Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1892-04-22

the western provinces of the empire and
the Hebrews should be disposed to exag
gerate and paint in the blacklist of colors
every feature of Russian maladminstra-
ton. But were the world to derive It's in
formation concerning English affairs ex-
clusively from Irish Nationalist. its in
formation concerning Germany from the
inhabitants of Schleswig- Iolstein and of
Alsace- Lorraine, and its Information con-
corning Austria from the lrrcdontist in
habitunts Of the Italian speaking prov
inces of that empire, il would he disposed
to judge each of them as hdrshly as ltd-sia.
III the same way 'while the public both
here and on the cottincnt of Europe shows
u disposition to regard as too highly col
ored the stories told by Irish political Of
tenders concerning the horrors of their life
in the great convict prisons of England,
yet we accord ready and unhestating be-
lief to every tale told us by Aluscovite ex-
convicts about the crueltics to which they
claim to have been subjected in Russian
iails.
OF course it would be ridiculous to as
sert that Russian prisons are desirable
places of residence. No Jail is for the mat
ter of that. But, believe me, the Russian
prisons are not so much worse than the
Dartmoor and Chatham convict prisons in
England. And according TO the statements
of the most reputable organs of the New
York press. the New York state peniten-
tiary at Danemora, and the convict camps
of Georgia furnish quite as gross examples
of cruel abuse of power on the part of the
wardens and guards us any prison in
Russia.
| observe that Mr.. Brown refers to Mr.
KEENAN, as his principal authority for the
charges which he brings against the
Russian government. But may not Mr..
Remnants graphic and well written ac-
counts of Russian prison life be regarded
as preiudiced? Is it not fact that pre-
vious to his tour in Russia and Siberia he
was an unknown man, and that his stories
of Muscovite penal life have brought him
need of both fame and fortune which he
would not otherwise have acquired? / do
not charge him with intentionally misrep-
resentng anything that he either saw or
heard, but there is no doubt that he visited
Russia with the avowed intention of ex-
plotting the shadow of her prison life, and
that from che very outset he was disposed
to place the most sensational and highly
colOred construction upon everything he
saw. Moreover, the persons from whom
he mainly derived his information were
refugees, eXiles and political convicts who
are just as unlikely to give an impartial
account Of Russian penal methods as an
Irish eX-political convict is to furnish an
unprecedented story of English prison life.
If the exceptional race legislation
with regard to the Jews has been re-
vived of late in Russia, it has been with
the same object that the United States had
in view when the latter established analo-
gous legislation against the Chinese immi-
grants-namely, the protection of the in
terests of the poorer classes.
The moujik is improvident, dull witted,
lazy, and every way mentally inferior to
his Hebrew fellow citizen. The Russian
government is therefore forced to adopt
measures for the protection of the moujik
and these measures can only be regarded
as Il tribute to the mental and moral
superiority of the Hebrew race. OF course
these exceptional laws weigh heavily on
those against whom they are directed
They are often administered by brutal
officials with undue severity, and they are
open to criticism. But such as they are
they enjoy the acqucsccnce of all true
patriotic Russians who resent every foreign
interference in their domestic affairs. and
who, in the words of The Nord, the official
organ of the Muscovite government, are
determined to remain masters of their own
house. EN-DlPioNlATIsT.