The Lansing state Republican. [volume] (Lansing, Mich.) 1855-1874, 1861-04-10
22.424.9l5

As the Russian government seems be under
the impression that women have no souls, the
census does not make any mention of them, and
grants the title of - soul" TO the men alone. II,
then, To these twenty tive millions We add the
women and children, We shall reach the figure OF
fifty millions, already mentioned as being the ex.
act humber Of seIfs contained in the Russian en.
pire. Ii is TO this immense popuatOn-.arger
than any within the realm Of civilization - that
the imperial decree of the Sd Of this month has
restored the insenable right of individual re-
spOnsibility and freedom. The originator of this
measure, Alexander ii has already placed his
name next to that Of Peter the Great in the an
mails of bis country; for, if the former establish
ed its material prosperity, the latter will create
its moral and intellect lal splendor, by raising
Russia-obscure aud isolated in her semi ba, ba
rian individuaity-to the level of the most civil
lied nations Of Europe.
In respect to the tree peasaHtry Of Russia all
the statistics we have been able to consult remain
silent. The only record We have found goes
back to 1852, and gives, as the amount Of en-
franchissd serfs in the whole of European Rus.
sia, the Insignificant figure Of 2O5, $50 souls.
CHARACTER OF sERFDoN.
What is serfdom: Is it that form of human
bondage which, under the name of slavery, is at
once disgrace and misfortune to mankind p
Or is it slavery in a modified form, a transient
state between absolute property in man, and that
kind of property which, though not the less val
liable to the master, is yet subject to certain le
gal obligations and to moral responsibility, pre-.
venting it from being as repulsive and odious as
the other.
The serf il not slave in the sense We give to
this word. If he is owned by another, the right
Of property is limited by law, and still more by
the influence OF European morals and by certain
obstinate ideas which prevail among the Russian
pessantry. In honor to the Russian nobility be
it said. that they are generally more humane than
the law and that their hberality towards the serf
is far in advance of the code. In certain sense
the serf cannot be sold; he belongs to the IS
tate, not to his master; to the soil, not to the
man; he goes where the estate goes, not where
his master wishes him to go; he cannot be sep
Grated from his wife and children. and when hired
ont, his family goes with him. Though forbid.
den to own real estate, he looks upon the soil on
which he lives as his immediate property; and
he feels himself deeply grieved when, in the
distribution made by the landlord or the com.
mune, another man gets more land than he does.
This feeling springs from the idea which the
Russian peasant has formed of the right Of prop
erty in land In his view, the soil belongs TO all
men, and not to any act of men or to any ind-
vidual pOssessor. Thus, whilst in the United
States, for instance, the land is the exclusive
property Of individuals, IN Russia it islOOked up
on by the people as their collective property,
represented by territorial districts or communes
In other words, there is but one class of serfs in
Russia, the peasantry. In free countries individ-
ual exerton has divided men into classes, disrin.
guished one from the other by the titles OF mer.
chants, mechanics and farmers. Such division
does not exist in Russia. The peasant fills all
these Offices himself; he is at once merchant,
mechanic and farmer. He transacts nearly the
whole commercial and agricultural business OF
the country, pays two thirds the government
expenses, and contributes an annual income to
his owner.
| POLITICAL ECONOMY IN RUSSIA.
| There never wac country claiming to possess
great prosperity and enjoying a superior state Of
civilization which has not pointed with pride to
the ze of its cities and its population As an evil
dence OF the justice o! its claim. Russia alone
forms an exception to this rule. The six hun
dred and sixty cities she holds are small and very
thinly populated Of population Of fifty eight
millions, only five millions Of inhabitants live in
cites; whilst in Great Britain, for instance elev-
en- millions, more than half of the population,
inhabt towns. Besides, the Russian cities have
no revenue, and the city Of Paris alone pays four
times the tax Of the six hundred and sixty cities
Of Russia. In reality Russia is but an immense
village Of $1,000 square miles, with very little
trade and very little industry, and consequently
without great commercial centres. Nearly all
her resources lie in the produce of the soil, and
the agricultural interests occupies ten-elevenths
of all her labOrers.
1t is clear that if her cities are empty, the
class which makes their greatness and their pros
perity must be very limited. Russia posse sees
only City three thousand merchants subject to
license, fifty one thousand Of which belong to
the third guild or class, and are mostly recruited
among manumitred serfs. This number would
be quite insufficient to carry on the trade of the
country we're not one hundred thousand peasants
filing up the deficiency and adding tteir activity
and industry to that Of the merchants. These
peasants are regular peddlers. They buy the
goods at twelve months credit, and scatter ths
products Of industry al over the surface Of thel
immense country, taking sometimes q year L
perform a single journey.
Need We say that the absence Of large cities
and Of merchandise to fill them up, preclude
there those large manufacturing establishments
which are the fortune aud pride Of certain othe
countries, and around and inside Of which circu
late and thrive whole generations of men, wom
en- and children? O~ing to the fettered system
cf labor, Russia still fingers in the 6rst stage q
civilization. She 10 almost exclusively an agri
cultural country, and her factories, though nL
merous, are 50 deficient aud so small, that the,
their produces is made BY hand, and the divis
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