The Daily Dispatch: December 14, 1860., [Electronic resource]

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The English in Russia.

--An Englishman can scarcely form an idea of the petty annoyances to which a foreigner is subjected on his arrival at St. Petersburg. He is first required to give in writing a long and circumstantial declaration on a variety of subjects. He has then to undergo a personal examination at the bureau of the secret police; and woe be to him if he falter or make a single false step, or say anything that seems inconsistent with his written, and perhaps forgotten, declaration.--If his examination prove satisfactory to the police, he will receive a passport at the foreign office. This precious passport system, now happily abolished by the other Northern powers, is carried to absurd lengths in Russia; indeed, if you wished to invent a practical burlesque on the principle of passports, you could not do better than adopt the Russian plan of surveillance. You cannot legally enter a town, or sleep at an inn, or even spend a night at a friend's house, without a passport. You cannot change your residence, even if you were going to live next door, without first sending your passport to the police office.--Once a Week.