The critic., 1891-01-02
THE TRUTH ABOUT RUSSIA.


view ur George Kennan.
Eddor CritiG SiR-Siucs the agitation
lately raised III tins country and London
over the persecution OF the Jews by the
RUSSIAN Government have been an in
tcrcstCd, ! may say amused, reader Of
everything connected with that English
bti, H0l, Russia. ! say amused, because
have travelled all through Europe and
Western Asia, and have but recently re-
turned from Russia, where ! spent eleven
months, visiting different parts of that
empire and travelling through siberia rs
far eastward as Tomsk, am therefore
pretty well Informed rs to the actual state
of affairs in the Russian Empire at the
present time, something which many of
the writer's on Russia just now seem to be
wofully ignorant Of
On Christmas Day | read Mr.. George
kcnnan's interview in the Washington
I1st, whore he relates the misfortunes
and final escape of two Siberian cXiles, and
the next afternoon | saw "Subscribgr's'
communication in your paper commenting
on Mr.. kcnnan's Siberian stories and on
the flat denial given those stories by Col
oncl Charles de Arnaud in his book, "Thc
New Era in liussa.n What "Subscrbcr'
said about this work excited my curiosity
and purchased copy, giving il Il care
fiil pcriisal. From my own personal
knowledge Of Russia and Russian every
day life, gathered from actual residence
and observation, can say that the New
Era in Russia gives the truth and noth-
ing but the truth regarding Russia, and
very properly stamps the mass of stun
now being circulated (and circulated for
the past few years. about Russian despot-
ism and barbarity as "blood and thunder"
rOmanCcs, Interestingly written and need
ing but one thing To make il Il valuable
contribution To history-fact. OF this lat
ter quality these Russian outrage stories
are thoroughly void. They may be de-
scribcd rs "histOrical romanccs founded
on fiction
Permit mo space in your valuable
columns to say few words on this sub
ject, inspired by love of justice and in
formed by my own personal travels.
have been informed while in Russia
by prominent officers OF that government
that when Mr.. Kcnnan returned from
Siberia to st. Petersburg after his last trip
to the Trans-Ural region he was received
by Russian officials with great cordiality
and expressed himself in high commend
alton of all that he had seen in Siberia
He declared his intention when he re-
turned to his own country, of writing
book demonstrating the falsity of all re-
ports of Russian injustice and cruelty to
prisoners, whether political or non
political criminals. The articles which
ilN 'ili NlIt Ntlt lltTtlbIt u STtdi sur
prise to the Russian officials, who could
not comprehend how an honest man could
make tour of inspection in certain dis
tricts, report lavorably upon the condition
of affairs there, and then after q short
sea voyage, completely reverse his previous
opinions and give the lie to his lately ex
pressed declarations. This was after Mr..
kcnnan's last visit to Siberia.
! read Mr. Remnants Century" articles
worry pprpfI1llV tppE pp,,ipS pf tIp m pu1-
nec0ntainngthem to Russia, and hence,
was amused at the very different account
given by him this Christmas to u Post re-
porter concerning Mcssrs. Nolkhofsky and
I.azaref from the account of them he
gives in the Century for September,
lssss In the Post he says that Mr.. Felix
Volkhofsky told him that, on being asked
by fellow prisoner what his otfense was,
he answered, 81 do not know" When
asked by his companion If his father
| didn't have Il peculiar-looking COW, col
| ored black and white, Voll,hofsky said il
| was likely, rs his father had a number of
cows. "Wcll, don't you know" said his
| companion, that that is enough Of itself
| to exile twenty mem"
Now, in the Century for September,
| 1883, Mr.. Kennan makes il "Egor I.aza-
| reff," who was banished to Siberia be-
cause his father owned black and white
| cow and not Felix Nolkhofsky." At
least, he tells this story in the September
| QSSS) Century" of "Lazareff,'' but tells
| it in the Post of Christmas, $780, of "Volk-
hofsky." igor is the Russian cquiva-
lent Of Edward but Mr.. Kennan, in
the Post, rechristens the victim of the
checkered COW and calls him George
Lazareif," Is Mr.. Kennan's memory
so short he cannot tell consistent story
II would seem so indeed, If, in the short
space of time between September 1888,
and December, 1890, he transforms "Egor
Lazareff" to Felix Volkhofsky." This
is ease Of metempsychosis rapid beyond
anything yet told Of that ancient doctrine.
1t could not have happened in any other
land than this wonderful Siberia
hut in all seriousness, does Mr.. Kennan
think that any man or woman in the
possession of the usual faculties of man
hood or womanhood will believe this
puerilc story of the Russian Government
banishing u man to Siberia because his
father owned q black-and-white cow
The base assertion is an insult to common
intelligence, and of itself should stamp
Mr.. Remnants statements on that subject
with the seal of mmixed fiction. l can
tell him, If he really is innocent enough
not to have discovered it long ago, that
this talk about men being sent to Siberia
because their fathers owned black-and
white cows is well known bit of Russian
l NIntNto tNlItsscu tilltNcS
slang Ii is the expression uttered IN
slang of Russian thief's desire to ''pokt
fun" at his questioner. Really, is Mr.
Kennan simple and credulous enough tt
accept 1t in the sense he tries to impose i
ON his readers? If so, then he is the mos
innocent and guileless traveller that eve
jollrnoyed beyond seas.
But Mr.. Kennan taxes the intelligent
readers faith too much when he describe
Mr.. Nolkhofsky's escape. Mr.. Kennai
met the latter at Tomsk, where he ha,
spent, according to Kennan in the Sep
tember QSSS) Century, ''seven years Il
solitary confinement and eleven year
more in exile" About a year ago Volk
hofsky made his escape and in about min
months reached Albany, y. Y, where h
had the pleasure of embracing the latte
in his shirt-sleeyes. Now, Mr.. Kennai
knows well that there is no solitary co,dnt
meid for daD class of prisoners in Siberia
excepting only murdercrs. All this tall
about Russian political prisoners '-tha
is to say, conspirators against the peace
the order and the life of the Russian Cox
crnment-being put in solitary coliint
ment is altogether untrue, unless thes
conspirators, these rebels, have committe
murder in execution of their trcasonabl
plots. Mr.. Nolkhofsky, therefore, wa
either murderer or he didn't spend an
time in solitary confinement.
Bit Itls with lls escape | am mostl
concerned "Disgllised as retired arm
officer says Mr.. Kennan to the Post IT
porter, "by his sharpness and effrontcr
he made his way down the Amoor Rive
to Pacific port, where he shipped
Japan, and thence took steamer to tn
country Now, the shortest distance, IL
, StraiGht line, from Tomsk to the mouth {
T, the Amoor is 200 miles, but no man ca
travel that distance in straight line. I'll
Altai Mountains lie between romsk an
!, the Amoor and the man who journey
7, from Tomsk to Nicolaicf, the Russian po
Q at the mouth Of the Amoor, must cro
these mountains There IS but one brea
+; in the entire 5000 miles of 1t
: Altaic chain, and that is southea
!. Of Lake llnikAl. in the vAlleY