The daily Alaskan., 1918-01-07
A GEAR OF RUSSIA
Eccentric Alexander H., Who
 Gave Freedom to the SerfS.
AND THEN CRUSHED POLAND.

Out of the Reform He Started oy the
 Liberation of tho Masses Grow tho
 Nihllist Movement, Which Brought
 About His Own Death by a Bomb.
 It is n curious fact, says the Kansas City Star, that one of the greatest re- forms that ever came to Russia-the liberation of the serfs in 1S6l-came through Alexander H., a man educated under the PruSSian military system. Born in ISIS, the son of sternly au- tocratic father, growing up In an at mosphere in which 1t was looked upon as treason to critlcise the corner police man since he was d representative of the government, Alexander persisted In cherlshing an interest in all sorts Of humble people.
 He came to the throne in 1855, when Russia was flOundering waist deep in the Crimean war. Russia was defeated and demOralized, and 1t was an unusu- ally suspicious time for men with re form ideas to get hearing. Peace was made at the end of year and new laws passed encouraging industry and commerce. Plans were laid for an extensive railway system partly to de yelop the natural resources of the country and partly to increase its mti- | tary efficiency.
 Then in 1858 Alexander received petition from certain great landowners in Lithuania praying for more satis- | factory adjustment of relations be- tween themselves aud their serfs. The czar replied with lavish praises of their public spirit and assumed that what they wanted to do was to improve the l condition of the Serfs, which in point of fact was not true at all. Their peti- ton had given him an opening.
 Without consulting his ministers the czar caused copies of his instructions to the governor general of Lithuania to be forwarded to the governors of all the | other Russian provinces, Suggesting that the landowners of their provinces might also care tO consider emancipa- tion of the serfs. Local committees went to work on the subject.
 There were ill Russia at this time some 23,OOOOOO Serfs. slaves of the soil. They could not be sold away ! from the land on which they were born. but In all other respects their bondage was virtually complete. The czar set the ball rolling by freeing the 1 3,OO0OOO Serfs on the imperial estates. | The abolition of serfdom was mevita- | ble. but the landowners tried to stave 1t of as far as possible. They submit ted a plan for making the serfs agri- | cultural laborerS, entirely dependent upon them economically. The czar re- fused to accept it. If the serfs were | really to be free he decided they must be able to own land. A state loan, | payable annually at per cent for for l ty-nine years. enabled the former serfs to buy a certain share of farm land of | Russia and become peasant prOprie- l tors. The land was he'd by the village | communities and by them appOrtiOned | to their members. Tie ukdSe freeing the serfs was published March 3, 1861
 Hope famed very high in Russia at | that time, and men of the more vision ary sort looked forward t. an imme- diate Utopia. They were disappointed, of course. and they found that freeing the SerfS did not cure all the ills to | which Russian flesh wa heir Out of their disappointment and their impa- l tience that Alexander dld not make ! Russia into Socialist community there developed the nihilist movement
 whose passion for revolution involved a passion for assassination.
 The czar in the meantime was en- l deavoring to steer a middle course. It is one of the curious contradictions of bis character that this man, who car ried through the freeing of the ScrPs almost single handed. should have look l ed with entire ColduCSS and disfavor | upon Poland's aspirations for freedom. l "Embrace the union with Russia"
 he told the Polish delegates, and abandon all thoughts of independence, now and forever imrOcai5!e."
 And in 1863 when revolt broke out in l Poland it was rClentleSsly repressed under Alexander H.. and thereafter every step was taken to crush the na- tiOnal spirit of Poland, d2'tyoy its Ian guage and traditions and make of it an integral part of Rush. The doctrine l of pauS!aviSm took a strong hold on his imagination, and E2 vent to war with Turkey in 1877, feeling himself the chivalric liberator Of the Chris tian peoples of the Balkan country. But his hopes of confederation of | Slav states under Rus sian rule Ill the Balkan peninsula were dashed by the | congress of Berlin next year.
 The last years of AleXanders life were dreary ones. More and more he yielded to depression as he saw his l high hopes for Russia fail to mate rialiZe Numerous attempts were made upon his life. and after the explosion in the Winter palace in 1880 the czar | gave practically dictatOrial power for ~ I T,19I