A Herzen Reader

Will it reach him or not?... It's hard to make a bet on this! Is the sovereign under the watchful eye of the police or not? Do they open his mail or not?

We'll see!

Note

Source: "Lakei i nemtsy ne dopuskaiut," Kolokol, l. 9, February 15, 1858; 13:198-99, 541.

1. Herzen refers ironically to rulers of the tiny German principalities of Lippe, Valdek, Schwartzberg-Sundershausen, and Saksen-Meiningen.

♦ 16 ♦

The Bell, No. 12, April 1, 1858. Censorship drove Herzen abroad in 1847, and the rise and fall of restrictions on free speech and on freedom of the press in Russia were of endur­ing interest to him.

Censorship Is on the Rise [1858]

Instead of abolishing the censorship, the censorship has been doubled and made more complex.¹ Formerly the censoring was done by censors, priests, and the secret police; now all departments will act as censors, and every ministry will appoint its own eunuch to the literary seraglio, this at a time when a relaxation of censorship was expected. Indeed, the new project was presented to the committee of ministers, but Panin and, after him, every­one except Grand Prince Konstantin Nikolaevich unanimously, and with noble indignation, rejected any change. In truth, we are beginning to think that all this is being done for the benefit of The Bell and The Polestar. To enforce silence after having permitted a small degree of conversation is difficult and awkward. Russian literature will move to London. Along with English freedom and our warm greeting, we are preparing the best paper and excellent ink.

Note

Source: "Tsenzura usilivaetsia," Kolokol, l. 12, April 1, 1858; 13:255, 551-52.

1. A decree was issued January 25, 1858, supplementing the existing censorship with officials from a number of ministries, including the imperial court, army, navy, inte­rior, finance, justice, communications, and the general staff. This was in answer to the proposal presented to the ministers by Prince P. A. Vyazemsky nine days earlier recom­mending a new censorship statute, which was vigorously opposed by the ministers of justice, finance, and communications (V. N. Panin, P. F. Brok, and K. V. Chevkin).

^ 17 +

The Bell, No. 16, June 1, 1858. A continuation of the theme of the Russian government's attempt, with the help of its conservative allies, to silence Herzen's publications.

Logophobia [1858]

The other day the Kolnischer Zeitung announced a new ban on The Bell in Prussia. In Saxony all our periodicals are banned. In Naples the embassy secretary is frightening the booksellers; commercial travelers of the Third Department in the uniforms of adjutant generals, and councilors of state who imagine themselves privy councilors, are floating all around the cor­rupted parts of Europe, nosing about the shops, making discoveries and denunciations, using German ministers as police detectives and truffle spotters and German princelings as bulldogs in pursuit of The Polestar and The Bell. What is all this about? What is the source of this crude impatience? It would be a pity if it comes from the sovereign: it is so unworthy of him. It would be a pity if it comes from Gorchakov:¹ they tell us that he is a well- intentioned person, and we were prepared to believe this!

Or are these the pranks of people in "supporting roles," volunteer zealots and Nicholaevan gendarmes who are left without anything to do?

Can it be that every power, even one that wishes to do good, is fated to have no other means of hearing the truth than when it is wrapped in com­pletely servile phrases, and sweetened with vulgar flattery? The language of a free man grates upon ears grown soft with the rhetoric of Byzantine eu­nuchs in guards uniform, old stewards in the livery of their late master.² [. . .]

Notes

Source: "Slovoboiazn'," Kolokol, l. 16, June 1, 1858; 13:281-82, 563.

Prince Alexander Mikhailovich Gorchakov (1798-1883) was appointed minister of foreign affairs in i856.

Herzen then quotes passages from "Lackeys and Germans Refuse Permission" about those who would prevent the sound of The Bell from reaching the Winter Palace.

^ 18 ♦