New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1859-01-17


harsngues now mildly clothed in the garb Of
philsntbropc appeals, now assuming the pers1isive
form Of didactic exposition, now rising 20 the shfA
tones Of command and mensce-vhat have al these
speeches resulted ini The MOBILES listened to them
IN seryile attitude with diminished heads but IN
their he.rts they felt that the Emperor, who came
10 hsrangue, coax, persuade, inform, and menace
them. had ceased to be that almighty Cz:r whose
will was 10 stand in the place Of reason itself.
Consequently, they dared to give negative answer
by giving no answer at all, by not reechoing the
Cars sentiments and by adopting the simple pro-
cess of procrastinatiOn IN their different committees
They left the Emperor no chance but that Of the
Roman Church: Compete intran. However, the
dull monOtony Of that FESTIVE silence was boldly
broken through by the ST. Petersburg Nobility
Committee, which Endorsed paper drawn up o.
Mr.. Platonoff one of It's me mbers, and forming, IN
fact, a petition Of rights" What was asked for
was nothing less than parliament Of mobiles
to decide jointly with the Government not only
the great question Of the hour, but all political
questions II was in vain that Mr. Lanskoi,
the Minister Of the Interior declined accepting this
paper. and sent il back TO the nobility with the
angry remark. that it was not their business to
club together for the purpose of presenting peu-
tions, but simply 10 deliberate upon the questions
put 10 them by the Government. In the name OF
the Committee Gen. ShuwalOf returned 10 the
assault, and, BY the menace OF himself carrying
the paper TO the Emperor, compelled Mr.. Lanskoi
to receive it. Thus, the Russian nobility in lc3e,
as the French nobility in 17-S, has given oHt the
watchword of the assemble des Etats gsnfraur,
or in the Muscoyite vernacular of SinS6i Sober or
Sepskaja DHmd. Thus, IN their interested al
tempts at maintaining the antquated social basis OF
the pyramid intact, the mobiles themselves attack
its political point of gravtaion. Besides, the as.
prit de rerhge, as the old French emgrants styled
the spirit Of the age has seized on them so violent
ly, that the majority of the mobiles go head over
heels into the midde-classj oint-stock company
mania. while in the more western provinces tn
minority affects to lead and protectth the new ia1ged
literary agitation. To give some notion OF those
bold movements, it viii suffice TO say, that IN los
the number of existing journals had already sweled
to leO, while 100 fresh ones were announced for
1850. On tie other hand there were founded IN
1857, sixteen companies, with capital OF 3O3 9OO,-
600 rubles, while, from January to August, lo5-,
81 fresh new companies with capital of 80 l15, 900
rubbed were added
Let us now consider the other party to the
changes intended by Alexander III. IL 10 not
10 be forgotten how often the Russian Government
has, before the eyes OF the peasantry, coDured up
the fata morgana of freedom. In the beginning
of his reign, Alexander /. called upon the no.
bilty t. emancipate the peasants, but without sue
cess In 1872 when the peasantry were called 90
to enrol themselves in the opotcherie (mllltla),
emancipation from serfdom, if not officially still
with the tact consent of the Emperor, was
held out as the reward for patriotism;
the men who had defended Holy Russia could no
longer be treated as slaves. Under Nicholas
even. a series of ukases restricted the power Of
the mobiles over their serfs, authorized the latter
(ukase Of 1ci2) 10 conclude contracts With
their owners as IL the services to be rendered
(by which indirectly they were admitted to
plead in courts of law against their lords); under
took $50 to guarantee, on the part of the Gov
eminent, the fulhllment of the engagements made
BY the peasants under such contracts; enabled the
serfs (lS46) To buy their liberty, if the estate to
which they were attached had to be sold by public
auction: and enabled Qo47) the corporation of
serfs attached to such estate, when first up for
sale. 10 buy the whole estate. To the great aston
isbment of both government and nobles il all at
appeared that the serfs were quite prepared for
this, and actually did buy up one estate after the
other: nay that in great many cdses, the landlord
was but the nominal owner, having been liberated
from his debts by the money Of his own serfs who,
of course had taken such precautions as to secure
to themselves virtually their own liberty and the
property in :he estate. When this came out. the
Government, frightened at such symptoms OF intel
lgence and energy among the sers, and At the same
tine by the outbreaks of lc4S in Western Europe,
bad To look out for remedy against Al enactment
which threatened to gradually turn the nobility out
of their estates. But il too late 10 repeal the
ukase and thus another ukase March Is, Is4s) ex-
tended the right of purchase which far had belong
ed to the commercial corporations of serfs only, 10
every individual serf. This measure not only tended
to break up the associations by villages and between
the villages of district which hitherto had enabled
the serfs to concentrate the capital for such pur-
chase: il was besides, seasoned with q few quail
fcatiOns The land could be bought by the serfs,
but not the people attached to it; IN other words
by buying the estate to which they belonged the
serfs did not buy their own freedom. On tho con-
trary, they remained serfs and 1.-THE whole purchase
transaction was, moreover made subject TO the
assent of the old landlord To crown the whole
the numerous mobiles who held their property 80 TO
say in trust for their serfs We're by the ukase
epsbled and encouraged to break this trust and To
recover full possession of their estates; all pleas
on the part Of the serts being expressly excluded
from the courts of law. Since then, all but the
primary schools were closed to the serfs: and all
hopes Of emancipation appeared cut off, when the
late war again compelled Nicholas to appeal 10 a
general armament of the serfs and TO support this
appeal MS usual, by promises OF liberation from
bondage, which the inferior servants of the Govern
ment were ordered 10 spread among the peasantry.
That after such antecedents, Alexander III.
should feel himself compelled to proceed seriously
10 emancipation of the peasants, is quite natural
The result of his efforts, and the outlines ii bis
plans, SO far as they have been matured are before
US. What viii the peasantry say to twelve years
probation, accompanied by heavy eOrrfes. at the
end of which they are 10 pass into state which
the Government does not venture 10 describe in
any particular What will they say TO an ore ami
zatiOn of communal government, jurisdiction and
police, which takes away all the powers of demo-
cratic seligOyernment, hitherto belonging 10 every
Russian village community, in order to create h
stem az u.trifnonial qoyarumant vested the