Leo Wiener

“ Eustaphieve's Russian training fell within the last decade of the eighteenth century, when the rhetorical element, mingling with the newly borrowed English sentimentalism, formed the prevailing tone of all literary productions, and neither his studies in England, nor his sober experiences in Boston and New York ever succeeded in eradicating that dialectic exultation which lies at the basis of all of Sumorokov's works. ”

“ Otis delivered an address on the emancipation of Europe from thraldom and the rescue of America from a great danger, finishing it with a toast to "Alexander the Great, Emperor of all the Russias,—he weeps not for the conquest of a new world, but rejoices in the salvation of the old." After toasts to the American national rulers, the Russian nation and the Russian armies, there followed a Russian ode, and after many more toasts and more odes, the Russian Consul was called for a toast. The Consul was not well trained in public speaking, and so the President read the toast prepared by him. ”

“ Nothing could daunt him and, after each virulent attack by his critics, he rose Antaeus-like against his opponents, hurling his mighty thunderbolts against them and growing bolder in his critiques. In Russia he was regarded as a man of great prominence, but there, too, his enemies were as powerful as his friends were great, and he never succeeded in getting the official advancement which was due him or the emoluments which would raise him above a life of mediocre ease and at times even downright want. ”

“ Thus, while the first minister, Pahlen, owed his selection merely to Imperial favor, his secretary, Poletica, who a decade later himself became the Russian minister in the United States, was a really capable man, who at home belonged to the famous literary club of the Arzamas, and who profited by his stay in America by writing down his impressions in French, for the benefit of his own countrymen and of others in Europe. ”

“ I have often put these questions to myself and to my friends, who, as often, instead of resolving them, answered only by asking why I do not myself remedy the neglect complained of, by putting on the garb of Critic, and thus lead the way for other abler pens in a career so honourable and important. ”

“ In any other civilized country, the operation of this machine, at once useful and dangerous, is watched with an anxiety and jealousy, fully proportionate to its acknowledged importance: Why then is it neglected among ourselves? Are we more virtuous, or more different, and less likely to be influenced by the scene of fiction, than our European ancestors and brethren? ”

“ When, in 1809, Alexander decided to send consuls to America and to be represented by ministers at Washington, the choice for the secondary positions fell upon men already acquainted with the English language or promising to distinguish themselves in the service. ”

“ Similarly, the Consul-General Dashkov was a man of inferior caliber who later, when he took Pahlen's place in Washington, made himself very much disliked in the United States, and in the unfortunate incident of the arrest of the Russian consul-general for criminal misconduct almost brought about a rupture of diplomatic relations. But two of his minor associates, Svinin and Eustaphieve, the consul at Boston, were men of more than ordinary ability. ”

“ In New York we lose trace of Eustaphieve, and neither American nor Russian sources give us any information on the ultimate fate of this modern Theophrastus Bombastus Paracelsus de Hohenheim, who considered it his duty to act as a mediator between European and American culture. ”

“ The first of his sketches, like his translation of the tragedy, made the critics speak indulgently of the Russian's proficiency in English composition; but they, at the same time, "wished it contained a little more information and a little less rhetoric." In Russia, the two pamphlets, but especially the second, attracted the attention of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the author was transferred to the office of the Embassy at the Court of St. James. ”

“ Eustaphieve's "Alexis" was put on the stage on March 23rd of next year, with Mr. and Miss Holman and Mr. Young playing the principal parts. The performance was a success, the reputation of the author serving as an inducement for Boston society to attend. ”

“ The anonymity did not deceive anyone in Boston. Everybody knew who the author was, and one, W., severely attacked him in the Boston Gazette. On February 9th there appeared the following verses from his pen:
"Critics there are, a set of snarling elves,
Who think no merit due but to themselves ”