Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1861-04-20

AS general rule the eerl pays MS owner hn ni
nual tax called obrok those who do not pay IL are
liable to three days work per week. This rent OF
this service makes him free in his person and hi,
labor He is besiles obliged to perform certain
unpaid or statute lahore, termed corUee, such a'
keeping of roads, the lodging, feeding and carry
ing of the army, and do all sort of public worl
gratuitously. A large number of sor(s pay per
sonal tax, called capitaGon, which varies from
one dollar and half to one dollar and eighty
cents head. According to the last statistic, i
has been calculated that the Serf or peasant payt
annually to the treasury one million one hundred
and thirty thousand dollars for duties and taxes
sixty-two millions of dollars to his owner (tht
crown excepted) and eighty millions for the ex
penses Of local administration, These figure
show that the peasant pays annually, out Of hi
five months work, nearly two hundred million
Of dollars, or two-thirds of all the taxes of th
empire
The serf is either located in villages or in cit
lee, in which case he pays the Obrok or rent OF
he remains on the estate to which be belongs ant
works three days in the week for his master. In
both cases he enjoys the privilege of small
house and Of piece of ground Sufficient for his
wants, and surrounded by an enclosure. As to
the serls owned by landless prOprietors they are
hired and paiccled out among the mining works
and the manufacturing districts of the country.
They support their masters with the labor of their
hands,
INTERFERENCE or THE GOVERNMENT AND OF THE
NOBILITY IN FAVOR OF THE PEAsANTRY.
The facts we have just revealed have placed
Russia in q condition Of inferiority towards other
nations which Muscovite pride could not we'll en-
dure. Ivan Golovin, the historian, says; "Rus-
sian mobiles wish for emancipation for three reas-
ons. First, because they are apprehensive for
their own salety second, because the country
grows poorer and poorer third, because they
arc ashamed to pass for slave-traders in the eyes
Of civilized Europe. The government wishes
Tor it, too, in order to whitewash itself before for
eign nations. lie might have added that the lack
of industry and commerce, resulting from the So
cial state of the people, the profound demoraliza-
ton of some Of the governors and Of the majority
of the subordinate officers of the empire absep-
teeism, bribery and corruption in high places, the
ignorance of the clergy. the superstitions of the
masses, and many other causes too long to emu
merate, have placed the empire in eueh q coudi-
ton that reforms and emancipation have become q
question of life and death. The late Emperor
Nicholas l. was aware of it, and attempted at diff
ferent times to enfranchise the fsrfs, but failed on
account Of the i'll will of the nobility on one side,
and Of his too radical notions on the other. How
ever, the memory of his efforts was not lost. and
his plans are now token up by the people as the
greatest aboliionst of the empire.
Alexander H., his son, statesman aud q phi
losopher, has followed in the wake of bis father,
and aware be is that the safety OF Rusoia is in
tmately connected with the freedom of the people,
has worked in one direction ever since his advent
to the throne. As soon as the Crimean war was
over, n 1851 ho began his measures of reform and,
fortunately for the cause Of human freedom, was
assisted in his task by the cooperation of half Of
his nobility, whose patriotism, justly alarmed a,
the precarious condition Of the finances of the
country, at the revolutionary tendencies of the
Poles and langarians, and at the discomfort Of
several Of the provinces sought for the safety of
Russia in their natural defenders, the people
Preparatory dispositions were made to that effect.
The census of the serls living the estates, the
number of families in each village, the amour: of
and industry, the mortgage held by banks upon
the amount of taxes paid or to be paid,
the condition of the serfowners, were the subjects
Of long investigation. To-day this work is over,
and 1t has resulted in one of the greatest events
Of our age; the passage of fifty millions OF souls
from bondage to freedom. s..--e. ......a
MEASURES ADOPTED FOR THE ENFRANcursBuENr OF
THE sERFs.
The first measure decreed by the Emperor is the
removal of several officers Of the crown. or forty
or fifty governors, or provincial chiefs, now in
power, ten at least will be turued out on the
host Of corrupt officials will be driven from Of
fee. This tribute paid to honesty win have an
excellent effect upon public opinion. "For," says
a Russian historian, you cannot emancipate the
serls without emancipating the mobiles, nor moral
ize the subjects without moralizing the govern
ment" At the same time the administrative ard
judicial officers will be invested with greater pow
er business will be settled on just basis the
powers of the city and county attorneys increased
and justices of peace will be created to pronounce
upon the differences between the noble and the
peasant.
The first officers selected by tho nobility will
have to be confirmed by the governor. The local
avs and the police of the district will be admin
stored, for the time being, by the landowners
All these measuresare only transient, and will
iave to be modified as the people grow more en-
ightened and more apt to exercise the rights of
citizenship.
The serfs will be divided into four groups. each
i which will be the object of separate and dis
inct. legislation.
The first group includes the serfs Of small pro-
rietors, possessingsess than twenty males apiece.
ialf of them viii be organized in colonies and
ent upon the lands of the crown and Of the i'm.
erial family. The other half will be distributed
nto small territorial districts, formed upon the
ystem adopted by the French eommunss. each
ian receiving certain portion Of the land suf-
cient 70 bissupport and that Of his family. To
onpsnsate the owners, the government viii issue