The daily morning journal and courier., 1902-12-20
THE DOUKHOBORS.

Details From Russia of Their Appeal to the Sultan of Turkey.
 The St. Petersburg Viedomosti pub fishes some interesting information con- corning the Doukhobors in Canada re- ceived from a Russian living in that colony. He states that the members of the sect. who had been welcomed by | the Canadian government, were mate , lia.iy in very good position and could live happily and prosperously had they 1 not adopted an even more extreme { form of Vegetarianism than that which ! they formerly held. Not content with 1 abstaining from meat. they now regard ! it as a sin to use milk or to keep any 1 domestic animals for any purpose | They refuse, moreover, to obey any 1 laws but those given them by God, and [ therefore refuse to register their prop erty or even their births, marriages and deaths. as required by the Canadian Jaw. The writer further gives the text 1 of an extraordinary petition which the elders of the sect have addressed to the 1 Sultan of Turkey. and probably to oth- CT sovereigns, This document throws such a light on the fanaticism of the ! DOukhobUrs that I ventura to repro 1 duce it in full It reads as follows: Your Majesty before appealing to your kindness, we must tell you in few words about ourselves. We cmi- grated from Russia to Canada to the [ number of seven thousand in the years 189S99. We had heard of Canada as Q
 land of religious freedom. but that ap- pears to have been a misundcrstaud- oe vail in Canada, but not the freedom of l conscience We desired, We believe that 1 God rules our lives and leads us to
 eternity by His own holy ways. We obey only the commands nt tEc Lord
 in our hearts, and can obey no other i commands or laws. We cannot submit l ourselves to the laws or regulations Of 1 any state or be the subjects of any oth- 1 CT ruler except God. Our expectation
 that We should be allowed to live ac-
 cOrding to our belief in Canada has not been fulfilled. It is truefi that we are exempted from military service because We cannot bear arms or kill living be- ings, but they demand that We should become the subjects of Great Britain
 and not Of the Lord. They refuse to I l SiRC uS dIly ldLtu uIileSS We plOItuSG LO
 obey all the laws of Canada. We de-
 clare before God that this is impossible and that we would sooner bear any op- pression than be false to Him. We
 only beg that compassion should be
 shown to us, and especially to our chill dren, and that we should not ba.need- lessly i'll treated, for we are in the
 Lords power and will be true to Him
 unto the end
 Now we turn to your Majesty and beg you to show grace to us and to our
 families, not only as a monarch, but
 also as a fellow-being. As pilgrims of
 God in this world we beg you to give
 Us hospitality and shelter in your wide
 dominions. We beg for some tiny cor
 ner in your land, where we can live by
 the labor of our hands and follow the
 law of God, where we shall not be com
 pelled to obey laws made by man, and where it will not be demanded of us to
 be the subjects of any monarch except the Lord We venture to add that we
 eat neither meat nor milk foods, but only vegetables and fruits. As we give
 freedom to every living being we can
 not bring ourselves to use force either
 toward men or even toward animals
 We keep no domestic animals, but do
 all our work with our own hands. We, therefore, beg your Majesty to give us l parcel of land, such as we can culti- vate without employing beasts of bur
 den and such as we can use for vege-
 table and fruit gardens in order to
 maintain ourselves. We pray God to
 move your heart to have compassion
 upon us and we declare before Him
 that our petition is not dictated by sell fish motives, but solely by the wish to
 be true to the Lord. ."-London Times.