STOPPED BY THE POLICE. 195 



had committed suicide, and the police refused to let 

 him be buried outside for fear he had not committed 

 suicide. To settle the question an autopsy was held 

 on the corpse, and when it was cut open a police certi- 

 ficate was found inscribed on the heart stating his age, 

 his name, his sex, the color of his hair, beard, and eyes, 

 his native village, and the number of his house, etc. 



In Russia almost every conceivable thing a man 

 might do is regulated by the written law. The Rus- 

 sian idea of governing the people is in direct opposi- 

 tion to the conceptions of the West. With us every- 

 thing that the law does not expressly forbid is per- 

 mitted ; in Russia everything is forbidden that the law 

 does not expressly grant, which means next to noth- 

 ing at all. And when the whole matter is removed 

 from the realm of theory to every-day practice, 

 Russia, though there is a code of between twenty and 

 thirty huge folio volumes of about 2000 pages apiece, 

 is a country as lawless as an African chieftain's do- 

 main. A man with neither money to bribe, nor influ- 

 ence in high places to protect, is at the mercy of any 

 petty police officer or secret government spy, who, out 

 of sheer personal spite, may get him shipped off to the 

 mines of Siberia and ruined for life, though he be the 

 most innocent and harmless person in all Russia. 



The second man, who greased the palm and found 

 his way to the good offices of the little bald-headed 

 secretary by means of rubles, seemed to be a burlak 

 or city workman. The exact nature of the transaction 

 we couldn't make out. This time when the secretary 

 examined the document that was handed to him he 

 discovered the rubles neatly placed between the folds 



