Kurgán for an indefinite period. It is clear, therefore, that I am not a forced colonist, and this conclusion is confirmed by the fact that forced colonization is a punishment inflicted only by sentence of a court and for crime. What, then, am I? If I am neither a freeman, representing the highest grade of Russian citizenship, nor a criminal, representing the lowest grade, I am debarred from Russian citizenship altogether, or, in other words, I am a foreigner. Indeed I must be a foreigner — unquestionably a foreigner! The Russian State does not recognize me as a free citizen, nor does it put me on the level of a criminal whose rights as a citizen have been taken away. It has refused — and worse than refused — to protect my liberty, my family, and my property. I must, there- fore, be regarded as a foreigner. But am I a free foreigner? No; I am not free. If I were a free foreigner I should have the right to leave Russia; and I trust that I could find a civilized country — perhaps more than one — that would receive and recognize me as an honest and loyal citizen. I am, however, deprived of this right; consequently, if a foreigner, I must be a prisoner of war. But to what nation do I belong, where is my fatherland, and in what war was I captured? Has peace been concluded, and if so, why have not I been returned to my countrymen with other prisoners of war? I am unable to answer these questions; but the situation of a prisoner of war is an intolerably hard one, and in that situation I have been for five years.
I most humbly beg the Russian Governing Senate to accept me as a Russian subject; i.e., to declare me a free Russian citizen liv- ing under the protection of the laws. Then, having received all the rights of a citizen, I will gladly perform all a citizen's duties. If, however, the Governing Senate is not willing to accept me as a Russian subject, can it not allow me to leave the Russian Em- pire, in order that I may find for myself a fatherland?
It seems to me that the oath of allegiance not only imposes cer- tain obligations, but recognizes, at the same time, certain rights. The exaction of that oath from me, therefore, is equivalent to a recognition of my free citizenship. Is not this assumption true? I await an answer. If the Governing Senate, the highest judicial tribunal in Russia, makes it clear to me that I am mistaken, or, in other words, shows me that I must perform all the duties of a Russian subject without enjoying any of a Russian subject's rights, then, as a prisoner of war, I must submit.
Vasílli Sidorátski.
