Year: 1868

THE SIBERIANs ExILEs.-We now come to
the exiles; pure and simple. If a man can
forget that he is deprived of his liberty, he
is not, under ordinary circumstances,
badly off in Siberia. He leads a more
independent life-unless under the special
eve of the police-than in European Russia.
and has better prospect OF wealth and
social advancement. If labOring man, he
can generally be more certain of employ
ment than in the region whence he came,
and, except in times of special scarcity, can
purchase food quite as cheap where the
population is more dense. Everybody around
him is oblivious of the fault that led to his
exile, and he is afforded full opportunity for
reformation If farmer he cultlvates the
land, sells his surplus crops, and sits IN his
own house with no fear that he will be dis
turbed for past offences. If he has brought
no family with him, he is permitted and en-
couraged to marry, though not required to
do so. The authorities know very well that
he who has wife and children is more a fix
ture in the country than one who has not;
and hence their readiness to permit an exile
to take his family to Siberia, and their en-
courapement for him to commit matrimony
if he goes there unmarried. Exiles to 81
IBERIA, especially those who marry there, and
are not cursed by fortune. frequently become
as much attached to the country as the
men who visit California or the West intend
ing to stay but few years, and never finding
suitable time to return. Many exiles re
main in Siberia after their terms OF banlsh-
ment are ended, especially If they have been
long in the country, and hesitate to return
to Russia to find themselves forgotten. Some
men consider their banishment piece of good
fortune, as it enabled them to accomplish
what they never could have done in the old
country. Especially is this the case among
the serfs. banished - at the will of their
masters Every exiled serf became free
peasant as soon as he entered Siberia, and
no law existed whereby he could be re en-
shaved His children were free, and enjoy
ed a condition far superior to that OF the
serf, under the system prevalent before 1889.
MANY descendants of exiles have become
wealthy through gold mining, commerce,
and agriculture. and occupy high social pO-
sitions. know merchant whose fortune
is counted by millions, and who is famous
through Siberia for his enterprise and gener-
osity he is the son of an exiled serf, and
has risen by his own ability. Since l left
Siberia, learn with pleasure that the En-
peror has honored him with q decoration
the boon so priceless to every Russian heart.
Many prominent merchants and proprietary
miners were mentioned to me as examples
of the prosperity of the second and third
generations from DdIiSIlCu LIcH- L was tO4N
of wealthy gold-miner, whose evening of
life is cheered by an ample fortune and two
wcll-educated children. Forty years ago
his master gave him start in life by ca
priciously sending him to Siberia; had the
man remained in Europe, the chances are
more than even that he would have died
unnoticed and unknown.


Some of the political exiles-Poles and
Russians remain voluntarily in Sibe-
ria say that they were drawn unwillingly
into the acts that caused their Punishment,
and may suffer again in the same way If
they go home. In Siberia they are removed
from all disturbing influences, while at
home they are at the mercy of uneasy revo-
lutionists, and are often led to commit acts
they do not really approve All the Poles
now in Asiatic Russia, from the insurrection
of 1881. are at liberty to return; l was told
that less than half the prisoners liberated
by the pardon ukase at the coronation of
Alexander H. availed themselves of its priv
ileges Long absence from their old home,
and attachment TO the new, caused them to
give preference to the latter.-4tlantic
Monthly.