RUSSIAN AND SIBERIAN PEASANTRY.
We had not travelled far into Russia proper, before the difference
in the condition of the peasantry there, and in Siberia, forced
itself on our attention. The houses in Russia are decidedly inferior
to those in Siberia. They lack the air of rude comfort peculiar to
the latter. Windows are broken and stuffed with straw, and roofs
are out of repair. Women and children are ill-clad and squalid. The
men are haggard, abject, and degraded. Everything is suggestive of
poverty, negligence, and misery. In remarkable contrast to these
phenomena are the outward circumstances of the peasants in Siberia.
As I have intimated in the course of this narrative, these latter
are well clad, well housed, and at least adequately fed. They have
something of independence in their bearing, and the condition of
their families, as well as the tasteful decorations often met
with in their houses, evince a certain amount of self-respect.
The difference is easily accounted for--the explanation lies in
the words _serf_ and _no serf_, and it illustrates the inevitable
effects of slavery on a people. And if slavery, in its modified form
of serfdom, can so deeply mark the character of the subjects of it,
what may be expected from the pure, uncompromising "institution?"
The Siberian free peasant is the descendant of a convict. This
applies to almost the whole Russian population of Eastern Siberia,
as also to the great proportion of that of Western Siberia. In
the latter region there are still the descendants of many of those
Cossacks who followed the renowned Yermak in his victorious march
across the Ural, and who continue in the enjoyment of certain
privileges granted to them by the Empress Catharine. But Eastern
Siberia, by far the richest of the two, may be said to be entirely
peopled by the descendants of convicts. These belong to two
categories--those who are condemned for capital crimes, and those
who are expatriated for minor offences. The criminal who belongs to
the first category, when he has undergone the corporal punishment
allotted to him, and served his term (generally mitigated) of hard
labour in the government mines, has a portion of land granted
him, on being released from his confinement. He may cultivate as
much ground as he chooses to clear, using the timber for building
purposes or fuel. He is exempt from the payment of taxes, and from
the conscription. The children of these convicts, born in Siberia,
enjoy the same privileges, but they are still what are called
_minors_, and do not possess the rights of a free peasant. For
example, they are disqualified from holding any honorary appointment
in the village or community where they may reside. Such disabilities
may be, and frequently are overcome by means of money; for an
industrious peasant has an opportunity of saving, and it is not an
unusual thing for them to become rich. Many of the most wealthy men
in Siberia at the present moment--large gold-digging proprietors,
merchants, &c., are the descendants in the second or third
generation of convicts who have undergone the penalty of the law.
These men generally manage to "write themselves up," by a judicious
application of their money, and then by paying the dues of one of
the three guilds of merchants, they obtain a status in society, and
enjoy the right of trading; they often make fortunes, either in
trade, gold-digging, or other enterprises.
The other class of criminals is composed of those who have been
exiled for minor offences such as theft; and of serfs, who, before
their great emancipation in 1859, were liable to be sent to Siberia
for any offence against their masters, or even for no offence at
all, but from sheer caprice. I met an old woman in Tomsk who had
been exiled on the latter count. She had inadvertently stuck a
needle into the wall, and her mistress, with the nervousness that
a bad conscience produces, took it into her head that the serf
intended to bewitch her. For this offence the old wretch (though
I dare say she was young then) was sent to the police, to be
despatched to Siberia with the next batch of government exiles,
and the official record stated she was so sent "by the will of her
master."
Well, these convicts not possessing the rights of free citizenship,
are, on arriving in Siberia, appointed to reside in, or registered
as belonging to, a certain district of the province where the
Governor-General may determine to colonise them. After three years'
residence, certain advancement is held out to these people, if they
can produce a certificate of good behaviour. They are allowed to
marry, to become settlers, to clear and cultivate land at pleasure.
They are exempt from taxes for the space of twelve years; and
after that they only pay a trifle. These convicts are, however,
legally dead, can never hold property in their own name, and of
course can never return to Russia. But so far from this latter
restriction being a real hardship, if a return to their native
air were permitted them, it is highly improbable that any would
avail themselves of the privilege. Siberia is really the land of
promise to them. The descendants of these convicts become free
agriculturists, and live in independence. They pay to government a
tax of from three to four pounds, sterling, per head,[23] per annum,
which is very much higher than the tax levied on the peasants of
Russia proper. But there the peasant had, in addition to the small
tax to government, an _obrok_ to pay to his master, amounting on an
average to about four pounds sterling a year. The Russian peasant,
before the emancipation, got nothing in return for this tax, but
was bound body and soul to his master, and unable to do anything
to better his condition that was not entirely agreeable to the
arbitrary will of his owner. The peasant in Siberia, on the other
hand, is absolutely free in all things to follow the bent of his own
will. He has no master to dread and serve, and owes obedience to
nothing but the law of the land. The Siberian peasantry are treated
with every liberality by the government, whose ruling purpose
with respect to that country is to colonise it with industrious
communities, who will turn its natural wealth to account, and become
an arm of support to the state. For the single tax above-mentioned,
the peasant receives as much land as he can clear, as much timber as
he chooses to fell, and no rent is required from him. The land he
has worked is his own. No other person can disturb his possession,
and the government even cannot claim from him any portion of the
land so acquired without his formal renunciation. The primeval
forest may be said to cover the whole of Siberia--the cleared spaces
are as drops in the bucket, and the bare steppes, where timber is
scant, bear but an insignificant proportion to the whole. In the
immediate vicinity of some of the large towns, where the people
have been burning wood for two hundred years, a palpable impression
has been made on the forest, and there it has been found necessary
to restrict the cutting of wood to certain limits, both as to the
quantity consumed, and the boundaries within which trees may be
felled. These restrictions are enforced with a view to securing the
growth of young wood within a convenient distance of the towns.
[23] This tax is levied on every male above 18 years of age.
There is but one Siberian nobleman and proprietor of serfs in
existence,--Mr. Rodinkoff, Counsellor of State and Vice-Governor
of the Province of Yeniseisk, a kind-hearted, good old man. His
grandfather received from the Empress Catharine a grant of lands and
peasants in Siberia on the terms of Russian serfdom. But neither he
nor his successors ever attempted to exercise proprietary rights
over their peasants, who lived very much as the free peasants do.
One of the family, the brother of the present proprietor, broke
through the custom of his fathers, and paid the penalty of his
life for his imprudence. He attempted to put in force his full
signorial rights, and to levy contributions on his peasants, as in
Russia proper. The consequence was that he was murdered in one of
his excursions to visit his estate, within thirty miles of the town
of Krasnoyarsk. The present proprietor seldom interferes with, or
visits his peasants, but contents himself with the modest imposts of
wood for winter fuel for his town residence, and hay for his horses,
with which they cheerfully supply him.
In the matter of recruiting, the Siberian peasants have always been
leniently dealt with. In many parts of the country they are exempted
altogether for certain considerations. Those who settle on the
rivers Lena and Yenisei, are exempt from all taxes and recruiting,
on condition that they supply travellers with post-horses, and
convey the government post, for both which services they are,
moreover, paid at a higher rate even than in other parts of the
country. This privilege extends from near Irkutsk to the frozen
ocean on the Lena, and from the town of Yeniseisk to the frozen
ocean on the Yenisei. The extreme severity of the climate, and the
inhospitable nature of the soil in these regions render it necessary
to encourage settlers, and so to secure uninterrupted communication
through the country. There is no spring, and no autumn in these
parts. Three months, and in some districts less, of summer, is all
the time allowed them for cultivation of the soil. The rest of the
year is winter, during which snow lies to the depth of from seven to
upwards of twenty feet. The temperature then falls to 30°, 40°, and
in some parts 50° Reaumur of frost (equal to -35°, -58°, and -80°,
Fahrenheit). No corn grows, and but few vegetables, but the country
abounds with wild animals such as bear, elk, deer, sables, foxes,
squirrels. The inhabitants become expert hunters, and make a good
living out of the furs they obtain.
The settlers in the river Angara are also exempted from taxes of
all kinds, and from recruiting, on condition of their supplying
government and private travellers with skilful pilots and guides,
for which they are of course likewise well requited by those who
employ them. This is necessary on the Angara, that river being one
of the most dangerous in the world. Being the only river that runs
out of the Baikal Lake, a heavy volume of water is forced down into
it, and during its course from the lake to its confluence with
the Yenisei, it is full of falls and rapids, which can only be
passed with safety under the guidance of pilots of local skill and
knowledge.
The amenities of free life enjoyed by the peasants of Siberia have
produced the unmistakeable effect of, in some measure, eradicating
the impress of slavish degradation which centuries of servility
had stamped on the whole race of moujiks. The hereditary marks of
the yoke are still too plainly to be seen, and many generations
will probably pass from the scene before even the Siberian Russians
can claim to be really civilised. But it is a great thing to have
made such a good start on the road to improvement. The progress
made is not likely to be lost; each stage of advancement rather
becomes a guarantee for still greater, and more rapid progress in
the future. The feeling of independence has taken deep root in
the minds of these freemen, and it would be no longer possible
to enslave them, without causing a revolution. Their ideas have
been enlarged. Industry and economy are seen to have their full
reward. The security of life and property, and the liberation
from the arbitrary dictates of a superior will, give the people
encouragement to cultivate their talents in the full faith that
their labours shall not be in vain. Unlimited wealth is open to
all who have the energy to seek it. Great numbers of the Siberian
peasants have amassed fortunes already. Other tastes naturally flow
from worldly prosperity, and already among the merchants who have
enriched themselves from the ranks of the peasants, education is
beginning to attract attention. In due time mental culture will,
no doubt, spread downwards, and the distinction of classes, which
has so greatly retarded the progress of civilisation in Russia,
may gradually be smoothed away. The amalgamation of classes will
consolidate and strengthen the whole body politic, and should that
happy consummation ever be realised in Russia, Siberia will have
the honour of leading the way. The barriers that obstruct free
intercourse between the different strata of society are already
partially broken down, greatly to the advantage of all. For slavery
or serfdom exercises a demoralising influence on masters and slaves
alike. The institution in Russia crushed the energy of life out
of the serfs, and almost destroyed their thinking faculties--so
much so that centuries of freedom may be inadequate to enable the
emancipated to rise to their proper level of intelligence.
While the serfs were thus degraded and kept down to a position
but little superior to that of domestic animals, their masters,
having no community of feeling with them, were actuated by the
single motive of extorting the maximum revenues out of their
human property. The cares of management devolved on the serfs,
and the masters, being for the most part almost as much as the
serfs shut out from their legitimate share in public affairs,
abandoned themselves to extravagant pleasures and dissipation, or to
mischievous intrigues. Without any healthy occupation for body or
mind, a highly artificial mode of life developed itself in the ranks
of the wealthy serf-proprietors, the sole refuge from which was in
the military or civil appointments of the government. Practical
education was wanting in the great body of them, so that when their
source of revenue was taken away by the liberation of their serfs,
they broke down from the want of any resources within themselves by
which they might have maintained their standing in society, and even
have improved their pecuniary condition in other careers. There were
very many exceptions to this, but such was the necessary tendency of
the institution of serfdom, and such was the actual fate of those
proprietors who allowed their energy to be sapped by the unnatural
life to which they were born.
It was probably the growing prosperity of Siberia, and the marked
superiority of the condition of the population there, that induced
the government to emancipate the serfs of Russia proper. The
importance of this great measure can hardly be over-estimated, and
I doubt whether the Emperor Alexander II. has received the full
credit due to him for the enlightened liberality which dictated,
and the noble courage which carried into execution, this truly
magnificent conception. It is well known that the most determined
hostility of the great majority of the nobles was arrayed against
the measure, which, from their point of view, threatened to sweep
away at one blow their whole worldly wealth. The Emperor stood
almost alone, being supported by a small, and not overwise minority.
His life was several times in jeopardy. But he maintained his
purpose with singular pertinacity through three years of discussion
and deliberation, during which the ill-timed zeal of his supporters
raised serious difficulties in his way by trying to drive matters
too fast. At the end of three years the ukase was signed, and
in two years more twenty-three millions of male serfs, with the
corresponding number of females, were set free. Whether we consider
the vast numbers of men and women whose destiny was involved, the
radical character of the change effected, the formidable opposition
which had to be borne down, or the germs of expansion which it
implanted into the Russian people, moulding the whole future history
of the nation, this act of the Emperor of Russia stands unrivalled
as a measure of reform in the history of the world. Many other
reforms have been introduced during the present reign, but the
emancipation of the serfs is an achievement in itself worthy of a
lifetime.
Peter the Great did much to promote the progress of the material
prosperity of his country, and considering the barbarous character
of his education, and of the age in which he lived, more than
established his claim to the title of _Great_. Catharine made
her reign "glorious;" Nicholas made his name terrible; but to
Alexander II. belongs the immortal honour of liberating his people
from slavery. The full results of this great work will only be
manifested in future ages. The serfs have now, as it were, been
born to political life--their education is but beginning. With
freedom, industry will grow; the comforts of life will be enjoyed;
intelligence will spread, and higher aspirations will be infused
into the servile millions. In course of time the Russian population
will be capable of exercising the rights of freemen, and the day may
come when even the despotism of the government may yield something
to the claims of the people for representation. Already a change for
the better is observable among the liberated serfs. Each had a piece
of land allotted to him, varying from eight to twenty acres, with
the right to farm or purchase more. Residents in Russia have noted
an increase in the productiveness of many parts of the country, in
consequence of the improved system of agriculture that has been
initiated since every man began to grow his own crops, instead of
slaving his life away for behoof of a master whom he seldom saw,
and who took little interest in the management of his property.
Even the character of the people is already sensibly ameliorated.
They show more self-reliance and self-respect than formerly, and
their increased industry is implied in the greater production of the
country.
The effect of the emancipation on the nobles has been various. The
spendthrift portion of them have been ruined by it, as also those
who had not the ability, foresight, or resolution to take timely
measures to meet the consequences of the social revolution. Others
lost heavily, to the extent of half or two-thirds of their incomes;
but, facing the emergency in a practical spirit, they betook
themselves to useful employments, with a view to improving their
circumstances; and many of these have regained by such means all
that they had lost. The more prudent and economical proprietors,
who devoted themselves to the improvement of their estates, and
were fully prepared for the change, have been positively gainers
by the movement; for, besides making more out of their property by
efficient management and free labour than they could extort from
their serfs, they have the indemnity paid by government to the
credit side of their accounts.
The highly exasperated feelings displayed by the majority in the
first instance cooled down considerably during the five years
which elapsed between the first notice of the intended reform
and the actual consummation of it. The Russians are tolerably
well accustomed to arbitrary measures, and their feelings are not
naturally very deep. But the nobles were still far from being
satisfied, and the mutterings of general discontent that were
heard long after the inauguration of the new regime, continued to
be a cause of anxiety to the Emperor. The dissatisfaction of the
nobles was fed from various causes apart from the serf question.
A pretty general reform of abuses was instituted about the same
period. Many time-honoured privileges and monopolies were invaded,
to the prejudice of those who were battening on the spoils of
office. Matters continued in a critical state until the perpetration
of the infamous deeds of incendiarism which preceded the Polish
insurrection. These occurrences brought all the best part of the
population to the side of the government, and restored the wavering
loyalty of the nobles and military officers; and the malcontents,
whose nefarious gains in public offices of trust and otherwise were
put an end to, were fain to sink their grievances in oblivion.