moting their comfort while in durance, or given them to start in an honest life with, on their emancipation. On entering the prison they wear a chain; but, on good behavior-very generally within three months-they walk the streets without it. They are allowed to go out to work for private individuals, under the direction of one of the best-conducted prisoners, and are constantly employed to put out fires, yet have scarcely ever been accused of stealing on such occasions. After ten years a full pardon is very often granted; in fact, not one-tenth of the whole number are detained beyond that period, and, on its expiry, many obtain small offices under government."

This is abundantly confirmed by the statements of Erman, as the following quotation will show :

"Among the various tales circulated in Western Europe respecting Siberia, may be reckoned the statement that the exiles of this or some other description are obliged to hunt the sable or other fur animals. But, in truth, it is only in the Uralian mines and those of Nerchinsk, and in certain manufactories, that persons condemned to forced labor are ever seen; and several of the rioters whom we saw here in Beresov had already served a year of punishment in Nerchinsk. All the rest, and the great majority of the Russian delinquents, are condemned only to settle abroad; and, if they belong to the laboring classes, to support themselves—yet, with this consolation, that, instead of being serfs as heretofore, they become in all respects as free as the peasants of Western Europe. Political offenders, however, who belong, in Russia as elsewhere, generally to the upper classes, or those not used to manual labor, are allowed to settle only in the towns of Siberia, because the support allowed them by the government can thus reach them more easily.

"I have often heard Russians, who were intelligent and reflecting men, mention as a paradox which hardly admits of an explanation, that the peasants condemned to become

settlers, all, without exception, and in a very short time, change their habits, and lead an exemplary life; yet it is certain that the sense of the benefit conferred on them by the gift of personal freedom is the sole cause of this conversion. Banishment, subservient to colonization, instead of close imprisonment, is, indeed, an excellent feature in the Russian code; and though the substitution of forced labor in mines for the punishment of death may be traced back to Grecian examples, yet the improving of the offender's condition, by bestowing on him personal freedom, is an original as well as an admirable addition of a Russian legislator."

The authority of these statements is not to be disputed, and they show conclusively that whatever the condition of Russia once was, her criminal system, under the enlightened direction of Nicholas, was so modified as to compare favorably with that of any other state of Europe, and perhaps surpasses any in the number which it reforms and restores to society and to usefulness.

CHAPTER XXXIV.

RUSSIA AS SHE NOW IS, AND HER PROBABLE FUTURE.

Ir is hoped that Americans will not feel that too much time and space are here occupied with the character, resources, and policy of the great Northern Empire, and the treatment which it has received from those "Allies" who have lately undertaken to settle our American affairs. Russia, among all the powers of earth, has remained true to us in our hour of trial. For many years her friendship for us has been increasing; she felt deeply, and is still grateful for American sympathy in her own great struggle with France and England; and, because of common perils from a common enemy, and from many points of resemblance in our national resources, capabilities, and policy, the Great Empire of the East and the Great Republic of the West are very likely to be not only friendly, but allied powers in the not remote future.

The causes which have brought Russia and America into sympathy are not events which pass and leave no trace behind. The drawing together of these two nations is one of the mighty movements whose influence sweeps over centuries. The Russian fleet anchored in our harbors, the enthusiastic welcome given to its officers, the time of this significant meeting, the joy with which it thrilled all Russia, these things are solemn prophesies of the future.

Those who have regarded this as an empty "flirtation," while America, as they think, longs only for an alliance

with England, mistake both the temper of our own people and the signs of the times.

The United States desire peace with England, if she will do us justice; but Americans have been forced, by her own conduct, into a position where they regard her good opinion far less than ever before.

They know her power, and yet they do not fear her, and are by no means, at present, in a mood to court her favor. Great Britain must wipe out not only the stain, but the memory of her conduct in this rebellion, before the United States will seek her favor. But there are no wounds to heal which Russia has made; there is no bitterness in the memories of the past. The friendship first formed has been growing stronger from the beginning, and events indicate that it will reach far into the future; and, whether we look at Russia as she now is, or consider what she soon will be, we may be thankful that we may count upon the friendship of such a power, both in our present conflict and in the severe struggles which apparently await us in almost the immediate future.

Russia stands now before the world with every element from which to construct the most powerful empire that has yet arisen on earth, not even excepting Rome, for her civilization springs from the nobler and intenser life of Christianity; and possessing already the mightiest political and religious organizations of the world, she is just starting upon a new career, with every advantage gained from modern progress. She is the head and representative of the great Sclavonic race, which, even in Poland, would rally to her, were not the people held back by the aristocracy, very much as the people of the South have, by the slaveholders, been brought into a war with the Government. She is the sole life-power in that Sclavonic civilization in which is bound up the destiny of a hundred millions of people.

Her national Church is the grand life-center of almost a hundred millions bearing the Christian name, and these can be brought to the true Christian life only through the instrumentality of Russia. They must all be reheaded under

her, if the fragments are ever gathered. Beyond any other nation, Russia is penetrated by the religious life. Whatever we may think of the spirituality of that religion, it is the controlling power of the State; it is, indeed, the soul of the political body.

The Czar is reverenced, not so much as a political officer, a mere emperor, as the religious head and father of the people. He rules rather as the head of the Church than as the governor of the State; and this fact alone may show us what measureless power there is in a nation numbering seventy or eighty millions, bound, by religious enthusiasm, to one personal leader.

Russia presents, too, the noblest moral spectacle of modern times. Foremost among all nations, she, who has been denounced as the barbarian despotism, steps forth the champion of human rights, investing, at once, some twenty-five millions of serfs with all the ennobling rights and responsibilities of citizenship, and then changing an absolute monarchy into a constitutional kingdom; and it proves both the strength and the value of the government, that these vast changes have been wrought without bloodshed or serious commotion. These two great acts inaugurate for Russia a new era; they prove that, in truly liberal ideas, in measures intended to elevate the working people, she is in advance of every nation in Europe, not even excepting England; that a spirit pervades her like that which is liberating our own laborers, and that a new-born life, energy, and enterprise are quickening the whole mass of the Russian nation—a life in character, activity, and aims, closely resembling our own.

The emancipation act and the new constitution are the sure prophesies of her magnificent future. Russia and America are both passing through a revolution which will place the future greatness of both on the same basis, and that an immovable one-a working population of landholdThe change which is being effected in the South by the breaking up of the great estates, and placing them in the hands of the laborers, and the operation of our home

ers.