Connecticut western news., 1884-01-23
RUSSIA AND THE PEOPLE.
WORDS OF PRAISE FROM RX.mINIS-
 TER CASsIUS M. CLAY.
He Believes Russia to be the Most Charita
 ble and Humane Nation on Earth.

He Believes Russia to be the Most Charita ble and Humane Nation on Earth. Ex-Minister Cassius M. Clay writes to the Richmond (Ky.) Herald as follows :: In our journal of December 12, IS paper which is a type of the malignant calumnies of the anti-Russian press for century or more. lived in St. Peters burg for near nine years and made Rus sian life a study, mingling with all classes for that purpose. I dined with the Emperor and Imperial families and took cabbage soup and black bread with | the woodmen who, came from the in- terior on boats and rafts. Perhaps there is no American living or dead who can speak with more authority than can on the real character of Russia. I believe there is no more charitable and human nation on the earth than Russia. give the proofs. There are no deaths by absolute poverty in Russia as in the great cities of Paris, London, New York and other European cities. Besides the charitable associations established by law, the first nobles in Russia, men and women, yearly, by organized societies, collect funds by gifts, needlework and other methods for clothes, soup houses and bread, which are distributed all winter in St. Petersburg, and such methods are pursued in other cities.
 The infants that are drowned and thrown into sewers in Europe and America are taken at day old, if need be, and brought up at the public ex- pense in St. Petersburg, Moscow and other cities. These children when grown up to suitable age are put to service and may make generous living. Rus- sia liberated her slaves not by war, and gave them lands. America did neither. I I dined with the nephew of Prince Dol gorouky, Governor-General of Moscow (viceroy), and a liberated serf or slave was at the table as guest and made the best dinner speech on the occasion. The Russians open all their pleasure grounds besides the public parks to the whole people. They never bar the gates and close the doors against the "rabbIe' as iR England and America. In the summer the yards are open and the win. dows without blinds that the humblest peasants may see and hear the music. On all great occasions of a private nature all the poor are feasted or otherwise en- tertained by suitable means. In Eng. land and America even house servants are treated with contempt, and my own family remonstrated on my return home because said good morning, as was my habit in Russia, to them. The Russian noblemen speak kindly always to their interiors; the Englishmen and Americans out of the South rarely ever
 The Russian Empire is large and sparsely populated, so that the means ol subsistence do not at all press upon the increase of population. In the large cities, as I said, no absolute suffering fol the necessaries of life is possible. Nov as to prisons. There was at no time while was in Russia, so far as I know and believe, one equal in its infamy tc the Kentucky Penitentiary. And Gov. ernor Blackburn deserves not denunci ation, but eternal honor for his manhood and philanthropy, against the barbarian clamors of the press, for his reform. When l was in St. Petersburg the cholera was several times in that city oI 600, 900, and there was no more sensa. ton than if the measles or whoopinp cough prevailed. Every subject of the disease was taken at once to wholesome hospitals, we'll attended, then when con. valescent, returned without charge tc their homes. The streets of St. Peters. burg were hundred times cleaner than the streets, alleys and back yards oi Richmond. They never burned down the pest houses in Russia, as they did the other day in Madison county, when smallpoYprevailed.
 As to prisons in Siberia, am glad tc have an opportunity to refute some oI the worldwide calumnies of the anti. Russian press. Siberia is not so vile s country as the French penal colony ot Cayenne, nor the original Australia ot England. Three Siberian born ladies married nobles in St. Petersburg-one the Prince Suwarrow, the grandson ot the Prince Suwarrow of Napoleon's time; the other sisters married well, one an officer on the staff of the Emperor. ] have heard them speak of the "father land' as would German. And these were the descendants of Siberian exiles. do not hesitate to say that of all the people ever knew the Russians are the most genial and hospitable. It is true the ranks in Russia are very distinct and marked; but the humane spirit oi Russia thaws all coldness, breaks al conventional barriers and fuses the whole into one national feeling as in no other land. That is the reason that Russians never emigrate. That is the reason oi the invincible courage of the Russian army. What 'calumniators call ''stolid ity" is unshaken and heroic patriotism, l could fill book of similar proof, but I hold:-
 "Wad but some power the giftie gis us
 To see oursels as ithers see us I''
 
 GRATITUDE. tramp who had been