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of the Interior concerning his person. The Prince did not obey,
but gathered the peasants of his village together, explained
matters to them, and bade them farewell. Soon the ispravnik,
with ten armed policemen and an officer, came with a
ministerial order of banishment to Trans-Caucasia for five years
“by administrative process,” i.e., without trial or
opportunity of defence. The Prince refused the privilege that
members of the nobility have of travelling in comfort at
their own expense, though accompanied by gendarmes. On
the one hand, he refused to contribute in any way to the
expenses of his deportation, and on the other he claimed no
rank above that of a mushik, and desired to be treated as
such.
On February 13, 1892 (O.S.), two officers, with fifteen armed
soldiers, escorted the Prince from his village, who was then sent
by common étape to Trans-Caucasia.
At Tiflis he was allowed to lodge among his friends, under
strict police surveillance. This city is the first stopping-place
of all exiled sectarians, who have reason to remember well the
dark, damp, and overcrowded prison, Castle Metjesch, which
few escape. The Prince was detained a good while before being
forwarded to his final destination, and during that time an
official of high standing attempted to save him from exile by
procuring him a situation in Caucasia. When Khilkov called by
request at his house, the valet, taking him for an ordinary
mushik, rated him for coming to see his Excellency in so poor a
dress, and would not let him in for a time. The Prince replied,
“I am accustomed to go to my Heavenly Father in this dress, and
his Excellency can hardly be of loftier rank than God.”
He refused the well-meant offer, declaring that he would abide
by the “administrative order.”
Finally, he was sent to the village of Baschkitchet, district
Bortochali, in the government of Tiflis, inhabited by
Mohammedans and banished sectarians, such as Dukhobortsi,
Chalaputi, Stundists, &c. I saw an extract from one of his
letters to a friend in St. Petersburg:—
“I am fairly well, although suffering just now from a severe
cold. It has been very cold here this winter. I have a place
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