COLONISTS AND EXILES IN SIBERIA. 529 



removes those who are not irretrievably ruined, and those who are 

 not criminals, so much the sooner from evil influences. More diffi- 

 cult, certainly, yet less dangerous to the more hopeful criminals, is 

 the journey by land. Driving along Russian roads in a Russian 

 peasant-wagon drawn by galloping Russian horses is certainly a 

 species of torture according to our ideas; but it is not so to those 

 who have, from their youth upwards, been accustomed to no better 

 conveyances or smoother roads. To be sure, the exiles are more 

 closely packed in a wagon holding six or eight people than the 

 peasant packs his when he drives with his family; the driver or the 

 accompanying soldier is in no way more comfortable than the 

 convicts, with the exception of the worst criminals, whose chains 

 jar more uncomfortably than usual on such a journey. An exile 

 belonging to a cultured family, and convicted, for instance, on 

 political grounds, cries out under the torture of such a journey, and 

 is fully justified in depicting it in the blackest possible colours from 

 his own point of view; but if we take into account the local 

 conditions, and the customs of the country, we must at least 

 acquit the directors of these forced journey ings from the charge of 

 cruelty under which they lie. And as for the journeys on foot, 

 these never take place in winter, it is only strong and able men 

 who are forced to make them, not more than forty versts a day are 

 traversed, and every third day is spent in resting at one of the 

 prisons on the way. The soldiers in charge walk too, they must 

 keep constant watch over the prisoners for whom they are respon- 

 sible, and must therefore exert themselves much more; for if the 

 murderer has to drag his chains, the soldier has to carry his weapon, 

 baggage, and ammunition. He, however, is the irreproachable 

 servant of the state, the other an outcast from society! 



But it is certainly unjust that an exile of higher social position 

 who has been convicted of a common crime should, if he has still 

 means at his disposal, or can obtain them, be treated otherwise than 

 one of lower degree, who is sentenced for the same crime. The 

 former is permitted to travel to his place of banishment at his own 

 time, and with every comfort, guarded only by two Cossacks, whom 

 he must pay for the double journey. 



(M70) 34 



