ere in the army
refused to continue service. At the commencement of the reign of the
tsar Nicholas II., in 1895, the Doukhobors became the victims of a
series of persecutions, Cossack soldiers plundering, insulting, beating
and maltreating both men and women in every way. More than 400 families
of Doukhobors who were living in the province of Tiflis were ruined and
banished to Georgian villages. Of 4000 thus exiled, more than 1000 died
in the course of the first two years from exhaustion and disease; and
more would have perished had not information reached Count Leo Tolstoy
and his friends, and through them the Society of Friends in England.
Funds were immediately raised by sympathizers for alleviating the
sufferings of the starving victims. At the same time an appeal, written
by Tolstoy and some of his friends, requesting the help of public
opinion in favour of the oppressed Doukhobors, was circulated in St
Petersburg and sent to the emperor and higher government officials. The
Doukhobors themselves asked for permission to leave Russia, and the
Society of Friends petitioned the emperor to the same effect. In March
1898 the desired permission was granted, and the first party of
Doukhobors, 1126 in number, were able in the summer of 1898 to sail from
Batum for Cyprus, which was originally chosen for their settlement
because at that time funds were not sufficient for transferring them to
any other British territory. But as contributions accumulated, it was
found possible to send a number of Doukhobor emigrants to Canada,
whither they arrived in two parties, numbering above 4000, in January
1899. They were joined in the spring of the same year by the Cyprus
party, and another party of about 2000 arrived from the Caucasus. In all
about 7500 Doukhobor immigrants arrived in Canada. The Canadian
government did their best to facilitate the immigration, and allotted
land to the Doukhobors in the provinces of Assiniboia near Yorktown and
of Saskatchewan near Thunder Hill and Prince Albert. They were very
cordially received by the population of the Canadian port towns. In
April 1901, in the Canadian House of Commons, the minister of justice
made a statement about them in which he said that "not a single offence
had been committed by the Doukhobors; they were law-abiding, and if good
conduct was a recommendation, they were good immigrants.... The large
tracts of land demanded population, and if they were not given to crime,
the conc