A Revolting Picture

Prince Krapotkine's disclosures in the uinetccnth centnry respecting Russian prisona go far toward justifying, uot the iissassinationfrenzy of Nihilisin, but the social revolt against Imperial aiethods of udministration. Radical even to tlie verge of Soeiali.st extravao-ance as are his political opinions.there fs not a vestige of passion or fanaticism in these pages. The penal ínstitutions of the Empire are describe l witb simplicity and gravity, not as they appear in the Imperial deevees, nor as they are pictured by foreign book-writers, who are favored with partial glimpses of the best interiore at tho discretion of the authorities, but as they are in hideous and revolting reality. Prince Krapotkiue's interest in the question of prison reform was first exoited in 1861, when ne was appoinieu bhuivmují ji uuo ui thfl numcrous iuvestigatingconimissions organized by the Governors of provinces. He was then a favorite at Court and one of the best edueated men in Russia; he is now a convict in a French prison, condemned underrepublican institutions for his eonnection with the Internationale; and in the interval he has shared the sufferings of lus political associates in the peöal institutions he nAw í-locoviViíi Víis iun(nnt of Russhin prison life, based as it is upon personal observation and a critical stiuly of official docunieuts bcars no evidence of cxaggeration, but is moderate in tone, delibérate, reasonable and convincing. One of the most abominable features of tho Russian system is the haphazard way in which arrests are made and the ï „.-.„in,-,,! f nu ïi il i-i4i ril f a TíOl'í ll G in overcrowdcd and pestilential lockups. Prince Krapotkine proves from the anmuil report of the Ministry of Justice that of 98,964 arrests made during 1876, only 87,159 cases werebrought before a court, and of these 12,612 resulted in acquittal. More than 75,000 persons were arrested on frivolous charges, and of the 24,547 who were actually convictad, about 15 per cent were accused of neglecting to comply with tho passport regulations or of similar offences. These 100,000 "suspect s," thegreat majority of whom were innocent, were doom cd to remain f or moaths, many of them even for years, in the provincial lock-ups, or ostrogs, where they were "at the mercy of a set of omnipotent jailers, packed like herrings in .■i p.afik. in rooms of inconceivable ness, in m atmosphere that sickens, eren lo iiisen.sibility, any one entering "directly from the open air." The monstroiis overcrowding of these h'lthy dens is proved from the official statisties for 1879 when tliere werc 7ü,4iS8 cases awaiting trial and an aggregate maximum capacit}' of the prisons for 54,2.53 souls. The frightfui mortality rato is evinced by a declaration in a sermón preached by the priest of Kharkoff Frison to the efteets that of 500 inmates, 200 died from seurvyin the course of four months. The horrors of prison life are illnstrated by recitals like Mme. Koutouzoff's, whicli kindie a glow of righteous indignation in the í.U.iAlrn í-i-P n i-nr tni.- ) il A.r! f 11 (1 11 ví'.Ml M O warmer tlian ice-water ia his veins. This woinan was convicted of the technical offense of opening a school for peasants' chililren without authority from the Ministry of Public Instnictioii. As liür hi'ishand was a foreicnei" and her aífense was not penal, she wus sentenej(.l to expulsión from the írontier. The ourney from St. Petersburg to the Prussian liñ! oecupied about two months, .luring whieh she experienced in the town look-ups horrors indescribable. Forced lo stand for hours in an open Bourtyard under a drenehing rain, brulally insulted by soldiers and keepers, dependent upon murderesses and prostitutes for íood and protection, láarching fonr days at a time with bleeding feet, sleeping in overerowded rooms no better than sewers, draggëd intoprisons where men amused themselves by tormenüiig maniaca and dranken women, and iinally escaping through tho venality -f hor jailors, tiiis helpless schoolnistresS Is an unimpeachabíe witne.--' of he revolting degradation and heartending sunerings to which Russian irisonir.s are subjccted. To her teslinony is added in Prineo Krapotkine's irticle a gre.it array of evidenco from nany sources, bearing mainly upon the rotracted duration of preliminary de ention, the herding of hvmdreds of pris m;rs in small rooms, tüe niimoraniy iiid venality of jailors, the cruelties of liseipline, solitary coflfïoemeftt and starvation diet, and tho futility of all atcmpts on 1 lic part nf honost and eapaAa men to reform the abuses of the systom and to mitígate the horrors of pnson life. The f ate of the reformera is the most melanclioly feature of this startling narrative. ïho chief of the model pen al settlemcnt at Kara was dismissfed a soon as an English book-writor hai sounded his praises. A reformer who Iwirl hnA 'wlriiirnVilo nnpOSS ín ïl.lllfil ji)7' atiog tho condition of juvenile crinunaj was degraded .as soon a.s poople begai ío talk'about ít, and tho institulion va remanded to oneof the old-linio ofHcial who cotdd restore tho rod and tho black hole. Princo Krapotkino coacludes his bbi vey of this subject with the refloctioa that these examples oí barliai-ons! in humamty and systematK! mismanagement are typical of what Russians are now Buffering and of what. they may expect in the future, as ir i- an idle fancy to imagine that the piïsons ( ;;i lie reformed so long as they remain a leiieCUOU UI MUptUlUL auJUiuiouawvu. Certainly nothing has occurred sinee the present rcign opcnocl to eneourage the hope that serióos reforaas nre to be erpected in any branch of administration. Sinee Oount Tolstoi succeedetj General [gnateiffin the Biiuistry of the Interior, the State polici; has beconie almost as independent and irresponsible as it was before general Melikoffundertook to subject it to systeinatíc íestraint. The Third Section luts virluallv reirained the immuaitv enioyed by it in theolddays, and irbitrary arreste are followed by indefinito tenas of lmprisomnent La "the filtby holes, desoribed by Princo Krapotkino." Unhappy Russia! The reforms ar(! denied from above, wiiüc. lroDi belöw tlicre is naught but desperatíon and l'ren.y. "Defeotnre ffuas" are the cause of most of the tires whieh oecur iu dwelling-houses. This source oí danger may be easily removed by making the chimneys of hard-baked" ttlazèd pipe, enclosed in a tliin wuli oí bricks. The expense of such a chinme.y is not much groater than the ordinary brick one, while tiic draft is far better, and thc risk of a disastrous fire is redúoed to a minimum. Yet, gtraage to sav. such chimneys are rarely put up.