ow it was treated by the nobles, and how it was ultimately
solved by the famous law of February 19th (March 3d), 1861,* I now
propose to relate.

* February 19th according to the old style, which is still
used in Russia, and March 3d according to our method of
reckoning.

CHAPTER XXVIII

THE SERFS

The Rural Population in Ancient Times--The Peasantry in the Eighteenth
Century--How Was This Change Effected?--The Common Explanation
Inaccurate--Serfage the Result of Permanent Economic and Political
Causes--Origin of the Adscriptio Glebae--Its Consequences--Serf
Insurrection--Turning-point in the History of Serfage--Serfage in
Russia and in Western Europe--State Peasants--Numbers and Geographical
Distribution of the Serf Population--Serf Dues--Legal and Actual Power
of the Proprietors--The Serfs' Means of Defence--Fugitives--Domestic
Serfs--Strange Advertisements in the Moscow Gazette--Moral Influence of
Serfage.

Before proceeding to describe the Emancipation, it may be well to
explain briefly how the Russian peasants became serfs, and what serfage
in Russia really was.

In the earliest period of Russian history the rural population was
composed of three distinct classes. At the bottom of the scale stood the
slaves, who were very numerous. Their numbers were continually augmented
by prisoners of war, by freemen who voluntarily sold themselves as
slaves, by insolvent debtors, and by certain categories of criminals.
Immediately above the slaves were the free agricultural labourers, who
had no permanent domicile, but wandered about the country and
settled temporarily where they happened to find work and satisfactory
remuneration. In the third place, distinct from these two classes, and
in some respects higher in the social scale, were the peasants properly
so called.*

* My chief authority for the early history of the peasantry
has been Belaef, "Krestyanye na Rusi," Moscow, 1860; a most
able and conscientious work.

These peasants proper, who may be roughly described as small farmers or
cottiers, were distinguished from the free agricultural labourers in two
respects: they were possessors of land in property or usufruct, and
they were members of a rural Commune. The Communes were free primitive
corporations which elected their office-bearers from among the heads
of families, and sent delegates to act as judges or assessors in the
Prince's Court. Some of the Communes possessed la