lord were to continue for two years the an- sory occu The villagers continued in occupation of the lands which they had heretofore pos- Compulsessed; but they became bound to pay a pur- pations. chase-price or a sufficient equivalent in rent or in labor. The continued occupation was not voluntary, but compulsory; and no peasant may withdraw without consent of the whole community, which, in the northern parts of the Empire, is gained only by purchase. The lands thus acquired are not owned by individuals, but by the community. All obligations to the former proprietor or to the State are obligations of the associated villagers. The land system of the greater portion of Russia is thus a system of communism. The industrious villager is the co-obligant of System the idle and vicious. The motive which im- munism. pels a man to the careful cultivation of his land is weakened by the knowledge that in a short time he will have to change fields with his neighbor. The peasant is assured of a maintenance which no misconduct on his part can alienate, but he is left almost without hope of rising to a better position. The portion of land assigned to him furnishes only partial employment. Recent changes in the excise laws bring stimulants within easy reach of all. Promoted by idleness, ignorance, and of com Increase of ness. abundant opportunity, drunkenness has feardrunken- fully increased since the abolition of serfdom. The indolent peasant works reluctantly for hire to his former lord. Notwithstanding an abundance of laborers, there is a serious insufficiency in the supply of labor. It is believed that over much of the country the productions of agriculture are diminishing. Farragut Monitor and Merrimac. [In 1862, the Greeks expel their King, Otto. George, the second son of the King of Denmark, is chosen by England to take his place; representative institutions are established. Napoleon begins his aggressive schemes on Mexico. Farragut captures New Orleans; the Alabama leaves the Mersey, notwithstanding protests; the Federals are repulsed at Bull Run; Lee invades the North and then retreats; the Merrimac is worsted by the Monitor; Annam cedes part of Cochin China to France.] THE POLISH INSURRECTION (A.D. 1860-1863) ALFRED RAMBAUD G Poland's REAT hopes awakened in Poland at the accession of the new sovereign; they went as far as the re-establishment of the Constitution, and even to the reunion of the Lithuanian provinces with the kingdom. The awakening of Italy had made that of Poland appear possible; the concessions of the Emperor of Austria to Hungary led men to expect the same from Alexander II. The hopes. interview of the three northern sovereigns at Warsaw, in October, 1860, caused a certain irritation among the people. It is necessary also to take into consideration the intrigues set on foot by the Polish committees abroad. If many Poles counted on the support of Alexander II. to help them to raise their country, others wished to emancipate her entirely from Russia. There existed, therefore, two parties, in Warsaw and in the foreign committee; the one wished to take Italy as an example, the other would be content with the new lot of Hungary. The emancipation of the peasants Two parties. Policy of the Agri Society. Agitation was in Poland, as in Russia, the question of the day, but the conditions of the question were different in Warsaw from what they were in Moscow; the personal liberty of the rustics had been decreed by Napoleon I., at the time that the Grand Duchy was created; but as they had received no property, they continued to farm the lands of the nobles, and paid their rent either in money or by corvées. The substitution of a fixed money payment instead of a corvée was the first step in the path of reform, which might be carried further by allowing the husbandman to become a proprietor, by paying annually a fixed sum toward the repurchase of the land, and putting means of credit at his disposal. The Agricultural Society, presided over by Count Andrew Zamoiski, found that it was the interest of the Polish nation to anticipate the Russian Government, and to secure to the native nobility the honor of emancipation; the government, on the contrary, represented by M. Monkhanof, director of the Interior, decided that it was to its advantage to fetter the activity of the society, to forbid the discussion of the question of repurchase, and to confine its functions to the mutation of the crovée into fixed dues. The contest between the Agricultural Society and the Government increased the agitation which already existed at Warsaw. On the 29th of November, 1860, on the occasion of the thirtieth anniversary of the revolution of 1830, demonstrations at once national and religious took place in the streets of the capital, and portraits of Kosciuszko and Kilinski were distributed. On the 25th of February, 1861, the day of the anniversary of the battle of Grochov, the Agricultural Society held a meeting to deliberate on an address in which the Emperor should be asked for a constitution. Tumultuous crowds gathered in the streets, singing national songs. On the 27th, on the occasion of a funeral service for the victims of the preceding insurrections, there was a new demonstration, which had to be suppressed, with the loss of five killed and ten wounded. Prince Gortchakof, Viceroy of Poland, touched by these strange manifesta- Address tions, in which the disarmed people confined Emperor. themselves stoically to facing the musketry without interrupting their songs, labored with Count Zamoiski for the restitution of order. The address to the Emperor was circulated in Warsaw, and was covered with signatures; 100,000 persons quietly followed the obsequies of the victims of the 27th of February. Without desiring to grant a constitution, the Emperor Alexander II. made, however, many important concessions. He decreed (edict of March 26) a council of state for the kingdom, a department of public education and of worship, elective councils in each government and each district, and municipal councils at Warsaw and in the principal cities of the kingdom. to the |