The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1892-11-26

thinks and feels as you and do-that re-
igion is something between man and
his God, and no one has right to inter
fere with it. You may go right up to
st. Petersburg and Moscow with your
Episcopal liturgy, or your Presbyterian
catechism, Or your Congregationalist's
liberalism, or your Immersionist's Bap-
tistry, or any other religion, and if you
mind your own affairs and let others
mind theirs you will not be molested.
Calumny the Fourth-Russia is so
very grasping of territory, and she
seems to want the world. But what are
the facts? During the last century and
a quarter the United States have taken
possession of everything between the
thirteen colonies and 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 Rus
sia's advance of domain by eighteen mil
lion. What q paltry Russian advance
of domain by eighteen million els COM
pared with the English advance Of do
main by two hundred and fifty Million!
The United States and England had bet
ter keep still about extravagant and ex-
| tortionate enlargement of domain.
Calumny the Fifth-Siberia is a den of
horrors, and today people are driven
like dumb cattle; no trial is afforded to
the suspected ones; they are put into
rYI1fokqilUn7 yuhnra fHav
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 Rus
slams, and to most of them cruelty is an
impossibility. hold in my hand card.
You see on it that red circle. That is
the governments seal ON card giving
me permission to visit all the prisons Of
St. Petersburg, as I 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. 1t so hap
pened, however, that was crowded
with engagements and I could not make
the visitation. But do you suppose such
cheerful permission and carriage to
boot would have been afforded me If the
prisons of Russia are such bells on earth
as they have been described to be? +
asked an eminent and distinguished
American, ''Hsve yous visited the pris-
ons Of ST. Petersburg, and how do they
differ from American prisons? He re-
piled, Il have visited them, and they
are as we'll ventilated and as well condi-
toned in every respect as the majority
| of the prisons in America" Are women
whipped in the street? No; that state
ment comes from the manufactory Of
fabrication, mandatory that runs
day and night, SO that the supply may
meet the demand.
But how about Siberia2 My answer
is, Siberia is the prison of Russia, a
prison more than twice the size of the
United States. John Howard, who did
more for the Improvement of prisoners
and the reformation of criminals than
any man that ever lived, his name a
synonym for mercy throughout Christen-
dom, 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 hun
dreds of miles away from their evil
companions. John Howard, after wit
Messing the plan of deportation of Grim
mails from Russia to Siberia, commended
it to England. II q man commits MUIR
der in Russia, be is not electrocuted as
we electrocute 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. Muir
derers and desperate villains are sent to
the hardest parts of Siberia, but no man
is sent to Siberia or doomed to any kind
of punishment in Russia until he has a
fair trial. So far as their being hustled
off in the night and not knowing why
they are exiled 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 riot
GUS 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 and the right to
challenge the jurors, and the prisoner
confronts his accuser, and, mark this, as
in no other country, after 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 criminals to more
propitious parts of Siberia, and those
who have only little criminality to
parts of Siberia positively genial for
climate, for you ought to know, If you
do not know, that Siberia is so large and
wide and long that it reaches from frig-
idity to torridity, 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-fifth de-
gree 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. It has been demon
strated that ninety per cent. of the Rus
sian criminals colonized into Siberia go
into climate milder than New York-a
land songfu1 with birds and embroidered
with fora enough manifold to conScund
iba In<onic4S Much E l,o 90 =, OH,