directed their special efforts toward the improvement and simplification of various machines, and many of them have been brought to remarkable perfection.16 We should not search in America for deep-thinking philosophers and famous professors, but the fair understanding by each and every citizen of the most abstract topics and subjects should not surprise one. The son of the top banker attends the same school as the son of a poor day worker. Everyone studies the geography of his land, knows the first rules of arithmetic, and has a general knowledge of other sciences. Therefore any local peasant not only is not astonished by the lunar eclipse or by the appearance of a comet but will also discuss both events fairly correctly. Home schooling is unknown here; all children attend public schools, which open their minds faster and, as it were, train them to think and see things in a common light.17 Philology is held in great esteem in the United Provinces, and book publishing is very successful. All the latest works published in England are reprinted here. In addition, several journals are published with great care in Philadelphia, New York, and Boston. They are adorned with pictures and distributed in large numbers. In each city several newspapers are also published. In New York alone, for example, nineteen different papers are produced, among which are five morning papers, and the same number of evening papers come out daily. There are no fewer papers in Philadelphia and Boston. All citizens of different means read the newspapers in America, for every citizen, having a voice in government besides being interested in trade, which is closely connected to politics, wants to know the current affairs of the state. In the major cities there are several public libraries for reading; the one in Philadelphia contains 100,000 volumes. The visual arts lag behind somewhat; nevertheless, America can be proud of the paintings of West,18 Trumbull,19 and Stuart.20 65

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The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia (after an engraving in the Port Folio magazine, June 1809), ca. 1811–13. mma, Rogers Fund, 1942 (42.95.25)

But what gives most honour to the Americans are the hospitals, philanthropic societies, and institutions maintained by private individuals. In some of these establishments the old and the feeble can rest. In others, homeless orphans are raised, tools are given to a painter who as a result of misfortunes has lost everything, or free medicine is distributed to the destitute. They take great care and find ways to raise the level of diligence. Others encourage and assist in trade enterprises, etc. These charitable organizations could serve as evidence of happy governance, sensitivity, and prosperity. Philanthropy is a divine and sacred law of nature; it is the gratifying need of a human heart! In almost every city and town and attached to every church there is some kind of charitable institution. In New York alone there are twenty such philanthropic societies. Because of this, you will never see a beggar in the United States! The American jails look more like factories. In them humankind does not suffer but is punished. They are not humiliated but denied the first blessing, their freedom. 66

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Nevertheless, as great and amazing as these achievements are, they are still greatly weakened by the opposing parties that are tearing this land apart. There are many reasons that have contributed to the creation of these parties. Above all, the position of the land creates in each citizen different views related to his personal benefits and to the welfare of the fatherland and force him to act differently. There everyone has the right not only to formulate his opinions but also to act upon them. In addition, the agents of the English and Spanish courts use all kinds of cunning politics in order to nourish the spirit of discord among the Americans. The histories of ancient and new republics present to us examples of such parties and the animosity that commonly exists among them. The United States is divided into two parties, the Federalists and the Democrats.21 The most famous cities in the United Provinces are Philadelphia, New York, Boston, Baltimore, and Washington (the last one is mentioned because it is where the national power is located and the Congress assembles). A great deal has been written about the United American Provinces, but I can boldly say that all these books, in essence, act as stumbling blocks for all who are eager to acquire meaningful information about this land. When the American Revolution attracted the attention of all of Europe, the authors of that time, and most of all the French, rushed to describe the phenomenon, which was not only new but interesting. They were afraid to be “outrun” by others, and being short of time in gathering accurate and necessary information on the subject, each of them attempted to publish as soon as possible. Many have published novels under the title of a history of the revolution, and using the remoteness and obscurity of this land, have placed [in their books] amazing and unheard-of miracles. Dr Franklin used to say about Mr Abertel’s opus on the American Revolution that, by renaming the English general Hector and the American general Achilles, one can create a perfect description of the Trojan War. Later on, half the opuses describing America portrayed it as Eden, for they were written by industrialists who wished to sell profitably the lands they had bought in the United Provinces. The other half were written by the English, who hate this land, or by those who wrote in 67

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accordance with the wishes of the English government in order to prevent immigration. Here, in contrast, everything is presented in a black, derogatory way. During the last ten years the rapid changes in all areas of activity and the country’s gigantic strides toward power and enlightenment have made the fairest details described in earlier times appear even more extraordinary.

r e l i g i o n i n t h e u n i t e d a m e r i c a n p rov i n c e s It would be rather interesting if someone took upon himself to write a history of different religions in the United American Provinces. Their number, their strangeness and contrasts would present a curious and remarkably striking picture of the delusions of the human mind and of human passions. Some, for example, envision God as a benevolent, merciful being; others, on the contrary, see in him a fierce, inexorable judge who punishes sinners. Some reject the Holy Gospels; others obey their word blindly and follow the text of Matthew the Evangelist: “unless you [change] and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven” [cf. Matthew 18:3]22 and live until old age as infants. Some, believing that family life is a sacred law of nature, strive to be good fathers, husbands, and sons. Others believe that it is God’s will to live keeping one sex apart from the other. Some have quiet and simple church services; others have services that are tumultuous and passionate, etc. It is known that since the discovery of the northern part of the American continent, those persecuted for their different beliefs in European countries arrived here and found a peaceful refuge and freedom to conduct their worship unimpeded, whereas in South America all non-Catholics were burned and tortured. The Constitution of the United American Provinces protects all religions and all who can take God’s oath.23 This tolerance, as it is known, was the reason for the fast peopling and prosperity of this land. It has created, so to speak, a miraculous harmony between sects. This harmony is necessary in a land divided by parties of political opinions. There are instances in America where in one family 68

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the husband, the wife, and the children belong to different religious denominations but live in peace and love among themselves. The Methodists and the Quakers are the main sects among the leading ones in the United Provinces. They differ from each other more than any other sects, both in the way of service and in dogmas. I will describe them briefly and without judgment. New York is the cradle of the Methodists’ sect in North America. The sect was founded in 1766 by Philip Embury,24 an Irish preacher, and it spread throughout America with an amazing speed. The majority of Negroes who live here are the sect’s most ardent followers. Having been impelled by my curiosity and by stories of the oddities and spirit of their service, once during my stay in Philadelphia I decided with one of my friends to visit the African Methodists’ church, and this is what I witnessed. We entered the large hall, or temple, which was rather dimly lit. The walls, blackened by smoke, the broken benches and cracked windows, at once made an unpleasant impression. We came almost to the pulpit and sat down on the third bench. The hall was full of blacks. On the right side were men, on the left women. The dim light, the frightening faces, and the eyes shining like sparks of the Africans staring at us produced in us an involuntary horror, which increased when they began to howl with wild and shrill voices. It seemed to me that I was in the Kingdom of Pluto25 in the middle of all the horrors of hell. Personally, I had already regretted my curiosity, when the doorman, looking very much like Cerberus, locked the doors so that nobody could exit. At the pulpit a frightening black skeleton was reading the Psalms from the Holy Scriptures. At the end of each psalm, both men and women sang the verses in loud, shrill voices in an identical manner. This continued for about half an hour. When the preacher stopped reading, everyone turned towards the doors, fell on their knees, bent their heads to the ground, and began to wail and moan in doleful, heart-rending voices. Afterwards the priest continued to read the Psalter, and upon completion of the reading, he sat on a chair. At that point everybody got up and began to sing the Psalms in chorus, taking turns, first the men and then the women. This continued for twenty minutes. Then came a silence and quiet of such overwhelming depth and of such in69

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tense terror, the kind that usually occurs before a storm, when all things are numb, when the heart flutters in expectation of something dreadful and inexplicable. In a smooth, hoarse voice the preacher began his sermon, explaining in a sanctimonious style the horrors of hell and God’s wrath. Initially, everything was fairly calm, but little by little the preacher became fired up and with frightful images and movements of his body, inflamed the imaginations of the audience. Here from all sides came the moans of the repentant, the screams and laments of the possessed. Finally, when the preacher, with a strong, all-consuming voice, declared the destruction of the universe, pointed to the black cloud, fraught with the thunder of devastation, and described the tortures and the sufferings that awaited sinners, the foundation of the temple trembled and its dome shook from their frightening howl. I have to admit that I myself was at that moment afraid of destruction, if not of the entire universe, then at least of the gallery under which I was sitting and which was threatening every minute to collapse from the agony of the possessed, who were jumping and flinging themselves from side to side, prostrating themselves on the ground, banging their hands and feet, gnashing their teeth, aiming to show that the evil spirits were leaving their bodies. Imagine my delight when after all this I heard the church gates creaking on their heavy chains. I think that some kind of merciful spirit helped me to push my way through the crowd of people gathered together even outside the church’s entrance. Imagine a mad Jacobean who, in his frenzied rage, frothing at the mouth in a fit of a revolutionary fever and using foul language, speaks without any connection or sense in front of an assembly of people. That is the picture of the Methodist preacher, lamenting only the vengeance of God, who will seize the hardened sinner by his neck and plunge him into the depths of hell.26 [Methodist preachers] also oppose those preachers who do not use their own language or who preach prepared.27 They shout that the Apostles did not preach in this way; Christ’s disciples were fisherman, they spoke plainly, leaving the rhetoric to their persecutors, the Pharisees.28 Can this language of horror and the dark unintelligible expressions be called the language of God’s word? The true Christian teaching in70

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stills in one’s heart, not a fear of retribution, not frenzy, but sweet, quiet hope for God’s mercy and benevolence. This was taught by Plato and Bossuet.29 The shrill exclamations of the Methodists and the wailing that resembles the chorus of the Furies instill horror and trepidation, not that sweet tenderness left in the heart by the harmony of singing in the Greek Church! The fits of rage among the Methodist congregation occurred in most cases with the women, whose feelings and nerves were of a more tender nature. They are quicker to accept any kind of impression and thus are more susceptible to irritation particularly, because the superstition and eloquence of the preacher inflames the soul. Methodists regard these sufferers with reverence and tenderness. The Methodist church is ruled by a bishop, and the dogma is, in many ways, similar to that of the Protestant religion. The zealous sectarians consider it their duty to travel in order to propagate the word of God. They travel from country to country and sometimes conduct their prayers deep in a forest, where large crowds of listeners and the curious from faraway places gather together, staying for several days. The time of the prayers is announced in the newspapers by the bishop or by one of the senior ministers. Here is one such announcement, taken from the Trenton paper: This is a notice that the society of Methodists will gather near the property of Mr. N. in the grove, located a ¼ mile from Germantown, Huntingdon County. The gathering is scheduled for September 29 and will be held for three days under the supervision of the ministers of the Methodist church. As in the previous gatherings, many thousands of people will be present, and the service will be conducted day and night, therefore it is recommended that those who are coming from far away should bring with them provisions for themselves and for their horses, etc. If these assemblies do not steer the curious towards piety, then at the very least, they present them with many striking scenes. More than once I spent a number of days in constant study and through their correct portrayal, enhanced my collection of drawings of America. The large fair can give a sufficient understanding of the crowd, but the scenes observed 71

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here tend to be more diverse and strange. These gatherings can be compared neither to military camps nor to a hoard of nomads. Often I imagined myself among the Israelites being led by Moses to the land of the Canaanites. During the gloomy night charming sights are seen all around. Hundred-year-old oaks and cedars are transformed into living quarters. On their branches dwellings are built, where by the light of burning candles the rich suppers and feasting workers can be seen. Meanwhile, the preacher, standing below in the darkness of night, brings all the listeners to a frenzy with his eloquence and extorts from them wails and moans … During the summers in Philadelphia the Methodists often gather in the fresh air in crowded lanes to conduct their prayers, as depicted in the attached picture. This sect has several branches that have diverged from it and are known under different names.30 The Quaker sect arose in the middle of the seventeenth century in England. Its founder, George Fox,31 was born in 1624 in the village of Drayton, in Leicestershire. At the age of twenty, having imagined that he was inspired from above, Fox left his parents and began to preach the new teaching. The counties of Leicestershire, Nottingham, and Derby were the first theatres of this fanatic. Abbot Plucke stated that Fox claimed that once during his retreat on the high mountain, he allegedly had a vision. He saw that in the north there were numerous people who would be required to accept him and the word of God delivered by him. This compelled him to travel from village to village, where he thundered against the war, the clergy, and the church ceremony of other denominations, preaching silence, repentance, love toward thy neighbours, and so on. When Fox was called into court in the town of Derby, he spoke with such ardour about the duty to tremble before God,32 that the presiding judge named him the “shaker,” or in English a Quaker. This is why they are called Quakers. Initially, his teaching was followed only by the rabble, but subsequently, his students, by acting modestly and wisely, were able not only to support but also to advance the sect. Finally, Penn,33 Keith,34 and Barclay35 brought fame to the Quakers’ teachings. The Quakers’ teaching is based on three main rules, the essence of which is (1) repentance, (2) strive to perfection, and (3) the belief in eternal punishment and reward. To this can be added these other rules: (1) 72

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Black Methodists Holding a Prayer Meeting, ca. 1811–13. mma, Rogers Fund, 1942 (42.95.19)

love thy neighbour and bestow with your help on him; (2) love thy enemies; (3) do not swear but say simply yes or no; (4) endure but never avenge and therefore never carry arms; (5) do not pay taxes in order to support the clergy of other denominations; (6) do not pay attention to the rank and title of thy neighbour; (7) address everyone as thee; (8) lead by example towards silence, say little, and love solitude; (9) do not drink to anyone’s health; (10) enter into marriage without any church ceremony, simply via contract and in the presence of witnesses; (11) parents have the right at the birth of a child to give it any name they wish; and finally, (12) bury the dead with all possible simplicity and do not wear mourning attire. In addition, it is strictly forbidden for Quakers to play music, dance, and participate in any kind of secular entertainment, for example, attending theatres, balls, and the like.36 Those who blindly follow the original traditions are called the “true” Quakers, in other words, the firm ones. In America those who distanced themselves and formed a special society in 1776 are known as the Free Quakers. The original Quakers call them the wet ones, meaning damp or weak ones. The reason for the separation and the changes in the sect’s rules 73

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were caused, most probably, by the case of two Quakers who were hanged during the first American war because they refused to participate in defence against the enemy.* The last ones [the wet Quakers] enter [military] service and accept the laws of any state.37 Finally, those who maintain the church rituals but do not wear Quaker dress and attend balls and the theatre are called the Jolly Quakers. Every month the deputies from four or six parishes gather together to discuss the affairs of the church. Likewise, the gatherings take place in every state every three months. They are assembled from honourable and earnest people of the province. During these gatherings they deal with the affairs that could not be decided at the monthly meetings. Abstracts from all the discussions are gathered together for presentation at the main meetings that take place every year among the European Quakers in London and among the Americans in Philadelphia. During these meetings the sums necessary for church expenditures are allocated, such as for book printing aimed at the dissemination of their teaching, for the support of missionaries in foreign lands, etc. Every Quaker has the right to come to these meetings and give his opinion about the subject under discussion. This gathering of the elders appears to be a sort of supreme power over those who stray from Quakers’ rules. On such occasions the disobedient are reprimanded, punishments are delivered, and sometimes [the wayward] are expelled from the community. For this purpose, several members of the assembly are elected. They are required to approach the accused in an attempt to bring about his confession and public admission of guilt or force him to confess his guilt in writing. Otherwise, the ruling is rendered that expels the offender from the community. If he repents thereafter, he is accepted back into the brotherhood. I was told about the recent adventure of a skeleton-like old Quaker in Philadelphia. Being reproached for bad behaviour, he justified himself with the following words: the spirit is strong, but the flesh is weak.38 This is true, responded one of the members of the assembly; the flesh can be weak but not the bones or the skin. *One Quaker was accused at the gathering of the elders of beating the other one, but the first in his defence stated that he did not beat him but only squeezed him against the wall.

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The Quakers readily help one another; thus there are no poor among them; there is not one who is forced to seek a place for himself. By this they justify addressing each other as friend, which was accepted by them in the same way as other societies accepted the use of the word brother. In fairness, it should be noted that they are very much inclined toward charity. One can always see Quakers overseeing philanthropic organizations such as hospitals, prisons, and so on, and always without any pay. As it happens, I would often see a Quaker rushing ahead of everyone to help a person who had fallen in the street. He would tear his handkerchief to stop the bleeding of the injured. Quakers are always the first to arrive at a fire. With regard to their church services, it seems they have none. They consist only of a Sunday gathering of Quakers during which a deep silence is maintained until someone (man or woman), considering himself inspired, gets up and begins to say anything that enters his or her mind. Quakers always begin by speaking quietly, in a drawling manner and with a shaking voice, but little by little the speaker warms up, so that it is almost impossible to make out his words. Thus, in order to cool himself, he often first takes off his hat, then his caftan, and finally his waistcoat. On many occasions their meetings end in complete general silence. As it happens, I once saw a woman who, after the silence, got up and uttered the following words: the sunrays make the flowers bloom. Following this pronouncement, she became quiet, everybody fell into a deep contemplation, and soon after, the meeting was adjourned. The churches or, to name them better, the halls where Quakers gather for prayers are usually four-sided. The benches are placed parallel to all four sides, in such way that all the people face each other. They contain no paintings, no pulpit, no altar, nor any adornments. The walls are painted with white paint, which is kept remarkably clean. The floor and benches are plain and made from oak. Strict Quakers are known by the name “Oaks” and wear grey and chestnut-coloured clothes. Their caftans have no buttonholes but have three buttons. Among them, this is considered a symbol of their frankness and proof that they have nothing hidden in their heart. This kind of frankness and strong adherence to keeping promises have gained them common trust; therefore a Quaker’s word alone is accepted by the courts 75

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as indisputable evidence. Quakers do not use titles, and even the king of England is addressed as thee. They wear grey hats with wide brims and socks of the same colour and always wear shoes. The Quakers, steeped in superstition, never take off their hat in front of anyone. They keep the hat on even in church. On the whole, they like neatness and simplicity in dress and in their homes. Though foppishness in clothes is strictly forbidden by Quakers, their wives and daughters devote a lot of time to their attire. The grey colour of their hats adds a kind of pleasant, monastic shadow to their snowy, dreamy faces, the type of melancholy that elevates the loveliness of their blue eyes and light brown locks. In general, female Quakers are noted for their slender waists and little feet. The first colony of Quakers arrived in America in 1681 with the renowned Admiral Penn, to whom King Charles ii gave land located between the Delaware and Chesapeake Bay.39 Despite such a generous present from the English king, Penn felt obliged to purchase the land from the Indians who inhabited it. His intentions were to found Utopia, a system of ideal government, but this plan soon collapsed because of the arrival of a large number of foreigners and because of the imperfections of the human race. However, Pennsylvania, which received its name from this patriarch, was governed by his laws for a long time, and even now in this area one can feel the influence of the Quakers’ power, particularly on Sundays, when deep silence and quiet dominates there. On [Sundays] only the sombre faces of people deep in thought are encountered on the streets of Philadelphia. Not a single smile can be seen, as though the entire city is in mourning! In Philadelphia alone there are around 5,000 Quakers who can be counted, and in the rest of the province there are more than 1,000.40 Indeed, Quakers are the most peace-loving and honest people. Some accuse them of hypocrisy and slyness, but it is because they expect from them more honesty and virtue than they do from others. The mere absence in any court of petitions filed by a Quaker demands one’s respect. They are very hard-working, and the belief in their honesty and thriftiness, supported by strong mutual help, opens for them the greatest credit in trade.

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The sect known by the name of Shakers, or the quivering (they call themselves the believers), is considered a branch of the Quaker sect.41 With all the due respect that I feel toward foreign beliefs, I was never able to look without laughter on their odd behaviour. Sometimes I would see them in Alfredtown, where they live in communities that resemble monasteries, the men and women apart. The old members of the sect and those who were converted to this sect by missionaries arrive and stay here for twenty or more days, continuously conducting God’s services, which consists of dancing, singing, and reciting sermons. Having assembled in a prayer hall (men in one room and women in another), after maintaining a deep silence, these new dervishes suddenly rise from their seats and, accompanied by drawn-out, loathsome singing of David’s Psalms, begin to perform the entrechat. Thereafter this singing is replaced with an even faster one, together with which the jumping and swirling gradually increases until eventually, devoid of all strength, they fall down. At that point the main preacher begins his sermon, and after a short speech he jumps up with the these words: following the example of David, who danced in front of the ark, we must also dance,42 and the twirling again starts with great effort and often continues the entire night. It seems that they reward themselves in their churches in order to compensate for the strictly observed limitations on attendance at balls or participation in festivities imposed upon them by the tenets of their religion. Ann Lee, the founder of this sect in Harvard, in Massachusetts, accepted for herself the title of mother and appointed her brother, Basil Lee,43 her assistant. It is hard to imagine, but this sect is spreading very rapidly in the United American Provinces. Even though I was planning to describe here only the Quakers and the Methodists, in order to give pleasure to my readers, I would like to offer them a few words about the Baptist [Anabaptist] sect, a sect that is no less strange and amazing. It is becoming rather strong in Pennsylvania. The Baptists are the followers of John the Baptist. They are baptized in rivers, but not before the age of thirty. The baptisms take place on the first Monday of each month, regardless of the weather. In the northern provinces, in the winter, iceholes are made in the rivers especially for this purpose. This is what “warm” belief and enthusiasm truly

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A Philadelphia Anabaptist Immersion during a Storm, ca. 1811–13. mma, Rogers Fund, 1942 (42.95.20)

mean! Despite the cold temperature of less than 10 degrees, despite the fact that the baptized must stay in water up to the waist for an hour, there was not a single case of anyone catching cold as a result. Janson44 describes in his account of travels across America how once a minister, lowering the baptized into the water, let go of him accidentally, and the unfortunate was carried by the river’s current beneath the ice and thus perished. The priest, with great importance and presence of mind, raising his eyes towards the heaven, proclaimed: The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord [cf. Job 1:21], and called upon the others, who were preparing to accept the baptism. However, they were so frightened by the fate of their predecessor that they lost their “warm” belief and dispersed. He also tells the story of one middle-aged man who decided to accept the Baptists’ faith. The man passed all the tests to which all converts must be subjected and was honoured with the rites of baptism. Unfortunately, this occurred during the winter, and he, claiming poor health, asked to postpone the baptism until summer. However, the entire com78

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munity indignantly opposed it and expelled him with terrible damnation as unworthy to receive the Holy Spirit. In Philadelphia I had a chance to see this rather imposing ritual. It is impossible not to feel some kind of awe and not to be transported to the River Jordan when one sees the crowd of people led by the priest and followed by those in dark cloaks and barefoot, with loose flowing hair across their shoulders, who are preparing to accept baptism, singing harmoniously together and solemnly going down into the fast-flowing river. To add to the splendour and greatness of the spectacle, there was terrible thunder and constant lightning during the entire ritual! I conclude this article by reiterating my amazement at the fact that, despite the efforts of each sect to convert the followers of other religions (in which they often succeed), they maintain an exemplary harmony among themselves. Arguments occur very infrequently, and the convert does not go down in public opinion. Certainly, this greatly honours the American government and the character of the American people.

s t e a m b oat s The European War45 proved most beneficial for the Americans. Availing themselves of it with the aid of their neutral flag, they extended their navigation and trade, achieved amazing success in the organization of their country, and advanced, so to speak, by a whole century. On the other hand, the restriction of this trade and the embargo on goods entering the country regenerated the local factories and manufacturing, the appearance of which was so significant that it would be improbable that at any time the supply of goods from other countries could bring about their decline. It is known that because of this, the English lost several million pounds sterling in annual export of their products. The people who had departed from Europe combined their knowledge and skills with American entrepreneurship and, encouraged by the protective laws and freedom, surpassed, so to speak, themselves. Having been deprived of the English wealth needed for the establishment of large enterprises and in order in some way to replace the labour costs, which are much higher in America than in England, Americans resorted 79

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to the improvement of various machines and have made them simpler and easier to operate. In this area they have shown a particularly creative mind and in everything where necessity was “the mother of invention” have exhibited extraordinary achievements. Mechanical inventions completely replaced human hands in the United Provinces. There everything is made by machines: the machine cuts stony cliffs, makes bricks, forges nails, etc. In particular, windmills of all sorts are brought to the highest degree of perfection. Nevertheless, nothing impressed me more than the steamboat (the steam-powered ship), and the more I examined it, the more certain I was of the true benefits of this extraordinary invention. Having been absolutely convinced that by introducing this invention to Russia, I would render service to my fatherland, I dedicated all my time and all possible means, sparing neither my labours nor money in order to find out the secret design of the steamboat. Though the workings of steam power in this case are based on common and known principles, they are so much improved here and, in order to increase the power, so many new and different methods are introduced that even a person most knowledgeable in this area would not be able to penetrate this mystery by himself. I was helped in this case by the friendship of a young gifted mechanic Mr S – –,46 who also helped substantially to produce improvements of Philadelphia’s and New York’s steamboats. Furthermore, he was encouraged by my promise to use him in the most beneficial way to him, if I obtained permission from our government to introduce the steamboat in Russia. To this end, after consultation with our ambassador in the United American Provinces and with many famous local residents and, in addition, having acquired the plans and models of all the machine parts, I presented to our government the project of this amazing invention. Not having in mind any personal gain, I asked only that they engage me to build this steamboat or for permission to obtain one at my own expense. Unfortunately, my letter took an unusually long time to arrive, and meanwhile Mr Adams, the American ambassador,47 procured from His Majesty the Emperor permission for this enterprise on behalf of the American engineer, Mr Fulton,48 with the advantage that he alone would use this newly invented ship for the next fifteen years. Even though my 80

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labours were in vain and though fate denied me the happiness of rendering a service to my fatherland, at least I rejoice that such a useful and great invention will be introduced in our country, and that I was the first to give this idea to Mr Fulton.49 Envision a ship that looks like a flat-bottomed frigate; imagine that it is not afraid of storms, requires no wind, laughs at bad weather, moves always with amazing speed and safety, and completes its voyage in a designated time. Inside it, there is calm, contentment, and even all the fancies of the luxurious life. This is a picture of the American steamboat! If one respects the fact that this amazing invention of the human mind emerged no more than seven years ago, if one evaluates the improvements since and imagines that such improvements will continue with a similar speed, it becomes possible to assume that in a short time we will see these ships crossing the oceans and bringing to us treasures from faraway parts of the world. In order to achieve this, it is necessary only to reduce the weight of the metal from which the machine is composed and to increase the power of the steam, while reducing the amount of combustible materials required to maintain the power. It is possible that some opportune moment will lead to such discovery and that people in open waters will no longer be at the mercy of cruel and treacherous elements.* The first attempt to use the power of steam in navigation was made by the American John Fitch.50 In 1783 he built the first steamboat on the Delaware River in accordance with the specifications of the Watt and Boulton engine,51 which were considered at this time to be the most advanced. However, this ship was prone to different problems; therefore the inventor, after spending a somewhat large sum of money on it, was finally forced to abandon the enterprise. Another American by the name of Rumsey52 made some changes in Fitch’s mechanism and built a steamboat on the Thames with substantial financial help from a London merchant, Parker53 (for nobody in America had the courage for such a bold enterprise). However, it was also soon found to be unsuitable for use. Subsequently, other experiments were conducted in New York by *It was announced last January in an English newspaper that a 30-gun frigate powered by a steam engine was launched in New York.

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Chancellor Livingston54 and by Mr Stevens55 in Philadelphia. Despite the number of different improvements made by them to the machine, they were forced to abandon their endeavours. Meanwhile, as strenuous attempts in the area of steamboat building were taking place in the New World, European mechanics, on their side also turned their attention to this subject. Lord Stanhope56 in London and Duve in Paris made various attempts and experiments in the use of steam power in navigation. Nevertheless, their success was not equal to their efforts. Finally, in 1803 Mr Fulton, together with Mr Livingston, who was at that time the ambassador of the United American Provinces to the Paris court, made their steamboat on the River Seine by adding outside wheels to the steam engine.* It seemed that success had crowned their enterprise, and only some improvements were wanting, which induced Mr Fulton to devote his full attention to this matter for more than three years. Eventually, by the end of 1806,57 he built in New York the steamboat named “The Car of Neptune”58 for navigation along the Hudson River at a speed of five miles per hour. The government of the United American Provinces had noticed all the benefits that could be gained as a result of this invention in a country covered with big and fast rivers, gave Mr Fulton an exclusive patent for thirty years. Hence this era should be considered that as the establishment of steamboats. This invention appeared to be so beneficial and convenient that during the next seven years, sixteen more steamboats emerged, journeying along the rivers of the United American Provinces: there were five on the Hudson River; one between New York and Brunswick; two on the Delaware; one on Lake Champlain; one on the Mississippi; one on the Ohio; one on the St Lawrence; one on the Boston Canal; one travelling from New York to Jersey; one on the Hudson for transport of goods; and one on the Delaware, also for transport. Furthermore, steamboats are also being built in many other locations. For a long time it was assumed that it would be impossible to employ them on the Mississippi and Ohio rivers because of the very fast*These wheels resemble the wheels of a windmill. By taking in water during the revolution, they move the entire ship forward.

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flowing waters and because of the great number of trees and large plants that fill the bottom of these rivers. It made navigation along these rivers very dangerous for flat-bottomed boats. An experiment refuted this belief, and a steamboat built in Pittsburgh on the Ohio River journeyed unhindered, safely, swiftly, and on schedule to New Orleans, covering 3,937 versta.59 There were other very important gains to this invention. The boats that had been used only to go down these rivers were unable to return, because of the fast currents of the Mississippi and were destroyed in New Orleans or, to put it better, perished there. The people who were forced to return via deep forests, mountains, plains, and lands inhabited by different Indian tribes most of the time had gone missing. Now goods, which were previously brought by sea from New Orleans

Steamboat Travel on the Hudson River, ca. 1811–13. mma, Rogers Fund, 1942 (42.95.7)

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The Packet “Mohawk of Albany” Passing the Palisades, ca. 1811–13. mma, Rogers Fund, 1942 (42.95.8)

to Philadelphia and from there by land to Pittsburgh, can be transported directly via the Mississippi. It seems that this year uninterrupted communication by steamboats was established between Quebec and Baltimore. This distance is about 1,250 versta. In 1813 they were completing the construction of one steamboat on the St Lawrence River and another on Chesapeake Bay. For this reason, a 50-versta canal has been planned, which will connect the Delaware with the Raritan River. When I left New York, Mr Fulton and other engineers were working on a steamboat that was expected to travel 420 versta on the open sea between New York and Providence. I examined with great attention changes in the construction of the ship and of engines designed especially for this purpose. I had seen with what care measures were taken to protect the ship from storms and fierce sea swells. I do not doubt that the year 1814 will witness this memorable event, as long as the circumstances of the war do not interfere with it. This is a brave and right step for the greatest and most important endeavour – the crossing of oceans in [steamboats]! I was among the number of spectators during the testing of the new steamboat named Paragon,60 conducted on the Hudson River. Carrying 84

300 tons of cargo, moving against a fast current and strong wind, it proceeded at 5 versta an hour. By contrast, going downstream and helped by sails, which it carries in case of fair wind, it moved twice as fast. Several times it has covered the 280-versta distance between Albany and New York in less than twenty-four hours. Mr Fulton has a proposal from the Spanish government to establish steamboats on the La Plata and from the British East India Company on the Ganges.61 The extraordinary speed, calmness, and pleasantness of the journey and the novelty of the invention made steamboats in America a favourite means of transportation. As a result, during the summer the post coaches between Albany, New York, and Philadelphia are almost totally abandoned. Three times a week the steamboats move back and forth between these points, delivering and picking up passengers from all the places located on the way and carrying no less than a hundred travellers every time. The structure of the Paragon is extremely curious. It is 170 feet long (around 25 sazhen)62 and 28 feet wide. Inside, it is divided into two halves, one for women and the other for men. In the first part there are two large

A Ferry Scene on the Susquehanna at Wright’s Ferry, near Havre de Grace, ca. 1811–13. mma, Rogers Fund, 1942 (42.95.37)

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rooms: the bedroom contains sixteen dividers and eight sofas; the dining room has twenty cupboards containing additional beds, positioned around the sides, and ten sofas. In addition, there is a lavatory and a canteen. The men’s section is divided into two big rooms with 104 cupboards on the sides, each containing a soft clean bed and shelves for clothes, curtains, and generally all kinds of things necessary for one’s toilet. At the bow are located a splendid captain’s chambers and engineer’s and clerk’s offices; the kitchen is very interesting in its cleanliness as well as in its location: everything is cooked and fried with the help of steam, and everyday meals are prepared for 150 people with great ease. There is an incredible order and cleanliness. Everywhere the silver shines, there are bronze, mirrors, and redwood, and even the person with the most fastidious, pampered tastes will be able to find everything he desires there: the best wine, all kinds of delicacies, and even ice cream during hot weather. On the upper deck a tent is usually set up, and inside it resting benches are placed all around, bringing all the travellers upstairs. As I was examining the mixture of costumes, the dissimilarity of faces, the peculiarity of the tastes, I often regretted that I do not possess the brush of Hogarth63 or the pen of Sterne!64 What a study it would be for Lavater!65 This is an absolute masquerade where everyone is in his own setting and where anyone is a gentleman for his money. Here you can see a happy pair of lovers, and next to them is a politician absorbed in his newspaper; there a chess game is going, and at another spot a Federalist and a Democrat are absorbed in a heated debate, accompanied by the sounds of their neighbour’s flute or guitar. On the side a greedy lover of profit, maddened by children’s noise, which interferes with his study of accounts. And finally, there are dogs and cats, which enhance the charm and obscure the sense of location. This is not a house but a whole floating small town! The steamboats that are used to transport loads across wide rivers are of a totally different construction. They are made of two attached boats with a flat platform placed over them. They can transport great weights, and like the first-class steamboats, they can move with great speed and absolute safety. Once, travelling on one such steamboat from New York to the other side of the Hudson and being driven by curiosity, I asked to see the entire cargo located on it. I was shown eight large 86

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wagons, twenty-nine horses, 106 people, and a large amount of baggage. Therefore nothing could be more convenient than steamboats in areas where the width and extreme depth of the river or its swiftness do not permit the building of bridges. The steamboats used for the transport of cargo across rivers that are covered by ice during some period of the time have an icebreaking machine attached at the front. I can imagine with great pleasure the benefit that will arise from the introduction of steamboats in Russia. How many thousands of strong hands will be returned to the fields, which promise generous returns for their tending, the fields that are [now] cultivated by the weak hands of orphaned wives or by frail elders? Happiness, matrimonial love, and fidelity will settle in deserted villages, and instead of being exhausted under the tow rope, tugging the barge and often perishing, the peasants will find behind the plow true wealth and health. In addition, our greatest treasure and precious gem, timber, will be saved. It is used now in large quantities to build barges which, when employed to transport the cargo during high waters, get broken and destroyed or encounter various delays and dangers on their way. Besides the loss of timber, the industry itself suffers; the traders encounter great losses, and the population endures shortages of the most necessary things or pays excessive prices for these goods.66 It is possible that this spring we will see the first steamboat travelling from St Petersburg to Kronstadt. Inevitably, trade will feel the benefit of this amazing enterprise. Everyone who needs to be in Kronstadt at a given time will not be at the mercy of wind or of bad weather. For a very low price, the steamboat will move safely and speedily all goods and heavy cargo, transport that at the present time is subject to great difficulties and constitutes not a small expenditure for merchants. Frequently, new enterprises are believed to be unnecessary or too difficult; the same thing happened in America to Mr Fulton when he introduced the steamboat. Everybody predicted his failure and losses. Nowadays he has proven the opposite to such a degree that they all want to invest money in this enterprise. Minus the expenses, each steamboat on the Hudson brings in annually no less than 40,000 rubles. Certainly, the equality of rank in the United American Provinces and the spirit of very active trade are the reasons for the constant great number 87

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of travellers. However, even if the introduction of steamboats in Russia does not bring the same vast profits to our industrialists as it brings in America, it is fair to say that the gain from steamboats for Russia would be as essential and significant as it is for the United Provinces.

general moreau … Alas! Fate had spared him, In order for him to fall as the first sacrifice in the battle of truth. Zhukovskii, “To Emperor Alexander”

As Mr Schlezer justly states, “sometimes even the best person, having committed a hasty act, runs away from those who have witnessed it, transports his talent across the seas with a firm promise to be more careful in the future, and thus finds his happiness.” We do find many such examples among the inhabitants of the United American Provinces, a number of whom left Europe in order to escape persecutions for differences in their political views. Here they became the most useful citizens, who promote, more than others, the elevation and glorification of their new fatherland. The horrors of the French revolution in Saint-Dominique67 and the despotism of Bonaparte delivered many great talents to this land. Many famous princes and individuals who now occupy the first ranks in the European states found here a peaceful refuge. Certainly, among these last victims of misfortunes, the most fascinating was General Moreau.68 Europe is familiar with the great talents of General Moreau, but not many were aware of his open and noble character, pleasant and earnest demeanour, and excellent qualities, which forced all of those who were able to observe him among his family to think that he had dedicated his life only to the fulfillment of his family obligations. Upon encountering him, all were amazed by the blend of extraordinary simplicity with extraordinary fame! Alas! Who would think that at the time when I was collecting examples of his gentleness, kindness, and generosity, which made him so precious to me, I would soon have a sad duty to give justice to his memory! 88

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Upon my arrival in America, I decided that my first duty was to meet this Belisarius69 of our century. I tried hard to deserve his favourable opinion, his friendship, trust, and later on was often given opportunities to see him in different interactions in his private life, always worthy of his great name and meriting the devotion of his neighbours, who called him nothing else but our kind Moreau. Upon his arrival in the United American Provinces, while his wife and children were forced to extend their stay in Europe, General Moreau travelled as an observer across this land, which at every step introduces to the foreigner absolutely new and curious objects. After visiting the famous Niagara Falls, he went down the Ohio and Mississippi rivers all the way to New Orleans and from there returned by land to Philadelphia. During this trip he acquired a complete knowledge of that part of America; his comments confirmed the vast experience of a great military leader in choosing the places that make the land remarkable. Upon his return from his travels, he bought a beautiful estate, Morrisville, located at the foot of the Delaware rapids, fifty miles from New York City and thirty miles from Philadelphia. Here, to a small degree, he found the kind of success that his jealous and cruel opponent was trying to deny him. Here, in the circle of his lovely family and sincere friends, he seemed to have left behind the injustice of which he was a victim; thus people rarely heard him talk on this subject. In everything that Moreau said or did one could notice his wish to forget who he was and a desire to force others to forget it also. However, even if initially his natural and earnest demeanour obscured the sudden impression of a great man, the contrast of this simplicity with his glory and famous deeds astonish everyone and force them to view with admiration a hero under the plain cover of his virtues and domestic habits. The persecutions of his oppressor, who forced Moreau to pay more than a million francs in the court proceedings in which he was so unjustly involved, completely devastated his finances. However, he still retained enough to satisfy his love for hospitality and charity for the less fortunate. His house was open to a large number of friends. They inhaled there an inexplicable delight, inspired by sympathy toward the exiled hero, who rose above his misfortunes. Inadvertently fascinated with his beautiful and young wife, who enhanced his solitude with her 89

A Country Residence, Possibly General Moreau’s Country House at Morrisville, Pennsylvania, ca. 1811–13. mma, Rogers Fund, 1942 (42.95.49)

pleasant talents and qualities, which had shone in one of the first capitals of Europe. The location of his estate permitted him to devote his time to his favourite passion of hunting and fishing. It was curious to see him returning from the hunt under the burden of prey, all alone in his small boat, rushing to repose in the bosom of his family impatiently waiting for him. He often permitted me to accompany him on his walks in the deep forests and thickets of the New World. I will never forget this happy period of my life! I was absolutely overjoyed listening to his opinions on different subjects. Moreau expressed his thoughts clearly, freely, and eloquently, but his form of expression was very much particular to him. One could notice in him the sensitivity and frankness of a military man as well as the education of a man of good breeding. He had read so much and with such attention that his conversation was always diverse, always extremely interesting and pleasant. However, he did not like to talk about the heroic deeds that had characterized his military service or about the persecutions he had suffered at the hands of his foes. Moreau 90

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was unable to forgive Bonaparte the misfortunes he inflicted on France, but generously had forgiven him for his own bad treatment. His angelic soul was above hatred, and his heart was averse to personal revenge. The only characteristics that I can remember are related to his imprisonment in Temple,70 when he showed all his glory by refusing the enticement of Napoleon’s agents, who were diligently attempting to force him to take a step toward rapprochement with Napoleon. When Bonaparte lost hope in sacrificing General Moreau to his jealousy, he sent F – – to see Moreau in the prison where he was held, in order to convince Moreau to accept offers that would bring him freedom and Napoleon’s friendship. However, they were curtly rejected by General Moreau, who stated that he preferred his fate to the fate of his persecutor. When Moreau arrived at the border of Spain, the officer who was escorting him on the order of the police told him in secret that if the general was interested in writing to the emperor, he could wait at the border for a fast and certainly a kind response. To this, the general responded that he not only did not want to write to the one whom the officer called his emperor, but he did not wish to have any contact with him. He loved to talk about the superb genius and military art of our immortal Suvorov,71 whom he judged, however, with unbiased austerity.* In the month of December he usually moved to New York. In his house he was visited by people of different opinions and belonging to different parties; however, his sensible modesty kept them within the bounds of moderation. The voice of animosity and contradictions would become silent in front of him, and it seemed that Moreau transmitted to all around him the spirit of consent and impartiality which he always exhibited in his own behaviour. He took part in politics with great reluctance; it seems that having found more happiness than he hoped for in the New World, he had turned his attention away from the discords

*In America Moreau began to compose commentaries on the errors made by historians who had described this hero. Unfortunately these notes, together with others, perished during a fire in Morrisville. It is known that our great Suvorov felt respect toward General Moreau. He called him the general of glorious retreats. “I, the grey old man, am understood by him,” Suvorov used to say about Moreau, “but I understand him even more. I am proud to encounter such a great man.”

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which were tearing the Old World apart. Nevertheless, American politicians consulted him as an oracle and observed with surprise that all his forecasts were realized. Seemingly, fate had destined his great spirit for great trials. Soon upon his arrival to America, he lost his only son, who was his entire solace.* His wife’s health suffered from the American climate, and she was forced to travel to France in order to improve her condition. The first time she was not permitted by Bonaparte to enter the country, and the next time she was held under strict surveillance in Bordeaux. Finally, in 1812 his house in Morrisville burned down, together with his entire library and with all the fascinating manuscripts. As much as he tried to forget all the memorable days of his misfortunes and sufferings, he was able to turn neither his thoughts nor his gaze from his fatherland. The love that he always felt toward his country, together with the hope that one day he would be called to help restore its glory and peace, were the reasons for his refusal to accept all the splendid offers that were used to persuade him to enter the service of foreign countries. Yet the misfortunes of the French army in Russia saddened General Moreau’s heart to such a degree (especially because of the true concern he felt for France) and so strongly filled him with indignation against its destroyer, that he considered it his duty to dedicate his talents to the success of the common pursuit and to universal peace. He would tell me often with distress: “This person covers the name of France with shame and defamation; soon one will be reluctant to call himself French. He has consigned my fatherland to the hatred and curse of the universe. Soon the French will be more detested than the Jews and will be more subject to universal disdain and shame.” Having lost hope of seeing France freed by some kind of effort by the French themselves, he felt it his duty to assist in his country’s rescue by accepting the offer of the state that in no way could be suspected of any kind of ambitious desires toward French land, for this state had armed itself only in order to repel the blatant invasion of its borders. Therefore, according to Moreau, he accepted the wishes of Emperor Alexander, absolutely relying on the emperor’s generosity and noble heart, but rejected *Now only one ten-year-old daughter of General Moreau was left.

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all flattering offers presented to him by the Russian minister attached to the American Provinces.72 Moreau had an unlimited trust in this monarch; therefore his reasons were different from those that have forced some military men to enter the service of foreign states. Having observed the zeal with which the military campaign was proceeding in Europe, Moreau felt a necessity to arrive at the front by June, and several times I heard from him expressions of impatience to reach it on time to make his recommendations useful. Nonetheless, his heart was hard torn between his duty toward his fatherland and his gentle love for his wife and daughter, who for health reasons had been living for more than ten months in France. He was afraid to leave such precious objects in the hands of a tyrant, for he had no information concerning the receipt of his letters by Mrs Moreau, in which he informed her about his departure. However, it seems that, regardless of distance, these great souls were able to understand each other, because in May the general received a letter from his wife, the secret meaning of which he alone could understand and the allegory she alone could create, and which clearly proved that she was expecting his departure for Europe. Therefore she would carry out all necessary measures. Finally, he decided to depart at the beginning of June. The Russian ambassador, Mr Dashkov, immediately obtained permission from the English admiral Cockburn73 to send an American ship with the courier to Europe. The admiral, having been notified of this secret, with all great haste offered all necessary assistance. After that, all our attention was devoted to efforts to conceal General Moreau’s departure from the spies of Bonaparte’s minister,74 because he would not give up a chance to send the French corsair in our pursuit or to use all the power of intrigue in order to detain us in America. Subsequently, waiting for the departure of the American minister travelling on the brig Argus to Paris75 held us for several more days. Eventually, on 21 May 1813,76 General Moreau and I embarked from Hell’s Gate on the ship Hannibal, which is considered to be the best burthen in the American marine and is 550 tons. Soon we had lost view of the American shores, and a fair wind brought us by 1 July to the banks of Newfoundland. Here, for about six hours, we entertained ourselves with fishing. Having a continuously fair wind and being surrounded 93

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by fogs, which seemed to protect us from the French and American corsairs, from whom we could only expect all kind of unpleasantness, we met not a single ship from this point until Gothenburg. I mentioned this to the general, adding that I believed that Providence took us under its aegis. On 22 July we cleared the Norwegian shores and met with the English frigate Hermodry under the command of Captain Chatham. When I arrived on board the frigate and announced to the captain that Moreau was present on the American ship, he immediately boarded the launch and went to see the general, offering him his service. Via this captain, Moreau received information about the arrival of his wife in England. This completely dispersed the clouds that had often darkened his brow during our journey. On 24 July77 we arrived at Gothenburg harbour. The general felt completely healthy during the entire time of our crossing and spent most of his time reading, which was his favourite pastime. I will describe neither General Moreau’s travel to Prague, which was for him, I dare to say, a triumphant procession, nor his meeting with the crown prince of Sweden,78 his old friend and fellow fighter, which presented a very touching picture. However, I will describe his reception by Emperor Alexander Pavlovich, when the sovereign, forgetting for a moment his high position, honoured the man whose military fame was the smallest of his virtues. In this, His Majesty showed how, by judging it in accordance with his own character, one can attract the heart and reward the great man! On 16 August at 8 p.m. General Moreau and I arrived in Prague – that is, one day before the cessation of the armistice. Immediately upon arrival the general sent me and Rapatel79 to His Majesty the emperor to receive his orders. His Majesty expressed his pleasure at Moreau’s arrival, suggested that after such a long and difficult journey, the general should relax that night, and that he would like to see the general tomorrow at 9 a.m. Meanwhile, His Majesty sent one of his aides-de-camp to congratulate the general on his arrival. The next day at 8:30 a.m., as I was coming down the stairs in order to examine the carriage, I met His Majesty on the staircase. I scarcely had time to warn the general when His Majesty entered the room. His Majesty embraced Moreau and spent

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more than two hours alone with him. After conducting His Majesty the emperor out, the general approached me and with tears in his eyes pronounced with great feeling: “My dear S – –, what a man is the Emperor Alexander! From this moment I am duty bound to lay down my life for him. And who would not give his life for him? All the flattering praises, all the high opinions that I had about this sovereign, are incomparably below this angel of gentleness.”80 The same day Moreau was introduced by His Majesty to both grand princesses81 and the day after to Emperor Franz,82 who, incidentally, thanked him for the soft-heartedness and philanthropy toward the emperor’s subjects that the general had displayed during the Rhine War.83 Upon the arrival of the king of Prussia in Prague,84 His Majesty wanted to introduce Moreau to His Royal Highness, but having understood that the general had to travel the next day to the army and that he barely had time for his own preparations, His Majesty sent Moreau home to wait for orders. We were waiting, while packing our suitcases, when suddenly the door flew open and the emperor entered together with the king of Prussia. Approaching Moreau, His Majesty said: “General! This is His Majesty, the king of Prussia!” after which the king addressed Moreau with these unforgettable words: “With great pleasure I hastened to visit the general so renowned for his dignity and virtues …” They remained more than two hours in heated conversation. From that time on, Moreau and Emperor Alexander were inseparable, until that horrible moment which interrupted the thread of Moreau’s beautiful life. The death of this hero is particularly remarkable in view of the heroic spirit with which he endured tremendous sufferings and in the unwavering calm and detachment with which he observed his increasing illness. Because his last thought was dedicated to our great sovereign, whom he had viewed justly as the restorer of calm in Europe, the one to whom France in time would be indebted for the overthrow of its tyrant and for the establishment of happiness based on the firm and just foundation of hereditary right. The 27th of August is a terrible day, marked by such great loss to Europe, by such misfortune for France, such cruelty for lovers of order and of true greatness! The weather was unbearable; the rain, which was

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coming down in buckets, blew directly into our faces, barely permitting the action of the guns. Despite all precautions, the rifles were so damp that they were unable to fire. The sovereign with his retinue was stationed across the enemy’s battery, which was attempting to knock out several of our guns. The cannonballs were flying among us every minute, but when a bomb exploded nearby, Moreau, wishing to remove His Majesty from the dangerous position, suggested that he show him a better place from which to observe the enemy’s action. Having reached a puddle, the sovereign’s horse, usually fearless, by mysterious fate, suddenly stopped. Meanwhile, as Moreau moved several steps forward, he was struck by the fatal blow! The cannonball tore off his right leg, passed through the horse, ripped the calf off the left leg, and shattered the knee. It is impossible to describe the pity felt by the emperor in face of such a terrible sight. He rushed to give all necessary help and comfort to the fallen hero, which might help ease the pain or support the general. The emperor was moved to tears when the general said to those who were around him: “I am lost … but how pleasant it is to die for such great cause and in front of such a great monarch!” Rapatel, in an attempt to hide from Moreau the danger of his condition, assured the general that it would be fairly easy to help him, that a man such as the general need only his head and his heart in order to serve and to continue on the brilliant road of glory. However, the general, not wishing to bring despair to these hopeful assurances of friendship, by his silence confirmed that he did not believe in these predictions and that already his great soul had met death without a shudder. A stretcher was hastily made from Cossacks’ pikes;85 the general was covered with cloaks and carried to the nearest small house, which apparently was located away from the enemy fire. Here Mr Wylie,86 His Imperial Majesty’s chief surgeon, immediately amputated the general’s right leg above the knee. When his first surgery was concluded, the general asked Mr Wylie to examine the other leg well and to make an attempt to save it. However, when he found out that this would be impossible to accomplish, he pronounced rather calmly: “In this case, remove it, but do it as soon as possible.” I could not neglect to note that during the anguish of both surgeries, the general exhibited absolutely supernatural strength of spirit. He tried to console those who were crying while 96

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witnessing his terrible agony. During the surgery itself, when the general found out that His Majesty the emperor had sent to inquire about his condition, he invited the messenger to come in; he initially questioned him about the movements of the army and only after asked him to thank His Majesty for his concern. Meanwhile, two cannonballs hit the house where Moreau was stationed and destroyed the corner of the room where he was lying. During the same evening the army received the command to retreat in order to align with General Blucher’s army,87 and we were required to follow the troops. On the 30th at midday we arrived at Lauen.88 The road across the mountains was terrible and very difficult even for a healthy person, but the general endured all the hardship and misfortunes, showing not the slightest sign of weakness. In this unusual strength, in this unbending spirit, we found new reasons for hope, particularly after the first dressing was examined and his wounds were deemed to be in the best possible condition. We were continuously obliged to carry him up and down steep mountains. Often, fast torrents blocked the road, or deep precipices and bubbling chasms on both sides of the passage barely allowed those who carried him to hold on. Several times His Majesty approached the sufferer, consoling him in every possible way and avoiding conversation that could distress him. Furthermore, I am unable to describe the sadness experienced by all the troops (those whom we passed) when they saw gravely wounded and carried on a stretcher the general who just several hours before was an object of the most favourable hopes and expectations. How many tears I observed on their faces covered by scars of bravery and glory! How many loyal and noble hearts I saw which were unable to endure this touching picture! Ten hours prior to his death, the general wrote by his own hand a letter to his wife, filled with short but strong expressions. Here it is: My dear friend! Three days ago, during the siege of Dresden, a cannonball tore off both my legs; the idler Bonaparte is still lucky! Surgery was performed as well as possible. Though the army is retreating, it is done only in order to unite with Blucher. Forgive my scribbling, 97

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I love you and kiss you with all my heart. I am assigning Rapatel to conclude. Victor Moreau.89 Immediately after the letter was written, his condition became worse, and the entire night of 2 September the general was troubled by hiccups, but seemingly he was not suffering. He repeatedly rang his bell and called either Rapatel or me, for he wished to dictate a letter to His Majesty the emperor. Finally at 6:30 a.m., when I was with him, he asked me to take a pen and dictated the following: Your Majesty! I am descending to my grave with the exact same feeling of esteem, awe, and devotion that was imprinted in my memory toward Your Highness from the first minute of our meeting.90 At that point he closed his eyes. I thought that he was contemplating the continuation of his letter, and I was holding my pen in readiness to proceed with the writing, but he was no more … the best and noblest of all people was no more! Death had not painted any sign of suffering or anguish on his face. He seemed to have fallen into a peaceful sleep, as peaceful as his heart always was. During his short but agonizing illness, composure never left him; seeing our tears and sadness, he would attempt to console us: “My friends,” he would say, “why be sad? One should accept fate without complaint!” His Majesty the emperor particularly felt the loss of Moreau, for he viewed him as the intermediary between the allied forces and the French people. And who would be better able to show to the French, whom he loved so much and who had treasured him, that the allies had raised their weapons not to enslave but to save them? The most remarkable honour rendered by His Imperial Majesty to the memory of this general is his letter written to Madame Moreau, which was sent to her with me from Teplitz. It is impossible to read without astonishment and with indifference the touching and noble expressions used by His Majesty in order to soften the sorrow that he himself felt. Greatness had never been expressed with more decency, and 98

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regrets had never used sweeter consolations. Everything in the exposition of this high spirit depicts His Majesty as protector and consoling friend. One could not see here any kind of strain or pretense but the feeling of solemn, true sadness in all its power. Everything that will be written about General Moreau could not compare either in its expression of sorrow or in its praise with these immortal lines. And if his inconsolable wife is asked, there is no doubt that she will say that these words restored her to a sense of existence, brought her back from the threshold of death, and that in reading them she was able to understand that it is possible to withstand the most cruel misfortunes which could strike the human heart. Here is this letter: Dear Madam! When the horrible misfortune struck General Moreau right next to me and deprived me of the experience and knowledge of this great man, I still cherished the hope that with our efforts we would save him for his family and for my friendship. Providence has decided differently. He has died as he lived, with the same strength of a firm and unbending spirit. Sincere shared compassion is the only solace in this ill fate. Dear Madame M – –, everywhere in Russia you will find this sentiment, and if it is suitable for you to settle there, I will use all my means in order to enhance the life of the person of whom it is my solemn duty to be the consoler and supporter. I beg you, Dear Madame M., to rely on me firmly; do not conceal from me a single instance where I could be of any help and write to me always directly. To anticipate your wishes will be my pleasure. The friendship I felt toward your husband goes beyond the tomb, and I have no other means to express it, at least in part, but by doing something for the well being of his family. My Dear Madam, in these sad and cruel circumstances, please accept the assurances of these sincere feelings. Signature: Alexander. Teplitz, 6 September 1813.91 It seems impossible to end the description of my hero’s last minutes any better than by portraying the brilliant act conducted by General 99

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Moreau in the eyes of all Europe and by contemplations that command deep respect toward this great man’s talents and virtues. As the misfortunes were ready to strike France, there appeared among the armies of the allied forces the general who was the enemy of Bonaparte and the friend of the French people, and who spent more than eight years in exile from his fatherland, which he had served with honour and loyalty. Having been the victim of envy caused by his great achievements which had been aroused in the soul of Bonaparte, who fought all fame ahead of his own and all virtues alien to his heart, Moreau had allowed his name to be forgotten, particularly until France was enjoying at least some calm in the celebrations of its despot. However, what was this true patriot, who more than once had sacrificed his ambitions and had forgotten all grievances in order to save the French army, expected to do after the catastrophe in Russia? Could he suffer in silence the misfortunes of his fatherland and mourn the end of these brave men? Indeed, was he supposed to view calmly the destruction of France, the France that was the object of his love and sorrow? To suppress his wishes to see it again revived under a caring and charitable government? No! His inaction in this desperate position for France would have been equal to treason, and Moreau was never as great as during the time when, disdaining the opinions of weak souls and the malicious statements of his pursuer and of French journalists, he presented himself to the allied forces and offered his help in actions against the tyrant of France. He gave the French people the guarantee that European monarchs were waging war, not against them, but against the vanity of their ruler. The love that Moreau always held toward his fatherland, the ambition that he had found not in ruling but in serving it, his wise and generous actions during the repeated persecutions, initially from the Directorate and subsequently from Bonaparte – here everything served as proof that in his last enterprise, which ended his glorious life, he had been governed by the most pure and virtuous motives. He had not been searching for either rank or wealth; he had not been contesting the power of the despot in order to become a despot himself. His entire life serves as proof that he was pure and moderate in his desires, and that his modesty would not permit him to accept even elevation into the circle of great people and great generals assigned to him by common opinion. 100

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Twice he had the opportunity to become the head of France, but he was afraid of the temptations of power and of the extraordinary responsibility connected to high rank. He had asked his heart and discovered that he was unable to be cruel; he had measured his strength and found that he was unable to rule France. Bonaparte had no such doubts and as a result of his unrestrained vanity, in its blindness searching solely for the fulfillment of his wishes and for the hoarding of riches, greedily usurped the power that had been rejected by the great man and the great patriot.

niagara falls I have just recently returned from under this amazing arch;* I was tired, overcome, and almost suffocated! Somehow, after I had climbed up on the wild cliff located across the waterfall itself, I hastened to bring my thoughts, which were in a turmoil similar to this chasm, to order. I rushed to relieve my chest, which was rising strongly; I rushed to shake off the enchantment! Having been astonished and fascinated by the greatness of objects in comparison to which I seem a weak and insignificant atom, I raised my thoughts to the Wise Creator of these miracles and with reverence kissed His omnipotent hand! But how should I describe everything I felt and everything I witnessed? The hand of the most skilful painter could present an elegant picture of the visible beauty, but would it be able to depict this disturbance, this chaos, and this harmony? Could the inspired pen of a poet transmit to the soul of the reader, peacefully sitting on his sofa, these numerous impressions, this involuntary rigidity and veneration that encompasses and binds the feelings of the observer when he, with horror and trepidation, views this amazing phenomenon, sometimes clinging to fragments of the cliffs crumbling under his feet or to constantly breaking branches of dried-up trees; when he is climbing up or coming down the heights using decrepit, shaking stairs, hanging between life and eternity by holding onto overgrown trees? *As a result of the extreme speed, the water, during its fall, creates an arch, under which one can freely pass.

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I tremble every time I recollect the reckless audacity that enticed me under the waterfall’s arch. The traveller who wishes to observe everything must have an insurmountable curiosity in order to overcome all the dangers and hardships associated with travels. How many times his courage and fortitude are tested, particularly when he descends under the arch of the waterfall? All his fearlessness, all his presence of mind, is mandatory here. It is necessary to forget that above his head the deep and fast river is falling, or that one torn-off rock, one spray, may bring him to the bottom of the bubbling chasm and that nothing in human power will be able to save him! Despite the fact that the platform or the road under the arch is wider than six feet and is fairly smooth, the tumult of all objects, the terror that involuntarily encompasses anyone, the deafening thunder, “the boiling of hell,” and the tremors of the granite make every step unsteady. In addition, the air, as a result of the strong falling of the water, is so thin that one’s breath stops in his chest, and it is impossible to take more than ten steps forward. Looking at this light, crystal wall that seems motionless and hangs in the air, it is hard to believe that it is the same untamed river that flows above among the granite cliffs with such a surge and rage; or that which swirls with crackling noise and boils in the immeasurable chasm beneath! The best view of Niagara Falls appears from the cliff called Table Rock and is located about one versta from it. From there one could embrace all the objects with a glance. Niagara Falls is formed by the fall of the Niagara River, which has its source on the eastern side of Lake Erie and, after running along for thirtysix miles, falls into Lake Ontario. The river is separated into three parts by islands located in the middle. The largest and most magnificent among them is the one located on the English side and called the big or the Horseshoe.* It is 1,890 feet wide and is 178 feet above sea level; the other island is located on the side of the American provinces and is 182 feet above sea level, but is only 900 feet wide. The width of the third island, which is separated from the second one by a small, naked cliff, is no more than 20 feet. The width of the large island is 870 feet. The *It is named the Horseshoe because it appears as a semicircle.

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Niagara Falls – Table Rock by Moonlight, ca. 1811–13. mma, Rogers Fund, 1942 (42.95.38)

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constant noise that assaults the hearing resembles the roar of a terrible storm or the crackle of demolition and drives away from its neighbourhood not only birds but also most predatory animals. It shakes all the senses and the limbs of the observer. From the midst of the abyss, a foaming pillar rises more than 2,000 feet high. In the summer it gives birth to black blazing clouds floating constantly above the horizon. It seems that: Perouns 92 are given to Zeus, And the furious waves to the River Styx.93 Niagara Falls serves as the source of the greatest lakes in the world, for it has been calculated that here descends the waters from lakes and rivers which are more than 200,000 versta in diameter.* The extremely high altitude of Lake Erie, which is located around 400 feet above Lake Ontario, increases the speed of the flow. It is impossible to understand how these granites are able to withstand the force of the water or how the earth is not washed through to its antipodes when the mass of the water, according to hydraulic calculations, is 206,588,000 pounds per minute (pouring out 12,948,400 cubic pounds of water) and when each drop participates in a common movement.

*Lake Erie is 3,000 square French miles. Lake St Clair is 380 Huron is 7,420 Michigan is 4,780 Green Bay is 475 Superior is 12,756 The four lakes of the big crossing are 1,740. The fourteen lakes located toward Rainy Lake are 2,240 Rainy Lake is 2,175 Red Lake is 2,000 Forest Lake is 1,900 [Translator’s note: The use of French miles (1 French mile = 4,17 versta, or 14,595 feet) most probably reflects to the fact that Svin’in copied this information from a French source.]

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However, it has been noticed by naturalists that since its discovery, Niagara Falls has shifted its space considerably backwards. This is noticeable from the description provided by Charlevoix, who visited the falls in 1720.94 Many older people recollect the falls’ changes; for example, about sixty years ago one could see on the mountainous ridges of the falls the extending cliffs, which now have completely disappeared. Based on the remaining rocks and other indicators, it is thought that these falls were initially near the city of Kingston, located about twelve versta closer to Lake Ontario. How insignificant, how small, in comparison to these falls are the ones on the Rhine and in Egypt! The steep shores of the Niagara River are the heart of the Allegheny Mountains’ ridges which, encircling the southern part of Ontario all the way to Toronto, cross the land of the Mississaugas 95 and become lost in the mountains of the Hudson, covered by permanent snow. In order to enjoy this unparalleled charming view, one must observe the falls during sunset, when they seem to be engulfed in flames and their sprays appear as fiery sparks; during sunrise, when three multicoloured rainbows adorn them, or during the moonlit bright night, looking at them from the shadows of the granite cliffs! In addition, during a beautiful winter day at noon, these falls present for the eyes and for the imagination the most magnificent and wonderful picture that can be found on earth. The gloomy and wild cliffs, the black pine trees and bushes, everything that can be seen during the summer, has disappeared; everything appears in a different form and shape; everything is a new creation. The particles of water, flying away from the fall of the river and carried far away in different directions by the wind, cloak all the nearby objects in a white cover and shining crystals, giving to these objects the most strange and unusual forms. Here one can imagine the appearance of enormous Gothic buildings; one could conceive colossal pyramids, magnificent columns, ruins, etc. During this time of the year the island located in the middle of the falls appears as a magic palace, The materials of which Are emeralds, opals, Porphyry, azures, carbuncles, crystals, 105

Niagara Falls – Canadian Side by Moonlight, ca. 1811–13. mma, Rogers Fund, 1942 (42.95.39)

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Pearls, and rubies, In other words, all splendid rarities of nature. During the winter the foamy pillar appears as a typhoon 96 made of silver and gold sparkles, playing on the blue ether. This pillar serves as a guide for travellers at all times, and during clear weather it can be seen from as far away as twenty versta; from Lake Erie and Lake Ontario it can be seen from twice as far away. From four to five versta away a hollow rumble is heard, which increases as one comes closer, so that right near the falls speech cannot be heard and it is necessary to scream in each other’s ear. At a distance of two or more versta unusual dampness and humidity can be felt, which penetrates clothes and increases as one approaches the falls. In no longer a period than one hour the garments become as wet as if they were doused by water or were lying for a long time under the pouring rain. Many strange and miraculous legends about Niagara Falls survived among the savages who populate the area of Lakes Ontario and Erie. In these tales, as in many other stories of these people, are depicted mainly the barbarity of the whites and the generosity and courage of the savages. I will mention here one true event that remains still in the memory of many older people. An English sailor from one of the military ships was passing by a place located several versta above the falls. Having noticed an Indian beauty who was sleeping on the shore, he took it into his head to abduct her. The awakened Indian woman attempted to reach the boat tied by the shore in which her husband was sleeping, but before she was able to complete her intention, the sailor had time to cut the rope by which the boat was tied to the tree. The boat was immediately forced downstream toward the abyss and soon was caught in the rapids. Then the Indian man, awakened by the unusual vibrations of the boat, grabbed the oar and with amazing strength and artistry turned the boat. Nevertheless, his strength and artistry were all in vain against the ferocity of the waves. Having realized his inevitable death, he with amazing composure put down the oar, wrapped himself in a leather skin, and once more lay down in the boat, which soon fell into the abyss and disappeared for eternity! The small bays located near the

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falls are filled with splinters of wood, dead fish, and different objects broken into smithereens from the descent.

the amusements of the indians, the native inhabitants of north america I will leave for another time a detailed description of the Indians,97 these interesting and little-known people, who present a wide field for conjectures for the historian and who are surprising in the diversity of their character and traditions. They combine fierce brutality with generosity, self-interest with unselfishness, ardent mind and acumen with low bestiality, violent conduct with gentleness. Here I intend to describe their dances, which I was able to see in Philadelphia on 10 August 1812 and which will give a sufficient understanding of their disposition as well as of their different traditions. It is impossible not to mention here also a surprising similarity that I have noticed between the Indians and the inhabitants of the Caucasus mountains. It is known that hospitality is considered by the Circassians 98 to be a sacred virtue; the Indians say that the sale of hospitality is the gravest sin. [The Circassians believe] that a visitor who is able to attract a woman is protected by a shield of common love and his life becomes sacred for the entire nation; such a trait is even stronger among Indians. When they gather to celebrate the joy of their revenge against a prisoner and with greedy delight prepare the sacrifice to their rage, if there is no miracle to invoke their leniency and no power to save the unfortunate, the Indian woman* by one word can return life, freedom, and safety to the prisoner condemned to torture. She has only to acknowledge him as her brother, son, or husband,** and his destiny is changed; the enemies who until that moment considered his demise to be their duty, their pleasure and honour, now deem it their sacred responsibility to take care of his safety and accept him into their society with brotherly love. Both [the Circassians and the Indians] feel equal loathing toward European customs and toward all the advantages acquired in life from *It is known that Indian women are considered slaves and perform all the low tasks. **It is called an adoption.

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Two Indians and a White Man in a Canoe, ca. 1811–13. mma, Rogers Fund, 1942 (42.95.33)

education. There were cases of English who took Indian children and gave them the best upbringing; the children, because of their abilities, made amazing progress, but as soon as they gained freedom, they would discard European dress, paint themselves in a most ugly way, and revert to their initial savagery. This is similar to the Circassian graduate of a Russian university who in his own mountains commences the advantages of education with the theft of horses! The Indian looks with disdain at the peaceful peasant and believes that the red man is born for a higher purpose – for war with animals. On 9 August 1812 a delegation to the American government arrived in Philadelphia on their way to Washington, sent by the tribes of Little Osage,99 Great Osage,100 Arkansas Osage,101 Sioux, Iowa, Sac, and Fox in order to sign an agreement stating the conditions for their help for the United States in the current war against England. The delegation consisted of thirty-six warriors; there also were two chiefs and the famous Micco Sioux,102 the chief of the tribe of the same name. One of the chiefs was called the Son of the Glorious Small Wind, and the name of the other was Earless; the spokesman of the delegation was named Black Thunder; the names of the main warriors were Hard Oak, Dread of the 109

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Buffalo, Horns, Red Mug, Etavakon, Tantagaman, Arrow, etc. It should be mentioned that the Indians send delegations to the English, the Americans, and the Spanish more on account of greed than for any kind of political negotiations. It could be compared with ancient times when the Tartar Khans were sending missions to the Russian czars only in order to acquire gifts.107 Therefore the Miccos or the chiefs of the tribes, together with their families, travel as ambassadors. The directors of the Olympic theatre in Philadelphia104 took advantage of the Indians’ passage through the city and convinced them for $100 to present all their national dances on stage. The gathering of people was most numerous, and the theatre was lit extremely brightly. At 7 p.m. the curtain was raised, and we saw on stage the group of savages with women and children in different positions. Their frightful faces were painted with different colours or drawn with black and blue designs. Some of them were dressed in buffalo skins with buffalo horns on their heads. Others were embellished with various feathers, gaily coloured snakeskin, and trinkets, but most of them were completely naked. All of this presented a spectacle that was all together ghastly, new, and picturesque. The dances began with the sacred dance, called the dance of the ring,105 by which the Indians usually celebrate the new year, which occurs in the month of August when all the fruits are completely ripened. This holiday is the most sacred, joyful, and beautiful for all American savages. On this day they dress in new attire and throw the old garments and the remains of provisions into a fire. Universal forgiveness is announced, and every criminal who was expelled or left his village may return to his family without punishment. Three days before the holiday a strict fast is observed. The orator, Black Thunder, was acting as the sorcerer and priest. At the sound of the hollow beat of the drum, whistles, and a mournful wild roar, the sorcerer rubbed a new fire from a branch of the dry wood on the stage. The first flame was the sign for common joy; all fell to their knees in front of the new fire and subsequently, creating a circle, began to jump with terrifying roars and to bang with their feet. Whoever wanted to ignited their own flames [from the common one] and took them to their dwellings. Afterwards the women appeared with new provisions, fruit, and drinks, which added 110

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more joyfulness and noise to their wild delight. The main harmony of their songs consisted of dogs barking, the piercing mewing of cats, the roar of predatory animals, and the imitation of different birds. Among Indians this holiday usually lasts four days, which they spend dancing, visiting each other, and if vodka106 is available, in heavy drinking. The women and children can attend the public gathering and share in this entertainment only in the evening, but during the day they can amuse themselves in their dwellings. Nothing can be more terrifying and disgusting, nothing can present more of the animal savagery of nature’s wild children, as their military dance, called the discovery, or the scouting.107 With this dance, they celebrate their return from a military campaign. At that time all the loot and prisoners were brought in. The prisoners, depending on the degree of hatred against the enemy, were put to death by terrible means, such as burning by fire, etc. When the curtain was raised again, we could see on the stage only Indian women with children. Soon after, from behind the wings a drawling and piercing roar sounded that was repeated three times: goun, goun, goun! Following a victory, as the men approach their dwellings, this sound announces the number of prisoners; this cry could be carried a fairly far distance in the forests and mountain canyons. Afterwards the warriors appeared, loaded with loot and carrying their military flag. They hanged the scalps* among the trees, and everyone came *The scalp is the name of the skin from the upper part of the head, which Indians take off with amazing speed from the head of the enemy they have killed. For this, they usually use knives or one side of their tomahawks (the headbreaker or the axe), which is very sharp. Having toppled the enemy on the ground, the Indian immediately pounces on him and takes off his scalp, regardless of the person being alive or dead. For this purpose the Indian grabs the enemy with his left hand by the hair, and placing his foot on the enemy’s chest, with his right hand he cuts the skin from the head together with the ears. In absence of hair, he helps with his teeth to tear away the skin. Not one Indian would miss an occasion to take the scalp off the defeated enemy, despite exposing himself to great danger, because often he gets killed during the event. Some Indian tribes preserve scalps from generation to generation, and like the mummies of ancient Egypt, these scalps are the most precious and sacred possession in the family, the one of which they are proud and for which they are famed. [Translator’s note: It seems that Svin’in “borrowed” this information from Carver’s book on North America. See Carver, Three Years Travels, 233.]

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to enjoy the view of these bloody and disgusting trophies. Three Indians with their hands tied behind their backs played the captives. On the stage a fire was built for their burning. At this point, their dances depicted only a mob of barbarians who were jumping or, to put it better, raging in wild pleasure with roars and hollering accompanied by the sounds of drums, rattles, and pipes. In midst of these frenzied cannibals, the prisoners, engulfed in flames, would sing military hymns in which usually they celebrated their heroic deeds, reproached their tyrants for cowardice and treason, and stoically ended their lives with great suffering. The smallest weakness shown by the sufferer is considered a disgrace for his entire tribe and thus would direct at him the curses of even women and children. The many examples known in history prove that these savages know how to die with the fearless heroism of enlightened nations, and that their blood, which boils during the battle, cools off in the midst of the fire’s flames. Who could not recall here the event when one Indian chief, while ablaze on the red-hot coals, had asked his executioners, promising him haven in the other world only if he accepted Christianity, if he would meet the Spaniards there? “Certainly,” the monks answered. “In this case, put more coals underneath me,” were his last words. The theatrical announcement included a Cherokee song that is normally sung by prisoners in these cases. Regardless of its translation into bad English poetry, it seems that it is very close to the original, and despite this, it strongly expresses the high feeling of heroism and barbarism. Here it is: The fierce flame is raging; the fire is already blazing! And the blood in my chest is bubbling and boiling, I am engulfed in a black smoke and flame, And pale death stands before me! But am I to tremble? Am I to fear death? I, before whom the enemies fled in the fields; Who single-handed, dared to fight the entire army, And by a dreaded arm had planted among them death and fear!

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I, whose tomahawk had struck them down as the all-crushing thunder, Whose arrows like feathers had flown towards the enemies, Who had torn off throngs of heads, who was everywhere the victor, Who had drunk villainous blood from enemies’ skulls! Feast your eyes, barbarians, in my anguish! Already my brothers are preparing a terrible revenge in my name! You will pay them with your sufferings, But you will not be able to endure these torments as I do!108 During the Canadian war the chief of the Onondaga tribe, captured by the Huron, was burned by fire amidst the cruellest torments. He so much annoyed his enemies by this song of death that a young Huron who became enraged and lost his temper struck him several times in the chest with a knife. “You are very stupid,” the sufferer told him calmly. “You are unable to halt your rage. Don’t you see that by ending my life you are ending, together with it, the pleasure of your revenge and denying me the ability to show how the chief of the Onondagas mastered the endurance of the horror of death?” Even though the Indians borrowed nothing from the enlightened Europeans, at least their greed and the rapid depletion of their numbers almost stopped their internecine wars and ended among most of these people the custom of tormenting their prisoners.109 The Europeans, who knew this barbarian custom, always fought them like lions and never surrendered to them. However, once they were able to capture one brave English sergeant. Because they were very much undermined by this nation, the Indians were preparing for the sergeant a terrible and slow agony. When they were leading him to the scaffold, he was struck by the fortunate idea of how to escape the terrible torture. “Brave Indian,” he stated, “you have seen the throngs of your brothers who fell by my hand, you saw that your arrows like hail bounced off and broke against my chest. You should know that through magic I have become invincible, but I intend to disclose this secret to you out of respect for your

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courage. Then you will prevail against your enemies, then you will retrieve the lands that were wrongly taken away from you by the white people! To prove that I am telling the truth, let the strongest among your warriors strike my neck with the heaviest tomahawk and you will see that I will stay unharmed.” He lowered his head on the stone and the chief himself struck the blow by which he completely severed the head from the body. At this point the Indians saw that they were fooled by the cunning prisoner.* This dance ended with the arrival of a scout, who announced his discovery of the enemy. At that point the military dance commenced, which resembled manoeuvres; sometimes they would form themselves into platoons, attack, and then disperse. In general this dance consisted of the peaceful stomping of the feet without any jumps; the music and the songs consisted of uninterrupted noise with revolting, shrill exclamations uga! uga! The third dance is called the pipe dance or the peace dance.110 Each generation of Indians saves among its sacred possessions the peace pipe, which is usually brought to the chief during a peaceful celebration or during the reception of famous foreigners. During these events the chief fills the pipe with tobacco, lights it, and lets out the smoke initially in the direction of the sun, then to all four sides, and eventually toward the chest of the ambassador or the famous visitor. Finally, the chief gives the pipe to the visitor. This pipe usually is about 1.5 arshin long111 and

*This reminds me of a humorous anecdote that was told by Caver in his travels in America. In Quebec, after the peace was signed with the Indians, the English officers were talking about their friend who was lost during the battle with the savages. Among them were several Indian chiefs. When the officers began to praise their friend, one of the chiefs joined them in the praises, adding that the officer was an excellent man, and to the question of how he knew him, the chief responded: “Why should he be a stranger to me, when I managed to make an enjoyable meal out of him?” [Translator’s note: In this footnote Svin’in attributes the story to information found in the book of a traveller to North America by the name “Caver.” One can assume that it is a misspelling of Jonathan Carver’s name; however, there is no such story in Carver’s book. Contrary to this statement, Carver asserts that, despite the statements of some observers, Indians do not practise cannibalism; see Carver, Three Years Travels, 190–1.)

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is wrapped in the skin of a motley snake; it is adorned with multicoloured shiny feathers and corals. In addition, the banner of peace is brought out; it is made by Indians with great care from the tail of the white eagle and is shaped like a large fan. During war it is painted with purple paint. After this ceremony they began the dance that is used in these cases. They created two circles, one made up of men, the other of women. The first circle began to move clockwise, and the other in the opposite direction, smoothly, barely moving their feet. At each step the men hit themselves on the shoulders with the palms of their hands, emitting wild and loud exclamations. The women answered by clapping their hands and by screaming shrilly, which created a harmony rather “delicate” for our ears. However, everything looked surprisingly precise in its measures; afterwards, the fast dances were accompanied by the sounds of drums and whistles. Truly, the dances were rather curious, because each participant was imitating some kind of animal: one was jumping like a goat and was bleating, another was barking like a dog and running on all fours, the third was roaring like a tiger, and all of them were doing this in a rhythm. Generally, the Indians dance in a position that we call v prisiadku (squat dance), using all of their limbs and muscles. It is rather a pity that they did not perform for us their most important and curious ceremony conducted during the signing of the peace, the burial of the tomahawk. This is how it was performed in 1734 according to Franklin’s notes.112 At the onset of this ceremony one of the chiefs announced: “in order for the peace to continue forever let’s bury the tomahawk under the hundred-year-old oak.” The other chief mentioned that trees were susceptible to hurricanes and even the one hundred-year-old oak could be uprooted by the force of wind; therefore it would be better to lower the tomahawk into the middle of the mountain. The third chief suggested throwing the tomahawk into a deep lake, where it could stay for a century and no mortal would be able to find it. This proposal was accepted and carried out. During this ceremony, special dancing and singing was performed. The fourth and the last dance was the buffalo dance,113 and it was the strangest among them. All the Indians on the theatre’s stage appeared in buffalo skins and resembled absolutely the inhabitants of hell. Just imagine how they appeared to us with their bronzed, dreadfully painted 115

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faces protruding from the hairy buffalo skin, which was put on together with horns, particularly when the Indians began to bellow and roar in imitation of this animal. The buffalo hunt is a favourite amusement of the wild Americans. It is conducted in different ways. First, it can be done with a gun or with a quiver. In this case it is necessary for the shooter to be very careful and to attempt to avoid in any way approaching the buffalo downwind, because these animals have an acute sense of smell. Meanwhile, moving against the wind, one can approach it closely, because a buffalo is unable to see well far away with his eyes covered by the long front hair. Furthermore, a shot must hit the animal in the shoulders; otherwise, it will only irritate the buffalo and make it dangerous. Another method can be described in the following way: large numbers of Indians assemble in the salt marshes where every year the buffalo usually arrive in countless numbers of herds from the shores of the Mississippi in order to lick the salt and bathe in the salty water. After the buffalo are enclosed in a large square, each side sets fire to the dry grass and with the help of the flames moves the animals to the centre. These animals are very much afraid of fire and seeing the flames from all sides, run to the centre en masse, where they are at once killed in the thousands. A trap captures no fewer number of these animals. Indians possess a great artistry in luring the animals into the traps by dressing in animal skins and completely imitating their bellows. With this last amazement the spectacle ended. The Indians are passionately fond of dancing, music, singing, and storytelling. For this they gather together, mostly at night, in the light of brightly lit fires. Many of these tribes designate a special time when young people from the surrounding areas get together in order to hear from the elders the legends from which their tablets are solely composed.

fishing on the banks of newfoundland The banks of Newfoundland, or so-called Terre Neuve, are very famous for cod fishing; the banks are considered to be the richest in the world. They have one of the greatest underwater mountainous reefs, 160 miles 116

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long and 90 miles wide. However, the two ends stretch so far into the sea that it is impossible to determine its size precisely. In the middle, on the European side, there is a kind of bay or ditch. Newfoundland is located at 51 degrees latitude west and 50 degrees longitude. In a straight line the distance from St Petersburg is more than 5,000 versta, and from continental America at the closest point the distance is 700 versta. The shallowest place around is 20 sazhen’ deep, and the deepest is up to 90 sazhen’.114 The sun very rarely shows up here from behind the black clouds; the damp and cold air gives birth to fogs, which almost always rule here. On 29 September 1811 (according to the old calendar), after twentyfour days of happy sailing, we arrived from Kronstadt at these banks. The depth turned out to be 82 sazhen’. Suddenly, however, the nasty wind carried us back into the ocean, and only nearly three days later did we again reach the land, manoeuvring in incessant fog in the horrible roughness of the sea. On 1st October [13 October, according to the new calendar] at 7 a.m. the thermometer we lowered into the sea showed 9 degrees difference between the temperature of the atmosphere and that of the water, which convinced us that we had reached the banks. The lowered sounding lead indicated that we were located at 32 sazhen’ deep. This is the most convenient depth for fishing, and we immediately decided to drift at anchor. The morning was unusually beautiful, not a single cloud had darkened the sun, and a light wind barely rippled the sea and just slightly fluttered our sails. We were breathing the cleanest, lightest air. In St Petersburg we may see such a morning in July. We cast ten fishing rods; each of us handled two. In less than five minutes we had six big fish. It is impossible to describe the pleasure, the happiness that one enjoys from successful fishing. In three hours we caught more than two hundred fish; some of these were around 45 pounds each and only six or seven were 10 pounds. We barely had time to cast the rod, and the catch was there, sometimes with two fish suddenly at the time. The cod has scales of a light blue colour with green spots; its belly is perfectly white; its eyes are very big and blue, and its jaws are enormous; the lips, especially, are extremely large. The amount of cod caught every year on these banks surprises all the entrepreneurs. It is possible that this place is cod’s “capital,” or that the properties of the bottom 117

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soil are very nutritious for it and attracts cod here, for it usually stays on the sea bottom or swims there. The fishermen who come here are never unsuccessful; they always return with a sure catch. Having chosen a convenient spot, they cast anchor and do not move until their ships are filled with fish. At night they light a number of lanterns and constantly strike bells in order to protect themselves from the passing ships, which, because of the almost ever-present fog, could easily run them down.* Meanwhile, as we were fishing, whales, the huge czars of the seas, were moving noisily around our ship, entertaining us with rainbow-like fountains extracted high above from their nostrils; this was accompanied by a whistle. It seemed that they had declared war against us in order to avenge the depletion of their kingdom. They would approach the ship so close that we were able to see their terrible jaws; two of them were enormous. Flocks of seabirds were flying above us in the air; some of them were so bold that they would dive onto the whales’ backs and peck at them, but this hardly bothered the sea wonders. A similar number of birds were hovering above our ship; with cries, they tore away from each other the pieces we were tossing to them. Finally they all rushed after one object; they all chased after the fish that had escaped from our fishing rod and was swimming almost on the water’s surface. At that point they began an internecine battle: sometimes in disarray, they would land on the water and go up and down on the waves. Their bright whiteness mixed with the azure of the sea, creating a startling contrast. Sometimes they would dive into the water after the fish and then soar into the air. After almost thirty days, without seeing anything else but the boundlessness and uniformity of the sea waves, our gaze was eager for any new occurrence, for any kind of change, and therefore we found in the birds’ combat great pleasure, which was absent otherwise on the sea. The French navigator John Cabot discovered Newfoundland, together with these banks, in 1497.115 Soon after, the importance of the *Many praise the fog on these banks. It contains a large amount of oxygen, which is very healing for the consumptive. I met two women in America who were completely cured of vicious consumption after conducting two trips to these banks.

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Replenishing the Ship’s Larder with Codfish off the Newfoundland Coast, ca. 1811–13. mma, Rogers Fund, 1942 (42.95.1)

fishing brought it to the attention of the English government, and in 1582 Queen Elizabeth i sent Lord Hampshire with five ships to establish permanent settlements there for the fishermen and to thereby encourage this pursuit.116 In 1615 more than 250 English ships were already coming here for fish, which amounted to 10,000 tons of barrels. Cod fishing continues here all year round. Local cod surpasses in taste all other supplied from northern European seas. Unfortunately, because of its tenderness, it cannot be delivered fresh anywhere and is distributed in salted or dried form. England, France, and Spain, one after the other, made attempts to capture this trade, and each one intermittently more or less owned it, but they were never satisfied with their portion, and each of them, always covertly and sometimes even openly, attempted to gain the upper hand in this competition. Now this trade belongs solely to the English and the Americans. It is known from the accounts of Parliament that fishing brings to England about £400 sterling in a usual year; it could bring even more. Generally, at the present time, fishing is not in the same 119

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flourishing state as it was before, when France and other states participated equally in fishing.* Now barely one thousand ships participate in this trade, among those six hundred belong to Americans, which arrive here from the shores of Scotia and from Boston; the others are English. However, the English ships are twice as big as the American, and therefore the Americans have no advantage over the English. One can assume that no more than 12,000 people engage in this trade. After southern Europe is supplied with the fish, it is taken for sale in Africa. At 3 p.m. a favourable wind appeared, and we were making about nine knots an hour for more than fifteen versta, without even feeling it. It seemed that our ship was not moving; this is the true pleasure and advantage of navigation! The invention of the ship is truly the most important, the most beneficial creation of the human mind; the perfection reached by navigation at present astonishes the most daring imagination! Toss the navigator into the middle of a sea unknown to him, and he will look at the sky, see the sun or the stars, and the sextant will show him where he is. Let the winds blow, and let the elements rage: But the daring ship is flying Having waved her vast wings, Toward the invisible, faraway lands. In vain the yawning abyss is under her! In vain the billowing waves attempt to deter her! … Here man triumphs over the laws of nature; he subjugates or, so to speak, fetters the winds themselves. Toward evening we entered the Mexican gulf stream, which reaches this area all the way from the shores of Mexico without mixing with the sea. In this way it maintains the warmth of the water, which it receives by washing over volcanoes at the sea bottom between the shores of Florida and the island of Cuba. Being continuously widened, it stretches in the shape of a half moon into the ocean for more than three *Very likely France and Holland, after the universal peace is reached, will resume their rights!

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thousand versta with an almost equal force, mixing with the sea later on. At its start it is so fast that without a strong wind, it will carry the ship backward. The present evening and night were even more charming than the morning. The silence was disturbed by nothing, aside from the quiet sound of waves created by the movement of the ship. On one side, the moon was peeping out from behind the dark clouds; on the other, a comet* was blinding us with its brilliance. Is it possible to view this herald of incomprehensibility without rapture? Without any doubt, by flowing round the universe [those bodies] in each world fulfil some kind of predetermination of the Creator! Certainly, only during this happy moment is it possible for the ship traveller to forget himself, to enjoy true pleasure on the sea, to forget all the dangers and all the calamities of life at sea, to forget that only one board separates him from inevitable death. And there is one more new, magnificent sight: the spurts and the foam created by the movement of the ship plowing through the sea waves, which are spreading like fire. It is terrifying to see these sprays falling like flaming rain onto the deck! The trail of the rudder, particularly, appears like a streaming fiery snake pursuing the ship. It is wonderful! It is delightful!

*This was written in 1811. [Translator’s note: The Great Comet of 1811 was visible to the naked eye for around 260 days. It was discovered on 25 March 1811 by Honoré Flaugergues and confirmed by Jean-Louis Pons and Franz Xaver, Baron Von Zach, in April. In October 1811, at the time when Svin’in was sailing the waters of Atlantic near the coast of Newfoundland, the comet was at its brightest and was nearest to the earth.]

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appendix ` Observations of a Russian in America: A Look at the Free Visual Arts in the United States of America P A V E L P. S V I N ’ I N

Translated by Marina Swoboda

The passion for the fine arts is the passion of the noble soul; it is the passion of a wealthy and independent nation. Rome and Greece are still breathing through greatness and power in the ruins of their monuments.*

If one presents the United States as the new world, which, according to the length of its existence is, so to speak, still in its infancy, then it has had astonishing and enormous achievements in some areas of the fine arts. Already, many American artists have distinguished themselves and [Taken from the manuscript of] Picturesque Voyage through North America by the publisher of Notes of the Fatherland in 1811, 1812, and 1813. [Tranlator’s note: These “Observations” appeared in Notes of the Fatherland from May to July 1829; see Svin’in, “Nabliudeniia russkogo v Amerike.”] *The speech of Mr Hopkinson about the free visual arts, which he gave in 1810 at the opening of the Academy of the Arts in Philadelphia. [Translator’s note: Joseph Hopkinson (1770–1842) the son of Francis Hopkinson, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, was born in Philadelphia. He was admitted to the bar in 1791 and later served as president of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts.]

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achieved fame with their talents, even in Europe. America is proud of its Wests, Trumbulls, and Stuarts.1 It should be acknowledged that Americans naturally have a great gift for the arts. In order to present our observations as systematically as possible, we will try to analyze each of the free arts separately according to their field. First, we will review paintings, then architecture, and finally sculpture. It can be said confidently that prior to the American Revolution the conditions of this land were such that the first priority for its inhabitants was only to procure the bare necessities of life. The disagreements in Europe, which had now lasted for more than twenty years, by placing the entire trade in American hands, gave them the means for swift enrichment and put them on an equal footing with many ancient and enlightened nations. Having been scattered across all of Europe, Americans had the opportunity to see in European capitals all the best works of ancient and modern artists. Even during the troubled days in Italy and Spain, many Americans acquired original paintings for a pittance and took them to America. Unconsciously, all of this fed their natural predisposition and created a liking for the fine arts. Small, private collections of paintings emerged, and many rich Americans styled themselves patrons of the arts. Prior to this, American painters had no means of studying or supporting themselves through art and were forced to abandon their natural talent and turn to the plow or to a trade. As they found people who encouraged them, however, they also discovered those who would pay well for their work. The foreign painters who came here to achieve something – for it was a new world – encountered only tradespeople engaged in profiteering and commerce and were forced to return to their fatherland without success. Now they stay here and consciously spread a taste for the free arts among the general public. The art of painting usually starts with portraits. This genre is very common here, and it can be said that it has been brought to the greatest level of perfection. Stuart, based in Boston, in all fairness could be considered among the first portrait painters in Europe. He possesses an amazing gift for rendering likenesses; his colours are strong and bright, and his brush is bold. He paints rather quickly, and his portraits resemble beautiful sketches more than they do final paintings; thus the paintings that he intends to perfect completely lose their artistic quality, mastery, 123

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and even their likeness to the subject. Then again, he is not very skilful in drawing and composition: in all parts, aside from the head, there are easily spotted errors, inaccuracy in perspective and contours. For example, Boston’s public hall (Faneuil Hall) has one of his best paintings, which depicts General Washington in military costume, leaning against his horse and pointing toward a distant flame.2 Now, General Washington is painted with the face of President Washington, in other words, twenty years older. Compared to the head, the torso is enormous, and the horse is drawn unrealistically. However, the overall effect is upheld perfectly; it surprises everyone and indeed conveys the spirit of a great artist. The United States is overrun with torso portraits of Washington by this painter. Let it be known that every North American considers it his sacred duty to have in his house a depiction of Washington, almost as we have images of holy saints. They love to face the image of him to whom they are indebted for their independence, happiness, and prosperity! The portrait of Washington is the best and sometimes the only decoration of American homes. The citizens of the two upper classes seek to have Washington’s portrait painted by Stuart and pay $100 regardless of the quality. As a result, there is a proverb here that calls these portraits “Stuart’s $100 bill.” In fact, whenever he needs money, he picks up his palette, and in two days the portrait is ready, and the 100 dollars (around 500 rubles) likely are made. I met Stuart in Boston. I found an old man, bent with gout, but with burning and penetrating eyes the likes of which I have never seen before. I am not surprised now that his paintings are so alive; it seems that he is able to understand not only the face but also a man’s inner thoughts. He has the ability to paint a portrait after seeing a person only twice. This he proved several times. Recently, an old lady came to see him with her granddaughter to commission the girl’s portrait. As soon as Stuart looked at the old lady, he recalled that twenty years earlier he had painted portraits of her and her son. The old lady refused to confirm his recollection, but as he was in high spirits, he took a piece of chalk and in a minute drew on the back of the painting he was working on the face of her son, who had been dead for five years. Stuart depicted the man in such a lifelike manner that astonished by the likeness, the poor old lady fainted. 124

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Here is another example of his insightfulness: the friends of the English captain Phipps,3 who visited Boston on his frigate, commissioned his portrait from Stuart. Three weeks after the captain’s departure for England, Stuart sent them Phipps’s portrait. The gentlemen who ordered the portrait were very dissatisfied with it, for they found in his gaze and in all his facial lines a certain wildness and madness. Nevertheless, they admitted the undeniable resemblance. Despite all his attempts to correct and change the painting, Stuart was unable to alter this impression. Now, a message was received soon after in Boston that two weeks after his departure from America, Captain Phipps had lost his mind and shot himself. This shows how great was the instinct of the painter! There is yet another story told about him. He had to paint two portraits of one individual; there had to be a long delay between the two paintings. Those for whom he made the latter portrait were very satisfied with it, but insisted that the face be painted heavier and the ear be set somewhat further aside. Stuart made a wager, insisting that there was absolutely no difference between the two portraits. The correct measure had been taken and sent to England, where the first copy was located. It appeared that Stuart was correct, and he won the bet; shadows had been responsible for the discrepancy. Hence Stuart, who was a most skilful portrait painter, was a rather mediocre historical painter. In this genre, the American champion is the famous West, who now lives in England and is there considered the foremost painter.* West painted a great number of paintings based on scenes from Shakespeare’s tragedies. Two of these paintings are in the Academy of Arts. The first depicts Hamlet’s Ophelia (act 4, scene 5):4 Laertes O heat, dry up my brains! tears seven times salt, Burn out the sense and virtue of mine eye! By heaven, thy madness shall be pay’d with weight, Till our scale the beam. The second painting depicts King Lear, when while dethroned by his children, in the middle of the forest and in the midst of the raging elements, he delivers his beautiful monologue:5 “Blow wind and rage blow … ” 125

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“Rage winds! Rage storms! The thunder! The thunder! The precursors of the destructive blows! Sow the flames upon my grey head!,” etc.6 The latter painting is preferable to the first one. The composition of both paintings is beautiful, the colours are bright, and the passions and feelings are expressed with astonishing truth and strength. However, the major and sole deficiency in these paintings is the one commonly found among all English painters: the figures are too long, and the draping is finished carelessly. Philadelphia has one of the first paintings by this artist; it depicts the signing of a treaty between Penn and the savages on the shores of the Delaware River. This painting belongs to Penn’s family and is truly one of the great artist’s best creations. The composition as well as the painting itself is beautiful.7 West is followed by Trumbull, who became famous for two paintings that depict the Battle of Bunker Hill, the death of the American general Warren, and the siege of Quebec.8 Muller9 engraved the first one, and Clemens10 did the second. Trumbull was more of a portrait painter. He was born in America but, like West, spent most of his life in England. Sully11 (who lives in Philadelphia) is a young man of enormous talent and great feeling. Until now he mostly painted portraits noted for their delicacy of shadow and warm colours; his latest work proves that he is rather good in composition and is a historical painter. The best of his works and the one that more than any other proves his talent is a painting depicting the capture of Major André.12 The painter chose to present the moment when three American soldiers stopped the English officer André and found suspicious papers in his boot. They reject the lucrative offers he presents to them: a bag of gold coins and an expensive watch. In 1780 this heroic act was acknowledged by their fatherland, and these soldiers received gold medals especially stamped for the occasion with an inscription on one side reading: “To loyalty” and on the other: Vincit amor patriae. The best local artists will engrave this painting, which depicts a subject of great interest and importance in their new history. Its size is 27 by 17 English inches.13 *West died in 1821.

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In this painting the main figure, that of Major André, is the worst; however, the expression of bewilderment and love toward the fatherland on the part of the American heroes, who are examining the papers in different and truly picturesque poses, is presented with amazing feeling and strength. The landscape depicts a deep forest and is painted with great artistry, evenly presenting the remoteness of blue mountains. The portrait of the actor Cooke in his full height in the role of Richard 14 iii (act 2, scene 2) – “Hold ye – where shall he keep his court? The Tower? Aye? The Tower”15 – painted recently by Sully also deserves praise. He was able to preserve the role’s character in the amazing likeness. In his use of colour, Sully adheres more to the school of Rubens. In 1806 many Philadelphia patrons of the arts, who found in Sully a great talent, put forward a subscription the funds of which were used to send him to England for two years to study with the great West. It shows the overall noble patriotism of Americans and their forgivable pride, which preferred their compatriot [West] to all others. But I am bewildered that England was chosen as a land where one sends artists to study. Certainly, there are many good original paintings there by the most ancient and greatest masters, but they are all in the hands of private collectors. Nevertheless, Sully borrowed a lot and returned as a truly promising and skilled painter. Vanderlyn,16 born in New York, now lives in Paris, where he too was sent through the financial support of certain patrons of the arts to improve his skill in painting. They noticed the young man’s abilities. Vanderlyn does give hope that with his talent he will raise his fatherland and his benefactors, because last year he received a prize from the Paris Academy of Arts for the assigned subject painting he exhibited. His painting in the New York Academy of Arts deserves particular praise for its composition as well as its artistry. Unfortunately, the proportions are somewhat unflattering for the painting, as the figures are not larger than three vershok. It can also be seen that the quality of the paints is very poor, for they are already all darkened. This painting depicts an event from the American [Revolutionary] War. One of the English captains fell in love with a beautiful American girl by the name of McCrea. He sent two Indians to abduct her and promised them a large reward. The painter

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depicts the moment when the Indians, incited by greed and envy, kill the unfortunate girl with their tomahawks. Violence and demonic rage are expressed in the eyes and in the entire bodies of these wild savages. There are also two known landscapes by Vanderlyn: the Niagara Falls, engraved by Merigot.17 In these paintings Vanderlyn presented himself as a very skilled painter of landscapes. There is also Rembrandt Peale of Philadelphia.18 Were it enough to be named after a great man to inherit all of his merits, then the name of Peale would have been the depository of all the genius of the arts. There were five brothers,19 all named after the greatest masters: the first was Rembrandt, the second Raphaelle,20 the third Titian,21 and so on.22 The eldest sister was named Angelica,23 and the other one Sappho.24 They are all painters and are very much ill-fated.25 Rembrandt, suspecting that he had great talent, travelled to Paris to perfect it. Upon his return, he painted a huge painting of Bonaparte astride his horse.26 It is a confirmation of the absence of artistry, taste, and knowledge! There is nothing in this painting that could not be criticized; however, its creator is so conceited that he considers it a model of art, and any opposition the result of anger and envy. The horse is painted rearing up without any proportion, coldly and incorrectly, but clouds of smoke pour from its ears, and fire blazes from its nostrils.27 Yet Peale forces one to believe that passion and work can create a miracle and give birth to talent. In the spring he painted a rather good painting depicting a well-known topic from Roman history, the daughter’s love.28 It is impossible to believe that the same paintbrush which created his other works painted this painting. Indeed, this painting in its composition and execution would not shame even the best European painters. It must be stated that despite his rough paintbrush and clumsy and trivial drawings, Peale’s portraits have the virtue of great likeness to the original, which is the only quality upon which Americans bestow the name of “great painter.” Thus Peale still charges $100 (500 rubles) for torso portraits, the same as Stuart but higher than Sully. He exhibits the portrait of Napoleon for money. It seems that the list of American historical and portrait painters who deserve mention because of their artistry and talent ends with Peale. The 128

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remaining ones, of whom the number is large across America, are mediocre and do not deserve mention. In Philadelphia alone there are more than ten portrait painters. (Continuation is in the next issue.) (Continuation) America cannot boast of a single landscape painter. There is Birch29 in Philadelphia, who one hopes may in time become a good painter. He has great talent and amazing passion, but it is very noticeable that he has barely studied nature or good originals. There is Groombridge30 in Baltimore. His paintings demonstrate more the correct depiction of nature than they do pleasing colour. He generally paints trees very crudely. Guy31 in Baltimore comes from a family of tailors but followed his inclinations to become a painter. Despite many mistakes and deficiencies of perspective in the paintings created by his brush, one can see in him a happy student of nature. Many times I went to see his beautiful painting of autumn and sunset.32 This subject is very difficult for a painter, because American forests during this time of year dazzle by the diversity of colours that are hard to find on the palette. The bright purples and heavenly azures shine in the forests’ leaves. There is Robinson33 in New York. He mostly paints watercolours. He travelled twice to study the mighty Niagara Falls, and in my opinion, nobody has depicted them better. There are many other landscape painters in the United States, aside from those mentioned above, but they do not deserve to be reviewed. Miniature portrait painting is very popular here. In every American city one inevitably finds a miniature painter, but not one has the right to be called a good artist. Trott34 in Philadelphia is the best in this genre, but his colours are pale, and in his portraits one finds more finishing touches and thoroughness than talent. There is also Wood35 in New York. His brush is much more daring, but he does not have the same experience as Trott. Each of them charges $60 (300 rubles) for a portrait. The Americans, whose character contains a great degree of ambition or, rather, vanity, love to leave their image for posterity; therefore, portrait painters are constantly occupied and get paid rather well. Here the most mediocre painter36 charges no less than $20 (100 rubles) for a torso painting. This price, as we can see, can reach $100 (500 rubles). Nevertheless, it must be noted that the high price is dictated by the high cost 129

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of living here, as well as by the high cost of materials required for painting. A piece of canvas needed for a torso portrait in Philadelphia costs around $3 (15 rubles), a good brush is $1 (5 rubles), and the cost of other things is at the same level. There are also a number of good painters among the art teachers. Recently, this art was included in the disciplines required for a good education, and because education here is mostly equal for all classes of society, that is to say that the daughter of the leading banker attends the same school as the daughter of the day labourer,37 there is hope that a taste for the fine arts soon will become universal and will demonstrate a substantial success. Even now mothers praise the talents of their daughters in painting and show off the creations of their brush. Many beautiful American women even paint in oils and proclaim themselves patrons of the fine arts. Would the ambitions of the American painters force them to follow these leaders? We know from history that women always facilitate the success of the fine arts; they organized the Phidiases and the Apelleses.38 In Newport (Rhode Island) I met a young lady by the name of Pitt. It is hard to find a talent for painting equal to that of this young lady. Having been taught by a teacher who was barely able to show her the basic rules of pencil drawing, she beautifully copies originals in oil and paints portraits from nature with such feeling and ease as is seen in the works of the best painters. The art of engraving in America, if it does not exceed the art of painting, at least is equal with it in perfection and the number of painters. Aside from the publication in this land of a large number of periodicals with engraved portraits and views of the best quality, the main source of practice and progress for American engravers is the designing of banknotes, in which most of these artists are involved. One should note that every city port in the United States and every city known for its trade, has its own bank. For example, there are five such banks in New York City; there are the same number in Philadelphia and no fewer in Boston. Each bank issues its own banknotes in denominations from $1 to $1,000 or larger. All are differently engraved:39 some have the image of Washington; others depict a view of their building or emblem. For example,

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the banknote of the Farmer Bank depicts Ceres40 with all her attributes, farming equipment, etc. For the sake of beauty, but more so in order to make it difficult to forge, each bank gives orders to the best engravers to cut the plates for their banknotes, and the job is generously paid. They stop using these plates after several years; so the best engravers are always kept busy. This certainly encourages the artists. In Philadelphia alone there are more than ten engravers. In addition, the secondrate engravers are kept busy working on business cards and producing copper plates with the names of their owners that are put above the doors of each house. Edwin41 in Philadelphia is the best artist in America of taille douce.42 His line is very correct and pleasing. He masterfully expresses likenesses in his portraits, and he also draws very well. Murray43 in Philadelphia is considered the best engraver of landscapes. He very successfully imitates the famous English artist Woollett.44 While architecture in the United States is bad and is still far from achieving perfection in building structures, it deserves the attention and admiration of any European in its construction of bridges. Here all the bridges are generally built and maintained, not by the government, but by subscription of private individuals, who are permitted to charge those who ride across them a percentage of the amount spent on this enterprise. Some of these bridges are truly worthy of the glorious era of the Roman Empire. Let us review some of the best and most noteworthy: 1. Near the city of Trenton, across the Delaware River, a splendid bridge was erected. This bridge should be considered in all fairness the best architectural creation in the whole United States, both in its beauty and in its strength and lightness. It is 1,200 feet long, 56 feet wide, and 30 feet deep. It is made entirely from wood, aside from the five stone posts or “chairs” from which its foundation is constructed. At the base, these stones are joined with metal bolts and are covered with lead up to the level that prevents them from damage by ice or any other elements floating on the surface of the water. The carpentry work is very innovative and generally praised by all architects. The crossbeams are no more that three feet thick and made from fourteen or fifteen planks joined together, which has proven to be much stronger than one made

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from a single piece of wood. Five arches cover the bridge, and there are two towers at each end. Its construction began in 1804, and it was completed in 1806. It was done under the supervision of the famous architect Mr Burr.45 2. The bridge across the Schuylkill River also is one of the bestknown bridges. Aside from the upper parts of the walls and the cover, it is made completely from stone. Construction of the bridge took six years.46 It was built under the supervision of the American architect T. Palmer47 from Newport, whose knowledge greatly facilitated its completion according to the designs of Weston, the famous English hydrologist.48 This bridge cost the company $275,000 (around 1,370,000 rubles). As the Schuylkill River is very fast and in the springtime the ice moves there with great might, the builders had to endow the bridge with all possible strength and durability.* 3. Dorchester Bridge 49 is built across Boston Harbor. It is 1,800 feet long and about 40 feet wide. It is built entirely from wood and stands on wooden piles. In the middle of the bridge there is a section or a span that can be raised rapidly and effortlessly by a mechanical device in order to allow ships to pass. This bridge was built in 1794 and cost the city around $70,000 (350,000 rubles). 4. Newburyport Bridge50 crosses the Merrimack River. As it was impossible to build it on the river because of its extreme speed and depth, it was raised rather high up on metal chains, creating one arch. This

*The length of the bridge is 1,300,000 feet. The size of the small arch is 150 feet. The size of the middle arch is 194 feet. The width of the bridge is 42 feet. The curve of the middle arch is 12 feet. The curve of the small ones is 10 feet. The space for the road is 16 feet. The height of the passage is 13 feet. The distance between the water surface and the bridge is 31 feet. The thickness of the posts is 20 feet. Their length is 62 feet. The depth of water around the post on the west side is 41 feet (9 versta). On the other side of the river it is 31 feet.

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bridge is the newest invention of the American mechanic Fulton.51 The inhabitants are convinced of its perfect sturdiness. It also presents a picture of beauty. 5. The new hanging bridge across the Schuylkill River is maintained, as it were, upheld in the shape of a sloping arch by the pressure of its own parts and the crossbeams from which it was built.52 In addition to the bridges I have described, there are many others in the United States that deserve our attention and approval, particularly in New England. For example, there are two bridges across the Hudson River,53 also two across Boston Bay,54 Connecticut Bridge,55 Keelsban Bridge,56 Bethlehem Bridge,57 Richmond Bridge,57 and so on. Given that the construction of windmills and factories, many of which reached the highest level of perfection, as well as the building of water channels and waterlines, belongs more to engineering than to architecture, I do not believe it is necessary to review them here. Almost all private houses in America are built according to a single plan, with identical facades and similar interior arrangements. After you have seen one house, you can say confidently that you have seen them all. The rules of construction, as well as the interior arrangements, are so universal that it is hardly possible to find a thousand houses among the millions in the United States that are different. In other words, only English architecture is upheld universally. In New York State, which was first populated by the Dutch, as well as in Pennsylvania, mostly inhabited by Germans, there are still some old houses built following the national tastes of these nations. However, their disappearance is noticeable, and ones built in accordance with the commonly accepted style have replaced them. The houses here are mostly built with a facade from 15 to 25 feet and 80 feet deep toward the backyard. They are mostly three storeys, not including the cellar and attic, when the cellar sometimes designated a kitchen and the attic a living space for the servants. Each floor tends to have three windows on each side, and the entire house usually has six rooms. The lower two, called the parlour,59 are normally designated sitting and dining rooms. The family of the owner occupies the remaining rooms. More that half the houses in the United States are built from brick and painted with oil paint; the joints are outlined with white paint. 133

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This method of house painting presents a surprisingly monotonous view. The external walls of the houses are usually one and a half bricks thick; the roofing is made out of small pine or oak shingles, which are placed overlapping one another and painted with black oil paint and right after, while the paint is still wet, are lightly sprinkled with sand. It is not surprising that fires occurr here almost continuously. In areas where slate is quarried, the inhabitants prefer it for covering the roof. The floors are made very simply. They do not place the floor on logs, as we do in Russia, but support it by seventeen or twenty boards placed on edge. Generally, the construction of houses is not durable, but the materials are very good, and the beautifully baked brick is very light and strong.* Construction work here is generally expensive. There are several buildings in the United States that are built from granite and soapstone.60 The first is not as strong and beautiful as ours in St Petersburg; the latter is somewhat fragile and separates in layers. However, it does have an advantage, because the oily substance it contains within does not permit humidity and dampness to penetrate inside and cause damage. In the Pennsylvania interior, where granite quarrying is extensive, a large number of farmers’ houses are constructed from it. The local inhabitants use unpolished granite with clay or mortar as adhesive. There are a number of buildings which, because of their architecture or enormous size, deserve attention: 1. The Capitol in Washington.61 Currently, only one of its wings has been constructed, but upon its completion this will certainly be the foremost building in the United States. Its base is 300 feet long and 150 feet wide; the entire building will be made out of natural stone and decorated with Corinthian columns. The formerly French architect Latrobe,62 under whose supervision it is being constructed, drew up the plans. This building is designated for sessions of Congress and all of its colleges.

*In Philadelphia 1,000 bricks, together with delivery will cost $15. Usually the bricks that are used for inner walls cost $10 for 1,000. For the laying of 1,000 or more bricks the worker charges $2 to $3. A quarter, or pood, of mortar costs 25¢; and a wagon of sand is $75. The masons charge $2 to $3 for the finishing of foundation or other stonework. [Translator’s note: One pood is equal to 16,38 kilograms or 36 pounds.]

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The New City Hall, New York, ca. 1811–13. mma, Rogers Fund, 1942 (42.95.4)

2. The City Hall of New York (the state office building).63 It is constructed from white stone; the work is precise and well executed. The proportions of windows and other parts of the building are well maintained; however, the columns supporting the portico, which are very small in relation to the massive size of the building, spoil it. Until now, Americans did not know the correct use and proportions of columns. Bright and wide corridors divide the interior of the building. The largest room or the hall can hold no more than six hundred people; the main staircase is also too narrow. The room for the Supreme Court is decorated magnificently and with great taste. Bronze shines everywhere; there is marble, velvet, and redwood. The room is also decorated with four portraits of New York’s most famous citizens painted by Trumbull. There is a large square in front of the building, around which tall poplars are planted, and these add a lot of beauty. This building cost the city more than $500,000 (around 2,500,000 rubles). 5. Boston State House.64 It is constructed from bricks with Ionic columns placed without any proportion. It is located at the highest point 135

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of the city and from a distance looks like the cupola or peak of the entire city. Two hundred steps lead to its pediment, from which there is a splendid view on all sides. It seems that the city and its environs, the harbour, and the sea are lying at your feet. In the front of the building is a wide sloping place covered with turf. 4. The Bank of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia.65 The building was completed last year. Its facade is the same as our Cavalry Guards Riding Hall (Manège) in St Petersburg66 but smaller. Its primary advantage is that its external walls are covered all over with well-finished white stone. In all fairness, this is the only building in the United States where proportions and taste are maintained. Its interior consists of one chamber separated by low dividers. In the back there is a beautiful small garden or, rather a backyard surrounded by various trees and shrubs. 5. The United States Bank in Philadelphia.67 It is similar architecturally to the building described above, but it features Doric columns and is constructed from brick and plaster rather than stone. 6. Masonic Hall68 (the House of Brotherhood of Masons) in Philadelphia was built this year in the Gothic style. There is a spacious hall on the first floor for public concerts and other meetings. 7. The Catholic Church in New York69 and the Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia.70 These are the best buildings of their kind in the United States. Both buildings are decorated with columns, and their bell towers are considered the tallest. 8. The Philadelphia Hospital.71 Here is a building that deserves some attention from art lovers for its architecture. The other buildings, which are noteworthy only for their enormous size, should be mentioned only in passing. The Café Hotel 72 in Boston is the largest building in America. It is eight storeys high but presents one huge pile of bricks, put together in the shape of a cube. There is also the New York Hospital,73 the Federal Halls in Boston74 and New York,75 the Indian Exchange in Boston,76 the Medical Academy in Philadelphia,77 the former President’s House,78 and the Arsenal,79 the Quaker Church in Philadelphia,80 and the theatres in Boston, Philadelphia, and New York.81 In each of these cities the place for government meetings is the largest of the buildings.

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The Pennsylvania Hospital, Philadelphia, ca. 1811–13. mma, Rogers Fund, 1942 (42.95.24)

In building their country houses, Americans have for a while now resorted to the Italian style, and I find many of these houses to be of a most modern and pleasant architecture. Messrs Burr, Palmer, Strickland, Mills,82 and Pope83 are the most famous American architects. In addition to these, there are two foreigners who are given preference for their art and knowledge by experts. These are Godefroy84 in Baltimore and Latrobe* in Washington. Thus I would like to name some foreign artists who have settled here or arrived hoping to profit by their art. There is Wertmuller,85 the Swedish painter who became famous for his painting of the Danae;86 Enard,87 the miniature painter, who recently came from *Recently, here in Philadelphia was established an academy for teaching all types of architecture, that is, civil, military, and naval. This organization operates under the leadership of many famous artists and patrons of arts. Its founder is Mr Pope; he will also be lecturing at the academy. It is worth mentioning that this country will benefit greatly from this endeavour. Mr Burr owns a rather curious collection of architectural drawings of modern as well as ancient architectural art. Each student pays him upon entry $5 (25 rubles) and an additional $1 a week for the course. No contracts are signed for less than twelve weeks.

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France and is the best now in the United States. There is Worrell,88 the Englishman who painted the decorations for the Boston theatre. He paints quite daringly and maintains good perspective and proportion. Barralet,89 who draws well and is a good teacher. Volozon 90 paints in the historical style, but is very knowledgeable in the teaching of the rules of drawing. Melbourne 91 is a landscape painter in New York. There are also two Italian sculptors in Washington.92 (Conclusion is in the next number.) (Conclusion) Sculpture in America is still in its infancy. Americans have not developed a taste for this area of the fine arts. It can be said that sculpting here consists only in the creation of marble pieces for the stairs, fireplaces, window jambs, and tombstones, which are copiously produced and occupy a large number of people. There is also woodcarving of figures and statues for ships. Mr Rush93 is considered the first artist in this field. Last year the Association of Cavaliers of Cincinnati94 established a project for the creation of the most beautiful monument to commemorate General Washington. It had to be erected by American artists only. Now all the architects are working on the plans, which have to be presented to the commission next 22 February, the birthday of the famous hero. The expectations are for something opulent and wonderful, because the Association of Cavaliers intends to use substantial funds and to approve the project based on the advice of the best artists and specialists. Accordingly, the construction will be assigned to the best architects.95 Despite the fact that half of all monuments located in the United States belong more to the field of architecture than to sculpture, in order to make this article more interesting, I will mention some here: 1. In Boston, on one of the city’s hills, called Beacon Hill, a monument was constructed by the citizens of Boston96 to commemorate various events of the revolution. It consists of a roughly polished column with an American eagle on the top. This column is placed on a rather simple four-sided pedestal, covered on all four sides by inscriptions.* 2. There is a monument erected on Bunker Hill by the Masons in 1776 to commemorate the death of General Warren,97 who was killed during the battle. It consists of a wooden column about 30 feet high

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with an urn at the top decorated with Masonic emblems. There are also different inscriptions on all sides of the pedestal. 3. The monument in the Washington Admiralty98 constructed to honour and commemorate the memory of Americans killed during the Tripolitan War.99 This column is made from marble and is about 25 feet tall with a pedestal and three steps; aside from different emblems and inscriptions covering this monument, there is a statue at each corner. The first represents Mars instructing American youth to imitate their forefathers in their heroic deeds. The second depicts Glory; the third statue depicts America weeping, and the fourth represents the figure Victory crowned with the laurels. This monument was made in London; it

*[Translator’s note: Svin’in translates into Russian the inscriptions on the monument fairly accurately; therefore I provide here the actual English inscriptions.] On the first side: Americans. While from this, eminent Sciences of luxuriant fertility, of flourishing commerce, and the abodes of social happiness meet your view, Forget not those who by their exertions Have secured to you these blessings. On the second: To Commemorate the train of events, which led to the American Revolution and finally secured Liberty and Independence to the United States, this column is erected by the voluntary contributions of the citizens of Boston m.d.ccxc. On the third: Stamp Act passed in 1765. Repealed in 1766. Board of Customs established, 1767. British troops fired on inhabitants of Boston, March 5, 1770. Tea Act passed 1773. Tea destroyed in Boston, December 16. Port of Boston shut and guarded, June 1, 1774. General Congress in Philadelphia Sept. 5. [Translator’s note: Svin’in does not mention September 5 but states “until September 11”.] Battle at Lexington, April 19, 1775. Battle at Bunker Hill, June 17. Washington took command of the army on July 2. Boston evacuated, March 17, 1776. Independence declared by Congress, Hancock President, July 4. On the fourth: Capture of the Hessians at Trenton, Dec. 26. Capture of Hessians at Bennington, Aug. 16, 1777. Capture of British army at Saratoga on Oct. 17. Alliance with France, Feb. 6, 1778. Confederation of the United States formed, Bowdoin President of the Convention, 1780. Capture of British army at York on Oct. 19, 1781. Preliminary Peace, Nov. 30, 1782. Definitive Treaty of Peace, Sept. 10, 1783. Federal Constitution formed, Sept. 17, 1787. And ratified by the United States, 1787 to 1790. New Congress assembled at New York, April 6, 1790 [Translator’s note: There is a mistake in a date quoted by Svin’in, for he gives “April 16, 1789.” It could be just a typographical error.] Washington inaugurated President, April 30. Public Debt funded, August 4, 1790.

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The Monument to Alexander Hamilton at Weehawken, ca. 1811–13. mma, Rogers Fund, 1942 (42.95.6)

was commissioned and paid for by the officers who were in this expedition against the Tripolitanians. 4. The Monument of General Hamilton,100 killed in a duel. This monument is an Italian work. 5. The Marble Tomb Monument 101 is located in New York Cathedral Church and was erected by the government on behalf of the fatherland for General Montgomery, killed in 1773 during the Siege of Quebec. 6. The Statue of William Penn,102 the liberator of Philadelphia, which is made out of bronze and placed in the courtyard of the city hospital on a marble pedestal (English work). 7. The Marble Statue of the Famous Doctor Franklin103 is placed in the Public Library established by him (Italian work). As meagre as America is in artistic monuments, it is rich in miracles of nature. Niagara Falls alone, or the natural bridge, surpasses all the refined creations of human hands. The Academies of Fine Arts in Philadelphia and New York. The establishment of the Academy of Fine Arts is designed not only for pleas140

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ure but also without doubt for the common good. While observation of fine works by great artists refines the taste and gives rise to hidden talents, it also creates artists useful for society, such as architects, engineers, and others. Several patrons of the fine arts created the Philadelphia Academy of the Fine Arts in order to give young artists unable to perfect their talent because of a lack of means to travel to Europe the opportunity to study beauty through the works of famous artists. These patrons came together and gathered funds to build the building, to order copies of the best ancient and modern statues and busts from Paris, and to purchase paintings annually. Many individual patrons who are convinced of the benefits of this enterprise help them in their efforts and donate their best paintings or, while not giving up their property, exhibit them in the academy. This association was established in 1805. The following year the building for the academy was erected,104 the government confirming its academy status. Here the country has proven once again that it is rapidly moving toward enlightenment and will soon be the equal of the most celebrated European states. It is hard to believe that such a fascinating collection of paintings can be gathered in such a short time. While these successes represent the spirit of American patriotism, the rules established by the academy expose the soul of the people. Its founders, advancing the glory of their fatherland, had not forsaken their own profit. Everyone who wishes to see the academy pays 25 cents (one ruble) entrance fee. The same price is paid for the exhibitions, which take place twice a year. It has been proven that the sums collected pay better interest on the capital than funds invested in other enterprises. Last year the exhibition, which normally lasts about six weeks from May to 15 July, made about $1,861 (9,000 rubles). This winter it made $1,900. These exhibitions, creating competition among artists, unveil their talents and introduce them to the public. The academy employs an artist who is responsible for cleaning and maintaining exhibits located there. The building of the Academy of the Fine Arts represents the new Ionic style of architecture. The main interior consists of two large halls lighted from above. The first room is a rotunda 48 feet in diameter and is 18 feet high to the cupola. The other one is a four-sided room 44 feet long and 36 feet wide. In addition, there are two small offices located at the corners 141

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of the portico and three rooms downstairs: a conference room, a library, and a classroom. This building is 86 feet long, 48 feet wide, and 34 feet tall. It is decorated outside with a small yard covered with grass, which is well maintained and surrounded by low metal fence. This year the exhibition consisted mostly of works by local artists, while last year’s mostly contained various creations by foreign and ancient painters. Private individuals loaned these works to the academy for the exhibition. Both times the number of exhibited items reached 500. It is clear that the local painters are improving every year, and the last exhibition had works worthy of the most famous European academies. The New York Academy of Fine Arts was established according to completely different rules from the one in Philadelphia. It is owned by the city rather than by private individuals. It was established in 1801, and in the same year a large number of alabaster copies of all the best statues and busts, such as the Laocoon Group,105 the gladiator, the Medici Venus,106 the Apollo Belvedere,107 etc., as well as busts of the most famous ancient thinkers and heroes, were ordered from Paris by subscription. Subsequently, Napoleon gave the academy a gift of twenty-four different books of engravings, mostly Italian, those that came from Herculaneum,108 and several portfolios of various views of rather good quality. For this donation, he was recognized as an honorary member of the academy. This academy is still a new enterprise, but a good beginning is half the venture, as the proverb says, and therefore one should hope that in time it would become important. Even now, among the paintings donated by the patrons or exhibited there, there are some that could have been given the best place in a Paris museum or in our Hermitage. I am talking about two paintings by Salvator Rosa109 depicting a fight between a tiger and a horse.110 They were brought here by one of the Americans during the French invasion of Naples,111 when the inhabitants sold the paintings very cheaply in order to save something from the rapaciousness of Napoleon’s army.

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A Town on the Mohawk River in Central New York State (?), ca. 1811–13. mma, Rogers Fund, 1942 (42.95.46)

A View of the Potomac at Harpers Ferry, ca. 1811–13. mma, Rogers Fund, 1942 (42.95.47)

Moravian Sisters, ca. 1811–13. mma, Rogers Fund, 1942 (42.95.27)

New York City and Harbour from Weehawken, ca. 1811–13. mma, Rogers Fund, 1942 (42.95.5)

Delaware Water Gap (?), ca. 1811–13. mma, Rogers Fund, 1942 (42.95.35)

Full Sail off Sandy Hook – Entrance to New York Harbor, ca. 1811–13. mma, Rogers Fund, 1942 (42.95.2)

Shad Fishermen on the Shore of the Hudson River, ca. 1811–13. mma, Rogers Fund, 1942 (42.95.9)

Passaic Falls, New Jersey (?), ca. 1811–13. mma, Rogers Fund, 1942 (42.95.41)

The Traveler’s First View of New York – The Battery and Flagstaff, ca. 1811–13. mma, Rogers Fund, 1942 (42.95.3)

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Notes

introduction 1 Todd, “Svinyin,” 457. 2 For instance, Buckler, Mapping St. Petersburg; Hughes, “Peter the Great’s St. Petersburg in the Works of Pavel Svin’in”; Stites, Serfdom, Society and the Arts in Imperial Russia; Wortman, Scenarios of Power, vol. 1. Also see the present author’s This Meager Nature and “The Picturesque and the Holy.” 3 Svin’in even offered poetic praise to the despised Count Arakcheev. See Gleason, “Pavel Svin’in,” 21. 4 On comparisons to the United States, see Yarmolinsky, Picturesque United States of America, 6; on the national museum, see Petrova, Traveling across North America, 1812–1813; 13. 5 Wortman, Scenarios of Power, 282. 6 This was the epigraph of Otechestvennye zapiski, and it appeared on the title page of every issue. 7 Svin’in, “Obiavlenie o prodolzhenii izdaniia Otechestvennyh zapisok na 1826 god,” 426–7. 8 Wortman, Scenarios of Power, 282.

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9 Hughes, “Peter the Great’s St. Petersburg,” 160. This passage comes from a description of ancient Athens, but Svin’in invokes Athens in direct comparison to St Petersburg. 10 Svin’in, “Vzgliad na periodicheskie izdaniia i al’manakhi,” 323. 11 Cited in Mazour, The First Russian Revolution, 1825, 30. 12 Lotman, “The Decembrist in Daily Life,” 149. 13 For an important contribution to, as well as a summation of, the growing recognition of the Russian public sphere, see Bradley, “Subjects into Citizens.” the beginnings of russian-american diplomatic relations 1 Saul, Distant Friends, 1–2; Dvoichenko-Markov, “William Penn and Peter the Great”; Price, “The Tobacco Adventure to Russia.” 2 Dvoichenko-Markov, “Benjamin Franklin, the American Philosophical Society, and the Russian Academy of Science”; Bashkina et al., The United States and Russia, 3–10. 3 Griffiths, “Catherine the Great, the British Opposition, and the American Revolution.” See also Madariaga, Russia in the Age of Catherine the Great. 4 Saul, Distant Friends, 7–10; Startsev, “F.V. Karzhavin i ego amerikanskoe puteshestvie.” 5 See Madariaga, Britain, Russia, and the Armed Neutrality of 1780, and Bashkina et al., The United States and Russia, 34. 6 Saul, Distant Friends, 13–18; Griffiths, “American Commercial Diplomacy in Russia, 1780 to 1783,” 338. 7 Griffiths, “Rise and Fall of the Northern System.” 8 Quoted in Bolkhovitinov, The Beginnings of Russian-American Relations, 149. See also Madariaga, Russia in the Age of Catherine the Great, 383–6; “From a Letter of John Paul Jones to the Marquis de Lafayette, June 15/26, 1788,” in Bashkina et al., The United States and Russia, 254–6. 9 Saul, Distant Friends, 24; “Letter from John Paul Jones to Ivan A. Osterman, January 31/February 11, 1789,” in Bashkina et al., The United States and Russia, 264–6. 10 Lorenz, The Admiral and the Empress, 123–4. 11 Saul, Distant Friends, 28; Bolkhovitinov, The Beginnings of Russian-American Relations, 107.

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12 “From the Diary of Lieutenant Iurii F. Lisianskii,” in Bashkina et al., The United States and Russia, 301. 13 Saul, Russia and the Mediterranean, 61–77. 14 Kozlovskii, “Tsar’ Aleksandr i i Dzhefferson”; Hans, “Tsar Alexander and Jefferson.” 15 See Mornin, Through Alien Eyes. 16 John Quincy Adams (1767–1848) was the son of John Adams, the second president of the United States. He served as a secretary to Dana’s mission in Russia as a teenager. He also served as secretary of state (1817–25) before becoming president in 1825–29. He was the author of the Monroe Doctrine. 17 Andrei Yakovlevich Dashkov (?–1831) was a Russian statesmen and diplomat. He served as Russia’s first consul general and envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary to the United States, beginning in 1809. From 1820 to 1821 he served in Constantinople, before retiring to Russia. 18 “Letter from Andrei Ia. Dashkov to the United States Minister-Designate to Russia, John Quincy Adams,” in Bashkina et al., The United States and Russia, 575. 19 Saul, Distant Friends, 61–3. 20 Ibid., 62. 21 Quoted in ibid. 63. 22 “Letter from Russian Consul at Boston, Aleksei G. Estaf’ev, to Andrei Ia. Dashkov,” in Bashkina et al., The United States and Russia, 953; “Note from James Monroe to Andrei Dashkov,” ibid., 961. 23 “From a Letter to Charles Jared Ingersoll to Rufus King,” ibid., 644–5; Saul, Distant Friends, 65–6. 24 Hildt, Early Diplomatic Negotiations, 107. a b i o g r a p h y o f p a v e l p. s v i n ’ i n 1 Some sources state that he was born in 1788, but most agree that it was 1787. 2 Gleason, “Pavel Svin’in,” 14–15; White, “A Russian Sketches Philadelphia,” 5. 3 Gleason, “Pavel Svin’in,” 14. 4 White, “A Russian Sketches Philadelphia,” 5–6; “Svin’in, Pavel Petrovich (1787–1839).” 5 Mankamyer, “Paul Svinin, Nineteenth Century Russian Diplomat,” 6–10.

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6 “Svin’in, Pavel Petrovich (1787–1839)”; Petrov, Sbornik materialov dlia istorii Imperatorskoi St. -Peterburgskoi Akademii Khudozhestv za stoleteia sushchestvovaniia, 1, 420. 7 Svin’in, Vospominaniia na flote, 1: 1–14, 61–80; 2: 212. 8 White, “A Russian Sketches Philadelphia,” 10–11. 9 Yarmolinsky, Picturesque United States of America, 5–10. 10 Svin’in, Sketches of Moscow and St. Petersburg, 2, 29–33, 44. 11 Svin’in, Opyt zhivopisnago puteshestviia po Sievernoi Amerikie, 81–100. 12 J. Christopher Herold, The Age of Napoleon, 159–62. 13 Svin’in, Some Details Concerning General Moreau, 11. 14 Ibid., 12. 15 Ibid., 22. 16 Ibid., 29. 17 Ibid., 33. 18 Ibid., 36. 19 Svin’in, “Vzgliad na respubliku soedinennykh Amerikanskikh oblastei”; White, “A Russian Sketches Philadelphia,” 15–16. 20 Wortman, Scenarios of Power, 280–2; Svin’in, “Istoricheskoe opisanie.” 21 Svin’in, “Istoricheskoe opisanie,” pts. i and ii; Saitov, Ostaf’evskii Arkhiv kniazei viazemskikh, 544. 22 Svin’in, Kratkaia opis’ predmetov. 23 Thomas, “Collecting the Fatherland, 91–7. 24 “Svin’in, Pavel Petrovich (1787–1839).” 25 Yarmolinsky, Picturesque United States of America. 26 Svin’in, Traveling across North America. t r av e l i n n o r t h a m e r i c a a n d t h e p i c t u r e s q u e 1 Yarmolinsky, Picturesque United States of America. 2 John Lewis Krimmel (1787–1821), a German artist who worked in Philadelphia between 1809 and 1821, he was called the Hogarth of America because in his paintings he attempted to portray the everyday life of Philadelphia. He was known for his sharp sense of humour and keen interest in depicting the most current events and personalities. 3 Thomas Birch (1779–1851), a marine, landscape, and portrait painter, arrived with his father, painter William Russell Birch, in the United States in 1794

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from England and settled in Philadelphia. He became particularly known for ship portraits, seascapes, and paintings of naval battles of the War of 1812. 4 Alexander Wilson (1766–1813) was born in Scotland. He was trained as weaver but was much more interested in writing poetry. In May 1794 he came to the United States and settled near Philadelphia, where he began his study of birds. In the years 1808–14 he published a nine-volume work, American Ornithology, illustrating 268 species of birds. 5 William Russell Birch (1755–1834) was born in England, but immigrated to the United States with his family in 1794 and settled in Philadelphia. He specialized in miniature and enamel portraits. In 1799–1800 he and his son, Thomas, published a series of portraits titled Views of Philadelphia. 6 Charles-Balthazar-Julien Févret de Saint-Mémin (1770–1852), came to Canada in 1793 but eventually moved to New York. He was interested in drawing and painting and learned how to carve and gild wood. In 1786 in France a machine was invented called a physionotrace which allowed the copying of a human profile with mathematical accuracy. Saint-Mémin made his own machine and was able to reduce life-sized profiles to about two inches in diameter. 7 Svin’in, “Nabliudeniia russkogo v Amerike.” 8 It is usually translated into English as “A Picturesque Voyage through North America,” which omits the word opyt. The Russian opyt can be translated as “experiment,” in this way indicating an attempt on the part of the author to experiment with a particular type of travel genre, the picturesque journey. 9 Svin’in, “Vzgliad na respubliku soedinennykh Amerikanskikh oblastei.” 10 In Syn Otechestva, part 16 (1813): 135–44, 175–82. 11 Adams, Travelers and Travel Liars, 9. 12 Ibid., 223–37. 13 There is a large body of work dedicated to the study of the picturesque. See Price, Essays on the Picturesque; Bermingham, Landscape and Ideology; Andrews, The Search for the Picturesque; Robinson, Inquiry into the Picturesque; Andrews, The Picturesque; and Copley and Garside, The Politics of the Picturesque. 14 Andrews, The Picturesque, 1: 6. 15 William Gilpin, “Essay on Picturesque Beauty,” in Andrews, The Picturesque, 2: 7–18. 16 Ibid., 20–5.

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17 Ibid., 22. 18 White, “A Russian Sketches Philadelphia,” 7. 19 Joseph Mallord William Turner (1775–1851) was one of the greatest British landscape artists. He became famous at the young age of twenty, and at twenty-seven he was made a full member of the Royal Academy. He is considered one of the founders of English landscape painting. 20 Thomas Girtin (1775–1802), together with Turner, is considered to be one of the greatest watercolour painters. He was known for his dramatic style, which captured the changing mood of nature, complexity of light, and range of colours. 21 Thomas Gainsborough (1727–88), an English painter of portraits and landscapes, developed his own distinctive style, which was usually characterized by elegant full-length portraits and by landscapes known for their light, rapid brush strokes, and fleeting colours. 22 Alexander Nikolaevich Radishchev (1749–1802), a Russian writer and philosopher, was educated in Germany and was familiar with the Enlightenment authors, such as Voltaire, Helveticus, Rousseau, Diderot, and Mably. His most important work, A Journey from St. Petersburg to Moscow, while forbidden during his lifetime, brought him fame among later generations of writers and the reading public. Soon after its publication in 1790, Radishchev was arrested, tried, convicted, and given a death sentence. The death sentence was replaced with ten years of exile in a Siberian jail in Ilimsk. Czar Paul i gave permission for Radishchev to return to his village, Nemtsovo, but put him under the close supervision of the police. Complete freedom was granted to him only in 1801 with the ascent to the throne of Czar Alexander i. Until 1905, Journey was banned from publication in Russia, but the manuscript of the book was circulated privately. In 1858 Alexander Herzen had published the book in London. There is an enormous body of work produced in Russia, particularly during the Soviet period, related to the study of Radishchev. The best edited and complete Russian text was published in 1992 (Radishchev, Puteshestvie is Peterburga v Moskvu). For an English translation of the book, see Radishchev, A Journey from St. Petersburg to Moscow. Several books about Radishchev have been published in English, including a biography, Lang, The First Russian Radical; Clardy, The Philosophical Ideas of Alexander Radishchev; and McConnell, A Russian Philosophe.

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23 Sterne’s A Sentimental Journey through France and Italy was published in 1768. 24 Nikolai Mikhailovich Karamzin (1766–1826), a Russian writer, journalist, historian, and literary critic, was educated in the traditions of the Enlightenment in the Moscow Pansion and travelled extensively in Europe. He is known as the father of Russian sentimentalism, and his short novel The Poor Lisa was the first example of such writing in Russia. However, one of his greatest contributions to Russian culture was the composition of several volumes of The History of Russian State, which is considered the first “modern” history of Russia and became the basis of Russian historiography for many generations. There is a complete English translation of Karamzin’s Letters of Russian Traveller; (see Kahn, Nikolai Karamzin’s Letters of a Russian Traveller. 25 See more about Svin’in’s concepts related to travel in Ely, “The Picturesque and the Holy,” 80–9. 26 It should be noted that in his references to the states in the American union, Svin’in makes use of two different Russian words. In most cases, rather than using the word “state” (Russian shtat), he employs “province” (Russian provintsia). It is clear that he does not differentiate between the two terms and uses them interchangeably. In order to stay as close as possible to Svin’in’s writing style, I have maintained his choice of words in my translation; thus in most cases, the United States of America is referred to as the “United American Provinces” or the “American Provinces.” 27 See the chapter “Religion in the United States of America.” 28 Yarmolinsky, Picturesque United States of America, 21. 29 See “A Biography of Pavel Petrovich Svin’in, 1787–1839” above. 30 Jeffrey, “As a Russian Saw Us in 1812,” 140. 31 Jonathan Carver was born in Weymouth, Massachusetts, on 13 April 1710, the son of a prosperous gentleman. The family later moved to Canterbury, Connecticut. In 1755 Carver joined the militia at the start of the French and Indian War (Seven Years War). He was successful in the military and eventually became captain of a Massachusetts regiment in 1761. Two years later he quit the army in order to explore the new territories acquired by the British as a result of the war. See Adams, Travels and Tavel Liars, 82–4. 32 The theatre still exists in Philadelphia and is known as the Walnut Street Theatre.

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33 Yarmolinsky, Picturesque United States of America, 26–32. Curiously, Yarmolinsky points to Svin’in’s “error” in representing the event, but politely refuses to accuse the author of deliberate misrepresentation. 34 A review of Philadelphia newspapers of the time, such as Poulson’s American Daily Advertiser, 10–17 August 1812, and the United States Gazette, 10–17 August 1812, reveals no advertising of any such performance. 35 According to the curator of the archives, there is no record of a performance or copy of the program in the theatre archives, which is very complete. 36 See James, Old Drury of Philadelphia. I am very grateful to Dr Sarah Kadarabek for helping me with this research by following the trail in Philadelphia. 37 Yarmolinsky, Picturesque United States of America, 28–9. 38 Janson, The Stranger in America, 231–2. 39 Upon his return to England in 1769, Carver began working on his book describing his travels. The book, Travels throughout the Interior Parts of North America in the Years 1766, 1767, and 1768, was first published in London in 1778. Numerous questions were raised concerning the reliability of Carver’s accounts. At some point there were even doubts that his travels had actually taken place. Nevertheless, most scholars believe that Carver indeed travelled across North America, but that many of his accounts are somewhat doubtful in their accuracy. In this book, the American edition of Travels was used. It was published in 1794 under the title Three Years Travels throughout the Interior Parts of North America. 40 Louis-Armand de Lom d’Arce de Lahontan (b. 1666; d. before 1716) embarked for New France in 1683. For his service to France in the war against the Iroquois, he was appointed king’s lieutenant in Plaisance (Newfoundland). After his return from New France, he published three books about North America: Nouveaux voyages, Mémoires de septentrionale, and Supplement aux voyages. 41 Louis Hennepin (1640–c. 1705), one of the best known explorers of North America in the seventeenth century. He entered the Franciscan order and soon after became involved in missionary work. His duties brought him to New France; however, he travelled extensively not only in New France, but in many other parts of North America, and upon his return to France, Father Hennepin published several books dedicated to this continent, among them Description de la Louisiane (1683), Nouvelle decouverte d’un tres grand pays

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situé dans l’Amérique (1697), and Nouveau voyage (1698). In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries Hennepin’s and Lahontan’s works were the most popular books in Europe on North America. 42 James Adair (1709–83), a pioneer and trader, came to North America in 1735 from Ireland and began trading with Catawbas, Cherokees, and Chickasaws. He was well-known and respected for his ability not only to trade with Natives but also to negotiate deals beneficial to both sides. In 1775 he published The History of the American Indians. The book describes Native customs, language, and daily life. Interestingly, Adair believed that North American Natives were descendants of an ancient Jewish tribe. 43 Pierre-François-Xavier de Charlevoix (1682–1761) was a Jesuit priest, explorer, writer, and teacher who travelled on the St Lawrence River, the Great Lakes, and the Mississippi River. Charlevoix also visited the island of Santo Domingo. Upon his return to France in 1723, he published accounts of his travels in several books about the New World: Histoire et description générale de la Nouvelle France (1744; English, 1769), Histoire de l’isle Espagnole (1730–31), and Histoire du Paraguay (1756). 44 Adams, Travelers and Travel Liars, 84. 45 Carver, Three Years Travels. 46 Charlevoix, Journal of a Voyage to North America. 47 Carver, Three Years Travel, 194–5. 48 Charlevoix, Journal of a Voyage to North America, 2: 65–6. 49 Carver, Three Years Travel, 194. 50 Charlevoix, Journal of a Voyage to North America, 2: 67–8. 51 Ibid., 1: 349–50. 52 Ibid., 355. 53 Yarmolinsky, Picturesque United States of America, 28–9. 54 We know that Svin’in had travelled to Niagara Falls; nevertheless, according to Jeffrey, “for a general view of Niagara Falls [Svin’in] drew from a sketch by the ornithologist Alexander Wilson” (Jeffrey, “As a Russian Saw Us,” 140). 55 See Gleason, “Pavel Svin’in, 1787–1839,” 21, and Yarmolinsky, Picturesque United States of America, 37–8. Apparently, Svin’in stated that Peale’s painting The Roman Daughter was a copy of a painting he had seen in Paris. At that point Peale, defending his reputation, confronted Svin’in in a statement published in Philadelphia’s American Daily Advertiser, and Svin’in was forced to admit his mistake.

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56 Pushkin, Polnoe sobranie sochinenii, 7: 151 (translation mine). 57 Vissarion Belinskii (1811–48), a gifted journalist and critic, advocated the primacy of content in literature over the style or quality of language. His followers Nikolai Chernyshevskii (1828–89) and Nikolai Dobroliubov (1836–61) advanced Belinskii’s ideas even further. In his work entitled The Aesthetic Relations of Art and Reality (1885), Chernyshevskii attacked “old” Hegelian aesthetics and replaced them with the notion of “true” representation of reality. In other words, he denounced the concept of “abstract beauty” and proclaimed the necessity of providing models drawn from real life. After the Bolshevik revolution, these theories became the only acceptable basis for any literary analysis, gaining an overwhelming importance in the Marxist-Leninist school of literary criticism. a p i c t u r e s q u e v oy a g e t h r o u g h n o r t h a m e r i c a 1 John Cabot, in Italian Giovanni Caboto, discovered the mainland of North America. The time and place of his birth are unknown; however, he was granted Venetian citizenship on 28 March 1476. In May 1498 Cabot sailed from Bristol in search of a northwest passage to India. He discovered what is generally believed to have been Newfoundland and eventually reached the mainland, landed there, and proceeded down the coast, probably as far as Chesapeake Bay. Nevertheless, his voyage was considered a failure, for he was unable to find a passage to India. 2 This is a reference to the War of 1812. 3 In the fifth century bc, Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus, a Roman statesman was called by the leaders of Rome to defend it against the Aequi people. Cincinnatus left his farm, defeated the enemy, and was farming again within sixteen days. He desired no personal political power. George Washington is sometimes called the “American Cincinnatus” for practising similar principles. 4 Although Article i of the US Constitution states that “the Number of Representatives should not exceed one for every thirty thousand,” in the early twenty-first century that ratio is one representative per 666,666 people. 5 Article ii of the US Constitution stipulates that the term for a president shall be four years, not three. In this article no limitation is placed on the number of terms a president can serve. However, Amendment xxii of the US Constitution, passed in 1951, limits service in the presidency to ten years or less.

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6 In 1815, when Svin’in published his work, there were only eighteen states in the union: Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Georgia, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maryland, South Carolina, New Hampshire, Virginia, New York, North Carolina, Rhode Island, Vermont, Kentucky, Tennessee, Ohio, and Louisiana. He probably confused states with settled territories approaching statehood: Indiana (1816), Illinois (1818), Maine (1820) and Michigan (1837). 7 René Antoine Ferchault de Réaumur (1683–1757) was a French scientist especially remembered for his invention of a thermometer. He adopted the freezing point of water as zero and marked off 80 equal degrees between that point and the point of boiling water. Thus -15 degrees Réaumur is equal to 1.75 degrees Fahrenheit or -18.75 degrees Celsius. 8 Svin’in was probably not familiar with some of these rivers. The Mississippi River starts in the Northern Great Plains and empties into the Gulf of Mexico near New Orleans. He clearly never saw this river. The Ohio River begins in modern-day western Pennsylvania and empties into the Mississippi. He did not see this river either. It is also unlikely that he saw the St Lawrence River. It flows from Lake Ontario through Quebec before ending in the Atlantic Ocean. The Potomac, Susquehanna, Delaware, and Hudson rivers were all in and near where he was stationed, and he probably had direct experience with these waterways. 9 Svin’in was unable to find the Russian equivalents for the American tree varieties and was forced to use a transliteration of English names. He writes of the dog vud tree. In modern Russian “dogwood” (Cornus gen.) is translated kizil. It is not surprising that he was unaware of the name, as dogwood trees can be found in Russia only in Crimea and the Caucasus. 10 Svin’in was encountering species of birds unknown to him, and he transliterates the English name into Russian as Moken Barta and describes it in Russian as the American nightingale. It should be noted that the Russian name of the bird, peresmeshnik, was known and used in Russia during Svin’in’s time and even earlier. For example, in the middle of the eighteenth century a collection of tales was published by Mikhail Chulkov called Peresmeshnik, ili slavianskie skazki (The Mocker, or Slavic Tales). 11 The actual census of 1810 reported 7,239,881 people in the United States. Nevertheless, it is possible that Svin’in obtained his information from one of the American gazetteers published during this period. 12 According to the Geospatial and Statistical Data Center at the University

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of Virginia, the slave population at this time was 1,130,781. 13 While Svin’in was very close in reporting the population numbers above, the 1810 census did not specifically note the number of Natives. 14 Svin’in is using the somewhat archaic Russian word srebroliubie (love of silver). 15 The Russian word ubityi is probably used to refer to so-called macadamized roads. However, it is better to translate it as “hard-packed.” In order to make it clearer for the reader, Svin’in puts a French word, schaussée, in brackets. 16 Svin’in is referring to the embargo of 1807, enacted by the United States against Great Britain. Thomas Jefferson had grown tired of the British impressment of American and non-American sailors into the British navy. The British seized American ships under the pretense of looking for fugitive British sailors. In time, though, they began to take American citizens off ships and force them to serve in the British navy. Jefferson’s embargo actually hurt the American economy far more than the British, and it was repealed not long after. However, the economic impact lingered as the tensions over territory re-emerged and the two countries moved toward what is known as the War of 1812. See Borneman, 1812: The War that Forged a Nation, and Hickey, The War of 1812. 17 There was no public school system in the United States in the early nineteenth century. It was not until after the American Civil War that 50 per cent of American children were attending public schools. Svin’in may have seen examples of some public schools emerging in Philadelphia and other cities, but to imply that “all children attended public schools” seems wrong. 18 Benjamin West (1738–1820), an American Quaker, was one of the first American painters to become known in Europe. He was considered an innovator since he abandoned the tradition of painting people in Greek and Roman dress. Born in Springfield (Swarthmore), Pennsylvania, he studied in Philadelphia and New York City and eventually in Italy. In 1763 he moved to England, where in 1772 he was appointed painter to the king. He was made a member of the Royal Academy and in 1792 became its president. 19 John Trumbull (1756–1843) was the foremost member of a group of artists who painted important American historical events. He served as a colonel in the Continental Army and as an aide-de-camp to General Washington during the American Revolution. His most famous painting is The Surrender of Cornwallis, painted in 1820.

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20 Gilbert Charles Stuart (1755–1828), an American portrait painter, was born in North Kingston, Rhode Island. He studied painting in Edinburgh and in London under Benjamin West. In 1792 he returned to the United States as an established portraitist. He is particularly renowned for his portraits of the American revolutionary hero George Washington. His depiction of Washington known as the Athenaeum portrait (1796) appears on the American $1 bill. 21 The “Democrats” Svin’in refers to were actually known as the DemocraticRepublicans. They dominated the presidency of the United States from Thomas Jefferson to Andrew Jackson. 22 Here and in all subsequent biblical quotations the references in brackets are the translator’s. 23 Svin’in clearly means here those who adhere to the Christian faith. Amendment i of the US Constitution states: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” 24 Philip Embury (1728–73) was a preacher in the first Methodist congregation established in New York City and one of the first in the colonies. 25 Pluton, or Pluto, the god of death in ancient Greek mythology. 26 Svin’in is paraphrasing Matthew 11.23: “And you Capernaum, will you be exalted to heaven? No, you will be brought down to Hades.” 27 In other words, they object to preachers who replace inspiration with preparation. 28 Svin’in refers to the Methodists’ concept of simple preaching. According to Christian tradition, the Pharisees represent the opponents of the early Christian movement (Mark 3.6, 7.1, 10.2; Matt. 23; John 11.47) who confronted Jesus by attacking his disciples. They also embody anti-spiritual, “learned” belief rather than inspired faith. 29 Jacques-Bénigne Bossuet (1627–1704), a French writer and Catholic bishop, was the author of several books on religious and political topics, including Discourse sur l’histoire universelle (1681) and Politique tirée des propres paroles de l’Ecriture sainte (1709). 30 During the Second Great Awakening and earlier, many Protestant sects (especially the Methodists) would hold revivals over several days and even weeks. These gatherings were common in New England at this time. 31 George Fox (1624–91) was the founder of the Society of Friends. In 1624 he underwent a mystical experience that led him to think that Christianity was

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not an outward profession but an inner light (“The Light Within”) by which Christ directly illumines the believing soul. In 1647 he began to preach. Often a victim of mob brutality, he was imprisoned eight times between 1649 and 1675. He eventually acquired many followers. By 1668 he had established the first outlines of the future Society of Friends. In 1671 Fox went to West Indies and to North America, where he travelled extensively among the new colonies, from New England to North Carolina. American attitudes toward the freedom of religions ensured the success of his Society in the American colonies. 32 This is a reference to Psalm 114.7: “Tremble, O earth, at the presence of the Lord, at the presence of the God of Jacob.” 33 William Penn (1644–1718) is one of the best-known members of the Friends. He was born and spent most of his life in England, but became an important figure in early American history. Penn became a Quaker at the age of twentythree. He wrote Sandy Foundations Shaken, an attack on Trinitarian doctrine. For the writing of this book Penn was imprisoned in the Tower of London. There he composed the first part of his most famous book, No Cross, No Crown. After his release, he wrote Innocence with Her Open Face, in which he modified the anti-Trinitarian position of his first book. 34 George Keith was a Quaker writer and the author of An Exhortation and Caution to Friends Concerning the Buying or Keeping of Negroes (1693). It seems to have been the first published protest against slavery and the first prohibition against keeping slaves among any religious group in North America. 35 Robert Barclay (1648–90), a Quaker theologian, was the author of number of books on the Quaker faith, including The Apology for the True Christian Divinity (1678) and Catechism and Confession of Faith (1673). 36 One of the best books on the history of the Quaker movement and their overall system of beliefs is Brinton, Friends for 300 Years. In his descriptions of Quakers’ “rules,” Svin’in seems to follow William Penn’s list of the twelve characteristics of Friends (“Some Fruits of Solitude in Reflections and Maxims” [1682]). 37 One can assume that this is a reference by Svin’in to the so-called fighting Quakers, those who held the belief that, contrary to the discipline of Friends, a man could forcibly resist any physical violence against himself or against anyone to whom he owed the duty of protection.

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38 This is a reference to Matthew 26.41: “Stay awake and pray that you may not come into the time of trial; the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.” 39 Here Svin’in manages to confuse two members of Penn’s family, the father and the son. In fact, not Admiral Sir William Penn (1621–70) but his son William (1644–1718) arrived in North America in 1681 with a group of his followers. The group initially purchased East Jersey, but in the same year, in payment of a debt owed to his father, Penn received from King Charles ii a charter for Pennsylvania (it was named by the king in memory of Admiral Penn). 40 This is a somewhat confusing statement, but it seems that Svin’in counts 1,000 Quakers in Pennsylvania, excluding the 5,000 in the city of Philadelphia. 41 For both “the shakers” and “the believers,” Svin’in provides the English word and the Russian equivalent. Shakers were followers of Ann Lee (1736–84), whom they called the “Blessed Mother Ann.” She came to North America and settled near Albany, New York, in 1774. She attracted a number of Quakers to her community, but theologically and in practice the Shakers were different from Friends. Like the Quakers, they practised simplicity, financial responsibility, work ethics, and a belief in the perfectibility of humankind. However, her followers believed that Ann Lee was the second incarnation of Christ. They were a celibate sect, and therefore the expansion of their membership depended on adult conversions and the rearing of orphans, who were given, upon reaching the adulthood, the choice of joining the Shakers or going out into the world. 42 Svin’in uses a quotation from 2 Samuel 6.16: “As the ark of the Lord came into the city of David, Michal daughter of Saul looked out of the window, and saw King David leaping and dancing before the Lord.” This dancing also represents the ecstatic rousing of devotion to the Lord as in Exodus 15.20–1: “The prophet Miriam, Aaron’s sister, took a tambourine in her hand; and all the women went out after her with tambourines and with dancing. And Miriam sand to them: ‘sing to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously.’” 43 This is a mistake on Svin’in’s part. The name of Ann Lee’s brother was not Basil but William. William Lee (1740–84) was a blacksmith by trade; he came to North America with his sister Ann and other members of their family. He is considered one of the founders of the Shaker movement. 44 Janson, The Stranger in America. 45 This is a reference to the Napoleonic Wars. The Americans tried to stay neutral during this conflict. In 1809 the United States passed the Non-Intercourse

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Act, which prohibited trade with France and Britain while they were at war. A year later the US Congress restored trade with both countries, but Great Britain continued to interfere with American trade until 1812. 46 It is possible that “S – –” stands for the American inventor Colonel John C. Stevens of Hoboken, New Jersey. For more about Stevens, see note 55 below. 47 John Quincy Adams (1767–1848) was appointed minister plenipotentiary to Russia in 1809. 48 Robert Fulton (1765–1815) is often credited with the invention of the steamboat. He was the man who put the concept into practice by building the first steamboat, the Clermont, in 1807. The first actual attempts at steamboat building were made by two Americans, John Fitch and James Rumsey, in the 1790s; however, Fitch’s numerous designs in the United States did not take hold. Fulton, supported by the wealthy American ambassador to France, Robert Livingston, then became the main force in steamboat building in the United States. 49 In 1811 Fulton, with the help of Ambassador Livingston, indeed managed to negotiate exclusive rights to build the steamboats in Russia. According to the agreement, he was expected to run a vessel between St Petersburg and Kronstadt within three years. He began to work on the construction of the Empress of Russia but died before the boat was finished. The project was never completed. Svin’in’s role in trying to bring steamboats to Russia was not exactly as he states. He presents the appearance of being interested in the inherent advantages for Russia of the use of steamboats. However, it seems clear that he is attempting to advance his own involvement in future endeavours related to steamboats. In a letter to Fulton after the inventor had received the charter in 1813, Svin’in asked “that your company honour me with the title of Superintendent of the Steamboats in Russia” and requested that the Fulton company grant him upon his return to Russia an annual salary “as may seem most just.” Svin’in assured Fulton that his services in Russia would be invaluable and that the arrangements would be beneficial to Fulton. His proposal was never accepted by Fulton. See Sutcliffe, Robert Fulton and the “Clermont.” 50 John Fitch (1743–98), the inventor of the steamboat, worked in collaboration with James Rumsey in 1790s and was granted a US patent for the steamboat on 26 August 1791. The first steamboats were slow, but they opened up a

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new kind of travel for both cargo and passengers. Fitch first demonstrated his 45-foot craft on the Delaware River in 1787 for delegates of the Constitutional Convention. He then built a larger steamboat, which carried passengers and freight between Philadelphia and Burlington, New Jersey. However, the commercial success of the steamboat was realized by Robert Fulton and Robert Livingston. 51 Boulton, Watt and Company was the largest engine-building company in the United States. 52 James Rumsey (1743–92), who was born in Cecil County, Maryland, was a self-educated man, an inventor as well as a skilled cabinetmaker, blacksmith, and millwright. He designed a mechanical boat, a model of which he showed to George Washington. This boat could be propelled upstream by means of grapples on the bottom. With Washington’s recommendation, Rumsey was able to get some financial backing for his work, but testing of the boat in April 1786 proved it to be very unsatisfactory. Rumsey continued his experiments, and on 3 December 1787 a successful public demonstration was made on the Potomac at Shepherdstown. Soon after, the Rumseian Society was founded in order to publicize Rumsey’s work, to seek further financial help, and to secure patents for his inventions. He moved to England, where he was attempting to advance his work when he died suddenly on 20 December 1792, on the eve of the demonstration of his new steamboat, the Columbia Maid. 53 The information provided by Svin’in here is not absolutely correct. Daniel Parker, originally of Watertown, Massachusetts, entered into partnership with Rumsey, providing necessary financial help. The other partner in this enterprise was Samuel Rogers. They advanced Rumsey the necessary money and goods. Upon completion of the boat, the level of their contributions was expected to increase; however, soon after the agreement was signed, Parker and Rogers went bankrupt, and Rumsey was forced to look for other sources of capital. 54 Robert R. Livingston (1746–1813) was born in Clermont, New York. He later became a wealthy judge in New York City. In 1776, as a member of the state constitutional congress of New York, he was selected to attend the Continental Congress. He was a member of the committee that drafted the Declaration of Independence, but was recalled by his state before he could sign it. Livingston was appointed secretary of foreign affairs (secretary of state) soon

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after the Articles of Confederation were adopted. He served in that post until 1783, when he was appointed chancellor of the state of New York. In 1801 he was appointed American ambassador to France. While in Paris, Livingston made the acquaintance of Fulton, and they began their steamboat collaboration. In fact, their first boat, the Clermont, was named after Livingston’s birthplace and ancestral home. Fulton and Livingston were able to secure an eighteen-year monopoly from the territory of Orleans (soon to become the state of Louisiana in 1812) that would allow only their steamboats in the mouth of the Mississippi. 55 Colonel John C. Stevens of Hoboken, New Jersey, the most productive American inventor, in 1803 had constructed a twin-screw steam launch with a high-pressure tubular boiler (now preserved in the Smithsonian Institution in Washington). He built the Phoenix, which was ready for trials only a month after the Clermont. Because of Fulton’s monopoly on navigating the Hudson, Stevens took his boat to Philadelphia, where under the command of his son, Robert L. Stevens, it plied the Delaware River to Trenton and eventually became the first boat to navigate the open waters by steam. 56 Charles Stanhope, third Earl Stanhope (1753–1816), a British politician and inventor, was educated from an early age in Geneva by the leading scientists of the time. At the age of eighteen he won a prize from the Academy in Stockholm for his paper on the pendulum. His scientific experiments produced fireproof stucco, calculating machines, lenses, and machines for printing and stereotyping. He was less successful in his experiments in steam navigation. He had an engine built according to his own design by hired mechanics and was planning to apply it to the boat he had patented previously, but he never completed this work. 57 The Car of Neptune was built, not in 1806, but in 1809. It is possible that Svin’in’s information was wrong; on the other hand, this could be a simple typographical error. 58 The second steamboat was built by Robert Fulton in the summer of 1809, but was ready for service only in autumn of the following year, in time for the season. It was more or less a duplicate of the Clermont. The Car of Neptune was 175 feet long over all, 24 feet in the beam, and 39 feet over the guards. The machinery was designed and constructed by Fulton himself. The boat cost about $25,000. Svin’in misspells the name of the boat in English as the Care of Neptune.

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59 The versta is an obsolete Russian unit of length. It is equal to 3,500 feet or 1,068.8 metres. 60 The Paragon was the first steamboat to be built after the Car of Neptune. Its construction permitted Fulton to establish service three times a week between New York City and Albany. 61 This is a reference to the widespread international interest in building boats powered by steam. The officials of the East India Company had contacted Fulton in 1812 and offered him a contract to establish steamboat navigation on the Ganges. However, the project never materialized, possibly because of slow-moving colonial bureaucracy or perhaps because of Fulton’s death in 1815. The first steamboats appeared on Ganges only eight years later. 62 The sazhen is an archaic Russian measure of distance and length. It is equal to 7 feet or 2.1336 metres. 63 William Hogarth (1713–68), a painter and engraver, was a major British artist of the first half of the eighteenth century. He was particularly known for presenting in his paintings topics from everyday life. He was interested in the life of the modern city and became renowned for his sensitive portraits, for he insisted on painting what he truly saw in faces of his models. His most accomplished portraits are the Shrimp Girl and the Artist’s Servants (both in Tate Gallery, London). 64 Laurence Sterne (1713–68), an English author whose book about travel on the Continent, A Sentimental Journey (1768), is considered the best example of travel literature of the time. 65 Iohann Caspar Lavater (1741–1801), a Swiss writer, theologian, and pastor, who in his philosophical work Physiognomische Fragmente zur Beförderung der Menschenkenntnis und Menschenliebe (1775–78) attempted to establish the connection between an individual’s physical appearance, the outline of the facial characteristics, the structure of the skull, and the individual’s inner spiritual life. Despite the fact that this work was very much criticized by contemporary writers and scholars, by the nineteenth century his theory as well as the book had become very popular in Europe and in Russia. It was translated into Russian and published in 1817. Curiously, one of the characters in Tolstoy’s War and Peace refers to Lavater’s book. See Tolstoy, Voina i mir, 11. 66 Barge-hauling was tremendously difficult work that drove many who were forced into it into early graves. The boatmen, as they were called, dragged barges against the current of rivers. They often found dangers on shore as

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well as in the water. Horses were used occasionally, but most of the burden fell upon the boatmen. See Haywood, The Beginning of Railway Development in Russia, 3–20. 67 In August 1791 a slave uprising took place in the French colony of SaintDominique (present-day Haiti). The leader of the uprising was a former slave, Toussaint L’Ouverture. In 1801 he conquered Santo Domingo (present-day Dominican Republic), eradicated slavery, and proclaimed himself governorgeneral of the entire island. In 1801 Napoleon Bonaparte dispatched the French army to the island under the command of General Leclerc, who was able to reinstate French rule. However, in 1803 Jean-Jacque Dessalines, one of Toussaint’s generals, defeated Napoleon’s army and reinstated black rule. In 1804 he declared the entire island the independent Republic of Haiti. The several years of uprising were extremely bloody, and many French inhabitants of the island were killed. 68 General Jean Victor Marie Moreau (1763–1813) led the French army in a number of victorious campaigns between 1794 and 1800. It seems that he was the only military rival of Napoleon Bonaparte, the first consul of the Republic; therefore he was accused of complicity with the royalists and in 1804 sentenced to exile. Moreau with his wife and son arrived in New York in December 1804. He refused all offer of service in the United States and finally settled in New Jersey in 1806, on an estate near the Delaware River, several miles from Trenton. He lived there until 1813, spending his time in private affairs, fishing, hunting, and entertaining. He was planning to accept the offer of command of the United States troops when war between the United States and Britain seemed imminent. Napoleon’s defeat in Russia changed everything, and Moreau accepted the offer of the Russian czar, Alexander i, and the king of Prussia to participate in the campaign against Bonaparte. He returned to Europe in 1813, but was mortally wounded on 27 August 1813, during the battle of Dresden. This chapter seems to be an abbreviated version of a book published by Svin’in in French in 1814 under the title Quelques détails sur le général Moreau et ses derniers momens and translated into English the same year as Some Details Concerning General Moreau, and His Last Moments. The first edition in English was published in London and the second in Boston in 1814; in other words, three separate editions in French and English appeared at almost the same time, clearly indicating a great interest in Moreau in

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Europe and in the United States. The book consists of three parts: Some Details Concerning General Moreau; Biographical Memoir of General Moreau; and Funeral Oration of Moreau Pronounced at St Petersburg in Honour of Moreau by a Friend of General Moreau (this last was a speech made by Baron Jean Guillaume Hyde de Neuville and published in 1814 in French). 69 General Belisarius (506–65), one of the greatest military commanders in history, was particularly renowned in Russia (where name is usually spelled Velisarius), for he was of Slavic origin and probably came to Constantinople from the Balkans. He won a number of important battles for Emperor Justinian. Although Belisarius was never disloyal to emperor, Justinian was always afraid of the general’s popularity and fame. 70 General Moreau was held in the Temple prison in Paris (La Prison du Temple). Originally, it had been a castle belonging to the Knights Templar. In 1792 the royal family was incarcerated there. 71 Alexander Suvorov (1729–1800), a Russian general, served during the reign of Catherine the Great and her son, Czar Paul. He is considered one of the greatest Russian military heroes and the “father” of Russian tactical warfare. 72 It seems that in this somewhat confusing statement Svin’in is attempting to emphasize the fact that Moreau declined the financial offers from the Russian government but accepted the Russian emperor’s proposal to participate in the campaign against Napoleon without specific monetary reward. 73 George Cockburn (1772–1853) served under Admiral Nelson. Eventually he became Sir George Cockburn and an admiral of the Fleet. As rear admiral, he commanded the detachment of Royal Marines that put Washington under fire during the War of 1812. In 1815, in command of the Northhumberland, he was to transport the defeated Napoleon Bonaparte into exile on the island of St Helena. 74 This is possibly a reference to Ann-Jean-Marie-René Savary (1774–1833). He was a French general during the Napoleonic Wars. In 1808 he was given the title of Duke of Rovigo, and in 1810 he succeeded Joseph Fouche as minister of police. In this position he was responsible for Napoleon’s wide network of spies around the world. 75 Svin’in probably refers to the episode during which the brig Argus, under the command of Lieutenant Allen, escaped the British blockade of the New England coast. The Argus carried aboard as a passenger William H. Crawford, the newly appointed minister to France.

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76 The month here seems to be incorrect since in his book about Moreau, Svin’in gives the date as 21 June 1813. The month of June is also mentioned by the biographer of Moreau, John Philippart, in his book Memoirs of General Moreau. According to Philippart, his book was published with the permission of Madame Moreau. 77 According to Philippart, they landed on 24th July. 78 Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte (1763–1844) was elected crown prince of Sweden on 21 August 1810. He was a French commoner who had served as war minister in Napoleon’s government and displayed great military and organizational abilities. He became one of eighteen marshals of France; however, his relationship with Napoleon was slowly deteriorating. As crown prince of Sweden, in 1813 he allied Sweden with Napoleon’s enemies: Britain, Prussia, and Russia. 79 Colonel Rapatel (according to Philippart, the name is spelled Rappatel) was a former aide-de-camp of General Moreau. 80 Philippart seems to doubt the language used by Moreau to express his admiration for the Russian czar as it is reported in Svin’in’s account. However, he is somewhat cautious in his reservations, stating that “at the same time I must observe that this is very different from that bold, animated, and nervous language, in which General Moreau has delivered himself on every other occasion” (Philippart, Memoirs of General Moreau, 211). Indeed, the quotation very much resembles Svin’in’s overly exhilarated and somewhat flowery style of writing. Nevertheless, one should not necessarily doubt the fact that Moreau was impressed with Alexander’s ability as a great leader and commander of the Russian army, which had, after all, defeated Bonaparte. 81 Their imperial Highnesses the Grand Duchesses of Weimar and Oldenburg. 82 Emperor Franz i of Austria, or Francis von Hapsburg, who ruling the Holy Roman Empire from 1792 until 6 August 1806, when the empire was disbanded, also became the first emperor of Austria, reigning from 1806 to 1835. 83 Moreau was a commander-in-chief of the French army on the Rhine and Mosselle during the campaign of 1796, and there he defeated the Austrian general Wurmser. 84 King Frederick William iii of Prussia (1770–1840) reigned from 1797 to 1840. 85 Philippart has a somewhat different description of this event. He writes that Moreau “was placed in a litter formed of the body of a coach” (Philippart,

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Memoirs of General Moreau, 229). Despite the fact that Philippart’s account appears to be more realistic and Svin’in’s somewhat more romantic, Svin’in was present during the event and could be correct in his report. 86 In his book on Moreau, Svin’in sometimes spells the surgeon’s name Wylie and sometimes Welly. 87 Gebhard Leberecht von Blucher (1742–1819), a Prussian general and field marshal and prince of Wahlstatdt in Silesia, was one of the leaders of the war in Prussia in 1805–06. In 1813–14 he was instrumental in forcing the allied forces to carry the war into France itself. 88 Lauen (Laon) was a town in Bohemia. General Blucher’s great victory at Lauen on 9 to 10 March 1814 decided the fate of the campaign. 89 Philippart published a facsimile of this letter in his book. It is identical to the one quoted by Svin’in. One can assume that Svin’in was able to copy the letter at the time when it was written or had received a copy from Madame Moreau. Here is this letter in the French original: “Ma chere Amie – À la Bataille de Dresde, it y a trois jours, j’ai eu les deux jambes emportées d’un boulet de canon – Ce coquin de Buonaparte est toujours heureux. On m’a fait l’amputation ait fait un mouvement rétrograde, ce n’est nullement par revers mais par décousu, et se rapprocher de Général Blucher. Excusez mon griffonage. Je t’aime et t’embrasse de tout mon coeur. Je charge Rappatel de finir. V.M.” (Philippart, Memoirs of General Moreau, 230). Philippart also produces the continuation of the letter written by Rappatel, which reported on Moreau’s condition. 90 In his book on Moreau, Svin’in reports this event in somewhat different words but in a more or less similar tone. Philippart has no such report at all. It is possible that Svin’in created “the letter” in order to express once more the general’s admiration of the Russian czar and in accordance with the Romantic tradition, according to which the dying hero’s last words are addressed to the great monarch. 91 Alexander not only invited Madame Moreau to spend the remainder of her days in Russia under his protection but also presented her with half a million rubles and gave her an annual pension of thirty thousand more. The French original of this letter was published in Svin’in’s book. Here is the text: “Madame. Lorsque l’affreux malheur, qui affeignit à mes côtés le Général Moreau, me priva des limières et de l’expérience de ce grand homme, je nourrissais l’espoir qu’à force de soins on parvendrait à le conserver à sa famille

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et à mon amitié. La Providence en a disposé autrement. Il est mort comme il a vécu, dans la plaine énergie d’une âme forte et constante. Il n’est qu’un remède aux grandes peines de la vie, celui de les voir partager. En Russie, Madame, vous trouverez partout ces sentiments, et s’il vous convient de voux y fixer, je rechercherai tous les moyens d’embellir l’existence d’une personne, dont je me fais un devoir sacré d’être le consolateur et l’appui. Je vous prie, Madame, d’y compter irrévocablement, de ne me laisser ignorer aucune circonstance, ou’ je pourrais vous être de quelque utilite’ et de mécrire toujours directement. Prévenir vos désirs sera une jouissance pour moi. L’amitie que j’avais vouee à votre èpoux va au-dela’ du tombeau, et je n’ai pas d’autre moyen de m’acquitter, du moins en partie, envers lui, que ce que je serai à même de faire pour assurer le bienêtre de sa famille. Recevez, Madame, dans ces tristes et cruelles circonstances, ces témoignages, et l’assurance de fous mes sentiments. (Signé) Alexandre, Toplitz, le 6 Septembre, 1813, L’Empereur” (Svin’in, Quelques détails sur le général Moreau, 89–91). 92 The word perouns is here used to mean “whirlwinds.” 93 The Styx is the river of no return in Greek mythology. Cerberus, a threeheaded dog who patrolled the shores of the river, guarded it. 94 On Charlevoix, a French Jesuit explorer and historian, see 163n43. 95 The land around the Credit River valley. At the time of European arrival in the 1600s, the Iroquoian and Algonquian peoples populated this territory, but at some point it was taken over by the Mississaugas, a tribe that came from Lake Huron. 96 Svin’in is using the Russian word tifon, from the Greek ␶␷␸␻␯, “the whirlwind.” It is mentioned in Dal’s dictionary and defined as a “whirlwind, strong wind, storm that lifts dust, soil, and water high above the ground and destroys everything in its path” (see Dal’, Tolkovyi slovar’ zhivogo velikorusskogo iazyka, 4: 407. 97 This is the most controversial chapter in Svin’in’s book. The accuracy of his information, as well as the entire story of his meeting with Natives in Philadelphia under the circumstances described, appears to have been drawn from his “literary imagination” and not actual facts. For more about this subject, see 45–8 above. 98 The Circassians are a Muslim people whose Russian name is Cherkess; the native name is Adygey. “Circassian” is often incorrectly applied to all the

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mountain peoples of the North Caucasus. They were Christianized in the sixth century but adopted Islam in the seventeenth century when their territory came under the rule of the Ottoman Empire. In 1829 this area was taken over by Russia. The Circassians fought the Russians in many wars; eventually, between 1861 and 1864, after the Russian conquest, many migrated to Turkey. 99 It seems that Svin’in refers here to the ancient Osage, who called themselves the Niukonska, which is translated “Little Ones of the Middle Waters.” 100 Svin’in translates the name of this tribe as the “Fat Osage.” 101 The Osage, Ponca, Omaha, Kwapa, and Kansas nations were the descendants of one great tribe of Natives whose first dwelling place was in the region of the Ohio and Wabash rivers. Some of the tribes wandered westward, some moved down the Mississippi, and some ascended it. It is possible that Svin’in’s reference indicates those Osages who had wandered as far as Arkansas. 102 Micco is a Creek word meaning “chief.” 103 During the Tartar-Mongol period (1220s–1480s) in Russian history, the Khans based in Sarai required the princes of the major cities of Rus’ to send representatives with tribute to gain favour. 104 The Olympic theatre, better known as the Walnut Street Theatre (still standing), was originally built as a circus in 1808. In 1812 it also opened as a theatre; the first performance of a play was given on 1 January 1812. However, at the same time it still continued circus performances, particularly those related to the exhibition of horsemanship. 105 For more information concerning this dance, see 45–8 above. 106 The alcohol Natives were using was clearly not vodka but was probably any other hard liquor available in the Americas, such as whiskey, gin, or rum. 107 For more on this dance, see 45–8 above. 108 For more about the song, see 47–8 above. 109 Svin’in’s offhand statement concerning the depletion of the Native population and its advantages in the dissemination of civilization in the New World seems very callous by our standards, but is an accurate reflection of mainstream views about the Native population among even the most educated Europeans. 110 For more on this dance, see 45–8 above. 111 One arshin is equal to 28 inches. 112 According to Yarmolinsky, no such information exists in Franklin’s Autobiography or in any other of his works. It is possible that Svin’in read about the

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subject in some other book and erroneously attributed it to Franklin (see Yarmolinsky, Picturesque United States of America, 30). 113 The Buffalo Dance is a traditional Native dance in which eight men participate, wearing buffalo skins on their backs and painting themselves black, red, and white. The participants usually attempt to imitate the movements of the buffalo on the prairie. For more on this subject, see 45–8 above. 114 The sazhen’ is equal to 2.134 metres, but here Svin’in is using the nautical sazhen, which equals 1.83 metres. 115 For more about Cabot, who was not French but Italian, see 164n1. 116 This is a reference to an expedition to Newfoundland reported to have been made by Sir Thomas Hampshire in 1582. Whether such an expedition indeed took place has been questioned by some scholars. David B. Quinn, in his biography of Richard Clarke in the Dictionary of Canadian Biography, argues that both Hampshire and his expedition were invented by L.A. Anspach in his History of the Island of Newfoundland (1819), and the story has been repeated in many Newfoundland histories. However, the fact that the expedition was mentioned by Svin’in in a book published four years before Anspach’s brings into question the argument that it was “invented” by Anspach. t h e f r e e v i s ua l a rt s i n t h e u n i t e d s tat e s o f a m e r i c a 1 For artists West, Trumbull, and Stuart, see 166nn18–20. 2 This is a reference to Stuart’s painting Washington at Dorchester Heights, painted in 1805 and currently in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. It depicts General Washington standing next to his horse and is related to events of 2–3 March 1776, when the British troops occupied the city of Boston. Washington, stationed at Dorchester Heights, ordered the cannon to be brought from Fort Ticonderoga and proceeded to bombard the city all night with cannonballs. 3 It is interesting that no such painting is ever mentioned in the list of Stuart’s works. According to Yarmolinsky, there is a possibility that Svin’in picked up this story from an anecdote attributed to Judge Hopkinson: “Lord Mulgrave whose name was Phipps, employed Stuart to paint the portrait of his brother, General Phipps, previous to his going abroad. On seeing the picture, which he did not see until it was finished, Mulgrave exclaimed, ‘What is this? – This is very strange!’ and stood gazing at the portrait. ‘I have painted your brother as I saw him,’ said the artist. ‘I see insanity in that face,’ was brother’s re-

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mark. The General went to India, and the first account his brother had of him was that of suicide from insanity. He went mad and cut his throat” (quoted in Yarmolinsky, Picturesque United States of America, 35). 4 The original painting by Benjamin West was bought by a Mr Felton in 1805 and shipped to the United States to be exhibited at the museum in Philadelphia, but the whereabouts of the canvas is now unknown. However, an engraving of this painting was done by F. Legat and is included in Boydell’s Shakespeare Prints. West was unhappy with Legat’s engraving and felt that it did not adequately captured the spirit of his original. 5 Benjamin West created two King Lear paintings, the first, Lear and Cordelia, in 1784 and the second, King Lear in the Storm, in 1788. Here Svin’in is referring to the second painting, which is now in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. 6 Here Svin’in provides a somewhat “loose” translation of Lear’s monologue. 7 The title of this painting is William Penn’s Treaty with the Indians When He Founded the Province of Pennsylvania in North America. It was painted in 1771–72 and is held by the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia. 8 The Death of General Warren at the Battle of Bunker Hill, painted in 1786, was the first historical painting by the artist. It is in the Yale University Art Gallery in New Haven, Connecticut. The Death of General Montgomery in the Attack on Quebec (1786) is also held by Yale. 9 John Gottfried von Muller engraved Trumbull’s painting The Battle of Bunker’s Hill in 1798. 10 Johann Frederik Clemens (1749–1831), a Danish engraver, was born in Golnau near Stettin (in present-day Poland). He was trained at the Royal Danish Academy of Art, but in 1774 he went to Paris for further training and there was influenced by the style of Charles-Nicolas Cochin. He returned to Copenhagen in 1778, by 1779 he had been named royal engraver, and in 1786 he was accepted as a member of the Art Academy. In 1792 Clemens travelled to London to work on a new etching based on John Trumbull’s Death of General Montgomery. He eventually engraved several other paintings of Trumbull and West. 11 Thomas Sully (1783–1872) was one of the most important American portraitists. He was born in England, but his family immigrated to Charleston, South Carolina, in 1792. His parents were actors and he performed on the

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stage with his parents and siblings. Sully developed an interest in painting under the influence of his older brother, Lawrence, a miniaturist. Eventually, he had an opportunity to study with Gilbert Stuart, Benjamin West, and Sir Thomas Lawrence, who particularly influenced him. 12 This is a reference to Sully’s The Capture of Major André. It was painted in 1812 for the engraver and publisher Francis Kearny (1785–1837) and is now in the Worcester Art Museum, Worcester, Massachusetts. The British major John André (1751–80), the subject of the painting, was captured by New York militiamen near Tarrytown on the morning of 23 September 1780. His capture revealed Benedict Arnold’s plans to surrender the patriot fort at West Point to the British. 13 Svin’in is actually using the word vershok for the dimensions of the painting. One vershok is equal to 1¾ inches. However, because he says that this is an English vershok, one can assume that what he means, in fact, is an English inch. The owner of the Sully’s painting, Francis Kearney, never engraved it. A small mezzotint of the subject was published in Philadelphia by T.W. Freeman on 4 July 1812, called The Taking of Major André by the Incorruptible Paulding, Williams and Vanvert, but this work, even if inspired by Sully’s painting, is very different from it. 14 This is a reference to Sully’s George Frederick Cooke as Richard

III ,

painted

in 1811; it is held by the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. 15 Here Svin’in quotes in English from Shakespeare’s play Richard

III .

16 John Vanderlyn (1775–1852), a New York artist, initially worked with Gilbert Stuart, but in 1796 he went to France, where he remained for five years. He was well-known as a portraitist as well as for his paintings of Niagara Falls. Here Svin’in describes in detail a painting that Vanderlyn did for Joel Barlow in 1805 called Death of Bliss McCrea. 17 Upon his return from France in 1802, Vanderlyn painted two views of Niagara Falls; both were engraved and published in London in 1804 by the French émigré J. Merigot. 18 Rembrandt Peale (1778–1860) was the second son of Philadelphian artist Charles Willson Peale. He was a very popular portraitist at the time but is particularly known for his paintings of Niagara Falls. 19 Charles Willson Peale had seventeen children; four of his sons were painters, and several of his daughters became acknowledged as the first female painters in the United States.

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20 Raphaelle Peale (1774–1825), the oldest son of Charles Willson Peale, he became a still-life painter. 21 Titian Ramsay Peale (1799–1885), the youngest of the Peale brothers, was an explorer and a naturalist who specialized in zoological illustrations. He studied anatomy at the University of Pennsylvania and made many drawings for the university’s specimen collection. He was also a member of many scientific expeditions, where he used his expertise in recording new-found species of flora and fauna. 22 There was also the fourth brother, Rubens Peale (1784–1865). He managed his father’s and his brother’s museums in Baltimore. He also created his own museum in New York. Aside from these cultural ventures, he was also a still-life painter. 23 Angelica Kaufmann Peale (1775–1853) was well-known in her day as a competent painter. 24 Sophonisba Peale, also a painter, was named after the Renaissance painter Sophonisba Anguissola. 25 Svin’in’s negative evaluation of members of Peale family is surprising, for, in fact, the family was very successful. Despite the varying degrees of talent exhibited by the Peales, overall, their influence on art in United States is hard to deny. In 1997 an exhibition called The Peale Family: Creation of an American Legacy, 1770–1870, was organized. It travelled to Philadelphia, San Francisco, and Washington. 26 This is a reference to Rembrandt Peale’s painting Napoleon on Horseback (1810). 27 This is a paraphrase of a common line from Russian fairy tales. 28 This is a reference to Peale’s The Roman Daughter, painted in 1812 and exhibited during the same year at the Pennsylvania Academy. Unfortunately for Svin’in, his reputation was damaged by the hasty statement he made about this painting, indicating that it was not an original work but a copy of a painting he had seen in the rooms of Gerard in Paris. Confronted by the painter, Svin’in was forced to make a public statement acknowledging his mistake, which certainly damaged his credibility and overall reputation as an artist. 29 Thomas Birch (1779–1851) was a marine, landscape, portrait, and miniature painter. He was born in England and studied under his father, William Russell Birch, the well-known painter. Father and son came to Philadelphia in 1794

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and worked together for a time as William Birch and Son, designing, engraving, and publishing views of Philadelphia. Eventually, Thomas Birch became known as painter of portraits and watercolours. He is particularly remembered for his portraits of ships, marine views, and depictions of marine battles in the War of 1812. 30 William Groombridge (1748–1811) was a Philadelphia painter closely affiliated with the establishment of the Columbianum (see note 85 below). He eventually moved to Baltimore. One of his better-known paintings is the Fairmount and Schuylkill River, completed in 1800. 31 Francis Guy (1760–1820) was an English landscape painter who settled in Baltimore about 1800. He became well-known for painting the city from the point of view of a city dweller. In 1817 he moved to Brooklyn, where he continued his work. 32 This is possibly a reference to Guy’s Perry Hall, painted in 1805 and currently held by the Maryland Historical Society. 33 No landscape painter named Robinson is mentioned in Who’s Who in American Art, 1564–1975. There was a John Robinson of Philadelphia, who was a painter of miniatures and who exhibited his work in the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. 34 Benjamin Trott (1777–1843) was one of the better-known miniaturists of the period. 35 Joseph Wood (1778–1830) was a miniaturist and portrait painter. 36 Svin’in uses the Russian word maliar (house painter), which is commonly employed as a derogatory term for a bad artist. 37 On public schools in the United States, see 166n17. 38 Phidias (490?–430? bc) was the Athenian sculptor who directed the construction of the Parthenon and created its statues of gods, initiating the Greek classical style of art. He was born in Athens. His earliest works include a bronze statue of Athena to celebrate the victory of the Greeks over the Persians at the battle of Marathon. In about 456 bc the statue was placed on the Acropolis in Athens. About 30 feet (9 metres) high, it was the largest statue yet erected in Athens. Apelles (4th century bc) was the most celebrated painter of ancient Greece. As none of his paintings survived, he is known only by the descriptions provided in literary sources. 39 The history of US paper money is extensive. The first paper monies were issued in the Massachusetts Colony in 1690. In 1775 the American colonists is-

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sued paper currency to finance the revolution, but these banknotes were soon devalued, for they were easy to counterfeit and their value was based on potential tax revenues to be collected by the independent colonies. By 1791 the fist US bank had been charted by Congress; it was authorized to issue paper money. Nevertheless, the regulations were minimal, and some 1,600 local state-chartered and private banks issued paper money that proliferated. The banknotes were of different designs, colours, and despite the engraving techniques mentioned by Svin’in, they were easily counterfeited. 40 Ceres was the Roman goddess of agriculture, grain, and the love a mother bears for her child. The cult of Ceres was originally closely connected with that of Tellus, the goddess of the earth. In later mythology, Ceres is identified with the Greek Demeter. She was the daughter of Saturn and the mother of Proserpina. 41 David Edwin (1776–1841) was born in England, but was trained as an engraver by Jossi, a Dutch engraver who took his young apprentice with him to Holland. Eventually, Edwin found his way to Philadelphia, hoping eventually to return to England. However, he became very successful in the United States, engraving portraits produced by Stuart, Peale, Sully, and others. 42 That is, copperplate engravings. 43 George Murray was born in Scotland and died in Philadelphia in 1822. He was the best-known engraver of banknotes of the time. He also was wellknown for his engravings of portraits, landscapes, and animals. 44 William Woollett (1735–85), an English engraver, was appointed engraver to King George iii in 1775. 45 This is a description of the Lower Trenton Bridge. It was a toll bridge originally operated by the Trenton Delaware Bridge Company. It opened on 30 January 1806 and was the first bridge across the Delaware. The designer and builder was Theodore Burr, the most important American bridge builder of the time. The Lower Trenton Bridge connected Trenton with the Borough of Morrisville in Pennsylvania. It was 1,008 feet long and cost $180,000 to build. 46 This is a reference to the “Permanent” Bridge at Philadelphia over the Schuylkill River. It consisted of three spans, the centre one 185 feet long with a rise of 12 feet and the two-sided spans 150 feet long with a rise of 10 feet. Throughout the bridge, white pine was employed, and tree nails served to fasten the members together. The bridge lasted about fifty years but was eventually destroyed by fire.

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47 Timothy Palmer (1751–1821) was an American architect who, together with Burr and Lewis Wernwag (1770–1843), became well-known for his wooden truss bridge designs. The bridge mentioned by Svin’in was the first known covered bridge in North America and was built in 1805 near Philadelphia. 48 William Weston was an English engineer who resided in Philadelphia. In 1793 he was hired by the Middlesex Canal Company to build a canal connecting Boston Harbor with the Merrimack River. The construction was completed in 1803. 49 This bridge connected Harrison Avenue in Boston to Foundry Street in South Boston. The bridge was opened to the public on 1 October 1805 and was maintained for twenty-seven years as a toll bridge. On 19 April 1832 it was sold to the city of Boston. A new bridge replaced it in 1857. 50 The first bridge across the Merrimack River near Newburyport, Massachusetts, was completed in 1792 by Timothy Palmer; by 1810 it had been replaced by the Newburyport Suspension Bridge. This bridge was one of the earliest wrought-iron chain suspension bridges in the United States. The original bridge collapsed in 1827 and was replaced by an identical new structure. During the nineteenth century the bridge was repaired, modified, and reinforced in order to accommodate a trolley car service, but it was replaced in 1909 by a cable bridge. 51 On inventor Robert Fulton, see 170n48. 52 This is probably a reference to the “Colossus” Bridge, built by Lewis Wernwag in 1812 over the river at Philadelphia. It had a clear span of 340 feet with cross-sections composed of five parallel arched trusses, each with a rise of 20 feet. It was destroyed by fire on 1 September 1838. 53 One of these bridges is the Waterford Bridge, built in 1804 by Theodore Burr. It is a four-span structure, with clear spans ranging from 155 to 180 feet. It was destroyed by fire in 1909. 54 This is probably a reference to two bridges constructed in Boston at the time: the West Boston Bridge, which connected Cambridge with Boston (built in 1793) and Craigie’s Bridge, which was opened in 1810 to connect Boston to Lechmere Point. 55 The first bridge over the Connecticut River was built by Enoch Hale (1753–1837). It was a two-span timber structure, 115 feet long and supported at the centre by a natural rock pier.

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56 Svin’in’s Russian transliteration of the name of this bridge is not clear, and no bridge can be found with this name. 57 In 1794 Timothy Palmer built this bridge over the Lehigh River at Bethlehem. 58 Svin’in’s reference here is also unclear, and no bridge can be found by this name. 59 Svin’in uses the English word “parlor,” probably believing that these rooms do not correctly describe what he considered to be the true living room and dining room equivalent of the grand salons of the Russian gentry. 60 Svin’in uses the English word “soapstone” here, translating the name in brackets into Russian as myl’nyi kamen’. 61 The construction of the United States Capitol began in 1792. Pierre Charles L’Enfant was initially expected to design the building, but he was dismissed because of his disagreements with the commission. Eventually, the designs of Dr William Thornton were accepted, and President Washington laid the cornerstone on 18 September 1793. Architect James Hoban was placed in charge and saw the completion of the north wing in November 1800. In 1803 construction resumed under architect Benjamin Henry Latrobe, who completed the south wing, which by 1813 was connected to the north wing by a temporary wooden passageway. During the War of 1812 the building was damaged by fire, and in 1815 Latrobe was given the job of repairing it. In 1818 he was replaced by a Boston architect, Charles Bulfinch. By 1819 the chambers of the Senate, the House, and the Supreme Court were ready for use. 62 Benjamin Henry Latrobe (1764–1820) was born at Fulneck in Yorkshire. He emmigrated to the United States in 1795. Latrobe is well-known for his work on the White House and the Capitol in Washington, as well as the first Roman Catholic cathedral in the United States. He was much interested in classical architecture and was the first to use the Greek Revival style in American national architecture. 63 This building was constructed between 1803 and 1812 under the direction of two architects, the American John McComb (1763–1853) and the Frenchman Joseph-François Mangin. The elegant composition was inspired by monumental French constructions of the mid-eighteenth century. 64 This is probably a reference to the New State House, which was built between 1795 and 1797 on Beacon Hill by the architect Charles Bulfinch. The building’s front features a portico with a series of Corinthian (not Ionic as Svin’in claims) columns. It was constructed from red brick, which in 1825 was painted white

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and in 1828 was restored to its natural colour. There is also an Old State House, built in 1713 (see note 74 below). 65 Benjamin Henry Latrobe constructed the Bank of Pennsylvania building in Philadelphia between 1799 and 1801. It considered the first structure in the Greek Revival style in the United States. Latrobe’s design was very much in the style of neoclassical work promoted by Abbé Marc-Antoine Laugier (1711–69), the author of the influential Essai sur l’architecture (1755), who argued for the purity of form in building. 66 This building, known as the imperial cavalry stables, is near the Cathedral of Our Saviour. It was designed by Vasily Petrovich Stasov (1769–1848) in the years 1817–23. There is indeed a similarity between the two buildings, for the style of both originated in the neoclassical tradition. 67 This was the First Bank of the United States and the oldest bank building in the country. It was the headquarters for the government’s bank from 1797 to 1811. The building was designed by the architect Samuel Blodget Jr and built between 1795 and 1797. However, Svin’in is incorrect when he calls the bank’s columns Doric rather than Corinthian. 68 The Masonic Hall in Philadelphia was built between 1809 and 1811 by William Strickland. It was his first architectural commission, and it was very successful, bringing him fame and many more commissions. The building follows a Georgian Gothic design. 69 This is probably the old St Patrick’s Cathedral, which was built between 1809 and 1815 in Gothic style by the architect Joseph-François Mangin. 70 The First Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia was built in 1820 by the Philadelphia architect John Haviland (1792–1852). Haviland created a number of other important buildings in Philadelphia, including the Eastern State Penitentiary (1821), St Andrew’s Episcopal Church (1822), the Pennsylvania Institution for the Education of the Deaf and Dumb (1825), and the Franklin Institute (1825). 71 Architect David Evans Jr built the Pennsylvania Hospital in Philadelphia between 1794 and 1805. He was the son of a well-known American architect, David Evans Sr, and initially worked on the Pennsylvania Hospital with his father. The younger Evans appears to have solved a design problem of joining the new wing of the hospital to the earlier structure by Samuel Rhoads; thus traditionally, the design of the entire project is attributed to him. 72 The Café Hotel of Boston is in fact the Exchange Coffee-House on Congress

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Square, which was the most imposing building of the time. It was also one of the most expensive construction at a cost of about half a million dollars. It burned to the ground on 3 November 1818. 73 This is probably a reference to the Bellevue Hospital (earlier Belle Vue Hospital), which was established in 1658. With the rapid expansion of New York City’s population (96,373 according to the 1819 census), a decision was taken to expand the hospital and erect a new building. This was opened to receive patients in 1816. 74 This is possibly a reference to the Old State House, located at the corner of State and Washington streets. It was built in 1713 and served as a merchants’ exchange and the seat of colonial and state governments. 75 Federal Hall in New York served as the seat of American government from 1784 to 1788 and as the first Capitol from 1789 to 1790, before the capital moved to Philadelphia in 1790 and finally to Washington, dc, in 1800. The original building was demolished in 1811 and replaced by a new building in 1842. 76 The identity of the building mentioned here by Svin’in is not clear. He is possibly referring to a building located at 25–27 India Street. It was one of the Federal-style buildings constructed in 1805 by the Broad Street Association in order to revitalize Boston’s waterfront and encourage maritime trade. It seems that the plans for the buildings were designed by Charles Bulfinch. 77 The University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine was the first and only medical school in the American colonies in the eighteenth century. From 1765 through 1801 medical lectures were held in the Surgeons’ Hall on Fifth Street near Walnut Street. In 1801 the university moved five blocks west, to Ninth and Chestnut streets, where the Medical and Collegiate departments were housed in a great mansion, intended to be the residence of the president of the United States. Many Philadelphians believed that the president would decide to stay in Philadelphia rather than in the new capital; however, with the final move of President Adams to White House, the grand building had to be used in some other way. It is impossible to determine to which one of these buildings Svin’in refers in his statement. 78 Mary Lawrence Masters built the President’s House in Philadelphia in 1767. She was one of the richest people in Philadelphia, and her house was the largest in the city. Masters gave the house to her daughter as a wedding present when she married Richard Penn, the lieutenant-governor of the colony

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and a grandson of William Penn. When, in 1790, Philadelphia became the temporary national capital for a ten-year period while Washington was under construction, the house was given by its owner of the time, Robert Morris, to be used as President Washington’s residence. Washington occupied the house from November 1790 to March 1797. President John Adams moved into the house in March 1797; however, as the District of Columbia became the capital as of December 1780, he moved from Philadelphia to the White House. Eventually, in 1832 the building was gutted. 79 The Schuylkill Arsenal in Philadelphia was constructed in 1800. It began as a warehouse for military supplies and ammunition. Soon afterwards, seamstresses were contracted to make uniforms by hand in their own homes. This clothing and textile manufacturing and storage operation expanded to eventually become the primary function of the arsenal. 80 This is probably the Free Quaker Meeting House, built in 1783. The Georgian brick mansion is located on Arch Street between 5th and 6th streets and was built by architect Samuel Wetherill. It functioned as a meeting house until 1834. 81 There were number of theatres in Boston, New York, and particularly Philadelphia during this time. The Park Theatre on Chatham Street in New York was built in 1798. It had a spacious pit, four tiers of private boxes, and a top gallery. The stone structure was designed to hold up to two thousand spectators. The Federal Street Theatre in Boston opened on 3 February 1794 in a building designed by architect Charles Bulfinch. It was destroyed by fire, but was soon rebuilt. There were large number of theatres in Philadelphia at this time; the city was considered the theatrical capital of the country. One of the most popular among them was The Olympic. It was built in 1809 and is known at the present time as the Walnut Street Theatre. 82 Robert Mills (1781–1855), of Charleston, South Carolina, was the first professionally trained architect born in the United States. Though he was well respected for the construction of numerous official buildings in Washington, such as the Treasury Building, erected in 1836, and the Patent Office and the Post Office, he is particularly remembered for the design of the Washington Monument in Baltimore (1815–25), a Tuscan column resting on a sturdy base and topped by a figure of the president. 83 This is probably a reference to Thomas Pope, who was an architect, artist, and engineer in Philadelphia between 1813 and 1817. At this time he main-

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tained the Philadelphia Architectural Academy in the city, where he instructed students in civil, naval, and military architecture. His authorship of A Treatise on Bridge Architecture (1811), the first American book on bridge construction, is presumed but not certain. 84 Maximilien Godefroy was a well-known French architect who came to the United States in about 1805. Initially, he settled in Philadelphia, but he soon after moved to Baltimore, where he designed several important buildings, such as the Gothic Cathedral at St Mary’s College, the Battle Monument, the Unitarian Church (erected in 1817–18), the Exchange Building, and the Commercial and Farmers Bank. 85 Adolph-Ulrik Wertmuller (1751–1811) was an American painter born in Sweden. He began his art studies there with Lorentz Pasch the Younger and then moved to Paris in 1772 and continued his studies with Alexander Roslin and Joseph-Marie Vien. In 1794 he arrived in the United States already a welltrained and established artist. There he painted portraits of several members of Congress and of President Washington. He also established the first American arts academy, the Columbianum. 86 This is a reference to Adolph Ulrich Wertmuller’s painting Danae and the Shower of Gold, which provoked a heated discussion about concepts of modesty, decency, decorum, and desire. 87 This is possibly a reference to the French miniaturist Charles Hénard (1780–1814). 88 John Worrell was an English scenic painter who achieved prominence for his decorations in a number of Boston theatres. Several drawings by Worrell have been published in Wolcott, “A Case Study of American Production.” 89 John James Barralet (1747–1815) arrived in the United States in 1790s. He was mostly known as an engraver, but he occasionally painted scenes depicting life in Philadelphia. 90 Denis A. Volozan was born in France and worked in Philadelphia between 1806 and 1819. He was primarily a historical and figure painter; however, he painted some landscapes and a few portraits. 91 C. Melbourne, a watercolour artist, is known for a 1797 watercolour view of Government House in New York City. There was also Cotton Milbourne (born in England), who was known as a landscape painter as well as a painter of stage scenery showing views of Philadelphia. Between 1797 and 1811 he painted stage scenery in New York.

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92 Soon after the War of 1812 the American government embarked on the improvement of the city of Washington. When sculptures were needed to embellish the government buildings inspired by the new neoclassical style of architecture, Italian sculptors were hired to create them. One of them was Enrico Causici (1790–1835), who was also a sculptor of Baltimore’s Washington Monument and the sandstone reliefs on the Capitol in Washington called Daniel Boone Fighting the Indians (1826–27). 93 Sculptor William Rush (1756–1856) was born in Philadelphia. He initially became well-known as a carver and maker of figureheads for ships. He is best known for the figures “Genius of the United States” and “Nature” for the frigates United States and Constellation. He eventually expanded his work into the creation of statues and portrait-busts, but he always worked in wood or clay. His best-known statue is that of Washington (1814), which was purchased by the city of Philadelphia. 94 The Society of Cincinnati was founded in May 1783 by the leading officers of the Continental Army. It was named for Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus, a Roman farmer of the fifth century bc who, like Washington, was called from his fields to serve in his country’s army in battle. 95 According to Yarmolinsky, Svin’in was erroneous in this statement, and construction of the monument to the memory of George Washington did not begun until 1877 (see Yarmolinsky, Picturesque United States, 42). Nevertheless, in all fairness to Svin’in, a resolution to erect the monument was adopted by the Society in 1810. However, it took a long time for the project to actually get under way. In 1877 a competition was established without any restriction on the nationality of the artist, and the project was assigned to the German professor Rudolph Siemering. The monument was eventually unveiled in 1897. It seems that Svin’in somewhat overestimated American efficiency. 96 The Beacon Hill Monument was built by architect Charles Bulfinch in 1791 in order to commemorate the battle fought on this site on 17 June 1775. The monument was a Doric column of brick, covered with stucco and erected on a stone pedestal. A gilded wooden eagle was placed on the top of the monument. The first monument was taken down in 1811 in order to level the summit of the hill. 97 Joseph Warren was born in Roxbury, Massachusetts, on 11 June 1741. He was a physician by profession. On 14 June 1775 Warren was appointed a major-general of Massachusetts forces and joined the fighting men behind

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the barricades on the hill. The Battle of Bunker Hill lasted less than an hour, but Warren was shot in the back of the head. 98 This is a reference to the Washington Navy Yard, which was established in 1799 as the first large shipbuilding facility in the United States. The so-called Tripoli Monument was carved in Florence by Charles Micali in 1806. It was originally called the Naval Monument. In 1831 it was moved to the grounds of the Capitol, and Benjamin Henry Latrobe added the descriptions of the battles and the names of the navy men who had died near Tripoli. In 1845 the Naval Academy was founded in Annapolis, and the Tripoli Monument was moved there in 1860. 99 The Tripolitan War (1800–15), also known as the First Barbary War or the Barbary Coast War, was one of two wars fought between the United States and the semi-autonomous North African city-states of Morocco, Algiers, Tunis, and Tripoli, known collectively as the Barbary States. 100 Alexander Hamilton (1755–1804) was killed by Aaron Burr during the duel, which was fought at Weehawken on the New Jersey shore of the Hudson River opposite New York City. He was buried in Trinity Church in Manhattan, but his first monument was placed in Brooklyn, New York. 101 Major-General Richard Montgomery was killed during the failed attack on Quebec on 31 December 1775. His death was commemorated in an enormous memorial procession and church service in Philadelphia. Congress designated funds for the creation of a marble monument, and it was erected under the portico of St Paul’s Chapel. 102 This statue of William Penn was discovered by his grandson in 1804 in a London antique shop. After purchasing it, he donated it to the Pennsylvania Hospital, where it still stands on the front lawn of Pine’s Building. 103 Francesco Lazzarini carved the statue of Benjamin Franklin in Carrara, Italy, and it was initially placed in a niche above the door of the Public Library in Philadelphia. Eventually, it was restored and placed behind glass in a lighted, street-level niche on the facade of a new building erected in the 1960s. 104 The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts was established in 1805, and between 1805 and 1806 the architect John Dorsey (1759–1821) constructed a building to house it. 105 The Laocoon Group dates to the first century bc. It is a masterpiece of the Hellenistic age in Greece. The sculpture is now in the Vatican Museum in Rome. It depicts the sufferings of Laocoon and his sons. According to Greek

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mythology, Laocoon was the priest of Troy who advised the Trojans not to bring the Trojan horse into the city. The statue captures the moment of Laocoon’s and his son’s death as punishment for his advice. 106 The Venus de Medici was sculpted by Cleomenes, son of Apollodorus, a Greek artist living in Rome in the first or second century of the Christian era. In creating his work, Cleomenes drew his inspiration from the Cnidian Aphrodite by Praxiteles, a Greek sculptor of the fourth century bc. 107 The Apollo Belvedere is one of the greatest representations of Greek art. A Roman copy of the Apollo Belvedere was discovered in late the 1400s near Rome and was placed in the Vatican in the Cortile del Belvedere (the name originates from this location) in 1511. This statue had a major influence on Renaissance art, including on Michelangelo’s David and Creation of Adam. 108 Herculaneum was an ancient Roman town in the Italian region of Campania. It was preserved, together with Pompeii, in the eruption of Mount Vesuvius, which began on 24 August 79. The eruption destroyed the town, but preserved buildings and ancient scrolls under the solidified volcanic material. 109 Salvator Rosa (1615–73) was an Italian Baroque painter and etcher of the Neapolitan school. He is known for his romantic landscapes, marine paintings, and battle pictures. He was also a poet, actor, and musician. 110 This reference to two specific Rosa paintings is not clear from Svin’in’s description. However, works by Rosa were well-known in the United States by the beginning of the nineteenth century, and his influence can be seen in some of Benjamin West’s paintings, particularly in Belisarius and Saul and the Witch of Endor. A version of Rosa’s Mercury and Argus was shown in the United States in 1804. 111 Napoleon captured Naples in 1799, forcing King Ferdinand to flee to Sicily. Napoleon’s republic was overthrown in June that year, and Ferdinand returned to Naples. However, by 1806 Napoleon was back in Naples,where he appointed his brother Joseph king. In 1808 Joseph was replaced by Napoleon’s marshal Joachim Murat (1767–1815). Murat ruled as king of Naples until 1815.

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206

XVIII – XIX

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Index

Adair, James, 47, 163n42 Adams, John, 157n16, 189n77; sends Dana to Russia, 14 Adams, John Quincy, 80, 157n16, 170n47; as ambassador to Russia, 19 Adelung, Freidrich von, 32 Admiralty monument (Washington). See Tripoli Monument Aesthetic Relations of Art and Reality, The (Chernyshevskii), 164n57 African American church service, 69–72 After the Tornado, 40

ter to Madame Moreau, 44–5; Moreau’s opinion of, 92–3; offers to mediate US conflict with Great Britain, 27; receives Moreau, 94–5; Svin’in offers his condolences to Madame Moreau, 31; Svin’in offers services to, 28; takes Russian throne, 18; writes to Madame Moreau, 99 Allen, Lieutenant, 175n75 “American Cincinnatus”: George Washington known as, 164n3 American Ornithology (Wilson), 159n4

Akimov, Ivan A., 25, 39

American Revolution, 56, 67

Albany, New York, 63

Americans: character of, 60

Alexander i, czar of Russia, 19, 21,

Anabaptists. See Baptists: in the

23, 160n22, 174n68, 177n91; let-

United States

i n d e x

André, John, 126–7, 182n12

Battle of Bunker Hill, 193n97

Anguissola, Sophonisba, 183n24

Battle of Bunker Hill, The (Trum-

Anspach, L.A., 180n116

bull), 181n9

Apollo Belvedere, 194n107

Beacon Hill Monument, 192n96

Apology for the True Christian Di-

Believers, The, 169n41

vinity, The (Barclay), 168n35 architecture, American: described by Svin’in, 131–8 Argus (brig), 175n74, 194n110 Arkansas Osage (Native American tribe), 109

Belinskii, Vissarion, 164n57 Belisarius, General, 89, 175n69, 194n110 Bellevue (Belle Vue) Hospital, 136, 189n73 Bernadotte, Jean-Baptiste, 176n78

Arnold, Benedict, 182n12

Bethlehem Bridge, 133, 187n57

Arrow (Native American), 110

Birch, Thomas, 35, 129, 158n3,

Arsenal (Philadelphia). See Schuylkill Arsenal Articles of Confederation (US), 172n54 Artist’s Servants (Hogarth), 173n63 Association of Cavaliers of Cincinnati. See Society of Cincinnati Athenaeum portrait (of George Washington), 167n20 Attempt at a Picturesque Voyage

159n5, 183n29 Birch, William Russell, 35, 158n3, 159n5, 183n29 birds, American: described, 58 Black Methodists Holding a Prayer Meeting, 73 Black Thunder (Native American chief), 109, 110 Blagorodnyi pansion. See Boarding School for the Nobility

across North America, An: Svin’in

“Blessed Mother Ann.” See Lee, Ann

publishes, 22

Blodget, Samuel, Jr, 188n67 Blucher, Gebhard Lebrecht von, 97,

Baird, Charles, 28 Bank of Pennsylvania, 136, 188n65 Baptists: in the United States, 77–9 Barbary Coast War. See Tripolitan War Barclay, Robert, 72, 168n35 Barlow, Joel, 182n16

177n87 Boarding School for the Nobility (Moscow), 24–5 Bonaparte, Napoleon. See Napoleon Bossuet, Jacques-Bénigne, 167n29 Boston State House. See New State House (Boston)

Barralet, John James, 138, 191n89

Boulton, Watt and Company, 171n51

Battle Monument (Philadelphia),

bridges: in the United States, 2–65,

191n84

208

131–3

i n d e x

Broad Street Association, 189n76 Bronevskoi, V.B., 31–2 Bruillov, Karl, 25

Academy of Fine Arts, 25 Catholic Church (New York). See St Patrick’s Cathedral (New York)

Bruni, Fedor A., 25

Causici, Enrico, 192n92

buffalo dance, 115–16, 180n113

Centre Square and the Marble

Bulfinch, Charles, 187n61, 187n64, 189n76, 190n81, 192n96

Works, Philadelphia, 63 Ceres, 131, 185n40

Bulgarin, Faddei, 8

Chaadaev, Petr, 7–8

Bunker Hill monument, 138–9

charitable activities: in the United

Burr, Aaron, 193n100 Burr, Theodore, 132, 137, 185n45, 186n47, 186n53

States, 66 Charles ii, king of Great Britain, 76, 169n39 Charlevoix, Pierre-François-Xavier

Cabot, John (Giovanni Caboto), 55, 118, 164n1, 180n115 Café Hotel (Boston), 136, 188–9n72 Capitol (Washington), 134, 187n61, 192n92 Capture of Major André, The (Sully), 182n12 Car of Neptune (Care of Neptune), 82, 172nn57–8, 173n60 Carver, Jonathan, 45, 111, 114, 161n31 Catechism and Confession of Faith (Barclay), 168n35 Cathedral at St Mary’s College (Baltimore), 191n84 Cathedral of Our Saviour (St Petersburg), 188n66 Catherine the Great, empress of Russia, 175n71; considers recognition

de, 47, 48, 105, 163n43 Chatham, Captain, 94 Chatham, Earl of. See Pitt, William, the Elder Chernyshevskii, Nikolai, 164n57 Children’s Book, The (Pushkin), 49 Chulkov, Mikhail, 165n10 Cincinnatus, Lucius Quinctius, 164n3, 192n94 Circassians, 108 Clemens, Johann Frederik, 126, 181n10 Cleomenes, 194n106 Clermont (steamboat), 170n48, 172n54 Cnidian Aphrodite, 194n106 Cockburn, George, 93, 175n73 “Colossus” Bridge (Philadelphia), 133, 186n52

of the United States, 12; develops

Columbia Maid (steamboat), 171n52

relationship with Great Britain,

Columbianum, 191n85

12; neutral during American Revo-

Commercial and Farmers Bank

lution, 13; supports Imperial

(Philadelphia), 191n84

209

i n d e x

Connecticut Bridge, 133, 186n55 Constellation (frigate), 192n93

“Death Song of the Cherokee Indians,” 48

Continental Congress, 171n54

Decembrists, 4, 7, 10–11

Cooke, George Frederick, 127

Declaration of Armed Neutrality,

Country Residence, Possibly General Moreau’s Country Home at Morrisville, Pennsylvania, A, 90

Russian, 14, 15 Declaration of Independence, American, 171n54

Craigie’s Bridge (Boston), 186n54

Delaware Water Gap, 149

Crawford, William H., 175n75

Demeter, 185n40

Creation of Adam (Michelangelo),

Description de la Louisiane (Hen-

194n107 Cross of St Sergei: awarded to Nassau-Siegen, 16 Cross of St Vladimir: awarded to Svin’in, 26

nepin), 162n41 Dessalines, Jean-Jacques, 174n67 Detskaia knizhka. See Children’s Book, The Dialogue upon the Gardens of the Right Honourable the Lord Vis-

Dana, Francis, 14–15, 17, 157n16 Danae and the Shower of Gold (Wertmuller), 137, 191n86 Daniel Boone Fighting the Indians (Causici), 192n92 Dashkov, Andrei Yakovlevich, 27, 35, 93, 157n17; as Russian am-

count Cobham at Stow in Buckinghamshire, A (Gilpin), 38 Discourse sur l’historie universelle (Bossuet), 167n29 Dobroliubov, Nikolai, 164n57 dogwood trees: in the United States, 165n9

bassador to the United States, 19,

Dominican Republic, 174n67

20–1; defends Kozlov, 22–3

Dorchester Bridge (Boston), 132

David (Michelangelo), 194n107

Dorsey, John, 193n104

Death of Bliss McCrea (Vanderlyn),

Dread of the Buffalo (Native Ameri-

182n16

can), 110

Death of General Montgomery, The (Trumbull), 181n10 Death of General Montgomery in

Earless (Native American chief), 109 Eastern State Penitentiary, 188n70

the Attack on Quebec, The (Trum-

East India Company, 173n61

bull), 181n8

education: in the United States, 65

Death of General Warren at the Battle of Bunker Hill, The (Trumbull), 181n8

210

Edwin, David, 131, 185n41 Embargo Act (1807), 17, 65, 166n16

i n d e x

Embury, Philip, 69, 167n24 Empress of Russia (steamboat), 170n49

Ferry Scene on the Susquehanna at Wright’s Ferry, near Havre de Grace, A, 85

Enard, Charles. See Hénard, Charles

“figure of fun”: Svin’in as, 3

English Club (St Petersburg), 19–20

First Bank of the United States

engraving: in the United States, 130–1 Essai sur l’architecture (Laugier), 188n65

(Philadelphia), 136, 188n67 First Barbary War. See Tripolitan War First Presbyterian Church (Philadel-

Essay of a Picturesque Voyage

phia), 136, 188n70

through North America, An:

First Turkish War, 13

Svin’in publishes, 31

fishing: in Newfoundland, 116–21

Essay on Picturesque Beauty (Gilpin), 39 Etavokon (Native American), 110

Fitch, John, 81, 17, 170n48 flora and fauna: in the United States, 58–9

Evans, David, Jr, 188n71

Fort Ross (Krepost Rossiya), 19

Evstaf’ev, Aleksei G., 21, 23

Fouche, Joseph, 175n74

Exchange Building (Philadelphia),

Fox (Native American tribe), 109

191n84 Exchange Coffee-House (Boston), 188n72 Exhortation and Caution to Friends Concerning the Buying or Keeping of Negroes, An (Keith), 168n34

Fox, George, 72, 167n31 Franklin, Benjamin, 13, 14, 67, 179n112, 192n103; marble statue of, 140 Franklin Institute (Philadelphia), 188n70 Franz i, emperor of Austria, 95,

Fairmount and Schuylkill River (Groombridge), 184n30

176n82 Frederick William iii, king of

Faneuil Hall (Boston), 124

Prussia, 95, 176n84

Federal Hall (Boston), 136

Freeman, T.W., 182n13

Federal Hall (New York), 136,

Free Quaker Meeting House

189n75 Federal Street Theatre (Boston), 190n81 Felton, Mr, 181n4 Ferdinand, king of Naples, 194n111 ferries: in the United States, 86–7

(Philadelphia), 136, 190n80 French and Indian War, 161n31 Full Sail off Sandy Hook – Entrance to New York Harbor, 150 Fulton, Robert, 133, 170n48, 171n50, 172n54, 172n58; builds

211

i n d e x

new ship, 84; failure predicted, 87;

Hennepin, Louis, 47, 162n41

given steamboat monopoly in

Herculaneum, 194n108

Russia, 80–1; Svin’in offers

Hermodry (frigate), 94

services to, 28

Herzen, Alexander Nikolaevich, 160n22

Gainsborough, Thomas, 39, 160n21 George iii, king of Great Britain, 14, 185n44 George Frederick Cooke as Richard III

(Sully), 182n14

Gilpin, William, 38–9 Girtin, Thomas, 39, 160n20 Godefroy, Maximilien, 137, 191n84 Gogol, Nikolai, 4, 32, 49, 50 Government House (New York City), 191n91 Grand Tour (Europe), 38 Great Osage (Native American tribe), 109

Histoire de l’isle Espagnole (Charlevoix), 163n43 Histoire du Paraguay (Charlevoix), 163n43 Histoire et description générale de la Nouvelle France (Charlevoix), 163n43 History of the American Indians, The (Adair), 163n42 History of the Island of Newfoundland (Anspach), 180n116 History of the Russian State, The, 161n24 Hoban, James, 187n61

Grech, Nikolai, 8

Hodge, F.W., 48

Groombridge, William, 129, 184n30

Hogarth, William, 86, 173n63

Guy, Francis, 129, 184nn31–2

Holy Land: pilgrimage to, 37 Hopkins, Mr (of Philadelphia), 26

Haiti, Republic of (formerly SaintDominique), 88, 174n67 Hale, Enoch, 186n55

Hopkinson, Joseph, 122, 180n3 Horseshoe Falls (Niagara), 102–4 houses: in the United States, 133–4

Halsey, R.T.H., 34 Hamilton, Alexander, 193n100; monument to, 140 Hampshire, Thomas, 119, 180n116 Hancock, John, 14 Hannibal (ship), 93 Hard Oak (Native American), 109 Harris, Levett, 18, 22

Imperial Academy of Fine Arts (St Petersburg), 25; Svin’in granted membership, 26–7 imperial cavalry stables (St Petersburg), 188n66 imperial Russia: new scholarship on, 6

Haviland, John, 188n70

Indian Death Song, 46

Hénard, Charles, 191n87

Indian Exchange (Boston), 136

212

i n d e x

Innocence with Her Open Face (Penn), 168n33 Inspector General, The (Gogol), 32, 49 Iowa (Native American tribe), 109 Ivanov, Alexander, 25

Lahontan, Louis-Armand de Lom d’Arce de, 47, 162n40 lakes: in North America, 58, 104 landscape painting: in the United States, 129 Laocoon, 193–4n105 Laocoon Group, 193n105

James i, king of Great Britain, 55 Janson, Charles, 43–4, 46 Jefferson, Thomas, 15, 17, 18, 19, 166n16

Latrobe, Benjamin Henry, 134, 137, 187n61, 188n65, 193n98 Laugier, Abbé Marc-Antoine, 188n65

Jesuits, 37

Lavater, Iohann Caspar, 173n65

Jones, John Paul, 15–17

“law of nations,” 23

Joseph, king of Naples, 194n111

Lawrence, Thomas, 182n11

Jossi (engraver), 185n41

Lazzarini, Francesco, 193n103

Journal of a Voyage to North Amer-

Lear and Cordelia (West), 181n5

ica (Charlevoix), 47 Journey from St. Petersburg to Moscow, A (Radishchev), 39, 160n22

Leclerc, General, 174n67 Lee, Ann (“Blessed Mother Ann”), 77, 169n41 Lee, Basil. See Lee, William Lee, William, 77, 169n43

Karamzin, Nikolai Mikhailovich, 8, 10, 41, 161n24

Legat, F., 181n4 L’Enfant, Pierre Charles, 187n61

Karzhavin, Fedor, 14

Lermontov, Mikhail, 25

Kearny, Francis, 182n12

Letters of a Russian Traveller

Keelsban Bridge, 133 Keith, George, 72, 168n34 King Lear in the Storm (West), 181n5 Koltzwarthen, Katerina Stepanova, 16–17 Kozlov, Nikolai, 22–3 Krepost Rossiya. See Fort Ross Krimmel, John Lewis, 35, 158n2

(Karamzin), 41, 161n22 “Light Within, The” (Quaker belief), 168n31 Lisianskii, Iurii, 17–18 Little Osage (Native American tribe), 109 Livingston, Robert, 82, 170n48, 171–2n54 Lomonosov, Mikhail, 13, 32 Louisiana Territory, 18, 19

Lafayette, Marquis de, 15–16

L’Ouverture, Toussaint, 174n67

213

i n d e x

Lower Trenton Bridge, 131–2, 185n45

Montgomery, Richard: monument to, 140, 193n101 Monument to Alexander Hamilton

Madison, James, 14, 19, 21 Mangin, Joseph-François, 187n63, 188n69 Marble Tomb Monument (New

at Weehawken, The, 140 Moravian Sisters, 147 Moreau, Jean Victor, 6, 36, 174n68, 175n70, 176nn79–80; agrees to

York City). See Montgomery,

serve Russia, 29; dies in battle, 30;

Richard: monument to

Svin’in accompanies to Europe,

Masonic Hall (Philadelphia), 136, 188n68

22, 28; Svin’in on, 28–31, 44–5, 88–101

Masters, Mary Lawrence, 189n78

Moreau, Madame, 93, 177n89

McComb, John, 187n63

Morning Dawn, The (Utreniaia

Medical Academy (Philadelphia), 136

Zaria): Svin’in contribute to, 25 Morris, Robert, 190n78

Melbourne, C., 136, 191n91

Mulgrave, Earl of, 180n3

Mémoires de septentrional (Lahon-

Muller, John Gottfried von, 126,

tan), 162n40

181n9

Memoirs of the Fleet, 26

Murat, Joachim, 194n111

Mercury and Argus (Rosa), 194n110

Murray, George, 131, 185n43

Merigot, J., 128, 182n17 Methodists: in United States, 69–72 Micali, Charles, 193n98 Micco Sioux (Native Indian chief), 109 Michelangelo, 194n107

Napoleon, 18, 88, 91, 174nn67–8, 175n73; danger recognized by Svin’in, 28–9; invades Russia, 27, 92; misunderstood by Moreau, 30; usurps power, 101

Middlesex Canal Company, 186n48

Napoleonic Wars, 169n45

Milbourne, Cotton, 191n91

Nassau-Siegen, Prince Charles, 16

military forces, American, 60

Native Americans, 108–16

Mills, Robert, 137, 190n82

Naval Academy (Annapolis), 193n98

miniature painting, 129–30

naval forces, American, 60–1

Mocker, The (Chulkov). See

Naval Monument. See Tripoli

Peresmeshnik, ili slavianski skazki Monroe, James, 21 Monroe Doctrine, 157n16

214

Monument Neuville, Baron Jean Guillaume Hyde de, 175n68

i n d e x

New City Hall, New York, The, 135 New State House (Boston), 135–6, 187n64 New York Academy of Fine Arts, 142 New York City and Harbour from Weehawken, 148 New York City Hall, 135 New York Hospital. See Bellevue (Belle Vue) Hospital Newburyport Suspension Bridge, 132–3, 186n50 Newfoundland: fishing in, 116–21

(Hennepin), 162–3n41 “Oaks.” See Quakers (Society of Friends) Old State House (Boston), 188n64, 189n74 Olympic, The (theatre, Philadelphia), 10, 179n103, 190n81 Opyt zhivopisnogo puteshestviia po Severnoi Amerike. See Essay of a Picturesque Voyage through North America, An Order of St Anne: John Paul Jones receives, 16

Niagara Falls: description, 101–8

Osterman, Ivan, 15

Niagara Falls – Canadian Side by

Otechestvennye zapiski. See Notes

Moonlight, 106

of the Fatherland

Niagara Falls – Table Rock by Moonlight, 103 Niagara River, 102

Packet “Mohawk of Albany” Passing the Palisades, The, 84

Nicholas i, czar of Russia, 7, 9, 31

Pahlen, Fedor von der, 20

nightingale, American, 165n10

painting, American: described by

No Cross, No Crown (Penn), 168n33

Svin’in, 123–30. See also individ-

Non-Intercourse Act, 169–70n45

ual artists and titles

Northhumberland (ship), 175n73 Notes of the Fatherland, 3, 5, 34,

Palmer, Timothy, 132, 137, 186n50, 187n57

35, 122; discontinued, 32; motto,

paper money, 184n39

8; and public discourse, 9; Svin’in

Paragon (steamboat), 84–6, 173n60

founds, 31, 48; Svin’in’s national-

Paris Academy of Arts, 127

ism in, 29, 42

Park Theatre (New York), 190n81

Nouveau voyage (Hennepin), 163n41 Nouveaux voyages (Lahontan), 162n40 Nouvelle decouverte d’un tres grand pays situé dan l’Amérique

Parker, Daniel, 81, 171n53 Passaic Falls, New Jersey, 152 Patent Office (Washington), 190n82 Paul i, czar of Russia, 18, 160n22, 175n71 peace dance, 114

215

i n d e x

peace pipe, 114–15 Peale, Angelica Kaufmann, 128, 183n23 Peale, Charles Willson, 182n19 Peale, Raphaelle, 128, 183n20 Peale, Rembrandt, 49, 128, 183n18, 183n26, 183n28 Peale, Rubens, 183n22

Philadelphia Academy of the Fine Arts, 141 Philadelphia Anabaptist Immersion during a Storm, A, 78 Philadelphia Architectural Academy, 191n83 Philadelphia from across the Delaware River, 62

Peale, Sappho, 128

Philippart, John, 177n89

Peale, Sophonisba, 183n24

philology: in the United States, 65

Peale, Titian Ramsay, 128, 183n21

Phipps, General, 125, 180n3

Penn, Richard, 189n78

Phoenix (steamboat), 172n55

Penn, Sir William (admiral), 76,

Physiognomische Fragmente zur

169n39 Penn, William (the younger), 72, 168n33, 169n39, 183n102, 190n78;

Beförderung der Menschenkenntnis und Menschenliebe (Lavater), 173n65

meets Peter the Great, 12; painting

physionotrace, 159n6

of, 126; statute of, 140, 193n102

picturesque tourism, 38–9

Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, The, 66, 193n104 Pennsylvania Hospital (Philadelphia), 136, 188n71, 193n102 Pennsylvania Hospital, Philadelphia, The, 137 Pennsylvania Institution for the Edu-

Picturesque Voyage in North America, A, 42, 48; discovered, 34 pipe dance, 114 Pitt, William, the Elder (Earl of Chatham), 56 Pitt, William, the Younger, 56 Plucke, Abbot, 72 Pluto, 167n25

cation of the Deaf and Dumb,

political parties, American, 67

188n70

Politique tirée des propres paroles de

Peresmeshnik, ili slavianski skazki

l’Écriture sainte (Bossuet), 167n29

(The Mocker, or Slavic Tales;

Pompeii, 194n108

Chulkov), 165n10

Pope, Thomas, 137, 190n83

“Permanent” Bridge (Philadelphia), 132, 185n46

Port Folio: Svin’in contributes to, 27 portrait painting, American, 123–9

Perry Hall (Guy), 184n32

Post Office (Washington), 190n82

Peter the Great, czar of Russia, 12, 13

Potemkin, Grigorii, 16

Phidias, 184n38

Praxiteles, 194n106

216

i n d e x

President’s House (Philadelphia), 136 public libraries: in the United States, 65

Roman Daughter, The (Peale), 183n28 Rosa, Salvator, 142, 194nn109–10

Pugachev, Emelian, 13

Roslin, Alexander, 191n85

Pushkin, Aleksandr: mocks Svin’in,

Rumseian Society, 171n52

4, 5, 32, 49, 50

Rumsey, James, 81, 170n48, 171n52 Rush, William, 138, 192n93

Quaker Church (Philadelphia). See Free Quaker Meeting House (Philadelphia) Quakers (Society of Friends): in the United States, 72–6, 167n31,

Russell, John Miller, 17 Russia: Europeanization of, 12; invaded by Napoleon, 92; recognizes the United States, 13; trading relationship with the United States, 17

168n31; Free, 73–4; Jolly, 74;

Russian-American Company, 18

“Oaks,” 75

Russian national museum: plans for,

Quelques détails sur le général Moreau et ses derniers momens,

32 Ryleev, Nikolai, 16

174n68 Sac (Native American tribe), 109 Radishchev, Alexander Nikolaevich, 39–40, 160n22 Rapatel (Rappatel), Colonel, 94, 96, 98, 176n79, 177n89 Réaumur, René Antoine Ferchault, 165n7 Red Mug (Native American), 110 religion: in the United States, 43–4, 60, 68–79 Replenishing the Ship’s Larder with Codfish off the Newfoundland Coast, 119 Rhoads, Samuel, 188n71 Richmond Bridge (Bethlehem), 133, 187n57 rivers: in the United States, 58 roads: in the United States, 62 Robinson, John, 129, 184n33

St Andrew’s Episcopal Church (Philadelphia), 188n70 Saint-Dominique. See Haiti, Republic of Saint-Mémin, Charles-BalthazarJulien Févret de, 35, 45, 159n6 St Patrick’s Cathedral (New York), 136, 188n69 Sandy Foundations Shaken (Penn), 168n33 Saul and the Witch of Endor (West), 194n110 Savary, Ann-Jean-Marie-René, 175n74 scalping, 111 Schuylkill Arsenal (Philadelphia), 136, 190n79 Schuylkill bridge. See “Permanent”

217

i n d e x

Bridge (Philadelphia) sculpture in America: described by Svin’in, 138–41

Stasov, Vasily Petrovich, 188n66 Steamboat Travel on the Hudson River, 83

Second Great Awakening, 167n30

steamboats, 28, 44, 79–88

Seniavin, Admiral D.N., 26

Sterne, Laurence, 39, 86, 173n64

Sentimental Journey, A (Sterne), 39,

Stevens, John C., 82, 170n46,

173n64

172n55

Seven Years War, 13, 161n31

Stevens, Robert L., 172n55

Shad Fishermen on the Shore of the

Stiles, Ezra, 13

Hudson River, 151 Shakers (religious sect), 77, 169n41

Stranger in America, The (Janson), 43–4, 46

Short, William, 19

Strickland, William, 137, 188n68

“Short Vocabulary of the Chipeway

Stuart, Gilbert Charles, 65, 123–5,

Language” (Carver), 45 Shrimp Girl (Hogarth), 173n63 Siemering, Rudolph, 192n95 Simolin, I.M.: arranges for John Paul Jones to join Russian navy, 15 Sioux (Native American tribe), 109 Sketches of Moscow and St Petersburg: Svin’in publishes, 22, 27, 35 Sketches of Russia. See Sketches of Moscow and St Petersburg, 27 slavery: in the United States, 59 Society of Cincinnati, 138, 192n94 Society of Friends. See Quakers (Society of Friends) Some Details Concerning General

167n20, 180n2, 182n12, 182n16 Sully, Thomas, 126–7, 181–2n11, 182n12, 182n14 Supplement aux voyages (Lahontan), 162n40 Surgeons’ Hall (Philadelphia), 189n77 Surrender of Cornwallis, The (Trumbull), 166n19 Suvorov, Alexander, 16, 26, 91, 175n71 Svin’in, Pavel Petrovich: arrives and travels in the United States, 21–2; awarded Cross of St Vladimir, 26; biography, 24–33; compared to

Moreau, and His Last Moments,

Decembrists, 4; contributes to Port

174n68; Svin’in publishes, 29

Folio, 27; contribution of, 4, 51;

Son of the Fatherland: Svin’in publishes in, 31, 32, 36 Son of the Glorious Small Wind

described, 3–11; as “figure of fun,” 3; forgotten, 50; joins Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 25–6;

(Native American chief), 109

membership in Imperial Academy

Stanhope, Charles Stanhope, 3rd

of Fine Arts, 26–7; as optimist, 5;

Earl, 82, 172n56

218

on painting in the United States,

i n d e x

123–30; paintings, 40, 62, 63, 64,

Travels through the Interior Parts of

66, 73, 78, 83, 84, 85, 90, 103,

North America (Carver), 47,

106, 109, 119, 135, 137, 140,

162n39

145–53 (see also individual titles); recognized in the United States, 34; recognizes danger of Napoleon, 28–9; Some Details Concerning General Moreau, and His Last Moments, 29; on visual arts in the United States, 122–42 Syn Otechestva. See Son of the Fatherland

Treasury Building (Washington), 190n82 Treatise on Bridge Architecture, A, 191n83 Trenton Bridge. See Lower Trenton Bridge Tripoli Monument, 139, 193n98 Tripolitan War, 139, 193n99 Trott, Benjamin, 129, 184n34 Trumbull, John, 65, 123, 126, 135,

taille douce: David Edwin’s technique, 131 Taking of Major André by the Incorruptible Paulding, Williams and

166n19, 181n10 Turner, J.M.W., 39, 160n19 Two Indians and a White Man in a Canoe, 109

Vanvert, The, 182n13 Tantagaman (Native American), 110

Ugriumov, Grigorii, 25, 39

Tellus, 185n40

Unitarian Church (Philadelphia),

thermometer: invention of, 165n7 Thornton, William, 187n61

191n84 United States: bridges, 62–5; charita-

Three Years Travels throughout the

ble activities, 66; climate, 57–8;

Interior Parts of North America.

Constitution, 164n5; described,

See Travels through the Interior

57–68; education, 65; ferries,

Parts of North America Tilsit, Treaty of, 26

86–7; finances, 60; flora and fauna, 58–9; government, 56–7;

Tolstoy, Leo, 173n65

impact of embargo on, 65;

tomahawk, burial of, 115

Methodists in, 69–72; military

Tornado, The, 40

forces, 60; navy, 60–1; philology

Town on the Mohawk River in Cen-

in; 65; political parties, 67; public

tral New York State, A, 145 Travel by Stagecoach near Trenton, New Jersey, 64 Traveler’s First View of New York – The Battery and Flagstaff, The, 153

libraries, 65; Quakers in, 72–6; recognized by Russia, 13; religion, 68–79; roads, 62; seeks recognition from Russia, 12; Shakers in, 77; slavery in, 59; steamboats,

219

i n d e x

79–88; trading relationship with Russia, 17; in world trade, 61 United States (frigate), 192n93 United States Bank (Philadelphia). See First Bank of the United States (Philadelphia) University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, 189n77 Upper Bridge over the Schuylkill, Philadelphia – Lemon Hill in the Background, The, 64 Utreniaia Zaria. See Morning Dawn, The

187n61, 190n78, 191n85, 192nn94–5 Washington at Dorchester Heights (Stuart), 180n2 Washington Monument (Baltimore), 190n82, 192n92 Washington Navy Yard, 193n98 Waterford Bridge, 186n53 Wernwag, Lewis, 186n47, 186n52 Wertmuller, Adolph-Ulrik (Adolph Ulrich), 137, 191n85 West, Benjamin, 123, 125–6, 127, 166n18, 167n20, 181nn4–5, 182n12, 194n110

Vanderlyn, John, 127–8, 182n16

West Boston Bridge, 186n54

Velisarius. See Belisarius, General

Weston, William, 132, 186n48

Venus de Medici, 194n106

Wetherill, Samuel, 190n80

Vesuvius, Mount, 194n108

Wichmann, Burkhard von, 32

Vien, Joseph-Marie, 191n85

William Birch and Son, 184n29

View of the Potomac at Harpers

William Penn’s Treaty with the Indi-

Ferry, A, 146

ans When He Founded the

Volozan, Denis A., 138, 191n90

Province of Pennsylvania in North

Vospominaniaa na flote. See Mem-

America (West), 181n7

oirs of the Fleet

Wilson, Alexander, 35, 159n4, 163n54

Walnut Street Theatre (Philadelphia). See Olympic, The

Wood, Joseph, 129, 184n36 Woollett, William, 131, 185n44

War and Peace (Tolstoy), 173n65

Worrell, John, 138, 191n88

War of 1812, 21, 164n2, 166n16,

Wylie (Welly), Mr (surgeon), 96,

175n73, 184n29, 187n61, 192n92

177n86

Warren, Joseph, 126, 138, 192n97 Washington, George, 56, 164n3, 166n19, 167n20, 171n52,

220

Yarmolinsky, Avrahm, 33, 34, 35, 46, 48, 192n95