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Transcriber's Note.

Apparent typographical errors have been corrected. The inconsistent
use of hyphens has been retained.

Italics are indicated by _underscores_. Small capitals have been
replaced by full capitals.




[Illustration: CONVENT OF SOLOVETSK IN THE FROZEN SEA.]


[Illustration: RUSSIAN INFANTRY ON EASTERN STEPPE ESCORTED BY KOZAKS
AND KIRGHIZ.]




FREE RUSSIA.

BY

WILLIAM HEPWORTH DIXON.

AUTHOR OF

"FREE AMERICA." "HER MAJESTY'S TOWER." &c.

[Illustration]

 _NEW YORK_:

 HARPER & BROTHERS, PUBLISHERS.
 FRANKLIN SQUARE.

 1870.




PREFACE.


_Svobodnaya_ Rossia--_Free_ Russia--is a word on every lip in that
great country; at once the Name and Hope of the new empire born of the
Crimean war. In past times Russia was free, even as Germany and France
were free. She fell before Asiatic hordes; and the Tartar system
lasted, in spirit, if not in form, until the war; but since that
conflict ended, the old Russia has been born again. This new
country--hoping to be pacific, meaning to be Free--is what I have
tried to paint.

My journeys, just completed, carried me from the Polar Sea to the Ural
Mountains, from the mouth of the Vistula to the Straits of Yeni Kale,
including visits to the four holy shrines of Solovetsk, Pechersk, St.
George, and Troitsa. My object being to paint the Living People, I
have much to say about pilgrims, monks, and parish priests; about
village justice, and patriarchal life; about beggars, tramps, and
sectaries; about Kozaks, Kalmuks, and Kirghiz; about workmen's artels,
burgher rights, and the division of land; about students' revolts and
soldiers' grievances; in short, about the Human Forces which underlie
and shape the external politics of our time.

Two journeys made in previous years have helped me to judge the
reforms which are opening out the Japan-like empire of Nicolas into
the Free Russia of the reigning prince.

 _February, 1870._
 _6 St. James's Terrace._




CONTENTS.


    CHAP.                                           PAGE

       I.--UP NORTH                                   11

      II.--THE FROZEN SEA                             16

     III.--THE DVINA                                  20

      IV.--ARCHANGEL                                  24

       V.--RELIGIOUS LIFE                             29

      VI.--PILGRIMS                                   34

     VII.--FATHER JOHN                                40

    VIII.--THE VLADIKA                                46

      IX.--A PILGRIM-BOAT                             51

       X.--THE HOLY ISLES                             57

      XI.--THE LOCAL SAINTS                           62

     XII.--A MONASTIC HOUSEHOLD                       68

    XIII.--A PILGRIM'S DAY                            73

     XIV.--PRAYER AND LABOR                           78

      XV.--BLACK CLERGY                               84

     XVI.--SACRIFICE                                  91

    XVII.--MIRACLES                                   96

   XVIII.--THE GREAT MIRACLE                         103

     XIX.--A CONVENT SPECTRE                         110

      XX.--STORY OF A GRAND DUKE                     114

     XXI.--DUNGEONS                                  118

    XXII.--NICOLAS ILYIN                             124

   XXIII.--ADRIAN PUSHKIN                            130

    XXIV.--DISSENT                                   135

     XXV.--NEW SECTS                                 142

    XXVI.--MORE NEW SECTS                            146

   XXVII.--THE POPULAR CHURCH                        151

  XXVIII.--OLD BELIEVERS                             158

    XXIX.--A FAMILY OF OLD BELIEVERS                 161

     XXX.--CEMETERY OF THE TRANSFIGURATION           167

    XXXI.--RAGOSKI                                   173

   XXXII.--DISSENTING POLITICS                       179

  XXXIII.--CONCILIATION                              183

   XXXIV.--ROADS                                     187

    XXXV.--A PEASANT POET                            192

   XXXVI.--FOREST SCENES                             197

  XXXVII.--PATRIARCHAL LIFE                          202

 XXXVIII.--VILLAGE REPUBLICS                         208

   XXXIX.--COMMUNISM                                 213

      XL.--TOWNS                                     218

     XLI.--KIEF                                      222

    XLII.--PANSLAVONIA                               225

   XLIII.--EXILE                                     229

    XLIV.--THE SIBERIANS                             235

     XLV.--ST. GEORGE                                241

    XLVI.--NOVGOROD THE GREAT                        246

  