_VLADIVOSTOCK._
Situation of town.--Lodged with Captain de Vries.--Chinese
labourers.--Chinese convicts.--Coreans.--Inhabitants of
Vladivostock.--Presented at the Governor’s house.--Admiral
Erdmann’s improvements.--Visit to barracks.--Boys’ high
school.--Education in Russia, its cost and method.--Vladivostock
Girls’ Institute; and Free School.--Statistics of
crime.--Telegraph companies.--Sunday services.--Protestantism
in Siberia.--Village of exiles.--General remarks on
exiles.--Preparations for departure.
Vladivostock derives its lordly name from its supposed “command of the
east.” The town overlooks an inlet, sheltered by islands, at the end
of a promontory jutting out from the middle of the bay of Peter the
Great. Behind the harbour rises a lofty hill, crowned by a watch-tower,
to which I climbed during my stay, and was rewarded by a remarkably
fine view. Northwards stretched the well-wooded Muravieff promontory.
East and west lay the gulfs of the Amur and the Ussuri, down the former
of which I had steamed from the Suifun; whilst to the south were
mountainous islands with rocky headlands, separated from the mainland
by the eastern “Bosphorus.” Descending from this elevated spot, and
looking from the verandah of the Governor’s house, a less extensive
view is obtained, but a very pretty one, comprising the entrance to the
harbour called the “Bay of the Golden Horn,” with its two headlands
forming the west and southern shores. The depth of water within the
harbour is from 30 to 60 feet, and, at the entrance, about double these
soundings. The “Bosphorus” is from 60 to 120 feet in depth, and after
passing Kazakevich Island, this increases to 200 feet and upwards.
As I steamed into the harbour on Monday afternoon, the 15th September,
it was well filled with the ships of many nations, including Chinese
junks with their clumsy sails. A German gunboat had just replaced an
English line-of-battle ship, and an Italian man-of-war arrived during
my stay. There were Russian ships from the Siberian and Pacific fleets,
merchant vessels (of which 50 a year visit the port), and a number of
boats, many of which ply between Vladivostock, Olga, and Paseat bays. I
found, however, no regular service to Japan, but was told that I could
probably leave in a Russian man-of-war within a fortnight.
I sought a lodging with Captain de Vries, a Heligolander by birth,
who, when in command of a passenger ship plying between England and
New York, had become an American subject, and had again changed his
nationality to Russian on settling in Siberia at the time of the
annexation of the Amur. He had travelled over Siberia, and had a
minute knowledge of the Amur and Russian Manchuria; so that from him I
acquired a great deal of information, whilst his kind-hearted English
wife spared no pains to make me comfortable. In fact, I found the 15
days of my stay at Vladivostock the pleasantest of my tour; for not
only had I time to rest and write and acquire information, but I was
almost daily received as a guest at the houses of the Governor, or of
some of the many inhabitants who spoke English.
The population of Vladivostock in the Almanack is stated to be 8,431,
but was estimated to me on the spot at 5,000. The births for 1878 were
given by the priest as 184, marriages 13, and deaths 102, of which last
66 were males. The population, however, must fluctuate greatly, for
during the previous year 8,000 troops had been quartered in and about
the town; and I saw the earth batteries they had thrown up to receive
the English, in case the treaty of Berlin had been settled the wrong
way. Happily it went the right way; and when H.M.S. _Iron Duke_, on a
northern cruise, steamed into Vladivostock, instead of being injured
by torpedoes or fired upon, the officers were invited to dine at the
admiral’s house. I judged the party must have been a pleasant one,
for the commander of the Siberian fleet told me he had been immensely
pleased with the English admiral, and the Governor’s wife and family
had nothing to say of the officers but what was gracious and kind.
A large number of the inhabitants of Vladivostock are Manzas, Coreans,
and Chinese, whose presence is looked upon in different lights. My
host, for instance, thought their numbers a hindrance to Russian
progress, because they outbid the Russians, work cheaper, and undersell
them. In fact, this was one of the subjects upon which the captain used
to wax warm. Accustomed to the high prices of American markets, he was
sorely offended at the insignificant profits proposed to him by the
Chinese, and, after speaking of their miserable offers for his goods
or services, he used to wind up his orations by telling me, in not
quite classical English, “There ain’t no footur for this country.” The
Governor’s wife and other Russians thought differently, for, apart from
the larger exports and imports,[1] they had the Chinese to thank for
the vegetable market and the performance of a great deal of local work
at a cheap rate, which otherwise would possibly not have been done at
all.[2]
Emigrants from the Corea take refuge on Russian soil, in spite of
the Corean death penalty attached. In 1868 there were 1,400 of these
fugitives; but in the following year, when floods in the Corea drove
additional multitudes to seek refuge on neighbouring soil, their
further immigration was forbidden by the Russians, and some of the
fugitives were sent back, and, on their return, decapitated.[3]
Sad accounts of the Manzas were heard at Vladivostock. My host
employed, he said, an old man whom he one day missed, and found that
he had been murdered, to be robbed of £10. The Manzas are pirates
also. In their transactions with the Russians the Chinese demand to be
paid in silver money, and this they take home by sea. Hence I saw more
silver roubles in the Sea-coast province than I had observed in any
other part of the empire. I saw too, at Khabarofka, a considerable sum
of silver money in Mexican dollars. The Manza robbers, accordingly,
watch for the boats, murder the crews, and secure the booty.
The Coreans were described as very industrious. They dress in white,
and tie up their hair in the shape of a horn. Their summer hats
resemble those of the Gilyaks, except that they are hexagonal instead
of circular. I went into some of their houses, the walls of which were
of mud, plastered on a framework of straw. The floor was of beaten
earth, with a mud fireplace in the centre, and a divan round the walls.
In the best houses, the wife had a separate apartment. Fire burns in
the centre by day, and the flues, under the divan, are heated morning
and evening. The people live on millet and rice, and use a spoon of
bronze, with a nearly circular flat bowl. Taking one from a man who
was eating, I presented the spoon in one hand and a silver coin in the
other, intimating that I wished to buy; and when he had taken the coin
the master of the house came up, and, receiving from me the spoon and
from the man the coin, he graciously returned them both, implying that
he _gave_ me what I desired.
The Russian inhabitants of Vladivostock consist almost entirely of
officers and persons connected with the army and navy, and there are
several foreign inhabitants besides,--some of them Germans, Finns, and
Americans. England was represented by an engineer, who went there, I
believe, as a mechanic, and whose son-in-law, at the time of my visit,
was mayor of the town.[4]
In 1878 there were in Vladivostock 80 merchants of the first guild, who
pay in Russia a tax of £50 per annum; 185 of the second guild, who pay
£6 per annum; 228 temporary merchants, and 99 street-hawkers; also 215
first-class and 209 second-class clerks.[5]
The junks of the Chinese, their little houses of wood, their sheds
and implements, give to Vladivostock a different aspect from that of
ordinary Siberian towns. The Russian houses are chiefly of wood, and
among the public buildings are both barracks and winter quarters for
the seamen of the fleet. To these must be added the Admiralty, an
officers’ club, two high-class schools for boys and girls, a library,
two free schools, a Russian and a Lutheran church, two telegraph
stations, a dockyard, and the Governor’s house.
At this last I was presented, on the day after my arrival, by Captain
Naumoff, the captain of the port. The Governor was away on a tour of
inspection, but I was introduced to Madame Erdmann, who spoke excellent
English, and had all the manners and charm of an English lady. She
was a German-Russian from the Baltic provinces, and both she and her
husband were Protestants--and zealous ones, too, for they had come
out to Vladivostock with the intention of effecting some good in the
place, and were evidently doing it. My host, Captain de Vries, bore
testimony to the material improvements which had been made by the
Governor; for, said he, until the admiral came, “we had no road for the
buggy.” His Excellency made also a pretty pleasure-garden at his own
cost, for which, now that it is finished, the Government allows a grant
for maintenance. Admiral Erdmann, who combined the three offices of
Admiral of the Fleet, Chief of the Military, and Civil Governor of the
province, drew a stipend of about £2,000 a year, kept an establishment
of 15 servants, and seemed to take pleasure in entertaining in
vice-regal style the officers of men-of-war of all nations visiting the
port.
But Admiral and Madame Erdmann have left other monuments than these
to testify to their endeavours to promote the welfare of the town.
When they arrived there was no system of poor relief, whereupon her
Excellency called together the ladies of the place, and organized
a society which has been an immense benefit. She proposed, in the
first place, to build a free school, which was done. The institute or
boarding-school for girls also was enlarged, and Madame had been the
prime mover in another effort to build a Lutheran church and manse. The
means by which funds were raised for these charitable objects were, in
part, concerts and fancy fairs. One that took place during the first
week I was there was described to me as resembling those in England,
and I heard that by two such fêtes within a fortnight they cleared the
sum of £500.
I was invited to dine at the admiral’s house soon after my arrival,
and met there the officers of the Russian clipper _Djiguitt_, in which
I afterwards left Siberia. A band performed during the evening, and
fairly surprised me by its excellence; for I had met with nothing to
equal it in Russia, and had heard little music of any kind in crossing
Siberia. This dinner-party brought me into contact with several
naval people, and I subsequently met a Commander Terentieff, who was
exceedingly kind in translating for me. He accompanied me one morning
to the temporary barracks of the first battalion, whose chief is the
Grand Duke Alexei. Its standard was presented by Peter the Great, and
the Commandant informed me with pride that it was this battalion that
escorted the Russian Ambassador across the Mongolian desert to Peking
in the seventeenth century. The barracks were shown me as something
noteworthy, in that they were built of mud-bricks not burnt, after
the fashion of the new ones at Tashkend. All inside was orderly, but
the bedsteads were somewhat close together. Some of the extras in
furniture, such as here and there a bright counterpane or quilt, had
been purchased by the economies of the regiment. I tasted their soup,
and found it excellent. The men varied in age from 22 to 26. Barracks
of ordinary bricks for 200 men were in course of construction. Usually
the Russian soldiers are their own builders, but in this instance
accommodation, including a room for gymnastics convertible into a
chapel, was being erected by Chinese labourers at a cost of £6,000.
From the barracks we went to the lock-up, where were 20 military and
21 civil prisoners, the latter being for the most part Manza brigands.
At our entrance they went down on all-fours, and continued in that
posture whilst one was deputed to ask how their trial was going on; and
another, thinking, I suppose, to expedite matters, said that he wished
to be baptized. They were a sorry-looking lot; but I must give them
credit for keeping their chamber cleaner than the Russian prisoners
did. The hide upon which each of them slept was neatly rolled up, and
all was arranged in order.
The commander took me to visit the boys’ pro-gymnasium or high-class
school for 45 scholars, established four years previously. It was
modelled on precisely the same plan as all the schools of its class
throughout Russia. Hence two boys in the same grade of school, though
one may be at Moscow and the other at Vladivostock, go through the
same studies, and keep the same hours to each subject. The scholars
dress in a blue and white uniform, and a boy, after passing through
the preparatory class, goes on through the various grades up to the
sixth, or, for a higher education, to the seventh and eighth classes.
He may then go to the university, or to the Lyceum, to study philology
and jurisprudence; or, again, to one of the academies, with a view to
special studies, such as medicine, mineralogy, divinity, etc.
The cost of education in Russia, as compared with England, is low.[6]
The Russian curriculum looks very formidable on paper, and I have
heard from an English tutor in Russia that the boys are obliged to
work exceedingly hard to pass their examinations. He thought they
were worked harder than English boys, and acquired more theoretical
knowledge, though the education is of a less practical character than
in England.[7] Corporal punishment is forbidden, and is replaced by
impositions; and when these are inflicted the scholar receives a note
stating his fault, which he must take home and bring back signed by
his parents. Should a boy fail to pass his examination in each of his
classes, he is usually turned out of the gymnasium, which is a serious
loss to him, because a boy gains military exemptions according to the
class he is in on leaving school.[8]
Besides the boys’ school at Vladivostock I visited the girls’
institute for the daughters of naval officers, and witnessed the
opening religious ceremony of blessing the house after the long
vacation. Each child as she came up to kiss the Gospels was sprinkled
with holy water, as were also the visitors; after which the priest and
his assistant went over the building, sprinkling in all directions. The
inspector subsequently declared what children were to be advanced to
higher classes. The subjects taught were in keeping with those of the
boys’ gymnasium, from which the institute differed in that the children
were lodged, clothed, and boarded; 12 free, the rest on payment of £20
per annum. The Government gives a grant of £1,000 per annum towards
this school, and the remainder is made up by the children’s fees and
voluntary contributions. The cleanliness and good arrangement of this
building were striking, not to say luxurious. A great deal, no doubt,
was due to the fact that the Governor’s wife visited one of the schools
every day. The senior class had two girls of 15 and 16 years of age. To
my questions in geography they gave good answers, and in the Gospels
fair. They had not read the Epistles, but were expecting so to do that
year. One girl was from a peasant home, the other the daughter of a
foreign merchant, but they appeared throughout to stand on a level
with the officers’ daughters. They had a custom of posting up on a
red board for a year the name of the best girl in the school. At the
time of my visit the same maiden had held this “blue ribbon” for five
years consecutively. Whether it was for excellence of intellect or
conduct I know not, but I amused them by offering a prize, such as I
had seen given in the schools of the Irish Church Missions, called the
“best beloved” prize. The girls were ranged in a line, and each came
and whispered in the ear of the teacher the name of the schoolfellow
she loved best, and the girl who gained the highest number of votes
received the prize. The idea was new to them, and they said the
whispering was like going to confession.
There was yet another school the Governor’s wife took me to see--the
little free school--built by the society she had founded, and of which
it is not too much to say that it was the neatest and best-built house
in the town. It was furnished in a manner that would be thought too
good for a ragged school in England, and it struck me, as did the
institute, that it was somewhat over-provided with teachers.[9]
There were 30 children on the books, of whom one class came in the
morning, and the other in the afternoon. The religious instruction
consisted in learning the 10 principal prayers of the Russian Church
from a small primer, the contents of which would be as much or, I was
told, rather more religious knowledge than the average Russian peasant
would know. The children received at Christmas presents of clothing,
and a marked increase of attendants takes place as the time for the
gifts draws near--a phenomenon not confined to Siberian schools!
Madame Erdmann told me of an industrial school in the town for boys,
where they are paid 6_d._ a day for their work. It must not, however,
be inferred from these remarks about the educational condition of
Vladivostock that things so prevail throughout the province. On the
contrary, there are only 15 elementary schools throughout the Primorsk,
attended by 215 boys and 66 girls; and the low condition of education
was alleged to the Emperor as one of the principal causes of crime in
the district.[10]
The foreign communications of Vladivostock are in summer tolerably
numerous. Ships from various nations come northwards to avoid the heat
of the tropics, or to get coal at Dui, and put in at Vladivostock
for provisions, the prices of which, in the meat and vegetable
markets, immediately rise on the arrival of a large ship. Again, the
inhabitants of this town in the far east have the advantage of two
telegraph stations, by one of which they can send a message to London
through Siberia, and by the other _viâ_ China and India. The latter
wires are those of the Great Northern Telegraph Company, opened in
1871, and passing through Hakodate and Nagasaki, thence to Shanghai and
Amoy, and so on to India and Suez. The latter wire goes by the route I
followed as far as Khabarofka, there meeting wires from Nikolaefsk, and
then continues across Siberia by the route I travelled. The number of
messages sent in 1878 from Russia to China was 595, and to Japan 515,
or 1,100 in all.
Of the two Siberian wires, one, I found, is reserved for international
correspondence. Of 20,000 messages passing from the south through
Vladivostock, no less than 15,000 were in English. Of the remaining
5,000, those in the French and German languages absorbed the larger
proportion.[11]
The director of the Great Northern Company was Mr. Russell, at whose
house I dined, and whose wife played the harmonium at the Sunday
service. I have already mentioned the heartiness with which Russians
and foreigners alike assisted these services in the Primorsk. At
Nikolaefsk, not only did the authorities send round notice of what was
to take place, but they seemed to vie with one another in offering
assistance. The military commandant offered the use of a room at the
club; the captain of the port, being a Protestant, seemed almost
aggrieved that his house from the first had not been chosen, and the
chief civil authority lent the best room in the Governor’s residence,
and attended the service with other dignitaries in full uniform. There
were present on the first Sunday 33 persons, Greeks, Romans, and
Protestants, representing Russia, Poland, England, America, Finland,
Germany, and Sweden. Some came, doubtless, out of curiosity to see the
first English service on the Amur, but many were able to understand;
and on the second Sunday, which was wet, there were 20 persons present,
all men but one. At Vladivostock the service was held in the new
Lutheran church. The congregation numbered 27 persons, representing
quite as many nationalities as at Nikolaefsk, and some Swiss besides.
So few were familiar with the offices of the English Church that I was
compelled to make the service of an irregular character; but it was
pleasant, after the sermons, to have one and another grasping one’s
hand, and expressing their thanks for what they had heard. Some of them
had not had such an opportunity for a long time. I was greatly struck
with one thing that reached me in connection with these services. Some
of the Russians had never attended a Protestant service before, and
more than one remarked upon its solemnity. This I thought remarkable as
coming from persons who from childhood had been accustomed to an ornate
and very elaborate ritual, and none other. They were plainly struck
by the quietness that prevailed and by the appeal to the intellect as
manifest in the sermon, in contrast to their service of worship only,
with persons moving hither and thither; and a well-educated officer,
commenting upon the solemnity of the service, said that he had never
before been impressed by a sermon in his life.
The offertory at Vladivostock was given to the building fund, for the
church was not quite finished. A resident pastor was expected to arrive
in the course of a few months, which would make four Lutheran ministers
in Siberia, instead of the former three living in or near Omsk, Tomsk,
and Irkutsk, their general superintendent, Pastor Jürgenssen, living at
Moscow. The number of Protestant churches in Siberia is five, and of
Protestants about 7,000. At Ekaterineburg are living some 300 German
Protestants, but nine persons, we heard, was considered a large Sunday
congregation. In the vicinity of Tobolsk some of the Lettish peasants
were said to have joined the Russian Church, and some to have fallen
away from religion altogether. The account, however, of 1,800 Finns
living at Ruschkova was better. They had petitioned for, and were
awaiting, a pastor.
At Vladivostock I took my farewell of Siberian exile life at an
experimental penal colony called “First River” village. Accompanied
by the German captain of the _Cyclop_, Captains Boris and Charles de
Livron, and a lady, we proceeded thither on horseback, by a pretty
ride through a partially-cleared forest, till, from the top of a hill,
we saw a brewery, brick-fields, and, not far distant, nestling among
the trees, the exiles’ village. It consisted of about 20 log houses,
occupied by 15 convicts and five others who had served their time,
and who might have removed elsewhere, but they so far liked their
quarters that they chose to remain. Two naval men lived in the village
for the purpose, ostensibly, of keeping order, and a few Chinese had
been attracted to settle in the place. Four of the convicts were under
sentence of 15 years’ hard labour, one for 20 years, and one for life.
They were condemned to Sakhalin, but, seeing that their wives had
accompanied them, and that there was not enough work in the coal-mines,
the kind-hearted Governor had obtained permission to place them in the
little colony as an experiment. The men had built their own houses, and
took it in turns to go into Vladivostock, from eight to twelve, to do
night work. They might earn what they could by day, and the wives were
able to add to the store by laundry work. One wife had by this means
possessed herself of two cows.
Besides this, they might take as much land as they chose to cultivate.
They were growing potatoes, pumpkins, cucumbers, and cabbages, but the
soil was said to be unsuitable for corn. Pigs and poultry were running
about; and though, according to their own account, one of them with
seven children found it difficult to make a living, yet the others did
so easily.
One of the convicts, thinking I was a Government official, informed
me that he had not yet received his new clothes, whereupon I learned
that, when they begin to colonize, they receive monthly 72 lbs. of
flour and 5_d._ a day. Every year they received a _shuba_, or sheepskin
coat, underlinen, two pairs of winter boots, three pairs of summer
shoes, and, once in three years, a long coat. In one of the best of
the houses we found a clean, orderly room, with a good samovar, and
plenty of pictures and photographs. The owner possessed two cows and
a horse; so we were told, at least, by a fellow-convict, who took us
into his garden and seated us beneath a bower of wild vines. Milk and
wild grapes were afterwards brought for our refreshment. This man had
been in the Imperial Guard, and had finished his military service,
when, having invited some friends to his house, he killed one of
them in a drunken quarrel. I tried to get at the relative positions
of some of these convicts before the committal of their crimes and
after, and found in one case that in Russia the man was a drunkard and
poor, whereas in this village he could live well, and could not get
intoxicated so easily, by reason of his distance from Vladivostock.
There were but one man and one woman in the village who could read, and
one had friends who corresponded with him from Russia. The children
were educated at the industrial school at Vladivostock. Thus my last
specimen of Siberian exile life was the most favourable of all.
I had now followed the exiles from Moscow all across Siberia, and, with
the exception of the mines at Nertchinsk and Dui, had seen them under
the varying circumstances in which they live. Looking at the matter
calmly and dispassionately, I am bound to say that “exile to Siberia”
no longer calls up to my mind the horrors it did formerly. I am quite
prepared to believe that instances have occurred of bad management,
oppression, and cruelty. I have already quoted some cases; but that the
normal condition of things has been exaggerated I am persuaded. Taken
at the worst, “condemned to the mines” is not so bad as it seems, and
in the case of peasant exiles, willing to work, I cannot but think
that many of them have a better chance of doing well in several parts
of Siberia than at home in some parts of Russia. English people are
accustomed to think of exiles like the parents of “Elizabeth,” banished
to a region in the far north where scarcely anything grows; but a
little consideration would show this to be, in the great number of
cases, extremely unlikely, for the Government would then have to keep
them, whereas in the south they can keep themselves. On the sea coast,
women convicts get excellent places as servants. One hardship connected
with their lot is that, until they have served their time or gained
their good conduct class, they cannot marry; and even then the husband,
if a free man, must undertake not to quit Siberia and so leave his wife
behind. This law is rigidly enforced. I heard of one case of a woman
who had behaved particularly well, and whose husband wished to return
to Russia, for which even the Governor of a province petitioned, but
the request was refused.
A lady told me at Vladivostock that some of her convict servants had
recently said to her, “We have such a good time of it here in Siberia,
that, had we known it, we would certainly have committed a crime before
to get here; and now we mean to write to our relations and tell them
to do something to get sent here too,”--a speech that will probably
strike the reader as the foolish saying of a servant girl, but the
truth of which, _in this particular case_, I do not doubt. The servant
had the good fortune to be taken into the service of Madame Boris de
Livron, who had spent many years in America, and of whose home I can
speak, because I dined therein; and one had only to contrast with it
some wretched _izba_ in European Russia, from which, perhaps, the woman
came, and her laborious work in the fields, to render it exceedingly
likely that she spoke, after all, only the sober truth. That this was
an exceptional case may very well be, and so also the exile village was
in a manner exceptional, for the exiles are usually planted, on their
release, among colonists, rather than put into villages by themselves;
but I have quoted these instances as the least repulsive forms of exile
life that came under my notice, and to show that, once set free from
prison, the prosperity of the banished is pretty much in their own
hands.
Before leaving Vladivostock I called upon the priest, who gave me
information about the church, and I likewise made the acquaintance of
several of the merchants, among them Mr. Lindholm, who had whaling
vessels in the Sea of Okhotsk. With him I exchanged my paper money, at
the rate of two roubles four kopecks per Mexican dollar, taking with me
a draft on his partners, Messrs. Walsh, Hall, and Co. of Yokohama. Thus
prepared I awaited the return of the Governor, and on Monday afternoon,
September 29th, the admiral’s flag appeared in the harbour; the naval
captains and military officers assembled to present their reports, and
I got my luggage on board the _Djiguitt_. Madame Erdmann insisted on
my coming, however, the same evening to be introduced to the admiral,
which I thought very kind, immediately after his prolonged absence, and
the weariness of his journey. A warm reception was accorded me by the
Governor, a lively interest manifested in my plans, and I left _terra
firma_ to sleep in the ship.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] Réclus gives these statistics concerning Russian trade with China:--
Average of 1827-31, £120,000 exports, £20,000 imports, £140,000 total;
_i.e._, 1 per cent. of total Russian trade.
” 1842-46, £650,000 exports, £650,000 imports, £1,300,000 total;
_i.e._, 8 per cent. of total Russian trade.
” 1864-68, £580,000 exports, £450,000 imports, £1,030,000 total;
_i.e._, 2·5 per cent. of total Russian trade.
The year 1876, £250,000 exports, £1,410,000 imports, £1,660,000 total;
_i.e._, 2 per cent. of total Russian trade.
[2] The number of Chinese and their congeners in the Russian littoral
was estimated, in 1873, at from 3,000 to 7,000; and this would be
multiplied a hundredfold if free emigration were permitted. In 1861,
after the cession of the Sea Coast to the Russians, the Chinese
Government forbade its subjects any longer to colonize in the country
with their wives. The rich, therefore, returned home, leaving the poor;
and these were joined by Manchu brigands and vagabonds, generically
called Manzas, or Freemen--so named in reproach by the Chinese as
outlaws, though the Manzas call themselves _Pao-toui-tzi_, that is,
“walkers” or “couriers.”
[3] In 1873 there were about 3,500 Coreans in the Primorsk, of whom,
says Réclus, more than half permitted themselves to be baptized--the
correctness of which latter statement I am disposed to doubt. I heard
nothing of any such number of Corean Christians, and the priest at
Vladivostock told me that in ten years he had baptized only about 10
pagans. He was not a missionary, it is true, nor did I hear of one so
far south.
[4] In Russian towns having not less than 5,000 inhabitants there
are 30 supervisors, three more being added for each 1,500 of the
population; and it is over these the mayor presides. Other civic
arrangements, applying to towns, are an _uchastok_, consisting of from
10 to 20 houses; a _quartal_, or square, or block; a chast, consisting
of from five to ten quartals; and a _government_ town of three chasts
and upwards. The police-master is at the head of affairs; under him is
a _chastny pristaf_ for each chast, under whom are chiefs of quartals,
with uchastok officers under them.
[5] Manufactured goods were brought to the town to the value of
£100,000, of which £40,000 worth were transported into the interior,
and the increase of trade was reported to be 20 per cent. on that of
the previous year; but I am not aware to what departments of trade
this increase is to be apportioned, or whether it was due to the
abnormally large garrison. Réclus gives the commerce of Vladivostock in
1879:--Imports, £218,495; and exports, £10,452.
[6] For instruction and books the first three classes pay 18_s._ a
year, the three higher classes £3 2_s._ a year. In certain places
only they can board and lodge, in which case they pay £24, or, with
clothing, £32 per annum. The average total cost of a boy’s education,
exclusive of food and clothing, up to the age of 21, in high-class
schools in Russia, is £240, and for special schools for army, navy,
etc., £300.
[7] The subjects of Russian study are as follows: Prayers learnt
_memoriter_; explanation of most important chapters in Old and New
Testaments; Old and New Testament history; principles and doctrines
of the Orthodox Church; catechism; Divine revelation, sacred legends,
and holy writings; ancient and modern books; faith, hope, charity:
Greek and Russian Church histories; Sclavonic and Russian language
and literature: Latin, Greek; arithmetic, algebra, geometry, plane
trigonometry, and physical geography: natural sciences, electricity,
galvanism, light, heat, motion, meteorology, chemistry: natural
history, geology, botany, zoology: history, ancient, modern, Oriental,
Greek, and Roman: geography: German, and one other modern language at
choice, except that in certain seaport towns (as at Vladivostock) it
_must_ be English. This course applies to boys’ gymnasia throughout
Russia, and all the principal subjects are compulsory. Others may be
studied out of the gymnasium, such as music, languages, technology,
practical chemistry, etc.
[8] Thus, whilst 7 years’ service is exacted from a recruit who is
uneducated, and 3 years from one who has passed through an elementary
school, a boy who goes from the 5th class of a gymnasium serves as a
soldier only 2 years; from the 6th class only 1 year; and from the 7th
class, or the university, only 6 months, after which he can be examined
for an officer’s commission, or may retire into the first reserve
during 10 years, and then into the second reserve up to 40 years of
age, after which he is altogether free from military service.
[9] I learnt something of Russian teachers’ salaries. At the institute
the directress received £150 per annum; two teachers £100 each; an
assistant £60; linen custodian £25; housekeeper £30. They had 42
scholars; and in the building they employed 8 male and female servants,
at a salary of £1 per month each. Beside this home staff there were 15
outside teachers, amongst whom the priest received £70 a year. At the
boys’ gymnasium the teacher of English received £7 10_s._ per month,
and the teacher of German £25; or, to put it in another way, teachers
of languages and of the four higher classes received 10_s._ a lesson,
and those of the lower three classes 6_s._ The teachers elect from
their own number an inspector, who receives an additional £60 per annum
and a house rent free. Further, the Government appoints a director, at
a salary of £250 per annum. All teachers in Siberia appointed by the
Government receive an increase of 25 per cent. of their salary every
five years; and after ten years’ service have an annual pension of half
their salary.
[10] Thus the official report dealing with the morality of the people
called attention to the fact that many are convicts and soldiers sent
to the district for punishment, to the unusually large importation
of alcohol and Chinese brandy, to the high price of necessaries, the
insufficient number of free marriageable women, and, lastly, to the
low condition of education. The chief causes of crime were given as
gambling and drunkenness; and the crimes committed in 1878 were:
insubordination to authorities 13, breaking prison bounds 4, vagrancy
31, murder 5, personal violence 11, libel and assault 12, theft 27, and
highway robbery 11.
[11] A comparison of the salaries of the clerks shows the English
company to pay a higher rate. The English company has 25 European
clerks, independently of Japanese, Chinese, and Portuguese
subordinates. The European clerks begin at a salary of £320 a year, and
go on to £420, after which they ascend to higher offices and shorter
hours as superintendents, etc., and rise to £800 a year or more. In the
Russian service a clerk begins at £2 12_s._ a month if speaking only
Russian, and receives £2 10_s._ a month extra for each new language
acquired. A first-class clerk has about £120 a year, with a house and
perquisites; and even a superintendent receives only £280, with the
like additions, part of which consist of rye meal or flour. I heard
one man say he bought up this meal of his fellow-clerks to give to his
horse and chickens. They also receive travelling-money periodically. I
was favourably impressed with the bearing of the telegraph officials
throughout Siberia. In some cases they live a most secluded life. At
Busse, for instance, I met one who had been shut off from the world
in that tiny place on the Ussuri for nearly ten years, hoping to
realize a pension of £36 a year. The English company gives a pension,
three-tenths of salary after 10, one-half after 20, and seven-tenths
after 30 years’ service.