No. 422.
Mr. Hoffman to Mr. Evarts.
St. Petersburg, April 16, 1879. (Received May 5.)
Sir: Since the attempt upon the life of the Emperor, very stringent regulations in reference to passports and residence here have been enforced, to which it might be well to call the attention of our traveling countrymen.
Every one coming here must be provided with a passport duly viséd by a Russian consul. On arrival every one must be inscribed on the registers of the police, and every proprietor and porter of lodging-houses and hotels must see that this is done. The police are ordered to visit every house, and ascertain if every one is so inscribed; to impose fines of 50 to 500 roubles on the proprietors of lodgings, hotels, and houses who have not notified to the police the arrival of persons at their respective houses and inscribed them. The porters who have neglected this duty are to be discharged, and are forbidden to employ themselves again in the same capacity.
All persons without passports are to be arrested, if the prefect of police thinks proper, and the results of their examination communicated to the chief of the gendarmerie, or to the minister of the interior. If such persons have simply failed to comply with the regulations, they are to be fined.
These regulations apply to St. Petersburg, Moscow, Kieff, Kharkoff, Odessa, and Talka.
All the principal ministers and the chiefs of police are now accompanied by two mounted armed Cossacks, when they drive out, and at night by four.
In this connection, allow me to call your attention to a law of a very different character, lately promulgated upon the subject of usury, and which I think some of our States might adopt with advantage. Hereafter the borrower and lender may agree upon any rate of interest; in the absence of agreement it is fixed at 6 per cent. If they agree upon less, and the interest is not paid when due, the lender can raise the rate to 6 per cent. If they agree upon more, at the expiration of six months, and upon a notice of three months, the borrower may pay off the principal.
I have, &c.,