The Sun.
London, England, 1858-01-06 00:00:00

THE EMANCIPATION OF THE RUSSIAN

SERFS.

The following is the report addressed by the Rus-
sian Minister of the Interior, M. Lanskoi, to the
Governor-General of St. Petersburg, under date of
Dec. 17, 1857, explaining the measures which have
been authorised in that Government, as well as iu
the provinces of Kovno, \Vilna, and Grodno, for
the gradual abolition of serfdom :
I hare had the honour of submitting to his Ma-
jesty the Emperor the regulation plans drawn up
by the noble proprietors of the lamburg and Peter.
hof districts, for the peasants inhabiting the mano-
rial lands, plans that you communicated to me, as
also the considerations that accompanied them, and
which were drawn up by the assembly of represen-
tatives and deputies from the nobility of the entire
government of St. Petersburg.
It is with a most peculiar satisfaction, that the
Emperor has learned this noble tendency on the
part of the St. Petersburg corps of nobles towards
the amelioration and definitive organisation of their
peasantry's existence. By the rescript addressed
you, his Majesty deigns, in consequence, to autho-
rise the nubility of this government to prepare, iu a
committee appointed for the purpose, a plan of
regulations, keeping for their form the indications
of the above-mentioned rescript for the order that
must be observed in the labours of this committee,
and likewise for the chief bases of these regulations.
As a complement to the instructions mentioned
in the rescript. for the comp esition of the committee
formed for this object in the government of St.
Petersburg, and also for the order of its labours,
his Majesty has deigned to order as follows
1. For the election, in each dis,riet, of the mem-
bers of the committee, the nobles wtil hAve the
right to elect, if it be desired, the marssal of the
nr bility of the district.
2. It will be the duty of the nobles to oleo,
simultaneously with the members of the committee,
substitute candidates for each of its members, who
will have to represent them in ease of absence.
3. The election by the nobles of the committee,
member,,, and their substitutes must be submitted
to your Excellency for approbation.
4. 'I he committee will be allowed, upon receiv-
ing your authorisation, to admit to its sittings, ter
consultation, such of the noble landowners in the
government of Sr. Petersburg as may be able to
give to the committee any useful information or
suggestions they require.
5. The nobles wilt have, if they find it expedient,
to pay out of their own resources salaries to the
elected members and the other expenses of the
committee.
6. The committee is bound to report regularly'
to your Excellency the course of its proceedings.
The committee, at your intimation, will be able to
change its resolutions without being tied down by
its previous decisions.
fr t. The committee will be bound to finish its
labours within the term of six mouths, reckoning
from the first day of its sitting.
8. In its labours and deliberations the committee
must confine itself to the subjects submitted to its
examination. His Majesty has been pleased at the
same time to direct too to communicate to your
Excellency my own considerations, that they mayate
sist the committee aforesaid in the peclormance of its
task. In execution of this supreme order, and taking
into consideration everything connected with the
matter, I find that the committee, charged with
the task of preparing a plan of regulations for or-
ganising and improving the existence of the pea-
santry inhabiting the seigneurial lands of this
goverinnent, should keep iu view and examine in
detail, by applying them to the local conditions, the
following considerations :
I. The future organisation of the manorial pea-
santry, based upon the principles laid down in the
imperial rescript, ought not to be accomplished at
once, but progressively. To this end the pea..ants
should be frem the first in a state of transition,
that is to say, more or less attached to the glebe ;
and it is only then that they will enter into a de-
finitive condition, when the government shall have
authorised them, on certain conditions, to pass
from one locality to an ther. Fur the duta ion of
this transitory siate it will be nece-sary to fix a
term, which ought not to extend beyond twelve
years. _

11. In conformity with the principles laid down
in the imperial res,:ript the proprietors preserve
their right of properly over their estatts ; but in
order to avoid the dangers that might accrue to Cie
aglicullural population from a wandering and
vagrant life, the peasants will preserve their allot-
ments (oussadebnaia ocedtost), which they will titen
have to purchase in fee simplo by a redeinp:iou
within a given peiio lto 1._,0 determined on. More•
over, in order to insure their existence and
them to fulful :heir obligations, both towards the
state and the proprietors, they will have allotted to
them according ,o the locabties, a sufficient quan-
tity of land, the usufruct of which they must pAy
off to the proprietor, either by instalments (obrA),
or by personal labour.
For the development and application of these
principles in all their details it is indispensable that
the following observations should be taken into
consideration :

1. The peasant's allotment consists of the house
or hut he dwells in, with its court-yard and acces-
sories, its kitchen-garden, and all the ground within
the enclosed space.
2. The peasantry's right of condition, after
their dt-fiuitire organisation (excepting the right of
migrating to other localities, which will be defined
at a convenient season by the government), and
the right of holding a tenement with its appurten-
ances, will be acquired either by the entire com-
mune (mir), or separately by the families of the
peasants, but only in either case aLer the payment
of the price to the proprietor within a periodtoth
e
specified. In the former case (purchsse by
commune) the enclosures (oussadebnyia outsha st ki)
become the exclusive property of the peasant
families belonging to this commune. In the latter
case (purchase separately by the peasant families),
either c
these families, with their enclosures so redeemed,
will continue to form part. of the commune, and
remain subject to all the conedietiffoenesteod f t e o
munal organisation and administration.
redemption
l a b oniu ra sy,
b distinct from those
mo3n.eyThois rprivate
which the peasants are bound to perform as an
equivalent for their usufruct of the land allotted
to them, in virtue of the f
present article. ourth paragraph of the
4. Over and above the tenement with its en-
closed space, a suffi •
cient portion of the noble's
land, according
ditious, will g to
i circumstances and the local con-
be allowed n usufruct to the peasants,
with a view to secure them a livelihood and
enable them more
easily to fulfil their obligations
towards the state and
the proprietor. For the en-
joyment of this laud the peasants will have to pay
to the proprietors its value in service and personal
labour, or else in money and produce.
5. The land when once allotted to the peasants
must ever remain at the disposal of the commune,
and its exchange, partial or entire, so as to be re-
annexed to the lord's manor, can only be effected
, with the consent of the commune, and under the
sanction of the tribunals to be created in each
district by reason of the new regulation.
6. The price of purchase (see sec. 2d of this
article) must be fixed, not merely according to the
value of the tenement and its appurtenances, but
also to the industrial advantages and other favour-
able conditions of the locality.
7, The Axing of the purchase-money (obrok), of

the dues and services in exchange for the land, tea t
by the terms of the 4th section in the present
article is allotted to the peasants will hare to be
regulated on the same bases.
8. The redemption may be distributed by the
year over the entire period of the transitory state.
9. It will be necessary to preserve for each family
the right to a certain plot of ground, without inter-
fering thereby with the organisation of the com-
mune, and whilst endeavouring to avoid as far as
possible too frequent divisions and exchanges of
these plots or allotments.
10. It is at the same time essentially requisite to
establish and preserve the rights of the head of each
peasant family—the rights of successicn respecting
the dwelling, and also the land allotted to each
housekeeper or hearth (tiaglo) ; likewise the con-
ditions of partition among the members of each
family.
11. The services to be rendered, and the per-
sonal labours will have to be undergone by the
peasants, according to prescribed rules drawn up by
the committee in the simplest and most practicable
way possible.
12. In case of irregularity in the payment of the
liquidation money, the landowner may demand
personal work from the delinquent. Independently
of that, it will be proper to prescribe in a suffi-
ciently detailed manner what measures are to be
taken, so as to guarantee to the proprietor the re-
gular payment of the money instalments and the
tulfilmeut of all the obligations due by the peasants.
The rural police remains in the attributes of
the seigneur. The peasants ought to be divided
into rural coiumunes. The administration of the
communal affairs and justice is reserved for the
communal assemblies, or else for communal tribu-
nals composed of peasants under the superinspec-
tion and after the confirmation of the proprietor.
IV. In order to superintend the introduction and
due observance of the new regulations, also to form
decisions in disputed cases that may possibly arise
between the proprietors and the peasants, special
tribunals might be created in each district.
Y. As soon as the new regulations shall be con-
firmed and take effect :

1. An end will be put to all alienation of the pea-
sants away from the glebe, whether by sale or gift
or other mode; likewise to all transfer of the pea-
sants into other localities againstitheir will. On the
other hand the peasants will not have the right,
during the period of the transitory state, to leave
their villages without the permission of the com-
mune, and of the lord on whose manor their set-
tlement obtains.

2. So long as the peasants shall continue in their
state of transition, the proprietors shall have the
right to deliver over as recruits such peasants as
shall have rendered themselves guilty of offences
or of vicious habits, or to hand them over to the
Government fur transfer to other provinces, but
only after confirmation by the special tribunals to
be created in each district by reason of the new
regulations.
VI. The plans to be devised by the committee
ought to establish and indicate :-
1. The rules to be observed for the fulfilment by
the peasants of their rights of recruitment and the
designation of the recruits, which designation ought
to be confided to the communes themselves, dis-
tinct from the approbation of the proprietors.
2. The means of securing the public alimenta-
tion, and of organising the regular payment of the
sums due. To this end, it would be expedient,
perhaps, to improve and repair the communal
magazines, to organise a communal culture, and
creates communal fund or capital.
3. The measures essentially required for the pro-
pagation among the peasantry of primary instruc-
tion and of useful trades, of religious principles and
good manners, for securing relief to the aged and
infirm, for succouring the sick, are.
In communicating the preceding remarks to your
Excellency, I have the honour of requesting you,
sir, to be so good as to submit at the proper time
tie considerations above detailed to the committee
that will be formed i n the government of St. Peters-
burg. Should this committee, from local conside-
rations, find any of the former impracticable, I
then request your Excellency to invite the com-
mittee to explain circumstantially iu its final reso-
lutions the reasons that prevented it from accepting
them.

The Minister of the Interior,
(Signed) S. LA_NSKOI.

THE BOYAT, ITALIAN OPERA HOUSE.

The old familiar site in Bow-street upon which
so many theatres have been successively built and
.iest,oyed, is now rapidly being once more covered
with an edifice which bids fair to go far beyond
even its latest predecessor in size, substantial
legauce, and the completeness of its arrangements
for the accommodation and convenience of a large
audience. As yet everything is bricks and mortar
a'id scaffolding, and general incomprehensibility,
but a little patient inspection soon ascertains
that an immense and lofty parallelogram of brick-
work raises its imposing sides against the sky, and
that a very few more feet of altitude will satisfy
the most important portion of the architect's design.
The facade in Bow-street seems to be almost com-
plete, and Vie side walls are so nearly finished as
to just fy the raising of the first great girder, six-
teen of which are to support the roof. These
girders, which are what is called the lattice girders,
are all of wrought iron, and weigh each somewhere
about sixteen tons. The workmen commenced
yesterday the erection of a scaffold of framework,
composed of great beams of timber, upon which
the purchase is to be erected by means of which
this enormous mass of iron is to be raised to the
top of the walls, and placed in its proper position.
As the span of these girders is ninety feet, an idea
may easily be formed of the extent of the roof
which is about to be erected without any support
from beneath save the boundary walls. The in-
ferior semicircles of brickwork from which the
several tier of boxes are to spring are finished, and
the workmen are now busy at the back wall, which
yet wants a good many feet of its proper altitude.
The area, although now nearly filled with scaffold-
ing and long derrick poles, piles of brick, waggons
and horses, and workmen passing to and fro, may
yet be seen to be of great extent ; but the visitor
is surprised when he is told that the footlights will
cut this whole space exactly in two, and that a
full half of the inclosure, in the centre of which he
stands, will be devoted to the stage and its appen-
dages. Standing also as he dues on terra firma,
and at a very little lower level than that of the street
outside, he will perhaps feel rather astonished when
his attention is called to a white line painted
about half way up the wall, and he is told that at
that high level the Alarios and Grisis and Lablaches
of the day will sing and strut their hour for the
entertainment of the fashionable world. There
will be fewer tiers of boxes and fewer boxes in each
tier than in the late theatre, the object of Mr. Gye
being to give greater space and better accommoda-
tion to his patrons, even although at the cost of
considerable pecuniary sacrifice. The pit will be
ten feet wider, the same increase being given to
the stage ; and by a judicious alteration in the de-
sign, every one in the house will be enabled to see
the stage without stretching out, a process which
often fearfully disarranges the cravats of the polite
cavaliers who generally occupy the back chairs in
an opera box. The box company baying passed
through the vestibule will find themselves in a very
from thence
ingress
es
atnhdereegrwessill
bs
Pe
—aanc spacious
ssatn‘ idneirupunesur ths aurn: nil
fpa:coC vYsliedosn. when we remember
the accidents to which buildings of this kind are
liable. Great impraeramorenonogtsall will 9 others
fbe e e t
themade
erection
n tti
andoh ne
extensive paintinge 'l ts
toshcfeeannaiebolition. of the old-fashioned " flys ;" the effect
of the latter innovation being to facilitate the exhi-
bition. of spectacle to an extent hitherto unknown
in our theatres. Lastly, in almost every case, the
use of iron will be substituted for wood, and every
other precaution taken to render the building as
nearly fire-proof as possible. The works, which
commenced on the 29th of September last, have
been carried on with great rapidity, and in their
present aspect afford every prospect of being finished
by the Ist May, on which day Mr. Gye is bound
by his contract to open the theatre. There are
about 300 men daily at work on the walls and roof,
and simultaneously the Messrs. Lucas's large fac-
tory at Lowestoft is fully employed on the interior
.
fittings, while all the ironwork being con-
structed at the foundry of Messrs. Gristmill. It is
obvious that progress may in the same way be
made with the scenery and decorations, so that as
we approach the end of the work the rate of pro-
gress will exhibit what, were we not aware of the
above particulars, would appear to be an almost
magical acceleration. Under all these favourable cir-
cumstances, we may fairly anticipate that an early
day will see Mr. Gye comfortably installed in his
newly-erected lyric temple, and we trust rewarded
by that amount of patronage on the part of the
public to which his energy and unwearied exer-
tions for their amusement so justly entitle him.

MARSEILLES, Tuesday.—We learn from Naples, under
date of the 2d, that shocks of an earthquake and vibra-
tions of the earth, are felt almost every day. On the
list of January two violent shoc oat:arr.
emd
na,
impending
ioo
nft
ghe
theiran
equally severe succeeded the diskstt
retires
se
from
!napt:be
wilig
lifeh
December on the 28th and 29th, Nroieittlie ;iota accident
has taken place, but the public, panic is intense and
general. The Sing Ministerialssedthe nights of the 28th and
Presidesth9et
ohS ii
cn i 1 ii:e sao, Pf itieie. o ootomuinq
ouei
on o ofewo r cetrhigei.
public
in cnsequence of his advanced age.