Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1856-08-30

made the nobility responsible for a certain num-
Der of soldiers, influenced in q great measure the
cruelties perpetrated by the mobiles against the
poor serf, while nothing was done to alleviate bis
physical or mental wrongs. In him the right of II
living soul was not recognised. AL the aspira-
tons Of his soul were crushed down; he was even
: not permitted to feel as q man, or, as n citizen, rs
"A father, or as a child; he was estimated and dan.
died precisely rs a chattel-an anvil or hammer
as n lifeless log, or insensible tool. At the present
time a sorf is valued at ten roubles per annum.
though, he ofton earns from thirty to forty roubles
for his master.
In some parts of Russia serfdom was introduced
a, alater period, las in Lesser Russia, where the En-.
press Elizabeth, to crafty the rapacity of her IA
vorite Rasumowski, presented to him $4,000 free
peasants, reducing them at once, by a %despotic
ukase, to mere serls. Other parts annexed by
conquest to the empire at still later period, like
Finland, were permitted to retain their national
4 institutions, and serfdom was therefore not intro.
duced, because it never existed in this CO untry.-
the inhabitants Of Finland, called Odnod worries,
were free and independent peasants, acknowledge.
ing no masters, and paying only n certain amount
of taxes and labor to the crown. They were the
; descendants of mobiles, who, for some offence, were
exiled to these distant regions by Peter and his
predecessors, and being stripped of all otho priv.
ileges, retained only that of freedom of the body.
Though they i'll all other respects, in the lapse ,f
time degenerated to the condition of the scrfs of
Russia, they yet retained a certain pride of their
llNObpbhf Niu ltShlNNu IL IIilI itSO VIZ u VII 20
an objectionable meSdHiance. A further check to
serfdom was offered in the army system, which
created another aristocracy in the lower classes,
because all men who had served in the army be-
came ireemen.
But these small impediments did not diminish
the miseries of sorfdOm in Russia, they we're mere.
y exceptions to the rule, and a more severe blow
was needed to affect seriously the system of Peter
the great. This blow was at last struck by Alex
ander l., whose liberal tendencies induced him to
promote the emancipation of the serfs. He at first
contemplated q general and sudden abolition of
slavery. believing that this measure would advance
the social well-being and security of the empire.
Alexander deserves credit for his sentiments of
humanity, as his letter to a magnate of his empire
will show. 4 nObleman having, for some services
rendered, solicited the donation of a large estate,
he replied as follows: The peasants Of Russia
are already nearly all slaves, and | will not be an
instrument for the further degradation and misery
growing out of such an institution. l, therefore,
wish not to see their numbers increase, and | have
made il my rule not to give any more peasants as
property; the estate shall be given to you, but un.
der the express condition, that the peasants shall
not be sold like cattle"
Alexander soon discovered the necessity of
abandoning the idea Of sudden emancipation and
adopting the slow method of successive reforms.
4 A ukase firsC appeared forbidding the selling of
serfs, without the soil, and with this measure soil
/, serfdom was reestablished. The next step was
the ukase of February 10Th, 1903, creating a class
of free peasants. This law had the following pro.
visions:
l. That all free men might acquire and hold re-
al estate, wherever they pleased; until this period
they could only be officials. or merchants of a
city.
3. That all those liberated peasants, who had
received, under certain conditions, land from their
masters should have power to convey, bequeath, or
transmit such lands.
Alexander next ameliorated the condition Of the
Il crown gprfs fearing 10 pndnnppr tho nOlilitv nv n
sudden liberation. lie fixed their taxes and soca.
yes, and Reconstructed their primitive communal in
situations. That these privileges of the crown
5 serts embittered the private serfs against their
2 masters, who were opposed to such humane and
lenient measures, viii readily be imagined. The
idea Of emancipation was, for shis reason abandon
ed by the Emperor during his war with Napoleon
e |. At the conclusion of the war, however, Alex
5 ander resumed his philanthropic undertaking.
The nobility of the Baltic provinces seemed to
sympathize with the Emperor, and he tried a no.
BILE experiment, which proved successful. a ukase
from the 10th of May, 1916, abolished serfdom in
Eithland, and a year later a ukase from the 25th
of August, 1917, emancipated the serfs of Cour-
land. The nobility of Livland presented n petit
ton to the Emperor, in March, 1919, praying for
similar action, which was Immediately sanctioned,
and thencefoIth all the peasantry OF the Baltic
[ provinces became free men, though without the
: power to hold real estate.
: These experiments created a greater sensation
in the empire than the Emperor had anticipated.
y The nobility opposed every measure towards the
: emancipation of their serGs, and even menaced the
Y Emperor with revolt. Here unfortunately, the
courageous perseverance of the Emperor tailed,
S and only single instances of emancipation on the
y crown lands, were afterwards proclaimed. The
peasants, seeing their hopes of freedom thus van.
: ished away, towards the close of the year 1921,
broke out in open revolt in several provinces. The
Dowager.E Empress, then travelling in the Province
: i of NOvgorod, was forcibly retained by the peasants
and petitions were presented to her, demanding
/ alienation ''of their crushing burdens" The En-
press, inundated, referred them to the Emperor.
= who was following his mother. AS soon as the
Emperor approached, the peasants knelt before
bis horses and carriage, and thus forced Alexan-
der to hear their petition. This audacity excited
the wrath Of the Emperor, and, with angry words
he handed the paper back to the peasants. lie
told them, however. that he would reflect on their
petitions" but never returned an answer. This
treatment from the Car excited the peasants to
rise in arms, and the revolt was put down by force.
The mobiles then became more tyrannical than ever
Hundreds OF serfs were sent to the mines of She
ria by their masters for trivial or imaginary ofen-
ces, and generally such persons were selected who,
either from age or sickness, had become unable to
work. They were tom from their families, ban
ished as criminals to Siberia, or died under the APP
Pile alton of the knout. The cruelties of the no.
9ility hardly knew bouEGs, and at last called i'm
y peratively for reform.
NlcHolas' as soon as ne was seated nrlniy on the
5 throne, began to devise measures of redress. Dai.
e ly the Emperor received thousands Of petitions
. iIom the serfs, begging for relief.
o This called forth the ukase of May 18th, 1926
e which said: THE Emperor, being aware that GER
tam ruinors have been spread by malicious per.
+ sons, calculated abominably to deceive the simple
n minds Of the peasants for purposes of personal ad
II vantage, commands hereby, under the most severe
penalties, that all peasants pay without murmul
their taxes and render their lawful labor" In the
G meantime Nicholas instructed the nobility mot t
work over-work" for the peasants, and not to trea
e them with too much rigor." But these measures
were found insignificant. The badly paid authori
ties could easily DE bribed by the mobiles, and il
e 1921 a ukase ordered that the authority of thu
e legal magistrates should no longer suffice to trans
c port a criminal to Siberia. but that the permission
of the Governor-Gener should first be obtained
t also, that this punishment should not be inflicted
upon persons over fifty years Of age, and in no cas-,