Morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven [Conn.]) 1848-1894, 1891-03-02

/
He has absolutely no time for any ordi-
nary recreation or amusement. The rea-
son for this is simple. He is the personal
ruler of over one hundred millions of peo-
pie. The form of government of which
he is the head makes him a yeritable slave
to work. Not single kind of public
work can be done in Russia without his
personal ukase. No bridge can be built,
no roadway constructed-in fact, there is
no detail of administration in Russia
which does not depend upon his personal
| will. This complication of the work of
vast empire keeps the car occupied from
| the time he is out of bed in the morning
| at six O'Clock until he retires at ten. To
| great extent he has to depend upon his
ministers and the reports of the bureau
officers, for the government of Russia is
practically a bureaucracy.
| The car is not as accessible as other
European rulers; still he can be seen by
| those who have really any business to
transact which would warrant an audi
ence. He receives every day deputations
from his own pesple, governors of provin-
| ces, chiefs of bureaus and the like. He is
a man of iron will, with a disposition for
fairness and for equity not ordinarily
| credited to Russian ruler.
He is more conservative, however than
| his father, more inclined to resist changes.
| The cruel assassination of his father must
have affected his character in this respect
1t is not generally known that the Gar
| Alexander had prepared a ukase few
| days before his assassination which would
| have created Russian parliament His
death put an end to that project, and il
will probably delay the establishment of a
| parliament beyond the life of the present
cZar. Any considerations of the admins
| tration of affairs in Russia should be taken
/ in connection with a study of the charac-
ter of the people governed. They are TO a
| certain extent a emi-barbarous race A
| large proportion of them are actually de-
scendants of Asiatic tribes. The Russians
are not a cruel people. Their ruling Off
| cials are not cruel. Capital punishment is
unknown in Russia except for high trea-
| son. Murder is punished with transporta-
| ton to Siberia. The convicts sent out to
| Siberia are always permitted to take their
| families with them. With the exception
| of the life in the mines, the punishment
of Siberia is light, the crimes for which
people are sent to that province consid-
| cred. The average of punishment is much
lighter than in any civilized country in the
world. Life in the mines is hard, as it is
/ in the mines of any country. But in the
| main the colony life in Siberia is agreea-
| BILE. Judge Tree says that he has Ameri-
| can evidence of this fact When he was
IN 1eIeIsDuTp American gentleman
| who had lived twenty-five years in Siberia
| visited him. The latter gave the minister
| repeated evidence of the fact that, in the
! main, the life of the convicts in Siberia
was pleasant. Except fer unusual crimes,
the prisoners are not sent to the mines.
When they are not sent to the mines they
are not confined in any ordinary sense of
the word. They are simply obliged TO live
within certain districts or villages. In
these places they are free to transact
business, or to do what they like, as be-
fore. Some of the convicts become rich
Sometimes great criminals become prosper
ous servants in these colony communities.
In one Russian colony in Siberia this
American gentleman described a domestic
service which had for its cook a prisoner,
for its butler burglar, while the others |
had been sent to Siberia for larceny or
some such offense as that One particu-
lar instance came under Minister Trees
notice where Russian had been sent to
Siberia and pardoned. He came to st. Pc
tersburg, but remained only short time
He went back to Siberia, preferring its
wider liberty and broader life. People
who come from Siberia back to Russia e1-
press the same discomfort and uneasiness
that is sometimes found in our eastern
communities among people who have lived
for a long time in the west
The poor Russian is devoted to three
things; his cZar, his church and his coun-
try. He is intensely national While |
there is a severe censorship of the press.
yet public opinion controls to a great de- |
gree in Russia, as it does in other coun-
| tries. 1t was this public opinion which |
forced the czar into the war with Turkey.
Moscow is the seat of political influence in
the country. The most powerful newspa-
pers are there, and in spite of the censor
ship, the newspapers have often made war
upon ministers and have forced the car
to change them. The cZar has even sent
for one of the principal editors at various |
times to confer with him about matters of |
policy. In some respects Russia is one of
the most democratic countries in the
world. The rank of noble confers no
special privilege No noble has the right
to go to court any more than a peasant,
unless he has some official connection with
the court, or some official character which
will warrant his going there A peasant
official may have the privilege, while some
great nobleman in his community will not
have it. In other words, there is no one
between the czar and tine people: so far as
the court is concerned all Russians are on
level. In other respects Russia is demo-
cratic. The land is held by the various
communes and is leased out to the proper
ty holders. This holding land in common
is the ideal of the Communists of Europe
Lands are leased for a term of years, with
the understanding that the tenant who
makes the improvements during his term
shall have the privilege of releasing over
any one else. In case of his death his
family has the same privilege.
The Russians are intensely superstitious.
There is no nation so devoted to the forms
of religion as they are. This religious de-
30 OF ha hnt Of thai low nf t.zI
czar, who to them is the head of the
church. There are few Russians who do
not believe that the present cZsr enjoys
special favors from on high. Upon the
I several occasions when his life has been
! attempted his escapes have been credited
! to divine interposition. No escape of the
/ czar's, however, has made such a deep and
/ profound impression upon the people as
4! that which occurred several years ago in
railway accident in southern Russia. The
car was travelling with his family. He
was in one coach with the empress, seve-
raj servants and staff officers. In the
next car were the two children, the Prin-
! cess Olga, then six years old, and the
prince. her younger brother The minis
| ter of public works was also on the train.
/ The czar ordered the train to be run at the
/ rate of sixty miles an hour. The minister
knew that this was dangerous. The ties,
through careless lnSpecllOn IN InaI nelgn-
I borhood, had been allowed to decay. He
| did not, however, have the courage TO con-
| fess to the czar his fears. So he gave the
order to run at the speed directed. The
excessive vibration of the train from this
high rate of speed caused the rails to
spread, and the train was run off the
track and the cars were literally crushed.
At the time of the accident the car was
seated at a small table with a favorite dog
of the empress lying at his feet. The en-
press was standing in the middle of the
car; a servant was just reaching out to
hand her a cup of coffee. This servant
was killed instantly. The dog at the feet
of the car was killed. Every one of the
occupants of the car, with the exception
of the emperor and empress, was either
killed outright, mortally wounded or Sc
verely injured. The emperor and empress
were both held down a few moments by
the wreck; but when rescued were found
to be not even scratched. The two chill
dren in the next car were equally fortu-
nate One side of the car was torn away
and the little things were thrown down
high embankment. Yet they escaped
without scratch. The members of the
imperial family were really the only ones
on the train who escaped without injury.