Western Reserve chronicle. [volume] (Warren, Ohio) 1855-1921, 1864-03-16
The Great Russian Einancipa-

, tiOn. r
An English clergyman. Rev j. Long
. has spent five months in Russia for thu
special purpose of studying the effects o
serf emancipation on the spot. He ha
had every facility given him by the au
: thorities, and has also mingled freely witt
the enemies of the great reform. He al
so travelled extensively in the interior o
, the country and resided for time in
district 100 miles south of Moscow. We
could not do justice TO his report except
. by copying it entire which our limits dc
not allow. and we must content ourselves
with meagre abstract ...
!, The emancipation is completely tri
umphGnt in every respect. All the fore
bodIngs of the reactionaries have been
disappointed. There has been no llood.
shed, no excess, no social disorder, no de
clino of industry. Twenty-three millions
OF pe.T'e have been raised at once from
the e;s ssdation of ehattelism to the dig
nifty OF treemen, by the fat of one man.
in the space of two years in the face of q
most formidable opposition of nearly the
whole Russian nobility. The bitterest op-
ponents now admit that 'as the operation
had TO be performed some time, il was
well TO do il at once" intellectual and
social energies which had been frozen up
for centuries, are set free; the peasantry
are promising race of people and they
know how to appreciate the boon of liberty
Among the first financial results is the
general rise in the price of land all
| through Russia, at least a million of serfs
| having already purchased the land which
they formerly cultivated for master
Theg governments Systematically loans mon
| ey for this object. and all the money which
was formerly hidden in earthen pots is
brought out and invested in land. Every
peasant feels new incentive to industry
and economy, that he may be able TO buy
land. More houses are now built in a
year than used TO be built in half doz-
en- years. The new wants of the people
give surprising impulse to trade. The
nobility, who used 10 spend their incomes
at Paris or in Germany, are coming to live
on their estates, and spend their lives
in seeking TO promote the improvements
of the people. The appraised value of
property in the kingdom, is already en-
hapced almost beyond computation.
The educational and religions efforts
are equally signal. Already eight thous-
and schools have sprung into existence
among the peasants, by their own efforts,
aided by friends, the government having
no hand in it. Two years ago such thing
as day-schoOl among the peasantry was
hardly known. There is great anxiety to
be able to read the laws. as well as to read
Scriptures. To meet 4 pressing demand.
the church authorities have published the
Russian New Testament, at low price of
SIX pence 3 copy-sbout u cents Of
course the priests must make themselves
both intelligent and refined, if they wish
to keep their places among an educated
people. .-..........
The changes which have already been
made IN the municipal arrangements of
the country are equally wonderful. With
in the last two years the cities of Moscow
and st. Petersburg have for the first time
had mayors elected by the citizens In
the peasant villages, elections by the peo-
pie. and all measures are debated and set
tied in meetings-those pestilent nurse
ries of discomfort, the old tories called
them-the training schools Of freedom, as
every philosophical observer considered |
our American town meetings. An hon
orary local magistracy has been created |
all over the empire, OF men of character
and standing, who can execute justice be-
tween man and man, repress crime, and
protect the weak against the strong. Our
author says:
These municipal institutions are train
ing schools for the peasantry; they enable /
them to resist the oppression of the no
bic and the government employee, they |
also break the force of that can't alization |
which has been such a curse to Russia: |
and they are nucles to protect the weak |
against the Venal police of Russia, for, in |
the PEASANTS COURT oral evidence, sum
mary decision, and publicity form the
rules of proceedings while simple and |
cheap code of the law is administered" Z"
And, finally, the writer finds in all this
the first installment of fully developed |
liberal constitution for Russia, which l
must follow as an inevitable consequence:
Even the late Emperor Nicholas was
convinced that emancipation was neces-
sary, but he would not give it, knowing
that it would involve reform IN all other
of the State; that the up
heaVing of the masses would affect every
institution In Russia. AS serf emancipa-
ton included municipal institutions for
the peasantry, constitution, therefore.
for all Russia follows as a corollary; and |
found, among all intelligent Russians, the
full conviction that constitution must
come in few years; that as
constitutions grow out of eman-
so provincial assemblies are the
result of municipal freedom, and con-
stitution will be the fruit of provincial as
semblies. These steps are now being taken.
The Emperor Nicholas was fully sensi-
BILE of the importance of emancipation,
but he said clearly that constitutional
must follow, and this he
would not abide. Alexander II. has there
fore acted with his eyes open, and is pre-
I'D to follow out his first step to all its
>te results as fast as wisdom will
;itim,., b. "a was written, the Arabia
ow. the Official journal of
Since the ahoN ;ng an imperial
III steamer brings 4, the proTin-
Petersburg, contain Russia,
ase for the Organization Q, aud
Ii the exception of the Western =.
lite Provinces, Archangel. Astrachan,,
1 Bessarabia. This is the beginning of Gil
monarchy in Russia, wa
ose government will no longer have to ms
defined as ''despotism tempered by inf
The introduction of a re- tel
sentative constitution will, of course sit
atty contribute TO the education of the en-
ole people, and will thus have mark tai
influence upon the destiny of Europe. rul
We only add the remark, that even tn,
glish grumblers will soon cease to be lev
onished at the sympathy existing be- op
ZEN the imperial liberalism of the Eas- Ing
n and the imperial Republic of the 4SS
stern Hemisphere.-IndepenSent. the
# ..t on
A Scouts Exploit. mi
letter from Port Hudson says: zone lIo
our scouts, Philbrick, of the Third Ci'
cavalry, recently rode out WI