The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1884-01-12
TWENTY YEARS IN SIBERIA.
End of the Mystery That Has Surrounded a
Remarkable Rams Captivity.

ldtt u tilt Il the most fPfQafkdDle lguftSl IN llt
history Of Russian Nihilism may now be re
earded as definitely dispelled. have seen and
conversed with Tschernishevsky have heard his
story from his own lips. l found him at his
new quarters, in a quiet street near the center
or Astrakhan. He received me with Il mixture
OF affablllty and reserve natural both to the
man and his position. For this | was prepared.
What had not looked forward to was the
rather abrupt wrench to preconceived notions
given by his whole personality as he came for
ward to shake me by the hand. |
had not pictured him as a man prema-
turely old, wearing his nineteen years of
exile broadly marked upon hair, features, and
gait. Instead of the decrepit sylny depicted so
frequently in Nihilistic literature, he stood be
fore me erect. broad shouldered, strong-iimbed
and active, looking at ~ffty-fve fully ten years
younger. Yet, as impression succeeded i'm
preston, l found my first surprise beginning to
evaporate. We took seats at a side table, and
cigars were brought. | could then look
Internationally full in the face. Anything
more unlike tile pale attenuated countenance of
the earlier photographs could scarcely be mag
med. That youthful spirituality Of expression
which has SO long been the dream of the st.
Petersburg coulsiste is gone. Good-humored,
expressive features are left, it is true-blue eyes,
sparkling with intelligence, q high forehead.
over the right of which brown locks are allowed
to fall IN careless confusion and a beard just
sufficiently developed to continue the symmetry
OF the lower part Of the face.
6 B%5 healthy thy R and strong TT RS
@N ~" oNA III ITO lIlAA&Atl
to an unusual degree, some of his movements
struck me as convulsive, half involuntary. He
is a confirmed myope, and his glance through
spectacles Is uneasy and uncertain. His hands
trembled. At times he would almost spring from
his chair to fetch something from an adjoining
apartment, his return being characterised by the
same startling abruptness. Now and then he
INDUCED in d Short, dry laugh-the only oasis of
a long pause and silence between us-as some
recollection seemed to sweep across his brain;
but whether the recollection was comical or Sc
rious, pleasant or painful, l could never find out.
L saw clearly enough that he was suffering from
chrome nervous prOstration, and | let him talk
as and when he would. He conversed with me
quite freely. Tschernishevsky is a perfect
master of English, which he likes, he told me,
better than his native tongue, but he
knows it only ''as a dead language" He could
not calculate a word. Yet, by a strange CONTRA
dlctlon. Latin, the only really lea dlanguace with
which he IS familiar, he talks tuently. French
he speaks imperfectly; German not at all. Our
conversation was throughout in Russian; but
when he desired to be unusually emphatic he
would seize paper and pencil and scribble off a
few lines in correct idiomatic English.
Extraordinarily, delighted to find an English
man familiar with his writings, at once consented
TO tell me what he knew concerning the cause of
his exile. His t~reatises on art and philosophy
were, Of course, out of the question. He Smiled
when spoke of "Chto dyelat. " shaking his head
as | told him that in western Europe there were
writers under the impression that it was his TO
nance which had mainly given offense to the
Government. That is an error" he replied.
My fate has not been in any way influenced
by anything ! have spoken or written or
done since my imprisonment, and 'Chto
dyelat, you remember, was composed by me IN
the Petro-Pavlovsky Fortress at st. Petersburg
Extraordinarily went on to explain that the real
cause of his Imprisonment and exile was a series
Of articles on political and economical subjects
published in Nekrassovs review, the Sovremenik
Contemporary among them being a criticism
OF John Stuart Mills work on political economy.
We then came to the exile itself. TScherniSeV-
skyS replies showed that most of the statements
pui1iieiIod concerning lne p1oco Vr ua!1SiIIEvlIt
have been Incorrect. He never was at kOlymsk,
known in Siberian literature rs the lost post
From 1864, the year in which he was eXiled, TO
1871 he lived at a station in the Zabaikul Prov
ince, Eastern Siberia; since 1871 up to the pres
ent year he has been detained at Vilnisk, a
town on the River Nilni. not far from lrkutsk.
| asked thecause of the transference. Tschernish-
evsky replied: "lhe formal katorga (hard laborl
was at an end in 1871; | was then formally named
a pOselenyets freed convict allowed to become
colonistE and Nilnisk WAS designated by the
government as my new place Of residence
Knowing that his sentence was fourteen years
hard labor in the mines-afterwards committed
to seven-with subsequent exile to Siberia for
life, | asked what he meant by formal katorga.'
Was he not a convict! Had he not been in the
mines! NO, was his answer. Il never worked
as a convict, and | have never been one in any
sense of the word. 1t is quite true that ! was
named a convict in the official organ of the gov
eminent, but that was a formal thing only
nothing more remembering the stories of the
subterranean galleries. l inquired: Were you
ever in chainsl' For some days" he replied
after a pause, perhaps a week. but it was done
by some agents of the government who had mis-
understood my real relations with the aUthOri-
ties. When the government came to hear of it
they gave orders that it should not be repeated.
But that he went on, with q slight wave Of the
hand, is hardly worth speaking Of. That cpl.
sode excepted, | was always treated by the
osgaIfS of fbp r0ynpuV1pOt aS ppcOpctf11llv- oG ou1r
man living could desire. My treatment was not
that of a convict, but throughout that Of Il
prisoner of war. The hard labor of which |
have spoken was for me. as well as for many Of
the Russian and Polish political eXiles among
whom MY lot was cast, a name only-it existed
on paper, but had no reality"
next questioned Internationally as to his
pecuniary resources, occupations, and society in
exile. His position as a formal convict does
not seem to have differed much from that of the
other katorzhniki treated as prisoners of war"
During the period OF his stay in the Zabaikal
province he received considerable sums of money
from the poet Nekrassov and other friends. AS
a poselenyets he was specially provided for.
The ordinary "colOnist7 is required to earn
his own living, either by cultivating the
piece of land apportioned to him or by obtain
ing employment of some kind. Throughout
the twelve years Of his residence at Vilnisk
Extraordinarily had about two hundred rubles
(f20) allowed to him annually by the govern
ment. On my remarking that this sum was a
small one, ne fepiled uha1 1000 was cheap IN
Vilnisk, and that his wants being few, lie had
found the amount quite ample. Society he
went on, half repeating my own interrogation.
'sWhat could you expect! The only society l
had during the first period of my Punishment
was that of some Russian and many Polish po-
litical eXiles. Some of them | loved ardently,
and love still. AT Vilnisk l had no society
worth speaking of-merely that of muzhiks. and
of people from whom l purchased You spent
some Of your time in writing" l suggested Il
did, - he said. when ideas came into my head |
wrote, but / have preserved nothing. Icomposed
while in Siberia several novels and some treat
Uses on universal history, but they have alt
been burned" by you'll queried. by me-
he replied. Tschernishevsky further told me
reviews. as understood him to say, throughout
the period of his exile. ENTHUSIASTICALLY had
o,ood deal to cav about Enolish Iitera+1,ra He