y but to silence him, which our friend
dexterously accomplished by a blow on the os frontis. Hearing the
approaching footsteps of the police, he then concluded it was best to
make his escape, and accordingly took to his heels. Chase was given,
but he was as good at running as he was at the noble art of
self-defense, and soon distanced his pursuers. Fortunately, he reached
his quarters without being recognised. This was all that saved him
from arrest and imprisonment, or the payment of a fine for the
assault.

A common practice, as I was informed, is to arrest a stranger for some
alleged breach of the law, such as smoking a cigar in the streets, or
using disrespectful language toward the constituted authorities. Not
being accustomed to the intricacies of a Russian judiciary, it is
difficult, when once the matter comes before a tribunal of justice,
for a foreigner to rebut the testimony brought against him; and if he
be in a hurry to get away, his only course is to bribe the parties
interested in his detention. It would be unjust to say that this
system prevails universally throughout Russia. There is a small
circle around the imperial presence said to be exempt from corruption;
and there may possibly be a few dignitaries of the government, in
remote parts of the empire, who will not tell an untruth unless in
their official correspondence, or steal except to make up what they
consider due to them for public services; but the circle of immaculate
ones is very small, and commences very near the Czar, and the other
exceptions referred to are exceedingly rare. Thieving may be said to
begin within gunshot of the capital, and to attain its culminating
excellences on the confines of Tartary. The difference is only in
degree between the higher and the lower grades of officers. Hence,
although it is quite possible to obtain full reparation for an injury
before the Czar, through the intervention of a consul or a minister,
it is a vexatious and expensive mode of proceeding, and would only
result at last in the transportation of some miserable wretch to the
mines of Siberia. Of course no man with a spark of feeling would like
to see a poor fellow-creature go there. For my part, I would rather
suffer any amount of injustice than be the cause of sending a
fellow-mortal on so long and dreary a journey.

The whole bearing of which you will presently discover. I am going to
tell you a very singular adventure that befell me in Moscow. Do