The Washington times., 1894-07-29

and wonderful stories are told OF the CONVEX
! sions he has made to the revolutionary
cause. A man Of great learning and irrepres-
sible activity. he is as frank, simple, and un-
affected rs child and readily and easily wins
the abiding affection of all with whom he is
brought in contact. His return to Russia a
few months ago Is said to have been made
| in face OF the earnest remonstfances OF lis
friends and has mad most melancholy Sc
quel. Since his arrest he has been M st
closely confined in the PRISON at Odessa and
in the end will no doubt be sentenced to
Siberia for life
The fortress OF Sta. Peter and Pau. to which
i have already referred, and in which hun
| dreds Of suspects now confined awaiting
trial. stands on an island in the river Neva,
and is synonymous in the Russian mind with
all that Is dark. cruel and bloody. The walls
OF the cells of the Iroubetskoi redoubt, the
portion OF the prison in which political Offend
ers. real and alleged, are confined, are four
| feet thick and communication between in
| mates is almost impossible.
| guard. who short time ago was dis
covered acting as q means Of communication
between prisoners. was promptly sentenced
10 death. Only the officer commanding the
bastion. and who has held the place fo-
! twenty years. is allowed to confer with the
prisoners and their cells are searched three
| times daily. The slightest breach OF disci-
| pline is severely punished and the dark cell
/ and the knout are constantly called into use
! Inmates are always kept in Ignorance OF the
| tate In store for them. They are not allowed
| to employ counsel: their offenses are never
referred TO by their guardians. aud when they
are taken before the secret court-martial for
examination the questions asked them give
no clew 10 tEeir own fate or that OF the'r
friends or associates.
The prisoner sentenced TO death is allowed
in To 10 r,B.
end. and he is set Mt liberty or transferred to
another prison or dispatched on n long Jour
ney TO Siberia without an hours warning No
hospital is attached to the Troubetsk oi sre-
douut, and when prisoner falls i'll he Is at
tended in his cell by a sworn physician. II
he dies the body is taken away at night and
buried somewhere about the iortificatons-
only those sworn to secrecy know where
And what becomes Of the unfortunate in
mate OF the Troubetskoi redoubt sentenced TO
Siberian exiiei On S nall hill to the east of
tie city OF Moscow. the same on which the
armies OF Napoleon encnmped. stands prison
dark, grimy, and tlme-worn, iamIliarly known
as ''the corral of the exies" From this old
prison begins the journey 10 Siberia. As soon
as n man or woman is condemned to exile he
or she is sent to Moscow under q strong guard
and confined IN the corral until the next
party sets out. Men and women heavily
ironed on their way to the prison are always
ancient capital, but during the last few weeks
their number has been swelling with leaps
and bounds, and no one knows when the
melancholy procession will again assume its
normal proportions.
Ordinarily during the summer months a
party of exiies is dispatched every Sunday,
but at present a new batch sets out every
second or third day. Each party numbers
several hundred souls, and its members are
taken from the PRISON in carriages closely
guarded by mounted Cossacks. Just before
departure they are permitted to gather in q
larS room and bid their friends a hurried
farew III. but too often this privilege is only
a hollow mockery. The prisoner. arrested
without notice, has been tried and condemned
IN secret, and only by chance are his friends
informed OF the fate that has overtaken him.
To add to the mockery of which l have
spoken monks are present to offer prayers for
The exiles and exhort them to rurn their
minds to spiritual affairs and away from
wrong doing 10 their august master
To those who have witnessed departure
of exiles, the scene is full Of pathos and sad
ness. Some OF the prisoners make light OF
their lot and Jest with the oniookers but the |
majority are silent ant. apathetic, crushed by
sorrow too deep for tears. have wit !
messed the departure Of one Of these exile !
parties. and the sad, wan, pitiful faces that |
appealed to me from the carriage windows |
will haunt me to my dying day. 1t requires |
ten days constant driving to reach the from |
tier. Often a party is dumped out and under |
guard made to walk the remainder of tho |
way. And this is the fate to which the best |
thought and blood of Russia are now being |
condemned. 1t Is the White Terror come
again, but binder, bloodier, and more cruel
than ever.
But sad and bitter as is the lot OF the educated
and higher classes, sadder still is that of the
Russian peasantry, famine-stricken, toilworn,
squalid. ignorant and oppressed. Twenty
years ago the Mir, or village commune, was
the pride OF all liberal minded Russians, but
since 1889 most Of its powers have, 10y sue
cessive imperial ukases, been transferred to
officials known as rural chiefs, appointed by
the minister d the interior, and selected from
the local nobility. These changes have made
the Pc asants more than ever the helpless vic.
Tins of the autocracy
Tosecure the money needed to meet the de-
mands OF the Imperial tax collector the peas-
ant is constantly forced to mortgage his crops
IN advance, and the rate OF interest charged
lor such loans if often 800 per cent To repay
I small loan, swollen by monstrous usury into
! large sum, many peasant is compelled to
oil Tor years in the service OF the money
endar. When the peasant revolts against
his imposition the usurer invokcs the aid of
he police, with whom he is usually on AZ
,elient terms, and between the demands OF
he tax collector and the money lender, en-
orced on occasion by the knout. the govern
ruth government by fogging.
Meanwhile the Gear lea Ia, in his fortress
'alace OF Gatschina, few miles from the
apital, the life OF a timorous hermit. For
ears his Summer visit to Denmark has been