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diff --git a/old/51117-0.txt b/old/51117-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 3de4943..0000000 --- a/old/51117-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,14928 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg EBook of Free Russia, by William Hepworth Dixon - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most -other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of -the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - -Title: Free Russia - -Author: William Hepworth Dixon - -Release Date: February 3, 2016 [EBook #51117] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FREE RUSSIA *** - - - - -Produced by David Edwards, Chris Pinfield and the Online -Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This -file was produced from images generously made available -by The Internet Archive) - - - - - -Transcriber's Note. - -Apparent typographical errors have been corrected. The inconsistent -use of hyphens has been retained. - -Italics are indicated by _underscores_. Small capitals have been -replaced by full capitals. - - - - -[Illustration: CONVENT OF SOLOVETSK IN THE FROZEN SEA.] - - -[Illustration: RUSSIAN INFANTRY ON EASTERN STEPPE ESCORTED BY KOZAKS -AND KIRGHIZ.] - - - - -FREE RUSSIA. - -BY - -WILLIAM HEPWORTH DIXON. - -AUTHOR OF - -"FREE AMERICA." "HER MAJESTY'S TOWER." &c. - -[Illustration] - - _NEW YORK_: - - HARPER & BROTHERS, PUBLISHERS. - FRANKLIN SQUARE. - - 1870. - - - - -PREFACE. - - -_Svobodnaya_ Rossia--_Free_ Russia--is a word on every lip in that -great country; at once the Name and Hope of the new empire born of the -Crimean war. In past times Russia was free, even as Germany and France -were free. She fell before Asiatic hordes; and the Tartar system -lasted, in spirit, if not in form, until the war; but since that -conflict ended, the old Russia has been born again. This new -country--hoping to be pacific, meaning to be Free--is what I have -tried to paint. - -My journeys, just completed, carried me from the Polar Sea to the Ural -Mountains, from the mouth of the Vistula to the Straits of Yeni Kale, -including visits to the four holy shrines of Solovetsk, Pechersk, St. -George, and Troitsa. My object being to paint the Living People, I -have much to say about pilgrims, monks, and parish priests; about -village justice, and patriarchal life; about beggars, tramps, and -sectaries; about Kozaks, Kalmuks, and Kirghiz; about workmen's artels, -burgher rights, and the division of land; about students' revolts and -soldiers' grievances; in short, about the Human Forces which underlie -and shape the external politics of our time. - -Two journeys made in previous years have helped me to judge the -reforms which are opening out the Japan-like empire of Nicolas into -the Free Russia of the reigning prince. - - _February, 1870._ - _6 St. James's Terrace._ - - - - -CONTENTS. - - - CHAP. PAGE - - I.--UP NORTH 11 - - II.--THE FROZEN SEA 16 - - III.--THE DVINA 20 - - IV.--ARCHANGEL 24 - - V.--RELIGIOUS LIFE 29 - - VI.--PILGRIMS 34 - - VII.--FATHER JOHN 40 - - VIII.--THE VLADIKA 46 - - IX.--A PILGRIM-BOAT 51 - - X.--THE HOLY ISLES 57 - - XI.--THE LOCAL SAINTS 62 - - XII.--A MONASTIC HOUSEHOLD 68 - - XIII.--A PILGRIM'S DAY 73 - - XIV.--PRAYER AND LABOR 78 - - XV.--BLACK CLERGY 84 - - XVI.--SACRIFICE 91 - - XVII.--MIRACLES 96 - - XVIII.--THE GREAT MIRACLE 103 - - XIX.--A CONVENT SPECTRE 110 - - XX.--STORY OF A GRAND DUKE 114 - - XXI.--DUNGEONS 118 - - XXII.--NICOLAS ILYIN 124 - - XXIII.--ADRIAN PUSHKIN 130 - - XXIV.--DISSENT 135 - - XXV.--NEW SECTS 142 - - XXVI.--MORE NEW SECTS 146 - - XXVII.--THE POPULAR CHURCH 151 - - XXVIII.--OLD BELIEVERS 158 - - XXIX.--A FAMILY OF OLD BELIEVERS 161 - - XXX.--CEMETERY OF THE TRANSFIGURATION 167 - - XXXI.--RAGOSKI 173 - - XXXII.--DISSENTING POLITICS 179 - - XXXIII.--CONCILIATION 183 - - XXXIV.--ROADS 187 - - XXXV.--A PEASANT POET 192 - - XXXVI.--FOREST SCENES 197 - - XXXVII.--PATRIARCHAL LIFE 202 - - XXXVIII.--VILLAGE REPUBLICS 208 - - XXXIX.--COMMUNISM 213 - - XL.--TOWNS 218 - - XLI.--KIEF 222 - - XLII.--PANSLAVONIA 225 - - XLIII.--EXILE 229 - - XLIV.--THE SIBERIANS 235 - - XLV.--ST. GEORGE 241 - - XLVI.--NOVGOROD THE GREAT 246 - - XLVII.--SERFAGE 250 - - XLVIII.--A TARTAR COURT 254 - - XLIX.--ST. PHILIP 257 - - L.--SERFS 262 - - LI.--EMANCIPATION 267 - - LII.--FREEDOM 272 - - LIII.--TSEK AND ARTEL 278 - - LIV.--MASTERS AND MEN 284 - - LV.--THE BIBLE 289 - - LVI.--PARISH PRIESTS 294 - - LVII.--A CONSERVATIVE REVOLUTION 299 - - LVIII.--SECRET POLICE 306 - - LIX.--PROVINCIAL RULERS 312 - - LX.--OPEN COURTS 318 - - LXI.--ISLAM 324 - - LXII.--THE VOLGA 330 - - LXIII.--EASTERN STEPPE 336 - - LXIV.--DON KOZAKS 341 - - LXV.--UNDER ARMS 346 - - LXVI.--ALEXANDER 351 - - - - -FREE RUSSIA. - - - - -CHAPTER I. - -UP NORTH. - - -"White Sea!" laughs the Danish skipper, curling his thin red lip; "it -is the color of English stout. The bed may be white, being bleached -with the bones of wrecked and sunken men; but the waves are never -white, except when they are ribbed into ice and furred with snow. A -better name is that which the sailors and seal-fishers give it--the -Frozen Sea!" - -Rounding the North Cape, a weird and hoary mass of rock, projecting -far into the Arctic foam, we drive in a south-east course, lashed by -the wind and beaten by hail and rain, for two long days, during which -the sun never sets and never rises, and in which, if there is dawn at -the hour of midnight, there is also dusk at the time of noon. - -Leaving the picturesque lines of fiord and alp behind, we run along a -dim, unbroken coast, not often to be seen through the pall of mist, -until, at the end of some fifty hours, we feel, as it were, the land -in our front; a stretch of low-lying shore in the vague and far-off -distance, trending away towards the south, like the trail of an -evening cloud. We bend in a southern course, between Holy Point -(Sviatoi Noss, called on our charts, in rough salt slang, Sweet Nose) -and Kanin Cape, towards the Corridor; a strait some thirty miles wide, -leading down from the Polar Ocean into that vast irregular dent in the -northern shore of Great Russia known as the Frozen Sea. - -The land now lying on our right, as we run through the Corridor, is -that of the Lapps; a country of barren downs and deep black lakes; -over which a few trappers and fishermen roam; subjects of the Tsar and -followers of the Orthodox rite; but speaking a language of their own, -not understood in the Winter Palace, and following a custom of their -fathers, not yet recognized in St. Isaac's Church. Lapland is a tangle -of rocks and pools; the rocks very big and broken, the pools very deep -and black; with here and there a valley winding through them, on the -slopes of which grows a little reindeer moss. Now and then you come -upon a patch of birch and pine. No grain will grow in these Arctic -zones, and the food of the natives is game and fish. Rye-bread, their -only luxury, must be fetched in boats from the towns of Onega and -Archangel, standing on the shores of the Frozen Sea, and fed from the -warmer provinces in the south. These Lapps are still nomadic; cowering -through the winter months in shanties; sprawling through the summer -months in tents. Their shanty is a log pyramid thatched with moss to -keep out wind and sleet; their tent is of the Comanche type; a roll of -reindeer skins drawn slackly round a pole, and opened at the top to -let out smoke. - -A Lapp removes his dwelling from place to place, as the seasons come -and go; now herding game on the hill-sides, now whipping the rivers -and creeks for fish; in the warm months, roving inland in search of -moss and grass; in the frozen months, drawing nearer to the shore in -search of seal and cod. The men are equally expert with the bow, their -ancient weapon of defense, and with the birding-piece, the arm of -settlers in their midst. The women, looking any thing but lovely in -their seal-skin tights and reindeer smocks, are infamous for magic and -second sight. In every district of the North, a female Lapp is feared -as a witch--an enchantress--who keeps a devil at her side, bound by -the powers of darkness to obey her will. She can see into the coming -day. She can bring a man ill-luck. She can throw herself out into -space, and work upon ships that are sailing past her on the sea. Far -out in the Polar brine, in waters where her countrymen fish for cod, -stands a lump of rock, which the crews regard as a Woman and her -Child. Such fantasies are common in these Arctic seas, where the waves -wash in and out through the cliffs, and rend and carve them into -wondrous shapes. A rock on the North Cape is called the Friar; a group -of islets near that cape is known as the Mother and her Daughters. -Seen through the veil of Polar mist, a block of stone may take a -mysterious form; and that lump of rock in the Polar waste, which the -cod-fishers say is like a woman with her child, has long been known to -them as the Golden Hag. She is rarely seen; for the clouds in summer, -and the snows in winter, hide her charms from the fishermen's eyes; -but when she deigns to show her face in the clear bright sun, her -children hail her with a song of joy, for on seeing her face they know -that their voyage will be blessed by a plentiful harvest of skins and -fish. - -Woe to the mariner tossed upon their coast! - -The land on our left is the Kanin peninsula; part of that region of -heath and sand over which the Samoyed roams; a desert of ice and snow, -still wilder than the countries hunted by the Lapp. A land without a -village, without a road, without a field, without a name; for the -Russians who own it have no name for it save that of the Samoyeds' -Land; this province of the great empire trends away north and east -from the walls of Archangel and the waters of Kanin Cape to the -summits of the Ural chain and the Iron Gates of the Kara Sea. In her -clefts and ridges snow never melts; and her shore-lines, stretching -towards the sunrise upwards of two thousand miles, are bound in icy -chains for eight months in the twelve. In June, when the winter goes -away, suddenly the slopes of a few favored valleys grow green with -reindeer moss; slight specks of verdure in a landscape which is even -then dark with rock and gray with rime. On this green moss the -reindeer feed, and on these camels of the Polar zone the wild men of -the country live. - -Samoyed means cannibal--man-eater; but whether the men who roam over -these sands and bogs deserve their evil fame is one of the questions -open to new lights. They use no fire in cooking food; and perhaps it -is because they eat the reindeer raw that they have come to be accused -of fondness for human flesh. In chasing the game on which they feed, -the Samoyeds crept over the Ural Mountains from their far-off home in -the north of Asia, running it down in a tract too cold and bare for -any other race of men to dwell on. Here the Zarayny found them, -thrashed them, set them to work. - -These Zarayny, a clever and hardy people, seem connected in type and -speech with the Finns; and they are thought to be the remnant of an -ancient colony of trappers. Fairer than the Samoyeds, they live in log -huts like other Russians, and are rich in herds of reindeer, which -they compel the Samoyeds to tend like slaves. This service to the -higher race is slowly changing the savage Samoyed into a civilized -man; since it gives him a sense of property and a respect for life. A -red man kills the beast he hunts; kills it beyond his need, in the -animal wantonness of strength. A Samoyed would do the same; but the -Zarayny have taught him to rear and tend, as well as to hunt and -snare, his food. A savage, only one degree above the Pawnee and the -Ute, a Samoyed builds no shed; plants no field; and owns no property -in the soil. He dwells, like the Lapp, in a tent--a roll of skins, -sewn on to each other with gut, and twisted round a shaft, left open -at the top, and furnished with skins to lie on like an Indian lodge. -No art is lavished on this roll of skin; not so much as the totem -which a Cheyenne daubs on his prairie tent. Yet the Samoyed has -notions of village life, and even of government. A collection of tents -he calls a Choom; his choom is ruled by a medicine-man; the official -name of whom in Russian society is a pope. - -The reigning Emperor has sent some priests to live among these tribes, -just as in olden times Marfa of Novgorod sent her popes and monks into -Lapland and Karelia; hoping to divert the natives from their Pagan -habits and bring them over to the church of Christ. Some good, it may -be hoped, is done by these Christian priests; but a Russ who knows the -country and the people smiles when you ask him about their doings in -the Gulf of Obi and around the Kara Sea. One of these missionaries -whom I chanced to meet had pretty well ceased to be a civilized man. -In name, he was a pope; but he lived and dressed like a medicine-man; -and he was growing into the likeness of a Mongol in look and gait. -Folk said he had taken to his bosom a native witch. - -Through the gateway held by these tribes we enter into Russia--Great -Russia; that country of the old Russians, whose plains and forests the -Tartar horsemen never swept. - -Why enter Russia by these northern gates? If the Great Mogul had -conquered England in the seventeenth century; if Asiatic manners had -been paramount in London for two hundred years; if Britain had -recovered her ancient freedom and civil life, where would a foreign -observer, anxious to see the English as they are, begin his studies? -Would he not begin them in Massachusetts rather than in Middlesex, -even though he should have to complete his observations on the Mersey -and the Thames? - -A student of the Free Russia born of the Crimean War, must open his -work of observation in the northern zones; since it is only within -this region of lake and forest that he can find a Slavonic race which -has never been tainted by foreign influence, never been broken by -foreign yoke. The zone from Onega to Perm--a country seven times -larger than France--was colonized from Novgorod the Great, while -Novgorod was yet a free city, rich in trade, in piety, in art; a rival -of Frankfort and Florence; and, like London and Bruges, a station of -the Hanseatic League. Her colonies kept the charter of their freedom -safe. They never bent to the Tartar yoke, nor learned to walk in the -German ways. They knew no masters, and they held no serfs. "We never -had amongst us," said to me an Archangel farmer, "either a noble or a -slave." They clung, for good and evil, to their ancient life; and when -the Patriarch Nikon reformed the Church in a Byzantine sense (1667), -as the Tsar Godunof had transformed the village in a Tartar sense -(1601), they disowned their patriarch just as they had denied their -Tsar. In spite of every force that could be brought against them by a -line of autocrats, these free colonists have not been driven into -accepting the reformed official liturgies in preference to their -ancient rites. They kept their native speech, when it was ceasing to -be spoken in the capital; and when the time was ripe, they sent out -into the world a boy of genius, peasant-born and reared (the poet, -Michael Lomonosof), to impose that popular language on the college, on -the senate, on the court. - - - - -CHAPTER II. - -THE FROZEN SEA - - -At Cape Intsi we pass from the narrow straits dividing the Lapp -country from the Samoyed country into this northern gulf. - -About twice the size of Lake Superior in the United States, this -Frozen Sea has something of the shape of Como; one narrow northern -bay, extending to the town of Kandalax, in Russian Lapland; and two -southern bays, divided from each other by a broad sandy peninsula, the -home of a few villagers employed in snaring cod and hunting seal. -These southern bays are known, from the rivers which fall into them, -as Onega Bay and Dvina Bay. At the mouths of these rivers stand the -two trading ports of Onega and Archangel. - -The open part of this inland gulf is deep--from sixty to eighty -fathoms; and in one place, off the entrance into Kandalax Bay, the -line goes down no less than a hundred and sixty fathoms. Yet the shore -is neither steep nor high. The gulf of Onega is rich in rocks and -islets; many of them only banks of sand and mud, washed out into the -sea from the uplands of Kargopol; but in the wide entrance of Onega -Bay, between Orlof Point and the town of Kem, stands out a notable -group of islets--Solovetsk, Anzersk, Moksalma, Zaet and others; islets -which play a singular part in the history of Russia, and connect -themselves with curious legends of the Imperial court. - -In Solovetsk, the largest of this group of islets, stands the famous -convent of that name; the house of Saints Savatie and Zosima; the -refuge of St. Philip; the shrine to which emperors and peasants go on -pilgrimage; the haunt of that Convent Spectre which one hears -described in the cod-fisher's boat and in the Kozak's tent; the scene -of many great events, and of one event which Russians have agreed to -sing and paint as the most splendid miracle of these latter days. - -Off the Dvina bar stands the new tower and lighthouse, where the -pilots live; a shaft some eighty feet high, not often to be seen above -the hanging drapery of fog. A pilot comes on board; a man of soft and -patient face, with gray-blue eyes, and flow of brownish hair, who -tells us in a bated tone--as though he feared we might be vexed with -him and beat him--that the tide is ebbing on the bar, and we shall -have to wait for the flow. "Wait for the tide!" snaps our Danish jarl; -"stand by, we'll make our course." The sun has just peeped out from -behind his veil; but the clouds droop low and dark, and every one -feels that a gale is coming on. Two barks near the bar--the "Thera" -and the "Olga"--bob and reel like tipsy men; yet our pale Russ pilot, -urged by the stronger will, gives way with a smile; and our speed -being lowered by half, we push on slowly towards the line of red and -black signals floating in our front. - -The "Thera" and the "Olga" are soon behind us, shivering in all their -sheets, like men in the clutch of ague--left in our wake to a swift -and terrible doom. In half an hour we pass the line of buoys, and gain -the outer port. - -Like all great rivers, the Dvina has thrown up a delta of isles and -islets near her mouth, through which she pours her flood into the sea -by a dozen arms. None of these dozen arms can now be laid down as her -main entrance; for the river is more capricious than the sea; so that -a skipper who leaves her by one outlet in August, may have to enter by -another when he comes back to her in June. The main passage in the old -charts flowed past the Convent of St. Nicolas; then came the turn of -Rose Island; afterwards the course ran past the guns of Fort Dvina: -but the storms which swept the Polar seas two summers since, destroyed -that passage as an outlet for the larger kinds of craft. The port -police looked on in silence. What were they to do? Archangel was cut -off from the sea, until a Danish blacksmith, who had set up forge and -hammer in the new port, proposed that the foreign traders should hire -a steamer and find a deliverance for their ships. "If the water goes -down," he said, "it must have made a way for itself. Let us try to -find it out." A hundred pounds were lodged in the bank, a steamer was -hired, and a channel, called the Maimax arm, was found to be deep -enough for ships to pass. The work was done, the city opened to the -sea; but then came the question of port authorities and their rules. -No bark had ever left the city by this Maimax arm; no rules had been -made for such a course of trade; and the port police could not permit -a ship to sail unless her papers were drawn up in the usual forms. In -vain the merchants told them the case was new, and must be governed by -a rule to match. They might as well have reasoned with a Turkish bey. -Here rode a fleet of vessels, laden with oats and deals for the Elbe, -the Maas, and the Thames; there ran the abundant Maimax waters to the -sea; but the printed rules of the port, unconscious of the freaks of -nature and of the needs of man, forbade this fleet to sail. - -Appeal was made to Prince Gagarine, governor of Archangel: but -Gagarine, though he laughed at these port rules and their forms, had -no deals and grain of his own on board the ships. Gospodin Sredine, a -keen-witted master of the customs, tried to open the ports and free -the ships by offering to put officers on the new channel; but the -police were--the police. In vain they heard that the goods might -spoil, that the money they cost was idle, and that every ruble wasted -would be so much loss to their town. - -To my question, "How was it arranged at last?" a skipper, who was one -of the prisoners in the port, replies, "I will tell you in a word. We -sent to Petersburg; the minister spoke to the Emperor; and here is -what we have heard they said. 'What's all this row in Archangel -about?' asks the Emperor. 'It is all about a new mouth being found in -the Dvina, sir, and ships that want to sail down it, sir, because the -old channel is now shoaled up, sir.' 'In God's name,' replied the -Emperor, 'let the ships go out by any channel they can find.'" - -Whether the thing was done in this sailor-like way, or by the more -likely method of official report and order, the Maimax mouth was -opened to the world in spite of the port police and their printed -rules. - -A Hebrew of the olden time would have called this sea a whited -sepulchre. Even men of science, to whom wintry storms may be summed up -in a line of figures--so many ships in the pack, so many corpses on -the beach--can find in the records of this frozen deep some show of an -excuse for that old Lapland superstition of the Golden Hag. The year -before last was a tragic time, and the memory of one dark day of wrack -and death has not yet had time to fade away. - -At the end of June, a message, flashed from the English consul at -Archangel--a man to represent his country on these shores--alarmed our -board of trade by such a cry for help as rarely reaches a public -board. A hundred ships were perishing in the ice. These ships were -Swedes, Danes, Dutch, and English; luggers, sloops, corvettes, and -smacks; all built of wood, and many of them English manned. Could any -thing be done to help them? "Help is coming," flashed the wires from -Charing Cross; and on the first day of July, two steamers left the -Thames to assist in rescuing those ships and men from the Polar ice. -On the fifteenth night from home these English boats were off Cape -Gorodetsk on the Lapland coast, and when morning dawned they were -striving to cross the shallow Archangel bar. They could not pass; yet -the work of humanity was swiftly and safely done by the English crews. - -That fleet of all nations, English, Swedish, Dutch, and Danish, left -the Dvina ports on news coming up the delta that the pack was breaking -up in the gulf; but on reaching that Corridor through which we have -just now come, they met the ice swaying to and fro, and crashing from -point to point, as the changing wind veered round from north to south. -By careful steering they went on, until they reached the straits -between Kanin Cape and Holy Point. The ice in their front was now -thick and high; no passage through it could be forced; and their -vessels reeled and groaned under the blows which they suffered from -the floating drifts. A brisk north wind arose, and blowing three days -on without a pause, drove blocks and bergs of ice from the Polar Ocean -down into the gut, forcing the squadrons to fall back, and closing up -every means of escape into the open sea. The ships rolled to and fro, -the helmsmen trying to steer them in mid-channel, but the currents -were now too strong to stem, and the helpless craft were driven upon -the Lapland reefs, where the crews soon saw themselves folded and -imprisoned in the pack of ice. - -Like shots from a fort, the crews on board the stronger ships could -hear in the grim waste around them hull after hull crashing up, in -that fierce embrace, like fine glass trinkets in a strong man's hand. -When a ship broke up and sank, the crew leaped out upon the ice and -made for the nearest craft, from which in a few hours more they might -have to fly in turn. One man was wrecked five times in a single day; -each of the boats to which he clung for safety parting beneath his -feet and gurgling down into the frozen deep. - -When the tale of loss was made up by the relieving steamers, this -account was sent home to the Board of Trade: - -The number of ships abandoned by their crews was sixty-four; of this -great fleet of ships, fourteen were saved and fifty lost. Of the fifty -ships lost in those midsummer days, eighteen were English built and -manned; and the master mentions with a noble pride, that only one ship -flying the English flag was in a state to be recovered from the ice -after being abandoned by her crew. - -It would be well for our fame if the natives had no other tales to -tell of an English squadron in the Frozen Sea. - - - - -CHAPTER III. - -THE DVINA. - - -By the Maimax arm we steam through the delta for some twenty miles; -past low, green banks and isles like those in the Missouri bed; though -the loam in the Dvina is not so rich and black as that on the American -stream. Yet these small isles are bright with grass and scrub. Beyond -them, on the main-land, lies a fringe of pines, going back into space -as far as the eye can pierce. - -The low island lying on your right as you scrape the bar is called St. -Nicolas, after that sturdy priest, who is said to have smitten the -heretic Arius on his cheek. No one knows where this Nicolas lived and -died; for it is clear from the Acta, that he had no part in the -Council of Nice. The Book of Saints describes him as born in Liki and -living in Mira; whence they call him the Saint of Mirliki; but not a -line of his writing is extant, and the virtues assigned to him are of -opposing kinds. He is a patron of nobles and of children, of sailors, -of cadgers, and of pilgrims. Yet, in spite of his doubtful birth and -genius, Nicolas is a popular saint. Poor people like him as one who is -good to the poor; a friend of beggars, fishermen and tramps. A Russian -turns to him as the hope of starving and drowning men; so that his -name is often heard, his image often seen, in these northern wilds; -more than all else, on the banks of rivers and on the margins of the -Frozen Sea. A peasant learns with delight from his Book of Saints (his -Bible, Epos, Drama, Code, and History all in one) that Nicolas is the -most potent saint in heaven; sitting on the right hand of God; and -having a cohort of three hundred angels, armed and ready to obey his -nod. A mujik asked a foreign friend to tell him who will be God when -God dies? "My good fellow," said he, smiling, "God will never die." At -first the peasant seemed perplexed. "Never die!" and then a light fell -on him. "Yes," he retorted, slowly; "I see it now. You are an -unbeliever; you have no religion. Look you; I have been better taught. -God will one day die; for He is very old; and then St. Nicolas will -get his place." - -Though he is common to all Russians--adored on the Dnieper, on the -Volkhof, on the Moskva, no less than on the Dvina--he is worshipped -with peculiar zeal in these northern zones. Here he is the sailor's -saint, the adventurer's help; and all the paintings of him show that -his watchful eyes are bent in eager tenderness upon the swirl and -passion of the Frozen Sea. This delta might be called his province; -for not only was the island on your right called after him, but also -the ancient channel, and the bay itself. The oldest cloister in the -district bears his name. - -On passing into the Maimax arm, your eyes--long dimmed by the sight of -sombre rock, dark cloud, and sullen surf--are charmed by soft, green -grass and scrub; but the sight goes vainly out, through reeds and -copse, in search of some cheery note of house and farm. One log hut -you pass, and only one. Two men are standing near a bank, in a little -clearing of the wood; a lad is idling in a frail canoe, which the wash -of your steamer lifts and laves; but no one lodges in the shed; the -men and boy have come from a village some miles away. Dropping down -the river in their boat to cut down grass for their cows, and gather -up fuel for their winter fires, they will jump into their canoe at -vespers, and hie them home. - -On the banks of older channels the villages are thick; slight groups -of sheds and churches, with a cloister here and there, and a scatter -of windmills whirling against the sky; each village and mill in its -appointed place, without the freak and medley of original thought. -Here nothing is done by individual force; a pope, an elder, an -imperial officer, must have his say in every case; and not a mouse can -stir in a Russian town, except by leave of some article in a printed -code. Fort Dvina was erected on a certain neck of land in the ancient -river-bed, and nature was expected to conform herself forever to the -order fixed by imperial rule. - -On all these banks you note a forest of memorial crosses. When a -sailor meets with bad weather, he goes on shore and sets up a cross. -At the foot of this symbol he kneels in prayer, and when a fair wind -rises, he leaves his offering on the lonely coast. When the peril is -sharp, the whole ship's crew will land, cut down and carve tall trees, -and set up a memorial with names and dates. All round the margins of -the Frozen Sea these pious witnesses abound; and they are most of all -numerous on the rocks and banks of the Holy Isles. Each cross erected -is the record of a storm. - -Some of these memorial crosses are historic marks. One tree, set up by -Peter the Great when he escaped from the wreck of his ship in the -frozen deep, has been taken from the spot where he planted it, and -placed in the cathedral at Archangel. "This cross was made by Captain -Peter," says a tablet cut in the log by the Emperor's own knife; and -Peter being a carver in wood and stone, the work is not without -touches of art and grace. Might not a word be urged in favor of this -custom of the sea, which leaves a picture and a blessing on every -shore? An English mariner is apt to quit a coast on which he has been -kept a prisoner by adverse winds with a curse in his heart and a bad -name on his tongue. Jack is a very grand fellow in his way; but surely -there is a beauty, not less winning than the piety, in this habit of -the Russian tar. - -Climbing up the river, you come upon fleets of rafts and praams, on -which you may observe some part of the native life. The rafts are -floats of timber--pine logs, lashed together with twigs of willow, -capped with a tent of planks, in which the owner sleeps, while his -woodmen lie about in the open air when they are not paddling the raft -and guiding it down the stream. These rafts come down the Dvina and -its feeders for a thousand miles. Cut in the great forests of Vologda -and Nijni Konets, the pines are dragged to the waterside, and knitted -by rude hands into these broad, floating masses. At the towns some -sturdy helpers may be hired for nothing; many of the poor peasants -being anxious to get down the river on their way to the shrines of -Solovetsk. For a passage on the raft these pilgrims take a turn at the -oar, and help the owners to guide her through the shoals. - -In the praams the life is a little less bleak and rough than it is on -board the rafts. In form the praam is like the toy called a Noah's -ark; a huge hull of coarse pine logs, riveted and clamped with iron, -covered by a peaked plank roof. A big one will cost from six to seven -hundred rubles (the ruble may be reckoned for the moment as half a -crown), and will carry from six to eight hundred tons of oats and rye. -A small section of the praam is boarded off to be used as a room. Some -bits of pine are shaped into a stool, a table, and a shelf. From the -roof-beam swings an iron pot, in which the boatmen cook their food -while they are out in the open stream; at other times--that is to say, -when they are lying in port--no fire is allowed on board, not even a -pipe is lighted, and the watermen's victuals must be cooked on shore. -Four or five logs lashed together serve them for a launch, by means of -which they can easily paddle to the bank. - -Like the rafts, these praams take on board a great many pilgrims from -the upper country; giving them a free passage down, with a supply of -tea and black bread as rations, in return for their labor at the -paddle and the oar. Not much labor is required, for the praam floats -down with the stream. Arrived at Archangel, she empties her cargo of -oats into the foreign ships (most of them bound for the Forth, the -Tyne, and the Thames), and then she is moored to the bank, cut up, and -sold. Some of her logs may be used again for building sheds, the rest -is of little use, except for the kitchen and the stove. - -The new port of Archangel, called Solambola, is a scattered handful of -log houses, that would remind you of a Swiss hamlet were it not for -the cluster of green cupolas and spires, reminding you still more -strongly of a Bulgarian town. Each belfry bears a crescent, crowned by -a cross. Along the brink of the river runs a strand, some six or eight -feet above the level plain; beyond this strand the fields fall off, so -that the country might be laid under water, while the actual strand -stood high and dry. The new port is a water-village; for in the -spring-time, when the ice is melting up stream, the flood goes over -all, and people have to pass from house to magazine in boats. - -Not a grain of this strand in front of the sheds is Russ; the whole -line of road being built of ballast brought into the Dvina by foreign -ships, and chiefly from English ports. This ridge of pebble, marl, and -shells comes nearly all from London, Liverpool, and Leith; the Russian -trade with England having this peculiarity, that it is wholly an -export trade. A Russian sends us every thing he has for sale; his -oats, his flax, his deals, his mats, his furs, his tar; he buys either -nothing, or next to nothing, in return. A little salt and wine, a few -saw-mills--chiefly for foreign account--are what come back from -England by way of barter with the North. The payment is gold, the -cargo ballast; and the balance of account between the two countries -is--a strand of English marl and shells. - - - - -CHAPTER IV. - -ARCHANGEL. - - -On passing up the Dvina from the Polar Sea, your first experience -shows that you are sailing from the West into the East. - -When scraping the bar, you notice that the pilot refuses to drop his -lead. "Never mind," he says, "it is deep enough; we shall take no -harm; unless it be the will of God." A pilot rarely throws out his -line. The regulation height of water on the bar is so and so; and -dropping a rope into the sea will not, he urges, increase the depth. - -When climbing through the delta, you observe that every peasant on the -shore, both man and woman, wears a sheepskin wrap--the garment of -nomadic tribes; not worn as a rule by any of the settled races on the -earth. - -In catching a first glimpse of the city, you are struck by the forest -of domes and spires; the domes all color and the spires all gold; a -cluster of sacred buildings, you are apt to fancy, out of all -proportion to the number of people dwelling in the town. - -On feeling for the river-side, a captain finds no quay, no dock, no -landing-pier, no stair. He brings-to as he can; and drags his boat -into position with a pole, as he would have to do in the Turkish ports -of Vidin and Rustchuk. No help is given him from the shore. Except in -some ports of Palestine, you will nowhere find a wealthy trade -conducted by such simple means. - -When driving up that strand of English marl, towards the city of which -you see the golden lights, you hear that in Archangel, as in Aleppo, -there is no hotel; not even, as in Aleppo, a public khan. - -Full of these signs, you turn to your maps, and notice that Archangel -lies a little to the east of Mecca and Trebizond. - -Yet these highways of the Dvina are not those of the genuine East. -Baksheesh is hardly known. Your pilot may sidle up, and give your hand -a squeeze (all Russians of the lower ranks are fond of squeezing!) on -your safe arrival in the port; and if you fail to take his hint, as -probably you will, he whispers meekly in your ear, as though he were -telling you an important secret, that very few strangers come into the -Dvina, but those few never fail to reward with na-chai (tea-money) the -man who has brought them in from the sea of storms. But from the port -officials nothing can be got by giving vails in the bad old way. Among -the many wise things which have been done in the present reign, is -that of reducing the number of men employed in the customs, and of -largely increasing the salaries paid to them by the crown. No man is -now underpaid for the service he has to do, and no one in the Customs -is allowed to accept a bribe. Prince Obolenski, chief of this great -department, is a man of high courage as well as high principles, and -under his eye the service has been purged of those old abuses which -caused it to be branded with black and red in so many books. One case -came under my notice, in which a foreign skipper had given to an -officer in the port a dozen oranges; not as a bribe, but as a treat; -oranges being rarely seen in this northern clime. Yet, when the fact -was found out by his local superior, the man was reduced from a high -post in the service to a low one. "If he will take an orange, he will -take a ruble," said his chief; and a year elapsed before the offender -was restored to his former grade. - -The new method is not so Asiatic as the old; but in time it will lead -the humblest officer in Russia to feel that he is a man. - -Archangel is not a port and city in the sense in which Hamburg and -Hull are ports and cities; clusters of docks and sheds, with shops, -and wagons, and a busy private trade. Archangel is a camp of shanties, -heaped around groups of belfries, cupolas and domes. Imagine a vast -green marsh along the bank of a broad brown river, with mounds of clay -cropping here and there out of the peat and bog; put buildings on -these mounds of clay; adorn the buildings with frescoes, crown them -with cupolas and crosses; fill in the space between church and -convent, convent and church, with piles and planks, so as to make -ground for gardens, streets, and yards; cut two wide lanes, from the -church called Smith's Wife to the monastery of St. Michael, three or -four miles in length; connect these lanes and the stream by a dozen -clearings; paint the walls of church and convent white, the domes -green and blue; surround the log houses with open gardens; stick a -geranium, a fuschia, an oleander into every window; leave the grass -growing everywhere in street and clearing--and you have Archangel. - -Half-way from Smith's Wife's quarter to the Monastery, stand, in -picturesque groups, the sites determined by the mounds of clay, the -public buildings; fire-tower, cathedral, town-hall, court of justice, -governor's house, museum; new and rough, with a glow of bright new -paint upon them all. The collection in the museum is poor; the gilt on -the cathedral rich. When seen from a distance, the domes and turrets -of Archangel give it the appearance of some sacred Eastern city rather -than a place of trade. - -This sea-port on the Dvina is the only port in Russia proper. -Astrachan is a Tartar port; Odessa an Italian port; Riga a Livonian -port; Helsingfors a Finnish port. None of these outlets to the sea are -in Russia proper, nor is the language spoken in any of them Russ. Won -by the sword, they may be lost by the sword. As foreign conquests, -they must follow the fate of war; and in Russia proper their loss -might not be deeply felt; Great Russia being vast enough for -independence and rich enough for happiness, even if she had to live -without that belt of lesser Russias in which for her pride and -punishment she has lately been clasped and strained. Archangel, on the -other side, is her one highway to the sea; the outlet of her northern -waters; her old and free communication with the world; an outlet given -to her by God, and not to be taken away from her by man. - -Such as they are, the port and city of Archangel owe their birth to -English adventure, their prosperity to English trade. - -In the last year of King Edward the Sixth, an English ship, in -pressing her prow against the sand-banks of the Frozen Sea, hoping to -light on a passage to Cathay, met with a broad sheet of water, flowing -steadily and swiftly from the south. That ship was the "Bonaventure;" -her master was Richard Challoner; who had parted from his chief, Sir -Hugh Willoughby, in a storm. The water coming down from the south was -fresh. A low green isle lay on his port, which he laid down in his -chart as Rose Island; afterwards to be famous as the cradle of our -northern trade. Pushing up the stream in search of a town, he came -upon a small cloister, from the monks of which he learned that he was -not in Cathay, but in Great Russia. - -Great was a name given by old Russians, not only to the capital of -their country, but to the country itself. Their capital was Great -Novgorod; their country was Great Russia. - -Sir Hugh Willoughby was driven by storms into "the harbor of death," -in which he and his crews all perished in the ice; while his luckier -lieutenant pushed up the Dvina to Vologda, whence he forced his way to -Moscow, and saw the Grand Duke, Ivan the Fourth. In that age Russia -was known to Europe as Moscovia, from the city of Moscow; a city which -had ravaged her old pre-eminence from Novgorod, and made herself -mistress of Great Russia. - -Challoner was wrecked and drowned on his second voyage; but those who -followed him built an English factory for trade on Rose Island, near -the cloister; while the Russians, on their side, built a fort and town -on the Dvina, some thirty miles from its mouth; in which position they -could watch the strangers in their country, and exchange with them -their wax and skins for cotton shirts and pewter pans. The builder of -this fort and town was Ivan Vassilivitch, known to us as Ivan the -Terrible--Ivan the Fourth. - -Ivan called his town the New Castle of St. Michael the Archangel; an -unwieldy name, which his raftmen and sailors soon cut down--as raftmen -and sailors will--into the final word. On English lips the name would -have been St. Michael; but a Russian shrinks from using the name of -that prince of heaven. To him Michael is not a saint, as Nicolas and -George are saints; but a power, a virtue, and a sanctity, before whose -lance the mightiest of rebel angels fell. No Russian speaks of this -celestial warrior as a saint. He is the archangel; greatest of the -host; selected champion of the living God. Convents and churches are -inscribed to him by his celestial rank; but never by his personal -name. The great cathedral of Moscow is only known as the Archangel's -church. Michael is understood; for who but Michael could be meant? -Ivan Vassilivitch had such a liking for this fighting power, that on -his death-bed he gave orders for his body to be laid, not in that -splendid pile of St. Vassili, which he had spent so much time and -money in building near the Holy Gate, but in a chapel of the -Archangel's church; and there the grim old tyrant lies, in a plain -stone coffin, covered with a velvet pall. - -Peter the Great rebuilt Archangel on a larger scale with more enduring -brick. Peter was fond of the Frozen Sea, and twice, at least, he -sailed over it to pray in the Convent of Solovetsk; a place which he -valued, not only as a holy shrine, but as a frontier fortress, held by -his brave old Russ against the Lapps and Swedes. Archangel was made by -Peter his peculiar care; and masons were fetched from Holland to erect -his lines of bastions, magazines, and quays. A castle rose from the -ground on the river bank; an island was reclaimed from the river and -trimmed with trees; a summer palace was designed and built for the -Tsar. A fleet of ships was sent to command the Dvina mouth. In fact, -Archangel was one of the three sites--St. Petersburg and Taganrog -being the other two--on which the Emperor designed to build cities -that, unlike Novgorod and Moscow, should be at once fortresses and -ports. - -The city of Ivan and the city of Peter have each in turn gone by. Not -a stone of Ivan's town remains; for his new castle and monastery, -being built of logs, were duly rotted by rain and consumed by fire. A -fort and a monastery still protect and adorn the place; but these have -both been raised in more recent years. Of Peter's city, though it -seemed to be solid as the earth itself, hardly a house is standing to -show the style. A heap of arches, riven by frost and blackened by -smoke, is seen on the Dvina bank; a pretty kiosk peeps out from -between the birches on Moses Isle; and these are all! - -In our western eyes Archangel may seem to be over-rich in domes, as -the delta may appear to be over-rich in crosses; but then, in our -western eyes, the city is a magazine of oats and tar, of planks and -skins; while in native eyes it is the archangel's house, the port of -Solovetsk, and the gate of God. - - - - -CHAPTER V. - -RELIGIOUS LIFE. - - -A friend is one day driving me from house to house in Archangel, -making calls, when we observe from time to time a smart officer going -into courtyards. - -"This man appears to be dogging our steps." - -"Ha!" laughs my friend; "that fellow is an officer of police." - -"Why is he following us?" - -"He is not following us; he is going his rounds; he is warning the -owners of all good houses that four candles must be lighted in each -front window to-night at eight o'clock." - -"Four candles! For what?" - -"The Emperor. You know it is his angel's day; you will see the streets -all lighted--by police suggestion--at the proper time." - -"Surely the police have no need to interfere. The Emperor is popular; -and who can forget that this is St. Alexander's Day?" - -"There you are wrong; our people hardly know the court at all. You see -these shops are open, yon stalls are crowded, that mill is working, as -they would be on the commonest day in all the year. A mujik cares but -little for kings and queens; he only knows his own angel--his peculiar -saint. If you would test his reverence, ask him to make a coat, repair -a tarantass, or fetch in wood, on his angel's day. He would rather die -at your feet than sully such a day with work. In fact, a mujik is not -a courtier--he is only a religious man." - -My friend is right in the main, though his illustration takes me as a -stranger by surprise. - -The first impulse in a Russian heart is duty to God. It is an impulse -of observance and respect; at once moral and ceremonial; an impulse -with an inner force and an outer form; present in all ranks of -society, and in all situations of life; in an army on the march, in a -crowd at a country fair, in a lecture-room full of students; showing -itself in a princess dancing at a ball, in a huckster writing at his -desk, in a peasant tugging at his cart, in a burglar rioting on his -spoil. - -This duty adorns the land with fane and altar, even as it touches the -individual man with penitential grace. Every village must have its -shrine, as every child must have his guardian angel and baptismal -cross. The towns are rich in churches and convents, just as the -citizens are rich in spiritual gifts. I counted twenty spires in -Kargopol, a city of two thousand souls. Moscow is said to have four -hundred and thirty churches and chapels; Kief, in proportion to her -people, is no less rich. All public events are celebrated by the -building of a church. In Kief, St. Andrew's Church commemorates the -visit of an apostle; St. Mary's, the introduction of Christianity In -Moscow, St. Vassili's commemorates the conquest of Kazan; the Donskoi -Convent, Fedor's victory over the Crim Tartars; St. Saviour's, the -expulsion of Napoleon. In Petersburg, St. Alexander's commemorates the -first victory won by Russians over Swedes; St. Isaac's, the birth of -Peter the Great; Our Lady of Kazan's, the triumphs of Russian arms -against the Persian, Turk, and Frank. Where we should build a bridge, -the Russians raise a house of God: so that their political and social -history is brightly written in their sacred piles. - -By night and day, from his cradle to his grave, a Russian lives, as it -were, with God; giving up to His service an amount of time and money -which no one ever dreams of giving in the West. Like his Arabian -brother, the Slavonian is a religious being; and the gulf which -separates such men from the Saxon and the Gaul is broader than a -reader who has never seen an Eastern town will readily picture to his -mind. - -An Oriental is a man of prayer. He seems to live for heaven and not -for earth; and even in his commonest acts, he pays respect to what he -holds to be a celestial law. One hand is clean, the other unclean. One -cup is lawful, another cup is unlawful. If he rises from his couch a -prayer is on his lips; if he sits down to rest a blessing is in his -heart. When he buys and when he sells, when he eats and when he -drinks, he remembers that the Holy One is nigh. If poor in purse, he -may be rich in grace; his cabin a sanctuary, his craft a service, his -daily life an act of prayer. - -Enter into a Russian shed--you find a chapel. Every room in that shed -is sanctified; for in every room there is a sacred image, a domestic -altar, and a household god. The inmate steps into that room with -reverence; standing for a moment at the threshold, baring his head, -crossing himself, and uttering a saintly verse. Once in the house, he -feels himself in the Presence, and every act of his life is dedicated -to Him in whom we live and move. "Slava Bogu"--Glory to God--is a -phrase forever on his lips; not as a phrase only, to be uttered in a -light vein, as a formal act, but with an inward bending and confession -of the soul. He fasts very much, and pays a respect beyond our measure -to sacred places and to sacred things. He thinks day and night of his -angel; and payments are made by him at church for prayers to be -addressed in his name to that guardian spirit. He finds a divine -enjoyment in the sound of cloister-bells, a foretaste of heaven in -kneeling near the bones of saints. The charm of his life is a profound -conviction of his own unworthiness in the sight of God, and no mere -pride of rank ever robs him of the hope that some one higher in virtue -than himself will prove his advocate at the throne of grace. He feels -a rapture, strange to a Frank, in the cadence of a psalm, and the -taste of consecrated bread is to him a fearful joy. Such things are to -him not only things of life and death, but of the everlasting life and -the ever-present death. - -The church is with a Russian early and late. A child is hardly -considered as born into the world, until he has been blessed by the -pope and made by him a "servant of God." - -As the child begins, so he goes on. The cross which he receives in -baptism--which he receives in his cradle, and carries to his grave--is -but a sign. Religion goes with him to his school, his play-ground, and -his workshop. Every act of his life must begin with supplication and -end with thanks. A school has a set of prayers for daily use; with -forms to be used on commencing a term, on parting for holidays, on -engaging a new teacher, on opening a fresh course. It is the same with -boys who work in the mill and on the farm. Every one has his office to -recite and his fast to keep. The fasting is severe; and more than half -the days in a Russian year are days of fasting and humiliation. During -the seven weeks before Easter, no flesh, no fish, no milk, no eggs, no -butter, can be touched. For five or six weeks before St. Peter's Day, -and for six weeks before Christmas Day, no flesh, no milk, no eggs, no -butter, can be used. For fifteen days in August, a fast of great -severity is held in honor of the Virgin's death. A man must fast on -every Wednesday and Friday throughout the year, eating nothing save -fish. Besides keeping these public fasts, a man should fast the whole -week before making his confession and receiving his sacrament; -abstaining from every dainty, from sugar, cigarettes, and every thing -cooked with fire. - -On the eve of Epiphany--the day for blessing the water--no one is -suffered to eat or drink until the blessing has been given, about four -o'clock, when the consecrated water may be sipped and dinner must be -eaten with a joyful heart. To fetch away the water, people carry into -church their pots and pans, their jacks and urns; each peasant with a -taper in his hand, which he lights at the holy fire, and afterwards -burns before his angel until it dies. - -Every new house in which a man lives, every new shop which he opens -for trade, must be blessed. A man who moves from one lodging to -another must have his second lodging purified by religious rites. Ten -or twelve times a year, the parish priest, attended by his reader and -his deacon, enters into every house in his district, sprinkles the -rooms with holy water, cleanses them with prayer, and signs them with -the cross. - -In his marriage, on his dying bed, the Church is with a Russ even more -than at his birth and baptism. Marriage, held to be a sacrament, and -poetically called a man's coronation, is a long and intricate affair, -consisting of many offices, most of them perfect in symbolism as they -are lovely in art. Prayers are recited, rings exchanged, and blessings -invoked; after which the ceremony is performed; an actual circling of -the brows with a golden rim. "Ivan, servant of God," cries the pope, -as he puts the circlet on his brows, "is crowned with Nadia, handmaid -of God." The bride is crowned with Ivan, servant of God. - -Some people wear their bridal crowns for a week, then put them back -into the sacristy, and obtain a blessing in exchange. Religion touches -the lowliest life with a passing ornament. The bride is always a -queen, the groom is always a king, on their wedding-day. - -A man's angel is with him early and late; a spirit with whom he dares -not trifle; one whom he can never deceive. He puts a picture of this -angel in his bedroom, over the pillow on which he sleeps. A light -should burn before that picture day and night. The angel has to be -propitiated by prayers, recited by a consecrated priest. His day must -be strictly kept, and no work done, except works of charity, from dawn -to dusk. A feast must be spread, the family and kindred called under -one roof, presents made to domestics, and alms dispensed to the poor. -On his angel's day a man must not only go to church, but buy from the -priests some consecrated loaves, which he must give to servants, -visitors, and guests. On that day he should send for his parish -priest, who will bring his gospel and cross, and say a prayer to the -angel, for which he must be paid a fee according to your means. A -child receives his angel's name in baptism, and this angelic name he -can never change. A peasant who was tried in the district court of -Moscow on a charge of having forged a passport and changed his name, -in order to pass for another man, replied that such a thing could not -be done. "How," he asked in wonder, "could I change my name? I should -lose my angel. I only forged my place of birth." - -So closely have religious passions passed into social life, that civil -rights are made to depend in no slight degree on the performance of -religious duties. Every man is supposed to attend a weekly mass, and -to confess his sins, and take a sacrament once a year. A man who -neglects these offices forfeits his civil rights; unless, as sometimes -happens in the best of cities, he can persuade his pope to give him a -certificate of his exemplary attendance in the parish church! - - - - -CHAPTER VI. - -PILGRIMS. - - -Next to his religious energy, the mastering passion of a Russ is the -untamable craving of his heart for a wandering life. - -All Slavonic tribes are more or less fond of roving to and fro; of -peddling, and tramping, and seeing the world; of living, as it were, -in tents, as the patriarchs lived; but the propensity to ramble from -place to place is keener in the Russ than it is in the Bohemian and -the Serb. - -A while ago the whole of these Slavonic tribes were still nomadic; a -people of herdsmen, driving their flocks from plain to plain, in -search of grass and water; camping either in tents of skin, or in -frames of wood not much more solid than tents of skin; carrying with -them their wives and children, their weapons of war, and their -household gods. They chased the wild game of their country, and when -the wild game failed them, they ate their flocks. Some few among them -tilled the soil, but only in a crude and fitful way--as an Adonan -tends his patch of desert, as a Pawnee trifles with his stretch of -plain; for the Slavonic husbandman was nearly as wild a wanderer as -the driver of kine and goats. His fields were so vast, his kin so -scattered, that the soil which he cropped was of no more value to him -than the water he crossed, the air he breathed. He never dreamt of -occupying his piece of ground after it had ceased to yield him, in the -unbought bounty of nature, his easy harvest of oats and rye. - -Some trace of these wandering habits may still be found, especially in -the pilgrim bands. - -These pilgrim bands are not a rabble of children and women, gay and -empty folk, like those you meet when the vintage is gathered in Sicily -and the south of France; mummers who take to the pilgrim's staff in -wantonness of heart, and end a week of devotion by a feast in the -auberge and a dance under the plaintain leaves. At best that French or -Sicilian rabble is but a spent tradition and a decaying force. But -these Northern pilgrims are grave and sad in their doings, even as the -North is grave and sad. You never hear them laugh; you rarely see them -smile; their movements are sedate; the only radiance on their life is -the light of prayer and praise. Seeing these worshippers in many -places and at many times--before the tomb of Sergie near Moscow, and -before the manger at Bethlehem, I have everywhere found them the same, -in reverence, in humility, in steadfastness of soul. One of these -lowly Russ surprised me on the Jordan at Bethabara; and only yesterday -I helped his brother to cross the Dvina on his march from Solovetsk. -The first pilgrim had visited the tombs of Palestine, from Nazareth to -Marsaba; the second, after toiling through a thousand miles of road -and river to Solovetsk, is now on his way to the shrines at Kief. As -my horses rattled down the Dvina bluffs I saw this humble pilgrim on -his knees, his little pack laid by, and his forehead bent upon the -ground in prayer. He was waiting at the ford for some one to come -by--some one who could pay the boatman, and would give him a passage -on the raft. The day had not yet dawned; the wind came up the river in -gusts and chills; yet the face of that lowly man was good to see; a -soft and tender countenance, shining with an inward light, and glad -with unearthly peace. The world was not much with him, if one might -judge from his sackcloth garb, his broken jar, his crust of black -bread; but one could not help thinking, as he bowed in thanks, that it -might be well for some of us who wear fine linen and dine off dainty -food to be even as that poor pilgrim was. - -This pilgrimage to the tombs and shrines of Russian saints, so far -from being a holiday adventure, made when the year is spent and the -season of labor past, is to the pilgrim a thing of life and death. He -has degrees. A pilgrim perfect in his calling will go from shrine to -shrine for several years. If God is good to him, he will strive, after -making the round of his native shrines, to reach the valley of -Nazareth, and the heights of Bethlehem and Zion. Some hundreds of -these Russian pilgrims annually achieve this highest effort of the -Christian life on earth; making their peace with heaven by kissing the -stones in front of the Redeemer's tomb. Of course the poorer and -weaker man can never expect to reach this point of grace; but his -native soil is holy. Russia is a land of saints; and his map is dotted -with sacred tombs, to which it is better for him to toil than rest at -home in his sloth and sin. - -These pilgrims go on foot, in bands of fifty or sixty persons, men, -women, children, each with a staff in his hand, a water-bottle hanging -from his belt; edifying the country as they march along, kneeling at -the wayside chapel, and singing their canticles by day and night. The -children whine a plaintive little song, of which the burden runs: - - "Fatherkins and motherkins, - Give us bread to eat;" - -and this appeal of the children is always heard, since all poor people -fancy that the knock of a pilgrim at their window may be that of an -angel, and will bring them luck. - -A part--a very large part--of these rovers are simple tramps, who make -a trade of piety; carrying about with them relics and rags which they -vend at high rates to servant-girls and superstitious crones. - -A man who in other days would have followed his sheep and kine, now -seeks a wild sort of freedom as a pilgrim, hugging himself on his -immunity from tax and rent, from wife and brat; migrating from -province to province; a beggar, an impostor, and a tramp; tickled by -the greeting of young and old as he passes their door, "Whither, oh -friend, is the Lord leading thee?" Sooner or later such a man falls in -with a band of pilgrims, which he finds it his good to join. The -Russian Autolycus slings a water-bottle at his belt, and his female -companion limps along the forest road on her wooden staff. You meet -them on every track; you find them in the yard of every house. They -creep in at back-doors, and have an assortment of articles for sale, -which are often as precious in the eyes of a mistress as in those of -her maid; a bit of rock from Nazareth, a drop of water from Jordan, a -thread from the seamless coat, a chip of the genuine cross. These are -the bolder spirits: but thousands of such vagrants roam about the -country, telling crowds of gapers what they have seen in some holy -place, where miracles are daily performed by the bones of saints. They -show you a cross from Troitsa; they give you a morsel of consecrated -bread from St. George. They can describe to you the defense of -Solovetsk, and tell you of the incorruptible corpses of Pechersk. - -These are the impostors--rank and racy impostors--yet some of these -men and women who pass you on the roads are pious and devoted souls, -wandering about the earth in search of what they fancy is a higher -good. A few may be rich; but riches are dust in the eyes of God; and -in seeking after His glory they dare not trust to an arm of flesh. -Equally with his meekest brother, the rich pilgrim must take his -staff, and march on foot, joining his brethren in their devotions and -confessions, in their matins and their evening song. - -Most of these pilgrim bands have to beg their crust of black bread, -their sup of sour quass, from people as poor as themselves in money -and almost as rich in the gifts of faith. Like the hadji going to -Mecca, a pilgrim coming to Archangel, on his way to the shrines, is a -holy man, with something of the character of a pope. The peasant, who -thinks the crossing of his door-step by the stranger brings him -blessings, not only lodges him by night, but helps him on the road by -day. A pilgrim is a sacred being in rustic eyes. If his elder would -let him go, he would join the band; but if he may not wend in person, -he will go in spirit, to the shrine. A prayer shall be said in his -name by the monks, and he will send his last kopeck in payment for -that prayer by the hand of this ragged pilgrim, confident that the -fellow would rather die than abuse his trust. - -The men who escape from Siberian mines put on the pilgrim frock and -seize the pilgrim staff. Thus robed and armed, a man may get from Perm -to Archangel with little risk, even though his flesh may be burnt and -his papers forged. Pietrowski has told the story of his flight, and -many such tales may be heard on the Dvina praams. - -A peasant living in a village near Archangel killed his father in a -quarrel, but in such a way that he was not suspected of the crime; and -he would never have been brought to justice had not Vanka, a friend -and neighbor, been a witness of the deed. Now Vanka was weak and -superstitious, and every day as he passed the image of his angel in -the street, he felt an inner yearning to tell what he had seen. The -murderer, watching him day and night, observed that he prayed very -much, and crossed himself very often, as though he were deeply -troubled in his mind. On asking what ailed him, he heard to his alarm -that Vanka could neither eat nor sleep while that terrible secret lay -upon his soul. But what could he do? Nothing; absolutely nothing? Yes; -he could threaten to do for him what he had done by accident for a -better man. "Listen to me, Vanka," he said, in a resolute tone; "you -are a fool; but you would not like to have a knife in your throat, -would you?" "God take care of me!" cried Vanka. "Mind me, then," said -the murderer: "if you prate, I will have your blood." Vanka was so -much frightened that he went to the police that very night and told -them all he knew; on which his friend was arrested, brought to trial -in Archangel, and condemned to labor on the public works for life. -Vanka was the main witness, and on his evidence the judge pronounced -his sentence. Then a scene arose in court which those who saw it say -they shall not forget. The man in the dock was bold and calm, while -Vanka, his accuser, trembled from crown to sole; and when the sentence -of perpetual exile to the mines was read, the murderer turned to his -friend and said, in a clear, firm voice, "Vanka! remember my words. -To-day is yours: I am going to Siberia; but I shall come to your house -again, and then I shall take your life. You know!" Years went by, and -the threat, forgotten by every one else, was only remembered by Vanka, -who, knowing his old friend too well, expected each passing night -would be his last on earth. At length the tragedy came in a ghastly -form. Vanka was found dead in his bed; his throat was cut from ear to -ear; and in a drinking-den close by lay his murderer, snoring in his -cups. He had made his escape from the mines; he had traversed the -whole length of Asiatic Russia; he had climbed the Ural chain, and -walked through the snow and ice of Perm, travelling in a pilgrim's -garb, and singing the pilgrim's song, until he came to the suburbs of -Archangel, where he slipped away from his raft, hid himself in the -wood until nightfall, crept to the familiar shed and drew his knife -across Vanka's throat. - -No one suspects a pilgrim. With a staff in his hand, a sheepskin on -his back, a water-bottle at his belt, and a clot of bass tied loosely -round his feet, a peasant of the Ural Mountains quits his home, and -makes no merit of trudging his two or three thousand miles. On the -river he takes an oar, on the wayside he endures with incredible -fortitude the burning sun by day, the biting frost at night. In Moscow -I heard the history of three sisters, born in that city, who have -taken up the pilgrim's staff for life. They are clever women, -milliners by trade, and much employed by ladies of high rank. If they -could only rest in their shop, they might live in comfort, and end -their days in peace. But the religious and nomadic passions of their -race are strong upon them. Every year they go to Kief, Solovetsk, and -Jerusalem; and the journey occupies them forty-nine weeks. Every year -they spend three weeks at home, and then set out again--alone, on -foot--to seek, in winter snow and summer heat, salvation for their -souls. No force on earth, save that which drives an Arab across the -desert, and a Mormon across the prairie, is like this force. - -In the hope of seeing these pilgrim bands, of going with them to -Solovetsk, and studying them on the spot, as also of inquiring about -the convent spectre, and solving the mystery which for many years past -connected that spectre with the Romanof family, I rounded the North -Cape, and my regret is deep, when landing at Archangel, to hear that -the last pilgrim band has sailed, and that no more boats will cross -the Frozen Sea until the ice breaks up in May next year. - - - - -CHAPTER VII. - -FATHER JOHN. - - -Stung by this news of the pilgrim-boat having sailed, and haunting, -unquietly, the Pilgrim's Court in the upper town, I notice a good many -sheepskin garbs, with wearers of the burnt and hungry sort you meet in -all seasons on the Syrian roads. They are exceedingly devout, and even -in their rags and filth they have a certain grace of aspect and of -mien. A pious purpose seems to inform their gestures and their speech. -Yon poor old man going home with his morsel of dried fish has the air -of an Arab sheikh. These pilgrims, like myself, have been detained by -storms; and a hope shoots up into my heart that as the monks must -either send away all these thirsty souls unslaked, or lodge and feed -them for several months, they may yet contrive to send a boat. - -A very small monk, not five feet high, with girl-like hair and -rippling beard, which parts and flows out wildly in the wind, is -standing in the gateway of the Pilgrim's Court; and hardly knowing how -it might be best to put the matter in my feeble Russ, I ask him in -that tongue where a man should look for the Solovetsk boat. - -"English?" inquires the girl-like monk. - -"Yes, English," I reply, in some surprise; having never before seen a -monk in Russia who could speak in any other tongue than Russ. "The -boat," he adds, "has ceased to run, and is now at Solovetsk laid up in -dock." - -In dock! This dwarf must be a wag; for such a conjunction as monks and -docks in a country where you find a quay like that of Solambola is, of -course, a joke. "In dock!" - -"Oh yes, in dock." - -"Then have you a dock in the Holy Isle?" - -"A dock--why not? The merchants of Archangel have no docks, you say? -Well, that is true; but merchants are not monks. You see, the monks of -Solovetsk labor while the merchants of Archangel trade. Slava Bogu! A -good monk does his work; no shuffling, and no waste. In London you -have docks?" - -"Yes, many: but they were not built by monks." - -"In England you have no monks; once you had them; and then they built -things--eh?" - -This dwarf is certainly a wag. What, monks who work, and docks in the -Frozen Sea! After telling me where he learned his English (which is of -nautical and naughty pattern), the manikin comforts me with news that -although the pilgrim-boat has gone back to Solovetsk (where her -engines are to be taken out, and put by in warm boxes near a stove for -the winter months), a provision-boat may sail for the monastery in -about a week. - -"Can you tell me where to find the captain of that boat?" - -"Hum!" says the dwarf, slowly, crossing himself the while, and lipping -his silent prayer, "_I_ am the skipper!" - -My surprise is great. This dwarf, in a monk's gown and cap, with a -woman's auburn curls, the captain of a sea-going ship! On a second -glance at his slight figure, I notice that his eyes are bright, that -his cheek is bronze, that his teeth, though small, are bony and well -set. In spite of his serge gown and his girl-like face, there _is_ -about the tiny monk that look of mastery which becomes the captain of -a ship. - -"And can you give me a passage in your boat?" - -"You! English, and you wish to see the holy tombs? Well, that is -something new. No men of your nation ever sail to Solovetsk. They come -over here to buy, and not to pray. Sometimes they come to fight." - -The last five words, spoken in a low key, come out from between his -teeth with a snap which is highly comic in a man so lowly and so -small. A lady living at Onega told me some days ago that once, when -she was staying for a week at Solovetsk with a Russian party, she was -compelled to hide her English birth, from fear lest the monks should -kill her. A woman's fancy, doubtless; but her words came back upon my -mind with a very odd sort of start as the manikin knits his brow and -hisses at the English fleet. - -"Where is your boat, and what is she called?" - -"She lies in the lower port, by the Pilgrim's Wharf; her name is the -'Vera;' as you would say, the 'Faith.'" - -"How do you call your captain?" I inquire of a second monk, who is -evidently a sailor also; in fact, he is the first mate, serving on -board the "Faith." - -"Ivan," says the monk; a huge fellow, with hasty eyes and audacious -front; "but we mostly call him Vanoushka, because he is little, and -because we like him." Vanoushka is one of the affectionate forms of -Ivan: Little Ivan, Little John. The skipper, then, is properly Father -John. - -As for the next ten days and nights we are to keep company, it may be -best for me to say at once what I came to know of the queer little -skipper in the long gown and with the woman's curls. - -Father John is an infant of the soil. Born in a Lapland village, he -had before him from his cradle the hard and hopeless life of a woodman -and cod-fisher--the two trades carried on by all poor people in these -countries, where the modes of life are fixed by the climate and the -soil. In the summer he would cut logs and grass; in the winter he -would hunt the sea in search of seal and cod. But the lad was smart -and lively. He wished to see the world, and hoped in some future time -to sail a boat of his own. In order to rise, he must learn; in order -to become a skipper, he must study the art of guiding ships at sea. -Some thirty miles from the hamlet where he lived stood Kem, an ancient -town established on the Lapland coast by colonists from Novgorod the -Great, in which town there was a school of navigation; rude and simple -as became so poor a place, but better than none at all; and to this -provincial school Father John contrived to go. That movement was his -first great step in life. - -From Kem you can see a group of high and wooded islands towards the -rising sun, the shores of which shine with a peculiar light in the -early dawn. They seem to call you, as it were, by a spell, into some -paradise of the north. Every view is green, and every height is -crowned by a church with a golden cross. These islands are the -Solovetsk group; and once, at least, the lad went over from Kem in a -boat to pray in that holy place. The lights, the music, and the ample -cheer appealed to his fancy and his stomach; leaving on his mind an -impression of peace and fullness never to be effaced. - -He got his pass as a seaman, came over to Archangel, fell into loose -ways, and meeting with some German sailors from the Baltic, listened -to their lusty songs and merry tales, until he felt a desire to leave -his own country and go with them on a voyage. Now sailors are scarce -in the Russian ports; the Emperor Nicolas was in those days drafting -his seamen into the Black Sea fleets; and for a man to quit Russia -without a pass from the police was a great offense. Such a pass the -lad felt sure he could never get; and when the German vessel was about -to sail he crept on board her in the night, and got away to sea -without being found out by the port police. - -The vessel in which he escaped from his country was the "Hero," of -Passenburg, in Hanover, plying as a rule between German and Danish -ports, but sometimes running over to the Tyne and the Thames. Entered -on the ship's books in a foreign name, Father John adopted the tastes -of his new comrades; learned to eat English beef, to drink German -beer, and to carry himself like a man of the world. But the teaching -of his father and his pope was not lost upon him, even in the slums of -Wapping and on the quays of Rotterdam. He began to pine for religion, -as a Switzer pines for his Alp and an Egyptian for his Nile. What -could he do? The thought of going home to Kem was a fearful dream. The -lash, the jail, the mine awaited him--he thought--in his native land. - -Cut off from access to a priest of his own religion, he talked to his -fellows before the mast about their faith. Some laughed at him; some -cursed him; but one old sailor took him to the house of a Catholic -priest. For four or five weeks Father John received a lesson every day -in the creed of Rome; but his mind misgave him as to what he heard; -and when his vessel left the port he was still without a church. In -the Levant, he met with creeds of all nations--Greek, Italian, -Lutheran, Armenian--but he could not choose between them, and his mind -was troubled with continual longings for a better life. - -Then he was wrecked in the Gulf of Venice, and having nearly lost his -life, he grew more and more uneasy about his soul. A few months later -he was wrecked on the coast of Norway; and for the second time in one -year he found himself at the gates of death. He could not live without -religion; and the only religion to whisper peace to his soul was that -of his early and better days. But then the service of his country is -one of strict observance, and a man who can not go to church can not -exercise his faith. How was he to seek for God in a foreign port? - -A chance of coming back to Russia threw itself in his path. The ship -in which he served--a German ship--was chartered by an English firm -for Archangel; and as Father John was the only Russ on board, the -skipper saw that his man would be useful in such a voyage. But the -news was to John a fearful joy. He longed to see his country once -more, to kneel at his native shrines, to give his mother some money he -had saved; but he had now been twelve years absent without leave, and -he knew that for such an offense he could be sent to Siberia, as he -phrased it, "like a slave." His fear overcame his love, and he -answered the skipper that he would not go, and must quit the ship. - -But the skipper understood his trade. Owing John some sixteen pounds -for pay, he told him that he had no money where he lay, and could not -settle accounts until they arrived in Archangel, where he would -receive his freight. "Money," says the Russ proverb, "likes to be -counted," and when Father John thrust his hands into empty pockets, he -began to think, after all, it might be better to go home, to get his -wages, and see what would be done. - -With a shaven chin and foreign name, he might have kept his secret and -got away from Archangel undiscovered by the port police, had he not -yielded the night before he should have sailed, and gone with some -Germans of the crew to a drinking-den. Twelve years of abstinence from -vodka had caused him to forget the power of that evil spirit; he drank -too much, he lost his senses; and when he woke next day he found that -his mates had left him, that his ship had sailed. What could he do? If -he spoke to the German consul, he would be treated as a deserter from -his post. If he went to the Russian police, he fancied they would -knout him to death. Not knowing what to say or how to act, he was -mooning in the port, when he met an old schoolfellow from Kem, one -Jacob Kollownoff (whom I afterwards came to know). Like most of the -hardy men of Kem, Jacob was prospering in the world; he was a skipper, -with a boat of his own, in which he made distant and daring voyages. -At the moment when he met Father John he was preparing for a run to -Spitzbergen in search of cod, to be salted at sea, and carried to the -markets of Cronstadt. Jacob saw no harm in a sailor drinking a glass -too much, and knowing that John was a good hand, he gave him a place -in his boat and took him out on his voyage. The cod was caught, and -Cronstadt reached; but the return was luckless; and John was cast away -for a third time in his life. A wrecked and broken man, he now made up -his mind to quit the sea, and even to take his chance of what his -people might do with him at home. - -Returning to Kem with the skipper, he was seized by the police on the -ground of his papers being out of order, and cast into the common jail -of the town, where he lay for twelve months untried. The life in jail -was not harder than his life on deck; for the Government paid him, as -a prisoner, six kopecks a day; enough to supply his wants. He was -never brought before a court. Once, if not more than once, the elder -hinted that a little money would make things straight, and he might go -his way. The sum suggested as enough for the purpose was seventy-five -rubles--nearly ten pounds in English coin. "Tell him," said John to -his brother, who brought this message to the jail, "he shall not get -from me so much as one kopeck." - -A week later he was sent in a boat from Kem to Archangel, under -sentence, he was told, of two years' hard labor in the fort; but -either the elder talked too big, or his message was misread; for on -going up to the police-office in that city, the prisoner was examined -and discharged. - -A dream of the summer isles and golden pinnacles came back to him; he -had lived his worldly life, and longed for rest. Who can wonder that -he wished to become a monk of Solovetsk! - -To the convent his skill in seamanship was of instant use. A steamer -had just been bought in Glasgow for the carriage of pilgrims to and -fro; and on her arrival in Archangel, Feofan, Archimandrite of -Solovetsk, discharged her Scottish crew and manned her with his monks. -At first these holy men felt strange on deck; they crossed themselves; -they sang a hymn; and as the pistons would not move, they begged the -Scottish engineer to return; since the machine--being made by -heretics--had not grace enough to obey the voice of a holy man. They -made two or three midsummer trips across the gulf, getting hints from -the native skippers, and gradually warming to their work. A priest was -appointed captain, and monks were sent into the kitchen and the -engine-room. All went well for a time; Savatie and Zosima--the local -saints of Solovetsk--taking care of their followers in the fashion of -St. Nicolas and St. George. - -Yet Father John was a real God's gift to the convent, for the voyage -is not often to be described as a summer trip; and even so good a -person as an Archimandrite likes to know, when he goes down into the -Frozen Sea, that his saints are acting through a man who has sailed in -the roughest waters of the world. - - - - -CHAPTER VIII. - -THE VLADIKA. - - -"You have a letter of introduction to the Archimandrite of Solovetsk?" -asks Father John, as we are shaking hands under the pilgrim's lamp. -"No! Then you must get one." - -"Why? Are you so formal when a pilgrim comes to the holy shrine?" - -"You are not quite a pilgrim. You will need a room in the guest-house -for yourself. You may wish to have horses, boats, and people to go -about. You will want to see the sacristy, the jewels, and the books. -You may like to eat at the Archimandrite's board." - -"But how are these things to be done?" - -"You know the Most Sacred Vladika of Archangel, perhaps?" - -"Well, yes, a little. One of the Vladika's closest friends has been -talking to me of that sacred personage, and has promised to present me -this very day." - -"Get from him a line to the Archimandrite. That will make all things -smooth," says Father John. - -"Are they great friends?" - -"Ha! who can tell? You see, the Most Sacred Vladika used to be master -of every one in the Holy Isles; and now ... but then the Vladika of -Archangel and the Archimandrite of Solovetsk are holy men, not likely -to fall out. You'll get a line?" - -"Yes, if he will give me one; good-bye." - -"Count on a week for the voyage, and bring white bread," adds the -dwarf. "Prosteté--Pardon me." - -Of course, the Vladika (bishop or archbishop) is a monk; for every -high-priest in the Orthodox Church, whether his rank be that of vicar, -archimandrite, bishop, or metropolite, must wear the hood, and must -have taken vows. The rule that a bishop must be "the husband of one -wife," is set aside so far as regards the clergy of higher grades. A -parish priest is a married man; must, in fact, be a married man; and -no young deacon can obtain a church until he has first obtained a -bride. The social offices of the Church are done by these family men; -baptism, purifying, marriage, confession, burial; yet the higher seats -in the hierarchy are all reserved (as yet) for celibates who are under -vows. - -The Holy Governing Synod--highest court of the Orthodox Church--consists -of monks, with one lay member to assist them by his knowledge of the -world. No married priest has ever had a seat on that governing board. -The metropolites are monks; and not only monks, but actual rulers of -monastic houses, Isidore, metropolite of Novgorod, is archimandrite of -the great Convent of St. George. Arseny, metropolite of Kief, is -archimandrite of the great Convent of Pechersk. Innocent, metropolite -of Moscow, is archimandrite of the great Convent of Troitsa. All the -vicars of these high-priests are monks. The case of Archangel and -Solovetsk is, therefore, the exception to a general rule. St. George, -Pechersk, and Troitsa, are governed by the nearest prince of the -Church; and in former times this was also the case with Solovetsk; but -Peter the Great, in one of his fits of reverence, broke this old -connection of the convent and the see of Archangel; endowing the -Archimandrite of Solovetsk with a separate standing and an independent -power. Some people think the Archbishop of Archangel nurses a grudge -against the civil power for this infringement of his ancient rights; -and this idea was probably present in the mind of Father John. - -Acting on Father John's advice, I put on my clothes of state--a plain -dress suit; the only attire in which you can wait on a man of -rank--and drive to my friend's abode, and finding him ready to go with -me, gallop through a gust of freezing rain to the palace-door. - -The archbishop is at home, though it is not yet twelve o'clock. It is -said of him that he seldom goes abroad; affecting the airs of an exile -and a martyr; but doing--in a sad, submissive way, as if the weapon -were unworthy of its work--a great deal of good; watching over his -church, admonishing his clergy, both white and black, and thinking, -like a father, for the poor. - -Leaving our wraps in an outer hall (the proper etiquette of guests), -we send in our cards by an usher, and are received at once. - -The Most Sacred Vladika, pale as a ghost, dressed in a black gown, on -which hangs a sapphire cross, and wearing his hood of serge, rises to -greet us; and coming forward with a sweet and vanishing smile, first -blesses his penitent, and then shakes hands with his English guest. - -This Most Sacred Father Nathaniel is now an aged, shadowy man, with -long white beard, and a failing light in his meek blue eyes. But in -his prime he is said to have been handsome in person, eager in gait, -caressing in style. In his youth he was a village pastor--one of the -White Clergy--married, and a family man; but his wife died early; and -as a pastor in his church can not marry a second time, he followed a -fashion long ago set by his aspiring brethren--he took the vows of -chastity, became a monk, and began to rise. His fine face, his courtly -wit, his graceful bearing, brought him hosts of fair penitents, and -these fair penitents made for him high friends at court. He was -appointed Vicar of St. Petersburg--a post not higher in actual rank -than that of a Dean of St. Paul's, but one which a popular and -ambitious man prefers to most of the Russian sees. Father Nathaniel -was an idol of the city. Fine ladies sought his advice, and women of -all classes came to confess to him their sins. Princes fell beneath -his sway; princesses adored him; and no rank in the Church, however -high, appeared to stand beyond his reach. But these court triumphs -were his ruin. He was such a favorite with ladies that his brethren -began to smile with malicious leer when his back was turned, and drop -their poisonous hints about the ways in which he walked. They said he -was too fond of power; they said he spent more time with his female -penitents than became a monk. It is the misery of these vicars and -bishops that they can not be married men, with wives of their own to -turn the edges of such shafts. Men's tongues kept wagging against -Nathaniel's fame; and even those who knew him to be earnest in his -faith began to think it might be well for the Church if this -fascinating father could be honorably sent to some distant see. - -Whither was he to go? - -While a place was being sought for him, he happened to give deep -offense in high quarters; and as Father Alexander, Vladika of -Archangel (hero of Solovetsk), was eager to go south and be near the -court, Father Nathaniel was promoted to that hero's place. - -He left St. Petersburg amidst the tears of fair women, who could not -protect their idol against the malice of envious monks. Taking his -promotion meekly as became his robe, he sighed to think that his day -was come, and in the future he would count in his church as a fallen -man. Arriving in Archangel, he shut himself up in his palace near the -monastery of St. Michael; a house which he found too big for his -simple wants. Soon after his coming he abandoned this palace for a -smaller house; giving up his more princely pile to the monks of St. -Michael for a public school. - -A spirit of sacrifice is the pre-eminent virtue of the Russian Church. - -The shadowy old man compels me to sit on the sofa by his side; talks -of my voyage round the North Cape; shows me a copy in Russian of my -book on the Holy Land; inquires whether I know the Pastor Xatli in -London. Fancying that he means the Russian pope in Welbeck Street, I -answer yes; on which we get into much confusion of tongues; until it -flashes upon me that he is talking of Mr. Hatherley of Wolverhampton, -the gentleman who has gone over from the English to the Russian rite, -and is said to have carried some twenty souls of the Black Country -with him. What little there is to tell of this Oriental Church in our -Black Country is told; and in return for my scanty supply of facts, -the Vladika is good enough to show me the pictures hanging on his -wall. These pictures are of two classes, holy and loyal; first the -sacred images--those heads of our Saviour and of the Virgin Mother -which hang in the corners of every Russian room, the tutelary -presence, to be adored with reverence at the dawn of day and the hour -of rest; then the loyal and local pictures--portraits of the reigning -house, and of former archbishops--which you would expect to find in -such a house; a first Alexander, with flat and dreamy face; a Nicolas, -with stiff and haughty figure; a second Alexander, hung in the place -of honor, and wearing a pensive and benignant smile. More to my mind, -as less familiar than these great ones of the hour, is the fading -image of a lady, thoroughly Russ in garb and aspect--Marfa, boyarine -of Novgorod and colonizer of the North. - -Nathaniel marks with kindling eyes my interest in this grand old -creature--builder alike of convents and of towns--who sent out from -Novgorod two of her sons, and hundreds of her people, to the bleak -north country, then inhabited by pagan Lapps and Karels, worshippers -of the thunder-cloud, and children of the Golden Hag. Her story is the -epic of these northern shores. - -While Red and White Rose were wasting our English counties with sword -and fire, this energetic princess sent her sons and her people down -the Volkhoff, into Lake Ladoga, whence they crept up the Swir into -Lake Onega; from the banks of which lake they marched upward, through -the forests of birch and pine, into the frozen north. She sent them to -explore the woods, to lay down rivers and lakes, to tell the natives -of a living God. They came to Holmogory, on the Dvina, then a poor -fishing-village occupied by Karels, a tribe not higher in type than -the Samoyeds of the present day. They founded Suma, Soroka, and Kem. -They took possession of the Frozen Sea and its clustering isles. In -dropping down a main arm of the river, Marfa's two sons were pitched -from their boat and drowned. Their bodies being washed on shore and -buried in the sand, she caused a cloister to be raised on the spot, -which she called the Monastery of St. Nicolas, after the patron of -drowning men. - -That cloister of St. Nicolas was the point first made by Challoner -when he entered the Dvina from the Frozen Sea. - -"You are going over to Solovetsk?" says the Vladika, coming back to -his sofa. "We have no authority in the isles, although they lie within -our See. It pleased the Emperor Peter, on his return from a stormy -voyage, to raise the Convent of Savatie to independent rank, to give -it the title of Lavra--making it the equal, in our ecclesiastical -system, with Troitsa, Pechersk, and St. George. From that day -Solovetsk became a separate province of the Church, dependent on the -Holy Governing Synod and the Tsar. Still I can give you a line to -Feofan, the Archimandrite." - -Slipping into an inner room for five minutes, he composes a mandate in -my favor, in the highest Oriental style. - - - - -CHAPTER IX. - -A PILGRIM-BOAT. - - -A lady, who knows the country, puts up in a crate such things as a -pilgrim may chance to need in a monastic cell--good tea, calf's -tongue, fresh butter, cheese, roast beef, and indispensable white -bread. These dainties being piled on a drojki, propped on pillows and -covered with quilts--my bedding in the convent and the boat--we rattle -away to the Pilgrim's Wharf. - -Yes, there it is, an actual wharf--the only wharf in Archangel along -which boats can lie, and land their passengers by a common sea-side -plank! - -Moored to the capstan by a rope, lies the pretty craft; a gilt cross -on her foremast, a saintly pennant on her main. Four large gold -letters tell her name: - - В Ѣ Р А - -(pronounced Verra), and meaning Faith. Father John is standing on his -bridge, giving orders in a low voice to his officers and crew, many of -whom are monks--mate, steward, cook, and engineer--each and all -arrayed in the cowl and frock. - -On the Pilgrim's Wharf, which lies in a yard cut off by gates from the -street, and paved with chips and shavings to form a dry approach, -stands a new pile of monastic buildings; chapels, cells, store-rooms, -offices, stalls, dormitories; in fact, a new Pilgrim's Court. A -steamer can not reach the port in the upper town, where the original -Pilgrim's Court was built; and the fathers, keeping pace with the -times, have let their ancient lodgings in the town, and built a new -house lower down the stream. - -Crowds of men and women--pilgrims, tramps, and soldiers--strew the -wharf with a litter of baskets, tea-pots, beds, dried-fish, felt -boots, old rugs and furs, salt-girkins, black bread; through which the -monks step softly and sadly; helping a child to trot on board, getting -a free pass for a beggar, buying rye-loaves for a lame wretch, and -otherwise aiding the poorest of these poor creatures in their need. -For, even though the season is now far spent, nearly two hundred -pilgrims are in waiting on the Pilgrim's Wharf; all hoping to get over -to the Holy Isles. Most of these men have money to pay their fare; and -some among the groups are said to be rich. A dozen of the better sort, -natives of Archangel, too busy to pass over the sea in June, when -their river was full of ships, are taking advantage of the lull in -trade, and of the extra boat. Each man brings with him a basket of -bread and fish, a box of tea, a thick quilt, and a pair of felt -leggings, to be worn over his boots at night. These local pilgrims -carry a staff; but in place of the leathern belt and water-bottle, -they carry a teapot and a cup. One man wears a cowl and gown, who is -not of the crew; a jolly, riotous monk, going back to his convent as a -prisoner. "What has he been doing?" "Women and drink," says Father -John. The fares are low: first-class, six rubles (fifteen shillings); -second-class, four rubles. Third-class, three rubles. This tariff -covers the cost of going out and coming back--a voyage of four hundred -miles--with lodgings in the guest-house, and rations at the common -tables, during a stay of five or six days. A dozen of these poor -pilgrims have no rubles in their purse, and the question rises on the -wharf, whether these paupers shall be left behind. Father John and his -fellow-skipper have a general rule; they must refuse no man, however -poor, who asks them for a passage to Solovetsk in the name of God. - -A bell tolls, a plank is drawn, and we are off. As we back from the -wharf, getting clear, a hundred heads bow down, a hundred hands sign -the cross, and every soul commends itself to God. Every time that, in -dropping down the river, we pass a church, the work of bowing and -crossing begins afresh. Each head uncovers; each back is bent; each -lip is moved by prayer. Some kneel on deck; some kiss the planks. The -men look contrite, and the women are sedate. The crews on -fishing-craft salute us, oftentimes kneeling and bowing as we glide -past, and always crossing themselves with uncovered heads. Some beg -that we will pray for them; and the most worldly sailors pause in -their work and hope that the Lord will give us a prosperous wind. - -A gale is blowing from west and north. In the river it is not much -felt, excepting for the chill, which bites into your bone. Father -John, with a monk's contempt for caution, gives the Maimax Channel a -free berth, and having a boat in hand of very light draught, drops -down the ancient arm as a shorter passage into the gulf. - -Before we quit the river, our provident worshippers have begun to brew -their tea and eat their supper of girkin and black bread. - -The distribution on board is simple. Only one passenger has paid the -first-class fare. He has the whole state cabin to himself; a room some -nine feet square, with bench and mat to sleep on; a cabin in which he -might live very well, had it not pleased the monks to stow their -winter supply of tallow in the boxes beneath his couch. Two persons -have paid the second-class fare--a skipper and his wife, who have been -sailing about the world for years, have made their fortunes, and are -now going home to Kem. "Ah!" says the fair, fat woman, "you English -have a nice country to live in, and you get very good tea; but...." -The man is like his wife. "Prefer to live in Kem? Why not? In London -you have beef and stout; but you have no summer and no winter; all -your seasons are the same; never hot, never cold. If you want to enjoy -life, you should drive in a reindeer sledge over a Lapland plain, in -thirty degrees of frost." - -The rest of our fellow-pilgrims are on deck and in the hold; rich and -poor, lame and blind, merchant and beggar, charlatan and saint; a -motley group, in which a painter might find models for a Cantwell, a -Torquemada, a St. John. You see by their garb, and hear in their -speech, that they have come from every province of the Empire; from -the Ukraine and from Georgia, from the Crimea and from the Ural -heights, from the Gulf of Finland and from the shores of the Yellow -Sea. Some of these men have been on foot, trudging through summer -sands and winter snows, for more than a year. - -The lives of many of my fellow-passengers are like an old wife's -tales. - -One poor fellow, having no feet, has to be lifted on board the boat. -He is clothed in rags; yet this poor pilgrim's face has such a patient -look that one can hardly help feeling he has made his peace. He tells -me that he lives beyond Viatka, in the province of Perm; that he lost -his feet by frost-bite years ago; that he lay sick a long time; that -while he was lying in his pain he called on Savatie to help him, -promising that saint, on his recovery, to make a pilgrimage to his -shrine in the Frozen Sea. By losing his legs he saved his life; and -then, in his poverty and rags, he set forth on his journey, crawling -on his stumps, around which he has twisted a coarse leather splinth, -over fifteen hundred miles of broken road. - -Another pilgrim, wearing a felt boot on one leg, a bass shoe on the -other, has a most abject look. He is a drunkard, sailing to Solovetsk -to redeem a vow. Lying tipsy on the canal bank at Vietegra, he rolled -into the water, and narrowly escaped being drowned. As he lay on his -face, the foam oozing slowly from his mouth, he called on his saints -to save him, promising them to do a good work in return for such help. -To keep that vow he is going to the holy shrines. - -A woman is carrying her child, a fine little lad of six or seven -years, to be offered to the monks and educated for the cowl. She has -passed through trouble, having lost her husband, and her fortune, and -she is bent on sacrificing the only gift now left to her on earth. To -put her son in the monastery of Solovetsk is to secure him, she -believes, against all temporal and all spiritual harm. Poor creature! -It is sad to think of her lot when the sacrifice is made; and the -lonely woman, turning back from the incense and glory of Solovetsk, -has to go once more into the world, and without her child. - -An aged man, with flowing beard and priestly mien, though he is -wrapped in rags, is noticeable in the groups among which he moves. He -is a vowed pilgrim; that is to say, a pilgrim for life, as another man -would be a monk for life; his whole time being spent in walking from -shrine to shrine. He has the highest rank of a pilgrim; for he has -been to Nazareth and Bethlehem, as well as to Novgorod and Kief. This -is the third time he has come to Solovetsk; and it is his hope, if God -should spare him for the work, to make yet another round of the four -most potent shrines, and then lay up his dust in these holy isles. - -Some of these pilgrims, even those in rags, are bringing gifts of no -small value to the convent fund. Each pilgrim drops his offering into -the box: some more, some less, according to his means. Many bear gifts -from neighbors and friends who can not afford the time for so long and -perilous a voyage, but who wish to walk with God, and lay up their -portion with His saints. - -On reaching the river mouth we find a fleet of fishing-boats in dire -distress; and the two ships that we passed a week since, bobbing and -reeling on the bar like tipsy men, are completely gone. The "Thera" is -a Norwegian clipper, carrying deals; the "Olga" a Prussian bark, -carrying oats; they are now aground, and raked by the wash from stem -to stern. We pass these hulls in prayer; for the gale blows dead in -our teeth; and we are only too well aware that before daylight comes -again we shall need to be helped by all the spirits that wait on -mortal men. - -With hood and gown wrapped up in a storm-cape, made for such nights, -Father John is standing on his bridge, directing the course of his -boat like an English tar. His monks meet the wind with a psalm, in the -singing of which the pilgrims and soldiers join. The passenger comes -for a moment from his cabin into the sleet and rain; for the voices of -these enthusiasts, pealing to the heavens through rack and roar, are -like no sounds he has ever yet heard at sea. Many of the singers lie -below in the hold; penned up between sacks of rye and casks of grease; -some of them deadly sick, some groaning as though their hearts would -break; yet more than half these sufferers follow with lifted eyes and -strenuous lungs the swelling of that beautiful monkish chant. It is -their even-song, and they could not let the sun go down into the surge -until that duty to their Maker was said and sung. - -Next day there comes no dawn. A man on the bridge declares that the -sun is up; but no one else can see it; for a veil of mist droops -everywhere about us, out of which comes nothing but a roar of wind and -a flood of rain. - -The "Faith" is bound to arrive in the Bay of Solovetsk by twelve -o'clock; but early in the day Father John comes to tell me (apart) -that he shall not be able to reach his port until five o'clock; and -when five is long since past, he returns to tell me, with a patient -shrug, that we want more room, and must change our course. The -entrance to Solovetsk is through a reef of rocks. - -"Must we lie out all night?" - -"We must." Two hours are spent in feeling for the shore; Father John -having no objection to use his lead. When anchorage is found, we let -the chain go, and swinging round, under a lee shore, in eight fathoms -of water, find ourselves lying out no more than a mile from land. - -Then we drink tea; the pilgrims sing their even-song; and, with a -thousand crossings and bendings, we commit our souls to heaven. Lying -close in shore, under cover of a ridge of pines, we swing and lurch at -our ease; but the storm howls angrily in our wake; and we know that -many a poor crew, on their frail northern barks, are struggling all -night with the powers of life and death. A Dutch clipper, called the -"Ena," runs aground; her crew is saved, and her cargo lost. Two -Russian sloops are shattered and riven in our track; one of them -parting amidships and going down in a trough of sea with every soul on -board. - -In the early watch the wind goes down; sunlight streaks the -north-eastern sky; and, in the pink dawn, we catch, in our front, a -little to the west, a glimpse of the green cupolas and golden crosses -of Solovetsk--a joy and wonder to all eyes; not more to pilgrims, who -have walked a thousand miles to greet them, than they are to their -English guest. - -Saluting the holy place with prayer, and steaming by a coast-line -broken by rocks and beautified by verdure, we pass, in a flood of soft -warm sunshine, up a short inland reach, in which seals are plashing, -over which doves are darting, each in their happy sport, and, by eight -o'clock of a lovely August morning, swing ourselves round in a -secluded bay under the convent walls. - - - - -CHAPTER X. - -THE HOLY ISLES. - - -Chief in a group of rocks and banks lying off the Karel coast--a group -not yet surveyed, and badly laid down in charts--Solovetsk is a small, -green island, ten or twelve miles long, by eight or nine miles wide. -The waters raging round her in this stormy sea have torn a way into -the mass of stones and peat; forming many little coves and creeks; and -near the middle, where the convent stands, these waters have almost -met. Hardly a mile of land divides the eastern bay from the western -bay. - -Solovetsk stands a little farther north than Vatna Jökull; the -sixty-fifth degree of latitude passing close to the monastic pile. The -rocks and islets lying round her are numerous and lovely, for the sea -runs in and out among them, crisp with motion and light with foam; and -their shores are everywhere green with mosses and fringed with forests -of birch and pine. The lines are not tame, as on the Karel and Lapland -coasts, for the ground swells upward into bluffs and downs, and one at -least of these ridges may be called a hill. Each height is crowned by -a white church, a green cupola, and a golden cross. On the down which -may be called a hill stands a larger church, the belfry of which -contains a light. Land, sea, and sky are all in keeping; each a wonder -and a beauty in the eyes of pilgrims of the stormy night. - -Running alongside the wharf, on to which we step as easily as on to -Dover Pier, we notice that beyond this beauty of nature, which man has -done so much to point and gild, there is a bright and even a busy look -about the commonest things. Groups of strange men dot the quays; -Lopars, Karels, what not; but we soon perceive that Solovetsk is a -civilized no less than an enchanted isle. The quay is spacious, the -port is sweet and fresh. On our right lies that dock of which Father -John was speaking with such pride. The "Hope," a more commodious -pilgrim-boat than the "Faith," is lying on her stays. On our left -stands a guest-house, looking so airy, light, and clean, that no -hostelry on Italian lake could wear a more cheerful and inviting face. -We notice a lift and crane, as things not seen in the trading ports; -and one has hardly time to mark these signs of science ere noticing an -iron tramway, running from the wharf to a great magazine of stores and -goods. - -A line of wall, with gates and towers, extends along the upper quay; -and high above this line of wall, spring convent, palace, dome, and -cross. A stair leads up from the water to the Sacred Gates; and near -the pathway from this stair we see two votive chapels; marking the -spots on which the Imperial pilgrims, Peter the Great and Alexander -the Beneficent, landed from their boats. - -Every thing looks solid, many things look old. Not to speak of the -fortress walls and turrets, built of vast boulders torn up from the -sea-bed in the days of our own Queen Bess, the groups of palace, -church, and belfry rising within those walls are of older date than -any other work of man in this far-away corner of the globe. One -cathedral--that of the Transfiguration--is older than the fortress -walls. A second cathedral--that of the Ascension--dates from the time -when St. Philip was prior of Solovetsk. Besides having this air of -antiquity, the place is alive with color, and instinct with a sense of -art. The votive chapels which peep out here and there from among the -trees are so many pictures; and these red crosses by the water-margin -have been so arranged as to add a motive and a moral to the scene. -Some broad but not unsightly frescoes brighten the main front of the -old cathedral, and similar pictures light the spandrel of the Sacred -Gates; while turrets and cupolas of church and chapel are everywhere -gay with green and gold. - -One dome, much noticed, and of rarest value in a pilgrim's eye, is -painted azure, fretted with golden stars. That dome is the crown of a -new cathedral built in commemoration of 1854--that year of -wonders--when an English fleet was vanquished by the Mother of God. -Within, the convent looks more durable and splendid than without. -Wall, rampart, guest-house, prison, tower, and church, are all of -brick and stone. Every lobby is painted; often in a rude and early -style; but these rough passages from Holy Writ have a sense and -keeping higher than the morals conveyed by a coat of lime. The screens -and columns in the churches glow with a nobler art; though here, -again, an eye accustomed to admire no other than the highest of -Italian work will be only too ready to slight and scorn. The drawing -is often weak, the pigment raw, the metal tawdry; yet these great -breadths of gold and color impress both eye and brain, especially when -the lamps are lit, the psalm is raised, the incense burning, and the -monks, attired in their long black hoods and robes, are ranged in -front of the royal gates. - -This pretty white house under the convent wall, near the Sacred Gates, -was built in witness of a miracle, and is known as the Miracle Church. -A pilgrim, eating a bit of white bread, which a pope had given him, -let a crumb of it fall to the ground, when a strange dog tried to -snatch it up. The crumb seemed to rise into the dog's mouth and then -slip away from him, as though it were alive. That dog was the devil. -Many persons saw this victory of the holy bread, and the monks of -Solovetsk built a shrine on the spot to keep the memory of that -miracle alive; and here it stands on the bay, between the chapels -erected on the spots where Peter the Great and Alexander the Second -landed from their ships. - -When we come to drive, and sail, and walk into the recesses of this -group of isles, we find them not less lovely than the first sweet -promise of the bay in which we land. Forests surround, and lakelets -pursue us, at every step. The wood is birch and pine; birch of the -sort called silver, pine of the alpine stock. The trees are big enough -for beauty, and the undergrowths are red with berries and bright with -Arctic flowers. Here and there we come upon a clearing, with a dip -into some green valley, in the bed of which slumbers a lovely lake. A -scent of hay is in the air, and a perfume new to my nostrils, which my -companions tell me breathes from the cotton-grass growing on the -margin of every pool. At every turn of the road we find a cross, well -shaped and carved, and stained dark red; while the end of every forest -lane is closed by a painted chapel, a lonely father's cell. A deep, -soft silence reigns through earth and sky. - -But the beauty of beauties lies in the lakes. More than a hundred of -these lovely sheets of water nestle in the depths of pine-wood and -birch-wood. Most famous of all these sheets is the Holy Lake, lying -close behind the convent wall; most beautiful of all, to my poor -taste, is the White Lake, on the road to St. Savatie's Cell and -Striking Hill. - -Holy Lake, a sheet of black water, deep and fresh, though it is not a -hundred yards from the sea, has a function in the pilgrim's course. -Arriving at Solovetsk, the bands of pilgrims march to this lake and -strip to bathe. The waters are holy, and refresh the spirit while they -purify the flesh. Without a word, the pilgrims enter a shed, throw off -their rags, and leap into the flood; except some six or seven -city-folk, who shiver in their shoes at the thought of that wholesome -plunge. Their bath being finished, the pilgrims go to dinner and to -prayers. - -White Lake lies seven or eight miles from the convent, sunk in a green -hollow, with wooded banks, and a number of islets, stopping the lovely -view with a yet more lovely pause. If St. Savatie had been an artist, -one need not have wondered at his wandering into such a spot. - -Yet the chief islet in this paradise of the Frozen Sea has one defect. -When looking down from the belfry of Striking Hill on the intricate -maze of sea and land, of lake and ridge, of copse and brake, of lawn -and dell; each tender breadth of bright green grass, each sombre belt -of dark-green pine, being marked by a white memorial church; you gaze -and wonder, conscious of some hunger of the sense; it may be of the -eye, it may be of the ear; your heart declaring all the while that, -wealthy as the landscape seems, it lacks some last poetic charm. It is -the want of animal life. No flock is in the meadow, and no herd is on -the slope. No bark of dog comes on the air; no low of kine is on the -lake. Neither cow nor calf, neither sheep nor lamb, neither goat nor -kid, is seen in all the length of country from Striking Hill to the -convent gate. Man is here alone, and feels that he is alone. - -This defect in the landscape is radical; not to be denied, and never -to be cured. Not that cattle would not graze on these slopes and -thrive in these woods. Three miles in front of Solovetsk stands the -isle called Zaet, on which sheep and cattle browse; and five or six -miles in the rear lies Moksalma, a large grassy isle, on which the -poultry cackle, the horses feed, and the cows give milk. These animals -would thrive on the holy isle, if they were not driven away by -monastic rule; but Solovetsk has been sworn of the celibate order; and -love is banished from the saintly soil. No mother is here permitted to -fondle and protect her young; a great defect in landscapes otherwise -lovely to eye and heart--a denial of nature in her tenderest forms. - -The law is uniform, and kept with a rigor to which the imperial power -itself must bend. No creature of the female sex may dwell on the isle. -The peasants from the Karel coast are said to be so strongly impressed -with the sin of breaking this rule, that they would rather leap into -the sea than bring over a female cat. A woman may come in the pilgrim -season to say her prayers, but that duty done she must go her way. -Summer is a time of license--a sort of carnival season, during which -the letter of a golden rule is suspended for the good of souls. A -woman may lodge in the guest-house, feed in the refectory; but she -must quit the wards before nine at night. Some of the more holy -chapels she may not enter: and her day of privilege is always short. A -male pilgrim can reside at Solovetsk for a year; a female must be gone -with the boats that bring her to the shrine. By an act of imperial -grace, the commander of his majesty's forces in the island--an army -some sixty strong--is allowed to have his wife and children with him -during the pilgrim's year; that is to say, from June to August; but -when the last boat returns to Archangel with the men of prayer, the -lady and her little folk must leave their home in this holy place. A -reign of piety and order is supposed to come with the early snows, and -it is a question whether the empress herself would be allowed to set -her foot on the island in that better time. - -The rule is easily enforced in the bay of Solovetsk, under the convent -walls; not so easily enforced at Zaet, Moksalma, and the still more -distant isles, where tiny little convents have been built on spots -inhabited by famous saints. In these more distant settlements it is -hard to protect the holy men from female intrusion; for the Karel -girls are fond of mischief, and they paddle about these isles in their -light summer craft by day and night. The aged fathers only are allowed -to live in such perilous spots. - - - - -CHAPTER XI. - -THE LOCAL SAINTS. - - -This exclusion of women from the Holy Isle was the doing of Savatie, -first of the Local Saints. - -Savatie, the original anchoret of Solovetsk, was one day praying near -a lake, when he heard a cry, as of a woman in pain. His comrade said -it must have been a dream: for no woman was living nearer to their -"desert" than the Karel coast. The saint went forth again to pray; but -once again his devotions were disturbed by cries and sobs. Going round -by the banks of the lake to see, he found a young woman lying on the -ground, with her flesh all bruised, her back all bleeding from recent -blows. She was a fisherman's wife. On being asked who had done her -this harm, she said that two young men, with bright faces and dressed -in white raiment, came to her hut while her husband was away, and -telling her she must go after him, as the land belonged to God, and no -woman must sleep on it a single night, they threw her on the ground, -struck her with rods, and made her cry with pain. - -When she could walk, the poor creature got into her boat, and St. -Savatie saw her no more. The fisherman came to fish, but his wife -remained at home; and in this way woman was driven by angels from the -Holy Isle. No monk, no layman, ever doubts this story. How can he? -Here, to this day, stands the log house in which Savatie dwelt, and -twenty paces from it lies the mossy bank on which he knelt. Across the -water there, beside yon clump of pines, rose the fisherman's shed. The -sharp ascent on which the church and lighthouse glisten, is still -called Striking Hill. - -This St. Savatie was a monk from Novgorod living at the old convent of -Belozersk, in which he served the office of tonsurer--shaver of heads; -but longing for a life of greater solitude than his convent gave him, -he persuaded one of his brethren, named Valaam, to go up with him into -the deserts near the Polar Sea. Boyars from his country-side were then -going up into the north; and why should holy men not bear as much for -Christ as boyars and traders bore for pelf? On praying all night in -their chapels, these boyars and traders ran to their archbishop with -the cry: "Oh, give us leave, Vladika, to go forth, man and horse, and -win new lands for St. Sophia." Settling in Kem, in Suma, in Soroka, -and at other points, these men were adding a region larger than the -mother-country to the territories ruled by Novgorod the Great. The -story of these boyars stirred up Savatie to follow in their wake, and -labor in the desolate land which they were opening up. - -Toiling through the virgin woods and sandy plains, Savatie and his -companion Valaam arrived on the Vieg (in 1429), and found a pious -monk, named German, who had also come from the south country. Looking -towards the east, these monks perceived, in the watery waste, a group -of isles; and trimming a light skiff, Savatie and German crossed the -sea. Landing on the largest isle, they made a "desert" on the shore of -a lakelet, lying at the foot of a hill on which birch and pine trees -grew to the top. Their lake was sheltered, the knoll was high; and -from the summit they could see the sprinkle of isles and their -embracing waves, as far as Orloff Cape to the south, the downs of Kem -on the west. - -Savatie brought with him a picture of the Virgin, not then known to -possess miraculous virtues, which he hung up in a chapel built of -logs. Near to this chapel he made for himself and his companion a hut -of reeds and sticks, in which they lived in peace and prayer until the -rigor of the climate wore them out. After six years spent in solitude, -German sailed back to the Vieg; and Savatie, finding himself alone on -the rock, in that desert from which he had banished woman and love, -became afraid of dying without a priest being at hand to shrive and -put him beneath the grass. Getting into his skiff, he also crossed to -Soroka, where he obtained from Father Nathaniel, a prior who chanced -to visit that town, the bread and cup; and then, his work on earth -being done, he passed away to his eternal rest. - -Laying him in the sands at Soroka, Nathaniel raised a chapel of pine -logs, dedicated to the Holy Trinity, above his grave; and there -Savatie would have lain forever, his name unknown, his saintly rank -unrecognized on earth, had he not fallen in the path of a man of -stronger and more enduring spirit. - -One of the bold adventurers from Novgorod, named Gabriel, settling -with his wife Barbara in the new village of Tolvui, on the banks of -Lake Onega, had a son, whom he called Zosima, and devoted to God. -Zosima, a monk while he was yet a child, took his vows in the -monastery of Palaostrofsk, near his father's home; and on reaching the -age when he could act for himself, he divided his inheritance among -his kin, and taking up his pilgrim's staff departed for the north. At -Suma he fell in with German, who told him of the life he had lived six -years in his desert on the lonely rock. Zosima, taken by this tale, -persuaded German to show him the spot where he and Savatie had dwelt -so long. They crossed the sea. A lucky breeze bore them past Zaet, -into a small and quiet bay; and when they leaped on shore--then strewn -with boulders, and green with forest trees--they found themselves not -only on the salt sea, but close to a deep and lustrous lake, the -waters of which were sweet to the taste, and swarming with fish, the -necessary food of monks. - -Kneeling on the sand in prayer, Zosima was nerved by a miraculous -vision to found a religious colony in that lonely island, even as -Marfa's people were founding secular colonies at Suma, Soroka, and -Kem. He saw, as in a dream, a bright and comely monastic pile, with -swelling domes and lofty turrets, standing on the brink of that lovely -sheet of water--henceforth to be known as the Holy Lake. Starting from -his knees, he told his companion, German, of the vision he had seen; -described the walls, the Sacred Gates, the clusters of spires and -domes; in a word, the convent in the splendor of its present form. -They cut down a pine, and framed it into a cross, which they planted -in the ground; in token that this island in the frozen deep belonged -to God and to His saints. This act of consecrating the isle took place -(in 1436) a year after St. Savatie died. - -The monks erected cabins near this cross; in which cabins they dwelt, -about a mile apart, so as not to crowd upon each other in their desert -home. The sites are marked by chapels erected to perpetuate their -fame. - -The tale of these young hermits living in their desert on the Frozen -Sea being noised abroad in cloisters, monks from all sides of the -north country came to join them; bringing strong thews and eager souls -to aid in their task of raising up in that wild region, and among -those savage tribes, a temple of the living God. In time a church grew -round and above the original cross; and as none of the hermits were in -holy orders, they sent a messenger to Yon, then archbishop of -Novgorod, asking him for a blessing on their work, and praying him to -send them a prior who could celebrate mass. Yon gave them his -benediction and his servant Pavel. Pavel travelled into the north, and -consecrated their humble church; but the climate was too hard for him -to bear. A second prior came out in Feodosie; a third prior in Yon; -both of whom staid some time in the Frozen Sea, and only went back to -Novgorod when they were broken in health and advanced in years. - -When Yon, the third prior, left them, the fathers held a meeting to -consider their future course. Sixteen years had now passed by since -Zosima and German crossed the sea from Suma; ten or twelve years since -Pavel consecrated their humble church. In less than a dozen years -three priors had come and gone; and every one saw that monks who had -grown old in the Volkhoff district could not live in the Frozen Sea. -The brethren asked their archbishop to give them a prior from their -own more hardy ranks; and all these brethren joined in the prayer that -Zosima, leader of the colony from first to last, would take this -office of prior upon himself. His poor opinion of himself gave place -to a sense of the public good. - -Marching on foot to Novgorod, a journey of more than a thousand miles, -through a country without a road, Zosima went up to the great city, -where he was received by the Vladika, and was ordained a priest. From -the mayor and chief boyars he obtained a more definite cession of the -isles than Prior Yon had been able to secure; and thus he came back to -his convent as pope and prior, with the fame of a holy man, to whom -nothing might be denied. Getting leave to remove the bones of Savatie -from Soroka to Solovetsk, he took up his body from the earth, and -finding it pure and fresh, he laid the incorruptible relics in the -crypt of his infant church. - -More and more monks arrived in the lonely isles; and pilgrims from far -and near began to cross the sea; for the tomb of Savatie was said to -work miraculous cures. But as the monastery grew in fame and wealth, -the troubles of the world came down upon the prior and his monks. The -men of Kem began to see that this bank in the Frozen Sea was a -valuable prize; and the lords of Anzersk and Moksalma quarrelled with -the monks; disputing their right over the foreshores, and pressing -them with claims about the waifs and strays. At length, in his green -old age, Zosima girded up his loins, and taking his pastoral staff in -hand, set out for Novgorod, in the hope of seeing Marfa in person, and -of settling, once and forever, the question of his claim to these -rocks by asking for the lordship of Kem itself to be vested in the -prior of Solovetsk! - -On a column of the great cathedral of St. Sophia, in the Kremlin of -Novgorod, a series of frescoes tells the story of this visit of St. -Zosima to the parent state. One picture takes the eye with a singular -and abiding force--a banquet in a noble hall, in which the table is -surrounded by headless guests. - -Passing through the city from house to house, Zosima was received in -nearly all with honor, as became his years and fame; but not in all. -The boyars of Kem had friends in the city; and the Marfa's ear had -been filled with tales against his monkish guile and monkish greed. -From her door he was driven with scorn; and her house was that in -which he was most desirous of being received in peace. Knowing that he -could do nothing without her aid, Zosima set himself, by patient -waiting on events, to overcome her fury against the cause which he was -there to plead. At length, her feeling being subdued, she granted him -a new charter (dated 1470, and still preserved at Solovetsk), -confirming his right over all the lands, lakes, forests and -fore-shores of the Holy Isles, together with the lordship of Kem, made -over, then and for all coming time, to the service of God. - -Before Zosima left the great city, Marfa invited him to her table, -where he was to take his leave, not only of herself, but of the chief -boyars. As the prior sat at meat, the company noticed that his face -was sad, that his eyes were fixed on space, that his soul seemed moved -by some unseen cause. "What is the matter?" cried the guests. He would -not speak; and when they pressed around him closely, they perceived -that burning drops were rolling down his cheeks. More eagerly than -ever, they demanded to know what he saw in his fixed and terrible -stare. "I see," said the monk, "six boyars at a feast, all seated at a -table without their heads!" - -That dinner-party is the subject painted on the column in St. Sophia; -and the legend says that every man who sat with him that day at -Marfa's table had his head sliced off by Ivan the Third, when the -proud and ancient republic fell before the destroyer of the Golden -Horde. - -Strengthened by his new titles, Zosima came back to Solovetsk a -prince; and the pile which he governed took the style, which it has -ever since borne, of - - The Convent that Endureth Forever. - -Zosima ruled his convent as prior for twenty-six years; and after a -hermitage of forty-two years on his lowly rock he passed away into his -rest. - -On his dying couch he told his disciples that he was about to quit -them in the flesh, but only in the flesh. He promised to be with them -in the spirit; watching in the same cells, and kneeling at the same -graves. He bade them thank God daily for the promise that their -convent should endure forever; safe as a rock, and sacred as a -shrine--even though it stood in the centre of a raging sea--in the -reach of pitiless foes. And then he passed away--the second of these -local saints--leaving, as his legacy to mankind, the temporal and -spiritual germs of this great sanctuary in the Frozen Sea. - -About that time the third monk also died--German, the companion of -Savatie, in his cabin near Striking Hill; afterwards of Zosima, in his -hut by the Holy Lake. He died at Novgorod, to which city he had again -returned from the north. His bones were begged from the monks in whose -grounds they lay, and being carried to Solovetsk, were laid in a -shrine near the graves of his ancient and more famous friends. - -Such was the origin of the convent over which the Archimandrite Feofan -now rules and reigns. - - - - -CHAPTER XII. - -A MONASTIC HOUSEHOLD. - - -My letter from his Sanctity of Archangel having been sent in to -Feofan, Archimandrite of Solovetsk, an invitation to the palace -arrives in due form by the mouth of Father Hilarion; who may be -described to the lay world as the Archimandrite's minister for secular -affairs. Father Hilarion is attended by Father John, who seems to have -taken upon himself the office of my companion-in-chief. Attiring -myself in befitting robes, we pass through the Sacred Gates, and after -pausing for a moment to glance at the models of Peter's yacht and -frigate, there laid up, and to notice some ancient frescoes which line -the passage, we mount a flight of steps, and find ourselves standing -at the Archimandrite's door. - -The chief of this monastery is a great man; one of the greatest men in -the Russian Church; higher, as some folks say, than many a man who -calls himself bishop, and even metropolite. Since the days of Peter -the Great, the monastery of Solovetsk has been an independent -spiritual power; owning no master in the Church, and answering to no -authority save that of the Holy Governing Synod. - -Like an archbishop, the Archimandrite of Solovetsk has the right to -bless his congregation by waving three tapers in his right hand over -two tapers in his left. He lives in a palace; he receives four -thousand rubles a year in money; and the cost of his house, his table, -his vestments, and his boats, comes out of the monastic fund. He has a -garden, a vineyard, and a country-house; and his choice of a cell in -the sunniest nooks of these sacred isles. His personal rank is that of -a prince, with a dignity which no secular rank can give; since he -reigns alike over the bodies and the souls of men. - -Dressed in his cowl and frock, on which hangs a splendid sapphire -cross, Feofan, a small, slight man--with the ascetic face, the -womanlike curls, and vanishing figure, which you note in nearly all -these celibate priests--advances to meet us near the door, and after -blessing Father John, and shaking me by the hand, he leads us to an -inner room, hung with choice prints, and warmed by carpets and rugs, -where he places me on the sofa by his side, while the two fathers -stand apart, in respectful attitude, as though they were in church. - -"You are not English?" he inquires, in a tender tone, just marked by a -touch--a very light touch--of humor. - -"Yes, English, certainly." - -A turn of his eye, made slowly, and by design, directs my attention to -his finger, which reclines on an object hardly to have been expected -on an Archimandrite's table; an iron shell! The Tower-mark proves that -it must have been fired from an English gun. A faint smile flits -across the Archimandrite's face. There it stands; an English shell, -unburst; the stopper drawn; and two plugs near it on a tray. That -missile, it is clear, must have fallen into some soft bed of sand or -peat. - -"You are the first pilgrim who ever came from your country to -Solovetsk," says Feofan, smiling. "One man came before you in a -steamship; he was an engineer--one Anderson; you know him, maybe? No! -He was a good man--he minded his engines well; but he could not live -on fish and quass--he asked for beef and beer; and when we told him we -had none to give him, he went away. No other English ever came." - -He passes on to talk of the Holy Sepulchre and the Russian convent -near the Jaffa Gate. - -"You are welcome to Solovetsk," he says at parting; "see what you wish -to see, go where you wish to go, and come to me when you like." -Nothing could be sweeter than his voice, nothing softer than his -smile, as he spake these words; and seeing the twinkle in his eye, as -we stand near the English shell, I also smile and add: "On the -mantel-piece of my writing-room in London there lies just such another -shell, a trifle thinner in the girth." - -"Yes?" he asks, a little curious--for a monk. - -"My shell has the Russian mark; it was fired from Sebastopol, and -picked up by a friend of my own in his trench before the Russian -lines." - -Feofan laughs, so far as an Archimandrite ever laughs--in the eyes and -about the mouth. From this hour his house and household are at my -disposal--his boat, his carriage, and his driver; every thing is done -to make my residence in the convent pleasant; and every night my host -is good enough to receive from his officers a full report of what I -have seen and what I have said during the day! - -Three hundred monks of all classes reside on the Holy Isle. The chief -is, of course, the Archimandrite; next to him come forty monks, who -are also popes; then come seventy or eighty monks who wear the hood -and have taken the final vows; after these orders come the postulants, -acolytes, singers, servants. Lodgers, scholars, and hired laymen fall -into a second class. - -These brethren are of all ages and conditions, from the pretty child -who serves at table to the decrepit father who can not leave his cell; -from the monk of noble birth and ample fortune to the brother who -landed on these islands as a tramp. They wear the same habit, eat at -the same board, listen to the same chants, and live the same life. -Each brother has his separate cell, in which he sleeps and works; but -every one, unless infirm with years and sickness, must appear in -chapel at the hour of prayer, in refectory at the hour of meals. Hood -and gown, made of the same serge, and cut in the same style, must be -worn by all, excepting only by the priest who reads the service for -the day. They suffer their beards and locks to grow, and spend much -time in combing and smoothing these abundant growths. A flowing beard -is the pride of monks and men; but while the beard is coming, a young -fellow combs and parts his hair with all the coquetry of a girl. When -looking at a bevy of boys in a church, their heads uncovered, their -locks, shed down the centre, hanging about their shoulders, you might -easily mistake them for singers of the sweeter sex. - -Not many of these fathers could be truly described as ordinary men. A -few are pure fanatics, who fear to lose their souls; still more are -men with a natural calling for religious life. A goodly list are -prisoners of the church, sent up from convents in the south and west. -These last are the salt and wine of Solovetsk; the men who keep it -sweet and make it strong. The offense for which they suffer is too -much zeal: a learned and critical spirit, a disposition to find fault, -a craving for reform, a wish to fall back on the purity of ancient -times. For such disorders of the mind an ordinary monk has no -compassion; and a journey to the desert of Solovetsk is thought to be -for such diseases the only cure. - -An Archimandrite, appointed to his office by the Holy Governing Synod, -must be a man of learning and ability, able to instruct his brethren -and to rule his house. He is expected to burn like a shining light, to -fast very often, to pray very much, to rise very early, and to live -like a saint. The brethren keep an eye upon their chief. If he is hard -with himself he may be hard with them; but woe to him if he is weak in -the flesh--if he wears fine linen about his throat, if savory dishes -steam upon his board, if the riumka--that tiny glass out of which -whisky is drunk--goes often to his lips. In every monk about his -chamber he finds a critic; in nearly every one he fears a spy. It is -not easy to satisfy them all. One father wishes for a sterner life, -another thinks the discipline too strict. By every post some letters -of complaint go out, and every member of the Holy Governing Synod may -be told in secret of the Archimandrite's sins. If he fails to win his -critics, the appeals against his rule increase in number and in -boldness, till at length inquiry is begun, bad feeling is provoked on -every side, and the offending chieftain is promoted--for the sake of -peace--to some other place. - -The Archimandrite of Solovetsk has the assistance of three great -officers, who may be called his manager, his treasurer, and his -custodian; officers who must be not only monks but popes. - -Father Hilarion is the manager, with the duty of conducting the more -worldly business of his convent. It is he who lodges the guests when -they arrive, who looks after the ships and docks, who employs the -laborers and conducts the farms, who sends out smacks to fish, who -deals with skippers, who buys and sells stores, who keeps the -workshops in order, and who regulates the coming and going of the -pilgrim's boat. It is he who keeps church and tomb in repair, who sees -that the fathers are warmly clad, who takes charge of the buildings -and furniture, who superintends the kitchen, who keeps an eye on -corridor and yard, who orders books and prints, who manages the -painting-room and the photographer's office, who inspects the cells, -and provides that every one has a bench, a press, a looking-glass, and -a comb. - -Father Michael is the treasurer, with the duty of receiving all gifts -and paying all accounts. The income of the monastery is derived from -two sources: from the sale of what is made in the monkish workshops, -and from the gifts of pilgrims and of those who send offerings by -pilgrims. No one can learn how much they receive from either source; -for the receiving-boxes are placed in corners, and the contributor is -encouraged to conceal from his left hand what his right hand drops in. -Forty thousand rubles a year has been mentioned to me as the sum -received in gifts; but five thousand pounds must be far below the -amount of money passing in a year under Father Michael's eye. It is -probably eight or ten. The charities of these monks are bounded only -by the power of the people to come near them; and in the harder class -of winters the peasants and fishermen push through the floes of ice -from beyond Orloff Cape and Kandalax Bay in search of a basket of -convent bread. These folks are always fed when they arrive, are always -supplied with loaves when they depart. The schools, too, cost no -little; for the monks receive all boys who come to them--sent as they -hold, by the Father whom they serve. - -Father Alexander is the custodian, with the duty of keeping the -monastic wardrobe, together with the ritual books, the charters and -papers, the jewels and the altar plate. His office is in the sacristy, -with the treasures of which he is perfectly familiar, from the letter, -in Cyrilian character and Slavonic phrase, by which Marfa of Novgorod -gave this islet to the monks, down to that pious reliquary in which -are kept some fragments of English shells; kept with as much -veneration as bones of saints and chips from the genuine cross! - - - - -CHAPTER XIII. - -A PILGRIM'S DAY. - - -A pilgrim's day begins in the early morning, and lengthens late into -the night. - -At two o'clock, when it has hardly yet grown dark in our cells, a monk -comes down the passage, tinkling his bell and droning out, "Rise and -come to prayer." Starting at his cry, we huddle on our clothes, and -rush from our hot rooms, heated by stoves, into the open air; men and -women, boys and girls, boatmen and woodmen, hurrying through the night -towards the Sacred Gates. - -At half-past two the first matins commence in the new church--the -Miracle Church--dedicated to the Victress, Mother of God; in which lie -the bones of St. Savatie and St. Zosima, in the corner, as the highest -place. A hundred lamps are lit, and the wall-screen of pictured saints -glows richly in our sleepy eyes. Men and women, soldiers and peasants, -turn into that sacred corner where the saints repose, cross themselves -seven times, bow their foreheads to the ground, and kiss the pavement -before the shrine. - -Falling into our places near the altar-screen; arranging ourselves in -files, rank behind rank, in open order, so that each can kneel and -kiss the ground without pushing against his neighbor; we stand erect, -uncovered, while the pope recites his office, and the monks respond -their chant. These matins are not over until four o'clock. - -A second service opens in the old cathedral at half-past three, and -lasts until half-past five; and when the first pope has given his -blessing, some of the more ardent pilgrims rush from the Virgin's -church to the cathedral, where they stand in prayer, and kneel to kiss -the stones for ninety minutes more; at the end of which time they -receive a second benediction from a second pope. - -An hour is now spent by the pilgrims in either praying at the tombs of -saints, or pacing a long gallery, so contrived as to connect the -several churches and other monastic buildings by a covered way. Along -the walls of this gallery rude and early Russian artists have painted -the joys of heaven, the pains of purgatory, and the pangs of hell. -These pictures seize the eyes of my fellow-pilgrims, though in quaint -and dramatic terror they sink below the level of such old work in the -Gothic cloisters of the Rhine. A Russian painter has no variety of -invention; a devil is to him a monkey with a spiked tail and a tongue -of flame; and hell itself is only a hot place in which sinners are -either fried by a fiend, or chawed up, flesh and bone, by a monstrous -bear. Yet, children sometimes swoon, and women go mad from fright, on -seeing these threats of a future state. My own poor time is given to -scanning a miraculous picture of Jerusalem, said to have been painted -on the staircase by a monk of Solovetsk, as a vision of the Holy City, -seen by him in a dream. After studying the details for a while, I -recognize in this vision of the holy man a plan of Olivet and Zion -copied from an old Greek print! - -All this time the pilgrims are bound to fast. - -At seven o'clock the bells announce early mass, and we repair to the -Miracle Church, where, after due crossings and prostration before the -tomb, we fall into rank as before, and listen for an hour and a half -to the sacred ritual, chanted with increasing fire. - -When this first mass is over, the time being nearly nine o'clock, the -weaker brethren may indulge themselves with a cup of tea; but the -better pilgrim denies himself this solace, as a temptation of the Evil -Spirit; and even his weaker brother has not much time to dally with -the fumes of his darling herb. The great bell in the convent yard, a -gift of the reigning Emperor, and one more witness to the year of -wonders, warns us that the highest service of the day is close at -hand. - -Precisely at nine o'clock the monks assemble in the cathedral to -celebrate high mass; and the congregation being already met, the -tapers are lit, the deacon begins to read, the clergy take up the -responses, and the officiating priest, arrayed in his shining cope and -cap, recites the old and mystical forms of Slavonic prayer and praise. -Two hours by the clock we stand in front of that golden shrine; stand -on the granite pavement--all uncovered, many unshod--listening with -ravished ears to what is certainly the noblest ceremonial music of the -Russian Church. - -High mass being sung and said, we ebb back slowly from the cathedral -into the long gallery, where we have a few minutes more of purgatorial -fire, and then a monk announces dinner, and the devoutest pilgrim in -the band accepts his signal with a thankful look. - -The dining-hall to which we adjourn with some irregular haste is a -vaulted chamber below the cathedral, and in any other country than -Russia would be called a crypt. But men must build according to their -clime. The same church would not serve for winter and summer, on -account of the cold and heat; and hence a sacred edifice is nearly -always divided into an upper and a lower church; the upper tier being -used in summer, the lower tier in winter. Our dining-hall at Solovetsk -is the winter church. - -Long tables run down the room, and curl round the circular shaft which -sustains the cathedral floor. On these tables the first course is -already laid; a tin plate for each guest, in which lies a wooden -spoon, a knife and fork; and by the side of this tin platter a pound -of rye bread. The pilgrims are expected to dine in messes of four, -like monks. A small tin dish is laid between each mess, containing one -salted sprat, divided into four bits by a knife, and four small slices -of raw onion. To each mess is given a copper tureen of sour quass, and -a dish of salt codfish, broken into small lumps, boiled down, and left -to cool. - -A bell rings briskly; up we start, cross ourselves seven times, bow -towards the floor, sit down again. The captain of each mess throws -pepper and salt into the dish, and stirs up our pottage with the ladle -out of which he drinks his quass. A second bell rings; we dip our -wooden ladles into the dish of cod. A reader climbs into the desk, and -drawls the story of some saint, while a youth carries round a basket -of white bread, already blessed by the priest and broken into bits. -Each pilgrim takes his piece and eats it, crossing himself, time after -time, until the morsel gets completely down his throat. - -A third bell rings. Hush of silence; sound of prayer. Serving-men -appear; our platters are swept away; a second course is served. The -boys who wait on us, with rosy cheeks, smooth chins, and hanging -locks, look very much like girls. This second course, consisting of a -tureen of cabbage-soup, takes no long time to eat. A new reader mounts -the desk, and gives us a little more life of saint. A fourth bell -jangles; much more crossing takes place; the serving-men rush in; our -tables are again swept clean. - -Another course is served; a soup of fresh herrings, caught in the -convent bay; the fish very good and sweet. Another reader; still more -life of saint; and then a fifth bell rings. - -A fourth and last course now comes in; a dainty of barley paste, -boiled rather soft, and eaten with sour milk. Another reader; still -more life of saint; and then sixth bell. The pilgrims rise; the reader -stops, not caring to finish his story; and our meal is done. - -Our meal, but not the ritual of that meal. Rising from our bench, we -fall once more into rank and file; the women, who have dined in a room -apart, crowd back into the crypt; and we join our voices in a sacred -song. Then we stand for a little while in silence, each with his head -bent down, as humbling ourselves before the screen, during which a -pope distributes to each pilgrim a second morsel of consecrated bread. -Brisk bell rings again; the monks raise a psalm of thanksgiving; a -pope pronounces the benediction; and then the diners go their way -refreshed with the bread and fish. - -It is now near twelve o'clock. The next church service will not be -held until a quarter to four in the afternoon. In the interval we have -the long cloister to walk in; the holy lake to see; the shrine of St. -Philip to inspect; the tombs of good monks to visit; the priestly -robes and monastic jewels to admire; with other distractions to devour -the time. We go off, each his own way; some into the country, which is -full of tombs and shrines of the lesser saints; others to lave their -limbs in the holy lake; not a few to the cells of monks who vend -crosses, amulets, and charms. A Russian is a believer in stones, in -rings, in rosaries, in rods; for he bears about him a hundred relics -of his ancient pagan creeds. His favorite amulet is a cross, which he -can buy in brass for a kopeck; one form for a man, a second form for a -woman; the masculine form being Nikon's cross, with a true Greek cross -in relief; the feminine form being a mixture of the two. Once tied -round the neck, this amulet is never to be taken off, on peril of -sickness and sudden death. To drop it is a fault, to lose it is a sin. -A second talisman is a bone ball, big as a pea, hollow, drilled and -fitted with a screw. A drop of mercury is coaxed into the hole, and -the screw being turned, the charm is perfect, and the ball is fastened -to the cross. This talisman protects the wearer from contagion in the -public baths. - -Some pilgrims go in boats to the farther isles; to Zaet, where two -aged monks reside, and a flock of sheep browses on the herbage; to -Moksalma, a yet more secular spot, where the cattle feed, and the -poultry cluck and crow, in spite of St. Savatie's rule. These islets -supply the convent with milk and eggs--in which holy men rejoice, as a -relief from fish--in nature's own old-fashioned ways. - -Not a few of the pilgrims, finding that a special pope has been -appointed to show things to their English guest, perceive that the way -to see sights is to follow that pope. They have to be told--in a -kindly voice--that they are not to follow him into the Archimandrite's -room. To-day they march in his train into the wardrobe of the convent, -where the copes, crowns, staffs and crosses employed in these church -services are kept; a rich and costly collection of robes, embroidered -with flowers and gold, and sparkling with rubies, diamonds and pearls. -Many of these robes are gifts of emperors and tsars. One of the -costliest is the gift of Ivan the Terrible; but even this splendid -garment pales before a gift of Alexander, the reigning prince, who -sent the Archimandrite--in remembrance of the Virgin's victory--a full -set of canonicals, from crown and staff to robe and shoe. - -Exactly at a quarter before four o'clock, a bell commands us to -return; for vespers are commencing in the Miracle Church. Again we -kneel at the tombs and kiss the stones, the hangings, and the iron -rails; after which we fall in as before, and listen while the vespers -are intoned by monks and boys. This service concludes at half-past -four. Adjourning to the long gallery, we have another look at the -fires of purgatory and the abodes of bliss. Five minutes before six we -file into the cathedral for second vespers, and remain there standing -and uncovered--some of us unshod--until half-past seven. - -At eight the supper-bell rings. Our company gathers at the welcome -sound; the monks form a procession; the pilgrims trail on; all moving -with a hungry solemnity to the crypt, where we find the long tables -groaning, as at dinner, with the pound of black bread, the salt sprat, -the onion parted into four small pieces with a knife, and the copper -tureen of quass. Our supper is the dinner served up afresh, with the -same prayers, the same bowing and crossing, the same bell-ringing, and -the same life of saint. The only difference is, that in the evening we -have no barley-paste and no stale milk. - -When every one is filled and the fragments are picked up, we rise to -our feet, recite a thanksgiving, and join the fathers in their evening -song. A pope pronounces a blessing, and then we are free to go into -our cells. - -A pilgrim who can read, and may happen to have good books about him, -is expected, on retiring to his cell, to read through a Psalm of -David, and to ponder a little on the Lives of Saints. The convent -gates are closed at nine o'clock; when it is thought well for the -pilgrim to be in bed. - -At two in the morning a monk will come into his lobby, tinkle the -bell, and call him to the duties of another day. - - - - -CHAPTER XIV. - -PRAYER AND LABOR. - - -But if the hours given up to prayer at Solovetsk are many, the hours -given up to toil are more. This convent is a hive of industry, not -less remarkable for what it does in the way of work than for what it -is in the way of art and prayer. - -"Pray and work" was the maxim of monastic houses, when monastic houses -had a mission in the West. "Pray and work," said Peter the Great to -his council. But such a maxim is not in harmony with the existing -system; not in harmony with the Byzantine Church; and what you find at -Solovetsk is traceable to an older and a better source. No monk in -this sanctuary leads an idle life. Not only the fathers who are not -yet popes, but many of those who hold the staff and give the -benediction, devote their talents to the production of things which -may be useful in the church, in the refectory, and in the cell. A few -make articles for sale in the outer world; such articles as bread, -clothes, rosaries and spoons. All round these ramparts, within the -walls, you find a row of workshops, in which there is a hum of labor -from early dawn until long after dark; forges, dairies, salting-rooms, -studies, ship-yards, bake-houses, weaving-sheds, rope-walks, -sewing-rooms, fruit-stores, breweries, boot-stalls, and the like, -through all the forms which industry takes in a civilized age. These -monks appear to be masters of every craft. They make nearly every -thing you can name, from beads to frigates; and they turn out every -thing they touch in admirable style. No whiter bread is baked, no -sweeter quass is brewed, than you can buy in Solovetsk. To go with -Father Hilarion on his round of inspection is to meet a dozen -surprises face to face. At first the whole exhibition is like a dream; -and you can hardly fancy that such things are being done by a body of -monks, in a lonely islet, locked up from the world for eight months in -the twelve by storms of sleet and deserts of ice. - -These monks make seal-skin caps and belts; they paint in oil and carve -in wood; they cure and tan leather; they knit woollen hose; they cast -shafts of iron; they wind and spin thread; they polish stones; they -cut out shoes and felts; they mould pewter plates; they dry fruit; -they fell and trim forest trees; they clip paper flowers; they build -carts and sledges; they embroider capes and bands; they bake bricks; -they weave baskets and panniers of silver bark; they quarry and hew -blocks of stone; they paint soup-ladles; they design altar-pieces, -chapels, and convents; they refine bees'-wax; they twist cord and -rope; they forge anchors and marling-spikes; they knit and sew, and -ply their needles in every branch of useful and decorative art. In all -these departments of industry, the thing which they turn out is an -example of honest work. - -Many of the fathers find a field for their talents on the farm: in -breeding cattle, in growing potatoes, in cutting grass, in shearing -sheep, in rearing poultry, in churning butter, and making cheese. A -few prefer the more poetic labor of the garden: pruning grapes, -bedding strawberries, hiving bees, and preserving fruit. The honey -made at Mount Alexander is pure and good, the wax is also white and -fine. - -The convent bakehouse is a thing to see. Boats run over from every -village on the coast to buy convent bread; often to beg it; and every -pilgrim who comes to pray takes with him one loaf as a parting gift. -This convent bread is of two sorts--black and white--leavened and -unleavened--domestic and consecrated. The first is cheap, and eaten at -every meal; the second is dear, and eaten as an act of grace. Both -kinds are good. A consecrated loaf is small, weighing six or eight -ounces, and is stamped with a sacred sign and blessed by a pope. The -stamp is a cross, with a legend running round the border in old -Slavonic type. These small white loaves of unleavened bread are highly -prized by pious people; and a man who visits such a monastery as -either Solovetsk, St. George, or Troitsa, can not bring back to his -servants a gift more precious in their eyes than a small white loaf. - -The brewery is no less perfect in its line than the bakehouse. Quass -is the Russian ale and beer in one; the national drink; consumed by -all classes, mixed with nearly every dish. Solovetsk has a name and -fame for this Russian brew. - -Connected with these good things of the table are the workshops for -carving platters and painting spoons. The arts of life are simple in -these northern wilds; forks are seldom seen; and knives are not much -used. The instrument by which a man mostly helps himself to his dinner -is a spoon. Nearly all his food is boiled; his cabbage-soup, his -barley mess, his hash of salt-cod, his dish of sour milk. A deep -platter lies in the centre of his table, and his homely guests sit -round it, armed with their capacious spoons. Platter and spoon are -carved of wood, and sometimes they are painted, with skill and taste; -though the better sorts are kept by pilgrims rather as keepsakes than -for actual use. - -A branch of industry allied to carving spoons and platters is that of -twisting baskets and panniers into shape. Crockery in the forest is -rude and dear, and in a long land-journey the weight of three or four -pots and cups would be a serious strain. From bark of trees they weave -a set of baskets for personal and domestic use, which are lighter than -cork and handier than tin. You close them by a lid, and carry them by -a loop. They are perfectly dry and sweet; with just a flavor, but no -more, of the delicious resin of the tree. They hold milk. You buy them -of all sizes, from that of a pepper-box to that of a water-jar; -obtaining a dozen for a few kopecks. - -The panniers are bigger and less delicate, made for rough passage over -stony roads and through bogs of mire. These panniers are fitted with -compartments, like a vintner's crate, in which you can stow away -bottles of wine and insinuate knives and forks. In the open part of -your pannier it is well (if you are packing for a long drive) to have -an assortment of bark baskets, in which to carry such trifles as -mustard, cream, and salt. - -Among the odds and ends of workshops into which you drop, is that of -the weaving-shed, in one of the turrets on the convent wall; a turret -which is noticeable not only for the good work done in the looms, but -for the part which it had to play in the defense of Solovetsk against -the English fleet. The shot which is said to have driven off the -"Brisk" was fired from this Weaver's Tower. - -Peering above a sunny corner of the rampart stands the photographic -chamber, and near to this chamber, in a new range of buildings, are -the cells in which the painters and enamellers toil. The sun makes -pictures of any thing in his range; boats, islets, pilgrims, monks; -but the artists toiling in these cells are all employed in devotional -art. Some are only copiers; and the most expert are artists only in a -conventional sense. This country is not yet rich in art, except in -that hard Byzantine style which Nikon the Patriarch allowed in private -houses, and enforced in convent, shrine, and church. - -But these fathers pride themselves, not without cause, on being -greater in their works by sea than even in their works by land. Many -of them live on board, and take to the water as to their mother's -milk. They are rich in boats, in rigging, and in nets. They wind -excellent rope and cord. They know how to light and buoy dangerous -points and armlets. They keep their own lighthouses. They build -lorchas and sloops; and they have found by trial that a steamship can -be turned off the stocks at Solovetsk, of which every part, from the -smallest brass nail to the mainmast (with the sole exception of her -engines), is the produce of their toil. - -That vessel is called the "Hope." Her crew is mainly a crew of monks; -and her captain is not only a monk--like Father John--but an actual -pope. My first sight of this priestly skipper is in front of the royal -gates where he is celebrating mass. - -This reverend father takes me after service to see his vessel and the -dock in which she lies. Home-built and rigged, the "Hope" has charms -in my eyes possessed by very few ships. A steamer made by monks in the -Frozen Sea, is, in her way, as high a feat of mind as the spire of -Notre Dame in Antwerp, as the cathedral front at Wells. The thought of -building that steamer was conceived in a monkish brain; the lines were -fashioned by a monkish pen; monks felled the trees, and forged the -bolts, and wove the canvas, and curled the ropes. Monks put her -together; monks painted her cabin; monks stuffed her seats and -pillows. Monks launched her on the sea, and, since they have launched -her, they have sailed in her from port to port. - -"How did you learn your trade of skipper?" - -The father smiles. He is a young fellow--younger than Father John; a -fellow of thirty or thirty-two, with swarthy cheek, black eye, and -tawny mane; a man to play the pirate in some drama of virtuous love. -"I was a seaman in my youth," he says, "and when we wanted a skipper -in the convent, I went over to Kem, where we have a school of -navigation, and got the certificate of a master; that entitled me to -command my ship." - -"The council of that school are not very strict?" - -"No; not with monks. We have our own ways; we labor in the Lord; and -He protects us in what we do for Him." - -"Through human means?" - -"No; by His own right hand, put forth under all men's eyes. You see, -the first time that we left the convent for Archangel, we were weak in -hands and strange to our work. A storm came on; the 'Hope' was driven -on shore. Another crew would have taken to their boats and lost their -ship, if not their lives. We prayed to the Most Pure Mother of God: at -first she would not hear us on account of our sins; but we would not -be denied, and sang our psalms until the wind went down." - -"You were still ashore?" - -"Yes; grooved in a bed of sand; but when the wind veered round, the -ship began to heave and stir. We tackled her with ropes and got her -afloat once more. Slava Bogu! It was her act!" - -The dock of which Father John spoke with pride turns out to be not a -dock only, but a dry dock! Now, a dock, even where it is a common -dock, is one of those signs by which one may gauge--as by the strength -of a city wall, the splendor of a court of justice and the beauty of a -public garden--the height to which a people have attained. In Russia -docks are extremely rare. Not a dozen ports in the empire can boast a -dock. Archangel has no dock; Astrachan has no dock; Rostoff has no -dock. It is only in such cities as Riga and Odessa, built and occupied -by foreigners, that you find such things. The dry dock at Solovetsk is -the only sample of its kind in the whole of Russia Proper! Cronstadt -has a dry dock; but Cronstadt is in the Finnish waters--a German port, -with a German name. The only work of this kind existing on Russian -ground is the product of monkish enterprise and skill. - -Priests take their share in all these labors. When a monk enters into -orders he is free to devote himself, if he chooses, to the Church -service only, since the Holy Governing Synod recognizes the right of a -pope to a maintenance in his office; but in the Convent of Solovetsk, -a priest rarely confines his activity to his sacred duties. Work is -the sign of a religious life. If any man shows a talent for either art -or business, he is excited by the praise of his fellows and superiors -to pursue the call of his genius, devoting the produce of his labor to -the glory of God. One pope is a farmer, a second a painter, a third a -fisherman; this man is a collector of simples, that a copier of -manuscripts, and this, again, a binder of books. - -Of these vocations that of the schoolmaster is not the least coveted. -All children who come to Solovetsk are kept for a year, if not for a -longer time. The lodging is homely and the teaching rough; for the -schools are adapted to the state of the country; and the food and -sleeping-rooms are raised only a little above the comforts of a -peasant's home. No one is sent away untaught; but only a few are kept -beyond a year. If a man likes to remain and work in the convent he can -hire himself out as a laborer, either in the fishing-boats or on the -farms. He dines in summer, like the monks, on bread, fish and quass; -in winter he is provided with salt mutton, cured on the farm--a luxury -his masters may not touch. Many of these boys remain for life, living -in a celibate state, like the monks; but sure of a dinner and a bed, -safe from the conscription, and free from family cares. Some of them -take vows. If they go back into the world they are likely to find -places on account of their past; in any case they can shift for -themselves, since a lad who has lived a few years in this convent is -pretty sure to be able to fish and farm, to cook his own dinner, and -to mend his own boots. - - - - -CHAPTER XV. - -BLACK CLERGY. - - -All men of the higher classes in Russia talk of their Black Clergy as -a body of worthless fellows; idle, ignorant, profligate; set apart by -their vows as unsocial; to whom no terms should be offered, with whom -no capitulations need be kept. "Away with them, root and branch!" is a -general cry, delivered by young and liberal Russians in the undertone -of a fixed resolve. - -The men who raise this cry are not simply scoffers and scorners, -making war on religious ideas and ecclesiastical institutions. Only -too often they are men who love their church, who support their parish -priests, and who wish to plant their country in the foremost line of -Christian states. Russia, they say, possesses ten thousand monks; and -these ten thousand monks they would hand over to a drill sergeant and -convert into regiments of the line. - -This rancor of the educated classes towards the monks--a rancor roused -and fed by their undying hatred of reforms in Church and State--compels -one to mark the extent and study the sources of monastic power. This -study will take us far and wide: though it will also bring us in the -end to Solovetsk once more. - -"A desert dotted with cloisters," would be no untrue description of -the country spreading southward from the Polar Sea to the Tartar -Steppe. In New Russia, in the khanates of Kazan and Crimea, in the -steppes of the Lower Volga, and in the wastes of Siberia, it would not -be true. But Great Russia is a paradise of monks. In the vast regions -stretching from Kem to Belgorod--an eagle's flight from north to south -of a thousand miles--from Pskoff on Lake Peipus, to Vasil on the -Middle Volga--a similar flight from west to east of seven hundred -miles--the land is everywhere bright with cloisters, musical with -monastic bells. - -Nothing on this earth's surface can be drearier than a Russian forest, -unless it be a Russian plain. The forest is a growth of stunted birch -and pine; the trees of one height and girth; the fringe of black -shoots unvaried save by some break of bog, some length of colorless -lake. The plain is a stretch of moor, without a swell, without a tree, -without a town, for perhaps a hundred leagues; on which the grass, if -grass such herbage can be called, is brown; while the village, if such -a scatter of cabins can be called by a name so tender and picturesque, -is nothing but log and mud. A traveller's eye would weary, and his -heart would sicken, at the long succession of such lines, were it not -that here and there, in the opening of some forest glade, on the ridge -of some formless plain, the radiant cross and sparkling towers of a -convent spring towards heaven; a convent with its fringe of verdure, -its white front, its clustering domes and chains. The woods round -Kargopol, the marshes near Lake Ilmen, and the plains of Moscow, are -alive with light and color; while the smaller convents on river bank -and in misty wood, being railed and painted, look like works of art. -One of my sweetest recollections in a long, dull journey, is that of -our descent into the valley of Siya, when we sighted the great -monastery, lying in a watery dell amidst groves of trees, with the -rays of a setting sun on her golden cross and her shining domes--a -happy valley and a consecrated home; not to speak of such trifles as -the clean cell and the wholesome bread which a pilgrim finds within -her walls! - -The old cities of Great Russia--Novgorod, Moscow, Pskoff, -Vladimir--are much richer in monastic institutions than their rivals -of a later time. For leagues above and leagues below the ancient -capital of Russia, the river Volkhoff, on the banks of which it -stands, is bright with these old mansions of the Church. Novgorod -enriched her suburbs with the splendid Convents of St. George, St. -Cyril, and of St. Anton of Rome. Moscow lies swathed in a belt and -mantle of monastic houses--Simonoff, Donskoi, Danieloff, Alexiefski, -Ivanofski, and many more; the belfries and domes of which lighten the -wonderful panorama seen from the Sparrow Hills. Pskoff has her -glorious Convent of the Catacombs, all but rivalling that of Kief. - -Within the walls, these cloisters are no less splendid than the -promise from without. Their altars and chapels are always fine, the -refectories neat and roomy, the sacristies rich in crosses and -priestly robes. Many fine pictures--fine of their school--adorn the -screens and the royal gates. Nearly all possess portraits of the -Mother and Child encased in gold, and some have lamps and croziers -worth their weight in sterling coin. The greater part of what is -visible of Russian wealth appears to hang around these shrines. - -These old monastic houses sprang out of the social life around them. -They were centres of learning, industry, and art. A convent was a -school, and in these schools a special excellence was sought and won. -This stamp has never been effaced; and many of the convents still -aspire to excellence in some special craft. The Convent of St. Sergie, -near Strelna, is famed for music; the New Monastery, near Kherson, for -melons; the Troitsa, near Moscow, for carving; the Catacombs, near -Kief, for service-books. - -In the belfry of the old Cathedral of St. Sophia at Novgorod you are -shown a chamber which was formerly used as a treasure-room by the -citizens--in fact, as their place of safety and their tower of -strength. You enter it through a series of dark and difficult -passages, barred by no less than twelve iron doors; each door to be -unfastened by bolt and bar, secured in the catches under separate lock -and key. In this strong place the burghers kept, in times of peril, -their silver plate, their costly icons, and their ropes of pearl. A -robber would not--and a boyar dared not--force the sanctuary of God. -Each convent was, in this respect, a smaller St. Sophia; and every man -who laid up gold and jewels in such a bank could sleep in peace. - -"You must understand," said the antiquary of Novgorod, as we paddled -in our boat down the Volkhoff, "that in ancient times a convent was a -home--a family house. A man who made money by trade was minded in his -old age to retire from the city and end his days in peace. In England -such a man would buy him a country-house in the neighborhood of his -native town, in which he would live with his wife and children until -he died. In a country like Old Russia, with brigands always at his -gates, the man who saved money had to put his wealth under the -protection of his church. Selecting a pleasant site, he would build -his house in the name of his patron saint, adorn it with an altar, -furnish it with a kitchen, dormitory, and cellar, and taking with him -his wife, his children, and his pope, would set up his tent in that -secure and comfortable place for the remainder of his days on earth." - -"Could such a man have his wife and children near him?" - -"Near him! With him; not only in his chapel but in his cell. The -convent was his home--his country-house; and at his death descended to -his son, who had probably become a monk. In some such fashion, many of -the prettiest of these smaller convents on the Volkhoff came to be." - -Half the convents in Great Russia were established as country-houses; -the other half as deserts--like Solovetsk; and many a poor fellow -toiled like Zosima who has not been blessed with Zosima's fame. - -But such a thing is possible, even now; for Russia has not yet passed -beyond the legendary and heroic periods of her growth. The latest case -is that of the new desert founded at Gethsemane, on the plateau of the -Troitsa, near Moscow; one of the most singular notes of the present -time. - -In the year 1803 was born in a log cabin, in a small village called -Prechistoe (Very Clean), near the city of Vladimir, a male serf, so -obscure that his family name has perished. For many years he lived on -his lord's estate, like any other serf, marrying in his own class -(twice), and rearing three strapping sons. At thirty-seven he was -freed by his owner; when he moved from his village to Troitsa, took -the name of Philip, put on cowl and gown, and dug for himself a vault -in the earth. In this catacomb he spent five years of his life, until -he found a more congenial home among the convent graves, where he -lived for twenty years. Too fond of freedom to take monastic vows, he -never placed himself under convent rule. Yet seeing, in spite of the -proverb, that the hood makes the monk in Russia, if not elsewhere, he -robed his limbs in coarse serge, girdled his waist with a heavy chain, -and walked to the palace of Philaret, Metropolite of Moscow, begged -that dignitary's blessing, and craved permission to adopt his name. -Philaret took a fancy to the mendicant; and from that time forth -the whilom serf from Very Clean was known in every street as -Philaret-oushka--Philaret the Less. - -Those grave-yards of the Troitsa lay in a pretty and silent spot on -the edge of a lake, inclosed in dark green woods. Among those mounds -the mendicant made his desert. Buying a few images and crosses in -Troitsa and Gethsemane at two kopecks apiece, he carried them into the -streets and houses of Moscow, where he gave them to people, with his -blessing; taking, in exchange, such gifts as his penitents pleased; a -ruble, ten rubles, a hundred rubles each. He very soon had money in -the bank. His images brought more rubles than his crosses; for his -followers found that his images gave them luck, while his crosses sent -them trouble. Hence a woman to whom he gave a cross went home with a -heavy heart. Unlike the practice in western countries, no peasant -woman adorns herself with this memorial of her faith; nor is the cross -a familiar ornament even in mansions of the rich. A priest wears a -cross; a spire is crowned by a cross; but this symbol of our salvation -is rarely seen among the painted and plated icons in a private house. -To "bear the cross" is to suffer pain, and no one wishes to suffer -pain. One cross a man is bound to bear--that hung about his neck at -the baptismal font; but few men care to carry a second weight. - -An oddity in dress and speech, Philaret-oushka wore no shoes and -socks, and his greeting in the market was, "I wish you a merry angel's -day," instead of "I wish you well." In his desert, and in his rambles, -he was attended by as strange an oddity as himself; one Ivanoushka, -John the Less. This man was never known to speak; he only sang. He -sang in his cell; he sang on the road; he sang by the Holy Gate. The -tone in which he sang reflected his master's mood; and the voice of -John the Less told many a poor creature whether Philaret the Less -would give her that day an image or a cross. - -This mendicant had much success in merchants' shops. The more delicate -ladies shrank from him with loathing, not because he begged their -money, but because he defiled their rooms. Though born in Very Clean, -this serf was dirtier than a monk; but his followers saw in his rusty -chains, his grimy skin, his unkempt hair, so many signs of grace. The -women of the trading classes courted him. A lady told me, that on -calling to see a female friend, the wife of a merchant of the first -guild, she found her kneeling on the floor, and washing this beggar's -feet. Her act was not a form; for the mendicant wore no shoes, and the -streets of Moscow are foul with mire and hard with flints. One old -maid, Miss Seribrikof, used to boast, as the glory of her life, that -she had once been allowed to wash the good man's sores. Young brides -would beg him to attend their nuptial feasts; at which he would -"prophesy" as they call it; hinting darkly at their future of weal or -woe. Sometimes he made a lucky hit. One day, at the wedding-feast of -Gospodin Sorokine, one of the richest men in Moscow, he turned to the -bride and said, "When your feastings are over, you will have to smear -your husband with honey." No one knew what he meant, until three days -later, when Sorokine died; on which event every one remembered that -honey is tasted at all Russian funerals; and the words of Philaret the -Less were likened to that Vision of Zosima, which has since been -painted on the pillar in Novgorod the Great. - -Madame Loguinof, one of his rich disciples, gave this mendicant money -enough to build a church and convent, and when these edifices were -raised in the grave-yard of Troitsa his "desert" was complete. - -At the age of sixty-five, this idol of the people passed away. When -his high patron died, Philaret the Less was not so happy in his desert -as of yore; for Innocent, the new Metropolite, was a real missionary -of his faith, and not a man to look with favor on monks in masquerade. -Deserting his desert, the holy man went his way from Troitsa into the -province of Tula, where, in the village of Tcheglovo, he built a -second convent, in which he died about a year ago. The two convents -built by his rusty chains and dirty feet are now occupied by bodies of -regular monks. - -In these morbid growths of the religious sentiment, the Black Clergy -seek support against the scorn and malice of a reforming world. - -These monks have great advantages on their side. If liberal thought -and science are against them, usage and repute are in their favor. All -the high places are in their gift; all the chief forces are in their -hands. The women are with them; and the ignorant rustics are mostly -with them. Monks have always attracted the sex from which they fly; -and every city in the empire has some story of a favorite father -followed, like Philaret the Less, by a female crowd. Vicar Nathaniel -was not worshipped in the Nevski Prospect with a softer flattery than -is Bishop Leonidas in the Kremlin gardens. Comedy but rarely touches -these holy men; yet one may see in Moscow albums an amusing sketch of -this gifted and fascinating man being lifted into higher place upon -ladies' skirts. - -The monks have not only got possession of the spiritual power; but -they hold in their hands nearly all the sources of that spiritual -power. They have the convents, catacombs, and shrines. They guard the -bones of saints, and are themselves the stuff of which saints are -made. In the golden book of the Russian Church there is not one -instance of a canonized parish priest. - -These celibate fathers affect to keep the two great keys of influence -in a land like Russia--the gift of sacrifice, and the gift of miracles. - - - - -CHAPTER XVI. - -SACRIFICE. - - -Sacrifice is a cardinal virtue of the Church. To the Russian mind it -is the highest form of good; the surest sign of a perfect faith. -Sacrifice is the evidence of a soul given up to God. - -A child can only be received into the church through sacrifice; and -one of the forms in which a man gives himself up to heaven is that of -becoming insane "for the sake of Christ." - -Last year (1868), a poor creature called Ivan Jacovlevitch died in the -Lunatic Asylum in Moscow, after winning for himself a curious kind of -fame. One-half the world pronounced him mad; a second half respected -him as a holy man. The first half, being the stronger, locked him up, -and kept him under medical watch and ward until he died. - -This Ivan, a burgher in the small town of Cherkesovo, made a -"sacrifice" of his health and comfort to the Lord. By sacred vows, he -bound himself never to wash his face and comb his hair, never to -change his rags, never to sit on chair and stool, never to eat at -table, never to handle knife and fork. In virtue of this sacrifice, he -lived like a dog; crouching on the floor, and licking up his food with -lips and tongue. When brought into the madhouse, he was washed with -soap and dressed in calico; but he began to mess himself on purpose; -and his keepers soon gave up the task of trying to keep him clean. - -No saint in the calendar draws such crowds to his shrine as Ivan -Jacovlevitch drew to his chamber in this lunatic's house. Not only -servant girls and farmers' wives, but women of the trading classes, -came to him daily; bringing him dainties to eat, making him presents -in money, and telling him all the secrets of their hearts. Sitting on -the ground, and gobbling up his food, he stared at these visitors, -mumbling some words between his teeth, which his listeners racked -their brains to twist and frame into sense. He rolled the crumbs of -his patties into pills, and when sick persons came to him to be cured, -he put these dirty little balls into their mouths. This man was said -to have become "insane for the Lord." - -The authorities of the asylum lent him a spacious room in which to -receive his guests. They knew that he was mad; they knew that a -crowded room was bad for him; but the public rush was so strong, that -they could neither stand upon their science, nor enforce their rules. -The lunatic died amidst the tears and groans of half the city. When -the news of his death was noised abroad, a stranger would have thought -the city was also mad. Men stopped in the street to kneel and pray; -women threw themselves on the ground in grief; and a crowd of the -lower classes ran about the bazars and markets, crying, "Ivan is dead! -Ivan is dead! Ah! who will tell us what to do for ourselves, now Ivan -is dead?" - -On my table, as I write these words, lies a copy of the _Moscow -Gazette_--the journal which Katkoff edits, in which Samarin -writes--containing a proposal, made by the clergy, for a public -monument to Ivan Jacovlevitch, in the village where this poor lunatic -was born! - -All monks prefer to live a life of sacrifice; the highest forms of -sacrifice being that of the recluse and the anchorite. - -Every branch of the Oriental Church--Armenian, Coptic, Greek--encourages -this form; but no Church on earth has given the world so many hermits -as the Russ. Her calendar is full of anchorites, and the stories told -of these self-denying men and women are often past belief. One Sister -Maria was nailed up in a niche at Hotkoff, fed through a hole in the -rock, and lingered in her living tomb twelve years. - -On the great plateau of the Troitsa, forty miles from Moscow, stands a -monastic village, called Gethsemane. This monastic village is divided -into two parts; the convent and the catacombs; separated by a black -and silent lake. - -A type of poverty and misery, the convent is built of rough logs, -colored with coarse paint. Not a trace of gold or silver is allowed, -and the only ornaments are of cypress. Gowns of the poorest serge, and -food of the simplest kind, are given to the monks. No female is -allowed to enter this holy place, excepting once a year, on the feast -of the Virgin's ascent into heaven. Three women were standing humbly -at the gate as we drove in; perhaps wondering why their sex should be -shut out of Gethsemane, since their Lord was not betrayed in the -garden by a female kiss! - -Across the black lake lie the catacombs, cut off from the convent by a -gate and fence; for into these living graves it is lawful for a female -to descend. Deep down from the light of day, below the level of that -sombre lake, these catacombs extend. We light each man his taper, as -we stand above the narrow opening into the vaults. A monk, first -crossing his breast and muttering his pass-words in an unknown tongue, -goes down the winding stairs. We follow slowly, one by one in silence; -shading the light and holding to the wall. A faint smell fills our -nostrils; a dull sound greets our ears; heavily comes our breath in -the damp and fetid air. The tapers faint and flicker in the gloom. -Gaining a passage, we observe some grated windows, narrow holes, and -iron-bound doors. These openings lead into cells. The roof above is -wet with slime, the floor is foul with crawling, nameless things. - -"Hush!" drones the monk, as he creeps past some grated window and some -iron-clad door, as though he were afraid that we should wake the dead. - -"What is this hole in the stone?" The monk stops short and waves his -lurid light: "A cell; a good man lies here; hush! his soul is now with -God!" - -"Dead?" - -"Yea--dead to the world." - -"How long has he been here?" - -"How long? Eleven years and more." - -Passing this living tomb with a shiver, we catch the boom of a bell, -and soon emerge from the narrow passage into a tiny church. A lamp is -burning before the shrine; two monks are kneeling with their temples -on the floor; a priest is singing in a low, dull tone. The fittings of -this church are all of brass; for pine and birch would rot into paste -in a single year. Beyond the chapel we come to the holy well, the -water of which is said to be good for body and soul. It is certainly -earthy to the taste. - -On coming into the light of day, we question the father sharply as to -that recluse who is said to have lived eleven years behind the -iron-clad door; and learn without surprise that he comes out from time -to time, to ring the convent-bell, to fetch in wood, and hear the -news! We learn that a man retired with his son into one of these -catacombs; that he remained in his grave--so to speak--two years and a -half, and then came out completely broken in his health. My eminent -Russian friend, Professor Kapoustin, turns to me and says, "When our -country was covered with forests, when our best road was a rut, and -our villages were all shut in, a man who wished for peace of mind -might wall himself up in a cell; but the country is now open, monks -read newspapers, travellers come and go, and the recluse likes to hear -the news and see the light of day." - -Instead of living in their catacombs, the monks now turn a penny by -showing them to pilgrims, at the price of a taper, and by selling to -visitors the portraits of monks and nuns who lived in the sturdier -days of their church. - -The spirit of sacrifice takes other and milder forms. In the -court-yards of Solovetsk one sees a strange creature, dressed in rags, -fed on garbage, and lodged in gutters, who belongs to the monastic -order, without being vowed as a regular monk. He lives by sufferance, -not by right. He offers himself up as a daily sacrifice. He follows, -so to speak, the calling of abjectness; and makes himself an example -of the worthlessness of earthly things. This strange being is much run -after by the poorer pilgrims, who regard him as a holy man; and he is -noticeable as a type of what the Black Clergy think meritorious in the -Christian life. - -Father Nikita, the name by which this man is known, is a dwarf, four -feet ten inches high, with thin, gray beard, black face, and rat-like -eyes. He never pollutes his skin with water and soap; for what is man -that he should foster pride of the flesh? His garb is a string of rags -and shreds; for he spurns the warmer and more decent habit of a monk. -Instead of going to the store when he needs a frock, he crawls into -the waste-closet, where he begs as a favor that the father having -charge of the castaway clothes will give him the tatters which some -poor brother has thrown aside. A room is left for his use in the -cloister; but a bench of wood and a pillow of straw are things too -good for dust and clay; and in token of his unworthiness, he lives on -the open quay and sleeps in the convent yard. Nobody can persuade him -to sit down to the common meal; the sup of sour quass, the pound of -black bread, the morsel of salt cod being far too sumptuous food for -him; but when the meal is over, and the crumbs are swept up, he will -slink into the pantry, scrape into one dish the slops and bones, and -make a repast of what peasants and beggars have thrown away. - -He will not take his place in church; he will not pass through the -Sacred Gates. When service is going on, he crouches in the darkest -corner of the church, and listens to the prayers and chants with his -head upon the ground. He likes to be spurned and buffeted by the -crowd. A servant of every one, he is only too happy if folk will order -him about; and when he can find a wretch so poor and dirty that every -one else shuns him, he will take that dirty wretch to be his lord. In -winter, when the snow lies deep on the ground, he will sleep in the -open yard; in summer, when the heat is fierce, he will expose his -shaven crown to the sun. He loves to be scorned, and spit upon, and -robbed. Like all his class, he is fond of money; and this love of -dross he turns into his sharpest discipline of soul. Twisting plaits -of birch-bark into creels and crates, he vends these articles to -boatmen and pilgrims at two kopecks apiece; ties the copper coins in a -filthy rag; and then creeps away to hide his money under a stone, in -the hope that some one will watch him and steal it when he is gone. - -The first monk who held the chair of abjectness in Solovetsk, before -Nikita came in, was a miracle of self-denial, and his death was -commemorated by an act of the rarest grace. Father Nahum is that elder -and worthier sacrifice to heaven. - -Nahum is said to have been more abject in manner, more self-denying in -habit, than Nikita; being a person of higher order, and having more -method in his scheme of sacrifice. He abstained from the refuse of -fish, as too great a delicacy for sinful men. He liked to sleep in the -snow. He was only too happy to lie down at a beggar's door. Once, when -he slept outside the convent gates all night, some humorous brother -suggested that perhaps he had been looking out for girls; and on -hearing of this ribald jest he stripped himself nearly naked, poked a -hole in the ice, and sat down in the frozen lake until his feet were -chilled to the bone. A wing of the convent once took fire, and the -monks began to run about with pails; but Nahum rolled a ball of snow -in his palms and threw it among the flames; and as the tongues lapped -higher and higher, he ran to the church, threw himself on the floor, -and begged the Lord to put them out. Instantly, say the monks, the -fire died down. An archimandrite saw him groping in a garden for -potatoes, tearing up the roots with his fingers. "That is cold work, -is it not, Nahum?" asked his kindly chief. "Humph!" said the monk; -"try it." When the present emperor came to Solovetsk, and every one -was anxious to do him service, Nahum walked up to him with a wooden -cup, half full of dirty water, saying, "Drink; it is good enough." - -When this professor of abjectness died, he was honored by his brethren -with a special funeral, inside the convent gates. He was buried in the -yard, beneath the cathedral dome; where all day long, in the pilgrim -season, a crowd of people may be seen about the block of granite which -marks his grave; some praying beside the stone, as though he were -already a "friend of God," while others are listening to the stories -told of this uncanonized saint. Only one other monk of Solovetsk has -ever been distinguished by such a mark of grace. Time--and time -only--now seems wanting to Father Nahum's glory. In another -generation--if the Black Clergy hold their own--Nahum of Solovetsk, -canonized already by the popular voice of monks and pilgrims, will be -taken up in St. Isaac's Square, and raised by imperial edict to his -heavenly seat. - - - - -CHAPTER XVII. - -MIRACLES. - - -Yet the gift of miracles is greater than the gift of sacrifice. The -Black Clergy stand out for miracles; not in a mystical sense, but in a -natural sense; not only in times long past, but in the present hour; -not only in the dark and in obscure hamlets, but in populous places -and in the light of day. - -At Kief a friend drives me out to the caves of Anton and Feodosie, -where we find some men and women standing by the gates, expecting the -father who keeps the keys to bring them and unlock the doors. As these -living pilgrims occupy us more than the dead anchorets, we join this -party, pay our five kopecks, light our tapers, and descend with them -the rocky stairs into the vault. Candle in hand, an aged monk goes -forward, muttering in the gloom; stopping for an instant, here and -there, to show us, lying on a ledge of rock, some coffin muffled in a -pall. We thread a mile of lanes, saluting saint on saint, and twice or -thrice we come into dwarf chapels, in each of which a lamp burns dimly -before a shrine. The women kneel; the men cross themselves and pray. -Moving forward in the dark, we come upon a niche in the wall, covered -by a curtain and a glass door, on the ledge of which stands a silver -dish, a little water, and a human skull. Our pilgrims cross themselves -and mutter a voiceless prayer, while the aged monk lays down his taper -and unlocks the door. A woman sinks on her knees before the niche, -turns up her face, and shuts her eyes, while the father, dipping a -quill into the water, drops a little of the fluid on her eyelids. One -by one, each pilgrim undergoes this rite; and then, on rising from his -knees, lays down an offering of a few kopecks on the ledge of rock. - -"What does this ceremony mean?" I ask the father. "Mean?" says he: "a -mystery--a miracle! This skull is the relic of a holy man whose eye -had suffered from a blow. He called upon the Most Pure Mother of God; -she heard his cry of pain; and in her pity she cured him of his -wound." - -"What is the name of that holy man?"--"We do not know." - -"When did he live and die?"--"We do not know." - -"Was he a monk of Kief?"--"He was; and after he died his skull was -kept, because his fame was great, and every one with pain in his eyes -came hither to obtain relief." - -Not one of our fellow-pilgrims has sore eyes; but who, as the father -urges, knows what the morrow may have in store? Bad eyes may come; and -who would not like to insure himself forever against pain and -blindness at the cost of five kopecks? - -Such miracles are performed by the bones of saints in cities less holy -and old than Kief. - -Seraphim, a merchant of Kursk, abandoned his wife, his children, and -his shop, to become a monk. Wandering to the cloister called the -Desert of Sarof, in the province of Tambof, he dug for himself a hole -in the ground, in which he lay down and slept. Some robbers came to -his cave, where they beat and searched him; but, on finding his -pockets empty, they knew that he must be a holy man. From that lucky -day his fame spread rapidly abroad; and people came to see him from -far and near; bringing presents of bread, of raiment, and of money; -all of which he took into his cave, and doled out afterwards to the -poor. A second window had to be cut into his cell; at one he received -gifts, at the other he dispensed them. His desert became a populous -place, and the Convent of Sarof grew into vast repute. - -Seraphim founded a second desert for women, ten miles distant from his -own. A gentleman gave him a piece of ground; merchants sent him money; -for his favor was by that time reckoned as of higher value than house -and land. Lovely and wealthy women drove to see him, and to stay with -him; entering into the desert which he formed for them, and living -apart from the world, without taking on their heads the burden of -conventual vows. At length a miracle was announced. A lamp which hung -in front of a picture of the Virgin died out while Seraphim was -kneeling on the ground; the chapel grew dark and the face of the -Virgin faint; the pilgrims were much alarmed; when, to the surprise of -every one who saw it, a light came out from the picture and re-lit the -lamp! A second miracle soon followed. One day, a crowd of poor people -came to the desert for bread, when Seraphim had little in his cell to -give. Counting his loaves, he saw that he had only two; and how was he -to divide two loaves among all those hungry folk? He lifted up his -voice--and lo! not two, but twenty loaves were standing on his board. -From that time wonders were reported every year from Sarof; cures of -all kinds; and the court in front of Seraphim's cell was thronged by -the lame and blind, the deaf and dumb, by day and night. - -Seraphim died in 1833; yet miracles are said to be effected at his -tomb to this very hour. Already called a saint, the people ask his -canonization from the Church. Every new Emperor makes a saint; as in -Turkey every new Sultan builds a mosque; and Seraphim is fixed upon by -the public voice as the man whom Alexander the Third will have to make -a saint. - -One Motovilof, a landowner in the province of Penza, lame, unable to -walk, applied for help to Seraphim, who promised the invalid, on -conditions, a certain cure. Motovilof was to become a friend of Sarof; -a supporter of the female desert. Yielding to these terms, he was told -to go down to Voronej, and to make his reverence at the shrine of -Metrofanes, a local saint, on which he would find himself free from -pain. Motovilof went to Voronej, and came back cured. With grateful -heart he gave Seraphim a patch of land for his female desert; and -then, being busy with his affairs, he gradually forgot his pilgrimage -and his miraculous cure. The pain came back into his leg; he could -hardly walk; and not until he sent a supply of bread and clothes to -Seraphim was he restored in health. Not once, but many times, the -worldly man was warned to keep his pledge; a journey to the desert -became a habit of his life; until he fell into love for one of -Seraphim's fair penitents, and taking her home from her refuge, made -that recluse his wife. - -More noticeable still is the story of Tikhon, sometime Bishop of -Voronej, now a recognized saint of the Orthodox Church. Tikhon is the -official saint of the present reign; the living Emperor's contribution -to the heavenly ranks. - -Timothy Sokolof, son of a poor reader in a village church, was born -(in 1724) in that province of Novgorod which has given to Russia most -of her popular saints. The reader's family was large, his income -small, and Timothy was sent to work on a neighbor's farm. Toiling in -the fields by day, in the sheds by night; sleeping little, eating -less; he yet contrived to learn how to read and write. Sent from this -farm to a school, just opened in Novgorod, he toiled so patiently at -his tasks, and made such progress in his studies, that on finishing -his course he was appointed master of the school. - -His heart was not in this work of teaching. From his cradle he had -been fond of singing hymns and hearing mass, of being left alone with -his books and thoughts, of flying from the face of man and the -allurements of the world. A vision shaped for him his future course. -"When I was yet a teacher in the school," he said to a friend in after -life, "I sat up whole nights, reading and thinking. Once, when I was -sitting up in May, the air being very soft, the sky very bright, I -left my cell, and stood under the starry dome, admiring the lights, -and thinking of our eternal life. Heaven opened to my sight--a vision -such as human words can never paint! My heart was filled with joy, and -from that hour I felt a passionate longing to quit the world." - -A few years after he took the cowl and changed the name of Timothy for -Tikhon, he was raised from his humble cell to the episcopal bench; -first in Novgorod, afterwards at Voronej; the second a missionary see; -the province of Voronej lying close to the Don Kozak country and the -Tartar steppe. - -The people of this district were lawless tribes; Kozaks, Kalmuks, -Malo-Russ; a tipsy, idle, vagabond crew; the clergy worse, it may be, -than their flocks. Voronej had no schools; the popes could hardly -read; the services were badly sung and said. All classes of the people -lived in sin. Tikhon began a patient wrestle with these disorders. -Opening with the priests, and with the schools, he put an end to -flogging in the seminaries; in order, as he said, to raise the -standing of a priest, and cause the student to respect himself. This -change was but a sign of things to come. By easy steps he won his -clergy to live like priests; to drink less, to pray more; and -generally to act as ministers of God. In two years he purged the -schools and purified the Church. - -No less care was given to lay disorders. Often he had to be plain in -speech; but such was the reverence felt for him by burgher and peasant -that no one dared to disregard his voice. "You must do so, if Tikhon -tells you," they would say to each other; "if not, he will complain of -you to God." He dressed in a coarse robe; he ate plain food; he sent -the wine untouched from his table to the sick. He was the poor man's -friend; and only waited on the rich when he found no wretched ones at -his gates. The power of Tikhon lay in his faultless life, in his -tender tones, and in his loving heart. "Want of love," he used to -urge, "is the cause of all our misery; had we more love for our -brothers, pain and grief would be more easy to bear; love soothes away -all grief and pain." - -Two years in Novgorod, five years in Voronej, he spent in these -gracious labors, till the longing of his heart for solitude grew too -strong. Laying down his mitre, he retired from his palace in Voronej -to the convent of Zadonsk, a little town on the river Don, where he -gave up his time to writing tracts and visiting the poor. These labors -were of highest use; for Tikhon was among the first (if not the first -of all) to write in favor of the serf. Fifteen volumes of his works -are printed; fifteen more are said to lie in manuscript; and some of -these works have gone through fifty editions from the Russian press. - -Tikhon's great merit as a writer lies in the fact that he foresaw, -prepared, and urged emancipation of the serfs. - -For fifteen years he lived the life of a holy man. As a friend of -serfs, he one day went to the house of a prince, in the district of -Voronej, to point out some wrong which they were suffering on his -estate, and to beg him, for the sake of Jesus and Mary, to be tender -with the poor. The prince got angry with his guest for putting the -thing so plainly into words; and in the midst of some sharp speech -between them, struck him in the face. Tikhon rose up and left the -house; but when he had walked some time, he began to see that he--no -less than his host--was in the wrong. This man, he said to himself, -has done a deed of which, on cooling down, he will feel ashamed. Who -has caused him to do that wrong? "It was my doing," sighed the -reprover, turning on his heel, and going straight back into the house. -Falling at the prince's feet, Tikhon craved his pardon for having -stirred him into wrath, and caused him to commit a sin. The man was so -astonished, that he knelt down by the monk, and, kissing his hands, -implored his forgiveness and his benediction. From that hour, it is -said, the prince was another man; noticeable through all the province -of Voronej for his kindness to the serfs. - -Tikhon lived into his eightieth year. Before he passed away, he told -the brethren of his convent he would live until such a day and then -depart. He died, as he had told them he should die--on the day -foreseen, and in the midst of his weeping friends. From the day of his -funeral, his shrine in Zadonsk was visited by an ever-increasing -crush; for cures of many kinds were wrought; the sick recovered, the -lame walked home, the blind saw, the crooked became straight. A -thousand voices claimed the canonization of this friend of serfs; -until the reigning emperor, struck by this appeal, invited the Holy -Governing Synod to conduct the inquiries which precede the -canonization of a Russian saint. - -The commission sat; the miracles were proved; and then the tomb was -opened. Out from the coffin came a scent of flowers; the flesh was -pure and sweet; and the act of canonization was decreed and signed in -1861, the emancipation year. Tikhon of Zadonsk is the emancipation -saint. - -Yet, according to the Black Clergy, the newest and the greatest -miracle of modern times is the Virgin's defense of Solovetsk against -the Anglo-French squadron in 1854. - -The wardrobe of Solovetsk contains the chief treasures of the -cloister; old charters and letters; original grants of lands; the -rescript of Peter; manuscript lives of Savatie and Zosima; -service-books, richly bound in golden plates; Pojarski's sword; cups, -lamps, crosses, candlesticks in gold and silver; but the treasure of -treasures is the evidence of that stupendous miracle wrought by the -Most Pure Mother of God. - -On the centre stand, under a glass case, strongly locked, lie an -English shell and two round-shot. They are carefully inscribed. A -reliquary in a closet holds a dozen bits of brass, the rent fusees of -exploded shells. A number of prints are sold to the devout, in which -the English gun-boats are moored under the convent wall, so near that -men might easily have leaped on shore. Among this mass of evidence is -a new and splendid ornamental cup; the gift of Russia to Solovetsk--in -memory of the day when human help had failed, and "the convent that -endureth forever" was saved by the Virgin Mother of God. - -A scoffer here and there may smile. "Savatie! Zosima!" laughed a -Russian cynic in my face; "you English made the fortune of these -saints. How so? You see a peasant has but two notions in his pate--the -Empire and the Church; a power of the flesh and a power of the spirit. -Now, see what you have done. You wage war upon us; you send your -fleets into the Black Sea and into the White Sea; in the first to -fight against the Empire, in the second to fight against the Church. -In one sea, you win; in the other sea, you lose. Sevastopol falls to -your arms; while Solovetsk drives away your ships. The arm of the -spirit is seen to be stronger than the arm of flesh. What then? -'Heaven,' says the rustic to his neighbor, as they dawdle home from -church, 'is mightier than the Tsar.' For fifty years to come our -superstitions will lie on English heads!" - -The tale of that miracle, told me on the spot, will sound in some ears -like a piece of high comedy, in others like a chapter from some -ancient and forgotten book. A dry dispatch from Admiral Ommanney -contains the little that we know of our "Operations in the White Sea;" -the next Chapter gives the story, as they tell it on the other side. - - - - -CHAPTER XVIII. - -THE GREAT MIRACLE. - - -So soon as news arrived in the winter palace that an English fleet was -under steam for the Polar seas, the War Office set to work in the -usual way; sending out arms and men; such arms and men as could be -found and spared in these northern towns. Six old siege-guns, fit for -a museum, were shipped from Archangel to the convent, with five -artillerymen, and fifty troopers of the line, selected from the -Invalid Corps. An officer came with these forces to conduct the -defense. - -Just as the English ships were entering on their task this officer -died (June, 1854); no doubt by the hand of God, in order to rebuke the -pride of man, while adding fresh lustre to the auriol of His saints. -The arm of flesh having failed, the fathers threw themselves on the -only power that can never fail. - -Father Alexander, then the Archimandrite, ordered a series of services -to be held in the several chapels within the walls. A special office -was appointed for Sunday, with a separate appeal to Heaven for -guidance; first in the name of the Most Sweet Infant Jesus; afterwards -in that of the Most Pure Mother of God. Midnight services were also -given; the effect of which is said to have been great and strange; -firing the monks with a new and wonderful spirit of confidence in -their cause. The Archimandrite sang mass in person before the tombs of -Savatie and Zosima, in the crypt of the cathedral church, and also -before the miracle-working picture of the Virgin brought by Savatie to -his desert. This picture--so important in the story--came from Greece. -The service sung before it filled the monks with gladness; warmth and -comfort flowed from the Madonna's face; and her adorers felt -themselves conquerors, in her name, before the English warships hove -in sight. - -In their first trouble, the copes and missals, charters and jewels, -had been sent away into the inland towns. This act of doubt occurred -before the officer died, and the monks had taken upon themselves the -burden of defense. To those who carried away the cups and crosses, -robes and books, the Archimandrite gave his blessing and his counsel. -"Know," he said to them at parting, "that, whether you be on sea or -land, every Friday we shall be fasting and praying for you; do you the -same; and God will preserve the things which belong to His service, -and which you are carrying away; follow my commands, and come back to -me in a better time, sound in health, with the things of which you go -in charge." When news came in that English ships were cruising off the -bar of Archangel, some of the brethren fainted; "left by the Emperor," -they sighed, "to be made a sacrifice for his sins." Ten days before -the squadron came in sight, the Archimandrite held a service in his -church, to encourage these feeble souls; and when his prayers were -ended, he addressed them thus: "Grieve not that the defense seems weak -while the foe is strong. Rely upon our Lord, upon His Most Pure -Mother, upon the two excellent saints who have promised that this -convent shall endure forever. Jesus will perform a miracle, for their -sake, such as the world has never seen." A ray of comfort stole into -their hearts; and rolling out barrels of pitch and tar, they smeared -the wooden shingles of wall and tower, filled pails of water in -readiness to drench out fires, and took down from the convent armory -the rusty pikes and bills which had been lying up since the attack of -Swedish ships in the days of Peter the Great. - -A hundred texts were found to show that these old weapons could be -used again, even as the arms of David were used once more by the Lion -of Judah in defense of Solomon's shrine. Young children came into the -monastery from Kem and Suma, vowed by their fathers to the cause of -God; and many old pikes and bills were put into these infant hands. -"The fire of your ships," said one of the monks, "did not frighten -these innocents, who played with the shells as though they had been -harmless toys." Not a child was hurt. - -When the fleet was signalled from the outlooks, Alexander spoke to his -brethren after meat: "Have a good heart," he cried; "we are not weak, -as we appear; for God is on our side. If we were saved by an army, -where would be our credit? With the soldiery, with the world! What -would be our gain? But if by prayer alone we drive the squadron from -our shores, the glory will belong to our convent and our faith. Have a -good heart! Slava Bogu--Glory to God!" - -On Tuesday morning (July 18th, 1854) the watchers signalled two -frigates, which were rounding Beluga Point: the Archimandrite -proclaimed a three days' fast. The two frigates anchored seven miles -from the shore: the Archimandrite ordered the convent bell to toll for -a special service to the Most Pure Mother of God. Like a Hebrew king, -he took off his gorgeous robes, and, humbling himself before the -fathers, read a prayer in front of the tombs of Savatie and Zosima, -and, taking down the miraculous picture of the Virgin, marched with it -in procession round the walls. Then--but not till then--the frigates -sailed away. - -As the ships steamed off towards Kem, it was feared they might still -come back; and Ensign Niconovitch, commanding the Company of Invalids, -went out to survey the shores, dragging two three-pounder guns through -the sand; while many of the pilgrims and workmen offered their -services as scouts. Niconovitch built a battery of sods and sand, -behind which he trained his guns; and eight small pieces were laid -upon the towers and walls, after which the fathers fell once more to -prayer. - -Next day a trail of smoke was seen in the summer sky. The two ships, -soon known to them as the "Brisk" and the "Miranda," steamed into the -bay. The "Brisk," say the monks, was the first to speak, and she -opened her parley with a rattling shot. Standing on the quay, the -Archimandrite was nearly struck by a ball, and his people, frightened -at the crashing roar, ran up into the convent yard, and tried to close -behind them the Sacred Gates. - -A petty officer, one Drushlevski, having charge of ten men and a gun -in the Weaver's Tower, returned the fire; on which the English frigate -is said to have opened her broadside on the tower and wall. -Drushlevski took up her challenge; but with aim and prudence, having -very little powder in his casks. The "Brisk," they say, fired thirty -rounds, while the officer in the Weaver's Tower discharged his gun -three times. The English then sheered off; a shot from the convent gun -having struck her side, and killed a man. - -That night was spent in joy and prayer. The Archimandrite kissed -Drushlevski, and gave his blessing to every gunner in the Weaver's -Tower. When night came on--the summer night of the Frozen Sea--the -frigates were out of sight; but no one felt secure, and least of all -Drushlevski, that this triumph of the cross was yet complete. Not a -soul in the convent slept. - -Dawn brought them one of the holiest festivals of the Russian year; -Thursday, July 20th, the feast of our Lady of Kazan; a day on which no -plough is driven, no mill is opened, no school is kept, in any part of -Russia, from the White Sea to the Black. Matins were sung, as usual, -in the Cathedral Church at half-past two; the Archimandrite steadily -going through his chant, as though the peril were not nigh. Te Deum -was just being finished, when a boat came ashore from the "Brisk," -carrying a white flag, and bringing a summons for the convent to yield -her keys. The letter was in English, accompanied by a bad translation, -in which the word for "squadron of ships," was rendered by the Russian -term for squadrons of horse. Consulting with his monks--who laughed in -good hearty mood at the idea of being set upon by cavalry from the -sea--the Archimandrite told the messenger to say his answer should be -sent to the "Brisk" by an officer of his own. - -Two "insolent conditions" were imposed by the admiral: (1.) The -commander was to yield his sword in person; (2.) The garrison were to -become prisoners of war. Ommanney's letter informed the fathers that -if a gun were fired from the wall, his bombardment would begin at -once; alleging in explanation that on the previous day a gun in the -convent had opened on his ship. - -One Soltikoff, a pilgrim, carried the Archimandrite's answer to the -"Brisk:"--a proud refusal to give up his keys. Denying that the -convent had opened fire on the English boat, he said the first shot -came from the frigate, and the convent simply replied to it in -self-defense. The paper was unsigned; the monk declaring that as a man -of peace he could not write his name on a document treating of blood -and death. - -Admiral Ommanney told the pilgrim there was nothing more to say; the -bombardment would begin at once; and the convent would be swept from -the earth. Soltikoff asked for time, and Ommanney offered him three -hours' grace. It was now five in the morning, and the admiral gave the -fathers until eight o'clock; but on the pilgrim saying the time was -short, Ommanney is said to have sworn a great oath, and lessened his -term of grace three-quarters of an hour. He kept his oath; the -bombardment opened at a quarter to eight o'clock of that holy -day--inscribed to Our Lady of Kazan--our Lady of Victory; the first -shell flying over the convent shingles almost as soon as Soltikoff -reached the Sacred Gates. - -On the English frigates opening fire, the bell in the courtyard tolled -the monks to prayer. Shot, shell, grenade and cartridge rained on the -walls and domes; yet the services went on all day; a hurricane of fire -without; an agony of prayer within! While the people were on their -knees, a shell struck the cathedral dome--the rent of which is piously -preserved--and, tearing through the wooden framework, dashed down the -ceiling on the supplicants' heads. The rafters were on fire; the -church was suddenly filled with smoke. A sacred image was grazed and -singed. The windows cracked; the doors flew open; the buildings reeled -and shivered; and the terrified people fell with their faces on the -stones. One man only kept his feet. Standing before the royal gates, -the Archimandrite cried: "Stay! stay! Be not afraid, the Lord will -guard His own!" The monks and pilgrims, lifting up their eyes, beheld -the old man standing before his altar, quiet and erect, with big tears -rolling down his cheeks. They sprang to their feet; they ran to fetch -water; they put out the flames; they swept off the wreck of dust and -rafters; and when the floor was cleansed, they sank on their knees and -bowed their heads once more in prayer. - -When mass was over, three poor women remained in the cathedral on -their knees; a shell came through the roof, and burst; on which the -poor things crawled towards the shrines where men were praying, and -women are not allowed to come. A good pope let them in, and suffered -them to pray with the men; an act which the monks regard as one of the -highest wonders of that miraculous day. - -A petty officer named Ponomareff occupied with his gun a spit of rock, -from which he could tease the frigates, and draw upon himself no -little of their wrath. Every shot from the "Miranda" splashed the mire -about his men, who were often buried, though they were not killed that -day. Leaping to his feet, and shaking the dirt from his clothes, -Ponomareff stood to his gun, until he was called away. He and three -other men crept through the stones and trees, to places far apart; -whence they discharged their carbines, and ran away into the scrub, -after drawing upon these points a rattle of shot and shell. At length -he was recalled. "It is a sad day for the monastery," sighed the -gunner, "but we are willing to die with the saints." - -Services were sung all day in front of the shrines of Savatie and -Zosima. Once a shot struck the altar; the pope shrank back from his -desk, and the people fell on their faces. Every one supposed that his -hour was come, and many cried out in their fear for the bread and -wine. Father Varnau, the confessor, took his seat, confessed the -people, and gave them the sacrament. Alexander was the first to -confess his sins, and make up his account with God. The elders -followed; then the lay monks, pilgrims, soldiers, women; and when all -were shriven, the body of penitents pressed around the shrines of -Philip, Savatie, Zosima, and the Mother of God. - -A little after noon, the convent bells in the yard were tolled, the -monks and pilgrims gathered on the wall, and lines of procession were -ordered to be formed. The monks stood first, the pilgrims next, the -women and children last; and when they were all got ready to march, -the Archimandrite took down from the screen beside his altar the -Miraculous Virgin and the principal cross; and placing himself in -front of his people, with the cross in his right hand, the Virgin in -his left, conducted them round the ramparts under fire. He waved his -cross, and blessed the pilgrims with the Miraculous Virgin as he -strode along. The great bell tolled, the monks and pilgrims sang a -psalm. Shot and shell rained overhead; the boulders trembled in the -wall; the shingles cracked and split on the roof. Near the corner -tower by the Holy Lake the procession came to a halt. A shell had -struck the windmill, setting the fans on fire. Pealing their psalm, -and calling on their saints, they waited till the flames died down, -and then resumed their march. A shot came dashing through the rampart; -splintering the logs and planks in their very midst, and cutting the -line of procession into head and heel. "Advance!" cried the -Archimandrite, waving his cross and picture, and the people instantly -advanced. On reaching the Weaver's Tower, from which the shot of -destiny had been fired the previous day, the Archimandrite, calling -the monk Gennadie to his side, gave him the cross, with orders to -carry it up into the tower, and let the gunners kiss the image of our -Lord. While Gennadie was absent on this errand, the Archimandrite -showed the monks and pilgrims that the convent doves were not -fluttered in their nests by the English guns. - -A miracle! When the procession moved from the Weaver's Tower, they -came near some open ground, which they were obliged to cross, under -showers of shot. No man of flesh and blood--unless protected from on -high--could pass through that fire unscathed. But now was the time to -try men's faith. A moment only the procession paused; the -Archimandrite, holding up his miraculous picture of the Mother of God, -advanced into the cloud of dust and smoke; the people pealed their -psalm; and the shells and balls from the English ships were seen to -curve in their flight, to whirl over dome and tower, and come down -splashing into the Holy Lake! Every eye saw that miracle; and every -heart confessed the Most Pure Mother of God. - -The frigates then drew off, and went their way; to be seen from the -watch-towers of the sacred isles no more; vanquished and put to shame; -though visibly not by the hand of man. Not a soul in the convent had -been hurt; though hurricanes of brass and iron had been fired from the -English decks. - -A Norwegian named Harder, a visitor by chance to Solovetsk, was so -much struck by this miraculous defense, that he cried in the convent -yard, "How great is the Russian God!" and begged to be admitted a -member of their Church. - -The news of this attack by an English Admiral on Solovetsk was carried -into every part of Russia, and the effect which it produced on the -Russian mind may be conceived by any one who will take the pains to -imagine how he would feel on hearing reports from Palestine that a -Turkish Pasha had opened fire on the dome and cross of the Holy -Sepulchre. Shame, astonishment, and fury filled the land, until the -further news arrived that this abominable raid among the holy graves -and shrines had come to naught. Since that year of miracles, young and -old, rich and poor, have come to regard a journey to Solovetsk as only -second in merit to a voyage to Bethlehem and the tomb of Christ. -Peasants set the fashion, which Emperors and grand dukes are taking -up. Alexander the Second has made a pilgrimage to these holy isles; -his brother Constantine has done the same; and two of his sons will -make the trip next year. The Empress, too, is said to have made a vow, -that if Heaven restores her strength, she will pay a visit to -Savatie's shrine. - -Some people think these visits of the imperial race are due, not only -to the wish to lead where they might otherwise have to follow, but to -matters connected with that mystery of a buried grand duke which lends -so dark a fame to the convent in the Frozen Sea. - - - - -CHAPTER XIX. - -A CONVENT SPECTRE. - - -A land alive with goblins and sorceries, in which every monk sees -visions, in which every woman is thought to be a witch, presents the -proper scenery for such a legend as that of the convent spectre, -called the Spirit of the Frozen Sea. - -Faith in the existence of this phantom is widely spread. I have met -with evidences of this faith not only in the northern seas, but on the -Volga, in hamlets of the Ukraine, and among old believers in Moscow, -Novgorod, and Kief. All the Ruthenians, most of the Don Kozaks, and -many of the Poles, give credit to this tale, in either a spiritualized -or physical form. - -Rufin Pietrowski, the Pole who escaped from his Siberian mine, and, -crossing the Ural Mountains, dropped down the river Dvina on a raft, -and got as near to Solovetsk as Onega Point, reports the spectre as a -fact, and offers the explanation which was given of it by his -fellow-pilgrims. He says it is not a ghost, but a living man. Other -and later writers than Pietrowski hint at such a mystery; but the tale -is one of which men would rather whisper in corners than prate in -books. - -"You have been to Solovetsk?" exclaimed to me a native of Kalatch, on -the Don, a man of wit and spirit. "May I ask whether you saw any thing -there that struck you much?" - -"Yes, many things; the convent itself, the farms and gardens, the -dry-dock, the fishing-boats, the salt-pits, the tombs of saints." - -"Ah! yes, they would let you see all those things; but they would not -let you go into their secret prison." - -"Why not?" I said, to lead him on. - -"They have a prisoner in that building whom they dare not show." - -The same thing happened to me several times, with variations of time -and place. - -Some boatman from the Lapland ports, while striving, in the first hard -days of winter, with the floes of ice, is driven beneath the fortress -curtain, where he sees, on looking up, in the faint light of dusk, a -venerable figure passing behind a loop-hole in the wall; his white -hair cut, which proves that he is not a monk; his eyes upraised to -heaven; his hands clasped fervently, as though he were in prayer; his -whole appearance that of a man appealing to the justice of God against -the tyranny of man. A sentry passes the loop-hole, and the boatman -sees no more. - -This figure is not seen at other times and by other folk. Three months -in the year these islands swarm with pilgrims, many of whom come and -go in their craft from Onega and Kem. These visitors paddle below the -ramparts day and night; yet nothing is seen by them of the aged -prisoner and his sentry on the convent wall. Clearly, then, if the -figure is that of a living man, there must be reasons for concealing -him from notice during the pilgrim months. - -"Hush!" said a boatman once to a friend of mine, as he lay in a tiny -cove under the convent wall; you must not speak so loud; these rocks -can hear. One dares not whisper in one's sleep, much less on the open -sea, that the phantom walks yon wall. The pope tells you it is an imp; -the elder laughs in your face and calls you a fool. If you believe -your eyes, they say you are crazed, not fit to pull a boat." - -"You have not seen the figure?" - -"Seen him--no; he is a wretched one, and brings a man bad luck. God -help him ... if he is yet alive!" - -"You think he is a man of flesh and blood?" - -"Holy Virgin keep us! Who can tell?" - -"When was he last seen?" - -"Who knows? A boatman seldom pulls this way at dusk; and when he finds -himself here by chance, he turns his eyes from the castle wall. Last -year, a man got into trouble by his chatter. He came to sell his fish, -and fetching a course to the south, brought up his yawl under the -castle guns. A voice called out to him, and when he looked up -suddenly, he saw behind the loop-hole a bare and venerable head. While -he stood staring in his yawl, a crack ran through the air, and looking -along the line of roof, he saw, behind a puff of smoke, a sentinel -with his gun. A moment more and he was off. When the drink was in his -head, he prated about the ghost, until the elder took away his boat -and told him he was mad." - -"What is the figure like?" - -"A tall old man, white locks, bare head, and eyes upraised, as if he -were trying to cool his brain." - -"Does he walk the same place always?" - -"Yes, they say so; always. Yonder, between the turrets, is the -phantom's walk. Let us go back. Hist! That is the convent bell." - -The explanation hinted by Pietrowski, and widely taken for the truth, -is that the figure which walks these ramparts in the winter months is -not only that of a living man, but of a popular and noble prince; no -less a personage than the Grand Duke Constantine, elder brother of the -late Emperor Nicolas, and natural heir to the imperial crown! - -This prince, in whose cause so many patriots lost their lives, is -commonly supposed to have given up the world for love; to have -willingly renounced his rights of succession to the throne; to have -acquiesced in his younger brother's reign; to have died of cholera in -Minsk; to have been buried in the fortress of St. Peter and St. Paul. -But many persons look on this story as a mere official tale. Their -version is, that the prince was a liberal prince; that he married for -love; that he never consented to waive his rights of birth; that the -documents published by the Senate were forged; that the Polish rising -of 1831 was not directed against him; that the attack on his summer -palace was a feint; that his retirement to Minsk was involuntary; that -he did not die of cholera, as announced; that he was seized in the -night, and whisked away in a tarantass, while Russia was deceived by -funeral rites; that he was driven in the tarantass to Archangel, -whence he was borne to Solovetsk; that he escaped from the convent; -that in the year of Emancipation he suddenly appeared in Penza; that -he announced a reign of liberty and peace; that he was followed by -thousands of peasants; that, on being defeated by General Dreniakine, -he was suffered to escape; that he was afterwards seized in secret, -and sent back to Solovetsk; where he is still occasionally seen by -fishermen walking on the convent wall. - -The facts which underlie these versions of the same historical events -are wrapped in not a little doubt; and what is actually known is of -the kind that may be read in a different sense by different eyes. - - - - -CHAPTER XX. - -STORY OF A GRAND DUKE. - - -When Alexander the First--elder brother of Constantine and -Nicolas--died, unexpectedly, at Taganrog, on the distant Sea of Azof, -leaving no son to reign in his stead, the crown descended, by law and -usage, to the brother next in birth. Constantine was then at Warsaw, -with his Polish wife; Nicolas was at St. Petersburg, with his guards. -Constantine was called the heir; and up to that hour no one seems to -have doubted that he would wear the crown, in case the Emperor's life -should fail. There was, however, a party in the Senate and the barrack -against him; the old Russian party, who could not pardon him his -Polish wife. - -When couriers brought the news from Taganrog to St. Petersburg, -Nicolas, having formed no plans as yet, called up the guards, -announced his brother's advent to the throne, and set them an example -of loyalty by taking the oath of allegiance to his Imperial Majesty -Constantine the First. The guards being sworn, the generals and -staff-officers signed the act of accession and took the oaths. -Cantering off to their several barracks, these officers put the -various regiments of St. Petersburg under fealty to Constantine the -First; and Nicolas sent news that night to Warsaw that the new Emperor -had begun to reign. - -But while the messengers were tearing through the winter snows, some -members of the Senate came to Nicolas with yet more startling news. -Alexander, they said, had left with them a sealed paper, contents -unknown, which they were not to open until they heard that he was -dead. On opening this packet, they found in it two papers; one a -letter from the Grand Duke Constantine, written in 1822, renouncing -his rights in the crown; the second, a manifesto by the dead Emperor, -written in 1823, accepting that renunciation and adopting his brother -Nicolas as his lawful heir. A similar packet, they alleged, had been -secretly left with Philaret of Moscow, and would be found in the -sacristy of his cathedral church. Nicolas scanned these documents -closely; saw good reason to put them by; and urged the whole body of -the Senate to swear fidelity to Constantine the First. In every office -of the State the imperial functionaries took this oath. All Russia, in -fact all Europe, saw that Constantine had opened his reign in peace. - -Then followed a surprise. Some letters passed between the two grand -dukes, in which (it was said) the brothers were each endeavoring to -force the other to ascend the throne; Nicolas urging that Constantine -was the elder born and rightful heir; Constantine urging that Nicolas -had better health and a more active spirit. Ten days rolled by. The -Empire was without a chief. A plot, of which Pestel, Rostovtsef, and -Mouravief were leading spirits, was on the point of explosion. But on -Christmas Eve, the Grand Duke Nicolas made up his mind to take the -crown. He spent the night in drawing up a manifesto, setting forth the -facts which led him to occupy his brother's seat; and on Christmas Day -he read this paper in the Senate, by which body he was at once -proclaimed Autocrat and Tsar. A hundred generals rode to the various -barracks, to read the new proclamation, and to get those troops who -had sworn but a week ago to uphold his majesty Constantine the First, -to cast that oath to the winds, and swear a second time to uphold his -majesty Nicolas the First. But, if most of the regiments were quick to -unswear themselves by word of command, a part of the guards, and -chiefly the marines and grenadiers, refused; and, marching from their -quarters into St. Isaac's Square, took up a menacing position towards -the new Emperor, while a cry rose wildly from the crowd, of "Long live -Constantine the First!" - -A shot was heard. - -Count Miloradovitch, governor-general of St. Petersburg, fell dead; a -brave general who had passed through fifty battles, killed as he was -trying to harangue his troops. A line of fire now opened on the -square. Colonel Stürler fell, at the head of his regiment of guards. -When night came down, the ground was covered with dead and dying men; -but Nicolas was master of the square. A charge of grape-shot swept the -streets clear of rioters just as night was coming down. - -When the trials to which the events of that day gave rise came on, it -suited both the Government and the conspirators to keep the grand duke -out of sight. Count Nesselrode told the courts that this revolt was -revolutionary, not dynastic; and Nicolas denounced the leaders to his -people as men who wished to bring "a foreign contagion upon their -sacred soil." - -The grand duke and his Polish wife remained in Warsaw, living at the -summer garden of Belvedere, in the midst of woods and lakes, of -pictures, and works of art. Once, indeed, he left his charming villa -for a season; to appear, quite unexpectedly (the court declared), in -the Kremlin, and assist in placing the Imperial crown on his brother's -head. That act of grace accomplished, he returned to Warsaw; where he -reigned as viceroy; keeping a modest court, and leading an almost -private life. But the country was excited, the army was not content. -One war was forced by Nicolas on Persia, a second on Turkey; both of -them glorious for the Russian arms; yet men were said to be troubled -at the sight of a younger brother on the throne; a sentiment of -reverence for the elder son being one of the strongest feelings in a -Slavonic breast; and all these troubles were kept alive by the social -and political writhings of the Poles. - -Two prosperous wars had made the Emperor so proud and haughty that -when news came in from Paris, telling him of the fall of Charles the -Tenth, he summoned his minister of war, and ordered his troops to -march. He said he would move on Paris, and his Kozaks began to talk of -picqueting their horses on the Seine. But the French have agencies of -mischief in every town of Poland; and in less than five months after -Charles the Tenth left Paris, Warsaw was in arms. - -Every act of this Polish rising seems, so far as concerns the Grand -Duke Constantine, to admit of being told in different ways. - -A band of young men stole into the Belvedere in the gloom of a -November night, and ravaged through the rooms. They killed General -Gendre; they killed the vice-president of police, Lubowicki; and they -suffered the grand duke to escape by the garden gate. These are the -facts; but whether he escaped by chance is what remains in doubt. The -Russian version was that these young fellows came to kill the prince, -as well as Gendre and Lubowicki; that a servant, hearing the tumult -near the palace, ran to his master's room, and led him through the -domestic passages into the open air. The Polish version was, that -these young men desired to find the prince; not to murder him, but to -use him as either hostage or emperor in their revolt against his -brother's rule. - -Arriving in Warsaw from his country-house, the grand duke, finding -that city in the power of a revolted soldiery, moved some posts on the -road towards the Russian frontier. Agents came to assure him that no -harm was meant to him; that he was free to march with his guards and -stores; that no one would follow him or molest him on the road. Some -Polish companies were with him; and four days after his departure from -Belvedere, he received in his camp near Warsaw a deputation, sent to -him by his own request, from the insurgent chiefs. Then came the act -which roused the anger of his brother's court; and led, as some folk -think, to the mystery and sympathy which cling around his name. - -He asked the deputation to state their terms. "A living Poland!" they -replied; "the charter of Alexander the First; a Polish army and -police; the restoration of our ancient frontier." In return, he told -these deputies that he had not sent to Lithuania for troops; and he -consented that the Polish companies in his camp should return to -Warsaw and join the insurgent bands! For such a surrender to the -rebels any other general in the service would certainly have been -tried and shot. The Emperor, when he heard the news, went almost mad -with rage; and every one wishing to stand well at court began to -whisper that the Grand Duke Constantine had forfeited his honor and -his life. - -Constantine died suddenly at Minsk. The disease was cholera; the -corpse was carried to St. Petersburg; and the prince, who had lost a -crown for love, was laid with honor among the ashes of his race, in -the gloomy fortress of St. Peter and St. Paul. - -But no gazetteer could make the common people believe that their -prince was gone from them forever. Like his father Paul, and like his -grandfather Peter, he was only hiding in some secret place; and -putting their heads together by the winter fires they told each other -he would come again. - -In the year of emancipation (1861) a man appeared in the province of -Penza, who announced himself not only as the grand duke, but as a -prophet, a leader, and a messenger from the Tsar. He told the people -they were being deceived by their priests and lords, that the Emperor -was on their side, that the emancipation act gave them the land -without purchase and rent-charge, and that they must support the -Emperor in his design to do them good. A crowd of peasants, gathering -to his voice, and carrying a red banner, marched through the villages, -crying death to the priests and nobles. General Dreniakine, an -aide-de-camp of the Emperor, a prompt and confidential officer, was -sent from St. Petersburg against the grand duke, whom in his -proclamation he called Egortsof, and after a smart affair, in which -eight men were killed and twenty-six badly hurt, the peasants fled -before the troops. The grand duke was suffered to escape; and nothing -more has been heard of him, except an official hint that he is dead. - -What wonder that a credulous people fancies the hero of such -adventures may be still alive? - -In every country which has virtue enough to keep the memory of a -better day, the popular mind is apt to clothe its hopes in this -legendary form. In England, the commons expected Arthur to awake; in -Portugal, they expected Sebastian to return; in Germany they believed -that Barbarossa sat on his lonely peak. Masses of men believe that -Peter the Third is living, and will yet resume his throne. - -Before landing in the Holy Isles, I gave much thought to this mystery -of the grand duke, and nursed a very faint hope of being able to -resolve the spectre into some mortal shape. - - - - -CHAPTER XXI. - -DUNGEONS. - - -My mind being full of this story, I keep an eye on every gate and trap -that might lead me either up or down into a prisoner's cell. My leave -to roam about the convent-yards is free; and though I am seldom left -alone, except when lodged in my private room, some chance of loitering -round the ramparts falls in my way from time to time. The monks retire -about seven o'clock, and as the sun sets late in the summer months, I -stroll through the woods and round by the Holy Lake, while Father John -is laying our supper of cucumbers and sprats. Sometimes I get a peep -at strange places while the fathers are at mass. - -One day, when strolling at my ease, I come into a small court-yard, -which my clerical guides have often passed by. A flutter of wings -attracts me to the spot, and, throwing a few crumbs of biscuit on the -ground, I am instantly surrounded by a thousand beautiful doves. They -are perfectly tame. Here, then, is that colony of doves which the -Archimandrite told his people were not disturbed by the English guns; -and looking at the tall buildings and the narrow yard, I am less -surprised by the miracle than when the story was told me by the monks. -Lifting my eyes to the sills from which these birds come fluttering -down, I see that the windows are barred, that the door is strongly -bound. In short, this well-masked edifice is the convent jail; and it -flashes on me quickly that behind these grated frames, against which -the doves are pecking and cooing, lies the mystery of Solovetsk. - -In going next day round the convent-yards and walls, with my two -attending fathers, dropping into the quass-house, the school, the -dyeing-room, the tan-yard, and the Weaver's Tower, I lead the way, as -if by merest chance, into this pigeons' court. Referring to the -Archimandrite's tale of the doves, I ask to have that story told -again. Hundreds of birds are cooing and crying on the window-sills, -just as they may have done on the eventful feast of Our Lady of Kazan. - -"How pretty these doves! What a song they sing!" - -"Pigeons have a good place in the convent," says the father at my -side. "You see we never touch them; doves being sacred in our eyes on -account of that scene on the Jordan, when the Holy Ghost came down to -our Lord in the form of a dove." - -"They seem to build by preference in this court." - -"Yes, it is a quiet corner; no one comes into this yard; yon windows -are never opened from within." - -"Ah! this is the convent prison?" - -"Yes; this is the old monastic prison." - -"Are any of the fathers now confined in the place?" - -"Not one. We have no criminals at Solovetsk." - -"But some of the fathers are in durance, eh? For instance, where is -that monk whom we brought over from Archangel in disgrace? Is he not -here?" - -"No; he has been sent to the desert near Striking Hill." - -"Is that considered much of a penalty?" - -"By men like him, it is. In the desert he will be alone; will see no -women, and get no drink. In twelve months he will come back to the -convent another man." - -"Let us go up into this prison and see the empty cells." - -"Not now." - -"Why not? I am curious about old prisons; especially about church -prisons; and can tell you how the dungeons of Solovetsk would look -beside those of Seville, Antwerp, and Rome." - -"We can not enter; it is not allowed." - -"Not allowed to see empty cells! Were you not told to show me every -part of the convent? Is there a place into which visitors must not -come?" - -The two fathers step aside for a private talk, during which I feed the -pigeons and hum a tune. - -"We can not go in there--at least, to-day." - -"Good!" I answer, in a careless tone; "get leave, and we will come -this way to-morrow.... Stay! To-morrow we sail to Zaet. Why not go in -at once and finish what we have yet to see down here?" - -They feel that time would be gained by going in now; but then, they -have no keys. All keys are kept in the guardroom, under the -lieutenant's eyes. More talk takes place between the monks; and doubt -on doubt arises, as to the limit of their powers. Their visitor hums a -tune, and throws more crumbs of bread among the doves, who frisk and -flutter to his feet, until the windows are left quite bare. A father -passes into a house; is absent some time; returns with an officer in -uniform, carrying keys. While they are mounting steps and opening -doors, the pilgrim goes on feeding doves, as though he did not care -one whit to follow and see the cells. But when the doors roll back on -their rusty hinges, he carelessly follows his guides up the prison -steps. - -The first floor consists of a long dark corridor, underground; ten or -twelve vaults arranged in a double row. These cells are dark and -empty. The visitor enters them one by one, pokes the wall with his -stick, and strikes a light in each, to be sure that no one lies there -unobserved; telling the officer and the monks long yarns about -underground vaults and wells in Antwerp, Rome, and Seville. Climbing -the stairs to an upper floor, he finds a sentinel on duty, pacing a -strong anteroom; and feels that here, at least, some prisoner must be -kept under watch and ward. An iron-bound door is now unlocked, and the -visitor passes with his guides into an empty corridor with cells on -either side, corresponding in size and number with the vaults below. -Every door in that corridor save one is open. That one door is closed -and barred. - -"Some one in there?" - -"No one?" says the father; but in a puzzled tone of voice, -and looking at the officer with inquiring eyes. - -"Well, yes; a prisoner," says that personage. - -"Let us go in. Open the door." - -Looking at the monks, and seeing no sign of opposition on their part, -the soldier turns the key; and as we push the door back on its rusty -hinge, a young man, tall and soldier-like, with long black beard and -curious eyes, springs up from a pallet; and snatching a coverlet, -wraps the loose garment round his all but naked limbs. - -"What is your name?" the visitor asks; going in at once, and taking -him by the hand. - -"Pushkin," he answers softly; "Adrian Pushkin." - -"How long have you been confined at Solovetsk?" - -"Three years; about three years." - -"For what offense?" - -He stares in wonder, with a wandering light in his eye that tells his -secret in a flash. - -"Have you been tried by any court?" - -The officer interferes; the sentinel on guard is called; and we are -huddled by the soldiers--doing what they are told--from the prisoner's -cell. - -"What has he done?" I ask the fathers, when the door is slammed upon -the captive's face. - -"We do not know, except in part. He is condemned by the Holy Governing -Synod. He denies our Lord." More than this could not be learned. - -"A mad young man," sighs the monk; "he might have gone home long ago; -but he would not send for a pope, and kiss the cross. He is now of -better mind; if one can say he has any mind. A mad young man!" - -There is yet another flight of steps. "Let us go up and see the -whole." - -We climb the stair, and find a second sentinel in the second anteroom. -More prisoners, then, in this upper ward! The door which leads into -the corridor being opened, the visitor sees that here again the cells -are empty, and the doors ajar--in every case but one. A door is -locked; and in the cell behind that door they say an old man lodges; a -prisoner in the convent for many years. - -"How long?" - -"One hardly knows," replies the monk: "he was here when most of us -came to Solovetsk. He is an obstinate fellow; quiet in his ways; but -full of talk; he worries you to death; and you can teach him nothing. -More than one of our Archimandrites, having pity on his case, has -striven to lead him into a better path. An evil spirit is in his -soul." - -"Who is he?" - -"A man of rank; in his youth an officer in the army." - -"Then you know his name?" - -"We never talk of him; it is against the rules. We pray for him, and -such as he is; and he needs our prayers. A bad Russian, a bad -Christian, he denies our holy Church." - -"Does he ever go out?" - -"In winter, yes; in summer, no. He might go to mass; but he refuses to -accept the boon. He says we do not worship God aright; he thinks -himself wiser than the Holy Governing Synod--he! But in winter days, -when the pilgrims have gone away, he is allowed to walk on the rampart -wall, attended by a sentinel to prevent his flight." - -"Has he ever attempted flight?" - -"Attempted! Yes; he got away from the convent; crossed the sea; went -inland, and we lost him. If he could have held his peace, he might -have been free to this very hour; but he could not hold his tongue; -and then he was captured and brought back." - -"Where was he taken?" - -"No one knows. He came back pale and worn. Since then he has been -guarded with greater care." - -Here, then, is the prisoner whom I wish to see; the spectre of the -wall; the figure taken for the prince; the man in whom centre so many -hopes. "Open the door!" My tone compels them either to obey at once or -go for orders to the Archimandrite's house. A parley of the officer -and monks takes place; ending, after much ado, in the door being -unlocked (to save them trouble), and the whole party passing into the -prisoner's cell. - -An aged, handsome man, like Kossuth in appearance, starts astonished -from his seat; unused, as it would seem, to such disturbance of his -cell. A small table, a few books, a pallet bed, are the only -furnishings of his room, the window of which is ribbed and crossed -with iron, and the sill bespattered with dirt of doves. A table holds -some scraps of books and journals; the prisoner being allowed, it -seems, to receive such things from the outer world, though he is not -permitted to send out a single line of writing. Pencils and pens are -banished from his cell. Tall, upright, spare; with the bearing of a -soldier and a gentleman; he wraps his cloak round his shoulder, and -comes forward to meet his unexpected guests. The monks present me in -form as a stranger visiting Solovetsk, without mentioning _his_ name -to me. He holds out his hand and smiles; receiving me with the grace -of a gentleman offering the courtesies of his house. A man of noble -presence and courtly bearing: _not_, however, the Grand Duke -Constantine, as fishermen and pilgrims say! - -"Your name is--?" - -"Ilyin; Nicolas Ilyin." - -"You have been here long?" - -Shaking his head in a feeble way, he mutters to himself, as it were, -like one who is trying to recall a dream. I put the question again; -this time in German. Then he faintly smiles; a big tear starting in -his eye. "Excuse me, sir," he sighs, "I have forgotten most things; -even the use of speech. Once I spoke French easily. Now I have all but -forgotten my mother tongue." - -"You have been here for years?" - -"Yes; many. I wait upon the Lord. In His own time my prayer will be -heard, and my deliverance come." - -"You must not speak with this prisoner," says the officer on duty; "no -one is allowed to speak with him." The lieutenant is not uncivil; but -he stands in a place of trust; and he has to think of duty to his -colonel before he can dream of courtesy to his guest. - -In a moment we are in the pigeons' court. The iron gates are locked; -the birds are fluttering on the sills; and the prisoners are alone -once more. - - - - -CHAPTER XXII. - -NICOLAS ILYIN. - - -Leaving Solovetsk for the south, I keep the figure of this aged -prisoner in my mind, and by asking questions here and there, acquire -in time a general notion of his course of life. But much of it remains -dark to me, until, on my return from Kertch and Kief to St. -Petersburg, the means are found for me of opening up a secret source. - -The details now to be given from this secret source--controlled by -other and independent facts--will throw a flood of light into some of -the darkest corners of Russian life, and bring to the front some part -of the obstacles through which a reforming Emperor has to march. - -It will be also seen that in the story of Ilyin's career, there are -points--apart from what relates to the convent spectre, and the -likeness to Constantine the First--which might account for some of the -sympathy shown for him by Poles. - -Ilyin seems to have been born in Poland; his mother was certainly a -Pole. His father, though of Swedish origin, held the rank of general -in the imperial service. At an early age the boy was sent by General -Ilyin to the Jesuits' College in Polotsk; that famous school in which, -according to report, so many young men of family were led astray in -the opening years of Alexander the First. The names he bore inclined -him to devote his mind to sacred studies. Nicolas is the poor man's -saint, and Ilyin is the Russian form of Elias, the Hebrew prophet. It -is not by chance, he thought, that men inherit and receive such names. - -He was highly trained. In the school-room he was noted for his gentle -ways, his studious habits, his religious turn of mind. He neither -drank nor swore; he neither danced nor gamed. When the time arrived -for him to leave his college and join the army, he passed a good -examination, took a high degree, and entered an artillery corps with -the rank of ensign. By his new comrades he was noted for his power of -work, for his scorn of pleasure, for his purity of life. A hard -reader, he gave up his nights and days to studies which were then -unusual in the mess-room and the camp. While other young men were -drinking deep and dancing late in their garrison-towns, he was giving -up the hours that could be snatched from drill and gunnery to Newton -on the Apocalypse, to Swedenborg on Heaven and Hell, to Bengel on the -Number of the Beast. What his religious doctrines were in these early -days, we can only guess. His father seems to have been a Greek -Catholic, his mother a Roman Catholic; and we know too much of the -genius which inspired the Jesuits' College in Polotsk to doubt that -every effort would be made by the fathers to win such a student as -Nicolas Ilyin to their side. - -In Polotsk, as in nearly all Polish towns, reside a good many learned -Jews. Led by his Apocalyptic studies to seek the acquaintance of -Rabbins, Ilyin talked with these new friends about his studies, and -even went with them to their synagogue; in the ritual of which he -found a world of mystical meaning not suspected by the Jews -themselves. In conning the Mishna and Gemara, he began to dream that a -confession of faith, a form of prayer, a mode of communion, might be -framed, by help of God's Holy Spirit, which would place the great -family of Abraham under a common flag. A dream, it may be, yet a noble -dream! - -Ilyin toyed with this idea, until he fancied that the time for a -reconciliation of all the religious societies owning the God of -Abraham for their father was close at hand; and that he, Nicolas -Ilyin--born of a Greek father and a Catholic mother; bearing the names -of a Hebrew prophet and a Russian saint; instructed, first by Jesuits -and then by Rabbins; serving in the armies of an Orthodox emperor--was -the chosen prophet of this reign of grace and peace. A vision helped -him to accept his mission, and to form his plan. - -Taking the Hebrew creed, not only as more ancient and venerable, but -as simpler in form than any rival, he made it the foundation for a -wide and comprehensive church. Beginning with God, he closed with man. -Setting aside, as things indifferent, all the points on which men -disagree, he got rid of the immaculate conception, the symbol of the -cross, the form of baptism, the practice of confession, the official -Church, and the sacerdotal caste. In his broad review, nothing was of -first importance save the unity of God, the fraternity of men. - -Gifted with a noble presence and an eloquent tongue, he began to teach -this doctrine of the coming time; announcing his belief in a general -reconciliation of all the friends of God. The monks who have lodged -him in the Frozen Sea, accuse him of deceit; alleging that he affected -zeal for the Orthodox faith; and that on converting General Vronbel, -his superior officer, from the Roman Church to the Russian Church, he -sought, as a reward for this service, a license to go about and -preach. The facts may be truly stated; yet the moral may be falsely -drawn. A general in the Russian service, not of the national creed, -has very few means of satisfying his spiritual wants. Unless he is -serving in some great city, a Roman Catholic can no more go to mass -than a Lutheran can go to sermon; and an officer of either confession -is apt to smoke a pipe and play at cards, while his Orthodox troops -are attending mass. Ilyin may have deemed it better for Vronbel to -become a good Greek than remain a bad Catholic. In these early days of -his religious strife, he seems to have dreamt that the Orthodox Church -afforded him the readiest means of reconciling creeds and men. In -bringing strangers into that fold, he was putting them into the better -way. Anyhow, he converted his general, and obtained from his bishop -the right to preach. - -It was the hope of his bishop that he would bring in stragglers to the -fold; not that he should set up for himself a broader camp in another -name and under a bolder flag. Ilyin went out among the sectaries who -abound in every province of the empire; and to these men of wayward -mind he preached a doctrine which his ecclesiastical patrons fancied -to be that of the Orthodox faith. In every place he drew to himself -the hearts of men; winning them alike by the splendor of his eloquence -and by the purity of his life. - -Early married, early blessed with children, happy in his home, Ilyin -could give up hand and heart to the work he had found. He took from -the Book of Revelation the name of Right-hand Brethren, as an -appropriate title for all true members of the church; his purpose -being to proclaim the present unity and future salvation of all the -friends of God. - -A good soldier, a good man of business, Ilyin was sent to the -government works, in the province of Perm, in the Ural Mountains, -where he found time, in the midst of his purely military duties, for -preaching among the poor, and drawing some of those who had strayed -into separation back into the orthodox fold. His enemies admit that in -those days of his work in the Ural Mountains he lived a holy life. -Going on state affairs to the mines of Barancha, where the Government -owns a great many iron works and steel works, he saw among the -sectaries of that district, most of whom were exiles suffering for -their conscience' sake, a field for the exercise of his talents as a -preacher of the word, a reconciler of men. But the martyrs of free -thought whom he met in the mines of Barancha, were to him what the -Kaffir chieftains were to the Bishop of Natal. They put him to the -test. They showed him the darker side of his cause. They led him to -doubt whether reconciliation was to be expected from metropolites and -monks. Forced into a sharper scrutiny of his own belief, Ilyin at -length gave up his advocacy of the Orthodox faith, and even ceased to -attend the Orthodox mass. - -A secret Church was slowly formed in the province of Perm, of which -Ilyin was the chief. Not much was known in high quarters about his -doings, until Protopopoff, one of his pupils, was accused of some -trifling offense, connected with the public service, and brought to -trial. Protopopoff was a leading man among the Ural dissenters. His -true offense was some expression against the Church. Ilyin appeared in -public as his friend and advocate. Protopopoff was condemned: and -Ilyin closely watched. Ere long, the director-general of the Ural -Mines reported to his chief, the minister of finance in St. -Petersburg, that in one of his districts he had found existing among -the miners a new religious body, calling themselves, in secret, -Right-hand Brethren, of which body Nicolas Ilyin, captain of artillery -in the Emperor's service, was the chief and priest. - -Not a little frightened by his discoveries, the director-general lost -his head. In his report to the minister of finance, he said a good -deal of these reconcilers that was not true. He charged them with -circumcising children, with advocating a community of goods and lands, -with propagating doctrines fatally at war with imperial order in -Church and State. - -It is true that under the name of Gospel love, the followers of Ilyin -taught very strongly the necessity and sanctity of mutual help. They -spoke to the poor, and bade them take heart of grace; bidding them -look, not only for bliss in a better world, but for a reign of peace -and plenty on the earth. In the great questions of serf and soil, two -points around which all popular politics then moved, they took a part -with the peasant against his lord, though Ilyin was himself of noble -birth. These things appeared to the director-general of mines -anarchical and dangerous, and Ilyin was denounced by him to the -minister of finance as a man who was compromising the public peace. - -But the fact which more than all else struck the council in St. -Petersburg, was the zeal of Ilyin's pupils in spreading his doctrine -of the unity and brotherhood of mankind. The new society was said to -be perfect in unity. The first article of their association was the -need for missionary work; and every member of the sect was an apostle, -eager to spend his strength and give his life in building up the -friends of God. A man who either could not or would not convert the -Gentile was considered unworthy of a place on His right hand. At the -end of seven years a man who brought no sheep into the fold was -expelled as wanting in holy fire. Ilyin is alleged to have declared -that there was no salvation beyond the pale of this new church, and -that all those who professed any other creed would find their position -at the last day on the left hand of God, while the true brethren found -their seats on His right. This story is not likely to be true; and an -intolerant Church is always ready with such a cry. It is not asserted -that the new Church had any printed books, or even circulars, in which -these things were taught. The doctrine was alleged to be contained in -certain manuscript gospels, copied by proselytes and passed from one -member to another; such manuscript gospels having been written, in the -first instance at least, by Ilyin himself. - -A special commission was named by the ministers to investigate the -facts; and this commission, proceeding at once into the Ural Mines, -arrested many of the members, and seized some specimens of these -fugitive gospel sheets. Ilyin, questioned by the commissioners, avowed -himself the author of these Gospel tracts, which he showed them were -chiefly copies of sayings extracted from the Sermon on the Mount. In -scathing terms, he challenged the right of these commissioners to -judge and condemn the words of Christ. Struck by his eloquence and -courage, the commission hardly knew what to say; but as practical men, -they hinted that a captain of the imperial artillery holding such -doctrines must be unsound in mind. - -A report from these commissioners being sent, as usual, to the Holy -Governing Synod, that board of monks made very short work of this -pretender to sacred gifts. The reconciler of creeds and men was lodged -in the Convent of the Frozen Sea until he should put away his -tolerance, give up his dream of reconciliation, and submit his -conscience to the guidance of a monk. - -And so the reconciler rests in his convent ward. The Holy Governing -Synod treats such men as children who have gone astray; looking -forward to the wanderer coming round to his former state. The -sentence, therefore, runs in some such form as this: "You will be sent -to ...., where you will stay, under sound discipline, until you have -been brought to a better mind." Unless the man is a rogue, and yields -in policy, one sees how long such sentences are likely to endure! - -Nicolas Ilyin is a learned man, with whom no monk in the Convent of -Solovetsk is able to contend in speech. A former Archimandrite tried -his skill; but the prisoner's verbal fence and knowledge of Scripture -were too much for his feeble powers; and the man who had repulsed the -English fleet retired discomfited from Ilyin's cell. - -Once the prisoner got away, by help of soldiers who had known him in -his happier days. Escaping in a boat to Onega Point, he might have -gone his way overland, protected by the people; but instead of hiding -himself from his pursuers, he began to teach and preach. Denounced by -the police, he was quickly sent back to his dungeon; while the -soldiers who had borne some share in his escape were sent to the -Siberian mines for life. - -The noble name and courtly family of Ilyin are supposed to have saved -the arrested fugitive from convict labor in the mines. - -My efforts to procure a pardon for the old man failed; at least, for a -time; the answer to my plea being sent to me in these vague words: -"Après l'examin du dossier de l'affaire d'Ilyin, il resulte qu'il n'y -a pas eu d'arrêt de mise en liberté." Yet men like Nicolas Ilyin are -the salt of this earth; men who will go through fire and water for -their thought; men who would live a true life in a dungeon rather than -a false life in the richest mansions of the world! - - - - -CHAPTER XXIII. - -ADRIAN PUSHKIN. - - -Except the fact of their having been lodged in the Convent of -Solovetsk in neighboring cells, under the same hard rule, Adrian -Pushkin and Nicolas Ilyin have nothing in common; neither age nor -rank; neither learning nor talent; not an opinion; not a sympathy; not -a purpose. Pushkin is young, Ilyin is old. Pushkin is of burgher, -Ilyin of noble birth. Pushkin is uneducated in the higher sense; Ilyin -is a scholar to whom all systems of philosophy lie open. Pushkin is -not clever; Ilyin is considered, even by his persecutors, as a man of -the highest powers. - -Yet Pushkin's story, from the man's obscurity, affords a still more -curious instance of the dark and difficult way through which a -beneficent and reforming government has to pass. - -Early in the spring of 1866, a youth of good repute in his class and -district, that of a small burgher, in the town of Perm, began to make -a stir on the Ural slopes, by announcing to the peasant dissenters of -that region the second coming of our Lord, and offering himself as the -reigning Christ! - -Such an event is too common to excite remark in the upper ranks, until -it has been seen by trial whether the announcement takes much hold on -the peasant mind. In Pushkin's case, the neighbors knew their prophet -well. From his cradle he had been frail in body and flushed in mind. -When he was twenty years old, the doctors were consulted on his state -of mind; and though they would not then pronounce him crazy, they -reported him as a youth of weak and febrile pulse, afflicted with -disease of the heart; a boy who might, at any moment of his life, go -mad. Easy work, in country air, was recommended. A place was got for -him in the country, on the Countess Strogonof's estate, not far from -Perm. He was made a kind of clerk and overseer; a place of trust, in -which the work was light; but even this light labor proved too great -for him to bear. In doing his duty to his mistress, his mind gave way; -and when the light went out on earth, the poor idiot offered his help -in leading other men up to heaven. - -Many of the people near him knew that he was crazed; but his unsettled -wits were rather a help than hindrance to his success in stirring up -the village wine-shop and the workman's shed. In every part of the -East some touch of idiotcy is looked for in a holy man; the wandering -eye, the broken phrase, the distracted mien, being read as signs of -the Holy Spirit. The province of Perm is rich in sectaries; many of -whom watch and pray continually for the second coming of our Lord. -Among these sectaries, Adrian found some listeners to his tale. He -spoke to the poor, and of the poor. Calling the peasants to his side, -he pictured to them a kingdom of heaven in which they would owe no -taxes and pay no rent. The earth, he told them, was the Lord's; a -paradise given by Him as a possession to His saints. What peasant -would not hear such news with joy? A gospel preached in the village -wine-shop and the workman's shed was soon made known by its fruits; -and the Governor of Perm was told that tenants were refusing to pay -their rent and to render service, on the ground that the kingdom of -heaven was come and that Christ had begun to reign. - -Adrian was now arrested, and being placed before the Secret -Consultative Committee of Perm, he was found guilty of having preached -false doctrine and advocated unsocial measures; of having taught that -the taxes were heavy, that the peasants should possess the land, that -dues and service ought to be refused. Knowing that the young man was -mad, the Secret Consultative Committee saw that they could never treat -his case like that of a man in perfect health of body and mind. They -thought the Governor of Perm might request the Holy Governing Synod to -consent that Pushkin should be simply lodged in some country convent, -where he might live in peace, and, under gentle treatment, hope to -regain his wandering sense. - -But the Holy Governing Synod pays scant heed to lay opinion. Judging -the young man's fault with sharper anger than the Secret Consultative -Committee of Perm had done, they sent him to Solovetsk; not until he -should recover his sense and could resume his duties as a clerk, but -until such time as he should recant his doctrines and publicly return -to the Orthodox fold. - -Valouef, Minister of the Interior, received from Perm a copy of this -synodal resolution, which he saw, as a layman, that he could not carry -out, except by flying in the face of Russian law. The man was mad. The -Holy Governing Synod treated him as sane. But how could he, a jurist, -cast a man into prison for being of unsound mind? No code in the world -would sanction such a course; no court in Russia would sustain him in -such an act. Of course, the Holy Governing Synod was a light unto -itself; but here the civil power was asked to take a part which in the -minister's conscience was against the spirit and letter of the -imperial code. - -It was a case of peril on either side. Such things had been done so -often in former years, that the Church expected them to go on forever; -and the monks were certain to resist, to slander, and destroy the man -who should come between them and their prey. Valouef, acting with -prudence, brought the report before a council of ministers, and after -much debate, not only of the special facts but of the guiding rules, -the council of ministers agreed upon these two points: first, that -such a man as Pushkin could not be safely left at large in Perm; -second, that it would be against the whole spirit of Russian law to -punish a man for being out of his mind. - -On these two principles being adopted, Valouef was recommended by the -Council of Ministers to procure the Emperor's leave for Adrian Pushkin -to be brought from Perm to St. Petersburg, for the purpose of -undergoing other and more searching medical tests. Carrying his -minute-book to the Emperor, Valouef explained the facts, together with -the rules laid down, and his majesty, adopting the suggestion, wrote -with his own hand these words across the page: "Let this be done -according to the Minister of the Interior's advice, Oct. 21, 1866." - -On this humane order, Pushkin was brought from Perm to St. Petersburg, -where he was placed before a board of medical men. After much care and -thought had been given to the subject, this medical board declared -that Pushkin was unsound of brain, and could not be held responsible -for his words and acts. - -So far then as Emperor and ministers could go, the course of justice -was smooth and straight; but then came up the question of what the -Church would say. A board of monks had ordered Pushkin to be lodged in -the dungeons of Solovetsk until he repented of his sins. A board of -medical men had found him out of his mind; and a council of ministers, -acting on their report, had come to the conclusion that, according to -law, he could not be lodged in jail. His majesty was become a party to -the course of secular justice by having signed, with his own hand, the -order for Adrian to be fetched from Perm and subjected to a higher -class of medical tests. Emperor, ministers, physicians, stood on one -side; on the other side stood a board of monks. Which was to have -their way? - -The Holy Governing Synod held their ground; and in a question of false -teaching it was impossible to oppose their vote. They knew, as well as -the doctors, that Adrian was insane; but then, they said, all heretics -are more or less insane. The malady of unbelief is not a thing for men -of science to understand. They, and not a medical board, could purge a -sufferer like Pushkin of his evil spirit. They said he must be sent, -as ordered, to the Frozen Sea. - -No minister could sign the warrant for his removal after what had -passed; and, powerful as they are, the Holy Governing Synod have to -use the civil arm. The dead-lock was complete. But here came into play -the silent and inscrutable agency of the secret police. These secret -police have a life apart from that of every other body in the State. -They think for every one; they act for every one. So long as law is -clear and justice prompt, they may be silent--looking on; but when the -hour of conflict comes, when great tribunals are at feud, when no one -else can see their way, these officers step to the front, set aside -codes and rules, precedents and decisions, as so much idle stuff, -assume a right to judge the judges, to replace the ministers, and, in -the name of public safety, do what they consider, in their wisdom, -best for all. - -The men who form this secret body are not called police, but "members -of the third section of his imperial majesty's chancellery." They are -highly conservative, not to say despotic, in their views; and said to -feel a particular joy when thwarting men of science and overruling -judgments given in the courts of law. One general rule defines the -power which they can bring to bear in such a case as that of Adrian -Pushkin. If justice seems to them to have failed, and they are firmly -persuaded--they must be "firmly persuaded"--that the public service -requires "exclusive measures" to be adopted, they are free to act. - -On the whole, these secret agents side with power against law, with -usage against reform, with all that is old against every thing that is -new. In Pushkin's case they sided with the monks. Overriding Emperor, -minister, council, medical board, they carried Pushkin to the White -Sea, where he was placed by the Archimandrite, not in a monastic cell, -but in the dismal corridor in which I found him. He is perfectly -submissive, and clearly mad. He goes to mass without ado, says his -prayers, confesses his sins, and seems to have returned into the arms -of the official Church. The monks in charge of him have told their -chiefs that he is now of right mind with regard to the true faith; and -the Governor of Archangel has written to advise that he should be -allowed to go back to his friends in Perm. - -It is hard, however, for a man to get away from Solovetsk. A year ago, -General Timashef, who has now replaced Valouef in the Ministry of the -Interior, wrote to ask whether the Holy Governing Synod had not heard -from the Archimandrite of Solovetsk in favor of the prisoner; and -whether the time had not come for him to be given up to his friends. -No answer to that letter has been received to the present day (Dec., -1869). The board of monks are slow to undo their work; the dissidents -in Perm are gaining ground; and this poor madman remains a prisoner in -the pigeons' yard! - - - - -CHAPTER XXIV. - -DISSENT. - - -These dissidents, who ruffle so much the patient faces of the monks, -are gaining ground in other provinces of the empire as well as Perm. - -Such tales as those of Ilyin and Pushkin open a passage, as it were, -beneath an observer's feet; going down into crypts and chambers below -the visible edifice of the Orthodox Church and Government; showing -that, in the secret depths of Russian life there may be other -contentions than those which are arming the married clergy against the -monks. On prying into these crypts and chambers, we find a hundred -points on which some part of the people differ from their Official -Church. - -The Emperor Nicolas would not hear of any one falling from his Church; -"autocracy and orthodoxy" was his motto; and what the master would not -deign to hear, the Minister of Education tried his utmost not to see. -That millions of Mussulmans, Jews, and Buddhists lived beneath his -sceptre, Nicolas was fond of saying; but for a countryman of his own -to differ in opinion from himself was like a mutiny in his camp. The -Church had fixed the belief of one and all; the only terms on which -they could be saved from hell. Had _he_ not sworn to observe those -terms? While Nicolas lived it was silently assumed in the Winter -Palace that the dissenting bodies were all put down. One Christian -church existed in his empire; and never, perhaps, until his dying hour -did Nicolas learn the truth about those men whom the breath of his -anger was supposed to have swept away! - -Outside the Winter Palace and the Official Church dissent was growing -and thriving throughout his reign. No doubt some few conformed--with -halters round their throats. When autocrat and monk combined to crush -all those who held aloof from the State religion, the sincere -dissenter had to pass through bitter times; but spiritual passion is -not calmed by firing volleys into the house of prayer; and the result -of thirty years of savage persecution is, that these non-conformists -are to-day more numerous, wealthy, concentrated, than they were on the -day when Nicolas began his reign. - -No man in Russia pretends to know the names, the numbers, and the -tenets of these sects, still less the secrets of their growth. A -mystery is made of them on every side. The Minister of Police divides -them into four large groups, which he names and classifies as follows: - - I.--DUKHOBORTSI, Champions of the Holy Spirit. - II.--MOLOKANI, Milk Drinkers. - III.--KHLYSTI, Flagellants. - IV.--SKOPTSI, Eunuchs. - -In our day it is rare to find self-deception carried to so high a -point as in this official list. Four groups! Why, the Russian -dissenters boast, like their Hindoo brethren, of a hundred sects. The -classification is no less strange. The Champions of the Holy Spirit -are neither an ancient nor a strong society. The Milk Drinkers are of -later times than the Flagellants and the Eunuchs. The Flagellants are -not so numerous as the Eunuchs, though they probably surpass in -strength the Champions of the Holy Spirit. - -The Flagellants and Eunuchs are of ancient date--no one knows how -ancient; the Flagellants going back to the fourteenth century at -least; the Eunuchs going back to the Scythian ages; while the Milk -Drinkers and the Champions of the Holy Spirit sprang into life in the -times of Peter the Great. - - -CHAMPIONS OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. - -Though standing first in the official list, the Champions of the Holy -Spirit are one of the less important sects. They write nothing, and -never preach. The only book which contains their doctrine is "The -Dukhobortsi," written by a satirist and a foe! Novitski, a professor -in the University of Kief, having heard of these champions from time -to time, threw what he learned about them into a squib of some eighty -pages; meaning to laugh at them, and do his worst to injure them, -according to his lights. His tract was offered for twenty kopecks, but -no one seemed disposed to buy, until the Champions took it up, read it -in simple faith, and sent a deputation to thank the professor for his -service to their cause! Novitski was amused by their gravity; -especially when they told him a fact of which he was not aware; that -the articles of their creed had never until then been gathered into a -connected group! Of this droll deputation the police got hints. -Novitski, being an officer of state, was, of course, orthodox; and his -book bore every sign of having been written to expose and deride the -non-conforming sect. Yet the police, on hearing of that deputation, -began to fear there was something wrong; and in the hope of setting -things right, they put his tract on their prohibited list of books. -What more could an author ask? On finding the work condemned by the -police, the Champions sent to the writer, paying him many compliments -and buying up every copy of his tract at fifty rubles each. Novitski -made a fortune by his squib; and now, in spite of his jokes, the -laughing Professor of Kief is held to be the great expounder of their -creed! - -The Champions build no churches and they read no Scriptures; holding, -like some of our Puritan sects, that a church is but a house of logs -and stones, while the temple of God is the living heart; that books -are only words, deceitful words, while the conscience of man must be -led and ruled by the inner light. They show a tendency towards the -most ancient form of worship; holding that every father of a family is -a priest. Many of them join the Jews, and undergo the rite of -circumcision. Now and then they buy a copy of the Hebrew Bible, though -they can not read one word of the sacred text. They keep it in their -houses as a charm. - - -MILK DRINKERS. - -The Milk Drinkers are of more importance than these Champions of the -Holy Spirit. - -Critics dispute the meaning of Molokani. The original seats of the -Milk Drinkers are certain villages in the south country, lying on the -banks of a river called the Molotchnaya (Milky Stream); a river -flowing past the city of Melitopol into the Sea of Azof, through a -district rich in saltpetre, and pushing its waters into the sea as -white as milk. But some of the secretaries whom I meet at Volsk, on -the Lower Volga, tell me this resemblance of name is an accident, no -more. According to my local guides, the term Milk Drinker, like that -of Shaker, Mormon, and, indeed, of Christian, is a term of contempt -applied to them by their enemies, because they decline to keep the -ordinary fasts in Lent. Milk--and what comes of milk; butter, whey, -and cheese--are staples of food in every house; and a sinner who -breaks his fast in Lent is pretty sure to break it on one of the -articles derived from milk; chiefly by frying his potato in a pat of -butter instead of in a drop of vegetable oil. - -These milk people deny the sanctity and the use of fasts, holding that -men who have to work require good food, to be eaten in moderation all -the year round; no day stinted, no day in excess. They prefer to live -by the laws of nature; asking and giving a reason for every thing they -do. They set their faces against monks and popes. They look on Christ -with reverence, as the purest being ever born of woman; but they deny -his oneness with the Father, and treat the miraculous part of his -career on earth as a tale of later times. In a word, the Milk Drinkers -are Rationalists. - -The name which they give themselves is Gospel Men; for they profess to -stand by the Evangelists; live with exceeding purity, and base their -daily lives on what they understand to be the laws laid down for all -mankind in the Sermon on the Mount. Under Nicolas they were sorely -harried. Sixteen thousand men and women were seized by the police; -arranged in gangs; and driven with rods and thongs across the dreary -steppes and yet more dreary mountain crests into the Caucasus. In that -fearful day a great many of the Milk Drinkers fled across the Pruth -into Turkey, where the Sultan gave them a village, called Tulcha, for -their residence. Wise and tolerant Turk! These emigrants carried their -virtues and their wealth into the new country, prospered in their -shops and farms, and made for their protectors beyond the Danube a -thousand friends in their ancient homes. - - -FLAGELLANTS. - -The Flagellants are older in date, stronger in number than the -Champions and the Milk Drinkers. They go back to the first year of -Alexie (1645); to a time of deep distress, when the heads of men were -troubled with a sense of their guilty neglect of God. - -One Daniel Philipitch, a peasant in the province of Kostroma, serving -in the wars of his country, ran away from his flag, declared himself -the Almighty, and wandered about the empire, teaching those who would -listen to his voice his doctrine in the form of three great -assertions: I. I am God, announced by the prophets; there is no other -God but me. II. There is no other doctrine. III. There is nothing new. - -To these three assertions were added nine precepts: (1.) drink no -wine; (2.) remain where you are, and what you are; (3.) never marry; -(4.) never swear, or name the devil; (5.) attend no wedding, -christening, or other feast; (6.) never steal; (7.) keep my doctrine -secret; (8.) love each other, and keep my laws; (9.) believe in the -Holy Spirit. Daniel roamed about the country, preaching this gospel -for several years, gathering to himself disciples in many places, -though his headquarters remained at Kostroma. He was God; and his -converts called themselves God's people. Daniel chose a son, one Ivan -Susloff, a peasant of Vladimir; and this Ivan Susloff chose a pretty -young girl as his Virgin Mother, together with twelve apostles. Flung -into prison with forty of his disciples, Susloff saw the heresy -spread. It ran through the empire, and it has followers at this hour -in every part of Central Russia. "God's House," Daniel's residence in -the village of Staroï, still remains--held in the utmost veneration by -country folk. - -The chief article of their faith is the last precept given by Daniel, -"Believe in the Holy Ghost." All their discipline and service is meant -to weaken the flesh and strengthen the spirit; to which end they fast -very often and flog each other very much. - -Great numbers of these Flagellants have been sent into the Caucasus -and Siberia, where many of them have been forced to serve in the -armies and in the mines. - - -EUNUCHS. - -A more singular body is that of the Beliegolubi (White Doves), called -by their enemies Skoptsi (Eunuchs). These people "make themselves -eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven's sake," and look on Peter the -Third, whom they take to be still alive, as their priest and king. -They profess to lead a life of absolute purity in the Lord; spotless, -they say, as the sacrificial doves! The White Doves are believed to -live like anchorites; all except a few of their prophets and leading -men. They drink no whisky and no wine. They think it a sin to indulge -in fish; their staple food is milk, with bread and walnut oil. White, -weak, and wasting, they appear in the shops and streets like ghosts. -The monks admit that they are free from most of the vices which -afflict mankind. It is affirmed of them that they neither game nor -quarrel; that they neither lie nor steal. The sect is secret; and any -profession of the faith would make a martyr of the man upon whom was -found the sign of his high calling. Seeming to be what other men are, -they often escape detection, not for years only, but for life; many of -them filling high places in the world; their tenets unknown to those -who are counted in the ranks of their nearest friends. - -The White Doves have no visible church, no visible chief. Christ is -their king, and heaven their church. But the reign of Christ has not -yet come; nor will the Prince of Light appear until the earth is -worthy to receive Him. Two or three persons, gathered in His name, may -hope to find Him in the spirit; but not until three hundred thousand -saints confess His reign will He come to abide with them in visible -flesh. One day that sacred host will be complete; the old earth and -the old heaven will pass away, consumed like a scroll in the fire. - -So far as I can see (for the Eunuchs print no books, and frame no -articles), their leading tenet, borrowed from the East, appears to be -that of a recurring Incarnation of the Word. Just as a pundit of -Benares teaches that Vishnu has been born into the world many times, -probably many hundred times, a White Dove holds that the Messiah is -for evermore being born again into the world which He has saved. Once -He came as a peasant's child in Galilee, when the soldiers and -high-priests rose on Him and slew Him. Once again He came as an -emperor's grandson in Russia, when the soldiers and high-priests rose -on Him again and slew Him. He did not die; for how could God be killed -by man? But He withdrew into the unseen until His hour should come. -Meantime he is with His Church, though not in His majestic and -potential shape, as hero, king, and God. - -The White Doves have amongst them, only known to few, a living Virgin -and a living Christ. These incarnations are not Son and Mother in -their mortal shapes; in fact, the Son is generally older than the -Mother; and they are not of kin, except in the Holy Spirit. The -present Christ exists in his lower form; holy, not royal; pure, not -perfect; waiting for the ripeness of his time, when he will once again -take flesh in all his majesty as God. A Virgin is chosen in the hope -that when the ripeness of His time has come, He will be born again -from that Virgin's side. - -Alexander the First was deeply moved by what he heard of these -sectaries. He went amongst them, and held much talk with their learned -men. It has been imagined that he joined their church. Under Nicolas, -the "Doves" were chased and seized by the police. On proof of the fact -they were tied in gangs, and sent into the Caucasus, where they -lived--and live--at the town of Maran, a post on the road from Poti to -Kutais, waiting for Peter to arrive. A second colony exists in the -town of Shemakha, on the road from Tiflis to the Caspian Sea. They are -said to be docile men, doing little work on scanty food, giving no -trouble, and leading an innocent and sober life. At present, they are -not much worried by the police; except when some discovery, like the -Plotitsen case in Tambof, excites the public mind. A Dove who keeps -his counsel, and refrains from trying to convert his neighbors, need -not live in fear. The law is against him; his faith is forbidden; he -is not allowed to sing in the streets, to hold public meetings, and to -bury his dead with any of his adopted rites; these ceremonies of his -faith must be done in private and in secret; yet this singular body is -said to be increasing fast. They are known to be rich; they are -reported to be generous. A poor man is never suspected of being a -Eunuch. When the love of woman dies out, from any cause, in a man's -heart, it is always succeeded by the love of money; and all the -bankers and goldsmiths who have made great fortunes are suspected of -being Doves. In Kertch and Moscow, you will hear of vast sums in gold -and silver being paid to a single convert for submitting to their -rite. - -The richest Doves are said to pay large sums of money to converts, on -the strength of a prophecy made by one of their holy men, that so soon -as three hundred thousand disciples have been gathered into his fold, -the Lord will come to reign over them in person, and to give up to -them all the riches of the earth. - - - - -CHAPTER XXV. - -NEW SECTS. - - -These groups, so far from ending the volume of dissent, do little more -than open it up to sight. Stories of the Flagellants and the Eunuchs -are like old-world tales, the sceneries of which lie in other ages and -other climes. These sects exist, no doubt; but they draw the nurture -of their life from a distant world; and they have little more enmity -to Church and State than what descends with them from sire to son. -Committees have sat upon them; laws have been framed to suit them; -ministerial papers have described them. They figure in many books, and -are the subjects of much song and art. In short, they are historical -sects, like the Anabaptists in Germany, the Quakers in England, the -Alumbradros in Spain. - -But the genius of dissent is change; and every passing day gives birth -to some new form of faith. As education spreads, the sectaries -multiply. "I am very much puzzled," said to me a parish priest, "by -what is going on. I wish to think the best; but I have never known a -peasant learn to read, and think for himself, who did not fall away -into dissent." The minds of men are vexed with a thousand fears, -excited by a thousand hopes; every one seems listening for a voice; -and every man who has the daring to announce himself is instantly -followed by an adoring crowd. These births are in the time, and of the -time; apostles born of events, and creeds arising out of present -needs. They have a political side as well as a religious side. Some -samples of these recent growths may be described from notes collected -by me in provinces of the empire far apart; dissenting bodies of a -growth so recent, that society--even in Russia--has not yet heard -their names. - - -LITTLE CHRISTIANS. - -In the past year (1868) a new sect broke out in Atkarsk, in the -province of Saratof, and diocese of the Bishop of Tsaritzin. Sixteen -persons left the Orthodox Church, without giving notice to their -parish priest. They set up a new religion, and began to preach a -gospel of their own devising. Saints and altar-pieces, said these -dissidents, were idols. Even the bread and wine were things of an -olden time. They had a call of their own to teach, to suffer, and to -build a Church. This call was from Christ. They obeyed the summons by -going down into the Volga, dipping each other into the flood, changing -their names, and holding together a solemn feast. This scene took -place in winter--Ash Wednesday, February 26th, when the waters of the -Volga are locked in ice, and had to be pierced with poles. From that -day they have called themselves humbly, after the Lord's name, Little -Christians. - -They have no priests, and hardly any form of prayer. They keep no -images, use no wafers, and make no sacred oil. Instead of the -consecrated bread, they bake a cake, which they afterwards worship, as -a special gift from God. This cake is like a penny bun in shape and -size; but in the minds of these Little Christians it possesses a -potent virtue and a mystic charm. - -Hearing of these secessions from his flock, the Bishop of Tsaritzin -wrote to Count Tolstoi, Minister of Education, who in turn dispatched -his orders to the district police. These orders were, that the men -were to be closely watched; that no more baptisms in the ice were to -be allowed; that no more cakes were to be baked of the size and shape -of a penny bun. All preaching of these new tenets was to be stopped. -The bishop, living on the spot, was to be consulted on every point of -procedure against the sectaries. All these orders, and some others, -have been carried out; the police are happy in their labor of -repression; and the heresy of the Little Christians is increasing fast. - - -HELPERS. - -A few months ago the Governor of Kherson was amused by hearing that -some villagers in his province had been arrested by the police on the -ground of their being a great deal too good for honest men. It was -said the men who had been cast into prison never drank, never swore, -never lied, owed no money, and never confessed their sins to the -parish priest. Nobody could make them out; and the police, annoyed at -not being able to make them out, whipped them off their fields, threw -them into prison, and laid a statement of their suspicions before the -prince. - -These over-good peasants were brothers, by name Ratushni, living in -the hamlet of Osnova, in which they owned some land. Not far from -Osnova stands a small town called Ananief, in which lived a burgher -named Vonsarski, who was also marked by the police with a black line, -as being a man too good for his class. Vonsarski paid his debts and -kept his word; he lived with his wife in peace; and he never attended -his parish church. He, too, was seized by the police and lodged in -jail, until such time as he should explain himself, and the governor's -pleasure could be learned. - -It is surmised that the monks set the police at work; in the hope that -if nothing could be proved at first against these offenders, tongues -might be loosened, tattle might come out, and some sort of charge -might be framed, so soon as the fact of their lying in jail was noised -abroad through the southern steppe. - -Ratushni and Vonsarski were known to be clever men; to have talked -with Moravian settlers in the south. They were suspected of looking -with a lenient eye on the foreign style of harnessing bullocks and -driving carts. They were accused of underrating the advantages of -rural communes, in favor of a more equitable and religious system of -mutual help. They were called the Helpers. But their chief offense -appears to have been their preference for domestic worship over that -of the parish priest. - -The Governor of Kherson thought his duty in the matter clear; he set -the prisoners free. When the Black Clergy of his province stormed upon -him, as a man abetting heresy and schism, he quoted Paragraph 11 in -his imperial master's minute on the treatment of Dissent; a paragraph -laying down the rule that every man is free to believe as he likes, so -long as he abstains from troubling his neighbors by attempting to -convert them to his creed. The prince added a recommendation of his -own, that the clergy of his province should strive in their own -vocation to bring these wanderers back into the fold of God. - - -NON-PAYEES OF RENT. - -Near Kazan I hear of a new sect having sprung up in the province of -Viatka, which is giving the ministry much trouble. It may have been -the fruit of poor Adrian Pushkin's labor (though I have not heard his -name in connection with it); the main doctrine of the Non-payers of -Rent being the second article of Pushkin's creed. - -The canton of Mostovinsk, in the district of Sarapul, is the scene of -this rising of poor saints against the tyrants of this world. Viatka, -lying on the frontiers of Asia, with a mixed population of Russ, -Finns, Bashkirs, Tartars, is one of the most curious provinces of the -empire. Every sort of religion flourishes in its difficult dales; -Christian, Mussulman, Buddhist, Pagan; each under scores of differing -forms and names. Twenty Christian sects might be found in this single -province; and as all aliens and idolaters living there have the right -of being ruled by their own chiefs, it is not easy for the police to -follow up all the clues of discovery on which they light. But such a -body as the Non-payers of Rent could hardly conceal themselves from -the public eye. If they were to live their life and obey their -teachers, they must come into the open day, avow their doctrine, and -defend their creed. Such was the necessary logic of their conversion, -and when rents became due they refused to pay. The debt was not so -much a rental, as a rent-charge on their land. Like all crown-peasants -(and these reformers had been all crown-peasants), they had received -their homesteads and holdings subject to a certain liquidating charge. -This charge they declined to meet on religious grounds. - -Alarmed by such a revolt, the Governor of Viatka wrote to St. -Petersburg for orders. He was told, in answer, to make inquiries; to -arrest the leaders; and to watch with care for signs of trouble. -Nearly two hundred Non-payers of Rent were seized by the police, -parted into groups, and put under question. Some were released on the -governor's recommendation; but when I left the neighborhood, -twenty-three of these Non-paying prisoners were still in jail. - -They could not see the error of their creed; they would not promise to -abstain from teaching it; and, worst of all, they obstinately declined -to bear the stipulated burdens on their land. - -What is a practical statesman to do with men who say their conscience -will not suffer them to pay their rent? - - - - -CHAPTER XXVI. - -MORE NEW SECTS. - - -On my arrival in the province of Simbirsk, every one is talking of a -singular people, whose proceedings have been recently brought to -light. One Peter Mironoff, a private soldier in the Syzran regiment, -has set up a new religion, which is to be professed in secret and to -have no name. Peter is known as a good sort of man; pious, orderly, -sedate; a soldier never absent from his drill; a penitent who never -shirked his priest. Nothing fantastic was expected from him. It is -said that he began by converting fourteen of his comrades, all of whom -swore that they would hold the truth in private, that they would act -so as to divert suspicion, that they would suffer exile, torture, -death itself, but never reveal the gospel they had heard. - -Not being a learned man, and having no respect for books, Peter -rejects all rituals, derides all services, tears up all lives of -saints. He holds that reading and writing are dangerous things, and -takes tradition and a living teacher for his guides. Though waging war -against icons and crosses, on which he stamps and frowns in his secret -rites, he ostentatiously hangs a silver icon in his chamber, and wears -a copper cross suspended from his neck. Teaching his pupils that true -religion lies in a daily battle with the flesh, he urges them to fast -and fast; abstaining, when they fast, from every kind of food, so as -not to mock the Lord; and when they indulge the senses, to reject as -luxuries unfit for children of grace such food as meat and wine, as -milk and eggs, as oil and fish. He warns young people against the sin -of marriage, and he bids the married people live as though they were -not; urging them to lead a life of purity and peace, even such as the -angels are supposed to lead in heaven. By day and night he declares -that the heart of man is full of good and evil; that the good may be -encouraged, the evil discouraged; that fasting and prayer are the only -means of driving out the evil spirits which enter into human flesh. - -The men whom Peter has drawn into order reject all mysteries and -signs; they wash themselves in quass, and then drink the slops. They -live in peace with the world, they help each other to get on, and they -implicitly obey a holy virgin whom they have chosen for themselves. - -This virgin, a peasant-woman named Anicia, living in the village of -Perevoz, in the province of Tambof, is their actual ruler; one who is -even higher in authority than Peter Mironoff himself. Anicia has been -married about nineteen years. Fallen man, they say, can only have one -teacher; and that one teacher must be a woman and a virgin. After -Anicia, they recognize the Saviour and St. Nicolas as standing next in -rank. - -Their service, held in secret, with closed doors and shutters, begins -and ends with songs; brisk music of the romping sort, accompanied by -jumping, hopping, twirling; and a part of their worship has been -borrowed from the Tartar mosques. They stand in prayer. They bow to -the ground in adoration. They make no sign of the cross. Instead of -crying "Save me, pardon me, Mother Mary!" they cry "Save me, pardon -me, Mother Anicia Ivanovna!" - -Like all the sectaries, these Nameless Ones reject the official empire -and the official church. - -A long time passed before Peter and his fellows were betrayed to the -police, and now that the prophet and virgin have been seized, attempts -are made to pass the matter by as a harmless joke. The Government is -puzzled how to act; nearly all the men and women accused of belonging -to this lawless and blasphemous sect being known through the province -of Simbirsk for their sober and decent lives. The leaders are noted -men, not only as church-goers, but supporters of the clergy in their -struggles against the world. Every man whom the police has seized on -suspicion holds a certificate from his priest, in which his regularity -in coming to confess his sins and receive the sacrament is duly set -forth and signed. Nay, more, the parish priests come forward to -testify in their behalf; for in a society which does not commonly -regard priests with favor, the men who are now accused of irreligion -have set an example of respect for God's ministers by asking them, on -suitable occasions, to their homes. - -Mother Anicia, arrested in her village, has been put under the -severest trials; yet nothing has been found against her credit and her -fame. She is forty years old. She has been married nineteen years. A -medical board, appointed by the governor, reports that she is still a -virgin, and her neighbors, far and near, declare that she has lived -amongst them a perfectly blameless life. - -The police are not yet beaten in their game. An agent of their own has -sworn to having been present in one of the sheds in which they -conducted their indecent rites. Peter Mironoff, he declares, took down -the ordinary icons from the wall, spat on them, cursed them, banged -them on the floor, leaped on them, and ground them beneath his feet. -After cursing the images, Mironoff kneaded a peculiar cake of ashes, -foul water, and paste, in mockery of the sacred bread, and gave to -every man in the shed a piece of this cake to eat. When they had eaten -this cake, he called on them to strip, each one as naked as when he -was born--garments being a sign of sin; and when they had all obeyed -his words he bade them sing and pray together, in testimony against -the world. - -Each man, says this agent, is bound by the rules to choose for himself -a bride of the Spirit, with whom he must live in the utmost purity of -life. - -What can a reforming minister do in such a case? A jurist would be -glad to leave such folk alone; but the Holy Governing Synod will not -suffer them to be left alone. Peter and Anicia remain in jail; their -case is under consideration; and the model soldier and blameless -villager will probably end their days in a Siberian mine. - - -COUNTERS. - -In the province of Saratof, a wild steppe country, lying between the -lands of the Kalmuks and the Don Kozaks, I hear of a new sect, called -the Counters or Enumerators (Chislenniki). The high-priest of this -congregation is one Taras Maxim, a peasant of Semenof, one of the -bleak log villages in the black-soil country. - -Taras speaks of having been out one night in a wood, when he met a -venerable man, holding in his hands a book. This book had been given -to the old man by an angel, and the old man offered to let Taras read -it. Parting the leaves, he found the writing in the sacred Slavonic -tongue, and the words a message of salvation to all living men. The -book declared that the people of God must be counted and set apart -from the world. It spoke of the Official Church as the Devil's Church. -It showed that men have confused the order of time, so as to profane -with secular work the day originally set apart for rest; that Thursday -is the seventh day, the true Sabbath, to be kept forever holy in the -name of God. It mentioned saints and angels with contempt; denounced -the official fasts as works of Satan; and proclaimed in future only -one fast a year. It spoke of the seven sacraments as delusions, to be -wholly banished from the Church of God. It said the priesthood was -unnecessary and unlawful; every man was a priest, empowered by Heaven -to confess penitents, to read the service, and inter the dead. - -Having read all these things, and some others, in the book, Taras -Maxim left his venerable host in the wood, and going back into -Semenof, told a friend what he had seen and learned. Men and women -listened to his tale, and, being anxious for salvation, they counted -themselves off from a corrupt society, and founded the Secret Semenof -Church. - -So far as I could learn--the sect being unlawful, and the rites -performed in private--one great purpose seems to inspire these -Counters; that of pouring contempt, in phrase and gesture, on the -forms of legal and official life. Sometimes, I can hardly doubt, they -carry this protest to the length of indecent riot. Holding that Sunday -is not a holy day, they meet in their sheds and barns on Sunday -morning, while the village pope is saying mass, and having closed the -door and planted watchers in the street, they sing and dance, they -gibe and sneer; using, it is said, the roughest Biblical language to -denounce, the coarsest Oriental methods to defile, the neighbors whom -they regard as enemies of God. - -Semenof stands east of Jerusalem, and even east of Mecca. - -Maxim's chief theological tenet refers to sin. Man has to be saved -from sin. Unless he sins, he can not be saved. To commit sin, is -therefore the first step towards redemption. Hence it is inferred by -the police that Maxim and his pupils rather smile on sinners, -especially on female sinners, as persons who are likely to become the -objects of peculiar grace. Outside their body, these Counters are -regarded, even by liberal men, as an immoral and unsocial sect. - - -NAPOLEONISTS. - -In Moscow I hear of a body of worshippers who have the singular -quality of drawing their hope from a foreign soil. These men are -Napoleonists. Like all the dissenting sects, they hate the official -empire and deride the Official Church. Seeing that the chief enemy of -Russia in modern times was Napoleon, they take him to have been, -literally, that Messiah which he assumed to be, in a certain mystical -sense, to the oppressed and divided Poles; and they have raised the -Corsican hero into the rank of a Slavonic god. - -Their society is secret, and their worship private. That they live and -thrive, as an organized society, is affirmed by those who know their -country well. Their meetings are held with closed doors and windows, -under the very eyes of the police; but this is the case with so many -sects in Moscow, that their immunity from detection need excite no -wonder in our eyes. Making a sort of altar in their room, they place -on it a bust of the foreign prince, and fall on their knees before it. -Busts of Napoleon are found in many houses; in none more frequently -than in those of the imperial race. I have been in most of these -imperial dwellings, and do not recollect one, from the Winter Palace -to the Farm, in which there was not a bust of their splendid foe. - -The Napoleonists say their Messiah is still alive, and in the flesh; -that he escaped from the snares of his enemies; that he crossed the -seas from St. Helena to Central Asia; that he dwells in Irkutsk, near -Lake Baikal, on the borders of Chinese Tartary; that in his own good -time he will come back to them, heal their sectional quarrels, raise a -great army, and put the partisans of Satan, the reigning dynasty and -acting ministers, to the sword. - - - - -CHAPTER XXVII. - -THE POPULAR CHURCH. - - -These secret sects and parties would be curious studies--and little -more--if they stood apart, and had to live or die by forces of their -own. In such a case they would be hardly more important than the -English Levellers and the Yankee Come-outers; but these Russian -dissidents are symptoms of a disease in the imperial body, not the -disease itself. They live on the popular aversion to an official -church. - -It is not yet understood in England and America that a Popular Church -exists in Russia side by side with the Official Church. It is not yet -suspected in England and America that this Popular Church exists in -sleepless enmity and eternal conflict with this Official Church. Yet -in this fact of facts lies the key to every estimate of Russian -progress and Russian power. - -This Popular Church consists of the Old Believers; men who reject the -pretended "reforms" of Patriarch Nikon, and follow their fathers in -observing the more ancient rite. "You will find in our country," said -to me a priest of this ancient faith, "a Church of Byzantine, and a -Church of Bethlehem; a new voice and an old voice; a system framed by -man, and a gospel given by God." - -No one has ever yet counted the men who stand aloof from the State -Church as Old Believers. By the Government they have been sometimes -treated in a vague and foolish way as dissenters; though the -governments have never had the courage to count them as dissenters in -the official papers. Known to be sources of weakness in the empire, -they have been hated, feared, cajoled, maligned; observed by spies, -arrested by police, entreated by ministers; every thing but counted; -for the governments have not dared to face the truths which counting -these Old Believers would reveal. A wiser spirit rules to-day in the -Winter Palace; and this great question--greatest of all domestic -questions--is being studied under all its lights. Already it is felt -in governing circles--let the monks say what they will--that nothing -can be safely done in Russia, unless these Old Believers like it. -Every new suggestion laid before the Council of Ministers is met (I -have been told) by the query--"What will the Old Believers say?" - -The points to be ascertained about these Old Believers are these: How -many do they count? What doctrines do they profess? What is their -present relation to the empire? What concessions would reconcile them -to the country and the laws? - -How many do they count? - -A bishop, who has travelled much in his country, tells me they are ten -or eleven millions strong. A minister of state informs me they are -sixteen or seventeen millions strong. "Half the people, even now, are -Old Believers," says a priest from Kem; "more than three-fourths will -be, the moment we are free." My own experience leads me to think this -priest is right. "I tell you what I find in going through the -country," writes to me a German who has lived in Russia for thirty -years, knowing the people well, yet standing free (as a Lutheran) from -their local brawls; "I find, on taking the population, man by man, -that _four_ persons _in five_ are either Old Believers now, or would -be Old Believers next week, if it were understood among them that the -Government left them free." This statement goes beyond my point; yet I -see good reason every day to recognize the fact--so long concealed in -official papers--that the Old Believers are the Russian people, while -the Orthodox Believers are but a courtly, official, and monastic sect. - -Nearly all the northern peasants are Old Believers; nearly all the Don -Kozaks are Old Believers; more than half the population of Nijni and -Kazan are Old Believers; most of the Moscow merchants are Old -Believers. Excepting princes and generals, who owe their riches to -imperial favor, the wealthiest men in Russia are Old Believers. The -men who are making money, the men who are rising, the captains of -industry, the ministers of commerce, the giants of finance--in one -word, the men of the instant future--are members of the Popular -Church. - -Driving through the streets of Moscow, day by day, admiring the noble -houses in town and suburb, your eye and ear are taken by surprise at -every turn. "Whose house is this?" you ask. "Morozof's." "What is he?" -"Morozof! why, sir, Morozof is the richest man in Moscow; the greatest -mill-owner in Russia. Fifty thousand men are toiling in his mills. He -is an Old Believer." - -"Who lives here?" "Soldatenkof." "What is he!" "A great merchant; a -great manufacturer; one of the most powerful men in Russia. He is an -Old Believer." - -"Who lives in yonder palace?" - -"Miss Rokhmanof. In London you have such a lady; Miss Burdett Coutts -is richer, perhaps, than Miss Rokhmanof, but not more swift to do good -deeds. Her house, as you see, is big; it has thirty reception-rooms. -She is an Old Believer." So you drive on from dawn to dusk. You go -into the bazar--to find Old Believers owning most of the shops; you go -into the University--to find Old Believers giving most of the burses; -you go into the hospitals--to find Old Believers feeding nearly all -the sick. The old Russ virtues--even the old Russ vices--will be found -among these Old Believers; not among the polite and enervated -followers of the official form. "In Russia," said to me a judge of -men, "society has a ritual of her own; a ritual for the palace, for -the convent, for the camp; a gorgeous ritual, fit for emperors and -princes, such as the purple-born might offer to barbaric kings, not -such as fishermen in Galilee would invent for fishermen on the Frozen -Sea." - -An Old Believer clings to the baldest forms of village worship, and -the simplest usages of village life. Conservative in the bad sense, as -in the good, he objects to every new thing, whether it be a synod of -monks, a capital on foreign soil, a cup of tea sweetened with sugar, a -city lit by gas. Show him a thing unknown to his fathers in Nikon's -time, and you show him a thing which he will spurn as a work of the -nether fiend. - -These Old Believers are as much the enemies of an official empire as -they are of an official church. The test of loyalty in Russia is -praying for the reigning prince as a good Emperor and a good -Christian; but many of these Old Believers will not pray for the -reigning prince at all. Some will pray for him as Tsar, though not as -Emperor; but none will pray for him as a Christian man. They look on -him as reigning by a dubious title and a doubtful right. The word -emperor, they say, means Chert--Black One; the double eagle an evil -spirit; the autocracy a kingdom of Antichrist. - -All this confusion in her moral and political life is traceable to the -times of Nikon the Patriarch; a person hardly less important to a -modern observer of Russia, than the great prince who is said by Old -Believers to have been his bastard son. - -About the time when our own Burton and Prynne were being laid in the -pillory, when Hampden and Cromwell were being stayed in the Thames, a -man of middle age and sour expression landed from a boat at Solovetsk -to pray at the shrine of St. Philip, and beg an asylum from the monks. -He described himself as a peasant from the Volga, his father as a -field laborer in a village near Nijni. He was a married man and his -wife was still alive. In his youth he had spent some time in a -monastery, and after trying domestic life for ten years, he had -persuaded his partner to become a bride of Christ. Leaving her in the -convent of St. Alexie in Moscow, he had pushed out boldly into the -frozen north. - -At that time certain hermits lived on the isle of Anzersk, where the -farm now stands, in whose "desert" this stranger found a home. There -he took the cowl, and the name of Nikon; but his nature was so rough, -that he was soon engaged in bickering with his chief as he had -bickered with his wife. Eleazar, founder of the desert, desired to -build a church of stone in lieu of his church of pines, and the two -men set out for Moscow to collect some funds. They quarrelled on their -road; they quarrelled on their return. At length, the brethren rose on -the new-comer, expelled him from the desert, placed him in a canoe, -with bread and water, and told him to go whither he pleased, so that -he never came back. Chance threw him on shore at Ki, a rock in Onega -Bay; where he set up a cross, and promised to erect a chapel, if the -virgin whom he served would help him to get rich. - -On crossing to the main land, he became the organizer of a band of -hermits on Leather Lake (Kojeozersk) in the province of Olonetz. From -Leather Lake he made his spring into power and fame; for having an -occasion to see the Tsar Alexie on some business, he so impressed that -very poor judge of men that in a few years he was raised to the seats -of Archimandrite, Bishop, Metropolite, and Patriarch. - -Combining the pride of Wolsey with the subtlety of Cranmer, Nikon set -his heart on governing the Church with a sharper rod than had been -used by his faint and shadowy predecessors. A burly fellow, flushed of -face, red of nose, and bleary of eye, Nikon resembled a Friesland boor -much more than a Moscovite monk. He revelled in pomp and show; he -swelled with vanity as he sat enthroned in his cathedral near the -Tsar. Feeling a priest's delight in the splendor of the Byzantine -clergy, even under Turkish rule, he sought to model his own ceremonial -rites on those of the Byzantine clergy, not aware that in going back -to the Lower Empire he was seeking guidance from the Greeks in their -corruptest time. His earlier steps were not unwise. Sending out a body -of scribes, he obtained from Mount Athos copies of the most ancient -and authentic sacred books, which he caused to be translated into -Slavonic and compared with the books in ordinary use; and finding that -errors had crept into the text, he bade his scribes prepare for him a -new edition of the Scriptures and Rituals, in which the better -readings should be introduced. But here his merit ends. Nikon knew no -Greek; yet when the work was done for him by others, he proceeded, -with an arrogant frown on his brow, to force his version on the -Church. The Church objected; Nikon called upon the Tsar. The priests -demurred to this intrusion of the civil power; and Nikon handed the -protesting clergy over to the police. Alexie lent him every aid in -carrying out his scheme. Yet the opposition was strong, not only in -town and village, but in the council, in the convent, and in the -Church. Peasants and popes were equally against the changes he -proposed to make. The service-books were old and venerable; they -sounded musical in every ear; their very accents seemed divine. These -books had been used in their sacred offices time out of mind, and -twenty generations of their fathers had by them been christened, -married, and laid at rest. Why should these books be thrown aside? The -writings offered in their stead were foreign books. Nikon said they -were better; how could Nikon know? The Patriarch was not a critic; -many persons denied that he was a learned man. Instead of trying to -gain support for his innovations, he forced them on the Church. Nor -was he satisfied to deal with the texts alone. He changed the old -cross. He trifled with the sacraments. He brought in a new mode of -benediction. He altered the stamp on consecrated bread. By order of -the Tsar, who could not see the end of what he was about, the Council -adopted Nikon's reforms in the Church; and these new Scriptures, these -new services, these new sacraments, this new cross, and this new -benediction, were introduced, by order of the civil power, in every -church and convent throughout the land. The Nikonian Church was -recognized as an Official Church. - -Most of the people and their parish clergy stood up boldly for their -ancient texts, especially in the far north countries, where the court -had scarcely any power over the thoughts of men. The view taken in the -north appears to have been something like that of our English Puritans -when judging the merits and demerits of King James's version: they -thought the new Scriptures rather too worldly in tone; over-just to -high dignitaries in Church and State; less likely to promote holy -living and holy dying than the old. In a word, they thought them too -political in their accent and their spirit. - -No convent in the empire showed a sterner will to reject these -innovations than the great establishment in the Frozen Sea. When -Nikon's service-books arrived at Solovetsk, the brethren threw them -aside in scorn. The Archimandrite, as an officer of state, took part -with the Patriarch and the Tsar; but the fathers put their -Archimandrite in a boat and carried him to Kem. Having called a -council of their body, they chose two leaders; Azariah, whom they -elected caterer; and Gerontie, whom they elected bursar. All the -Kozaks in the fortress joined them; and, supported from the mainland -by people who shared their minds, the monks of Solovetsk maintained -their armed revolt against the Nikonian Church for upward of ten -years, and only fell by treachery at last. - -In Orthodox accounts of this siege the captors are represented as -behaving as men should behave in war. They are said to have put to the -sword only such as they took in arms; and borne the rest away from -Solovetsk, to be placed in convents at a distance till they came to a -better mind. But many old books, possessed by peasants round the -Frozen Sea, put another face on such tales. A peasant, living in the -Delta, pulled up a book from a well under his kitchen floor, and -showed me a passage in red and black ink, to the effect that the whole -brotherhood of resisting monks was put to the sword and perished to a -man. - -What the besiegers won, the nation lost. This victory clove the Church -in twain, and the end of Nikon's triumph has not yet been reached. - - - - -CHAPTER XXVIII. - -OLD BELIEVERS. - - -The new service-books and crosses were ordered to be used in every -Church. The Church which used them was declared official, orthodox, -and holy. Every other form of public worship was put under curse and -ban. - -Princes, Vladikas, generals, all made haste to pray in the form most -pleasing to their Tsar. Cajoled and terrified by turns, the monks -became in a few years orthodox enough; and many of the parish priests, -on being much pressed by the police, marched over to the stronger -side. Not all; not nearly all; for thousands of the country clergymen -resisted all commands to introduce into their services these suspected -books; contending that the changes wrought in the sacred texts were -neither warranted by fact nor justified by law. They treated them as -the daring labor of a single man. Not all of those who held out -against Nikon could pretend to be scholars and critics; but neither, -they alleged, was Nikon himself a scholar and a critic. When he came -to Solovetsk he was an ignorant peasant, too old to learn; when he was -driven from Anzersk by his outraged brethren, he was as ignorant of -letters as when he came. Since that time he had led a life of travel -and intrigue. If they were feeble judges, he was also a feeble judge. - -Clinging fast to their venerable forms, the clergy kept their altars -open to a people whom neither soldiers nor police could drive to the -new matins and the new mass. Many of the burghers, most of the -peasants, doggedly refused to budge from their ancient chapels, to -forego their favorite texts. They were Old Believers; they were the -Russian Church; Nikon was the heretic, the sectarian, the dissident; -and, strong in these convictions, they set their teeth against every -man who fell away from the old national rite to the new official rite. - -From those evil times, the people have been parted into two hostile -camps; a camp of the Ancient Faith, and a camp of the Orthodox Faith; -a parting which it is no abuse of words to describe as the heaviest -blow that has ever fallen upon this nation; heavier than the Polish -invasion, heavier than the Tartar conquest; since it sets brother -against brother, and puts their common sovereign at the head of a -persecuting board of monks. - -One consequence of these Old Believers being driven into relations of -enmity towards the Government is the weakening of Russia on every -side. The Church is shorn of her native strength; the civil power -usurps her functions; and the man who brought these evils on her was -deposed from his high rank. Nikon was hardly in his grave before the -office of Patriarch was abolished; and the Church was virtually -absorbed into the State. The Orthodox Church became a Political -Church; extending her limits, and ruling her congregations by the -secular arm. Imperious and intolerant, she allows no reading of the -Bible, no exercise of thought, no freedom of opinion, within her pale. -The Old Believers suffer, in their turn, not only from the -persecutions to which their "obstinacy" lays them open, but from the -isolation into which they have fallen. - -From the moment of their protest down to the present time, these Old -Believers have been driven, by their higher virtues, into giving an -unnatural prominence to ancient habits and ancient texts. Living in an -old world, they see no merit in the new. According to their earnest -faith, the reign of Antichrist began with Nikon; and since the time of -Nikon every word spoken in their country has been false, every act -committed has been wrong. - -Like a Moslem and like a Jew, an Old Believer of the severer classes -may be known by sight. "An Old Believer?" says a Russian friend, as we -stand in a posting-yard, watching some pilgrims eat and drink; "an Old -Believer? Yes." - -"How do you read the signs?" - -"Observe him; see how he puts the potatoes from him with a shrug. That -is a sign. He eats no sugar with his glass of tea; that also is a -sign. The chances are that he will not smoke." - -"Are all these notes of an Old Believer?" - -"Yes; in these northern parts. At Moscow, Nijni, and Kazan, you will -find the rule less strict--especially as to drinking and smoking--least -of all strict among the Don Kozaks." - -"Are the Don Kozaks Old Believers?" - -"Most of them are so; some say all. But the Government of Nicolas -strove very hard to bring them round; and seeing that these Kozaks -live under martial law, their officers could press them in a hundred -ways to obey the wishes of their Tsar. Their Atamans conformed to the -Emperor's creed; and many of his troopers so far yielded as to hear an -official mass. Yet most of them stood out; and many a fine young -fellow from the Don country went to the Caucasus, rather than abandon -his ancient rite. You should not trust appearances too far, even among -those Don Kozaks; for it is known that in spite of all that popes and -police could do, more than half the Kozaks kept their faith; and fear -of pressing them too far has led, in some degree, to the more tolerant -system now in vogue." - -"You find some difference, then, even as regards adherence to the -ancient rite, between the north country and the south?" - -"It must be so; for in the north we live the true Russian life. We -come of a good stock; we live apart from the world; and we walk in our -fathers' ways. We never saw a noble in our midst; we hold to our -native saints and to our genuine Church." - -The signs by which an Old Believer is to be distinguished from the -Orthodox are of many kinds; some domestic--such as his way of eating -and drinking; others devotional--such as his way of making the cross -and marking the consecrated bread. - -An Old Believer has a strong dislike to certain articles; not because -they are bad in themselves, but simply because they have come into use -since Nikon's time. Thus, he eats no sugar; he drinks no wine; he -repudiates whisky; he smokes no pipe. - -An Old Believer of the sterner sort has come to live alone; even as a -Hebrew or a Parsee lives alone. He has taken hold of the Eastern -doctrine that a thing is either clean or unclean, as it may happen to -have been touched by men of another creed. Hence he must live apart. -He can neither break bread with a stranger, nor eat of flesh which a -heretic has killed. He can not drink from a pitcher that a stranger's -lip has pressed. In his opinion false belief defiles a man in body and -in soul; and when he is going on a journey, he is tortured like a -Hebrew with the fear of rendering himself unclean. He carries his -water-jug and cup, from which no stranger is allowed to drink. He -calls upon his comrades only, since he dares not eat his brown bread, -and drain his basin of milk in a stranger's house. Yet homely morals -cling to these men no less than homely ways. An Old Believer is not -more completely set apart from his neighbors of the Orthodox rite by -his peculiar habits, than by his personal virtues. Even in the north -country, where folk are sober, honest, industrious, far beyond the -average Russian, these members of the Popular Church are noticeable -for their probity and thrift. "If you want a good workman," said to me -an English mill-owner, "take an Old Believer, especially in a -flax-mill." - -"Why in a flax-mill?" - -"You see," replied my host, "the great enemy of flax is fire; and -these men neither drink nor smoke. In their hands you are always safe." - - - - -CHAPTER XXIX. - -A FAMILY OF OLD BELIEVERS. - - -In the forest village of Kondmazaro lives a family of Old Believers, -named Afanasevitch; two brothers, who till the soil, fell pines, and -manufacture tar. Their house is a pile of logs; a large place, with -barn and cow-shed, and a patch of field and forest. These brothers are -wealthy farmers, with manly ways, blue eyes, and gentle manners. Fedor -and Michael are the brothers, and Fedor has a young and dainty wife. - -The family of Afanasevitch is clerical, and the two men, Fedor and -Michael, were brought up as priests. On going into their house you see -the signs of their calling, and on going into their barn you see a -chapel, with an altar and sacred books. - -That barn was built by their grandfather, in evil days, as a chapel -for his flock; and during many years, the father of these men--now -gone to a better place--kept up, in the privacy of his farm, the forms -of worship which had come down to him from his sire, and his sire's -sire. This barn has no cupola, no cross, no bell. So far as takes the -eye, it is a simple barn. Inside, it is a quaint little chapel, with -screen and cross, with icon and crown. It has a regular altar, with -step and desk, and the customary pair of royal gates. - -The father of Fedor and Michael, following in his father's wake, -appeared to the outside world a farmer and woodman, while to his -faithful people he was a priest of God. - -These lads assisted him in the service, while his neighbors took their -turn of either dropping in to mass, or mounting guard in the lane. His -altars were often stripped, his books put in a well, his pictures -hidden in a loft; for the police, informed of what was going on by -monkish spies, were often at his gates. At length a brighter day is -dawning on the Popular Church. A new prince is on the throne; and -under the White Tsar, the congregations which keep within the rules -laid down are left in peace. - -"You hold a service in this church?" - -"My brother holds it; not myself," says Fedor, with a sigh. "My -priesthood is gone from me." - -"Your priesthood gone? How can a priesthood go away? Is not the law, -once a priest always a priest?" - -"Yes, in a regular church; but we are not now a regular church, with a -sacred order and an apostolic grace. We are a village priesthood only; -chosen by our neighbors to serve the Lord in our common name." - -"How was your personal priesthood lost?" - -"By falling into sin through love. My wife, though village born, had -scruples about the form of marriage in use among our people, and -begged me to indulge her weakness on that point by marrying her in the -parish church. It was a proper thing for her to ask; a very hard thing -for me to grant; for law and right are here at strife, and one must -take his chance of rejecting either man or God. The time is not a -reign of grace, and nothing that we do is lawful in the sight of -Heaven. We take no sacraments; for the apostolic priesthood has passed -away. No man alive has power to bind and loose, or even to marry and -to shrive." - -"Still you marry?" - -"Yes; outwardly, according to a form; not inwardly, according to the -Spirit. Besides, the law does not admit our form; the Orthodox say we -are not married, and the courts declare our children basely born. -Hence, some of our women crave to be wedded as the code directs, in -the parish church, by an Orthodox priest. I could not blame poor Mary -for her weakness, though she wished me to marry her in a way that -would insult my kindred, harass my mother, and cause me to be removed -from my office, and degraded from my rank as priest. I loved the girl -and we went to church." - -Fedor stands beside me, tall and lank, with mild blue eyes and yellow -locks, a serge blouse hanging round his figure, caught at the waist by -a broad red belt; his figure and face suggesting less of the meek Russ -peasant than of the fiery northern skald. Quaint books, with old -bronze clasps and leather ties, are in his arms. These books he -spreads before me with mysterious silence, pointing out passage after -passage, written in a dashing style--partly in red letters, partly in -black--in the dead Slavonic tongue. He looks a very unlikely man to -have lost the world for love. - -"Your marriage got you into trouble?" - -"Yes; a man who marries plunges into care." - -"But though you have lost your priesthood, you are not expelled from -the community?" - -"Not expelled in words; yet I am not received into fellowship; not -having yet performed the necessary acts." - -"What acts?" - -"The acts of penitence. Being married, I am not allowed to pass the -church door; only to stand on the outer steps, salute the worshippers, -and listen to the sacred sounds. I am expected to stand in the street, -bareheaded, through the summer's sun and the winter frost; to bend my -knee to every one going in; to beg his pardon of my offense; and to -solicit his prayers at the throne of grace." - -"How long will your time of penitence last?" - -"Years, years!" he answers sadly; "if I were rich enough to do nothing -else, I could be purified in six weeks. The penance is for forty days; -but forty successive days; and I have never yet found time to give up -forty days, in any one season, to the cleansing of my fame. But some -year I shall find them." - -"How does this failure affect your wife? Is she received into the -church?" - -"If you note this house of God, you will observe a part railed off -behind the screen; this is the female side, and has an entrance by a -separate door. No woman goes in at the principal gate. The space -behind the screen is not considered as lying within the church; and -there my wife can stand during service; bending to our neighbors as -they enter, asking every woman to forgive her offense, and help her in -prayer with her patron saint." - -"Are you considered impure?" - -"Yes; until our peace is made. You see, an Old Believer thinks that -for most people a single life is better than a wedded life. It is the -will of God that some should marry, in order that His children shall -not die off the earth. Sometimes it is the will of Satan, that hell -may be replenished with fallen souls. In either case, it is a sign of -our lost estate; an act to be atoned by penitence and prayer. But -getting married is not the whole of our offense. We went into the -world: we held communion with the heathen; and we put ourselves beyond -the pale of law." - -"You hold the outer world to be unclean?" - -"In one sense, yes. The world has been defiled by sin. A man who goes -from our village into the world--who crosses the river in order to -sell his deals and buy white flour--must purify himself on coming -back. He may have to cut his bread with an unclean knife, to drink his -water from an unclean glass. He carries his knife and cup beneath his -girdle for common use; yet he may be forced, by accident, to eat with -a strange knife, to drink out of a strange mug. On his return, he has -to stand at the chapel door, and beg the forgiveness of every member -of the community for his sins." - -"Yet you are said to differ from the Orthodox clergy only in a few -points?" - -"On many points. We differ on the existence of a State Church; on the -Holy Governing Synod; on the number of sacraments; on the benediction; -on the cross; on the service-books; on the apostolical succession; and -on many more. We object to the civil power in matters of faith; object -to Byzantine pomp in our worship. What we want in our Church is the -old Russian homeliness and heartiness; priests who are learned and -sober men; bishops who are actual fathers of their flocks." - -"Show me how you give the benediction." - -"Christ and His apostles gave the blessing so; the first and second -finger extended; the thumb on the third finger; not as the Byzantines -give it, with the thumb on the first finger. We follow the usage -introduced by Christ." - -"You make much of that form?" - -"Much for what it proves; not much for what it is. Pardon me, and I -will show you. Here is a small bronze figure of our Lord; the work -good and ancient; older than Nikon, older than St. Vladimir; it is -said to have come from Kherson, on the Black Sea. This figure proves -our case against Nikon the Monk, who altered things without reason, -only to puff himself out with pride. Our Lord, you will observe, is -giving the blessing, just as our saints, from Philip to Vladimir, gave -it. The Greek fathers in Bethlehem bless a pilgrim in this way now. -Our form is Syrian Greek, the Orthodox form is Byzantine Greek." - -"And the cross?" - -"We keep the old traditions of the cross. On every ancient spire and -belfry in the land you find a true cross. Observe the spires in -Moscow, Novgorod, and Kief. In places it has been removed, to make way -for the Latin cross; but on many towers and steeples it remains; a -lofty and silent witness for the truth." - -"How do you prove that your cross is the true one? Think of it; the -cross was a Roman gibbet: a thing unknown to either Jew or Greek. Are -not the Latins likely to have known the shape of their own penal -cross?" - -"All that is true; but the Holy Cross on which our Lord expired in the -flesh was not a common cross, made of two logs. We know that it was -built of four different trees; cypress, cedar, palm, and olive; -therefore it must have had three arms." - -"You take no sacraments?" - -"At present, none. We have no priests ordained to bless the bread and -wine. Saved without them? Yes; in the providence of God. Men were -saved before sacraments; Judas Iscariot took them and was lost. A -sacrament is a good form, not a saving means." - -Fedor is a type of those Old Believers who are said to be slackening -at the joints, in consequence of their present freedom from -persecution. He has not learned to smoke; but he sees no harm in a -pipe, except so far as it might cause a brother to fail and fall. He -does not care for wine; but he will toss off his glass of whisky like -a genuine child of the north. Some strict ones in his village drink no -tea, having doubts on their mind whether tea came into use before -Nikon's reign; and nearly all his neighbors refuse to mix sugar with -their food, to put pipes into their mouths, to plant potatoes in their -soil. Fedor objects to sugar, as being a devil's offering, purified -with blood. Whisky he thinks lawful and beneficial, St. Paul having -commanded Timothy to drink a little wine--which Fedor says is a -shorter name for whisky--for his stomach's sake. Fedor is willing to -obey St. Paul. - -Fedor is a Bible-reader. Every phrase from his lips is streaked with -text, and every point in his argument backed by chapter and verse. -Except in some New England homesteads, I have never heard such floods -of reference and quotation in my life. - -"You say your Church has lost the priesthood?" - -"Yes; our priests are all destroyed; the heavenly gift is lost, and we -are wandering in the desert without a guide. This is our trial. Our -bishops have all died off; we can not consecrate a priest; the -consecrating power is in the devil's camp." - -"How can you get back this gift?" - -"By miracle; in no other way. The priesthood came by miracle; by -miracle it will be restored." - -"In our own day?" - -"No; we do not hope it. Miracles come in an age of faith. _We_ are not -worthy of such a sign. We have to walk in our fathers' ways; to keep -our children true; and hope that they may live into that better day." - -"You think the Orthodox rite will be overthrown?" - -"In time. In God's own time His kingdom will be restored; and Russia -will be one people and one Church." - -"What would you like the Government to do?" - -"We want a free Church; we want to walk with our fathers; we want our -old Church discipline; we want our old books, our old rituals, our old -fashions; we want to read the Bible in our native tongue." - -"Are the Old Believers all of one mind about these points?" - -"Ha, no! There are Old Believers and Old Believers. In the north we -are pretty nearly of one mind; in the south they are divided into two -bodies, if not more. The Government is active in Moscow; Moscow being -our ancient capital; and most of the traders in that city Old -Believers. Ministers are trying to win them over to the Orthodox -Church. Visit the Cemetery of the Transfiguration near Moscow; there -you will see what Government has done." - -Let us follow Fedor's hint. - - - - -CHAPTER XXX. - -CEMETERY OF THE TRANSFIGURATION. - - -Four or five miles from the Holy Gate, beyond the walls of Moscow, in -a populous suburb, near the edge of a pool of water, lies a field -containing multitudes of graves--the graves of people who were long -ago struck down by plague. This field is fenced with stakes, and part -of the inclosure guarded by a wall. Within this wall stand a hospital -and a convent; hospital on your left, convent on your right. A huge -gateway, built of stones from older piles, and quaintly colored in -Tartar panels, opens in your front. Driving up to this gate, we send -in our cards--a councillor of state, an English friend, and -myself--and are instantly admitted by the chief. - -"This cemetery," says our friendly guide, "is called Preobrajenski -(Transfiguration), from the village close by. In the plague time -(1770) it was steppe, and people threw out their dead upon it, laying -them in trenches, hardly covered with a pinch of dust. The plague -growing worse and worse, the village elder got permission from Empress -Catharine to build a house on the spot, to keep the peace and fumigate -the dead. That house was built among the trenches. Ten years later -(1781), Elia Kovielin, a brickmaker in Moscow, built among these -graves a church, a cloister, and a hospital. This Kovielin was a -clever man; rich in money and in friends; living in a fine house, and -having the master of police, with governors, generals, princes, always -at his board. Catharine was not aware of his being an Old Believer; -but her ministers and courtiers knew him well enough. His house was a -church; the pictures in his private chapel cost him fifty thousand -rubles. Kovielin _was_ a rich man. The monks were afraid of him, -because he had friends at court; the priests, because he had the -streets and suburbs at his back. Besides, what monk or priest could -rail against a man for building a cemetery for the dead? A very clever -man! You have heard the story of his magic loaf? You have not! Then -you shall hear it. Paul the First, becoming aware that this edifice of -the Transfiguration was an Old Believer's church, resolved to have it -taken down. Kovielin drove to St. Petersburg, and found the Emperor -deaf to his pleas. Voiékof, master of police in Moscow, having the -Emperor's orders to pull down tower and wall, rode out to the -cemetery, where he was received by Kovielin, and on going away was -honored by the present of a convent loaf. A loaf! A magic loaf! -Voiékof liked that lump of bread so well, that he went home and forgot -to pull the cemetery about our ears. Folk say that loaf contained a -purse--five thousand rubles coined in gold. Who knows? Elia Kovielin -was a clever man." - -Our guide through the courts and chapels is not an Old Believer, but -an officer of state. In 1852, Nicolas seized the cemetery, sequestered -the funds, and threw the management into official hands. The hospital -he left to the Old Believers; for this great hospital is maintained in -funds by the gifts of pious men; and the Emperor saw that if his -officers seized the hospital, either his budget must be charged with a -new burden, or the sick and aged people must be thrown into the -streets. He seized their church, and left them their sick and aged -poor. - -"Kovielin's magic loaf was not the best," says the officer in charge; -"these Old Believers are always rogues. When Bonaparte was lodging at -the Kremlin, they went to him with gift and speech--the gift, a dish -of golden rubles; saying, they came to greet him, and acknowledge him -as Tsar." - -"They thought he would deliver them from the tyranny of monks and -priests?" - -"Yes; that was what they dreamt. Napoleon humored them like fools, and -even rode down hither to see them in their village. Kovielin was dead; -_he_ would not have done such things. Napoleon rode round their -graves, and ate of their bread and porridge; but he could not make -them out. They wanted a White Tsar; not a soldier in uniform and -spurs. He went away puzzled; and when he was gone the rascals took to -forging government notes." - -"Odd trade to conduct in a cemetery!" - -"You doubt me! Ask the police; ask any friend in Moscow; ask the -councillor." - -"They were suspected," says the councillor of state, "and their chapel -was suppressed; but these events occurred in a former reign." - -"What became of their chapel? Was it pulled down?" - -"No; there it stands. The chapel is a rich one; Kovielin transferred -to it all those pictures from his private house which had cost him -fifty thousand rubles; and many rich merchants of Moscow graced it -with works of art. It has been purified since, and turned into an -Orthodox Church." - -"An Orthodox Church?" - -"Well, yes; in a sort of way. You see, the people here about are Old -Believers; warm in their faith; attached to their ancient rites. In -numbers only they are strong: ten millions--fifteen millions--twenty -millions; no one knows how many. Long oppressed, they have lost alike -their love of country and their loyalty to the Tsar; some looking -wistfully for help to the Austrian Kaiser; others again dreaming of a -king of France. It is of vast political moment to recover their lost -allegiance; and the ministers of Nicolas conceived a plan which has -been steadily carried out. The Old Believers are to be reconciled to -the empire by--what shall we say?" - -"A trick?" - -"Well, this is the plan. The chapel is to be declared orthodox; it is -to be opened by thirty monks and a dozen priests; but the monks are to -be dressed in homely calico, and the ritual to be used is that -employed before Nikon's time." - -"You mean me to understand that the Official Church is willing to -adopt the Ancient Rites, if she may do so with her present priests?" - -"Yes; the object of the Government is to prove that custom, not -belief, divides the Ancient from the Orthodox Church." - -"It is an object that compels the Government to meet the Old Believers -more than half-way; for to give up Nikon's ritual is to give up all -the principle at stake. Has the experiment of an Orthodox priest -performing the Ancient Rite succeeded in bringing people to the -purified church?" - -"Old Believers say it has completely failed. The chapel is now divided -from the hospital by a moral barrier; and outside people scorn to pass -the door and fall into what they call a trap. Last year the chiefs of -the asylum prayed for leave to build a new wall across this courtyard, -cutting off all communication with what they call their desecrated -shrine. The home minister saw no harm in their request; but on sending -their petition to the Holy Governing Synod, he met a firm refusal of -the boon. The Popular Church has nothing to expect from these mitred -monks." - -On passing into this "desecrated shrine," we find a sombre church, in -which vespers are being chanted by a dozen monks, without a single -soul to listen. Most of these monks are aged men, with long hair and -beards, attired in black calico robes, and wearing the ancient Russian -cowl. Each monk has a small black pillow, on which he kneels and -knocks his head. Church, costume, service, every point is so arranged -as to take the eye and ear as homely, old and weird, in fact, the -Ancient Rite. - -"Do any of the Old Believers come to see you?" - -"Yes, on Sundays, many," says the chief pope; "for on Sundays we allow -them to dispute in church, and they are fond of disputing with us, -phrase by phrase, and rite by rite. Five or six hundred come to -us--after service--to hear us questioned by their popes. We try to -show them that we all belong to one and the same Church; that the -difference between us lies in ceremony and not in faith." - -"Have you made converts to that view?" - -"In Moscow, no; in Vilna, Penza, and elsewhere, our work of -conciliation is said to have been more blessed." - -"Those places are a long way off." - -"Yes; bread that is scattered on the waters may be found in distant -parts." - -When I ask in official quarters, on what pretense the Emperor Nicolas -seized the Popular Cemetery, the answer is--that under the guise of a -cemetery, the Old Believers were establishing a college of their -faith; from which they were sending forth missionaries, full of Bible -learning, into other provinces; and that these priests and elders were -attracting crowds of men from the Orthodox Church into dissent. It was -alleged that they were spreading far and fast; that the parish priests -were favoring them; and that every public trouble swelled their ranks. -To wit, the cholera is said to have changed a thousand Orthodox -persons into Old Believers every week. If it had raged two years, the -Orthodox faith would have died a natural death. For in cases of public -panic the Russian people have an irresistible longing to fall back -upon their ancient ways. It is the cry of Hebrews in dismay: "Your -tents! back to your tents!" All Eastern nations have this homely and -conservative passion in their blood. - -"These were the actual reasons," says the councillor of state; "but -the cause assigned for interference was the scandal of the forged -bank-notes." - -"Surely no one believes that scandal?" - -"Every one believes it. Only last year this scandal led to the -perpetration of a curious crime." - -"What sort of crime?" - -"At dusk on a wintry day, when all the offices in the cemetery were -closed, a cavalcade dashed suddenly to the door. A colonel of -gendarmes leaped from a drojki, followed by a master of police. Four -gendarmes and four citizens of Moscow came with them. Pushing into the -chief office, they asked to see the strong-box, and to have it opened -in their presence. As the clerk looked shy, the colonel of gendarmes -was sharp and rude. They were accused, he said, of forging ruble -notes, and he had come by order of the Governor-general, Prince -Vladimir Dolgorouki, to open their strong-box under the eyes of four -eminent merchants and the master of police. He laid the prince's -mandate down; he showed his own commission; and then in an imperial -tone, demanded to have the keys! The keys could not be found; the -treasurer was gone to Moscow, and would not return that night. 'Then -seal your box,' said the colonel of gendarmes; 'the police will keep -it! Come to-morrow, with your keys, to Prince Dolgorouki's house in -the Tverskoi Place, at ten o'clock.' The box was sealed; the police -master hauled it into his drojki; in half an hour the cavalcade was -gone. Next day the treasurer, with his clerk and manager, drove into -Moscow with their keys, and on arriving in the Tverskoi Place were -smitten pale with news that no search for ruble notes had been ordered -by the prince." - -"Who, then, was that colonel of gendarmes?" - -"A thief; the master of police a thief; the four gendarmes were -thieves; the four eminent citizens thieves!" - -"And what was done?" - -"Prince Dolgorouki sent for Rebrof, head of the police (a very fine -head), and told him what these thieves had done. 'Superb!' laughed -Rebrof, as he heard the tale; and when the prince had come to an end -of his details, he again cried out, in genuine admiration, 'Ha! -superb! One man, and only one in Moscow, has the brain for such a -deed. The thief is Simonoff. Give me a little time, say nothing to the -world, and Simonoff shall be yours.' Rebrof kept his word; in three -months Simonoff was tried, found guilty on the clearest proof, and -sentenced to the mines for life. Rebrof traced him through the cabmen, -followed him to his haunts, learned what he had done with the scrip -and bonds, and then arrested him in a public bath. The money--two -hundred thousand rubles--he had shared and spent. 'Siberia,' cried the -brazen rogue, when the judge pronounced his doom, 'Siberia is a jolly -place; I have plenty of money, and shall have a merry time.' Had there -been no false reports about the cemetery, a theft like Simonoff's -could hardly have taken place." - - - - -CHAPTER XXXI. - -RAGOSKI. - - -Ragoski, another cemetery of the Old Believers, in the suburbs of -Moscow, has a different story, and belongs to a second branch of the -Popular Church. There is a party of Old Believers "with priests" and a -party "without priests." Ragoski belongs to the party with priests; -Preobrajenski to the party without priests. - -One party in the Popular Church believes that the priesthood has been -lost; the other party believes that it has been saved. Both parties -deny the Orthodox Church; but the more liberal branch of the Popular -Church allows that a true priesthood may exist in other Greek -communions, by the bishops of which a line of genuine pastors may be -ordained. - -"You wish to visit the Ragoski?" asks my host. "Then we must look to -our means. The chiefs of Ragoski are suspicious; and no wonder; the -times of persecution are near them still. In the reign of Nicolas, the -Ragoski was shut up, the treasury was seized, and many of the -worshippers were sent away--no one knows whither; to Siberia, to -Archangel, to Imeritia--who shall say? Alexander has given them back -their own; but they can not tell how long the reign of grace may last. -An order from Prince Dolgorouki might come to-morrow; their property -might be seized, their chapel closed, their hospital emptied, and -their graves profaned. It is not likely; it is not probable; for the -favor shown to this cemetery is a part of our general progress, not an -isolated act of imperial grace. But these Old Believers, caring little -about general progress, give the glory to God. If you told them they -are tolerated, as Jews are tolerated, they would think you mad; 'The -Lord giveth, and the Lord taketh away; blessed be the name of the -Lord.' Who among them knows when the evil day may come? Hence, they -suspect a stranger. Not twenty men in Moscow, out of their own -communion, have been within their gates. The cemetery will be hard to -enter; hard as to enter your own Abode of Love." - -By happy chance, a gentleman calls while we are talking of ways and -means, who is not only an Old Believer, but an Old Believer of the -branch with priests. A short man, white and wrinkled, with a keen gray -eye, a serious face, and speech that takes you by its wonderful force -and fire, this gentleman is a trader in the city, living in a fine -house, and giving away in charities the income of a prince. I know one -man to whom he sends every year a thousand rubles, as a help for poor -students at the university. This good citizen is a banker, trader, -mill-owner, what not; he is able, prompt, adroit; he gives good -dinners; and is hand-and-glove with every one in power. I have heard -folks say--by way of parable, no doubt--that all the police of Moscow -are in his pay. You also hear whispers that this banker, trader, what -not, is a priest; not of the ordained and apostolic order, but one of -those popular priests whom the Synod hunts to death. Who knows? - -"You are an Old Believer," he begins, addressing his speech to me. "I -know that from your book on The Holy Land; every word of which -expresses the doctrines held by the Russian Church in her better -days." - -My host explains my great desire to see the cemetery of Ragoski. "You -shall be welcomed there like a friend. Let me see; shall I go with -you? No; it will be better for you to go alone. The governor, Ivan -Kruchinin, shall be there to receive you. I will write." He dashes off -a dozen lines of introduction, written in the tone and haste of a -recognized chief. - -Armed with this letter we start next day, and driving through the -court-yards of the Kremlin, have to pull up our drojki, to allow a -train of big black horses to go prancing by. It is the train of -Innocent, metropolite of Moscow, taking the air in a coach-and-six! - -"This Ragoski cemetery," says the councillor of state, as we push -through the China Town into the suburbs, "had an origin like that of -the Transfiguration. It was opened on account of plague (1770), not by -a single founder, like its rival, but by a company of pious persons, -anxious to consecrate the ground in which they had already begun to -lay their dead. A chapel was erected, and a daily service was -performed in that chapel for eighty-six years. Of late, the police are -said to have troubled them very much; no one knows why; and no one -dares to ask any questions on such a point. We are all too much afraid -of the gentlemen in cowl and gown." - -In about an hour we are at the gates. The place is like a desert, -brightened by one gaudy pile. An open yard and silent office; a wall -of brick; a painted chapel, in the old Russ style; a huge tabernacle -of plain red brick; a wilderness of mounds and tombs: this is Ragoski. -Not a soul is seen except one aged man in homely garb, who is carrying -logs of wood. This man uncaps as we drive past; but turns and watches -us with furtive eyes. Our letter is soon sent in; but we are evidently -scanned like pilgrims at Marsaba; and twenty minutes elapse before the -governor comes to us, cap in hand, and begs us to walk in. - -A small, round man, with ruddy face and laughing eyes, and tender, -plaintive manner, Ivan Kruchinin is not much like the men we see -about--men who have a lean, sad look and fearful eyes, as though they -lived in the conscious eclipse of light and faith. Coming to our -carriage-door, he begs us to step in, and puts his service smilingly -at our will. - -"What is this new edifice with the gay old Tartar lozenges and bars?" - -"Ugh?" sighs the governor. - -"One of the last efforts made to win these Old Believers over," says -the councillor of state. "You see the monks have gone to work with -craft. The pile is Russ outside, like many old chapels in Moscow; -piles which catch the eye and impress the mind. They call it an Old -Believers' Chapel; they have built it as the Roman centurion built the -Jews a synagogue; and they hold a service in it, as they hold a -service in the Transfiguration; said and sung by Orthodox popes, but -in the language and the forms employed before Nikon's time." - -Inside, the chapel is arranged to suit an Old Believer's taste; and -every point of ritual, phrase and form is yielded to such as will -accept the ministry of an Orthodox priest. - -"Do they draw any part of your flock?" - -"Not a soul," says the governor. "A few of those 'without priests,' -have joined them in despair; not many--not a hundred; while thousands -of their people are coming round to us." - -"These converts, who accept an Orthodox priest and the ancient ritual, -are called the United Old Believers--are they not?" - -"United! They--the new schismatics! We know them not; we hate all -sects; and these misguided men are adding to our country another -sect." - -Passing the cemetery yards, ascending some broad stone steps, we stand -at a chapel door. This door is closed, and all around us reigns the -silence which befits a tomb. Kruchinin makes a sign; his tap is -answered from within; a door swings back; and out upon us floats a -low, weird chant. Going through the door, we find ourselves in a -spacious church, columned and pictured, with a noble dome. This is the -Old Believers' church. A few dim lamps are burning on the shrines; -some tapers flit and mingle near the royal gates; a crowd of women -kneel on the iron floor, not only in the aisles, but across the nave. -Advancing with our guide, up the central aisle, we come upon a line of -men, some prostrate on the ground, some standing erect in prayer. A -group of singers and readers stands apart, in front of the royal -gates, with service-books and candles in their hands, reciting in a -sweet, monotonous drone the ritual of the day. - -As a surprise the scene is perfect. - -"Who are these readers and singers?" - -"Citizens of Moscow," says the governor; "bankers, farmers, men of -every trade and class." - -We stand aside until the service ends--a most impressive service, with -louder prayers and livelier bendings than you hear and see in Orthodox -cathedrals. Then we move about. "What is the service just concluded?" -Kruchinin bends his eyes to the ground, and answers, "Only a layman's -service; one that can be said without a priest. You noticed, perhaps, -that neither the royal gates nor the deacon's doors were opened?" - -"Yes; how is that?" - -"Our altars have been sealed." - -"Your altars sealed?" - -"Yes; you shall see. Come round this way," and the governor leads us -to the deacon's door. Sealed; certainly sealed; the door being nailed -by a piece of leather to the screen; and the leather itself attached -by a fresh blotch of official wax. It looks as if the persecution were -come again. - -"How can such things be done?" - -"Our Emperor does not know it," sighs the governor, who seems to be a -thoroughly patriotic man; "it is the doing of our clerical police. We -ask to have the use of our own altar, in our own church, according to -the law. They say we shall have it, on one condition. They will give -us our altar, if we accept their priest!" - -"And you refuse?" - -"What can we do? Their priests have not been properly ordained; they -have lost their virtue; they can not give the blessing and absolve -from sin. We have declined; our altars continue sealed; and our people -have to sing and pray, as in the synagogues of Galilee, without a -priest." - -"That was not always so?" - -"In other days we had our clergy, living with us openly in the light -of day; but when our cemetery was restored to us by our good Emperor -in 1856, some trouble came upon us from the Synod on the subject of -consecration, and we have not yet lived that trouble down." - -"The prelates in St. Isaac's Square object to your priests receiving -ordination at the hands of foreign bishops?" - -"Yes; they wish us to receive the Holy Spirit from them; from men who -have it not to give! We can not live a lie; and we decline their offer -to consecrate our priests." - -"You have no popular priests?" "No." - -"If you have no priests, how can you marry and baptize infants?" - -"According to the law of God." - -"Without a priest?" - -"No; with a priest. We have a priest for such things; though we can -not suffer him to risk Siberia by performing a public office in our -church. Father Anton lives in secret. In the bazar of Moscow he is -known as a merchant, dealing in grain and stuffs. The world knows -nothing else about him; even the police have never suspected _him_ of -being a priest." - -"He is ordained?" - -"You know that some of our brethren live in Turkey and in Austria, -where the Turks and Germans grant them asylums which they have not -always found at home. A good many Old Believers dwell in a village, -called Belia Krinitza, in the country lying at the feet of the -Carpathians, just beyond the frontiers of Podolia and Bessarabia. One -Ambrosius, a Greek prelate from Bulgaria, visited these refugees, and -consecrated their Bishop Cyril, who is still alive. Cyril consecrated -Father Anton, our Moscow priest." - -"Father Anton marries and christens the members of your church?" - -"He does, in secret. In his worldly name he buys and sells, like any -other dealer in his shop." - -"You live in hope that the persecution will not come again?" - -"We live to suffer, and _not_ to yield." - -Passing into the hospital, we find a hundred men, in one large -edifice; four hundred women in a second large edifice. The rooms are -very clean; the beds arranged in rows, the kitchens and baking houses -bright. A woman stands at a desk, before a Virgin, and reads out -passages from the gospels and the psalms. Each poor old creature drops -a courtesy as we pass her bed, and after we have eaten of their bread -and salt, in the common dining-hall, they gather in a line and cross -themselves, bending to the ground, thanking us, as though we had -conferred on them some special grace. - -These asylums of the Old Believers are the only free charities in -Russia; for the hospitals in towns are Government works, supported by -the state. The Black Clergy does little for the poor, except to supply -them with crops of saints, and bring down persecution on the Popular -Church. - -On driving back to Moscow, in the afternoon--pondering on what we have -seen and heard--the lay singers, the clean asylum, and the sealed-up -altar--we arrive under the Kremlin wall in time to find the mitred -monk in our front again, just dashing with his splendid coach and six -black horses through the Holy Gate! - - - - -CHAPTER XXXII. - -DISSENTING POLITICS. - - -The revolution made by Nikon, ending in the rupture of his Church, -gave vast importance to dissenting bodies, while opening up a field -for missionaries and impostors of every kind. Before his reign as -patriarch, the chief dissidents were the Eunuchs, the Self-burners, -the Flagellants, the Sabbath-keepers, and the Silent Men; all of whom -could trace their origin to foreign sources and distant times. They -had no strong grip on the public mind. But, in setting up a state -religion--an official religion--a persecuting religion--from which a -majority of the people held aloof, in scorn and fear, the patriarch -provided a common ground on which the wildest spirits could meet and -mix. Aiming at one rule for all, the Government put these Old -Believers on a level with Flagellants and Eunuchs; the most -conservative men in Russia with the most revolutionary men in Europe. -All shades of difference were confounded by an ignorant police, -inspired in their malign activities by a band of ignorant monks. So -long as the persecution lasted, a man who would not go to his parish -church, pray in the new fashion, cross himself in the legal way, and -bend his knee to Baal, was classed as a separatist, and treated by the -civil power as a man false to his Emperor and his God. - -Thus the Old Believers came to support such bodies as the Milk -Drinkers and Champions of the Holy Spirit, much as the old English -Catholics joined hands with Quakers and Millennialists in their common -war against a persecuting Church. These dissidents have learned to -keep their own secrets, and to fight the persecutor with his own -carnal weapons. They, too, keep spies. They have secret funds. They -place their friends on the press. They send agents to court whom the -Emperor never suspects. They have relations with monks and ministers, -with bishops and aides-de-camp; they not unfrequently occupy the -position of monk and minister, bishop and aide-de-camp. They go to -church; they confess their sins; they help the parish priest in his -need; they give money to adorn convents; and in some important cases -they don the cowl and take religious vows. These persons are not -easily detected in their guile; unless, indeed, fanaticism takes with -them a visible shape. In passing through the province of Harkof, I -hear in whispers of a frightful secret having come to light; no less -than a discovery by the police that in the great monastery of Holy -Mount, in that province, a number of Eunuchs are living in the guise -of Orthodox monks! - -Every day the council is surprised by reports that some man noted for -his piety and charity is a dissenter; nay, is a dissenting pope; -though he owns a great mill and seems to devote his energies to trade. - -The reigning Emperor, hating deceit, and most of all self-deceit, -looks steadily at the facts. No doubt, if he could put these -dissidents down he would; but, like a man of genius, he knows that he -must work in this field of thought by wit and not by power. "No -illusions, gentlemen." From the first year of his reign he has been -asking for true reports, and searching into the statements made with a -steadfast yearning to find the truth. - -What comes of his study is now beginning to be seen of men. The -Official Church has not ceased to be official, and even tyrannical; -but the violence of her persecution is going down; the regular clergy -have been softened; the monkish fury has been curbed; and lay opinion -has been coaxed into making a first display of strength. - -A minute was laid by the Emperor before his council of ministers so -early as Oct. 15 and 27, 1858, for their future guidance in dealing -with dissenters; under which title the Holy Governing Synod still -classed the Old Believers with the Flagellants and Eunuchs! The minute -written by his father was not removed from the books; it was simply -explained and carried forward; yet the change was radical; since the -police, in all their dealings with religious bodies, were instructed -to talk in a gentler tone, and to give accused persons the benefit of -every doubt which should occur on points of law. A change of spirit is -often of higher moment than a change of phrase. Without implying that -either his father was wrong, or the Holy Governing Synod unjust, the -Emperor opened a door by which many of the nonconformists could at -once escape. But what was done only shows too plainly how much remains -to do. The Emperor has checked the persecutor's arm; he has not -crushed the persecuting spirit. - -A special committee was named by him to study the whole subject of -dissent; with the practical view of seeing how far it could be -conscientiously tolerated, and in what way it could be honestly -repressed. - -This committee made their report in August, 1864; a voluminous -document (of which some folios only have been printed); and adopting -their report, the Emperor added to the paper a second minute, which is -still the rule of his ministers in dealing with such affairs. In this -minute he recognizes the existence of dissent. He acknowledges that -dissidents may have civil and religious rights. Of course, as head of -the Church, he can not suffer that Church to be injured; but he -desires his ministers, after taking counsel with the Holy Governing -Synod, and obtaining their consent at every step, to see that justice -is always done. - -The spirit of this imperial minute is so good that the monks attack -it; not in open day and with honest words; for such is not their -method and their manner; but with sly suggestions in the confessor's -closet and serpentine whispers near the sacred shrines. It is -unpopular with the Holy Governing Synod. But the conservatives and -sectaries, long cast down, look up into what they call a new heaven -and a new earth. They say the day of peace has come, and finding a -door of appeal thrown open to them in St. Petersburg, they are sending -in hundreds of petitions; here requesting leave to open a cemetery, -there to construct an altar, here again to build a church. In -thirty-two months (Jan. 1866 to Sept. 1868), the home ministry -received no less than three hundred and sixty-seven petitions of -various kinds. - -Valouef, the minister in power when this imperial minute was first -drawn up, had a difficult part to play between his liberal master and -the retrograde monks. No man is strong enough to quarrel with the -tribunal sitting in St. Isaac's Square; and Valouef was wrecked by his -zeal in carrying out the imperial plan. The minister had to get these -fathers to consent in every case to the petitioner's prayer; these -fathers, who thought dissenters had no right to live, and kept on -quoting to him the edicts of Nicolas, as though that sovereign were -still alive! On counting his papers at the end of those thirty-two -months of trial, Valouef found that out of three hundred and -sixty-seven petitions in his office, the Holy Governing Synod -consented to his granting twenty-one, postponing fifty, and rejecting -all the rest. - -A man, who said he was born in the Official Church, begged leave to -profess dissenting doctrine, which he had come to see was right: -refused. A merchant offered to build a chapel for dissenters in a -dissenting village: refused. A builder proposed to throw a wall across -a convent garden, so as to divide the male from the female part: -refused. A dissenting minister asked to be relieved from the daily -superintendence of his city police: refused. Michaeloff, a rich -merchant of St. Petersburg, offered to found a hospital for the use of -dissenters near the capital, at his personal charge: refused. Last -year an asylum for poor dissenters was opened at Kluga; an asylum -built by peasants for persons of their class: the Synod orders it to -be closed. - -Hundreds of petitions come in from Archangel, Siberia, and the -Caucasus, from men who were in other days transported to those -districts for conscience' sake, requesting leave to come back. These -petitions are divided by the Holy Governing Synod, into two groups: -(1.) those of men who have been judged by some kind of court; (2.) -those of men who have been exiled by a simple order of the police. The -first class are refused in mass without inquiry; a few of the second -class, after counsel taken with the provincial quorum, are allowed. - -From these examples, it will be seen that the liberal movement is not -reckless; but the movement is along the line; the work goes on; and -every day some progress is being made. A minister who has to work with -a board of monks must feel his way. - - - - -CHAPTER XXXIII. - -CONCILIATION. - - -One point has been gained in the mere fact of the imperial minute -having drawn a distinction between things which may be thought and -things which may be done. The right of holding a particular article of -faith stands on a different ground to the right of preaching that -article of faith in open day. The first is private, and concerns one's -self; the second is public, and concerns the general weal. What is -private only may be left to conscience; what is public must be always -subject to the law. - -The ministers have come to see that every man has a right to think for -himself about his duty to God; and under their directions the police -have orders to leave a man alone, so long as he refrains from exciting -the public mind, and disturbing the public peace. In fact, the -Russians have been brought into line with their neighbors the Turks. - -In Moscow a man is now as free to believe what he likes as he would be -in Stamboul; though he must exercise his liberty in both these cities -with the deference due from the unit to the mass. He must not meddle -with the dominant creed. He must not trifle with the followers of that -creed; though his action on other points may be perfectly free. Having -full possession of the field, the Church will not allow herself to be -attacked; even though it should please her to fall on you with fire -and sword. - -In Moscow, a Mussulman may try to convert a Jew; in Stamboul, an -Armenian may try to convert a Copt; but woe to the Mussulman in Russia -who tempts a Christian to his mosque, to the Christian in Turkey who -tempts a Mussulman to his church! As on the higher, so it stands on -the lower plane. The right of propagand lies with the ruling power. In -Russia, a monk may try to convert a dissenter; the dissenter will be -sent to Siberia should he happen to convert the monk. A rule exactly -parallel holds in Turkey and in Persia, where a mollah may try to -convert a giaour; but the giaour will be beaten and imprisoned should -he have the misfortune to convert the mollah. - -Some men may fancy that little has been gained so long as toleration -stops at free thought, and interdicts free speech. In England or -America that would seem true and even trite; but the rules applied to -Moscow are not the rules which would be suitable in London or New -York. The gain is vast when a man is permitted to say his prayers in -peace. - -One day last week I came upon striking evidence of the value of this -freedom. Riding into a large village, known to me by fame for its -dissenting virtues, I exclaimed, on seeing the usual Orthodox domes -and crosses--"Not many dissidents here!" My companion smiled. A moment -later we entered the elder's house. "Have you any Old Believers here?" - -"Yes, many." - -"But here is a church, big enough to hold every man, woman, and child -in your village." - -"Yes, that is true. You find it empty now; in other times you might -have found it full." - -"How was that? Were your people drawn away from their ancient rites?" - -"Never. We were driven to church by the police. When God gave us -Alexander we left off going to mass." - -"Was the persecution sharp?" - -"So sharp, that only four stout men lived through it; never going to -church for a dozen years. When Nicolas died, the police pretended that -we had only those four Old Believers in this place; the next day it -was suspected, the next year it was known, that every soul in it was -an Old Believer." - -All these dissenting bodies are political parties, more or less openly -pronounced; and have to be dealt with on political, no less than on -religious grounds. Rejecting the State Church, they reject the -Emperor, so far as he assumes to be head of that Church. A State -Church, they say, is Antichrist; a devil's kingdom, set up by Satan -himself in the form of Nikon the Monk. So far as Alexander is a royal -prince they take him, and even pray for him; but they will not place -his image in their chapel; they refuse to pray for him as a true -believer; and they fear he is dead to religion, and lost to God. - -The Popular Church contends that since the reign of Peter the Great -every thing has been lawless and provisional. Peter, they say, was a -bastard son of Nikon the Monk; in other words, of the devil himself. -The first object of this child of the Evil One being to destroy the -Russian people, he abandoned the country, and built him a palace among -the Swedes and Finns. His second object being to destroy the Russian -Church, he abolished the office of Patriarch, and made himself her -spiritual chief. - -The consequences which they draw from these facts are instant and -terrible; for these consequences touch with a deadly sorcery the -business of their daily lives. - -Since Satan began his reign in the person of Peter the Great, all -authorities and rules have been suspended on the earth. According to -them, nothing is lawful, for the reign of law is over. Contracts are -waste; no trust can be executed; no sacrament can be truly held; not -even that of marriage. Hence, it is a matter of conscience with -thousands of Old Believers, that they shall not undergo the nuptial -rite. They live without it, in the hope of heaven providing them with -a remedy on earth for what would otherwise be a wrong in heaven. And -thus their lives are passed in the shadow of a terrible doom. - -The absence of marriage-ties among the best of these Old Believers is -not the most frightful evil. So far as the men and women are -concerned, the case is bad enough; but as regards their children, it -is worse. These children are regarded by the law as basely born. "By -the devil's law," say the Old Believers sadly; but the fact remains, -that under the Russian code these "bastards" do not inherit their -fathers' wealth. In other states, an issue might be found in the -making of a will, by which a father could dispose of his property to -his children as he pleased. But an Old Believer dares not make a will. -A will is a public act, and he disclaims the present public powers. -The common course is, for an Old Believer to _give_ his money to some -friend whom he can trust, and for that friend to _give it back_ to his -children when he is no more. - -The Emperor, studying remedies for these grave disorders among his -people, has conceived the bold idea of legalizing in Russia the system -of civil marriage, already established in every free country of -Europe, and in each of the United States. A bill has been drawn, so as -to spare the Orthodox clergy, as much as could be done. The Council of -State is favorable to this bill; but the Holy Governing Synod, -frightened at all these changes, refuse to admit that a "sacrament" -can be given by a magistrate; and a bill which would bring peace and -order into a million of households is delayed, though it is not likely -to be sacrificed, in deference to their monastic doubts. - -"What else would you have the Emperor do?" I ask a man of confidence -in this Popular Church. - -"Do! Restore our ancient rights. In Nikon's time the crown procured -our condemnation by a council of the Eastern Churches; we survive the -curse; and now we ask to have that ban removed." - -"You stand condemned by a council?" - -"Yes; by a deceived and corrupted council. That curse must be taken -off our heads." - -"Is the Government aware of your demands?" - -"It is aware." - -"Have any steps been taken to that end?" - -"A great one. Alexander has proposed to remove the ban; and even the -Synod, calling itself holy, has consented to recall the curse; but we -reject all offers from this band of monks; they have no power to bind -and loose. The Eastern Churches put us in the wrong; the Eastern -Churches must concur to set us right. They cursed us in their -ignorance; they must bless us in their knowledge. We have passed -through fire, and know our weakness and our strength. No other method -will suffice. We ask a general council of the Oriental Church." - -"Can the Emperor call that council?" - -"Yes; if Russia needs it for her peace; and who can say she does not -need it for her peace?" - - - - -CHAPTER XXXIV. - -ROADS. - - -A man who loads himself with common luggage would find these Russian -roads rather rough, whether his journey lay through the forest or -across the steppe. An outfit for a journey is a work of art. A hundred -things useful to the traveller are needed on these roads, from candle -and cushion down to knife and fork; but there are two things which he -can not live without--a tea-pot and a bed. - -My line from the Arctic Sea to the southern slopes of the Ural range, -from the Straits of Yeni Kale to the Gulf of Riga runs over land and -lake, forest and fen, hill and steppe. My means of travel are those of -the country; drojki, cart, barge, tarantass, steamer, sledge, and -train. The first stage of my journey from north to south is from -Solovetsk to Archangel; made in the provision-boat, under the eyes of -Father John. This stage is easy, the grouping picturesque, the weather -good, and the voyage accomplished in the allotted time. The second -stage is from Archangel to Vietegra; done by posting in five or six -days and nights; a drive of eight hundred versts, through one vast -forest of birch and pine. My cares set in at this second stage. There -is trouble about the podorojna--paper signed by the police, giving you -a right to claim horses at the posting stations, at a regulated price. -As very few persons drive to Holmogory, the police make a fuss about -my papers, wondering why the gentleman could not sail in a boat up the -Dvina like other folk, instead of tearing through a region in which -there is hardly any road. Wish to see the birthplace of Lomonosof! -What is there to see? A log cabin, a poor town, a scrubby -country--that is all! Yet after some delays the police give in, the -paper is signed. Then comes the question: carriage, cart, or sledge? -No public vehicle runs to the capital; nothing but a light cart, just -big enough to hold a bag of letters and a boy. That cart goes twice a -week through the forest-tracks, but no one save the boy in charge can -ride with the imperial mail. A stranger has to find his means of -getting forward, and his choice is limited to a cart, a tarantass, and -a sledge. - -"A sledge is the thing," says a voice at my elbow; "but to use a -sledge you must wait until the snow is deep and the frost sets in. In -summer we have no roads; in some long reaches not a path; but from the -day when we get five degrees of frost, we have the noblest roads in -the world." - -"That may be six or seven weeks hence?" - -"Yes, true; then you must have a tarantass. Come over with me to the -maker's yard." - -A tarantass is a better sort of cart, with the addition of -splash-board, hood, and step. It has no springs; for a carriage slung -on steel could not be sent through these desert wastes. A spring might -snap; and a broken coach some thirty or forty miles from the nearest -hamlet, is a vehicle in which very few people would like to trust -their feet. A good coach is a sight to see; but a good coach implies a -smooth road, with a blacksmith's forge at every turn. A man with -rubles in his purse can do many things; but a man with a million -rubles in his purse could not venture to drive through forest and -steppe in a carriage which no one in the country could repair. - -A tarantass lies lightly on a raft of poles; mere lengths of green -pine, cut down and trimmed with a peasant's axe, and lashed on the -axles of two pairs of wheels, some nine or ten feet apart. The body is -an empty shell, into which you drop your trunks and traps, and then -fill up with hay and straw. A leather blind and apron to match, keep -out a little of the rain; not much; for the drifts and squalls defy -all efforts to shut them out. The thing is light and airy, needing no -skill to make and mend. A pole may split as you jolt along; you stop -in the forest skirt, cut down a pine, smooth off the leaves and twigs; -and there, you have another pole! All damage is repaired in half an -hour. - -On scanning this vehicle closely in and out, my mind is clear that the -drive to St. Petersburg should be done in a tarantass--not in a common -cart. But I am dreaming all this while that the tarantass before me -can be hired. A sad mistake! No maker can be found to part from his -carriage on any terms short of purchase out and out. "St. Petersburg -is a long way off," says he; "how shall I get my tarantass back?" - -"By sending your man along with it. Charge me for his time, and let -him bring it home." - -The maker shakes his head. - -"Too far! Will you send him to Vietegra, near the lake?" - -"No," says the man, after some little pause, "not even to Vietegra. -You see, when you pay off my man, he has still to get back; his -journey will be worse than yours, on account of the autumn rains; he -may sink in the marsh; he may stick in the sand; not to speak of his -being robbed by bandits, and devoured by wolves." - -"He is not afraid of robbers and wolves?" - -"Why not? The forests are full of wild men, runaways, and thieves; and -three weeks hence the wolves will be out in packs. How, then, can he -be sure of getting home with my tarantass?" - -Things look as though the vehicle must be bought. How much will it -cost? A strong tarantass is said to be worth three hundred and fifty -rubles. But the waste of money is not all. What can you do with it, -when it is yours? A tarantass in these northern forests is like the -white elephant in the Eastern story. "Can one sell such a thing in -Vietegra?" - -"Ha, ha!" laughs my friend. "In Vietegra, the people are not fools; in -fact, they are rather sharp ones. They will say they have no use for a -tarantass; they know you can't wait to chaffer about the price. Your -best plan will be to drive into a station, pay the driver, and run -away." - -"Leaving my tarantass in the yard?" - -"Exactly; that will be cheaper in the end. Some years ago I drove to -Vietegra in a fine tarantass; no one would buy it from me. One fellow -offered me ten kopecks. Enraged at his impudence, I put up my carriage -in a yard to be kept for me; and every six months I received a bill -for rent. In ten years' time that tarantass had cost me thrice its -original price. In vain I begged the man to sell it; no buyer could be -found. I offered to give it him, out and out; he declined my gift. At -length I sent a man to fetch it home; but when my servant got to -Vietegra he could find neither keeper nor tarantass. He only learned -that in years gone by the yard was closed, and my tarantass sold with -the other traps." - -A God-speed dinner is the happy means of lifting this cloud of trouble -from my mind. "The man," says our helpful consul, "thinks he will -never see his tarantass again. Now, take my servant, Dimitri, with -you; he is a clever fellow, not afraid of wolves and runaways; he may -be trusted to bring it safely back." - -"If Dimitri goes with you," adds a friendly merchant, "I will lend you -my tarantass; it is strong and roomy; big enough for two." - -"You will!" A grip of hands, a flutter of thanks, and the thing is -done. - -"Why, now," cries my host, "you will travel like a Tsar." - -This private tarantass is brought round to the gates; an empty shell, -into which they toss our luggage; first the hard pieces--hat-box, -gun-case, trunk; then piles of hay to fill up chinks and holes, and -wisps of straw to bind the mass; on all of which they lay your -bedding, coats and skins. A woodman's axe, a coil of rope, a ball of -string, a bag of nails, a pot of grease, a basket of bread and wine, a -joint of roast beef, a tea-pot, and a case of cigars are afterwards -coaxed into nooks and crannies of the shell. - -Starting at dusk, so as to reach the ferry, at which you are to cross -the river by day-break, we plash the mud and grind the planks of -Archangel beneath our hoofs. "Good-bye! Look out for wolves! Take care -of brigands! Good-bye, good-bye!" shout a dozen voices; and then that -friendly and frozen city is left behind. - -All night, under murky stars, we tear along a dreary path; pines on -our right, pines on our left, and pines in our front. We bump through -a village, waking up houseless dogs; we reach a ferry, and pass the -river on a raft; we grind over stones and sand; we tug through slush -and bog; all night, all day; all night again, and after that, all day; -winding through the maze of forest leaves, now burnt and sear, and -swirling on every blast that blows. Each day of our drive is like its -fellow. A clearing, thirty yards wide, runs out before us for a -thousand versts. The pines are all alike, the birches all alike. The -villages are still more like each other than the trees. Our only -change is in the track itself, which passes from sandy rifts to slimy -beds, from grassy fields to rolling logs. In a thousand versts we -count a hundred versts of log, two hundred versts of sand, three -hundred versts of grass, four hundred versts of water-way and marsh. - -We smile at the Russians for laying down lines of rail in districts -where they have neither a turnpike road nor a country lane. But how -are they to blame? An iron path is the natural way in forest lands, -where stone is scarce, as in Russia and the United States. - -If the sands are bad, the logs are worse. One night we spend in a kind -of protest; dreaming that our luggage has been badly packed, and that -on daylight coming it shall be laid in some easier way. The trunk -calls loudly for a change. My seat by day, my bed by night, this box -has a leading part in our little play; but no adjustment of the other -traps, no stuffing in of hay and straw, no coaxing of the furs and -skins suffice to appease the fretful spirit of that trunk. It slips -and jerks beneath me; rising in pain at every plunge. Coaxing it with -skins is useless; soothing it with wisps of straw is vain. We tie it -with bands and belts; but nothing will induce it to lie down. How can -we blame it? Trunks have rights as well as men; they claim a proper -place to lie in; and my poor box has just been tossed into this -tarantass, and told to lie quiet on logs and stones. - -Still more fretful than this trunk are the lumbar vertebræ in my -spine. They hate this jolting day and night; they have been jerked out -of their sockets, pounded into dust, and churned into curds. But then -these mutineers are under more control than the trunk; and when they -begin to murmur seriously, I still them in a moment by hints of taking -them for a drive through Bitter Creek. - -Ha! here is Holmogory! Standing on a bluff above the river, pretty and -bright, with her golden cross, her grassy roads, her pink and white -houses, her boats on the water, and her stretches of yellow sands; a -village with open spaces; here a church, there a cloister; gay with -gilt and paint, and shanties of a better class than you see in such -small country towns; and forests of pine and birch around -her--Holmogory looks the very spot on which a poet of the people might -be born! - - - - -CHAPTER XXXV. - -A PEASANT POET. - - -In the grass-grown square of Archangel, between the fire-tower and the -court of justice, stands a bronze figure on a round marble shaft; a -figure showing a good deal of naked chest, and holding (with a Cupid's -help) a lyre on the left arm. A Roman robe flows down the back. You -wonder what such a figure is doing in such a place; a bit of false -French art in a city of monks and trade! The man in whose name it has -been raised was a poet; a poet racy of the soil; a village genius; -who, among merits of many kinds, had the high quality of being a -genuine Russian, and of writing in his native tongue. - -For fifty years Lomonosoff was called a fool--a clever fool--for -having wasted his genius on coachmen and cooks. Court ladies laughed -at his whimsy of writing verses for the common herd to read; and -learned dons considered him crazy for not doing all his more serious -work in French. A change has come; the court speaks Russ; and society -sees some merit in the phrases which it once contemned. The language -of books and science is no longer foreign to the soil; and all classes -of the people have the sense to read and speak in their musical and -copious native speech. This happy change is due to Michael Lomonosoff, -the peasant boy! - -Born in this forest village on the Dvina bluffs (in 1711), he sprang -from that race of free colonists who had come into the north country -from Novgorod the Great. His father, Vassili Lomonosoff, a boatman, -getting his bread by netting and spearing fish on the great river, -brought him up among nets and boats, until the lad was big enough to -slip his chain, throw down his pole, and push into the outer sea. Not -many books were then to be got in a forest town like Holmogory, and -some lives of saints and a Slavonic Bible were his only reading for -many years. A good priest (as I learn on the spot) took notice of the -child, and taught him to read the old Slavonic words. These books he -got by heart; making heroes of the Hebrew prophets, and reading with -ardor of his native saints. The priest soon taught him all he knew, -and being a man of good heart, he sought around him for the means of -sending the lad to school. But where, in those dark ages, could a -school be found? He knew of schools for priests, and for the sons of -priests; but schools for peasants, and for the sons of peasants, did -not then exist. Could he be placed with a priest and sent to school? -The village pastor wrote to a friend in Moscow, who, though poor -himself, agreed to take the lad into his house. A train of carts came -through the village on its way to Moscow, carrying fur and fish for -sale; and the priest arranged with the drivers that Michael should go -with them, trudging at their side, and helping them on the road. At -ten years old he left his forest home, and walked to the great city, a -distance of nearly a thousand miles. - -The priest in Moscow sent him to the clerical school, where he learned -some Latin, French, and German; in all of which tongues, as well as in -Russian, he afterwards spoke and wrote. He also learned to work for -his living as a polisher and setter of stones. A lad who can dine off -a crust of rye bread and a cup of cabbage broth, is easily fed; and -Michael, though he stuck to his craft, and lived by it, found plenty -of time for the cultivation of his higher gifts. He was a good artist; -for the time and place a very good artist; as the Jove-like head in -the great hall of the University of Moscow proves. This head--the -poet's own gift--was executed in mosaic by his hands. - -After learning all that the monks could teach him in Moscow, he left -that city for Germany, where he lived some years as artist, teacher, -and professor; mastering thoroughly the modern languages and the -liberal arts. When he came back to his native soil he was one of the -deepest pundits of his time; a man of name and proof; respected in -foreign universities for his wonderful sweep and grasp of mind. -Studying many branches of science, he made himself a reputation in -every branch. A Russian has a variety of gifts, and Michael was in -every sense a Russ. While yet a lad it was said of him that he could -mend a net, sing a ditty, drive a cart, build a cabin, and guide a -boat with equal skill. When he grew up to be a man, it was said of him -with no less truth, that he could at the same time crack a joke and -heat a crucible; pose a logician and criticise a poet; draw the human -figure and make a map of the stars. Coming back to Russia with such a -name, he found the world at his feet; a professor's chair, with the -rank of a nobleman, and the office of a councillor of state; dignities -which a professor now enjoys by legal right. A strong Germanic -influence met him, as a native intruder in a region of learning closed -in that age to the Russ; but he joked and pushed, and fought his way -into the highest seats. He not only won a place in the academy which -Peter the Great had founded on the Neva, but in a few years he became -its living soul. - -Yet Michael remained a peasant and a Russian all his days. He drank a -great many drams, and was never ashamed of being drunk. One day--as -the members of that academy tell the tale--he was picked up from the -gutter by one who knew him. "Hush! take care," said the good Samaritan -softly; "get up quietly and come home, lest some one of the academy -should see us." "Fool!" cried the tipsy professor, "Academy? I am the -Academy!" - -Not without cause is this proud boast attributed to the peasant's son; -for Lomonosoff was the academy, at least on the Russian side. The -breadth of his knowledge seems a marvel, even in days when a special -student is expected to be an encyclopedic man, with the whole of -nature for his province. He wrote in Latin and in German before he -wrote in Russ. He was a miner, a physician, and a poet. He was a -painter, a carver, and draughtsman. He wrote on grammar, on drugs, on -music, and on the theory of ice. One of his best books is a criticism -on the Varegs in Russia; one of his best papers is a treatise on -microscopes and telescopes. He wrote on the aurora borealis, on the -duties of a journalist, on the uses of a barometer, and on -explorations in the Polar Sea. In the records of nearly every science -and art his name is found. Astronomy owes him something, chemistry -something, metallurgy something. But the glory of Lomonosoff was his -verse, of which he wrote a great deal, and in many different styles; -lays, odes, tragedies, an unfinished epic, and moral pieces without -end. - -The rank of a great poet is not claimed for Michael Lomonosoff by -judicious critics. No creation like Oneghin, not even like Lavretski, -came from his pen. His merit lies in the fact that he was the first -writer who dared to be Russian in his art. But though it is the chief, -it is far from being the only distinction which Lomonosoff enjoys, -even as a poet. The mechanism of literature owes to his daring a -reform, of which no man now living will see the end. The Russ are a -religious people, to whom phrases of devotion are as their daily -bread; but the language of their Church is not the language of their -streets; and their books, though calling themselves Russ, were printed -in a dialect which few except their popes and the Old Believers could -understand. This dialect Lomonosoff laid aside, and took up in its -stead the fluent and racy idiom of the market and the quay. But he had -a poetic music to invent, as well as a poetic idiom to adapt. The -poetry of a kindred race--the Poles--supplied him with a model, on -which he built for the Russ that tonical lilt and flow, which ever -since his time has been adopted by writers of verse as the most -perfect vehicle for their poetic speech. - -But greater than his poetic merit is the fact on which writers like -Lamanski love to dwell, that Lomonosoff was a thorough Russian in his -habits and ideas; and that after his election into the academy, he set -his heart upon nationalizing that body, so as to render it Russian; -just as the Berlin Academy was German, and the Paris Academy was -French. - -In his own time Lomonosoff met with little encouragement from the -court. That court was German; the society nearest it was German; and -German was the language of scientific thought. A Russian was a savage; -and the speech of the common people was condemned to the bazars and -streets. Lomonosoff introduced that speech into literature and into -the discussions of learned men. - -A statue to such a peasant marks a period in the nation's upward -course. A line on the marble shaft records the fact that this figure -was cast in 1829; and a second line states that it was removed in 1867 -to its present site. Here, too, is progress. Forty years ago, a place -behind the courts was good enough for a poet who was also a -fisherman's son; even though he had done a fine thing in writing his -verses in his native tongue; but thirty years later it had come to be -understood by the people that no place is good enough for the man who -has crowned them with his own glory; and as they see that this figure -of Michael Lomonosoff is an honor to the province even more than to -the poet, they have raised his pedestal in the public square. - -Would that it had fallen into native hands! Modelled by a French -sculptor, in the worst days of a bad school, it is a stupid travestie -of truth and art. The rustics and fishermen, staring at the lyre and -Cupid, at the naked shoulders and the Roman robe, wonder how their -poet came to wear such a dress. This man is not the fellow whom their -fathers knew--that laughing lad who laid down his tackle to become the -peer of emperors and kings. Some day a native sculptor, working in the -local spirit, will make a worthier monument of the peasant bard. A -tall young fellow, with broad, white brow and flashing eyes, in shaggy -sheep-skin wrap, broad belt, capacious boots, and high fur cap; his -right hand grasping a pole and net, his left hand holding an open -Bible; that would be Michael as he lived, and as men remember him now -that he is dead. - -Four years ago (the anniversary of his death in 1765), busts were set -up, and burses founded in many colleges and schools, in honor of the -peasant's son. Moscow took the lead; St. Petersburg followed; and the -example spread to Harkof and Kazan. A school was built at Holmogory in -the poet's name; to smooth the path of any new child of genius who may -spring from this virgin soil. May it live forever! - - - - -CHAPTER XXXVI. - -FOREST SCENES. - - -From Holgomory to Kargopol, from Kargopol to Vietegra, we pass through -an empire of villages; not a single place on a road four hundred miles -in length that could by any form of courtesy be called a town. The -track runs on and on, now winding by the river bank, now eating its -way through the forest growths; but always flowing, as it were, in one -thin line from north to south; ferrying deep rivers; dragging through -shingle, slime, and peat; crashing over broken rocks; and crawling up -gentle heights. His horses four abreast, and lashed to the tarantass -with ropes and chains, the driver tears along the road as though he -were racing with his Chert--his Evil One; and all in the hope of -getting from his thankless fare an extra cup of tea. It is the joke of -a Russian jarvy, that he will "drive you out of your senses for ten -kopecks." From dawn to sunset, day by day, it is one long race through -bogs and pines. The landscape shows no dikes, no hedges, and no gates; -no signs that tell of a personal owning of the land. We whisk by a -log-fire, and a group of tramps, who flash upon us with a sullen -greeting, some of them starting to their feet. "What are those -fellows, Dimitri?" - -"They seem to be some of the runaways." - -"Runaways! Who are the runaways, and what are they running away from?" - -"Queer fellows, who don't like work, who won't obey orders, who never -rest in one place. You find them in the woods about here everywhere. -They are savages. In Kargopol you can learn about them." - -At the town of Kargopol, on the river Onega, in the province of -Olonetz, I hear something of these runaways, as of a troublesome and -dangerous set of men, bad in themselves, and still worse as a sign. I -hear of them afterwards in Novgorod the Great, and in Kazan. The -community is widely spread. Timashef is aware that these unsocial -bodies exist in the provinces of Yaroslav, Archangel, Vologda, -Novgorod, Kostroma, and Perm. - -These runaways are vagabonds. Leaving house and land, throwing down -their rights as peasants and burghers, they dress themselves in rags, -assume the pilgrim's staff, retire from their families, push into -forest depths, and dwell in quagmires and sandy rifts, protesting -against the official empire and the official church. Some may lead a -harmless life; the peasants helping them with food and drink; while -they spend their days in dozing and their nights in prayer. Even when -their resistance to the world is passive only; it is a protest hard to -bear and harder still to meet. They will not labor for the things that -perish. They will not bend their necks to magistrate and prince. They -do not admit the law under which they live. They hold that the present -imperial system is the devil's work; that the Prince of Darkness sits -enthroned in the winter palace; that the lords and ladies who surround -him are the lying witnesses and the fallen saints. Their part is not -with the world, from which they fly, as Abraham fled from the cities -of the plain. - -Many of the peasants, either sympathizing with their views or fearing -their vengeance, help them to support their life in the woods. No door -is ever closed on them; no voice is ever raised against them. Even in -the districts which they are said to ravage occasionally in search of -food, hardly any thing can be learned about them, least of all by the -masters of police. - -Fifteen months ago the governor of Olonetz reported to General -Timashef, minister of the interior, that a great number of these -runaways were known to be living in his province and in the adjoining -provinces, who were more or less openly supported by the peasantry in -their revolt against social order and the reigning prince. On being -asked by the minister what should be done, he hinted that nothing else -would meet the evil but a seizure of vagabonds on all the roads, and -in all the forest paths, in the vast countries lying north of the -Volga, from Lake Ilmen to the Ural crests. His hints were taken in St. -Petersburg, and hundreds of arrests were made; but whether the real -runaways were caught by the police was a question open to no less -doubt than that of how to deal with them when they were caught--according -to the new and liberal code. - -Roused by a sense of danger, the Government has been led into making -inquiries far and near, the replies to which are of a kind to flutter -the kindest hearts and puzzle the wisest heads. To wit: the Governor -of Kazan reports to General Timashef that he has collected proof--(1.) -that in his province the runaways have a regular organization; (2.) -that they have secret places for meeting and worship; (3.) that they -have chiefs whom they obey and trust. How can a legal minister deal -with cases of an aspect so completely Oriental? Is it a crime to give -up house and land? Is it an offense to live in deserts and lonely -caves? What article in the civil code prevents a man from living like -Seraphim in a desert; like Philaret the Less, in a grave-yard? Yet, on -the other side, how can a reforming Emperor suffer his people to fall -back into the nomadic state? A runaway is not a weakness only, but a -peril; since the spirit of his revolt against social order is -precisely that which the reformers have most cause to dread. In going -back from his country, he is going back into chaos. - -The mighty drama now proceeding in his country, turns on the question -raised by the runaway. Can the Russian peasant live under law? If it -shall prove on trial that any large portion of the Russian peasantry -shares this passion for a vagabond life--as some folk hope, and still -more fear--the great experiment will fail, and civil freedom will be -lost for a hundred years. - -The facts collected by the minister have been laid before a special -committee, named by the crown. That committee is now sitting; but no -conclusion has yet been reached, and no suggestion for meeting the -evil can be pointed out. - -Village after village passes to the rear! - -Russ hamlets are so closely modelled on a common type, that when you -have seen one, you have seen a host; when you have seen two, you have -seen the whole. Your sample may be either large or small, either -log-built or mud-built, either hidden in forest or exposed on steppe; -yet in the thousands on thousands to come, you will observe no change -in the prevailing forms. There is a Great Russ hamlet and a Little -Russ hamlet; one with its centre in Moscow, as the capital of Great -Russia; the second with its centre in Kief, the capital of Little -Russia. - -A Great Russ village consists of two lines of cabins parted from each -other by a wide and dirty lane. Each homestead stands alone. From ten -to a hundred cabins make a village. Built of the same pine-logs, -notched and bound together, each house is like its fellow, except in -size. The elder's hut is bigger than the rest; and after the elder's -house comes the whisky shop. Four squat walls, two tiers in height, -and pierced by doors and windows; such is the shell. The floor is mud, -the shingle deal. The walls are rough, the crannies stuffed with moss. -No paint is used, and the log fronts soon become grimy with rain and -smoke. The space between each hut lies open and unfenced; a slough of -mud and mire, in which the pigs grunt and wallow, and the wolf-dogs -snarl and fight. The lane is planked. One house here and there may -have a balcony, a cow-shed, an upper story. Near the hamlet rises a -chapel built of logs, and roofed with plank; but here you find a flush -of color, if not a gleam of gold. The walls of the chapel are sure to -be painted white, the roof is sure to be painted green. Some wealthy -peasant may have gilt the cross. - -Beyond these dreary cabins lie the still more dreary fields, which the -people till. Flat, unfenced, and lowly, they have nothing of the -poetry of our fields in the Suffolk and Essex plains; no hedgerow -ferns, no clumps of fruit-trees, and no hints of home. The patches set -apart for kitchen-stuff are not like gardens even of their homely -kind; they look like workhouse plots of space laid out by yard and -rule, in which no living soul had any part. These patches are always -mean, and you search in vain for such a dainty as a flower. - -Among the Little Russ--in the old Polish circles of the south and -west, you see a village group of another kind. Instead of the grimy -logs, you have a predominant mixture of green and white; instead of -the formal blocks, you have a scatter of cottages in the midst of -trees. The cabins are built of earth and reeds; the roof is thatched -with straw; and the walls of the homestead are washed with lime. A -fence of mats and thorns runs round the group. If every house appears -to be small, it stands in a yard and garden of its own. The village -has no streets. Two, and only two, openings pierce the outer -fence--one north, one south; and in feeling your way from one opening -in the fence to another, you push through a maze of lanes between -reeds and spines, beset by savage dogs. Each new-comer would seem to -have pitched his tent where he pleased; taking care to cover his hut -and yard by the common fence. - -A village built without a plan, in which every house is surrounded by -a garden, covers an immense extent of ground. Some of the Kozak -villages are as widely spread as towns. Of course there is a church, -with its glow of color and poetic charm. - -From Kief on the Dnieper to Kalatch on the Don, you find the villages -of this second type. The points of difference lie in the house and in -the garden; and must spring from difference of education, if not of -race. The Great Russians are of a timid, soft, and fluent type. They -like to huddle in a crowd, to club their means, to live under a common -roof, and stand or fall by the family tree. The Little Russians are of -a quick, adventurous, and hardy type; who like to stand apart, each -for himself, with scope and range enough for the play of all his -powers. A Great Russian carries his bride to his father's shed; a -Little Russian carries her to a cabin of his own. - -The forest melts and melts! We meet a woman driving in a cart alone; a -girl darts past us in the mail; anon we come upon a wagon, guarded by -troops on foot, containing prisoners, partly chained, in charge of an -ancient dame. - -This service of the road is due from village to village; and on a -party of travellers coming into a hamlet, the elder must provide for -them the things required--carts, horses, drivers--in accordance with -their podorojna; but in many villages the party finds no men, or none -except the very young or the very old. Husbands are leagues away; -fishing in the Polar seas, cutting timber in the Kargopol forests, -trapping fox and beaver in the Ural Mountains; leaving their wives -alone for months. These female villages are curious things, in which a -man of pleasant manners may find a chance of flirting to his heart's -content. - -Villages, more villages, yet more villages! We pass a gang of soldiers -marching by the side of a peasant's cart, in which lies a prisoner, -chained; we spy a wolf in the copse; we meet a pilgrim on his way to -Solovetsk; we come upon a gang of boys whose clothes appear to be out -at wash; we pass a broken wagon; we start at the howl of some village -dogs; and then go winding forward hour by hour, through the silent -woods. Some touch of grace and poetry charms our eyes in the most -desolate scenes. A virgin freshness crisps and shakes the leaves. The -air is pure. If nearly all the lines are level, the sky is blue, the -sunshine gold. Many of the trees are rich with amber, pink and brown; -and every vagrant breeze makes music in the pines. A peasant and his -dog troop past, reminding me of scenes in Kent. A convent here and -there peeps out. A patch of forest is on fire, from the burning mass -of which a tongue of pale pink flame laps out and up through a pall of -purple smoke. A clearing, swept by some former fire, is all aglow with -autumnal flowers. A bright beck dashes through the falling leaves. A -comely child, with flaxen curls and innocent northern eyes, stands -bowing in the road, with an almost Syrian grace. A woman comes up with -a bowl of milk. A group of girls are washing at a stream, under the -care of either the Virgin Mother or some local saint. On every point, -the folk, if homely, are devotional and polite; brightening their -forest breaks with chapel and cross, and making their dreary road, as -it were, a path of light towards heaven. - -We dash into a village near a small black lake. - - - - -CHAPTER XXXVII. - -PATRIARCHAL LIFE. - - -"No horses to be got till night!" - -"You see," smirks the village elder, "we are making holiday; it is a -bridal afternoon, and the patriarch gives a feast on account of -Vanka's nuptials with Nadia." - -"Nadia! Well, a pretty name. We shall have horses in the evening, eh? -Then let it be so. Who are yon people? Ha! the church! Come, let us -follow them, and see the crowning. Is this Vanka a fine young fellow?" - -"Vanka! yes; in the bud. He is a lad of seventeen years; said to be -eighteen years--the legal age--but, hem! he counts for nothing in the -match." - -"Why, then, is he going to take a wife?" - -"Hem! that is the patriarch's business. Daniel wants some help in the -house. Old Dan, you see, is Vanka's father, and the poor old motherkin -has been worn by him to the skin and bone. She is ten years older than -he, and the patriarch wants a younger woman at his beck and call; a -woman to milk his cow, to warm his stove, and to make his tea." - -"He wants a good servant?" - -"Yes; he wants a good servant, and he will get one in Nadia." - -"Then this affair is not a love-match?" - -"Much as most. The lad, though young, is said to have been in love; -for lads are silly and girls are sly; but he is not in love with the -woman whom his father chooses for him." - -"One of your village girls?" - -"Yes, Lousha; a pretty minx, with round blue eyes and pouting lips; -and not a ruble in the world. Now, Nadia has five brass samovars and -fifteen silver spoons. The heart of Daniel melted towards those -fifteen silver spoons." - -"And what says Vanka to the match?" - -"Nothing. What can he say? The patriarch has done it all: tested the -spoons, accepted the bride, arranged the feast, and fixed the day." - -"Russia is the land for you fathers, eh?" - -"Each in his time; the father first, the offspring next. Each in his -day; the boy will be a patriarch in his turn. A son is nobody till his -parent dies." - -"Not in such an affair as choosing his own wife?" - -"No; least of all in choosing his own wife. You see our ways are old -and homely, like the Bible ways. A patriarch rules under every -roof--not only lives but rules; and where in the patriarchal times do -you read that the young men went out into the world and chose them -partners for themselves? Our patriarch settles such things; he and the -proposeress." - -"Proposeress! Pray what is a proposeress?" - -"An ancient crone, who lives in yon cabin, near the bridge; a poor old -waif, who feeds upon her craft, who tells your fortune by a card, who -acts as agent for the girls, and is feared by every body as a witch." - -"Have you such a proposeress in every village?" - -"Not in every one. Some villages are too poor, for these old women -must be paid in good kopecks. The craftier sisters live in towns, -where they can tell you a good deal more. These city witches can rule -the planets, while the village witches can only rule the cards." - -"You really think they rule the planets?" - -"Who can tell? We see they rule the men and women; yet every man has -his planet and his angel. You must know, the girls who go to the -proposeress leave with her a list of what they have--so many samovars, -so much linen and household stuff. It is not often they have silver -spoons. These lists the patriarchs come to her house and read. A sly -fellow, like Old Dan, will steal to her door at dusk, when no one is -about, and putting down his flask of whisky on the table, ask the old -crone to drink. 'Come, motherkin,' he will giggle, 'bring out your -list, and let us talk it over.' 'What are you seeking, Father Daniel?' -leers the crone. 'A wife for Vanka, motherkin, a wife! Here, take a -drink; the dram will do you good; and now bring out your book. A fine -stout lass, with plenty of sticks and stones for me!' 'Ha!' pouts the -witch, her finger on the glass, 'you want to see my book! Well, -fatherkin, I have two nice lasses on my hands--good girls, and well to -do; either one or other just the bride for Vanka. Here, now, is -Lousha; pretty thing, but no household stuff; blue eyes, but not yet -twenty; teeth like pearls, but shaky on her feet. Not do for you and -your son? Why not? Well, as you please; I show my wares, you take them -or you leave them. Lousha is a dainty thing--you need not blow the -shingles off! Come, come, there's Dounia; well-built, buxom lassie; -never raised a scandal in her life; had but one lover, a neighbor's -boy. What sticks and stones? Dounia is a prize in herself--she eats -very little, and she works like a horse. She has four samovars -(Russian tea-urns). Not do for you! Well, now you _are_ in luck -tonight, little father. Here's Nadia!'--on which comes out the story -of her samovars and her silver spoons." - -"And so the match is made?" - -"A fee is paid to the parish priest, a day for the rite is fixed, and -all is over--except the feast, the drinking, and the headache." - -"Tell me about Nadia?" - -"You think Nadia such a pretty name. For my part, I prefer Marfousha. -My wife was Marfa; called Marfousha when the woman is a pet." - -"Is Nadia young and fair?" - -"Young? Twenty-nine. Fair? Brown as a turf." - -"Twenty-nine, and Vanka seventeen!" - -"But she is big and bony; strong as a mule, and she can go all day on -very little food." - -"All that would be well enough, if what you wanted was a slave to -thrust a spade and drive a cart." - -"That is what the patriarch wants; a servant for himself, a partner -for his boy." - -"How came Vanka to accept her?" - -"Daniel shows him her silver spoons, her shining urns, and her chest -of household stuff. The lad stares wistfully at these fine things; -Lousha is absent, and the old man nods. The woman kisses him, and all -is done." - -"Poor Lousha! where is she to-day?" - -"Left in the fields to grow. She is not strong enough yet to marry. -She could not work for her husband and her husband's father as a wife -must do. Far better wait awhile. At twenty-nine she will be big and -bony like Nadia; then she will be fit to marry, for then her wild -young spirits will be gone." - -We walk along the plank-road from the station to the church; which is -crowded with men and women in their holiday attire; the girls in red -skirts and bodices, trimmed with fur, and even with silver lace; the -men in clean capotes and round fur caps, with golden tassels and -scarlet tops. The rite is nearly over; the priest has joined the pair -in holy matrimony; and the bride and groom come forth, arrayed in -their tinsel crowns. The king leads out the queen, who certainly looks -old enough to be his dam. One hears so much about marital rights in -Russia, and the claim of women to be thrashed in evidence of their -husband's love, that one can hardly help wondering how long it will be -before Vanka can beat his wife. Not at present, clearly; so that one -would feel some doubt of their "sober certainty of bliss," except for -our knowledge that if Vanka fails, the patriarch will not scruple to -use his whip. - -Crowned with her rim of gilt brass, the bony bride, in stiff brocade -and looking her fifteen silver spoons, slides down the sloppy lane to -her future home. - -The whisky-shops--we have two in our village for the comfort of eighty -or ninety souls--are loud and busy, pouring out nips and nippets of -their liquid death. Fat, bearded men are hugging and kissing each -other in their pots, while the younger fry of lads and lasses wend in -demure and pensive silence to an open ground, where they mean to wind -up the day's festivities with a dance. This frolic is a thing to see. -A ring of villagers, old and young, get ready to applaud the sport. -The dancers stand apart; a knot of young men here, a knot of maidens -there, each sex by itself, and silent as a crowd of mutes. A piper -breaks into a tune; a youth pulls off his cap, and challenges his girl -with a wave and bow. If the girl is willing, she waves her -handkerchief in token of assent; the youth advances, takes a corner of -the kerchief in his hand, and leads his lassie round and round. No -word is spoken, and no laugh is heard. Stiff with cords and rich with -braid, the girl moves heavily by herself, going round and round, and -never allowing her partner to touch her hand. The pipe goes droning on -for hours in the same sad key and measure; and the prize of merit in -this "circling," as the dance is called, is given by spectators to the -lassie who in all that summer revelry has never spoken and never -smiled! - -Men chat with men, and laugh with men; but if they approach the women, -they are speechless; making signs with their caps only; and their dumb -appeal is answered by a wave of the kerchief--answered without words. -These romps go on till bed-time; when the men, being warm with drink, -if not with love, begin to reel and shout like Comus and his tipsy -crew. - -The patriarch stops at home, delighted to spend his evening with Nadia -and her silver spoons. - -Even when her husband is a grown-up man, a woman has to come under the -common roof, and live by the common rule. If she would like to get her -share of the cabbage soup and the buckwheat pudding, not to speak of a -new bodice now and then, she must contrive to please the old man, and -she can only please him by doing at once whatever he bids her do. The -Greek church knows of no divorce; and once married, you are tied for -life: but neither party has imagination enough to be wretched in his -lot, unless the beans should fail or the patriarch lay on the whip. - -"Would not a husband protect his wife?" - -"No," says the elder, "not where his father is concerned." - -A patriarch is lord in his own house and family, and no man has a -right to interfere with him; not even the village elder and the -imperial judge. He stands above oral and written law. His cabin is not -only a castle, but a church, and every act of his done within that -cabin is supposed to be private and divine. - -"If a woman flew to her husband from blows and stripes?" - -"The husband must submit. What would you have? Two wills under one -roof? The shingles would fly off." - -"The young men always yield?" - -"What should they do but yield? Is not old age to be revered? Is not -experience good? Can a man have lived his life and not learned wisdom -with his years? Now, it is said, the fashion is about to change; the -young men are to rule the house; the patriarchs are to hide their -beards. But not in my time; not in my time!" - -"Do the women readily submit to what the patriarch says?" - -"They must. Suppose Nadia beaten by Old Dan. She comes to me with her -shoulders black and blue. I call a meeting of patriarchs to hear her -tale. What comes of it? She tells them her father beats her. She shows -her scars. The patriarchs ask her why he beats her? She owns that she -refused to do this or that, as he bade her; something, it may be, -which he ought not to have asked, and she ought not to have done; but -the principle of authority is felt to be at stake; for, if a patriarch -is not to rule his house, how is the elder to rule his village, the -governor his province, the Tsar his empire? All authorities stand or -fall together; and the patriarchs find that the woman is a fool, and -that a second drubbing will do her good." - -"They would not order her to be flogged?" - -"Not now; the new law forbids it; that is to say, in public. In his -own cabin Daniel may flog Nadia when he likes." - -This "new law" against flogging women in public is an edict of the -present reign; a part of that mighty scheme of social reform which the -Emperor is carrying out on every side. It is not popular in the -village, since it interferes with the rights of men, and cripples the -patriarchs in dealing with the defenseless sex. Since this edict put -an end to the open flogging of women, the men have been forced to -invent new modes of punishing their wives, and their sons' wives, -since they fancy that a private beating does but little good, because -it carries no sting of shame. A news-sheet gives the following as a -sample: Euphrosine M----, a peasant woman living in the province of -Kherson, is accused by her husband of unfaithfulness to her vows. The -rustic calls a meeting of patriarchs, who hear his story, and without -hearing the wife in her defense, condemn her to be walked through the -village stark naked, in broad daylight, in the presence of all her -friends. That sentence is executed on a frosty day. Her guilt is never -proved; yet she has no appeal from the decision of that village court! - -A village is an original and separate power; in every sense a state -within the state. - - - - -CHAPTER XXXVIII. - -VILLAGE REPUBLICS. - - -A village is a republic, governed by a law, a custom, and a ruler of -its own. - -In Western Europe and the United States a hamlet is no more than a -little town in which certain gentlefolk, farmers, tradesmen, and their -dependents dwell; people who are as free to go away as they were free -to come. A Russian village is not a small town, with this mixture of -ranks, but a collection of cabins, tenanted by men of one class and -one calling; men who have no power to quit the fields they sow; who -have to stand and fall by each other; who hold their lands under a -common bond; who pay their taxes in a common sum; who give up their -sons as soldiers in the common name. - -These village republics are confined in practice to Great Russia, and -the genuine Russ. In Finland, in the Baltic provinces, they are -unknown; in Astrakhan, Siberia, and Kazan, they are unknown; in Kief, -Podolia, and the Ukraine steppe, they are unknown; in the Georgian -highlands, in the Circassian valleys, on the Ural slopes, they are -equally unknown. In fact, the existence of these peasant republics in -a province is the first and safest test of nationality. Wherever they -are found, the soil is Russian, and the people Russ. - -The provinces over which they spread are many in number, vast in -extent, and rich in patriotic virtue. They extend from the walls of -Smolensk to the neighborhood of Viatka; from the Gulf of Onega to the -Kozak settlements on the Don. They cover an empire fifteen or sixteen -times as large as France; the empire of Ivan the Terrible; that Russia -which lay around the four ancient capitals--Novgorod, Vladimir, -Moscow, Pskoff. - -What is a village republic? - -Is it Arcady, Utopia, New Jerusalem, Brook Farm, Oneida Creek, Abode -of Love? Not one of these societies can boast of more than a passing -resemblance to a Russian commune. - -A village republic is an association of peasants, living like a body -of monks and nuns, in a convent; living on lands of their own, -protected by chiefs of their own, and ruled by customs of their own; -but here the analogy between a commune and a convent ends; for a -peasant marries, multiplies, and fills the earth. It is an -agricultural family, holding an estate in hand like a Shaker union; -but instead of flying from the world and having no friendship beyond -the village bounds, they knit their interests up, by marrying with -those of the adjacent communes. It is an association of laymen like a -phalanx; but instead of dividing the harvest, they divide the land; -and that division having taken place, their rule is for every man to -do the best he can for himself, without regard to his brother's needs. -It is a working company, in which the field and forest belong to all -the partners in equal shares, as in a Gaelic clan and a Celtic sept; -but the Russian rustic differs from a Highland chiel, and an Irish -kerne, in owning no hereditary chief. It is a socialistic group, with -property--the most solid and lasting property--in common, like the -Bible votaries at Oneida Creek; but these partners in the soil never -dream of sharing their goods and wives. It is a tribal unit, holding -what it owns under a common obligation, like a Jewish house; but the -associates differ from a Jewish house in bearing different names, and -not affecting unity of blood. - -By seeing what a village republic is not, we gain some insight into -what it is. - -We find some sixty or eighty men of the same class, with the same -pursuits; who have consented, they and their fathers for them, to stay -in one spot; to build a hamlet; to elect an elder with unusual powers; -to hold their land in general, not in several; and to dwell in cabins -near each other, face to face. The purpose of their association is -mutual help. - -A pack of wolves may have been the founders of the first village -republic. Even now, when the forests are thinner, and the villages -stronger than of yore, the cry of "wolf" is no welcome sound; and when -the frost is keen, the village homesteads have to be watched in turns, -by day and night. A wolf in the Russian forests is like a red-skin on -the Kansas plains. The strength of a party led by an elder, fighting -in defense of a common home, having once been proved by success -against wolves, it would be easy to rouse that strength against the -fox and the bear, the vagabond and the thief. In a region full of -forests, lakes, and bogs, a lonely settler has no chance, and Russia -is even yet a country of forests, lakes, and bogs. The settlers must -club their means and powers, and bind themselves to stand by each -other in weal and woe. Wild beasts are not their only foes. A fall of -snow is worse than a raid of wolves; for the snow may bury their -sheds, destroy their roads, imprison them in tombs, from which a -single man would never be able to fight his way. The wolves are now -driven into the woods, but the snow can never be beaten back into the -sky; and while the northern storms go raging on, a peasant who tills -the northern soil will need for his protection an enduring social -bond. - -These peasant republicans find this bond of union in the soil. They -own the soil in common, not each in his own right, but every one in -the name of all. They own it forever, and in equal shares. A man and -his wife make the social unit, recognized by the commune as a house, -and every house has a claim to a fair division of the family estate; -to so much field, to so much wood, to so much kitchen-ground, as that -estate will yield to each. Once in three years all claims fall in, all -holdings cease, a fresh division of the land is made. A commune being -a republic, and the men all peers, each voice must be heard in -council, and every claim must be considered in parcelling the estate. -The whole is parted into as many lots as there are married couples in -the village; so much arable, so much forest, so much cabbage-bed for -each. Goodness of soil and distance from the home are set against each -other in every case. - -But the principle of association passes, like the needs out of which -it springs, beyond the village bounds. Eight or ten communes join -themselves into a canton (a sort of parish); ten or twelves cantons -form a volost, (a sort of hundred). Each circle is self-governed; in -fact, a local republic. - -From ancient times the members of these village democracies derive a -body of local rights; of kin to those family rights which reforming -ministers and judges think it wiser to leave alone. They choose their -own elders, hold their own courts, inflict their own fines. They have -a right to call meetings, draw up motions, and debate their communal -affairs. They have authority over all their members, whether these are -rich or poor. They can depose their elders, and set up others in their -stead. A peasant republic is a patriarchal circle, exercising powers -which the Emperor has not given, and dares not take away. - -The elder--called in Russian starosta--is the village chief. - -This elder is elected by the peasants from their own body; elected for -three years; though he is seldom changed at the end of his term; and -men have been known to serve their neighbors in this office from the -age of forty until they died. Every one is qualified for the post; -though it seldom falls, in practice, to a man who is either unable or -unwilling to pay for drink. The rule is, for the richest peasant of -the village to be chosen, and a stranger driving into a hamlet in -search of the elder will not often be wrong in pulling up his -tarantass at the biggest door. These peasants meet in a chapel, in a -barn, in a dram-shop, as the case may be; they whisper to each other -their selected name; they raise a loud shout and a clatter of horny -hands; and when the man of their choice has bowed his head, accepting -their vote, they sally to a drinking-shop, where they shake hands and -kiss each other over nippets of whisky and jorums of quass. An unpaid -servant of his village, the Russian elder, like an Arab sheikh, is -held accountable for every thing that happens to go wrong. Let the -summer be hot, let the winter be dure, let the crop be scant, let the -whisky be thin, let the roads be unsafe, let the wolves be out--the -elder is always the man to blame. Sometimes, not often, a rich peasant -tries to shirk this office, as a London banker shuns the dignity of -lord mayor. But such a man, if he escape, will not escape scot free. A -commune claims the service of her members, and no one can avoid her -call without suffering a fine in either meal or malt. The man who -wishes to escape election has to smirk and smile like the man who -wishes to win the prize. He has to court his neighbor in the -grog-shop, in the church, and in the field; flattering their weakness, -treating them to drink, and whispering in their ear that he is either -too young, too old, or too busy, for the office they would thrust upon -him. When the time comes round for a choice to be made, the villagers -pass him by with winks and shrugs, expecting, when the day is over, to -have one more chance of drinking at his expense. - -An elder chosen by this village parliament is clothed with strange, -unclassified powers; for he is mayor and sheikh in one; a personage -known to the law, as well as a patriarch clothed with domestic rights. -Some of his functions lie beyond the law, and clash with articles in -the imperial code. - -To wit: an elder sitting in his village court, retains the power to -beat and flog. No one else in Russia, from the lord on his lawn and -the general on parade, down to the merchant in his shop and the rider -on a sledge, can lawfully strike his man. By one wise stroke of his -pen, the Emperor made all men equal before the stick; and breaches of -this rule are judged with such wholesome zeal, that the savage energy -of the upper ranks is completely checked. Once only have I seen a man -beat another--an officer who pushed, and struck a soldier, to prevent -him getting entangled in floes of ice. But a village elder, backed by -his meeting, can defeat the imperial will, and set the beneficent -public code aside. - -A majority of peasants, meeting in a barn, or even in a whisky-shop, -can fine and flog their fellows beyond appeal. Some rights have been -taken from these village republicans in recent years; they are not -allowed, as in former times, to lay the lash on women; and though they -can sentence a man to twenty blows, they may not club him to death. -Yet two-thirds of a village mob, in which every voter may be drunk, -can send a man to Siberia for his term of life! - - - - -CHAPTER XXXIX. - -COMMUNISM. - - -Such cases of village justice are not rare. Should a man have the -misfortune, from any cause, to make himself odious to his neighbors, -they can "cry a meeting," summon him to appear, and find him worthy to -be expelled. They can pass a vote which may have the effect of sending -for the police, give the expelled member into custody, and send him up -to the nearest district town. He is now a waif and stray. Rejected -from his commune, he has no place in society; he can not live in a -town, he can not enter a village; he is simply a vagabond and an -outcast, living beyond the pale of human law. The provincial governor -can do little for him, even if he be minded to do any thing at all. He -has no means of forcing the commune to receive him back; in fact, he -has no choice, beyond that of sending such a waif to either the army -or the public works. If all the forms have been observed, the village -judgment is final, and the man expelled from it by such a vote is -pretty sure of passing the remainder of his days on earth in either a -Circassian regiment or a Siberian mine. - -In the more serious cases dealt with by courts of law, a commune has -the power of reviewing the sentence passed, and even of setting it -aside. - -Some lout (say) is suspected of setting a barn on fire. Seized by his -elder and given in charge to the police, he is carried up to the -assize town, where he is tried for his alleged offense, and after -proof being given on either side, he is acquitted by the jury and -discharged by the judge. It might be fancied that such a man would -return to his cabin and his field, protected by the courts. But no; -the commune, which has done him so much wrong already, may complete -the injury by refusing to receive him back. A meeting may review the -jurors and the judge, decline their verdict, try the man once more in -secret, and condemn him, in his absence, to the loss--not simply of -his house and land--but of his fame and caste. - -The communes have other, and not less curious, rights. No member of a -commune can quit his village without the general leave, without a -passport signed by the elder, who can call him home without giving -reasons for his acts. The absent brother must obey, on penalty of -being expelled from his commune: that is to say--in a Russian village, -as in an Indian caste--being flung out of organized society into -infinite space. - -Nor can the absent member escape from this tribunal by forfeiting his -personal rights. An elder grants him leave to travel in very rare -cases, and for very short terms; often for a month, now and then a -quarter, never for more than a year. That term, whether long or short, -is the limit of a man's freedom; when it expires, he must return to -his commune, under penalty of seizure by the police as a vagabond -living without a pass. - -A village parliament is holden once a year, when every holder of house -and field has the right to be heard. The suffrage is general, the -voting by ballot. Any member can bring up a motion, which the elder is -compelled to put. An unpopular elder may be deposed, and some one else -elected in his stead. Subjects of contention are not lacking in these -peasant parliaments; but the fiercest battles are those fought over -roads, imperial taxes, conscripts, wood-rights, water-rights, whisky -licenses, and the choice of lots. - -What may be termed the external affairs of the village--highways, -fisheries, and forest-rights--are settled, not with imperial officers, -but with their neighbors of the canton and the volost. The canton and -the volost treat with the general, governor, and police. A minister -looks for what he needs to the association, not to the separate -members, and when rates are levied and men are wanted, the canton and -the volost receive their orders and proceed to raise alike the money -and the men. The crown has only to send out orders; and the money is -paid, the men are raised. A system so effective and so cheap, is a -convenience to the ministers of finance and war so great that the -haughtiest despots and the wisest reformers have not dared to touch -the interior life of these peasant commonwealths. - -Thus the village system remains a thing apart, not only from the outer -world, but from the neighboring town. The men who live in these sheds, -who plough these fields, who angle in this lake, are living by an -underived and original light. Their law is an oral law, their charter -bears no seat, their franchise knows no date. They vote their own -taxes, and they frame their own rules. Except in crimes of serious -dye, they act as an independent court. They fine, they punish, they -expel, they send unpopular men to Siberia; and even call up the civil -arm in execution of their will. - -Friends of these rustic republics urge as merits in the village -system, that the men are peers, that public opinion governs, that no -one is exempt from the general law, that rich men find no privilege in -their wealth. All this sounds well in words; and probably in seven or -eight cases out of ten the peasants treat their brethren fairly; -though it will not be denied that in the other two or three cases -gross and comical burlesques of justice may be seen. I hear of a man -being flogged for writing a paragraph in a local paper, which half, at -least, of his judges could not read. Still worse, and still more -flagrant, is the abuse of extorting money from the rich. A charge is -made, a meeting cried, and evidence heard. If the offender falls on -his knees, admits his guilt, and offers to pay a fine, the charge is -dropped. The whole party marches to the whisky shop, and spends the -fine in drams. Now the villagers know pretty well the brother who is -rich enough to give his rubles in place of baring his back; and when -they thirst for a dram at some other man's cost, they have only to get -up some flimsy charge on which that yielding brother can be tried. The -man is sure to buy himself off. Then comes the farce of charge and -proof, admission and fine; followed by the drinking bout, in which -from policy the offender joins; until the virtuous villagers, warm -with the fiery demon, kiss and slobber upon each other's beards, and -darkness covers them up in their drunken sleep. - -In Moscow I know a man, a clerk, a thrifty fellow, born in the -province of Tamboff, who has saved some money, and the fact coming -out, he has been thrice called home to his village, thrice accused of -trumpery offenses, thrice corrected by a fine. In every case, the man -was sentenced to be flogged; and he paid his money, as they knew he -would, to escape from suffering and disgrace. His fines were instantly -spent in drink. A member of a village republic who has prospered by -his thrift and genius finds no way of guarding himself from such -assaults, except by craftily lending sums of money to the heads of -houses, so as to get the leading men completely into his power. - -In spite of some patent virtues, a rural system which compels the more -enterprising and successful men to take up such a position against -their fellows in actual self-defense, can hardly be said to serve the -higher purposes for which societies exist. - -These village republics are an open question; one about which there is -daily strife in every office of Government, in every organ of the -press. Men who differ on every other point, agree in praising the -rural communes. Men who agree on every other point, part company on -the merits and vices of the rural communes. - -Not a few of the ablest reformers wish to see them thrive; royalists, -like Samarin and Cherkaski, and republicans, like Herzen and Ogareff, -see in these village societies the germs of a new civilization for -East and West. Men of science, like Valouef, Bungay, and Besobrazof, -on the contrary, find in these communes nothing but evil, nothing but -a legacy from the dark ages, which must pass away as the light of -personal freedom dawns. - -That the village communes have some virtues may be safely said. A -minister of war and a minister of finance are keenly alive to these -virtues, since a man who wishes to levy troops and taxes in a quick, -uncostly fashion, finds it easier to deal with fifty thousand elders, -than with fifty million peasants. A minister of justice thinks with -comfort of the host of watchful, unpaid eyes that are kept in -self-defense on such as are suspected of falling into evil ways. These -virtues are not all, not nearly all. A rural system, in which every -married man has a stake in the soil, produces a conservative and -pacific people. No race on earth either clings to old ways or prays -for peace so fervently as the Russ. Where each man is a landholder, -abject poverty is unknown; and Russia has scant need for poor-laws and -work-houses, since she has no such misery in her midst as a permanent -pauper class. Every body has a cabin, a field, a cow; perhaps a horse -and cart. Even when a fellow is lazy enough and base enough to ruin -himself, he can not ruin his sons. They hold their place in the -commune, as peers of all, and when they grow up to man's estate, they -will obtain their lots, and set up life on their own account. The bad -man dies, and leaves to his province no legacy of poverty and crime. -The communes cherish love for parents, and respect for age. They keep -alive the feeling of brotherhood and equality, and inspire the country -with a sentiment of mutual dependence and mutual help. - -On the other side, they foster a parish spirit, tend to separate -village from town, strengthen the ideas of class and caste, and favor -that worst delusion in a country--of there being a state within a -state! Living in his own republic, a peasant is apt to consider the -burgher as a stranger living under a different and inferior rule. A -peasant hears little of the civil code, except in his relations with -the townsfolk; and he learns to despise the men who are bound by the -letter of that civil code. Between his own institutions and those of -his burgher neighbors there is a chasm, like that which separates -America from France. - - - - -CHAPTER XL. - -TOWNS. - - -A town is a community lying beyond the canton and volost, in which -people live by burgher right and not by communal law. Unlike the -peasant, a burgher has power to buy and sell, to make and mend, to -enter crafts and guilds; but he is chained to his trade very much as -the rustic is chained to his field. His house is built of logs, his -roads are laid with planks; but then his house is painted green or -pink, and his road is wide and properly laid out. In place of a free -local government, the town finds a master in the minister, in the -governor, in the chief of police. While the village is a separate -republic, the town is a parcel of the empire; and as parcel of the -empire it must follow the imperial code. - -Saving the great cities, not above five or six in number, all Russian -towns have a common character, and when you have seen two or three in -different parts of the empire, you have seen them all. Take any -riverside town of the second class (and most of these towns are built -on the banks of streams) from Onega to Rostoff, from Nijni to -Kremenchug. A fire-tower, a jail, a fish-market, a bazar, and a -cathedral, catch the eye at once. Above and below the town you see -monastic piles. A bridge of boats connects the two banks, and a poorer -suburb lies before the town. The port is crowded with smacks and -rafts; the smacks bringing fish, the rafts bringing pines. What swarms -of people on the wharf! How grave, how dirty, and how pinched, they -look! Their sadness comes of the climate, and their dirt is of the -East. "Yes, yes!" you may hear a mujik say to his fellow, speaking of -some neighbor, "he is a respectable man--quite; he has a clean shirt -once a week." The rustic eats but little flesh; his dinner, even on -days that are not kept as fasts, being a slice of black bread, a -girkin, and a piece of dried cod. Just watch them, how they higgle for -a kopeck! A Russ craftsman is a fellow to deal with; ever hopeful and -acquiescent; ready to please in word and act; but you are never sure -that he will keep his word. He has hardly any sense of time and space. -To him one hour of the day is like another, and if he has promised to -make you a coat by ten in the morning, he can not be got to see the -wrong of sending it home by eleven at night. - -The market reeks with oil and salt, with vinegar and fruit, with the -refuse of halibut, cod, and sprats. The chief articles of sale are -rings of bread, salt girkins, pottery, tin plates, iron nails, and -images of saints. The street is paved with pools, in which lie a few -rough stones, to help you in stepping from stall to stall. To walk is -an effort; to walk with clean feet a miracle. Such filth is too deep -for shoes. - -A fish-wife is of either sex; and even when she belongs of right to -the better side of human nature, she is not easy to distinguish from -her lord by any thing in her face and garb. Seeing her in the sharp -wind, quilted in her sheep-skin coat, and legged in her deer-skin -hose, her features pinched by frost, her hands blackened by toil, it -would be hard to say which was the female and which the male, if -Providence had not blessed the men with beards. By these two signs a -Russ may be known from all other men--by his beard and by his boots; -but since many of his female folk wear boots, he is only to be safely -known from his partner in life by the bunch of hair upon his chin. - -In the bazar stand the shops; dark holes in the wall, like the old -Moorish shops in Seville and Granada; in which the dealer stands -before his counter and shows you his poor assortment of prints and -stuffs, his pots and pans, his saints, his candles, and his packs of -cards. Next to rye-bread and salt fish, saints and cards are the -articles mostly bought and sold; for in Russia every body prays and -plays; the noble in his club, the dealer at his shop, the boatman on -his barge, the pilgrim by his wayside cross. The propensities to pray -and gamble may be traced to a common root; a kind of moral fetichism, -a trust in the grace of things unseen, in the merit of dead men, and -even in the power of chance. A Russian takes, like a child, to every -strange thing, and prides himself on the completeness of his faith. -When he is not kneeling to his angel, nothing renders him so happy as -the sight of a pack of cards. - -Nearly every one plays high for his means; and nothing is more common -than for a burgher to stake and lose, first his money, then his boots, -his cap, his caftan, every scrap of his garments, down to his very -shirt. Whisky excepted, nothing drives a Russian to the devil so -quickly as a pack of cards. - -But see, these gamblers throw down their cards, unbonnet their heads, -and fall upon their knees. The priest is coming down the street with -his sacred picture and his cross. It is market-day in the town, and he -is going to open and bless some shop in the bazar; and fellows who -were gambling for their shirts are now upon their knees in prayer. - -The rite by which a shop, a shed, a house, is dedicated to God is not -without touches of poetic beauty. Notice must be given aforetime to -the parish priest, who fixes the hour of consecration, so that a man's -kinsfolk and neighbors may be present if they like. The time having -come, the priest takes down his cross from the altar, a boy lights the -embers in his censer, and, preceded by his reader and deacon, the pope -moves down the streets through crowds of kneeling men and women, most -of whom rise and follow in his wake, only too eager to catch so easily -and cheaply some of the celestial fire. - -Entering the shop or house, the pope first purges the room by prayer, -then blesses the tenant or dweller, and lastly sanctifies the place by -hanging in the "corner of honor" an image of the dealer's guardian -angel, so that in the time to come no act can be done in that house or -shop except under the eyes of its patron saint. - -Though poor as art, such icons, placed in rooms, have power upon men's -minds. Not far from Tamboff lived an old lady who was more than -commonly hard upon her serfs, until the poor wretches, maddened by her -use of the whip and the black hole, broke into her room at night, some -dozen men, and told her, with a sudden brevity, that her hour had come -and she must die. Springing from her bed, she snatched her image from -the wall, and held it out against her assailants, daring them to -strike the Mother of God. Dropping their clubs, they fled from before -her face. Taking courage from her victory, she hung up the picture, -drew on her wrapper, and followed her serfs into the yard, where, -seeing that she was unprotected by her image, they set upon her with a -shout, and clubbed her instantly to death. - -In driving through the town we note how many are the dram-shops, and -how many the tipsy men. Among the smaller reforms under which the -burgher has now to live is that of a thinner drink. The Emperor has -put water into the whisky, and reduced the price from fifteen kopecks -a glass to five. The change is not much relished by the topers, who -call their thin potation, dechofka--cheap stuff; but simpler souls -give thanks to the reformer for his boon, saying, "Is he not good--our -Tsar--in giving us three glasses of whisky for the price of a single -glass!" Yet, thin as it is, a nippet of the fiery spirit throws a -sinner off his legs, for his stomach is empty, his nerves are lax, and -his blood is poor. If he were better fed he would crave less drink. -Happily a Russian is not quarrelsome in his cups; he sings and smiles, -and wishes to hug you in the public street. No richer comedy is seen -on any stage than that presented by two tipsy mujiks riding on a -sledge, putting their beards together and throwing their arms about -each other's neck. A happy fellow lies in the gutter, fast asleep; -another, just as tipsy, comes across the roadway, looks at his -brother, draws his own wrapper round his limbs, and asking gods and -men to pardon him, lies down tenderly in the puddle by his brother's -side. - -The social instincts are, in a Russian, of exceeding strength. He -likes a crowd. The very hermits of his country are a social crew--not -men who rush away into lonely nooks, where, hidden from all eyes, they -grub out caves in the rock and burrow under roots of trees; but -brothers of some popular cloister, famous for its saints and pilgrims, -where they drive a shaft under the convent wall, secrete themselves in -a hole, and receive their food through a chink, in sight of wondering -visitors and advertising monks. Such were the founders of his church, -the anchorets of Kief. - -The first towns of Russia are Kief and Novgorod the Great; her -capitals and holy places long before she built herself a kremlin on -the Moskva, and a winter palace on the Neva. Kief and Novgorod are -still her pious and poetic cities; one the tower of her religious -faith, the other of her imperial power. From Vich Gorod at Kief -springs the dome which celebrates her conversion to the Church of -Christ; in the Kremlin of Novgorod stands the bronze group which -typifies her empire of a thousand years. - - - - -CHAPTER XLI. - -KIEF. - - -Kief, the oldest of Russian sees, is not in Russia Proper, and many -historians treat it as a Polish town. The people are Ruthenians, and -for hundreds of years the city belonged to the Polish crown. The plain -in front of it is the Ukraine steppe; the land of hetman and -zaporogue; of stirring legends and riotous song. The manners are -Polish and the people Poles. Yet here lies the cradle of that church -which has shaped into its own likeness every quality of Russian -political and domestic life. - -The city consists of three parts, of three several towns--Podol, Vich -Gorod, Pechersk; a business town, an imperial town, and a sacred town. -All these quarters are crowded with offices, shops, and convents; yet -Podol is the merchant quarter, Vich Gorod the Government quarter, and -Pechersk the pilgrim quarter. These towns overhang the Dnieper, on a -range of broken cliffs; contain about seventy thousand souls; and -hold, in two several places of interment, all that was mortal of the -Pagan duke who became her foremost saint. - -Kief is a city of legends and events; the preaching of St. Andrew, the -piety of St. Olga, the conversion of St. Vladimir; the Mongolian -assault, the Polish conquest, the recovery by Peter the Great. The -provinces round Kief resemble it, and rival it, in historic fame. -Country of Mazeppa and Gonta, the Ukraine teems with story; tales of -the raid, the flight, the night attack, the violated town. Every -village has its legend, every town its epic, of love and war. The land -is aglow with personal life. Yon chapel marks the spot where a grand -duke was killed; this mound is the tomb of a Tartar horde; that field -is the site of a battle with the Poles. The men are brighter and -livelier, the houses are better built, and the fields are better -trimmed than in the North and East. The music is quicker, the brandy -is stronger, the love is warmer, the hatred is keener, than you find -elsewhere. These provinces are Gogol's country, and the scenery is -that of his most popular tales. - -Like all the southern cities, Kief fell into the power of Batu Khan, -the Mongol chief, and groaned for ages under the yoke of Asiatic begs. -These begs were idol-worshippers, and under their savage and -idolatrous rule the children of Vladimir had to pass through heavy -trials; but Kief can boast that in the worst of times she kept in her -humble churches and her underground caves the sacred embers of her -faith alive. - -Below the tops of two high hills, three miles from that Vich Gorod in -which Vladimir built his harem, and raised the statue of his Pagan -god, some Christian hermits, Anton, Feodosie, and their fellows, dug -for themselves in the loose red rock a series of corridors and caves, -in which they lived and died, examples of lowly virtue and the -Christian life. The Russian word for cave is pechera, and the site of -these caves was called Pechersk. Above the cells in which these -hermits dwelt, two convents gradually arose, and took the names of -Anton and Feodosie, now become the patron saints of Kief, and the -reputed fathers of all men living in Russia a monastic life. - -A green dip between the old town, now trimmed and planted, parts the -first convent--that of Anton--from the city; a second dip divides the -convent of Feodosie, from that of his fellow-saint. These convents, -nobly planned and strongly built, take rank among the finest piles in -Eastern Europe. Domes and pinnacles of gold surmount each edifice; and -every wall is pictured with legends from the lives of saints. The -ground is holy. More than a hundred hermits lie in the catacombs, and -crowds of holy men lie mouldering in every niche of the solid wall. -Mouldering! I crave their pardons. Holy men never rust and rot. For -purity of the flesh in death is evidence of purity of the flesh in -life; and saints are just as incorruptible of body as of soul. In -Anton's Convent you are shown the skull of St. Vladimir; that is to -say, a velvet pall in which his skull is said to be wrapped and -swathed. You are told that the flesh is pure, the skin uncracked, the -odor sweet. A line of dead bodies fills the underground passages and -lanes--each body in a niche of the rock; and all these martyrs of the -faith are said to be, like Vladimir, also fresh and sweet. - -A stranger can not say whether this tale of the incorruptibility of -early saints and monks is true or not; since nothing can be seen of -the outward eye except a coffin, a velvet pall, and an inscription -newly painted in the Slavonic tongue. A great deal turns on the amount -of faith in which you seek for proof. For monks are men, and a critic -can hardly press them with his doubts. Suppose you try to persuade -your guides to lift the pall from St. Anton's face. Your own opinion -is that even though human frames might resist the dissolving action of -an atmosphere like that of Sicily and Egypt, nothing less than a -miracle could have preserved intact the bodies of saints who died a -thousand years ago, in a cold, damp climate like that of Kief. You -wish to put your science to the test of fact. You wish in vain. The -monk will answer for the miracle, but no one answers for the monk. - -Fifty thousand pilgrims, chiefly Ruthenians from the populous -provinces of Podolia, Kief, and Volhynia, come in summer to these -shrines. - -When Kief recovered her freedom from the Tartar begs, she found -herself by the chance of war a city of Polonia, not of Moscovy--a -member of the Western, not of the Eastern section of her race. Kief -had never been Russ, as Moscow was Russ; a rude, barbaric town, with -crowds of traders and rustics, ruled by a Tartarized court; and now -that her lot was cast with the more liberal and enlightened West, she -grew into a yet more Oriental Prague. For many reigns she lay open to -the arts of Germany and France; and when she returned to Russia, in -the times of Peter the Great, she was not alone the noblest jewel in -his crown, but a point of union, nowhere else to be found, for all the -Slavonic nations in the world. - -As an inland city Kief has the finest site in Russia. Standing on a -range of bluffs, she overlooks a splendid length of steppe, a broad -and navigable stream. She is the port and capital of the Ukraine; and -the Malo-Russians, whether settled on the Don, the Ural, or the -Dniester, look to her for orders of the day. She touches Poland with -her right hand, Russia with her left; she flanks Galicia and Moldavia, -and keeps her front towards the Bulgarians, the Montenegrins, and the -Serbs. In her races and religions she is much in little; an epitome of -all the Slavonic tribes. One-third of her population is Moscovite, -one-third Russine, and one-third Polack; while in faith she is -Orthodox, Roman Catholic, and United Greek. If any city in Europe -offers itself to Panslavonic dreamers as their natural capital, it is -Kief. - - - - -CHAPTER XLII. - -PANSLAVONIA. - - -Until a year ago, these Panslavonic dreamers were a party in the -State; and even now they have powerful friends at Court. Their cry is -Panslavonia for the Slavonians. Last year the members of this party -called a congress in Moscow, to which they invited--first, their -fellow-countrymen, from the White Sea to the Black, from the Vistula -to the Amoor; and next, the representatives of their race who dwell -under foreign sceptres--the Czeck from Prague, the Pole from Cracow, -the Bulgar from Shumla, the Montenegrin from Cettigne, the Serb from -Belgrade; but this gathering of the clans in Moscow opened the eyes of -moderate men to the dangerous nature of this Panslavonic dream. A deep -distrust of Russian life, as now existing, lies at the root of it; the -dreamers hoping to fall back upon forms inspired by what they call a -nobler national spirit. They read the chronicles of their race, they -collect popular songs, they print peasant tales; and in these Ossianic -legends of the steppe they find the germ of a policy which they call a -natural product of their soil. - -Like the Old Believers, these Panslavonians deny the Emperor and own -the Tsar. To them Peter the Great is Antichrist, and the success of -his reforms a temporary triumph of the Evil Spirit. He left his -country, they allege, in order to study in foreign lands the arts by -which it could be overthrown. On his return to Russia no one -recognized him as their prince. He came with a shaven face, a pipe in -his mouth, a jug of beer in his hand. A single stroke of his pen threw -down an edifice which his people had been rearing for a thousand -years. He carried his government beyond the Russian soil; and, in a -strange swamp, by the shores of a Swedish gulf, he built a palace for -his court, a market for his purveyors, a fortress for his troops. This -city he stamped with a foreign genius and baptized with a foreign -name. - -For these good reasons, the Panslavonians set their teeth against all -that Peter did, against nearly all that his followers on the throne -have done. They wish to put these alien things away, to resume their -capital, to grow their beards, to wear their fur caps, to draw on -their long boots, without being mocked as savages, and coerced like -serfs. They deny that civilization consists in a razor and a felt hat. -Finding much to complain of in the judicial sharpness of German rule, -they leaped to the conclusion that every thing brought from beyond the -Vistula is bad for Russia and the Russ. In the list of things to be -kept out of their country they include German philosophy, French -morals, and English cotton-prints. - -A thorough Panslavonian is a man to make one smile; with him it is -enough that a thing is Russian in order to be sworn the best of its -kind. Now, many things in Russia are good enough for proud people to -be proud of. The church-bells are musical, the furs warm and handsome, -the horses swift, the hounds above all praise. The dinners are -well-served; the sterlet is good to eat; but the wines are not -first-rate and the native knives and forks are bad. Yet patriots in -Kief and Moscow tell you, with gravest face, that the vintage of the -Don is finer than that of the Garonne, that the cutlery of Tula is -superior to that of Sheffield. Yet these dreamers say and unsay in a -breath, as seems for the moment best; for while they crack up their -country right and wrong, in the face of strangers; they abuse it right -and wrong when speaking of it among themselves. "We are sick, we are -sick to death," was a saying in the streets, a cry in the public -journals, long before Nicolas transferred the ailment of his country -to that of his enemy the Turk. "We have never done a thing," wrote -Khomakof, the Panslavonic poet; "not even made a rat-trap." - -A Panslavonian fears free trade. He wants cheap cotton shirts, he -wants good knives and forks; but then he shudders at the sight of a -cheap shirt and a good fork on hearing from his priest that Manchester -and Sheffield are two heretical towns, in which the spinners who weave -cloth, the grinders who polish steel, have never been taught by their -pastors how to sign themselves with the true Greek cross. What shall -it profit a man to have a cheap shirt and lose his soul? The Orthodox -clergy, seizing the Panslavonic banner, wrote on its front their own -exclusive motto: "Russia and the Byzantine Church;" and this priestly -motto made a Panslavistic unity impossible; since the Western branches -of the race are not disciples of that Byzantine Church. At Moscow -every thing was done to keep down these dissensions; and the question -of a future capital was put off, as one too dangerous for debate. Nine -men in ten of every party urge the abandonment of St. Petersburg; but -Moscow, standing in the heart of Russia, can not yield her claims to -Kief. - -The partisans of Old Russia join hands with those of Young Russia in -assailing these Panslavistic dreamers, who prate of saving their -country from the vices and errors of Europe, and offer--these -assailants say--no other plan than that of changing a German yoke for -either a Byzantine or a Polish yoke. - -The clever men who guide this party are well aware that the laws and -ceremonies of the Lower Empire offer them no good models; but in -returning to the Greeks, they expect to gain a firmer hold on the -practices of their Church. For the rest, they are willing to rest in -the hands of God, in the Oriental hope of finding that all is well at -last. If nothing else is gained, they will have saved their souls. - -"Their souls!" laugh the Young Russians, trained in what are called -the infidel schools of France; "these fellows who have no souls to be -saved!" "Their souls!" frown the Old Believers, strong in their -ancient customs and ancient faith; "these men whose souls are already -damned!" With a pitiless logic, these opponents of the Panslavonic -dreamers call on them to put their thoughts into simple words. What is -the use of dreaming dreams? "How can you promote Slavonic -nationality," ask the Young Russians, "by excluding the most liberal -and enlightened of our brethren? How can you promote civilization by -excluding cotton-prints?" The Old Believers ask, on the other side, -"How can you extend the true faith by going back to the Lower Empire, -in which religion was lost? How can you, who are not the children of -Christ, promote his kingdom on the earth? You regenerate Russia! you, -who are not the inheritors of her ancient and holy faith!" - -Reformers of every school and type have come to see the force which -lies in a Western idea--not yet, practically, known in Russia--that of -individual right. They ask for every sort of freedom; the right to -live, the right to think, the right to speak, the right to hold land, -the right to travel, the right to buy and sell, _as personal rights_. -"How," they demand from the Panslavonians, "can the Russian become a -free man while his personality is absorbed in the commune, in the -empire, and in the church?" - -"An old Russian," replies the Panslavonian, "was a free man, and a -modern Russian is a free man, but in a higher sense than is understood -by a trading-people like the English, an infidel people like the -French. Inspired by his Church, a Russian has obtained the gifts of -resignation and of sacrifice. By an act of devotion he has conveyed -his individual rights to his native prince, even as a son might give -up his rights to a father in whose love and care he had perfect trust. -A right is not lost which has been openly lodged in the hands of a -compassionate and benevolent Tsar. The Western nations have retained a -liberty which they find a curse, while the Russians have been saved by -obeying the Holy Spirit." - -Imagine the mockery by which an argument so patriarchal has been met! - -"No illusion, gentlemen," said the Emperor to his first deputation of -Poles. So far as they are linked in fortune with their Eastern -brethren, the Poles are invited to an equal place in a great empire, -having its centre of gravity in Moscow, its port of communication in -St. Petersburg; not to a Japanese kingdom of the Slavonic tribes, with -a mysterious and secluded throne in Kief. - -Yet the Poles and Ruthenians who people the western provinces and the -southern steppe will not readily give up their dream; and their genius -for affairs, their oratorical gifts, their love of war, all tend to -make them enemies equally dangerous in the court and in the field. -Plastic, clever, adroit, with the advantage of speaking the language -of the country, these dreamers get into places of high trust; into -the professor's chair, into the secretary's office, into the -aide-de-camp's saddle; in which they carry on their plot in favor of -some form of government other than that under which they live. - - - - -CHAPTER XLIII. - -EXILE. - - -A week before the last rising of the Poles took place, an officer of -high rank in the Russian service came in the dead of night, and -wrapped in a great fur cloak, to a friend of mine living in St. -Petersburg, with whom he had little more than a passing acquaintance-- - -"I am going out," he said, "and I have come to ask a favor and say -good-bye." - -"Going out!" - -"Yes," said his visitor. "My commission is signed, my post is marked. -Next week you will hear strange news." - -"Good God!" cried my friend; "think better of it. You, an officer of -state, attached to the ministry of war!" - -"I am a Pole, and my country calls me. You, a stranger, can not feel -with the passions burning in my heart. I know that by quitting the -service I disgrace my general; that the Government will call me a -deserter; that if we fail, I shall be deemed unworthy of a soldier's -death. All this I know, yet go I must." - -"But your wife--and married one year!" - -"She will be safe. I have asked for three months' leave. Our passes -have been signed; in a week she will be lodged in Paris with our -friends. You are English; that is the reason why I seek you. In the -drojki at your door is a box; it is full of coin. I want to leave this -box with you; to be given up only in case we fail; and then to a man -who will come to you and make this sign. I need not tell you that the -money is all my own, and that the charge of it will not compromise -you, since it is sacred to charity, and not to be used for war." - -"It is a part, I suppose," said my friend, "of your Siberian fund?" - -"It is," said the soldier; "you will accept my trust?" - -The box was left; the soldier went his way. In less than a week the -revolt broke out in many places; slight collisions took place, and the -Poles, under various leaders, met with the success which always -attends surprise. Three or four names, till then unknown, began to -attract the public eye; but the name of my friend's midnight visitor -was not amongst them. General ---- grew into sudden fame; his rapid -march, his dashing onset, his daily victory, alarmed the Russian -court, until a very strong corps was ordered to be massed against him. -Then he was crushed; some said he was slain. One night, my friend was -seated in his chamber, reading an account of this action in a journal, -when his servant came into the room with a card, on which was printed: - -THE COUNTESS R----. - -The lady was below, and begged to see my friend that night. Her name -was strange to him; but he went out into the passage, where he found a -pale, slim lady of middle age, attired in the deepest black. - -"I have come to you," she said at once, "on a work of charity. A young -soldier crawled to my house from the field of battle, so slashed and -shot that we expected him to die that night. He was a patriot; and his -papers showed that he was the young General ----. He lived through the -night, but wandered in his mind. He spoke much of Marie; perhaps she -is his wife. By daylight he was tracked, and carried from my house; -but ere he was dragged away, he gave me this card, and with the look -of a dying man, implored me to place it in your hands." - -"You have brought it yourself from Poland?" - -"I am a sufferer too," she said; "no time could be lost; in three days -I am here." - -"You knew him in other days?" - -"No; never. He was miserable, and I wished to help him. I have not -learned his actual name." - -Glancing at the card, my friend saw that it contained nothing but his -own name and address written in English letters; as it might be: - - _George Herbert, - Sergie Street, - St. Petersburg._ - -He knew the handwriting. "Gracious heavens!" he exclaimed, "was this -card given to you by General ----?" - -"It was." - -In half an hour my friend was closeted with a man who might intervene -with some small hope. The minister of war was reached. Surprised and -grieved at the news conveyed to him, the minister said he would see -what could be done. "General Mouravieff," he explained, "is stern, his -power unlimited; and my poor adjutant was taken on the field. -Deserter, rebel--what can be urged in arrest of death?" In truth, he -had no time to plead, for Mouravieff's next dispatch from Poland gave -an account of the execution of General ---- _by the rope_. On my -friend calling at the war-office to hear if any thing could be done, -he was told the story by a sign. - -"Can you tell me," inquired the minister, "under what name my second -adjutant is in the field? He also is missing." The caller could not -help a smile. "You are thinking," said the minister, "that this Polish -revolt was organized in my office? You are not far wrong." - -Archangel, Caucasus, Siberia--every frontier of the empire had her -batch of hapless prisoners to receive. The present reign has seen the -system of sending men to the frontiers much relaxed; and the public -works of Archangel occupied, for a time, the place once held in the -public mind by the Siberian mines. Not that the Asiatic waste has been -abandoned as an imperial Cayenne. Many great criminals, and some -unhappy politicians, are still sent over the Ural heights; but the -system has been much relaxed of late, and the name of Siberia is no -longer that word of fear which once appalled the imagination like a -living death. It is no uncommon thing to meet bands of young fellows -going up the Ural slopes from Mesen and Archangel, in search of -fortune; going over into Siberia as into a promised land! - -Many of the terrors which served to shroud Siberia in a pall have been -swept away by science. The country has been opened up. The tribes have -become better known. Tomsk, a name at which the blood ran cold, is -seen to be a pleasant town, lying in a green valley at the foot of a -noble range of heights. It is not far from Perm, which may be regarded -as a distant suburb of Kazan. The tracks have been laid down, and in a -few months a railroad will be made from Perm to Tomsk. - -The world, too, has begun to see that a penal settlement has, at best, -a limited lease of life. A man will make his home anywhere, and when a -place has become his home, it must have already ceased to be his jail. -It is in the nature of every penal settlement to become unsafe in -time; and a province of Siberia, peopled by Poles, would be a vast -embarrassment to the empire, a second Poland in her rear. Even now, -long heads are counting the years when the sons of political exiles -will occupy all the leading posts in Asia. Will they not plant in that -region the seeds of a Polish power, and of a Catholic Church? It is -the opinion of liberal Russians that Siberia will one day serve their -country as England is served by the United States. - -The exiles sent to the frontiers are of many kinds; noble, ignoble; -clerical, lay; political offenders, cut-throats, heretics, coiners, -schismatics; prisoners of the Court, prisoners of the Law, and -prisoners of the Church. The exiles sent away by a minister of police, -by the governor of a province, are not kept in jail, are not compelled -to work. The police has charge of them in a certain sense; they are -numbered, and registered in books; and they have to report themselves -at head-quarters from time to time. Beyond these limits they are free. -You meet them in society; and if you guess they are exiles, it is -mainly on account of their keener intelligence and their greater -reserve of words. They either live on their private means, or follow -the professions to which they have been trained. Some teach music and -languages, some practise medicine or law; still more become -secretaries and clerks to the official Russ. A great many occupy -offices in the village system. In one day's drive in a tarantass I saw -a dozen hamlets, in which every man serving as a justice of the peace -was a Pole. - -Not less than three thousand of the insurgents taken with arms in -their hands during the last rising at Warsaw, were sent on to -Archangel. At first the number was so great that an insurrection of -prisoners threatened the safety of the town. The governor had to call -in troops from the surrounding country, and the war-office had to -fetch back all the Prussian and Austrian Poles whom, in the first -hours of repression, they had hurried to the confines of the Frozen -Sea. - -They lived in a great yellow building, once used as the arsenal of -Archangel, before the Government works were carried to the South; and -their lot, though hard enough, was not harder than that of the people -amongst whom they lived. They were gently used by the officers, who -felt a soldierly respect for their courage, and a committee of foreign -residents was allowed to visit them in their rooms. The food allowed -to them was plentiful and good, and many a poor sentinel standing with -his musket in their doorways must have envied them the abundance of -bread and soup. - -In squads and companies these prisoners have been brought back to -their homes; some to their families, others to the provinces in which -they had lived. Many have been freed without terms; some have been -suffered to return to Poland on the sole condition of their not going -to Warsaw. A hundred, perhaps, remain in the arsenal building, waiting -for their turn to march. Their lot is hard, no doubt; but where is the -country in which the lot of a political prisoner is not hard? Is it -Virginia? is it Ireland? is it France? - -These prisoners are closely watched, and the chances of escape are -faint; not one adventurer getting off in a dozen years. A Pole of -desperate spirit, who had been sent to Mesen as a place of greater -security than the open city of Archangel, slipped his guard, crawled -through the pine woods to the sea, hid himself in the forest, until he -found an opportunity of stealing a fisherman's boat, and then pushed -boldly from the shore in his tiny craft, in the hope of being picked -up by some English or Swedish ship on her outward voyage. Four days -and nights he lived on the open sea; suffering from chill and damp, -and torn by the pangs of hunger and thirst, until the paddle dropped -from his hands. His strength being spent, he drifted with the tide on -shore, only too glad to exchange his liberty for bread. When the -officer sent to make inquiries drove into Mesen, he found the poor -fellow lying half dead in the convict ward. - -Beyond this confinement in a bleak and distant land, the Polish -insurgents do not seem to be physically ill-used. Their tasks are -light, their pay is higher than that of the soldiers guarding them, -and some of the better class are allowed to work in cities as -messengers and clerks. At one time they were allowed to teach--one man -dancing, a second drawing, a third languages; but this privilege has -been taken from them on the ground that in the exercise of these arts -they were received into families, and abused their trust. - -It is no easy thing to mix these Polish malcontents with the general -race, without producing these results which a jealous police regard as -a "corruption" of youth. - -Man for man, a Pole is better taught than a Russian. He has more -ideas, more invention, more practical talent. Having more resources, -he can not be thrown in the midst of his fellows without taking the -lead. He can put their wishes into words, and show them how to act. A -prisoner, he becomes a clerk: an exile, he becomes on overseer, a -teacher--in fact, a leader of men. Sent out into a distant province, -he gradually but surely asserts his rank. An order from the police can -not rob him of his genius; and when the ban is taken from his name, he -may remain as a citizen in the town which gives him a career and -perhaps supplies him with a wife. He may get a professor's chair; he -may be made a judge; if he has been a soldier, he may be put on the -general's staff. - -All this time, and through all these changes, he may hold on to his -hope; continuing to be a Pole at heart, and cherishing the dream of -independence which has proved his bane. The country that employs him -in her service is not sure of him. In her hour of trial he may betray -her to an enemy; he may use the power in which she clothes him to deal -her a mortal blow. She can not trust him. She fears his tact, his -suppleness, his capacity for work. In fact, she can neither get on -with him nor without him. - -In the mean time, Poles who have passed through years of exile into a -second freedom are coming to be known as a class apart, with qualities -and virtues of their own--the growth of suffering and experience -acting on a sensitive and poetic frame. These men are known as the -Siberians. A Pole with whom I travel some days is one of these -Siberians, and from his lips I hear another side of this strange story -of exile life. - - - - -CHAPTER XLIV. - -THE SIBERIANS. - - -"He is one of the Siberians," says my comrade of the road, after -quoting some verses from a Polish poet. - -"One of the Siberians?" - -"Yes," replies the Pole. "In these countries you find a people of whom -the world has scarcely heard; a new people, I might say; for, while in -physique they are like the fighting men who followed Sobieski to the -walls of Vienna, they are in mind akin to the patient and laborious -monks who have built up the shrines of Solovetsk. Time has done his -work upon them. A sad and sober folk, they go among us by the name of -our Siberians." - -"They are Poles by birth?" - -"Yes, Poles by genius and by birth. They are our children who have -passed through fire; our children whom we never hoped to see in the -living world. Once they were called our Lost Ones. In Poland we have a -tragic phrase, much used by parting friends: 'We never meet again!' -For many years that parting phrase was fate. An exile, sent beyond the -Ural Mountains, never came back; he was said to have joined our Lost -Ones; he became to us a memory like the dead. We could not hope to see -his face again, except in dreams. To-day that line is but a song, a -recollection of the past; a refrain sung by the waters of Babylon. In -Vilna, in Kazan, in Kief, in a hundred cities widely parted from each -other, you will find a colony of Poles, now happy in their homes, who -have crossed and recrossed those heights; men of high birth, and of -higher culture than their birth; men who have ploughed through the -snows of Tomsk; who have brought back into the West a pure and -bruised, though not a broken spirit." - -"Are these pardoned men reconciled to the Emperor?" - -"They are reconciled to God. Do not mistake me. No one doubts that the -reigning Emperor is a good and brave man; high enough to see his duty; -strong enough to face it, even though his feet should have to stumble -long and often on the rocks. But God is over all, and his Son died for -all. Alexander is but an instrument in His hands. You think me -mystical! Because my countrymen believe in the higher powers, they are -described by Franks, who believe in nothing, as dreamers and -spiritualists. We dream our dreams, we see our signs, we practise our -religion, we respect our clergy, we obey our God." - -"I have heard the Poles described as women in prayer, as gods in -battle!" - -"Like the young men of my circle," he continues, after a pause, "I -took a part in the rising of '48; a poor affair, without the merit of -being either Polish or Slavonic. That rising was entirely French. -While young in years I had travelled with a comrade in the west of -Europe; living on the Rhine, and on the Seine, where we forgot the -religion of our mothers and our country, and learned to think and to -speak of Poland as of a northern France. We called ourselves -republicans, and thought we were great philosophers; but the idol of -our fancies was Napoleon the Great, under whose banner so many of our -countrymen threw away their lives. We ceased to appear at church, and -even denied ourselves to the Polish priest. We hated the Tsar, and we -despised the Russians with all our souls. Two years before the -republic was proclaimed in the streets of Paris, we returned to -Warsaw, in the hope of finding some field of service against the Tsar; -but the powers had been too swift for us; and Cracow, the last free -city of our country, was incorporated with the kaisar's empire on the -day when I was dropped from the tarantass at my father's door. France -bade us trust in her, and in the secret meetings which we called among -our youthful friends, we gave up the good old Polish psalms and signs -for Parisian songs and passwords. In other days we sang 'The Babe in -Bethlehem,' but now, inspired with a foreign hope, we rioted through -the Marseillaise. We had become strangers in the land, and the hearts -of our people were not with us. The women fell away, the clergy looked -askance, but the unpopularity of our new devices only made us laugh. -We said to ourselves, we could do without these priests and fools; men -who were always slaves, and women who were always dupes. As to the -crowd of grocers and bakers--we thought of them only with contempt. -Who ever heard of a revolution made by chandlers? We were noble, and -how could we accept their help? The year of illusion came at length. -That France to which every Polish eye was strained, became a republic; -and then a troop of revellers, strong enough to whirl through a polka, -threw themselves on the Russian guns, and were instantly sabred and -shot down. Ridden over in the street, I was carried into a house; and, -when my wounds were dressed, was taken to the castle royal, with a -hundred others like myself, to await our trial by commission, and our -sentence of degradation from nobility, exile to Siberia, and perpetual -service in the mines. My friend was with me in the street, and shared -my doom." - -"Had you to go on foot?" - -"Well--no. For Nicolas, though stern in temper, was not a man to break -the law. Himself a prince, he felt a proud respect for the rights of -birth; and as a noble could not be reduced to march in the gangs like -a peddler and a serf, our papers were made out in such a way that our -privileges were not to end until we reached Tobolsk. There the -permanent commission of Siberia sat; and there each man received his -order for the mines. We rode in a light cart, to which three strong -ponies were tied with ropes; and when the roads were hard, we made two -hundred versts a day. Our feet were chained, so that we could not take -off our boots by night or day; but the people of the steppe over which -we tore at our topmost speed, were good and kind to us, as they are to -exiles; giving us bread, dried fish, and whisky, on the sly. They knew -that we were Poles, and, as a rule, their popes are only too much -inclined to abuse the Poles as enemies of God; but the Russians, even -when they are savages, have a tenderness of heart. They know the -difference between a political exile and a thief; for the Government -stamps the thief and murderer on the forehead and the two cheeks with -a triple vor; a black and ghastly stamp which neither fire nor acid -will remove; and if they think a Pole very wicked in being a Catholic -they feel for his sufferings as a man. Twice I tried to escape from -the mines; and on both occasions, though I failed to get away, the -kindness of the poor surprised me. They dared not openly assist my -flight, but they were sometimes blind and deaf; and often, when in -hunger and despair I ventured to crawl near a cabin in the night, I -found a ration of bread and fish, and even a cup of quass, laid ready -on the window-ledge." - -"Who put them there, and why?" - -"Poor peasants, to whom bread and fish are scarce; in order to relieve -the wants of some poor devil like myself." - -"Then you began to like the people?" - -"Like them! To understand them, and to see they were my brothers; but -my heart was hard with them for years. I was a man of science, as they -call it; and I told myself that in giving food to the hungry they were -only obeying the first rude instincts of a savage horde. At length a -poor priest came in a cart to the mines. Before his coming I had heard -of him--his name--his mission--and his perils; for Father Paul was a -free agent in his travels; having chosen this service in the desert -snows, instead of a stall in some cathedral-town, from a belief that -poor Catholic exiles had a higher claim on him than sleek and -fashionable folk. I knew, from the report of others, that he made the -round of Siberia, sledging from mine to mine, from mill to mill, in -order to keep alive in these Catholic exiles some remembrance of their -early faith; to say mass, to hear confessions, to marry and baptize, -to sanctify the new-made grave. Yet I hardly gave to him a second -thought. What could he do for me; a poor priest, dwelling by choice in -a savage waste, with no high sympathies and no great friends? He was -not likely to adore Napoleon, and he was certain to detest Mazzini's -name. How could I talk with such a man? The night when he arrived was -cold, his sledge was injured, and the wolves had been upon his track. -Some natural pity for his age and danger drew me to his side in our -wooden shed, and after he was thawed into life, he spoke to us, even -before he tasted food, of that love of God which was his only -strength. When he had supped on our coarse turnip soup and a little -black bread, he lay down on a mattress and fell asleep. For hours that -night I sat and gazed into his face, his white hair falling on his -pillow, and his two arms folded like a cross upon his breast. If ever -man looked like an angel in his sleep it was Father Paul. Of such men -is the Church of Christ. - -"Next day I sought him in his shed, for our inspector turned this -visit into a holiday for his Catholic prisoners; and there he spoke to -me of my country and of my mother, until my heart was softened, and -the tears ran down my face. Pausing softly in his speech, he bent his -eyes upon me, as my father might have looked, and pressing me tenderly -by the hand, said: 'Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy -laden, and I will give you rest.' 'Blessed are they that mourn; for -they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek; for they shall inherit -the earth.' I had read these words a hundred times, for I was fond of -the New Testament as a book of democratic texts; but I had never felt -their force until they fell from the lips of Father Paul. I saw they -were addressed to me. My mother was about me in the air. I laid down -my philosophy, and felt once more like a little child." - -His voice is low and mellow, but the tones are firm, and touch my ear -like strings in perfect tune. After a pause, I asked him how his -change of feeling worked in his relations to the Russians. - -"A Christian," he replies, "is not a slave of the flesh. His first -consideration is for God; his second for the children of God, not as -they chance to dwell on the Vistula, on the Alps, on the Frozen Sea, -but in every land alike. He yields up the sword to those who will one -day perish by the sword. His weapon is the spirit, and he hopes to -subdue mankind by love." - -"Then you would yield the sword to any one who is proud and prompt -enough to seize it." - -"No; the sword is God's to give, not mine to yield; and for His -purposes He gives it unto whom He will. It is a fearful gift, and no -man can be happy in whose grasp it lies." - -"Yet many would like to hold it?" - -"That is so. The man who first sees fire will burn himself. Observe -how differently one thinks of war when one comes to see that men are -really the sons of God. All war means killing some one. Which one? -Would you like to think that in a future world some awful coil of fate -should draw you into slaying an angel?" - -"No; assuredly." - -"Yet men are angels in a lower stage! We see things as we feel them. -Men are blind, until their eyes are opened by the love of God; and God -is nearest to the bruised and broken heart. Hosts of Siberians have -come back to Poland; but among these exiles there is hardly one who -has returned as he went forth." - -"They are older." - -"They are wiser. Father Paul, and priests like Father Paul--for he is -not alone in his devotion--have not toiled in vain. Perhaps I should -say they have not lived in vain; for the service which they render to -the proud and broken spirit of the exile, is not the word they utter, -but the doctrine they live. The poets and critics who have passed -through fire are known by their chastened style. They have put away -France and the French. They read more serious books; they speak in -more sober phrase. In every thing except their love of God and love of -country you might think them tame. They preach but little, and they -practise much; above all, they look to what is high and noble, if -remote, and set their faces sternly against the wanton waste of blood. -They know the Russians better, and they did not need the amnesty, and -what has followed it, in order to feel the brotherhood of all the -Slavonic tribes." - -"You are a Panslavonist?" - -"No! We want a wider policy and a nobler word. The Panslavonic party -has built a wall round Kief, and they would build a wall round Russia. -They have a Chinese love of walls. Just look at Moscow; one wall round -the Kremlin, a second wall round China-town, a third wall round the -city proper. What we need is the old war-cry of St. George--the patron -of our early dukes, our free cities, and our missionary church." - - - - -CHAPTER XLV. - -ST. GEORGE. - - -St. George is a patron saint of all the Slavonic nations; whether Wend -or Serb, Russine or Russ, Polack or Czeck; but he is worshipped with -peculiar reverence by the elder Russ. His days are their chief -festivals; the days on which it is good for them to buy and sell, to -pledge and marry, to hire a house, to lease a field, to start an -enterprise. Two days in the year are dedicated in his name, -corresponding in their idiom and their climate to the first day of -spring and the last day of autumn; days of gladness to all men and -women who live by tending flocks and tilling fields. On the first of -these days the sheds are opened, the cattle go forth to graze, the -shepherd takes up his crook, the dairy-maid polishes her pots and -pans. The second day is a kind of harvest-home, the labor of the year -being over, the harvest garnered, and the flocks penned up. But George -is a city saint as well as a rustic saint. His image is the cognizance -of their free cities, and of their old republics; and the figure of -the knight in conflict with the dragon has been borne in every period -by their dukes, their grand dukes, and their Tsars. His badge occurs -on a thousand crosses, amulets, and charms; dividing the affections of -a pious and superstitious race with images of the Holy Trinity and the -Mother of God. The knight in conflict with the dragon was proudly -borne on the shield of Moscow hundreds of years before the Black Eagle -was added to the Russian flag. That eagle was introduced by Ivan the -Third; a prince who began the work (completed by his grandson, Ivan -the Fourth) of crushing the great boyars and destroying the free -cities. Ivan copied that emblem from the Byzantine flag; a symbol of -his autocratic power, which many of his people read as a sign that -devil-worship was the new religion of his army and his court. They saw -in this black and ravening bird the Evil Spirit, just as they saw in -the white and innocent dove the Holy Ghost. To soothe their fears, St. -George was quartered on the Black Eagle; not in his talons, but on his -breast; and in this form the Christian warrior figures on every -Russian flag and Russian coin. - -St. George was the patron of an agricultural and pacific race; a -country that was pious, rich, and free; and what he was in ancient -times he still remains in the national heart. As the patron of -soldiers he is hardly less popular with princes than peasants. Peter -the Great engraved the figure of St. George on his sword; the Empress -Catharine founded an order in his name; and Nicolas built in his honor -a magnificent marble hall. Yet the high place and typical shrine of -St. George is Novgorod the Great. - -For miles above and miles below the red kremlin walls at Novgorod, the -Volkhof banks are beautiful with gardens, country houses, and monastic -piles. These swards are bright with grass and dark with firs; the -houses are of Swiss-like pattern; and the convents are a wonder of the -land. St. Cyril and St. Anton lend their names to masses of -picturesque building; but the glory of this river-side scenery is the -splendid monastery of St. George. - -Built by Jaroslav, a son of St. Vladimir, on a ridge of high ground, -near the point where Lake Ilmen flows into the river Volkhof, the -Convent of St. George stood close to an ancient town called Gorod -Itski--City of Strength--literally, Fenced Town. Of this fenced town, -a church, with frescoes older than those of Giotto, still remains; a -church on a bluff, with a quaint old name of Spas Nereditsa: -literally, Our Saviour Beyond Bounds. In these old names old tales lie -half-entombed. From this fenced town, the burghers, troubled by a -fierce democracy, appear to have crossed the river and built for -themselves a kremlin (that is to say, a stone inclosure) two miles -lower down the stream, on a second ridge of ground, separated from the -first by an impassable swamp. This new city, called Novgorod (New -Town), was to become a wonder of the earth; a trading republic, a -rival of Florence and Augsburg, a mother of colonies, a station of the -Hanseatic League. - -The old Church of our Saviour Beyond Bounds, and the still older -Convent of St. George on the opposite bank, were left in the open -country; left to the neglects of time and to the ravages of those -Tartar begs who swept these plains from Moscow to the gates of Pskof. - -Neglect, if slow, was steady in her task of ruining that ancient -church, now become a landmark only; but a landmark equally useful to -the critic of church history, and to the raftsman guiding his float -across the lake. As we leave the porch, an old man, standing uncovered -near the door, calls out, "You come to see the church--the poor old -church--but no one gives a ruble to repair the poor old church! It is -St. George's Day; yet no one here remembers the dear old church! Look -up at the Mother of God; see how she is tumbling down; yet no man -comes to save her! Give some rubles, Gospodin, to our Blessed Lady, -Mother of God!" The old man sighs and sobs these words in a voice that -seems to come from a breaking heart. - -St. George was able to defend his cells and shrines; and in all the -ravages committed by Tartar hordes, the rich convent near Lake Ilmen -was never profaned by Moslem hoof. Cold critics assume that the belt -of peat and bog lying south of Novgorod for a hundred miles was the -true defense; but the poets of Novgorod assert, in many a song and -tale, that they owed their safety from the infidel spoilers to no -freak of nature and no arm of flesh. St. George defended his convent -and his city by a standing miracle; and, in return for his protecting -grace, the people of this province came to kneel and pray, as their -fathers for a thousand years have knelt and prayed, before his holy -shrine. - -My visit to the Convent of St. George is paid (in company with Father -Bogoslovski, Russian pope, and Mr. Michell, English diplomat) on the -autumnal festival of the saint. Three or four thousand pilgrims, -chiefly from the town and province of Novgorod, camp in a green -meadow; their carts unyoked; their horses tethered to the ground; -their camp-fires lighted here and there. Each pilgrim brings a present -to St. George; a load of hay, a sack of flour, a pot of wax, a roll of -linen, an embroidered flag. That poor old creature, who can hardly -walk, has brought him a ball of thread; a widow's mite, as welcome as -an offering in gold and silver. Booths are built for the sale of bread -and fruit; tea is fizzing on fifty stalls; grapes, nuts, and apples -are sold on every side. The peasants are warmly and brightly clad: the -men in sheep-skin vests, fur caps, and boots; the women in damask -gowns and jackets, quilted and puckered, the edges fringed with silver -lace. A fine day tempts the women and children to throw themselves on -the green in groups. Monks move among the crowd; country folk stare at -the finery; hawkers chaffer with the girls; and more than one -transparent humbug makes a market of relics and pious ware. Every one -is in holiday humor; and the general aspect of the field in front of -the convent gates is that of a village fair, with just a dash of the -revival camp. - -The worshippers are a placid, kindly, and (for the moment) a sober -folk, with quaint expressions and old-world manners. On the boat we -hear a rustic say to his neighbor, "If you are not a noble, take your -bundle off that bench and let me sit down; if you are a noble, go into -the best cabin, your proper place." The neighbor sets his bundle down, -and the newcomer drops into his seat, saying, "See, there is room for -all Christians; we are equal here, being all baptized." An English -churl might have said he had "paid his fare." On board the same boat a -man replies to the steward, who wishes to turn him out of the -dining-room, "Am I not a Christian, and why should I go out?" On -hiring a boat to cross the river, Father Bogoslovski says to the -oarsman, "Take your sheep-skin; you will get a cold." "No; thank you," -answers the waterman, "we never take cold if God is with us." Another -boatman tells us we are doing a "good work" in visiting the shrines. -"Once," he says, "I was sick, and died; but I prayed to my angel -Lazarus to let me live again. He listened to my prayers, not for my -own sake, but for that of my brother, who had just come back from -Solovetsk. My soul came back, and we were very glad. Your angel can -always fetch back your soul, unless it has gone too far." Here stands -a group of men; a young fellow with a basket of red apples, two or -three lads, and an old peasant, evidently a stranger to these parts. -"Eat an apple with me, uncle," says the young fellow to his elder; for -a rustic, who addresses a stranger of his own age as "brother," always -speaks to elderly ones as "uncle." "Very nice apples," says the -stranger, "where were they blessed?" "In St. Sophia's, yonder; try -them." Apples are blessed in church on August 6th, the feast of the -transfiguration; the earliest day on which such garden fruit is -certain to be ripe. It is an old popular custom, maintained by the -Church, in the simple interest of the public health. - -The scene is lovely. From the belfry of St. George--a shaft to compare -with the Porcelain Tower--you command a world of encircling pines, -through which flow, past your feet, the broad and idle waters of the -Volkhof; draining the ample lake, here shining on your right. Below -you spreads the deep and difficult marsh; and on the crests of a -second ridge of land springs up a forest of spires and battlements, -rich in all radiant hues; red walls, white towers, green domes, and -golden pinnacles; here the kremlin and cathedral, there the city gate -and bridge; and yonder, across the stream, the trading town, the -bazar, and Yaroslav's Tower; the long and picturesque line of Novgorod -the Great. - -A bell of singular sweetness soothes the senses like a spell. At one -stall you drink tea; no stronger liquor being sold at the convent -gate. At a second stall you buy candles; to be lighted and left on the -shrines within. At a third you get consecrated bread; a present for -your friends and domestics far away. This fine white bread, being -stamped with the cross and blessed, is not to be bought with money; -for how could the flesh of our Lord be sold for coin? It is exchanged. -You give a man twenty kopecks; he gives you a loaf of bread. Gift for -gift is not barter--you are told--but brotherly love. On trying the -same thing at an apple-stall, the result appears to you much the same. -You pay down so many kopecks; you take up so much fruit; the quantity -strictly measured by the amount of coin laid down. You see no -difference between the two? Then you are not an Oriental, not a -pilgrim of St. George. - -Some twelve or fifteen thousand men and women bring their offerings, -in kind and money, every spring and autumn, to the shrine of this -famous saint. - - - - -CHAPTER XLVI. - -NOVGOROD THE GREAT. - - -Sitting at my window, gazing into space--in front of me that famous -tower of Yaroslav, from which once pealed the Vechie bell; and, lying -beyond this tower, the public square, the bridge, the Kremlin walls, -Sophia's golden domes, and that proud pedestal of the present reign, -which tells of a Russia counting already her thousand years of -political life--I fall a dreaming of the past, until the sceneries and -the people come and go in a procession; not of dead things, but of -quick and passionate men, alive with the energies of past and coming -times. - -What were the shapes and meanings of that dream? A wide expanse of -wood and waste; forests of fir and silver-birch; with tarns and lakes -on which the wild fowl of the country feed their young; and by the -shores of which the shepherds and herdsmen watch their scanty flocks. -In the midst of this wood and water stands a low red wall of stone, -engirding a mass of cabins, with here and there a bigger cabin, from -the peak of which springs a cross. A river rolls beneath the wall, the -waters of which come from a dark and sombre lake. The space within the -wall is a kremlin, an inclosure, and in this kremlin dwell a band of -traders and craftsmen; holding their own, with watchful eye and ready -hand, like the lodgers in a Syrian khan, against wild and predatory -tribes. The life of these men is hard and mean; the air is bleak, the -soil unfruitful; and the marauders prowl forever at their gates. - -A mist of time rolls up and hides the red stone wall and shingles from -my sight, and, when it clears away, a vast and shining city stands -exposed to view, with miles of street and garden, and an outer wall, -of sweep so vast that the eye can hardly take it in, with massive -gates and towers to defend these gates, of enormous strength. The -river is now alive with boats and rafts; the streets are thronged with -people, and a hundred domes and steeples glitter in the sun. The red -kremlin, not now used as a castle of defense, is covered with public -buildings; one a cathedral of gigantic size and surpassing beauty; -another, a palace with a garden, belted by a moat; the citadel in -which the traders nestled together for their common safety having now -become the seat of temporal and spiritual power. Long trains of horses -file through the city gates, bringing in the produce of a thousand -hamlets, which the merchants store in their magazines for export and -expose in their bazars for sale. These merchants bring their wares -from East and West, and send them in exchange to the farthest ports -and cities of the earth. Their town is a free town, to which men from -all nations come and go; a republic in the wilderness; a station of -the Hanseatic league, devoting itself to freedom, commerce, and the -liberal arts. The life of a great country flows into their streets and -squares; from which run out again the prosperous purple tides into the -unknown regions of ice and storm. Forth from her gates march out the -colonists of the North; the men of Kem and Holmogory; men who are -going forth to plant on the shores of the Arctic Sea the free -institutions under which they live at home. A prince, elected by the -people, serving while they list, sits in the chair of state, like a -Podesta in Italian towns; but the actual power is in the hands of the -Vetchie: a popular council, summoned by the ringing of a bell--the -great city bell--which swings in Yaroslav's Tower. - -Now comes a change, which seems to be less a change in the outward -show than in the inner spirit of the place. The merchant has become a -boyar, the nobleman a prince. Pride of the eye, and lust of the heart, -are stamped upon every face. The rich are very rich; the poor are very -poor; and men in cloth of gold affront and trample on men in rags. The -streets--so spacious and so busy!--are disturbed by faction fights; -and the Vetchie bell is swinging day and night, as though some Tartar -horde were at the gates. The boyars have grown too rich for freedom, -and the ancients of the city sell their consciences for gold and -state. Deeming themselves the equals of kings, they give their city -not only the name of Great, but the name of Lord. On public documents -they ask--as if in mockery--Who can stand against God, and Novgorod -the Great? - -Again falls the mist of time; and as it rolls away, the city, still as -vast, though not so busy as of yore, seems troubled in her splendor by -a sudden fear. The bell which tolls her citizens to council, seems -wild with pain, and men are hurrying to and fro along her streets; -none daring, as in olden days, to snatch down lance and sword, and -counsel his fellows to go forth and fight. For an enemy is nigh their -gates, whom they have much offended, without having virtue enough to -resist his arms. Ivan the Fourth, returning from a disastrous raid on -the Baltic seaboard, hears that in his absence from Moscow, the -citizens of Novgorod, hating his rule, have sent an embassy to the -Prince of Sweden, praying him to take them under his protection; and -in his fury the tyrant swears to destroy that city, and to sow the -site with salt. An army of Tartars and Kozaks is at the gates; an army -sullen from defeat and loss, and only to be rallied by an orgy of -drink and blood. Pale with terror, the citizens run to and fro; the -women shriek and swoon; and help for them is none, until Father -Nicolas, an ancient man, with flowing beard and saintly face, stands -forward in their midst. A wild creature; an Elisha the prophet, a John -the Baptist; he stands up in their meeting, naked from head to feet. -Such a man suits the times; and as he offers to go forth and save the -city from ruin, they gladly let him try. Nicolas marches forth, in his -nakedness, to denounce his prince in the midst of his ravenous hordes; -and when he comes into the camp, he walks up boldly to the Tsar. Ivan, -himself a fanatic, listens to this naked man with a patience which his -guards and ministers observe with wonder. "Bloodsucker and -unbeliever!" cries the hermit, "thou who art a devourer of Christian -flesh--listen to my words. If thou, or any of these thy servants, -touch a hair of a child's head in yon city--which God preserves for a -great purpose--then, I swear by the angel whom God has given unto me -to serve me, thou shalt surely die; die on the instant, by a flash -from heaven!" As he speaks, the sky grows dark, a storm springs up, -and rages through the tents. A pall comes down, and covers the earth. -"Spare me, fearful saint," shrieks the Tsar, "the city is forgiven; -and let me, in remembrance of this day, have thy constant prayers." On -these conditions Nicolas withdraws his curse; and Ivan, marching into -the city with his captives and his treasures, lodges in the Kremlin -and the palace, and kneeling before the shrine of St. Sophia, makes -himself gracious to the people for the hermit's sake. - -Once more a mist comes down--a thin white veil, which passes like a -pout from an infant's face. The city is the same in size, in splendor, -in the fullness of her fearful life. The Tsar, who went away from her -gates low and humble, has come back, like a wild beast thirsting for -blood and prey. His army camps beyond the walls, and a whisper passes -through the city that the place is to be razed, the women given up to -the Tartars, while the men and boys are to be put without mercy to the -sword. The city razed! No fancy can take in the fact; for Novgorod is -one of the largest cities in Europe, a republic older than Florence, a -capital larger than London, a shrine more sacred than Kief. Her walls -measure fifty miles, her houses contain eight hundred thousand souls. -Yet Ivan has doomed her to the dust. Telling off ten thousand gunners -of his guard, and thirty thousand Tartars from the steppe, he gives up -the republic to their lust, bidding them sack and burn, and spare -neither man nor maid. They rush upon the gates; they scale the wall; -they seize the bridge, the Kremlin, the cathedral; and they make -themselves masters of the city, quarter by quarter and street by -street. No pen will paint the horrors of that sack. The wines are -drunk, the people butchered, the houses fired. Day by day, and week -after week, the club, the musket, and the torch are in constant use. -The streets run blood, the river is choked with bodies of the slain. -When the work of slaughter stops, and the Tartars are recalled into -their camp, the tale of murdered men, women, and children is found to -be greater than the population of Petersburg in the present day. The -desolation is Oriental and complete. - -The city bell--the bell of council and of prayer--is taken down from -Yaroslav's Tower and sent to Moscow, where it hangs beside the Holy -Gate--an exile from the city it roused to arms, and haply speaking to -some burgher's ear and student's heart of a time when Russian cities -were equal to those of Italy and England, and her people were as free -as those of Germany and France! - - - - -CHAPTER XLVII. - -SERFAGE. - - -Serfage has but a vague resemblance to the system of villeinage once -so common in the West; and serfage was not villeinage under another -name. Villeinage was Occidental, serfage Oriental. - -Villein, aldion, colonus, fiscal, homme de pooste, are words which, in -various tongues of Western Europe, mark the man who belonged to a -master, and was bound by law to serve him. Whether he lived in -England, Italy, or France, the man was stamped with the same -character, and laden with the same obligation. He was a hedger and -ditcher--churl, clod, lout, and boor--heavy as the earth he tilled, -and swinish as the herds he fed. He could not leave his lord; he could -not quit his homestead and his field. In turn, his master could not -drive him from the soil, though he might beat him, force him to work, -throw him into prison, and sell his services when he sold the land. -But here the likeness of serf to either villein, aldion, colonus, -fiscal, or homme de pooste ends sharply. No one thought the villein -was an actual owner of the soil he tilled, and in no country was the -emancipation of his class accompanied by a cession of the land. - -Serfage sprang from a different root, and in a different time. The -great settlement, which is the glory of Alexander's reign, can only be -understood by reference to the causes from which serfage sprang. - -Some of the facts which prove this difference between Western -villeinage and Eastern serfage lie beyond dispute. Villeinage was -introduced by foreign princes, serfage by native tsars. Villeinage -followed a disastrous war; serfage followed liberation from a foreign -yoke. Villeinage came with the dark ages and passed away with them. -Serfage came with the spreading light, with the rising of -independence, with the sentiment of national life. Villeinage was -forgotten by the Rhine, the Severn, and the Seine, before serfage was -established on the Moskva and the Don. - -In short, serfage is a historical phase. - -In one of the book-rooms of the Academy of Sciences, in Vassile -Ostrof, St. Petersburg, you turn over the leaves of an early -copy--said to be the first--of "Nestor's Chronicle," in which are many -fine drawings of scenes and figures, helping you to understand the -text. This copy is known as the Radzivil codex. Nestor wrote his book -in Kief, a hundred years before that city was sacked by Batu Khan; and -the pictures in the Radzivil codex give you the early Russian in his -dress, his garb, and his ways of life. Was he in that early time an -Asiatic, dressed in a sheep-skin robe and a sheep-skin cap? In no -degree. The Russian boyar dressed like a German knight; the Russian -mujik dressed like an English churl. - -In Nestor's time the Russians were a free people, ruled in one place -by elective chiefs, in another place by family chiefs. They were a -trading and pacific race; in the western countries settled in towns; -in the eastern countries living in tents and huts. Novgorod, Pskof, -and Illynof were free cities, ruled by elected magistrates, on the -pattern of Florence and Pisa, Hamburg and Lubeck. In those days there -was neither serf nor need of serf. But this old Russia fell under the -Mongol yoke. Broken in the great battle on the Kalka, the country -writhed in febrile agony for a hundred and eighty years; during which -time her fields were scorched, her cities sacked, her peasants driven -from their homes into the forest and the steppe. She had not yet -raised her head from this blow, when Timur Beg swept over her -prostrate form; an Asiatic of higher reach and nobler type than Batu -Khan; a scholar, an artist, a statesman; though he was still an -Asiatic in faith and spirit. Timur brought with him into Russia the -code of Mecca, the art of Samarcand, the song of Ispahan. His begs -were dashing, his mirzas polished. In the khanates which he left -behind him on the Volga and in the Crimea, there was a courtesy, a -beauty, and a splendor, not to be found in the native duchies of -Nijni, Moscow, Riazan, and Tver. The native dukes and boyars of these -provinces held from the Crim Tartar, known to our poets as the Great -Cham. They swore allegiance to him; they paid him annual tribute; they -flattered him by adopting his clothes and arms. The humblest vassals -of this Great Cham were the Moscovite dukes, who called themselves his -slaves, and were his slaves. Standing before him in the streets, they -held his reins, and fed his horses out of their Tartar caps. They -copied his fashions and assumed his names. Their armies, raised by his -consent, were dressed and mounted in the Tartar style. They fought for -him against their country, crushing those free republics in the north -which his cavalry could not reach. - -This fawning of dukes and boyars on the Great Cham brought no good to -the rustic; who might see his patch of rye trodden down, his homestead -fired, and his village cross profaned by gangs of marauding horse. -Even when a Tartar khan set up his flag on some river bank, as at -Kazan, in some mountain gorge, as at Bakchi Serai, he was still a -nomad and a rider, with his natural seat in the saddle and his natural -home in the tent. A little provocation stirred his blood, and when his -feet were in the stirrups, it was not easy for shepherds and villagers -to turn his lance. A cloud of fire went with him; a trail of smoke and -embers lay behind him. No man could be sure of reaping what he sowed; -for an angry word, an insolent gesture of his duke, might bring that -fiery whirlwind of the Tartar horse upon his crops. What could he do, -except run away? When year by year this ruin fell upon him, he left -his cabin and his field; working a little here, and begging a little -there; but never striking root into the soil. Now he was a pilgrim, -then a shepherd, oftener still a tramp. To pass more easily to and -fro, he donned the Tartar dress; a sheep-skin robe and cap; the robe -caught in at the waist by a belt, and made to turn, so that the wool -could be worn outwardly by day and inwardly by night. In self-defense -he picked up Tartar words, and passed, where he could pass, for one of -the conquering race. - -Why should he plough his land for other men to spoil? While he was -watching his corn grow ripe, the khan of Crim Tartary, stung by some -insult from the duke, might spur out rapidly from his luxurious camp -at Bakchi Serai, and, sweeping through the plains from Perekop to -Moscow, waste his fields with fire. - -Like causes produce like effects. Nomadic lords produce nomadic -slaves. The Russian peasant became a vagabond, just as the Syrian -fellah becomes a vagabond, when from year to year his crops have been -plundered by the Bedouin tribes. - -When Ivan the Fourth, having learned from the Tartar Begs how to rule -and fight, broke up the khanates of Kazan and Astrakhan, and ventured -to defy the lord of Bakchi Serai, he found himself an independent -prince at the head of a country, rich in soil, in capital, and in -labor, but with fields deserted, villages destroyed, populations -scattered, and public roads unsafe. The land was not unpeopled; but -the peasants had lost their sense of home, and the mujiks wandered -from town to town. Labor was dear in one place, worthless in another. -Half the land, even in the richer provinces, lay waste; and every year -some district was scourged by famine, and by the epidemics which -follow in the wake of famine. How were the peasants to be "fixed" upon -the land? - -For seventy years this question troubled the court in the Kremlin, -even more than that court was troubled by Church controversy, Tartar -raid, and family strife; although within this period of seventy years -St. Philip was murdered, the Great Cham burnt a portion of Moscow, -Dimitri the legitimate heir was killed, and Boris Godounof usurped the -throne. Ivan the Fourth tried hard to induce his people to return upon -their lands; by giving up many of the crown estates; by building -villages at his own expense; by coaxing, thrashing, forcing his people -into order. Even if this reformer never used the term serf -(krepostnoi, a man "fixed" or "fastened,)" he is not the less--for -good and ill--the author of that Russian serfage which is passing away -before our eyes. - - - - -CHAPTER XLVIII. - -A TARTAR COURT. - - -In that gorgeous chamber of the Kremlin known as the treasury of -Moscow, stands an armed and mounted figure, richly dight, and called a -boyar of the times of Ivan the Fourth. Arms, dress, accoutrements, are -those of a mirza, a Tartar noble; and an inscription on the drawn -Damascus blade informs the pious Russian that there is but One God, -and that Mohammed is the prophet of God! Yet the figure is really that -of a boyar of the times of Ivan the Fourth. - -No prince in the line of Russian rulers is so great a puzzle as this -Ivan the Fourth. In spite of his many atrocious deeds, he is still -regarded by many of his critics as an able reformer and a patriotic -prince. Much, indeed, must be said in his favor by all fair writers. -To him the Moscovites owe their deliverance from the Tartar yoke. For -them he conquered the kingdom of Kazan, the empire of Siberia, the -khanate of Astrakhan. On all their frontiers he subdued the crescent -to the cross. With Swedes and Poles he waged an equal, sometimes a -glorious war. He opened his country to foreign trade; he built ports -on the Baltic, on the Caspian, on the Frozen Seas. The glories of his -reign were of many kinds. He brought printers from the Rhine, and -published the Acts of the Apostles in his native tongue. He sent to -Frankfort for skillful physicians, to London for artificers in wood -and brass. Collecting shipwrights at his river-town of Vologda, he -caused them to build for him a fleet of rafts and boats, on which he -could descend with his treasures to the sea. He called a parliament of -his estates to consult on the public weal. He reduced the unwritten -laws of his country to a code. He put down mendicancy in his empire; -laid his reforming hand on the clergy; and published a uniform -confession of faith. - -Ivan was a savage; though he was a popular savage. Terrible he was; -but terrible to the rich and great. In fact, he was a reforming Tartar -khan. If he taxed the merchants, he built hamlets for peasants at his -private cost. If he crushed the free cities, he settled thousands of -poor on the public lands. If he destroyed the princes and boyars as a -ruling caste, he put into their places the official _chins_. If he -ruled by the club, he also tried to rule by the printing-press. If he -sacked Novgorod and Pskoff, he built a vast number of churches, -villages, and shrines. A builder by policy, as well as by nature, he -found an empire of logs, which he hoped to bequeath to his son as an -empire of stone. Forty stone churches, sixty stone monasteries, owe -their foundation to his care. He raised the quaint edifice of St. -Vassili, near the Kremlin wall, which he called after his father's -patron saint. He is said to have built a hundred and fifty castles, -and more than three hundred communes. - -Wishing to settle and civilize his people, the reformer sought his -models in those Tartar provinces which he had recently subdued. Kazan -and Bakchi Serai were nobler cities than Vladimir and Moscow; while -the poorest mirza of the Great Cham's court was far more splendid in -arms and dress than any boyar in Ivan's court. - -Ivan began to tartarize his kingdom by dividing it into two -parts--personal and provincial; the first of which he ruled in person; -the second by deputies wielding the power of Tartar begs. He raised a -regular army--then the only one in Europe--which he armed and mounted -in the Tartar style. He raised a body-guard to whom he gave the Tartar -tafia; a cap that no Christian in his duchy was allowed to wear. Like -the Great Cham, he set apart rooms in his palace for a harem; shut up -his wives and daughters from the public eye; and changed the new -fashion of excluding women from his court into a binding rule. His -dukes and boyars followed him, until every house had a harem, and the -seclusion of females was as strict in Moscow as in Bokhara and Bagdad. - -These customs kept their ground until the times of Peter the Great. -The land was governed by provincial begs, called boyars and voyevods; -the army was drilled and dressed like Turkish troops; and the women -were kept in harems like the Sultan's odalisques. Breaking through the -customs introduced by Ivan, Peter opened the imperial harem; showed -his wife in public; and invited ladies to appear at court. Yet -something of this Turkish fashion may still be traced in Russian -family life, especially in the country towns. As every great house had -its harem--a woman's quarter, into which no stranger was allowed to -set his foot--so every great family had a separate cemetery for the -female sex. A few of these old cemeteries still remain as convents; -for example, the Novo-Devictchie, Maidens' Convent, in the suburbs of -Moscow; and the Convent of the Ascension, in the Kremlin, near the -Holy Gate; the burial-place of all the Tsarinas, from the time of Ivan -the Terrible down to that of Peter the Great. - -By subtle tricks and surprises, Ivan set his dukes and boyars -quarrelling with each other, and when they were hot with speech he -would get them to accuse each other, and so despoil them both. In time -he procured the surrender to him of nearly all their historical rights -and titles; when, like a sultan, he forced them to receive his gifts -and graces, under their hands, _as slaves_. He introduced the Oriental -practice of sending men, under forms of honor, into distant parts; -inventing the political Siberia. His dukes were reduced in power, his -boyars plundered of their wealth. The princes were too numerous to be -touched, for in Ivan's time every third man in Moscow was a prince; -and an English trader used to hire such a man to groom his horse or -clean his boots. Not many of the ancient dukes survived this reign; -but the Narichkins, the Dolgoroukis, the Golitsin, and four or five -others, escaped; and these historical families look with patronizing -airs on the imperial race. The Narichkins have married with Romanofs. -One of this house was offered the title of imperial highness, and -declined it, saying proudly to his sovereign, "No, sir, I am -Narichkin." In the same spirit, Peter Dolgorouki, when he heard that -the Emperor had taken away his title of prince, wrote to his majesty, -"How can _you_ pretend to degrade _me_? Can you rob me of my -ancestors, who were grand dukes in Russia when yours were not yet -counts of Holstein Gottorp?" - -Moscow was governed like a Tartar camp. Ivan's bodyguards -(opritchniki), roved about the streets in their Tartar caps, abusing -the people of every grade, boyar and burgher, mujik and peasant, as -though they had been men of a different race and faith; robbing -houses, carrying off women, murdering men; so that a stranger who met -a company of these fellows in the Chinese town or under the Kremlin -wall, imagined that the city had been given up to the soldiery for -spoil. - -This effort to settle the country on Tartar principles turned the -Church against the Tsar, and led to the retirement of Athanasius, the -dismissal of German, and the murder of Philip. St. Philip was the -martyr of Russia--slain for defending his country and his Church -against this tartarizing Tsar. - -Walk into the great Cathedral of the Ascension any hour of the day in -any season of the year, and--on the right wing of the altar--you will -find a crowd of men and women prostrate before one silver shrine. It -is the tomb of St. Philip, martyr and saint. Every one comes to him, -every one kisses his temples and his feet. The murder of this saint is -one of those national offenses which a thousand years of penitence -will not cleanse away. The penitent prays in his name; fasts in his -name; burns candles in his name; and groans in spirit before the tomb, -as though he were seeking forgiveness for some personal crime. - -The tale of Philip's conflict with Ivan--a conflict of the Christian -Church against the Tartar court--may be briefly told. - - - - -CHAPTER XLIX. - -ST. PHILIP. - - -Early in the reign of Ivan the Fourth (1539), a pilgrim, poor in garb -and purse, but of handsome presence, landed from a boat at the Convent -of Solovetsk. He came to pray; but after resting in the island for a -little while, he took the vows and became a monk. Under the name of -Philip, he lived for nine or ten years in his lowly cell. The monks, -his brethren, saw there was some mystery in his life; his taste, his -learning, and his manner, all announcing him as one of those men who -belong to the higher ranks. But the lowly brother held his peace. Nine -years after his arrival, the prior of his convent died, and he was -called by common assent to the vacant chair. - -There was, in truth, a mystery in this monk. Among the proudest people -in Moscow lived, in those days, the family of Kolicheff; to whom a -son, Fedor, was born; the heir to a vast estate no less than to a -glorious name. A pious mother taught the child to be good, according -to her lights; to read about saints, to say long prayers, to listen -for church-bells, and run with ardor to the sacrifice of mass. But -being of noble birth, and having to serve his prince, Fedor was -trained to ride and fence, to hunt and shoot, as well as to manage his -father's forests, fisheries, and farms. At twenty-six he was -introduced to Ivan, then a child of four; and as the young prince took -a fancy for him, he was much at court, admired by all women, envied by -many men. It seemed as though Fedor Kolicheff had only to stay at -court in order to become a minister of state. But his heart was never -in the life he led; the Kremlin was a nest of intrigue; the country -round the city was troubled by a thousand crimes. Distressed by what -he saw going on, the favorite pined for a religious life; and quitting -the world in silence, giving up all he possessed, he wandered from -Moscow in a pilgrim's garb. Trudging on foot, a staff in his hand, a -wallet by his side, he found his way through the trackless forests of -the north; now stopping in a peasant's hut, where he toiled on the -land for his daily food; now dropping down the Dvina on a raft, and -tugging for his passage at the oars. Crossing over to the convent, he -became a monk, a priest, a prior, without betraying the secret of his -noble birth and his place at court. - -On coming into power, he set his heart on bringing back the convent to -her ancient life. He wore the frock of Zosima, and set up an image -over Savatie's tomb. Taking these worthies as his guides, he -introduced the rule of assiduous work; invented forms of labor; making -wax and salt; improving the fisheries and farms; building stone -chapels; and teaching some of the fathers how to write and paint. Much -of what is best in the convent, in the way of chapel, shrine, and -picture, dates from his reign as prior. But Philip was called from his -cell in the Frozen Sea to occupy a loftier and more perilous throne. - -Ivan, liking the old friend of his youth, consulted him on state -affairs, and called him to the Kremlin to give advice. On these -occasions, Philip was startled at the change in Ivan; who, from being -a paladin of the cross, had settled down in his middle age into a -mixture of the gloomy monk and the savage khan. The change came on him -with the death of his wife and the conquest of Kazan; after which -events in his life he married two women, dressed himself in Tartar -clothes, and adopted Asiatic ways. Like a chief of the Golden horde, -he went about the streets of Moscow, ordering this man to be beaten, -that man to be killed. The square in front of the Holy Gate was red -with blood; and every house in the city was filled with sighs and -groans. - -Driving from their altars two aged prelates who rebuked his crimes, -Ivan (in 1566) selected the Prior of Solovetsk as a man who would shed -a light on his reign without disturbing him by personal reproof. -Philip tried to escape this perilous post, but the Tsar insisted on -his obedience; and with heavy heart he sailed from his asylum in the -islands, conscious of going to meet his martyr's crown. - -Ivan had judged the monk in haste. Philip was no courtier; not a man -to say smooth things to princes; for under his monk's attire he -carried a heart to feel, an eye to see, and a tongue to speak. In -passing from Solovetsk to Moscow, he passed through Novgorod--a city -disliked by Ivan on account of her wealth, her freedom, and her laws; -when a crowd of burghers poured from the gates, fell on their knees -before him, and implored him, as a pastor of the poor, to plead their -cause before the Tsar, then threatening to ravage their district and -destroy their town. On reaching Moscow, he spoke to Ivan as to a son; -beseeching him to dismiss his guards, to put off his strange habits, -to live a holy life, and to rule his people in the spirit of their -ancient dukes. - -Ivan waxed red and wroth; he wanted a priest to bless, and not to -curse. The tyrant grew more violent in his moods; but the new -Metropolite held out in patient and unyielding meekness for the -ancient ways. Once, when Philip was performing mass, the Tsar and his -guards, attired in their Tartar dress, came into his church, and took -up their ranks, while Ivan himself strode up to the royal gates. As -Philip went on with his service, taking no notice of the prince, a -boyar cried, "It is the Tsar!" "I do not recognize the Tsar," said -Philip, "in such a dress." The Tartar cap, the Tartar whip, were seen -in every public place. The Tartar guards were masters of the city, and -the streets were everywhere filled with the tumult of their evil -deeds. They felt no reverence for holy things, and hurt the popular -mind by treating the sacred images with disdain. In a procession, the -Metropolite noticed one of these courtiers insolently wearing his -Tartar cap. "Who is that man," asked Philip of the Tsar, "that he -should profane with his Tartar costume this holy day?" Doffing his -cap, the courtier denied that he was covered, and even charged the -Metropolite with saying what was false. As every man in trouble went -to his Metropolite for counsel, the boyars accused him of inciting the -people against their prince. When Ivan married his fourth wife, a -thing unlawful and unclean, the Metropolite refused to admit the -marriage, and bade the Tsar absent himself from mass. Rushing from his -palace into the Cathedral of the Annunciation, Ivan took his seat and -scowled. Instead of pausing to bless him, Philip went on with the -service, until one of the favorites strode up to the altar, looked him -boldly in the face, and said, in a saucy voice, "The Tsar demands thy -blessing, priest!" Paying no heed to the courtier, Philip turned round -to Ivan on his throne. "Pious Tsar!" he sighed; "why art thou here? In -this place we offer a bloodless sacrifice to God." Ivan threatened -him, by gesture and by word. "I am a stranger and a pilgrim on earth," -said Philip; "I am ready to suffer for the truth." - -He was made to suffer much, and soon. Dragged from his altar, stripped -of his robe, arrayed in rags, he was beaten with brooms, tossed into a -sledge, driven through the streets, mocked and hooted by armed men, -and thrown into a dungeon in one of the obscurest convents of the -town. Poor people knelt as the sledge drove past them, every eye being -wet with tears, and every throat being choked with sobs. Philip -blessed them as he went, saying, "Do not grieve; it is the will of -God; pray, pray!" The more patiently he bore his cross the more these -people sobbed and cried. Locked in his jail and laden with chains, not -only round his ankles but round his neck, he was left for seven days -and nights without food and drink, in the hope that he would die. A -courtier who came to see him was surprised to find him engaged in -prayer. His friends and kinsmen were arrested, judged, and put to -death, for no offense save that of sharing his name and blood. -"Sorcerer! dost thou know this head?" was one laconic message sent to -Philip from the Tsar. "Yea!" murmured the prisoner, sadly; "it is that -of my nephew Ivan." Day and night a crowd of people gathered round his -convent-door, until the Tsar, who feared a rising in his favor, caused -him to be secretly removed to a stronger prison in the town of Tver. - -One year after this removal of Philip from Moscow (1569), Ivan, -setting out for Novgorod, and calling to mind the speech once made by -Philip in favor of that city, sent a ruffian to kill him. "Give me thy -blessing!" said the murderer, coming into his cell. "Do thy master's -work," replied the holy man; and the deed was quickly done. - -The martyred saint remained a few years in Tver--whence he was removed -to Solovetsk, an incorruptible frame; and lay in that isle until 1660, -in the reign of Alexie, father of Peter the Great, in the days of -tribulation, when the country was tried by sickness, famine, and -foreign wars, his body was brought to Moscow, as a solemn and -penitential act, by which the ruler and his people hoped to appease -the wrath of heaven. The Tsar's penitent letter of recall was read -aloud before his tomb in Solovetsk, as though the saint could see and -hear. The body was found entire, as on the day of sepulture--a sweet -smell, as of herbs and flowers, coming out from beneath the -coffin-lid. A grand procession of monks and pilgrims marched with the -saint from Archangel to Moscow, where Alexie met them in the Kremlin -gate, and carried the sacred dust into the cathedral, where it was -laid, in the corner of glory, in a magnificent silver shrine. - -On the day of his coronation, every Emperor of Russia has to kneel -before his shrine and kiss his feet. - - - - -CHAPTER L. - -SERFS. - - -Boris Godunof, general, kinsman, successor of Ivan the Fourth, reduced -the principle of serfage into legal form (1601). An able and patriotic -man, Godunof, designed to colonize his bare river-banks and his empty -steppe. He meant no harm to the rustic--on the contrary, he hoped to -do him good; his project of "fixing" the rustic on his land was -treated as a great reform; and after taking counsel with his boyars, -he selected the festival of St. George, the patron of free cities and -of the ancient Russians, for his announcement that every peasant in -the empire should in future till and own forever the lands which he -then tilled and held. - -Down to that time, the theory of land was that of an Asiatic horde. -From the Gulf of Venice to the Bay of Bengal the tenure of land might -vary with race and clime; yet in every country where the Tartars -reigned, the original property in the soil was everywhere said to be -lodged in sultan, shah, mogul, and khan. The Russians, having lost the -usage of their better time, transferred the rights which they acquired -from Tartar begs and khans to their victorious prince. - -This prince divided the soil according to his will; in one place -founding villages for peasants, in a second place settling lands on a -deserving voyaved, in a third place buying off an enemy with gifts of -forests, fisheries, and lands; exactly in the fashion of Batu Khan and -Timur Beg. This system of giving away crown lands was carried so far -that when Godunof came to the throne (in 1598), he found his duchies -and khanates consisting of a great many estates without laborers, and -a great many laborers without estates. The peasants were roving -hordes; and Godunof meant to fix these restless classes, by assigning -to every family a personal and hereditary interest in the soil. The -evil to be cured was an Oriental evil; and he sought to cure it in the -Oriental way. The khans had done the same; and Godunof only extended -and defined their method, so as to bring a larger area of country -under spade and plough. - -There is reason to believe that this festival of St. George (in 1601) -was hailed by peasant and boyar as a glorious day; that the decree -which established serfage in Russia was accepted as a great and -popular reform. To understand it, we must lay aside all notion of -serfage in Moscow and Tamboff being the same thing as villeinage in -Surrey and the Isle of France. - -Serfage was a great act of colonization. Much of what was done by -Godunof was politic, and even noble; for he gave up to his people -millions of acres of the crown estates. The soil was given to the -peasant on easy terms. He was to live on his land, to plough his -field, to build his house, to pay his rates, and to serve his country -in time of war. The chief concession made by the peasant, in exchange -for his plot of ground, was his vagabond life. - -To see that the serf--the man "fixed" on the soil--observed the terms -of settlement, the prince appointed boyars and voyevods in every -province as overseers; a necessary, and yet a fatal step. The -overseer, a strong man dealing with a weak one, had been trained under -Tartar rule; and just as the Tsar succeeded to the khan, the boyar -looked upon himself as a successor to the beg. Abuses of the system -soon crept in; most of all that Oriental use of the stick, which the -boyar borrowed from the beg; but a serf had to endure this evil--not -in his quality of serf, but in his quality of Russian. Every man -struck the one below him. A Tsar boxed a boyar, a boyar beat a prince. -A colonel kicked his captain, and a captain clubbed his men. This use -of the stick is in every region of the East a sign of lordship; and a -boyar who could flog a peasant for neglecting to till his field, to -repair his cabin, and to pay his rates, would have been more than man -if he had not learned to consider himself as that peasant's lord. - -Yet the theory of their holding was, that the peasant held his land of -the crown; even as the boyar held his land of the crown. A bargain was -made between two consenting parties--peasant and noble--under the -authority of law, for their mutual dealing with a certain -estate--consisting (say) of land, lake, and forest, with the various -rites attached to ownership--hunting, shooting, fishing, fowling, -trespass, right of way, right of stoppage, right of dealing, and the -like. It was a bargain binding the one above as much as it bound the -one below. If a serf could not quit his homestead, neither could the -lord eject him from it. If the serf was bound to serve his master, he -was free to save and hold a property of his own. If local custom and -lawless temper led a master to fine and flog the serf, that serf could -find some comfort in the thought that the fields which he tilled -belonged to himself and to his commune by a title never to be -gainsaid. A peasant's rhyme, addressed to his lord, defines the series -of his rights and liabilities: - - "My soul is God's, - My land is mine, - My head's the Tsar's, - My back is thine!" - -A likeness to the serf may be found in the East, not in the West. The -closest copy of a serf is the ryot of Bengal. - -Down to the reign of Peter the Great the system went on darkening in -abuse. The overseer of serfs became the owner. In lonely districts who -was to protect a serf? I have myself heard a rustic ordered to be -flogged by his elder, on the bare request of two gentlemen, who said -he was drunk and could not drive. The two gentlemen were tipsy; but -the elder knew them, and he never thought of asking for their proofs. -A clown accused by a gentleman must be in the wrong. "God is too high, -the Tsar too distant," says the peasant's saw. In those hard times the -inner spirit overcame the legal form; and serfs were beaten, starved, -transported, sold; but always in defiance of the law. - -Peter introduced some changes, which, in spite of his good intentions, -made the evil worse. He stopped the sale of serfs, apart from the -estate on which they lived--a long step forward; but he clogged the -beneficial action of his edict by converting the old house-tax into a -poll-tax, and levying the whole amount of tax upon the lord, to whom -he gave the right of collecting his quota from the serfs. A master -armed with such a power is likely to be either worse than a devil or -better than a man. Peter took from the religious bodies the right, -which they held in common with boyars and princes, of possessing -serfs. The monks had proved themselves unfit for such a trust; and as -they held their lands by a title higher than the law can give, it was -hard for a convent serf to believe that any part of the fields he -tilled was actually his own. - -Catharine followed Peter in his war on Tartar dress, beards, manners, -and traditions; but she also set her face, as Peter had done, on much -that was native to the soil. She meant well by her people, and the -charter of rights, which she granted to her nobles, laid the -foundation in her country of a permanent, educated, middle class. She -studied the question of converting the serf's occupancy into freehold. -She confiscated the serfs attached to convents, placing them under a -separate jurisdiction; and she published edicts tending to improve the -position of the peasant towards his lord. But these imperial acts, -intended to do him good, brought still worse evils on his head; for -serfage, heretofore a local custom--found in one province, not in the -adjoining province--found in Moscow and Voronej, not in Harkof and -Kief--was now recognized, guarded and defined by general law. -Catharine's yearning for an ideal order in her states induced her to -"fix" the peasant of Lithuania and Little Russia on the soil, just as -Godunof had "fixed" the peasant of Great Russia, giving him a -homestead and a property forever on the soil. Paul, her son, took one -stride forward in limiting the right of the lord to three days' labor -in the seven--an edict which, though never put in force, endeared -Paul's memory to the commons, many of whom regard him as a martyr in -their cause. Yet Paul is one of those princes who extended the -serf-empire. Paul created a new order of serfs in the appanage -peasants, serfs belonging to members of the imperial house, just as -the crown peasants belonged to the crown domain. - -Alexander the First set an example of dealing with the question by -establishing his class of free peasants; but the wars of his reign -left him neither time nor means for conducting a social revolution -more imposing and more perilous than a political revolution, and after -a few years had passed his free peasants fell back into their former -state. Nicolas was not inclined by nature to reform; the old, -unchanging Tartar spirit was strong within him; and he rounded the -serfage system by placing the free peasants, colonists, foresters, and -miners, under a special administration of the state. Every rustic in -the land who had no master of his own became a peasant of the crown. - -But, from the reign of Ivan (ending in 1598) to the reign of Nicolas -(ending in 1855), every patriot who dared to speak his mind inveighed -against the abuse of serfage--as a thing unknown to his country in her -happier times. Every false pretender, every reckless rebel, who took -up arms against his sovereign, wrote on his banner, "freedom to the -serf." Stenka Razin (c. 1670) proclaimed, from his camp near Astrakhan, -four articles, of which the first and second ran--deposition of the -reigning house and liberation of the serfs! Pugacheff, in a revolt -more recent and more formidable than that of Razin (c. 1770), publicly -abolished serfage in the empire, taking the peasants from their lords, -and leaving them in full possession of their lands. Pestel and the -conspirators of 1825 put the abolition of serfage in the front of -their demands. - -Catharine's wish to deal with the question was inspired by Pugacheff's -letters of emancipation; and on the very eve of his triumph in St. -Isaac's Square, the Emperor Nicolas named a secret committee, to -report on the social condition of his empire, chiefly with the serf in -view. At the end of three years, Nicolas, warned by their reports, -drew up a series of acts (1828-'9), by which he founded an order of -honorary citizens (not members of a guild), and set the peasants free -from their lords. These acts were never printed, for as time wore on, -and things kept quiet, the Emperor saw less need for change. The July -days in Paris frightened him; and having already sent out orders for -the masters to treat their serfs like Christian men, and to be content -in exacting three days' work in seven, according to the wish of Paul, -the sovereign thought he had done enough. His act of emancipation was -not to see the light. - -In his later years the question troubled the Emperor Nicolas day and -night. In spite of his glittering array of troops, he felt that -serfage left him weak, even as the great division of his people into -Orthodox and Old Believers left him weak. How weak these maladies of -his country made him he only learned in the closing hours of his -eventful life; and then (it is said) he told his son what he had done -and left undone, enjoining him to study and complete his work. - -It was well for the serf that Nicolas made him wait. The project of -emancipation, drawn up under the eyes of Nicolas, was not a Russian -document in either form or spirit; but a German state paper, based on -the misleading western notion that serfage was but villeinage under a -better name. The principle laid down by Nicolas was, that the serf -should obtain his personal freedom, and the lord should take -possession of his land! - - - - -CHAPTER LI. - -EMANCIPATION. - - -On the day when Alexander the Second came to his crown (1855), both -lord and serf expected from his hands some great and healing act. The -peasants trusted him, the nobles feared him. A panic seized upon the -landlords. "What," they cried, "do you expect? The country is -disturbed; our property will be destroyed. Look at these louts whom -you talk of rendering free! They can neither read nor write; they have -no capital; they have no credit; they have no enterprise. When they -are not praying they are getting drunk. A change may do in the Polish -provinces; in the heart of Russia, never!" The Government met this -storm in the higher circles by pacific words and vigorous acts; the -Emperor saying to every one whom his voice could reach that the peril -lay in doing nothing, not in doing much. Slowly but surely his opinion -made its way. - -Addresses from the several provinces came in. Committees of advice -were formed, and the Emperor sought to engage the most active and -liberal spirits in his task. When the public mind was opened to new -lights, a grand committee was named in St. Petersburg, consisting of -the ministers of state, and a few members of the imperial council, -over whom his majesty undertook to preside. A second body, called the -reporting committee, was also named, under the presidency of Count -Rostovtsef, one of the pardoned rebels of 1825. The grand committee -studied the principles which ought to govern emancipation; the -reporting committee studied and arranged the facts. A mighty heap of -papers was collected; eighteen volumes of facts and figures were -printed; and the net results were thrown into a draft. - -The reporting committee having done their work, two bodies of -delegates from the provinces, elected by the lords, were invited to -meet in the capital and consider this draft. These provincial -delegates raised objections, which they sent in writing to the -committee; and the new articles drawn up by them were laid before the -Emperor and the grand committee in an amended draft. - -Up to this point the draft was in the hands of nobles and land-owners; -who drew it up in their class-interests, and according to their -class-ideas. If it recognized the serf's right to personal freedom, it -denied him any rights in the soil. This principle of "liberty without -land" was the battle-cry of all parties in the upper ranks; and many -persons knew that such was the principle laid down in the late -Emperor's secret and abortive act. How could a committee of landlords, -trembling for their rents, do otherwise? "Emancipation, if we must," -they sighed, "but emancipation without the land." The provincial -delegates stoutly urged this principle; the reporting committee -embodied it in their draft. Supported by these two bodies, it came -before the grand committee. England, France, and Germany were cited; -and as the villeins in those countries had received no grants of -lands, it was resolved that the emancipated serfs should have no -grants of land. The grand committee passed the amended draft. - -Then, happily, the man was found. Whatever these scribes could say, -the Emperor knew that forty-eight millions of his people looked to him -for justice; and that every man in those forty-eight millions felt -that his right in the soil was just as good as that of the Emperor in -his crown. He saw that freedom without the means of living would be to -the peasant a fatal gift. Unwilling to see a popular revolution turned -into the movement of a class, he would not consent to make men paupers -by the act which pretended to make them free. "Liberty and land"--that -was the Alexandrine principle; a golden precept which he held against -the best and oldest councillors in his court. - -The acts of his committees left him one course, and only one. He could -appeal to a higher court. Some members of the grand committee, knowing -their master's mind, had voted against the draft; and now the Emperor -laid that draft before the full council, on the ground that a measure -of such importance should not be settled in a lower assembly by a -divided vote. Again he met with selfish views. The full council -consists of princes, counts, and generals--old men mostly--who have -little more to expect from the crown, and every reason to look after -the estates they have acquired. They voted against the Emperor and the -serfs. - -When all seemed lost, however, the fight was won. Not until the full -council had decided to adopt the draft, could the Emperor be persuaded -to use his power and to save his country; but on the morrow of their -vote, the prince, in his quality of autocrat, declared that the -principle of "Liberty and land" was the principle of his emancipation -act. - -On the third of March, 1861 (Feb. 19, O.S.), the emancipation act was -signed. - -The rustic population then consisted of twenty-two millions of common -serfs, three millions of appanage peasants, and twenty-three millions -of crown peasants. The first class were enfranchised by that act; and -a separate law has since been passed in favor of these crown peasants -and appanage peasants, who are now as free in fact as they formerly -were in name. - -A certain portion of land, varying in different provinces according to -soil and climate, was affixed to every "soul;" and government aid was -promised to the peasants in buying their homesteads and allotments. -The serfs were not slow to take this hint. Down to January 1, 1869, -more than half the enfranchised male serfs have taken advantage of -this promise; and the debt now owing from the people to the crown -(that is, to the bondholders) is an enormous sum. - -The Alexandrine principle of "liberty and land" being made the -governing rule of the emancipation act, all reasonable fear lest the -rustic, in receiving his freedom, might at once go wandering, was -taken into account. Nobody knew how far the serf had been broken of -those nomadic habits which led to serfage. Every one felt some doubt -as to whether he could live with liberty and law; and rules were -framed to prevent the return to those social anarchies which had -forced the crown to "settle" the country under Boris Godunof and Peter -the Great. These restrictive rules were nine in number: (1.) a peasant -was not to quit his village unless he gave up, once and forever, his -share of the communal lands; (2.) in case of the commune refusing to -accept his portion, he was to yield his plot to the general landlord; -(3.) he must have met his liabilities, if any, to the Emperor's -recruiting officers; (4.) he must have paid up all arrears of local -and imperial rates, and also paid in advance such taxes for the -current year; (5.) he must have satisfied all private claims, -fulfilled all personal contracts, under the authority of his cantonal -administration; (6.) he must be free from legal judgment and pursuit; -(7.) he must provide for the maintenance of all such members of his -family to be left in the commune, as from either youth or age might -become a burden to his village; (8.) he must make good any arrears of -rent which may be due on his allotment to the lord; (9.) he must -produce either a resolution passed by some other commune, admitting -him as a member, or a certificate, properly signed, that he has bought -the freehold of a plot of land, equal to two allotments, not above ten -miles distant from the commune named. These rules--which are -provisional only--are found to tie a peasant with enduring strictness -to his fields. - -The question, whether the serf is so far cured of his Tartar habit -that he can live a settled life without being bound to his patch of -ground, is still unasked. The answer to that question must come with -time, province by province and town by town. Nature is slow, and habit -is a growth. Reform must wait on nature, and observe her laws. - -As in all such grand reforms, the parties most affected by the change -were much dissatisfied at first. The serf had got too much; the lords -had kept too much. In many provinces the peasants refused to hear the -imperial rescript read in church. They said the priest was keeping -them in the dark; for, ruled by the nobles, and playing a false part -against the Emperor, he was holding back the real letters of -liberation, and reading them papers forged by their lords. Fanatics -and impostors took advantage of their discontent to excite sedition, -and these fanatics and impostors met with some success in provinces -occupied by the Poles and Malo-Russ. - -Two of these risings were important. At the village of Bezdna, -province of Kazan, one Anton Petrof announced himself as a prophet of -God and an ambassador from the Tsar. He told the peasants that they -were now free men, and that their good Emperor had given them all the -land. Four thousand rustics followed him about; and when General Count -Apraxine, overtaking the mob and calling upon them to give up their -leader, and disperse under pain of being instantly shot down, the poor -fellows cried, "We shall not give him up; we are all for the Tsar." -Apraxine gave the word to fire; a hundred men dropped down with -bullets in their bodies--fifty-one dead, the others badly hurt. In -horror of this butchery, the people cried, "You are firing into -Alexander Nicolaivitch himself!" Petrof was taken, tried by -court-martial, and shot in the presence of his stupefied friends, who -could not understand that a soldier was doing his duty to the crown by -firing into masses of unarmed men. - -A more singular and serious rising of serfs took place in the rich -province of Penza, where a strange personage proclaimed himself the -Grand Duke Constantine, brother of Nicolas, once a captive. Affecting -radical opinions, the "grand duke" raised a red flag, collected bands -of peasants, and alarmed the country far and near. A body of soldiers, -sent against them by General Dreniakine, were received with clubs and -stones, and forced to run away. Dreniakine marched against the rebels, -and in a smart action he dispersed them through the steppe, after -killing eight and seriously maiming twenty-six. The "grand duke" was -suffered to get away. The country was much excited by the rising, and -on Easter Sunday General Dreniakine telegraphed to St. Petersburg his -duty to the minister, and asked for power to punish the revolters by -martial law. The minister sent him orders to act according to his -judgment; and he began to flog and shoot the villagers until order was -restored within the limits of his command. The "grand duke" was -denounced as one Egortsof, a Milk-Drinker; and Dreniakine soon -afterwards spread a report that he was dead. - -The agitation was not stilled until the Emperor himself appeared on -the scene. On his way to Yalta he convoked a meeting of elders, to -whom he addressed a few wise and solacing words: "I have given you all -the liberties defined by the statutes; I have given you no liberties -save those defined by the statutes." It was the very first time these -peasants had heard of their Emperor's will being limited by law. - - - - -CHAPTER LII. - -FREEDOM. - - -"What were the first effects of emancipation in your province?" I ask -a lady. - -"Rather droll," replies the Princess B. "In the morning, the poor -fellows could not believe their senses; in the afternoon, they got -tipsy; next day, they wanted to be married." - -"Doubt--drunkenness--matrimony! Yes, it was rather droll." - -"You see, a serf was not suffered to drink whisky and make love as he -pleased. It was a wild outburst of liberty; and perhaps the two things -brought their own punishments?" - -"Not the marrying, surely?" - -"Ha! who knows?" - -The upper ranks are much divided in opinion as to the true results of -emancipation. If the liberal circles of the Winter Palace look on -things in the rosiest light, the two extreme parties which stand aside -as chorus and critics--the Whites and Reds, Obstructives and -Socialists--regard them from two opposite points of view, as in the -last degree unsound, unsafe. - -When a Russian takes upon himself the office of critic, he is always -gloomy, Oriental, and prophetic. He turns his face to the darker side -of things; he groans in spirit, and picks up words of woe. If he has -to deal as critic with the sins of his own time and country, he -prepares his tongue to denounce and his soul to curse; and his -self-examination, whether in respect to his private vices or his -public failings, is conducted in a dark, reproachful, and -inquisitorial spirit. - -In one house you fall among the Whites--a charming set of men to meet -in drawing-room or club; urbane, accomplished, profligate; owners who -never saw their serfs, landlords who never lived on their estates; -fine fellows--whether young or old--who spent their lives in roving -from St. Petersburg to Paris, and were known by sight in every -gaming-house, in every theatre, from the Neva to the Seine. These men -will tell you, with an exquisite smile, that Russia has come to the -dogs. "Free labor!" they exclaim with scorn, "the country is sinking -under these free institutions year by year--sinking in morals, sinking -in production, sinking in political strength. A peasant works less, -drinks more than ever. While he was a serf he could be flogged into -industry, if not into sobriety. Now he is master, he will please -himself; and his pleasure is to dawdle in the dram-shop and to slumber -on the stove. Not only is he going down himself, but he is pulling -every one else down in his wake. The burgher is worse off; the -merchant finds nothing to buy and sell. Less land is under plough and -spade; the quantity of corn, oats, barley, and maize produced is less -than in the good old times. Russia is poorer than she was, financially -and physically. Famines have become more frequent; arson is -increasing; while the crimes of burglary and murder are keeping pace -with the strides of fire and famine. As rich and poor, we are more -divided than we were as lords and serfs. The rich used to care for the -poor, and the poorer classes lived on the waste of rich men's boards. -They had an influence on each other, and always for their mutual good. -In this new scheme we are strangers when we are not rivals, -competitors when we are not foes. A rustic cares for neither lord nor -priest. A landlord who desires to live on his estate must bow and -smile, must bend and cringe, in order to keep his own. The rustics rob -his farm, they net his lake, they beat his bailiff, they insult his -wife. His time is wasted in complaining--now to the police, now to the -magistrate, now again to the cantonal chief. All classes are at -strife, and the seeds of revolution are broadly sown." - -In a second house you fall among the Reds--a far more dashing and -excited set; many of whom have also spent much time in passing from -St. Petersburg to Paris, though not with the hope of becoming known to -croupiers and ballet-girls; men with pallid brows and sparkling eyes, -who make a science of their social whims, and treat the emancipating -acts as so many paths to that republic of rustics which they desire to -see. "These circulars, reports, and edicts were necessary," they -allege, "in order to open men's eyes to the tragic facts. Our miseries -were hidden; our princes were so rich, our palaces so splendid, and our -troops so numerous, that the world--and even we ourselves--believed -the imperial government strong enough to march in any direction, to -strike down every foe. The Tsar was so great that no one thought of -his serfs; the sun was so brilliant that you could not see the motes. -But now that reign of deceit is gone forever, and our wretchedness is -exposed to every eye. You say we are free, and prospering in our -freedom; but the facts are otherwise; we are neither free nor -prosperous. The act of emancipation was a snare. Men fancied they were -going to be freed from their lords; but when the day of deliverance -came they found themselves taken from a bad master and delivered to a -worse. A man who was once a serf became a slave. He had belonged to a -neighbor, often to a friend, and now he became a property of the -crown. Branded with the Black Eagle, he was fastened to the soil by a -stronger chain. A false civilization seized him, held him in her -embrace, and made him pass into the fire. What has that civilization -done for him? Starved him; stripped him; ruined him. Go into our -cities. Look at our burghers; watch how they lie and cheat; hear how -they bear false witness; note how they buy with one yard, sell with -another yard. Go into our communes. Mark the dull eye and the stupid -face of the village lout, who lives alone, like a wild beast, far from -his fellows--part of the forest, as a log of wood is part of the -forest. Observe how he drinks and shuffles; how he says his prayers, -and shirks his duty, and begets his kind, with hardly more thought in -his head than a wolf and a bear. This state of things must be swept -away. The poor man is the victim of all tyrants, all impostors; the -minister cheats him of his freedom, and the landlord of his field; but -the hour of revolution is drawing nigh; and people will greet that -coming hour with their rallying cry--More liberty and more land!" - -A stranger listening to every one, looking into every thing, will see -that on the fringe of actual fact there are appearances which might -seem to justify, according to the point of view, these opposite and -extreme opinions; yet, on massing and balancing his observations of -the country as a whole, a stranger must perceive that under -emancipation the peasant is better dressed, better lodged, and better -fed; that his wife is healthier, his children cleaner, his homestead -tidier; that he and his belongings are improved by the gift which -changed him from a chattel into a man. - -A peasant spends much money, it is true, in drams; but he spends yet -more in clothing for his wife. He builds his cabin of better wood, and -in the eastern provinces, if not in all, you find improvements in the -walls and roof. He paints the logs, and fills up cracks with plaster, -where he formerly left them bare and stuffed with moss. He sends his -boys to school, and goes himself more frequently to church. If he -exports less corn and fur to other countries, it is because, being -richer, he can now afford to eat white bread and wear a cat-skin cap. - -The burgher class and the merchant class have been equally benefited -by the change. A good many peasants have become burghers, and a good -many burghers merchants. All the domestic and useful trades have been -quickened into life. More shoes are worn, more carts are wanted, more -cabins are built. Hats, coats, and cloaks are in higher demand; the -bakeries and breweries find more to do; the teacher gets more pupils, -and the banker has more customers on his books. - -This movement runs along the line; for in the wake of emancipation -every other liberty and right is following fast. Five years ago -(1864), the Emperor called into existence two local parliaments in -every province; a district assembly and a provincial assembly: in -which every class, from prince to peasant, was to have his voice. The -district assembly is elected by classes; nobles, clergy, merchants, -husbandmen; each apart, and free; the provincial assembly consists of -delegates from the several district assemblies. The district assembly -settles all questions as to roads and bridges; the provincial assembly -looks to building prisons, draining pools, damming rivers, and the -like. The peasant interest is strong in the district assembly, the -landlord interest in the provincial assembly; and they are equally -useful as schools of freedom, eloquence, and public spirit. On these -local boards, the cleverest men in every province are being trained -for civic, and, if need be, parliamentary life. - -On every side, an observer notes with pleasure a tendency of the -villagers to move upon the towns and enter into the higher activities -of civic life. This tendency is carrying them back beyond the Tartar -times into the better days of Novgorod and Pskoff. - -In his commune, a peasant may hope to pass through the dreary -existence led by his mule and ox; his thoughts given up to his -cabbage-soup, his buckwheat porridge, his loaf of black bread, and his -darling dram. If he acquires in his village some patriarchal -virtues--love of home, respect for age, delight in tales and songs, -and preference for oral over written law--he also learns, without -knowing why, to think and feel like a Bedouin in his tent, and a -Kirghiz on his steppe. A rustic is nearly always humming old tunes. -Whether you see him felling his pine, unloading his team, or sitting -at his door, he is nearly always singing the same old dirge of love or -war. When he breaks into a brisker stave, it is always into a song of -revenge and hate. Bandits are his heroes; and the staid young fellow -who dares not whisper to his partner in a dance, will roar out such a -riotous squall: - - "I'll toil in the fields no more! - For what can I gain by the spade? - My hands are empty, my heart is sore; - A knife! my friend's in the forest glade!" - -Another youth may sing: - - "I'll rob the merchant at his stall, - I'll slay the noble in his hall; - With girls and whisky I'll have my fling, - And the world will honor me like a king." - -One of the most popular of these robber songs has a chorus running -thus, addressed in menace to the noble and the rich: - - "We have come to drink your wine, - We have come to steal your gold, - We have come to kiss your wives! - Ha! ha!" - -This reckless sense of right and wrong is due to that serfage under -which the peasants groaned for two hundred and sixty years. Serfage -made men indifferent to life and death. The crimes of serfage have -scarcely any parallel, except among savage tribes; and the liberty -which some of the freed peasants enjoyed the most was the liberty of -revenge. - -Ivan Gorski was living in Tamboff, in very close friendship with a -family of seven persons, when he conceived a grudge against them on -some unknown ground, obtained a gun, and asked his friends to let him -practice firing in their yard. They let him put up his target, and -blaze away till he became a very fair shot, and people got used to the -noise of his gun. When these two points were gained, he took off every -member of the house. He could not tell the reason of his crime. - -Daria Sokolof was employed as nurse in a family, and when the child -grew up went back to her village, parting from her master and mistress -on the best of terms. Some years passed by. On going into the town to -sell her fruit and herbs, and finding a bad market, she went to her -old home and asked for a lodging for the night. Her master was ill, -and her mistress put her to bed. At two in the morning she got up, -seized an Italian iron, crept to her master's room, and beat his -brains out; then to her mistress's room, and killed her also. -Afterwards she went into the servant's room, and murdered her; into -the boy's room, and murdered him. A pet dog lay on the lad's coverlet, -and she smashed its skull. She took a little money--not much; went -home, and slept till daylight. No one suspected her, for no living -creature knew she had been to the house. Twelve months elapsed before -a clue was found; but as no witness of the crime was left, she could -only be condemned to a dozen years in the Siberian mines. Her case -excited much remark, and persons are even now petitioning the ministry -of justice to let her off! - -It is only by living in a wider field, by acting for himself, by -gaining a higher knowledge of men and things, that the peasant can -escape from the bad traditions and morbid sentiments of his former -life. It will be an immense advantage for the empire of villages to -become, as other nations are, an empire of both villages and towns. - - - - -CHAPTER LIII. - -TSEK AND ARTEL. - - -The obstacles which lie in the way of a peasant wishing to become a -townsman are very great. After he has freed himself from his -obligations to the commune and the crown, and arrived at the gates of -Moscow, with his papers in perfect order, how is a rustic to live in -that great city? By getting work. That would be the only trouble of a -French paysan or an English plough-boy. In Russia it is different. The -towns are not open and unwalled, so that men may come and go as they -list. They are strongholds; held, in each case, by an army, in the -ranks of which every man has his appointed place. - -No man--not of noble birth--can live the burgher life in Moscow, save -by gaining a place in one of the recognized orders of society--in a -tsek, a guild, or a chin. - -A tsek is an association of craftsmen and petty traders, such as the -tailoring tsek, the cooking tsek, and the peddling tsek; the members -of which pay a small sum of money, elect their own elders, and manage -their own affairs. The elder of a tsek gives to each member a printed -form, which must be countersigned by the police not less than once a -year. A guild is a higher kind of tsek, the members of which pay a tax -to the state for the privilege of buying and selling, and for immunity -from serving in the ranks. A chin is a grade in the public service, -parted somewhat sharply into fourteen stages--from that of a certified -collegian up to that of an acting privy-councillor. A peasant might -enter a guild if he could pay the tax; but the impost is heavy, even -for the lowest guild; and a man who comes into Moscow in search of -work must seek a place in some cheap and humble tsek. He need not -follow the calling of his tsek--a clerk may belong to a shoemaker's -tsek, and a gentleman's servant to a hawker's tsek. But in one or -other of these societies a peasant must get his name inscribed and his -papers signed, under penalty of being seized by the police and hustled -into the ranks. - -Every year he must go in person to the Office of Addresses, a vast -establishment on the Tverskoi Boulevard, where the name, residence, -and occupation of every man and woman living in this great city is -entered on the public books. At this Office of Addresses he has to -leave his regular papers, taking a receipt which serves him as a -passport for a week; in the mean while the police examine his papers, -verify the elder's signature, and mark them afresh with an official -stamp. Every time he changes his lodging he must go in person to the -Office of Addresses and record the change. A tax of three or four -shillings a year is levied on his papers by the police, half of which -money goes to the crown and half to the provincial hospitals. In case -of poverty and sickness, his inscription in a tsek entitles a man to -be received into a government hospital should there be room for him in -any of the wards. - -To lose his papers is a calamity for the rustic hardly less serious -than to lose his leg. Without his papers he is an outlaw at the mercy -of every one who hates him. He must go back at once to his village; if -he has been lucky enough to get his name on the books of a tsek, he -must find the elder, prove his loss, procure fresh evidence of his -identity, and get this evidence countersigned by the police. Yet when -a rustic comes to Moscow nothing is more likely than that his passport -will be stolen. In China-town there is a rag fair, called the Hustling -Market, where cheap-jacks sell every sort of ware--old sheep-skins, -rusty locks and keys, felt boots (third wear), and span-new saints in -brass and tin. This market is a hiring-place for servants; and lads -who have no friends in Moscow flock to this market in search of work. -A fellow walks up to the rustic with a town-bred air: "You want a -place? Very well; let me see your passport." Taking his papers from -his boot--a peasant always puts his purse and papers in his boot--he -offers them gladly to the man, who dodges through the crowd in a -moment, while the rustic is gaping at him with open mouth. A thief -knows where he can sell these papers, just as he could sell a stolen -watch. - -Having got his name inscribed in a tsek, his passport signed by his -elder and countersigned by the police, the peasant, now become a -burgher, looks about him for an artel, which, if he have money enough, -he proceeds to join. - -An artel is an association of workmen following the same craft, and -organized on certain lines, with the principles of which they are made -familiar in their village life. An artel is a commune carried from the -country into the town. The members of an artel join together for their -mutual benefit and insurance. They elect an elder, and confide to him -the management of their concerns. They agree to work in common at -their craft, to have no private interests, to throw their earnings -into a single fund, and, after paying the very light cost of their -association, to divide the sum total into equal shares. In practical -effect, the artel is a finer form of communism than the commune -itself. In the village commune they only divide the land; in the city -artel they divide the produce. - -The origin of artels is involved in mist. Some writers of the -Panslavonic school profess to find traces of such an association in -the tenth century; but the only proof adduced is the existence of a -rule making towns and villages responsible, in cases of murder, for -the fines inflicted on the criminal--a rule which these writers would -find in the Frankish, Saxon, and other codes. The safer view appears -to be, that the artel came from Asia. No one knows the origin of this -term artel--it seems to be a Tartar word, and it is nowhere found in -use until the reign of those tartarized Grand Dukes of Moscow, Ivan -the Third and Ivan the Fourth. In fact, the artel seems to have been -planted in Russia with the commune and the serf. - -The first artel of which we have any notice was a gang of thieves, who -roamed about the country taking what they liked with a rude -hand--inviting themselves to weddings and merry-makings, where they -not only ate and drank as they pleased, but carried away the wine, the -victuals, and the plate. These freebooters elected a chief, whom they -called their ataman. They were bound to stand by each other in weal -and woe. No rogue could go where he pleased--no thief could plunder on -his personal account. The spoil was thrown into a common heap, from -which every member of the artel got an equal share. - -These bandit artels must have been strong and prosperous, since the -principle of their association passed with little or no change into -ordinary city life and trade. The burghers kept the word artel; they -translated ataman into elder (starost); and in every minor detail they -copied their original, rule by rule. These early artels had very few -articles of association; and the principal were: that the members -formed one body, bound to stand by each other; that they were to be -governed by a chief, elected by general suffrage; that every man was -appointed to his post by the artel; that a member could not refuse to -do the thing required of him; that no one should be suffered to drink, -swear, game, and quarrel; that every one should bear himself towards -his comrade like a brother; that no present should be received, unless -it were shared by each; that a member could not name a man to serve in -his stead, except with the consent of all. In after times these simple -rules were supplemented by provisions for restoring to the member's -heirs the value of his rights in the common fund. In case of death, -these additional rules provided that the subscriber's share should go -to his son, if he had a son; if not, to his next of kin, as any other -property would descend. So far the estate was held to be a joint -concern as regards the question of use, and a series of personal -properties as regards the actual ownership. All these city artels took -the motto of "Honesty and truth." - -An artel, then, was, in its origin, no other than an association of -craftsmen for their mutual support against the miseries of city life, -just as the commune was an association of laborers for their mutual -support against the miseries of country life. Each sprang, in its -turn, from a sense of the weakness of individual men in struggling -with the hard necessities of time and place. One body sought -protection in numbers and mutual help against occasional lack of -employment; the other against occasional attacks from wolves and -bears, and against the annual floods of rain and drifts of snow. An -artel was a republic like a commune; with a right of meeting, a right -of election, a right of fine and punishment. No one interfered with -the members, save in a general way. They made their own rules, obeyed -their own chiefs, and were in every sense a state within the state. -Yet these societies lived and throve, because they proved, on trial, -to be as beneficial to the upper as they were to the lower class; an -artel offering advantages to employers of labor like those offered by -a commune to the ministers of finance and war. - -If an English banker wants a clerk, he must go into the open market -and find a servant, whom he has to hire on the strength of his -character as certified from his latest place. He takes him on trial, -subject to the chance of his proving an honest man. If a Russian -banker wants a clerk, he sends for the elder of an artel, looks at his -list, and hires his servant from the society, in that society's name. -He seeks no character, takes no guaranty. The artel is responsible for -the clerk, and the banker trusts him in perfect confidence to the full -extent of the artel fund. If the clerk should prove to be a rogue--a -thing which sometimes happens--the banker calls in the elder, -certifies the fact, and gets his money paid back at once. - -These things may happen, yet they are not common. Petty thieving is -the vice of every Eastern race, and Russians of the lower class are -not exceptions to the rule; yet, in the artels, it is certain that -this tendency to pick and steal is greatly curbed, if not wholly -suppressed. "Honesty and truth," from being a phrase on the tongue, -may come at length to be a habit of the mind. A decent life is -strenuously enjoined, and no member is allowed to drink and game; thus -many of the vices which lead to theft are held in check by the public -opinion of his circle; yet the temptation sometimes grows too strong, -and a confidential clerk decamps with his employer's box. Another -merit of these artels then comes out. - -A robbery has taken place in the bank, a clerk is missing, and the -banker feels assured that the money and the man are gone together. -Notice is sent to the police; but Moscow is a very big city; and -Rebrof, clever as he may be in catching thieves, has no instant means -of following a man who has just committed in a bank parlor his virgin -crime. But the elder knows his man, and the members, who will have to -suffer for his fault, are well acquainted with his haunts. Setting -their eyes and tongues at work, they follow him with the energy of a -pack of wolves on a trail of blood, never slackening in their race -until they hunt him down and yield him up to trial, judgment, and the -mines. - -Bankers like Baron Stieglitz, of St. Petersburg, merchants like -Mazourin and Alexief, in Moscow, have artels of their own, founded in -the first instance for their own work-people. On entering an artel, a -man pays a considerable sum of money--the average is a thousand -rubles, one hundred and fifty pounds--though he need not always pay -the whole sum down at once. That payment is the good-will; what is -called the buying in. He goes to work wherever the artel may appoint -him. He gets no separate wages; for the payment is made to the elder -for one and all. So far this is share and share alike. But then the -old rule about receiving presents has been much relaxed of late; and a -good servant often receives from his master more than he receives as -his share from the general fund. This innovation, it is true, destroys -the old character of the artel as a society for the mutual assurance -of strong and weak; but in the progress of free thought and action it -is a revolution not to be withstood, and hardly to be gainsaid. - -One day, when dining with a Swede, a banker in St. Petersburg, I was -struck by the quick eyes and ready hands of my host's butler, and, on -my dropping a word in his praise, my host broke out, "Ha, that fellow -is a golden man; he is my butler, valet, clerk, cashier, and master of -the household--all in one." - -"Is he a peasant?" - -"Yes; a peasant from the South. I get him for nothing--for the price -of a common lout." - -"He comes to you from an artel?" - -"Yes, he and some dozen more; he is worth the other twelve." - -"You pay the same wage for each and all?" - -"To the artel, so; but, hist! We make up for extra care and service by -a thumping New-Year's gift." - -"Then the artel is beginning to fail of its original purpose--that of -securing to the weak, the idle, and the stupid men as high a wage as -it gave to the strong, the enterprising, and the able men?" - -"Can you suppose that clever and pushing fellows will work like -horses, all for nothing, now that they are free? A serf might do so; -he lived in terror of the stick; he had no notion of his rights; and -he had worked for others all his life. An artel is a useful thing, and -no one (least of all a foreign banker) wishes to see the institution -fail; but it must go with the times. If it can not find the means of -drawing the best men into it by paying them fairly for what they do, -it will pass away." - -An artel is a vast convenience to the foreign masters, whatever it may -be to the native men. - - - - -CHAPTER LIV. - -MASTERS AND MEN. - - -Not in one town, in one province only, but in every town, we find two -nations living in presence of each other; just as we find them in -Finland and Livonia; an upper race and a lower; a foreign race and a -native; and in nearly all these towns and provinces the foreign race -are the masters, the native race their men. - -On the open plains and in the forest lands this division into masters -and men is not so strongly marked as in the towns. Here and there we -find a stranger in possession of the soil; but the rule is not so; and -while the towns may be said to belong in a rough way to the German, -the country, as a whole, is the property of the Russ. The people may -be parted into these two classes; not in commercial things only, but -in professional study and in official life. The trade, the art, the -science, and the power of Russia have all been lodged by law in the -stranger's hand--the Russ being made an underling, even when he was -not made a serf; and it is only in our own time--since the close of -the Crimean war--that the crown has come, as it were, to the help of -nature in recovering Russia for the Russ. - -The dynasty is foreign. The fact is too common to excite remark; the -first and most liberal countries in the world, so far as they have -kings at all, being governed by princes of alien blood. In London the -dynasty is Hanoverian; in Berlin it is Swabian; in Paris it is -Corsican; in Vienna it is Swiss; in Florence it is Savoyard; in -Copenhagen it is Holstein; in Stockholm it is French; in Brussels it -is Cobourg; at the Hague it is Rhenish; in Lisbon it is Kohary; in -Athens it is Danish; in Rio it is Portuguese. No bad moral would be, -therefore, drawn from the fact of a Gottorp reigning on the Neva and -the Moskva, were it not a fact that the Russian peasant had some -reason to regard his prince as being not less foreign in spirit than -he was in blood. The two princes who are best known to him--Ivan the -Terrible and Peter the Great--announced, in season and out of season, -that they were not Russ. "Take care of the weight," said Ivan to an -English artist, giving him some bars of gold to be worked into plate, -"for the Russians are all thieves." The artist smiled. "Why are you -laughing?" asked the Tsar. "I was thinking that, when you called the -Russians thieves, your Majesty forgot that you were Russ yourself." -"Pooh!" replied the Tsar, "I am a German, not a Russ." Peter was loud -in his scorn of every thing Muscovite. He spoke the German tongue; he -wore the German garb. He shaved his beard and trimmed his hair in the -German style. He built a German city, which he made his capital and -his home, and he called that city by a German name. He loved to smoke -his German pipe, and to quicken his brain with German beer. To him the -new empire which he meant to found was a German empire, with ports -like Hamburg, cities like Frankfort and Berlin; and he thought little -more of his faithful Russ than as a horde of savages whom it had -become his duty to improve into the likeness of Dutch and German -boors. - -To the imperial mind, itself foreign, the stranger has always been a -type of order, peace, and progress; while the native has been a type -of waste, disorder, and stagnation. Hence favors without end have been -heaped on Germans by the reigning house, while Russians have been left -to feel the presence of their Government chiefly in the tax-collector -and the sergeant of police. This difference has become a subject for -proverbs and jokes. When the Emperor asked a man who had done him -service how he would like to be remembered in return, he said: "If -your Majesty will only make me a German, every thing else will come in -time." - -Ministers, ambassadors, chamberlains, have almost all been German; and -when a Russian has been employed in a great command, it has been -rather in war than in the more delicate affairs of state. The German, -as a rule, is better taught and trained than the Russian; knowing arts -and sciences, to which the Russian is supposed to be a stranger, now -and forever, as if learning were a thing beyond his reach. Peter made -a law by which certain arts and crafts were to remain forever in -German hands. A Russian could not be a druggist, lest he should poison -his neighbor; nor a chimney-sweep, lest he should set his shed on -fire. - -Such laws have been repealed by edicts; yet many remain in force, in -virtue of a wider power than that of minister and prince. No Russian -would take his dose of salts, his camomile pill, from the hands of his -brother Russ. He has no confidence in native skill and care. A Russ -may be a good physician, being quick, alert, and sympathetic; yet no -amount of training seems to fit him for the delicate office of mixing -drugs. He likes to lash out, and can not curb his fury to the minute -accuracy of an eye-glass and a pair of scales. A few grains, more or -less, in a potion are to him nothing at all. In Moscow, where the -Panslavonic hope is strong, I heard of more than one case in which the -desire to deal at a native shop had sent the patriot to an untimely -grave. - -"You can not teach a Russian girl," said a lady, who was speaking to -me about her servants. "That girl, now, is a good sort of creature in -her way; she never tires of work, never utters a complaint; she goes -to mass on Saints'-days and Sundays; and she would rather die of -hunger than taste eggs and milk in Lent. But I can not persuade her to -wash a sheet, to sweep a room, and to rock a cradle in my English way. -If I show her how to do it, she says, with a pensive look, that her -people do things thus and thus; and if I insist on having my own way -in my own house, she will submit to force under a sort of protest, and -will then run home to tell her parents and her pope that her English -lady is possessed by an evil spirit." - -The strangers who hold so many offices of trust in the country, and -who form its intellectual aristocracy, are not considered in Berlin as -of pure Germanic stock. They come from the Baltic provinces--from -Livonia and Lithuania; but they trace their houses, not to the Letts -and Wends of those regions, but to the old Teutonic knights. There can -be no mistake about their energy and power. - -Long before the days of Peter the Great they had a footing in the -land; under Peter they became its masters; and ever since his reign -they have been striving to subdue and civilize the people as their -ancestors in Ost and West Preussen civilized the ancient Letts and -Finns. - -No love is lost between these strangers and natives, masters and men. -The two races have nothing in common; neither blood, nor speech, nor -faith. They differ like West and East. A German cuts his hair short, -and trims his beard and mustache. He wears a hat and shoes, and wraps -his limbs in soft, warm cloth. He strips himself at night, and prefers -to sleep in a bed to frying his body on a stove. He washes himself -once a day. He never drinks whisky, and he loves sour-krout. A German -believes in science, a Russian believes in fate. One looks for his -guide to experience, while the other is turning to his invisible -powers. If a German child falls sick, his father sends for a doctor; -if a Russian child falls sick, his father kneels to his saint. - -In the North country, where wolves abound, a foreigner brings in his -lambs at night; but the native says, a lamb is either born to be -devoured by wolves or not, and any attempt to cross his fate is flying -in the face of heaven. A German is a man of ideas and methods. He -believes in details. From his wide experience of the world he knows -that one man can make carts, while a second can write poems, and a -third can drill troops. He loves to see things in order, and his -business going on with the smoothness of a machine. He rises early, -and goes to bed late. With a pipe in his mouth, a glass of beer at his -side, a pair of spectacles on his nose, he can toil for sixteen hours -a day, nor fancy that the labor is beyond his strength. He seldom -faints at his desk, and he never forgets the respect which may be due -to his chief. In offices of trust he is the soul of probity and -intelligence. It is a rare thing, even in Russia, for a German to be -bought with money; and his own strict dealing makes him hard with the -wretch whom he has reason to suspect of yielding to a bribe. In the -higher reaches cf character he is still more of a puzzle to his men. -With all his love of order and routine, he is a dreamer and an -idealist; and on the moral side of his nature he is capable of a -tenderness, a chivalry, an enthusiasm, of which the Russian finds no -traces in himself. - -A Russ, on the other side, is a man of facts and of illusions; but his -facts are in the region of his ideas, while his illusions rest in the -region of his habits. It has been said, in irony, of course, that a -Russian never dreams--except when he is wide awake! - -Let us go into a Russian work-shop and a German work-shop; two -flax-mills, say, at one of the great river towns. - -In the first we find the master and his men of one race, with habits -of life and thought essentially the same. They dine at the same table, -eat the same kind of food. They wear the same long hair and beards, -and dress in the same caftan and boots; they play the same games of -draughts and whist; they drink the same whisky and quass; they kneel -at the same village shrine; they kiss the same cross; and they confess -their sins to a common priest. If one gets tipsy on Sunday night, the -other is likely to have a fellow-feeling for his fault. If the master -strikes the man, it is an affair between the two. The man either bears -the blow with patience or returns it with the nearest cudgel. Of this -family quarrel the magistrate never hears. - -In the second we find a more perfect industrial order, and a master -with a shaven chin. This master, though he may be kind and just, is -foreign in custom and severe in drill. To him his craft is first and -his workmen next. He insists on regular hours, on work that knows no -pause. He keeps the men to their tasks; allows no Monday loss on -account of Sunday drink; and sets his face against the singing of -those brigand songs in which the Russian delights to spend his time. -If his men are absent, he stops their wages--not wishing them to make -up by night for what they waste by day. In case of need, he hauls them -up before the nearest judge. - -The races stand apart. A hundred German colonies exist on Russian -soil; old colonies, new colonies, farming colonies, religious -colonies. Every thing about these foreign villages is clean and -bright. The roads are well kept, the cabins well built, the gardens -well trimmed. The carts are better made, the teams are better groomed, -the harvests are better housed than among the natives; yet no -perceptible influence flows from the German colony into the Russian -commune; and a hamlet lying a league from such a settlement as Strelna -or Sarepta is not unlikely to be worse for the example of its smiling -face. - -The natives see their master in an odious light. They look on his -clean face as that of a girl, and express the utmost contempt for his -pipe of tobacco, his pair of spectacles, and his pot of beer. Whisky, -they say, is the drink for men. Worse than all else, they regard him -as a heretic, to whom Heaven may have given (as Arabs say) the power -of the stick, but who is not the less disowned by the Church and cast -out from God. - - - - -CHAPTER LV. - -THE BIBLE. - - -A learned father of the ancient rite made some remarks to me on the -Bible in Russia, which live in my mind as parts of the picture of this -great country. - -I knew that our Bible Society have a branch in Petersburg, and that -copies of the New Testament and the Psalms have been scattered, -through their agency, from the White Sea to the Black; but, being well -aware that the right to found that branch of our Society in Russia was -originally urged by men of the world in London upon men of the same -class in St. Petersburg, and that the ministers of Alexander the First -gave their consent in a time of war, when they wanted English help in -men and money against the French, I supposed that the purposes in view -had been political, and that this heavenly seed was cast into -ungrateful soil. I had no conception of the good which our Society has -been doing in silence for so many years. - -"The Scriptures which came to us from England," said this priest, -"have been the mainstay, not of our religion only, but of our national -life." - -"Then they have been much read?" - -"In thousands, in ten thousands of pious homes. The true Russian likes -his Bible--yes, even better than his dram--for the Bible tells him of -a world beyond his daily field of toil, a world of angels and of -spirits, in which he believes with a nearer faith than he puts in the -wood and water about his feet. In every second house of Great -Russia--the true, old Russia, in which we speak the same language and -have the same God--you will find a copy of the Bible, and men who have -the promise in their hearts." - -In my journey through the country I find this true, though not so much -in the letter as in the spirit. Except in New England and in Scotland, -no people in the world, so far as they can read at all, are greater -Bible-readers than the Russians. - -In thinking of Russia we forget the time when she was free, even as -she is now again growing free, and take scant heed of the fact that -she possessed a popular version of Scripture, used in all her churches -and chapels, long before such a treasure was obtained by England, -Germany, and France. - -"Love for the Bible and love for Russia," said the priest, "go with us -hand in hand, as the Tsar in his palace and the monk in his convent -know. A patriotic government gives us the Bible, a monastic government -takes it away." - -"What do you mean by a patriotic government and a monastic government, -when speaking of the Bible?" - -"By a patriotic government, that of Alexander the First and Alexander -the Second; by a monastic government, that of Nicolas. The first -Alexander gave us the Bible; Nicolas took it away; the second -Alexander gave it us again. The first Alexander was a prince of gentle -ways and simple thoughts--a mystic, as men of worldly training call a -man who lives with God. Like all true Russians, he had a deep and -quick perception of the presence of things unseen. In the midst of his -earthly troubles--and they were great--he turned into himself. He was -a Bible-reader. In the Holy Word he found that peace which the world -could neither give nor take away; and what he found for himself he set -his heart on sharing with his children everywhere. Consulting Prince -Golitsin, then his minister of public worship, he found that pious and -noble man--Golitsin was a Russian--of his mind. They read the Book -together, and, seeing that it was good for them, they sent for -Stanislaus, archbishop of Mohiloff, and asked him why people should -not read the Bible, each man for himself, and in his native tongue? Up -to that time our sacred books were printed only in Bulgaric; a -Slavonic speech which people used to understand; but which is now an -unknown dialect, even to the popes who drone it every day from the -altar steps. Two English doctors--the good Patterson and the good -Pinkerton--brought us the New Testament, printed in the Russian -tongue; and, by help of the Tsar and his council, scattered the copies -into every province and every town, from the frontiers of Poland to -those of China. I am an old man now; but my veins still throb with the -fervor of that day when we first received, in our native speech, the -word that was to bring us eternal life. The books were instantly -bought up and read; friends lent them to each other; and family -meetings were held, in which the Promise was read aloud. The popes -explained the text; the elders gave out chapter and verse. Even in -parties which met to drink whisky and play cards, some neighbor would -produce his Bible, when the company gave up their games to listen -while an aged man read out the story of the passion and the cross. -That story spoke to the Russian heart; for the Russ, when left alone, -has something of the Galilean in his nature--a something soft and -feminine, almost sacrificial; helping him to feel, with a force which -he could never reach by reasoning, the patient beauty of his -Redeemer's life and death." - -"And what were the effects of this Bible-reading?" - -"Who can tell! You plant the acorn, your descendants sit beneath the -oak. One thing it did for us, which we could never have done without -its help--the Bible drove the Jesuits from our midst--and if we had it -now in every house it would drive away these monks." - -The story of the battle of the Bible Society and the Order of Jesus -may be read in Joly, and in other writers. When that Order was -suppressed in Rome, and the Fathers were banished from every Catholic -state in Europe, a remnant was received into Russia by the insane -Emperor Paul, who took them into his favor in the hope of vexing the -Roman Court, and of making them useful agents in his Catholic -provinces. Well they repaid him for the shelter given--not only in the -Polish cities, but in the privatest recesses of his home. Father -Gruber is said to have been familiar with every secret of the palace -under Paul. These exiles were a band of outlaws, living in defiance of -their spiritual chief and of their temporal prince; but while they -clung with unslackening grasp to the great traditions of their -Society, they sought, by visible service to mankind, the means of -overcoming the hostility of popes and kings. No honest writer will -deny that they were useful to the Russians in a secular sense, -whatever trouble they may have caused them in a religious sense. They -brought into this country the light of science and the love of art -then flourishing in the West; and the colleges which they opened for -the education of youth were far in advance of the native schools. They -built their schools at Moscow, Riga, Petersburg, Odessa, on the banks -of the Volga, on the shores of the Caspian Sea. They sought to be -useful in a thousand ways; in the foreign colony, at the military -station, in the city prison, at the Siberian mine. They went out as -doctors and as teachers. They followed the army into Astrakhan, and -toiled among the Kozaks of the Don; but while they labored to do good, -they labored in a foreign and offensive spirit. To the Russ people -they were strangers and enemies; subjects of a foreign prince, and -members of a hostile church. Some ladies of the court went over to -their rite; a youth of high family followed these court ladies; then -the clergy took alarm, and raised their voices against the strangers. -What offended the Russians most of all was the assumption by these -Jesuits of the name of missionaries, as though the people were a -savage horde not yet reclaimed to God and His Holy Church. Unhappily -for the fathers, this title was expressly forbidden to the Catholic -clergy by Russian law, and this assumption was an act of disobedience -which left them at the mercy of the crown. - -But while the Emperor Paul was kind to them, these acts were passed in -silence, and Alexander seemed unlikely to withdraw his favor from his -father's friends. The issue of a New Testament in the native speech -brought on the conflict and insured their fate. - -Following the traditions of their Order, the Jesuits heard the -proposal to print the Bible in the Russian tongue, so that every man -should read it for himself, with fear, and armed themselves to oppose -the scheme. They spoke, they wrote, they preached against it. Calling -it an error, they showed how much it was disliked in Rome. They said -it was an English invasion of the country; and they stirred up the -popes to attack it; saying it would be the ruin, not only of the Roman -clergy, but of the Greek. - -Alexander's eyes were opened to the character of his guests. The Bible -was a comfort to himself, and why should others be refused the -blessing he had found? Who were these men, that they should prevent -his people reading the Word of Life? - -A dangerous question for the Tsar to ask; for Prince Golitsin was -close at hand with his reply. The worst day's work the Jesuits had -ever done was to disturb this prince's family by converting his nephew -to the Roman Church. Golitsin called it seduction; and seduction from -the national faith is a public crime. When, therefore, Alexander came -to ask who these men were, Golitsin answered that they were teachers -of false doctrine; disturbers of the public peace; men who were -banished by their sovereigns; a body disbanded by their popes. And -then, in spite of their good deeds, they were sent away--first from -Moscow and Petersburg, afterwards from every city of the empire. Their -expulsion was one of the most popular acts of a long and glorious -reign. - -The Jesuit writers lay the blame of their expulsion on the Bible -Societies. - -From other sources I learn that the New Testament was free until -Alexander's death, and that the copies found their way into every city -and village of the land. With the death of Alexander the First came a -change. After the conspiracy of 1825, the new Emperor listened to his -black clergy, and the Bible was placed under close arrest. - -The Russian Bible Society was called a Russian parliament. All parties -in the state were represented on the board of management; Orthodox -bishops sitting next to Old Believers, and Old Believers next to -Dissenting priests. The Bible, in which they all believed, was a -common ground, on which they could meet and exchange the words of -peace. But Nicolas, ruling by the sword, had no desire to see these -boards pursuing their active and independent course; and his monks had -little trouble in persuading him to replace the Bible by an official -Book of Saints. - - - - -CHAPTER LVI. - -PARISH PRIESTS. - - -In this empire of villages there is a force of six hundred and ten -thousand parish priests (a little more or less); each parish priest -the centre of a circle, who regard him not only as a man of God, -ordained to bless in His holy name, but as a father to advise them in -weal and woe. These priests are not only popular, but in country -villages they are themselves the people. - -Father Peter, the village pope, is a countryman like the members of -his flock. In his youth, he must have been at school and college--a -smart lad, perhaps, alert of tongue and learned in decrees and canons; -but he has long since sobered down into the dull and patient priest -you see. In speech, in gait, in dress, he is exactly like the peasants -in yon dram-shop and yon field. His cabin is built of logs; his wife -grows girkins, which she carries in a creel to the nearest town for -sale; and the reverend gentleman puts his right hand on the plough. He -does not preach and teach; for he has little to say, and not a word -that any of his neighbors would care to hear. Knowing that his lot in -life is fixed, he has no inducement to refresh his mind with learning, -and to burnish up his oratorical arms. The world slips past him, -unperceived; and, with his grip on the peasant's spade, he sinks -insensibly into the peasant's class. Yet Peter's life, though it may -be hard and poor, is not without lines of natural grace, the more -affecting from the homeliness of every thing around. His cabin is very -clean; some flower-pots stand on his window-sill; a heap of books -loads his presses; and his walls are picturesque with pictures of -chapel and saint. A pale and comely wife is sitting near his door, -knitting her children's hose, and watching the urchins at their play. -Those boys are singing beneath a tree--singing with soft, sad faces -one of their ritual psalms. A calm and tender influence flows from his -house into the neighboring sheds. The dullest hind in the hamlet sees -that the pastor's little ones are kept in order, and that his cabin is -the pattern of a tidy village hut. - -The pastor has his patch of land to till, his bit of garden ground to -tend; but on every side you find the homely folk about him helping in -his labor, each peasant in his turn, so as to make his duties light. -Presents of many kinds are made to him--ducklings, fish, cucumbers, even -shoes and wraps, as well as angel-day offerings and benediction-fees. -A priest is so great a man in a village, that, even when he is a -tipsy, idle fellow, he is treated by his parishioners with a -child-like duty and respect. The pastor can do much to help his flock, -not only in their spiritual wants, but in their secular affairs. In -any quarrel with the police, it is of great importance to a peasant -that his priest should take his part; and the pastor commonly takes -his neighbor's part, not only because he himself is poor, and knows -the man, but because he hates all public officers and suspects all men -in power. - -A great day for the parish priest is that on which a child is born in -his commune. - -When Dimitri (the peasant living in yon big house is called Dimitri) -hears that a son has been given to him, he runs for his priest, and -Father Peter comes in stately haste to welcome and bless the little -one. Finding the baby swinging in his liulka, Father Peter puts on his -cope, unclasps his book, turns his face to the holy icons, and begins -his prayer. "Lord God," he cries, "we beg Thee to send down the light -of Thy face upon this child, Thy servant Constantine; and be he signed -with the cross of Thy only-begotten Son. Amen." - -In two or three weeks the christening of little Constantine, "servant -of God," takes place. When the rite is performed at home, the house -has to be turned, as it were, into a chapel for the nonce; no -difficult thing, as parlor, kitchen, hall, saloon, are decorated with -the Son, the Mother, and the patron saint. A room is set apart for the -office; a rug is spread before the sacred pictures; and on a table are -laid three candles, a fine napkin, and a glass of water from the well. -A silver-gilt basin is sent from the village church. Attended by his -reader and his deacon, each carrying a bundle, Father Peter walks to -the house, bearing a cross and singing a psalm, while the censer is -swung before him in the street. - -The rite then given is long and solemn, the ceremony consisting of -many parts. First comes the act of driving out the fiends: when the -pope, not yet in his perfect robes, takes up the baby, breathes on his -face, crosses him three times--on temple, breast, and lips--and -exorcises the devil and all his imps; ending with the words, "May -every evil and unclean spirit that has taken up his abode in this -infant's heart depart from hence!" Then comes the act of renouncing -the Evil One and all his works, in the baby's name. "Dost thou -renounce the devil?" asks the pope; on which the sponsors turn, with -the child, towards the setting sun, that land of shadows in which the -Prince of Darkness is supposed to dwell, and answer, each, "I have -renounced him." "Spit on him!" cries the pope, who jets his own saliva -into a corner, as though the devil were present in the room. The -sponsors spit in turn. Here follows the confession of faith; the -sponsors being asked whether they believe that Christ is King and God; -and, on answering that they believe in Him as King and God, are told -to fall down and worship Him as such. Next comes the rite of baptism, -when the pope puts on his brightest robe, the parents are sent away, -and the child is left to his godfathers and godmothers. A taper is put -into each sponsor's hand; the candles near the font are lighted; -incense is flung about; the reader and deacon sing; and the pope -inaudibly recites a prayer. The water is blessed by the pope dipping -his right hand into it three times, by breathing on it, praying over -it, and signing it with the cross. He uses for that purpose a feather -which has been dipped into holy oil. The child is anointed five times; -first on the forehead, with this phrase: "Constantine, the servant of -God, is anointed with the oil of gladness;" next on the chest, to heal -his soul and body; then on the two ears, to quicken his sense of the -Word; afterwards on his hands and feet, to do God's will and walk in -his way. Seized by the pope, the child is now plunged into the font -three times by rapid dips, the priest repeating at each dip, -"Constantine, the servant of God, is now baptized in the name of the -Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost." If the young Christian -is not drowned in the font (as sometimes happens), he is clad in -white, he receives his name, his guardian angel, and his cross. - -The rite of baptism ended, the sacrament of unction opens. This -sacrament, called the seal of the gift of the Holy Spirit, is said to -represent the "laying on of hands" in the early Christian Church. With -a small feather, dipped once more into the sacred oil, the pope again -touches the baby's forehead, chest, lips, hands, and feet, saying each -time, "The seal of the gift of the Holy Spirit;" on which reader, -deacon, and priest all break into chants of hallelujah! After unction -comes the act of sacrifice; when the child, who has nothing else of -his own to give, offers up the _hair of his head_. Taking a pair of -shears, the pope snips off the down in four places from the baby's -head, making a cross, and saying, as he cuts each piece away, -"Constantine, the servant of God, is shorn in Thy name." The hair is -thrown into the font; more litany is sung; and the child is at length -given back, fatigued and sleepy, into his mother's arms. - -Ten or twelve days later, Constantine must be taken by his mother to -mass, and receive the sacrament, as a sign of his visible acceptance -in the Church. A nurse walks up the steps before the royal gates; and -when the deacon comes forward with the cup in his hand, she goes to -meet him. He takes a small spoon and puts a drop of wine into the -infant's mouth, saying, "Constantine, the servant of God, communicates -in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost." Later in the service, -the pope himself takes up the child, and, pressing his nose against -the icons on the screen, cries, loudly, "Constantine, the servant of -God, is now received into the Church of Christ." - -Not less grand a time for Father Peter is a wedding-day. The rite is -longer, and the fees are more. Old Tartar customs keep their hold on -these common folk, if not on the higher ranks, and courtship, as we -understand it, is a thing unknown. A match is made by the proposeress -and the parents, not by the youth and maiden--for in habit, if not in -law, the sexes live apart, and do not see much of each other until the -knot is tied. - -A servant came into the parlor of a house in which I was staying as a -guest--came in simpering and crying--to say that she wished to leave -her place. "To leave! For what cause?" - -Well, she was going to be married. - -"Married, Maria!" cried her mistress; "when?" "The day after next," -replied the woman, shedding tears. - -"So soon, Maria! And what sort of man are you going to wed?" - -The woman dropped her eyes. She could not say; she had not seen him -yet. The proposeress had done it all, and sent her word to appear in -church at four o'clock, the hour for marrying persons of her class. - -"You really mean to take this man whom you have never seen?" - -"I must," said the woman; "the prayers have been put up in church." - -"Do the parish popes raise no objections to such marriages?" - -"No," laughed the lady. "Why should they object? A wedding brings them -fees; and in their cabins you will find more children than kopecks." - -The livings held by the parish clergy are not rich. Some few city -holdings may be worth three or four hundred pounds a year; these are -the prizes. Few of the country pastors have an income, over and above -the kitchen-garden and plough of land, exceeding forty or fifty pounds -a year. The city priest, like the country priest, has neither rank nor -power in the Church. The only chance for an ambitious man is, that his -wife may die; in which event he can take the vows, put on cowl and -frock, obtain a career, become a fellow in the corporation of monks, -and rise, if he be daring, supple, and adroit, to high places in his -church. - -That the parish priests are not content with their position, is one of -those open secrets in the Church which every day become more difficult -to keep. As married men, they feel that they are needlessly depressed -in public esteem, and that the higher offices in the system should lie -open to them no less than to the monks. Being many in number, rich in -learning, intimate with the people, they ought to be strong in favor; -yet through the craft of their black rivals, they have been left, not -only without the right of meeting, but without the means of making -their voices heard. The peasant was never beaten down so low in the -scale of life as his parish priest; for the serf had always his -communal meeting, his choice of elders, his right of speech, and his -faculty of appeal. The parish priests expect a change; they expect it, -not from within the clerical body, but from without; not from a synod -of monks, but from a married and reforming Tsar. - -This change is coming on; a great and healing revolution; an act of -emancipation for the working clergy, not less striking and beneficent -than the act of emancipation for the toiling serfs. - - - - -CHAPTER LVII. - -A CONSERVATIVE REVOLUTION. - - -In the great conflict between monks and parish priests, the ignorant -classes side with the monks, the educated classes with the parish -priests. - -The Black Clergy, having no wives and children, stand apart from the -world, and hold a doctrine hostile to the family spirit. Their -rivals--though they have faults, from which the clergy in countries -more advanced are free--are educated and social beings; and taking -them man for man through all their grades, it is impossible to deny -that the parish priests are vastly superior to the monks. - -Yet the White Clergy occupied (until 1869) a place in every way -inferior to the Black. They were an isolated caste; they held no -certain rank; they could not rise in the Church; they exercised no -power in her councils. Once a priest, a man was a priest forever. A -monk might live to be Rector, Archimandrite, Bishop, and Metropolite. -Not so a married priest; the round of whose duty was confined to his -parish work--to christening infants, to confessing women, to marrying -lovers, to reading prayers for the dead, to saying mass, to collecting -fees, and quarrelling with the peasants about his tithe. A monk -directed his education; a monk appointed him to his cure of souls; a -monk inspected his labor, and loaded him with either praise or blame. -A body of monks could drive him from his parish church; throw him into -prison; utterly destroy the prospects of his life. - -Great changes have been made in the present year; changes of deeper -moment to the nation than any thing effected in the Church since the -reforms of Peter the Great. - -This work of reform was started by the Emperor throwing open the -clerical service to all the world, and putting an end to that -customary succession of father and son as popes. Down to this year, -the clergy has been a class apart, a sacred body, a Levitical -order--in brief, a _caste_. Russia had her priestly families, like the -Tartars and the Jews; and all the sons of a pope were bound to enter -into the Church. This Oriental usage has been broken through. The -clergy has been freed from a galling yoke, and the service has been -opened to every one who may acquire the learning and enjoy the call. -Young men, who would otherwise have been forced to take orders, will -now be able to live by trade; the crowd of clerical idlers will melt -away; and many a poor student with brains will be drawn into the -spiritual ranks. This great reform is being carried forward less by -edicts which would fret the consciences of ignorant men than by the -application of general rules. To wit: a question has arisen whether, -under this open system, the old rule of "once a priest, always a -priest," holds good. It is a serious question, not for individuals -only, but for the clerical society; and the monks have been moving -heaven and earth to have their rule of "once a priest, always a -priest" confirmed. But they have failed. No rule has been laid down in -words, but a precedent has been laid down in fact. - -Father Goumilef, a parish priest in the town of Riazan, applies for -leave to give up his frock and re-enter the world. Count Tolstoi, -Minister of Education, and the Emperor's personal representative in -the Holy Governing Synod, persuades that body to support Goumilef's -prayer. On the 12th of November (Oct. 31, O.S.)--a red-letter day -henceforth in the Russian calendar--the Emperor signs his release; -allowing Goumilef to return from the clerical to the secular life. All -his rights as a citizen are restored, and he is free to enter the -public service in any province of the empire, save only that of -Riazan, in which he has served the altar as a parish priest. - -Connected with the abolition of caste came the new laws regulating the -standing of a parish priest's children--laws conceived in a most -gracious spirit. All sons of a parish priest are in future to rank as -nobles; sons of a deacon are to be accounted gentlemen; sons of -readers are to rank as burghers. - -In his task of raising the parish clergy to a higher level, the -reforming Emperor has found a tower of strength in Innocent, the -noticeable man who occupies, in Troitsa, the Archimandrite's chair, in -Moscow, the Metropolite's throne. - -Innocent passed his early years as a married priest in Siberia--doing, -in the wild countries around the shores of Lake Baikal, genuine -missionary work. A noble wife went with him to and fro; heaven blessed -him with children; and the father learned how to speak with effect to -sire and son. Thousands of converts blessed the devoted pair. At -length the woman fainted by the way, and Innocent was left to mourn -her loss; but not alone; their children remained to be his pride and -stay. - -When the Holy Governing Synod raised the missionary region of Irkutsk -into a bishop's see, the crozier was forced upon Innocent by events. -Already known as the Apostle of Siberia, the synod could do little -more than note the fact, and give him official rank. Of course, a -mitre implied a cowl and gown; but Innocent, though his wife was dead, -refused to become a monk. In stronger words than he was wont to use, -he urged that the exclusion of married popes from high office in the -priesthood was a custom, not a canon, of his Church. To every call -from the monks he answered that every man should be called to labor in -the vineyard of the Lord according to his gifts. He yielded for the -sake of peace; but though he took the vows, he held to his views on -clerical celibacy, and the White Clergy had now a bishop to whom they -could look up as a worthy champion of their cause. - -On the death of Philaret, two years ago, this friend of the White -Clergy was chosen by the Emperor to take his seat; so that now the -actual Archimandrite of Troitsa, and Metropolite of Moscow, though he -wears the cowl, is looked upon in Church society as a supporter of the -married priests. - -By happy chance, a first step had been taken towards one great reform -by Philaret, in raising to the chair of Rector of the Ecclesiastical -Academy of Moscow a priest who was not a monk. - -Forty miles to the north of Moscow rises a table-land, on the edge of -which is built a convent dedicated to the Holy Trinity, called in -Russian, Troitsa. This convent is said to be the richest in the world; -not only in sacred dust and miraculous images, but in cups and -coffers, in wands and crosses, in lamps and crowns. The shrine of St. -Sergie, wrought in the purest silver, weighs a thousand pounds; and in -the same cathedral with St. Sergie's shrine there is a relievo of the -Last Supper, in which all the figures, save that of Judas, are of -finest gold. But these costly gauds are not the things which draw -pilgrims to the Troitsa. They come to kneel before that Talking -Madonna which, once upon a time, held speech with Serapion, a holy -monk. They crowd round that portrait of St. Nicolas, which was struck -by a shot from a Polish siege-gun, in the year of tribulation, when -the Poles had made themselves masters of Moscow and the surrounding -plains. They come still more to kiss the forehead of St. Sergie, the -self-denying monk, who founded the convent, and blessed the banner of -Dimitri, before that prince set forth on his campaign against the -Tartar hordes on the Don. St. Sergie is the defense of his country, -and his grave in the convent has never been polluted by the footprint -of a foe. Often as Moscow fell, the Troitsa remained inviolate ground. -The Tartars never reached it. Twice, if not more, the Poles advanced -against it; once with a mighty power, and the will to reduce it, cost -them what lives it might. They lay before it sixteen months, and had -to retire from before the walls at last. The French under Napoleon -wished to seize it, and a body of troops was sent to the attack; but -the saintly presence which had driven off the Poles was too much for -the French. The troops returned, and the virgin convent stood. - -These miracles of defense have given a vast celebrity to the saint, -who has come to be thought not only holy himself, but a cause of -holiness in others. On the way from Moscow to Troitsa stands the -hamlet of Hotkoff, in which lies the dust of Sergie's father and -mother; over whose tombs a church and convent have been built. Every -pilgrim on the road to Troitsa stops at this convent and adores their -bones. "Have you been to Troitsa before?" we heard a pilgrim ask his -fellow, as they trudged along the road. "Yes, thanks be to God." "Has -Sergie given you what you came to seek?" "Well, no, not all." "Then -you neglected to stop at Hotkoff and adore his parents; he was angry -with you." "Perhaps; God knows. It may be so. Next time I will go to -Hotkoff. Overlook my sin!" A railway has been made from Moscow to -Troitsa, and the lazy herd of pilgrims go by train. The better sort -still march along the dirty road, and count their beads in front of -the wooden chapels and many rich crosses, as of old. St. Sergie has -gained in wealth, and lost in credit, by the convenience offered to -pilgrims in the railway line. - -In the centre of this fortress and sanctuary the monks erected an -academy, in which priests were to be trained for their future work. A -young man lives in it under Troitsa rule, and leaves it with the -Troitsa brand. The rector is a man of rank in the church, equal to the -Master of Trinity among ourselves. Until the day when Philaret brought -Father Gorski into office, his post had always been filled by an -Archimandrite. Now Father Gorski was a learned man, a good writer, and -a great authority on points of church antiquity and ceremonial. Great -in reputation, he was also advanced in years. Some objected to him on -the ground that he was not a monk; but his fame as a learned man, his -noticeable piety, and his nearness with the Metropolite, carried him -through. Even the monks forgave him when they found that he lived, -like themselves, a secluded and cloistered life. - -They hardly saw how much they were giving up in that early fight; for -this man of monk-like habit had not taken vows; and in one of the -strongholds of their power they were placing the education of their -clergy in charge of a parish priest! - -A second step in the line of march has been taken in the nomination of -a married pope to the post of Rector of the Ecclesiastical Academy of -St. Petersburg. Father Yanycheff is this new rector; and Father -Yanycheff's wife is still alive. This call of a married man to such a -chair has fired the Church with hope and fear--the White Clergy -looking on it with surprise and joy, the Black Clergy with amazement -and despair. - -Dr. Yanycheff--in whose person the fight is raging between these -benedicts and celibates--is a young priest, who was educated in the -academy, until he took his degree of doctor, on which he was placed in -the chair of theology at the University of St. Petersburg. In that -chair he became popular; his lectures being eloquent, his manners -easy, and his opinions liberal. Some of the sleepy old prelates took -alarm. Yanycheff, they said, was exciting his pupils; he was telling -them to read and think; and the sleepy old prelates could see no good -in such exercises of the brain. Reading and thinking lead men into -doubt, and doubt is the plague by which souls are lost. They moved the -Holy Governing Synod to interfere, and on the synod interfering, the -professor resigned his chair. Resolved on keeping his conscience free, -he married, and accepted the office of pope in a city on the Rhine. -His intellectual worth was widely known; and when, in process of time, -a teacher was required for the young Princess Dagmar, a man skillful -in languages and arts, as well as learned and liberal, Dr. Yanycheff, -was chosen for the task of preparing the imperial bride. The way in -which he discharged his delicate office brought him into favor with -the great; and on his return to his own country with the princess, -Count Tolstoi got him appointed rector of the academy--a position of -highest trust in the Church, since it gives him a leading influence in -the education of future popes. - -The monks are all aghast; the Holy Governing Synod protests; and even -the Metropolite refuses to recognize this act. But Count Tolstoi is -firm, and the synod knows but too well how the enemy stands at court. -Yanycheff, on his side, has been prudent; and the wonder caused by his -nomination is sensibly dying down. Meantime, people are getting used -to the idea of a man with wife and child conducting the education of -their future parish priests. - -Once launched on a career of clerical reform, the court has moved with -regular, if with cautious strides. All men can see that the first work -to be done is to be done in the schoolroom and the college; for in -Russia, as elsewhere, the teachers make the taught; and as the rectors -train the priests, ideas prevalent in the rectorial chairs will come -in a few years to be the paramount views of the Church. - -A law has recently been passed by the Council of State, and -promulgated by the Emperor, which deals the hardest blow yet suffered -by the monks; a law taking away the right of nominating rectors of -seminaries and academies from the archbishops, and vesting it in a -board of teachers and professors; subject only to approval--which may -soon become a thing of course--by the higher spiritual powers. This -law is opposed by all the convents and their chiefs; even Innocent, -though friendly to the married clergy, stands, on this point, with his -class. - -A first election under this new law has just occurred in Moscow. When -the law was published, Prof. Nicodemus, holding the chair of Rector in -the Ecclesiastical Seminary of Moscow, sent in his resignation, on the -ground that his position was become that of a rector on sufferance. -Every one felt that by resigning his chair he was doing a noble thing; -and if it had been possible for a monk to get a majority of votes in -an open board, Nicodemus would, on that account, have been the popular -choice. But no man wearing a cowl and gown had any chance. The contest -lay between two married priests: Father Blagorazumof, a teacher in the -seminary, and Father Smirnof, editor of the Orthodox Review. Innocent -took some part against Father Smirnof, whose writings he did not like; -and Father Blagorazumof was elected to the vacant chair. - -What has been done in Moscow will probably be done in other cities; so -that in twenty years from the present time the education of youths for -the ministry will have fallen entirely into the hands of married men. - -The same principle of election has been applied to the appointment of -rural deans. These officers were formerly named by the bishop, -according to his sole will and pleasure. Now, by imperial order, they -are elected by deputies from the parish priests. - - - - -CHAPTER LVIII. - -SECRET POLICE. - - -The new principle of referring things to a popular vote is coming into -play on every side; nowhere in a form more striking than in the courts -of law. Some twenty years ago the administration of justice was the -darkest blot on Russian life. - -What the Emperor had to meet and put away, on this side of his -government, was a colossal evil. - -In a country over which the prince has to rule as well as reign, a -good many men must have a share in the exercise of irresponsible and -imperial power--more perhaps than would have to divide the beneficent -authority of a constitutional king. A prince has only two eyes, two -ears, and two hands. The circle which he can see, and hear, and reach, -is drawn closely round his person, and in all that he would do beyond -that line he must act through an intelligence other than his own; and -for the blunders of this second self he has to bear the blame. - -The parties who exercise this power in the imperial name are the -secret police and the provincial governors, general and local. - -The secret police have an authority which knows no bounds, save that -of the Emperor's direct command. They have a province of their own, -apart from, and above, all other provinces in the state. Their chief, -Count Shouvalof, is the first functionary of the empire, the only man -who has a right of audience by day and night. In Eastern nations rank -is measured in no small degree by a person's right of access to the -sovereign. Now, the right of audience in the winter palace is governed -by the clearest rules. Ordinary ministers of the crown--home office, -education, finance--can only see the Emperor once a week. Greater -ministers--war and foreign affairs--can see him once a day, but only -at certain stated hours. A minister of police can walk into his -cabinet any hour of the day, into his bedroom any hour of the night. - -Not many years ago the power of this minister was equal to his rank at -court; in home affairs he was supreme; and many a poor ruler found -himself at once his tool and dupe. Much of this power has now been -lodged in courts of law, over which the police have no control; but -over and beyond the law, a vast reserve is left with the police, who -can still revise a sentence, and, as an "administrative measure," send -a man into exile who has been acquitted by the courts. - -While I was staying at Archangel, an actor and actress were brought -from St. Petersburg in a tarantass, set down in the grass-grown -square, near the poet's pedestal, and told to shift for themselves, -though they were on no account to quit the town without the governor's -pass. No one could tell what they had done. Their lips were closed; -the newspapers were silent; but a thousand tongues were busy with -their tale; and the likelier story seemed to be, that they had been -playing a part in some drama of actual life. Clandestine marriages are -not so rare in Russia as they are in England and the United States. -Young princes love to run away with dancers, singers, and their like. -Now these exiles in the North country were said to have been concerned -in a runaway match, by which the pride of a powerful family had been -stung; and since it was impossible to punish the offending parties, -these poor artists had been whisked off their tinsel thrones in order -to appease a parent's wounded pride. The man and woman were not man -and wife; but care for such loss of fame as a pretty woman might -undergo by riding in a tarantass, day and night, twelve hundred -versts, through a wild country, with a man who was not her spouse, -seems never to have troubled the director of police. Stage heroines -have no character in official eyes. There they were, in the North; and -there they would have to stay, until the real offenders should be able -to make their peace, whether they could manage to live in that city of -trade, as honest folks should live, or not. Clever in their art, they -opened a barn long closed, and the parlors of Archangel were agog with -glee. What they performed could hardly be called a play. Two persons -make a poor company, and these artists were of no high rank. They just -contrived to keep their visitors awake by doing easy tricks in magic, -and by acting short scenes from some of the naughtiest pieces in the -world. It is to be hoped, on every ground, that the angry gods may be -appeased, that the hero and heroine of this comedy may come back to -the great city in which their talents are better known. - -These actors were sent from the capital on a simple order from the -police. They have not been tried; they have not been heard in defense; -they have not been told the nature of their crime. An agent drove to -their door in a drojki, asked to see So-and-so, and on going up, said, -in tones which only the police can use: "Get ready; in three hours we -start--for Archangel." Young or aged, male or female, the victim in -such a case must snatch up what he can, follow his captor to the -street, get into his drojki, and obey in silence the invisible powers. -Not a word can be said in bar of his sentence; no court will open its -doors to his appeal; no judge can hear his case. - -Their case is far from being a rare one. In the same streets of -Archangel you meet a lady of middle age, who has been exiled from St. -Petersburg on simple suspicion of being concerned in seducing students -of the university from their allegiance to the country and the Church. - -Following in the wake of other changes, some reforms have been made in -the universities; made, on the whole, in a liberal and pacific sense. -Nicolas put the students into uniform; hung swords in their belts; and -gave them a certain standing in the public eye, as officers of the -crown. They were his servants; and as his servants they enjoyed some -rights which they dearly prized. They ranked as nobles. They had their -own police. They stood apart, as a separate corporation; and, whether -they sang through the street or sat in the play-house, they appeared -in public as a corporate body, and always in the front. But the -reforming Emperor seeks to restore these civilian youths to the habits -of civil life. Their swords have been hung up, their uniforms laid -aside, their right of singing songs and damning plays in a body put -away. All these distinctions are now abolished; and, like other -civilians, the students have been placed under the city police and the -ordinary courts. - -These changes are unpopular with the students, who imagine that their -dignity has been lessened by stripping them of uniform and sword; and -some of these young men, professing all the while republican and -communistic creeds, are clamoring for their class distinctions, and -even hankering for the times when they were "servants of the Tsar." - -In the month of March (1869) some noisy meetings of these young men -took place. The Emperor heard of them, and sent for Trepof, his first -master of police--a man of shrewd wit and generous temper, under whom -the police have become all but popular. "What do these students want?" -his Majesty began. "Two things," replied the master; "bread and -state." "Bread?" exclaimed the Emperor. "Yes," said the master; "many -of them are poor; with empty bellies, active brains, and saucy -tongues." - -"What can be done for them, poor fellows?" - -"A few purses, sire, would keep them quiet; twenty thousand rubles -now, and promise of a yearly grant in aid of poor students." "Let it -be so," said the prince. - -These rubles were sent at once to the rector and professors to -dispense, according to their knowledge of the students' needs; but, -unluckily, the rector and professors treated the imperial gift as a -bit of personal patronage, and they gave the purses to each others' -sons and nephews, lads who could well afford to pay their fees. The -students called fresh meetings, talked much nonsense, and drew up an -appeal to the people, written in a florid and offensive style. - -Treating the Government as an equal power, these madcaps printed what -they called an ultimatum of four articles: (1.) they demanded the -right of establishing a students' club; (2.) the right of meeting and -addressing the Government as a corporate body; (3.) the control of all -purses and scholarships given to poor students; (4.) the abolition of -university fees. Following these articles came an appeal to the people -for support against the minions of the crown! - -A party in the state--the enemies of reform--were said to have raised -a fund for the purpose of corrupting these young men; and this party -were suspected of employing the agency of clever women in carrying out -their plans. It was not easy to detect these female plotters at their -work, for the revolution they were trying to bring about was made with -smiles and banter over cups of tea; but ladies were arrested in -several streets, and the lady to be seen in Archangel was one of these -victims--exiled on "suspicion" of having been concerned in printing -the appeal. - -When she came into exile every one was amazed; she seemed so weak and -broken; she showed so little spirit; and when people talked with her -they found she had none of the talents necessary for intrigue. The -comedy of government by "suspicion" stood confessed. Here was a -prince, the idol of his country, armed in his mail of proof, -surrounded by a million bayonets, not to speak of artillery, cavalry, -and ships; and there was a frail creature, fifty years old, with -neither beauty, followers, nor fortune to promote her views: in such a -foe, what could the Emperor be supposed to fear? - -A young writer of some talent in St. Petersburg, one Dimitri Pisareff, -was bathing in the sea near his summer-house, and, getting beyond his -depth, was drowned. The young man was a politician, and, having caused -much scandal by his writings, he had passed some years in the fortress -of St. Peter and St. Paul. Freed by the Emperor, he resumed his pen. -After his death, Pavlenkoff, a bookseller in the city, who admired his -talents, and thought he had served his country, opened a subscription -among his readers for the purpose of erecting a stone above the young -author's grave. The secret police took notice of the fact, and as -Dimitri Pisareff was one of the names in their black list, they -understood this effort to do him honor as a public censure of their -zeal. Pavlenkoff was arrested in his shop, put into a cart, and, with -neither charge nor hearing, driven to the province of Viatka, twelve -hundred versts from home. That poor bookseller still remains in exile. - -A more curious case is that of Gierst, a young novelist of mark, who -began, in the year 1868, to publish in a monthly magazine, called -"Russian Notes" ("Otetchestvenniva Zapiski"), a romance which he -called "Old and Young Russia." The opening chapters showed that his -tale was likely to be clever; bold in thought and brilliant in style. -Gierst took the part of Young Russia against Old Russia, and his -chapters were devoured by youths in all the colleges and schools. -Every one began to talk of the story, and to discuss the questions -raised by it--men and things in the past, in contrast with the hopes -and talents of the present reign. The police took part with the -elders; and when the novelist who made the stir could not be answered -with argument, they silenced him by a midnight call. An officer came -to his lodgings with the usual order to depart at once. Away sped the -horses, he knew not whither--driving on night and day, until they -arrived at Totma, one of the smaller towns in the province of Vologda, -nine hundred versts from St. Petersburg. There he was tossed out of -his cart, and told to remain until fresh orders came from the minister -of police. - -None of Gierst's friends, at first, knew where he was. His rooms in -St. Petersburg were empty; he had gone away; and the only trace which -he had left behind was the tale of a domestic, who had seen him -carried off. No one dared to ask about him. Reference to him in the -journals was forbidden; and the public only learned from the -non-appearance of his story in the "Notes" that the police had somehow -interfered with the free exercise of his pen. The letters which he -wrote to the papers were laid aside as being too dangerous for the -public eye; and it was only by a ruse that he conveyed to his readers -the knowledge of his whereabouts. - -Gierst sent to the editor of "Notes" a letter of apology for the -interruption of his tale. He merely said it would not be carried -farther for the present; and the police raised no objection to the -publication of this letter in the "Notes." They overlooked the date -which the letter bore; and the one word "Totma" told the public all. - -The world enjoyed a laugh at the police; and the irritated officials -tried to vent their rage on the young wit who had proved that they -were fools. Gierst remains an exile at Totma, and the public still -awaits the story from his hands. But a thousand novels, rich in art -and red in spirit, could not have touched the public conscience like -the haunting memory of this unfinished tale. - - - - -CHAPTER LIX. - -PROVINCIAL RULERS. - - -Russia is divided into provinces, each of which is ruled by a governor -and a vice-governor named by the crown. - -A dozen years ago the governor and his lieutenant was each a petty -Tsar--doing what he pleased in his department, and answering only now -and then, like a Turkish pasha, by forfeiture of office, for the -public good. Charged with the maintenance of public order, he was -armed with a power as terrible as that of the imperial police--the -right to suspect his neighbor of discontent, and act on this bare -suspicion as though the fault were proved in a court of law. In -England and the United States the word suspicion has lost its use, and -well-nigh lost its sense. Our officers of police are not permitted to -"suspect" a thief. They must either take him in the fact or leave him -alone. From Calais to Perm, however, the word "suspicion" is still a -name of fear; for in all the countries lying between the English -Channel and the Ural Mountains, "ordre superieure" is a force to which -rights of man and courts of law must equally give way. - -The governor, or vice-governor, of a Russian province, representing -his sovereign lord, might find, or fancy that he found, some reason to -suspect a man of disaffection to the crown. He might be wrong, he -might even be absurdly wrong. The man might be loyal as himself; might -even be in a position to prove that loyalty in open court; and yet his -innocence would avail him nothing. Proofs are idle when the courts are -not open to appeal; and judges have no power to hear the facts. "Done -by superior orders," was the answer to all cries and protests. A -resistless power was about his feet, and he was swept away by a force -from which there was no appeal--not even to the ruling prince; and the -victim of an erring, perhaps a malicious, governor, had no resource -against the wrong, except in resignation to what might seem to be the -will of God. - -The men who could use and abuse this terrible power were many. Russia -is divided into forty-nine provinces, besides the kingdom of Poland, -the Grand Duchy of Finland, the Empire of Siberia, the khanates and -principalities of the Caucasus. In these forty-nine provinces the -governors and vice-governors had the power to exile any body on mere -suspicion of political discontent. In other regions of the empire this -power was even more diffused than it was in the purely Russian -districts. Taking all the Russians in one mass, there can hardly have -been less than two hundred men (excluding the police) who could seize -a citizen in the name of public order, and condemn him, unheard, to -live in any part of the empire from the Persian frontiers to the Polar -Sea. - -The Princess V----, a native of Podolia, young, accomplished, wealthy, -was loved by all her friends, adored by all the young men of her -province. One happy youth possessed her heart, and this young man was -worthy of the fortune he had won. Their days of courtship passed, and -they were looking forward to the day when they would wear together -their sacred crowns; but then an unseen agent crossed their path and -broke their hearts. Some days before their betrothal should have taken -place, an officer of police appeared at the lover's door with a -peremptory order for him to quit Poltava for the distant government of -Perm. Taken from his house at a moment's notice, he was hurried to the -general office of police, where his papers were made out, and, being -put into a common cart, he was whisked away in the company of two -gendarmes. A month was occupied in his journey; two or three months -elapsed before his friends in Podolia knew that he was safe. He found -a friend in the mountain town, by whom his life as an exile was made a -little less rugged than it might have been. An advocate was won for -him at court; the senate was moved, though cautiously, in his behalf; -and at the end of two years his tormentor was persuaded to relax his -grip. But though he was suffered to leave his place of banishment, he -was forbidden to return to his native town. - -The princess kept her faith to him--staying in Podolia while he was -still at Perm; living down the suspicions in which they were both -involved--and joined him at St. Petersburg so soon as he got leave to -enter that city. There they were married, and there I met them in -society. Not a cloud is on their fame. They are free to go and come, -except that they must not live in their native town. No power save -that which sent the bridegroom into exile can recall them to their -home. Yet down to this hour the gentleman has never been able to -ascertain the nature of his offense. - -In time the country will free herself from this Asiatic abuse of -power. With bold but cautious hand the Emperor has felt his way. His -governors of provinces have been told to act with prudence; not to -think of sending men into exile unless the case is flagrant, and only -then after reference of all the facts to St. Petersburg. - -Some dozen years ago, before the new reforms had taken hold, and -officers in the public service had come to count on the appeal being -heard, a case occurred which allows one to give, in the form of an -anecdote, a picture of the evils now being slowly rooted out. Count -A----, a young vice-governor, fresh from college, came to live in a -certain town of the Black Soil country. Fond of dogs and horses, fond -of wines and dinners, the young gentleman found his official income -far below his wants. He took "his own" (what Russian officials used to -call vzietka) from every side; for he loved to keep his house open, -his stable full, his card-room merry; and a nice house, a good stable, -and a merry card-room, cost a good many rubles in the year. He was -lucky with his cards--luckier, some losers said, than a perfectly -honest player should be; yet the two ends of his income and his outgo -never could be made to meet. - -The treasurer of the town was Andrew Ivanovitch Gorr, a man of peasant -birth, who had been sent to college, and, after taking a good degree, -had been put into the civil service, where, by his soft ways, his -patient deference to those above him, and his perfect loyalty to his -trust, he had risen to the post of treasurer in this provincial town. - -Count A---- called Andrew into his chamber, and bade him, with a -careless gesture, pay a small debt for him. Andrew bowed, and waited -for the rubles. A---- just waived him off; but seeing that he would -not take the hint, the count said, "Yes, yes, pay the debt; we will -arrange it in the afternoon." Then Andrew paid the money, and in less -than a week he was asked to pay again. From week to week he went on -paying, with due submission to his chief, but with an inward doubt as -to whether this paying would come out well. Twice or thrice the count -was good enough to speak of his affairs, and even to name a day when -the money which he was taking from the public coffers should be -replaced. In the mean time the debt was every week increasing in -amount; so that the provincial chest was all but drained to pay the -vice-governor's personal debts. - -Andrew was in despair, for the day was fast coming round when the -Imperial auditors would come to revise his books and count the money -in his box. Unless the fund was restored before they came he would be -lost; for the balance was in his charge, and the count could hardly -cover his default. On Andrew telling his wife what he had been drawn, -by his habit of obeying orders, into doing, he was urged by that sage -adviser to go at once to the governor and beg him to replace the cash -before the auditors arrived. - -"The auditors will come next week?" asked A----. "All will be well. I -will send a messenger to my estates. In five days he will come back, -and the money shall be paid. Prepare a draft of the account, and bring -it to my house, with the proper receipt and seal." - -On the fifth day the auditors arrived, a little before their time; and -being eager to push on, they named the next morning, at ten o'clock, -for going into the accounts. The treasurer ran to the palace, and saw -the count in his public room, surrounded by his secretaries. "It is -well," he said to Andrew, with his pleasant smile; "the messenger has -come back with the money; bring the paper and the receipt to my -smoking-room at ten o'clock to-night, and we'll put the account to -rights." - -Andrew was at his door by ten o'clock with the statement of his debts, -and a receipt for the money. "Yes," said the count, dropping his eye -down the line of figures, "the account is just--fifteen thousand seven -hundred rubles. Let me look at the receipt. Yes, that is well drawn. -You deserve to be promoted, Andrew! Talents like yours are lost in a -provincial town. You ought to be a minister of state! Oblige me by -asking my man to come in." - -A servant entered. - -"Go up to the madame, and ask her if she can come down stairs for a -moment," said the count. The servant slipped away, and the count, -while waiting for his return, made many jokes and pleasantries, so -that the time ran swiftly past. He kept the papers in his hand. - -When Andrew saw that it was near eleven o'clock, he ventured to ask if -the man was not long in coming. "Long," exclaimed the vice-governor, -starting up, "an age. Where can the fellow be? He must have fallen -asleep on the stairs." - -Going out of the room in search of him, the count closed the door -behind him, saying, "Wait a few minutes; I will go myself." Andrew sat -still as a stone. He noticed that the count had taken with him the -schedule of debts and the signed receipt. He felt uneasy in his mind. -He stared about the room, and counted the beatings of the clock. His -head grew hot; his heart was beating with a throb that could be heard. -No other sound broke the night; and when he opened the door and put -his ear to the passage, the silence seemed to him like that of a -crypt. - -The clock struck twelve. - -Leaping up from his stupor, he banged the door and shouted up the -stairs, but no one answered him; and snatching a fearful daring from -his misery, he ran along several corridors until he tripped and fell -over a man in a great fur cloak. "Get up, and show me to the -vice-governor's room," said Andrew fiercely, on which the domestic -shook his cloak and rubbed his eyes. "The vice-governor's room?" "Yes, -fellow; come, be quick." The man led him back to the room he had left; -which was, in fact, the private reception-room. "Stay here, and I will -seek him." Shortly the man returned with news that his master was in -bed. "In bed!" cried Andrew, more and more excited; "go to him again, -and ask him if he has forgotten me. Tell him I am waiting his return." -A minute later he came back to say the count was fast asleep, and that -his valet dared not wake him for the world. "Asleep!" groaned the poor -treasurer; "you must awake him. I can not leave without seeing him. It -is the Emperor's service, and will not wait." - -At the Emperor's name the servant said he would try again. An hour of -misery went by before he came to say the count was in bed, and would -not see him. If he had business to transact, he must come another day, -and at the reception hour. - -In a moment Andrew was at the count's door and in his room, to which -the noise brought up a dozen people. "What is this tumult all about?" -frowned the count, rising sharply in his bed. "Tumult!" said Andrew, -waxing hot with terror; "I want the rubles." "Rubles!" said the count, -with feigned astonishment; "what rubles do you mean?" "The rubles we -have taken from the provincial coffer." "That we have taken from the -coffer! We? What we? What rubles? Go to bed, man, and forget your -dreams." - -"Then give me back my paper and receipt." - -"Paper and receipt!" said the count, with affected pity; "look to him -well. See him safe home; and tell his wife to look that he does not -wander in his sleep. He might fall into the river in such fits. Look -to him;" and the vice-governor fell back upon his pillow as the -servant bowed. - -Put to the door, and left to seek his way, the treasurer felt that he -was lost. The count, he saw, would swear and forswear. Even if he -confessed his fault to the auditors, telling them how he had been -persuaded against his duty, the count could produce his receipt in -proof that the funds had been repaid. - -Going back to his office, he sat down on a stool, and after looking at -his books and papers once again, to see that the whole night's work -was not a dream, as the count had said, he took up his pen and wrote a -history of his affairs. - -Restless in her bed, his wife got up to seek him; and knowing that he -was busy with his accounts, and would be likely to stay late with his -chief, she went into his office, where the light was burning dimly on -the desk--to find him hanging from a beam. Piercing the air with her -cries, she brought in a crowd of people, some of whom cut down the -body, while others ran for the doctor. He was dead. - -Like an Oriental, he killed himself in order that, in his death, he -might punish the man whom he could not touch in life. - -The paper which he left on his desk was open, and as many persons saw -it in part, and still more knew of its existence, the matter could not -be hushed up, even though the vice-governor had been twenty times a -count. The people cried for justice on the culprit; and by orders from -St. Petersburg the count was relieved of his office, arrested on the -charge of abusing a public trust, and placed on his defense before a -secret commission in the town over which he had lately reigned. - -The Emperor, it is said, was anxious to send him to the mines, from -which so many nobler men had recently come away; but the interest of -his family was great at court; the secret commission was a friendly -one; and he escaped with the sentence of perpetual dismissal from the -public service--not a light sentence to a man who is at once a beggar -and a count. - -Alexander, feeling for the widow of his dead servant, ordered the -pension which would have been due to her husband to be paid to her for -life. - - - - -CHAPTER LX. - -OPEN COURTS. - - -Offenses like those of A---- (some twelve years old), in which a great -offense was proved, yet justice was defeated more than half, in spite -of the imperial wishes, led the council of state into considering how -far it would be well to replace the secret commissions by regular -courts of law. - -The public benefits of such a change were obvious. Justice would be -done, with little or no respect to persons; and the Emperor would be -relieved from his direct and personal action in the punishment of -crime. But what the public gained the circles round the prince were -not unlikely to lose; and these court circles raised a cry against -this project of reform. "The obstacles," they said, "were vast. Except -in Moscow and St. Petersburg, no lawyers could be found; the code was -cumbrous and imperfect; and the public was unprepared for such a -change. If it was difficult to find judges, it was impossible to find -jurors." Listening to every one, and weighing facts, the Emperor held -his own. He got reports drawn up; he won his opponents over one by -one; and in 1865 the council of state was ready with a volume of legal -reform, as vast and noble as his plan for emancipating serfs. - -Courts of justice were to be open in every province, and all these -courts of justice were to be public courts. Trained judges were to -preside. The system of written evidence was abolished. A prisoner was -to be charged in a formal act; he was to see the witnesses face to -face; he was to have the right, in person or by his counsel, of -questioning those witnesses on points of fact. A jury was to decide -the question of guilt or innocence. The judges were to be paid by the -crown, and were on no pretext whatever to receive a fee. A juror was -to be a man of means--a trader, a well-off peasant, an officer of not -less than five hundred rubles a year. A majority of jurors was to -decide. - -The Imperial code was brought into harmony with these new methods of -procedure. Capital punishment was abolished for civil crimes; Siberia -was exchanged for the club and the axe; Archangel and the Caucasus -were substituted for the mines. The Tartar punishments of beating, -flogging, running the ranks, were stopped at once, and every branch of -criminal treatment was brought up--in theory, at least--to the level -of England and the United States. - -Term by term this new system of trial by judge and jury, instead of by -secret commissions, is now being introduced into all the larger towns. -I have watched the working of this new system in several provinces; -but give an account, by preference, of a trial in a new court, in a -new district, under circumstances which put the virtues of a jury to -some local strain. - -Dining one evening with a friend in Rostof, on the Lower Don, I find -myself seated next to President Gravy, to whom I am introduced by our -common host as an English barrister and justice of the peace. The -Assize is sitting, and as a curious case of child-exposure is coming -on next day, about the facts of which provincial feeling is much -excited, President Gravy offers me a seat in his court. - -This court is a new court, opened in the present year; a movable -court, consisting of a president and two assistant judges; sitting in -turn at Taganrog, Berdiansk, and Rostof, towns between which there is -a good deal of rivalry in business, often degenerating into local -strife. The female accused of exposing her infant comes from a Tartar -village near Taganrog; and as no good thing was ever known to come -from the district of Taganrog, the voice of Rostof has condemned this -female, still untried, to a felon's doom. - -Next morning we are in court by ten o'clock--a span-new chamber, on -which the paint is not yet dry, with a portrait of the Imperial -law-reformer hung above the judgment-seat. A long hall is parted into -three portions by a dais and two silken cords. The judges, with the -clerk and public prosecutor, sit on the dais, at a table; and the -citizens of Rostof occupy the benches on either wing. In front of the -dais sit the jurors, the short-hand writer (a young lady), the -advocates, and witnesses; and near these latter stands the accused -woman, attended by a civil officer of the court. Nothing in the room -suggests the idea of feudal state and barbaric power. President Gravy -wears no wig, no robe--nothing but a golden chain and the pattern -civilian's coat. No halberts follow him, no mace and crown are borne -before him. He enters by the common door. A priest in his robes of -office stands beside a book and cross; he is the only man in costume, -as the advocates wear neither wig nor gown. No soldier is seen; and no -policeman except the officer in charge of the accused. There is no -dock; the prisoner stands or sits as she is placed, her back against -the wall. If violence is feared, the judges order in a couple of -soldiers, who stand on either side the prisoner holding their naked -swords; but this precaution is seldom used. An open gallery is filled -with persons who come and go all day, without disturbing the court -below. - -President Gravy, the senior judge, is a man of forty-five. The son of -a captain of gendarmerie in Odessa, he took by choice to the -profession of advocate, and after three years' practice in the courts -of St. Petersburg, he was sent to the new Azof circuit. His assistant -judges are younger men. - -President Gravy opens his court; the priest asks a blessing; the -jurors are selected from a panel; the prisoner is told to stand forth; -and the indictment is read by the clerk. A keen desire to see the -culprit and to hear the details of her crime has filled the benches -with a better class than commonly attends the court, and many of the -Rostof ladies flutter in the gayest of morning robes. The case is one -to excite the female heart. - -Anna Kovalenka, eighteen years of age, and living, when at home, in a -village on the Sea of Azof, is tall, elastic, dark, with ruddy -complexion, and braided hair bound up in a crimson scarf. Some Tartar -blood is in her veins, and the young woman is the ideal portrait of a -Bokhara bandit's wife. A motherly old creature stands by her side--an -aunt, her mother being long since dead. Her father is a peasant, badly -off, with five girls; this Anna eldest of the five. - -Her case is, that she had a lover, that she bore a child, that she -concealed the birth, and that her infant died. In her defense, it is -alleged, according to the manners of her country, that her lover was a -man of her own village, not a stranger; one of those governing points -which, on the Sea of Azof, make a young woman's amours right or wrong. -So far, it is assumed, no fault is fairly to be charged. Her child was -born and died; the facts are not disputed; but the defendants urge, in -explanation, that she was very young in years; that her couching was -very hard; that milk-fever set in, with loss of blood and wandering of -the brain; that the young mother was helpless, that the infant was -neglected unconsciously, and that it died. - -Very few persons in the court appear inclined to take this view; but -those who take it feel that the lover of this girl is far more guilty -than the girl herself; and they ask each other why the seducer is not -standing at her side to answer for his life. His name is known; he is -even supposed to be in court. Gospodin Lebedeff, the public -prosecutor, has done his best to include him in the criminal charge; -but he is foiled by the woman's love and wit. By the Imperial code, -the fellow can not be touched unless she names him as the father of -her child; and all Lebedeff's appeals and menaces are thrown away upon -her, this heroine of a Tartar village baffling the veteran lawyer's -arts with a steadiness worthy of a better cause and a nobler man. - -The first witness called is a peasant woman from the village in which -Anna Kovalenka lives. She is not sworn in the English way, the court -having been put, as it were, under sacred obligations by the priest; -but the bench instructs her as to the nature of evidence, and enjoins -her to speak no word that is not true. She says, in few and simple -words, she found the dead body; she carried it into Anna's cabin; the -young woman admitted that the child was hers; and, on further -questions, that she had concealed the birth. She gives her evidence -quietly in a breathless court, her neighbor standing near her all the -while, and the judge assisting her by questions now and then. The -audience sighs when she stands down; her evidence being full enough to -send the prisoner to Siberia for her natural life. - -The second witness is a doctor--bland, and fat, and scientific--the -witness on whose evidence the defense will lie. A quickened curiosity -is felt as the fat and fatherly man, with big blue spectacles and -kindly aspect, rises, bows to the bench, and enters into a long and -delicate report on the maladies under which females suffer in and -after the throes of labor, when the regular functions of mind and body -have been deranged by a sudden call upon the powers reserved by nature -for the sustenance of infant life. A buzz of talk on the ladies' bench -is speedily put down by a tinkle of President Gravy's bell. The judges -put minute and searching questions to this witness; but they make no -notes of what he says in answer; the general purpose of which is to -show that the first medical evidence picked up by the police was -defective; that a woman in the situation of Anna, poor, neglected, -inexperienced, might conceal her child without intending to do it -harm, and might cause it to die of cold without being morally guilty -of its death. Two or three questions are put to him by Lebedeff, and -then the kindly, fat old gentleman wipes his spectacles and drops -behind. - -Lebedeff deals in a lenient spirit with the case. The facts, he says -(in effect), are strong, and tell their own tale. This woman bears a -child; she conceals the birth; this concealment is a crime. She puts -her child away in a secret place; her child is found dead--dead of -hunger and neglect. Who can doubt that she exposed and killed this -child in order to rid herself at once of her burden and her shame? -"The crime of child-murder is so common in our villages," he -concludes, "that it cries to heaven against us. Let all good men -combine to put it down, by a rigorous execution of the law." - -Gospodin Tseborenko, a young advocate from Taganrog, sent over -specially to conduct the defense, replies by a brief examination of -the facts; contending that his client is a girl of good character, who -has never had a lover beyond her village, and is not likely to have -committed a crime against nature. He suggests that her child may have -been dead at the birth--that in her pain and loneliness, not knowing -what she was about, and never dreaming about the Code, she concealed -the dead body from her father's eyes. Admitting that infant murder is -the besetting sin of villagers in the south of Russia, he contends -that the children put away are only such as the villagers consider -things of shame--that is to say, the offspring of their women by -strangers and men of rank. - -President Gravy rings his bell--the court is all alert--and, after a -brief presentment of the leading points to the jury, who on their side -listen with grave attention to every word, he puts three several -queries into writing: - -I. Whether in their opinion Anna Kovalenka exposed her child with a -view to kill it? - -II. Whether, if she did not in their opinion expose it with a view to -kill it, she willfully concealed the birth? - -III. Whether, if she either knowingly exposed and killed her child, or -willfully concealed the birth, there were any circumstances in the -case which call for mitigation of the penalties provided by the penal -code? - -The sheet of paper on which he writes these queries is signed by the -three judges, and handed over to the foreman, who takes it and retires -with his brethren of the jury to find as they shall see fit. - -While the trial has been proceeding, Anna Kovalenka has been looking -on with patient unconcern, neither bold nor timid, but with a look of -resignation singular to watch. Only once she kindled into spirit; that -was when the peasant woman was describing how she found the body of -her child. She smiled a little when her advocate was speaking--only a -faint and vanishing smile. Lebedeff seemed to strike her as something -sacred; and she listened to his not unkindly speech as she might have -listened to a sermon by her village priest. - -In twenty minutes the jury comes into court with their finding written -by the foreman on the sheet of paper given to him by the judge. -President Gravy rings his bell, and bids the foreman read his answer -to the first query. - -"No!" says the foreman, in a grave, loud voice. The audience starts, -for this is the capital charge. - -To the second query, "No!" - -"That is enough," says the judge; and, turning to the woman, he tells -her in a tender voice that she has been tried by her country and -acquitted, that she is now a free woman, and may go and sit down among -her friends and neighbors. - -Now for the first time she melts a little; shrinks behind the -policeman; snatches up the corner of her gown; and steadying herself -in a moment, wipes her eyes, kisses her aunt, and creeps away by a -private door. - -Every body in this court has done his duty well, the jurors best of -all; for these twelve men, who never saw an open court in their lives -until the current year, have found a verdict of acquittal in -accordance with the facts, but in the teeth of local prejudice, bent -on sending the woman from Taganrog to the mines for life. - -What schools for liberty and tolerance have been opened in these -courts of law! - - - - -CHAPTER LXI. - -ISLAM. - - -Kazan is the point where Europe and Asia meet. The paper frontiers lie -a hundred miles farther east, along the crests of the Ural Mountains -and the banks of the Ural River; but the actual line on which the -Tartar and the Russian stand face to face, on which mosque and church -salute the eye together, is that of the Lower Volga, flowing through -the Eastern Steppe, from Kazan to the Caspian Sea. This frontier line -lies eastward of Bagdad. - -Kazan, a colony of Bokhara, an outpost of Khiva, was not very long ago -the seat of a splendid khanate; and she is still regarded by the -fierce and languid Asiatics as the western frontier of their race and -faith. In site and aspect this old city is extremely fine, especially -when the floods run high, and the swamps beneath her walls become a -glorious lake. A crest of hill--which poets have likened to a wave, a -keel, and a stallion's back--runs parallel to the stream. This crest -is the Kremlin, the strong place, the seat of empire; scarped, and -walled, and armed; the battlements crowned with gateways, towers, and -domes. Beyond the crest of hill, inland from the Volga, runs a fine -plateau, on which stand remnants of rich old courts and towers--a -plateau somewhat bare, though brightened here and there by garden, -promenade, and chalet. Under this ridge lies Kaban Lake, a long, dark -sheet of water, on the banks of which are built the business quarters, -in which the craftsmen labor and the merchants buy and sell--a -wonderfully busy and thriving town. Each quarter has a character of -its own. The Kremlin is Christian; the High Street Germanesque. A fine -old Tartar gateway, called the Tower of Soyonbeka, stands in front of -the cathedral; but much of the citadel has been built since the -khanate fell before the troops of Ivan the Fourth. Down in the lower -city, by the Kaban Lake, dwell the children of Islam, the descendants -of Batu Khan, the countrymen of the Golden horde. - -The birth-place of these Tartar nations was the Eastern Steppe; their -line of march was the Volga bank; and their affections turn still -warmly to their ancient seats. The names of Khiva and Bokhara sound to -a Tartar as the names of Shechem and Jerusalem sound to a Jew. In his -poetry these countries are his ideal lands. He sings to his mistress -of the groves of Bokhara; he compares her cheek to the apples of -Khiva; and he tells her the fervor of his passion is like the summer -heat of Balkh. - -An Arab legend puts into the Prophet's mouth a saying, which is taken -by his children as a promise, that in countries where the palm-trees -bear fruit his followers should possess the land; but that in -countries where the palm-trees bear no fruit, though they might be -dwellers for a time, the land would never be their own. The promise, -if it were a promise, has been kept in the spirit for a thousand -years. No date-bearing country known to the Arabs defied their arms; -from no date-bearing country, once overrun, have they been yet -dislodged. When Islam pushed her outposts beyond the line of palms, as -in Spain and Russia, she had to fall back, after her trial of strength -on the colder fields, into her natural zones. As she fell back from -Granada on Tangiers and Fez, so she retired from Kazan on Khiva and -Bokhara--a most unwilling retreat, the grief of which she assuaged in -some degree by passionate hope of her return. The Moors, expecting to -reconquer Seville and Granada, keep the keys of their ancient palaces, -the title-deeds of their ancient lands in Spain. The Kirghiz, also, -claim the lands and houses of their countrymen, and the Kirghiz khan -describes himself as lineal heir to the reigning princes of Kazan. In -the East, as in the West, the children of Islam look on their present -state as a correction laid upon them by a father for their faults. -Some day they trust to find fresh favor in his sight. The term of -their captivity may be long; but it will surely pass away, and when -the Compassionate yields in his mercy, they will return in triumph to -their ancient homes. - -In the mean time, it is right to mark the different spirit in which -the vanquished sons of Islam have been treated in the West and in the -East. From Granada every Moor was driven by fire and sword; for many -generations no Moor was suffered to come back into Spain, under pain -of death. In Russia the Tartars were allowed to live in peace; and -after forty years they were allowed to trade in the city which had -formerly been their own. No doubt there have been fierce and frequent -persecutions of the weaker side in these countries; for the great -conflict of cross and crescent has grown into a second nature, equally -with the Russian and Tartar, and the rivalries which once divided -Moscow and Kazan still burn along the Kirghiz Steppe. The capitals may -be farther off, but the causes of enmity are not removed by space and -time. The cross is at St. Petersburg and Kief, the crescent at Bokhara -and Khiva; but between these points there is a sympathy and an -antipathy, like that which fights between the two magnetic poles. The -Tartars have captured Nijni and Moscow many times; the Russians will -some day plant their standards on the Tower of Timour Beg. - -A man who walks through the Tartar town in Kazan, admiring the painted -houses, the handsome figures, the Oriental garbs, the graceful -minarets, can hardly help feeling that these children of Islam hold -their own with a grace and dignity worthy of a prouder epoch. "Given -to theft and eating horse-flesh," is the verdict of a Russian officer; -"otherwise not so bad." "Your servants seem to be Tartar?" "Yes, the -rascals make good servants; for, look you, they never drink, and when -they are trusted they never steal." In all the great houses of St. -Petersburg and Moscow, and in the large hotels everywhere, we have -Tartar servants, chosen on account of their sobriety and honesty. The -Begs and Mirzas fled from the country when their city was stormed, and -only the craftsmen and shepherds remained behind; yet a new -aristocracy of trade and learning has sprung up; and the titles of -mirza and mollah are now enjoyed by men whose grandfathers held the -plough. These Tartars of Kazan are better schooled than their Russian -neighbors; most of them can read, write, and cipher; and their youths -are in high demand as merchants, salesmen, and bankers' clerks--offices -of trust in which, with care and patience, they are sure to rise. -Mirza Yunasoff, Mirza Burnaief, and Mirza Apakof, three of the richest -traders in the province, are self-made men. No one denies them the -rank of mirza (lord, or prince). Mirza Yunasoff has built, at his -private charge, a mosque and school. - -It is very hard for a Christian to get any sort of clue to the -feelings of these sober and industrious folk. That they value their -religion more than their lives is easy to find out; but whether they -share the dreams of their brethren in Khiva and Bokhara is not known. -Meanwhile they work and pray, grow rich and strong. An innocent and -useful body in the empire, they are wisely left alone, so far as they -can be left alone. - -They can not, however, be treated as of no importance in the state. -They are of vast importance; not as enemies only, but as enemies -camped on the soil, and drawing their supports from a foreign land. -Even those among the Tartars who are least excited by events around -them, feel that they are out of their natural place. They hate the -cross. They are Asiatics; with their faces and affections turning day -and night, not towards Moscow and St. Petersburg, but towards Khiva, -Bokhara, and Samarcand. A foreign city is their holy place, a foreign -ruler their anointed chief. They get their mollahs from Bokhara, and -they wait for conquerors from the Kirghiz Steppes. They have not -learned to be Russians, and they will not learn; so that, whether the -Government wishes it or not, the conflict of race and creed will rage -through the coming years, even as it has raged through the past. - -Reforming the country on every side, the Emperor is not neglecting -this Eastern point; and in the spirit of all his more recent changes, -he is taking up a new position as regards the Tartar race and creed. -Nature and policy combine to prevent him trying to convert the -Mussulmans by force; but nothing prevents him from trying to draw them -over by the moral agencies of education and humanity. Feeling that, -where the magistrate would fail, the teacher may succeed, the Emperor -is opening schools in his Eastern provinces, under the care of -Professor Ilminski, a learned Russian, holding the chair of Tartar -languages and literature in the university of Kazan. These schools -already number twenty four, of which the one near Kazan is the chief -and model. - -Professor Ilminski drives me over to these Tartar schools. We visit a -school for boys and a school for girls; for the sexes are kept apart, -in deference to Oriental notions about the female sex. The rooms are -clean and well kept; the children neat in dress, and orderly in -manner. They are taught by young priests especially trained for the -office, and learn to sing, as well as to read and cipher. Books are -printed for them in Russian type, and a Tartar press is working in -connection with the university. This printing of books, especially of -the Psalms and Gospels, in the Tartar tongue, is doing much good; for -the natives of Kazan are a pushing and inquisitive people, fond of -reading and singing; and the poorest people are glad to have good -books brought to their doors, in a speech that every one can hear and -judge for himself. In the same spirit the Emperor has ordered mass to -be said in the Tartar tongue; a wise and thoughtful step; a hint, it -may be, to the mollahs, who have not come to see, and never may come -to see, that any other idioms than Arabic and Persian should be used -in their mosques. If these clever traders and craftsmen of Kazan are -ever to be converted from Islam to Christianity, they must be drawn -over in these gentle ways, and not by the jailer's whip and the -Kozak's brand. - -The children sing a psalm, their bright eyes gleaming at the sound. -They sing in time and tune; but in a fierce, marauding style, as -though the anthem were a bandit's stave. - -Not much fruit has yet been gathered from this field. "Have you any -converts from the better classes?" "No; not yet," the professor sighs; -"the citizens of Kazan are hard to win; but we get some little folk -from villages on the steppe, and train them up in the fear of God. -Once they are with us, they can never turn back." - -Such is the present spirit of the law. A Moslem may become a -Christian; a Christian may not become a Moslem; and a convert who has -taken upon himself the cross can never legally lay it down. It is an -Eastern, not a Western rule; and while it remains in force, the cross -will be denied the use of her noblest arms. Not until conscience is -left to work in its own way, as God shall guide it, free from all fear -of what the police may rule, will the final victory lie with the faith -of Christ. - -Shi Abu Din, chief mollah of Kazan, receives me in Asiatic fashion; -introduces me to two brother mollahs, licensed to travel as merchants; -and leads me over the native colleges and schools. This mollah, born -in a village near Kazan, was sent to the university of Bokhara, in -which city he was trained for his labors among the Moslems living on -Russian soil, just as our Puritan clergy used to seek their education -in Holland, our Catholic clergy in Spain. Shi Abu Din is considered, -even by the Professor of Tartar languages, as a learned and upright -man. His swarthy brethren have just arrived from Bokhara, by way of -the Kirghiz Steppe. They tell me the roads are dangerous, and the -countries lying east of the Caspian Sea disturbed. Still the roads, -though closed to the Russians, are open to caravan merchants, if they -know the dialects and ways of men. No doubt they are open to mollahs -travelling with caravans through friendly tribes. - -The Tartars of Kazan are, of course, polygamists; so that their social -life is as much unlike the Russian as their religious life. - - - - -CHAPTER LXII. - -THE VOLGA. - - -From Kazan to the Caspian Sea, the Volga flows between Islam and -Christendom. One small town, Samara, has been planted on the eastern -bank--a landing-place for Orenburg and the Kirghiz Steppe. All other -towns--Simbirsk, Volsk, Saratof, Tsaritzin--rise on the western bank, -and look across the river towards the Ural Ridge. Samara is a Kirghiz, -rather than a Russian town, and but for the military posts, and the -traffic brought along the military roads, the place would be wholly in -Moslem hands. Samara has a name in the East as a place for -invalids--the cure being wrought by means of fermented mare's milk, -the diet and medicine of rovers on the Tartar Steppe. - -A Christian settlement of the Volga line from Kazan to the Caspian Sea -must be a work of time. Three hundred and seventeen years have passed -since Ivan the Terrible stormed Kazan; three hundred and twelve years -since his armies captured Astrakhan and opened a passage through -Russia to the Caspian Sea; yet the Volga is a frontier river to this -very hour; and it is not too much to say that the noblest watercourse -in Europe is less familiar to English merchants in Victoria's time -than it was in Elizabeth's time. - -The first boats which sailed the Volga, from her upper waters to her -mouth, were laden with English goods. So soon as Challoner found a way -up the Dvina, a body of merchants formed themselves into a society for -discovering unknown lands, and this body of London merchants was the -means of opening up Eastern Russia to the world. - -The man who first struck the Volga was Anthony Jenkinson, agent of -these discoverers, who brought out a cargo of cottons and kerseys, -ready dyed and dressed, of lead and tin for roofing churches; and a -vast assortment of pewter pots; all of which his masters in London -expected him to exchange for the gums and silks, the gold and pearls, -of mythical Cathay. Coming from the Frozen Sea, he noticed with a -trader's eye that the land through which he passed was rich in hides, -in fish, in salt, in train-oil, in furs, in pitch, and timber; while -it was poor in many other things besides cotton shirts and pewter -pots. Sailing up the Dvina to Vologda, he noted that town as a place -for future trade; crossed the water-shed of Central Russia to Jaroslav -and Moscow; dropped down the river Oka; and fell into the Volga at -Nijni, the only town in which trade was being done, until he reached -the Caspian Sea. The Volga banks were overrun by Tartar hordes, who -took their spoil from every farm, and only spared the towns from fear. -In ten weeks his rafts reached Astrakhan, where he saw, to his great -surprise and joy, the riches of Persia and Bokhara lying about in the -bazars in heaps; the alum, galls, and spices; the gems and filigrees, -the shawls and bands, which he knew would fetch more in the London -markets than their weight in gold. By hugging the northern shores of -the Caspian Sea, he made the port of Mangishlak, in the Khanate of -Khiva, early in autumn; and hiring from the natives a thousand camels, -he loaded these patient beasts with his pots and pans, his sheetings -and shirtings, and marched by the caravan road over the Tamdi Kuduk to -Khiva, and thence across the range of Shiekh Djeli, and along the -skirts of the great desert of Kizil Kum to Bokhara, near the gates of -which he encamped on the day before Christmas-eve. There, to his -grief, he learned that the caravan road farther east was stopped, in -consequence of a war between tribes in the hill country of Turkestan; -and after resting in the city of Bokhara for some weeks, he gave up -his project, and, turning his face to the westward, returned to Moscow -and London by the roads which he had found. - -Three years later he was again in Moscow, chaffering with raftsmen for -a voyage to the Caspian Sea. Queen Bess was now on the throne, and -Jenkinson bore a letter from his sovereign to the Tsar, suggesting the -benefits of trade and intercourse between his people and the society; -and asking for his kingly help in opening up his towns and ports. - -Ivan the Terrible was quick to perceive how much his power might be -increased by the arts and arms which these strangers could bring him -in their ships. Like Peter the Great in his genius for war, Ivan was -only too well aware that, in comparison with the Swedes and Poles, his -people were savages; and that his troops, though brave as wolves and -hardy as bears, were still no match for such armies as the Baltic -powers could send into the field. The glory of his early triumphs in -the East and South had been dimmed by defeats inflicted upon him by -his civilized enemies, the Poles; and the conquests of Kazan, Siberia, -and Astrakhan, were all but forgotten in the reverses of his later -years. He wanted ships, he wanted guns; the best of which, he had -heard, could be bought for money in Elizabeth's ports, and brought to -the Dvina in English ships. He was too great a savage to read the -queen's letter in the way she wished; he cared no whit for maps, and -could not bend his mind to the sale of hemp and pewter pots; but he -saw in the queen's letter, which was addressed to him as Tsar, a -recognition of the rank he had assumed, and the offer of a connection -which he hoped to turn into a political alliance of the two powers. - -While Ivan was weaving his net of policy, the English rafts were -dropping down the Volga, towards Astrakhan, through hordes of Tartar -horse. From Astrakhan they coasted the Caspian towards the south, -landed at the port of Shabran, and, passing over the Georgian Alps, -rode on camels through Shemaka and Ardabil, to Kasbin, then a -residence of the Persian Shah. To him the queen had also sent a letter -of friendship, and Jenkinson proposed to draw the great lines of -Persian traffic by the Caspian and the Volga, to Archangel; connecting -London and Kasbin by a near, a cheap, and an easy road; passing -through the countries of a single prince, a natural ally of the Shah -and of the Queen, instead of through the territories and waters of the -Turk--the Venetian, the Almaigne, and the Dutch. The scheme was bold -and new; of vast importance to the Russ, who had then no second outlet -to the sea. But the Shah had just made peace with his enemy the -Sultan, which compelled him to restore the ancient course of trade -between the East and West. - -Four years later, William Johnson, also an agent of the society, was -sent from Archangel to Kasbin, with orders to make a good map of the -River Volga and the Caspian Sea, and to build an English factory at -Astrakhan for the Persian and Chinese trade. The Dvina was also -studied and laid down, and the countries dividing her upper waters -from the Volga were explored. A track had been worn by the natives -from Vologda, one of the antique towns of Moscovy, famous for bells -and candles, to Jaroslav, on the Volga; and along this track it was -possible to transport the bales and boxes of English goods. This line -was now laid down for the Persian and Oriental trade to follow, and -factories were built in convenient spots along the route; the -headquarters being fixed at Archangel and Astrakhan. - -The Tsar sent home by Jenkinson not only a public letter to the queen, -in which he asked her to send him cannon and ships, with men who could -sail them; but a secret and verbal message, in which he proposed to -make such a treaty of peace and alliance with her as that they should -have the same friends and the same foes; and that if either of the two -rulers should have need to quit his states, he might retire with -safety and honor into those of the other. To the first he received no -answer, and when Jenkinson returned to Russia on his trade affairs, -the Tsar, who thought he had not delivered his message word for word, -received him coldly, and ill-used the merchants in his empire; on -which Thomas Randolph, a wily and able minister, was sent from London -to pacify the tyrant, and protect our countrymen from his rage. But -Randolph was treated worse than all; for on his arrival at Moscow, he -was not only refused an audience, but placed in such custody that -every one saw he was a prisoner. The letters sent to him by the queen -were kept back, and those which he wrote to her were opened and -returned. After eight months were passed in these insults, he was -called to Vologda, received by the Tsar, and commanded to quit the -Russian soil. So much insolence was used, that he was told by one of -the boyars if he were not quick in going they would pitch his baggage -out-of-doors. - -Yet Randolph, patient and experienced, kept his temper, and when he -left the Tsar he had a commercial charter in his trunk, and a special -agent of Ivan in his train. This agent, Andrew Gregorivitch, bore a -letter to the queen (in Russ), in which he prayed her to sign a treaty -of war and peace against all the world; and to grant him an asylum in -her realm in case he should be driven from his own. Andrew found that -the queen could make no treaty of the kind, though she was ready to -promise his master an asylum in her states, where he might practise -his own religion, and live at his own expense. He then gave ear to an -impostor named Eli Bomel, a native of Wesel, whom he found in an -English jail. This wretch, who professed to work by magic and the -stars, proposed to go with Andrew to Russia and serve the Tsar. The -agent asked for a pardon, and took him out to Moscow, where he soon -became master in the tyrant's house. For Bomel made the Tsar believe -that the queen, whom he described as a young and lovely virgin, was in -love with him, and could be brought by sorcery to accept an offer of -his hand and throne. The Tsar, who was past his prime, and feeble in -health and power, never tired of doing honor to the man who promised -him an alliance which would raise him above the proudest emperors and -kings. - -Horsey, following Randolph to Russia, saw the end of this wizard. When -the Tsar found out that Bomel was deceiving him with lies, and that -the queen would not write to him except on questions of trade, he sent -for his favorite, laid him on the rack, drew his legs out of their -sockets, flayed him with wire whips, roasted him before a fire, drew -him on a sledge through the snow, and pitched him into a dungeon, -where he was left to die. - -Traders poured into Russia, through the line now opened from the Dvina -to the Volga, stores of dyed cotton, copper pots and pans, sheets of -lead rolled up for use, and articles in tin and iron of sundry sorts. -Thomas Bannister and Geoffrey Ducket reached Jaroslav early in July, -and, loading a fleet of rafts, dropped down the Volga to Astrakhan, -where they staid six weeks in daily peril of their lives. The Turks, -now friends with the Persians, were trying to recover that city, with -the low countries of the Volga, from the Christian Russ; and the -traders could not put to sea until the Moslem forces were drawn off. -They put into Shabran, where they left their ship and crossed the -mountains on camels to Shemaka, where they staid for the winter. Not -before April could they venture to take the road. They pushed on to -Ardabil, where they began to trade, while Bannister went on to Kasbin -and procured a charter of commerce from the Shah. Only one objection -was raised at Kasbin; Bannister wished to send horses through the -Shah's dominions into India; but an article which he had inserted in -his paper to this effect was left out by the Persian scribes. The -successful trader sickened near Shemaka and died; leaving the command -of his adventure to Ducket, who gathered up the goods for which they -had exchanged their cloth and hardware, crossed the mountains to -Shabran, and put to sea. Storm met them in the teeth; they rolled and -tumbled through the waves; and after buffeting the winds for twenty -days, they anchored in shallow water, where they were suddenly -attacked by a horde of Moslem rievers, and after a gallant fight were -overcome by superior strength. The Tartars pulled them from their -ship, of which they made a prize, and, putting them into their own -cutter, let them drift to sea. The cargo lost was worth no less than -forty thousand pounds--a quarter of a million in our present coin. - -At Astrakhan, which they reached in safety, they made some efforts to -recover from the brigands part of what they had lost, and by the -general's help some trifles were recovered from the wreck; but this -salvage was lost once more in ascending the Volga, on which their boat -was crushed by a ridge of ice. Every thing on board went down, and the -grim old tyrant, Ivan the Terrible, sore about his failing suit for -Elizabeth's hand, would render them no help. - -Ten years elapsed before the traders sent another caravan across the -Georgian Alps, but the road from Archangel to Astrakhan was never -closed again; and for many years to come the English public heard far -more about the Eastern Steppe than they hear in the present day. - -This Eastern Steppe is overrun to-day, as it was overrun in the time -of Ducket, by a tameless rabble of Asiatic tribes. - - - - -CHAPTER LXIII. - -EASTERN STEPPE. - - -The main attempt to colonize any portion of the Eastern Steppe with -Christians was the planting of a line of Kozak camps in the countries -lying between the Volga and the Don--a region in which the soil is -less parched, the sand less deep, the herbage less scanty, than -elsewhere in these sterile plains. But even in this favored region the -fight for life is so hard and constant, that these Kozak colonists -hail with joy the bugles that call them to arm and mount for a distant -raid. - -A wide and windy plain, sooty in color, level to the sight, with thin -brown moss, and withered weeds; a herd of half-wild horses here and -there; a Kalmuk rider dashing through a cloud of dust; a stray camel; -a wagon drawn by oxen, ploughing heavily in the mud and marl; a -hollow, dark and amber, in which lies a gypsy village; caravans of -carts carrying hay and melons; a flock of sheep, watched by a Kozak -lad attired in a fur cap, a skin capote, and enormous boots; a -windmill on a lonely ridge; a mighty arch of sky overhead, shot with -long lines of green and crimson light--such is an evening picture of -the Eastern Steppe. - -Time out of mind two hostile forces have been flowing from the deserts -of Central Asia through this Eastern Steppe towards the fertile -districts watered by the Don. These forces are the Turkish and -Mongolian tribes. A cloud hangs over the earlier movements of these -tribes; but when the invaders come under European ken, they are seen -to be divided by differences of type and creed. The Turkish races rank -among the handsomest on earth, the Mongolian races rank among the -ugliest on earth. The Turkish tribes are children of Mohammed, the -Mongolian tribes are children of Buddha. The first are a settled -people, living in towns, and tilling the soil; the second a nomadic -people, dwelling in tents, and roving from plain to plain with their -flocks and herds. - -The Moslem hordes which crossed the Ural River settled on the steppe, -built cities on the Volga and the Donets, pushed their conquests up to -the gates of Kief. The Buddhistic hordes which fought under Batu Khan -destroyed this earlier work; but when they settled on the steppe, and -married Moslem women, many of these heirs of Batu Khan embraced the -religion of their wives, and helped the True Believers to erect such -cities in their rear as Khiva, Bokhara, Samarcand, and Balkh, which -afterwards became the strongholds of their faith. Yet most of the -Mongol princes held by their ancient creed, and all the new-comers -from their country added to their strength on this Eastern Steppe. -These Turks and Mongols, enemies in Asia, kept up their feuds in -Europe; and the early Moslem settlers in these plains were sorely -pressed by their Buddhistic rulers, until the arrival of Timour Beg -restored the Crescent to its old supremacy on the Eastern Steppe. - -This feud between Buddha and Mohammed led in these countries to the -final triumphs of the Cross. - -The plains on which they fought for twenty generations are even now -tented and cropped by Asiatic tribes--Kalmuks, Kirghiz, Nogays, -Gypsies. The Kalmuks are Buddhists, the Kirghiz and Nogays are Moslem, -the Gypsies are simply Gypsies. - -The Kalmuks, a pastoral and warlike people, never yet confined in -houses, are the true proprietors of the steppe. But they have given it -up, at least in part; for in the reign of Empress Catharine, five -hundred thousand wanderers crossed the Ural River, never to come back. -The Kirghiz, Turkomans, and Nogays came in and occupied their lands. - -The Kalmuks who remain in the country live in corrals (temporary -camps), formed by raising a number of lodges near each other, round -the tent of their high-priest. A Kalmuk lodge is a frame of poles set -up in the form of a ring, tented at the top, and hung with coarse -brown cloth. Inside, the ground is covered with skins and furs, on -which the inmates lounge and sleep. Ten, twenty, fifty persons of all -ages live under a common roof. A savage is not afraid of crowding; -least of all when he lies down at night. Crowds comfort him and keep -him warm. A flock of sheep, a string of camels, and a herd of horses, -browse around the corral; for horses, sheep, and camels are the only -wealth of tribes who plant no tree, who build no house, who sow no -field. Flat in feature, bronze in color, bony in frame, the Kalmuk is -one of the ugliest types of living men, though he is said to produce, -by mixture with the more flexible and feminine Hindoo, the splendid -face and figure of the Circassian chief. - -The Kalmuk, as a Buddhist, keeping to his ancient Mongol traditions, -and worshipping the Dalai-Lama, eats bull beef but slightly cooked, -and drinks mare's milk in his favorite forms of kumis and spirit; the -first being milk fermented only, the second milk fermented and -distilled. Like all his race, he will steal a cow, a camel, or a -horse, from either friend or foe, whenever he finds his chance. He -owes no allegiance, he knows no law. Some formal acts of obedience are -expected from him; such as paying his taxes, and supplying his tale of -men for the ranks; but these payments and supplies are nominal only, -save in districts where the rover has settled down under Kozak rule. - -These wild men come and go as they list, roving with their sheep and -camels from the wall of China to the countries watered by the Don. -They come in hordes, and go in armies. In the reign of Michael -Romanoff fifty thousand Kalmuks poured along the Eastern Steppe; and -these unwelcome guests were afterwards strengthened by a second horde -of ten thousand tents. These Kalmuks treated with Peter the Great as -an independent power, and for several generations they paid no tribute -to the crown except by furnishing cavalry in time of war. Another -horde of ten thousand tents arrived. Their prince, Ubasha, led an army -of thirty thousand horsemen towards the Danube against the Turks, whom -they hated as only Asiatics hate hereditary foes. Yet, on the Empress -Catharine trying to place the hordes under rule and law, the same -Ubasha led his tribes--five hundred thousand souls, with countless -herds of cattle, camels, and horses--back from the Eastern Steppe -across the Ural River into Asia; stripping whole provinces of their -wealth, producing famine in the towns, and robbing the empire of her -most powerful arm. Hurt in his pride by some light word from the -imperial lips, the prince proposed to carry off all his people, -leaving not a soul behind; but fifteen thousand tents were left, -because the winter came down late, and the Volga ice was thin. The -children of these laggers are the men you meet on the plains, surprise -at their religious rites, and sup with in their homely tents. Steps -have been often taken to reclaim and fix these rovers, but with little -or no effect. Some families have joined the Kozaks, come under law, -and even embraced the cross; but the vast majority cling to their wild -life, their Asiatic dress, and their Buddhistic creed. - -The upper classes are called White (literally, white bones), the lower -classes Black, just as in Asiatic fashion the Russian nobles are -called White, while the peasants are called Black. - -The Kirghiz are of Turkish origin, and speak the Uzbek idiom of their -race. Divided into three branches, called the Great Horde, the Middle -Horde, and the Little Horde, they roam over, if they do not own, the -steppes and deserts lying between the Volga and Lake Balkash. Much of -this tract is sandy waste, with dots of herbage here and there, and -most of it lies beyond the Russian lines. Within these lines some -order may be kept; beyond them, in what is called the Independent -Steppe, the Kirghiz devilry finds an open field. These children of the -desert plunder friend and foe, not only lifting cattle and robbing -caravans, but stealing men and women to sell as slaves. All through -these deserts, from Fort Aralsk to Daman-i-koh, the slave-trade is in -vogue; the Kirghiz bandits keeping the markets of Khiva and Bokhara -well supplied with boys and girls for sale. Nor is the traffic likely -to decline until the flag of some civilized people floats from the -Tower of Timour Beg. Fired by hereditary hate, these Kirghiz bandits -look on every man of Mongolian birth and Buddhistic faith as lawful -spoil. They follow him to his pastures, plunder his tent, drive off -his herds, and sell him as a slave. But when this lawful prey escapes -their hands they raid and rob on more friendly soil; and many of the -captives whom they carry to Khiva and Bokhara come from the Persian -valleys of Atrek and Meshid. Girls from these valleys fetch a higher -price, and Persia has not strength enough to protect her children from -their raids. - -When Ubasha fled from the Volga with his Kalmuk hosts, these Kirghiz -had a year of sweet revenge. They lay in wait for their retiring foes; -they broke upon their camps by night; they stole their horses; they -devoured their food; they carried off their women. Hanging on the -flank and rear of this moving mass, they cut off stragglers, stopped -communications, hid the wells; inflicting far more miseries on the -Kalmuks than these rovers suffered from all the generals sent against -them by the crown. - -These Kalmuks gone, the Kirghiz crossed the borders and appeared on -the Volga, where they have been well received. Their khan is rich and -powerful, and in coming in contact with Europe he has learned to value -science; but the attempts which have been made to settle some portions -of his tribe at Ryn Peski have met with no success. The Emperor has -built a house for the khan, but the khan himself, preferring to live -out-of-doors, has pitched his tent on the lawn! A Bedouin of the -desert is not more untamable than a Kirghiz of the steppe. - -The Nogays are Mongolians of a separate horde. Coming into the country -with Jani Beg, they spread themselves through the southern plains, -took wives of the people, and embraced the Mussulman faith. At first -they were a nomadic soldiery, living in camps; and even after the war -had died out, they kept to their wagons, and roamed through the -country as the seasons came and went. "We live on wheels," they used -to say: "one man has a house on the ground, another man has a house on -wheels. It is the will of God." Yet, in the course of five hundred -years, these Nogays have in some measure changed their habits of life, -though they have not changed their creed. Many of them are settlers on -the land, which they farm in a rough style; growing millet, grapes, -and melons for their daily food. Being strict Mohammedans, they drink -no wine, and marry two or three wives apiece. All wives are bought -with money; and divorce, though easy to obtain, is seldom tried. The -men are proud of their descent and their religion, and the crown -allows their cadis and mollahs to settle most of their disputes. They -pay a tax, but they are not enrolled for war. - -These Mongolians occupy the Russian Steppe between the Molochnaya -River and the Sea of Azof. - -The Gypsies, here called Tsiganie, live a nomadic life in the Eastern -Steppe, as in other countries, sleeping in wretched tents of coarse -brown cloth, and grovelling like dogs and swine in the mire. They own -a few carts, and ponies to match the carts, in which they carry their -wives and little folk from fair to fair, stealing poultry, telling -fortunes, shoeing horses, and existing only from hand to mouth. They -will not labor--they will not learn. Some Gypsies show a talent for -music, and many of their girls have a beauty of person which is highly -prized. A few become public singers; and a splendid specimen of her -race may marry--like the present Princess Sergie Golitsin of -Moscow--into the highest rank; but as a race they live apart, in true -Asiatic style; reiving and prowling on their neighbors' farms, begging -at one house, thieving at the next; a class of outlaws, objects of -fear to many, and of disgust to all. In summer they lodge on the -grass, in winter they burrow in the ground; taking no more thought of -the heat and dew than of the frost and snow. In color they are almost -bronze, with big fierce eyes and famished looks, as though they were -the embodied life of the dirt in which they wallow by day and dream by -night. Some efforts have been made by Government to civilize these -mysterious tribes, but hitherto without results; and the marauders are -only to be kept in check on the Eastern Steppe by occasional onsets of -Kozak horse. - - - - -CHAPTER LXIV. - -DON KOZAKS. - - -Since the flight of their countrymen under Ubasha, the Kalmuks have -been closely pressed by their Moslem foes. - -Their chief tormentors came from the Caucasus; from the hills of which -countries, Nogays and Turkomans, eternal enemies of their race and -faith, descended on their pasture lands, drove out their sheep and -camels, broke up their corrals, and insulted their religious rites. No -government could prevent these raids, except by following the raiders -home. But then, these Nogays and Turkomans were independent tribes; -their homes were built on the heights beyond the Russian lines; and -the necessities under which Russia lay--first, to protect her own -plains from insult; next, to preserve the peace between these -Buddhists and Moslems, gave her a better excuse for occupying the -hill-countries in her front than the sympathy felt in high quarters -for the Georgian Church. Pressed by these enemies, some of the Kalmuks -have appealed to the crown for help, and have even quitted their -camps, and sought protection within the Kozak lines. - -The Kozak camps along the outer and inner frontiers--the Ural line and -the Volga line--are peopled by a mixed race of Malo-Russians, Kalmuks, -and Kirghiz; but the element that fuses and connects these rival -forces comes from the old free Ukraine, and is thoroughly Slavonic in -creed and race. - -A Kozak of the Volga and the Don is not a Russian of Moscow, but of -Novgorod and Kief; a man who for hundreds of years has held his own. -His horse is always saddled; his lance is always sharp. By day and -night his face is towards the enemy; his camp is in a state of siege. -Compared with a Russian of Moscow, the Kozak is a jovial fellow, heady -and ready, prompt in remark, and keen in jest; his mouth full of song, -his head full of romance, and his heart full of love. - -On the Ural River the Kozak has a little less of the Kalmuk, a little -more of the Kirghiz, in his veins; but the Ukraine blood is dominant -in both. It would be impossible for the Kalmuk and Kirghiz to live in -peace, if these followers of the Grand Lama and the Arabian Prophet -were not held in check by the Kozak camps. - -First at St. Romanof, afterwards at Cemikarakorskoe, and other camps -on the Don, I find the Kozaks in these camps; eat and drink with them, -join in their festivals, watch their dances, hear their national -songs, and observe them fight their fights. An aged story-teller comes -into my room at St. Romanof to spin long yarns about Kozak daring and -adventure in the Caucasian wars. I notice, as a peculiarity of these -gallant recitals, that the old warrior's stories turn on practices and -stratagems, never on open and manly fights; the tricks by which a -picket was misled, a village captured, a caravan cut off, a heap of -booty won. As the old man speaks of a farm-yard entered, of a herd of -cows surprised, his face will gleam with a sudden joy; and then the -younkers listening to his tale will clap their hands and stamp their -feet, impatient to mount their stallions and ride away. When he tells -of harems forced and mosques profaned, the Kalmuks who are present -color and pant with Asiatic glee. - -These Kozaks live in villages, composed of houses and gardens built in -a kind of maze; the houses thatched with straw, the walls painted -yellow, and a ring-fence running round the cluster of habitations, -with an opening only at two or three points. The ins and outs are -difficult; the passages guarded by savage dogs; the whole camp being a -pen for the cattle as well as a fortress for the men. A church, of no -great size and splendor, springs from the highest mound in the hamlet; -for these Kozaks of the Eastern Steppe are nearly all attached to the -ancient Slavonic rite. A flock of sheep is baa-ing on the steppe, a -train of carts and oxen moving on the road. A fowler crushes through -the herbage with his gun. On every side we see some evidence of life; -and if the plain is still dark and bare, the Kozak love of garden, -fence, and color lends a charm to the Southern country never to be -seen in the North. - -A thousand souls are camped at St. Romanof, in a rude hamlet, with the -usual paint and fence. Each house stands by itself, with its own yard -and garden, vines, and melon-beds, guarded by a savage dog. The type -is Malo-Russ, the complexion yellow and Tartar-like; the teeth are -very fine, the eyes are burning with hidden fire. Men and boys all -ride, and every child appears to possess a horse. Yet half the men are -nursing babies, while the women are doing the heavier kinds of work. A -superstition of the steppe accounts for the fact of half these men -carrying infants in their arms, the naked brats pressed closely -beneath their coats. They think that unless a father nurses his -first-born son his wife will die of the second child; and as a woman -costs so many cows and horses, it is a serious thing--apart from his -affections--for a man on the Eastern Steppe to lose his wife. - -No smoking is allowed in a Kozak camp, for dread of fire; though my -host at Cemikarakorskoe smokes himself, and invites his guests to -smoke. Outside the fence the women are frying melons and making -wine--a strong and curious liquor, thick as treacle, with a finer -taste. It is an ancient custom, lost, except on the Don. A plain -church, with a lofty belfry, adorns the camp; but a majority of the -Kozaks being Old Believers, the camp may be said to absent itself from -mass. These rough fellows, ready as they seem for raiding and -thieving, are just now overwhelmed with sorrow on account of their -church affairs! - -Their bishop, Father Plato, has been seized in his house at Novo -Cherkask, and sent up the Don to Kremenskoe, a convent near Kalatch. A -very old man, he has now been two years a prisoner in that convent; -and no one in the camp can learn the nature of his offense. The Kozaks -bear his trouble with saddened hearts and flashing eyes; for these -colonists look on the board of Black Clergy sitting in St. Isaac's -Square, not only as a conclave going beyond its functions, but as the -Chert, the Black One, the incarnate Evil Spirit. - -Cemikarakorskoe is a chief camp or town on the Lower Don. "How many -souls have you in camp?" I ask my host, as we stroll about. "We do not -know; our folk don't relish counting; but we have always five hundred -saddles ready in the stalls." The men look wild, but they are -gradually taming down. Fine herds of cattle dot the plains beyond -their fence, and some of the families sow fields of corn and maize. -They grow abundance of purple grapes, from which they press a strong -and sparkling wine. My host puts on his table a vintage as good as -Asti; and some folk say the vineyards of the Don are finer than those -of the Garonne and the Marne! - -These Kozaks have soil enough to grow their food, and fill the markets -with their surplus. No division of land has taken place for thirty-two -years. A plain extends in front as far as the eye can reach; it is a -common property, and every man can take what he likes. The poorest -fellows have thirty acres apiece. In their home affairs, these -colonists are still a state within the state. Their hetman has been -abolished; their grand ataman is the crown prince; but his work is -wholly nominal, and they elect their own atamans and judges for a -limited term. Every one is eligible for the office of local ataman--a -colonel of the camp, who commands the village in peace and war; but he -must not leave his quarters for the whole of his three years. An -officer is sent from St. Petersburg to drill and command the troops. -Every one is eligible as judge--an officer who tries all cases under -forty rubles of account, and, like an ataman, the judge may not quit -his village even in time of war. - -A great reform is taking place among these camps. All officers above -the rank of ataman and judge are now appointed by the crown, as such -men are in every branch of the public force. An ataman-general resides -with an effective staff at Novo Cherkask, a town lying back from the -Don, in a position to guard against surprise--a town with streets and -houses, and with thoroughfares lit by lamps instead of being watched -by savage dogs. But Novo Cherkask is a Russian city, not a Kozak camp; -the ataman-general is a Russian soldier, not a Kozak chief; and the -object kept in view at Novo Cherkask is that of safely and steadily -bringing these old military colonists on the Eastern Steppe under the -action of imperial law. - -But such a change must be a work of time. General Potapoff, the last -ruler in Novo Cherkask, a man of high talents, fell to his work so -fast that a revolt seemed likely to occur along the whole line of the -Don. On proof that he was not the man for such a post, this general -was promoted to Vilna, as commander-in-chief in the fourth military -district; while General Chertkoff, an old man of conservative views, -was sent down from St. Petersburg to soothe the camps and keep things -quiet in the steppe. The Emperor made a little joke on his officers' -names:--"After the flood, the devil;" Potap meaning deluge, and Chert -the Evil One; and when his brave Kozaks had laughed at the jest, every -thing fell back for a time into the ancient ruts. - -Of course, in a free Russia all men must be put on an equal footing -before the law, and Kozak privilege must go the way that every other -privilege is going. Yet where is the class of men that willingly gives -up a special right? - -A Kozak is a being slow to change; and a prince who has to keep his -eye fixed day and night on these Eastern steppes, and on the cities -lying beyond them, Khiva and Bokhara, out of which have come from age -to age those rolling swarms of savage tribes, can hardly be expected, -even in the cause of uniform law, to break his lines, of defense, and -drive his faithful pickets into open revolt against his rule. - - - - -CHAPTER LXV. - -UNDER ARMS. - - -An army is in every state, whether bond or free, a thing of privilege -and tradition; and in giving a new spirit to his Government, it is -essential that the Emperor should bring his army into some closer -relation to the country he is making free. - -The first thing is to raise the profession of arms to a higher grade, -by giving to every soldier in the ranks the old privilege of a prince -and boyar--his immunity from blows and stripes. A soldier can not now -be flogged. Before the present reign, the army was in theory an open -school of merit, and occasionally a man like General Skobeleff rose -from the rank of peasant to the highest posts. But Skobeleff was a man -of genius--a good writer, as well as a splendid soldier; and his -nomination as commander of St. Petersburg took no one by surprise. -Such cases of advancement are extremely rare; rare as in the Austrian -service, and in our own. But the reforms now introduced into the army -are making this opening for talent wide enough to give every one a -chance. The soldiers are better taught, better clothed, and better -lodged. In distant provinces they are not yet equal to the show-troops -seen on a summer day at Tsarskoe Seloe; but they are lodged and -treated, even in these far-off stations, with a care to which -aforetime they were never used. Every man has a pair of strong boots, -a good overcoat, a bashlik for his head. His rations are much -improved; good beef is weighed to him; and he is not compelled to -fast. The brutal punishment of running the ranks has been put down. - -A man who served in the army, just before the Crimean war broke out, -put the difference between the old system and the new in a luminous -way. - -"God bless the Emperor," he said "he gave me life, and all that I can -give him in return is his." - -"You were a prisoner, then?" - -"I was a soldier, young and hot. Some Kozak blood was in my veins; -unlike the serfs, I could not bear a blow, and broke my duty as a -soldier to escape an act of shame." - -"For what were you degraded?" - -"Well! I was a fool. A fool? I was in love; and staked my liberty for -a pretty girl. I kissed her, and was lost." - -"That is what the greatest conquerors have done. You lost yourself for -a rosy lip?" - -"Well--yes; and--no," said Michael. "You see, I was a youngster then. A -man is not a graybeard when he counts his nineteen summers; and a pair -of bright eyes, backed by a saucy tongue, is more than a lad of spirit -can pass without a singe. Katinka's eyes were bright as her words were -arch. You see, in those days we were all young troops on the road; -going down from Yaroslav into the South, to fight for the Holy Cross -and the Golden Keys. The Frank and Turk were coming up into our towns, -to mock our religion and to steal our wives; and after a great festa -in the Church, when the golden icon was brought round the ranks, and -every man kissed it in his turn, we marched out of Yaroslav with -rolling drums, and pious hymns, and blessings on our arms. The town -soon dropped behind us, and with the steppe in front, we turned back -more than once to look at the shining domes and towers, which few of -us could hope to see again. For three days we kept well on; the fourth -day some of our lads were missing; for the roads were heavy, the wells -were almost dry, and the regiment was badly shod. Many were sick; but -some were feigning; and the punishment for shamming is the rod. Our -colonel, a tall, gaunt fellow, stiff as a pike and tight as a cord, -whom no fatigue could touch, began to flog the stragglers; and as -every man in the ranks had to take his turn in whipping his fellows, -the temper of the whole regiment became morose and savage. In those -old times--some eighteen years ago--we had a rough-and-ready sort of -punishment, called running the ranks." - -"Running the ranks?" - -"It is done so: if a lad has either fallen asleep on his post, or -vexed his officer, or stolen his comrade's pipe, or failed to answer -at the roll, he is called to the parade-ground of his company, told to -give up his gun, and strip himself naked to the waist. A soldier -grounds the musket, to which the culprit's two hands are now tied fast -near the muzzle; the bayonet is then fixed, and the butt-end lifted -from the ground so as to bring the point of the bayonet close to the -culprit's heart. The company is then drawn up in two long lines, in -open order; and into every man's hand is given a rod newly cut and -steeped for a night in water to make it hard. The offender is led -between these lines; led by the butt-end of his gun, the slightest -motion of which he must obey, on pain of being pricked to death; and -the troops lay on his naked back, with a will or not, as their mood -may chance to be. The pain is always great, and the sufferer dares not -shrink before the rod; as in doing so he would fall on the -bayonet-point. But the shame of running the ranks was greater than the -pain. Some fellows learned to bear it; but these were men who had lost -all sense of shame. For my own part, I think it was worse than death -and hell." - -"You have not borne it?" - -"Never! I will tell you. We had marched about a thousand versts -towards the South. Our companies were greatly thinned; for every -second man who had left Yaroslav with beating heart and singing his -joyous psalm, was left behind us, either in the sick-ward or on the -steppe--most of them on the steppe. Many of the men had run away; some -because they did not want to fight, and others because they had vexed -their officers by petty faults. We had a fortnight yet to march before -reaching those lines of Perikop, where the Tartars used to fight us; -and our stiff colonel cried out daily down our squads, that if we -skulked on the march the Turks would be in Moscow, not the Russians at -Stamboul." - -"Yes!" - -"We had a fortnight yet to march; but the men were so spent and sore -that we halted in a roadside village three days to mend our shoes and -recruit our strength. That halt unmade me. What with her laughing eyes -and her merry tricks, the girl who served out whisky and halibut to -our company won my heart. Her father kept the inn and posting-house of -the village; he had to find us quarters, and supply us with meat and -drink. The girl was about the sheds in which we lay from early morning -until late at night. I don't say she cared for me, though I was -thought a handsome lad; but she was like a wild kitten, and would purr -and play about you till your blood was all on fire; and into the -stable or the straw-shed, screaming with laughter, and daring you to -chase and capture her--with a kiss, of course. It was rare good sport; -but some of the men, too broken to engage in making love, were jealous -of the fun, and said it would end in trouble. Well, when the drum -tapped for our companies to fall in, my cloak was missing, and I began -to hunt through the shed in which we had slept the last three nights. -The cloak could not be found. While running up and down, upsetting -stools and scattering sheaves of straw, I caught Katinka's laughing -face at the window of the shed, and at the very same instant heard the -word of command to march. I had no intention to quit the ranks; but I -wanted my cloak, the loss of which would have been visited upon me by -the anger of my captain and by the wintry frosts. I ran after Katinka, -who darted round the sheds with the cloak on her arm, crowing with -delight as she slipped through the stakes and past the corners, until -she bounded into the straw-yard, panting and spent. To get the cloak -from her was the work of a second; but to smother her red mouth with -kisses was a task which must have taken me some time; for just as I -was getting free from her, two men of my company came up and took me -prisoner. Graybeards of twenty-five, who had seen what they call the -world, these fellows cared no more for a pretty girl than for a holy -saint. They told the colonel lies; they said I meant to straggle and -desert; and the colonel sentenced me to run the ranks." - -"You escaped the shame?" - -"By taking my chance of death. The colonel stood before me, bolt -upright, his hand upon the shoulder of his horse. Too well I knew how -to merit death in a time of war; and striding up to him, by a rapid -motion, ere any one could pull me back, I struck that officer with my -open palm across his cheek. A minute later I was pinioned, thrown into -a cart, and placed under a double guard. At Perikop I was brought -before commissioners and condemned to die; but the Franks were now -coming up the Bosphorus in ships, and the prince commanding in the -Crimea, being anxious to make the war popular, was in a tender mood; -and finding that my record in the regiment was good, he changed my -sentence of death into one of imprisonment in a fortress during life. -My comrades thought I should be pardoned in a few weeks and placed in -some other company for service; but my crime was too black to be -forgiven in that iron reign." - -"Iron reign?" - -"The reign of Nicolas was the iron reign. I was sent to a fortress, -where I lay, a prisoner, until Nicolas went to heaven." - -"You lived two years in jail?" - -"Lived! No; you do not live in prison, you die. But when the saints -are cross you take a very long time to die." - -"You wished to die?" - -"Well, no; you only wish to sleep, to forget your pain, to escape from -the watcher's eyes. When the rings are soldered round your ankles, and -the cuffs are fastened round your wrists, you feel that you have -ceased to be a man. Cold, passive, cruel in your temper, you are now a -savage beast, without the savage freedom of the wolf and bear. Your -legs swell out, and the bones grow gritty, and like to snap." - -"Which are the worse to bear--the leg-rings or the cuffs?" - -"The cuffs. When they are taken off, a man goes all but mad. He clasps -and claps his hands for joy; he can lift his palms in prayer, besides -being able to chase the spiders and kill the fleas. Worst of all to -the prisoner are the eyelets in his door, through which the sentinel -watches him from dawn to dusk. Though lonely, he is never alone. Do -what he may, the passionless holes are open, and a freezing glance may -be fixed upon him. In his sleeping and in his waking hour those eyes -are on him, and he gladly waits for darkness to come down, that he may -feel secure from that maddening watch. Sometimes a man goes boldly to -the door, spits through the holes, yells like a wild beast, and forces -the sentinel to retire in shame." - -"You gained your freedom in the general amnesty?" - -"Yes; when the young prince came to his throne he opened our -prison-doors and set us free. Were you ever a prisoner? No! Then you -can never know what it is to be free. You walk out of darkness into -light; you wake out of misery into joy. The air you breathe makes you -strong like a draught of wine. You feel that you belong to God." - -Under Nicolas the soldiers were so dressed and drilled that they were -always falling sick. A third of the army was in hospital the whole -year round, and little more than half the men could ever be returned -as fit to march. Being badly clothed and poorly fed, they flew to -drink. They died in heaps, and rather like sheep than men. - -The case is different now; for the soldier is better clothed and fed -than persons of his class in ordinary life. The men are allowed to -stand and walk in their natural way; and, having more bread to eat, -they show less craving after drink. A school is opened in every -barrack, and pressure is put on the men to make them learn. Many of -the soldiers can read, and some can write. Gazettes and papers are -taken in; libraries are being formed; and the Russian army promises to -become as bright as that of Germany or France. The change is great; -and every one finds the root of this reform in that abolition of the -Tartar stick, which comes, like other great reforms, from the Crimean -war. - - - - -CHAPTER LXVI. - -ALEXANDER. - - -The Crimean war restored the people to their national life. -"Sebastopol!" said a general officer to me just now, "Sebastopol -perished, that our country might be free." The Tartar kingdom, founded -by Ivan the Terrible, reformed by Peter the Great, existed in the -spirit, even where it clothed itself in Western names and forms, until -the allies landed from their transports. Routed on the Alma, beaten at -Balaclava, that kingdom made her final effort on the heights of -Inkermann; hurling, in Tartar force and fashion, her last "great -horde" across that Baidar valley, in the rocks and caves of which a -remnant of the tribes of Batu Khan and Timour Beg still lingers; -fighting in mist and fog, on wooded slope and stony ridge, her gallant -and despairing fight. What followed Inkermann was detail only. Met and -foiled that wintry day, she reeled and bled to death. A grave was made -for her, as one may say, not far from the spot on which she fought and -fell. Before the landing-place in Sebastopol sprang the walls and -frowned the guns of an imperial fort--the strongest pile in Russia, -perhaps in Europe; rising tier on tier, and armed with two hundred and -sixty guns; a fort in the fire of which no ship then floating on the -sea could live. It bore the builder's name--the name of Nicolas, -Autocrat of all the Russians; a colossal sovereign, who for thirty -years had awed and stifled men like Genghis Khan. That fort became a -ruin. The guns were torn to rags, the walls were shivered into dust. -No stone was left in its place to tell the tale of its former pride; -and it is even now an easier task to trace the outlines of Kherson, -dead for five hundred years, than to restore, from what remains of -them, the features of that proud, imperial fort. The prince, the -fortress, and the kingdom fell; their work on earth accomplished to -the final act. This ruin is their grave. - -Asiatic Russia passed away, and European Russia struggled into life. - -Holding under the "Great Cham," the Duke of Moscow was in ancient -times a dependent prince, like the Hospodar of Valachia, like the -Pasha of Egypt in modern days. Doing homage, paying tribute to his -Tartar lord, the duke ruled in his place, coined money in his name, -adopted his dress and habits, fought his battles, and took into pay -his officers and troops. Cities which the Tartar could not reach, his -vassal crushed. - -The Tartar system was a village system, as it is with every pastoral -and predatory race; a village for the followers, and a camp or -residence for the prince. The Russian system was a mixed system, as it -was in Germany and France; a village for the husbandman, a town for -the boyar, merchant, and professional man. The old Russian towns were -rich and free; ruled by codes of law, by popular assemblies, and by -elected dukes. Novgorod, Moscow, Pskoff, Vladimir, Nijni, were models -of a hundred prosperous towns; but when the Duke of Moscow wrested his -independence from the khan in the seventeenth century, he took up the -Tartar policy of weakening the free cities, and centring all authority -in his camp. That camp was Moscow, which Ivan put under martial law, -and governed, in Asiatic fashion, by the stick. The court became a -Tartar court. The dress and manners of Bakchi Serai were imitated in -the Kremlin; women were put into harems; the Tartar distinction of -white and black (noble and ignoble) was established. From the time -when the grand dukes became Tsars they were called White, the peasants -Black; and the poor of every class, whether they lived in towns or -villages, were styled, in contempt, as their Moslem masters had always -styled them, Christians--bearers of the cross--a name which descended -to the serfs, and clung to them so long as a serf existed on Russian -soil. - -In leaving Moscow, Peter the Great was only acting like the Crim -Tartar who had changed his camp from Eski-Crim to Bakchi Serai. The -camp was his country, and where he rested for a season was his camp. -In Old Russia, as in Germany and France, authority was historical; in -Crim-Tartary, as in Turkey and Bokhara, it was personal. Ivan the -Terrible introduced, and Peter the Great extended, the personal -system. In her better days Russia had a noble class, as well as a -citizen class and a peasant class; but these signs of a glorious past -were gradually put away. "No man is noble in my empire, unless I make -him so," said Peter. "No man is noble in my empire, except when I -speak to him, and only while I speak to him," said Paul. The governors -of provinces became pashas, with the right of living on the districts -they were sent to rule; that is to say, of taking from the people -meat, drink, house, dogs, horses, women, at their sovereign will. - -Though softened from time to time, here by fine phrases, there by -mystic patriotism, this Tartar system lived into the present reign. -Under this system, the prince was every thing, the people nothing; the -army a horde, the nobility an official mob, the Church a department of -police, the commons a herd of slaves. - -Nicolas prized that system, and being a man of powerful frame and -daring mind, he carried it forward to a point from which it had been -falling back since the reign of Peter the Great. Unlike Peter, Nicolas -saw no use in Western science and Western arts. He hated railways, he -abhorred the press. He made his court a camp; he dressed his students -in uniform; he turned education into drill. He was the State, the -Church, the Army, all in one. Desiring to shut up his empire, as the -Khans of Khiva and Bokhara close their states, he drew a cordon round -his frontier, over which it was nearly as difficult for a stranger to -enter as for a subject to escape; and while he occupied the throne, -his country was almost as much a mystery to mankind as the realm of -Prester John. With mystery came distrust, for the unknown is always -feared; and Europe lay in front of this Tartar prince, exactly as in -former ages Moscow lay before Timour Beg. A system such as Nicolas -loved could not exist in presence of free and powerful states; and -Europe had to march upon the armies of Nicolas, even as Ivan the -Terrible had to march upon the troops of Yediguer Khan. - -The system was Mongolian, not Slavonic; and the mighty sovereign who -upheld it, and perished with it, will be regarded in future ages as -the prince who was at once the last Asiatic emperor and the last -European khan. - -When Alexander the Second came to his sceptre, what was his estate? -His empire was a wreck. The allies were upon his soil; his ports were -closed; his ships were sunk; his armies were held at bay. Looking from -the Neva to the Thames, he could not see one friend on whom in his -trouble he could call for help. The system was perfect; the isolation -was complete. But why had that system, reared at such a price, -collapsed so thoroughly at the point where it seemed to be most -strong? - -His armies counted a million men. Why were these hosts unable to -protect their soil? They were at home; they knew the country; they -were used to its windy plains, its summer heats, and its wintry snows. -They were fighting, too, for every thing that men hold dear on earth. -When Alexander compared his million men against the forces of his -rivals actually in the field, his wonder grew into amazement. These -soldiers of his foes were weak in number, far from home, and fighting -only for pride and pay. How were such armies able to maintain -themselves on Russian ground? - -Before the Emperor Nicolas died, he read the truth--read it in the -light of his burning towns, his wasting armies, and his fruitless -cannonades. He found that he and his million troops were matched -against a hundred millions of eager and adventurous foes. Free nations -were all against him; and the serf nation which he ruled so sternly -was not for him. Russia was not with him. Here he was weak, with an -incurable fret and sore. The serfs, the Old Believers, and the -sectaries of every name, were all against him, looking on his system -as a foreign, not to say an abominable thing, and praying night and -day that the hour of their deliverance from his rule might quickly -come. No people stood behind the soldiery in his war against the -Western Powers. - -In spite of genius, valor, enterprise, success, an army fighting for -itself, unwarmed by popular applause, is sure in the end to fail. The -discovery that he and his troops were fighting against the world of -free thought and liberal science killed him. When the blow was dealt, -and his pride was gone, Nicolas is said to have confided to his son -Alexander the causes of his failure as he had come to see them, and to -have urged the prince to pursue another and more liberal course. Who -can say whether this is true or not, for who can know the secrets of -that dying bed? - -Yet every man can see that the new sovereign acted as if some such -warning had been given. He began his reign with acts of mercy. -Hundreds of prison doors were opened, thousands of exiles were -released from bonds. An honorable peace was made with the Western -Powers, and the dream of marching on Stamboul was brushed aside. An -empire of seventy millions was found big enough to hold her own. -Alexander proved that he had none of the Tartar's lust of territory by -giving up part of Bessarabia for the sake of peace. - -Secured on his frontiers, Alexander turned his eyes on the people and -the provinces committed to his care. A vast majority of his countrymen -were serfs. Not one in ten could read; not one in fifty could sign his -name. Great numbers of his people stood aloof from the Official -Church. The serfs were much oppressed by the nobles; the Old Believers -were bitterly persecuted by the monks; yet these two classes were the -bone and sinew of the land. If strength was sought beyond the army and -the official classes, where could he find it, save among these serfs -in the country, these Old Believers in the towns? In no other places. -How could such populations, suffering as they were from physical -bondage and religious hate, be reconciled to the empire, added to the -national force? - -Studying the men over whom he was called to rule, the Emperor went -down among his people; living on their river banks and in their rural -communes; passing from the Arctic to the Caspian Sea, from the Vistula -to the Ural mines; kneeling with them at Solovetsk and Troitsa; -parleying with them on the roadside and by the inland lake; observing -them in the forest and in the mine; until he felt that he had seen -more of the Russian soil, knew more of the Russian people, than any of -the ministers about his court. - -In the light of knowledge thus carefully acquired, he opened the great -question of the serfs; and feeling strong in his minute acquaintance -with his country, had the happy courage to insist on his principle of -"liberty with land," against the views of his councils and committees -in favor of "liberty without land." - -Before that act was carried out in every part, he began his great -reform in the army. He put down flogging, beating, and striking in the -ranks. He opened schools in the camp, cleared the avenues of -promotion, and raised the soldier's condition on the moral, not less -than on the material side. - -The universities were then reformed in a pacific sense. Swords were -put down, uniforms laid aside, and corporate privileges withdrawn. -Education was divorced from its connection with the camp. Lay -professors occupied the chairs, and the young men attending lectures -stood on the same level with their fellows, subject to the same -magistrate, amenable to the common code. The schools became free, and -students ceased to be feared as "servants of the Tsar." - -This change was followed by that immense reform in the administration -of justice which transferred the trial of offenders from the police -office to the courts of law; replacing an always arbitrary and often -corrupted official by an impartial jury, acting in union with an -educated judge. - -At the same period he opened those local parliaments, the district -assemblies and the provincial assemblies, which are training men to -think and speak, to listen and decide--to believe in argument, to -respect opposing views, and exercise the virtues required in public -life. - -In the wake of these reforms came the still more delicate question of -Church reform; including the relations of the Black clergy to the -White; of the Orthodox clergy, whether Black or White, to the Old -Believers; of the Holy Governing Synod to Dissenters; as also the -influence which the Church should exercise over secular education, and -the supremacy of the canon law over the civil law. - -Each of these great reforms would seem, in a country like Russia, to -require a lifetime; yet under this daring and beneficent ruler they -are all proceeding side by side. Opposed by the three most powerful -parties in the empire--the Black Clergy, who feel that power is -slipping from their hands--the old military chiefs, who think their -soldiers should be kept in order by the stick--the thriftless nobles, -who prefer Homberg and Paris to a dull life on their estates--the -Emperor not the less keeps steadily working out his ends. What wonder -that he is adored by peasants, burghers, and parish priests, by all -who wish to live in peace, to till their fields, to mind their shops, -and to say their prayers! - -A free Russia is a pacific Russia. By his genius and his occupation, a -Russian is less inclined to war than either a Briton or a Gaul; and as -the right of voting on public questions comes to be his habit, his -voice will be more and more cast for the policy that gives him peace. -In one direction only he looks with dread--across that opening of the -Eastern Steppe through which he has seen so many hordes of his enemies -swarm into his towns and fields. Through that opening he has -pushed--is now pushing--and will push his way, until Khiva and Bokhara -fall into his power, as Tashkend and Kokan have fallen into his power. - -Why should we English regret his march, repine at his success? Is he -not fighting, for all the world, a battle of law, of order, and of -civilization? Would not Russia at Bokhara mean the English at Bokhara -also? Would not roads be made, and stations built, and passes guarded -through the steppe for traders and travellers of every race? Could any -other people undertake this task? Why then should we cry down the -Moscovite? Even in our selfish interests, it would be well for us to -have a civilized neighbor on our frontier rather than a savage tribe; -a neighbor bound by law and courtesy, instead of a savage khan who -murders our envoy and rejects our trade! - -Russia requires a hundred years of peace; but she will not find that -peace until she has closed the passage of her Eastern Steppe by -planting the banner of St. George on the Tower of Timour Beg. - -Meantime, the reforming Emperor holds his course--a lonely man, much -crossed by care, much tried by family afflictions, much enduring in -his public life. - -One dark December day, near dusk, two Englishmen hail a boat on the -Neva brink, and push out rapidly through the bars of ice towards that -grim fortress of St. Peter and St. Paul, in which lie buried under -marble slab and golden cross the emperors and empresses (with one -exception) since the reign of Peter the Great. As they are pushing -onward, they observe the watermen drop their oars and doff their caps; -and looking round, they see the imperial barge, propelled by twenty -rowers, athwart their stern. The Emperor sits in that barge alone; an -officer is standing by his side, and the helmsman directs the rowers -how to pull. Saluting as he glides past their boat, the Emperor jumps -to land, and muffling his loose gray cloak about his neck, steps -hastily along the planks and up the roadway leading to the church. No -one goes with him. The six or eight idlers whom he meets on the road -just touch their hats, and stand aside to let him pass. Trying the -front door of that sombre church, he finds it locked; and striding off -quickly to a second door, he sees a man in plain clothes, and beckons -to him. The door is quickly opened, and the lord of seventy millions -walks into the church that is to be his final home. The English -visitors are near. "Wait for an instant," says the man in plain -clothes; "the Emperor is within;" but adds, "you can step into the -porch; his majesty will not keep you long." The porch is parted from -the church by glass doors only, and the English visitors look down -upon the scene within. Long aisles and columns stretch and rise before -them. Flags and trophies, won in a hundred battles, fought against the -Swede and Frank, the Perse and Turk, adorn the walls, and here and -there a silver lamp burns fitfully in front of a pictured saint. -Between the columns stand, in white sepulchral rows, the imperial -tombs--a weird and ghastly vista, gleaming in that red and sombre -light. - -Alone, his cap drawn tightly on his brow, and muffled in his loose -gray coat, the Emperor passes from slab to slab; now pausing for an -instant, as if conning an inscription on the stone, now crossing the -nave absorbed and bent; here hidden for a moment in the gloom, there -moving furtively along the aisle. The dead are all around him--Peter, -Catharine, Paul--fierce warriors, tender women, innocent babes, and -overhead the dust and glory of a hundred wars. What brings him hither -in this wintry dusk? The weight of life? The love of death? He stops, -unbonnets, kneels--at the foot of his mother's tomb! Once more he -pauses, kneels--kneels a long time, as it in prayer; then, rising, -kisses the golden cross. 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