John Quincy Adams Digital Diary

26. I called this morning at nine O’Clock on the Minister of the Police, who was gone to the Emperor, but I saw Colonel Gorgoly, who performs the functions of Master of the Police, and by whom the order was issued to Plincke to pay the money for the fine— I explained the Circumstances to him and urged the hardship of the case of levying a fine upon Mr Plincke, for a Circumstance of which he and I were perfectly ignorant— And of which I conceived myself ignorant without blame; having understood that here as well as in other Countries the house of a foreign Minister was not subject to the Jurisdiction of the Police— The Colonel, was extremely complaisant, and polite in form, and assured me that the Police, had the most perfect respect for the mansion of all foreign Ministers, and never presumed to intrude upon them— But that this ticket, was required to be taken out at the Address-Comtoir, by every Russian 326serving as a domestic, and must be renewed every year, or whenever the person changed his Master— A capitation tax, of three Rubles for a Mooshik, and proportionally more for servants of a higher rank, was to be paid on taking out this certificate, and to secure the collection of the tax, the owner of the house where every servant lived was responsible upon a penalty of two Rubles a day for any delay in taking it out— That the Police could have no claim whatsoever upon foreign Ministers; but must look to the owners of Houses, whose business it was to make their agreements with foreign Ministers, to indemnify themselves— And that as it was a revenue to the Crown; neither he nor the Minister of Police, could provide any remedy for the case— I shewed him my Contract with Plincke, which I told him Plincke had himself annulled by selling his house to the Crown, and turning me out of doors— I shewed him that even my stipulation in the Contract had reference to nothing but the Passports of my Servants; and made no mention of these Address-Comtoir Certificates— That if the Police thought proper to levy upon Plincke, a fine for a neglect or ignorance of my Servant, of which I knew nothing and could be expected to know nothing, I could only regret the circumstance, but felt my self under no Obligation to pay the money— He said that the Certificate was a thing entirely distinct and separate from the Passport—that as it was not mentioned in my Contract, it was Mr Plincke’s business to have seen to it, and that if I had written him a line stating these Circumstances, I should have had no further trouble in the business; but he requested me to leave the contract and his order with him, and to ask Plincke to call upon him, and he would arrange the matter.— I left the Papers accordingly, and called immediately at the English Magazine, and left word for Mr Plincke to call upon Coll: Gorgoli.— I dined at Count Romanzoff’s, with a diplomatic Company of about sixty persons— The large table— It was in celebration of the Emperor’s birth-day. With the Band of Music, and the Toast in Champagne. I gave the Chevalier de Bray a letter I received this morning for him, in answer to one I had forwarded for him by Mr Anderson, to Gothenburg— I sat next to Count Bussche, who told me that his Landlord, Mr Severin had made a demand of him, on account of a fine levied on him for some irregularity in the Passport of a Mooshik in his service; but he had refused to pay it— Coll: Gorgoli who called upon me before dinner, had told me that Bussche had paid it— He said also that Count St: Julien the Austrian Minister, had been in the same case, and paid to Baron Rall— And also the Portuguese Minister—meaning Navarro— Mr Plincke told me he had been fined for him, and that he must look to him for it hereafter.— I dined very moderately, having felt the whole day a cough coming upon me— I called on my way home, and paid a visit to Madame Bezerra— When I got home, I found that Catherine had taken to her bed, extremely ill with a cough and violent fever. Mrs. Adams and Charles are also troubled with bad Coughs, as well as Mr Smith and almost every Servant in the house. Dr: Galloway was twice here this Evening to see Catherine, who is still more alarmed than ill.— My only reading this day was to finish the Exordium’s of Demosthenes— They are fifty-six in number, and contain many admirable Sentiments— There is in them too much uniformity, and too many repetitions of the same ideas and even expressions— Many of them contain intreaties to be heard, and complaints of being interrupted— Many of them reproaches to the Athenians for their indolence and charges of corruption against other Orators. Several appear to have been prepared for particular occasions, upon which finally the Orator did not speak, or his discourse has not been preserved.