Daily national era. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1854, 1854-06-09

For the National Era.
SLAVERY IN RUSSIA.
LANDED TENURE AND sERPDoM IN RUSSIA

SLAVthf In hUSolh.
No. III.
LANDED TENURE AND SERFD0M IN RUSSIA
Peter the Great completed what BOWS Go
dounof had icls unfinished, by making estates
hereditary, as well as by reducing the peasants
TO serfdon. He thus armed the rroprletors
with the most formidable powers and ieis the
hondsmcn no hope Of redress, except IN sue
ceaful insurrection. This social reformer, who
professed a desire TO improve his country nv
eted the chains Of slavery ON the -balk OF the
population, and on their posterity. He hated
the country people, because they opposed MI
tional traditions to his Germanc innovations;
and he punished their resi-. tance by lowering
them To the condition Of bewers OF wood and
drawers Of water Surely, it was not for this
atrocious crime, which fur outweighs any Ter
vices he may have rendered to civilization, that
he has received the title Of the "Great ~ From
his time to the reign Of Catharine H. the en-
shaved peasants constantly medtatcd vengeance
agains. their oppressors; but the favorable OPP
portnnity did not arrive till the rebellion Of
Pugatschef, the celebrated Cossaok OF tho Don.
After his first victories, he caused medal to
be struck, with the inscription, {" Peter Ill EN-
peror of nil the Russias and on the revere
Rediv0us ct Ulfo,n Under him the seTfs
rallied, TO make desperate effort for liberty
Whether they believed, or NOT, that the muir
dcred Peter was niraculously restored TO life,
or had escaped from his assasains and remain
ed in concealment ill he could strike blow to
recover his throne, there can be no doub5 that
circumstances were highly favorable to the re-
volt and, had Ppgatschsf been more prudent
and less addicted to debauchery, the serfs
might have won their emancipation.
Catharne had bestowed immense estates on
her depravcd lovers, if men can be called losers
who crafty the lust of q MEssALINA ts saslate
their avarice or ambition. These wretches,
gorged with the plumber Of the national prop
erty, treated the serfs worse than they treated
their dogs They were as devoid Of feeling as
Of honor. The Russians have ever been pious
people, even to 7anaticism, and looked with
horror at tho orgies Of the German Czarina,
exnlting that she was net Of their race or blood.
She had even seized and secularized tho lands
Ct the Church, and handed them over 10 the
companions Of her guilt As soon rs Pugat-
sohef raised his banner, the indignant peasants
hocked to him, and the populations If four
provinces OF the Empire rallied under the bold
Cossaek Then it was, that the hatchet Of the
serf sought 10 sever the crown from the land,
and establish democracy based on the ancient
communistic organization. The chief weapon
Of the serfs was FIRE. They burned the houses
of the mobiles, and for while, the conAagra-
ton threatened to illumine the Kremlin at
Moscow and melt the frozen waters of the
Neva. The rebellion spread from Tuer To the
Oural. 1t WIS the combined armed protect Of
the Cossack and the serf against despotism-
the last unsuccessful effort to break che letters
of the enslaved cultivatois OF the soil
It has already been stated that, according to
the primitive Constitution or traditions of Rus
STA, the whole soil, one and indivisble belonged
10 the Russian people, excluding all private
property except AS TO the usufiuct; and that,
up to tho time Of Peter the Great, none enjoyed
more than the usniruct of the land. The su-
preme power Of allotting portions for life, OF
for terms Of years, belonged to the Cars by
virtue Of their duoal prerogativc and the Cars
delegated this power, by allotment, TO tho vii
lage municipalities and to the Boyars, as we'll
as 10 conventual and monastic establishments
So long as this primitive ss stem IN force,
there WAS no occasion tor any territorial regis
ter; but when Peter tho Great introduced pri-
vate and hereditary property, it became neces-
sary to have record Of what had been surren-
dered and Of what had been retained The
mobiles were continually trespaseing on the
crown lands, adding field after field to their
patrimonies; and in 1865 the abuse had be-
come so hericus, and the imperial revenues had
become 80 greatly deprecated by these en-,
croachments. that survey was appointed in
that year. IL was gigantic undertaking
when the immense regions OF Russia arc con-
sidered, and IT is not surprising that it required
sixty years to settle disputed claims in fifty
Governments. Another attempt was made IN
1887, but II led to no az, urafe results SIBERIA
was not included in either survey.
Cultivated crown lands had been assigned
to the villages at an early period; and as these
villages increased IN sz and population, they
received portion of the unculr waited crown
lands, for which they paid tent. The village
communities had also allotments of forests, but
there were sutjecs TO imperial administration
Peter the Great was the first Gar who apprc
ciated the importance of timber, M he was the
frat to construct vessels of war. He placed
the forests under the Admiralty Since then,
they have alternately been copfded to the
financial and naval departments Of each Of the
separate Governments but, in 1926, the gen.
eral administration was intrusted to the finan-
cial departments Of each OF the separate Gov
ernments into which the empire IL divided, but
the forests which arc reserved for naval and
mining purposts are ruled by special boards
According To survey made in l845 the total
area OF tho crown forests. without includf q
those allotted to tho Cossacls the towns and
the mines, measures about %, 400 square miles
From this estimate Siberia is excluded
According to report submitted to tho min
lister Of the crown lands in 1893, the follow
ing was mt that date the nume,i cal peasant
population ON the crown lands:
Male peasants -- s43I. s37
EnfraDehiscd 1876 799
Foreign Colonists 1926
N0madic 100 900
Exiled ColoDists 74s9