Papers Relating to Foreign Affairs, Accompanying the Annual Message of the President to the Third Session of the Fortieth Congress

Mr. Clay to Mr. Seward

No. 171.]

Legation of the United States, St. Petersburg, January 3, 1868.

Sir: Your dispatch No. 270 is received. I inclose you a statement of the minister of the interior, Mr. Valouïoff, in reference to schools, &c., in Russia. I was asked for the information, I believe, by one of the departments at Washington, or by the Smithsonian Institute. Please forward copy of it to the proper party.

I am, sir, your obedient servant,

C. M. CLAY.

Hon. William H. Seward, Secretary of State, Washington, D. C.

Schools in Russia.

[From the minister of the interior, M. Valouïoff].

[Translation.]

Special technical instruction was introduced in Russia by Peter the Great. But nearly all the schools of that character which exist at this day have been founded under Alexander I and Nicolas I. In all these establishments the instruction preserved a corresponding character: the course of special learning was united in them with a course of general studies, resembling the course of the gymnasiums, (establishments of instruction of the second order.) Under the present reign the instruction in technical knowledge has received a decided reorganization; in the superior schools all studies, not of a special character, are discontinued, but the youth who enter these schools must submit to an examination, proving that their knowledge corresponds with the course of studies of the gymnasium.

Agriculture.—The great schools of agriculture are the Academy of Agriculture of Moscow, and the Institute of Agriculture of St. Petersburg. After the emancipation of labor, its price having risen, the government resolved to give a new scope to the agricultural productive force by the propagation of the knowledge of rural economy. With that view the government founded, at its expense, the Academy of Moscow, and reorganized the Institute of St. Petersburg. Besides those two superior establishments, there exist in Russia several other similar schools of an inferior character:

	Personnel.		Cost to the government.
	Teachers.	Pupils.
			Roubles.
Institute of agriculture			103,785
Academy	20	176	146,500
Agricultural school of Kharkou	6	59 } 94	74,300
Agricultural school of Gorki, (government of Mohilew)	6
Four metairies	16	161	64,400
Three schools of agriculture	13	64	45,000
Five forest schools	15	215	52,600
Oenology school, (Magaratch, in Crimea)	2	9	2,350

Besides these establishments there exists at St. Petersburg a public museum of rural economy, newly founded, but already enriched by a fine collection.

Mines.—The necessity to know and to explore the immense mineral riches of Russia has moved the government to found several establishments devoted to the instruction in the science of mining. These are, the Institute of Mining of St. Petersburg, (superior school,) having an extensive and fine mineral museum; the Essayers’ School of St. Petersburg; the Mining School of Catherinburg, and seven inferior schools in the mining districts of the Oural and Altaï mountains:

	Personnel.		Cost to the government.
	Teachers.	Pupils.
			Roubles.
Mining institute	36	141	114,000
Essayers’ school	6	15	11,200
Mining school	7	24	24 } 254	12,000
Seven schools in the districts	22

Roads.—This branch of technical knowledge has only one superior school, the Institute of Roads at St. Petersburg, with a museum of civil architecture.

Personnel: Teachers, 31; pupils, 210; cost to the government, 107,000 roubles.

Arts and trades.—Three establishments are employed to propagate the industrial arts. They are, the Technological Institute of St. Petersburg, the object of which is to educate manufacturers, and which is, at the same time, a sort of manufactory; the Artisans’ School, and the School of Technical Designs of Moscow:

	Personnel.		Cost to the government.
	Teachers.	Pupils.
			Roubles.
Technological institute	41	409	148,605
Artizans’ schools	18	291 } 357	16,300
School of designs	25

Marine.—Concerning navigation, there exists in Russia a Corps of Marine Cadets at St. Petersburg, a School of Pilots at Cronstadt—both establishments devoted to the education of officers for the navy—and four Schools of Navigation: at Riga, Kherson, Archangel, and Kem, devoted to the education of pilots for the commercial navy:

	Personnel.		Cost to the government.
	Teachers.	Pupils.
			Roubles.
Corps of marine cadets	33	162	174,000
School of pilots	24	143	62,300
Four schools of navigation	19	157	13,000

Commerce.—The central establishment for the propagation of commercial instruction is the Academy of Practical Sciences of Moscow, founded at the expense of the merchants. The establishments of the second order are, the Schools of Commerce of St. Petersburg, Moscow, Odessa, and Tiflis, founded by the aid of a subsidy furnished by the commercial order, and partially sustained by the government:

	Personnel.
	Teachers.	Pupils.
Academy of Moscow	32	344
School of St. Potersbur	28	275
School of Moscow	20	160
School of Odessa	7	36
School of Tiflis	6	191

Fine arts.—There are in Russia several institutions, established by the government, at its expense, devoted to the study of the fine arts and the propagation of a taste for them. They consist of schools and museums. The central school of fine arts is the Imperial Academy of Fine Arts at St. Petersburg. It embraces the five following classes: painting, sculpture, architecture, engraving, and mosaic. The study of the fine arts is there accompanied by a course of æsthetics, history of art, literature, and other sciences tending towards the perfection of the youth who enter into an artistic career. Those among them evincing a superior talent are sent, at the expense of the government, to foreign countries for a period of from four to six years. The academy has a library and a museum containing over 1,500 pictures of different schools, 500 pieces of sculpture, and collections of Byzantine and ancient Russian objects of art, medals, cameos, and engravings. A special sum of 10,000 roubles is appropriated annually to the academy for the encouragement of young artists.

The School of Painting and Sculpture of Moscow is considered as a branch of the academy of St. Petersburg.

A School for Civil Architecture, attached to the Department of the Interior, was instituted for the special purpose of educating architects for the provinces:

	Personnel.
	Teachers.	Pupils.
Academy of fine arts	23	500
School for painting and sculpture	20	161
School for civil architecture	32	104

The Imperial Museum of the Hermitage consists of several artistic collections. These are—

1. A gallery of 1,631 paintings, of which 327 belong to the Italian school, 115 to the Spanish school, 944 to the Flemish, Hollandish, and German schools, 172 to the French school, 8 to the English school, and 65 to the Russian school.

2. A gallery of Egyptian, Assyrian, Greek-Roman, and modern sculpture—361 pieces belonging to the Greek-Roman school, and 42 to the modern schools.

3. A collection of painted vases, said to be Etruscan—1,786 pieces.

4. A collection of antique bronze objects—343 pieces.

5. A collection of antique objects of baked clay—543 pieces.

6. A numerous collection of antiquities of Kertsch, and from the Greek colonies of the shores of the Black Sea.

7. A collection of 11,740 sketches, made by painters of different schools.

8. A collection of 200,000 engravings.

9. A library of 1,030 manuscripts, of which 140, in the Russian, Latin, French, German, and Italian languages, are adorned with miniatures.

10. A library of printed books.

The Public Museum of Moscow, newly instituted, is composed of various collections. Among them are—

1. A collection of objects of art, (ancient and modern sculpture, paintings of different schools, a collection of engravings.)

2. A collection of Christian, Byzantine, and Russian antiquities.

Both museums are accessible to the public during the entire year.