The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1877-1885, 1881-04-14

guise of unlawful laws. Besides h,
wanted TO sell the ice hills of Alaska o
Russian America 10 the Unite,
States, for seven million dollars, and h
succet dgd. But that any Russian of tn,
Ruling Family should admire free in
stitutions, while trampllng on the neck.
for argument. That Family is repre-
sentative Of all that is cowardly cruel
just as the Russian government repre-
sents the acme IF brutal Despotism
No family among the Tartars, and per
haps none among the Thugs, car
Il show such list of 'assassins, con
spirators, and ''murderers, as these
wearers Of the royal purple They
have been stabblng, shooting, smother
ing, poisoning and undermining one
another for hundreds of year.
past. We observe that a Rus
sian paper tries to apologize for the
lack of feeling expressed BY the Russia1
nation at the death of the Gar b,
att-ibuting it to the Princess Do'go
rouski scandal 1t did NOT, of course,
dare to give the true reason namely
that the people (not the court cava
HerS ARE glau ne Is gone
We are not an napologist for Nihilism,
but we do sympathize with the down.
trodden, whip -lashcd people of Russia,
and we do rejoice that he Gar was
taught his connection with common
mortality, and human responsibility
and we further believe that the Nihilist
movement is part of the general 10
heaval in favor Of European liberty;
and We further believe that a very large
number of the Nihilists are as good OF
better, as pure or purer, as the writer
OF the article above quoted.
We need go NJ further than yester
days OJserUer to find statements which
show that Nihilism embraces many
Of the leading citizens of Russia not
the mere "ciosrn tit onlyto herd scine, :
of which the Russophobist speaks SO
contemptiously. One e>tract says the
Grand Duke Constantine, of the Roya
Family Is himself suspected of "Nihi-
listic" THAT is Republican Democratic
tendencies: ard has been forced to re
sign his high Offices Of Grand Admiral
or Minister Of Marine!
Another extract says: 1T IS learned
that Of the Nihilist> e5 per cent. 1rt
/ g,ntiemcR, 10 per cent. are sons ~
priests, 3 per cent. are peasants, (tnclu
ing those Of tie nobility ,otose N,hiiiAio
p5qncipLs led them to enroll Themselves as
| peasants,) 9 per cent. are shopkeepers.
3 per per cent. are merchants, pei
cent. are Jews and only per cent, are
soldiers. leaving e per cent unacoun
ted for
Moreover it is now known that the
Staying of Alexander was directed by a
woman hand, and that Sophie Pleoff
sky, is the daughter Of Provincial,
or State Governor and the niece of a
general IN the Russian Army. What
had She 20 gain except the freedom oil
/ her country? Gail such woman ''as
sas>in, when you can apply the same
epithet to Joan Of Arc, to Charlotte
Corday, and many another Heroine
whom The world honors
As for the Freeing of the Serfs-there
is great deal Of humbug written abou,
that. Alexander knew, as every other
Car has known from the days of Peter,
the first, and farther back, that the
peril OF rhe Russian throne lies in the
.
great families of Mobiles. To reduce
this danger, by reducing their fortunes,
be got up a mock fever of Philanthropy
and won wide spread praise for conierrins
Freedom which was from the first a
sham. 1t changed the masses in Russia
from ''Serfs" to Poems" Mexico i.
nominaly lald of Freedom, but large
part Of the people are slaves, because
the law allows any man to claim the
services OF any OF the lower classes who
owes him a debt; and as the ''Peon'
can rarely pay out of debt he becomes ;
slave for life
So, the Russian "Serfs, while nomi
ma ly free, were f reed to pay SO large
debt that few, or n0Ge, ever acquired
act al freedom. The Gar advanced t
the Mobiles part, OF the value of their es
tate>, and took mortgage on them
thus merely transferring the control .
the land from the Mobiles to the crown
hen the Gar required the Seris tc
! pay per cent on the money advanced
by him in redemption Of the estate:
for 49 years.
Now, six per cent is not much, in oul
rich and free America but a large par
Of Russia is so cold, sterile. and unde
veloped that millions of the Serf~ saw
, no earthly chance to pay anything.
, Like our freed ne groes-they had hard
rk to support lie, Then, the Gar
or the eOvei nment, Sald-''li you VII
not pay voluntarily, We viii asses. villa
, we choose, aHd collect il BY our tax
collectors. armed with the bayonet, anC
using the knout freely Mr. Mlcken
zie W Walace's recent book Oh Russi;
As 63 per cent of all transfers of land
from the Nobles to she peasants we're 0
+ the arbitrary, or as he calls it, ''th
obligatory kind.
Mr. Wallace tells Us that through
J out the southern agricultural zone
the great wheat producing area whose
surplus flows out from Odessa-th
: mouji-I is able, and not unwilling, t,
f pay his annualinstallment on the .un
: adv need by the Government. The
case is widely different iD the North
. ern agricultural zone, wh,re most 0
: the soil IS thin and poor, and which in
cludes the provinces that have latel,
| suffered 50 deplorably from an almos
| total failure Of crops In this vast belt
: which traverses the middle of Euro
: pean Russia and contains q Iclativol'
: dense populstion, the naonJtk is seldom
ahlc to free himself from the land dues
: Which are in excess of the lands rem
: ting value, and which, coupled WITT