Dead Souls (55 page)

The Prince paused for a moment or two, as though awaiting a reply; but
none came, seeing that every man had his eyes bent upon the floor, and
many of the audience had turned white in the face.

"Then," he went on, "I may say that I am aware also of a matter which
those who have carried it through believe to lie only within the
cognisance of themselves. The particulars of that matter will not be
set forth in documentary form, but only through process of myself
acting as plaintiff and petitioner, and producing none but ocular
evidence."

Among the throng of tchinovniks some one gave a start, and thereby
caused others of the more apprehensive sort to fall to trembling in
their shoes.

"Without saying does it go that the prime conspirators ought to
undergo deprivation of rank and property, and that the remainder ought
to be dismissed from their posts; for though that course would cause a
certain proportion of the innocent to suffer with the guilty, there
would seem to be no other course available, seeing that the affair is
one of the most disgraceful nature, and calls aloud for justice.
Therefore, although I know that to some my action will fail to serve
as a lesson, since it will lead to their succeeding to the posts of
dismissed officials, as well as that others hitherto considered
honourable will lose their reputation, and others entrusted with new
responsibilities will continue to cheat and betray their
trust,—although all this is known to me, I still have no choice but
to satisfy the claims of justice by proceeding to take stern measures.
I am also aware that I shall be accused of undue severity; but,
lastly, I am aware that it is my duty to put aside all personal
feeling, and to act as the unconscious instrument of that retribution
which justice demands."

Over ever face there passed a shudder. Yet the Prince had spoken
calmly, and not a trace of anger or any other kind of emotion had been
visible on his features.

"Nevertheless," he went on, "the very man in whose hands the fate of
so many now lies, the very man whom no prayer for mercy could ever
have influenced, himself desires to make a request of you. Should you
grant that request, all will be forgotten and blotted out and
pardoned, for I myself will intercede with the Throne on your behalf.
That request is this. I know that by no manner of means, by no
preventive measures, and by no penalties will dishonesty ever be
completely extirpated from our midst, for the reason that its roots
have struck too deep, and that the dishonourable traffic in bribes has
become a necessity to, even the mainstay of, some whose nature is not
innately venal. Also, I know that, to many men, it is an impossibility
to swim against the stream. Yet now, at this solemn and critical
juncture, when the country is calling aloud for saviours, and it is
the duty of every citizen to contribute and to sacrifice his all, I
feel that I cannot but issue an appeal to every man in whom a Russian
heart and a spark of what we understand by the word 'nobility' exist.
For, after all, which of us is more guilty than his fellow? It may be
to ME the greatest culpability should be assigned, in that at first
I may have adopted towards you too reserved an attitude, that I may
have been over-hasty in repelling those who desired but to serve me,
even though of their services I did not actually stand in need. Yet,
had they really loved justice and the good of their country, I think
that they would have been less prone to take offence at the coldness
of my attitude, but would have sacrificed their feelings and their
personality to their superior convictions. For hardly can it be that I
failed to note their overtures and the loftiness of their motives, or
that I would not have accepted any wise and useful advice proffered.
At the same time, it is for a subordinate to adapt himself to the tone
of his superior, rather than for a superior to adapt himself to the
tone of his subordinate. Such a course is at once more regular and
more smooth of working, since a corps of subordinates has but one
director, whereas a director may have a hundred subordinates. But let
us put aside the question of comparative culpability. The important
point is, that before us all lies the duty of rescuing our fatherland.
Our fatherland is suffering, not from the incursion of a score of
alien tongues, but from our own acts, in that, in addition to the
lawful administration, there has grown up a second administration
possessed of infinitely greater powers than the system established by
law. And that second administration has established its conditions,
fixed its tariff of prices, and published that tariff abroad; nor
could any ruler, even though the wisest of legislators and
administrators, do more to correct the evil than limit it in the
conduct of his more venal tchinovniks by setting over them, as their
supervisors, men of superior rectitude. No, until each of us shall
come to feel that, just as arms were taken up during the period of the
upheaval of nations, so now each of us must make a stand against
dishonesty, all remedies will end in failure. As a Russian,
therefore—as one bound to you by consanguinity and identity of
blood—I make to you my appeal. I make it to those of you who
understand wherein lies nobility of thought. I invite those men to
remember the duty which confronts us, whatsoever our respective
stations; I invite them to observe more closely their duty, and to
keep more constantly in mind their obligations of holding true to
their country, in that before us the future looms dark, and that we
can scarcely. . . ."

(Here the manuscript of the original comes abruptly to an end.)

[1]
Essays on Russian Novelists. Macmillan.

[2]
Ideals and Realities in Russian Literature. Duckworth and Co.

[3]
This is generally referred to in the Russian criticisms of Gogol
as a quotation from Jeremiah. It appears upon investigation,
however, that it actually occurs only in the Slavonic version from
the Greek, and not in the Russian translation made direct from the
Hebrew.

[4]
An urn for brewing honey tea.

[5]
An urn for brewing ordinary tea.

[6]
A German dramatist (1761-1819) who also filled sundry posts in the
service of the Russian Government.

[7]
Priest's wife.

[8]
In this case the term General refers to a civil grade equivalent
to the military rank of the same title.

[9]
An annual tax upon peasants, payment of which secured to the payer
the right of removal.

[10]
Cabbage soup.

[11]
Three horses harnessed abreast.

[12]
A member of the gentry class.

[13]
Pieces equal in value to twenty-five kopecks (a quarter of a
rouble).

[14]
A Russian general who, in 1812, stoutly opposed Napoleon at the
battle of Borodino.

[15]
The late eighteenth century.

[16]
Forty Russian pounds.

[17]
To serve as blotting-paper.

[18]
A liquor distilled from fermented bread crusts or sour fruit.

[19]
That is to say, a distinctively Russian name.

[20]
A jeering appellation which owes its origin to the fact that
certain Russians cherish a prejudice against the initial character
of the word—namely, the Greek theta, or TH.

[21]
The great Russian general who, after winning fame in the Seven
Years' War, met with disaster when attempting to assist the
Austrians against the French in 1799.

[22]
A kind of large gnat.

[23]
A copper coin worth five kopecks.

[24]
A Russian general who fought against Napoleon, and was mortally
wounded at Borodino.

[25]
Literally, "nursemaid."

[26]
Village factor or usurer.

[27]
Subordinate government officials.

[28]
Nevertheless Chichikov would appear to have erred, since most
people would make the sum amount to twenty-three roubles, forty
kopecks. If so, Chichikov cheated himself of one rouble, fifty-six
kopecks.

[29]
The names Kariakin and Volokita might, perhaps, be translated as
"Gallant" and "Loafer."

[30]
Tradesman or citizen.

[31]
The game of knucklebones.

[32]
A sort of low, four-wheeled carriage.

[33]
The system by which, in annual rotation, two-thirds of a given
area are cultivated, while the remaining third is left fallow.

[34]
Public Prosecutor.

[35]
To reproduce this story with a raciness worthy of the Russian
original is practically impossible. The translator has not
attempted the task.

[36]
One of the mistresses of Louis XIV. of France. In 1680 she wrote a
book called Reflexions sur la Misericorde de Dieu, par une Dame
Penitente.

[37]
Four-wheeled open carriage.

[38]
Silver five kopeck piece.

[39]
A silver quarter rouble.

[40]
In the days of serfdom, the rate of forced labour—so many hours
or so many days per week—which the serf had to perform for his
proprietor.

[41]
The Elder.

[42]
The Younger.

[43]
Secondary School.

[44]
The desiatin = 2.86 English acres.

[45]
"One more makes five."

[46]
Dried spinal marrow of the sturgeon.

[47]
Long, belted Tartar blouses.

[48]
Village commune.

[49]
Landowner.

[50]
Here, in the original, a word is missing.

[51]
Dissenters or Old Believers: i.e. members of the sect which
refused to accept the revised version of the Church Service Books
promulgated by the Patriarch Nikon in 1665.

[52]
Fiscal districts.