New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1859-01-17
wbe,.y.r the community pisse, they can buy Their
hnnesteads ont and out By paying down ne appraeea


value. bv ,ba I,,d,o,,.
to the pesssns are thss regulated "nere there are
on an estate more than SIX dc siafnes TO each se IN
,bsS on !, every adult male peasant receives an al
lornept of arabic land Of zine dessnes where there
IL land two thirds Of the whole arabic land are de-
Evsres nm 10 the peasants; and where there are 20
49, ,easapts or an estate that out OF these two
tLiy5s there cannot be found FIVE dessanss at least
torieyery adult male, the land is divided into sotments
of 1--WE dessstnes, aud those Who by lot are excluded
fr m receiving any, receive passports from the village
authorities, and are a. Liberty TO 20 where they like
Az to rewood, the landlord bound H. fnd L for the
peasants in biz forests at price to be liked before
hand.
the following c0rrses 10 furnish to the landlord FOR
very dessatne aotteo ten work days wHa horse snd
ten work dave without in csie OF nine dessiatnes loJ
work dsys per snnun The valne OF his c0roet Is 70
he fxed' in money. in every government lp-ovince
after this rate that day Of corres IS cOnsldefed
worth one-ttird only of One day OF free LABOR AMER
the fret seven years one-severth OF these corre end
in every following year another sevent may Dc con
mUted INTO o corn.Ient.
VII The personal serfs such "a are NOT atached 10
particular estate but to the family mansion OF tne
person Of the lord will have to serve tper lords iof
len wears but viii receive wages. Ibsy may, now
ever buy their liberty any tine, at 300 ro1bes for a
man and 10 TOUbles for q woman. -
TX. The landlord remains the chief Of the village
community, sud las the right OF veto aga,ns' tnelr
resolutions; but 10 SUCH case an appeal hes 10
mixed commission of mobiles and peasants.
Sucb are the contents OF this important docu-
ment which expresses, in an indirect man
ner. the ideas of Alexander H. on the great
social question of Russia | have omitted chap
tiers VIII, which treats OF the organization OF
the village communities and which merely gives
the legal forms in which the official documents re-
lating to this change are to be made out. very
superficial comparison shows that this report Is
mere continuation, and indeed, filing up. OF the
programme issued by the Central COMMITTEE last
Spring 10 the various corporations OF MOBILES
throughout the empire. This programme the ten
heads Of which correspond exactly TO the Ten chaP-
tiers of the report. was, in fact, mere form made
out. TO show the mobiles in what direction they
were TO act, and which they were expected 70 fill
up. But the more they entered upon the question
the greater was their Tepugnance; and 1t Is very
significant that after eight months, the government
have found themselves obliged to fill up this form
themselves, and TO draw up that plan which was
to be supposed TO be spontaneous act OF the
mobiles.
now for its contents.
If the Russian nobility do not think that the
18th Of August" Q759) has yet arrived, and that
so far there is no necessity of sacrificing their prlv
leses on the altar OF their country, the Russian
Government is going a great deal faster; 1t has
already arrived at the declaration OF the rights OF
man." What, indeed, do you think of Alexander
H., prOclhDUlDg TlgHls NDICH ptloHB W wv
peasautry by nature and of which they ought
never to have been deprived ?" Verify, these
are strange times In lc46, Pope initiating
liberal movement; in lc5S, a Russian Aut0crat,
true sdm0derjdz gserOsSiiSkl proclslmlng the
rights of man And we shall see that the Cars
proclamation will have as worldwide an echo, and
an ultimate effect Of far greater magnitude than the
Popes liberalism
The first of the parties dealt with in this report
isf ho fy / hpy celebrate
of August, the Government tells them plainly
enough that they viii be compelled to do So
Every chapter of the report includes pungent
material loss to the aristocracy One OF the modes
in which the mobiles have turned their human capt.
tai WAS 10 hire them out, or 10 allow them, on
payment of an annual sum (obroL), to travel about
and gain living as they pleased. This custom
suited admirably both the purses OF the mobiles ana
the rowing character OF the Russian seri. III was
one IF the chief sources of income To the former
BY chapter J. this IA proposed to be done away Wlh
without any payment IN return. Not only tins: by
chapter H. every serf to whom the lord cannot
all.t dessatines of arabic land is free in his
own right and can 90 where he peases. by chap
Iu-V the lord is deprived of the free disposal OF
something like twO-thirds OF his land and COM
PEELED to assign il to the peasants. 1t Is true, they
occupy it now, but under his control, and IN con-
sderatiOn of services which were liked entirely by
him. Now the land is to belong, in reality, to the
who obtain the right to buy, out aud out, their
homesteads, and whose services, though liked at
very bigh rate are vet 10 be immutably fixed by
legal enactment, and wOrse still, may be COM
muted at Ito them pretty advantageous tarlf.
Even the drOT0rye, the domestic servants OF the
hall are 10 be paid wages, and, If inclined, may
buy their liberty. And what is worse, the serts
are 10 receive the rights OF all other citizens, which
means TO say that they will nave the right,
hitherto unknown TO them, to bring actions against
their lords, and 10 bear witness against them IN
Courts of law: and though the lords remain the
chiefs of the peasants on their estates, and retain
certain jurisdiction over them, still the ext0rtions
BY which large portion of the Russian nobility have
scraped together the means to keep fashionable
IOr,ttes in Paris and to gamble at German watering
places will undergo a vast limitation in future.
But in order to Judge of the effect such reduction
of income would have upon the Russian mobiles, let
us east glance at their financial position. The
whole territorial nobility of Russia is indebted to
the Credit Banks INSTITUTED by the Crown in the
sum of AGO, 000, 600 silver roubles, for which sum
about 100000 Of serfs are pledged to these
banks. The whole of the serf population of Rus
STA Excluding the Crown peasants) amounts TO %,
$50 eco Census of lc57). Now il is evident that
of the owners of serfs the smaller ones are the
principal contractors of this debt, while the larger
ones are comparatively free from debt From the
census of lc57 it appears that about 100000 of
serfs belong TO landlords owning less than LOO
serfs each, while the remaining 1000, 900 belong
TO proprietors holding more than 1000 serfs each.
1t stands to reason that the latter will nearly Iep-
resent the unencumbered and the former the en-
numbered mobiles of Russia. This may not be quite
exsct but il comes near enough 10 be generally
correct.
The number Of landed proprietors owning from
one TO go "souls," according TO the census of
1857, is l05, $40, while that of mobiles owning Loo
o,A 81, i fbap A \