The Milan exchange. (Milan, Gibson County, Tenn.) 1874-1978, 1884-06-21

merrlment at the peculiar Philosophy OF
the administration"
In the hut with Leon Melville found |
four other Young men, all political ex-
lies the oldest twenty-seven and the |
youngest eighteen years of age. They |
were all professional men and spoke |
French fluently, some of them German
and others little English. All were /
Nihilists, though several said they had
not been so until after their Danish
ment. Each one had mournful story
to tell They were from different parts
of the empire, had known the inside of
Russian prisons all the way from Arch
angel to the Crimea, and were finally
sent to the frontier for safe-keeping.
They questioned Melville eagerly in re-
gard to the navigation of the Siberian
coast, and had number of charts and
maps. They had often talked and
dreamed, they said, about making their
escape, but a thousand miles of river
and two thousand miles of coast seemed
an impossible journey with the means
at their command.
Melville continued his visits to the
exiles. "In the evenings" he says,
several parties were given, when the
men sang, played, ate, gambled, drank
and smoked. The women did as much
in separate apartments of their own,
and | astonished the assembly by tell
ing them that L never played cards, not
even IN my own country. Leon, who
was present, told me that they would
think evil of me. They will say to
themselves, this is a queer man who
neither CANDLES nor smokes, he must
be Away thinking, and man who does
that is dangerous But this was a
speech of poor exile, whose life was
lost because by reading and rejecting
he had learned the truths of morals and
politics and had unwisely uttered them
aloud. He had read Mill, Golden and
Herbert Spencer and longed for English
books, for though they had an English,
together with German and French,
dictionary in the hut they had no other
books printed in English and begged
me for the Bible or any other English
book in the navigation box, which, as
they were relics of the expedition, L
was obliged to refuse"
The hut the exiles lived in was, it ap-
pears, miserable affair, built after the
manner of Yakutsk youpata, of rough
timber plastered with mud, containing
the usual outer and inner apartments,
kind of weather-por IN and kitchen
which contained their fireplace and
cooking apparatus. In the inner apart
ment, where they lived, they kept their
books, bedding and clothes. Russian
illustrated papers were pasted on the
walls, but the ceiling was so low that
the room presented dark and dismal
appearance, and candles were burning
there at midday. The Government al
rows each exile monthly stipend Of
twenty-five rubles (paper), about S12. 90
in American coin. Out of this they
must feed, clothe and house themselves,
besides procuring fire-wood and service.
This is almost absolute restitution, for
in Siberia the pud, or forty pounds Rus
sian (thirty-siX pounds American), costs
five rubles. Sugar is worth ruble a
pound. Though venison, beef, horse
flesh and fuel are comparatively cheap,
all the other necessaries of life are eX-
travagantly dear Some of the exiles
had rich relatives who sent them mon
ey, but not more than three hundred
rubles could be sent at one time, and
the mail service is so irregular that
: sometimes there is only one delivery il
six months, and only at odd intervals
during the winter when some Govern.
ment official has occasion to 90 over the
road. No exile may send or receive any
: sealed package. Everything of that ma
I ture must be opened and read or exam
( ined by the Cossack Commandant OF
Chief of Police. ..tE
l "My coming" Melville writes, "filleC
= them with the widest hopes, for here
r tofore it had been considered as impos
S sible to effect an escape by the Arctic
Y Ocean as to cross a living sea of fire
t and for them, doubtless, it would be, a
+ there was not seafaring man in thei
s number, nor one, suspect, who haC
= ever seen the rolling ocean. Yet befor,
5 lett they told me that they intended
d to make the attempt, and / ardentl'
y hoped that it might be successful, 70
a here | saw youth, intelligence and re
S tinement banished for life to an Arcti
desert, without companionship OF book
r or cultivated society, surrounded b,
:, filthy and disgusting Yakutsk, who wer
+ 10 q certain extent their keepers-fo
V the natives are held strictly accounta
BILE, under penalty of the dreaded knou
o or of Imprisonment, for the escape O
d an exile, since nobody could travel fla
J. into the country without their know
II edge.
> The exiles told Melville that all the
IS asked and strove for was constitt
n tional form of government. The
only wanted the privilege of being in
d prisoned and hanged, if needs were
II under Russian law and constitution
e and not driven like herd of cattle int
ir exile by the Chief of Police of som
is small provincial town"