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Oct. 25, 1851.] ^ gfK *.t&*tt. 1023 ^
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This T>ai?e is accorded to an authentic ...
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(Concluded from our last, p. 975.) The f...
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(DnwtmnftnM nf tl)t ISmlt,
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POLITICAL AND SOCIAL. • ¦
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NATIONAL CHARTER ASSOCIATION. The execut...
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Chrittian Socialiut Office, 183, Fleet-s...
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Douht.—It in the business both of religi...
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Transcript
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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The Bachelor's Evening. I Am, As You Are...
invariably follow ! But the time is past ; the theatres are closed ; and I cannot get up an apotheosis now . . . Meanwhile the Bachelor Mmd is , as I said , ma somewhat objectless condition as to its evenings . There is the Olympic , it is true , but one can't go every' night there , with the best of intentions ; there is the Adelphi , — but that theatre , never a fav urite of mine , always plays the same pieces for ° an indefinite period . Sadler ' s Wells is worth visiting . But , on the whole , unless dinner parties commence shortly , I shall grow into a misanthrope . Vivian .
Oct. 25, 1851.] ^ Gfk *.T&*Tt. 1023 ^
Oct . 25 , 1851 . ] ^ gfK * . t &* tt . 1023 ^
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This T>Ai?E Is Accorded To An Authentic ...
This T > ai ? e is accorded to an authentic Exposition of Opinions and Acts of the Democracy "of Europe : as such we do not impose any restraint on the utterance of opinion , and , therefore , limit our own responsibility to the authenticity of the statement .
(Concluded From Our Last, P. 975.) The F...
( Concluded from our last , p . 975 . ) The frequent rebellions and risings of the peasants * are the best testimony to the social tendency of her fermentations , which have reached a much higher degree than is dreamt of in other countries , who only see the surface , glossed over with the Imperial colours . The first great protest of the agricultural people against their oppressors was the insurrection headed by Poogacheff , from the year 177 . * to 1775 . This insurgent , who was but a common Cossack , under the mask of the resuscitated Peter 111 . collected three different times an enormous army , took several f ortresses , conquered Kazan , and
advanced from the Ural to Tambor . The sectarians formed his main strength . Castles were burnt down , mounds of dead nobles and functionaries marked the road he had marched through . Upwards of 100 , 000 people lost their lives in this rebellion . The inhabitants of Moscow anxiously awaited bis arrival , and Catherine II . trembled on that throne ( she had stained it with the blood of her husband ) even when Poogacheff was already defeated and taken prisoner . He was , of course , executed ; but his memory , as the hero of the people , still lives : the peoplehave never ceased to speak with pride of the " Poogachefaheena" ( the time of Poogacheff ) . insurrec
After the conclusion of this sanguinary - tion and the execution of all the ring-leaders , the people kept quiet until the year 1812 , which was the dawn of a new era for Russia . A Democratic party of nobles entered into negotiation with Napoleon , purposing to free the people by his aid from the yoke of a fearful slavery ; but this magnificent opportunity of acquiring a real grandeur was rejected by the Conqueror , and the Russian Democrats turned the popular insurrection , organized in his and the ir own people ' s favour against him . They succeeded in enticing ltastopcheen , the governor of Moscow , to lay the ancient capital in ashes ; a comp liance which Alexander chastized with his disgrace , as he never forgave him that deed , albeit he feigned before the * The best proof that these rebellions are frequent are the following provisions Nicholas has made iu the laws since 1842 : — II . General Duties of the Peasants . 1 . Obedience to Laws . All peasants are bound by oath to an inviolable fidelity to the sacred person of his Imperial Majesty the Empcror ( vol . xii . § 179 , and vol . xiv . $ 180 ) . None of them ia to be disobedient to legally instituted authorities * ( Ibid . $ 180 ) . Nevertheless , " should disobedience and disorder arise , and extraordinary measures and the employment of troops had recourse to , to oppose them , in such a ease all expenses caused thereby will bo supported by the guilty people ( Ibid . § 179 ) . Every rebellion of the peasants or servants against their masters , and against communal or rural authorities , is considered as a resistance to the authority instituted by the Government ( Penal Law of 1845 , § 288 ) . Simple disobedience of Imperial peasants towards governmental or communal authorities is punished by iinpriflonment ( Ibid . $ 295 ) . The peasants are liable to corporal punishment lor certain crimes ; the following are nevertheless excepted : — 1 . Communal guardians of districts , and clerks of al l Imperial nppun . iKe peasants , if they have received the modal of hluniclcHtt service for several years . 2 . lYrsonn whh nre decorated with the mednl bearing the inscription , " For rescuing endangered Individuals . " ' ! . Agrarian Jews , who , for their agricultural industry , havt ; been rewarded with medals . And 4 . All those who have passed their 70 th year ( how ehuritublc !) Moreover , nil the Imperial and appanngo peasants are exempt from corporal punishment hh long as they belong ton bailiwick ( Ibid . Supplement No . 1 ) . Ignorance of the luw iH inndiuiHsablu ( Collection of Lawn , vol . xii . $ 178 ); hence nil supreme ukazes and regulations of the Government nre rend in the churches and in the communal meetings ( Ibid . vol . xii . § 177 ) . Un
whole world , that he had been apprised of it . The conflagration of Moscow , that holy city of the Russian people , being naturally ascribed to the enemy , awakened the whole nation from its lethargy ; the giant awoke in all his vigour , and from the confines of Siberia even a year afterwards , multitudes of volunteers arrived to avenge the object of their idolatry . . . There were now , in consequence of this war , numerous free corps spread throughout the whole empire , which , especially in the Governments of Moscow , Twer , & c , actually refused to resume their soccage labour , loudly declaring that they had won ite of those
their freedom on the battle-field . In sp commotions being subdued , still since 1842 , the rebellions of the peasantry have become permanent . Every year gives birth to a dozen of them in the various districts , and they have acquired already such dimensions , that , whilst formerly only single communes and districts used to rise , the insurrection now embraces at once several governments , for the people being everywhere penetrated with the same tendency , take up arms at the first news of an in surrection in a neighbouring district . The greatest savageness , but also the most exalted heroism is displayed in those popular insurrections . In the rebellion which broke out in 1831 , on account of the cholera , 200 , 000 peasants were in arms in Novgorod and Pskov ,
once independent Republics , now governments of the Russian Empire . They killed all the landowners , officers , and functionaries , in the coolest blood , no matter whether they were their friends or foes . It so happened , that a landed proprietor remonstrated with his revolted peasants , that he had always been kind and just to them , and why , then , did they wish to kill him ? " True , " replied an old peasant , with tears in his eyes ; " but we have sworn to kill all the nobles without exception ; consequently , you must die . But , as you have always been kind to us , you shall have an easy death . " Another peasant gave him his tobacco-pipe , that he might not , in his last moments , be deprived of his favourite enjoyment .
In the Government of Simbirsk , about nine years ago , a young peasant was executed , for having been the ringleader of such a revolt . The whole commune accompanied him to the scaffold , singing hymns , and uttering lamentations . * ' Never mind , friends , " exclaimed he ; I ani not the first , and shall not be the last !" Five or six years ago the peasants of the Government of Simbirsk burnt their villages down with their -own hands , at the same time accusing the nobles as having been the incendiaries , merely to avenge themselves on the Tsar ' s contemplated emancipation of their serfs .
We thus gee that in Russia , not only the abolition of serfdom , and personal freedom , are the mooted points , but also a claim upon the soil . The peasants reason about this matter quite openly ; they neyer say , " the ground of our master : but our soil . ' The character of the future llussian revolution is thus pointed out in advance as a social one , and , in fact , it is embodied in the character of the People , and in their communal institutions . The soil belongs to the commune ; individually the peasant is but the usufructuary of it ; the right of inheriting only regards moveable property , never the land ; and every twenty or twenty-five years it undergoes a new distribution .
To encroach , even with the best intention , upon these communal regulations would be fraught with great danger to the landlord ; nay , it would be hia death-warrant . In this anxiety for the improvement of their condition , iu thatxeadiness of revolting , all the peasants , without distinction , whether those of the Crown , of the state , or the aerfa , are perfectly unanimous ; for , in spite of that denomination , their fate is all the same ; viz . wretched , and undeserved . Although according to their denomination the peasants , belonging to the two firHt categories , are not serfs , like the peasants of the nobles , still their condition is precisely the same , nay frequently worse ,
so much » o , that they are heard to exclaim : — " Would to God we could belong to a nobleman ! " The peasants of the Crown have merely exchanged thepatriarchical relation to their landowners ( which frequently was of a mild character ) , or the arbitrariness of some of them , for a general and systematical oppression and extortion by the public officers . Now , the ollicial world in Russia is a perfectly hierarchicized whole , a ladder of innumerable randies , on none of which , if you wiah to reach the pinnacleviz . the autocrat—you must tread . The Russian proverb sayH : —* ' Heaven is high , and the Emperor is far off . "
It in thus easy to conceive what a bog of leeches the ltuHuiun bureaucracy is to tho people , with whatbarefucedneuH they nre cheated , tyranized , and in the bargain condemned , without being able to obtain justice ; for all the complaints addressed to tho Tsar , remain in the archives of the higher roguea . . Let us illustrate it by an example : —Several yearn ago , in coiiHcqucnco of an unfavourable harvent , the peasantM in the government of LY-iimi received from the Government Home potutoea lor Heed ; but the potatoes , owing to the interference and speculation of the contractor *^ were traiiKlbrmod into rotten ones , and tho peoaanta refused to put them in tho ground ; but
the public officers compelled the peasants to sow the rotten remnants of potatoes , and then ascribed their not coming up to the unfavourable weather . A revolt of the exasperated peasants ensued , which was crashed , and the peasants pacified by grape shot and the mighty knout . * * ? It will not be difficult to perceive , from what we have recorded , that the Russian People is
approaching , in its revolutionary tendencies , the point of maturity , towards which , it is impelled , by the diabolical system of oppression and corruption prevailing throughout the vast empire of Russia . It is , moreover , evident , that the future Russian revolution will not only be political- —a mere change of dynasty—but a social revolution , in which , if the insurrection be successful , the present order of things will unavoidably be replaced by the reign of purely
democratic institutions . «• The martyrs , who , in 1826 , died on the scaffold for the idea of establishing a democratic republic in Russia ,- —those hundreds of victims , who , for having shared their faith , have been transported to the mines of Siberia , are incorporated as private soldiers , deprived of > 11 promotion , in the Transcaucasian army , —the continually revolting peasants , who , in their untrained minds , kill and destroy all that embodies the opposite principle of democracy—and the exiles in foreign lands , who , like all Bakponin , cherish republican principles , are symptoms justificatory of our expectations ; symptoms , which authorize us to infer
that the state of mind prevailing among the Russian nation , well known by the autocrat , must have prevented him from pushing his armed hordes towards the heart and the west of Europe , in order to execute his plans , viz ., to restore throughout Europe the «• Order reigning in Warsaw . " His well-known clearsightedness forbids us accusing him of mere delay in carrying out his liberticide designs ; he knows too well that' 52 will be too late , that the progressive spirit of the age , which undermines all absolutism , will thenbe too extensively spread and deeprooted , and that all remedy , even that of the knout , will prove of no avail .
Yes ; it will be too late , and we earnestly hope that even the Tsar ' s continuousness , to which , as it would appear , he was forced to submit , in order to at least save his own ship from the threatening storm , will be unavailable , as her crew , too , will then be of ripe age ; and , as such , being guided by the compass of an enlightened and emancipated mind , join the other European nations in their efforts to establish the reign of Divine justice in lieu of iniquity , the sovereignty of the Peoples in lieu of the abject despotism of a few families , and follow no other idea but that which the motto " God and the People " conveys .
(Dnwtmnftnm Nf Tl)T Ismlt,
( DnwtmnftnM nf tl ) t ISmlt ,
Political And Social. • ¦
POLITICAL AND SOCIAL . ¦
National Charter Association. The Execut...
NATIONAL CHARTER ASSOCIATION . The executive met as usual on Wednesday . The Secretary reported that the monthly circular waa ready . A letter was read from Mr . C . F . Nicholls , officially informing the executive that he had been elected on the Parliamentary Reform Association ; and stating that he thought himself bound to notify the fact , as he had been nominated for the vacancy in the executive , and the policy of the step might be disapproved . He also stated that he accepted the election with pleasure .
Chrittian Socialiut Office, 183, Fleet-S...
Chrittian Socialiut Office , 183 , Fleet-street , London , October SI , 1851 . Sin , —Having been nominated to fill up the vacancy in the executive , caused by the resignation of Mr . Reynolds , permit me to state through your columns that I respectfully decline . There are noble men already nominated who will do more essential service to the cause , independent of the superior talent they possess , than my present position enables me even to promise . When , however , Ministers resign , " and their year of office has nearly expired , I ahull feel honoured in being permitted to Bit as one of the acting servants of Democracy for the truly eventful 1852 . 1 am , Sir , yours , ike , John Jam km Ukzkr .
Douht.—It In The Business Both Of Religi...
Douht . —It in the business both of religion and philosophy " to prove all thingH , " and , therefore , to doubt all things until we have proved them , or otherwise uutiHiied ourselves of their having a reasonable basis . Let uh shrink , not from doubt , but from that moral degradation which is involved in tho act of simulating a devotion not felt . Let uh direct our abhorrence , not against atheistical confensioiiH , but against those atheistical hypocrisies , too common , we fear , in tho conventional » ut " » ocu : ty > " which we live , where doubt * of the existence of a Divine ISctnirnro often cherished , and not acknowledged ; where religion in worn an a mask ; where , with the name of Clod upon the lips , tho heart is net upon tho attainment of rank or wealth , and the only God reully worshipped in " the god of thin world . " - —From Westminster JUvicw for October .
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Oct. 25, 1851, page 19, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_25101851/page/19/
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