Chapter I: Front Matter

RECOLLECTIONS OF SIBERIA.

LONDON

PRINTED BY SPOTTISWOODE AND CO.

NEW-STREET SQUARE

THE STORY

OF

A SIBERIAN EXILE.

BY

M. RUFIN PIETROWSKI.

FOLLOWED BY

A NARRATIVE OF RECENT EVENTS IN POLAND.

TRANSLATED FROM THE FRENCH.

LONDON:
LONGMAN, GREEN, LONGMAN, ROBERTS, & GREEN.
1863.

TRANSLATOR’S PREFACE.

It has not been thought advisable to give these papers to the public without a few words of explanation to those readers who see them for the first time in an English dress. It may seem that the three parts of which the book is composed have little connection with each other, but this is not the case. Along with the story of a Polish Exile in Siberia will be found two chapters on the political aspects of Poland. The first of these contains an account of those measures and events by which the dismemberment of ancient Poland was effected. But the Poles contend that the wrong done to their country has not stopped there; and that she has been not only dismembered, but denationalised. On referring to the Treaty of Vienna they find that this loss of nationality was not contemplated by the European powers, and that it is contrary both to the letter and to the spirit of the Treaties of 1815. By degrees, however, whether rightly or wrongly, Russian supremacy has asserted itself, and the story of M. Rufin Pietrowski is intended to demonstrate what are the amenities of that régime. The Poles will not submit to a government in which they are not allowed to participate; and they are engaged in ceaseless attempts to elude its vigilance, and to defy its power. They wish to organise themselves; and the executive, obliged to act both on the defensive and the offensive towards them, has recourse to cruel and arbitrary methods of repression. The narrative of the Siberian Exile is a strange one, but there is no reason to believe that his tale is otherwise than authentic. The candour and moderation with which he speaks of the Russian officials is highly creditable, and it deserves to be noticed, that it is the system, rather than the men, which he attacks.

The last paper in this book will be found, without doubt, to be the most interesting. A moment’s reflection will convince its readers that there is no European country in which so great a change is being effected, and of which they hear so little, as Russian Poland. Yet the events which have recently agitated Poland are events of historical interest, and they are not in themselves unimportant to Western Europe. An outline of their nature and extent is given here. This history of ‘twelve months of agitation’ makes us spectators of a struggle which the Poles have maintained against the Czar, and in which they have proved themselves to be still full of that high, haughty, and stubborn spirit of liberty which Edmund Burke discerned in them of yore. Their recent efforts towards civilization and self-improvement will not fail to ensure for them the sympathy of all who can discern in its energy and its self-control the true greatness of a nation. Sketches of some of the leading men of Poland will be found here: and, at this crisis, it has been thought that an account of the career of Count Andrew Zamoyski could hardly fail of being acceptable. If the destiny of Poland, as a nation, be eventful and yet obscure, the destiny of individuals has often proved under the Muscovite rule to be more tragic and even more obscure. The Polish party in emigration, who now welcome Count Zamoyski, have great cause to congratulate themselves that their ‘civic hero’--the best and worthiest of their patriots--has not been sent to expiate a life devoted to his country’s good in the fortress of Akatouïa, or in some of the desolate wastes of the Russian Empire in the East.

The translator is in no wise responsible for any of the sentiments to be found in this book. His task has been simply that of rendering into English the thoughts and words of other men. In the story of M. Rufin Pietrowski he has felt the disadvantages that attend upon the translation of a translation; but he has striven to preserve the integrity of the narrative, even in the smallest particulars. It is with a view to this end that he has adopted all those Russian and Polish phrases, idioms, and words which occur in the text of M. Klackso.

LONDON:
_November 1862_.

CONTENTS.

INTRODUCTION. Page 1-9

Siberia--Adventures of Beniowski--Madame Felinska--M. Rufin
Pietrowski

CHAPTER I.

OF A MISSION INTO POLAND.

A passport--The journey--The Russian frontier--Kaminieç--A
teacher of languages--Annoyances of disguise--M. Abaza--Suspicions
of the Police 10-24

CHAPTER II.

OF MY ARREST AND IMPRISONMENT AT BRAÇLAW. 25-40

Arrest--Examination--Major Poloutkovskï--Journey to Braçlaw--An
accident--The prison--A Russian scene--Kiow

CHAPTER III.

OF MY IMPRISONMENT AT KIOW, AND MY DEPARTURE FOR SIBERIA. 41-59

The fortress at Kiow--Prince Bibikov--Examination--A Commission
of Inquiry--A Bible--Fellow-prisoners--The maniac--Preparations
for ‘Deportation’--The Sentence

CHAPTER IV.

OF DEPORTATION, AND THE LIFE OF AN EXILE IN SIBERIA. 60-81

The _knout_ and the _plète_--Running the gauntlet--Gangs of
exiles--Grand-Duchess Marie--The journey--Russian alms--A ‘pope’--The
Russian soldier--Omsk--Prince Gortchakov--Ekaterinski-Zavod

CHAPTER V.

THE KATORGA. 82-102

Companions in exile--The katorga--A murderer--The felons--Kantier--Pay
and punishments--The counting-house

CHAPTER VI.

SIBERIA. 103-114

Siberia--Hardships of deportation--Breaking the ban--The Abbé
Sierocinski--His conspiracy and execution

CHAPTER VII.

THE FLIGHT. 115-152

An attempt--My route--My funds--My dress--A sledge--A
Russian theft--The journey--Irbite--On foot--A night’s
lodging--Danger--Cold and famine--Paouda--The _izbouchka_--The crest
of the Ourals--Lost in the forest--Sleep--Alms--Véliki-Oustiong

CHAPTER VIII.

THE PILGRIM AND THE PILGRIMAGE. 153-169

Pilgrimages--The Bohomolets--Manners and customs in Véliki-Oustiong
--On the Dvina--Archangel--The devotions of the pilgrims--Difficulties
--Hope deferred

CHAPTER IX.

THE WHITE SEA. 170-194

The monastery of Solovetsk--The prisoner of Solovetsk--Heterodoxy
and orthodoxy--The promontory--A farther journey--Onega--St.
Petersburg