EMANCIPATION.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1118, 4 May 1911, Page 6

EMANCIPATION.

THE PEASANTS. Russia had a groat day on March 4, It celebrated the signing of the Manifesto _ which fifty years ago liberated Hussia's serfs, as its peasantry thoa wore. '■This lias been tlio best day of my: life," Alexander II said fifty years ago after signing tlio Manifesto liberating tho sorts. Nicholas II marked the day by receiving tho Peasant Deputies,' thereby emphasising one of tho greatest acts of his own reign; / the Manifesto of October, 1905. Tho Tsar of Russia, in a rescript, saya that ho "has set before himself the. task of completing tho work of his grandfather, and transforming tlie Russian peasants into not merely free, but. economically strong land-owners. This can bo achieved by affording then! facilities to leave tho peasant communes and by tho improvement of agricultural ■science.

Tho Tsar expresses his conviction thaii tlio institutions to which tlie execution, of tho peasant reforms is to bo entrusted will maintain civil order among tho country population of Russia. The "Times". St. Petersburg correspondent says that ho was present at tho service which commemorated the signing of the Manifesto on March -1,. 1861, in the Bound Chamber of the Taurido Palace, where was unvc-ilod the bust of the Tsar Liberator erected by, the Peasant Deputies. "As soon as the choir began to chant) tho hymn to Alexander 11, tho ministers, members of Parliament, and journalists present knelt down. The delegates from tho villages, some of them old enough to remember the days of serfdom, and now full of joy at their happy understanding with Tsar Nicholas 11, were moved to tears. After a speech had been delivered by tho President of the Duma and the National Anthem had been sung and thrieo repeated, those peasants walked up to tho bust of Alexander II and laid bofore it armfuls of flowers,

"The fifty-one peasants who went in deputation to tho Winter Palace, were received in a manner surpassing ' all their expectations. Tho Tsar, who was attended only by M. Stolypin, expressed his warm appreciation at their spontaneous action in erecting a bust to his grandfather, tho Emperor Alexander 11. 'I am deeply touched, , he said, 'aud heartily tfiank you.' Ho afterwards spent an hour in private conversations with tho individual peasants, inquiring into their village affairs anc winning all their hearts. • "In IS6I •of a total population of 61,000,000, no fewer than 23,000,000 were tho serfs of private nobles, and more thnn 26,000,000 were peasants on State Domain and on the Imperial Appanages. Their emancipation, says the' "Times," "has not brought all the blessings that xvero expected from it. The effects that centuries of serfdom had produced on both classes could not bo eradicated in a day, or even in a generation. Tho communal system has not prevented, as it was expected to prevent, the growth of a proletariat and the social problems and dangers that tho existeneo of sueii a class involves, Moreover, it has acted as a drag on individual initiative and on tho development of Russia's resources. "The peasant, emancipated from being tho serf of a proprietor, has, to a largo extent, remained a. serf of tho Commune, a condition' from wliich M, Stolypin , s Land Ael—vliicli breaks up the 'Communes—which became law only last year, now enables him to free himself.' But, disappointing as the emancipation was to some of tho ardent hopes cherished nt the time, it will always be ono of tho brightest landmarks in 'Russian history." >