Dead Souls
matters to the point of making their resolution almost impossible by
ordinary methods I am aware; as also I am aware of the identity of the
ringleader, despite the skill with which he has sought to conceal his
share in the scandal. But the principal point is, that I propose to
decide these matters, not by formal documentary process, but by the
more summary process of court-martial, and that I hope, when the
circumstances have been laid before his Imperial Majesty, to receive
from him authority to adopt the course which I have mentioned. For I
conceive that when it has become impossible to resolve a case by civil
means, and some of the necessary documents have been burnt, and attempts
have been made (both through the adduction of an excess of false and
extraneous evidence and through the framing of fictitious reports)
to cloud an already sufficiently obscure investigation with an added
measure of complexity,--when all these circumstances have arisen, I
conceive that the only possible tribunal to deal with them is a military
tribunal. But on that point I should like your opinion.”
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 every 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.]
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote 1: Essays on Russian Novelists. Macmillan.]
[Footnote 2: Ideals and Realities in Russian Literature. Duckworth and
Co.]
[Footnote 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.]
[Footnote 4: An urn for brewing honey tea.]
[Footnote 5: An urn for brewing ordinary tea.]
[Footnote 6: A German dramatist (1761-1819) who also filled sundry posts
in the service of the Russian Government.]
[Footnote 7: Priest’s wife.]
[Footnote 8: In this case the term General refers to a civil grade
equivalent to the military rank of the same title.]
[Footnote 9: An annual tax upon peasants, payment of which secured to
the payer the right of removal.]
[Footnote 10: Cabbage soup.]
[Footnote 11: Three horses harnessed abreast.]
[Footnote 12: A member of the gentry class.]
[Footnote 13: Pieces equal in value to twenty-five kopecks (a quarter of
a rouble).]
[Footnote 14: A Russian general who, in 1812, stoutly opposed Napoleon
at the battle of Borodino.]
[Footnote 15: The late eighteenth century.]
[Footnote 16: Forty Russian pounds.]
[Footnote 17: To serve as blotting-paper.]
[Footnote 18: A liquor distilled from fermented bread crusts or sour
fruit.]
[Footnote 19: That is to say, a distinctively Russian name.]
[Footnote 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.]
[Footnote 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.]
[Footnote 22: A kind of large gnat.]
[Footnote 23: A copper coin worth five kopecks.]
[Footnote 24: A Russian general who fought against Napoleon, and was
mortally wounded at Borodino.]
[Footnote 25: Literally, “nursemaid.”]
[Footnote 26: Village factor or usurer.]
[Footnote 27: Subordinate government officials.]
[Footnote 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.]
[Footnote 29: The names Kariakin and Volokita might, perhaps, be
translated as “Gallant” and “Loafer.”]
[Footnote 30: Tradesman or citizen.]
[Footnote 31: The game of knucklebones.]
[Footnote 32: A sort of low, four-wheeled carriage.]
[Footnote 33: The system by which, in annual rotation, two-thirds of a
given area are cultivated, while the remaining third is left fallow.]
[Footnote 34: Public Prosecutor.]
[Footnote 35: To reproduce this story with a raciness worthy of the
Russian original is practically impossible. The translator has not
attempted the task.]
[Footnote 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.]
[Footnote 37: Four-wheeled open carriage.]
[Footnote 38: Silver five kopeck piece.]
[Footnote 39: A silver quarter rouble.]
[Footnote 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.]
[Footnote 41: The Elder.]
[Footnote 42: The Younger.]
[Footnote 43: Secondary School.]
[Footnote 44: The desiatin = 2.86 English acres.]
[Footnote 45: “One more makes five.”]
[Footnote 46: Dried spinal marrow of the sturgeon.]
[Footnote 47: Long, belted Tartar blouses.]
[Footnote 48: Village commune.]
[Footnote 49: Landowner.]
[Footnote 50: Here, in the original, a word is missing.]
[Footnote 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.]
[Footnote 52: Fiscal districts.]