h us two other of our English
travellers.

On showing their card to Miss Benson, she informed us the ladies were
persons of high rank, the daughters of a distinguished general, but
known to be greatly attached to the English.

Upon our calling in the evening we found the two ladies not returned
from Court, but another sister received us most graciously, and after a
long conversation, chiefly on the emancipation of the Serfs, which they
did not approve of, having about 2,000 of them on their own estates, but
at the same time giving the Emperor credit for the best intentions.
Before leaving we were asked by the particular desire of the absent
ladies to renew our visit the following evening, which we regretted not
being able to do, having to make arrangements for our return home.

The manufactures at St. Petersburg are numerous, and some of them very
extensive in tapestry, porcelain, glass, carpet, paper and cotton, all
under the patronage of the State, but chiefly owned or managed by
foreigners.

One of the cotton factories we visited, situated at Octi, about three
miles up the river Neva, is a good-sized mill, worked by four engines of
250 and 260 horse power, spinning yarn about forty or fifty hanks, and
employing 700 or 800 hands, chiefly serfs, from the neighbouring
villages, with managers, mostly English, occupying cottages surrounding
the establishment.

The proprietors, De Jerseys, well known in Lancashire, have other
concerns in Russia, and are now erecting very large works in Finland for
the purpose of spinning, weaving, bleaching, dyeing and printing.

At the Misses Bensons there were three English gentlemen, a Captain
Glascott and two others, who had been engaged several years in an
extensive survey through Russia and a part of Turkey. They kindly
exhibited their plans, beautifully drawn upon a large scale.

Before leaving St. Petersburg you have to give two or three days'
notice, so that your name may appear in the Gazette, and thereby ensure
the due discharge of claims upon you. You are also furnished with a new
passport, instead of viseing the one you brought with you, thereby
supplying a few extra fees to the officials, which I consider to be the
chief object in keeping up this abominable system.

We left St. Petersburg in a small steamer, and embarked at Cronstadt in
the "Vladimer," a Russian steamer, very beautifully fitted up, with two
cabins on deck, one for the captain and the other for the us