The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1876-09-03

identical principles, has failed 20 produce
everywhere the same effects. proving In
one quarter onerous to the peasant and In
another TO the proprietor. To this circum-
stance Is partly due the diversity OF opin-
ions expressed even in Russia respecting
this great reform. That among the former
masters OF the soil the least rich would
suffer most, was so easy to foresee that the
manumisson act still promised succor to
the smaller land owners. many Of whom
End themselves completely ruinea. ON
the side of the peasants no category was
specified as entitled to amends, but indi-
rectly the State has sometimes relieved
them by RENTING arrears Of taxes.
Even where the conditions Of purchase
were most favorable, the enfranchised
class has sometimes failed TO profit by
them. Not seldom the peasants discov-
cred a repugnance, doubtless justified by
the bitter experience Of centuries, for the
transaction to which they were invited.
Many saw in II n trap, and, imagining that
the Car ultimately intended to bestow
the land upon them gratis, supposed the
bopdr alone interested in Its transfer by
purchase. Thus, in village belonging to
one of the richest provinces an upright
and generous proprietor tried TO make his
quondam serfs understand how much for
their advantage 1t was to secure the maxi
mum area permitted by the local statute.
His proposition only awoke suspicion, and.
after long discussion, was rejected by the
commune. Such cases are not rare, and
they demonstrate that the legislator had
his reasons in fixing minimum of land
which the peasant may be compelled to
buy.
While all the liberated serfs are very far
from having the same motives for regret,
yet the greater part Of them bctrny Il com
mon feeling OF disappointment and disil-
fusion. The expectations reused in the
masses of the people by the name OF eman-
cipation were too lofty ana chimerical,
and the mouth, emancipated, seems to
have forgotten the expressions and exac-
tons OF serfdom, and to regard only his
present burdens and the evanescencc Of
his dreams. Neither can 1t be denied that
among the classes which shape public
| opinion the actual outcome OF the measure
is viewed with dissatisfaction, almost dis
| couragement. Like the moujik, the cult
waited Russian had figured n terrestrial
| Eden behind the act Of manumlssion, had
| beheld in free Russia new and ideal
| land, wholly different from the land Of
serfs. Now, as it happens, the couse-
| quences for good and evil have been less
| far-reaching, less conspicuous, less decisive.
thnn some hoped and others feared.
While the Liberation of the Russian serfs
has not yet answered the impatient wishes
of its promoters, II has been by no means
| sterile, and manifestly holds the germ of
| healthful transformation and reasonable
| progress. Politically, the effect is so far
null, but in other directions the fruits are
well defined ana precious. We might point,
| for instance, TO a signal economical adj
vance due TO the stimulus given produc-
ton by liberty, by the activity of paid
labor and by competition, to n moral inn
| provement resulting from the enfran-
chisoment OF the popular conscience, aud
the new feeling of responsibility and final
| ly to the social metamorphosis which has
followed the decay Of patriarchal habits
| and the growth Of individuality. That
such consequences are not far more salient
Is probably chargeable to the repressive
unifying tendencies of the communal sys-
break the possible reooil Of vast national
| upheaval