The Kanzas news., 1857-12-05
From the New York Tribune.
Ifoz-I 1llc NCH TUX 1fLUuI0.
Emancipation Of Serfs in Russia.

cumstanees will allow. Alexander I. and
Nicholas both cherished the same idea, but
both recoiled from its realization. The iron
viii of Nicholas bent and yielded to what
was considered by his advisers the impreg-
nable difficulties of the scheme, or the
menaces it presented to the nobility, the
throne, and the peace of the nation. Rus
sian Imperialism has been defined as despot-
ism tempered by assassination. How far
dread of the good old rule'' of quietly put
ting the sovereign out of the way when his
measures were particularly distasteful to
the nobility, may have restrained Nicholas
IN his emancipation project, is of course
unknown, but that his son and successor
is not controlled by such fears, is certain.
! The unchangeable resolve as regards
emancipation is taken. Some considerable
time since, commission, presided over by
the Grand Duke Constantine, was appoint
ed to elaborate a suitable project. The la
| bors of this body must be cautious and
well pondered. The relations between the
serfs and their masters are manifold and
complicated, varying, according to divers
| traditional customs, and the domestic and
local exigencies of the different regions
through which this gigantic empire extends.
are to be conciliated. The nobility possess
not only the serfs, but likewise the soil
! The problem to be solved is not only to re-
store human rights to the serfs, but to en-
dow them at once with homesteads, which,
of course, are to be cut out of the land
owned hitherto exclusively by their mas
ters. The latter are thus not only deprived
of the capital represented by the serfs, but
| likewise of permanent laborers for the fu
ture working of the fields. To this loss,
as we said, is to be added that of lands to
be transformed into homesteads for the new
| freemer. 1t can be easily understood how
the mass of the nobility might be appre-
hensive of their future condition. I'M
doubtedly, this revulsion in the internal
husbandry of the empire may occasion loss
es, though the appreciation of the value of
| land upon the manumission of serfs is in
evitable. The ultimate results of emanci
patton will prove beneficial, socially and
economically, to both nobility and peasant
ry; but at the start, and during the years
of transition, the mobiles will at least con-
slider themselves the exclusive losers
Their whole agricultural system must un
| dergo a moral and technical change.
The existing commission receives propo-
sails from all sides. The nobility submit
their opinions, the majority admitting the
necessity of emancipation, but differing in
fnitely as to the mode. One of the cardi-
nal objections is that the soil and climate of
many northern counties being less suscept-
ible of culture, the emancipated serfs might
abandon those regions and settle in the
more fertile provinces, for instance, in cen
trail and southern Russia, between the Dnei-
per, the Volga, and the Don, forming an
immense and rather thinly peopled area of
wheat lands of inexhaustible fertility. The
commission intend in most cases to abandon
the settlement of the question to the inter-
ested parties, the serf and the master, on
the principle of offer and demand. The
homestead in Russia proper is to consist of
between thirty-fve and forty acres. The
mode of compensation for the lost estate in
labor and land is to be the subject of mu
tual arrangement. Where no such arrange
ment is possible by mutual understanding,
board of commissioners will mediate, as
was done In Prussia, and settle defnitively
the amount and nature of compensation
| This compensation is to be paid at once or
by instalments, at the will of the parties,
not extending, however, over thirty years
and so long as the debt is not paid, the
peasant shall not be allowed to leave his
homestead. Such is a general outline of
the project devised, it is said, by the COM
mission, and which is to be submitted, with
various details, to the decision of the En-
peror SO soon as he reaches the capital on
his return from his European tour.
Russia proper is alone affected by this
measure. In Poland, before the relics of
| the kingdom created by the treaty of Wen
na in 1915, the peasantry were emancipa
ted at the beginning of this century by the
Prussian dominion, and subsequently, by
the code Napoleon. But an immense ma
jority of the emancipated then got no home
steads and do not now possess them, and
thus depend on the pleasure of the land
owners. Alexander II. has declared that
the landowners, mostly mobiles, shall give
homesteads to their tenants or laborers.-
This decree is already in operation The
| parties are to come to settlement by mu-
tual agreement, and If In the course of five
years no such agreement should be made,
then the government will interfere and de-
eide. For ten years to come, these new
homesteads, acquired by the Polish peas
antry, are not to be sold by the possessors
or to change hands. This restriction on
INC Hee dcIon oI the peaSanIFy mas us OH
gin In the peculiar condition of the popu-
lation, and Its working viii prove benefi-
cial. In the duchy of Posen, a part of
Poland under Prussian dominion since 18
Is, the peasantry received homesteads
more than thirty years ago. But an i'm
mense majority of these small freeholds
have passed into the hands of Germans,
who are superior to the Poles In industry,
culture, and the spirit of order Thus, be-
fore the Poles had time to develop the quail
tiles to enjoy their newly acquired liberty,
they lost their property or squandered it.
In Poland, Incorporated with Russia and
conterminous with Prussia. the same peace
1 FL Il m