t henceforth the peasant must not go from one
estate to another. He belonged to the land he was tilling, as the
trees that grew on it belonged to it, and the master of that land was
his master for evermore!

Such, in brief outline, was the system of serfdom which prevailed until
1861. It was in theory, though not practically, unlike the institution
of American slavery. The people, still living in their communes, still
clung to the figment of their freedom, not really understanding that
they were slaves, but feeling rather that they were freemen whose
sacred rights had been cruelly invaded. That they were giving to hard
masters the fruit of their toil on their own lands.

Now that Russia was becoming a modern state, it required more money to
govern her. Civilization is costly, and the revenues must not be
fluctuating. Boris saw they could only be made sure by attaching to
the soil the peasant, whose labor was at the foundation of the
prosperity of the state. It was the peasant who bore the weight of an
expanded civilization which he did not share! The visitor at Moscow
to-day may see in the Kremlin a wonderful tower, 270 feet high, which
was erected in honor of Ivan the Great by the usurper Boris; but the
monument which keeps his memory alive is the more stupendous one
of--Serfdom.

The expected increase in prosperity from the new system did not
immediately come. The revenues were less than before. Bands of
fugitive serfs were fleeing from their masters and joining the
community of free Cossacks on the Don. Lands were untilled, there was
misery, and at last there was famine, and then discontent and
demoralization extending to the upper classes, and a diminished income
which finally bore upon the Tsar himself.

Suddenly there came a rumor that Dmitri, the infant son of Ivan the
Terrible, was not dead! He was living in Poland, and with
incontestable proofs of his identity was coming to claim his own. In
1604 he crossed the frontier, and thousands of discontented people
flocked to his standard with wild enthusiasm. Boris had died just
before Dmitri reached Moscow. He entered the city, and the infatuated
people placed in his hand and upon his head the scepter and the crown
of Ivan IV.; and after making sure that the wife and the son of Boris
Godunof were strangled, this amazing Pretender commenced his reign.

An extraordinary thing had happened. A nameless adventurer and
impostor had been received with