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it j / 3 an . advantage not t be thrown away . And we may surely profit by the dear-bought experience of our ancestors . Western Europe sacrificed its communal institutions , and , with them the peasants and the artisans , when it entered upon a richer and larger existence b y ; a long and glorious struggle for the emancipation of an aristocratic and middle-class minority . It has had Catholicism , Protestantism , its chivalry full of poetry , its tiers'Stai renowned for pertinacity , ita Reformation , * nd finally ita Revolution , which half destroyed the
Church and the Throne . Russia alone has remained aloof from the conquests and glories of her neighbours . IJer people , utterly incapable of following , still less of attaining the European developments , has languished in , misery ever since the era of ICiof . The yoke of tb . e Mongols , Byzantinesque Tzars , Germanized Emperors , lords like slaveholders , such have been her masters . Yet this people , while it has gained nothing , has at least not lost the commune , with the equality of all its members in the possession and in the distribution of the soil .
If , indeed , the Russian peasant has been reduced to serfage it has not been without severe struggles . The facile success of the spurious Dmitri , the enthusiasm of the people for him , his imitators crushed , but ever reappearing with formidable armies encamped before Moscow , all this story would be inexplicable but for the undercurrent of a strong , wide , deep popular movement . These protracted struggles of an entire people may not disturb the reign of the House of Romanoff ; but the falsified chronicles of the Government could not pass over in silence the wars of the Brigands . Stenko Razin , one of their chiefs , was at
the head of 200 , 000 men . During the reign of the Tpar Alexis more than 12 , 000 peasants were hanged . A century later the Empress Catherine more than once turned pale at tue reports of her generals on the insurrection of PugatchefE Pugatoheff committed a fatal error , since repeated by Kossuth . After the decisive capture of Kasan he did not march straight on Moscow , where , according to the evidence of CasteVa , 200 , 000 serfs awaited his army with breathless impatience . The common people ( moujijc ) were decimated in the name of civilization , and Voltaire congratulated the Semiramia of the North on the victories of Bibikof
and Panine . It was by proclaiming the freedom of the peasants that Pugatoheff raised the standard of revolt . He had for device , Ultor et redivivus . Taken prisoner and loaded with chains , he replied to the ignoble General who struck him with his hand , and to that facile outrage added words of insult : — " / am but a little crow , and the vulture is still hovering in the air . " * After a contest of a hundred and fifty yeara the people abandoned the struggle . Pugatcheff was the last of its leaders . It has never made its appearance since except in the commotion of Stararkia Rousso in 1881 . In that revolt it was horribly sanguinary ; but what was to be e xpected in reprisal for the terrorism which founded and maintained the military colonies 2 As was the seed so must the harvest be .
Insurrection is at all times difficult among a people ¦ oattered over immense plains , inhabiting villages exposed and patched up of mere wooden huts . The only refuge of such a people is in the forests , and Count Woronzo ff has shown in the Caucasus how to deal with that refuge . Besides , tho irregularities of the administrative Government confuse the popular notions . The peasant serf of a rich proprietor rejoices to find in his powerful master » sort of buokler against the vexations of cmploySg and of the police . The condition of the serfs is not one of uniform hardship and degradation ; henco the difficulty of any / simultaneous insurrectional movemont , or of any united organisation ; hence tho rebellions of tho peasants remain isolated , local , and limited to single communes , rarely extending oven to two or thro * .
According to the last census tho number of male serfs in Russia was 11 , 380 , 000 ( the women are not reckoned ) . Tworthirds of thin number belong to lords who poBBesa at least a thousand peasants a-pieco , and Who generally dornand nothing of their aerfa but I ' obrok , ^ . pecuniary rent-service , for which they give them uj > } jx& land entiroly . These peasants , And all who belong to rich lords , aro usually , it may bo imagined , far lean miserable than those who are dependent upon potty gentry , and » ul > -
jeptcd to tho Jiobot ( d corvee , or forced Labour ) . $ caroely ever do tho groat lorda livo upon their landn ; flever more than a fow months of tho fino noason / wliilo thp petty soignour lives all tho year round upon hhi OBt&to , l strives to economize tho forced , . oxiponaoH of hia sojourn in tho metropolis Mean and rofltloHH by position ho meddles with everything , turns all to profit , A *; act 8 all sorts of renders boyond tho ront actualfydno , in the shape of oggfl , mushrooms , lihon , fruit , buttor , milk , and poultry . And to ftolaco hia ennui he amuHOB ijjmself in poaching oi \ tho conjugal manors of Iuh dependants . The » e mnall proportion aro dittporwed at random over
the whole extent of Russian territory in Europe . Siberia has the happiness not to know serfdom . Surrounded by vast domains , or by large free communes , the poor serfs remain utterly isolated from their neighbours . Not but that the Russian peasants feel intense commiseration for one another , but when has a mere mutual sentiment of pity ever armed the oppressed masses for the vindication of their rights ? In 1839 and 1840 , we saw , indeed , the beginnings of a coalition among the communes . In the districts of Simbirsk and of Tombon , the massacre of the lords looked like the execution of a plan . But usually matters do not take that course . The peasants of a
commune are dumb and patient for years and years : they suffer and endure all miseries without a murmur . Suddenly , without a note of warning , they burst out , massacre the lord , butcher his family , burn his house ; receive with dogged endurance the punishment of the Plet , and are hurried away to perish in the mines of Siberia . They know the result beforehand ; but their situation was no longer tolerable . The causes of insurrections are worthy of serious attention . They generally spring from the encroachment of the lord upon the rights of the commune . The peasant feels himself victimized , without protection or redress : he is overworked , overtaxed , continually liable to ex- , cessive punishment from a hard and cruel
taskmaster : but all this seems transitory and remediable . What he never does put up with , never submits to without a bloody protest , is the intermeddling of the lord in the division of the communal lands , in the rights of pasture , in the affairs of the commune ; then he feels himself struck in his last refuge , beyond which he sees nothing . Then the peasant murders his lord . But why , it may be asked , does not the peasant demand redress sooner ? To complain of the violation of a right , one must have legal ground to go upon . JSTow the commune exists by itself , because it is ineradicable ; because it alone of itself constitutes the whole moral life of the peasants . The Government found it ready made ; the noblesse submitted to it , and became accustomed to its existence .
According to the law , a peasant can address himself only to the Marshal of the noblesse of the district . This Marshal , the elected officer of the nobles , is their natural defender , both against the Crown and against the people . The police never receives complaints against the lords , except in extraordinary criminal cases , which do not interest directly the peasant . The serf is allowed to inform against his lord , if the latter belongs to a secret society , or has committed a crime . The law permits three days' work only in the week to be exacted of the serf on the lord's land : and it is to a
police elected by the noblesse that the duty of maintaining the execution of this legal prescription is confided . From time to time the Government starts up in sudden amazement at abuses , displays astonishing courage , and punishes a . lord or two . Then follows a long dreary interval of abuses , unpunished and unredressed . Alexandjbe Herzen . ( To he concluded in our next . ) [ EttitA . TUM IN otm last . —Page 1069 , second column forty-ninth lino , ^ for " peasants do la commune , " read " peasants de la cottronno . " The passage refers to the Horfs of the Crown , an distinguished from tho serfs belonging to tho lords . ]
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Ibore in no ] r > umod man but . will conform ho Tmt . h much profited by Toiwlinft onnU'ovormen , hiii nonniifi awnkmiod , and } iiii jud f '> r . non . t ; Mbn . rponod - ill " , bhuii , ] t bo proliui / lplo leu' him l , o mud . why nhould ih not , nt ; loa . it , . Do l . dlorublo lor b . in iidvorsar ' y't-o write—Mir . ioK .
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NEW MOVEMENT IN LIFE ASSUJJANCK ( To thelSditor of the Leader . ) ft 1 ' , Your liberal advocacy of all moanuron that ha \ fo a tendency to promote tho public good , induces rno tjo request from you an opinion as to tho eligibility of I jif © AflMuranoo an now extended to largo niaBHOB of tho coramunity . I am < loniroun , as tho ooorotairy of an iiiHtjh tutiou that onjoya improoodmitod huccohh , to hod \\ h principle confirm ^] , or othorwiae , «¦* that ultimate bar—tho public proas of England . And I am urged thoroto by tho a , ttaolcn of rival and interested parties , who , finding it iuipoBfliblu to allege anything agadniit
the- characters of the directors ( wealthy and lone-est Wish . ( 3 d tradesmen ) , or against the conscientious economy of their management , turn round anjl attack tho principle of such institutipns . They seem to foreet or , what is probable , do so wilfully , that an eminent actuary has stated before a committee of the House f Commons , on being asked whether , on public ground "this sprt of business should be encouraged " —he ' plied , " Undoubtedly , because it reaches the peonfe themselves—the bulk of the community . " And fu il
ther , when asked , Is it not the fact , that security * or at least one element of security , is obtained by th * largeness of the . transactions of the society ?"—he r * plied , " Not only by the largeness of the number of lives assured , but also by another element of security in such business—viz ., an average of the amount of sums insured upon each life . The assurances amongst the industrial classes wiH generally be found to ba more uniform in amount than in the ordinary business of an assurance office . "
It , would appear , that the . people of England see the matter in the same light , and that they are far beyond what is generally imagined , solicitous to protect themselves against death and casualty . Of this the ' * ' ¦ British Industry" society is a convincing , proof : as , since the latter part of 1852 , it has issued over-. 7000 policies . It is significant to contrast this with the fact , tha , t up to 1852 all the policies issued by aU the offices ; in the thfee kingdoms amounted onl y to 250 , 000 . ' And now , sir , in conclusion , let me pray of you to give the public the advantage of your own opinion on a subject which is to them of such vital importance . * I have the honour to remain , sir , your obedient servant , Michael O'CtRadx , Secretary . 300 , Eegent-street ( Offices of the "British Industry Life Assurance Company , and Family Frienijly Society" ) . Nov . 3 , 1853 .
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: use of inventions . ( TotheEditorof'theLeader . ) Sib , —Permit me a word or two of rejoinder to your correspondent "Pistis , " of the 26 th ult . He . says there are printers who have paused and reflected , but still continue to throw heavy blame on all discoveries which diminish labour , so long as no provision is made by society for those thus supplanted . To expect such compensation in all « cases seems to me futile . And if not got in all cases , where is the line of demarcation to be drawn ? A patent shoe is a monopoly of advantage to the buyer and seller ; I , who can ' t purchase the improvement , catch cold more readily than my neighbour , so my comparative commercial and other value sinks . What exquisite judge or very perceptive society is to count my compensation and place me on an equal footing with my neighbour ? In the invention itself we must seek for amelioration ,-both as regards society and the particular class affected . For cheaper supply creates demand as readily as domand enhances the value of supply . Keach goods , by cheapening them , to ten times the number of persons , and you , perhaps , require double the number of workmen to do bo . Sometimes , indeed , the article may bo quicklier finished without tho market needing more ; but even here a conquest has been gained over spaco or time : given space , and you have room for more gueste—given leisure , mother of new wants and arts . " Direct help , " says an American , " availeth mo little , I am helped more through the intellect and tho aifectiona . " Hence tho potency of examp le—another fl success stirs my blood and rouses new onorgios another ' s success widens the horizon of possibilities . If tho printers ( aa " Pistis" hints ) bo awakened to tho idea of a new social endeavour , if thoy already aspire by unity of purpose to capture tho big cylinder and make it their slave ( always supposing it successful ) then tho introduction of this iiow invention already promises moro than tho old system has yot dono for thorn . It is but justice to the inventor , who requests it , say that dimming , Molville , and Oo . in my first letter ought to havo boon James Molvillo . ^ Nov . Otli , 1853 .
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* Tbo tfcnoTftl culled VugateholFa " brigand " Vor , a woitcI which with tho addition of tho lottora r »« t wignifips "Vul
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LOED BROUGHAM'S "VALETE . " A i / ETTEit from Cannes states that Lord Brougham has had inscribed over the gate of his chateau this farewell to the world— - —¦— " Spes ct fortuna Valete . Sat mo hwistifl ; ludito nuiio silion . " It was Lord Brougham , we beliovo , who confessed that the JSdinburgh party , who hit upon a lino from Publiua Syrus for a motto for the cover of their Review , had never read that author ; and , in this instance , his lordship scorns again to have plunged , at a felicitous expression without very well knowing whoro it came from . Can ho bo awayo that tho inscription over hia portal was 'the vory ono adopted by Gil Mas when that versatile poraon rotired to Arragon upon tho profits of political rascality ?
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1094 THE LEAH EH . ESactbba ^
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\ ltf Tnrs IVRPAHTMBNT , Afl AM , O 1 T 1 UONH , HOWHVKJl JtXTHljME , AUK AMjOWKD AN IlXI'ItKNBION , Tint KDITOU NUOKHHARIiyy HOr , l ) H iriKIHIIbV UKHI'ONMIill'JC 1 'Olt NONH . J
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NOTICiW TO C () ltllKHI . « ONI ) KNTa ' Thfl Tvro Ovrls "—an Anoloffno , by VWnn , in our next
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* Wo have only to any , at tho firat ; jrlanco , without oxprcaHing any opinion about tho particular company J » ( juestion , of whoso ciroumstanooH wo know absolute y nothing , that wo h « vp ttlw » y « conmdorncHho Iwttor futurn of the worlting-claHH ^ H , < i « onomi «« iUy spooking , to lio «» l 0 direction of tho yrhwiplo of u . Hnuntfico tmivenxxUned l ^ prinoiplo m ono thipg , pmotico another . Tho I "" ; ' ™ * operation of tho priiu ; ij ) lo < l « pon « lH on Uio ptrsonnd <> 1 i ofllco . —IHj ) . _„ .. .
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Leader (1850-1860), Nov. 12, 1853, page 1094, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2012/page/14/
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