New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1889-12-01
TN THE LAND OF THE GAR
MILITARY DETECTIvE-sERFDoM-THE
KNoUT AS A CIyILrZER.


evso,, ~ occ .s1osAL CORRESPONDENT OF The rRDrSxi
ST. Petersburg, November 10
Tho Cour, IL still AT CATCHING, TO the great dis
tress and discomfort Of the Ministers and of all
persons having business of one kind or another
with the Imperial Family. The weather is simply
execrable, and the long and tedious drive through
the muddy streets to the Warsaw hallway
terminus ana the still more tedious railway Journey
10 CATCHING are both depressing ana faiigu'ns'
Everything here has drenched damp ana soddeh
aspect Even the very statues, which literally
swarm in all corners Of the capital, appear 10
suffer from the weather andto regard the rain 10
10 pours down in torrents on their unprotecteh
heads with feelings Of utter despair. The fare
of these statues is indeed hard one, and my
worthy, Of commiseraton In winter time they
are haf-hidden from view by tie snow and Ice,
in spring and in autumn they are drenched with
rain without even being permitted the use Of an
umbrella, and in summer. when the weather ~
clear ST. Petersburg becomes hot and I'M
healthy that everybody who afford 10 do so
is forced to leave the city.
Count Scheremtzeff. who has the reputation OF
being the richest in all Russia, and who holds
the post of Grand Hunisman Of the Imperial
Court. met with serious accident last week while
driving on the Newslly Prospect. The horses Of
in order TO save himself. and not only dislocated
his shoulder but also sustained a compound fract-
ure of the leg The Count is the only one Of the
Russian mobiles whom the Gar condeseends 10
honor with his confidence and hi' intimacy. lhs,
it is true is partly due 70 the fact that the Couns
is related by marriage 10 the Imperial Family.
His wife is the daughter of the late Grand Duchess
Marie Nicolaieyna, aunt Of the present. Czar.
As such Countess Scheremtzeff is first cousin OF
the Emperor, and both she and her husband,
man Of unquestioned loyalty and untarnished
reputation, come into daily contact with Alex"
ander III and his consort Their position. indeed
is quite an exceptional one. The only person VINO
enjoys anything like the same influence is Old
General Won Richter who was with the Enperor
before he succeeded to the throne.
Two Colonies of the Guard, Lassoff and Sher-
mel by name, have just been dismissed from the
Army, and General TOmanowsky who has hlther-
to commanded the cavalry division Of the Uuard'
has been placed the retired list for gross nan-
cial Irregularities The punishment inflicted upon
the officers in question has caused great sensa"
ton here, as they were well known both at court,
in the salons. and in cubland Their disgrace ID
due to the investigations of an ugly little colonel
of the name of Baranok-a word which means IN
English little sheep lie must, however, he
REGARDED as a wolf in sleeps clothing. For
wherever he appears upon the scene catastrophe
is certain TO ensue. A Jew by birth, he deemed
it prudent at an early period of has career to for'
sake the creed of his fathers and TO become con-
verified to orthodoxy Nor has be ever had any
worldly occasion TO regret this step; for on en-
terng the military service be was quickly pro-
NOTED by General Skobelef, under whom ne
served from the ranks to the office Of his private
secretary and at the close of the White Generals
eventful career found himself invested with thd
dignity of a major of the general stall Since
then he has become the factotum and righthand
man of the present Minister of War, who makes
use of his keen powers of option to discover
and run TO ground the numerous corrupt rings IN
the army The number of the little sheeps
victims is already very large Only nine months
ago general holding one Of the principal COM
mands in Turkestan and seven members Of his
staff were ANONYMOUSLY dismissed from the SER
vice for dishonesty, within couple of weeks
after receiving visit from Colonel Baranok AT
their quarters The disgrace, however, of Gem
eral Tomanowslly has attracted more attention
than any other For in addition TO his glorious
record as a successful commander and to his great
popularity at court and in society, he was on
terms of warm friendship with most Of the Grand
Dukes, almost all of whom had started their MILF
tary career under his auspices Under the cir
cumstances il would astonsh nobody if Baranok
were found murdered one day. OF course the
crime would at once be laid at the door OF the
Nihiliss and everybody excepting the Car ana
the Minister of War would breathe more freely TO
know that the hideOus little detective with his
evil eye was covered by marble tombstone and
six feet of damp earth.
Hitherto the impression has prevailed in Russla}
as elsewhere in Europe, that seridom was abolished
once and for all time in SCI by the late Emperor
This is, however. far from being the case, ana ~
appears from the Russian newspapers that serf-
dom in all its pristine form oursheS on the north,
ern shores Of the Caspian Sea. Indeed, the Official
gazette of the Transcaucasus Government am
nounces that several great landowners on the
steppes have been eXiled 70 Siberia for perpetrat-
ing barbarous and revolving cruelties on their
serfs On inquiry il is found that when AeXan-
der II issued the uasc abol.shing serfdom in
SOL, he for some reason or other excluded
the Kalmuel serfs of the Aimans,'
as the landed estates called the
steppes, from deriving any benefit under said
ukase. Simultaneous with the discovery of this
considerable remnant of the horrible slavery known
as Russian scrfdom. is the appearance of numerous
letters in the leading papers Of st. Petersburg,
Moscow and Kieft, on the question as 10 whether
or not the of the lInout should he restored
for the punishment of the peasantry. General
opinion is sad 10 relate, in favor Of Its being
brought into fashion asain, Inc GIraHSndannd
society leader, Prince MetcherwSS and which ID
regarded the official organ OF NJ. Pobiedonotsof,
the Procurator OF the Holy synod op,nly advo-
Gates the knout as means sof civlizing the
ignorant and degraded peasanry. II IS well
known that the late Count Tolstoi. the Minister
of the Interior, WAS in favor of that terrible
instruments of torture which h regarded as the
basis and cornerstone, If one can call 10 10. OF
the Russian governmental and social system
Both he and most Of the upper classes at ST.
Petersburg claim that the knout is far more
mercifu and just means Of punishment than fines
or Imprisonment. For in both OF the latter cases
Il Family Of the offender suffers whereas il the
cuorit is well logged h. alone is visited with
the ccward of his wrong dOings.
"