gations of a citizen, and he does not enjoy even the rights of a criminal. He is, in short, completely at the mercy of irresponsible power. The peculiar situation, from a legal point of view, of a man who has been exiled by administrative process is clearly shown in the following petition or memorial, sent by an administrative exile in the year 1881 to the "Governing Senate" — the Russian High Court of Appeals. Of course the petitioner did not expect by means of this document to improve his condition, or to secure any guaranty of rights. On the contrary, he was almost certain to render his situation worse by sending to the Governing Senate so "audaciously impudent" a communication. He had just been asked, however, to take the oath of allegiance to the new Tsar, Alexander III., and it relieved him, I presume, to give expression to his feelings in this half-satirical production. I do not personally know the petitioner, and it is not necessary to state how I became possessed of a copy of his petition. I can, however, vouch for the authenticity, not only of the document itself, but of the indorsement made upon it by the Governing Senate.
Kurgán, Province of Tobólsk,
Western Siberia, March 31, 1881.
To the Governing Senate of the Russian Empire: On the 28th day of March, 1881, I [an administrative exile] received a notification from the police authorities of the town of Kurgán to appear at the police station and take the oath of allegiance to the present reigning Emperor of Russia, Alexander Alexándrovich. This requirement seems to me to be inconsistent with the Emperor's manifesto of March 1, 1881. The reason assigned in that manifesto for requiring the oath of allegiance from the peasants of the empire was that such peasants, by virtue of the decree of emancipation, had ceased to be serfs, had become free citizens, and were therefore subject to the laws made for the government of such citizens. I have all proper respect for these words, and I regard as perfectly just, not only the reasoning itself, but the conclusions that logically flow from that reasoning. One of these conclusions is, that if Russian peasants [and other Russians] had
