The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1860-07-14

letter from Dosns are the order Of the day children
torn from their parents wives from their husbands and
the Inhabitants are emgrs ag In the iron
tier into Austria and Montenegro escape the iseries
inflicted upon them by Infatuated soldiery many OF
them dying On the road of fatigue a,d starvation.
The Turcomanians in Western Europe win declare all
tnese narratives TO be inventions and here
there are scepcs who think them greatly exaggerated;
but the public in general believe them implicitly, and
committees have been formed all Russia receive
subscriptions for the relief of unfortunate brethren
Christ The ladies particularly active in the
In st. Petersburg the Countess Preessoa and Princess
ysclchikod have placed themselves at the head Of
committee and, thanks to their exertions considerable
sums have been already collected and transmitted
Cons uls in Turkey.
In the meantime our attention is q cool deal diverted
from'exterual a,irs to the contemplation Of own,
which are rapidly approaching a crisis. In proportion
the great Of serf paton advances Its
completion, the agitation among the mobiles increases aud
assumes serious character. have adyerted TO
the subject in former letter and mentioned that though
they had ceased 10 oppose the emancipation ITSELF they
had made their consent pretext for advancing claims
which would than indemnify them for the loss of
influence they will sustan by the abandonment Of their
segnoria rights The enranchsement OF the serfs they
only have the desired effect upon the weu-being
the people If attended with active reorganization Vt
the inter nal administration OF the umpire II the pea
sptry subjected TO the control Of func
onares, they will be worse OF than when under the
uteage of the seigneurs whose own interests
the latter class found protectors against the extortons OF
the grasppg officials The stem OF Capitalization
therefore bo replaced by that Of self government; the
provinces and districts must be allowed 10 choose the
mag sraes their Judges and administrators,
and the action of the imperial authorities must be
fined to simple supervision. Now, IL is easy that.
in the prosert state Of Russian society such
ment would place de aco the whole power of the empire
afth
immense majority of the population, have been
accustomed to think act for themselves Even after
their manumisson they will continue TO look ~ TO their
former lords with The awe and reverence which habit hs
made part Of their nature, and they entrusted with
tne ecC''o o. mag s. Is nor Giucui' 70 imagine
upon whom their choice will fall y! course the same
results would be obtained If the right Of election
s,rcted to the mobiles Themselves rs has been suggested
Of several meetings OF the nobility in various prts OF the
empire and from the they have hitherto made Of the
privilege they already possess Of eecting their nr
shas and certain number OF members Of the civil and
criminal courts, very profitable augury be drawn
Of the beneficial effects that will attend the extension of
this privilege The fact is that though chenorinks
(oioas bad enough il is great question whether
the pubic would be gamers by this transfer OF their
and unprncpicd, the mobiles expensive in their
habits and thoughtless in the Management Of their
afaIs, and the lecunary difficulties they constantly
involved in will lead 10 the same abuses by which the
officials have rendered themselves notorious Thus, be-
tween the scya OF Bureaucracy and the Charybdis of
arstocracy, Russia is placed in dilemma from which
she has no prospect o escaping, until the whole body Of
the people ar; sufficiently advanced in Intelligence to
take the direction OF their social aud political interests
into their hands. Anyhow, there cannot be doubt
but that the acknowledgements of the serfs will lead to
radical change in our system Of government, and many
might say most people, persuaded that in very
few years Russia will be constitutional monarchy.
Such idea sounds rather Utopian, but if we con-
slider the progress made since 1856, if we com
pare the Russia of Nicholas l. with the Rus
sa OF Alexander H., may be inclined 10
upon it less chimericai than it would appear at
first blush The great difficulty would be to adapt any
form o representative institutions TO empire OF such
immense extent as ours, composed Of many restric
tons aud exhibiting such different stages of civilization
Even England with her long experience o. constitutional
government would dud embarrassing ADM, deputies
from the East and West Indies the Cape Of Good Hope
New Zealand &c, to the House Of Commons, and Rus
ers and Baskirs Circasans and Poles Christians Jews.
Nahometans and adorers OF Buddha, seated side
by side would he rather curious specimen of happy
fimly" The only practical solution O. this difficulty
woua be TO break the empire confederation OF
independent OF emindcpendcnt States 81 Vladimir the
founder Of the Russian monarchy divided his dominons
among his twelve sons, the eldest residing at kei and
exercising Kind Of supremacy over the rest whose
thrones established at Novgorod, Smolensk, Chera
go6, &c. In like the present Emperor of Russia
might fix his residence at Moscow the capital Of Great
Russia, and White Russia Lthuana. Little Russia, South
Russia the Baltic Provinces Poland, the Caucasus, Sbe
ria, and the Anoor might form separate kingdoms,
vceroyaties under the OF the several princes Of
the imperial house. Each Of these States might have
Parliament Of its own, and send delegates to
the Central Parliament at Moscow, something
and rs the power az declaring and concluding peace
and the conduct diplomatic relations with foreign
tries would be reserved for the Car q Moscow such
construction would not greatly weaken the unity OF the
umpire at least not for purposes Of defence Il cannot
be doubted either that would have irresistible att
for the other sclavonc nations Europe aud that
should nlyra, Servia Croatia, Bulgaria,
Gaaca takiog their places in the confederation Thavc
just described Perhaps all this is dream but our age
Is big with change and fruitful of extraordinary events
and aday nothing ought 10 be rejected impossible
for other than because counter 10
conceived notions
On the 18th tie Grand Duchess Alexandra, wife OF
Constantine Ncoaeviich, safely delivered, at their
Villa o, Strclya, Of a son. who 10 TO receive the
of Rmerias. This Is their Imperial Highncsses'
third altogether the number OF the younger male
OF the imperial family 1.-THE children o! the Empe
and his three brothers) amounts TO less than
ten, without including the Young Princes RomanorsSy,
Dukes Of 1euclenberg IL Will be seen, therefore, that
there woud b. difficulty in finding princes 10 occupy
the position Of sub kings the great confederation Of
States TO which have just referred