jewels;” which means an invitation to those whom his majesty desires to compliment as his friends, without regard to court etiquette or the formalities of official rank.  At this grand reception in the palace at Tsarskozela, seventeen miles from St. Petersburg, Mr. Sibley was the second on the list, the French ambassador being the first, and Prince Gortchakoff, the Prime Minister, the third.  This order was observed also in the procession of 250 court carriages with outriders, Mr. Sibley’s carriage being the second in the line.  On this occasion Prince Gortchakoff turning to Mr. Sibley, said:  “Sir, if I remember rightly, in the course of a very pleasant conversation had with you a few days since, at the State department, you expressed your surprise at the pomp and circumstance attending upon all court ceremony.  Now, sir, when you take precedence of the Prime Minister, I trust you are more reconciled to the usage attendant upon royalty, which was so repugnant to your democratic ideas.”  Such an honor was greatly appreciated by Mr. Sibley; for it meant the most sincere respect of the “Autocrat of all the Russias” for the people of the United States, and a recognition of the courtesies conferred upon his fleet when in American waters.

Mr. Sibley was duly complimented by the members of the royal family and others present, including the ambassadors of the great powers.  Mr. Collins, his colleague in the telegraph enterprise, shared in these attentions.  Mr. Sibley was recorded in the official blue book of the State department of St. Petersburg as “the distinguished American,” by which title he was generally known.  Of this book he has a copy as a souvenir of his Russian experience.  His intercourse with the Russian authorities was also facilitated by a very complimentary letter from Secretary Seward to Prince Gortchakoff.  The Russian government agreed to build the line from Irkootsk to the mouth of the Amoor River.  After 1,500 miles of wire had been put up, the final success of the Atlantic cable caused the abandonment of the line, at a loss of $3,000,000.  This was a loss in the midst of success, for Mr. Sibley had demonstrated the feasibility of putting a telegraphic girdle round the earth.  In railway enterprises the accomplishments of his energy and management have been no less signal than in the establishment of the telegraph.  One of these was the important line of the Southern Michigan and Northern Indiana Railway.  His principal efforts in this direction have been in the Southern States.  After the war, prompted more by the desire of restoring amicable relations than by the prospect of gain, he made large and varied investments at the South, and did much to promote renewed business activity.  At Saginaw.  Mich., he became a large lumber and salt manufacturer.  He bought much property in Michigan, and at one time owned vast tracts in the Lake Superior region, where the most valuable mines have since been worked.  While he has been interested