The Oglethorpe echo. (Crawford, Ga.) 1874-current, November 25, 1892, Image 3

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RE?. TALME’S SERMON. The Brooklyn Divine Tales Sides With Tie Czar, AND SAYS THERE 18 NO COUNTRY SO MISUNDERSTOOD AS RUSSIA. Text: II. peter 2:10; Presumtious are they, self-wilied, they are not afraid to speak evil of dignities. Amid a most reprehensible crew, Peter here paints by one stroke the portrait of those who deiight to slash at ptople in authority, Now, we all have a right to criticise evil behavior, whether ir high places or low, but the fact that one is high up is no proof that he ought to be brought drown. It is a bad streak of human nature now, as it was in the time of the text a bad streak of human nature that success of any kind excites the jealous antipathy of those who cannot climb the same steep. There was never a David on a throne, that there was not some Absalom who wanted to get it. There never was a Christ but the world had saw and ham¬ mer ready to fashion a cross on which to assassinate him. Out of this evil spirit grow nc.t only individual but national and international defamation. To no country has more injustice been done than to our own in days that are past. Long before Martin Chuzzlewit was printed, the literature of the world scof¬ fed at everything American. Victor Hugo, as honest as he was{unequalled in literary power, was so misinformed concerning America that he wrote: “The must singular thing is tbe need of whittling, with which all Americans are possessed. It is sucli that on Sundays they give tbe sailors little bits of wood because if they did not they would whittle the ship. In court, at the most critical moment, tbe judge, whittling, says: 'Prisoner, are you guilty?” and the accused tranquilly responds, Lord whittling: Russell ‘I am not guilty.’ ” John called us “A bubble bursting nationality.” But our country has at last recovered from such carica¬ ture, and there is not a street on any city of Europe or Asia where the word “America” will not win deference. But, there is a sister nation on the other side of the sea now going through the process of international defamation. There is no country on earth so misunderstood as Russia, and no monarch more misrepre¬ sented than its emperor. Will it not be in the cause of justice if I try to set right the minds of these who compose this au¬ gust assemblage and the minds of those to whom, on both sides of the ocean, these words shall come? If the slander of one person is wicked, then the slander of one hundred and twentyjmillion people is one hundred and twenty million times more wicked. In the name of righteous¬ ness and in behalf of civilization, and for the encouragement of all those good people who have been disheartened by the scandalizatinn of Russia, I now speak. But, Russia is so vast a subject that to treat it in one discourse is like at¬ tempting to run Niagra falls over ono mill wheel. Do not think that the very marked courtesies extended me last sum¬ mer by the emperor and empress and crown prince of Russia have compliment¬ ed me into the advocacy of that empire, for I shall present you authenticated facts that will reverse your opin¬ ions, if they have been antagonis¬ tic, as mine were reversed. I went last summer to Russia with as many baleful prejudices as would make an avalanche from tho mountain of fabrication which has for years been heaped up against that empire. You ask how is it possible that such appalling misrepresentations of Russia could stand? I account for it by the fact that tho Russian language is to most an impassable wall. Malign the United States or malign Great Britain or Germany or France, and by the next ca¬ blegram the falsehood is exposed for we all understand English, and many of our people are familiar with German and French. But the Russian language, beau¬ tiful and easy to those born to speak it, is to most vocal organs an unpronounca ble tongue, and if at St. Petersburg or Moscow any anti-Russian calumny were denied, most of the world outside of Russia would never see or hear the de¬ nial. What are the motives for misrepresen¬ tation? Commercial interest and inter¬ national jealousy, Russia is as large as all the rest of Europe put together. Re¬ member that a nation is only a man or a woman on a big scale. Go into any neighborhood of America and ask the physician who has a small practice what he thinks of a physician who has a large practice. Ask the lawyer who has no briefs whnt he thinks of the lawyer who lias three ror ms filled with clerks trying in vain to transact the him. superabundant the business that comes to Ask minister who has a very limited audience what he thinks of the minister who has overflowing audiences. Why does not Europe like Russia? Because she has enough acreage to swallow oil Europe and feel she had only half a meal. Rus¬ sia is as long as North and South Ameri¬ ca put togother. “But,” says some one. “do you mean to charge t-he authors and lecturers who have written or spoken against Russia with falsehood?” By no means. You can find in any city or na¬ tion evils innumerable if you wish to discourse about them. I said at 8t. Petersburg to the most eminent lady of Russia out-ide of the im¬ perial family: “Are those stories of cru¬ elty and outrage that I have heard and read about true?” She replied: “No doubt some of them are true, but do you not in America even have officers of the law cruel and outrageous in their treat¬ ment of offenders? Do you not have in¬ stances where the police have clubbed in¬ nocent persons? Have you no instances where people in brief authority act ar¬ rogantly?” I replied: “Yes, we do.” Then, she said: “Why does the world hold our government responsible for offi¬ ex¬ ceptional outrages? As soon he immediately as an cial is found to be cruel, myself: loses his place, ’’Then I bethought Do the people in America hold the govern¬ ment at Washington responsible for the Homestead riots at Pittsburg, or for rail¬ road insurrections, orfoi the torch of the vil’ ian that consumes a block of houses, or for the ruffians who arrest a rail train, making the passengers hold np their arms until the pockets are picked ? Why then hold the emperor of Rusaia, who is an impressive and genial man as I have ever looked at or talked with, respoMi- bie.for the wrongs enacted in a nation witb a population twice ns large in num bers as the millions of America? Sup Lgtol, ivae one monarch in Europe Tuled oveT Scottaod. Ireland. France, Gertn.iny, Spain. Italy. Austria, Norwav ed Sweden, Would it be fair to hold the monarch responsible for all that oc curred in that mighty dominion? Now, you must remember that Alexander III. ieigns over wider dominion As than nation all those empires nut together. a is only a man or a woman on a big scale. let me ask, would you individually prefer to be judged by your faults or your virtues? All people, except our selves, have faults. write The pessimist attempting to your biography would take you in your weaker moods, and the picture of you on the first page of your biography would be as you looked after some meanness had been practiced on you and you were tearing mad. Now, as 1 am an optimist, I give you fair warning that if lever write your biography, I will take vou ns ,ou looked .h. d., M.** dends came in 20 per cent larger than you ever anticipatea, or the morning on vour way to business after your first child was born, or the morning after your conversion when heaven had rolled in on your soul. The most accurtea homoculi of all the earth are the pessi mists who whether they judge individ ual or national i character «go r „«f P - ond and whether whetner they wield tongue or pen, are filled with anathematization and who havo more to sav about the freckles nn on the cheeks of Wntvthanof beauty than ot the th sun rises and sunsets that flush it. It is most important that this country hive riaht ideas concerning Russia, for, among “n airthenatronithis ev,o ibis sidp side of of heaven heaven Russia is America s best menu. incic has not been an hour in the last seventy five vears that the shipwreck of free in ... „"d VomT would not have If called forth f ,1, from all the he despotisms despotisms or Europe and Asia a shout of perdition, gladness wide as earth and deep as Russia Ttnf who ever else failed us. nev er did,and rd oed whoever whoever else else wasldoubtful wasiaouDHuqrvus Rus sia never was. Russia, then an old gov evnment smiled on the cradle of our eovermnent while yet in its earliest in ? fhemToSf p_ nm , Catherine of Russia in 17 1 G, nr or thereabouts, offer^d oneTea kind uinuiy v in- m tcrference that our thirteen colonies tniobt not go down under the cruelties of var A vain in 1813 a’merciful Russia stretch ed forth toward towaid ns us a n hand . AVhen our dreadful civil war was raging and the'two thunder clouds of northern and southern valor clashed, Russia'practi „,llv -Keep'yifur cold to hand! the nations of bMX Eurone men of the north and the south settle their own troubles.” I rehearsed some of those scenes f to the emperor last July, “Ton w«,a position probably too young father to remember the your took at that time,” but with radiant smile he responded: “Ob, yes, I re member, I remember,” and there was an accentuation of the words which demon strated to me that these occurrences had often been talked of in the imperial household. I stood on New York bat tery, during the war as I suppose many of you did, looking off through a magni fying glass upon a fleet of Russian ships, “What are they doing there?” I asked, and so every one asked: “What busi ness have the Russian war ships in that our New York harbor?” Word came another fleet of Russian ships was in San Francisco harbor. “What does this mean?” our rulers asked, but did not get immediate answer. In these two Amer ican harbors, the Russian fleets seemed sound asleep and the Russian flag, wheth er floatmg in the air or drooping by the flagstaff, made no answer to our inquisi tiveness. 'asked William H. Seward, secretary of state the Russian minister at ’ ,.f ilu.uo Una Washington, , • , the meaum ot u . c it sian ships in American waters, and ^*ot no satisfactory response. Admiral Far raout said to a Russian officer after dining 1 re . a. the borne at of the the eminent eminent nolitieian po itmian Thurlow Reed, that maker ana unmakei of presidents : “What are you doing herewith those Russian vessels of war?” Not until the war was over was it found out that in case of foreion n intervention all the guns and - the , . last gun of f ,1 these two , fleets m New York and San Francisco harbors were to open in full diapason unon upou anv any foreign ‘“‘“'g 1 * ship = ” that should dare to interfere with the right . of Americans, north and south, to settle their own con troversy. But for those fleets, in oui presence in American waters, there can he be no no doubt doubt that tnat two two of 01 tbe ice mightiest m„iii nations of Europe would have mingled in our fight. But for those two fleets, the American government would have been today only a n.„o 1. hi.tory I l declare before God and the natior that I believe tbat Russia saved the United States of America, T.ast .Tulv I Good be fore lore » a great trrent throntr tluong of ot Russians Russians in in the im. embarrassing position of speaking to an audience three-fourths'of which could nol understand my lan«uage auv more than I could understand theirs: But there were * two names that thtr they tlinmimliliMin t lorou bly un derstood as well as you understand them, and the utterance of those two namei brou"fat forth an acclamation that made ike the rite city hall hall of o\ St o . Petersburg ^ ouakt 1 from foundation stone to tower, anc those two names were “George Washing ton” and “Abraham Lincoln.” Now. if •f mi imnorf-irit P L that we should 'l; feel Mght • toward tnat mighty, tv that h t God trod giv en friend, of more than one hundred vear« 2 Yea because it is a nation of more m ° re nosribilities P than any other except our own cg/tuld should wp we cultivate cultivate its its friend- ne ship. There is a vast realm of liussia Rf vet unoccupied. If the population of, the ine rest res. of oi Europe nu F were poured By iDto Rus sia, would be only part» ly omipiec^ ; d it After a while, America will be so well populated that the tides of emigration wi l eo the other way, and by railroads -I „ J. from Ruaaia Russia ut . t Behrins Behnng Straits—where Asia comes within thir-y six miles of joining America—millions ol Deoole will pour down through Russia ana and Siberia aioeria, and nuu on vu down uo through all for the civilization . ... o the region* waiting the next oentury to come and culture great harvests and build mighty cities. What the United States now sre on the Western Wcatern Hemisnhere Hemisphere, Russia Russia will will be De on o the Eastern Hemisphere. Not only be cause of what Russia has been to ouj republic but because of what she will be, let let us us cease cease tneaeiamauon the defamation of or all ® that pertains to that great empire. If Russia cat afford to be the friend of America, Amer-, ica can afford to be tbe friend of Russia, iSsrJKSr J siisza family at tbe palace of Peterhof I would do if I ever got back to America, and tbat is to answer some of the calumnies which ’nave been announced and reitera ,ed ,„d ..creo.eped .-.in,. R.a.la, Ca.timny the First. The emperor ana all the imperial family are in perpetual dread of assassination. They are practi cally prisoners in the winter palace and trenches with dynamite have been louuo dug around ihe winter palace. They dare not venture fourth, except preceded and followed and surrounded by a most elaborate military guard. My answer to this is that I never saw a face more free from worriment than the emperor's face. The winter said palace, .round which the tranche, are to have been charged with dynamite and in which the imperial family are said to be prisoners, has never been the residence o) the imperial family ono moment since the present emperor lias been on the throne. That wmter palace has been changed into a museum and a picture r/allery and a place of great levees. He spends li is summer in ibe palace ,1 P terhof, fifteen or twenty nules from bt. Petersburg; his autumns at Gatschina, an( p his winters in a palace at St. Peters burg, but in quite a different part of the city to that occupied bythe winter palace. jje rl des through the streets unattended, except by the empress at his side and the driver on the box. There is not a person in this audience more free from fear of harm , than , , he is • ... ills sub subjects Sects not not onlv only admire him but almost worship him. 'I here arc cranks m Ru-sia, but have we not had our Charles Guiteau and John Wilkes Booth’ “Rut” some one i did ... not ... the Russians kill the fathet . of the present emperor? Yes, but in the time that Russia has had one assnssina ^ pf America has had two presidents , assassinated. up„t But i, l „ n n t tli» emperor an autocrat? By which yon mean, has he not power without restric tion? Yes, but it all depends upon what I * _ ^ ou ' “ autocrat factory, . auto an in your or an crat in your store, or an autocrat in your style j of business 2 It all depends whelh- upon what use you make of your power.whet er to bless or to oppress, and Horn the time of Peter the Great—that Russian who was the wonder of all time, the em peror p who became incognito a ship car penter that he might , help ship bar] e_ ters, and a mechanic that he might help mechanics, and put on poor men’s garb and tbat he hislrnd might sympathize with men, who ^ in : his last words words said said ■ . “Mv My lord lorn, 1 i dying. Oh, help unbelief. _ am my say from that time the throne of Russia has for the most part been occupied by sS™ and .yn.p. thetic as they were powe ful. g further back than Nicholas, the grand father of the dlin.nt present emperor. id!. Nicholas had In, ,bo „i hi. admin isfration the emancipation of the sorts. When it was found that he received premeditated the the freedom of the serfs, he following letter of threat from a deputa tion of noblemen : “Your Imperial Mbj esty: We learn that the council and sen ate of the empire have before them fnr deliberation,with your sanction, the plan to abolish serfdom throughout the Rus sian empire. We nro perfectly willing to abide by vour majesty’s decision in this matter and to loyally support your will, but there are in Russia a large number of small owners of serfs, who are dependent of for actual subsistence on the labor those serfs and who consequently will be left whoUy penniless and without an|y resources bv the operation of emanci pation. They will then un doulitedly resort to desperate despair mcas ures,and in the extremity of their will put the life of your majesty in jeopardy.’ that will The emperor long replied history: in words last hs as “Gentlemen, if I should die because of my do votion to such a cause, I am willing to meet my f a t e .” When under an atlack of pneumonia service f rom exposure to severe weather in the of bis people, that emperor put down his head on ihe pillow of dust, Russia crowned. lost Then as good a monarch as was ever came Alt . xailder n , the father of the present empe roj . Andd ,j l( . mightiest opposition, and in numerable protests, he, with one stroke of hi* pen, emancipated 20 000,000 serfs, practically and “ay in K • ' own masters, this is for you and your children forever. On the day he was basely aHBahBiiiated (^an<l ^ I will parenthetically say that I saw his carriage in splinters, as it looked when he stepped from it not to save himself, hut to look after some poor people of the street who had been ^ saw the bed on which he died, the mattress yet c , jmson with his life’s blood)—on the day he was assassinated he had on his table, found af forward, a free constitution that proposed to give the right of s^rage to the of Rug ? la - H 1( - had not been for the assassination, he would have soon signed that constitution, but that horrible violence put things back, as violence always doe*. What a marvelous char aeter of kindness wa-8 Alexander II, tno rather “ ClS n , KnltJ A iei 8n derthe Second, hrarine tha/ nobl , m an had formed a conspiracy against his life, had him arrested. Then the eyes of the criminal were bandaged, and ho traveled was put in only i carriage, and for some time on. gtoppinK for food- After aw hilo the bandage was lemcvej, and supposing that he must by that time have been almost in Siberia, found that he was at the door of his own home, lint this punishment was sufficient. The peror having heard that a poet had written a poc m defamatory of his empress, ordered the poet into his presence. Expecting palace, great found sever- the ity, the poet entered the and emperor and empress and dukes and duchess gathered together. “Good morning,” said the emperor to the offender. I hear you have wrlt ten a most beautiful poem, and I have sent I f or you that you may read it to us and we may | have the pleasure of bearing it.” The man I cried out, “Send me to Siberia, or do anything : with me, but do not make me read this poem in your presence.” He was compelled to read | the against defamatory whom it poem, was aimed, and then said - the “I empress do not j : think he will write any more verses about us *R a,n Let hlm A “ d t F Ml ' - An d now come* in Alexander the Third, doing the Viest things possible for the nation which he j loves and which as ardently loves him. But ; what an undertaking to rule one hundred and : twelve million J, people, ^ made up !, of one hundred tribfcg and r apeakin forty different ] angua g e s. But notwithstanding all this, : things there m-ive on marvelously well, and I do not believe that out of five hundred thousand i Eussians you would find more than one cafumny person : whodjslikeg ^ emperOT> and B0 ,hat (>f dread 0 f assassination drops so flat it can fail no flatter. the Second. Ir to Russia, . Calumny you go stopped here you are under severest espionage, and questioned there, and m danger of arrest. But In vopinion is that if a man is disturbed in a , it is became he ought to he disturbed Russia is the only country in Europe in which my baggage was not examined. X earned m m lla nd, tied together with a cord so tbat their ti t!ogcoald u . SW!n) » pile of eight or ten books a ;[ of them from lid to hd cursing Russia, but I had no trouble in taking with me the books. There is ten times more difficulty in getting your baggage through the American custom house than through the interceded Russian. I for speak not f< r myatlf) for f, lends me r n American wharves, and I em not detained. I wa- several days in Russia b?fore I was »^.’sratSwtsiBM u? lim, beci^n^vfisfsom^hig"^- arid ofci yoars.Df had barter, cious about when ha is around, look attek- yoursilversspoons, honest I promise you. an koaestwan or on wo ^ &XT. j tg course from southrry Europe (o those north¬ ern regions, yon will halve no more molestation orsupervisal than in Brooklyn oriu New York hm nunl ViuaJmand its rulerare so oppo , cd to any other religion except the other u ree k religion, religion, tha> that nothing hjiey will but. not persecution allow any ^and what are the facts? I liarl a long ride in St. Petersburg and its suburbs with the prefect, a brilliant, efficient and lovely man, who is the highest official in the city of St. Petersburg, rel Pj on !6> that of tho Greek church?" “No,” 8a id he, “I am a Lutheran.” “What is your re ligion?” I said to ono of Petersburg. the highest and most said: influential officials at 8t. He Aniericoi,'“of 1 stil?'another '"‘‘nomination’ of Christians, and never having been inside of a Greek church in my life until I went to Rug sia. could not have received more consideration *[»•» man’s domoilRtr ated to me verv nothing plainly that do with a his religion in Russia has to proferment of either office or social considera- position, The only questions taken into such haTnot Sin SP Peto/sbuTg an hour before I received an X invitation believed to it. preach Beside the all gospel of Christ as this, have you forgotten that the Crimean war, which shook the earth, grew out of Russia's interference in behalf of the persecuted Ohnst ian8 of aU natioo8 in Turkey. “But,” says BOme one, “have there not been persecutions of other religions in Russia?” No doubt, just, as in other times in New England we burned witches and as we killed Quakers and as the Jews in America liavo been outrageously treated ever gince l can remember, and the Chinese in our 0 wn land have been pelted, and their stores tom down, and their way from the steamer wharf to he.r destined quarters tracked with their own blood, The devil of persecution is m every i an d and in all ages. Some of us in the different denominations of Christians in Amer ca have felt differently the thrust of did persecution, things differently because we thought would, or if they had tho from those who power, put us in a furnace eight times heated, one more degree of caloric than Nebnchaduezzar'*. Persecutions in all lands, but the emperor of Russia sanctions none of them. Ihadamost satisfactory talk with tho emperor about the re ]jgjoug of tha ^ worldj aud ), 0 thinks and feels as you and j that religion is something be tween a man and liis God, and no one lias a right to interfere with it. You may go right Ep.s- up to St. Petersburg and Moscow with your copal liturgy or your Presbyterian catechism or your Congregationalist liberalism or your Im mersionist’s Baptistry, or any other religion, and if you mind your own affairs am) lot others mind theirs, you will not be molested, Cfthnnnytlieiourth:Russiaissovei'yj:rasp- the in g of territory and slm seems to want wor id. But what are ihe facts? During the last century and a quarter, the United States have taken possession of everything between J. «£» — has taken possession of Hourly three million square miles, and by the extent of her domain has added 250,000,000 population, while Russia population—England’s “SJTSS’&StSSiSi advanco of m illion of domain by 250,000,000 against Uussia’s advanco of domain by 18,000,000. * P®;’ try Kul * ^ van( ! e of^onmin by' 250 , 000 . 000 ! The United States and England bad better keep still about extravagant and ex tortionate enlargement of domain, ' the Fifth, 8i ^ )a T <1 0 tj D i 0 (lr ve n fiko dumb cat e . no trial te afforded to tlie mines, suspeotedonesi where they they ar0 pnt lllt0 nll jc:ksilver are whipped and starved and some days find themselves going around without any head, ^ ° f ^ e m f ° ^ ^ fc °kes tCtmits, n .^ a r be n gta in ftr0 dlH1 bed and w j ljppod t0 death in the pros ,. nce of howling mobs. Offenders bear their own flesh siss under the hot irons. ^ l onelrtR thSn'ttSf11,^5^,“nd^omo^ t lienit cme Hy is an imgossibility. red I hold in niy hand a card. Yon see on it that circle, That is the government’s seal on a card giving me ptrmissir n to % i«it nil the prisons of St. , 1 ^”/"'* tlie'n'lesscn^Thande^Vis card the to me, he told nw Hint a carriage was at d< or tor my disposal in visi, ing the prisons. It so happened, however, that I was crowded with engagements aud I could not mako tho visitation. But do you suppose such cheerful permission and a carriage to boot would have been afforded to me if the prisons of Russia are such bells on earth ac they have been described to be? 1 asked an eminent and distinguished American: “Have you visited the prisons of St. Petersburg, and how do they differ from Amer s prisons?” He replied: “I have visited them and they are as well ventilated and as well conditioned in every respect as the majority of the prisons in America.’' Are women whipped • a otrrf»t«v jluit corneH fr<ini tho nia „ u faetory af fabrication, a manufactory , httt runs day and night, bo that the supply may meet the demand. But how about Siberia? My answer is, Hibc . . .. r , riHOn . , « llss j„ a orison more iliau twice the m/e of the United States. John How fl|() nho d j d more f or t tic improvement of ’ and the reformation of criminals than pri[ 0IlerH lived, any nia n that ever his name a synonym f or mercy throughout Christendom, declared by voiec ?^mfnafs alid ^n that the system of tran-portation 0 irom Rusda to Siberia was an ad mirable plan, advocating open «ir punishment r& the r than dungeonment and also because it f e ?titllewina theplan * of deportatioo otcrini inalg fiQm Rlwaia t 0 giberis, oommemled it to ] and , ff a man commits murder in Rns iia he not electrocuted as we electrocute him, or choked to death by a halter as we choke ' Russia is the only country hitu to d#ath . has been on fcai t(, from which the death penalty high dr j veu cxoe pt in the case of treason, ji ur derer-< and desperate villains are »< nt to the hardest part of Siberia, but no man is sent to Bilteria or doomed to any kind of punishment j gussiauntil he lias a fair trial. Ho far as t h e jr being hustled off in Ihe night and not k now ,ng why {, they are exiled or punished have is con al] t e criminals in Russia an open trial before a iurv just as we have in America, cxceP £ t in revolutionary or riotoua times, and naw j n Am erica at such times the writ of {, ab eiis corpus is suspended, There are in Ru» B ; a o; ran a juries and petit juries,and the right to ohallen((e t h e jurors, and the prisoner other oonfronts his accuser, and mark this, as in no coun after a prisoner has been condemned by the ^ and judges, he may appeal to the minis (j{ (h( . JIltf .rior, and after tbat to the senate, atld after that to the emperor, who is oonstant ly pardoning. £, As I said the violent and mur are nt to the hardest part of Siberia, but tjl( , more moderste criminals to more pro V . (oug ” rtH o{ Siberia, and those who have on & , itt k cri mmality to parts of Siberia po.i t < , „ fn .i f or climate, for von ought to is , ■ and wjde an( j i ong that it reaches from , 0 t0 mdity, from almost arctic blast ag mi)d M that of Italy. and Run your will gXhattlfe - , (h map P of t he world, you lowest part of Siberia is on the fort _ fi f t h degree of latitude, and the richest part' j of Italy is So on that tho Siberia game reaches forty-fifth from degree the f ^itude. a t the north to the palm leaf fans at the th ’ rt has been demonstrated that 90 per t of the p. UBKlan criminals colonized into Liberia go roto a climate miiaer than Sew York _ a j and songful with birds and confound embroidered witb flora enouK h manifold to the botan j Ht( . Much of the soil is a rich loam and f wait for a p i ow ^ liberate them. When —iminal is tan* to Siberia, in the vast ma | j ord y 0 f cases it gives under him the au opportunity best possible to naks . a new gtar t circnm stance«. The criminal is allowed to take hjl0rter {alni]y ' al ong. In tbe quicksilver of sibnda lbe hardest place of expatru ope-fonrth of tbe miners are crimi other tbree-fourtb* go there because -——- - -— After Being fn Siberia awBiXe, the condemned go to aerning a livelihood, and they come to own the.!' own farms, and orchards anc vine¬ yards, many of these people coming to wealth, and ti,e.'.isu!ids of them under no inducement would ieave those parts of Siberia which are paradise* which for salubrity and luxuriance. Now, do yen think is the best style of a pris¬ on—Siberia or many of our American prisons? When a roan commits a big crime in our coun¬ try, the judge Looks into the face of the fright¬ ened culprit and says: “Yon have been found guilty; I sentence t'ou to the penitentiary for ten years. four ’ He walls. goes to No prison. sunlight. Ho is No shut fresh in between air. No both-room. Before he has served his ten years, be dies of consumption, or is so ener¬ vated that for the rest of his life he sits with folded hands a wheezing invalid. In prefer¬ ence to the shut-in life of the average Ameri¬ can prisoner, give me Silieria. Besides that when offenders coma ont of prison in America what chanoe have they? Ask ihe poorly, sup¬ ported societies, formed to get these people places to work. Ask me, to whom the newly liberated ceme from all the prisons, imploring what they shall do. No one will commend them. The pallor of incarceration is un their check. Who wants to employ in in factory or Htore a man or woman who answer to the question, “where did you live last?” should make for reply: “States prison at Auburn ov Movamensing.” Nowin Siberia they hnvo a better chance. They are never and spoken they of as criminals, but as unfortunates, are al¬ lowed every opportunity of retrieving their lost, reputation and lost fortuues. I talked with the president of the National Society of Russia for the e l ncation and moralization of the chil dean of Siberian oonvicts. The president isalady of that society, appointed by the emperor, of great accomplishments and much tearful sympathy her which illumines her face and makes eyes and tremulous her voice. The evening I passed at her house in St. Petersburg was one of tbe memorable events of my lifetime. I will not attempt to pronounce the name of that noble woman appointed by tha emperor as the president of the National Society of Russia for the education and moralization of the children of oonvlots. FJCtee to name an I such national society in our country, the supported children by government for taking care of ot convicts. You know, if yon know anything, that there is no chanoe in this country for a man who has been imprisoned, orfor his ohil dren. God pity lhem and hasten the time when we shall bv some national institution es¬ tablish by the congress of the United States, imitate tho mercy of the Russian government toward tho innocent children cruelty of imprisoned the of¬ fenders. He who charges on impe¬ belies rial family and the nobility of Russia men and women as gracious and benignant as ever breathed oiyReu The merciful character of tho pvesent em¬ peror was well illustrated ill the following oc¬ currence: The man who supervised the the assassi¬ nation of the fathsr of present emperor, standing in the snow that awful day, when the dynamite shattered to pieces the legs of Alex¬ ander the Seoond,— I say the man who super¬ vised all this fled from St. l’etershnrg and quit Russia. But after awhile the man repented of his crime awl wrote to the emperor asking for forgiveness for the murder of his father and promising to be a good citizen, and asking if he might come back to Russia. Tho emperor pardoned the murderer of his father, Russia, aud the forgiven assassin is now living in unless recently deceased. Whon I talked to the em¬ press concerning the sympathy dronght-struck felt in Ameriea region* for the sufferings of tho of Russia, she evinced an absorbing interest and a compassion and an emotion of manner and apeoch such as wo men can hardly realize, beoause it scorns that God lias reserved for wo* men as her great adornment, the tear-jeweled coronet of tenderness and commiseration. If you say that it was a man, a divine man that came to save the world, I say yes, but It was a woman that gave tho men. Witness all the Madonnas, Italian, Gorman, English and Rus¬ sian, Christendom. that bloom in the pioturo galleries of Hon of Mary, iiave mercy on us! But how about the knout, tho oruel Russian knout that coitu s down ou tho bare back of agonized criminals? Why, Russia abolished tho knout before it was abolished from our Ameri¬ can navy. But how about tbe political priso¬ the ners hustled off to Siberia? According to testimony of the most oelebrated literary ene¬ my of ltussia, only 443 politieal prisoners How were sent to Siberia in twenty rears. many political prisoners did of we civil put war? in prison Well, I pens will during our four 100,000. years America’s 100,000 polit¬ guess at least ical prisoners versus Uussia’s 443 political priso¬ ners. Nearly all llune 443 of twenty years were noblemen emancipation of peoplo desperately eerfs. And opposed of to tho of the none the political prisoners aro sent to the lamous Kara mines. For the most part, you are de¬ pendent for information upon the testimony of prisoners who are sent to Siberia. They all Bay they were innocent. Prisoners always are innocent. Ask ail the prisoners of America to¬ days “Guilty or not guilty,” Rnd nineteen out of how twenty will plead “Not gnilty.” how Ask they them like sheriffs they and like how tneir they prison like and the government of the United States, and yon will find the«e pris¬ oners admire tho authority that arrested them and punish them just about us mncli as the po¬ litical prisoners of Russia like Silieria. But you ask, how will this Rnssophobia, with whioh so many have been bitten and poisoned, lie cured? By tbe god of justioe blousing such books and phampletx Arnand, as are of now Washington; coming Mr. out from Professor de Horace Cutter, of San IteanciHOo; Mr. Mortill, of England, and by the ojiening of our Ameri¬ can gates to the writings of some twenty-four of the Russian authors and authoresses, in some respect as brilliant as Die three or four lluiBian authors already known—the transla¬ tion of those twenty-four authors, which I am authorized from Russia to offer free of charge to any responsible justioe. American Let publishing these Russians house that will do them tell their own story, for they are tho only ones fully competent to do tho work, as none but Americans can fully tell tbe story of Ameriea, and as none hut Geimaus can fully tell the story of Germany, and none but Englishmen can fully tell the story of England, and none but Frenchmen can fully tell international the story of France. Meanwhile, let the de fatnaiion come to an end. Ccaao to apeak evil of dignities merely because they are dianitiea, and of presidents of merily because they are pres¬ ident*, and cmiicrora merely because they are emperors. And may tho blessiriK of God the Father, anil God the Hon, and God the Holy Ghost, be ut ion all the members of the imperial household of ltussia from the ilinstri ous head of that family down to the princess, seven years of age, who came skipping into my presence in the palace of Peterhof fast summer. Glory to Oral in ttic highest and ou earth pence, good will to men. IMPORTANT DECISION Affeoting Southern Railroads by the Interstate Commerce Commission. A Washington special of Saturday says; The interstate commerce commis sion has, in an opinion by Commissioner Veazey, announced it* decision in the eases brought by the Georgia railroad commission agamit the Cincinnati, New Orleans and Texas Pacific Railway com¬ pany, the Louisville and Nashville Rail¬ way company and other railroad and steamship lines, seven cases in all, in¬ volving rates for longer and shorter hauls from Cincinnati and other Ohio river points, and from New York and other North Atlantic port* to points in southern territory. The long and short haul clause of the interstate commerce law is construed by the commission in tbe light of more than five years’ opera¬ tion of the law and decisions heretofore rendered by the commission and the courts. A Circus Train Wrecked. A special train carrying McVsse & Shield’s 10 cent circus from Mount Ver¬ non, Ala., to Mobile, over the Mobile and Birmingham railroad, was wrecked four miles from Mobile Monday night by a car jumping circus from the track. Seven employe* of the were hurt, three ierioualy. TIE o Notes of Her Progress ai PropffiJ Briefly Epitomized v And Important Happening-s front Dlf to Day Tersely Told. A San Antonio special of Saturday says: Encarnacion Garza, brother of tha> famous filibuster, Catrino Garza, has been) released on |2,000 bail. Garza is the 1 Mexican who was captured at Key West,, Fla., some weeks ago. At the annual meeting of the Confed¬ erate Survivor’s Association of South Car¬ olina at Columbia, officers were elected and a resolution was adopted requesting the counties of the state to organize county associations with the purpose lat¬ er of forming camps of the United States veterans similar to those existing throughout the south. The Philadelphia furnace at Florence, Ala., was lighted Saturday night. This furnace is the property of the Florence Cotton and Iron Company, owned and controlled by Philadelphians. It is the largest and best equipped furnace in the south. The furnace has just completed extensive repairs. A new era of pros¬ perity has been inaugurated in Florence. On Saturday eighteen thousand pounds of dynamite and other high grade explo¬ sives were sent to Fort Sam Houston target range, two miles east of San An¬ tonio, Texas, where General Dryenforth’s rain-making experiments are to be made. It is expected that a train of explosives three miles long will be laid for the first test. Tho weather is clear, and the barometer shows no indication of rain. A special of Friday to The Los there An¬ geles, Cal., Express states that in is much excitement and alarm caused northeastern Arizona by the threats of a band of Navajoes under Chief Black Horse of going to war against the whites. A request has been sent to the troops, but General McCook thinks that the troops nro not necessary and believes a little ex¬ ercise of caution will prevent a hostile outbreak. Tho census office manufacturing has made a prelimi¬ indus¬ nary report on the tries of San Antonio, Tex., during the past decade. In 1890 the number of in¬ dustries reported at San Antonio was 25; number of establishments reported, 48; with invested capital of $1,048,362. Num¬ ber of hands employed, 907; receiving $015,125 in wages, Tho cost of mate¬ rials used was $831,185 and the value of tho product $2,152, 260. Tbe steamer Rosa Lee, from Astport, burned at the wharf at Memphis, Tenn., early Monday morning. An officer awakened the passengers and all above the dock and thirty below got out safely. It is thought that four laborers, who were in a state of intoxication, were burned to death. The steamer cost $70, 000, and was in the cotton trade. The loss is complete. Insurance, $27,000. Her manifest consisted of 397 bales of cotton and 2,001) sacks of cotton seed. The outgoing Western and Atlantic passenger train leaving Atlanta at ed 11 o’clock short distance Sunday night tho was wreck¬ a from city. The wreck was a bad one, smashing cars und tearing up the track. Fortunately no one was killed. Engineer Squires was found to be pretty badly hurt, as was al¬ so his fireman. One or two of the pas¬ sengers wero bruised up. The disaster was due to train wreckers. An iron band was found fastened about one of the rails. It was near the spot where a train was wrecked a year ago in tha same way. A Columbia, 8. C., dispatch say*: It was ascertained Sunday tbat steps are being taken to abolish the historic South Carolina college, an institution which is tho alma mater of a host of distinguised men that the state has produced. The col¬ lege is dear to thousands of South Caro¬ linians, and this announcment will be re¬ ceived with untold regret, and there will undoubtedly be a hard struggle to retain it. The superintendent of educa¬ tion, in his annual report to be submitted to the general assembly, recommends that the college be closed and that the build¬ ings bo converted into a normal college for both sexes. It is also learned tbat a bill in accordance with this recommen¬ dation has been prepared and will be in¬ troduce in the legislature. THE MONETARY CONFERENCE. The Opening of the Meeting in finis sels—Welcoming Delegates. A Brussels cablegram says: The pro¬ ceedings of the international monetary conference, which met at the Palais des Academies Tuesday were entirely infor¬ mal. Tbe following countries were pres ent: Austria-Hungary, Belgium, France, Germany, Great Britain, Greece, Italy, the Neitherlands, Portugal, Roumania, Russia, Servia, Spain, Norway and Sweden and Switzerland. M. Beer maert, of Belgian finance who prime opened minister and min¬ ister tbe proceed¬ ings, extended, in the name of the Bel¬ gian delegates. government, a cordial welcome to the After referring to the monetary crisis that had occurred during the past century, he said, it was in the direction of an international understand¬ ing that a solution of the monetary ques¬ tion was now sought. M. Montefiori, us president of the con¬ ference, followed M. Beermaert. He re¬ ferred to the many attempts mode to solve the monetary question and said tbe worat feature of tbe present monetary situation was its instability. He individual hoped the conference would sink its interests and keep in view the higher interest of the great human family. Hon. E. Terrell,United States minister to Belgium, behalf replied the in American a few formal dele¬ word* on of gates. The conference then adjourned until Friday. Tin Plate Mill Burned. The tin plate mill at Aodersoo, Ind., burned to the ground Saturday promi¬ night. This is tbe factory that became so nent as a political issue during the late campaign. The fire was of inoendiary : origin, the entire factory having been £ saturated with coal oil. It was being s operated by Clark & Alleton. Loss, St $22,000; partially insured.