The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1875-06-18
HMM" BLOOMSBURY, PA. FRIDAY, JUNE

l''N l'lN0'tlNt VI lll' NIii, WIN ltNtlNtl llllll
without any fuss, cordially graspcd his hand
and followed his hearty salutation with q
whole yolloy of questions relating to the new
| Minister and his country. All this time the
lecturer said he WAS trying to find an open
ing when he might begin the delivery of a
speech he had in his coat-tail pocket; but
whenever he reached for it tho Gar piled
him with new questions and 80 that oration
was lost to the world,
This presentation at Court broke the ice,
and after that thore was no lacl; Of society.
On his retumto his lodgings an officer pre-
scnted him long lis! Of persons he was OK
| pcctcd to call upon. He had the curiosity
| afterwards to count their names, and found
| there were more than three huUdred and fifty
Of them. And he was expected to call in
person on Ill thoso-it would not DO to aim
ply leave q card, and 10 he plunged into the
business making twenty or thirty calls each
| day All these calls were returned. lie
| never received moro hospitable and kindly
| treatment anywhere than in St.'Pe,crsbure,
| and he shonld always remember his life
| there with pleasure lie embraced every
possible opportunity to make excursions into
the country, and tried to learn for himself
the condition and prospects Of the common
people.
Their villages arc small and mean, tho
houses being but one story high, and bull.
of logs, frequently without floors, and with
stable and cattle pen attached directly in the
rear. There is generally little church with
priest Of the established religion, smiths
shop and always a tavern. This latter nsti-
tuition is a prime necessity in every Russian
village, for every Russian is an incurablc
I, drunkard He has liquor distilled lrom
| rye, much stronger than our strongest whis-
key, and this he drinks habitually. The
liquor is always pure however, for the gov
ernment carefully inspccts it. Drink does
not operate upon tho Russian as upon other
men, for a, he gets drunk he becomes good
natured, and the drunkcr he grows the pleas
ant2r he becomes. Even the highest class
Of Russians are not exempt from this vice.
| The Russian does not treat his wife with
much affection or respect, and the women
are not noted for their fidelity to their mar
ragc vow. The Russian says the Tartar
blood in them makes the women dsobedient
and unfaithiul, and that they must be fre-
qucn.y thrcshod to keep them loving and
obcdicnt In illustration of tho treatment
of women The speaker told how one of the
servants Of the house where he lived was in
the habit Of whipping his wife in the court
yard, in full view of the Minister'S family.
He objected to this, and finally appealed to
the Chief Of Police to prevent it; but was
told that there was no law to stop the whip
ping, although the man wa, required to be
q little more private in his exhibitions of
family government afterwards.
Tho lecturer then passed to the subject of
scrflom in Russia. lie said that the insti.
tuition was established by one the best and
wi,cst rulers the empire ever had. Scrclom
there and slavery in this country originated
about the same time, but they sprang from
very different motives. Scrflom was insti-
tuted TO fix the wandering nomalic native
to the sell, and so rcuder the arts of cvili-
za,ion possible and make Russia a nation,
while slavery was established to crafty the
greed ana cupidity of our ancestors. Serf-
dom was dccrced in 1913, and at first was
comparatively mild institution, but it az
| tcrwards became an abominable system of
slavery. At first there were only two classes
II, Il,
owned both the scrr and the land. After
wards ovcrseers, called boyars were appoint
| ed and, as the tendency Of power is always to
grayitate from the many to the few, these
boyars soon came to exercise dcspotic power
over both the serf and his owner. The scrf
could be put to death with impunity and the
noble could be thrown into prison by these
boyars, and there was no appeal, When
Peter the Great came to the throne he set on
foot an inquiry about the scrls with view
to amclorate their condition; but he was so
busy with his wars and labors to extend and
consolidate hi, empire that the subject was
forgotten,
| The speaker expressed Il very high opin-
ion of Peter the Great, lie found Russia
with l2,O00.000 inhabitants; he left it with
IO0O0Oo). He was statesman and an ar
tisan--a law giver and Il civil engineer lie
made surveys in person. He worked in
ivory, and wood, and brass, many beautiful
pieces Of his handiwork being preserved in
the Russian palaces. lie butt house and
! the furniture for it with his own hands, and
that house stands in st. Petersburg to-day
being not much larger than the stage on
which the speaker stood lie went to Ger
many and learned ship building. lie went
to England and ordered rigatc to be built
in which TO ride home lie inspected the
workshops, manufactures ulschooIs Pass,
ing one day near one of the courts of law
he saw 4 crowd Of men coming out witt
robes and wigs ON. He asked whom thest
men We're, and being told they were lawyers
he said, "Do they multiply 50 fast Is that
have two in Russia, and intend, when
90 home to hang onc.' lie was ascm-bar
blrian; but civilization in Russia dates from
his reign. He built the beautiful city of 81
Petersburg among the marshes Of the Neva
calling 10000 people from one part Of hi
empire one year. and 10000 from anothe
part the next, until the worl; was completed
All this he did, dying at the early age of -
and he was drunk more than half his time
Notwithstanding he had cut o1' the heads {
two hundred persons with his own hand
| 1 4 / 1 I
differed with him politically, he lost his lii
by plunging into the Neva to save some poe
f peasants who had capailed,
, The lecturer then proccdedto speak of II
= reign Of Catharine.-thc most dissolutc bl
5 one Of the greatest rulers Russia ever ha,
F. She procured the assassination of her ow
- husband and cntrapppd and drowned h,