The Sun.
London, England, 1833-10-14 00:00:00

so intich a head pet' annum, instead of working for him.
Those who have been taught a trade of any sort pay him
a higher obrok than a mere cultivator, and be receives a
passport to go and reside where lie pleases. The peasants
who become traders also pay a very high obrok ; some-
times the Lord takes out a gild for them, and they acquire
large fortunes by commerce. Many Lords permit all
their vassals to pay obrok ; then, should they cultivate
any portion of land for him, he pays them for their labour,
unless there should be an agreement made to the contrary,
in consequence of the smallness of the obrok. The obrok,
throughout Russia, generally speaking, is about 12 to 15
roubles per annum, and even o❑ the best lands rarely ex.
ceeds 25 roubles a head per annum,• including the Go-
vernment taxes and all other expenses. Those who pay a
higher obrok must be either mechanics, traders, or mer-
chants, who have the means of acquiring money more
easily than the cultivator of the soil. A peasant who has
served as a soldier for 20 years then becomes a freeman,
and is exempted from all sorts of taxation. Should he
have conducted himself with bravery and probity during
his service, he retires with the rank of sergeant. If be
chooses to prolong his service 12 years as sergeant, he then
becomes a❑ officer and a nobleman ; he cannot, however,
transmit the rights of nobility to his children, except to
those born after he has been ennobled.
" 4th Class are styled honourable citizens. These are
artists, teachers, manufacturers, and various intermediate
people, who possess acquirements above the vulgar, and
who, by their talents, industry, and assiduity, mly attain
a higher rank. They are exempted from corporeal punish.
went, and may transmit their rights to their posterity. In
cases of crimes and misdemeanors, they must also be tried
by their peers.
"sth Class.—The Clergy.—These are often made from
the nobles, but generally speaking the sons of the clergy
follow the professions of their fathers ; the exceptions to
this rule are mostly students of medicine. There are no
tithes in Russia, the most insufferable and unpopular of all
taxes ! The clergy derive their principal support from the
voluntary donations of their parishioners.t Every priest
who does duty at a village church, receives as much land
as is commonly allott' d to two peasants, or even more if
he should demand it, and the peasants frequently assist him

to cu!tivve it. Indeed, throughout Russil, most of the

landed proprietors allow a small salary to the priests who
do duty in their villages. The clergy are certainly not
sumptuously provided for, but they are, nevertheless, wed
furnished with all the necessaries of life, and the means to
live comfortably. This dependance on their parishioners
has the effect of making them more attentive to their duty,
and at the present day the character of a Russian priest
has assumed a tone of respectability and piety not always
met with in older countries. This disposition the Russians,
who are religious from feeling and principle, encourage,
by paying proper deference to those whose conduct
is distinguished by a rigid observance of good morals
and strict attention to the sacred duties of their profes-
sion. The clergy who serve in the remote parts of
Siberia receive pay and rations of flour from the Govern.
merit; indeed, I ought to say from the Etnperoes private
purse. His Imperial Majesty, having heard that the clergy
of Kamschatka were extremely poor and unable to buy
bread, immediately ordered them to be furnished with
flour, and their salaries increased from his own funds—
one of the strongest proofs of his paternal care ; for
in some of those distant places, the number of Rus-
sians are so few, it would be a sufficient pretext for a
government le-ts productive to refuse them a church esta-
blishment. But, to the honour and eternal glory of the
Emperor be it said, that through his empire, wherever
there are a handful of Christians collected together, there
will you find a church, a clergyman, and all the consola •
tory associations of religion. In this, his Imperial Majesty
has strictly fulfilled the words of the gospel, and has laid
up for himself treasures in heaven, where ninth and rust
cannot corrupt, and where thieves cannot break through
and steal.' As this is only a slight sketch of Russia,
drawn to suit the impulse of the moment, I must deny
myself the pleasure of giving my readers a number of very
interesting details, which would swell my work b-yond
the limits I have marked out for it. I trust, however
they will have found thus far a sufficient ❑umber of facts
to convince them, the Russian nation possesses rights,
privileges, and immunities, incompatible with and repug-
nant to the principles of despotism. If it had been said
that the Emperor of Russia is the most powerful Sove-
reign of Europe, I should not attempt to deny it, because
it is true, and because it is necessary that he should be
exactly what he is, the Monarch and the father of his
people. The immense empire over which be reigns,
compounded of various nations, several of whom have
been conquered, but have always been left i❑ the full
enjoyment of their religion and their laws, united now
under one head, certainly require the protecting arm of a
firm government, and the mild and genial influence of a
paternal one ; both of which they have experienced,
unaccompanied by any of those capricious traits of tyranny
and oppression, which are the peculiar attributes of des
potism. 11 The forbearance, the benevolence, the generosity,
the tolerance, and the greatness of soul which have
distinguished the Monarchs of Russia, are not less worthy
of admiration than the conquests of their invincible armies !
Times.

The Tory Papers, as was to be expected, are making
the most of what we have always considered a very
serious affair, the resolutions with regard to the as-
sessed taxes. John Bull quite gloats on the symp-
toms of discontent which lie supposes prevalent. " We
repeat (he says) that the symptoms of inflammation
are rapily increasing—that the people, likely at any
time to oppose the payment of taxes, are rallying to
revenge the deliberate, cold-blooded deceptions of
the political quacks, who, with their eyes open, pro-
fessed to do what they then knew, and now declare
is impossible to be done." "In the discussion (at
the late Westminster Meeting) the fact comes out
plainly and distinctly, which upsets at a blow the
visionary hopes that the Reform Bill would increase
the national prosperity. The people now have not
the trade to enable them to pay the taxes, if they
would: The state of things is visibly improved."
The Ministers cannot, of course, make a nation,
interest
of by a heavy taxation, chiefly the
of a debt contracted in unjust wars, feel as easy as
if it were lightly taxed. But we do not see that
the people would be benefitted by having, in addi-
tion to these taxes, the others which have been
taken off by Ministers. The country as a whole
has seldom, in our recollection, been so prosperous as
at present. It is true that all places are not equally
prosperous; and the metropolis is one of the places
which has gone most back. There is no mystery
in this. The time is not distant when London was
the great emporium for foreign and domestic
trade. It has lately, from various causes, been
losing much of its foreign trade, which has gone
to Liverpool and some other places more favour-
ably situated for obtaining return cargoes. It
has lost too its manufacture, which has gone to
Manchester. We hardly ever remember a time
during which the manufacturing districts were more
prosperous than at present. But it does not suit
writers of this description to consider subjects of this
kind dispassionately. We admit that the pressure
on the metropolis is a reason why a tax, one-half of
which is borne by it, should be repealed. It is
quite clear that the peculiar situation of London
alone has driven the shop-keepers to the very culpa-
ble proceedings they are adopting for ridding them-
selves of the assessed taxes. Yet John Bull "dis-
tinctly disclaims anything like gratification" at these
proceedings. He merely, by way of helping a lame
dog over a stile, tries his hand at a prophecy of cala-
mities, so extravagant that he cannot believe in them
himself. "In a month from this present time," he
says, " the position of a tax-gatherer in this country
will be exactly similar to a tithe-proctor in Ireland.
We state this advisedly, and we tell Lord Grey that
he is now reaping the fruits of his own delusive pro-
mises, and that before Christmas, if he requires the
collection of the assessed taxes, it must be enforced
wills the bayonet. If the people resist, have they
not a noble precedent in the friend of Ministers,
Lord Fitzwilliam ? He set the example to please
Lord Grey, and how does his Lordship like it ?"
John Bull and his party will be disappointed. There
will be no confusion in the metropolis, though he
has done all that be can to create it. At the same

* Heads male. The females pay no tax unless they should
wish to absent themselves from their village and go to service
in the towns or to the capital. Then the Lord furnishes them
with a proper passport, and makes them pay an obrok.
t Most o! the churches have been built by donotions and
subscriptions, consequentl; are endowed with funds more or
less rich, and from this capital the clergy also receive small
salaries.
/ Priest in Russian is called Swaschenik, but the vulgar
name is Pope.
JJ " Vide Bonaparte's conquests, and other examples which
might be brought nearer home, but I forbear. The proverb
says—' Conquerors inspire awe, the wise our esteem, but it is
the benevolent alone who captivate our hearts, and command
our affection,'"