Page:General History of Europe 1921.djvu/735

The Russian Empire in the Nineteenth Century 557 From time to time the serfs, infuriated by the hard conditions imposed upon them, revolted against their lords. Under Nicholas I over five hundred riots had occurred, and these seemed to increase rather than decrease, notwithstanding the vigilance of the police. 1009. Emancipation of the Serfs (March, 1861). Alexan- der II, fearful of more serious uprisings of the peasants, under- took the difficult task of freeing forty millions of his subjects HOUSE IN VILLAGE NEAR PETROGRAD from serfdom. After much discussion he issued an emancipation proclamation, March 3, 1861, on the eve of the great Civil War which was to put an end to negro slavery in the United States. Although the decree abolished all rights of the lords over the serfs, the peasants still remained bound to the land, for they were not permitted to leave their villages without a government pass. The landlords surrendered a portion of their estates to the peasants, but this did not become the property of individual owners, but was vested in the village community as a whole. 1010. Emancipation a Hardship. The government dealt very generously with the landlords, as might have been anticipated.