The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1892-11-21

I kThsDAnk Vi lefEllDEJ duu she SEEMS TO want
/ the world. But what are the fRc,si Dur
/ ing the last century and 9 quarter, the
| United States have taken possession Of every
/ thing between the thirteen colonies aud the
/ Pacific ocean, and England, during the
same length of time, has taken POSSESSION of
| nearly three million square miles, and by
| the extent Of her domain has added two
hundred and fifty million population. while
Russia has added during that time only one
/ half the number Of square miles and about
eighteen million OF population-England's
advance of domain by two hundred and
! fifty million against Russia's advance Of do
main 10y eighteen million. What paltry
Russian advance of domain by eighteen
million as compared with the English adj
vance of domain by two hundred and fifty
million! The United States aud England
| had better keep still about extravagant and
extortionate enlargement of domain.
Calumny the Fifth: Siberia is den OF
| horrors, and to-day people are driven like
dumb cattle; no trial is afforded to the sus-
pecsed ones; they are put into quicksilver
mines where they are whipped and starved
and some day find themselves going around
without any head. Some OF them do not
get so far as Siberia. Women, after being
tied to stakes in the streets. are disrobed
and whipped to death in the presence of
bowling mobs. Offenders hear their own
flesh sIss under the hot irons.
But what are the facts? There are no
kinder people on earth than the Russians,
and TO most of them, cruelty is an imp ssh
billty. l hold in my hand card. You see
on IL that red circle. That is the govern
ment's seal on a card giving me permission
to visit all the prisons of St. Petersburg, as
/ had expressed a wish in that
direction. AS the messenger handed
this card to me he told me that a
carriage was at the door for my dis
posal In visiting the prisons. II so hap
peued, however, that ! was crowded with
engagements and could not make the Wis
itatlon. But do you suppose such cheerful
permission and a carriage to boot would
have been afforded me if the prisons of
Russia are such bells on earth as they have
been described to be2 | asked an eminent
and distinguished American: "Bave you
visited the prisons of st. Petersburg,
and how do they differ from American
prisonsF He replied: Il have visited
them and they are as well ventilated and
as we'll conditioned in every respect as the
majority of the prisons in America" Are
women whipped in the stTeeti No; that
| statement comes from the mandatory Of
fabrication, mandatory that runs day
AMI night, so that the supply may meet the
demand.
But how about Siberiaf MY answer lie
| Siberia is the prison of Ruseia, prison
more than twice the size of the United
States. John Howard, who did more for
| the Improvement of the prisoners and
reformation of criminals than any man
hat ever lived, his name a synonym for
mercy throughout christendom,5 declared
| by voice and pen that the system of trans
portatlon OF criminals from Russia TO ST.
berin was an admirable plan, advocating
open air punishment rather than endun-
| geonment, and also because it was taking
all offenders hundred of miles away from
moi nUn aNfr T1h, Old
after witnessing the plan Of dsporta-
| ton of criminals from Russia to
| Siberia, commended it 20 England If a
man commits murder in Russia, he is
not electrocuted as we eleotrocute him, or
| chOked 10 death by a halter as we choke
him to death. Russia is the only country
on earth from which the death penalty has
been driven, except in case of high treason.
| Murderers and desperate villains are sent to
the hardest part of Siberia, but no man is
| sent to Siberia or doomed to any kind Of
| punshment in Russia until he has had fair
trial So far as their being hustled of IN
| the night and not knowing why they are
| exied or punished is concerned, all the
| criminals in Russia have an open trial before
a jury just as we have in America, except
in revolutionary or riotous times, and you
know in America at such times the writ Of
habeas corpus is suspended. There are in
Russia grand juries ana petit juries and
the right to challenge the jurors, and
the prisoner confronts his accuser, aud
mark this, as in no other country, after a
prisoner has been condemned by juries and
judges he may appeal to the minister of the
In terror, and after that to the senate, and
after that to the emperor, who is con-
stantly pardoning. As l said, the violent
and murderous are sent TO the hardest part
OF Siberia, but the more moderate Grim
inals to more propitious perts of Siberia
| and n fDpea Ubn boUa u
nalitv TO parts OF Siberia positively genial
for climate, for you ought to know, il you
do not know, that Siberia is so large and
wide and long that 1t reaches from frigidity
to torridity, from almost arctic blast to
climate as mild as Italy. Run your finger
along the map of the world, and you will
find that the lowest part of Siberia is on
the forty-tifth degree of latitude, and the
richest part of Italy is on the same forty
fifth degree Of latitude. So that Siberia
reaches from the furs at the
north to the palm leaf fans at the south. 1t
has been demonstrated that ninety per cent
of the Russian criminals coIonized into ST.
IBERIA 60 into a climate milder than New
York-a land songful with birds and en-
broidersd with flora enough manifold TO
confound the botanists. Much Of the soil ia
a rich loan and harvests wait for piow to
liOerate them. When a criminal is sent to
| Siberia, in the vast majority Of cases il
gives MIN an opportunity TO make q new
start under the best possible circumstances.
The criminal is allowed to take his or her
family along, and that is mercy no other
country grants In the quicksilver mines
OF Siberia, the hardest place of expatria-
ton, only nefourth of the miners are
criminals. The other three-fourths go there
because they choose it as a place to earn
their living.
After being in Siberia awhile the con.
demned 60 to earning a livelihood, and they
come to own their own farms aud orchards
and vineyards, many of there people com.
ing to wealth, and thousands OF them under
no tnducement would leave those parts of
Siberia which are paradises for salubrity
and luxuriance. Now, which do you think
IL the best style Of prison-Sibera or many
of our American prisons When a man
commits a big crime in our country the
judge looks into the frightened face Of the
culprit and says: You have been found
guilty; sentence you to the penitentiary
for ten years" He goes to prison.
He Is shut in between four walls. No
sunlight No fresh air. No bath ROOM
Before be has served his ten years, he dies
OF consumption, or is so eaerveted that for
the rest of his life be sits with folded hands
wheeling Invalid. In preference to the
shut-in life Of the average American
prisoner, give me Siberia. Beside that
h