explain the law to the
peasants and settle the disputes between them and the proprietors;
and the consequence of this was that many cases of insubordination and
disorder occurred. The muzhik naturally imagined that, as soon as the
Tsar said he was free, he was no longer obliged to work for his old
master--that all obligatory labour ceased as soon as the Manifesto was
read. In vain the proprietor endeavoured to convince him that, in regard
to labour, the old relations must continue, as the law enjoined, until
a new arrangement had been made. To all explanations and exhortations he
turned a deaf ear, and to the efforts of the rural police he too often
opposed a dogged, passive resistance.

In many cases the simple appearance of the higher authorities sufficed
to restore order, for the presence of one of the Tsar's servants
convinced many that the order to work for the present as formerly was
not a mere invention of the proprietors. But not infrequently the birch
had to be applied. Indeed, I am inclined to believe, from the numerous
descriptions of this time which I received from eye-witnesses, that
rarely, if ever, had the serfs seen and experienced so much flogging as
during these first three months after their liberation. Sometimes even
the troops had to be called out, and on three occasions they fired on
the peasants with ball cartridge. In the most serious case, where
a young peasant had set up for a prophet and declared that the
Emancipation Law was a forgery, fifty-one peasants were killed and
seventy-seven were more or less seriously wounded. In spite of these
lamentable incidents, there was nothing which even the most violent
alarmist could dignify with the name of an insurrection. Nowhere was
there anything that could be called organised resistance. Even in the
case above alluded to, the three thousand peasants on whom the troops
fired were entirely unarmed, made no attempt to resist, and dispersed
in the utmost haste as soon as they discovered that they were being shot
down. Had the military authorities shown a little more judgment, tact,
and patience, the history of the Emancipation would not have been
stained even with those three solitary cases of unnecessary bloodshed.

This interregnum between the eras of serfage and liberty was brought to
an end by the appointment of the Arbiters of the Peace. Their first duty
was to explain the law, and to organise the new peasant self-government.
The lowest instance, o