Show MANS inhumanity TO MAN WE HAVE received from the secretary of the bureau of the siberian exile petition association a copy of the document it proposes to for ward to the emperor of russia and which is to be numerously signed by american citizens in the hope of inducing th potentate to ameliorate the condition of the unfortunates consigned to the dreaded region we are requested to give space in our columns to the petition which has a historic value and we consequently annex it hereto 11 to his Impei imperial laZ majesty the ozar of au all the Itus stas we who petition your majesty are citi citizens zeng of the united states of america we belong to a people who have long boon been bound by the natural ties of sympathy to the great russian nation and to lo the czars azars clothed with her majesty who wield her power and shape her do stin Y 1 it is your Maje province to do fo for r russia what we in a certain sense do for ourselves and though the methods of governmental action abdon are different the aims of good government are the same the strength and true grandeur of the state and the welfare and happiness of the people for these things nations are organized and laap laws are decreed and exert executed for these things great princes j in the fear of god exercise imperial sway away and presidents are appointed differ though they may in outward form your government and our government are brothers m in their noblest duties nor are our fraternal professions an empty feeling we remember and we can never forget how the czar b by his faith in the stability of the amer american 7 union and by the presence of russian ships ship in the harbor of new york fork strengthened the republic when it was sap supposed posed by less farsighted far sighted sovereigns and statesmen states mento to be on the verge of ruin our danger then arose from an evil which your illustrious father alexander II 11 by bin example halted helped our illustrious president abraham abra a am lincoln to remove and the great prince who liberated the russian serfs and the great citizen who freed the american slaves by kindred deeds of humanity linked their countries together by enduring enduring 9 ties sharing therefore as the past has taught us to do in the thoughts that concern the glory and happiness of your people we have been moved to bour brig ring to you yeu with good greetings this petition on pt ithac that your will personally take note of a widespread interest among us in the workings and effects of the siberian exile system we do not forget the penal reforms reform already accomplished in the russian tal empire pire we are not blind to the mental and physical sufferings that of necessity cassit y are a part of any system of punishment for crime against individuals vi society or the state nor are we unmindful of the need of reforms which are actively engaging the attention of philanthropists in our own methods of dealing with convicts in this we are giving expression to the feeling of a friendly people that in the punishment of soffie some of her her subjects russia whether from causes peculiar to her people or on account of ancient custom is not in harmony with the humanizing sentiments of the age it is our wish that by the wisdom and power of the czar and the favor of god russia may grow in the admiration and sympathy of the american people and of the whole civilized world the document is ia adroitly worded being decidedly diplomatic ancito mild statement is much better than merely informing the czar that lie he is a flint hearted despot and ought to be ashamed of himself for his bis barbarous treatment of siberian exiles that is ie exactly what it means however under the sugar it Is ishike like administers adminis administering terl ng a small piece of asafoetida in a dipper full of syrup in the hope of deceiving the patient into the belief that he is swallowing unadulterated molasses the projectors and operators of this movement are to commended for their humanity in pleading for the unfortunate victims who are ground under the iron wheels of a relentless despotism their eucken in achieving their object is however exceedingly doubtful and it is lucky for the chief pleaders plea dera ders that they will not be within the reach and jurisdiction of the czar when the soft spoken communication reaches him else they might be given an opportunity to test teat the rigors of the siberian lerian Si climate if not the sharpness of the thongs of the prison whip perhaps the emperor of all the to is posted about some things that do not seem exactly right in this republic where justice freedom and humanity have universal theoretic sway away if so he might remark 1 I had been thinking for some time past of sending a petition to the american rulers for the purpose of inducing them to give better treatment to a class of your people called latter day saints they have been robbed peeled pillaged driven from their homes homers and many of them murdered and I 1 have never known of their wrongs having been redressed III 1 I observe also that many families tha that have been established from ten years to half a century have been broken up u p and disrupted while their heads beads have been thrown luto into prison because they declined to disown them many tender hearts have I 1 understand been torn and many premature groves graves filled by thew these strange doings it has been even credibly stated that quite recently much of the property of these unfortunate people has been confiscated by a proem process never applied to any other class of your citizens and latest and most extraordinary of all it seems that large numbers of them in your country which Is supposed to be free nd libera lare deprived of the right to vote or hold any political offic eor to sit as jurymen juryman I 1 iu li trials their only privilege being to pay taxes a prerogative which I 1 myself wn am always willing to accord to my subjects people are clamoring for we me to give my people a constitution I 1 wonder how much better they would be off on were I 1 to do so when such things can be done where there is one it seems to me that you had better rectify some of these discrepancies in your own country in the meantime I 1 will have to inform you that I 1 shall prefer to see you later |