ess of that official does credit rather to his
zeal than to his judgment--and, besides, he is obviously no humorist.
The Russians have had little opportunity of learning what is thought of
them and their governors at 85, Fleet Street. Time after time has the
cartoon been destroyed; and Mr. Sambourne, journeying in the country,
learned by personal experience that Moscow and St. Petersburg were not
as London and Paris. "Should it happen," he writes, "that any cartoon or
cut at all trenched on Russian subjects, and especially his Majesty the
Tsar, the page was either torn out or erased in the blackest manner by
the Bear's paw. I have seen some of Mr. Tenniel's cartoons so
maltreated, and have myself been frequently honoured in the same way."
It is therefore rather amusing that while such drawings as Sir John
Tenniel produced when the great Nihilistic wave was sweeping over
Russia, just before the renewed application of the repressive system
during the reign of Alexander III. and during the horrors of the Jewish
persecutions, _Punch_ would appear on the Tsar's table with cartoons far
more severe and humiliating than the majority of those which appealed to
the censor's sense of despotism. Of this Lord Augustus Loftus gives a
remarkable example--remarkable, too, for the Ambassador's diplomatic
ingenuity--his story referring to a period on the eve of the
Russo-Turkish War.

"The Emperor had a favourite dog called Milord, which never left him. We
were dining at the palace, and it being a small party (there were only
the Imperial Family and Court attendants), we retired after dinner to
the Empress's private apartments. I suddenly heard the Emperor calling
'Milord!' and supposed that he was calling for me; but it was his dog
that was wanted, to receive the biscuits which his Majesty was in the
daily habit of bestowing on his favourite. I immediately hastened to his
Majesty, and learnt the explanation from the Emperor, who was highly
amused at the incident.

"At the time his Majesty was seated in an inner saloon (a sort of
alcove), and placed near him was a small table, on which was a number of
_Punch_, with a cartoon representing the Sovereigns of Austria, Russia,
and Germany at a whist table, the Emperor of Russia holding down his
hand with a card. The Emperor put the paper in my hand, and said,
'_Expliquez-moi cela._' I felt the difficulty of the situation, and to
collect my thoughts asked to be permitted to study it. After a