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CHARLES WILLIAM WASON
COLLECTION
CHINA AND THE CHINESE
THE GIFT OF
CHARLES WILLIAM WASON
CLASS OF 1876
1918
Cornell University Library
DK 26.B92
A nemesis of misaovernment /
3 1924 023 012 192
The original of this book is in
the Cornell University Library.
There are no known copyright restrictions in
the United States on the use of the text.
http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924023012192
A
Nemesis of Misgovernment
AUTHORIZED BY
J. W. BUEL
THE AUTHOR UNDERTOOK A JOURNEY OF
RESEARCH TO THE COUNTRIES OF EUROPE
FOR THE PURPOSE OF OBSERVING THE
DIFFERENT CONDITIONS RESULTING FROM
THE VARIOUS FORMS OF .'.
REPUBLICAN, MONARCHICAL, AND EMPIRICAL
GOVERNMENTS
Mr. Buel's reputation as a writer is well known by newspaper readers,
as well as by scholars in literature, and the contents of this book are up to
his usual standard of interest and vivid description of things that he saw
and principles that he studied during a sojourn of three years in foreign
countries.
ILLUSTRATED
Historical Publishing Company
Philadelphia, Pa.
I V
\
Copyrighted, 1899,
BY
HlSTORICAI, PDBI.ISHING Co.
CONTENTS,
CHAPTER I.
PAGE
Departure from America — Arrival at Cronstadt — Introduction to
Count Tolstoi — An Audience with the Czar 33
CHAPTER II.
How Imperial Palaces Are Maintained — How Russia Was Changed
from a Republic to an Autocracy — Discovery and Cause of
Nihilism 51
CHAPTER III.
Three Great Characters in Russian History — Decapitation of Three
Hundred Marines — Assassination of the Czar by the Wife's
Order 62
CHAPTER IV.
Reforms Introduced by Alexander II. — First Overt Acts of Nihil-
ists — History of Serfdom — How the Noblemen Lived in Prof-
ligacy — God Denied and Genius Stifled in Its Cradle —
Russian Students and Their Peculiarities ^ 77
CHAPTER V.
The Mysterious Bell — Scieutific Murder — Method of Recruiting
Nihilism 95
CHAPTER VI.
Some Unpublished Secrets About War with Turkey and Effects
of Same — Police Force and Mob United Against the Court —
Martial Law in Russia — Loss of Life Incidental to the Con-
struction of the Finest Palace in the World — Theoretical
Reform and Practical Results 100
(13)
14 CONTENTS.
CHAPTER VII.
Page
The Monstrous Culminating Event in the Nemesis Vengeance,
from a Nihilistic Standpoint — Uncovering Crime — Memorial
Chapel 136
CHAPTER VIII,
" Uneasy Lies the Head that Wears a Crown "—The Palace of
Gold — How an Emperor Lives — Daily Routine ...... 169
CHAPTER IX.
Amazonian Nihilism — A Comparison of Press and Sword — The
Grand Votive Church — The Nemesis in Pursuit and Postpone-
ment of Coronation — Pilgrimage to Shrines , , I7S
CHAPTER X.
Antagonistic Array of Factions in Russian Service — Syllabus of
Great State Trials — The Famous Sixteen Conspirators — Pri-
vate Fortunes Sacrificed in Futile Effort to Defeat the Gov-
ernment — Self-Destruction Rather than Defeat 187
CHAPTER XI.
En Route to Siberia — A Pathetic Incident of Devotion — The
Kremlin — Nijni Novgorod and the Fair — Peculiarities of
Travel on Russian Steamers — The Iron and Malachite Mines 237
CHAPTER XII.
An Overland Journey — Post Stations— Interview with the Gov-
ernor — History of the Origin of Banishment and Importation
—Educated Exiles— A Tartar Belle 259
CHAPTER Xin.
Tobolsk— Female Convicts— Original Method of Fishing . . . . 277
CHAPTER XIV.
Tomsk— The Evasion of Sacred Law— The Value of a "Tip "—
Extraordinary Punishment— Families in Exile 2S9
CONTENTS. 15
CHAPTER XV.
Page.
The Flying Bridge Across Yenesei River— Social Conditions in
Siberia and the Prison House 3c i
CHAPTER XVI.
Objects of Interest at Yeniseick — Its Commercial Value as a Fur
Bearing District — .A Perpetually Frozen Wilderness— The
Eccentricities of the Tunguese During the Time of Their
Winter Hunt 311
CHAPTER XVII.
The Value of Siberia as a Mineral Producer— Novel Methods of
Mining — A Comparison Between U. S. Gold Fields and
Siberia — An Exile's Story with the Nemesis Pursuing — The
Message 32c
CHAPTER XVIII.
A Night with Wolves 334
CHAPTER XrX.
Inkoutsk — Novel Way of Training Horses to Race — Kara Prison
and Political Exiles — The Verification 347
CHAPTER XX.
Natives of Siberia — Ostjak People — The Gilyaks — Primitive
Method of Capturing Dangerous Animals 361
CHAPTER XXI.
In the Dui Mines — Cannibalism — A Real Snow Storm — Manzas
Robbers 374
CHAPTER XXII.
Belles of Yakontsk and Equestrianism — Peculiar Faith Founded
oil Scripture — Scopsi Priests 391
CHAPTER XXIII.
Interesting Things About Lena River 409
16 CONTENTS.
CHAPTER XXIV.
Page.
Penal Mines Retrospectively Considered — Nemesis Still Moving
but Humanity Is in the Van . 423
CHAPTER XXV.
Returning Through a New Untraveled Route — The Siberian Ante-
lope — The Bridge at Samara — A Serf Village — The Relation
Between a Peasant and Nobleman with American Compari-
sons 433
CHAPTER XXVI.
The Ever Prevalent Superstition — Black and White Clergy —
Splendor of Churches — Holidays — Primitive Method of
Harvesting — Communistic Principles 443
CHAPTER XXVII.
Count Tolstoi and His Novel Theory, with Comparisons — Church
Choirs — Trial, Conviction and Pardon of a Church Woman
Who Spent $20,000,000 for the Poor — The Close Relation-
ship Between " Ovation " and " Riot. " 452
CHAPTER XXVIII.
Cathedral Kazan — Animals and Holy Water — Bacchanalia in
Cemeteries — The Missing Middle Class— The Relationship of
the Poor to the Taxes — Requirements for Society 462
CHAPTER XXIX.
Parvelosk — St. Petersburg Society During the Winter — Domestic
Life by Comparisons 476
CHAPTER XXX.
Count Tolstoi and the Jews — Rothschild's Interview with the
Czar— How Railroads Are Conducted in Russia 492
CHAPTER XXXI.
Warsaw— Mayor's Functions — Theatre for Kings Only — The
-Wonderful Sun Clocks— Homogeneity — When the Jews Use
Bacon — Aristocratic Recognition of the Jews 500
CONTENTS. 17
CHAPTER XXXII.
Page
Cause of Attack on Jews — Riot at Elizabethgrud — Odessa — De-
struction of Property 506
CHAPTER XXXIII.
The Fatal Crowing — Western Russia — Anti-Semitic Prejudice . 518
CHAPTER XXXIV.
An Irish Millionaire's Experience — Nationalities by Comparison
—A Means for the End 529
CHAPTER XXXV.
Russian and English Governments bv Comparison — Muscovite
Valor — Church Indulgence of Government Corruption . . . 537
CHAPTER XXXVI.
Coronations of Alexander III. and Nicholas II. — Motives That
Govern Russia in Asia, England and France in Africa, and
the United States in the Philippines — The Ever Present
Nemesis of Misgovernment 545
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REDEEMER S TEMPI,^.
ILLUSTRATIONS.
PAGE
Memorial Chapel erected where Alexander II fell i8
Types of Russian character 23
Emperor Nicholas III 24
The Siberian ponj' express 27
Tents of Tschukschis on the Siberian Tundras 28
Harbor and fortress of Cronstadt 34
The Custom House examination at St. Petersburg 36
Street scene in St. Petersburg, showing droshkies and drivers . . 38
Suspected peasants before the officers of the " third section " . . 40
An exile's cabin in the forest 42
Count D. R. Tolstoi, former Minister of the Interior and Chief
Councillor of the Czar 43
Houses of Russian peasants 44
Hon. Charlemagne Tower, Ambassador to Russia 45
His Excellenc}', Vajeslaf Konstantinovitch Pleve, Minister of
Police 49
Holy Mountain near Kief 52
Russian sledges, city of Kief in the distance 54
Principal street of Kief, showing church on the left coutaining
Vladimir's remains 56
Going to church to christen the latest royal infant 59
Pyrotechnic display from guard boats in honor of the birth of a
royal child 61
Peter vanquishing his would-be assassins 63
Great bell in Kremlin, Moscow 65
Ropscha Palace, where Peter III was strangled 74
Alexander II 78
Colonel Prjewalski's narrow escape 83
Serfs celebrating "Liberation Day," February 19 85
A Russian noble lady of the XVIth century 88
Arrest of a revolutionary student 90
The Czar declaring the freedom of Bulgaria loi
Vera Zassulitch 104
Conducting SoloviefT to the place of execution 109
Execution of Solovieff in
Shrine in Greek Chapel, St. Petersburg, Russia 114
Reception of the Czar in Moscow after the e.xplosiou of the mine 116
The Caucacus Chutiken (Slenka) and Otus, Suanetia n8
Light cavalry of the Finnish Guards 121
The night patrol in St. Petersburg 125
(19)
20 ILLUSTEATIONS.
PAGH
Execution of Kviatkovski and Presniakov 127
Portraits of leading Nihilists 129
Leo Hartmann 131
General Loris MelikoflE 134
Conducting General MelikofF's assailant to execution 135
Funeral of General Melikoff 's assailant 137
Statue of Peter the Great and Admiralty Palace, St. Petersburg . 139
Cellar-room from whence the mine was laid 141
Explosion of the second dynamite bomb, which killed the
Emperor 142
Scene immediately after the explosion of the second bomb . . . 144
Appearance of the Emperor's carriage after the first explosion . . 145
Conveying the wounded Czar to the palace 146
View in Alexander Place at the moment of the Emperor's death . 148
Kissing the Bible and swearing allegiance to the new Czar . . . 150
Alexander III placing the imperial crown on his head 152
Remains of the Emperor lying in state in the winter palace . . . 153
The Fortress Chapel — last resting place of the imperial dead . . 155
Tomb of the Emperor in the Fortress Chapel one week after
burial 156
The Caucacus Balkan Valley Mountains, the Adzl valley .... 157
The Czar's study, to which he was conveyed after receiving his
wounds • 159
The new Czar and Czarina driving to their palace after the assassi-
nation 161
Trial of the Emperor's assassin 163
Execution of the assassins of Alexander II 165
Alexander III and the royal family 167
Palace of Peterhoff , 171
Leading female Nihilists 176
Execution of Soukahnoff ^ 178
View of Moscow from the Moska bridge 181
The Royal Chapel, Moscow 183
Women on a pilgrimage to Moscow 185
Police surveillance 210
Mirjpral Springs of Lipetsk, often resorted to by the Czar . . . . 213
The Caucacus Dongucasum, Ushla Leila Sora 220
Precautions against Nihilists — Closing the gates of St. Petersburg
atsvinset 235
Siberian exiles at the central dismissal prison, Moscow 238
Central prison, Moscow— The last partings 240
Alexander III and the Czarina entering the Kremlin at Moscow 242
The great bell at Moscow, and Ivan Veliki Tower 244
Familiar scenes at the Nijni Fair 247
Wooden church in Nijni-Novgorod 249
View of the Great Central Square in Moscow 251
Principal church in Perm 254
Russian church in Tagilsk 256
Women of Ekaterineburg 258
The Tarantass 260
View of Tieumen 263
Portions of Tieumen during an overflow 265
ILLUSTRATIONS. 21
PAGE
A convict barge on the Kama River 269
Prisoners leaving Tieumen for Eastern Siberia 271
Traveling by Tumbril — Changing horses at a post-station . . . 273
Upper and lower towns of Tobolsk 27S
Administering the knout 281
A convict laborer in irons 2S3
City of Tobolsk from the River Irtysh 285
Russianized Ostjaks 2SS
The Gostinnoi Dvor, or market-place at Tomsk 291
View of south side of Tomsk 293
Post-station and church on the highway 296
A shackled convict on the transport route 299
A convalescent prisoner, in irons 302
Convicts, under military escort, waiting to be ferried aross the
Yenisei 305
Siberian roadside inn 307
The Caucacus Koslantan Dyatlan, Shekau, Suanetia 310
Hunting reindeer on the Tundras 314
Siberian hunter 321
Houses made of wood, canvas and felt 323
Arrest of the Pole and his brother 327
Russian veteran guards 330
The exile's abode 332
Fight with wolves 335
The Alexandreffsky central prison 337
The treasury and governor's house at the Alexandreffsky prison . 341
The governor's race with a pack of wolves 343
Bargaining for fast time 346
Horse racing at Irkoiitsk 349
Gold mine and washing house at Kara 351
Ostjaks in winter dress 361
Samoved from the Lower Yenisei' 362
Female Sanioyed 362
On the brink of a chasm. Valley of the Yenisei 364
A Goldi dead-house 3^6
Goldi in winter dress 3^7
Group of Gilyaks 368
Festival of killing the bear 370
Tunguse family and birch-bark tent 372
Tnngnse hunters 375
Arrival of gold dust, by Tarantass, at Irkoutsk 376
Ainos, Aborigines of Sakhalein 37S
Combat with a Siberian bear 3S0
Military Post of Dui, Sakhalein 3S2
Convicts camping in the snow 3^4
Killing of escaping exiles for their clothes 386
Combat between head-hunters and escaping convicts 3S7
Siberian peasants caring for an aged convict 3S9
A Corean house in Vladivostock 39°
Exiles on the Island of Sakhalein 39-
Yukaghir and his wife " at home" 394
Views of the abodes of the exiles near Yakoutsk 397
22 ILLUSTRATIONS.
PAGE
Penal quarters at Yakoutsk 400
Exiles' homes on the Lena — Houses of dried dung 403
Scopsi Colony Houses near Yakoutsk 405
Scenes in Villiski 40S
Yakute and reindeer 411
Kirghiz of Northern Siberia 414
A Siberian home 424
Shackled convicts at work in the Kara mines 427
Branding a woman convicted of witchcraft 432
Departure from Irkoutsk 434
Mining and Wa}' Station on the route to Siberia 436
Siberian antelopes 439
Railway bridge across the Volga at Samara, the longest bridge
in the world 44^
Russian agriculture 447
St. Isaac's Cathedral ■, 454
Ceremony of blessing the waters 464
Ceremony of blessing the cows 467
A Russian peasant village 46S
Celebrating Recollection Monday in the Smolensk! Cemetery . . 470
A ball in the Winter Palace 472
A Russian masked ball 475
View on Nevskoi Prospekt at the bridge over St. Catharine
Canal 477
Ice Palace on the Neva, at St. Petersburg 479
A Russian courtship • ... 481
Easter customs in Russia 490
Scene in an eating station at Brest 49S
View of Kiew, scene of the Jewish outrages 512
The Coronation— State procession to the Kremlin Palace .... 54S
Preparing to illuminate Moscow in honor of the Coronation . . 550
The Red Gate at Moscow 552
The Great Bell at Moscow 55^
The royal regalia 562
The Great Cannon at Moscow 564
The Emperor crowning the Empress 566
Illumination at Moscow in honor of the Coronation 569
Imperial Crown of Russia 57'
Scenes on the new Trans-Siberian Railway 573
TYPES OF RUSSIAN CHARACTER.
EMPEROR NICHOLAS III.
24
INTRODUCTIOK
No country on the world's broad atlas, whether civil-
ized or unexplored, presents so many interesting and
anomalous phases as does Eussia and its immense de-
pendency, Siberia. The very mention of this latter
tract of desert waste, its illimitable snow-fields, scintil-
lating under a fugitive sun or stretching away in solemn
shadows under a leaden sky until it infringes upon a cir-
cumambient horizon, excites our wonder and gives us the
one idea of dreariness. But ah ! not only is the wilder-
ness of Siberia's vast and lonely plain a topic which may
infuse the humblest pen with power to write a stirring
chapter on wild nature, ferocious beasts, and storm-beaten
shores freighted with wrecks of hardy adventurers ; would
thatthere wereno more horrible stories of fact connected
with the history of that country which, from infancy, has
been an immense prison, or battle-ground — a grave-yard
of men's ambitions, the penal ground for patriotic expia-
tion ! The Mines ! There is no word that so thrills the
Russian heart as this. " To the Bastile!" uttered during
the most dreadful days in French history, carried with it
but the shadow of a horror compared with that awful
sentence: "To t1>.e Mines of Siberia!''' in Russia. In
France, Marat could only order his victims guillotined,
and death came speedily and painlessly. But in Siberia
25
26 A NEMESIS OF MISGOVERNMENT.
there was the knout and other instruments of torture add-
ed to the sentence Avhich confined men and women to a
life In the mines, where no light of day was ever permit-
ted to enter, and where the voice of lamentation could
never reach a sympathetic car.
The history of Russia, such as has already been writ-
ten, possesses for me an interest felt for that of no other
country; and since the revolutionary crisis, Avhichhadits
beginning or origin in the emancipation proclamation of
Alexander II., such startling events have occurred in that
nation that, .being Avithout parallel, they have focused the
interest of the world, until to-day the Czar's dominions
have become a country so alien in all its asj^ects of civil-
ization, and rent internally by such horrible atrocities,
that its current history is a story replete with exciting sit-
uations and horrifying culminations.
To obtain a true conception of Russia's policy, of her
insubordinate elements, of the Niliilistic demonstrations:,
of her administration in dealing with the revolutionist;;,
and lastl}^ of the exile life led by so many thousand
persons in Siberia, I personally visited that country und(ir
auspices peculiarly favorable for the acquisition of infor-
mation I specially desired. Before leaving America I
made application to our acting Commissioner of Inter-
nal Revenue, Washington, D. C, with whom I have
enjoyed an intimate acquaintance since boyhood, for
such letters of introduction to our representatives in
Russia as he might feel disposed to give. The applica-
tion brought a response more favorable than I had
expected, for forthwith he requested the Secretar}- of
State to give me a letter which would secure for me the
consideration of our Russian Minister, and, added to
this, the General kindly wrote a personal letter to our
representatives abroad, ;
27
28
A NEMESIS OF MISGOVERNMENT.
TENTS OF TSCHUKSCHIS, ON THE SIBERIAN TUNDRAS.
With my courteous correspondence I felt assured that,
notwithstanding the difEeulties which attached to the
mission I was about to undertake, my investigations could
be prosecuted without fear of serious molestation, for I
considered these letters an implied promise from my
government to protect me so long as I committed no
overt act against Russia, or manifested no revolutionary
sympathy, although hundreds of pei'sons have felt the
heavy hand of the Czar's police for much less offence than
an inquiry respecting Nihilism, two of which instances I
must refer to :
Some time during the year 1881 an American citizen
arrived in St. Petersburg, as a seaman, without a pass-
port. Without reporting his case to our Minister or per-
mitting him to send any communication to our represent-
ative, the Russian authorities searched the unfortunate
man and found upon his person a letter of recommenda-
tion from his employers certifying to his sober and indus-
A. NEMESIS OF MISfiOVERICMEXT. 29
trious qualities. Tliis letter was from the Remington
Fire Arms Company, and this trivial fact the Russian of-
ficers used as a pretext for holding the man as a suspect.
They said : " You are a revolutionist, and have been en-
gaged making cartridges and arms for the Turkish Gov-
erment to be used against us." They argued this way
because the Turkish Government during the war with
Russia hud purchased large quantities of war munitions
from Remington & Sons. The poor fellow was taken to
the Fortress prison and there confined on a diet of Ijroad
and water_for an entire week before the facts accident-
ally came to the knowledge of our Charge (T Affaires,
who fiercely remonstrated at the outrage, whereupon the
innocent captive was liberated.
Another instance of even greater hardship and injus-
tice, was the confinement of a Jewish-American citizen
who entered Siberia without a special permit from the
Imperial Police; not knowing that such was required.
It is easy to pass the Russian frontier into Siberia, Ijut it
is a most perplexing and next to impossible matter to get
out again, and this American Jew having business in Si-
beria, and being provided with a passport into Russia, in-
nocently crossed the Urals, and at the first place he was
called upon to show his papers, he was apprehended and
thrown into solitary confinement, where he remained for
six months, notwithstanding the correspondence that has
jiassed between the Russian authorities and our minister
concerning his imprisonment. It is but justice to state,
however, that our Minister expressed to me his doubts
about the prisoner being an American citizen, though he
claims protection from our government ; but the hard-
ships and injustice complained of grew out of the priso-
ner's inability, through lack of any privileges, to prove
his citizenship beyond the passport he held, which, how
30 A NEMESIS OF MISGOVEENMENT.
ever, was not received as evidence because the period of
its effectiveness had exjiired at tlie time of his arrest,
passports being good for only six months from the date
affixed to the visa — Russian consul's certificate.
Many other instances of intolerance might, and will ])e
cited in the following chapters, and hundreds of cases of
Unmerciful injustice will be described to show how Eus-
sia maintains her autocracy and martial law, while her
people groan beneath the burdens of misgovernment and
repression.
Several books on life in Russia and Siberia have
appeared since the Turko-Russiau war, but few that I
have read treat the subject in a manner that sug-
gests a personal visit to those countries by the authors.
Mackenzie Wallace Avrote a very excellent and reliable
work on Russia, Init it appeared before the war, and
though a standard history at the time of its first publica-
tion, it cannot be accepted as a history of Russia of to-
day, so great have the changes been since that time.
During the year 1881 a work appeared from the pen
of Henry Lansdell, entitled " Through Siberia," that
has met with much favor because it treats of a coun-
try about which so little is known, and because the au-
thor claims to has'e been a missionary and philanthropist.
The facts are, however, that this work, I know, from
observations made Avhile in Siberia, to be a pure fiction
so far as it relates to convict life ; its statements concern-
ing the prisons of Siberia are almost as wide of the
truth as any of Munchausen's choice yarns. T do not say
this through any prejudice, because I never saw Mr. Lans-
dell, and therefore have no private reasons for condemn-
ing his work. The London Graphic, reviewing the
book, pronounces it an aggregated canard throughout.
But I jiarticularize Mr. Lansdell's fault only because my
A NEMESIS OF MISOOVERXJIENT. 31
declarations and descriptions in tlie succeeding pages are
directly opposite to his assertions respecting the treatment
of exile prisoners in Siberia, and because the Russian
Government, havino- endorsed his work, mi2'ht lead un-
thinking readers to suspect me of misrepresentations;!
therefore write this to anticipate any reflections of this
character. I was told by many prominent persons in
Russia that the Government purchased several thousand
copies of Mr. Lansdell's ))ook and has been active in
circulating it through several countries, because it repre,
sents convict life in Siberia as an existence of elegant
ease and epicurean luxury, while it greatly disparages the
treatment of prisoners in England and America.
What I have written concerning Russia is wholly
without malice, for I must acknowledge a treatment
while in that country of rare courtesy and consideration.
I can in a great measure excuse the Government for the*
policy it pursues in dealing with its criminals. I can
readily understand how diflicult it is for a ruler educated
to autocracy ; one whose remote ancestors were Czars
before him, with power so absolute as to repel advice
from their own counsellors, except as it was asked for ;
one who has Ijeen reared in the belief that all the world
owes homage to him — I can understand why such an one
refuses his ear to the complaints of his subjects, particu-
larly when they demand a constitution which would lead
to an abridgment of the crown prerogatives whilst con-
ferring the first taste of liljerty to a people who never
drew a lireath of freedom. Besides, to acknowledge the
policy of a I'cvolutionary body, however weak, is alwaj's
a dano'erous precedent, and destructive in its influences.
France is an illustration of this fact, and governments
have ever regarded it safer to employ the full strength of
their oioposition by arms, rather than recognize any prin-
32 A NEMESIS OF MISGOVEKNMENT.
ciple, however inconsequential, when incorporated in an
edict promulgated b}^ insurrectionists. In this is found
ample reason why the Czar confronts Nihilism with
armor and steel, and this has brought on an internecine
conflict which fills the very atmosphere of Russia with
blood, and stamps every highway in that empyrical
nation M'ith red-handed murder.
It is my purpose to describe, in a dispassionate, ungar-
nished way, the crimes of Nihilism, Communism and
Fenianism, to give some of the previously unwritten
history of Russia, and to truthfully tell what I know
concerning exile life in Siberia, with observations on the
people and mode of living in that wonderful country.
I have had every advantage for ascertaining all the
facts, and am frank to say that no excuse is left me if
I have made a single misstatement in the narrative
follomng.
J. W. BUEL.
A NEMESIS OF MISGOYERNMENT.
CHAPTER I.
I loft America on the twenty-fourth day of June, for
St. Petersburg, going by ^vay of London, thence to Hull,
and at the latter Enniish port I enii-aged passao-e on a
Wilson line steamer (ilarsden) which took me Ijy way of
the North and Baltic seas. The latter part of the voj^age
was particularly pleasant, and occupied less than six:
days. We put into the port of Cronstadt, which is eigh-
teen miles from St. Petersburg, as, owing to the extreme
shallow water, vessels of any considerable burden cannot
approach nearer the Russian capital. Cronstadt is a
small town l)uilt upon an island, but though it has no
natural defences, it is next to Gibralter in fortress
strensfth. Stretching across the Finland mouth to tlio
two mainlands, are ten forts of alnnjst impregnable
strengtli, and counting the island fort of solid masonry
there are mounted more than one thousand immense
guns, the tire from all of which may be concentrated on
any point of entrance to the Gulf. So perfect ai'e the
defences that no fleet, however powerful, could api)roacli
within effective rano-e of St. Peters):)nro- without first de-
stroving- the ten strona-est artificial forts of the world ;
while to these defences is added a channel of only nine
feet, which makes the city safe from invasion by sea.
A canal is now being dug, however, by American contrac.
33 --^ -
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A NEMESIS OF MISGOVEENJIENT. 35
tors, from opposite Peterhoff to the Neva, which will
admit heavy ocean, tonnage, Ijut it will bo guai-ded by the
strongest engines of war that can be brought into requi-
sition.
Upon landing at Cronstadt our vessel was boarded ))y
five customs otficials and jKissport examiners, one of
whom detected an informality in my passport, which
caused my apprehension as a " suspect." "When leaving
Washington City I neglected to liave the Russian Con-
sul's visa affixed to my papers, and this omission sub-
jected me to much suspicion from a Government that
naturally su|)poses every one a revolutionist who is not
burdened with incontestible proofs of innocence.
I would never have been permitted to set foot in Russia
but for the letters I bore from the State and Treasury
Departments, upon the presentation of which I was given
a paper containing my promise to report in person at
the Third Section in St. Petersburg, on the following morn-
ing. I was then allowed to ^iroceed to the city and take
lodiiings at the Hotel de France, but under the surveil-
lance of the Imperial Police. No hotel in Russia is allowed
to entertain any one, whether a native or foreign sub-
ject, without first securing their passport, which must be
registered with the police, and the names of all guests
must be pi-ominently posted on a blackboard in the hotels
where an\' one entering can see them.
I, together with the other passengers, was taken up to
the city in a tender and landc.'d at the Custom House.
Being wholly unacquainted with the Russian language, I
would have fared badly but for assistance tendered me
l)y a fellow-passenger who kindly spoke for me. Ev-
ery bit of paper I had, on which there was any writing,
was critically examined by a score of underlings and then
conveyed to a higher functionary for insj^ection and
A NEMESIS OF MISGOVERNMENT.
37
judgment. My tilings were unceremoniously dumped out
and all articles of clothing were searched with the care
an old soldier manifests when looking for carnivorous in-
sects.
After undergoing the customs examination, I passed out
into the street and was immediato'iy received by a galling
fire of solicitations from droshlcj drivers, whose unintelli-
gi))lo jal)beriug and strong entreaties so confounded me
that I knew not what to do, as my friend had disappeared,
leaving me in a condition vvjjich I may well explain as
tongues and lungs everywhervj but not a voice to speak to
me intelligently.
If there is anything tha*; will make a cynic laugh or
startle a cosmopolite with ivonder, it is a droshky driver
in his quizzical tot«/e. The municipal law requires
him to wear a large, dark-blue stole, gathered at the waist
by a Ijand, and on his head he wears a covering which is
half hat and half cap ; from under this quaint head-
gear emerges a profuse quantity of hair cut in a sharp
line all round. Hair cutters in Russia use a large cup
which is inverted and placed over their customer's head,
and then, with a large j^air of shears, they trim squarely
around the cup'fi edge. The result must necessarily be
comical, especiailj since among no other people does the
hair grow so abundantly.
When I was first assailed by these peculiar, monkish-
appearing, but good-natured fellows, and had taken a
"•ood look at their peculiar little vehicles, I could not re-
frain from laughter, at which, like a number of imitative
apes, they fell to laughing also. After several minutes
spent in contemplating my unhappy condition, the gentle-
man V''ho had assisted me in the Custom House, appeared
a(^J^in, and engaging a carriage we drove together to the
H<1'v'i do France, where I was duly registered. My next
3
38
A NEMESIS OF MISGOVEENMENT.
step was to engage a guide, which I found in the person
of Charles Kuntze, a German who could speak several
languages, whose services to me became absolutely ines'
timable.
It SO hap])ened that at the time of my arrival m St.
Petersburg, our minister had not yet reached the capital,
A NEMESIS OF MISGGVERNMENT. 39
and the Charge d' Affaires was on a brief visit to Fin-
land ; I therefore had no other resource left me except to
obey orders and trust to luck. In obedience to instructions
I called at the Third Section, where I was assured that
my passport would be waiting me, but I was referred to
another place, and from there to still another, and then
back again to the Third Section. Tliis shuttle-cock
business continued active for four days, when at length
I found that it was a way they had in Russia; that
I was thus kept in momentary expectancy until the
authorities could take information on me and definitely
determine my business in the country. At the expira-
tion of the fourth day our minister returned, and upon
reporting my case to him he immediately procured my
passport and relieved me from further police surveillance.
The Third Section is one of the most noted institu-
tions ill Russia ; simple, unpretentious in title, but within
its now crumbling Avails have been enacted some of the
most shocking tragedies known in history. It is a build-
ing occupying one entire square and divided off into pub-
lic offices, audience chambers, and prisons, though it is
no longer used for the detention of criminals. Under
the iron rule of Nicholas I., those who were ordered to the
Third Section rarely ever breathed the air of freedom
a'Tain, their sentence being either death or transportation.
The place derives its name from the fact that the city
was fornierlv divided into three police districts, all under
the Minister of Police, whose ofiicewas in the Third Sec-
tion. It is told by those resident of St. Petersburg at
the time that Emperor Nicholas I. had a private office in
the Third Section where it vvas his custom to repair at a
certain hour each day for the purpose of keeping him-
self thoroughly advised on all matters appertaining to the
police administration. It is also declared that there was
40
A NEMESIS OF MISGOVEENMENT.
A NEMESIS OF MISGOVEENMENT. 41
a trap door in the floor of his office which was used for a
siiiguhir purpose, viz: when any female menil)er of the
reigning family was discovered iuveighiiig against his ad-
ministration — wliich was by no means an uncommon oc-
currence — the offender was ordered to appear before him
at his office. When there he gave such persons much
fatherly advice about their transgressions and, at a sig-
nal, the trap door, upon which they were made uncon-
sciously to stand, suddenly gave way precipitating the
woman to her arm-pits. AYhile in this constrained posi-
tion, unable to move, she Avas severely lashed by a per-
son stationed underneath. In this wise the offender
was prevented from knowing who was administering the
castigation, nor could the jjerson below know whom he
was punishing.
Upon meeting our minister I presented him with the
letters I bore, as already quoted, and then asked him for
such advice as he might give that would be serviceable to
me. His reply was a genuine surprise, and one which I
am not likely to forget soon. Said he :
" Your purpose, I discover from the commissioner's
letter, is to gather facts concerning Niliilism."
1 told him that was chiefly the object of my visit to
Russia, whereupon he re[)lied :
" If my advice is worth anything, I will freely give it
to you, and it is this : stop ivhere you are; don't take the
first step toward investigating that subject. The reason
I thus advise you is because Russia is under martial law
and the least suspicion excited against one here is liable
to be followed by arrest, and once in the toils it is next to
impossible to get out. It matters not how much any
goverinnent may remonstrate against the arrest of its
subjects, Russia isnotproneto regard them. So, foryour
own safety, I say abandon the idea of investigating Ni-
hilism while on Russian soil."
42
A NEMESIS OF MISGOVERNMENT.
I thanked the minister for his well-intended advice,
and then replied :
" You put the matter in a very gloomy light indeed,
much worse than I expected ; nevertheless, I don't
believe it is customary for an American citizen to give
up a mission that he has set his head and heart upon
performing, because the sun has set before his face."
He was evidently pleased with my answer, though he
sympathized with my poor judgment, for at once he
proffered such services as he was able to give, and prom-
ised to look after me if I should suddenly disappear. At
my request he then wrote me a letter to Count Tolstoi,
former Minister of the Interior, also acting Prime Min-
ister. During the forced retirement of Alexander III.
Count Tolstoi was j^ractically the Czar of Russia, all
audiences on Imperial business being held with the
Count and by him communicated personally to the
Czar.
AN EXILES CABIN IN THE FOREST.
COUNT D. R. TOLSTOI,
Former Minister of the Interior and Chief Councillor of the Czar.
44
A NEMESIS OF JIISGOVERNMENT.
' Before leaving St. Petersburg in August, for Siberia,
our Minister arrived in the Russian capital, and pre-
sented his credentials as Envoy Extraordinary and Min-
ister Plenipotentiary to the Court at St. Petersburg. I
had a very pleasant interview with him, and through
him and Count Tolstoi my request for an interview with
the Czar was communicated. Two days later his Excel-
lency, V. Pleve, presented me with an answer from the
Czar, who expressed regrets that he was holding his
annual conference at Gatchina Palace with his generals,
which would not be concluded for twelve days, but at
the expiration of that time it would give him great
pleasure to receive me. My time was too limited to
admit of so long a delay, as I had already made my
preparations and engaged an interpreter in Moscow to
accompany me on my tour through Siberia.
Upon my return to St. Petersburg, in October I again
called on our minister, who gave me a satisfactory letter.
HOUSES OF RUSSIAN PEASANTS.
BON. CHARiEMAGNB TOWER, AMBASSADOR TO RUSSIA,
45
46 A NEMESIS OF MISGOVERNMENT.
It is the etiquette of tlie Court that when a foreign
subject desires an interview with any member of the
Imperial Court, his request must come tlirougli a letter
from the representative of the country to whicli the
applicant belongs, although he may have been pre-
viously recommended. This is the reason the second
letter from the Legation was obtained and presented.
Two dates were affixed to my letters representing the
difference between the English and Russian calendars, the
latter still holding to the ancient style, Mdiich is twelve
days behind the calendars of all other civilized nations.
At this season Minister Tolstoi, who had his resi-
dence in the suburbs of St. Petersburg, gave audi-
ences only twice each week, and as I was misinformed
as to the days he had set for this purpose, it was not uu-
tiLthe third day that I called to present my letter. It
chanced, however, that the Count was not in, but I was re-
ceived, nevertheless, by His Excellency, V. Pleve, Direc-
tor of the Ministry of the Interior and Privy Counsellor to
the Emperor, and Mhiister of Police. I was pleased to
find him a very affable gentleman, and through my inter-
preter he promised me every aid I miglit require in pros-
ecuting my investigations. After conversing with him
for several minutes he made an engagement to meet me
ao'ain on the following day, and also to present me to tlie
Prefect of Police on the Monday following — this being
Saturday.
At the time appointed I met the Minister of Police
again, and also the Prefect of Police, both of whom
gave me considerable information, and at their recjuest
I submitted in writing a series of questions on Nihil-
ism, the answers to which they promised to give me
on the Wednesday following. Parting with them I left
my letter of introduction with Count Tolstoi's secretary.
A NEMESIS OF MISGOVEENMENT. 47
and oil the succeeding day received a note from the
Count, written in French, saying he would l)e pleased to
see nie at his office at eleven o'clock, Tuesday.
I was punctual in keeping the appointment, but upon
presenting my card to his valet I Avas told that it was et-
iquette of the Court to receive only persons with whom
appointments are prcA'iously made, and that no one is ad-
mitted unless he ap[)eaL- in Court dress — dress suit.
Though embarrassed somewhat at first, I was equal to the
occasion, for I sent my regrets to the Count, coupling
them with the observation that in America every citizen
is a sovereign, and that with us dress suits are used only
on party occasions ; that it was with inexpressible cha-
grin I was compelled to acknowledge the fact that I nev-
er owned a dress suit. In a moment after, the valet re-
turned and ushered me into the Count's presence, who
advanced and greeted me in so cordial a manner,
laughingly commenting upon his valet's rigid Court man-
nerism, that I entirely forgot the presence of royalty,
and entered into conversation with a freedom from all re-
straint.
Count Tolstoi spoke with some warmth concerning the
reflections cast upon Russia by other civilized countries,
and earnestly denied the insinuation that the administra-
tion was lacking in mercy or that every measure and pol-
icy pursued was not thoroughly justified. lie complained
that Eussia was the most misrepresented country on
the globe, and as an earnest f)f his assertions he prof-
fered to me any assistance I might need to learn any and
all facts appertaining to Nihilism, and the manner in which
the laws are administered. He gave me access to the Im-
perial Library containing all the political records, and as-
sured mo tlia-t I might talk and enquire about Nihilism
without the least fear of molestation, though he admitted
48 A NEMESIS OF MISGOVERNMENT.
tliutAvithouta disclosure of my purpose I might have en-
couotered some trouble. My sole purpose iu visiting the
Count was to procure from him a promise that I would
not be subjected to suspicion or annoyance by reason of
any inquiries I might institute, and to this end I frankly
told him the purposes of my visit and promised to treat
Nihilism in my Avork with all the fairness that my com-
prehension of the subject permitted. Before leaving him
he asked me as a favor to incorporate in my book the
Government's positif)a taken in the four leading politi-
cal trials, viz : the trial of the Emperor's assassins; of
those suspected of attempting to blow up the Winter
Palace ; of the assassins of Gen. Melikoff ; and the trial
of Vera Zassulitch, who shot Gen. Trepoff , Minister of
Police. I told him I should be glad to do him such a
favor if he would prepare the matter ; this he agreed to
do, and to transmit the manuscript through our consul to
me in America, which promise, however, he did not ful-
fill, and I am therefore absolved from the obligation.
On AVednesday, the day following my interview Avith
Count Tolstoi, I called on Minister Pleve again, Avho gave
me answers to the questions I had prepared, but they
Avere of an indefinite character, in fact evasive, and of
no value, though Count Tolstoi had also promised that
the questions I had submitted — with one exception —
should be ansAvered fully. The question to Avhich direct
exceptions Avere taken, Avas this :
" Explain Avhy noble families sympathize Avith the Ni-
hilists?"
, This, I Avas told, involved the entire administration of
the Czar and to explain it fully would expose cer-
tain matters which the government held as strictly
private.
I was very much interested in Minister Pleve, because
of the important part he acted in the most thrilling
A NEMESIS OP MISGOVERNMENT. 49
drama of Eussiau history, and I spent nearly an hour in
a most agreeable conversation Avith him, though we had
to talk through my interpreter. At the time of the
Czar's assassination he was in very liigii repute as a slvil-
ful detective, and upon the removal of Gen. Trcpoff —
after recovering from the wound inflicted by Vera Zas-
sulitch — Mons. Pleve was appointed Minister of Police.
The assassination of the Czar brought his detective skill
HIS EXCELLENCY, VAJESLAF KONSTANTINOVITCH PLEVE, MINISTER OF POLICE.
into service again, and it was through his ingenuity that
six of the accomplices were apprehended and brought to
trial. His last act of great public consequence was to
affix his signature to the death sentence of the assassins,
which many believed no officer had the courage to
do, because of the threats made in hundreds of anony-
mous communications to kill every officer remotely cou-
50 A NEMESIS OF MISC40VERNMENT.
cerned in the executions. But Pleve did not hesitate, andl
wliile his life is yet liable to pay the forfeit of that act,
he takes few if any precautions to guard against assas-
sination.
I asked him for his photograph for use in my book,
and he promised to have one taken and send it to me at
an early day, a promise which he kept.
A NEMESIS OF MISGOVEENMENT. 51
CHAPTER II.
Provided with \vhat I considered a complete protection
from officious servants of tlie Government, I set about
gathering statistics and familiarizing myself with the
social and political life of Russia since the accession to
power of the Romanoffs. I was somewhat surprised to
leara that many interesting portions of Russian history
have never been given to the world, because of their
reflections on the ruling family, and I now take what I
conceive to be commendable pride in presenting sev^eral
material incidents for the first time in print. It is essen-
tial to the thorouo;h understanding; of the causes which
have combined to render Russia so unhappy, hy giving
life to a movement that is without precedent or simili-
tude, that at least a brief or outline history of the coun-
try should be familiar to the reader, and it is this which
shall be my excuse for presenting it here ; added to this
general history are several facts which, so far as my
information extends, Avere never before published.
The Russian Empire embraces an area of 8,444,766
square miles, or considerable more than twice the area of
all oar States and Territories. This vast region, which
extends from the arctic to the torrid zone, has an esti-
mated popuhiti(Hi of 85,000,000, and though the most
fertile and extensive agricultural country in the world,
there are proportionately fewer persons following pastoral
pursuits in Russia than in any other civilized nation.
The Empire is divided into about one hundred govern-
ments, which are ruled directly by Governors whose pow-
ers, especially in Eastern Sil)eria, are almost absolute.
Of these governments fifty are in Europe, having a pop-
ulation of 66,000,000; Poland contains 6,000,000 souls
52
A NEMESIS OF MISGOVEENMENT.
'^
' -* V,-
't?-'?^ 'O
A. NEMESIS OF MISGOVEENMENT. 53
Finland, 2,000,000; the Caucasus, 5,000,000. Siberia
proper has a population of 4,000,000, and Central Asia
3,000,000. These are approximate figures l)ased on the
census of 1880. In this broad extent of country about
two-thirds of the entire population profess the Greek
religion. The Dissenters number about one million ;
the Roman Catholics two and one-half millions ; Protes-
tants and Mohammedans about the same as the Catli-
olics ; Jews, two millions. There are also one quai'ter
of a million Pagairs, worshi[)ping idols ; fifty thousand
Armenians, and alxjut ten thousand Scopsi, a denomina-
tion that will be described fully hereafter.
Russia's national debt, since the loan of 1882, is about
four l)illion roubles — the pa[)er rouble being equivalent
to fifty cents, makes the total clel)t, in United States
currency, two billion dollars. The expenses of the Gov-
ernment average nine hundred million roul)les, two hun-
dred millions of which are army appropriations.
The Emperor is allowed twenty million roubles annu-
ally f(n' the support of the fort^'-four members of the
royal family. Russia now has a mobilized army, ready at
any time to be called out for service, of over two million
men ; and her tlcct, consisting of two hundred and sixty-
three vessels, carries sixteen hundred and two guns.
The (U'iginal settlers of Russia were Sclavonians, whose
history in the Empire dates from about r>. C. 400. A
century later they founded the cities of Novgorod the
Great, and Kief — -both of which cities afterward became
capitals of the country — and Ilmen. Kief lias always been
regarded as the Holy City, to which annual pilgrimages
are made for worship.
This ancient capital, though much of its former glory
has departed, is still one of the chief places in Russia ;
among its many squalid appearing ])uildings, always sug-
4
I •*
A NEMESIS OF MISGOVEENIIENT.
55
gestive of great poverty, is a palace provided, and still
maintained, for the Imperial family. In Eussia there are
twenty-one palaces kept for the exclusive use of the Czar,
many of which never once sheltered his^NIajcsty ; they are
always kept in readiness for him, however, ])eing attended
by hundreds of servants, and having staliles containing
many tine horses. I was surprised to learn this, and
upon asking why such a useless extravagance was per-
mitted, was answered : " The Czar is supposed to look
after the interests of his entire Empire ; his presence,
therefore, may be expected at any time in any place
therein ; so palaces are provided for his entertaiument in
various parts of Russia in order that at no time may he
have to lodge in apartments not befitting his Majesty."
This answer quite satisfied me.
The earliest Government of Eussia was a Eepublic,
which continued for about one thousand years, when, in
851, a violent political disturbance took place which
divided the Eepuljlic into revolutionary territories and
inauofurated a warfare that threatened extermination.
The Eepublic continued to exist in name, however, until
862, when a council, chosen from the various factions,
with the view of conciliating differences and protecting
the country from invasions, which neighboring tribes
threatened, convened at Novgorod, and after lengthy
deliberations decided to invite a Varago-Eussian, named
Eurik, to accept the sovereignty, which he did, and Eus-
sia then became an Empire, Novgorod remaining the
capital of the new Government.
There is very little history known connected with tlie
Eurik dynasty. Vladimir was the greatest sovereign of
that House. It was he who introduced Christianity into
the Empire in 980, and at his death, which occurred in
1015, he was buried at Kief, and the church honored
56
A NEMESIS OF MIBGOVEENMENT.
A NEMESIS OF MISGOVERNMENT.
57
nis name by declaring him a saint. Dimetrius was also
a prominent ruler in tlie Ruriii dynasty, and he is re-
garded as a saint by the orthodox church. It was Dime-
trius who founded Moscow in the twelfth century. A
portion of his skull, the size of a silver half-dollar, is
still preserved and exposed to view in the Koyal Chapel at
Moscow. Every day hundreds of pious Russians visit
this chapel and reverently kiss the ghastly relic, murmur-
ing their prayers, and crossing themselves at the same
time. It is said that upon the occasion of a visit to this
chapel by an American lad}', seeing so strange and dis-
gusting a performance by so many mouths, she grew
sick and vomited. The act, as I saw it performed by
dozens during my visit to Moscow, affected me almost
as seriously as it did the lady referred to.
The house of Rurik continued to rule Russia until the
year 1613, when an interregnum occurred, owing to the
fact that there was neither issue nor hereditary branch
to succeed the last ruler. The Empire continued, how-
ever, by the election of jNIichael Faodorvitch Romanoff
;is Emperor, who ruled from the year 1G13 until 1645.
lie was succeeded by his son, Alexis Michaelovitch, who
was the father of Peter the Great. His reign continued
from 1645 until 1676. The other rulers then came in the
order named.
Feodor Alexovitch, 1676-1682. Ivan Alexovitch the
v., who was an idiot, l)eing senior brother of Peter
Alexovitch (Peter the Great), the Government became
a duarchy until the former's death, which occurred in
16ft(;, when Peter the Great, who was in fact ruler from
1682, continued on the throne until his death in 1725.
Catharine I., wife of Peter the Great, ruled from 1725
until 1727, when she was poisoned by Count Ostermann.
Peter II., nephe^f of Peter the Great, 1727 until 1730.
58 A NEMESIS OF MIBGOVERNMENT.
Anna Ivanovana, niece of Peter the Great, ruled from
1730 until 17-40, when she was banished to Siberia and
died in exile.
Ivan Antonovitoh succeeded, but ruled only one year,
until 1741, when he was thrown into prison, where he
died.
Elizabeth, youngest daughter of Peter the Great, ruled
from 1741 until 1761. She died without marrying, but
adopted the grandson of Peter I., who succeeded her as
Peter III., but he ruled only one year, until 1762, when
he was strangled by order of his wife, Catharine II.
Catharine II. ruled from 1762 until 1796.
Paul I., Catharine's only son, who was declared illegiti-
mate, ruled from 1796 until 1801, when he was strangled
in his palace I)y Count Parlen.
Alexander I., son of Paul I., ruled from 1801 until 1825.
He died from the effects of poisoned feet, the poison
being secretly placed in his boots.
Nicholas I., second son of Paul I., ruled from 1825
until 1855, when he ordered his physician to prejDare
him a dose of poison, which he took on account of his
defeat by England and the Allied Forces in the Crimean
War.
Alexander 11. ruled from 1855 until 1881, when he was
assassinated, after many unsuccessful attempts, Mai'ch
1st, Russian style, 1881.
Alexander III. began his rule upon the day of his
father's (Alexander II.) death, and continued to reign
prosperously until his death November 1st, 1894, when
he was succeeded by his son Nicholas Alexandrovitch,
under the title of Nicholas II.
The members of the ruling family are as follows :
Emperor Alexander III. Alexandrovitch, born March
10th, 1845; he married Maria Sophia Frederica Dagmar,
A NEJtESIS OF MISGOVEENMENT.
59
dauo'hter of Christian IX. Kiii"' of Denmark. Tlie Em-
press, who is a sister to tlie Princess of Wales and King
George, of Greece, was
horn November 2Gth,
l'>47, and married the
Emperor, November 9th,
IMjG. She was en^a^'ed
to the Prince Imperial
Nicholas, elder brother of
Alexander II,, who, how-
ever, was seized with a
dreadful malady brought
on by his own indiscre-
tions, and died before
leaching manhood. On
bis death-bed be begged
bis lirotber, wlio became
heir in succession, to
marry the Princess, which
1 equest w a s complied
M ith.
The children of this
union are :
Nicholas Alexandro-
vitch, the Prince Impe-
rial, who was born May
lytb, 1868, now Emperor.
George A 1 e x a n d r o-
A itch, Grand Duke; born
May 9th, 1871.
Xenia Alexandrovna,
Grand Duchess; born
ApiilGth, 1M:..
Michael Alexaudrovitch, Grand Duke, born December
5tb . 1878.
60 A NEMESIS OF MISGOVEEHMENT.
Olga Alexandrovna, born in May, 1882.
The christening ceremonies of this infant princess oc-
curred at Peterhoff, the Czar's present residence, and
was one of the most gorgeous affairs that ever took
place in Russia.
Brothers and Sisters of the Emperor — Vladimir Alex-
androvitch, Grand Duke ; born April 22, 1847 ; married
August 28th, 1874, to Princess Marie, of Mecklenburg-
Schwerin.
Alexis Alexandrovitch, Grand Duke ; born January
14th, 1850. Morganatically married, but his wife wa."^
never acknowledged by the Court, and he was compelled
to sever his relations with her. ;
Marie Alexandrovna, grand duchess ; born October 17,
1853 ; married to the Duke of Edinburg, second sou of
Queen Victoria, January 23, 1874.
Sergius Alexandrovitch, Grand Duke ; born May 11th,
1857."
Paul Alexandrovitch, Grand Duke ; born October 3d,
isno.
Uncles and Aunts — Olga Kicolaievna, grand duchess ;
born September 11th, 1822 ; luarried to Charles, now
King of "Wurteniburg, July 13th, 1846.
Constantine Nicholaievitch, Grand Duke ; born Sep-
tember 21st, 1827 ; married September 11th, 1848, to the
Princess Alexandra Josefovna, the daughter of Joseph,
late duke of Saxe Altcnburg.
There are sixteen other members of the Eoyal Family,
children of the grand dukes and grand duchesses, all of
whom receive a large annual pension from the Govern-
ment.
Few of the grand dukes have held any office requiring
active service. The grand duke Nicholas -was field Mar-
shal at the outbreak of the war with Turkey, but his
A NEMESIS OF MISGOVEENMENT.
61
father, Alexander II., had so little confidence in him that
he decided to assign the chief command of the Eussian
forces to one of his old-
er Generals. Learning
this, Nicholas presented
himself before his father,
and with pistol in hand
declared that rather than
snffer such disgrace he
would blow his own brains
out before his father's
eyes . This threat induced
the Emperor to give the
chief command to Nicho-
las, but before a year had
elapsed there was such a
general complaint of his
extravagance and incom-
petency that the Czar was
forced to remove him and
appoint Gen. Skobeleff,
the hero of Goek-Teppe,
in his place.
The grand duke Con-
stantine was, for some
time, rear Admiral of the
Eussian fleet, but there
developed among the ma-
rines such strong revolu-
tionary sympathies that
in the spring of the pres-
ent 3'ear he was removed,
and the position given to the Grand Duke Alexis. The lat-
ter at once began a secret examination of the men in the
62 A NEMESIS OF MISGOVEENMENT.
navy, which resulted in tlie arrest and conviction of three
hundred officers and privates in the marine service, all of
whom Avere sent into exile.
CHAPTEE III.
There are three great historical characters among tin
rulers of Russia, viz : Peter the Great, Catharine II.,
and Alexander II. Of these three the first named ispre-
eminent in history, while they all have made popular rep-
utations in the order named.
Even in bo^diood, Peter the Great exhibited such traits
of character as indicated his special capacity for the po-
sition he was hereditarily called to fill. His brother,
upon whom the crown fell by succession, was an idiot,
and at a very youthful age the responsibilities of Imperial
State, under particularly i^crplexing circumstances, be-
came his inheritance. '
His early life was characterized by those acts of brav-
ery which grew in importance as luaturer years came
upon him. It is told of him that shortly after his acces-
sion to the throne a conspiracy was formed to consum-
mate his assassination. Those in the plot had a meeting
place in a peasant's house, where they secretly came to-
gether and arranged their plans for getting into his bed-
room, and for disposing of the body after death. By
some means, which tradition does not explain, Peter
heard of the conspiracy, and with a spirit of reckless
bravery undertook the task of visiting punishment upon
his enemies. He accordingly posted himself in a place
near the house where, unobsei-ved., he might witness the
assembling of the assassins. When five of the party
A NEMESIS OF MISGOVEENMENT.
63
-T3rT~™^
64 A NEMESIS OF MISGOVEENMENT.
had collected, and while tney were taking an oath to
accomplish his murder, Peter broke in the door, and
with no other weapon than his powerful arm, he rushed
upon the affrighted men and knocked them into a condi-
tion of insensibility, then taking away their daggers he
kept them as a memento of his adventure.
This great ruler was only seventeen years of age when
he ascended the throne, but he was both warrior and
statesman ; a sovereign full of ambition and the courage
to force any extremity. His tirst desire was to extend
his Empire, and this he undertook by engaging Charles
XII., of Sweden, in a war which lasted, tlirough shifting
fortunes, for many years. At the beginning of this war
Russia did not extend further north than the Neva River,
the territory lying beyond belonging to Sweden. As a pre-
liminary to the acquisition of Finland, Peter the Great
wrote a letter to Charles XII., asking the favor of build-
ing a small country residence on the north bank of the
Neva, He had already founded St. Petersburg, and his
request for joerniission to build a small house, even on
Swedish territory, but adjoining his own dominions, was
construed by Charles as nothing more than a natural de-
sire, as the spot selected was embowered by beautiful
trees and occupied a delightful site, commanding an ex-
tensive view up and down the river. The request was
therefore granted, and the wily Peter thus obtained his
first footing on Swedish soil, which he never relinquished.
It was a small house, in which Peter held counsel with
his ofScers, and one portion was fitted up for a workshop,
for, although Czar, he was a skilful mechanic, whose chief
delight was the turning-lathe and handling of all kinds
of workmen's tools.
Before engaging in war, Peter equipped himself fully
by building a large fleet, providing abundant munitions,
A NEMESIS OF JnSGOVEENMENT. 65
enlarging and drilling his army, and preparing all his
forts and other defenses.
When he had thus carefully arranged for a powerful
campaign, -^-ar was declared, upon some trivial diplo-
matic pretext, and there followed a twelve years' contest
that has rarely l)een equalled for tierceness in all history.
But the fortunes of -war were all against him until his
exchequer was nearly exlKiustod, his troops were beaten
and driven at ovwy point, the army became insubordi-
nate, and there appeared no hope ; yet Peter was one of
those rare characters tliat knew no such word as fail ; ev-
ery l_)low he received only served to impassion him to
more determined acts. While in this extremity three
huiidred of his officers conspired to sacrifice him, and had
arranged all their plans. At the last moment he heard
of the conspiracy, and foi'thwith covertly despatched a
force of trusted men to arrest them, not in a body, but one
at a time so that no alarm might be occasioned, for he real-
ized how little sympathy there was among the people for
his administration. Wlien all the arrests were made, and
the men conveyed to iloseow, he attended upon them in
person and announced their fate, which was to bo deca})-
itation. Peter Avas au interested spectator of the execu-
tions, his calculating deference being manifested by the
following incident: Among the numl)er sentenced to
death was a young, gallant officer who had been a great
favorite of the Clzar's. This man, as he laid his head
upon the block, in order to avert his gaze from the exe-
cutioner's sword, by a great exertion contrived to turn
his face sideways, which lifted one of his shoulders upon
the block. On seeing this Peter rushed up and catching
hold of the hair of his victim, violentlj' drew l)ack the
he;id into proper place, at the same time administering
this rebuke :
6G
A NEMESIS OF MISGOVEESMKKT.
" A brave and considerate fellow indeed, who would
disgrace the headsman by causing him to cut your shoulder
rather than vour neck."
GREAT BELL IN KREMLIN, MOSCOW.
It was less than a year after the executions at Moscow
that another eonspiraey was diseoyered, headed by Pe-
A NEMESIS OP MISGOVERNMENT. o7
ter's favorite mistress, a woman who is I'epresen.. ,d as
exceedingly beautiful and possessing such charms of per-
son as won from the Czar an affection that subordinated
his judgment and rendered him almost plastic in her
hands. She had arranged to deliver him into the power
of his enemies, but her purpose was disclosed to Peter in
time for him to foil the conspirators and bring them to a
judgment similar to that previously administered in Mos-
cow. The woman was among those adjudged guilty of
treason, and she was brought to the block arraj-ed in a
long white robe covered with beautiful lace ; around her
neck she wore a circlet of diamonds, a gift from the
Czar, and her uncommonly long, black hair was allowed
to hang disheveled over her shoulders. She is reported
to have presented an appearance which would have turned
any heart but that of the inflexible Peter, and even upon
hi-m she produced such an impression that he broke into
tears, and throwing himself upon her neck in an agony
of grief exclaimed :
" Oh, beautiful being, I would gladly exchange places
with you this sad hour, but pardon you I cannot. It is
the Czar's duty to see no one convicted without just
cause, so is it the Czar's duty to see the law rigidly en-
forced."
Then after kissing her many times, he ordered her
head laid upon the block, and a moment after signaled
the headsman to do his bloody work.
It is true that during the forty-three years of his
administi'ation Peter the Great never pardoned a single
convicted offender, and it was his pride to deelara the
fact.
Though desperately beaten on nearly every battle-field
for nine years, and until a further continuance of the
struggle appeared hopeless, still the Great Peter sue-
68 A NEMESIS OF MISGOVEENMENT.
ceeded in inspiring his army with his own dauntless spirit
At length fortune changed in his fav^or, and soon hop j
blazed up all over the once despairing Empire. The,
battle of Pultova, which was fought under Imperial lead-
ership hy the flower of both armies, resulted in Peter's
favor, and was so complete an overthrow of Swedish
influence and power that it Avas the last blow struck on
either side. Charles XII. Avas himself desperately
wounded, his army almost annihilated, and he Avas ready
to sue for peace at any price. A treaty followed soon
after, whicli ceded to Russia nearly all that territory now
known as Finland, but tlie Government of Finland has
ever remained isolated from Russia, for the reason that
it has a limited constitution and is a Dukedom.
At the conclusion of peace Peter renewed the building
of St. Petersburg, intending that it should l)e the capital
of the Empii'e. lie soon removed from his little palace — ■
Avhich Avas called "palace" because it Avas the Royal resi-
dence — to a spot eighteen miles Avest of the city, Avhere
he built another palace, and called the phice Peterhoff .
There Avcre two houses constructed for his I'esidcnce,
l)otli of which are A'ery sm;i.ll, one of them l)eing Ijcauti-
fully situated on a l)ank of the Finland Gulf, and the
other in a delightful Avood, Ijcfoi'e Avhich Avas made a large
fish pond. lie l)estowcd such attention f)n the grounds
at Peterhoff that they are regaiided as the most pictur-
esque in all Europe.
He concentrated so mucii of his ambition on St. Peters-
burg, hoAvever, that notAvithstandingthe fact of its estab-
lishment on an extensive morass, he expended the means
which have made it next to Paris in ai'chitectural beauty,
with l)road streets and numerous parks, gi-aceful monu-
ments, and the finest Imperial palace in the Avorld. He
fostered the arts and sciences, gave encouraellion against
his father : so persistent was the youth in fomenting dis-
cord that his father ordered him thrown into prison, but
he was not so strictly confined as to prevent intercourse
with many officials whom he tried to influence against
the Czar, ^o incensed at length did Peter become that,
alone, he repaired to the prison, and with his own hand
struck a dagger into the heart of his recreant son.
The second greatest character in Russian history, as
befo)'e r:ientioned, was Catharine TI., who was a German
princess brought to Russia under the following circum-
stances :
Elizabeth, youngest daughter of Peter the Great, was
without issue, though upon the throne from 1741 until
17()2. In order to retain the throne in the family, she
adopted a grandson of Peter I., whom she raised at
Court under Imperial tutelage. When the young Peter
approached his adolescence Elizabeth grew anxious for
him to fix his intentions upon some princess who might,
as Empress, reflect credit upon himself and the nation,
but Peter was so diffident that he had to be coerced into a
courtship. To this end the Empress sent for four Ger-
70 A NEMESIS OF MISGOVERN MENT.
man princesses all about the age of the youthful Peter,
to visit her d uring the approaching winter. The girls were
brought to Russia in a post-chaise, and upon their arrival
they were met by the Empress, who observed a remarka-
l)]e difference between Catharine, one of the quartette,
and the other three princesses. This difference consisted
in a bold, frank, careless air manifested by Catharine
as she entered the Royal presence, whilst her three com-
panions exhibited such modesty and awkward diffidence
that Elizabeth declared, within half an hour after receiv-
ing them, that Catharine should become wife to her
adopted Peter.
The two were brought together and their respective suits
vicariously pleaded with such persistency that although
Catharine could scarcely endure the Prince Imperial, yet
she was induced to marry him. This union was a most
unfortunate one, as will appear hereafter.
Upon the death of Elizabeth, Peter I. became Czar
under the title of Peter III. He was a weak ruler and
directly opposite in desposition to Catharine, whose am-
bition was as all-absorbing as that displayed by Peter
the Great. After one year of contention Catharine took
up her residence at Peterhoff, while Peter III. remained
at the Winter Palace with his mistress, the Countess Stro-
ganhoff. This woman gained such an iniiuence over him
that he decided to marry her. To accomplish his pur-
pose he had first to get rid of Catharine, which he at-
tempted to do by preparing charges against her of trea-
son and inconstancy. Following these he issued an
order for her arrest, which was to take place the morn-
ino- following;.
It was Catharine's good fortune to have a friend at
Peter's Court who, learning of the secret arrangement to
bring her to trial, which would have resulted in her ban-
A NEMESIS OF MISGOVEENMENT. 71
ishment, drove quickly to Peterhoff and acquainted her
fully of the conspiracy. Catharine was not a woman to
quail or grow sick at heart over this discouraging news ;
but with a quick perception and the determination to
dure and do, she called her waiting maid, whom she im-
plicitly trusted, and ordering her sleigh to be quickly
brought, she drove with all possible dispatch to St. Pe-
tersburg and drew up her foaming horses before the bar-
racks of the Imperial Horse Guards. It was one o'clock
in the morning when she awakened the chief officer, and
with speech that characterized her as a puissant queen,
she told him of the conspiracy and demanded his assist-
ance. The officer was thus placed in a trul}^ dangerous
position, for his acts must now be treason either to the
Emperor or Empress, for obedience to one would be
treason to the other. In the moments of his indecision
and while Catharine was haranguing the officers and men
with words of burning eloquence, a young lieutenant
named Potenikin drew his sword from its scabbard and
holding it aloft declared his allegiance to the Empress
and offered his services and life in her behalf. This
spirit became at once contagious, and in an hour's time
the Horse Guards, to a man, swore fidelity to her and
promised to execute all her orders.
Catharine seized the advantage which was now clearly
hers, and while Peter was reposing in the arms of his
mistress, unconscious of betrayal, the strategic Queen
burst in upon the Winter Palace with her faithful force,
intending to summarily arrest and execute her faithless
husband. But the Emperor was aroused in time to effect
his escape down a private stairway and, half clothed, his
identity was so concealed that he fled undetected to Cron-
stadt. Here he was comparatively safe, as there was no
force in all Russia that could have successfully assaulted
this the stroTijfest fortress in the Empire.
72 A NEMESIS OF MISGOVERNMENT.
Catharine assumed control as Empress without incur-
ring any opposition, and conducted the Government for
a period of three months without holding any communi-
cation with the dethroned Emperor. She was not satis-
fied, however, with the apparent acquiescence in her rule,
for there was a feeling of insecurity, occasioned by a
dread of some conspiracy which might arise against her
and restore the Emperor, so she concocted a diabolical
plan for his assassination, the details of which show her
to have been a cunning;, but heartless woman.
Having thoroughly conceived iier purposes, Catharine
wrote a length}' letter, filled with the most affectionate
declarations, to the despondent Emperor, in whicli she
reminded him of their early courtship, the love that he
bore for her liefore the poisonous influences of imperial-
ism and sovereignty had alienated him ; she avowed her
inexpressible love for him still, which, she claimed, was
only realized when cruel circumstances had so strangely
scjjarated him from her ; she also aljsolved him from cer;-
sui-e for the part he had taken, throwing all the guilt
ui)on those who had, throu^'h jealousy, influenced him lo
do that which she declared was foreign to his naturall)'
jiious and loving nature. She also pointed out the evil
suffered by the nation by reason of a disgraceful act
which had brought nothing but sorrow to them both.
These specious pretenses were concluded by a cordial in-
vitation which she extended him, announcing that, being
so anxious for a reconciliation she would grieve her-
self to death if it were denied, she had arranged to give
hin] a royal dimier at Peterhoff, at which Avould be pres-
ent a special company of his friends to welcome him
back again to his loving wife and the throne of Russia.
This letter, so skilful in its construction, completely
captivated Peter, for being of a despondent nature he
A NEMESIS OF JIIStiOVERNMENT. 73
only not'ded the effervescent spirit of sueli a coniniuni-
cation to dissipate the gloom which had gathered so
densely about him. His friends, however, thought they
detected the signs of a conspiracy in the missixe, be-
cause not a single sentence accorded with the uatiu'c of
Catharine, M'honi they knew to be ambitious, despotic
and unscrupulous. They therefore strongly advised him
not to accept the invitation, Imt he could discover noth-
ing in the communication beyond that which promised
him a restoration to power.
He accordingly ordered his yacht and sailed across to
Peterhoff, his heart exulting with proud expectations and
■without the slightest suspicion of the dreadful death that
he was hastening to. Upcni reaching Peterhoff he was
astonished to lind no preparations for his reception, but
even this did not excite in him the least apprehension.
Arriving at the Palace he was told that the Empress had
arranged to meet him at the Eopscha Palace.
Still unsuspicious, he entered a carriage which was
placed at his disposal, and drove to Eopcha, which is
about twenty miles from Peterhoff, where he lirst be-
came ahu'med by failing to observe anything that indi-
cated an expected visit from him. But he M'as now too
far advanced into Catharine's territory to turn back, for
flio-ht could not have saved him. Enterino- the Palace he
was met by an officer, who, with profound obeisance ad-
dressed him as "Your ilajesty," and conducted him
into the reception room w]:ere a score more of oificers
greeted him in a manner becoming his rank. Being seated
he enquired for Catharine, and was told that Her ^lajesty
was in the toilette room with her maids, but would appear
presently.
In a short time dinner was announced, and he was in-
vited to accompany the officers to the dining hall, Avhere
they assured him Catliarine Avould appear at once.
74
A NEMESrS OF MISGOVERNMENT.
Eveiytliing ■n'as of such strained and uncertain charac-
ter that Peter's alarm momentarily increased until when
he sat down at the table his face blanched with fright-
Calling again for Catharine and receiving an unsatisfacto-
ry answer, Peter arose from the table and exclaimed :
ROrsrHA PALACF, W HERE lETFR. Ill WisbfKAN I ED
" I perceive, gentlemen, that I have been grossly de-
ceived, and that instead of inviting me to a reconcilia-
tion M'ith the Empress, this is a scheme to assassinate
me."
As these words were uttered Count Oraloff approached
him suddenly from behind, and thro\ving a napkin around
his neck exclaimed :
" Yes, and it shall be as painless as we can make it."
A NEMESIS OF MISGOVEEXMEXT. 75
The Emperor had time then only to cry, "Shame!
shame ! " when the napkin was dra\yn so tightly that he
soon died of strangulation
Catharine had but one child, a son, who was declared
illegitimate, and when he ascended the throne as Paul I. a
revolution was averted only by the most obsequious
promises to pacify the people. He ruled for five years, Init
with such dissatisfaction that a conspiracy was organized
against him in his own palace ; the conspirators forced
themselves into his private study, and presenting a letter
of abdication demanded that he should sign it. This he
refused, whereupon Count Pari en, assisted by six others,
drew a napkin about his neck and strangled him to death
in the same way in which his father was executed
The reign of Catharine II. was marked by the great
progress Eussia made, notwithstanding the wars she pre-
cipited which drew so heavily upon her treasury. She
did more for St. Petersburg even than Peter tiie Great,
some of her principal works being the construction or
three canals which run through the cit}- and connect the
Volga with the Xeva river, by which boats may run
through from the Caspian to the Baltic sea. Her politic
measures were no less important, for she confirmed the
abolition of the secret state inquisition ; she also educated
seven thousand children, and among many other acts of
public charity she established a foundling asj'lum at St.
Petersburg, and also one at Moscow. These institutions
are the largest of the kind in the world. The one at
Moscow receives an average of one hundred foundlings
eveiy day, while the one in St. Petersburg receives half
that number.
Her entire reign was distinguished for the successful
wars she waged against Turkejs at one time pushing her
arms so far that Constantinople would have been com-
76 A NEMESIS OF MISGOVERN MENT.
polled to capitulate, but for the intervention of other
powers. Her efforts to annex Poland precipitated a
great civil war which resulted, through the intrigues of
Russia, Austria and Prussia, in an assault on Warsaw and
the most dreadful massacre that the pen of history has
perha[)S ever recorded.
In 1784 Catharine gained complete possession of the
Crimea and the adjacent islands ; she then established
the great fort of Sevastopol, which became such a prom-
inent point of attack in the Crimean war of 1853-54-55.
Her private life was marked l\y the most demoralizing
excesses, which she took no pains to conceal. She be-
stowed every honor within her gift upon Potendiin,
the lieutenant of the Horse Guards who espoused her
cause against Peter IH., and her favors were not limited
to oiBces of preferment. She had seven favorites who
were her daily companions and counselors, and these are
remembered in St. Petersburg by a large bronze statue of
Catharine, around the pedestal of which are grouped
smaller statues of the favored Septemviri.
Her ambition was abnormal, being irrepressible even
in the last moments of her life. When conscious that
death was at hand, with great effort she rose up so far as
her strength Avould allow, but fell back with these last
words :
" Bring me the crown, that I may feel it on my head
once more before I die. The crown ! the crown ! "
and whispering these words she expired.
A KEMEl^lS OF MIStiOVEli^'MENT. 77
CHAPTER IV.
The third much distinguished historical character oi"
Russia is Alexander II., whose tragic death, IVIarch 13,
1881, startled the world. AVhile I have selected as strik-
ingly great, in the Romanoff dynasljr, only three rulers,
I would have it understood that my estimation of thc.«e
sovereigns is based entirely upon the civil policy which
they pursued, and their influence in promoting the com-
merce and arts of Russia. There were greater Avarriors
on the throne of Russia than Peter the Great, among
whom I may mention Tamerlane, Ivan TV., surnamed
the Terrible, and Vladimir the Great, but I have not at-
tempted to outline a general history of Russia, as that
task has been accomplished already by several writers
whose works have become standard in the various civil-
ized countries. Isly purpose in introducing Peter the
Great, Catharine II. and Alexander II. as ])re-emiiiently
prominent sovereigns was to utilize their administrations
as a specially appropriate prelude to the subject of Rus-
sia's internal revolution. Their several policies and ten-
dencies serve to illustrate the mercurial and violent na-
ture of the Russian people, as well as the burdens
they have had to endure, and with the foregoing epitome
of the two greatest administrations in Russia an intelli-
o-ent comprehension of that which is to follow may be
had.
When Alexander came to the throne there was every-
thino- to discourage him. His father had died under the
most lamentable circumstances ; the Crimean war fail-
ure had caused mutterings and a restlessness among the
peoj^le which seemed to threaten disruption, if not revo-
lution ; there was an empty treasury gaping at a debt of
76
A XEMESIS OF MISGOVERNMENT.
ALEXANDER JI.
A NEMESIS OF MISOOVBENMENT. 79
frightful proportions ; and as the war with the Allied
Powers had not j^et ternijoated, he reached the throne in
time to be held responsible for the downfall of Sevasto-
pol .
Nicholas I. was a despot whose iron hand had crushed
out every seml^lance of liberty, and the people were
naturally distrustful of the son of such a man, but the first
acts of Alexander II. was to reduce the public burdens
and inaugurate social reforms of great consequence to
the people. At the conclusion of peace he reduced his
army to the lovvest possible limits compatible with the
safety of the Empire ; he next established trial Ijy jury,
devised a code of laws for the restraint of the royal fam-
ily, and so mitigated the censorship of the press that
immediately literatui'e was stimulated and with it fol-
lowed a rapid progress in all the arts and sciences. But
in making these reforms he met with a stuljborn opposi-
tion from the noblesse, so that they finally became as
laws observed only in the breach. An author writing at
the time on the profession and practices of the adminis-
tration observes :
"In the administration of justice we find on the one
hand publicity and ample show of discussion during the
proceedings, and in the jury-box ; on the other a practice
which removes inconvenient persons from the cognizance
of a tribunal, and sends them ' administratively ' to Si-
beria. On the one side abolition of corporal ciiastise-
ment as a criminal and disciplinary punishment; on the
other, incessant tloggings iu secret. On the one side a
recognition of the principles of self-government in the
provinces and towns ; on the other, the impossibility of
turning this to any practical use through fear of Gov-
ernors, Ministers, Councillors, or Chiefs of Gendarmes.
On the one side a strict demarcation of power among
80
A NEMESIS OF MISGOVEENMENT.
the various authorities, and a distinct separation of judi-
cial from administrative functions ; on the other, an un-
bounded cxei'cise of arbitrary power by higher police
officials, who iu their turn are ruled over by the ' Third
Section,' whose supreme command overrides everj'thing
else."
Although the reforms sought to be established by
Alexander were suggested by an honest intention to
remedy many crying evils, instead of eradicating, or
even ameliorating any of the vicious practices so long
complained of, seem to have served no other purpose
than that of creating an inveterate hostility to him person-
ally, which culminated, after five unsuccessful attempts,
in his assassination.
We are now brought to a period in Russian history
where Nihilism had its beginning, for, strange enough,
this bloody creature of a disordered if nf)t frenzied con-
ception had its birth in the very cradle of emancipation.
Communism was a disquieting, if not dangerous factor
in Russia as early as 1825, when a band of conspirators
attemi:)ted to substitute constitutional for despotic Gov-
ernment through the assassination of Alexander I., but
there was a great dissimilarity in the two organizations,
found in the fact that Communism of that time liad a
defined policy and a formulated idea of the Government
it proposed to establish, while Nihilism is exactly Avhat
the word implies, " nothing ;" a determination to wreak
venireance without considering either the means or
result.
Russian Communism in 1825 had its origin in a grow-
ing discontent with existing institutions and a desire to
see them rejilaced by laws more in accordance with mod-
ern ideas. This disposition, which was first manifested
among the nobles, grew out of that vast wave of thought
A NEjrESIS OF MISfiOVEFNMENT. 81
to which the Freneli RovoUition gave rise, and, to some
extent, to the unsettling forces set free duriiio- the o-reat
strugghi with Napoleon I.
The close of the life of Alexander I. was embittered
I)y the reflection of how much ho had done for his people
and the ingratitude they had returned. From time to
time he received mysterious messages contaiuing warn-
ings that his life and throne were in danger. His mind
became so gloomy under these threatened calamities that,
he died of a liroken heart at Togaurog.
An iuterregnum ensued, dui'iug which, Avhile Nicholas
was refusing to exclude his elder Itrother from the throne
and while Coustantine was undetermined whether or not
to swear allegiance to his younger brother, the Commun-
ists gained strength and their plans coherency. The re-
sult was a military insurrection ia December, 1825,
which terminated in a dreadful carnage. The attack was
made on tlie "Winter Palace by al)out five tliousand men,
who gathered in the Alexander Square in broken ranks,
and with siu'h weapons as they could collect. The mob
was met by a battery of heavy artillery, planted in front
of the Ministry of Justice, one hundred ■\'ards from the
Palace, Avhich, with grape-shot, opened fire on the crowd
until nearly three thousand of the revolutionists were
mangled in instant death or left dying in a sea of blood.
Tiiis dreadful slaughter suppressed Communism until,
upon the accession of Alexander II., Alexander Herzeu
organized a revolutionary committee and established a
printing ofEce in London, where Nihilistic literature was
printed and used to inflame the passions of adventurers
and those who were conscious of Russian oppression.
This committee had its branches in Paris, Berlin and
Geneva, but was making little progress Avhen the Em-
peror declared, by act of emancipatiou February 19,
82 A NEMESIS OF MISGOVEKNMENT.
1861, the freedom of the Serfs. This was a blow at the
Russain nobility which proved disastrous to their inter-
ests and led to evils far beyond those anticipated by the
Emperor.
The history of Serfdom may be briefly told, and as it
is essential to a correct miderstanding of the emancipa-
tion proclamation and its consequences, is herewith
given ;
The oriojinal settlers of Russia being: from the east and
south, the nomadic disposition which characterized them
continued to be a feature of the Government, until meas-
ures were taken, at first of a mild, jjersuasive nature, to
induce a permanent settlement of the people, in order
that agriculture might be promoted. Incursions from
neighboring tribes for purposes of forage and reprisal,
followed by hordes Avho retaliated upon the invaders, be-
came so general as to prevent any attemjjt to engage in
productive industry, until in 1592 Boris Godunoff, of
the Rurik dynasty, became convinced that there could
be no progress or cohesion in his Empire unless the per-
nicious custom was abolished. He accordingly promul-
gated a peremptory decree, forbidding peasants from
changing their residence or appearing off their communal
estates without a permit from the Governor of their re-
spective districts.. All efforts to enforce this decree
proved futile, because no adequate punishment was pro-
vided for its infraction.
Determined in his purpose, however, Godunoff had
enacted and put into execution another law which gave
the right to any nobleman — which was a wealthy class
of landed estate owners, whose occupation was chiefly
stock raising — to hold in bondage all the peasants em-
ployed by him, and also the further right of forcibly
taking and owning as slaves any peasant whom he might
83
84 A NEMESIS OF MlSGOVEENMENT.
find off the communal estate on which such peasant was
recorded as a resident. This latter law gave the noble
men absolute ownership of the serfs thus forced into
bondage, with the right to dispose of them the same as
other chattels. The law remained unchanged until dur-
ing' the reign of Nicholas I., when that sovereign issued
another decree talking away from the noblemen the right
of selling their serfs except as they might be disposed of
with the estates of their masters.
So extensive did this system of slavery Ijecome tliat in
the year 1858 it is computed there were 47,100,000 per-
sons in servitude, more than one-half the entire popula-
tion of European Russia. Of this number M. Eambaud
estimates that 20,000,000 were Crown peasants, 4,700,-
000 were peasants attached to estates, which were the
Appenages of the Crown, laboring in mines and factories
belonging to the Crown ; 21,000,000 belonged to private
individuals and 1,400,000, were domestic servants.
The serfs of tlie Crown and of the Appenages might
be considered as free men, subject to the payment of a
rent, and bound only to perform certain defined obliga-
tions to tlie State, v/hile they were permitted to enjoy a
restricted local self-government. To emancipate these
involved only an Imperial edict of manumission, which
was done gradually by a series of ukases, the first of
which bore date July, 1858.
The emancipation of those serfs belonging to private
owners, however, Avas a tasknot so easily performed, for,
as Eambaud observes, " the liberation of these 22,400,000
human beings was to constitute the most prodigious social
revolution that has been accomplished since the French
Revolution." Particularly was the task a difficult one,
since the scheme provided for the liberation of the
serfs under such conditions as left them in possession of
A XEMESLS OF MISGO^■EE^•J^I:^•T.
85
86 A NEMESIS OF MISGOVERNMENT.
the estates they had cultivated, but imposed obligations
upon them which may be summed up in the following :
1st. The peasants were to be invested with the privi-
leges of free cultivators.
2d. They were to have, under conditions expressed in
the decree, the full enjoyment of their enclosure, and
also of a portion of productive land sufficient to enable
them by industry to discharge certain obligations to the
State. This enjoyment might become absolute posses-
sion of the enclosure by purchase.
3d. The noblemen were to surrender to the peasants
all the land actually occupied by them, a maximum and
minimum being fixed for each commune — tlie serfs lived
in communes in a manner which will be explained here-
after. The average allowance was nine acres of arable
land to each male serf ; the allotment diffei'ed greatly,
however, in different districts, according to the charac-
ter of the soil ; in some rich localities as little as three
acres were granted each serf, while in the most unpro-
ductive loortions as much as twenty-five acres was tho
portion.
4. The Government obligated itself to organize a sy^-
tem of laws through which the serfs were to be enabled
to discharo;e their oblisfations to the State.
5. The domestic servants were to be granted an unco ]-
ditionalfreedomafter serving their masters for the period
of two years.
6. The owners of the land and serfs were to receive
compensation, for the property thus yielded, by a money
payment, which Avas based upon the rents they had re-
ceived and the value of their serf labor, which was to be
calculated at a yearly rental of six per cent; " so that,
for every six roubles which the laborer had earned an-
nually, he had to pay one hundred roubles to his
A NEMESIS OF MISGOVEENMENT. 87
master as his capital value to iDecomc a free holder." Of
this sum, twenty per cent, was advanced by the Govern-
ment to the noblemen (owners) which was to be refund-
ed by the freed peasants in installments extending over
fifty-nine years. To secure this repayment, the Govern-
ment imposed a tax on the commune, making the house-
holders of each Mir, or village, individually responsible
for the entire sum, charging on each commune a portion
of the redemption dues and other imperial taxes propor-
tionate to the number of males in the census list, which
is revised and republished annually.*
This Imperial ukase of emancipation went into effect
February 19, 18G1, and immediately produced a violent
feeling, which for a time threatened civil war. "We, in
America, Avho know the effect of President Lincoln's
loanumission i^roclamation, can readily understand the
rebellious spirit which must have animated the Eussian
noblemen, for though there was a compensation fixed by
the Government, by which the serf owners were to re-
ceive a money consideration, yet the scheme of payment
T^as of such a character as to be practically valueless to
Ihe noblemen. It Avas a virtual confiscation of both their
lands and serfs.
Under the system of serfdom there developed a no-
blesse class of aristocracy, who practiced the most extrav-
agant indulgences, maintaining fine country seats in
France, Switzerland and Bavaria, dressing in a garb of
richest splendor when in Eussia, keeping scores of mis-
tresses, and breathing nothing but the atmosphere of
profligacy.
They not only derived an income from their pastoral
estates, but encouraged their more ambitious slaves to
* Russia, Past and Present, by II. M. Chester.
•88
A NEMESIS OF MISGOVEENMENT.
engage in business in tlie cities. Thousands of serfs of
quielv intelligence were glad to pay their masters the sum
A RUiilAN NiiIM.K LADY OF THE XVITH CENTURY.
of one thousand roubles annually for wliat they could
earn in commercial undertakings. But there are hun-
A NEMESIS OF MISGOVERNMENT. 89
dreds of instances in which greedy masters compelled
their serfs, who had prospered in husiness, to pay them
tea times the amomit they had thus agreed to accept.
There was a law which made noblemen amenable to con-
tracts thus entered into with tlicir serfs, but it was ren-
dered inoperative by the right of the owner, at tlie ex-
piration of such time as he had agreed to grant freedom
to his slave, to compel his serf to abandon business and
return to the commune.
Suddenly stri])pcd of their wealth, and entirely unac-
customed to any employment, the noblemen were left in
a sorry condition by the Imperial ukase of 1861. Being
from almost time immemorial used to princely revenues,
and with a power which exalted their pride to the very
limit of aggrandizement, the aristocratic lords were pre-
ci})itated, in a da}^ to the level of their minions, and we
ai'e not surprised to learn that they felt bitter toward
tlie Government. This intense hatred soon developed
into an active opposition, which culminated in Xihilism.
The noblemen were educated, and their former position,
an aroma of which still clino-s to them, o-ave them that
influence among the ignorant classes which they have
wielded so potentially ever since. Keeping behind the
scenes themselves, they have used those whom flattering-
speech and promises of an Utopia could beguile, to
commit revolutionary acts. The students, Avho are al-
most continually committing some overt act against the
Government, are the sons of those old noblemen who
ha^■e transmitted their grievances and who look to the
second generation for arechiimation of their rights.
There is a vast difference between Communism and Ni-
hilsm in Eussia, the latter being far the more radical and
p.ggressive, ■w\th. less direction of purpose. During the
early years of Alexander!., and following quickly upon
A NEMESIS OF MISGOVERNMENT.
A NEMESIS OF MISGOVERNMENT. 91
the overthrow of Napf)leon, Russia, in common with all
Europe, shouted herself hoarse in an enthusiasm for na-
tionality. At this time the " Slavophils" were the na-
tional reactionists, with many discordant elements which
prevented homogcniety among them.
During the reign of Nicholas the existence of even a
shadowy form of lil)eralism was rendered impossil)le l)y
the energetic action of thousands of secret police,
though at Moscow there were individual libcralists, no
two being in concert, however, so that of an organization
there was not the least scniT)lance. But toward the
close of Nicholas'' reign a group of students in the Uni-
versity of Moscow began a discussion with the vie-w of
securing refuge from the absolutism which hedged them
about in almost helpless conscription of thought and ac-
tion. This idea Avas no doubt created by a study of Ile-
g'el's and Schelling's philosophy, particularly the former,
ivhich excited such an interest among the students that
there developed a mania for his works to the neglect of
all other studies.
There wei'e two parties among these incipient philoso-
phers, one of which was under the leadership of Alexander
Herzen, who inclined to French Socialism, while the other
branch recognized as their champions Aksakof, Kiriec-
vskis and Snmarin, who clung tenaciously to the Hege-
lian school until they progressed into Eomanticists.
Their ideas finally crj'stalized around the belief that
Western Europe was in a vortex of ruin, while Russia
alone remained in that state of j'outh and vigor as gave
promise, through the adoption of measures they advo-
vocated, of reaching the highest plane in science, art and
cultured civilization.
To better accomplish their purpose, these fanatical
students adopted the garb of the peasantry, wearing their
92 A ^'EMESIS OF MISGOVERNMENT.
shirts over their trowsers and going about in sleeveless
jackets to the great astonishment of Moscow. This
move was to obtain the favor of a major class as well
also as to manifest their sinceritj'.
Hegel's philosophy of history taught that a new race,
to have dominion over the world, must be the messengers
of new ideas and principles ; tiie discovery, therefore, of
the system of Eussian Communism by Baron Von Hox-
thansen in 1842, Avas accepted by the Slavophils as a rev-
elation of the idea and principle upon which was to be es-
tablished the Pan-Sclavonic nation of the future. This
firmly imbedded belief became, as it were, the very con-
stitution of Communism, and was the basis upon which
Herzen builded his Socialism. Associated with the dem-
ocratic tendency of the Slavojihils to regenerate the nation
through the common people, was their fidelity to the
Church, which it was positively believed had protected
them from Protestant infidelity and Papal oppression.
This school of enthusiasts, though small in numbers for
several years, had no little influence, and by the nnuii-
festation of almost unexampled persistency they at length
began to grow in numbers with great rapidity, wliile
with their growth they became more pronounced in a
developing sympathy with extreme radicalism.
In 1860 the celebrated novelist, Ivan Tourguenief , in
a popular story, applied the term "!Xihilists" to the
Hegelian Slavophils, whom he accused of a desire to de-
stro}' everything. But the word "Xihilism" was used
as a synonym for scei^ticism many years before bj' Eoy-
ercollard and Victor Hugo. Alexander Herzen has
been credited with being tlie founder of Xihilism, but
this is a mistake, the real part he acted being that of an
Evangelist of Xihilistic doctrines in Russia. Associated
with Herzen were Tshernikevski and Bakunin, the latter
A NEMESIS OF JIISGOVERNJIENT. 93
of whom succeeded Ilerzen in the editorship of the'
famous KololioJ. Under Ilerzen this organ advocated re-
forms and the introduction of Socialism with a modera-
tion, however, in all its articles which made it respected
by all parties, but under Bakunin it changed from a
radical into a revolutionarj' journal and in a iiery, un-
reasonable manner advocated the subversion of both
Church and State, even at the expense of chaos. The
violent manner in which Bakunin agitated his declared
Nihilistic purpose may be better judged by the fol-
lowing extracts from a manifesto, which he issued in 1868
on behalf of an oriranizatif)n callino' itself the " Alliance
InternationaJe de Ja Democratic Socialiste,'" of which he
was the head :
"Brethren, T come to announce unto voir a new gospel,
which must penetrate to the very ends of the world.
* * The old world nuist be destroyed and replaced
by a new one. * * * The Lie must be stamped out,
and give way to Truth. * * * The first lie is God;
the second lie is Bight, * * * and when you have
freed your minds from the fear of a God, and from that
childish respect for the fiction of Bight, then all the re-
maining chains that bind you, and Avhich ai'e called science,
civilization, propeiiy, marriage, morabtj', and justice,
will snap asunder like tlireads. » « * Let your own
happiness he your only law. * * * Our first work
must be destruction and annihilation of everj'thing as it
now exists ; you must act-ustom yourselves to destroy
everything, the good with the bad ; for if but an atom of
this old world remains, the new will never be created."
It is unfortunate tijat some zealous pupil of the fanati-
cal agitator did not accept this advice and begin the
work of destruction, for the upbuilding of a new world,
by putting a quietus on Bakunin.
94 A NEMESIS OF MISGOVEENMENT.
Another writer of seditious pamphlets ia Russia makes
use of this lauo-uasje :
"Down with instruction and science; we have had
enough of it for a thousand years. Tlie thirst for it is
an aristocratic one which, like the desire for conjugal
felicity, engenders a love of wealth. We must extirpate
this taste, and develop in its place drunkenness, backbit-
ing, and a corruption till now unknown. All geniuses
must be stifled in their cradles. So we shall arrive at a
jDcrfect equalit}'."
It is dilBcult to find a reason why such insane declara-
tions find lavor among any people, much less among the
Nihilist teachers, who belong to the more intelligent and
educated class. Yet according to the declarations made
by Solovieff, the Emperor's would-be assassin, in his
confession, more than three-fourths of all the Nihilists
with whom he was connected were formerly students of
the universities.
Signor Arnando, who has made a special study of Ni-
hilism, and who writes so intelligently on the subject, says :
"The association of so many Russian youths of culture
with doctrines so utterly at variance with common sense
and humanity, may be explained in three ways. First,
the Russians understand science easily, and like the study
of it, provided it is all prepared for them by others.
This accounts for the fact that Russia has produced very
little original talent. Secondly, the rising generation
shows a great tendency toward idleness, and a great lik-
ing for conversations and discussions. It has two defects :
It is too easily excited and never thoroughly investigates
a subject. The Russian youths are intelligent, and ap-
propriate with extraordinary promptitude all that comes
to them from abroad, but they take it as it comes and
build their own theories upon it. Thirdly, as Professor
4 NEMESIS OF MISGOVERNMENT. 95
Fleuiy has remarked, all the young men and women that
frequent the universities show the same inaptitude for
reasoning and al)stract ideas ; their minds seize and retain
particulars and details, but Avith difficulty surmount the
conception of generality and collectiveuess."
CHAPTER V.
Trouble grew apace in Russia after the liberation of
tlie serfs, in which even the freedmen were inclined
a^;-ainst their sovereign. Thej^ began to grunil-)le because
ti'.e Czar had not given them their freedom without im-
posing a burden which it would require years of hard
labor for them to remove.
In 1^(53 Poland, that had dreamed of an untrammelled
autonomy, at least since 1815, became the scene of a
b'oody insurrection, while all over Russia blazed up in-
cendiary fires, and St. Petersburg was threatened with
destruction. It was a gloomy period, but Alexander did
not exhibit any other disposition than that of determina-
tion. He argued that if a people will not be satisfied with
the perfecting of reforms as rapidly as the condition of
affairs would permit, the safest policy to pursue was coer-
cion. Accordingly the insurrection in Poland was put
down by a liberal, if not unmerciful, use of ball and
steel. He no-.v began to receive mysterious warnings
that his life was in danger, but reckoning these as the
idle fancies or ulterior designs of zealots, he gave no heed
or care to such communications, until April 16, 186G, a
young Pole named Karakozoff, who was employed by
the revolutionary committee, made an attempt upon the
Emperor's life. It was on Sunday afternoon, when the
9G A NExMESIS OF MISGOVEENMENT.
Czar was about to take his customaiy walk in the Sum-
mer Garden. A large crowd had collected near the
gates fronting the quay on the Neva to witness his Maj-
esty's departure. At the moment he was crossing the
pavement to enter his sledge, a man step^Ded hurriedl}^
forward from the crowd and presenting a pistol, which
he had drawn from beneath a large cloak, fired at the
Emperor. Fortunately for his Majesty a peasant hap-
l^ened to be standing very near the assassin and having
observed something suspicious in the movements of the
criminal, jumped forward in time to knock the pistol up
and thus save the Emperor's life, when immediately the
man was arrested. The peasant who had saved the Czar's
life was named Kamissaroff, and in gratitude for his es-
cape the Emperor granted a liberal annuity to the fortu-
nate peasant, besides creating him a noble.
As an example of the number of superstitious stories
that were universally accepted by the common people as
true, and were gravely published in the Russian papers
as authentic facts, the following may be quoted :
At three o'clock on the day when the attempt was
made, the jieople of Eappenbei'g, a small town in the
Government of Riazan, which was the native place of
Kamissaroff, were startled by the detonating peals of
the alarm bell. On rushing to the church to learn the
cause, the people were greatly terrified to perceive that
there was nc one in the beifry ; that the rope still hung
unmolested on a hook in the wall, and that the bell had
rung of itself. Three days later the St. Petersburg pa-
pers reached Ra)ipenberg, containing an account of the
attempt on tlie Emperor's life, when instantly the people
were satisfied why the mysterious warning had jjeen
given.
It was only natural that this first attempt on the life of
A NEMESIS OF MISG0VEEN3IEXT. 97
the Czar, whose reiga had been consistently marKed by a
long series of popular reforms, should produce through-
out the Empire a feeling of intense indignation, l)ut at
the time it was hoped that Karakozoff's crime was noth-
ing more than the rash work of a small and not very
powerful revolutionary party in Poland. All such hopes,
however, were soon dissipated, and from the facts brought
out at the trial it became evident that the Nihilists were
already a strong and dangerous organization, with a code
of laws and disciplined forces, as will hereafter be ex-
plained.
Karakozoff was brought to trial, found guilty and con-
demned to be hanged, but the sentence of death was
commuted by the Emperor to transportation to Siberia
for life.
The following year, 18G7, another attempt to assassi-
nate the Czar was made while his majesty was driving
through the streets of Paris, with his two sons and the
Emperor, Napoleon III. This second attack was also
made by a Pole, named Berezovsky, who fired at the Em-
peror, but happily with imperfect aim. No further overt
act of the Nihilists was committed until in 1870, when a
party of students were arrested for incendiary speeches
and the publication of a paper filled with levolutionarj'
articles intending to incite the people against the Czar.
Among the sixteen that were arrested atthis time was one
named Sergius Netschaicf , wlio disclosed the furious zeal
with which Eussian students of the advanced school em-
brace the wildest doctrines of Socialism. In addition to
this he also described the Nihilist organization, and as
these statements have been frequently verified bj^ other
Nihilists who turned informers after their arrest, they
may be accepted as true.
The organization is divided into groups of members,
98 A NEMESIS OF MISGOVERNMENT.
each group having either five, ten or fifteen rriembers wio
are under the authority of a chief, wlio alone is in imme-
diate communication with the commander of twenty
groups. These commanders hold intercourse witli the
executive committee, hut oply through a delegate. The
executive committee forms the center of the Nihilist party
and serves to the maintenance of the most strict and se-
cret discipline. The slightest act of treachery or disobe-
dience to its orders is punished by death. INhiny bodies
of murdered men have been discovered iu the cities or
highways of Russia, a small dagger piercing the coi'pse, to
which a scroll was attached bearing the significant in-
scription, "Death for Treachery."
Recruiting the ranks is doue in this manner : There
are recruiting officers whose duty it is to search out per-
sons whom it is desirable to have in the organization, and
this is done in the following way : A man of apparent
intelligence but of evident poverty, of whom there ari^
thousands in every part of Russia, is, for instance, scr;n
haunting some park or public place for want of occupa-
tion. The recruiting officer watches him from day to duj>
until satisfied that the man is in sore need, when he cas-
ually approaches him and engages at first in a general
conversation. An acquaintance is thus formed, audfamil-
iarity soon draws from the man an admission of his
poverty and a desire to engage in anything that promises
even such compensation as would afford him a livelihood.
The officer suddenly remembers that he has a friend who
is desii'ous of engaging a confidential agent, and proffers
an introduction and recommendation. The poor fellow
is, of course, elated at the prospect of securing employ-
ment and is punctual in keeping the appointment, which
is arranged for. He is told by the third person that a
vacancy exists, who offers the position with a salary of one
A NEMESIS OF MISGOVEEKMEXT. 99
or two hundred roubles per month to the happy expect-
ant, who is immediately engaged. The poor man is re-
quired to report from day to day at the headquarters of
his employer, but has nothing in particular to do for per-
haps two or three months. He is gradually prepared in
the meantime for serious service by prejudicing his mind
against the Government and in favor of the Xihilists, who
are represented as a band of patriots whose aims are all
for the eradication of evils which have long oppressed the
people. Thus, without acquainting him with the duties
he is expected to perform, the person controlling his
services at length fortifies him for the obligation which he
is soon after compelled to take. "When these prepara-
tions are completed the man may be called on to assist in
laying a dynamite mine, lighting an incendiarj^ fire, or to
commit murder. If he rebels at such orders he is told of
his engagement and that his services belong to the execu-
tive committee of Xihilists who will hold him to a serious
accountability. In other words, there is the alternative
of death or obedience, for he is now known to the com-
mittee without in turn knowing the members, and it is
only in rare instances that he will incur the danger M'hich
he is soon convinced will surely follow disobedience.
In this way hundreds of recruits are made in addition
to the large number who volunteer their services. The
expenses of this bloody organization are defrayed out of
a general fund which is created by subscriptions raised by
committees in foreign countries, particularly in S^^^tzer-
land, France and England, and also by contributions from
noblemen, v,^hose influence and purses are almost univer-
sally placed at the disposal of the revolutionary party.
100 A NEMESIS OF MISGOVERNMENT.
CHAPTER VI.
The war with Turkey, declared on April 12, 1877, as
might be expected, gave fresh life and energy to the
cause of Nihilism, which had for its object the securing
of liberty at home. This war was ostensibly waged for
the protection of Christians who were living under Mos-
lem rule. AVhen peace was concluded and a Representa-
tive Chamber was ojieued in Bulgaria, Russia was the
only European country that did not enjoy a constitu-
tional Government more or less developed. The action
of the Czar in declaring the freedom of Bulgaria and
granting si:>ecial privileges and autonomy to that country,
while refusing like privileges to his own people, inflamed
the Nihilists anew and greatly strengthened their organi-
zation.
For a while the Nihilist leaders believed that the end
they had in view could be attained by striking a mortal
IjIow at officialism, and this is j)roved by the fact that —
not counting the attempt made at Paris by the Polish
advocate Berezovsky — an interval of no less than thirteen
years elapsed between the attempt made on the Empe-
ror's life by Karakozoff and that made by Solovieff in
1879. In that interval General Trepoff, then Police
Master of St. Petersburg, was severely wounded by Vera
Zassulitch ; General Mezentrieff, Chief of the Secret Po-
lice Department, was mortally wounded ; and General
Drenteln, his .successor, was shot at. Of all that have
within the last thirty years occu})ied the high post of
Police Master of St. Petersburg, General Tre|ioff, without
doubt, was the most energetic and most zealous. But
like most comparatively irresponsible officials, he was fre-
quently apt to take the law into his own hands, and dur-
102 A JIEMEBIS Oi' MlbGOVERNMENT.
ing his tenure of power succeeded in amassing an enor-
mous fortune. Thus, once when on a visit of insjiection
at the Fortress, one of the political prisoners, a certain
B()o;olouboff, not havino- sakited him — thouah it was later
most clearly proved that he had done so — had his cap
iinocked off by the irate General and was ordered to be
whipped, a sentence which, though manifestly in viola-
tion of all Russian law, was executed within twenty-four
hours. Tlie whipping, somehow, in spite of all efforts to
have the affair hushed up, got public, and more than one
paper even ventured to expose the illegal nature of the
punisliment. Vera Zassulitch, who had not long quitted
one of the Government educational institutes, and M'lio,
as was alleii'ed, had been on intimate relations v ith Boo-o-
louboff, heard of the humiliation to whieli he had been
subjected and determined to revenge him. For this
purpose she came up to St. Petersburg from her country
lionie in tiie Government of Yaroslaff, and presenting
iicrself at the Police Master's official residence on one of
iiis public reception days, whilst pretending to give a
petition into his liands, drew forth a pistol from under
her coat, and wounded the General so severely that his
life for several days was despaired of, and he was coru-
pelled to retire finally from all public duties. The woman
w^as arrested, and after long preliminary examinations was
brougirt to trial. There was no doubt of her guilt, nor
did she in any way attempt to deny it ; but on the con-
trary gave to the court a full and precise account of the
reasons that had pj'ompted her to commit the crime.
The effect of her defence was so great that the jury, after
a short deliberation, brought in a verdict of not guilty.
Tlie Litenaya, a wide street in which the court where
she was tried is situated, was thronged with a crowd of
people anxiously awaiting the result, and when the fact
A ^-E^lESIS OF MISGOVEEIJJIEI^T. 103
of her acquittal became known, the verdict was received
with the most uproarious applause, aud a serious collision
cook place between the people and the police, in the
course of which several persons were killed, but Vera
was rushed away by the sympathizing mob and concealed
m a neighboring house. What is most remarkable, how-
ever, is that the metropolis press, without a single excep-
tion, warmly approved of lier acquittal, one paper declar-
,ng the verdict to be "the voice of God;" and the
Moscow Oazatte, the avowed organ of the Retrogradists,
was singular in its condemnation of what it declared to
oe "a gross miscarriage of injustice."
A resident of St. Peterslmrg, who was present at the
trial of Vera Zassulitch, and who was familiar with her
life, gave me the following history of the wonuui : She was
the daughter of a Russian officer in high rank, and at the
time of committing the crime was twenty-eight years of
age. She was a well educated and attractive lady, but
,so thoroughly imbued with revolutionary doctrines that
she sacrificed all other interests for the cause of Nihi-
lism, though it is not known that she contributed any-
thing more dangerous than her influence ; notwithstand-
ing this, for more than eleven years preceding her attack
upon Gen. Trepoff, she endured continual persecu-
tions at the hands of the police, and it is to the sympa-
thy universally evoked by the account of her sufferings
that she nuiinly owed her acquittal from the terrible
crime of which she was manifestly guilty, and that the
in-eat populur enthusiasm with which the verdict was re-
ceived in Russia is due. At the age of seventeen, while
jrying to support herself as a bookbinder at St. Peters-
burs:, she was arrested, owing to being the intimate school-
friend of a young lady named Netchaieff, whose brother
had just been implicated in some conspiracy at Moscow.
104
A NEMESIS OF MISGOVEENMENT.
Accordiiio- to some accounts, Yera Zassulitch acted as a
species of go-Iietweeii and letter-carrier ; but tiiis is not
confirmed, and, be her offence what it might, she was
closely imprisoned for two years without the slightest
shadow of a trial. A few days after her I'elease, more-
over, she was again arrested for no ostensible reason,
and carried off this time to Eastern Russia, and niio;ht
VERA ZASSULITCH.
have perished with cold on the journey had not a kinA
jjendarme lent her his cloak. She remained at Krestsi,
in the province of Novgorod, under police supervision
for two more j^ears, and in 1871 was allowed to go to
Tver to live with a brother-in-law, also a political exile.
The latter, however, getting into trouble, owing to the
A NEMESIS OF MISGOVERNMENT. 105
dissemination of pi'ohibitcd books, Vera Zassulitch was
once more arrested and l)rought to St. Petersburg. In
1873 she was transferred to Kharkoff, and in 1875 was
at last liberated. From tiuit time she appears to have
lived in retirement until Jul}', 187G, when her feelings
were excited Ijy the det;iiis of the cruel treatment of a
political prisoner named Bogoluboff, wlio had been Hog-
ged by order of General Trepoff, the Prefect of Police
at St. Petersburg, for some act of insuljordination, but
mainly because he had neglected to take off his cap on
meeting that official for a second time in the prison i)re-
oincts. As Vera Zassulitch well knew the hardships of
prison life, and the tyranny of the officials, this story
made an intense impression on her mind, and, after wait-
ing some time to see if any official notice would be given
to the affair, she determined to take the matter in hand
herself, and, in her own words, "At the price of my
own ruin to draw public attention to the affair, and prove
that a human being may not l)e insulted in that way wath
impunity. It is a terrible thing to raise one's hand
against a fellow creature, but I could find no other
means. ... It was all the same tc me wdiether I
killed or wounded the Prefect, and when I fired at him I
did not aim at any particular place." To be brief, Vera
Zassulitch sought an interview with General Trepoff in
his reception room, and then and there shot him in the
side with a revolver. For this she was brought to trial
early in the month, the jury before whom she appeared
being half composed of Goverinnent officials, the re-
mainder being formed of persons in good position. The
result was a verdict of "Not Guilty," a decision which was
greeted with tremendous enthusiasm by an audience com-
posed of some 600 persons, the applause being taken up by
the crowd outside. On her appearance a perfect tumult en-
10(5 A NEIilESIS OF MISGOVEENMENT.
sued, and numerous arrests were made hy the police, sev-
eral of the rioters being shot. Had she not escaped,
through the aid of friends who had a closed carriage in
waiting, expecting her acquittal. Vera Zassulitch "would
no doubt have been re-arrested and tried before a mili-
tary Court INIartial, in which event she would have been
convicted and executed. But on the other hand, so
great was the popular sympathy for her that had the ver-
dict of the jury been " Guilty," no one who is acquainted
with the intense feeling manifested in her interest can for
a moment doubt that the mob would have rushed into the
court-room and torn to pieces not only the jurors but also
the judges and prosecutors. She is supposed to be in
Switzerland, under protection of an assumed name and
the revolutionaiy party, but others stoutly maintain that
she was captured and secretly put to death.
Later events have proved that the acquittal of Zassulitch,
even more than the clemency shown to Karakozoff , was
a mistake. The Nihilists only became bolder in their
operations than they had shown themselves to be before.
The attack on Mezentrieff soon followed. In spite of
the hateful office which he held, the high character he
bore had long won for him general and migrudged es-
teem. The plot against him was most cautiously planned
weeks before it was carried into execution. A thorough
bred horse and a well furnished droshky were hired, and
for some mornings were regularly to be seen standing at
the corner of Michel Square and the Italianskaya sti-eet,
which the General invariably passed while taking his
usual early morning walk. On a morning of June, 1877,
as was afterward proved, the three or four droshkies
that happened to be in the street waiting to be hired were
engaged by persons privy to the plot, so that any attempt
to arrest them could be rendered, if not impossible, at
A NEStESIS OF MISGOVEENMEST. ll)7
least very diiBcult. As the General, in company with
M. Makaroff, his aid-dc-camp, approached the corner, a
man extremely well dressed came r^uickly up as if intend-
ing to speak to him, and with a dagger stabbed him twice.
The blows were so instantaneously given that M. Makar-
off, who just then had fallen a few steps behind, had no
time to interfere, the assassins having leaped into tlie
droshky th'at was waiting' and drove off down the Sado-
vaya street and across the Nevski at a furious rate. It
is true that a soldier, who had seen the whole affair, pur-
sued the criminals for some little distance, but they were
Soon out of sight, nor were the real murderers arrested
till after the terrible assassinatioii of ]March 13, 1881. In
thii meantime, M. IMakaroff hurried up to the Gen-
eral and raising him up with the assistance of those who
had run to the S))ot in answer to his cries for help, asked
him how he felt: "I am dying," was the reply, and
when conveyed home the doctors who were summoned de-
clared that there was no hope of recovery. He, however,
lingered in great agony till about five o'clock in the after-
noon. The crime, from its daringness and from the well
arranged skill with which it was carried out, naturally-
caused a great sensation, and the cjfuestion, what measure
should be taken for the prevention of such crimes in
the future, was anxiously debated by the Imperial i\Iin-
isters in council.
It would appear that no decision was immediately com
to. But before long a fresh and all but successful at-
tempt on the life of the Emperor convinced those in
authority that in the war they had to wage with the
party of Terrorism there could no longer be any dalljnng,
but that the sternest measures of repression must be
adopted. On April 14, 1879, the Emperor was taking his
usual early stroll round the Winter Palace, when on com-
s
e
lOy A NEMESIS OF MISGOVEENMEJiT.
ing near to that part of the building which adjoins the
Hermitage on the Millionaya side, lie met an individual
who stopped as if to salute him, but drawing out a six bar-
reled pistol, fired deliberately three times at the Emperor,
none of which, however, took effect. The would-be as-
sassin was at once seized by the police and bystanders,
though not before he had made a most desperate resist-
ance, and had shot one of the crowd. As soon as he was
secured he was seized with fainting, and the fact that
poison was found under his finger-nails and about him
led to a suspicion that he had poisoned himself . Emetics
were at once administered, and he recovered. On being
questioned the prisoner stated that his name was Ivau
Solovieff, and that he was cnii)]oyed in a provincial branch
of the ^Ministry of Finance. Considerable anxiety was
excited by the curious coincidence that for three days
before the attempt placards had Ijeen posted on the walls
of St. Petersburg, from the Secret Executive Committee,
and addressed to " Mr. Alexander Nicolaievitch," and de-
claring that the invisible advocates of the people had set
themselves to clear out the Augean stable of despotism,
but that neither the Czar nor any member of the dynasty
'had been threatened. After declaring against the army,
•' a cruel and insatiable army of thieves," the tribunals,
"a mockery of Justice," and the generals, "so many
satraps," the document concluded, "Think, Alexander
!Nico]aievitch, where this must ail lead. You go directly
to perdition, and therefoi'e we spare j'our life."
It would seem that the Emperor's suspicions had been
excited by something that struck him in Solovieff' s gait
and manners, and that he had furtively made a signal to
a soldier who was on guard close by, but that the latter,
failing to understand the Emperor's meaning, only came
up after the assassin had fired a third time. Although
A NEMEf-IS tiF JIISGOVEENMENT.
IQf
ilO A NEMESIS OF MISGOVERNMENT.
the balls missed, the escape of the Emperor may be
almost regarded as miraculous, and was due to the for-
tunate circumstance that the Czar, having observed some-
thing suspicious in Solovieff, almost before the first shot
was fired, hurried forward in a zigzag direction, and
turned under the nearest gateway. That same day a
Council of Ministers was held under the immediate pres-
idency of the Emperor, and it was decided to declare
St. Petersburg, Moscow, Kieff, Odessa, and other large
cities of the Empire in a state of siege, and to appoint
military Governors, with all but unlimited powers, over
pro'sances of which these cities were the capitals. Thus
General Guerko, who had won to himself no little renown
in the march across the Balkans during the Turkish cam-
paign, was made military Governor of St. Petersburg.
Solovieff was soon brought to trial and convicted, and
on June 9th his execution took place publicly in a field
near the Smolensk Cemetery at St. Petersburg. At an
early hour crowds had collected round the scaffold, and
when the condemned man arrived it is estimated that
fully 6,000 spectators were present. Soon after 9 o'clock
the authorities made their way to the place of execution.
The scaffold was a plain wooden structure, painted
black, and surrounded by an iron rail ; outside this rail
was a strong guard of both infantry and cavalry. At a
quarter to ten the cart arrived in which Solovieff was
seated firmly bound. He was dressed in the black coat,
white trousers and cap usually worn by criminals of the
higher class, in addition to which a large l)lack label was
hung round his neck, on which were the wcn-ds, " State
Criminal." He was unbound, and, having ascended the
steps which led to the scaffold, with undaunted firmness,
stood calmly regarding the crowd while the sentence was
once more read to him. The newspaper reporters alone
A NEMESIS OF MISUOVERNMENT.
Ill
112 A NEMESIS OF MISGOVERNMENT.
seemed to attract his attention. The priest then stepped
up to him, but his offers of consolation were quietly and
politely refused. The hangman then placed the white
shirt and cap on the unfortunate man, and exactly at ten
o'clock, amid tbe noise made by a band of drummers se-
lected from the different regiments, the board was
dragged away, and after a brief struggle Solovieff ceased
to exist. The body in half-an-hour's time was removed
by a strong escort of Cossacks to the place of burial.
The futility of all repressive measures was, however,
made evident by subsequent events .The work of the terror-
ists was not interrui^ted for a single da}', as Ave now know
from the confessions subsequently made by one of their
agents, a certain Goldenberg, during his imprisonment in
the Fortress. Many of the stories concerning their activ-
ity are mere fictions, but the following has been vouched
for on the best authority: Oue day General Drenteln,
the successor of Meventrieff, found ou the table in his
office a threatening letter, and when he had read it, ho
laughingly turned to his private adjutant, the only official
then in the room, with the remark: "They might as
well write their letters on clean paper.'* The next morn-
ing another letter was discovered ou the same spot, apol-
ogizing for the " unseemly appearance of the letter of
yesterday," and expressing a hope that the present one
would meet with the General's approval. Three years
later, after the arrest of Rousakoff and the other crimi-
nals concerned in the assassination of the Emperor, proofs
were forthcoming of the actual complicity in the proceed-
ings of the Nihilists of more than one trusted official in
the Secret Police Department. Bui, as I have said, the
party of terror all this time continued their work. Ac-
cording to the statement made by Fliaboff at the great
State Trial in March, 1882, the central committee decided
A NEMESIS OF MISGOVERNMENT. 113
in August, 1879, to make a mine under the railroad from
Krusk to Moscow, about 17 versts from tlie latter city,
the mine tobe blown up when the train should pass with the
Emperor and his suite on their return from Livadia in
the Crimea. A small house was hired near the railway,
and an underearth passage was dug from the house up to
the right-hand rail, the work being cari'ied on with the
greatest circumspection. It is strange and at the same
time shows how ineffective Russian police administration
is, that a work of such dimensions and requiring a long
period of time for its execution, could have been carried
out without exciting the suspicions of the police ; the more
so as it had been noticed that carts and wagons containing
packages more or less heavy wove frequently of an even-
ing driven into the courtyard and there unloaded. The
Imperial authorities, it is true, wisely adopted the most
stringent methods of precaution. Thus not only one or
two pilot trains were sent along the whole line, but thn
train in which the Emperor was traveling was made to run
along the left instead of the riglit track. The explosion,
which took place on the evening of Dec. 1, 1879, proved
to be extremely violent. Ittore up the ground foracousider-
able distance, destroj'cd several of the carriages, and severe-
ly wounded four or five persons. But, of course, it did not
touch the Emperor, who had already passed half an hour
previously in another train. When the place was search-
ed, it was discovered that the criminals, the principal ones
])eing Fliaboff and his mistress, must at the moment tlie
connecting wire was fired have escaped through the bade
door of the house, and availing themselves of the dark
night easily succeeded in escaping. The house was found
to be furnished in sucli a manner as to perfectly disarm
all suspicion. On the walls were hung portraits of the
reigning Emperor and Empress as well as of the crowa
114
A NEMESIS OF MISGOVERNMENT.
priilce and princess, whilst a lamp was burning before the
holy image of St. Nicholas in the corner of the room front-
ing the door. Behind the sofa the lower part of the wall
close to the floor had been removed, from which point the
shrinb; in greek chapei., st. Petersburg, Russia.
excavation had been made. The greatest indignation was
excited througliout Russia by the news of the attempt,
ai-id the most enthusiastic populargreetingaccordedto the
A NEJIESIS OF MISGOVERNMENT. H'J
Czar, who in his sjDeech to the Moscow authorities alluded
to his escape with devout thankfulness, but added : " The
Iicvolutionaiy spirit must be exterminated, and I therefore
turn to you and all well-thinking men for help in eradi-
t-ating the evil, which has taken deep I'oot." Curiously
enough, this dastardly outrage occurred after a special
act of clemency. At a trial of Socialists which took place
at St. Petersburg, one young man, IMirskj', Avho attempt-
ed to assassinate General Drenteln, beina; condemned to
death, was subsequently reprieved ; while another, named
Karkoff, had his sentence remitted from hard labor in the
Siberian mines to ten years' imprisonment in a fortress.
Though numerous arrests were made, no real clue was
discovered, and the true history of the attempt became
known only after the death of the late Emperor. Nor
were the terrorists discouraged by their repeated failures.
Several of the leaders of the movement, among others
the notorious Ilartniann, arrived in Russia from abroad ;
tiie SGi'vices of experts well versed in the preparation of
dynamite explosions, as for example, Kiebalchitch, were
secured, and Fiiaboff had placed under his immediate or-
ders fortv-seven men who were pledged to obey him im-
plicitly and to carry out blindly his instructions whatever
they might lie. It-Avas now resolved to strike a mortal
))low,-not only at the Emperor but at the whole Imperial
Famil}', and llie newly formed scheme for its atrocious
boldness can only lie compared with the famous Gunpow-
'T.
12]
LIGHT CAVALRY OF THE FINNISH GUARDS.
122 A NEMESIS OF MISGOVEENMi.NT.
comi'ades, said : " May the hcnorable conduct of the men
who were wounded by the explosion convince the insane
criminals who planned the attempt tliat neither their en-
deavors to Ijrihe the soldiers nor the fear of death itself
canshake the loyalty of the troops." The Emperorand
the Czarevitch attended the funeral ceremony celebrated
in the barracks previous to the starting of the procession
for the place of interment, and afterward visited the
wounded men in the hospital. It is a remarkable coinci-
dence that it was this same Finnish regiment which, in
1825, was suddenly called to the Winter Palace to over-
awe and supercede the Grenadiers, whose loyalty was
doubted ; and it was to them that Alexander, then only a
child of seven, was entrusted by his father Nicholas.
Taking the little Grand Duke Alexander by the hand, he
said, " I confide my son to your care; it will be your
duty to defend his life." The rough Finns, it is said,
were moved to tears. They took up the child in their
arms, passed him from rank to rank, and swore to form
a rampart of their bodies behind which he should be safe.
The building where the explosion took place, which is
the largest and finest palace in the world, is the usual win-
ter residence of the Czar and his Court. On one side it
fronts on the river Neva, while onthe otherthere is alarge
open space called the Palace Square, in which stands
Alexander's Column, a monolith of red granite eighty
feet high. On the right of the palace is Peter's Square,
which contains the celebrated statue of Peter the Great,
and the Field of Mars, a parade ground large enough for
40,000 men to manoeuvre in. On the east side of the
palace, and connected with it by a covered way, is
the Empress Catharine's Hermitage, now a museum.
The Nevski Perspective is in front of the Admiralty
and close to the Imperial Palace, which, after being
A NEMESIS OF MISGOVERNMENT. 123
burnt down in 1837, was rebuilt in six months in the
middle of winter by order of the Emperor Nicho-
las. Each story was dried with immense fires as soon as
erected, and several thousand workmen met with their
death during the rebuilding, in consequence of the alter-
nate exposure to the excessive heat while at work in the
apartments, and the rigorous temperature outside. The
palace, which is painted a brick red, is four stories
high, or about eighty feet. The frontage is 445 feet in
length, and the breadth 350 feet. The principal en-
trance is from the Neva, and leads by a magnificent
flight of marble steps to the State Apartments of the
palace. A gateway in the centre of the building, facing
Alexander's Column, opens into a large court. The in-
terior is most gorgeous, suites of splendid halls being
filled with nuirble, malachite vases, and pictures ; whilst
the Crown and other jewels are of almost inestimable
value. The Czar has his apartments on the first floor
and in the corner of the ^Yinter Palace that overlooks the
Neva and the Admiralty. The Empress inhabits the
other corner, and between the two is the family dining-
niom. At cue and six o'clock the Czar, the Czarina,
and the Grand Dukes Alexis, Sergius, and Paul formerly
met for breakfast and dinner. The Czarevitch and the
Grand Duke Vladimir, who are both married, have
also general invitations to join the Imperial circle ; but
the other members of the family wait until they are
bidden. Six covers are always laid, and the service
is performed by three French maitres d'hotel, who
relieve each other every fortnight. The arrangement
of the apartments is similar to that of Yersailles,
there being a multitude of small rooms, and an im-
mense number of civil and military officials having
their abode here in separate suites of rooms. The
124 A NEMESIS OF MISGOVEENMENT.
guards' room, beneath which the charge of dynamite waa
deposited, is on the ground floor, and was formerly the
sleeping apartment of the Grand Duke Nicholas when a
child. "
The indignation excited hy a crime that involved the
lives of so many who, even adopting the views of its per-
petrators, were completely innocent, was greatly in-
creased in consequence of the general belief that on the
approaching 19th of February an imperial manifesto
would be issued, conferring political rights on Russian
subjects more in accordance with the ideas of the nine-
teenth century than those hitherto accorded. That all
this was more than mere rumor, is certain from papers
known to have been left by the late Emperor, and in ac-
cordance with which the zemsfra, or proA'incial assemblies,
would have been granted representative rights which
they have long petitioned for but never obtained. We
can scarcely wonder that all such constitutional reforms
were abandoned, and it speaks much in favor of the late
Emperor, that even after Febi-uary 17, he still had suffi-
cient nerve and belief in the future of Russia, to
refuse to adopt measures of an exclusively repressive
and retrograde character. On the 25th of February a min-
isterial committee " for the preservation of Imperial order
and public safety," was established under the presidency
of Count Loris Melikoff, which became an order in its
enforcement little less than terrorism. A night patrol
was organized in St. Petersburg which summarily ar-
rested every crowd, niunbering more than five persons,
caught upon the streets after ten o'clock at night, and
single individuals were required to have their passports
constantly with them if they appeared away from their
homes after dark. But this was not the most serious re-
striction placed upon the personal liberty of ciUzens
A SEMESLS OF jnSGOVERXMEXT.
125
throughout Eussia. The order became finally the means
M'hich malicious persons utilized to destroy their enemies.
It was only necessarj^ to report, under oath, the active
THE NIGHT PATROL IN ST. PFTERSBURG.
sympathy of any person with the Nihilists to secure their
imprisonment, and execution or transportation to Siberia.
Thus a cowardly criminal could o-o before the Third Sec-
126 A NEMESIS OF MISGOVERNMENT.
tion chief and make oath that he had detected his v»evgh-
bor ill the act of circulating revolutionary papers, or com-
mitting some other pi'ohibited act, and upon this infor-
mation the unfortunate, and perhaps innocent person,
would be summarily arrested and taken off to the Fortres j
prison. Hundreds of instances occurred in which blame-
less men were torn from their families in the miildle of
the night, and without being permitted to say even good-
bye to their wives or children, were ruthlessly carried to
that dreadful political prison from which they either
never departed alive or were sent across the desert wilds
of Siberia to sj^end the remainder of their wretched Uvea
in exile.
In 1878 no less than one hundred and ninety-three
persons were brought to trial at one time, charged
with various grades of treason and conspiracy against tli e
Government. Among the prisoners who were condemned
was a spirited and intelligent man named Muishkin, who-
was once a justice of the peace, and proprietor of a print'
ing-otBce from which forbidden books were issued. In
1875 he went to the distant forests of East Siberia with
the intention of freeing the famous thinker and critic,
Tchernieshevski, who had been in penal servitude for
twelve years for his connection with a secret society, but
he was unsuccessful. His speech before the tribunal
brought tears to some, caused others to turn pale, to
tremble, or to become furious. He was condemned to
twenty years' penal servitude at the Central Prison at
Kharkov. Single-handed, and with no other implement
than his hands, this gigantic minded man began to make
an underground passage in his prison to effect his escape.
He had nearly finished the tunnel when it was discovered ;
he was unmercifully lashed then, and, like many other
Russian political prisoners, he has since become mad
A NEMESIS OF MISGOVERNMENT.
127
128 A NEMESIS OF jMISGOVEEHMENT.
from the barbarous treatment he received. Muishkin's
insanity dates from October, 1880.
But condemnations and repressive measures in no wise
deterred the Nihilists, wlio, in fact, became bolder and
more revengeful. In the meantime the Government was
active in bringing to punishment those arrested for treas-
onable crimes. In November, 1880, sixteen Nihilists of
both sexes were arraigned for treason in St. Petersburg.
The principal prisoner was Kviatkovski, who was accused
of contributing to the revolutionary organ Will of the
People, and also of being connected with the conspiracy
to blow up the Winter Palace. Others were charged
with complicity in the murder of Prince Krapotkin, in
Solovieff's attempted assassination of the Czar ; others
in the attempt to blow up the Imperial train at Moscow ;
two in the attempts at Alexandrovolsk and Odessa to
assassinate Imperial officers, and two others of being
connected with secret printing presses. Several of the
prisoners were arrested on their own confession, so brave
and fanatically patriotic to their purposes were some of
the Nilhists. Upon this trial it was proved that a car-
penter named Stephen Chalturen, or Halturiu, who form-
erly lodged in the basement of the Winter Palace, was
the author and most active agent in the palace explosion.
Some of these prisoners were uncommonly well dressed
and presented a generally intelligent appearance. Kviat-
kovski and Presniakov were convicted and executed in
the foi'tress of St. Peter and St. Paul on the 5th of No-
vember, 1880. The public were rigidlj^ excluded from the
scene of execution, and but one foreign correspondent was
permitted to be present. Early in the morning the two
prisoners were taken from their cells, and as usual Avere
driven to the scaffold in a cart, riding Avith their backs to
the horses, and beai-ing a placard Avith the inscription
A NEMESIS OF MISGUVERXMEXT.
129
" State Ci-iminal " on their breasts. At the gUicis of the
fortress where the scaffold had been erected the prisoners
descended and mounted the scaffold barefooted, "where
MDME. OLQA KATHA-NSON. STEPHEN SHIRAIET. UDLLE. EUGENIA FIGNEK.
PORTRAITS Of LEADING NIHILISTS.
they were clad in the long penitential shirt of condemned
parricides and were pinioned to two upright posts while
130 ^ NEMESIS OF MISGOVERNMENT.
their sentence was read out to them. This over, a
priest came forward with a cross, which both kissed, acd
then kissed one anotlier, wiiile he recited some prayers.
The executioner then adjusted the rope, and raising the
condemned men liigh in tlie air caused their speedy strang-
ulation. The ground was kept by a detachment of tlie
Finland Guard, who were on duty in the Winter Palace
on the night of the explosion.
Five others of those condemned at the same trial, No-
vember 10th, were Kviatkovski, Shiraiev, Mdlles. Fig-
ner, Ivanova, and Griasnova, whose portraits are given.
Alexander Kviatkovski, of noble descent, the most im-
poKant of the prisoners, was arrested by the St. Peters-
burg police in December, 1879, at the same time as
Mdlle. Figner. Three mines ready for explosion, but in
dissected pieces, were found in their lodging, as well as
dynamite and fulminate, Avith revolvers, poison, and the
plan of the Winter Palace, in which, later on, the explo-
sion took place.
The evidence which came out at this trial disclos(^d
that Kviatkovski, who headed the Terrorist party, was
one of those concerned in the explosion of the Wint<.,r
Palace on April 14, 1880, when eleven men were kilhd
and sixty-six were wounded ; that he was an indirei;t
party to the attempt on the Emperor's life by Solovieff
on April 2, 1879 ; and that he took part in the secret
congress of the Terrorists at Lipetsk, in 1879, where a
series of attempts on the Emperor's life wore decided
upon, in addition to other less well-known offences.
Mdlle. Figner, daughter of a high Russian official,
was twenty-two years old. She Avas acquitted of any
participation in the Winter Palace conspiracy, but
Avas condemned to fifteen years' penal servitude on
the charge of her connection Avith the Terroristic party,
A NEMEHIS OF MISGOVEENMENT.
131
LEO HARTMANX.
132 A NEMESIS OF MISGOVERNMENT.
and for publishing forbidden works. The Court, pitying
her youth, begged of the Czarevitch to change her sen-
tence into transportation to Eastern Siberia, where her
sister was already in exile. Mdlle. Figner had been a
medical student, and she also studied music at the Con-
servatoire, St. Petersburg. Her voice is said to be one
of the most beautiful in Europe.
Shiraiev, of a peasant family, had been studying in a
veterinary institute. He lived some time in London and
in Paris, and on his return to Russia, in 1879, he joined
the Terrorist party, and with Hartmann prepared dyna-
mite for mines. He took part in the secret congress,
and with Hartmann again was a party in the Moscow ex-
plosion, December 1, 1879. He directed the digging of
mines near Odessa and Alexandrovska after this, and
shortly after was arrested by the police at St. Petersburg.
Condemned to be hung, his sentence was remitted into
one of penal servitude for life.
Mdlle. Ivanova, daughter of a major, is the heroine of
one of the most extraordinary transactions for a young
lady of her age (then only twenty-two years). When
the secret printing office of the Terrorist organ N'arod~
naia Volia (People's Will) was discovered, she, with
Mdlle. Griasnova and three men, revolvers in hand, kept
the police at bay for three houi's, tiring more than one
hundred shots. The gendarmes answered by volleys at
both the windows and the doors, and only succeeded in
overcoming the party when their stock of cartridges was
exhausted. One of the printers, an unknown person,
blew out his l)rains on seeing the inevitable end, the four
others surrendered. Mdlle. Ivanova's hands and legs
were tied with ropes, and she was thrown on the ground ;
in this state she i-eproached her comrades for lack of en-
ergy in self -defense. The gendarme officer, hearing
A NEMESIS OF MISGOVEENMENT. 133
that, struck her in the face with the butt end of his re-
volver, and kicked her severely. She complained of the
man — then a witness against her — before the court mar-
tial, but the officer, though he could not deny the fact,
disregarded her words.
The two printers, Ivano^■a and Griasnova, were con-
demned to fifteen years penal servitude, l)ut at the solic-
itation of the court-martial, the heir apparent changed
the sentence of the former to four years penal servitude,
and transportation to Siberia for the latter. Among
others, Papov, son of a priest, was convicted about the
sanie time by a court-martial held at Kiev, and sen-
tenced to be hung. He stood at the head of that party
of Socialist propagandists whose distingulsliing feature
is that they do not practice any illegal measures either
for self-defense or for propagandism. His bold and
straightforward speech Ijefore the Court was the cause of
his condemnation to death, but his sentence was subse-
quently altered by the Emperor into penal sei-vitude for
life.
Dr. AYeimar, whose trial at St. Petersburg in the spring
of 1880 caused such a sensation throughout Europe, was
condemned to penal servitude at the same time as Mrs.
Olga Nathanson. Dr. Weimar was accused of helping
two other Nihilists, Mirski and Soiovicff, in their crim-
inal designs. He ga'v'e his horse to Mirski for his attempt
on the life of Drenteln, Chief of the Third Section of
the Emperor's Chancellery, and iiought the revolver for
Solovieff. In the month of 0<-tober Olga Nathanson be-
came mad in the fortress of St. Petersl)urg, before she
could be sent to Siberia. The real cause of her insanity,
it is alleged, lies in the fact that she, with tliree other
young friends, was the subject of criminal violence on
the part of the prison officials.
Iii4
A NEMESIS OF MISGOVERNMENT.
The next attempt at assassination occurred directly
after the adoption of the repression measures of 1880.
when the Armenian General Loiis Melikoff was appointed
Chief of the Executive, with unhmited powers, and had
inaugurated a more rigid policy than even his predeces-
sors. The attack was, no doubt, directly attributable to
the execution of a sub-lieutenant named Donbrovin, which
GL.LI J I "i J 1
occurred at St. Petersburg, and upon which occasion Gen-
eral Gourko issued an order to the troops in which
he cited the example of Donbrovin as a proof that the
aim of the revolutionists was to make the military their
accomplices. General Melikoff warmly approved this
accusation and made many threats, declaring his jiurpose
to deal with the Nihilists despoticall)', and indeed he
did bring many of the revolutionists to judgment.
A NEMESIS OF MIHGOVEENMENT.
135
Many messages, containing desperate threats, were
sent to Melikoff, which caused tliat astute official to ob-
serve special care, but a determined fellow whose iianit.
I could not find in the records, eauglit sight of Gen-
eral Melikoff as he was leaving his carriage to enter
the Thii'd Section, and made a vicious attempt to shoot
him, discharging a pistol twice at the General but with-
out effect. The assassin was arrested and being brought
13(J A NEMESIS OF MISGOVEENMENT.
to trial was convicted and publicly executed. The pris-
oner was enveloped with a bUick shroud, only the face
being exposed, and, seated upon a peculiar kind of a
chair placed on a box wagon with the back toward the
horses, he was driven slowly through the streets, pre-
ceded and followed b}^ mounted guards. The engraving,
besides giving a portrait of General Melikoff's assailant,
shows the method by which prisoners condemned to
death are conducted to the place of execution.
CHAPTER VII.
The culmination of that desperate, unreasonable ven-
geance wliicli animated the Russian Nihilists was reached
on the loth of March, 1881, when the Czar Alexander II.,
who deserved little l)ut praise from his countrymen, and
whose name must ever be associated with the greatest re-
forms ever jirojected hy a Russian ruler, was struck
down, after five previous attempts, in a horriljle deatn.
We can only measure the full terribleness of that most
atrocious act, Ijy calling to mind the agony we ourselves
suffered in the assassination of our honored and chosen
rulers, Lincoln and Garfield. Autocrat though he was,
Alexander TI. possessed such qualities of heart and mind
as made him very dear to llie masses of his subjects.
Unfortunately ho was cradled m advei'sity and brought
up through circumstances which enforced his familiarity
with conspiracy.
Born April 29, 1818, Alexander was only seven years
of age A^hcn the famous conspiracy of the " Decem-
brists " — Russia's first open cry for a constitution — broke
out against his father on his accession to the throne,
138 A NEMESIS OF MISGOVEENMENT.
which rooted iu him a horror of reform and made his
reign one continuous repression of liberty and speech.
Alexander M'as provided with a tutor who inspired him
with a love for literature and romance, but he was not jaer-
mitted to follow this gratifying and peaceful inclination.
Nicholas, of iron will, compelled him to abandon every
pursuit that promised contentment, and at seventeen
Alexander became his father's Aid-de-Camp and com-
mandant of the Lancers' Guard. But the hoy Prince
Impei'ial could not cultivate a love for the military, and
after a short service so weary of spirit did he become
that his father, much against his will, gave Alexander a
vacation, during which he visited Germany and there
wooed and won the Princess Maria of Hesse Darmstadt —
a veritable love-match. Upon his return to Russia with
his young and loving bride, Alexander interested himself
in encouraging education and founded a chair of Finnish
literature. In 1850 he visited Southern Pussia, where af-
ter campaigning for two months in the Caucasus, upon
Woronzow's recommendation, the order of St. George was
conferred upon him. But under Nicholas all persons, even
heirs to the throne, were inconsequential unless they had
won honors upon the field of battle or by diplomacy re-
dounding to his advantage. Thus, beyond certain disagree-
ments with the " Old Russian " party, whose idol was
his younger brother Constantine, and a decided though
silent disapproval of his father's policy in bringing on tlie
Crimean war, there was little to observe in the Czare-
vitch's unassuming life until the fateful da}^ when defeat
and disappointment drove his father to seek surcease in
death. In his dying moments, March 2, 1855, Nicholas
called Alexander to his bedside, and taking his hand,
said: "My son, I now bestow upon you the crown of
Russia, in succession to your dying father; you will, I
A NEMESIS OF MISGOVEENMENT.
139
140 A NEMESIS OF MISGOVERNMENT.
am sorry to say, find the burdea heavy," and then ex-
pired.
How Alexander II. took up the scepter of Government
and wielded it for the benefit of his subjects has already
been told, and now remains the task of describing how,
after several diabolical attempts, he was at last stricken
down by the fell hand of assassination and left the whole
civilized world weeping beside his bier.
It was the custom of the Czar to take mid-day lunch
every Sunday with his sister in the Michael Palace, which
stands not far from the center of St. Petersburg, in a con-
siderable forest of trees surrounded by ahighAvall. This
custom being well known, a body of Nihilists set about to
compass his assassination in the following manner :
Two of the conspirators engaged a cellar-room under
a large, lead cohered, four-story building which stands on
the corner of Little Garden street and the Nevski Pros-
pekt, and immediately facing the large bronze statue of
Catharine II. This place was chosen because there arc
only two streets leading from Michael Palace, viz. ;
Little Garden street from the east, and an exit south
into a narrow street running parallel with the Catharine
Canal. As the former was generally used by the Czar,
because of its smooth pavement, it was here that the
conspii'ators decided to make most ample preparations to
accomplish their deadly purpose.
The cellar-room engaged was used for a considerable
time as a milk and cheese depot, the better to enable the
assassins to disguise their real occupation. During this
time they excavated a tunnel entirely across the street and
placed therein the enormous charge of sixty pounds of
dynamite, which was connected by an electric wire, so that
the mine could be discharged at any instant. It is de-
clared by those familiar with the destructiveness of this
A NEMESIS OF MISGOVEEyilENT.
1-tl
most powerful explosive, that had the mme been ex-
ploded it would have razed fully one-half of the entire
city and killed thousands of people.
It is astonishing how great a work was carried on in
so central a place without detection, particularly since
the fact is known that General Alelikoff received several
letters notifying him that the end of the Czar Alexander
was near at hand, and also that his assassination would
142
A NEMIiSIS OF MISGOVEENMF.NT.
A NiaiESrS OF MISGOVKRNMENt. 14^]
be accomplished on the very cl;iy it was brought g,bout.
This latter iufoi-iiiutioii Melilvoff communicated to Alex-
ander and begged of him not to go out on that day,
but such threats had become too common for this one to
be specially observed.
The dynamite mine being completed and ready for its
deadly work, which it was expected to perform on Sun-
day afternoon, March 13th, l-SSl, the assassins posted a
watch to give information when the Czar should come
driving from the Michael Palace toward the Nevski Pros-
pekt. But to make their purpose more certain, although
it was only on extremely rare occasions that the Emperor
ever left the palace by the Catharine Canal street, j'ct in
view of the possil)ility that on this occasion he might do
so, another party of Nihilists Avere stationed along this
street, two of them taking their positions near the gate.
These two were eai-h provided with Orsini bombs — glass
balls the size of a hen's egg, loaded with dynamite — while
two others stood on the ice in the canal, also having
bombs in their pockets, while a woman, Sophia Perofs-
kaja, stood at the corner of the palace grounds from
whence, by waving a handkerchief, she could signal the
foul- conspirators if the Czar should leave the palace by
Little Garden street.
Shortly before tAvo o'clock in the afternoon his Maj-
esty drove out of the palace grounds by way of the
canal, but scarcely had he proceeded a rod from the gate
when one of the conspirators threw a bomb which burst
10 far to the rear of the carriage that its force was ex-
))ended on two of the Cossack guards, Avho were instantly
killed, together with their horses, while the rear of the
Imperial carriage Avas shattered, but the Czar received no
injury.
The report was so great that many persons were imme-
144
A NEMESIS OF MISGOVERNMENT.
diately attracted to the spot. The Czar stepped out of
the carriage, though his coachman urged hira to resume
his seat, and advanced toward Colonel Dvorketsky, Chief
of Police, who as usual, was following behind in a sledge,
and who had already seized the culprit, who was struggling
violently with the Colonel and trying to use a pistol and
dagger. Assistance was at hand, however, and the as-
sassin was soon disarmed ; be proved to be ayoung student
named Eisakoff, belonging to the Institute of Mining
A NEMESIS OF MISGOVEENJIENT.
145
iiliii|ii'|yiiiiiiiiiii,!iii'iii'M
mm
A NEMESIS OF MISGOVEENMEKT. 147
Engineers. A moment after, several officers congratu-
lated the Czar upon his marvellous escape, to whose kind
words he replied: "Give God the praise," and then
piously crossing himself, he gave directions concf /ning
the care of the wounded and started, on foot, toward the
Winter Palace. He had taken less than ahalf-dozen steps
when another bomb was thrown which struck and burst
at his feet with most horrible effect. The Czar reeled
and fell amid a cloud of smoke, uttering but a single crj^,
"Help!'' The force of the explosion was so great that
all the glass in neighboring houses was broken, the assas-
sin, Elnikoff, was himself mortally wounded, ami a boy
was instantly killed, while eleven of tlie Czar's body-
guard were seriously injured.
Staff Captain Novikoff was the first to reach his Ma-
jesty, and throwing himself weeping at the Emperor's
side, exclaimed, " Good God ! What has happened to
your Majesty?" The Emperor remained motionless, and
Novikoff, with the assistance of some sailors, who had
hurried to the spot, lifted him up, himself holding the
wounded Czar around the body and breast, while the sail-
ors, without letting go of their carbines, held the feet.
The Emperor then attempted to lift his hand to his
bleeding brow, murmuring twice the word "Cold."
Novikoff was just about to take his handkerchief from
liis pocket to liind around the Emperor's head, when the
Grand Duke IMichael came up and, bending down close
to the Emperor's face, said, " How do you feel?" What
his Majesty replied it was difficult to catch. The Grand
Duke ordered the sailors to throw down their carbines,
and then, taking a cap from one of the bystanders, placed
it on the Emperor's head. They then began to mov
forward. Novikoff asked the Grand Duke whether ht
would allow the bearers to carry the Em]jeror into the
148
A NEMESIS OF MISGOVEENMENT.
S
o
a
K
<
A NEMESIS OF MISGOVEENMENT. 149
nearest house for the purpose of applying bandages to
the wounded parts. The Euiperor, who evidently re-
tained consciousness, on hearing this, whispered in broken
-anguage, " Carry to palace, there die," and some few
more words M'hich were unintelligible.
He was placed in Colonel Dvorketsky's sledge and
olriven directly to the palace, followed by an immense
crowd of sorrow-stricken citizens, many of whom M'ere
crying like children who saw before them the mangled
body of a l)eloved father.
Upon reaching the palace the Emperor was carried up
stairs into his study, where a bed was improvised, upon
v/hich he Avas laid for a surgical examination. Six of the
ablest surgeons in St. Petersburg were instantly called,
but the moment they saw how dreadful were his wounds
they frankly told him there was no hope for recover3^
His Majesty suffered excruciating agony so hmg as con-
sciousness lasted ; both his legs were crushed and cut in a
shocking manner, the femoral arteries l)uing severed, from
which alone he must have died through hemorrhage had
there been no other injuries ; but portions of g ass were
dri\'en into the lower parts of his l)ody, Avhile there were
tdso two severe cuts in his face from which large pieces
of "'lass were extracted. Seeing that death was ine\ita-
ble, the Court Chaplain administered the last sacrament
during a short interval of consciousness and, while the
surgeons were considering an operation on the Emiieror,
his Majesty surrendered the crownforever, at 3 :o5 r. m.,
one hour and fifty niimites after receiving his wounds.
Surrounding his bedside at the time of dissolution was a
large number of the Imperial family, including the Czare-
vitch and Czarina, who mav/ifested such grief as is rarely
witnessed.
During the painful suspense which followed the first
10
150
A NKMESie OF MISGOVEKNMENT.
A NEMESIS OF MISGOVERNMENT. 131
news of the fatul attack on the Emperor an enormous
crowd of peoi)lo gathered in Alexander Square fronting
the palace and gave expression to a sorrow deep-felt and
inconsolable. At intervals of every fifteen minutes a fiag
was displayed from the palace Avhich indicated the Em-
peror's condition, and as each time showed him to be
more rapidly sinking the crowd became more demonstra-
tive in their grief. When at length the Emperor's death
was announced by raising the Imperial standard at half-
mast, the assemblage fell upon their knees and became
mute in silent pra^^er.
On the same evening of the Czar's death the troops in
St. Petersburg and members of tlie Imperial family, ac-
cording to their eustsom, kissed the Bible and then took
the oath of allegiance to the new Czar, who repaired to
the Winter Palace Chapel and in the presence of the State
and church dignataries placed the Imperial Crown of
Russia on his head and was proclaimed Emi^eror, under
the title of Alexander III.
After assuming the crown the new Emperor and Em-
press drove to their own palace, where they remained until
his manifesto of March 27th was issued, designating his
brother, the Grand Duke Vladimir, regent in case of his
own death before his son, the present Czarevitch, at-
tained his majority.
The remains of the dead Emperor lay in state for one
week, during which time expressions of symijathy and
horror at the dreadful act which brought about his
death, poured in upon the Eoyal Family from every na-
tion of the earth, besides hundreds of beautiful tokens,
from coutsmporary sovereigns in Europe, such as wreaths
of silver, crowns, crosses and mottoes, most artistically
worked^ of the same precious material. On Sunday,
March 20th, the body of the Emperor was taken to the
m^-
152
A NEMESIS OF MISGOVEENMENT.
Fortress Chapel of St. Peter and St. Paul, where it was de-
posited in a marble sarcophagus beside the remains of his
loved Empress, who died of a lingering illness one year be-
fore. After the workmen had deposited the coffin in the
vault beneath the Fortress church, and removed their
tools, the Governor of tlie city went down into the pit
afone, swung to and locked the heavy door, and on
A NEMESIS OF MISviOVEENMENT.
IbS
emerging, handed the key to the chief of the new Czar's
household, and it was afterward deposited in a place of
security in the Winter Palace.
154 A NEMESIS OF MISGOVERNMENT.
The Fortress Chapel is one of the most elaboi-ate and
gorgeous, in interior decoration, in the world. It is the
repository of all members of the House of Romanoff
since the time of Peter the Great, with the single excep-
tion of Peter II., wlio, dyiog in Moscow, was by his own
request buried there. The interior presents a rare com-
bination of gold, silver and tinsel work, giving an ap-
pearance of fairy-like splendor. Arranged around the
single immense room, in tM o rows, are the marble sar-
cophagi enclosed by an iron railing. From the ceiling
is suspended a rich canopy reaching down over the
sacristy, while the pillars are decorated with standards
taken in the wars Avitli Franc?, Sweden, Poland, Turkey
and Persia. There are also several silver and gold {co7is
— sacred images — before which candles are kept con-
stantly burning. On the sarcophagus of Alexander II.,
and also on that of the Empress, there is placed a gold
crown inside of which a small lamp is always liurning,
which, throwing its ra^'s throu,'Tb. interstices of the
crowns, produces a beautiful effect. On the wall, imme-
diately opposite, are hung the emblems of mourning pre-
sented by other countries after the Czar's assassination,
and also wreaths of immortelles which are replaced, from
time to time, hy those who revere his memory.
Directly after the Czar's death. Minister Pleve, M'hc
had been commissioned to the position he then held for
his services in detecting those concerned in the palace ex-
plosion of 1879, was called upon to discover all the con-
spirators concerned in the commission of the dreadful
crime, and so thoroughly did he prosecute his investiga-
tions, that scarcely had the Czar been laid away, before
he procured the arrest of Nicholas Jelaboff, Sophie Pe-
rofskaja, Hess}^ Hclfmaini, Nicholas Eisakoff, Gabrie]
Michailoff, Jean Kibaichich, and several others who.
however, proved their iuuocence.
A NJiME8i8 OF MIHUOVEENMENT.
155
THE FORTRESS CHAPEL — LAST RESTING PLACE OF THE IMPERIAL DEAD.
156
A NEMESIS OP MISGOVEESMENT.
Directly after these arrests were made another import,
ant step was taken in consequence of discoveries made in
examining the premises and opening the dynamite mine
laid in Little Garden street. It was proved that the
police had information in connection with the mine
TOMB OF THE LMfLI Jk 1\ lUL 1 1 1 I- L LH \1 LI c \L \\ I PK AFTER LUriAL,
which if utilized would have led to the arrest of the con-
'spirators and prevented the Czar's assassination. The pub-
lic officers accused of a criminal neglect of their duties
were Major General Constantine Mrovinsky ; Paul Teg-
leff , chief officer of the Spnssky District ; General Fur-
soff , chief of the Secret Section of the Prefecture, and
157
158 4. NEMESIS OF MISGOVERNMEKT.
two State Councillors. It avus asserted that Mrovinsky
had been instructed by Tegleff to make a thorough in-
spection of Kobezeff's quarters, whose milk and cheese
shop had been reported as being a headquarters for the
Nihilists. This investigation Avas not made by Mrovin-
sky, while Tegleff was charged Avith neglect in not en-
forcing the order, as ho had direct information of Kobe-
zeff's plot. Fursoff was also brought to trial because he
took no measures to verify the suspicions Avliich had been
communicated to him, and because he did not inform his
suiseriors of Avhat Avas taking place until the eA-ening of
the assassination. It Avas shown that the three officers
did AHsit Kobezeff's shop, but tluit finding his papers reg-
ular they made no examination of the premises.
It was three days after the assassination before the police
entered the shop, there being graA'e fears excited that an
attempt to do so Avould cause an explosion of the mine.
The greatest prcc'autions Avere oliserA^ed after an entranoi)
Avas at length made, Avlien a tunnel Avas discoAau-ed lead-
ing across the street, and two batteries in Avooden boxes
were found, Avith their Avires ready for use. Had the
two poles of the batteries been Ijrought in contact (and
they Avere not more than three inches apart) an instan-
taneous explosion AVould have foUoAved. It is therefore
an act of singular fortune that the mine Avas uncovered
Avithout causing a calamity of gigantic proportions.
The assassins, arrested through the skilful detective
ability of Pleve, Avere brought to trial on April 9th.
The Judges, Avho Avere presided over by Senator
Fuchs, held their sittings in the Circuit Court of the Li-
tejnajaProspckt. Both the inside and the outside of the
building were carefully guarded by police, who prevented
all persons except those furnished Avith special passes
from enterins;. At each end of the dock also stood tAVo
A NEMESIS OF MISGOVERN MENT.
159
.■ *:BM
■ I i
I I* '
1(50 A NEMESIS OF MISGOVEENMENT.
gendarmes with drawn swords, and in front of the pris-
oners sat their counsel. The Procurer, or Crown Advo-
cate, sat at the end of the judicial bench, and on a table
in the centre of the room were the mute evidences of the
prisoners' guilt in the form of bombs, bottles of explo-
|Sive liquids, etc. Above hung a picture of the late Czar,
draped in black hangings. The proceedings were ex-
ceedingly simple. First the indictment was read, and to
this each prisoner in turn replied by a long speech, in no
way repudiating his or her complicity in the Revolution-
ary movement, although some denied being concerned in
the actual assassination of the Czar. The i:)risoners were
(^ix in number: Kisakoff, the man who tlu'ew the first
l)omb (Elnikoff, who threw the second, died from the ef-
fects of the explosion) ; Sophie Perofskaja, the well-
known female conspirator, who gave the signal by wav-
ing a handkerchief on the opposite side of the canal ;
Jeiaboff, the organizer of the attempt, and an agent in
the third degree of the Revolutionary Executive Commit-
tee ; Kibaichich, who appears to have prepared the ex-
plosive li(juids ; Hessy Helfman, a Jewess, who was ar-
r(;sted in the Nihilist laboratory in Telejewskaja street a
day or two after the attempt, and Gal:)riel Michaeloff , who
was arrested while entering one of the Nihilists' resorts
which had been discovered and occupied by the police.
After the prisoners had made their speeches, witnesses
were examined, having been previously sworn by minis-
ters of their own persuasion. These pastors ranged from
a Moslem mollah to a Dominican monk, and contributed
a picturesque air to the scene. Then the Procurer, M.
Mouravicff , commenced his summing-up of the charges
against the prisoners, seizing the occasion for a political
denunciation of the Revolutionists and the countries which
sheltered them, and going minutely into the character and
A NEJIESIS OF MISGOVEENMEXT.
161
career of the various prisoners. Of these Sophia Perofs-
kaja alone hdonrrcd to the class of nol)les. She
fled from home at the aye of fifteen, and is stated
to have lived thereafter on her own resources takinir, in
162 A NEMESIS OF MISGOVERNMENT.
late years of her life considerable part in the Mihilists'
plots. She it was who gave the signal for the explosion
on the Moscow line when the pilot train was wrecked.
Her grandfather was a Minister of State, and hor father
had been Governor of St. Petersburg. She had for some
time been the companion of Jelaboff , Avho is said to have
been the type of a Revolutionary leader, and cue of the
most important members of the party. Eisakoff, who
had been a pupil of the School of JMines, and Kibaichich,
once a member of the Academy of Engineers, were por-
trayed as simple instruments inJelaboff's hands, and also
Michaeloff , who Avas a poor, uneducated peasant. To the
Procurer replied either the prisoners or their counsel, as
the former thought proper, and Jelaboff made another
oration in favor of his Socialistic opinions.
There is nothing in the annals of criminal jurisprudence
of more thrilling interest, in the display of unexami^led
fortitude and fanatical heroism, than is shown in the
record of this great political trial. So great was the
thirst of these criminals for the approbation of their com-
patriots, that when this opportunity came for immolating
themselves in the cause of anarchy, they unflinchingly
acknowledged their guilt and dared the Imperial power
to expend its vengeance on them. To the question put
to them by the Court : " Are you guilty or not guilty?"
Jelaboff, the arch assassin, responded: "Guilty, and I
would to God that my crime had been greater. Of no
act in my life am I so proud, and it gives nie a felicitous
jDleasure in acknowledging the part I took in assassinat-
ing the Emperor. Not that I entertained a special pei'-
sonal dislike for him, but because, as a patriot, I de-
tested the policy which he pursued for the oppression of
his subjects. The fate which overtook the dead Emperor
awaits his successor as surely as there is a God who
reckons the crimes of oppressors."
164 A NEMESIS OF MISGOVERNMENT.
Jelaboff would have said much more had he not been
restrained \>y the bailiffs, this much of his speech being
delivered in spite of their efforts to enforce his silence.
The sentiment he expressed was re-echoed by his accesso-
ries, so that nothing remained for the Court to do but hear
testimony from tlie Government witnesses and to pass
sentence of death upon the accused. It has been stated,
but not confirmed, that after the prisoners were sen-
tenced and returned to the Fortress prison, one or more
of them were subjected to the most agonizing torture, in
order to force from them a confession that would expose
!ill their associates in crime, and ^vhatever information
tliey possessed of the Nihilists' plots and intentions.
There appeared in several daily pajjcrs published in
America, a lengthy correspondence from abroad, detail-
ing elaborate]}' the punishments inflicted upon the con-
demned ; that red-hot needles were introduced beneath
their finger nails, and that the nails on their toes were
torn off, after which fire was applied to the bared flesh ;
but though one gentleman in St. Petersburg assui'ed me
that such torture was really committed upon Jelaboff, yet
I feel assured there is not the least truth in such report.
Indeed, two gentlemen who were witnesses of the execu-
tion, and who were near enough to Jelaboff to observe
fully his condition, particularly as his feet were bare, de-
clared to me that the st(ny of torture was an absurdity.
M}' pur[)ose in mentioning the rejtort here is only to give
it denial, which is an act of justice to the Russian Gov-
ernment that I cannot consistently withhold.
The day for the execution of the six criminals was
fixed for April 15th, l)ut the sentence was commuted as
to Hessy Ilelfmann, to exile in Siberia for life, owing to
the fact that she was about to become a mother.
On the 13th of April a mad attempt to rescue the prison-
A NEMESIS OF MISGOVEENMENT.
IG5
ers vras made by a mob of nearly t^o hundred persons,
who forced their way into the large court of the Fortress
and demanded the production of the culprits. A large
force of soldiers and police attacked the would-be rescu-
ers, killing some and vvoundmg sevei-al, while nearly all
the others were arrested ; on the persons of twenty of
those arrested bombs were found, but why none of them
were used is a question difficult to answer.
n
16ti A NEMESIS OP MISGOVEENMENT.
It was expected that at the execution another attempt
would be made to rescue the condemned, to meet which
a large body of soldiers was ordered to escort the cul-
prits and form in hollow square around the gallows.
This served to prevent any demonstration upon the part
of sympathizers, for although the crowd who witnessed
the execution numbered not less than five thousand per-
sons, perfect order was maintained; indeed, strange
enough, there was no sympathy whatever manifested for
the assassins.
As the condemned mounted the gallows there was ar*
oppressive silence wholly unrelieved until Risakoff fainted
as the noose was being adjusted about his neck ; the
others manifested perfect comiaosure to the last. The
execution, however, proved a sickening scene, for in ad-
dition to the feeling created by I'eason of Risakoff faint-
ing, the rope which suspended Michaeloff broke, so that
the half-suffocated criminal fell in a heap on the platform.
Unable now to stand, he was picked up in a limp condition
by two deputies who adjusted another rope about his neck.
But astonishiiigto relate, again the rope broke, and thus the
horrible sccge of hanging one man three times was wit-
nessed, which drew forth many expressions of disgust from
the crowd, who jeered at and reviled the executioners.
Thus terminated the last act connected with the most
exciting and dreadful incident in Russian history. The
love borne for Alexander II., by a very large majority of
his subjects, was greater pei-haps than that shown by the
Russians for any other sovereign, and as tir/ie passes their
appreciation for the many good qualities, which he un-
doubtedly possessed, rapidly increases, as may be seen by
the demonstrations still made to keep his memory fresh
in their hearts. A memorial chapel was erected over the
spot where the Emperor received his fatal wounds, which
A NEMESIS OF MI8GOVERNMENT.
TB7
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168 A NEMESIS OF MISGOVEENMENT.
was dedicated to his remembrance on the 29th of April,
1881, by tiie Metropolitan Ai'clibishop Isidore. There
were present at the services an immense crowd of citizens
from every part of the Empire, nearly all the Imperial fam-
ily. Ministers of State, and many foreign ambassadors.
The new Emperor and Empress were the only notables
absent, a fact much commented upon at the time, as it
was an evidence that Alexander III. entertained fears for
his own life, and therefore would not trust himself among
a promiscuous assemblage, even though his person were
guarded by a multitude of soldiers.
The chapel thus erected was a light frame structure
covered with immortelles and beautiful tlowers contribu-
ted from relatives and sympathizers at home and abroad.
During the present year, however, a more substantial
chapel was built to replace the original one, in which
there are three altars covered with a full service of
church jDlate of gold and silver of the finest chased work-
manship. It is intended to erect a magnificent memorial
church on the spot, which is regarded as sacred, out of
the voluntary contributions made for that purpose by
faithful subjects of the Empire ; to this end a repository
is affixed to the chapel which is daily filled by small of-
ferings from the hundreds of peasants who repair to the
place to offer up prayers. A guard is constantly sta-
tioned before the chapel to guard its treasures, and all
footmen passing the shrine reverently remove their hats
and cross themselves as a token of the love they bear for
the Emiieror's memory.
A NEMESIS OF MISGOVEENMENT. IQQ
CtlAPTEE VIII.
When Alexander III. assumed the ro^^il purple, which
had been crimsoned by his father's blood, everyone confi-
dently predicted a great change from the previous ad-
ministration. Sck seriously was the nation shocked by
the death of Alexander II. that there was a revulsion in
public sentiment against the anarchists, and in favor of the
autocracy; mai-'y leading Nihilists even, particularly in
London and Geneva, expressed chagrin and condemnation
at the assassination, which produced an effect inEussiato
the serious detriment of Nihilism. But this sympathy
was short-liped, a fact which I have no hesitancy in de-
claring was due wholly to the retirement Alexander III.,
thu-s giving incontestable proof of his alarm. Not satis-
fied with the protection afforded him at his palace in St.
Petersburg, he removed his State residence to Peterhoff ,
where special arrangements for his security were provided.
Upon a hill, overlooking the Finland Gulf and com-
manding a beautiful, though distant view of Cronstandt,
stands the Imperial Palace, a large and elegant structure
with all the accessories of royalty. There is a large fish
pond, and an immense lake adjacent, its shores embow-
ered by lofty trees and its bosom studded with beau-
tiful islands, on one of which there is an ornate building
provided especially for the Emperor to dine in during
the summer months. The palace grounds are, beyond
compai'e, the finest in all Europe, far sui'passing those
around the Great Trianon in Versailles ; indeed, they ap-
pear more like fairy-land than the surroundings of a self-
exiled potentate. Such fountains can be seen in no
other place, and are positively bewildering in their
beauty. One of these, called the Golden Stairway
170 A NEMESIS OF MISGOVEENMENT.
Fountain, is extra vasrant with mag-nificence. It consists
of twenty-four steps, each twenty feet long, one foot high
and one foot in breadth, of jjMre gold. Of course
the steps are not solid gold, for there Is not sutB-
cient of the precious metal in all the worid to cast so
many blocks of such a size ; but the sheets of gold used
in making them are of enormous value, in fact princely.
This fountain leads down from the Court entrance of the
palace, and as the water pours over in a succession of
cascades, glimmering with a golden sheen, the effect is
bewitching in its incomparable splendor. But there are
many other fountains on the grounds of only secondary
importance, on which gold is a conspicuous feature,
blending inartistic beauty with statues of men, animals,
fowls and reptiles.
But the new Czar takes no pleasure in surroundings
so grandly beautiful, for looking only to a retreat that
promises security from Nihilistic conspiracies, he makes
his residence in a small cottage on the Peterhoff grounds,
which is enclosed hy a double wall ten feet high and two
feet thick. There is only a small garden about this
humble building, in which the Czar takes occasional
walks, but never except in some disguise, ou account of
a distrust which he has for every servant about him. A
oarty of Cossacks are day and night on guard around the
JJner wall, and a full company of Finnish guards are al-
W ys on duty, mounted, around the outer wall ; so that
a, oody of men who would attempt to forcibly reach the
Emperor, could only do so by dispersing two lines of
guards and overcoming a large body-guard that attends
his Majesty. But even these precautions do not com-
prise all the measures taken to preserve the Czar's life
from assassination. He has given an imperative order to
his guards to shoot down, without challenge, any one who
172 A NEMESIS OF MI8G0VEENMENT.
shall approach within fifty feet of him in his garden
without special permission. During my stay in St. Pe-
tei'sburg, ia July, 1882, a melancholy incident of this
ridiculous order occurred, which shocked the whole city.
It being a warm day, the Emperor went into his garden,
and while passing along one of the gravelled walks, he
discovered a shrub that had been broken down by some
careless act. Not far from him was an old man, beyond
sixty years of age, engaged in cultivating flowers ; the
Czar beckoned to him, intending to instruct him to
bind up the broken shrub. In obedience to the tacit
call, the old man started over to where the Emperor was,
but when he approached within the forbidden distance,
a guard, ivho had not observed the Emperor's motion,
fired upon the innocent old gardener, killing him instantly.
It is said the Czar was very much angered at the guard,
and that besides having his victim buried with the honors
accorded a faithful soldier who dies on duty, he also
granted a pension to the murdered man's family.
But in addition to these precautions, there are three cor-
vettes stationed in the gulf facing the grounds enclosing
the Czar's cottage, armed with long-range rifle-guns, to
guard against approaches by sea. No boat, however
small, is permitted to land before the Emperor's grounds ;
electric lights are kept burning all night on the corvettes,
which flood the sea and shore with radience and enable
the naval guard to detect any craft which might apjjear
approaching the royal residence.
Occasionally the Emperor visits his palace at Gatchi-^
Ba, twenty miles inland from Peterhoff, where equally
strong measures for his protection are provided. ?Vhen
making the trip between these two places he is in dis-
guise and never allows any intimation of his visit to be an-
nounced beforehand.
A NEMESIS OF MISGOVEENMENT. 173
This isolation, through fear, is an invitation to danger,
and serves to exalt Nihilism far beyond its own inherent
strength. How great the contrast between Alexander
III. and Nicholas I. is shown in the following historical
incident. In 1854, when Russia was stasrgerins' under
destructive defeats from the Allied Forces, a plague seized
upon the people, so that they died in great numbers.
Ignorant, superstitious and rebellious, a cry was raised
by his subjects that Nicholas had ordered all the waters
of Russia poisoned ; that he had colluded with the phy-
sicians of his Empire to destroy his people because they
grumbled at extravagances practiced in conducting the
war. This senseless cry soon grew into a concerted plan
for vengeance, which more than three thousand men as-
sembled in Alexander Square to put into execution. The
Emperor, who was in the Winter Palace, immediately
comprehendsd the danger of his position, and with quick
perception, seized upon the only possible plan that could
save his life.
The palace being surrounded escape was imposible,
while there were no soldiers whom the Czar could sum-
mon to his aid. Hastily putting on his Imperial helmet
and regimentals he declared to the attendants his inten-
tion of boldly facing the mob. All attempts to per-
suade him from this purpose being unavailing, his aid-de-
camp begged to be allowed the privilege of accompany-
ing him, but this Nicholas refused, saying : "If my life
is to be taken it would avail nothing to sacrifice yours
also." With this he descended the stairway and alone
marched out into the mob who, awed by his majestic
manner, gave way and permitted him unmolested to gain
the Alexander Column. Being now in the very center of
his enemies, he mounted upon a block which stood be-
side the column and in a stentorian voice shouted : " Chjl-
174 A NEMESIS OF. MISGOVERNMENT.
dren ! Dogs ! Down upon your knees I " As though
stricken by a stroke from heaven, that vast assemblage,
who had before been howhng for the Emperor's blood,
dropped upon their knees with one accord and then
shouted : " Brave Nicholas ! we hail you Emperor of all
Russia ; long live j'our Gracious Majesty ! "
This incident serves to show the mercurial disposition
of all Russians. Brave themselves, nothing excites in
them such admiration as an act of defiance when danger
threatens.
A knowledge of Russian character led directly to the
belief that if Alexander HI. would assume a fearless
attitude, by presenting himself before his people like
one under the aegis of patriotic resolution, he would
dispel the sceptre of assassination and be hailed as a
sovereign worthy the sceptre he held. But so sure as he
continued to manifest fear, and cower before an exag-
gerated idea of his enemies, so sure would he be hurled
from the throne by either a gigantic insurrectionary
movement or fall a victim to some fanatic then plotting
his destruction. No measures of protection, however
rigid, could save him, for assassins will spring up in his
' most secret chamber, among those most implicitly trusted,
or reach him through tunnels, which desperate Nihilists
never tire of digging. This was ever his dread, for
before coming to the throne he had his chin shaved
every morning, but since then no razor has touched his
face ; not a mouthful of food or wine was taken by him
until all the dishes set before him were tasted by his
butler ; the room in which he slept was secured by two
immense iron doors, while tlie windows were provided
with heavy bars, so that household enemies may not steal
upon him at night. The humblest peasant in all Russia
would not exchange places with this unhappy autocrat,
whose crown weighed upon him like a besom of death.
A MEMESrs OF MISGOVERNMENT. 175
CHAPTEE IX.
The cessation of crime Avhich followed the assassination
of Alexander II. inspired the law and order class of Russia
with the hope that Nihilism had spent its force and Avould
permit the results of that desperate work to determine
their purposes. But this hope was soon dispelled, for in
the succeeding fall fresh outrages were reported, which
were followed by a more retributive or vindictive policy of
police surveillance. About the same time there came re-
ports of the most brutal attacks being made upon Jewish
merchants in several districts of lower Russia, a descrip-
tion of which will be given hereafter.
Among the more harassing difficulties with which the
Government had to deal were the secret printing offices.
These breeders of sedition appeared in every large city,
and their products were scattered through every hamlet
in the nation. Wlien one office was discovered and de-
stroyed another quickly took its place, so that suppres-
sion has rather worked against the Government. Man}'
of these offices became the scene of bloody conflicts be-
tween the Nihilists and police, in which not a few women
took active part, displaying a desperate bravery rarely
exhibited by the sex. In fact there has been a heroism
manifested by female Nihilists surpassed by no incidents
of individual feai'lessness in all history.
Vera Zassulitch, whose shot inaugurated terrorism,
was the most modest of her sex. In the court room she
blushed when she perceived any one staring at her.
Eugenia Figner, a charming lady and an accomplished
singer, got her eight years in the Siberian mines b}' sit-
ting in a parlor playing the piano for weary hours, try-
ing to drown the noise made by the secret printing-press
176
A NEMESIS OF MISGOVEENMENT.
in the adjoining room. Anna Lebedeff, a priest's
daughter, in the disguse of the wife of a switchman,
KATBEBIKE HAMICRCLIDZE.
AMNA TOPOBKOl'F,
SOPHIA BAKDIN.
LEADING FEMALE NIHILISTS
lived in a watch-house on the railroad, and was found on
a box filled with dynamite, chatting with the switchman.
Sophie Perofskaja, the daughter of a general and senator,
A NEMESIS OF MISGOVEENMENT. 177
who declined the dignity of maid of honor to the Em-
press and entered tlie Nihilist fraternity, dug the Moscow
mine and directed the Czar's assassination. Sophie
Bardiu, who was welcomed as a shining star in the
literary horizon, wrote a few poems which, though gems
of Russian literature, were treasonable, and the singing
of them is a State crime.
The Soobotia and Lubatovitch sisters were ladies of
many accomplishments and noted also for their beauty
and purity, j'ct they stimulated their male colaborers by
many acts of cunning and recklessness. The two former
acted as spies, and actually secured from a leading offi-
cer all the immediate plans of Gen. Ignatieff for over-
coming Nihilism, Ijesides finding out, through a different
source, the persons in their party against whom the Gov-
ernment had suspicions. The two latter distributed
incendiary^ literature not only throughout Moscow and St.
Petersburg, but in the very offices of the police authori-
ties. Helene Rossikoff planned the robbery of the treas-
ury at Cherson, from the vaults of which were taken
1,500,000 roubles (^750,000) for Nihilistic purposes.
Mary G.riasnova incited three of her comrades, who were
detected conducting a revolutionary organ, to defend
their property against an attack made upon them by
nearly twenty policemen. In this fight she killed two
officers and wounded three others, though she was herself
seriously shot and had to fire from a prostrate position.
When her companions surrendered she reviled them as
cowards, and nothing silenced her but death, which came
after a linger! ng agony of three daj's. M'Ues Torporkoff ,
Hamkrclidze, Khorjevski, I\'anova, and many other
women have signally distinguished themselves among the
Nihilists as leaders of great power, while their examples
have all served to infuse their confreres -with determina-
178
A NEMESIS OF MISGOVERNMENT.
tion to dare and do without regard for the results which
their desjaerate acts might entail.
On the 2Sth of February, 1882, the scene of serious
disturbance was transferred from St. Petersburg to
Odessa, where General Strelnikoff, the Public Prosecutor
at the Kieff Military Tribunal, who distinguished himself
in various Nihilist trials, was shot in broad daylight on
A NEME8IS OF MISGOVEENMENT. 179
the Boulevard in that city. Three men were concerned
in the murder; two were captured, but the third es-
caped. The Czar was so angered at the news that he at
first ordered the prisoners to be executed within twenty-
four hours, but afterward changed his mind and decided
that they should be tried in due form. Accordingly they
were tried and sentenced to death on Saturday, March
11th. The funeral of General Strelnikoff took place on
Sunday morning, March 5th, with full military honors.
Curiously enough, this crime happened within a few
hours after the commutation ))y the Czar of the sentence of
death passed on the prisoners in the Trigonia trial. One
man alone, Soukahnoff, was excepted, owing to his being
a lieutenant in the navy. He, however, was spared the
disgrace of dying at the hands of the hangman, but was
taken to Cronstadt and shot by a detachment of marines.
It is the custom observed by all of Russia's former
Emperors to repair to Moscow six months after assuming
the title of Czar, and there, in the Royal Chapel, be
crowned according to ceremonies prescribed by the Greek
Church, for it must be understood that in tradition,
though not in fact, the Church is more potential than the
Czar. These ceremonies are magnificent lieyond descrip-
tion and are participated in by every one who can crowd
into the city. They are invariably followed by a season
of festivities which frequently last for thirty days.
Owing to apprehensions of an attack being nuide upon
his person if exposed, Alexander III. still wore the
crown which he phaced upon his own head the day of his
father's death. Several notices were semi-ofEcially given
at various times to the effect that the coronation services
would occur at Moscow, and during my visit to that city,
in Auo-ust, 1882, great preparations were being made for
the positively promised event. The Royal Chapel, which
18(? A NEMESIS OF MISGOVEENMENT.
is used upon no other occasion, was being sumptuously
decorated, and three hundred Court waiters had just been
sent down from St. Petersburg, whose services were ex-
pected to be required at the Imperial feast, which was to.
follow the coronation. In addition to these preparationb\,
made on so grand a scale, the Great Votive church was
thrown open for public inspection upon the presentation
of permits issued only by the City Meti-opolitan. Thid
church is used only once during each Czar's reign, the^'i
occasions being the day following the coronation, when
the Emperor and Empress repair to its sanctuary for
blessings of the Church, and where they also listen to a.
sermon prepared specially for their benefit. This sacred
edifice stands upon an elevation commanding a fine view
of the city, and is an object of veneration to all Muscov-
ites. With the exception of the Winter Palace there is,
perhaps, no building in all Russia that can compare with
it in magnificence. It is built of marble taken from the
Finland and Siberian quarries, and polished until all its
walls, floors and pilasters reflect images like a looking-
glass ; the dome is covered with gold, and there are many
gold and silver candelabras and icons, while in the inte-
rior of the dome is a painting of the Trinity involving a
marvellous conception. The principal figure measures
thirty feet between the out-stretched hands, though the
altitude is so great that it appears almost the natural size
of a man. There are two chairs reserved for the Em-
peror and Empress, which are stationary, fronting the
chancel, that for both beauty and value exceed the throne
chair in St. George's room of the Winter Palace. They
are made of ivory-colored marble, most exquisitely en-
chased with gold flower work, while the seats and cush-
ioned backs are covered with gold plates studded with
precious stones forming the national coat of arms.
.." '
.-> ' 'r
1 ti*t '
13
Ib2 A NEMESIS OF MISGOVEENMENT.
Every day, for more than a month, the people ex-
pected to receive definite announcement of the Emperor's
coming, until the shocking news was received instead
that a dynamite mine had been discovered beneath the
Royal Chapel. This fact immediately dissipated further
expectation, and it was then predicted that the coronation
would not take place before the following year. No an-
nouncement, however, was madeby the Government, and
preparations continued to be made. During all this time
Count Tolstoi Avas in communication with the Nihilists,
who promised to guarantee the safety of the Emperor at
the coronation services if he would, previous to the oc-
currence, publish his annual manifesto granting liberty to
certain of their compatriots then in exile or held in the
Fortress prison.
Suddenly, without any notice whatsoever, the Czar ap-
peared in Moscow. Before leaving St. Petersburg he
had ordered every one off the streets by 12 m., on the
night of September 15th. No one understood Avhy such
an order M'as given until the next day, when it was learned
that the Emperor had departed by special train at one
o'clock, A. M., for Moscow. He also took the precaution
to line the rail route with thirty thousand troops, string-
ing them out so that the men Avere formed eighty feet
apart extending all the way between the two cities, and a
pilot engine was run half-a-mile ahead of the Imperial train
to report any obstructions Avhich might appear. Thus
the Czar made his first trip to the "Holy Mother" (a
title long since given to Moscow by devout Muscovites),
but it was not for coronation purposes, as many at
fii'st supposed. He visited the great exposition then
being held, also the Imperial Palace in the Kremlin,
but there was a large cordon of soldiers surround-
ing him wherever he Avent, besides a special guard with
A NEMESIS OF MISGOVERNMENT.
183
THE ROYAL CHAPEL, MOSCOWi
■ 184 A NEMESIS OF MI8G0VEENMENT.
bayonets at u " present." After spending four daj's in
Moscow, and giving notice that he would remain one
week longer, so as to continue the impression that the
coronation M'ould take place, he mysteriously disa^jpeared
again and turned up at St. Petersburg. It was two days
after his departure before the people learned positively
that their Emperor was not in Moscow, or credited the
report that the coronation had been postponed.
The fear which possesses Alexander III. has caused
a renewal of the agitation first begun during the
reign of Catharine II., for a removal of the Imperial
Court fi'om St. Petersburg to Moscow, where it remaiued
established once for nearly five hundred years. It is
claimed that St. Petersburg is not a representative Russian
city, being too cosmopolitan in population, and Euro-
pean in architecture ; that it is for these reasons the Nihil-
ists make their headquarters there, so that their commu-
nications with foreign emissaries may be more direct.
Moscow, on the other hand, is intensely Asiatic in all its
characteristics and particularly loyal to the Greek Chui'ch .
This fact is outwardly indicated by the first sights which
strike the visitor upon entering the city, for rising up to
immense height, like a beautiful mirage, are hundreds of
glittering domes, surmounted by golden crosses, while
others counterfeit the blue canopy of heaven. There are
no less than four hundred and sixty-six churches, sixty-
two monasteries, and over two hundred chapels in Mos-
cow, all of which are sustained in a style of magnificence
found nowhere else in the world. These princely edi-
fices, and the pious reverence of her population, have
caused Moscow to be called the "Holy City," and so
sacred is she regarded that every year long pilgrimages
are made by Russian peasant women to pay their devo-
tions and pray before her holy shrines. In this respect
A >-EJIESIS OF MISGOYEENiXE>'T.
185
186 A NEMESIS OF MISGOVEKNMEKT.
Moscow is to Eussians what Mecca is to tlie Mohamme-
dan Avorld.
It is not a matter for surprise therefore that there is
such general desire among the people for the Emperor's
removal from European influences, and his complete coa-
lescence with Russian style and ideas as taught by the
great Vladimir. Indeed, there is a large party in Eussia
that would be delighted if there were a wall around the
Empire large enough to forever keep out everything
European.
In the foregoing history of Nihilism I make no pre-
tense of presenting a complete description of all the out-
rages perpetrated by this bloody organization, but have
rather sought, by presenting the more important acts and
crimes of the association, to indicate its strength, coher-
ency and purpose (if it may be said Nihilism has any
clearly defined purpose). Anarchists are not generally
known to consider cause and effect, but like violent ma-
niacs, strike in obedience to a distracted mind, havingthe
one desire to kill, ruin or subvert. Nihilism has now
grown so strong that no one can compute its power ; no one
can judge of Eussia's future, but all may well prophesy,
by the clouds which lower so bodingly over the nation,
that there is a Nemesis ready to dash out of the elements,
with fire and sword, at the Empire's heart.
A NEMESIS OF MISGOVERNMENT, 187
CHAPTER X.
In the preparation of this work on Kihilism I found
many difficulties obtruding upon me from tlie beginning,
which it was wliolly impossible to remove or reconcile ;
these annoyances arose from the extremities of two irrec-
oncilable parties whose sympathies seek favor from all
who investigate the insurrectionary causes so seriously
disturbing Russia. Having been admitted to Govern-
ment circles in St. Petersburg, I was sought to be the
medium through which the Government might justify its
repressive measures and demonstrate the wisdom of its
laws ; so speciously did one officer of the Ministry pre-
sent to me the causes and inordinate assumptions of
Nihilism that, I must confess, he disposed me favoraljlj^
to his conclusions, which might have influenced me
throughout, in my irivsstigations, but for a later contact
with liberals and terrorists. Through an introduction,
which it would not be just to explain, I was received con-
fidentially by several leaders in the revolutionary move-
ment, who presented to me their grievances and demo-
cratic needs in so forcible, ii' not convincing a manner, as
to materially change the opinions incited in me by
the Minister. I therefore found that in any event my
work must aieet with much disfavor in Russia, if not
subject me to the suspicion of preconceived preju-
dices. This I am very anxious to avoid, and that
there may be no real ground for such a charge, in
addition to recording my own observations and results
of an honest investigation of Nihilism, I herewith pre-
sent an ably written syllabus of the leading State trials
of political offenders that have taken place in Russia dur-
ing the past five yeais. The author of this most inter-
188 A NKMESIS OF MISGOVEENMENT.
esting chaiDtcr is a distinguished Russian lady, a resident
of St. Petersburg, and one whose liberal ideas recom-
mend hfer opinions to all thinking peoiale. She belongs
to the Liberal Party, but prefers that her name should
not be disclosed, for reasons which will readily appear to
any one who has read the preceding chapters on Russian
Nihilism :
Of all countries in the world, Russia can of late years
claim the sad distinction of having produced ia greatest
numbers the abnormal growths of a deejjly convulsed
intellectual soil. The well known "Nihilists" (christ-
ened by Tourguenieff for all eternitj''), the boisterous,
pugnacious, ranting, yet talented and comparatively harm-
less boys of twenty and thirty years ago, have been suc-
ceeded by another and far more dangerous generation —
boys also, most of them, hut who have developed the
quiet, dogged resolstion, the merciless, unswerving se-
quence of thought and act, the unreasoning self-sacrifice
which lies at the core of the Russian nature when power-
fully aroused. The earlier ones contented themselves
with general fault-finding (in many cases with but too
much reason), with noisy denunciations of everything
and everybody, from existing social principles to j^oetry
and ladies' fancy-work, with sweeping and often ludi-
crously absurd negations of all that is not positive science
or material improvement. Not so the latter, the so-
called " socialists " — for that name begins very generally
to supersede the old one. Their predecessors' much-aired
grievances, instead of evaporating in more or less violent
talk, have with them settled into a dark purpose, which
they pursue literally to the death — to their own death
most frequently, sometimes also to that of their selected
victims. They take the risk and pay the forfeit man-
fully, stubbornly. The many criminal State-trials of the
A NEMESIS OF MISGOVERNMENT. 189
last five years have amply shown that Russia has been
visited by a virulent paroxysm of that form of political
aberration which made so great a patriot and so pure a
man as Mazzini an advocate of political murder, and
armed the gentle hand of the romantic, tender-souled
boy Sand with the assassin's dagger. On the IGth of
November, 1880, the execution of two important leaders
of the deadly secret organization called "the terroriz-
ing fraction" atoned for the long series of murderous
attempts against the Emperor's person which followed
the assassination of Prince Krapotkinin February, 1879.
The trial which preceded, conducted before the St.
Petersburg Military Court, was on so unusually large a
scale, involved so many points and persons, and resulted
in such vast and important revelations, that an account
of the judicial proceedhigs on this momentous occasion
may prove not uninteresting to American readers, and
may shed light on some of the questions concerning which
the intelligent curiosity of the cultivated public of this
country (Russia) has long been awakened.
On the 6th of November sixteen persons were brought
to trial for heavy political offenses before the St. Peters-
burg Military Court. Great and unusual precautions had
been taken to insure an undisturbed course to the judicial
proceedings. The general public were not admitted ; tick-
ets were distributed ; and it was noticed by an eye-^vitness
that although the audience was so numerous as to fill the
hall, it was composed of persons wearing the military or
civil uniform, there beingpresent only four persons in the
ordinary garb of private gentlemen. Although the report-
ers of the press were admitted, the several dailies and
weeklies had been notified to abstain from publishing their
own reports from shorthand notes as is usual in such cases,
and to limit themselves to copying the full-length report
190 A NEMESIS OF MISGOVEENMENT.
which would appear in a series of numbers of the daily
" Governmeat Gazette." The sixteen prisoners entered
the court escorted each by two gensdarmes, and took
their places in a calm and dignified manner. In spite of
great differences in their social rank, education, even
race and religion, one characteristic feature Avas common
to all — they were very young; all, with one exception,
under thirty, one-half under twenty-five. There were
three women in the number — girls of twenty-one, twen-
ty-two, and twenty-three years of age. The single
exception was one Mr. Drigo, aged thirty-one, a land-
holder and business man of good standing, who was
merely an accessory to the revolutionaiy party with
regard to certain money matters. From the personal
facts and antecedents concerning the prisoners, given in
curt and dry phrase by the Act of Accusation, it appears
that of the thirteen men one was a Catholic, of Poli&h
family settled in Little Eassia, and two were Israelites ;
that two never received any education at all, and seven
did not complete their education, but left the University,
or the Technological Institute, or Teachers' Seminary, or
other schools or colleges, in the first, second, or third
year of the course. Alexander Kviatkovsky, aged twenty-
seven, the most jiroraincnt among the prisoners, was one
of these ; but he must have been endowed with great nat-
ural parts and moral powers. From the first moment the
general attention was centered on him, and his personal
appearance is thus described by the corresjiondent of the
Augushurger Zeifung: " Kviatkovsky has a very intel-
ligent face ; long dark-blonde hair and a full beard
frame a set of features expressive of great energy and
power of will. He both bears himself and speaks well
and with ease." He immediately and naturally assumed
the attitude of a leader among his companions — a posi-
A NEMESIS OF MISGOVERNMENT. 191
tion which they all seemed tacitly to acknowledge, as
though from long and habitual deference, and to which
he was fully entitled, as proven by disclosures at the
trial. It was remarked that although he appeared to
have surrendered himself from the first, and with the
utmost philosophy, to a fate against which he knew that
not the ablest defence could prevail, he was unremittingly
anxious to shield his followers, and never missed an op-
portunity of taking the whole blame upon himself and
exonerating them from this or that charge, on the ground
of having heen used by him as blind tools, and kept in
ignorance of his purposes.
The first day of the trial was almost entirely consumed
by the reading of the Act of Accusation. That this docu-
ment should have grown to so unusual a bulk is not to
be wondered at, since it covered a space of two years,
and contained a detailed relation of all the criminal acts
perpetrated in that interval by members of the ultra-
socialistic party, in which all prisoners then present at
the bar had directly and personally participated. The
Act Avas divided under ten different heads, comprising
the following offences: Participation in the murder of
Prince Krajjotkin, the Governor of Kharkoff, in Febru-
ary, 1879 ; in Solovieff's attempt on tlie Emperor's life
in April of the same year ; in the socialistic-revolution-
ary convention which took place at Lipetsk in the follow-
ing June, and at which the subsequent attemiots were
planned, it being at the same time resolved to use dyna-
mite instead of ordinary weapons ; in the ensuing three-
fold murderous attempt in November, 1879, by means of
dynamite mines laid underraihvay tracksatthreedifferent
places, of which one proved useless as his Majesty changed
his route at the last moment, another took no effect from
unknown causes, probably unskilful management, and the
192 A- NEMESIS OP MISGOVERNMENT.
third did by its explosion cause the destruction of the
Imperial train, but did not endanger tlie Emperor's per-
son, owing to his having passed the spot a few moments
before in an ordinary train ; in tlie laying of a powerful
dynamite mine under one of the apartments in the Win-
ter Palace, resulting in the terrible explosion of the 17th
of February, 1880, which caused the loss of eleven lives,
and more or less severely injured fifty-six persons. Fur-
thermore, several of the j)risoners weix accused of organ-
izing and entertaining an active secret press in the capi-
tal, for the purpose of printing and spreading abroad
revolutionary proclamations, flying numbers of seditious
and terroristic papers, as also of forging passports and
other documents ; the same prisoners being uKU'eover ac-
cused of having offered armed resistance to the police,
who surprised them in their hiding-place with the jii'ess
in full activity. The prisoner Presniakoff was charged
besides with having fired at two persons who aided a dis-
guised policeman in arresting him on one of the public
streets, wounding both and causing the death of one.
Lastly, all the prisoners were "accused of belonging to
the secret society of the socialistic-revolutionary party,
whose object is, by sedition and violence, to subvert the
State institutions and social order, and which has mani-
fested its existence by a long series of the heaviest politi-
cal offences." They were also all charged, with three
exceptions, with having lived under numerous assumed
names, supporting their aliases by forged passports and
other documents ; while the prisoner Drigo was accused
of having supplied the socialistic-revolutionary party with
the funds necessary for carrying out their very expensive
undertakings and machinations.
The question of funds is one which has considerably
puzzled public curiosity. People cannot carry on costly
A NEMESIS OP MISGOVERNMENT. 193
mining-works in different parts of the countiy and secret
publishing on a large scale, travel at the shortest notice
from end to end of so vast an empire, hire and hiiy
houses to conspire and work in, and maintain a lar^e
number of subaltern agents, mostly needy 3'oung men,
who in devoting their time and energies to "the work"
give up their only chance of earning even a precarious
livelihood, — people cannot do all this without spending
large sums of money ; and where does the money come
from? — for it is a curious but well-established fact, that
men as a rule are more lavish of their lives than of their
purses. The accusation against Mr. Drigo answers this
question very fully and very strikingly ; and as he
pleaded guilty, with only a distinction of degree in the
offense, and his case, therefore, presented no difficulty or
complication, it may as well be disposed of now, at this
early stage of the proceedings.
Though there may have been small contributions for
revolutionary purposes from the less needy members of
the party, it is now proved that the great bulk of the ex-
pended funds were derived from the private fortune of
Demitri Lizogoub, a prominent leader executed in
August, 1879. This gentleman, judging from no other
data but those supplied by the Act of Accusation, the
speech of the counsel for the Crown, and the few simple
remarks offered by Drigo in his own defence, appears to
have been by no means an ordinary character. Ha\ang
early come into an inheritance consisting of landed prop-
erty to the amount of something over one hundred and
eighty-seven thousand roubles (exactly half of that sum
in dollars, at the present low rate of exchange), as was
testified by his brothers at his trial, he immediately be-
gan quietly to turn every acre into money, which he con-
sistently applied to tha uses of " the party," limiting his
194 A NEMESIS OF MISGOVEENMENT.
personal expenditure to the trifling sum of five hundred
roubles a year. He evidently looked on his wealth as a
sacred deposit, of which he was but the steward, in con-
science bound to husband it for the furtherance of " the
good cause," allotting to himself only the merest pit-
tance necessary for actually supporting life. So thor-
oughly did he carry out his stei'nly-planned self-denial,
that at the time of his death barely thirty thousand
roubles could be found of his considerable patrimony.
Repeatedly implicated in political machinations, and once
already placed under temporary arrest, Lizogoub found
it unsafe to remit the required sums directly and in his
own person to the respective agents, as also to attend
himself to the final liquidation of his still remaining es-
tates, — a measure which became doubly urgent after he
was again and definitely arrested in 1878. Some time
before this event, he had placed his entire fortune, by
means of full powers of attorney, in the hands of his
neighbor and early friend, Yladimir Drigo, and used to
give him private directions as to the payment of more or
less considerable sums, from one hundred roubles to ono
thousand and upward, and at different times to sundry
individuals who proved to be revolutionary agents of the
deepest dye. Even from his prison in Odessa Lizogoub
managed, by contrivances which have not been found out
to this day, and which seem to imply connivance from
quarters where such would least be looked for, to keep
up an active correspondence in short notes with his po-
litical friends and Drigo, who continued to carry out his
orders with respect to further payments out of his prop-
erty. One of these notes, bearing the postscript, pathetic
in its simplicity, " / truift you," came into the hands of
justice, and was shown to Lizogoub's two brothers, who
recognized it as being in their brother Demitri's hand-
A NEMESIS OF MISGOVERNMENT. 195
writing. Drigo meanwhile, urged by his friendship for
the prisoner, worked hard and anxiously to accomplish
the final liquidntion, — partly by effecting sales in his own
name, partly by transferring large sums into his own
hands and those of other trusty friends, as the only Avay
of securing means of existence toLizogoub in the future,
no more tragical issue of his trial being at first antici-
pated than a rigorous banishment. But a judicial sen-
tence is usually accompanied by degradation ; that is to
say, the condemned person is stripped of his rank and all
civil rights and privileges thereto pertaining, and dis-
abled from holding property, which, if he is in possession
of any, is either confiscated to the Crown or passes to his
heirs as though he were dead, as the sentence may be.
The most ordinary mode of eluding this severe clause,
which would leave a condemned prisoner penniless, is by
fictitious mortgages and bills, the friendly holders of
which foreclose at a given moment, and thus rescue the
prisoner's real estate or movables from the law, and
either apjjly the income to his needs, or, by liquidation,
secure for him a capital. This operation Drigo Avas anx-
ious to accomplish inLizogoub's behalf, but the fatal ter-
mination of his friend's career rendered furtlier effoils
unnecessary; and, besides, not much of the fortune was
left, as has been seen. From the moment of Lizogoub's
death, Drigo's connection witli "the party" entirely
ceased, and none of its members received from him any
more pecuniary assistance. The latter fact was duly no-
ticed in tlie Act of Accusation as an extenuating circum-
stance. He vv^as only charged with having supplied cer-
tain persons with funds, not his own indeed, but which
he knew would be used for illegal purposes. The case
against him was very fairly stated thus: " The person
who gave the money might be ignorant of the meditated
lUG A NEMESIS OP MISGOVERNMENT.
crimes for the perpetration of which it was raised, but it
could not be unknown to him that the supplies which
passed through his hands were destined for revolutionary
purposes." Drigo did not deny the fact of having paid
sums of money to sundry persons, strangers to him, by
Lizogoub's order ; but pleaded that, placed as he was, he
could not act differently ; nor did he admit having any
knowledge whatever of their illegal character. He abso-
lutely denied ever having belonged to the revolutionary
party himself, a denial borne out by his antecedents,
which showed him to have been a model landlord, looked
up to by all his neighbors, and never implicated in any
political troubles before he consented to take on himself
the full management of Lizogoub's property. " I was
guided in my actions solely by my friendship to Lizo-
goub ; and if friendship constitutes a political offense, in
that case I must plead guilty." With these simple words
he closed his brief defence. The sentence passed against
Drigo was, in consideration of his exceptional position
and honorable character, as mild as could be expected, —
degradation and simple banishment to the Government of
Tomsk, in Western Siberia.
When, after the Act of Accusation had been read,
the prisoners were asked iu the usual form whether they
pleaded guilty or not guilty, they did not attempt una-
vailing denial ; all, with one exception, pleaded guilty in
the main, but with certain qualifications and more or less
nice distinctions as to details, shadings of opinion or in-
tention. Some, while avowing that they belonged to the
socialistic-revolutionary party, denied all connection with
that fraction of it which advocated terrorization. One
said : " I admit that I am a socialist, but I am not a rev-
olutionist." Kviatkovsky and one other allowed that they
had taken part in the socialistic convention at Lipetsk,
A NEMESIS OF MISGOVERNMENT. 1U7
hut would not concede that the ensuing attempts gainst the
Czar's person had been there i-esolved upon, except the-
oretically and conditionally : "Should certain contingencies
take place, it was to be done ; should they not, it might be
left undone." " Itwas decided," explained his compan-
ion, "to repeat the attempts, should the Government per-
sist in the lino of conduct it had pursued towards the
'part}'' and the people. But the Convention did not
discuss the questions as to Jicrw it was to be done, by
whom, and under what circumstances; so there was no
talk of mining and djmamitc."
At the preliminary examinations the prisoners had
made confessions even more ample than they appeared
willing to indorse before the court. They may have been
advised by their counsel not to criminate themselves un-
warily, nor to make unnecessary admissions. Still, on
the whole, denial was certainly not the line of defence
which they adopted. Among the witnesses who would
be summoned to confrontthem they knew that one was to
be brought forward whose deposition would be evidence
most damning and conclusive against them — a witness
from the dead as it were, and one of their own number.
Goldenberg, an Israelite aged twenty-four, the mur-
derer of Prince Krapotkin, did not take his place on the
prisoners' benches with his sixteen companions, being
shortly reported in the Act of Accusation to " have
died in the fortress, on the 29th of July, IS80." His
act and his fate are not the least striking feature of
this extraordinary trial. He wrote and signed a relation,
most full and elaborate, not only of his own doings in the
service of the revolutionary party, but of all those of his
fellow-conspirators in which he had borne a part, or of
which he had a knowledge : he laid bare all that was
known to him of the secret central organization called
13
198 A NEMESIS OF MISGOVEENMENT.
"the directing and tiie executive committees;" he left
out no detail, no name. Then — he committed suicide!
Were it not for this last circumstance he would stand
branded as the blackest of traitors, and we should be
disposed to yield but scanty credence or sympathy to the
long preface in which he expounds his motives and aims,
even though it contains much weighty reasoning, much
deep, apparently genuine feeling awakened by the sor-
rowful retrospect and gloomy anticipations natural to a
spirit sobered by long confinement. As it is, we may at
least suspend our judgment, give the unfortunate youth
credit for sincerity, and wish that the sad reflections
wrung from him by suffering and despondency should
gain ground among his former associates, who would
possibly cease from their murderous machinations with
very weariness, if they could but once become convinced
that by persisting in them they only disgrace and undo
the cause which they seek to ujihold.
Goldenbei-g begins by professing himself a member
not only of the socialistic-revolutionary party, but of
that fraction of the same which under the denomination
of " disorganizers " or "terrorists" has undertaken to
subvert the whole now subsisting order of things, and to
compel the Government, by sheer force of intimidation,
to desist from its entire political course, and especially
the repressive measures which it has long pui^sued against
such of the association as fell into its hands. " I am an
advocate of political murders," he adds, " in so far as
they are substitutes for free speech, as they undermine
the public confidence in the government and its organi-
zation, and as a given agent of the government has
deserved his doom^that is, in so far as he is obnoxious
to the socialistic party." Then, after touching shortly
on the grounds which made him proclaim himself the
assassin of Prince Krapotkin, he goes on :
A NEMESIS OF MISGOVERNMENT. 11)9
"A long interval of time has elapsed since then Solitary con-
finement, like every evil thing in the world, has its good side, which consists
in enabling a man to think, and think freely, unhindered and unswayed by the
course of events. I have done so, and found tliat after traveling so arduous
and bloody a road nothing is done anywhere, not among the people, not
among society, not among the youth of the land, and that the struggle slill
continues — a most wearing struggle ; men perisli, and perish without end, in
dungeons, in Eastern Siberia, lastly on gibbets. I especially centered my
thoughts on the proceedings of the terrorists, and came to the conclusion that
tiiey had entered on a mistaken course ; that while they strive with their
whole souls, with all their might, for the most natural and undoubted human
right — that of political liberty — they have not chosen the right means to
attain it. I found that political murders not only had not brought us nearer
to that better state of things for which we all long, but had on the contrary
made it incumbent on the Government to take extreme measures against us ;
that it is owing to that same theory of political murder we have had the mis-
fortune of seeing twenty gibbets raised in our midst, and that to it we are
indebted for the dreadful reaction which lies witlr crushing weight on all
alike. I reflected that tlie socialists ought to have known and remembered
that the Government is able to put forth the same means, but with an amount
of might which must destroy all that crosses its path. . . . Such were
some of the cheerless conclusions to which I came after much thinking. Of
course, I might have persisted in my former convictions. I might have gone
on leading men to death, and have calmly died myself on the gibbet, had I
known that I should be the final expiatory victim, that my death would close
this sad and horrible period of our social development. But the thought that
my death-sentence would not be the last, that more would follow and inevi-
tably call forth new reprisals, which in their turn would be visited on the party
by still severer measures, and thus the number of the victims would go on in-
creasing, until the Government would after all come out victor from the
unequal conflict, from which it never can desist as long as the entire move-
ment is not put down — this thought filled me with inexpressible dread. . . .
I stand aghast at the certainty that persecution must at last overcome, sup-
press for a long time, the general active stir so healthful in itself in favor of
political reform, and that we shall then bitterly regret having manifested our
activity in so harsh a form as to drag to perdition numbers of unheeded vic-
tims."
There is nothing in all this that the most earnest,
u]}right lover of his country could not endorse ; no sound
head, no feeling heart, but must dej)lore with the solitary,
brooding prisoner the fatal excesses which he denounces,
and wish that all his associates might come to the same
tardy, dearly-bought insight. Can we refuse him our
200 A NEMESIS OF MISGOVEENMENT.
sympathy when he expresses a passionate desire "to put
an end to all these evils, to assist in bringing about a
speedy transition to another and better state of things,
to save many from the death-sentence impending over
them?" But when he tells us 5y what means he intends
to achieve all this, we look at each other in puzzled be-
wilderment : can he seriously think he will save his
friends by turning informer against them? Does he
blind himself to the ugly word by the pompous phrase-
ology in which he clothes it?
" I have nerved myself to a most dire and terrible act; I have resolved to
employ a remedy which makes my veins throb painfully, and my eyes over-
flow with burning tears. I have resolved to repress within myself all feeling
of either enmity or affection, and to perform another great act of self-denial
for the good of our young men, of our society, of our beloved Russia. I have
resolved to lay open the entire organization, all that is known to me, as a
preventive against the dreadful future which awaits us, against a whole series
of executions and other repressive measures."
It woidd certainly be a satisfaction to be quite sure that
the converted terrorist meant well, and if he did commit
suicide after coinpleting his revelation there would be
little doubt of his sincerity. Still, the connection be-
tween the end which he proposes to himself and the
means which he takes towards it is very difficult to estab-
lish — so much so that there have not been wanting scep-
tics who entirely disbelieved in his death, and considered
the report only as a clever mise en scene to avoid his jjer-
sonal appearance in the witness-box and a possible reac-
tion of feeling, or simply to shield him from the ven-
geance of the betrayed. I have heard many persons says :
"Goldenberg is fast becoming the hero of a cycle of legends. . . . Some
believe he is not dead at all, but is only kept in concealment; and that he
suffered himself to be moved to a full confession by the promise of a very
large sum of money and impunity. Many persons in the best circles share
the belief that he is alive."
A NEMESIS OF MISOOVEE>'ME>'T. 20l
Yet his suicide w:is foininli^' announced in tlie Karod-
naya Volia, the secret revolutionary organ.
Meanwhile, and whatever be the true solution of this
obscure and distressing point, Goidenberg's deposition,
which occupies a great many newspaper columns, is one
oi the most extraordinary', the most thrilling documents
which it is possible to read. Not the most exciting
memoirs pen n<,'d by a, gifted hand in stirring times, not
those of Oellini himself, can surpass in fascination this
unadorned, unimpassioned narrative. A^'e need only fol-
low its consecutive statements, but slightly commented
on or corrected in the subsequent answers of the prison-
ers, the final speeches for the accusation or the defence,
to see the whole strange drama enacted before our eyes,
appalling in its very homeliness and in its utterly com-
monplace details. The whole thing looks so familiar and
at the same time so wildly unreal, that we are tempted to
rub our eyes and ask, where are we? Are these things
done in the latter quarter of the nineteenth century? Are
these the men — the boys — whom we ha\-e sj'mpathized
with and sof Kviatkovsky first becomes
conspicuous. Until the very moment of his arrest, this
rema'kable man, one of the "master-spirits" and mo-
tive ])Owers of the whole engine, Jiad contrived to escape
a notoriety which must ha\-e deprived the party of one
of its most gifted leaders, and had Avorked steadily and
cove.'tly in the dark, participating, indeed, in all the
more important machinations, putting in an appearance at
Lipetsk, but reserving to himself more especially the
ban Uing of that chief lever of all, the secret press,
224 ^ kejMesls of misgovernment.
whose discovery and suppression quickly followed his
:irrest and the search instituted in his lodgings as early as
the 6th of December, 1879. Some articles produced hy
this search were deemed, not unreasonably, to be con-
clusive evidence of his complicity in his party's crown-
ing act of frenzy'. Yet Kviatkovsky himself, from
reasons ditficult to fathom, saw fit utterly to deny to the
last having been concerned in this particular act, or hav-
ing had previous knowledge of it, even while protesting
that he had no hopes that such a denial could save his
life, which he admitted to be forfeited on many other
grounds, each of them sufficient to seal his doom. It is
hardly to be supposed that so clear-headed a man should
have expected his word to prevail against such circum-
stantial evidence as the following articles found in his
own room : ( 1) a plan, very correctly drawn from mem-
or}', of the Winter Palace, with some words aud short
notes proved to be in Khaltourin's writing, and found
crumpled up on the floor in a corner, amid a heap of
waste-paper; (2) three portable mines, complete and
ready for use; and (3) a passport under the name of
Batourin, one of Khaltourin's well-known aliases. Yet
he persisted in his most incredible statement that he
knew nothing of the plan until it was found in his room,
and that he had not the remotest suspicion by whom it
could have been brought or left there ; that the passpoi't
had been given him to keep by a friend, who himself had
it from an unknown workingman, and that he had never
been told Batourin's real name. As for the mines, he
simply declined telling who had brought them to his
rooms.
But this search, exhaustively carried on all through
the evening and night (from 6 p. m. to 5 a. m.), led to
even more in»i3ortant results, as hinted above. It em-
A NKMESIS OF MISGOVERNMENT. ^95
braced not only his own room, hut tlmt of Eugenie
Figner — a young lady of considerable aliility and educa-
tion, Kviatkovsky's devoted fellow-worker, and to whom
he seems to have been attached by more than the bond of
a common cause. Siie was oue of the sixteen prisoners
at the bar. Both of course lived under assumed names.
Iler ostensible occupation was music, to which, as a
measure of precaution, siie devoted enough time c\'ery
day to enable her cook to depose at the trial that " the
lady was mostly playing on the piano in the absence of
the gentleman, who used to go out early in the morning,
and to come home only to dinner and tea." The same
witness, however, added that both " the lady " and her
sister, who at one time stayed with her, " used to write
a great deal," — a piece of information which, consider-
ing her connection with the manager of the secret i^ress,
was not interpreted in her favor. But then, nothing
much moi'C criminating could have been adduced against
them both than a simple enumeration of the articles
found in their lodgings. In Eugenie Figner's room, a
glass A^essel with dynamite ; a bundle of white paper, the
size and shape of Narodnaya Yolia (Will of the Peo-
ple) ; and six hundred and fifty-three copies of odd
numbers of that paper itself. In the dining-room, forty-
five copies of a proclamation issued by the executive
comitteo on occasion of the late railroad explosion near
Moscow. In Kviatkovsky's own room, packed in a
trunk, proof-sheets of the Narodnaya VoJia, and other
products of tiie "free press;" forty-five copies of
a revolutionary programme of action ; several manu-
scripts containing seditious matter, evidently read}' for
the press ; a proclamation " To the brave Cossack army,"
and sundry letters ; lastly, a package of forged pass-
ports, certificates, and other documents. Kviatkovsky,
226 &. NEMESIS OF MISGOVERNMENT.
aware of the unanswerable nature of the evidence, did
not attempt denial for his own part, but ouly used every
effort to clear his friend by asserting that the crimina-
ting articles found in her bureau had been laid there by
him shortly befoi'e the search, in her absence and with-
out her knowledge. In his defence — for he, in common
with several of his companions, had refused the assist-
ance of the counsel proffered him by the court — he main-
tained this point as earnestly as his denial concerning his
complicity in the catastrophe at the Winter Palace.
The next important disclosures were made at the lodg-
ings of another active accomplice, searched a few daj's
later, on the 16th of December. From the nature of the
articles found in his possession it was evident that this
person — an inferior clerk in some government oflBce — was
chiefly employed, probably on account of his skill in pen-
manship, in the manufacture of those false documents
with which agents were so lavishly supplied. A com-
plete set of the necessary materials and implements, to-
gether with a handsome collection of autograph signatures
of high officials, were discovered in a larije leathern trunk,
besides a number of proof-sheets and papers similar to
those confiscated in Kviatkovsky's rooms, and the usual
accompaniment of dynamite ohligato. Moreover, the
owner's connection with the secret press was made pat-
ent by the presence of a c^uantity of fjqie of a size cor-
responding to that of the '■'■ Narodnaya Volia.'" But the
final and most tragical event came to pass a few weeks
later, on the 30th of January, 1880, when the police
descended in force, assisted by a party of gendarmes, on
the revolutionary printing office itself, after having first,
by long and patient si)ying and ferreting, ascertained be-
yond the possibility of a mistake that it was organized in
a private lodging kept by one of those fictitious couples
A NEMESIS OF MISGOVERN JIEST. 22?
who form so conspicuous a feature of these strange
times. The scene which ensued must have been chaotic ;
for it is a hopeless task to try and elicit anything like a
consistent, orderly narrative from the mass of fragment-
ary, individual evidence given by the different actors.
Their statements are not contradictory, only vague and
confused ; like those of men who have been engaged in
action too exciting and too rapid to be able to account for
it minutely in cold blood. So much is certain : the door
was not opened in obedience to repeated summons, and
had to be burst in ; the police, when they at length
forced their way into the rooms, were confronted by
utter darkness, silence, and clicking revolvers ; a violent
blind scuffle ensued, in which about sixty shots were ex-
changed, without serious results, on account of the dark-
ness. At last there was a cry, " We surrender !" "How
many are you ;" was asked. "Five!" answered a fe-
male voice. Another was heard in angry remonstrance :
" Cowards ! was it not agreed that we were all to light it
out ! And now you skulk behind and leave us women in
the front." In another moment, and after some strug-
gling on the part of the men, four persons, two of them
women, were secured and bound, while six revolvers were
picked up from the floor.
One of the police oflicers who advanced into the
other rooms to look for his prisoner, was greeted on the
threshold of the furthest one by a double report ; and
when a lamp was at length brought in (it must be re-
membered that our private houses are not lit with gas),
he beheld a ghastly sight ; a man lying dead upon a mat-
tress on the floor, shot through the head, — evidently an
act of suicide, committed as a last resource against sur-
render. Both balls, from two shots fired in immediate
succession, had entered the right temple through the
228 A NEME8I3 OF MISGOVERNMENT.
same opening almost simultaneously, leaving a black and
carbonized edge around the wound, but had issued from
the skull, after traversing the brain, in two different
places, — through an opening just above the left ear, and
another in the crown of the head. When the prisoners
had been disposed of, and the search could begin without
further disturbance, the first thing that was discovered,
thrown into a corner of the room where the dead man
lay, and wrapped in some old matting, was the identical
auger which had been used for boring purposes in the
Moscow railway mine. The rest of the booty made up a
most formidable inventory : a printing press in perfect
working order ; about 25 pouds (1,000 pounds) of type,
4,000 copies of the '■^Narodnaya Volia," heaps of
forged documents, — passport blanks, certificates of dif-
ferent kinds, etc. — together with everything necessary
for the fabrication of those documents, some dynamite
of course, two pamphlets on the preparation of the sub-
stance, several plans illustrating the process of blowing
up a rapidly advancing train, and many other things, be-
sides the six revolvers and three daggers. This was
certainly sufficient to justify the accusation in aflirming
that " these lodgings contained, besides the secret print-
ing office, the central agency for the manufacturing of
false papers and supplying therewith all persons for
whom it became necessary to assume an ' illegal ' posi-
tion, as well as a laboratory for the preparation of dyna-
mite and other explosive substances."
The separate charge against the prisoner Presniakoff —
given in the Act of Accusation under the head of
" Armed resistance to the agents of the law, as expressed
by two shots fired by the prisoner, wounding one and
causing the death of the other of his captors" — presents
no particular interest or complication, and may therefore
A NEMESIS (_)F MISOOVEENMENT. 229
be dismissed with tlie bnef reraiu'k that the prisoner's
guilt was amply proved. Jt i-emaius to record the sen-
tence, pronounced late in thz evening of the seventh day
of this long and laborious trial. For Kviatkovsky, Pres-
niakoff and three more, it was death by hanging ; f(jr
the remaining eleven, banishment to Siberia in dif-
ferent grades of severity, with or without imprisonment
and hard lalior, and for terms var3'ing from tifteen
to twenty years. At the same time the latter prisoners
were recommended to mercy, and considerable commu-
tations proposed for all. In its final form, the sentence
condemned only two to hard labor in the mines for fif-
teen years. Of the rest, some were sentenced to hard
labor, not in the mines but in state factories, for four
and eight years ; some to banishment to more or less
remote parts of Siberia ; while Drigo and one other es-
caped with a very mild sentence, simply obliging them to
reside hereafter in the Government of Tomsk, the most
western, and consequently most civilized, region of Si-
beria. Degradation was passed alike against all. In
confirming the sentence of the court, the Emperor fur-
ther commuted the death penalty of three of the fi\-c
condemned prisoners to exile, with imprisonment and
hard labor for life. To Kviatkovsky and Presniakoff,
however, the im[)erial mei'cy did not extend ; and they
suffered death on the 16th of November, within the walls
of the fortress.
It is luit fair to state that, throughout this long and
fatiguing judicial pi'ocedure, the treatment used towards
the prisoners was uniformly considerate and polite, the
mode of addressing and questioning them scrupulously
courteous; also, that the counsel for the prosecution in
their speeches not only evidently strove to remain within
the strict bounds of impartial justice, but repeatedly
15
230 A NEMESIS OF MISGOVERNMENT.
showed a leaning towards leniency. Thus, in referring
to one of the female defenders of the printing office — a
woman of the peasant class who had lived there ostensi-
bly as cook — the orator parenthetically expressed hope
that the judges Avould find it not inconsistent with their
duty to visit her with the lightest possible punishment,
in consideration of her ignorance, almost even of reading
and writing, and of her utter want of culture amounting
to stupidity, ar.d accompanied by partial deafness. All
this is in keeping with the serious and dignified sj^irit in
which our lawyers, since the great judicial reform, regard
their profession. That compound of unseemly virulence,
ferocious vindictiveness, and bombastic phraseology
Avhich, under the name of reqisitoire, is the disgrace of
French criminal courts and the glory of an aspiring pro-
curertr du roi — or de V empereuv , or de hi republique, as the
case may be — is utterly repugnant to the deep humane
bent of the Russian nature. A Russian j^i'ocureur would
scorn to dig into the past life of an unfortunate prisoner,
in order triumphantly to drag to light his most trivial
youthful peccadilloes, nay ! his schoolboy pranks, and hy
dint of cruel ingenuity to force and twist them into so
many proofs of a precocious viciousness, an unnatural pro
pensity to evil, until he stands before society a predestined
criminal, a monster branded even before he failed, and
now placed entirely out of the pule of humanity. Ever
since the European judicial forms and institutions were
transplanted into Russian soil, and quickly took root in
it, OU.V parquet has been remarkable in tiie discharge of
its duties by a moderation and humane regard to fairness,
which ]:)rove it to iiave thoroughly grasped the higher
sense of its responsible and so often painful functions.
It could not be otherwise in a country where the common
people call prisoners of all kinds, without distinction of
A NEMESIH OF MI.S(JOVERNMENT. 231
rank or degree of criniiiiality, by a generic name mean-
ing " uuliappy ones," but conveying a shade of infinitely
deeper and tenderer pity than can be rendered by the
English word. When tlie chained gangs of malefactors
— and alas ! iDolitical convicts were not exempted from
the practice — used to be led across the whole Empire on
their endless, weary march to Siberia, the population of
the villages would pour out to meet them, and ma}' be
escort them a short distance, not with insults and impre-
cations, but with gentle words and outstretched offerings
of food and even money. Now that convict trains and
convict cars run on all the lines, and have done away with
this long i^reliminary torture, popular sympathy still as-
serts itself at the railway stations, and many a douceur
of tobacco, delicate wheaten bread, or small coins, is
handed in at the windows.
Siberia! the mines! Hon-or-laden, these words loom
out mysteriously, an awful impersonation of the great
bleak North, which appears in a vague remoteness, as a
limbo of punishment, desolation and despair ! And truly
it were difficult to overrate the dreadful import of those
names. The vast arctic continent with its huge, slug-
gish, silent livers, its immense lowering forests teeming
with fur-bearing game, its still more immense expanses of
eternally snow-bound plains, its hidden ore, its convict
colonies, is not a cheerful picture to contemplate, at least
not this side of the picture. But there is another side to
it. The statesman and political economist sees in this
gigantic appendage to Russia a great promise for the
future, a rich reserve of potential resources. He watches
rejoicingly its growing cities, its incipient colonization,
its developing industrial and commercial enteri^rise, the
progress of culture which slowly but surely spreads,
brinoini>: with it its thousand demands of intellectual and
material refinement, where till lately money-making
232 A NEMESIS OF MISGOVEENMENT.
reigned supreme in its most vulgar, unmitigated coarse-
ness. And he knows that these results are in great part
effected l)y the influx of the Eussian element by means
of convict transportation. It would take luo far beyond
my present limits, and away from my present theme, to
discuss thi« very extensive and intricate subject. But it
will not be inconsistent with either to attempt a sketch of
the probable future career of the hundreds of young men
who of late years have trodden the long, dreary road )o
the far East.
Let us follow those whose doom is heaviest. Few of
them — probably none — will end their allotted term at
the mines or State factories. An untimely death will
doubtless end the sufferings of many, enfeebled from ill
health brought on or aggravated by confinement, hard-
ships, or climate, before the tardy hand of mercy can
reach them. Yet, wonderful to say, many more survive
the horrors of the first years than would seem possible
for men of gentle nurtui'e and unhardened body. If
they arc resigned and quietly behaved, they Avill after a
while — three, four, or five years instead of the fifteen cr
twenty of their sentence — be brought under one of the
so-called " gracious manifestoes" which arealwavsbeiu2:
issued on occasion of birthdays, births, marriages, etc.,
in the Emperor's immediate family, and transferred to
some one of the convict colonies, from which in due
time they will be released in like manner and allowed to
live within some particular rural district, at a great dis-
tance from city or town, and under strict surveillance of
the local police. Gradually the range widens, till it
comprises district towns ; the surveillance is lightened ; at
last the capital of the Government itself is opened to
the half-pardoned convict, and with it society and re-
sources of every kind. Societ}', indeed, is apt to lionize
him. It now depends in a great measure on himself, his
A NEMESIS OF MISUOVERSMENT. 233
good sense and abilities, to shape his further fortunes.
Men of education and scientific or technical attainments
are in as great demand, and for the same reasons, in our
far east as in the far west of tliis country. And when
by the end of ten or twelve 3'ears, as is generally the
case, and after having previously been transferred to the
more populous and civilized western Governments., the
political convict is restored to his rank and privileges,
freed from all disabilities and tinally recalled from Ijan-
ishment, it is by no means rare to sec him return to the
shores of the Baikal of his own free will, to settle there
for life. I have known such lawyers, physicians, engi-
neers, miners — able and energetic men, who had come to
h)ve the Avilderness, with its wide openings, its large hos-
pitality, its manifold possibilities, and would not have
exchanged it, except on compulsion, for what they had
already learned to call the cold, narrow spirit of the over-
crowded cities of the old worUl ; though heaven knows
they need not have objected to any portion of even old
Eussia on account of over-crowding ! One younii' law-
yer in partictdar do I remcnd)er. He was little o\'cr
thirtjs sturdy of frame, and keen of look ; his manners
had lost tlie polisii of his earl^r social training, and ac-
quired a cci'tain not unpleasing self-relying noncJiaJance.
He had come to St. Petersburg on a luu-ried trip to see
his friends, assert his newly-recovered rights, and trans-
act some business ; but all his thoughts were centred on
a speedy return to Irkoutsk, Avhere he had left a promis-
ing and already flourishing practice, some half-started
ventures in a mining enterprise, and, as lie almost hinted,
a fairer attraction than all these, in the form of a ■well-
dowered daughter of some wealthy merchant. lie was
so enthusiastic in liis descriptions as almost to become
poetical, and every day he was detained in the capital
appeared to him a real loss. Such political exiles as are
234 A NEMESIS OF MISGOVEENMENT.
not deprived of their liberty, but only bound to reside
within certain assigned districts, of course have all the
more chances in their favor. Tlie intercession of friends
at home al.^o does much to shorten their term and hasten
their transfer to cities or more habitable regions, if ihey
behave judiciously, and have not the exceptional ill-luck
of fallino- under the rule of some of those iajnorant and
wantonly brutal officials, Avhose number diminishes with
every year, and who will soon live only in local traditions,
the indignant records of the contemporary press, or the
memoirs of some prisoners endowed with literary talent.
The assassination of our Emperor, Alexander II., is of
too recent occurrence, the particulars of which, and of
the trial of his murderers are too well known by all the
civilized world for me to enter upon a consideration of
any of the circumstances connected therewith. All Rus-
sia mourns his loss as a grateful child would that of a kind
and indulo;ent father.
No sovereign, not Elizabeth herself, had done for his
people spontaneously what Alexander II. had done for
his. Splendidly supjjorted by his nobility, he had car-
ried out the abolition of serfdom with a high hand, with
precipitation almost, and intolerance of all gainsaying
which Avas the very recklessness of an honest determina-
tion to do right quickly, and at all cost. This gigantic
act was followed, with scai-ce breathing time between, bv
one of hardly less importance — the judicial reform, in-
troducing open courts of law and public trial by jury.
Then came the jiartial enfranchisement of the press
after tlie model, very imi^erfect indeed, of the Erencli
press-laws under Napoleon III., but expressly announced
as preliminary and temporary. Was that the man, was
that the sovereign, to be requited with an assassin's l)all?
Nothing was less justifiable than the shot fired at the
Emperor in 1866, but so naturalljr kind-hearted and mer-
A NEMESIS OF MISGOVEENatENT.
235
:.'36 A KEMESIS OF MISGOVERNJIENT.
ciful was he, that there are fev^ now who doubt if left
to himself he would have spared the life of his murder-
ous assailant. Had he followed the merciful dictates of
his own heart, the first " misu'^derstaiiding " between
him and his people might never have arisen. If at
that critical hour there Avere any }>y his side who took
advantage of the disturbed state of the monarch's spirit,
thrown off its balance by this gratuitous, most unmerited
assault, to whisper to him counsels of wrath and reprisal,
to increase their own importance by an exaggerated show of
devotion and alarm, to urge him into a course of general
suspicion and reaction, under pretence of insuring the
safety of his person, endangered by his too confiding
neglect of their previous advice — if any sucb there were,
Heaven forgive those men ! Ilistorj will not, if she
ever lays hold of their names.
A passing misunders'tanding I Fifteen j^cars blotted
out of a country's life ! A couple of hundred years
from now posterity Avill mention the name of Alexander
II. with the reverence of a martj^red saint, :ind place
him in that galaxy of human satellites whose deeds still
fill the world with radiance. But Ave are not porterity.
'We are burdened Avith affections Avhich ke^'i) us doAvn
and prevent our soaring to a Tnrd's-eye view of our OAvn
times ; so Ave see the accessories Avhich Avill Avane into the
indistinct back-ground of the ages some day, but Avhich
stand out at pi-esent clear and mournful. A few hundred
human lives sacrified may be a very paltry item ; hardly
to to us, however, Avhen thc}^ happen to be those of our
l)rothers, our sons, our lovers, our friends — of «' our
boys," in short. It is A^ain that history sternly points
to other lands and other times, and reminds us that a\ ith
such as these, crushed, laid low, Avith all their budd'ng
promise, their splendid powers, their daring aspiratio'' •«,
the jDath of all human progress has been streAvn.
CHAPTER XI.
The interest Avbich I hope has been inspired in the
reader ])y a i^erusal of the preceding pages, will, I trust,
increase in the following chapters descriliing my observa-
tions while in that most desolate, wild and so little
known portion of the earth — Siberia.
Looking; Ijack to the time Avhen I was first able to read
imperfectly, 1 can remember my longings to visit, as an
adventurer, that wonderful country, about which so many
thrilling stories were told ; of its vast arctic expanse ; the
homes of wretched exiles in eternal isolation from the
world, as it were ; of packs of hungry wolves chasing or
devouring travellers ; of how the wild boar and Russian
bears are hunted, and many other printed relations des-
criptive of Siberia's frozen wilderness. Year by year
this desire intensified, until the outrages of Kihilism at
last determined me upon a visit to Russia, and an inves-
tiiration of that subject naturally took nie far into the
interior of Siberia, Avhere iny ambitions were at length
fully gratified.
Before leaving St. Petersburg I learned by chance that,
notwithstanding the correctness of my passport, it would
be necessary for me to procure a special permit before en-
tering Siberia, or it would be impossible for me to return
a
the giants concluded their feast, my dream changed and
I thought a large pack of wolves had surromided a smal)
tree up which I had sought escape ; that they fell to with
their teeth and soon gnawed the sapling until it fell,
throwing me upon the ground with extreme violence,
when immediately my llesh was torn into shoe-strina^s bf
a thousand snarling, voracious pests of Siberia's iJiains.
The cold chills even now creep in successive waves over
jny body as I recall that dream, for it seems that I cau
still feel the wolves planting their feet on my body while
stripping the flesh from my bones. This dream is on]y
a very slight exaggeration of the real miseries suffered
by travellers in Siberia.
When Schleuter became too tired for further seryice ^
A NEMESIS OF MISGOVERNMENT. 295
took \\h pla^e ns driver, and thus we lost no time until
the evening follomng our departure from Tomsk, when,
strange enough, we overtook the same convoy of prison-
ers I had seen leave Tobolsk, on foot, nearl}' a week be-
fore. This I considered a piece of good fortune, as it
enabled me to see how exiles in transport Avere treated,
and to discover with what feelings they accepted banish-
ment.
I got on good terms with the chief ofBcer of the con-
voy by giving him sundry privileges with a little flask
which I carriedfor emergencies, just like the one to which
it was now applied. Through my interpreter I talked
with him familiarly for some time and then made inqui-
ries reppecting his charge ; he was not disposed to say
much about the prisoners at first, but as the flask lost its
contents, he became more lorpiacious until I had pumped
enough out of him to fill a book. Under the spirit-
ual influence which now possessed him, he exhibited
that careless indifference of Iiis prisoners' comfort which
distinguishes the Russian aristocracy in their treatment of
the poor peasantry.
Tt was plain to be seen that the burdened convicts
were suffering from fatigue, although it is said they
travel only on alternate daj's, resting at post-stations and
attending church meantime, but of this I have my
doubts. It is probably tlie law, but what is a written law
in a country like Siberia? My impression is, if the oflicers
of a convoy desire to recreate themselves — get drunk on
tlieliighway — they stop one or more days at a time ; but,
on tlie other hand, if they are anxious to make a quick
trip in order to serve their own personal ends, then the
convicts are compelled to continue their march, regardless
of the fatigue they may be suffering. In fact, the officer
with whom I was conversing virtually admitted to me as
much.
A NExMESIS OF MISGOVEESMENT. ^''7
There were three aml)uhinces — tumbrils — with the con-
voy to carry those who could travel no longer , Vjut the officer
told me they were used only iu extreme cases ; said he,
"when a man or woman lags behind we sometimes touch
them up with a cracker; and if this does not put new
life in their legs xhcjjiete, well wielded, almost invariably
does." This admission served to indicate the severe
measures sometimes used in compelling exiles to walk
when their condition was such that they could scarcely
support their exhausted bodies. I am not unconscious
of the fact that many Avould feign sickness in order to
secure a ride, but for the stringent measures used by the
guards ; human nature is not different in Siberia from
that we see in other countries, but the enforced travelling
of exiles is performed under circumstances peculiar, in
that the convicts are punished beyond what their sentence
contemplates.
As I rode beside the officer my attention was at-
tracted to one man who staggered along, with his face
towards the ground as if trying to lose' consciousness in a
hj'pnotism of himself. lie was heavih^ ironed, in fact
inhumanly, atrociously shackled, so that every step he
took his chains rattled in consonance with the extreme
suffering which I could plainly see he was enduring. Ilis
wrists were bound together, to which was attached a
heavier double-chain that ran down and connected M'ith
immense iron manacles on his ankles ; the weight of the
gyves he had to carry Avas not less than thirty pounds,
and though not at the time able to observe the effects, I
was quite certain that an examination would disclose a
siirht sufficient to excite the sympathy of any human be-
ino-. I was therefore determined in my efforts to seethe
poor fellow and learn exactly the condition of his limbs.
To accomplish this I had recourse to a little stratagem,
298 A NEMESIS OF MISGOVEENMENT.
in which Schleuter gave me such assistance a* in^ule my
plan siu'cessful. T knew tliat the next station was the
last before reaching Ki-asnoiarsk, so directly after refilling
my flask I went among the several officers of the guard
and gave them each so much as they desired to drink,
besides a few pleasant words, such as I thought would
place them on good terms with me. I next returned
to the chief officer and give him a full flask, after which
I began a dissertation on prisoners generally, and on
exiles in particular ; declaring that m a rule their treat-
ment was altogether too considerate ; that they should
be dealt with in a manner becoming their crimes ; if a
man commits murder he should be shown no more mercy
than that which he manifested for his victim ,; I assured
hira that the ^;/e/e was a good stimulant and n'as quite
certain that the irons on his prisoners were in no wise too
heavy ; in fact they might be more wholesome if they
were a little heavier. A long commentary of this charac-
ter had the effect I had anticipated, for the officer not
only coincided with my views, but offered to prove that
he was a disciplinarian after the type I had pictured.
"Some of tiiese fellows," s,aid he, "are wretches who
ought to be fed to a slow fiie ; Avell, I ha-^'e the satisfac-
tion of knowing that they will remember vie."
To this I made a complimentary repl3% and then begged
that he Avould accord me the privilege of examining one
or more of the convicts at the next station — those whom
he could recommend as having had something of their
deserts while under his charge.
I was very glad at receiving a favorable response, so
at a station between Balshe and Krasnoiarsk wo stopped
an hour, during which time I examined the jjoor fellow
to whom I have referred, and also one woman who was
travelling with a large iron collar about her neck, to
A NEMESIS OF MISGOVERNMENT.
299
which there Wi.".i'e chains passing down and binding her
wrists. The two were tal^en into a private room of the
station, separately so as not to arouse the suspicion of
ciie other convicts or guards.
A SHACKLED CONVICT OM THE TRANSPORT ROUTE,
The shackles being removed we took off the man's
felt boots, when I saw a sight which may God forbid I
should ever again witness. There is nothing to which
300
A NEMESIS OF MISGOVEENMENT.
I might compare his condition except to some of thosfe
tortured by tlie Spanish Inquisition, or to victims of
Bulgarian atrocity. The flesh had been bruised by the
cruel shackles, and then swelling had caused the irons to
slowly lacerate the sensitive parts until the ankles re-
sembled the last stages of leprosy, when the flesh grows
black and begins to drop away from the bones. Such a
sight I never before saw and hope never to see again, but
in addition to the suffering which this dreadful treatment
caused him, his wrists were in a condition almost equally
bad. His felt boots had, of course, somewhat aggra-
vated the injuries to his ankles, which were now worn
almost in two by the shackles ; but there was the
same rasjjing pressure on his wrists on which he bore
nearly all the weight of his chains in order to relieve his
ankles. Such compassion was aroused iu me by his suf-
ferings that tears fell fast from my eyes, and in a mo-
ment when the ofiicer was not looking I slipped a ten
rouble note into the poor fellow's pocket. I was well
aware that this sum of money would purchase for him
many little comforts and also secure him a place in the
ambulance. The look of "God bless you" which h^
gave was so full of soulfulness and gratitude that in re-
membering the event since I have wished a thousand
times that I had made my gratuity tenfold greater. But
in addition to my gift I procured for him transportation
in the convoy truuibrJl by giving the chief officer five
roubles.
After examining the inan and sending him out of the
loom the woman was called in, but though her condition
was dreadful and pitiable, it was not to be compared with
that of the man's. Her wrists, which had supported but
little weight, were l)adly chafed and had bled until hei'
dress was stained ; but the greatest suffering she en-
A NEMESIS OF MISGOVEBNMENT. 301
dured was from her neck, which was so badly bruised that
wlien tlic iiou colhxr was removed slie could not bear the
least pressure on the injured parts without exhibiting
great pain. By giving the officer another five rouble note
he consented to permit tlie woman to travel into Krasnoi-
arsk without the shackles.
But I would not have the reader suppose that these
two were the only sufferers in that party of prisoners,
for there were, perhaps, three-score of men and women
no more fortunate ; the two I selected to examine were
not exceptional cases, but were a fair sample of the re-
sults produced by wearing galling irons while travelling
2000 miles on foot.
Beside these miserable convicts trudged nearly one
hundred foot-sore women and children wiio had elected, of
their own volition, to accompany their liusl)ands or fathers
into exile. AmiMig the women not a few carried little
infants strapped c;i their backs, Indian stj'le, as their
arms could never have borne them so far, however
precious a child is to its mother. I distril)uted several
roubles among those whose a[)pearance of misery ap-
pealed to my sympathy most ; but these little gifts served
to increase the pity I already felt, for as I would gho to
one and not to another, the sorrowful looks I sa'w in the
eyes of those whose extended palms received nothing
pierced me with compassion-
CHAPTER XV.
We arrived at Krasnoiarsk on the evening of the third
day, a little in advance of the convoy of prisoners, and
found lodging in a hotel which gave us fair accommoda-
tions
302
A NEMESIS OF MISGOVERN MENT.
The town has a population of about 8,000, and is situ-
ated on one of Siberia's most famous rivers, the Yenisei,
which, startiiiij in the Tauijnou mountains of Chinese
Tartary, tlows northward a distance of 2000 miles into
the Yenisei Gulf. Krasnoiarsk lies upon several small
hills, and is built in an irregular, straggling style. It
contains one prison which is used, I understood, for con-
tining local offenders, and others who, while enroute
further east, fall ill by the way-side. What is meant by
the word "ill," in this connection, may be inferred
when the fact is known that out of a total of one hun-
dred and twenty-two
prisoners confined in the
prison when I visited it,
fifty-one were insane.
I am not surprised that
so many exiles grow
mad, for it is only the
coarsest and strongest
minds that can bear up
under the afllictions
which a majority of ex-
iles are made to endure.
In passir.g through
the prison at Krasnoi-
arsk, I went into one
ward that contained an
unfortunate felh)w who
hadl)eenso brutally maltreated while on the transport
route that his life Avas despaired of. He was therefore
left at the prison, where his treatment being less rigor-
ous he had so far improved as to be able to sit up and move
about. But the most remarkable circumstance concern-
ing this prisoner was found in the fact, that when he en-
A CONVALESCENT PRISONER IN IRONS.
A NEMESIS OF MISGOVERNMENT. 303
cered the prison he was in chains much heavier than those
[ have previously described, and tJieae liad never been re-
moved. This statement is so startlhig as to appear incred-
ible, but receiving the admission from those in charge of
the prisoner, and witli my own eyes beholding the
wretched man still clothed with chains, there could be
no stronger proof produced to establish any statement.
As I saw him he sat on a clumsy chair to which he was
made fast, as seen in the enonivino;. Around his waist
was an iron girdle two inches broad and nearly one-half
inch thick, to which heavy chains were attached connect-
ing with an iron collar about his neck, and with an im-
mense bar of iron over his feet. This iron bar, which
must have weighed not less than twenty-five pounds, was
made fast to his ankles by staples in the bar, which
grasped the limbs in an unyielding embrace. It was
truly a lamentable sight, from Avhich I turned away with-
out investigating the condition of his neck, waist or
ankles, for I was certain they would present an appear-
ance not unlike that I have already described as having
seen at a post-station.
There are not a few buildings in Krasnoiarsk of excel-
lent pretensions both as to size and architecture. It has
one church that cost nearlj- $500,000, which was built by
d rich ffold miner who had seen much of the world even
on this side the Atlantic, and yet preferred Siberia as a
place of residence. His homo, however, was such a
model of luxury and elegance that his preference was but
natural.
I was told that the city was but little more than half
as large as it was prior to the fire of 1880, which swept
away many of its most important buildings, the ruins of
which were still to be seen on the south side of the town,
for it must be remembered that they do not build up
304 A NEMESIS OF MISGOVERNMENT.
burned districts in Siberia, or even in any part of Europe,
like tliey do in America. A pleasing incident of this fact
was told to me at St. Petersburg. Some time in tlie win-
ter of 1881 the Livadia Garden buildings (a summer
retreat in the suburbs of St. Petersburg), took fi) e and
Avere entirely consumed. The buildings consisted of open
frame M'orks under which there were seats and tables for
wine and tea drinking; also an enclosed building used as
a saloon, and an open air theater ; the whole was rcade of
light pine timber, such as in America a rushing ma a gen-
erally gives himself one week to have built up from the
ground and in full operation. But the Livadia Garden
was re-opened three months after the lire, the buildings
having been replaced, which was regarded as such extra-
ordinarily fjuick work that the place has since been known
as the American Garden. The St. Petersburgers declare
that no where in the world outside of Anieri(^a nas ever
such rapid construction of buildings known.
In the afternoon followuig my arrival in Kri'siioiarsk
the convoy which I accompaincd made ready for cross-
ing the Yenisei and continuing their journey tolrkoutsk,
where, upon arrival, convicts are distributed, according
to their sentences, to SakhaJein, Yakoutsk, Kara;, and
other penal stations.
The Yenisei is nearly one mile wide at Krasnorusk,
across wJiich prisoners are taken by what is called a
"flying bridge." This bridge, so called, consists nf a
series of boats anchored in the river, over which passes a
long line connecting with the main shores ; a barge for
carrying the convicts is made fast to this line, which,
moving by puUies, draws the boat from one side of the
stream to the other. This rather singular arrangement
for ferriage is made necessary by reason of the extraor-
dinary current in the Yenisei, which often reaches a
raoidity of fifteen miles pe hour.
306 A NEMESIS OP MISGOVEKNMENT.
There was nothing to detain me long at Krasnoiarsk,
and being desirous of visiting gome mines where I might
witness the labor of convicts, after advising with Schleu-
ter, we decided to proceed two hundred miles north-
ward to Yeniseisk. As this would take us off the
transport route we had to purchase all provisions
needed on the trip, and also a complete travelling
outfit, including horses and tumbril. This, however, did
not involve so great an outlay as the reader might expect
Horses in Sibei-ia are surprisingly cheap, as are cattle. A
fatted calf, one year old, will not bring more than $1.50,
and a good pony may be had for from $5 to $8. The
outfit of three horses, harness and tumbril, cost me only
$48, and in the end I found my purchase had been s
most profitable one. Milk is nearly everywhere abund-
ant in Siberia, and of this useful article we purchased
four gallons ; butter is not so plentiful, but yet obtain-
able at from six to eight cents per pound ; we also took
with us a samovar — tea urn — two pounds of tea, fifteen
loaves of white bread, which were baked to our order,
and twenty pounds of fresh meat. For our hoi'ses we
provided five bushels of corn, which is raised in Siberia
and sold at twenty-two cents per bushel ; grass is gen.
erally abundant, but oats are almost unknown. We but)
in no other provender for our animals, having abead}'
such a load that we could scarcely make room for our
bedding. Thus accoutred, away we went towards the
great tundras, which, beginning a little north of Yen-
iseisk, stretch away to the arctic shores of Siberia.
Before reaching Krasnoiarsk the country becomes
moi'e broken, Avith a considerable showing of stunted
trees, chiefly pine, but going northward from that
city the vegetation rapidly grows more profuse, until
soon there appears an unbroken forest in which large
A NEMESIS OF MISGOVERNMENT,
.307
game abounds. Of this latter fact I had abundant evi-
dence during the first night we went into camp. There
is a public highway between Krasnoiarsk and Yeniseisk
alono- which are occasional inns, but the intervals are so
blKKKIAN KOADilUli IM.N.
rare that we concluded to make camp at nine o'clock
rather than push on ten miles further, where we might
have secured lodgings not nearly so good as our tumbril
afforded. Directly after lighting our camp-fire, wb^ch
308 A NEMESIS OF MISGOVERNMENT.
was made within a few yards of the road-side, beside a
largo log, Schleuter turned to me suddenly, with the re-
mark : ' ' What was that ? "
I had heard no unusual noise, but must confess that
his enquiry immediately put me in a condition to see or
hear anything dreadful upon the least symptom of a cause.
I had with me no arms except a Smith and Wesson for-
ty-four calibre revolver, and this was quickly drawn in
anticipation of approaching deadly peril. The night was
cloudless, so that objects not obscured by the dense growth
could be readily defined at a distance of thirty or forty
yards. We therefore looked with eyes and ears, but could
discover nothing, though our horses manifested signs of
uneasiness. After several minutes of suspense, even
Schleuter came to the conclusion that he had given a
false alarm, but I was far from beino- satisfied, having:
received a nei'vous shock from the suddenness of his ex-
citing enquiry which I could not rally from.
Under no circumstances is it an act of decorum or an
evidence of great courage for a gentleman to parade his
cool bravery before a company when every element of
danger is absent ; particularly inappropriate would it be
for me to strike a self-eulogisti<; attitude here where the
opposite side has no opportunity of replying. But at
the sacrifice of modesty I must say that on my native
heath I have hunted such game as the country afforded
without at any time — save ouce — having either my con-
science or fears excited ; this placid condition is due,
however, to the fact that T always killed what I was hunt-
ino', and because I never got on the wrong side of the
fence. But the conditions were now very materially al-
tered, for what I knew concerning Siberian game had
been acc[uired b}' reading adventures which described the
animals as great hunters themselves and of the carnivorous
A NEMESIS OF MISGOVERNMENT. 309
species. What I had forgotten of the ferocious wolves,
bears, boars, etc., of which I had read, came baclc to me
HOW ill vivid laanorama, so tliat an admission of my rest-
lessness is drawing it exceedingly mild.
I sat up rather late, smoking my p\pc, but the drowsy
god at length alighted on my eye-lids and I turned in
with Schlouter, who had for an hour before been executing
a nasal refrain in the tumbril. One, perhaps two hours
had passed ; the fire was almost extinguished, and doz-
ing, I had lost my fear in a pleasant dream of home.
Tho dream Avas concluded abruptly by my Ijeing awak-
ened with a returning sense of danger ; the horses were
snorting and tugging violently to loose themselves. I
jumped up, and looking over toward the smouldering
embers saw a bear, which, in mj' dreadfully excited state,
appeared as large as a mammoth. I forgot to awaken
Schleuter, who obstinatel}^ slept without one disturbing
reflection, but reaching for my pistol I fired. across and
very near Schleuter's head just as the bear reared up on
his hind legs to drain our samovar-, which had been left on
the log. If T had known a little pistol shot could have
created so much of a row I would have considered sev-
eral minutes before firing. Schleuter bounded up as
though a dynamite mine had exploded under him, and he
lit out of the tun)l:)ril like one possessed of the devil. So
dreadfull}' confounded was I by his actions that for a
moment I forgot all about the bear, notwithstanding that
it was howling with rage and advancing on Schleuter.
My aim had not been bad, for the bear's foreleg was
broken by the shot, but this served to rouse all the fight
in bruin's nature. Schleuter, half awake, could not see
the bear nor be made to understand his dangei'ous posi-
tion, until another shot from my pistol, placed almost
against the animal's ear, put a coup de grace on our ad-'
venture. ^^
M
W
Z;
<
z;
<
w
M
•
Q
eing
a member of the TeiTorist party. Well, I gave him shel-
ter over night, and the next morning three gendarmes,
who had been pursuing him for several days, found and
arrested him in my house ; I felt certain of his innocence,
for he swore to myself and wife, before the Little
Mother, that the accusation was false. I tried to prevail
on the gendarmes to release hiui, but my pleadings,
alas ! only served to endanger mj own liberty ; I was ac-
cused by the officers of aiding my brother to escape, and
A NEMESIS OF MISGOVERN JIENT.
327
despite the lamentations and prayers of my wife and
children they tore me away from home, which I have
never since beheld."
At this ijoint in his narrative, the poor fellow broke
into tears, and burying his face in his hands, cried as if
his heart were breaking. We tried hard to console
him, so after venting his grief for several minutes he
proceeded :
ARREST OF THE POLE AND HIS BROTHER.
" I was carried to Warsaw and thrown into prison where
f remained nearly one week, at the expiration of which
time, in company with ten others, I was taken to Mos-
cow without having any trial whatsoever. From Moscow
I was banished to the mines at Nijni Udinsk, which are
on the transjjort route between Krasnoiarsk and Irkoutsk.
Would to God I could forget the sufferings which I en-
dured and witnessed among my fellow convicts while on
that dreadful journey.
" AVhen I left Moscow and had learned my sentence my
grief was so intense that it seemed I could not possibly
survive ; day and night I could see my wife and chiidrea
328 A NEMESIS OF MISGOVEEKMENT.
standing beside our little log cottage casting their stream-
ing eyes after me as the gendarmes rushed me away with
them. This great grief, in a measure, made me uncon-
scious of tlie cruelties to which I was subjected. It was
in the summer time Avhen we made the journey and the
v^eather was so hot as to blister every pai-tof our persons
exposed to the sun. I was heavily ironed, like the most
despicable malefactor, though I was as innocent of doing
any wrong to the government, either in act or sympathy.
as a babe on its mother's breast. The irons I wore cut
my M'rists and ankles so dreadfully th:it I became almos''
exhausted from the loss of blood, early on the journey
" The officers gave me some felt to bind my wounds, but
this only aggravated my sufferings, as they no doubt
knew it would. The dust and heat caused a rapid swell
ing of the afi-licted parts, which turned black, and had ?
not stopped at a wa3'-etation on the route they would cer-
tainly have mortified.
' I cannot tell you of all the acts, of inhumanity prac
ticed towards us while n\\ our way to Udinsk ; my con-
dition was somewhat relip.ved through a judicious use of
the few roubles I chancei to have with me at the time of
my arrest, but the other pvisoners who had no means what
ever were literally goadcvi 1o death oo the transport high-
way.
" I had heard much of Iha hardships endured by con-
victs in the mines, but so great were my sufferings on the
route that I was ready to h;:;i the mines with joyful satis-
faction, so when at last we came in sight of Udinsk
those of my party who were consigned to labor in tho
gold mines there looked on it,« &pires with many manifes'
tations of pleasure.
" A very great majority of the prisoners were leady
for the hospital rather than the mines, but se^exal pooi
A NEMESIS OF MISGOVEENMENT. 329>
/ellows who had become the butt of official lirutality
were hustled into the mines with feet and hands almost
putrifjing from injuries produced by their heavy mana-
cles. I was more fortunate, however, thanks to my rou-
bles, and for two weeks I had a good bed in the hospital,
which was looked after by a local charity. When ni}^ re-
covery was complete I Avas ordered into the mines, f ulh'
three hundred feet under ground, and assigned to labor Avith
another convict ; Ave were required to trundle a large bar-
row, I at the handles and he to di-aw by means of rope
diid breast-yoke attached to the axle of the bari'ow.
" Before my money Avas exhausted I did not have any
extreme hardships in the mine, but Avhen my last copeck
was gone then began sufferings Avhich I dread to recall.
Heavy chains Avere put on mo again, about my neck,
waist and ankles, Avhile I Avas compelled to labor at least
eighteen hours every daj^ ; nor Avas the labor of an ordi-
nary kind, but re(juired such exertions that I have seen
many men faint and fall under it. In numerous instances
when exhausted nature could do no more, a manifesta-
tion of fatigue Avould cause the sufferer to be unmerci-
fully i^unished ; my shoulders have been bared to the
/i;nout on many occasions for imaginary derelictions, and
t\vice I AA^as tied up by the thumbs because I fell on my
barrow from exhaustion. The more common modes of
punishment practiced at Xij'ni Udinsk arc liy the knout,
pletc, scor[)ion and suspension by the thumbs. I Avas
never subjected to the scorpion, but have seen it applied
not a few times. This instrument for flagellation is made
like the knout, except that in place of the knots on the
thonffs there are small hooks Avhich, Avith the force of
each blow, are driven into the Hesh and on l)eing jerked
out draAV portions of flesh Avith them. It is a dreadful
sisrht to Avitness a floggina; Avith this most terrible of
330
A NEMESIS OF MISGOVEENMENT.
scourges, about one-fourth of those thus punished dying
from its effects.
"Our guards were generally of the most cruel charac-
RUSSIAN VETERAN GUARDS.
ter, being selected from the veteran corps, and no
longer fit for active duty in the field. Long service and
intemperance had demoralized them until there was but
A NEMESIS OF MISGOVEENMENT. 331
little of humanity left within their breasts. Money-
would buy their favor, but when this was gone they were
more brutal than ever, venting their hatred upon the
helpless victim by every sort of imaginable cruelty
"On rare occasions the heads of convicts, who have
incurred the hatred of their brutal guards, are bound
with strips of rawhide which are drawn so tightly that
the eyes of the sufferer burst out, the face turns purple
and streams of perspiration pour from every part of the
body. This punishment is also generally fatal, but I am
glad to say it is not often inflicted. But there is a pun-
ishment which is more terrible than either of the others
mentioned, because it is pi-otracted sometimes through,
years. That which I refer to is the confinement of
prisoners in damp portions of the mines from whence
they are never allowed to depart until death releases them.
I have seen men, and women too, who were serving life
sentences at hard labor in the mines, loaded with chains
and kept at work in pools of water which were both work-
shops and bed to tliem for years. It astonishing how
long some persons will survive such horrible treatment ,
they grow thinner and thinner each day until their bod-
ies become almost transparent; thin cheeks and eyes can
be seen in dark recesses of the face, the hair falls out,
the voice becomes almost inaudible, the bones appear
sharply defined under a thin skin and at last they fall to
rise no more forever. Amid the flickering lights which
so imperfectly illumine the mines these poor wretches
appear like gnomes, or spectres of famine.
"I endured these dreadful sights and punishments
for eit^ht years, which was the full term of my
hard labor sentence. But my misfortunes did not term-
inate with this sentence, for I am yet doomed to nine
more years of exile life in the district which I now
inhabit. I do not believe it is a common thing to divide
332
A NEMJiSIS OF MISGOVEKNMENT.
A NEMESIS OP MISGOVEENMENT. 333
a sentence into periods of hard labor and simple exile, but
this has been my lot, and I must endure it. An equally
hard portion of my misfortune is the impossibility of
communicating with my family, not a single word from
whom has been received since the day I was so causelessly
taken away from them, nine years ago. Neither my wife
nor I can write, nor could any of our neighbors, so that
I have found no means of exchanging messages, and am
therefore in ignorance of their condition; they maybe
dead ; or my wife, hopeless of my return again, may
now be wedded to another; but, if there have been no
changes yet, what shall I expect in the next nine yeai's?
My heart is buried under aiflictions which have passed,
and forebodings of evils which must come to me.
" I live here in this little house, dividing it with my
e((ually unfortunate neighbor, and we subsist on what we
can make by hunting and fishing. My present condition
[ would not deplore, but for remembrances of my home
in Poland, which, alas ! is my home no more."
I was so interested in the exile's story as to be quite
unconscious of the approach of darkness, or that I had
spent nearly three hours in the snow-covered cabin. But
I did not forget to place ten roubles in the poor fellow's
hand, and to promise him that I should visit Warsaw be-
fore returning to America, and make an effort to com-
municate whatever message he might wish to send his
wife. He thanked me with tears in his eyes, and said :
" Tell her that my greatest hope is to see her again, and
that the hardest part of ni}^ sentence having already been
■ served I shall not cease my prayers for the preserva-
tion of our lives that w^e may meet again and be happy
in the little cottage where we were parted so long ago."
That every statement made to me by the confiding exile
was true has never excited in me the ler.st doubt, while 1
tJ34 A NEMESIS OF MISGOVERNMENT.
have repeated them (though in my own language) with-
out any exaggeration. My own observations, besides the
corroborating stories I lieard from others who had vol-
untarily and involuntarily visited the mines, quite con-
vince me that it would be next to impossible to exagger-
ate the brutal treatment practiced by guards in Siberia
towards their miserable prisoners.
CHAPTEE XVm.
But for the snow on the ground it would have been
quite dark when we left the exile's abode to drive back
to Yeniseisk. The way was not marked by any sem-
blance of a road, but I anticipated no ditSculty in mak-
ing the return trip safely and speedily. Our horses had
been chilled by so long standing in the raw atmosphere,
and when we started them they broke away in a run
which threatened destruction to our tumbril and injury to
ourselves. We got them checked finally, however, and
were bowling along in a hilarious spirit until, reaching
the apex of a hill, I looked out over the glinting land-
scape, and was upon the point of making some observa-
tion on the beautifid scene, when I descried three black
objects nearly two hundred yards distant, which I thought
were dogs. But Schleuter was too old a traveller in
Sibeiiato be deceived, and immediately upon seeing them
he exclaimed: "Wolves! Get your pistol ready, for
we may be in for it to-night."
I must confess that his remark excited some fear in
me, for with it the stories I had read of travellers being
chased and eaten by these voracious beasts, came back to
rae with chromatic exaggeration. This partially sul>
A NEMESIS OF MISGOVERNMENT.
335
sidled wfien I saw the wolves makinj:; off from us, and to
faciliate their retreat 1 tired two shots at them, but
without effect. However, we had not proceeded more
FIGHT ■\V1TH WOLVES.
than two miles further when I saw standing in the way
we were croincr two more wolves, which were so bold that 1
336 A NEMESIS OF MISGOVEENMENT.
shot one of them not more than twenty feet from our
vehicle, while the other trotted off slowly, notwithstand-
ing the shots I fired at it. We had twelve miles to go
before arriving at Yenisiesk, and I saw on the route, al-
together, not less than fifty wolves, all of the large,
ferocious species which does not hesitate to attack trav-
ellers, when slight]}' pressed by hunger.
Arriving at the city about eleven o'clock, we related
our experience with the wolves, when the landlord told us
that a courier had just come in Avho had been set upon,
b}' a pack, neai'ly twenty jniles south of Yeniseisk, on
his route from Irkoutsk, and that to save himself he
had ridden his horse almost to death.
Any mention of wolves before a crowd in a Siberian
inn is sure to call forth from one or more persons, who
may be present, stories of personal experience with the
dreadful creatures, in which hair-breadth escapes figure
very prominently, but as wolves are more plentiful in
Siberia than squirrels are in our western States, such re-
lations are made more out of vaunting ambition than with
an expectation of interesting those who listen to them.
But for me stories of wolf and Itearhuntingare al-ways en-
tertaining, and I was therefore very muclr deiigiited to
hear second-hand — through my interpreter — the fob
lowing, told 1)}' an Ispravnik — Governor — from the Tomsk
Government. It chanced that this distinguished func-
tionary had arrived at Yeniseisk on the day I visited
the mines, and was a guest of the inn at which I was
stopping. He had four servants with him, all exiles,
and otherwise manifested the dignitv of his magisterial
office, so that when he sjjoke all gave him a respectful
hearing. To preserve the identity of the relator I will
give the stor}' in the first person :
" It has now been just two years since business, con-
A NEMESIS OF MISGOVERN MENT.
■33 J
nectcd with tho Governnieiit, called n)o to Irkoutsk, and
from thence to the Alexundreffsky Central prison, which
is nearly one hundred versts north of the city. The
wmter, you reniemher, set in unusually early in 1880,
and when I started from Tomsk there was so much snow
iS8 A NEMESIS OF MISGOVEENMENT.
on the ground that a troika could be used. I met with
no adventure on the trip to Irkoutsk, where my busmess
was speedily transacted. The Governor at Irkoutsk placed
his own private team at my disposal for the trip to Alex-
andreffsky, and with a good driver I stai'ted out early in
the morning, calculating to reach my destination before
night set in, as I never fancied driving on a lonel}' high'
way even in the moonlight.
" It has been my rule, whenever travelling thi'ough
any of the Siberian Governments, to carry with me a
trusty rifle, which I purchased on my last visit to St.
Petersburg, because it has more than once served me wel)
in the midst of imminent danger, but unfortunately, on
the occasion which I am now about to relate, I failed to
provide myself with the usual complement of cartridges,
taking less than twenty, when I generally carry not less
than fifty.
"We started out from Irkoutsk in high glee, taking
with us a good quantity of quass and vodka, which serves
one so well, you know, on a journey of the character I
was about to take. Nothing whatever occurred to im-
pede our progress until nearly three o'clock in the after-
noon, when my Yemtschik became so confused by the
vodka he had intemperately indulged that he left the road
and ran the troika over a log, upsetting it into a bank of
snow, but we escaped injur}'. This episode was too com-
mon to be mentioned but for the fact that our vehi< le
was so badly broken that we stopped nearly two hours
making repairs, and after going only a short distance
further we again broke down, our trouble being a broken
shaft and tug, which was caused by the fractious capers
of one of the horses.
" It was nearly seven o'clock in the afternoon when I
heard the prolonged howl of a wolf, which was directly
A NEMESIS OF MISGOVEENMENT. 339
answered by several others in different directions. These
sounds, however, did not alarm me in the least, for I have
heard them too frequently ; but it was not long before 1
saw crossing the roadway ahead of us packs of five and
six wolves, while others trotted along behind us in a
sneaking nianner. 1 know these were the skirmishing
forces and refrained from shorting, knowing full well
that if I should kill one the others would devour him, and
once tasting blood and flesh they would seek to finish
their repast on us.
" My driver kept the horses in a brisk gallop, realizing
snore than 1 did the danger which now threatened. Grow-
ing more bold each minute as their numbers increased,
the wolves appeared on every side, some coming up
within a few feet of our troika and then slopping sud-
denly to stare at us. Such howling I never before or
since heard, the forest being apparently full of the hate-
ful brutes, and every howl seeming to multiply the num-
ber. At length they grew so fearless that several would
run out quickly and snap at the horses and then dart back
again. I now saw that it was full time for action, as
each moment served to embolden them, and once they
should attack our horses little chance would remain for
escape. Bringing my gun up, therefore, I shot one
of the wolves, and scarcely did his blood stain the snow
before not less than one hundred piled on the wounded
animal and tore him limb from limb almost instantly, I
then fired two other shots into the pack and must have
wounded several others, judging from the snarling and
o-rowlino" which succeeded. Looking back to observe the
effects of my shots T could see a myriad of wolves run-
nino" to where the othei's were feasting, until they were
like flies in summer time swarming over a putrefying car-
cass.
340 A NEMESIS OF MISGOVEENMENT.
"It was only a few minutes after I had shot, and before
we got out of sight of the paclv, when every vestige of the
wounded wolves had disappeared in the voracious maws
of their comrades, and the latter were again soon howling
after us.
" The rest which our horses had by reason of the acci-
dents already described was very advantageous to us, for
they Avero now put to their full speed without showing
anv suffering ; but this speed could not avail against the
wolves, which gained on us so raj)idly that before we had
gone six vcrsts from where I fired mj^ first shot they were
upon us again. When they reached the troika and were
ready to spring in, I shot two more, which were immedi
ately pounced upon by the entire pack, so we ma*^"
another gain of two versts before they left this second
feast and were upon us again.
" I had every reason for husbanding my shots, for out
escape lay in keeping the wolves from us by killing ona
of their number at a time, so as to distract the pav;iv,
I therefore continued this desultory warfare until my last
cartridge had been fired, and we were yet nearly tea
vcrsts from Alexandreffsky. I had caused the death of
perhaps twenty-five or nioi-e wolves, but there was no
apparent diminution in number, nor were there any mani.
festations of abandoning the attack on the part of those
that had survived. Our horses had now become badly
jaded, my driver almost lost his reason through fright^
and the little hope I had left was hii.rdly bright enough to.
show on a back-ground of despondency. I was not per
mitted to lapse into a reflective mood, however, for thi
hungry, carnivorous, blood-loving wolves came rfter us
on lightning feet, ihcir red tongues lolling oat between
vicious fangs which sometimes snapped together as thougis
they felt osr flei-k already between their teeth. My guE
A NEMESIH OF MISGOVERNMENT.
341
■was no^v a8fil^Si5,but I carried it in my muffled robes until
the wolves came so near tluit they tried to leap upon me ;
then I wielded it as a bludgeon with excellent effect,
killing three, or wounding them so that they were fallen
upon uid quickly de\OLnevl But this successful way of
repelling their at-
tacks did not avail us
long, fcu' while I
combatted with more
than a score, nearly
tea times that num-
ber ran ahead and at-
tacked the horses. I
now felt that it was
time to abandon hope,
cross myself and fall
to praying, but our
poor horses battled
so nobly for life that
I was encouraged by
their acts. The two
outsiders ran on at
full speed for nearly
a verst, while wolves
were hanging at their
haunches and throats
or cutting great
gashes in their legs
and sides. I was
astonished to see the
horses suivive so long, but A\hen one fell at length
the others could go no further, and here our last
efforts were made to protect our lives. My driver, hav-
ing nothing with which to defend himself, was, despite
22
342 A NEMESIS OF MISGOVEENMENT.
my exertions, dragged from his seat by three strong
wolves, and as he fell upon the snow his cries for aid
almost set me wild. Oh, how the poor fellow prayed and
called to me while the ferocious beasts stripped the flesh
from his bones until death ended the torture he endured.
Our horses shared my driver's fate, while with almost
superhuman strength I wielded my gun and scattered
about me nearly fifty of the wolves that had attacked
mj'self and driver. How I came out of that fiery fur-
nace alive it is almost impossible for me to say, for i
fought for many minutes, which seemed an age, before
assistance came in the person of two exile moujilcs whc
bravely seized clubs and rushed to my aid. We wer»
almost on the outskirts of Alexandreffsky, and the noise
created by our terrible encounter soon brought others to
the scene of action. My escape was chiefly due to the
successful attack on the horses and driver, their bodies,
serving to draw away from me nearly all the pack. But
when relieved at last, upon examination I found that my
clothes were literally ia shreds, and on my hands and
legs were several severe scratches which, in my excited
condition, I had not before discovered.
' ' The wolves were driven away by shooting and beating,
but not until the horses had been almost entirely devoured,
and of the guide there only remained a grinning skull
bare of flesh, the half of one hand, and a portion of his
back and pelvic bone ; his limbs had been torn asunder
and carried off by greedy members of the pack to some
place where they could munch the bones undisturbed.
Of my rifle there remained only the barrel, the stock hav-
ing been broken and lost, and nothing in my possession
do I esteem so valuable as this relic of the saddest ex
■ perience and adventure in all my life."
We all applauded heartily the Goveraor's story, which
THE governor's race WITH A PACK OF WOLVES. 343
344 A NEMESIS OF MISGOVEENMENT.
was undoubtedly true, and this approbation stimulated
others to relate tlieir encounters with wild animals of the
northern tundras ; but I was too sleepy to take any
further interest in Siberian adventures, and stole off tc
bed.
Having gathered about all the information accessible at
Yeniseisk, on the following day I started for Irlvoutsk, by
way of Krasnoiarsk, distant eight hundred miles. The
return trip to Krasnoiarsk was not M^thout trouble on
account of snow, which had fallen to a depth of fully
six inches ; but I decided to hold to my tumbril rather
than huy a troiha (sledge) because T felt quite sure, as did
Schleuter, that we should tind no snow on the regular
transport route, which we would reach in less than two
days' travelling.
We had not proceeded more than half a dozen miles
fromYeniseisk before I saw^ two wolves dart across the road
about one hundred yards ahead of us. Quickly the
Ispravnik's story came back to me and I pictured myself
in the midst of a ferocious j^ack with not so much as a
club for defence. Every few minutes my forebodings
were intensified by seeing one or more wolves not far dis-
tant from us, a fact which did not appear to give Schleu-
ter the least alarm, while I was continually forming reso-
lutions what to do when ' ' worse should come to worse."
Let me assure the reader thai we did not camp out ; so
far from being satisfied with a bi:ii()i uit alin(>-.t l)t_)oiKl be hef ,
are uncommonly l)rave, and while they have many super-
stitions, there is little connected with their faith that in=
spires terror. They prefer hunting to anv other employ-
ment, but still use only primitive weapons for taking
A X]:me,sis of misgovernment.
367
game ; yet tliere is a superstition which prevents them
from hunting the tiger or "n'olf. In Western Siberia
and Eastern Russia the peasants "■.vill not kill a wolf be-
cause, us it was exphiined to nie, " the surviving compan-
ions or friends of a wolf will avenare the dead one."
GOLDI IN WINTER DRESS.
Many told me that if a peasant refused to kill a wolf his
flocks would never he molested, but if he did do so the
\fVolve3 would be sure to destroy his stock.
Bear hunting among the Gilyaks is most exciting sport,
368
A NEMESIS OF MISGOVF.ENMENT.
because it is conducted something after the fashion once
practiced by ancient Norwegians. Their weapon consists
of a long pole, to one end of which is attached, by means
of small strips of raw-hide, a steel spear four inches long
and two inches broad ; there is also another weapon used,
but not so commonly as the former, v/hich is made by
wrapping several sharp-pointed spikes together so that their
points will extend outward something like the bristles of a
hedge-hog when rolled up ; this chevaux-de-frize is firmly
fastened to a long pole, which is then used like the spear.
Tliis latter weapoia is emploA'ed to Avorry the bear by first
GROUP OF CILYAKS.
irritating the animal until, enraged, it rushes upon its as-
.sailant ; the Gilyak hunter then defends himself by pre-
senting his spiked weapon, which the bear seizes only to
wound itself ; more violently enraged with these self-in-
flicted injuries, the bear endeavors to destroy the spikes
by biting and squeezing them, until it actually kills itself.
In using the spear there is really more danger incurred
than from the spiked weapon, for when a bear is wounded
with a spear it attacks the hunter, who sometimes be-
A NEMESIS (IF MI.Sc;OVJ;itN.MENT. 369
comes the victim. Nothing can equal, for ferocity and
vitality, the Grizzly bear of North America, but next to
this animal certainly comes the Russian l)ear, Avhich i;:
equal in all respects to the Gi-izzly, except in vital pow-
ers. Yet terrible as it is when fully aroused, the Gil-
yaks not only attack and sla}', -n'ith no other weapon thaij
a long spear, the most powerful Russian bears, but they
also capture them alive to provide amusement at annua;
feasts. To capture these dangerous animals a party Oj.
eight to a dozen men provide themselves with lassoes,
chains, collars and a muzzle, and in company seek their
game. Upon finding a bear, however large it may be,
they proceed to take it prisoner in the following manner :
Scattering out in a circle they surround the bear and
gradually contract the circle by driving the animal to-
wards the center, always taking great care not to excite
it. Dogs are not used at such times, because they would
enrage the bear anci cause it to break precipitately, so
that a capture would be impossible. When the circle
becomes sufficiently contracted everything is made read}'
for two men to cast ther lassoes, and while the attention
of the l)car is directed towards one or more persons, an-
other of the party nimbly leaps upon the bear's back, as
the lassoes are thrown, and catching bruin by the ear;?;
hold his head, assisted by others with the lassoes ; a col-
lar and muzzle are riext adjusted on poor bruin, and ho
then becomes a helpless captive. Slioulcl any of tha
hunters be ^vounded in these dangerous attempts, whicli
they very frequently are, they think themselves lucky^
as such wounds are considered evidences of prowess, and
to be killed by a bear-is esteemed a happy death.
Bears thus caught are taken to the nearest villago,,
Avhere they are kept and fatted on fish, for the approach-
ing festival. The most iuiiiortant fete day among tbocra
J70
A NEMESIS OF MISGOVEENME>! r.
FESTIVAL OF KILLING THE BE\R,
l.Ga,allBOfU.eVpl«rOU^s,a.,cll>og. S.BearT«p. J.WoUTn*: 4. rUh aid Tm»K
A NEMESTS OF MISGOVEENMENT. 371
strange people occurs early in January, but on no partic-
ular date, as the Gilyaks reckon time by the moon. On
this occasion the captured bear is taken from its cage and
shackled so it can commit no harm, is dragged or driven
all around the village and halted before each house,
where some cabalistic words arc repeated, supposed to
bring good luck. After this part of the ceremony is
completed, they lead the animal to some place for water,
and also serve it with a platter of food ; should the bear
take both water and food the sacrifice is postponed, but
owing to its anger it always refuses. The bear is now
dragged to the place of sacrifice, where it is made fast
between two posts by means of raw hide ropes connected
with its collar. Then succeed orgies not unlike those
practiced by several tribes of Indians about their sacri-
fices. The bear is beaten Avith sticks and stones in oiuer
to make it growl, for manifestations of pain and an-
irer from the animal are taken as answers to the entreaties
of those engaged in the sacrifice for good luck. When at
length the bear becomes exhausted, the honor of shoot-
ins it through the heart Avith an arrow is accorded to
one who is chosen chief of the ceremonies for that day.
After its death tlie bear's head and paws are cut off, the
former being presented to the village patriarch, and to
which prayers are offered for a period of six weeks. The
paws are divided between four popular persons at the
feast, who keep them for good luck, sometimes wearing
them for years tied to a string about the neck. In pass-
ing through a Gilyak settlement it is very common to
find the ears, jaw-bones, skulls and paws of bears killed
in such sacrifices as I have described, hung up in trees,
where they are supi^osed to exercise a most serviceable
influence in keeping off evil spirits and bringing good
luck to the village.
372
A NEMESIS OF l*rrS(JOVERNMENT.
la the Island Sakhalein these ceremonials of bear kilt-
ing are much more frequent than on the Siberian shore,
for the reason perhaps that the Gilyabs are more nu-
merous on Sakhalein and because their customs u e not
intertered with or influenced by neighboring tribes.
The Tunsuse are a very numerous people inhabitinT
A XK.^riCSIS OI- ,\r[,^(!(:i\-F,RXMEXT. 3?3
many parts of Siberia. They are very imicli like the
Manclui of Ciiina, in apijcarance, while in hahits they
assimilate with the Esquimaux, being found as far north
as the Arctic Ocean. In March these people go on snow-
shoes over snow, into which, at that season, ch)vcn-
footcd animals sink, and shoot elks, roe, and ninsk deer,
wild deer and goats ; the tent Iteing tixcd in valleys and
defiles, where the snow lies deepest. In April the ice on
the rivers begins to move, and the huntsman, now turned
tishcr, hastens to the small rivulets to net his fish.
Those not required for immediate use are dried against
the next month, which is one of the least plentiful in the
year. In May they shoot deer and other game, which
they have decoyed to certain spots by l)urning down the
high grass in the valleys, so that the young sprouts may
attract the deer and goats. June suppliea the hunter
with antlers ^. " the roe. These thc)^ sell at a high price
to the Chinese \n- medicinal purposes. In July the na-
tives spend a larj^ ■ uart of the month catching fish, taken
with nets or spearc^ with harpoons. They are able also
to spear the elk, whioj likes a watei'-plant growing in the
lakes. He comes down at night, wades into the water,
and, whilst engaged in tearing at the plant with his teeth,
is killed by the huntsman. In jVugnst they catch birds,
speared at night iu the retired creeks and baj'S of the
rivers and lakes. Their flesh, except that of the swan, is
eaten, and the down is exchanged for ear and finger
rings, bracelets, beads, and the like. Thus they spend
the summer months, afterward retiring again to the
mountains for game. Li thel)cginningof Seiitemberthey
prepare for winter pursuits. With these people there is
very little of civilization found ; they live in l)irch-bark
tents, and delight in hunting on the tundras ; horses are not
24
374 A NEMESIS OF MISGOVEENMENT.
favorably regarded by them, their domestic draught ani-
mails being reindeer and dogs ; of the former they pos
sess immense herds, so that the fortune of a Tunguse i^
estimated entirely by the number of reindeer he owns.
The Kirgliiz, who are distinct from the Kii'ghiz Tartars,
are the largest framed people in Siberia. Some of them
own large herds of cattle and horses, in South Siberia,
and have some pretensions of refinement, living in wooden
houses and adoi^ting o few customs which evidence civili-
zation ; but as a rule they are beggarly, indolent rapscal-
lions of the plnins.
They are met with in nearly all the larger cities, ply-
ing their tricks of juggling, fortune telling and begging ;
they have not the least acquaintance with work or clean-
liness, and as a tribe they are generally despised.
The numerous other tribes of native Siberians aro
hardly worthy of mention, because their numbers aro
very small, and in many respects they are so nearly as-
similated to the principal tribes by intermarriage and
nationality that only an ethnologist can distinguish the
tribal oeculiaritiefe of them all.
CHAPTEE XXI.
My journey eastward was concluded at Irkoutsk, which
I regarded rightfully as the central point of Siberia, at
which could be daily met people of all ]-anks from every
part of the Empire. I Avas pleased to find that my
opinion was correct and that here was afforded full ana
ample means of collecting all the facts appertaining tc
sxile and commercial life in that portion of the Empire.
Situated within less than seventy miles of lake Baikal,
•J I I
A NEMESIS OF MIS(jOVEENiMENT.
the largest fresh water hoily on the eastern iiemisphere^
on which ply numerous steamers deriving their business
chiefl}' from the overland travel and freightage, and being
midway on the great ti uispoit loute, the citA could not
be otherwise than
cosmopolitan and
important. Its
commercial fea-
tures exceed those
of Irbit, since in
1879 that large and
tinestcity in Siberia
•was almost totally
destroyed b}^ fire.
At all seasons may
l)e found on the
streets of Irkoatsk
and in its hotels,
representati ves
from all over Eu-
rope. A great deal
of gold and silver,
in fact nearly all
tlie native product
from east of Tom-
sk, is taken to Ir-
koutsk for refine-
ment and coinage.
Nearly every day
gold trains, guaixled
dust conveyed by tarantass, arrive in the city, while
long files of merchants with goods from China or Eussia
pass through its streets, so that an air of business is a?
ways maintained .
)y large convoys, or bags of gold-
A NEMESIS OF MISOOVEKNJIENT. 317
On the second da}' of my stay in TrkoutskI l)ecauic ac=
quainted with ar. Aiueiicau oeutleniau who was enirao-ed
in running a sniaii steamer on tlio Aniooi', })ut he made so
many tri]).s to Irlvoutsk on business tliat his acquaintance
with prominent i)eople of the city was rj[uite extensive.
Eis name was Robert M. Gunsollis, and his native place
'1 small town in Eol.iinsou county, Kentucky. He was
eery glad to see me, and upon disclosing to him the pur-
poses of my visit to Siberia, he took great interest in as-
sisting me. Through his kind services I secured an
introduction to the Governor of Irkoutsk, and sc\eral
merchants, all of whom tendered me their kind offices.
Mr. Gunsollis was a traveller, and onl_v six months before
I saw him he hatl been on the island of Sakhalein spend-
mg several weeks among the natives and convicts. Being
a close o))server and an uncommonly intelligent man, he
had gathei-ed a great deal of information of much value
to the world at large, and as wo spent an evening together
he gave me the advantage of his newly acquired knowl-
edge respecting Sakhalein.
This island, wliit'h is near!}' 600 miles in length, and
about as large in area as the State of Illinois, was not
explored until the year 1848, pi-cvious to which time it
was supposed to be a portion of the Siiierian, or INIan-
churian nnuidand. Along the coast it is generalh' verj'
rocky and pi-ecipitous, while in the interior there is a
chain of mountains wdiich rise considerably above the
limit of vegetation. Nearly ever}' part of the island is
wild and desolate, with a ])opulation of 15,000 persons,
divided between Gilyaks, Tuuguse, Oroks, Kuriles, and
Ainos, the latter supposed to be the aboriginal pt)pula-
tion, while all the natives subsist on fish and wild game.
.Nevilskoy, Ecar Admiral of the Russian nav}', landed
on the island in 1818 and accomplished a partial explora-
378
A NEMESIS OF MISGOVERNMENT.
p^,"»->-
-"i
Ik
Bears are plentiful on the island, and these the Oraks
kill with spears, in a manner similar to that of the Gilyaks
A NEMESIS OF MISGOVERNMENT. 383
of Siberia. Every Oi'iik village has its sacred house,
ivhich serves as a repository for the bones of those ani-
mals liillcd by residents of the village. The interior of
these sacred houses is tilled with the bones of the bears
except the skulls, ^^•hich aie placed on poles and set in the
ground around the building. The Oraks are very super-
stitious, worshipping no particular deity, but practice
many singular rites under the belief that they will bring
them good. They regard no other charm, or amulet, so
potential as tliat made of some portion of a bear's skull,
while all the Ixjues of that animal are supposed to pos-
sess magical powers, hence the i)ains taken by each vil-
lage to preserve them.
I was anxious to tind some one who had visited Niko-
laefsk, and was familiar with that famous prison, so com-
municating this desire to Gunsollis, lie assured me that it
would not be diiEculttolind in Irkoutsk persons from any
part of Siberia ; wo therefore went out together the fol-
lowing day, and before an hour had elapsed he found
three different persons thoroughly familiar with Niko-
laefsk, one of whom had been an exile there some years
ago. Through the assistance of Gunsollis and Schleuter
I obtained from these a large fund of information re-
specting that dreaded jirison, which, in some respects, is
said to be more feared than Kara.
Nikolaefsk is situated near the extreme eastern coast
of Siberia, on a neck of the Gulf of Tartary and oppo-
site the north-west coast of Sakhalein, or, more properly,
at the mouth of the Amoor River. It contains a pop-
ulation of about 5,000, and has a few really excellent
buildings. My informants dispelled the popular impres-
sion concerning the treatment of prisoners there, and
assured me that the belief of cruelties practiced by Nik-
olaefsk officials arose out of the fact that it lies at the
■o->
1"^ I
i'< ,.
COUnCTS CAMPING IN THE INOW.
384
A NEMESLS OF MISi'OVEENMENT. 3^5
end of overland travel. Coiiviut.s who arc sent by t!iQ
transport route to Saklialein licre coneludG their 4000
miles of foot journey, and the few who survive the ter-
rors of su<;h u niareli are so broken down by their loads
of chains and unexampled miseries that ihvy are quite
I'eady to regaid this last place ou the journey as a very
hades. This impression also extends to visitois, boctiuse
in no other place can suuh emaciated, sorrowful Icuiking
people be seen, nearly one-half of whom are insane. It
is not an unusual sight to witness manj^ patients in the
Xikohiefsk hospitals, the sldn ou whose wrists and ankles
is worn entirely away by heai.'}' chains, leaving exposed
the raw and angry tendons.
The clinuite about Nikolacfsk is dreadfully severe in
winter, and on account of imperfect protection many
convicts die there in the prisons of cold. Yet there 's a
humanity among the officers at these prisons found at
few other penal stations in Siberia; the sufferings of
convicts are attended to Ity a commission who derive, in
addition to a salary from the G(jvernment, contributions
from those Avho are charitably disposed, which latter is
irreatcr than the salaries. Wlien the exiles are so far re-
covered as to be al)le to proceed to Sakhalein they are
taken by a Russian man-of-war to port Dui and there
distributed.
It very f rec|uently happens that rather than go to Sak-
halein the convicts will attempt to escape from Nikolaef sk,
sometimes in squads and at others singly or in small par^
ties. Formerly there was a reward offered in all of easi
Siberia, by governors of the several districts, for the
head of every escaping convict, like that which still pre-
vails in Sakhalein. During the continuance of this bai\
barous regulation several native tribes left off fishing
and huntino wild animals, and took up the new occupa-
o
386
A NEMESIS DF MISGOVERNMENT.
tion of hunting exiles. Sucli of those as could secure
guns conducted a thriving business in summer time when
the number of fugitives was greatest. These head hunt-
ers went on horsel^ack, and around their waists they
wore a Inroad belt to which they tied the heads of their
victims. When a convict was found by these murderous
heathen they showed him no mercy, but shot him down ;
if the wound did not prove fatal, but sufficient to bring
^^4h^
"^^--"t-j^-i-i
KILLING OF ESCAPING EXILES FOR THEIR CLOTHES.
the victim to the ground, the hunter rushed upon him
with a large knife and cut off his head ; strings were
then made fast to the hair by which the severed head was
tied to the hunter's belt. The body Ava.s also stripped of
its clothing, which, though generally old and composed
of nothing but reindeer skins, was valued so highly that
since the withdrawal of money rewards by governors
*' ? r
587 COMBAT BETWEEN HEAD-HUNTERS AND ESCAPING CONVICTS.
S88 ^ NEMESIS OF MISGOVEENMENT.
these hunters coutiimed shooting convicts mere^j for
their clothes.
It is told that in September of 1856, a battalion of
soldiers started fioni Nikolaefsk up the Amoor land
route for Shilkinsk Zavod, but after proceeding less than
a hundred versts they were overtaken by a snow-storm
wliich so blinded them that progress was impossible, and
to keep from freezing they were compelled to bundle to-
gether. But a more horrible death than that by freezing
soon threatened, for having provided themselves with ra-
tions for only a few days their store of food failed them.
Grim necessity was fought against until at last they were
forced by hunger to draw lots to decide who should be
sacrificed that their bodies might furnish food for the
more fortunate. Nearly one-twentieth of the command
was killed in this way and eaten by their comrades.
So sympathetic are the peojDle of Siberia, and particu-
larly do they so well know the suffering which every ex-
ile must undergo while fleeing for liberty, that it is their
custom, just before retiring each night, to place some
bread and salt on the outside window-sill, v/here it may
be convenient to any one passing by ; many a poor fugi-
tive has thus been fed and his life preserved.
There is one other distributing point, or etape prison,
on the Siberian coast, Vladivostock, which is a place of
considerable commercial importance. Situated so near
China, the town has attracted a large number of Mon-
golians, notwithstanding the fact that they are treat-
ed with great disrespect and on two occasions have
been ordered out of the district, while China has
v:'.inly tried to prevent emigration of her subjects to Rus-
sian soil. In 1861 China ceded the sea-coast to Eussia
and at the same time prohibited her subjects from colon-
izing on Siberian soil with their wives. The rifh Chinese
3S9 — 25 SIBERIAN PEASANTS CARING FOR AN AGED CONVICT.
390
A NEMESIS OF MISGOVERNMENT.
therefore returned home, leaving the poor who were
next to outlawed by the rigorous legal reqfuirements
which they were unable to obey ; they naturally drifted
into crime, and being soon after joined by Manchu brig-
ands, known as Mauzas, there succeeded a regular pirati-
cal organization which has not yet been entirely suppressed .
These Manzas robbers are upon both land and water, kill-
ing on the highways and scuttling small crafts ou the
A COREAN HOUSE IN VLADIVOSTOCK,
coastwaters, so that travelling through the Primorsk dis-
trict is always very dangerous.
The Coreans ai-e also in considerable numbers about
Vladivostock, and because of their frugal, industrious
habits they are des^Dised and beaten by the Euss popula-
tion. This treatment is due to the identical causes Avhich
have operated in San Francisco against the Chinese, for
inasmuch as neai'ly one-half of the commodities used by
the better classes in the Primorsk are of American pro-
duction, the merchant and mechanic think that American
prices and wages should obtain in "Vladivostock. The
A NEMESIS OF MISGOVERNMENT. 391
Coreaiis, nowever, are willing to work for very small
wages and their bartering is conducted on small margins,
hence the race prejudice. The Government of Coreahas
attempted to arrest emigration by making it a capital of-
fence for any of its subjects to settle in a foreign country.
This law had a dreadful enforcement in 1868, when 1,400
Coreans were run out of the Primorsk and upon returning
to Corea they were summarily beheaded.
CHAPTEE XXn.
The most interesting district in Siberia is about Yak-
oatsk, which is a city of 6,000 inhabitants, and the .capi-
tal of the Yakoutsk Goveniment. A large trade is car-
ried on between Irkoutsk and Yakoutsk, so that I had no
difficulty in finding scores of persons who had been long
residents of the latter place, and would give me whatever
information I desired concerning it. By Schleuter's as-
sistance I interviewed the military Governor of Yakoutsk,
who was on a visit to Irkoutsk, and to whomi was intro-
duced by the Governor of the latter place. It was my
"•ood fortune also to find and talk with three men who
had served short sentences of exile near Yakoutsk. From
these several sources I gained a very satisfactory descrip-
tion of life in and about the cit3\
The government of Yakoutsk is the largest in Siberia,
covering an area greater than tliat of all Europe, if we
except Kussia. The town itself, situated on the Lena
River, in 65° north latitude, presents an odd blending of
cosmopolite architecture, from the graceful styles adopt-
ed by Russian nobility to the summer yoiirts of the native
Yakutes. Generally considered, however, there are few
S92
A NEMESIS OF MI3G0VERNMENT.
modern appearances about the place ; instead of using
horsiBS or reindeer for draught purposes, oxen are chosen,
and these slow, plodding creatures are also used for I'id-
mg ; hut a still more grotesque characteristic of the city
is found in the fact that, discarding horses and the con-
EXILES ON THE ISLAND OF SAKHALEIN.
ventional ways of other countries, the ladies of Yakoutsk
ride on the backs of oxen — a-straddle. I cannot well
imagine a more humorous sight than a Yakoutsk belle,
dressed in the bright toggery peculiar to fashion, going
out shopping in the city astride a mewling ox whose
A NEMESIS OF MISGOVEENMENT. 393
shambling gait is marked by sinuous droolings, uiJ whose
whisking tail in summer time laps up little pools of
sewage in the streets to distribute in a delicate spray
over the fair rider.
Yakoutsk is said to be the coldest spot on earth ; from
December 1st to February 1st, the mean temperature be-
ing 58° Fah. below zero, while not infrequently it reach-
es 80° below. Extreme as this cold is, no particular dis-
comfort is experienced ; while the mercury is frozen
market women may be seen standing before their wares
with arms bared above the elbows, langhino; and chattino;
as if the weather wore delightful. In sledge travelling
during such temperature, the driver sleeps in the clothing
he wears all day, and will curl up in his vehicle at night,
draw the fur hood of his great coat over his head and
sleep under the shivering stars, and no doubt dream of
violets and primroses bursting into life under a warm, ex-
hilarating, spring time sun.
The Russian population of the Yakoutsk Government is
contined chiefly to the Upper Lena, Yakoutsk and its
vicinity. The Tunguse are also found on the eastern
and western confines of the district, but are rarely met
with in the interior. There is another race called the
Yukaghirs, in the province, whose numbers are computed
at about 2,000, but so wild is their nature that their ethno-
logical peculiarities are but little known. They are only
met with near the Arctic shoi-es, between the Yana and
Kolima rivers. They were once a very powei*ful tribe, so
tradition says, and which statement is partly proved by
the tumuli and burial places still to be found along the
Lena river. These relics of former tribal power contain
human bones, bows, arrows, spears, and an instrument
similar to that occasionally found among the more ignoi'-
ant Laplanders, which they call a " magic drum," but it
YUKAGHIR AND HIS WIFE "AT HOME."
394
A NEMESIS OF MISUUVEENMENT. 395
resembles a pot more than a drum, being of considerable
depth and closed at one end with reindeer skin.
The Yukagliirs live almost entirely on the reindeer they
kill during spring and autumn. At these seasons a mos-
quito, not unlike the buffalo gnat of our Mississippi bot-
toms, and so numerous that at times they almost darken
the sky, so torment the reindeer that they seek
refuge in the rivers, where they remain until winter sets
in. Tliis habit is taken advantage of by the Yukaghirs,
who post themselves under cover beside a frequented
stream and await the reindeer, which come down from
neighboring forests in immense herds and enter the water.
When the animals have taken to the stream they are set
upon by the hunters, who appear on both sides and with
long spears slaughter great numbers.
The Yukaghirs are inveterate smokers of a tobacco
grown in the Uki'aine, which they mix with small, half-
decayed chips so as to make it go further; in smoking
not a whiff is allowed to escape into the air, but all is in-
haled and swallowed, producing an effect somewhat sim-
ilar to 0, mild dose of opium. Tobacco is considered
their first and greatest luxuiy. Women and children all
smoke, the lat'/er learning to do so as soon as they are able
to toddle. Any funds remaining after the supply of
tobacco has been laid in are devoted to the purchase of
brandy. A Yukaghir, it is said, never intoxicates him-
se'f alone, but calls upon his family to share the drink,
even chihken in arms being supplied with a portion.
In the center of the Yakutsk province, occupying the
vnlley of the Lena, roam the Yakutes, some of whom are
met as far off as Nikolaef sk. Thoy are of middle height,
and of a light copper cohn', Avith black hair, which the
men cut close. The sharp lines of their faces express
indecent and amiable geatleness rather than vigor and
396 A NEMESIS OF MISGOVEEXMENT.
passion. They bear a close resemblance to tlie North
American Indians ; their appearance is that of a people
who have grown wild rather than of a thoroughly and
originally rude race. Those who have been long settled
among the Russians have jjerhaps become somewhat
more polished than their wandering brethi'en. As a race
they are good-tempered, orderly, hospitable, and capable
of enduring great privation with patience; but in inde-
pendence of character they contrast unfavorably Avith
their Tunguse neighbors. Lay a finger in anger on one
of the Tunguse, and nothing will induce him to forget
the insult ; whereas with the Yakutes, the more they are
thrashed the better they work.*
The winter dwellings of the people have doors of raw
hides, and log or wicker walls calked with cow-dung,
and flanked with banks of earth to the height of the
windows. The latter are made of sheets of ice, kept in
their place from the outside by a slanting pole, the lower
end of which is fixed in the ground. They are rendered
air-tight by pouring on water, which quickly freezes
round the edges ; and the fact that it takes a long time
to melt these blocks of ice thus fixed is highly suggestive
of what the temperature must be, both without and
within. The flat roof is covered with earth, and over the
door, facing the east, the boards project, making a cov-
ered place in front, like tlie natives' houses in the Cau-
casus. Under the same roof are the winter shelters for
the cows and for the people, the former being the larger.
*Strahlenberg divides them into lo tribes, andSyboreen'sAlmanacIc for 1876
gives their number at 210,000. They belong to the great Turk family, and
hence their Siberian locality is remarkable, because the Turks have ever been
the people to displace others, whereas the Yakutes have been themselves dis-
placed, and driven into this inhospitable climate, it is supposed, by the
sti'onger Burials,
A NEMESIS OF MISGOVERNMENT.
397
VIEWS OF THE ABODES OF THE EXILES NEAR YAKOUTSK.
1.&'2 Slimmer liouees Of tlic Kxilua. a. i &. iiilurior views of aajiie. 4. Tjjjea olUie Eurui Popl:^l1oi
6. U ruTe Yard,
398 A NEMESIS OF MISGOVEENMENT.
The fireplace consists of a wicker frame plastered over
with clay, room being left for a man to pass between the
fireplace and the wall. The hearth is made of beaten
earth, and on it there is at all times a blazing fire,
and logs of larch-wood throw up showers of sparks to
the roof. Young calves, like children, ai'e brought into
the house to the fire, whilst their mothers cast a con-
tented look through the open door at the back of the
fireplace. Behind the fireplace, too, are the sleeping-
places of the people, which in the poorer dwellings con-
sists of only a continuation of the straw laid in the cow-
house.
In the wmter the}^ have about five hours of daylight,
which penetrates as best it can through the icy windows ;
and in the evening all the paily sit round the fire on low
stools, men and women smoking. The summer yowts of
these people are formed of poles about 20 feet long,
which are united at the top into a roomy cone, covered
with pieces of bright yellow and perfectly flexible birch
bark, which are not merely joined together, but are also
handsomely worlvcd along the seams with horsehair thread.
Tiie houses are not overstocked with furniture, and the
chief cooking utensil is a large iron pot. At the time of
the invasion of the Russians, this article was deemed such
a treasure that the price asked for a pot was as many
sable-skins as would fill it. They use also in winter a
bowl-shaped frame of wicker work, plastered with fro-
zen cow-dung, in which they pound their porridge. With
regard to their food, tlie Yakutes-, if they have their
choice, love to eat horse-flesh ; and their adage says that
to eat much meat, and gi-ow fat upon it, is the highest
destiny of man. They are the greatest gluttons. So far
back as the days of Strahlenberg, it was said that four
Yakutes would eat a horse. They rarely kill their oxen
A NEMESIS OF MISGOVERNMENT. 399
for food ; and at a wedding, the favorite dish served up
b}^ the bride to her future lord is a boiled horse's head,
with hoi'se-flesh sausages. When, however, horse-flesh
or beef is wanting, tliey are not at all niee as to what
they consume, for tliey eat the animals they take for fur,
and Avoe to the unfortunate horse that becomes seriously
injured in travel ! It is killed and eaten then and there,
the men taking off their girdles to give fair play to their
stomachs, which swell after the fashion of a boa-constric-
tor. Thus eai-nestl}^ do they aspire to their notion of the
highest destiny of man ! Milk is in genei-al request
among them, whether from cows or mares ; and when
Uiey are in the neigliborhood of the Russians, and can get
flour, they do so ; but far away in the forests they make
a sort of porridge or bread, not exactly of sawdust, but
of the under bark of the spruce, fir, and larch, which
they cut in small pieces, or ])ound in a mortar, mixing it
with milk, or with dried fish, or boilins' it with trlutinous
tops of the 3'oung sprouts. In spring, when the sap is
vising, they gather the bark harvest. They make also fer-
mented beverages of milk ; and in the heiirhtof summer,
when the mares fual, an orgie is held, at which the men
drain enormous bowls of this intoxicating liquor ; whilst
the women, denied the privilege of intoxication, solace
themselves by getting as near to it as tliey can b}' smok-
ing tobacco. The distillation of sour milk is also prac-
ticed, producing a coarse spirit known as arigui. They
devour likewise enormous quantities of melted butter.
This also can be prepared in such a way as to cause in-
toxication when taken in sufficient quantities.
The dress of the Yakutes resembles in its main fea-
tures that of the other natives of Siberia, save, perhaps,
that they are fonder of ornament. Both sexes riding a
good deal on oxen and hairses, a perpendicular slit is made
400
A NEMESIS OF MISGOVEENMENT.
mr
sp
~4 r "'-Jif
;, , 5- '1
i m
PENAL QUARTERS AT YAKOUTSK.
1. Governor'r) Resldeuoe. 2. Baztiar. 3. Lodges of Reindeer Stina. i. Hospital. 6. Prlaon (juajtert.
A NEMESIS OP MISGOVERNMENT. 402
up the back from the bottom of the synayahh, or upper
garment, in order to render the wearer comfortable in
the saddle, and some of the women wear behind them a
cushion or pad, to save them from the rough motion of the
animals. During the milder part of the year a robe,
made of very pliable leather, stained yellow, is worn,
which indoors is frequently laid aside, and males and fe-
males sit by the fire, leaving the upper part of the body
naked.
The boots made of this leather worn by the women fit
tight to the leg, and have at the top a flap of black velvet
with red cloth trimming, which can be turned down and
exposed for show in fair weather, or turned up, bringing
the boots to the thighs. On each foot are t^vo broad
leather thongs, five or six feet long, to wind around the
leg. Water-proof boots are also made by the Yakutes,
which they call Torbosis ; these are cut from horse hide,
steeped in sour milk, then smoked, and lastly rubbed
well with grease and soot. They will wear indefinitely,
and are so imper\'ious to dampness that the wearer
may tramp through water, mud and snow Avithout incon-
venience.
There is a large travel between Yakoutsk and Okhotsk,
Kamtschatka, distance 800 miles, which is performed by
the use of dogs, horses and reindeer. The latter, I was
surprised to learn, are used for riding as much as for
draught purposes. It is much more diflicult to maintain
one's seat on a reindeer than it is on a camel. To get on
the animal's back, as one would mount a donkey, would
probably cripple the deer for life. The saddle is there-
fore placed on its shoulder, close to the neck, and to
mount, the rider, holding the bridle, stands at the right
side of the animal, with his face turned forward. He
then raises bis left foot to the saddle, which he never
402 A NEMESIS OF MISGOVERNMENT.
touches with his hands, and springing with the right leg,
and aided also by a pole, which he holds in his riglit hand,
he gains his seat. The native girls and women are as ex-
pert in this jumping as the men, and rarely want assist-
ance in mounting.
The practiced reindeer riders acquire the habit of strik-
ing gently with the heel, alternately right and left, at
every step, just behind the animal's shoulders. This is
done, not for the purpose of stimulating the deer, but be-
cause the motion described is the surest means of main-
taining equilibrium. The staff, too, with which the rider
mounts is carried in his hand, and is used for maintaining
an equipoise in riding ; but any attempt of the rider, in
the first critical moment, to support himself by resting
the staff on the ground, is sure to end in his being
unseated.
There is a very large settlement of convicts in the
Yakoutsk Government, a greater portion of which is on
the Lena river. These penal colonies are generally com-
posed of men and women sent into exile without hard
labor, in pursuance of an Imperial ukase that contempla-
ted a settlement of the province. The district about
Yakoutsk is wonderfully fertile, notwithstanding the fact
that the ground is frozen to a depth of fifty feet, while
during the summer it does not thaw out more than three
feet below the surface. But even with these drawbacks
to production, the soil is said to yield forty-fold of such
vegetables as cabbage, potatoes, radishes, turnips and
gherkins. Emperor Nicholas was very anxious to settle
this section with an industrious population, and to accom-
plish this he promulgated an edict designed for the pun-
ishment of petty offenders, by which they were to be sent
across Siberia and colonized at the most advantageous
points in the Yakoutsk Government. It was also this
A NEMESIS OF MISGOVERNMENT.
403
idea which prompted Alexander I. to encourage tlie estab-
lishment of zemstas, communal parliaments, to which he
granted jDowers (heretofore described) to send into exile
any one of the commune adjudged guilty of vagrancy,
improvidence, drunkenness, or of any bad example. These
measures have caused a moi-e general settlement of the
Yakoutsk Government than any other province in Siberia,
the population being about 250,000.
exiles' homes on the LENA — HOUSES OF DRIED DUNG.
There are penal C|uarters in the city of Yakoutsk that
are fairly comfortable. They are made of hewn loijs
joined together by dovetailing and arc lined with dry
clay. These quarters, however, are only for a temporary
lodgment of prisoners, and are therefore called eiape
prisons ; they rarely contain more than one hundred con-
victs at one time, as those received are quickly distribut-
404 A NEMESIS OF MISGOVEENMENT.
ed to various points in the Government where t(jey are
made to shift for themselves ; though if a convict be
accompanied Ijy his family he is assisted for the first three
years by the Government, which gives him a daily allow-
ance of about ten cents. Along the Lena these convicts
are chiefly engaged cutting wood, fishing and hunting.
Their houses are made of baked cow-dung, because of the
warmth this material secures, excluding cold much better
than any other known substance.
But the most peculiar settlement in Siberia, indeed in
all the world, is that of the Scopsi, a religious sect
already mentioned, which is established in a forest
near Yakoutsk. These people entertain such a singular
belief that every other phase of fanaticism, whether
Shamanism, Fakirism or any other absurd ism, appears
transcendently consistent and wholesome in comparison.
I have searched through encyclopediajs and questioned
the most learned Russians in vain to find anything con-
cerniui; the oriijin of their stran2;e faith. Nevertheless
the Scopsi have existed for hundreds of years, but the
first decree of banishment against them was issued by
Peter the Great, though in what year I could not learn.
The}' found their faith upon the xix chapter, 12th verse,
of St. Matthevv, which reads as follows :
" For there are some eunuchs, which were so born
from their mother's womb : and there are some eunuchs,
which were made eunuchs of men : and there be eunuchs,
whieii have m.ide themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of
heaven's sake. He that is able to receive it, let him re-
ceive it."
The interpretation placed upon this text by the Scopsi
is so literal that if it obtained generally the earth would
be Avithout any human inhabitants in one generation.
They also base their doctrine upon some of St. Paul's
A NEMESIS OF MISGOVEENMENT.
405
letters, wherein he advises against marriage and inferen-
tial! v predic^^s tliat the jiromised millennium can come
only through a complete abnegation of sexual desires.
I do not say that Paul intended to discourage the \nw of
replenishment, but that the Scopsi so interpret his writ-
ings.
This peculiarly fanatical 3=.ct has not only existed in
Russia, but, despite the most repressive measui'cs nnder-
SCOPSI COLONY HOUSES NEAR YAKOUTSK.
taken by the Government for their suppression, they
have increased until Avell informed persons in the Empire
place their numbers at not less than 10,000. There is a
law on the Russian statute books making it a crime, pun-
ishable by deportation, for any one to attend services
held by the Scopsi, and all who are discovered to be mem-
bers of, or in sympathy with the sect, are sent into exile
26
406 A NEMESIS OF MISGOVERNMENT.
in the Yakoutsk district. Being denied all civil privi-
leges the Scopsi nevertheless continue to propagate their
doctrines by holding services in the thick forests, where
they hope to escape detection from government spies.
While in St. Petersburg I met a young man who had
been foi'ced into an adoption of this singular faith, but
who was a servant in an aristocratic family of the city.
While I was interviewing Count Tolstoi this man came in
to comnmnicate some message from his master to the
Prime Minister; his voice and appearance were so strange
that my curiosity prompted me to enquire about him,
v^fhen the Count informed me of the facts, this being the
first time I had ever heard of such a sect. I therefore at
once began to question the fellow, whom I took to be
about twenty-seven years of age, and was rewarded by
receiving from him a description of the Scopsi's prac-
tices.
Not only in retired countiy places, but also in cities do
the Scopsi hold their services, but they are necessarily a
secret denomination, who regard themselves as the espe-
cially anointed children of God ; they have priests who
travel about the country, providing their own sustenance
and holding services only among such persons as they
first obtain a satisfactory opinion from. These priests
profess great familiarity with the Bible, and their argu-
ments are addressed entirely to the emotional senses, and
so effectively that a majority of those who attend are
moved by such excitement that they gladly accept
mutilation of themselves. They believe that mankind
were conceived in sin, to purge which they must be born
again into a state of purity ; that the millennium cannot
appear until the world is regenerated through purification,
and that none can be pure in heart until the carnal im-
purities are removed ; hence the Scopsi baptize into
A NEMESIS UF MISGOVEENMENT. 407
what they call the new life of purity by castration. Men
and women who unite with this sect must alike submit to
mutilation, the operation on the latter consisting of an
extraction of the oviaries through an incision made in
the side. This worse than heathenish ceremonial, hov,-
ever, does not stop with a mutilation of those who will-
ingly submit themselves ; but, influenced by the belief
that parents must provide means of salvation for their
children, the little ones of both sexes are forcibly put un-
der the priestly scalpel.
Practices which distinguish the Scopsi, revoltmg and
(oully unnatural as they are, have also obtained in other
nations, and even to this day are not unusual in Turkey
and Italy. It is a well known fact that the tenor singers
in the Royal Italian Opera at Rome are castrates, made
so by Government orders. In Turkey the custom is very
common, parents frequently unsexing their own children
I'D sell them afterward as servants in harems or places of
monetary trust. In Russia it is also practiced upon chil-
dren who are afterward raised with great care, for when
grown they command large salaries in fiduciary posi-
tions. It is said that, however great the temptation of-
fered may be, a castiate will never betray a trust; that
in all history one was never known to steal, or absent
himself from any duty. Male children who were sub-
jected to this barbarous custom in earlier days were not
nuitilated by like means as now, but were much more in-
famously treated ; all the privates were cut away, after
which the child was buried to the waist in sand ; this was
to stop hemorrhage and jarevent the exudation of serous
fluid. It is said that nearly two-thirds of those thus
treated died.
There is also a colony of political exiles in the Yuk-
out."k Government, located at a small town on the Lugi-
408
A NEMESIS OF MISGOVEKNMENT.
na river, called Yilliski. Its population is a fugative one,
for the reason that those sent there are at most only sus-
pects, many of whom are called to Russia on pardons, or
SCENES IN VILLISKI.
1, Barracks. 2. A 3. Private ReaideDce 4. General view of the Town. 6. Tnlerior of a Private
Hoase. 6. City Hall and Residence of the Magistrate. 7. Prison.
sent to other districts ; so that one month the town may
A NEMESIS OF MISGOVEENMENT. 409
have a population of nearly two thousand, whiie the next
month it may have less than five hundred. The climate
at Villiski is dreadfully severe, even colder, some say,
than at Yakoutsk, but fortunately the exiles there have
little to do but fish in summer and keep themselves warm
in winter.
CHAPTEE XXIII.
The recent disastrous results attending the Jeannette,
or DeLong, exploring expedition, which are now (as I
write) being investigated before a commission at "Wash-
ington, has brought the Lena River into such prominence
before Americans that a partial history of the stream and
the country which it drains has been considered applica-
ble in this connection. The wrecking of DeLong and his
party at the Lena delta, the loss of Lieutenant Chipp and
his men, the dreadful march of Ninderman, Melville and
Danenhower, and lastly, how the returning search party
under Lieut. Gilder found the bodies of eight of that
unfortunate expedition frozen under Siberian snows near
the upper Lena, have been too recently told and gener-
ally read to need repetition here.
While at Irkoutsk I was very near, perhaps within a
dozen miles of, the chief source of the Lena, and though
never along the stream, I saw enough of Siberia to ap-
proximate an idea of the desolate country through which
it passes. The history of this portion of Siberia, so far
as records give us any data or description, starts with the
conquests of the Buriats by Cossacks early in the 17th
century. After 30 years of fierce warfare between these
two races, the Cossacks made themselves masters of the
district about Lake Baikal, and then pushed northward
410 A NEMESIS OF MISGOVERNMEHT.
along the Lena 'River until, in 1632, they reached the
principal town of the Yakutes, where they built a fort
and founded the city of Yakoutsk. After this they crossed
the Aldau Mountains and, seven years later, reached the
Sea of Okhotsli. For two centuries this was the route •
followed by those who would cross Siberia from the Ui'als
to the Pacific, or vice versa. In the present day there are
two other roads. All must go by the route from
Tomsk to Irkoutsk, but from thence the Pacific can
be leached either by crossing the Mongolian desert to
Peking, or by traversing the Buriat steppe, and so de-
scending the Amoor. The second of these routes is now
the best, but not briefly to mention the old route would
be to omit much interesting information concerning the
Lena, with its native population and fossilized remains,
as well as to miss the opportunity of hearing a little of
some of the most daring and adventurous journeys of pre-
vious travellers.
I allude to the accounts of Strahlenberg, De Lesseps,
Billings, Ledyard, Dobell, Gordon, Cochrane, Erman,
Cotterill, and Hill.
Strahlenberg was a Swedish officer, who, at the begin-
ning of the 18th century, was banished for 13 years to
Siberia. He collected a vast amount of information con-
cerning the country generally, and compiled polyglot
tables of aboriginal languages, and amongst them that of
the Yakutes inhabiting the valley of the Lena, of whose
Pagan condition he gives many illustrations.
M. De Lesseps was French Consul and inteqjreter to
Count de la Pcrouse, the well-known circumnavigator.
De Lesseps entered the country at Kamchatka in 1788,
and wrote an account of his travels across Siberia and
Europe to Paris.
Captain Billings was an Englishman, who, after sailing
A NEMJiSIS OF MISGOVERNMENT.
411
with the celebrated Captain Cooli, was employed by the
Empress Catharine II. to make discoveries on the north-
east coast of Siberia, and among the islands in the East-
ern Ocean stretching to the American coast. For this
purpose he proceeded to north-east Siberia in 1785, sailed
down the river Kolima, explored a portion of the country
eastward, and then returned by way of Yakoutsk.
Another of Captain Cook's officers, John Ledyard, had
YAKUTE AND REINDEER.
the most romantic enthusiasm for adventure, perhaps, of
any ukui of his time. He conceived the project of trav-
elling across Europe, Asia, and America as far as possible
on foot, and to this end he set out from London with
about £50 only in his pockets. He reached Yakoutsk,
where he met with Captain Billings, and with him was
hoping to proceed to America, when, by order of the
Russian Court, Ledyard was arrested on suspicion of be-
ing a French spy, and was taken off to Moscow.
Another journey across Northern Asia was made after
the time of Billings by Peter Dobell, a counsellor of the
412 A NEMESIS OF MI8G0VEENMENT.
Court of His Imperial Majesty the Empei'or of Russia.
Dobell landed in Kamchatka in 1812, and from thence
proceeded overland to Europe.
The most remarkable of these adventurers was an Eng-
lishman named John Dundas Cochrane, a captain in the
Royal Navy, who, in 1820, proposed to the Lords Commis-
sioners of the Admiralty that they should give their sanc-
tion and countenance to his undertaking alone a journey
into the interior of Africa, with a" view to ascertaining the
course and determination of the river Niger. This they
declined, whereupon he procured two years' leave of ab-
sence, and resolved to attempt " a walking tour " round
the globe, as nearly as could be done by land, crossing
from Northern Asia to America at Behring's Straits, his
leading object being to trace the shores of the Polar Sea
along America by land, as Captain Parry was at the time
attempting it by sea. Accordingly he left London with
his knapsack, crossed the Channel to Dieppe, and then
set out. This gentleman was endowed with an unbounded
reliance upon his own individual exertions, and his knowl-
edge of man when unfettered by the frailties and mis-
conduct of others. One man, he said, might go any-
where he chose, fearlessly and alone, and as safely trust
himself in the hands of savao;es as amons: his own
friends. His favorite dictum was that an individual
might travel throughout the Russian empire, except in
the civilized parts between the capitals, so long as his
conduct was becoming, without necessaries failino- him.
He put his principle rather severely to the test, and it
must be allowed that he did so with very general success,
for he states that in travelling from Moscow to Irkoutsk
(3,000 miles by his route) ho spent less than a guinea.
From Irkoutsk he descended the Lena to Yakoutsk, from
whence, accompanied by a single Cossack, he penetrated
A NEMESIS OF MISGOVERNMENT. 413
in a north-easterly direction almost to the shores of the
Ice Sea at Nijni Kolimsk, where, havuig altered his
jjlaus, he turned back hy a most difficult route to Okh-
otsk. From this jilace he sailed to Kamchatka, and mar-
ried a native, whom he brought by sea back to Okhotsk,
and then in winter crossed the Aldan mountains to Yak-
outsk, whence the happy pair proceeded to Irkoutsk, and at
length reached England. For enterprise and bravery
this captain, I take it, easily bears off the palm from all
Siberian travellers.
The writer who has added most, perhaps, to our scien-
tific knowledge of the valley of the Lena is M. Adolph
Erman, who crossed Siberia in 1828, in conjunction,
though not in company, with Professor Hanstecn, the
first pi-ofessor at the Magnetic Observatory at Chi'isti-
ania, in Norway, and famous for his researches in terres-
trial magnetism. They both travelled for the purpose of
making magnetic and other observations; but, on arriv-
ing at Irkoutsk, Professor Hansteen returned to Europe,
whilst Erman continued down the Lena to Yakoutsk,
crossed to tiie Sea of Okhotsk, and so continued round
the world.
Later on, one more Englishman has reached the Pacific
by the way of the Lena, namely, Mr. S. S. Hill, who
did so in 1848, and it is not unlikely that he may, for
some time, be the last of the intrepid travellers who
have accomplished this feat, since the Amoor is now open
to the Russians, and presents a far easier way of crossing
the continent.
To follow the older route, the first portion had to be
traversed by post vehicles from Irkoutsk, a distance of
160 miles in a north-easterly direction. The road
crosses the water-parting of the Lena basin at or near
the station Khogotskaya, which is about 90 geographical
414
A NEMESIS OF MISGOYEENMENT.
miles from Irkoutsk. The traveller journeys through a
hilly country, where there is abundant pasture, and
where the Itviid is to some extent cultivated, to the vil-
lage of Kachugskoe, situated on the banks of the Lena.
Here various sorts of merchandise are embarked in large
flat-bottomed boats, which are floated down the river.
These goods are exchanged with the natives for furs, the
boats at the end of the journey being broken up in dis-
tricts where timber is scare, and the furs brought back
A NEMESIS OF MISGOVEENMENT. 415 ,
in smaller craft. It was in one of these flat-bottomed boats
that Mr. Hill descended the stream, in company with a .
Russian merchant, accomplishing the journey to Ya-
koutsk in twenty-one da3's, with no worse mishaps by
water than occasionally being driven on sand or mud
banks, or into a forest of trees, all but submerged by the
height of the spring floods.
Captain Cochrane chose a more independent course.
Being furnished with a Cossack, he drove from Irkoutsk
to the Lena, and, having procured an open canoe and
two men, paddled down the stream. Proceeding day
and night, they usually made from 100 to 120 miles a
day, finding hospitable villages at intervals of from fif-
teen to eighteen miles, as far as Kirensk, and so arrived
on the eighth day at Vitirask. It was now late in the
autumn, and the ice began to come down the river, which
sometimes compelled the natives to striiJ, and, up to their
waists in water, to track the boat, and this with the ther-
mometer below freezing-point. At length the captain,
in consequence of the difficulties of boating, was requested
at one of the villages to proceed on horseback, which he
(lid, and, behig unable at the next station to get either
horses or boat, he had to shoulder his knapsack and
walk ; and so, by means of walking, riding, and paddling,
he reached Olekminsk. From thence to Yakoutsk is
about 400 miles, which, excelling the two last stages, the
<'aptain completed in a canoe, arriving on the 6th of Octo-
ber. The weather was cold, snow was falling, and on
approaching Yakoutsk the canoe was caught in the ice,
so that he was compelled to make the remainder of his
journey on foot.
The descent of the Upper Lena to Yakoutsk by water
was undertaken by Mr. Hill in spring, and by Captaia
416 A NEMESIS OF MISGOVEENMENT.
Cochrane in autumn, but Mr. Erraan accomplished it on
the ice in winter, b}^ a twenty days' sledge journey of
nearly 1,900 miles. As he passed along he observed,
first in the village of Petrovsk, several of the women
largeh^ affected with goitre, and learned with surprise
that this malady, which in Europe characterises the
valleys of the Alps, is frequent on the Lena. As he pro-
ceeded he found goitre in men also, and asking an exile
at Turutsk, who appeai-ed the only healthy person in the
place, how he had protected himself from goitre, was
told that adults arriving from Europe were never attacked
by the disease, but that the goitre was born with children
of the district, and grew up with them. Medical men in
Switzerland say that goitre proceeds from deposits in
chemical combination, washed down by mountain streams
that supply the inhabitants of the neighborhood with
drinking water, and that it attacks children on account
of their mucous membranes being very tender and easily
distended. Mr. Erman inquired carefully, as he went on,
respecting the prevalency of goitre, and having made
barometrical and other obseiwations along the way, he
came at length to the conclusion that the disease was
traceable, in part, to the formation and altitude of vai'i-
ous places along the valley of the river, where the air,
being confined, is, in summer, heated to an extraordinarj'-
degree, and loaded with moisture.
With regard to the stream of the Upper Lena, its head-
waters have their sources spread out for 200 geographi-
cal miles along the counter slopes of the hills that form
the western bank of Lake Baikal, and the main stream
rises within seven miles of the lake.
At Kachugskoe, about 60 geographical miles from the
Baikal, and not less than 75 geographical miles in a
A NEMESIS OF MISGOVERNMENT. 417
straight line from its source, the Lena measures about
the width of East Eiver, opposite New York. The
water, deep and clear, has in spring a very rapid cur-
rent, though Captain Cochrane speaks of the rate h)wer
down, in autumn, as only 1^ or 2 knots per hour. The
next station after Kaohugskoe is Vercholeiisk, a town of
1,000 inhabitants, the lirst of that size on the north-cast
of Irkoutsk, and is the chief town of iheuyezd (district).
After flowing 500 miles further through a hilly country,
with high banks always on one and sometimes on both
sides, on which are 35 post-stations and more villages,
the river passes Kirensk, which again is the chief town
of an tiyezd, and has a population of 800. Here cul-
tivatiou practically ceases, except for vegetables. At
this jjoiijt, too, the river receives on its riglit the Kirenga,
which has run nearly as long a course as the Lena. The
stream Ihus enlarged now flows on for 300 miles more to
Yitinisk^ where it is joined by its second great ti'ibutary,
the Yitim, from the mountains east of Lake Baikal. An-
other stietcli of 4(iO miles, through a country still hi llj^,
but with villages less frequent, brings the traveller to
Olekminsk, the capital of another uyezd, a town of 500
inhabitants ; there the Lena receives from the south the
Olekraa, ■\\hich rises near the Amoor river. It then con-
tinues for 400 miles through a sparselj'-populated dis-
trict, till it reaches Yakoutsk, where it is 4 miles wide
in sumraei', and 2^ in winter, the river being usually
frozen about the 1st of October, and not free from ice
till about May 25th.
Hitherto the course of the river has been to the north-
east, but at Yakoutsk the stream makes a bend and runs
due north, receiving on its right, 100 miles below Yak-
outsk, one of its largest tributaries, the Aldan, which
rises in the Stanovoi range bordering on the Sea of Okh-
418 A NEMESIS OF MISGOVEENMENT.
otsk, Yakoutsk is only 270 feet above the sea, and the
current of the river henceforth is sluggish. About 50
miles further the Lena receives its largest tributary from
the left, the Vilui, and then proceeds majestically through
a flat country with an enormous body of water to the
Arctic Ocean, into which it enters among a delta of
islands formed of the debris brought down by the river.
In the region of the Lower Lena, and to the west- '
ward, have been found the remains of a huge rhinoce^
ros, and an elephant larger than any now existing — the
elephas primigenius, popularly called the mammoth. It
is so named from the Russian mamont, or Tartar mamma
(the earth), because the Yakutes believed tliat this ani-
imal worked its way in the earth like a mole ; and a
Chinese story represents the mamentova as a rat of the
size of an elephant which always burrowed underground,
and died on comino; in contact with the outer air. The
tusks of the mammoth are remarkable for exhibiting 3
double curve, first inwards, then outwards, and then in-
wards again ; several able naturalists are of the opinior.
that the so-called mammoth is of the same species as the
Indian elephant, only much altered by the change of cli-
matic conditions. The Samoyeds say that the mam-
moth still exists wandering upon the shores of the
Frozen Ocean, and subsisting on dead bodies thrown up
by the surf. As for the rhinoceros, they say it was a
gigantic bird, and tlie horns which the ivory-merchants
purchase were its talons. Their legends tell of fearful
combats between their ancestors and this enormous
winged animal.
A trade in mammoth ivory has been carried on for
hundreds of years between the tribes of Northern Asia
and the Chinese ; but it was a long time before European
naturalists took a marked interest in the evidence of an
A N£ME.-iIS OF MISGOVEENMENT.
41^
extinct order of animals wtiich these remains undeniably
recorded. The Siberian mammoth agrees exactly with
the specimens unearthed in various parts of England, es-
pecially at Ilford in the valley of the Thames, near Lon-
don, on the coast of Norfolk ; but whereas on European
soil there remain but fragments of the skeleton, there
have been found in Siberia bones of the rhinoceros and
mammoth covered with pieces of flesh and skin. These
discoveries date back more than a century.
In December, 1771, a party of Yakutes hunting on the
Vilui, near its junction with the Lower Lena, discovered
an unknown animal half-buried in the sand, but still re-
taining its flesh, covered with a thick skin. The carcass
was too much decomposed to allow of more than the
head and two feet being forwarded to Irkoutsk ; but they
were seen by the great traveller and naturalist, Peter
Simon Pallas, who pronounced the animal a rhinoceros,
not particularly large of its kind, which might perchance
have been born in Central Asia.
In the year 1799 a bank of frozen earth near the mouth
of the Lena broke away, and revealed to a Tunguse,
named Schumachoff, the body of a mammoth. Hair,
skin, flesh and all had been preserved by the frost ; and
seven years later Mr. Adams, of the Petersburg Academy,
hearing of the discovery at Yakoutsk, visited the spot.
He found, however, that the greater part of the flesh had
been eaten by wild animals and the dogs of the natives,
though the eyes and brains remained. The entire car-
cass measured 9 feet 4 inches high, and 16 feet 4 inches
from the point of the nose to the end of the tail, without
including the tusks, which were 9 feet 6 inches in length
if measured along the curves. The two tusks weighed
360 lbs., and the head and tusks together 414 lbs. The
skin was of such extraordinary weight that ten persons
420 A NEMESIS OF MI8GOVEENMENT.
found great diiBcultj in carrying it. About 40 lbs. of
hair, too, were collected, though much more of this was
trodden into the sand by the feet of bears which had
eaten the flesh. This skeleton is now in the Museum of
the Academy at Petersburg, where I examined it during
my visit to the city in October, 1882.
Again, in 1843, M. Middendorf found a mammoth on
the Taz, between the Obi and the Yenesei, with some of
the flesh in so perfect a condition that it was found possi-
ble to remove the ball of the eye, which is preserved in
the Museum at Moscow.
In 1865 the captain of a Yenesei steamer by chance
learned that some natives had discovered the preserved
remains of a mammoth in latitude 67", about 100 versts
west of the river. Intelligence was sent to Petersburg,
and Dr. Schmidt was commissioned to go and examine
into the matter. Accordingly he proceeded down the
Yenesei to Turukhansk, and thence to the landing-place
nearest the mammoth deposit, hoping to obtain the ani-
mal's stomach, and, from the character of the leaves
within, infer the creature's habitat, since it is known that
the beast lived upon vegetable food, but of what exact
character no one has yet determined. Unfortunately the
stomach was wanting.
In examining, under tli3 microscope, fragments of vege-
table food picked out of the grooves of the molar teeth
of the Siberian rhinoceros at Irkoutsk, naturalists have
recognized fibres of the pitch-pine, larch, birch, and wil-
low, resembling those of trees of the same kind which
still grow in Southern Siberia. This seems to confirm
the opinion, expressed long ago, that the rhinoceros and
other large pachyderms found in the alluvial soil of the
north used to inhabit Middle Siberia, south of the ex-
treme northern regions where their skeletons are now
A NEMESIS OF MISGOVEEA'SIENT. 421
found ; but Mr. Knox, Avlio travelled for some distance
M'itli Schmidt on his return journey, says that the doctor
estimated that the animal liad been frozen many thou-
sands of years, and tliat his natural dwelling-place was in
tlie north, at a period when perhaps the Arctic regions
were warmer than they now are. Covered with long
hair, it could certainly resist an Arctic climate ; but hov/
on the tundras of the north could the animal have found
the foliage of tress necessary for its subsistence? Must
we conclude that formerly the country was wooded, or
that the mammoth did not live where its skeletons are
now found, but further south, whence its carcase has
been carried northward by rivers, and frozen into the
soil? These arc questions debated among geologists,
and still awaiting solution.
The fact, however, remains, that mammoth ivory is
still an important branch of native commerce, and all
travellers bear witness to the quantities of fossil bones
foinid throughout the frozen regions of Siberia. It has
been suggested that the abundant supplies of ivory which
were at the command of the ancient Greek sculptors came
by way of the Black Sea from the Siberian deposits. So
far back as the time of Captain Billings, INIartin Saner,
his secretary, tells us of one of the Arctic islands near
the Siberian mainland, that " it is a mixture of sand and
ice, so that when the thaw sets in and its lianks begin to
fall, man}^ mammoth bones are found, and that all the
isle is formed of the bones of this extraordinary animal."
This account is to some extent corroborated liy Figuier,
who tells us that New Silieria and the Isle Liakov are for
the most part only an agglomeration of sand, ice, and
elephants' teeth ; and at every tempest the sea casts ashore
new quantities of mammoths' tusks. Eeclus speaks of
an annual find of fifteen tons of mammoth ivory, repre-
27
dili! A NEMESIS OF MISGOVEEiNMEiN'T.
senting about 200 mammoths ; and, about 1840, Midden-
dorf estimated the number of mammoths discovered uj)
to that time at 20,000.
Each year, in early summer, fishermen's barques dii'ect
their course to the New Siberian group, to the " isles of
bones;" and, during winter, caravans drawn by dogs
take the same route, and return charged with tusks of
the mammoth, each weighing from 150 pounds to 200
pounds. The fossil ivory thus obtained is imported into
China and Europe, and is used for the same purposes as
the ordinary ivory of the elephant and hippopotamus.
We cannot leave the Lower Lena and the neighboring
shores of the Arctic Ocean without alluding to the won-
derful sight those shores witnessed iu 1878, for the first
time in the history of the world. It was no less a sight
than that of two steam vessels that had ploughed their
way from Europe round Cape Cheliuskin. One of them
was the Vega, in which was Professor Nordenskjold,
whose intention had been to anchor off the mouth of the
Lena, but a favorable wind and an open sea offered so
splendid an opportunity of continuing his voyage that he
did not neglect it. He sailed away, therefore, on the
28th of August, direct for Eadiovskoi, one of the New
Siberian islands, Avhere he intended to remain some days,
and to examine scientifically the remains of mammoths,
rhinoceri, horses, aurochs, bisons, sheep, etc., with
which these islands are said to be covered. The Vega
made excellent progress, but though on the 30th, Liakov
Island was reached, the professor was unable to land,
owing to the rotten ice Avhich surrounded it, and the dan-
ger to which the vessel would have been exposed in case
of a storm in such shallow water.
After the Vega with Nordenskjold on board, had left
its sister ship the Lena, the latter vessel, under the com-
A NEMESIS OF MIEGOVEENMENT. 423
mand of Captain Johannesen, started to ascend the river
of its own name. A pilot had been engaged to descend
the river and await the arrival of tlie Lena, but as
neither he nor his signals were visible, the captain, after
considerable difficulty, from the shallowness of the
water, made his way through the delta, and on the 7th of
September reached the main stream, where the naviga-
tion was less difficult. Yakoutsk was reached on the
21st of September, dispatches were sent on to Irkoutsk,
and from thence it was telegraphed to Europe that the
rounding of Cape Cheliuskin and the navigation of the
Lena by a steamer from the Atlantic had been accom-
plished.
Since this ascent of the Lena, no other vessel has
attempted to follow by way of the Arctic mouth, but
there are now several steam ci-afts navigating the stream
between Yakoutsk and towns located further south on the
river. About the delta, where the Jeaunette sur^'ivors
landed, there is still comparatively little known, though
two native tribes, the Samoyeds and Ostjaks, hunt every
year all along the coast and sledge their game on the
frozen Lena from near its mouth to Yakoutsk. *
CHAPTER XXTV.
There are a number of mines worked hj convict labor
which I have not yet mentioned, among the more import-
ant being those at Kadaya, Malopatomski, Klitchka,
Algatche, Akatuya, Vidinsky, Nertchinsky Zavod,
Chita, Nertchinsk, and Petrovsky Zavod. Of these the
* For much of the infoiTnation here given concerning the Lena, I am in-
debted to Mr. Lansdell's "Through Siberia/'
A SIBERIAN HOME.
4^4
A NEMESIS OF MISGOVERNMENT. 425
Nertcliinsk mines deserve special mention, because of
tlieir magnitude and the reputation which they bear. Of
this place of labor and torment the author of " The Eus-
sians of To-day" writes (p. 21()) : "The miners are
supposed to be the worst offenders, and tlieir punislnnent
is tantamount to death by slow fortune ; for it is certain
to kill them in ten years, and ruins their liealth long be-
fore that time. If tlie convict have monej^ f)r influential
friends, he had better use the time between liis sentence
and transportation in buying a warrant which consigns
him to the liii'hter kinds of hibor above o-round, otherwise
he will inevitably be sent under earth, and never again
see the sky until he is hauled up to die in an infirmar3^"
Again, a distinguished German writer, Robert Lemkc,
visited several mines in Siberia with an official legitima-
tion from the Russian Government, among the mines so
visited being; those at Nertchinsk. Of tlic treatment ac-
corded to convicts, in an article contributed to tlie Con-
temporary Hevieiv, Septeml)er, 1879, Mr. Lemke saj's :
"Entering a'room (in the mine) of considerable extent, but
which was scarcely a man's heiglit, and wliich was dimly
lit by an oil lamp, I asked, 'where ai'e we?' 'In the
sleeping room of the condemned ! Formerly it was a gal-
lery of tlie mine, now it serves as a shelter !' I shud-
dered. This subterranean sepulchre, lit by neither sun
nor moon, was called a sleeping room. Alcove-like cells
were hewn in the rock ; here, on a couch of damp, lialf-
rotten sti'aw, covered with a sack-cloth, the unfortunate
sufferers were to repose from the day's hard work. Over
each cell a cramp iron was fixed, wherewith to lock up
the prisoners like ferocious dogs. No door, no window
an3'where.
" Conducted through another passage, where a few
lamps were placed, and whose end was also barred by an
426 A NEMESIS OF MISGOVEENMENT.
iron gate, I came to a large vault, partly lit. This was
the mine. A deafening noise of pickaxes and hammers
grated on my ears. Here I saw hundreds of wretched
ligures, with shaggy beards, sickly faces, reddened eyes,
clad in tatters — some of them barefoot, others in sandals,
and all fettered with heavy foot chains. No songs, no
whistling; now and then they shyly glanced at me and
my guide."
jMr. Lemke also writes that in response to an inquiry
which he made about the time allowed convicts to rest,
the officer excitedly said : " Rest ! Convicts must always
labor. There is no rest for them ; they are condemned to
pei'petual forced labor, and he who once enters the mine
rarely leaves it."
I had read thesestatementsbeforeleaving America, and
now, while in a position to test their accuracy, I deter-
mined to profit by the advantage. Mr. GunsoUis Avas
still with me, and upon communicating my desire to him,
he at once set about to assist me in finding some one who
■was familiar with the treatment of convicts at Ncrtchinsk.
We had not long to search, for in a short time my friend
was directed to a merchant whose dvornih — house por-
ter — had been an exile at the noted mines for several
years. This fellow, however, appeared very stupid, so
tliat I did not like to trust his statement, from which
dilemma I was fortunately relieved l)y his referring me to
at least seven others in the city Avho had served terms of
hard labor at Ncrtchinsk. By his directions I found six
f)f these, three of whom Avere intellii>-ent enough to com-
prehend my motives, Avhile the other three Avcre so suspi-
cious of me that they could not be induced to talk.
From the three AAath Avhom I conversed freely much
valuable information Avas obtained, Avhich so thoroughly
accords with all other descriptions of the place that T
SHACKLED CONVICTS AT WORK IN THE KARA MINES.
427
428 A NEMESIS OF MISGOVERNMENT.
present it here, fully assured that it contains no misi'ep-
resentatious. Of the three, one had served eight years
atNertchinsk for participation in the Polish riots of 1863 ;
another had spent ten years at hard labor for an alleged
connection with Nihilist rioters at Karkoff, which, how-
ever, he denied, and the other had served twelve years for
burning Government property at iTarasloff. Each, of
course, had a long story of justification, but as this
might be ex2iected from every convict, I did not rely on
their defensive statements, lest they should be colored by
excuses which had no existence in fact. But as to tlie
treatment of themselves, and others under their obser-
vation at Nertchinsk, they were qualified to speak truth-
fully.
The mines at Nertchinsk are entered through an exca-
vation made near the base of a mountain ; they are nearly
three hundred feet in dejith, and, owing to the sup-
posed existence of volcanic fires near the tunnels,
are very warm. Into these tunnels, which ramify
a large district, generally five hundred convicts are
ens:a2;ed minin;^ silver ; aliout one-fourth of this num-
I,er are never permitted to appear above ground ; that
]i, while all are doomed to hard labor, the portion
referred to, having incurred the prejudice of those hav-
ing them in charge, are subjected to a treatment not con-
templated in their sentences. These unfortunates are
not only weighted with heavy manacles, their arms, necks
and ankles mutilated by the galling, rasping irons that
are never removed, but their tasks are allotted greatly
out of proportion to their ability, and yet they must per-
form them or be placed under such severe discipline as
few can long endure.
It is no excuse if these men become ill or exhausted,
they work nevertheless, and that too, with the same en-
A NEME8IS OF MISGOVERNMENT. 429
ergy as though they were well txiid able-bodied. Those
who trundle whcel-liurrows are chained to their imj^le-
nieiit ; those who wield the pick are generally chained to
a rock beside their work, and so no one can leave for
an instant the place where he is set to labor. In this
mine there is a gallery which is used only for punish-
ment ; it is provided with rings made fast in the rock,
and also with a large beam set at an angle of thirty-five
or forty degrees, similar to that used in some of our pen-
itentiaries, on which to punish convicts, and called the
" Widow." When an offender becomes a subject for
punishment he is taken into this gallery and either tied
lip by his wrists to the rings, or made to lie face down-
ward on the beam, to which he is made fast by binding
his wrists and ankles underneath. The scorpion is very
frequently used ui^on those who are bound to the beam ;
from twenty-five to fifty lashes are given with this dread-
fid instrument, which latter number will, nine times out
of ten, make a raving maniac of the victim. Those tied
to the rings receive fr(nn one hundred to two hundred
strokes of the knout, which lacerate the back in a manner
no one can possibly describe ; the use of both these in-
struments of punishment is very often attended with fatal
results.
The shocking brutality of those who apjily such, os-
tensibl}', corrective means is further illustrated by their
refusal to care for their victims after the unmerciful pun-
ishment is awarded. There is no compassionate treat-
ment given the victims ; taken from the gallery, with
gashed and bleeding backs, their bodies quivering with
ao-on}', and legs so enfeebled that they frequently refuse
support, the poor wretches are driven , or dragged, back to
resume their tasks. Many of these sufferers return with
disordered minds, crazed from pain, yet their idiotic ut-
430 A NEMESIS OF BIISGOVERNMENT.
terances often cause them to be led again to the gallery
for a double portion of punishment, or to be struck dead
by the ferocious guard. For beds on Avhich to lay their
wounded bodies these poor convicts have only the ragged
surface of the mine in which they work ; nothing but rocks
for couch, pillow or coverlet; nothing with which to bind
their sores or alleviate their pains ; enforced neglect causes
a suppuration of the wounds, which, aggravated and poi-
sonedlby perspiration, grow more severe until fever suc-
ceeds, delirium is induced, and they fall victims indeed,
but to secure at last relief and rest.
Constant labor in the mines, without for one moment
being permitted to sec the blessed light of day, shut
down in the damp cavern to breathe heated metalic fumes,
produces an effect upon the convict which nmst be seen to
be understood. The first changes noticeable, strange
enough, are found in the hair, which becomes coarse,
harsh and straggling ; next the features assume a pale cast,
which afterwards change to a dull, ashen coh)r ; the
eyes then lose all lustre, and begin to sink ; the skin
shrinks on the cheeks, and the flesh dries up until,
after some years of labor, the whole frame seems to
grow rickety, the muscles become atrophied and the voice
is like a wheezy whisper ; the lips are thin as paper, and
the fingers are grown to double length by reason of the
flesh drying up between them. Such specter-like figures
seen through the flickering light of smoking torches,
which throw dancing shadows on the trickling tunnels'
sides, are wierdly grotesque, arousing in the observer a
conception of tiiose nether regions peopled by tormented
souls and imps of iniquity ; it is indeed a place of tor-
ment, established and maintained in that spirit which gave
expression to the poetic, though none the less existent
fact : "Man's inhumanity to man, makes countless thou-
sands mourn."
A NEMESIS OF MISGOVERN MENT. 431
Before concluding this most painful suliject (for to me
it has boon melancholy m the extreme,) I must record the
alleviating fact tliat all Siljerian prisons are not conducted
upon the inhuman principles "wliich distinguisli Kara,
Nertchinsk and Dui ; while nearly all the prisoners sent
into exile by the Russian Government receive a more ilg-
orous treatment, perhaps, than that practiced l)y other
nations, yet there may be found, at occasional intervals,
in the most desolate portions of Siberia, considerate, hu-
mane Governors whose aml)ition it is to lighten the bur-
dens of exile life. It is gratifying to all the world to
know that there is growing on Siberia's soil, from little
seeds of kindness scattered therein by the few gracious
dispensers of a temperate judgment sent to look over
exiles, the tree of mercy that is spreading and exhaling
such wholesome influence as will ultimately drive out the
Draconian beasts of severity and relieve Eussia from the
stigma of cruelty Avhich now shames her before the
world.
Indeed, so nmch has been done already that we may
anticipate an early adoption of a thoroughly merciful
administration o\'er the unfortunates sent into exile.
Formerly, and not many years ago either, there were ec-
clesiastical courts in Siberia ; self -constituted though
they were, their decrees contained all the poisonous germs
of that church policy which taught, during the middle
ages, that it was proper to torture heretics to the end that
their souls might l)e saved. These courts sat in judgment
upon those accuised of sacrilege, heresy, and witchcraft,
which latter offence, strange enough, was more common
than either of the others. As has always been the rule
with every country that recognized witchcraft in its laws,
women in Siberia were made to feel the special force of
the jJunishment provided against those convicted of prac-
432
A NEMESIS OP MISGOVERNMENT.
Licing the black art. It was quite sufSciont for one con-
vict to accuse a female of his class of collusion with the
devil, or of weaving nets with which to catch spirits of
darkness to make them slaves to her will, to cause the one
so accused to be brought l)Gf (n-c the ecclesiastical tribunal ,•
these arrangements were in every respect like those which
A >EMESIS OF MISGOVERNMENT. 433
were made a])out Salem, Massachusetts, in the last century,
and conviction almost invariably resulted. The punish-
ment provided for such cases consisted in branding, with
a red hot iron, upon the forehead and abdomen, a figiu'e
of the cross. This was supposed to spiritualize the vic-
tim, and also to have a holy influence upon any offspring
which she might thereafter bear. The application of the
brand was accompanied with the most excruciating suffer-
ing, it being deemed essential to the potency of the coun-
ter-charm, to burn deeply into the tlesh that the cross
might ever appear most conspicuous.
But this barbaric custom is no longer practiced in any
part of Siberia, while the treatment of female convicts
generally is now fairly considerate, though not entirely
humane. So do we have to record the fact, alreadj^ men-
tioned, that a reward is no longer placed upon the heads
of escaping convicts, though there is no penalty provided
for the wilful murder of exiles, either in or out of prison.
The sjjirit of the age is ver}^ slowly, but none the less
certainly, extending towards Siberia, and let us hope it
may completely possess that country ere long.
&
CHAPTER XXV.
Having pretty fully informed myself on the several sub-
jects appertaining to Siberian life, on the 20th of Septem-
ber I took leave of my new acquaintances at Irkoutsk and
prepared for the return journey, with Schlueter still acting
as my guide. There was considerable snow falling and
already on the ground, so adopting the most expeditious
mode of travelling we engaged a \^OHt-troil:a and ;i/eiit-
stchih, with which we started forKrasnoiarsk. Up to this
434
A NEMESIS OF MISGOVERNMENT.
time I had carefully preserved the skin or the bear 1
killed while en-route for Yeniseisk, but it became so trou-
blesome that, after many wavering resolutions, I finally
gave it to a mujik at whose house we stopped to purchase
A NEMESIS OF MISGOVERNMENT. 435
milk, My tribulations over that skin were manifold.
When I first perceived tlie bear it appeared to me of the
most stupendous size and ferocity ; when fortune favored
me by directing tlie ball I fired to a fatal spot andthe ani-
mal rolled over dead, it must be admitted that T entertained
an opinion of myself which is simply and utterly beyond
description ; for several minutes I felt great ^.nxiety to
get back to America for the sole purpose of having my biog-
raphy published. But when I began to skin the animal and
thoroughly familiarize myself with its size and weapons for
defence, somehow it commenced to dwindle like a candle
lighted at b(jth ends, or more properly like an oliject
looked at through the large end of a spy-glass. Actually,
that bear got so small before we finished the skinning
that I felt sorry my rashness had destroyed an animal
which I might as Avell have caught and made a pet of.
But besides being very small, the skin refused to dry,
while at every exposure it would freeze in the most un-
comfortable shapes, and take up more room than all our
other luggage. These several reasons I considered, at
length, quite sufiicient to make me part with the skin,
but I was very sorry to see the mujik throw it aside with
a look which plainly said: "Well, perhaps it will do
for the cats to gnaw."
Upon reaching Nijni Udinsk we made a short stop and
went out to the mines, which are nearly one mile from
the town proper. But my visit was without results, as
the chief oflicer was absent and none of his underlings
would permit me to descend into the mines.
Starting again on the following day, we proceeded with-
out interruption to Krasuoiarsk, and thence on to Tomsk
without delay anywhere on the route. Everywhere
there seemed to be plenty of snow except at Tomsk,
where we found the ground so bare that I had to discard
436
A KEMESW OF MIHOOVERXMEXT.
the troika for a tumbril. I here decided to change my
route and instead of returning to Russia by the same way
I had come, to cut straight across to Omsk and take the
lower route which crosses the Urals at Oreuburo-. This
A NEMESIS OF MISOOVERNilEXT. 437
w)ad I found, though not nearly so generally travelled as
t()at by the way of Perm and Tobolsk, was through a
moi'c fertile countrj', and the roads were far better.
Omsk is a town of 3,000 people, with nothing to com-
mend it above the smallest way-station, unless it lie in
the matter of churches, which are somewhat finer than
those in Tieumen. I did not stop more than two hours
in Omsk, being now anxious to conclude my investiga-
tions in Russia and reach home before winter should be-
gin. As there were no post-stations upon which I could
rely for conveyance between Omsk and Orenburg, I was
reduced to the necessit3^ of buying a tumT)ril and three
horses, for which I paid something more than for those
I purchased at Tomsk. It was also necessary for us to
lay in a goodly store of provisions, as the distance we had
now to travel was about one thousand miles before reach-
ing the boundarj' of Russian civilization. This portion
of my trip through Siberia impressed me more, perhaps,
than anything I saw or heard on the convict route, for so
great was the exposure induced from inclement weather
that the effects I still keenly feel, while I was reduced in
weight nearly thirty pounds.
Schleuter, besides being a good guide, was a splendid'
cook, and his services over the camp-fire had much to do
in sustaining my, at times, flagging courage, for I can
assure the reader that it is a rugged courage indeed that
can resist the complaints of nature when incited by
freezing cold, chilling rains, sickness, and the number-
less annoyances which one might expect to meet on so
lon
44 :i A NEMESIH OF MISGOVEENMENT.
train, which runs across Eussia 500 miles to "^^arsaw, for
a large serf village located near the road, about forty
miles from Moscow. I decided to visit this place be-
cause an American gentleman from Philadelphia, whom
I met at the Hotel Billo in Moscow, had travelled through
tlie village a few days before and assured me of its rep-
resentative character. The station at which I stopped
contained only one or two buildings, and being unable to
engage any kind of conveyance Schleuter and I walked
out to the Serf village, which was about two miles frotD
the station.
There is nothing to which I can compare a serf settle-
ment so well as to the negro log cabins still found on our
Southern plantations. The buildings are nearly all alike,
small, one or two room log huts having roofs of thatch,
and are built along streets which seem to have been regu-
larly laid out. There are generally two small, square
windows in each house, and the floors are made of hewn
pine logs, same as those used for the walls. Invariably,
at a short distance from the village, is the nobleman's
residence and a chapel for religious worship, not always
near together, but never more than a half-mile apart.
The nobleman's house always stands on an elevated posi-
tion commanding a view of the village and estate.
Things are very much changed since the serfs were eman-
cipated, but there are yet visible traces of the relationship
which once existed between the serfs and their master —
nobleman. The glory, pomp and wealth of the nobility
have departed ; no longer are the serfs called to their daily
labor by the sounding horn, nor do they pay homage tooi
work for lordly masters who spend their years in riotous
living. The mansion still stands a mute reminder ot
slavery days, but its once proud owner is now draining
the dregs of poverty and spending his influence in fo-
A NEMESIS OF MISGOVERNMENT. 443
menting rebellion against the Government that by a iiiun-
tlate deprived him of both -wealth and position. But
there appears to bo little independence or prosperity
among the serfs whose liberty came to them in a manner
which they have never been quite able to understand.
The commmial estates still remain as in earlier days, the
villages arc intact, and but for the loitering indiffer-
ence of the people we could hardly realize the change.
On Southern plantations the OTeo-arious I02; cabins which
once sheltered negro bondsmen are now empty and fallen
into decay, but though the abolition of serfdom was ac-
coaiplished before the manumission of slaves in America,
there is very little outwardly to show that the serf of
former days is not still a serf.
I went among tiio peasantr}^ who now hold the term
"serf" in disdain, aiid was kindly treated by them.
After once assuring themselves that the object of my
visit was to learn something of their customs, they
showed me every Idudness and entertained me with a
generous hospitality.
CHAPTER XXVI.
StTPEESTiTiON is nowhere so absurdly general and gro-
tesque as among the Russian peasantiy ; but this is not
surprising when we consider the fact that they receive no
education whatever ; a school house to them is only as a
dream ; they are nurtured in a church which recognizes
modern day miracles, and are taught by priests who are
the only monitors the poor classes know ; that God and
his saints spend their whole time looking for a fitting oc-
caeJOD to do something that may be interpreted as a mir-
44J: A NEMESIS OF MISGOVEENMENT.
arle. The cock tlint crows in the morning is reckoned
as a moutli-piece of some old saint, and tlicre are certain
patriarclis in each villaye Avho take it upon tliemselves to
render certain matutinal calls of the cock into decrees
from heaven. Piiieons are looked upon as holy birds,
for the lives of which the Russians are so regardful that
a severe punishment is provided for any who would wan-
tonly kill them ; in consequence of this the whole countiy
is fairly tilled with pigeons, until they are an abominable
nuisance. Every peasant must have an " icon " and keep a
candle constantly burning before it; should the candle
become exhausted in the uight or be extinguished by ac-
cident, the entire household is at once seized with alarm ;
they immediately declare that a prowling spirit of dark-
ness is in the house, to rid themselves of which they burn
certain kinds of herbs and j)crforni long series of strange
ceremonials. The Russians do not, so far as I could
learn, entertain any belief in faries or pixies, but they all
have implicit contidence in good and evil spirits, which
they believe are the angels of men and women who have
died leaving somethinc; undone of such serious nature
that they visit the earth to attend to the neglected matter.
/Before neither chapel nor holy image will a peasant pass
without devoutly crossing himself. While in Moscow I
saw an amusing illustration of this devotional characteris-
tic : a priest came riding by in a carriage, carrying in his
arms a picture of St. Nicholas (in his life he was called
the iron-heeled despot, but after death his name was
changed to St. Nicholas) ; the street was filled with peo-
ple, and as they saw the (un)holy image they all dropped
upon their knees and bent their heads to the sidewalk ; as
far as my eyes could follow the receding carriage I saw
the jDcople dropping down in long files like double col-
umns of an army answering to a command. These people,
A NEMESIS OF MISfJOVEENMENT. 445
poor, ignorant and supci-stitious, are hardly less serfs
now than before, because of the slavery they are still
under tcj the church. In Russia there ai-e more priests
than dogs, and per consequence more dcgradalidii than
any other prevailing characteristic. The priests are
divided into two classes, viz., the M'hite and black clergv ;
the former arc privileged to do alxmt as they please, but
the latter, besides l)eing prohihited from marrying, do
not even receive the I'espcctful regard of common people ;
they are nearly all drunkards, and so notoriously corru^it
that in their preaching they exhort the people to " Do ;is
we advise you, but not as we do." These travesties on
the gospel, nevertheless, succeed in iilching from the
peasantry the means they can illy afford to spare. But
under a suspicion that the highest reward hereafter
attainable is given to those most liberal in their donations
to the church, a belief which has been created by priestly
mercenaries, the peasants divide their last copecks and
go hungry that they maybe called faithful. Churches,
monasteries and chapels abound in rare profusion
throughout Russia ; nowhere in the world is there such a
lavish display in ecclesiastical edifices and decorations ;
altars of solid silver, candelabras of pure gold, steeples
and domes glittering with precious metals ; priestly robes
bedizened with diamonds, rubies, sapijhires, and in short
the Mdiole church government covered inside and outside
with a paraphernalia of extravagant, inestimal)le wealth.
Now, who pays for all this pomp and more than Roman
splendor? Why, none but the peasantr}^, those whose
earnings are counted by copecks — half-cents — who go
without schooling, without bread, without any comfoits,
and who bring up their children no better than them-
selves ; these are they who contribute the means that
make such a mockery of Godliness, justice, common-
iJrO A NEMESIS OF MISGOVEENMENT.
sense, possible. Beside the icon in every peasant's home
is placed a small box into which something is drojDped
every day, if but a copeck, for the benefit of the clergy,
and whenever a miracle is wrought in a peasant's family,
which, in their estimation, is very often, this church allow-
ance not infrequently extends to the last piece of coin
the familj' possesses.
In this barbaric superstition — the Russian Church — is
found the primary cause of Nihilism. The oppressive
Inu'dens complained of do not arise wholly from despotic
rulership ; the Czar does not prevent the earth from bring-
ing forth, nor does he withhold the handof any husband-
man from the plow ; but the church has set aside one hun-
dred holidays annually, on which no man who is faithful
must labor ; by this edict she destroys one-third the pro-
ductiveness of the Empire and appropriates nearly all of
the other two-thirds to herself, to keep up appearances.
Poverty never considers the real cause that produces it,
but angry at fate, she is controlled by prejudice against
the more fortunate, and in these facts is patent reason
why the political dissensions in Russia are so serious. The
life of every nation is dependent upon the agricultural
resources it yields, so that every nation must be poor
whose pastoral people are poor ; it is better to stop the
spinning wheel than to arrest the plow, and more wisely
economical is it to burden the commerce of manufacture
than to encourage any scheme that looks toward a tax
ujion the farmer. Russia has not yet learned this im-
portant truth.
Agriculture in all Russia is still conducted upon primitive
principles ; I found that the peasants were indis^josed to
adopt any modern implement, but for what reason could
not be explained. Their plows are not wholly unlike
those used in China, consisting of a straight and narrow
A NEMESIS OF MISGOVEENMENT.
447
448 A KEMIi.SIS OF MISGOVEKNMENT.
l)l()\y-bliare, without any mould-ljoard, which runs into
the earth not more than three inches and makes more of
a trench tlian furrow ; their ph)\y horses worii in shafts,
and even here the doxuja is not discarded, but retained
as a relic of ancient usage, i^ut in the harvest field there
is still less of modern farming seen, for the grain is cut
with hand-siclsles, behind whicli follow gleaners, as in the
idays of Euth and Boaz. It is really a pretty siglit to
witness tlie haiwest gathering; as the peasants live in
communes, they work together upon a communistic prin-
ciple ; when tiie wheat has ripened — Russia raises com-
paratively little else — the village population , both men and
women, turn out with sickles at their labor, whicli begins
atbreak of day and continues until darkness. I have seen
more than one hundred reapers strung out in a line gath-
ering the srain of a single field, the men wearing trousers,
of some coarse material, outside of which the shirt is
worn ; but the women, if notmore expensivelydressed, are
certainly more gaudily decorated. They are very fond
of bright colors, their hair being bound up with gay hand-
kerchiefs, while their dresses are either of a bright red,
blue or green ; viewed at a distance, against a back-
ground of ripened grain and, as a whole, moving in ec-
centric undulations, the sight is exceedingly pleasing.
When the wheat is gathered and ready for threshing, it is
taken into sheds, which can hardly be called barns, and
there the grain is beaten out with flails, as in olden tiiflcs.
Notwithstanding the crude manner in which the peasantrjF
of Russia till their lands, yet Russia is the only competi-
tor America has in an ambition to feed the world.
Fortunately for us, what progress has been made in Rus-
sia has been in manufacture, to the almost utter neg'ect
of agriculture, the result of Avhich is the unwonted Je-
pression of all her energies, and the critical conditioi of
A NEMESIS OF MISfKlVERNMEST. 449
liei finances. This niaj^ be accounted for by a considera-
tion oJ: the foUowing facts, whicii should ha^'e special
iuterest for Americans, because a removal of the causes
may seriously embarrass our prosperity:
With immense tracts of sparsely populated but fertile
lands, a great lack of native skilled labor, and undevel-
oped mineral resources, Russia is necessarily an agricul-
tural country, and must seek material progress in driving
the plough, and not in forging the ploughshare. Every-
thing, however, seems to militate against the success of ag-
riculture. The land, which is inthe hands of the peasants
iu the purely Russian provinces, isbeingrapidly exhausted
under unskilful and improvident husbandry, and where,
under proper management, the complaint would be that
there were not hands sutficient to work the soil, the actual
cry is, on the contrary, that there is not land enough to
feed the inhabitants. To the foreigner who knows the
vast extent of the Russian Empire and the comparative
l^aucity of its inhabitants, the idea of an earth-hunger in
the dominions of the Czar appears simply absurd. Never-
theless the fact exists that the present deplorable condi-
tion of the peasantrjr in manj^ of the provinces is gravely
attributed to the sraallness of the shares of land which
full to the lot of the various village families.
The subject has become so important to Russia that the
Government has taken it into serious consideration, a
commission being appointed to enquire into the c^uestion ;
and steps having been taken to facilitate the removal of
lariie numbers of the peasants from the central provinces
to the vacant and fertile lands in the east of the Empire.
It is part of the theory of the largest and most influ-
ential class of Russian politicians that the welfare of the
country depends upon the possession by each peasant of
a plot of land sufEcient under tillage to secure his main
450 A >'EMES1S OF MISGOVERNMENT.
tenance, and great alarm is therefore felt at what is
considered the failure iu this respect of the system intro-
duced on the abolition of serfdom. It is perfectly clear
that if, under the ukase of liberation, each peasant fam-
ily received only sufficient land for its support, the small-
est increase in the population must produce the greatest
distress, unless the system of agriculture be so improved
as to render the portions of land continually more pro-
ductive. The Russian press, however, and the poli-
ticians who have specially occupied themselves with the
land question, have for the most part paid but little atten-
tion to the consideration of the necessity for a general
improvement in agriculture. Tables have been drawn up,
and statistics have been prepared, proving beyond dispute
that the portion of land possessed by each male peasant
is smaller than was contemplated under the great Act of
Emancipation, and that under present conditions the pro-
duce of this portion is insufficient to satisfy the require-
ments of its possessor. All this, however, seems to fail
to suggest the desirabilitj', and, indeed, necessity of
seeking to increase the value of the produce of each acre
of land. Great obstacles stand in the way of any rapid
or serious improvement, but still much might be done. A
tirst requirement is the introduction of capital for the im-
provement of stock, for works of irrigation, for the pur-
chase of machinery, and for providing the means for tid-
ing over bad seasons ; but this urgently required capital
is hard to get. One great obstacle in the unnatural di-
version of capital to manufacturing industries, has been
pointed out, but in addition to this, other circumstances
combine to prevent thoseclasses that would be most likely
to come forward, from appearing as investors. The Jew
capitalists who are to be found in every provincial town
of the west, and many of whom as dealers iu agricul-
A NEMESIS Of MISGOVERNMKNT. 45^
tural produce, have intimate relations -with the needy land-
owners and peasants, are prohibited hy law from becom-
ing owners, mortgagees, or managers of landed property,
and this fact alone locks up frojn the land large sums
which would otherwise almost certainly be employed in
its development. After the Jews, the large landowners
are the class from whom most might be expected. Their
wealth and superior intelligence, if devoted to agriculture,
would be almost invaluable ; but since the emancipation
of the serfs few of them reside on their estates or take
any great interest in them. A barrier has arisen between
them and those who were formerly their slaves, and if
the mujik thinks that he can in any way struggle on inde-
pendently, even high wages will seldom tempt him to
work for his former master. The proprietor finds life
in the provinces exceedingly dull and monotonous ; his re-
lations with the peasantry ai'ound him are generally
strained, and the superior comfort of residence in one of
the capitals or abroad is so great that he seldom resists
the temptation to quit the provinces and hand over the
management of his estates to an agent. If the agent
were likely to be a man of intelligence and jDrobity the
damage would not be so great, but such men are hard to
find, and as a rule under the administration of a deputy
the property is neglected, and instead of an example of
suiDcrior agriculture being given to the peasants, the in-
dolence and too often the dishonesty of the agent lead to
results on the estate of the large proprietors as bad as are
produced on the village lands by the incapacity of the
peasants. Thus do we observe the drawbacks to Russia's
prosperity, and may feel assured that so long as they
continue to exist the country will grow poorer until no
one may foresee the end. I am frank to admit that the
Russian Empire has infinitely more natural advantages
45-! A NEMESIS OF MISGOVERNMENT.
than the United States ; she has the finest agricultural
lands on earth, and more of it ; she has more mineral
wealth than any other nation ; every climate maj^he found
in the Empire, and wlicre is tliere a country that lias so
many and such great I'ivers as Russia? The soil in what
is known as the " hlacls; earth district," south-east Eussia,
is positively so v'wh. that it will produce nothing hut
potatoes, or sucii other vegetables as will only grow in
manure, and tills district contains millions of acres.
Siberia itself has enough arable lands, that if properly
cultivated might be made to produce sustenance for the
whole world ; and yet, with all these advantages, Eussia
is behind eveiy nation, and her population is only seven
inhabitants per sr[uare mile. What a country for emi-
grants, if the laws were liberal !
CHAPTER XXVII.
After visiting nearly two daj's among the serfs, I dis-
missed Schleuter, who returned home to Tobolsk, while
I ^vent directly to St. Petersburg, and there renewed my
I'eiatious with Count Tolstoi through a second letter of
cordial introduction and recommendation, from Ministei
Ilimt, as already i)ul)lished. My desire now was to
inform myself of the social and religious life of the
aristocratic and middle classes, as found at the Eussian
Capital.
Notwithstanding the fact that Moscow and St. Peters-
burg are both Muscovite Capitals, abounding with all the
paraphernalia of Imperialism, regarded sociallj" they a,re
as distinct as Paris and Constantinople, having no sinr'e
characteristic in conmion save in the possible matter of
A NEMESIS OF MISUOVEENMISNT. 453
church decoration. Moscow is a gem in the Asiatic sig-
net still ; though in strongly pronounced antagonism to
Budhism and tlie Moslem creed, she nevertheless clings to
such observances as distinguish those faiths, and did tho
spires of her churches wear crescents instead of crosses
we could readily believe that Moscow was the Mussul-
man's holy city. But St. Petersburg has a highly pol-
ished veneering of European civilization, which is con-
spicuous everywhere outside her monasteries ; on the
streets may be seen, though at infrequent intervals,
monks with round, band-box looking headiDieces, from
which a piece of black muslin is suspended behind ; or,
members of the white and black clergy dressed in black
stoles, wearing hats tucked up at four quarters by
strings, the former having short and the latter long,
straggling hair ; but these are about all the ecclesiastical
sights to be seea on the streets in St. Petersburg, and
even they are not common. Sunday, too, is not a day
wholly devoted to religious observances, for I saw
large squads of men busy at work repairing streets,
which must have been done by municipal order, and
there is also more or less business done at the small
shops on Sunday ; but in Moscow such sacrilegious
employment would not be tolerated.
I attended services one Sunday at St. Isaac's Cathe-
dral, in company with my interpreter, Kuntze, and was
entertained in a much more agreeable manner than I had
anticipated. Tliis famous cathedral, though hardly so
fine as the Grand Votive church in Moscow, is a marvel
of architectural beauty and magnificence ; its cupola is
a mass of burnished gold, lifting up against the sky its
wonderful hemisphere like a bright sun half set behind
a mountain peak. It has four fronts, with the same
number of main entrances, before each of which are
29
454 A HEMESIS OF MISGOVEENMENT.
eight granite pillars sixty feet in height and seven feet
through. The interior, however, is much more impos-
ing, being composed of many beautiful rooms supported
by pillars of malachite; the steps are made of porphyry;
the walls are of lapis lazuli, the floors are of variegated
marble, the inner dome is of malachite, and the gorgeout
ST. ISAAC S CATHEDRAL.
interior is lighted by foliated windows of rare colors
A feature of the decorations inside is the prestol form-
ing the shrine, which is made of malachite and was
a present from Prince Demidoff ; the cost of this shrina
was one million dollars, equal to the cost of the build-
ing's foundation
A NEMESIS OF AIISGOVERNMENT. 455
One peculiarity of all Greek churches is the absence
of seats, and instrumental music ; eveiy one, whether
prince or peasant, must stand up during the entire service,
which generally lasts two hours. As I walked into the
church it was between two files of beggars who haunted
the entrance, and with suppliant mien addressed a jjeti-
tion to each person who passed them ; they also held a
little board in their hands on which they allowed to
remain the copecks that were given them, as an incentive
to others to contribute. When I reached the interior
I found the congregation disposed in various naves, and
generally in squads, the principal portion of the audience,
however, being in the center nave, before which was the
chancel and priest. My attention was attracted to bevies
of suppliants whose devotions were being made before icons
of Christ, Mary, Russian saints, and biblical patriarchs ;
each suppliant was provided with a pocket-full of can-
dles, as every icon was surrounded with candelabras, some
having more than fifty, which were supplied with new can-
dles as soon as those burning were exhausted ; the use of
candles is so great that there arc in Russia hundreds of very
laroe factories which produce nothing but these sacrificial
candles, and it is a most remunerative industry. Devo-
tions made to those icons consist in the suppliant first
addressing a short prayer before the image, while in a
standing position ; the suppliant then bows down and
touches the floor three times with his forehead, still
reciting prayers ; this worship is repeated man}'' times,
and when concluded another prayer is offered, after
which the sign of tlie cross is made three times, when
the suppliant passes on to the center nave and participates
in the regular services, which are chiefly choral. I saw
many old men and women undergoing the prelimmary
service in a way which excited my compassion ; in pros-
456 A NEMESIS OF MISGOVEENMENT.
trating themselves I could hear their stiffened Joints,
inflexible from age, crack with each motion, and J. could
plainly see that the exertion consequent upon so repeat-
edly rising and kneeling was of a most taxing, if not
exhausting, nature.
Russian choirs are famous the world over ; no other
people have such musical throats, and when animated by
the religious feeling which so thoroughly pervades them
they produce a harmony which T can best describe bycal-
ing it heavenly. I needed no interpreter to tell me of its
beauty, or to inspire me with the soul-attuning melody
which welled up until I became lost in its swells of rich
grace-imparting, spirituahzing concord of delicious music.
AVhile entranced by this ecstacy of sweet sounds I was
suddenly alarmed by a shriek which rose above the
harmonv, piercing and painful ; looking in the direction
from, whence the excitement proceeded, I caught sight of
a woman who was being borne upon the shoulders of t^o
men through the audience toward a large image of the
crucified Christ ; instantly there occurred to me the idea
of sacrificial rites, that this woman, screaming as if she
were possessed of a thousand devils, was to do some
propitiatory act for absolvment from a penalty which she
conceived was about to be administered ; these reflections
were produced by the strange influences which surrounded
me, but upon inquiry addressed to my guide for the
cause, he informed me that the woman was a paralytic
who, having received absolution, and the power of faith
through a reception of the holy spirit, had begged to be
carried to the feet of Christ, which, if she might touch, she
expected to be cured of her affliction. I found that this
was a very usual occurrence, there being few services
held in the Cathedral that some incui'able among the
audience did not seek to touch the sacred image,
A NEMESIS OF MISGOVERNMENT. 457
believing it would make them whole. I did not hear
that any one had ever T)ecii thus rairaeulously cured, but
then there is no limit to faith, and I did not expect to find
reason prevailing to any extent among a people so
exclusively religious as these.
I attended one other sacred service in St. Peters-
burg, wliichwas even more interesting than that at St.
Isaacs Cathedral, and which, I may add, impressed
me more seriously. It was a te deum sung at the St.
Alexander Nevskoi Monastery by fourteen monks and
twelve neophytes. This ecclesiastical institution is
renowned throughout the Empire, being to Russia what
Westminster Abbey is to England. Under its marble
floors repose hundreds of the most famous characters in
Russian history, whose deeds are briefly recorded on the
tablatui'e above them. In a large yard about the Mon-
astery lie buried many people once rich enough to pur-
chase a rest ing ])lace in the sacred enclosure, for it is a fact
that none can find Inu'ial here except upon the paj'ment
of a certain sum, which generally amounts to $25,000;
this is cf)nsidered small enough price for a bed in so holy
a place, which man}' think is but a step removed from
heaven.
Sonui years ago there was a Lady Sui)crior in charge
of tiic ^Monastery who was also financial agent of the
institution ; she was a woman of extraordinary force of
character and so popular among the aristocracy that she
secured from time to time most princclj' bequests from
rich people of the Empire ; she was on very intimate
terms with the royal family, particulary with the Em-
press of Alexander II., and possessed the confidence of
everybody. Her charities became the wonder of all, for
she built almost a score of institutions for the benefit of
the poor, and established hospitals in many parts of
458 -^ NEMESIS OF MISGOVEENMENT.
Russia. It is estimated that in her ambition to amelio-
rate the condition of the Russian jjoor she spent not less
than $20,000,000. After a time it was hinted that all
this wealth had not been derived from the sources she
represented, but that she had appropriated the church
revenues. An investigation followed, which was
prompted by priests jealous of their own personal inter-
ests, which established the facts as charged. She was
then placed on trial for sacrilege, in misappropriating
church funds, and after one of the most exciting legal
contests that ever took place in St. Petersburg, her
guilt was established. The trial was attended not only
by scores of the most famous jaeople of the Empire, but
also by the Emperor and Empress. It was clearly
proved that, thoug^h the Lady Superior had used funds
of which she was the trust agent, yet every dollar of it
had been charitably employed ; that even her own wants
and needs were neglected to the end that she might use
every copeck available for the betterment of those need-
ing aid. Her sentence was confinement in prison for
twenty years, but instead of this harsh judgment affix-
ing any stigma to her name, hundreds of aristocratic
women begged that they might be permitted to share
her imprisonment. When assigned to a cell in the Bol-
shaya Sadovaya prison she found it a solid bower of
perfume-laden flowers ; she was daily visited by mem-
,bers of the Imperial family, and every possible attention
was paid her by people of the highest rank. After two
years of imprisonment, which was one continual ovation,
Alexander II. gave her a pardon, and within two months
after her liberation she was reinstated in the position of
Lady Superior in the Monastery, where she is still serv-
ing, with enlarged jurisdiction, and honored as no other
woman was ever honored in Russia.
A NEMESIS OF MISGOVERNMENT. 459
I entered the monastery with my guide, who con-
ducted me through long corridors, which seemed to be
endless, past dark chambers which looked like charnel
pits, and at times along narrow passages, until nearly
a half-mile had been traversed, when we emerged into the
main chapel. The te deum service begins at four o'clock
P.M., and continues uninterruptedly for two hours; it
was quarter past four when we arrived and the choir was
already chanting their musical invocations ; the first
rich notes that fell upon my ear charmed every sense
and thrilled me with melodious rapture. I walked for-
ward in the great hall, which was deserted save by three
women who were praying at the base of a gray pillar,
until near the chancel, upon a raised dais on which stood
the monks and neophytes, their backs toward the hall
and with faces turned ujDon a large painting of Christ.
There was about the whole scene something to inspire
the soul ; some overshadowing but impersonal presence ;
a strangeness that suggested infinity and spirituality ;
the shaking of hands and declaration of familiarity
between the living and dead. The monks were habited
in long, black surplices ; on their heads they wore the
black caps indicative of self-denial and retirement from
the world, and their hair hung far down the back in con-
sonance with the idea of a neglected body, but care for
the soul.
I have heard with delight the famous jirofessional
singers of both continents, and measured their harmony
by the fullest sense of the ear, but to none of them,
Lind, Patti, Nilssou, could I compare the harvest of
symphony as produced by the monks ; indeed, one is as
an elevation of man's feelings from the sordid cares of
life to the bountiful love of domestic happiness and con-
tentment ; while the other is like lifting one from out a
460 A NEMESIS OF MISGOVEENMENT.
life of disappointments for a transplanting into felicitous
fields of paradise, where the very essence of existence
is musical. I never before conceived the limits of
vocal culture, I did not appreciate the mesmerism of a
human voice, nor understand the magic of a song.
There I stood, before that wonderful choir, so em-
balmed with melody, and intensified by a rapture so won-
derful that I felt as one who might ascend upon wings
of love to the portals of Hesperides and there bathe in
a flood of joy which blessed souls find on the beautiful
shores. I am not unconscious of the suspicion which
many readers are liable to attach to so florid a descrip-
tion ; who may, indeed, pronounce it sophomoric exag-
geration, but my excuse for using such adjective expres-
sions is the genuine, soul-entranced feeling I had Avhile
listening to the Monk choir, and which I have only
indifferently described. I might rest under the imputa-
tion of supersensitiveness were it not for the fact that
all who hear this famous choir are impressed with feel-
ings identical with my own. Princely offers have been
made the choir for their choral services in public, but
these have all been refused with the pious remark, " We
sing only for God and the dead." Some years ago a
great tenor of the choir was ordered by Alexander 11. to
sing on a public occasion at the Eoyal Italian Opera in
St. Petersburg. His appearance created such an intense
excitement that the Emperor was glad to have him
return to the monastery ; so great was the rush of peo-
ple to hear the tenor that many persons were trampled,
while those who gained admission to the theatre mani-
fested such delirious joy that they would hardly permit
him to leave the stage ; in addition to this rather annoy-
ing adulation, the church violently protested ugainst uis
l^ublic appearance, pronouncing it a sacrilegious wacrifecc.
A NEMESIS OP MISGOVEENMENT. 461
and hurled dreadful anathemas ac the Emperor for his
order. This was the first and last time that any mem-
ber of the INIonastciy choir has sung outside the chapel
of their own sacred institution.
Wiien the services were concluded, at six o'clock p. m.,
the monks withdrew into their cells and I was left to
insj)ect the building. The chief object of interest inside
the chapel is a silver casket containing the body of St.
Alexander Nevskoi, who is the patron saint of Peters-
burg. This saint is a canonization of the Grand Duke
Alexander, who was a member of the Rurik dynasty, but
lived only a short time before the accession of the
Eomanoffs. He is reputed to have been a great warrior,
and it is said of him that in a battle with the Swedes,
fought on the very spot where the monaster3Miow stands,
he defeated his enemies with great loss and killed the
Swedish commander with his own sword. The bones of
this hero were originally buried near Kazan, but were
brought to St. Petersburg and canonized by order of
Peter the Great. Not long after this event some priests
of Little Russia slipped into St. Petersburg and succeeded
in stealing the canonized bones, Avhich they removed to a
spot not far from where they were first Ijuried. Much
distress was felt by Peter at this desecration, audit is said
he fell to praying for direction how to proceed to recover
the bones. His petition was answered by an angel who
appeared to Peter in a cloud of fire and told him how the
bones were taken away and where they were liuried ; it
is told that the Emperor, acconipianied l)y two of his royal
suite, visited the s[)ot described by the angel and, with
his own hands, dug up the saint, boxed the bones and
carried them back to St. Petersburg, determined that
they should not be again disturbed Peter caused to be
made an immense silver sarcophagus, into which he
462 A NEMESIS OF MISGOV^ENMENT.
placed the sacred remains, then closed down the lid,
locked it and threw the key into the Neva Eiver. This
solid silver casket, or rather sarcophagus, is in a side
chapel, to the right of the sacristy. It is square shaped,
and at each corner is the figure of an angel (large as a
■grown person) in an attitude of mourning. The value of
this piece of art and precious metals is $250,000.
CHAPTER XXVm.
While I did not attend divine services in but two
churches in St. Petersburg, yet I did not neglect to visit
the Cathedral of St. Petersburg, generally called Cathe-
dral Kazan, as it is dedicated to an imaginative deity, or
rather to a canonized woman, who doubtless never existed,
but who is supposed to have been named Kazan. This
church is the finest perhaps in all Russia, always excepting,
of course, the Grand Votive Church in Moscow. It is situ-
ated on the Nevskoi Prospekt, and is the most conspicu-
ous building on that great thoroughfare. In shape it is
that of a cross, its greatest length being 238 feet and its
width 182 feet, the whole being modeled after St. Peter's
at Rome, though in height the building does not meas-
are above 250 feet, and the cost did not exced $4,000,000.
The most curious and interesting object connected with
this cathedral is an image of "Lady Kazan," which
stands near the altar. This image is supposed to have
been made in the city of Kazan, in 1579. I say " sup-
posed" because the Russian priesthood do not want to
positively know anything, being mindful of the fact that
fascination is much more likely to be excited by legend
than by established history. The figure is known to have
A NEMESIS OF MISGOVERNMENT. 463
oeen placed in the cathedral in 1821, where it has ever since
remained, a very strong attraction, and as an investment
It has no doubt paid the church enormously, for a devout
peasant can hardly look upon it without being moved to
make a contribution.
I have called this ideal representation of Lady Kazan
a figure, or image, but it is neither painting nor image,
being a medley of both. The Greek religion, as before
mentioned, prohibits the use of images, but the prohi-
bition is rather technical than literal. In reality the fig-
ure proper is a painting, but it is habilitated in regal attire
and almost covered with precious jewels. There is one
diamond in the crown valued at $100,000, and a sap-
phire which forms the center of the tiara is said to be
worth $500,000 ; it was contributed by the Grand-
Duchess Catharina Paulovna, who is now "supposed"
to be getting value received in the court of last resort —
heaven.
There is invested in churches, decorations and sacred
^ages in St. Petersburg more than $200,000,000, a sum
equal to nearly one-half the value of all other property in
the municipality ; yet I was surprised to learn that most
of the money used in sustaining the churches is derived
from the poorer classes ; this statement appears almost
;ncredible but it is none the less true ; its apparent
exaggeration is somewhat modified, however, by the fact
that in Kussia the priests receive very little more than is
barely sufiicient for their needs, which are few.
Although Russia is, as a nation, intensely religious, her
aristocracy incline to sacred matters M'ith such indiffer-
ence that they cannot be called religious, while there is
not one among a hundred of her scientists or learned
men who is not an agnostic. I was told that scarcely
any of the upper classes attend divine service, and in the
464
A NEMESIS OF MISGOVEENMENT.
homes of the nobility an icon is beginning tobt a, rainty.
So we can I'cadily understand why the burdens of chm-ch
expenses have fallen upon the poorer people, whose loy-
alty to the faith of their ancestors is unwavering, same
as we find it in all countries. But as the poor in Paissia
are so much more numerous than tke rich, and because
A NEMESIS OF MISaOVERNMENT. 465
they compose the sinews of the governinent and are its sole
dependence, their inllucnce is reco^'nized by the govern-
ment in continuing its religious observances, and in pro-
viding such pomp as delights tlie simple votaries of the
Greek Church.
It would require too much space to describe the many
holidays set apart by Russian laws, but some of them are
observed so generally, and with such display of ceremo-
nial, that I must mention a few. The most distinguished
day and festival occasion occurs on August first, which
is called " First Spass," or Savior day. It is commem-
orative of the crossing of the Sea of Galilee by Christ
and his disciples. The service of celebration begins with
a te deurn at chui'ch, which lasts about two hours ; at its
conclusion a procession is formed, composed of nearly
all the common people in St. Petersburg, few persons of
wealth or rank participating. At the head of this pro-
cession are six peasants, each bearing a sacred banner;
in:mediately behind them are two more peasants, who
carry between them a large painting of the Savior. Be-
hind these are peasant girls bearing icons of the Madon-
na and disciples. After the girls comes the chief pi'icst,
who wears u[)on his head a golden cross and is clothed in
rich vestments of the church. Behind him marches the
ioni- line of peasants, or all who desire to participate in
the services. The procession thus formed marches to a
bridge across the Neva River, which has been decorated
for the occasion with trees, iiowers and interlaced branches
of everirrecus. Upon reaching this bridge a short praj'er
is offered by the priest, who then signals a blessing of
the waters, wliich is followed by those bearing banners,
crosses and icons, dipping them into the river three times,
which is supposed to impart a miraculous influence. Im-
mediately upon this being done hundreds jump into the
466 A NEMESIS OF MISGOVERN MEN T.
stream, while other hundreds fill bottles, jugs and barrels
with the precious water that is now believed to possess a
magic power to heal any and every ailment of humanity;
many invalids are carried down to the water and sub'
merged, fully possessed of the belief that their afflictions
will be cured, while those who are in sound bodily health
bathe their heads to keep off disease. These Avaters,
which must be taken on the day they are blessed if their
potency be desired, are supposed to possess miraculous
virtues for one year, and no amount of evidence could
shake the faith of a peasant in this belief, although I
could not find any peasant who knew of a cure having
been effected by using the water.
The next most important holiday in Eussia is St.
George's Day, which occurs on the 23d of April, and is
a celebration in honor of Russia's jJatron saint. So
severe are th« winters in northern Russia that it is custom-
ary to keep cows and sheejD stabled from November
first until St. George's Day, when they are turned out of
doors, their release being made a chief part of the holiday
ceremonials. Oil the morning of this day the peasants
arrange tables, spread with wliite cloths, about the stables
containing their domestic animals, upon, which they jjlace
bread, water and eggs. Around these tables stand the
peasants, male and female, each jjrovided with an icon of
some saint, and at the stable door stands a priest who
bears a large banner having four portraits painted upon
it and also a picture representing St. George killing tho
draffou. Beside him is a basin of water Avhich he con-
secrates by dipping into it a small cross three times.
After preaching a short sermon the priest opens the stable
doors, the cows and sheep come out before him, and he
sprinkles them with holy water, from the basin, with 9
little brush.
A NEMESIS OF MISGOVERNME.NT.
4(i7
1 Jo not remember of having ever heard of a custom
among an} people so singular, if not paganish, as that
which prevails among the poorer classes in Russia, and
known as Recollection Monday. Feasting among the
tombs, I am aware, was once a custom among the Jews,
who did it as a mark of respect for their departed friends,
as also do the lower classes of Irish hold " wakes," but
«S-*
£ll °o
to
A NEMESIS OF MISHOVERNMENT. 4g9
just for what purpose they cannot themselves tell. But
the custom, as now observed in Russia, is much more
radical in character than either the Irish or ancient Jewish
ceremonies. The celcliration of Recollection Monday is
begun by services of mass held in the various chapels, at
the conclusion of which a ]aro;e amount of food, consist-
ing of Easter eggs, salt, cake and fruit, which is brought
into the chapels in baskets, is taken forward to the priest
for his blessing. Wine and vodka are not a necessary
part of the provisions used at the ceremonies, but con-
siderable quantities are nevertheless provided. After the
chapel services are finished processions are formed, headed
by priests, which march to the cemeteries and there be-
gin lamentations for the dead. But this manifestation
of grief very soon changes into a wild, bacchanalian
revelry; men, women and children drink vodka until
their condition is shocking to civilization ; ribakhy, lewd-
ness, and demoralizing actions of almost every kind
characterize those who visit the cemeteries on these occa-
sions. The priests, drunk and boisterous like their
parishioners, stagger around Avith tapers and crosses,
soliciting fees for reciting prayers over the graves ; these
priests, provided they are sober enough, will pray fifteen
minutes over any grave for the sura of fifty copecks
(twenty-five cents), this being the basis of the regular
tariff fixed by them ; the dead who have no friends will-
ing to pay this amount, have to sleep without prayers
and take their chances of being burned.
I have mentioned a naiddle class in Russia, but in re-
ality there are only two classes, the aristocratic and the
peasant. Russian subjects, as a rule, are either very
poorer exceedingly rich, so that in myreferences toamid-
dle class I intended to designate what in America we
call the office-holding people. But iu Russia this means
on
474)
A NEMESIS OF MISGOVERNMENT.
more than it does in America, for officers are much more
numerous in that country, and being in the government
service, even though they may be ever so poor, yet they
are accorded a position in society above the peasantry,
but not equal to the aristocracy ; thus we can only dcsig'
nate them as the middle class ex officio.
It is a fact no less singular than unreasonable, that tbe
A .\EMESIri OF M1SG0VERN5IENT. 471
poor pay nearly all the taxes in Russia ; the rich mer-
chant in St. Petersburg or the owner of municipal real
estate pays no taxes to the government ; the city revenue
is of course derived from city property, but the government
receives not a dollar, except as a voluntary gift, from
any source but that of agriculture. When Alexander II.
granted freedom to the serfs and made the Empire as-
sume a debt of $50,000,000, to pay the noblemen for
their manumitted slaves, he did not change the revenue
laws, so that the liberated peasants are made to purchase
their own freedom. Every acre of land in Russia and every
product of the soil is assessed annually and taxed upon a
basis fixed to meet the annual budget. In all other occupa-
tions there is exemption from tax. A man who desires
to engage in business goes to the proper bureau and de-
clares his intentions ; he is there furnished with a license,
but he cannot pursue any business except that for which
his license is issued, under a severe penalty ; thus, if one
secures a license to follow tailoring the person so privi-
leged cannot engage in an}^ other vocation without sur-
rendering his license as a tailor and taking out a new
privilege ; his place of business cannot be changed either
without fii'st notifying the police ; neither can a man
move his place of residence without complying with the
same conditions. Merchants who are worth $50,000,
and who do a business of the same amount annually may
become members of the first "guild" upon an annual
payment to the government of $300. Those who are
worth $25,000 and do an annual busines equal to that
amount may become members of the second "guild"
by paying annually the sum of $150. These "guilds"
are established for the recognition of the aristocracy
similar to those which once obtained in England. Mem-
bers of the first guild wear a uniform to distinguish their
472
A NEMESIS OF MISGOVERNMENT.
=/t'=3r
A NEMESIS OF MISGOVERNMENT. 473
rank ; this uniform is more sliowy tliau that worn by a
Russian general ; the cloth is a navy blue, the pants
having a gold stripe down the leg, while the coat and
vest are embroidered with gold cord, and on the shoul-
ders are immense epaulettes of cord and tinsel. These
merchants are invited to the court balls, but may not
pei'sonally address the Emperor : they must content
themselves with viewing royalt}^ and with being enter-
tained in the palace.
Society in St. Petersburg has about it more punctilio
than anywhere in the world ; it is surrounded by a very
high wall, and may be reached only by those having
magic keys ; an introduction will not suffice, as it does
in America, for every one who seeks admission must have
the requifites of discreetness, wealth and bizarre manners.
Catharine II. was the first to organize society in St. Peters-
burg, and since her character is pretty generall}^ known,
we may readily surmise the kind of stamp she impressed
it with. There is in the Hermitage a tablet, Avhich is
generally concealed from view by a curtain, upon which
is engraved the "ten commandments" of Catharine,
which she enforced upon those who attended her parties.
Literally translated they read as follows :
1. Leave outside your rank, your hat, and especially
your sword.
2. Leave outside your right of pi"ecedence, your
pride, and everything akin to them.
3. Be gay, but do not damage anything.
4. Sit, stand or walk, regardless of any person.
5. Talk calmly, and not too loud, so as not to make
the head and ears of others ache.
6. Discuss without anger or excitement.
7. Neither sigh nor yawn, nor make others gloomy
or dull-spirited.
8. Let all join in any innocent game proposed.
474 A NEMESIS OF MISGOVEENMENT.
9. Eat whatever is sweet and good, but drink mod-
erately in order that everybody's head may be level upon
leaving.
10. Tell no tales out of school ; that which goes in
at one ear must go out at the other before leaving the
room.
Punishments provided for a transgression of any of
these rules Avere as follows :
1. Any person transgressing aganist any one of these
rules shall, if two witnesses appear against him, drink
one glass of cold water, not excepting the ladies, and read
aloud one page of the "Telemachiade," (written by a
Russian poet named Tretiakofsky, after whom Tupper
was probably fashioned.)
2. "Whoever, during the same evening, acts contrary
to any tliree of these rules, shall commit to memory six
lines of the same work.
3. Whoever breaks the tenth rule shall not again be
admitted.
There was no austerity in any of these prohibitions
except the last, Avhich was made to protect the character
of those who attended ; but though well intended it did
not fully serve the purpose. If it were not for the fact
that the stories are too shocking for publication I could
■fill a book with well attested tales of flagrant conduct
peculiar to these recherche entertainments of Catharine
II. ; I heard scores of them ir. St. Petei'sburg, but they
are more conducive to morals when forgotten.
Dancing is a favorite recreation in Russia, indulged iu
by all classes, and carried, iu some instances, to great
excess. While in Moscow I was taken to a public house
where there was a big bull, and on this occasion I had
the pleasure of witnessing a genuine Russian dance.
Among the wealthier peojile very little dancing is seen
A NEMESIS OF MISGOVEENMENT.
475
476 A NEMESIS OF MISGOVERNMENT.
that is not common to Americans, as French masters hold
schools in St. Petersburg and Moscow, and the people
naturally adopt the French style. But at this public ball
there were several gentlemen with whom my guide was
intimately acquainted, and my request^ through him, to
have the gentlemen execute the Russian dance, was com-
plied with by four couples. They advanced to the cen-
ter of the room, and, courtesying, one couple led off
with a varsouvienne step, Avhich M^as soon changed to
lancers time. The other couples followed, and then they
took positions, so that the respective partners faced each
other ; now succeeded a movement which lanoruajie is
wholly inadequate to describe ; the men crouched down in
what appeared to be a very painful attitude, as if sitting
on their heels ; in this position they would kick first with
one lesr and then with the other, without changing their
attitude, and continued this violent exercise until exhaus-
tion was plainly manifested. During this time the ladies
waltzed around their partners and tossed their heads
from side to side in a coquettish manner. After the
crouching movements were concluded the men arose and
balanced before their partners, then placing their arms
akimbo, they began an awkward shuffling, or rather
stampins;, something like the Sioux war dance, and while
doin"- this they tossed their heads, stuck out their tongues,
pouted and looked cross-eyed.
CHAPTER XXIX.
DuRnsTG the summer season St. Petersburg is almost
deserted, all the better classes taking up their residence in
suburban places, the most popular and fashionable resort
A NEMESIS OF MISGOVERNMENT.
477
hd C^i
478 A NEMESIS OF MISGOVEENMENT.
being Parvelosk, which is situated eighteea miles out of
the metropolis. The ground on which Parvelosk is built
was donated by the Grand Duke Constantine, Avho erected
a music-stand, and laid out al^out two thousand acres of
the surrounding ground in a park, which has since been
improved at an expense of $1,000,000. Near this park
are hundreds of beautiful cottages, in the midst of green
lawns studded with flowers and statuary ; parties are
given nearly every night in these summer mansions, a
few of which I had the pleasure of attending. No people
are so polite and fashional>le as the wealthy class of
Russia, and, I may add, that not even in Paris is there
such abandon, and jDerfect freedom, exhibited as at a
Russian ball.
About the first of October those who have summered
in rural towns begin to return to St. Petersburg, and
directly after this date the fashionable season opens in
the city. There are two streets in St. Petersburg which
can hardly be surpassed for beauty, f)ne of these, Nevskoi
Prospekt, runs north and south, from the Admiralty
building to the Alexander Nevskoi Monastery, a distance
of three miles, and is as level as a floor ; the street is one
hundred and fifty feet broad, fifty feet of it being paved
with six-sided blocks, set in like the Nicholson pavement
except that there are no interstitial strips and fillings of
gravel, the blocks being laid in direct contact ; this makes
a driveway of rare excellence, and, indeed, such as cannot
be found anywhere else. The other noted street is the Bol-
shaya Moscowa, or great Moscow, M'hich runs east and
west about two miles. It is constructed like the Nevs-
skoi Prospekt, and both streets are lined with fine build-
ings. These are the favorite resorts of fashionable people
Avith fine carriages, troikas, and magnificent sleighs.
These conveyances are sumptuously made, and are gen-
A NEMESIS OF MISGOVEENMEVT.
479
I !ji ff/r^j 1 Tjl
.;s_ji
480
A NEMESIS OF MISGOVERNMENT.
erally drawn by black horses in beautiful caparisons
decorated with gold and silver, while in the semi-circle of
the douga are a dozen silver bells that merrily jingle and
fill the air Avith cheery music. There are also many drives
through Alexander Park, around the suburbs of St. Peters-
burg, and over the long, broad wooden bridges which
span the Neva.
When winter fairly sets in, early m November, the
court balls are given, and after the Neva freezes over an
ice palace is built every year on the frozen stream. This
palace is a thing of such great beauty that it is worth
many miles of travel to see. It is built of translucent
blocks of ice two feet thick, which, upon being laid to-
gether, are solidified by pouring water over the outside
and inside walls. The roof and ceiling are also made of
ice, and the architecture of the whole is very beautiful.
The interior is elegantly furnished with furniture taken
from the Winter Palace, magnificent chandeliers are sus-
pended from the ceiling, golden sconses are set in the
walls, and luxurious carpets cover the floors. It is in
this beautiful, fairy-like palace that some of the finest
loyal balls given in St. Petersburg by the Imperial family
are held.
Courtship, marriage and domestic life in Russia are
radically different from what they are in America. As
in China, the Russians conduct their love affairs largely
by proxy ; not because of anj peculiar timidity, but in
conformity with customs which have prevailed among
them from time immemorial. Among the upper classes
there are many very beautiful women, with forms as
graceful as may be seen among the /<««< ^on promenaders
on the Avenue del' Opera in Paris ; but among the peasantry
beauty is almost as rare as philosopher stones ; not only
are their faces coarse, flabby and devoid of delicate color.
A NEMESIS OF MISGOVERNMENT.
481
but their forms are vulgarly repulsive, every develop-
ment tending towards shapeless obesity ; with them mod-
~^'
;:;s=5s=:^~tj^>'«^''JIENT.
519
whicn it overflows. So well is this recognized in Eussia
that the peasants have a technical name for the deliberate
firing of towns — the " red cock" is said to crow. Dur-
ing the j'^ear 1881 this method of revenge was resorted to
JEWS BEING DRIVEN FROM THEIR HOMES IN MINSK.
on a large scale against the Jews of Eussia, especially in
the West. By the end of June the "red cock" had
crowed over 15 towns in Western Russia, including Mo-
hi'pw. pontuininar 25,000 inhahitants, Witebsk, with 23,-
520 -^ NEMESIS or MISGOVEENMENT.
000, and Slonira, with 20,000, as well as smaller towns
like Wolcowysk, Scherwondt, Augustowo, Nowo-Gucdek,
Ponovicz, and Lipsk. Many tliousands of Jews were
rendered homeless by this means, and on July 3d 6,000
Jews lost tlieir homes by fire at Minsk, 4,800 being de-
prived of every means of subsistence at the same time.
The town of Pinslc, in the same province, suffered a like
fate. And shortly afterward a conflagration took place
at Koretz, in Wolhynia, in which 30 lives were lost and
5,000 souls left without a home. Every week added to
the number of fires in towns inhabited by Jews till, by
the end of September, the list extended to 41 towns.
This probably involved the loss of homes to 20,000
Jews.
To the mass of homeless and penniless creatures in
Southern Russia must be added tlie many victims of pil-
lage. The violence of the mobs often wrecked whol«
streets of houses as completely as any fire, and it h
known that 2,000 were thus rendered homeless at Kief,
1,600 at Smiclo, 1,000 at Konotop, 600 at Ouehow, and
300 at Aluchoff. The value of property destroyed in
the south has been reckoned to reach $80,000,000.
It is possible that an aggregate of 100,000 Jewish
families has thus been reduced to poverty. The ranks
of the ruined were increased by those who dared not ap-
ply for th(>ir just debts, Avhile in many cases the pcasan-
tvy dclibei-ately "boycotted" the Jews. It must be
further remembered that in several places the Jews an-
ticipated riots by evacuating their homes ; thus, iieai
Perejaslay, after the riot at that place, no fewer than 17
villages in the neighborhood were deserted by the Jews,
and the same, doubtless, took place in other localities.
Men fled from the villages in which they had resided all
their lives. Even after the eveuts of Keiwthe Jewsot the
A NEMESIS OF MISGOVEENMENT. 621
neighborhood, fearing the spread of disorder, crowded,
at the rate of 100 families a day, into the town wiiieh
had so hitely shown itself hostile. Others fled toward
the borders, and during the summer months a camp of
refugees in the open air at Podwoloczyska contained no
less than 1,500 souls, including children of the tenderest
uge. A few who still possessed some means attempted
to flee across the frontier, but many were stopped. Of
5,000 who managed to reach Brody, on the Austrian
border, in a perfectly helpless state, 2,000 remained
there huddled in cellars for nearly one month.
Meanwhile, the municipalities, with the connivance of
the local governments, took every means in their power
to add to the misery of the situation. With rough logic
they argued that, as these riots were directed against the
Jews, if there had been no Jews, there would have l^een
no riots. They accordingly petitioned the governors of
their provinces to issue orders for the expulsion of the
Jews from towns in which they had no legal right of
domicile. The Jews of Eussia are only allowed to reside
in 28 of its provinces, often only in certain towns, and
the number of permits to reside is, at least theoretically,
limited. For the lust 20 years, however, these barbarous
laws have been somewhat allowed to fall into desuetude,
and many Jews have ventured beyond the narrow limits
assigned to them. Leaving aside the general question, it
was clearly a most heartless act to add to the miseries of
the Jewish population at the moment when the mob were
eagerly scanning the disposition of the authorities to dis-
cover to what lengths they might proceed with impunity.
Whatever be the legality of the measure, the occasion for
introducing its rigorous enforcement was inhumanly in-
opportune, and laj'S the corporations who enforced it
open to a charge of complicity with the more lawless jjer-
522 ^ NEMESIS OF MISGOVEENMENT.
secutors of the Jews. At Kief, for example, even before
the excitement had entirely subsided, the governor or-
dered a stringent scrutiny of the riglitof domicile among
the Jews of that town. By July 29 the strict enforce-
ment of these harsh regulations had resulted in the ex-
pulsion of 4,000 Jews, and quite recently new rules have
been issued in Kief, as well as Odessa, still further limit-
ing the number of Jews capable of residing in either city.
At Liebenthal, near Odessa, the municipality, of course
with the permission of the Governor of Odessa, expelled
from fifteen to twenty Jewish families, and imposed a
fine of fifty roubles upon any one harboring a Jew for a
single night. From Podolsk 100 families were expelled,
while whole regions of Podolia have been relentlessly
cleared of the Jews ; the towns of Kromonitz, Dubno,
Constantinow, Vladimir, and "Wolinsk, being the princij^al
offenders. More to the east the town of Charkooff ex-
pelled Jews at the beginning of August.
At Orel, in the Government of that name, the expul-
sion has recently taken place on a large scale, and under
peculiarly cruel circumstances. In that town 900
families of Jews, numbering 5,000 souls, have hitherto
dwelt in peace and good will with their neighbors. Soon
after the outbreak of the disturbances, the Governor of
Orel gave orders that all Jews must quit its bounds by
September 1. When that day arrived a fui'ther grace
,was allowed them till October 25, and on the latter day
the Jewish congregation met for the last time in the syn-
agogue, and, after tearful prayers, removed the sacred
scrolls and left in mournful pi-ocession the town that had
been their home. Nearly 400 of them, however, did not
even j)osses8 the means of departure, and ventured to re-
main, only to be thi'ust out by the police into the snow
on the following msrht. In other places, where no legal
A NEMESIS OP MISGOVEENMENT.
528
JEWISH SYNAGOGUE AT OREL.
524 A IJISMESIS OF MISGOVEENMENT.
objection could be caken to the domicile of the Jews, pe-
titions were sent by the authorities requesting the
imposition of all sorts of restrictions. They desired to
restrict Jewish commerce in grain, and to limit the send-
ing of Jewish children to the higher gymnasia and
universities, thus stultifying their own complaints as to
the want of culture among the Jews. Many local com-
missions would prevent the Jews from holding
" harandas," erroneously described as " dram-shojjs,"
but really general stores, at which wine and spirits are
sold. I have already referred to the Perejaslav petition,
that Jewesses be not allowed to wear silks and satins.
These expulsions and petitions have formed the sole an-
swer which the town councils of Russia have given to the
Jewish question.
Meanwhile, what has been done in this emergency ? It
is by no means difficult to suggest what could and should
have been done from the first appearance of anti-Jewish
feeling in the South. If orders had been given and pub-
lished that every Governor-General should supply Jewish
communities with a guard on application from the Eabbi
and the elders of the community ; if an edict had been
passed rendering all damage to Jewish property by riots
chargeable to the communal rates of the town or village ;
if, above all, a proclamation had been issued declaring
that all Jewish subjects were as much entitled to protec-
tion of life and property as their orthodox fellow-citizens,
and denying the existence of any ukase purporting to
"convey" their property, it is safe to assert that the
disordei's would not have spread far, an'MENT.
When Alercander III. took up the crown that fell from
his father's pallid brow, and amid the applause of the
few who were permitted to witness the ceremon}', placed
A NEMESIS LiF MISGOVERNMENT.
551
it upon his own head, he felt its pressure like a baud of
tire, and to obtain relief he divested himself of it by
going into secret retirement. He would no doubt have
fain remained in his almost impregnable hermitage at
Peterhoff. but the law was inexorable, the traditions of
his inheritance too sacred to admit of its non-ob*erv-
anee. Both demanded that he be crowned and thereby
married to the holy church as a defender of the faith,
as well as ruler of his subjects. His sovereignty there-
fore depended upon a public ceremony, his coronation in
the sacred temple of the Holy City. Once this e^'cnt
was advertised to take place on the 24th of August,
1S82. but there were too manv dangers threatening for
the Czar to trust his precious person outside the walls of
his well defended castle. His fears were advertised in
all his acts and the spirit of Nihilism seemed to grow
stronger and more audacious by reason of this fact.
At length the demands iov his coronation were made
so importunately, by the recpiirements of his duty as
emperor, that another date was fixed, upon which it was
declared the ceremony of coronation should take place.
Preparations for this grand event were immediately be-
crun and conducted upon the most la\"i>h, needlessly
expiensive. iilan that history has ever rectirded. There
was wisdom in this enilielli^huient. liowever. for it was
wisely intended to placate his easily deluded enemies.
A vast majority of those who are in secret rebellion
against the government, as is well known, are the most
ignorant people on earth ; they have a realizing sen-e of
their oppression, and believe themselves to be the victims
of a tyrannical master, because they ha^e l>ceii told so ;
otherwise they might attribute their hard.-hips to an
offended deity. They really hax'c im conceptions of lib-
erty, more than a poetic dream of Utopia, and as a cou-
552
A NEMESIS OF MrSUUVER^'MENT.
'11 rr
A XEMESIS OF MISiiOVEENMENT. OOO
sequence their aspirations reach no further than tliose of
a child that craves a new toy. The Czar and his advi-
sors, therefore, verv wi,~oly fiu- themselves, planned the
coronal ceremony so as to ^viu the good favor of these
ha]iles> and ignorant people, who ^vollld be delighted if
a [>erson slnniid take nnnicy out of one of their piockcts
and pnit half the sum back into another: they -\V(Uild
regard the act of taking as a tax, aud that of gix'ing as
a gift. It was upon this principle that the coronation
was conducted.
The date fixed for proclaiming Alexander III. Czar.
\vas Snndav, ]\Iay -7th, l.ss3. and the place at which the
iniposino- ceremonies would take place ^vas announced —
w'th nutch solemnity — the Cathedral of the Holy As-
sumption. ^^■ithiu the Kremlin wall>^.
On the morning of ]Mav 24th. a proclamation an-
nouuciuii' the coronation was unnle by herald.~-at-arm>,
attended by several dignitaries, from a circular pilatform
bi'fnre the Kremlin, which was u-ed in ancient times for
the pu'omuliTation of ukases and al?o for executions.
Foreiiim embassadors, who had been formally apprised
of the time the proclamation would be i-sued. were pres-
ent, attended bv a large escort. After bugle blasts from
the herald^ the Secretary of the Senate read the procla-
mation, as follows :
"Our most auLTUst. high and puissant sovereign, the
Emperor Alexander, having ascended the hereditary
throne of the Empire of all the Eu^sias. Kingdom of
Poland and Grainl Puchy of Finland, \vhich are in-e[ia-
rable fr(Mn it. has deigned, following the exam[ile of hi'^
predecessors and their gloi'ious ancestors, to command
that the holy solemnity of cormnition and anointment,
in which the Empress will participate, shall, with the
helpi of Almighty God. be performed on the -7th of
554 A NEMESIS OF MISGOVERNMENT.
May. This solemn act is announced to all his Majesty's
faithful subjects in order that on the joyful day their
most fervent prayers may be offered to the King of
kings, and that they may beseech the Almighty to send
grace and blessing upon his Majesty's reign, for the
maintenance of peace and tranquillity, to the greater
glory of His holy name and the constant prosperity of
the empire."
Copies of the ijroclamation, printed on satin paper,
were hurled among the crowd, which struggled desper-
ately to obtain them. Many of them believed the pos-
session of a copy would entitle them to land and fortune.
Some policemen narrowly escaped being crushed. Un-
torn copies of the proclamation realized high prices.
Early in the morning of May 21st the Czar and
Czarina left St. Petersburg for Moscow, accompanied by
a train load of dignitaries. Within fifteen minutes after
his morning bath, and before he had left the AVinter Pal-
ace, an explosion occurred in the Czar's dressing-room,
doing much destruction to the furniture but injuring no
one. An infernal machine, run by clock-work, had been
placed in the room and set to explode about the time
it was thought the Czar would be at his bath, liut his
ablutions were performed earlier than usual that morn-
ing, and to this fact is due his escape, but the cii'cum-
stance so greatly agitated the Emperor and Empress that
they did not recover their composure for several days.
The imperial train I'eachcd Moscow at 3 o'clock in the
afternoon, where their majesties were received by the
royal guard. The Czar and Czarina stepped into a closed
carriage, and, surrounded by an immense guard, thej'-
drove directly to the palace within the Kremlin Avails ;
their faces were pale to ghastliness and neither spoke a
single word during the four mile drive, being apparently
absorbed with ])ainful anticipations.
A NEMESIS OF MISGOVEENMEXT. 555
The an-angenieiits made in Moscow for the reception
were upon a scale of unexampled splendor. The morn-
ing was somewhat cloudy and at noon a light rain began
to fall, so that the streets soon became most di.-agreeably
slushv. The decorations along the route were ^erv lav-
ish aiui ornamental. Ou the fide of the road facing the
^Nlinin and Posalsky monument was a colossal estrade,
the seats rising amphithcatrically. In the tiers of
benches were ranged 300 musicians and behind them
a -^ast concourse of proviucial delegates, and at the side
a jiiyous array of school children iu bright summer cos-
tianes. The girls were interspersed among the dark
masses in male costume, producing a surprisingly beauti-
ful effect. To the right of the Minin and JPosalsky
monument was a curious surxival of the ancient ^Tasco-
vite manners in the shajie of a circular platform sur-
rounded by a buhvark. with au entrance in the center.
The circumference was ap[n-oached by a tlight of three
or foiu' steps. In the mid>t of the platform itself there
were three more steps of wood, isolated, not leadin>x
.■invwherc. From this platform in by-gone times the
:5ohMnn A\ill of the 0:;ar was formally prinnulgated. It
*vas frcnn this place the imperial herald made declaration
of the t'.atc of the coronation oi their maje.-ties. This
circular platform was fi rmerly the public scaffold. The
i.>entral ^tep? v, ore the block on which criminals knelt
to be belu:uied. CI se to this dark side of the past,
nearer the Krcn^lin. -was an entire battery of artillery,
o-unners. drivers and everything complete. Still nearer
the Kremlin was an am'iulance bearing the cognizance of
tlie Geneva cross and a gi-eat body of tlie clergy of the
Kremlin waiting to recei^-e the Emperor. At i? : 15 a
cannon was tired from the Kremlin and the clergy issued
from the ueiu'hborin>i' chiuvhes in new vestments, dal-
556
A NEMESIS OF MISGOVERNMENT.
matics, capes and chasubles, with sacred images and
incense. The bells clanged out in cheerful harmony
with the hum of the visitors talking in every language.
In
ft
o
o
«
W
fn
U,
O
A NEME-1^ < >■ MlM^clVEPiNMl-NT.
557
Slav. T\Iong(il, German, French and English — aided hy
the cheers of the enthusiastic crowd and the booming of
cannon. All this could not drown the chiming of the
bells. As the cortege approached the bells grew louder,
the censers swung in air. drums rolled and the liands
struck up. Then came the Cossack guard of the Empe-
ror in Circassian frocks with shapkas of l)lack astrakan
and faced with orange cloth, with rifles carried on their
hips. After these came two squadrons of Don Cossacks
in scarlet and two squadrons of the Dragoon guards of
Moscow. When these had passed a novel sight appeared.
Delegate? from all the Asiatic triliutarv tribes approached
two and two ; Kirghiz warriors in cloth of gold and pur-
ple : ^Mongols with yellow faces and dark blue gowns :
Geiirgians. Kalmucks and Tartars of every grade, in
silks, satins, turbans and caps of every shape and color
in fur. lambskin and brocade. These had scarcely passed
when the sight was dazzled by a long serpentine linc^ of
gold -which resolved itself into a number of imperial lac-
queys of the household. Behind these were four running
footmen in the old grenadier hat and feathers, carrying-
large canes. Then came four giant negroes in full Ori-
ental s^.its and chasseurs without end in scarlet, green
and gold. These preceded the first rank of state ear-
riases. Six white horses drew the first one, the animals
caparisoned -with bullion in relief. Postillions in three-
corFicred hats, and grooms were by each horse, and run-
ning" footmen bv each wheel. Six cream-white horses
drew the next, six black horses the next, and still came
four more state coaches, each of more elaborate orna-
jnent and wealth. But the greater attraction of the
o-oro-eous Chevalier Guard drove the other wonders out
of notice. They were attired in white tunics with
i^old cuirasses and polished casques, on which d;izzliug
558 A >'£MESI8 OF MrSGOVERNMENT.
silver eagles opened their brilliant wings. The front
rank of each section bore lances on which red and white
pennons fluttered. The rear rank carried swords. These
splendid cavalrymen, 300 in number, preceded the Em-
peror, who now approached and was received with deaf-
ening shouts by the worshipping crowds. The Emperor's
dress was the dark green uniform of a Cossack General
with a black wool cap on his head. He saluted the
shouting people or crossed himself as he passed the holy
pictures, and with his young princes near him and the
Duke of Edinburgh a little to the left, paced on, fol-
lowed by his staff of two hundred men of every regi-
ment, nation and uniform it is possible to imagine.
Eight white horses, veiled in cascades of gold fringe
and ridden by postillions, drew the splendid vehicle in
which the handsome young Empress was seated in her
imperial robes. She wore the Russian tiara. Her car-
riage was worthy of note not only for the detail and
lavish decoration in crimson velvet of the roof and
painted panels, but because it was built for the Great
Catherine and used at her coronation. The stage coach
which bore the Duchess of Edinburgh was nearly as fine.
It was adorned with pictures of nymphs and cupids of
gold. The pageant was a magnificent success. It filed
slowly through the double portal of the Voskressensky
gate, jiast the northeastern face of the Kremlin which
was adorned with shields of cities, provinces and nation-
alities. Along the route were many American flags.
The ])rocession passed along the face of the grand stand,
containing upward of 10,000 persons, and in front ot
the renowned Church of St. Basil, with its extraordinary
cluster of towers and domes, and near that spot entered
the Kremlin.
Their majesties remained for three daj's in the Krem-
A JJrO'ESIS OF JIISGOVEKNMF.XT. 559
lin Palace, in fasting and pravor, according to ancient
custom.
Moscow was crowded as it never was before, thei'e be-
ing nnn-c tlian a. lialf million of visitors to witness the
impo^ing pageant throngh the streets and tlie demonstra-
tions that were prepared to be made after the ceremonies
closed. The Kremlin presented a gorgeous appearance,
every building within its enclosure being newly painted
with three coats of wliite, the fortifications were green
and the several entrances were rose-tinted, while the great
domes were regilded with gold. AVindows along the
route rented fcu' as much as $500, liut all who occupied
them Avere required to submit to an examination of their
2)ersons, that no concealed bombs might be secreted
about them. E\'cn oi'anges were prohibited from being
carried about lest they might be an iimoccnt covering to
a dynamite liomb.
On Sunday nuu'ning, 'Slay :?7th, the procession formed
at tlie cavalry barracks, four miles from the Kremlin.
Preceding the procession were sixty heralds on cream col-
ored horses ecuumanded by a general, who, when he
reached the gates of the barracks, blew a salute. The col-
onel at the barracks asked the commander for iiis order.
To this, response was given : " The Czar commands thee
to follow nu'."'
In com)_iliance with this the gates were thrown wide
open and the regiment followed the heralds to the Lan-
cers" barracks, thence to the nni\'ersity, to tlie cathedral
of St. Nicholas fur the clergy : thence to the courts for the
Judges : thence to the headquarters of the marshals of
the nobility, the staff oth'cers, professions, governors, pre-
fects, trade guilds, deputations, etc., at each of which
the same ceremony took pilace. Tlic procession being
uow made up, it marched to the Kremlin, its length being
560 A KE,'>IE.-IS OF MJSGOVERKMENT.
fullj four miles. When the commandant of the heiulds
arrived at St. Demitrius gate another blast of the trum-
pet was given. This brought out the commander of the
citidel who asked what they demanded. To this there
was a great shout, "THE CZAR."
" And for -what do you want him?"
" To crown him the most powerful of the powerful,"
was the reply, whereupon the gates were op^aed to ad-
mit the procession.
The Metropolitans (chief priests) of Mo.'icow, Kieff,
Kazan and Novgorod (ancient capitals) here took up po-
sitions at the head of the procession, and with deputa-
tions from all parts of the empire advanced to the palace
and formed in front of it. The deputations consisted of
Russians, Roumanians, Kirghees, Chinese, Mingrelians,
Bashkirs, Poles, Georgians, Circassians, Calmucks, Ar-
menians, Turkomans, Tartars, Esquimaux, Afghans, Bul-
garians, Laplanders, Mongolians, Finns, Persians and
Bokharians, all in their respective nation&l costumes.
The Metropolitans called upon the Czar to come forward,
upon which he appeared on the portico, dressed in the
uniform of a colonel of the Imperial Guards, with the
Empress, dressed as a Russian peasant, on his arm. The
instant tlie deputations were aware of the Imperial pres-
ence they knelt, and, being asked by the Czar what they
desired of him, the Metropolitan of Moscow answered
that they had been sent from afar and wide to see their
Czar anointed, so that they could return to their homes
and assure those who sent them that the Czar is verily
the Lord's anointed and that they may obey none but
him. Thence all proceeded to the Cathedral of the Holy
Assumption, the Czar and Czarina walking between the
bishops and deputations, for the ceremony of the corona-
tion.
A XEMEr'S OF MlSr.OVEKXMENT. 5(31
When the imperial procession started it was made
known to those inside the Cathedralby a renewed ringing
of hells, b}^ sonorous music from scores of bands and
by shouts from those outside. As the royal pair ap-
peared at the doors of the palace the immense multitude
immediately uncovered their heads and burst into loud
acclamations. Even women were bonnet-bare, and the
enthusiasm was unaffected as it was spontaneous and
hearty. At the head of the royal procession, which lu)^v
entered tlie Krendin, was the master of ceremonies,
flanked by heralds richl}' clad and mounted on pure white
horses. It was of immense length, and composed of
deputies froiu the Asiatic States of the empire, students
of the university, clergy, judges, nobibty and prefects
from every section of the empire. When its front rank
reached the doors of the palace it was met by the Emper-
or, wearing the white uniform of a colonel of the Impe-
rial Guards, and by the Empress, dressed in the Eussian
national costume of black velvet, richly embroidered with
diamonds, and girdled with a magnificeutbelt of precious
stones. The Empress leaned on the arm of her royal
consort. The pair placed themselves beneath the canopy
richly wrought in silk and gold, and borne by thirty-lwo
Generals of high military rank. They then took their
places near the head of the procession, being directly
after tlie regalia. At this moment the entire body of
clerirv eraerired from the cathedral in order to meet the
regalia, which they publicly sprinkled with holy water
and perfumed with incense.
Upon entering the portals of the cathedral the Emperor
and Empress M-ere received by the ]\Ietropolitau of Mos-
cow, and ^Metropolitans of Xovogorod and Keiff, who pre-
sented the cross to be kissed and sprinkled with holy
water, iirst by the Emperor and then the Empress. Be-
5G2
A NEMESIS OF MISGOVERNMEST.
fore sacred images, which flanlsed the doors of ttie cathe-,
dral, they knelt and bowed their heads, after which they
THE ROYAL REGALTA.
were conducted to the ancient thrones of ivory and sil-
ver. Alexander occupied the ancient throne of the Czar
A JIEMESIS OF MISGOVEESM£>'T. 5G3
Vladimir of Mououuigue, while the Empress was seated
in the armchair, gilded and enerusted with je>vels. The
thrones were placed upon a dais, erected between two
middle columns of the cathedral. Over the dais was a
canop}' of scarlet velvet, suspended from a rich roof em-
broidered with gold and lined with silver brocade, which
was worked with the arms of Russia and all her depend-
encies in the most ingenious manner. In front of the
throne were two tables covered i\'ith gold cloth, upon
which were placed the crowns, orb and scepter. None
but foreign princes were accommodated with seats. Rus-
sian princes and dignitaries stood during the entire cere-
mony, according to the custom of the Greeks. The dig-
nitaries of the realm, who were carrying the standard
and seals of the empire, took their stand upon the steps
of the dais.
After their ^Majesties had been seated the ^Metropolitan
of Novgorod asked the Emperor in a loud and distinct
voice, " Are you a true belie\er? "
The Emperor, falling on his knees, read in reply, in a
clear voice, the Lord's Prayer and the Apostles' Creed
of the Greek Church, the ^Metropolitan responding,
"May the grace of the Holy Ghost remain with thee."
Descended from the dais, the following customary sum-
mons was then three times repeated bj' the Bishop :
"If there be any of you here present knowing any
impediment for which Alexander, son of Alexander,
should not be crowned by the Grace of God Emperor
and Autocrat of all the Eussias, of Moscow, of Kieff, of
A\\idetmir, of Novgorod, Czar of Kazan, of Astrak-
han, of Poland, of Siberia, of Kherson, Taurida of
Grousi, Geosoudar of Pskoff, Grand Duke of Smolensk,
of Lithuania, of Yolheznia, of Podolonia and of Finland,
Prince of Esthonia, of Livonia, of Courtland, of Semi-
564
A NEMESIS OF MISOOVERNMEN'T.
galia, of the Samoyedes, of Bielostok, of Coi-wm, of
Foer, of Ingor, of Peim, of Viatka, of Bulgaria, and
of other countries ; Master and Grand Duke of the lower
countries in Novgorod, of Tchernigoff, of Riazan, of
Polotka, of Eostoff , of Jarostdff, of Bielosersk, of Ou-
dorke, of Kontizk, of Vitelsk. of ^Mstihiff, and of all
the countries of the Xuitli ; Cluster Absolute of Iversk,
of Kastainisk, of Kabardinsk. and of the territory of
Armenia ; Sovereign of Mountain Priuees. of Tiaherk-
ask, ^Master tif Turkestan, heir presumptive of Norway
and Did^e of Sleswiek-Holstein. of Storniaine. of Dith-
niarse. and of Oldenburg, let him come forward in the
name of the Holy Trinity and show wliat the impediment
is. or let liiui remain dumb f(.)rever."
After reading selections from the gospe , the ^letropol-
itans of Novgorod and Kieff again ascended the dais
and invested the Emperor with the Imperial ^Mantle of
ermine, the ^letropolitan of ^loscow saying at the same
time: "Cover and protect th}' people as this robe pro-
tects and covers thee."
The Emperor responded : •• I will, I will. I will. God
helping."
The ^letropolitan of Novgorod, crossing his hands
upon the head of the Emperor, then invoked the bene-
diction of Almighty God upon him and his reign, and
delivered to Alexander III. the crown of Russia, who
placed it upon his own head, and, assuming the scepter
and orb, took his seat upon the throne. He then re-
sic'ued the insignia of his title to dignitaries appointed to
receive them, and called the Empress, ■who knelt before
him. He touched her head lightly with the crown of the
Emperor, and then formally crowned her with her own
crown. The expression and attitude of the Empress as
?he knelt was one of sympathy with her royal husband
and touched dee[ily the audience. The Czar preserved
throughout a gra\"e and decorous dignity and nobleness
of demeanor, whicli provoked the admiration of all. Af-
ter the Empress had been dulv invested ^^■ith the imperial
•36
be J
A NEMESIS OF MISGOVERNJIENT.
mantle, and their iviajesues were, seateu on their thrones,
the Archdeacon intoned the imperial titles, and sang,
" Domine Salvum fac Imperatorem," which was taken
THE EMFEROR CROWNING THE EMPRESS-
A XEMEfIS OF MISGCVEENMENT. 5tJ7
up and thrice repeated by the choir. Directly this part
of the ceremony was finished, the bells of all the churches
ill Moscow rang out in chorus, a salute of 101 guns was
fired, and inside the cathedral members of the imperial
family tendered their congratidations to their Majesties.
The En.peror then knelt and recited a prayer, at the
end of which the clergy and all knelt before the Empe-
ror. The Bishop of ^loscow said aloud, in behalf of the
nation, a fcr\"ent prayer for the happiness of their ^laj-
esties. Shouts of "Long live the Emperm- "" then rent
the cathedral, and were taken up bv thousands outside
and carried from mouth to mouth, until that part of the
multitude who were unable to get inside even the ample
acreage of the Kremlin caught the sound and waved in a
huge volume of human gratulation to the remotest parts
of the citv, when it was speedily made known to all the
world that another Czar of the Eus>iashad been crowned.
The cathedral choir then sang Te Deum, after which
the Emperor ungirded his swurd, and. accompanied bv
the Empress and numerous dignitaries, proceeded to the
gate of the sanctuary. Theix- the Metropolitan of Nov-
gorod anointed the Emperor's forehead, eyelids, nos-
trils, lijis, ears, breast and hands, at the same time ex-
claiming, " Behold the seal of the Holy Ghost, may it
keep thee ever holy." The Empress was anointed on the
forehead. Both partook of the sacrament and then left
the cathedral, wearing their crowns and mantles, the Em-
peror also l.iearing the scepter and orb. After jua^ingin
the Cathedral of ^Michael the Archangel their [Majesties
returned to the palace, escorted by a procession, whit'h
jiresentcd even a more sjilendid sight than that which es-
corted them to the cathedral, being uow augmented by the
gorgeous state carriages of the imperial family. Ban-
ners \vaved fi'om all points in the Kremlin and the whole
568 A KJEMESIS OF MISGOVERNMENT.
route of the procession fairly glowed with bright draper-
ies and hangings. The Emperor re-entered the palace
by the celebrated red stair-case, whence laws were an-
ciently promulgated. There he turned and saluted the
people, who immediately uncovered their heads, cheering
enthusiastically and blessing the Czar.
The Imperial banquet began at 3 :30 p. m., in the halt
called the Granovitaia Palata. This hall was specially
restored for the occasion, and was splendidly decorated
with cloth of gold. The Emperor and Empress, wearing
their crowns, sat at separate tables on thrones of unequal
height. Their Majesties were served by distinguished
nobles, acting as cup-bearers, carvers, etc. The first
toast was " His Majesty, the Emperor," followed by a
salute of sixty-one guns. The next was " Her Majesty,
the Empress," followed by fifty-one guns. The third
was, "The Imperial Household," followed by thirty-one
guns, and the fourth was, "The clergy and faithful sub-
jects," followed by twenty-one guns. Foreign princes
and diploniates stood during the first course and after-
•ward, in accordance with ancient custom, withdrew to a
separate repast. The weather was fine throughout the
day, and eveiything passed off successfully. Silver to-
kens in memory of the day were distributed in twenty
Moscow churches at night.
The Czar's manifesto was issued in the evening, and was
a document of very considerable length. The manifesto
announced a continuance of the present state of affairs in
Russia, conditional pardon of Poles, remission of penal-
ties for non-political offenses and other matters. Crowds-
besieged the printing ofEce to obtain copies, the perusal
of which caused great rejoicing.
The Czar addressed the following rescript to De Girs,
Minister of Foreign Affairs :
A ^•E^IESIS OF MISUOVEKXMEXT. 569
" The gront power and glory acquired by Russia
tlmnks to Divine Picvidence, the extent of lier empire
ILLfMIXATION' AT MOSCOW IN HONOR OF THE CORONATION.
Hiid ber uumerous population, leave no room for any idea
of fuither conquests. My solicitude is exclusively de-
570 A NEMESIS OF MIdGOVERNMEXT.
voted to the peaceable development of tht country and
its prosperity, to the pi-eservatioii of friendly relations
with foreign powers on the basis of existing treaties, and
to the maintenance of the dignity of tlio empire. Having
fornd in you n constant, zealous and useful colaborator
for the promotion of these views in the direction of our
international relations, I confer upon you my order of
St. Alexander Nevski, in diamonds, as a testimony of
my gratitude."
Before their Majesties left the palace the route to the
cathedral Avas sprinkled with holy water. A heavy rain
fell before they started, but just as they took
their places under the canopy the sun shone brilliantly.
In the cathedral it was noticed that when the Czar knelt
alone to utter a prayer of intercession his eyes filled with
tears and he sobbed audibly as. he read. I\x making a
profession of faith the Czar's voice was grandly resonant.
The Metropolitan of Novgorod almost broke down in
delivering his allocution.
Mounted Cossacks patrolled every street, and troops
lining the route of the procession remained bareheaded
the whole morning. Those unable to obtain admission
to the Kremlin remained outside on their knees, close to
the walls, during the best part of the day, praying for the
Czar. A correspondent ^/ho witnessed the greatest pa-
geants during the last thirt^'-five years says the spectacle
culminatnig in the advent of their Majesties, crowned
and robed, was the most imposing and splendid he ever
beheld.
The cost of the coronation is estimated at $10,000,000,
which was covered by the issue of treasury bills.
Only thirteen newspaper correspondents were allowed
inside the cathedral during the ceremony— six Russian,
and seven foreign, the latter including one English and
A NEJtESIS OF JIISUOVEEXME.NT.
57]
one American correspondent. An academy professor
und twelve Russian artists ■\vcre appointed to make a
complete album of the events of the coronation.
IMPERIAL CROWTJ OF RUSSIA.
The Czar's crown dates from the period of Emperor
Paul I., and is valued at §1,500,000.
A festival and ilUnnination, such as were proba-
bly never seen before, followed the coronation. The
512 A NEMESIS OF MISC;UVEENJIEST.
people seemed to have lost their wits and were in a delir-
ium of joy ; not particularly because the Czar had been
crowned, but because their ebullient feelings M'ere first ex-
cited and then allowed to worlc off without restraint.
The Moujiks, (poor peasant people) while they were
not permitted to witness the coronation of their sover-
eign, were provided for in a Avay which stimulated them
to make a demonstration even greater than might have
been expected on such an occasion.
The vast Chodynski plains were covered with booths,
tents and barracks, for the accommodation of the people
generally. Drink and food were distributed free from
one hund2( d and twenty baggage cars. Every Moujik
received an earthenware jug stamped with the Imperial
Eagle and date of the coronation. These jugs were tilled
with beer as often as called for. In addition to this, each
pei-son received two meat pic3 and an ;il(uneance of can-
dies, dried fruits and cakes. There ^:cl^o r.lso four large
theatres erected in which performances 'srovo given free to
the populace, the pieces played being taken from the an-
cient St. Vladimir series, which included symbolic allu-
sions to the coronation. There were also twelve combined
military bands with twelve singing companies, giving
open air concerts. Salamonskj', the Barnum of Russia,
gave a grand hippodrome performance to the people at
the Crown's expense. At Sonolinsky"^ i)ark, three miles
from the city, a rotunda Avas built capable of seating
three thousand people, besides a separate saloon for the
court; tables were; also arranged to seat ten thousand
23ersons. This place continued open for three nights, en-
tertaining the peasants with music, songs, beer and an
abundance of edibles. The place was beautifully illumi-
nated with many-colored lanterns suspended from the
branches of the trees and made the park look like a place
of enchantment.
»W«VK— sSfrTWi-e-^^j-BSaSV??*" * ^^"^^^^^
\ \ vf^/r^'"^'-'
y"i-v^
cir^^ -
JRK^^.
^"^^"-^ ,<.»^
1 Bi idffe over the Ri\ er Kan netr Tow n of K i nhk
'J Petio\ sku\ I I 1\ I ic. il St I til 111 ( It I Ik Ci iiti il sil tr iii Line.
Biiiige OMi till. Fvi\f I R^ liii i\ 1 iitai Ki isiin\ i vk
■1 sibeiiaii Golii Mining (.iiiiip m tlie "^ cnesdsk (tov( lutiitiit
5. Building a Biid^^e : Pile- Drivei-s in tlie Baikgrouml ; in iMiiTgvouiul, Winter Covei s
for Men Working at Piere.
d. An Accident ; a frequent Orcunvni_'p in tlie early days of tlie Line.
7. Irkut^^k Railway Slation-Tlie First Train from tin.' Wrst mii August 28, l.s98 ; Irkutsk
is siH'n in thf Distance, Aii^'";ira bi'lwecn.
SCENES ON THE NEW TRANS-SIBERIAN RAILW'AY.
573
574 A NEMESIS OF MISGOVERNMENT.
It was bj this liberal provision for the poorer class that
the Czar sought to conciliate them, and how well he suc-
ceeded is illustrated by his safe return to St. Petersburg
and his occasional appearance on the streets of that city —
in an impenetrable disguise.
The costly display made at the coronation is already
reacting upon the Czar and his counsellors, the effect
being rather to intensify the hatred previously shown for
the autocrat. It served to illustrate to his poverty-stricken
subjects the magnificent splendor in which their sovereign
lives, and contrasted so severely with their own miserable
condition that they have already forgotten the meat-pies,
jugs of beer and fetes given them at Moscow. The agri-
culturist, who pays all of Russia's taxes, turns back at
times from his rude plow to wonder why he is so oppressed;
he sees nothing but approaching starvation, and even the
carrion birds seem to follow in his furrow in daily expec-
tation of the feast which his body must furnish them.
This is a true picture of Russia's poor. Let us thank God
the more fervently for our blessed Republic.
An incident happened which had been prepared to work
upon the superstition of the people and imbue them with
the divine right of their monarch. Just at the moment of
the coronation there appeared a white dove that hovered
over the Czar.
The enthusiasm of the people, however, throughout the
entire time was chilled by the precautions taken to pre-
vent them approaching the Czar. They were forbidden
to toss their caps in the air, lest they should contain bombs.
The festivities following the coronation lasted a v^eek.
Every hour was filled with entertainment, not only for
the court officials and visiting guests but for the common
people. A large fete was held, where over 400,000 were
served freely -with sweetmeats, meat pies, cakes and beer.
The royal couple left Moscow secretly and returned to
Peterhof, their favorite suburban retreat.
A ^"E^^E?rs of misgoveexmext. OiO
Alexander followed oloielv the poliev of liis father, and
was very slow to inaugurate reforms. He would not com-
ply with his people's request for a constitution, and gave
them no voice to express their grievances. Although he
himself was cautious, pacific, truth-speaking and devoted
to his country, yet he allowed himself to be made the
tool of dishonest men, so that his reign was one long story
of conspiracy and banishment of suspiected persons. Enor-
mous taxes were levied upon the peasants, and if they did
not pay them they were tlogged. and theii- live stock,
furniture and huts sold at auction. Thousands every year
were turned adrift to live as they might, to beg, steal or
die. It is estimated that twenty million died from the
famine during 1S90 and 1S91. Dr. Talmage was sent
from the United States to St. Petersburg, and aided ma-
terially in distributing charity to the sufferers.
Alexander III. had a great love for engineering enter-
prises, and one of his favorite schemes was the Great
Siberian Eailway. oi>ening up the immense country of
Siberia. It was also under his direction that the Prinsk
marshes, a huge swamp as large as Scotland, was drained
and turned into agricultural land.
The religious persecutions were most dreadful. The
press was shackled even more than iu the reign of his
father, so that even the Kussiaus themselves were not
aware of a tenth of what was being done. It was no
wonder then, in view of this twrauny and persecittion. that
so many hearts were filled with hatred toward the Czar,
whom they held responsible, and that the Xemesis of Mis-
government — fear of a violent death — filled his own life
with sorrow and dread. Again and again was his life
threatened. He lived in a state of siege, always sur-
rounded by guarrls. "When speaking of Kussia he always
called it his prison.
Although his own country was tlius filled with disturb-
ance and trouble, his influence and character aln-oad were
.576 A NEMESIS OF MISGOVERNMENT.
great, and among other eountiies lie was called "the peace-
maker of Europe," no war having taken place during his
reign of thirteen years.
In spite of the many attacks upon his life he died
peacefidly in his armchair on Thursday, November 1,
1894, at Livadia, where he had gone with the hope that
the southern climate might be of benefit to him. Kidney
disease, brought on by an attack of iniluenza, caused his
death.
The burial ser^dce was held with pomp and ceremony.
Most of the sovereigns and princes of the world were pres-
ent, and many were the expressions of grief and sorrow.
From France alone there were sent five thousand wreaths
of flowers.
Doubts and misgivings were exjDressed by leaders in all
civilized nations when the time came for Nicholas II. to
ascend the throne of the Russias. Nicholas was not un-
known but he was untried. The placing of such a vast
power in the hands of a very young man was calculated
to produce feelings of hope and fear in the minds of all
that were in touch with the affairs of state in the great
nations of the earth at that time. Close observers of the
influences that were swaying nations and shaping events
realized the possibilities for good that came with Nicholas'
ascension to the throne, and at the same time feared the
contingencies that might arise in the formation of the
policy of the young Czar.
The first proclamation of Nicholas II. set at rest, for the
time being at least, all fears for the nearby future.
The manifesto was concluded with a command that the
oath of allegiance be taken to him, Emperor Nicholas XL,
and to his heir apparent, Grand Duke George Alexandro-
vitch, his brother, who is to be entitled czarowitz until
God may bless with a son the union he was about to enter
with the Princess Alix of Hesse-Darmstadt.
Nicholas succeeded his father November 1, 1894, the
A XE^rESrs OF MISGOVEE>-MENT. 577
day of liii father's death, but his pixxdamatioii was uoc her-
alded until the following dav. Before the remains of Alex-
ander HI. had been placed in their last resting place, and
while at Moscow, where the body lay a fortnight after his
death. Nicholas assured the populace that he would aim
to walk in his father's footsteps.
Unlike his father, Nicholas had been reared and edu-
cated with the idea that he would some day be ruler of
the Russians.
He was born ^lay IS, ISGS. His constitution was deli-
cate enough to cause his parents some anxiety. The phys-
ical contrast between Xicholas and his father was so great
that it seemed almost that they were not of the s;\me race.
As ]S^icholas came to manhood he became more robust,
although he remained comparatively pallid, frail and was
of nervous dis;[xisition. He resembles his father in many
personal traits, but is far ahead of Alexander in a pos-
session of scientitic knowledge and a knowledge of the
world. He spent much time in travel, and acquired a
fund of inforniati.ai while on his journeys. He is some-
what averse to the homage of court and of official life.
He entered the army at the age of eighteen. Although
not a passionate soldier, ^"icholas' inclination to do thor-
oughly anything he undertook enabled him to become a
good othcer, able to recognize mistakes and appreciate
ethciency. He had wonderful respect for the Czar when
a young man, and thought the Czar greater than his
father, When a lieutenant he one day became tired and
threw himself on his couch for a rest after carefully
removing his boots and uniform. He was about to fall
asleep when his father entered the room. In speaking of
this afterwards he said: "You can imagine my terror
when I saw the Czar before me and I had no boots on."
He is fond of music and dancing, and has a go^xi tenor
voice.
Xieholas is reputed to be p.>i-essed of sound judgment
578 A NEMESIS OF MISGOVEESMENT.
and to have common sense. Pie never makes a resolution
in haste, bnt when onee made he can never be swerved
from it. One writer said of him when he was wholly
untried as a ruler: "Europe can look on him vsdth great
confidence and trust every word he utters." Every act
of Nicholas II. since his ascension to the throne has been
a verification of this sentiment.
In this connection the sentiments which he has ex-
pressed upon the disarmament of Europe have received
much serious attention, but the conflict between the
United States and Spain has, temporarily at least, been
the cause for dissipating any entertained idea of lessening
the forces of war.
The marriage of Nicholas II. to Princess Alix of Hesse-
Darmstadt took place at St. Petersburg November 26,
twenty-five days after the death of Alexander III. The
betrothal of the couple had been announced at the Coburg
wedding in April, 1894, by the Emperor of Germany,
and it was the wTsh of Alexander III. that the nuptials
be celebrated at as early a day as possible. Princess Alix
was formally admitted to the Orthodox church, and at
this ceremony received her new name, Alexandra Feo-
dorovna. The affair was the occasion of much pomp and
ceremony. The tendency of this marriage was to unify
the interests of Russia, England and Germany. The
Czarina is a granddaughter of Queen Victoria, the
youngest daughter of Alice Maud Mary, Grand Duchess
of Hesse, second child of Queen Victoria. Princess Alix
•was born in 1872. She has a fine face, and is possessed
of a temperament that makes her a most companionable
consort to the Czar, and she has progTCssive ideas. The
Czar himself is a nephew of the Prince and Princess of
Wales, and the mannage of the youngest brother of the
Czarina, Ernest Louis, Grand Duke of Hesse, in April,
1894, to Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, linked
this generation of the roval families of Russia, England
A NEMESIS OF :HISUOVEEyMEST. 579
and Germany together quite as eli'ectiveh- as had the mar-
riages of some of tlieir ancestors.
The coronation of Xicholas II. took jilace at iloseow,
Mav 2t3. ISO 6. AVeeks had been spent in preparation for
the great event, and at the time appointed the ceremony
A\'as celebrated ^vith solemn splendor consistent -nith the
exalted and autocratic otliee of the C'zar of all the Russian.
In seeming antithesis to this effect the Emperor, by way
of an offering to his peoj)le. granted a series of clemencies
and reforms that ^vere in fact in great contrast to the acts
of his predecessors on the throne. The horrors of Siberia
and the terrors of police espionage Tvere mitigated or abol-
ished in classitied cases.
The exercises Avere opened \Tith a cannon saltite at seven
o'clock. An hottr later a Te Deiim was celebrated ia the
Cathedral for the ex-Empress and the members of the
inipierial family, with the exception of those that were
to take part in the Czar's procession. Almost as soon a3
the members of the cortege had been assigned to their
places the imp>erial procession began the movement to the
Cathedral. Upon arriving at the Cathedral their majesties,
iNicholas Alexandrovitch and Empress Alexandra, seated
themselves tipion the throne of the Czars. Michael Fedoro-
vitch and John III. The Emperor made his confession
of Orthodox faith, donned the imperial order of St. An-
drew, p>laeed on his head the imperial crown, and was
presented with the sceptre and globe. Removing the crown
he placed it on the head of the Empress, afterward replac-
ing it on his own head. Then taking up the crown of the
Empress he jilaced it on her head. The Empress' imperial
mantle of the Order of St. Andrew was put on by her and
her majesty took her seat on the throne. That done the
exercises ended with religions rites and a salute of one
hundred and one guns. The part played by the clergy at
the coronation was most interesting and suggestive. Be-
fore the Czar and the Czarina could take their seats or be
580 A NEMESIS OF MISGOVEENMENT.
enthroned they must kneel before the sacred icons. Be-
fore the coronation service began the Metropolitan of St.
Petei-sbiirg confronted the Czar and in a loud voice chal-
lenged him to make public profession of the Orthodox
faith before all his subjects. This done, he received the
blessing of the Metropolitan, and v^as then free to crown
himself, and the august ceremonial went on to the end
without interruption amid the singing of the ohoir and the
music of church bells. One "s^Titer remarks in this con-
nection: "What a vista of victory of spirit over matter
does not this coronation open up, and how little the fierce
old predecessors of the Romanoffs, who selected the Greek
faith rather than that of the Jew, Moslem or Roman,
dreamed that the new creed would make its profession the
indispensable jJreliminary to the assumption of the crown
of Russia!"
Of all the coronations in Russia that of Xicholas II. was
by far the grandest, most elaborate and most expensive.
The cost alone of these ceremonies, the decorations and
preparation must have been in excess of $25,000,000.
Representatives of all the leading nations of the earth
were jiresent. The United States was represented by Rear
Admiral T. O. Selfridge, Jr., commanding the European
station, United States ISIavy, and Major Clifton R. Breck-
enridge, the American Minister, wlio attended in full court
costume.
Great Britain was represented by the Duke and Duchess
of Connaught and General Sir Trancis Grenfell and their
attendants.
Li Hung Chang attended as the representative of the
Chinese Emperor, and Marshall Yamagata represented the
Emj^eror of Japan.
The Czar's manifesto, issued upon the occasion of his
coronation, remitted all an-ears of taxation in European
Russia and Poland, reduced the land tax by one-half for
ten rears, and remitted or reduced all fines, quashed all
A NEMESIS OF MISGOVEENMENT. 581
petty convictions involving imprisonment or fines up to
thirty roubles, with the exception of persons sentenced for
robbery, embezzlement, usury, extortion, fraudulent
bankruptcy or offences against honor. The manifesto also
prescribed that all exiles in Siberia, after twelve years'
exile in the remoter parts, be, after two years, allowed to
choose their place of residence, excepting capital cities
and seats of governments, but their ci^al rights would not
be restored. Exiled criminals had one-third of their sen-
tences remitted, life sentences were commuted to twenty
years, and many other punishments were made lighter.
Regarding political jorisoners, the Minister of Justice
was authorized to grant, according to the nature of the
offence, remissions of punisliment in addition to those in
the general amnesty, and advise the Czar to restore civil
rights to those that had led blameless lives since having
completed their banishment, and to reconsider the cases
of those punished summ'arily who, by subsequent behavior,
merited indulgence. Political refugees were accorded im-
munity from prosecution, provided fifteen years had
elapsed since their offence.
Later in the day an imperial ukase was issued announc-
ing many promotions and decorations of Russian diplo-
mats, and establishing as a special distinction to the clergy
a silver cross to be worn on the breast. The Metropolitans
of St. Petersburg, Kieff and Moscow, who officiated at the
coronation ceremonies, received an imperial letter and the
new cross in diamonds.
Early in the morning of May 30, during the festivities
on the Khodijniskoje plain, occurred a catastrophe that
resulted in the death of many hundreds of the attendants
and caused the rest of the coronation celebration to seem
more like a funeral than a jubilation, so far as the common
people were concerned. Arrangements had been made for
caring for 100,000 people, but more than twice that num-
ber came during the night. When dawn came the crowd
582 A NEMESIS OF MISGOVERNMENT.
was immense. Very few of the police were on hand lat
so early an hour, and those that were present could only,
with the greatest difficulty, make their way through the
crowd. Arrangements had been made to distribute to
each person of the assembled thousands a commative mug,
some sausage, sweetmeats and sweetcake, all of the value
of about fifty cents. It will never be known how it hap-
pened, but the crowd became suddenly stampeded, and
before the multitude could be quieted hundreds had been
trampled to death. Low spots in the plain were veritable
death holes. The official estimate placed the number of
killed at 1,360 and the number of wounded at 644, but
other estimates ranged as high as 3,873 killed and 4,000
injured, most of them being poor moujiks from the prov-
inces and many of them women and children. The Czar
and Czarina were deeply moved, and ordered 1,000 roubles
paid to each bereaved family and paid the burial expenses
of all the dead. They also subscribed 20,000 roubles for
the children that had lost their parents.
For two weeks following the coronation there was a
constant round of fetes and receptions. On June 6, the
birthday of the Czarina, a banquet was given to the diplo-
matic corps, and on June 7 their majesties retired from
Moscow to the imperial estate of Ilinsky, where they rested
for some days before proceeding to St. Petersburg.
In all governments there are classes of people that are
dissatisfied with the manner in which the business of the
government is conducted. Some of these classes would
overthrow everything and they offer nothing as a substi-
tute. Others would tear down present forms for substi-
tutes that are untried, substitutes that are nothing more
than the theories of their advocates. In nearly all coun-
tries all classes of malcontents are usually put under a
single title. This is erroneous, but true. In Russia all
opposed in any way to the government are termed Nihil-
ists, in England they are termed Fenians", in France Com-
A NEMESIS OF MI8G0VERNMENT. 583
.mimists, and iu America and Germany Anarcliists. The
■word "nihilist" is somewhat misleading. It was first con-
feri\?d as a nickname, and afterwards adopted in a kind
of dare-devil manner, and has since covered all sortd of
varieties of social and political discontent, as well as of
philosophical radicalism. One writer savs there were
Kihilists who, from the sheer hopelessness engendered by
a t\Tauny lasting a thonsaud years, had come to cultivate
;i philosophy of despair, of disgust and of destruction,
Avithoiit troubling themselves as to the constitution of the
future. These were nu''n that professed a wish to do away
with all state organization for the sake of a morbid indi-
vidualism. Others were inclined towards a socialLst col-
lection in I'tojuau form. The term "nihilist" is certainly
not applicable to the latter. But even men who would
have been satisfied with a simple democratic, even a repub-
lican form of government under a kingly head, have often
been ignorantly ternuxl Xihilists.
Xihilism is probably even now more active in Russia
than at any time since the assassination of Alexander II.,
and extraordinary precautions are at all times taken to
guard the life of Nicholas II. In July, 1S95, an extensive
conspiracy was discovered iu ]\Ioscow and arrests were
made. Towards the end of that month it was discovered
that members of the students" union of the University of
iloscow were implicated iu a plot to assassinate the Czar,
and that the priests in the seminary of Kieff were plotting
against the administration. August 19, 1S95, the artillery
barracks at Toola were blown up, after having been under-
mined, presumably by Xihilists, and three hundred persons
were killed, including many officers. Within the following
fortnight there were nearly one thousand arrests; of sus-
pected persons.
Measures intended to advance the social, political, eco-
nomical and commercial welfare of his people have been
taken up and prosecuted with vigor by Nicholas II., and
584 A NEMESIS OF MISGOVERNMENT.
the measures looking to these ends that were begun by
Alexander III. have been well supported and pushed
towards completion by the young Czar. The private saloon
has been abolished, and the government has assumed con-
trol of the liquor traffic under a plan somewhat similar to
that in operation in South Carolina. The primary object
of this action was to provide revenue for the government,
but the fact that such control would rid the people of the
evils of the liquor business as privately conducted was
also taken into consideration. Other laws, most of them
conceived and some of them partly promulgated by Alex-
ander III. for the benefit of the whole people, have been
enacted. The tramp question has been quite effectually
disposed of in St. Petersburg. The police were required
to take a census of the paupers of the city. Help was pro-
vided for the sick, aged and children through the means
of public eating houses and asylums. Able-bodied men
were provided with work and given ten cents a day and
food together with shelter if necessary. Those declining
to accept the opportunity to earn at least a living were
imprisoned, and the problem seems to have been solved in
a single stroke.
The peasant banks have proven successful. They were
started in 1883 by Alexander III. Their object was to
assist the peasantry in the purchase of land and to encour-
age the ownership of land by the farm-working classes.
Three-fourths of the price of the land was advanced, and
a lien taken on the pro2>erty until the payments were made.
Millions of acres of land have been bought and paid for
under the operation of this law.
Many very important internal improvements have been
and are being projected. The great Siberian railway is
being pushed along to completion.
Work is progressing on the plans promulgated by the
government for a great canal to connect the Baltic and
Black Seas. This waterway will have Riga for its northern
A NEMESIS OF MISGOVERNMENT. 585
terminus, and it will follow, as nearly as will be most eco-
nomical, the courses of the Dwina, the Beresina, and the
Dnieper \\'ith the terminus at Kherson, near where the
Dnieper empties into the Black Sea. It is to have a mini-
mum depth of thirty feet, a bottom width of one hundred
feet, and will be about one thousand miles long. Its con-
struction will involve an expenditure of about $150,-
000,000. Six days' travel at a steady speed of seven miles
an hour, day and night, will be required to pass from one
end to the other. By night the canal is to be lighted by
electricity. Although valuable from a strategic point of
view, this canal means much for the trade and commerce
of the country. Surveys and plans have also been made
to connect Don and Volga, and by this means the Black
and Caspian Seas.
Under Nicholas II. the pei-seeution of the Jews in
Russia is carried on with ever-increasing severity. They
are driven in to certain towns and are not permitted to ob-
tain the education that would prepiare them to pass the ex-
aminations that would entitle them to emigTate. Colleges
and high schools are forbidden to permit an attendance of
more than five per cent of Jews, while in Moscow and St.
Petersburg this limit is cut to three per cent. Under the
provisions of a ukase from Xicholas II. no Hebrew is per-
mitted to embrace the Christian faith unless liis wife, chil-
dren, brothers and parents also accept such faith, and by
other means they ai-e prohibited from joining the Roman
Catholic church or Protestant churches or anything but
the Russian Orthodox cliurch.
Some of the more recent troubles that have engaged
the arms of European nations have arisen from conflicting
claims to certain territory iu other countries.
The principal nations of Europe, in order to find an
outlet for their surplus population and the over-production
of their manufactures, have sought to acquire territory in
other continents, and territorv in Africa has been coveted
586 A NEMESIS OF MISGOVERNMENT.-
by France, Germany and Italy. The last nation to step
in for lands in west Africa was England, whose ostensible
aim seems to have been to interfere with the fierce lust
for annexation and passion for African lands that was
exhibited by the other European powers named. African
lands have attracted European settlers because of their
richness in agricultural and mineral resources.
Settlements were made in all parts of Africa, and many
disputes have arisen as to lands claimed, especially in west
Africa. These claims have been based on actual posses-
sion and upon treaties made with native chiefs. In many
cases these treaties covered the same lands granted to each
of the three rival nations. In order to protect colonists,
not only from the encroachments of settlers of rival nations
but from the attacks of natives, the powers have kept
armed forces in the disputed territory.
Greed for the possession of new territory, however, has
been the chief motive that has actuated all these nations
in acquiring lands in Africa.
First, Africa was the object of general grabbing by
European nations and next in turn came Asia. This
colonial policy' is fast bringing all the earth under more
direct control of a few leading powers, and these are form-
ing alliances. Even the old nations of the Orient are
seized and shaken up from their sleep of centuries and
drilled for the final struggle that would seem inevitable.
A spirit of jealousy, each of the other, lest one should
gain a piece of territory coveted by the other, seems to
govern the great European powers in their grabbing of
points of vantage in Asia. To occupy strategic points on
this continent, in order that a rival nation would not have
a better equipment for the waging of war if necessary,
seems to have been one of the ruling motives governing
the movements of the great European nations in Asiatic
territory.
Russia is spending millions of dollars in the develop-
A NEMESIS OF MISGOVEENMENT. 587
ment of the vast natural resources of Siberia and other
portions of her domain. The last Russian budget calls for
enormous outlays in railroad building. The appropriation
for internal improvements of this character far exceed the
appropi'iations for her army and navy. The Czar's ambi-
tion is to develop the commercial and industrial resources
of Russia, and some writers have assigned this ambition as
the real cause for his disarmament proposal, charging that
Russia grudges the money and men exacted by present
conditions of the great armed peace of Europe. Russia's
incursive movements into Chinese territory have been
brought about by her great ambition for commercial and
industrial development. Treaties have been made and
points of vantage have been gained peaceably and forced
upon the Chinese, possibly by menace of arms. Russia
has tightened her grasp on China, coniirmed her foothold
on Korea, and extended her influence as an Oriental power.
Her aim seems to be one of expansion. One of her first
motives in this movement was to obtain a commercial
outlet in the Pacific Ocean that would not be bound up
by ice half the year. To this end the Eastern Chinese
Railway Company was organized to construct a railway
on Chinese soil in connection with the trans-Siberian rail-
way. It will require six years to complete the Manchurin
railway. It will be 1,280 miles long, 946 of which will
be through Chinese territory, and be 342 miles shorter
than if bitilt within the Russian border. The Chinese
have the right of purchase in thirty-six years, or they may
take the line in eighty years without purchase. ^Vithal
it seems to be the Czar's aim to Rtissianize China. Russian
schools are to be established at Pekin and Russian influ-
ence made predominant. The opening up of northern
China and of south Siberia to the commerce of the world
is one of the great modern achievements. This develop-
ment of natural resources in China and Russia has attracted
manv American railroad builders, and they have been
588 A NEMESIS OF MISGOVERNMENT.
welcomed because of the feeling that they could have no
other motive than that of a desire for personal benefit.
The Czar is quite currently reported to have been inca-
pacitated to conduct personally the affairs of his vast
domains, and his uncle is said to be the real active power
that now directs Russian progress.
Russia's land forces are about equal in numbers to those
of Germany, and in each the grand war total foots about
5,200,000 men. The French land forces come next with
a force of slightly less than 5,000,000 men and officers.
Each has about 5,000 guns when on a war footing. Great
Britain gets along with about 425,000 men. The peace
establishment of arms is about 600,000 men and officers
in both Germany and France, while Russia feels it neces-
sary to keep up an establishment of 760,000 troops and
2,500 guns. France has 3,400 guns when on a peace
footing and Germany 2,800. The peace footing of Great
Britain is 211,000 men and 720 guns.
The United States regular army was limited to 25,000
men until war with Spain became a fact, when the number
was increased to 05,000 men. Volunteers were called,
and within a few weeks over a quarter of a million men,
fully armed and equipped, were in the field ready for
orders. Congress has recently passed an act making a
provisional increase of 35,000 men, thus enlarging the
regular army to 100,000 troops. It is discretionary with
the President whether these 35,000 men are pressed into
service or not, and their terms expire July 1, 1901.
A humane desire on the part of the United States to
bring about peace between Spain and her subjects in Cuba
was the motive that engaged the United States at the
outset in a clash of arms with Spain early in 1898. Cuban
insurrectionists were strong enough to harass the Spanish
army in Cuba but not strong enough to defeat that army.
The Spanish army was not in condition to put down the
armed forces of Cuba, and the result was a continued state
A .N-EMESI3 OF MISGOVEENSIEXT. 589
of war that threatened to depopulate the island by destroy-
ing all attempts at agriculture, commerce and industry.
The cruelties practiced by the succession of Spanish gen-
erals that were put in charge of Spanish arms in Cuba
were so outrageous and terrible as to call for interference.
War was declared and Cuba was assured that she would
be given her independence. One of the iii-st and most
notable incidents of the war with Spain was the utter
destruction of the Spanish naval fleet at Manila. Sunday,
May 1, by Commodore Dewey. Subsequently the army
of the United States to.:ik possession of the Philippines,
and a war that -was inaugurated Tvith the single idea of
freeing Cuba from Spanish rule began with an engage-
ment that freed nearly ten millions of native Filipinos
from Spanish power. The United States holds the Phil-
ippines now by virtue of force of arms and payment to
Spain of twenty millions of dollars. It has been necessary
to use arms against some of the natives in order to put
down a determination on their part to establish an inde-
pendent government. The desire of the United States to
have new outlets for her manufactured products and to
establish valuable commercial relations witii the Orient
and the East, together with the necessity for naval stations
in the Paciiic, have influenced the operations of the United
States Government in the far East as well as in the annexa-
tion of the Hawaiian Islands. AVho shall say whether or
not Xemesis may pursue us into the j tingles of the Philip-
pines or the swamps of Cuba?
*5«