Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - XXII. The Exile System
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
Below is the raw OCR text
from the above scanned image.
Do you see an error? Proofread the page now!
Här nedan syns maskintolkade texten från faksimilbilden ovan.
Ser du något fel? Korrekturläs sidan nu!
This page has been proofread at least once.
(diff)
(history)
Denna sida har korrekturlästs minst en gång.
(skillnad)
(historik)
Archangel, the Murman Coast, etc. It will therefore no
doubt be long yet before the ukases will be carried into effect.
At any rate, it will be of interest, on the eve of a new
century and the opening up of Siberia, to take a short
glance at this Siberian exile system, about which so many
strange ideas seem even to this day to prevail.
Deportation to Siberia began at the close of the 16th
century—the murderers of the Tsarevitch Demetrius were, in
the year 1593, probably the first criminals exiled to
Siberia. At first it was practised only exceptionally, but soon
it became a general method of punishment. Before 1800
there are no reliable statistics as to the exiles, and only
during the last few decades has a regular account been
kept of the number of people who have crossed the border.
According to an official report, 2035 were sent to Siberia
in 1807, but in the year 1823, the annual number had
grown to 6667. During the period from 1824 to 1827 it
averaged 11,000, and from 1870 up to the present time
about 20,000.
For a long time there was great enthusiasm in Russian
circles about the supposed blessings of the exile system.
By this method, it was said, the mother-country gets rid
of dangerous persons, who, under the influence of new
surroundings in a new country, should eventually become
most useful in the cultivation and development of the rich
but untilled soil of Siberia. Nothing could be more simple
and at the same time more satisfactory! They had no
other facts, it is true, to rest their hopeful theory on than
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
