Seite 785 von 788

224 The Russian government recognises no freemen except the

gentry (szlachta). Peasants freed by landowners are immediately

entered in the rolls of the Emperor's private estates, and must

pay increased taxes in place of the dues to their lords. It is a

well-known fact that in the year 1818 the citizens of the

province of Wilno adopted in the local diet a project for freeing

all the peasants, and appointed a delegation to the Emperor with

that aim in view; but the Russian government ordained that the

project should be quashed and no further mention made of it.

There is no means of setting a man free under the Russian

government except to take him into one's family. Accordingly many

have had the privileges of the gentry conferred on them in this

way as an act of grace or for money.

225 [Compare p. 296, and note 201.]