The Bennington banner. [volume] (Bennington, Vt.) 1858-1894, 1888-09-06
EXILE BY ADMINISTRATIVE PRO

EAlLE BY ADMINISTRATIVE PRO
CESS.
From an illustrated article under tb,
above title, by George Kennan, in th,
September Century, we quote as follows
, Exile by administrative process mean
the banishment of an obnoxious person
from one part Of the empire to anothe
without the observance of any Of thu
legal tormalities that, in most civilized
countries, precede or attend deprivation
of rights and the inflictIon of punish.
ment. The person 80 banished may no
be guilty OF any crime, and may no
have rendered himsel amendable in any
way to any law of :he State; but il, il
the opinion OF the local authorities, hi
presence in a particular place Is 'preju-
diclal to social order he may be arrest
ed without warrant, and with the con
currence of the Minister of the Interior
may be removed forcibly to any othel
place within the limits of the empire
and there be put under police surveil-
lance for a period Of five years. He may
or may not, be informed of the reasons
for this summary proceeding, but in
either Case he is perfectly helpless. He
cannot examine the witnesses upon
whose testimony his presence is declared
TO be 'prcju1icial to social order He
cannot summon friends to prove bis
loyalty and good character without
great risk OF bringing upon them the
same calamity which has befallen him.
He has no right to demand a trial, or
even a hearing. He cannot sue out a
writ of habeas corpus. He cannot ap
peal TO the public through the press,
His communications with the world are
so suddenly severed that sometimes even
his own relatives do not koow what has
happened to him. He IL literally and
ab- -olutely without any means whatever
of r.f-pr' lection.
AS AN illustration of the sort of cyl
dcnce upon which the presence of Ger
tam PERSONS in the cities and provinces
Of European Russia is declared to bt,
'prejudIcial to social order | will give
two typ'cal cases from the great number
in my ruIe book. Some of the readers
of The Century may still remember a
young naval officer named Constantine
StaniukovItch. who was attached to the
staff Of the Grand Duke Alexis at the
tine of he latter's visit to the United
States. From the fact that saw in Mr..
S'anIukUvitrh' house in TOmsk num-
ber Of Visiting cards Of people well
known III the cities of New York and
San Francisco, infer that he went
good deal into society here, and that he
may stiIi he recalled to mind by persons
who met him. He was the son of Rus
siau admiral, was an officer of great
promise, and had before him the pros
pect of brilliant career in the Russian
naval service. He was, however, man
of broad and liberal views, with
natural taste for literary pursuits, and
after his return from America he resign
ed his position in the navy and became
an author. He wrote a humber of novels
and plays which were very successful,
but of which the Government did not
approve, and in 1882 or 1883 he purchas-
ed well known Russian magazine in
st. Petersburg called the 'Diello,' and
became its editor and proprietor. He
spent n considerable part of the summer
of 1884 abroad, and in the latter part of
that year left his wife AMI children at
at Baden-Baden, and started for ST.
Petersburg. At the Russian frontier
station of Virzhbolof he was suddenly
arrested, was taken thence to st. Peters
burg under guard and was there thrown
into the fortress of Petropavloysk. His
wife knowing nothing of this misfortune
continued to write TO him at st. Peters
burg without getting any answers to
her letters, until finally she became
alarmed, and telegraphed to the editor
ial department of the 'Diello,' asking
what had happened to her husband and
why he did not write to her. The man
aging editor of the magazine replied
lnt iNg,k
and that they had supposed him to still
be in Baden-Baden. Upon the receipt
of this telegram, Mrs. Staniukovitch,
thoroughly frightened proceeded at once
with her children to st. Petersburgh.
Nothing whatever could be learned there
with regard to her husbands where
abouts. He had not been seen at the
editorial rooms of the 'Diello, and none
of his friends had heard anything of or
from him in two weeks. lie had sud-
denly and mysteriously disappeared. AT
last, after days of torturing anxiety Mrs.
was advised to make in
quiries of General Orzeefski, the Chief
of Gendarmes. She did so. and found
that her husband was prisoner in one
of the cast mates of the Petropaylovsk
fortress. The police, as it afterward
appeared, had for some time been inter
cepting and reading his letters and had
that he was IN correspond.
eDce with a well known Russian revolu.
ZIONIST who was then living in Switzer-
land. The correspondence was perfect
ly innocent in its character, and related
solely to the business of the magazine
but the fact that an editor, ami man
of known liberal views, was in commu-
with political refugee was re-
garded as sufficient evidence that his
presence in st. Petersburg would be
'prejudicial TO social order, and his ar
rest followed. In May, 1885, he was ex-
lied for three years by administrative
process to the city of Tomsk, in Western
Siberia. The publication of the maya
zine WAS of course suspended in conse-
quence of the imprisonment and ulti-
mate banishment of its owner, and Mr..
was financially ruined.
II the Russian Government deals in this
arbitrary way with men of rank, wealth,
and high social position in the capital Of
the empire, 1t can be imagined what
treatment is accorded to physicians, stu.
dents, and small landed proprietors
whose presence is regarded as 'prejudi-
cial to social order in the provinces.