The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1898-11-17
siberian EIILES.
Discussed by the Ramblers
at Their Meeting Yes
terday.
MRS. MARTENS ADDRESS
Lifesof the Exiles Not as Black
as Painted, Says Miss
Page.
MRS. MARTENS ADDRESS

her exiles, and it is doubtful if this club
has ever shown more interest in any Of
its meetings than was displayed yester-
day.
Miss Margaret Page gave a talk upon
sThe Siberian Exiles,n in which she took
the view of the optimist, saying that the
exile life was not as black as It IS painted.
From this address it appears that these
exiles have colonies with well regulated
governments, including a police force,
etc. They also have hospitals with all
the comforts of those In America. All
this, of course, applies only to the better
classes, the sufferings of the lower and
poorer classes can scarcely be overes-
timated. Here they are crowded together,
men, women and children, in those dingy,
damp, Siberian dungeons. not worthy the
name Of prisons.
Mrs. Marten also rendered an address
on bureaucracy in Russia" saying
Prior to the reign of Peter the Great
all the Russian nobility was in a state
of discord. The boyars had been raised
by the velik kmazes to rank on the
same level with the descendants of
Rurik. The law of precedence obliged
the heirs Of the dispossessed princes to
%renounce all traditions of Independent
greatness. Like all other subjects of the
Tsar, they were reduced to seek lustre
and nobility in the favor and service Of
the sovereign. The former appanage
princes and the Moscovite boyars were
merged into one court, nobility obtaining
all dignities and prerogatives from the
Car. This artificial hierarchy. in the
course of nature, made things awkward
for the monarch. 1t caused rife and
rivalries owing to the difficulty of set
ting the rights of each man and stop
ping the alterations which occurred even
on the battlefield. Death was as moth
ing to a Russian when his ancestral
rank was in question. To a Russian,
when his ancestral rank was In question,
to yield would nave been to write him
self a traitor. For example, a kniaz
who cringed to the Tsar refused TO sit
at his table below a man whom he rank
ed by law of precedence. Although fore
ed to his seat by command of the Tsar,
he would resist, leave the hall shouting
he would lose his head before he would
forfeit the place he could claim BY right.
Each nohle was in strife with his equals,
each family at war with its rivals.
"Feodor -Alaxeyevitch. the haif-brother.
| and in that as in sundry other things,
te4N par 4RA+HitttStO LIS QA StCA NAlO
Great was the first to attempt a reform.
Said Peter abolished the old title of
boyar, which recalled Anticipated claims.
To the barberous and penderous Mos
covite hierarchy he substituted the Table
of Ranks, which. in its fourteen classes,
! o~ncloses to this day the entire Russian
official world. The cevfl f~unetionaries even
the ecclesiastical dignitaries, arc there
arcinoj1a+pd 10 thu r-rada- of tba r~or
and from the ensign and college reg
istrar, who stand on the lowest
rung of the ladder fourteenth
elassl to the field marshal and the chan
oellor, who are alone enthroned on the
distributed in tiers, each according to his
tehin or grade, in q double parallel series
Of fourteen numbered rungs or ranks. 1t
Is not in the darkness or the Middle Ages.
| ursaer the Tartar yoke; it is in the eigh-
teeHth century. by the hand of the great
est OF modern rsformers, tina this insti-
futon of the tehin was established, with
It's Chinese sounding name, and indeed
recalling that of the nandarins with their
classes synlbolized by buttons of different
celors. The word tchin is a good Slavic
radical, n means action, work.
Tchinovink. therefore, which has become
the typical word for b~ureauerats, meant
originally simply a worker. It was main
" from Germany. though, that Peter
borrowed most OF his titles. obsolete and
devoid Of meaning nowadays. They never
designated any real functions, and now,
as from the first, represent only a civil
grade, often unconnected with any duties.
In Russia the habit Of fitting all things
into ~pigeon-holes of the Tables of Ranks
IS such that not even the arts have
escaped ii. The actors and singers of
tire imperial theatres are officially divided
into several ~categcrics. each having its
own particular rank and rights. Hence
tho ridiculous Russian titles and designa-
tons such as candidate, commerce coun-
cillor, manufacture councillor, appella-
tons which raise a merchant with a for
tune of several millions, to the level of
the seventh or eighth class. that is, to
the rank of major or lieutenant colonel.
This bureaucracy served very well for
a period of transition, for a people full
of prejudices. poor in trade and industry.
and at a time when the service OF the
State was the only road to greatness.
BY tying down the MOBILES to service. Peter
made OF the nobility instruments ana sup
port Of a reform which in Itself did not
inspire ii with much sympathy. In a
more advanced state of society, with
civilization more varied ana manifold,
such an artificial classification, according
10 service, becomes an idle hindrance. 1t
is, to say the least, an arachronism.
The tchin which makes rank to de-
penss on post, and post OH merit. appears
at 5irst sight TO be an altogether Demo