The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1899-12-24
Gentle Nihi!ist
Prince Kropotkin and
His Autobiography,

the strangest, and possibly the most
loved Of the brood Is the Nihilist
| Prince Kroootkin, most loved because he
went farthest out of his way in the SER
vice Of liberty and attacked the hardest
| bit of fortified tyrrany iE this world
Russia. And Prince KroDotkin has writ
ten an autobiography, published by
| Houghton Mifflin & Co., under the title
| Memoirs of a Reyolutionist" In meat,
in the real substance of thrilling incident,
in actual life, it is easily the best book
| of this year, 1899
OF the children of Freedom, our own
| Washington, whose practically never
thawed at the warmth of a pleasant the
Dry or a parti-colored vision, is neces-
sarily our standard by which we meas
ure the others, the dashing Latin Simon
Bolivar. the swart, Indian Juarez, and
Kossuth. whose failure is as hard to I'M
derstand as is the success of the
lackadaisical republicans of the Theirs
stripe. and the Nihilist leaders of Ius-
STA, that circle which, to an extreme
tyrrany, opposes an extreme aspiration,
which, sincerely hopeful of such an i'm
possible transition, seek to plunge erem
an excess of government to none at all.
In this country, KroDotkin is Known
chiefly for his articles on scientific sub
jects. Those who have been fortunate
enough TO read these, and without knowl-
edge of the author. have often wondered
who told with such sweet simplicity and
scholarly graceful patience the recent
advances in scientific knowledge, his gen
tie nature beaming pleasantly forth from
even such matter-of-fact composition. To
discover later by chance that this man
was a Revolutionist, an agitator, an An
archist, was to a degree puzZling and
aroused a curiosity that only an auto
biography could satisfy
And you leave this mans book loving
him, spite of Anarchy and its dreadful
associations. An American wishes he had
Kropotkin out in a Kansas town. at
political caucus where everybody may
have a hand or voice in the government,
where men feel and know that they are
part of a glorious confederation, where
political failure, discouraging for a day,
proves training for another trial where
a quick, jealous public opinion does dam
per injustice, where a universally edu-
Gated populace detects it, where the in
dividual has no reins on worthy motives
and no check on righteous action, where
the biggest buildings are the public
schools, and where in towns of $4,000 more
news of the world Is published than in
Paris with her 100000 or in Vienna with
her hundreds of thousands, to say moth
ing of StPetersburg, an American wishes
he had Kroootkiu out here 10 demon
strate visbly to him that tne-a is an
actual condition brighter than his fine
spun Socialistic dreams, with the iraEGs-
sible Topped off, can ever promise.
Kropotkin was a Russian Prince, whcce
family lived in the old aristo3catic pCr-
ton of Moscow. and on Il cnuntry es-
tate, alternately. The .chiIdr n lad a
German and Russian nurse. One in
reading of Kropotkins family life catch |
es some of the color of the Near East
that glistens occasionally in MaurCs JO-
kai's romances The arrival of the tweE-
ty-five peasant sleGges at the palace
with the winter provisions, the host of
servants, and later the exodus to the |
country in the great coach. drawn by |
four horses. across an old Napoleon-Cos- |
sack battlefield, and many things of the |
kind have a strange color all their own, !
somewhat as if Ivanhoe had leap-frog- !
ged over a lot of centuries and landed |
in our own. OF serfdom, as he saw It on |
the country estate. Kropotkin gives vivid !
pictures. One; Makar. a serf, offends |
KrOpotkins father. MY father takes !
his seat at the table and writes note: |
Take Makar with this note to the police |
station. and let a hundred lashes with the !
birch rod be given to him" Terror and |
absolute muteness reign in the house.
The clock strikes four and we all go
down to dinner; but no one has any ap-
petite, and the soup remains in the plate
untouched. We are ten at table, and be-
hind each of us violinist or trombone
player stands with a clean plate in his
left hand, but Makar is not among
them. Where is Makar?' our stepmoth-
er asks. Call him in Makar does not
appear, and the order is repeated. He
enters at last. pale, with a distorted face.
ashamed, his eyes cast down Father
looks into his plate while our stepmother
seeing no one has touched his soup, tries
to encourage us. Don't you find. chill
dren, she says, that the soup is de-
licious?' Tears suffocate me- and i'm
mediately after dinner is over. run out
catch Makar in dark passage and try
to kiss his hand, but ne tears it away
and says, either as a reproach, or as
question: Let me alone; YOU too, when
You are grown IN, will you not be just
the same?' NO, no, never"
These serfs, when the terrible Tsar.
Nicholas l. fortunately took an overdose
of medicine, were ready for revolt. When
still a boy Kropotkin was put in the
Corps of Pages Of the Court of ST. Peters
burg, an institution attached to the I'm
perial household. military in its nature
and Offering great difficulty to admis-
sion. KropotKn's recital OF the Incl
dents in this corps is interesting In
this period 1S59-61. after the death of
Nicholas I, there was a reading epidem-
ic in Russia. a great hunger for political
economy. and a consequential spread Of
revolutionary ideas. Alexander II a car
who started right but weakened by poor
counsel and shaken by police lies. ended .
badly. gave freedom 70 the serfs. in
spite of predictions of certain insurrec-
tons which would follow.
Kropotkin himself waited long for the
expected manifesto. Il was at the corps.
having to take part in the military pa
rade at the riding school. 7 was still in
bed. when my soldier servant. Ivanof,
dashed in with the tea tray. exclaiming:
Prince, Freedom! The manifesto is
posted on the Gostinoi Door lthe shops
opposite the corps) Did you see It
Yes. People stand round
one reads. the others listen. It is free
dom. In a couple Of minutes / was
dressed. and our. A comrade was COM
ing in 'kropotkin. freedom" he shout
cd"