Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1892-11-26
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Inn, r1uppose your gf6h d yhEE Ok ING
Greek churchT "No,n said he; 81 am
Lutheran "What is your religion Isaii
TO one Of the highest and most influential
officials at st. Petersburg. he said, 81 am
OF the Church of England
Myself, an American, of still another de-
nomination Of Christians ami never having
been inside Greek church in my life until
/ went to Russia, c5did not have received
more consideration had been baptissd in
In the Greek church and all my life wo7-
SHIPPED at.her alters. / had it demonstrated
70 me very plainly that mau's religion in
Russia has nothing to do with his prefer
ment for either Office or social position. The
only questions taken into consider ition are
honesty, fidelity, morality and adaptation
I had not been in st. Petersburg an hour
before received an invitation to preach the
Gospel OF Christ as believed it. Besides all
this, have you forgotten that the Crimean
war, which shook the earth, grew out OF
Russia's interference in behalf Of the prose-
cuted Christians of all nations in Turkey.
But" says SONS one, have there not
been prosecutions OF other religions in Rus
siaT No doubt. just as in other times in
New England we burned witches, and as we
killed Quakers, and as the Jews in AmericA
have been outrageouslY treated ever sine,
can remember, and-the Chinese in our land
have been pelted, and their stores torn DOWN,
and their way from the steamer wharf to
their destined quarters tracked with their
own blood. The devil OF persecution is in
every land and in all ages. Some OF US in
the different denominations of Christians in
America have felt the thrust Of persecution
differently from those who would, il they
had the power, put us in furnace eight
times heated. one more degree of caloric than
Nebuchadnezzar's. Prosecutions in all lands
but the emperor of Russia sanctions none of
them.
l had a most satisfactory talk with the
emperor about the religions of the world.
and he thinks and feels as you aud I do that
religion is something bstwean a man ami
his God, and no one has right to interfere
with it.. You may go right up to St. Peters,
burg and Moscow with your Episcopal
liturgy, or your Presbyterian catechism. or
your Congregationalist's Liberalism or your
Immersionist's Baptistry, or any other re.
hgion and if you mind your own affairs and
let others mind theirs you will not be mo
Tested
Calumny the Fourth-Russia is so very
grasping Of territory, and she seems to want
the world. But what are the factsg Dur
ing the last century and a quarter the
United States have taken possession of
everything between tbs thirteen colonies
and the Pacific ocean, and England, during
the same length of time. has taken possession
ofhearly three million square miles, ami 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 aud
dfty million against Russia's advance of do.
main by eighteen million. What paltry
Russian advance Of domuin by eighteen mil
lion as compared with the English advance
OF domain by two hundred ami fifty mil
honl The United States aud En- gland hal
better keep still about extravagant and ex-
tortionate enlargement of domain
Calumny the Fifth-Siberia is den of
horrors, and to-day people are driven like
dumb cattle; no trial is affor led to the sus-
pected ones; they are put into quicksilver
mines where they are whipped ami 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 disrobeI
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 thu Russians
and to most of them cruelty is an impossi-
sillty. hold in my hand a card. You see
On it that red circle. That is the govern
'ment's seal on 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
disposal in visiting the prisons 1t SO hap
pened, however, that l was crowded with
engagements and | could not make the visi-
tation. But do you suppose such cheerful
permission and carriage to boot would
have been afforded me if the prisons of Rus
STA are such bells on earth as they have been
described to be.
l askei an eminent aui distin Suishei
American, Have you visite thu prisons OF
st. Petersburg, and how do they differ from
American prisonsg He replied tT have
visited them, and they are as well ventilated
and as well conditioned in every respect as
the majority of the prisons in America"
Are women whipped IN the street, No; that
statement comes from the mandatory of
fabrication, a mandatory that RUS day
and night; so that the supply may meet the
demand.
But how about Siberia2 My answer is,
Siberia is the prison of Russia prison more
than twice the sizs of the United States.
John Howard, who did more for the i'm
provement Of prison srs and the reformation
OF criminals than any man that ever lived,
his name a synonym for mercy throughout
Christen1om, declared by voice and pen that
the system OF transportation of criminals
from Russia to Siberia was an admirable
plan advocating open air punishment rather
than enlargement, and also because it
was taking all offenders hundreds of miles
away from their evil companions. John
Howard. after witnessing the plan 9... 81 de-
portation Of criminals from Russia to Sibe-
ria, commended it to England.
If a man commits murder in Russia he is
not electrocuted as We electrocuts him, or
choked to death by 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,
Murdersrs and desperate villains are sent to
the hardest parts Of Siberia, but no man is
sent to Siberia or ordered to any kind OF
punishment in Russia until he has a fair
trial. So far as their being hustled of in
the night and not knowing why they ara
exiled or punished is concerned, all the
criminals in Russia have an open trial be-
fore jury just as we have in America, ex-
espt In Revolutionary and riotous times, and
you know in America at such times the writ
of habeas corpus is suspended.
There are in Russia grand juries and
petit juries, aud the right to challenge the
jurors, and the prisoner confronts his &C.
cuser, and mark this, as in no other coun-
try, after the prisoner has been condemned
by juries and judges he may appeal to the
minister of the interior, AMI alter that to
the senate, and after that to this emperor
who is constantly pardoning. As said,
the violent AMI muir ierous are sent to ths
narosst part or siberia, but the more moier-
ate criminals to propitious parts OF Siberia,
and those who have only little criminality
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 it reaches from frigidity to
1orr1dlty, from almost arctic blast to climate
as mild as that of Italy.
Run your finger along the map of the
world, and you will find that the lowest
part OF Siberia is on the forty-afth degree
OF latitude, and the richest part of Italy is
on the same forty-fifth degree of latitude.
80 that Siberia reaches from the furs at the
north to the palm leaf fans at the south.
III mas been demonstrated that ninety per
cent. OF the Russian criminals colonizsd into
Siberia 60 into a climate milder than New
Iork-a land songfui with birds and en-
bioidered With fora enough manifold to
confound the botanists. Much of the soil is
a rich loan, and hsrvests wait for pillow to
hberate them.
When a criminal is sent to Siberia, in the
vast majority OF cases it gives him an CD.
portunity to make new start under she
best possible circumstances. The criminal
Is allowed to take his or her family along,
and that is a mercy no other country grants
In the quicksilver mines Of Siberia-the
hardest place of xpatriation-only one.
fourth OF the miners are criminals. The
other threa--5arths go tasre because they
choose it as a place TO earn their living.
After being in Siberia awhile the con-
demned 60 to earning livelihood, AMI they
come to own theiR own farms and orchards
and vineyards, many of these people coming
to wealth, and thousands of thsn under no
inducement would Leave those parts OF
Siberia which are uaradisas for saluhrity