CHAPTER XIII
THE CHARACTER OF POLITICAL EXILES.
TO the student of modern Russian history few questions are more important, and none, perhaps, is more interesting, than the question suggested by the title of this chapter—what is the character of the men and women who have been exiled to Siberia for offenses comprehensively but vaguely known in Russia as "political"? Are all of these people alike in their dispositions, their aims, and their methods, or do they differ among themselves in these respects? Are they reasonable, patriotic, liberty-loving citizens, actuated by disinterested motives and provoked into violence only by intolerable oppression and injustice, or are they merely a gang of wrong-headed malcontents, visionary enthusiasts, and fanatical assassins who would be imprisoned or hanged in any civilized state? In short, are the Russian political exiles entitled to our sympathy, or do they deserve our reprobation? It has been my fortune to make the personal acquaintance of more than five hundred members of the anti-Government party[1] in Russia, including not less than three hundred of the so-called nihilists living in exile at the convict mines or in the penal settlements of Siberia. I have formed a definite and well-settled opinion with regard to their character, and
- ↑ Of course, strictly speaking, there is no such thing in Russia as an "anti-Government party" in the sense of an organized and outspoken "opposition." I use the words merely to designate the whole body of people who secretly favor, or openly work for, the overthrow of the autocracy.
