tor had been abolished but the separation of
the two classes had not yet been effected. The unlimited patriarchal
authority which had been formerly wielded by the proprietor or his
steward now passed with certain restriction into the hands of the
Arbiter, and these peacemakers had to spend a great part of their time
in driving about from one estate to another to put an end to alleged
cases of insubordination--some of which, it must be admitted, existed
only in the imagination of the proprietors.

At first the work of amicable settlement proceeded slowly. The
proprietors generally showed a conciliatory spirit, and some of them
generously proposed conditions much more favourable to the peasants than
the law demanded; but the peasants were filled with vague suspicions,
and feared to commit themselves by "putting pen to paper." Even the
highly respected proprietors, who imagined that they possessed the
unbounded confidence of the peasantry, were suspected like the others,
and their generous offers were regarded as well-baited traps. Often I
have heard old men, sometimes with tears in their eyes, describe the
distrust and ingratitude of the muzhik at this time. Many peasants still
believed that the proprietors were hiding the real Emancipation Law,
and imaginative or ill-intentioned persons fostered this belief by
professing to know what the real law contained. The most absurd rumours
were afloat, and whole villages sometimes acted upon them.

In the province of Moscow, for instance, one Commune sent a deputation
to the proprietor to inform him that, as he had always been a good
master, the Mir would allow him to retain his house and garden during
his lifetime. In another locality it was rumoured that the Tsar sat
daily on a golden throne in the Crimea, receiving all peasants who came
to him, and giving them as much land as they desired; and in order to
take advantage of the Imperial liberality a large body of peasants set
out for the place indicated, and had to be stopped by the military.

As an illustration of the illusions in which the peasantry indulged at
this time, I may mention here one of the many characteristic incidents
related to me by gentlemen who had served as Arbiters of the Peace.

In the province of Riazan there was one Commune which had acquired a
certain local notoriety for the obstinacy with which it refused all
arrangements with the proprietor. My informant, who was Arbiter for the
locality, was at la