The broad ax., 1899-01-14
QUAKERsFRoMRUSsIA
PROJECT TO COLONIES IN THIS
COUNTRY.
Thsy'rs r0lseoTs Flock OF esrsseutsd
Noa-BslIlKsrsnts who Wont Fight for
Russia-Tsasts OF Their F.ith-A Com
nittes 90 Raise Funds to Import Them.

; weeks, to colonize here 10000 of the
peculiar Russian sect, the Doukho-
b0rtsi, is to take definite shape now,
following the arrival here OF Mr.. Mode,
the rich Englishman, who has become
known by reason CT his residence for
some time recently with Count Leo
Tolstoi, whom he greatly admires- Mr..
Mode went Immediately. upon his ar
rival to the residence of former
Assemblyman Ernest H. Crosby at
Rhinebeck, who is one OF the leading
men on this side of the Atlantic in the
enterprise. Associated with Mr. Cros-
by are William Dean Howells. Will
liam Lloyd Garrison of Boston, the
Rev. DR.. George Dana Boardman Of
Philadelphia, Jane Adams of Hull
House, Chicago; N. o. Nelson OF St
Louis, Bolton Hall, and ]. N. Selig-
man. This committee was organized
three weeks ago in Philadelphia. Mr..
Seligman is its treasurer. The COM
mittee's purpose is to raise the nee
essary money to import the Doukho-
bortsi and establish them on farm
land In the West. The committees
work will be carried on jointly with
the efforts Of interested people In Eng
land, and the plan OF operations will
be formulated after conference with
Mr.. Mode, who is familiar both with
what is being done in England and
what has been accomplished in Russia
under the direction OF Tolstoi.
II Is Tolstoi who has at last secured
the Russian Governments permission
for the Doukhobortsi to emigrate, after
they have been victims of nearly a
century Of Intellectual persecution.
That permission has only lately been
granted, and II may be awaited Of only
within two years of the date Of issue.
When it was granted Count Tolstoi
wrote to a New York man. who, IL is
understood. is Mr.. Crosby. conveying
the information and suggestion that
something be done toward assisting.
or rather enabling. the Doukhobortsi
to take advantage of the Cars gra-
ciousness. Correspondence followed
between various interested people in
the United States. England and Rus
sia, with the result of the formation
Of the committee already named.
When 1t is said that the Doukho-
bortsi are a sort of differentiated
Quakers. who. among a multiplicity
Of curious tenets, hold so firmly to the
belief that force against men Is wrong
that they will die rather than bear
arms, 1t will readily be understood
why they are obnoxious to the Rus
sian Government Their character
istics ano their history are Of pecul-
lar interest The origin of the sect
Aas been traced to English Quaker.
His followers first became known to
the inquisitorial imperial police in
1850, when they were found at Moloch-
maya in the province Of Taurida, near
the Caspian Sea. They do not believe
in a personal God, but they believe
that God is In the soul. or is the soul
OF every man. Strange to say, they
do not believe that God is In the soul
at the birth Of the human infant, but
that the child is horn soulless matter.
the soul entering the body between the
sixth and fifteenth year, and that the
soul is a faithful image of God. They
have strangely modified the idea of the
Trinity. and proclaim that in the mem
DRY is God the Father, in the reason
God the Son and in the will God the
Holy Ghost Christ's mission OF re-
demption is abrogated in their belief
that Adams fall was merely an his
torical fact, that it was his own indi-
vidual trouble and entailed no load Of
sin upon those who have come after
him. They assert that each man
rises or falls by his own acts. They
admit the existence of Christ as
good man only. They believe in Meth
er hell nor paradise. resurrection Of
the body nor the destruction of the
visible world, but hold that the phys
zeal nature will exist forever, the
difference between now and the future
being that the good will overcome the
sinners eventually and possess the
world to themselves. That is their
millennium.
They consider themselves the only
true worshipers of God. and the rest
Of mankind as idolatrous and super
stitious. But they promulgated a COM
prehensive idea Of their true Church"
which they say is composed Of all
those whom God himself mas called
from among the world and ordained
to walk in the path Of light. These
chosen ones cannot be recognized by
any peculiar sign, nor are they asso-
ciated with any outward religion, but
among them are included men Of all
religions, all races and all tongues. So
one may be Of the Church and perhaps
not suspect Il, It would seem, II one
have not wonderful spiritual insight.
The name Of the sect. translated into
English, is Champions OF the Spir-
it's" They accept the whole OF the
Scriptures, but hold the Old and the
New Testament merely to prefgure, in
some spiritual WY. the mysteries
which are accomplished In the soul Of
every faithful man
Electric Wagons thu Cheapest.