The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1854-07-13

are authorized to trade wholesale and estab.
! lish factories but the members of the third
! Guild are subject to many restrictions For.
cigners enjoy certain privileges, but are also
placed under some Limitations. They may es
tabiish themselves in towns, and, on payment
| Of fee, may BIO admitted into the corpora
| tons; and If they can give evidence of pos
eessing sufficient capital, they enjoy noarly all
the advantages conferred on The two higher
classes of Guilds; but they can only PURCHASE
wholesale, and exclusively Of Russian mer-
chants and producers. They are prohibited
from all retail transactions with the burgessss
and peasants, and even with foreigners residin G
in Russia, but they may buy in open fairs,
which are exempted from the general rule Of
restriction. No foreigner can trade with an
other foreigner. The object of these reguIa-
tions is to give the natives q monopoly of the
homo trade, for foreigners engross nearly the
whole of the external trade with the exception
of that to Asia The foreign trade Of st. Pc
tersburgh is almost entirely in the hands Of
English and German merchants. Ii is stated
by Baron Ranthausen, that during the reign
of Catharine H. there were thirty to forty Rus
sian commercial firms at st Pctersburgh; now
there are only three or four. The truth il
that though the Russians have great aptitude
in minor traffic they have no talent for large
transactions or for maritime commerce.
The hereditary nobility are not subject to
the law Of Guilds for On their-own lands they
may establish whatever factories they please ;
and this they do. In this respect they are
widely different from the nobility of Western
Europe, who have always considered trade de-
grading to their dignity. However, on an es-
innate of 1000 factories in the whole empire
it is calculated that only 500 belong to the
nobility.
If five hundred foreign families are estab-
lisbed in Russian town, the municipal coun-
Gil is empowered to admit q certain number of
them to membership, as we'll as to take their
seats in the committee of the trading corpora
ton and in the tribunal of commerce.. The
humbest class Of the urban populations are
entitled to embark in every trade, and sell open
" their own proper produce, but not so if the
goods pass through several processes requiring
the labor of different mechanics and artisans
These small traders cannot employ more than
four men; two apprentices of eighteen years
each reckon as one jOurneyman. By paying
certain tax for license, they are classed among
trading bureesses, but even then they must not
keep shops but in addition to the members Of
their own families, this class may employ eight
journeymen in their factories; and, in their
case, two lads of fifteen years each count as
one journcyman. Peasants and those inhabit-
ants who have not the burgess rights, must in
scribe themselves for the time that their pass
pert allows them to reside in a town. AS a
general rulc, burgcsses and merchants cannot
have any fixed habitation in the country,
but by special authorization this rule may DO
relaxed tho peasants may trade as they please
in their own villages. In relation to the pub
lie fairs no town merchants can erect booths
or stalls, either within or beyond the ring OF
circuit in which the fair is held; but the me-
chanios Of villages, as shoe makers, and the
peasants who are po7tors by trade, CT Joy per-
feet freedom. The Russian peasant, says
StOrch, may traverse the whole empire to sell
his goods or his labor.
In the various industrial establishment Of
Russia, the labor is chiefly dOno by serfs both
by those Of the crown and those of landed pro-
prictors. During winter, many Of them work
in their own cottages, on account Of merchants
who furnish the raw materials If their lords
arc owners Of a factory, they work in it, or in
factories so near ct hand that they can live at
home. Others hire themselves out in the large
towns, returning sooner or later TO their com
munes. For the share Of lands which he
holds, the Russian peasant is bound to pay a
tax (ObrOk) into the imperial treasury if he is
q ecrf CT the crown, or to his lord if he is the
serf of lord, bnt he can commute the Obr0k
to his lord by working On his estates during
three days in each week or he may work in
the faotort Of his lord. Formerly the lord
could hire'out his serf to factory but that
practice is discontinued, with the exception of
miuora who may be hired out as apprentices
for seven years. The modern practice is for
the peasant serf TO make bis own terms at tic
factory, after having received permission to
absent himself from his io-d, from whom be re-
ceives passport, for which he pays; but if he
is q crown scrf he must obtain that permission
from the commune to which he belongs. Ac-
cording to a law Of Peter the Great, when
peasants were inscribed in factory, and their
rat.ons and pay wero fxed, they were Hound
30 remain for life, and could never return to
their conmunes; but that system is abolished
with few exceptions, For instance, it is con-
tinucd in the imperial armory Of Touio, where
tho workmen receive regular wages and can
not quit the establishment without the express
permission Of the SUPERINTENDENT.
The employment Of the scIis, somctn mes 10
factories sometimes in agriculture, has long
been considered Injurious TO Russian industry
aud Catherine the Second, in promulgating
her new code of laws exhorted the commits
sioners to check the evil, if It could not be
wholly suppressed. In her instructions to the
commissioners che makes the following re-
marks: "RuSsia, far from having sufficient
population, possesses an immense extent Of
territory which is not cultivated nor even peo-
pied. How greatly would the empire flourish,
il, by judicious regulations, we could repair
this loss. 1t appears that the new plan adopt
ed by tho gentlemen OF Russia, in raising their
incomes, diminishes population and damnifes
agriculture. Almost all estates now pay their
rent in money. The proprietoIs, who never or
rQr do thaIr eata 70
from two to five roubIes head, without con-
sidering for moment how the peasant is to
raise the money. 1t will be very necessary to
ordain, By positive law, that proprietcrs ehould
assess charges on their peasants with discro-
ton and discernment, and in such manner as
TO remove themselves as little Us possible from
their estates. Agriculture and population
would gain by their residence; but at present
many husbandmen absent themselves for ff-
teen years, wandering throughout the empire
from town to town, to obtain money wages by
their labor to pay their Obrok"
The responsiveness CT the Empress Catherine
were UNDECIDED, for the proprietors could make
much more out of their sclfs by granting them
passports to work in towns, than by retaining
them as laborers on the soil. Formerly the
Obrok was paid in kind, out of the produce Of
the soil but the Russian nobility, having be-
come acquainted Win tne naDitS Oh western |
Europe, and being prone to indulge in its lux
uries even to excess, require hard coin for their
rents, which they do not expcnd in the country, |
but at ST. Petersburg or Moscow, and other |
towns Of the different Governments into which |
Russia is divided. Rural life has no charms |
for them, as it has with the British nobility, |
since On their estates they would be surrounded |
by slaves by whom they are abhorred, while in
England the wealthiest hunt with their ten
ants and meet them on terms OF q friendly |
cradnation Of social rank