The Brattleboro daily reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1913-1955, 1920-03-13

coed, but to subdue the others and |
take possession of their territory, and |
the armed retainers. who were wont |
formerly to wander about as free |
lances, gave up their rowing mode of |
life. settled down permanently, be |
came landed proprietors and sought |
to share as boyars the princes au-
thority.
The greatest of these principalities
was N0vgorod. Since the days when
Rurik had first chosen it as his head
quarters the little capital on the Vol
kl1ov had grown into great CONNER
cial city and brought under subsection
a vast expanse of territory, stretch
ing from the shores of the Baltic to
the Ural mountains. Unlike the other
RUSSIAN principalities it had DEM
ocratic, rather than a monarchial form
of government. The republic of Nov
gorod was the first and only flicker
of freedom in the long night of Rus
STA, and it glowed but for a short
moment.
NovgOrod had prince, but he was
NAS0SNo ny NOAll at. Lit NSS &
merely the commander of the troops.
All the political power remained in the
hands Of the civil officials They had
a popular assembly which was called
together in the market place as Occa-
sion required, by the tolling of the
great bell. The maxim of the state
was: IF the prince is bad, into the
mud with him."
In Moscow different state of af-
fairs obtained. There the supreme law
was the will and whim of an autocrat
Democratic Novgorod and autocratic
Moscow became bitter rivals. The fu-
ture of Russia was In balance. The
question was light or darkness, day
or night, freedom or slavery for the
future Russians. Had Novgorod won
out il the thirteenth century we
might not have the problem of boil
shevism in Russia today. But it was
to be otherwise, and with the success
| of Moscow, autocracy was enthroned.
The Russian night came on.
Tatar Eruption.
Then came the Tatar yoke. The
Golden Horde" conquered Russia. The
! conquerors built their capital at Sari
| on the lower Volga. The Mongols pill
LACED and robbed Tax gatherers kept
| the peoples backs bent in toll. The
| first trail to Siberia was blaZed, the
| cruel road that was to play such an
] important part in the horrors of Rus
| sian history. Oddly enough the first
wayfarers who journeyed on this road
| were Russian autocrats, the degener-
ate and corrupt descendants of Rurik.
| The grand khan, the chief of the Mon
| COL empire, lived with the Great
| Horde" in the valley of the Amur in
| Siberia. Russian princes were puppets
| in the eyes of this autocrat of auto
| Gratis. He commanded them to appear
before him. Before making the peril
/ Gus trip the prince made his last will
| and testament and gave direction for
| the guidance of his children. Few ever
| came back. The road to Siberia then,
as later, was a journey into the shad-
ow of death. Some died on the trip
others found execution the reception
at its end. The few who returned es
! capped the wrath of the great khan by
| sycophancy and bribery.
The princes Of Moscow were the
most willing and plant tools of the
great khan. They outraged and robbed
their own subjects to satisfy the Mon
gol court. Muscovy grew strong under
the ATongol empire The betrayal of
the Russians was the price. This is
| the faint in the blood of the czardom
of Muscovy; out of this line the czars
came. When the Russian princes be-
came strong enough they turned on
the Mongol empire. 1t was weakening.
At the battle of Kulikovo, 1880, the
Mongol yoke was broken.
/ Three ears, Ivan H. known as the
Great, his son Basil, and his grandson
Ivan ", called Ivan the Terrible,
whose united reigns cover period of
one hundred and twenty-five years,
1852 to 1884, forged and fixed the
Shackles on the people of Russia,
shackles which clanked until the exc
cution of the last Romanoff, Nicholas
It was Ivan III who snuffed out the
last spark of liberty in Russia, the
democracy of Novgorod. Ivan " fin.
ished the job; popular assemblies
were abolished, freedom of conscience
was killed. The complete doom of the
Russian people began.
| Copyright, 1920, Western Newspaper Union)
|