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and literary censor, which is so tragi-comic in itself, is
decidedly a peculiarity of Russia. In any other country
it would be taken for granted that if any one needed
absolute freedom, it would be a lyric poet, and that if
any one was not adapted to curtail the liberty of others,
it would be he.
More or less weakness of character and poverty have
united to bring these poets to the point of receiving
gratefully the bounty of the government.
Since Polonski was censor as well as government
officer, it could be anticipated that the whole official
world would be present to assist at his jubilee. Since
he was to be honored as the representative of belles-lettres,
it was not less certain that the larger number of
the authors in St. Petersburg would be present. In fact,
it was only the extreme liberal party, of which the
reviews Vyestnik Yevropui and Sevyerni Vyestnik are the
rallying-points, that did not participate in the festival.
The only really liberal authors who were present sat,
humorously enough, as guests — one even as an honored
guest — between those who had forbidden the publication
of their books and prevented the delivery of their
lectures.
On one side of Polonski sat Vyshnegradski, then ad
interim, but since fully constituted, minister of finance,
— a fine-looking, elderly man, with broad shoulders, but
with a countenance that did not inspire confidence; and
who, prior to his assuming the office, had been somewhat
criticised. The unthinking mob, which in Russia, as
elsewhere, likes to throw mud at anything which shines,
had set the following absurd report in circulation, and it
obtained general currency, though, naturally, no credit:
It is said that, on his appointment as minister, he was
taken to the Kazán Church, before a celebrated image of
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