The Sun.
London, England, 1855-08-31 00:00:00

LONDON, FRIDAY EVENING, AUGUST 31, 1855.

B ANK OF DEPOSI T,
No. 3, PALL. MALT. EAST. LONDON.
Established A.D. 1814
Parttes desirous of INVESTING MONEY are requested to extruine
,he Plan of this Institution, by which a high rate of interest may be
btained with perfect security.
The Interest is payable in January and July.
PETER MORRISON, Managing Director.
Prospectuses and Forms for Opening Accounts sent free on appli-
ati on.

ARGYLL ROOMS.—LAURENT'S CASINO
will RE-OPEN on SATURDAY NEXT for the Winter
eason, on which occasion the following sfasic will be performed by
its celebrate) Band :—March aux Flambeaux. Waltz,s ,The Lily
f he Valley (D'Albert), Zephir Lufte (Gung'l) Fenella ( Finney),
rlhrl Newcome (Laurent), La Sultana (Bosislo). e
ltoi du Pastel Lamotte), Les ilugenots (Laurent), Palermo ( D'Al-
lert), Bride of Lammermoor (Tinney), 11 Trovattne (Tutton).
Polkas—lies Huiands (Lamotte), Italia ((aviolo), The Lillian (D'Al-
Jeri), Des Coucons (Bousquet), The Zouaves (Laurent). Galops—
ale Imperial Guards (Laurent), The Beata (Streather). Schottische
—La Guirlande de Fleur' (Bosquet), La Varsoviana (Laurent). Prin-
cipal Cornet a Piston, at. Boulcours.—Doors open at S. Admission,
me Shilling.

LEFT IN THE INTERIOR OF RUSSIA.

(Front the New NO. of " Blackwood's Magazine.")
[The writer of the article in last number, on the " In-
'ernal Sufferings of Russia from the War," having in-
trusted to us his papers, containing his observations dur-
ing his residence in Russia, we extract from them the fol-
lowiug intelligent statement of the Social Condition of the
Russian people—a subject at present. possessing unusual
interest. Russia, the Power of all others which has most
to tear from such a course, is now bringing on a war of
,pinion in Europe, the political effects of which will in
lee time extend into her own dominions. In order to
apprehend what may be the effects of such an event, we
nust first know the elements upon which the new ideas
will have to work ; and viewed in this light, the following
+ober and authentic resume of the social state of the Rus-
,ia nation seems to us to possess more than ordinary im
pertance in the present times.]
Landed Proprietors—Nobles.—Many of the landed pro-
arietors in Russia, especially the small ones, would like to
see serfdom abolished, as it would be more profitable for
hem to cultivate their land with hired labourers than
with serfs, who eat up the greater part of the produce. I
tin very well acquainted with ono small proprietor, who
possesses about 1,500 acres of land, and possibly some 70
,r 80 peasants, and I know well that he does not get more
han 1001. per annum from his property. He is, however,
..n exception to the general rule, being very easy witl:
,hem ; but it is not to be supposed that they are better off
'or that. On the contrary, they are in general much poorer
:Elan the peasants of the neighbouring gloat estates, though
,heir master pays the poll-tax, which is never the case in
a.rge properties, where there is more trad,, and the pea-
.ant has an opportunity of disposing of his produce, and
where there are fairs held, which gives him a chance of
;elling many little articles, such as hay, oats, &c.
In general, the state of the smaller landowners is one
Duch to be pitied, for in many cases they are as ignorant
is their own peasants, and yet have all the pride of caste,
which is in general very at, ong in Russia, where much
f the old feudal feeling remains. If they enter the public
,ervice and leave home, their small properties become still
•maller, as their means will not allow them to keep an in-
tendant; nor is the service sufficiently remunerative to live
n ease, or even without running into debt, for in general
dficials are very badly paid indeed. Of this I can give you
in example in the case of a young man, the son of a small
proprietor, who pinched himself in order to give his son a
good education at the university, where he remained till he
was twenty-three years of age, when the father thought he
would be able to obtain some good government employ-
.nent—at least that he would be at no further expense.

After waiting nearly a year, he obtained a place with a
salary of four roubles a month, one of which was deductad
for his rank, leaving him three (rather less than 103. a
nonth) to provide himself with a lodging, table (which are
o be had fur about 30s. a month), clothing, audeverything
aecessary for a. gentlkunau. After that, it is wonderful that
Lhe Rsissian officials accept bribes a tort et a travers
None but nobles have the right to possess serfs, though
it does not follow that all nobles possess them, for there is
L very large, class of poor nobles in Russia who possess
uothing, never did possess anything, and are never likely to
possess anything—and these are the most miserable of all
the others ; for they aro nothing—peither peasants nor gall-
;lemon. It will naturally be asked how they became pas-
4essed of their-nobility ? They are for the most part sons
Jfambitious clerks of churches, &c., *hose fathers oil' iends
have taught them to read and write, and through the inte-
rest of some great man got them admitted into some
Government office as copying clerks, where they receive
► rank after a certain number of years, and become
noble, and of course their children too, who do as their
Bathers have done before them—leading a wretched exist-
ence, without any prospectof advancement, upon a miserable
pittance, unless they have great abilities for plunder, when,
ay dint of accepting bribes, they get a small sum together.
Thera is no sum so small that they will not accept ; you
tufty even offer them articles of wearing apparel—any-
thing ; and this latter is too frequently done when the poor
suitor has nothing more to offer. I myself have given
such small sums as 4d. and 6d. for trifling services which

they have seemed reluctant to perform, which has always
bad the desired effect of accelerating their movements,
and saved me the ennui of waiting half an hour for them

to perform their duty. Some, again, of this class, live by
going frcm house to house in the country. They stay at a
house till the master gets tired of them ; then he sends
them to his nearest neighbour, who noes the like. The
Russians, in general, are very hospitable ; and in the
country, where they lead a very solitary, monotonous life,
are glad to see any one who can procure them a little
variety, as they have no sources of amusement whatever
except shooting or coursing ; but when a man is not a
sportsman even these fail him, for books are very rare,
very expensive, and not very interesting, on account of the
extreme severity of the censure that is exercised. A
really good werk is a great luxury, and seldom to be met
with in a Russian country-house; hence they are glad to
see anybody whe can give them a little news, be it ever so
stale. But I must give the Russians their due : they are,
from the highest to the lowest, very hospitable; a general
invitation there always means, ?in town, that you are ex-
pected to droll in two or three times a week about dinner
time, and, without being asked, take your seat at table
like one of the family. If you decline staying they will
feel quite hurt; even the very servants will press you to
remain and take dinner with the family. When you are
asked to the country, you are never expected to give any
previous notice of your intended visit, but to go at any
time you feel inclined ; and you are sure to meet with a
harm reception, and are expected to remain just as long
as may suit your own convenience.
Some of the smaller proprietors, from leading such a
solitary life, get into habits of beastly intoxication, in which
they consume days and nights, while their property goes
to ruin. I have even known instances where they have
kept casks of spirits in their beds ()ores, and been in the
habit of crawling on all-fours from the bed to the cask
seldom being in a state to walk—drinking out of the tap,
and then crawling back again to bed, to sleep till they
should be ready to take another slight refreshment in the
same manner. This must seem very much like exaggera-
tion ; but I can assure my readers that I advance nothing
hut the pure truth, and what fell under my own personal
observation. Without doubt such are exceptional cases,
and are soon brought to a conclusion by death; but some
can support this life for two or three years.
One great cause of the poverty of the nobles is the sub-
division of estates that takes place on the death of the pro-
prietor. Every son has an equal share in the property,
with an equal share of the debts. Some, though few, of
them may acquire more land, and so add to their heritage,
but with the greater number the reverse is the case, so
that the debts are increased, and the estate in a similar way
subdivided, and thus eventually the heirs are obliged to
sell off their portions to pay the mortgage, or surrender
the land to the crown, and the son of the ate proprietor
becomes a beggar. With all this before their eyes, they
raise a terrible outcry against the English law of majority,
which, if it were the law of their country, would preserve
it solvent, whereas they now have national bankruptcy to
look forward to.

Many of the poorer class of nobles obtain admittance into
the universities at the expense of the crown, where they
are educated as army surgeons. They receive their education,
board, lodging, and clothing--everything during the time
they are in the establishment--on condition that they serve
the government during two years for every one they spend
in the university, with the same emoluments that the other
army surgeons receive. These men are generally very unfor-
tunate, as they are forthe most part appointed to situations
for which there would be no volunteers—such as small
forts in unhealthy parts of the Caucasus, in the interior
cf Siberia, or in the fleet, to which many Russians have
a great aversion. There are not many of these crown stu-
dents, as they are called, who do not feel themselves under
a kind of noble slavery ; for when once they have finished
their studies, they cannot, upon any consideration, refuse
to servo, though they may obtain their liberty by paying,
before they have finished, a c-rtain sum for every year
they have been on the establishment; but even thou it re-
quires powerful influence to secure their liberation. Others
are received into the faculties of mathematics and belles
lettres, for the purpose of becoming masters in the different
educational establishments ; bat they always receive ap-
pointments that others who are free will not accept. The
number of these is very mall— army surgeons are what
the country wants and will have. At the present moment
there is a large bounty offered to all young men who are
finishing their course of medicine to enter the army ; and
instead of the five years' study that are generally required
before they can pass, they are examined and passed in
three years and a half if they volunteer, which, of course,
nine-tenths of them do, as those who remain are very sus-
piciously looked on by the Government as disaffected ; and
they are expecting an order to join nolens miens —for the
want is now
greater than ever it was before. [The results
of this pernicious system were pointed out in the article
in last months number.].
The relation between the nobles and their serfs.—The
relation between the peasant and his master when looked
upon on its fairest side, does not present anything very
pitiable in
southern' districts of Russia, where the soil is very
thinly peopled. The serfs aro obliged to give half of their
time to their master, and to do any work he may require
of them. Of course, the cultivation of the land is their
chief employment, in which the women take their part as
well as the men. The general arrangement is, that the
peasant should work three days a N veekfor his master, and
three days for himself, during which time he tills his own
plot of ground ; and as land is very plentiful in those parts,
he can always have as much as he chooses to plough ; so
s man
mwillo alwaysre so tthan
a nh a.ivne
anya
other great advan-
ttlaioact aonveirnodnuesttriilouat
imile,
coun-
try.° I have known instances of hard-working, labour-
, loving serfs, who possessed their 20,000 or 30,000 roubles ;
hut these instances are rare. Having worked three days
for his master, the serf is quite at liberty to work for
wages, either for his richer and more fortunate neighbours,
or for his master, which is very frequently done, as it is
not every one of them who possesses oxen, or the means of
tilling land on his own account. Those, however, who
possess cattle, are obliged to bring their oxen with them
when they go to their task, which are employed in plough-
ing, or anything else that requires draught cattle ; and as
the soil is very stiff, there are generally eight oxen yoked
to each plough, and never less than six—so that the num-
ber required to cultivate some 5,000 or 6,000 acres of land
is enormous. Where the master is an absentee, the in-
tendant will sometimes force the serfs to work their own

days without paying them soy wages, as he will promise
to do. The average rate that a labourer can earn is from
6d. to Bd. a day; but during hay time his earnings are
much greater—from ls. to is. 4d. a day, with his food.
In case of a failure of the harvest, every proprietor is
obliged to feed his own peasants ; and to provide against
that emergency, there are established iu every village
what are called provident magazines of corn, in which
there is obliged to be kept a certain quantity of rye and
barley—(l think it is three quarters for every soul ; but
as only the males are taken iu the census of course it will
only give half that quantity per head). As it rarely hap-
pens that the harvest is a complete failure, these stores
are seldom drawn upon more than two or three months in
the worst of years, although, in the years 1848 and
1849, they were completely exhausted, on account of
the failure of the crops for two successive years. In fact,
in the spring of 1'49, some places were rendered desert by
the entire population dying from want, and scurvy pro-
duced by bad living. Even in the best-organised villages,
where the owners spared neither pains nor expense, the
mortality was at the rate of from five to ten per cent. in
the course of the winter. What is very remarkable is, that
at this very time, at a distance of perhaps 300 miles, corn
was very plentiful, and selling at prices little above the or-
dinary rates ; but as the tracks were all broken up, there
were no means of transporting it—there being no roads,
properly so called, in the interior of the country, and when
the frost breaks up, the mud is more than knee-deep for a
space of perhaps three weeks or a month, and sometimes
two months, when the frost breaks up very early—as itdid
in the year 1849, and again in 1853.
To give a faint idea of what a Russian road is like in its
worst state, I shall just relate what occurred to a friend of
mine who was obliged to travel from Ekaterinoslav to
Kharkoff in the mouth of March, 1853. The distance isabout
2 0 versts, or 14) English miles, and is generally done in
24 hours or less in the Winter -or summer. He was quite
alone, without servant or luggage, except a small portman-
teau, and travelled in the or unary post waggon, which
will not weigh altogether more than 3 or 4 cwt.—had five
post-horses to it, the usual number being three; and, not-
withstanding all this, he was 7 days and 6 nights on the
road, travelling day and night, as is the custom in Russia
there being no inns on the road where to stop. Now, if
travelling by poet is attended with so many difficulties in
the spring of the year, what must be the expense and
trouble of transporting corn at that time ? It is utterly
impossible, for its value would be doubled in about 25
miles ! I remember the attempt being made for rather
less than a hundred miles with horses, but over such fearful
roads they could not load more than 4 or 6 cwt. to each
horse. About a third of the horses perished on the road,
and a portion of the corn was consequently abandoned,
while the keep of the cattle on the journey cost as much
or more than the corn itself, for hay was very dear that
year ; and they were about a month going and returning
—the men and horses being all that time away, and conse-
quently unable to do any useful labour.
The sufferings of the people during the year 1848 and
1849 were really dreadful. At that time I was in the
town of K ; and, as there are never any account pub-
lished of the calamities that may befal the people, of course
it was only afterwards that I obtained my information
from medical men, who were sent by the Government to
inquire into the state of affairs, and to render such assist-
ance as the state of things required, from the stewards of
estates, and from the proprietors themselves, who are re-
sident on their properties at the time. There was one
who, I remember, told me that he was obliged to leave his
village, which was a small one, as all his peasants were
dead, and he only made his escape with one man, who was
his servant—that all the others were lying dead in their
huts, without anybody to bury them. Scurvy in its most
malignant form was the disease that carried them off,
which was no doubt produced by improper food, for in
many instances straw was chopped up and mixed with the
flour to make bread, which at the best of times ie not very
good, being quite black, and very course in appearance.
Of this the quantity was so smell that it was insufficient
' to keep body and soul together.
Happily for the country, it is not often that this state of
things occurs, but then it was produced by the cholera in
1847 and 184 i and had harvests combined.
The want of medical aid is severely felt in all parts of the
empire, for the immense number of surgeons required for
the army completely drains all the establishments of their
medical students, and leaves the country a prey to all the
diseases-known, which, when serious, are generally fatal.
In a large district, containing perhaps four or five hundred
square rnilese there will he not more than two doctors, and
sometimes Only one. It is true that some of the larger
proprietor;, who reside on their own property, keep con-
stantly a medical man iu their house ; but these instances
•are very rare, though on most estates there are two or
;three barber-surgeons who understand cupping and bleed•
ing, and just enough of medicine to do harm. I know a
large estate of upwards of 2,000 males, and with the females
about double that number, without any medical than ; and
the nearest town is distant 50 miles, where resides the dis-
trict doctor,' who has as far to go is every direction, so
that when sent for he may be as f on the other side of? the
town. But the peasants themselves have more faith in
charms than physic, which they can only be prevailed upon
to take with difficulty. As tor restricting them to any par-
ticular diet, it is useless to attempt it, unless you can shut
them up in a room and serve them yourself.
The corporal punishment of eerie is very common—in
fact of hourlyS2Oreenee, anti Seetral'often arbitrarily admi-
nistered, though, according to the law, no proprietor of
serfs can give more than fifteen blows with a stick at one
time ; but this limitation is never attended to, becausethe
peasant can get no possible redress, as the very man to
wh en he ought to apply in such a case is often a guest at
his master's table, and known to be in his pay. But not-
withstanding all this, when the master is a kind-hearted
man, anal resident upon his own property, the peasants look
up to him like their f ',that. and protector; anti it often
happens even now, though some years ago it was much
more frequent, that the free peasants will come and beg
to be set down as serfs, knowing'at the same time they
cannot recover their liberty again. It is when the master
is a cruel man, which the majority of them are not, or
when the property is left to the care of intendants and
agents, that the poor peasants stiffer most ; they are ground
down to supply either the avarice of the men to whose
care they are committed—who are, for the most part,
Poles—or in order to support their master, who is revel-
ling in all the luxury of the capital, or possibly Paris, and
who has not the slightest idea as to the means by which
his luxuries aro procured ; nor does he wish to know.
This last case is certainly the exception to the rule,
and only occurs when a man is living beyond his means.
On most large estates there is generally about 20 per
cent. of the entire population who are domestic servants,
bailiffs, or task masters, who are divided into classes, the
highest of which is prieaslichiek, or a man to transmit
orders; to these is the task assigned of seeing that the in-
tendant's orders are punctually obeyed. Under them,
again, come desiatnieks who are always placed over the
men at their werk, to see that theydo not shirk their duty.
Besi ies servants and bailiffs, there are storekeepers, dis-
tillers (there is generally a nistillory in every large village),
ehepheafs, neatherds, carpenters, joiners, and a great many
other trades that are carried on in the villages. In the vil-
lage where I resided some years we had some very good
tailors, and even bookbinders, who of course were appren-
ticed in the neighbouring towns; and the embroidery that
used to be done by a number of young girls was really asto-
nishing. None of these things, however, are to be found
where the master is an absentee. Not only those who hold
any office of this kind are exempted from more laborious
work, but their families are seldom called upon to work
with the rest, and consequently all their labour goes to
make up for the constant employment of the heads, who
receive no wages except during the haymaking season,
whets all hands are turned out and a great many more
hired, as the quantity of hay made for sheep fodder is
something fabulous. The greater pert of the man employed
constantly enjoy great advantages over the others, as their
families being quite free to work for them, the greater the
number of chil tren the greater the quantity of labour, and
the greater the amount of produce, and consequent riches,
of the bead of the family.
None of the peasants can marry without the previous con-
sent of their master ; nor can they intermarry with those of
neighbouring villages without the consent of both owners,
and then the owner of the bride generally makes her a pre-
sent to the master of the bridegroom, who of course does
the same on a similar occasion ; but such matches are of
very rare occurrence.
The greatest grievance that both proprietors and pea-
sants have to complain of is the frequent levies of soldiers,
the
as r
which is a great burden upon them. But it is he
ht to
re
he has the
master shows
hsoheovwesr lhieismgaryeattbeintk proper;power' ig
and of course if her
has a drunkard, a thief, or a man with any other great
moral defect, he is made a soldier of ; or if there be a man
who is too clever (i.e., uni;erstands too well his position,
and is likely to breed discontent among the others), he,
too, is sent for a soldier ; in fact,eall who are likely to be
in the way. During the present war, the number they
have been obliged to send is enormous; but the details of
this have been given in our previous paper.
In all the southern governments there are great numbers
of Jews, who are not allowed to live in the northern, who
are encouraged on many of the large estates under a pre-
tence of commerce, hut really because they pay the owner
for permission to live there; and they cause great distress
to the poor serfs by letting them have the corn-brandy
(nearly all the drinking houses are kept by Jews) on credit,
and then taking their produce at half its real value, thus
robbing the poor fellows of their hard-earned money. The
lower orders of Russians are generally much addicted to
drinking, which is not so much to be wondered at, when it
is taken into consideration that the corn-brandy of the
country is not much dearer than good beer is iu this coun-
try,inhabitant of the Ukraine can get a glass of his favourite
you never see them merry
and at the same time stronger than our gin. When an
liquor, ho is happy, though
when intoxicated, but always more or less thoughtful ; and
if they sing, their songs are always of a melancholy de-
scription ; their dances, indeed, have very little animation
in them. The old feeling of freedom that existed in the
time of the Hetmans is gone, and almost forgotten by these
degenerate sons of Cozaks-Zaporojtsi, who in astern Eu-
rope played a not unimportant part in the fate of nations.
They have ono very beautiful allegory of the fate of their
le, and u cannot insult a man
country in a song said to have been composed by fazeppa,
u de
but nobody appears now to understand it. Mazeppa him-
self is execrated by
the peop y
more than by calling him Mazeppa.
rahThet most interesting sight, perhaps, to be seen in Little
is the steppes during the haymaking
or
season. Then these vast solitudes beoome thickly sprinkled
over with an active population : where before all was soli-
tude, now appears life ; the mower re-setting his scythe,
its sharp passage through the stiff long grass, the hum of
voices, the cries of the overseers of the workmen—all serve
to enliven a scene that at all other times oppresses one with
a sense of deep solitude. The immensity of the tracks of
grass-growing land on some estates is really amazing ; I
know on one estate 21,000 acres of grass in one piece. The
number of hands required to make the hay is in mopor-
Um) to the size of the hayfield. In this spot I have fre-
quently seen from five to seven hundred men, women, and
children at work together : the men cut the grass, and the
others rake it together, ant form it into rocks, when it
becomes dried by the heat of the sun. To tutu it, as in
England, is entirely out of the question, on account of the
immensity of the quantity. As the grass falls so it dries.
It is also stacked on the spot, being drawn to the stack by
oxen.
Masters and Servants.—The servants, for the greater
part, are the serfs of their masters ; or, when the latter do
not possess any of their own, they hire them from those who
do. In the northenagovernments, where the population is
much denser than in the south, I believe it is a very com-

tmi
cokne t
ega
vfeo,r
otnh ec
opnrrol
iptri
oi ent otrhtaot
he give
e ihni
ss ehrf imaaki nd of
certain
sum annually for this privilege ; the serfs then become do-
mestic servants, or, possibly knowing a trade, become
journeymen, and sometimes masters, themselves : when
the latter case occurs, their owners frequently recall them
to the village again, which of course they object to, and are
made to pay a go, id price for their freedom. When a servant
is a serf, and is guilty of anything that may appear to his
master against the rules of his house, the police are sent for,
and the delinquent is walked off to receive a good flogging
—not with the kuout, however, but simply with a bunch
of rods like a schoolboy ; or he is put into solitary ronfi ne-
ment, accordingto the request of his master, no inquiry what-
ever being made as to why be is punished, if the order for
punishment be accompanied by the present of a rouble to
the police-officer. Men are punished in this way by mis-
take, and no notice taken of it. The men themselves do not
consider it as any disgrace to be flogged, and they even
boast of how much they can support. I could never see
that this system produced any beneficial result; on the
contrary it only hardened the men, who said that if they
were flo,ged for nothing this time, it should be for some-
thing the next. A coachman who was driving into a gate-
way met another coming out, and as neither the horses of
the one nor the other could be made to back there was a

stoppage for— foot-passengers that lasted two or three
minutes. An officer of police happening to be passing at
the time, ordEred his soldiers to take one of them off to the
police, where be was severely flogged for what was no fault
of his. If a droshki-driver overcharges or is impudent, you
have only to tell him to drive to the police, and he falls at
your feet, and will not only return you the overcharge or
beg your pardon, as the case may be, but offer to buy you
off with a present, because he knows he will not only re-
ceive his flogging, but be made to pay smartly too, and

perhaps lose one Of his horses.
The servants frequently conduct themselves badly, on
purpose to be sent to the village again. Some masters are
notorious for ill-using their servants, knocking them about,
pulling their hair, merely for their amusement. The ser-
vants are also rarely to be depended on, being much ad-
dicted to petty theft, so that nothing can be left about the
room that is not under lock and key. They rarely, how-
ever attempt anything on a grand scale. Sometimes they
will, when pushed to extremity by the cruelty they expe-
rience at the hands of a master, tovenge themselves by
trying to take his life, [and generally effectually. One must
he especially careful with servants who are very obliging,
as they have frequently an interested motive in gaining
the confidence of their masters—they are police spies.
There is a much greater degree of familiarity between toas-
ter and servant than elsewhere. This arises from the fact
of the servants being slaves, and about their master's person
from infancy ; but they are not the more to be trusted for
that. This, however, is not asserting that all servants are

spies, but there is known to be a lar„,,e proportion among
them. This is the cause why the French language is so
extensively employed in society; for, with that language,
one has no necessity for learning Russian (which few fo-
reigners do), except to speak to the servants. Within the
last four or five years, however, the Russian language has
come into more general use, from a feeling of patriotism--

real or pretended; but it is no uncommon thing to meet
people, ladies especially, who speak French much better
than their own language, which they term barbarous, and.
always give the preference to the elegant stranger. The
late Emperor was always pleased when he found a fo-

reigner who could speak Russian, which is really a very
fine language, though at present little cultivated ; it con-
tains all the elements of a find tongue, though very diffi-

cult for both natives and foreigners.
The nobles keep a great number of servants in their
houses, especially in the villages; chiefly men and boys,
who are very often extremely ragged, but that matters not
if every one in the house have his servant, who does little
else all day than sleep, for nowhere is one so badly waited
on as in Russia. It seems a general rule, that the more

numerous the servants, the wore the attendance. I am
quite convinced that whoever has been in the interior of

Russia will bear me out in this assertion. On entering a

house you have a servant given you, whose sole dot., is to
attend to your wants, which he understands to mean pre-
Senting you all your clothes while dressing, at the same
time assisting you to put them on if necessary, taking
them off when you undress, and sleeping outside your door
in the entr'actes of these cperations. They do, however,
pretend to make your bed and clean your room, but it is
only a pretence. If you should be so unfortunate as to
have for attendant a son of nature fresh from his native
fields, you must expect to have a great amount of trouble
with him, for he will know nothing of the uses of any of
the utensils necessary iu civilised life, and will frequently
make the most ludicrous applications of them.
Crown Peasants.—The state of the free peasants, or
rattier the peasants of the crown, is in theory much-better
than that of those belonging to private ihdividuals, but
practically it is much worse, as they are subjected to the
tyranny of petty officials, who grind them down to the
lowest degree. They have no task work, and the land be-
longing to the community is equaUy divided. They are

only bound to furnish a certain proportion of corn every
year to the public granary, which, in case of need, is sup-
plied to them, or goes to the benefit of the crown, as at
the present time of war ; besides this they are subjected to
an annual poll-tax for each male, and are required to fur-
nish horses for any official who may be travelling through
the country on the crown service, or f9x tliv tousport of '
any stores that belong to the Government, for which they
receive uo payment. These are their chief duties, and
they have the privilege of drawing lots for soldiers, with
the liberty to circulate over the empire, which many of
them do, engaging in trade, and even making considerable
fortunes; they have also the right of changing their deno-
mination, and becoming merchants in towns, by paying
for the guild. The officers of the rural police oppress them
very much, taking from them anything they may fancy ;
and woe be to the unfortunate man who should think of
refusing them what they demand. They are made to give
up all they have, in some instances even to borrow or
steal, to satisfy the demands of justice ! They have often
soldiers quartered upon them, who tyrannise over them to
a fearful extent, and appear to glory in the idea that they
have some one upon whom they can wreak their revenge
for the tyranny of their officers. There is nothing the
peasant fears so much as to have soldiers quartere t upon
him, for, by bitter experience, he knows that neither his
wife nor his property will bo respected. The soldier will
take whatever he thinks proper for his own use, an I not
unfrequently steal for the use of his officer, the ideas of
officers on the score of honesty being as lax as those of the
men. _ _ .

W 7will now attempt to describe the interior of a little Rus-
sian hut. It is built by inserting a number of posts into
the ground at distances of about four feet from etch of her,
which are wattled between, with spaces left for the doors,
and three or four small holes, about nine inches or a foot
square for windows. This lone the walls are plastered
with mud (this is the work of the women) till they acquire
a thickness of about 5 or 6 inches, and the building, when
covered in with straw, is complete : there remain only to be
provided the internal fittings and furniture, consisting of
a stove that occupies about a third of the room, with a
wattled chimney in the lobby, a bench of planks running
round the room, and a large box or chest that is placed in
the opposite corner of the room to the stove, and serves for
a table as well as for a general receptacle for all the mobile
property of the family. The stoye in front is built nearly
up to the ceiling, but behind there is a large opening, which
serves as a bed for the aged members of the family ; fur in
this one room of about 10 feet square, you generally find
three generations—the patriarch and his wife, with two or
three married sons and daughters, with their children. The
old folks, as we have said, sleep upon the stove, the other
members of the family upon the benches or earthern floor;
they have generally no beds but their sheepskins, their tall
caps serving them, as pillows. In Russia Proper, I have
ben told, they carry these things still further, by keeping
all the family together for centuries, and adding to the
house as it increases; but iu Little Russia the children
leave their homes when the parents die, giving up the hut
to one of the family, who pays the others their share, which
of course is very small in amount, as the whole would not
cost more to construct than 41. or si.
The Little Russians aro very cleanly in their persons and
houses, compared to the inhabitants of Russia Proper ; the
houses are generally nicely whitewashed both inside and
out, and have when new a very pretty appearance. The
costume of the men in summer consists of a shirt and
drawers of very coarse home-made linen : the drawers are
made very wide, like Turkish trowsers: to these aro added
boots and a svitka, with a tall cap made of lamb-akin,with wool outwards. On holidays and great occa-
sions the svitka is made of coarse undyed wool,
and fastened with a button, and at the waist with
a belt of some gaudy colour. Iu the winter they add a
sheepskin fur, and that completes their wardrobe. The
costume of the women consists of a shirt reaching to the
knees, and a piece of course undyed cloth bound round the
waist, and reaching also to the knees, leaving the feet and
legs bare; boots like the men, except that sometimes they
are red or yellow, and a svitka, are added for holidays.
The girls wear on their heads a fillet, with long streamers
of various-coloured ribbons down the back, or a cornet of
rudely-made gaudy paper flowers ; the 'harried women tie
up their heads in a kerchief, biding all their hair; in the
winter they also add the sheepskin fur. The women, how-
ever, have many variations in their costume there as every-
where : the petticoat is often made of party-coloured
printed cotton, and the svitka of blue calico, with a num-
ber of red worsted tails sewn on to it like ermine.
There are few trades followed in the crown villages, so
that they have to make a great many things for themselves
or go without them, or wait till there is a fair somewhere
in the neighbourhood, when they can lay in a stock of ne-
cessary articles that cannot be produced at home. These
fairs are very curious in their way, and generally collect
all the peasantry of the adjoining villages, with a good
sprinkling of the smaller class of proprietors, who have not
the means of going often to the town. The goods chiefly
sold aro pots for cooking, and dishes of coarse earthenware,
hardware goods, small windows ready glazed, common
printed calicoes, cheap ribbons, paper flowers, ear-rings of
copper gilt, of the very commonest description, grocery
and indifferent wines from the Crimea and the Don for the
small gentry, tanned hides, boots and shoes, rough wheels
for bullocks' cars, and the cars themselves. Here it is that
the peasants dispose of their spare stock and corn. Their
horses are generally sold to and bought of the gypsies,
who attend the fairs in great numbers, and are .very
expert in cheating in their dealings, as well as in
horse-stealing. Their oxen, sheep, &c., are generally
bought by dealers or exchanged amongst themselves ; the
corn usually finds its way into the hands of the Jews, who
contrive to make a rich harvest out of these gatherings. On
the whole, the scene has a very animated appearance, but
it is one which must be seen to be thoroughly appreciated.
On one side you see a group of the swarthy sons of Egypt
examining the merits of a horse, and huckstering for the
price with some sturdy peasant with a fine beard ; on the
other, a Jew pedlar trying to dispose of his wares, and
swearing that his copper ear -rings are soli 1 gold ; here a
woman in holiday attire is bargaining for pots in which to
cook her borsheh ;* there a priest, with long hair and beard
and sweeping robes, buying incense for his church, hag-
gling with the huckster, and giving his blessing to some
one at the same time A little on the outskirts of the
fair is erected a booth for the sale of krast and tea ; on-
posits to this is the brandy shop, where most of the
borne
and cattle bargains are concluded, and where some c'!."l'
purchase-money is left under the name of muggentc /1-4-

* A kind of soup made with cabbage and others`gtal.
+A sour liquor, made from rye flour, whi i also used
in the preparation of borsheh.
In striking all bargains with a Little Russian, it is always
a question as to who shall find muggeritch, or drinking.
money, as nothing can be done without drink.