A Herzen Reader

[. . .] The fate of Serno-Solovyovich and his comrades has been mitigated. The sentence was deliberately published following the burial of the heir, with whom he has so little in common. [. . .] They wanted the Sovereign in his distress to suspect that he had eased the lot of the condemned . [. . .] But in the lessening of the sentence of Serno-Solovyovich and the others he took no part. They were defended by one member of the State Council⁷ who had been struck by the nobility, frankness, and strength of Serno-Solovyovich's responses; he looked into the case, and, surprised by its inquisitorial and, along with that, obtuse police characteristics, defended Serno-Solovyovich as best he could. [. . .]

There is nothing surprising in the fact that Serno-Solovyovich's re­sponses impressed a decent man. Serno-Solovyovich belonged to those vessels who are chosen to provide a great example, those faces which are anointed ahead of time for martyrdom, who peacefully travel their path and clearly look enraged judges in the eye. Before such people power fails and that is why it is reluctant to raise its hand to them. Unlike the instructive example of Tiberius, one cannot defile them in prison in order to render them worthy of punishment. Such a person was Granovsky, and Nicholas left him alone. The merciful Alexander II, and Prince Orlov—who kissed Serno-Solovyovich on the lips⁸—are unable to make such distinctions.

Notes

Source: "Delo Serno-Solov'evicha," Kolokol, l. 200, July i5, Й65; ^395-97, 644-47.

This statement is attributed to Prince Alexander A. Suvorov (i8o4-i882), who was close to the Decembrists in his youth. From i86i to i866 he was governor-general of St. Petersburg and a member of the State Council. Suvorov had met N. Serno-Solovyovich and was impressed by his charm and education.

The State Council followed the Senate's lead in softening the harsh sentence, al­though the civil execution was still carried out.

Tamerlane (i336-i405) was a Central Asian military leader who sought to restore the empire of Genghis Khan. Vasily I. Kelsiev (Й35-Й72), who emigrated in Й59, re­turned to Russia illegally in March i862 with Turkish citizenship papers and the goal of establishing links with Old Believers and distributing publications of the Free Russian Press. Expelled from Russia, he returned in Й67, saying that he repented of past acts.

Pavel A. Vetoshnikov was employed by a trading company and Nikolay M. Vladi- mirov worked for a Petersburg export firm; both were accused of transporting forbidden publications back to Russia and were exiled to Siberia.

Nicholas I.

In Stalinist Russia, beginning in the 1930s, this crime (nedonositel'stvo) was en­shrined in law.

Nazimov, former governor of the Vilna, Grodno, Minsk, and Kovno provinces was removed for using insufficient force in putting down the Poles.

In i858, Serno-Solovyovich, while serving as a clerk for the Main Committee on emancipation, approached the tsar with a letter revealing the deceit and red tape that was harming the preparations for the peasant reforms, and the alarming situation in the country. Alexander sent the note to Prince Orlov, chairman of the State Council, saying that Orlov should summon the young man, inform him that the tsar was not angry at his boldness, but thankful for his information. Orlov is said to have kissed the young man in the tsar's name.

71 +

The Bell, No. 200, July i5, i865. This unsigned piece is attributed to Herzen because of the subject matter, in which he was deeply interested, and the style.

Russia Is Still Burning [1865]

There are fires in twenty provinces! And all of them arson, according to The Moscow Gazette. But who is committing this arson? Is it possible that not once have the police ever gotten their hands on a genuinely guilty person, except for some holy fools and juveniles, from whom you could not get a sensible word? Isn't it time to sack such a police force, with all its special and general officers, and the civilian and military governors and governor- generals? If there are no arsonists or if they are a great rarity, then isn't it time to get rid of all the worthless journalistic alarmists, all those moral poisoners of public opinion?

Notes

Source: "Vse eshche gorit Rossiia," Kolokol, l. 200, July i5, i865; i8:398, 647.